Pâté chinois and Co.

Sundried tomatoes and black olives bread

2006-07-16T20:49:00.000-04:00

Today, finally feeling better from my enteritis, I decided that, should I become ill again, I would at least have some tasty bread to eat.

So, inspired by my sister's recipe, I put my bread machine to work, and ended up with a black-speckled, orange-y, and tall loaf of bread that smelled so good I could not wait for it to be out of the machine!

1 1/4 cup water
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
3 2/3 cup unbleached white flour
1 1/2 yeast
5 sundried tomatoes preserved in oil
1 tsp, each, oregano and basil
Addition: 1/2 cup chopped, pitted olives

Cycle: French (or Basic)

Miso-Maple-Ginger marinated salmon

2006-06-17T07:18:00.000-04:00

Quick dinner idea, for a meal ready in 30 minutes flat.

1. Ask spouse to thaw salmon during the afternoon (that is, if spouse is at home, and if you forgot to take the salmon out of the freezer in the morning).

2. When you come home, mix 2 tbsp. light miso, 4 tbsp. maple syrup and a generous tablespoon of finely grated ginger. Add the salmon portions and let marinate for about 20 minutes.

3. While the salmon marinates, clean spinach and place them in steamer.

3. Light up the gril and, when it is very hot, start cooking the salmon. Meanwhile, steam the spinach. Everything should be ready about at the same time.

Enjoy! (and we did!)

Notes to self:
1. That makes a lot of marinade - enough for probably 6 portions.
2. The marinade is quite sweet, almost candy-like - next time, I'll use a bit less of maple syrup.
3. Leftover cooked salmon is great in a green salad dressed with a lemon-olive oil vinaigrette.

Easy, summery salads

2006-06-04T10:28:00.000-04:00

With the heat wave - and smog alerts - we had last week, salads were in order.

Here are two of the ones we enjoyed... Quantities are to taste.

Green salad with apples and walnuts

Lettuce, torn in bite-size pieces
Green apples
Thinly sliced onion
Thinly sliced celery
Roasted walnuts

Vinaigrette:
Walnut oil
Apple cider vinegar
Dijon mustard
Salt, pepper

Avocado-Apple salad

Avocado
Granny Smith apple
Thinly sliced onion
Zereshk (a Persian dried, very tart fruit - can be replaced by cranberries)
Fresh tarragon
Olive oil
Apple cider vinegar
Salt, pepper

Fruity crêpes

2006-05-07T10:25:00.000-04:00

A great kick-off to our weekend...

The crêpes recipe is from Nigella (125 g flour, 1 egg, 300 ml milk, 15-30 g melted butter).

To make it fun, and to complement the vanilla flavour of the crêpes (I used vanilla soy milk), I spread vanilla yogurt on the crêpes, before adding a mix of chopped strawberries, kiwis and pears, rolling the crêpes, and garnishing with the leftover vanilla yogurt (it was just for M. and I), and drizzling with maple syrup.

This is company-worthy... want to come over for brunch? ;-)

Muffin-size Finnish apple pancake

2006-04-23T11:54:00.000-04:00

This recipe is taken form Dieticians of Canada's Cook Great Food book.

I had a lot of fun making it this morning, which gave me the chance to try my new silicone muffin pan - which I love, by the way.

The recipe can be found on my French blog, Pâté chinois et Cie, at Pâté chinois et Cie.: Douceurs du dimanche matin - Flans aux pommes
arrosés de sirop d'érable

Fish filet sandwich

2006-04-13T14:42:00.000-04:00

I made this for lunch today, and I'm really glad that my stop over at the supermarket on my way home ended up with healthy food, rather than all the junk I'm prone to buy when I'm there and I'm hungry.

I used Pita Break rye pitas, wich I garnished with a filet of sole breaded with a mixture of equal parts Engevita yeast and wheat germ, then cooked in a non-stick pan, and topped my sandwich with arugula and sundried tomatoes. I even created 'healthy mayo' by mixing plain yogurt, grainy mustard and chopped capers.

