Thinking sweet thoughts to get me through finals!

Yep, it's that time again, folks. Finals are upon us, and I am pert near frazzled to death! I actually have been doing some interesting cooking and baking along the way to keep me sane; being in the kitchen is a great stress reliever for me, and an opportunity to to re-energize and get my creative juices flowing again when I'm overextended with work and other commitments. So I always make time for cooking and baking, even when I'm harried--I just don't have the time to blog about it! Hence, this post will be a bit of a catch-all and a catch-up. But there will be a unifying theme of sugary incentives to power you through this super-busy time right at the end of the semester.

First, I must share with you a recipe that I made from the April issue of Gourmet (see how behind I am, since the June issue is already on the newsstands?!). The issue was all about Italian cooking, and they had a recipe for a decadent chocolate hazelnut cheesecake (Nutella lovers, listen up!) that I just had to try. I did put my own spin on it, of course, but it came out absolutely delicious! It's dark and extremely dense and, in that European way, not overly-sweet. The changes I made were to make an Oreo crust, as I did not have any Wheatolos around (though I know they would be great for this recipe). Also, I used macadamia pieces instead of hazelnuts and doubled the amount called for (personal preference here--and any nut would do, I think, but only hazelnuts will give you that Nutella taste). And finally, though many people like that this cheesecake is not very sweet, I still think it needs a boost in that department. I served mine with a thick mantle of powdered sugar to compensate which worked fine, and that let people control their own level of sweetness. But personally, I would up the granulated sugar a little next time. Nevertheless, I highly recommend that you give this recipe a try. It's not difficult, it's elegant, and it's delicious--a chocoholic's dream!

Perugian-Style Chocolate Hazelnut Cheesecake (Torta di Cioccolata al Forno con Vaniglia e Nocciola--you do, and you'll clean it up!)
(Source: Gourmet, April 2008)

For crust:
1/4 pound wheatmeal crackers finely crushed (about 1 cup)--I used crushed chocolate Famous Wafers
1 ounce fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (no more than 60% cacao if marked), grated--I omitted this for my Oreo-type crust
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted

For filling:
1/2 pound fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (no more than 60% cacao if marked), chopped--I used Ghiradelli bittersweet chips
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 pound 2 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2/3 cup superfine granulated sugar--I used regular granulated sugar and it worked fine, though next time, I would up this to a full cup!
1 cup hazelnuts (4 1/2 ounces), toasted loose skins rubbed off in a kitchen towel while still warm, and nuts chopped--I used 2 cups roasted and salted macadamia pieces

Accompaniment: lightly sweetened whipped cream--I garnished with powdered sugar

Combine all ingredients for the crust, then press onto bottom of a 10-inch springform pan. Preheat oven to 325°F with rack in middle.

Melt chocolate with butter, then remove from heat and whisk in cream cheese until smooth. Whisk in sour cream and vanilla. Whisk together eggs and sugar in a large bowl until mixture has a mousse-like consistency, then stir in chocolate mixture and nuts. Pour filling into crust and bake 1 1/2 hours. (Top will be slightly cracked.)

Cool to room temperature in pan on a rack, about 1 hour, then chill at least 1 hour. (Cake will sink slightly.)

Cooks' notes:
•Wheatmeal biscuits are British-style whole-wheat crackers. Look for Carr's (labeled "Whole Wheat Crackers" and found at most supermarkets) or McVitie's brand (found at some specialty foods shops).
•Chocolate hazelnut cheesecake can be chilled up to 1 day. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Secondly, I thought you might like to see the cake that I made to celebrate my friend Judy's 15th anniversary of teaching for the college where I work. At the recognition ceremony, she came down from the stage after receiving some token gift or another looking very vexed, muttering to herself, "15 years here, and I didn't even get a cake!" (She was kidding...kind of.) So of course, I took it upon myself to celebrate her properly in the manner that she desired. This had to be kind of a shortcut cake, as I decided on a whim to make it on a Thursday night to take to school on Friday. But I think it turned out very well. Judy loves citrus, as I discovered when I made a lemon and orange curd years ago and shared some with her. So that "sunshine curd" became the flavor inspiration for her 15 year cake. As I had done before with a similar lemon-blueberry cake, I simply zhooshed up a French vanilla mix with extra vanilla, lemon juice, both lemon and tangerine zest, and a soupçon of Fiori di Sicilia (which has a bit of a creamsicle quality to it). Then I split the layers and filled them with my homemade honeybell vanilla bean marmalade, and frosted the whole affair with a luscious cream cheese icing that I enlivened with a little lemon oil. Finally, just for fun, I topped the cake with a big, polka-dotted one and a five, and decorated it even more whimsically with some citrus candy slices. Cute, huh? Oh, and then her card read: "ORANGE you glad you've made it 15 years? We sure aren't LEMON-ting it! Survive another 15 years? PIECE OF CAKE!" I know...I am nothing if not clever and amusing, and I do so love a theme to play with! ;-)

But if you really are in the weeds and can't muster the time or strength to think up fruity puns or to make even a boxed cake mix, let alone a cheesecake from scratch, then I have one final recommendation. I realize that this is at the end of a long post, and therefore, likely to be overlooked. But gather around, my beautiful babies. Mama's got something important to say to you. As you know, I only offer product recommendations on this blog once in a blue moon, and only when something makes a real impression on me. For example, have you tried the McSkillet Burrito at McDonald's? I'm not a fan of fast food as a general rule, but their newest breakfast burrito is pretty tasty. And I would like to shake the hand of the genius from Mt. Olive who came up with the Kosher Dill Petites Pickle Pak! They give you a little fruit cup-size pack of teensy little cornichons, and I keep them chilled in the mini-fridge in my office to eat with sandwiches at my desk. Yum! But these items pale in comparison to my latest discovery of the greatest food product ever known to man or woman. My only hesitation in sharing this revelation with you is that all my fellow Plattsburghers may descend on our handful of grocery stores and deplete the local supply before I can buy more for myself! Friends, listen to me. Hear my words. Häagen-Dazs Reserve Fleur de Sel Caramel Ice Cream. I'm going to say it again. Häagen-Dazs Reserve Fleur de Sel Caramel Ice Cream! "Reserve" translates to "costs a dollar more," but this is one of the few products where the exorbitant price is more the justified in my mind. Indeed, I'm boldly declaring this the best ice cream in the history of humanity! The base is caramel, but not overbearingly so (I usually prefer a vanilla base for this kind of thing), and there are soft, swoopy (not sticky) swirls of salty caramel throughout. And just when you think it couldn't possibly get any better, it is also chock full of miniature dark chocolate-covered fleur de sel caramels! I was anticipating that the candy would be superfluous, but I was wrong...dead wrong. They actually remind me of the wonderful sea salt caramels that Trader Joe's carries around the holidays, but these are Lilliputian in scale. All in all, it is a SUBLIME, nay, even SURREAL combination! If you dig the sweet-salty thing like I do, this is going send you over into going crazy (name the movie...anyone?)! If you need something to live for, something to make getting out of bed worthwhile in these trying times, something to give you the energy to survive to the end of a long school year, this is just the ticket. Mark me well, friends. (And save me some at the stores!)

The hottest new food trend?

Alright, it took me awhile to get on board with the no-knead bread, and sadly, I was one of the last to start baking with Dorie. But this time, I'm jumping on the bandwagon in record time! I've already made two batches of homemade chicken stock using....wait for it....CHICKEN FEET! Yes, you heard me--FEET! I first read about this venerable but wacky idea on Elise's excellent blog, and then the lovely gal at Just the Right Size had to try and replicate the tasty experiment with great success. So I thought, why don't I give it a whirl, too? But just try to find a source for chicken feet in teeny tiny Plattsburgh, I dare you! I never really thought I would, but I felt certain that my old school butcher in Covey Hill (QC) could hook me up. But even they shook their heads, chuckled, and suggested I try Chinatown the next time I was in Montreal. So I did just that. When we were up there two weekends ago, we hit up an Asian grocery store just around the corner from Jean-Talon, and I got four pounds--enough for two batches--for less than six bucks. Score! We did stop at Le Quartier Chinois later, but that was to grab dinner at a great place called Keung Kee on Rue la Gauchetiere to take home. I chose salt and pepper fried shrimp, General Tso's chicken, and spicy beef and black bean sauce with wide rice noodles. DELISH! But back to the chicken feet...

