FFWD – Tomato-Cheese Tartlets

August 3, 2012 ~ Teresa ~ 19 Comments

I admit, I was prepared not to like these. I imagined they’d be one of those experiences that my partner describes as, “I’m a better person for having tried it, but I won’t be doing that again.” I was wrong.

The idea of preventing puff pastry from puffing was the thing that gave me pause. Why not use a regular flatbread, then? I dutifully rolled the dough out, cut it into six-inch circles, pricked it and gently laid it on a parchment-covered baking sheet, only to sandwich another baking sheet on top of the delicate dough. When they came out of the oven, I was still skeptical – all this work for…crackers?

When it came time to assemble the tart, though, I got a little more excited. I used some radish leaf-almond pesto (my go to pesto recipe this summer, it seems) and some leftover (grated) mozzarella. The tomatoes in my garden aren’t quite ready yet, but the ones at the store were perfectly ripe. I had some leftover bacon, too, so I diced it and added it between the pesto and tomato layers. The basil was fresh from the garden. I hoped the pastry was going to measure up to the rest of the ingredients.

As many of us have said before, trust in Dorie. These were delicious and very worth the unpuffing of some puff pastry. The pastry had a nice snap to it and was a great base for the toppings. In fact, I think I might even be willing to sacrifice some homemade gluten-free puff pastry for this recipe.

You can find many other blogged descriptions of this week’s FFWD recipe here: Tomato-Cheese Tartlets

In the Swing of It

July 17, 2012 ~ Teresa ~ 4 Comments

It’s truly summer here and I’m spending a lot of time fussing over the plants in my vegetable garden. That’s not all that there is to do, though. Summer’s a busy time around here.

For instance, while I’m typing away in my stuffy apartment (what am I thinking?), there’s a hyper-local honey tasting at Salt Tasting Room; folks are finding a spot for their blankets to watch a movie in Stanley Park (courtesy of Fresh Air Cinema); and elsewhere in the park, folks are settling in to watch a live presentation of The Music Man.

This week’s Main Street Farmer’s Market is featuring a pie contest as part of their Berry Festival and The Salty Tongue’s brought back their Long Table Supper series with a fruit-focused Pit for your Supper theme. If that’s not enough berry goodness for you, Gourmet Warehouse is tempting folks (well, me) by stocking Bernardin’s Home Canning Starter Kit. If you’re needing a canning primer, the Greater Vancouver Food Bank‘s Community Kitchen program is hosting a Safe Canning Basics demonstration. If you’re more of a grow-your-own sort, there’s Mid-Season Gardening workshop coming up, too. I think I may need a little help on both counts – I got a little carried away with the five(!) varieties of beans I planted and I think freezing all the extras would be a bit of a shame. I’m also trying to figure out what to plant in my newly freed up garden squares – ah, Square Foot Gardening, you really know how to keep a body hopping.

There’s tonnes more going on, with all the festivals, block parties, and outdoor events of the summer. I’m hoping to take in a goodly portion of them. But for now, I’m off to water my garden before it gets dark.

What’s happening in your neck of the woods this summer?

Spring Snow(man)

February 29, 2012February 29, 2012 ~ Teresa ~ 2 Comments

Yesterday, I wrote about winter’s end. Last night it snowed. I’m not so self-centred that I believe I caused the snow by writing about spring, but I do find that winter always has a word or two to get in before spring truly takes over the conversation.

Happy Leap Day everyone and here’s hoping that winter has finished saying its piece soon where you live, too.

Vancouver’s Party Dress

February 28, 2012 ~ Teresa ~ 6 Comments

The snowdrops are blooming and the crocuses aren’t far behind. There’s a threat of snow in the forecast, but winter’s essentially over. Soon, the rest of the early flowers will emerge and my favourite season here will begin. Summers in Vancouver are lovely, but summer’s magic lies in seducing each place into taking on its form – summer is itself a place, anywhere and everywhere.

