Archive for July, 2011
We’ve made it to Vancouver, having spent a night in Kelowna. And I SO BADLY want to show you what we had for dinner last night, because the whole experience was just phenomenal. But we checked in and ran out the door so quickly I forgot my camera, and my blackberry doesn’t do this food justice.
We went to Bao Bei Chinese Brasserie, on the edge of Chinatown in Vancouver, which was just so damn photogenic it killed me to not have my camera. Although it was packed, with a lineup spilling out the door, they got us in in about 15 minutes (having estimated half an hour). The food came just as fast, every dish as good as the last. We ate squid stir fried with crispy pork belly, chili, and baby bok choi. Mantou – steamed buns with braised beef shortrib, hoisin, scallions, pickled cucumber and roasted peanuts. Shao Bing – crunchy sesame flatbread with braised pork butt, Asian pear, pickled onion and mustard greens. W had his own plate of pork potstickers and a fried egg, which was offered up as a side I wished I had ordered myself to set atop their fried rice of the day, made with rock shrimp, puffed tofu, bits of sweet pineapple, scallions and fish sauce. Mike’s reaction: “damn – how am I ever supposed to eat any other fried rice now??”
Tomorrow we’re off to the Victoria Taste food and wine festival. How excited am I? Very. I haven’t been to Victoria in years, and am very much looking forward to revisiting their already fantastic food scene.
Tuesday morning I did my usual CBC spot before heading outta Dodge. And I mean really right before – we got up early, packed up our things and M&W were in the car in the parking lot as I was in the studio talking about ice cream and frozen ice pops. I made butterbeer ice cream in honour of the current Harry Potter hysteria. Butterbeer is made with butterscotch, with (or so I’ve heard) a salty aftertaste. So salted butterscotch ice cream? Yes please.
In my quest for such, I came across this – brown sugar balsamic ice cream. So intriguing I couldn’t not try. And so I did. We ate the last of it in the car on our way out of town.
Brown Sugar Balsamic Vinegar Ice Cream
adapted from Bon Appétit, December 2009
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
1 1/2 cups milk
6 large egg yolks
3/4 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1 tsp good vanilla
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar (or about 2 Tbsp balsamic reduction)
In a medium saucepan, whisk together the cream and milk until steaming.
Meanwhile, whisk together the yolks, sugar and vanilla.
Gradually whisk some of the hot cream mixture into the yolk mixture to heat it up; return the mixture to the saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the custard thickens; strain through a sieve set over a bowl. Cover and refrigerate until well chilled.
Meanwhile, simmer the balsamic vinegar in a small saucepan until reduced to 2 tablespoons, about 6 minutes. Cool syrup completely. (Alternatively, start with some balsamic reduction and skip this step.)
Freeze the custard in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. When ice cream is done, spoon in balsamic syrup and churn 3 to 4 seconds longer to swirl. Serve immediately or transfer to a container to freeze until solid.
July 21 2011 | dessert and freezable | 5 Comments »
We’re off to the west coast this morning, to Vancouver Island – Victoria first, for the Victoria Taste Wine & Food Festival, and then across to Tofino. Being a planner ahead when it comes to road trips – particularly in the arena of food – I made up a batch of chewy granola bars to pack along. This will almost certainly cut down on the number of buttered bagels I pick up at drive-thrus on the way.
Tony & Penny at Highwood Crossing have a great recipe – I hadn’t made granola bars with sweetened condensed milk before – and of course you can add anything, nuts, seeds and dried fruit-wise – even chocolate chips. (Which no, doesn’t count as a fruit.)
Sweet and Salty Granola Bars
adapted from Tony & Penny at Highwood Crossing
3 cups Highwood Crossing rolled oats
1 cup sliced almonds, chopped walnuts or pecans, or a combination, toasted
1 cup sunflower or pumpkin seeds (or combo!)
1 cup raisins, dried cranberries. chopped dried apricots or a combination of dried fruit
1 300 mL can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup Highwood Crossing canola oil
1/2 tsp. salt
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9″x13″ pan with foil or parchment paper, overlapping the sides for easy removal of bars.
Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Press evenly into the prepared pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden. Cool slightly, then flip out onto a cutting board and cut into bars.
July 19 2011 | breakfast and snacks | 15 Comments »
The very best thing about crumbles? You don’t really need a recipe for them.
Also? You can use any kind of fruit you have in the kitchen. The ripe and in season and the starting to attract fruit flies. You can toss them all in with each other, mostly. Avoid bananas and watermelon. Otherwise, it’s all fair game.
Tart plums make a spanking crumble. Strawberries, it turns out, make a delicious pairing.
