Baking Chez Moi – The Rugelach That Won Over France

December 16, 2014December 17, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 5 Comments

I’ve made rugelach before, over at The Family That Bakes Together with my nieces, so I was curious to see how this recipe compared to that one. Those rugelach were filled with rich apricot lekvar, lots of cinnamon sugar, and a mix of fruit and nuts. My nieces also inadvertently rolled them along the short end, creating pinwheels which were huge – and a huge hit with everyone that tasted them.

So, I was curious to try Dorie’s chocolate version. I used a semisweet chocolate that was a little darker than was called for and substituted dried cranberries for the cherries, but otherwise stuck to the recipe. The dough was surprisingly easy to work with for something that soft, though getting the rolls started needed a little gentle help from my bench scraper. I left three of the rolls in the freezer and sliced and baked the other.

The oven I used seems to run a touch hot, so the rugelach were a bit browner on the bottom than I’d like. Next time, I’ll turn down the heat a touch and perhaps take them out sooner, too.

I was a little disappointed with them when I first tasted them – they seemed a bit dry and the flavours didn’t meld very well. But, the next day the leftovers were terrific. The flavour of the cream cheese dough became more pronounced and the filling was moist and delicious.

I still love the version we made for Baking With Julia best, but I think I’d like to have rolls of both kinds of rugelach in the freezer, to serve together. I’ll just bake this version a day ahead.

A very happy Chanukah to everyone who observes it! I hope these eight days are filled with food, family, and friends.

You can find the rest of the Tuesdays with Dorie crew’s entries on this recipe here: The Rugelach That Won Over France.

Mme. Maman’s Chopped Liver – A French Fridays Catch Up

December 12, 2014December 13, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 5 Comments

Do you ever have one of those days? You know, the kind that finds you doing everything but the one thing you’d set as a goal?

Well, today was one of those days for me. I made succotash, and rugelach dough, a cranberry crackle tart and extra tart dough. But I didn’t manage to get the lamb stew that was today’s French Fridays assignment into the oven. The lamb languishes in the refrigerator, the apricots wait patiently on the counter. Tomorrow will be their day.

Today, I ate ribs coated with a sauce that my mother made up on the spot, which somehow paired perfectly with butternut squash roasted with cinnamon, nigella, pumpkin seeds, and cardamom. And I dug into this chopped liver, which is humble-looking, but delivers on flavour.

I think it’s the crispy onions and the quatre épices that really make this version of chopped liver special. The onions were almost crispy when they were done. I was worried they’d be too dry, but once mixed with the liver, hard-boiled egg, and some oil from the pan, and left to rest overnight, they melted into the mixture.

This was an unequivocal hit and will be showing up on my buffet table, humble-looking or not.

See how the Doristas fared with this recipe last year, when it came up on the rotation: Mme. Maman’s Chopped Liver. And here’s where you can find links to the rest of the French Fridays crew’s posts on this week’s recipe here: Lamb and Dried Apricot Tagine.

Patate Alpino

December 8, 2014March 12, 2016 ~ Teresa ~ 16 Comments

The Little Potato Company provided me with the potatoes used in this recipe. The recipe and all opinions expressed in the post are my own.

I don’t care who knows it. I love potatoes. Roasted, mashed, boiled, smashed, simmered, braised, caked, or scalloped – bring ’em on. So, when I got the opportunity to play around with The Little Potato Company‘s creamer potatoes, I was right on board.

It’s been fun experimenting with these tiny, tender, flavourful potatoes. The recipe I’m sharing with you today was inspired by thoughts of Swiss raclette, but it’s got an Italian twist, since my neighbourhood is famous for its Italian delis and coffee shops.

When I was tracking down ingredients for a dish I made recently with my cooking group, I ended up with quite a lot of Bresaola. Since raclette is often served with air-dried beef and roasted potatoes, it seemed a natural fit for the little red Blushing Belle potatoes I’d been working with. In keeping with the Italian theme, I chose a mix of Asiago and Parmesan cheeses to complete the recipe.

