Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup

I was reminded over the holidays that I had stopped writing my blog.  It happened a few times, but the person who brought it up was usually my Mom.  When she did this, other people would feign interest and ask why I wasn’t writing anymore.  Not that they ever really read my blog in the first place, but apparently people become concerned if you stop doing something.  I haven’t stopped cooking, although my circumstances have changed once again. 

I’m back in the city and working a new job and living in a teeny tiny condo with a random roommate I found on Craigslist.  Part and parcel with condo living is a lack of space, the biggest sacrifice for me being the lack of kitchen space.  Or the lack of a kitchen.  The room that houses the kitchen, (if you can call it that) is also the living room, dining room and my roommate’s office.  It’s just one room, the kitchen being one wall of that room, with no island or counter space to speak of.  I’m not exaggerating when I say I have about one and a half square feet of counter space, if that.  A portion of that counter space is taken up by a toaster and a paper towel holder.  I’d put the toasted somewhere else if there was anywhere to put it.  There are no drawers in my kitchen. 

The only upside to all this is that despite the fact that I’m sharing this incredibly tiny excuse for a kitchen, my roommate doesn’t cook.  I will henceforth refer to him as Diesel, (as in Vin Diesel…) as he seems to consume little more than protein shakes and things that can be microwaved.  For example, he popped a frozen pizza in the microwave tonight and announced “Dinner is served in two minutes!”.  I proceeded to joke that that wasn’t real food.  He informed me that it was indeed real food and that he was in fact a balanced eater as he drinks his vegetables in the form of V8, occasionally eats a piece of fruit and has yogurt, which is healthy.  Diesel is the type of guy who lifts very heavy weights at the gym.  I consider him a personal alarm system for the condo.  He’s great really.  As far as random Craigslist finds go, I could have done much, much worse.  And I love that he doesn’t cook because it means more space for me and my kitchen gadgets, I just have to rearrange his jugs of protein powder sometimes…

Speaking of kitchen gadgets, I had to downsize mine when I moved into the condo.  So I don’t have all my fancy baking pans, or my food processor, or more than two mugs, but I’ve got most of the basics.  Granted, my basics are very different from a lot of other people’s basics, like Diesel’s.  Prior to moving in I asked him what sort of kitchen stuff he had so that I would know what to bring and not duplicate anything as there’s no room for that here.  He told me he had all the basics.  I arrived to find exactly ONE pot and ONE pan, four plates, two mugs and a handful of cutlery.  There wasn’t even a cutting board.  Needless to say, I couldn’t live like that and somehow found room amidst the protein powder to stash my kitchenaid mixer and various other essentials.  I quickly ran out of room in the kitchen though and have devoted one of the drawers of my bedroom dresser to kitchen wares.

All of this to say that my cooking adventures have been somewhat subdued, but not completely squashed.  I’ve been baking for the people at work again and on the weekends I tend to cover the kitchen/living room/dining room/den with dishes as I make meals for the upcoming week.  One of the tastiest things I’ve made recently is this Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup from none other than the fabulous Dorie Greenspan.  Having finally acquired her most recent book, Around My French Table, for Christmas, I’ve gotten right into creating from it and this was the first recipe I tried.  I’m never disappointed by Dorie and this soup was no exception.  It was fresh and flavourful and everything you’d expect from something labelled Vietnamese.  And it was wonderfully warming on a cold and dreary winter day.

An Open Letter To New Zealand…

Dear New Zealand,

I like you, I really do, you’re beautiful and adventurous and laid back all at once, but I’ve got a bone to pick with you. For some reason you fail to build your houses in accordance with your weather. Winter exists in New Zealand. It gets cold here. There’s snow in the mountains and frost at sea level. The temperature routinely dips below 0°C at night. Given all of this information, why are the houses not insulated, windows single paned and not properly sealed and why can I see my breath while standing inside my apartment? The portable heaters that are strewn about the houses here and that suck every drop of moisture out of the air are not doing an adequate job of keeping me warm. Central heating is a wonderful invention, I urge you to look into it.

With love and wearing lots of layers,
Brilynn

When I first arrived to New Zealand it was summertime and I couldn’t believe the number of coffee shops that existed on every corner, but it all makes sense now, Kiwis need mass quantities of hot beverages in order to keep warm all winter. I’ve taken to drinking litres and litres of tea in the hope that if my insides are warm, my outside will be too. I also wear no less than four layers, including 2 polar fleeces, a scarf, fuzzy slippers and a blanket while inside my apartment. Inside. In addition to the tea, I’ve been making soup to help rid myself of the omnipresent cold. One of my favourites is butternut squash soup. You can almost just puree roasted butternut squash and eat it as a soup, but if you add things like chicken stock, onion, garlic, cumin, smokey paprika, salt and pepper and my favourite add in, coconut milk, it makes for a delicious soup that can help you forget, if only for a few minutes, about the cold.

Curtis Stone Can Cook Me Dinner Anytime

As I mentioned in my previous post, I recently got my passport renewed. The last time that I had to do that was four years ago when I was headed to Australia as part of a University exchange program. I find it almost impossible to believe that it was so long ago that I was enjoying soaking up the Australian sun, playing beach volleyball at the University of Queensland in Brisbane and taking weekend trips to Byron Bay. I have some great memories of my time in Australia and ever since have had quite the soft spot for Aussies. Especially tall, adorable Australian chefs like Curtis Stone. And before any of you try to tell me I’m being suckered in by a pretty face and charming accent, the man can seriously cook and has the background to prove it. Long before I discovered him on his TLC show, Take Home Chef, Curtis was working as head chef in several Michelin-starred restaurants in London. So there.

