Maple Caramel Apple Slices with Fleur de Sel

Toasting our 100th blog (or: The most shameless selfie I have ever taken)

       Does anyone else miss the brazen and cavalier attitude of your youth? Maybe that’s a maudlin way to start our 100^th (!) blog, but it’s true!  Or, maybe it’s an appropriate theme for our centennial post.

The reason I bring this up is that I tried not once, not twice, but three times yesterday to make caramel sauce. Now, I am not trying to say that I’m some sort of culinary genius who expects to get these things right on her first try every time, but thrice over for me is unusual. And not just because I get discouraged and give up on things quickly. This was particularly disturbing because I have actually made caramel sauce before. And I did this with no recipe, when I was about 22 years old, and I just had it in my mind that it was sugar and butter. So I made it. It was great. Not only did I make it purely from my mind’s eye, but also I made it in the kitchen of my old apartment-if you could even call it that. It was more of a room with this side panel they called a kitchen.

This apartment was hilarious. The kitchen was about ten feet long, but only about a foot wide. Every appliance was from the original build (1954) and functioned at any given moment somewhere between 30%-50% effectiveness. For example, the freezer was built into the fridge and had completely iced over- so much so that if someone wanted ice for their drink, I used to get out a screwdriver and hammer and chisel chunks off the ever-growing ice floe that was my refrigeration unit. The stovetop worked, but the oven I turned on exactly once, which promptly filled my entire apartment with smoke, luckily (but rather frighteningly) not setting off the smoke alarm. After several days the place aired out and no longer smelled like burning asbestos.

What a nice spring treat!

It was with this set up that I haughtily made caramel off the top of my head one evening. Now, what went wrong yesterday? I can tell you. I knew I wanted to film myself doing it, and therefore wanted it to be perfect on the first try (seeing as I have yet to understand how to edit videos). Being now cautious at the age of 27, I thought perhaps I should Google a recipe and make it like that. But both recipes I tried to use started me with a “wet” caramel, meaning you need to boil off the water before the sugar starts to caramelize. My advice? This is silly. Let us be bold- “dry” caramel is where it’s at. Just concentrate. Focus on what you are doing, be mindful, and take a lesson from our youth (and Nike)- just do it.

These apples are a special spring treat. Pretty and easy, it’s the kind of thing you can whip up (because almost everyone has apples, sugar, and butter in the house) at the last minute if you need to make a quickie dessert. Start by slicing your apples. I like Granny Smith, and the tartness goes well in this recipe. Here is a very important step (the kind you cannot skip). Squeeze lemon juice over your apple slices when you cut them. This prevents them from going brown- and no one would want these pretty slices to get brown. Set aside. Now, it’s time for the caramel.

Put a large frying pan on the stove and spread a layer of sugar in it- not too thick. Turn your heat on medium high. If you watch the video, you’ll see I say, “Let the butter melt”. But by butter I mean sugar. But I was focused on what I was doing, and not the narration of what I was doing, so sorry about that. You’ll see with your eyes though that clearly it is sugar that’s melting. Let it get a nice caramel colour, and just before it begins to burn (QUICKLY- pay attention) add a hunk of butter. Stir. Add cream. There you have it- no need to overthink anything here, people.

Happy Spring!

Now dip your slices in the caramel (let it cool slightly, and you may want to do two coats). Once the slices are dipped, go back and sprinkle a little fleur de sel on each. Don’t do this while the caramel is too hot, you don’t want the salt to dissolve, you want it to look like sprinkles. Set on wax paper and chill. Serve on something pretty. Enjoy and happy eating! Thank you all so much for your support of us- we can’t wait to serve you 100 more recipes!

Skinny Dinner: Spaghetti Squash

True story: I once had a cashier at Loblaws ask me what my butternut squash was, so that she could ring it through. Be that as it may, I certainly did not expect to ever come across a mythical spaghetti squash in my local backwater Loblaws even though I’ve heard wonderful things about them. Farm Boy to the rescue again! I found one there and gave it a try tonight, and it was a success. Here’s how you can try it too.

Looks like spaghetti! Awesome!

The first thing you have to do is cook your squash. Squash, as Bailey has rightfully pointed out many times, is terribly annoying to cut when it’s raw. So just cook the bastard whole. Put a few puncture holes into its skin so it doesn’t explode in the oven, and then set him in a baking dish with a bit of water in the bottom. Bake it at 375 for about an hour, and then set it aside and let it cool.

When it’s cool enough to touch, cut it in half. You’ll see that it already looks startling like spaghetti inside. Scoop away the seeds and fibrous membrane from the centre, and then use a fork to shred the flesh into “noodles.” It’s pretty straightforward – the squash basically falls into long thin pieces on its own.

