I’ve always counted myself lucky that I grew up in a family of passionate home bakers. As far back as I can remember, I’ve been acquainted with the rituals of turning out cookies, cakes and various other sweets for all sorts of holidays and special occasions, or simply for a special treat to enjoy with an afternoon espresso. Having started to bake at a young age, I’ve overcome the fear of pie dough and choux pastry never really phased me much. I am a Cream Puff, after all.

In my own personal quest as a home baker, the holy grail has always been croissants. Now that’s scary! Words like "quarter turn" and "lamination" never failed to send a chill down my spine any time I even entertained the idea of trying croissants at home. But as with all epic battles, sooner or later you just know you’re going to be facing your enemy on the battlefield. In this case, the battlefield being your basic home kitchen.

Two recent developments gave me cause for hope in this Cream Puff versus croissants battle. The first was that in my Breakfast Breads course last fall, we made croissants in class. Under the supervision of a great instructor, and with the support of classmates, I survived my very first attempt at making these buttery pastries. The second development was that Brilynn, the funny and brilliant mind behind Jumbo Empanadas, suggested that the try their hand at croissants for January’s baking challenge.

For those of you who don’t know, the Little-Baking-Group-That-Could started with Lisa of La Mia Cucina and myself when we challenged each other to bake pretzels in November 2006. Our next challenge happened in December when we baked biscotti. Besides Brilynn, our little group had grown to include Peabody of Culinary Concoctions by Peabody and Helene of Tartelette. This time around, we’ve been joined by Jenny of All Things Edible and Veronica of Veronica’s Test Kitchen. Surely, with the help of my blogging friends, I could finally wrap my hands around the holiest of baking holy grails!

Once we’d agreed on croissants, the next thing we needed was a recipe. I’d recently become the owner of Tartine, a book by the owners of Tartine Bakery in San Francisco. Filled with the most delightful recipes for pastries, desserts and savoury treats, we figured we’d roll up our sleeves and make like real pastry chefs.

So last Friday night, I began what would become a three-day odyssey into the world of butter, yeast, flour, rolling pin and a serious lack of upper body strength on my part. It all started with the creation of a "preferment" on Friday night. The preferment acts as the starter for the croissant dough. It consisted of flour, yeast and water. After being allowed to rise for several hours, the result was a puffy, spongy mass that smelled strongly of yeast.

Once the preferment was ready, it was time to create the dough, which would be the base of the croissant recipe. In my stand mixer, I combined the preferment, milk, flour, more yeast, sugar and salt. I was completely unprepared for the stiff dough that resulted from this mixture. It was so stiff that my trusty Kitchen Aid actually stopped working twice. I had to reset the machine and help it along by punching down the dough with my hands every now and then. I briefly entertained the idea of kneading the dough by hand, but I knew that my wimpy, pastry-cream filled arms would be no match. Instead, I continued with the mixer, adding a bit of milk to loosen the dough, all the while praying that my Kitchen Aid wouldn’t blow up. After letting the dough rest for 20 minutes and then mixing again, I finally had a ball of dough that was ready for its first rise.

For an hour and a half, the dough sat covered in a bowl while I petted my Kitchen Aid mixer, promising never to put it through such hardships again. After the rest, the dough was popped into the refrigerator to continue rising for four to six hours.

Because of my busy weekend, I had no choice but to complete the croissant dough by staying up Friday night and waking up early on Saturday morning. So at about 4:00 a.m. on Saturday, I got up to begin the process of laminating the croissant dough. Laminating the dough means adding butter to the dough and then folding it several times so that the butter is distributed throughout the dough. This process is what creates the precious layers of butter and dough.

My refrigerated dough had grown quite a bit during its five-hour rest. Having heard from Brilynn, who had already baked her croissants, and looking at the size of the dough compared to my very limited kitchen counter space, I decided to divide the dough in half. Rather than dealing with one massively huge rectangle of dough, I only had to deal with two easier-to-handle rectangles. I rolled out my dough to roughly 14 x 6 inches and then divided almost three cups of butter between both rectangles. The butter was dotted over two-thirds of the dough. I then folded up the rectangles, business-letter style and turned the dough clockwise, a quarter of a turn. I immediately rolled out the dough again, and once again folded it up in thirds. At this point, it was time to refrigerate the dough because the butter was beginning to soften. The last thing you want is for your butter to get too soft and begin leaking out of your dough. So back into the refrigerator went the dough for an hour and a half.

After that time had elapsed, I once again rolled out both pieces of dough into 14 x 6 rectangles. The recipe called for the dough to be rolled and folded three times, but in my baking class, we’d rolled and folded our croissant dough four times. I figured it wouldn’t hurt so I went for the fourth turn. At that point my croissant dough was ready, however, I was not ready to bake it. So I froze both pieces of dough, in anticipation of baking them on Sunday morning. Saturday night, before going to bed, I removed the dough from the freezer and put it back in the refrigerator to thaw out.

At 5:30 on Sunday morning, I hauled my Cream Puffiness out of bed to begin, thankfully, the final phase of my quest. Deciding to make mini croissants, I divided each piece of dough into two, so I had four lengths of dough. I cut three of the lengths into triangles and rolled my croissants.

I cut the fourth length of dough into smaller rectangles and filled them with pieces of Lindt chocolate. The croissants then had to proof for about two hours, before they were finally ready to bake.

After a brush of egg wash, into the oven they went for roughly 20 minutes. By this point, I was a wreck. I was tired, my muscles were sore from rolling the dough and the kitchen was a total mess.

But the winds of victory came blowing into the kitchen and I was refreshed! The smell of butter, a lot of butter, wafted through the air and I began to see victory on the horizon. While I was concerned about the fact that it seemed butter was melting out of the dough and pooling on the baking sheets, my croissants rose beautifully and turned a gorgeous golden brown.

After removing them from the oven, I picked a few up and they were light as a feather, a sign that they had baked through. I pulled one apart to reveal a gorgeous interior filled with air pockets. And then I bit one. Pure crispy butter heaven! A bit on the salty side, but still, they were delicious.

So was it worth it? The scars, the mess, the sleeplessness, the stress … was it all worth it in the name of croissants?

I would have to say yes. In the end, I’m glad that we did try this. And while I will not be trying croissant dough any time soon, at least I can say I cracked The Croissants Code.

I just wonder who’s going to play us in the movie version???

Ciao!

Check out the posts of my bakers-in-crime:

Brilynn:  I Also Like Butter

Peabody:  @#%^&*%$^& Croissants 

Lisa:  What Does a Lot of Dough + A LOT of Butter + 183 E-Mails Make?

Helene:  I Think I Read Wrong … Croissants?

Jenny:  Happy Croissant Day!

Veronica:  My Attempt to Make Croissants …

Technorati tags:  croissants

My lovely friend Meeta is hosting the second Blogger Postcards Around the World event (BPW #2). Meeta is the creative mind behind What’s For Lunch Honey?, a beautifully photographed blog that demonstrates her passion for food and her ability in the kitchen.

Over 60 bloggers participated in BPW #1, and what fun it was! To think that a little piece of paper with a note scribbled on it could make its way anywhere in the world and result in a new friend - there’s the power of communication for you.

For BPW #2, Meeta has chosen the theme of Happy Valentine’s Day. While I realize that Valentine’s Day isn’t necessarily everyone’s favourite day of the year, I have always regarded it as a chance to celebrate all love, not just romantic love. I don’t have a Valentine myself this year. But that’s okay.

I’m sending this little card through the air and over the sea to someone I’ve never met before. And while we won’t be falling in love in the romantic sense, here’s hoping we’ll become great friends!

Ciao!

Technorati tags:  bpw, blogger postcards around the world, happy valentine’s day

A few weeks ago, I began my fourth culinary course at George Brown in Toronto. I’m working my way towards a Bakery Arts Certificate, which requires the completion of ten courses. The course I chose for this session is called Art of Pies. The course explores a variety of different types of pies, including various fillings and crusts.

On the menu for Week 1:  Orange Cream Phyllo Pie with Grand Marnier Glaze

Much like the two courses I took in the last session, this course began with very little introduction. The assumption is that at this point, students are familiar with the basics of baking. As a result, we hit the ground running, scaling our ingredients and preparing for an intricate pie.

