bakergirl creations

moved!

2008-11-16T20:12:00.000-08:00

I've decided to move over to wordpress. I like the simplicity of the user interface and many of the features. I have hummed and hawwed about it, but instead of updating two sites, I will focus on the other one. So if anyone is following along in my culinary adventures I can now be found here.

:) bakergirl

daring baker's challenge: pizza dough

2008-10-29T21:51:00.000-07:00

For someone who likes to bake, yeast scares me. I never seem to have dough that has the right elasticity, texture and overall correct feel. With this month's Daring Baker's Challenge I was apprehensive. We love pizza, however I cheat, I get it at the bakery a block over. For $1.25 a pound, how could you go wrong?

I've attempted pizza dough before but it was always too ... heavy? This recipe recalled 5-7 minutes of kneading, and the overall recipe used a stand mixer with a dough hook. In the world's smallest kitchen there is no space for a stand mixer, so instead of kneading by hand, I decided to head out to my mom's for a visit, with the side benefit of using her's. I don't know if it was the recipe, the mixer or cooking in my mom's kitchen, the dough turned out! I loved the texture, finally, the dough felt right! And one day when I leave the tiny kitchens of downtown apartments, I too will make this dough again, when there is space for a kitchen mixer, or perhaps if I head out for another visit :).

The Pizza dough challenge, hosted by Rosa at Yummy Yum's was lots of fun. Not only were you to make the dough, but a sauce and demonstrate proficiency (eeerrhmm?) in tossing the dough. Dough - check. Sauce - check. Tossing - oops! I tried, I swear I did, but really it was a disaster waiting to happy. The dough was thick in spots, and thin others. I think I was more throwing it up than throwing and spinning around... for lots of delish looking pizzas and some expert tossers check out the Daring Baker's Blog Roll.

One thing I would do differently next time with this dough, is to cook it on our bbq rather than the pizza stone. The bbq gives it more of a smokey and crispy end result than the pizza stone which bakes it more... not sure if that makes sense! The pizza below is topped with a simple spicy tomato sauce, hot Italian sausage, caramelized onions and oyster mushrooms and sesame seeds.

Basic Pizza Dough Ingredients
Makes 4 large pizza crusts

4 1/2 cups all purpose flour, chilled
1 3/4 tsp salt
1 Tsp instant yeast
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups water, ice cold (40° F/4.5° C)
1 Tbsp sugar
Semolina/durum flour or cornmeal for dusting

Directions: Day One

Mix together the flour, salt and instant yeast in a big bowl (or in the bowl of your stand mixer).
Add the oil, sugar and cold water and mix well (with the help of a large wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment, on low speed) in order to form a sticky ball of dough.
On a clean surface, knead for about 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are homogeneously distributed. If it is too wet, add a little flour (not too much, though) and if it is too dry add 1 or 2 teaspoons extra water. (If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for the same amount of time.The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet, sprinkle in a little more flour, so that it clears the sides. If, on the contrary, it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a teaspoon or two of cold water.
The finished dough should be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50°-55° F/10°-13° C
Flour a work surface or counter. Line a jelly pan with baking paper/parchment. Lightly oil the paper.
With the help of a metal or plastic dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you want to make larger pizzas).
Tip: To avoid the dough from sticking to the scraper, dip the scraper into water between cuts.
Sprinkle some flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Gently round each piece into a ball.
Tip: If the dough sticks to your hands, then dip your hands into the flour again.
Transfer the dough balls to the lined jelly pan and mist them generously with spray oil. Slip the pan into plastic bag or enclose in plastic food wrap.
Put the pan into the refrigerator and let the dough rest overnight or for up to thee days.
Tip:You can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag if you want to save some of the dough for any future baking. In that case, pour some oil(a few tablespoons only) in a medium bowl and dip each dough ball into the oil, so that it is completely covered in oil. Then put each ball into a separate bag. Store the bags in the freezer for no longer than 3 months. The day before you plan to make pizza, remember to transfer the dough balls from the freezer to the refrigerator.

Directions: Day Two

On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator.
Dust the counter with flour and spray lightly with oil. Place the dough balls on a floured surface and sprinkle them with flour.
Dust your hands with flour and delicately press the dough into disks about 1/2 inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter.
Sprinkle with flour and mist with oil. Loosely cover the dough rounds with plastic wrap and then allow to rest for 2 hours.
At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone on the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven as hot as possible (500° F/260° C).
Tip: If you do not have a baking stone, then use the back of a jelly pan. Do not preheat the pan.
Generously sprinkle the back of a jelly pan with semolina/durum flour or cornmeal.
Flour your hands (palms, backs and knuckles). Take 1 piece of dough by lifting it with a pastry scraper. Lay the dough across your fists in a very delicate way and carefully stretch it by bouncing it in a circular motion on your hands, and by giving it a little stretch with each bounce. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss.
Tip: Make only one pizza at a time. During the tossing process, if the dough tends to stick to your hands, lay it down on the floured counter and reflour your hands, then continue the tossing and shaping. In case you would be having trouble tossing the dough or if the dough never wants to expand and always springs back, let it rest for approximately 5-20 minutes in order for the gluten to relax fully,then try again. You can also resort to using a rolling pin, although it isn’t as effective as the toss method.
When the dough has the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter - for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough), place it on the back of the jelly pan, making sure there is enough semolina/durum flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide and not stick to the pan. Slide the garnished pizza onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for abour 5-8 minutes.
After 2 minutes baking, take a peek. For an even baking, rotate 180°.
If the top gets done before the bottom, you will need to move the stone or jelly pane to a lower shelf before the next round. On the contrary, if the bottom crisps before the cheese caramelizes, then you will need to raise the stone or jelly.
Take the pizza out of the oven and transfer it to a cutting board or your plate. In order to allow the cheese to set a little, wait 3-5 minutes before slicing or serving.

Original recipe taken from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart.

mushroom risotto

2008-10-26T21:22:00.000-07:00

As part of our fall feast on Saturday night I made mushroom risotto. Two winters ago I was a great lover of risotto, easily I made it once a week. I think Pete was a little risotto'ed out! However when we saw the lovely lobster and oyster mushrooms at the farmer's market, I knew that it would be a risotto night! This is a basic risotto, nothing to spectacular about it, but so yummy and filling. Topped with asiago cheese instead of parmigiano reggiano, it is a slightly different flavour. My favourite thing about risotto is that you can be super creative with it. So get out there and get mix match and enjoy a hearty dinner!

Ingredients:
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp
3 cups assorted mushrooms roughly chopped
2 shallots, finely minced
2 cloves garlic
1 cup arborio rice
1/3 cup cooking sherry
4 cups veggie stock (approx)
1/3 cup grated asiago cheese
chopped garlic chives to top

Directions:

In a sauce pan, heat up veggie stock.
Heat half of the olive oil and butter in a non-stick skillet. Add chopped mushrooms and allow to cook the water out.
With a slotted spoon remove the mushrooms from the pan. Drain the "juices" to a bowl on the side.
Heat up remainder of olive oil and butter, over med heat sautee onions until translucent - 8-10 minutes. Add garlic.
Just before garlic and onion brown, add rice. Toast for about 90 seconds.
Add cooking sherry. Stir and allow to be absorbed.
Add mushroom juices that you had reserved, stir and allow to cook out for about 1-2 minutes.
Add 1/3 cup stock, stir, allow to absorb, stir occasionally - I don't find you need to stir risotto constantly if you are using a non-stick pan. Repeat this step until the risotto is al dente.
Remove from heat.
Take almost all of the sauteed mushrooms (reserve enough to top the plated risotto) and add to the pan. Stir in the grated cheese (again reserving some for topping), stir and cover. Let sit for 3 minutes.
Dish onto plates, top with reserved mushrooms, cheese and chives.
Optional - drizzle with a little olive oil.

Serves 2

last harvest: carrot apple soup

2008-10-25T19:21:00.000-07:00

I was not looking forward to today. You see, it marked the last day of the farmer's market that is right around the corner from us. It couldn't be more than a 3 minute walk. I know there is the winter farmer's market on alternating weekends. But (insert whining voice) I would have to drive there...and I never seem to make it, let alone remember.

Our community garden plot is along the same the same road as the farmer's market. So off we went this morning, coffee's in hand, a happy puppy by our sides and a beautiful fall day awaiting us; I figured we would not only shop, but pull the last our carrots from the garden. The carrots have been slow in growing, I almost wonder if I planted some sort of dwarf carrot variation by mistake earlier on this summer. Regardless, they may be small, but they were plentiful and very tasty. I've been giving "bouquet's of carrots" when we have been visiting friends - maybe that is weird?!

At the market we saw the beautiful colours of autumn. Deep oranges, brilliant yellows, reds, and deep greens. After we harvested our 7 lbs of baby sized carrots (that is a lot of pinky sized carrots, let me tell you!), we picked up a bag full of organic lobster and oyster mushrooms, some fresh and crunchy gala apples and an amazing looking acorn squash. It doesn't sound like a lot, but with a little creativity it turned into a great three course dinner: cream of carrot apple soup, mushroom rissotto, and acorn squash/pear pie (I know, that sounds like such an odd combo).

Tonight's post is the soup. This recipe is totally of my own imagination (or so I thought until I googled carrot apple soup!), and as I was cooking I was just opening the fridge/cupboards trying to figure out what should go in it, the result was surprisingly tasty and rich.

Ingredients:
1 medium onion, diced
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp fresh grated ginger
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp brown sugar
1 gala apple, peeled and chopped
3 cups chopped carrots
5 cups veggie stock
1/2 cup whipping cream
salt to taste
chives to top

Directions:

In a dutchoven heat olive oil and butter, over medium heat saute onions for about 10 minutes until translucent.
Add garlic, sugar, and ginger. Stir and allow to caramelize (about 3 more minutes).
Add apple and carrots, soften for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add veggie stock, bring to a medium simmer and cook for about 30 minutes.
Remove from heat, with an immersion blender, or in batches in your blender, carefully puree soup.
Stir in whipping cream.
Season to taste.
Top with chives.

Next time I would also top with savoury croutons. It would add a nice touch of salt, to juxtapose the sweet of the carrot and apple and a fabulous crunch to compliment something so rich and smooth.

chicken pot pie

2008-10-19T19:14:00.000-07:00

A new food blog has emerged, cute name too: Small Kitchen, Big Ideas. The couple who write this blog, have the right idea...they love food, and they like to create together. In reading their first food post, I smiled at the entry: Chicken Pot Pie.

Chicken pot pie is a quintessential comfort food in my world. I have lots of memories of my mom and I making them together in our kitchen and freezing them for a quick meal from the freezer. We also had the ones out of the box, don't get me wrong, everything wasn't always home made (sorry mom!) but nothing was like homemade.

Given that it has been a stunningly beautiful autumn weekend I knew Sunday night dinner had to be flavours of fall. I gave Pete the choice, lentil soup or chicken pot pie, and considering the title of the post, it's not too hard to figure out what he chose already. Truthfully he chose the most sensible option in terms of what we had the kitchen. We still had half a rotisserie chicken left in the fridge that should be used, so while he was out at field hockey. Into the kitchen to chop and bake I went.

I used mainly things we had around, that is one of the great things about pot pies. I also like double crusted pot pies, so I made the top and the bottom. And while I usually prefer personal sized pies, I thought I would make a full size one for the two of us and use the leftovers for lunch.

This recipe has enough filling for two pies, so I made one. And took a few ramekins filled them and just topped with some of the left over dough, making 3 small personal pot pies. Next time I would just drop the left over into a Tupperware container and through into the freezer; easy filling for next time.

Ingredients for pastry dough
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
1/2 to 2/3 cup ice water
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
Flaked sea salt and cracked black pepper

Ingredients for Filling
1 sweet yellow onion, diced
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 cup diced mushrooms
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 tbsp unsalted butter
2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
4 cups chicken broth
1 cube bullion
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup cream
2 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/3 cup frozen peas
half a leftover rotisserie chicken chopped up (about 3 cups)

Directions for dough

For the pastry, mix the flour, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl.
Add the shortening and butter and mix quickly with your fingers until each piece is coated with flour. Using a pastry knife or two butter knives, cut the butter and shortening into the flour until the fat is the size of peas.
Add the ice water; with a wooden spoon, mix only enough to moisten the dough and have it just come together.
Dump the dough out onto a floured board and knead quickly into a ball.
Wrap the dough in plastic and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Directions for the filling:

In a large dutch oven heat up olive oil and butter over medium high heat.
Saute onions, and celery for 5-10 minutes. Stir every few minutes to ensure it doesn't stick to the bottom of your pot.
Heat up the chicken stock in a medium sized pot, add one cube of bullion.
Blanch the carrots and sweet potatoes in the stock for 3 minutes, remove and set aside.
Add the garlic. And mushrooms and cook for another 5-7 minutes.
Add the flour and cook out the starch for about 2 minutes. Stirring constantly, do not burn.
Add the hot chicken stock. Allow to come to a low simmer for a few minutes as you stir to thicken it.
After 2-3 minutes add the salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and cream, cook for 1 minute.
Add carrots, sweet potato, corn and peas. Stir until the filling comes to a low simmer. Remove from heat.

