Archive for October, 2010
Although I ate a ton this weekend, I didn’t actually cook any of it. For real.
(So then why is my kitchen still a total disaster?)
It’s not that the kitchen sat empty – Mike used it. He made me a peanut butter pie.
A month or so ago I stumbled across this, and emailed a few people who I knew may be on birthday cake duty with the subject line: I want this for my birthday. And so he made it.
I know – first meat hand, now peanut butter pie. Will the romance ever end? Give me coffee in bed and peanut butter pie over roses and diamonds any day.
And it was delicious, even. Ringed with salted peanuts he crushed in the mortar & pestle and carefully topped with chocolate curls Sue (who flew in from BC) and I could hear him struggling with from the other room. This is all that was left this morning – my mom and dad bickered over how much had been left and how teeny a sliver each had had from the already miniscule leftover wedge.
My parents had a small roomful of some of my favourite people over to -what else?- eat. The theme was duct tape. (If you look closely, A -above- is wearing a duct tape portrait of John Cusack. That girl knows how to accessorize.) My mom and sisters made Guinness pie, and a sweet, sticky, clove-y roast ham my sister makes once in awhile, surrounded by quartered Bosc pears and cranberries that wind up roasting in the ham juices, and scalloped potatoes, and a big salad, and there was another salad of teeny multicoloured tomatoes that my 20 year old nephew made. And spiced pecans, nachos and guacamole and soft apricots and sage leaves wrapped in bacon and broiled.
And now, closing in on 11 again, buzzing on mini Wonderbars while fading fast, still having not caught up on sleep (it seems even the knowledge of a parent’s birthday does not prevent 5 year olds from waking up on Saturday mornings when it’s still dark – and in fact is further encouragement to be even more pokey-in-the-face than usual) I’m drawing a blank on what else to tell you about it all. And I’m determined not to start this week with a severe sleep deficit. So I’ll pull a To Be Continued. (Although we all know I’ll more than likely go off on some other tangent next time I’m here.)
October 31 2010 | leftovers | 20 Comments »
Hey guys, meet hand. I mean – hey you guys! Meat hand!
I totally can’t take credit for this. I saw it over at Not Martha last year and thought she was a genius (the kind I love most), and was reminded of it yesterday while I was in Red Deer teaching cooking classes. I sent Mike an email with a link, asking if he had a chance could he possibly make a humanesque hand out of meatloaf while I was gone? For BT in the morning? Still on the foggy highway at almost 11, I didn’t want to be making a hand out of meat at 2 in the morning. (Not that making bloody custard sauce was much better. But that’s nowhere near as good a story.)
A dozen roses could not have said I love you more than walking in the door to a homemade meat hand. With real mashed potatoes, which really just serve to define meat hand. He shaped it himself, using my usual meatloaf recipe, and then carved a little potato into a severed wrist bone to stick in the end. After baking it had the texture of cartilage. He made a little nook for marrow, even. It was so realistic looking one of the grade 1 kids at school insisted it was real. “I saw the bone sticking out, mom. I saw the bone.” Shudder.
We got a lot of mileage out of meat hand – it made the rounds at BT, then went to school, where I presented it to the kindergarten class as their snack. They didn’t go for it, so we totally ate it for dinner. Come on – wouldn’t you?
It’s totally easy to make, and well worth the extra 10 minutes of labour to present a grody severed hand-shaped meatloaf to your family for a random Sunday dinner, don’t you think? Especially on a day when the kids have their friends over, or your daughter happens to bring her new boyfriend home for dinner. W isn’t embarrassed by me yet, but when he is I may as well go down in flames.
Here’s what some people are saying about meat hand:
“I give it two thumbs up!”
“It’s finger-lickin’ good!”
My sieve-like brain has not retained the rest. They were just as good.
October 29 2010 | leftovers | 78 Comments »
Back from a day full of classes in Red Deer – prepping for an early morning Halloween show on BT and party at W’s school – I’ve just made vats of icing (and while doing so stained my fingers a deep indigo) and divvied up little baggies of candies and shoestring licorice (for the chocolate truffle spiders) – and in my absence Mike made me a meat hand. Is that love or what?
