Beans and Caviar

Weasel Poo Coffee Anyone?

2011-03-28T10:00:00.002-04:00

My sister gave me some Weasel Coffee from Vietnam. It had the most incredible rich dark coffee smell. The grounds were oily so when I made the coffee, there were big droplets of oil.

Weasel coffee is supposed to be Kopi Luak coffee... the coffee that is made with the beans that the Civet cat eats, then poops. Can you imagine a worse job?

Apparently, they only eat the best beans, so the coffee is supposed to be incredible. I don't think I did it justice by using it in my espresso maker. But I can proudly cross it off my bucket list.

Facebook

2011-03-27T15:15:00.002-04:00

I love Facebook. It's allowed my far flung family to keep in touch. Pictures have been posted from all over the world and we are amazed that our great uncle Joe looks just like someone's new baby.

I have my reservations though. Businesses and organisations ask you to connect to them. Is this a good thing? What can they access? I'm a little leery about this aspect of it.

However, since we moved in the Fall, it has been a great tool to keep in touch with friends. So All Things Edible, jump on board! We miss you!

Real Food

2011-02-28T13:48:00.001-04:00

I'm an unbashed lover of pure real food. This video about grocery store wars is just brilliant.

Back

2011-02-14T23:41:00.004-04:00

It's been awhile since I've posted. We've moved house, city and there have been a lot of changes.

My sister asked if she could take my blog off her bookmarks as I wasn't posting much. No problem I said... but now I can write something about her and she won't read it ;-)

She should know me better than that.

I wonder if she remembers the time when she had a cracked rib? She mistakenly let it slip that it hurt when she laughed. Well, the jokes my family told her just kept coming and coming and coming. It's a good thing she is really good natured.

Daring Baker Video

2010-05-11T20:50:00.000-04:00

Changing Neighbourhoods

2010-04-12T07:49:00.004-04:00

I've been MIA for awhile. Have I stopped cooking? No and I certainly haven't stopped eating.

There have been many changes happening in this household and many many blessings that have been coming our way. One big one is we will be moving from Ottawa. It's a welcome move but a fixed date has not been set. Sometime between June and August.

We'll miss our neighbours, our neighbourhood, our good friends who have hopped over to our house in their pyjamas from across the street.

Every year, around Easter, bunnies start hopping across the lawn. The maples unfurl their leaves and shade the house from the hot summer sun. Our neighbourhood is wrapped in greenery that gives each of us a private oasis in the summer.

I will miss the cedar deck that my father in law built. That will be the hardest part, since I know he put so much heart into it.

But it is time to move on - I only hope that whoever buys our house will love it and the neighbourhood as much as we have loved it for 15 years. It's a good place.

On another note...

I am having huge difficulties with my gmail account and every time I open it, my browser crawls to a stop. Anybody know how to fix this? Spammers, please don't suggest any enhancements - it certainly won't help.

Remembering...

2009-11-11T01:15:00.000-04:00

Today is Remembrance Day in Canada. Ottawa is a beautiful place to be, to remember, to be thankful and to honour those who have sacrificed their lives in the service of their country.

Not all stories of the military are tinged with sadness. Some bring a chuckle and hearty laugh.

My father in law tells of his required time in the military. His stories are the best.

When it came time for inspection, every crease had to be perfect, every item in place. The beds, shoes, uniform, everything had its' proper place. My father in law was quite the dedicated recruit and had hit upon a system to keep the high standards that were expected of him. In his foot locker, he had a board. On that board he had glued perfectly folded clothing. Once and awhile he had to dust the top layer, but the top layer was perfect every time his locker was inspected.

Smart man and pretty brave too.

Muffin Man

2009-11-06T08:44:00.008-04:00

Usually I don't write about things so painfully personal. This was hard, I broke down and cried after writing it.

I’ve tried to write about my father in law struggling with Parkinson’s and making muffins for my mother in law. As I wrote, I realised it sounded maudlin instead of a source of love and joy. There is a beauty, joy and privilege in having my father in law in my life. It’s been a transformation for this family to watch this boisterous gentleman as he slowly bends before Parkinson’s like a shuffling human question mark.

There is a trail of my father in law in this house. This time it was broken eggs, spilt coffee, and broken dishes, but he always did leave a trail.

Every time he came to visit, he kept busy building something. A cedar deck, a book shelf, a playhouse for the children…. As his Parkinson’s progressed, his projects became less ambitious. He painted and paint dripped down the walls. He fixed baseboards, which are still crooked.

This time there was no building, no painting, just some baking. He baked special muffins for his wife because she is unable to eat anything made with wheat.

My husband and I kept an ear out for him, as his coordination is not very good and he often drops things. Once and a while, we would hear the thump of a dish hit the ground or a spoon clatter. Unless something breaks, we stay out of the kitchen.

When the smell of burnt sugar came wafting out of the kitchen. My father in law had put the muffins in the oven; it’s difficult for him to fill the muffin tins, so batter usually ends up on the bottom of the stove.

When I came into the kitchen, I asked him how he was doing. “Not too good, I dropped some egg.” There was flour, batter and egg on the floor, on the counter, the table… his efforts were spread everywhere.

(It drove us crazy 15 years before to have a trail. What we thought was sloppiness at the time, was the beginning of Parkinson’s disease.)

