Archive for the 'sweet stuff' Category
Let me clarify: chocolate-dipped cheesecake pops are not something I would typically make for dessert on a plain old Monday night. I made them for the Eyeopener because tomorrow I’m going to chat about food blogs. Thinking I’d choose a recipe from one of my favorite sites, I hopped around a few and found that Cream Puffs in Venice, Tartelette, and another blog I stumbled through were all posting cheesecake pops. As I was perusing them my friend S emailed from Whistler, where she is apparently hooked on something from the local chocolate shop called cheesecake bombs. I took this as an unmistakable sign that I should make some. What a hero I’m going to be in the studio tomorrow morning!
The pie was to make use of leftover spaghetti; I did a few segments debunking common cooking myths on BT this morning, and as a result had plenty of leftover cooked pasta that was used to demonstrate the myth that adding oil to the cooking water prevents it from sticking together. (It’s a large volume of water, kept at a rolling boil with space for the spaghetti to move around, that keeps it from sticking. In fact, adding oil to your water will result in an oil slick on your pasta once you drain it, and your sauce won’t stick very well.)
Spaghetti Pie.
I’ve seen many versions of spaghetti pie, some in which the pasta is tossed with the sauce and cheese, then baked, others that have the crust par-baked first to crisp it up, and others with layers of cottage cheese between the noodles and sauce.
So I improvised: tossed the leftover spaghetti with some egg white (I had some whose yolks had been used to make lemon curd), a bit of grated Parmesan, a grinding of pepper and a big spoonful of pesto, just because there was some open in the fridge and W is such a fan, then spread the spaghetti into an oiled pie plate, pushing it up the sides a bit.
I had requests for spinach sauce, but had hastily crumbled and cooked a couple lean Italian sausages, a red pepper, a few fresh tomatoes that had gone too wrinkly for anything but cooking with and a can of tomatoes before remembering this, and pureed sausage, I imagine, is not a Good Thing. So I decided to proceed as if it were a lasagna - I crumbled some ricotta and thawed, squeezed-out spinach over the crust,
topped it with the sauce…
and some grated part-skim mozzarella, and baked it at 350F for about half an hour, until all was golden, crsipy-edged and bubbly. Yum.
The cheesecake pops were simple, really, mostly because I didn’t make the cheesecake from scratch like the others did. Some advised making a cheesecake and then scooping up balls of it with your hands, freezing them and then dipping the frozen wads in chocolate. Because I couldn’t envision blaspheming a cheesecake that way, nor attempting to cut one into teeny fancy shapes using a cookie cutter (too thick for any in my collection) I decided to buy one of those small plain frozen Safeway cheeesecakes and cut it into wedges. It worked perfectly.
After inserting the sticks (bamboo skewers, although popsicle sticks or the 4″ lollipop sticks you can buy at Michael’s would work brilliantly), I put them back in the freezer to solidify while I melted some chocolate chips in the microwave, then half dipped, half spread the melted chocolate onto the frozen wedges. Some sprinkles or other decoration would have worked out well, but I didn’t really have anything. That’s the beauty of radio; you don’t really need to accessorize.
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April 28 2008 | cake and dessert and freezable and one dish and pasta and sweet stuff | 6 Comments »
Tnik and I are in Red Deer teaching a series of three tea party classes at The Cooking Room and the Women’s Conference at Red Deer College tonight and tomorrow (after which we head to Banff to the Girlfriend’s Getaway at the Banff Park Lodge. We’ve just arrived in our hotel room and are watching Cyndi Lauper on TV and munching from a ziplock baggie of the crusts we trimmed off of all those cucumber sandwiches (we are extremely high class).
Our first tea party ran from 4:30-7pm, so technically I suppose dinner was tea - bites here and there of currant scones with strawberry preserves and real clotted cream, balsamic mushroom crostini, curried coconut mango chicken in wonton cups, lemon curd tartlets and Earl Grey shortbread. Oh, and some of the chocolate that exploded all over me as I tried to dip a too-taught balloon in too-hot melted chocolate to make fancy chocolate tulip bowls. (Nicole neglected to let me know it was still all over my forehead and neck when we stopped at the wine store - where I asked the clerk where I could find the Moscato - and when I checked into the hotel.)
The shortbread was a successful experiment - I whizzed a spoonful of Nicole’s cream Earl Grey loose tea in the food processor with the flour, sugar and butter, dumped it out and gathered it into a ball, pressed it into the bottom of a 9″ round pan, pressed around the edges and poked the surface with the tines of a fork the way you do with shortbread, and baked it until it was pale golden around the egdes, then cut it into wedges. You could do this with any sort of tea in any shortbread recipe, really. Grinding it a bit first releases more flavour and makes it look peppery.
