About Food – Page 5 – Stephfood CLONE

Desperately Seeking Sumac

Crusted Tilapia and Tomato Pilaf with Asparagus

Soon, I will be off on an adventure in a strange land, eating exotic food and exploring things older than my country.

Dramatic, yes! J and I are off to Turkey, and while there I will be taking in all of the new flavours. In fact, I’ve decided to start early. I bought some sumac, which is used in some Turkish dishes, and I’m ready to explore.

What is sumac like? This sounds kind of silly, but it tasted like smokey fire roasted tomatoes and berries. Weird, no? That’s what I thought of while I was eating it. I think it’s also important to be able to smell it, which is why it’s great to top a dish with it. The smell is at the same time intoxicating and bizarre. Seriously, I can’t think of any other spice that is like this. I think I’m in love.

OK, so I don’t know what constitutes “authentic” Turkish cuisine. Most of the dishes I see include some lamb, which I’m not against trying but will not be preparing any time soon. I’m also not quite ready to make a table full of Turkish mezze. I did a little bit of digging, and found this interesting sounding dish consisting of breadcrumb coated fish and a tomato rice pilaf.

Is it Turkish? Not sure. It sounds inspired by Turkish food, at the very least. It also sounds yummy.

Finally! Fresh, in-season, Ontario asparagus!

I added some local fresh asparagus, and was ready to roll! How was it? I really liked the coating on the fish, and had lots left over (wish I had more fish to coat!). I had to cook the fish a little longer than the recipe called for, but in the end it was cooked perfectly. I thought that there was not enough sumac in the dish – the smell and taste of the sumac got a little lost in the breading. I added some extra to the bread crumb mixture, and ended up sprinkling it all over the rice pilaf.

Intrigued? You can find the recipes I used at the links below. I used tilapia instead of flathead, I used pecans instead of walnuts, I think I doubled the sumac in the coating and I cooked the fish a little longer than suggested… but yeah, really great recipes from a site that I think I will have fun exploring. Check it out!

Recipes from What You Having for Your Tea?

Continue reading Desperately Seeking Sumac

Canchánchara

Cuba is the land of many drinks, and many dances. Even on a resort, sheltered from the “real” world, you can almost get a sense of the culture from the drinks and the dancing. The drink that people usually connect with Cuba is the Mojito – a refreshing drink with rum, lime and mint. I love Mojitos.

When in Cuba, I was introduced to another refreshing drink, the Canchánchara. Like the Mojito, it combines rum and citrus and lots of ice. It also includes honey, giving the drink a warm sweetness. The kicker is that it calls for “raw rum”, which I had never heard of before.

Canchánchara in Cuba – yup, that’s me, no makeup, hair covered from the sun.

It was so tasty and different that I decided I had to be able to make it at home. We even tried to buy a bottle from the bar at the resort. While they wouldn’t let us buy one, they did give us the name of the brand and said that we would likely find it in the airport shop. Lucky for us, we did find it! I think it cost us all of $4.

At home, I avoided opening the lonely bottle, knowing that once we finished it, we would not be able to find any more without going back to Cuba. Eventually, I gave in, and made the delicious drinks that I enjoyed on our trip!

Canchánchara

adapted from this famous recipe

Ingredients

0.5 oz / 1Tbsp honey
0.5 oz / 1Tbsp lemon juice
1.5 oz / 3Tbsp raw rum (I got some Sao Can raw rum in Cuba. If you don’t have raw rum, use white rum.)
1 oz / 2Tbsp water (optional)
1/2 cup cracked ice

Preparation

This can all be made in one glass, but I find the following steps to be the easiest (read: less sticky splash). This is definitely the best option if you are making a number of drinks at once – just pour the drink over the ice in each glass.

In a measuring cup (or something else with a pour spout), add the honey and lemon juice. Stir until the honey is dissolved.
Add the rum and water (if using).
Add the ice to the glass you will be drinking out of, and pour the drink into the glass.

I added a purple basil leaf as a garnish, mostly for colour. I think I might try to make a purple basil Canchánchara… that would totally rock.

