FFT: My Life in France

For this month's Food For Thought Book Club (head on over the The Clean Plate Club if you want to read with us) we read My Life in France by Julia Child. I was really looking forward to digging into the book. But alas the month is over and while I have started, the nuttiness that is work when you are about to start shooting a movie didn't allow for much recreational reading. That being said from the bit I did read, I was totally inspired. There is a passage where Julia talks about her professor, Chef Bugnard, at the Le Cordon Blue and his delicious sole a la normande. I decided to try my own take on it, cutting out the egg yolks and a bunch of the butter and actually not using any recipe just using the flavors she wrote about as inspiration.


While it was pretty tasty it didn't turn out exactly as I had hoped, so I'll hold back on the recipe for now. What had inspired me, was Julia how wrote of this dish being virtually transcendent and my sole just didn't have enough flavor. The sauce and mussels were excellent though and I think I'll make some mussels with just this sauce next time. Below is the sauce I made and how I'll serve it next time.


White Wine Steamed Mussels in a Cream sauce

1 cup white wine
approx 30 mussels - enough to fit in one layer in your large saute pan
10 thyme sprigs
4 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp lemon zest
1 tsp Herbes de Provence

1. Place the mussels in one layer in a large saute pan. Pour the white wine over top. Tie the thyme sprigs together with kitchen twine and place in the pan. Cover pan, turn heat onto medium high and steam mussels until the open.
2. Uncover pan and carefully remove mussels to a serving bowl. Lower heat to medium low, whisk in butter until melted, then whisk in cream. Add in lemon zest and spices, whisk all together to combine. Add salt & pepper to taste. Pour cream sauce over mussels and serve with crusty bread.

I'm really enjoying this book and will sure finish it, maybe on one of the long plane rides I have coming up. I also really enjoyed these mussels, as the boy comment on how I inhaled mine when we were eating dinner.

FNCCC: Beer Battered Onion Rings

In honor of St. Patrick's Day March's Food Network Cooking Club Challenge the recipe chosen was Riccardo's Beer Battered Onions Rings. I was actually looking forward to trying this one as I have never made onions rings before and I love all things beer battered. The major downside was that this treat is in exact opposition to my return to boot camp and attempt at healthier eating. That being said I made them, the boy and I tried some and I threw the rest out! A bit wasteful, I know. but luckily it wasn't a time or wallet intensive treat.

As you know, it's rare that I follow a recipe to the letter. For this one I decided to use white (because I had one in the house) and red (for something different) onions instead of the recommend Spanish onion. I made one batch of batter using pale ale and another using a darker honey brown beer. I also made my own dipping sauces, a Chipotle Ketchup and an Apricot Mustard Sauce.

Beer-Battered Onion Rings
adapted from Riccardo's Beer-Battered Onion Rings

ONIONS
1 medium white onion
1 medium red onion
1/4 cup cornstarch

BATTER
2 cups pastry flour (separated)
4 Tbsp cornstarch (separated)
1/2 tsp baking powder (separated)
1/2 tsp salt (separated)
1 cup pale ale (I used Stella Artois)
1 cup honey brown beer (I used Sleeman's Honey Brown)
oil for frying

1. Preheat deer fryer (or large pot of oil) to 190C/375F. Place a cooling rack on a backing sheet or line a baking sheet with paper towels.
2. In a paper bag or a large bowl, toss the onion rings in the cornstarch to coat well. Set aside.
3. In a bowl, combine 1 cup of flour, 2 Tbsp cornstarch, 1/4 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp salt. Whisk in the pale ale.
4. Using your fingertips or wooden chopsticks, dip the rings in the batter, 4 or 5 at a time. Shake off excess batter and deep-fry for about 3 minutes, turning halfway through cooking, drain on the baking sheet. Season lightly with salt. Repeat with 1/2 of the onions, both read and white.
5. Repeat step 3 with remaining ingredients, this time using the Honey Brown beer.
6. Repeat step 4 with remaining onions.


Chipotle Ketchup

1 cup ketchup
2 Tbsp or more chipotle puree or chopped chipotles in adobo
1/4 Tbsp balsamic vinegar

1. Whisk together all ingredients until well combined. Add more chipotle if you like more spice.


Apricot Mustard

1/4 cup dijon mustard
1/4 grainy mustard
1/3 cup apricot jam
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

1. Whisk together ingredients until well combined. Add more jam or mustard to taste.

These were really quite easy to make, although frying on the stovetop I found it hard to keep the oil a constant temperature. It's something that's definitely easier when you have an actually deep fryer, although that's not something I'll be adding to my kitchen arsenal anytime soon!

We could really taste the difference in the two batters and between the different onions. My favorite combination was the Honey Brown batter with the red onions dipped in the chipotle ketchup. The slight sweetness of the batter and rings paired with the spicy sauce was really nice. The boy also preferred the honey brown batter, but liked the Apricot Mustard sauce better. It was a fun Saturday afternoon treat, to taste the different the different rings, with different sauces and pick our faves. The boy liked it all so much, that he is hoping I'll make some beer battered fish for fish and chips next! We'll see when that happens.

Make sure to check out the Food For Thought Blog over at foodnetwork.ca on Wednesday or Thursday to see how the other participants fared. Enjoy!

