Goodbye lazy summer days.

Goodbye backyard barbecues and farmer’s markets.

Goodbye open-toed shoes.

Goodbye iced lattes.

Goodbye sitting outside until midnight.

Goodbye Flavour of the Month:  Simple Italian Sandwiches.

Goodbye, September!

Ciao!

Hot Sorpressata and Fontina Panini

Adapted from Simple Italian Sandwiches by Jennifer Denton and Jason Denton.

Note:  Sorpressata is a type of Italian salami that tends to be quite spicy. Any type of spicy deli meat will work well in this panino. Fontina is an Italian cheese made of cow’s milk. It can be very strong-tasting but compliments the sorpressata nicely. Fontina works well for panini because it melts well.

Now that September is over and it’s time to move on from panini, I wanted to mention a comment I’d received from Mrs B of Eating Suburbia about how to make panini if you don’t have a press. You can make great panini using one of the following two methods:

1. The old-fashioned way (A):  Heat a large pan and place your panino on the pan. With a large spatula, press on the panino and hold for 3 to 4 minutes. Flip the panino and repeat on the other side. This method is a bit tedious but it works.
2. The old-fashioned way (B):  Heat a large pan and place your panino on the pan. Cover the panino with another pan or pot that is quite heavy. You can make it heavier by weighing it down with a dish or a tin of food. Let the panino cook for 3 to 4 minutes and then remove the weight. Flip the panino and repeat on the other side.

(Special thanks to Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Michel of shakylegs for also suggesting ways of making panini without a press in my previous post.)

• 2 ciabatta buns, split in half
• olive oil (for brushing the tops and bottoms of the bun)
• a handful of arugula leaves (washed and dried)
• 8 slices spicy sorpressata, thinly sliced
• 2 slices Fontina cheese, thinly sliced (you can use more Fontina if you like)

1. Heat the panini press.
2. Lay half the arugula on the bottom half of each ciabatta bun.
3. Top with the sorpressata and Fontina.
4. Cover with the top half of the ciabatta bun and brush the top and bottom with olive oil.
5. Heat on the press for 5 to 7 minutes or until the cheese has melted and begins to ooze slightly.
6. Remove the panini from the press and let cool for a minute. Slice the panini in half and serve.
7. Enjoy!

Technorati tags:  panini, sorpressata, fontina

What a week! It seems that the arrival of Autumn has brought with it busy days and busy nights. As a result, I’ve been a bit neglectful and I apologize. But never fear. I shall catch up on missed posts and unanswered e-mails as soon as possible.

In the meantime, I’m sending this panino to all of you as a weekend greeting. It’s filled with arugula (is there a better lettuce to use in panini … I don’t think so!), prosciutto cotto, fresh mozzarella and hot mustard.

The idea comes from the Cream Puffs in Venice Flavour of the Month for September 2006:  Simple Italian Sandwiches. For those of you that are unfamiliar with prosciutto cotto, it is ham that has been cooked as opposed to cured, such as Prosciutto di Parma. Prosciutto cotto (means "cooked ham" in English) is often used in cold salads (diced or cubed), on pizza and in sandwiches, and is wonderful baked in the oven. One of our favourite dishes is an eggplant dish where slices of eggplant are topped with prosciutto cotto and mozzarella and baked long enough for the mozzarella to melt. If you’ve never tried prosciutto cotto, visit your local Italian deli and sample it.

Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Ciao!

Prosciutto Cotto and Mozzarella Panino with Hot Mustard

Adapted from Simple Italian Sandwiches by Jennifer Denton and Jason Denton.

• 2 ciabatta buns or small baguettes, sliced in half
• olive oil (for brushing the tops and bottoms of the buns)
• a handful of arugula, washed and dried
• 2 to 3 tbsp. hot mustard (or any mustard that you prefer)
• 6 slices fresh mozzarella
• 6 slices prosciutto cotto

1. Heat your panini press.
2. Spread the hot mustard on one side of your bun or baguette.
3. Top with half the arugula.
4. Place three slices of the mozzarella on the arugula.
5. Top the mozzarella with three slices of prosciutto cotto.
6. Place the top half of the bun or baguette on the prosciutto cotto.
7. Brush the top and bottom of the bread with olive oil.
8. Grill the panino for 5 to 6 minutes, being careful that your bread doesn’t burn.
9. Remove the panino and let rest for a few minutes. Slice in half with a serrated knife.
10. Repeat with the second bun or baguette.
11. Enjoy!

Technorati tags:  panini, prosciutto cotto

We’ve got a busy post ahead so I’ll just get right down to the business at hand:  some news, some recipes and a long overdue MEME response.

News, News, News!

Earlier this year, the first edition of Canadian Blogging by Post was launched with great success.

I’m happy to announce that CBBP #2 is proceeding thanks to the witty, charming and talented Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Sensual Gourmet (yes … she has two blogs!).

Jasmine stepped up to the plate and offered to host CBBP #2. She’s posted all the details here so if you’re a blogger and you live in Canada, take a moment to consider participating in CBBP #2.

The food blog world is fairly bursting at the seams with events and I for one am thrilled. Nothing gets the creative juices flowing more than a blog event.

The latest one to capture my attention is World Bread Day, which I first read about on Andrew’s blog SpittoonExtra. The event is organized by Zorra of Kochtopf. I’d never visited this blog before and I assure you that I will rectify that situation by visiting often. It’s gorgeous! The details of the event are here. As someone who is taking two bread courses this Fall, I think it is more than incumbent upon me to participate. I hope you do as well.

Recipes, Recipes, Recipes!

Many months ago, I took it upon myself to finally go through the mountain of printed recipes threatening to topple over and smother my family! And just as soon as I’d done that the mountain was quickly replaced by another mountain of recipes, except this time they were recipes I’d printed from all the blogs I visit. I decided it was high time to try some of them lest Mount Blog erupt and doom us all!

Here’s a list of recipes I’ve tried. There are no pictures, mostly because I was too anxious to eat the food rather than photograph it. Yes. I am a weak Cream Puff.

• Hungry in Hogtown’s Nutella Ice Cream:  It’s ice cream with nutella in it. You figure it out!
• Cookbook 411’s Apricot Mini Cakes:  If I had to pick one fruit that represented the summer recently past, it would be the apricot. We were blessed with a bounty of them, many of which found their way into these glorious little cakes which I reproduced with great success.
• Milk & Honey’s Chocolate Marble Cake and Spicy Honey Peanut Sauce:  Sweet Rorie is back to blogging and I couldn’t be happier. The Chocolate Marble Cake is a must-try and the Spicy Honey Peanut Sauce has become a family favourite.
• Nosheteria’s Roasted Garbanzo Beans:  When I was a child, we would snack on roasted garbanzo beans (chickpeas) all the time. At some point we stopped eating them so I was hit with a wave of nostalgia when I saw this recipe. Delicious and good for you … you just can’t go wrong.

A Long Overdue MEME Response

Speaking of Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict, I am in her debt as she tagged me for a MEME a veeeeeerrrrrrrry long time ago and I have yet to respond. It’s the "You Are What You Eat MEME" and it made it’s way ’round the blogosphere for quite some time. The objective is to name ten foods that you cannot live without. Having recently taken time to answer the question that Melissa put forth, I won’t bore you by repeating my list of five. But I will add another five to my original list in no particular order.

