It’s time for Daring baker’s challenge again. When I saw this month’s challenge, I was very disappointed. It looked very similar to the Opera cake that we made couple of months ago. Many other DBs had the same concern. But one thing that made me try this was the chocolate. I am not a chocoholic, but I love chocolate pastries/cakes.
Its proven again that when I am not fully interested in something, I just mess it up. From my work front, I had lot of stress going on this month. I just could not find any free time. But somehow through all the madness, I wanted to squeeze in time for this cake. As I have said earlier, all you need for DB challenges is patience and a LOT of time, both of which I did not have. So I just messed up the cake :(.
I started working on the cake on a Friday. I thought of just making the Genoise that day and remaining things the next day. I did not want to buy hazelnuts which are suggested in the recipe as they are very expensive and I did not know where to look for them. So I thought of using almonds (I had a big batch which I wanted to finish off). I had to beat the egg whites till they formed soft peaks – since it does not have baking soda/powder, this helps in making the cake soft. Since I wanted to rush it off, I thought of “beating the eggs” in a mixer!!!!. How can I be so dumb? That was a blunder and I knew the cake is messed up. I should have atleast taken a back step there and used a new batch of eggs. But I didn’t have any more in the refrigerator and I did not want to go shopping. So there, you know the fate of my cake. I just hoped somehow miraculously, everything would work out. But it did not. The cake did not rise at all . I did not have materials or patience to make it again, so I thought of using the same cake. 1 and 1/2 cups of nuts and 7 eggs, I had no intention of throwing everything. I thought – after I layer it with buttercream and chocolate, it would come out well.
I don’t have a food processor with me and I don’t want to buy one now. So that was one of the biggest hurdles for me. Next day when I was making praline, I thought my mixer might just blow up because of all the weight, I was lucky, nothing like that happened. But I could not grind the nuts to a fine powder. So the final buttercream was not so fine in texture. The nuts started blocking the piping tips and it was a mess to decorate the cake. The buttercream was a bit soft because I did not refrigerate after mixing the praline. The whole process of making buttercream and arranging the cake took way too much time. So I stopped caring about the look and just wanted to finish off the work and also clean up a big mess in the kitchen.
Even after all this, the cake was very very tasty but it was still hard. I thought it looked pretty good, not bad for all the disasters I had. I think I am going to try this buttercream again sometime. It is just out of this world. I haven’t used any alcohol in the cake. I am sure it makes a big difference. I am going to make this cake again sometime (but first I have to figure out replacement for all those eggs!!!).
It was our first valentine’s day in the US, we had never celebrated this day before. I had just got a new job. So we thought of celebrating the day. I knew V does not like any non-Indian food, but I insisted that we go to an Italian restaurant. He booked in Zio’s restaurant which is close to our apartment. We went there and it was packed full. After waiting for a while, we got a place to sit. I had tasted Italian food only once before this, few years ago. So I started acting as if I knew everything about Italian dishes and told V that I want to eat lasagna. I told him it is the best dish they have. He took quite a while to read the whole menu and carefully selected Grilled Chicken Amalfi .
Are you still interested to know what happened or have you already guessed? As usual, I hated my dish. Not that it was bad, but it was not like how I had thought it would be. I just ate few spoons and left a huge portion. V was enjoying his amalfi like anything. It had totally turned him into an Italian food lover. The chicken was very tender, just the way he likes and it was served with angel hair pasta. After that day, we ate at Zio’s almost once in every 2 weeks and every time we ordered same dish. We are so crazy about this dish.
Now we have become such a huge fans of Italian dishes that, when we eat out, it is usually Italian food. We have tried many dishes in different restaurants. We love them all, but amalfi is still one of the favorites. I have been trying to learn Italian cooking these days. Not that I have been very successful, but I keep trying. V’s only request every single time is – please learn to make amalfi. So this time, I read the menu carefully and made my version of it. I still don’t know what they use for the chicken, but atleast I know they use lemon cream sauce for the pasta. I tried this and it was just out of the world. I just fried the chicken in a skillet because I don’t have access to grill. But I am sure when grilled this would taste the best. I am not calling my version as amalfi, because this may not be the way they make it, its just my version.
This is my entry to Sig’s Grill It event .
Ingredients: 1/3 rd pack (about 125gms) of angel hair pasta 2 chicken breasts 1/4 cup sliced onion 1/2 tea spn chopped garlic 3 sun chopped dried tomatoes 1/2 cup cream 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese 1 tbl spn lemon juice Pepper 1 tea spn butter Olive oil Salt
Method: Sprinkle freshly ground black pepper and salt on both sides of chicken breasts and keep it aside for 30mins (Usually pepper and salt are added and immediately it is cooked, but I thought 30mins resting time would help chicken pieces to absorb the flavors). In a skillet, spread some olive oil. Heat the skillet to screaming hot. Now add the chicken pieces. Do not disturb the pieces for few minutes. After a while, turn them upside down. When they are completely done, take them out on a plate and cover with aluminum foil to keep them hot. Cook angel hair pasta in water according to packet instructions. In the same skillet used to cook chicken, add butter. Keep the flame on medium. When butter is melted add onion and garlic. Take care these two should not turn red. Fry only till they are translucent. Now add lemon juice heat for half a minute. Add cream(take care not to boil the cream. Just heat it till the cream is warmed up). Mix well. Add sun dried tomatoes, salt and pepper. Add Parmesan cheese, mix. Add the drained pasta, mix. Serve the pasta with chicken piece.
Serves : 2 Preparation time : 20mins
