In Britney Spears’ famous words: Oops!… I Did It Again! I always forget to take note in my agenda the date of my blog’s anniversary and I get a flash a couple of days, if not a week, later. So here we are, a belated celebratory post. On June 14th Cheap Ethnic Eatz turned 7 years old! No elaborate complicated recipes for this celebration. Instead, I present you with what I could call liquid gold. A very precious and rare liquid, here is a homemade recipe for a delectable Pistachio Syrup.
Plus we’ll make a marvelous yet very simple Pistachio Coconut Cake with the left over pistachio meal. And I will be giving away a small bottle of this pistachio syrup.
Every year I am stomped. What do you say? Is it called Blog Anniversary, Blogiversary or Blogoversary? I never now, which one would you use? It feels funny to write variations of the same paragraph. So let’s change it up again this year. I am ever so grateful for all my readers and followers. Of course you make the blog alive and you are a big inspiration. I have a smile on my face every time I get an email announcing a new comment or a personal email from a fellow foodie.
But that alone cannot be fuel enough to continue writing. What is the fuel is the passion, a passion for food. So this year I want to dedicate my anniversary to specific people: first my parents who pushed my culinary tastes buds; second my friends when I was about 14 up who gladly accepted my dinner invitations for 4 course meals; third every single member that ever joined the Cheap Ethnic Eatz dinner group which went on from March 2007 to June 2010 – I met hundreds of people there and I love running into some old members once in while; and finally fourth my friends. Some of you I have know for years, some I met through the dinner group, some of you are more recent additions to my life. You keep the fire alive every time we invite each other over for dinners or pot-lucks, make a group reservation at a fancy restaurant or the simple understated favorite. And of course all the food festivals or shows we attend as a group.
I really made an effort to push my food boundaries this year. Regular readers know I always like to try the most unusual recipes and discover unknown ingredients. My favorite ones this year are:
- the Kaffir Lime Ginger and Gin Ice Cream
- the Stout and Chicken Stew
- the Burnt Eggplant Salad with Green Tahini Dressing
- the homemade Fourme d’Ambert blue cheese
- the Caribbean Rum Cake with Coconut
- not a recipe but the fun Alien Hand Autopsy Halloween post
But my biggest challenge this year was without a doubt the 10 week Liver Experiment where I mostly tamed my life long life food nemesis: liver.
And here is a new favorite recipe I could add to the list: the rare Pistachio Syrup. I knew of the existence of such a syrup but I never saw it on any shelf at a store. I was not particularly looking for it but was curious. One day a group of us went to a tapas and Absinthe bar for dinner. I chose a cocktail which listed Pistachio syrup as an ingredient. The drink was good but I could not particularly taste it. I asked the bartender to show me the bottle and sheepishly told me they ran out and it had been substituted. He actually said even restauranteurs were having trouble getting this stuff on hand.
Well now I REALLY had to taste this stuff and resolved to make my own. There is no official recipe out there per say that I could find. I did come across this version and another one for orgeat, an almond based sweet syrup. My recipe is a bit of a hybrid of these two. Just a warning this makes a lot of syrup, just under 1 liter, so you may want to halve the recipe. The result is not clear like the store bought kind, this is normal. Also you may want to add a bit of green coloring if you wish.
Pistachio Syrup
Ingredients
- 150 g Pistachio
- Sugar
- 2 cup water
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 2 oz vodka optional
- green food coloring optional
Instructions
- Bring water to a near simmer a medium saucepan and remove from heat. Place the nuts in the water and steep for 2 hours on the counter.
- Strain, reserving the liquid, and finely chop the nuts. Place the nuts on a square of cheesecloth, tying the corners together to form a bag. Place the bag in the reserved liquid, cover and let stand for 2 hours.
- Remove the bag and squeeze to remove as much liquid as possible. Return the bag to the liquid and let stand for 8 hours more, squeezing every 2 hours.
- Strain the liquid, discarding any solids. Weight the liquid and add an equal amount of sugar, gram for gram (or ounce for ounce).
- Pour into a medium saucepan and add the salt. Over a low heat stir until all the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat, let cool and stir in the vodka and green coloring. Bottle and store in the refrigerator.
So what to do with all this liquid gold? Add a bit of syrup to hot or iced coffee, flavor a plain soda water, give your glass of milk a little pistachio kick, same for a smoothie. Roll up your sleeves and test your cocktail skills for fun and complex mixes. And this nutty flavored syrup is great to add to batter for cakes, waffles, or ice creams and yogurts. Like making your own liqueurs? Check out my green almond liqueur recipe.