Making stock is a great project for a lazy Sunday afternoon. There is some initial prep involved, but then you can go away for hours and just let it do its thing--take a nap, watch a movie, spend some quality time with your dogs (or human loved ones, if you insist). It'll make your house smell great, and when it's all over, you'll have the richest, most flavorful stock imaginable, and it will have the most incredible body due to all the collagen in those feet. In fact, when you refrigerate it, it will solidify into chicken Jell-O! But that weird jelly will add an amazing flavor and texture to all of the recipes in which you choose to use it. Ok, brace yourself....I'm going to show you what they look like. No screaming now!

STOP THAT! I said no screaming! Man up, will ya? You sound like a cowardly little girl! I realize that they look like little fingers complete with glamour-length Lee Press-On's (note to self: consider scary Halloween party possibilities). Nevertheless, they are TASTY little fingers! And why should we be any more horrified by using the feet than we are by eating the wings? And you don't even really eat the feet. Well, some Asian folks do, but I'm not yet ready to go that far. After all, I have chickens, and I know where those feet have been and what gets on 'em! Eww! This is why most recipes for chicken feet stock begin with a five minute pre-boil--surely, to rid them of any lingering impurities. Then you drain and rinse them, and at last, begin making the stock in earnest. Here are the instructions from Adele Davis' book, Let's Cook It Right, via Simply Recipes.

Chicken Feet Stock ("...and I don't care!" Sing it!)

2 pounds of chicken feet
2 large carrots, cut in half
1 onion, cut into wedges
2 celery ribs, cut in half
1 bunch of fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
10 peppercorns

1 Bring 2 quarts of water to a boil. Put the chicken feet into a large stock pot and cover with boiling water. Boil for 5 minutes. Use a large metal spoon to skim and discard the scum that rises to the surface.

2 Drain the chicken feet completely. Rinse with cold water so that the feet are cool enough to handle. Using a sharp knife, chop off the tips of the claws and discard (I used kitchen shears for this). They should cut easily if you cut them through the joint. If any rough patches of claw pad remain, cut them away with a pairing knife. (Mine did not have any of these little poultry calluses, thankfully!)

3 Place chicken feet in a clean large stockpot. Fill with cold water to cover the feet by an inch. Add carrots, onions, celery, thyme, bay leaf, and peppercorns. Bring to a simmer, immediately reduce the temperature to low. Partially cover, leave about a half inch crack or so, and keep the stock cooking at a bare simmer, for 4 hours. Occasionally skim any foam that may come to the surface. Uncover, increase the heat slightly to maintain a low simmer with the pot now uncovered. Continue to cook for an hour or two. At this point you are reducing the stock so that it is easier to store. Strain the stock through several layers of cheesecloth (I used a doubled flour sack towel) or a fine mesh strainer (ideally both) into a pot. Pour into quart-sized jars. Let cool for an hour or so before storing in the refrigerator.

When your stock has cooled, it should firm up nicely into a gel. Makes approximately 2 quarts. (I made a double batch, but I forgot to cover my pots as the stock reduced, so I only ended up with three, not four, quarts. Oh well. Even more concentrated chicken-y flavor...can't be a bad thing!)

So what did I do with the fabulous result, you ask? Well, first, I made a shortcut version of one of my favorite dishes, chicken and noodles using a rotisserie chicken, some authentic German spaetzle, cream of chicken soup, and the glorious homemade stock. So good! Then last night, I made another dish, largely of my own creation. My idea was to make sausage and cheese ravioli using won ton skins, cook them in the lush stock, and then finish them with a chicken-y Alfredo sauce of sorts. And I must tell you, it worked like a charm and tasted UNBELIEVABLE! I was mostly making it up as I went along, but I will attempt to transcribe a recipe that can be recreated.

Won Ton Ravioli with Chicken Alfredo Sauce
(Makes about 14 large ravioli)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1/2 pound Italian sausages, casings removed
1/2 large onion, diced
1 small carrot, grated
1/2 cup mushrooms, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
pinch red pepper flakes
1 tablespoon dried parsley (or fresh, if you have it on hand)
1/2 cup water
1 cup ricotta cheese
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1 egg
salt and pepper to taste

26-28 won ton wrappers
egg wash (one egg beaten with a tablespoon of water)
1 quart homemade chicken stock

4 tablespoons butter
1 (to 1 1/2) cups half and half
1 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
1 teaspoon granulated garlic
salt and pepper to taste

In a large saute pan, brown the sausage in the olive oil and butter along with the onion, carrot, mushrooms, and garlic. (I used a pepper sausage this time, but if I had used regular Italian sausage, I would have also chopped up half a red bell pepper to add to my saute.) Add the pepper flakes and parsley, and the half cup of water. Reduce for a few minutes, then turn off the heat. Let the mixture cool for a few minutes (it can be warm, but not hot), then add the ricotta, the parmesan, and the egg. Stir to mix well. Season to taste.

On a work surface, lay out one won ton wrapper, fill with about a tablespoon of the sausage filling, brush around the edges with egg wash, and top with another wrapper. Do a preliminary seal on your work surface, then pick the raviolo up to seal all the way around with more gusto. Reserve on a large sheet pan and continue making the rest of your ravioli. (This would be fun to do with kids...if I had any.)

Rinse out the big saute pan and then add your chicken stock. Bring to a simmer and slide in half of your prepared ravioli. Simmer on one side for three minutes, and then flip each one and simmer on the other side for an additional two minutes. Remove to a plate with a slotted spatula and repeat the process with the rest of the ravioli.

If necessary, you may wish the reduce the remaining stock a bit. (My chicken feet stock was plenty thick when I was done simmering all the ravioli, and of course, the flour on the won ton skins helps.) In the thickened remaining stock, melt four tablespoons butter, then add the half-n-half, the parmesan cheese, and the garlic powder. Season with salt and plenty of black pepper. Simmer until the cheese melts, whisking until the sauce is smooth and has thickened. Plate the ravioli, top with a generous amount of sauce, and garnish with more shredded parmesan and a sprinkle of parsley. A-mazing!
















This picture doesn't really do the dish justice. It just looks...all...beige. But trust me--the taste is truly wonderful! Cyd said that it should go on my menu (that is, the imaginary menu of the hypothetical cafe' that I don't even own...yet!). Still, it's a winner. Try it.

A Simply Delicious Brunch

I was all kinds of lazy on Saturday, recuperating from an EXTREMELY difficult week at school (not bad, just insanely busy). And I don't mind telling you that I spent the better part of my day dozing off and on to the soft, soporific drone of the Food Network. At some point, I woke up to that vivacious Latina with the inexplicably Germanic name...Ingrid Hoffman of Simply Delicioso. I haven't seen the show enough to have much of an opinion of her. However, she seems evidence of the latest Food Network trend to only employ and televise "chefs" that look like supermodels. Plus, I have seen her hawking Tostitos cheese sauce on the regular networks, and if that doesn't scream SELL OUT, I don't know what does! (And you thought RR and Dunkin' Donuts was bad!)

All of my suspicions of Ms. Hoffman aside, on the program Saturday, she made a tapas menu that included a delectable-looking Spanish tortilla. No, not tortilla tortillas--rather, the big, oven-baked Spanish version of an omelette (more like an Italian fritatta) filled with sliced potatoes. One glance, and I knew it must be mine....oh yes, it must. It was not a difficult recipe per se, but you have to fuss with it a lot: into the pan, out of the pan, back in the pan, flipped out and then back in the pan--and from stovetop back to stovetop to oven and back to the oven again. Despite my trepidations about undercooked potatoes or losing the tortilla on the big flip, it turned out perfectly! We shamelessly ate two slices apiece along with the excellent sausages that we got a couple of weeks ago at Conroy's Organics. Cyd also enjoyed her brunch with some little Campari tomatoes from the Jean-Talon Market in Montreal. It's nowhere near in full swing yet--the outside vendors/stalls aren't even set up. But it was so nice last weekend that we had to go see what, if anything, they had to offer. Of course, these aren't the magical tomatoes of late summer/early fall, but until that blessed, fleeting time, greenhouse-grown Camparis will surely tide a person over. And they go great with a Spanish tortilla!

