Tuesday, January 29, 2008

Bubbles and Sunshine

Again with something warm and soothing to inspire a little sunshine into the cold of Winter. It seems to me all the snow outside will never melt, there is so much snow this year! One of the only things I truly love about winter is hot chocolate. Up until this year though, I had never made my own. Store-bought packets of “just add water” hot chocolate is all I’d ever used at home. Until yesterday…

I really needed a pick me up as I had just taken down my Christmas decorations (yes, January 28th and my Christmas Tree was still up, I am not a organized person if you must know!) and I remembered a recipe I saw a few weeks back on Orangette. A wonderful, cappuccino-like hot chocolate, that really was as incredible as she described it. I mixed things up a little though by using milk chocolate instead of bittersweet, decreasing the sugar and adding a heaping ½ teaspoon of instant espresso powder. It was incredible. All the wonderful bubbles... I will never, ever drink packets of instant hot chocolate ever again. I can’t wait to try it again with bittersweet chocolate or even white chocolate! Oh! the possibilities!

And so, since this hot chocolate is both liquid and comforting, the photo at the top is my entry for this month’s CLICK event hosted by jugalbandi.



Hot Chocolate
Adapted from Orangette

1 ½ cups whole milk
2 ½ tbsp. water
½ tbsp. granulated sugar
3 oz. milk chocolate, finely chopped
½ to 1 tsp instant espresso powder

In a medium saucepan, combine the milk, water, and sugar. Place over medium heat and whisk occasionally until the sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture just to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the chocolate and the espresso powder. At this point, blend the mixture. If you have an immersion blender, you can do this directly in the saucepan; if not, you’ll need to transfer it to a traditional blender. Either way, blend for 1 minute (on high speed, if using a traditional blender - and take care(!), as hot liquids expand when blended). The finished mixture should be very smooth and frothy.

Serve immediately.


Note: Should you have any leftover hot chocolate, you can store in the refrigerator for 2 days. Reheat it gently over low heat, stirring occasionally, until hot. Blend for 1 minute; then serve immediately.

Yield: 2 servings

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Friday, January 25, 2008

Comfortably Sweet

Versatile, forgiving, comforting recipes are my favorite. Soup is one of them. Comfort food at its best, you can make it anything you like. Sometimes creamy, sometimes chunky, full of veggies, or not.


Chances are though, if I say “soup” you’re not thinking sweet. Needless to say, when I found this recipe for a
“chocolate soup” I was intrigued. Fruit, chocolate and crème anglaise, what could be bad about that? Nothing! Except that I wouldn’t call it a soup, really. It’s more like a cross between a chocolate fondue and a crème brulée, a gratin of sorts. With each spoonful you get the creaminess of the crème anglaise, the sweet tartness of the warm fruit and gorgeous, truffle like chocolate sauce. If it’s as cold where you are as it is here right now, you’ll need this soup to get over the winter blahs.



I had fresh cherries, blueberries and oranges on hand but you could use any kind of fruit you like. Fresh strawberries would be wonderful, as would raspberries or blackberries. I must warn you though, this dessert is for someone with a serious sweet tooth. While the original recipe says it serves 4, I’m pretty sure if you use smaller gratin dishes and serve this with a cookie or two on the side, it could serve 6 easily. And if chocolate isn’t your thing (!) the crème anglaise, which is just a fancy term for custard sauce, is absolutely wonderful, warm over orange segments, or any other fruit you choose.



Food is comfort. Change things around and find what’s comforting to you, that’s what it’s all about.


Custard Sauce (Crème Anglaise)
Adapted from Allrecipes
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar

2 eggs
1/2 tbsp pure vanilla extract

In a heavy saucepan over low heat, cook and stir milk and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat. Stir in a small amount of hot milk mixture into eggs; return all to the pan, stirring constantly. Cook and stir until mixture reaches 160 degrees F or is thick enough to coat a metal spoon.

Remove from the heat; stir in vanilla. Cool to room temperature, stirring several times. Transfer to a bowl; press a piece of waxed paper or plastic wrap on top of custard. Refrigerate.

Hot fruit and dark chocolate soup
Adapted from IGA.net
1 litre (4 cups) of a variety of fruit, cut in chunks
150 g (15 squares) Lindt 70% cocoa dark chocolate
80 mL (1/3 cup) half-and-half
30 mL (2 tablespoons) butter
250 mL (1 cup) crème anglaise
60 mL (1/4 cup) brown sugar

Combine chopped fruit.

