I am beginning to think that there should be an international holiday in the month of February dedicated to chocolate. If you support World Chocolate Day in February, raise your hand.

I’d raise mine, unfortunately both of them are currently filled with chocolate as that’s all I seem to be doing lately … stuffing my mouth with chocolate!

You can imagine then how happy I was that the little baking group that Lisa and I started in November chose to make a flourless chocolate cake for February’s baking challenge.

This time around, Lisa, Brilynn, Peabody, Helen, Veronica, Jenny and I have been joined by Mary, Tanna and Hester. Peabody’s suggestion to bake flourless chocolate cake was chosen as the winning challenge for the month. For a recipe, we turned to Tish Boyle’s amazing The Cake Book, which has an entire section devoted to flourless chocolate cakes. We chose one called Chocolate Intensity.

There was a time when I was intimidated when it came to these types of cake. The lack of flour worried me. How could something without flour be stable enough to work with? I’ve made a few of these cakes in recent years and have learned that there’s nothing to worry about. In fact, I think that a great flourless chocolate cake recipe is a must in every home cook’s repertoire.

This particular recipe is a dream. It’s made of chocolate, butter, coffee, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and a bit of salt. You melt the butter with the coffee and the sugar and then pour the hot mixture over the chocolate. After a few minutes you’re left with a thick chocolate mixture, to which you add well-beaten eggs. A touch of vanilla and salt and you’re cake is ready for the oven.

Covered in a gorgeous chocolate glaze, this cake is most definitely intense. It’s a jolt of chocolate satisfaction. I used espresso in the cake and somehow I think it served to add a little bit more oomph. The texture was soft, bordering on creamy. And it looked gorgeous. It was almost a shame to cut into it.

Almost.

Ciao!

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

Brilynn:  Would You Sponsor Someone Who Makes Cake Like This?

Peabody:  We Are At It Again …

Lisa:  Death by Chocolate

Helene:  Chocolate Intensity…Heaven

Jenny:  Chocolate!

Veronica:  Chocolate Intensity

Mary:  Chocolate Intensity

Tanna:  Must Love Chocolate

Hester:  Sorry Girls, No Oven. Me Sorry, No Cake.

I’m not quite sure how to say this. I’m about to attempt something I’ve never done before.

I’m going to try seducing a woman.

I’ll pause for a moment while you recover from that previous statement.

Ready?

Okay. Having been told that good Cream Puffs never chase after anyone, I find myself in unchartered territory. But I really have no choice. I am overcome with desire for a woman. Not just any woman, mind you. It’s Helen of Tartelette.

Normally I wouldn’t do this sort of thing. But my dearest Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Sensual Gourmet is hosting SHF #28 and the theme is Sweet Seduction. I am seduced by Jasmine’s brilliance all the time so I approve of her theme mightily. And lo and behold, I find myself as the seducer with Helen being the seducee.

So here goes:

Helen, I’m going to seduce you. Are you seduced yet?

Let me tell you why I’m going to seduce you, Helen. It’s because you sent me that beautiful postcard as part of Meeta’s Blogger Postcards Around the World. I waited patiently for my postcard to come and then there it was, in such a pretty pink envelope. And I opened it up and inside I found the most beautiful card. It had a sticker of a bag of flour on it! And a piping bag! I mean come on!!! Could anyone have possibly found a better card for me??? Helen, we were meant for each other.

Are you seduced yet?

No? Hmmm. Alright, Helen. I see I’m going to have to bring out the heavy artillery. I know, I know. You’re married and all that. With much respect to Mr. Tartelette, would he ever make you a marble cake, Helen??? Huh??? Would he???

And not just any marble cake. It’s one that has real dark chocolate melted and blended into the batter. And it has white chocolate chips blended in as well. When was the last time Mr. Tartelette took the time to do that for you. Hmmm????

Look at this picture, Helen. Look at the cake, Helen. Look at the creamy chocolaty goodness. You could have marble cakes every day if you were with me, Helen!

Every. Single. Day.

So Helen, are you seduced yet?

Ciao!