What I learned at the Toronto Wine & Cheese Show

Last weekend I had the pleasure of attending the Toronto Wine & Cheese Show at the International Center in Mississauga, sponsored by Metro and the Toronto Star. I was able to do this courtesy of Food Buzz. The show is billed as an event not only for wine & cheese lovers but chock full of gourmet foods as well. It was the cheese and gourmet foods that really made me want to attend the show. I love wines, but am admittedly far from an expert. It was great to try some new wines, some of which I've even bought since the show, but I was really hoping to use my time at the show to get some inspiration for some new recipes and write about some of my fabulous gourmet food finds. While my friend and I tasted a chickpea curry from a new family run business, Gourmantra ( a company that found a way to get their family recipe into an easy kit), had some fresh P.E.I. Malpeque Oysters and bought some tasty sausages for our boys at home, this Wine & Cheese show was much more about the wine than cheese or anything else. It was a bit disappointing, since I was craving some good cheese and to learn something during my time spent at the show. Luckily there was one cheese centered seminar, sponsored by the Dairy Farmer of Canada. The class promised to educate us on tasting cheese and how to put together a cheese tasting on our own. Exactly what I was looking for!

About 40 minutes before the demonstration was set to begin, there was already a line forming outside of the demo area, so my friend and I did another circle of the hall and got a bit more wine to have during the demo and got into the line-up. We ended up right in the second row of tables which was perfect to see and hear everything that our teacher, Anne-Marie Shubin, a teacher at the Cheese Education Guild in Toronto, said. The seminar started with a bit of Dairy Farmer's of Canada info. 2009 is their 75th anniversary and something that I never knew is that milk from Canada is one of the highest quality available. I liked this one because it means their cheese is of a higher quality. Definitely something that made me happy to be in Canada!

We then got into the meat of the seminar, Anne-Marie began by talking about the importance of keeping a cheese journal. A way to record the cheeses you've had and how much you liked or didn't like them. It could contain anything from a written description to a simple 1 to 10 rating system. I can't believe I never thought to do this before since the boy and I go to the cheese monger fairly regularly and while I love tasting the cheeses to pick the ones I like, it would be great to be able to go in and ask for the ones I know I've loved by name.

After reinforcing that cheese is always best served at or slightly below room temperature, Anne-Marie spent some time going of the order of cheese a service. You should start with the softer, more mellow and generally younger cheeses and gradually move through to the older, harder and more pungent cheeses. The only exception to this rule are the blue cheeses. They are a soft cheese that will almost always end a cheese service. Once you have your order of the cheese, for a true cheese service you should also have some very neutral crackers or baguette on hand to be used as a palate cleanser between cheeses. Then much like with wines, you should consider the appearance and smell of each cheese before tasting while also noticing how the taste compares to the smell.

We went on to try six different Canadian cheeses, all were excellent and I decided that rather than show and write about these cheese we had in the class that I would put together my own cheese tasting, putting to use all I learned from Anne-Marie. While the whole class was extremely informative and the best part of the entire day, the most interesting tidbit I took away from Anne-Marie was her suggesting to do a cheese tasting with beer or cider. This was something I had to try! I spoke with her after the class to find out which beers or ciders she suggests for a cheese tasting. She said the Du Minot sparkling cider or Strongbow cider and Hoegaarden for beer.

I walked away from the demonstration wanting to visit my local cheese monger picking out a few and setting up a little tasting for the boy and I at home. The boy and I met at The Art of Cheese, a cheese shop very close to our house that we had yet to try. We spent some time there tasting and carefully picking the cheeses for our own cheese tasting. And amazingly had the willpower to wait until the next night for our cheese adventure.

When we sat down of our tasting. I made sure we had some baguette as well as a nice cold Hoegaarden to try. Our first cheese was a Grey Owl goat cheese from Quebec. The rind has that interesting grey color because it's rolled in olive tree ash. Appearance wise, this cheese is nice and gooey near the rind and more chalky towards the center, something that denotes a younger cheese. It smells a bit like a goat cheese would, but not nearly as pungent. On tasting it, it tasted very fresh and milky, a symptom of it being a younger cheese. Overall it was very enjoy and went so well with the beer. I was fan. After some baguette, we moved onto the Le Migneron de Charlevoix an cow's milk cheese also out of Quebec, it is a nice semi firm cheese, with a complex aroma and a creamy, nutty taste. I could imagine making a grilled cheese with this one.

Our next cheese was also from Charlevoix but was the Hercule, an Oka-style raw cow's milk cheese, The one was more firm than the Migneron, but in retrospect should have been tasted first, as the Hercule was much more mellow in flavor than the Migneron. Thus far it was my least favorite cheese. Next up was a 3-year old organic cow's milk cheddar. When we tasted this at the cheese shop the boy asked for extra, he loved it so much and have to say trying it again during our tasting I am inclined to agree. The is a solid sharp cheddar, it's nice and firm, with a fabulously pungent smell and just the right amount of sharpness. It also paired perfectly with the slight sweetness of the Hoegaarden.

While we could have left it with the fabulous cheddar, both the boy and I are fans of blue cheese. When we were at the cheese shop we chose the Roaring Forties Blue Cheese, out of Australia. It was the only non-Canadian cheese we chose and while I had intended to get only Canadian cheeses in honer of the Dairy Farmers seminar I was inspired by, this one was too tasty to pass up. The beautiful yellow color comes from the Jersey cows milk that is used. I found this blue interesting because while it is definitely pungent in smell, it was much less in your face than the blue's I generally gravitate towards. On tasting it just melts in your mouth this delicious rich taste with a slightly sweet and nutty flavor. It just stays with you, with the most pleasant aftertaste. Even this one worked with the beer! This cheese is getting a 10 in my cheese journal, I love it.

