Archive for December, 2008
We had our Christmas party tonight – something we generally do the Saturday before Christmas – and tried to keep it smallish so that it wasn’t a revolving door of people that at the end of the night I didn’t really even get to talk to. We kept it simple with a ham (easy to cook, keeps well on the buffet and tastes just as good cold) and biscuits, antipasto, chips and dip, mini lamb burgers in mini pita halves with tzatziki, and a savoury pear and squash crumble.
And because I wasn’t fully satisfied by my Fanny Farmer Fruitcake experience, and I couldn’t rightly have a Christmas party without fruitcake, I made the real thing, the dark fruitcake from Joy I know and love. You know how some foods just aren’t the same when they aren’t made with the exact right recipe? So I made one, and instead of dividing the cake into several small and oddly shaped cake tins from the basement (including little square ones with removable bottoms), I scraped it all into one well-sprayed Bundt pan.
It didn’t survive re-entry. (As J put it when he saw it.)
I could tell it was holding on, but stubbornly tried to shake it out. I’m used to having a chunk stay in the pan, which is easy enough to stick back without anyone noticing, but not half the cake - upon further inspection the cake was pretty overdone – something I’ve not done in recent memory, so I blame my own inattention to the cake in the oven while I got ready for the party and we took Lou to the dog park to try to get his yayas out. The recipe does warn that it will look like it is darkening quickly and will look done before it actually is, and to please ignore this – this time I shouldn’t have. I preemptively put a sheet of foil overtop because I knew it would darken too quickly.. I think this fruitcake died of neglect. Also, using a regular, straight-sided tube pan would have allowed me to slide a thin knife around the edges and along the bottom to coax it out.
So I’m making fruitcake trifle for Christmas dinner. I don’t want to waste all those fruits and nuts! And really, I adore trifle and always want to make it for Christmas dinner, but fruit, custard and whipped cream seems too far removed from plum pudding. Maybe this is the answer, the overbaked fruitcake mess a serendipidous accident – I’m thinking layers of crumbled dark fruitcake with custard, sauteed apples and pears, and cream? In fact, the crumbled chunks might make a brilliant bread pudding for Christmas breakfast too – all fruitcake would be too heavy, but perhaps interspersed with torn raisin bread?
(Sorry, I still haven’t made the light fruitcake - the first was in the oven for 3 1/2 hours, and I couldn’t afford another 3 1/2 for the light coconut version. I will make it soon!)
And it was R’s birthday, too. This mess would not make an adequately celebratory vehicle for candles. But I did not freak out. I went and had a lie-down. And as I lay there trying to catch a half hour of sleep (and of course not), I remembered a recipe stuck to my bullitin board that I’ve been dying to try – Laurie Colwin’s Happy Winter Fudge Cake from More Home Cooking. I didn’t get around to it last winter, and now it’s winter again, and what could be better for a birthday cake than happy winter fudge? And it called for plain yogurt, which I had a ton of to use up.
I was a little late with my photo. It looked exactly like a chocolate Bundt cake, which I sprinkled with icing sugar so it looked sort of snowy and I didn’t need to bother with icing.
Laurie Colwin’s Happy Winter Fudge Cake
adapted from More Home Cooking – I rearranged the method a bit and increased the cocoa – I’m sure Laurie wouldn’t mind.
3 oz. semisweet chocolate (or about 2/3 cup chocolate chips)
1/4 cup butter
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips
Preheat the oven to 350F and spray a Bundt pan well with nonstick spray. In a small pan, melt the chocolate and butter. In a large bowl, stir together the eggs, yogurt and vanilla. Cool the chocolate mixture slightly and stir into the yogurt mixture.
In a small bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda; stir into the wet ingredients, then stir in the chocolate chips (nuts would be good too). Scrape into the Bundt pan and bake for 40-45 minutes, until the top is cracked and springy to the touch. Let cool for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack (do this while it’s still warm – it will come out easier) to cool.