We began by preparing the orange custard filling for the pie. The filling consisted of milk, butter, sugar, eggs, orange juice, vanilla extract and a very surprise ingredient - cream of wheat. The instructor indicated that using cream of wheat in a custard filling was uncommon. I think this particular recipe was a way of demonstrating that there a variety of thickeners that can be used in custards and fillings.

We worked with phyllo for our crust and while we did not make the phyllo pastry, we did review some important tips when working with phyllo. The most important tip being that unused phyllo sheets should be covered with a damp cloth to keep them moist while they wait to be used. Phyllo dries up in a flash and a dried up piece of phyllo isn’t going to be of much use.

We used four sheets of phyllo for both the base of the pie and the crust. When building the base, we brushed each sheet of phyllo with melted butter before layering on the next piece. Once we’d prepared our base, we filled it with the custard and then topped it with the phyllo crust. We scored the top of the pie into eight pieces (makes it easier to slice the pie after it’s baked) before baking.

Once baked, we prepared a syrup of sugar, water, cinnamon, cloves, orange peel, lemon peel and Grand Marnier. The syrup was poured over the pie, about ten minute after it came out of the oven. We allowed the syrup to slowly seep into the phyllo crust. The final touch was a sprinkling of icing sugar.

I loved using phyllo to make a pie and the syrup was incredible. I’d have the syrup over ice cream! While the flavour of the filling was good, the texture of the filling, due to the cream of wheat, was a bit strange. While I like cream of wheat, it dominated the filling in terms of texture. I would definitely make this pie again, but I would not use cream of wheat in the filling.

We ended our class by quickly forming a basic pastry crust which we used to make two pie bases each. These were then frozen in preparation for Week 2.

On the menu for Week 2:  Cherry Cream Cheese Pie and Strawberry, Rhubarb and Apple Pie

Having already prepared our pie bases in Week 1, we began by putting together the filling for the Cherry Cream Cheese Pie.

The idea behind this pie is that it’s essentially a cheesecake, except it’s baked in a pastry crust and doesn’t require a water bath, as some cheesecakes do. The cream cheese filling consisted of cream cheese, sugar, cornstarch, eggs, sour cream and vanilla extract.

We mixed all the ingredients until we had a smooth, velvety filling. We poured half the filling into the prepared shell, topped the filling with cherry spread, and then topped the cherry with the remainder of the cheese filling. We then topped the pie off with a streusel topping made of butter, sugar, brown sugar and bread flour. Before baking the pies, we sprinkled on cinnamon sugar which would caramelize while baking.

While this pie looked pretty, the main drawback for me was the cherry spread. We used cherry pie filling, which is goopy. Our instructor indicated that at home, a better idea would be to either make your own cherry spread or to use a high quality cherry jam. I did, however, enjoy the cheese filling with the streusel topping. I’d probably try this one again, minus the cherry pie filling of course!

The highlight of this class, for certain, was the Strawberry, Rhubarb and Apple Pie. We used frozen strawberries and rhubarb for the filling. During the summer, when berries and other fruits are at their peak, I freeze loads of them just so that I can make pies like this in the middle of winter! The rest of the filling was made of apples, lemon juice, grated lemon, brown sugar, cinnamon, butter, cornstarch and water.

We stewed the fruit in butter, sugar and lemon juice until it softened. We then added a slurry made of water and cornstarch. As soon as it thickened, we spooned our filling into the base and then sprinkled over the same streusel topping as the Cherry Cream Cheese Pie, except we added oats to this streusel topping.

This pie was fantastic! It was proof that when fruit is frozen at its peak, there’s no reason why it can’t be enjoyed when it’s out of season. The only thing missing was a huge scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Ciao!

Not with a man.

Not with a Cream Puff.

With a book!

I am working on a review of the cookbook Essence of Chocolate:  Recipes for Baking and Cooking with Fine Chocolate by Robert Steinberg and John Scharffenberger. The review isn’t ready yet, but I just had to tell you about it and give you a sneak peek at one of the incredible recipes that this book holds within its beautiful pages. I know I’m always going on and on about cookbooks, but this one really is a winner.

I leave you with this unbelievable Banana Caramel Cake.

Ciao!

Banana Caramel Cake

Adapted from Essence of Chocolate:  Recipes for Baking and Cooking with Fine Chocolate by Robert Steinberg and John Scharffenberger.

This recipe takes banana cake to a whole new level. While I initially thought it might be too sweet with the sugar, chocolate, bananas and caramel, the cake is instead balanced and spicy with a lovely sweet note. A classic!

For the cake:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. cloves
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3 large eggs
• 1-1/4 cups vegetable oil (or canola oil as in the original recipe)
• 1-3/4 cups sugar
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans
• 3 oz. chocolate (I used a 65% chocolate), broken into small pieces (size of chips)
• 3 ripe bananas, diced

For the caramel:

• 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 2 tbsp. whole milk
• 4 tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1. Butter and flour a tube pan or a bundt pan that can hold 12 cups.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
3. Sift together the dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt and baking soda).
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the eggs, oil and sugar. With the paddle attachment, mix on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes.
5. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure that the sugar has been incorporated.
6. Add the vanilla extract and mix for another 30 seconds.
7. With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients a bit at a time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl every now and then to ensure everything is incorporated.
8. Once the dry ingredients have been added, remove the bowl from the stand mixer and add the pecans, chocolate and bananas. Gently fold them in with a spatula or a wooden spoon. Don’t over mix.
9. Spoon the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 50 minutes and then test the cake to see if it’s done by poking a toothpick or cake tester into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s done. If not, bake the cake for another 5 to 10 minutes. In my oven, this cake took 55 minutes.
10. About 5 to 10 minutes before the cake is done, make the caramel by combining all the ingredients in a small pan. Bring to the boil and stir occasionally to ensure that it doesn’t burn. Let it boil for about 5 minutes and then turn off the heat.
11. Once the cake is out of the oven, poke holes all over the cake with a skewer. Immediately pour the caramel over the cake, stopping every now and then to let the caramel sink in. If the caramel pools in spots, poke more holes to allow it to sink in.
12. Let the cake cool in the pan on a wire rack. Once it’s cool, loosen the cake from the sides of the pan and then unmold it onto a plate.
13. Enjoy!

Note:  This cake will easily serve 10 to 12. Because I let the cake cool, I had no problems unmolding it. If you unmold it while it’s warm, be careful as it may stick.

Technorati tags:  banana, banana cake, chocolate

Ah, the joys of a sugar high!

January’s sugar high is being hosted by none other than David Lebovitz who clearly knows that chocolate is king … and queen for that matter. The theme for SHF #27 is Chocolate by Brand.

When I bake, I generally use Lindt chocolate, which is easy to find in my neck of the woods. It’s affordable and I like the way it tastes in baked goods. When I can find other types of chocolate like Valrhona or Scharffen Berger, I will occasionally splurge and use those as well. But for the most part, Lindt is my baking chocolate of choice.

For SHF #27, however, I hoped to try a type of chocolate that I wouldn’t normally bake with. As luck would have it, the gods of baking presented me with such an opportunity when I happened upon Amedei chocolates in one of my favourite gourmet shops.

I first came across Amedei when I read about the company in an issue of Food & Wine magazine. Amedei is an Italian chocolate company started in 1990 by the brother and sister team of Alessio and Cecilia Tessieri. If I started a chocolate business with my brother we’d likely end up hurting each other in an effort to gobble up the chocolate so right off the bat, I am a huge admirer of the Tessieris ability to work together! Located near Pisa, Amedei has become renowned for creating some of the best chocolate in the world.

The Tessieris make chocolate from scratch, travelling widely to find the best cacao available. Their hard work has paid off in droves as they have been the recipients of many awards including several gold medals at the World Chocolate Awards for their outstanding creation, Amedei Chuao, which is a single-plantation chocolate made from the cacao of the Chuao plantation in Venezuela. This is a limited edition chocolate that is actually hand-numbered.

Something else you need to know about Amedei chocolate:  it’s not cheap. I bought three (small) bars, two of which cost $9 and the third cost $12. I suppose my wallet should be happy that this is difficult to find. I’ve only ever seen it in one store here in Toronto and the selection available is very small.