Bees & Cheer

I recently had the pleasure of attending the “Beer School for Cheese Fans – Best of Belgium”, with brewmaster Sam Corbeil. This tasting event took place at the Leslieville Cheese Market West Market (541 Queen St. West, Toronto).

I’ve been a bit of a cheese dork for a while now, very slowly trying new fun cheeses and resisting the urge to become a total cheese “snob”. It’s only been the last few years that I’ve even been open to drinking beer, however.

J has always enjoyed trying new beers, and back in 2007 we were in Boston when he had me try a locally brewed, unfiltered wheat beer with fennel and cardamom. My opinion took such a sharp change in direction that we spent the rest of our trip trying new beers… and enjoying them! Since then, I’ve been trying to figure out what kinds of beers I like (and almost more importantly, which ones I don’t like).

Beer and cheese are now two of my favourite things. So it makes sense that someone would see “Beer School for Cheese Fans” and instantly think of me 🙂 Yes, this tour of deliciousness was a gift from a good friend (thanks!).

Blue Haze, a smoked blue cheese

Tonight’s tour paired 5 Belgian style beers with 5 different cheeses. The beers were all very different, and very tasty. I think that I had only had the Mill St. Wit before. Sam, who was doing the presentation, said something that I hadn’t thought of before – beer naturally pairs with cheese, because their flavours are more similar. I thought about this, and realized there’s at least some truth to it. It always seems like you choose foods that compete (favourably) with some flavours in wine, whereas there really isn’t that battle with beer. We ended up buying some crazy smoky blue cheese, and some cave-aged gruyere. We tried to buy some of the salty sheep’s milk cheese, but it was sold out by the time we made up our minds.

Mill St. Belgian Wit / Mouton Rouge (a salty sheep’s milk cheese)
Duvel / Morbier (creamy cheese with an ash vein)
Chimay “White Cap” Triple / cave aged Gruyere
Goulden Carlous “Classic” / Sauvagine, a creamy soft cheese, on sausage
Trois Pistoles / Blue Haze, a smokey blue cheese, on rye crackers

In the end, I have to say that the Blue Haze was a great choice. A little bit of blue plus a little bit of smoke make a really good pair – and it tastes AMAZING on fresh Ciabatta bread (thanks, J-dog!).

A Tale of Three Bennies

Dr. Crabby Benedict from Dr. Generosity

I’ve eaten Eggs Benedict three times this week.

We went to three different places this week, and every time I chose a type of (non-meat) Benedict(ish).

This is their story.

Eggs Benedict is probably my favourite “going out for” brunch food. I haven’t mastered poached eggs yet, and I haven’t tried to make hollandaise sauce. I generally don’t feel like putting that much effort into making breakfast. One small challenge – Eggs Benedict is usually hollandaise drizzled over poached egg, perched atop “Canadian” bacon laid over an english muffin. I don’t eat meat usually, and I don’t know if I’ve ever even had a “normal” Benny before.

I always get the fun ones. I probably even pick the ones that I think sound the MOST fun. Sometimes that includes smoked salmon instead of the bacon, usually some kind of vegetable (spinach, asparagus, etc.). Yum!!

The three “Bennies” I had were all very different, but were all really really good. I’d happily return to any of these restaurants!

1. Mushroom Benedict @ Lola’s Commissary (634 Church St.)

Sautéed mushroom on english muffin, amazing hollandaise with whole grain mustard, yummy salad.

A cute little place near Church & Bloor, this was the first time we ventured inside. The brunch specials sounded great (J had some weird poached eggs in a creamy salsa dish… it was kind of like eggs poached in chili, and was really good!) and it had some yummy sounding Bennies, so we had to try it.

2. California Benedict @ Eggspectation (220 Yonge St., Eaton Centre)

Poached eggs on smoked salmon and home fries, topped with sautéed spinach, asparagus, hollandaise and shredded gruyere. No english muffin!

Eggspectation is a chain restaurant, frequented by tourists and whatnot. That said, I’ve always had a great meal there… maybe because 75% of the time I get the California Benedict!! This dish has a good amount of veggies for me, and the sprinkles of gruyere totally sell it for me. I usually can’t finish the potatoes or the toast teepee they insist on putting on my plate.