It’s only in spring that I become homesick for Vancouver when I’m away. The air becomes softer and a little warmer, the evergreens develop pale green tips, and there are green shoots and flowers everywhere. Then, the cherry blossoms, Vancouver’s crowning glory, transform streets across the city into ornamental gardens.

I’m itching to get into the garden, to dig compost into the beds, divide my vegetable patch into its square-foot allotments, and plan my planting schedule for the year. As many have said, spring is the season of hope for gardeners. I’m also looking forward to more long walks with the dog, looking for flower patches and enjoying the blossoms.

Now tell me, what’s your region’s season?

FFWD – Cauliflower-Bacon Gratin

December 30, 2011 ~ Teresa ~ 17 Comments

Some words for December are sumptuous, indulgence, plenty. The words for January include abstemious, forgo, careful. In this culture, we’re encouraged to gorge ourselves in the darkness of the year, then diet as the light returns. Whether it’s food or shopping, consumption and shame are made into two sides of the same coin. It’s not a dichotomy I like very much.

So, with that in mind, I don’t present this week’s French Friday dish as an end-of-the-year indulgence, but as a dish that can carry you through the winter – warming you, nourishing you, and pleasing your palate.

It’s billed as a side dish, but I could be satisfied with only a portion of this dish on my plate.

I do think it’s a lovely dish for the last French Friday of the year, though. It’s delicious, pretty, and very French (though the cheese I used was Swiss).

I hope 2011 brought you joy and that you’ve weathered its challenges, too. Here’s to 2012 – I hope it brings you sweetness and peace.

You can find many other blogged descriptions of this week’s FFWD recipe here: Cauliflower-Bacon Gratin

Sucre à la Crème

December 28, 2011December 12, 2013 ~ Teresa ~ 4 Comments

I just returned from a lovely visit with a couple of friends this afternoon. I gave them each some sucre à la crème, as one is Québécoise and the other is Scottish and misses having tablet (a very similar confection). We talked about having a little get together so that I could teach them how to make it – it’s much easier than telling, especially since in my family’s tradition there are no candy thermometers involved. I spoke to my mother about it and as it happens, she’s been looking up resources on the internet since we made our last batch. The recipes vary widely and the methods are very different, too. In our family, we use heavy-bottomed soup pots when we make this candy, but most of the videos we found show smaller pots being used. The consistency varies a lot, too, especially when maple syrup or corn syrup are used.

Here are two videos that can give you an idea of how sucre à la crème is made, though the method is a little different than the one we use. They’re both in French, though Ricardo has English recipe resources out there, too. Madame Quintin is the perfect French-Canadian Mémère, don’t you think?

I might have to make a video of my mother making her version. Maybe in time for next Christmas.

A French Fridays Catch Up: Matafan and Chard-Stuffed Pork Roast

December 27, 2011May 4, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 6 Comments

The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day is often one full of leftovers and small pleasures. One of my favourite things to do this week is the Globe and Mail’s holiday crossword. Amidst the year-end lists and celebrity tributes, it’s also a good week for reflection on what’s past and what’s to come.

One of the things I’ve enjoyed most this year has been participating in French Fridays and I’m looking forward to reading what the new year brings to all the group’s participants. I also have a bit of catching up to do with this month’s recipes. The two dishes I’m writing about today went together very well and might make a lovely New Year’s Eve supper.

Matafan are traditionally a mid-morning snack (or possibly even part of Second Breakfast, if you happen to be a Hobbit). Dorie describes them as “fluffy mashed potato pancakes” and they are exactly that. I used them as the starch at dinner when I served pork roast as the main. They soaked up the pan juices nicely and stood up well to the roast and its stuffing. The hardest part of making these for me was pushing the baked potato through a sieve, as we couldn’t locate my mother’s ricer. I only used one potato; my father had grown a variety that got quite big and I found one that was easily 1 1/2 pounds. Once I’d finished with the potato, the rest was easy. The batter takes four eggs in total, but two are separated and the whites are beaten stiffly and added after the whole eggs and yolk are incorporated. Riced potatoes and whipped egg whites bring the fluffiness to the batter.

