“Irish” Fish Chowder with Oat Scones a St. Patrick’s Day Celebration

Did I mention that I prepare my posts well in advance? Here’s proof!

I know I’m a (lot) late for St. Patrick’s Day, but perhaps you will bookmark it for next year or any time. The Friday before St. Patrick’s Day I saw a lovely post for Beef and Guinness Pie at my friend Karen’s Back Road Journal and even though I can’t tell you how tempting it was, I had to resist making it as we’d already had beef a few times that week and I usually like to keep it to once per week, maximum three times per month. So when she suggested we pop over to Colin Bofin’s blog, an actual Irish dude in Ireland, I was all over it! Colin prepares a Guinness Stew that has the most irresistible dumplings and I’m certain that his home has incredible aromas when he prepares this dish. Still having had too much beef that week, I started to wonder through Conor’s blog and I came across a lovely Irish Seafood Chowder and Scones. I couldn’t help but think that I had found my St. Patrick’s Day recipe. Thanks Conor, I’ll be stopping by your blog for inspiration again.

Colin made his own prawn stock from scratch (actually, they look more like our langoustines) but I remembered I had a bag of lobster carcass in my freezer and I knew I had the ingredients for my stock. At the time, we were still off eating fresh salmon because I wasn’t sure what the influenza implications were, so I used a tin of salmon instead. I also omitted the potato and cut down the carrot just because I’m still trying to reduce my carbs. The broth is a luxurious, creamy, velvety broth with much resemblance to the Provençal Fish Soup I made in October 2011; I cannot resist adding tomatoes and saffron to fish soup, it’s such a compelling flavour combination for my taste.

Don’t be fooled, there is an incredible amount of flavour in the carcass of a lobster, even if someone already ate all the good bits!

An incredible smooth, creamy fish velouté

A few chunks of seafood added to the centre spices up the soup and adds an incredible texture and flavour; the Shrimp was so sweet.

“Irish” Fish Chowder

Makes ~1.5 litres of stock

Ingredients:

• ~542 g lobster carcass (or you can use the actual beast with the meat). Use only larger bits of shell (the smaller one’s may jam up your blender) or wrap the entire carcass in cheese cloth to contain
• 260 g celeriac, chopped finely
• 250 g onion, chopped finely
• 160 g carrot, grated
• 2 bay leaves
• 4 cloves of garlic, smashed
• 1 tomato
• 200 g skinless, boneless canned salmon (or use fresh)
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 tsp saffron
• 2 L water
• sea salt to taste
• 1-2 tbsp canola oil
• 50 g per serving mixed seafood, such as shrimp, calamari, crab, whitefish, mussels and such

Directions:

1. Soak the saffron in 1/2 cup of white wine. Set aside.
2. Heat the canola oil in a large stock pot. Sauté the onions, garlic, carrot and celery root. Turn the heat down.
3. Add the lobster carcass, bay leaves, salmon and saffron wine and stir well.
4. Drain the oil or water off the salmon and add it to the pot.
5. Cover with 2 L of fresh cold water and turn the heat up.
6. Gently simmer for about 1 hour or until vegetables are soft and the broth is fragrant with the ingredients.
7. Strain the liquid into a large bowl with high sides.
8. Remove all the bits of shell from the strained vegetables. Return the vegetables to the broth and blend until smooth and creamy with a good heavy duty immersion blender. Strain through a fine sieve, reserving the pulp. Add cup of the strained soup to the pulp and blend again with the immersion blender, you will be surprised how much more of this pulp can be blended down fine enough to be pushed through the sieve. Press through the fine sieve again into the reserved strained soup. Return this liquid to the soup pot and begin to boil it down to reduce to about 1.5 L. What you want to end up with is a thick, flavourful chowder.
9. When you have the consistency you want, add the mixed seafood (about 50 g per person) and cook through. Ladle the hot chowder into lovely rimmed bowls and pile 50 g of mixed seafood into the centre of each bowl, serve with warm oat scones and butter (pop over to Colin’s blog for the scone recipe).

