Culinary Journey

Pumpkin Cake

2010-02-01T08:00:00.001-07:00

Ever since I saw Ms. Calder make this on French Food at Home, I've been wanting to try it.

See, I'm a pumpkin fan. In all it's forms BUT pumpkin pie. I don't know what it is about pumpkin pie, the texture maybe? This is a nice, light cake, and the flavour that the rum and orange zest add give it great depth. And the colour...oh, gorgeous! Perfect for a fall day. Too bad I waited until the dead of winter to make it.

But really, try it! I'll post the link. See:

Laura Calder's Pumpkin Cake

Look, here's my batter, all ready to go in the pan. Check out that colour! Gorgeous! I know I keep saying that. But look!

Cheese and Herb Souffle

2010-01-31T08:00:00.000-07:00

As I stood in my kitchen late Saturday afternoon, about to turn on my mixer to beat the egg whites into stiff peaks, I had a brief flash in my mind. Am I crazy to be attempting this with two toddlers in the house?

Well, too late to back out now.

Cheese & Herb Souffle (serves 4 as a main dish)

1 cup milk
1/2 small onion, peeled
bay leaf
3 eggs, separated, plus 1 egg white
3oz shredded cheese
a handful of fresh herbs, finely chopped
Parmesan for dusting
salt & pepper

A little bit too brown, as in the process of calling everyone to the table, it was discovered the little one needed his diaper changed. And souffle isn't something that really makes males flock to the table. Now, call out "Steak's ready!" and it's a different story.

I had envisioned a nice green salad on the side, but Hubs forgot to buy lettuce on his errands, so we just had fresh chopped veggies instead.

My first souffle! Easier than I thought. And the kids were only locked in the basement for 30 minutes.

Yum, Yum, Pyrohy

2010-01-29T08:00:00.001-07:00

Before Christmas, I loaded my oldest son, a pail of flour, baking sheets, a rolling pin, freezer bags, and myself into the car, picked up my mother-in-law, and drove out to my folks' home for an afternoon of pinching pyrohy. Perogies. Varenyky. Dumplings. Little half-moon doughy pudgies filled with potato and cheese. The anti-Atkins.

My mother-in-law is French Canadian. But she has wholeheartedly embraced her husband's culture over the past 4+ decades. Major kudos to her for that. I kind of wish she had held on to some of her own traditions a little more tightly, but that's her decision.

Anyway, she makes fantastic perogies. But in our family, there never seem to be enough to last for any stretch of time. The boys love them, as does Hubs. And I, well, let's just say I've eaten my fair share. Boiled or fried, but always accompanied by butter, onions, sour cream, and bacon bits. Mmmmm...

And, let's face it. It not a food that you whip up a dozen or so from scratch right before dinner. You could, but the effort expended makes them more suitable for an evening of cooking potatoes, a morning of making dough, and an afternoon of assembling them by the tens of dozens and lining them up on cookie sheets to be frozen. Which is why winter is such perfect perogy-making weather, just stick the trays on your back porch and let the weather do its job.

So it was, that the three (four) of us assembled to assemble (haha) on one of the coldest days of December. My Mum had made the fillings the night before (potato and cheddar for me, potato and saurkraut for her), and was busy fighting with her stand mixer and too much dough when we arrived.

I'll post a dough recipe below. There are many, this one is very good, easy to work with. The one we worked with on that day, however, has sour cream, which makes it very tender. Wow. From Elizabeth Baird's cookbook.

Perogies are one of those things that (I think) you need to do with someone who's experienced once before attempting it on your own. Like cooking with your Grandmother, or Baba in this case...it's all by feel.

My mother-in-law swears that the best technique is to pull off little bits of dough, roll it into a ball in your hands, and then roll it out with a rolling pin, and pull it out with your fingers (like a tiny pizza). Fill with a little ball of filling, pull the circle of dough around the ball, and pinch the edges tightly together. Make sure it's tight! Otherwise they open when they hit the water, and then you get soggy perogies.

Varenyky (Pyrohy) Dough
5 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp butter
1 cup evaporated milk
1/2 cup water, as needed (save water from when the filling was cooked for this)

Combine flour and salt in a large bowl and form a well in the middle. Add the butter and milk and mix lightly until flour is absorbed, adding water as needed.

Knead until dough sticks together, cover and allow to rest for a few minutes, then knead until smooth (like a baby's bum - as my mother-in-law would say). Place dough in a lightly oiled bowl, turn, and cover for 30 minutes before using.

The dough may be wrapped in plastic and refridgerated for a day or so. Bring to room temperature before using.

Our favourite filling is potato and cheese. Other good ones are potato-onion, saurkraut, and mushroom. My Mum sometimes makes little mushroom "tortellini-style" dumplings to add to the borscht for Christmas Eve dinner. I recently read too that because potatoes weren't common in Ukraine before the 19th century a common filling was turnip-onion.

