The Heavenly Hearth

Oleevia’s Missing Cookbook

by ashmita Posted on April 11, 2013

Friends, Indians and Countrymen -

Today marks the end of a year. For those who don’t diligently follow the Hindu Calender, I’m not joking.

Though before the year ends, do take a minute to stop and reflect on the year that has gone by. To remember both our triumphs and our missteps, our promises made and broken. The times we opened ourselves up to great adventures or closed ourselves down for fear of getting hurt because that is what new years is all about- getting another chance.

Okay, fine. I might have completely plagiarized these lines from Hilary Swank’s speech in New Years Eve. But it doesn’t make the sentiments any less true.

Getting another chance is something all of us hope for at some definite point in our lives. Heck, I wanted another chance this morning when I woke up to an empty Nutella bottle. But you get my drift.

So it seems today a lady is in desperate need of another chance.

Well no, of course not me. I’ve already used my second chance to reclaim a pack of Ghirardelli’s Dark & Sea Salt Caramel chocolate squares.

Its this lady called Oleevia. So I don’t really know her personally, but I’ve heard a lot about her. Much like you and me, cooking is weak spot. She loves food and she loves it even more when she is able to share that joy with her friends and family. We can all relate to that right?

So a few days ago, Oleevia had invited her friends over to try her attempt at cooking from her Grandmother’s secret recipe book. And lo and behold, a few hours before her guests arrive, she realizes that she’s lost the recipe book ( Loves cooking? Loses stuff? We could be twins!).

As any one of us would be, Oleevia is sad but she is resilient. She isn’t giving up hope. She thinks it’ll be possible to build another recipe book.

She knows for a fact that her Grandmother vouched by her four kinds of Oleev Olive Oils – The Extra Virgin, Extra Light, Pomace Oil and Active Oil. So what she needs to do is build from there.

Here is where you and me come in!

We, in our usual helpful stances and in our added emotion of helping people make the most out of their second chance, have to help Oleevia build up her recipe book. So that a few days from now, she can finally invite her friends and cook them a perfect meal from there.

So, all you have to do is click on this link - http://bit.ly/MissingRecipeBook2

Turn a few pages and fill in your recipe.

Your recipe could be ANYTHING. It could be a salad, a curry, a cake even! But all you need to ensure is all recipes use Oleev’s Olive Oils.

Once you open the book, you will realize that like I’d mentioned, there are four kinds of Oils for your to chose from.

Extra Virgin Oil for garnishing & dressing,
Extra Light Oil for sautéing & baking,
Pomace Oil for frying, deep frying & roasting
Active Oil – ideal for Indian cooking.

Chose any, and submit a recipe. Or submit 4! I’m sure Oleevia would love the help.

And well, because she is the kind hearted person she is, she is going to giving away an assured special hamper from Oleev to the person with the best recipe entry, who has submitted an entry from The Heavenly Hearth.

Along with the hamper, your recipe would be getting published in a Recipe Book to be handed out by Oleev.

And the best part, you have a shot at winning a brand new Microwave Oven as the Grand Prize!

The last day of submission is 25th April 2013, so ensure that you submit you recipe by then. This is open to entries from all over India

So go ahead, send in your recipes via http://bit.ly/MissingRecipeBook2, win lovely goodies and help a friend out!

After all, its a brand new day

Posted in Contest | Tagged contest, missing cookbook, oleev olive oil | Leave a comment

Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Pancakes with Strawberries

by ashmita Posted on February 21, 2013

Ever since I’ve started working, I’ve come to realize the true importance of Sunday.

Nay, the true importance of the Sunday Breakfast.

(Which, after the hour I wake up in, is more of a Sunday Brunch. But lets just keep calling it the Sunday Breakfast, shall we?)

After a week long practice of dragging out of bed at sunrise, stuffing some pseudo breakfast in your face while running around the house for your missing watch, or missing breakfast altogether because you slept through the alarm again – you really need an indulgent laid-back breakfast. Be a king for a day. Go all out. You know what I mean.

Ever since strawberries came into season, my go-to snack has been strawberries and peanut butter on a spoon (It was strawberries dipped in Nutella jars last year). But really, the strawberry – peanut butter combination is quite underrated. Peanut Butter and Strawberries on toast? So perfect.

So these Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Pancakes with Strawberries were a long time coming. Jumping right into this sweet, tarty, smooth and juicy combination.

Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Pancakes with Strawberries

Makes : About 10 pancakes.
Difficulty : Medium-ish.
Preparation Time : 5-10 minutes.
Cook Time : 1-2 minutes per pancake.