Directions for Assembly:

Assemble the pie by rolling out half the dough, filling pie and topping with dough.
Whisk egg, and brush lightly over pie top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Using aluminum foil protect edges of pie.
Bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Remove aluminum foil, return to oven for another 15 minutes. Once crust is golden remove from oven.
Allow to set for 15 minutes. Enjoy!

Adapted from Ina Garten's Chicken Pot Pie

thai chicken pizza

2008-10-07T16:30:00.000-07:00

Pizza is a great quick and easy meal to make, especially on the BBQ. I will admit it, i am the one who cheats and buys ready made pizza dough from our bakery half a block away. For the $1.25 it costs per pound, how could you go wrong?

Things with yeast and I don't seem to work very well. Bread never is as light as it should be, same with homemade pizza dough... that being said, every once in a while I go back and revisit it and try again.

This is going to be a super quick post because I am leaving for Mexico in 3 hours! The only reason this is going up now is because I was trying to clean up my memory card to make lots of space available for pictures. In doing so, I came across this.

Ingredients
(enough for 1 medium sized pizza)
1/2 lb pizza dough
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp sesame seeds
1/3 cup peanut satay sauce
3 left over chicken satays cut up into chunks
3/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup bean sprouts rinsed and dried as much as possible
1 large carrot, grated

Directions:

Heat BBQ to med/high heat - 400F
Roll out pizza dough with rolling pin, or shape with your hands. I never really care about the shape, I often actually like the rustic square/round shape that results, I like to imagine it is more gourmet!
Brush olive oil onto one side of pizza dough. Place this side down over the hot grill. Cover and let cook for about 5 minutes, until there are light grill marks on one side. While this is happening, brush the top side with the remaining olive oil.
Flip pizza dough, have all ingredients on hand.
Apply peanut sauce, scatter the chicken chunks and top with mozza. Sprinkle the sesame seeds around the crust.
Close lid and let cook for about 6-7 min. This will fully cook the crust and melt the cheese.
Remove from heat, place on cutting board, allow to cool down slighly, this would allow for easier cutting.
Top with sprouts and grated carrots. Enjoy!

a day of canning

2008-09-29T20:10:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite things about the fall is the ensuing harvest!

Yesterday was our second annual canning extravaganza. A group of my friends come together, everyone bringing bits and pieces for the day and then we mass produce our preserves and split everything at the end. Last year we canned Spicy Pickled Beans, Peaches, Hot Pepper and Garlic Jelly (courtesy of Fiber at 28 cooks) and a variety of jams. Now we loved everything but the jam. Collectively as a group we don't eat enough jam to warrant the volume we created...and truly you can only give away so much!

This year we repeated the pickled beans, and garlic jelly (too late for the peaches in our part of the world) and added garlic dill pickles to our repertoire. The most time consuming part of the day was pealing the garlic. Other than that, we were fairly efficient and were pleased with the results. Special thanks to Brent for playing photographer!

Below are all the recipes we used and the quantities that we used to make enough for 4 couples (no kids!).

Spicy Pickled Beans Ingredients

20 x 500 mL jars
9 lbs Young green beans
20 long, thin red chilies (cut into eighths)
80 large Garlic cloves (4 per jar)
1/4 tsp per jar Peppercorns (white, black, green or a mixture)
1/4 cup loosely-packed fresh dill sprigs per jar
12 + 1/2 cup water (12 ½ cup)
12 + 1/2 cup white vinegar (12 ½ cup)
1 1/4 cup table salt

Directions

Trim and strings from the beans. Rinse well and set aside.
Peal and prepare garlic, slice hot peppers (make sure to wear gloves, nasty burns can ensure if you aren't careful!)
Sterilize jars and lids in not quite boiling water. When jars are cool enough to handle, fill each upright with beans until they are snug. Insert chilies and garlic cloves (preferably around outside so they can be seen). Divide peppercorns and dill among jars.
Separately bring the water, vinegar and salt to a boil in a non-reactive sauce pan. Ladle the hot brine over the beans leaving about 1/2-inch head space.
Wipe jar edge clean and screw on sterilized lid and band according to manufacturers instructions.
Process in a boiling water bath for 12 minutes (no more, or you get soggy beans!). Remove and allow to cool completely at room temperature away from drafts.
Check lids to make sure proper seal has been attained.
Store for at least six weeks before using to allow flavours to develop. - YUM - so good with Caesars or just on their own.

Hot Pepper and Garlic Jelly
30 x 250 mL jars

6 red bell peppers, minced
4 cups fresh mix hot peppers, chopped
2 cups minced garlic
6 cups white vinegar
24 cups sugar - I know that is so much!
8 tsp cracked black pepper
4-5 pkt liquid Certo (4 for a more liquidy jelly and 5 for a little more strength to it)

Directions:

Place all ingredients in large saucepan and mix well. Bring to a boil, stirring often - watch though, because once this comes to a boil, it is a little temperamental.
Boil for 5-6 minutes. Remove from heat and add Certo. Stir well.
Pour into sterilized jars and cover with prepared lids to seal (specific canning instructions are below)

*The easiest way to can is this - wash and dry canning jars thoroughly. Place lids and rings in a pot of barely simmering water. Once jelly is ready, fill a jar, leaving about a 1/4" headspace. With tongs, remove lid and ring from water, place on jar, and tighten, although not all the way. Turn jar upside down on a dishtowel. Repeat with remaining jars. Allow to cool for 10-15 minutes. Turn upright and allow to seal. Tighten rings on all jars. If any of the jars don't seal, simply store in the refrigerator once cool. The other jars can be stored in a pantry for 8 months to a year, if it lasts that long.

A special thank you to Fiber for this great recipe. It is amazing with crackers and cheeses, mixed in cream cheese as a dip, my mom even uses it with sausage rolls. I imagine spring rolls would be nice with it too!

Garlic Dill Pickles
28 x 1 L jars

30 lbs fresh pickling baby cukes
13 1/2 cups vinegar
45 cups (11 Litres + 1 cup) water
3 3/8 cups pickling salt
10 Bunches of dill
Bowl of peppercorns (1/4 tsp per jar)
140 peeled whole garlic cloves

Directions:

Sterilize canning jars in a hot oven.
Scrub cucumbers in cold water until clean.
Bring a large vat of water, enough to cover all the cucumbers, to a boil.(I think we used about 30 Liters to cover up the cukes in the sink).
Pour boiled water over cucumbers in a well cleaned and rinsed sink and let sit for 20 minutes.
Meanwhile peel garlic, set aside peppercorns, clean and separate out dill bunches.
In another pot add vinegar, water, salt to a boil - DO NOT over boil or salty pickles will be had by all
Pull hot jars from oven and to each jar add a handful of dill (or more if you like dilly-ious pickles),5 cloves garlic, and peppercorns.
Tightly pack jars with hot pickles - this turned into a race for us and was lots of fun to see which way worked best!
Fill each jar with hot/boiling brine (~2 cups per jar), leaving 1/2" headspace.
Adjust lids/rings and seal tightly - no processing needed.

A big thank you to my good friend, Tlell for this recipe she has shared. She and her mom make these pickles and as a receiver of such a nice treat, I must be sure to pass along credit where credit is due!

daring baker's challenge: lavash crackers + dips

2008-09-27T21:15:00.000-07:00

This has to be a record fast post. First of all I am up against the clock deadline of the Daring Bakers Challenge to post today. Second of all, we had company surprise us and drop in (and they are still here!) I'm not very good with that. I like notice and to feel prepared. It's not even making sure the house is tidy, it's just my mindset...

Anyhow as I write this the crackers are baking. This month's challenge was Lavash Crackers, a first for the Daring Bakers, courteousy of bakers from the "alternative baking list", Natalie from Gluten A Go Go and Shel of Musings From the Fishbowl teamed up to bring us a two-part challenge. After months of rich cakes, and involved recipes, this was lovely. Quick easy and you have everything you need in your pantry. The second part of the challenge was to create a topping or dip that was vegan friendly. Because I am up against the clock, I had to make something quick and easy (sorry!) and insert hummus. Yum!

For a great look at lots of delicious savoury niblets check out the Daring Baker's Blog Roll. And for the recipe, visit Natalie (Gluten A Go Go) and Shel (Musings From the Fishbowl). One thing I have noticed about this recipe is that the thinner you can roll the dough, the better it is. I thought I had rolled it out enough, but I just peaked in the oven and it resembles pita more than crispy crackers. Over at A Whisk and Spoon, she suggested rolling the dough with a pasta machine on the setting for lasagna - BRILLIANT! Now if only I had a pasta machine... next time, more muscles!

(worst picture ever!)

Hummus Ingredients
1 can drained chickpeas
1/4 cup tahini paste
5 cloves of roasted garlic
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp sour cream (not necessary, but a nice touch if you are ok with making this non-vegan)
salt to taste

Directions:
Take all ingredients, blend until creamy and ready to eat in a food processor. And you are done!

easy chicken satay

2008-09-25T21:02:00.000-07:00

One of the student groups I advise had a potluck dinner on Monday night. I was assigned "any type of meat". I have been busy lately, really when I look around, who isn't? Anyhow, as a result I was trying to think of something really quick and easy that I could prep in the morning before work, and then cook when I got to the potluck. Insert: chicken satay.

The thing I liked about this recipe is that I made chicken satay a few weeks ago and thought it was gross. I had added peanut butter to the marinade, based on a recipe I found on the internet and it made the chicken taste muddy. I don't know what real satay is supposed to be marinaded in, and truly, I don't care. The night before I was going to make this, I was drifting off to sleep trying to decide what to put in it (based on what we had in the house) And below is the result. In honour of my friend Cate, I must say, "Tasty, Tasty".

Ingredients:
2 lbs, boneless + skinless chicken thighs
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
4 crushed garlic cloves
1 Tbsp sesame oil
3 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp chili sambal sauce

Directions:

Combine all the ingredients into a large ziploc bag, massage so that all the ingredients combine.
Allow to marinate in the fridge for at least 4 hours, meanwhile soak skewers to prevent burning.
Heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Thread chicken onto skewers, bake on a cookie sheet for about 10 minutes, turn and bake for another 5-7 minutes.
Serve with your favourite Peanut Sauce. Mine is Asian Family's Speacilaty Foods Satay Peanut Sauce

Alternatively you could cook these over your grill. This is a lot of chicken, so adjust as needed, this was enough for 10 people + extras for leftovers. (Thai chicken pizza to come)

Enjoy!

new zealand roast rack of lamb

2008-09-15T21:50:00.001-07:00

To any vegetarian's or vegans I apologize. This post is for the carnivore...of which I am and with whom I live. One of our favourite meats is lamb. Truthfully it is something I had to develop a taste for and since really finding an appreciation for it, beef doesn't taste the same.

Pete's mom often made us a version of this. It is another one of those random pieces of paper on the bookshelf that I am cleaning out. Originally the recipe was for a leg of lamb. It requires a long marinating time (ahhhemmm...planning?) and is usually something we bbq over the grill. Tonight however we made it with a Frenched rack of lamb that I first seared and then roasted in the oven until it was a lovely medium-rare. I really liked the searing in melted butter in my cast iron pan. It adds a richness that the meat really benefited from.

I have no idea how to take any decent looking picture of meat, so here it is, in all it's glory on the cutting board.

Ingredients:
1 rack of lamb, Frenched (8 popsicles)
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon rosemary
2 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
4 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
6 Tablespoons dry white wine

2 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

The night before, in a Tupperware container or in a large freezer bag, combine Worcestershire and wine
Rub spices into meat.
Drop meat into container/bag, massage and refrigerate. Turn halfway through.
1 hour before wanting to eat, take meat out of fridge and allow to come to room temp.
Heat oven to 450 degrees.
Place cast iron skillet in oven to heat up for 10 minutes.
Add butter and olive oil to skillet, ensure it doesn't burn. Over a burner at medium (it will still have a lot of residual heat from the oven) sear each side of the rack (2 minutes a side). Baste the rack that isn't being seared with the melted butter/oil combo.
One you have a nice sear on it that will keep the rack nice and rack, place skillet in the hot oven. For a total of 12 minutes (for medium rare), 6 minutes a side.
Remove and allow to rest covered for 5-10 minutes.
Slice and serve!

pumpkin pie muffins with cream cheese filling

2008-09-14T19:21:00.000-07:00

One of my favourite pies is a moist and flavourful pumpkin pie. I loved it as a kid and I love it as an adult. In the fall, closer to Thanksgiving (in Canada!) and Halloween you can easily find the 2 for $5 pies at Safeway or any local grocery store. As a child I loved those... as an adult, not so much. The crusts are moderately better than cardboard and the flavour of filling is, ok. A few years ago for Thanksgiving I found a recipe from somewhere on the internet that was a combination of pumpkin, maple syrup and cayenne pepper (yes, really). I'm not here for Thanksgiving this year, but that won't stop me from enjoying the bounty of pumpkin season...even if it has to come from a can (shhh... don't tell).

I wanted a pumpkin muffin that was rich and moist, and felt like a treat to eat. Stuffed with an gooey cream cheese filling, and topped with pumpkin seeds (which I didn't have so substituted walnuts instead) and a little brown sugar. As these baked the apartment smelled wonderful. Settle in with a cup of tea, wrapped in a blanket on the patio on a cool afternoon, and it is a lovely way to take a time out from the busyness of life.