So there you have it, what I learned at the Toronto Wine & Cheese show, while I tried a ton of wines and tasted some yummy treats, the Cheese seminar is what made it all worthwhile. I will very soon be hosting a beer and cheese party for some of our friends and family and promise to share the outcome. Enjoy!

Herb Crusted Pork Tenderloin

I was emailing last week with the Domestic Diva and she mentioned that she was trying out pork tenderloin for the first time just at the same time I was planning my own pork tenderloin something I had never cooked before either! So, we decided to post our pork recipes on the same day so our readers could get the benefit from two different takes on pork tenderloin. See her recipe here.

I was inspired to make pork tenderloin by a fabulous photo I saw on Food Porn Daily with wilted greens, tenderloin and a turnip parmesan cake. It look and sounded delish, so I decided to do my own version of it. I'll first say the pork was wonderful and we had enough for me to get creative with leftovers which I'll post about in a few days. The turnip cake didn't work out how I'd like, so while you see in the photo, I won't share the recipe until it's perfected. I also served it with some spinach that I cooked slightly in a garlic olive oil.

Herb-Crusted Pork Tenderloin

2 Tbsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp ground sage
Sea Salt
Fresh ground pepper
2 pork tenderloins
1/2 cup white wine

1. Preheat oven to 400F. Using a mortar and pestle grind to dried oregano, then add in all the other spices and grind together to combine.
2. Rub spice mixture all over the tenderloins, adding more salt & pepper as necessary. Heat a large skillet over medium high heat, with a bit of grapeseed oil. Brown each tenderloin on all sides, so that a nice crust forms and place in baking dish. Pour white wine into baking dish and place dish in the oven.
3. Roast for 20-30 minutes (our oven doesn't keep a good constant heat so the timing isn't exact) and use a meat thermometer to test for doneness. Remove from oven when internal temperature reads 155F, let rest covered in a tin foil tent for 10 minutes. At which point the internal temperature should read 160F. Always be mindful of carry-over cooking with meats! Slice on an angle and serve.

I was pleased with my first attempt at pork tenderloin. It was really flavorful and easy, which I always like. The problem with the sides was that there wasn't enough of a difference in texture. I think the cake need to be more crispy to add some crunch to contrast with the spinach and the pork. I'll play some more and share what i come up with. Enjoy!

Homemade Dog Biscuits

Up until now I have been posting recipes for people, but as I was perusing the web last week I found a website with a plethora of dog treat recipes and decided to try one of them out. What better way to show the boy's dog that I love him too than to bake him some dog treats? Even better was that one of the recipes was for Breath Bustin' Biscuits. Now the pup doesn't have horrible breath, I have definitely smelled much worse, but he does have a tendency to pant right in your face as you pet him, so I thought it might be nice for him have minty fresh breath.

Aside from minty fresh breath, baking treats for your pets is a great way to control what foods they eat and know exactly whats in the treats you feed them. Much like with people, I think it's better to make something yourself than rely on prepackaged foods. In addition to being healthier, with less preservatives, it's also much more cost effective to make your own treats, especially with summer coming when you can grow your own mint in your herb garden.

Breath Bustin Biscuits
from thepoop.com
makes 30 medium biscuits

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups Bisquik baking mix
1/2 cup mint leaves
1/4 cup milk
4 Tbsp margarine
1 egg
1 1/2 Tbsp maple syrup - or corn syrup

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Combine all ingredients in food processor fitted with a metal blade. Process well until mint is chopped and a large ball forms.
2. Press or roll on a non-stick surface (floured board or ceramic) to a thickness of 1/4 - 1/2". Cut into 1x2" strips or with bone shaped cookie cutter and place on a non-stick cookie sheet.
3. Bake for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool & store in a airtight container.

The dog loved these, now I of course recognize that he'll eat just about anything I give him. He's become my kitchen buddy laying in the middle of the floor waiting for a tasty morsel to drop. So he's not my most discerning taste tester, but as long as he eats them, I'm happy. I don't have any hard proof that his breathe has improved, but he get so excited when he sees that tupperware container come down of the top of the fridge because he knows they are his special cookies. I may make another batch this weekend and freeze them so we don't have to buy treats for awhile. There are all kinds of dog treat recipes on The Poop that I will post as I make them and the pup tries them. Enjoy!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Happy Green Beer Day!! For as long as I can remember my family would always have corned beef and cabbage on St. Patrick's Day. As I was planning my own corned beef dinner I realized didn't know any of the history of this seemingly traditional meal. So over to Wikipedia I went and found this:

"The consumption of corned beef is associated with Saint Patrick's Day, when many Irish Americans eat a traditional meal of corned beef and cabbage. According to the History Channel, while cabbage is a traditional food item for Irish-Americans, corned beef is not consumed in Ireland - it was originally used as a substitute for bacon by Irish American immigrants in the late 1800s. Irish immigrants living in New York City's Lower East Side sought an equivalent in taste and texture to their traditional Irish bacon, and learned about this cheaper alternative to bacon from their Jewish neighbors. A similar dish is the New England boiled dinner, consisting of corned beef, cabbage, and root vegetables such as carrots, turnips, and potatoes, which is popular in New England and parts of Atlantic Canada."

