Dinner in the Yellow House

Rosemary and Garlic Bread

2009-10-01T16:53:39-07:00

I have made this type of bread several times using different herb bread recipes and all have turned out fine. It is also always a nice surprise to see how the design of the garlic and herbs looks.

Try this link for a Rosemary Bread Recipe which has a good savoury flavour and is easy to make. I put all the ingredients into the bread machine and let the machine do the hard work of kneading. When it is time to rise I let it rise in a barely warm oven.

Arranging the Picture

While the bread is rising the first time arrange the design in the pan. Grease the pan generously so vegetables and herbs do not stick to the pan. You could also grease some parchment paper and use that on the bottom of the pan. Select a well formed garlic bulb and cut the end off so it is flat and all the cloves are exposed. Set the bulb cut end down so it looks like a crysanthemum flower.

Add rosemary to form a wreath like decoration. Without breaking the rosemary twig apart, crack the stem to form a curve in the pan. Add bits of red and green pepper bits and green onions or chives to simulate stems and leaves.

Positioning the Dough

After the first rising take the ball of dough and flatten it gently but deliberately until it is wide enough to cover the pan you are using. I sometimes use all the dough in a bigger (10 1/4 inch or 26 cm) spring board pan. Sometimes I separate the dough and use two smaller pans and and make thinner bread. I have also used a cast iron frying pan to make smaller loaves and it works very well.

Gently lay the dough over the design you have created and let dough rise a second time.

Bake according to the recipe you used. When you take it out of the oven turn it over and if any bits of the decoration have stuck to the pan just carefully scrape them off and replace into the design. You may have to cut the top off so that it will lay flat when it is turned upside down.

To eat, tear off a piece of bread and pick out a clove of garlic. The garlic will have lost its strong flavour and can be spread on the bread like butter. It is a unique tasty treat.

I served this with the Brie and Raspberries on a Cedar Plank when we barbequed this summer.

Contributed by Olivia.

Roasted Corn à la Jaimie

2009-09-26T14:01:15-07:00

More BBQ experiments.

I traveled in California this summer and several people talked about this kind of BBQ corn. I had never tried it before and found it very easy.

I found Jamie Oliver's BBQ Recipe for Sweet Corn and not only was it easy it was delicious.

Watch the video and here are Jamie's basic steps.

Soak the corn an hour or two. Roast the corn.

Dice red hot chili. Grate goat cheese.

Peel the corn. Roll in butter.

   Roll corn in chili and cheese.
   Enjoy, thanks Jamie.

Contributed by Olivia

Brie and Raspberries on a Cedar Plank

2009-08-21T17:05:19-07:00

BBQ Experiments
Brie and Raspberries on a Cedar Plank
Rebeca and her family BBQ quite a bit but I have never learned the art. I decided this was the summer to change that. I started checking the internet for recipes and video instructions. A picture is worth a thousand words and a video is even better. I am including some that I tried here.
This was a good appetizer. A brie cheese heated on a cedar plank in the BBQ and topped with raspberries. We have a couple of raspberry bushes that were bursting so this was a good choice for us.

Ted Reader, Guru of the Grill, cooks up a wheel of Brie and Raspberry Topping. He uses his BBQ sauce but I just added orange marmalade and a dash of ice wine to the raspberries instead. The marmalade gave the raspberries cohesion, sweetness and a mild citrus bite.

Here are the words for what I did but but watch his video for instructions better than a thousand words.

1 small wheel of Brie Cheese
1 1/2 cups of of raspberries
1/2 cup of orange marmalade
2 T ice wine

Soak your cedar plank in water for at least an hour.
Preheat grill to 400 degrees or medium heat.
Put the wheel of cheese on the plank and top with the fruit.
Put the plank on the burner and cook for 15 to 20 minutes.
Test by touching sides to see if cheese seems totally melted.
Don't let the wheel burst.
Ted keeps a bottle of water handy in case there are some flames.