All in all, my lunch was very healthy. Too bad for M., who was not hungry. He missed a darn good sandwich!

Happy Birthday M!

2006-03-30T16:51:00.000-05:00

Here is what he woke up to this morning... lucky birthday boy!

His birthday breakfast menu consisted of:

Mimosas
Whole grain toast with homemade hazelnut spread and peanut butter
Mango
Coffee

His gifts? A cookbook on pasta and a pasta maker... A real surprise (and now he looks forward to making ravioli)!

Office pantry essentials

2006-03-27T12:56:00.000-05:00

Tired of spending money on junk food, and in an effort to eat better, wholesome food, I endeavoured to outfit my desk drawer. I am happy to report that I succeeded and that I now have access to the following, which are my office essentials. I now have all the necessities to have a snack; have lunch at my desk if I a) forget my lunch bag at home, b) don't feel like going out, or c) an broke; or add a burst of flavour if I find the lunch I brought seems too bland.

So here is my list of essentials:

Foods and beverages:
- Unsalted almonds
- Ryvita snack breads
- Astro naturally flavoured/sweetened yogurts
- Natura strawberry-flavoured soy milk
- Sprouted grain cereals
- Pacific Organic individual soups
- Sardines
- Club Soda
- Herbal teas (mint, fennel, and ginger)
- Fresh fruit

Seasonings:
- Spice wheel (curry powder, mint, oregano, herbes de Provence, chili flakes, cinnamon, thyme, and paprika)
- Pepper mill
- Maldon sea salt
- Balsamic-maple vinaigrette

Soup, anyone?

2006-03-19T19:07:00.000-05:00

What to do when you're overwhelmed with vegetable? Soup! I am glad to report that, thanks to M.'s efforts, no old vegetable is lurking in our fridge. Yippee!

This is how it starts...

In a big pot, throw all your vegetables (anything goes, really). Pictured below are carrots, celery, onions, broccoli, chard stems, lots of garlic, a few bay leaves, a few peppercorns, and two icy blocks of homemade, concentrated chicken stock, and a bit of salt. Fill with enough water, and let cook until everything is very tender.

Purée, and voilà! A nice big pot of healthy soup. No fat, no starch, no fuss.

Enjoy!

The sweet smell of weekend mornings

2006-03-19T09:22:00.000-05:00

To me, breakfast is more than mere sustenance. It is the time of the day where you awaken your senses and your soul.

And it is my favourite meal of the day. Really. Does anything smell better than toast and coffee? Not in my book!

During the week, I keep my breakfasts at the bare minimum. A peanut butter toast with fruit, yogurt and coffe does the trick and keeps me going until lunch time.

On weekends, I like to experiment a bit more. This morning, I made Cranberry Oat Muffins (from Cook Great Food, by the Dieticians of Canada). These muffins are topped with a cinnamon-sugar mixture. Can you imagine how good they smell? I bet our neighbours are jealous!

Cranberry Oat Muffins

Preheat ovent to 400F.

3/4 cup rolled oats
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen cranberries, chopped
2 tsp grated lemon zest
2/3 cup 2% milk
1 egg, beaten

Topping: 2 tsp each sugar and cinnamon

In a food processor or blender, process oats until very fine. Combine oats, flour (except for 2 tbsp), sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or food processor until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

Toss cranberries with reservedflour; stir in flour mixture.

Combine lemon zest, milk and egg; mix thoroughly. Add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened; do not overmix. Spoon into lightly greased or paper-lined muffin cups, filling three-quarters full.

Topping: Combine cinnamon and sugar; sprinkle over muffins. Bake in preheated oven for 20-24 minutes, or until tops of muffins spring back when lightly touched.