Mike made Stroopwafels filled with Nutella – a new holiday tradition he gets right into. I also made Hello Dollies – besides my Mom’s Nut Balls these are the absolute holiday must-have, from the Uncommon Cookbook put out by the Art Gallery of Windsor at least 20 years ago. (They are also known in some circles as Magic Bars – a recipe put out by the sweetened condensed milk people wherein you layer graham crumbs, coconut, chocolate and pecans, topped with a can of S.C. milk.)
Did I really never post a recipe for my Mom’s Nut Balls?? How could that be? OK, two cookies for today:
Mom’s Nut Balls
1 cup butter
1/3 cup icing sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1 cup finely chopped or ground pecans, hazelnuts, or a combination
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
extra icing sugar for rolling
Preheat oven to 325F. Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla with an electric mixer for a few minutes, until pale and creamy. Beat in the nuts and flour. Roll into walnut-sized balls and place an inch or so apart on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until pale golden on the bottoms. Meanwhile, put some icing sugar into a shallow dish; when the cookies come out of the oven, roll them in icing sugar to coat while still warm. (The icing sugar mingles with the butter in the cookie, coating them with a sort of buttery, nutty icing.) Makes 2 1/2 dozen cookies.
(This photo was taken just after my sister stopped by, and we dug into them while they were still warm – quality control is important – they cut much more cleanly when completely cool.)
Hello Dollies
1 cup graham crumbs
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup chopped pecans
1 can sweetened condensed milk
Preheat oven to 325F. Mix the crumbs and butter and press into the bottom of an 8″x8″ or 9″x9″ baking pan that has been sprayed with nontstick spray. Sprinkle the coconut evenly overtop, then the chocolate chips and pecans, and pour a can of sweetened condensed milk overtop. Bake for about 30 minutes, until golden and bubbly around the edges. Cool competely before cutting. Makes 16 (or more) bars.
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December 21 2008 | appetizers and cookies & squares and snacks | 16 Comments »
Long day. This morning I talked about holiday cooking with nuts on the Global morning edition, having hotboxed myself in the car with this panful of roasted veg, which I pulled from the oven and threw on the back seat at around 7:30am. When I brought them into the studio everyone’s knees practically buckled, despite the fact that it was only a panful of roasted root veg and it was 8 in the morning. When I left they were all scarfing it down out of paper coffee cups with plastic forks. (The mixture of beets, sweet potatoes, fennel, turnip and carrots are tossed with oil and herbs with walnut halves added about 10 minutes from the end of the roasting time, and then drizzled with walnut vinaigrette.) Mike called it “dynamite” and suggested it would be perfect with turkey dinner – he said it seemed exactly like something that would go with stuffing. Look at him food pairing… I’m so proud. Snif.
Fast-forward: Traffic was nightmarish and exhausting to keep on top of (or try to) again this afternoon, and by the time I wrapped things up, delivered a package, and fought that same traffic to pick up W at my Mom’s, it was around 7:30. Although I knew there were leftover roasted vegetables in the fridge at home, I couldn’t even face reheating them and ordered Inglewood Pizza to pick up on the way. I did eat a few forkfuls of the leftover veg in an attempt to balance the pizza.
Good news: I have in my possession the light coconut fruitcake recipe courtesy of Mexbird. I picked up crushed pineapple. I have high hopes. It does recommend wrapping and storing it for awhile, but we obviously don’t have time for that, and I don’t want to wait for another 11 months to make it. I was going to post the recipe tonight, but I’d rather do it with photos tomorrow; I have a long list of things to make for our Christmas party tomorrow night, so tomorrow’s post will likely be late but long.
Roasted Vegetables with Walnut Vinaigrette
from www.walnutinfo.com
2 Tbsp. canola or olive oil
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh thyme
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
1 lb sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 lb beets, peeled and cut into wedges
1 lb carrots, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 lb turnip, peeled and cut into 1-inch chunks
1 fennel bulb, sliced
1 medium red onion, cut into wedges
2 cups California walnut halves
1 tsp each coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
Walnut Vinaigrette:
2 Tbsp walnut (or olive or canola) oil
2 Tbsp white wine vinegar
1 tsp orange zest
2 Tbsp fresh orange juice
1/2 tsp each coarse salt and freshly ground pepper
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
Position oven racks in top and bottom thirds of oven; preheat to 425°F.
