Have you ever felt, with every fibre of you’re being, that you love a place even though you’ve never been there?

I have never set foot in New Orleans but I know, just about as well as I know my own name, that I love that city.

One day I will get there and my love will be confirmed.

I just know it.

Before Katrina, I was actually been planning a trip to New Orleans but my plans were scuttled by a combination of work and other commitments. Along with just about everyone else, I was shocked, saddened and so angry to see what happened during and after the storm.

And always, I would think about New Orleans and wonder, “When will I get there?”

I’m still asking that question, but I feel a tad closer ever since I started watching an amazing show called Treme.

I’m not one to talk about much beyond baking, cooking and cookbooks on this blog, but I just have to tell you about this show because it is brilliant.

Not only does it feature several of my favourite actors (hello, John Goodman and Wendell Pierce!), I cannot even tell you how brilliant the music is.

The name of the show comes from a neighbourhood in New Orleans and the show features numerous storylines all of which follow the men and women of Treme as they put their lives back together in the months after Katrina.

The star of the show is the music, though. Without a doubt.

As I watched last week’s episode and I found myself wondering about a trip to New Orleans, I rememberd that many months ago I picked up a copy of DamGoodSweet: Desserts to Satisfy Your Sweet Tooth, New Orleans Style by David Guas.

I started to flip through the book and had half-convinced myself to start making beignets, even though it was very late, but then I thought why not try something a little more manageable for the evening. Having remembered a post from Molly of Orangette about caramel corn, I decided that I would go for it.

That was damn good caramel corn! Damn good like the show … hope you watch it!

Ciao!

Click here for Molly’s version of the recipe.

Today is Daring Bakers day and as you can see I am delinquent yet again.

But do not the judge the Daring Bakers by the negligence of moi … please. There are some daring, daring people out there and none moreso than Esther of The Lilac Kitchen who challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using … suet for the April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge.

That girl is daring!

I will dare myself to make this challenge … just not yet. In the meantime, please do visit The Daring Kitchen blogroll to see how steamed up Daring Bakers can get.

Ciao!

Or lack therof …

I had to smile when I read a post on Smitten Kitchen about how some bloggers in parts-not-here are enjoying all sorts of beautiful and fresh spring delights from the garden. I feel her pain. While here in Toronto we are still dealing with cold and windy weather, it’s hard not to be jealous when you know that some people in the world are already eating the first strawberries of spring.

Not fair!

While my strawberry plants are at least a month away from bearing any fruit, I thought I had resolved to grin and bear it. I’m a big girl. How hard can it be to wait until spring fully arrives and all of Ontario’s wonderful produce with it?

Alright. I caved.

It’s not my fault, though. I blame it all on the February 2010 issue of Woman & Home Feel Good Food. I don’t think I’ve ever made a recipe from this delightful magazine for a Magazine Mondays edition, but that’s entirely may fault. What a pretty magazine! I encourage you to pick up a copy if you can.

While I was flipping through the issue, I saw a recipe for Mozzarella and Tomato Brioche that looked so appetizing, I decided that I would make it immediately even though I’m months away from my first fresh garden tomato. I threw together some cherry tomatoes, green onion, chopped olives, thyme, basil, fresh mozzarella, olive oil and salt. I let the whole mixture marinate for a bit and then I fairly plunked it on some warm ciabatta bread.

I sat down at the table and inhaled it. While I’m sure I did not make for a pretty sight, it appeased (momentarily anyway), my craving for fresh food from the garden.

So for now, I’m okay. But I have to tell you, summer can’t get here soon enough!

As you know, Magazine Mondays is my “non-event” that gives all of us a chance to finally try those magazine recipes we’ve been clipping religiously.

Look who joined me this week in digging into that magazine pile:

Tia from Buttercream Barbie made an Apricot Braid from Taste of Home.

Jamie from Life’s a Feast made Quinoa Risotto with Asparagus and Parmesan Tuiles from the May 2010 issue of Saveurs. Jamie also made a Strawberry Shortcake from a 1989 issue of Chocolatier.

Janet from The Taste Space made Moroccan Carrot Soup from the April 2010 issue of Bon Appétit.

Diana from Di’s Kitchen Notebook made the Ultimate Chocolate Cupcakes from Cook’s Illustrated.

