La Gourmandesse

As I mentioned in the Peach Buckle post, I am a big follower of the blog Smitten Kitchen. I’m going to take the risk of looking like a blog stalker, and re-post another one of Deb’s masterpieces. And then I’ll give it a rest for a while, I swear. It’s just that there’s so much great local fruit around lately, and Deb just keeps giving me delicious ways to use it up!

I love blueberry muffins. My mom used to make huge batches when I was little and our family would devour them in a few days. Her recipe was called “Helen’s Blueberry Muffins,” I can still see them written out in her recipe notebook. I don’t know who Helen was, but she made a good muffin.

However, the muffins I made today have blown Helen’s out of the kitchen. They are a masterpiece of a muffin. I think they’d be great with peaches or raspberries too.  I followed the recipe pretty much to the letter, so I’m going to be lazy and just give the link to Perfect Blueberry Muffins.

I am usually rushed when baking, but today since I am procrastinating from all the things I should be doing, I decided to go all out with the hand mixer and the sifter.  Actually following the recipe produced the fluffiest muffin to ever come out of my oven.

The only changes I made were to add a drop of vanilla to the wet ingredients, a squirt of lemon juice because I didn’t have a lemon for zest, I used 3% plain yogurt and I baked them in a 6 cup muffin tin. Deb’s recipe made 9-10 medium muffins, so I went for 6 monster muffins. They were perfectly done at 25 minutes.

Moist muffin perfection!

Fresh baked peach buckle.

This recipe is my first foray into the world of Smitten Kitchen. I’m sure that many food bloggers already know about this bible of a food blog, but for those who haven’t seen it, I highly recommend the site. It is one of the only food blogs I read on a regular basis; the photography is great and the recipes are always fresh, in season and creative.

A few weeks ago, a Nectarine Brown Butter Buckle was posted, and I decided to actually try one of Deb’s recipes, rather than just ogle them online. Luck would have it that I ended up with some extremely ripe Ontario peaches just as I was invited to a dinner party. This smelled so divine baking today that I’m surprised Kevin was able to leave it alone long enough to get it to the dinner party!

I decided to leave out the brown butter part and change the nectarines to peaches. The comments online were that the taste wasn’t much different, and  I am supremely lazy when it come to baking. And cooking, really. I hate it when any recipe has many steps…..make this…set aside to cool…etc, etc. Usually I just skip the whole thing entirely.

Also, all I had was an 8 inch round cake pan, and the recipe called for 10 inch. I attempted to cut the ingredients down by about 1/3. So, here is my version of a buckle (also known as a tasty cake with fruit in the middle and streusel on top).

If you have a 10″ pan or prefer brown butter, I would suggest using the original recipe.

Peach Buckle

Peach pinwheel.

This version fits an 8″ cake pan.

Cake

1 stick butter (1/2 cup), melted
1 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp  salt
Pinch of cinnamon
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
4 medium peaches, sliced
1 tbsp lemon juice

Streusel

2 tbsp butter
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup all purpose flour
Pinch of cinnamon
Pinch of salt

On goes the streusel.

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Start with the cake batter: Melt the butter, mix in the rest of the wet ingredients. Add in dry ingredients and stir well. I used the same bowl for all of it. Less dishes, less steps = happy me.

2. Grease baking pan. Spread batter in the pan and top with sliced peaches. Make a pretty pattern in you like.

3. Mix together the streusel until it is crumbly, you can do it in the cake batter bowl to save dishes. Pour over the cake batter and peaches to cover. Some peaches and batter will still be visible.

4. Bake at 350F for 40 minutes. It will be done when the cake springs back when you poke it, and the cake isn’t jiggly when you shake it.

It was a hit at dinner, we served it with some vanilla ice cream and the tartness of the peaches, the mildness of the cake and the sweet of the ice cream were a great match.

I reduced the sugar a bit in my version, which was great when paired with ice cream. You might want a bit more sugar if you plan to serve alone. Also, I found the cake the tiniest bit dry, so perhaps a bit more milk in the recipe, or baking 35 minutes. However, I may just be being picky, because Kevin said the moistness of the peaches went well with the texture of the cake.

Sweet roasted root veggie perfection.

A few weeks ago, our CSA veggie box contained some particularly fat & sassy beets, and the first carrots of the year. I love roasted beets, and the carrots were crying out to join their purple cousins in tinfoil on the barbeque.

Peeled and ready for chopping.

Seasoned with S&P and garden herbs.

Simply chop the beets and carrots roughly, toss them in olive oil and chopped garlic, sprinkle with salt, pepper, fresh rosemary, oregano and thyme, and pop this all into a tinfoil package. It can go on the BBQ for 45 minutes over indirect heat (one burner on high, the other off, package over the off burner) or in the oven for 1 hr at 375F.

And there you have it- simple, healthy, tasty and local.  And this cooks up just beautifully while steaks occupy the other side of the grill!

I’m going to confess right off the top: this is not my invention. I can take no credit for my friend Laurel’s genius creation, and only hope she takes no offense at the “lazy” moniker. I only mean that is easy to make (and to drink). Heck, even drunk people can do it.