Currant Scones
3 cups all-purpose flour, or 1 ½ cups all-purpose and 1 ½ cups whole wheat
1/3 cup sugar
1 Tbp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda (if using buttermilk)
1/2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup butter, cut into pieces
1/2 cup currants
1 cup buttermilk, milk or half & half
extra buttermilk or milk for brushing on top (optional)
coarse sugar for sprinkling (optional)
Preheat oven to 425°F. In a bowl or food processor, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add the butter and pulse to combine or blend with a fork or pastry cutter until the mixture is crumbly, with bits of butter no bigger than a pea. Stir in the currants.
Stir in the buttermilk and mix just until combined. Gather dough into a ball, then pat it into a circle that is about 1” thick. Brush with a little milk or buttermilk and sprinkle with sugar. Cut into 8 wedges and pull them apart so that they will bake on the sides as well.
Bake for about 20 minutes, until golden. Makes 8 (or more if you cut them into rounds or smaller triangles.)
Curried Coconut Mango Chicken in Wonton Cups
24 wonton wrappers
a drizzle of canola oil
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
2 cups chopped cooked chicken (I like using leftover roast chicken - a great way to use roasted deli chickens)
1 tsp. - 1 Tbsp. curry paste
1/2 cup light or regular coconut milk
1/3 cup mango or peach chutney
Juice of 1/2 a lime (about a tablespoon)
Salt to taste
Chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
To make the wonton cups, press fresh wonton wrappers into mini muffin tins, pressing any folds firmly to the sides, and bake at 350 F for 5-10 minutes, until pale golden. Set aside to cool.
To make the filling, heat oil in a medium nonstick saucepan and cook the onion, garlic and ginger for about 2 minutes. Add the chicken, curry paste, coconut milk, chutney, lime juice and salt. Cook, stirring often, until bubbly and thickened. Cool slightly or chill before spooning into wonton cups. Sprinkle with cilantro.
Makes 2 dozen cups.
Per cup: 69 calories, 1 g total fat (0.3 g saturated fat, 0.3 g monounsaturated fat, 0.3 g polyunsaturated fat), 7.1 g protein, 7.3 g carbohydrate, 16.8 mg cholesterol, 0.1 g fiber. 13% calories from fat.
Earl Grey Shortbread
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. - 1 Tbsp. loose Earl Grey tea
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
pinch salt
Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, stir together butter, sugar, tea and vanilla until creamy. Add the flour and salt and stir until you have a soft dough.
Press the dough into an ungreased 9” round pan or place it on an ungreased cookie sheet and pat it into a rectangle. If you like, press down around the edges with the tines of a fork, and poke all over the top.
Bake about 15 minutes, until golden. Cool for 10 minutes, then slice while still warm.
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April 25 2008 | appetizers and bread and breakfast and cookies & squares and sweet stuff | 3 Comments »
I know, I’m not setting a stellar nutritional example here, but it was an emergency. It was Emily’s 10th birthday party today, a party she planned around a soccer theme, complete with outdoor game. Anyone in Calgary knows full well why we had to come up with a plan B. For anyone not in Calgary - the snow is ankle to knee deep (depending how old/big you are) and hasn’t stopped since Friday morning.
Of course by Friday morning any venue they could think of was booked up for Saturday, so Emily chose a cooking theme for her party. What food is more fun for 10 year olds than corn dogs and mini donuts? (We did provide the biggest bowl of fruit salad ever to try and balance things out a little.)
I figured out how to make these last year during Stampede, and quickly discovered you can be the hero of any party if you crank out homemade corn dogs for everyone. Seriously, they won’t stop talking about it for an entire year, at which point you’ll be expected to make them again. I suppose the only downfall is once you set yourself up for that sort of thing, you’re obliged to carry on with it for life.
Mini Donuts
1 package active dry yeast; instant if you’re in a rush (2 tsp.)
2 Tbsp. warm water
3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus additional for sprinkling and rolling out dough (use half whole-wheat if you like)
1 cup milk, at room temperature
2-4 Tbsp. butter or non-hydrogenated margarine, softened
1 large egg
2 Tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
canola oil, for frying
cinnamon-sugar, for dipping (spike sugar with as much cinnamon as you like)
In a large bowl, stir together the yeast and water; set it aside for 5 minutes, until it’s foamy. (If it doesn’t foam, throw it out and buy fresh yeast. It won’t foam much, but if it just sits there and does nothing, it’s inactive.) Add the flour, milk, butter, egg, sugar and salt, and stir until you have a soft, sticky dough. Stir for a minute or two, then cover and set aside for an hour, if you have time and aren’t at a 10th birthday party.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and pat with floured hands until it’s about 1/2 inch thick. Cut out as many rounds as possible with the rim of a shot glass, and poke a hole in each with your finger, stretching it out a bit as it will puff up as it cooks, closing the hole somewhat. If you like, cover with a kitchen towel and let them rise for another 20-30 minutes (this isn’t necessary, but will produce lighter doughnuts).