Simple Spanish Tortilla
(Source: Ingrid Hoffman, Simply Delicioso)

1/2 cup olive oil
4 large Yukon gold potatoes, peeled and sliced about 1/8-inch thick, see Cook's Note*
1/2 large yellow onion, chopped
6 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
Chopped flat-leaf parsley, for garnishing

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Heat the olive oil in a 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat for 1 minute. Reduce the heat to medium and add the potato slices a few at a time so they don't stick together. Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until the potatoes are tender and the onions are golden but not brown, about 10 minutes. Place a strainer over a bowl in your sink and transfer the potatoes and onions to drain; reserve the oil.

Whisk the eggs, milk, salt and pepper together in a large bowl. Drain excess oil off of the potato mixture. Add the potatoes and onions to the egg mixture and combine until they are completely mixed in. Set the bowl aside for about 15 minutes to let the potatoes release some of their starches into the eggs.

Heat 3 tablespoons of the reserved olive oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium-high for 1 minute. Add the egg-potato mixture, rotating the skillet in a circular motion to distribute it evenly. Lower the heat to medium-low and shake the pan a few times to prevent sticking (by shaking the pan, you ensure that the eggs and potatoes release from the pan bottom). Cook the tortilla for about 5 minutes or until the potatoes on the bottom start to turn golden brown. Place the skillet in the oven and cook for 6 to 8 minutes, or until almost set. Remove from the oven and place a large flat plate on top of the skillet and invert the skillet. The tortilla should come right out. Add a tablespoon of the reserved olive oil to the skillet and slide the tortilla back in to cook the other side until it is golden-brown, about 5 minutes.

Turn the heat off and set the skillet aside until the tortilla cools to room temperature. Transfer the tortilla to a plate sprinkle with parsley and serve at room temperature cut into triangles or squares.

*Cook's Note: The Yukon potatoes should be sliced using a mandolin.

Happy (2nd) Easter!

I bet you thought we were done with Passover and Easter last month? Well, that's true, if you celebrate with the traditional Protestant holiday calendar. But of course, for our Jewish friends, Passover was last week and ended yesterday. As a special treat for my friend, Rosanne, in Miami, in celebration of Passover AND her 60th birthday, I sent a little care package down south. In it was a batch of super-fabulous Matzoh Toffee: matzoh crackers on the bottom baked with a coating of brown sugar toffee, topped with chocolate, and sliced almonds. YUM! Of course, to make it appropriate for Passover, I would have to use margarine instead of butter, but....eww! And Rosanne doesn't follow the strict dietary laws anyway, so I wantonly used butter and warned her not to share with anyone eating only pareve foods (no meat or dairy) during Passover.


Matzoh Toffee
(Source: Marcy Goldman of Better Baking, via David Lebovitz)

4 to 6 sheets unsalted matzohs (I used lightly salted ones and skipped the sea salt below)
1 cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 cup firmly-packed light brown sugar
big pinch of sea salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I prefer Guittard bittersweet--up to 1 1/2 cups)
1 cup toasted sliced almonds (or nut of your choice)

1. Line a rimmed baking sheet (approximately 11 x 17", 28 x 42cm) completely with foil, making sure the foil goes up and over the edges. Cover the foil with a sheet of parchment paper.
Preheat the oven to 375F (190C).
2. Line the bottom of the sheet with matzoh, breaking extra pieces as necessary to fill in any spaces.
3. In a 3-4 quart (3-4l) heavy duty saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar together, and cook over medium heat, stirring, until the butter is melted and the mixture is beginning to boil. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, add the salt and vanilla, and pour over matzoh, spreading with a heatproof spatula.
4. Put the pan in the oven and reduce the heat to 350F degrees. Bake for 15 minutes. As it bakes, it will bubble up but make sure it's not burning every once in a while. If it is in spots, remove from oven and reduce the heat to 325F, then replace the pan.
5. Remove from oven and immediately cover with chocolate chips. Let stand 5 minutes, then spread with an offset spatula.
6. If you wish, sprinkle with toasted almonds (or another favorite nut, toasted and coarsely-chopped), a sprinkle of flaky sea salt, or roasted cocoa nibs.

Let cool completely, the break into pieces and store in an airtight container until ready to serve. It should keep well for about one week (if it lasts that long!).

Then right after the Jewish Passover concludes, it's Easter in the many Orthodox churches. My friend Janice, of Middle Eastern descent (Syrian, I believe), celebrates Orthodox Easter, and every year, she invites all of her friends and family over for a huge, Mediterranean potluck that is truly over the top and to die for! There's always WAY too much food, and she never lets anyone leave empty-handed. Nevertheless, I decided to take a contribution to the party this year. A quick Google search revealed that one traditional dish served for Pascha (Easter) is a soft cheese spread normally made from draining farmer's cheese overnight, then mixing in various tasty additions before chilling it in a pyramid-shaped mold. The cheese is then eaten with Pascha bread, usually something eggy and sweet along the lines of challah or other rich Easter breads. However, since I decided two hours before I left for the party to make something, I used a simpler, cream cheese-based recipe that I found online. And because I abhor raisins, my twist was to make a version with dried cherries and almonds. It was pretty yummy, if I do say so myself. However, our dear host Janice was unfamiliar with it. Another friend of ours in attendance, Marta, who has a Ukranian background if memory serves, did recognize it from her childhood. So I'm guessing it's more an Eastern European tradition and not Mediterranean. Nevertheless, we were quite happy to eat it on top of mini-pitas, which made for an interesting and delicious intersection of culinary cultures!

Cream Cheese Paskha
(Source: adapted from Food for Paradise via Elizabeth's Vegetarian Kitchen)

1 pound softened cream cheese
1 1/2 sticks softened butter
2/3 cup sour cream
2/3 cup confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla (I also added a dash of almond extract)
golden raisins (optional--I used dried sour cherries instead)
slivered almonds (optional--I used toasted/sliced/blanched almonds)

Cream the cheese, butter, and sour cream until very smooth. Add sugar and vanilla. Next stir in the raisins and almonds in desired quantities (I halved the whole recipe, and I probably used at least a half cup each of the cherries and almonds). Chill well to firm the mixture. Spoon into bowls and decorate the top as desired. This will keep for about a week, covered, in the fridge. It is delicious as a spread on Pascha bread or bagels.

You've got syrup...now what will you do with it?

So you've been to the maple breakfast, eaten your weight in pancakes, and bought a jug or two of that sweet, amber goodness on your way out the door. Now what are you going to do with it? Of course, there are endless tasty things to do with real, local, fresh maple syrup, from sweet to savory applications. But it might be nice to start off enjoying it straight up, the way the Good Lord intended us to eat it...on WAFFLES! I have had waffles on the brain for some time, but I was haunted by the memory of the ethereal ones at Amy Ruth's in Harlem. Nothing could ever live up to those! So I was forlorn. (Sidebar: When will the good people of Amy Ruth's put out their own cookbook? It's high time, I say!) Then, to my great surprise and delight, I stumbled upon their recipe for chicken and waffles in a Today Show archive (apparently chef Carl Redding was on the show a couple of years ago, demonstrating his techniques for Al Roker). Lucky, lucky me! It was definitely worth busting out the Belgian waffler. The waffles were light and crisp, and when slathered in melted butter and warm maple syrup--what more could you need? Fried chicken, that's what!

I know it sounds like an odd combination if you've never tried it, but it's heavenly. Think of it as a cousin to honey-dipped fried chicken--same principle. And who doesn't love that salty-sweet thing? Though I've never had much luck making fried chicken at home, their recipe is a simple as it gets and really quite delicious. I always thought you had to abide by the traditional triple-dunk method (flour then egg then flour again, or another coating of your choice). But this one only coats in flour once, and that's it. And you'd think they'd marinate the chicken ahead of time or some other fancy maneuver, but no. They just season it well, flour, and fry. As basic as can be, and it's remarkably good. (However, I am considering trying a buttermilk soak overnight next time just for shiggles.) In any case, this sweet and savory meal gets a very enthusiastic thumbs-up from me--and it's perfect for everyone's favorite meal, BRINNER! Do give it a try before the weather changes for good and lighter fare prevails. Plus, you've got to use up that maple syrup you just bought, right?