Berries, Mango, Grapes, Ice Wine and Marmalade on Camembert

The second time I tried his approach I used the following:

1 small wheel of Camembert Cheese
1 1/2 cups berries and other fruit
1/2 cup of orange marmalade
2 T ice wine

This was so good so I am going to try some of his other recipes.

Submitted by: Olivia

Flavour in Food and Music

2009-08-15T22:26:20-07:00

  Music and Food

Rebeca has taken a full time job so her writing time has been swallowed up. Fortunately, for her family, she still has time to cook delicious meals for them but does not have much time to write about them. Rebeca has asked me, her mother, Olivia, to contribute to her blog when I make something special or when I am lucky and come across some interesting and delicious food.

The picture above is of one of the organic green salads I ate daily for the last six days.

I was attending Nhemamusasa North , a wonderful Zimbabwean music camp. The camp was held at O.U.R. ECO Village near Shawnigan Lake.   Nhemamusasa North was organized by music teacher, Ted Wright. I took marimba lessons from Ted last year. He is infinitely patient and can get even the musically challenged like myself to play. He is a versitle teacher and teaches marimba, mbira, chipendani and gumboot dancing at Bopoma in Victoria BC and in the Cowichan area.

The music, the instructors, the participants, and the setting were magical and to round it all off we were fed royally.    While the instructors filled our spirits with beautiful melodies the cooks filled our bellies with delicious and nutritious food. Much of the food we were given came directly from the large organic garden on site. We were treated to roasted purple potatoes, an assortment of vegetable dishes, potato salads made with new potatoes, spanakopita, rice, bean dishes, couscous, salads, fresh wholesome breads, roast chicken, tofu and terrific muffins, cakes and much more.

There were many great dishes and I have chosen four to write about. Marisa, Jan and Ann, the gifted cooks, were generous with their time and told me how they made these dishes.



Squash Flowers Stuffed with Cheese and Garlic

Marisa gave me instructions for these.

Pick squash or zucchini flowers. Wash carefully and remove any rough bits.

Add a bit of pressed garlic into each flower. I tried this recipe with 1/4 teaspoon of garlic.



Cut mozzarella cheese into thin wedges just long enough to fit in each flower.



Roll in beaten egg.                        Roll in flour.





Fry in hot oil, turning to brown all sides.

Serve warm while the cheese is soft.

These are wonderful to look at and delicious to eat.

Vegetable - Walnut Dip

This is a green bean pâté that was made from fresh organic green beans. The recipe was in a well used copy of the Moosewood Cookbook (1992) . The description in the books suggests that the Pâté tastes like chopped liver but I found the taste to resemble an avocado guacamole. I liked the substantial texture and delicate flavour of this dish.

Following is the recipe from the book.

30 minutes to prepare

serves 6

1 T vegetable oil

1/4 c chopped walnuts

1/2 c minced onion

1/2/ t salt

1 - 2 T white wine or 2 t fresh lemon juice

1 - 2 T Mayonnaise

1/2 c chopped fresh green beans

black pepper to taste

2 hard boiled eggs (yokes may be omitted)

handful of parsley

Heat oil in a small skillet. Add onion and salt, and sauté over medium heat for about 10 minutes until the onion begins to brown.

Add the green beans, and sauté until they are tender (another 8- 10 minutes.)

Combine everything in a blender or food processor and grind into a uniform paste. This pâté can be used as sandwich spread or spread on crackers or used as a dip for veggies .



Mbira Orchestra

The Mbira is like a finger marimba or a thumb piano and has a sound like drops of rain falling on a harp. In the picture the mbira has been placed in a large bowl-like gourd that causes the sound to resonate and gives it more volume.



Some of the music is available at the following sites:

Mbira dzeMuninga CD's :    www.dzemuninga.com

Kurai Mubaiwa:         www.myspace.com/zimbamoto

Garadziva Chigamba can be emailed directly: marimbaman@live.com

The special guest instructors were from Zimbabwe and the cooks wanted to make something that would be familiar to them so they used coconut. They made several bean dishes and my favourite was the one with coconut milk.   I love beans.