Patate Alpino

Serves 4 as a side; 2 as an appetizer or small plate

12 Little Potato Company Blushing Belle potatoes
1 head of garlic, broken into cloves, unpeeled
1 sprig of fresh rosemary
1 sprig of fresh thyme
1 tablespoon of olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

15 grams of grated Asiago cheese
15 grams of grated Parmesan cheese
10-15 grams (1-2 very thin slices) Bresaola, shredded

Centre a rack in your oven and preheat to 400°F.

Toss the potatoes, garlic, rosemary, and thyme in the oil and then add several grinds of pepper. Salt lightly, or not at all, as Bresaola is quite salty enough. Roast the potatoes for 30 minutes, stirring around the 20 minute mark.

While the potatoes are roasting, grate the cheeses and mix them together. Shred the Bresaola and reserve separately.

When the potatoes are tender when pierced with a knife, remove them from the oven and preheat the broiler to 500°F. Discard the rosemary and thyme and remove the garlic from the roasting pan.

You have two choices with the garlic. You can keep the cloves warm and serve them with the potatoes, or (my favourite) you can squeeze the cloves out of their skins immediately and spread them on toasted rounds of baguette. (If you have leftovers, add them to your next batch of mashed potatoes.)

Gently crush each potato with a potato masher, taking care to leave them reasonably intact, then give them another grind or two of pepper. Sprinkle each potato with the cheese mixture and then place the potatoes under the broiler until the cheese is melted and bubbly. Carefully move the potatoes to a serving platter, using a metal offset spatula, then top each with a mound of shredded Bresaola.

This dish can serve as a side, but I think it really shines as a snack. With a glass of Italian red wine or a Belgian-style beer, it’s a satisfying way to warm up on a cold winter’s day.

If you’d like to take these potatoes back to the other side of the Alps, substitute Gruyère or Emmental cheese, with viande des Grisons (or Bündnerfleisch) as a topping. In that case, you might want to reach for a French vintage.

I didn’t stop there with my recipe experimentation with my stock of little potatoes. Come back next Thursday and I’ll have one more recipe for you. In the meantime, you can visit The Little Potato Company’s website for more recipes.

FFWD – Bresaola and Walnut Tartine

December 5, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 17 Comments

Don’t you find this is a bittersweet time of year? The holidays are full of fun, friends, and family, but I also find my thoughts turning to those who are no longer here and the experiences that have passed. On melancholy nights like this one, I want comfort and simplicity from my kitchen.

Thank goodness for simple, delicious dishes like this week’s French Fridays selection. And thank goodness for miscalculating how much bresaola I needed to make it. The indescribably fragrant and delicious squash dish I made for supper ended up gracing the kitchen floor. Thank goodness I’ve had many years to become accustomed to my clumsiness.

The extra bresaola did not go to waste. I munched on tartines and another dish inspired by the Viande des Grisons that was the intended ingredient in this week’s French Fridays foray. If I can keep my clumsiness in check, I’ll tell you about that second meal on Monday.

As for the tartine, I toasted a light rye bread from a bakery down the street, slathered it with butter and covered it with thin slices of bresaola. I massaged, rather than drizzled, a little good olive oil into the dry meat, sliced it into soldiers, and arranged some walnut halves on each. Simple. Really good, too, although in future, I might sneak a thin spread of mustard onto the toast along with the butter.

I didn’t go hunting for the Viande des Grisons, as my neighbourhood’s Italian roots meant that Bresaola was only a few blocks away. I’m curious to try it some time though, whether in this tartine or in one of the salads or raclettes that Dorie describes in the header note for this week’s recipe.

In the meantime, I’m going to raise my cup of tea to the past and leave the bustle of the holidays until tomorrow.

Find links to the rest of the French Fridays crew’s posts on this week’s recipe here: Tartine de Viande des Grisons.