• Chocolate:  No explanation required.
• Milk:  It does the body good.
• Doughnuts:  Dough that is fried and then dipped in sugar is very good for you.
• Tomatoes:  I cannot imagine a life without tomatoes and all the various dishes they inspire.
• Cheese/Yogurt:  Who knew bacteria could be so yummy!

And there you have it. Some news, some recipes and a MEME.

Ciao!

On the menu for Week 3:  Butter Crust Bread, French Sticks and Croissants … well … maybe not.

The Art of Bread

Thursday night’s class got off to a busy start as I was once again without partner. Prior to the first demo, our instructor took some more time to talk about the ingredients of bread baking.

I am completely fascinated with what I’m learning. Last week we learned about the basic relationship between yeast, flour, sugar and salt. We learned that you can use sugar to feed your dough and you can use salt to control fermentation (but never let the salt come into direct contact with the yeast). The instructor reinforced a fact that I am coming across more and more:  all-purpose flour is not necessarily the best flour to bake with. In fact, many baked goods are far superior if you use bread flour.

In the case of bread flour, it’s a type of flour that is high in protein because it has been produced from what that is high in protein. Because it has a higher protein level, bread flour helps increase the level of gluten produced in a recipe. Gluten, as I understand it, is what helps give baked goods that elastic quality and it also helps baked goods to rise.

In this week’s class we were also introduced to malt. Using malt is another way of adding sugar to your dough. We learned that since sugar feeds the yeast in a dough, adding sugar and malt to your yeast mixture will help your dough rise even more.

Fascinating stuff.

We put this knowledge to use with two recipes:  Butter Crust Bread and French Sticks.

The Butter Crust Bread is a very basic sandwich loaf that is brushed with clarified butter and slashed across the top before going into the oven. Once out of the oven, it is brushed with more clarified butter.

The dough for this bread consists of water, yeast, bread flour, salt, sugar, malt and milk powder. The sugar and the malt both help to feed the yeast and this was evident in how well our bread rose while it was proofing (the school has these very cool proofing machines that will proof your dough in a fraction of the time it would take at home).

By contrast, the dough for the French Sticks only contained malt and that dough did not rise nearly as much as the first. This was appropriate as we were using this dough to make baguettes and Vienna rolls which don’t need to rise as high as, say, a sandwich loaf.

In both cases, we got to practice our kneading motion again. I find kneading one of the most relaxing and enjoyable exercises. I just love feeling that raw dough in my hands and the pleasure you receive as you shape it. Granted, my shaping skills are sadly lacking. I need practice. A lot of practice. But just as I learned to make pie dough I know I’ll get the hang of it. If you’ve never tried making bread at home I highly recommend it if only for the experience of kneading dough.

After our doughs were proofed, we sent them off to the ovens to bake. The instructor placed pots of water in the ovens along with the bread. Apparently the steam that rises from the water helps the formation of the bread crust. I’m not completely sure why this is so more investigation is required on my part!

The Butter Crust Bread was unbelievable. Since I had no partner, I took home four loaves of bread and brought two to work the next day. I served them with maple butter and with Nutella. They did not last very long. The bread had a firm enough crumb that you could toast it or spread a topping on it, but it wasn’t too dense either. And the crust was pleasingly buttery.

I was less impressed with the French Sticks dough. Our instructor explained that we could use this dough to make pizza, but I can’t see myself doing that. The bread wasn’t bad. It’s just that it wasn’t particularly flavourful. It was a bit too bland for my tastes.

One thing is certain. Kneading dough is a great upper-body workout. My shoulders and arms were mighty sore the next day!

Breakfast Breads

This was supposed to be all about the lovely croissants that I baked and brought home. But it’s not. In last week’s class we prepared a croissant dough and then sent it off to the freezers to be thawed and baked in yesterday’s class.

Just one problem. The school’s freezers broke. And so we bid adieu to all that lovely dough!

Actually it wasn’t all that bad. Our instructor (who is amazing) had us prepare a new batch of croissant dough and we all welcomed the practice. As soon as that was done we prepared a batch of danish pastry dough. Both of these were frozen and will be baked off next week (barring any further freezer issues!). Because we will have so much work in next week’s class, we’ve been asked to arrive a half hour earlier than usual. But I don’t mind. I’m absolutely loving this class and surprisingly, the scaling of ingredients wasn’t the vicious battleground it’s been in past weeks.

So stay tuned for next week when you’ll get a write up about croissants and danish pastry.

Ciao!

I just love surprises! The thrill. The anticipation. The agony of wanting to know. When Alanna of A Veggie Venture announced that the theme for SHF #23 would be "The Surprise Inside", I smiled.

I smiled a secret, Mona Lisa smile. And then I began to plan.

This particular SHF was most challenging for me because I knew I wouldn’t be able to bake. Instead, I hit the books, so to speak, for a surprising sweet that didn’t require the use of an oven. I contemplated many options in my cookbook travels, and yet it seemed like every place I stopped I wasn’t inspired.

Determined, I once again turned to my beloved cookbooks knowing that one of them would surely give me what I was looking for. And as always happens, they came through for me! In this case, it was a former Flavour of the Month that did it. Janie Hibler’s The Berry Bible was a book that I featured in August 2006. While I did share a few recipes with you, I didn’t delve that deeply into the book (it was a busy month) and I certainly didn’t close the loop by sharing my feelings on the book with you.

The Berry Bible is a thorough and accessible tribute to berries of all sorts. In fact, it’s downright amazing in that it proves you can use berries in almost any dish or course. And for those of us that still have some trouble identifying our berries, there is a full colour insert that identifies each berry by name with a helpful photograph. Who knew there were so many types of berries?!

So towards the end of this lovely cookbook, I noticed one lone post-it at the side of the page. I flipped it open and … SURPRISE … I found the surprise inside the cookbook that would inspire me for the surprise inside SHF.

So what’s the surprise?

Do you know what it is?

Do you smell it?

Do you taste it?

Do you give up?

Okay. I’ll end your agony. It’s a phyllo pocket stuffed with mascarpone, blackberries and marcona almonds. The pockets are gently sauteed in melted butter until they turn a lovely golden and become gloriously crispy on the outside. Shatter the crust with your fork and you will discover an oozing, melting centre.

What a delicious surprise indeed. And on a Friday no less!

Ciao!

Phyllo Pockets with Mascarpone, Blackberries and Marcona Almonds

Adapted from The Berry Bible by Janie Hibler.

• 12 sheets phyllo dough, thawed and kept under a moist towel to ensure they don’t dry out
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 1/4 cup marcona almonds, chopped
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1/4 cup mascarpone
• 1 cup blackberries
• more butter for sauteing

1. Combine the almonds and sugar in a small bowl.
2. Take one sheet of phyllo and lay it out on a work surface. Brush with butter.
3. Top with two more sheets of phyllo, brushing each one with butter.
4. Cut the phyllo sheets into three strips, lengthwise.
5. Starting at the left corner of each strip, place a tablespoon or so of mascarpone on the phyllo.
6. Top with 3 or 4 blackberries.
7. Sprinkle some of the almond/sugar mixture over the blackberries.
8. Take the left edge of the phyllo and fold it over the mascarpone/blackberries and almonds. From that point, fold the phyllo over as you would fold a flag, creating clean corners. Keep folding until you reach the end of the phyllo strip and tuck any excess pastry under the seam.
9. Put the phyllo pocket seam down on a plate.
10. Repeat these steps until you have made 12 phyllo pockets.
11. In a large pan, melt on or two tablespoons of butter. Saute the pockets for two to three minutes on each side, our until they are golden. Saute two or three pockets at a time.
12. Transfer to a plate while you saute the other pockets.
13. Dust with icing sugar and serve immediately.
14. Enjoy!