It turns out corned beef and cabbage is much more a traditional New England dinner, than an Irish one. Regardless it will always be something I associate with St. Patrick's Day and this year is my first time making it. I decided to test out a slow cooker version of the corned beef using some spices and Guinness and a side of sauteed green cabbage.

Slow Cooker Corned Beef
serves 4

1 2 lb corned beef
1 cup or more of Guinness
3 Tbsp whole grain mustard
10 whole black peppercorns
1 bay leaf
2 whole cloves
2 Tbsp brown sugar

1. If your beef came with a spice packet, discard it, if it came with spices in the package (like mine did) rinse the meat well with cold water. Pat dry with paper towels and then rub mustard all over.
2. Pour Guinness into slow cooker, you want enough to come about halfway up the piece of meat. Mix in spices and sugar. Place meat in Guinness mixture and cover.
3. Cook on low for 4-5 hours. Serve with cabbage and potatoes.


Sauteed Cabbage
serves 4

1 medium head of green cabbage
1 large onion - diced
3 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp butter
salt & pepper

1. Cut into quarters, take out the hard stalk, and remove the tough outer leaves. Slice each quarter into 1/2 inch ribbons.
2. Heat a large saute pan over medium heat. Add oil and butter and heat until butter is melted. Saute onions, salt & pepper in oil and butter until translucent. Add in cabbage, stir to coat with oil and butter, add salt and pepper. Lower heat to medium low and cook covered until tender, approximately 15 minutes.

This was a complete hit with the boy and oh so easy. The cabbage took no more than 25 minutes from prep to plate and the corned beef cooked all day while I was at work. A 30 minute meal if there ever was one. And we have leftovers for sandwiches later in the week, corned beef is the best on soft rye bread with some mustard and Swiss cheese. Perfect paired with an ice cold beer after a long day.

Hope you all have a fabulous St. Patty's Day. Enjoy!

Emile Henry give away!

No, I am not hosting this give away, one of the fab ladies at You Want Pies with That is! Miss DoughMessTic of She's Becoming DoughMessTic is our lovely host. She is giving away a fabulous Emile Henry pie plate. They are the best, I use mine every chance I get and it's my #1 item in my amazon store. Check out all the details for the contest here. And while you are there, check out her Strawberry Basil Tart. Is that to die for or what?!

If you feel like being festive this St. Patty's Day

While St. Patrick's Day is definitely about the beer it's also about the food for me. Corned beef and Cabbage is coming up tomorrow, but for today we have some fun cupcakes to get you in the mood. While I have brought many sweets into my office, I had yet to send the boy to work with any. Something that I heard the guys had begun to grumble about since he has mentioned my blog and my affinity for making treats more than once. I figured what better time to send something but right around St. Patty's day. They obviously can't drink on the job so I made cupcakes with the beer baked in to keep things in the spirit. I made Guinness Chocolate mini cupcakes and Green Velvet minis both iced with Bailey's Buttercream icing. The green velvet are my own little twist on red velvet, using green food coloring in place of red.


Guinness Chocolate Cupcakes
makes 24 regular or 48+ mini
from Culinography

1 cup Guinness or other stout beer, room temperature
1 stick butter, melted
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
3 eggs
3/4 cup sour cream (light works fine)
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

2.In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine Guinness, melted butter, vanilla, eggs, sour cream, cocoa and sugars. Mix on low speed until combined. Sift together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt. Add to wet ingredients and mix until combined, stopping once to scrape down the bowl.

3. Line a muffin tin with paper liners and fill 2/3 full with batter.

4. Bake for 10-13 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for five minutes in the tin, then remove to wire rack to cool completely.

Green Velvet Cupcakes
makes 12 regular or 24 mini
adapted from I Heart Cuppycakes

1-1/2 cups cake flour
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp vinegar
5 drops green food coloring (I used 1/4 tsp of Wilton leaf green gel coloring)
3/4 cup sugar
4 tbsp butter
1 egg, room temperature

1. Preheat oven 350F. Prepare cupcake pan with liners.

2. Sift together cake flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into a bowl. In a large Pyrex measuring cup, whisk together the buttermilk, vanilla, vinegar and red food coloring; set aside. In a stand mixer with flat beater, beat the sugar and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add the egg. Mix to combine. Add the flour mixture in 3 additions alternating with buttermilk mixture, ending with the flour mixture.

3. Fill each liner about 2/3-3/4 full. Bake about 22-25 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Let cupcakes cool before frosting.

Bailey's Buttercream Icing
Enough for 96 mini cupcakes
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

6-8 or more cups confections sugar
3 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup Baileys (or for non-alcoholic milk, or heavy cream, or a combination thereof)

1. Whip the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, for several minutes. You want to get it very light and fluffy. Slowly add the powdered sugar, a few tablespoons at a time.

2. When the frosting looks thick enough to spread, drizzle in the Baileys (or milk) and whip it until combined. If this has made the frosting too thin, beat in another spoonful or two of powdered sugar.



These were definitely a hit with the guys at the boy's work (and my office too). This was my first time using a proper piping bag and tip and I think I did a pretty good job! I was amazed at how easy it was to get all the cakes iced once I found my rhythm and doubt I'll ever use a knife or spatula again!

