Sand Dollars, Titanoboa, Blueberries, Movies.

For years I have known about Sand Dollar shells which appear in every tourist shop in North Carolina, painted or unpainted. There is a religious legend associated with them which you can read here, versions of this appear on many postcards available in sea side towns, but, it never occurred to me, until today, to find out what a sand dollar really is. Google to the rescue of course and I found a Wikipedia page all about them. I realised they must have been alive at one time, but that’s all I knew. Some of it is interesting reading telling how they move around, how they clone themselves when under attack, and how they normally mate. They are not exclusive to the east coasts of the States either. Apparently the one with which I am most familiar is the Keyhole Sand Dollar. By the time I usually see them they are totally white and frequently painted. People do find them on the beaches but few and far between, maybe the professionals have grabbed them all early.

I seem to be plagued by snakes lately. I understand a 42 ft. long fossilized snake was found in 2009 and now a sculptor, Kevin Hockley, has built a replica of the thing. It was so big, it snacked on crocodiles. It was christened Titanoboa. and is something in the region of 58 million years old. The critter was found in Colombia and stunned paleontologists. There is a documentary about it on TV which is what brought it to my notice today. In fact, I seem to remember I blogged about it three years ago. I mean, look at that damned thing, the thickest part is as high as a man’s waist. The second picture is a representation of what it would have been like in its swampland home. The article talks about how it was found. The mine where it was found has, apparently, been quite a source for fossils. And I was worried about the Pythons in the Everglades, mind you, they are still living.

Thursday night I watched a delightful movie called Just Like Heaven with Reese Witherspoon (Elizabeth) in the lead. Mark Ruffalo played the male lead (David). She gets into a major car crash and her spirit haunts her apartment which is being leased by David. He eventually agrees to help her remember who and what she was/is and discover she is in a coma in the local hospital. Some of its funny, some of it’s tear jerking. Thoroughly enjoyed it. I guess it was more of a chic flic because Matt went and played a computer game. Of course Matt doesn’t like movies with things that aren’t true like ghosts. I, of course, do. Then last night Turner Classic Movies showed “Guess Who’s Coming to Dinner” which Matt swears he had never seen. I am sure I did see it many years ago but had basically forgotten a lot of the movie. What a great one it was, you couldn’t do better with Spencer Tracy and Katherine Hepburn and then adding Sydney Poitier to the mix, I wasn’t going to watch it again, but I am so glad I did. I hadn’t realised that the actress who was the daughter was played by Hepburn’s  young sister. They said Spencer Tracy died 17 days after the completion of the film.

Having just read an article expounding the efficacy of blueberries (in other words, how good they are for you) I thought I would share the following recipe. The article basically said a cup of wild blueberries a day will keep the doctor away. Matt has blueberries with his breakfast, I never do, maybe I should start.  Blueberries are good for high blood pressure and diabetes and are good for both heart and brain health. The emphasis here though, is on wild blueberries which I certainly don’t see round here. I loved baked camembert or brie dishes too, so I will certainly be trying this one out.

Baked Camembert with Wild Blueberry Chutney and Salad

Ingredients:

Wild Blueberry Chutney
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium red onion, diced
2 tablespoons honey
2 tablespoons light balsamic vinegar
3 cups (720ml) frozen wild blueberries, strained and 2 tablespoons of juice reserved
Salt and pepper to taste

Balsamic Vinaigrette and Salad
1 small clove of garlic, finely chopped
½ teaspoon honey
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
¼ cup (60 ml) light balsamic vinegar
3 teaspoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup baby (approximately 90g) arugula
½ head red lettuce, washed, dried and torn into bite size pieces
2 carrots, julienned

Baked Camembert
Approximately 2 cups (475ml) vegetable oil for frying
4 tablespoons flour
2 eggs, whisked
6–8 tablespoons breadcrumbs
Salt
4 small wheels of Camembert cheese (each approximately ¼ lb. or 125 g)


Preparation:
Wild Blueberry Chutney

Heat oil in a pot over medium heat. Add onions, sweat until tender and translucent, approximately 10 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons of honey, mix to incorporate until onions are caramelized and golden, approximately 2 minutes.

Deglaze with balsamic vinegar and blueberry juice.

Stir in blueberries, simmer until mixture has reduced to a sauce consistency, approximately 8 minutes.

Season Wild Blueberry Chutney with salt and pepper, remove from heat. Set aside to cool until serving.

  Balsamic Vinaigrette and Salad

In a small bowl, mix garlic, honey, mustard and balsamic vinegar together. Season with salt and pepper.

Whisk in olive oil and set aside until assembly.

Place arugula, lettuce and carrots in a bowl and place in fridge until assembly.

  Baked Camembert

Place the flour, eggs and breadcrumbs in individual, high sided dishes.