Amy Ruth's Waffles
(Source: Carl Redding, via The Today Show)

6 eggs, room temperature and separated
4 cups all purpose flour
4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons sugar
3 cups milk
16 tablespoons butter or margarine, melted and cooled

Beat egg whites in a small bowl until stiff and set aside. Mix together dry ingredients and set aside. Combine egg yolk, milk and melted butter. Add to dry ingredients, mixing until just blended. Fold in beaten egg whites until just mixed. Do not over-beat batter. Pour 2 cups waffle batter onto waffle iron. Bake 2-1/2 minutes at 250ºF (may vary depending on waffle iron). Plate and garnish with butter and maple syrup, or fruit topping, nuts, whipped cream or powdered sugar.

*Note: I halved this recipe, and it still made a LOT of waffles! But you can always freeze the extras and then crisp them back up in your toaster for breakfast. Presto, homemade Eggos!

Southern Fried Chicken
(Source: Carl Redding via The Today Show)
6 servings (yeah, right! try 2-4)

3 cups vegetable oil
1-1/2 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon paprika
3-1/2 pound chicken, cut into 8 pieces

Heat the oil in a large skillet on medium heat until hot (350º F). Season chicken with salt, pepper, and paprika. Dredge each chicken part in flour. Be sure the oil has reached the ideal temperature of 350ºF. Fry chicken 15 minutes until golden brown (turning occasionally). Remove chicken parts from hot oil and let it drain well on paper towels. Serve hot.

Coming out of hibernation...

I begin, as I often do, with an apology. I have been remiss in blogging for two weeks--SHEESH! After the onslaught of midterms, I was in Orlando for nearly a week for the annual PBGV National (dog show and conference). Don't be jealous--the weather there was awful. It was dreadfully hot and muggy the first few days, and then they had torrential downpours after that. I was actually pleased to come home to nicer weather. When I left, there was still snow on the ground, but when I got back to Burlington (VT), I actually sat outside in the sunshine--without a sweater, mind you--waiting for my ride home from the airport. We have had 60-degree days since, and darn near got to 70 one day last week! Nevertheless, I managed to contract a nasty virus and have been battling a severe cold for four or five days now. All of this to say, I haven't had much to blog about, culinarily-speaking.

However, I wasn't going to let some nagging pestilence keep me from one of my favorite annual outings to the maple pancake breakfast at Sanger's Sugar House. It's held one weekend in April during the peak of sugaring season as the main fund raiser for a local square dancing group. It's $6.50 for all-you-can-eat pancakes and warm, fresh maple syrup, with sausages, applesauce, and either white or chocolate milk. Extra sausage will cost you 50 cents (for two) and an extra milk is a quarter (we opt for both!). It's funny, because even though it's the quintessential spring-welcoming event, it always feels like fall. Everyone bundles up to stand in line to get into a large tent lined with hay and made extra-cozy from big, portable heat-blowers. Then some kindly menfolk cook you up some grub, while the women and children run around, dishing up seconds when you're ready for them. Now that's my idea of a great way to spend a Saturday or Sunday!
After our pancake brunch, it was so nice to be out of the house, that we decided to continue to shake off our cabin fever with a little road trip north to some of our favorite Canadian haunts. But first, we stopped stateside at Conroy's Organics to pick up some of their own ground beef and the first greens of the season (greenhouse-grown, but still fresh and local!), then to Giroux's Poultry Farm for a flat of eggs, and then to the new bakery in Chazy for a huge loaf of bread. Finally, we headed across the border to the German butcher (Charcuterie/Metzgerei Frick) in Lacolle for their homemade sausages; we chose some called Oktoberfest, some Garlic Polish, and some Swiss that had beautiful black casings and Emmenthaler cheese inside. We also picked up a pint of homemade sauerkraut and a bag of imported spaetzle. I feel a German dinner coming on...

From Lacolle, we headed east to Noyan to our favorite cheesemaker, Fritz Kaiser. And boy, were we surprised! The last time we were there, they were selling cheese out of a carport-type structure, and now they have a big, fancy new building! And despite the early season, it was packed with tourists visiting stop #11 on the Circuit du Paysan. We bought a number of different cheeses, including: Noyan, Port Royal, St-Paulin (semi-soft), Clos St-Ambroise (beer-washed), Cristalia (with garlic and parsley), and Le Douanier (a Canadian Grand Champion cheese transversed by a gorgeous ribbon of bleu).

Finally, we headed west back towards Hemmingford and stopped at our faithful butcher (Abbatoir Viau) in Covey Hill for some bacon, ham, and smoked meat (that's a Canadian version of pastrami to the uninitiated), all smoked on the premises. At last, depleted of funds and the will to make any more stops, we transported our tasty bounty back over the border. When we got home, Cyd unloaded the car and put everything away while I mucked out the long-neglected chicken coop (now that you can get back there without having to skate on a vast and treacherous sheet of ice!). Then I had just enough time for a quick shower before heading into town to perform in the Champlain Valley Oratorio Society's spring concert, The Great American Songbook, featuring the works of Cole Porter, Jerome Kern, and Irving Berlin. Now that was great fun! In fact, so much so, that I hope we do a "Part II" in Spring '09.

So all in all, an excellent, most delicious day, and a fitting welcome to the new season!

Sugar Shack Feast (Le Banquet de la Cabane à Sucre)

(Photo credit: Doug van Kampen, aka The Wooden Shoes on Flickr)

I have no idea what possesses me to do these things, but instead of completing the other million chores that needed to be attended to this weekend, I spent all day in the kitchen on Saturday preparing a feast to celebrate the high maple season. That's right, kiddies, the steam is up in these parts, and with our cold nights and sunny days, it should be a fine year for it! In fact, on the drive home tonight, one of the maple houses that we pass was completely packed out with cars; they were still sugaring at 9pm on a school night! I love it. And my favorite maple season tradition, the all-you-can-eat pancake breakfast at Sanger's Maple House in Ingraham, is the weekend after next (April 12-13). In the meantime, I took inspiration from--once again--An Endless Banquet for a fantastic, maple-based, sugar shack feast! I made a rather fancy tourtiere (Quebecois meat pie), homemade feves au lard (baked beans), the traditional and ubiquitous condiment, fruit ketchup, to go with both, and some fresh cole slaw dressed with a sweet vinaigrette. And to top it all off, I baked an apple crisp and churned up some maple frappe (ice cream) to make it fabulously a la mode! So good! (I even shared my leftovers with the French teacher at school. I'll hope I'll receive high marks!) Alas, I didn't take any pictures of the food, but I have lots of recipes for you if you want to celebrate the maple sugaring season yourself in a similarly grand fashion.

(Photo credit: a fabulous photographer of kitschy and retro pop culture named Julia Miller on Flickr)

Tourtière de Ville (Quebecois Meat Pie)
(Source: adapted from An Endless Banquet)

1 pie dough recipe (your favorite)
1 pound ground pork
1/2 pound ground veal (I used ground beef)
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
4 oz. mushrooms, chopped
1/2 cup white wine
1 egg yolk
1 tablespoon butter
1 small potato, grated
1 small pinch ground cloves (I omitted the cloves, but added one tablespoon of Worcestershire Sauce)
1 small pinch ground cinnamon
1 small pinch ground nutmeg
salt and freshly ground pepper

In a large pot, sweat the onions and the garlic in the butter over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and continue cooking until the liquid released by the vegetables has evaporated. Add the white wine and continue cooking until the wine has evaporated as well. Add the ground pork, the ground veal (or beef), and the spices to the pot. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring to break up the chunks of meat. Add the grated potato and cook for another 10 minutes. Correct the seasoning, remove from the heat, and allow the mixture to cool.

Preheat your oven to 450º F. Roll out the pie dough and line a pie plate with half of it. Fill this with the ground meat mixture. Cover with the top half of the pie crust, brush it with the egg yolk, and poke or cut some holes in the top crust to allow the steam to escape during cooking. Bake the pie in the oven for 15 minutes, then lower the heat to 350º F and bake for another 20-25 minutes. Serve with ketchup aux fruits.