Notes to self:
1. Since I did not want to use butter or margarine, I used 1/4 cup each of apple sauce and canola oil, which I added to the wet ingredients.
2. I used 3/4 cup of dried cranberries instead of the fresh or frozen ones.
3. These muffins are very good, but also quite sweet. Next time, I'll cut down the sugar in half, which will also make them more healthy.

Beef stew à ma mode

2006-03-12T20:34:00.000-05:00

Tonight, I improvised a little beef stew, and I am quite glad of how it came out.

Here's what I did.

I sprinkled 2 lbs of lean stewing beef with flour seasoned with salt, pepper, a generous pinch of hot smoked paprika, and a generous amount of oregano.

I then seared the meat, a few cubes at a time, in olive oil, reserving the meat as it was ready.

Once all the beef had been seared, I sautéed 2 onions, 5 large cloves of garlic, 3 carrots and 3 celery stalks for a few minutes, and deglazed with a large can of diced tomatoes. I put the meat back into the pot, added enough water to barely cover the meat, threw in a few bay leaves and some onion soup base (I had no beef stock on hand), brought everything to a boil, reduced the heat and simmered for a couple hours. The result: a rich stew filled with good stuff. The only thing missing is a nice bottle of red... oh well.

Ciabatta

2006-03-12T20:24:00.000-05:00

This weekend I had a big project... making ciabatta bread. Yes, for once, I would not let my bread machine do all the work.

And it was not so much a lot of work as a lot of waiting. 24 hours for the poolish to proof, then the mixing, then 3 hours for the dough to double, then a bit of work, then another 2 hours, and then the 20 minutes baking. Wow... I'm glad the waiting and the working paid off.

I now have 3 nice, tasty and crusty ciabatta breads that will make wonderful sandwiches this week (heck... if that's what it takes to make me bring my lunch at work, well so be it!)

Who said that Oscars rhymed with Caviar?

2006-03-05T20:14:00.000-05:00

For M. and I, Oscars rhyme with pizza... Buenos Aires style.

For the 2006 Oscars, we dressed our pizza with a very flavourful tomato sauce (made by M.), back bacon, mozzarella, roasted red peppers, and anchovies.

We made our Oscar night pizza 'M. way', i.e. with the cheese underneath the other garnishes. I like mine 'Québec way', i.e. with the cheese on top (and a little burnt from the grill). Next time, we'll do it my way.

That pizza was definitely fit for the red carpet... and it certainly will make the 'best dressed' list!

Persian cooking 101

2006-02-26T16:16:00.000-05:00

Entertaining is one of life's little pleasures - at least one of my life's pleasures. It is a great opportunity to connect with friends or family, and, at the same time, discover a new cuisine. Last night, the theme was Persian cuisine. Quite a culinary adventure.

All day, effluves of onions, saffron, roasting meat and pomegranates wafted through the apartment, transporting us far, far away from our Toronto 15th floor chez-nous.

A few weeks ago, we devised the menu over afternoon tea and a dinner with our friend Hamiid, who is Persian. His advice was precious and instrumental to last night dinner's success.

The menu consisted of kashk e-bademjan (an eggplant terrine with whey) served with Persian bread; fesenjan (pomegranate and walnut sauce) with roasted chicken, saffron rice and steamed green beans with pistachios; and almond-saffron brittle with vanilla ice cream.

Planning the menu was a great learning opportunity - I am glad to report that my Persian food vocabulary is quite good after reading all those Persian recipe books - cooking the food was a truly a fun venture and, most importantly, sharing that food with good friends was a pure pleasure.

Nush-e Jan!

Paper Chef #15 - Beets, Limes, Pears and Aprhodisiacs

2006-02-13T21:46:00.000-05:00

I did it! This is my first Paper Chef event!

This 15th edition is hosted by Magic Tofu, at Slurp & Burp, and I cannot wait to see what exciting dishes other food bloggers have created.

M. and I enjoy going to The Big Carrot's Thursday night (free) lectures, and the one that was given last Thursday was appropriately named Beat the winter blues and boost your libido. Humm... interesting.

