Bun in the Oven

Well, first I must apologize for being the worst food blogger ever. I do have a good excuse though. For the past few months, food has not been my friend - at all. The mere thought of picking up a recipe made me feel sick so instead of blogging about my boxed mac & cheese or white rice dinners, I decided to keep quiet.

The truth is we are expecting our first baby (yay!) and I have only managed to get back in the kitchen in the past week or so. Now my issues are forgetting crucial parts of the recipe or preparing certain ingredients and leaving them on the counter without ever adding them to the meal! It's also much harder to be creative in the kitchen when suffering from "baby brain". Luckily my sister-in-law gave me an amazing cookbook (ReBar Modern Food Cookbook - www.rebarmodernfood.com) the last time she visited and it has provided me with some inspiration! Thanks B!

This week I have ventured to make Vegetarian Enchiladas (at the request of my poor husband who has been starving for months) and Soba Noodles with shrimp & broccoli. With the holidays just around the corner I'm sure I'll get back into the swing of things.

So, many thanks to those of you who are still reading my blog even though I am such a slacker:)

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Icing

Laugh all you like, but until last week, I'd never made a carrot cake. It's one of my favorite desserts to eat so why have I never baked one before? No one knows. Thanks to Amber's Delectable Delights (http://amberskitchen.blogspot.com) for answering my online call for a great recipe. I have copied the recipe below just as Amber sent it to me. It is originally from Baking Illustrated by Cooks Illustrated.

If you need some sort of orange dessert for the fall/Halloween season coming, this would be ideal! Add some scary bugs made out of jube jubes and licorice string on top for some spooky flair! ;)

Ingredients & Preparation (recipe from Amber's Delectable Delights & original from Baking Illustrated). If you like nuts in your cake, stir in 1 1/2 cups of toasted chopped pecans or walnuts into the batter, along with the carrots. Raisins are also a good addition. 1 cup can be added with the carrots. If you add both nuts & raisins, your cake will need an extra 10-12 minutes in the oven. Below are instructions for using a hand-held or standing mixer.

• 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (12 1/2 ounces)
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves (I didn't have cloves so they were not used in my version)
  
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt
• 1 pound medium carrots (6 to 7 carrots), peeled (I used organic)
• 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar (10 1/2 ounces)
• 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar (3 1/2 ounces)
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups vegetable oil , safflower oil, or canola oil

Cream Cheese Icing

• 8 ounces cream cheese , softened but still cool
• 5 tablespoons unsalted butter softened, but still cool
• 1 tablespoon sour cream
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups confectioner's sugar
  

Directions

1. For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position; heat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 13 by 9-inch baking pan (or 2, 9" round cake pans) with nonstick cooking spray. Line bottom of pan with parchment and spray parchment.

2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt in large bowl; set aside.

3. In food processor fitted with large shredding disk, shred carrots (you should have about 3 cups); transfer carrots to bowl and set aside. Wipe out food processor workbowl and fit with metal blade. Process granulated and brown sugars and eggs until frothy and thoroughly combined, about 20 seconds. With machine running, add oil through feed tube in steady stream. Process until mixture is light in color and well emulsified, about 20 seconds longer. Scrape mixture into medium bowl. Stir in carrots and dry ingredients until incorporated and no streaks of flour remain. Pour into prepared pan and bake until toothpick or skewer inserted into center of cake comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes, rotating pan halfway through baking time. Cool cake to room temperature in pan on wire rack, about 2 hours.

4. For the frosting: When cake is cool, process cream cheese, butter, sour cream, and vanilla in clean food processor workbowl until combined, about 5 seconds, scraping down bowl with rubber spatula as needed. Add confectioners' sugar and process until smooth, about 10 seconds.

5. Run paring knife around edge of cake to loosen from pan. Invert cake onto wire rack, peel off parchment, then invert again onto serving platter. Using icing spatula, spread frosting evenly over surface of cake. Cut into squares and serve. (Cover leftovers and refrigerate for up to 3 days.)