Jan's Beans in Coconut Milk

kidney or pinto beans

1 onion

1 tomato

1 can of coconut milk

salt to taste

This was a simple dish but the coconut milk made it special.

I don't have the amounts. It would depend on how much you want to make. At the camp they made a huge pot of beans and served it with rice and a dish of chard cooked in peanut sauce. Hmmmm.

Cook kidney or pinto beans until they begin to soften. Sauté an onion and a diced tomato and add to the beans. Pour in a can of coconut milk and continue to cook until beans are soft and ready to serve. There were no spices added so that the coconut flavour would not be hidden.

Yams with Hazelnuts

yams

hazelnuts

paprika or chipotle powder

The amounts at the camp were huge but at home use as much as you would like for a side dish.



             Peel yams.                     Slice and brush with oil.



                         Add 1 cup hazelnuts

Put yams and nuts into a roasting pan.  Sprinkle with paprika if you want a mild flavour or chipotle powder if you want some spice.

I roasted 2 yams for 50 minutes at 350 F or 180 C.

If you roast them longer the yams get sweeter but watch that you don't burn the nuts.Two yams will make a side dish for 4-6 guests.

Bliss



The music pushed the stresses of daily life away and the good food and fresh air rejuvenated the body.



It was an invigorating and restful time.

While I cooked and ate at home, I played a CD by the guest musicians. The marimba and mbira music made for a total experience.



Dia de los Muertos Post-Mortem, Part II

2008-03-21T15:10:18-07:00

Hello! Nearly six months ago, I posted the first part of the post-mortem of our Dia de los Muertos feast. I never posted the second half. The text and photos for it have been sitting on my hard drive for a long, long time, and finally, today, they are getting out.

This recipe for Chiles Poblanos was written by my mother in memory of her mother, who was born in Puebla and died on Dia de los Muertos 2004. My mom took the photos too. Thanks, Mom!

Chiles Poblanos (Stuffed peppers in the style of Puebla)

2T olive oil

1/2 cup of chopped onion
2 cloves of garlic

1 lb ground pork

salt to taste
1 small can of tomato paste
2T of prepared mole paste (available in Mexican food specialty stores)

1 disc of Ibarra chocolate

1 chopped apple
1 chopped peach
1/2 cup of raisons
1/4 cup of chopped pecans
1/4 cup of chopped almonds

save enough pecans to decorate

1 can of roasted and peeled poblano chiles

Jalapeno Jack cheese
1 pomegranate

Take chiles out of can carefully and drain. They will be roasted, peeled, and most of the seeds will have been removed.

They will be stuffed through the slit that was made to take the seeds out. Set aside while you make the stuffing.

Sauté onion and garlic in oil until it begins to get transparent.

Add ground pork and cook until well done.

Season to taste with salt.

Heat the tomato paste seperately and add the mole and chocolate. With a fork, mix thoroughly before adding to the meat mixture. Be sure all the lumps of mole and chocolate have broken down because they would be difficult to find in the mixture.

Add apple, peach, raisins, pecans and almonds and cook long enough to soften the fruit.

Scoop a few spoonfuls into each chile and arrange on a baking dish. Pup a piece of cheese on each chile and a pecan half.

Bake in oven long enough to melt the cheese. Sprinkle pomegranate seeds on each chile and serve.

These chiles can be served with chicken in mole and guacamole with tortilla chips.

I never thought I'd like any stuffed chiles as much as the standard, plain, Anaheim chiles stuffed with Monterey Jack and fried in batter. These are real comfort food for me. But this recipe for Chiles Poblanos takes it to another level: a more interesting and elegant level. These can also be served as a main course with beans and rice. I figure on two chiles per adult and one per child. And please, feel free to experiment with different fruits, canned fruits, whatever. But the pomegranates are, in my opinion, non-negotiable.

