Tarte Tatin

Originally published on February 4, 2014

I don’t even know when I first saw a tarte tatin. I know it was on a cooking show, and I remember being in awe that this somewhat ugly giant piece of crust could be flipped over to reveal gorgeous caramel apples underneath. The fact that you build this dessert in the dish you cook it in, and of course that dramatic flip at the very end all make this one of the very most fabulous desserts that’s ever come out of my kitchen. And while that flip is dramatic, don’t be scared. Take a deep breath, go in with confidence, and then be amazed at just how awesome you are!

Ingredients:

6 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and cut into quarters
1 pie crust, chilled and uncooked
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup white sugar
1/8 teaspoon salt 

Directions:

1.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit, roll out dough to about ten inches, and place in the fridge until ready to use.

2.) Place the butter in a cast iron skillet over medium heat and stir in the sugar. Stir regularly, and don’t worry if it clumps or is grainy for the first few minutes. Just keep stirring and it will form into golden syrupy goodness. Bring the sauce up to a soft boil.

3.) Add the apples to the sauce and cook until the sauce becomes even darker in colour, nearly amber. Turn the apples regularly in the sauce to ensure that they are completely coated in the sauce. This should take about 15 minutes, but take it off the heat a few minutes early if your sauce starts to look too dark. If you’re unsure, drop a bit onto a plate and if it holds its shape, you know the sauce is done.

4.) With the pan off the heat, use tongs to arrange apples. They should form concentric circles with the “backs,” or rounded parts of the apple touching the bottom of the pan. Take the pie crust out of the fridge and place over top. Tuck the edges of the crust into the pan using a fork and being very careful not to touch that piping hot caramel sauce. Prick the entire surface of the crust with a fork.

5.) Place the entire thing in the oven and bake for 20-25 minutes until the crust has turned golden brown.

6.) Remove the dish from the oven and allow it to sit and cool for about 20 minutes. While it is still very hot, run a knife around the outer edges to help prevent sticking when it comes time for the big flip.

7.) When ready, take a deep breath and find something very sturdy that will fit over the entire surface of the cast iron skillet (a pie plate or a cutting board work just fine.) Fit over top, put on oven mitts (tea towels won’t cut it here), and take both the pie plate and skillet in your hands. In one quick motion, flip them so that the cast iron skillet is on top, and the pie plate is on the bottom. Lightly bang the entire thing down on the counter to loosen any bits that are still stuck to the skillet.

8.) Gently remove the skillet and while still warm, rearrange any apples that didn’t quite behave and stay in their own place. Then, breathe a sigh of relief and be proud that you’ve just mastered the tarte tatin!

9.) Serve and enjoy!

Pork Schnitzel

Originally published on February 8, 2014

I fell in love with schnitzel many moons ago. We served it at a gourmet cafe that I worked at, although we served veal instead of pork. I have to admit, I was adamantly against eating veal when I first started working there. Ya know, the whole forcing baby animals to be practically immobile thing. But, I’m shamed to say, the veal schnitzel we made look so darned good, and I’d stare longingly at it in the pan every time an order came in. One day, when my resolve was weak and an especially tasty-looking shipment of veal came in, I gave in. On my lunch hour that day, I ordered the veal and quietly took it downstairs to eat in the lunchroom, shrouded in shame.

When I was done, I realized there was no going back after you’ve gone against your own resolve – and I’ve been happily eating veal ever since. If I could get my husband to eat it, we would have had veal schnitzel here instead of pork. And while I believe this recipe is typically made with pork chops, tenderloin is what I had in my fridge, so that’s what was used.

Ingredients:

1 pork tenderloin
1/4 cup all-purpose flour 
Salt
Pepper 
1 egg, beaten 
2 tablespoons milk 
3/4 cup bread crumbs 
1 teaspoon paprika 
3 tablespoons canola or vegetable oil
3/4 cup chicken stock 
2 teaspoons fresh dill, chopped
1/2 cup sour cream

Directions:

1.) Slice the tenderloin into 1″ rounds. One by one, place each round between two sheets of plastic wrap and with a rolling pin or a meat mallet, pound to an even thickness of about 1/8″ – super thin.