For the version pictured above, we threw a bunch of wild raspberries and blueberries in a jar, and topped those off with some sliced strawberries. Next, a bottle of cheap red went in, home made will do. Add to that a bottle of prepared Sangria wine, I can’t remember which brand we used but I have to assume they all contain some wine, some booze and some fruit juice. When you’re ready to serve, mix that together with the secret ingredient- Orangina! Who knew this cute little bevvy, the one I ordered so politely on 8th grade French fieldtrips, would come in so handy later in life.

This combo produces the perfect blend of fruit, wine, booze and fizz.  It disappeared pretty quickly, and we started topping it off with more wine, some orange juice, and even a scoop or two of lemonade powder when the going got tough. As long as there is fruit at the bottom of the jug, you’re obligated to refill.

Once you’re suitably tipsy, play some sort of board game that makes people reveal what they really think. We recommend True Colours……it’s fun any time, but so much more so with a glass of Sangria by your side.

The finished product- a different flavour in every bite.

This is a salad my mom likes to make for summer BBQs, and often gets asked for the recipe. We had a small dinner get together this week with friends who love different grains and interesting foods, so I thought Quinoa Salad would be a great addition to BBQ’d steak and roasted root veggies.

Quinoa has been getting a lot of good press lately. I tried it in the past in an attempt to go gluten-free (which only lasted about 2-3 weeks, I am weak) and didn’t enjoy the texture. But in this salad, you could almost mistake it for couscous, only way better for you, since it is touted as one of nature’s only complete plant proteins.

The salad starts with cooked and cooled quinoa, gets some feta, toasted pine nuts and dried cranberries added, followed by a drizzle of olive oil and lemon, a pinch of salt, and then a sprinkle of chopped fresh mint and flat leaf parsley.

Boil 1 cup quinoa in 2 cups water, then cool completely.	Toast 1/3 cup of pine nuts over medium heat for 5 minutes.
1/2 cup feta, crumbled.	1/3 cup dried cranberries.
2 tbsp. each fresh parsley and mint.	The quinoa meets the bowl.
In go the cranberries.	The feta joins the mix.
1/3 cup olive oil for dressing.	Adding the juice of 1 lemon.

This salad is summer in a bowl- and a different combo of flavour in each bite. The lemon and olive oil are light and fresh, the feta adds a bit of salt, the cranberries some sweet, the pine nuts some buttery crunch, and the mint and parsley round out the bunch with a refreshing finish.

As usual, this salad did not disappoint, got passed around for seconds, and the recipe requested. Take it to your next summer BBQ and let your friends marvel at this healthy bowl of freshness!

The masterpiece.

We are dedicated pizza lovers, with a penchant for last minute trips to Woodenheads. Inevitably, the place is packed and we end up sitting at the bar- which is more fun than a table anyways. Their cheerful bar staff makes great mojitos, and the informality makes the pizza even tastier.

Kevin’s pizza of choice (I don’t think I’ve ever seen him deviate in 2 years) is the Sicilia. It is a classic- just tomato sauce, spicy salami, mozzarella and some fresh basil. I tend to mix it up, but always end up stealing a bite or two of this work of art.

This weekend, we wanted to put the basil in our herb garden to work, and make some pizza of our own. And so, with the help of Pasta Genova, we created our own masterpiece. That lovely little Italian deli sells their own fresh pizza dough for a steal, and also has everything else you need- the salami, mozzarella and sauce.  I love one stop shopping and jostling with the other Pasta G lovers for a space at their tiny counter.

Our pizza ended up a bit oval shaped, with a lack of a real rolling pin and the dough’s elastic nature, fighting to make it match our baking sheet’s shape seemed futile. I understand why pizzas are round! The dough from Pasta G was perfect, very elastic, not sticky and fairly easy to flatten out.

Shaping the dough.	Slathering of pizza sauce.
Deli perfection a la Pasta Genova.	Mozzarella coverage.
Into a 350F oven.	Basil chiffonade in progress.

We baked the pizza for 30 minutes at 350F, as suggested by the Pasta G staff. The result was wonderful- crispy crust, piping hot toppings and melty cheese.

Kevin & I agree that this gave Woodenheads’ Sicilia a run for its money. I think this is one my proudest creations. So simple, quick and easy, with a seriously intense pay off in deliciousness.  Perhaps pizza is about to become my go-to dinner.

And so, while it probably won’t replace the fun of a visit to Woodenheads for a true Sicilia, I’m proud of what we recreated. Paired with a bottle of $10 Italian red, my wallet thanks me for creating a date night on the cheap.

Finished deliciousness waiting to be inhaled.

Spaghetti and meatballs perfection.

In light of some recent rather nasty dental work, soft foods have been on the menu. I’m not sure that the dentist meant that I should eat spaghetti and meatballs, but since “ground meat” was on my list of ok foods, why not make the leap?

I love pasta. I don’t actually eat it all that frequently, but I seem to like to write it love letters. Also, after discovering Catelli Smart, I don’t feel nearly as guilty when I eat it. This dish combines two of my great food loves: ground beef and spaghetti. I don’t know if my Alberta childhood contributed to my beef fetish, but I just love the smell of ground beef frying with onions.  Add some salt and I could probably eat the whole pan.