Melt chocolate, half-and half and butter in a double boiler or in a microwave oven until mixture is smooth.
Divide this chocolate mixture among 4 to 6 oven-proof bowls.
Divide fruit, crème anglaise and brown sugar equally into each bowl.
Place bowls on a baking sheet and broil under oven grill for 5 to 8 minutes. Serve immediately.

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Monday, January 21, 2008

Hay Hay! It’s Pizza Time!

A few days ago, I started looking at blog-events for one that I could participate in, and when I saw that HHDD #17 theme was Pizza, well, I couldn’t pass it up! And, thanks to Joey at 80 Breakfasts, I had an excuse to make pizza, yay!

Pizza is absolutely my favorite dish. I LOVE pizza. I love making the pizza dough, I love making my own pizza sauce, I love to prepare the ingredients (no, this is not my Valentine’s Day post!)… But most of all, I love to bake pizza on my pizza stone. About a year ago, I bought a pizza stone. I wasn’t sure about it really, at first, but having seen so many cooking shows where the host raves about his or her pizza stone, you can see why I had to get one. And, boy am I ever glad I did! I mean, I had baked pizza at home before, but I was always disappointed with the crust. It didn’t puff up the right way, it wasn’t the right color. I tried different dough recipes, different pizza pans, nothing worked. Until the pizza stone. When I cut through the first pizza I baked on my new stone, I was amazed that the crust wasn’t soggy in the middle. When I tasted my first slice I knew I had made the best pizza ever. All homemade! That is an incredible feeling. Whew! Who knew pizza could stir up so much emotion!

I usually like my pizza pretty traditional: tomato sauce, very thin pepperoni slices, diced red onions and green peppers, grated mozzarella cheese and LOTS of fresh mushrooms on top. For my first ever blog-event though, I wanted to do something different. With the dough recipe I made 4 small thin-crust pizzas. I made two with thinly sliced tomatoes, strips of prosciutto, mozzarella cheese and fresh basil. OK, those two weren’t very different ingredient wise, but I rarely put tomato slices on pizza and I must say, with the thin crust, it worked quite well.

The other two were topped with a caramelized onion, fig and white port “jam”, for lack of a better word, tiny strips of prosciutto and firm goat cheese, grated. Once they were baked I shredded a few arugula leaves on top for contrast. The sweetness of the figs with the saltiness of the prosciutto and goat cheese was wonderful. The distinct taste of the figs was not lost at all throughout the other ingredients and the onions, once caramelized only added to the sweetness. This was not a traditional pizza, well not at our house anyway, and it was fun to change things around a bit.

So, that’s it, Caramelized Onion, Fig and Prosciutto Pizza with Goat Cheese, my entry for Hay Hay it’s Donna Day! My first ever food blog-event, I’m so proud!

Pizza Dough
(from Modern Classics I by Donna Hay, page 186)

1 teaspoon active dry yeast
Pinch sugar
2/3 cup (5 fl oz) warm water
2 cups plain (all-purpose) flour
1 teaspoon sea salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

Place the yeast, sugar, and water in a bowl. Set aside until bubbles form.
Add the four, salt, and oil, and mix to form a smooth dough. Knead for 10 minutes or until smooth and elastic.
Place in a clean, oiled bowl, cover, and allow to stand in a warm place until it has doubled in size. *The original recipe says about 20 minutes but mine took at least an hour.

Makes one quantity.

Caramelized Onion, Fig and Prosciutto Pizza with Goat Cheese

2 red onions, thinly sliced

5 dried figs, chopped

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

½ cup white port

Salt and Pepper, to taste

5 thin slices of prosciutto, cut into strips

about 100g firm goat cheese (I used La Patte Blanche from Fromagerie Bergeron)

arugula, for garnish


Place your pizza stone in the oven and preheat it to 500F.


In a skillet melt butter with olive oil. Add onion slices and let cook over medium heat until nicely caramelized. Give it a good 45 to 50 minutes, it’ll be worth it, I promise. Deglaze the pan with the port, add the figs and cook until there is no liquid in the pan. It shouldn’t take long, maybe 5 to 10 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste. Set aside to cool.


Divide your pizza dough into as many pizzas as you want to make and roll it to your desired thickness. Spread the fig and onion mixture onto the dough, top with the prosciutto strips and goat cheese. Bake until the cheese is melted and the crust is golden, about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and top with shredded arugula leaves.


Note: I made 4 small, thin crust pizzas with the dough recipe, though the ingredients I’ve given for the Caramelized Onion, Fig and Prosciutto Pizza with Goat Cheese will only be enough for two.

