Two recipes to share

I can't take credit for either of these recipes but I have to share them because they are simply so darn good.

The first one came to me from my friend Nicole who posted it. I tried it and Ian went nuts, literally for them. Now usually I shy away from things that try to be glutton free because I often find the substitute ingredient more offensive than just using flour, but in this case it totally works and makes for an enjoyable cookie experience.

http://eatthecookie.wordpress.com/2010/02/20/almond-butter-chocolate-chip-cookies/

Almond Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
(adapted from clean eating magazine)

1 cup almond butter (go to Costco and you can get a giant jar for a very reasonable price)

3/4 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup toasted slivered almonds

method:

preheat oven to 350f. line baking sheets with either parchment paper or silpat. racks should be in center of oven.

in medium bowl, stir together the first 5 ingredients until blended. stir in chocolate and almonds.

drop dough by rounded tablespoons, a few inches apart. do not squish these down. they will spread slightly.

bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned.

let them cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet to set up, then transfer to cooling racks.

Now this second recipe is also crazy good, like I mean crazy. I couldn't stop eating it and just thinking about it makes me want to go make more. This is from a blog that I read by Molly Wizenberg who is a Seattle food blogger who just published her first book A Homemade Life and she is co-owner of Delancey which I haven't been to yet but I've heard makes incredible pizza. She has great recipe ideas and I highly recommend reading her blog.

http://orangette.blogspot.com

Roasted Rhubarb
Inspired by Canal House Cooking, Volume 3

2 lb. rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 3-inch lengths
½ cup sugar
½ cup crisp white wine
1 vanilla bean, split

Set a rack in the lower third of the oven, and preheat the oven to 350°F.

Put the rhubarb in a Dutch oven or other deep oven-safe pot. Add the sugar, wine, and vanilla bean, and stir to mix. Bake (uncovered) for about 30 minutes, or until very tender, giving the pot a gentle stir about midway through to ensure that the rhubarb cooks evenly.

Note: I like to eat this cold, though I imagine you could also serve it warm.

Yield: 4 to 6 servings, depending on how greedy you are.

I used Red Rooster 2009 Voigner because that's what we had open in the fridge at the time but it worked beautifully. I also didn't have a vanilla bean so I used some vanilla sugar that I had made from another left over vanilla bean and a splash of Watkins Double Strength Vanilla. I also varied the size of the pieces of rhubarb so some of them dissolved into the sauce and others stayed firmer. I started eating it straight out of the pot when it came out of the oven but we had it for dessert with ice cream and ginger snaps that night. I also had it on plain yogurt the next morning with granola. I'm contemplating make more and taking the juice and reducing it down into a syrup. Right now rhubarb is in season and you can likely get a bunch at your local farmers market.

Sorry I didn't take any photos, it was all eaten so quickly :)

Extra Chewy Ginger Cookies

These are super chewy and have a nice ginger bite to them. I would even recommend using them for ice cream sandwiches or even just spreading a nice butter cream in between to cookies for an extra decadent treat.

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp fresh finely grated ginger
1 tsp ground ginger
3/4 soften butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup fancy molasses
1 egg
1 cup white sugar, for rolling

In a bowl combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a seperate bowl either using a kitchenaid or a hand mixer beat butter & brown sugar together until light and fluffy, then mix in ginger, molasses and the egg. Gently fold in dry ingredients, careful not to over mix. Cover and chill in refrigerator for at least 1 hour but up to overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 F

Shape into 1 inch balls and roll in white sugar, place 2 inches a part on an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes until edges just start to brown. Don't overbake or you'll get crunchy cookies instead of chewy. Let cool for 1 minute on sheet before moving to a cooling rack. In between batches keep your dough in the fridge so it stays firms. This makes about 24 cookies.

Shiitake Mushroom, Acorn Squash and Leek Risotto

I stole most this recipe from Saveur although they called for clams and since I don't do seafood I substituted shiitake mushrooms. I thought they would have the same chewy consistency of clams but a much more appealing flavour to me. Also use whatever kind of squash you have, I didn't have a butternut but I had acorn and a couple other unidentifiable types that I bought for my Halloween centre piece. Use whatever it doesn't make that much difference, some squashes are sweeter, some are more bitter, either way you can balance out the flavour with the stock. the wine or the cheese.

