In Lethbridge, in the dark to honour Earth Hour.
It was fantastic. I was in Lethbridge to cook and eat with the wonderful folks who were the highest bidders on a private dinner/cooking class with me that was auctioned off for the CBC Petro-Canada Food Bank Drive at Christmas. I asked what they would like to make and they were interested in learning to make fresh mozzarella – something I hadn’t done before. The process was simple but we tiptoed through it, skeptical that it was actually going to turn into cheese in the end, and it did! Although we were shocked at how little 2 L of milk produced; one handful-sized ball, which we managed to squeeze enough slices out of to make this salad layered with tomatoes and fresh basil:
Here’s how you do it:
Dissolve 1 tsp. citric acid into 2 L of cold milk (we used homo), briskly stirring it with a whisk in a largish pot. Set it over medium-low heat and warm until it reaches 100F, or just slightly warmer than body temperature. Remove from heat.
Crush 1/8 of a rennet tablet and dissolve into 2 Tbsp. cool water. Add this in a thin stream, whisking constantly, to the warmed milk. Stir for about a minute, then stop. Let it sit for 10 minutes.
Using a slotted spoon, scoop out the curds into a small microwave-safe bowl, pressing out as much of the whey as you can.
Microwave for 1 minute (this will coax out a little more whey; just pour it off) and then plop it out onto a clean countertop and start to fold and stretch it. It will be almost too hot to handle, but will cool to warm quickly. Pull and stretch it until it’s smooth, then shape into a ball and put in a bowl of cold water until firm.
Pavlova
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch
6 large egg whites
1 tsp. white vinegar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
whipping cream
fresh raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and/or sliced strawberries, peaches, plums, apricots, kiwi or fruit salsa made with any combination of finely chopped fruit – strawberries, kiwi and mango looks and tastes great
Preheat oven to 250° F and line two large baking sheets with foil or parchment. Stir the cornstarch into the sugar. In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar, beating until the mixture holds stiff, glossy peaks, like shaving cream. Beat in the vinegar and vanilla.
To make one large Pavlova, spoon the meringue onto the baking sheet and spread out with the bottom of a spoon to form a 9”-10” circle with a slight indent in the middle and raised edges, like a nest. To make individual Pavlovas, spoon small mounds (about a tablespoon of meringue) about half an inch apart on the baking sheet, then make little indents in the middle using the tip of a teaspoon. Bake for an hour, until crisp but still soft inside.
Let the meringues cool on the sheets, then peel them off the foil. To serve, top with a dollop of whipped cream or curd, and berries or fruit salsa. Makes 40 pavlova.
Crème brulée has an unshakable reputation as the penultimate fancy dessert, one you can guage the quality of a restaurant based on, and one uncommonly made at home. But truly, it is one of the simplest desserts you can make. All you do is whisk together egg yolks, sugar and cream, pour it into cups, and bake it. At Williams-Sonoma they have 1 L tetra packs of crème brulée for something like $22, and I’m constantly gobsmacked every time I go in there and see people buying them by the basketload. That’s the easy part! If there’s any trick to it, it’s baking the custards in a water bath and bruléeing the surface, but even that part is easy – you don’t need to have a torch (although it is fun), all you need to do is scatter the surface with sugar and run it under the broiler for a minute or two. Because they are chilled before this part, this is the ideal make-ahead dessert if you’re making a special dinner.
Crème Brulée
5 large egg yolks
6 Tbsp. sugar
2 cups heavy (whipping) cream or 18% coffee cream
1/2 tsp. good-quality vanilla (I used Madagascar vanilla bean paste, in which you can see the teeny seeds from the vanilla pod)
sugar, for sprinkling on top
Preheat oven to 325°F. In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar. Whisk in the cream and vanilla.
Divide among 6 small ramekins, and put them into a roasting pan or 9″x13″ pan; pour water in so that the water comes about halfway up the sides of the ramekins. This will sort of insulate them so that they cook gently and evenly.