The oat scones were wonderful with a small pat of butter oozily melting into them.

The oat scones had more texture than a regular scone and was perfect for dipping into the soup.

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Cheese Danish with Cottage Cheese Dough

You probably recall that I blogged about my lovely friend Zsuzsa’s cottage cheese dough here, and I knew I wanted to try it in the shape of a Danish. It makes a wonderfully flaky pastry and paired with the sweetened creamed leftover cottage cheese I thought I had another winner, but I will admit defeat when I have to; the dough, although very flaky is not a ‘light’ as I had hoped and even though these little pinwheel Danishes are not huge (about 10 cm or 4 inches in diametre) they were very filling, too filling. I loved the creamed cottage cheese filling but I think I’ll try the traditional flaky butter pastry next time. I made only two of these beauties making the remaining dough into the small rugelach the dough was intended for.

Not as light and flaky as I thought.

Please see Zsusza’s recipe here.

Makes 18 small Rugelach, and 2 cottage cheese Danishes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup small-curd cottage cheese (I used fat free)
• 1 cup unsifted flour
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces

Directions:

1. Spoon the cottage cheese into a sieve over a bowl lined with a unbleached coffee filter; drain for at least 2 hours, or overnight
2. Remove 1/2 cup of the cheese for the dough; reserve the rest for the creamed cottage cheese filling.
3. Pulse the flour and salt just to combine in a food processor (this is why you need not sift it). Add the butter to the flour pulsing on and off until the butter seems to disappear into the mixture.
4. Add the cottage cheese in bits to the mixture pulsing to combine until it becomes a relatively loose dough ball.
5. Divide the dough into four equal portions and shape each into a flat disc and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Rugelach Ingredients:

• 1 batch of cottage cheese dough
• 1/4 cup strained apricot jam
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 cup finely chopped almonds
• 1 egg yolk for glazing

Rugelach Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F
2. Once the dough is refrigerated and cooled, lightly flour your rolling area. Roll each portion into a circle about 25 cm or 8 inches in diameter. Cut into 6ths like a pie.
3. Combine the chopped almonds with 2 tbsp sugar.
4. Brush the dough with 1/4 of the apricot jam, sprinkle 1/4 of the almond sugar mixture on top. Starting with the wide end, roll each 6th into a little crescent, pinch the ends a bit and turn into each other. Brush with the whisked egg yolk.
5. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper (you will thank me because the jam will melt out and make a darn mess on your baking sheet). Bake 20-25 minutes until golden. store in an air tight container. These freeze particularly well. Serve either warm or at room temperature.

Creamed Cottage Cheese Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup of the reserved cottage cheese
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp lemon zest
• 1/2 tsp pure vanilla
• 1 egg yolk

Danish Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F
2. In the container for the immersion blender, add the cottage cheese, vanilla and sugar and blend until smooth. Add the egg yolk and blend well. Fold in the lemon zest. Refrigerate.
3. Once the dough is refrigerated and cooled, lightly flour your rolling area. Roll two small portions into a circle about 10 cm or 4 inches in diameter. Cut as per the illustration. Add half the creamed cottage cheese to the centre and fold up one corner from each cut to the centre and pinch to seal.
   
   

   You could do squares instead, I find it easier to roll a circle and there is no waste.

4. Brush the dough with 1/4 of the apricot jam, sprinkle 1/4 of the almond sugar mixture on top. Starting with the wide end, roll each 6th into a little crescent, pinch the ends a bit and turn into each other. Brush with the whisked egg yolk.
5. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Bake 20-25 minutes until golden. Store in an air tight container. These freeze particularly well. Serve either warm or at room temperature.

They were very pretty though

The creamed cottage cheese was delicately sweet.

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Apple Cider Tea Biscuits

Happy birthday to my brother!
and Happy April Fool’s Day to the rest of you!
This is a joke I played on my friend Kim a couple of years ago. A hundred parking tickets.

