Our most recent LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) magazine had an article on Bourbon, so naturally I was inspired to create two small chewable desserts and one liquid dessert for a tapas meal I had a couple of weeks ago with our good friends Rae and Mon.

We began with the Bourbon Triffle, then had the Bourbon Chocolate Mousse in a Chocolate cup and ended with a small shot of Bourbon. The Bourbon Mousse recipe follows. It originate from the LCBO but unfortunately it is not yet posted (when it does, I will link it). I have modified and reduced the recipe to make it more healthy and of course, a quantity reduction since I only needed a very small amount.

Chocolate Bourbon Mousse (modified for smaller quantities)

• 1 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp bourbon
• 2 oz. semi sweet chocolate
• 1/2 chup 35% cream chilled
• 1/2 egg white

1. Combine sugar and bourbon in a small saucepan and cook until sugar is dissolved (about 3 minutes). Set aside.
2. Melt chocolate, add about 1 tsp cream. Stir in bourbon sugar mixture. Allow to cool completeley, about 20 minutes.
3. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. In another bowl, beat cream until firm.
4. Fold egg whites and cream into chocolate mixture.
5. Serve in chocolate cups (as shown) or in decorate glasses.
6. Freeze remainder in a small container and serve at your next party as bourbon ice cream (this was even better than the mousse!!!)

Enjoy!

This year we had to close the cottage down a bit early because of weekend obligations. It’s never fun but we’ve got it down to a science so it generally goes smoothly.

Because it’s a work weekend, I try to make most of the food easy and fast. For the first time in months, we were able to sneak away from work early, around 2ish, which means we’re on the road by 3! Of course, the gods of traffic hate us, and we barely made it up in four hours!!! Should be a 3.25 hour trip. But we made it.

I made an asparagus soup the night before. I generally keep a baggy of asparagus ends in the freezer and take out as needed. Because they are usually the end you discard anyway, it’s basically free. For this soup, you will need more than you think because a lot of it is discarded after it’s run through a fine sieve (it’s mostly the woody parts, but they are still quite tasty.

Creamed Asparagus Soup (serves 2 as main course or 4 as small cups)

• 2 cups asparagus stems (I generally use the ends which I have snapped off over the summer months and frozen)
• 1-2 cups low sodium chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
• 1/2 sweet onion, chopped
• 1-2 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 slices prosciutto
• 2 thinly sliced crusty bread
• 1/4 cup grated gruyère

1. Thinly slice prosciutto and fry until crispy in a little oil (1 tsp)
2. Drain crispy prosciutto and set aside.
3. Using about 1-3 tsp olive oil, rub both sides of bread and toast until crispy. Set aside.
4. Using 1 tbsp olive oil, sweat out the onions until soft, add the asparagus stems which have been cut into about 1 inch lengths.
5. Add 1 cup chicken stock and cook until the asparagus is very soft.
6. Using an immersion blender, blend until smooth (you will need a good motor because the woody stems may cause problems).
7. Once you have puréed the soup, ladle into a fine sieve and press through using the back of your ladle (do not skip this step, the woodiness of the stems will make this soup inedible if you don’t strain it!). Add more stock until desired consistency has been achieved.
8. While keeping soup warm, sprinkle the gruyère evenly onto one side of each toast. Place under broiler for a minute until cheese is bubbling.
9. Ladle soup into two bowls, gently top with the gruyère toast and sprinkle with the prosciuto crisps. Serve hot
10. Enjoy!

Check out the photos from the weekend.

Adapted from Epicurious.com

I love these light cake-like cookies on their own, or presented as a lovely dessert, with sauces and fruit. I reduced the sugar and made minor changes to the directions. Hope you like them.