Lynn from I’ll Have What She’s Having made Spicy Chickpea Tomato Soup from the Novemer 2007 issue of Martha Stewart Living.

Tina Marie from Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made Indoor Pulled Pork from Cook’s Illustrated and Feta Chicken Bundles from the December 2009 issue of Family Circle.

Jannett of Canadian Baker Too made Summer Berry Shortcakes from the Summer 2009 LCBO magazine.

Have a great week, everyone!

Ciao!

In the moments when baking seems most impossible, I think of cookies and I smile.

That’s because I know that as soon as I can get back to baking, I will be baking cookies.

Is there anything more perfect in baking then a warm cookie, fresh out of the oven?

How about a heart-shaped warm cookie, fresh out of the oven, smothered in creamy goodness and then sandwiched with another heart-shaped cookie?

Come on! You can’t resist that. Not even the most hardened soul could be immune to that kind of baking firepower.

As I ease my way back into baking after a prolonged (for me) period away from the kitchen, I give myself over to the will of the baking fairies who clearly wanted me to bake these cookies.

They’re from Nigella Lawson’s Feast: Food to Celebrate Life. The baking fairies had their way with me on this one.

Not a day after I found myself pondering what to do with a mostly full canister of Bird’s Custard Powder (left over from this Daring Bakers’ challenge), I happened to be flipping through Nigella’s book and came across a recipe for Custard Cream Hearts which uses, you guessed it, Bird’s Custard Powder in both the cookie and the cream filling.

I bow to the wisdom of the baking fairies.

I went into the kitchen and engaged in the beautiful act of baking cookies.

I mixed and rolled and cut out and baked and mixed some more and filled and sandwiched and ate.

And I smiled.

Ciao!

Butter Cookies with Custard Cream à la Nigella
Based on a recipe from Nigella Lawson’s Feast: Food to Celebrate Life.

Note: I used a roughly 2-inch heart-shaped cookie cutter and was able to get about 20 sandwich cookies out of this recipe (that means I made about 40 heart-shaped cookies). I altered the original recipe by making it more of a butter cookie and adding some cinnamon for flavour. Store the cookies in an airtight container. They should keep for a few days.

For the cookies:

1-½ cups all-purpose flour (you will need extra flour to roll out the cookies)
3 tablespoons Bird’s Custard Powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 large egg
1 tablespoon whole milk (you may need a bit more)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Put all of the dry ingredients in the bowl of a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Cut the butter into small cubes and add to the flour mixture. Pulse 15 to 20 times, or until the butter has been cut into the flour mixture so that it looks crumbly.

Mix the egg and milk together in a small bowl.

With the processor running, slowly drizzle in the egg/milk mixture until a dough forms around the blade of the processor. You may not need to use all of the liquid. If you use all the liquid and the dough is still dry and won’t come together, drizzle in a tablespon or so of extra milk.

Once the ball of dough has formed, stop the processor and remove the dough. Shape it into a round disk and then wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least half an hour (you can refrigerate it for up to a day).

Once the dough has chilled, remove it from the refrigerator and roll it out on a floured surface. You can roll it out to whatever thickness you like. I prefer thicker cookies because they remain a bit more tender after baking.

After rolling our your dough, begin cutting out cookies and transferring them to the baking sheet.

Bake the cookies until golden (I rolled my cookies out to about a 1/4 inch thickness and baked them for about 18 minutes). Once baked, remove the cookies from the oven and let cool for about five minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

For the cream filling:

1 tablespoon Bird’s Custard Powder
¾ cup icing sugar
¼ cup unsalted butter, at room temperaute
Hot water (you’ll need a bit to help cream the mixture together)
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

You can make the filling in a bowl using a wooden spoon or with an electric mixer.

Place the custard powder and icing sugar in a bowl and mix. Add the soft butter and using a wooden spoon mash it into the powder/sugar mixture a bit.

Add a few tablespoons of hot water to loosen the mixture. Continue beating with the wooden spoon.

If it’s too dry and not creamy, add a few more tablespoons of hot water and keep beating with the wooden spoon. Continue doing this until you have a creamy and light mixture.

Add the vanilla extract and cinnamon and mix well.