We had our nephew Brian and his GF over for dinner some time ago, and I cooked a roast pork tenderloin dish that I hadn’t made in a very long time (sadly, I didn’t take any photos and now I know better than to post a recipe without photos , so I’ll have to make it again in the near future). The pork was dressed in a flavourful Apple Cider and Dijon Mustard gravy for which I had to buy fresh Apple Cider. In my area, fresh Apple Cider is sold in 500 mL or larger and because I only needed a couple of cups of the stuff, I bought the 500 mL. So now I had about 4 cups left over. Now we could have drank it, because it was fresh and delicious, but I prefer to eat my fruit rather than drink it so I was left with the dilemma of what to do with all the cider.

I searched high and low and came across some lovely options but not practical; we don’t eat that much cake so a coffee cake was out of the question, we don’t usually eat that many quick breads, so that was out of the question, and the muffin recipes I found had too much oil in them and therefore quite unhealthy. What to do?

It was in my trusty Jean Paré’s, Company’s Coming, Muffins & More cookbook I found the solution: Tea Biscuits! Now I modified the recipe to include the Apple Cider which I reduced by less than 1/4 of its original volume and these scones did not disappoint; they were soft, buttery and had a very distinct apple cider flavour. This would be a lovely scone to serve during Autumn while you watch the leaves gently fall from the trees with a warm fire burning in the hearth a cup of tea and a couple of scones. Soon enough!

A little tangy from the concentrated flavour of the cider.

Makes about 10 good size tea biscuits

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp ground cloves
• 1/2 cup unsalted cold butter, cut into small bits
• 1/4 cup sultana raisins
• 4 cups apple cider
• 2-3 tbsp milk or yogurt for brushing the tops.

Directions:

1. Reduce the apple cider to about 1 cup of concentrated liquid by slowly boiling it off (takes about 40-50 minutes).
2. Pre-heat the oven to 450°F (232°C).
3. In a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, cream of tartar and spices until well mixed.
4. Slowly drop in the cold butter while pulsing and blend until is it a coarse mix.
5. Transfer this mix into another bowl, add the raisins and mix well to coat the raisins with the floury mixture.
6. Add the cider all at once to the flour, and mix well with a wooden spoon mix until it is a soft ball of dough. (Note this is a slightly softer ball of dough than a tea biscuit usually is).
7. Transfer to a floured board and knead a couple of times (not enough to melt the butter with the heat of your hands).
8. Roll out the dough to about 2 cm (~3/4″) thick and cut with a triangular cookie cutter. Repeat until the dough is completely used.
9. Place on a parchment lined cookie sheet and brush tops with the yogurt or milk (for a beautiful shine) and bake 10-12 minutes until golden. You’ll need to watch the bottoms because the natural colour of these biscuits are more golden and you will only be able to tell how far along they are by looking at the bottoms.
10. Cool slightly on a wire rack and serve with unsalted butter and preserves.
11. Enjoy.

Please take one, or even two.
Would you care for tea or coffee with that?

Melt in you mouth scones, served warm with unsalted butter.

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My Easter Menu

I just noticed that WordPress is adding advertising into my content in links which are not mine. How to tell the difference is that my links have a dotted underline and the ad links are solid and dotted together. Not cool at all.

Last week I was blown-away flattered by my Hungarian friend Zsuzsa (Zsuzsa is in the kitchen) when she invited me to participate in a blogging event to post your Easter Menu! You can read about Zsuzsa’s Easter here; she grew up very close to where my Mom grew up in Budapest. It’s really just a round up of past post recipes and a little bit about your Easter memories. How could I say no?  Thank you Zsuzsa, I would be honoured. Zsuzsa is taking part with the following Hungarian ladies: The author of this event, Éva from Takarekos Konyha (this blog is in Hungarian) and Elizabeth from Food and Thrift.