Whisk oil, thyme and rosemary in large bowl. Add sweet potatoes, beets, carrots, turnips, fennel and onions; toss to coat. Divide between two rimmed baking sheets. Roast vegetables until tender and brown in spots, turning occasionally, about 30 minutes. Add walnuts to vegetables and continue to roast for 10 minutes. Remove from oven; immediately sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Vinaigrette: In small bowl, whisk together walnut oil, vinegar, orange zest, orange juice, salt, pepper and parsley.
Arrange roasted vegetables on a large platter and drizzle with vinaigrette. Serve hot or at room temperature. Makes 12 servings.
Per serving: about 240 cal, 5 g pro, 16 g fat (2 g sat. fat), 22 g carb, 6 g fibre, 0 mg chol, 390 mg sodium
Multigrain Shortbread
Shortbread is a meticulous ratio of fat, flour and sugar, and you can’t mess with it without turning it into something that isn’t shortbread anymore. Because there are only 3 elements, there’s nowhere for other stuff to hide, and because it has to stand on its own, back in the 90s I preferred not to mess with it. In recent years though, I became determined to come up with a shortbread that was every bit as tender and buttery, but with healthier fats and a boost of fiber as well. My solution involves blending butter and olive or canola oil, then re-chilling it to firm it up (ever put a bottle of olive oil in the fridge, and it gets kinda cloudy and semi-solid?) before adding to the dry ingredients. It’s still high in fat, but mostly of the healthy kind that we want to include in our diets. Eat up!
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup mild (not extra-virgin) olive or canola oil
1/2 cup oats (old-fashioned or quick, but not instant)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup wheat bran, oat bran or ground flaxseed (or a combination of the three)
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
In a medium bowl, stir together the butter and oil until well blended and smooth. Put in the fridge to chill for at least an hour, or for up to several days.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 300° F.
Place the oats in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until they’re as coarsely or finely ground as you like. Add the flour, whole wheat flour, brown sugar, wheat bran, baking powder and salt and pulse to combine them.
Add the chilled butter-oil mixture (it should be solid, but not quite as hard as butter) and pulse until the mixture starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl and resembles dough. Divide the dough in half and press each half into an 8” round cake pan. If you only have one pan, bake the shortbread in two batches, shape it into a free-form circle on an ungreased cookie sheet, or wrap the second half of dough and pop it in the fridge or freezer for another time.
Prick the dough a few times with a fork and press all around the edge of the dough with the tines of the fork to make a border. Bake the shortbread for 30-35 minutes, until it’s just barely golden around the edges. Cool it in the pan for 5 minutes before cutting each circle into 12 wedges.
Per wedge: 128 calories, 8.6 g total fat (3 g saturated fat, 4.5 g monounsaturated fat, 0.6 g polyunsaturated fat), 1.3 g protein, 12 g carbohydrate, 10.4 mg cholesterol, 1 g fiber. 59% calories from fat
Walnut Praline Shortbread: Add 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts or pecans to the dough along with the flour mixture. Adds 1.5 g fat, but only the good kind.
Rosemary Shortbread: Add 1 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary to the dough along with the flour mixture.
Orange-Chocolate Chip Shortbread: Add the grated zest of an orange along with the butter mixture, and stir in about 1/2 cup chopped chocolate or mini chocolate chips at the end.
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December 19 2008 | veg | 36 Comments »
My name is Julie and I have a Nutella problem.
Evidence of my use: spoons scattered all over the house. Chocolate drips on my chin. Mike is planning an intervention if he ever finds a secret stash down behind the dryer.