At that lecture, we learned that, really, sexual energy is "residual" energy your body is left with after moving you through the day, running around, digesting the (not always good-for-you and easy to digest) food you eat, etc. Jeanne Marie Martin, who gave the lecture, focussed on foods that fuel your body with a lot of energy (so that you have some "leftover energy" at the end of the day, which you can use in lusty ways if you so decide). At the top of her list were whole grains, dried beans - especially the darker coloured ones, garlic, ginger, "green foods", and bee products.

So, when the ingredients for the Paper Chef came out, I knew I must use black beans in my dishes. Then I thought... mmm... black bean salsa and chips. Beet chips. Okay. Now I had the beets and aphrodisiacs covered. I still needed to include the pears and the limes. I decided to include them in the salsa recipe (which then became a black bean, pear and lime salad).

My Paper Chef entry fits two of the categories proposed by Magic Tofu: Paper Chef Super Saver (my recipe cost a lot less than $10 and there was enough for 4 people), and Paper Chef Indiana Jones (I had never deep fried anything, much less beets).

As for the results, I would say they were satisfying. The salad was very nice (but lacked a bit of pear flavour). Due to my inexperience, the chips were a bit disappointing (the oil was not hot enough, so the beets and potatoes soaked up a lot of oil and were not very crunchy). I am not sure I will make chips again at home, but I'll definitely work at improving the salad.

Black bean, pear and lime salad with beet and potato chips

For the chips

1 large beet
2 medium-sized potatoes
Oil for deep-frying
Sea salt

Bring oil to 350 F. While the oil is warming up, thinly slice the beet and potatoes, using a mandoline. Add the chips a few at a time and fry until they are crispy and the potatoes are brown. I noticed that they were ready when the oil stopped bubbling. Strain and place on absorbing paper and sprinkle with salt.

For the salad

1 cup of dried black beans, soaked for 12 hours and cooked until tender.
2 Bosc pears
2 limes
1 large clove of garlic
1 tbsp of ginger juice (made from a 2-in piece of fresh ginger, grated and then squeezed)
A splash of cider vinegar
A good pinch of cayenne
A few tablespoons of olive oil
A few thin slices of red onion
A handful of chopped cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste

Place the beans, red onion, cilantro and 1 pear, chopped, in a large bowl. Add half a lime in thin, quartered slices.
Purée together: one chopped pear (peeled and cored), the flesh of half a lime, the juice of one lime, the garlic, cider vinegar, cayenne and olive oil. Adjust taste and consistency by adding more lime juice, vinegar or oil. You will get a very creamy looking dressing.
Pour the dressing over the beans, toss, and adjust seasoning.
Serve with the chips.

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!!

An appetite for... roasted chicken

2006-02-08T20:55:00.000-05:00

After Nigella... Nigel. Slater.

Thanks to Heather, at Champagneminimalist Foodie, I have discovered him!

This roasted chicken is the first one I have tried from Appetite. And it certainly is not the last one.

Wonderfully simple. Nice golden and crispy skin, tender and flavourful meat... what more can you ask for?

Roast chicken

1 chicken, preferably organic or naturally raised
1 bulb of garlic, cut in half
1 lemon, cut in half
Butter, salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 F. Place the chicken in an oven-proof dish and pat it with butter. Place the garlic and half a lemon in the cavity. Squeeze the second lemon half on the chicken and place it back in the cavity. Salt and pepper liberally. Place in the oven. Calculate 30 minutes of baking per pound of chicken. Reduce heat to 350 F if the skin browns too quickly.

A cozy dinner for 3

2006-02-05T12:51:00.000-05:00

On a wintery night, our friend Hamiid came over for dinner last night.

We indulged in crostini, bourbon-pomegranate molasses braised ribs and a strawberry-apple white cake, a menu that yields maximum results for minimum effort.