Growing up, Easter was always about bunnies for me. Yes, we went to church and all that but let’s be honest, it was about the bunnies! At eight years old, my very first pet bunny was an albino Dutch whom we called Boom Boom (he was called Boom Boom because he stomped his hind feet loudly). Sadly good old Boom Boom only lasted 3 years, but he made such an impression on me that I’ve only ever had bunnies as pets! I cried so much when he died that my Dad swore he would never let me have another pet because losing them made me too sad and he just couldn’t bear it. I was sixteen before I was permitted to have Boon, another albino Dutch but smaller than Boom Boom (no, we weren’t very imaginative with the names!). But I digress, back to Easter.

Mom and Dad in Edmonton with the Chrysler Tour in 1960

You already know that my Dad was a Puppeteer (and if you don’t, you can read about it here) and we had a family business with the puppet shows. Easter was a big time for us, these holidays meant that the malls, schools (note that this link is NOT mine) and some companies needed entertainment for their events and what’s not to like about a puppet show? So many of our Easters were on the road with the show. In fact, Boom Boom was first adopted because my Dad needed a live bunny for the show (he was the star, don’t worry, it was all very humane).

Believe it or not, the Show was about Bunnies.

And there were singing Eggs too

But Easter also had a serious side: FOOD! Chocolates, coloured eggs and of course, ham. I don’t have many of the recipes that we had at Easter but I’ve gathered a bunch I am going to have this weekend when we have JTs family for Easter Sunday lunch. I hope you enjoy them.

My Mom only used Canada Grade A Large size eggs

Hors D’œuvres were usually Deviled Eggs (here and here) and French Salad (Francia Saláta). I don’t have a post about Francia Saláta, but you can see Zsuzsa’s recipe here (my Mom never put potatoes in her version). I may do a new hors d’œuvres recipe I saw on my friend Lorraine’s blog of her recent trip to Amman, Jordan. It involves cheese and phyllo pastry, that’s all I can give you!

A wonderful addition to any Easter table

We usually had an Easter kalács (Zsuzsa made a gorgeous one here) but I’m making John’s Easter Cheese Bread instead.

The most succulent tenderloin ever

We’ve decided to go nontraditional and have a beef tenderloin for lunch. This recipe is my favourite way to serve this special cut of meat.

The only place you’ll miss the potatoes is on your waist-line!

I’m going to serve it with my traditional Celeriac Cauliflower Mash. And a wonderful lemony Asparagus from my friend Greg’s Rufus’ Guide.

It’s a symphony of colours

And a little tangy German Purple Cabbage Slaw.

Now if you had any room for dessert, I’m going to make Charle’s Sweedish Apple Cake (from Five Euro Food), which totally looks like the perfect ending to a rich and heavy meal. It’s really just all apples and then there’s more apples. The only flour in this is the use of the breadcrumbs as the base, thickener and likely adds a little texture. I love that I can make it sugar free too, since I have a diabetic and a hypo-glycemic in the house — I like to make only one dessert that everyone can enjoy and not make the person feel odd that they have something else.

I may not be able to comment on your blogs for the next few days but I’ll definitely read up when I get back into civilization with internet. Thank you for reading my blog and leaving comments, you really, really make my day. Thank you to every one of the blogs I read, you provide me with the inspiration for my blog and it really wouldn’t be the same without you!

Happy Easter to All!

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Sweet Onion Confit Focaccia

Spring is in the air and popping out of the ground!

This past weekend we enjoyed +11°C and it seems that the vegetation also enjoyed the warming temperatures! This lovely little hyacinth decided it had enough with winter and popped right up! There is still about ten inches of snow beside it but we’re hoping it will melt in the next few days.

Some time ago, my dear friend Charles (remember when we met in Paris last year?) made this wonderful Caramelized Onion Fakaccia and it got me thinking about the last time I made Focaccia in June 2012! Suffice it to say, we’ve gone long enough without this wonderfully flavourful Italian bread. Thank you Charles, again for the inspiration.