Note:  If you can’t find marcona almonds (I bought mine at Williams-Sonoma), use regular blanched almonds. Instead of blackberries, you could also use blueberries.

Technorate tags:  sugar high friday, phyllo, mascarpone, blackberries, marcona almonds

On the menu for Week 2:  Basic white bread and chelsea buns.

The Art of Breads

On Thursday night I began the second course that I am taking this fall, The Art of Breads (the other course is Breakfast Breads which began last week). The goal of the course is to learn how to make a variety of breads and in the process, learn about the components of great bread including flour and yeast.

My evening got off to a wonderful start when a very sweet classmate of mine came up to me and introduced herself by telling me that she reads my blog. She was very nice and said some really positive things about this site, which made me feel great! It’s such a pleasure to know that there are so many avid bakers and cooks out there that I can share my passion with. On that positive note, it was time to start class.

I immediately liked our instructor as she took the time to discuss and define the ingredients that we’re using. We spent considerable time talking about yeast, flour, salt and sugar and what their respective roles are in baking bread. As the course progresses, the instructor explained that we will delve deeper into not only those ingredients, but others as well.

The instructor made up a batch of what was referred to "modelling dough". This dough had no yeast in it but was used to demonstrate the various free-form shapes we could try when we actually got down to baking. It was all a bit of a blur as most of us were still trying to wrap our heads around the basic push-pull kneading motion. Still, it was exciting to see all the possibilities.

Having collected all my ingredients, I started by making a slurry of water and yeast. I added the flour over the slurry, and then all of the other ingredients (sugar and milk powder) over the flour. The dough came together very quickly in the mixer and at that point I turned my dough onto the table and began kneading.

My kneading motion was quite awkward and clumsy at first. Our instructor demonstrated a kneading method where we use one hand to gently guide the dough and the other to pull the dough over itself, push it away, pull it over itself, push away and so on. But after a few minutes, my motion became a bit smoother. I’m definitely looking forward to having an oven again so I can try this at home.

The type of bread that we were making was essentially a basic white bread. After the bread was proofed (the school has proofing machines to do this), I divided my dough into four and made three round loaves with slashed tops called boules, and I attempted to make a Vienna roll. The Vienna roll requires that an indentation is made along the middle of the ball of dough, the two sides are pushed together and the seam is rolled under. My Vienna roll was not so Vienna-like but it was my first try so hopefully I’ll have an easier time in future.

Because I didn’t have to share my bread with a partner, I got to go home with four piping hot loaves of bread. I don’t think my car has ever smelled better!

Breakfast Breads

Just as with last week, this week’s class was a whirlwind of dough and baking. I got to class early so that I could get a head start with scaling my ingredients as we were making two recipes:  chelsea buns and croissant dough. The croissant dough was frozen and will be baked in next week’s class so I’ll discuss that next week.

I got to make chelsea buns with a partner this week, which was nice as we were able to share the baking and clean up duties. The dough for the chelsea buns consisted of yeast, bread flour, sugar, salt, milk powder and shortening (while we are using a bit more butter in this course, we still mainly use shortening for baking). After making the dough and letting it rise for half an hour, we rolled it out into a rectangle and spread a caramel glaze and cinnamon sugar on the dough. We rolled it up, sliced it into pieces and fitted our pieces into round baking pans, the bottoms of which had more caramel glaze and pecans.

After turning out my chelsea buns, I realized that I miscalculated the amount of caramel glaze that I used to spread on the bottom of the pan. I should have used a lot more as my buns were a bit dry. Usually, the glaze should cover the top and drip down the sides. Still though, the buns were quite good and I will try these at home except, of course, I will be using butter NOT shortening!

The best part of the class was when I finally met the Muffin Man in person. The Muffin Man has a great blog called Do You Know the Muffin Man? and as luck would have it, he’s taken many of the George Brown courses. I was thrilled to realize that he was in my class. He’s a real sweetheart and when he found out that I didn’t have a partner, he actually helped me out by cutting out the parchment rounds for me to line my pans with. Muffin Man … I thank you!

Overall, I’m enjoying this class immensely with one exception, that being the scaling of ingredients. Some of my classmates are a bit discourteous when gathering ingredients. I’ve been jostled and even blocked from access to ingredients. This is quite a departure from the cooperative atmosphere that existed in my Basic Baking course. I’m a big girl. I can take care of myself. But I am a bit surprised at the almost competitive edge to gathering ingredients for baking.

Here’s hoping the remaining four classes will be a bit tamer!

Ciao!

People mark the passage of the seasons in many ways. In winter some look for the groundhog’s shadow to determine how much longer the season will last. In spring, the lengthening days are welcomed by those who long for summer’s heat. And some wait anxiously for the leaves to change colour so that they can declare the arrival of the fall. In the house of Cream Puff, you know fall is on its way when it’s time to "do the tomatoes".

At the beginning of each September, a call is sent out by the matriarch of every Italian family. The call goes out far and wide and it is a signal to communicate with other family members and decide the all-important date. That is, the date that everyone will gather at an appointed place, aprons in hand, in order to prepare tomato sauce for the coming year. Those of us who are immigrants or children of immigrants have found our own unique way of describing the event. We call it:  "doing the tomatoes".

I will ask my friend, "So when are you doing the tomatoes?"

And she will reply, "We’re probably doing them next Sunday. And you?"

I’m quite certain that this is horrible grammar but it’s one of the expressions that we’ve adopted as Italian Canadians. It doesn’t matter what part of Italy your family came from. When someone tells you they’re doing the tomatoes, you know exactly what they mean.

Tomato day is always a Saturday. For the last four years, the makeshift tomato sauce factory is set up at our house, in the garage. Together with other family members, we turn our humble little property into the site of big-time tomato sauce production.

The day begins very early with the washing the tomatoes, usually done by the older women in the family. Efficiently, they wash every tomato that will eventually be processed. When you consider that we will typically go through five bushels of tomatoes for each family that’s part of the group … well … that’s a lot of tomatoes!

The next step in this very long day is the cutting of the tomatoes. I’m sure that every family has developed its own system in this regard. In our family, we put the bushels of tomatoes in the middle of a large circle of chairs. Those of us that are younger (usually young women) sit around the bushels and begin cutting the tomatoes by removing the stem end, slicing the tomato in half and giving it the very slightest squeeze to break up the inside. We do not squeeze out all the seeds or the juice; just the very slightest of squeezes and then the tomatoes are deposited into a huge bin.

Cutting the tomatoes is one of the glory jobs on tomato day. Once you’re handed a knife, usually by an older woman in the family, you have graduated to a position of high rank in the Tomato Army. Being handed a knife means that you are entrusted with one of the key duties of tomato day:  tomato inspection. For those of us that cut the tomatoes must be responsible for ensuring that a rotten tomato does not make its nasty way into the bin of cut tomatoes, waiting to be cooked.

When you are initially handed the knife, an older person will still occasionally eye you. This is to keep you on your toes and ensure that you are paying attention. But deep down, they know and you know that you are ready.

