Milk & Honey Bread

This is the second recipe I've made from the most excellent book, Earth to Table.

Now, I made the recipe as printed in the book, but I realized right away that there was a flaw in it. 6 cups of water to 1 1/2 cups of liquid will simply not work. I got one loaf of bread, and although it was delicious, I needed to resolve this issue! I contacted the Random House rep I work with for the reviews and she suggested Tweeting the authors, who manage their own Twitter page. I did this and got a reply!

This is a beautiful, tasty loaf, and I'll definitely make it again.

Milk & Honey Bread, by Jeff Crump & Bettina Schormann of Earth to Table fame, recipe available on Twitter

mix together:

2 cups of flour
3 tsp salt
1 tsp instant yeast

Add:

1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/4 cups water
1/4 cup honey

- Mix until all goopy

Add: up to 4 cups of flour, until you get a nice dough

Follow these basic instructions.

And voila!Beautiful! Wonderful! Amazing! I loved the soft texture of this loaf, and the sweetness the honey gave to it!

Finally - A Toasty Torpedo!

Remember this post? Remember this ad and it's utter brilliance? Please, spend the 32 seconds it takes to watch this - it's worth it!



OK. Laughing are we? Good. Because the real Toasty Torpedo is no laughing matter!

Finally, I got to go to a Quizno's the other day. The nearest location is in Castlegar, which is about a half hour's drive from here. I'd spent the afternoon with my brother & SIL, helping them clean out the garage and making a couple of dump runs. We had to go to Castlegar to return the truck we were borrowing, so we decided on a cheap dinner at Quizno's. I of course wanted a Toasty Torpedo, so I ordered the Turkey Club one. This is it:Sigh...So unlike the picture. Well, nothing ever is, though, right? Anyway, this was puny! And not very satisfying! I came away hungry! Luckily, we went to DQ for a Blizzard afterward, so I wasn't totally starving, but still...The Toasty Torpedo was just flat out disappointing! Boo, hiss!

I still love Quizno's though; I just wouldn't order this again.

Magazine Monday #55: Glazed Balsamic Chicken

Yet again, I bring to you another Canadian Living recipe for Magazine Monday! It comes from the May 2004 issue of the magazine.

This is a really simple, delicious way to do chicken. I'm surprised I don't make it more often!

The recipe is here.

I served this with rice and the last spaghetti squash from my garden and it was total yum!

Saturday Laugh

This week's laugh comes from LOLcelebs!

Lunch at the Sunshine Cafe

It's been a while since I've had the pleasure of having lunch at Rossland's best lunch place, the Sunshine Cafe, but I got to go last week, and as usual, I was not disappointed!

I dined with my brother & SIL. Shan had the wrap special, which was Greek chicken, and the soup of the day, which was tomato & rice. The soup was so hearty she couldn't finish it all.My brother had a chicken burger with Swiss cheese and grilled onions, accompanied by the salad of the day, which was a Sweet Thai chicken pasta salad. He said it was awesome.I also opted for a chicken burger, wanting a change from my usual, which is the clubhouse sandwich. I had Swiss cheese and grilled mushrooms on my burger, and I had a side of fries because I was in a foul mood (it's amazing what a load of decent fries will do for grouchiness!). It was a great lunch!Again, the Sunshine didn't disappoint! I love this place!

Buttermilk Biscuits

Here is my latest NaNoWriMo update, including excerpt!

This is the recipe for the biscuits I made with the seafood chowder in yesterday's post. I used the technique of grating the butter with a grater, as I learned in the pastry recipe for that no-bake pumpkin pie I made around Thanksgiving last month. It worked like a charm! These biscuits were wonderful. I have no idea where I got this recipe from, but I've had it for a long time. As I mentioned yesterday, I used some lemon pepper in them for a bit of zip.