Eat Local: Kingfisher’s Waterfront Bar & Grill

December 2, 2014March 12, 2016 ~ Teresa ~ 7 Comments

Meet Chef Sean McCarthy. He’s the Executive Chef at Kingfisher’s Waterfront Bar & Grill. He also happens to be my little brother. In the photo above, Sean’s showing off some of the sunchokes the restaurant receives in their farm box of produce each week. He’d heard about the difficulties the Doristas had in sourcing this vegetable and wanted me at least to know that I should have talked to him before running around all over town looking for them. Lesson learned. Having trouble sourcing an ingredient? Ask a chef. They know where to find everything you might need.

Sean brought the sunchokes out to show me a couple of weeks ago when my mother and I stopped by Kingfisher’s for lunch after visiting the West Coast Christmas Show in Abbotsford. I don’t get the opportunity to visit the Fraser Valley often enough, so I wanted to make the most of my trip.

You’re used to me extolling the virtues of farmers and local, seasonal food, so you shouldn’t be surprised that my brother shares those values, along with the owners of Kingfisher’s. They take every opportunity to showcase the local goodness around them, like the Gelderman Farms pork loin chop I chose for lunch, which Sean paired with roasted carrots and fig jus. I also got to try a draught from my own neighbourhood with my meal. One of Kingfisher’s rotating tap selections was Bomber Brewing’s Choqlette Porter, a variety I have a hard time passing up.

Kingfisher’s menu is quite varied, so my mother was able to choose a favourite from farther afield, the lobster mac ‘n’ cheese, then we finished with pumpkin crème brûlée. In general, though, you’ll find the menu dotted with the provenance of the products they’re using, both in the restaurant and behind the bar. It’s the kind of establishment that’s taking hold across our region, building community with its customers and suppliers and introducing eaters to producers.

Now, this can’t strictly be a restaurant review, since I’m the chef’s sister. But what I’d like to mention is that it’s Buy Local Week and that’s a perfect opportunity for you to seek out just this kind of restaurant in your own neck of the woods. You’ll be supporting a local business that supports local businesses in turn and you might just discover your new favourite butcher, farmer, or brewer along the way.

Baking Chez Moi – Cranberry Crackle Tart

December 1, 2014December 2, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 33 Comments

Our second Baking Chez Moi recipe is deceptively intricate looking. It’s a simple meringue tart on a pâte sablée base. It’s easy to put together, but the results are sophisticated in look and flavour. I made a gluten-free version of Dorie’s sweet tart dough for this one and as I’ve told you before, my gluten-free conversion of this dough needs a little refinement. The tender crust crumbled as I cut it, but it didn’t matter, because it tasted delicious. If I had been serving it for guests, I suppose I could have called it a cranberry meringue on sable cookie dirt and gotten bonus points for cheffiness. (Those of you who know me know I’d be too busy parsing my mistakes.)

I’ve got a disk of regular sweet tart dough in the freezer, so I’m going to make this again for the rest of my family during the holidays this year. In the meantime, Kevin and I are going to enjoy the leftovers of this one. The contrast between the tart cranberries and the sweet, melting meringue is wonderful, especially with the shards of cookie-ish crust.

If you’d like to try this tart for yourself, you can find the recipe on Dorie’s website. It’s a perfect, pretty dessert for the holiday table.

You can find the rest of the Tuesdays with Dorie crew’s entries on this week’s recipe here: Cranberry Crackle Tart.

Cottage Cooking Club – November 2014

November 30, 2014December 1, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 10 Comments

On this last day of November, it really feels like the holidays are approaching, with the chill in the air – there’s even snow on the ground. It’s the time of year we associate with soups and stews, but it’s also time to enjoy as much of this year’s harvest as possible, before the long wait for spring. This month’s Cottage Cooking Club selections suited this late harvest, early winter season perfectly. I made four of the selections, but you can click the link at the bottom of the post to see the rest.

