Summer in a nutshell - intro to fotolog

So my life has been pretty crazy lately.

With the end of my second last semester came my summer of travel. About five days after I finished my exams, I packed up and flew my tush over to Quebec province. I spend a good portion of May there as well as about half of June. I could probably go into incredible levels of detail about this trip, but frankly, I just think that would take too long.

I came back home for a few weeks and then packed my bags for Guadalajara, Mexico. I was only there for a week, but it was a great experience and the people there are some of the most kind I have met.

I think for the next little while, I will be posting a mix of things I've seen, things I've eaten, and things I've made. I hope you enjoy!

-A

Thoughts and Pie

Hey everyone, long time no see! I’m sorry I left without a “back in 5” sign on the door. School has started again and I guess it’s been a little more demanding than I expected.

Although I haven’t been posting, it’s given me a little time to think over the philosophy of my blog. When I started posting, which I know wasn’t that long ago, I had a plan to share veggie food that came across my path and post it at least once a week. Somehow, it turned from a general food search to a recipe search type deal. (Maybe it’s because I haven’t really had the chance to go out for food all that much lately.) I guess I just wanted to let you know that although I will still be posting recipes, you can also expect to see some other veggie-related posts once in a while.

Also, I’ve decided to follow a policy of quality not quantity. I quite enjoy posting and doing so every week. However, I’ve found with my time constraints, that it becomes quite rushed, and overall not as fun to do…… so I’m not gonna.

Okay, back to business.

Everyone: I just got the best book in the world! Okay, well not really. But I’m super excited about it! It’s called Professional Chef and it’s a textbook put out by the CIA (link). It’s a little intimidating (like over 1000 pages), but I can’t wait to go through it! I’ve been cooking regularly over the past 3 years, so I’m still pretty new at the game. I can cook some pretty decent meals nowadays, but I find that I’m not quite up there when it comes to technique (I have no idea what I’m doing). I’ve always wanted to be able to cook sans recipe, and I think this book may help! Even though it does contain recipes (like 600 of ‘em), it also goes through various techniques, their purpose and what they hope to achieve. Eg. some topics include the different characteristics of regional cuisine, how to develop different flavours of tomato sauce, soup formulas, etc. The only thing about this book, which I wouldn’t necessarily say is a bad thing, is that I think I’m going to have to invest in a half-decent kitchen scale. The one I have (from Save-On) just isn’t going to cut it.

Anyway, if you’re looking for something more encyclopedic when it comes to cooking, this book may be worth considering. I also give it a pretty decent “veggie-friendly” rating because although it includes a topic on meat and many meat-filled recipes, this isn’t the sole focus on the book. Also, with this topic included, I hope to understand the flavouring process that goes into some meat dishes and translate it to a veggie alternative. (Wish me luck!)

Now, if you’re wondering why there’s a picture of a pie at the top of the page, no, the “A” doesn’t stand for Alberta Bean. It was actually a belated birthday present for my cousin (whose name also happens to begin with “A”). I’m actually quite proud of this pie, as it is the first pie I’ve ever made, and I DID IT FROM SCRATCH! (with the help of Professional Chef)

The pie crust was made with the help of the proportion guidance of my textbook and the filling recipe I found online. Let me know what you think!

-A

P.S. I also made baby pie. Cute, no?

Butternut Squash Soup from Easy Vegetarian (Ryland Peters & Small)

Warm soup for the cold winter.

This is dedicated to all my friends here in the frozen North.


There is nothing better than hot soup to warm you up after pushing your car out of a snowbank.


:-)


This recipe is from an Easy Vegetarian cookbook I finally decided to crack open. (See. Easy.)


I bought this book because it had a lot of familiar tastes in it and because all the ingredients seemed like they would not be too difficult to find. I don't know if any of you have ever flipped through some of the more fancy (or more vegan) cookbooks, but there are just some ingredients in there that I just don't know either what they are, or where I could possibly find them (other than on the internet).



Another thing I really liked about this book is that every single recipe has a picture accompaniment. I find that it's a lot easier to make something when you know what it's supposed to look like when you're finished. Big selling point for me.

So the soup I decided to make is a butternut squash curry soup. I'm not including the actual recipe because I'm not quite sure how this copyright thing works (can you copyright a recipe?), but I will post my pictures and you can decide for yourself if this book is something you might be interested in picking up.