We first sipped a Saint Émilion 1986 that was given to Hamiid by one of his dear friends a few years ago. Unfortunately, my limited wine knowledge prevents me from being to comment fully on the wine. However, I can say that it was nice and that both M and I felt honored that Hamiid had decided to share that special bottle with us.

Two different kinds of crostini accompanied that wine: sardines and roasted red peppers, and duck rillettes with onion-maple syrup confit. The rillettes were a souvenir we had bought in Lac Brôme when we visited the Eastern Townships two years ago, while the onion confit comes from La Galerie gourmande in Deschambault. Yum!

I had bought braising ribs at Fresh from the Farm, curious to see what all the fuss is about. I must say that the bourbon pomegranate molasses braised ribs that Stacey made over at Just Braise were worth it. However, her recipe calls for a two-hour cooking time, which was really not long enough last night. We ended up eating after waiting for three hours, and the meat was not quite tender yet. A fourth hour of baking would have been in order - but we were too ravenous! Basmati rice and steamed broccoli rounded out the meal.

Finally, we had a simple warm-milk cake with strawberries and apples. Had my fridge freezer not been quite so full, I would have bought vanilla ice cream to go along with the cake. Oh well...

Bourbon-Molasses Beef Short Ribs

4 short ribs (Find ones with a good fat-meat ratio)
1 Tbl butter
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery stalk, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped
1 jalepeño pepper, chopped (if a little spice is desired)
3 bay leaves
¼ tsp thyme
¼ cup bourbon
1 Tbl tomato paste
1-½ cups water
1 Tbl soy sauce
2 anchovy filets
seeds of ½ a pomegranate (optional)
1/3 cup pomegranate molasses (or regular molasses)
fresh ground pepper

Preheat oven to 350F. In an oven safe pot, or dutch oven, melt the butter over medium heat. Cover both sides of the short ribs with an ample amount of pepper and brown the ribs (about 3 minutes each side). In the braise process this initial quick heat process locks the juices inside the meat. Remove the ribs and place on a separate plate.

Add the garlic, carrot, celery, onion, jalepeño and anchovies. Sauté for 5 minutes.

Add bay leaves, thyme, bourbon, tomato paste, water, soy sauce and (optional) pomegranate seeds. Return ribs to pot, cover tightly and place in oven on center rack. Cook for 2 hours.

Once removed from the oven the sauce will have thickened and the aroma will be overwhelmingly delicious. Add pomegranate or regular molasses, stir and serve.

Notes to self:
1. This is Stacey's exact recipe.
2. We did not really see the difference the bourbon made to how the sauce tasted. I guess we'll have to try the recipe again without the bourbon and compare...
3. Definitely needs more than two hours of baking.
4. Somehow, the leftovers were not great. If planning to make this in advance, do not add the molasses until you are ready to serve.

Warm-milk cake with strawberries and apples

2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup scalded milk
1 tbsp butter

2 cups quartered strawberries
3 apples, peeled and chopped
A bit of sugar

Preheat oven to 350F.

Place the fruit in a lightly buttered pan, and sprinkle with sugar.

Beat the eggs and sugar until the mixture is foamy and the sugar has dissolved.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt and pour over the egg-sugar mixture. Stir well.

Melt the butter in the warm milk and pour over the other mixture, stirring vigorously.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the centre is completely cooked.

Notes to self:

1. I have a tendency to undercook my cakes, so the centre was still raw when I took the cake out of the oven.
2. Fruit is optional, and interchangeable in that recipe.

Comforting soup

2006-01-29T15:53:00.000-05:00

Today is rainy and grey, although quite warm (by Toronto's January standards at least)... What a difference compared to yesterday's glorious sunny and warm weather!

It is a perfect day for curling up on the couch, watching videos, reading a little, and cooking for the week ahead.

And on a day like today, the mere thought of a nice, warm bowl of soup is comforting in itself.