This is a recipe I diligently copied down in nineties in my late twenties from one of the first food shows I really got into: Biba’s Italian Kitchen. She had such a lovely accent and demeanor and I was instantly smitten with the show. I have been making this focaccia bread since then and it’s always been delicious. Today I share the same recipe but adding Charle’s beautiful inspiration for the caramelized onion. Once again, a hideous night-time photo but don’t let that fool you, it’s delicious!

The onion caramelizes further in baking the focaccia

Adapted from Biba’s Trattoria Cooking and Charles’ Five Euro Food Fakaccia

Makes one 12″ x 18″ sheet of focaccia

Sponge Ingredients:

• 1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 tsp quick rising dry yeast dissolved in 1/2 cup lukewarm water

Directions:

1. Prepare the sponge by mixing the flour and yeast water together and knead for 3-4 minutes by machine. You want the sponge a lot softer and stickier than a normal bread dough.
2. Allow to rise in a bowl wrapped tightly with plastic wrap for 2-3 hours (I proofed my sponge in the fridge overnight, cover lightly in olive oil).

Focaccia Ingredients second rising:

• 2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 4 1/2 tsp quick rising dry yeast dissolved in 1 cup lukewarm water
• 1/2 cup sweet onion confit, please click here for the recipe
• 3 tbsp EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil(, plus extra for drizzling
• 1 tsp salt

Directions:

1. If you have proofed your sponge in the fridge like I did, you will need to allow it to come to room temperature.
2. Combine all of the ingredients for the second rising in your mixing bowl with a dough hook attachment. Add the sponge and kneed energetically for about 5-7 minutes. After kneading, the dough should be smooth and pliable.
3. Cover with a light drizzle of olive oil and tightly wrapped plastic wrap. Allow to rise in a warm, draft-free place for 2 hours.
4. Preheat oven to 450°F for 30 minutes before baking. Lightly oil a 10″ x 14″ cookie sheet and roll out the foccacia until it is about 1/2″ thick or to the edges. Dimple with your fingers. Spread the sweet onion confit over the entire surface. Bake until focaccia is golden in colour.
5. Serve warm with your best EVOO and balsamic vinegar.

Suggested uses:

• Base for quick pizza.
• Sandwich bread.
• Croutons for soup.
• Croutons for stuffing.
• Vehicle for dips.

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Rugelach — the best cottage cheese dough EVER

My lovely friend Zsuzsa blogged about this cottage cheese dough and I knew I had to try it. It truly makes a wonderfully flaky pastry and I encourage you to try it. I made these with almonds as a friend’s daughter is allergic to walnuts and it was incredible. I have another tub of cottage cheese in the fridge waiting to be made into another batch. By the way, I used fat free cottage cheese and it worked out remarkably. I also made half of the dough.

Rugelach

Please see Zsusza’s recipe here.

Better than Croissant dough, because it’s not that bad for you

Makes 24 small Rugelach

Ingredients:

• 1 cup small-curd cottage cheese (I used fat free)
• 1 cup unsifted flour
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch pieces

Directions:

1. Spoon the cottage cheese into a sieve over a bowl lined with a unbleached coffee filter; drain for at least 2 hours, or overnight
2. Remove 1/2 cup of the cheese for the dough; reserve the rest for another use.
3. Pulse the flour and salt just to combine in a food processor (this is why you need not sift it). Add the butter to the flour pulsing on and off until the butter seems to disappear into the mixture.
4. Add the cottage cheese in bits to the mixture pulsing to combine until it becomes a relatively loose dough ball.
5. Divide the dough into four equal portions and shape each into a flat disc and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

Rugelach Ingredients:

• 1 batch of cottage cheese dough
• 1/4 cup strained apricot jam
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 cup finely chopped almonds
• 1 egg yolk for glazing

Rugelach Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350°F
2. Once the dough is refrigerated and cooled, lightly flour your rolling area. Roll each portion into a circle about 25 cm or 8 inches in diameter. Cut into 6ths like a pie.
3. Combine the chopped almonds with 2 tbsp sugar.
4. Brush the dough with 1/4 of the apricot jam, sprinkle 1/4 of the almond sugar mixture on top. Starting with the wide end, roll each 6th into a little crescent, pinch the ends a bit and turn into each other. Brush with the whisked egg yolk.
5. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper (you will thank me because the jam will melt out and make a darn mess on your baking sheet). Bake 20-25 minutes until golded. store in an air tight container. These freeze particularly well. Serve either warm or at room temperature.