Ketchup aux Fruits (Winter Version)
(Source: An Endless Banquet)

1 28-oz can of whole tomatoes & their liquid
1 onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 stalks celery, diced
2 apples, peeled, cored, and diced
1/2 cup maple syrup (preferably, Grade B)
1/4 cup white vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
1 pinch of ground cloves (I omitted this, personal preference)
1 small pinch cayenne pepper
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

In a saucepan, bring the whole tomatoes, the onion, the garlic, and the celery to a boil and then simmer them gently for about 15-20 minutes, and gently break up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon. Remove the saucepan from the heat and using an immersion blender or a conventional blender, blend half the mixture, then return it to the saucepan. Add the apples, the maple syrup, the vinegar and the spices and simmer for another 30-45 minutes.

Fèves au Lard (Baked Beans)
(Source: An Endless Banquet and A Taste of Quebec)

1 pound dried navy beans
1/4 pound salt pork (I used bacon and also a medium onion, diced)
1 teaspoon dried mustard
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup brown sugar (preferably, dark)
1/4 cup maple syrup (preferably, Grade B)
2 tablespoons bourbon (optional)
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Soak beans overnight in a large pot. Drain. Put soaked beans in a large pot with enough water to cover by 2 inches. Bring to a simmer, then turn down to medium and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Drain beans, reserving the cooking liquid, and transfer them to a large bean pot or casserole. (I made mine in a crock pot—on high for about five hours, and then low for a couple more hours. But the traditional oven method follows.)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees. Place salt pork in a small pot, add water to cover, and bring to a boil over high heat. Drain the pork and add to the beans. (I just chopped the bacon and browned the pieces instead along with a diced onion.) In a small bowl, dissolve mustard in a teaspoon of warm water. Add dissolved mustard, molasses, brown sugar, maple syrup and bourbon (if using) to beans. Season with pepper and mix gently but thoroughly.

Pour enough of the warm reserved cooking liquid (about 1 1/2 cups) into the bean pot so that the beans are moist but not floating. Reserve the remaining cooking liquid. Cover pot and bake, checking occasionally to ensure that beans are not drying out, adding reserved cooking liquid as needed. Cook until beans are soft and the bean liquor has turned rich and hearty. This will take 5 hours, or so, although we recommend baking them for 7-8 hours if at all possible. The beans will be that much tastier; your house will be that much more aromatic.

Remove cover, gently stir beans, and return to oven. Bake uncovered until cooking liquid thickens into a sauce. Season to taste with salt (you'll need very little salt as the salt pork will have provided the beans with plenty of salty flavor). Serve with a crusty loaf of bread, ketchup aux fruits, and a salad or coleslaw.

--adapted from John Thorne's "Down-East Baked Beans" as found in Serious Pig (1996) and Saveur Cooks Authentic American (1998)

Salade De Chou
(Source: adapted from A Taste of Quebec via One Whole Clove)

1/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup white vinegar
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
1/2 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 large head of cabbage, shredded (I prefer Savoy—it’s milder)
2 carrots, peeled and grated1 medium onion, minced

In a saucepan over medium heat, mix together sugar, oil, vinegar, mustard, celery seed and salt. Bring to a boil, turn off heat and let mixture cool slightly. In a large bowl, mix together cabbage, carrots and onions. Pour the cooled sauce over the vegetables, mixing the liquid to incorporate all ingredients. Cover and refrigerate for several hours. This salad can be kept in the refrigerator for up to one week. Serves 8.

Maple Frappe
(Source: An Endless Banquet)

3 eggs beaten until creamy, 1/2 cup of pure maple syrup (I like amber here), 1/2 can of condensed milk, 1/2 can of evaporated milk, 1 cup of heavy cream whipped to soft peaks, and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Mix together and freeze in an ice-cream freezer then “ripen” for a few hours in the freezer until firm. This makes a generous quart of frappe that by itself is pure nectar, but atop warm apple pie is a delicacy that must be tasted to be believed. (I served it with an apple crisp instead.)

Saint Joe gets invited to Easter...

Jeesh! Spring Break just flew by, bookended by major holidays. It seems like we had hardly finished St. Patty's corned beef before it was time to make the Easter ham! And in the middle, I tried (but failed) to celebrate La Festa di San Giuseppe (St. Joseph's Feast). I am neither Catholic nor Italian, so this was a new one on me. But when I read about zeppole di San Giuseppe on my favorite Montreal blog, I knew I had to try and make them myself. Of course, they are a Lenten pastry, but I wasn't able to make them on the official day (March 19) as I had run out of heavy cream, and Cyd couldn't be bothered to bring some home from town! So I made them for our Easter dessert on Sunday, which I do understand is completely inappropriate. Regardless, they were tasty and quite festive. This type of zeppola is basically like a cream puff; it's made from the same kind of pate a choux but fried, like a Italian version of a crueller. And it's either filled with sweetened ricotta or, more traditionally, with pastry cream (I opted for the latter as I consider pastry cream to be its own food group). Then it's topped with a cherry and sprinkled with powdered sugar. Pretty basic elements, but delightful nonetheless. Mine kind of mutated and became all crazy-looking as I fried them, but it just gave them a whimsical, Seuss-like quality that I found enchanting. Plus, the mutant ends were extra-crispy and delicious! ;-)

As for the rest of our Easter dinner, we whetted our appetites with devilled eggs with a few minced pickled jalapeno slices and a little zucchini relish mixed in. The main attraction, of course, was a spiral-sliced ham glazed with an absolutely delicious mixture of a quarter cup of brown sugar, a tablespoon of Dijon mustard, and a half-cup of my homemade honeybell marmalade. YUM! I also cooked some Italian Romano (green) beans in the crock pot all day with bacon, onions, and chicken broth. And the piece de resistance was the ultimate three-cheese scalloped potato dish! I don't always have the best of luck with homemade scalloped potatoes--mainly, because it's often so hard to get the potatoes done all the way through. But this recipe was super-easy and super-delicious. I found it on Epicurious, and since it had nearly 300 positive reviews since 1999, I felt confident that it would turn out well. Indeed, I declare it the definitive Easter side dish which definitely warrants a repeat appearance on a future holiday table.

Scalloped Potatoes with Three Cheeses
(Source: Rick Rodgers, Bon Appetit, November 1999 via Epicurious)
Makes 12 servings

3/4 cup (packed) grated extra-sharp cheddar cheese (about 4 ounces)
3/4 cup crumbled Danish blue cheese (about 4 ounces)
1/3 cup (packed) freshly grated parmesan (about 1 1/4 ounces)
4 pounds russet potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/4-inch-thick rounds (I used Yukon Golds)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) butter
3 cups whole milk

Preheat oven to 400°F. Lightly butter 13 x 9 x 2-inch glass baking dish. Mix cheddar cheese, blue cheese and parmesan in small bowl.

Arrange half of potatoes in prepared baking dish, overlapping slightly. Sprinkle with teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Sprinkle onion over, then flour. Dot with 2 tablespoons butter. Sprinkle half of cheese mixture over. Top with remaining potatoes, 3/4 teaspoon salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and 2 tablespoons butter. Reserve remaining cheese.

Bring milk to simmer in medium saucepan (I did this in a Pyrex measuring cup in the microwave). Pour milk over potatoes (milk will not cover potatoes completely). Cover baking dish tightly with foil. Bake 45 minutes. Uncover dish (liquids in dish may look curdled); sprinkle potatoes with reserved cheese mixture. Bake uncovered until potatoes are tender and cheese is deep golden brown, about 45 minutes longer. (Can be prepared 2 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature. Cover and rewarm in 375°F oven about 20 minutes.) Remove from oven; let stand 15 minutes before serving.

St. Joseph's Day Zeppole (Zeppole di San Giuseppe)
(Source: Sal Joseph Scognamillo of Patsy's Italian Restaurant)
Makes 12

2 cups water
1 tablespoon butter
pinch of salt
2 cups flour, plus extra for dusting
6 eggs
vegetable oil for frying (Scognamillo uses peanut oil)
2 pounds ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
12 maraschino cherries

Bring water, butter and salt to a low boil. When boiling, add flour and stir for about 1 minute until thoroughly mixed. Take off fire, move to mixing bowl and let cool 10 minutes. Mixing at a low speed, add 1 egg at a time (this is important, says Scognamillo), allowing each egg to completely blend in. Put batter in a pastry bag or a freezer bag with a hole cut into a corner.

Cut wax paper into 3-inch squares and lightly dust with flour. Pipe dough into round doughnut shapes onto wax paper (the hole should be about 1 inch wide).