Cost and availability aside, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to both taste Amedei chocolate and of course, bake with it. I would normally not bake with such an expensive chocolate, but for SHF I’m willing to try anything. I sold a kidney, bought some more Amedei chocolate, and off I went to the Cream Puff kitchen.

While I’d initially entertained ideas for all sorts of intriguing chocolate desserts, I instead decided to make something simple that would allow the quality of this chocolate to shine through. I decided to try a recipe for a "Perfectly Simple Dark Chocolate Tart" from Lori Longbotham’s (love her!) Luscious Chocolate Desserts. Longbotham is, in my humble opinion, one of the best cookbook authors out there. I own most of her cookbooks and woe to anyone that tries to take them from me.

Lori’s recipe is straightforward. You begin by making a crust of flour, cocoa powder and butter. The crust also includes a bit of icing sugar and ground, toasted walnuts for flavour. The tart filling is made of bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, butter, eggs, sugar and vanilla extract. The final product is dusted with cocoa powder for that perfect last touch.

I decided to use Amedei Tuscan Black chocolate, which has 63 per cent cocoa solids. The chocolate was strong and not too sweet. The hardest part about making this dessert was trying not to eat the chocolate before I could melt it for the tart filling. Because this was my first time trying the chocolate tart, I haven’t had the chance to adapt it or make it my own. Consequently, I’m not posting the recipe.

[Update:  A wonderful reader by the name of PinkPoppies alerted me to the fact that Lori Longbotham has actually posted this tart recipe on her site:  http://www.lorilongbotham.com/index.html. Not only that, apparently the original recipe in the book’s first edition had an error. The filling is missing 1 cup of cream. The recipe on her site includes the corrected version. I ended up making the version without the correction and the tart was amazing. I can imagine how good it will be with the cream! Here’s the recipe my friends:  http://www.lorilongbotham.com/choctartrecipe.html. Thanks so much, PinkPoppies!]

Ciao!

Here are some links for more information about Amedei chocolate:

Amedei (Italian site)

Amedei (International site)

"The World’s Best Chocolate" from Food & Wine magazine

Technorati tags:  sugar high friday, shf, chocolate, amedei, chocolate tart

It’s difficult not to like Nigella Lawson. You’d have to be hard-hearted indeed not to fall prey to the charms of this intelligent, witty and yes - gorgeous - woman. As a television personality, her presence is infectious. Don’t we all wish we could look so good throwing egg shells into the sink?!

I own two of Nigella’s cookbooks and love them both. Simply put, her recipes work. Her Sticky Toffee Pudding (Nigella Bites) is probably one of my family’s favourite desserts. Her Madeira Cake (How to Be a Domestic Goddess) is a quick and reliable treat when you just have to have something sweet with your coffee. And if you can make her Christmas Pavlova (How to Be a Domestic Goddess) and not eat it all in one sitting, you’re a better Cream Puff than me.

I recently had the opportunity to review her most recent cookbook, Feast. Released in paperback in September 2006, Feast follows in the footsteps of Lawson’s previous books. Beautifully photographed and written, Feast is Lawson’s statement to the world that any special occasion is worthy of a food celebration.

The cookbook is divided into many sections that cover every imaginable festivity or important moment that would necessitate a special meal. While the obvious occasions like Thanksgiving and Christmas are there, there are also sections devoted to Breakfast, Valentine’s Day and my personal favourite, the Midnight Feast.

I think that Lawson is an incredible writer and it shows both in the Introduction to the cookbook as well as the introductions to each section. It’s almost impossible to argue with her logic for going all out to prepare the meals of your dreams, whatever the occasion. I found the head notes to her recipes particularly enjoyable, especially the ones that offer a glimpse of her own family life. Nothing helps a reader to identify with a cookbook than a sense of camaraderie with the author.

I think this is Lawson’s greatest success as a cookbook author. She may not be a professional chef, but her recipes are enticing and well-written. And because she doesn’t talk down to her reader, it’s easy to visualize yourself making the recipes. It’s easy to imagine what those dishes will look like on your own table in your own kitchen.

Feast has something for everyone. It will satisfy the the carnivore, the vegetarian and the cream puffs (that is, those who crave sweets!) among us. And I warn you, the pictures will make your mouth water.

As I read through the cookbook, I found the recipes to be clear and well-presented. Well-suited to the home cook, the recipes can be easily managed by cooks of all backgrounds and levels of experience. For those with a bit more experience, I think the recipes are generous enough that they invite improvisation and adaptation. After all, what’s better than a cookbook with recipes that inspire you to bigger and better things?

But the final proof, as they say, is in the pudding so it was time to roll up my sleeve and try some of the recipes. The first recipe I tried was Andy’s Fairfield Granola. Lawson got this recipe from Andy Rolleri of The Pantry deli in Fairfield, Connecticut. I’m a bit of a tough judge when it comes to granola recipes as I personally think that I make a mean granola.

I was pleasantly surprised by this granola recipe. It was easy to pull together and the end result was a nutty granola that was crunchy, but not too sweet. The only hiccup in the recipe as far as I was concerned was the use of brown rice syrup or rice malt syrup. I have no idea where to locate those ingredients so I used golden syrup instead(the recipe gives you that option) and I don’t think the granola suffered one bit. I also added dried cherries for colour. Delicious!

Having started with a lovely breakfast, I thought it was time to move directly to dessert. But then I thought that I should at least try one of the savoury recipes in the book. Cream Puff cannot live on dessert alone.

I found myself repeatedly drawn to a recipe for Hot Pepper Relish to be served with melon. This relish is Georgian in origin and can be kept refrigerated for several weeks. While I didn’t want to have it with melon, I was intrigued by the relish as we enjoy spicy condiments with many of the foods we eat.

I made my version of this pepper relish with hot banana peppers and jalapenos (as opposed to red chiles in the original). I also topped my relish off with olive oil after I put it in a glass jar. Without question, this was a huge hit! We ate the entire jar of relish in one sitting on toasted bread rubbed with garlic. It was spicy with a nice vinegary bite. I’ve already gotten requests for seconds.

Having gotten the savoury out of the way (yes … I know … relish isn’t the best representation of savoury but what can I say … I’m a Cream Puff), it was time to go for dessert.

As soon as I saw the photograph of the Baci di Ricotta, piled high on a beautiful stand and covered in icing sugar, I dreamt of making them. Made with ricotta, eggs, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, sugar and vanilla extract, these ricotta fritters were a snap to pull together. The batter comes together in less time than it takes to heat the oil. One of the other attractive points of this recipe is that while you are frying in oil, you’re not frying in a lot of oil, which is nice for those that are intimidated of deep frying.

These fritters were golden on the outside and feather-light on the inside. We gobbled them up warm, drenched in icing sugar which actually melted into the warmish fritters. Heaven!

Having had our dessert appetizer, it was time to get serious. We unbuckled our belts and undid our pant buttons, ready to dig into cheesecake … Chestnut Cheesecake. I have a huge love of chestnuts and find beautifully roasted chestnuts impossible to resist. This particular cheesecake called for chestnut puree which I’d never tried before. My very well stocked supermarket carries a lovely chestnut puree from France. Besides the puree, this is a very straightforward cheesecake. I decided to give my new mini-cheesecake pans a try and was pleased at how beautifully the little cheesecakes turned out. While they would have been quite good on their own, they’re pushed over the top by a rum syrup which compliments the chestnut filling perfectly.

While I would count the Hot Pepper Relish and the Baci di Ricotta as my favourites, all four recipes turned out exceedingly well. And believe me, I’m looking forward to trying many more. Who knew feasting on Nigella could taste so good?!

Ciao!

Hot Pepper Relish

Adapted from Feast by Nigella Lawson.

• 8 garlic cloves, peeled and cut in half
• 1 celery stick, cut into 2 or 3 pieces
• 2 banana peppers, cut lengthwise and the seeds removed
• 2 jalapeno peppers, cut lengthwise and the seeds removed
• 1 red bell pepper, seeds removed
• 1/2 cup parsley, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

1. Place all the ingredients, except the parsley, vinegar, salt and olive oil, in the bowl of a food processor and process until everything is finely chopped.
2. Add the parsley, vinegar and salt, and pulse 4 or 5 times. Taste the relish and adjust the seasoning according to your own tastes.
3. Place the relish in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 8 to 10 hours.
4. Remove the relish from the refrigerator and spoon into a fine-mesh sieve. Let the relish sit in the sieve for 5 minutes to allow some of the excess liquid to drain.
5. Spoon the relish into a sterilized glass jar, leaving an inch at the top of the jar. Pour the olive oil in, a bit at a time, allowing the olive oil to seep down into the relish.
6. Store the relish in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 weeks.
7. Enjoy!