I loved the Bailey's buttercream. Just the right amount of Bailey's. The measure of sugar is vague as I literally added only a few Tbsp at a time and didn't keep track of the final measure. The Guinness chocolate cake was my favorite, so perfectly moist and delish! The Green Velvet was very dense, almost too dense for me, although the boy said it's denseness paired really well with the icing. All in all everything worked together quite nicely, although I think I'll go with a cream cheese icing on the Guinness cake next time I make it.

Hope all my friends in Southie had a great time at the parade yesterday! Enjoy!

Braised Red Cabbage & Apples

This sweet and tender red cabbage is so perfect for the cool winter months. I had read this recipe back before the holidays on The Pioneer Woman's blog and added it to my list of things to make. If you haven't checked her out yet please do. She makes real food on her ranch in Oklahoma and gives excellent step by step directions all along the way. Her writing is fun and she's a bit of my hero because she left the sunshine of LA to move to a ranch in the middle of nowhere. While Toronto is not the middle of nowhere, when I'm missing my city it can feel that way!

Anyway on to the food. I made this along with the saubraten I posted a few weeks back.

Braised Red Cabbage
from The Pioneer Woman

1 medium head red cabbage
1 small onion
2 tart apples (slightly sour)
2 Tbsp butter
1 bay leaf
2 cloves
1/2 cup red wine
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
salt & pepper
ground nutmeg
thyme

1. Finely mince a small to medium onion. No big chunks; it needs to blend in with the rest. Cut a medium red cabbage in half. Now simply cut into quarters, take out the hard stalk, and remove the tough outer leaves. Then with a very sharp knife finely shred it.
2. Measure 1/2 cup of red wine (since you're cooking with it you can just got for the cheap stuff). Add 3 Tbsp red wine vinegar to the wine. Grab a large pan with a thick bottom (I used my Le Creuset Dutch Oven) and add 2 Tbsp of butter.
3. Once the butter has melted, add the onions, a good pinch of cinnamon, the bay leaf and 2 cloves.
4. Saute the onions over low heat for about 5 minutes. Pour in the red wine mixture, add a heaping Tbsp of brown sugar (2 if you like it really sweet) and your cabbage. Stir. Bring the wine to a boil, lower the heat, put the lid on a simmer for 15 minutes.
5. While the cabbage is simmering, peel and dice the apples. After 15 minutes it's time to add the apples and thyme (I used 4 sprigs). Mix everything up, put the lid back on and cook it all for another 45 minutes over low heat.
6. To finish ad a bit of butter, salt, pepper & nutmeg to taste.

This smells delish when it's cooking and is even more delish to eat! Pure comfort food that will go fabulously with any roast, but when particularly well with the saurbraten. The boy gave it a big ole thumbs up as well. Enjoy!

How To: Hard Boiled Eggs

Here we go, my very first 'How To." Now I don't consider myself an expert at anything culinary, I just know what I like and how I like to do things. So from time to time I'll share my methods for doing some of the basic things in the kitchen. I'm sure most of you have hard boiled eggs before and think they turn out fine, but the method I use gives you perfect eggs practically every time. Bright yellow yolks, shell is easy to remove with little to no cracks every time. I figure with Easter just over a month away this could come in hand for egg coloring. Here's how I do it:

Hard Boiled Eggs

4 eggs - refrigerated
saucepan with lid
water

1. Place 4 eggs in the saucepan. Pour cold water into the pot until the eggs are covered by at least 1/2" of water. It's important that the water is cold.
2. Place pot on a burner and turn it on to high. Let cook uncovered until water reaches a rolling boil. Then remove from heat, put lid on the pot and let sit for 12 minutes. UPDATE: If you want a softer center let sit covered for 8 minutes.
3. After 12 minutes have elapsed, bring the pot to the sink and let cold water run into the pot until the water is cooled and let eggs sit in the cool water for approx 10 minutes. (This last step is to cool them more quickly and not necessary if you don't want to use them right away.)

Look at those bright yellow yolks. I'm sure if I had used Eggland's Best eggs they'd be even brighter! I still swear by their farm fresh eggs and will for sure pick up some on my next trip back home.

You can do this with as many eggs as can fit in a single layer in your pot, although I've never done it with more than 6, but I'd imagine it would work with up to a dozen.

Blood Orange Tart on Domestic Divas

Check out my first guest post over at Domestic Divas. It's a delicious blood orange tart that I tried to make healthier by subbing in agave nectar for sugar and whole wheat flour for white. Enjoy!

A Few Updates

First off, remember our good friend The Domestic Diva? She brought us last weeks fab Corn Chowder with Oysters and Bacon. Well I'll be making an appearanc e on her blog with a tasty and somewhat "healthy" Blood Orange Tart. I'll let you all know when it's up, but in the meantime the Diva cooked up some fabulous fish this weekend, be sure to check it out at domdivas.blogspot.com

Next up, more of a housekeeping kind of thing but an accomplishment for me, I've finally migrated all of the recipe content from Cooking with Jen over to Piccante Dolce. What does this mean to me, you ask? Well it means that when you use my fancy little search widget in the upper right corner of the page, you will now be able to search all the recipes I have posted since I started blogging last June. Hope it's helpful!