Heat about 2” of oil in a deep, heavy saucepan until it’s hot but not smoking. You’ll know when it’s hot enough by dipping in a piece of bread or a bit of dough – it should start sizzling right away. If the oil is too cool, they will take too long to cook and will absorb too much oil, making them heavy.
Cook doughnuts 2 at a time, turning occasionally with tongs or a slotted spoon, until puffed and golden brown, about 2 minutes per batch. Transfer to paper towels to drain, then toss in cinnamon-sugar while still warm.
(Tip: to make maple dipped donuts instead, add enough maple syrup to icing sugar to make a dipable consistency, and dip away.)
Corn Dogs
1 cup whole wheat or all-purpose flour
¾ cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
1 egg, beaten
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 - 1 lb. pkg. hot dogs
canola oil, for frying
wooden sticks – bamboo skewers, popsicle sticks or chopsticks work well
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, cornmeal, sugar, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the middle, and add the buttermilk, egg and baking soda; whisk until well blended.
In a deep, heavy pot, heat enough oil to accommodate the corn dogs (depending on if you want to make big long ones, or cut them in half to make shorter ones, which are more manageable) until it’s hot, but not smoking. You’ll know when it’s hot enough by dipping in a piece of bread or a bit of cornmeal batter – it should start sizzling right away. If the oil is too cool, they will take too long to cook and will absorb too much oil, making them heavy.
Stick a wooden stick into the end of each hot dog (cut them in half first if you like), and dip them in the cornmeal batter to coat. Place them no more than two at a time (you don’t want to crowd the pot, or it will cool down your oil) into the hot oil, and turn them as they need it until they are golden. (When they are nice and golden they are done – the hot dogs should be well heated, but since they are already cooked you don’t have to worry about properly cooking them all the way through.) Remove with tongs and set aside on paper towels.
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April 19 2008 | snacks and sweet stuff | 4 Comments »
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It occurred to me as I reached the late 90s that I should do something to commemorate my 100th post. 100! It’s astounding how much one can accomplish when one forces oneself to do a little bit every night.
I quickly emailed my family, inviting them all to dinner to celebrate. This is how I “entertain”: invite now, think and clean up later. It’s the old “throw your hat over the fence” analogy: if you throw your hat over the fence, you have to climb over and get it. People always ask how we have time to have parties or people over for brunch or dinner - if you wait until there’s a gap in your schedule, you’ll never have time. Just invite people over, and you’ll find it. Plus if we never had people coming over we’d never be forced to clean the house properly.
But. There were 8 adults coming to dinner, and 5 kids aged 2, 3, 5 and 9. All were arriving at times their schedule would permit. Mike thought I was going to make something ultra-fancy, but when I invite family or friends over for dinner I do it for the company, not to be all gourmet about it. (Although, admittedly, people are often used as guinea pigs around here.)
Solution: ham. (Question: why do they call it baked ham, but roastbeef or turkey, when it’s the same process?) Ham is already cooked, so all you’re doing is glazing and reheating it. It’s impossible to screw up. It isn’t going to be ruined if people are late. Everyone can carve off as much as they like, and it’s just as fine at room temperature than fresh from the oven. Kids love it. Plus it makes the best leftovers. I’ve had my eye on this spinach-potato-ham hash with poached egg on top on the cover of last month’s Canadian Living.
Unfortunately, my plan was not as obstacle-free as I intended, but I did learn something from the experience. I sent Mike to the grocery store and he came back with a smoked pork shoulder (also known as a picnic ham, I imagine because its smaller size makes it more portable for those types who would lug an entire ham along on a picnic), something I hadn’t cooked before. It had a thick layer of fat and skin on top, and was tightly wrapped in mesh. Although it was cured, so presumably the same as any other smoked ham and not a raw pork shoulder that would require lengthy cooking, it had these vague instructions on the package: cook and eat.
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So was it cooked? Uncooked? It was smoked, so that should have answered my question, but this is the sort of thing you want to be sure of when you have 14 people over for dinner. I Googled it, and every site I found seemed to think the thing needed to be braised, but it wasn’t raw. Apparently there are partially cooked smoked shoulders and fully cooked smoked shoulders, but there was no indication which this was. Ultimately I decided to take the advice of one site and cover it with cold water in a large pot, bring it to a boil and dump the water out to draw some of the sodium out, then fill it halfway full again and braise it for an hour (braising is a long slow cooking method with some moisture involved), then pulled it out, scored the skin and popped it in the oven like I would any other ham. The biggest problem seemed to lie with this slab of fat and skin on top - presumably what would turn into those cracklings everyone makes such a fuss about - but with it in the way, where does the glaze go? So I scored it and threw it in the oven, then when it started to turn crackly I cut it off, put it in its own pan to finish cooking, and painted on a glaze made with equal parts brown sugar, grainy mustard and balsamic vinegar. (No one ate the cracklings. They were a little too Hannibal Lecter for me.)