Elk you say?

Well, me and the husb have not been eating meat for the past few months. I did promise way back if we ever found someone selling pastured, antibiotic/hormone free meat where we could meet and talk with the farmer and the animal was not killed in a commercial slaughter house we could buy some. Well, the husb's prayers were answered. He got himself some spicy elk sausage the other day at the Brickwork's Farmer's Market in Toronto. The animal is killed in a local, Mennonite abattoir and the meat is also processed/flavoured there as well...

Here is a snippet from the farm's website about what they do:

"At Glen Ewen Springs, we strive as a family owned farm to provide a safe and natural setting for our Red Deer & Canadian Elk to live. We pride ourselves on providing a naturally raised animal and using no hormones, steroids, pesticides, herbicides or growth enhancers. Our feeding program includes seasonal pasture, alfalfa forage, natural grains and minerals. Our venison products are also antibiotic free."

So, while I am not big on the idea of eating any meat at all the husb was happy to have some animal protein back in his life for at least that one day. No need for the recipe as it is a straight forward pasta. If you ever get your hands on some elk sausage try and be more creative than I was with this dish! I did add some amazing organic King oyster mushrooms, also from the Brickwork's Farmer's Market, which were divine.

Rudolph is a Reindeer, right? Just checking.

Not better than takeout: Sweet Potato Pie

I followed the instructions. I swear it. Unfortunately, my sweet potato pie (masquerading here as an apple pie) did not turn out as well as I hoped. My butter was too cold and my sweet potatoes were too hard (after 60+ minutes of boiling)and so the whole process went down hill from there*. I ended up almost whipping the filling by the time I had everything mixed in so while it tastes light and airy it certainly does not have a traditional SPP texture. Also, I had an extra pie crust that was very soft by the time I went to use it, so I decided not to waste it and made the lattice. That's the apple pie part.

No recipe or preparation required here folks as this one is not a winner.

*Only 2 sweet potatoes were injured in the making of this pie.

Organic Blueberry Crumble

I normally don't make dessert but I had a lot of organic blueberries this week in my produce delivery so I decided to make a crumble. This recipe is too easy. I thought I made a mistake somewhere because it took only 5 minutes to prep (+ 30 minutes in the oven). Unfortunately, we had no ice cream in the house and there was no way either of us were going out to get it so we each poured a big glass of milk and sat down with our crumble.


Ingredients & Preparation (Recipe from www.wholefoodsmarket.com)
Serves 4-6

• 6 cups blueberries (I used organic)
  
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2/3 cup flour
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup oats
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 4 1/2 tablespoons butter

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Rinse fruit and drain thoroughly. Put berries in a mixing bowl and add lemon juice and one tablespoon flour. Combine, and pour into a 10”pie plate. In a food processor, pulse together the remaining ingredients until they resemble coarse breadcrumbs. Cover the berries with the topping and bake for thirty minutes until the top has browned and the fruit is bubbling.

Can be served hot or at room temperature. Goes very well with ice cream (or so I hear).

I normally don't like blueberries but this is to die for - Enjoy!

Scallops with crispy sage in an Irish whiskey balsamic reduction

This was a spur of the moment recipe. I was dying for scallops. I had no plans for this so I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. I think I was subconsciously inspired by my recent trip to Kentucky where everything is infused with whiskey.

I am pleased to say that this experiment passed! It sounds like a very, very odd combination of ingredients but it just works. All measurements are estimates because when I'm making stuff up, I'm not good at paying attention to what I'm doing.

Ingredients & Preparation:
Serves 2 (double the recipe for 4 etc.)

• 8 oz of sea scallops
• approx. 3 tbsps of balsamic
• approx. 4-5 shakes of Frank's hot sauce
• few shakes of sea salt
• approx. 1 oz of The Macallan (Irish Whiskey 12 year old)
• approx, 1/4 to a 1/3 cup of heavy cream
• 10-12 fresh sage leaves
• 3 tbsps olive oil
  

The first thing I did was mix all the ingredients together in a small glass jar (except the sage, olive oil and scallops). Shake to mix (with lid on!). Pour the sauce over the scallops in a small bowl.