Makes 24 Madeleines

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly grated lemon zest
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup almond flour (finely ground blanched almonds)
• 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly

Directions

1. Pre heat oven to 375°F.
2. With about 2 tbsp additional butter, generously butter Madeleine pan and put it into the freezer (mine is aluminum so it cools quickly).
3. Melt butter in the microwave or small saucepan. Set aside to cool.
4. Put about 2 tbsp of the melted butter in a frying pan and brown the almond flour (carefully, this burns quickly). Set aside to cool.
5. In a bowl with an electric mixer beat the whole eggs with the granulated sugar until the mixture is thick and pale and forms a ribbon when the beaters are lifted (15-20 minutes).
6. Beat in the almond extract and the zest.
7. Sift in the flour in 4 batches over the mixture, folding it in gently after each addition.
8. With a fork, press the browned almond flour so that it becomes mealy and doesn’t lump
9. Fold the almond flour into the batter.
10. Put about 1 cup of the batter into the cooled melted butter and incorporate well.
11. Gently fold this butter-batter mixture into the remaining batter.
12. Spoon the batter into twenty-four 3- by 2-inch cooled and buttered Madeleine molds and bake the Madeleines in the lower third of a preheated 375°F oven for 10 minutes, or until the edges are golden.
13. Turn the Madeleines out on a rack, let them cool.
14. Once cooled, Madeleines freeze well.

Today is my birthday.

A very good friend has decided to go on the Bernstein diet (yes, that is 5 referrals for me!) and we were having them over for brunch this past Sunday to celebrate our July birthdays. I had to come up with a brunch that was Bernstein friendly and JT did one for the men. I decided that a vegetable frittata on a bed of greens would do the trick (Serves 2: 8 egg whites whipped until frothy, 4 oz sautéed vegetables on a bed of greens with a lemon garlic Dijon dressing – it was very tasty!) For dessert I whipped up a treat of frozen strawberries. The water tends to float to the bottom of the mold creating a lovely jewel-like top when plated. I prepared the same dessert for the men, but instead of egg whites, I had a 1/2 cup of whipping cream left over from the Frozen Lemon Mousse, so I used it (I actually got 4 whipped cream treats out of that batch!)

Frozen Strawberry Dessert

Frozen Strawberry Dessert

Serves 2

• 7 fresh ripe strawberries
• 2 egg whites
• 2-3 mint leaves

1. Purée 4 of the strawberries until smooth.
2. Chop one of the remaining berries into small pieces.
3. Whip the egg white until firm.
4. Fold into the strawberry purée and fold in the remaining berry pieces.
5. Scoop into a flexible mold and freeze overnight.
6. About 1/2-1 hour before serving, remove from freezer and put into the fridge.
7. Garnish with mint and the whole berry.

I have a friend from KPMG days, actually from Peat Marwick days whom I have been meeting for lunch every quarter. Everytime we meet, we alway say we should get together as couples, but it never happened, until now. They kindly invited us for dinner on Saturday evening, for which our contribution was a Frozen Lemon Mousse (originally from Martha Stewart, but I made a slightly healthier version).

Frozen Lemon Mousse

Ingredients:

• 2 large eggs separated
• Pinch of cream of tartar
• rind of 2 fresh lemons
• Juice of 2 fresh lemons
• 1/4 cup superfine sugar
• 1/2 whipping cream
• 1 cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1/4 unsweetened coconut
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup melted unsalted butter
• Strawberries, mint and lemon zest as garish

1. Combine melted butter, graham cracker crumbs, coconut and brown sugar until moist.
2. Press into the bottom of an 8″ spring form pan.
3. Bake for 10 minutes on 350°F and allow to cool completely.
4. Warm the juice of two lemons and the sugar in the top of a double boiler, until sugar has melted completely.
5. Slightly beat the egg yolks and pour a little of the warm lemon juice to bring up to temperature. Add remaining egg mixter to lemon juice and return to double boiler, stir until thickened (about 2 minutes).
6. Add lemon rind and allow to cool completely.
7. Whip egg whites until firm (adding a pinch of cream of tartar).
8. Whip whipping cream until firm.
9. Fold both whipped egg whites and whipping cream into the lemon curd mixture until smooth.
10. Pour into the cooled spring-form pan with the graham cracker crust.
11. Freeze until solid. About 1/2 hour before serving, remove from freezer and refrigerate so it is easier to cut into and eat.
12. Enjoy!

This is my last attempt at growing vegetables. Let me reminisce for a moment.

The first summer in this house, I turned the garden into a vegetable garden  (which later became our cocktail lounge and then the addition) and planted tomatoes, peppers and zuchinni. No sun, no success.

The following year, during the winter, I bought a kit to germinate seeds in my back room under fluorescent lighting. The mice ate all the plants. We got rid of the mice. That summer, I bought cherry tomatoes to plant in containers in the back. I figured I could move them around to follow the sun. No such luck.