Season flour with salt.

Heat oil in a non-stick sauté pan over medium-high heat. Line a tray with paper towel.

Dredge each wheel of Camembert, one at a time, in flour, shake off excess. Coat Camembert in egg wash, followed by breadcrumbs.

Gently place breaded Camembert in heated sauté pan. Once cheese is golden, approximately 2 minutes, flip and continue frying on other side until golden.

Remove Baked Camembert from pan and place on paper towel lined tray.

Repeat process with remaining Camembert

 

Assembly

Place each Baked Camembert on a plate.

Dress Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette and arrange on each plate.

Spoon Wild Blueberry Chutney over Baked Camembert and serve immediately

   Have a great weekend

Pacific Garbage Dump, Titanoboa

Good Morning America are doing a series about garbage, trash, rubbish, whatever you like to call it for the whole of this week. There are some horrifying videos on their web site click here showing a garbage dump in the Pacific ocean which is equivalent to the size of America. It is due to the swirling of currents that this area has formed, but apart from the fact that this terrible dump is there, the fish and birds are eating from it in the mistaken belief that it is food and now it is beginning to get into the fish we might select for our own dinners. I had never heard of this 'trash island' before and I am absolutely horrified to hear about it. GMA have several videos about the whole subject and I do hope you will watch them. One segment is called Are You Eating Garbage? Last night we saw a news report which is also in our newspaper this morning, but nowhere on the internet, (maybe I am the first) about a giant snake, the fossils of which have been discovered in Colombia, South America. They are calling it Titanoboa Cerrejonensis. They figure it would have rivalled the T-Rex in length and would have eaten crocodiles for lunch. It would have weighed in at about 1 tonne and was estimated to be about 13 metres in length. Apparently they have recovered the fossilised vertabrae of at least 28 individual snakes. On TV they showed a vertebrae from a large anaconda which is the biggest known snake today and compared it to that of Titanoboa - it was like a pebble to a large rock. A pin head to a penny. Because this snake has been found, it has enabled scientists to revise previously known information on the temperatures of tropical rainforests in Colombia. When the creature lived, scientists have now figured the mean temperatures would have been 30° and 34° C which is much hotter than temperatures in modern rainforests. The fossils, by the way, are about 58 to 60 million years old. The picture is an artist's rendition of what the snake would have been like. In the picture there is a croc and a turtle, fossils of which were also found and which they reckon the snake would have snacked on. It was a Boa Constrictor and I would NOT like to have met it anywhere. Having posted the recipe for Steak au Poivre yesterday, a friend called, partly to wish Matt Happy Birthday and partly to express horror that I was going to be killing him by feeding him raw beef *g*. Our friend is well known for his intense dislike of rare meat. However, we ate our steak very rare and it was absolutely delicious. The peppery sauce really complemented the steak and the mushrooms were great. We drank a Chilean Errazuriz Max Reserva Cabernet Sauvignon which we hadn't tried before and very much enjoyed. Today I am giving you another recipe from Food and Drink. This recipe includes Peanut Butter so as there have been some health problems with this lately, be very careful about buying it. However, it looked so good, especially with the chocolate, I couldn't resist sharing it. Chocolate Peanut Butter Tart Pat-in pastry and stir together filling make this elegant tart easy - and chocolate and peanut butter make it divine. Serves 8 to 10 1 1/4 C all purpose flour 3 tbs granulated sugar 1/4 tsp salt 1/2 c cold unsalted butter, cut in cubes 1 egg yolk 2 tsp white vinegar Filling 8 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped 1/2 c whipping cream 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter 1 tbs liquid honey 1 tsp vanilla Chocolate curls and/or chopped peanuts for garnish (optional) Whipped cream (optional) Place flour, sugar and salt in a food processor. Whirl until blended. Add butter and pulse until coarse crumbs form. Whisk yolk with vinegar. Add to processor and pulse just until dough comes together. Gather into a ball, then flatten into a disc. Using the palm of your hands press into and up the sides of a 9 to 9 1/2 inch fluted tart pan with removable bottom. Prick bottom all over with a fork. Place in freezer for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 °F (190°C) Lay a piece of parchment paper that is slightly larger than tart pan onto the pastry. Fill with dried beans or rice, making sure to push up against sides. Bake on lower shelf of oven 19 to 20 minutes, until edges are golden brown. Discard parchment and beans. Continue to bake until crust is golden brown. About 5 minutes. Cool completely before filling. Place chocolate in a medium bowl. Bring whipping cream just to the boil. Pour over chocolate. Let stand 5 minutes. Stir chocolate until melted. Stir in peanut butter, honey and vanilla. Pour into tart shell and smooth as best you can. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour. Garnish with chocolate and/or peanuts. Serve in small wedges with whipped cream. Have a great day.