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Ebelskivers! Now that I have your attention, please read on

It’s not a swear word. I swear. It just sounds like one. “What the Ebelskiver were you thinking?” or “Where in the ebelskiver were you for two and half hours?” You see? But I can assure you, it’s much more delicious than a swear word. It’s actually a little spherical pancake! I know you’ve seen this over at my friend Barb’s when she posted about it last May but I just had to write about my experience because this pan was her wonderful, thoughtful Christmas present to me!

My first attempt was half of Barb’s recipe for the ebelskivers was Christmas day, a few hours after I brought it home and I kept them simple. But as you can see by my deformed little ‘balls’, it takes some skill to be able to prepare them as perfect little balls of joy. I had some practicing to do.

First attempt Christmas Morning

Still no where near perfect, my second attempt I added blue berries to the batter. Still some practicing to do before I could serve them to guests.

Second attempt when we returned from NOTL. Poor JT had to be the guinea pig for the second batch too. A very sunny day indeed!

After practice, I was able to make more perfect little balls of joy.

Batch numbers 3, 4 and 5 were much better. In fact, most of them turned out very well. And I had the opportunity to experiment with some additional flavours. I did cruise the net to see other recipes and they varied quite a bit, but since I had some experience with Barb’s lovely recipe, I decided to stick to it, with minor modifications. I found this recipe on squidoo and the batter was much thicker (if you scroll down, there is a video of a young lady successfully making ebelskivers one Christmas Eve), so I decided to add a bit more flour to Barb’s version to thicken it up. They were much easier to flip or turn without the batter running out from the centre of the ebelskiver.

Brown sugar, cinnamon and butter are swirled into the batter

If you pile them while they are hot, you will cause indentations. Mind you, I doubt your tummy will care either way.

A little twist Ham, Cheese and Dijon but still breakfast food

Ebelskivers

Original recipe from Barb at Profiteroles and Ponytails

Each batch makes about 24 ebelskivers, I divided the batter into two portions for the ham, cheese and cinnamon bun versions. If you wish to make the entire batch for one flavour, double the flavour ingredients but not the basic batter.

Basic Batter Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1-½ teaspoons sugar
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 2 large eggs, separated
• 1 cup milk
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
• ½ tsp pure vanilla extract (omit for savory ebelskivers)

Directions:

• In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt, set aside.
• In a small bowl, lightly whisk the egg yolks, then whisk in the milk, melted butter and vanilla extract (if using). Add the yolk mixture to the flour mixture and, using a wooden spoon, stir until well blended. The batter will be lumpy.
• In a clean bowl, using an electric mixer on high speed, beat the egg whites until stiff, but not dry, peaks form. Using a spatula, fold about one-third of the egg whites into the batter to lighten it, then fold in the rest just until no white streaks remain.
• Use the batter right away.

Ham, Cheese and Dijon Ebelskiver Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1/2 finely diced ham
• 1/2 cup old cheddar, shredded

Directions:

• For the savoury Ebelskiver, whisk in the Dijon and then gently fold in the diced Ham and cheddar cheese, cook using your lovely ebelskiver pan.

Cinnamon Bun Ebelskiver Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp unsalted butter, melted
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 40 g chopped walnuts

Directions:

• Mix the brown sugar, butter and cinnamon well. Fold in the walnuts into the basic ebelskiver batter, then drizzle in the brown sugar mix into the batter and fold gently. Since the batter is quite cold, it will seize the butter/sugar mixture allowing you to fold in the swirls. You don’t want to entirely incorporate the butter/sugar mixture, you want swirls throughout the batter. Continue until you have used up all of the mixture.

