Ella Cinders Eats

Shrimp, Olive and Tomato Risotto

2011-04-27T22:52:00.003-04:00

When I go home for a week I transform into a housewife. All I have to do is cook, clean and do a bit of shopping in the afternoon. My mother and sister come home at 6 or 6.30 and thought they may not expect a hot dinner, they certainly appreciate it. Tonight I made risotto with shrimp, black olives and cherry tomatoes. In other words, I made "whatever there is lying around the kitchen risotto". Fortunately, my mother has a lot of tasty tidbits lying around the kitchen.

Shrimp, Olive and Tomato Risotto

serves 4 ladies quite decently

1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
100 g onion (1 small), finely diced
175 g arborio rice (1 cup)
1/2 cup vermouth
3 cups chicken stock
10 kalamata olives
150 g cherry tomatoes (1 cup), halved
450 g raw shrimp, sliced lengthwise in half
handful of fresh basil and Parmesan to serve, optional

1 Put the chicken stock in a medium sauce pan over medium heat and let warm while you work on the risotto
2 Heat the butter and olive oil in a large pot over medium heat until melted, then add the onion and cook until softened, about 5 minutes
3 Add the rice and stir to coat, cook another 5 minutes
4 Add the vermouth and cook just until the vermouth has evaporated the rice is drying out again
5 Add the chicken stock 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly in between each addition. Don't add more until you can scrape a spoon across the bottom of the pot and leave a clear line for a couple seconds. This process will take about 25 minutes.
6 When you've used 2 cups of stock, test the rice and if it is too hard, keep adding stock. If you run out and the rice is still hard, add water as you did the broth until it reaches a nice consistency.
7 When you like the feel of the rice, toss the shrimp, olives and tomatoes in and cook just until the shrimp is fully cooked, about 5 minutes.
8 Portion into bowls and top with Parmesan and basil if you please (don't listen to sissies who say pairing seafood and cheese is wrong)

This is a fresh, salty and slightly sweet risotto that is brilliant for a spring weeknight... that is if you're the housewife and have half an hour to stand in front of a stove while you wait for the eaters to arrive. I served mine with some rapini sauteed in butter, chili flakes, garlic, lemon juice and zest so I thought the basil would be unnecessary. However, if you are serving it without a side dish or really love basil, throw it on for flavour and colour!

Lemon Tart

2011-04-23T18:02:00.007-04:00

It's Easter weekend, which means time to eat copious amounts of spring themed food. Fortunately, I've had a menu growing in my head since the first snowflake hit the ground. I am fond of abundance and comfort, so instead of sitting down around the dinner table for a set menu, I had everyone sit in the living room and served all the food on coffee tables. I made sure to have all finger food, and plenty of it, so the five hours we spent eating last night were rather decadent. It goes without saying that there was wine and beer circulating for each course, this is evidenced by the picture of tarts below with beer in the background. Though keeping in line with the casual mood of the evening, I had no pairing system for the meal.

First round of food included cheeses (Italian pecorino, soft sheep's cheese from Prince Edward County, hard sheep/goat mix from the same and a cow's blue from Quebec), baguette, wild boar pate, grapes, unsulphered dried apricots, and butter roasted almonds.

Second round was lamb chops, deviled eggs, artichoke dip, crackers, a selection of fresh vegetables, and saffron garlic mayonnaise for dipping.

The grand finale was a zesty lemon tart with strawberries and whipped cream on top. I include the recipe here because I have finally come up with a filling that is not too soft and has the perfect amount of tartness. The crust uses heavy cream which I've discovered leads to an incredibly flaky pastry that needs to be treated like a princess, but is just as rich as one when it comes out of the oven.

Lemon Tart
makes one 9 inch tart, serves 6 generously, 8 little ladies

Crust

210 g flour (about 1 1/2 cups)
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
150 g frozen butter (2/3 cup)
1/4 cup- 1/2 cup heavy cream
egg white (from yolk for filling)

1 Combine the flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl and grate the frozen butter in with a cheese grater. Toss the butter in flour regularly to keep your fingers from directly touching the butter and melting it
2 Rub the butter into the flour lightly until it is evenly distributed through the flour
3 Stir the heavy cream in with a fork, only add a couple tablespoons at first and see how it feels, add enough so it just comes together. It should be extremely delicate, but just form a ball. Wrap the ball in plastic, flatten it into a disk and refrigerate it for at least an hour
4 Let the dough sit for about 5 or 10 minutes at room temperature then put on a well floured surface and press into a very flat disk with the heel of your hand
5 Roll the flat disk into a nice big circle and place gently in a tart or pie plate and trim the tops, shaping them however you like. I am awful at shaping pie crusts so I go the simple straight cut route or go for the 'rustic' look
6 Refrigerate the crust for at least half an hour, take the time to preheat the stove to 400 F and do some dishes
7 When everything is ready, line the crust with foil, fill with beans and bake for 20 minutes in the lower half of the oven
8 Remove the foil, brush the crust with some of the egg white from the filling and bake another 5 minutes

Filling
60 g butter, melted (4 tbsp)
150 g sugar (3/4 cup)
2 eggs
1 egg yolk (white reserved)
juice and zest from 3 lemons
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla

1 Make this while the crust cooks and once the crust is done, turn the oven down to 350 F
2 Combine the sugar and butter then add the eggs and beat until there are no pieces of egg, add the rest of the ingredients and mix until smooth
3 Pour the filling into the crust and return to the oven for 10 or 15 minutes, or until the filling is nearly firm when you jiggle the pan

Make sure to serve this pie with a mountain of whipped cream and strawberries, or else the Easter Bunny will not approve. Even though I didn't have a wine pairing system going on last night, this tart tart would be spectacular with a sweeter Riesling, especially if you garnish it with strawberries.

Pesto Hummus

2011-04-11T10:20:00.002-04:00

There's nothing like fresh pesto. At least that's what I heard, but I had never actually made my own before this weekend. Toasted almonds and lemon zest pack this pesto with a whole bunch of flavour. I will definitely be making it again as soon as I get more fresh basil.

I considered using the pesto on pasta or in potato salad. These would have been awesome, but I settled on putting the pesto in hummus. I've got to say, it may be my favourite hummus recipe ever. Fresh, lemony, garlicky with a hint of nuttiness from the roasted almonds.

Almond Lemon Pesto
makes 1/2 cup

1/4 cup roasted almonds
2-3 cloves garlic (personal preference)
juice and zest of 1 lemon
pinch salt
1 cup packed basil leaves
1/4 cup olives oil

1 Throw the almonds in the food processor and pulse until they are coarse crumbs
2 Add the garlic, lemon juice and zest and salt and pulse until everything is incorporated
3 Add the basil leaves, pour the olive oil on top and pulse until smooth, scraping down the sides a couple times

Pesto Hummus
makes 3 cups

1/2 cup pesto (1 batch from above)
2 cans of chickpeas (540 ml each)
1/4 cup olive oil
juice and zest of 1 lemon
1-2 cloves garlic (personal preference)
water
salt

1 Put the chickpeas and the pesto in the food processor and buzz until combined
2 Add the olive oil, lemon juice and zest and garlic, pulse to combine again
3 Drizzle in water until the hummus has the consistency you want
4 Taste the hummus and add as much salt as you want

The reason I don't just include the second lemon and extra garlic from the hummus in the basic pesto recipe is because it would be too strong that way, and this pesto is great to eat alone as a condiment. Serve the hummus with fresh vegetables, on a sandwich or it's surprisingly good with kettle cooked chips!

Almond Flour Waffles

2011-04-06T11:33:00.001-04:00

Classes are done, let the celebrations commence! My roommate and I decided some decadent almond flour waffles were the best way to get ready for exam season. These waffles may be gluten free, packed with protein and have very little sugar in them, but most importantly, they're goshdarn delicious.

After my recent experiments with almond flour cupcakes, I figured waffles couldn't be that difficult. But I still crossed my fingers and said a little prayer to the food gods when I put them in the iron, fearing the lack of gluten would lead to a mess. Turns out my first instincts were right and these little babies held together fine.

Almond Flour Waffles
makes 6 square waffles, enough for 2 weekend sized servings, 3 weekday ones

2 eggs
1 tbsp maple syrup (or sugar)
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup yogurt
75 g almond meal (3/4 cup)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
butter

1 Beat the eggs, maple syrup, vanilla and yogurt in a bowl until smooth
2 Sift the almond meal, baking soda and salt together in another bowl
3 Blend the wet and dry ingredients until thoroughly mixed, set aside while you heat up the waffle iron
4 Once the waffle iron is hot, use a silicone brush or other instrument to liberally butter it
5 Pour a scant 1/4 cup for each square and cook for 5-8 minutes depending on the iron's heat setting, you can open it to check the waffle after about 3 minutes, it doesn't fall apart as easily as a wheat flour recipe.
6 DEVOUR

My roommate and I enjoyed ours with some sauteed apples, yogurt and toasted almond slices. Delicious. One note: these do have a slightly eggy flavour. I used fewer eggs than a lot of recipes called for, but they still had a lightly Yorkshire puddingy flavour we actually liked.

Lemon Poppy Seed Cupcakes

2011-04-04T19:06:00.005-04:00

Last night I found myself wondering what I could make to celebrate today being the last day of classes. I settled on inventing a cupcake recipe, but they needed to be gluten free for one of my pals. Fortunately, I just bought a whole whack of almond flour so I was halfway there. I got to experimenting and researching to figure out how many eggs, how much sugar etc. I wanted to use. I had also bought a whole bunch of cream cheese and butter while impulse shopping at the grocery store, so I had a good idea for what the icing could be, but first, I needed to brown the butter.

At the end of the evening I had almond flour lemon poppy seed cupcakes topped with brown butter cream cheese frosting. They were sublime... if I do say so myself. The test is always whether someone who doesn't need gluten free baked goods still enjoys them. I didn't have even one left when I got home, except for the one I'd stashed in a corner of the kitchen so I didn't accidentally share it with people.

Gluten Free Lemon Poppy Seed Cupcakes

Tannis Price took care of the photography:)

makes 24 mini-cupcakes or 12 smallish regular cupcakes

125 g butter (1/2 cup)
125 g sugar (1/2 cup)
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp almond extract
juice and zest of 1 lemon

300 g almond flour (3 cups)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp-1/4 cup poppy seeds (depends how much you like them!)

1 Preheat the oven to 350 F, butter and sugar your tins
2 Beat the sugar and butter together until smooth
3 Beat the eggs, vanilla, almond extract and lemony goodness into the butter and sugar until smooth
4 Sift together the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly into the wet
5 Portion into the muffin tins and bake for 20 minutes, or until they are not wet in the middle anymore

Brown Butter Cream Cheese Frosting
makes 1 1/2 cups

65 g butter (1/4 cup)
50 g icing sugar (1/2 cup)
250 g cream cheese (1 cup)

1 Put the butter in a small pot over medium heat and cook until the milk solids brown slightly and the butter gives off a nutty flavour
2 Put the butter in the fridge to cool and take out the cream cheese, dice it and set aside in a bowl to come to room temperature while the butter cools
3 Once the butter is room temperature, beat it with the icing sugar then beat into the cream cheese (the cream cheese must be room temperature or prepare for lumps!)
4 Use to ice cupcakes with whatever you have on hand (I used a washed on milk bag and made messy spirals because it's all I have)

These aren't typical light and fluffy cupcakes, but they are not as dense as I feared they would be. They are tender, lightly almond flavoured and have a unique somewhat toothsome texture due to the poppy seeds and almond meal. As for the icing... it makes a cup and a half, but I advise making double because it is addictive and you can easily snack on too much of it. Besides, it never hurts to have the cupcakes piled high to the sky with it since it's not overly sweet.

Duck Mac and Cheese

2011-03-20T12:29:00.009-04:00

I make mac and cheese for a living. Seriously... my job involves two things: making mac and cheese and cookies. So you think I'd get tired of it, but I don't. Especially since at home I can experiment more and use things like... DUCK!

My favourite step making mac and cheese is the roux. Cooking fat and flour until it smells like popcorn and reaches a perfect, nutty gold is somehow soothing. Except when my hand slips and I accidentally flick some on my face, then it kind of burns and leaves a little scar on my chin... but I'm more careful since that incident.

If you don't fancy duck, just replace the duck fat with butter and omit the meat. It's a pretty flexible recipe, but I definitely recommend using duck if you enjoy decadence. Duck legs are cheaper and they didn't dry out for me, but you can also use duck breast if you're feeling decadent financially too.

Duck Mac and Cheese
makes 6 very-hungry lady servings, 9 by 13 inch pan

4 medium onions, very thinly sliced

photo by Tannis Price

hunk of butter
2 fatty duck legs
salt

75 g duck fat (1/3 cup)
75 g flour (1/2 cup)
4 cups milk, scalded
nutmeg, cayenne, dijon mustard, salt and pepper
600 g old cheddar
75 g Parmesan cheese (about 1 cup)

500 g pasta (I used mini farfalle)

Prep:

1 Preheat the oven to 350 F. Rub the duck skin with a bit of salt and score it to reveal the fat so it can render into your baking dish. Place the legs in a baking dish, cover with foil and bake one hour. Remove the foil and bake for half an hour more.
2 While the duck cooks, heat the butter over medium heat and add the onions, cook on low for almost an hour until they form a melty caramelized mass- add a dash of wine if they seem to be drying out too fast
3 Once the duck is done, lift the legs out of the pan and reserve the fat for the roux. Remove the skin and bone from the duck and chop the meat into pieces as big as you please
4 Once the onions and duck are ready, put a big pot of water on to boil and scald the milk while you grate the cheddar cheese
5 Cook the pasta for about 2 minutes less than the al dente serving time, you want it fairly firm

Making the mac:
6 Once everything is ready to go, preheat the oven to 350 F
7 Put the cup duck fat in a very large pot over medium heat, once it's melted whisk in the flour and cook for about 5 minutes, whisking constantly. Trust your instincts here please, when it smells like popcorn and gets all golden and smooth it is ready, don't settle for a beige paste and don't burn it!
8 Slowly whisk in the scalded milk, stirring constantly and heartily to avoid lumps. If it is clumping, turn of the heat and just stir it for a while until it is smooth
9 Once all the milk is in, cook the sauce until it is slightly thickened and coats the back of your stirring spoon, then stir in the spices, tasting as you go. Start of small and remember you'll be adding cheese so hold back on the salt
10 Turn off the heat and stir in the cheddar cheese and half the Parmesan until smooth, then stir in the onions, duck and pasta
11 Pour everything into a very large baking dish, top with the remaining Parmesan and bake for half an hour. Stick it under the broiler for a couple minutes if you want a browner top, watch it like a hawk!

This is a fairly step heavy recipe, but it's very much worth it. The duck doesn't fly at your face, it's more of a subtly rich flavour that is accentuated by the caramelized onion. I like to serve this with a baby spinach salad with apples, dried cranberries, toasted nuts and balsamic vinaigrette- it really takes the edge off the richness.

Enjoy with caution as a daily dose may make you forget all your troubles and just get happy.

Processed Cookies

2011-03-01T17:11:00.004-05:00

I rarely use kitchen gadgets for my recipes, but I got lazy the other day. I didn't feel like doing tons of dishes so I decided to make an experimental batch of peanut butter cookies in the food processor. I combined my basic shortbread and peanut butter cookie recipes. The result? An easy peasy cookie that takes about 15 minutes of work the night before and about 15 minutes in the morning (the perfect amount of time for a quick shower).

The trick to the perfect texture is 1) a food processor and 2) processed peanut butter.

Processed Cookies
makes 24

125 g butter (1/2 cup)
100 g sugar (1/2 cup)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
125 g peanut butter (1/2 cup)
130 g flour (1 cup)
40 g cornstarch (1/4 cup)

1 Process the butter until it's in pieces
2 Add the sugar, salt and vanilla and process until smooth
3 Add the peanut butter and process until smooth
4 Add the flour and cornstarch and process until smooth
5 Turn the dough out on a counter and form into a lumpy sort of log, it should be very soft
6 Wrap the log in plastic wrap and form into a smoother log, then put in the fridge overnight or until chilled through
7 Preheat oven to 325 F
8 Remove dough from the fridge and roll it back and forth on the counter a few times before taking off the plastic. This will help prevent crumbliness when you slice it
9 Slice into 24 (or more or less!) coins and bake 10-12 minutes or until they are lightly golden at the edges

There's nothing like an easy cookie recipe to handle emergency cookie situations. The best part of this recipe is that you can freeze the log of cookie dough so you always have some on hand. Just take it out to thaw the night before!

Quadruple Bacon Pierogies

2011-02-06T12:49:00.017-05:00

If my Vintage Peanut Butter Cookies are a bit too weird for you, try these pierogies. They are saturated in bacon, but I think these are more picky eater friendly than the cookies.

First, buy some good quality bacon. I get mine from the Glebe Meat Market; it is naturally smoked and doesn't have nitrates. It also releases loads of delicious fat as it cooks, not salty water like some super market brands.

Second, make sure to eat these with some good German beer. Bitburger and Erdinger are flavourful but easy going; they are neither overwhelmed nor overwhelming when served with the pierogies.

For more about pierogies and to see the recipe I based mine on, head on over to the Daring Cooks kitchen!

photos by Tannis Price (who is super cool)

Quadruple Bacon Pierogies
makes 4 hefty servings

Filling
400 g sweet potato (2 big ones)
125 g cream cheese, room temperature (1/2 cup)
4 pieces of bacon, chopped
1 onion, diced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp nutmeg
a few grinds of pepper

1 Bring a large pot of water to a boil, peel and dice the sweet potatoes and cook until tender
2 While the potatoes cook, fry the bacon until done to your liking, remove from the pan and drain most of the fat, then fry the onion until well browned in the bacon fat
3 Mash the sweet potatoes and cream cheese in a large bowl until super smooth, stir in the bacon, onions and seasonings. Taste the mixture and add more seasoning as you please.

Dough
200 g white flour (1 1/2 cups)
200 g whole wheat pastry flour (1 1/2 cups)
1 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup warm water
2 tbsp melted bacon fat
extra flour for dusting

1 Combine the flours and salt in a large bowl and make a well in the centre
2 Crack the egg into the well, add the warm water and bacon fat and stir everything with a wooden spoon, incorporating the flour into the liquids
3 Remove the dough from the bowl, it should be very soft but not quite sticky. Add more flour or water as necessary
4 Knead the dough for a good five minutes, then return it to the bowl and let it rest with a towel on top for 20 minutes

Assembly
1 Roll the dough out on a WELL FLOURED counter, it should be a couple millimeters thick
2 Using a cookie cutter or the top of a glass, cut 3 inch circles for smaller pierogies or a 5 inch circle for jumbo one. Collect and re-roll any scraps
3 Make sure you can lift up the circles, if they stick to the counter after you put the filling on top... it's a pain to say the least. Brush the tops of the circles with a bit of water, this will help them seal
4 Place a hefty teaspoon of filling on each circle, fold the circle over the filling and pinch closed by hand or use a fork to press the edges together. Make sure no filling is leaking out or they will fall apart when you cook them
5 You can cook them now, keep them covered in the fridge until you need them for a day, or stick them in the freezer
6 Bring a large pot of water to a boil, cook the pierogies a few at a time until they are floating at the top. Depending on the thickness of your dough, the timing can vary, cut one up to test if they are ready!
7 While the pierogies cook, fry some chopped bacon in a large pan until done to your liking. Remove the bacon from the pan when it's done, but keep most of the fat to fry the pierogies. You'll want at least 2-4 tbsp for each batch.
8 When all the pierogies are boiled, heat the bacon fat over medium high heat and fry the pierogies in batches until crispy and delicious. Keep the finished ones warm in the oven while you cook the rest
9 To serve, put a few pierogies on each plate, top with the cooked bacon and make sure you provide sour cream to dip them in

This is a pretty long list of instructions... but it's worth it. Homemade dough to store bought dough is as feather pillow to brick. It is far more flavourful and even has whole wheat flour in it; of course you can use all white flour if you please.

I know these pierogies may not exactly find their way into a Weight Watcher's cookbook, but there is a time and place for uberhealthy cooking, and that is not in frigid February when you have friends over for a movie night. Besides, I've been doing a lot of research into animal fats lately, thanks to Fat, my newest cookbook. Now, I don't believe everything I read, but it definitely made me do some of my own research and I've concluded that everything in moderation is probably the safest approach until these dietitians reach a consensus.

Vintage Peanut Butter Cookies

2011-01-30T12:55:00.003-05:00

For more on bacon, please read my friend Portia's article all about this godly ingredient:

I know, I know...more bacon... it's everywhere...I feel like half the recipes I look at use bacon. It's just cool right now. Fortunately these cookies give you a way to use up all the bacon fat you get in the process of making anything else with bacon in it, a way to use the whole animal while saving a couple bucks.

I call these vintage because back in the depression and during the war when butter was as gold is today, bacon fat could have been a cheap alternative to butter and a better tasting alternative to shortening. Also, Vintage Peanut Butter Cookies sounds better than Bacon Grease Cookies. I based the recipe off one my grandmother used to make in the 1950s, but replaced the shortening with bacon fat and added a couple pinches of this and that.

Vintage Peanut Butter Cookies
makes 30-36

125 g bacon fat (1/2 cup)
100 g sugar (1/2 cup)
30 g molasses (2 tbsp)
225 g peanut butter (1 cup)
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 tsp white vinegar
190 g flour (1 1/2 cups)
15 g cornstarch (2 tbsp)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
tiny pinch cinnamon (optional)

1 Preheat the oven to 350 F
2 Cream the bacon fat, sugar and molasses until smooth, then add the peanut butter until combined
3 Add the vanilla, egg and vinegar to the bacon fat and peanut butter mixture and stir until uniform
4 Sift together the dry ingredients and add to the wet in 3 additions and mix just until smooth
5 Form into hefty tablespoon sized balls, press down with a fork and bake 10-12 or until the edges are just golden

These cookies are easy peasy and cheap as heck if you get the peanut butter on sale! If you don't tell people you used bacon fat, they probably won't notice enough to comment. If you do tell them, they might be able to identify a slight smokey flavour. I find even timid eaters will eat these cookies without complaint.

Enjoy and remember: never throw out your bacon fat, it is a cheap and flavourful addition to many recipes!

Carrot Bran Muffins

2011-01-09T12:24:00.006-05:00

I have succeeded in making edible bran muffins. Actually, they're better than edible, they are the best muffins I've ever made. They smell nice, look nice and most of all... taste freaking nice. One of my super awesome work friends gave me a popover pan just before Christmas after I admired some glorious blueberry muffins she made in hers. Since then, I have dedicated myself to creating a recipe worthy of the pan.

These muffins are packed full of fiber and have a decent amount of protein as well. In other words, they will keep you full for hours. Now, I made 6 giant muffins with the recipe because I get upset when muffins don't have nice tops, but it can easily be stretched to make 9 or 10 regular sized muffins.

Carrot Bran Muffins
makes 6 giants, 9-10 regulars

200 g flour (1 1/2 cups)
60 g wheat bran (1 cup)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch nutmeg and cloves
60 g butter, melted (1/4 cup)
100 g brown sugar (1/2 cup)
1 egg
3/4 cup yogurt
3/4 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
200 g grated carrot (about 3 medium or 2 cups)

1 Preheat the oven to 400 F and butter your muffin pan
2 Mix the dry ingredients from flour to the spices in a small bowl
3 Mix the melted butter and sugar thoroughly in a large bowl, then add the egg and mix until smooth
4 Add the yogurt, milk, vanilla and carrots to the wet ingredients and mix until smooth
5 Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix just until everything is incorporated, don't overmix!
6 Portion into the muffin tins (about 1/2 cup each if you do the big ones!) and put in the oven, lowering the temperature to 350 F
7 Bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through. They are done when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cooking times may be slightly shorter or longer depending on the size you make them.
8 Let cool 5 minutes in the pan, then remove to a cooling rack and resist eating right away

The key to these muffins is leaving them a day before you eat them. Somehow this allows any bitterness in the bran to dissipate and all the flavours to blend together. A note on the flour I used: I used white because I find it gives the muffins more rise, even with the added bran. Somehow when I use whole wheat flour, they end up denser even though they probably have less bran overall. You can use whole wheat or part whole wheat if you wish. Anyhow, over all these were super healthy, super fun, super muffins.

Homemade Turtles

2011-01-06T23:31:00.002-05:00

I have a friend who loves turtles. She has a pet turtle, a turtle tattoo and lots of other turtley stuff. So when our Christmas celebrations came around, I thought it might be fun to make her some homemade turtles. I found a few caramel recipes online (see My Sister's Kitchen and David Lebovitz) and adapted them slightly, using walnuts instead of pecans (her fella likes walnuts) and dipping them in dark, rich chocolate. The result?