I gave up on tomatoes for a while and decided to plant lettuces in containers just outside the living room. I generally got one batch of lettuce out of it and it was tasteless. The slugs got more of a meal than I.

Then there was the celery; when we were in Europe last year, my Aunt Agi had celery growing in her garden, so I thought, if she can do it… my celery was not that much celery as more shrubbery.

So here I am in 2009 and decided on my last ditch attempt at container gardening with tomato plants on the garage roof (it gets sun from around 10-sunset). JT and I hoisted up 3 full containers of soil (Yes full. Not well thought out) I generally save my soil with last year’s roots over the winter so it composts. Then I mix plant food for the current year and plant. Usually works out well, when the pots are on the ground. Except that they are quite heavy. Our neighbours came over because they heard us moaning as I lifted from the ground and JT pulled them up with rope. The garage roof is their new home forever, needless to say.

I planted three types of tomatoes, hoping to have bounties for salad all summer long. We have harvested 3 yellow cherry tomatoes so far. Not so bountiful, but at least they are producing.

Last Thursday was JTs birthday, we won’t say how old he is, but suffice it to say that I am significantly younger! We decided to stay in for dinner and have our dinner out on Saturday at Le Select Bistro, when things are not so hectic as a weekday. JT decided he wanted his no knead pizza (actually, it’s Jim Lahey’s), so he made his own birthday dinner. But I was able to make him a little birthday cake while he was away earlier in the week.

The pizza had incredible taste, but one thing I would do differently is to add the cheese nearer to the end (I have amended my recipe here), with only about one minute remaining for baking, that way, the cheese doesn’t break down entirely. It still had great taste.

Onion Confit, Poached Pear, Gorgonzola, Spinach and Arugula Salad

Makes one 16 inch pizza

• 1 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface (need about 1/2 cup more!)
• Coarse salt
• 1/8 teaspoon active dry yeast
• 3-4 oz Gorgonzola broken into small bits
• 2 pears, pealed and seeded
• 2 cups red wine
• 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
• 1/4 cup onion confit (see recipe here)
• Handful of spinach and arugula, washed

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, 1/8 teaspoon salt, yeast, and 1/2 cup water. Stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and rough. Let dough rest in a warm place (about 72 degrees) until doubled in volume, about 3 hours.
2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and cover with a clean, damp kitchen towel. Let stand until doubled in size, 30 minutes to 1 hour.
3. Peel and seed pears, cut in half. Place into a small saucepan and cover with red wine and the balsamic vinegar and poach until soft. Cool completely and thinly slice. Reserve.
   
4. Place a pizza stone (we use our trusty Chicago-land cast iron pizza pan) on the lowest rack of oven and preheat to 550 degrees for 25 minutes.
5. Flatten dough into a disk that is thicker in the center than at the edges. Using your fingers, gently pull on the edges of the dough to form a 6- to 8-inch circle; dough should still be thicker in the center. Drape dough over both hands, and using your knuckles, work dough out from the center into a 16-inch circle. Or you can roll it out with a rolling pin.
   
6. Roll dough onto the rolling pin and carefully unroll the dough to hot pizza stone.
   
7. Working quickly, spread the onion confit on first, add thinly sliced poached pears and bake for 9 minutes. Add the cheese and bake an additional minute so the cheese does not completely melt.
8. Remove from oven and add a handful of spinach and arugula.
9. Enjoy!

Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake

The cake above is half of Nigella’s Old Fashioned Chocolate Cake recipe in small 5″ spring form cake pan (it made two mini cakes, the other is in the freezer). The recipe below is cut in half already.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup superfine sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 3/4 sticks soft unsalted butter
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• Special equipment: 2 (each 5-inch diameter) spring form pans buttered

Directions

1. Allow all ingredients to warm up to room temperature.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F.
3. Put all the cake ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, cocoa, butter, eggs, vanilla, and sour cream into a food processor and process until you have a smooth, thick batter. Scraping down the sides so that everything is mixed smoothly.
4. Divide this batter, using a rubber spatula to help you scrape and spread, into the prepared tins.
5. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean, which should be about 35 minutes, but it is wise to start checking at 25 minutes. Also, it might make sense to switch the 2 cakes around in the oven halfway through cooking time.
6. Allow the cakes to cool completely. Don’t worry about any cracks as they will easily be covered by the frosting later.