Keep an eye out this week for posts some yummy Red Cabbage & Apples, as well as my newest pie for the You Want Pie With That Challenge and finally some delish cookies that the boy baked!

Enjoy!

Sour Cream Drop Cookies

This is another one of my Grandmother's recipes. When I first saw this recipe I was intrigued at the use of sour cream. I've seen plenty of cakes, muffins and breads that use yogurt or sour cream but haven't really come across anything, much less a cookie that used sour cream. Let's be honest, I haven't really been looking, but I am always on the look out for new recipes and I can't say I noticed anything like this before. I don't remember eating at Grandma & Grandpa's when I was younger but it was one of the many recipes in the book my Dad has back at their house. As most of my Grandmother's recipes have been, this was super easy with very little by way of directions, just through it in a bowl mix and bake.

Sour Cream Drop Cookies
makes 20-24

1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1¾ cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
½ cup shortening
¼ tsp salt
½ cup sour cream
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 375F. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. Drop onto a prepared cookie sheet, leaving an inch between each drop. Bake in preheated over for 12-15 minutes.

These weren't exactly a hit with the boy, although he couldn't pinpoint exactly what he didn't like about them. So, I brought them into the office and they went over very well. Everyone at the office tends to prefer it when the boy turns his nose up at something because it means they'll get more. The cookie has a light and cakey texture that I liked. I may try to use cocoa powder next time for a chocolate cookie.

Braised White Beans & Swiss Chard

Let me start by saying the boy looked at this (which I served with a roasted chicken breast) and thought "at least I'll like the chicken." He luckily didn't say this until after he tried and enjoyed it. I mean the raving kind of enjoyed that I rarely expect to get with vegetables. I've been really conscious of working more leafy greens into the meals I cook at home, because I know he doesn't get them when he's out and with the exception of some salad with lunch they aren't often offered in the chafing dish buffet line where I am getting my lunch these days. So on Sunday I bought some Swiss Chard, having no clue what I was going to do with it. I then remembered we had a can of white beans in the pantry and kinda just threw this together from there.

On a pantry note, canned beans are the best thing to keep around. I prefer black beans and cannellini beans. But will often have chickpeas or kidney beans lying around as well. They go well with so many things and make for an easy side dish or even a whole meal!

Braised White Beans & Swiss Chard

1 bunch swiss chard - trimmed from stems and sliced into 1/2" ribbons
19 oz canned white beans - drained and rinsed
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth
1 clove garlic - minced
1/2 onion - chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
pinch crushed red pepper
salt & pepper to taste

1. Let prepared chard ribbons sit in cold water to rinse. Then drain in a colander and press dry with paper towels.
2. In a pot heat olive oil over medium heat. Saute garlic, onions and red pepper until onions become translucent being careful not to brown the garlic.
3. Add in drained beans, chard, wine and chicken broth. Cover and let simmer over low heat for 20-30 minutes until chard becomes tender. Serve topped with a drizzle of truffle oil (Completely optional, but we had some and it was fabulous)

It may not be much to look at but boy was it tasty. For as long as I have been cooking it continues to amaze me, in a good way, how just a few simple ingredients can come together to make something so flavorful. I also love how a simple sofritto (the Italians mire poix) of garlic, onions and crushed red pepper is the perfect base for almost anything. Enjoy!

Domestic Diva's Corn "Chowder" with Fresh Shucked Oysters and Crispy Bacon

The Domestic Diva coming to you with a guest blog for Jen H.'s divalicious Piccante Dolce! My BDFF Jen H. is the queen of whipping up mouth-watering comfort food, but with a healthy twist! We'll be regularly guesting on each other's blogs, so stay tuned for more great recipes and culinary inspiration!

Who doesn't love things that are piccante and dolce? We all need a little bit of spice and sweetness in our lives, whether it's in the bedroom, or the kitchen! In the spirit of hitting all flavor profiles, I made one of my favorite recipes: Domestic Diva's Corn "Chowder" with Fresh Shucked Oysters & Crispy Bacon. This dish has it all: spice, sweetness, tartness, salt and BACON! Now, I call it a chowder, but the soup is dairy-free, rendering this a healthier dish. The key to this recipe is the way all of the components come together harmoniously to give the soup great depth of flavor, from the sweet corn, to the fresh oysters, to the tart lemon, to the rich, meaty bacon. This soup is hearty enough to be served as a meal unto itself, especially when you pair it with thick sliced, toasted bread and a great salad (see picture above) like I did last night!

A few tips for making this recipe. First, using homemade chicken stock will make a huge difference! For a quick way to make stock, check out my recipe for Domestic Diva's Crock Pot Chicken Stock (click here)! Second, to coax extra corn flavor into the broth, I reserve two of the corn cobs and simmer them in the soup. Third, the fresh oysters are key to this dish! If you're worried about shucking them, usually they'll do it for you at the seafood counter of your local store, but try to preserve the oyster juices. Finally, special kudos goes to my Top Chef Brother for inspiring this soup - his restaurant has the most amazing oysters!! So without further ado, let's get down to business and start cooking!