Meanwhile, on the stove, heat a drizzle of olive oil and sautee some minced garlic. You can add whatever veggies you like here, but I used cabbage and grape tomatoes. Spinach and mushrooms would be nice, maybe some yellow onion. You can use whatever you have. Sautee the veg until they carmelized and soft, and then stir in your noodle flesh of the squash. The squash really just needs to be heated through since it’s already cooked.

Add salt and pepper to taste. Put it on a plate and top with a sliced chicken breast and a little crumble of goatcheese. You now have a delicious meal that feels sumptuous but has no carbs and lots of protein. I'm not usually one to worry about calories, as I'm what they call a "good eater." But it’s almost bikini season, y’all! Get your game face on.

So good! And not a carb in sight.

Oh, and also: beware that the “noodles” have a slight crunch to them. They’re not undercooked, it’s just that you’re not, in fact, eating noodles - you're eating a vegetable. But just pretend it’s Asian ramen and you’ll be fine. Enjoy! 

Beef Burritos

Here is part 2 of Kelly's birthday menu. I made the pozole and I thought it tasted pretty delicious. But I also made burritos, and this a great way to feed a big crowd. And I'm not so sure they are authentic Mexican, but they're tasty and filling and easy. And that's my way of cooking! I'd much rather have everything prepared in advance so I can visit with my company. (and of course have drinks with them!)

The main part of cooking in this recipe is your beef. I used a whole eye of round. About 2 kilos and this fed 22 people. Use a smaller piece of meat if you are serving less people. But these freeze well, so you can easily reheat them in the microwave for a mid week dinner or lunch, so make lots of them. But for sure use eye of round because it shreds so beautifully for this recipe.

To season your meat, make a spice blend of:
2 tablespoons of chili powder
1 tablespoon of cumin
1 tablespoon of garlic powder
1 tablespoon of onion powder
1 tsp of coriander
1 tsp of salt
1 tsp of pepper
Rub this all over the meat and wrap it in 2 layers of heavy duty tin foil. Be sure that everything is tight and nothing can get in or out. Place it in a roast pan and fill the pan up halfway with water. Put the lid on and roast it at 300 degrees for about 3 hours. Low and slow is the name of the game.

Pour the water out of the pan and unwrap the meat after it's done. Let it cool down a bit and shred it with 2 forks. We need Bailey to insert a video here on how to do that, but really it's easy. Just take your forks and start pulling at the meat in opposite directions. You'll get the hang of it in no time. Discard any fatty bits.

Put it all in a big bowl and add a large can of enchilada sauce. Or make your own by adding some chili powder and cumin to a large can of tomato sauce. You can also add in some heat at the point. Some chopped jalapeno pepper, diced chilies or some hot sauce. Or all of the above. Mix it all together with your hands so everything gets moistened. Taste it and see if you want to add anything.

For the assembly, buy the larger size tortillas. About 3 bags or 30 of them.
You also need:
shredded cheese. For a crowd you needs lots of it, so I buy the big economy sized bag of already shredded TexMex (because I'm as lazy as the devil when it comes to grating tons of cheese) or you can grate your own.
2 large cans of refried beans (I like the refried black bean)
I also like rice just for the fun of it. You can just make a package of Mexican flavoured rice while the beef is roasting or make your own and add about a tablespoon of your spice blend that you put on the roast.

To assemble them, put a dollop of refried beans, about 3 tablspoons of beef (I use my hands to do this) some cheese and some rice into a pile in the middle of the tortilla. Roll them up. (Another video required here) Make sure to tuck the ends in. I don't have the vocabulary to really describe this, so I hope you know what a burrito looks like.

But here is my big secret to keeping them moist: Spray some water all over your pan and pack them tightly together. Then spray them again with water when the pan is full. Top them with more grated cheese and seal the pan tightly with tin foil. Bake at 325 for about 25 - 30 minutes. I use those disposable aluminium pans  because they hold a lot of them (you'll need 2 of these pans for this many burritos) and you can take them visiting without having to say goodbye to your best roasting pan. Such as I did when I brought these to my sister's house 8 years ago. I'm glad she continues to enjoy my best roaster though. (which was given to me by my mother!)

Serve these with salsa, sour cream and guacamole. Guacamole recipe to follow soon. Enjoy my friends!

Bunny Cake

Here comes Peter Cottontail! Easter is coming up soon and I can already tell my LadyGirls are getting excited for it! And since Kelly posted her Cheeky Devil Eggs today, I can't resist sharing our Bunny Cake tradition with you. I have made this cake every Easter for the girls since they were born. The whole idea is to just have as much fun with it as you possibly can. Let your kids help decorate it and have a say in what they'd like to put on it when you go shopping for the treats. I promise you they will look forward to it every year and I have a strong suspicion that Bailey and Kelly will make this cake for their own kids at Easter in the years to come. Just to give you an idea, here is one we made 25 years ago when my sister and brother in law came to visit us in Phoenix with their son Tyson.