Ingredients

1 cup of Whole Wheat Flour (Atta) (Can substitute to use All Purpose Flour/Maida as well)
2 Tbsp of Castor Sugar
1 Tbsp of Baking Powder
Pinch of Salt
1/2 cup of Peanut Butter
1 Egg
2 Tbsp of Oil
1 1/2 cup of Milk
1 tsp of Vanilla Extract/Essence
Chocolate/Peanut Butter Chips (Optional)
Sliced Strawberries
Honey or Maple Syrup

In a bowl, add the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar.

Mix it all together. This is our dry bowl.

In a separate bowl (the wet bowl), crack an egg. Add the peanut butter (any kind you like – chunky or smooth), pour in the milk, add the oil (I used vegetable oil) and drop in the vanilla.

Whisk it all together.

The Peanut Butter will be quite cranky at the start, it’ll all stick to your whisk. But it just needs some persuasion. Keep at it till its all mixed together and uniform.

Bit by bit, add in the dry mix to the wet bowl. Keep whisking.

By the end, the batter should be a bit thin.It should be of this consistency.

If too thick, keep splashing in milk till it reaches this state.

If feeling super indulgent, add in the chocolate and peanut butter chips. (So much win!)

Now, to make them pancakes, we heat up our non-stick pan. Keep the heat low.

(If we are paranoid like me, we add a tinsy amount of all at the start. But you can totally skip this step, if your non-stick is brand new and works fantastic. A claim I cannot make.)

Take a big ladle/spoon full of batter.

Swiftly draw out an outside border for the pancake and then quickly fill in the center with batter. (For the ones familiar how to make a dosa, just replicate that!)

Do whatever you need to, but just make sure the layer of batter isn’t too thick. Spread it out to the sides if its too thick (Big pancakes are awesome too).

Once tiny bubbles start appearing on the top, you are ready to flip.

Slide in the spatula, make sure you’ve gotten right under the pancake.

Take a deep breath and flip!

And repeat till you use up all your batter.

Once all the pancakes are ready, round up the strawberries.

Hull em’.

Slice em’.

And stack them up on the pancakes.

A big plate of these soft peanut butter pancakes, strawberries, syrup along with a glass of milk or Orange Juice, and the newspaper.

Does it really get more indulgent breakfast than this?

Drizzle some honey/syrup on the pancakes right before consumption.

Task : To attack and devour fluffy not overly sweet just perfect pancakes.

Mission Successful.

Which Sunday are you waiting for? Go indulge!

Fluffy Pancakes with Strawberries for President!

Whole Wheat Peanut Butter Pancakes with Strawberries

Ingredients

1 cup of Whole Wheat Flour (Atta)
2 Tbsp of Castor Sugar
1 Tbsp of Baking Powder
Pinch of Salt
1/2 cup of Peanut Butter
1 Egg
2 Tbsp of Oil
1 1/2 cup of Milk
1 tsp of Vanilla Extract/Essence
Chocolate/Peanut Butter Chips (Optional)
Sliced Strawberries
Honey or Maple Syrup

Instructions

In the dry bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.
In the wet ball, whisk the egg, milk, peanut butter, oil, vanilla extract together.
Bit by bit, keep adding the dry mix to the wet mix and whisking till the batter reaches a thin consistency.
Add in chocolate chips/peanut butter chips. (Optional)
In low heat, ladle in spoonful of batter on a non-stick pan. (Make sure the layer of batter is thin)
Once bubbles start to appear on the surface, slide in the spatula under the pancake and flip.
Remove from heat after 45 seconds on the other side.
Slice up strawberries.
On a plate, stack up the pancakes, garnish with sliced strawberries and drizzle honey/maple syrup on top.
Enjoy!

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Posted in Breakfast, Brunch | Tagged fresh strawberries, pancakes with strawberries, peanut butter pancake recipe, peanut butter pancakes, peanut butter pancakes with strawberries, peanut butter pancakes with strawberries recipe, whole wheat pancake recipe, whole wheat pancakes, whole wheat peanut butter pancakes, whole wheat peanut butter pancakes with strawberries | 4 Comments

Chicken Caesar Salad

by ashmita Posted on January 15, 2013

Happy 2013 everyone!

Here’s hoping that this year is filled with happiness, good health and a lot of general all around niceness. Knowing that I unknowingly described some freshly baked cookies (what are they if not nice, healthy and filled with happiness?), I shall move on with the orders of the day.

However much I may worship all that is sweet, buttery and indulgent, farm fresh food has always had a special place in my ~~stomach~~ heart. The crunch of a fresh carrot, the freshness of a lettuce head, the juicy tomato, the bright green appeal of any spinach; all heart stealers I tell you.