Today I took over traffic on the Homestretch, and it was brutal. More so for everyone out driving than for me of course, but imagine 3 solid hours of answerinng calls, taking notes from people in their cars and tracking police and city websites for collisions and other incidents, trying to organize all the info (although I kept checking them I had around 20 messages on the machine at all times, most of which I didn’t get to until after the show; sorry if one of them was you) into a cohesive traffic report with all the directions and intersections and streets and avenues right and go into the studio to do a new one about every 7 minutes. Traffic reporters are on the ball, let me tell you. Food is so much more my thing than traffic. I’m just not as passionate about a stalled vehicle blocking the off ramp from northbound 14th St. onto eastbound Glenmore.
Since the show airs until 6 it was impossible for me to get home much before 7, so a goodly wife I was not – plus I had a lot to prep for my healthy holiday food segment on Global tomorrow morning. So leftovers it was - the last of a noodle casserole I made the other day (it must have been for lunch) to use up the last of those salmon chunks, which originally had been marinated in maple syrup, soy sauce, lime juice, ginger and garlic and were quite flavourful on their own.
I decided to use it instead of tuna in a tuna-style casserole; really all I did was cook up some noodles while I made a quick sauce out of butter, flour and milk, added the salmon chunks and some frozen peas, poured it over the noodles and topped it with grated cheese and baked it. A good use of leftover salmon, I think. Maybe even better than tuna. So the last of it went into a little baking dish and into the toaster oven to reheat.
These nuts I used to make all the time, then one day I took a sabbatical from them. But do you remember how last winter I was smitten with hazelnuts? This year it’s walnuts. Which should not, by the way, ever be bitter – if they are, they are rancid. They should be mellow and sweet and wonderful. I had to make some for the show tomorrow – hopefully there will be some left in the morning.
Meringue Nuts
These nuts are lightly coated with a layer of sweetened egg white, which can carry any flavour you like. Use white sugar instead of brown, or try maple sugar if you can get your hands on some.
1 large egg white
3 cups walnut halves
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1-2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. salt
pinch allspice
pinch nutmeg
Preheat oven to 300°F.
In a medium bowl, beat egg white until foamy. Stir in nuts, sugar, cinnamon, ginger, salt, allspice and nutmeg.
Spread the mixture into a single layer on a baking sheet that has been sprayed with nonstick spray or lined with foil. Bake for 20-30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden. Cool on the pan. Makes 3 cups.
Per 1/3 cup: 285 calories, 24 g total fat (1.7 g saturated fat, 10.2 g monounsaturated fat, 10.8 g polyunsaturated fat), 7.1 g protein, 15.1 g carbohydrate, 0 mg cholesterol, 2.3 g fiber. 71% calories from fat
Indian Spiced Walnuts
1 egg white, lightly beaten
1 Tbsp. curry powder
2 tsp. each ground cumin and ground ginger
1 tsp. each coarse salt and cinnamon
4 cups California walnut halves
In large bowl, combine egg whites with spices; stir in walnuts and coat thoroughly. Coat a large, shallow baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. Spread nuts onto prepared pan. Bake at 350°F 15 to 18 minutes, until dry and crisp. Cool completely before serving.
Makes 4 cups.
Cookie of the Day: Walnut-Apricot Rugelach. I love rugelach, but haven’t made it in about a decade. Every year it’s on my to-do list. Do them with apricot jam or marmalade, and fresh walnuts. (SK has a pretty impressive-looking rugelach pinwheel cookie if you’d rather slice and bake.)
Walnut & Apricot Rugulach
From the walnut experts.
Pastry:
1 pkg (8oz/250 g) regular or light cream cheese, softened
1 cup butter, softened
2 Tbsp packed brown sugar
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
Filling:
1-1/2 cups coarsely chopped California walnuts, toasted
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger and cardamom
3/4 cup apricot jam or marmalade
Topping:
1 egg
2 Tbsp coarse sugar
Pastry: In large bowl, beat cream cheese and butter until fluffy; beat in sugar. Stir in flour until well combined. Form into a ball; cut into 4 pieces and shape into discs. Wrap individually in plastic wrap; refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to 1 day. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes before rolling.
Filling: In small bowl, stir together walnuts, brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger and cardamom.