Click here to see the original recipe

1/2 lb. acorn squash, peeled, seeds and strings removed,
and squash cut into dice no larger than 1/2"
1 cup dried shiitake mushrooms, rehydrated, drained & finely chopped
2tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 large or 2 medium leeks, trimmed, washed, halved lengthwise,
then cut crosswise into very thin slices
2 tbsp. scallions, white part only, cut into very thin rounds

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 cup chicken stock

Fine sea salt
1 tbsp. chopped fresh marjoram, or 1/2 tbsp. dried marjoram
1 cup Italian risotto rice, such as carnaroli, vialone, nano,
baldo, or arborio
1 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup grated pecorino cheese

Turn oven on to 350°. Lay the diced squash in a baking dish that can contain it all without overlapping. Salt liberally. Pour in 1/2 cup water and put dish in the oven. Cook for 20 minutes. When cool, drain, then set aside.

Pour 6 cups of water into a saucepan and bring it to a steady simmer.

Pour oil into a heavy 4–6-quart saucepan, add leeks and scallions, and turn on heat to medium-high. Cook, stirring from time to time, until leeks and scallions are very pale gold. Add garlic & stir. Add in chopped shiitake mushrooms and stir. Add half the squash together with some salt and cook for 2 or 3 minutes, turning it from time to time. Add marjoram and stir all the ingredients together. Add rice, turning it to coat well.

Add half the wine, steadily stir the rice, and when all the wine has bubbled away, add the remaining half. Continue stirring to keep rice moving away from bottom and sides of pan.

Add the chicken stock to the risotto. Continue to stir until all the liquid has evaporated, then add a ladleful or two of the simmering water. Stir constantly, adding simmering water by the ladleful whenever the rice begins to dry out, threatening to stick to the pan. In about 15 minutes, when the rice is still hard and chalky to the bite, stir in the remaining squash. Continue to cook, stirring steadily and replenishing the water when necessary, until rice has lost its chalky consistency and is tender, but still firm, to the bite. Do not let rice dry out completely when you are near the end, keeping its final consistency loose and flowing.

Add grated pecorino. Remove pan from heat and stir vigorously. Taste and correct for seasoning. Serve at once.

This makes a hefty serving for about 4 people, although I make this for just Ian and I and then then next day I'll make risotto balls. Hang tight for that recipe!

Cornbread Jalapeno & Cheddar Waffles

We love waffles, we especially love waffles on a rainy Saturday morning. I make also sorts but today felt like a savoury day so I broke out my self raising cornmeal mix that I picked up on our last trip to Missouri because you will have a hard time finding in on the West Coast of Canada. I picked some jalapenos from my garden since they are growing like weeds and I rooted around in the fridge until I found the extra sharp 3 year old aged white cheddar. Mix this together and you have some darn good waffles.


1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 cup Self Rising White Corn Meal Mix (Aunt Jemima is good)
1 tbsp white sugar
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup sharp cheddar grated
1 jalapeno finely diced
1 3/4 cups milk
2 eggs
6 tbsp vegetable oil
5 dashes Tabasco sauce



Mix dry ingredients plus the cheddar and jalapeno together. In a separate bowl combine & whisk wet ingredients. Pour the wet into the dry ingredient bowl, stir until combine but don't over mix. Preheat waffle iron to medium heat (3 setting on my iron). Keep warm in a 200 degree oven, makes about 10 waffles. Serve with warm maple syrup.

Rob Feenie's Mac & Cheese

So I totally can't take any credit for this recipe, it is a totally rip off of Rob Feenie's famous Mac & Cheese. I also must admit that my friend Trish makes it way better than I do, I don't know what I do differently but her version kicks my Mac & Cheese's ass.

You should make it and see for yourself, I'm too lazy to type it all out so here's the recipe on the web. Note that I omit the lobster being that a) I hate seafood, b) I'm not that fancy.

http://www.cactusclubcafe.com/menus/recipes/mac-n-cheese

I did however take some pics of my process when I made it. Enjoy.


Multitasking, scalding milk & crisping bacon



Buy this pasta, this brand was called Serpentini, Feenie calls it Succhietto. Basically look for this shape, it is perfect and don't over cook it!



You will know your rue is ready when you smell popcorn, I just learned this tip and it is a life saver.






You can make it in individual ramekins, but again I'm lazy and not that fancy.

It's not done until the top looks like this, you want yummy crunchy golden cheese

You will eat way more than you probably should, it is that good and even better warmed up the next day.