Dark Chocolate and White Chocolate Chip Marble Cake

Adapted from Another Cup of Sugar by Anna Olson.

Note:  I purchased this cookbook a few weeks ago and have completely fallen in love with it! This is is another winner. The cake should be baked in a 12-cup Bundt pan and will serve 10 to 12. Or Helen. But stay away from here as she’s mine. Go find your own Helen!

• 1 cup butter, at room temperature
• 1-3/4 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 cups sour cream
• 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 2 tsp. baking soda
• 1 tsp. salt
• 4 oz. chocolate (70% cocoa solids or higher … it all depends on how high you’re willing to go!)
• 1 cup white chocolate chips

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Butter and flour your bundt pan.
2. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
3. In a double boiler, melt the chocolate and set aside.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer, with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar and high speed until fluffy (about 2 minutes).
5. Add your eggs to the batter, one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.
6. Add the sour cream and vanilla and mix for another minute.
7. With the mixer on low speed, gradually add the flour mixture a bit at a time.
8. Remove one-third of the batter and put it in a bowl. Add the melted chocolate and the white chocolate chips. Mix well.
9. Spoon the batter into the Bundt pan, alternating between the plain batter and the chocolate batter. Once done, take a spoon or a knife and run it through the batter, swirling as you go to create a marble effect.
10. Bake the cake for 1 hour. After an hour, check for doneness by inserting a cake tester or toothpick in the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, your cake is done. In my oven, the cake took about 1 hour and 10 minutes.
11. Let the cake cool before removing from the pan.
12. Enjoy!

Technorati tags:  cake, marble cake, bpw, sugar high friday, shf

I owe an enourmous thank you to the talented Mari of the blog My Silly Little Thoughts. Mari baked and decorated these gorgeous cookies, packed them in a lovely tin and then sent them to me. I wish I could say that the cookies were admired by many but that is not the case.

They were demolished by a very hungry Cream Puff.

For those of you who don’t know, Mari is the brilliant and creative mind behind Mischief Mari Cookies. Intelligent, talented and a damn good baker, Mari recently offered cookies to the person who could correctly answer a question she’d posed on her blog. I was one of the two people who correctly guessed that the reason why Mari had pigs on the brain was that 2007 is the year of the pig according to the Chinese calendar.

True to her word, Mari sent me these adorable cookies and I couldn’t have been happier. Thank you so much, Mari. You’re wonderful!

Ciao!

On the menu for Week 3:  Lemon Meringue Pie and Pumpkin Pie

My Art of Pies class at George Brown College has been proceeding quite nicely. Our third class was dedicated to lemon meringue pie and pumpkin pie.

We began with the crusts for both our pies which were a very basic pastry crust made with vegetable shortening. For single crust pies in particular, I prefer to make butter crusts, but overall I thought the crusts turned out nicely. For the lemon meringue pie, we pre-baked the crusts, while for the pumpkin pies we were able to put the filling into the unbaked pie shell.

The lemon meringue pie consisted of two components besides the crust:  the filling and the meringue. For the filling, we began by making a syrup of water, sugar and salt which we brought to a boil. In a separate bowl we combined cornstarch, lemon juice, a bit more water and eggs. We tempered our mixture with a bit of the hot syrup and then poured it into the pan with the remainder of the syrup. We cooked the mixture until it thickened and we had a lovely curd. We finished it off by stirring in a bit of butter.

We put our lemon filling aside to cool and began making the meringue filling. The type of meringue that we used for our pie is called Swiss Meringue. This type of meringue involved cooking sugar, egg whites and cream of tartar until it reaches a certain temperature. The mixture is then put into the bowl of a stand mixer and whipped until very firm. We whipped our meringue for about ten minutes.

To assemble our pies, we poured the filling into the baked crusts and then used piping bags to pipe the meringue onto the filling. We baked the pies in a hot oven for about ten minutes to give the meringue some colour.