Frosting Ingredients

• 1/2 cup of unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1-2 cups of icing sugar
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup Grandmarnier liquor (orange liquor)

Directions

1. Beat butter until light and fluffy.
2. Add sifted icing sugar and cocoa and vanilla extract and beat until everything is combined and the frosting is light and fluffy (I have an attachment to my Cuisinart immersion blender that is more whisk-like and mixer and this makes the fluffiest frosting ever!).
3. Cut a piece of parchment paper a little larger than the cake, place on centre of your working dish.
4. Cut cake in half and place on centre of parchment on the working dish.
5. Drizzle the orange liquor on this half.
6. Frost the other half with about 1/2″ frosting and place on top of the orange liquor half, like a sandwich.
7. Continue to frost the entire cake with the remaining frosting until it is all used up (or there is enough for the chef for a taste!)
8. Refrigerate covered tightly. I used an inverted Anchor glass dish with a rubber top.
9. When you are ready to serve, cut a new piece of parchment and place on top of your serving dish. Carefully slide cake to serving dish. Cake is excellent at room temperature, or just out of the fridge at midnight!
10. Enjoy!

From the LCBO Summer 2008 Magazine, Lucy Waverman

Iced Brie on Water Crackers

• 8 oz (250 g) brie, rind removed, cut into pieces
• ¼ cup (50 mL) white wine
• ¼ cup (50 mL) grated Parmesan
• 2 tbsp (25 mL) unsalted butter
• 1 tsp (5 mL) dry mustard
• Pinch cayenne pepper
• Pinch paprika

1. Combine brie, white wine, Parmesan, butter, dry mustard, cayenne pepper and paprika in a food processor and process until smooth.
2. Spoon mixture into a decorative bowl and freeze for 30 minutes or until firm but not frozen.
3. Serve immediately on water crackers.

This recipe cuts in half very nicely.

Makes about 20 Corn shaped corn breads.

Jalopeño Cornbread

• 1  1/4 medium ground corn meal
• 1 1/4 all  purpose flour
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar (I used Splenda as I was making these for my diabetic father-in-law)
• 1 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2  cup diced jalopenos (if you like thnings spicey, add cayanne to your taste).
• 1/2 cup finely  chopped green onions
• 1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

1. Pre heat oven to 400F. Pre heat oiled cast iron corn shaped mold until smoking.
2. Sift cornmeal, flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
3. Blend eggs, milk and oil in another bowl.
4. Stir wet ingredients into dry.
5. Fold in the shredded cheese, jalopeño and onion.
6. Spoon to fill hot molds and bake for 25 minutes or until firm and golden.

A couple of weeks ago, I bought some potatoes for a specific dish, but for some reason I ended up leaving 2 medium sized Yukon Golds unused. They sat in my vegetable crisper for the duration (I know, I know, potatoes should not be kept in the refrigerator, but I have no other place to store them, so there). We returned from the Big Apple on Friday evening (May 22) and I was going to start my diet on Monday May 25, so the weekend was a free for all! On Saturday, I decided to finally use up the potatoes and make Potato Pancake Hors d’Oeuvres (and believe me, the two medium potatoes made quite a few!)

Potato Pancakes Hros d'Oeuvres with Yogurt and Chives

Potato Pancake Hors d’Oeuvres with Yogurt and Chives

• 2 medium yukon gold potatoes
• 1/2 large mayan or sweet onion
• 3 tbsp flour (or more, depending on how wet your onions are – you want the batter like pancake batter, not pastey)
• 1 large egg
• salt and pepper to taste
• pinch of paprika (the Hungarian in me!)

1. Finely grate the potatoes and onion and set aside
2. In a mixing bowl, lightly beat the egg with the flour, salt and pepper and paprika.
3. Add the egg mixture to the pototo onion blend and mix well.
4. Heat a large cast iron pan (deep) with about 1/2″ of canola oil until very hot.
5. Drop the potato mix by tablespoon into the hot oil, being careful so it doesn’t splash up.
6. Turn when the potato is brown and crip.
7. Drain on paper towel.
8. Serve warm with a dallop of yogurt and chive clippings (from the garden, of course!)

Enjoy!