World Cup Final

Spain won the World Cup Final 1-0 against the Netherlands. I feel like I should be more excited about this as I was rooting for them the whole time, but weirdly enough I don't. I guess it's because I actually managed to watch the game and it was a bad game. My biggest problem was with the referring, specifically Howard Webb. I hated watching this guy ref during the 2008-2009 season as he gave out so many cards it was ridiculous, and this game was no exception with 9 yellow cards to the Dutch and 5 to the Spanish, plus one red card to the Dutch. It just seemed like they were handing the game to the Spanish, who weren't taking advantage of the situation until the 2nd overtime. So yay for Spain that they won the game, but I think I will have to go for the Dutch. So in honor of them, I decided to post a recipe for Dutch Apple Pancakes which I have been thinking about lately. This one comes from the Williams Sonoma website.


Dutch Apple Pancake
Also known as a German, or puff, pancake, this pancake puffs up because of the addition of eggs. Enjoy it for breakfast or brunch, garnished with a dusting of confectioners' sugar.
Ingredients:
4 Tbs. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
1 Golden Delicious apple, cored and cut into 1/2-inch slices
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 Tbs. granulated sugar
2 eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
Directions:
Preheat an oven to 400ºF. Butter a 10-inch ovenproof braiser or fry pan. In another fry pan over medium heat, melt 2 Tbs. of the butter. Add the apple, cinnamon and granulated sugar and sauté, stirring occasionally, until the apple begins to soften and brown, 5 to 6 minutes. Set aside. In a bowl, using a whisk, beat the eggs. Add the milk and whisk until blended. Sift the flour and salt into the egg mixture and whisk until just blended. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the remaining 2 Tbs. butter. Add the butter to the egg mixture and whisk until smooth.Pour the batter into the prepared pan and arrange the apple slices evenly on top. Bake until the pancake is browned and puffed up, 25 to 30 minutes. Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve immediately. Serves 2 to 4.

'Psychic' Octopus predicts Spain to win World Cup

My husband found this gem this morning and I wanted to share it here. My favorite bit is the video and some of the German reaction after Paul (the octopus) correctly predicted Germany's loss to Serbia in the earlier group stages of the World Cup.

Spain is in the final for the World Cup!!!

So I'm super psyched because the Spanish national team has managed to beat Germany!!! This is despite their less-than-stellar performance so far in the World Cup, so they really need to be on their A-game to win it. Therefore it will be Spain vs. Netherlands for the final game, which should be interesting to watch.

I've borrowed Soup Kitchen: The ultimate soup collection from the ultimate chefs including Jill Dupleix, Donna Hay, Nigella Lawson, Jamie Oliver and Tetsuya, edited by Annabel Buckingham and Thomasina Miers, from the library. It is a good collection for soup lovers like me and has a great variety of all different kinds of soups inside its pages. In honor of Spain winning today's game, I thought I would share this recipe that I found inside that looks yummy (the cookbook is British so it's got metric measurements, but I've tried to make approximate American measurements).

Chestnut and Chorizo Soup (Sopa de Castanas)
Serves 4

4 Tbsp. olive oil
1 large Spanish onion, diced
1 medium carrot, diced
1 celery stalk, thinly sliced
120g (4.2 oz) mild cooking chorizo, cut into 1 cm (1/3 inch) cubes
salt and pepper
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp finely chopped fresh thyme leaves
2 small dried red chiles, crushed
2 tomatoes, fresh or tinned, roughly chopped
500g (1.1lbs) cooked peeled chestnuts
20 saffron strands, infused in 3-4 Tbsp. boiling water
1 litre (33.8 oz) water

In a large saucepan, heat oil over a medium heat. Add the onion, carrot, celery, chorizo and a pinch of salt and fry for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until everything caramelizes and turns quite brown. This gives the soup a wonderfully rich color and taste. Now add the garlic, cumin, thyme and chili and cook for 1 more minute, followed by the tomato and, after about 2 minutes, the chestnuts. Give everything a good stir, then add the saffron-infused liquid and the water, and simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and mash by hand (with a potato masher) until almost smooth but still with a little bit of texture. Season with salt and pepper. (From Moro The Cookbook, Ebury Press, 2001)