While it roasted (or baked?) I poked 3 big sweet potatoes/yams (depending on how your grocer has decided to label them) with a fork and slid them onto the oven rack around it. I adore sweet potatoes, and often wonder why they aren’t often used for more than oven fries. To mash them, you don’t need to peel and boil them like you might with regular potatoes. Just bake them, which contains any nutrients and gives them even more flavor - like cooking meat on the bone makes it more flavorful, so does cooking potatoes in their skins - they will darken and caramelize a bit just below the surface. When they are soft, pull them out, pull off their skins (this is easy, as the flesh tends to withdraw a bit from its skin, creating an air pocket that makes it simple to pull off wit your fingers) and mash with a bit of butter and a spoonful of orange juice concentrate - I scoop it straight from the freezer; it will melt into the hot potatoes. A bit of salt and pepper, and a drizzle of milk if they are too dry, and they are done. If you like, a drizzle of maple syrup is delicious too. Sweet potatoes tend to not be as starchy as white potatoes, so they are actually moister and easier to mash.
The mac & cheese was actually whole wheat rotini & cheese, since I knew that’s primarily what the kids would end up eating. (Brown rice pasta has an even better mouthfeel, but I didn’t have any.) Don’t hate me for saying so, but I don’t use a recipe when I make mac & cheese. I boil as much pasta as I want to make (just as you would if you were making spaghetti for the family) and while it cooks, make a roux out of roughly equal parts butter and flour. A roux is just butter and flour, whacked into a hot pan and melted, smoothing out all the lumps. Pour some milk in (2 cups or so per 3 Tbsp. of butter-flour - you’ll get a feel for it) and bring it to a gentle boil. You won’t be able to tell how thick it’s going to get until it starts to bubble - once it bubbles for a full minute it will have reached its full thickening potential, and you’ll get rid of any starchy, floury taste. Stir in a few handfuls of grated cheese, and it will melt into the sauce. I discovered a block of Swiss in my fridge that wasn’t going anywhere, and it melted beautifully. Drain the pasta and stir it into the cheese sauce, or vice versa. You could serve it at this point, or scatter it with crumbs (or more cheese) and bake it until it’s bubbly.
Macaroni & Cheese
Mac and cheese that doesn’t come out of a box is something everyone should be able to make. It doesn’t require much more time or effort than KD, and is the ultimate in comfort food. Experiment by adding different cheeses – intensely flavored ones such as Gruyère or blue cheese are best. It’s a great way to get rid of leftover cheese bits you might have lurking in the fridge.
1/2 lb. (250 g) dry macaroni, whole wheat rotini, small shells or other pasta
Salt
3 Tbsp. butter
3 Tbsp. flour
2 1/2 cups milk
2-3 cups grated old cheddar cheese, or any combination of cheeses you have in the fridge
Bread Crumb Topping (optional):
2 slices sandwich bread (preferably whole wheat), torn into pieces
2 Tbsp. canola or olive oil or melted butter
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook the pasta until it’s tender but not mushy. Drain well in a colander and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
In the empty pot (no need to wash it out), melt the butter over medium heat. Add the flour and stir well with a whisk, cooking for a minute or so until the mixture starts to turn golden. Stir in the milk and bring the sauce to a boil, whisking constantly. The sauce must reach a full boil in order for the flour to reach its full thickening potential. Reduce the heat and simmer for a few minutes, until the mixture is nice and thick.
Remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the cheese until it melts. Add salt to taste, then stir in the drained pasta. If you want a bread crumb topping, pulse the bread, butter and Parmesan in a food processor until the bread turns to crumbs and the mixture is well blended. Pour the macaroni and cheese into an appropriately sized baking dish and top with the bread crumbs or additional cheese. (It can be made up to 24 hours ahead and refrigerated in the baking dish; sprinkle with the crumb mixture or cheese right before you bake it.) Bake for 15-20 minutes, until the topping is golden and it’s bubbly around the edges.
Serves 4-6.
The free 4 pound box of strawberries that came with $150 worth of groceries at Superstore earlier in the week made up my mind about dessert: strawberry shortcakes. Easy, not fancy, kids love it. And what else am I going to do with 4 pounds of strawberries before my rhubarb has begun to sprout?
Strawberry shortcakes are generally made with biscuits sweetened with a little more sugar; since I’ve already posted my whole wheat and olive oil biscuit recipe, I thought I’d use one that I made when I did food styling for Trish Magwood a few months ago; these are apparently her hottest sellers back at Dish in Toronto. (As usual, I changed the recipe a bit.) If you want a more nutritious shortcake, use the whole wheat biscuit recipe and add a couple tablespoons of sugar to the dry ingredients.