Un oeuf!

2008-02-11T13:31:16-08:00

This blog has gotten pushed to the backburner of my life, I'm afraid. Even though I still love cooking and writing about it, I have started putting more time into my paid work and other writing. But last week something happened that I couldn't resist reporting here. I hope this is the beginning of a return to more steady, if not exactly frequent, food blogging.

Last Monday, I was able to leave a message on my spouse's work voicemail that I've been wanting to leave for a long time. Just two words, but they represent a lot of hope and investment: "Un oeuf!"

After seven months, one of our chickens had finally an egg.

When we bought the chickens, we were told that they would start laying when they were about six months old. They were six weeks old at the time. Their six month birthdays came and went with still no sign of any eggs. We consulted various experts and all of them said the same thing: they won't start laying until the days get longer or we put a light in their coop. The woman who advises me on their feed at Borden Mercantile said they need to be getting 14-16 hours of light a day in order to lay. We talked about installing a light, but were dragging our feet on it. Running a long extension cord across the yard with a two-year-old running around seemed like a bad idea, and installing electricity in our shed would be a major undertaking.

As it turns out, we won't be installing a light, at least not this winter. Even without the requisite 14 hours per day of light, our chickens are now laying gorgeous, light-brown, perfectly formed little eggs. Since the initial lay last Monday (we got dressed up and had a fancy dinner with an expensive bottle of wine to celebrate Egg Day) we have had three more.

So it's been an exciting week. The only bad part was that the picky eight-year-old, who does most of the chicken-care, was not the one to discover the first egg. I went out to clean the coop last Monday and I was the one who found it. She wasn't the one to discover the second or third eggs either, partly because she became discouraged and stopped wanting to go out to the coop to feed the chickens for fear of being disappointed again. Finally, on Sunday morning, she found an egg. And then, all of a sudden, it was worth it.

I've been thinking about the importance of kids feeling connected to their food and food sources and feeling that keeping these chickens is a big step in the right direction. In the above photo, two-year-old M'hijo is thanking the chickens for laying the egg so that he could eat it. He has seen, in books, that eggs come from chickens, but actually holding that egg in his hands, and then seeing my fry it up later, made it so much more real for him. I think so, anyway. I have to admit it that it was a learning experience for me too, and I thought I already knew that eggs come from chickens. There was something about actually getting that egg from our coop, from our chickens, that made me see the situation in a whole new way. I thought "Okay, I EAT reproductive byproducts that come out of birds. This is WEIRD." Not weird enough to make me a vegan, though. :)

So far, I haven't eaten any of the fresh laid eggs myself, giving my daughter the chicken keeper that honour. I am looking forward to seeing whether I actually notice a difference in the taste between a fresh egg and one from the grocery store. I'm also looking forward to the day when our chickens lay enough eggs each week that we can stop buying eggs altogether. This may mean getting a couple more chickens. I'll have to start thinking about new names.

Merry Christmas

2007-12-24T16:09:44-08:00

The only thing that could make standing in a long lineup bearable -- even, dare I say it, fun -- is that it is Christmas Eve and the lineup is at the butcher and an adorable young apprentice is serving treats on a tray wearing a Santa Claus hat and constantly wishing everyone a Merry Christmas.

Which is to say that I did not forget to pick up the turkey this time.

I doubt I will get a moment to post more tonight or tomorrow, even though I have lots to write about. Even now, my family is anxious for me to come away from the computer and attend to their myriad Christmas Eve needs.

So, Merry Christmas to you and yours! I hope yours is merry, delicious, and most of all, peaceful.

(Above, my picky-but-no-longer-vegetarian-eight-year-old works on our Christmas Eve yule log)

Latkes and Applesauce

2007-12-06T21:45:20-08:00

My friend Anna will shout "LATKES! LATKES! LATKES!" in her livejournal, but will not deign to post a latkes recipe on her blog. So it falls to me, the unqualified gentile, to post a latkes recipe.