On lightly floured surface, roll each disc into an 11″ circle about 1/4″ thick. Spread 3 Tbsp. jam or marmalade over top; sprinkle with a quarter of the walnut mixture. Cut into 12 wedges. Starting from the wide end, roll up each wedge to form a crescent roll.
Place each crescent two inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Refrigerate at least 30 minutes. Repeat with remaining dough and filling.
Beat egg lightly; brush over each crescent and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Bake at 350F until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Let cool on pan for 5 minutes before transferring to rack to cool completely. Makes 48 rugulach.
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December 18 2008 | appetizers and seafood and snacks | 10 Comments »
(I didn’t even set this shot up.)
It’s my ma-in-law’s birthday today and the plan was to take her to Earls for dinner, but the cold weather and news reports warning of dangerous driving conditions convinced her to not leave the house. Which was a bit of a relief. I came extremely close to ordering Inglewood Pizza, but instead made pita pizzas and am, I’m certain, a better person for it.
I assume you know what pita pizzas look like already, so I’m going to tell you about the fruitcake I made this afternoon instead; it was an idyllic hour spent with low sun coming in the kitchen windows, sparkly blowing snow, and one of Mike’s Christmas CDs (modern-day mix tapes) playing Ella Fitzgerald and Red Skelton and Suzy Snowflake and Do They Know it’s Christmas?
I have been positively itching to make fruitcake. Getting panicky about it the way I got panicky about having not yet made a pie by almost the end of summer. I have this recurring dream a handful of times a year where I wake up on Boxing Day, and I’ve missed Christmas entirely. I think I’d have a similar reaction if I never got around to making fruitcake. I posted our most often-used fruitcake recipe earlier this fall when Sue sent me a chunk – we’ve always used the dark fruitcake recipe from Joy (if you have the right edition - Sue went out to buy her own copy a few years ago and the dark fruitcake recipe was completely different), but I decided to tiptoe out of my comfort zone and poke around my bookshelf to see what might be in the old cookbooks I love to accumulate. I pulled out the Fannie Farmer Cookbook and found a dark fruitcake (is there really any other kind?) she describes as “distinguished” – perfectly suited to this family if there ever was one.
The dark version looked a notch simpler than the one I’m used to, and is (refreshingly) made in loaf pans instead of the Bundt pans and finicky ornate little tube-shaped pans I generally use, which I love but generally sweat over getting the cakes out again and end up with at least one in pieces, which isn’t really so much a problem as an excuse to nibble, but still. I made Marion’s loaves in disposable aluminum loaf tins from the dollar store, so that I can wrap them and give them to Fiona and Jennifer’s sister-in-law Linda in their Christmas baking packages. (I decided to draw two names, just because.) Of course the problem with this plan is that I can’t actually eat them myself. I can’t figure out a way to discreetly slice into them without anyone noticing.
The thing to remember about fruitcakes is that they can be made with whatever dried fruit you like – it doesn’t need to be glace cherries and candied citron (that rainbow-coloured glace mix you buy in little tubs, I warn you, is mostly rutabaga, which being cheap and benign is the perfect vehicle for food colouring and sugar syrup) – you could use real dried cherries (although they do cost about as much as platinum), dried pears, apricots, figs; whatever you like. Although it is worth it, I think, to source out some real candied citron, or make it yourself if you have the gumption. If not, adding the grated zest of an orange will give your fruitcake the flavour you’re after.
Dark Fruitcake
adapted from The Fannie Farmer Cookbook by Marion Cunningham
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
grated zest of an orange or lemon
2 large eggs
1/2 cup dark molasses
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk
2 cups small pieces mixed candied fruit (I used figs, dried pears, apricots and cranberries)
1/2 cup chopped candied citron
1 cup raisins
1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line two 8″x4″ loaf pans, line them with foil, then butter the foil. Cream the butter, add the brown sugar and orange or lemon zest and beat until light. Add the eggs and beat well, then beat in the molasses. Mix together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves, and salt; add half and beat just until blended. Add the milk and beat until smooth, then beat in the rest of the flour just until combined. Stir in the candied fruit, citron, raisins, and pecans with a spatula.