Overall, I liked this pie. The filling could have had a bit of a stronger lemon flavour. I would probably have added more lemon zest to accomplish this, but it was still a nice, silky filling. I liked the meringue as well and there’s no question that the pie looked impressive out of the oven. I have an unbelievable lemon meringue pie recipe that I make all the time and I’d have to say that the one we made in class didn’t really measure up, although it was good. I’ll have to share my lemon meringue pie recipe with you one day soon!

The pumpkin pie was a breeze to make and I almost questioned why we were making it in this class. But as the instructor stressed the importance of quality ingredients, I realized that even a pumpkin pie can be messed up. Our instructor recommended making your own pumpkin puree by roasting a pumpkin and then blending the flesh until smooth. In class we used canned pumpkin, but I must say it was an excellent one. It was pure pumpkin puree with no additives and the taste was wonderful.

We mixed our puree with brown sugar, eggs, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, heavy cream and butter. The result was a rich and tasty filling. Our pies baked very quickly and once out of the oven proved that it does not take a lot of effort or time to make a truly beautiful pie.

The flavour was pure pumpkin with a nice hit of spiciness. I loved it!

On the menu for Week 4:  Boston Cream Pie.

Never a fan of the Boston Cream Doughnut, I was a bit hesitant about making this "pie" in class. It actually consists of sponge cake, pastry cream, chocolate ganache and fondant.

We began by making a very basic sponge cake that consisted of eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla and flour. We baked our cakes in 9-inch pans. This is the sort of basic recipe that you can use for so many desserts, you can even enjoy just on its own. And believe me I was tempted!

Boston Cream Pie has a pastry cream filling so while our cakes cooled, we set about making the pastry cream. Again we used a very basic recipe that turned out beautifully. Our pastry cream consisted of milk, eggs, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla extract and butter. We brought milk to a boil in a pan. In a separate bowl we mixed sugar and cornstarch and in a third bowl we whipped our eggs. We added the sugar/cornstarch mixture and some more milk to the eggs. We added a bit of the hot milk to the egg mixture to temper them. We then poured the entire mixture back into the pot and heated it until it had thickened. We brought the mixture back to our work stations and added the vanilla extract and butter. We whisked until smooth and then spread our pastry cream out on a baking sheet to help it cool quickly.

For the chocolate ganache, the instructor prepared that for the entire class. I’m guessing he used a pre-prepared chocolate icing (found at cake supply places). He also provided fondant which is also used in cake decorating.

To assemble our Boston Cream Pie, we spread pastry cream on one layer of sponge cake and then topped it with the second layer. We poured the ganache over the top of the sponge and spread it around making sure to have ganache fall over the sides to coat them nicely. We used fondant to create a nice design on the top of the cakes.

While there were a lot of steps to this particular pie, I have to say I enjoyed the results. The sponge was fresh and moist and the pastry cream was fantastic. I wasn’t too thrilled with the chocolate ganache as I suspect there wasn’t a lot of real chocolate in there. At home I would definitely use the real thing. But I did enjoy decorating with fondant which is an important part of cake decorating.

And I can’t lie. This pie was delicious and there’s no question that it’s the one I’ve enjoyed the most thus far. See you next class! 

Ciao!

I’m a sucker for Valentine’s Day.

I know many people don’t enjoy this day, viewing it as a hugely commercial event, one that is a purely made-up celebration to sell overpriced roses and sappy cards.

While that may be the case, as the day nears, I can’t help but think pink, heart-shaped thoughts.

This isn’t so much because of the romantic angle, it’s actually more because of the memories that Valentine’s Day awakens. Come February 14th, I always think of my father.

While my parents weren’t the type to get all mushy, my father always brought flowers home for my mother and for me. And no matter what, I can’t help but feel just a bit sad each Valentine’s Day since he’s been gone.

Usually he would buy red roses, but one year, knowing my love of the colour pink, he came home with an arrangement of silk flowers in a pink container. When I took a closer look at the container, I noticed that it said "It’s a Girl!" on it. English being my father’s second language, I doubt he even noticed that. But to this day, I look at that little arrangement and it never fails to bring a smile to my face.