His newest book, Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone: Recipes to Put You in My Favourite Mood, contains approachable recipes gathered under chapters with titles like Brunch That Will Blow Their Minds, Something to Eat on the Sofa and Sweet Dreams. Given my recent brunch party, affinity for eating on the sofa and everything sweet, I definitely approve of his choices. The book is also full of gorgeous pictures of almost every recipe and quite a few of Curtis too. I think I could have made anything from this book and been pretty happy. The only thing that would have made it better were if I ran into Curtis at the supermarket while gathering ingredients and he came home to cook with me. That’s practically reason enough to move to L.A. and hang out excessively at Whole Foods. Or to move to Australia and find someone just like him, (ha, as if anyone could be as great as Curtis Stone…). I even tried to get Chef to hire an Aussie at work but so far my pleas have gone unanswered. Maybe my wonderful blog readers should start a letter writing campaign to Chef in support of my need to have Aussies in the kitchen…

A few notes on the recipes I made…

Brownie Cupcakes: Truly a cross between a brownie and cupcake and frosted with a chocolate cream cheese frosting, these went over very well. The frosting received extra compliments and I used the leftovers to top banana muffins and my fingers.

Steamed Mussels with Chorizo and White Wine: Mussels are a weekly affair at my house and this version got high praise. The sprinkling of fresh cilantro on top was a great addition.

Wild Mushroom, Spinach and Goat Cheese Tarts: I took these with me to my brunch potluck and was pleased with how they looked and tasted. Andrea went back for more of this tart over the caramel/pecan/chocolate tart, so it must have been alright.

Seafood Wonton Soup: Wonton soup, like mussels, is something I used to think couldn’t easily be made at home. Although slightly time consuming to fill wonton wrappers, (don’t overfill!) it’s not difficult by any means and the results are better than most places you can buy it at. Certainly worth making again.

Brownie Cupcakes (from Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone: Recipes to Put You in My Favourite Mood)

Cupcakes
6 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate, (60-70% cacao). Chopped
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon Lyle’s Golden Syrup or light corn syrup
Pinch of salt
¾ cup sugar
2 large eggs
½ cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Frosting
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup Lyle’s Golden Syrup or light corn syrup
4 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate, (60-70% cacao). Chopped

To make the cupcakes: Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Line a standard cupcake tin with 8 paper cupcake liners. Stir the chocolate and butter in a small heavy saucepan over low heat until they melt and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the syrup and salt. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar and eggs in a large bowl for 2 minutes or until the mixture is thick and light. Stir in the chocolate mixture. Add the flour and baking powder, and stir just until blended; then stir in the walnuts. Divide the batter equally among the cupcake liners, filling them completely. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the cupcakes puff and crack on top and a skewer inserted into the center of one comes out with fudgy crumbs attached. Remove the cupcakes from the tin and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

To frost the cupcakes: Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese in a large bowl until it is light and smooth. Beat in the syrup. Place the chocolate in another bowl and set the bowl over a small pot of simmering water. Stir constantly until the chocolate melts. Add the melted chocolate to the cream cheese mixture and beat until bended and fluffy, stopping the machine and scraping the bottom of the bowl to ensure that the mixture is well blended. Spread the frosting generously over the cooled cupcakes.

NYC Dining: Daniel Boulud and Thomas Keller

While many people flock to New York for the galleries, theatre and shopping it should come as no surprise that I was most interested in the food and restaurants. In my last post I hinted at some of the spots I had visited but they really deserve to be mentioned all on their own so without further ado, I give you Bouchon Bakery, Bar Boulud and Café Boulud.

Bouchon Bakery Café is located on the third floor of the Time Warner building and offers a wonderful view of Columbus Circle and Central Park. When I arrived around 1:30pm the place was packed but as a solo diner I managed to grab a seat at the bar. As I perused the menu another single diner was seated beside me. The bartender offered him a menu but he waived it away, saying he’d have the chicken soup and a glass of white. He clearly ate here often and knew what he wanted so I closed my menu and said I’d have the same. It was a good choice. This was not your ordinary, out of a can chicken soup, this was Thomas Keller Chicken Soup and what all chicken soups should strive to be.

The chicken is braised and tender and is nestled into a rich, flavourful broth that it shares with a mirepoix and ricotta dumplings. All meals are served with an epi baguette, (classic Parisian baguette, shaped to resemble a wheat stalk) which was perfect to sop up the broth from the bottom of my bowl of soup. To finish off my lunch it seemed appropriate to order the dessert that shares its name with the bakery so I had the Chocolate Bouchon which was served with a dusting of icing sugar and a scoop of heavenly cherry ice cream. Yes, heavenly. The bouchon were chocolaty and everything that they were supposed to be but it’s the ice cream that I’m left craving more of. All in all, a delightful way to kick off my Thomas Keller experience which will soon include The French Laundry…

Bar Boulud is Daniel Boulud’s more casual bistro. The space is long and narrow with vaulted ceilings and is cozy with an almost tunnel-like feel. In an attempt to save my wallet from too much damage, (it was only my second night in New York) I opted for wine and appetizers instead of a full meal although after seeing the dessert menu I decided I should at least sample it as well. I knew before entering Bar Boulud that I wanted to try their pâté, the issue then became deciding which one. I finally settled on the Pâté Grand-Père which was a coarse country pâté with foie gras, truffle juice and port. I also tried the Saucisson Sec and was happy with it as well, to the point that I want to make my own. For dessert I had the Marron et Cassis which consisted of a chestnut mousse, meringue, blackcurrant gelée, cassis and crème frâiche. I wish the picture could translate how good the dessert really was but it doesn’t do it justice.