But I was thinking on the drive back about beet cake – what else does your mind wander to on the highway? George Clooney? (Perhaps he was delivering me the beet cake for my breakfast in bed.. ) And I realized a lot of you asked for it but I didn’t post it. Here it is. (W decorated this one, and found it difficult to evenly distribute the sprinkles atop the cake.)
I’ll be wearing a whoopie cushion suit on BT tomorrow morning. (In approximately 6 hours.) I can’t wait to ask – does this whoopie cushion suit make me look fat?
October 29 2010 | leftovers | 8 Comments »
I don’t mind sharing with you that I’m a little burned out. Even a little bummed out and a little stressed out. Maybe collectively a lot of all of the above.
And I just read that comment from my sister under the double double cake, and it made me all teary, which is probably very therapeutic. This looming Big Birthday must be getting to me more than I realize.
It could also have something to do with my to-do list. All good things on my plate, of course, but this week I’m writing for Swerve (four pages, plus photos!), the Herald, City Palate, Parents Canada, and over at Babble. I made samosas using the Nenshi family recipe this morning on CBC, and attended the opening party for the new ATCO Blue Flame Kitchen today, and presented to the CADA board for grant money for a community event yesterday, and emceed a morning brunch and talk at the Glenbow on Sunday. And last week I got to judge a latte art competition and teach/oversee a Soup Sisters class, and do and attend a bunch of other stuff, and I’m really very lucky. Where most people keep their time management skills I have a need to not miss out on anything.
Tonight I’m up late trying to put together a devil-vampire costume, putting together recipes and shopping lists for 3 back to back cooking classes I’m teaching at the Cooking Room in Red Deer on Thursday, and trying to figure out what gory things I’ll be making on BT early in the morning on Friday, and when exactly I’m going to prep it all. I’m working on another project that launches on Friday that I’m excited about – I’ll fill you in on it then, and Sue and I just got the last of our bean book edits in (but still haven’t finished doing all the photographs), and this weekend I have to plan and prep and tape a segment for Good Bite, and then there’s a Monday night event and another cooking class next Wednesday (theme: bacon), the night before we leave for New York.
Have I told you yet that we’re going to New York? I’ve always wanted to go. We’ve of course chosen one of the busiest (read: priciest) times of year to go, and have nearly maxed out our credit cards just booking flights and finding somewhere to stay. We’re still pretty clueless about what to do once we get there, I haven’t had a chance to go through all the recommendations in my inbox, and while we’re getting personal, I’ll confess on Mike’s behalf that he has a horrible fear of flying and hasn’t done it in about 10 years except once for a funeral, which was a bit of an anomalous situation. So he’s a stressed out wreck and I’m hoping it doesn’t a) go sharply downhill over the next week, or b) trigger an outbreak of gout, causing him to be unable to walk once we get to New York.
It’s really a shame that stress doesn’t count as a cardio workout.
Don’t you love it when I get all sleep deprived and cathartic?
Let’s get back to the ribs.
Yesterday, after spending the afternoon lost in the vicinity of Spruce Meadows looking for a convention I was supposed to be speaking at, finding it an hour and a half late (having toured Bridlewood and Somerset and stopping to buy a map, even, which turned out to not help at all because the address was wrong to begin with, and on top of it Google maps sent me to an industrial park and I wound up beside the main sorting centre for Canada Post) I fumbled through my bit, then came back into town at rush hour trying to come up with a reasonable birthday dinner for Mike that might seem like it had been planned. Mothers’ Little Helper was stuck in my head, and I was tempted to buy a frozen steak, just because. But then I remembered I had frozen ribs, ones that had been preroasted so really only needed thawing and a quick revival on the barbecue.
They’re ones I made for CBC a month or so ago – they seem to have stuck out in peoples’ memories, having been marinated in a slurry of coconut milk, ginger, garlic, fresh cilantro, brown sugar and lemongrass. Seems like a thoughtful birthday dinner, don’t you think?