It would be easy to get caught in the frenzy of Valentine’s Day. As someone who loves to bake, the temptation to try my hand at the most elaborate of desserts is a strong one. But knowing my father, he’d appreciate something simple and basic.

And when I think of simple and basic, I always think of a beautiful, golden yellow cake. There is nothing fancy about this one. Once you find a recipe you like, you could probably make it with your eyes closed as it’s so easy. You don’t have to set the timer because you’ll know by sight and smell that it’s done. You can eat it on its own, you can frost it, you can freeze it, you can do a million things with it. It’s reliable, safe, delicious and beautiful in its simplicity.

It’s just like my papà.

Ciao!

Note:  The recipe for this particular cake is from Anna Olson’s Another Cup of Sugar. This was the first time that I tried the recipe so I’m not comfortable posting it as I have not adapted it in any way. However, you can try this recipe or this one, as they both yield a very similar cake. Once cooled, I split my little cakes in half and spread some strained cherry jam on one of the halves, and then put the cakes back together. I topped the cakes with a rich chocolate ganache. Enjoy!

Technorati tags:  cake, valentine’s day

Sometime, one needs to bring some colour into one’s wintry life.

Don’t get me wrong. I love the winter. Mostly. I love the feeling of being tightly ensconced in the house, with nothing to do but make gurgling, hearty soups and puffy muffins that you have no choice but to slather in butter.

I don’t mind winter’s greyness … or its bluster.

But sometimes, even I need to inject some colour into winter’s canvas. And it’s at times like these that I turn to all those summer berries, packed safely away in my freezer. In the midst of July and August’s unbearable humidity, while others are hugging their air conditioners, I’m scouring Toronto’s farmer’s markets for lovely berries. And then I come home, wash them and freeze them for those long, cold winter days when I need a hit of colour.

This has become one of my very favourite cakes to make. Feel free to make it in summer with fresh berries, but it works brilliantly with frozen. It’s orangey and pretty, and a reminder that for those of us that are cold-bound for a few more months at least, a warmer season is always around the corner.

Ciao!

Orange Bumbleberry Cake

Adapted from Another Cup of Sugar by Anna Olson.

Note:  I usually bake this cake in a 12-cup capacity Bundt pan. On this occasion I decided to bake it in a baby bundt pan. You can use any combination of berries you like. This cake will serve 10 to 12.

For the cake:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1-2/3 cup sugar
• 2 to 3 tbsp. grated orange zest (the original cake uses lemon zest)
• 2 tbsp. vanilla extract
• 3 eggs, at room temperature
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup cake and pastry flour
• 1 tbsp. baking powder
• 1 tsp. salt
• 3/4 cup whole milk
• 3 tbsp. freshly squeezed orange juice
• 2/3 cup frozen raspberries
• 2/3 cup frozen blueberries
• 2/3 cup frozen strawberries (cut into small pieces)

For the glaze:

• 1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
• 1/2 cup sugar

For the mascarpone drizzle (optional):

• 1/4 cup mascarpone, at room temperature
• 1 tbsp. heavy cream (you may need a bit more)
• 2 tbsp. icing sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 12-cup capacity Bundt or cake pan.
2. Combine the whole milk and the freshly squeezed orange juice (this will sour the milk to create the same effect as buttermilk … alternatively you can use a 3/4 cup buttermilk). Set aside.
3. Sift together the flours, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and the sugar on medium speed until fluffy (2 to 3 minutes).
5. Add the zest and vanilla extract and mix for another minute on medium speed. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
6. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix well on medium speed.
7. Alternating the flour mixture and the milk/orange mixture, add them to the batter beginning and ending with the flour mixture. Don’t over mix the batter.
8. Remove the bowl from the mixer. Combine your berries in a bowl and sprinkle on a few tablespoons of flour. Mix the berries with the flour. This will prevent the berries from sinking to the bottom of your cake.
9. Gently fold the berries into the batter and then spoon the batter into the pan.
10. Bake the cake for an hour, and then check for doneness with a toothpick or cake tester by piercing the centre of the cake. If it comes out clean, it’s done. If not, bake for an additional 5 minutes and then test again.
11. Remove the cake from the oven and poke holes in the top. Set the cake on a rack to cool.
12. In a small pan, combine the orange juice and sugar and bring to a boil. Stir to ensure that the sugar has dissolved. Let boil for 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the glaze from the heat and pour over the top of the cake.
13. Let the cake cool in the pan and then unmold.
14. In a bowl, combine the mascarpone, cream and icing sugar. Mix to form a loose icing or glaze. You should be able to drizzle it easily over the cake. If it’s too thick, add a bit more cream.
15. Enjoy!