Muffin Ingredients
4 eggs
1 cup oil
1 x 14 oz can pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)
1 1/2 cup white sugar
1/8 cup brown sugar
1 tsp salt
2 1/4 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground nutmeg
1 1/2 cups AP flour
1 pinch cayenne pepper
1 tsp ground cloves
1 tsp baking soda

Cream Cheese Filling Ingredients
1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup + 1 tbsp white sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp butter
(you could easily half this and have less cream cheese filling in the muffin, that would be Pete's preference, I like the ooey gooey cream cheese filling)

Topping Ingredients
Small handful of chopped walnuts are pumpkin seeds
2 tbsp brown sugar

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Lightly grease a muffin pan and line with muffin liners (I like to grease the pan even though I use the liners so the muffin tops don't get stuck to the pan)
Combine filling ingredients until smooth, set aside.
Combine eggs, oil, and pumpkin until smooth.
Stir together dry ingredients and add to the wet.
Fill muffin tin 3/4 of the way with batter.
With two spoons, use one to create a well in each muffin and the other to drop in about a teaspoon of the cream cheese filling.
Top with pumpkin seeds or walnuts and a little touch of brown sugar.
Bake for about 20 minutes. Test the doneness by inserting a toothpick or skewer into the muffin part of the muffin (not the cream cheese part).
Allow to set for about 15-20 minutes, this allows the cream cheese filling to settle a little more so that the muffins don't tear apart.

Makes 18 good sized muffins.

easiest, tastiest steak marinade

2008-09-13T15:31:00.000-07:00

I am on a house cleaning purge - perhaps instead of spring cleaning, I am fall cleaning. One place that needs some love is my cookbook bookcase. I am always ripping out recipes or being given recipes that I think "I will make one day" - I am sure many people have this as well.

Years ago a former colleague gave me this recipe. Photocopied from a book. Unfortunately I have no idea what the source is, so apologies to the creator. But in an effort to clean the shelf, random papers must go, and this needs to be added to the blog for posterity.

When I think of this recipe I think of the word, umami. The kitchen even smells great when the steak is marinating! No picture, but just know that when this all comes together and you cook your steak perfectly it is a great addition to a meal from the grill!

Ingredients
1 cup dark soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
2 cloves finally minced garlic cloves
1 Tbsp finely chopped fresh ginger
(sometimes I used ground ginger from the spice rack and that works fine too)
freshly ground pepper to taste
1/4 cup of rice wine vinegar (or juice from 1/2 a lemon)
1 Tbsp cornstarch (or tapioca starch)

Directions:

Mix all the ingredients together in a non-reactive dish.
Add the meat, turn to coat and marinate for 10-30 minutes. Turn meat half way through to ensure equal marinating. Do not marinate overnight, as this is a fairly salty marinade.
Cook steaks to the doneness you like. Be sure to allow them to rest for 4 minutes and the quickly return to grill to heat up for 30 seconds or so.

** Enough for 4 steaks

chewy chocolate chip cookies

2008-09-11T19:34:00.000-07:00

I love summer...but sometimes I love fall even more. There is something so lovely about the fresh air, the consistently warm weather, the crisp evening air. AND, I feel like the fall brings on the baking bug for me. The call of the oven is louder because the house isn't melting from July/August heat! And work slows down as everyone gets settled in once classes start.

All week long I have been brainstorming things I want to make: cookies, muffins (pumpkin and zucchini) and homemade bread (to accompany several soups I want to make!). I've been reading the food blogs and it seems like everyone is picking up again! One of my favourite bloggers, Annie, made some delicious looking Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. I thought I would take a stab at them given that I was craving baking, and here they are...

Ingredients:
2 cups plus 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour
½ tsp. baking soda
½ tsp. salt
12 tbsp. unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

(If I was to make these again, I would use less chocolate chips and add some pecans or walnuts to the batter!)

Directions:

Adjust oven racks to upper and lower-middle positions. Preheat oven 325°. Line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Whisk dry ingredients together in a medium bowl; set aside.
With electric mixer, or by hand, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly combined.
Beat in egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined.
Add dry ingredients and beat at low-speed just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
Roll a scant half-cup of dough into a ball. Holding dough ball in fingertips of both hands, pull apart into two equal halves. Rotate halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, place formed dough onto cookie sheet, leaving ample room between each ball.
Bake, rotate cookie sheet by 180 degrees halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy (approximately 11-14 minutes). Do not overbake.
Cool cookies on sheets until able to lift without breaking. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Source: adapted from Annie's Eats, originally from Baking Illustrated

gummy creations

2008-08-23T22:17:00.000-07:00

August is always a crazy month for me. Getting ready for classes to start again, and for the return of students I still am amazed how fast the month flies by. So while I haven't been posting, I have been busy, and busy with lots of food related stuff.

We went to the family reunion in the Okanagan, and brought back with us, some peaches, pears, cherries, tomatoes and peppers...and so I have been busy canning some new stuff (to be posted later when I get a decent picture of the jars in natural light).

As I was sitting at the table looking at the freshly canned Roma tomatoes, I started to think about how I could have walked about 50 feet to the little grocery store practically out my door and picked up a tin of tomatoes for a measly buck something, there is something so satisfying doing it myself.

Then, as it often does, my mind wondered away and I started thinking about random things I could try to make from home.... I am not sure if anyone has ever watched "How It's Made", but it tends to be something that catches my attention, perhaps because it helps me think about how I could make things that we so often run out to the store to buy. I just love the challenge of trying to make something at least once...and so came the ah, ha moment when I thought, why don't I make my own gummy candies. Truly I have never desired to do it, but I figured the kitchen is already a mess, why not!? The result is below... not exactly the same as the junk you can buy at the corner store, but still kind of fun. We made the recipe below twice, first raspberry flavoured and then lime. I'm looking forward to trying to make these with my nephew!

Ingredients:

1 package flavored jello
6 packages unflavored gelatin
1/2 cup cold water

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan, mix both the flavored and the unflavored gelatin.

2. Stir the gelatins up. Pour cold water in mixture and stir with a spatula until you have a gloppy-chunky blob not unlike play-doh.

3. Turn heat stove top burner on medium and melt blob.

4. Stir the blob constantly until melted.

5. Spray molds very lightly with a vegetable spray like Pam.

6. Pour the melted mixture into miniature bear molds, or other small candy type molds.

7. Place filled molds in freezer for 10 minutes to cool.

** I don't have candy molds but I do have silicon shapes ice cube trays from Ikea...and as a result, flowers and puzzle pieces. Voila!

Recipe from Marianne Dambra

dulce de leche pecan ice cream

2008-08-05T23:09:00.000-07:00

At the wedding we went to a few weeks ago, instead of having a seating chart, there was a table with escort cards laid out. On each card there was the name of a guest, their table number and a favourite recipe of the newlywed's to take home (and hopefully make!).

This recipe comes from Pete's escort card. And given that he loves caramel and ice cream, we knew we would have to make it. I have had at the happy couple's house before, and it didn't disappoint when we made it - so a big thank you to them!

This is a delicious ice cream to make...it is not however a healthy treat, sweet and rich - so to make on occasion is good, just not something you may need to have in you freezer at all times. We made a few adaptations to the recipe, so below is what we ended up making.

Ingredients
1 c milk, plus 2 T
1 c whipping cream
4 egg yolks
1/4 c sugar
1 jars dulche de leche (or 1 can prepared sweetened condensed milk)
1/2 c pecan halves
Freshly ground black pepper

Directions

In a small saucepan, heat 1 c milk and the cream over medium heat, just until bubbles appear around edge of pan. Remove from heat and set aside.
In a bowl, beat together egg yolks and sugar. Add warm milk mixture.
Wipe saucepan clean. Return custard mixture to pan and cook over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until custard thickens and coats back of a spoon, 8-10 minutes.
Immediately remove from heat and strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean bowl.
Stir 1/3 can dulce de leche into warm custard.
Cover with plastic wrap, pressing it directly on surface of custard, and let cool completely.
Refrigerate for 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 375°F (190°C). Spread pecans on a baking sheet, sprinkle with 1 T of water, and season to taste with pepper. Toast pecans until fragrant and lightly browned, 7-8 minutes. Let cool, then roughly chop. Set aside.
Freeze chilled dulce de leche custard in an ice-cream maker. Transfer to a chilled freezer-proof container and fold in toasted pecans. In a small bowl, mix half of the remaining dulce de leche with 2 T milk, then fold into ice cream just enough to form a marbled effect. Freeze until service.
Accompany ice cream with 1/3 can dulce de leche.

To prepare sweetened condensed milk into dulce de leche:

In a large dutch oven, filled with water, bring water to a rolling boil.
Carefully drop can of condensed milk into water, ensure it is fully covered, preferably with an inch or two of water.
Keep water boiling at a low boil for 3 hours.
You will need to keep adding water to the pot to keep the can covered, this allows can to be under constant and equal pressure. (I checked every 15-20 minutes_
After 3 hours (though many sites say anywhere for as short as 90 minutes) remove can from water and allow to cool.
You can store the can in the fridge once prepared unopened, and it would last for months.

**Please be careful while preparing the dulce de leche - it can be a little dangerous!**

Adapted from Williams-Sonoma, TASTE

filo wrapped coho salmon

2008-07-30T21:15:00.000-07:00

So the mussels (below) were the appetizers as part of our seafood extravaganza. And the filo wrapped salmon was the entrée. It was quite possibly one of the fastest proteins I have ever prepared...with the goat cheese it was pretty rich. Tasty but rich. Next time I think I would cream together the goat cheese with a little bit of honey dijon or something like that to cut the richness just a bit. What I did love was how beautifully the filo turned out. I am always apprehensive to work with it, for fear of drying out or tearing, but then whenever I do, always a happy surprise!

(Lighting in the picture is horrible!)

Ingredients
2 coho salmon fillets - personalize size, de-boned and skinned
3 Tbsp crumbled herb goat cheese
1 lemon 5-10 thin garlic chives
2 Tbsp melted butter
2 sheets filo paper
salt and pepper

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 400 F
Lay one sheet of filo out. Cover the other with a damp cloth/paper towel to ensure that it doesn't dry out.
Brush top half of the sheet with melted butter.
Flip bottom half of sheet up onto the top, brush with butter.
Pat salmon dry, season with salt and pepper.
Place de-boned and skinned fillet on with 3 inches from the end of the sheet.
Top salmon with half of the crumbled cheese, 1/4 of the chives - chopped up into small pieces, and some juice from half of the lemon.
Fold top, bottom and short side of the filo ont the salmon, and then fold the salmon along the long side of the filo.
Brush outer filo with butter.
Repeat for second fillet.
Place packs on a cookie sheet and bake until golden brown - approximately 20 minutes.
Garnish (if you would like to!) with the other half of the lemon and remaining chives

Best served with a fresh light garden salad!

Serves 2.

chorizo mussels

2008-07-28T21:41:00.000-07:00

Every summer I have a few seafood kicks. Living on the west coast, there is an abundance of delights from the sea. A few months ago there was the Spotted Prawn Festival in Vancouver...fresh fresh fresh meaty prawns, cooked simply either steamed or grilled and a little garlic butter - delish!

Today after work I wondered down to Granville Island, visited our favourite fish shop and picked up a few pounds of mussels and wild coho salmon fillets...and out of it we had a tasty summer seafood fest.

Here is our appetizer: chorizio mussels - the heat was delayed, using fresh chili's would have a stronger intense heat, the chorizo was more subtle.

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/3 diced yellow onion
1 Roma tomato diced
3 cloves diced garlic
1 pinch salt
1 large chorizo sausage, sliced
1 Tbsp chili flakes
1/3 cup white wine
1/3 cup vegetable stock
2 lbs mussels, cleaned - only use tightly closed mussels
1/3 cup heavy cream
4-5 basil leaves

Lots slices of crusty bread

Directions:

Over medium heat, heat olive oil in a large heavy bottomed pot (I used a dutch oven)
Add to garlic, onions and salt to the pot, sauté until they begin to sweat, do not let brown
Add chorizo sausage and chili flakes, sauté for about 2 minutes, stir occasionally
Add tomatoes, allow to warm through
Add white wine and vegetable stock - bring to a boil
Add cleaned mussels, cover and let steam for approximately 5 minutes
Once the majority of all the mussels have opened, remove from heat.
Transfer mussels to a large bowl, leave sauce in the pot.
Add heavy cream, bring to simmer and allow to thicken - about 2 minutes.
Take all but one leaf of the basil, tear and add to pot, stir and pour into bowl with mussels.
Garnish with remaining leaf.
Serve with bread - use it to absorb all the tasty broth

NB: Only eat the mussels that have fully opened - the other's should be tossed.

musings and gardening

2008-07-26T19:33:00.000-07:00

We have been busy this month! Between a wedding of good friends and all the excitement, events and errands around that, working many evenings and family there have been lots of dinners out and food ordered in...cooking or baking has been something that has not been on my mind at all! Sure, we've bbq'd burgers on the grill, and I've baked some vanilla cupcakes, but nothing to write on the blog about! But not for long, I have a list as long as my arm of things I am looking forward to make over the next few weeks, and can't wait!

What I have been up to has kept me outdoors. Living in an 800 - something square foot apartment I have really been missing the joy of gardening. I have a vault full of memories of being a kid and watching my dad garden, and every few summers my mom would put in a veggie garden. I loved watching the little seedlings start out scrony and over the course of a month or two bush out, fill with fragrant blossoms and in the case of the veggies produce food that could make it to the table in mere minutes.