I am pretty darn happy. They taste approximately 42 million times better than store bought turtles. The chocolate is deliciously rich, the buttery caramel melts in your mouth instead of sticking to your teeth, and the bitterness of the walnuts actually works better with the sugaryness than pecans may have. But use any nut you fancy!

Homemade Turtles
makes 20-25 turtle sized turtles

100 g brown sugar (1/2 cup)
100 g white sugar (1/2 cup)
125 g light corn syrup (1/2 cup)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup milk
125 g butter (1/2 cup)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
200 g chopped walnuts or other nuts (1 1/2 cups)
300 g dark chocolate, preferably 70%, chopped
1 tbsp butter

1 Place the brown and white sugar, corn syrup, cream and milk in a medium saucepan over medium low heat and cook until a candy thermometer reaches 245 F, or until it forms a firm but slightly squishy ball when dropped in ice water. Swirl the pan while it cooks occasionally, but avoid stirring. This process may take up to 45 minutes, have patience, clean the kitchen!
2 While you wait for the caramel, prepare your other ingredients, measure out the butter, salt and vanilla. Chop and toast the nuts if desired.
3 When the caramel is ready, remove it from the heat and stir in the butter, salt and vanilla until smooth, then stir in the walnuts.
4 Drop turtle sized pieces of the mixture onto parchment paper with a spoon. Of course, you can also make megaturtles. Chill the mixture in the fridge until it is cool.
5 When the caramel is almost cool, put the chocolate and butter in a glass bowl set over a put of boiling water and stir until the chocolate is melted.
6 Remove the caramel from the fridge and form into the desired shape; round, flat, ninja turtle... anything. If it gets too soft, return it to the fridge and just reheat the chocolate when you need to.
7 Dip the turtles in the chocolate with a fork and return to parchment paper, then return to the fridge for the chocolate to set.
8 Eat them all in one sitting.

I was afraid of caramel going into this, but I came out of it with only minor injuries. A couple burnt fingers and a burnt tongue. But it was worth it. I would definitely advise making these one day, they take a lot of time, but not a lot of effort. And they really impress your friends (I hope).

Duck Poutinish

2010-12-30T23:21:00.003-05:00

I hear poutine is pretty popular nowadays so here you are: my interpretation.

If there's one thing I love more than bacon fat, it's duck fat. Knowing this, my mother allowed me to use the smoked duck breast she'd been saving for an emergency. In order to maximize the duck flavour, I used the meat, the fat, and even the juice left in the wrapping it came in. First, I fried tender Yukon golds in the rendered fat. Next, I deglazed the pan with a hefty dose of wine and cream. I finished it with thyme and fresh cherries because they seemed a cheery seasonal accompaniment. For more specific instructions, see below.

Duck Poutine with Cherry Sauce
serves 2 little ladies, 1 hungry human

300 g smoked duck breast (with fat!)
400 g yukon gold potatoes (about 4 small)
salt
1/4 cup red wine
pinch thyme
1/4 cup cream
10-15 cherries, halved and pitted

1 Separate the duck meat from the fat, slice the duck meat into very thin slices and set it side. Keep any juices from the wrapping!
2 Dice the fat into tiny pieces and cook over medium-low heat in a steel or cast iron pan until the fat is rendered and skin is crispy. Remove the pan from the heat, pick out the skin and set it aside for garnishing.
3 While the fat renders, cook the whole potatoes in a pot of boiling water for about 8 minutes or until you can stick a knife in with just a bit of resistance. Once ready, drain them, slice into 1 cm coins and set aside.
4 Once your potatoes and fat are both ready, put the duck fat back over medium heat and preheat the oven to 300 F. Drop water in the pan to test the heat, if it sizzles, you're ready.
5 Add as many potato slices as will fit in the pan and let them sit for about 2 minutes before nudging them with a spatula and shaking the pan to make sure the fat gets under each piece. Cook another 3 minutes or so until the bottom side is nicely golden, then flip and cook 3-5 more minutes until both sides are golden and crispy. Remove finished potatoes to a paper lined pan, salt generously and keep them warm in the oven while you cook the rest of the potatoes and finish the sauce.
6 Once all the potatoes are done, lower the heat under the duck fat to medium low and add the duck juice, red wine and thyme, mix it up until the sauce is smooth.
7 Add the cream and cherries to the sauce, cooking 2 minutes until the cherries soften. Turn off the heat, stir in the sliced duck and keep the sauce in the pan just to warm through while you divide the potatoes among the plates.
9 Top the plated potatoes with sauce, add a sprinkle of crispy duck skin to each serving, and dig in.

I served this with green beans almondine, which my mother made. This side doesn't even require a recipe: toast slivered almonds in a lump of butter, cook green beans in boiling water for 2-3 minutes (no longer!) and then mix the two together.

This may not be poutine in a technical sense, but it involves fried potatoes topped with a gravy like substance and was inspired by poutine... I actually preferred it. So if you manage to get your hands on some fatty, smoky duck breast, this is actually a fairly simple meal that will not fail to impress!

Spicy Shortbread

2010-12-20T20:29:00.007-05:00

Butter. Beer. Milk. Eggs. These are things I always have in my fridge. Hot sauce... not so much. In fact, I had never bought hot sauce before last weekend. I was at the Ottawa Locavore Artisan Food Fair to pick up some michealsdolce jam (mango ginger, yum!) when my roommate noticed a booth selling hot sauce. Chamomile Desjardins. We meandered on over and before we knew it, we'd tasted three, loved them all and each bought a bottle. The key is that they aren't overpowering, you can taste the different ingredients and it's not sheer, blinding heat.

So far, I've used my Vancouver Chipotle in pasta sauce, on eggs and now... in savoury shortbread! I was wondering what I could add to my usual recipe to make it more unique when it hit me: hot sauce! A great addition to any snack plate, these cookies don't last long... they keep well, but your friends will eat them. A word of advice, taste the dough before adding extra hot sauce and then incorporate more if you need to. There are no raw eggs, so no need for paranoia. Chamomile Desjardins' sauces aren't super spicy so I used a bit more than I would with some of the killer ones.

Spicy Shortbread
makes 2-3 dozen cookies, depending on the size

225 g butter (1 cup)
50 g brown sugar (1/4 cup)
1/2 tsp-1 tsp hot sauce
200 g flour (about 1 1/2 cups)
40 g cornstarch (about 1/3 cup)
1/2 tsp salt
100 g old cheddar, grated (about 1 cup)

1 Preheat the oven to 325 F
2 Cream the butter, brown sugar and hot sauce, then give it a little taste to see how you like the flavour. Keep in mind you'll be adding flour and it will mellow out a bit, so add hot sauce until it is just slightly too spicy
3 Sift together the dry ingredients then add to the butter in 3 additions and stir until well mixed.
4 Taste it again and if it is not spicy enough, sprinkle on more hot sauce while you incorporate the cheese into the dough
5 Roll out the dough on a well floured surface and cut shapes depending on what it's for (round, ginger bread men... hearts... what ever you want!) You can even roll it into a log, refrigerate the dough and then slice it
6 Bake on parchment lined sheets for 8-10 minutes, or until the edges are just barely brown, rotating the trays halfway through
7 Cool and then eat. Don't eat too fast or you will burn your tongue

The best part of these cookies is the way the brown sugar, chipotle hot sauce and cheddar all meld together. While any hot sauce will impress, there's nothing quite like chipotle to make your tastebuds dance. Enjoy!

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Sage Cream

2010-12-16T13:20:00.018-05:00

For those of you in Ontario (most readers I'm guessing), go pick up the new Food and Drink at the LCBO. The Holiday edition this year is full of tasty recipes and useful tips and tricks for decorating and gift ideas. So far I've tried satays with dipping sauce, shrimp and basil wrapped in Serrano ham with saffron cream, and last night, I made the sweet potato gnocchi.

I followed the instructions for the most part, but found I needed less flour than they called for. I also couldn't resist throwing a tiny pinch of cayenne into the dough to add a little depth. Here is my version of the recipe with cayenne, less flour and a new sauce I invented on a whim.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi
serves 6, with seconds

1 kg raw sweet potatoes, you will need 750 g, or 3 cups, roasted sweet potato (about 3 large)
2 eggs
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/8-1/4 tsp cayenne
450-550 g flour (3 1/2-4 1/2 cups)
extra flour for dusting

1 Preheat the oven to 400 F and bake the sweet potatoes on a line sheet for an hour, or until a fork pierces to the centre easily
2 Let the sweet potatoes cool, then peel and mash them well or use a ricer to press them. You need 3 cups total of potato flesh
3 Blend the two eggs, salt, pepper and cayenne into the potato until smooth
4 Add the flour 1 cup at a time until the dough is just lightly sticky but cohesive. I needed just less than 4 cups
5 Divide the dough into 10 portions, flour a surface to roll them out on and roll into ropes about an inch or less thick. Cut each rope into pieces about an inch long and place on floured baking sheets
6 You can wrap the sheets in plastic and refrigerate for up to a day, or freeze the sheets then put the individually frozen gnocchi into plastic bags for storage
7 When you are about 15 minutes away from serving, put a large pot of salted water on to boil. Once it is at a rolling boil, drop about 1/4 of the gnocchi in and cook for about 3 minutes, stirring frequently so they don't stick. Once they are floating on the surface, taste one for readiness and if ready, skim them out with a strainer and shake off the water off before placing in a large bowl. Return the same cooking water to a boil and repeat.
8 While the gnocchi cook, make the sauce and boil some peas if you want to use them

Sage Cream
makes enough for the gnocchi above

1/3 cup butter
6 sage leaves, roughly chopped
1-2 tbsp lemon juice (2 if you want to taste the lemon)
1/3 cup heavy cream

1 Place butter in a LARGE pot over low heat with the sage and cook until the solids at the bottom are browning and smell delicious, then remove from the heat and pick out the sage
2 Whisk in the lemon juice and then the cream until the sauce is smooth and add the cooked gnocchi, stirring until everything is coated with the sauce
3 Divide among the serving plates and serve with lots of Parmesan on the table and a sage leaf on each serving (if you're feeling fancy)

When I made this, I was craving vegetables. I love nothing more than buttered peas, so I thought it would be fine to throw some cooked frozen peas into a sauce like this. If you and your guests like peas, it really helps fill out the meal. If you don't fancy them, try a side salad, or go rogue and count the sage as a vegetable.

Making gnocchi may seem like a complicated process, but I realized as I made it that most of it is about trusting your own instincts. Sometimes the flour will be more or less than called for by the recipe, trust your instincts and stop adding it when the dough is just lightly sticky! Same goes for cooking time, I made mine bigger, so they needed to float for a few extra moments to cook fully in the middle- take one out and test it!

Dolsot Cafe- Ottawa

2010-12-13T20:50:00.011-05:00

I may not be an expert on Korean food, but I like to think I know what good food is. I was more than satisfied with my meal at Dolsot Cafe.

We started off with a seafood pancake and tempura. The pancake was like a mini-ocean of goodness in itself, full of green onion, tender octopus (or squid...) and generous hunks of shrimp. The tempura was alright, a tad doughy, but it had good flavour. They get points for the spinach tempura, freshness of the shrimp and the delicious yellow potato tempura... what ever it was.

On to the mains. I had the dolsot bibimbap, something I had read about on many a blog and have always wanted to try. I am an egg fiend and so the fried egg was my favourite part, though the crispy rice at the bottom of the bowl was also pretty special. Unfortunately, I don't like hot sauce, so that component was lost on me. My friends had a dumpling soup and some deep fried chicken in a spicy sauce.

The finishing touch was the tea, miso soup and traditional Korean sides of kimchi, potatoes of some sort and green beans. It just makes the meal more exciting and dynamic somehow. I like having lots of condiments.

I first read about Dolsot Cafe on the blog foodieprints and I am glad I trusted their judgment. Everyone enjoyed their selection and agreed we will be back for more. In the meantime, I'll be checking out Arum Market next door (same owners) to pick up some sushi ingredients!

Peas on Toast

2010-07-26T11:35:00.004-04:00

I'm moving in a week and haven't started packing, I have unfinished homework spread over my desk and a test on Wednesday I haven't even thought about yet. So what did I do with my morning? I made a nice little breakfast and sat down to browse food blogs. Productive.

I got the craving for buttered peas on toast from Mark Bittman and when I realized I had two bags of frozen peas in the freezer, I rationalized that I should make the recipe to use up my odds and ends of food before I move. Bittman uses fresh peas, and that would be ideal, but this is a quick little student version of the recipe with cheap, accessible ingredients. The addition of lemon juice at the end was another "use up what's around" kind of move since I had half a lemon calling to me from the counter, but it ended up brightening the flavours in a really summery way!

Peas on Toast
makes enough for 1 comforting breakfasts

3 tsp butter
1 small onion, diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 1/2 cups frozen peas
2 tbsp water
pinch salt and pepper
squeeze of lemon juice
4 slices of good bread
1 egg- optional

1 Heat 1 tsp of the butter in a small pan over medium heat, when it's hot add the onion and garlic and cook until soft- about 3 minutes
2 Add the peas and water to the pan and mix around, let cook for about 5 minutes until softened but not soggy
3 While the peas cook, toast your bread and prepare your egg (fried, poached, hard boiled, non-existent etc.)
4 When the peas are done and the water has evaporated (turn the heat on high for a couple minutes if it doesn't evaporate fast enough), add a dash of salt and pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice to taste
5 Spoon the peas over the toast and top with the optional egg and add an extra grind of pepper- dig in!

A simple recipe for a complicated sort of day. Now I am off to do some homework!

Mangoes and Cream

2010-07-24T00:23:00.011-04:00

Now that strawberry season is past, I need a new excuse to eat whipped cream. It's not Thanksgiving yet, so pumpkin pie is not an option, and it's too warm out for hot chocolate. So mangoes on sale at Farmboy beware, I am going to buy you all and eat you, but first, I will drown you in dairy fat. But that will only be at the end, first I will chop you, salt you and douse you with acid. Before I scare people off, I should clarify; I have recently discovered the best way to eat a mango is diced and mixed with a pinch of salt, a squeeze of lime juice and a nice bit of whipped cream on top. Many bloggers out on the interweb have mentioned salted mango as their favourite summer treat. I was unaware salted mango was a specialty of sorts, but seeing as I up the salt in most of my baking and generally love the contrast of sweet and salty, I thought it was worth a try.

Salted Mangoes with Lime and Cream
for as many as you like

1 mango per person
1/4 cup whipping cream per person
1/4 lime (zest and juice) per person
pinch of salt

1 Zest your lime, it is easier if it is whole so either make it for a group or just use a bit of zest and don't worry TOO much about wasting the rest
2 Peel your mango- the only reason I wrote this out in recipe form was so I could describe my handy dandy way. I nick the skin with a sharp knife and then peel it away by hand, I find this results in less waste left on the skin. Then, I cut the two sides off and then carve away at the pit with a small, sharp knife until I've got all/most of the fruit off... then I use my teeth to tear off the remaining bits and enjoy them for myself. It's a charming process really.
3 Now that the mango is peeled and somewhat dissected, dice it into smallish pieces and toss with the lime juice and a pinch of salt, adding as much as you like to taste
4 Let the mango marinate while you whip the cream. This involves taking out an electric beater, tossing the lime zest and whipping cream in a bowl, turning the beater on and I'm pretty sure you know the rest about how to whip cream. Of course, if you are like me and broke your vintage 1980s beaters by trying to make marshmallows and brioche dough... you may have to whip the cream by hand.
5 Top the salty sour mangoes with cream and eat with a fork. Or a spoon. I find either works.

So this isn't much of a recipe as I'm sure you've realized. It's more a recommendation that you try adding salt to your mango and an observation that whipped cream tastes good on everything, especially if you add various citrus zests to it (try lemon zest with blueberry pie). Of course, toasted coconut and dark chocolate also taste good with everything, and they are often what I serve on top of or with this dessert.

*yes I tagged this breakfast because anything with fruit can be eaten at breakfast. If it isn't a weekend (or day off), yogurt is the responsible workday substitute for whipped cream, I recommend a good quality plain 2% from a place like Hewitt's dairy. This is not an advertisement... but seriously, buy their stuff. It's real good.

Summer Custard Crumble Bars

2010-07-13T23:03:00.002-04:00

Work all day. Bake all night. A little bit of class in between. Life is busy, but good- mostly because I can feed what I bake to the people I work and learn with. They are gratifyingly appreciative. Recently, my recipes are built around produce I buy on a crazy impulse from Farmboy (I mean... I can't even eat raw peaches but I bought 4 this week). Other additions have been desperate attempts to use up the ends of ingredients in my disorganized pantry before I move. I don't want to bring 50 grams of this and that; I know the bags will surely tear in the move, and I'll find ant colonies thriving off the sunflower seeds or brown sugar in the nooks and crannies of my various utensils for months after. Maybe that's an exaggeration, but I don't want to risk the mess.

This all brings me to the recipe of the week. I don't post everything I make, but be assured I bake on a regular basis for one of my classes. Students are hungry folk. I had the previously mentioned peaches mellowing on my counter, and in this heat I was sure the mellowing would soon turn to sweltering and eventually disintegrating if I didn't do something with them. Based on a recipe I developed for a mango pie over the weekend, I used my perfectly ripe peaches to make a sort of peach custard and poured it over a very simple oat shortbread crust. The whole ensemble was topped off with a buttery brown sugar, oat and sunflower seed crumble- an attempt to echo the flavours of my mother's baked peaches. The sunflower seeds added an earthy element, a kind of summer-fields feel, but some said they would prefer them without, and I would agree that they are fun but unnecessary unless you adore them (which I do).

Summer Custard Crumble Bars
makes one 9x13 inch pan- 24 decent sized squares

200 g butter (7 tbsp)- frozen
100 g flour (about 2/3 cup)
100 g oats (about 2/3 cup)
50 g sugar (1/4 cup)
1/4 tsp salt

1/4 cup water
1 hefty tbsp cornstarch
5 ripe peaches, peeled and chopped roughly
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
75 g sugar (about 1/3 cup)
1/4 tsp salt

50 g oats (about 1/3 cup)
25 g flour (about 3 tbsp)
50 g butter (hefty 3 tbsp)
50 g sunflower seeds (1/3 cup, and optional)

1 Preheat the oven to 350 F
2 In a blender, combine the oats, flour, sugar and salt until fine
3 Grate the frozen butter into the flour mixture and rub the mixture with your fingers until it is crumbly- then press into a 9x13 inch baking pan with a removable bottom or lined with foil or parchment for easy removal
4 Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the edges are lightly brown and the centre looks baked
5 While the crust bakes, stir together the water and cornstarch until smooth, then add with all the ingredients from peaches through to the second 1/4 tsp of salt in a blender until completely smooth- once the crust is smooth, pour the creamy fruit mixture over it
6 In a small bowl, rub together the second measure of oats and flour, the brown sugar and the butter until nice and crumbly- sprinkle evenly over the custard and base
7 Return the pan to the oven for 20-30 minutes, until the centre hardly jiggles and isn't wet on top- but you also don't want it to be completely set and solid
8 Remove to a cooling rack and let cool until room temperature, then either remove with the help of the foil/parchment, or slice in the tray and remove piece by piece (removing with the foil can be tricky and buckle the pastry so be careful)

This dessert was well received, the only criticism (to my face) being the sunflower seeds. As with most recipes I make, certain parts can be swapped for others- mango for the peaches being the one I've tried. My mother always serves baked peaches with something cool and creamy, so I would recommend serving big honkin squares of this with whipped cream or good vanilla ice cream. I have yet to try it warm because 1) it is 35 C out and 2) I like the way the flavours meld in most bar recipes; but I trust serving it warm would be delightful. Especially if you're in a rush and don't have time for it to cool. I am off to read a novel, but if you read this, off to the market with you to get some seasonal fruit to give this a try!

Flourless Banana Nut Brownies

2010-07-04T23:18:00.003-04:00

Roommates are good for lots of things; keeping you company while you bake, lending you their camera so you can photograph the experience and then, of course, helping you eat the product. Recently I found myself alone for an evening, baking brownies. The result? No company (fortunately she has a record player I hijacked for the evening to fill the void of silence), no pictures of the brownies, and last but not least, a stomach crammed full of "testers" usually divided between at least two of us. Oh well, one recipe won't kill me and there were leftovers enough for testing the next day, and the next. That's not to say these aren't delicious, they are just so decadent even I have difficulty eating more than a couple per day. And I like me some hardcore chocolate.

I based my recipe on a foolproof epicurious recipe for flourless chocolate cake from a 1997 issue of Gourmet. Made as directed by Gourmet, it is superb (though I always add vanilla and salt). The perfect easy-but-astounding dessert for any crowd, from adult guests at my mother's dinner parties to tipsy teenagers at a university potluck. In the spirit of using my impulse-buy groceries I threw in a couple browning bananas and a handful of toasted walnuts lurking in the cupboard, and adapted the other ingredients to make up for added moisture and sweetness. I think I did a pretty darn good job and if you are partial to a rich fudgey brownie with lots of flavour, you'll agree!

Flourless Banana Nut Brownies
makes 1 8 inch round pan (12 decadent slices of cake)
or 1 8 inch square pan (16-36 small but intense brownie bites)

175 g semi sweet chocolate, chopped fine
150 g salted butter, cubed (1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp)
125 g sugar (a touch less than 2/3 cup)
3 eggs, lightly beaten
2 brown bananas
1 tsp vanilla
75 g cocoa, sifted (3/4 cup)
1/4 tsp salt
100 g walnuts, toasted and chopped as fine as you like (about 3/4 cup)

1 Preheat the oven to 375 F, butter your pan and line with parchment paper leaving a bit of overhang (for easy removal later), then butter the parchment paper
2 Melt the chocolate and butter in a glass bowl set over a pot of lightly boiling water, or microwave slowly until just melted
3 Whisk the sugar into the chocolate until well incorporated, then whisk in the eggs one at a time until smooth
4 Mash the banana with the vanilla in a small bowl (or just mash it in the chocolate if you don't mind a bit chunkier pieces) then add to the chocolate and stir
5 Sift together the salt and cocoa powder, then stir quickly into the chocolate mixture
6 Stir in the walnuts last, just until they're evenly distributed, then pour into your prepared pan
7 Bake for 25-35 minutes, depending on your oven, or until the center is set and doesn't jiggle. A toothpick will also come out relatively clean. As long as the eggs are cooked, it is safe to eat and may just be more delicate and moist, overcooked will yield slightly crisper edges. Honestly, it's hard to fudge this recipe.
8 Let it cool in the pan for a while (15 minutes to half an hour) then remove with the help of the parchment and let it sit at room temperature until cool before slicing.

This cake can be served warm with a scoop of ice cream or dollop of whipped cream (nothing from a can please), but I find the banana and toasted walnut flavours benefit from an overnight rest. I definitely recommend serving it with napkins however, since even if you overbake it a bit, it is extremely soft and messy, what with all that butter and chocolate! Please enjoy with caution and do not be tempted (as I was) to hide it from your roommate when they return so you can have it all to yourself. As much as I'd all like to think I can eat that much chocolate, the following tummy ache reminds me otherwise.

Strawberry Tomato Salad

2010-06-24T21:02:00.003-04:00

Some flavour combinations are classic; chocolate and peanut butter, honey and garlic, bread and butter. Other pairings require a more open mind, but wind up blowing away any doubt; parmesan and pears, bacon and dates, peanut butter and tomato. OK. So maybe not everyone has taken to peanut butter and tomato as I have, yet, but that's not the only unique tomato recipe I've tried. Perhaps many will find the idea of strawberry and tomato a little more approachable? I stumbled across it several times over the past few weeks on other blogs, and found myself intrigued by the combination. I thought there was no way two such acidic fruits (tomato is a fruit, remember) could combine to equal anything but a redundant salad- texture, flavour and colour wise.

Fortunately I have a (fairly) open mind. So as the strawberry season closes, I bought a basket of fresh Ontario strawberries, a ripe yellow tomato (to avoid a uniformly red salad) and pondered other possible additions. Balsamic vinegar was the inevitable dressing choice since I adore it on both featured fruits. Green onions were haunting my fridge and would add a nice green element, so in they went. Finally, the protein. I chose goat cheese and eggs, though many people may enjoy just plain goat cheese. The tanginess jived with the fruit portion while the creaminess played a nice counterpart, the egg provided additional creaminess to offset the acidity. I hope you enjoy my quick little recipe and keep an open mind regarding new flavour combinations!

