Archive for April, 2008
OK, that’s not all we ate. It was staggered between a bowl of oatmeal, strawberries and blackberries, leftover bean salad and some greens, but after a mid-afternoon birthday brunch, none of us were much in the mood for dinner. I’ve decided that on these occasions the most recent meal should count as the default.
Besides, I want to tell you about a chocolate cake that’s low in fat, made with canola oil and tastes like a giant Jos Louis.
But first, brunch: the usual suspects – poached eggs, back bacon, and yes hollandaise since I have recently become reacquainted with it and had people over to safely dispose of (read: take home) the leftovers. And cinnamon bun French toast. A few weeks ago my parents dropped by on their way home from IKEA with a 6-pack of cinnamon buns, and since it a) was 9 o’clock at night, and b) there are only 2 1/2 of us, there wasn’t much to do with them but stash them in the freezer until they could be called into service for an occasion such as this. It was either cinnamon bun bread pudding or cinnamon bun French toast; since bread pudding still seems to still have very few fans, I decided not to risk it.
In case you’re wondering, you make cinnamon bun French toast the same way you’d make it with bread; slice them in half or in thirds, crosswise (they’re thick), dip in egg-milk-vanilla, and cook in a well-seasoned cast iron skillet with a bit of canola oil.
Now, the cake. Chocolate, of course, with my favorite frosting: known in my grandma’s battered cookbooks as 7 Minute Frosting, Boiled Icing or Seafoam (when made using brown sugar), it’s a light, creamy, meringue-like, marshmallowy whip that is beaten in a stainless steel bowl set over simmering water in order to cook the egg whites. The light and creamy texture makes it easy to spread, it’s fat-free (yes I realize it’s loaded with sugar, but no more than regular buttercream frosting, which also contains butter and/or shortening), and takes on flavorings and food coloring very well. (The chocolate cake is delish with peppermint-spiked frosting.) Add a few drops of color to the water if you want to tint the frosting, or drop it in at the end to create a swirled effect. My only complaint is that the ultra-whiteness of it tends to show off every chocolate crumb.
Chocolate Cake
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, or half all-purpose, half whole wheat
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup milk (regular or soy)
1/2 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup hot coffee or boiling water
Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray two 9″ round baking pans or one Bundt pan with nonstick spray, or line muffin cups with paper liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt, breaking up any lumps of brown sugar and cocoa.
Add the milk, oil, eggs and vanilla and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Add the coffee and beat on low speed just until blended. The batter will be thin.
Divide the batter among the prepared pans and bake them for 30-35 minutes for layer cakes, 20-25 minutes for cupcakes or 50-55 minutes for a Bundt cake, until the top of the cakes are springy to the touch. Let them cool for about 10 minutes before running a knife around the edge of the pans and inverting them onto a wire rack. Cool completely before you frost them.
Makes two 9″ layers, 2 dozen cupcakes or one Bundt cake.
Seven Minute Frosting
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 Tbsp. light or golden corn syrup
1/3 cup water
2 large egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla, coconut, maple, mint, or other flavored extract
In the top of a double boiler or in a clean stainless steel bowl set over a pot of simmering water, combine the sugar, corn syrup, water, and egg whites. Make sure the simmering water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl or double boiler – you only need an inch or two of water in the pot. Beat the sugar mixture with an electric mixer on high speed for about 7 minutes, until it stands in billowy peaks. Remove it from the heat and beat in the vanilla.
To make Seafoam (Brown Sugar) Frosting: Substitute packed dark or golden brown sugar for the white sugar.
April 20 2008 | breakfast and cake | 10 Comments »
I know, I’m not setting a stellar nutritional example here, but it was an emergency. It was Emily’s 10th birthday party today, a party she planned around a soccer theme, complete with outdoor game. Anyone in Calgary knows full well why we had to come up with a plan B. For anyone not in Calgary – the snow is ankle to knee deep (depending how old/big you are) and hasn’t stopped since Friday morning.
Of course by Friday morning any venue they could think of was booked up for Saturday, so Emily chose a cooking theme for her party. What food is more fun for 10 year olds than corn dogs and mini donuts? (We did provide the biggest bowl of fruit salad ever to try and balance things out a little.)
I figured out how to make these last year during Stampede, and quickly discovered you can be the hero of any party if you crank out homemade corn dogs for everyone. Seriously, they won’t stop talking about it for an entire year, at which point you’ll be expected to make them again. I suppose the only downfall is once you set yourself up for that sort of thing, you’re obliged to carry on with it for life.
Mini Donuts
1 package active dry yeast; instant if you’re in a rush (2 tsp.)