Spoon into the pans, smooth the tops and bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours, or until the top is springy to the touch. Let sit for about 10 minutes, then turn out of their pans onto wire racks to cool. When completely cool, wrap well and store in an airtight container.
Brandied Fruit Cake: Soak two large pieces of cheesecloth in brandy. Wrap each fruit cake in the cheesecloth, covering all sides, then wrap well in foil. Moisten the cheesecloth with additional brandy every few days for about a week. The brandy will flavor the cake and help preserve it too.
Having hung out for a spell in A’s kitchen this afternoon while she whipped shortbread, I needed to go home and make some too. Having read so many fond memories of shortbread with little cherry bits in them, I felt obligated to W to provide him with similarly kitschy shortbread with cherry bits to remember decades from now. And when I was digging around in the cupboard full of bags of grains and dried fruit and miscellaneous powders I came across a tub of candied cherries from last year, and took it as a sign.
Also, I’ve been thinking about Sarah’s comment her mother-in-law’s shortbread pressed three times with her thumb, like a pansy, which seems like something my Grandma would have done, so I wanted to try it. So I mixed up a batch of Marion’s Sugar Cookies (hey, another Marion!) and gave it a try (W helped), but don’t think I pulled off the pansy effect. They were delicious anyway.
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December 17 2008 | cake | 17 Comments »
OK, it technically wasn’t us who ate tourtière for dinner, but I made it. Does that count?
It was the topic of discussion on CBC this morning – inspired by you guys. I have always associated tourtière with Christmas, but only because our neighbour down the alley made it every year back in elementary school, and to be honest I haven’t eaten that much of it, so I’m really no expert. I think I’ve made it once in my lifetime – the Canadian Living recipe, of course. I keep meaning to make it every year, because I love the idea of it, and I love that it’s real Canadian cuisine.
When it was decided I would do tourtière I called my French-Canadian neighbour Pascal for advice, who called his mum in Quebec to get her recipe, which he then translated for me, so I made an extra for him and the family. So at around dinnertime I pulled a steaming pie from the oven and walked it across the street in my Pepto-pink polka-dot flannel PJs and giant Fargo parka I bought at a movie set sale in Vancouver (because when you’re working on the computer at home, why would you wear pants with buttons and bits to dig into your gut when there are PJ pants to be worn? Honestly everyone on my block has seen me more in PJ pants than any regular clothing), instead of setting it on the dinner table, which was really fine with me because a) they were so excited about it, and b) Mike has been barfy all day anyway.
So W and I ate some noodles with tomato sauce and Mike groaned and whined a lot and drank a Coke because he upchucked his coffee this morning and has had a headache ever since. W insisted he eat his in the tub, which eliminated clean-up afterward. His new favourite demand: “get out mine way!!” (Translation: get out of my way, like now.) I told him that’s impolite; he should say excuse me, please. His newest favourite demand: “excuse me please. GET OUT MINE WAY!!”)
The only thing I found odd about this recipe was the partially baked bottom shell for the pie – I haven’t seen any other recipes that require this, and it would make it near impossible to bind the raw top crust with the bottom. Then again, who am I to argue with Pascal’s mom?
So no, I didn’t partially bake the bottom crust, I just lined the pie plate, filled it, topped with and crimped the edges and cut a few slits for steam to escape.
Tourtiere
(from Pascal Desjardins’ Mom in Quebec)
Recipe for 1 pie:
1 1/2 pounds ground pork or beef
1 small onion
2 garlic cloves
2 celery sticks
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
parsley
salt and pepper to taste
Saute the onion and celery in a small amount of oil.
Add the meat and the rest of the ingredients, add a half cup of water and simmer for 1/2 hour.
Place in a partly cooked pie crust, brush top of crust with egg and bake at 350 for 45 minutes.