As I cooked the matafan on the stove top, the pork roast was in the oven. The recipe calls for pork loin roast, but I used a shoulder and it seemed to work just as well. My knife skills have improved quite a bit since working through the recipes in Around My French Table, as anyone who participated in our spatchcocking adventure would agree. The meat is sliced almost through along its length and a stuffing of sauteed chard, garlic and onion, raisins (dried blueberries in my case), and red pepper flakes is placed inside, as though between the pages of a book. The whole thing is tied with kitchen twine and the pork is rubbed with olive oil, salt, crushed peppercorns, and crushed coriander seeds. It doesn’t take long to cook in a moderately hot oven – the resting time is nearly as long as the roasting time. It’s a tender roast that picks up the flavours of both the stuffing and the coating. It also looks lovely on the table. Unfortunately, my photo doesn’t do it justice. Sometimes, the hardest part of this group is taking decent photos before taking a dish to table. Sometimes, I just don’t want to keep dinner waiting. C’est la vie.

I hope that your reflections on the year that’s soon to end and the one that’s just around the corner are satisfying and full of hope in turn.

You can find many other blogged descriptions of these recipes here: Chard-Stuffed Pork Roast and Matafan

A Very Merry Christmas

December 25, 2011May 9, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 10 Comments

I hope you’re having a peaceful, happy day today.

I’d like to share the recipe for one of my favourite Christmas treats – sucre à la crème. When I was growing up, my mother and I would make trays and trays of desserts for the big family Christmas meal my parents used to host, along with their Boxing Day open house. Cookies, squares, cakes, and candies, but of them all, we looked forward to sucre à la crème the most, especially if we were lucky enough to have a batch from one of my mother’s aunts back in Manitoba.

My mother is French-Canadian, but her family comes from the francophone communities anchored by St. Boniface. Our Christmas meals have always reflected this and it just wouldn’t be the same if we didn’t have tourtière, boulettes, and sucre à la crème. We’ve even occasionally had a réveillon after Midnight Mass, with goose, then had an anglophone Christmas dinner with my father’s Irish family in the evening.

Sucre à la crème is a sort of fudge, but it’s nothing like what you’d find in a candy store or market stand. It’s a simple affair of sugar and cream (obviously), versions of which pop up around the world. In Scotland, they’ve got tablet, in Mexico there’s dulce de leche, Italy has penuche, and India has burfi. There are probably tonnes of other examples, too.
The Québécois version uses maple sugar, but those trees are a little rarer on the Prairies, so my family’s recipes use mostly brown sugar. My mother’s aunts were famous for their versions, though my Tante Pauline’s was undisputedly the best, with my Tante Leona’s coming a close second. My mother and I went through their recipes for sucre à la crème recently and realized that they were all a little different and that the versions evolved over the years. When I was a teenager, I learned to make it with two cups of brown sugar, one cup of whipping cream, and a teaspoon of vanilla. When we were looking at the other recipes my mother has, this was what we found:

Tante Pauline’s Version

2 cups brown sugar (1/2 c white)
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla
walnuts

Sauce

1 cup brown sugar
1 cup whipping cream

Tante Leona’s Version

3 cups brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 cups whipping cream

Mom’s Version

2 cups brown sugar (1/2 c white)
1 1/4 cups whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla

In all cases, combine the sugar and whipping cream, whisk together until well-blended and cook over medium-low heat, stirring often, until the mixture sugars the spoon (a metal one is best) and forms a ball when dropped into a dish of cold water. Remove from heat and stir vigourously, adding the vanilla when the candy is just beginning to stiffen. When the scrapings are becoming solid, it’s time to pour the candy into a buttered square pan. Chill in the fridge for several hours or overnight, then cut into small squares. It keeps for a week in the fridge or several months in the freezer.