Strawberry Tomato Salad
serves 4

500 g (4 medium) yellow tomatoes, chopped and seeded (seeding optional, but makes a less watery salad)
500 g (3 cups or so) strawberries, chopped
2 green onions, sliced
125 g (1/2 cup packed) goat cheese, crumbled
4 hard boiled eggs (optional), chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp dijon mustard
pinch sugar
salt and pepper to taste

1 Combine the chopped fruit, vegetables, cheese and eggs in a large bowl- reserving some of the cheese and onions to sprinkle on top after if desired
2 Combine the olive oil through to salt and pepper in a small bowl and whisk thoroughly, then pour about half on the vegetables and mix well
3 Add more dressing as necessary, if you are letting it sit for a bit the fruit may release juice and not need more before serving, but if you are serving it immediately it may require all the dressing. Use your judgement!
4 Serve on individual plates and top with extra cheese and onions or put in a fancy bowl for everyone to take some from, enjoy!

This fresh salad is perfect for a hot summer day. The olive oil, goat cheese and eggs (if you use them) smooth it out sufficiently while the green onion adds a nice kick. Serve it with some grainy bread smeared with butter if you want, I had some goat butter on hand which I thought would compliment the cheese nicely without being too redundant, and I was correct. I hope you give this a try before the strawberry season is behind us for another year!

Pizza Dough

2010-06-20T20:16:00.010-04:00

An irrational fear of yeast and an unfortunate case of impatience when it comes to my dinner means I have never made my own pizza from scratch before. But I found a moment on my day off when my stomach was full enough for me to commit a couple hours to preparing my next meal. Pizza had been on my mind for a few days due to a slight case of homesickness. My mother makes awesome pizza, think artichokes with goat's cheese and roasted red pepper, black olives with shrimp and feta, pancetta with green olives and old cheddar... and these are just the regulars.

I do love the fancy pants pizzas, but I also have a soft spot for a plain jane green olive pizza. I developed this recipe based on browsing other ones online and I used the higher amount of yeast because I wanted it to rise faster, but using less and giving it a longer rise time results in a better flavoured crust. Similarly, the amount of water depends on the weather, the flour and a million other variables. Feel free to experiments with your measurements. It's hard to screw up.

Pizza Dough
makes 1 large or 3 individual thick crust, 2 large or 6 small very thin crust

2/3 cup warm water (less if dry out, more if humid)
1 tsp sugar
1-1 1/2 tsp yeast
1/2 tsp salt
150 g (1 cup) whole wheat pastry flour
150 g (1 cup) white flour + extra if needed
olive oil for the bowl
cornmeal to dust pan

1 Dissolve the sugar in 2 tbsp of the warm water in a large bowl and sprinkle the yeast on top, let it sit for about 5 minutes until foamy
2 Once it is activated stir in the flour and salt until it is well mixed and not too sticky- though you don't want it dry. Tacky is alright, but it should come off in chunks on your hands. Add more flour as necessary until it is a cohesive ball.
3 Knead by hand or in a mixer for 5-8 minutes then place in a bowl greased well with olive oil, cover with plastic wrap or a towel and put in a warm place until it has doubled in size (1- 1 1/2 hours with smaller amount of yeast, 30-45 minutes with less)
4 After it has doubled, punch it down and divide into however many pieces you want. Let it rise again for maximum flavour, or let it sit five minutes- after either, proceed as follows
5 Press the dough out into a circle on a cornmeal dusted baking sheet, as thin as you like- I did 6 uber thin crust pizzas about 8 inches in diameter each
6 Let it sit and rise a bit, well covered so it doesn't dry out, while you prepare the toppings and preheat the oven to 425 F
7 Top with sauce, cheese and any other tidbits you have around then bake 15-20 minutes for a thin crust, 25-30 minutes for thick crust- once it is browning slightly and the cheese is fully melted, it's done

As with all recipes, don't feel the need to follow this one to the letter, trust your instincts and feel free to experiment. A combination of whole wheat pastry flour and white flour ensures a healthy but not overwhelmingly wheaty crust with a fabulous texture. The high amount of yeast yielded a very quick and delicious dough, but some people don't tolerate large amounts or prefer the longer rise time, so try both to figure out which one you prefer.
Before I go, here are some topping ideas my family and roommate enjoy on their pizzas:

cheese (common sense I know, but think beyond mozzarella to goat, pecorino, feta, cheddar etc.)
roasted vegetables (peppers, eggplants)
caramelized onions
artichokes
olives
cured meats (chorizo, pancetta)
hummus (YES, trust me!)
pineapple (try it with chorizo or pancetta for a grown-up Hawaiian)
fresh herbs (basil, rosemary, thyme)
pesto
and remember: not every pizza needs a sauce and not every pizza needs cheese- expand your horizons to include and exclude new foods!

Hazy Shade of Blue Salad

2010-06-06T23:02:00.006-04:00

I am not a smoker, but I am convinced a daily dose of smoked food would make a better cigarette substitute than either hypnosis or nicorette for people trying to quit. Give them smoked salmon on bagels for breakfast, some smoked meat on a sandwich at lunch and smoked oysters for an hors d'oeuvre in the evening. Three doses a day for a week and they no longer crave smoke in deathstick form- however, there would be a common side effect of drooling in anticipation of meals and probable weight gain.

My most recent smoked food addiction takes the form of a blue cheese called Blue Haze. After some research involving a Globe and Mail article on the cheese and its official write up on aboutcheese.ca, I learned it is made by monks in Quebec, then shipped to Ontario and smoked on a small farm. Talk about overcoming any provincial feuds for a worthwhile cause. The cheese has a creamy and mild but slightly sharp interior that can run dangerously close to overly salty if you don't love salt (if this is the case, talk to a doctor to find out what's the matter with you). The rind is where most of the smoke flavour resides, however unlike the crack of the cheeseworld, Applewood Cheddar- the smoke is real, no smoked flavour here. The combination of mild blue with just a hint of spiciness and a soft smoked rind ends up tasting like bacon, in fact after tasting this cheese for the first time I realized I didn't miss the pork aspect of a slice of bacon, I missed the smoke. This makes the cheese an ideal substitute for bacon in a BLT (especially since it starts with a B)!

For my birthday I was given a hunk of this cheese by some coworkers who knew (from my frequent, loud and lengthy odes to its deliciousness) that this cheese is the only blue cheese I will choose to eat outside of my job selling cheese (where I take tasting all the cheeses very, very seriously). My favourite use for it, besides in the BLT I just inhaled more enthusiastically than a nicotine addicts consumes their first post-quit-attempt cigarette, has been in salads. I have included my favourite recipe below, but remember salads are like colouring books- the lines are made to draw outside of.

Smokey Blue Salad
makes enough for 4 sides or 2 meals with slices of bread

150 g cabbage, shredded (about 1 1/2 cups packed)
150 g carrot, grated (about 1 very large or 1 1/2 cup packed)
25 g radishes, chopped (about 5 medium)
50 g sunflower seeds, toasted (about 1/4 cup)
1/4-1/2 cup sour cream and/or yogurt
2 tbsp- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
75 grams smoked (or not) blue cheese, crumbled (about 1/2 cup)
squirt grainy dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

1 Mix the vegetables and sunflower seeds in a large bowl
2 Mix the sour cream, yogurt and mayonnaise together in a smaller bowl- adjust the ratios so the final mix equals 1/2 cup total- it is better to be scant than over the top, you can always add more to the salad once it's mixed
3 Stir in almost all the blue cheese (reserve some to top), the mustard (don't be a sissy with it) and the salt and pepper- it shouldn't need too much salt if you use a salty blue like Blue Haze
4 Mix the dressing and the vegetables thoroughly, if there isn't enough, add in a couple tablespoons of sour cream or mayonnaise and stir vigorously once more until you get the consistency you want
5 Top with the reserved blue cheese, toss a loaf of hearty grainy bread on the table, crack a beer and dig in!

As with most salads, this is best enjoyed outside with your favourite beer- I prefer lighter beers such as Mill Street, but it has enough personality to stand up to an ale, especially if you get generous with the mustard! As I said above, the measurements are pretty flexible, so don't get too stuck on them. I put them there more to make my little ordered mind happy- substitute walnuts for sunflower seeds, add red peppers, heck- toss in a hard boiled egg. The only thing to remember is: have fun and your daily dose of smoked foods to avoid any smoke-deprivation induced cigarette use.

Carmen's Veranda- Ottawa

2010-06-02T20:43:00.003-04:00

I walk by Carmen's Veranda every time I go to work and peer in the windows, the vibrant decorations and funky chairs calling my name. After months of merely gazing longingly in from the outside and admiring their menu online, I decided I wasn't waiting for anyone to go with- I was going on my own.

I think it had something to do with watching Amelie this week for the first time in years; it inspired in me a desire to be a loner and also do something decadent and colourful. So on my break at work I wandered on over with my Michael Crichton novel (a guilty indulgence like Dairy Queen ice cream), got a table by myself and pondered the lunch menu.

The offering for lunch was a seasonal soup, a salad, four different sandwiches, a quiche, a pizza and several desserts. Their website (linked above) gives you an idea of what type of food is available, but it changes frequently. I decided I should go all out and started with the seasonal soup- beet. It was smaller than I expected but worth every bite. Served with two saltines I savoured every sweet earthy bite, I think there must have been some apple in it.

After I verified the chicken on the menu was happy (from Mariposa farms) I followed the soup with a curried chicken and cranberry sandwich on ciabatta with a small salad on the side. The salad was small but delicious with some bitter greens and plump blueberries. The sandwich was the exact opposite of small, I think the layer of chicken salad must have been nearly 3cm high! Moist and completely balanced flavourwise (sweet, earthy and a bit salty), each bite was a challenge to eat politely. It had a bit of celery, some adorable chives and just enough of the creamy curry to keep it together without resembling the goopy mayonnaisy mess of a typical chicken salad. I was thrilled to find the ciabatta bun fluffy and tender compared to most I've had, which really let the filling shine. It also meant it didn't fill me up too much for dessert!

Well... maybe I SHOULDN'T have had dessert, but I was being indulgent and creme brulee was on the menu. The flavour was banana, and I mean real banana, it had the same delicate strings of dark brown I love so much in banana bread. My favourite part was how it wasn't overly sweet, a challenge when working with such a sweet and carby fruit. I chose creme brulee because we eat it a lot at home, but I am away for the summer and wanted something I couldn't make myself. While they whipped out a real blow torch at Carmen's, there were some grainy parts. It had astounding flavour and enough crunch to redeem it my one tiny complaint- though sometimes after watching Amelie, I really wanted to indulge in that simple pleasure of tapping out music on top with the spoon before breaking it with a resounding (to my hungry ears at least) crack.

All in all, it was a fantastic lunch. For a soup, sandwich with a small salad, dessert and a coffee it was $32 (tax and tip included) which I find pretty decent for treating oneself out for a special, three part lunch. I hope to return soon, though due tendency to take after my brulee-nazi of a mother, I am afraid I may steer clear of the disappointment and stick to making it when I go home in August.

Just one last brief note: they had fantastic chairs. Each table had a different vintagey set, I was thrilled. The rainbow of decorations, chalkboard menu and closeness of it all made me feel simultaneously energetic and cozy. It was lovely.

Mellow Yellow Meringue Pie

2010-05-22T08:49:00.005-04:00

Birthday cake. The time honoured tradition of eating a slice of moist, rich cake (often chocolate) wearing nothing but a five inch layer of decadent frosting is all well and good, but I prefer to go the nontraditional route. Much to my cousins' chagrin, we don't eat cake at my family birthday party, we eat pie, lemon meringue pie to be precise. The question this year, seeing as I'm away from home, was "who will make my birthday dinner?" Turns out I enjoy cooking for myself as much as I enjoy being cooked for on my birthday, I'm a control freak like that. I took the opportunity to get a little creative with my dessert and this is what I manufactured.

Picture a typical lemon meringue pie. I won't even start in on some grocery store monstrosities I've tried, my teeth cringe at the potential cavities and my tongue withers at the thought of another tasteless crust I sometimes suspect is made from the same material as the box the pie comes in. So picture a good lemon meringue pie, for me this is my mother's, but it could be any one in the world as long as it's good. How could it get any better you think? So did I, until I made a few slight changes that made it a teensy bit more complex and didn't break any fundamental rules of the classic lemon meringue pie.

First off, I decided a handful of cornmeal in the crust wouldn't hurt. I do a crumbly pastry by using all butter and a bit more sugar than is typical so it ends up being reminiscent of shortbread, and I thought the cornmeal would add a nice crunch and the slightest cornbready taste, hinting at the summer ahead. It turned out quite lovely and was somehow crisply substantial but melted in your mouth, adding another texture to each bite. A word of caution, if you are not texturally experimental you should leave out the cornmeal and use all flour, one roommate was not blown over by the cornmeal, though she was not offended by any of the following changes.

Next came the filling for the pie. As I mentioned above, I am not a fan of cavities. I figured that due to my sweeter than average pastry and the sky high meringue I had planned, the typical ubersweet lemon filling would be cloying and redundant, like a lollipop dipped in maple syrup then rolled in brown sugar. First I reduced the sugar considerably and threw in some brown sugar to lend it a caramelly flavour and round out the tanginess of the lemon. It still wasn't mellow enough so I decided a splash of coffee cream instead of some of the water would be a nice touch- just enough to take the edge off, but not enough to send you into a dairy fat induced coma (keep in mind the all butter crust, we wouldn't want to over do it).

Finally, since I can't alter two parts of the pie and leave one untainted by my recipe-revising hand, I added some vanilla to the meringue. I don't know why this has never occurred to me, I guess I don't often think of lemon and vanilla together, but I'm telling you... it was awesome. I love meringues, soft pillows of marshmallow like heaven- I have been known to eat plain meringue, cavities be damned. The vanilla added just one more element of pizazz to the final pie and the end product was so smooth and comforting that my tastebuds started singing Mellow Yellow. I'm just mad about Lemon Meringue Pie and Lemon Meringue Pie is mad about me may not have the same rhythm as the original, but it works for me.

Anyhow, it is time for me to go eat some leftover pie for my birthday breakfast- mine had some berries in it so I figure I'll be getting some produce. For future reference though, I don't recommend using blackberries as they were a bit watery and sour and also very crunchy in the smooth filling, I don't mind a bit of texture in the pastry but my roommates and I found the blackberries to be a bit much. I might try it with blueberries or strawberries if I did it again, or just leave it unadorned.

Mellow Yellow Meringue Pie
makes one 9 inch pie

Crust
100 g (about 3/4 cup) flour
25 g (about 3 tbsp) cornmeal
2 tbsp sugar
pinch salt
100 g butter, frozen
1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tbsp cold water
ice water or flour as needed

1 First, grate the frozen butter with a cheese grater, toss with a tiny bit of flour and stick it back in the freezer while you weigh out your flours
2 Mix the flour, cornmeal, sugar and salt then using your fingers, rub in the frozen butter until the mixture forms small crumbs
3 Using a fork, stir in the egg yolk and small amount of water until the mixture comes together, adding a touch more ice water or flour as needed to bring it together
4 When you can form in into a fairly coherent ball, do so, flatten it slightly, wrap it in plastic and stick in the fridge for at least an hour and use the time to do dishes so your roommates have a nice clean kitchen
5 After the hour is up, pat the dough into a rough circle, banging it with rolling pin if necessary- then roll it out on a well floured surface, flouring it frequently so it doesn't stick. If it gets too sticky, return it to the freezer for a minute or two
6 Place the rolled out pastry in a 9 inch pie plate trimming of the excess and stick it in the freezer while you preheat the oven to 400 F
7 When the oven is ready, remove the crust from the freezer, line it with foil and beans and put in the bottom third of the oven for 20 minutes of until it is mostly cooked- use your judgment here!

Filling
100 g (1/2 cup) white sugar
50 g (1/4 cup) brown sugar
60 g (6 tbsp) cornstarch
pinch salt
1 1/2 cups water
1/2 cup coffee cream or milk
4 egg yolks
2 tbsp lemon zest
1/2 cup lemon juice
1 tbsp butter

1 Mix the sugars, cornstarch and salt in a large pot, slowly stir in the water and milk, whisking constantly so it doesn't clump- heat over medium high heat until it boils, then keep on low for another 3-4 minutes, or until it is nice and thick
2 After it has thickened, whisk a small amount of the hot mixture into the yolk to temper them, whisking constantly, then add the yolks to the whole pot and stir well
3 Stir in the lemon zest and juice and butter, and set the pot aside while you make the meringue

Meringue
4 egg whites (with not even a speck of yolk!)
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
pinch salt
100 g (1/2 cup) sugar

1 In a large, extremely clean and grease free bowl, beat the whites, lemon juice, vanilla and salt on high until soft peaks form
2 Slowly add the sugar, beating constantly, until the mixture is thick and glossy and holds strong peaks when you take the beaters out

Assembly
1 Turn the oven to 350 F
2 Pour the filling (it need not be completely cool) into the prebaked crust- then top with meringue, making sure it reaches the edges and anchors onto the pastry, or else it will shrink in the oven. Do some decorative dollops and swirls if you fancy.
3 Bake for 15-20 minutes in the bottom third of the oven until the top is nicely golden- if you have a very cool oven and peak inside often, this may take 25 minutes. Just be careful and keep an eye on it!

Now comes the best part, eating it. Just kidding, you have to let it cool to room temperature first- which is why we ate dessert at about 11 last night, I believe I was just finishing my slice when the day changed and I actually turned 20. We forgot to put in birthday candles last night, so what you see in the photograph is staged. A morning after picture that fails to capture the beauty of the pie coming straight out of the oven is better than no picture at all I figure!

So when you're feeling mellow and want something yellow, try some of this pie and your sure to find excitement in the most classic of summer desserts.

Homemade Pasta

2010-05-08T21:37:00.007-04:00

I want to share my success making homemade pasta. Based on various recipes floating around the world wide web, but mostly using one from Naturally Ella (a great blog, and not just because it has my name in the title!), I made up some dough and ran it through my new pasta machine from a fantastic friend I have had the good fortune of getting to know better since moving to Ottawa (see how much fun we have?). And so without further ado, I give to you... a recipe!

Homemade Whole Wheat Pasta
makes enough for 2 big eaters or up to 4 little tummies

150 grams whole wheat flour (about 1 cup)
4 egg yolks or 2 eggs
1-2 tbsp water
pinch of salt

note: I found it useful to sift my wholewheat flour and remove the larger pieces of bran since they tore the pasta when I rolled it on the thinnest setting of my machine, however if you don't want it super thin feel free to leave all the fibrefull goodness in it

1 Place the flour and salt in a large bowl on your counter and form a crater in the middle for the egg yolks or whole eggs
2 With a fork, slowly blend the flour into the egg until it is uniformly distributed, then depending on how moist the dough is, slowly add in up to 2 tbsp of water until the dough hold together when you pinch it
3 Knead the dough for about 10 minutes or until it is smooth and elastic, add a bit more flour or water as you knead if it is either sticky or completely falling apart (if you leave in all the bran it will not hold together as easily)
4 Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and set aside for 10 minutes, or up to half and hour if you have the time and patience (use this half hour to prepare the following sauce should you choose!)
5 After it has rested, give the dough a couple kneads, form it into a rough rectangle and feed it through the thickest setting of your pasta maker (if you don't have one, then just roll it out as thin as you can and cut it into desired shapes)
6 After a couple rolls at the thickest setting, folding the dough back on itself between each one to smooth it out, move on to the thinner settings, putting it through a couple times at each thickness to ensure it moves smoothly (DON'T fold it between these ones, just run it through)
7 After it is as thin as you want, cut it into your desired shape and let it dry for about half an hour, though I've had good luck cooking it straight from the roller so long as I keep an eye on it
8 Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the pasta 2-5 minutes depending on how dry/thick it is, test it to find out when you like the texture, then drain it to combine with the sauce

The homemade pasta initially intimidated me but I am quite glad I've whipped out the old machine these past couple days, the result is millions times better than store bought pasta and surprisingly simple to do. I served mine with a super simple tomato, eggplant and pepper sauce with lots of cheese on top. I am looking forward to making more pasta in the near future, maybe some with beets?

Carrot-Currant Salad

2010-04-13T18:29:00.007-04:00

While I developed a taste for cheese, coffee and other big kid foods a couple years back, I have been haunted by an aversion to mayonnaise. I still think it has no place slathered on sandwiches (unless it has cumin in it and the sandwich has a warm element, such as fried fish) or drowning potentially light potato salads, but I accept that a little bit can add a lot of flavour and texture to some recipes.

One dish in particular that I have come to love since I realized I can eat walnuts and tolerate mayonnaise is carrot salad. I made my first one this Easter as the dinner and topped it with blue cheese and deviled eggs. The meal itself was preceded by a hefty appetizer spread of cheese, crackers, dried fruit and beer, and I followed it with a pear pie, so the main meal was necessarily actually the lightest of all the courses. At the cheese store I work at they recommend using a fairly mild, but good creamy blue cheese- I used Ermite- it had enough flavour to stand out, but wasn't so strong that it overpowered the other ingredients. Personally, I don't love blue cheese yet... though now that I like mayonnaise who knows what's next! Here is my simple, light carrot salad recipe- easily adaptable to be more or less healthy depending on the level of decadence you desire.

Carrot- Currant Salad
serves 4

4 large carrots (400-500 grams total), grated
1/3 cup (50 grams) chopped, toasted walnuts
1/3 cup (50 grams) currants or raisins
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/3 cup sour cream
1 tbsp grainy dijon mustard (more or less to taste)
salt and pepper to taste

1 Mix the grated carrots and currants or raisins in a large bowl
2 Mix the mayonnaise, sour cream and dijon in another bowl
3 Mix about 2/3 of the dressing into the carrot mixture. If serving immediately, mix in the rest until it reaches the desired creaminess. If letting it sit a bit before serving, wait until right before the meal to see if it needs the extra dressing- sometimes the carrot contributes some liquid and you don't want the salad to be soggy.
4 Right before serving, stir in the roasted walnuts, salt and pepper and give it a taste
5 Serve topped with deviled eggs, blue cheese, goat's cheese or anything else your little heart desires!

The simplicity and deliciousness of this salad has me hooked. The dressing can be adjusted to whatever ratio of mayonnaise and sour cream you want, sometimes I even through some yogurt in there to lighten it up even more (or if I'm too lazy to go buy sour cream). In the end just keep the liquid at about 1/3-1/2 cup and add more or less depending on the state of the carrots. While this recipe would traditionally use raisins, the health food store near my house sells fantastic, plump currants and I love the slightly tarter flavour and smaller size. One word of warning: careful with the dijon mustard, I love it and could eat it by the spoonful, but not everyone is as enthusiastic, so make sure to add only as much as you think you or your guests will like.

Enjoy in some nice spring sunshine!

Not Your Usual Bread Pudding

2010-04-08T14:15:00.004-04:00

Please excuse my poor blog maintenance as of late; school and work have taken over my life. Fortunately, school will be done in a week and two days, after which I am going to Montreal for a night to relax (aka explore and party) with my sister and some friends of hers. Today one of the friends came over to help plan the trip, so I took a break from school work and used some left over croissants (from work) and cheese (from work) to create a simple bread pudding to fuel our planning.

Earlier this year I discovered that day old croissants could be turned into delicious, rummy bread pudding; while I love sweet bread pudding, I thought this alternative would be a fantastic way to celebrate my new job at a cheese store. This is a fairly simple recipe, and you can leave out the rosemary and use cheaper cheese (whatever is on sale at the grocery store that week) to make this extremely budget friendly as well; so get out there and hit the day old shelf of your local bakery!

Cheesy Croissant Bread Pudding with Rosemary and Caramelized Onions
serves 4 (very generously)

1 large yellow onion, sliced (about 200 grams)
1 tbsp butter
1 1/2 cups milk
2 stems rosemary, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
2 eggs
3 day old croissants (about 200 grams)
50 grams each old cheddar, goat's cheese, fresh mozzarella

1 Heat the butter in a frying pan over medium low heat and add the onions, cook over very low heat for 15-20 minutes or until the onions are deliciously caramelized
2 While the onions cook, heat the milk and rosemary in a small pot until almost simmering (don't boil), once hot, remove from the heat and let it steep until the onions are done or a bit longer (just until the milk takes on a sufficiently rosemaryish flavour), then strain out the rosemary
3 Once the onions and milk are ready, tear two of the croissants into small chunks and slice the remaining one into thin slices (you can also tear this one, but it looks nice to have whole rounds on top), then grate or crumble the different cheeses, depending on which types you are using
4 Line the bottom of a loaf pan with half of the sliced croissant then layer as follows: 1/3 torn croissant, 1/2 cheese, 1/2 onions, remaining 2/3 torn croissant, remaining 1/2 onions, remaining 1/2 cheese and then nicely place the remaining 1/2 sliced croissant on top of everything
5 In a bowl, whisk the eggs until smooth then pour in the warm milk (not hot or it will cook the eggs) and a pinch of salt and pepper to taste- keep in mind the cheese is salty!
6 Pour the milk and eggs over the croissant, cheese and onion mixture and press down lightly to make sure everything is saturated. Let sit about 15 minutes, or cover and refrigerate 24 hours
7 Preheat oven to 350 F, then bake in the middle of the oven for 45 minutes to an hour, or until a knife comes out fairly clean- it won't be like a muffin, but you don't want it to be dripping milk!
8 Let sit for 15 minutes in the pan, then run a knife around the edge and carefully invert onto a cutting board
8 Slice and serve, try and keep the top with the pretty croissant rings intact and put a sprig of rosemary on each piece!