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Friday, January 18, 2008

Candy Cookies

The kids are fed and playing, the oldest is off to school, and as I sit here with my morning coffee, I’m refraining myself from having a few of these cookies for breakfast. It is only 8:30 after all and there’s not nearly enough oats in these to consider them breakfast food. I actually call these “Candy Cookies”. You could literally sit down with a plate full of these and not even realise you’ve eaten a dozen. They’re that good.

There are a lot (A LOT) of lace cookie recipes out there on the web and a lot of them are similar but I didn’t get this recipe from the net. I went to this get together once, around Christmas time a few years back, where everyone had to bring a dish and the recipe to share with the other guests. I had never tasted lace cookies before and that was definitely my favorite recipe of the night. It’s not a very complicated recipe, you just have to be a little careful about baking these as the batter spreads while baking and also they burn quite easily. Aside from that, it’s one of the easiest cookie recipes I have and the results are quite spectacular if you consider the little amount of work involved.

I tweaked the original recipe a bit yesterday as I had some oranges lying around and since I made some oatmeal cookies from smitten kitchen during the holidays I’ve been totally addicted to the taste of orange zest in cookies. So I replaced half the oats with ground almonds, added some orange zest to the mix and drizzled the finished cookies with chocolate to end up with THE most addictive cookies I have ever made.

So if you do make these, I hope you have more willpower than I do as I’m off to get a cookie… Happy baking!


Chocolate Drizzled, Orange Lace Cookies
1/2 cup oats
1/2 cup ground almonds
2 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup sugar
1 egg, room temperature

1/2 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon orange zest

2 oz dark chocolate, chopped
2 oz milk chocolate, chopped

In a small bowl, combine oats, almonds, flour, salt and baking powder; set aside.

In another bowl, mix sugar, egg, butter, vanilla and orange zest. Add dry ingredients and mix well.

Drop teaspoonfuls of dough 2 inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet (no more than 6 cookies per baking sheet as the cookies spread a lot during baking).

Bake at 350 degrees F for 8-10 minutes or until lightly browned. Let stand 1 minute or until firm then remove to wire racks to cool.

In a double boiler, melt chocolate until smooth. Drizzle chocolate onto cookies while they’re still on wire racks. Let the chocolate set and enjoy!

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Wednesday, January 16, 2008

Fish Tales

I have never been fishing. Like most people, I rely on my supermarket to provide the freshest fish available. But that has not always been the case. My Dad doesn’t go fishing anymore, but as a child I remember him coming home from his fishing trips with baskets full of rainbow trout. He would clean and prepare the fish, then coat them lightly with flour, salt and pepper. Into the frying pan they would go until their skin got golden and crispy and delicious. Simple is best.


The closest thing to the taste of trout is salmon. I always keep salmon fillets in the freezer to use for all sorts of recipes. Once thawed I poach the salmon in simmering water, flake with a fork and refrigerate until I’m ready to use it. Last night I made a salmon burger recipe I found on Isa’s site. Her blog is in French and totally worth the visit. The burgers were a hit, though closer to a fish cake than a burger so they sort of fell apart as we ate! The next time I make these I’ll most likely serve them with a salad and bread on the side.


Today I mixed the rest of the poached salmon with leftover tartar sauce, spread the mix on a toasted bagel with lettuce, served baby carrots on the side, and that was lunch. Simple, easy and good for you. What could be better?


"Fish" by Thomas

Salmon Burgers (or Fish Cakes)
Adapted from Les Gourmandises d’Isa

1 lb salmon fillets, cooked and flaked with a fork
2 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
2 tbsp dill, finely chopped (I omitted this)
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp capers, finely chopped
2 pickles, finely chopped
1 cup ( environ 350 g ) cooked and mashed potatoes
Salt and Pepper, to taste
1 egg (I added this to help them hold their shape)
Flour

In a large bowl, mix all of the ingredients together (except flour). Make 4 patties, lightly flour them and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Heat a few tbsp oil in a non-stick skillet and cook patties for 5 to 6 minutes on each side, or until nicely golden. Serve as hamburgers with lettuce, tomatoes, onion slices and tartar sauce or as fish cakes with a salad and bread on the side.

Tartar Sauce
From Ricardo and Friends

1/2 cup (125) mayonnaise
1 tbsp (15 ml) sweet pickles, chopped
1 tsp (5 ml) capers, chopped
1 tbsp (15 ml) lime juice
1 tsp (5 ml) fresh chives, finely chopped

In a bowl, mix the ingredients. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.



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Monday, January 14, 2008

Irresistible...