When I got home on Friday night tired and crumbly, we opened the windows, turned on some Patsy Cline, and I made a crumble out of what was sitting on the countertop – strawberries and plums. Prosecco helped. (Not in the recipe.)
Saturday morning it made a fine breakfast with thick plain Greek yogurt. Sunday I gave in and made sour cream ice cream, just because there was sour cream in the fridge that needed to be used.
I know I’ve shared sour cream ice cream with you before. More than once, I think. It’s not sour, like sour cream – it’s like sour cream into which you’ve swirled sugar. And cream. And then froze.
It’s worth a reminder.
Although I did say you don’t need a recipe, you’d probably like one. For the crumble part, you really just need a mixture of flour, sugar and butter (and oats, if you like) that will hold together when you squeeze them. Here’s what I did, more or less:
Strawberry-Plum Crumble
1 pint strawberries, hulled and halved
3-4 plums, pitted and chopped
1/2 cup sugar (or to taste)
1-2 Tbsp. cornstarch (or a heaping spoonful)
Crumble:
1/3 cup butter
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup oats
In a big bowl, toss the strawberries and plums. In a small bowl, stir together the sugar and cornstarch (this will get rid of any lumps); shake over the fruit and toss to coat. Spread into a baking dish – I like quiche dishes, which allow for maximum surface area.
Blitz together the crumble ingredients in a food processor until well combined. Scatter over the fruit, squeezing as you go to make larger clumps. Bake at 350F for half an hour, or until bubbly around the edges and golden on top.
July 18 2011 | dessert | 9 Comments »
Here’s another use for those garlic scapes: mashed potatoes.
We came home tonight at dinnertime, hot and tired. The boys were asleep in the car on the way. We pondered takeout. Pizza. Something easy. But I had a couple of flat iron steaks in the fridge and needed to check them out before demonstrating how to cook them on the kitchen stage at the Stampede tomorrow. (And figure out how to prep 100 samples of same.)
When I got home I put a pot on the stove with half a bag of those multicoloured new potatoes and some water, and chopped in a few garlic scapes. While that simmered I preheated the grill, patted the steaks dry, sprinkled them with salt and pepper, and tossed them on for about 3 minutes per side. When the potatoes were tender I mashed them with a whisk (having left my potato masher somewhere) with a bit of butter and milk. Sour cream would have been good. Dinner in 15 minutes.
Mike said: “remember how you make these.” I’ll consider it recorded.
July 16 2011 | veg | 4 Comments »
This here is my new favourite salad dressing. I feel oh-so virtuous when I skip (yes! skip! sometimes..) out to the garden with my wood salad bowl and pluck green leaves from the garden directly into it, then drizzle my greens with creamy rhubarb dressing, made with rhubarb I’ve also yanked out of my own (or my sister’s) soil. I should probably get myself a Little House on the Prairie-style bonnet.
Tart rhubarb makes a perfect base for a vinaigrette, in place of (or along with) whatever acid you’d normally use, like lemon juice. Simmer chopped rhubarb for a few minutes, then puree it with honey, oil and rice vinegar (which isn’t as harsh as other vinegars) – the fibre in the rhubarb will add body to the dressing, but puree perfectly smooth. The result is a lovely pink vinaigrette reminiscent of pink poppyseed dressing – and if you dribble the canola oil into the blender as it’s running, it will thicken and emulsify, like a creamy ranch dressing or aioli. It’s not like a vinaigrette that separates and you have to re-shake before using – it stays pure and smooth and pink and sweet and tangy. Brilliant.
I started out making this with precise measurements, and have since tossed all that aside and simply simmered rhubarb in water, then pureed it with honey, grainy mustard and rice vinegar, and drizzled in canola oil with the motor running. I made vats of the stuff to serve up at the kitchen theatre at the Stampede. Even people who are generally repelled by rhubarb loved it. (Either that or they were just being nice. Thanks guys!)
Rhubarb Vinaigrette
Adapted (with great thanks!) from vinegartart.com.
1 rhubarb stalk, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp. honey
2 Tbsp. rice vinegar (red wine or raspberry vinegar would work well too)
2 tsp. grainy Dijon mustard (or to taste)
1/4 cup canola or mild olive oil
In a small saucepan, simmer the rhubarb with 1/4 – 1/2 cup water for 5 minutes, or until very soft. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. (I’ve done it warm too, and it’s just fine.)
Put the rhubarb into a blender with the honey, vinegar and mustard. Pulse until smooth. With the motor running, slowly pour in the oil. Makes about a cup.
July 15 2011 | preserves and salads | 15 Comments »
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