It was photographed by the brilliant Matt of MattBites and involves some of my favourite bloggers. It’s a beautiful book. And I have one to give away! Leave a comment here to enter, because I have more free stuff to announce tonight!
I realized far too late that I would be away for Mike’s birthday on Tuesday. I caught the date in time, and stumbled upon a caramel apple cheesecake I decided to make for a pre-birthday dinner. I even had the foresight to pick up cream cheese. I was on the ball. It happens sometimes.
And then this morning I made an enormous apple pancake for elevenses, and didn’t notice until 3:30 that the cheesecake had to chill for a few hours, preferably overnight. D’oh.
But I had a chocolate cake tucked away in my mental file – Belle Foley’s chocolate cake, which had spurred a goosebump-inspiring comment string, reuniting long lost family members over at Food52. It was one of those stir-together cakes made with baking soda stirred into boiling water, the kind Mike’s mom used to make way back when she made the occasional cake. These types of cake are also typically low in fat – only 3 tablespoons of butter in this one, yet it’s very moist. I used to find them in old cookbooks and make them for my dad.
I made it, quick. I planned to serve it in warm wedges topped with whipped cream – easy. No need to decorate. I love wedges of dark, damp chocolate cake that aren’t too sweet, especially when they get me off the decorating hook. The result was plain, not as deep and chocolatey as I envisioned (next time I’ll go for 1/2 cup cocoa) but very moist – my mom asked if it was a zucchini cake.
It occurred to me that this whole scenario could be improved upon with chocolate mousse. Yes – chocolate mousse dolloped on chocolate cake wedges. Why have I not thought of this before?
The mousse is from the brand new Essential Pépin – over 700 recipes from his life in food. Which I have decided I must own now that I’ve met him in person. Of course I name-drop that one at every possible opportunity. Then there was that time I was chatting with Dorie Greenspan and Jacques came over to say hi…
Although Jacques may disagree, the cognac is optional – I left it out.
Jacques Pépin’s Chocolate Mousse
Made with a warm emulsion of egg yolks and sugar, and finished with cream, this is the most classic of chocolate mousses. Cognac works well with chocolate, but it can be replaced by dark rum or Grand Marnier for a different flavour. From Essential Pépin.
1/3 cup sugar
4 large egg yolks
10 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, melted
2 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons cognac
Reserve 2 tablespoons of the sugar, and combine the rest of the sugar with the egg yolks in a stainless steel bowl. Place the bowl in a skillet of hot tap water (or use a double boiler), and whisk the mixture for 3 minutes, or until it is fluffy, smooth, and at least doubled in volume.
Beat the reserved sugar with the cream in a large chilled bowl for a few minutes, or until soft peaks form; do not overwhip. Transfer about 3/4 cup of the whipped cream to another bowl to use as a decoration, and refrigerate.
Using a rubber spatula, combine the melted chocolate with the yolk mixture and the cognac. If the mixture starts to seize or break down, immediately stir in 1 to 2 tablespoons of the whipped cream to smooth out the mixture. Gently fold in the remaining whipped cream until incorporated. Transfer the mousse to a decorative bowl, cover, and refrigerate until set, at least 2 hours.
At serving time, whip the reserved 3/4 cup whipped cream until stiff peaks form. Spoon the cream into a pastry bag fitted with a star tip and decorate the top of the mousse with the cream, or spoon dollops of the cream onto the top of the mousse. Serve.
The above (and below) is an illustration of what can happen when your fridge is full and yet lacking inspiration, when you drag yourself to your computer and unenthusiastically type in “kale” because you have a sad bunch in your fridge and you think you should. And you’re just not that into said kale, even though you should be.
I came across this, and it turned into this. I made a batch of mayo (easy to do with a hand-held immersion blender – I’ll show you sometime) then added an enormous clove of sticky garlic, lots of pepper, an extra squeeze of lemon juice and lots of freshly grated Parmesan, and blitzed it again.
As I tossed it with the kale it occurred to me that bacon would do well here. Even better – prosciutto: when you cook it up it turns crisp and salty without being greasy and chewy, like bacon can be (not that there’s anything wrong with that… except when there is) and because it’s so thinly sliced and lean it takes minutes to crisp up in a hot pan with the merest slick of oil.
It would have been fab as-is. But I couldn’t help but fry up an egg in the pan I used for the prosciutto, and set it on top.
Like these fab apple pie pops! I didn’t want you to miss those. Especially since hearing the sad news of the closing of Sugar Pie Bakery – we’ll have to make our own for awhile.
So yes, I’ve been in Toronto for the past six days. Meeting with the boss ladies at Parents Canada, then attending the Blissdom conference, and then on Sunday we kicked off the very first part of our book tour at the Cookbook Store. Yes, Spilling the Beans is here! It exists. We saw it in store windows and on shelves. We signed them, talked about them on BT and the Good Food Revolution, did some interviews and then tried to cram the contents of our hotel room (meaning the far too many clothes I brought and stuff we accumulated – like cheese and crackers from Kensington market – back into our suitcases and jetted home.
And because I have some catching up to do and many, many photos (and videos, even!) to sift through, I thought for now I’d bring you up to speed on my goings-on over at Babble. (I do this stuff over there too, and they pay me actual money for it!)
Not long before I left, Em and I made chocolate chip cookie dunkers – wee chocolate chip cookies on sticks that were intended for an event at the Glenbow, but in fact wound up perfect for dunking in milk while doing homework at the kitchen table.
I also made peanut butter cookies – the best and easiest recipe also happens to be gluten-free.
We talked about how to make your own brown sugar! In case you, like me, tend to run out of stuff halfway through a recipe.
I put together a slideshow of ways to bake with zucchini – you know, loaves and muffins and brownies and the like, including this fab pound cake by Jamie of Sophistimom. By the way, shredded zucchini freezes wonderfully – just grate it on the coarse side of a box grater and freeze in zip-lock bags to use in baked goods over the winter.
Lots of tasty stuff to keep you going while I get my act together. Back soon!
I’m not sure this could be called authentic African food, but it’s pretty damn delicious.
I had a chicken carcass, and so made stock – it was meaty, as there was plenty left clinging to the bones. This was the perfect use for it – and it cook about ten minutes to prepare. Next time I’ll add a handful of torn spinach, I think.
It winds up like a soupy curry, ladled over a scoop of rice in a shallow bowl. It’s even better the next day, and freezes well. This will likely make it into my regular rotation – sometimes with a chopped apple, maybe, to make it more like mulligatawny. It would do well with any number of veggies, I think.
canola oil, for cooking
1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and finely chopped
2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2-1 tsp. curry paste or powder
2 cups low-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
1 19 oz (540 mL) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 cup chopped tomatoes, seeded and peeled, fresh or canned
1/2 tsp salt, or to taste
freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
1 14 oz (398 mL) can light coconut milk
1 cup cooked white or brown rice
In a medium pot, heat a drizzle of oil over medium high heat and saute the onion, pepper and jalapeño; cook, stirring, until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and curry paste and cook for another minute. Add the stock, chickpeas, tomatoes, salt and pepper; bring to a boil then reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for about 20 minutes.
Stir in the coconut milk, stir until heated through and serve hot, ladled over a scoop of rice in a shallow bowl. Serves 4-6.