This is actually the second time I've made this soup. The first time, I followed the directions exactly. The soup turned out a little thick, so I decided to use it as a pasta sauce instead (was yummy). This time I added more liquid so it is much more "soup-like". Also delicious.

The Cast:


Curry Powder, Coarse Salt, Ground Pepper


Butternut Squash, Medium Yellow Onion


Cashews


Cold Pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Milk, Unsalted Butter

First chop squash like so


It comes with seedies like this


Take them out

Then you will have a treasure trove like this


Then chop your onion and melt the butter in olive oil




It WILL smell good.

Spice it up.




Then mix in your squash.


Cook it and chop your nuts while you're waiting.


Add the milk and water to the pot.


Whadd'ya think??


Let it cook for a while till it's all soft.


Then stir in the cashews.


Finally, blend it.






Soup!


Warm, thick and filling.

P.S. Hot chocolate is also good after braving the cold.

Potato Salad Niçoise

It all started a couple weeks ago when I went to get my hair done. I had recently noticed that as my hair got longer, I would find more of it in my hairbrush. I decided to get some advice from my stylist. In return she gave me a Retirement Living magazine to read under the dryer. I am in my twenties. So is she. This is how we communicate.

Not letting her get the best of me, I decided to actually read the magazine. Suffice it to say I learned a lot about varicose veins and their treatment. I did, however, find something that caught my eye. It was a recipe called Potato Salad Nicoise. As I read through it, I noticed the dressing was a mustard vinaigrette, and since I had so much luck with my pear salad, I decided to try this one out as well.

Unfortunately, by the end of my hair appointment, I was a little too embarrassed to ask if I could rip out the recipe from the magazine, so I committed to trying to find it online instead.

I didn’t have much luck finding the original article, but I did come across a similar recipe in Canadian Living (click here for recipe). It’s simple, easy, and quick. It’s also healthy but filling, so it wins major points with me. Oh yeah, the taste is pretty good too.

Okay, first wash cute potatoes like these.

Then chop them up like so

Next, deploy the green beans.

Snap off the ends like this.

Chop up red peppers.

Mix with the dressing. (Olives and spinach not pictured.)

And you'll end up with something like this.

Yum.

P.S. In case you were wondering, I didn't have grape tomatoes or black olives, so I substituted them for a few romas and marinated kalamata olives. Still tasty.

Oh, and in case you were worried for me, my hair is not falling out. It’s normal. 80 per day I hear. I just wanted to make sure you had some closure on this issue.

~A

Cake "Napoleon"

Okay. First order of business. Verdict on Banan’ bread. Excellent. I’m a fan of all types of banana bread – spicy and sweet. The last recipe was a sweet one, but the coffee just gives it the right amount of bitterness. I’ve made this recipe once more since and I was right, the recipe calls to make two mini loaves, so if you’re making a single one like I did, just lower the oven to 300F and I baked for at least an hour and fifteen (but I think this will also depend on your oven, so just make sure you toothpick test the dough!)

Next. HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!! ‘Tis the season for shopping and parties and has it ever been busy! Whew! I’ve spent the last 2 days baking up a storm of cookies and cakes! They won’t all make it to blog but I do have a special treat for you!

My friend Cassie also got me one of the best kitchen-related presents ever!! Some cute new cookie cutters and THIS:

Isn’t it adorable?? I wish I had all these retro patterns. So stylish and cute! P.S. Notice the cupcake??

With all the baking I was able to put it to good use right away!

So I want to share with you a childhood treat of mine. When I was young, my parents had a friend named “Krystina” (say this with a Russian accent). She was a grandiose lady (think Alice in Wonderland’s Queen of Hearts) and was always throwing parties. I loved those parties for one reason I remember more than any other. The cake. Oh! It was so delicious! She called it Napleon Cake and she would never share the recipe. It was filled with cream and lots of tiny layers (I recently found out it also goes by another name in French “Mille-Feuille”). If you have never tried it I can’t recommend it more, but if you’re going to make it,WARNING, it’s NOT easy.