Thyme Gougere

2010-01-27T08:00:00.003-07:00

I've made these a couple of times now, and while they aren't the prettiest gougere I've ever seen, they sure do taste fantastic. (I'm sure I just need to work on my execution) The first time I made them, they were giant, and I ended up serving them instead of dinner rolls with our late Thanksgiving dinner. The second time, I made them a day in advance, piping them out of a pastry bag, and reheating them in my Mum's warming oven for Christmas Day hors d'ouveres. While I like traditional, Gruyere gougeres, the addition of thyme gives them a fresh, savoury bite that just seems to work.

Thyme Gougere (makes 45-50)

6 Tbsp butter
1 cup water
1/2 tsp salt
pepper
1 cup flour
3 large eggs
4 oz Gruyere cheese, coarsely grated
small handful fresh thyme, chopped
milk for brushing

Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a heavy saucepan, heat the butter, water, salt and pepper to a boil. Pull from the heat.

Dump the flour in all at once and beat until smooth with a wooden spoon. You will see the mixture pull away from the sides of the pan and form a ball. Put the pan back on low heat and beat for a minute, drying the paste a bit. Remove from heat and let cool for a couple of minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating vigorously with a wooden spoon after each addition. Look for a smooth, glossy and soft paste that falls easily from the spoon.

Stir in the cheese and thyme.

Using a pastry bag, or spoon, form 1" balls onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Brush with milk. Bake approximately 25-35 minutes, until puffed up and lightly browned.

Enjoy! Little bites of airy yumminess.

Proofreading Skills are Lacking...and Another Menu Post

2009-12-10T11:43:00.000-07:00

OK, so I just noticed that apparently I served Pumpkin Mouse Parfait for Thanksgiving dessert.

Sincere apologies, I hope I have not grossed anyone out too severely. And no, we don't normally eat mouse. Or mice.

However, mousse is always an acceptable food in our home. (I have no idea if moose would be acceptable. Have not tried yet.)

So, this past weekend we were down in Lethbridge for Christmas in (where else) Lethbridge! with Hubs family. My sister-in-law has been wanting to have a nice big family holiday meal in their home since they moved there in 2005. After much ado about a dining room table that was found, ordered, cancelled, re-found, discontinued, she decided to go ahead anyway.

This is what she served, completely drool worthy, and of course, no pictures. (Next time, I swear!)

Savoury Thumprint Cookies with Gruyere

Squash Soup with Apple and Jalepeno

Baked Ham

Brussel Sprouts

Mashed Potatoes

Ginger Carrots

Triple Chocolate and Peppermint Trifle

Assorted Cookies

Good job Sis! Everything was so yummy! And it's so nice having a ham to break up the Season of Turkey.

American Thanksgiving

2009-11-26T12:52:00.000-07:00

So, way back in October us Canucks celebrated our Thanksgiving. For Hubs and I and our boys, that meant a trip to Saskatchewan to celebrate Hubs' grandmother's 90th birthday. On the way home, Hubs commented that he didn't feel like we really had Thanksgiving (although the spread was fantastic), and he missed my Mum's turkey.

So, being good children, we phoned my parents - who were at the time making their way around Vancouver Island and had already had two turkey dinners- and informed them we missed them and wanted to celebrate Thanksgiving with them and my brother. At a time that was convenient to all. November 22nd to be exact. (Yes, my family generally has to plan 6 weeks in advance.)

Then someone (OK, maybe it was me), said we were actually celebrating American Thanksgiving in honour of my sister-in-law, who live in L.A.

So, I thought I'd share what we ate that day. And, since I've gotten into the habit of taking my camera only into my own kitchen and not other people's, I have absolutely no pictures of any food-type stuff at all. So, you can just imagine it in your head.

I should mention that my Dad made the turkey (on the barbeque!), my Mum made the stuffing, and I made everything else.

Barbequed Turkey

Italian Sausage Stuffing

Potato-Fennel Gratin

Brussel Sprout Leaves with Bacon

Green Salad with Lemon Vinaigrette

Thyme Gougeres

Pumpkin Mouse Parfait

Happy Thanksgiving to all the Americans in the crowd!

Baked Chicken Saltimbocca

2009-11-22T08:00:00.000-07:00

Wow, that's really kind of a non-descript picture, isn't it?

This is my chicken before I stuck it in the oven. Whoot. I've finally gotten into the habit of keeping my camera in the kitchen, now I need to get in the habit of taking pictures! This is the only picture I have of this dish, which is sooo yummy looking (you'll just have to trust me).