Technorati tags:  cake , bumbleberry

What is this blog about if not the love of all things sweet?

This would explain the warming of my Cream Puff heart when Meeta announced that the theme for her popular Monthly Mingle (round 7!) was Sweet Love. Ah, yes. Bring on the sweets.

It’s almost unseemly that so soon after the holidays I already find myself back in the midst of boxes of chocolate, imagining all the sweet treats I’d bake if only I had the time. But that is in fact the case.

I think it speaks to the nature of this month, and not just because Valentine’s Day is smack in the middle of February. I think it has more to do with the cold, long nights … all those hours between dinner and bedtime. What better way to spend them than baking scores of delicacies in the imaginary kitchen in your mind?

When I imagine the sweets that I would like to bake, there’s always one that makes a repeat appearance in my baking fantasies:  coeur à la crème.

French in origin, coeur à la crème means "heart of cream." A classic dessert, it’s components are simple and sublime. I’m not sure what it would have been made with when it was first created, perhaps fresh cheese, but most recipes today call for a mixture of cream cheese and either heavy cream our sour cream. Most recipes also feature the ever-important vanilla bean.

The dessert’s signature is that it’s traditionally made in a heart-shaped mold. The cream mixture is packed into a mold lined with cheesecloth, and then allowed to rest in a cold spot for many hours. Once unmolded, you’re left with a beautiful, creamy dessert that is simplicity at its very best. It’s usually accompanied by a berry sauce.

I’ve wanted to make coeur à la crème for so long, but I could never find the right mold. I know you can make it any container that has holes that will allow water to seep out, but I just wouldn’t settle for anything less than a porcelain heart of my own!

The baking gods smiled down on me for a few months ago, I found the very mold I’d been looking for. When Meeta announced Monthly Mingle #7, I knew right away that my coeur à la crème dream would finally come true.

For the recipe, I turned to Ina Garten’s Barefoot in Paris. The preparation was a breeze. I mixed cream cheese, icing sugar, lemon zest, the seeds of a vanilla bean and heavy cream together until I had a thick mixture. I lined my mold with paper towel and then packed in the cream cheese mixture. I rested my little heart in the refrigerator overnight, where a bit of water from the cheese drained out.

The following day I unmolded my little cheese heart and avoided the overwhelming urge to dig right in. As an accompaniment, I decided to make my own dulce de leche by boiling a can of sweetened condensed milk for two hours. Once cool, the milk had turned into a lovely caramel-coloured spread which I used to drizzle on the serving plate, as well as the heart itself.

But I also wanted something with colour. Since raspberries aren’t in season, a raspberry sauce was out of the question. Instead, I made use of the currants that I collected during the summer from our currant bushes. I cooked the currants with sugar and powdered pectin to form a lovely glaze. Unfortunately, I overcooked the glaze slightly so it was a bit difficult to drizzle, but still, the end result was lovely.

This dessert was out of this world! Light and fresh, we had no difficulties polishing off the entire heart. And the dulce de leche and currant glaze went very nicely with the dessert.

What can I say? Sweet Love is glorious, especially when some long-held dessert dreams get to come true. So go ahead. Bite me!

Ciao!

Note:  For the dulce de leche, I removed the label from a can of sweetened condensed milk. I placed the can on its side in a pot, and covered it with cold water. The water should cover the can by at least an inch. I brought the water to a boil and then lowered the heat so that the water remained at a gentle simmer. I simmered the can of sweetened condensed milk for 2 hours. I then turned off the heat and left the can in the water until it had cooled to room temperature. At that point I opened the can, scooped the contents into a container and refrigerated it overnight. I have made dulce de leche in this manner on many occasions and never encountered any problems. However, if you do try it, I urge you to be careful as any time you have canned goods that are heated, there are some risks involved.