Technorati tags:  nigella lawson, feast, granola, relish, peppers, cheesecake, chestnuts

Forgive me.

I know the title of this post must seem unbelievably lame. But I can’t help it. It’s all my warm, fuzzy brain can muster after eating this delicious rice dish and then sinking back onto the couch, under my favourite blanket in the world, in our cozy little living room in our cozy little house. Outside, winter rages.

Well … okay … maybe not rages, but it’s definitely winter. It’s snowy and cold and all the things that winter should be.

But in here it’s warm and fuzzy, thanks in good part to a dish that was made for a night just like this:  baked rice.

I’ve been thinking about rice a lot lately. Just a few weeks ago I was pondering the relaxing qualities of making risotto. It’s practically a recipe for virtue and meditation. Think about it. Cooking the tiniest grains of rice, slowly slowly slowly. Pouring in ladle fulls of hot broth, one ladle at a time, slowly slowly slowly. Waiting for the little grains to swell, almost to bursting, slowly slowly slowly.

No wonder everyone loves risotto!

But imagine if you could make a risotto, but not have to stir it all the time. Imagine that you could put all the ingredients together, pop it into a warm oven, and then curl up on the couch for some well-deserved beauty sleep?

"But my rice would burn!" you exclaim.

Not so.

For the aroma of this dish will pull you out of your slumber as soon as it’s ready. It’s that irresistible!

I have Patricia Wells to thank for this rice dish. Looking through her cookbook, Trattoria, I came across this recipe and remembered having baked rice often when I was much younger. But we don’t seem to eat rice as much these days. After work dinners tend to be quick and Sundays, especially in winter, seem to be reserved for more elaborate dishes often featuring fresh pasta.

Those poor little grains of rice get so lonely.

But Ms. Wells has helped me to rediscover them. Her recipe for baked rice with tomato sauce and pecorino (sheep’s milk cheese) seemed like just the thing. So I mixed it all up, put it into one of my prettiest baking dishes, popped it in our little oven and then snuggled up on the couch for a nap.

And all the while it baked, slowly slowly slowly.

And in the end, it was yummy yummy yummy.

Ciao!

Baked Rice with Tomato and Pecorino Romano

Inspired by Patricia Wells’ Trattoria.

• 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup arborio rice
• 2 cups chicken stock (you can use water if you don’t have stock, but be sure to season the rice well before putting it in the oven if you do use water)
• 1 cup cooked tomato sauce
• 1 cup Pecorino Romano, freshly grated (Pecorino Romano is an Italian sheep’s milk cheese)
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 to 3 tbsp. Parmigiano Reggiano
• 2 to 3 tbsp. parsley, finely chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. In a large pan, heat the olive oil and then add the rice.
3. Stir the rice for about a minute, until it is coated in oil.
4. Add the chicken stock and tomato sauce and cook over medium high heat until the mixture comes to a simmer. (If you’ve used water, you may want to add a bit of salt or pepper.)
5. Let simmer for 2 to 3 minutes.
6. Add half the Pecorino Romano and stir.
7. Pour the rice mixture into a large baking dish (mine is oval and roughly 12 inches by 6 inches). Sprinkle with the remaining Pecorino Romano. If your dish has a lid, cover it or cover the dish with aluminum foil.
8. Bake in the centre of the oven for 35 to 40 minutes. After about 30 minutes, check on your rice just to be sure that it hasn’t dried out. When the rice is done, it will be creamy, but not soup or too dry.
9. When the rice is done, take it out of the oven and let it cool for a minute or two. Sprinkle with the Parmigiano Reggiano and the parsley and then serve.
10. Enjoy!

Note:  This dish will serve 3 to 4 people.

Technorati tags:  rice, baked rice, tomato sauce, pecorino romano

What exactly is schmecks?

I was pondering this very question shortly after reading an e-mail from Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Sensual Gourmet asking me if I’d be interested in reading and reviewing a cookbook by the eminent Canadian writer, Edna Staebler. The cookbook in question happens to be called Food That Really Schmecks.

Born in 1906 in Kitchener, Ontario, Edna Staebler spent her life devoting herself to the pursuit of writing and journalism. Her work appeared in publications like Maclean’s, Chatelaine and Reader’s Digest, to name just a few. A recognized author, Ms. Staebler was awarded the Order of Canada in 1996, the culmination of a lifetime of achievement.

She is perhaps best know, however, for a series of cookbooks that she wrote detailing the cooking and way-of-life of Ontario’s Mennonite community. Her cookbooks, more than just a record of recipes, are a record of a time that seems long-gone now. Her skills as a keeper and teller of recipes are matched only by her skills as a teller of stories.

The charm of Staebler’s cookbooks are the anecdotes that she shares. Each recipe is introduced with a description that sketches out a time, a place and a dish. Her presentation is simple and straightforward, honest and strong, and Canadian to the core.

Perhaps the best quality of Food That Really Schmecks is the food itself. There is no haute cuisine or molecular gastronomy to be found here. Rather, there is the good, hearty and simple food of good, hearty and simple people. It’s the epitome of comfort food in all it’s stick-to-your-ribs glory.

That is not to say that some of the recipes aren’t a bit strange-sounding. But that in and of itself lends the book even more charm. I mean who wouldn’t want to find out exactly what Seven-Cent Pudding is? And I for one would love to be served a piece of Compromise Cake.

Before receiving my copy of this cookbook, I had only heard of Edna Staebler once or twice. I knew very little about her and I had never seen one of her cookbooks. But after having read Food That Really Schmecks and tried a recipe or two, I could see why Ms. Staebler was so admired and loved. She is like the dear aunt that we all know and love. The one with all the common sense and experience. The one who can tell a great story and make a great dinner. The one who is smart and wise.

Jasmine had the opportunity to meet Ms. Staebler prior to her passing on September 12, 2006. I’m so happy that Jasmine had the chance to do so, as well as the chance to tell others about this lovely woman. I think we’re all the richer for it.

As for my initial question about the word schmecks, I did a bit of searching and found that while there is no precise meaning, it’s often used as a way of saying something is tasty or yummy or good.

If that’s the case, then Food That Really Schmecks really does schmeck!

Ciao!

Cheddar Cherry Rolls

Adapted from Food That Really Schmecks by Edna Staebler.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 5 tsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 4 tbsp. cold butter
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup roughly chopped dried cherries

1. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
3. Cut the butter into tiny pieces and add to the flour mixture.
4. With a pastry cutter or with your fingers, mix the butter into the flour until it resembles a coarse mixture.
5. Slowly add the milk, gathering the flour into a ball. As soon as it forms a ball of dough, stop adding milk (you may not have to add it all).
6. Transfer the dough to a well-floured surface and roll the dough out until it’s about half an inch thick.
7. Sprinkle the cheddar cheese and dried cherries over the dough. Beginning at the edge closest to you, roll the dough up like a jelly roll.
8. Cut the roll into one-inch rounds and place them on the prepared baking sheet.
9. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, until the cheese has melted and the rounds are golden.
10. Serve warm.
11. Enjoy!

Note:  This recipe is based on a recipe for Cheese Rolls found on p. 187 in Food That Really Schmecks. We enjoy eating cheese with dried fruit so I decided to pair cheddar with dried cherries for my version. This recipe will yield 8 to 10 rolls.

Technorati tags:  edna staebler, food that really schmecks, cheddar, cherries

On Saturday, I will be attending the first class of the fourth course that I am taking as part of my work towards a Bakery Arts Certificate from George Brown College. I have enrolled in my third compulsory course:  Art of Pies. As with my previous baking classes, I look forward to sharing my experiences with you. Prior to beginning that journey into the world of pies, I’m left with the final two classes of my Art of Breads course to recap for you.

On the menu for Week 9:  Raisin Bread and Easter Bread

Our second last class began with a bread that we were all looking forward to. Who doesn’t like raisin bread? By this point in the course, everyone is working together so efficiently. It becomes routine to get to class, scale off your ingredients, gather your equipment and utensils and stake out your favourite stand mixer.