Baked Chicken Saltimbocca (serves 4-8)

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup flour
1-2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 cup breadcrumbs
pinch each of salt and pepper
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1 1/2 - 2 cups pasta sauce (either storebought or homemade marinara style)
8 thin slices proscuitto
8 slices fresh mozzarella
1 lb spaghetti, cooked and drained
Parmesan for grating (optional)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.

Put the flour, eggs, and breadcrumbs in three separate shallow bowls or plates. Mix the salt and pepper, oregano and parsley into the breadcrumbs.

Coat the chicken breasts in the flour, dip in the egg, and coat in the breadcrumbs. Place the breasts in a large baking dish and pop in the oven for 25 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the oven, and layer 2 slices of proscuitto over each breast. Pour the pasta sauce over the entire dish, and layer the mozzarella on top. Stick it back in the oven for about 10 minutes, letting the cheese get all gooey and the sauce heat up.

To serve, place a bit of spaghetti on a plate and put a saucy, cheesy chicken breast on top. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan if desired.

How hungry you and your companions are, and how large the chicken breasts are will determine how many servings you get. When I made this the other night, the chicken breasts were huge (we're talking Dolly-huge), and one per person was really too much. Two chicken breasts with some pasta fed a family of four. You could easily cut the breasts in half and double your servings.

Lentil & Sausage Soup

2009-11-20T08:00:00.000-07:00

Pure comfort food. That's what it is. The recipe I use is from Ian Garten's Barefoot in Paris cookbook, which I love. I've made quite a few things from this book and love how simple everything is. This recipe makes an insane amount of soup. I filled 6 spaghetti sauce jars and a large storage bowl. And it's filling. It doesn't take a lot to satisfy. Hubs has been asking me to make it for a while, so I finally gave in when I saw 4 rings of kielbasa in the freezer.

It's a fairly basic soup recipe with some great flavourings, specifically thyme and cumin. I loooove cumin. And thyme. They really are two of my favourite things to cook with. And garlic. Who can live without garlic? Not this gal!

There's also leeks. I really like leeks too. They're a great, mild flavour base. Milder than onions. I find when I use them with onions, there's another level, subtle, of flavour and aroma. They're also great grilled on the barbeque. However, I had no leeks kickin' around, and didn't feel like running to the store. So, they got left out this time.

I also ran out of chicken stock a while back, haven't made any more, and ran out of bouillon powder halfway through adding it to the pot. Vegetable stock to the rescue! Another great pantry staple I discovered a little while back.

These lentils rock. Little French green lentils, or lentil du puy, look like little dark green lenses. They don't fall apart like the other lentils do, so they're great when you want something to chew. They're great as a side dish, in soups, stews, whatever. They don't thicken, but instead are a constituent themselves.

And the sausage. I use kielbasa. I like this one. I grew up eating it. Some grocery stores around here carry it, or you can order a case. Or, if you're ever driving through Mundare, stop in and purchase some. Just make sure you're heading home soon or your whole car will smell like Ukrainian garlic sausage.

A bit of red wine as a finishing touch and you're good to go! Seriously, how good does that sound? I wish I had taken a picture of it in a bowl, but I ended up jarring it all for the fridge and freezer. When I heat some up for dinner, I'll make sure to take a picture and post it.

Healthy Blueberry Muffins

2009-11-18T08:00:00.002-07:00

I've been wanting to find a healther way to make muffins lately. White flour, even unbleached, with sugar and some token fruit just doesn't seem to cut it. They are often full of fat, or turn out dry. (Oh my gosh, I just noticed the sad state of that muffin tin!)

Here's what I tried the other day. There's still sugar, but it ends up being less than a tablespoon per muffin. And moist. So good. I'm not a nutritionist, not a dietician. These muffins aren't perfect. But I think they're better than the alternative. (Although Hubs still has a thing for the Tim Horton's Multigrain Blueberry muffins, and I am attempting to duplicate those.)

Blueberry Muffins (makes 12)

2 very ripe bananas

2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

pinch of kosher salt

1/2 cup brown sugar + 1 Tbsp

1 1/2 cups 1% buttermilk

1 large egg

1/3 cup canola oil

1/2 pint of blueberries

Heat your over to 350 degrees F and line a muffin tin with paper muffin cups.

Peel the bananas and mash in a bowl. Lightly beat the egg.

Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and 1/2 cup brown sugar and make a well in the centre. Add the buttermilk, egg, oil and bananas. Gently stir until just incorporated, making sure not to overmix. Add the blueberries and stir a couple of times to mix.

Spoon the batter into the cups and sprinkle with 1 Tbsp brown sugar. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for a couple of minutes and remove to a rack to finish cooling.

Enjoy! Mmm, I was just thinking how good raspberries would be in this. Or try a mix.

Apple Pie

2009-11-12T08:00:00.001-07:00

For my first ever food blog post, I thought I'd tell you all about the apple pie I made the other night.