Heat oil to 350. Carefully slide batter off the paper into the oil, frying 3-4 doughnuts at a time, making sure not to crowd the pan. Fry for 7-8 minutes, turning every couple of minutes, when the bubbling of the dough stops. (They're done when both golden brown and double in size and all bubbling ends, says Scognamillo.) Allow to cool and slice horizontally.

Mix ricotta, sugar and vanilla extract in another mixing bowl on medium speed for 2 minutes. Add chocolate chips and mix for 10 seconds. (Or, if you prefer, make your favorite pastry cream instead.)

Put cream in pastry bag and fill center of zeppole. Press the top of pastry onto the bottom. (Scognamillo also puts a dollop of cream over the hole to serve as a base for the cherry.) Top zeppole with a cherry, then sprinkle with powdered sugar.

More Marmalade Madness, or Why Cyd is My Hero

I have been remiss in sharing some really great news. My roommate recently got a raise at Dunder-Mifflin...and it was a BIG one! She really deserved it, plus it sure helped get us through this skyrocketing fuel oil season, let me tell you! So we are very grateful for the serendipitous timing of that raise. CONGRATS, Cyd! :-)

Shortly after this financial blessing, I sent her a silly email like I do, saying, "You buy me this!" with an accompanying link to an extravagant item. Now you must understand, we always do this, and it's just a joke. Like she'll send me a link to a brand-new Nissan Murano, or I'll send a link to a fabulous house for sale in the area, etc. Again, I reiterate, it's just a joke. So I sent her an email with a link to a French hand-hammered copper preserving pan that I have always longed for. I found it on Amazon for about half price, but half of an astronomical amount is still ridiculous. Yet when I went to pick her up from work that night, she handed me a printout. I thought, oh no, she's bought herself yet another pair of overpriced shoes! But when I read it more closely, I started to get all choked up when I realized that she had ordered the Mauviel pan for me! I said, fighting back my tears, "It was just a joke! I was just kidding! You didn't have to do this! You shouldn't have done this!" She just laughed and said, in all sincerity, that she was happy to be able to do it, and that she knew I would get a lot of use out of it. Can you believe that? Is that the most amazingly generous gesture ever? Cyd ROCKS! And just LOOK at it! Bask in its warm, coppery glow! Feel its hypnotic power!

So since it's Spring Break, and I have some free time, I thought it was time to return to my Marmalade Madness mode. I still need to make another batch of the wonderful honeybell marmalade, but to break in my GORGEOUS new preserving pan, I decided to try yet another June Taylor recipe--Grapefruit and Meyer Lemon Marmalade. Doesn't that just sound incredible? Well, it must have been my magical copper Mauviel, but this may have been my best batch of marmalade so far! Even if you only have a humble kettle made of some modest metal, I urge you to give this one a try. It offers a puckery burst of bittersweet sunshine when winter still lingers.

Grapefruit and Meyer Lemon Marmalade
(Source: June Taylor, via The New York Times, Feb. 13, 2005)

5 pounds grapefruit, rinsed (I used an entire eight-pound bag, which held nine medium-sized fruits)
5 Meyer lemons or small regular lemons, rinsed (I used Meyer lemons)
1/2 cup lemon juice (from 2 to 3 additional lemons--again, I used Meyer lemon juice)
2 1/2 pounds sugar (I pushed this to 3 pounds=personal taste)

1. Remove the grapefruit skin with a vegetable peeler. Cut the peel into 1/8-inch slivers; stop when you have 3/4 cup. Slice off the ends of the grapefruit and the remaining grapefruit peel and pith. Remove grapefruit segments, reserving membrane. Stop when you have 5 cups of segments. (I ended up using nine grapefruits to get enough segments, when five pounds was less than six grapefruits...hmm, curious).

2. Cut the ends off the Meyer lemons, deep enough so you can see the flesh. Leaving the peel on, remove the segments of lemon and reserve the membrane. Cut the segments crosswise into 1/4-inch pieces. (Not being a fan of super-bitter marmalade, I decided to remove the Meyer lemon skin as with the grapefruit, slice it very thinly, cut off the rind from the lemons and discard, supreme the segments, and reserve the membranes for pectin.) Put membranes from the grapefruit and Meyer lemons in a jelly bag and tie closed. (In the jelly bag--my trusty Bed Bath and Beyond cheesecloth tied up with kitchen twine--I also added the leftover grapefruit peels and the Meyer lemon halves that I juiced but did not peel.)

3. In a wide and deep pot (or a fabulous French copper preserving pan if you're lucky enough to have one!), combine the grapefruit segments, grapefruit peel, lemon pieces and jelly bag. Add lemon juice and 2 1/2 cups water. Simmer until the grapefruit peel is tender, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool. (For me, this is usually the end of day one. It makes it much more humane to split the work over two days.)

4. Preheat the oven to 225 degrees. Working over a bowl in your sink, squeeze the liquid from the jelly bag; keep squeezing and wringing it out until you extract 1/3 to 1/2 cup of pectin. Add pectin and sugar to the pot. Place over high heat and boil, stirring now and then, until marmalade is between 222 and 225 degrees and passes the plate test*. (Spoon a little onto a plate and put in the fridge for 3 minutes. If it thickens like jam, it is done.)

5. Meanwhile, put 6 (to 8) sterilized 8-ounce canning jars and lids on a baking sheet and place in the oven (I just keep mine in the water bath canner as it comes to a boil). When jam is done, remove jars from the oven. Ladle jam into the jars, filling them as high as possible. Wipe the rims. Fasten the lid tightly. Let cool. If you don't get a vacuum seal, refrigerate the jam**. Makes 6 8-ounce jars of marmalade. (I got 8!)

*My marmalade, as usual, never did get past 218-219 degrees (perhaps it's time for a new candy thermometer?). So I rely on how it looks and if it crinkles on a cold plate when pushed with your finger. Despite Ms. Taylor's warnings to not go much past 45 minutes, my marmalade is always runny if cooked for less than an hour. Usually it's about an hour and ten minutes on my stove, even with the fancy French cookware!

**Again, I like to play it safe, so I avoid the "open kettle" method. After jarring up the marmalade, I processed it in a boiling water bath for ten minutes. (This also ensures that I may legally sell the product in New York State if I feel compelled to part with any!)

Top o' the...er...Evenin' to Ye!

I trust that everyone had their fill of green beer and such shenanigans today? Being that I'm trapped in Obers' Corners without transportation this week, I didn't go anywhere or do anything special today--unless you count walking with Prunelle up to the mini-mart this afternoon to get some brown sugar. (Yippee.) But staying home was fine by me, truth to tell. I had grand plans for a most excellent meal in celebration of St. Pat's, and I worked on it (off and on) all day. But DANG if everything didn't turn out fabulously delicious!

Basically, I made the same dinner as last year (more of a roasted than boiled dinner, but with all the traditional elements). In addition to roasting parts of the "boiled dinner," the other key to success that I have learned is to not skimp on the quality of the corned beef! Now I am a budget shopper and can pinch pennies with the best of them, but I implore you: do yourself a favor and pony up for a better quality (yes, more expensive) corned beef. It makes all the difference--it really does. And if you don't know which one to choose, ask your butcher. The fine fellow at Hannaford (grocery store) led us to a really great one this year.

Then to go along with the corned beef and cabbage and roasted root veggies, I made another version of beer bread, this one with the savory additions of sharp cheddar, mustard and dill. Yum! Thanks to Zabby over at GardenWeb's Harvest Forum who alerted me to the recipe. It came from a recent issue of Toronto's Globe and Mail, so please blame them for the cultural stereotyping, not me. But I got another great beer-laden recipe from the same article, a Chocolate Guinness Cake via Nigella Lawson. It's a real winner--crisp on the outside, incredibly moist on the inside and with a bit of a tang from the beer and from a good amount of sour cream. You don't need a mixer to make this cake, so it's easy. And it's so moist, it doesn't even require frosting, just a sprinkling of powdered sugar, a dollop of whipped cream, or a sidecar of ice cream. I opted for the latter, and I spied the perfect recipe on Smitten Kitchen for homemade butterscotch ice cream, which was the ideal companion for this lush, chocolate cake. (Okay, I suppose my theme is ruined because it's butterSCOTCH not Irish, but then again, if it's no' Scottish, it's crrrrappp!)