Now on the stove, add olive oil to a frying pan and heat. Once heated, add about 3/4 of the whole sage leaves and fry them up about 1 minute per side. Be careful they don't brown or burn. Once they are ready, set aside and let cool.

In the same frying pan, add your scallops and sear on each side until just cooked through (they will be opaque). Set scallops aside. Remember your crispy sage leaves? Smash those up in the bowl they are in until they are in little pieces. Add the remaining sauce from the marinade plus the crispy sage bits and cook it down a little bit. Then add a dash more whiskey from the bottle and reduce further. At this point the sauce should be more of a reduction. Nice and thick.

Place the scallops on the serving plate/bowl and drizzle with the reduction and garnish with some more fresh sage. Serve with whatever side you like - rice, orzo, fettuccine, or a simple salad of greens for an appetizer.

Fantastic!

Not Ratatouille's Ratatouille

What a dish! There are 2 reasons I made ratatouille today. The first is because I had it on Monday for lunch at a local restaurant and it was very tasty and the second reason is because I bought the cutest casserole dish today that needed to be used stat!

I had no recipe for this and made it based on my memory of the taste from the version I had on Monday. At first I thought I would add mushrooms but those were never used...one thing I did learn from a French cooking site was to put coarse salt on the eggplant pieces before I used them as it helps them to cook a little better (removes the moisture, I guess).

Do you remember Ratatouille's ratatouille? It was perfectly layered which makes it a lot different than mine! I call this a traditional recipe (except for the addition of goat's cheese) as it is more of a stew. For a good version of a layered ratatouille see Smitten Kitchen's post here http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/07/rat-a-too-ee-for-you-ee/

Ingredients & Preparation:

Serves 4-6

• 1 large eggplant, cut into chunks
• 1 red pepper, cut into slices
• 1 green pepper,cut into slices
• 1 yellow or red onion, diced
• 3 small zucchini, chopped into rounds and then halved
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, minced
• few swirls of olive oil
• knob of butter
• 1 28 oz can organic whole tomatoes
• 1 28 oz can organic crushed tomatoes
• 1 5.5 can tomato paste
• coarse salt for eggplants
• black pepper to taste
• goat's cheese to taste
• 5 sprigs fresh thyme
• handful of fresh basil
• 4 sprigs fresh oregano
• 3 bay leaves
• 2 tbsp red wine vinegar

I tried to use only local organic ingredients for this dish. All the herbs (except the bay leaves) are from my humble, front porch garden.

So, first things first. Chop/slice up your peppers, zucchini, and eggplant. Dice your onion. Put your eggplant in a bowl or colander and put some coarse salt over it. Add some paper towels to soak up the water. Let this sit for about 20-30 mins. In the meantime, cook up the onions and garlic in a frying pan with a few swirls of olive oil and the knob of butter.

You can use fresh tomatoes in this recipe but I'm not sure how to explain that to you since I used canned toms (cheater!). Open up your canned tomatoes and pour the whole ones into a bowl. Press the water out of the whole tomatoes (I used a potato masher) since you don't want your sauce to be too thin.

In a heavy bottom, large pot, add a couple swirls of olive oil. Add your peppers and zucchini and cook for a couple of minutes. Add your eggplant and cook for another couple of minutes. Now add your onions and garlic that you previously sauteed.

Pre-heat your oven to 375F.

Pour the crushed tomatoes and the whole tomatoes into the pot with the other veggies and stir it up. Now add the tomato paste. Add the red wine vinegar. Stir. At this point I add the bay leaves, thyme (just the leaves) and oregano (just the leaves chopped up). Add some pepper to taste. I didn't add any extra salt as the tomatoes had salt added and the eggplant had salt on it already. Let that heat all the way through.