My guest said she loved it, and I must say, it is one of my favourite recipes I have invented as of yet! It was custardy and rich with a nice hint of rosemary, but not overwhelming. The tartness of the goat cheese and sweet caramelized onions kept it nice and springish, though really... it was the croissants that made it so special. I served mine with some blanched green beans and carrot slices that I chilled overnight in dijon mustard and lemon juice, the cold and spice was a really nice counter part to the herby cheese.

Once again, sorry about the lack of posts, but it is almost summer and I plan to do nothing but work and cook(and eat, of course).

Pear, Walnut & Feta Savoury Muffin

2010-03-10T22:55:00.005-05:00

When the drugstore gives you organic pear juice on clearance- make pear muffins. That's what I always say. Well... I said it two days ago when I noticed the pear juice on sale at Shoppers and the walnuts sitting in my pantry just waiting to be toasted for muffins. I contemplated all sorts of combinations like pear/walnut/ginger, pear/walnut/date, pear/walnut/chocolate chip... but nothing truly called my name until I saw the flier for Farmboy and staring up at me was... feta. It made perfect sense when I thought about it; my mom adds pear, walnuts and feta to salad all the time, you can never go wrong with adding cheese to a recipe and lastly... salt makes everything better.

There isn't much to say about these muffins except that they are delicious. Each bite is exploding with the perfect balance of sweet and salty, with a little bite from the hit of black pepper. I used half whole wheat pastry flour and half white flour, and it resulted in a delightfully tender and half-healthy muffin, I think the savoury aspect lets you get away with more of a wheat flavour than normally.

Pear-Walnut-Feta Muffins
makes 6 hefty muffins

3 tbsp butter, melted
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup pear juice
1/2 tsp vanilla
125 grams each white and whole wheat pastry flour (about 2 cups total)
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp-1/2 tsp black pepper, depending on how much of a bite you want
25 grams toasted, chopped walnuts (a scant 1/4 cup)
1 pear, chopped
75 grams feta, crumbled (about 1/2 cup)

1 Preheat the oven to 450 F and line or grease 6 muffin cups
2 Mix together the wet ingredients from butter to vanilla until well combined
3 Mix together the dry ingredients from flour through to walnuts
4 Add the dry ingredients, the chopped pear and the feta to the wet ingredients and mix quickly, but gently, just until combined
5 Divide between the 6 cups, lower the oven temperature to 400 F and bake for 20-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean

Combine these with some chopped vegetables and a bit of yogurt and they make a complete meal; flavour and nutrition-wise. They are most definitely on my repeat recipe list, which is actually fairly short since I like to try new ones so often. If you are suspicious about the addition of feta; just think about how delicious zucchini muffins or carrot cake is, don't be afraid to add savoury ingredients to sweet recipes and vice-versa! Enjoy.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes

2010-03-04T19:13:00.023-05:00

No matter what colour you think Jesus was, almost every university student will tell you that a purple Jesus is a good reason to party. While most of these students will tell you the best part of said party is the infamous drink (composed of purple grape juice and miscellaneous alcohols), I like to think the funnest part is the excuse to baked themed snacks. In this case, I took the opportunity to fill some peanut butter cupcakes with grape jelly and topped them with a smooth halo of peanutbuttery cream icing.

I found the recipe for the cupcakes on Equal Opportunity Kitchen, via Peanutbutter Boy, and only made a couple changes of my own. They are uber-peanutbuttery with a nice hit of saltiness to counteract all that brown sugar. The next day they get even denser and almost melt in your mouth, while my roommate didn't love the texture and thought they could be a bit cakier, I like the it. I filled them with regular concord grape jelly and did three versions: jelly placed on top of a filled cupcake and pressed down slightly, jelly placed in a 3/4 filled cup and then topped with another scoop of batter to cover, and then jelly put in a hole cut in an already baked cupcake with the top put back on top. The best one in my opinion was the one with jelly placed in 3/4 full cup and filled with a bit more, it didn't sink and it didn't rise out the top- leaving the perfect top to decorate. As for the icing, this was a bit trickier... I will include the recipe but it is a bit fussy. Mine was somewhat runny and needed to be chilled before piping. But, without further ado and explanations; the recipe.

Peanut Butter and Jelly Cupcakes
makes 24 smallish-regular cupcakes

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped, salted peanuts
6 Tbsp butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup milk
1/2 cup grape jelly

1 Preheat oven to 350 F
2 Mix together the dry ingredients from flour to peanuts
3 Cream together the butter, sugar and peanut butter- then beat in the eggs and vanilla til smooth
4 Add the flour and milk to the butter mixture, alternating a little bit at a time
5 Fill 24 greased or lined muffin tins about half way full, you should use about 3/4 of the batter, reserve 1/4
6 Top the cupcakes with 1 tsp of jelly each, then cover the jelly with a little bit of the remaining batter
7 Bake for 20-25 minutes, mine took 30 because my oven loses heat quickly when opened and we checked often, but use your judgment. Stick a toothpick in the side if you want to test, try and avoid the jelly.
8 Let cool 5 minutes in the pan, then remove to racks and cool to room temperature before icing

Peanutbuttery Cream Icing
makes enough for 24 scantily clad cupcakes, double if you want them to be piled high

1/4 cup butter, softened but NOT melted
1/3 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup icing sugar (start with 1/4 cup, use the rest if you want it stiffer)
1/2 cup whipping cream

1 Cream together butter, peanut butter and the 1/4 cup icing sugar until completely smooth
2 Add a bit of the cream and blend until smooth, then add the rest then beat until smooth and slightly increased in volume
3 If it isn't thick enough to pipe (I used a small hole in a milk bag), then chill it for a bit, then beat again to smooth it out before icing. You could also try sifting in some icing sugar and beating til smooth, however, this will reduce the peanut buttery goodness.

While the icing is a pain, it was most people's favourite part (mine and my roommates at least). The whipped cream and low sugar content provide that "glass of milk" component necessary to accompany a peanut butter sandwich or cookie. The jelly is also highly recommended considering the cake itself isn't overly sweet, and I found a mere teaspoon seemed like plenty in the final product. And don't worry if you have leftovers, these maintain a great texture even 3 days later from all that peanut butter! So, if you are invited to a purple Jesus party, or any party where people with tastebuds (and not a deadly allergy to peanuts) will be in attendance, try these cupcakes- they are worth it.

Laurie's Sweet Treats and Cafe- Barrie

2010-02-24T23:54:00.013-05:00

I suppose food journalists have similar standards to other journalists, and so should avoid bias and reviews of places where they once worked... but I can't resist. This summer I worked a shift a week at Laurie's Sweet Treats and Cafe in Barrie, ON, while she went to the RVH farmer's market to feed the hordes of hungry hospital workers her delicious concoctions. While I worked there, I developed a dangerous addiction for several menu items.

Let me start with my favourite product: the savoury scones. They are by far the lightest, tenderest, flavourfullest and most original scones I've ever had. One day I tried one with chickpeas and spinach and the next week snacked on one with spicy salami and tomatoes. Both choices were equally delicious, especially accompanied by Laurie's famous soup.

It's difficult to choose a favourite soup, because each one is totally unique. For example, in the picture there is the crimson carrot soup (carrot with a touch of beet), while out of sight, my mother was eating cream of parsnip, with coconut milk! The key is that Laurie uses real ingredients (I know, I chopped many parsnips in the summer), and doesn't over salt it. If you don't fancy a scone with your soup, Laurie has a selection of sandwiches like chicken and chutney (with homemade chutney), veggie or pulled pork- served on a wrap or ciabatta and grilled to perfection.

Let's move onto the desserts; be careful, because if you start with them, they may end up being the main course. Fortunately I went with my mother and sister last time, so Laurie cut up three different bars for us to sample between each other. There's always a selection of bars, cookies, cake, cupcakes and tarts- but if you find yourself there alone and can't decide- go with the PMS bar. I actually forget what they are labeled as... but ask for a PMS bar and she'll know what you mean; caramelly buttery goodness with a graham cracker layer, topped with dark chocolate. The carrot cake is also worth a trip, no cake mix there, pure carrot- and the variation with chocolate is even better.

Finally, to accompany what you eat, Laurie has drinks. Reasonably priced too, one of the only places I've seen where a cappucino (which uses less milk) actually costs less than the latte. Using ILLY coffee, they brew delicious, delicious coffee that I may have drank several cups of one tired day in the summer, even in the heat. Forgive the horrifically bias, uncritical review... but Laurie has the best scones, best soup, best PMS bars and best lattes in town. Check it out!

Butter and Scotch Pudding

2010-02-19T17:24:00.017-05:00

What is life without butter and booze? I am not much of a drinker, but I appreciate the flavour alcohol lends certain foods; the glug of wine in a hearty stew, the rum dousing a festive fruitcake or the hint of scotch in butterscotch pudding.

While all these add a special touch, they are by no means a necessary part of the recipes; I know many cooks who make stews and fruitcakes that are appropriate for all ages and stages of pregnancy. However, it never occured to me before I began my butterscotch project that scotch was not a traditional addition to the pudding. Infact, according to both wikipedia and David Lebovitz (who I am slightly more inclined to trust), the name butterscotch refers to the scorching of the butter and sugar into a sort of caramel. Verifying this are the hundreds of recipes out there that contain no scotch whatsoever, including the butterscotch pudding recipe that started this whole adventure, which I found in Vegetable Heaven by Mollie Katzen.

After eyeing several recipes I decided I would have to do a cross between Katzen's lighter than traditional pudding and the Lebovitz creation. I thought Lebovitz's decision to add scotch on top of scorching the butter and sugar (which Katzen just cooks in with the milk), would bring the dish to the next level. Also, my grandparents were coming to dinner, and they like scotch. And that is how I came up with this recipe for butterscotch pudding, that has been served to several hungry ladies who gave it their seal of approval.

Butterscotch Pudding... with Scotch.

makes 4 servings (about 1/2 cup each)

1/3 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp butter
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups milk
1 egg
3 tbsp cornstarch
3/4 tsp vanilla
1-2 tbsp scotch (depending on how boozy you want it)
whipped cream and toasted coconut to serve

1 In a small, heavy sauce pan, combine the butter, 1/4 cup of the brown sugar and salt and heat over medium high heat until bubbly and cook until caramelized but not burnt- about 5-10 minutes depending on the stove and how caramelly you want it to taste. Use your discretion.
2 When it is ready, slowly stir in almost all of the milk, keeping about two tablespoons. Be careful, it will be all crazy and bubbly. Then turn the heat to medium and heat until bubbles are just beginning to break the surface.
3 While the milk heats, keep a close eye as it is messy if it bubbles over, mix together the egg, cornstarch and remaining two tablespoons of milk in a small bowl. Whisk it until as smooth as possible.
4 When the milk is hot, stir a tiny bit into the bowl with eggs and cornstarch to temper the egg, then slowly pour the egg mixture into the hot milk, stirring constantly.
5 Cook for about 2 minutes over medium low heat until thickened, then stir in the vanilla and scotch and stir just until combined.
6 Strain the mixture into 4 serving glasses or bowls (it might be easier to strain into a large bowl, then divvy up) and sprinkle the remaining brown sugar over the pudding. Refrigerate until ready to serve.
7 Just before serving, top with PLENTY of whipped cream and some toasted coconut.

I hope the instructions are clear enough, working with butter and sugar for caramel type things can be slightly temperamental so it's difficult to give precise, to the minute instructions. But... it's pretty hard to mess this one up, it just might take some practice to get the perfect caramel flavour YOU want. I served mine with whipped cream and coconut, of course if you are trying to keep it light you might want to refrain from this, but I found they made this dessert spectacular rather than just a regular pudding.

If you include the scotch, it really adds a nice touch, but even without- it is far superior to any pudding you'll get out of a box, and almost as easy. While it may take some hours to cool, I imagine you can also eat it warm, instant gratification.

Buddha Dog and Zencha Tea Bar- Collingwood

2010-02-16T16:35:00.017-05:00

Size doesn't matter. You hear it all the time; but the hot dogs at Buddha Dog in Collingwood are proof.
For our first full day of reading week, we took a family trip to Collingwood for some shopping. One goal of the trip was a visit to Buddha Dog, which my mother had visited in Prince Edward County, and recently opened up another shop in the area. They offer teeny tiny hot dogs for $2 a pop and $0.25 for each topping. They recommend trying a different sauce and cheese for each dog; with their different mustards, jellies and ketchups and selection of four cheeses- the combinations are endless. Well... not endless, but it was impossible to try them all even between three hungry shoppers.

Our favourites included the garlic aioli with smoked cheddar, cherry ketchup with feta and my personal favourite of spicy jerk sauce and old cheddar. As for the hot dogs, I ate a few bites of one alone and I can honestly say it was the best hot dog I have ever tried- flavourful with a slight chew. It tasted, how do I put it... real? It was definitely worth it for a novelty lunch- but is by no means affordable on a regular basis (you need AT LEAST three hot dogs a person). Also, they can be a tad stingy on the cheese and heavy on the bun.

While Buddha Dog was more of a one time thing, we also visited Zencha Tea Bar, which, if I lived in Collingwood would prove a serious threat to my time and money. They have a huge selection of teas, from traditional style matcha to extraordinairy black tea mixes- we bought a whole bag of one called Oasis, which contained about five billion ingredients, from coconut to currants. I chose a green tea with pistachios, figs and cardamom bits (pictured), which went perfectly with my gingerbread biscotti. My sister devoured a quinoa, almond berry pudding and my mother nibbled on a trailmix cookie- both got a thumbs up. Also- the man working there was lovely and the decorations were superb.

So, if you find yourself in the Collingwood region, head over to Buddha Dog for a (pricey) one time hot dog experience, and later on, stop by Zencha Tea Bar to relax and savour some delicious tea and baked goods. I noticed several other dandy looking restaurants and cafes I was dying to visit, but a stomach can only hold (and a wallet spend) so much.

Daring Bakers: Nanaimo Bars

2010-01-27T23:00:00.003-05:00

The January 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Lauren of Celiac Teen. Lauren chose Gluten-Free Graham Wafers and Nanaimo Bars as the challenge for the month. The sources she based her recipe on are 101 Cookbooks and www.nanaimo.ca. Their recipe interpretation can be found here, though mine stepped away from their's- accidentally.

As a proud Canadian, I love Nanaimo Bars. However, I have no great passion for the Olympics, they just don't inspire me. But this is not a blog about my sports preferences, it is about food- and if the Olympics is an excuse to make Nanaimo Bars- heck, who am I to complain? I decided since I love Canada and Nanaimo Bars so much, I should make them heart shaped in my heart shaped ice cube tray. The initial plan was to dip them in chcolate completely, but the custard was melting to fast and the chocolate solidified awkwardly, so they just got a light dip in the chocolate instead.

As for the recipe, I used a graham cracker recipe from The Cupcake Project, and used whole wheat flour instead of graham. I felt like a bit of a cheater not doing the gluten-free version, but I can't afford lots of specialty flours right now, and so I tried to use what I had on hand. I also happened to have toasted almonds on hand, and some 72% PC chocolate, and so those were my additions.

My big mistake was accidentally putting in twice as much butter as I should- and not having enough coconut or almond to add in to fully correct it. So, I crushed more graham crackers and added another half cup. The end result was an uber buttery, toasted almondy, salty base; not too sweet, since I used unsweetened coconut and a touch less sugar. The middle was just the classic custard, but extra thin, since I sometimes find it a bit overwhelming. The topping was 72% chocolate, the perfect percentage to bind together the sweet and salty other layers.

The overall verdict- fun challenge, though my roommates don't seem to love it. I think if you stick with their recipe though, and use toasted almonds, you should get an unquestionably delicious end result.

And it's healthy.

haha.

Fawaffle!

2010-01-20T23:23:00.010-05:00

Do you like waffles? Do you like falafels?
If the answer to both of the above is yes, than a fawaffle may be just what you need. It fills your stomach as well as the longing you've always had (but never realized) for all good food to be made into waffle form. I first read about these on the Veggie Wedgie blog, and intrigued- I developed my own recipe. I used all chickpea flour and it had a great texture; I was going to add an egg, until I read that chickpea flour is sometimes used as an egg substitute, so I figured it could hold together on its own. I also created my own sauce using ingredients I had on hand.

Fawaffles with Spicy Tahini Sauce
makes 4 standard sized waffles- or 2 servings

1 cup chickpea flour
1/4 tsp each salt and baking powder
1 tbsp cumin and coriander
3/4-1 cup water
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
about 1/2 cup loosely packed, chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp oil

1 Stir together the dry ingredients, then mix in the water, garlic, onion, parsley and oil
2 Let rest while you preheat a well oiled waffle maker and make the sauce

1/2 cup plain yogurt
2 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp lemon juice
a hefty pinch of cayenne pepper
pinch of salt

3 Whisk together until smooth
4 When the waffle iron is hot, pour in the batter and cook for about 10 minutes, or until little steam is coming out. This will vary from machine to machine- but mine took about 10
5 Pry off the waffle maker with a plastic utensil and top with the tahini sauce and extra fresh parsley

Dense, but delicious and surprisingly falafelly- these waffles are going to be added to my regular breakfast menu. They would also make a delicious lunch or dinner, or even a snack... Perfect for many restricted diets- gluten free, vegan (if you leave the yogurt out of the sauce), nut free, and dairy free (kind of goes with vegan I guess...) I served mine with some chopped fresh tomato and broiled eggplant to make a complete meal, though they would be nice with anything from cucumber to red onion , think about what you put on a falafel! Somehow, being in waffle form makes up for not being fried- I sense a trend!

Quest for a Cheese Scone

2010-01-09T19:48:00.007-05:00

Back at school again and craving something salty, buttery and carby to comfort the classroom blues- I began a search for a delicious cheese scone. The quest started at Carleton's student cafe, Roosters. I love Roosters' coffee, it is the best on campus, and their apple butter cookie is my newly discovered best friend for film class. However, their cheese scone did not satisfy. It was carby for sure- bordering on doughy. It was so dense that it lacked the essential cheese and butter part of the solution to satisfying my craving.

Next, I found myself at Francesco's in the Glebe, which also has fantastic coffee- better even than Roosters- and is the only kind I drink at home lately. Their baked goods are a combination of homemade and goods by small, local businesses, and I have had previous success with their biscotti and loaf cake (which is buttery, flavourful and generally, awesome). Alas, I was once again disappointed. The scone was herby and lighter than Roosters', but lacked maximum perfection. I decided the only way I could fill the bottomless pit that is my stomach was to make my own scones.

I chose a recipe I have used in the past with great results. To increase it's nutritional value (slightly) I used sifted whole wheat flour in place of the white, which takes out some of the bran and makes them a tad lighter than usual whole wheat fare, without totally discarding all the nutrients. I also only used 100 grams of five year old cheddar and two tablespoons of parmesan instead of her original amounts- which was cheesy enough to satisfy since the cheddar was very strong, but they are honestly better with the original amounts which are closer to 175 grams of cheddar and three tablespoons of parmesan. The original recipe can be found here, and my version is below(with weight as well as volume for tricky ingredients for which I always have to look up conversions).

Cheese Scones
makes 6

2 cups sifted whole wheat flour (250 grams once sifted)
1 tbsp baking powder
pinch salt
pinch nutmeg
1 tbsp of maple syrup
1/4 cup butter (frozen, or severely cold)
1 egg beaten
1/2 cup milk
grated old cheddar (100-175 grams)
2-3 tbsp parmesan cheese

1 Preheat the oven to 425 F
2 Mix dry ingredients and grate in the cold butter using a cheese grater, then use your fingers to rub the butter and flour together until it is grainy- then add the cheeses
3 Mix together the wet ingredients, then add to the dry and stir until just mixed
4 Shape the dough into a disk on a floured surface, then slice into 6 pieces
5 Mix a bit of maple syrup with an equal amount of water and brush the tops of the scones
6 Bake for 15 minutes, or until they are golden and cooked through

I served my scones in a bowl lined with my new "keep the baked goods warm" napkin I got from Santa, I am not sure where Santa got it, but it is both beautiful and useful! Joining the scones was some blueberry jam, peach jam and delicious Francesco's mexican coffee (despite their not quite perfect scone, I am still a total loyalist in terms of their coffee). My roommates joined me in my serene Saturday morning breakfast and agreed that they were acceptable scones (even the one who says she is repulsed by whole wheat baked goods). I am in no way dismissing Roosters or Francesco's other products, merely saying their scones did not satisfy my slightly irrational craving of the week. I hope everyone else has found a way to relax after the holidays, if not, I recommend a cheesy scone and a hot cup of coffee!

Real, Good Hot Chocolate

2009-12-22T18:52:00.007-05:00

Hot Chocolate. What is better on a cold winter day? This year I learned the difference between hot cocoa and hot chocolate, the former is with cocoa the latter is with melted chocolate. How this rather common sense distinction escaped my attention for so many years is a mystery, and how much of a purpose it will serve me now is questionable- but it is an interesting piece of trivia. At around the same time, I noticed that in The Santa Clause (you know, the one with Tim Allen?), Santa always asks for hot cocoa- I am convinced this is because of his health conscious habits, since hot cocoa has significantly less fat than hot chocolate.

As you may be able to tell, I am rather a fan of hot chocolate (and hot cocoa). This fall I drank plenty of hot beverages made with the cocoa bean, from pumpkin to maple to candy cane to plain- I like a bi-weekly dose of the drink. This weekend my two sisters, my mother and I had our Christmas celebration. The sister from Toronto got me the only kind of hot chocolate someone who really knows me would ever dare to get me. Real. Hot. Chocolate. Drinking Chocolate.

This hot chocolate is beyond fine melted chocolate mixed with cream- it is from Chocosol in Toronto, and it is called drinking chocolate. Made the traditional way with water, instead of milk as was popularized by Europeans when the new world chocolate was first introduced, drinking chocolate is a strong, rich drink with very little sugar. Unfortunately, my sister forgot which piece of drinking chocolate was which. Fortunately, this makes tasting them even more exciting since I have preconceived notion as to whether I'll like it... I just know I like chocolate so chances are it'll be delicious.

The Chocosol website says that sometimes they make their drinks with milk, but they prefer it with water. I actually tried a couple pieces of mine made with coffee first, and today tried the more traditional method with water. However, with my weakness for dairy fats and the fact that my sister and cousin had some left over from their decadent morning coffee- my traditional drinking chocolate wound up with a nice creamy cap of cream. The drink is delicious plain, though it needs stirring as the delicious solids settle to the bottom (an alternative is NOT stirring it frequently, and getting an extra chocolatey sip at the end, both ways are nice). The whipped cream brings it up a notch, but made with milk or coffee it is also delicious. I have included the recipe for a comparable drink I enjoy that is the ultimate hot chocolate-cocoa (because I really can't decide whether I prefer hot chocolate or cocoa), but I recommend trying to get some Chocosol drinking chocolate and trying it their way for the ultimate experience!

Hot Chocolate-Cocoa
for 2 (makes about 2 cups worth)

75 grams dark chocolate (preferably around 70%)
2 tbsp cocoa powder
2 cups water
honey, maple syrup or brown sugar- to taste
vanilla
salt
spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, cardamom, black pepper etc.)
whipped cream (optional)

1 Finely chop the chocolate and put it in a pot with the cocoa powder, sweetener, vanilla (as much as you like), a pinch of salt and what ever spices suite the mood- add a splash of water, just enough to make a thick paste
2 Put the pot over medium low heat and whisk until the chocolate is melted, then whisk in the rest of the water slowly and heat until everything is steamy and delicious
3 Divide between two cups and top with whipped cream

Warning: the above recipe is intense! I enjoy mine with no added sugars, but I am strange- you may want to add up to a 2 tbsp depending on your sweet tooth. While the whipped cream is not necessary, it adds a fabulous contrasting texture and temperature to the hot chocolate-cocoa- and helps you put on some layers to protect against the winter cold. Enjoy your hot chocolate or hot cocoa or what ever you want to drink this holiday!

Daring Cook: Salmon en Croute

2009-12-14T18:56:00.004-05:00

The 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Simone of Junglefrog Cooking. Simone chose Salmon en Croute (or alternative recipes for Beef Wellington or Vegetable en Croute) from Good Food Online. The recipe and details can be found here. This month's challenge was a little bit different for me because I did it before the due date! No rushing here- except that I was starving as I made it so I was rushing to have it in my belly.