Last year I put my name on a wait list for a community garden plot, as luck would have it, this year I got a large plot for me to with it whatever my little heart wanted - I was stoked! The plot is about 8'x20' it is on a slope, so I went with a fairly traditional approach, basic rows filled with:
green beens, sugar peas, butternut squash, carrots, onions, chives, beets, radishes and lettuce (I planted spinach but it totally bolted in the never ending June rain). I also planted several sweet pea plants - a little floral beauty. The picture below is the finished product of a hot afternoon in May turning the soil and planting.

And today, I finally got the chance to go and collect our bounty! Don't get me wrong, over the last weeks I have picked a few sugar peas off the plant, and some lettuce leaves, but today I went prepared, basket and shears in hand... and I walked away with an exciting assortment - bring on the kitchen now! I will get back in the kitchen -- till next week then!

In the picture from left to right:
Chives, Sugar Peas, Butter Lettuce, Green Beans, Sweat Peas, Radishes

o canada, our home and native land...

2008-07-01T19:46:00.000-07:00

No recipes in this post. But, in honour of my fair country's 141st birthday, we did the typically Canadian thing: pack the car, pack some beer and get out of the city...and it was a great time for all.

This past weekend we went camping at Shuswap Provincial Park. I love camping. Love it. I don't know if it is the childhood memories, of big campfires, swimming in a lakes, having fun with friends and cousins, but there is something I just adore about packing up the car and heading out to the "wilderness". Pete likes to point out that how we camp, is not real camping...it is car camping. Fair enough. He is the strap on a 70 lb pack and walk up a mountain. I am the person who is completely satisfied to have a car to zip to the store if I need anything.

My favourite thing about camping now as an adult is to cook a delicious meal with pretty basic ingredients, and the kicker, is to try to cook everything over open flames. We always bring our camping stove, just in case there is a campfire ban, but there is NOTHING like grilled steak with a smoky wood flavour. A few pictures for fun are below. Our first night's dinner was delish, grilled steaks, mushroom risotto and salad - no picture of that, we were too hungry to take any!

Breakfast: Eggs, Roasted Potatoes and Sausages

Dinner: Teriyaki Salmon, Grilled Asparagus and Roasted Potatoes

daring baker's challenge: danish braid

2008-06-29T08:00:00.000-07:00

For some reason I thought that starting this month's daring baker's challenge at 8:00 pm was a good idea - what was I thinking? Before I even get to that point, let me start by saying that I thought that this month's challenge of Danish Braid sounded exciting, challenging yes, but I was excited to try to create a laminate dough...and i loved that I had everything needed for the recipe except for the whole milk so there was no need spend $50+ on ingredients - so than you to Ben and Kelly who hosted this month!

Back to the 8:00 pm start, I had read through the ingredients, I was prepared to do all the dough turning, and leave it in the fridge overnight to bake the next day. Then came the slow unravellings of what could have been a long evening. My dough mixer wouldn't power up. I had run out of ground cardamom apparently, so had to crack the pods and pound to smithereens with my mortar and pestle. Then I made a batch of dough and forgot to add the eggs, but didn't know until had made the first well and had the liquid pour out all over the counter...and then finally, finally after remaking the dough, rolling out and turning it, but wait, one more mess to clean up, I spilt the carton of milk all over the counter - sigh - by 1:30 am, I was ready to go to bed.

I seldom loose my patience in the kitchen, but boy I am sure Pete was glad that I had something to get my frustrations out on! I enjoyed the process of braiding, it was interesting to see how such a simple step could create something that looked well presented. Below is the result - the dough didn't rise as much as I would have liked.

Ingredients:
For the dough (Detrempe)
1 ounce fresh yeast or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup sugar
Zest of 1 orange, finely grated
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
2 large eggs, chilled
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

For the butter block (Beurrage)
1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Apple Filling
4 Fuji or other apples, peeled, cored, and cut into ¼-inch pieces
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Directions: Dough

Combine yeast and milk in a bowl with a hand mixer on low speed or a whisk.
Add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice and mix well.
Sift flour and salt on your working surface and make a fountain (My edit after round two - start in a large bowl, make well and add liquid, combine in the same method as follows). Make sure that the “walls” of your fountain are thick and even.
Pour the liquid in the middle of the fountain.
With your fingertips, mix the liquid and the flour starting from the middle of the fountain, slowly working towards the edges.
When the ingredients have been incorporated start kneading the dough with the heel of your hands until it becomes smooth and easy to work with, around 5 to 7 minutes. You might need to add more flour if the dough is sticky.

Directions: Butter Block

Combine butter and flour in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 1 minute.
Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle and then beat for 1 minute more, or until smooth and lump free.
Set aside at room temperature.

Directions: Turning the Dough

After the detrempe has chilled 30 minutes, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface.
Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 18 x 13 inches and ¼ inch thick.
The dough may be sticky, so keep dusting it lightly with flour.
Spread the butter evenly over the center and right thirds of the dough.
Fold the left edge of the detrempe to the right, covering half of the butter.
Fold the right third of the rectangle over the center third. The first turn has now been completed. Mark the dough by poking it with your finger to keep track of your turns, or use a sticky and keep a tally.
Place the dough on a baking sheet, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Place the dough lengthwise on a floured work surface. The open ends should be to your right and left.
Roll the dough into another approximately 13 x 18 inch, ¼-inch-thick rectangle.
Again, fold the left third of the rectangle over the center third and the right third over the center third. No additional butter will be added as it is already in the dough. The second turn has now been completed.
Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
Roll out, turn, and refrigerate the dough two more times, for a total of four single turns. Make sure you are keeping track of your turns. Refrigerate the dough after the final turn for at least 5 hours or overnight.
The Danish dough is now ready to be used. If you will not be using the dough within 24 hours, freeze it. To do this, roll the dough out to about 1 inch in thickness, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze. Defrost the dough slowly in the refrigerator for easiest handling. Danish dough will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.

Directions: Apple Filling

Toss all ingredients except butter in a large bowl.
Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat until slightly nutty in color, about 6 - 8 minutes.
Then add the apple mixture and sauté until apples are softened and caramelized, 10 to 15 minutes. If you’ve chosen Fujis, the apples will be caramelized, but have still retained their shape.
Pour the cooked apples onto a baking sheet to cool completely before forming the braid. (If making ahead, cool to room temperature, seal, and refrigerate.) They will cool faster when spread in a thin layer over the surface of the sheet. After they have cooled, the filling can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Left over filling can be used as an ice cream

Putting it all together
(Makes enough for 2 large braids)

Ingredients
1 recipe Danish Dough (see below)
2 cups apple filling, jam, or preserves (see below)

For the egg wash: 1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk

Directions:

Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper.
On a lightly floured surface, roll the Danish Dough into a 15 x 20-inch rectangle, ¼ inch thick. If the dough seems elastic and shrinks back when rolled, let it rest for a few minutes, then roll again. Place the dough on the baking sheet.
Along one long side of the pastry make parallel, 5-inch-long cuts with a knife or rolling pastry wheel, each about 1 inch apart. Repeat on the opposite side, making sure to line up the cuts with those you’ve already made.
Spoon the filling you’ve chosen to fill your braid down the center of the rectangle. Starting with the top and bottom “flaps”, fold the top flap down over the filling to cover. Next, fold the bottom “flap” up to cover filling. This helps keep the braid neat and helps to hold in the filling. Now begin folding the cut side strips of dough over the filling, alternating first left, then right, left, right, until finished. Trim any excess dough and tuck in the ends.

Proofing and Baking

Spray cooking oil (Pam…) onto a piece of plastic wrap, and place over the braid. Proof at room temperature or, if possible, in a controlled 90 degree F environment for about 2 hours, or until doubled in volume and light to the touch.
Near the end of proofing, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.
Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan so that the side of the braid previously in the back of the oven is now in the front. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and bake about 15-20 minutes more, or until golden brown. Cool and serve the braid either still warm from the oven or at room temperature. The cooled braid can be wrapped airtight and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or freeze for 1 month.

strawberry cheesecake bites

2008-06-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

Mini-desserts are a favourite of mine to make at gatherings. They are often cute, not too involved and the size helps people take as many or as a few as they like. I came across Annie's blog while searching for a random recipe this weekend. She is recently a new mom - congrats to her!

Anyway, this recipe is a mini cheesecake recipe from her site - and the best thing is that they took literally no time to make. Between prep and baking - 25 minutes!

Cheesecake Bites Ingredients
1 ¼ lb. cream cheese, at room temperature
¾ cup sugar
½ tsp. vanilla extract
¼ cup sour cream
2 eggs, at room temperature
3 tbsp. all-purpose flour

Strawberry Sauce Ingredients
2 cups frozen or fresh hauled strawberries
1/2 cup water
1/4 cup white sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
3 tbsp water

Cheesecake Bites Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°. Line a mini-muffin pan with paper liners.
To make the filling, in the bowl of an electric mixer beat the cream cheese on medium-high speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Reduce the speed to low, gradually add the sugar and beat until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.
Add the vanilla and sour cream and beat until combined.
Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the flour and beat until combined.
Divide the filling among the prepared muffin cups, filling each about ¾ full. Bake until the cheesecakes are just set in the center, about 15 minutes.
Transfer the pan to a wire rack and let the cheesecakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes.
Using a small offset spatula, transfer the cheesecakes to the rack and let cool completely, about 45 minutes.
Refrigerate the cheesecakes in an airtight container at least overnight or up to 3 days. Spoon topping onto cheesecakes just before serving.

Strawberry Sauce Directions:

In a sauce pan combine strawberries, sugar and first amount of water.
Bring to a low simmer for 5 minutes until the strawberries begin to fall apart.
I used a potato masher to make sure they were pretty tender.
In a small bowl combine the cornstarch and second part of water. Ensure there are no lumps and slowly add to the simmering strawberry mixture.
Allow to cook and thicken for about one minute.
Cool.

>> Assemble cheesecake bites by topping them with the strawberry sauce<<

Makes 48 mini bites

crab wonton crisps

2008-06-23T17:00:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine is getting married and we had a bridal shower for her this weekend. I love the opportunity to try new things at such gatherings, though I am sure most people prefer to try something new when it is just them - and not 15 other people! C'est la vie.

I love crispy wontons as an appetizer, and crab is tasty! I also love quick appies that can be prepared the night before, and then assembled just before needed. This is a combo of several different recipes I have tried over the years, and thought worked out pretty well - AND they look fancier than they actually are!

Ingredients:
24 square wonton wrappers
2 x 6 oz cans of crab, drained
4 oz softened creamcheese
3 green onions, chopped
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
cooking spray

Directions:

Heat oven to 350°F.
In a medium sized bowl combine: crab, creamcheese, 2 green onions, Worcestershire sauce and 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese.
Spray a mini-muffin tin with cooking spray.
Gently place a wonton wrapper in each cup, and press down.
Divide crab mixture, evenly amongst the 24 cups. Top with remaining Parmesan cheese.
Bake for 12-15 minutes or until edges are golden brown and filling is heated through.
Top with remaining green onion slices. Serve warm.

You can make filling the day before and then bake just before they are needed.

frozen treats: sherbet and ice cream

2008-06-22T23:15:00.000-07:00

This weekend I bought a mini ice-cream maker. When you live in a small apartment, with what feels like the world's smallest kitchen you don't have a lot of space for gizmo's and gadgets, and the good things with this little ice cream maker: it fits in our fridge-freezer, AND it makes two flavours at once! With summer coming and trying to eat less processed crap, I thought it would be worth a try. I opted for two different flavours. The first was a rhubarb-strawberry sherbet and the second a simple vanilla ice cream.

Rhubarb- Strawberry Sherbet Ingredients:
1 cup hauled strawberries, sliced
1 cup rhubarb sliced
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
2-3 tablespoons triple sec
1/2 cup whipping cream

Vanilla Ice Cream Ingredients:
1-1/4 cup whipping cream
1/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

Rhubarb- Strawberry Sherbet Directions:

In a saucepan combine strawberries, rhubarb, water and sugar.
Over medium heat allow to stew for 15 minutes.
Remove from heat and allow to cool to room temperature.
Add triple sec and whipping cream.
Using a hand blender, blend it and make sure that it is smooth.
Once cool place in ice cream maker and follow your machine's specific directions.

Vanilla Ice Cream Directions:

In a bowl combine all the ingredients and mix until sugar dissolves.
Place in ice cream maker and follow your machine's specific directions.

Could it get any easier than that?

raincoast crips

2008-06-21T17:57:00.000-07:00

Savory or sweet? Hmmm... I like both and that is why I think these little crisps are pretty great! Lesley Stowe makes these Raincoast Crisps that are fantastic. These crackers (?) come in lots of different flavours, but Fig and Olive are my favourite. They are great to have on hand for company, and at the holidays.

The recipe below is more like the original - nutty. They are a great accompaniment to a cheese platter, goat cheese, spicy garlic jelly, smoked salmon, Parmesan artichoke dip - whatever tickles your fancy! Anyhow, they get a little pricey at $7-$9 per box. Terra Breads has their own version that are a few dollars less, but I was convinced we could make them at home, I just wasn't entirely sure how... in pops Google (how much do I love the internet sometimes?!) So the recipe below is not mine. It is from Vitamin V - the only change is that I didn't have any pecans at home, so in went slivered almonds instead. Really, I think you could substitute any time of nuts and seeds in this - gotta love recipes like that?