To assemble the cookie:

Take one heart cookie and spread about a teaspoon of cream filling on one side. Take another heart cookie place on top of the cream filling to form a sandwich.

Enjoy!

Every since my trip to New York City in January, I’ve been on the losing end of the weight gain battle. Just as fast as you can say City Bakery’s pretzel croissant I’m suddenly about 10 pounds heavier.

Eeek!

I’m as vain as the next cream puff and with bathing suit season on the horizon, it’s time to right the ship.

Generally speaking, I try to eat a very balanced diet. I eat everything, I just try to make sure that I eat in moderation and that I get lots of fruit and vegetables. This has served me well in recent years as I’ve turned the corner on weight gain and slowly found myself looking more and more the way I want to look and feeling the way I want to feel.

Having said that, lately I haven’t been eating the greatest of lunches. I’m either grabbing whatever is available (usually not something good) or even worse, skipping lunch.

My favourite sort of lunch has a little bit of everything: some dairy, some carbs, some protein and some vegetables and the vegetables are almost always salad in some form.

But I have to be honest, as much as I like my lettuce it does get a bit boring after awhile. I decided it was time to try some of the kabillion salad recipes I’ve had bookmarked from various magazines. I finally got around to trying this salad recipe from the April/May 2006 issue of Body + Soul magazine.

I had to make a few changes to the recipe, the biggest being no strawberries. We’re at least a few months away from strawberry season here in Ontario and I don’t care how beautiful they look, those monster strawberries you see in the grocery store have absolutely zero flavour. What’s the point?!

Instead of frisee, which isn’t always available, I used arugula, red-leaf lettuce and Belgian endive. I loved this salad! It was refreshing and the walnuts and goat cheese gave the salad a nutty, creamy angle that was so flavourful. I cannot wait to try this salad again, especially when strawberries are in season.

For those of you that don’t know about Magazine Mondays, it’s the non-event I created to give all those of us with stacks of food magazines everywhere the chance to finally try some of those recipes we’ve bookmarked! There are no rules for this event and the only requirement is that you send me the link to a magazine recipe you’ve posted on your blog. I’ll include it in my next Magazine Mondays‘ roundup.

Here’s who has joined me this week:

A regular contributor, Janie of Panini Girl made a Berry Tiramisu with Lemon Curd from the June 2009 issue of Bon Appétit.

Margaret of Tea and Scones made Peanut Butter Cupcakes from Taste of Home She also made Pasta with Chicken and Squash using another recipe from Taste of Home.

Another regular contributer, Tia of Buttercream Barbie made a Quick Raspberry Cream Cheese Brioche Ring from the Sept./Oct. 1995 issue of Cook’s Illustrated.

Tamy of Always Eat on the Good China made Banana Raisin French Toast.

Erica from the beautiful blog Cooking for Season made Green Tea Shortbread Cookies from the December 2001 issue of Martha Stewart’s Holiday Cookies.

Nova of Raining Potatotes made Poblano, Potato, and Corn Gratin from the April 2010 issue of Bon Appétit.

Dawn from Doable and Delicious made Asparagus Ravioli in Parmesan Broth from the April 2008 issue of Gourmet.

Debbie from Cafe Chibita made Linguine with Seafood Sauce from the March 2010 issue of Food Network magazine.

Needful Things from the blog Needful made Dark Chocolate Dipped Apples from a lost magazine recipe (I feel your pain!).

My buddy Wandering Coyote from ReTorte returns with Chocolate Peanut Butter Pudding Cake from the January 2009 issue of Canadian Living and Marmalade Cake from Food Network magazine.

Tina from Life in the Slow Lane at Squirrel Head Manor made BBQ Shrimp from Southern Living magazine.

Have a wonderful week, everyone!

Ciao!

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

In my ongoing and valiant efforts to catch up on all The Daring Kitchen challenges I’ve missed over the past year, I now bring you the February 2010 challenge presented by Aparna and Deeba, two most enthusiastic Daring Bakers. They chose the Italian dessert Tiramisu as the challenge.

Tiramisu, literally translated, means pick-me-up and in theory, it isn’t the most complex of desserts. However, when your hostesses challenge you to make all the components from scratch, including the mascarpone, well, let’s just say it changes things.

Yes. You read that correctly. The Daring Bakers are now also cheesemakers, among other things.

