Archive for December, 2010
Doesn’t this look like a crime scene photo from the sixties? (It’s a crime against my thighs.)
It’s from last night – a turkey dinner/Christmas party that ended with pumpkin pudding, sticky toffee pudding and a layered sort of free-form tiramisu made with some sort of whipped chocolate cream/mascarpone layered with chocolate chip cookies. I know. Just what you need after an enormous turkey dinner complete with two stuffings and two kinds of mashed potatoes (one truffled, one not). Not that dinner kept me from eating two plates of the stuff.
Before dinner even made it to the table I had nibbled my way through half a platter of homemade crackers – Pierre’s nut crackers, in fact – from, hey! the new Swerve website! K misread “paprika” and added cayenne instead, which gave them a nice kick, I think. The toddlers in the room may not have agreed.
That’s all I got right now. Just wanted to keep you posted.
December 12 2010 | leftovers | 10 Comments »
I had most of a loaf of Aviv‘s crusty raisin bread left over in a paper bag on the counter – I know, evidence of how much bakery and party food has been passing my face lately – and I wasn’t about to compost it. I was going to do eggnog French toast but didn’t have time to stand at the stove and monitor it, so I made bread pudding. It’s like French toast casserole.
I need to keep this brief, but want to tell y’all about a new arrival – Swerve magazine now has an online home. It’s at SwerveCalgary.com. They’ve given Pierre and I access to a really cool vegetarian foodie videographer to take out into the world and document food stuff with. So far I’ve made an amazing beef stew with my friend’s Trinidadian mom. Pierre shows us how to cut an onion (Mike actually watched this and now follows his lead exactly) and will soon show how to access the innards of a winter squash. There will be more.
Meanwhile, here’s some bread pudding to keep warm with – it’s not very custardy – more bready and French toast-y. You’ll want to start with good bread at least a day or two old.
Eggnog Bread Pudding
1 loaf good-quality crusty bread, or an assortment of bread ends
4 large eggs
1/4 cup honey, brown sugar or maple syrup (or to taste)
3 cups egg nog, or a combination of milk and nog
2 tsp. vanilla
a shake of cinnamon (optional)
freshly grated nutmeg
Cut or tear the bread into 1” chunks in a large bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the eggs, honey, eggnog and vanilla. Pour over the bread and let sit for an hour or two, stirring gently once in awhile. All the liquid should be well absorbed, but the bread shouldn’t turn to mush (thus the good-quality crusty loaf).
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Pour the bread mixture into a baking dish that has been sprayed with nonstick spray, or any baking dish that will accommodate the quantity you made. Sprinkle with cinnamon and nutmeg.
Bake for 45 minutes, until puffed, golden and set. Serve warm or at room temperature.
December 10 2010 | bread and breakfast | 13 Comments »
I love me a good bake sale. Don’t you think there should be more of them?
Today was the third annual Upscale Bake Sale to benefit the Calgary Inter-faith Food Bank as part of the CBC Suncor Food Bank Drive. Every December we gather – a few of the best bakers in Calgary and I, along with a slew of volunteers – in the lobby of the Suncor building for one lunch hour and sell as many baked goods as we can muster, with all – one hundred percent – of the proceeds going to benefit the food bank.
Aviv Fried of Sidewalk Citizen Bakery was there with loaves, scones and freshly sliced bread with jam – blackberry from Salt Spring and the Best Damn Jam from the winner of the Bowness jam-a-thon.
The awesome Jennifer from Brûlée Patisserie brought her pecan and cranberry sticky buns (my undoing), wee fruitcakes, Russian tea cakes, shortbread and other delights,
The also very amazing Tanya from Urban Baker brought stollen, loaves of bread – including her rosemary-apple-flax, and vanilla bean marshmallows, sponge toffee, cookies and more.
Pam from Decadent Desserts brought a flourless chocolate torte, a chocolate raspberry-filled yule log, espresso shortbread and the mother of all cookie trays…
… and Toni from Buttercream Bakeshoppe brought cupcakes. EVERYTHING was donated.
All brought far more than that, but there was so much I couldn’t possibly remember every variety of freshly baked goodie. I’m so grateful to all of them for their generosity, for donating not only fantastic, beautifully packaged baked goods, but their time to come down, set up, sell and chat with people. I baked cookies and cupcakes that met their disastrous demise immediately before the bake sale started. I don’t want to talk about it.