Strawberry Shortcakes
3 cups all-purpose flour (or half all-purpose, half whole wheat)
1/3 cup sugar
2 ½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
¾ cup butter, cut into pieces
1 cup buttermilk
coarse sugar for sprinkling (optional)
2 lb strawberries, hulled, sliced and tossed with a little extra sugar if you like (this will coax some of the juice out of the strawberries, which makes everything nicer)
1 cup whipping cream, whipped with a drop of vanilla and a spoonful of sugar
Preheat oven to 425°F.
In a bowl, stir together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add butter pieces, using fingertips or pastry blender, work butter into dry ingredients until mixture resembles course cornmeal. Leave a few larger pieces to create flakiness. (I do all this in the food processor, then dump it into a bowl to stir in the buttermilk.)
Add buttermilk and mix with a spatula until ingredients are moistened (do not over mix).
Gather dough into a disk on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Pat into a circle that is about 1″ thick; brush with a little extra buttermilk or milk (you can even use your fingers with this) and if you have some, sprinkle with coarse sugar. Cut into 8 triangles. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden.
Split the biscuits and load up with strawberries and whipped cream.
Serves 8.
As it turned out we were celebrating more than Day 100; my brother in law Rory just finished writing his medical exams, Emily made the 1st tier soccer team, my Mom survived their AGM yesterday, my parents bought a house just blocks from us, Willem got up in the middle of the night to pee in the toilet. (And a couple other things I’m not allowed to post for thousands to see, sorry.) And it was Wednesday, and we were all together for dinner.
So much to celebrate.
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April 09 2008 | dessert and pasta and pork and sweet stuff | 8 Comments »
Remember the squash & ricotta ravioli we made out of wonton wrappers and stashed in the freezer? They were called into service tonight. The best thing about them is that you can dump them straight from the freezer bag into boiling water and they’re done faster than dry spaghetti would be.
Emily is still off school this week and so was over again today, and (as per our new routine) wanted to cook something. Having been up since 3:30 (this is why traffic reporters don’t have toddlers) I was too tired to think and so lay like a sandbag on the couch while she looked through my cookbooks. She rightly identified my dog-eared copy of Classic Home Desserts by Richard Sax as a good source for desserty/baking things that 9 year olds tend to like to make, and flipped through, pondering out loud the fruit cobblers and coffee pots de creme. When I realized we were almost out of flour and completely out of all but the brown sugar, E settled on Brown Sugar Shortbread. Lucky me; they were easier than a snap to make.
Brown Sugar Shortbread from Richard Sax
Chop 1/2 cup butter into bits and put it in the food processor with 1/4 cup packed golden brown sugar, a pinch of salt and 1 tsp. vanilla; pulse until creamy.
Add 3/4 cup flour and 2 Tbsp. cornstarch; pulse 6-8 times, until it starts to clump together.
Smear the dough into a 9″ round cake pan; this part was interesting, as the butter-flour ratio was higher than usual (I would have used 1 cup flour, perhaps slightly more), giving it the texture of thick icing. It even looked like icing as we spread it, unable to pat, along the bottom of the pan. I had my doubts. We were supposed to sprinkle it with sugar, but forgot.
Bake at 350F for 20 minutes, until pale golden around the edges. Cut them into wedges while the dough is still warm, and then let them cool somewhat in the pan before taking them out, so that they don’t crumble to bits.
I’ve never seen such a flaky texture in melt-in-your-mouth shortbread; you can see the way it delicately flaked off in the middle as I sliced them. I liked them much better than even the whipped variety, and they took all of 5 minutes of actual effort.
And right, the rice pudding.
Rice pudding is even easier than shortbread. Whenever I make rice, I make extra so I can make fried rice and/or have an excuse to make rice pudding. This time, I had leftover rice even after making chicken fried rice yesterday. It doesn’t need to be short grain, or even white rice; puddings can be made from brown or even wild rice, which goes well with maple syrup and dried cranberries.
There are creamy stovetop rice puddings and baked rice puddings made sturdier with eggs, and then there’s the rice and milk with sugar that Winnie-the-Pooh makes in the small paperback cookbook my Grandma bought for my 7th birthday. The simplest rice pudding is made by pouring milk over the extra rice in the pot (or the rice that turned out too sticky to eat) along with some sugar, honey or maple syrup to taste, and cooking on medium-low heat until the rice absorbs all the milk. Add enough to cover the rice, and then some. Taste it, then add more milk if you like, cooking each time until it soaks it all up. It’s almost impossible to add too much. Stir in a dribble of vanilla and a handful of raisins. As Pooh will attest, rice pudding is perfect eaten cold for breakfast or elevenses.