I lost my sucre à la crème making mojo for a few years; for some reason I just couldn’t get it to set. When I went to my mother’s house this year, we made three batches, using my mother’s recipe. All but one was perfect and the imperfect one wasn’t bad. I think what made the difference was the two of us working together, just as we did when I was a child.

What are your favourite holiday traditions?

It’s That Time of Year

November 29, 2011May 4, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 3 Comments

The day after next, I can officially begin listening to Christmas carols. I like to wait until December, so the season doesn’t lose its shine too quickly. I like the standards and traditional songs, especially Medieval carols, and I also have a soft spot for Vince Guaraldi Trio’s A Charlie Brown Christmas. I’m especially looking forward to pulling out Susan McKeown and Lindsey Horner’s Through the Bitter Frost and Snow and Nativité by Vancouver choral group Musica Intima. Sadly, I think I’ve lost my copy of the Chieftains’ Christmas album, but I’ve got enough music to get me through the month.

My favourite part of this season is getting together with some folks, baking holiday cookies and squares. I also love visiting craft fairs and seeing what the independent stores around Vancouver have to offer. I don’t like the way consumer culture goes into hyper drive at this time of year, though. I most admire those who take the time to find or make meaningful gifts, without getting carried away by quantity or expense. The Kitchn is always a good resource for homemade gift ideas, but there are tonnes of others, too.

For Vancouverites, the holiday craft fair season starts with Make It, a huge four-day craft show. I was lucky enough to score tickets, courtesy of the Bee Vancity crew, and the photos you see were taken there. Got Craft? has put together a quite comprehensive list of upcoming craft fairs and sales that should take care of just about anyone’s shopping list. Local, unusual, and often sustainable – this sort of gift-shopping can be an antidote to the corporate Christmas model.

I don’t take it for granted that the yearly love affair with Christmas traditions is universal, though. Something I never fail to do each year is to be mindful of the fact that not everyone celebrates Christmas, or participates in winter celebrations the way that I do. A little mindfulness is one of my traditions, too.

Now tell me, what does December hold for you?

Le Weekend

November 15, 2011May 4, 2014 ~ Teresa ~ 2 Comments

It’s election day in Vancouver this Saturday and as I’ve said before, while voting isn’t the only or best way to make change, leaving it to one’s political opposites isn’t a very good idea. I’m going to have to fit it in early, though, as it’s a busy weekend.

One of my favourite events of the year takes place this weekend, the Eastside Culture Crawl. It’s worth planning a vacation around, even though we’ve settled into the rainy season. Here’s my post about last year’s Crawl, if your interest’s been piqued: Art Anchors the Eastside. Scout Magazine has put together a list of places where you can rest between studios and have some great food and drink. That’s just a jumping-off point, of course; there are tonnes of great spots within walking distance of Crawl studios.

I’m going to wait to do my Crawling until Sunday, as there are too many other events going on this Saturday. After voting, I’m heading over to Festival de la Poutine, to get in touch with my French Canadian heritage and take my less-than-perfect French for a stroll. But who am I kidding, really? I’m going to eat a lot of poutine. Don’t judge; it’s part of my cultural heritage, just like tourtière, paté de cochon, and sucre à la crème.

Later on, I’m going to drop by Terra Madre Day, put on by Slow Food Vancouver – local chefs, using local ingredients, preparing samples and giving demonstrations. Local food organizations and producers will be there, too. It’s going to be a great way to connect with Vancouver’s foodshed.

I’m not going to make it there this weekend, but if you’ve got kids, you’re going to want to make time for the Vancouver Art Gallery’s Family Fuse Weekend. They’ve got some great performances, workshops, and activities lined up – it’s definitely not your average kid-centred event.

Finally, and more seriously, it looks like there’s going to be a big rally on Saturday at the Occupy Vancouver site beside the Art Gallery. I’m going to make some time to drop by there, to show my solidarity. I’m all for feeding the stomach and the mind, but some things are more important.