Quinoa Salad with Herbs and Walnuts

The star of this salad isn’t really the grain, in my opinion, which is a good thing, since I substituted quinoa for the Israeli couscous called for in the recipe. I think it’s the fennel that makes this salad. Its crunchy brightness makes this salad a perfect antidote for the winter rains we endured for much of this month. With toasted nuts and spices, handfuls of herbs, and a splash of lemon, this is going to be a lunchbox favourite for us all winter long.

Belgian Endive, Pears, and Salty-Sweet Roasted Almonds

This simple, pretty salad could serve as an appetizer at a dinner party, but I like it better as a weekend snack. It’s got the same kind of crunchy freshness as the couscous salad, but the flavours don’t blend as much as serve as counterpoints to one another. If you’ve got the vinaigrette made up in the fridge, it’s easy enough to put together and addictive enough that you might snack yourself right out of needing to worry about dinner.

Chestnut and Sage Soup

I wasn’t sure I should try this one, since the Chestnut-Pear Soup from Around My French Table was such a success for us, but I’m glad I did. I think I like the flavour combination of chestnut and sage best of the two and that’s saying something, because I loved the chestnut-pear soup. I stirred a spoonful of sour cream into my bowl, but I’d made the soup itself vegan and it was really lovely without any dairy at all.

Right now, it’s time for fresh chestnuts in the market, so I’ll be taking advantage of those while I can, but I also think that vacuum-packed chestnuts are going to become a staple in my pantry, so I can enjoy chestnut soup year-round.

Swede Speltotto – Make that Rutabaga Risotto

This is the only recipe this month that wasn’t entirely a success for us, simply because the rutabaga was a little bitter. I made risotto, instead of using spelt, so that I could share this meal with Kevin (since he was in a lapsed vegan, cheese-eating phase). I added a couple of Gruyère rinds along with the rutabaga and Arborio rice and used only vegetable stock for the liquid. I finished the risotto with Parmesan and parsley and it was delicious. It was a bit of a letdown that the rutabaga didn’t measure up. I think I’d substitute another root vegetable in its place next time, or roast the rutabaga cubes and add them later, to give them some caramelization and sweetness.

November was a busy, eventful month and December promises to be even more so. There will be a lot going on the blog, but I’m looking forward to seeing what our Cottage Cooking Club selections will be, because I think a little vegetarian goodness will serve as a nice antidote to the holiday feasting that’s fast approaching.

Intrigued by this month’s recipes? Buy the book and join us.

Here are the links to the rest of the group’s posts for this month. I encourage you to check them out – you’ll meet some wonderful bloggers and get some great inspiration for vegetarian eating.

FFWD – Béatrix’s Red Kuri Soup & Chestnut-Pear Soup

November 28, 2014November 28, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 21 Comments

A few weeks ago, red kuri squash arrived at my local food co-op, so I snapped two up right away. At the same time, I picked up some pears and some vacuum-packed chestnuts so that I could catch up on another fall soup.

I served the red kuri soup and the chestnut-pear soup together, in small bowls, as we did Christine’s Simple Party Soups. The two soups complemented each other well. I put a dollop of sour cream in each of the bowls, but these soups are lovely without any garnish at all, as well.

Béatrix’s Red Kuri Soup

I used one of the squash in this soup, cooking it down with the rest of the ingredients, and roasted the other. It’s in the freezer, waiting for an opportunity to make this soup again. I’m interested to see how the roasted version compares to the traditional soup.

I split the soup with my parents, who enjoyed it as much as I did. Kevin’s not a big squash fan, but he didn’t mind this soup at all. I’ll be making it again, while there’s still red kuri squash in the store, but I also want to try red kuri in dessert recipes. I have it on good authority that it makes a terrific variation on pumpkin.

You can find the recipe for this soup on Dorie’s website.

Chestnut-Pear Soup

I didn’t give half this soup away and it’s a good thing, because Kevin absolutely loved it. Usually, he’ll eat soup without much comment, but he raved about this one and happily helped me eat through a full recipe’s worth. He was happy that I’d made it vegan, using vegetable stock and replacing the butter with olive oil. The ingredients for this soup are available throughout the fall and winter, so we’ll be revisiting it often.