Cheesy Beer Bread
(Source: Toronto Globe and Mail, March 15, 2008)

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon salt (sounds like a lot, but you need it)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/4 cup chopped dill (I used one tablespoon of dried)
1 cup grated aged/sharp Cheddar cheese
12 ounces wheat beer or lager (avoid a dark beer--use something mild in flavor)
1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

Preheat oven to 350 F. Generously butter a loaf pan and line the bottom with parchment paper (I used a glass pan and didn't need the paper).

Combine all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. Add the dill and cheese and stir to coat with flour. Stir in beer and mustard until mixture forms a dough. You may need to knead dough with your hands to bring it together.

Turn the dough into a buttered loaf pan and use a damp hand to smooth the top. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes or until light golden and firm to touch (more like 50-55 minutes!). Makes 1 loaf. This is great toasted!

Chocolate Guinness Cake
(Source: Toronto Globe and Mail, March 15, 2008, adapted from Nigella Lawson's Feast)

1 cup Guinness beer (actually, I used a local caramel porter that was perfect for this)
1 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I swapped out 1/4 cup of dark/black cocoa here)
2 cups sugar
2/3 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

Garnish: icing sugar or whipped cream

Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter a 9-inch spring-form pan and line bottom with parchment paper. Pour Guinness into a large saucepan over medium heat. Add butter and heat until melted. Remove from heat, whisk in cocoa powder and sugar and reserve.

Combine sour cream, eggs and vanilla in a separate bowl and beat until uniform. Add sour cream mixture to Guinness mixture and whisk to combine. Whisk in flour and baking soda. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 50 minutes to 1 hour, or until a cake tester comes out with crumbs clinging to it.

Place tin on a rack and leave to cool completely. Before serving, dust with icing sugar or lightly sweetened whipped cream, or serve with ice cream.

Serves 8 to 10

Butterscotch Ice Cream
(Source: Smitten Kitchen, adapted from Sunset Magazine)
Makes one quart

1 cup firmly-packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 teaspoons bourbon (optional)
pinch of salt (optional)
1 1/2 cups whipping cream
2 cups half-and-half
6 large egg yolks

1. In a 1- to 2-quart pan over medium heat, stir brown sugar and butter until butter is melted, sugar is dissolved, and mixture is bubbly, 3 to 4 minutes. Whisk in 1/2 cup whipping cream until smooth; remove butterscotch mixture from heat. Add vanilla and bourbon, if using. Also, add a pinch of salt (optional).
2. In a 3- to 4-quart pan over medium-high heat, combine remaining 1 cup whipping cream and the half-and-half; bring to a simmer.
3. Meanwhile, in a bowl, beat egg yolks to blend. Whisk 1/2 cup of the warm cream mixture into egg yolks, then pour egg yolk mixture into pan with cream. Stir constantly over low heat just until mixture is slightly thickened, 2 to 4 minutes. Immediately remove from heat.
4. Pour through a fine strainer into a clean bowl and whisk in butterscotch mixture. Chill until cold, stirring occasionally, about 2 hours; or cover and chill up to 1 day. (To fast-track the chilling, use an ice bath for about 20 minutes.)
5. Freeze mixture in an ice cream maker according to manufacturer’s instructions. Serve softly frozen, or transfer ice cream to an airtight container and freeze until firm, at least 6 hours or up to 1 week.

WELCOME "SPRING!"

Ok, so it's still ridiculously icy outside, and we have had one snowstorm after the next for months now. But as of today, I'm officially on Spring Break, so I declare it to be spring, regardless of the calendar or the stupid weather! My students clearly agree, because some of them are already rocking the shorts and flip-flops on the days when it gets up to 40 degrees! (It's a North Country thing.) Moreover, Daylight Savings Time has VASTLY improved my spirits. It is so wonderful, for example, to get done with my office hour at Plattsburgh State on Mondays at 6:45pm and then walk to my car in broad daylight! Of course, it's a little harder to watch movies for the first hour of my Wednesday night film class now (even with the shades closed, the room is BRIGHT), but you won't hear me complain. And look who else apparently got the springtime memo?

You GO, girls! My faithful next-door neighbor discovered these treasures in the coop last weekend. So we enjoyed a special homegrown omelette with lots of cheese and thinly-sliced spring onions. (See? A theme!) Along with our savory eggs, I unearthed the other loaf of Dorie Greenspan's brioche from the freezer and made her FAAAAAABULOUS bostock with it. It's perfect for breakfast or brunch--even for dessert--as it is made with brioche or challah or any other similarly eggy bread slathered with a luscious almond cream, topped with sliced almonds, and baked for just 10-15 minutes until the top is puffed and golden and the bottoms of the slices are also browned. Easy and SO YUMMMM-MY!

Dorie Greenspan's Bostock
(Source: Baking: From My Home to Yours, Dorie Greenspan)

6 tablespoons butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 ground blanched almonds
2 teaspoons flour
1 tsp cornstarch
1 large egg
2 teaspoons dark rum or 1 teaspoon vanilla

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Slice challah or brioche into 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick pieces. (Slightly stale is okay, and perhaps preferable.) This recipe makes eight slices of bostock.

Cream the butter and sugar in a food processor or stand mixer. Add the ground almonds until blended. Add the flour and cornstarch and mix until incorporated, then add the egg. Process for about 15 seconds so the cream is homogenous. Add either the rum or the vanilla, pulse or mix just until blended.

Put about three tablespoons of almond cream on each slice, leaving a little border around the edge. Scatter some sliced almonds on the top, and bake for 10 to 15 minutes until the tops are puffed and golden. Serve warm.

A Tale of Two Dogs

No, no, I'm not talking about these dogs...

...or even this old lady...

I'm talking about the kind of dogs you eat--more specifically, hot dogs and Devil Dogs! I am really embarrassed to post my recipe for Quesadilla Dogs, but confidentially, it may be one of my more ingenious creations, and every time I make them (only once in a blue moon, I swear!), Cyd ooh's and ahh's and says that I should post about them and share this culinary marvel with the rest of the world. It's not even a recipe, just a method of nuking and assembling. Again, I don't advocate these as a mainstay of a healthy diet, but once in awhile won't kill ya, especially on those nights when you crawl home, exhausted and demoralized by a rough work week, and you just can't face any real cooking. On those desperate occasions, this might just get you through in a pinch. I'm not sure how I originally came up with the idea, but it may be because I used to live near Chicago where they love to throw everything on a hot dog but the kitchen sink! And using tortillas probably comes from me never remembering to buy hot dog buns. ;-)

Ok, to make the infamous Quesadilla Dog, you slice up your favorite melty cheese (I like co-jack for this), and place the thin slices haphazardly all over a burrito-sized flour tortilla (I suppose that pre-shredded cheese would make this even easier, wouldn't it?). Deposit said tortilla in the microwave and nuke it for about 30 seconds, or until the cheese is mostly melted. Carefully remove the tortilla to a work surface, and then nuke two hot dogs for about 90 seconds until hot but not exploding. On the surface of the quesadilla (on top of the cheese), squirt some yellow mustard, spread on about a good tablespoon of zucchini relish (this may be the key ingredient!), a generous sprinkling of finely-chopped red onion, and some banana peppers (I like these chopped up a bit, too). Slice the tortilla in half, and roll up one hot dog on each side, weiner wrap-style. And VOILA! I give you, the Quesadilla Dog in all its trashy fabulousness! Believe you me, this is the best hot dog you'll ever eat--sweet, tangy, zesty, goopy, and all-around DEE-LICIOUS!