2.) Set up a breading station with three bowls. In the first bowl place the flour, salt, and pepper. In the second bowl place the egg and milk beaten together slightly, and in the third bowl place the bread crumbs and paprika.

3.) One by one, dip a portion of the meat into the flour, coating thoroughly and then shaking off excess. Place right into the egg mixture, entirely coating the meat, and then allow excess to drip off. Place into the bread crumb mixture, coat entirely, and shake off excess. Place schnitzel aside, and then continue with the remaining pieces of meat.

4.) When all meat has been breaded, place oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. When heat, add schnitzel into the pan, being sure not to overcrowd them; work in batches if you have to. Cook the schnitzel for about three minutes on one side, then flip and cook for about two more minutes. When pieces have finished cooking, set aside and tent with foil to keep warm.

5.) With the skillet still hot, add chicken stock and scrape up the brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Turn heat down, and add in sour cream and dill. Stir to heat through, but make sure the mixture does not come to a boil.

6.) Arrange schnitzel on a platter and drizzle the sour cream sauce over top.

7.) Serve and enjoy!

Spatzle

Originally published on February 8, 2014

Let’s take a minute to talk about spatzle. If you’ve had it before, and maybe even if you haven’t, you know it’s a German egg noodle that’s got sort of a funky shape on your plate. Sometimes it’s long and straight, other times it’s smaller and full of curves and twists. This smaller version is the one that I first tried when I had my first bite of spatzle so long ago, and that was the one I fell in love with. I warn you though. This is not an easy recipe. To make the dough, a stand mixer is ideal. If you’re like me and don’t have one though, don’t think you can whip this one up with a wooden spoon. I tried, and it’s next to impossible. I ended up throwing the batch into my food processor and letting that do most of the hard mixing for me. That worked and I thought that I was on a bit of a spatzle-roll, and then I tried to actually boil it. Without a spatzle-maker. Ugh.

Spatzle-makers look very similar to a ricer, but the holes on the spatzle-maker are quite bigger. If you don’t have a spatzle-maker, it can still be done (see picture above,) but it is much more difficult. You can use a number of things including a colander with large holes (which is what I chose,) or a steamer that can fit over a large pot. The idea is that you want to push the dough through holes of some kind, so that they form noodle-like shapes when boiled. If you’re not using a spatzle-maker,you’ll need to push the dough through your device with a wooden spoon. It’s not impossible, and it is worth it, especially if you serve delicious pork schnitzel to go with it.

Ingredients:

4 cups all-purpose flour 
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly grated 
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cup milk 
1 large onion, finely diced
1 cup fresh parsley, roughly chopped
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt 
Pepper 

Directions:

1.) Place the flour, salt and nutmeg into a food processor and pulse just to combine. In a separate bowl beat the eggs lightly, and then add milk. Pour this combination straight into the food processor and blend for about 15 minutes. Yes, that seems like a long time, but trust me on this one.

2.) When dough has formed, empty it out onto a very lightly floured surface. Bring a large pot of heavily salted water to a boil. When boiling rapidly, place your colander or spatzle-maker over the surface, and begin to drop bits of the dough into the water. Continue all dough is cooking in the water.

3.) The noodles need to cook for about three minutes, or until they begin to float to the surface. Use a slotted spoon to remove the cooked noodles from the water and place in a large bowl off to the side.

4.) When all noodles have been cooked, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When oil is hot, add the onion and cook for about two minutes, just until soft and translucent.

5.) Add spatzle to the skillet, turn to coat with oil, and then cook, for about 5 minutes, until spatzle has begun to brown and crisp slightly on the surface. Season with salt and pepper.

6.) When finished cooking, move to a bowl, stir in parsley.

7.) Serve and enjoy!