I picked up some fresh salmon at the Pelican Fishery and Grill here in Ottawa, which was delicious, but possibly wasted since I overcooked it slightly. My challenge is that I tend to cook just for myself, and so doing the whole recipe would have been a little whacko since I cannot possibly eat Salmon en Croute for 3 days in a row, however much I love it. The pastry would get less than delectable anyhow. And so, I used a 120 gram piece of salmon, which I wrapped in 1/7 of the shortcrust recipe provided (of which about 1/3 was cut away in scraps). I like my pastry thin, thin, thin so I rolled it out as thin as I possibly could and then verrrry carefully wrapped it around my beautiful piece of salmon. I didn't have all the ingredients on hand for the sauce, and in the spirit of student money saving and using up ingredients I had around, I am imrpovised a sauce of 2 tsp low fat cream cheese and 1 tsp grainy dijon mustard with a pinch of salt and pepper.

The verdict? Well... my oven took about 2184564 hours to preheat for some whacky reason, and when it finally did, the fish cooked faster than the pastry because my piece was so small. it wasn't gummy or horrendously overcooked, just not perfect. However, my pastry turned out perfectly and each bite was melt in your mouth light pastry followed by sweet delicious salmon and a creamy, tangry mustard sauce. I served it with some zucchini, which was very briefly sauteed with some lemon juice, lemon zest, chili flakes, salt and pepper.

My roommates can verify that I truly enjoyed my dinner, and didn't stop talking about it for a few days. Heck, I still am. I just want to en croute everything with pastry now, soon it will be Christmas- I think I will en croute something for my family.

Comforting Clam Chowder

2009-12-11T14:59:00.008-05:00

I have been craving comfort food lately and when canned baby clams went on sale at the grocery store I figured I'd try my hand at clam chowder. In the spirit of healthy cooking to keep myself lighter than Santa Clause this season, I wanted a recipe with no cream but plenty of pizazz. Yesterday I tried one that used cornstarch to thicken it; it had white potatoes, corn, clams and some seasonings. While it was nice, but it was lacking any real flavour and colour. With a few... well a bunch... of changes- I have developed a delicious and nutritious clam chowder with bacon, booze, cayenne and cabbage.

Clam Chowder with Cabbage and a Kick
serves 2 generously (800 ml total if made exactly as I did)

2 pieces bacon, finely diced
1 small onion (100 g), finely diced
1/4 cup white wine
salt and pepper
1/2 tsp thyme
pinch cayenne
1 bay leaf (if you have it, I didn't and it was fine)
1 1/3 cups milk (I used 1%)
1/2 cup canned baby clams, drained with both juice and clams reserved
2 small or 1 large sweet potato (200 g), diced
1/3 cup (50 grams) frozen corn
2 cups chopped cabbage (200 g)
green onion and chili flakes

1 In a medium pot, fry the bacon over medium low heat until very, very crispy- stir it often to loosen up bits stuck on the bottom. Once done, drain off the excess fat
2 Add the onions and cook for 2 minutes then add the white wine and seasonings (adjusting to taste, you can always add more later) and use the liquid to scrape all the bacony goodness of the bottom of the pot
3 Pour in the 1 1/3 cups of milk, reserved clam juice and potatoes- turn the heat up to medium, cover and let it simmer away until the potatoes are nearly, but not completely, perfect
4 Remove half of the mixture from the pot and blend until smooth, then pour back in and add the corn, cabbage and clams
5 Cook for about 5 minutes more, just until it is all piping hot and the cabbage is slightly cooked, but retains some crunch
6 Serve in chowdery bowls with fresh green onions or extra chili flakes on top. Chow down!

Don't be intimidated by the large amount of cabbage in this recipe- it is winter and your body needs it! If it scares you thhhhaaat much, feel free to halve it or add in another vegetable. I didn't know if I should remove the bacon bits after frying and add them in after I had pureed the potatoes, but I am glad I left them in because it distributed the flavour, and there were still pieces from the reserved half of the pot. The cayenne is tricky because it varies in strength depending on age, and people's tastes can be very different, if in doubt- serve it with chili flakes and people can make it as spicy as they like. It wasn't the creamy stuff you'll get at a traditional seafood place, but it was perfect for me- thick, flavourful and full of different textures and vegetables.

Each bowl (if prepared exactly as instructed and serving two) contains about 350 calories and about 3 servings of fruit and vegetables! It's all that cabbage man.

How to Liberate Oatmeal

2009-12-04T13:38:00.012-05:00

I love breakfast. It is probably my favourite meal of the day, I wake up empty and hungry, the whole day ahead of me- and a good breakfast can mean the start to a good day. Or at least help. Over the past couple years I've gotten more adventurous with my breakfast choices; peanut butter and tomato on toast or soft cooked polenta with vegetables and poached eggs make frequent appearances beside my cup of coffee. One day I began to wonder what savoury oatmeal would be like. I did a quick google search to see if anyone had tried it before with good results and turns out, Mark Bittman has. Bittman recommended making it with a dash of soy sauce and scallions, and so I tried his way first, but since then have made many additions of my own. Turns out savoury oatmeal is now a regular on my breakfast schedule... though I sometimes eat it for lunch, or dinner.

My only problem with Bittman's oatmeal is the lack of veggies... and protein... it makes a delicious carby breakfast, but it is incomplete. To create a complete meal out of savoury oatmeal I have a few recommendations:
1) Make sure the oatmeal has an additional flavour added. Soy sauce for asian themes, lots of black pepper if your going for typical North American tastes or even something like balsamic vinegar if you are going to be using a topping like goat's cheese or roasted veggies. Often I also add a starchy vegetable to the oatmeal to bulk it up, like cubed roasted pumpkin, shredded parsnip or even eggplant- make sure to put it in with enough time to cook through though!
2) Choose your vegetable topping carefully, it will be on top of soft oatmeal and a contrast is rather nice. One of my favourites is bok choy because the stems add a nice crunch. Cabbage, shredded carrots and peppers all make nice options, I usually leave this layer raw or only slightly cooked, but season it generously.
3) The protein layer is usually the easiest part- I generally go with a couple eggs poached or fried, and sometimes bacon. I have tried cheese and it's nice, but I prefer the creaminess of the egg and the way it blends with the oatmeal.

Whichever way you make your savoury oatmeal- make it your own! Do what you want and be open minded, oatmeal has a very mild flavour and can be treated like any other grain (rice bowl anyone?). A contrast of flavours and textures and temperatures is ideal, but so is speed, so I have included both my quick asian oatmeal and the lengthier and more complex BLT oatmeal recipes.

Asian Oatmeal
makes 1 bowl

40 grams, about 1/4 cup oatmeal
1/2-3/4 cup water
1 tbsp soy sauce
150 grams/several stalks boy choy, chopped
1/4 tsp sesame oil (optional)
1 clove garlic, crushed (optional but recommended if you have time)
1 cm cube fresh ginger, grated(optional but recommended if you have time)
chili flakes
2 eggs

1 Heat 1/2 cup water to boiling in a small pot then add oatmeal, reduce heat to low, put a lid on it and let cook until smooth and water is absorbed. If it seems to thick, add remaining water nearer the end.
2 While the oatmeal cooks, heat a large nonstick pan over medium heat, then toss in the bok choy, sesame oil, ginger, garlic and chili flakes and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring to make sure the seasoning is broken up, then remove from the heat and put in a bowl
3 Return the pan to the element and fry the two eggs over medium heat to your liking
4 Once the eggs are nearly done and the oatmeal is almost ready (should take about the same amount of time) add the soy sauce to the oatmeal and stir it up
5 Put the oatmeal in your pretty Japanese bowl, top it with the bok choy and eggs and enjoy- making sure each bite has a bit of every component. Yum.

BLT Oatmeal
makes 1 bowl

40 grams/about 1/4 cup oatmeal
1/2 cup water
lots of salt and pepper
100 grams/about 1 cup cabbage, diced
1 tsp grainy dijon mustard (I absolutely love President's Choice)
2 tbsp plain yogurt or sour cream
1 small tomato, halved
2 pieces of bacon
1 egg

1 Cook the oatmeal exactly as in the previous recipe, adding salt and pepper instead of soy sauce at the end.
2 While oatmeal cooks, dice the bacon and fry over medium low heat until very, very crispy then drain well on paper towels
3 While the bacon and oatmeal are cooking, mix the cabbage, mustard and yogurt well to make a sort of coleslaw and broil the tomato until it is hot and cooked, but not falling apart
4 Once the components are nearly all ready, put the bacon pan back on the heat and fry the egg to your liking
5 Layer the ingredients in the bowl: peppery oatmeal, mustardy cabbage, bacon bits, hot tomato and fried egg- then give it all a grind of salt and pepper

I love both these breakfasts, but each satisfies a different craving. The BLT oatmeal is honestly the one I eat more often because I love the contrast of creamy, crunchy, hot, cold and sweet and salty... it is truly a delight in every bite. One tip for eating your breakfast oatmeal: use a spoon and a fork... it requires a spoon to scrape the sides, but a fork to tear apart the tomato and bok choy. A knife is pretty useless and each utensil on its own is inadequate.

I hope this lengthy post makes up for my recent lagging, I'm off to enjoy a steaming bowl of bok choy oatmeal!

Daring Cooks: Sushi

2009-11-14T23:20:00.019-05:00

This month's Daring Cooks challenge was sushi... at first I was uber excited because I have made it a couple times before, but as time slipped by, and money slipped out of my wallet- I began to fear I would skip this months challenge. Fortunately, avocado and cucumber went on sale at Farmboy, I had some extra spending money at the end of the week and I have hardly any assignments due (this coming week at least, and laws of procrastination say not to work until I have to).

I was going to stick to sushi only for dinner, but walking by the LCBO on my way home I saw, staring out at me with its shiny cover and thick, thick spine... the new Food and Drink. Therefor I had to go in and with the little money I had left, buy some Tiger Beer (one of my favourites, happened to be on sale) to legitimize my grabbing a free magazine. I actually had a recipe for tempura from the LCBO website bookmarked for ages, as my last tempura turned out rather... lame. My last recipe used white flour and ice water and seasoning, the Food and Drink version used rice flour and beer... how can you go wrong with beer? And so I set out on my sushi/tempura adventure with 2 tallboys of Tiger Beer (3/4 cup for recipe, the rest to keep me a happy cook for the sake of my roommates).

I will begin with my perfect tempura recipe. I combined the rice flour idea with the white flour idea and it worked like magic. My only notes are 1) do not let the oil get too hot or the veggies will cook veeeery quickly and 2) do not deep fry oh henry's, they melt and ruin the oil, especially unfortunate if you do this at the very beginning of your night.

Tempura
makes enough for 3 girls to eat their belly's full, plus a bit more

1/3 cup white flour
1/3 cup white rice flour
pinch salt
pinch cayenne
2/3 cup cold, cold light beer (Tiger Beer was my choice)
stuff to deep fry
oil (I used corn)

1 Heat 2 inches of oil to 350 F in a large pot over medium high heat, once hot turn down to low and maintain heat
2 When the oil is nearly hot, whisk the beer into the flour and seasonings
3 Make sure the stuff you want to deep fry is nice and dry then dip in the batter and let drip dry just a couple seconds, but you don't want it all to slip off
4 Drop into hot oil, watch out for splatters and let cook until it looks almost done, then flip over and let cook a smidgen more
5 Take out with a fork or other slotted instrument and shake gently over oil, then place on a wire rack

We deep fried a lot of random stuff that turned out well... japenese eggplant thinly sliced was a favourite, and so was zucchini. Peppers are also good, but don't have the same creamy/crunchy contrast as eggplant and zucchini. If you are looking for uber contrast, try avocado, it is truly decadent and amazing. On the other hand, the deep fried bacon had no such contrast but was still magnificent. The carrots were pretty much like sweet potato tempura. As for the pringles- they were all right but a bit redundant, and the hazelnuts and brazil nuts were interesting, but not amazing enough that I'd repeat that experiment. Overall- choose anything you want, but soft veggies give a nicer contrast. I am not sure if draining on paper towels would have helped a lot with the grease content, but we didn't have any, and ours were crispy and fine... and after a certain amount of oil is being ingested, it doesn't really matter how much more you get.

As for the sushi, it was very much like other experiments I have done. The recipe from Daring Cooks called for equal parts water and sushi rice, which didn't work for me, I had to more water during the cooking (about equal to the original amount called for) or else it would have burned.

Possibly due to the help of my good friend Tiger Beer, I forgot to make the decorative roll inside out and also didn't slice the avocado quite thin enough, so I guess I fail there, but it was delicious and lovely all the same. I made an omelette and fried up some bacon to put inside and topped it with avocado, I would call this The Comfort Roll.

The spiral roll went better, though it didn't exactly look like a spiral. I used red pepper, yellow pepper, carrot, cucumber, avocado and cream cheese and they were a nice combination of crunchy and creamy.

The nigiri I am afraid I slacked on. By the time I made the rolls I was running out of rice, so I just kind of tossed extra roll and tempura ingredients on top and gave them to my roommates as sustenance as I laboured over the hot corn oil for tempura.

Over all, this was probably my favourite challenge yet. My roommates were great sports about it taking so long, and gave me lots of compliments which I usually feel self conscious about, but my tempura was good gosh darnit, and it deserved the praise. While I am a little afraid of my new found deep frying abilities, I will use them only for good. As for the rolls, I think I can indulge in them a little more often, bacon and egg roll isn't quite so devilish as tempura bacon.

Thank you Daring Cooks for my favourite challenge yet... even though I didn't follow it to the word!
p.s. the photograph of the avocado topped sushi is by my roommate- not me. She is a fantastic photographer and took tons of other amazing pictures throughout the night, but I only put up ones of finished sushi tonight and so her prep pics will be shown some other time if I do a tutorial.

Maru Sushi and Korean- Ottawa

2009-10-24T11:45:00.016-04:00

Maru Sushi and Korean Food Gallery is located on Rideau Street near the Bytown Cinema, and like many awesome food places, it is neither well known or expensive. Maybe some people know about this place, I did research before I went and it has a handful of reviews- but nowhere near as many as somewhere like Kinki or 1000 Islands. Last year a friend and I discovered Maru as a last minute bite before amovie- after failed attempts to find a satisfying sushi lunch since then we decided to return. Were we ever happy. We stopped in for lunch on a Friday and stayed for an hour and a half enjoying our meal!

The menu is full of choices without being overwhelming and my only complaint is that many of the meals don't come with vegetables- at least not the bentos or sushi combos. I ordered C4 Maru Sushi (for the name, and because I had read about the 'sushi balls' on another site) and my friend ordered B8 Vegi Bento. My sushi was adorable and plentiful- 15 pieces and a miso soup for 11.95! Mind you, I was stuffed to the brim and feeling rather produce-less, but they were delicious, the fish was fresh with good texture and the wasabi and pickled ginger were both top notch.
My friend's lunch was even more thrilling since the tempura was actually crunchy, and stayed that way! The lady working there also gave her more sweet potato on request, which was very nice.

For dessert... yes I had dessert on that full stomach, I had green tea cheesecake and my friend had green tea ice cream. The cheesecake comes from Toronto, so not exactly made instore, but it was delicious with a crumbly crust and kind of mousse layer on top- and it came with a scoop of green tea ice cream. The flavour was quite nice and not too sweet, though there was a hint of nuttiness so I wonder if there was almond or hazelnut extract in it, but I didn't react so it couldn't have been too strong. Please excuse the absence of a picture, after demolishing half the slice (which was the perfect size to satisfy but not sicken) I remembered I had a camera... and also that tastespotting and foodgawker don't like pictures of half eaten cheesecake and melty icecream.

The service was fantastic- we only saw the one lady working and I don't know if anyone was in the kitchen. She may not have spoken superb english, but she was very helpful telling us about the menu and the food arrived quickly and was cleared a comfortable amount of time after we had finished- we didn't feel rushed even though we were there past the 2 o'clock lunch close.

When I got home last night I met my roommates friend, who had just gone out for sushi dinner and had eel on rice. We quickly realized that we had been to the same place, same day but for different meals! So I have it from 3 sources (me, my friend and my roommates friend) that Maru is quite lovely, and I will be returning again.

Incase you were wondering- my lunch, dessert, tax and tip came to about an even $20 that was worth every penny... though it could have used a carrot.

The Works- Ottawa

2009-10-18T22:34:00.017-04:00

If you wait an hour and a half to be seated, 20 minutes for your food and pay $15 for a hamburger and a (measly) side of fries- you expect them to be spectacular. While my meal at The Works in Ottawa was good, decent, even tasty- it was not spectacular.

Luckily I had done my research before going and was informed of the long wait times and overpriced menu- I had read that it was worth it for the experience, if just once. I must say I am happy I did it, now I won't be wondering whether or not The Works really does have the best burger (they don't) and it was worth the inspiration I found on the menu. My roommates and I chose out burgers before going thanks to the online menu, and so we were ready to order the moment our booties hit the seats. I went with the Down Under burger for the simple reason that it was the weirdest one to me, and if my food wasn't amazing (as reviewers suggested) it would at least be interesting.

My burger was indeed interesting. The combination of beef, caramelized onion, fried egg, pineapple, beet and gouda somehow ended up tasting something like maple... none of the flavours seemed out of place and I enjoyed it- just not $15 enjoyed it. To me, for that much money I should be given the choice of whether I want a runny yolk on my fried egg, a truckload of gouda and a hefty portion of fries (our table couldn't help but notice that for some reason we got smaller portions than other tables).

My roommates also enjoyed their burgers, though the bacon was kind of crummy and we all agreed it was not the best burger patty of all time- my sister makes a far more flavourful one. Overall, the business and price and general atmosphere of chaos was enough to make me steer clear of the place- though I may use their menu for inspiration next time I get ready to top a homemade burger.

Happy Thanksgiving

2009-10-12T14:03:00.021-04:00

Thanksgiving has always been a special time of year for me, mostly because I love autumn and the food that is now in season, and thanksgiving means eating lots of it! For the past few years my mother, sister and I have had what my aunt calls a "Thelma and Louise Thanksgiving" where we just do our own thing one night and usually end up piggy backing off someone's traditional family dinner another. This year my mother, sister AND cousin (who is from Revelstoke B.C. but is staying in Ontario for a year or so) joined me in Ottawa for a nice day at the market and a dinner at home. I had a very extravagant meal planned out, the whole three course thing, but because of work, midterms and general overwhelmedness I whittled it down to what I considered the essentials and relied on my great aunt's get together last night to fulfill our desire for tradition (specifically turkey and pumpkin pie).

For dinner I decided on a stuffed pumpkin because 1) I love pumpkin 2) I love serving food in other food 3) I bought a kilo of goat's cheese for 8.99 and thought I should use it 4) My nana makes orzo and I knew they would appreciate some nananess added to the meal and 5) It was relatively simple, healthy and impressive.

Orzo Stuffed Pumpkin
serves 4

2 small pie pumpkins
175 grams whole wheat orzo
1/4 cup chopped dried cranberries
1 cup frozen peas
200 grams goat cheese
salt and pepper
1 green onion, sliced
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp maple syrup

1 Preheat the oven to 400 while you halve and take the seeds out of the pumpkins, then place face down in a large baking pan (or 2 depending on how big it is) with about a centimeter of water coming up the sides, and put in the oven to roast for about 30 minutes- or until a knife goes into them easily
2 While the pumpkin cooks, measure out all your other ingredients and put water on to boil for the orzo- once it boils, add the orzo and cook until al dente
3 Drain the orzo and return to the pot, at this point add in the cranberries, peas, 50 grams of goat cheese and some salt and pepper to taste. Remove from the heat and cover until the pumpkins are ready
4 Once the pumpkins are done, drain the water from the pan and pat the halves dry. Melt the butter with the maple syrup and brush over the flesh and then fill each half with 1/4 of the orzo mixture, return to the oven for about 5-10 minutes, just to let it all heat up and meld
5 Put one half on each plate and top with the remaining 150 grams of goat's cheese, sliced green onions and a few extra dried cranberries if you want
6 Dig in, and feel free to use your hands a little of the pumpkin bowl lacks stability!

For dessert I considered tarts, cookies, cakes and even steamed custard IN a pumpkin... but my head almost exploded so I decided I needed something simpler. Fortunately, apple cider went on sale at Farmboy and Ben and Jerry's went on sale at the Independent (3/$10!!) and I found my solution...

Hot Buttered Rum Apple Cider Floats
makes 4

3 cups apple cider (unsweetened is best)
2 cinnamon sticks for the pot, 4 for garnish
0-4 oz rum (do you want it for kids or adults?)
2 tbsp butter
1 cup GOOD vanilla ice cream

1 Heat the cider and 2 cinnamon sticks until almost boiling, while it heats put 1/4 cup of ice cream and 1 cinnamon stick in each of four glasses
2 Take the cider off the heat, stir in the butter and rum, pour over the ice cream and serve IMMEDIATELY with spoons or straws!

This was truly the easiest thanksgiving dinner I've ever made, which makes me thankful for the ability of dairy fat to turn the plainest little thing into something delicious.

Daring Bakers: Puff Pastry

2009-09-27T18:25:00.008-04:00

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan. "Daring Bakers' September Challenge...get out your rolling pins!" called the September challenge forum- and there began my problems, for I have no rolling pin.

Petrified as I was of this challenge, seeing as I have left the comforts of my mother's kitchen (more specifically, the food processor, full pantry and rolling pin), this is supposed to make me more DARING and I promised to complete it. I left it to the 26th of course, as a student I am a professional procrastinator. As a student I am also poor as heck, so I daringly quartered the recipe to fit my budget and counter space. The dough was easily enough mixed by hand, and I didn't exactly estimate the amounts but they weren't very scientific... All of unpreparedness and carelessness was crowned by my lack of a rolling pin.

And so, armed with a cold bottle of corona as my tool of rolling and relaxing, I tackled the recipe. My measurements decided that they would work, and the bottle of corona actually helped keep the pastry cold if anything! I made the recipe as told, except for the quartering part, on Friday and left it overnight in fridge overnight. Saturday I proceeded to create little heart shaped vols-au-vent that I filled with rosewater whipped cream and topped with rose petals and chopped pistachios.

The moral of this story is that beer truly does solve everything and that rosewater whipped cream is like eating perfume... in a strange luxurious can-only-eat-one-at-a-time kind of way. I hope you are daring enough to make this- if I can... anyone can.

Grilled PBLT

2009-09-17T09:13:00.011-04:00

What is university to you? To me, it is an endless rush of thoughts and plans, at least for the first couple weeks. This leaves me less time than usual to cook and eat, and the results seem to be that I keep getting rather odd cravings. My latest craving was bacon... with peanut butter, I had seen them paired together before and somehow my little head got to thinking it wanted to taste the combination. I have had experience with peanut butter and tomato, and so I had confidence that this combination would be edible if not my favourite. I am fortunate enough to have a roommate with a bread maker and this past weekend she made some fresh whole wheat bread, the perfect container for what turned into one of the best sandwiches ever.

Grilled PBLT
makes 1

2 slices of good whole wheat bread
1 tbsp peanut butter
1 small tomato, sliced
2 strips of bacon, fried and drained
2 lettuce leaves
salt and pepper

1. Spread the bread with the peanut butter
2. Top with tomato, bacon, then lettuce and sprinkle with salt and pepper
3. Grill in a panini press, or fry in a little leftover bacon grease, pressing down on it with a spatula
4. Gobble it up.

I had this for breakfast about two days ago, and I think I'll have it again tomorrow. The sweetness of the bread, earthy peanut butter, acidic tomatoes, salty bacon and fresh crunchy lettuce all in one bite really does result in a festivity of textures and tastes that makes your morning that little bit better.

Dreamy Creamy Bubble Tea

2009-09-11T17:26:00.010-04:00

I am once again a poor student in Ottawa and therefor am completely dependent on the lovely fliers that arrive in my mailbox on Fridays and tempt me with their awesome deals- which distress me since no matter how awesome they are, I still can't afford them all. However, I could afford the cantaloupe that was on for $1.50 this week, and along with a couple pantry staples I managed to whip up one of my favourite hot weather drinks to tide me over til dinner.

Bubble tea was introduced to me in Toronto, and as a texturally experimental kind of person the tapioca pearls thrilled me. The sweetness and $4 price tag however, did not thrill me. Fortunately you can get big, colourful tapioca pearls in Chinatown or Asian food stores in any city for under $2 and with a little bit of fruit, green tea and sweetener of your choice, you are set to go.

Dreamy Creamy Bubble Tea
makes 2 medium drinks

2 cups of cubed cantaloupe, frozen
3/4 cup strong brewed green tea, cooled
25 grams tapioca pearls
1 tsp honey
tiny dash of ginger... minuscule really

1 Cook the tapioca pearls according to their instructions, each brand differs. For mine- I put the pearls in a small pot with water, bring to a boil and simmer for about 15 minutes, then remove from heat and cover for 15 minutes, then drain and rinse with cold water.
2 Once the pearls are cooked and drained, mix with the honey and ginger and put in the fridge until they are needed
3 Blend the cantaloupe and green tea until smooth and creamy
4 Divide the pearls between two glasses, top with the cantaloupe smoothie and enjoy!