And do not through out all that gorgeous pistachio meal once you are done making your syrup. I added it, plus some syrup, to a basic white cake recipe. This Pistachio Coconut cake was a huge success with my coworkers: so moist and perfectly nutty.
[mpprecipe-recipe:428]
Congratulations!
Happy happy blog anniversary – these recipes are the right way to celebrate. Definitely going on my list of recipes to try – thanks so much!
Happy Blog Anniversary Evelyne…thank you for the inspiration.
Pistachio syrup is totally new to me…the cake looks delicious.
Have a wonderful week 😀
WOW – 7 years! I’m impressed! Congratulations! I’m following you in a few places I’m sure. 🙂
Heartfelt congratulations on your lovely food blog’s anniversary….we love reading and learning such delicious and outstanding recipes you post and wish to see lots and lots more recipes,thanks 🙂
7 years!!! Congratulations Evelyne! Wow, 7 years…that’s like my kids’ age (8 and 6)! =P You work very hard to keep up the quality content, and constantly inspire us. Keep up the great work!
Happy anniversary to your wonderful blog!!! As I probably said to you last year, I’m always delighted to stop by and read your fun, unique, tasty recipes. You’re the only one I can imagine who would ever have their own liver challenge. And that’s what keeps your fans, like me, coming back again and again!
PS…terrific cake!
Congrats! and I love the sound of this!!
Congrats for completion of 7 years. I love the Pistachio Coconut Cake and would like to add in my friends get together. Thanks for sharing delicious pistachios.
Happy Blog Anniversary Evelyne! 7 years is a huge milestone…Congratulations. It has been a pleasure e-meeting you and reading your fabulous posts. I LOVE pistachios and the cake looks to die for.
Retweeted the giveaway.
Already following on Twitter.
Congrats on the long run! It is hard to know if it’s a blogoversary, blogiversary or blog anniversary…probably whatever’s easy to say or type. ha Thanks for offering this giveaway, even though it’s your special time. Very sweet! Pun intended.
Congratulations, Evelyne!I love your blog!!!!!
Happy blogoversary!! (I never know which version it is either, so I just type the first one that comes to mind) Wow…7 years is such a long time! I always forget my blogoversaries, so I sort of gave up ‘celebrating’ them haha
I absolutely LOVE pistachio (although I hate removing it from its shell), but I’ve never heard of pistachio syrup before…..definitely have to give this a try when I get my hands on some pistachio! I usually just make pistachio paste when I’m making pistachio desserts, but I’d imagine pistachio syrup would be a lot more versatile!
Woow 7 years!!! Happy Anniversary, Blogiversary or Blogoversary :). I’ve never heard of seen a pistachio syrup before but you have inspired me to give our old traditional Arabic treats a kick with a pistachio flavored syrup… why not?!! Thanks Eve.
Congratulations. And thank you. I’ve never heard of pistachio syrup. Sounds wonderful but I’d love bite of that cake too. Seven years of recipes. Good reason to celebrate.
Happy blogging anniversary, Evelyne!
You have come a long way in these 7 years.
Always love to visit your blog because it’s original and genuine.
Interesting recipes and tasting experiences and with this fantastic pistachio syrup- u ups, you did it again :))
Happy Blogsoversary Eve!!! What an achievement too 😀 And this pistachio syrup sounds so intriguing! 😮
Congratulations and many more.
Wow, sounds amazing! Really unusual flavours but sounds like they work really well. Congratulations on the anniversary too, amazing achievement!
Happy anniversary to your blog Evelyne! Blogging helps us face our weaknesses and embraces our triumphs in the kitchen! I love pistachios and both the cake and the beverage is the perfect little something for my afternoon sweet tooth!
Beautiful syrup and a great way to use the leftovers…
And a Happy Anniversary, Evelyne! I’m happy I’m getting to know you and love all your food experiments…
ela h.
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wow Pistachio syrup!! I didn’t even know you could make syrup from pistachio. Amazing recipe. Happy Blogiversary, Evelyne!
The cake looks beautiful and perfect for the celebration!
haha, I have same annual dilemma re the correct terminology.
Congratulations — so glad I got to meet you via our Creative Cooking Crew challenges.
I wanna a bottle! 😀