Ingredients:
1/2 cup white flour
1/4 cup flax or wheat germ
(I used flax seeds)
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup poppy seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds, chopped
1/4 cup pecans, chopped (I used slivered almonds,chopped)
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/4 cup buttermilk
2 tbsp blackstrap molasses

Directions:

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl together - set aside
In a saucepan for less than a minute, warm up buttermilk and molasses (just long enough to combine molasses and buttermilk)
Gradually add wet ingredients to dry until dough just starts to hold together (you may not need all the liquid or may need a pinch more flour)
Roll as thinly as possible between two sheets of parchment paper (if you think you have rolled thinly enough, roll a little bit more, I would have preferred them to be just a bit thinner) and bake on a cookie sheet in low oven (250 degrees) for one hour
After 30 minutes,take off top sheet of parchment paper*
When one hour is up,turn off oven with crisps still inside and forget about them - 5 hours or so.
After the crisps have sat in the oven and are fully cool and crisp, you will have a sheet of perfect crisps to break into bite-sized pieces.

* I think that you could score the crackers at this point with a sharp paring knife, this would give you some clean break lines...Or, if you want it organic you could just break into bite-sized pieces like I did.

There are a few other recipes out there that I found that may be worth trying too:

Rosemary Raincoast Crisps
Cranberry-Rosemary Seed Crackers * different baking method

veggie stock

2008-06-20T23:23:00.000-07:00

A while ago I read a post somewhere that suggested keeping veggies that weren't quite perfect, but still good and throwing them into a freezer bag to reserve for a veggie stock. Kind of like catching the veggies before they need to head to the compost. Over about a month and ago I started do it: tips of veggies, left overs etc. And below is the result, a combination of celery, carrots, onions, beans, even tomato slices! I know, I know... not very appealing!

Ingredients:
1 large yellow onion
1 head garlic
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large freezer bag of collected frozen vegetables
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

Slice the large onion into large pieces.
Peel and coarsely chop a head of garlic.
Heat olive oil in dutch oven, sauté onions and garlic until lightly browned.
Add frozen vegetables.
Fill with water until just covering vegetables.
Add bay leaves.
Add 1 tbsp pepper corns
Allow to simmer for at least one hour.
Add a few pinches of salt.
Strain stock threw either cheese cloth or a coffee filter.
Store in the fridge for up to 4 days.

beer butt chicken

2008-06-12T22:05:00.000-07:00

I know, I know that does not sound like an appetizing entré! A chicken with a beer stuffed up it's butt? I don't even really like beer, but I swear it is moist, delicious and very worth the odd name (and process).

I know many people have recipe's for beer butt chicken (or whatever they want to call it), but I am really happy with this one. The flavours were not planned. At first I thought of a somewhat traditional spicy rub; I did that, but then as I was about to sit down once placing it on the BBQ, that I had this thought to make a glaze of fresh lemon juice and honey...the result was savoury, sweet with a mild heat behind it - mmm! I love surprising endings.

A few things:

Pete won't share the secret recipe of the rub - it is something he makes and puts in the cupboard. BUT, I think it easily be replicated with a basic Cajun seasoning (though he swears it is nothing like it - but hey, I'm the one writing the blog entry). Also I am sure any basic spicy rub would be just as tasty.
I rubbed the chicken down with butter as per a few other recipes I had seen around, but the skin, while good, could have been crispier, maybe a veggie oil of some sort would have been better?

I thought this picture was hilarious, kind of like the chicken was a puppet dancing on the grill of the BBQ.

Ingredients:
1 3-5 lb roasting chicken
2 teaspoons butter or vegetable oil
2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning or spicy dry rub
juice from half a lemon
3-4 tablespoons honey
1 can of beer
half a potato or onion

Directions:

Preheat BBQ to med-low heat (our thermometer read 300 F).
Remove giblets and neck from chicken, clean, and trim off extra fat.
Rub chicken down with butter or oil,
Rub in rub, both inside and outside of bird.
Open beer can with can opener, poor out (or drink ;) 1/2 the beer.
Oil the outside of the can to ensure it will be easily remove.
Place beer can on counter and put the chicken on top of it, butt first!
To ensure the moisture doesn't escape, plug neck cavity with potato or onion.
Place bird onto the grill, over indirect med-low heat. Close lid and let roast.
After the bird has roasted for 20 minutes baste with half the honey lemon mixture, repeat 10 minutes later.
Allow to roast until the bird gets to over 180F in the thickest part of the bird (the juice also runs clear). For our 4 lb bird it took about an hour and 15 minutes.
Remove the bird from the grill carefully with tongs.
Get a parter while one holds the bird, the other carefully removes the can. Cover chicken with foil, allow to rest for 5 minutes.
To serve quarter bird.

Serves 4.

bacon vinaigrette

2008-06-07T17:01:00.000-07:00

I had this moment the other day where I couldn't remember how to make this vinaigrette...not that it would be the end of anything, but I enjoy it on a mixed green salad with crumbled feta, sliced green apples and thinly sliced red onions. Add a grilled chicken breast to the mix and it makes a tasty tasty meal.

Ingredients:
3-4 slices bacon
2 tablespoons minced shallots or sweet yellow onion
1 clove garlic finely minced
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Directions:

Fry bacon in a non-stick skillet
Once bacon is cooked down, remove from skillet with slotted spoon, let drain on plate with paper towel.
Remove all but 2 tablespoons of bacon fat
Saute onions and garlic in fat - careful not to burn it
Once onions and garlic are softened, add dijon mustard and mix into fat.
Add vinegar and sugar allow sugar to dissolve, remove from heat and serve over salad. Can be served warm.

This isn't meant to be kept in the fridge for much more than a day or two!

rhubarb berry pie

2008-06-06T21:30:00.000-07:00

I really don't understand how anyone could say they don't like rhubarb. They must have tried to eat it raw or something, because there is nothing like it stewed or baked! (Can you tell I am passionate about this?) For a vegetable/fruit that takes over with it's gigantic leaves and somewhat boring staulks, it is one of my favourite things about late spring and early summer...

When family or friends try to give it away because of it's abundance in their gardens, I welcome it with a big smile. We had some friends over for a bbq, and for dessert, started with fresh rhubarb from Pete's mom's garden, and frozen strawberries and raspberries from our berry picking extravaganza last summer...I thought, a combo made for a perfect summer pie! (Cheezy I know!)

The crust is the crust off of the Tenderflake box (well 1/3 the recipe) and about 2 tbsp of white sugar, this created a slightly cookie like tasty crust.

Pie Crust Ingredients:
5 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp white sugar
1/4 teaspoons salt
1 lb tenderflake lard
1 egg, stirred slightly
1 tablespoon vinegar
7/8 cup cold water

Egg Wash
1 egg whisked
2 tbsp water
2 tsp white sugar

Filling Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 tablespoons orange juice
1/4 tsp salt
2 1/2 cups fresh berries
(we used raspberries and strawberries)
4 cups rhubarb (cut into 1/2 inch pieces)
2 tablespoons butter in small pieces
3 tablespoons cornstarch

Directions:
Dough (enough for 3 x 2 crust pies)

Stir the flour, sugar and salt together.
Cut in the lard with a pastry blender or 2 knives until the shortening is in pea size pieces.
In a measuring cup, combine the egg and vinegar.
Add enough cold water to make one cup.
Stir the liquid into the flour mixture, adding just enough to make the dough cling together.6
Stir the water in with a wooden spoon until mixed thoroughly, then gather the dough into a ball, and separate into 6 portions.
Cover and refrigerate for one hour, you can chill over night, covered, providing you leave it at room temp for 15 mins before rolling.
Lightly flour surface and roll into circles, then pat the dough into pie pans, following pie recipes. Be careful not to stretch the dough.

* Preheat oven to 425 F.

Filling:

In a small bowl, using a fork, stir together the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Set aside.
In a large bowl, toss the berries and rhubarb together. Ass the sugar mixture and toss to combine and coat the fruit evenly, mix in orange juice.
Pile the mixture into the prepared pie pan, mounding in the centre.
Scatter the butter over the filling.
Create a lattice for the top crust - I like this for berry pies because they often have excess juice and this helps reduce it much more than a traditional second crust.
Make egg wash by whisking egg and water together. Brush on top of pie and sprinkle with remaining sugar.
Bake for 20 minutes and then reduce heat to 350 F and bake for another 35-40 minutes longer.
If you find it is browning too quickly, gently cover the top of the pie with tinfoil, do not crimp down too near the pie, otherwise steam will not be able to escape.
Once pie is browned nicely and the filling is cooked, remove and allow to cool. Cooling will help thicken the filling.
If you have a cake platter, do not place lid on top while pie is cooling, this will make the crust soggy.
Serve warm or at room temperature - delicious with vanilla icecream.

Serves 6.

cedar plank grilled salmon

2008-05-31T23:27:00.000-07:00

The husband of a good friend of mine loves to fish and loves salmon. I would say if there was one meal that is his specialty to make, it is grilled salmon. His wife (my friend) makes a tasty-tasty lemon dijon sauce to top it. She was kind enough to share her recipe, but of course I can never just leave well enough alone! So below are directions for our version of cedar plank grilled salmon based on the deliciousness of theirs!

Grilled Salmon Ingredients:
cedar plank (for grilling)
water to cover plank
1/3 cup coarse salt
1 & 1/2 lbs fillet of salmon (we like the skin on)
a drizzle of olive oil
1/3 yellow onion thinly sliced
1/2 lemon thinly sliced
1/3 cup fresh dill salt pepper

Lemon Dijon Sauce Ingredients
3 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons yellow onion, minced
1 & 1/2 lemons juiced
4 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons dijon mustard
1 green onion thinly sliced
3-4 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

Directions

In a large roaster pan place cedar plank, cover with water, add coarse salt. Allow to soak for 3 hours.
Once cedar is fully soaked, prepare salmon.
Pre-heat grill (ours is gas) to indirect medium high (about 425 F)
Rinse off salmon (if it hasn't been done already, debone fillet)
Place salmon on board, drizzle with olive oil, flavour with salt and pepper. Place dill, onion and lemon across the top of it.
Place plank over indirect heat, allow to cook for about 20 minutes, or until it reaches an internal temp of 134 F.
While salmon is cooking, make Lemon Dijon sauce: heat butter and saute onions and garlic, don't brown.
Add Dijon mustard, lemon juice (sans seeds!) and honey. Whisk together and allow to thicken.
Once the sauce is brought to a gentle simmer add green onions and dill, allow to simmer for 2-3 min
Remove sauce from heat.
Once salmon is done, remove from heat, serve fish right on cedar plank. Serve Lemon Dijon sauce on the side.

We served this with wild rice and a fresh salad... a great summer meal! Serves 4.

mushroom barely salad

2008-05-29T15:55:00.000-07:00

Do you ever have one of those nights when you just don't know what to cook, and you stare into the fridge, the cupboard, the pantry...you sigh over and over again... just wanting to not deal with it, and have food magically appear? (I recognize the irony of a person with a food blog complaining about not knowing what to make.) Well a few weeks ago I was home alone and the idea of making a full meal just for me seemed ridiculous, but at the same time I couldn't bring myself around to eating cereal. So I pulled out the supplies I had...and this was the result:

Ingredients:
1 cup barely
2 1/2 cups veggie stock
(you could use water, but I found this gave the barely nice flavouring...kind of like risotto!)
1/4 yellow onion finely diced
1 clove of garlic minced
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup crumbled feta
1 green onion, chopped
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
juice from one lemon
salt and pepper to taste
parsley to garnish

Directions:

Combine barley and stock or water in a pot (if using water I would encourage you to add a little salt as you would when cooking pasta). Bring it to a boil over medium heat, and then reduce to low, cover and allow to simmer for 35 minutes. Check for done-ness, it may need a few more minutes.
Meanwhile, using one tablespoon of the extra virgin olive oil and the balsamic vinegar, fry up the onions, garlic and mushrooms. Once everything is softened, and the onions are translucent remove from heat, and allow to come to room temperature.
Allow barely to cool. I found putting it on a plate and spreading it all out was a good method.
Once everything is nice and cool, combine the sautéed veg, green onions, barley remaining olive oil, lemon juice and mix.
Add crumbled feta - don't over mix otherwise the feta will disintegrate.
Taste and season with salt and pepper.
Top with parsley as garnish.

daring baker's challenge: opera cake

2008-05-28T21:43:00.000-07:00

A month ago I would never have been able to tell you anything about an Opera cake other than that it sounded fancy. Well, this month's DB challenge was just that. An incredibly rich and sweet French gateau. I completed the challenge back on Mother's day weekend as a dessert for dinner. My mom had asked for a lemon flavoured dessert so I thought it would be a nice combo with the almond flavour of the joconde (almond cake layer). In theory I thought this would work well, but somehow the sweetness of the buttercream was just too overpowering. The family enjoyed the cake, but when it came to the leftovers I think most begged out :(.