Bake for about 40 minutes, until the custards are set but still just slightly jiggly in the middle (you’ll get a feel for this!). Take them out, let them cool and then refrigerate for a few hours or overnight, until nice and cold.
Sprinkle an even layer of sugar over each dish and caramelize with a torch or transfer to a cookie sheet and place under the broiler in the oven for about 2 minutes, just until the sugar is caramelized and golden. Turn the sheet around if you need to to help them caremelize evenly. Refrigerate again, or just let them sit on the countertop while you eat dinner or make coffee, just until the sugar is set and crackly.
Serves 6.
The drive home was longer than I anticipated, having blithely missed some turn at Fort McLeod and not realized it until I reached Pincher Creek. After turning around, driving back to F.M. and then finding highway #2 North, a snowstorm hit that lasted the entire drive back (almost 2 hours) to Calgary – it was one of those storms that makes you feel like you’re driving through an asteroid field, making it impossible to tell how fast you’re going or how far away that rig is in front of you.
But totally worth it.
Print Post
March 30 2008 | cheese and dessert and lamb and leftovers and sweet stuff | 3 Comments »
If I were to be completely honest here, I would probably have to report the handful of Hershey’s kisses I had in the pocket of my pea coat and ate during a board of trustees meeting at 6:30 as technically my dinner.
However. I did make something for late lunch, which is why I found myself at said meeting at 6:30 having not eaten anything for a few hours. Mid-afternoon was pizza, made my very favorite way: by spreading a container of roasted peppers, zucchini, eggplant and garlic, glossy with olive oil and with a bit of spicy bite, which I picked up for $5 from the Italian Supermarket (on the corner of 20th Avenue and Edmonton Trail NE), over a stretched-out foundation of No-Knead bread dough, scattering with part-skim mozarella and a grating of Parmesan, and baking at 400F for about 20 minutes. You don’t even need to bother with tomato sauce; those containers of roasted veg are like instant, made from scratch pizza. If you don’t want to bother making pizza dough, they sell frozen blobs of that too for 75 cents. 75 cents! What’s 75 cents anymore? Not even chocolate bars.
(I realize pizza has become a theme here. If it’s any consolation, I’m starting to tire of it. Unfortunately, it will probably only be a few days before I want some again.)
March 19 2008 | cheese and vegetarian | 1 Comment »
Just got home. Taped the Lunchbox Meals and Salads episodes today. Mike and W ate noodles for dinner. Am feeling like a negligent Mum.
Picked through the whole day; not sure what exactly was being consumed at dinnertime. The set is totally devoid of outside light and sound – it’s like a deprivation chamber, where you can’t tell what time of day it is unless you look at the numbers on the microwave, or run across the parking lot to Starbucks.
Peanut Noodles with Chicken and Veggies
Peanut noodles are best eaten cold, which makes leftovers perfect to keep in the fridge and take to work for lunch. You can add all sorts of fresh veggies to this dish – peppers, zucchini, bok choy, bean sprouts, broccoli, asparagus, and pea pods are all good choices.
1/2 lb. (250 g) steamed Chinese noodles or spaghetti
1/4 cup (60 mL) chicken or vegetable broth
3 Tbsp. (45 mL) peanut butter
3 Tbsp. (45 mL) soy sauce
2 Tbsp. (30 mL) brown sugar or honey
2 Tbsp. (30 mL) rice vinegar
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1-2 tsp. (5-10 mL) grated fresh ginger
1/2 tsp. (2.5 mL) curry paste (optional)
2 cups (500 mL) chopped cooked chicken, pork or shrimp, or diced tofu
1 carrot, peeled and grated
1 red bell pepper, cut into slices
1-2 green onions, chopped
1/2 cup (125 mL) chopped peanuts (optional)
Fresh cilantro for sprinkling (optional)
Cook the noodles according to the package directions. Rinse with cold water in a colander and drain well. Set aside.
In a small bowl, whisk together the chicken broth, peanut butter, soy sauce, brown sugar, vinegar, garlic, ginger, and curry paste (if using) until smooth. Or instead of whisking it, shake it all up in a jar.