The raisin bread began with a slurry of fresh yeast and water. We added bread flour, eggs, sugar, shortening, whole milk powder, cinnamon and salt.

Once a dough was formed and processed in the mixer until it formed a smooth ball that did not stick to the sides of the bowl, it was time to add the raisins. Unlike other breads where you might add a filling ingredient directly to the dough in the stand mixer, our instructor recommended we add the raisins and knead the bread by hand as the mixer may crush the raisins.

We added the raisins by flattening the dough and sprinkling the raisins on top. We then rolled the dough up, jelly roll style, and made four or five deep slashes to the dough. After making the slashes, we began to knead the dough by pushing it away and then pulling it back in towards the centre. Because of the slashes, the raisins began to fall out but were slowly picked up as we kneaded the dough and, as a result, the raisins were distributed evenly throughout the dough without being squashed.

After forming the dough into a ball, we let it rest for 15 minutes. After the rest period, we returned to the dough and divided it into four pieces. We shaped our pieces into loaves and set them in tins. We applied an egg wash and sent the dough off to the proofer. Once the dough had doubled in size in the proofer, we baked our loaves at 350 degrees F. for about 30 minutes.

The end result was four nicely browned loaves. It was hard to resist the urge to rip right into them in class thanks to the aroma of cinnamon. The loaves were light and flavourful, although I think the flavour would be greatly improved with butter as opposed to shortening. The raisins were also nicely dispersed through the loaves thanks to the technique our instructor showed us. When making breads filled with raisins or other dried fruits, I would definitely try that technique again.

The second bread we made is called Easter Bread. This was a rich, eggy bread that resembled panettone in appearance and in taste. We began by making a sponge of fresh yeast, warm milk and bread flour. We let our sponge rest for about 30 minutes.

While the sponge was resting, we mixed together butter, sugar, vanilla, rum, lemon zest and salt until we had a light and fluffy mixture. One by one, we incorporated eggs into this mixture. Once that was done, we added bread flour. At this point our sponge was ready so we added the sponge to the mixture as well.

We mixed all the ingredients for about 5 minutes, until we had a cohesive dough. We removed a small piece of the dough and set it aside. We removed the rest of the dough and added raisins in the same way that we added them to the raisin bread above. We rounded off the dough and let it rest for 15 minutes. After the rest period, we divided our dough into four pieces, which we then placed in cake pans pressing down on the dough so that it covered the bottom of the pans evenly.

We took the dough that had been set aside, and divided it into four smaller pieces. We then further divided each piece into six. We rolled all the pieces into strands and taking three strands at a time, we made braids. We then applied the braids to the tops of the dough in the cake pans in a decorative manner. We applied an egg wash and sent our bread off to the proofer.

Once out of the proofer, we baked the bread for 30 to 40 minutes at 350 degrees F. This bread was incredible! The combination of butter and rum made made for great flavour. It had an eggy depth that made it taste very much like panettone. The bread also looked very pretty. This is another recipe that I’m looking forward to adapting for home baking.

For our final class, the tenth one, the course curriculum directed that we learn how to make a bread basket. This particular project involved making a bread dough and creating a number of long braided strands. The strands are then braided around the base of a large bowl, wrapped in aluminum foil. This is baked until the outside has set and turned golden. The basket is removed and very gingerly flipped off the base of the bowl. It’s then placed inside the bowl and put back into the oven so that the inside of the basket can bake. You can get quite creative with these baskets including adding little feet so that it looks like a pedestal basket or adding handles. The basket is not for consumption, but rather it’s for decorative purposes.

To be perfectly honest, I didn’t want to make the basket. While it was interesting to watch the instructor demo the project, for the life of me I couldn’t imagine why in the world you’d want to make a basket out of bread. To me, it bordered on the edge of tacky. Fortunately, our instructor gave us the option of watching the demo and then baking another bread that we’d made in class. My partner and I very happily made cheese bread instead.

When I enrolled in the Art of Breads course, which is compulsory, I didn’t think I’d enjoy it as much as I did. Instead, I greatly enjoyed learning about yeast and how it can be manipulated by adding sugars. The information we learned about flour was also helpful. It finally clicked that all-purpose isn’t necessarily the best flour for everything. In fact, it may be quite the opposite. I was introduced to bread flour, which I’ve begun using at home to great effect.

But without question, the greatest lesson in this course for me, was the lesson on kneading. Prior to this class, I thought I knew how to knead dough but I quickly learned that I was mistaken. Kneading is a gentle art, even though at times it can be quite intensive. Believe me you can work up a sweat kneading. But it’s such a wonderfully calming motion and I’m happy to say that I’m kneading dough more and more all the time.

While I never imagined I’d say this, I can see myself baking a lot bread in my own home.

But now we say goodbye to bread, and hello to pies!

Ciao!

I’d like to congratulate the winners of the 2006 Food Blog Awards:

Best Food Blog - Chef:  David Lebovitz

Best Food Blog - City:  Becks n’ Posh

Best Food Blog - Drinks:  Vinography

Best Food Blog - Family/Kids:  Vegan Lunchbox

Best Food Blog - Food Industry:  Eggbeater

Best Food Blog - Group:  Slashfood

Best Food Blog - Humour:  Smitten Kitchen

Best Food Blog - New:  Pinch My Salt

Best Food Blog - Non-Blogging:  Leite’s Culinaria

Best Food Blog - Original Recipes:  Coconut and Lime

Best Food Blog - Overall:  Simply Recipes

Best Food Blog - Photography:  La Tartine Gourmande

Best Food Blog - Post:  Amateur Gourmet

Best Food Blog - Recipes:  101 Cookbooks

Best Food Blog - Restaurant Reviews:  Grab Your Fork

Best Food Blog - Rural:  Farmgirl Fare

Best Food Blog - Theme:  Kalyn’s Kitchen

Best Food Blog - Writing:  Orangette

My little blog was nominated in the Best Food Blog - Writing category. While I didn’t win, I’d like to thank everyone that nominated me and voted for me. I’d also like to thank you for all the wonderful comments and support! It’s a pleasure to know that I have so many blog friends out there!

I’d like to extend my congratulations to Molly of Orangette who won in the Writing category … and deservedly so. Molly is an engaging writer who recently announced that she will be writing her own cookbook! I look forward to seeing it on the bookstore shelves, Molly!

I’d also like to take a moment to congratulate my dear friend Béa of La Tartine Gourmande on her victory in the Photography category. Béa and I started our blogs at around the same time and she’s seduced me with her warmth, ability and photography from the very beginning. Béa, I am so happy for you!

And finally, I’d like to mention Ilva of Lucullian Delights. Ilva was nominated in the Best Food Blog - Rural category. Her blog and her photography are a constant reminder that beauty is all around us.

Congratulations again to all the nominees and to all the winners!

Ciao!

A new year always brings with it a sense of starting fresh. Perhaps this is the reason why I have a tendency to do my "spring cleaning" in January. Apart from recovering from the excesses of December including attempts to regain a waistline, January is the time that I like to clean, sort, organize, alphabetize, plan and declutter. Of course these good intentions don’t last long and I’m usually back to my messy self by February, but a girl can dream. Perhaps this will be the year that I finally fulfill my inner neat freak.

Not likely.

Anyhow, I do feel the need to tie up any loose ends from 2006 and this very need led me to realize that I never completed my recaps of baking class. As many long-time readers know last summer I began taking courses at George Brown’s Culinary School in the hopes of obtaining a Bakery Arts Certificate. Last fall, I enrolled in a Breakfast Breads course and in an Art of Breads course. While I told you about the Breakfast Breads class, I didn’t finish telling you about Art of Breads. Since I’m beginning my fourth course this Saturday (more on that in a post to come), I figured I’d better get my act in gear and complete the bread-baking story of 2006.

On the menu for Week 7:  Rye Bread and Cheese Bread

Week 7 began with instructions for rye bread that involved creating a "sponge." Breads made with a sponge or starter are very flavourful and have great texture. The sponge for our rye bread consisted of rye flour, water and fresh yeast. We mixed the ingredients and let them stand in a bowl for an hour. After the hour had passed, our sponge had grown considerably and had developed bubbles all over the surface. The bubbles represent the gas that the mixture has produced and are an excellent sign as those gases produced are what will help your bread to rise.