A traditional Opera cake to my understanding has the light jaconde coupled with a dark chocolate ganache. One of the requirements for the challenge, (in keeping with spring) was to keep the colours on the cake to the pastels. I think I prefer the contrast of the dark and the light. On my cake, everything just kind of melts together. I had the light yellow from the lemon buttercream icing, and I flavoured the ganache was a berry liqour, and topped the glaze with a strawberry (which my mom stuffed with sweet and tart cream cheese something...mmm).

Over all I thought the combination of white chocolate, with the richness and sweetness of the buttercream, was just too much.

I did however enjoy making the jaconde. I had never actually made a jelly roll cake before, so that was interesting, and I enjoyed grinding down the almonds into an "almond meal" was kind of fun. I think it would work really nice as a base for a somewhat nuttier version of strawberry shortcake.

For the full recipe check out the lovely blogs of this month's hosts: Lis, Ivonne, Fran and Shea.

california spring salad

2008-05-05T13:17:00.000-07:00

'Tis the season for lighter eating...I love the time of year when having a big salad is satisfying and refreshing. For the longest time my favourite salad was a Taco Salad, then it was Thai Beef Salads...this may be a new favourite. It is ridiculously fast to make and seemed to be enjoyed by many at a dinner party I brought it to. The picture does not do the salad justice... but alas sometimes you just have to put something up!

Ingredients
Salad to Serve Two (as a meal)

4 cups mixed greens and spinach
1 cup sliced strawberries
¼ thinly sliced red onion
½ log crumbled goat cheese

Candied Walnuts/Pecans:

1 cup nuts (I mixed varieties, sometimes even Almonds)
1 Tablespoon butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 tsp Cajun seasoning

Maple Poppyseed Dressing:

½ cup white wine vinegar
½ cup maple syrup
2 Tbsp Dijon mustard
Pinch of salt
½ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1/3 cup poppy seeds

Directions:

Salad: combine ingredients - easy!

Candied Nuts:

Toast in a hot frying pan about 2-3 minutes
Add butter, brown sugar and Cajun seasoning (I know random – but the salt and heat is masked, but still adds something)
Allow everything to melt and stir with a wooden spoon.
Before mixture begins to burn poor nuts out onto a silpad to cool, separate with the spoon as much as possible to avoid clumps

Dressing:

Put everything except for the EVOO in a food processor/blender and blend – slowly adding ½ cup Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Mix until emulsified; add 1/3 cup poppy seeds – blend again.

Combine salad, nuts and dressing, top with grilled chicken if you like meat and enjoy!

daring baker's challenge: cheesecake pops

2008-05-01T11:42:00.000-07:00

This month's Daring Bakers' challenge was a success, posting it was not! The deadline to post was Sunday, today is Thursday.... I even had done the challenge a few weeks before, brought it into work for a birthday surprise but failed to take a picture of it before - oops... still new to this whole "take the picture of your food" thing.

Anyhow, Elle and Deborah from Feeding My Enthusiasms and Taste and Tell, respectively, hosted. They chose little cheesecake pops. The creativity of the other Daring Bakers was inspiring. I loved the people who had geometric shapes, perfectly cut and clean...then were those who had been meticulous with the details like the Daring Baker at Delicious Days.

Anyhow, mine were simple. The cheesecake recipe. Melted chocolate chips some vegetable shortening (mmm, yes I know, tasty tasty) and rolled in graham cracker crumbs. I would make these again for sure. They are cute, festive and most importantly yummy. The recipe below is the FULL recipe, I halved it, and I would halve it again, as it made nearly 25 pops (which was plenty).

Ingredients:
Makes 30 – 40 Pops

5X 8-oz. packages cream cheese at room temperature
2 cups sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ cup heavy cream
Boiling water as needed
Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks
1 pound chocolate, finely chopped
(you can use all one kind or half and half of dark, milk, or white)
(Alternately, you can use 1 pound of flavored coatings, also known as summer coating, confectionary coating or wafer chocolate – candy supply stores carry colors, as well as the three kinds of chocolate.)
-2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

(Note: White chocolate is harder to use this way, but not impossible)

Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) - Optional

Directions:

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.
In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.
Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.
Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.
When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.
When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose it’s shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.
Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.
Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.)
Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening (or confectionary chocolate pieces) as needed.
Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

This recipe is adapted from Jill O'Connor's book
Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey: Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth

wacky wedding cake

2008-04-26T19:54:00.000-07:00

Good friends of mine eloped a few weeks back. No one knew, no one, not even their parents...so when they came home and told everyone, it was quite the surprise. Needless to say we wanted to have a small celebration for them. So it was dinner out, a little prosecco and a cake, add the newly weds and it was a great time with friends. The cake below was super easy to make - maybe a little too easy for a wedding cake. It is a chocolate vegan cake, with cherry brandy sprinkled on the layers, cherry pie filling between the layers and then iced with swiss meringue (from last month's Daring Baking Challenge)

This cake recipe was from my mom, she always called it Wacky Cake, it must have been called that because there was no egg or milk in it. Anyhow the great thing about this cake is that at almost any time you have all of these ingredients on hand. The recipe below is enough to make a 2 6" cakes plus 2 ramikens of cake.

Cake Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cocoa (unsweetened)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon vinegar
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup cold water

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, mix flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt
Make three wells in the flour mixture. Put the vanilla in one, in another the vinegar, and in the third the oil. Pour the cold water over the mixture and stir until moistened.
Evenly distribute the batter into 2- 6 inch round cake pans (I had a nice small spring form pan that I used) and into 2 small greased ramikens.
Bake at 350°F. oven for 25 to 30 minutes, or until it springs back when touched lightly.
Once all the cakes have baked and are out of the oven, allow to cool for about 15 minutes and then turn onto colling racks.
Once completely cooled slice the two larger cakes horizontally so that you now have 4 layers plus the two ramikens. Trim any mounds on the cake to be sure that it is level.
Drizzle cherry brandy on all the layers
Begin stacking the cake, adding some filling to one side of the layer, and some of the swiss meringue butter cream to the bottom of the next layer, continue for all the large layers. For the small ramiken layers I cut a "cork" out, added some filling, trimmed the cork and then topped off the mini cake with it.
I took the larger set of cakes and the smaller set and treated them like two separate cakes until right at the end.
Crumb coat both cakes. Refrigerate until the base layer of icing is set.
Ice a final top layer.
Optional --> Take ribbon of your choice and add to bottom of each cake. Hold in place with pins at the back of the cake.
Stack cakes and adorn as you choose.

yam fries + chipotle mayo

2008-04-23T19:34:00.000-07:00

These make a great snack, appy or side. I think they are best to make when your other mealtime tasks are minimal. I know that deep frying is so bad for you, but everyone once in a while right? All good things in moderation!

Ingredients
2-3 small yams
3 cups vegetable oil
1 tsp salt
2 tsp Cajun seasoning
6 cups water

3/4 cup mayo
2 cloves roasted garlic
juice from one lemon
2-4 chipotle peppers

Directions:

Bring water a boil
Heat oil to about 375 degree F
Peal, wash and slice up yams
Boil yams for about 1-2 minutes
Strain yams, do not rinse, and lay out on towel to absorb extra moisture
Carefully fry a handful of yams for about 2 minutes, remove and let drain on paper towel
Fry remainder of yams
Fry up yams in similar fashion a second time, this time let batches fry for about 4-5 min until golden brown
Drain yams on a paper towel
In a bowl, add yams and toss with salt and Cajun spice.

To make the chipotle mayo, in a food processor combine mayo, roasted garlic, lemon juice and chipotle (to taste).

Enjoy!

white button walnut brownies

2008-04-22T22:20:00.000-07:00

Who doesn't love a rich delicious brownie? Everything is good in moderation, and you really only need one of these, but don't forget a nice cold class of milk on the side! I have posted two pictures below. The first is the two-bite brownie, the second is made more traditionally in a square pan. I think I was more impressed with the pan method, and if I was to make them again (and I plan on it) I would place the white chocolate buttons on the top the same way I did with the two bite brownies. In the pan, I chopped up the white chocolate, so it just melted in...your choice!

Ingredients
*adapted by Alton Brown's Cocoa Brownies*
4 large eggs
1 cup sugar, sifted
1 cup brown sugar, sifted
8 ounces melted butter
11/4 cups cocoa, sifted
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup walnut pieces
16 white chocolate rounds/wafers

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F
2. Butter and flour an 9-inch square pan or a mini cup cake pan
3. In a bowl beat the eggs at medium speed with a hand mixer until fluffy and light yellow
4. Add both sugars
5. Add all the remaining ingredients excpet for the white chocolate, and mix to combine
6. Pour the batter into a greased and floured 9-inch square pan or the mini cupcake pan
7. Place the white chocolate evenly on top of the pan, in a 4x4 pattern or one on top of each mini cupcake
8. Bake for 45 minutes. Check for doneness with the tried-and-true toothpick method: a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan should come out clean. When it's done, remove to a rack to cool. Resist the temptation to cut into it until it's mostly cool. I would even say that these are better the next day - if you can wait!

thai lettuce wraps

2008-04-22T21:45:00.000-07:00

I have been so delinquent at posting - yet, I have been taking lots of pictures and scribbling down food combos (I am not sure I could call them recipes!) These are a favourite on a night we wanting take out - but a homemade version. I love that this dish is so versatile, really you could put any veggies or ground meat/tofu into it.

Ingredients:
1/2 small onion
3 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp sesame oil
1/2 to 1 lb ground meat (this is beef, but chicken, turkey and pork have all been good)
2 carrots
2 celery stocks
1 red/yellow or green pepper
2-3 button mushrooms
1 handful chopped spinach
1-2 Tbsp sambal/chili sauce
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp hoison sauce
1-2 tsp honey *to taste*
2Tbsp Peanut Satay sauce (optional)

Half a bag of steam fried noodles
One head lettuce

Directions:
1. Wash and finely dice all veggies
2. In a wok or large fry pan heat up sesame oil over medium-high heat
3. Add onions and garlic, do not burn
4. Add meat and brown
5. Add all veggies, except for spinach and stir
6. Add sambal, soy, hoison, peanut satay sauces and honey
7. Allow veggies to cook for about 3-4 minutes
8. Add spinach and cook for another 30 seconds
9. Wash head lettuce and smack the base on the counter, this helps loosen all the leaves
10. Place a layer of the steamed noodles in your serving bowl, top with the hot meat/veggie combo.
11. Serve and Enjoy.

*in the past I have added small cubed firm tofu, it absorbs the sauce nicely*

spicy szcheuan green beans

2008-03-30T20:16:00.000-07:00

I love anything spicy. And these are one of my favourites! I also love green beans (especially in a caesar!). Anyhow, these are an easy side for chicken and rice, or aside steak and garlic mashed potatoes. The only thing that takes any time is boiling the water to blanch the beans.

This recipe is all about "dashes" because I never seem to actually measure anything, most of it is to taste...so you can personalize all you want, but all the ingredients go so well together, that I imagine you couldn't go wrong.

If you aren't a green bean fan, but love edamame, it makes a great snack! (I will post a pic of those one night when we have a late night craving).

Ingredients
2 handfuls of tipped green beans
pinch of salt
6 cups boiling water

2 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1-2 Tbsp hot sambal sauce (hot chili Asian sauce)
2 Tbsp hoision sauce
3-4 dashes soy sauce
2 dashes terriyaki sauce
1-2 tsp honey
2 tsp sesame seeds

Directions:

Boil water in pot over high heat
Add pinch of salt and beans - remove after 3 minutes
At this point you should add the strained green beans to an ice bath to stop the cooking, however I never am that organized and just plop them in a strainer and run the cold water through them, turning them over with my hands for a few minutes until cool.
In a large frying pan, or a wok, heat sesame oil
Add garlic, alow to soften, do not brown it!
Add strained green beans - allow to "fry" for about 20 seconds, stirring once or twice.
Add sambal, hoision, terryaki and soy sauces. Allow to cook for about 2 minutes, the sauces will thicken and coat the beans
Remove from heat and sprinkle [toasted] sesame seeds over top.

ENJOY!

daring baker's challenge: dorie's perfect party cake

2008-03-30T09:13:00.000-07:00

My first daring baker's challenge completed! Since this is my first challenge, I should explain the process. This is a group of bloggers, and non bloggers who "knead to bake!". At the beginning of each month the host selects a recipe, posts it and sets out the guidelines for what can and what cannot be changed/personalized and also indicated what day everyone will post their final results.

Thank you Morven for hosting this month's challenge. I was excited to make this cake because I love anything lemon. I made it a few weeks ago for a friend's engagement party. For the most part it turned out well. Throughout the month on the Daring Baker's blog some folks were noting that the cake did not rise properly. Morven noted a few changes in the recipe before I baked my cake, but alas mine still did not rise the way I would have liked! I did use cake flour, a different brand than she had suggested, but it was what they had at our local store. As a result I ended up making a second batch of batter after the first had been baked. In the end I had 4 cakes, used 3, and didn't end up slicing them in half as per the recipe.

A few other things. I left out the raspberry preserves, but used both a lemon and lime curd (recipe's below - love these!) And I also made a quick lemon syrup that i brushed on each cake before layering the curd.

One final note about the cake - I loved the marshmallowy icing (Swiss Meringue Buttercream)! I think it was beautiful to make and it was much simpler than I thought it would be...so if I walk away with one thing, it would definately be that!