In a large bowl, toss the noodles, chicken, carrot, pepper, green onions, and peanut sauce. Serve in bowls sprinkled with chopped peanuts and/or cilantro. Serves 4-6.
Print Post
February 26 2008 | cheese and chicken & turkey and one dish and pasta and salads | 1 Comment »
(I like this photo because it looks like Ned is being sucked up into the light fixture.)
I was on set all day and evening today too – there before 7:30 am, left at 10 pm. I’m not really sure what Mike and W ate for dinner, but they appear to have survived. Since we shot the Snacks & Finger Foods and Breads episodes today, that’s what I snacked on around dinnertime. Here are some of the things we made (try the beer bread!):
Cheddar Beer Bread
3 cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup grated old cheddar cheese
1 bottle beer, at room temperature
2-4 Tbsp. melted butter, or canola or olive oil
Preheat the oven to 375°F. In a mixing bowl, combine all the dry ingredients. Add the cheese and toss to combine. Add the beer all at once, mixing as little as possible just until blended; the batter should be lumpy. Pour the batter into a 4″x8″ or 9″x5″ loaf pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray, and brush with the melted butter or oil. Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes, or until a skewer poked into the middle comes out clean. Turn out onto a rack to cool.
Sticky, Sweet & Spicy Chicken Thighs
Instead of making chicken wings, which are mostly skin and fat (the fat resides under the skin), and very little meat, we like to make sticky chicken thighs or drumsticks – remove the skin and you have a much more meaty piece you can still eat off the bone with your fingers.
about 2 lbs. chicken thighs and/or drumsticks, skinned
½ cup soy sauce
½ cup maple syrup or honey
1-2 Tbsp. chili sauce
2-3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tsp. grated ginger
Place the chicken in a bowl. Add all the sauce ingredients and toss it all about to blend and coat the chicken. Cover and refrigerate for a couple hours, or overnight.
When ready to roast, preheat oven to 375F. Spread the chicken pieces onto a rimmed baking sheet or in a large, shallow dish. Bake for an hour or so, turning occasionally and brushing with leftover marinade (making sure that you do this for the last time at least 15 minutes before the chicken comes out of the oven, to give it a chance to cook) until the juices run clear.
Print Post
February 25 2008 | bread and cheese and chicken & turkey | 1 Comment »
I know this sounds terribly disinteresting, but I think pita pizzas need to make a comeback. The concept still reminds me of childhood, when it was typical birthday party fare for my sisters and I.
Today was another long day of shooting (tomorrow will be longer), and Mike, sensing opportunity, suggested Inglewood pizza. I first decided to stop (I had to run to Superstore on the way home anyway) and pick up a couple of frozen thin crust mushroom Dr. Oetker pizzas, which are fantastic, but when I got to the frozen pizza section, guilt set in. I didn’t have time to make dough, and I hate those par-baked bready pizza crusts. So I grabbed a few mushrooms and a bag of pre-shredded cheese blend: part skim mozarella, emmenthal and Parmesan. Something I don’t usually buy, but I figure $6 for novelty cheese is better than $12 for Dr. Oetker or $25 for pick-up. It’s all relative.
I like to keep whole wheat pitas in the freezer for emergency chips to accompany hummus, so I put a few on a baking sheet and spread them with some President’s Choise roasted garlic tomato sauce Mike picked up, which was thick and chunky with tomatoes. Sometimes I use a tin of tomato paste – they are small enough to be perfect for pizza or three – and because the tomatoes are so condensed, tomato paste is fantastic for you, and sweeet. I burrowed through my freezer until I unearthed a few Spolumbo’s Italian sausages; I thawed and cooked one, breaking it up in a skillet with some canola oil and sliced mushrooms, spread them on the pitas and scattered with cheese.
400 degrees for about 10 minutes, until bubbly. The crust is crisp and light – if I can’t have a chewy, doughy crust, this is definitely second best. And perhaps the best advantage of the Pita Pizza – portion control. You make one for yourself, you eat one. No plowing through enough slices to sink a battleship.
February 24 2008 | cheese and one dish | 2 Comments »