Once our sponge was ready, we added rye flour, bread flour, salt, shortening (not too thrilled about the shortening), water and gluten powder, also known as vital wheat gluten. Because rye flour has a lower gluten content, our instructor explained that adding some gluten powder will increase the gluten in the bread which will help you get a loaf that’s light and chewy. On its own, rye flour will produce a denser, darker bread.

After forming a dough, we shaped it into a large round and let it rest for 20 minutes. We then shaped the dough into loaves and sent it off to the proofer. In class, we are able to use large proofers which release steam and allow the loaves to rise at a much faster rate than if we left them covered on a work surface. While it’s unlikely that you’ll ever go out and buy a proofer for your home, our instructors explained that you can recreate the effect by briefly heating your oven and then turning it off. Once it’s cooled a bit, place a pan of hot water on the bottom of the oven. Place your bread in the oven and then close the oven door.

Once out of the proofer, our loaves went into the oven for 30 minutes at the equivalent of 400 degrees F. The end result were nicely browned loaves that had a strong rye flour, but that weren’t hard or too dense. While I wasn’t thrilled about the use of shortening in the bread (shortening will make it a bit more tender), overall I was pleased with the rye loaves.

The second part of Week 7’s class was spent making cheese bread. For this bread we returned to the very basic formula of bread-making. We created a slurry of water and fresh yeast. To the slurry we added bread flour, sugar, shortening, salt, milk powder and malt. After forming a dough, we added grated cheddar cheese and swiss cheese. We removed our dough from the stand mixer, formed it into a ball and let it rest for 15 minutes.

After the rest period, we shaped our dough into four loaves. After a trip to the proofer, the loaves were baked for 30 minutes at 375 degrees F. Of all the breads in class, this had to be one of the ones I enjoyed the most both for the ease of preparation and the flavour. It’s hard to resist a bread full of melted and oozing cheese. However, if I make this at home, I will most certainly replace the shortening with butter.

On the menu for Week 8:  Italian Bread and Focaccia

We began the eighth class with a basic recipe for Italian bread which, our instructor explained, could be used as a standard for both bread and pizza. Most of the Italian bread that I enjoy eating usually begins with a biga or starter, which contributes to great flavour and texture. This bread, however, followed the basic formula that we’d been adhering to all along. We mixed a slurry of fresh yeast and water, added bread flour and a mixture of malt and salt dissolved in more water. We formed a dough, let it rest and then shaped it into loaves. I chose to shape my portion of the bread into rings. The rings were baked at 400 degrees F. for 30 minutes.

They looked nice but to be honest I was unimpressed. There was very little flavour to the bread and you would most certainly have to eat it with a spread or use it as a base for pizza to truly enjoy it. On its own, it was boring. I really can’t see myself using this recipe to make something as sublime as pizza.

The second part of class, however, was far more promising. We prepared focaccia bread which we then transformed into stuffed focaccia. The bread began the same way the Italian bread did with a slurry of fresh yeast and water. To that mixture we added bread flour, salt and olive oil. We formed a dough which we let rest for 15 minutes.

After the rest period, we divided the dough into four parts. We used two parts to line the bottom of greased 9-inch cake pans. We brushed the dough with olive oil and then added the toppings of our choice which included sun dried tomatoes, rosemary, sea salt, Parmigiano Reggiano and olives. We took the remaining two parts of dough and used them to cover the toppings, in effect forming a focaccia pie. With our fingers, we sealed the edges of the dough carefully to ensure that the filling would not leak out into the pan and cause the focaccia to stick. We brushed the tops with more olive oil and sent our little babies off to the proofer. Once out of the proofer, we baked the focaccias at 375 degrees F. for about 40 minutes (until the focaccia tops were golden).

This bread was so flavourful! And I loved the idea of using cake pans to create a stuffed focaccia. While I haven’t had the chance to make this since class, I will definitely try it at home. It was a pleasure to use so many fresh, natural ingredients and clear proof that creating a delicious baked good isn’t rocket science. You need good ingredients, some time and some effort. In the end, the results are so rewarding.

Ciao!

On my last night in Vienna, I slowly made my way back to the hotel after one final walk around the Burg Ring. And just as I turned down the narrow street that led to my hotel it hit me:  an overwhelming urge for pasta. Now where did that come from? Vienna gifted with me with so much good food. I was stuffed beyond belief. And yet there I was, at 10:00 p.m. on a Monday night, craving pasta. And not just any pasta, but penne alla vodka.

To explain my fondness for this pasta dish, I must give you a bit of Cream Puff history. When my closest friends and I reached university, we didn’t embrace the usual activities that young people that age usually turn to. I wasn’t particularly interested in drinking as I’d been drinking since … oh … about the age of 4. Both my brother and I were regularly given wine with water or ginger ale at dinner. I wasn’t into clubs or bars so those activities never really intrigued me.  And having gotten my fill of poetry reading in class, try as I might I just couldn’t get into poetry readings on Saturday nights. Instead, my closest friends and I began to explore what really interested us:  the restaurant scene.

Having grown up in an Italian Canadian family, I ate very well but I ate very well at home. While my parents enjoyed going out to restaurants and would take us with them, we didn’t do this sort of thing often. So now that I was young, free and employed on a part-time basis, I reveled in my newly found interest.

We went to lots of different restaurants. Some good, some bad and some really bad. But without question, if I had to pick one dish that defined those years, it would be penne alla vodka. To my inexperienced self, the very first taste of creamy tomato sauce flavoured with pancetta was enchanting. At home, we didn’t eat a lot of cream-based sauces as they didn’t feature prominently in the regional cooking of Calabria (my mother’s birth place) or Le Marche (my father’s birth place).

I thought I was in heaven and I just couldn’t get enough of the stuff. Everywhere I went, if I saw penne alla vodka on the menu, I’d order it. Mostly what I was eating was really bad pasta. But that didn’t seem to phase me at the time as there was something about that sauce and that faint hint of booziness that had me hooked.

I tried many times to recreate the dish at home, but it just never worked. At the time I didn’t know that if you added cold cream to hot sauce it would curdle so mostly I ended up with a very unappetizing dish. The recipes I tried would end up too salty, too cheesy, not boozy enough or just plain bad. I gave up my attempts to create penne alla vodka at home and eventually … thankfully … I realized that there are actually other pasta dishes. I left my first love behind and moved on. There are, after all, many other fish in the sea.

But do you ever really forget your first love? I guess not. So as time passed, I would occasionally find myself searching this brand new thing called the Internet for that elusive recipe. One day, I came across a recipe that was very different from any other that I’d tried because the base for the sauce was, of all things, tomato paste.

Tomato paste?

I was intrigued, but also a bit put off. Isn’t making a sauce with just tomato paste cheating … sort of? Eventually though, I was more intrigued than put off so I tried the recipe.

Wow!

An Internet search and a recipe later, I had managed to recreate the penne alla vodka that I’d come to love so many years earlier. I still felt a bit guilty about making a sauce out of cream and tomato paste, but what can I say … I got over it.

That original recipe, which I have since lost and am unable to find on-line anymore, called for onions, pancetta, vodka, brandy, tomato paste and cream. Over the years, I altered the recipe and paired it down to the basics of vodka, tomato paste and cream. Oh yes and I kept the brandy. I also began adding hot pepper. The onions were unnecessary and the pancetta always seemed to dominate the dish so I just took it out.

This recipe became the comfort go-to dish whenever we needed a quick pasta fix. Then one night, in a rush, instead of adding brandy I mistakenly added cognac. Realizing what I’d done, I shrugged my shoulders and added the brandy as well. The resulting dish was so good that we then renamed it Drunken Pasta.

I still make my Drunken Pasta. While I’ve actually documented the recipe for the purposes of this post, I usually don’t measure any of the ingredients. Sometimes I add a bit more vodka and sometimes I go really heavy on the the pepper. It all depends on my mood.

I still feel guilty about the tomato paste, but then as soon as I put the pasta in my mouth, the memories of my first pasta love wash all the guilt away.

Ciao!