2 Tbsp. warm water
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for sprinkling and rolling out dough (use half whole-wheat if you like)
1 cup milk, at room temperature
2-4 Tbsp. butter or non-hydrogenated margarine, softened
1 large egg
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
canola oil, for frying
cinnamon-sugar, for dipping (spike sugar with as much cinnamon as you like)
In a large bowl, stir together the yeast and water; set it aside for 5 minutes, until it’s foamy. (If it doesn’t foam, throw it out and buy fresh yeast. It won’t foam much, but if it just sits there and does nothing, it’s inactive.) Add the flour, milk, butter, egg, sugar and salt, and stir until you have a soft, sticky dough. Stir for a minute or two, then cover and set aside for an hour, if you have time and aren’t at a 10th birthday party.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat with floured hands until it’s about 1/2 inch thick. Cut out as many rounds as possible with the rim of a shot glass, and poke a hole in each with your finger, stretching it out a bit as it will puff up as it cooks, closing the hole somewhat. If you like, cover with a kitchen towel and let them rise for another 20-30 minutes (this isn’t necessary, but will produce lighter doughnuts).
Heat about 2” of oil in a deep, heavy saucepan until it’s hot but not smoking. You’ll know when it’s hot enough by dipping in a piece of bread or a bit of dough – it should start sizzling right away. If the oil is too cool, they will take too long to cook and will absorb too much oil, making them heavy.
Cook doughnuts 2 at a time, turning occasionally with tongs or a slotted spoon, until puffed and golden brown, about 2 minutes per batch. Transfer to paper towels to drain, then toss in cinnamon-sugar while still warm.
(Tip: to make maple dipped donuts instead, add enough maple syrup to icing sugar to make a dipable consistency, and dip away.)
Corn Dogs
1 cup whole wheat or all-purpose flour
¾ cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 – 1 lb. pkg. hot dogs
canola oil, for frying
wooden sticks – bamboo skewers, popsicle sticks or chopsticks work well
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the middle, and add the buttermilk, egg and baking soda; whisk until well blended.
In a deep, heavy pot, heat enough oil to accommodate the corn dogs (depending on if you want to make big long ones, or cut them in half to make shorter ones, which are more manageable) until it’s hot, but not smoking. You’ll know when it’s hot enough by dipping in a piece of bread or a bit of cornmeal batter – it should start sizzling right away. If the oil is too cool, they will take too long to cook and will absorb too much oil, making them heavy.
Stick a wooden stick into the end of each hot dog (cut them in half first if you like), and dip them in the cornmeal batter to coat. Place them no more than two at a time (you don’t want to crowd the pot, or it will cool down your oil) into the hot oil, and turn them as they need it until they are golden. (When they are nice and golden they are done – the hot dogs should be well heated, but since they are already cooked you don’t have to worry about properly cooking them all the way through.) Remove with tongs and set aside on paper towels.
April 19 2008 | snacks and sweet stuff | 11 Comments »
I just spent 11 hours cooking for a private event, and my legs feel like a cartoon thumb that has been whacked by a hammer. I made, in no particular order:
Lemon risotto aracini, mushroom crostini topped with Asiago cheese, panko-crusted fried ravioli, prosciutto wrapped prawns, sliced pork tenderloin wrapped around dried figs that were poached in red wine and honey (the bundles were roasted, brushed with a thick garnet reduction of the poaching wine, balsamic vinegar, rosemary and brown sugar – from my Martha Stewart Hors’ d’oeuvres Handbook), and flatbreads (I think it’s funny that there is this new high-end word for pizza) topped with caramelized onions, caramelized pears (slice them thin and saute in a little oil and butter with a drizzle of honey until they are golden), onion and chili pepper jam with various cheeses and another version made with sun dried tomato pesto, shrimp, basil and feta.
But back to the prosciutto-wrapped prawns; I’m sure I’ve mentioned these before, withough really going into detail about how to make them. This is something you should definitely be able to make.
Buy raw frozen shrimp/prawns (same thing, “prawns” just sounds fancier) around 21-30 count – this is the number on the bottom corner of the bag that refers to the number of shrimp that would make a pound. The larger the number, the smaller the shrimp. Or prawns. Get them in their shells or with just the tail on if you can, otherwise take their jackets off, leaving the tails to use as little handles. (If you keep the shells, cover them with stock and simmer for 5 minutes, you’ll have shrimp stock.)
Get about half as many thin slices of prosciutto as you have prawns, slice each slice in half lengthwise, and wrap it around each prawn, leaving the shell part of the tail exposed. No need to skewer or anything – the prosciutto is tacky enough to stick to itself. Now you can grill them or saute them in a skillet in a little oil just until they are opaque. Serve with a small dish of bottled pesto for dipping.