Choux Pastry

Originally published on February 15, 2014

Ah, choux pastry. This is one of those items that I happen to have a funny little cooking story about (my favourite kind of recipe!) I first heard about, and saw, people making choux pastry on shows such as MasterChef and Chopped – all those shows where the chefs are trying to make something that will really knock the socks off the judges. When I first heard of it, and for some time after, I thought it was called “shoe pastry.” Now, the reason for this is pretty reasonable. When I first saw someone making it, the dough was in a long thin shape. Knowing that it was meant for something to be slipped inside of the pastry, it made perfect sense to me that it would be called “shoe pastry.” Long, thin, meant to hold something. Sounded like a shoe to me. Then I found out that it’s actually called “choux pastry.”

Again though, I jumped to the wrong conclusion at first. Choux? What did that mean? I knew that choux pastry is a French pastry, so I decided (all on my own) that “choux” in French must mean “hollow.” After all, the hollowness of this pastry is one of its most defining characteristics, so that must be it. Right? No. In fact, I couldn’t have been farther from the mark. “Choux” actually means – of all things – “cabbage” in French. And this type of pastry is called “choux” because apparently to some, it looks like little cabbages when it’s finished cooking. Okay, so I don’t agree with that, but at least now when you say “choux pastry,” you might have an idea of what you’re talking about.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups water
Pinch salt 
3/4 cup butter 
4 teaspoons sugar 
1 1/2 cups flour
6 eggs, lightly beaten 
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons milk 

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.

2.) In a large saucepan on the stove, combine the water, salt, butter, and sugar; bring to a boil. Once boiling, remove the pan from the heat and add the flour. Beat quickly, until a dough begins to form and the dough starts to pull away from the sides of the pan. Place the pan back over the heat for just a minute or two, beating the entire time.

3.) Remove the pan from the heat and roughly one at a time, beat the eggs into the mixture, making sure the egg is entirely incorporated before adding another. You may not need all the eggs here – keep whatever egg you don’t use to the side, mixed with the milk and ready to use. Your dough in the saucepan will be finished when you can place a large dollop onto a wooden spoon and it’s glossy but falls heavily to the bottom of the saucepan.

4.) Beat in the vanilla and spoon the dough into a piping bag.

5.) Pipe balls of the dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, so that the balls are about an inch large, and spaced about two inches apart on the baking sheet. Brush the tops with a bit of the egg/milk mixture for a glaze, and then push any pointed tops down with your finger.

6.) Place in the preheated oven and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the dough is hollow inside (see pic below.) You can test this by pulling just one out of the oven, opening it, and seeing if it is in fact, hollow.

7.) When all pastry is done baking, remove from oven and move to wire racks to cool completely. This will ensure that the pastry does not become soggy, and that it does not collapse.

8.) When completely cooled, slice off the tops, fill with whipped cream, and drizzle or dollop with chocolate on top for the perfect profiteroles.

9.) Serve and enjoy!

Hollow Choux Pastry

Profiteroles

Originally published on February 15, 2014

Profiteroles *sigh*. Need I say anything else, really?

1 recipe choux pastry 
1 bag milk chocolate chips 
1 cup whipping cream 
3 tablespoons sugar

Directions:

1.) Slice tops off choux pastry and set aside.

2.) Create a double boiler by placing a large metal or glass bowl over a saucepan filled with an inch or two of water. Place the chocolate chips in the bowl, bring the water up to a boil, and melt chocolate chips while stirring regularly. When all chocolate is melted, turn heat off and leave chocolate in the bowl.

3.) In a separate large bowl, place the whipping cream and beat with a hand mixer until it forms stiff peaks. Beat in sugar.

4.) Spoon a bit of whipping cream into each piece of choux pastry, pressing down gently on the top to allow it to ooze out the sides a bit. Using a large spoon, drizzle or dollop the melted chocolate all over the filled choux pastry.

5.) Serve and enjoy!

Gnocchi

Originally published on February 16, 2014

They say that if you want to make pasta dough but have never done it before, gnocchi is a great one to start with. It’s pretty forgiving and doesn’t require the technical hand that other types of pasta dough do. However, you still have to be careful and not rush the process. It might take a time or two before you have those perfect little pillows of pure heaven, but even on your first try you should have something that very closely resembles them. I also never ever pour tomato or spaghetti sauce on my gnocchi. For me it can only be pesto, or delicious sage and brown butter sauce.