Drunken Pasta

• 1/2 pound (250 g) dried penne pasta
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 1 tbsp. olive oil
• 1 tbsp. chili pepper flakes or 2 small fresh red chili peppers, finely chopped
• 5 tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 cup warm water
• 1/4 cup vodka
• 1 tbsp. brandy
• 1 tbsp. cognac
• 1/2 cup heavy cream, at room temperature
• 1 cup Parmigiano Reggiano, freshly grated
• salt to taste

1. Put a large pot of water to boil. Once it comes to a rolling boil, add a few tablespoons of salt and stir to dissolve. Add your pasta and cook according to package directions.
2. While the pasta is boiling, heat the olive oil and butter in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
3. As soon as the butter has melted, add the chili pepper flakes or fresh chili pepper and saute for 1 minute. If using the pepper flakes, be careful that they don’t burn.
4. In a bowl, combine the tomato paste and warm water and stir to loosen the tomato paste.
5. Pour the tomato mixture into the saucepan and stir. Turn the heat to high and let the mixture come to a boil. Stir it constantly to ensure that the tomato doesn’t stick and burn. If it appears to thick, add a bit more water.
6. Once the tomato mixture comes to a boil, let it boil for 1 minute.
7. Add the vodka, cognac and brandy and stir. Let the mixture come to a boil and cook for 1 minute.
8. Lower the heat to medium, and add the cream. Stir and let come to a gentle boil. Let the cream simmer while your pasta continues to cook. About a minute before your pasta is ready, add half the Parmigiano Reggiano to the tomato/cream mixture and stir to combine. Taste the sauce and if you feel that it needs salt, season accordingly. (But remember, you’ll be adding more Parmigiano Reggiano to the sauce.)
9. As soon as the pasta is cooked, drain it (reserve some of the cooking water) and add the pasta to the sauce pan. Begin mixing the pasta into the sauce, adding the rest of the Parmigiano Reggiano to be incorporated as well.
10. If the sauce appears too thick, add a bit of the reserved cooking water and continue mixing until the pasta is coated and you have a rich, creamy sauce.
11. Serve the pasta with a bit more Parmigiano Reggiano on top.
12. Enjoy!

Note:  This recipe will yield two generous pasta servings. It can easily be doubled to serve 4 to 6. I like to use dried penne pasta for this recipe because the sauce gets trapped in the small tubes of pasta. But you can use whatever pasta you like. If adding salt to the sauce, keep in mind that the recipe calls for a whole cup of Parmigiano Reggiano so don’t over salt your sauce.

Technorati tags:  pasta, penne, vodka

The nominees for the 2006 Food Blog Awards have been released and to my great surprise, I have been nominated for the Best Food Blog - Writing category!

When I started this blog in December 2005, I did it so that I could have a place to share my passion for baking and cooking. And I also did it so that I could use some of those cookbooks that keep appearing on The Overburdened Bookshelf.

I have no idea how they get there.

Really.

As I celebrated a year of blogging, I was thinking about how lucky I’ve been to first and foremost have met so many wonderful people, a few of whom I’ve been able to meet in person. Add to that the fact that I’ve tried so many new recipes and learned so much … well … I thought I couldn’t possibly be more fortunate.

But to be nominated, and then to make the top five in a category with such talented and worthy writers, well it’s just too much! From the bottom of my heart I thank you!

And I also urge you to go and vote. The polls are open until January 9th. There are so many talented nominees and the choice will be difficult. But please do cast your ballot for your favourites!

I’m so happy after this good news that I can share this beautiful cake with all of you. This is an orange and lemon cake from Patricia Wells’ book, Trattoria. For those of you that aren’t familiar with Patricia Wells, she’s a prolific writer who has been a food critic and restaurant reviewer. She is a highly decorated cookbook author who counts a Julia Child/IACP Award and a James Beard Foundation Award among her accomplishments. Besides Trattoria, she has written numerous cookbooks including several all the food of Provence. As if that’s not brilliant enough, Patricia teaches cooking classes in Paris! My dream is to be able to attend on of those classes one day.

One day!

Patricia’s books have an ease to them that is inviting and appealing to a home cook like myself. It’s easy to feel yourself in an Italian trattoria or in a Provencal kitchen while flipping through one of her books. Her recipes are clear and authentic, and I don’t think I’ve ever been disappointed.

I received Trattoria as a Christmas gift in 2005, and I realized recently that I had yet to really take an in depth look at the book. While on my trip in December, as the time to leave neared, I found myself beginning to yearn for the simple yet robust food of home. I enjoyed all that I ate while in Europe (believe me I did), but I was ready to come back to some good solid pasta! Without much hesitation, I chose Trattoria to be the Flavour of the Month for January 2007 as it contained so many of the soul-nourishing recipes I seem to be  yearning for these days. Now while I would normally begin my exploration of a Flavour of the Month at the beginning of the book, I found myself drawn to the section on Desserts.

Me? Drawn to desserts? Shocking, isn’t it?!

One particular sweet kept tempting me and it took the form of Patricia’s Fragrant Orange and Lemon Cake (Torta di Arancio e Limone). There are no photographs in Trattoria, yet the description of this cake, so full of zest and citrus juice, had me envisioning what the final product would look like even before I tried it. I could already smell the heady aroma of this cake coming out of the oven. And something about the combination of orange and lemon, at this time of year, just felt so right. Besides the fact that it hasn’t been the coldest of winters (yet), it feels so virtuous to be eating a cake full of vitamin-packed citrus. Why it practically cancels out all the butter!

I said practically.

Beyond the health benefits of this cake (minimal though they may be), I love filling the kitchen with oranges and lemons, especially around the holidays. They lend such a festive air to the table so baking this cake made me feel like the best part of the holidays … the part where you bake and rest and enjoy time with your friends and family … could continue even though the holidays themselves are over.

I wish you all a wonderful January and I hope that if you have the chance, you will try this lovely cake and that it will warm your kitchens wherever you are.

Ciao!

Orange and Lemon Cake

Adapted from Patricia Wells’ Trattoria.

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 2 tbsp. grated lemon zest
• 2 tbsp. grated orange zest
• juice of 1 lemon
• juice of 1 orange
• a few drops of orange oil (optional)
• 3/4 cup milk (preferably whole)
• 1 cup butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup vanilla sugar
• 3/4 cup sugar (if you don’t have vanilla sugar, just use 1-1/2 cups regular granulated sugar)
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature
• icing sugar for dusting

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and butter and flour a 9- or 10-inch cake pan or springform pan. If you use a 9-inch pan, make sure it has sides that are at least 3 inches high or your cake batter may overflow.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Once sifted, add the orange and lemon zests and mix well. Set aside.
3. In the bowl of an electric stand mixer, using the paddle attachment on medium speed, combine the butter and sugar and mix for 2 to 3 minutes until the butter is light in colour and appears fluffy.
4. Combine the lemon juice, orange juice and milk and stir.
5. Add the eggs to the butter/sugar mixture, one at a time, on medium speed, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition.
6. Begin adding the dry ingredients, in three additions, and then alternating with the milk/juice mixture. You should begin with the dry ingredients and end with the dry ingredients.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes to an hour. Check the cake after 50 minutes by inserting a toothpick or cake tester into the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s done. If not, continue baking the cake. In my oven the cake took an hour so the baking time may vary based on your oven.
8. Once done, remove the cake from the oven and set on a wire rack to cool completely. Once cool, unmold the cake and dust with icing sugar before serving.
9. Enjoy!

Note:  The original recipe calls for 1-1/2 cups of vanilla sugar, but that would have completely exhausted my supply so I cut that down to a 3/4 cup of vanilla sugar and then used a 3/4 cup of regular granulated sugar. You can use 1-1/2 cups of regular granulated sugar and add vanilla extract for the vanilla flavour. If you want to make your own vanilla sugar, simply take a few pods of vanilla and place them in a container. Cover the pods with sugar and leave them for a week or two so that the sugar absorbs the aroma of the vanilla. Each time you use some sugar, be sure to replenish the supply in the jar. And any time you use a vanilla pod, don’t throw it away. Dry it off and then add it to your jar of sugar.

I also used orange oil in this recipe because I love the intense orange flavour that it imparts. You do not have to use orange oil. The zest and juice is fine.

Technorati tags:  food blog awards, patricia wells, oranges, lemons, cake

On a rainy Tuesday morning in Berlin, our tour bus pulled away from the hotel and we began the long journey to Prague, "city of one hundred spires." While the thought of hours on a bus may not normally sound appealing, I think we were all looking forward to the chance to catch up on some sleep and to just reflect, in general, on three days in Berlin.