3. “Special Benedict” (what shall now be known as Dr. Crabby Benedict) @ Dr. Generosity (2197 Bloor St. W)

This one was a “Special Benedict”, as it wasn’t on the regular menu, but the special of the day. Poached eggs on english muffins, topped with snow crab meat, hollandaise, spinach. Served with a side of home fries.

I had never had a Benny with crab before. It was soooooo good; truly decadent. It was also really filling, and I made the mistake of talking while eating so I got full before I could finish. Yeah, I finished it (I don’t judge you!). This restaurant is known for their large portion sizes, so I guess I shouldn’t have been surprized. I had never been there before, but I’m sure I’ll go back (even without the Dr. Crabby Benedict – which would be a MUCH better name for this than “Special Benedict”.) 🙂

April 2010 Challenge – No Repeats! (Week 3)

Week 3 has finished, and I took the opportunity to dig through my cookbooks and magazines again. I found some good dishes… some of which I may even make again! 🙂

Soba Noodle Salad with Ginger Peanut Dressing (p.29, Vegetarian Times Magazine Sept2009) – This one tasted a bit like a combo of some other things we make. The peanut sauce was yummy, and went well with the taste of the soba noodles. I added some Nanami Togarashi and sesame seeds to my bowl, just because I felt like it!
Leeky Pasta – This is one of my old favourites, and I’ll be posting the recipe later in the week. It’s a simple dish, but feels kind of special and is sure to impress your guests (unless they don’t like leeks, rosemary and tomatoes!)
Deep South Spiced Rice & Beans (p.137, Classic Vegetarian Recipes) – Being “mostly vegetarian”, I try to find recipes that include legumes of some kind. This sounded like a good dish to try, as it incorporates beans and some fresh veggies. It’s a good one for the spring, because it isn’t heavy and saucey.
Aviyal (p.45, Simple Vegetarian Recipes) – An Indian vegetable dish. This dish sounded interesting because it called for coconut, an ingredient I don’t often use. I will be posting about this dish soon!

The Last Cupcake

This past week was my hubby’s birthday, and I decided a long time ago that I would make him any special dessert he wanted. At one point, I even offered to make the Tiramisu recipe posted on the Daring Kitchen (one that requires you make most things from scratch – the biscuits, the mascarpone cheese, etc.). He decided that he wanted cupcakes, so the logical choice (having just bought my Martha Stewart Cupcakes book), was to make Tiramisu Cupcakes.

This recipe came from “Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes” book, but you can also find it online at marthastewart.com. I tried to stick to the recipe as closely as possible, but did take the opportunity to make the mascarpone cheese from scratch. So much fun!!

Inside the cupcake.

This cupcake has three parts, to imitate the flavours and textures of Tiramisu: a vanilla bean cake, a Marsala/Espresso syrup that is allowed to soak into the top of the cake, and a light mascarpone/whipped cream icing.

I was really happy with the way these turned out. The Marsala/Espresso syrup really made it, as it gave the most flavour punch. Both the cake and frosting were lightly flavoured and not too sweet.

One thing I should mention — paper liners work better than silicone ones for these particular cupcakes. I had only used the silicone ones once before, with a more firm type of cupcake. They worked perfectly with those cupcakes, but didn’t work quite as well with these delicate babies. I think the combination of a fluffier cake base, and the soaked tops made it REALLY hard to pop them out of the silicone. Awkwardness ensued, and messes were made.

This will be the last cupcake I make for a little while. April has been a kind of cupcake eating bootcamp for me, and I’m a little cupcaked out. I keep telling people that I feel like my body is made of cupcakes right now. 🙂

April 2010 Challenge – No Repeats! (Week 2)

Week 2 has finished, and I made a few new dishes that turned out pretty good!