Ingredients:

2 large russet potatoes
1 egg, lightly beaten 
1 cup all-purpose flour
Salt

Directions:

1.) Fill a large pot with cold water and a couple of teaspoons of salt. Scrub the potatoes clean, but leave the skins on them. Cut them in half, place in the pot, and bring up to a boil. Gently boil potatoes until they are just cooked through, about 30 to 40 minutes.

2.) One at a time, remove the potatoes from the water with a slotted spoon and place it on a large cutting board. Reserve the potato water. As soon as you can handle them and while the potatoes are still hot, peel them. Then use a ricer to rice the potatoes, but do not scoop into a pile when done. If you don’t have a ricer, place the potato flat-side down on the cutting board, and use a fork to roughly scrape down the sides until the potato is fully “scraped.” Remember that we do not mashed potatoes here!

3.) Allow the potato to cool slightly on the board, about 10 to 15 minutes. Then pull it all into a soft and loose mound. Drizzle the beaten egg and 3/4 cup of the flour across the potato. Using a light, feathery touch, fold the mixture from the bottom up until the flour and the egg is fully incorporated. The dough should be slightly yellow when you are finished at this point, as you should be able to see the egg throughout. If the dough is still too sticky at this point, add the remaining 1/4 cup of flour a little at a time, until the consistency becomes a bit nicer.

4.) Gather the dough altogether and cut into 8 pieces. Roll each 1/8th of the dough into rope-like pieces that are about as wide as your thumb. Cut the ropes into 3/4″ pieces and dust with a bit more flour to keep them from sticking. If you’d like to, mark each piece of gnocchi by placing it against the tines of a fork and gently but firmly pressing down and out. I don’t bother with this step because I find the gnocchi does a good enough job on its own of holding the sauce to itself, and if I can just cook the gnocchi at this point, it means I’m that much closer to eating gnocchi!

5.) Bring the potato water back up to a boil (you can start with a fresh pot of water if you’d like, but using potato water will give the gnocchi a bit more starch to grab onto all that sauce, and a bit more flavour.) Drop the gnocchi into the boiling water in batches, about 20 at a time, and remove them in batches when they are finished cooking. Place on a large platter and dress with the sauce of your choice.

6.) Serve and enjoy!

Brown Butter and Sage Sauce

Originally published on February 16, 2014

I love butter. I especially love it when it becomes brown, intensifies in flavour, and just makes me oh so happy. I also love sage. Fresh sage, that’s been fried in that mouth-watering brown butter, until it’s super crisp and also takes on an even deeper flavour. Combining the two, and putting it on something such as say, the perfect gnocchi – well, that’s one sure-fire way to get to culinary heaven.

Ingredients:

4 tablespoons of butter
8 sage leaves
Juice from 1/2 lemon 
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1.) Melt the butter in a large skillet or saucepan. Cook until it just starts becoming very golden, nearly brown.

2.) Add sage leaves and allow them to cook for a minute or two, until they turn a bit darker in colour and are crisp. Remove sauce from heat and add lemon juice.

3.) Drain pasta, reserving some of the cooking liquid in the pot, and then place gnocchi or other pasta into the saucepan with the sauce. Add a bit of the reserved cooking liquid, return to heat for just a moment, add cheese, and toss again.

4.) Serve and enjoy!

Leola’s Cornbread

Originally published on February 19, 2014

I’ve tried many different cornbread recipes. But ever since my mother-in-law passed down several cookbooks to me, one of which had this perfect cornbread recipe in it, this is the one I keep going back to. Leola’s cornbread, straight out of Time Life Books, and quite possibly the best cornbread I’ve ever had. I’m not kidding. This time I made it into cornbread muffins for a change, but I usually just pour the batter into my greased cast iron skillet and then cut it into wedges for that rustic look. As for the shortening in the recipe. If you’ve ever seen Janet and Greta’s Eat, Shrink, and Be Merry on the Food Network you’ll know that they say this particular ingredient was given its name because it “shortens” your life. Yeah, it’s not the healthiest thing you could eat. If you’re worried about it, substitute more butter for the shortening, or just opt for vegetable oil instead (extra bonus, you won’t have to melt and cool it first!)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups cornmeal
1 cup all-purpose flour 
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 eggs
6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
8 tablespoons shortening, melted and cooled 
1 1/2 cups milk 

Directions:

1.) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Into a large mixing bowl sift the cornmeal, flour, sugar, salt and baking powder.