Hahah, yes that's the LadyGirls and their cousin!

I always try to make my gourmet best for dinner at Easter and always have desserts for the grownups too. But this is a day for us to enjoy the delight of children, so let's have some fun!

You only need a cake mix of your choice, some icing homemade or store bought (kids don't care), some candy and a huge imagination!

Bake the cake in two round pans until they're finished and let them cool completely.

On a big platter or foil lined cookie sheet, set one full round cake leaving enough room at the top for the ears. This will be the same size as your centre cake. With the second cake, carve out the shape of the ears on each side. Just as you see in the photo, and the portion left in the centre of the cake will become the bow tie of the bunny. Here's a photo of last year's cake so you get the idea.

Do you see it? We'll add a video of this when we bake this year's cake.
Now start having a little bit of fun! Use food colouring to make your icing any colour you like. Line up your cake portions and make sure everything has icing. This takes a bit of patience, so you do this and to keep the little ones busy, have them start sorting out the candy decorations. (They will eat half at this stage, so buy lots!) I like to use those gel icings, but you can use whatever strikes your fancy. Licorice strings for whiskers are fun. Jelly beans, smarties, skittles. Lifesavers, anything bright and fun to make him the happiest Peter Cottontail you ever saw works! Chiclets for teeth are mandatory though!

The only rule of thumb for this recipe is to make it age appropriate. So no candy that a small child could choke on. Keep it strictly to gel icing decoration until they are 3 or 4 and able to munch without danger. And that's it for this blog. Have fun with this one! I'll be back soon with more Easter ideas!



Cheeky Devil(led) Eggs!

This one is so much fun! Who doesn't love to eat stuff that looks like other stuff? Especially when it happens to be something cute with a face? (Just wait until you learn how to make a Bunny Cake...but that'll be another time). This is great for Easter because there's bound to be little tykes around and they'll just think it's the bees' knees, which it is. Okay, here we go:

The first thing you have to do is hard-boil your eggs. I am assuming you already know how to do this! It's basic. There are lots of old wives' tales on Google about adding vinegar, salt, starting with room temp eggs, etc. But I basically just put the eggs in the water, turn on the stove, and when it starts to boil, turn it off. It's already warm enough to cook the eggs. Then just leave it alone until the water is completely cool, and then you can peel them. Be careful peeling!!! Don't gouge them up or they won't look pretty when you're done. This isn't a traditional devilled egg where you don't see much of the white part. For these, the white part is the whole idea.

One other thing: a normal devilled egg recipe yields two pieces from every egg. In this recipe, each egg yields only one piece. So you may want to double the number of eggs you think you need -  especially because you will soon see that doing the filling may cause you to lose a few casualties along the way.

Okay, now your eggs are cool and peeled. You have to lop off the top third at just the right part: too high, and you won't be able to scoop out the yolk. Too low, and it won't look like it's hatching later on. So extra eggs may give you some wiggle room if you screw up a few.

With the top lopped off, GENTLY scoop out the yolk. You do not want to tear the white or it will ruin the egg. I found the easiest thing to you was this little tiny sea salt spoon that my sissy has. If you don't have that, try maybe a cocktail stir spoon?

Once you have all your yolks scooped out into a bowl, mix them with mayo and some salt and pepper. Some people do fancy things like add celery to devilled eggs but that won't really work here because the filling has to look like the soft yellow body of a hatching chick. Keep it simple. Once you have your mix ready, scoop it into a piping bag (or a ziplock bag if you don't have baking stuff). Snip off the tip and pipe the mixture into the hollow bottoms of your eggs. This is a lot easier if you either stand your eggs up in a muffin tin, for instance, or slice a tiny sliver off their bums to give them a flat bottom. This way they can also be display. Fill them enough so that some of the filling sits about the white part.

Once they're all filled, sit the egg white tops on the filling so that it looks like an egg is hatching. Don't squish the chicks! Just put the tops on gently.

Cheeky devils!

Last, garnish with two peppercorns for eyes and a little snip of carrot for a nose. Or you can use orange bell pepper and olive slices, but who wants to be slicing up olives when you could be enjoying you Easter cocktail plus chocolates?! Throw them on the plate and be done with it! Besides, they'll be too cute and your guests will probably feel too badly to eat them. Oh well, more for you later on! Yum!