Vegetable Toad-in-the-Hole (p.186, Classic Vegetarian Recipes) – this one was different from the kind of dishes I usually make, with the bready component to it. I would definitely make this again. It was a little involved, but not too much trouble, and kind of fun and cute (as far as dinner goes). Click the title to view my full post on the dish.
Mashup Pasta – this was one of those dishes with two steps: 1. make pasta, and 2. open the fridge door and throw everything you want to finish up into the sauce. This particular one included some pesto, tapenade, lots of mushrooms, some canned tomatoes, etc.
Indonesian Hot Rice Salad (p.142, Classic Vegetarian Recipes) – this dish sounded pretty interesting, because the rice is hot but the rest of the ingredients are cold. The problem is that there were just too many green onions in it. Also, I’m not too sure just how authentic of a dish it is – I thought Indonesian food was spicy!! I’ll have to ask…
Rice Noodles with Shrimp and Cilantro (p.47 Fine Cooking magazine, April/May 2010) – I’m going to post about this one later on this week, but I’ll just say that this dish was really really good. This is going into our pile of ‘usual’ dishes that we might change up every once in a while. This recipe was simple enough that it leaves room to make changes – maybe add a bit more spice, if anything. After this week, you will be able to click the title to view my full post on the dish.
Birthday Lasagna – I wanted to post about this one, but gobbled it up before I could take photos. I made a really yummy lasagna for my hubby’s birthday this week. I even made the sauce from scratch. Lasagna is a bit of work, but always impresses and makes great leftovers! I made this one off the top of my head – I don’t think I’ve ever had any kind of recipe for it, it’s just something I make.

Until next week…

Cupcake Party!!

Last weekend, I completely gave into my cupcake obsession by holding a cupcake party.

The rules were simple: bring “gourmet” cupcakes.

You could purchase a few from a bakery, cupcake shop or otherwise “good’ place, or you could bake cupcakes (as long as they were made from scratch!).

My contribution was a batch of chai mini-cupcakes, topped with one of two frostings: condensed milk icing, or vanilla almond buttercream. I got the recipe out of the Martha Stewart Cupcakes book. I really liked how they turned out, but found that they started to feel quite dense the day after. I’m not sure if that happened because they were mini, or maybe I did something. Who knows, I’m still getting the hang of this cupcake thing!

My chai mini-cupcakes, with condensed milk icing.

My girls did NOT disappoint, and we were treated to a fantastic variety of flavours, textures, and styles.

A couple of us had the same idea, and both ended up making chai cupcakes!! They were based on different recipes, and were different in almost every way. One comment that was made was that the chai cupcakes had a flavour reminiscent of a muffin — I think it comes down to the fact that we don’t often think of cupcakes as being spiced, despite the fact that there are many recipes for spiced cake cupcakes.

I’ve asked a few people what they think the differences between cupcakes and muffins are… it’s a pretty interesting topic, and maybe I’ll get into it in another post. This one is already chock-full, so I’ll stop myself from writing a novel.

I took pictures of most of the cupcakes, but unfortunately none of the lovely ladies! I really did mean to take pics of everyone in their nice outfits, cramming cupcakes into their faces, but it just didn’t happen. I got caught up in the cupcakes, the discussion, and the lovely day. I’m sure they’re happy they get to remain anonymous (dodged a bullet there, ladies!).

On that note, here are some pics of our cupcakes, before they fulfilled their cupcakey destiny.

More of my mini chai cupcakes, topped with buttercream frosting (back-left), and a different take on chai cupcakes with cream cheese frosting – Yum! (front-right)

A crazy assortment of cupcakes from Swirl’s!

Swirls – http://www.swirlscupcakes.ca/
Highlights: Mangolicious, Lemon Luau, Red Velvet,

“Cop-out?” No Way! Light and fluffy vanilla cupcakes, from Starbucks.

Three kinds of filled vegan cupcakes – heavenly!

Devilish Chocolate Cupcakes with ganache or icing.

(not pictured)

The Cupcake Shoppe – http://www.thecupcakeshoppe.ca/
Highlights: After Ate (chocolate cake & mint buttercream), Sticky N Sweet (vanilla cake, dipped in caramel), Pretty N Pink (chocolate cake, raspberry buttercream)

April 2010 Challenge – No Repeats! (Week 1)

At the beginning of this year, I found myself in a rut. I realized that I, by default, would make slight variations on the same few meals every single week. Cooking became a chore, as much as I enjoy eating and (usually) enjoy cooking, in general.