Domestic Diva's Corn "Chowder" with Fresh Shucked Oysters & Crispy Bacon

2 tbsp olive oil
1 yellow onion - diced
1 garlic clove - chopped
pinch of chili flakes
3 ears of corn kernels removed and two cobs reserved
8 small Yukon gold potatoes - diced
4 cups homemade chicken stock (store bought will work too)
1 bay leaf
1 tsp tarragon - chopped
2 slices bacon
2 tbsp lemon juice
6 oysters - shucked and juices reserved
salt and pepper


To make the soup, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add the onions and saute until translucent, about 6-8 minutes. Then, add the garlic and chili flakes, cooking for an additional minute.


Add the corn kernels and potatoes and saute for three more minutes.


Add the corn cobs, stock and bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and cover, simmering for 30 minutes, or until potatoes are cooked through.


Once the soup is cooked, remove the two corn cobs and salt and pepper to taste.

To prepare the oysters, in a small pot, add the oysters and their reserved juices. Lightly poach the oysters in their own juices over medium heat for a few minutes. Add a dash of lemon juice and then salt and pepper to taste.


To prepare the crispy bacon, throw the two strips down in a frying pan over medium high heat, cooking until crispy. Remove from the pan and place on paper towels to drain the fat.


To plate the dish, ladle some soup into the bottom of a bowl.


Then, add two oysters and some of their juices to the center of the soup.


Crumble crispy bacon on top and sprinkle with tarragon. Finish with a squeeze for fresh lemon juice. Enjoy!




Wine Pairing Notes: Saxum 2006 Broken Stones

Diva Rating: 3 1/2 stars

There's something about a great bottle of wine that makes me salivate! We paired this fabulous wine, a combination of 63% syrah, 24% grenache and 13% mourvedre, with this soup! My boyfriend, Kuzak calls it, "a backwards Rhone," based on the unique blending of grapes. We love Saxum Winery (click here for their website), a superstar Paso Robles winery, and this wine met our every expectation. Full of great fruit (raspberry, blackberry) and plenty of backbone, this opulent wine gave great early on and drank well throughout the night. I gave it a Diva Rating of 3 1/2 stars, a strong score if you know how selective I am about my wine. Broken Stones is a big wine that will no doubt drink well for many years to come! If you've never tried Saxum, seek them out. I promise that you won't be disappointed!

Happy Cold Cut Day!

Since I started this blog I have learned that just about every day is some sort of National Food Holiday. It's completely random and something I chose not to play along just because I like to cook what I like to cook and it just seemed silly. Then I remembered that April is National Grilled Cheese Month something I will for sure partake in due my insane love of all things cheese. I then decided to research these food holidays a bit further to see if there were any other days I mightbe willing (or in fact really want) to celebrate. Then I came upon March 3, not only is it Mulled Wine Day (which sounds fun but I think much better suited to December) but it is also Cold Cut Day! Check out this article on The Nibble for a listing of some of the most random food holidays you could ever imagine. Like Cheese Doodle Day or my favorite Turkey Neck Soup Day, and these are just a for March!

Anyway, I decided to celebrate Cold Cut Day because the boy loves all things deli meat and sandwiches AND I have been wanting to make a Muffaletta sandwich for awhile. I thought about it last week for Mardi Gras, but since I wanted to make the olive salad and it takes a week to get right, I just didn't have enough time. I had the time for National Cold Cut Day and figured what better a sandwich to make for this day than a massive one chock full of meat and cheese? The one inauthentic thing in my sandwich was the bread. I contemplated making my own muffaletta bread (like Fabio did on Top Chef) but I have not had much luck with homemade bread and I need some better equipment and more practice before attempting another bread. So I went with what was on hand at our local grocery store. Which, by the way, has a wonderful selection of artisinal breads. Although they didn't have a muffaletta loaf with sesame seeds they had a beautiful round Calabrese.



Olive Salad
from Nola Cuisine

1 1/cup Green Olives - pitted
1/2 cup Kalamata Olives - pitted
1 cup Gardiniera (pickeld cauliflower, carrots, celery pepperoncini)
1 Tbsp capers
3 garlic cloves - thinly sliced
1/8 cup celery - thinly sliced
1 Tbsp flat leaf parsley - chopped
1 Tbsp fresh oregano or 2 tsp dried
1 tsp crushed red pepper
3 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1/4 cup roasted red peppers
1 Tbsp green onions - thinly sliced
salt & fresh ground pepper to taste
1 1/2 cups or more Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Crush each olive on a cutting board with your hand. Combine all ingredients. Cover with Extra Virgin Olive Oil. Put into a bowl or jar, cover and let flavor marry for 1 week.


For the meats and how the sandwich is assembled I went with some guidance from NoLa Cusine and also from a show I saw on the Food Network about Muffaletta.



Muffaletta

100g Mortadella
100g Capicola
100g Genoa Salami
100g Swiss cheese
100g Provolone cheese
100g Mozarella
1 10" round of Muffaletta bread or something similar
Olive Salad

1. Preheat oven to 300F. Slice the loaf of bread in half horizontally.
2. On the bottom half press as much of the Olive Salad as will fit to cover, letting the oil seep into the bread.
3. On the top half place the meats and cheeses in the following layers, using all of the meat. Salami, Provolone, Capicola, Swiss Mortadella, Mozarella.
4. Carefully flip the top onto the bottom. Place on a cookie sheet and warm in the oven for 5 minutes. Cut into quarters and serve.