Prior to being handed a knife, you fill whatever role the adults give you. In a way, you become a jack-of-all-trades. Before I was given the honour of cutting tomatoes, I washed dirty utensils, I made sure that the driveway was clean of tomato bits, I fetched whatever items were needed, I answered the phone, I set the table before lunch, I washed the dishes after lunch, and … I made espresso.

Ah, yes. Go make some espresso. Throughout tomato day, young people will often be sent to go make some espresso. When I first started to do this I was excited because I knew that I was edging ever closer to cutting the tomatoes. After a few years of this, however, I became very annoyed and even petulant. I hated making coffee for the adults and then having to bring it to them. I hated it so much that I would often break one of the cardinal rules of doing the tomatoes:  don’t ever complain.

Making espresso came to symbolize the very apex of kitchen drudgery. I felt used. I felt down-trodden. Until, that is, I figured out what was really going on.

When my grandparents got older and it became more difficult for them to help, I was finally granted the honour of tomato-cutting. And on that day, I came to understand the way of things. While someone else went to "make some espresso", a discussion ensued between some family members. But this was not a typical tomato day discussion about the quality of the tomatoes or whether or not the sauce was too liquidy.

Oh, no.

This was gossip. Good gossip. In one mind-blowing moment, my family’s charming and wholesome facade was shattered. I learned about affairs, betrayals, stolen land, love triangles, revenge … I’m telling you … it made The Sopranos look like a cartoon show for toddlers.

How glad I was to finally be cutting tomatoes!

But back to the main story. After the tomatoes have been cut, they are dumped into huge cauldrons with enough water to begin cooking them. We do not cook them all the way through, however, we do allow the water to come to the boil. Heating the tomatoes in this way makes them easier to process. This work is always done by the women in the family. Armed with enormous wooden spoons, they watch over the cut tomatoes with all the wisdom and experience that they’ve earned through the years. To their credit, they are precise and efficient beyond belief. The women in my family rock … and no tomato is ever burnt!

Once the tomatoes are heated, it’s time to process them. Until a few years ago, we processed our tomatoes in a hand-cranked machine. As children, we would beg to be allowed to turn the crank. This lasted for a few minutes until it began to feel that our arms would fall off. Happily, we modernized and splurged on a huge tomato processor that crushes the tomatoes while separating the seeds and the skins. A worthwhile investment, this machine allows us to process tomatoes at a much faster rate. Plus no one ends up feeling like they’re arms are going to fall off.

Once all the tomatoes have passed through the processor, the resulting tomato puree is boiled in huge pots. As soon as the puree, or sauce, comes to a rolling boil, we salt the sauce and let it come to the boil again. At this point, we are ready for the greatest job of them all:  filling the tomato jars.

As with the washing of the tomatoes, this job is usually reserved for older family members. Once again, no one argues with their right to fill the jars. They’ve earned it. Prior to filling the jars, basil leaves are stuffed inside each one. This basil will flavour the sauce once the jars have been sealed.

In the old days, the filled jars would be processed in a water bath in order to seal them properly. Once again modern technology has allowed for improvements to this process. Because we can sterilize and heat jars in the dishwasher, we simply pour our hot sauce into hot jars, put on the lid and turn the jars upside down. They seal perfectly without any need for a water bath.

The jars are then covered with a blanket and left for several days to cool completely. Once cool, they are stored in the cold cellar where they will nourish the family in the year to come.

In recent years, some family members have wondered about the necessity of doing the tomatoes. High quality tomato purees are readily available in supermarkets and they really are good. They’re inexpensive as well. But in the end, these thoughts go nowhere because no one is willing to give up doing the tomatoes.

In our hectic lives, doing the tomatoes is one of the very few traditions left over from our Italian roots that we still practice. Very few people make sausages or cure meats at home any more. Hardly anyone makes home made pasta and even with the recent renewal of interest in baking, I don’t know a lot of people who bake at home on a regular basis.

Doing the tomatoes is the one thing we still hold on to. It’s always a special day; one where we know we’re continuing a long and storied tradition. In the end, it’s so comforting. It’s comforting to be with your family. It’s comforting to be using your hands to prepare food that will sustain you through the year to come.

So if you’re ever in the Toronto area at the beginning of September, let Cream Puff know. We can always use some extra hands. And if, at a certain point during the day, we send you to go and make some espresso, don’t worry. Your time will come.

Ciao!

Technorati tags:  tomatoes, canning, tomato sauce

When hunger strikes, strike back with a panino filled with pesto, arugula, artichoke, Prosciutto di Parma and Asiago cheese.

May the panini force be with you!

Ciao!

Pesto, Artichoke, Prosciutto and Asiago Panini

Inspired by Simple Italian Sandwiches.

• 2 ciabatta buns, halved
• 2 tablespoons basil pesto (click here for a basil pesto recipe)
• a handful of cleaned arugula leaves
• small jar of artichokes packed in oil or water (be sure to drain the artichokes very well)
• 6 slices of Prosciutto di Parma
• 4 slices Asiago cheese
• olive oil (to brush the top and bottom of the ciabatta buns before putting them on the panini press

1. Heat your panini press.
2. Spread the pesto over the bottom halves of the ciabatta buns.
3. Divide the arugula evenly between the two ciabatta buns and layer the arugula over the pesto.
4. Drain your artichokes well and divide them between the two panini. Layer the artichokes over the arugula.
5. Divide the prosciutto between the two panini and layer it on the artichokes.
6. Divide the Asiago between the two panini and layer it over the prosciutto.
7. Cover the panini with the other half of the ciabatta buns.
8. Brush the top and bottom of the buns lightly with olive oil. Place the panini in the press and grill on each side for 4 to 5 minutes, being careful not to burn the bread.
9. Serve immediately.
10. Enjoy!

Technorati tags:  panini, pesto, artichokes, prosciutto di parma, asiago

Alright. Now that I’ve sufficiently recovered from Black Friday, I can get on with September and the making of many delicious panini. Ladies and gentleman, please allow me to introduce to you The Nutella Supreme, a panino entirely of my own creation. Well. Almost.

Considering I listed Nutella as one of the five foods to eat before you visit the Bakery in the Sky, it makes perfect sense to launch September’s Panini Mania with a Nutella-filled panino. The Cream Puffs in Venice Flavour of the Month, Simple Italian Sandwiches, lists a recipe for Nutella Panini but you most certainly don’t need to follow a recipe to enjoy this treat.

What you do need is great bread and a jar of Nutella. As far as the bread is considered, for a Nutella panino I favour a quality baguette. Toronto’s ACE Bakery makes the most adorable mini-baguettes, which are perfect for individual servings. This means Cream Puff does not have to share her bread and Nutella. This is a very good thing.

My love affair with Nutella goes back as far as I can remember. But of all my Nutella memories, none are more thrilling than the blissful afternoon snacks that my brother, little cousins and I enjoyed on those occasions when we were in Italy for the summer. Because we would stay with my grandparents whose home was high up in the hills of Le Marche, my grandmother tended to buy the few foods she did not make herself in bulk. As a result, we didn’t have those tiny little jars of Nutella or those little snack-sized packages. No. We had a vat of Nutella. That’s right. A big plastic tub of the world’s greatest chocolate spread. Greedy little beasts that we were, we wouldn’t even wait for my grandmother to properly spread it on bread for us. Instead, we’d rip large loaves of bread into hunks and then dip the bread directly into the tub of Nutella.