**I wish I had taken a picture of the slices, the alternate between the yellow and the green lime curd was actually very lovely against the white of the cake and the crisp white of the buttercream**

For the Cake

2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups buttermilk (the recipe suggested whole milk as an alternate)
4 large egg whites
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ teaspoon pure lemon extract

For the Buttercream
1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 large lemons)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the Lemon & Lime Curd
*I made one batch of Lemon & one of Lime*

3 large eggs
1/3 cup fresh lemon or lime juice
1 tablespoon citrus zest
¾ cup granulates sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature

Directions:
Move oven rack to centre, heat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit

To Make the Cake

Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.
Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant. (I loved this part!)
Add the butter and working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light.
Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed.
Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated.
Add the rest of the milk and eggs beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients.
Finally, give the batter a good 2- minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated.
Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the touch – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean
Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unfold them and peel off the paper liners.
Invert and cool to room temperature, right side up (the cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to two months).

To Make the Buttercream

Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or another large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a plan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes.
The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream.
Remove the bowl from the heat.
Working with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes.
Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the butter a stick at a time, beating until smooth.
Once all the butter is in, beat in the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes.
During this time the buttercream may curdle or separate – just keep beating and it will come together again.
On medium speed, gradually beat in the lemon juice, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more, and then the vanilla.
You should have a shiny smooth, velvety, pristine white buttercream. Press a piece of plastic against the surface of the buttercream and set aside briefly.

To Make the Lemon or Lime Curd

In a stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water, whisk together the eggs, sugar and lemon juice until blended.
Cook, stirring constantly (to prevent from curdling), until the mixture becomes thick (like sour cream or hollandaise sauce). This will take approximately 10 minutes.
Remove from heat and immediately pour though a fine strainer to remove any lumps.
Cut the butter into cubes and whisk into the mixture until completely melted. Add the lemon zest and let cool.
The lemon curd will continue to thicken as it cools.
Cover immediately (so skin doesn’t form) and refrigerate for up to two weeks.

Makes 1 ½ cups.

To Assemble the Cake

Using a sharp serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, slice each layer horizontally in half. (I didn't do this part as my cake didn't rise enough)
Put one layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper.
Spread it with one third of the preserves.Top with another layer, spread with preserves and buttercream and then do the same with a third layer (you’ll have used all the jam and have buttercream leftover).
Place the last layer cut side down on top of the cake and use the remaining buttercream to frost the sides and top.
Press the coconut into the frosting, patting it gently all over the sides.

easter cake

2008-03-24T23:15:00.000-07:00

** So I didn't make this cake as part of a challenge, but I recently stumbled across an Easter Cake Competition over at A Slice of Cherry Pie - it looked fun, so I thought I would submit my cake, though when looking at the posts from last years, it is all in fun (I am not nearly as talented as the others bakers!)**

At family gatherings, I am the one who prefers to bring the dessert. Pies are my preference - but it was time for a cake...this one, Martha inspired *gasp* - to check out the original, it is in the March 08 Martha Stewart Living.

Ingredients for Cake Layers
3 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut
1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee (I used Swiss Chocolate coffee - even more chocolate flavour!)
3 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla

Ingredients for Peanut Butter Icing
1 cup good quality creamy/smooth peanut butter
1 stick butter (half a cup)
2 cups icing sugar
2-3 Tbsp milk or cream

Ingredients for Chocolate Icing
1oz cocoa
5 Tbs boiling water
6oz butter or soft margarine
9-12oz icing sugar, sifted

For the Cake Layers: *or cupcakes - those turned out great as well*

Preheat oven to 300°F. and grease pans. Line bottoms with rounds of wax paper and grease paper.

Finely chop chocolate and in a bowl combine with hot coffee. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.

Into a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer).
Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well.
Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined well.
Divide batter between pans and bake in middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes. Adjust time accordingly for cupcakes - mini's took about 15 minutes.

Cool layers completely in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks.
Carefully remove wax paper and cool layers completely.
Cake layers may be made 1 day ahead and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature.

For the Peanut Butter Icing:

In a large bowl, beat butter and peanut butter until light and fluffy.
Slowly beat in 1/2 of the confectioner's sugar.
Mix in 1/2 of the milk/cream.
Beat in the remaining confectioners' sugar.
If necessary, add a little more cream or milk until the frosting reaches a good spreading consistency.
I used this for in between the layers of chocolate cake

For the Chocolate Icing:

Dissolve the cocoa in the boiling water, making a paste.
Cream the fat to soften it, then add the icing sugar and beat really well until the mixture becomes pale in colour and light in texture. (An electric mixer is helpful).
Mix in the cooled cocoa.
Additional flavouring of vanilla or peppermint essence, dissolved instant coffee or the finely grated rind of half an orange may be added.
Store in a covered container in the refrigerator or freezer.

Cake Assembly:

Cut off the "humps" of the cakes - put excess cake aside
Spread peanut butter frosting between cake layers
Spread the chocolate frosting over the sides and top of cake.
Take remainder of cake humps and crumble with your hands to make "dirt"
Curl chocolate with a veggie peeler and carefully place on sides of cakes
If you want to make the nest, this was out of regular filo pastry, shredded with a tablepsoon of butter mixed in and then nestled in a muffin tin - bake at 350 until golden
Mushrooms are made from fondant and then dusted with cocoa
Flowers are made with tissue paper, floral wire and floral tape - you could buy something similar at Michael's
Place Cadbury mini eggs in nest
Once everything is in place, dust cake carefully with icing sugar.

**WARNING** this cake is incredibly rich, especially with the peanut butter icing- but good!

sushi salad

2008-03-24T13:01:00.000-07:00

I have a handful of recipes that I have planned to blog about for a while...but the month got away on me, there should be a few more coming after this one!

We love sushi! But sometimes we don't feel like going out, let alone taking the time to make it (even if everyone makes their own). This is all the goodness of sushi, with way less time. The best thing is that you can add whatever you like to it. If you LOVE spicy tuna, you could top the salad with spicy tuna sashimi - yum.

Ingredients:
salad:
1 cup uncooked sushi rice
1/8 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp white sugar
1 portobello mushroom
1 tsp sesame oil
1 handful snap peas chopped
1 carrot julienned
1 avocado diced
1 red pepper julienned
1/3 of an English cucumber julienned
1/2 cup edamame beans (about 2 cups pods, boiled in water for 6 minutes - cool and seperate beans and pods)
1 cup crab
1 sheet of nori crumbled to top
sesame seeds to top

vinaigrette:
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp wasabi (or to taste)

Directions:

Cook rice according to package directions.
Combine first amount of rice wine vinegar and sugar in a microwaveable bowl and heat for about 20 seconds, enough to dissolve sugar.
Once rice is cooked, mix the sugar/vinegar in, and allow rice to come to room temperature.
Meanwhile, slice up portabello mushroom, fry up in first amount of sesame oil.
Once rice is cooled, add all the veggies and crab or any other protein you want to add.
Top with sesame seeds and crumbled nori.
Combine all the vinaigrette ingredients.

I personally thought this recipe was best when fresh - day of, I didn't love it the next day as a left over. We had it with chicken terriyaki and miso soup, an easy homemade sushi dinner.

cajun chicken

2008-03-03T21:50:00.000-08:00

As I took the photo for this recipe I realized I seem to have only posted dishes that are orange/red or brown!! We do eat lots of veggies and greens, I just don't seem to ever post about them! This dish is very spicy, but served with a fresh and crisp green salad and some rice or angel hair pasta, this is a nice and easy to make meal.

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts or the equivalent in chicken tenders
1 cup flour
canola oil
cracked pepper
salt

8 button mushrooms, sliced
10 cherry tomatoes, halfed
4 tablespoons cajun spice
1/2 tablespoon crushed chilies
1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
5 oz spicy tomato sauce
8 oz chicken or vegetable stock
1 tablespoon butter/margarine

Directions:
1. Tenderize chicken to a 1/4 inch thickness
2. Substantially sprinkle chicken with cracked black pepper
3. Season flour with a pinch of salt and about 1 teaspoon of cracked black pepper
4. Coat chicken in flour -- can be done in a plastic bag, ala shake and bake, or it could be done in a bowl and just dredged.
5. Heat about 5 tablespoons oil in fry pan over medium high heat (I know this is a lot of oil, but you will drain whatever doesn't get absorbed in the chicken)
6. Once oil is hot, add chicken and cook until about 90% cooked.
7. Drain excess oil.
8. Add mushroom slices, and cherry tomato halves, cajun spice, chilies, black pepper, tomato sauce and chicken stock.
9. Allow to simmer for 2-3 minutes.
10. Add 1 tablespoon of butter to thicken.

Serves 4.

homemade cream of mushroom soup

2008-03-02T21:04:00.000-08:00

Being a child of the 80's - I was a big fan of Campbell's soup. My all-time favourite was cream of mushroom with Premium Plus crackers crumbled in it. In an effort to make meals, instead of just opening up a can, I whipped up some cream of mushroom soup that was tasty and brought back the memories of childhood, while using fresh and healthy(minus the cream I suppose!) ingredients. I also really like cooking with mushrooms, any variety, because of the hearty meatiness to them. I live with a bona fide carnivore, who prefers meat at most meals...even as vegetarian meal, this satisfied and fulfilled him!

Ingredients:
3 shallots finely diced
3 garlic cloves finely diced
1 tablespoons butter
pinch of salt
4 cups button mushrooms
1 cup oyster mushrooms
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon dried thyme
2 cups veggie broth
2 cups heavy cream
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 tablespoon cold water
salt + ground pepper to taste

Directions:
Finely dice all mushrooms. I started with my chef's knife, and quickly dropped the whole lot in my food processor, much faster!

In a large saucepan melt butter. Gently sweat the onions and garlic, do not brown or burn! Add mushrooms and pinch of salt. Stir in bay leaves and thyme. Allow mushrooms to sweat and release all their moisture - about 10 minutes.

Add veggie broth, and cream. Bring to gentle boil. Allow to simmer for about 20 minutes.

Whisk together cornstarch and water. Slowly add and stir into simmering soup. Allow to thicken for about 10 minutes. Season soup with salt and pepper to taste. Ladle into bowls, garnish with parsley or chives. Serve with warm bread or crackers.

Serves 4.

simple crêpes

2008-03-02T13:48:00.000-08:00

We just got home from a week away...the fridge and cupboards, while not bare, were not exactly bursting with items to inspire much for breakfast. When we were kids, my mom always made a special Sunday morning breakfast: bacon + eggs, omelette's, or German pancakes (aka crêpes with brown sugar and lemon juice). Looking in through what we had, and not really wanting to either go out for a bite to eat, or to the store to grocery shop, crêpes it was... after all, you almost always have flour, eggs, milk and a pinch of salt around.

These crêpes can be rolled with fruit, topped with whipped cream, or they can be filled with cheese and other veggies/meat. We went with the most basic of basic... brown sugar and lemon juice.

Ingredients:
2 cups sifted flour
pinch of salt
3 large eggs
1 1/2-2 cups milk
butter or oil for pan

Directions:
Sift flour into a large bowl. Add a pinch of salt. Crack eggs and add milk. Whisk together. Be sure to whisk out lumps of flour. The consistency of the batter should be like melted ice cream: thick but smooth.

While whisking the batter, heat up a fry pan over medium high heat. Add a very small amount of oil or butter to pan, once fully coated, and heated up add a ladle of the batter to the pan, swirl around to ensure it evenly spread in the pan. Once the crêpe loosens up in the pan, it is time to flip, about 40 - 6o seconds. Another 30 seconds or so on the second side, and the crêpe is ready.

I take the finished crêpe, place on a warmed plate, I place a sauce pan lid on top to keep warm, cook all and serve.

If you go with the sugar and lemon juice, you need about 3/4 tablespoon sugar and the juice from half a lemon per crêpe. You can serve folded in quarters (as per the picture) or rolled.

These keep really well, cover with plastic wrap and you could easily heat up for the next day.

Makes about 8.

lemon drop cupcakes

2008-02-21T21:53:00.000-08:00

It was one of my student's birthday this week, and since we were out volunteering in a school I thought a little treat might be in order for our volunteers. It has been beautifully sunny and spring like here, so I thought something light and fresh, and I stumbled on these. I found this recipe online and changed nothing about it except a little less time in the oven as I think mine may be a little wonky, and they turned out phenomenally. I almost skimped out on the lemon syrup step and if you are tempted, don't, it adds a fabulous moisture and even more lemon flavour. YUM!

*the picture does not do these little morsels of lemony goodness justice*

Lemon Cupcakes Ingredients

32-36 cupcake papers
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons cake flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
2 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1 1/2 cups canola or vegetable oil
2 teaspoons melted honey
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (approximately one lemon), strained zest of two lemons (additional zest optional for garnish)
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
Lemon drop syrup (recipe follows)

Lemon Drop Syrup

¼ cup sugar
¼ cup water
Juice of one lemon, strained

Combine sugar and water in small saucepan over medium heat. Simmer until sugar dissolves. Transfer to small bowl and let cool before stirring in fresh lemon juice.

Adapted from Holly over at teamsugar.com

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350°. Arrange paper liners in muffin tins. Sift together flours, baking soda and salt, and set aside.

In electric mixer, beat together eggs and sugar at a medium-high speed until mixture thickens and color pales, about three minutes. Lower speed and add oil, honey, extracts, lemon juice and lemon zest, stirring until just combined. Mix in buttermilk. Slowly, begin to add flours, scraping down the sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat on low just until smooth.