Buttermilk Biscuits

2 cups flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter
1 cup buttermilk

1. Whisk together dry ingredients. Grate the butter into the mixture & toss to combine. Add buttermilk and mix just enough to blend together. Do not overmix!

2. Roll or pat dough to desired thickness - anywhere from 1/2" - almost 1" (but be aware that the thicker you pat the dough, the longer these will take to cook through). Cut. Bake at 425F until done.

Seafood Chowder

During my last cross border shopping trip, I picked up two cans of clams for really cheap, with the intention of making clam chowder. But I also found a halibut tail end fillet on special at LOGS the other day, so I decided to make a seafood chowder.

One of my very first posts on this blog, back in January 2005, was about a seafood chowder I made when I was living in Vancouver. Vancouver is the mecca for amazing Pacific coast seafood, and I miss that about living there a lot.

I basically used the method in that post. Only, I didn't have any white wine on hand, which made a huge difference in the flavour of the broth. I also used half & half cream instead of full whipping cream.

It was a great chowder! I got enough for four meals plus I froze four more, so it was very economical.

I served the chowder with buttermilk biscuits I made with some lemon pepper. I'll post the recipe for those tomorrow.

Award Time!

Quick post today! In fact, many of the posts you'll see this week will be quick! I continue with NaNoWriMo!

OK, I have been blessed with some awesome blog friends, and two of them, Pierce and Karen, have bestowed upon me this lovely award:
Along with this award comes a responsibility: I must give you seven facts about myself. So, here you go!

1. I sit in front of a SAD lamp every morning now. I call the SAD lamp Mr. Happy.

2. I worked as a dishwasher to help pay for university.

3. No one touches my KitchenAid mixer but ME!

4. I once ordered sea urchin pizza in Sicily, but the restaurant was out of sea urchins, so I had to order something else.

5. I have eaten fajitas in Helsinki.

6. I have sprained my right ankle several times just walking.

7. I admire a man who can cook!

Book Review: Confections of Closet Master Baker

Some time ago, Natashya of Living in the Kitchen with Puppies had a giveaway for Confections of a Closet Master Baker by Gesine Bullock-Prado, and guess who won? Go me!

This book was well-reviewed by not only Natashya but one other food blogger whose name I cannot recall right now, but I was really excited about getting to read it, and finally, I did.

Gesine started out as a Hollywood movie executive, and it took me a while to figure out exactly whom she was related to; turns out she is Sandra Bullock's younger sister (um, yeah, the last name should have been a dead give-away but I am slow, I admit!) and for a while she ran Sandra's movie production company. But she was miserable and hated it, and her mind was always on baking and dreamy confections. So, one day after having enough of the Hollywood lifestyle, Gesine and her husband relocated to Vermont and opened a little bakery.

Interwoven with Gesine's tale of starting up the bakery and all that involved and stories of how life has been for her since the opening, are lovely vignettes of Gesine's childhood spent partially in her mother's homeland of Germany, and poignant stories about the women in Gesine's life who helped shape her passion for pastry. Including a collection of her favourite recipes, this book is a wonderful homage to the experiences, people, and flavours of Gesine's life that inspire her baking and keep her wanting to keep ungodly hours at her bakery so that she can do what she loves and is passionate about: feeding people sugary, buttery treats.

This was a light book to read, and it was a joy to read. I haven't made any of the recipes yet, but I have my eye on a couple. This book actually made me think of a lot of the common foods - both baking and savoury - that marked my childhood, too, and it made me appreciate all the more the love of cooking and baking my mother instilled in me, and the nurturing it can do for one's soul.

Thanks, Natashya! This was a great find!

Saturday Laugh

Via ICHC.

If you're curious, my latest writing update is here, including a snippet.

When in Doubt, Make Lasagna

This doesn't happen very often, but I made a crappy spaghetti sauce the other night.