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April 03 2008 | cookies & squares and dessert and grains and snacks and sweet stuff | 4 Comments »
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
Whether you choose one big Pavlova or individual Pavlovas, they are simpler than you’d think to make, yet elaborate enough to make an impressive dessert, if that’s the reaction you’re going for.
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 tsp. cornstarch
6 large egg whites
1 tsp. white vinegar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup whipping cream
Fresh raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, and/or sliced strawberries, peaches, plums, apricots, kiwi or whatever fruit you like
Additional sugar for tossing with fruit (optional)
Preheat oven to 250° F and line a large baking sheet with foil or parchment. Set aside about a tablespoon of the sugar, and stir the cornstarch into the rest.
In a large bowl, beat the egg whites with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add the sugar mixture, beating until the mixture holds stiff, glossy peaks. Beat in 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 8-10 mounds of meringue about an inch apart on the baking sheet. Bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours, until crisp but still soft inside. If the meringues aren’t crisp, turn the oven off and leave them inside for another hour.
Transfer Pavlova(s) to a rack and cool completely. Beat the cream with the remaining tablespoon of sugar until soft peaks form. Mound into the middle of the cooled Pavlova(s) and top with fruit.
Serves 8-10.
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
6 large egg yolks
6 Tbsp. sugar
1 1/2 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
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.
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March 30 2008 | cheese and dessert and lamb and leftovers and sweet stuff | 2 Comments »
Happy Food on a Stick Day! In honor of this beloved holiday (honestly, who comes up with these? and to what panel do they apply for approval?) we did all sorts of food on a stick this morning at CBC. The favorite were the lamb kebabs. (OK, the bacon wrapped peroghies on a stick were probably the favorite, but the lamb was well-received too.)
I made sure there was some left over. These are really just a meatball mixture made with ground lamb instead of beef (although you could use beef, or half and half) and spiced with cumin, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, with currants and crumbled feta stirred in. You could turn it into meatballs if you like, or take a small handful and shape it into a sort of log around a bamboo skewer. Grill them, broil them, or cook them in a skillet in a little olive oil - awkward, but the only option when you’re working on a hot plate set on a file cabinet outside a studio.
Either way, they’re perfect to dip into garlicky tzatziki, or to stuff a pita along with chopped tomato, cucumber, purple onion, and a big glop of tzatziki.
Greek Lamb Kebabs
1 lb. ground lamb or lean ground beef (or half and half)
1 small onion, peeled and grated
1/2 cup soft bread crumbs (about 1 slice of bread), bulgur or couscous
1/2 cup crumbled feta (optional)
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 large egg
2-4 Tbsp. currants or chopped raisins
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
1 tsp. cumin
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt
olive or canola oil, for brushing
Preheat oven to 400° F. Soak some bamboo skewers in water for at least 10 minutes to prevent them from burning when you cook the kebabs.
Combine all the ingredients in a large bowl. Shape handfuls of the meat mixture into flattened sausages about 3” long around the ends of the skewers. Place on a rimmed cookie sheet, brush with olive oil and roast, turning often, until cooked through.
Makes 12 kebabs.
Per kebab: 112 calories, 4.2 g total fat (1.4 g saturated fat, 1.6 g monounsaturated fat, 0.5 g polyunsaturated fat), 13.3 g protein, 4.5 g carbohydrate, 65 mg cholesterol, 0.2 g fiber. 34% calories from fat
Tzatziki
Regular plain yogurt, preferably thick Greek yogurt, is far superior to the runny low fat or fat free varieties, many of which depend on gelatin as a stabilizer. Even full-fat Greek yogurt is fairly low in fat, especially when compared to mayo or sour cream.
1/2 English cucumber, unpeeled
1 – 2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 cups good quality plain yogurt, preferably Greek or Balkan-style
salt & pepper to taste
squeeze of lemon juice (optional)
drizzle of olive oil (optional)
Grate the cucumber with a box grater onto a double thickness of paper towel. Gather up the cucumber in the towel and squeeze out as much excess water as you can. In a medium bowl, stir together the cucumber, garlic, yogurt, salt and pepper. If you like, add a squeeze of lemon and/or drizzle of olive oil. Let it sit in the fridge for a few hours or overnight; the garlic flavor will intensify the longer it sits. Makes 2 1/2 - 3 cups.
Per 1/3 cup: 45 calories, 1 g total fat (0.6 g saturated fat, 0.3 g monounsaturated fat, 0.1 g polyunsaturated fat), 3.5 g protein, 5.6 g carbohydrate, 3.7 mg cholesterol, 0.3 g fiber. 20% calories from fat
These squares I made just because I wanted to do something other than make smoothies with the bag of tiny frozen wild blueberries in the freezer, and because I have a baby shower to go to on Sunday; it’s always a good idea for me to have reason to pawn off the leftovers.