I remember when I was a kid and I used to go to Grandma’s or an aunt’s or uncle’s house, they would always have a box of chocolates out on the table. You know, just in case someone would come over for a visit. I couldn’t resist the caramels. And once I realized that the square ones were almost always caramels, I would spare myself the horror of biting into an orange cream centered chocolate. How I hated those creamy centered chocolates! Why couldn’t they make boxes with only caramels, wouldn’t that be easier?

Last week, I had a light bulb moment : I could make my own chocolate covered caramels. I just had to get over my fear that my cheapo candy thermometer wouldn’t register the right temperature and that the caramels would never set. So, armed with a recipe that seemed fairly easy, off I went to make some caramels. Fleur De Sel Caramels to be exact. And my cheapo thermometer came through. And my caramels tasted better than I ever thought they would!

Now that the caramel part was taken care of, I melted half dark chocolate, half milk chocolate and proceeded to dip said caramels. The toughest part was having to wait for the chocolate to set! And that was it; I had made chocolate covered caramels that tasted better than the ones I remembered as a child.

So, if life is like a box of chocolates, at least make sure you get the caramels, make them yourself! And then come back and tell me all about it!

Chocolate Covered Fleur De Sel Caramels
Adapted from Epicurious

1 cup heavy cream
5 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 teaspoon fleur de sel
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup water

Line bottom and sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, then lightly oil parchment.

Bring cream, butter, and fleur de sel to a boil in a small saucepan, then remove from heat and set aside.

Boil sugar, corn syrup, and water in a 3- to 4-quart heavy saucepan, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Boil, without stirring but gently swirling pan, until mixture is a light golden caramel.

Carefully stir in cream mixture (mixture will bubble up) and simmer, stirring frequently, until caramel registers 248°F on thermometer, 10 to 15 minutes. Pour into baking pan and cool 2 hours. Cut into 1-inch pieces, then wrap each piece in a 4-inch square of wax paper, twisting 2 ends to close.

For Chocolate Covered Caramels :

In a double boiler, melt the same amount of dark chocolate and milk chocolate (about 4 oz total). Remove from heat. Dip caramel pieces in chocolate. With a fork remove caramel from chocolate and tap gently on side of bowl to remove excess chocolate. Set aside on a parchment lined baking sheet until chocolate is set. To decorate, once the first coat of chocolate is set, drizzle more melted chocolate onto the dipped caramels. Let set and enjoy!

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Saturday, January 12, 2008

Recipe Index

Bread and the Likes
Buttermilk Honey Bread
Kugelhopf
No-Knead Bread
Pain au Chocolat
Pizza Dough
Ployes

Breakfast
Apple Butter
Apple Cheddar Scones
Black and White Banana Loaf
Blueberry Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding
Buttermilk Oatmeal Muffins
Buttermilk Waffles
Cranberry Apple Muffins

Cranberry-Orange Scones
Crêpes
Fresh Mango Muffins
Ground Cherry and Vanilla Compote
Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits
Pecan Honey Sticky Buns
Pumpkin Muffins
Strawberry Scones
Sweet Potato Biscuits
Whole Wheat Apple Muffins

Cakes, Cupcakes and Icings
Apple Pecan Cupcakes
Banana Cake
Bill's Big Carrot Cake
Caramel Cashew Topped Brownie Cake
Chocolate Armagnac Cake
Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes
Cinnamon Bundt Cake
Cream Cheese Frosting
Dimply Plum Cake

Devil's Food White-Out Cake
Fluffy Chocolate Icing
French Yogurt Cake
Gooey Chocolate Cakes
Light Swirl Coffee Cake
Maple Frosting
Maple Syrup Pudding Cake
One Bowl Chocolate Cake
Orange Surprise Cake
Pink Buttercream Frosting
Raspberry-Lime Cheesecake
Raspberry-Lime Crumbcake
Tall and Creamy Cheesecake

Tiramisu Cake
Vanilla Cupcakes

Cold Sweets for Warm Days
Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream
Chocolate Ice Cream
Lemon-Lime Frozen Yogurt
Maple Peach Ice Cream
Raspberry Sherbet
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

Cookies
Buttery Jam Cookies
Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies
Chocolate Chunkers
Chocolate Hazelnut Espresso Cookies
Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops
Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters
Coffee Biscotti
Grandma's All Occasion Sugar Cookies
Granola Grabbers

Lenox Almond Biscotti
Neapolitan Cookies
Orange Almond Cream Whoopie Pies
Orange Lace Cookies, Chocolate Drizzled

Peanut Butter Cookies
Rocky Road Cookies
Rugelach
Sesame Snap Wafers
Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookies

Drinks
Hot Chocolate
Nutella Hot Chocolate
Perfect Lemonade

Everything Chocolate
Caramel Cashew Topped Brownie Cake
Cheesecake Brownies
Chocolate and Hazelnut Truffles
Chocolate Amaretti Torte
Chocolate Armagnac Cake
Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies
Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes
Chocolate Chunkers

Chocolate Covered Fleur de Sel Caramels
Chocolate-Crunched Caramel Tart
Chocolate Hazelnut Espresso Cookies
Chocolate Ice Cream
Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops

Chocolate Pudding
Chocolate Sauce
Devil's Food White-Out Cake
Fluffy Chocolate Icing
Four Star Chocolate Bread Pudding
Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread

Gooey Chocolate Cakes
Hot Chocolate
Hot Fruit and Dark Chocolate Soup
Korova/World Peace Cookies
Nutella Hot Chocolate
One Bowl Chocolate Cake

Orange Lace Cookies, Chocolate Drizzled
Rocky Road Cookies
Silken Tofu and Chocolate Mousse

Fruit Desserts
Blueberry Cinnamon Roll Bread Pudding
Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler
Double Crusted Blueberry Pie
French Pear Tart
Hot Fruit and Dark Chocolate Soup
Mixed Berry Cobbler
Parisian Apple Tartlet
Raspberry-Lime Cheesecake
Rhubarb Black Raspberry Galette
Summer Fruit Galette

Miscellaneous Sweets
Apple Butter
Buttercrunch Toffee
Caramel Corn
Caramel Sauce
Custard Sauce (Crème Anglaise)
French Cruller Doughnuts
Ground Cherry and Vanilla Compote
Maple Brulée Pie
Maple Hazelnut Butter Tart Squares
Maple Syrup Pudding Cake
Maple Taffy
Macarons with Fleur de Sel Caramel Filling
Marshmallows
Olie Bollen (Dutch Doughnuts)
Orange Almond Cream Whoopie Pies
Real Butterscotch Pudding
Saint Catherine's Taffy
Traditional Madeleines

Untraditional Churros


Savory
Bechamel Sauce
California Rolls
Caramelized Onion, Fig and Prosciutto Pizza with Goat Cheese
Caramelized Onion and Mushroom Pizza with Goat Cheese
Chicken Tetrazzini
Croque-Monsieur
Duck Leg Guazzeto
Dukka
Fish Cakes
French Fries (in Olive Oil)
Homemade Mayonnaise
Lemon and Herb Risotto Cake

Pangasius Lasagna
Peanut Sesame Noodles
Risotto
Roasted Asparagus
Salmon Chowder
Salmon Loaf
Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins
Spicy Shrimp
Vietnamese Chicken Meatballs
Zucchini and Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta

Tuesdays with Dorie
Apple Cheddar Scones
Bill's Big Carrot Cake
Black and White Banana Loaf
Blueberry Sour Cream Ice Cream
Buttery Jam Cookies
Caramel Cashew Topped Brownie Cake

Caramel Crunch Bars
Cherry Rhubarb Cobbler

Chipster Topped Brownies
Chocolate Amaretti Torte
Chocolate Armagnac Cake
Chocolate Chocolate Cupcakes
Chocolate Chunkers
Chocolate-Crunched Caramel Tart
Chocolate Ice Cream
Chocolate Malted Whopper Drops

Chunky Peanut Butter and Oatmeal Chocolate Chipsters

Cinnamon Bundt Cake
Crème Brûlée

Dimply Plum Cake

Devil's Food White-Out Cake
Double Crusted Blueberry Pie

Floating Islands
Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake (Maple-Orange Scented)
Four Star Chocolate Bread Pudding
French Chocolate Brownies
French Pear Tart
French Yogurt Cake
Fresh Ginger and Chocolate Gingerbread
Fresh Mango Muffins
Grandma's All Occasion Sugar Cookies
Granola Grabbers
Gooey Chocolate Cakes
Korova/World Peace Cookies
Kugelhopf
Lemon Cup Custard
Parisian Apple Tartlet
Pecan Sour Cream Biscuits

Lenox Almond Biscotti
Maple Peach Ice Cream
Mixed Berry Cobbler

Orange Surprise Cake
Pecan Honey Sticky Buns

Pumpkin Muffins
Raspberry-Lime Crumbcake
Real Butterscotch Pudding
Rugelach
Savory Corn and Pepper Muffins
Split Level Pudding
Sugar-Topped Molasses Spice Cookies
Summer Fruit Galette
Sweet Potato Biscuits
Tall and Creamy Cheesecake
The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart
Tiramisu Cake
Traditional Madeleines
Untraditional Churros
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream



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