The inspiration for this came when I was walking by the meat section in the LOGS (local overpriced grocery store) and there were some nice sausages on sale. They were pork souvlaki sausages. There were four of the suckers there for under $3! How could I resist? Thinking of the flavours in souvlaki, I thought these would be great in spaghetti sauce. When I unwrapped them, the smelled of garlic & oregano and no lemon; I thought I was safe.

Ugh. I didn't like the sauce. I had one meal from it with pasta and wondered what to do with the rest of the pot. I certainly didn't want to waste it at all. I am too cheap to do that.

Would this be any good in lasagna, I wondered? I had ricotta cheese left over from cross-border shopping; all I really needed was some mozzarella cheese. I went for it.

Thank God this worked out! The sauce made a far better lasagna than a spaghetti sauce, which was a huge relief. I guess you can add ricotta cheese to anything and it'll turn out (right Palidor?). Or maybe the flavours had some time to mellow. I don't know, but it was a kick ass lasagna, and 7 out of 8 pieces of it went into the freezer! Woo-hoo!

Oyster Time!

Here is my latest NaNoWriMo update! I'm happy to report it's going well - better than I anticipated! And just so you know, the posts you are reading now were written a while ago and set for scheduled publishing. So no, I am not cooking and writing!

OK - I love oysters! My first taste of this sensuous sea creature came when I was young, at Christmas time when my mom used to buy canned smoked oysters. This was one of the items we'd only get at this time of the year, so it was a real treat. My brothers and I really liked them, though I don't recall my mom ever eating them and my dad is repulsed by fish so he wouldn't touch them. I do remember our cats getting excited about them, though...

Anyway, when I was in my early twenties, I went on a camping trip to Galiano Island, and we went for dinner at the Hummingbird Pub. On the menu was an oyster burger, and I was so intrigued by the idea that I had to order it. Until this experience I'd never had a fresh oyster, and let me tell you, when I bit into that burger, I thought I'd bitten into heaven.

Since then, I've had oysters on the half shell - fantastic - and other oyster burgers that have been good, but not as good as that one at the Hummingbird. Here in the interior, you get these things as they're available. And last week, LOGS (local overpriced grocery store) had oysters on sale: 8oz for $1.99. I couldn't resist! I bought a container and a nice bun and decided to make an oyster burger for myself!

When I opened the container of oysters, I found that I got 8 HUGE suckers in there and I was thrilled! Not only would I get a nice burger out of this, I would get some extra oysters too eat as well! The due date on the container was the next day, so I knew I had to use them that night as I had another plan for the next night.

So here's what I did.

I laid the oysters out and just sniffed in their sea-fresh aroma. It was heady, let me tell you!After doing that for a little while, I gathered up these ingredients: bread crumbs, cream, and Old Bay Seasoning. My plan was to shallow fry the oysters. I was going to buy buttermilk, but I had cream left over from the apple tart I'd just made, so I decided to use that. I usually use buttermilk when I go to make calamari, so I figured this method would work for oysters, too.I poured the cream over the oysters and mixed them around to cover them all very well. Then I dipped them in bread crumbs mixed with the Old Bay (I love this stuff; thanks to Pierce for recommending it to me) and fried them in a bit of oil until they were nice and browned.
Now, here is a caveat: DO NOT ATTEMPT THIS RECIPE/METHOD WITHOUT A GREASE SPLATTER SCREEN!!! There is a lot of liquid in an oyster and they splattered like hell when I put them in the oil!

The result: YUM! HEAVEN! OH MY GOD!They were so wickedly amazing! The burger was great, but eating the left over oysters just on their own was even better. I savoured every bite, let me tell you! This was so good!It's so nice to have a treat like this once in a while!

Apple Pizza

This is the second recipe I've made from Lucy Waverman's A Year in Lucy's Kitchen. The original recipe calls for plums, but I don't like plums and a had a whack of apples on hand that my dad had acquired from his neighbour. The original also specifies an 8" springform pan, but I only have a 9" and so I decided to make this into more of an apple tart, using my 9" ceramic tart pan (there was too much crust for my 8" tart pan with removable side to accommodate). I was attracted to this recipe because of its simplicity - which is what this book is all about. The end result was marvelous! This was a lovely tart and I'll for sure make it again.