My thoughts were filled with all the incredible sights I’d seen and I was feeling a tad overwhelmed. How in the world could my brain possibly absorb any more information? So I settled down to a few hours of organizing my thoughts about Berlin, and the place that it now occupied in my travel life.

After an oddly tense stop at the German/Czech border, and the briefest of snow flurries which delighted our Australian tour buddies to no end, we found ourselves driving into the Czech Republic. For several hours, we passed through towns and villages that all seemed uniform in appearance thanks to the fog that had descended. Occasionally a curious passerby would look up at the brightly-coloured tour bus rumbling by, but for the most part we passed through empty streets.

As dusk fell, we found ourselves pulling into our hotel and once again we ready to begin the exploration of a new city. After dinner, we headed immediately into the heart of Prague to be greeted by one of the most enchanting sights I’ve ever seen. In and around Prague’s Old Town Square (Staroměstské náměstí), we delighted in yet another lively and bustling Christmas market. It seemed that on this chilly Tuesday night, Czechs were out in full force to enjoy the Christmas cheer.

Perhaps the most popular feature of the Old Town Square is the Astronomical Clock (Orloj) which entertains by telling the time, giving the position of the sun and stars all while showing Saints days and the signs of the Zodiac. At 9:00 in the evening, in a square filled with people and light, we stood beneath the clock and waited for it to unveil its special workings. Magical!

From the clock, we wandered happily through the square and marveled at the monuments and churches. One church in particular, the St. Nicholas’ Church (Chrám sv. Mikuláše) in the Old Town Square, was a sight to behold. On our final day in Prague, as I spent the afternoon meandering through the Christmas market one last time, I was captivated by the sound of music and singing throughout the square. It was coming from St. Nicholas’. I very quietly made my way into the church and joined a crowd of people quietly and respectfully observing the choir and orchestra preparing for an upcoming Christmas concert. In the hushed church, I could feel goosebumps as I listened to that beautiful music ringing out.

As enticing as the charms of the Old Town Square were to me, it was hard to resist Prague’s other charms. While many tourists flocked to Wenceslas Square (Václavské náměstí) for the shopping (I’ll admit even I was enticed a few times), I found the constant crowds a bit much. I preferred exploring the secretive streets of the "New World" (Nový Svět), following each turn and twist with the faint expectation that a ghost would pop out as we turned each corner.

Memories of the last world war are also buried deeply in Prague’s history. As you walk through the Jewish Quarter (Josefov), you get a familiar feeling, one that we had many times in Berlin where we found ourselves in a modern place so deeply affected by a war-filled past.

The cafes, the stores, the women walking on cobblestone in mile-high stilettos, it’s all so Prague. Completely unique and unforgettable.

Even more amazing are the number of castles each with its own set of legends and myths. But without question the most astonishing of all these places is Prague Castle (Hradčany). Established in the 9th century, this massive place is a feast for the eyes. From the changing of the guard to the Gothic St. Vitus Cathedral, Prague Castle should not be missed. While I didn’t have the chance to visit many of the other castles, I’m so glad we visited this one.

I must admit, at times it was all a little too dazzling. And time and time again, I found myself drawn to my very favourite spot in the city:  the Charles Bridge (Karlův most). We first visited the Charles Bridge on the night we arrived when it was shrouded in a mist and dimly lit. It seemed that as you stepped onto it, you were leaving Prague and entering an older place. Spooky yet exciting, by day the bridge provides one of the most incredible views of Prague. My pictures don’t do it justice. With the Vltava River below, figures of saints and martyrs all around and the hills in the background, I could have stayed on the bridge for hours and just soaked it all in.

A number of people have asked me about the food in Prague and while I did visit a few cafes, I have to be honest, what I remember most is the beer. I am not a big beer drinker but even I could not resist the most enticing of Czech beverages. These people make good beer!

Upon returning to Toronto, I wondered what I could make as a reminder of my time in Prague. The Zimtsterne in honour of my time in Berlin were an easy choice. But Prague was more difficult. As I thought about the meals we had, I recalled that bread was present at each one. The bread was simple and wholesome. And always there.

I decided to do some research on Czech breads and came across something called Vánočka, which is a type of egg bread with citrus zest, raisins and almonds. Braided like a challah, Vánočka is more elaborate in that the bread is made by making three separate braids, each smaller in size, and then layering the braids on top of each other with the largest at the bottom and the smallest at the top. While the formation of this bread was unusual and hard work (I’ll admit), it was impressive and so enticing as it came out of the oven.

As I looked at it, I couldn’t help wondering what had made me choose this bread as a tribute to Prague. And then I realized that the bread, like the city, was so warm and golden.

Na Shledanou!

Vánočka

Adapted from this recipe.

• 6 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup (4 ounces) butter, softened
• 1 tablespoon (.5 ounces) fresh yeast (you can also use 2 packages of active dry yeast)
• 1 cup whole milk, room temperature
• 1 large egg yolk
• pinch of salt
• zest of 1 lemon
• 3 tbsp. raisins (soaked in warm water for 15 minutes)
• 3 tbsp. sliced almonds
• 1 egg and a tablespoon of water for the egg wash
• icing sugar for dusting

1. In a bowl, combine the fresh yeast and the milk or the active dry yeast and the milk. Add 1 tablespoon of the sugar and stir. Let the mixture sit for 10 minutes to give the yeast a chance to activate.
2. After 10 minutes, pour the yeast mixture into the bowl of an electric stand mixer. Add the flour, the remaining sugar, the salt, the lemon zest and the egg yolk. Fit the mixer with the dough hook and mix on low speed for two minutes, until the mixture is well combined. If it looks dry, add a bit of warm water.
3. After 2 minutes, increase the mixer speed to medium and begin adding the softened butter, a bit at a time. Between adding the butter, give the mixer a minute or so to incorporate the butter you’ve just added.
4. Once the butter has been added, turn the speed to low and add the raisins and almonds and mix for another minute to incorporate the items in the dough.
5. Once incorporated, remove the dough from the mixer and place on a well-floured surface. Form the dough into a ball and place in a large, oiled bowl. Sprinkle some flour on top of the dough and cover with a cloth or with plastic wrap. Place in the refrigerator and let rise overnight.
6. After the dough has risen, place the dough onto a work surface and divide into 9 equal pieces.
7. Roll each piece into a rope that’s roughly 10 to 11 inches in length.
8. Once all the pieces have been rolled out, take 4 ropes and form a braid. Twist the braid ends and fold them under to ensure the braid does not unravel.
9. Take another 3 pieces and form those into a braid. Twist the braid ends and fold them under to ensure the braid does not unravel.
10. Take the remaining two pieces and twist them together being sure to pinch the ends so that the twist does not come undone.
11. Place the three braids on a parchment-lined baking sheet and cover with a cloth. Let rise for an hour in a warm place.
12. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and place a rack in the centre of the oven.
13. When your ready to bake the braids, take the largest braid and place it in the centre of a parchment-lined baking sheet. Flatten it slightly with your hands.
14. Take the second largest braid and place it on top of the first braid. Flatten it slightly with your hands to ensure that the braids are firmly in place.
15. Top with the smallest braid and once again flatten with your hands.
16. Combine the egg and water in a dish to form an egg wash. Generously brush the Vánočka with the egg wash and sprinkle with a few more sliced almonds if you have them.
17. If you’re worried about the braids tipping over, you can insert wooden skewers in the Vánočka to keep it in place.
18. In my oven, the Vánočka took about an hour and 15 minutes to bake. It was deeply golden when I took it out of the oven. I had to use skewers part way through as I noticed that the braids were beginning to tip a bit.
19. Place the Vánočka on a wire rack to cool completely. Once cool, slice into the bread and enjoy!

Note:  The bread should be stored at room temperature, tightly wrapped in plastic or sealed in a large plastic bag. The bread will stay fresh for 2 to 3 days. Stale bread can be used for French toast or in a bread pudding.

This isn’t exactly an easy bread to make and I had to do some guessing as the original recipe wasn’t the clearest. But if you want to give it a try, it’s worth it. In future, were I to bake it again, I don’t think I’d layer the braids. I’d just form 2 larger braids and bake them separately.

Technorati tags:  prague, vanocka