To extend the motif, you may wish to complete your elegant hot dog meal with a slice of homemade Devil Dog Cake. There was a recipe for this in last month's issue of Gourmet magazine, but I liked Smitten Kitchen's riff on it. She recommended that we use the wonderful chocolate cake recipe from Epicurious (circa 1999), and instead of just topping it with marshmallow frosting, we could make any manner of snack cake simulations, from something like a Hostess cupcake to a Ding Dong/King Don(g)/Ring Ding to a Devil Dog or Little Debbie Devil Square. As I was making this for Cyd who loves nothing so well as a King Dong (that's Ding Dong to those of you didn't grow up in the eastern U.S. or Canada), I decided to fill the cake with marshmallow frosting and then top it with chocolate ganache. The original recipe calls for the cake to be baked in two 10-inch pans (who has that size?), but don't be tempted to use 9-inch pans, as it will spill over. I baked mine in three 8-inch layers instead. And to get the right creme-to-cake ratio, Cyd suggested that I do each layer as a separate filled and glazed cake. What a fine idea! That way I was able make one for Cyd and one for my officemate, Lee Ann, and her sweet little girls, K and E, and keep one layer in the freezer for the next time that Cyd craves a ginormous, mutant snack cake. At least, that was my plan...until June came by my office yesterday and overheard me talking about the cake with Lee Ann and became instantly saddened at the news that I did not bring enough to share (apparently, Devil Dogs are a special weakness of hers). So what else could I do? I defrosted the last layer last night, made another half-batch of marshmallow filling and ganache, and brought the last Ding Dong Cake in for my beloved friend June today. Meanwhile, Lee Ann reported that her kids got a real kick out of the cake (even though I suppose that I should have taken the time to make the iconic white loops on top!), and that the adults licked their plates clean, too! The recipe follows...


Ding Dong Cake
(Sources: Gourmet, February 2008 and Epicurious, but mostly Smitten Kitchen)

Chocolate Cake Layers:
3 ounces fine-quality semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut (I used Guittard bittersweet chips)
1 1/2 cups hot brewed coffee
3 cups sugar
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
2 teaspoons baking soda
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups well-shaken buttermilk
3/4 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 300°F. and grease pans. Line bottoms of 2 10-inch* round cake pans with wax paper and grease paper (I prefer parchment for this).

Finely chop chocolate and in a bowl combine with hot coffee. Let mixture stand, stirring occasionally, until chocolate is melted and mixture is smooth.

Into a large bowl sift together sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. In another large bowl with an electric mixer beat eggs until thickened slightly and lemon colored (about 3 minutes with a standing mixer or 5 minutes with a hand-held mixer). Slowly add oil, buttermilk, vanilla, and melted chocolate mixture to eggs, beating until combined well. Add sugar mixture and beat on medium speed until just combined well.

Divide batter between pans (I used three 8-inch pans) and bake in middle of oven until a tester inserted in center comes out clean, 1 hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes.

Cool layers in pans on racks. Run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert layers onto racks. Carefully remove wax or parchment paper and cool layers completely. Cake layers may be made one day ahead and kept, wrapped well in plastic wrap, at room temperature.

* Note: This cake will overflow if baked in 9-inch cake pans. If you only have 9-inch pans, you might want to 2/3 the cake recipe instead, as following: 2 ounces chocolate, 1 cup coffee, 2 cups sugar, 1 2/3 cup flour, 1 cup cocoa, 1 1/3 tsp. baking soda, ½ tsp. baking powder, 2 eggs, ½ cup oil, 1 cup buttermilk, ½ tsp. vanilla, etc. and reduce the baking time by at least ten minutes.

Marshmallow, or Seven Minute Frosting:
2 large egg whites
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup light corn syrup
2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Combine frosting ingredients with a pinch of salt in a metal bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water and beat with a handheld electric mixer at high speed until frosting is thick and fluffy, 6 to 7 minutes. Remove bowl from heat and continue to beat until slightly cooled. Mound frosting on top of cake. Dust with additional cocoa powder.

Ganache Frosting
(Used in the first and second options below)

1/2 pound fine-quality semisweet chocolate such as Callebaut (I used Guittard bittersweet chips)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoons light corn syrup
1/4 stick (2 tablespoons) unsalted butter

Finely chop chocolate. In a 1 1/2- to 2-quart saucepan bring cream, sugar, and corn syrup to a boil over moderately low heat, whisking until sugar is dissolved. Remove pan from heat and add chocolate, whisking until chocolate is melted. Cut butter into pieces and add to frosting, whisking until smooth.

Transfer frosting to a bowl and cool, stirring occasionally, until spreadable (depending on chocolate used, it may be necessary to chill frosting to spreadable consistency). I found that stirring this over a bowl of ice water did a great job of cooling it off quickly and evenly. Spread frosting over top and sides of cake. Chilling the cake will harden the chocolate coating.

Make Your Own Hostess Cupcake, Ding Dong, Ring Ding, King Don(g) Cake: Bake two cake layers as directed. Halve one layer horizontally into two thin layers. Place the first one on a cake plate. Take the second cake and cut a large hole out of the center, about 6-inches across—you won’t be using this. As carefully as possible, place this on top of the halved cake layer on the stand. Fill the entire cut-out area with frosting, leaving a half cup aside if you wish to pipe the signature loops or a message across the top. Lay the second halved layer on top of this, sealing the filling in. Spread the ganache coating over top and sides of cake. Once ganache is firm and chilled (the fridge does a great job of this, quickly), you can decorate it with a piping bag or a makeshift one, a sandwich bag with the corner snipped off.

Make Your Own Little Debbie Devil Square Cake: Proceed as above, but bake the two layers in square cake pans.

Make Your Own Devil Dog Cake: Bake two cake layers, in an oblong or long rectangular pan (you can round the edges after you bake it) if you have. Use the frosting only between the cake layers.

Make Your Own Chocolate Layer Cake with Marshmallow Frosting and Filling: Double the frosting recipe and use it as filling and coating on a two-layer round chocolate cake. Set about one cup aside if you wish to tint it and pipe decorations on the cake, either it with a piping bag or a makeshift one, a sandwich bag with the corner snipped off.

And while we’re at it, because it is in a similar vein–Make Your Own Devil's Food White Out Cake in the style of the stunning one on the cover of Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours. Halve each cake layer horizontally, creating four thin layers. Break one into small crumbs; set crumbs aside. Using a double recipe of the marshmallow frosting, spread some between each cake layer, stacking as you go, and then cover the exterior in the remainder. Press the crumbled cake crumbs into the sides of the iced cake, and just over the top of the cake in a one-inch ring.

Lemon is the New Crack

Ok, people...gather around. I have something of the utmost importance to tell you. In fact, I hesitate to share it publicly for fear of inciting a gold-rush-type panic and consequent shortage of my new favorite food product on the planet. Are you ready? Wait for it....wait for it. No, perhaps before I give it name and summon its hypnotic powers, I will share a pornographic picture--mind you, try not to gum up your laptop with drool.

I stole this image from a lovely gal with the handle of dearbarbz366 over on Flickr. I would have taken a picture of my own, but something mysterious happened to my cookies, and they DISAPPEARED before I was able to snap one shot. Friends, you are looking at the newest offering in the Girl Scout cookie lineup, the Lemon Chalet Creme. HEAVEN...HELP....ME!! These are the best things since, well, the Thin Mint! In fact, for several years now, I have only bought Thin Mints, because the other varieties did nothing for me--they just didn't hold a candle. But this year, I am prepared to boldly say that this is the only Girl Scout cookie ever to give the Thin Mint a run for its money. In fact, as I am not a chocoholic myself, and as enchanted as I am by the combination of lemon and vanilla, I would have to say that, for me, these edge out the Thin Mint! (Yes, I know what an extreme statement that is, and I'm willing to stand strong on that controversial position.)

The cookie has a very similar taste and texture to, of all things, the McDonaldland cookie. (Do they make those anymore? You know, in the shapes of Ronald McDonald and all of his friends?) It's a crispy vanilla cookie but with a bit of spice...cinnamon and ginger, maybe? And then it's sandwiched together with three cute blobs of extremely tangy, lemony filling, much like a lemon version of an Oreo's filling, but much creamier. In short, if you are a lemon lover, they are TO DIE FOR! (But not literally, as they have no trans fat. Ok, let's not discuss calories...) My only gripe is that each box comes with only one tray totalling a mere 14 cookies. That's a quarter apiece! I am going to have to go to the bank and take out a loan to support my new habit throughout the spring (aka Girl Scout Cookie Season)! But it may be well worth it.

Now, anyone reading this in the greater Plattsburgh area, don't you DARE go buy up all the Lemon Chalet Cremes before I can get some more! Girl Scouts, be advised that I will be outside of Sam's Club/Wal-Mart today around 6pm. Please have your mothers bring their mini-vans full of said product for me to buy. Better yet, if one of my work colleagues is reading this and you have a Girl Scout in the family, send her my way ASAP! I'm jonesin', and she's guaranteed a sale! ;-)