(Low Fat) Blueberry, Lemon & Coconut Squares
These are perfect to make ahead and stash in the freezer; slicing them frozen will ensure a clean cut.
Base:
1/4 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 scant cup all-purpose or whole wheat flour
pinch salt
Topping:
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
pinch salt
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries, raspberries or cranberries
1/2 cup shredded coconut, sweetened or unsweetened
icing sugar for sprinkling (optional)
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a medium bowl, stir together the butter and sugar until creamy. Add flour and salt and stir until well combined and crumbly.
Press into the bottom of an 8” x 8” pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake for 8-10 minutes, until just barely golden around the edges.
In the same bowl (no need to wash it), combine sugar, flour, baking powder and salt. Add egg, egg white and lemon juice and stir until well blended and smooth.
Sprinkle the berries and coconut evenly over the base, and pour the lemon filling over top. Bake for 40 minutes, until golden and set. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before cutting or freezing. If you like, sprinkle with icing sugar before serving. Makes 16 squares.
Per Square: 130 calories, 3.3 g fat (1.9 g saturated fat, 1 g monounsaturated fat, 0.2 g polyunsaturated fat), 24 g carbohydrates, 21 mg cholesterol, 1.6 g protein, 0.7 g fiber. 23% calories from fat
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March 28 2008 | appetizers and cookies & squares and lamb and snacks and sweet stuff | 3 Comments »
I spelunked into the depths of my freezer today in order to pull out the bacon I knew was in there, as well as the kataifi (Greek shredded filo/phyllo pastry) I picked up at the Italian Supermarket last week to make teeny sugared birds’ nests out of for our Easter brunch and egg hunt tomorrow. I know, it’s very Martha of me, but it costs less than $5, and it’s fun.
But the real question here is: Why?? Do I continue to put so many unmarked baggies and yogurt containers in the freezer? For some reason I always believe I’m going to be able to identify it 3 months later when it has formed an icy exterior and spots of freezer burn.
During my inventory I came across: beef, bison, pork tenderloin, ground lamb, stewing beef and 2 giant packages of corn tortillas I forgot I had, on top of freezer bags of chokecherries I picked last summer and a plethora of chopped rhubarb. (Can someone please explain to me the expression “more than you could shake a stick at”? Wouldn’t it conceivably be possible to shake a stick at any quantity of something?) My plan for years has been to pick up a magnetized dry erase board on which I could list the contents of the freezer, and add to/wipe off the list as I add too/use up its contents. But you know it will end up with funny/dirty things written all over it by visitors to my kitchen, anyway.
So my mission, should I choose to actually accept it, is to chip away at the contents of my freezer. But first, there’s the small matter of leftover chicken to deal with.
Everyone knows that the best reason for roasting a chicken in the first place is to make cold roast chicken sandwiches. Surprisingly though, I rarely make them, instead opting to transform leftover chicken into fried rice, quesadillas, curries and the like. I think this is because I always want cranberry sauce on my chicken sandwiches, and usually there isn’t any on hand, unless it’s leftover turkey we’re dealing with. This morning though, I came across 2 1/4 bags of frozen cranberries, so I dumped the quarter bag into a small pot with some water and sugar and let them simmer and pop while we assembled the sandwiches. I baked a crusty loaf of no-knead bread this morning, so all the stars fell into allignment.
Seriously. What’s better than a roasted chicken sandwich?
Even though this wasn’t part of dinner, I made the nests today, so I’ll post the recipe in case you might want to make them this weekend. Kataifi is easy to find at most ethnic grocery stores: Kalamata and the Italian markets in Calgary, for sure. Otherwise you could buy phyllo and slice it thinly while it’s still rolled up. I’ve often wondered if a healthier version would work using shredded wheat. I think it would need to somehow be softened though, in order to be able to press it into the tins.
Phyllo Nests
After you make these, your kitchen counter and floor will be covered with shredded kataifi bits. Don’t worry about it; they sweep up easily.
1/2 pkg. kataifi, thawed if frozen (pre-shredded phyllo; sold frozen at Greek grocers and large supermarkets.)
3 Tbsp. butter, melted
2 Tbsp. sugar
pinch cinnamon (optional)
chocolate eggs, jelly beans or those pastel candied almonds you get wrapped in tuille at weddings
Preheat oven to 375°F. Pull the kataifi apart with your fingers or with scissors, tearing it into chunks a couple inches long. Toss it in a bowl with the butter, sugar and cinnamon.
Press into mini muffin cups, pressing the mixture loosely into the bottom and up the sides, to form a nest. Bake for about 10 minutes, until pale golden. Let cool and then fill with chocolate eggs or jelly beans.
Makes about 2 1/2 dozen nests.
