Archive for March, 2009
What makes life so interesting, so exciting, is the possibility of it all. That one afternoon I might be supervising the muddy back corner of an outdoor trampoline at a 4th birthday party and eating chocolate cake with a neighbour/friend who happens to also be an internationally known voice on the subject of environmentalism and global warming (and yes, a room full of equally interesting partygoers and their toddlers), and a few hours later be sitting down to dinner with a bunch of ex-fighter pilots (including the youngest mass attack lead in NATO), all of whom spun tales that involved going vertical in CF-18s or pulling up alongside an F4 Phantom in a clean 104 (Mike might have gone ahead and peed his pants right there at the table). And climbing to the base camp at Everest. And cycling across Canada. All this over soup, Caesar salad, beef tenderloin, cake, and wine.
Life is just so much fun, isn’t it?
The party game over dessert (another Third-Month-of-the-Year Cake, this time with vanilla bean custard ice cream) was essentially a collective search for the “Best Story Ever” of one particular life, which of course made me contemplate on the snowy drive home which stories people might be telling about me years from now. All of my best stories seem to involve me being an idiot and/or having chocolate splattered all over myself. Which is neither Top Gun cool nor Mount Everest impressive.
I’d better get on that.
But I love that food is the catalyst that brings everyone to the table to share these stories. Well, food and people and birthdays. But who ever went to a birthday party that didn’t involve food? And who ever met a person who doesn’t eat?
That was Saturday; it started to snow at close to midnight, and as anyone in the Calgary area can attest, it didn’t completely stop until Sunday night. So today was more a day of freshly baked no-knead bread with butter and jam and spiced nuts left over from last night, than of prosciutto-wrapped asparagus on the barbie. I made a batch of spiced nuts that my friend S used to make every Christmas for guests to nibble with marinated olives and feta while I wrapped prawns (in prosciutto) and prepped the vegetables. The last of them were gobbled down this afternoon, with enough saved to sprinkle over a salad tomorrow.
Spiced Nuts
1 Tbsp. canola or olive oil or butter
1 garlic clove, finely crushed (or 1/4 tsp. garlic powder)
2 tsp. coarse sea salt or kosher salt (or to taste)
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 cups unsalted mixed nuts, such as pecans, walnuts, cashews and almonds
Preheat oven to 325°F.
In a medium saucepan, combine the oil, garlic, salt, cumin, chili powder, ginger, cinnamon and cayenne pepper over medium-low heat. Cook for a couple minutes, just until the spices become fragrant. Add the nuts and stir until well coated.
Spread the nuts out in a single layer on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally, until fragrant and golden. Cool on the pan. Makes about 2 cups.
Per 1/3 cup: 275 calories, 26.7 g total fat (2.3 g saturated fat, 14.7 g monounsaturated fat, 8.4 g polyunsaturated fat), 6.5 g protein, 7 g carbohydrate, 0 mg cholesterol, 3.1 g fiber. 82% calories from fat
.jpg "Pasta e Fagioli and Spiced Nuts")
At 6:20 I had hunkered down to finish a few (OK, 4) articles that are due tomorrow when my niece called to say that she and her brother and mom were on their way over. Their kitchen is currently gutted and they needed to be fed. So in approximately 15 minutes I managed to summon up a pot of Pasta e Fagioli, made with a single slender pepperoni stick from the fridge chopped right in, then popped some biscuits in the oven, made with about a quarter cup of Parmesan cheese mixed into the dry ingredients. (I realize the above photo is a little cheese-heavy; that was Mike’s.) It was food therapy – there’s nothing like having no kitchen to make you feel completely disconnected (OK, I’m sure there are some out there who would disagree), and nothing like sitting, slightly crammed, in a kitchen nook with a warm bowl of pasta and biscuits straight from the oven, with small boys arguing over who gets to blow out the candles, to remind you that all is right with the world.
So, two happy and memorable meals this weekend. One a result of months of planning and hours of preparation, the other requiring only twenty minutes or so; both bringing us all around the table to talk and tell stories.
Happy Birthday Johnny Mac! May you yet create many more stories to tell.