I got this out of a picture book that my children love called, appropriately, Latkes and Applesauce: A Hanukkah Story.

1. Grate 6 medium potatoes, 2 medium carrots, and one large onion, in that order so your eyes don't sting longer than necessary. Put the gratings in a huge bowl and stir in 2 eggs, 1/4 cup of matzo meal, and plenty of salt and pepper.

2. Heat vegetable oil in a pan till it's quite hot, then plop spoonfuls of the mixture onto the pan and shape them nicely with a heatproof spatula. Cook until browned, then flip. Keep the latkes hot in a 250-degree oven while you finish the rest.

The recipe in the Joy of Cooking for applesauce was too long and had too many ingredients. I took the very lazy route and three 3 pounds of cored, peeled and chunks Gala apples in a pot with 1/4 cup of margarine (we are out of butter!) and cooked them over low heat for the time it took to make the latkes, adding about a cup of water and 3-4 tablespoons of brown sugar during the process. At the end, most, but not all, of the chunks had turned to mush. I was actually quite pleased with the result, considering that I used no apple juice or spices. It tasted extremely appley, and I liked the chunkiness.

A friend of the yellow house is celebrating her first Hannukah without her mama, so we made these for her. Oh, who am I kidding? While feelings of goodwill toward our friend may have initially inspired the latke-making, we made these to eat ourgreedyselves, and also managed to save a plateful for our friend.

I'm not going to lie to you: all that peeling and coring and chopping and grating makes this meal a bit labour-intensive. But it's a real crowd-pleaser here; M'hijo couldn't be bothered with utensils and ate his portion -- applesauce and all -- with his fingers.

Cassoulet and Mercurey

2007-12-03T13:56:47-08:00

The first time I had cassoulet was at a 50th birthday party for the painter Carol Frank, who is a friend of my dad's, when I was sixteen years old. The theme of the party was A Moveable Feast, and the host read bits from the book while his helpers served us the dishes described in the text. This was the same night that I first made the acquantaince of raw oysters and I've loved them ever since. My memory of the cassoulet, however, was of a rather bland, unpleasantly beany dish; I couldn't understand why all the adults were crazy about it.

I next tried the classic dish in my own kitchen, following a recipe from the my inaugural cookbook*: Reader's Digest's Eat Well, Stay Well. It's not a glamorous volume but it was just right for me at the time and I still use several recipes from it. The Reader's Digest cassoulet is certainly not authentic but it is tasty, and definitely has the gist of what a cassoulet is supposed to be. With some crusty bread and cheap red wine, it warmed our bellies on many a cold night during our stint in freezing Waterloo, Ontario.

When I lived briefly in France, I tried the ultra-lowbrow canned cassoulet from the Miniprix. It was basically the equivalent of Heinz pork and beans but I reasoned that since everything in France tasted better, even the frozen and canned food, it would probably be good. Nope, I was wrong. There are reasonable canned cassoulets, but the cheapest one on the shelf really is bad, it's Frenchness notwithstanding.

This weekend I finally hit the cassoulet jackpot. We picked it up from Choux Choux, and paired with a bottle of 1999 Champs Martin Premiere Cru Mercurey and a baguette from House, it made a memorable Friday night supper. I'm not exactly sure what all was in the cassoulet but my best guess is this: haricots blanc, Toulouse sausage, duck confit, and salt pork. A very carnivorous meal!

The Mercurey was delicious: lots of spiciness and hardly any tannins (it's age may have had something to do with that) and not much fruit. So, definitely different from the sweeter and fruitier Oregon and California Pinots that tend to reside in the Yellow House liquor cabinet. Tobias called it "flawless" and who am I to argue? I thought it perfectly complimented the cassoulet, especially the duck.