Service at Bar Boulud was on point and accommodating to my every whim, even when I made silly requests like asking to keep my menu and to see the kitchen. Our server was surprised at my desire to see the kitchen, it wasn’t something she’d been asked before but said she would ask the Chef if it was ok. Shortly thereafter I was escorted downstairs by one of the cutest cooks I’ve ever seen, (That’s him crouched behind the counter in the Bar Boulud photo. Note to Chef- Please steal him away from Bar Boulud and hire him… Thanks.) who showed me around the kitchen and introduced me to the Chef who was busy expediting. As we made our way back up to the dining room the Cutie Cook asked how if I had enjoyed my meal and upon hearing that I had the pâté, proceeded to win me over completely, (not that he had to try very hard) by telling me I had to try their newest pâté, made of venison, as it was his favourite. I was tempted to return the following night but with so many other places to try in such a short time, it just wasn’t possible.

Café Boulud was my next stop, (I also have the cookbook of the same name) and I was in luck as there happened to be a prix fixe lunch special going on which made my meal there both elegant and affordable. The prix fixe was three courses which also featured an amuse bouche to start the meal and madeleines to finish, in addition to the appetizer, entrée and dessert. The amuse was a goat cheese ball, rolled in parsley and resting on a spoon with tart preserves. For my appetizer I chose the smoked salmon on puff pastry with caramelized onions, bacon lardons and frisée.

I overheard the couple beside me discussing their meal and one of them declared the salmon appetizer the best part because according to him, ‘caramelized onions are even better than caramelized… caramel.’ Next up I had the skate for my entrée, it was accompanied by fingerling potatoes, cauliflower, olives and capers. And for dessert, chocolate tart with mocha ice cream. The lemon scented madeleines, sugar dusted and still warm from the oven were brought out just before the bill and though I didn’t need to eat anything else I couldn’t resist popping one after another into my mouth. Once again, I had a fabulous meal that left me walking on a cloud as I drifted back out onto New York City streets.

If my pockets were deeper and I had the time I would have loved to try out Daniel Boulud’s other two New York establishments, Daniel and DB Bistro Moderne but I suppose that’s something to look forward to for next time, along with Thomas Keller’s Per Se… I might as well dream big if I’m dreaming at all.

Wild Canada

When asked to describe Canadian cuisine I always struggle to come up with an exact definition. Instead of a particular style of cooking I find that Canada has certain ingredients that are distinct but can be used in many different ways. I think of the obvious things like maple syrup and back bacon, (aka Canadian bacon) but I also think of things like smoked salmon, venison, wild rice, (which is actually not a rice but a grass) mustard, (did you know Canada grows 90% of the world’s mustard?) morels, wild berries, fiddleheads, ice wine and wild turkey. From that short list I think it’s evident that Canadian cuisine is really made of natural resources rather than cooking techniques or particular dishes, (although I suppose you could argue for certain things like poutine and Nanaimo bars).

Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict is hosting Mmmm Canada to celebrate the foods that make up this great country and is asking for submissions of savoury foods that taste like Canada. There’s also a sweet version of this event which is being hosted by Jennifer of The Domestic Goddess for Sugar High Friday, (which I had high hopes of participating in as well, but it’s just not going to happen. Remember how I used to be a Daring Baker? I think they’re kicking me out for lack of participation…).

For my submission I’ve prepared Hunter’s Wild Turkey which is a riff on Hunter’s Chicken. I’ve also paired it with wild rice, to make it extra Canadian. Ideally all of the ingredients would have come from my backyard, but I can only make such a claim for the wild turkey. Dad, (pictured here with his catch) got his turkey hunting license this spring after sitting through what I can only assume was a thoroughly engrossing afternoon, (snore) on the rules and regulations of turkey hunting. He then set out into the vast yonder that is the back yard and returned not too long afterwards with dinner! Many dinners in fact… wild turkeys are not little. He butchered it himself and cut it into appropriate dinner sizes before freezing it, ready to pull out later. I wasn’t home when the actual turkey catching happened so he made sure to save some for me. And it’s a good thing he did because wild turkey is tasty! Some of you are probably wondering if it’s really any different than the turkey you have for Thanksgiving and I would say yes, it is. Wild turkeys are, as their name suggests, wild, and that means they do a lot of running around which results in more muscle building than the average bear, (or turkey). The meat is therefore initially not as tender, but like any tough cut of meat, it can be turned into something delicious with the help of a long bath in the oven, (you know, braising). Gobble gobble!

Hunter’s Wild Turkey

1 ½ cup chopped shiitake mushrooms

2 T olive oil

1 T butter

Wild turkey pieces, (for this dish I used a breast and thigh)

1 large onion, diced

1 14oz can cherry tomatoes with juice

2/3 cup red wine

1 garlic clove

1 tsp dried rosemary

1 tsp smoky paprika

Salt and pepper

2 carrots, cut into batons

Chicken stock, as needed

Preheat oven to 375F. Heat the oil and butter in a flameproof casserole dish, (dutch oven) and sauté turkey over medium heat until browned. Remove turkey and add onions and mushrooms and cook until soft, (around 5 min). Add the tomatoes and juice, wine, garlic and herbs and spices. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Add the turkey back in, cover the pot and put it in the oven. Since wild turkey does a lot of running around and whatnot the meat is much tougher than regular turkey or chicken and must therefore be simmered for a long time to become tender. I cooked this one for about 3 hours, checking on it every now and then and adding chicken stock as needed as the liquid evaporated. When the turkey is done it should be tender and falling off the bone. Near the end of cooking, add in the carrots and cook until just soft. Serve with wild rice.