One Year Ago: Yeast-Raised Waffles and Cinnamon-Phyllo Nests with Chocolate Eggs (very cute, you should check it out)
March 22 2009 | leftovers | 15 Comments »
I don’t know about you, but I get unreasonably excited when I see those Two Bite Brownies set out at parties or other events for which people don’t want to bake. I end up spending my time coming up with all sorts of diversions to ensure people don’t notice how many I’ve eaten. Because it’s kind of rude to come to a party and eat all the Two Bite Brownies. But really, it’s survival of the fastest, isn’t it?
And have you tried them frozen, on ice cream with warm chocolate sauce?
So naturally I had to come up with a homemade version that was slightly lower in fat. (If you thought they were good out of the bag, try them warm out of the oven.) They are better for kids’ parties than cupcakes, I think, requiring no frosting; if you wanted to you could press a Smartie, or a Junior Mint, or a mini Oreo cookie into the top of each one as soon as it comes out of the oven. That way your candy of choice melts/fuses delicately into the surface, without needing to be ravaged by the heat of the oven and possibly sinking all the way in to the dough.
Speaking of: if you have me pegged as someone who enjoys her cookie dough, you’re right. Brownie batter is no different. And employing my favourite defense against random acts of tasting – chewing gum in the kitchen – doesn’t work when the combination is gooey chocolate plus a hint of mint; in fact it inspired me to add a capful of peppermint extract to the batter.
I was on traffic duty this afternoon, which meant on-air right up until 6, so W and I made a pot of ham and black bean soup (using the bone we doggy-bagged from my Mom’s on Sunday) last night to reheat as needed tonight. My plan was to make a cheddar beer bread using a can of Guinness left over from St Patrick’s Day, but that totally didn’t happen. Which was probably a good thing, as it left extra room for brownies.
Two Bite Brownies
At only 2 grams fat per pop, these will satisfy your need for chewy brownies. Be careful not to overbake them – they should be slightly puffed but still soft to the touch. Freeze leftovers and serve them frozen or warmed in the microwave with vanilla ice cream and chocolate syrup. (If you don’t have mini muffin cups, the batter can be baked in an 8”x8” pan at 350°F for 25-30 minutes.)
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. instant espresso or coffee, dissolved in 1 tsp. water
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a large bowl, mix together butter and sugar until well combined. Add eggs, vanilla and coffee and stir until well blended and smooth.
In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add to the egg mixture and stir by hand just until combined.
Spoon the batter mini muffin cups that have been sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until puffed but still soft to the touch. Do not overbake! Cool in the pan on a wire rack.
Makes 24 brownies.
Per brownie: 85 calories, 2.3 g total fat (1.3 g saturated fat, 0.7 g monounsaturated fat, 0.1 g polyunsaturated fat), 1.5 g protein, 15.5 g carbohydrate, 14.2 mg cholesterol, 1 g fiber. 23% calories from fat
One Year Ago: Roasted Pepper, Eggplant, and Zucchini Pizza (with Garlic)
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March 19 2009 | leftovers | 31 Comments »
Something that can’t be categorized as dessert! Huzzah! (Is it just me who feels as if everything she has eaten in the recent past started out as batter?)
But wait, it is technically cake again.
I taught a class in Red Deer last night, so the boys came up with dinner on their own. (I didn’t ask.) Tonight, fish cakes. My Mom had a chunk of leftover sea bass (yes I know, but it was already cooked, so it would have been worse not to eat it) from a dinner party, and my favourite use of scraps of leftover fish is fish cakes. (Canned salmon works very well too. I haven’t tried sardines yet, but if you’re a fan – why not?) Really all you do is mix the flaked fish with about an equal amount of mashed potatoes (yes you have to mash the potatoes, but come on, it’s easy. You don’t have to worry about getting them all smooth, because you’re stirring fish and stuff into them anyway) and all manner of accessorizing ingredients if you’re so inclined – usually I’ll add some finely chopped green onion, or parsley, chives, red pepper, a bit of mustard… but I had none, and once again this bare cupboard has opened my eyes to something I may not have otherwise tried.