Ebelskiver cooking directions:

1. Spray the ebelskiver pan with a good squirt of non-stick spray and place over medium heat. Add about 1/4 cup batter to each round as soon as the pan is quite hot. Maintain the heat at medium, you don’t want to burn the ebelskiver edges before the insides get a chance to cook.
2. Cook until the bottoms of the pancakes are lightly browned and crisp, 3-5 minutes. Using a fork, lightly push the ebelskiver until it entirely turns around in the pan and the uncooked portion is now facing the bottom.
3. Transfer the finished pancakes to a platter and keep warm in the oven while you repeat to finish the batter.
4. Serving suggestions: dust the warm pancakes with the confectioners’ sugar and serve right away. Or serve with warmed maple syrup and fruit.

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Naan Pizza with Goats Cheese, Prosciutto and Sun-dried Tomatoes and Spinach

I have a confession to make: I’m in love and it’s not JT. It’s really not as bad as it sounds, my love affair is with a certain Indian. OK. I’ll ‘fess up, it’s Naan. There. I’m in love with Naan. The bread, silly! I’m embarrassed to admit how many times I’ve made this recipe but suffice it to say it’s double digits! About the same time that Maria over at a-boleyn live journal made our delicious naan recipe into a gorgeous pizza, I had the same idea (yes, I blog well in advance!). So on the day the world should have ended (again) I made a naan pizza for dinner. What a way to go!

It’s basically whatever you have in the fridge, our ingredients were goats cheese infused with garlic and EVOO, torn prosciutto, sun-dried tomatoes in EVOO and chopped spinach topped with shaved parmesan cheese. What more can you want?

Why Naan? I usually like my pizza crust super thin and crispy, what the naan brought to the table (pardon the pun) is a bit more bite and a lot of chewiness. Delicious chewy goodness. Need. I. Say. More. ?.

A slightly chewy crust made delicious by garlic infused goats cheese

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Gingerbread Pancakes

What did you do? We celebrated at our favourite French restaurant and then stopped in at a party at Kim’s (neighbour, boss, friend) place. I had had the 24 hour stomach bug the day before, so I was a little tentative to party, but it all worked out in the end.

Did you make any resolutions? I evaluated my resolution from last year and by George I did OK. I resolved to use fewer zip lock baggies and I DID! I am using reusable containers instead, mostly glass but for the freezer I still use plastic. So what’s my resolution this year? I’m going to work out more regularly even though I tend to be good about it, I will resolve to go to the gym even when I don’t feel like it. Did you know it takes 21 days of repetition to become a habit? So all I have to do is work out for 21 days and I won’t have a choice. Hmmm.

As most of you have seen by my comments, Christmas was a bit of a wash for my side of the family; my brother’s kids came down with the stomach flu and Christmas Eve dinner was cancelled. That was a real bummer and the kids felt so terrible, so I told them we would recreate Christmas dinner when they all felt better in January. JT stepped out in the morning and bought us a Seafood feast we were going to enjoy instead of a traditional Christmas turkey dinner. Late afternoon we popped over to Barb‘s for some Christmas cheer and they had a gorgeous Charcuterie spread that was so moreish, we couldn’t stop eating. And then of course, we weren’t hungry for our seafood feast. It went back into the freezer and we’ll enjoy it another time!

Santa was very good to me this year and it was extra special because I participated in Charles’ Secret Santa. My not-so-secret Santa was Charlie over at Hotly Spiced. She sent along the greatest kitchen gadgets made by a 100 year old English company Tala which is very cool because it’s Taylor and Law! There was a great retro looking sifter and a really cool measuring cup and Charlie also added a beautiful Christmas ornament and the cutest festive napkins! Little did she know I’m a bit of a cocktail napkin collector! All much appreciated and already put to excellent use. Thank you Charlie.