Of course only a grandmother would let you do such a thing. And what fun we had! So with this lovely memory in mind, I was settled on making my Nutella panino when I received an e-mail from a reader who explained that her daughter likes to eat Nutella with peanut butter and strawberries. Now I am very familiar with Nutella and peanut butter sandwiches … consider them a homemade version of Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups. But for some reason, the idea of topping this luxurious concoction with strawberries just never occurred to me.

Inspired, I set about to create a new panino. I began with my little mini-baguettes, sliced in half and lightly buttered on each side. I grilled the baguette halves in the panini press for a few minutes. After removing them from the press, I let them cool slightly. If I had begun layering on the peanut butter and Nutella right away, the hot bread would melt the toppings and you’d have a very leaky panino, which is not necessarily a bad thing if you’re consuming it in total privacy with no one to watch as you greedily lick peanut butter and Nutella off your paws (or is that just me?). However, if you plan on taking a picture for your blog, I recommend letting the bread cool slightly.

Once the bread had cooled a bit, I spread peanut butter on one half and Nutella on the other. I topped the peanut butter half with sliced strawberries and sprinkled sliced almonds on the Nutella half. I sandwiched the two together, dusted the top with icing sugar and then … because one can never have too much Nutella … I drizzled some more Nutella over the entire thing.

And there you have it. The Nutella Supreme.

Okay. So maybe a month with no baking won’t be so bad after all.

Have a great week!

Ciao!

The Nutella Supreme

Loosely inspired by the daughter of a reader, a treasured family recipe and Simple Italian Sandwiches.

• 4 mini-baguettes, halved or 1 baguette, sliced into four equal pieces and then halved
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1/2 cup Nutella
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 4 strawberries, hulled and sliced
• 1/4 cup sliced almonds
• icing sugar for dusting

1. Heat your panini press.
2. Spread the butter equally on both sides of your bread.
3. Grill your bread in the press for 2 to 3 minutes on each side. Be careful not to burn your bread.
4. Let the bread cool for a few minutes.
5. Spread the peanut putter equally on 4 of the bread halves.
6. Spread the Nutella equally on the other 4 bread halves.
7. Layer the strawberry slices over the 4 bread halves covered with peanut butter.
8. Sprinkle the almonds over the 4 bread halves covered with Nutella.
9. Sandwich the bread halves to form 4 panini.
10. Dust with icing sugar and drizzle on more Nutella if desired.
11. Enjoy!

Note:  This recipe will serve 4. Feel free to use more Nutella or peanut butter depending on your preferences.

I do not recommend spreading the filling on your bread and then grilling the panini. The filling will leak out and you’ll end up with no filling on your bread but lots on your panini press!

The lovely Meeta of What’s for Lunch Honey? (how happy am I that I met Meeta!) hosts a recurring event called The Monthly Mingle. This month’s theme is your favourite holiday cuisine. Based on all the lovely memories that I have of enjoying Nutella while on vacation in Italy, this would have to be it. As a result, The Nutella Supreme is my entry for the 4th edition of Meeta’s Monthly Mingle. Thank you so much for hosting this event, Meeta! I can’t wait to see what next month’s theme is.

Technorati tags: nutella, peanut butter, panini, monthly mingle

On the menu for Week 1:  Brioche.

When I recently read Melissa of The Traveler’s Lunchbox’s post about successful brioche-making, I thought that perhaps there could be home-made brioche in my future.

You can imagine how pleased I was to learn that the first breakfast bread we would be attempting in the course I am taking would in fact be brioche.

For those of you that have been my little cream puff buddies for some time, you’ll know that this past summer I enrolled in a Basic  Baking course at George Brown College. At the time, I was entertaining the idea of pursuing a Bakery Arts Certificate on a part-time basis. George Brown has an excellent Culinary Arts program that offers part-time courses for those of us that cannot participate in a full-time professional culinary program.

After completing that course, I made the decision that I owed it to myself to pursue and complete the certificate. I have no idea where it will lead, but for once in my life I’m not going to worry about that. I’m going to enjoy the course for what it is:  an opportunity for me to receive some professional training in a subject area that is so near and dear to my heart.

The Bakery Arts Certificate requires the completion of 10 courses. Six of those courses are compulsory and four are elective. The Basic Baking course I took during the summer was the first compulsory credit that I earned.

From September through November, I will be taking my second compulsory course called The Art of Bread. In addition, I have picked up an elective, the aforementioned Breakfast Breads, which I figured would compliment the compulsory bread course that I’m taking. The Art of Bread is on Thursday nights and Breakfast Breads is on Saturday mornings. As I did with my summer course, I’ll be posting a weekly update of my progress so I certainly hope you’ll stick with me as we go back to school!

When I got to class this morning, I was five minutes late and found that the instructor had already delved into the course material. This was very different from the Basic Baking course where the first part of the first class was devoted to an introduction. The atmosphere in today’s class couldn’t have been more different. We hit the ground running! We were expected to know where everything was, to collect our ingredients quickly and to get to work.

It was incredibly fast-paced and I’ll admit, I was a bit rusty. To top it all off I did not have a partner. I’ll be honest when I say that the idea of working alone is sometimes appealing. However, being in a new lab, not knowing where everything was and arriving late made me feel a bit off kilter so it took me awhile to get into the swing of things. A partner would definitely have helped. Fortunately, the instructor has two assistants who will help wherever they can and both of them were extremely helpful. Considering I didn’t have a partner, I think I did pretty well.

We began by mixing compressed baker’s yeast with warm milk and then adding flour. As with the Basic Baking course, we used bread flour as opposed to all-purpose flour. I asked the assistant why bread flour was used as opposed to all-purpose and his response was that bread flour has higher protein content, which results in a better end product. I’m not completely sure what the relationship is between higher protein and a better baked good so this is something that I’ll have to investigate as I pursue these courses.

After mixing our flour/yeast/milk mixture, we let it sit it for 30 minutes to rise. This mixture was called a sponge and our instructor explained that a sponge of this nature can be the basis for many breads. After the sponge had rested (and risen), we added bread flour, sugar, salt, vanilla extract (again with the artificial clear vanilla extract!) and lemon zest. We mixed this into our sponge (using a stand mixer) for almost 10 minutes before adding softened butter, in small pieces. The butter was added gradually so as to allow the butter to be worked into the dough by the mixer.

I’m not sure if I made a mistake when measuring out my ingredients, but my dough was problematic in that it was far too greasy. The instructor suggested I put it back in the stand mixer to beat it longer in order to allow the butter to work itself in fully. But that didn’t help much. I have a feeling that I may not have accurately measured the flour.

In any event, I proceeded with my dough by covering it in plastic and letting it rise for 20 minutes. It wasn’t as smooth as the dough of some of my other classmates, but it rose just fine.

When it came time to form the brioche, we did so by using a very funky machine called a dough separator. It’s basically a large press that operates with a lever. You put your dough in a round pan, place it under the press and pull down the lever. This will score your dough making it easy for you to separate it. You can adjust the separator depending on how many pieces of dough you want.

The class assistants helped me roll out my brioche. The rolling motion that the instructor taught us was new to me and will definitely take practice (guess I’ll have to make more brioche). We baked our brioche in muffin tins and formed them by placing one ball of dough in the muffin tin, making a hole in the centre and attaching a smaller knob of dough to form the head of the brioche. As you can see from the picture above … Cream Puff needs practice!