So it only makes sense to celebrate all that is fresh and healthy in our lives Not just because its healthy and its good for you, not even because it is just magnificiently yum. We should because ‘why can’t I bake a cake and eat it to mister’? Healthy and delicious, SOLD.

The Chicken Caesar Salad has always been a favourite. This version is light enough to not feel stomach heavy and delicious enough to keep attacking this plate with your fork.

Chicken Caesar Salad

Makes : Enough for 2 people.
Difficulty : Medium-ish.
Preparation Time : 10-15 minutes.
Cook Time : 10-12 minutes.

Ingredients

For the Salad

1 Bag of mixed Salad Greens
2 Chicken Breast
Parmesan Cheese (Optional)

For the Herbed Croutons

3 slices of bread (The staler, the better)
4 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 sprig of Rosemary
1 large Garlic clove
Pinch of Salt

For the Dressing

2 tbsp Mayonnaise
1/4 of a small Garlic clove
3 tbsp Lemon juice
1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
Pinch of Black Pepper
A little bit of Sugar

First, we deal with the Herbed Croutons.

Stack up the bread slices.

Full parallel slices here.

Turn by 90 degrees, and a few parallel slices there.

Lo and behold, we have a bunch of tiny bread cubes.

Spread these bread cubes over a baking tray.

Now letting the bread be, we mince the garlic.

We tear out the rosemary leaves (how gorgeous do they smell!)

In a mixer, add in the rosemary leaves, garlic and a pinch of salt to the olive oil. And Blitz.

Mmm. Herb oil.

Saving a few tbsp, drizzle this oil over all the bread, mixing them both together as you go.

Once evenly mixed and spred out, bake this at 180 degrees C for 25-30 minutes.

Keep checking on the croutons in the last 5 minutes of the baking time. Remove whenever you feel they are brown/crispy enough. Keep them in for longer if you think they need to get crisp-ier.

While the croutons ready themselves, marinate the chicken breast with remaining herb oil we made for the croutons.

Keeping this aside, we get started on the dressing.

Dollop in mayonnaise into a bowl. Mince in the garlic after.

Squeeze in the lemon juice.
Add in the Worcestershire Sauce.

Lightly mix, add in a pinch of sugar and black pepper.

Mix till smooth.

By now, your croutons must be done. Crispy and herb-y. Leave them in the oven to keep them warm.

Heat up your grill, and grill the chicken.

(I’ve forgotten to take pictures for the consecutive steps for I was too distracted with the herby-ness of the kitchen. But I’m sure you can all imagine how it goes. You’re smart like that.)

Once grilled, leave it to rest and cool.

Once cool enough to handle, cut the chicken into chunky strips.

On a plate, spread out the salad leaves. (Trikiya Agriculture, you brilliant company having such a lovely bunch of salad leaves on your product line, you)

Drizzle in some dressing. Mix leaves lightly with dressing. And throw on some herbed croutons and a few slices of grilled chicken.

Sprinkle some Parmesan on top. But I prefer mine without any. Makes it much lighter.

Serve with some extra dressing on the side.

Very few things in life that are as satisfying as that crunch of a lettuce leaf, that delicate balance of dressing, the crispy herbed crouton, that juicy grilled chicken.

Fork in and enjoy. A healthy, happy year lies ahead!

Chicken Caesar Salad

Ingredients

For the Salad

1 Bag of mixed Salad Greens
2 Chicken Breast
Parmesan Cheese (Optional)

For the Herbed Croutons

3 slices of bread (The staler, the better)
4 tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 sprig of Rosemary
1 large Garlic clove
Pinch of Salt

For the Dressing

2 tbsp Mayonnaise
1/4 of a small Garlic clove
3 tbsp Lemon juice
1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
Pinch of Black Pepper
A little bit of Sugar

Instructions

Stack up the bread slices, cut them into small squares.
In a mixer, blitz the rosemary, garlic clove, pinch of salt and extra virgin olive oil.
Saving a few tbsp of oil, drizzle the remaining herb oil on the bread squares.
Mix and spread them evenly on a baking tray. Bake at 180 degrees for 25 minutes.
Marinate the chicken brest with the remaining herb oil.
For the dressing, add mayonnaise, lemon juixe, worchestershire sauce in a bowl.
Add a pinch of black pepper and sugar to this dressing, mix well till smooth.
Now, heat up the grill and grill the chicken.
Once grilled, leave it to rest till cool.
Once cool, slice up the chicken into chunky strips.
To serve, mix the salad leaves with the dressing lightly.
Sprinkle over some herbed croutons and a few chunks of chicken strips.
Serve with extra dressing on the side.

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