Technorati tags:  monthly mingle, valentine’s day, coeur a la creme

One of the (few) advantages of being late for a food blog event is that you get to enjoy the efforts of other food bloggers long before you have to worry about your own post. I am glad to see that the world is indeed in love with what I like to refer to as Hazelnut Gold, otherwise known as Nutella.

As for my own post, let’s just say that I’m fashionably late for World Nutella Day hosted by Sara of Ms. Adventures in Italy and Shelley of At Home in Rome. Better late than never is what I say.

Having read so many of the entries about World Nutella Day, I think we’ve pretty much covered the history/origins/significance of Nutella to food bloggers and the world at large. There is, however, one crucial bit of Nutella lore that has not been covered.

It is the age-old Nutella question:  do you spread with a knife or a spoon?

There are very few things that will get me as worked up as this little query. And while I realize that a knife is featured oh-so-prominently on the label of Nutella jars, I can say beyond the shadow of a doubt that Nutella is to be spread with a spoon.

Never, ever use a knife! Never! The only reason there’s a knife on the label is that on the particular day the photo was taken, there were no spoons. Perhaps it was during the year of the Great Italian Spoon Shortage. I don’t know. What I do know, is that to use a knife to spread Nutella, is to sink a knife deep into the heart of Cream Puff.

And why would you want to hurt Cream Puff?

Nutella should always be spread with a spoon. Using a knife is an indication of stinginess of spirit. I mean how much Nutella can you possibly pile on to the thin blade of a knife?

A spoon is a different story. You can sink it deeply into the jar and with a gentle twist of the wrist you can scoop up a glorious creamy mound of the stuff. Then, slowly, you bring the spoon to a waiting slice of bread. You begin by smearing on as much of the Nutella as you can. Of course some of it will be caught in the spoon’s gentle indentation.

This brings me to what I call the Moment of Nutella Thrill, for now you have a choice. You can either pop the spoon in  your mouth and enjoy the appetizer to your Nutella sandwich. Or, you can use the corner of the bread to scoop out the bit of Nutella that remains in the spoon. Either way, you’ll feel that little thrill as the moment of Nutella consumption is near.

So please, put away the knives and embrace the spoons.

Happy belated World Nutella Day!

Ciao!

Technorati tags:  nutella, world nutella day

The Flavour of the Month for February 2006

A new month means a new flavour to enjoy. I said farewell to Patricia Wells’ Trattoria and hello to Matt Kramer’s A Passion for Piedmont. I can hardly believe that it’s already been a year since the Olympics in Torino. I had such fun learning about the cuisine of Piedmont (Piemonte), in preparation for the Olympics. During my studies, I came across Matt Kramer’s incredible cookbook. How I wished that I could have discovered it sooner! I’ve decided to mark the one-year anniversary of the Olympics by returning to Piedmont, so to speak, and taking a closer look at Kramer’s cookbook. I hope you’ll join me on this little voyage!

Some Recipes

I’ve had the opportunity to enjoy some more recipes from my fellow bloggers so I just thought I’d share them with you. Give them a try, you’ll love them!

• Ilva’s Sweet Focaccia:  Try it warm from the oven smeared with Nutella!
• Béa’s Gougères: So good!
• Anita’s Cupcakes of Love:  Perfect for Valentine’s Day!
• Nicole’s Farfalle with Pistachio Cream Sauce:  I could eat this pasta forever!
• Maura’s Winemaker’s Grape Cake:  I love you, Maura! One day I’m going to secretly publish a cookbook with all your recipes … oh … wait … did I just say that out loud???