This weekend also marks the end of the Weekend Cookbook Challenge, so this post is my entry to the challenge (my first blogging challenge).

The soup I made is from Nigella Lawson's How to Eat (one of my favourite cookbook reads), modified slightly.

To make it, you basically soak 2 cups of chick peas in water (if using the quick-soaking method, bring to a boil, let boil for one minute and then let stand for one hour). Drain the chickpeas and rinse them, then put them in a pot with 3 litres of stock, 8 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed, but not chopped, 4 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil, and 2 or 3 sprigs of rosemary (Nigella recommends that you tie them in cheesecloth).

After this has boiled for one hour or so (when the chick peas are almost tender), add a 28-oz can of tomatoes, puréed, salt to taste (I added herbes salées du bas du fleuve, a blend of leek, parsley, onions, carrots, chives, watercress, chervil and savory preserved in salt), pepper, and about one cup of rice (I used a blend of rices), then simmer for another 30 minutes.

Very easy, very tasty, and oh so comforting!

Also today, inspired by Pascale at C'est moi qui l'ai fait, who made great-looking little sunflower seed buns this week, I decided against letting my bread machine do all the work for me and shaped the dough into little buns instead. What a great idea that was! The only problem is that the sunflower seeds I sprinkled on the breads before baking did not quite stick to the buns and are falling off. I need to find a better "glue".

Suddenly, this rainy Sunday does not seem so bad after all...

Mmmm... Cupcakes!

2006-01-28T17:34:00.000-05:00

Tonight, we are going to celebrate two of our good friends' 30th birthday and, for the occasion, I decided to make celebratory cupcakes. Bon anniversaire les filles!

The cake recipe comes from the new edition of Les recettes de Janette. Janette Bertrand is a famous and influential Québec tv personnality who was celebrating her 80th birthday in 2005. The book reads like a mother's -- or, in her case, a grand-mother's -- cookbook, complete with annotations and all, and I am glad Santa brought it to me this year.

This morning, when I was browsing for cupcake recipes, I saw this one, titled «Les petits pets de Magella» (a très original way of calling cupcakes in Québec). In the notes at the end of the recipe, Madame Janette says that she has been making these cupcakes since she was 6 years old and that her grandchildren beg her to make the same cupcakes for them. I figured that was a tried and true recipe -- and I was right!

The icing is a basic butter icing, from the Pillsbury cookbook.

Cupcakes

1 egg
1 1/2 cup sugar*
1 cup milk
A piece of butter the size of an egg
1 cup flour
Vanilla
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 cup of chopped walnuts or pecans**
1 cup of raisins**

Beat sugar with butter. Add egg, flour, milk, vanilla, baking powder and salt. Beat well. Add nuts and raisins. Pour into paper-lined muffin tins. Bake at 350 F for approximately 35 minutes.

* I used organic cane sugar and the it did not dissolve well in the batter. Regular sugar would be better in this case.
** I omitted these today.

Butter icing

Beat together 2/3 cup softened butter, 4 cups icing sugar, 3 to 5 tbsp milk or cream and 1 tbsp vanilla. Makes enough icing for a 2-layer cake or a 13 x 9 in cake.

The Sandwich King

2006-01-24T21:52:00.000-05:00

No, I'm not talking about Lord Sandwich, the avid card player without whom we would not have been able to indulge in sandwiches... I'm talking about M., who makes the best sandwiches in the world (at least according to me).

His specialty is the open-faced type. He piles everything up so high that you need a fork and a knife to eat it. His favourites: lettuce, tomato, fresh garlic and onion (watch out for the breath!), avocado, steamed beets, hard-boiled eggs, and ham or smoked salmon. I know: beets in a sandwich? Yes, it seems odd, but it works. Try it! As for bread, pretty much anything goes: whole wheat from our bread maker, persian bread, pitas are all perfect vessels.

He also makes incredible croque-monsieurs... but that's for another story.