Pour the stew into an oven safe casserole dish. Dot the goat cheese around the stew. I rolled the cheese into little balls and place 6 around the edge and one in the middle. Place the casserole in the centre of the oven and bake for about 25-30 minutes.

Once it is ready, add some fresh basil on top. Serve with a great piece of fresh French bread & big glass of wine. Be careful not to serve anyone a bay leaf with their portion!

The Omnivore's Hundred

I found a link to this list through Elly from http://ellysaysopa.vox.com/ - I love anything poll or survey related so I thought I would check it out (procrastinator - who me? Never!). The original list was created by Andrew from http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk/. Andrew thinks that every good omnivore should try to taste each of these things at leadst once in their life. I'm getting nervous...am I as adventurous with food as I think???

Here is what he asks:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.

2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.

3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating. (can't strikethrough font in blogger so made comments in light orange and italics instead)

4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at http://www.verygoodtaste.co.uk/ linking to your results.

The VGT's Omnivore's Hundred

1. Venison

2. Nettle tea

3. Huevos rancheros

4. Steak tartare

5. Crocodile (it is on a lot of menus in Florida!) EDIT - oops. I'm thinking of alligator!

6. Black pudding

7. Cheese fondue

8. Carp

9. Borscht

10. Baba ghanoush

11. Calamari

12. Pho

13. PB&J sandwich

14. Aloo gobi

15. Hot dog from a street cart

16. Epoisses

17. Black truffle

18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes

19. Steamed pork buns

20. Pistachio ice cream

21. Heirloom tomatoes

22. Fresh wild berries

23. Foie gras (I would have eaten this before but not now)

24. Rice and beans

25. Brawn or head cheese (never!)

26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper

27. Dulce de leche

28. Oysters

29. Baklava

30. Bagna cauda (would love to try this!)

31. Wasabi peas

32. Clam Chowder in Soudough Bowl

33. Salted lassi (I’ve had a sweet lassi – but I don’t think I’ve tried a salted one)

34. Sauerkraut

35. Root beer float

36. Cognac with a fat cigar (Cognac, yes but not with a cigar!)

37. Clotted Cream Tea

38. Vodka Jelly/Jell-O

39. Gumbo

40. Oxtail

41. Curried goat

42. Whole Insects

43. Phaal

44. Goat’s milk

45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth $120 or more

46. Fugu (maybe, if someone else tried it first)

47. Chicken tikka masala

48. Eel

49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut

50. Sea urchin

51. Prickly pear

52. Umeboshi

53. Abalone

54. Paneer

55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal

56. Spaetzle

57. Dirty gin martini

58. Beer above 8% ABV

59. Poutine

60. Carob chips (I’ve had carob but not in a chip format)

61. S’mores

62. Sweetbreads

63. kaolin

64. Currywurst

65. Durian

66. Frogs’ legs

67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake

68. Haggis (no thank you!)

69. Fried plantain

70. Chitterlings or andouillette (nope)

71. Gazpacho

72. Caviar and blini

73. Louche absinthe

74. Gjetost or brunost

75. Roadkill (really? no I don't think so!)

76. Baijiu

77. Hostess Fruit Pie

78. Snail

79. Lapsang Souchong

80. Bellini

81. Tom Yum

82. Eggs Benedict

83. Pocky

84. 3 Michelin Star Tasting Menu

85. Kobe beef

86. Hare (is this different than plain ‘ol bunny? I’ve had rabbit.)

87. Goulash

88. Flowers

89. Horse (Um, no)

90. Criollo chocolate

91. Spam

92. Soft shell crab

93. Rose harissa

94. Catfish

95. Mole poblano

96. Bagel and lox

97. Lobster Thermidor

98. Polenta

99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee

100. Snake

Let me tell you - I used wikipedia more than ever to figure out what some of these things are!

Summary - I think I did pretty well!

Have eaten: 71/100

Have not eaten: 29/100

Will never eat: 6/100