Victoria people:

If you would like to order a cassoulet from Choux Choux, they only do them from time to time so it's best to call ahead (382-7572). As for the wine, well, the Champs Martin Premiere Cru is a little on the pricey side here in the Great White North: our friend Jeff picked ours up for less than half the price in San Francisco. You might try the also delicious Chateau de Chamirey Mercurey, which you can get at the Oak Bay liquor store. It's still a special occasion wine, at 40 dollars, but cassoulet is a special occasion, at least in my book.

*The first cookbook I cooked from in my early days in the kitchen, just after I got married.

German Apple Pancake for the first day of Advent

2007-12-01T17:00:10-08:00

Tomorrow is the official start of Advent, but several factors contributed to our celebrating a day early:

My spouse, Tobias, leaves for London this afternoon

The kids' advent calendar -- I splashed out on a fancy Playmobil one this year -- starts today

Doing anything fancy for breakfast on a church morning is not something I want to contemplate. It's all I can do to get the children and myself washed and dressed in a timely fashion

Last year I bought the Cook's Illustrated Holiday Baking issue but didn't make even one thing out of it. M'hijo was just one last December and holiday baking was not really something I could manage at the time. But this year he's much more self-reliant and I'm hoping to make several things from the magazine. This German apple pancake was the first.

Which Apples?

The article accompanying the recipe talks about apple choice, indicating that McIntoshes are absolutely the wrong kind to use, and Granny Smiths and Braeburns are the best. Well, what I had in my fruit bowl was 2 BC Braeburns, 1 Gala and the last apple of the year from our big backyard tree, which is an unknown but very, very tasty red, sweet-tart variety that I love. This wasn't quite the 1.5 pounds I needed, but luckily our SPUD order came last night, and included a couple of Pink Ladies, and I added one of them. So, quite a melange of apples, and you know what? They turned out great. None of them lost their shape, in fact, they were pleasingly firm in the final dish, and there was a really nice, strong appley flavour.

The Recipe

This is really easy to make! I cracked open the magazine at about 7:40 am and we were sitting down to a delicious hot, aromatic, and cozy breakfast at 8:20am.

1) Peel, core and slice your 1.5 pounds of apples. 1/2 inch slices are recommended in the magazine. As you can imagine, I did not get out a ruler, but sliced 'em like I like 'em.

2) In a 10-inch cast iron or nonstick pan, heat 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter till it sizzles. I used salted; the world did not collapse. Put it in the apples, along with 1/4 cup of brown sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. And here is why Cook's Illustrated rocks: cook for 6 minutes if using cast iron, and 10 if using regular nonstick! And also, heat the oven to 500 degrees if you're using nonstick and 425 if you're using cast iron. Aren't they smart? They think of everything! You should probably stir the apples around while they cook.

3) Now get out two bowls and a whisk. Into one, put 1/2 cup of flour, 2 tablespoons of granulated white sugar and 1/2 teaspoon of salt and whisk it. Into the other, put 2/3 cup of half-and-half, 2 large eggs, and 1 teaspoon of vanilla and whisk that. Add the liquid to the dry, and whisk until you have a smooth, lump-free batter.

4) When the apples are golden and there's a nice brown sauce at the bottom of the pan, take it off the heat at add 2 teaspoons of lemon juice. I forgot this step and the the pancake was still great, so don't feel too bad if you have no lemons.

5) Pour the batter over and around the apples and pop the skillet into the oven, turning down the temp to 425 if you're using nonstick.

6) After 18 minutes you will have a beautiful custardy, appley treat that you can flip over onto a serving platter and dust with icing sugar.

For our start of Advent celebration, Mother Nature cooperated with her own dusting of white stuff onto our back porch. We turned off the lights in the kitchen and watched the snow while we polished off the whole, big German pancake, Canadianized slightly by the addition of maple syrup.

In our tradition, the first candle in the Advent wreath, which will be lit tomorrow morning, symbolizes hope. In the spirit of Advent, then, I wish all DITYH readers a hopeful week.