Thai Coconut Barbecued Ribs
adapted from Bon Appétit, September 1995
2 racks pork ribs
1 14 oz. (398 mL) can coconut milk
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (stems too)
1/2 packed cup golden brown sugar
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 shallots, chopped
3 Tbsp. chopped garlic
2 Tbsp. chopped peeled fresh ginger
1 stalk lemongrass, chopped
Place ribs on a rimmed baking sheet, cover tightly with foil and cook for 2 1/2-3 hours at 300F.
Combine coconut milk, cilantro, brown sugar, soy sauce, shallots, garlic, ginger and lemongrass in a food processor and process until almost smooth. Transfer marinade to a large baking dish, add ribs and turn to coat. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat) or preheat broiler. Remove ribs from marinade; reserve marinade. Grill or broil ribs until golden brown, turning occasionally, about 8 minutes. Transfer to platter and tent with foil to keep warm. Transfer marinade to a small saucepan and boil for 1 minute. Serve ribs with marinade.
October 26 2010 | freezable and on the grill and pork | 28 Comments »
Yesterday was day 1 of Birthday Week. This week holds 6 birthdays of Scorpios I Know including a sister, a nephew, Mike, and yes – myself. The week wraps up with a big one that ends with a zero.
I don’t want to talk about it.
I planned for about 6 months, since seeing it in this book, to make this cake for my sister for her birthday. One guess which coffee chain she’s addicted to.
To be honest, I wanted to mess with this recipe right off the bat. I didn’t (much) and I’m glad – it was a mighty spectacular cake. I didn’t have buttermilk so used plain yogurt thinned with milk – and I’m certain you could swap any cold coffee for the double double. (Use instant, stirred into water, if you’re not in the habit of keeping cold coffee around.)
I did ditch the icing recipe, figuring the frosting is as good a vehicle for more coffee than anything. I used 1/2 cup of soft butter and a 1 lb bag of icing sugar, and added enough cold double double to make a spreadable frosting. (About halfway through it became clear that it wouldn’t do enough to spike the frosting on its own, and so I stirred another spoonful of instant coffee into the cup before adding more to the bowl.)
To go with – double double ice cream: pick up a large double double and chill it. Pour it into the ice cream maker, fill the cup with whipping cream, pour it in, and turn the machine on. No need for more sweetness or flavourings or a custard base. It turned out icy-slushy, like an ice cap.
Double-Double Chocolate Cake
Double chocolate. Double layer. And a cupful of “double-double”: Canada’s most popular preparation of Tim Horton’s coffee, boasting double the cream, double the sugar. This recipe makes a fabulous cake that’s worthy of the double ribbons Moira won at the Harrow Fair. Reprinted with permission from The Harrow Fair Cookbook, by Moira Sanders, Lori Elstone and Beth Goslin Maloney (Whitecap).
2 oz (60 g) bittersweet chocolate, chopped
2 cups (500 mL) all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups (310 mL) granulated sugar
1/2 cup (125 mL) cocoa powder
2 tsp (10 mL) baking soda
1 tsp (5 mL) baking powder
1 tsp (5 mL) fine sea salt
1 cup (250 mL) buttermilk
1/2 cup (125 mL) vegetable oil
2 large eggs
1 tsp (5 mL) pure vanilla extract
1 cup (250 mL) double-double coffee
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or a small saucepan set on low heat. Stir constantly until the mixture is smooth. Set aside to cool.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour two 8-inch round cake pans.
Sift together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
Mix together the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients with the mixer on low speed. Add the melted chocolate and the double-double coffee and mix just until combined.
Pour the batter into the pans, spreading evenly. Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre of a cake comes out clean.
Cool the cakes in the pans until they are easy to handle. Invert onto a cake plate and spread with icing once completely cooled.
One Year Ago: Cranberry-Almond Linzer Hearts
October 24 2010 | cake | 31 Comments »
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