Gâteau blanc à l'eau de fleur d'oranger (orange blossom water cake)

2006-01-21T19:05:00.000-05:00

Last week, after a visit to Patachou, a French pâtisserie in Toronto, M. praised the deliciousness of their brioche à la fleur d'oranger.

My curiosity was piqued, and I could not help myself from buying orange blossom water when I went shopping this morning.

Since I had not tasted said brioche, I could not attempt to reproduce it. And "googling" it on the Internet did not yield the results I expected.

So I decided I would make a white butter cake and flavour it with my newly acquired orange blossom water. I wanted a dense, old-fashioned cake.

I love buying old recipe books, especially the ones that contain "everything-a-newly-wed-must-know-to-make-her-husband-happy". One of them is La cuisine raisonnée. Since the early 1900's, generations of Québec women have used it to, firstly, learn how to cook (in home economics schools), and then feed their families. I am no exception to the rule and now have two different editions of the book: the eighth edition (1957) and an anniversary edition which was published in 2003.

This cake is the gâteau au beurre from the 1957 edition. I omitted the vanilla and used 1 tablespoon of orange blossom water instead.

1/4 cup butter
2 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar, divided
1/2 cup milk or water
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla

Cream butter and gradually add 1/2 cup of the sugar.
Add the egg yolks and 1/4 cup of the sugar.
Combine flour, baking powder and salt.
Incorporate the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating with the milk or water.
Add the flavouring.
Beat the egg whites until they are firm. Gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar.
Fold the egg whites into the cake batter.
Pour the batter into a buttered and floured cake pan and bake at 350 F for about 40 minutes, or until the center of the cake is baked.

While the cake is baking, prepare a syrup by boiling 1/3 cup of water and 1/4 cup of sugar. When the syrup has boiled for 2-3 minutes, remove from heat and add 1 tbsp orange blossom water (to taste).

Brush the cake with the syrup when you take it out of the oven, unmold and let cool.

Paella para dos

2006-01-17T21:26:00.000-05:00

M. and I got inspired this weekend. A quick trip to our fishmonger, and we came home with a large salmon, shrimp, clams, scallops and calamari. Paella it would be.

After looking up a few recipes on the net (my cookbook collection being rather mute on the topic of paella), we devised a plan. Our goal was to avoid mushy rice and overcooked seafood, two common issues with paella. We partly succeeded. Next time, we'll do better.

We began by making stock with the salmon bones and head, shrimp peel, garlic, sweet paprika, bay leaves, water, a bit of salt and a few peppercorns.

While the stock was simmering, I sautéed the salmon, shrimp, and scallop in olive oil and seasoned with salt, pepper, and sweet paprika. I cooked them until they were just underdone.

After the stock had simmered for about 30 minutes, I strained it into a cheesecloth, pressing on the solids to extract as much flavour as possible.

I then sautéed a generous amount of onion and garlic, along with the squit cut into rings, then added basmati rice, more sweet paprika, saffron, and a good amount of cayenne and sautéed until the rice became opaque. I then added the fish stock and let the rice cook.

Meanwhile, I steamed the clams in a bit of the fish stock.

When the rice was almost done, I sprinkled green peas on top of the rice, then arranged the fish and seafood, and garnished with roasted red peppers, then I let the rice and seafood finish cooking.

Notes to self:
- Next time, Iwill cook the fish and seafood longer before I add it to the rice.
- Because we used basmati rice (as per M.'s preferrence), we should have let the rice cook completely before adding the fish to the rice, as basmati is like a little sponge that can absorb a lot of liquid -- and then becomes mushy (which is what we wanted to avoid in the first place).

Little bundles of health

2006-01-12T20:29:00.000-05:00

I was introduced to the Paper Chef Project recently. Based on the Iron Chef show, four ingredients are identified and participants have to prepare dishes that use the four theme ingredients. This month, the four ingredients were quinoa, cashews, yogourt and a "baby" (baby-sized foods, baby food, participants could let their imagination run wild).