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March 21 2008 | sweet stuff | 1 Comment »
My craving for pizza has not been satiated since the disappointing pizza I brought home last week. A few days ago I mixed up a batch of no-knead bread dough with the intention of making a pizza. Yesterday, when the dough had already been sitting patiently on the counter for 24 hours when it became apparent that I wouldn’t be able to use it, I put it in the fridge - this slows the yeast-rising process, so it was fine to use today and hadn’t morphed into some form of sourdough. I sauteed some mushrooms and wilted some spinach, and turned out our usual big rectangular pizza on one of my rimmed cookie sheets.
Happily, I did need to test a recipe for an article on honey I’m working on for City Palate, so we made Chocolate-Honey Cupcakes with Honey Ganache. They turned out incredibly well; not overly sweet despite their name, with a fine, dense texture. Although I’ve never been one to turn down a Crave cupcake, it was refreshing to have one that wasn’t top-heavy with a swirl of fatty frosting. The ganache is easy to make and even easier to apply; the result elegant even when the chocolate escapes in a glob down the side. I scattered a few with multicolored sprinkles and popped them in the freezer for Ben and Emily’s next visit on Monday. Next time I’ll have some fresh raspberries and stick one upright in the middle of each cupcake before the ganache has a chance to set. Maybe for W’s third birthday. I do love ganache.
Except that I remember why I never make it: most of it makes its way into my mouth, instead of onto the cakes.
Honey Chocolate Cupcakes with Honey Ganache
Ganache is just a fancy word for chocolate melted with cream, and in this case, honey. It’s the same mixture you’d use to make truffles, only more liquidy. It’s actually easier to make than frosting.
Cupcakes:
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk or thin plain yogurt
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup honey
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
Ganache:
1/2 cup whipping cream or half & half
1/2 cup honey
8 oz. (8 squares) semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners, or spray it with nonstick spray.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, canola oil, honey, eggs and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients and whisk just until combined.
Fill the lined muffin tins 3/4 full and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until tops are springy to the touch. Repeat with remaining batter. Set on a wire rack to cool.
To make ganache, combine whipping cream and honey in a small saucepan and set over medium heat until it begins to simmer around the edges. Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate. Let sit for a few minutes, and then stir until smooth. Set aside to cool for about 5 minutes before pouring over cooled cupcakes. If you like, top each cupcake with sprinkles or a candy or raspberry before the ganache sets.
Makes about 20 cupcakes.
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March 08 2008 | cake and dessert and sweet stuff | 3 Comments »
Ben and Emily are over for dinner and a sleepover tonight. When I picked them up from school, I asked what they wanted to make for dinner. Emily asked for corn dogs and deep-fried marshmallows; Ben asked for gaspetti and meatballs and bananas. Guess who won.
Luckily I bought ground bison yesterday. I am so glad that Sobey’s is carrying it fresh, right beside the ground beef! Bison has more protein than beef, and half the fat. In fact, bison has less fat than skinless turkey or chicken, and (with the exception of a few fattier cuts) even less fat than halibut.
The problem is, because it’s so lean bison dries out if you cook it for as long as you cook beef. Because it looks and tastes like beef, it’s hard not to treat it the same way in the kitchen. As a general rule, you need about 1/3 less time when cooking steaks, roasts and burgers. Using ground bison in chili, spaghetti sauce, meatballs and the like is easy though. Tonight I added an egg and a handful of quick oats to the bison (about a pound and a half), squished it up with my hands and we rolled it into balls and put them all out on a cookie sheet. While the pasta boiled I baked the meatballs in the oven - 350 F for 20 minutes or so - then transferred them to a pot of simmering tomato sauce. (I actually ran out of spaghetti, but used these long curly noodles I found at the Italian market that turned out to be hollow inside, like long, thin, uncut macaroni. They were much more worm-like than spaghetti - perfect for five-year-olds.) The kids adored them - Emily said they were the best meatballs she had ever had. She thought it was even cooler when she heard they had been made out of bison.
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March 06 2008 | bison and dessert and sweet stuff | 3 Comments »
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So I improvised: tossed the leftover spaghetti with some egg white (I had some whose yolks had been used to make lemon curd), a bit of grated Parmesan, a grinding of pepper and a big spoonful of pesto, just because there was some open in the fridge and W is such a fan, then spread the spaghetti into an oiled pie plate, pushing it up the sides a bit.
I had requests for spinach sauce, but had hastily crumbled and cooked a couple lean Italian sausages, a red pepper, a few fresh tomatoes that had gone too wrinkly for anything but cooking with and a can of tomatoes before remembering this, and pureed sausage, I imagine, is not a Good Thing. So I decided to proceed as if it were a lasagna - I crumbled some ricotta and thawed, squeezed-out spinach over the crust,
topped it with the sauce…
and some grated part-skim mozzarella, and baked it at 350F for about half an hour, until all was golden, crsipy-edged and bubbly. Yum.
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