You can find the recipe for this soup here.

Find links to the rest of the French Fridays crew’s posts on this week’s recipe here: Béatrix’s Red Kuri Soup. Then, see how everyone fared with the Chestnut-Pear Soup.

FFWD – Storzapretis

November 21, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 18 Comments

It’s not often that I come across a dish that’s relatively unknown on the Internet – in this case, I mean the English-speaking internet. Until the flood of French Fridays posts today, I could only find a handful of references to this week’s dish in English – there are plenty of recipes for it on French sites. (As an aside, it pleases me that I can read French relatively well, even though no one should ever be subjected to me speaking it.)

Storzapretis, not to be confused with the Italian pasta called strozzapretis, are a sort of Corsican gnudi, as Betsy pointed out in her post today.

They are properly made with Brocciu cheese, but thick ricotta makes a good substitute. The ricotta is mixed with spinach, grated cheese, minced mint or marjoram, an egg, and a very small amount of flour. It’s then formed into quenelles, lightly tossed in a little more flour and set to rest in the fridge or freezer. When it’s time to finish them, they’re gently poached in simmering water, carefully dried, then put in the oven covered with tomato sauce and grated cheese.

It’s the last two steps that caused our crew so much trouble this week, resulting in one of the longest P & Q sections we’ve had in some time. Reading the comments saved me from disaster and also led me to experimenting with cooking them in two different ways.

Many Doristas found their storzapretis disintegrating as they poached, so Adriana tried skipping that step and cooking them in the oven only. She preferred that method and when I tried it, the night I made the storzapretis, I cooked a few that way and stowed the rest in the freezer.

Today, I tried the poaching method and though they kept their shape, I found their texture to be a little too soft for my liking, even after baking them for a bit longer than called for in the recipe. The ones I’d stuck straight into the oven were tender and fluffy, but firm. In future, I’ll skip the poach.

Though these dumplings were a bit time-consuming to make, I will be making them again. They’re worth the effort. And this week’s experience just reinforced my love of this cooking community – we truly help each other along each week.

Find links to the rest of the French Fridays crew’s posts on this week’s recipe here: Storzapretis.

Almond-Orange Tuiles – A French Fridays Fail

November 14, 2014November 15, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 19 Comments

You won’t find any evidence of it on my blog, but I did make Citrus-Berry Terrine way back in July, 2011 when it was assigned. I didn’t realize that there was pineapple juice mixed into the juice I used for it and it refused to set. Worse, it spilled as I removed it from the refrigerator and that part of it set very well on the corrugated shelf. A good deal of scrubbing later, I was reluctant to try the recipe again.

I haven’t had too many failures during my French Fridays run. Some things haven’t turned out as beautifully as I’d hoped, but they weren’t a failure in anything but my artistic ability (of which I have none). And if there was a failure, I usually corrected my mistakes and had a better version to post about by deadline.

This week, though, I decided to tackle what I thought would be a quick catch up, since I had no time at all to go to the butcher for duck or to source kumquats. Unfortunately, I had a Canadian moment when I was reviewing the recipe and read 1/2 a stick as 1/2 a cup. I realized this after I mixed everything and with twice the butter and no more almonds in the house, I adjusted the recipe as best I could, put the dough in the fridge and hoped for the best.

You’re probably thinking that the cookies up top don’t look that bad, right? Well, I have another photo to share with you.

In one of the few instances where there can be too much butter, the top two tuiles were the only ones that made it to the plate looking like, well, tuiles. And they are a little greasy, I have to admit. I’m going to try these again some time, because the flavour combination is terrific, but that may or may not make it to the blog.

So my lesson this week (one I thought I’d learned by age eight) is to read the recipe carefully before beginning. Thanks to Adriana for the inspiration to keep it real.

Find out what these tuiles are supposed to look like here: Almond-Orange Tuiles.

Everyone else made duck this week and you can find those links here: Pan-Seared Duck Breasts with Kumquats