Fill cupcake tins ¾ full. Bake 16-20 minutes (my oven 12-14), until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove from oven and brush tops with lemon syrup. Cool completely before frosting.

Lemon Cream Icing

Ingredients:
1 cup butter , softened
3 3/4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 lemon, juice of or if you have it 1 1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Combine butter, sugar and salt and beat till well combined.
Add lemon juice and vanilla and continue to beat for another 5 minutes or until creamy.

I also think that a lemon cream cheese icing (icing from carrot cake with lemon juice/extract would be delish on these!)

pseudo taiwanese beef noodle soup

2008-02-21T20:08:00.001-08:00

Comfort foods are always very individual to a person's taste and memories associated. Pete is sick right now and wanted spicy Taiwanese beef noodle soup from a little hole in the wall shop about 20 minutes away. I am sure there is somewhere closer in our neighbourhood, but we haven't found it yet. So instead of heading out I thought I would try to create my own version of one of his comfort foods - it turned out pretty well! It is by no means authentic; nor is it right from scratch! Comfort can't take all day long after all.

Ingredients for Beef:
2-3 lb top sirloin roast
salt
pepper
2 garlic cloves
olive oil

Ingredients for Thick Noodles:
3 cups all purpose flour
2 large eggs
1/2 cup water (approximate)

Ingredients for Soup:
3 crushed garlic cloves
2 peeled shallots
8 cups water
1 cube beef bouillon
1 cube veggie bouillon
3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
couple dashes fish sauce
2-3 heaped teaspoons spicy sambal/chili sauce*
*add as little or as much as you like

Directions:
Heat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. To prepare the roast pat it dry. Make some slits in the meat, and insert sliced garlic in for flavour. Seasoned it with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in fry pan. Sear each side of roast; once all sides are seared, place in caserole dish, that has about 1/2 water in it and cover with aluminum foil. We like our meat rare/medium-rare - I cooked for about 50 minutes and overcooked - at that point it was well done - I would suggest about 35-40 minutes for it to not be too over done, OR, if you have time, slow roast it until it is soft and able to fall apart. Once meat is cooked to where you want it, remove from heat, cover and let the juices re-distribute.

Once meat is in the oven, start making the noodles. On a clean counter top, mound the flour, make a well, and crack the eggs into the centre of the well. With your fingers incorporate the eggs into the dough, if needed to help bond it all together, add small amounts of water at a time. Kneed the dough until smooth (about 5 minutes). I don't have a pasta maker, if I did this next part would have been a lot easier! I rolled the pasta out with a rolling pin (divide ball into quarters to make this a lot faster). With a pasta machine you would want to run it through twice at each thickness interval. I thought I had it thin enough when I had it down to about 3 mm, but I would suggest going a little thinner than that. Once rolled out to the thickness you want - roll the dough into a long tube (like a rolled up newspaper), taking your knife cut the pasta into about 5-7mm widths. You have created what looks like a coin of pasta, but once you unroll each coin is a long string of thick noodle pasta. Drape pasta over a clean dish rack, a big bowl, or (gasp!) a pasta drying rack.

To make the soup base I started tossing things in that we had around the house, basically bring the water to a boil and through everything else in, let it simmer away as the flavours infuse.

Boil water for the pasta while it is hanging and drying out. Add pasta a few handfuls at a time, don't overcrowd the pot. Once noodles float to the top (3-4 minutes) add noodles to simmering pot of soup base.

Ladle the noodles and soup into a bowl. You can take the meat, shred it if possible and serve on top of soup. Or you can do what I did. Slice up the roast, into bite size pieces and toss in the soup, that way it infuses with all the flavours of the soup base - either way - enjoy! Great for colds, or just cold rainy weather.

tortilla soup

2008-02-14T22:26:00.000-08:00

I take no credit whatsoever for this recipe. My sister-in-law made this for us once and I loved it. Subsequently I soon learned that the recipe was from one of my favourite vegetarian restaurants in Victoria, Rebar. A warning for the those who are weary of spices...it is hot! I would suggest starting with half the recommended chipotle and jalapeño pepper, and work up from there.

Ingredients

8 cups vegetable stock
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 tablespoon salt
10 garlic cloves minced
2 tablespoons oregano
4 jalapeño peppers seeded and minced
3 cups corn kernels
2 large red peppers seeded and finally diced
1/2 teaspoon liquid smoke
2 teaspoons chipotle puree
2 avocados diced
asiago cheese shaved/grated
1 lime

Directions:
Heat stock and keep warm.

In heavy duty bottomed soup pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion and 1 teaspoon salt. Saute until translucent. Stir in garlic, oregano, half the minced jalapeño and another 1 teaspoon salt. Saute 5 minutes.

Pour hot stock into pot and bring to a gentle boil. Simmer 20 minutes.

Final 5 minutes - stir in corn, red peppers, remaining jalapeños, remaining salt, liquid smoke and chipotle puree. Simmer until corn is tender. Meanwhile prepare garnishes and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Ladle soup into bowls. Divide avocados, cilantro, asiago into the bowls. Serve with lime wedges.

** As a fun garnish for the wow factor**

>>Tortilla Strips<<
2 Corn Tortilla

Slice into 1/4" thick strips. Toss gently with oil, a pinch of salt and chili powder. Spread and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 5 minutes. Once they have firmed up, add as garnish on top of soup.

coconut + prawn red thai curry sauce + barley risotto

2008-02-12T22:29:00.000-08:00

Over the last few weeks of January, when the restaurants are quiet after the holiday rush, to get everyone back out spending money and hitting the town over 180 restaurants participate in Dine Out Vancouver. A three week smorgasboard of choice in restaurants ranging from the pizza joint down the road to high end restaurants like Lumiere (formerly owned and operated by Chef Rob Feenie) or Raincity Grill. Menus all include a 3 course dinner, and come at three level of prices $15, $25 and $35. This year we hit up four restaurants as part of the promotion. Every year we go to the Cannery (yum!) and then add a few restaurants that would not be part of our usual dining experiences.

At the Cannery this year we had a delicious dinner of sautéed Black Tiger Prawns, served over coconut barley risotto, with sweet basil and red Thai curry sauce. I love risotto on any day, so this was fun and unique twist. I tried to reproduce it to the best of my abilities at home, it turned out pretty well. Just be aware that barely has a totally different texture than regular arborio rice.

** picture to come (we ate it before we could take the picture!)

Barely Risotto Ingredients
* serves 2 or 3
2 cloves of minced garlic
2 minced shallots
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 handfuls of pearl barely*
1/3 cup cooking sherry
4-6 cups low sodium chicken stalk

Coconut + Prawn Red Thai Curry Sauce Ingredients
2 cloves of minced garlic
1 minced shallots
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 red pepper julienned
1 handful of snap or snow peas cut in half lengthwise
2 Tbsp Thai red curry paste **
6 oz coconut milk
12-15 prawns
juice from one lime

*sorry I never measure risotto, my rule of thumb is one handful per person when used as the main course)
** this may be too spicy for you, start with one and add more if you want more heat.

Directions:
Bring stock to low simmer. Heat up oil in fry pan. Sweat the onions and garlic on medium heat, carefully so as not to burn the garlic. Add the barely, essentially you are toasting the grains and opening it up to absorb the liquid. Once the barely has toasted for about one minute, add sherry. Once liquid has absorbed/evaporated, slowly add hot stock to pan half a ladle at a time. Stir the barely often (I didn't find it as finicky as arborio rice).

Once barely gets close to being done it will be soft, shouldn't be crunchy! (about 15-17 minutes of adding stock/stirring and repeat), in a second sauté pan, heat oil, add garlic and shallots, sweat for about 2 minutes, add the red peppers and sugar/snap peas. Just as peppers begin to soften, add the curry paste, coconut milk and stir to combine. Add prawns, cook until they turn pink (not too long or you over cook them and they get rubbery!) as you finish squeeze the juice of one lime into the pan to freshen up the flavours.

Serve by scooping barely risotto onto a plate and then a scoop of the coconut curry, veggies and prawns on top. Enjoy!

sweet cheddar cornbread

2008-01-12T22:12:00.000-08:00

This cornbread was quick and easy and a nice addition to the chili posted below. Serving the cornbread with the a fresh garden salad and the chili, you have a healthy and heart dinner!

Ingredients

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup cornmeal
5 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1/3 cup canola oil
1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1 green onion or 3 chives finely chopped

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly grease and flour and 8 or 9-inch square pan.

Sift dry ingredients into mixing bowl. Form a well in the mixture and add the milk, oil, and egg. Stir just until everything is combined – there should still be scattered clumps of flour, about the size of baby peas, gently mix in the cheddar and chives/green onions.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 24 to 30 minutes, until the cornbread is starting to brown slightly (especially at the edges) and a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean. Serve hot.

*adapted from The Cornbread Book by Jeremy Jackson, 2003

pantry chili

2008-01-12T21:40:00.000-08:00

There are some nights when we look in the fridge and it is bare...or at least nothing we really want to eat. Then the great debate, do we order in, do we go out? What can we make... it is raining, so going to the store isn't really what you feel like doing after a long day at work, that's when we usually hit the pantry. This recipe was compiled with what we had on hand, I know it is by no means authentic, but I like that you add what you have. If we had had some frozen corn niblets for example, I would have added those. Spiciness is a personal preference, so always start with less and then work up. For the purposes of a rainy Tuesday night, this worked quite nicely, especially when supplemented with some simple fresh from the oven cornbread.

** the steam was perfect to melt the cheddar into the chili**

Ingredients for Pantry Chili

2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 sweet onion, diced
1 chopped green pepper
2 cups sliced mushrooms (canned would do fine here)
1 lb extra lean ground beef
2 hot peppers, diced (I had some jalapeños on hand)
1 19 oz can of Black Beans
1 19 0z can of Kidney Beans
1 28 oz can of Crushed Tomatoes
14 oz water

4 Tbsp red chili powder
1 Tbsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground chipotle powder
1 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp thyme

** shredded cheese to top

Directions:
In a dutch oven or large pot, heat the oil. Add the garlic, onions, and green and hot peppers, sweat them, being careful not to brown/burn the garlic, when the peppers get soft, add the mushrooms. Add the ground beef once the veggies are all soft. Add seasoning and stir until the ground beef is browned (skim off excess fat, if needed). Add both types of beans, tomatoes and water, let simmer for 20 minutes. Flavour to taste with salt and pepper. Serve with shredded cheese on top.

almond roca bark

2007-12-23T14:29:00.000-08:00

I love to give treats to family, friends and colleagues with my holiday cards each year. Every year we try something new, a few years back it was "brownies in a jar", last year it was "home made hot cocoa mix cones". This year we made Almond Roca Bark. It is easy, tasty and always a hit. You only need to give a small amount as it is so rich and so sweet.

** sorry I know this picture isn't very good, I took it when I was half asleep**

Ingredients for the Almond Roca Bark
2 cups butter (unsalted)
2 cups white sugar
1 cup whole almonds
1 cup pecans (pieces, halves or whole)
1 large package chocolate chips*

*I recommend milk or semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Combine almonds and pecans in a blender or food processor until quite fine.

Melt butter over high heat, when butter is melted, but not brown, add sugar, stirring until it has fully dissolved. Continue over high heat, bring to a boil for 5 minutes, stirring constantly, adding half the almond and pecan nut mixture. Continue to cook, stirring continually until mixture is color of mahogany and sugar is all melted. This can take a while and time seemed to differ between each of our batches. Don't give in to quickly! If you pull the sugar mixture off the stove too soon, it gets chewy and not hard like a real Almond Roca.

Stir as you take it off the heat permanently and pour quickly onto your biggest flat pan with sides, I found lining the pan with a silpad was very useful. Tilt to spread evenly. There may be excess butter that didn't combine, take a carefully folded paper towel and absorb as much as you can.

Once the butter is cleared off, and the candy has semi set, but is still warm, pour on chocolate chips. When they have melted a bit, spread them over the top of the hot mixture with the back of a tablespoon. Once chocolate is melted evenly sprinkle remainder of nut mixture.
Allow to set completely. Break into snack size pieces, store in air tight container, or place in cello gift baggies. Enjoy and happy holidays!

(If you want Almond Roca "mini bars"- like the store bought candy: pour the mixture into a square pan (well greased) and let set, score the bars into 1/2 x 1 inch bars with a butter knife, when it has set - about 20-30 minutes, cut the bars along the scored lines, it should break pretty cleanly. You will then to individually dip each bar into the melted chocolate and then will roll in the nuts mixture).

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Cake Ingredients:

1 cup sugar1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour3 tablespoons cocoa (unsweetened)1 teaspoon baking soda1/2 teaspoon salt2 teaspoon vanilla1 teaspoon vinegar5 tablespoons vegetable oil1 cup cold water

Directions:

In a large mixing bowl, mix flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda and salt

Make three wells in the flour mixture. Put the vanilla in one, in another the vinegar, and in the third the oil. Pour the cold water over the mixture and stir until moistened.

Evenly distribute the batter into 2- 6 inch round cake pans (I had a nice small spring form pan that I used) and into 2 small greased ramikens.

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pantry chili

almond roca bark

1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons cocoa (unsweetened)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon vinegar
5 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 cup cold water