2.) Beat the eggs lightly, and then add the melted butter and shortening. Stir in the milk. Pour into the bowl of dry ingredients and beat together for about one minute, just until the batter is smooth and everything is incorporated. Do not overbeat!

3.) Lightly butter an 8″ by 12″ shallow baking pan, a cast iron skillet, or a muffin tray and pour batter in.

4.) Place in the oven and bake for 20-30 minutes, depending on what you’re cooking the cornbread in, until the bread starts to pull away slightly from the edges and is turning golden brown.

5.) Serve and enjoy!

Feb

Watermelon Margarita

Originally published on February 20, 2014

Today is National Margarita Day, right smack dab in the middle of winter! I know that watermelon might not be the first flavour you think of when concocting (or ordering) a margarita, but trust me. This summer when you have all that extra watermelon in your fridge that you don’t know what to do with (doesn’t that happen every year?) this is a tasty and refreshing way to use it all up!

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons sugar 
1 lime wedge, plus more for garnish
3 1/2 cups watermelon, cubed and seeded 
1/2 cup tequila 
2 tablespoons sugar 
Juice of one lime 
1 tablespoon Triple Sec or other orange flavoured liqueur 
1/2 cup crushed ice 

Directions:

1.) Rub the rims of each glass with a lime wedge and then place 2 teaspoons of sugar onto a plate. Spin the glasses, upside-down, in the sugar to coat the rims and set aside.

2.) Place the watermelon, tequila, 2 tablespoons of sugar, lime juice, Triple Sec, and crushed ice into a blender and puree until smooth. Pour margaritas into glasses and garnish with lime wedges.

3.) Serve and enjoy!

There’s More than One Way to Roast a Pepper

Originally published on February 22, 2014

I’ve always been kind of fascinated with roasted peppers. I mean, you take this vegetable with super crisp and glossy skin, roast it for a few minutes, and it completely changes everything about it. The skin becomes withered, the flesh of the vegetable becomes something soft and pliable. And once a pepper is roasted you can use it for anything from sauces to antipasto platters to garnishes to simply adding a special little something to any dish. But when it comes to actually roasting the peppers, you have just about as many choices. Here are the four ways to roast a pepper, and what you’ll need to keep in mind when using any particular method.

Roasting

I start with roasting because in my opinion it’s by far the easiest, and cleanest, way to do it. Simply place peppers on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil, and place in a 400 degree oven. Roast for 20 minutes then turn, and roast for another 15-20 minutes until the skins are charred and peppers are quite wilted. Remove from oven, place peppers in a paper bag and close. Allow peppers to rest for about 15 minutes before removing from bag, peeling skins off, and using peppers as needed.

Broiling

This works largely the same way as roasting except that your baking sheet should be placed closer to the top element, and you need to keep a really close eye on them. The peppers will also take just about 10 – 15 minutes to roast. They’ll still need to be placed in a paper bag so that the skins will peel off easily.

Gas element

You can just put the pepper on a fork or on a steel skewer, turn on the gas element, and hold the pepper over the flame campfire style. But, that will cause the pepper to wilt a bit, and juices will spill out, onto both your stovetop and into the element, which can be a real mess. Instead of doing this, wrap the entire pepper in aluminum foil before placing it directly over the element. The bonus to this is that you don’t need to steam the pepper in a bag afterwards, as it will already be wrapped in foil.

Grilling

This can be a great option any time of the year that you’re willing to get outside and fire up your grill. Just place the peppers directly on the rack, close the lid, and let sit for about 15 minutes or until the skins are charred, turning about halfway through. Place in a paper bag and allow skin to steam off.

For best storage after grilling the peppers, either can them if you have a large quantity, or keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.