Technorati Tags:

Turkey + Canada + Wild Rice

Silky Smooth Soups But No Cuisinart

I mentioned in my last post that it was wonderful to be back in the city if only for the wealth of ingredients that are now at my fingertips. One such ingredient that I picked up on a whim is pomegranate molasses, which immediately inspired me to make a roasted cauliflower soup so that I could drizzle it on top. I’ve never used pomegranate molasses before but once the idea was in my head I had to make it happen, so here it is! I started by cutting up a head of cauliflower, drizzling it with olive oil and sprinkling some salt and cumin on top. I roasted it in the oven at 450F until it began to brown. Then I used my super duper high speed blender to puree the cauliflower with some chicken stock. A couple minutes later I had a silky smooth mixture that I topped with pomegranate molasses and presto, I had soup. I couldn’t live without that blender. It was one of the essential kitchen items that had to come with me when I moved. Unfortunately, some of my other toys didn’t make the move and I’m missing them now. Somehow I managed to forget my microplane zester and I miss it everyday. I’m also missing my jelly roll pan, a spaghetti pot and worst of all, my Cuisinart! Unfortunately, I’ll never get that back. Somehow, (and I still don’t quite understand how that happened) Dad threw it out! Yes, that’s right, a relatively new Cuisinart that I had just purchased less than two years ago and that had been sitting safely in storage, or so I thought. In one of Dad’s “throw out” phases, he tossed it. Instead of throwing out their 30 year old Cuisinart with the broken buttons, he threw out my pristine machine that had been waiting patiently to be used again. Sigh.

I try not to think of my poor baby wasting away on a trash pile somewhere, and so to distract myself, I’ll tell you about another soup- Jamie Oliver’s Pumpkin Soup which I made for the November Cooking Club on FoodTV Canada’s blog. I always make squash soup during the fall and winter months, but rarely from a recipe, I usually just throw in whatever I feel like, so actually sticking to Jamie's recipe was new for me. I'm glad I did though, I really liked the addition of chestnuts! I couldn't find any canned chestnuts so I had to roast my own and to get the sage I had to dig it out from under the snow but it was all good! Of course, I used my blender to whip this soup creamy too, it’s my favourite way to do it.

Technorati Tags:

Cauliflower + Squash + Soup

Zarne That's Good Chowder!

I asked a friend of mine to give me a story for the blog because I’ve been uninspired lately. I’ve got a bunch of recipes typed up and pictures edited but I don’t seem to have any stories to go with them. This chowder, for example, has been floating around in my computer for a few weeks now. My friend asked me to write a post about foods that were small and easy to eat while playing an intense board game… such as Boggle. I know there are closet Boggle players out there, don’t even lie to me. If it’s not Boggle, it’s Scrabble, (or if you’re a Facebook fan, Scrabulous) or Pick Two or Crosswords or some other word game, I know I’m not the only one who likes word games. But I digress, the problem with getting hooked on one of these games is that it’s difficult to eat and play at the same time. This became increasingly evident a couple nights ago when I was over at another friend’s house where we were playing various board games and eating snacks. A correlation became clear between the amount of food being eaten and board game success. The more snacks you ate, the worse you played. For example, one player was convinced that he could play the word “zarne” because that was all he could come up with while devouring caramel popcorn and garlic parmesan chips. I requested that he use “zarne” in a sentence but he declined to do so because his mouth was full. Snack food was definitely his game playing downfall. You’re probably wondering how clam chowder factors into all of this, well, instead of writing a post about the best foods to eat while playing board games, I have a suggestion for the worst food to eat: soup. Soup is a bad idea. Things that require a spoon and can slosh are bad ideas. Clam chowder is not a good thing to make on board game night, but an excellent meal to make any other night of the week. And I happen to have a soft spot for anything by Michael Smith, so there you have it, my clam chowder post is finally up.

Maritime Clam Chowder (from Chef at Home by Michael Smith)

4 slices of chopped bacon

A chopped onion

2 chopped celery stalks

A generous splash of any white wine

A cup of heavy cream

A cup of milk

Two 5 oz cans of clam meat

A large unpeeled baking potato

2 bay leaves

3 or 4 sprigs of thyme

A 12 oz can of unsweetened evaporated milk

A sprinkle or two of salt and pepper

A handful of flat leaf parsley leaves

Toss the bacon into a heavy bottomed soup pot with a splash of water. Stir on medium high heat until it crisps nicely. Pour off most of the fat. Add another splash of water to loosen the flavourful bits on the bottom, then add the onion and celery. Saute them for a few minutes until they soften and smell great.

Add the white win, cream, milk and clams. Coarsely grate the potato with a standard box grater and add it along with the bay leaves and thyme. Bring the mixture to a slow simmer, stirring frequently. Turn the heat down a notch or two and continue simmering until the grated potato softens, releasing its starches and thickening the chowder, about 20 minutes.

Add the evaporated milk and continue stirring until it’s heated through. Taste the chowder and season it well with salt and pepper. Stir in the parsley and serve immediately with your favourite biscuits.

Technorati Tags:

Clams + Chowder + Seafood + Michael Smith

Cooking with World of Warcraft

Sometimes you find a connection where you least expect to. Such was the case this weekend when I was educated on a few of the intricacies of the online role playing game, World of Warcraft, (WoW). I know people who spend countless hours in front of the computer, doing whatever it is they do to advance their position in WoW. It’s not something I’ve ever had any interest in playing as my gaming ability was maxed out after Tetris and Super Mario Kart, but as I’ve recently learned, it might not be altogether evil either. What I didn’t know about WoW was that among the various tasks that you can complete, (don’t ask me how or why said tasks are actually completed) cooking and baking are among them! Are you serious? That’s almost reason enough for me to take it up. For anyone who plays WoW, you might want to turn away at this point while I butcher the game with my interpretation of how things work. In my mind the game is now composed entirely of various levels of chefs who go around collecting recipes and having IronChef-like battles for game supremacy. Have I taken things too far? Before I drifted into my own version of Chef WoW, I was told that there really are recipes for which you have to find ingredients. If you were making this Fish Soup for example, you’d first have to go catch the fish. My recipe instructs buying it, but if you want to go fishing, I’m all for it.