One note: While you can eat the pearls with a spoon, they are far more delightful to slurp through a special bubbletea straw which I discovered is impossible to find in Barrie- I recommend stocking up on a pack if ever you see them in a specialty asian store or make it to Chinatown anytime soon. While I used cantaloupe, honey and ginger in this one, really any flavours can be used. Some other favourites include: Strawberry and maple syrup for a more Canadian twist. Pineapple and sugar syrup with coconut milk instead of green tea for a tropical punch. Mango, honey and cardamom with a touch of yogurt for a more lassi-esque bubbletea. I think you get the point- frozen fruit, something sweet, liquid ingredient of choice, bubbles!

Sapporo Ichibang- Sudbury

2009-08-25T13:54:00.007-04:00

Because I am on vacation- I am eating at restaurants and snacking a heck of a lot, as a result I'm not cooking a whole ton. That is how today I wound up at Sapporo Ichibang in downtown Sudbury for a take-out bento. I love Sapporo, I have since I started going with a few friends in grade 9, and every time I come to Sudbury I try and go. I have never gotten a take-out lunch before, so I was curious to see how it would be.

How was it? Well, I was a little worried when I saw what looked like tofu being put in my Sashimi lunch bento- there was no way I would be satisfied with tofu instead of some delicious sashimi! Luckily, when I got home and opened the box, there was no tofu to be found and there were actually more pieces of sashimi than they said there would be! I'll start from the beginning- I ordered the Sashimi lunch, about $11 for a salad, california roll, rice and sashimi (they said 9 pieces). What I got was a slightly droopy salad (I never have any luck with salads though), a delicious california roll, a perfect amount of rice and then the sashimi- 3 pieces of salmon, 3 of tuna, 3 of some white fish I am afraid I don't know the name of, 2 of another mystery white fish and 2 crab sticks. The salmon and tuna were both delicious and fell apart in my mouth, and the first mystery white fish was a tiny bit tougher and fishier, but I still loved it. The second mystery white fish, that I got two of, was what I mistook for tofu- this fish was soft and slightly sweet, I loved it! As for the crab stick- like my mother has for processed cheese, I have a soft spot for crab stick and thoroughly enjoy it drenched in soy sauce.

In conclusion- for $11, I got 11 pieces of fish, 2 pieces of crab stick, 6 pieces of california roll, a salad and some rice (if you eat in, you get a miso soup too). Even better- it took all of 10 minutes from when I entered the restaurant to when I got my meal and left! To me, this was definitely worth it and I am sad I don't know of anywhere I know this well in Ottawa yet. If you are in Sudbury and want affordable sushi, this is definitely the place to go; as Restaurantica reviews show, it is quite the popular place.

Wild Earth Bakery and Cafe- Toronto

2009-08-23T15:02:00.008-04:00

My summer holidays have begun and I spent the last four days adventuring in Oakville (which has a great Whole Foods!) and in Toronto while visiting my family. That is how I am able to tell you about Wild Earth Bakery and Cafe, which I came across while out shopping in the beaches yesterday. Well, that's a lie, I noticed it on Friday and was tempted but I'd just had some delicious ice cream from Ed's Real Scoop, and so I decided I would return to Wild Earth the following day. After a little bit of shopping I was more than ready for a quick snack, and so my cousin and I popped in to check out their selection.

Problem number one: too many good looking treats, too little time. Fortunately the girl working there was very patient and helpful and didn't mind that we took forever to decide. The selections were perfect- not so many as to be overwhelmed, but enough so that there is something for everyone. While a lot of their stuff is gluten free, which can cause some skepticism in some people (including me at times) I would highly recommend trying some of their treats whether gluten free or not. I tried a pumpkin scone and it was AWESOME, especially with a dab of butter. It was crumbly but not dry, and super flavourful. My cousin tried a rasberry coconut bar which she was also thrilled with. My favourite thing about Wild Earth was that the portion sizes are not gigantic and neither are the prices, so you can experiment with alternative products with relatively little risk to your wallet and your waistline.

Problem number two: too many tea choices! Black tea, green tea, rooibos and chais- even herbal options, how was I to choose? I was bouncing off the walls from my morning coffee so I did my cousin a favour and stuck with a Swiss Truffle Rooibos that was divine and she tried a plain Earl Grey to satisfy her thirst. Both were very nice and all the other selections were tempting, making me awfully sorry I probably won't be back in Toronto until Christmas.

Problem number three: ok, this is a real problem- the decor. I know it doesn't have much to do with the food, but I have to make a quick mention of it. They had relatively minimalist decoration, which could be nice, but I would much prefer a couple pieces of art and maybe a couple newspapers or magazines of some sort to browse.

Besides the one flaw in the decor, I was very happy with Wild Earth. My advice is to go and be adventurous, try something new, don't be afraid. Good service, good food, good times.
P.S. They are nut free too!

Scarborough Fare

2009-08-15T11:57:00.011-04:00

Last night I made a full on meal for my neighbors and a couple friends. What a better way to celebrate the bountiful summer herbs and vegetables than to sit down with friends and listen to some nice music and eat? I designed an entire menu for the occasion based on the Simon and Garfunkel song Scarborough Fair, and while I have served multi-course meals before, I have never hosted my own dinner party- this was a first. It went splendidly, I think and hope, and my guests were appreciative and entertaining to the maximum.

I will begin with the appetizers. I made a Parsley Hummus that was made very simply with:
one can of chickpeas, juice of one lemon, half a cup of parsley (slightly packed), olive oil, two cloves of garlic, salt and pepper. This I served with homemade pita chips and fresh veggies, the dip was surprisingly good for such a simple recipe and I will definitely make it again. Second I made Cheddar Sage Biscuits from this recipe from the Foreign Kitchen, and simply added 2 tablespoons of chopped thyme and eliminated the Parmesan. I also used only 4 teaspoons of baking powder and used cookie cutters to cut little hearts about 4 cm in diameter. These biscuits were a hit (I've made them as scones before so I knew they would be!) and I served them with simple caramelized onions. My last appetizer was a little bit last minute, I bought some whole wheat pretzels a couple of weeks ago and it occurred to me they would be awesome with a honey dijon dip, with rosemary! The sauce ended up being so popular I kept it on the table for the main course to serve with pork. I simply mixed one part honey, two parts grainy dijon mustard and two parts low fat sour cream and some chopped rosemary- you can adjust the amounts however you please, my ratios were very well received!

Moving on I will tackle the first course. I decided I would once again use parsley, and made basically a couscous-less tabbouleh. This consisted of: 8 diced tomatoes, lots of parsley, lots of feta, salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Such a simple recipe you wouldn't believe how fast it disappeared off the plates, I hardly had time to pause before it was time for the main course!

The main focus was pork... I love pork. I know that pigs are cute, and red meat is bad for the environment, but I truly believe that a little pork tenderloin can sometimes be just the trick to putting a smile on a hungry persons face. I simply rubbed the pork with garlic, rosemary, olive oil and lemon juice and a little salt and pepper and then baked it (there were 3 tenderloins) for 40 minutes at 357 F. I served the pork with the leftover mustard sauce to which my next door neighbor seems to have developed a slight addiction. Beside this I served sauteed zucchini with a bit of onions and garlic, sprinkled with plenty of fresh thyme. The starch in the meal was a puree of squash and potato with a bit of butter a sage mixed in, I reheated it in the oven while the pork cooked, and then quickly broiled it with some maple sugar while I sauteed the zucchini right before serving. While all the mains were delicious (if I may say so myself...) I liked the squash puree the best, probably because I am a total maple fiend.

Now comes one of the best part of the meal... dessert. I had two... kind of. First I made my Peaches and Creme Fraiche Pie in a thyme crust from earlier this summer, but substituted low fat sour cream for the creme fraiche. This pie was delicious, but I learned that low fat dairy bakes to look rather unappealing, and I had a slight freak out at about 1 that afternoon when it came out of the oven- everything turned out fine though. For second dessert, I offered my special hot chocolate I came up with based on this recipe I've been oggling for months. Served in teacups, it really topped off the evening.

Orange Sage Scented Hot Chocolate
makes 6 servings- 2/3 cup each

4 cups milk
8 sage leaves
zest of 1 orange
100 grams good dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup cream, whipped

1 Heat the milk, sage and orange zest over medium heat until very hot, but not boiling
2 Pour hot milk through a strainer onto the chocolate, stirring until melted. If it does not melt and remains piecy, return to the pot over medium heat and stir and heat until completely combined
3 Divide among pretty teacups and top with whipped cream, enjoy!

This meal was long and the evening proceeded smoothly as I prepared much of my meal in advance. This post is also long, so I apologize for the detailed descriptions, I tend to get enthusiastic about full menu meals. If you are looking for a way to use up summer herbs, I hope this provided some inspiration!

Quick Cornmeal

2009-08-08T18:58:00.008-04:00

My newest food discovery is cornmeal- it started out with a bite of cornbread at work, and then adding some to pancakes. Today for lunch I decided to go all out and make myself some polenta for lunch, along with some market produce my mom picked up and some superb sheep's feta from Costco, it was amazing!

Greek Polenta
makes 2 servings

1/2 cup cornmeal
3-4 cups water
1/2 cup frozen, fresh or canned corn
salt and pepper
2 tomatoes, halved
handful of chopped basil
10 kalamata olives, sliced
100 grams feta

1 Bring 1 1/2 cups of the water to a boil and then slowly stir in the cornmeal, breaking up lumps and then reduce heat to low until the polenta mixture is just simmering
2 Slowly add in the rest of the water as necessary to achieve the consistency you want, if it gets too thin, just let it simmer on a bit higher heat for a couple minutes to evaporate a bit of water
3 Stir in the corn, salt and pepper and leave on low heat until ready to serve, covered.
4 While making the polenta, broil the tomatoes (or grill, or fry) for 10-15 minutes or until just cooked and a little browned on top
5 Split the polenta between two bowls, top each with two tomato halves and half of the basil, olives and feta
6 Dig in!

You could always serve this with raw tomatoes, or even a different vegetable. I found the cornmeal nice and filling for the number of calories it provides, and the feta definitely added a necessary saltiness to what could have been bland polenta. For a quick lunch and a quick post, this dish is perfection.

Feeling Peachy and Fraiche

2009-08-04T19:02:00.010-04:00

I would like to take a moment to welcome the beginning of the peach season here in Ontario. While they may not be in their prime yet, and I may not be able to eat them raw- these babies are popping up at the market and I find them irresistible. Do you know what else I find irresistible? Cream. Fortunately I came across a pie recipe on Smitten Kitchen, adapted from Martha Stewart, that contained both peaches and cream. However, this pie was not any old peaches and cream combination, it was Peach and Creme Fraiche Pie, which I somehow found extremely tempting despite the fact that I have never had creme fraiche before. Along with my thyme infused crust I had sitting in my freezer, and some extra thyme chopped into the crumble ontop- this pie satisfied all of my cravings in just one bite.

Peach and Creme Fraiche Pie
originally by Martha Stewart
makes one 9 inch pie

Crust
165 grams flour
25 grams sugar
85 grams butter (frozen)
1 1/2 tbsp finely chopped thyme
2 egg yolks (reserve white for the topping)
1/2 tsp vanilla
3-4 tbsp cold water

1 Mix the flour and sugar, then grate in the butter using the large holes on a grater. Using your fingertips- quickly mix in the butter until it is the consistency of bread crumbs then stir in the thyme leaves to evenly distribute
2 Whisk the egg yolks and vanilla together then add to the flour and mix quickly just to combine, then slowly add the cold water until a cohesive dough forms then wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes
3 Once it is chilled- pound it into a rough circle shape on a floured surface then roll it out carefully into a large thin circle and then fit into a 8 inch tart pan and press gently into place. Once in the pan, stick it in the freezer for 15 minutes.
4 While it freezes, preheat the oven to 350 F. When ready, place the tart shell in the bottom half of the oven for 5-10 minutes or until lightly browned, then remove and fill with peaches

Streusal Topping
2 tbsp sugar
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tbsp chopped thyme
5 or 6 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/4 cup frozen butter

1 Mix the dry ingredients (starting with 5 tbsp of flour) in a medium bowl
2 Cut or grate in the cold butter and work in with a pastry cutter or fingers until a crumb like consistency is reached
3 Add in extra flour as needed to be crumbly, then set in the freezer until you are ready

Peaches and Creme
7 or 8 medium peaches, sliced
2 tbsp granulated sugar
Pinch of salt
5 tablespoons creme fraiche

1 Mix the peaches with sugar and salt, then set aside
2 Spread 2 tbsp of the creme fraiche on the prebaked pie crust and sprinkle with 1/3 of the streusal, arrange the peaches ontop and then sprinkle with the remaining creme and streusal
3 Bake at 350 F for 45 minutes to an hour, or until the creme fraiche is bubbling and the streusal is golden. Place some foil over the edges of the crust if it begins to brown too fast.
4 Cool before eating- I enjoyed it cold!

While I enjoyed the dessert completely it was difficult to identify the creme fraiche; I feel that sour cream would have been just as effective and not quite as much effort. For the creme fraiche I mixed 1/2 cup of cream with 2 tbsp of plain yogurt and let it stand in a clean jar over night before using it. It was very simple, just excessive and richer than need be (though who cares when you are already eating a pie with streusal?). I will definitely make this again and my guests said they would eat it again, so I would say it did a terrific job welcoming the peach season and I cannot wait to experiment more with Creme Fraiche in other dishes!

Daring Bakers: Mallows

2009-07-27T18:59:00.007-04:00

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network. While I have had a couple of Mallow cookies in my lifetime (literally a couple, we only really eat store bought cookies at camp and those are Oreos or peak freen varieties), I have never even heard of a Milan cookie. Because I had limited time, I decided to do just the Mallow version this month, but in the next couple of days (or weeks) I hope to try the Milan ones since I am rather fond of lemon and chocolate and orange... and I'm not really sure how they'll combine.

The recipe for the Mallow cookies can be found in The Daring Kitchen and I would highly recommend trying them for a time consuming but relatively simple and delicious adventure. I made half of the recipe and ended up with 16 Mallows with bases about 2 inches wide. I had 5 leftover cookies (the recipe made 21, but the marshmallow mixture only covered the 14) and I used the same amount of chocolate as for 2 dozen so they would get thoroughly coated, but I have lots of that leftover as well (now I have to find other uses for this chocolate... chocolate covered pretzels, Nanaimo bar topping??). One note I have is that the gelatine mixture smelled TERRIBLE... awful... I don't know if this is normal, but don't be scared if it happens to you- they still taste awesome! Next adventure is marshmallows on their own since I have all this corn syrup too, this wasn't the most efficient recipe, I seem to have wound up with a lot of leftover ingredients.

Overall- the cookies are a tad sweet for me, even though I reduced the sugar in the crust a teensy bit. They are a nice treat once in a blue moon, but half of one of the monsters I made is enough for me- I'll have to find some nice neighbours to give them to, luckily I have plenty of those!

Fried... Deviled... Healthy?

2009-07-23T20:56:00.010-04:00

One would never know from the name, but Fried Deviled Egg Salad is both delicious AND healthy! I found the idea for this little dinner on The Splendid Table and decided it would be perfect for a quick weeknight meal in July (even if it was a cold and rainy day). While my mother can hardly be called a picky eater, she has an unfortunate aversion to many egg preparation methods that don't cook the yolk completely or don't combine it with the white (such as poaching and frying), however, she does enjoy them deviled and so I figured she would tolerate this dish. And so I raided the fridge for veggies while I hard boiled some eggs, grabbed a couple pantry ingredients and whipped up this tasty salad in no time.

Fried Deviled Egg Salad
serves 4

Part 1: Eggs
8 hard boiled eggs*
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tablespoon minced onion
2 dill pickles, finely chopped
2 to 3 tablespoons milk
1 1/2 teaspoons mayonnaise
1 1/2 teaspoons yogurt
1-1/2 teaspoons white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil

1 Cut the eggs in half and gently remove the yolks and place in a bowl with the remaining ingredients except oil, and stir until completely smooth. Put aside the whites for stuffing
2 Fill the egg whites with the mixture, packing it tightly and making sure it is NOT HEAPED, but level with the cut egg white, they should lie flat. Reserve the extra stuffing for dressing
3 Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat, then add the eggs face down and fry for about 5 minutes, or until lightly browned and crispy
meanwhile...

Part 2: Salad
reserved yolk mixture
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
Salt and fresh-ground black pepper
mixed fresh vegetables, I used:
1 small head romaine lettuce, shredded
1/2 head red leaf lettuce, shredded
1 orange bell pepper, sliced
1 tomato, sliced
paprika

1 Mix the yolk mixture through to the salt and pepper in a jar, shake vigorously
2 Once you have the eggs in the pan, dress the vegetables, divide between four plates and then top with the fried eggs and sprinkle with paprika

While I like eggs any old way, this was a neat way to try them. My mother liked that they were cooked TWICE, my sister liked that they had dill pickle and I just liked the fact that I was eating eggs for dinner instead of breakfast (which I usually do since my mom won't be there). Our fried joined us and was also extremely appreciative, though it felt a little repetitive since we served salad and nice bread last time she was here too, I'll have to make pasta or something next time she comes over! If you are looking for a simple weeknight dinner this one is great since you can hard boil the eggs ahead of time, and even mix up the dressing and chop the vegetables beforehand- all you do at the last minute is fry the eggs and mix the salad while they cook. Remember that while egg yolks may be high fat and cholesterol, there is limited evidence that dietary cholesterol will negatively effect blood cholesterol to any significant level, they are very high quality protein (and delicious...) and should not be avoided! This meal is fabulously well rounded, especially when served with some farmer's market whole grain bread- and a bit of butter for the soul if you are like my sister.

*To hard boil eggs, I put as many eggs as I want in a pot with enough cold water to cover them, then place over high heat with the lid on. Once the pot is boiling rapidly, I remove it from the heat and let it sit covered for 9 minutes (timing it carefully) then remove the eggs to a bowl of cold (preferably iced) water to let them cool. Then, I peel and enjoy with a sprinkle of salt, pepper and sometimes paprika!

Garden Beet Soup

2009-07-16T19:24:00.010-04:00

What do you do when you have a crisper full of autumnal vegetables and a hankering for soup but it is mid-July? Tonight I learned the answer to this age old question- add goat's cheese and fresh herbs!

Over the past couple weeks beets, cabbage and butternut squash have all been required in some recipe or another, but I've had difficulty finishing the rest of the vegetables- in an effort to get the most out of my (well... my mother's) money, I dedicated tonight to using up leftovers. The soup was inspired by this creamy vegetable soup I saw on Tastespotting, but modified to include whatever ingredients I needed to finish. My sister complained that soup was not summery, but I was sure that the fresh herbs (from my garden!) would make up for the abundance of carrots and squash, and the tangy goat's cheese sure wouldn't hurt. And so tonight, my family and I enjoyed 3 nice bowls of...

Garden Beet Soup
makes 4 big bowls

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 cups cabbage, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 cups butternut squash, chopped
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
2 medium beets, roasted and diced
1 handful parsley, chopped
1 handful basil, chopped
200 grams goat's cheese, crumbled
8 asparagus spears, grilled or boiled
pepper to taste

1 Heat the olive oil over medium heat and add the onions, cook until soft
2 Add the cabbage, carrots, butternut squash and broth and heat til boiling, then reduce heat and simmer until the carrots are super tender- about 20 minutes
3 Puree in a blender or with an immersion blender until completely smooth, then set aside about a cup (or more if there is someone like my sister who wants their's without beets)
4 Add the beets to the mixture and puree once more, returning to the pot on low heat to reheat if it has cooled down
5 Stir in the chopped herbs then divide between 4 bowls, topping with a splatter or swirls of the beet-less puree, 50 grams of goat's cheese each, 2 asparagus spears each and however much pepper each person desires

I adored this soup, as did my mother and sister (who ate hers without the beet puree since she has a distaste for them), and I know my mother is glad there is one bowl left for her lunch tomorrow. You really don't need to add any more salt than is already in the broth, and hardly any pepper, since the fresh herbs and goat's cheese flavour it plenty on their own. I can vaguely remember the days when I didn't like goat's cheese, but they are sad days and I have tried to block them from my memory- it is far too versatile and magnificent to waste time disliking it. I am sure any old vegetables and fresh herbs would work for this type of soup- experiment and try different combinations, just don't forget the cheese!

Chocolate Coconut Sorbet

2009-07-12T10:24:00.008-04:00

On one of the few hot days we've had this summer I decided that it was necessary to make some sort of frozen dessert- one that was decadent and chocolaty, but not too sweet. I considered a couple recipes such as this simple chocolate sorbet from Hugs and Besos, and also this coconut chocolate sorbet from Cafe Liz- but neither seemed to fill the requirement on their own... and so I combined them. What I came up with is a relatively simple Chocolate Coconut Sorbet that is rich and definitely chocolaty, but with a slight coconut undertone from the coconut milk. Next I am going to try making this in popsicle molds.

Chocolate Coconut Sorbet
makes about 3 cups

1 1/2 cups water
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
75 grams 70% chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup- 1 cup coconut milk

1 Heat the water, sugar, cocoa powder and salt over medium high heat and whisk frequently until it boils, then whisk constantly for about 1 minute, then remove from the heat
2 Stir in the vanilla and chopped chocolate until the chocolate melts, then add the coconut milk until it equals 3 cups, adding more than the 1 cup if you want a more pronounced taste
3 Cool in the fridge completely, then churn in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions
4 Chow down on a hot day and serve with mango, cherries or any other number of accompaniments!

While the coconut taste was rather subtle, I enjoyed the texture it lent to the sorbet and the complex sweetness it added. If you are looking for something very coconutty, consider lowering the water in the beginning to 1 cup, the cocoa powder to 1/2 cup, the chopped chocolate to 50 grams and upping the coconut milk to 2 cups. Another idea is adding toasted coconut while you churn it in the machine. However, if you are looking for an intense chocolate flavour that is intensely refreshing on a hot summer day- don't change a thing!

Chickpea Chicken Noodle Soup

2009-07-07T21:26:00.008-04:00

What do you do with a chicken carcass? Usually I would throw it away... at least that was until the very obvious use of it for chicken stock occurred to me. My mother mentioned the idea after I told her I wanted to make homemade chicken noodle soup; and best to start from the stock up rather than using store bought I suppose. That was how, Sunday night, there was left over roasted chicken and bones and the basic veggies turning into a delicious broth on my stove. There are obvious benefits to homemade broth: reduced waste, increased flavour, reduced spending, increased labour (well... that's not so great), reduced sodium and increased pride in your finished product. The broth I made was very simple (onion, carrot, celery, bay leaf and pepper with the carcass simmered for a couple hours) and we froze some to use in the future, and with what was left I decided I would make a hearty soup suitable for this unbelievable autumnal July weather.

While I considered a classic chicken noodle soup recipe, I decided this would be a good use for my swiss chard. My neighbor who was kind enough to give me garlic scapes dropped off some homegrown bright pink and yellow stemmed chard the other day which she had grown on a whim and had no idea how to prepare. Neither did I, but after some research and some experiments, I can tell you that swiss chard is both fantastic chopped up in rice with butternut squash with soy sauce, sesame oil dressed poached eggs and also in chicken noodle soup with roasted red peppers and a variety of proteins!

Chickpea Chicken Noodle Soup with a Variety of Veggies
serves 3

2 cups chicken broth (homemade ideally, but storebought will suffice)
175 grams leftover roast chicken
1/2 cup chickpeas
1 carrot, sliced
1 red pepper, roasted and diced
5 large chard leaves, stems removed and diced, leaves sliced
75 grams whole wheat egg noodles
salt and pepper to taste
a bit of feta

1 Bring the broth to a boil on medium high heat and then add in the chicken and chickpeas and reduce to just a simmer
2 Once simmering add in the carrots and chard, stems only; cover and cook until the carrots are almost fully cooked
3 While this is going on, cook the pasta until very al dente in a separate pot, then drain
4 Once the carrots are tenderish and the pasta is done, throw the remaining ingredients into the pot and let heat up for a minute or three
5 Divide between three big bowls and crumble feta generously on top - Slurp it up!

This soup was healthy, inexpensive and most importantly- tasty. The chard and chickpeas gave it a rather earthy element which the roasted red pepper contributed to but also managed to lighten up a tad, and the feta certainly didn't hurt anything! My mother and I each had a bowl and it was most satisfying for a light supper, serve it with fresh bread if you feel it is not carby enough- just make sure it's whole grain and delicious!