Mexican Hot Chocolate

Once you make this hot chocolate you will never want to drink any other hot chocolate again. Trust me. Actually trust my husband as he doesn't even like chocolate but he loves drinking this. Mexican chocolate is special as it's mixed with granular sugar and spices so its sweet, spicy, dark and complex. You can eat it raw but its better in things like a mole or hot chocolate. There are lots of brands that you can get in most gourmet shops but I really like Ibarra and I think its the most popular. What also makes this recipe extra special are the marshmallows, they are homemade and not by me. We have this killer bakery called Butter on Dunbar in Vancouver and if you live here you have to go here, it is heaven and the marshmallows are to die for along with everything else they make. If you don't live here, then I'm so sorry for you cause you are missing out.

http://butterbakedgoods.com/

Anyway here's the low down

1 cup cereal cream or whole milk

1 cup water

1 disk of Mexican chocolate

4 homemade marshmallows

In a small heavy bottom pot slowly heat 1/2 cup cereal cream. The less bottom surface area the better as you don't want to scorch the milk. Finely chop up the chocolate, the finer the better as it will melt faster. Mix in the chocolate into the warm milk and whisk. Once the chocolate has melted and incorporated into the milk add the remaining 1/2 cup and whisk until frothy, then add in the water. Continue to whisk until thoroughly heated and frothy, you don't want to scald the milk so just get it hot but not boiling.

Pour into 2 mugs about 3/4 full, then top with marshmallowy goodness. Now the key here is to let the marshmallows melt and form a yummy foam on top of the hot chocolate so wait a minute before you drink it. Its worth the wait and beside then you won't burn your tongue.

Brioche Pudding

When I was going to UBC I got a gig working at La Baguette & L'Eschalote on Granville Island. It was hellish work but the pay was good, the hours flexible and I learned a lot about food. I would do anything to avoid having to serve customers which meant I ended up spending hours in the kitchen doing prep work which was way more appealing to me than dealing with the tourist ooh and ahh over the pastry case.

I had previously worked in kitchens before at Boston Pizza when I was a teen as the salad prep girl and then as a short order cook at the Spanish Banks concession stand but working at the bakery took my food skills up a notch. The best part was working with Mr Dung who was the head pastry chef, he was old enough to likely be my grandfather but he worked harder than anyone there. He was trained in Vietnam and his English was terrible but somehow we got each other and through lots of nodding and pointing he taught me many things.

One of the best things he taught me was to appreciate Brioche Pudding, until then I thought bread pudding was disgusting and I couldn't fathom why anyone would eat it. I used to have to make the custard, chop up the day old brioche, danishes & croissants, butter & sugar the pans, then soak the bread for a least an hour then bake off pan after pan of of the stuff. I did all of this under Mr Dung's watchful eye and he would smile approval when I got it right. Some days I burnt them, some days I under baked them and ended up with mush which had to be thrown out which I tried to do sneakily out the back door and if Mario the owner asked why there was no brioche pudding today I would lie and tell him we did have enough day olds. I don't miss that job since it was hot grueling work but I do miss learning things from Mr Dung.

Anyway this recipe isn't the exact recipe I used at La Baguette because the quantities I used there were huge but this is a pretty tasty Brioche Pudding.


1/2 pound day old brioche, danishes or croissants cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 4 to 6 pieces)
4 large eggs
1 cups whipping cream
1 cups milk (whole is best but 2% works, don't use skim)
3/4 cups sugar
1 tbsp Grand Marnier, Frangelico or Amaretto
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup raisins or fresh blueberries


Cube up the brioche and set aside. Butter & sugar 1 loaf pan, Pyrex works best. Loosely press brioche into pan, the trick is to get it packed just right, not too firm, not too loose so you get the right ratio of bread to custard. Beat the eggs with the sugar, then add remaining liquids and beat until smooth.

Pour custard into the pan and soak the brioche, get a spoon and press the bread into the liquid. Don't over fill the pan as you don't want it to spill over, just fill until the top layer of bread is submersed. Let the brioche soak in the custard for at least 30 minutes and up to 24 hours in the fridge. Take the pan out and let it get up to room temperature, preheat oven to 350.

Bake for 40 to 60 minutes, it all depends on how wet the brioche is, sometimes it takes longer. Its done when the edges are slightly golden and you can insert a knife in the centre and it pulls out dry, if there's custard clinging to the knife its not done. Watch it thought at it can over cook quickly and dry out at the end. Remove from the oven and take a knife around the edge when it's still warm to loosen the sides. I recommend chilling the brioche over night before you try to release it from the pan, it will set up better and not loose any moisture.

Serve in 3/4 slices chilled, really good on it's own, better with blueberries & cream or even English custard.