Provençale Fish Soup with Pasta (From The Soup Bible, Ed; Debra Mayhew)

2 T olive oil

1 onion, sliced

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 leek, sliced

4 cups water

8 oz canned chopped tomatoes

a pinch of Mediterranean herbs

¼ tsp saffron threads

4 oz small pasta

1 lb white fish, such as cod, plaice or monfish, filleted and skinned, (I used a mixture of cod and smoked cod)

salt and freshly ground black pepper

Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onion, garlic and leek. Cover and cook gently for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are soft.

Add the water, tomatoes, herbs, saffron and pasta. Season and cook for 15-20 minutes.

Cut the fish into bite sized chunks and add to the soup. Simmer for 5-10 minutes until the fish is cooked.

Serve with crusty bread.

Technorati Tags:

Fish + Pasta + Cod + Soup

Cleaning Out the Fridge

I obviously don’t write about every single thing I make, (because that would be ridiculous) but unfortunately I don’t always write about the dishes I photograph and plan to write about either. Consequently, there are some dishes have been languishing in the depths of my hard drive for months now, (or more accurately, the shallows, I need a bigger hard drive) and have most likely given up hope of ever making their internet debut. Well fear not tasty dishes, it’s your time to shine!

Million Layer Lasagna: This dish is extremely popular every time I make it, (yes, I’ve made it multiple times and still not managed to write about it). What it is not, however, is a 30 minute meal. This is an all day affair that begins with making fresh pasta and rolling it out whisper thin, (for those of you with pasta machines; all the way down to number 1) and continues with making multiple fillings. This particular lasagna has a roasted red pepper filling, a pesto filling, a cheese filling and a wild mushroom filling. Each one was made into a puree so that it wouldn’t tear any of the delicate pasta layers that were laid on top. I have also made it using a typical beef, veggie and cottage cheese filling, but I made the pasta slightly thicker in that case.

Retro Layered Salad: I’d wanted to make a big layered salad ever since I got my multi-purpose cake dome/punch bowl just so that I could show off my new purchase. This salad was the perfect choice for that. It’s also wonderfully retro and I love it. The recipe comes from the Canadian Living Cookbook from about 20 years ago and I think the best part is the peas. The salad also contains lettuce, tomato, green pepper, red pepper, hard boiled eggs, red onion, mayo, sour cream and cheddar cheese. It sounds like a hodge podge of a salad, but it’s really quite good.

Wild Mushroom Soup: Every so often I venture down the road to visit our mushroom growing friend and return with boxes of various mushrooms from shiitakes to oyster mushrooms to beech and maitakes. After one of these visits, every dish I make contains mushrooms. Sometimes I simply fry them up as a side dish with butter, occasionally I make wild mushroom pierogies and quite often I’ll make this wild cream of mushroom soup. The flavour is rich and earthy and delightful.

Vegetable Quesadillas: This recipe came from a summer issue of Fine Cooking magazine and was served for lunch out on the back deck on a bright and sunny day. Aside from the corn, the veggies and herbs were straight from the garden. It was served with salsa and sour cream on the side.

Stuffed Squash: These squash were absolutely adorable and a perfect vessel for stuffing with virtually anything. Unfortunately, the flavour of the actual squash was not my favourite. I found it to be somewhat bitter. Presentation wise, it scores high, but doesn’t live up to its looks in terms of flavour.

Tea Flower: I found these tea blossoms in Chinatown in Toronto. They’re beautiful, but the problem with them is that you really need a glass teapot in order to show them off. I don’t have a glass teapot so I used a glass coffee press, it wasn’t the same.

Technorati Tags:

Lasagna + Mushrooms + Quesadillas + Squash + Tea

Where Have I Gone This Time?

Why try one new recipe in an evening when I can try 4? That means I have 4 times the chance of messing something up. To throw another wrench into the machine, I’ve also ventured into the unknown territory of Arabian cuisine. Let me apologize upfront for the bastardization of any recipes that I try in my attempt to make new things. I mean well. If any of you know how to make these dishes properly, you’re welcome to come over to my house and serve them to me. So what possessed me to take on this dinner, composed of foods that I shamefully know nothing about? Meeta of What’s For Lunch Honey? has chosen Arabian cuisine as the theme for the 9^th Monthly Mingle. I’m never one to turn down a challenge and I love traveling to new places via my kitchen so all that was left was to find a recipe. But I found many recipes and had trouble narrowing things down to just one, so I didn’t. I chose 4; Green Lentil Soup, Lebanese Kibbeh, Persian Rice and Baklava.

The Green Lentil Soup was mild but flavourful and served as a nice starter to the meal. It was quick to make too and didn’t require much attention. That was a bonus as the Kibbeh certainly required more work. Kibbeh is basically a fried oval shape made up of a mixture of lamb and bulgar which coats another mixture of lamb and spices. As is often the case with me, I made things more difficult than they had to be. I thought I was being so smart too. I looked at the recipes, made a shopping list and went into town to get my ingredients. I didn’t even consider putting bulgar on my list, (a key ingredient in the Kibbeh) because I thought of course I would have some in the cupboard. I was already well on my way to assembling ingredients and putting things together when I realized that all I had in the cupboard was an empty bulgar container. But at this point there was not going to be another trip to the store so I had to look for a substitution. In retrospect I should have used couscous. In reality, I used pearl barley. I don’t think I’ve ever used pearl barley for anything before so why I decided to use it in a brand new recipe, I don’t know. It wasn’t the right choice.