Some News

Here’s all the news that’s fit to print:

• The third annual Menu for Hope was a resounding success! We raised $60,952.12, an incredible accomplishment! I’d like to thank everyone that extended their generosity during the holiday season. I’m happy to say that my fellow Canadian blogger, Sara of I Like to Cook, was the winner of the prize that I donated. Congratulations, Sara!
• In honour of the season, Gabrielle Lichterman, Editor-in-Chief of Four Weeks Magazine, asked me to join a few other bloggers in providing a special recipe for Valentine’s Day. I came up with a luscious Double Chocolate Tiramisu’ for Two. Check it out!
• Last March, I featured a cookbook by Paulette Mitchell as my Cream Puffs in Venice Flavour of the Month. The book is called A Beautiful Bowl of Soup and it was a delightful read. As a bonus, I discovered a number of incredible soups that have become a part of my family’s regular repertoire. I was absolutely thrilled when I received an e-mail from Paulette, on Christmas Day no less, introducing herself. Paulette is an incredibly warm person who is doing exactly what she should be doing:  writing cookbooks. She’s amazing! If you have the chance to look at any of her cookbooks, I highly recommend that you do so. But even better, how about if you had the chance to meet Paulette?! As it turns out, she also travels to Italy and gives guided tours as part of the programs at the wonderful La Divina Cucina cooking school. Paulette will be in Florence, Italy for two weeks in May 2007, where she will be joining Judy Witts Francini. There are still some spaces available for this wonderful opportunity so if any one out there is looking for the chance of a lifetime, this is it! You can read all the details here. I’d like to thank Paulette so much for providing me with this information and for saying hello in the first place!
• A wonderfully charming reader, DM, sent me an e-mail about a program to catalogue all of your cookbooks! It’s called Delicious Library. Check it out. Thanks, DM!
• For all the Nutella lovers out there, don’t forget World Nutella Day. It’s Wednesday February 6th and is being hosted by Sara of Ms. Adventures in Italy and Shelly of At Home in Rome.
• My sweetie Meeta of What’s For Lunch Honey? is hosting Monthly Mingle #7. The theme is Sweet Love and the deadline is February 8th.

I hope your February is full of lots of chocolate and lots of love!

Ciao!

Oh, January! Wherefore did thou go?

I was just getting used to you and before I knew it I found myself in February.

Alright, February. Gimme what ya’ got!

The Super Bowl is up first, you say. Super Bowl XLI to be exact.

Well. This is slightly problematic in that I don’t particularly care for football, not to mention the fact that Canada doesn’t even have an NFL team.

Still. It is an opportunity to consume vast amounts of food all in the name of some occasion.

In that light, I simply must share with you one of my very favourite dips. It takes about five minutes to prepare and it’s guaranteed to disappear within five minutes of being set on the table.

It’s that good.

For all you football fans, enjoy the Super Bowl. I shall be eating this dip by the spoonful contemplating what February will send my way next.

Ciao!

The Supreme Artichoke Dip

Adapted from Delicious Dips by Diane Morgan.

• 1 red onion, roughly chopped
• 2 green onions, roughly chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
• 2 cans artichoke hearts packed in water, drained and roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 2 tbsp. lemon juice
• 1 tsp. grated lemon zest
• 1 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
• 1/2 tsp. hot paprika
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 cup bread crumbs (unseasoned)
• 1 tsp. dried oregano
• 1 tsp. parsley, finely chopped
• 2 to 3 tbsp. olive oil

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Place the red onion, green onion, garlic and artichoke in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until the mixture is combined and everything is coarsely chopped.
3. In a bowl, mix the mayonnaise, sour cream, lemon juice, lemon zest and Parmigiano.
4. Add the onion and artichoke mixture and mix well.
5. Add the paprika, salt and pepper and taste. Adjust seasoning as desired.
6. Spoon the mixture into a 9-inch shallow baking dish (you can use any baking dish as long as it’s shallow).
7. In a bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, oregano and parsley. Add enough oil so that the crumbs clump together and you have a streusel-like topping.
8. Sprinkle the crumbs evenly over the artichoke dip.
9. Bake until the mixture bubbles at the sides and the crumbs have turned a deep golden colour.
10. Serve immediately with pita chips, crackers or bread sticks.
11. Enjoy!

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