Hello Halloumi, Meet Grill

2009-07-05T17:34:00.006-04:00

One of my favourite things about Barrie (besides Nutrition Plus Health Food Store and Akira All You Can Eat Sushi) is the farmer's market every Saturday morning. While it ends a little too early at 12, and isn't the most extravagant market you will find out there; the people are nice and the selection is grand. I've been trying to plan an all local meal lately, but I want cheese in one of the courses, which in Barrie is rather difficult to find... This problem was solved last Saturday when I noticed one of the vendors was selling homemade Halloumi. This particular lady uses raw goat's milk from her own goat's, and adds a sprinkling of herbs before packaging it. I had never tried Halloumi but I had read about it, and so my mother bought me some to experiment with. The resulting experiment was delicious, I give to you:

Grilled Halloumi on Balsamic Couscous
serves 2

1 small or medium eggplant, sliced
125 grams whole wheat couscous
125 grams halloumi, sliced
1 cup loosely packed spinach, cut into smaller pieces
1 green onion, sliced
6 mint leaves, shredded
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp lemon juice (optional, I like the freshness...)
1 tsp olive oil
salt and pepper

1 Generously salt the eggplant and place in a colander, then rinse after about 5 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat an indoor (or outdoor...) grill and brush lightly with olive oil. After the eggplant is rinsed, season with salt and pepper and grill until marks appear and it is soft but not falling apart
2 While the eggplant is grilling, boil 3/4 cup of water in a small pot, then remove from heat, stir in couscous and spinach and cover
3 After the eggplant is done, grill the halloumi until it has grill marks and looks rather flexible
4 While the halloumi grills, stir together the green onion, mint leaves, balsamic, lemon juice, olive oil and some salt and pepper, then mix into the now cooked couscous
5 Now you should have couscous with dressing, grilled eggplant and grilled halloumi- either mix all together or layer couscous, eggplant, halloumi for a neater meal. Dig in!

I didn't know what to expect with the halloumi, but it was far saltier than I thought it would be, no complaint there! It also had a wonderfully mild goaty flavour and a firm but not rubbery texture. I would recommend trying it out since it is fantastic at holding it's shape and adds a whole new flavour and texture dimension to a meal. However... at 6$ for abot 175 grams, I might have to use it sparingly!

More Cherry Tarts...

2009-07-01T22:00:00.015-04:00

As I mentioned in my last post- I had some pastry dough left over from the Bakewell Tart that I had to use up. I then decided that I loved the dough and decided to make it again, with a rather similar filling. So I am including my two cherry tart recipes in this post, and that will likely get it out of my system and you can look forward to vegetables and more savoury recipes in the near future.

First I made a Cherry Macaroon Tart. The recipe is fairly simple, though I was using leftovers so the exact amounts may be slightly off and you may be left with extra pastry (not as bad as it sounds- merely cut it into cookie shapes and enjoy plain... I like it that way). The inspiration came from the fact that I had already spread the cherries out in the crust and that I have been craving macaroons like nobody's business lately- so a simple topping was fixed up and the tart well enjoyed. It also matched my homemade cherry print skirt I made on Sunday which was quite nice. The crust is almost exactly the same as The Daring Baker's one from the Bakewell Tart, and the topping is based on an Alton Brown recipe I found on the Food Network.

Cherry Macaroon Tart
makes one 9 inch tart

Crust:
225 grams flour
30 grams sugar
110 grams butter (frozen)
2 egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla
1-2 tbsp cold water

1 Mix the flour and sugar, then grate in the butter using the large holes on a grater. Using your fingertips- quickly mix in the butter until it is the consistency of bread crumbs
2 Whisk the egg yolks and vanilla together then add to the flour and mix quickly just to combine, then slowly add the cold water until a cohesive dough forms then wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes
3 Once it is chilled- pound it into a rough circle shape on a floured surface then roll it out carefully into a large thin circle and then fit into a 9 inch tart pan and press gently into place. Once in the pan, stick it in the freezer for 15 minutes.
4 While it freezes, preheat the oven to 350 F. When ready, place the tart shell in the bottom half of the oven for 5-10 minutes or until lightly browned, then remove and fill.

Filling:
1 cup cherries, pitted and halved
4 large egg whites
Pinch salt
1/4 cup sugar
225 grams sweetened shredded coconut, lightly toasted (or not...)

1 Arrange the halved cherries on the prebaked crust so they evenly cover the bottom
2 Beat the egg whites and salt until they begin to stiffen, then add in the sugar and keep beating until they are very, very stiff.
3 Fold in the coconut then spread over the cherries in the tart
4 Bake for 15-20 minutes in the 350 F oven or until the top is lightly browned. If it is browning too quickly, move to the bottom half of the oven.

This tart was a very nice way to use up the extra dough and while this macaroon mixture makes shoddy macaroon cookies, the filling was nice and light but flavourful.

This second recipe is one I made today on an impulse. I saw some cherries in the fridge and I noticed we had some lemons lying around, and I had the fantastic idea to make a cherry lemon tart. At the last minute I decided to add some fresh thyme from out garden and to use honey instead of sugar to increase the variety of flavours, the result: an awesome tart that only reinforces my love of this pastry recipe. The filling I used was from here, I just replaced the sugar with honey and reduced the amount.

Tart Cherry Lemon Tart
makes one 8 inch tart (make double the dough and filling to make a 9 inch pie pan and fill muffin tins with the extra)

Crust
110 grams flour
15 grams sugar
55 grams butter (frozen)
2 tsp finely chopped thyme
1 egg yolk (reserve white for the topping)
1/4 tsp vanilla
1-2 tbsp cold water

1 Mix the flour and sugar, then grate in the butter using the large holes on a grater. Using your fingertips- quickly mix in the butter until it is the consistency of bread crumbs then stir in the thyme leaves to evenly distribute
2 Whisk the egg yolks and vanilla together then add to the flour and mix quickly just to combine, then slowly add the cold water until a cohesive dough forms then wrap in plastic and refrigerate for 30 minutes
3 Once it is chilled- pound it into a rough circle shape on a floured surface then roll it out carefully into a large thin circle and then fit into a 8 inch tart pan and press gently into place. Once in the pan, stick it in the freezer for 15 minutes.
4 While it freezes, preheat the oven to 350 F. When ready, place the tart shell in the bottom half of the oven for 5-10 minutes or until lightly browned, then remove and fill.

Filling:
20 cherries, pitted and halved
1 egg
1 egg white (leftover from pastry)
1/2 melted honey
3 tbsp flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
juice and zest of 1 large lemon

1 Arrange the cherries in the prebaked tart crust so they are evenly distributed
2 Beat the egg and eggwhite with the honey until well mixed then quickly whisk in the flour, baking powder, salt and lemon until the mixture is smooth
3 Pour the lemon mixture over the cherries and bake in the 350 F oven for 20-25 minutes or until the centre is set. If it is browning too quickly, move to the bottom half of the oven- infact I did mine the whole time in the bottom half.

This tart was my favourite out of the 3 (including the frangipane in the analysis) because it was tart, but the perfect amount of sweet, and not too dense or rich. The thyme was not super apparent, so you cold even up it to 3 tsp. The honey was definitely a good choice over sugar since 1) it is healthier (but... it is an all butter crust, so it's almost useless to try ad health it up) and 2) the flavor is superb with lemon, cherry and thyme.

I hope you enjoy these tart ideas and maybe get a chance to use them in the coming cherry season- I know they will be reappearing on my table over the summer, in no small part because this crust recipe is AWESOME.

Daring Bakers: Bakewell Tart

2009-06-27T15:58:00.014-04:00

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England. This was the first Daring Bakers that I took part in, though I did complete the Daring Cooks challenge earlier this month, so I was already in the spirit of the thing.

While I loved the idea of a pie filled with jam and almond frangipane- I am sadly unable to consume almonds because of a complicated allergy to many foods. I can however eat pistachios, so I decided to attempt a pistachio frangipane alternative. As for the jam, I found my house empty of jam and I didn't really want to stick a sugar laden layer underneath my (hopefully) fabulous pistachio frangipane, so I just stuck in some halved cherries to complete the fruit aspect (my allergies include cherries, but I can actually eat them cooked, so this was also an opportunity for me to eat one of my favourite but seldom consumed fruits!). I was loyal to the recipe for the crust though, and wound up with enough extra that I was able to complete another pie that I will talk about in my next post.

I got the recipe for the frangipane here, but after consulting other recipes I used only one egg and 2 tbsp of flour... a choice which may have been faulty seeing as the Daring Bakers use 3 eggs for the same amount of nuts. I also eliminated the almond extract and replaced it with vanilla since, along with the allergy issue, I thought it would go nicely with the cherries.

Overall, though I had my doubts when the tart emerged after 20 minutes in the 400 F oven looking a tad over done, the tart was a success. I would recommend setting the oven temperature a tad lower or else keeping a close eye on it. The texture of the frangipane was, much to my relief, awesome; dense and smooth with a rich pistachio flavour that paired marvelously with the jam like cherries and sweet crust. The crust is probably my go to recipe from now on since it was surprisingly easy to handle and used all butter, and as nice as shortening can make a crust... I prefer the all butter type. I served my tart with some thickened (in a coffee filter and strainer over a bowl) yogurt with honey and orange zest.

Though I wish I could have followed the recipe to the word, I am thrilled with my pistachio frangipane and now a whole hearted fan of the Bakewell Tart!

Comforting Scape Potatoes and Fish

2009-06-24T21:28:00.007-04:00

Sometimes I happen upon a dish that is simply comforting; both in the fill you up to the brim way and also the "I know this is good for me!" way. Tonight I had one of those discoveries. My neighbor gave us some garlic scapes the other day, an ingredient I had noticed appearing on Tastespotting lately. Along with garlic scapes, my fridge housed some delicious looking rainbow trout and some aging buttermilk. I pondered what I could do with these and with the help of much Tastespotting browsing, I decided I wanted to make a garlic scape potato puree (with cauliflower to provide the meal with a veggie component) and to top it with some simply grilled rainbow trout and more garlic scapes. After a quick walk to the grocery store for cauliflower, I started on my dish.

Potato, Cauliflower and Garlic Scape Puree
makes 2 GENEROUS meal sized portions

350 grams cauliflower florets, chopped
200 grams white potatoes, peeled and diced
10 garlic scapes, chopped
1 tsp butter
2 tbsp- 1/4 cup butter milk
salt and pepper to taste

1 Using a steamer, steam the cauliflower and potato together until very, very tender, about 15 minutes
2 When the potatoes and cauliflower are almost done, add the chopped scapes and steam just until they are softened a bit
3 Put the steamed vegetables in a food processor with the butter and whir until blended
4 Add the buttermilk until it reaches the consistency you desire, because you are using cauliflower, it will already be smoother than regular mashed potatoes
5 Spoon onto plates and top with trout...

Grilled Trout and Garlic Scapes
makes 2 servings

300 grams rainbow trout
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
6 garlic scapes
2 lemon wedges

1 Heat the barbeque on low and brush the trout with a bit of olive oil, salt and pepper
2 When the grill is ready, cook the trout until done, about 10 minutes
3 At the same time grill the scapes about 3 minutes or until tender, being careful not to let them fall between the grills
4 Divide the trout between the two plates with the puree and top each with 3 garlic scapes and a wedge of lemon
5 Eat it up!

This dish was shockingly filling for what I estimated is approximately 400 calories a plate. It was also perfect since it didn't require me to turn on the oven, and came together in just half an hour- perfect for this 35 C weather! I had actually never made a cauliflower puree before and I adore the sweetness and smoothness it lends the potatoes. As for the star of the show, the garlic scapes, they add a less assertive but indentifiably garlickly flavour to the meal and gave it a novel feel. If you have garlic scapes and want to try something other than the garlic scape pesto seen everywhere, give this puree a shot- it fills you up like no other health food!

Daring Cooks: Dumplings

2009-06-13T20:29:00.009-04:00

Though the post date says June 13, I did not post this until today, the 14th... I just got excited last night and prepared this post so I could put it up bright and early. This month I took part in the Daring Cooks Challenge to make dumplings. This was exciting for me because I have always had an interest in the Daring Bakers and when I noticed the birth of Daring Cooks, I never imagined that I would actually commit to completing it! Also, I love dumplings and it really made me buckle down and tackle a new recipe- which was well worth the effort!

We had a lot of freedom regarding what the dumpling was filled with, and the only requirement was homemade dough. The dough was easy enough, I followed the recipe and instructions from the host's blog- using the hand blended method, and also adding more water than they called for. It was fun to work with and I will definitely make it again. As for the filling, the other night I couldn't sleep and for some reason thoughts of dumplings danced in my head... and lamb... the ground lamb in my freezer. What a better way to use up ground lamb than to combine it with the leeks my mother had just bought, stuff it into dumplings, fry them, and then dip the whole thing in a minty soy sauce? Fortunately, mint runs wild in my yard, as do green onions, and so I chopped up some of each, threw them in some soy sauce, rice vinegar and honey and had a fantastic, tangy sauce in seconds.
I don't have precise recipes for these creations, but the filling had about 100 grams of lamb, 1/2 cup chopped cabbage, 1/3 cup chopped leeks, 2 garlic cloves and some salt and pepper. This filled a half recipe of the basic dough recipe given on the blog. The sauce I described above was really just thrown together at the last minute. I would really recommend trying these out yourself with whatever filling you desire, they are more simple and delicious than I imagined. Just make sure to start about 2 hours before you plan on serving so you don't get the hungry-chef problem(which involves lots of cussing when you thought you burnt dumplings, but really didn't).

Do you dare make your own?

St. Veronus Cafe- Peterborough (copycat recipe)

2009-06-10T20:39:00.008-04:00

Have you ever heard the saying that imitation is the most sincere form of flattery? Well I have always agreed with it to a certain extent; especially when it comes to food! This past weekend I went to Peterborough with my mother and sister and we went to a great restauranty type place that specialized in Belgian beer called St. Veronus Cafe. I was hesitant in my choice (as always) since I was tempted to try the mussels, but I settled on Sue's Potato Cake- described on the menu as a "Panko breaded Yukon gold and sweet potato cake stuffed with old white Cheddar cheese, Mutsu apples, charred onions and spinach. Topped with a spiced Affligem sour cream and onion crisps." I wish I had a picture of what it looked like when they served it, but it was basically a deep fried potato cake topped with caramelized onions and apple, delicious sour cream and a crispy piece of leek. It was awesomely delicious, a tad bit oily for my liking, but really hit the spot. I decided I had to try recreating it.

My version is a tad different. I decided not to deep fry it for three reasons; health (self explanatory), taste (I found mine was TOO oily so I wanted to make one a little less so) and inexperience (I have never deep fried, I didn't feel like making this my first project). I also decided to fry some bacon and crumble it into the cakes for some added flavour, and then I used the bacon fat to fry the cakes- I couldn't completely abandon the frying. Lastly, I did not have the time or energy to try and find Affligem beer and figure out the seasoning, so regular low fat sour cream with green onions had to suffice.

Ella's Potato Cakes
Makes 3 patties

400 grams peeled and diced white potato (about 4 medium)
300 grams peeled and diced sweet potato (about 1 medium)
60 grams grated Extra Old Cheddar
2 slices of bacon
Salt and Pepper
1 egg, beaten
2/3 cup Panko crumbs

olive oil
1 onion, sliced
1/4 cup apple cider
1 apple, peeled and diced

1/2 cup low fat sour cream
1 green onion (or 4 chives)

1 Boil the two types of potatoes in salted water until soft, drain and then mash and let cool
2 While the potatoes cool, heat the oil in a pan on medim heat and add the onions and half of the cider, once they have softened, reduce the heat to low and allow to caramelize while you finish the rest of the recipe
3 Fry the bacon until crisp, then crumble into the potatoes and stir- reserve atleast half of the fat for frying the patties
4 Add the cheese, salt and pepper to the mashed potatoes and stir until thoroughly combined, then seperate into 3 patties
5 Dredge each patty in beaten egg letting the excess drip off, then thoroughly roll in the Panko crumbs until coated, set aside until ready to fry
6 Right before you fry the patties, add the diced apple and remaining cider to the onions and increase the heat to medium and stir frequently as you cook the patties
7 Heat the pan with the bacon fat in it over medium-low heat, and when hot add the patties and allow them too brown (about 4 minutes) then flip and allow the other side to crisp up (about another 4)
8 While this finishes (I hope you have read the recipe before completing and have a nice schedule worked out) mix the sour cream with the green onions and set on the table
9 Remove the finished patties from the pan, top with 1/3 of the onion mixture each and then top with the sour cream you have prepared. If desired, use an extra chive or piece of green onion to make it prettier.

While my version was not quite as crispy as the restaurant's, it was quite satisfactory- and the bacon was definitely a good addition. The cheese and bacon can be upped if you are not watching health at all and you want prominant flavours. I served mine with a side spinach salad with a simple vinaigrette of cider vinegar, canola oil, dijon and a bit of salt and pepper. This may seem an awfully autumny recipe- but heck, I'd eat it any day!

Goat Cheese and Balsamic... Cheesecake?

2009-06-09T09:55:00.009-04:00

Two of my favourite ingredients in the world are goat cheese and balsamic vinegar. I used to detest cheese, and then one morning I woke up and suddenly it no longer tasted bad... in fact, it tasted superb. As for balsamic, I have always loved vinegars of all kinds, but once I started eating more healthily (i.e. more salad) I developed a bit of an obsession with it. Earlier this summer I made a goat cheese and honey blance mange that I topped with balsamic strawberries, and I have a recipe that I love for Raspberry Balsamic Port Sauce that is so good my mother and I have been known to eat it straight out of the jar! Both of these experiences encouraged me to try this recipe for Goat Cheese Cheesecake with Balsamic Blueberries when I came upon it while blog browsing.

I made this for my mother, my sister and her friend a couple nights ago to follow a delicious dinner my mother made. I made a couple changes to healthify it a teensy bit, and I have added a couple changes that I think would improve it- but I think the original recipe would also be delicious.

Goat Cheesecake with Balsamic Blueberry Sauce
makes one 6 inch cake (I halved the ingredients for a 9 inch, so just double for full size)

3/4 cup graham cracker crumbs
3 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 stick (8 oz) reduced fat cream cheese, softened
5 oz goat cheese
1/3 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tbsp limoncello

1 cup blueberries
1 tbsp sugar
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
zest of half a lemon

1 Preheat oven to 350 F, mix together the first three ingredients until crumbly
2 Press into a 6 inch springform pan, then bake for about 10 minutes or until slightly darker
3 While the crust bakes- beat together the cheeses and sugar until smooth
4 Beat in the edd until it is fully incorporated, then beat in the vanilla and limoncello
5 Pour the filling into the partially done crust and bang on the counter a couple times to even out and get rid of air bubbles
6 Fill a deep baking pan with hot water and place on the bottom rack of the oven and place the cheesecake in the top half and bake for 30-40 minutes or until the center hardly jiggles anymore
7 Turn off the oven, open the door and let the cheesecake sit for half and hour, then remove to cool completely on the counter, then place in the fridge until ready to serve
7 For the sauce- combine the blueberries through to the lemon zest and cook over medium-low heat for 15-20 minutes, until thick and syrupy
8 Once the cake and syrup are both cool and you are just about to serve, pour th syrup on top of the cake and shake the pan a bit to even it out, then remove the pan and slice the cake to serve
9 Enjoy with relish!

The tangyness of the goat cheese is complimented perfectly by the amount of sugar and the limoncello. The zing given to the sauce by the balsamic adds a nice finish to each bite, and the sweetness of the blueberries is perfect for this unusually flavoured dessert. Because it is so rich and the flavours so complex, a small piece suffices- I cut my 6 inch into 6 pieces which were perfect.

Pho 108- Barrie

2009-05-26T18:08:00.005-04:00

A few hours of shopping tends to leave one tired and more importantly, hungry. After some intense post birthday shopping at Georgian Mall today, a friend and I headed to Pho 108 on Maple Avenue for some Vietnamese. I had seen it several times, tempting me as I walked to the health food store, but I wanted to wait to go with a friend to check it out. I do not have much experience with Vietnamese food, so excuse me if I give you bad advice, but I really enjoyed it.

My friend got the Pho Tai or beef noodle soup, and she seemed to like it. It came with a generous amount of beef as well as bean sprouts, and she gave no complaints. After several minutes of hemming and hawing, I settled on Mi Nuoc & Do Bien, or egg noodle soup with seafood. While it did contain surimi and fish balls, I found they were not uncalled for as it was not an expensive dish and they soaked up the flavour of the delicious broth. I have a soft spot for surimi as some people do for processed cheese. Besides the surimi there were also several large delicious shrimp and several squid tentacles that were more tender and delicious than any I have ever had! As for vegetables, the lady working was extremely helpful and patient and kindly fulfilled my request for lotsa veggies. Often when I get soup at an asian restaurant I leave much of the broth at the end because I find it is mostly to flavour the contents of the soup, but this broth was so delicious I ate it all!

We didn't have time to get dessert, but I am so gosh darn pleased with Pho 108 that I will be returning soon and get a chance to then. My soup only came to $8 something in the end, and was well worth it for the pleasant atmosphere and satisfying food. I am always glad to find a surprising new place to eat in Barrie, I suggest you check it out if you can!

Peanut Butter and Tomato

2009-05-20T16:35:00.008-04:00

This will be a quick post; one for those of you who have ever appreciated the peanuts in pad thai, dipped a french fry in a frosty at Wendy's or indulged in a peanut butter and pickle sandwich. When I first saw this idea on the The Peanut Butter Boy's blog, I thought twice about trying it but decided it would be worth a shot. Never before have I been so thrilled with my morning toast as these past few weeks as I have eaten it with peanut butter, tomatoes, salt and pepper. It sounds strange, but somehow the acidity, creamyness, crunchyness and saltyness and slight kick from the pepper make it delightful with a hot (or cold, now that it is getting hot out) cup of coffee for a simple weekday breakfast. Stunningly simple and healthy (carb plus protein plus fruit equals complete breakfast), this has become my go to breakfast and when my mom brought home some heirloom cherry tomatoes, I knew the recipe had become blog worthy.

Tomato Toast (as suggested by The Peanut Butter Boy)
serves 1

2 slices whole grain bread
2 tbsp natural smooth peanut butter
1 sliced vine ripened tomato (or 5 cherry tomatoes)
sea salt
coarse black pepper

1 Toast bread
2 Spread slices with peanut butter
3 Top with sliced tomato, salt and pepper
4 Enjoy with coffee or tea while looking out the window at your garden

I hope you have the courage to try this one out and end up loving it as much as I do... if not, you can always sub in bananas and cinnamon!

Akira Sushi- Barrie

2009-05-14T21:26:00.008-04:00

Upon my return home I noticed a new all you can eat sushi place called Akira had opened- beside the MacLaren Art Gallery for anyone who lives in Barrie and knows the area. While I love Aji Sai on Bayfield, the service and massive amounts of rice in the rolls (presumably to fill me up so I eat less of the expensive and delicious fish) are a bit of a turn off. I decided to check out the new place for a take out lunch to see if I liked it...

The experience was not magnificent. The sushi roll had TONS of rice, excessive tempura flakes and very little salmon- refer to the picture for evidence. While the soup was alright, the salad was tiny and overdressed beyond resuscitation. The nigiri was a surprise since it was fresh and tender with a decent amount of rice underneath it, but it was not enough to make up for the expensive disappointment of a lunch. Despite the temptation to write off Akira as a waste of time and money, I decided I would go for their all you can eat menu, thinking they deserved the chance to redeem themselves and I deserved the chance to stuff myself full of sushi, since a basic roll is hard to make completely unenjoyable, kind of like grilled cheese.

Fortunately my attitude was not just a hungry fool’s optimism. My friend and I went for lunch today and I was amazed by the difference in my experience. The service was almost overwhelming after the neglect suffered at Aji Sai, the waitresses came by the table frequently to top up our tea, clear our table and make sure we were getting everything we wanted- and all this with a smile! They were also extremely patient with our indecision and brought us little portions of soup and edamame since we didn't want to get more than we could eat. The most important part, the food itself was superb. It was not the best sushi I have had in my life (this was) but it was by far the best I have gotten at an all you can eat place. The rolls did not have as much rice as my take out lunch did and they were big enough to be considered generous but small enough to fit into your mouth without the dreaded sushi-all-over-face-and-table awkwardness; they also had more fish and vegetables than the take out. According to my friend the kitchen items are also worth a try, I must admit I only had a couple bites of the chicken teriyaki but I did enjoy it. My favourite dish was the salmon skin salad made up of julienned cucumber, crispy but rich salmon skin that melted in your mouth and some sort of dressing that managed not to drown the contents. The food was served promptly and appreciated at a leisurely pace, we were there for two hours yet weren't made to feel rushed in the least! Another little bonus was that they had low sodium soy sauce, which I have never seen at a sushi restaurant before and I thought was quite nice... though we ate so much any health benefits it provided are void.