Oh right, dessert - chocolate espresso brownie lollipops and vanilla mascarpone panna cotta spoons: we laid out almost 200 of those Chinese soup spoons and filled them with the panna cotta mixture (really just cream, honey and gelatin, and in this case, a few spoonfuls of mascarpone, stirred in while it’s warm so that it melts), then chilled them (the advantage to doing events at the country’s largest liquor store is having a walk-in beer fridge the size of the average house) and topped them with berries. It made a perfect bite.
Although all I did today was taste and graze (starting with a yogurt I grabbed at the grocery store this morning, which, when I opened it at a red light, exploded all over me and the side window. I had no choice but to wipe it up with the spare pair of Scooby-doo underpants we keep in the glove compartment) I’m sure that calorically what I tasted my way through counted as several dinners. When I want to keep myself from sampling as I go, I chew gum in the kitchen. This is a very good idea when I’m baking cookies – it really makes you aware of how often you have a taste. And even if you spit out your gum, everything is going to taste weird for a bit, like right after brushing your teeth.
M and W had pesto chicken stew and bison chili for dinner. Freezers were the best invention ever. (Besides Spanx, of course.)
Balsamic Mushroom Crostini
20 slices baguette, sliced diagonally about 1/2” thick
1 large clove garlic, cut in half lengthwise
1 Tbsp. olive or canola oil
6 cups sliced fresh mushrooms – button, Portobello, shitake or a combination
Salt and pepper to taste
1/3 cup dried cranberries
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
½-1 cup shredded Asiago, aged gouda or old white cheddar cheese
Preheat oven to 400° F.
Place baguette slices on a cookie sheet and toast in the oven for about 10 minutes, until barely golden. If you like, brush each toast with olive oil before baking.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet set over medium high heat. Cook the mushrooms, stirring occasionally, until the moisture has evaporated. Season with salt and pepper and continue to cook until the mushrooms are golden. Add the cranberries, balsamic vinegar and rosemary and cook for another minute, until the liquid has evaporated.
Spoon the hot mixture onto toasts and sprinkle with cheese. Return to the oven for 5 minutes, until the cheese melts. Makes about 20 crostini.
To turn this into Balsamic Mushroom Dip: stir 4 oz. light cream cheese or goat cheese and 1/2 cup light sour cream into the mushroom mixture while it’s still warm, and stir over low heat until the cheese melts. Serve warm with crackers or crostini for dipping.
Per crostini: 84 calories, 2.1 g total fat (0.5 g saturated fat, 0.9 g monounsaturated fat, 0.4 g polyunsaturated fat), 2.9 g protein, 13.7 g carbohydrate, 1.6 mg cholesterol, 1 g fiber. 22% calories from fat.
April 18 2008 | appetizers | 3 Comments »
I know, some days I sound like the biggest food snob.
I’m cooking for 160 tomorrow night at Willow Park, and since the menu includes arancini, I needed to make a vat of risotto in advance.
I swear, risotto is one of those things that sounds ultra-fancy, you may pay a fortune for in a restaurant, but it’s just rice. I promise it’s easier than steamed rice; it’s as easy as making oatmeal. It’s nursery food.
If you love risotto, just try it once. Once you’ve figured it out, there are all sorts of possibilities with risotto. I just stuck with the basic lemon-parmesan version I made last time, but after I scooped some of it out it occurred to me I could tear some fresh spinach straight into it, and it would just wilt into its warmth. It was great.
Since I was busy prepping other things, I pulled a chicken from the freezer, stuck it in a bowl of warm water to thaw, and then roasted it, knowing it would be super with the risotto and the leftovers will feed the boys tomorrow in my absence. Another zero-effort dish, unless you count rubbing it with oil and sprinkling it with salt and pepper. The spent lemons I used in the risotto filled up the cavity nicely, too. (Hint: roasting chickens is a great way to keep cast iron skillets well-seasoned!)
So really, the idea behind risotto is that you stir it lots (in contrast with not disturbing it as it cooks) in order for the rice to release its starch into the dish, making it thick and creamy and oatmeal-like. Which is what makes it particularly difficult to screw up; you just keep on adding liquid, cook until it absorbs it all, and add more and keep on stirring until the rice is tender. If there’s too much liquid, it will eventually absorb it; if there’s not enough, add more. You warm the stock first so that it doesn’t cool the risotto and slow the cooking down every time you add some.
Lemon Parmesan Risotto
a drizzle of olive or canola oil and a small knob of butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cups Arborio rice
6(ish) cups chicken or vegetable stock, warmed up
1/2-1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
zest and juice of 1 lemon
another small knob of butter, if you like
In a medium-large pot, heat the oil and butter over medium-high heat and saute the onion until it’s soft and translucent. Add the rice and cook for a minute, just to coat the grains with oil.