That realization was one of the main things that drove me to start this blog, and I believe that blogging has been the driving force that pulled me out of cooking boredom.

This month, I am challenging myself to not make the same dinner twice.

Obviously, I can’t avoid using some of the same ingredients but I have to focus on making things in different ways. That doesn’t mean I have to cook every day… but when I do, it has to be something I haven’t made this month. I won’t post recipes for every meal I make, but I’ll try to list the dishes (and include links if I got the recipes online).

This first week (and a bit) was a good start, although we weren’t home to cook for the first weekend.

Chunky Vegetable Paella (from the Ultimate Vegetarian Cookbook by Roz Denny)
Seitan Paprikash
Hyderabadi Biryani (from Sarah Brown’s World Vegetarian Cookbook)
Double Broccoli Quinoa (from 101 Cookbooks)

Buttercream Harumph! / Delicious Science

This was very nearly going to be a cranky post.

Instead, it is a tale of overcoming hardship broken, oogy buttercream frosting.

I really should have taken a picture of it, but I was so upset at the time that I didn’t think to. Let’s rewind.

This was my first attempt at buttercream frosting, to go along with my first attempt at making cupcakes from scratch. The cupcakes were brilliant, so I think I got a little cocky. I started the buttercream frosting, excited to think of the yumminess that would be the reward for my hard work. It started off well enough. I followed the instructions carefully, even looking online to try to figure out the difference between “hard peaks” and “dry peaks”. I added in the butter and things got a little chunky. Not to worry!! The recipe said this might happen, and to just keep mixing it at medium-high speed.

It just got worse.

It went from “almost there, just a little lumpy” to “oogy, clumpy and soupy”. I stopped the mixer and just stared at it, my face falling. Then, I picked up my computer.

“How to fix a broken buttercream frosting”

“Lumpy buttercream frosting”

“Butercream frosting disaster!”

Finally, I found a post on a board where someone had the same problem I did… and an answer that made me think I could still pull it off.

Published March 1, 2001. From Cook’s Illustrated.

Can I save broken or curdled buttercream frosting?

Given proper proportions and supervision when its sugar base is cooked, buttercream frosting can be made quickly and easily. But cooks are inclined to read catastrophe into their finished efforts if the icing looks curdled or broken. However, appearances can be deceiving and most problems with buttercreams can easily be corrected.

The biggest threat a buttercream faces is temperature. If the frosting appears soupy and slippery, it’s likely grown too warm. Plunge the bowl into an ice bath and whisk briskly until the icing becomes silky and cohesive again. If the buttercream resembles fine-curd cottage cheese and slides about in the bowl, it’s likely too cold (from cold butter or a chilly ambient temperature). Wrap a steaming hot dish towel, turbanlike, around the bowl to heat it up and whisk or stir it with a wooden spoon to bring the icing back to its shiny, satiny self.

I had to read it a couple of times, and then I laughed. My frosting seemed to have a little bit of both problems, being both soupy and clumpy. First, I plunged it into an ice bath and while things started to firm up a bit, it really just turned back into butter. I put it back on the stand mixer, with no success. I then decided to put it back on the steam to melt it all down and start over. After it melted down, I plunged it back into the ice bath and whisked it by hand as the mixture cooled. Once I thought it had cooled enough, I pulled it out of the cold water and kept whisking. My arm was getting tired and sore (can you tell I don’t do this kind of thing often?!), and I was just about to give up on the clumpy mess when it suddenly began to change, and become a smooth and creamy mixture.

Mini Cupcake with Buttercream Frosting

I did it! I actually fixed it!

In some ways, this was probably better than the recipe working out right away. It made me do a little problem solving, put in a little bit of elbow grease, and in the end I was proud of what I had learned.

As I keep learning, it isn’t about the recipes that go off without a hitch, it’s learning what to do when there is a hitch.

I added a bit of colour to my newly made frosting, added some to a piping bag and did a few test swirls on some mini cupcakes.

What delicious science!

(P.S. I was using the Swiss Meringue Buttercream frosting recipe from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes book)