The tally just came in – we raised $3492.80 in an hour – which of course translates to $13,968 worth of food for the food bank, since they can turn ever dollar donated into $4 worth of food. Thanks to everyone who came down and helped out, chipped in or bought a sticky bun for a good cause!
It’s been a long day. CBC. Slowfood Calgary steering committee meeting. Bake sale. Work for this magazine, and this one. And some stuff for the new Swerve Calgary website that’s about to launch at the end of this week, and I can’t wait to show you. And then this one had a Christmas party at Rouge. Silver lining: I got to hang with one of my favourite people. Don’t you love clicking on things? Are you procrastinating, too?
Tomorrow I’m meeting with Bernard Callebaut – I can’t even link to his store anymore! – to get the scoop on his new chocolate line. I know the name already, but I’m not telling. Crazy, though, that he’ll be going up against the brand he built for 25 years this holiday season.
Getting punchy. Must away to bed, but wanted to tell you about the bake sale, and thank all the participants (amazing people, all of them) before weeks and months slipped by and I found myself reminiscing in a post about it on some day in February. You know it could happen.
December 07 2010 | eating out | 11 Comments »
OK, all this talk of Hanukkah and latkes finally made me break down and make some. Every year I do this, and every year I’m reminded of how easy it is to make them, and how delicious they are. It may come as no surprise that I’m a fan of a) curry, and b) sweet potatoes, and so when I happened upon c) curried sweet potato latkes, I had to make them.
And really? Wow. They’re like latkes extreme, especially with a blob of sour cream to cool down the heat (you’ll be gobbling them straight from the pan, right?) and warm spice.
I posted the recipe over at Family Kitchen.
December 06 2010 | leftovers | 10 Comments »
This cold has wrestled me to the ground and is sitting on my face. You’re likely as sick of it (pun intended) as I am, but it (my cold) has everything to do with the recipe du jour – it inspired me to make soup.
The most appealing foods have been hot and sippable, and the thought of something smooth and full of spices, vitamin C, garlic and ginger was irresistible. I saw it on Dan’s blog and loved the idea of using a tandoori spice blend in soup, much like I (habitually) use curry paste or powder. And I just so happened to have a bottle on the back of my shelf. How could a cold possibly survive a hot blast of tandoori spices, garlic, ginger and enough carrots to choke Bugs Bunny?
Because I was not feeling up to snuff, I didn’t pay full attention to the original recipe and wound up more or less doing my own thing – onions, celery, carrots, a handful of red lentils for good measure – I didn’t have the zucchini Dan called for, and meant to try the apple cider vinegar but forgot. I’m not a fan of fennel so intentionally forgot that.
And do you see that ravishingly golden chunk of dough sitting precariously on the edge of my mug? It’s one of Aviv‘s biscuits, which I bought at Friday night’s Hillhurst-Sunnyside Christmas Market (along with a few eggnog-poppyseed) and which i thought were plain old (as if) cheese, but when I broke my (freshly warmed) scone open, I found, as if opening a present, it was full of chunks of bacon. Bless you, Aviv. By the way, he’s one of the bakeries that will be joining me downtown in the lobby of the Suncor building between 12-1 on Tuesday for our third annual Upscale Bake Sale as part of the CBC Suncor Food Bank Drive. Other participants include Urban Baker, Brûlée Patisserie and Buttercream Bakeshoppe. Can’t wait. Scones, bread, cupcakes and cookies (and more!) for a great cause.
Tandoori Carrot, Lentil & Apple Soup
inspired by Dan’s Good Side
canola or olive oil, for cooking
1 large onion
2-3 celery stalks (with leaves)
4-5 garlic cloves
2 Tbsp. tandoori powder
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
4-6 large carrots, peeled and chopped
small handful dry red lentils (optional)
1 apple, chopped
1 L chicken or veg stock
splash of half & half (optional)
sour cream or plain yogurt, for serving (optional)
In a largish pot, heat a drizzle of oil over medium-high heat and saute the onion, celery and garlic for a few minutes, until soft. Add the tandoori powder and ginger and cook for another minute, then add the carrots, lentils, apple and stock. Bring to a simmer, reduce the heat and cook for about 30 minutes, until everything is nice and soft.
Using a hand-held immersion blender, puree the soup right in the pot, adding a splash of cream, if you like. Season with salt and pepper if it needs it, and serve hot, with a dollop of sour cream on top to cool the spice, if you like. Serves 6.
December 05 2010 | soup | 11 Comments »
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