If you like, add a splash of white wine and cook until it’s absorbed (some will cook off). Add about half a cup of stock and cook, stirring, until it’s absorbed. Continue adding stock a half cup to a cup at a time and cook, stirring (it doesn’t have to be constantly, just frequently) until it absorbs the liquid. When it’s all used up (it should take about half an hour) the grains should be soft. If they still have a crunchy core, just add a little more water or stock, if you have more.
When the rice is cooked and it’s nice and creamy, stir in the cheese, lemon zest and juice, and butter. Stir until the cheese melts. (If you like, stir in a handful of chopped fresh spinach, parsley or basil too, and it will wilt into the risotto.)
Serves about 6.
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April 17 2008 | chicken & turkey and grains | 4 Comments »
Happy Eggs Benedict Day!
Yesterday, being Eggs Benedict Day Eve (I’m not sure who chooses these days, or who makes them official?) we had eggs Benny on the Eyeopener. I made a classic version of hollandaise sauce, which is dead easy to do in the blender; it’s really like mayonnaise – blended egg yolks with melted butter drizzled in, and a bit of lemon juice. Three yolks and a cup of butter to 1 tablespoon of lemon juice is the ratio; you really could not get any more high fat than hollandaise sauce if you tried, which is probably why people don’t generally make it at home. When you order it at a restaurant you don’t witness (nor take part in) the use of cups of melted butter. Not being an accomplice absolves us of at least some of the guilt.
I went to Big Fish this past weekend and had crab eggs Benedict (they also do steak eggs Benedict), which reminded me of the crab cakes Benedict I wrote a recipe for in Homemakers’ magazine years ago. Crispy crab cakes topped with a poached egg and hollandaise. So I made them in the studio yesterday, and when Mike heard what I had done, he (rightly) told me that not making some for him as well would be just grounds for divorce. What judge wouldn’t take his side?
Using crab cakes as a base instead of the English muffin-back bacon combo was a stroke of genius, if I do say so myself. Use any crab cakes you like, top with a poached egg and drizzle of hollandaise. I used a can of crabmeat, drained and bound together with a bit of minced yellow pepper, about a handful of breadcrumbs, one of the egg whites left over from the sauce, a squirt of grainy mustard and spoonful of light mayo. I wish I had some panko to fry them in, but I just doused them with flour and fried them in a skiff of canola oil. Here’s a link to the original Homemakers’ recipe. (One of my very first assignments. I was completely ecstatic.)
Hollandaise is a room-temperature sauce, since it’s made with melted butter that would congeal if it was too cold and egg yolks that would scramble if they got too hot. Some recipes heat it gently in a double boiler, but the easiest method I find is to whiz 3 egg yolks (and if you have it, a tablespoon of half & half) in a blender until it’s foamy; then with the motor running drizzle in a cup of melted butter that has been heated until it’s bubbling (I do this in the microwave) but not browned. About halfway through, dribble in a tablespoon of lemon juice. The mixture will thicken to the consistency of slightly runny mayonnaise. Serve it just as is. People tend to get funny about the use of heated but not necessarily cooked through egg yolks in their hollandaise, which I think is funny considering no one thinks twice about the runny yolk of the poached egg underneath it.
But this is the recipe I think you should have – a lightened version of hollandaise sauce that was one of my biggest food challenges ever. In this hollandaise, white bread is soaked in water and lemon juice and whizzed until smooth with the other ingredients, acting as an emulsifier and giving the sauce body in place of the traditional egg yolks and large quantity of butter, for a savings of more than 50 grams of fat (mostly saturated) and about 450 calories!
Lightened Lemon Basil Hollandaise Sauce
1/4 cup water or milk
1 to 2 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 slice of white sandwich bread, torn into pieces, or about 3/4 cup fresh bread crumbs
1/4 cup butter, melted
Salt to taste
2-3 fresh basil leaves
Pour water and lemon juice over the bread crumbs; let stand for about 5 minutes until the bread absorbs all the liquid and becomes mushy. In a blender or food processor, mix the soaked bread until it turns into a paste. With the motor running, drizzle in warm melted butter as thin a stream as possible and process until mixture thickens slightly. Taste and add salt if necessary. Add basil leaves and pulse a few times until the basil is chopped and incorporated.
This is what full-fat hollandaise looks like after cooling in the fridge – it has the spreadable consistency of frosting and the texture of soft, whipped butter. (When it has congealed the fat content becomes obvious.)
April 16 2008 | eggs and seafood and vegetarian | 7 Comments »
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