Archive for October, 2011
It’s birthday week around here – mine, Mike’s, my sister’s and my nephew’s, all within 6 days. Today we got together for dinner. On the menu: 21 day aged roast beef, Yorkshire pud, roasted veg and all that. For dessert, I dug up something that had jumped out as something Mike would love – apple cheesecake. The plain cheesecake from Canadian Living was his birthday cake of choice for years, and his favourite special-day breakfast has always been puffed apple pancakes or crepes with sautéed apples. This seemed like the perfect marriage of the two.
It had a simple press-in crust made with flour, sugar, butter and egg yolk. Mixed with my fingers and pressed into the bottom and a little up the sides of a springform pan, all rustic-like.
The cheesecake filling is easily mixed and poured overtop.
Then you thinly slice tart apples (I used Ambrosia) and toss them with sugar and cinnamon and spread them over the unbaked filling. Then bake the lot of it.
When it’s done it’ll be puffed and golden, but still a bit jiggly; it will firm up as it cools.
It needs some time to chill out, so make it in the morning if it’s destined for dinner.
Apple Pie Cheesecake
Adapted from Dainty Chef, with thanks to her cheesecake source, Pat Ryer
Crust:
1 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg yolk (save the white)
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
Filling:
2 – 8 oz pkg. cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
Topping:
1 large or 2 medium apples, thinly sliced (about 2 cups or so)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. cinnamon
To make the crust, combine all of the ingredients in a small bowl and blend with a fork, pastry cutter or your fingers until well blended – it will look like big, soft crumbs. Press into the bottom and about an inch up the sides of a buttered or sprayed springform pan.
To make the filling, beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth and lump-free; add the eggs, one at a time, then the reserved egg white and vanilla. Pour into the pastry lined pan. Preheat the oven to 400F.
Thinly slice the apple(s) and toss with sugar and cinnamon to coat; scatter over the top of the cheesecake. Bake for 12 minutes, then reduce the heat to 375F and bake for another 30-35 minutes, until puffed and golden but slightly jiggly – it will firm up as it cools. Let cool in the pan, then refrigerate for a few hours, or overnight. Serves 12.
October 30 2011 | cake and dessert | 24 Comments »
Oh it was a tomato soup and toasted cheese week, it really was. Chased down with a big juicy zin.
I wished after this that someone would give me a bath, read me some stories and tuck me in bed. And tomorrow morning, I want cartoons and a bottomless bowl of Harvest Crunch.
I wanted this the minute I saw it. It turned out to be a perfect use for the roasted tomatoes I so thoughtfully refrained from eating straight off the baking sheet and froze to use in future soups and salads. They met with their intended destiny! Yay me.
I was too lazy to follow a recipe, but this is the great thing about soup – you don’t really need to follow one. Throw stuff in that pot, get started on the wine, and everything will come out hunky-dory. Especially when there’s toasted cheese on top. The original called for a bit of grated onion in the toasted cheese part, and I kind of wish I hadn’t skipped that part – next time I’ll grate the onion for the soup, and save some for the sandwiches. Contrary to how the above photo must look – like marbled cheese – this wound up making delicious use of cheese ends – aged cheddar and a nutty white cow’s milk cheese we got at Kensington market and I wish I could remember the name of.
Writing this, I’m thinking a spoonful of pesto in the soup would have been great, too. Or spread on the toast before scattering it with grated cheese.
Roasted Tomato Soup with Open-faced Toasted Cheese
canola or olive oil
a big dab of butter
1 onion, chopped or grated (if grated, reserve a bit)
a few garlic cloves, crushed
lots of roasted plum tomatoes (about a dozen?)
a can of fire-roasted or diced tomatoes
1 L chicken or veggie stock
a splash of cream
salt and pepper
Toasted Cheese:
thickly sliced crusty bread
butter
grated cheese
In a soup pot, heat a drizzle of oil and a blob of butter and sauté the onion and garlic until soft. Add the tomatoes – roasted and canned – and the chicken stock. Bring to a simmer and let cook for half an hour, until slightly thickened and everything is soft. Add a splash of cream and whiz it all with a hand-held immersion blender right in the pot, off the heat. Season with salt and pepper and divide between oven-proof bowls set on a rimmed baking sheet.
Meanwhile, toast the bread, butter it, and set atop the soup. Sprinkle with a bit of grated onion (if you like) and grated cheese. Run under the broiler for a couple minutes, until melty and golden.
October 28 2011 | soup and vegetarian | 11 Comments »
Flew back from Vancouver this afternoon, stopped for coffee and sandwiches at Rosso en route home from the airport, and took W and his friends to Ghoul’s Night Out at Heritage Park. It was fantastic. The best part was when the two six year old girls tried to explain to him what a bride was in the back seat on the way home. That might have been the scariest part, too.
Upon entering the park (and exiting, too) there was dueling, with swords and real armour and knights – likely those same dudes who used to spend their lunch hours playing D&D, having probably more fun than the kids did watching them. Swordfights are cool.
They did a fabulous job of transforming the park into a spooky spectacle, complete with witches and cauldrons, haunted houses, fortune tellers, a full-scale Mad Hatter’s tea party (with the king and queen of hearts, Cheshire cat, White Rabbit and others in attendance) all nestled among awesomely creepy houses, barns and back alleys. There was even an eerie horse-drawn carriage.
And a zombie flashmob. A zombie flashmob! We need to do that in downtown Calgary sometime. Zombie flashmob.
An astounding number of talented and enthusiastic volunteers helped put this together and perform various zombie/ghoul/witch/undertaker roles, manage games, tell stories, sit in pumpkin patches and psych kids up to go inside haunted houses. And put on a monster mash with lights and disco music.