By the time the brioche came out of the oven, the smell in our baking lab was more than enough to make up for whatever problems I’d experienced in making the dough and forming the brioche. And I’ll admit, being able to take all those brioche home instead of sharing them with a partner was pretty sweet!

Upon arriving home, we sat down and slathered our brioche with either butter and jam or Nutella. The brioche had a nice buttery taste and were not too sweet. Overall, not bad for a first try.

It’s sometimes amazing to me how I can feel so competent baking in my own kitchen and then feel like a baking simpleton when I’m in class. But I think that this is part of the reason why these courses are so good for me. They force me to step out of a comfortable environment and challenge myself.

I hope you’ll stick with me as I taken on this next challenge!

Ciao!

Technorati tag:  brioche, baking class

In the aftermath of the La Festa al Fresco, Lis and I sat at the huge table, cleared of food, and smiled. With our tummies filled to bursting and our hearts happy, we reminisced about the good time had by all.

That is until we realized we forgot someone.

THE HORROR!

With all the eating and the drinking and the dancing and the singing we forgot to thank our dearest Ximena of Lobstersquad for her dish. How could we forget our sweet friend Ximena?!

Lis and I are ever so sorry. We blame the excesses of the festa for clouding our minds.

And now, we present to you:

Bonito en Escabeche from Ximena of Lobstersquad.

As soon as Ximena’s blog burst onto the scene she became an instant favourite with her charming, quirky and imaginative drawings. The fact that she is a brilliant cook also helped. Ximena blogs from Madrid, Spain (are we ever jealous!) and can always be counted on for inspired cuisine and a very humorous outlook. For the festa, she brought Bonito en Escabeche. Doesn’t that sound wonderful … say it with me … Bonito en Escabeche! Bonito is a type of fish and en escabeche is the way that the fish has been preserved. There weren’t any leftovers so I can tell you that it was beyond fantastic. Ximena, thank you so much for coming to the festa. Lis and I will gladly fly to Spain and do your dishes for a week to make up for not including you in the original round up!

Grazie, Ximena!

Ginger Crunch n’ Cream Ice Cream from Bron of Bron Marshall.

Last but not least, our sweet friend Bron flew in from New Zealand to close out the festivities with the most delicious offering of ice cream made with ginger cream. Some of you had already left the festa by the time Bron arrived and that’s unfortunate because you missed a most tantalizing ice cream based on the popular cookies n’ cream ice cream. Bron’s version was gingery and oh so good! Of course I expected nothing less of Bron whose blog is just one gorgeous creation after another.

Grazie, Bron!

Thank you to everyone for all the wonderful comments about the festa. It was a joy to host it with Lis. We’ll do it again next year!

Ciao!

Technorati tag:  la festa al fresco

When my lovely partner in crime, Lis of La Mia Cucina and I first dreamt up La Festa al Fresco, we wanted it to be a way to hold a bit of summer in our hands … a last hurrah for the season that gives us so much.

So we planned a big party and promptly forgot the food. Oh, dear! We sent out the call for help and so many of you responded with some of the most amazing dishes that feature summer’s best.

I know I can speak for Lis when I say that it is positively heart-warming to know that there are so many friends out there willing to share food and good times.

Thank you. Grazie.

And now, I’m pleased to present the second half of the La Festa al Fresco round up. I owe a special thanks to Lis who did much of the leg work in terms of preparing photos. I’m a bit of a technically-challenged Cream Puff so I really appreciate that. Lis is an absolute darling and a great friend! I feel fortunate to know her and hope that she’ll host this party with me every year.

For the first half of the round up, check out La Mia Cucina:

Fruit Delight from Stephany of Blue Ridge Reflections.

My dear friend Stephany arrived at the festa with a bowl of this colourful and vibrant Fruit Delight. This dish is the perfect mix of so many of the fruits that are best at this time of year. I’ve known Stephany for many years and I just couldn’t imagine the festa without her. I’m so thrilled that she could come.

Grazie, Stephany!

Prosciutto con Fichi Freschi e Formaggio from Angelika of The Flying Apple.

How thrilled we were that Angelika flew in all the way from Vienna, Austria! I know that at heart, Angelika is Italian and the dish she brought proves it. The fresh figs with cheese and prosciutto is the perfect way to enjoy the beauty of summer. A fresh fig is an unbelievable thing and if you haven’t had the chance to try one yet, you should. Angelika is one of the first people that I met after starting this blog and she continues to be a source of joy and inspiration. Thank you so much for coming.

Grazie, Angelika!

Mini-Corn Cakes with Lime and Avocado Salsa from Joanna of The Passionate Cook.

Whenever I want to be inspired, I always take a little trip over to Joanne’s blog. A wonderful cook, Joanna can be counted on for some beautiful and creative dishes. And the dish that she presented at the festa is no exception! Perfect corn cakes with a lime and avocado salsa that sounds so refreshing. I can’t decide what I like better:  the mini-corn cakes or the lime and avocado salsa. This dish also reminds me that I just don’t use avocado enough. Joanna, you’re welcome at the festa any time!

Grazie, Joanna!

Creamy Stuffed Figs from Jennifer (my long-lost sister) of Weekly Dish.

You’ll never imagine how shocked I was to discover that I had a long-lost sister! But it’s true … Jennifer and I just know that we are related. We have the same interests and like pretty much all the same foods. The reason I really know that we’re sisters is that Jennifer writes her menu out every week on a board and posts it on her blog. And that’s just the sort of thing I love to do. As all good sisters do, Jennifer showed up at the festa with the most gorgeous dish:  Creamy Stuffed Figs. I have been tempted many times with the idea of throwing all to the wind and moving to a Mediterranean hillside for the simple joy of eating fresh figs. This dish will save me the trouble of moving.

Grazie, Jennifer!

Curry Chicken Skewers with Eggplant Relish and Tomato Chutney Vinaigrette from Sher of What Did You Eat?

Even before I visited Sher’s blog to see the picture of this dish, the name alone had me drooling. This is eggplant season and I was so happy to see Sher make use of this beautiful vegetable with a lovely relish. Chicken and curry are the perfect combination and the vinaigrette is so intriguing. Thankfully Sher put a few skewers aside just for me so I was able to try some before they were all gone!

Grazie, Sher!

Panna Cotta from Meeta of What’s For Lunch Honey?

Ah, Meeta! I knew you’d come through for us! Not only did Meeta bring one of my favourite desserts of all time, she topped the panna cotta with the most beautiful fresh blackberries. And to help those of us that haven’t tried panna cotta before, Meeta posted a very useful cooking lesson on the subject.  Oh yes and she flew in all the way from Germany!

Grazie, Meeta!

Beetroot Tabouli from Barbara of Winosandfoodies.com.

As I mentioned to Barbara when she presented this dish, she must have been reading my mind. I have  been seriously preoccupied with beetroot lately and with tabouli. I don’t use beetroot often so I was looking for ideas and, if you can believe it, I’ve never made tabouli. Barbara solved both of those problems with her gorgeous dish. And she didn’t even show any jet lag from the flight in from New Zealand. What a gal!

Grazie, Barbara!

Wasabi-Dusted Prawns with Asian Slaw and Jasmine Rice and Lychee Sorbet with Crystallized Ginger from Bruno of Zinfully Delicious.