Apple Tart (adapted from Lucy Waverman's Plum Pizza recipe on page 208 of A Year in Lucy's Kitchen)

Crust:

1 cup all purpose flour
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cubed

- sift dry ingredients together and add butter, cutting in to make a coarse meal. press into tart pan. bake @ 350F for 15 minutes or until lightly golden.

Filling:

4 apples, peeled & cored, & sliced in to thick slices
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 egg yolks
1/2 cup whipping cream

- toss apple slices with sugar & cinnamon. arrange over crust.
- whisk yolks & cream; pour over apples
- bake @ 350F for 35 - 45 minutes, or until custard is golden & apples are softened
- serve & enjoy!

Like I said, this was wonderful! I even ate it for breakfast one morning!

Cooking with Kylie: Wonton Soup

All right, after last week's dreary chicken noodle soup, I decided to use some of the left over stock for wonton soup. I just love wontons and wonton soup! And luckily, Kylie's wonton recipe is one of the best I've ever made. You can find the recipe for the wontons here; it's the same one that appears in this post.

When I made this batch of wontons, I saved myself a lot of hassle by whizzing the ingredients all up in the food processor. This was most excellent. Again, I used my #100 cookie scoop, which is about 1 tsp, to easily fill the wonton wrappers.

Because I knew beforehand that the stock needed help, I was able to tweak it so it was flavourful - and I did a damned awesome job, if I do say so myself. I made half a recipe and got two meals out of it.

Prawn Wonton Soup (adapted by me from Kylie Kwong's Simple Chinese Cooking, page 46)

1/2 bunch of bok choy
3 cups Chinese chicken stock
1 tbsp grated ginger
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tbsp sake
2 tbsp oyster sauce
green onions, sliced, for garnish

wontons

Simmer everything except the bok choy & green onions for a few minutes. I boiled the wontons in a separate pot because I didn't want a starchy soup. When wontons are done, add to soup with the bok choy & simmer for a minute. Serve with green onions.
The chicken noodle soup failure was a good learning experience, because this soup was far more flavourful than the chicken noodle soup. In fact, it was fantastic! The wontons were also fan-fracking-tastic! It is so worth it to make homemade wontons, I think.

So this was another winning Kylie recipe!

Magazine Monday #54: Chicken Soup

I've been keeping myself busy with NaNoWriMo (or my version of it) and if you want to see my latest update you can do so here. If I've been quieter around blog land, this is why. I'm surprised at how productive I am with this novel-writing thing; it's going better than I expected!

I haven't made a new Magazine Monday recipe to post this week, so I thought I'd repost a recipe I initially posted here in October 2005. The original post is here. This is, once again, a Canadian Living recipe, and for some reason, I haven't made it in ages! I'd better remedy that!

This recipe isn't in the CL online recipe database; knowing those guys, it's probably been taken off because the recipe is in one of their cookbooks.

Chicken Noodle Soup

2 tbsp vegetable oil
12 oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
1 grated carrot
1 tsp each dried oregano and basil
4 cups chicken stock
2 tsp Dijon mustard
3 oz. spaghettini, broken up (about 1 cup)
2 cups sliced celery
2 tbsp all purpose flour
2 1/2 cups milk
salt & pepper to taste

1. Brown chicken is a large saucepan with oil. Remove to a bowl. Add onion & carrot and saute until onion is softened.
2. Add stock and mustard; bring to boil. Stir in celery and pasta and return to the boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer until noodles are almost tender. Add chicken with accumulated juices and cook for 5 minutes longer.
3. Whisk flour into milk and gradually whisk this into the soup. Simmer, stirring, for about 3 minutes or until slightly thickened. Serve and enjoy!