Although I have not sent a submission to this month's event, it does not mean I have not thought about ingredient combinations.

So, tonight, I made these little trout bundles with the ingredients I had on hand -- a mini Paper Chef Project, if you will.

4 servings

1 lb trout filet, cut into 4 portions
Oil (sesame and grape seed)
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1/2 package of shiitake mushrooms, thinly sliced
1 clove of garlic, sliced
2 medium-sized carrots, julienned
1/2 medium-sized zucchini, julienned
1 2-in piece of ginger, grated
1 clove of garlic, grated
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
4 large leaves of kale

1. Heat the oils in a skillet and sauté the onion, mushrooms and garlic. Cook until soft and lightly brown.

2. In a bamboo steamer, lightly steam the julienned carrots and zucchini until they are al dente.Put aside. Place the kale in the steamer and cook until the leaves are pliable.

3. Mix the grated ginger and garlic with the sesame oil and hoisin sauce. Put aside.

4. On a board, place one leave of kale, place one portion of fish in the centre, and place the carrot, the zucchini and the mushroom mixture on top of the fish. Top with 1 tbsp of the ginger/garlic/sesame oil/hoisin sauce. Close the kale leaf over the fish and vegetables, securing with toothpicks as necessary. Repeat with the remaining ingredients.

5. Steam the bundles for about 15 minutes or until the fish is cooked.

6. Serve over rice.

Notes to self:
- Chard would probably be easier to work with than kale. Depending of the leaf size, it may be better to make 8 small bundles rather than 4 small ones, as closing them is tricky.
- Skinned pieces of fish would be better -- steamed skin is not great.

Sunday night roast chicken

2006-01-10T12:46:00.000-05:00

Every Sunday, I try to spend a few hours preparing food for the week ahead.

We receive our fresh box of produce on Monday, so it is a good opportunity to cook whatever is leftover and be ready to welcome our new box (we are both quite childish about the box, looking forward to receiving it each week).

Our Sunday night meal often looks like a vegetable side dishes buffet, along with a nice naturally raised roasted chicken from the nearby Mennonite country. This chicken is so flavourful that only a few seasonings make it delicious. This week, after massaging my seven pounder with nice Crête olive oil from Alex Farm, I rubbed it with the following rub and hop! put it in a 350 F oven for about 3 1/2 hours (it was a large chicken).

Rub:

1 tbsp hot smoked Spanish paprika (one of my new favourite spices)
1/2 tbsp coarse sea salt
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp celery seeds

It's Friday night! What's for dinner?

2006-01-06T20:05:00.000-05:00

Usually, on Friday nights, I'm tired but I feel compelled to go out or do something fun to celebrate the end of the week.

This week, it's a bit different: we drove back to Toronto from my parents' on Tuesday and I worked for the rest of the week, so I did not have a lot of time for myself.

I arrived home hungry, and determined to spend a nice and quiet evening with M. I felt like having a good meal with him and relax.

Things turned out slightly differently, as he had had lunch late this afternoon and was not hungry. So, after scratching my head to decide what to eat, I started improvising with what I had in the fridge (we did not really go grocery shopping since we came back). And I wanted to have a healthy meal.

I decided to use my new julienne peeler and made a thai-vietnamese inspired carrot salad:

2 large carrots, julienned
1 1-in piece of fresh ginger, grated
1 clove garlic, grated
1 tbsp white vinegar
1 tbsp white sugar
1/4 tsp sambal oelek
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp fish sauce
A sprinkle of dehydrated chives (fresh cilantro would have been great, but I did not have any)

The salad was very good and felt very healthy. Somehow, that little bit of sambal oelek packed a lot of punch, so I added half an avocado, cubed, to the salad and that absorbed some of the heat.

I will make that salad again, and hopefully, it will be a more planned affair. But I'm impressed that, combined, these very simple ingredients made a very tasty salad. Vive le vendredi!