Overall- I would recommend Akira as a choice sit down lunch destination (especially Monday through Thursday when it is only 12.99) but perhaps think twice before getting take out. When it says they do all you can eat, go and eat all you CAN eat, take advantage of a good deal when it's offered!

Curried Cod and Lassi Pudding

2009-04-28T21:27:00.022-04:00

I know, I know, I just posted... but being at home has caused cooking overload! Opportunities are to be found everywhere and my mom had a Lucy Waverman recipe taped to the fridge that I've glanced at longingly several times since my return. It was for a chickpea spinach curry with cod on top- I had never cooked with cod, or done a curry myself before, so I decided that would be our adventurous dinner tonight. My sister is out of town so it would have been only my mother and me, but her friend joined us which made it feel a lot more special and fancy!

The cod was beautiful to work with, it stayed firm and was flavourful but not overpoweringly fishy, so it really let the curry shine. As for the curry, it was supposed to be Indian Curry, but at the health food store I bought Thai Kitchen green curry because I couldn't remember what the recipe listed (and I loved green curry when I had it at a restaurant...). Fortunately the Thai twist was delicious with the recipe, the spinach, chickpeas and fish all had fantastically different textures that went perfectly with the chewy long grain brown rice I served it on. Lucy Waverman, you are a genius!

Of course I had to serve something with it for dessert... but what? At about 2 this afternoon while browsing recipes for mango pudding I realized that I did in fact have some gelatin in the pantry and I did have a spare mango! I quickly estimated what I would need based on several recipes I glanced at, and then at the last minute decided to use yogurt instead of the usual milk because I thought it might help it thicken faster and would quietly contrast the spice of the main dish better than plain old milk. And this is how I came up with...

Lassi Pudding
makes about 4

3 tbsp sugar (use only 2 if your mangoes are super ripe and sweet)
1/2 cup boiling water
1 pack gelatin
200 ml cold water
1 1/2 cups diced mango
3/4 cup yogurt
1/4 tsp vanilla extract (optional, I found it smoothed it all out nicely)

1 Bring water to a boil and add sugar and stir until it is completely dissolved
2 Meanwhile, dissolve gelatin in 125 ml of the cold water
3 Once both are ready, stir gelatin into the sugar mixture and keep stirring over heat until everything is completely dissolved and combined, take off the heat and add remaining 75 ml cold water and set aside to cool to room temperature (put in the fridge if you are in a hurry)
4 Puree the mango and stir in the yogurt and vanilla extract, if using
5 When gelatin mixture is room temperature, add it to the yogurt and mango and stir well- then strain into serving dishes or into one large bowl or mold if that is your preference- chill until firm, mine didn't take more than 3 hours
6 Serve topped with a dollop of yogurt, some ripe strawberries and a few chopped pistachios if you want!

This pudding was an awesome finale to the curry; smooth, creamy and sweet with a slight tanginess from the yogurt. It will definitely be made again, though next time I would use a riper mango and less sugar for maximum flavour. Hopefully this dinner is just a taste of what my summer will be like- full of cooking for grateful audiences!

A Student's Peanut Pasta

2009-03-21T20:18:00.009-04:00

I found myself Friday morning sitting in front of my fridge wondering what on earth I was going to pack as my lunch for work. I hadn't been to the grocery store in ages and all I had in the way of produce were carrots. Carrots are great: they last for AGES, they are cheap and healthy. However... they are not the most exciting vegetable ever. I thought perhaps I would look to what else I had on hand to inspire me. For carbs I had a selection of whole wheat pasta, spaghetti among them and so I decided I would have to make myself a cold pasta salad type dish, with carrots somehow incorporated. I finished the last of my PC Blue Menu peanut sauce the other day in some spring rolls, so I didn't know what I'd use as the dressing until I spotted some natural peanut butter from a homemade peanut butter cup experiment (you need to temper chocolate to make satisfying ones... something practically unachievable with out a thermometer) and I also had some soy sauce I had snagged from the cafeteria the other day as I was leaving... such is the life of a student. I was feeling far better about my lunch than I had five minutes before, all I needed now was some protein... aha! I had some frozen (now thawed) tofu in the fridge. To top it all off, as I grabbed the soy sauce I saw some sheets of nori I'd also used in spring rolls. What was my final product? Easy, delicious (salty!) annnd of course... healthy.

Cold Carrot Noodle Salad with Peanut Soy Sauce and Nori
serves 1

2 oz whole wheat spaghetti
1 carrot sliced
1/3 cup tofu frozen, thawed and pressed*
1 tbsp soy sauce (low sodium if available)
2 tsp natural peanut butter
1 tbsp water
3 cm x 3 cm piece of nori cut into little pieces

1 Bring a pot of water to a boil and add spaghetti and carrots and cook until al dente, drain then fill pot with cold water to stop cooking and cool off (not necessary if packing for a lunch, it will have time to cool)
2 Mix together soy sauce, peanut butter and water in a small bowl, add tofu and toss so tofu absorbs the mixture, then pour tofu and excess dressing over noodles and toss well to coat
3 If eating for lunch, pack nori in a small baggy so it doesn't get soggy, then add at the time of consumption!

* For frozen tofu, I buy PC Low Fat Extra Firm and toss it in the freezer straight from the grocery bag, then once frozen solid I place in the fridge or on the counter and let thaw then I unwrap it, press it between 2 plates or with my hands, removing as much moisture as possible, wrap it up and keep it in the fridge.

You wouldn't expect it with so few ingredients, but each bite of this pasta was intense! It satisfies any salt cravings you might be having while it fills you up with whole grains, low fat protein and some delicious carrots! It is perfect for a student with little time or money and all the ingredients last a long time (if you keep the tofu in the freezer at least).

Nearly Spring

2009-03-18T18:50:00.013-04:00

It has been a while since I've had access to a full kitchen, since February to be exact, but on Monday night I was given the opportunity to visit a friend of my mother's (and mine!) who has the most splendid kitchen. The kitchen came fully equipped with a stove, an oven and a sous chef! I decided since Friday is the first day of spring, I could make a slightly premature menu to celebrate. I made sure to include asparagus, fresh parsley and some tangy goat cheese to welcome in the new season.

Asparagus with Orange Balsamic Vinaigrette
serves 3-4

30-40 stalks asparagus
2 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
juice from 1/2 an orange
grind of salt and pepper
3 or 4 slices from remaining half of orange

1 Break off woody end of asparagus and put in a microwave safe container with 1 tsp of water, cover tightly and microwave 2-3 minutes or until as tender as you like it, serve warm or let cool
2 Mix together dressing ingredients, pour over asparagus and toss then divide among plates and top with orange slices

Leek Carbonara (adapted from Bon Appetit)
serves 3-4

8 oz whole wheat spaghetti
2 small eggs or 1 1/2 large eggs
1/4 cup Parmesan
1/3 cup hot pasta water
4 strips bacon with diced and with large pieces of fat removed (or 3 normal strips diced)
2 small leeks white and light green portion, sliced
12 cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp Italian parsley chopped
extra parsley and Parmesan to top

1 Fry bacon over medium heat until crispy, then remove with a slotted spoon to paper towel
2 Using the same pan, drain excess fat or add olive oil until there is 1 tbsp of fat in it, then sautee leeks over medium heat for 7-8 minutes until softened and lightly caramelized. Set aside in a bowl and keep the pan unwashed and nearby
3 Put a large pot of water on to boil
4 Meanwhile, gently mix eggs and Parmesan in a small bowl
5 Add pasta to boiling water and cook until it is just al dente. Drain, reserving 1/3 cup water ten return to pot on stove over low heat
6 While the pasta cooks, heat bacon and leek pan over medium heat and cook tomatoes until they are hot but their skins have not broken, then set them aside in the pan to keep warm
7 Stir leeks into hot pasta once returned to stove and keep on low heat just until the mixture is heated through
8 Mix hot pasta water slowly into egg mixture
9 When leeks and pasta are hot, turn of the element and pour the egg mixture over it and stir until the egg is cooked
10 Stir in bacon and chopped parsley then divide among plates and top with tomatoes and extra parsley
11 serve with extra Parmesan and good conversation!

Baked Apples with Dates, Pine nuts and Goat's Cheese
serves 4

4 Granny Smith apples, cored nearly to the bottom
8 dried dates, chopped
2 tbsp pine nuts with extra for garnish
100 g goat's cheese
4 fresh dates, pitted and halved
1/2 cup water

1 Preheat oven to 350 F
2 Mix dried dates and pine nuts and stuff tightly into apple cavities
3 Put apples in a medium baking dish with 1/2 cup water, make sure at least 2 tbsp is drizzled over the stuffed cavity to keep them moist, then cover with foil
4 Bake 30-45 minutes until they are soft but still put up some resistance when poked with a skewer, baste frequently
5 Finish for 10 minutes uncovered until a skewer pierces the apple with little to no resistance
6 Serve warm or room temperature with a spoonful of goat's cheese, the fresh dates and some extra pine nuts

My favourite part of the meal was probably the baked apples, but only because they had goat's cheese! The asparagus is a good basic recipe when you don't have much time or any specialty ingredients but want to accompany asparagus with something bright and healthy. The carbonara was better than I expected, especially with the tomatoes. I made a few changes to the Bon Appetit recipe, though not many since it already seemed reasonably healthy and complete. As for the baked apples, I didn't bake them long enough so be cautious when you cook them that they are done to your liking, the only solution is to check often. The fresh dates I found at a store called Nuts About Life on Bank Street here in Ottawa, and they are like candy to me, except far healthier (except I eat such massive quantities it probably ends up being the same!)

Happy spring in 2 days, in the meantime, eat some asparagus in anticipation!

Sausage for Dessert?

2009-03-13T23:41:00.010-04:00

Being a tastespotting addict and being without a kitchen is like an injured soccer player having a soccer ball dangled in front of their face all day, and so I have to rely on recipes that don't require a stove. A little while ago I came across a creative recipe on a fantastic new blog I've found that requires nothing more than a microwave, a fridge and a strong hand, all things I have access to in residence! It also happens to includes some of my favourite ingredients in the world; 70% chocolate, figs, pistachios, rice krispies and just enough butter to be decadent but not deadly. Here is how I made the recipe, there are only a couple slight changes and clarifications regarding measurements, it was too perfect to change much!

Chocolate, Fig and Pistachio Log
makes 12 slices

2 oz 70% chocolate chopped
1 tbps butter
30 pistachios chopped
1/2 cup Rice Krispies
3/4 cup of dried figs chopped
1 tbsp icing sugar

1 Melt the chocolate and butter in the microwave for about 30 seconds and stir, then at 10 second intervals until the mixture is fully melted and smooth
2 Stir in the pistachios, Rice Krispies and figs until fully incorporated
3 Spoon mixture into a plastic bag and shape FIRMLY into a VERY TIGHT log. This is important or else it all just falls apart
4 Chill in the fridge until firm, a couple hours should be enough, I left it overnight.
5 Put icing sugar in the bag with the log and shake around until it is covered, then shake off the excess
6 Slice into 12 pieces and enjoy on its own, with a coffee, and be sure to share with your neighbors!

I love this treat, it is reasonably healthy and well worth every calorie it has (which is about 75 per 1/12 slices)! I think it would also be good with combinations of other dried fruits and nuts, and I can't wait to try something similar perhaps with figs and cashews or dates and walnuts. While I cannot eat walnuts... I imagine it would be fantastic!

New Concept- Toronto

2009-02-25T11:57:00.010-05:00

During my time in Toronto, I found myself wandering the Beaches in order to fit in a bit of exercise and procrastinate doing my homework. On Friday my mother and sister headed off to the Bata Shoe Museum and I was left to my own devices, with some money my lovely mother had given me to treat myself. As I was walking to the health food store, I noticed a new sushi place that offered brown rice and a decent looking lunch menu. Since I was so desperately craving sushi, I decided my treat would be some take out sushi to take home and write a history essay with.
The sushi place is called New Concept and offers a lunch menu ranging from about $6 to $9, for quite a bit of food! I got the smallest lunch option; 2 rolls, miso soup and a salad for $6.95. With tax and using brown rice ($0.25 extra per roll) minus the 10% take-out discount, my order came to about $7.50. For what I got, the price was DEFINATELY worth it.

In terms of service, I was impressed. It was relatively quiet when I got there at around 1, and I was treated very well by the two men working at the counter, who greeted me and answered all my questions quite happily, usually at sushi places the people preparing the sushi do not acknowledge my existence, so this was very nice. The only waitress was not too busy because it was so quiet, and she was very friendly and brought me a cup of tea while I waited for my take-out! Their friendly attitude and overall pleasant atmosphere ensured I left with a smile on my face to accompany the food in my hand.

Then I got home, and the smile grew! The brown rice was not crumbly in the least like I had feared, and they didn't use too much to bulk up the rolls like some other places do. The fish in both of the rolls was generous, fresh and flavourful and the avocado was also generous and perfectly ripe. The rolls stayed together beautifully and it was the perfect proportion of filling and rice. The soup was a typical, but still nice. As for the salad, they used a delicious sesame (I think...) dressing, but used far too much and I had to drain some off! Still, my experience was so overwhelmingly good, the salad was hardly a concern.

My advice: if you are in or near the beaches, check out New Concept, it is delicious, nutritious, cheap and has great service! It is located East of Woodbine, but I am afraid I forget the exact address, I'll try and find out but there is pathetically little information about them online so far.

Mini-meal

2009-02-22T21:52:00.008-05:00

Why super-size when you can miniaturize? At the end of my reading week I found myself visiting my aunt in Toronto, my aunt who just had her house renovated, kitchen included! While we were downtown enjoying some slushy weather Thursday, I forced my mother and sister to go into AT LEAST one grocery store in Chinatown, just so I could look around. I couldn't resist the quail eggs for $1.99 for 18, though I actually have no idea if that is a good deal or not. I used 12 of them for deviled eggs (see bottom for instructions on hard boiling) topped with capers served at my sister's birthday dinner last night, but saved the other 6 for some frying experiments I had in mind.

When I awoke this morning I couldn't decide what I wanted... a savoury breakfast or sweet. I decided a mini breakfast was in order to satisfy both needs, and also to use up the eggs, some pancetta due to expire and the whole wheat baguette from my sister's birthday. The result? With a mini-hotchocolate to tide me over, I fried up 4 quail eggs, some thinly sliced pancetta and microwave steamed some very small broccoli florets to be my savoury selection. I followed it with maple-pear stuffed french toast with more maple and pear on top.

For the Savoury:
Put 1/2 cup of broccoli florets in a glass bowl with a tablespoon of water, cover almost completely and microwave 1 minute.
Meanwhile: heat a frying pan over medium heat then add sliced pancetta from about 3 pieces and fry until crisp then remove and place on paper towl.
Lower the heat to medium/low and crack the quail eggs (carefully!) into the leftover pancetta fat and immediately lower the temperature to low. For sunny side up, throw in a bit of water and cover for a couple minutes, but keep a close eye on these babies as they fry up quick!
Place it all on a plate, grind some salt and pepper over the eggs and broccoli, photograph then gobble!

For the Sweet:
Finely chop 1 pear and put in a bowl or mug with about 1 tsp of maple syrup and microwave for 1 minute
Meanwhile: cut 2 1 inch sliced from a whole wheat baguette and cut deep but stable pockets in them. Fill these pockets with a bit of the pear mixture, but save at least half to top them.
Heat a frying pan over medium heat with a dab of butter in the middle.
Meanwhile: Mix together 1 egg, 1/4 cup of mik, 1/2 tsp of cinnamon, a pinch of nutmeg and a few drops of vanilla extract in a small bowl. Dredge the 2 stuffed baguette slices thoroughly in the mixture.
When the butter in the pan is melted, give the pieces of baguette a couple shakes over the bowl to avoid dripping and place in the pan for a couple minutes, flipping when golden brown.
Serve with the remaining pear and maple mixture, which may need to be slightly reheated if you take a while with the rest.

It was a most enjoyable breakfast, especially for someone as indecisive as I am. Good news: it is also healthy, relatively easy if you get ready before hand and it is cute to boot.

*To hard boil eggs: cover with water, bring to a rolling boil UNCOVERED, remove from heat, cover and let sit 7 minutes then rinse with cold water. To peel them: roll them around on the counter to crackle them, then peel them carefully,making sure the thick inner skin is coming off too, mine sort of peeled off like a spiral or in big pieces with the egg shell stuck to the skin.

Cornbread and Cookbooks

2009-02-15T21:29:00.013-05:00

What a wonderful weekend this has been; not only did I get 2 new cookbooks, I also got to cook with a real stove!

The first cookbook is (or will be when I get it) a trophy for me, I won it on a Canadian Living contest where you described your best grilled cheese ever. While I haven't received an e-mail confirming my victory, I am listed as second place along with my sandwich idea, so I hope to receive notification soon (I pray I didn't enter the wrong e-mail address!). The cookbook I speak of is "West: The Cookbook" from a Vancouver restaurant called... West, and I have only heard good things about it and am looking forward to a good read as well as good food! The second cookbook I got from a friend who knows how much I enjoy Nigella Lawson's show, both foodwise and personality wise! It is Nigella Express, perfect since I have a tendency to choose recipes that take hours and end up exhausted by the time I eat. I have already skimmed nearly the whole book (I got it about 5 hours ago) and I am in love with her writing style; she writes just like she talks, gorgeously! I hope my friends and family are looking forward to some of West and Nigella's meals in the coming months, I am sure they will appreciate the break from strictly healthy food for a change! (Though of course, these recipes will be very healthy for the spirit.)

Aside from this week containing both Valentine's Day and Family Day, it is also my Reading Week. That means I am home and get to use my mother's kitchen for a whole 4 days (before a Toronto/Oakville adventure with a visit to Whole Foods already planned!). Tonight my mother made some awesome chili with ground chicken, kidney beans and some chocolate and I felt the need to contribute even if it was something small. I decided cornbread would be my evening project (though it only took about 20 minutes total... not counting recipe browsing time) and I adapted my recipe from a site I stumbled upon while searching for low-fat cornbread recipes, though I added, subtracted and divided a fair bit.

Cornbread!
makes 5 or 6 muffins depending on how big you want them

¼ cup each all purpose and whole wheat flour loosely packed
½ cup cornmeal
2 tbsp sugar loosely packed
¼ tsp salt
½ a red pepper chopped
½ cup corn kernels
1 egg beaten
½ tsp baking soda
½ cup yogurt

1 Preheat the oven to 400 F and grease a regular muffin pan liberally (I used sunflower seed oil, but I would recommend butter or shortening to facilitate easier removal)
2 Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl then add chopped red pepper and corn
3 Beat the egg in a small bowl
4 Dissolve the baking soda in the yogurt
5 Immediately add the yogurt and eggs to the dry ingredients and stir just until combined
6 Pour into muffin pan and bake just until a sharp knife poked into the middle comes out moist but clean (about 7-10 minutes)

The result was a delightfully tender and sweet (from the red pepper and kernels) cornbread muffin that soaked up every last speck of chili from the bowls. The yogurt really made up for the oil moisture wise and it was cool to see how it reacted with the baking soda! I would recommend keeping a close eye on the muffins as they bake quickly and can go from uncooked in the middle to dark brown within 3 minutes.

Happy day between Valentine's Day and Family Day!

Aji Sai- Barrie

2009-01-04T19:46:00.018-05:00

After a hectic stay in Sudbury over the holidays, I headed home for an equally insane Barrie finale. Of course, I took a trip to AjiSai on Bayfield. It is only 10.99 for a weekday lunch, and while the food obviously isn't high end sushi, it is surprisingly good and there is a huge variety! My favourite is the AjiSai sushi (pictured) which is full of... I'm not quite sure what, but it is DELICIOUS. For 10.99 I would say it was well worth the visit and my holiday would have been lacking without it.
promise!

note: Since writing this, I have grown in my sushi knowledge. While The Ajisai roll still holds a special place in my heart, if you are looking for good all you can eat sushi in Barrie, I recommend Akira, more details here. Overall, if you want superb sushi... best go somewhere that's not all you can eat and be prepared to spend a bit more money.

Red, Gold and Green

2008-12-28T23:25:00.008-05:00

Since Thanksgiving I have been planning my Christmas Creation, and finally, my last night in Sudbury, I was able to make it. It was a four course meal featuring festive colours that Boy George dreams of, and the meat free menu was tailored to the demands of my vegetarian (ish) guest of honour. I was thrilled with it, despite the lengthy assembly and cooking time, and it was the perfect end to my family holiday.

appetizer: goat cheese, dried cranberry and chive stuffed phyllo triangles
colours: red, green and white
recipe: mix the goat cheese with about 1/4 to 1/3 of its volume in cranberries, add as many chives as you like and place on phyllo sheets brushed with olive oil, and fold into triangles.
end product: They were very nice, and kept the guests fed while I prepared the rest of the meal (which took longer than expected). I wanted bundles so that I could tie them with chives, but my mother did the prep for the appetizer and didn't know that and made triangles... they still tasted the same, so I forgave her.

first course: butternut squash soup with thyme, cumin and cayenne
colours: gold with green garnish
recipe: original can be found here, I roasted the squash and scooped it out instead of dicing and cooking with the onions before adding stock, I used vegetable stock instead and I put in about 6 sprigs of thyme, an enthusiastic 1/2 tsp of cumin and about 1/4 tsp of cayenne.
end product: I did not use pine nuts or olive oil garnishes, but did use a sprig of thyme on each and served it in teacups. It was flavourful and had a nice afterspice, it was very thick however and I needed to cover it while it heated or else it bubbled and made a yellow mess of the stove.

main course: pan fried spinach gnocchi with sauteed cherry tomatoes and parmesan
colours: red, green and white
recipe: I used a gnocchi recipe from epicurious, but omitted the nutmeg since I was using a different sauce than they called for. My mother suggested roasting the potatoes along with the squash, which we did, then scooped them out and mashed them. It was drier than it would have been boiling them, and the gnocchi was kind of chunky, but it worked out fine. After boiling them as directed, I heated about 1 1/2 tbsp olive oil in a non-stick skillet and fried the gnocci until browned. For the sauce, I used the same skillet and heated 1 tsp of olive oil, then added about 3 cloves of garlic, 4 boxes of cherry tomatoes, a healthy grinding of pepper and sauteed them until some of the skins had just broken and some juices released. I did the sauce first, put it in a measuring cup and kept it in the warm oven while I prepared the gnocchi.
end product: despite the chunky rather sticky texture of the gnocchi, it was alright once boiled, and the pan frying it really helped. We only used about half of the dough in the end, and that gave generous servings to 6 people. The sauce went well, though I could have used a few more tomatoes. These are VERY spinachy gnocchi, luckily I like them that way!

dessert: pear souffle with pomegranate seeds
colours: gold with red garnish
recipe: the recipe I tried to use is here, but I messed it up so much, it's really quite different. First of all, for the crème patissiere I forgot to put in the flour, so my Nana and I sifted it while it was supposed to be on the stove cooking for 4 minutes, and later my mother added some cornstarch and then strained it in an attempt to thicken and then smooth it. Secondly, instead of using a 'teacupful' of the pear puree, I am afraid I was in a bit of a rush and just threw all the pear puree into the crème patissiere before folding into the egg whites.
end product: surprise, it worked! It was awesomely peary, and it rose alright. I loved how strong the pear was, and the mess up with the crème patissiere seemed to be of minimal harm thanks to my mother and Nana. The pomegranate seeds (though my Nana doesn't think they have much flavour value) added a nice visual appeal and crunch to contrast the souffle.

And so despite all my mix-ups, worries and cursing (especially with the sticky gnocchi and souffle measurement mishaps), the dinner was successful. It was reasonably healthy, and filling just to the point of feeling satisfied but not bloated, a blessing during the holidays! My guest of honour, grandparents, mother and sister all said they enjoyed it and so I hope it is true. They all also helped immensely (I really, really am thankful for my Nana and sister tackling the dishes at the end). And so, happy holidays and sweet dreams of red, gold and green.

Gravlax with Grandad

2008-12-22T13:10:00.007-05:00

This holiday is excellent so far, yesterday I made healthy cookies, and today I made gravlax with my Grandad! Delicious, relatively easy (but lengthy...) to make and healthier than many holiday creations, this marinated salmon is delicious to serve as an hors d'oeuvre, or even to try in pastas.
My Grandad has a recipe he uses from Food and Drink, only he replaces the vodka in it with Tequila. One of his tricks is putting the salmon and marinade in a plastic bag, then in the tray so that the juices don't escape and they are easier to turn.

I love smoked salmon and salmon sashimi, and so when my Grandad first served me gravlax, I fell in love. While I now have to wait about three days to eat the gravlax, it will be ready just in time for Christmas!