And one more time in French…
Tourtiere
1 1/2 de porc ou boeuf haché maigre
1 petit oignon
2 gousse d’ail
1 ou 2 branche de celeri
1/4de c. a thé de muscade
1/4 c. a thé de canelle
1/4 de c. a thé de clou giroffle
persil
sel et poivre au gout
Faire revenir l’oignon l’ail le céleri ensemble avec un peu d’huile.
Incorporer la viande et faire cuire avec 1/2 tassel d’eau pendant 1/2 heure.
Placer dans l’assiette a tarte et faire cuire au four a 350 pendant 45 minute sur la grille du bas.
Bon Appetite.
Now, as I was calling every French Canadian I knew to solicit tourtière advice, I noticed one of the newest cookbooks on my desk, A Taste of Canada by Rose Murray. A taste of Canada would surely include tourtière. It did; little turnover tourtières that you make with frozen puff pastry and can even assemble in advance and bake just before your guests arrive. I served them with apple-plum chutney.
Tourtiere Turnovers
Excerpted from A Taste of Canada: A Culinary Journey by Rose Murray (Whitecap Books)
Makes 48 turnovers.
The French-Canadian meat pie, traditionally served with the main course, has the new role here of a festive appetizer or cocktail bite. Serve the turnovers hot with the usual green tomato relish or fruity chili sauce to temper the richness of the pastry.
1 potato, peeled and quartered
1 lb lean ground pork
1 onion, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, with leaves, cut in 3
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp dried savory
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
Salt and pepper
2 pkg (14 oz/397 g each) frozen puff pastry, thawed
1 egg, beaten
In a medium saucepan, cook the potato in boiling salted water until tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove with a slotted spoon, mash and set aside.
Bring ½ cup (125 mL) of the potato water to a boil. Add the pork, onion, celery, garlic, savory, thyme, cinnamon and cloves, breaking the pork up with a spoon. Bring to a simmer and cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the pork is no longer pink and the liquid has reduced by half, about 45 minutes.
Remove and discard the celery pieces. Stir in the potato, parsley, salt and pepper to taste and more of the other seasoning if desired. Let cool in the refrigerator.
Working with a quarter of the pastry (half of one package) at a time, roll out each quarter into a 12- × 9-inch (30 × 23 cm) rectangle. Cut each rectangle into 12 even squares. Brush each with egg. (Reserve any remaining egg in the refrigerator.) Place a heaping teaspoon (5 mL) of the pork mixture in the centre of each square, making sure none gets on the edges. (Mounding it into a bit of a ball with your fingers helps.) Fold the pastry over to enclose the filling and form a triangle. Seal the edges by pressing all around with the floured tines of a fork. (Turnovers can be prepared ahead to this point and refrigerated, covered, overnight. Or, freeze for up to 2 months sealed in freezer bags. Thaw in the refrigerator before baking.)
When ready to serve, arrange the turnovers on a baking sheet; brush with the reserved egg. Bake in the centre of a 400°F (200°C) oven until golden brown, about 20 minutes. Serve hot.
Apple-Plum Chutney
2 large apples, peeled and coarsely chopped
4-6 plums, coarsely chopped
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 14 oz. (398 mL) can diced tomatoes
3/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp. – 1 Tbsp. curry paste
1/4 tsp. salt
pinch cinnamon
Put everything into a pot and bring to a simmer. Cook for about an hour, stirring occasionally and mashing with a potato masher – you don’t want to smooth it completely, just rough it up a little.
Turn the heat down low and cook for another 15 minutes or so, until it has the consistency of jam. Transfer the hot mixture to warm, clean jars, and seal, or cool and refrigerate or freeze.
Makes about 4 cups.
December 16 2008 | freezable and pork and preserves | 21 Comments »
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We had our Christmas party tonight – something we generally do the Saturday before Christmas – and tried to keep it smallish so that it wasn’t a revolving door of people that at the end of the night I didn’t really even get to talk to. We kept it simple with a ham (easy to cook, keeps well on the buffet and tastes just as good cold) and biscuits, antipasto, chips and dip, mini lamb burgers in mini pita halves with tzatziki, and a savoury pear and squash crumble.