One bad choice led to the need for more changes to the recipe. When I tried to blend things together there was way too much liquid so I started adding multigrain flour despite the fact that flour is not called for at all. Then I forgot the cilantro and had to go back and add it in. The end result wasn’t awful, but I know it could have been much better. The barley was chewy and my Kibbeh was dry. To try to hide the dryness I slathered it with a yogurt sauce that I made up by draining yogurt on cheesecloth and then adding about a teaspoon of za’atar. Za’atar is combination of spices that I’ve never used before either, I just picked some up a few days ago and I thought it sounded Middle Eastern, so I decided it fit in with the rest of the meal. The tangy and cool yogurt was a welcome accompaniment to the unfortunately dry Kibbeh. I’ll have to remake this recipe properly one day because I know it has potential. I love lamb so I should really get into more Arabian cooking as many of the recipes call for it. I’m sure Meeta’s round up of the Monthly Mingle will be chockfull of excellent recipes that will soon be plastered all over my kitchen.

The final recipe that I made was Baklava and I hope that it will find its way into some of your kitchens. My Aunt used to make baklava and I’ve always loved it. I remember thinking it seemed exotic and unlike most sweets that graced the holiday table. Mom enjoys baklava as well and has been pestering me to make it for ages. I’ve been putting it off because of the phyllo dough. I don’t enjoy working with phyllo dough. I find it fiddly and aggravating. It either gets too dry and cracks or too wet and clumps together. And it’s never the right size for what I need. And basically I’m a big baby. I’ll try to keep my whining at bay while I tell you that this recipe was actually quite simple to put together and produced excellent results. The only thing I was irritated by was shelling pistachios. If you can find them unshelled, you’re all set. Then you too can add baklava to the list of dishes you’ve made successfully! I’m hopeful that one day my success list will surpass my failure list. I’d better get back in the kitchen…

Baklava (Adapted from Medierranean: Food of the Sun by Jacqueline Clark and Joanna Farrow)

1 ½ cups shelled pistachios

¾ cup almonds

¾ cup walnuts

1 T ground cardamom

2/3 cup butter, melted

1 ¼ cups confectioners’ sugar

18 sheets phyllo pastry

2 cups sugar

1 ¼ cups water

2 T orange blossom water

First you will make a simple syrup by combining the 2 cups of sugar and water in a saucepan. Bring the mixture to a boil and then simmer for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in the orange blossom water and let cool.

Preheat oven to 325F. In a food processor, combine all of the nuts and pulse until lightly ground. Add the confectioners’ sugar and cardamom and pulse again to combine.

Brush a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with melted butter. Using one sheet of phyllo pastry at a time, (and keeping the rest covered with a damp towel) layer 6 sheets of phyllo into the pan, brushing each one with butter after you lay it down. Pour half of the nut mixture on top of the phyllo and press it down evenly. Continue to layer 6 more sheets of phyllo, brushing with butter between each one. Pour the rest of the nuts on top of the phyllo and repeat the layering process one more time, using up your remaining 6 sheets of phyllo. Pour any leftover butter over the top. Cut the pastry diagonally into small bars using a sharp knife, (it’s easier to do this before the pastry is baked as it is softer at this point).

Bake for 20 min and then increase oven temperature to 400F. Bake for 15 more minutes until golden on top.

Remove from the oven and drizzle with the orange flower blossom syrup. Let stand about an hour so that the syrup can be soaked up. Remove from the pan and try not to eat them all in one sitting.

Technorati Tags:

Middle Eastern + Monthly Mingle + Baklava + Rice + Soup

I Want To Try It All

Living in Canada has exposed me to a wide variety of cuisines. I’m grateful for that but at the same time I can’t help but wonder how authentic anything can really be when it’s out of its original context. What North Americans call Italian or Indian or Chinese cuisine can often vary greatly from what natives to these countries would consider everyday food. I have not traveled as extensively as I would like to and therefore haven’t tasted all the fares of the world. Instead, I have to rely on cookbooks to help transport me to other lands. This quite often results in some new flavour combinations and tastes that may be wonderful on their own but that leave me wondering if the dish turned out the way it was supposed to. I think that instead of calming my urge to travel, cooking new dishes from other cultures intensifies it. I want to see where the ingredients come from and how they’re prepared. I want to know how the dish is supposed to be eaten and under what circumstances. Some experiences just can’t be replicated outside of their natural environment. The act of eating encompasses more than simply the flavour of the food. That’s why so many of our memories are linked to food, because eating is a complete sensory experience. Putting a fork into your mouth is a small part of a complex interaction of sensations that requires all of your senses.

I can’t tell you what an authentic Jamaican seafood curry tastes like because I’ve never been to Jamaica. I can, however, describe the maple syrup experience which is uniquely Canadian. Although tasting maple syrup is a wonderful thing no matter what part of the world you’re in, (it’s like liquid gold) you’ll never truly know maple syrup without coming to Canada. To truly know Canadian maple syrup you must also know its beginnings. You must have trekked into the sugar bush during the early days of spring to watch the syrup run when the days are warm and the nights are cool. To truly know Canadian maple syrup you must have drank a cool glass of fresh syrup, straight from the tapped trees. You must have eaten maple sugar candy until your teeth hurt and still gone back for more. It’s a unique experience. And because of that, when I make a new dish, I savour the immediate flavours but I still long for the experience.

Brilynn’s Jamaican Seafood Curry Remix (Adapted from The Caribbean Central & South American Cookbook by Jenni Fleetwood and Marina Filippelli)

1 ¼ lbs mixed seafood

2 T peanut oil

2 cardamom pods

1 cinnamon stick

6 allspice berries

½ tsp cloves

1 onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

1 inch piece of ginger, grated

2 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground coriander

½ tsp cayenne pepper

2 tomatoes, chopped

1 can tomato paste

1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed

1 cup water

1 cup fish stock

2 ½ oz creamed coconut

2 bay leaves

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pot and stir fry the cardamom pods, cinnamon, allspice and cloves to release their aromas.

Add the onion, garlic and ginger. Continue cooking over gentle heat until onion is soft.

Add the cumin, coriander and cayenne and stir to combine.

Stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste, sweet potato, fish stock, water, creamed coconut and bay leaves. Bring to a boil and then lower the heat, cover and simmer for 15-18 minutes until the sweet potato is tender.

Add the seafood and cook through, a few minutes, depending on what you use.

Serve over rice.

Technorati Tags:

Seafood + Curry + Jamaican

Soup High Friday?

Cold weather is perfect for soup so when Alanna of A Veggie Venture announced that this month was soup month, I was game. For a while I had been making soup about once a week but somehow got out of the habit. Now was a good time to bring soup back. I found a recipe that was a light version of Potato Leek soup and used tofu to thicken it instead of cream. That sounded good, but tofu is kind of wussy. My soup was definitely not going to be wussy so I added some of my homemade bacon. Bacon makes everything better! So does cheese, so I added some sharp cheddar. So much for light...

Since my first soup was such a success I thought I’d go ahead and make another one. I’ve been having a lot of luck stealing, er, I mean spreading some love by highlighting other bloggers’ recipes so why not try another? I basically want to make everything I see over at Habeas Brulee. Danielle takes beautiful photos and all of her recipes sound delicious. One that had caught my eye was a Crypto-Jewish Brazilian Yellow Stew. Even the name sounds intriguing, and this stew/soup doesn’t disappoint. It’s a little bit spicy, a little bit sweet and a whole lot of tasty. I didn’t change anything except for substituting venison for the beef, and putting the pot in the oven as opposed to on the stove top. This was a definite winner.

Don’t get me wrong, I was happy to make and eat soup, but oringinally this was supposed to be a post about a beautiful layered maple cake for Sugar High Friday #28. Then that siren Nigella ruined it. I’ve tried to like her, I really have. Some very reliable people have encouraged me to give her a chance. But it has been one disaster after another for Nigella and I. And now she’s gone TOO far. Ruining SHF is unacceptable. How dare she?! The theme for this month’s Sugar High Friday, hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict was sweet seduction and as usual, it was open to interpretation. I started to think of what I could make; chocolate was an obvious answer, since Valentine’s Day just passed heart shapes are big, maybe something with cherries… No, none of that was right. As I flipped through a stack of cookbooks, looking for some inspiration, I came across an “Autumn Birthday Cake” by Nigella “no one can be a Domestic Goddess but me” Lawson. I had seen this cake numerous times before, but had never really looking at the ingredients. For some reason the name didn’t appeal to me so I had never considered making it. This time I actually read the recipe and was surprised to find that there was a whole lot of maple syrup involved in this cake. It was at that point that I decided my theme for SHF would be a Canadian seduction. You’d be crazy not to be seduced by Canada after having a layered maple syrup cake.

I set to work making the cake, with cake flour as the recipe said, and then popped it into the oven. When the buzzer went I took the cake pans out of the oven, which was difficult because they were like bricks. It was the most dense cake I’ve ever seen, brownies are not even this dense. Before putting the cake into the oven I had the sense that something was missing, but put it out of my mind. When it came out as heavy as it did, I reread the recipe only to discover that Nigella had specified “self rising cake flour”. Who has that?? I had mistakenly read cake flour, minus the self rising. So I was frustrated with both myself and Nigella and I still didn’t have anything for SHF or the dinner I was attending that night. Since the failure of the maple syrup cake was partially my fault, I decided to give Nigella yet another chance, this time with her Coconut Layer Cake. At this point the whole Canadian Seduction thing was out the window, I just wanted a pretty cake. When I took this one out of the oven it was definitely lighter than the last one, but it still didn’t rise very high at all and wouldn’t make for a very impressive cake. It looked pretty pathetic and I wanted to throw both cakes into the snow.

As I stood in my kitchen trying to figure out what to do with two failed cakes, I broke a piece off of the maple brick cake and popped it in my mouth. The flavour was really good, but the texture was all wrong. To lighten up the denseness, I decided to cut one of the maple layers in half horizontally and put it in between the two coconut cake layers. Things were looking up. I separated the layers with coconut whipped cream, (not Nigella’s suggestion, I was through giving her anymore chances) and sprinkled some coconut and made a little decoration out of 5 candied pecans. There were supposed to be more pecans, but I ate them. I had used Dorie’s recipe to make candied nuts and they turned out fantastic. Of course they did, it was a Dorie recipe, she’s always reliable, I should never have strayed from Baking: From My Home to Yours. Anyways, I was so annoyed with the whole cake production that I refused to take a picture even though the final product actually looked quite nice. I didn't even taste it. This cake was the ultimate mood killer, it didn't have a trace of seduction. You can click over to Jasmine's for a round up of the seductive sweets that other people dreamt up, I’m sure they were less anger inducing.

Potato, Leek and Bacon Soup (Adapted from Cooking Light)

5 thick slices bacon, chopped
6 cups thinly sliced leek (about 3 large)
8 ounces peeled Yukon gold or red potato, quartered and thinly sliced (about 1 1/2 cups)
Pinches of dried parsley, thyme, paprika
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 bay leaves
2 cups water
1 cup white wine
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup reduced-fat firm tofu (about 6 ounces)
¾ cup sharp cheddar cheese, grated

Heat a pot over medium-high heat. Add bacon and give it a little stir until it’s fully cooked. Remove the bacon and all but 1 tablespoon of grease. Add leeks, and sauté 5 minutes. Reduce heat to medium; add potato, spices and bay leaf. Cook 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add water, wine and stock and bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes. Discard bay leaf.

Combine 3-4 cups potato mixture, cheddar and tofu in a blender or food processor, and process until smooth. Return the puréed potato mixture to pan, along with the bacon. Cook for 5 minutes or until thoroughly heated. Add some pepper and salt if necessary.