I have recently figured out the perfect meatball. Finely mince half an onion, add a minced garlic clove, mix all that up with some ground sirloin and an egg, some salt and pepper and a few shakes of italian breadcrumbs and you will have a tasty product.  I make the meatballs large enough to just fill my cupped hand when I squeeze it shut. Drop them into a hot pan of oil and mix them around as they fry so that all the sides get nice and brown.

For this dish, I tried a new version of spaghetti sauce. Although I find Giada De Laurentiis to be horribly annoying on tv (she even tops Rachael Ray for me), she does make fabulous Italian food. I used her Marinara Sauce, with the addition of some fresh rosemary and oregano, and the substitution of diced tomatoes (including the juice) instead of crushed. It made the sauce a little chunkier and richer.

To finish, I threw the meatballs in the sauce and tossed the cooked spaghetti in with it all. Could this get more comforting?

To go along with my recent Spring-friendly wine posts, I concocted an asparagus and roasted tomato pasta dish this weekend.  I love when asparagus starts to appear in the grocery store, it makes me feel like skirts and sandals are just around the corner.

I started by roasting 6 or 7 roma tomatoes. You just cut them in half, scoop out the seeds, toss them with olive oil and chopped garlic, and put them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake them at 350F for 30 minutes, then up the temp to 375F for about 15 minutes so they get roasty.

While those were finishing up in the oven and my penne was cooking on the stove, I fried a small amount of bacon with some chicken breast pieces (I cheated a bit by buying a rotisserie chicken and just tearing up the white meat for this dish). I think pancetta would have been tastier than bacon but I forgot to pick some up.  In another pan I sauteed chopped asparagus, diced onion and minced garlic in olive oil.

Then I just tossed it all together, added a bit more olive oil, and some salt and pepper. And there you have it! Fresh, delicious penne, with a different bit of flavour in each bite. We paired it with a bottle of white that was kicking around in the fridge. A very excellent, home made, restaurant worthy date night dinner.

Fresh from the oven

I love roast chicken. Chicken most other ways bores me, but there is nothing better than a roasted chicken (especially when you can be proud that the crispy skin and juicy meat is the result of your labours in the kitchen).

I bought this chicken from Old Farm Fine Foods. I don’t know if it’s local origin made it more tasty, but it certainly made it much more expensive. I was lured in by their “fresh local chicken” sign and was a bit stunned by the $18 price tag at the till….but too embarrassed to walk away! Being a “locavore” is a constant budget dilemma.

Kevin and I experimented with BBQ’d beer can chicken last summer and even bought a little stand that helps the cooking go smoothly. It’s a bit easier to do in the oven because the chicken is quite tall on the stand and the BBQ lid does not always want to close properly.

We don’t drink beer in cans, so we went to the odds and ends section of the LCBO and found a cheap random can of beer to use. You just pour half the beer out, sit the chicken on top of the can, and pop it in your oven (or onto your BBQ grill).

This time we rubbed the chicken with a mixture of equal parts of smoked paprika, ground cumin, chili powder, salt, and a double dose of brown sugar.

Roast the chicken at 375F for about 1.5 hours, or as long as it takes for the thigh meat to read around 180F on a meat thermometer. Let it rest 5-10 minutes before you carve it.

The upright cooking method makes sure the skin is crispy all the way around, and the beer can inside keeps the meat incredibly moist and juicy. Who wants a drumstick?

The chicken awaits its delicious fate

Spring salad with baked salmon fillet.

Today on my walk home from work I decided to pretend that I am a chic European housewife who grabs her delicious fresh food from the market daily. Unfortunately I don’t live anywhere chic and European, and it’s too early for the farmer’s market. So I took my chic and European self (I am a Dutch/British mutt, after all) to Metro and began to ponder dinner options.

My wandering took me past the salad ingredients and the fish counter. Soon my basket was piled with fresh arugula, green beans, new red potatoes, blackberries and salmon fillets.  I decided to concoct a version of a salad that my Oma used to make for my mom, and my mom has made for me. I’m not sure if it’s Dutch in origin, or just happened to be made by my Dutch Oma, but regardless of heritage it is fresh and tasty.

You start by boiling the green beans and potatoes until just tender, and then give them a bit of time to cool down. I keep it simple, a bed of arugula, some blackberries thrown in for a sweet-tart kick, place your green beans and potatoes artfully on top of that, and finish with a dijon vinaigrette.

The vinaigrette is a take off on my friend Chloe’s mother’s recipe. Gisele is from the south of France and makes the BEST vinaigrette ever (as I imagine all French women must).  It’s just 2 parts oil, 1 part vinegar, 1 part dijon, and a dash each of sugar, salt and pepper.

Tonight I baked some salmon fillets and placed them on top of my salad masterpiece. We paired it with a VQA Riesling (Trumpour’s Mill from the Grange), and I must say the combo of European flavours made me feel very ready for the open air markets that spring promises.  Now if only I had some travels to the Continent to muse about while I digest…