Based on all the gasps I heard when Bruno put his dishes on the table that he had created some truly impressive dishes. First of all he gets an award for bringing two dishes to the table and what dishes! The prawns dusted with wasabi is such a nice touch and the Asian slaw is so intriguing. Sorbet is the perfect summer dessert and using lychee is a wonderful idea. Bruno, we’re all so glad you came to the festa.

Grazie, Bruno!

Roasted Tomato Sauce from Lisa of Champaign Taste.

Lisa is the brilliant mind behind the recent tribute to Julia Child on the occasion of her birthday. Lisa has such a beautiful, thoughtful blog and I was so happy to see her come to the festa. She brought with her a dish that uses the quintessential summer ingredient:  the tomato. The colour of the sauce alone is enough to make your mouth water. And the end result … the beautiful fusilli enrobed in the sauce … well … it’s just too good!

Grazie, Lisa!

Mini-Meringue Baskets with Pomegranate and Peach Sorbets from (the great) Anita of Dessert First.

When I first happened upon Anita’s blog, I knew that I had found a kindred spirit. There a million brilliant bakers out there and none of them inspire me more than Anita. Not only is she an incredible baker, she’s following her dream by working in a bakery. Her passion for what she does is palpable and it’s a beautiful thing to see and read about. She certainly outdid herself for the festa with the most adorable meringue cups filled with pomegranate and peach sorbet.

Grazie, Anita!

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto or Spread from Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen.

When I saw the Kalyn of Kalyn’s Kitchen walk through the door with this dish, I was so honoured! Kalyn is the originator of Weekend Herb Blogging and I am a huge fan of hers. She knew exactly what she was doing by bringing along a dish that made use of the perfect tomatoes now in season. And judging by how quickly the pesto/spread disappeared, it was loved by all.

Grazie, Kalyn!

Samosas with Mint Raita from Monisha of Coconut Chutney.

For starters, any blog with a name that has Coconut in it is right up my alley as I am the world’s biggest coconut fan! Monisha proved once again that fried is good with her spectacular samosas and the photos on her blog are a huge bonus. The Mint Raita is also an intriguing addition which makes use of all that fresh mint threatening to take over the garden (or at least my garden). Monisha, don’t forget to take some mint home with you!

Grazie, Monisha!

Tomato and Saffron Tart by Zarah Maria from Food and Thoughts.

As soon as I saw Zarah Maria’s gorgeous tart, the first thing I thought was, "What a beautiful colour!" And right after I was amazed that I’d never thought of combining saffron and tomato. Saffron is one of those spices that I don’t think we use enough, or at least experiment enough with. I’m so glad that Zarah Maria tried this because it’s so inspiring. And of course it’s another opportunity to use up those fresh tomatoes. What better way to do it than in a tart with a perfect crust. If I’m not mistaken, I think I saw Zarah Maria picking a few tomatoes. You go, girl!

Grazie, Zarah Maria!

Cue Balls on the Grill from Mooncrazy at Peanut Butter Étouffee.

Mooncrazy gets the prize for best dish name with this one. And the blog name is a great one also! In this case, the "cue balls" in question are actually small, round zucchini that have been grilled to perfection. We’re used to longer zucchini that seem to take over the garden. And of course we’re always trying to find different ways to use them. But Mooncrazy has inspired us to try different varieties of zucchini and to grill them. Well done!

Grazie, Mooncrazy!

Farewell to Summer Tart from Mickey of Kitchen Inferno.

"Burn, baby burn, kitchen inferno!" Okay … I’ll stop singing now. Anyway, Mickey decided to sum up everyone’s feelings about the end of summer with a most aptly named tart. I’m new to Mickey’s blog but love it already. And the tart was just the perfect thing to bring to the festa.

Grazie, Mickey!

Pizza Margherita from Katie of Little Spatula.

I was thrilled that Katie and the rest of the Khoury family could make it to the festa. These people know how to eat as you can see from their blog! Katie went old-school Italian with an incredible pizza margherita. Nothing says summer like a slice of this beautiful creation. I’m glad I snagged a piece before it was all gone.

Grazie, Katie!

Cukes and Onions Thyme in a Bottle Dressing from Glenna of A Fridge Full of Food.

We’ve decided to also give Glenna an award for best dish name. And another one for making a dish based on one her grandmother used to make. Grandmothers are the best! Glenna makes good use of all those cucumbers and onions sprouting in the garden with a most refreshing salad. And the dressing is a Glenna original to boot. I had many helpings of this salad!

Grazie, Glenna!

Stracchino, Pomodorini e Olive Crostini from Sara of Ms. Adventures in Italy.

I just adore Sara’s blog! It makes me feel like I’m living in Italy as I read all about her adventures. Sara is a fantastic cook and she decided to come to the festa with stracchino, a glorious fresh Italian cheese. I tried to keep these crostini all to myself but Lis reminded me that as a co-hostess, I had to share. Hey Sara … could you send me over some more of that stracchino?

Grazie, Sara!

Roasted Yellow Peaches with Italian Meringue Topping from Rowena of Rubber Slippers in Italy.

One of the very first people to open their arms to me in this world of blogs was Rowena. A brilliant cook, an incredible writer, an amazing photographer, Rowena’s blog is warm and inviting and humorous. She lives in Italy with her Italian husband and she’s promised to snap a photo of me eating a cream puff in Venice. To top it all off, she showed up with the most unbelievable dessert:  beautifully fresh peaches roasted and topped with meringue. Too delicious!

Grazie, Rowena!

Italian Plum Torte from Sam of Sweet Pleasure:Plaisir Sucré.

A fellow Torontonian, Sam’s blog has been one of my favourites since he first arrived on the scene. Sam is a hugely talented baker with experience in the pastry industry. His blog is a must-read if only for all the ice cream he makes! But Sam showed up to the festa with a lovely torte featuring one of my favourite summer fruits:  Italian plums. We have an Italian plum tree so I will be making use of Sam’s recipe to use up all those plums.

Grazie, Sam!

Plum Crumble from Helene of Tartelette.

The charming Helene also brought a plum dessert to the table and I for one am thrilled. The more plums the merrier is what I say. Helene’s crumble is so juicy and inviting … I’m glad I had lots of vanilla ice cream in the freezer with which to enjoy it. Helene, we’re so glad you made it to the festa!

Grazie, Helene!

Le Melanzane d’Aldo from Diane.

I love hearing from people who read my blog! Diane is a regular reader who has passed along several fantastic recipes. I keep telling Diane that she should start her own blog and I’m hoping that one day soon she will. In the meantime, I decided to present her dish, Le Melanzane D’Aldo, as my entry for La Festa al Fresco. This dish combines eggplant and peppers to form a fantastic union. I enjoyed mine for dinner, and then had the leftovers the next day drizzled with a bit of red wine vinegar. Diane, what a wonderful dish!

Grazie, Diane!

Roasted and Stuffed Patty Pan Squash from MizD and Chopper Dave of Belly Timber.

Was I ever happy to see MizD and Chopper Dave at the festa! They have a gorgeous blog and are clearly talented cooks. Their roasted patty pan squash was a sight to behold and were quickly gobbled up. Once again this is an example of how versatile squash are. In addition, the patty pan squash are just so cute. But not too cute to eat of course!

Grazie MizD and Chopper Dave!