Technorati Tags:

Soup + Bacon + Potato + Leek + Nigella Lawson + SHF + Domestic Goddess + Cake

Milking This Stew for All It’s Worth

Is this allowed? I don’t know, but I’m going for it. I’m entering this Venison Stew with Dumplings in three separate blogging events. But I swear, it fits into all three of them very nicely. It all started when I heard about the Taste of Terroir event, for which I decided I would make something with venison and morels as they are the first ingredients that come to mind when I think about home. Then the theme for Waiter, There’s Something In My… was announced as stew and one of my favourite stews is venison stew. And finally, A Day That Really Schmecks II was created after such a favourable response to the first round, and as I learned while making my stew, the dumpling recipe I’ve eaten my entire life is from Food That Really Schmecks. Well doesn’t that just tie everything up into a nice little package? I thought so. But before you read on, you must listen to the best kitchen song ever, particularly good when making

stew:
The Robert Cray Band "The Robert Cray Band Collection"— Too Many Cooks

Anna of Anna’s Cool Finds is hosting a one off event called A Taste of Terroir which she dreamt up after reading Food and Wine’s 100 Tastes to Try in ‘07. She noted that it may not be very easy for most people to experience all of these tastes because of where they live, but also that there is a world-wide community of food bloggers who have an eye for taste and aesthetics who might put together a much more unique list, grounded in their own bit of terroir. Anna believes terroir can go far beyond the traditional use in the areas of wine and coffee, and be applied to those foods and drinks which truly give a sense of place, or the taste of the place can be observed in them. This event is to share with others, local ingredients that you have a special connection with and the recipes that you make out of them. For me, venison and morels are two things that I associate with where I live. I can gather both of them from my backyard… Dad usually gets one deer per year and then butchers it himself and puts it in freezer for us to enjoy year round. Same deal for morels but the whole family goes hunting for them. Then we dry them and store them in big glass jars for use until the new crop comes up the next spring. Both the morels and deer can be enjoyed fresh simply fried in butter, allowing the full flavour to come through. They also enhance any dish they’re added to, stew being a perfect example of this. A plain old stew gets a huge boost of flavour when you make it with venison and morels instead of beef and button mushrooms. Welcome to the country.

Waiter There’s Something In My… is a brand new blogging event started by Andrew of Spittoon Extra, Jeanne of Cook Sister and Johanna of The Passionate Cook. Stew has been chosen as the inaugural theme, which is perfect to warm you up during this cold weather, (my condolences to the Australians and other Southern hemisphere dwellers who aren’t up to making stew in 50°C weather). The idea of Waiter There’s Something In My… is to run an event for a finite period (12 months) and to make the themes as broad and inclusive as possible so that everyone can participate by taking the theme and making it their own. Stew is definitely a dish that can be adapted depending on where you live and what ingredients you have on hand, so I suspect there will be a wide variety of entries on this one. And since the category is so open, I suppose we could even get some dessert stews… If it were summertime I’d be entering stewed rhubarb served over vanilla ice cream, there’s something for you Southerners to try!

On January 15th Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict, hosted A Day That Really Schmecks to celebrate Edna Staebler- her spirit, sense of humour and her food. As other people started to hear about this project they wanted to participate as well and so Jasmine is organizing A Day That Really Schmecks II so that more people can enjoy Edna’s recipes. There has been a copy of Food That Really Schmecks on my bookshelf for literally my entire life. I’ve been eating schmecking good food before I even knew it schmecked. I find it funny that I’m still discovering that recipes that I’ve always eaten are originally from this cookbook, such as the dumplings that I always have with my stew. Dumplings were the only reason I used to like stew and I usually ended up with more of those on my plate than anything else. They’re nothing flashy, but I love them. While I was making my venison stew, I asked Dad what recipe he used for dumplings and got a reply something like “It’s in the schmeck book.” Who knew? All along I’ve been eating Edna’s Featherlight Dumplings and was none the wiser. As I flipped through the book, looking for the dumpling recipe I marveled at Mom’s hand written notes, scribbled into the margin making additions, substitutions or just general comments (great!). I love old cookbooks.

Whew, that was a lot of info. Here’s some more:

Venison Stew À La Bri, (There’s no set recipe for this, I change it slightly every time I make it based on what I have in the kitchen or garden, but here’s what I did this time around.)

1+ lbs venison, cubed
1 big carrot, peeled and chopped
1 big parsnip, peeled and chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 can chopped tomatoes
3 cloves garlic, minced
A handful of dried morels, broken up a bit.
2 cups beef stock
1 ½ cups red wine
1 cup water
A leftover bone from a leg of lamb, (most of the meat eaten in a previous meal, any leftover meat removed and added to the pot)
Dash of habanero sauce
A couple dashes of black bean sauce
A couple dashes of Sriracha sauce
A sprinkle of cumin
A sprinkle of garlic powder
A sprinkle of cayenne
A little rosemary
Freshly ground pepper
Olive oil

1- Season the venison cubes with cumin, garlic powder, cayenne, rosemary and fresh ground pepper and then brown the venison in olive oil.
2- Add the onion and garlic and soften a bit.
3- Add all of the other ingredients and bring to a boil.
4- Reduce heat and simmer for a few hours.
5- Remove the lamb bone.
6- Just before serving, make dumplings.

Featherlight Dumplings from Food That Really Schmecks

1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
Whatever herbs you want, or none at all, I used basil.
Milk

Combine first 4 ingredients. Add milk just until a thick dough forms, you don’t want it to be runny at all. Drop spoonfuls into the stew and cover tightly with a lid for 10 mins. Don’t peak. After 10 mins, your dumplings will have risen beautifully. Ladle your stew into bowls and serve with dumplings on top.


Technorati Tags:
Stew + Waiter There’s Something In My + Venison + Morels + Foodblogging Events + Edna Staebler