One Saturday, Hubs & I had the rare privilege of going grocery shopping together, sans kids. (Pause for a shout out to Baba H. - thank you!) Well, a privilege for me, probably something akin to a metal spike being driven through his temples for Hubs. He doesn't like grocery shopping. Especially with a list.

Wandering through the produce section, checking items off as I toss them in the cart, I came upon the apples. "We need apples," thought I. "The oldest boy can east three a day when he chooses." So, I proceeded to check prices, check locations on stickers, compare colour and size. When I turned around, I spot 3lb bags of Nova Scotia apples - Grayvenstein and Cortland apples - apples we rarely see at our supermarket here in the prairies. Glorious, red and green, glossy apples.

Well, as I commented above, the oldest boy can eat his weight in apples. One bag is simply not enough. I need two bags, one of each of course!

Well, now we had a lot of apples. He won't go through all of these in one week.

Let me back up to say that fall is in full swing, and seems to be making way for winter a bit early this year, and I am in full autumn cooking mode. Which, in our house, means a roasted chicken as many Sunday evenings as I can get. With pan roasted potatoes. And scrummy veggies. So, that was our meal last night. The first roasted chicken of the fall*, with pan roasted baby potatoes and a simple green salad.

So, what better to go with this autumn feast than a homemade apple pie? Seriously, I dare you.

First came the crust, which I made the day before so it could have a good long sleep in the fridge. Easy, peasy: ice-cold butter, flour, sugar, salt, and icy water. No lard, no shortening, neither of which I've kept in my house for years. For me, crust is a bit like golf. It's not always great, but there are those times when it's perfect that keep you coming back for more.

Perfect Pie Crust (machine technique):

1 cup chilled unsalted butter

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour plus more for dusting

1 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp sugar

1/4 - 1/2 cup ice water

Cut the butter into pieces and return to the fridge to keep chilled.
Place the flour, salt, and sugar in the bowl of a food processor, and process for a few seconds to combine. Add the butter pieces to the flour mixture, and pulse until the butter is the size of peas, about 10-15 times. Add the ice water through the feed tube while the machine is running, in a slow, steady stream. Add just enough until the dough starts to hold together.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface. Divide into 2 equal pieces, and place on 2 separate sheets of plastic wrap. Flatten and form into disks. Wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before using. You can also freeze the dough at the point for a couple of months, so you always have some on hand.

The apples, half Grayvenstein, half Cortland (I love apple pies with a mixture, more depth of flavour, don't you think?) I ended up using about 9 apples in all, a couple were really small. Cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, a pinch of salt. Gah, just the smell of the filling alone is heaven on earth. I may do that one day, just make up a bowl of apple pie filling to nosh on.

Classic Apple Pie: (makes 1 ~9" double-crust pie)

3 Tbsp all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
Perfect Pie Crust (1 recipe)

3 lbs assorted apples, peeled, cored, and cut into 1/4" slices
2 Tbsp lemon juice
~1/4 cup sugar (may need more/less, depending on the sweetness of the apples), plus more for dusting
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground nutmeg
pinch kosher salt
1 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg, beaten

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out one disk of the crust dough to a 1/8" thick circle, about 13" diameter. Brush off the excess flour, and transfer to a 9" pie plate. Line the pie plate with the dough, pressing it into the corners, taking care not to stretch the dough. Transfer the pie plate to the fridge to chill.
In a large bowl toss together the apples, lemon juice, sugar, flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Arrange in the chilled bottom crust and dot with the butter.
Roll out the remaining disk of dough to fit on top. Brush the rim of the bottom crust with the egg wash. Place the second piece of dough on top, and trim so the 1" overhangs all the way around. Tuck the dough under and crimp edges with your fingers. Transfer the pie to the fridge and chill for about 15 minutes.
Remove the pie from the fridge, brush the top crust with the egg wash and sprinkle with sugar. Cut 4 vents in the top to allow steam to escape.
Bake until the crust begins to turn light brown, about 25 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and bake until golden brown and the juices are bubbling, 25-30 minutes. Let stand for minimum half an hour before serving warm or at room temperature.

How perfect is that? And let me tell you, in a moment of uncharacteristic immodesty, I rocked that crust. It was flaky, tender, the best crust I've ever made.

This recipe is a great deep dish pie. The pie dish I use is this IKEA one. I love it's versatility (I think they technically meant it for a serving dish), but mainly I love it because you can fit so much yummy filling inside!

So try, enjoy, let me know how you like it. Try different kinds of apples, add raisins or dried cranberries. Use your dough scraps to decorate the top crust. I'd love to hear what you've done!

* Although I understand, seasonally speaking, that chicken is a spring/summer meat. But who wants to roast a chicken in July?