Even though my background is Italian, tiramisu is not my favourite. It’s not that I don’t like it - how could one not possibly like such a creamy, boozy dessert that packs a coffee-kick to boot?

It’s just that growing up, tiramisu became the ubiquitous dessert. Every birthday, every family dinner, every baptism, every confirmation, every wedding party dinner and just about everything else inevitably showcased a tiramisu.

To make matters worse, in the 80s and early 90s, mascarpone was not the easiest ingredient to find in Toronto. And even when you did find it, it was ridiculously expensive, moreso than it is even today. As a result, people (and I’m ashamed to admit some of my own family members) resorted to some very strange mascarpone substitutions the worst of which was fake “whipped cream”.

Ugh.

I prefer not to think of those horrible days! Happily, we have all seemed to move on and on the few occasions when we do make Tiramisu, it’s mascarpone all the way.

Over the years, I have shared my family’s Tiramisu recipe with numerous people and it remains my standard for the dessert.

However, Aparna and Deeba laid down the gauntlet and in the spirit of the Daring Bakers, I accepted the challenge.

There were two elements to this challenge that really intrigued me and that I enjoyed tremendously, even though I wasn’t all that successful with them.

The first element was the recipe for homemade mascarpone. I would have never attempted this on my own but Aparna and Deeba pointed everyone to a post on the blog Baking Obsession that belongs to Vera, a most talented baker. Even if you don’t make the mascarpone, you have to visit her site to see how beautiful her creations are!

The making of homemade mascarpone involves heavy cream, heated to a certain temperature, and the addition of lemon juice. The mixture is then allowed to drain in the refrigerator for a period of time after which you should end up with a thickened cream that is, in essence, a form of mascarpone.

My lack of patience reared its ugly head again and I did not allow my cream to heat to the right temperature before I added the lemon juice. I’m not sure what the issue was but after more than 40 minutes in the double boiler, my cream seemed to stop heating up. Finally I got so tired I mixed in the lemon juice and proceeded with the recipe.

My end product was delicious, but not nearly as thick as it should have been. Still, though, I wasn’t complaining. It was so good that we could all just imagine eating it in the summer over fresh berries. I cannot wait to try it again!

The second element of the challenge that I found most intriguing was the making of the savoiardi biscuits. Savoiardi (often referred to as Ladyfinger cookies) are an Italian biscuit that form the base of Tiramisu. However, savoiardi are quite popular beyond this dessert and are used for many other sweets and are also enjoyed on their own.

I have never actually made savoiardi so I was more than pleased to try them.

Like the mascarpone, things didn’t go perfectly for me. I’m not sure if I didn’t whip my egg whites enough but the biscuits didn’t quite rise as much as they should have. Still, though, the cookies were delicious and I can’t wait to try them again.

The rest of the challenge was quite involved. We had to make a zabaglione and a pastry cream, as well as prepare the espresso and whip up some cream to finish off the filling.

The end result was a very detailed dessert with lots of components. It was delicious, but also a lot of work. In Tiramisu’ world, this to me was the equivalent of a “supermodel” Tiramisu. For a very special event, I would consider trying it again, but for a Tiramisu’ fix, I’d probably stick with my family’s recipe.

For me, what distinguished this challenge was the unabashed enthusiasm displayed by Aparna and Deeba. They were the very embodiment of the spirit of The Daring Bakers. They cut no corners and pushed everyone. I have to admit sometimes I get a little lazy with these challenges, but not this time. Faced with the efforts that Aparna and Deeba displayed I could not, in good conscience, do anything but my very best.

Ladies, I thank you for being an example to us all and picking me up for an awesome challenge!

Ciao!

For a copy of the challenge recipe, click here.

Buona Pasqua. Glad Påsk. Pask Seder. Felis Påsgua. God påske. Vesele velikonočne praznike. Joyeuses Pâques. Buine Pasche. Frohe Ostern. Prospera Pascha sit.

However you say it, Cream Puff and family wish you and yours a very Happy Easter!

Ciao!

The 2010 March Daring Cooks challenge was hosted by Eleanor of MelbournefoodGeek and Jess of Jessthebaker. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make risotto. The various components of their challenge recipe are based on input from the Australian Masterchef cookbook and the cookbook Moorish by Greg Malouf.