We’re still in holiday mode over at Kitcheninspirations and we made gingerbread pancakes that were just so yummy I had to sneak in one more holiday recipe. Remember the fluffiest buttermilk pancakes I made on Thanksgiving weekend at my brother’s cottage? Well, I reinvented them into gingerbread pancakes.

Festive Gingerbread Pancakes

Makes 5 pancakes 10cm (4.5in) in diametre

Ingredients:

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup milk
• 1 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 nonstick cooking spray
• 1 teaspoon ginger
• 1 teaspoon all spice
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg

Directions:

1. In a large bowl or Tupperware container for travel, sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, sugar, spices and salt. Set aside.
2. Separate egg yolk from egg white and beat egg white and cream of tartar on high speed until stiff peaks form but not dry.
3. Beat the egg yolk until light yellow in colour and thick, add milk, vanilla and melted butter and beat until smooth on a slow speed. (For this small quantity, I find my immersion blender with whisk attachment a perfect size for both egg white and egg yolk).
4. Fold in flour mixture, but don’t over mix as we don’t want the glutens activated.
5. Add 1/3 of the egg white to the batter and mix together gently then fold in the remaining egg white carefully, do not over mix!
6. Spray your skillet with non-stick spray set to medium temperature (or 350°F).
7. Drop about 1/3 cup of batter on pan for each pancake and spread out to about 4-5″ and cook until you see a few bubbles on the surface of the batter. Flip your pancakes and cook for about another 1-2 minutes.
8. Keep warm until you have made all the pancakes and serve warm with butter, maple syrup!

The coolest retro cooking tools

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Indian Dinner Party: Naan

I have searched high and low for a good Naan recipe and much to my chagrin, I have never found one that was quite what I was looking for. I thought I had found them on occasion, but not quite. That is, until now. I found the Evil Shananigans and it seems that the author Kelly was in the same spot I had been in for so many years. Thank goodness that Kelly did all the work and came up with this fabulous recipe. The only thing I did was reduce the quantity as I didn’t need quite as many and I added 1 level tablespoon of milk powder. Why milk powder you ask? I read somewhere that it adds to the elasticity of the dough and I wanted a chewy dough and it worked wonders! Quite possibly the best Naan ever, I kid you not.

I used an inverted cast iron dutch oven in my gas BBQ to try to replicate the tandoor oven, and by George, I think I got it! The baking method really allowed the dough to bake slowly over indirect heat, maintaining the elasticity and also allowing some parts to crisp up. Dare I say, genius? I hope you’ll bring me down to earth, so I don’t get too comfortable tooting my own horn, even if it is once in a while.

Chewy and crispy at the same time

Naan

Makes 4 109 g servings

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp dry active yeast
• 3/4 cup milk, heated to 110F
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp milk powder

Directions:

1. Warm the milk to about 44° C or 110° F and dissolve the yeast and sugar. Allow to bubble up (about 5 minutes).
2. Combine the flour, milk powder and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer and add the activated yeast. Kneed for 5 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic (dough is rather tacky).
3. Cover with plastic wrap and allow to rest for two hours in a warm place.
4. Once rested, turn out the dough and divide into four equal portions (I measured mine to be about 109 g each). Make each portion into a ball and allow to rest 30 minutes.
5. Roll out each ball into thin flat sheets (you’ll need a little flour so it doesn’t stick (15 cm x 30 cm) and then cover with a towel and allow to rest another 30 minutes. You can rub a little olive oil on top so it doesn’t dry out.
6. Pre-heat your BBQ with an inverted cast iron dutch oven to the highest temperature. (I used an inverted cast pan to replicate the tandoor oven).
7. One by one, drape each naan sheet over the ‘oven’ and bake until golden and slightly puffy (don’t worry, they will deflate).
8. Keep warm in parchment wrapped in foil in an oven or serve immediately.

The most delicious naan yet

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