Plain Old Fish Cakes. Nothing but fish, potato, salt and pepper. Once in awhile I am reminded of the pleasure of plain, unadorned food. It doesn’t always need to be jazzed up, spiced and garnished, Thai-inspired or spicy. The simplest of fish cakes allowed us to taste the actual fish and potato (and even oil), rather than serve merely as a vehicle for my culinary whims. Shape the mixture into patties and douse them in a shallow dish of flour, then of beaten egg, then of bread crumbs or Panko (extra-crispy Japanese breadcrumbs) and cook them up in a skillet with a skiff of canola or olive oil. These were so tasty. W even devoured them, which I wasn’t expecting at all. Served with peas, of course.
(Tomorrow I am so ditching this whole no-shop thing and sending Mike for one of those tubs of mixed greens. Come to mama…)
One Year Ago: Roasted Red Pepper and Ricotta Cannelloni
March 18 2009 | fish and vegetarian | 13 Comments »
I realize this blog has been a little cake heavy as of late; sorry about that. (As a result, I myself am also a little cake heavy.)
I couldn’t report much in the way of dinner over the weekend, having not actually made anything. We attended a (paintball) birthday party on Saturday (I have the bruises to prove it) and were fed pizza and sushi, and Sunday night we had ham and scalloped potatoes at my Mum’s. But on Saturday I did contribute a cake to the birthday celebration, and I want to tell you about it.
The request was for chocolate cake with chocolate sauce. Yes, I could have done that dense Chocolate Valentino cake (and A, if you were hoping for it, sorry) but I view birthdays as opportunities to try new things I might not otherwise have reason to. (Mike thinks this is a Bad Idea.) Fortunately, this time it worked out.
I pulled my new(ish) chocolate cookbook off the shelf – a really beautiful and full of good ideas book called Chocolate by Trish Deseine, and opened it up to – I kid you not – Third-Month-of-the-Year Cake. Well that was easy.
An English friend had sent the author the recipe for a double layer chocolate cake, with each cake layer topped with meringue before it baked and then sandwiched with whipped cream in the middle. It had no frosting, so made the perfect vehicle for a liquid chocolate ganache, which we poured over top. (Heat some cream – heavy or half & half – to a simmer, remove from the heat and add about an equal amount of chocolate chips or chopped chocolate. Let it sit for a few minutes, then whisk until smooth.)
In order to fancy it up I made a quick hazelnut praline (seriously – quick and easy – try it) to crumble over top. To do this, toast some hazelnuts and rub some of the skins off (or use sliced almonds, pecans, walnuts, pumpkin seeds…) and put them on a baking sheet. In a small saucepan melt about 1/2 cup of sugar (if you want, add a bit of water to help get it started), swirling the pan and brushing down the sides with a pastry brush dipped in water if need be, until it turns deep golden. Pour it over the nuts, let it cool, then break or bash it apart. That’s it. (Once the sugar turns golden it is crackly caramel – there is no need for a candy thermometer.)
I was really excited about this, being a lover of Pavlova and of whipped cream. I assembled it there, spreading whipped cream between the layers and crumbling the hazelnut brittle over top before it went out. People loved it (or said they did – of course that’s protocol at a party so doesn’t make the best litmus test) but I was a little deflated. It could be I was too full of Cheezies and pizza, but the cake was a little flat (likely on account of the unsalted butter and lack of salt in the recipe) and the meringue got quite lost amid all that chocolate, the middle layer sort of melting into the whipped cream. (The photo above is of only one layer, which I took before leaving the house. The second layer looked exactly the same.)
It has enormous potential though. Next time I might tweak the cake part by adding some vanilla or coffee to the cocoa mixture and a pinch of salt (I have added these to the recipe below), or just use a different cake recipe – any cake batter will work – and I can’t wait to try baking meringue onto white cake layers. It’s something I did a decade or so ago and which I think of from time to time – served almost strawberry shortcake-style with fresh berries or peaches in season. And of course whipped cream. It would make a perfect spring or summer dessert for a crowd, I think, with each layer served on its own (so as to not melt the meringue) topped with fresh berries or fruit and cream.
Third-Month-of-the-Year Cake
adapted from Chocolate, by Trish Deseine, via her English friend
Cake:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/4 cups sugar
3 large eggs
1/2 cup cocoa, stirred into 1 cup hot water
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
Meringue:
3 large egg whites
1/2 cup sugar (superfine berry sugar if you have it)
1 cup whipping cream
Preheat the oven to 325F. Cut a couple of circles of waxed paper and place them in the bottom of two 8″ or 9″ round cake pans – trust me it’s worth the extra 2 minutes of effort, since you have to be gingerly with their removal on account of the meringue on top. Spray them, lined with waxed paper, with nonstick spray.