In my efforts to catch up with The Daring Bakers’ and The Daring Cooks’ challenges that I’ve missed, I bring you the March 2010 Daring Cooks’ challenge: risotto.

Rice is a major comfort food for me. There are a number of rice dishes that I associate with meals made for me as a child by my grandmother and by my mother.

Case-in-point: I can get all misty eyed if I start to think about rice with butter and Parmigiano Reggiano, which was a staple of my growing years.

While I have made risotto many, many times, it’s always a pleasure to make it again so I was pleased to see that Eleanor and Jess had chosen it as the challenge for March 2010.

While risotto is quite basic to make, it’s surprisingly easy to mess up, especially if you overcook it. A beautiful risotto can very quickly turn into a pasty and clumpy mess if you’re not careful.

But as long as you watch (patiently) over your risotto and as long as you use a flavourful cooking liqued (i.e., homemade broth), risotto is a dish that once mastered, will provide endless opportunities for new combinations.

The first part of this challenge was to make a homemade chicken broth, which is my cooking liquid of choice when it comes to risotto.

I mean this in the humblest sense but I could probably make chicken broth with my eyes closed. It is one of the very first things that my mother taught me to cook (right after tomato sauce) and I’ve probably been making it since I was about 12 or 13.

Chicken broth (brodo di pollo in Italian), has been a weekly dinner for us and for most members of my family. Typically, we will make a chicken broth and then serve the boiled chicken meat as the main course. I have many fond memories of my parents generously leaving the chicken neck aside so I could happily suck on it as a child. That’s love, people!

I could go on and on about chicken broth but suffice to say that homemade is a million times better than anything you can buy in the store (organic or not). In addition, homemade chicken broth opens the gateway to about a million other dishes that you can prepare. It’s a staple of cooking, cheap to make and, I am convinced, has restorative and therapeutic properties. A bowl of chicken soup is like a liquid hug.

After cooking up a batch of broth, I decided to make the risotto with a very simple and clean flavour combination.

As my risotto was about partway cooked, I added some tomato puree to add colour and flavour. Just prior to the risotto being done, I mixed in pieces of fresh mozzarella and at the very end I added a handful of fresh basil. I stirred the risotto until the mozzarella began to melt and then served it immediately.

It made for a light and delicious Sunday lunch dish.

The fact is that there are about a million different ways that you can prepare risotto. Once you’ve mastered the art of cooking it slowly, you can’t go wrong.

You can find a copy of the challenge recipe here.

Please do take some time to see what the other Daring Cooks did with their risottos.

Ciao!

Risotto alla Margherita

Note: Pizza Margherita is a pizza made with tomato, mozzarella and basil. I thought I’d use those same elements to create a risotto. This risotto will serve 4.

2 tbsp. olive oil
1 cup Arborio rice
4 to 6 cups chicken stock or broth
1/2 cup tomato purée
salt to taste
1/2 cup cubed fresh mozzarella
1 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
a handful of fresh basil, roughly chopped

Heat the oil in a large and wide pan that you will cook the risott in.

Add the Arborio rice and cook in the oil for a minute or two, stirring constantly. This step will add a nutty flavour the risotto as the grains toast in the olive oil.

Add enough broth to completely cover the risotto by about half an inch. Make sure the heat is on medium-low and cook, stirring occasionally, until the rice has soaked up most of the broth. The key to risotto is patience. If you cook it too vigourously you will use up all your liquid and the rice grains will still be hard. You also risk burning the rice.

Once most of the liquid has been soaked up, add another cup or of chicken stock/broth. Continue to cook stirring occasionally to ensure that the rice does not stick or burn.

When most of the liquid is absorbed, add another cup or two of stock and proceed as in the step above.

Add the tomato puree and mix well.

Once almost all of the stock is absorbed, taste the rice. If it is cooked (the rice is cooked when it is al dente which means that it’s firm to the bite but soft once you start chewing. If it tastes hard while you’re chewing it, it’s not done), add the Parmigiano Reggiano and mix well. Taste for seasoning. If it’s not salty enough, add some salt.

Remove the risotto from the heat and immediately add the fresh mozzarella. Stir a few times to incorporate and then add the fresh basil. Serve immediately and enjoy!