Creamy Arrabiata

Completed dish

I could have sworn I already did a blog post on Arrabiata, because it is my absolute favourite sauce to make, and probably the most delicious sauce in my repertoire. I’ve searched the blog and can’t find it though, so I suppose there isn’t a blog on arrabiata already. Any Foodie worth their salt will tell you that “arrabiata” means “angry” in Italian. It’s spicy and includes some kind of various pork product, and that makes just about anything delicious, in my opinion. My recipe includes cream, but you could omit this if you want to.

This is one of those recipes that taste better the earlier on you make it. In my mind, when I make this sauce, I am the sort of Italian who lives in the country on a vineyard and wakes up at the crack of dawn to go inspect my grapes and tomatoes and basil. Then, I wander into my cellar where I make my own olives and cheese, and I check on those various items. Then, I start this sauce from my home-grown canned tomatoes and drink wine all day and make my own pasta.

Sauce after deglazing your pot

In reality, I use my mother’s canned tomatoes and buy olives from Sobey’s. But the notion is nice and when you taste this sauce, you’ll feel like maybe you are a little bit Italian, if you go way back in the family tree. Also, I do simmer this sauce for as long as I can before I serve it, so your house will smell like Italy, even if you live in a suburban neighbourhood in Canada. At least the neighbours will be jealy.com!

After adding the cream 

Start with a little olive oil in a pot. Take the pork product of your choosing (I like the spicy Italian sausage in the deli section) and chop that up and dump it in the pot. Add a chopped onion and sauté. Just when your onion is taking on a little colour, add a serious amount of garlic. Little salt and pepper, and sauté that just until you can smell the garlic. (This is a sensory dish. Do lots of smelling and waving of your hands as you make it, it adds to the Italian experience). Now for the fun part, which you can now watch on the video! Deglaze your pan with some red wine. If you are cooking for someone whom you wish to impress, this would be an optimal time to have them in the kitchen, because it gets wonderfully fragrant and you look like a professional chef. Pour about a cup of red wine into the pot and then stir with a wooden spoon to get all the delicious bits off the bottom of the pan. Allow the wine to reduce by half and then add your canned crushed tomatoes. San Marzano tomatoes are a great canned option if you do not live in Italy and grow your own. Add a little sugar (secret ingredient- tell no one), crushed red peppers flakes (to taste, but remember we are adding cream, so err on the side of heavy). Stir and cover, simmering for at least an hour, but three or more is better.

 

Just before you are ready to serve the pasta (I recommend penne), take your sauce off the heat and add about a cup or so of cream. Warm the sauce gently and taste. If it’s too spicy, add a little more cream. If it isn’t spicy enough, add more pepper flakes. Serve with fresh basil and grated Romano on top. Enjoy!

Whipped Cream and Other Delights

 

So I’ve had a delightful weekend, and I hope you did too. I was just given a beautiful coffee table book (read: quickest way to my heart) called “Edible Selby”, which was basically a culinary trip across the world which amazing food photography. Every page was an inspiration for The LadyGirls! I am so into edible flowers right now, and they were featured on practically every other page of this book. I think it’s my craving for spring or something, and I certainly hope I can find some for our Easter Dinner, because nothing says Easter like a gorgeous nasturtium salad!

On to my own cooking today. It’s a bit early for edible flowers up here in the frigid north, but strawberries were on sale (no doubt leftovers from various Valentine’s Day desserts) so I purchased some of those and decided to make a little pastry for myself as a treat today. I just wanted something pretty and simple, so I used store bought pastry, because we all know how I feel about actually creating baked goods. Any grocery bakery will have little sponge cakes or pastry shells, and I would definitely suggest taking advantage of this if you are not a baking mastermind. Especially if you serving multiple people. Imagine you created six perfect chocolate pastry shells for your six perfect dinner guests, only to have your dog snatch one off the counter while you serve the soup course? THE HORROR. (This was not a lesson in dog training- the lesson is make the baker’s dozen, just in case.)

Anyway. Strawberries are a classic match with whipped cream, and it’s slightly less overtly sexual than pairing them with dipped chocolate. (You know, just in case this is dinner party with your family and not a polyamorous lifestyle club.) Our new and exciting video post is how to make whipped cream (I apologize for the two parts- I am going to figure out how to edit videos soon enough) but here’s a quick run down:

• 1 cup of whipping cream
• 1 tsp vanilla
• A little confectioner’s sugar (if you insist on having your whipped cream taste like candy. I kind of enjoy the natural cream flavour, but I’m not judging you.)

Pour all ingredients in a cold bowl and whip! This is easier to do with a handheld mixer, but it can definitely be done with a whisk by hand. But I’m just thinking if you’re having a family dinner party, you probably have enough stress in your life without adding hand-whipping cream to it.

Enjoy a special treat on a normal Sunday, because why not? Life is short!