Rhubarb Meringue Tartlets from Haalo of Cook (Almost) Anything At Least Once.

I have a confession to make. When Haalo arrived with these beauties I wanted to run inside, lock myself in and eat them all without sharing even one. I’m a bad Cream Puff! But how could I help it?! Have you seen how adorable these little tartlets are? Haalo, we thank you for bringing these to the party.

Grazie, Haalo!

Tangelo Pudding from Jenjen of Milk and Cookies.

Trust Jenjen to bring a completely unique and brilliant dessert to the festa! Tangelos! While I love eating them, I’ve never thought of baking with them but Jenjen showed me how to do it. This pudding is gorgeous to look at and delicious to eat. Lis and I actually fought over it. Sorry Lis … but I won!

Grazie, Jenjen!

Blueberry Spread from Gilly of Humble Pie.

Last but certainly not least, Gilly showed all of us how to use those perfect blueberries that are now in season. This blueberry spread will grace many a slice of toast in my house. Gilly is such a talented baker (and house builder … did you know she’s building her own house?) and I’m thrilled that she could make it all the way from Nova Scotia!

Grazie, Gilly!

And so we have come to the end of the party. There’s a mountain of dishes to be done, but that’s ok. The important thing is that we all sat together at the great blog table and enjoyed a meal like no other. We gave Summer the best send off possible. And now we’re ready for Autumn.

I’d like to thank all of you for coming to La Festa al Fresco. We’ll see you next year!

Ciao!

Technorati tag:  la festa al fresco

I am not a happy Cream Puff.

As the end of August approached, I began to scan The Overburdened Bookshelf for the next gem to pluck and feature as a Cream Puffs in Venice Flavour of the Month. I remembered that earlier this year, I’d made a promise to myself (more of a challenge, rather) to bake more bread. This made my choice very easy. Eagerly, I took Linda Haynes’ The Ace Bakery Cookbook from my shelf and began leafing through it, excited about my decision to finally start baking some bread.

And then it happened … the … ahem … minor stove mishap that ended with the realization that we needed a new stove. So off we went to the Cream Puff family’s official appliance supplier:  Tasco Distributors. We’ve bought every appliance that I can remember from this fine store without a whit of trouble. After much research, we decided on a lovely new stove that would be introduced to our family on September 9th.

September 9th.

That would mean a little over two weeks of no baking for Cream Puff.

Okay.

September 9th. I’m a big girl. I can handle no baking for two weeks. So the first week goes by. It was tough, mind you, but I survived.

Until Friday September 1st that is. Or as I am now calling it, Black Friday.

I came home from work to discover that the people who run the Tasco warehouse had suddenly realized that the stove we purchased was not in stock. This of course means they must order it from somewhere else. Which in turn means that somewhere else must deliver the stove to the Tasco warehouse before it’s delivered to the House of Cream Puff.

So what does all this mean?

It means that our new stove will not be delivered until at least October 1st.

October 1st.

More than a month with no working oven. That means no baking. NO. BAKING.

Don’t worry. Those screams of anguish that you hear are not signaling the end of the world. It’s just me expressing my extreme horror.

How am I to make it through September without baking? No apple pies with my neighbour’s apples. No peanut butter cookies that I always like to bake at the start of school. No roast chicken flavoured with the last of the fresh thyme from our garden. No slow-roasted tomatoes with the slivers of garlic and toasty breadcrumbs. And certainly no bread from Linda Haynes’ The Ace Bakery Cookbook.

No baking in September.

I am not a happy Cream Puff.

NOT. HAPPY.

For the last two days, as the truth of the situation sunk in, I found myself experiencing various emotions. Anger, disbelief, apathy, more anger and finally … resignation.

Sigh.

If there’s not going to be any baking in September, I guess I might as well make the best of it. Thankfully, I do have a book, newly in my possession, that will hopefully help me to get through. It’s called Simple Italian Sandwiches and is written by Jennifer and Jason Denton. While I won’t be able to bake bread, I will be able to buy lots of the world’s best bread from Toronto’s Ace Bakery, which I can then use to make delicious panini. And I suppose the fact that I’ll finally be putting that panini press that I received as a gift to good use is also a positive.

So here goes the September with no baking. Come back to see what interesting panini I concoct with the help of Cream Puffs in Venice’s Flavour of the Month for September 2006:  Simple Italian Sandwiches.

And if the good people at Tasco happen to  be reading this, I have only two things to say:  Boooooooo! Hissssssssss!

Ciao!

The spirit of the MEME has been reawakened by Melissa of The Traveler’s Lunchbox who has encouraged bloggers everywhere to compile a list of foods they’ve eaten and would tell others to eat before they head off to the great bakery in the sky.

The following unbelievably talented people tagged me for this one and I thank them profusely: Natalia of From Our Kitchen, Susan of Porcini Chronicles, Rebecca of Eat and JenJen of Milk and Cookies.

(Editorial Note:  In a moment of sheer forgetfulness I neglected to mention that the lovely Mae of the beautiful and elegant Rice and Noodles also tagged me for this MEME. Mae, my sincerest apologies! There’s a platter of Olive Ascolane, Crema Fritta, Prosciutto, Parmigiano, Ravioli di Castagne and Bread with Nutella waiting for you whenever you like!)

Compiling this list was incredibly difficult for me. How can I narrow down all the incredible foods out there to simply a list of five? I finally decided to stop fretting and listed five items that seemed impossible to do without. Of course my actual list probably numbers at least one hundred! But here goes:

1. Olive Ascolane (Ascolane Olives):  Close to the Adriatic Coast, in the region of Le Marche is the province of Ascoli Piceno. Home to my father’s family, it is like a second home to me. Ascoli Piceno is famous for the large olives grown there known as Ascolane. These beautiful olives are used in a dish that easily qualifies as a family treasure:  Olive Ascolane. The olives are peeled from the pit and then filled with a meat stuffing. Battered and then fried, they are a delicacy beyond compare. Stay tuned. You’ll see them on Cream Puffs in Venice eventually.
2. Ravioli di Castagne (Chestnut Ravioli):  Another famous dish from Le Marche, these sweet ravioli are prepared especially around Christmas time using local, fresh chestnuts. The finest pasta dough is stuffed with a chestnut puree. The ravioli are then fried and sprinkled with sugar. It is impossible to eat only one. Never fear … you’ll see these on Cream Puffs in Venice as well!
3. Prosciutto di Parma and Parmigiano Reggiano:  If you have never experienced the joy of tasting a silky slice of the world’s best cured ham accompanied by the best cheese ever, go and get some now!
4. Crema Fritta (Fried Cream):  Another family favourite, this is basically a heart attack on a plate. But so worth it! Crema fritta is a rich, eggy custard that is left to cool (preferably on a marble board) until it’s thick and set. It’s then cut into squares, breaded, fried and sprinkled with sugar. Oh yeah!
5. Nutella:  I am always amazed at how many people have never tried Nutella! But I can’t think of much that’s better than a fresh piece of bread slathered with this chocolate hazelnut spread.

Now that I’ve shared my list, I am tagging the following food lovers in the hopes that they will share their list with all of us:

• Alicia of Posie Gets Cozy
• Hester of Hester in Geneva
• Geneve of Geneve’s Kitchen
• Adrienne of Nosheteria
• Rowena of Rubber Slippers in Italy

Ciao!