This truly is the ultimate sandwich and with such little effort won me major brownie points with the boy. The one complaint was the very crusty bread I used. I normally love crusty bread, but with the size of this sandwich it was just a bit too much and quite tough to eat. That being said, it was well worth the effort eating it! The combination of the meats and cheeses with the delicious olive salad was perfect. With any leftover salad you can easily make some garlic toasts and make a tasty bruschetta.

Once my bread making skills improve I plan to try to make my own muffaletta bread or maybe I'll get to New Orleans before then and have a legit Muffaletta from the world famous Central Grocery. Enjoy!

Coming Soon...

I will have my very first guest blogger here on Piccante Dolce. My fab friend from back home in LA, the Domestic Diva, has agreed to contribute a monthly post for all my wonderful readers. Check out her blog Domestic Divas, it's chock full of everything from yummy recipes to restaurant reviews to general lifestyle info including exercise and spirituality. She's got a little bit of everything and will be joining us monthly to spread her wealth of knowledge a bit further. The Diva believes we all have an inner Domestic Diva yearning to get out and her goal is to help us all get there. Stay tuned for a divalicious corn chowder later this week!

Easy Chicken Pot Pie

A few Fridays ago the boy had a hankering for Chicken Pot Pie, something I had been promising to make for awhile and just never got around to. This is not normally something I would ever do during the week as it take the planning to get the crust made and chicken roasted and just is more of a weekend comfort food type of thing. That being said after he mentioned it and I thought about it, I realized that if he picked up the ingredients on the way home I could pull it off as a late Friday night dinner in a Sandra Lee Semi-Homemade kind of way. Now let me first say that I'm not the biggest fan of many of Miss Sandra's recipes, but I do like how she tries to make things quick and easy by using some help from the grocery store. My favorite way to do this is to buy the roasted chickens (or bubble chickens as the boy calls them due to the plastic bubble they are sold in) from the Deli department. They are a quick and healthy alternative to fast food and became the cornerstone of this tasty pie.


Easy Chicken Pot Pie

1/2 roasted chicken - meat picked from the bones (store bought or fresh)
1 cup carrots - peeled and diced
1 cup pearl onions - frozen are a great short cut here or fresh just make sure to peel them
1 cup frozen peas
3 Tbsp olive oil
3 Tbsp whole wheat flour
4-6 cups low sodium chicken broth (or a fab homemade Chicken Stock)
1 bay leaf
Puff pastry - thawed according to package directions
1/2 cup grated parmigiano cheese
1 egg
salt & pepper

1. Preheat oven to 400F. In a large pot combine the olive oil and flour to make a roux over medium heat. When it's nice and golden, stream in the chicken broth, whisking the whole time to avoid lumps and let simmer for a few minutes to thicken.
2. Add in the carrots, pearl onions (if fresh), chicken, bay leaf, salt & pepper. Let simmer for 5-10 minutes. Add in the peas (and onions if using frozen) stir to combine.
3. Take your 9-inch deep dish pie plate (I love my Emile Henry plate) and turn it over onto the thawed puff pastry. Cut a circle to cover the top of the plate. Pour the Chicken Stew into the pie plate leaving about 1/2 in of room, if you don't use all the stew just save to eat as leftovers, it's quite tasty on it's own.
4. Cover pie plate with puff pastry, pressing to the edges of the pie plate. Make an egg wash with a beaten egg and some milk, brush over the puff pastry and toss with grated cheese. Place on a cookie sheet and bake at 400F for 30 minutes or until pastry puff and becomes golden brown.

This got major thumbs up from the boy, who LOVES any kind of meat pie and it got thumbs up from me for the complete ease of preparation. I also love that if you want to take the time to roast a chicken and make a crust and get all fresh veggies it can also be a totally homemade dish. Either way it's a winner and the perfect thing for a cold winter night. Enjoy!

Slow Cooker Pork Roast

My obsession with my slow cooker is not anything new to any of my regular readers. I love how slow food tastes, how flavorful it is and I also love the ease of starting something in the morning and being able to come home to a finished meal at the end of a long day of work. Since the boy has been back to work over the past few weeks we've utilized the slow cooker more and more. Of the most successful recipes is a pork roast I made last week.

Garlic & Herb Pork Roast

1 3-4 lb boneless Pork Shoulder Roast
2 tsp crushed fennel seed - I used my mortar and pestle to crush the seeds
1 tsp mustard powder
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp ground sage
3 cloves garlic - finely minced
3 Tbsp dijon mustard
3/4 cup white wine
salt & pepper

1. Trim pork roast of any excess fat. Liberally salt & pepper the entire roast.
2. In a small bowl combine fennel, mustard powder, thyme, sage, garlic and dijon. Rub the mustard paste all over the roast. Place it in the slow cooker.
3. Pour white wine over roast. Set slow cooker to cook on low for 8-10 hours.



The garlic and herbs coupled with the slow cooking really infused the roast with tons of flavor. Since we both worked late the day I made this, I ended up just putting the pork on sandwiches. I used tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and pesto mayonnaise (just some jarred pesto mixed with mayo) on a thin wheat bun and threw it under the broiler to melt the cheese. It was really tasty. A 3 lb roast always leaves us with leftovers, which is always good. The boy cut up some of the leftovers and heated them in a skillet with some chopped onions which went really well with the sweet potato gnocchi and some steamed broccoli. Then for breakfast I cubed up the rest of the leftovers and sauteed it with some black beans for a yummy black bean and pork hash that went really well with eggs. Enjoy!