In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar for a few minutes, until fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, then the cocoa mixture and vanilla. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and beat on low just until blended. Divide between the prepared pans and smooth the surface.
To make the meringue, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form; gradually beat in the sugar and continue to beat until stiff and glossy. Spoon the meringue on top of the cake batter and gently spread into a circle, leaving about an inch clear around the edge to allow it to expand as it bakes.
Bake the cakes for 35-40 minutes, until the meringue is golden and if there is some cake peeking through, it’s springy to the touch. Let cool in the pans until just warm, then gently turn them out onto your hand, peel off the waxed paper and cool them on a wire rack.
To assemble the cake, whip the cream (adding a bit of sugar if you like) and spread it on one cake layer; top with the other. If you like, sprinkle hazelnut praline over top.
One Year Ago: Big Salads and Hot Crossed Buns
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March 16 2009 | cake | 16 Comments »
W is currently hooked on In the Night Kitchen, by Maurice Sendak. As such all he ever wants to do is bake “a delicious Mickey cake”, marching around the house singing “milk! milk! milk for the morning cake!”, and “milk in the batter! milk in the batter! we! bake! cake! and nothing’s the matter!”
So rather than turn to the internet or my usual stash, I pulled one of the thousand or so cookbooks off my shelf – Everyday Favourites put out by Canadian Living – and flipped to the first simple cake recipe. One that called for apples, which we have a surplus of. The recipe is called Butterscotch Apple Spice Cake, but I made a few adjustments, and like the idea of caramel apples in cake form.
And have I ever told you about Elizabeth Baird, and how much I adore her? I have since I was a kid and told my grade 3 class I wanted to be the food editor of Canadian Living magazine when I grew up. (When I told her this a couple years ago, she replied “well, I’m not getting any younger.”) As a teenager I wanted to dye my hair that silvery white, like hers. My mom wouldn’t let me.
I don’t often get starstruck. When we ran into Kurt Russell and Goldie Hawn at Shrek 2 in Vancouver (literally – their car pulled in beside ours in the parkade, and Mike held the door open for them – it wasn’t until they passed through, in the extreme close quarters of a parkade stairwell with us, that he realized who they were. He had a look of blushed surprise on his face as if something sensitive was stuck in his fly) it was cool, but really no biggie. Same thing with John Cleese (from Monty Python), whom I ran into at the Banff Springs hotel – I had come from doing a cooking demo and was en route to the washroom and ran into him waiting for the elevator. John actually recoiled in horror when he saw me, and I understood why when I got to the washroom and noticed I had chocolate smeared up the side of my face. And a bloody eye. Don’t ask. He probably isn’t going to call me.
Now John Cusack I might get a little flustered over. I could possibly faint.
And Elizabeth Baird. I’ve known her for years now, and I still get all fluttery when I’m around her. A true Canadian food icon, she is. When I grow up, I want to be Elizabeth.
Anyway – the cake:
Caramel Apple Coffee Cake
1/4 cup butter, softened, or canola oil
1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, or some all-purpose, some whole wheat
1-2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ground ginger
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup sour cream or plain yogurt
Topping:
2 apples, unpeeled and sliced
1/2 cup caramel sauce, or 3/4 cup packed brown sugar and 1/4 cup butter
Preheat oven to 350F. Spray a 10″ tube pan with nonstick spray.
In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugars until sandy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.
In a smaller bowl, whisk together the flour, cinnamon, ginger, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add about a third to the butter mixture and beat on low just until blended. Add half the sour cream, another third of the dry ingredients, the rest of the sour cream, and the rest of the dry ingredients, stirring by hand or beating on low just until combined. Scrape the batter into the pan.
Slice the apples onto the surface, arranging them however you like – they will shrink as they cook, so feel free to place them tightly together. Drizzle with caramel sauce. If you’re using the sugar and butter, bring it to a simmer in a small saucepan, then drizzle it overtop.
Bake for 45 minutes, until the cake is springy to the touch.
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March 13 2009 | cake | 70 Comments »
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.jpg "Pasta e Fagioli and Spiced Nuts")