And of course the usual gas station, candy store and bakery (transformed into a boolangerie) and a restaurant in the old barn, if you want to get something to eat and make an evening of it. Although we had no trouble occupying over 2 hours, without even stopping to do any crafts.
I was in no way coerced into writing this – I love to be able to spread the word about events are so well done, appropriate for a wide range of age levels (including grown-up) with great attention to detail and without gratuitous gore. It’s a great way to spend an evening with the kids and celebrate Halloween. Big ghouls (13+) are $10, little ghouls (3-12) are $6 and kids 2 and under are free. The bakery is cheap, too.
If you’d like to bring your little ghouls, you can buy tickets online here.
October 26 2011 | leftovers | 7 Comments »
I am rather tardy in getting this to you. It’s something I made for the grand opening of my neighbour’s new shop, Reworks, a completely dreamy store in Inglewood that she talked about for ages and then actually went ahead and opened! I mean, I know people who talk about wanting to open up their own little store. Solita went ahead and did it! Huge kudos.
And so to help celebrate I said I’d take care of the food, and this was on the menu. I got it into my head that roasted chickpeas are fantastic, they could only make hummus more so, right? It was pretty damn tasty, and a little rougher around the edges than the norm.
I’m posting it now because I’m off in Vancouver flogging beans with Sue (so really, the hummus is timely, no?) and yesterday morning’s CBC show happened to be about hummus. I made a recipe shared by CBC’s fabulous Julie Nesrallah, host of Tempo, who likes to chat about food with me on Twitter and who shared her very own mum’s hummus recipe. You’ll find it on the Eyeopener recipe page. (See the little tab at the top? There.) Thanks for sharing, other Julie with the dreamy voice.
Hummus is crazy versatile. I made batches with roasted beets and pumpkin and tandoori spice. You can add caramelized onions or chopped artichokes, olives and/or feta, or fresh peas or parsley or roasted carrots. Hummus gets on well with everyone and everything.
If you want to hear the CBC story, you can hear it here.
Also? Happy birthday Mike. Sorry you have to feed yourself today.
Roasted Chickpea Hummus
canola or olive oil, for cooking
1 small onion, chopped
1 19 oz (540 mL) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 tsp. chili powder
1/2 tsp. cumin
1-2 big garlic cloves
juice of a lemon (2-3 Tbsp)
a big spoonful of tahini
a drizzle of sesame oil if you like
a glug of olive oil
a big spoonful of plain yogurt (Greek-style if you have it)
a big pinch of salt
In a large, heavy skillet heat a generous drizzle of oil over medium-high heat. Saute the onion and chickpeas for 5-8 minutes, until the onions are soft and the chickpeas are turning golden. Add the chili powder and cumin. If you want to take the edge off the garlic, add that too and cook for a minute or two.
October 26 2011 | appetizers | 7 Comments »
I hear it’s snowing today in Calgary – or least it’s in the forecast. I’m frantically trying to wrap stuff up before heading to Jasper for Christmas in November next week, and today at Chapters in Vancouver there were a whole lotta Christmas card displays. It’s coming, you know.
So I was asked last week to poke around the CORE in downtown Calgary and come up with a sort of wish list of gifts great for moms. They’re trying to get the word out about the season’s biggest shopping event on on Wednesday, November 30th from 6:30 – 10:00pm. On the agenda: free parking, eats and drinks, special one-night-only offers from CORE retailers, a performance by Juno winning singer Chantal Kreviazuk and the unveiling of a 40-foot illuminated Christmas tree. All ticket sales (tickets are $15) will support two local charities working to revitalize Calgary’s downtown: BeCause, a next generation initiative of the United Way of Calgary and the National Music Centre Project.
Remember when I said I had more free stuff for you later? They offered up a $100 CORE shopping card for me to give to one of you if I go window shopping and choose some of my favourite things. The theme: gifts for moms. I’m not sure my motherly taste will reflect others’, but here goes:
Everyone could use a good notebook – Moleskine or otherwise – don’t you think? I found the ones above at Indigo Spirit, but they had some pretty fab ones at Land & Sea, too. Where they also had these cute little portable speakers that plug into any device capable of holding music.
And these! Who wouldn’t love a set of ninja gingerbread men cookie cutters?
I never have figured out how to stylishly wrap a scarf around my neck – but I might not screw up this cozy cable knit cowl neck thingamabob from Cassis. At least you’ll know it fits.
Unless you have a mom who hates tea, she’d likely love a cast iron teapot from Teaopia. I may have a friend who drove over one once with her VW van just to test its durability. It passed.
At Holt Renfrew (hey, I can dream), I found these big ol’ Betty and Wilma meet Julia Child pearls.
And this pretty fab grey Franchi clutch purse that would make me feel oh so Sarah Jessica Parker (if it weren’t for the rest of me – and the fact they likely don’t make Manolo Blahniks in size 11).
I think this might be my favourite thing on the list: a Buddha butter dish. I’m not hard to please. (Back at Land & Sea) For extra bonus points: pick up a block of great quality butter. Mom may cry.
Slippers are always a safe bet. These are sort of Ugg meets Wampa. (La Senza)
And last on my list, how could I not include Anne Taintor flasks? Not to insinuate your mom drinks. It’s for top-grade maple syrup, to stash in her purse and use when you take her to brunch.
Also from Land & Sea.
Ticket info for ‘Twas the Night can be found here.
Comments are closed – we have a winner! Heather is going on a CORE shopping spree! Congratulations Heather!!
October 25 2011 | leftovers | 102 Comments »
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