I recently found a website called RussianFoods.com that actually carried the RECIPE for this tasty treat. However, I found myself lost in a few places (due to a few errors in the recipe I think). I was really worried a few times during this caking process, but somehow, it turned out pretty similar to what I remember, so you can imagine how pleased I am!

I baked this cake for my lovely friend Nina (Happy Birthday Nina!!)

And thanks again to Tim for opening his home for her birthday and putting up with a female Rockband takeover (but he still rules way more at the “instruments”).

Okay, are you ready?

Here it goes.

Cake “Napoleon”

(look at all the tiny layers!!)

Here is the original recipe, but I will also explain my "enhancements"

Ingredients

Dough

· 500 g flour

· 250 g margarine

· 1 egg

· 1 T vinegar

Icing (Cream)

· 1 cup sugar

· ½ L milk

· 2 eggs

· 2 T flour

· 200 g butter

· vanilla

Directions

Make the dough first because it needs some chilling time.

Mix the margarine (or butter) with the flour. Do this a little at a time for consistency. The recipe says to do this “until smooth”.

It never really got “smooth”. Just sort of crumbly., which is what I expected from margarine and flour.

Next the recipe called (in a separate bowl) to mix the egg with vinegar in 1 cup of water.

This is where I think something went funny with the recipe. I trustingly did this:

and then mixed it with the flour mixture, but because I knew the dough would later be rolled, I also knew it looked WAY too runny. The recipe said to knead the dough until “elastic-y”, but I could tell that wasn’t going to happen. In an attempt to remedy the situation I proceeded to knead in flour in small portions until the dough became a little less “wet”. Although, it still wasn’t what I would call “elastic”, but I decided to roll with it. Get it? Haha.

I didn’t want to make the dough TOO thick because it has to be rolled really thin. Oh! And I also added salt. I tasted the dough and it seemed a little floury so I whipped out the salt shaker. I’m not sure how much I put in, but it was only a little. Definitely less than half a teaspoon.

Okay, so I got my dough somewhat elastic. Then you portion it in 8 equal parts. I wrapped these in plasti-wrap and stuck ‘em in the fridge.

Cream filling:

I once tried to make custard and burned it. I was a little worried about this one, but it turned out great!

In a saucepan, mix the sugar eggs and flour.

Then stir in the milk.

Cook the liquid on a low heat and STIR CONSTANTLY OR IT WILL BURN OR BOIL OVER.

This part actually takes a little while. I read somewhere that you must do this for 10 minutes, but I’m sure I was standing there for at least fifteen. When you start, the liquid will be pretty thin. Eventually it will thicken up, but it takes a while, but then happens quite suddenly. Pay attention (I’ve made this mistake). I was reading up on custards and it’s got something to do with the egg that it shouldn’t get too hot or it will set improperly. (HERE are some custard tips if you’re interested. This recipe uses a “stirred” custard)

You can tell when the icing is finished by dipping a metal spoon into it. You should see a film like this:

When this happens, take the saucepan off the heat.

Once it has cooled a little, add ½ tsp of vanilla. Then stir in the butter, a little at a time again.

Voila! Done icing.

Baking time.

Preheat the oven to 365F. The recipe I used didn’t include a baking temp or time, so I ended up figuring this out when 420F was too hot. Yep.

These next steps should be repeated for each section of dough.

First roll the dough out really thin.

I have pizza pans, not baking sheets, so please make due. Then cut the excess strips of dough off (you want at least semi-uniform pieces for when you layer the cake). Don’t through these strips away. Use them. Later.

Pierce the dough with the fork all over.

Put to bake. Depending on how hot your oven is, the baking time will vary. I baked my sheets for about 5.5 to 6 mins each. You want them to stay golden in colour, but still get crispy.

Once all your layers are baked, it’s time for the scraps! Bake the excess strips of dough the same way. You will use them to crumble on the cake afterwards.

Now it’s time for assembly! Put the first sheet down on whatever you’re going to use to transport your cake. Then put the icing generously on top.

Repeat with all the layers. Finish with cream all over the top. It looks nice when it spills over and covers the sides of the cake, see:

Finally, take your strips, crush ‘em, and sprinkle the pieces all over the top.

Ta Da!! Pretty, no?

Finally, put your cake in the fridge for at least 2 hours (the longer the better, trust me).

And, enjoy!