“It’s okay, we’ve dropped many eggs in this kitchen”. My father in law sat at the table and carefully scraped batter off the table top while I cleaned. He then hobbled over to the stove and took out the tray of muffins. In one corner was one gigantic muffin, in the other corner were some tiny slightly burnt muffins and between them, were muffins of every size.

It may seem sad, but it isn’t. We have the chance to love my fther in law by treating him with dignity and quietly cleaning up his trail. There is a profound joy in accepting the honour of our role… and it is a privilege to be trusted with caring for someone vulnerable.

I am humbled by my father in law. Every day is a constant struggle to survive and instead of giving up, he put all his effort into baking for someone else.

It is a privilege to clean up after him and one which I will not enjoy much longer.

Mugging for the Camera

2009-09-17T06:52:00.000-04:00

Looks like Mom has a muffin top.

Product Review

2009-09-07T07:46:00.005-04:00

Screeeech, that's the sound of my soap box. Excuse me while I step up.

The start of school means some interesting challenges for my children. They have been in classrooms where the list on the door of forbidden foods has been as long as my arm. No nuts, peanuts, kiwi, egg, dairy, fish, shellfish....

No shellfish? This one made me snicker a bit since the luxury of shellfish will never make it on my kid's lunch.

The forbidden food list highlights an alarming trend about the number of allergies that children today are facing. It seems that there are more triggers for severe allergic reactions and the classroom can be a dangerous place for children who risk an anaphylactic reaction.

I cannot imagine the worry parents have when they send their child to school with a life threatening allergy.

It has never been posted no wheat or gluten products. There's a very good reason for that omission. My family won't die in the presence of breadcrumbs. We don't expect others to refrain from eating products with gluten. And I am thankful my worries don't include severe reactions.

Schools have been proactive about reducing the risk to children with severe allergies by banning peanuts and nuts in schools altogether.

A box of President's Choice peanut free products was sent to our household recently. The glutenator, the one child who could eat gluten, was thrilled. Here was enough peanut free snack food for months of school lunches. The celiacs were not thrilled; but they understand that their restrictions do not expand to encompass everyone.

It's a valuable lesson.

We squirreled the snack food out of sight, because it's just cruel to dangle a mountain of goodies in front of people who can't eat it. And I broke out the apron to bake gluten free muffins and other treats.

Would I buy peanut free treats? Before our celiac diagnosis, the answer would have been no since I made peanut free goodies myself. Now, it's not so easy. I almost never cook with wheat anymore. The risk of cross contamination is too high and the frantic cleaning is not that appealing.

Now I buy more ready made wheat products for the glutenators because it reduces risk to my family.

What am I preaching on my soap box?

We have a responsibility toward children to reduce the risk of danger. We cannot eliminate it entirely and there is a point at which each person will have to be aware of the risk. But as adults - it is our responsibility to reduce risk, teach awareness and provide safe places for our children.

I cannot guarantee there is no cross contamination from peanuts in our home. I cannot eliminate the risk of someone with a life threatening allergy having a reaction in my home. But I can contribute to reducing risk by having peanut free snacks on my child's lunch.

I'll buy that.

Blender Muscle

2009-08-14T11:59:00.002-04:00

We've been working our way through testing out our new Vita Mix which I won from a give away at Jumbo Empanadas.

The motor is so powerful if I attached it to a boat, I'm sure I could pull a water skier. It will even grind dried chickpeas - a fact that bowled me over since I first thought hummous was made with hard dried chickpeas. Thank goodness I did not own this blender the first time I tried to make hummous. My poor guests would have been subjected to the most awful hummous paste.

But the blender would have worked!

More on our Vita Mix experiments later.

Challenge?

2009-07-29T22:07:00.001-04:00

Good grief, I haven't started the Daring Baker challenge and the chocolate is going fast. It doesn't last long in hot sticky weather so it's probably for the best.

Right Jenny?

Wild Dash

2009-07-22T10:43:00.005-04:00

Even though the occasional bear would wander through the neighbourhood, we rarely saw them. They tended to be more interested in garbage cans and would bound away when noisy humans rounded the corner.

Skunks are a different story. We were the ones who would bound away hastily when the whiff or flash of tail came across our path.

In the summer time hot humid days would break out in shattering thunderstorms that soaked and cooled everything. The hot muggy air made moving unbearable and before any of our cars had air conditioning, we would keep the windows rolled down so we wouldn't cook when we used the car. Once you've had the experience of searing your skin on hot vinyl, you always left your car windows open.

So it wasn't unusual to go out in the evening to roll up the windows because of threatening thunderstorms.

One evening my mother asked me to watch from the doorway while she went to close the car windows. The unmistakable whiff of skunk was in the air but we couldn't figure out where the critter was hiding.

No one wants to run into a skunk.

Carefully and slowly, my mother looked left and right before strolling to the car. It was dark outside and we didn't want a skunk to pop out and surprise her. Cautiously, everything moved in slow motion.

From my vantage point on the top of the stairs, nothing much was happening for a bored teenager.

Just as my mother finished rolling up the windows I screamed...

"MOM! MOM! THERE'S A SKUNK! RUN! RUN!"

She snatched up her dress in two handfuls and made a panicked mad dash for the house... where I was holding on the doorframe to remain upright and gasping for air while laughing.

The panicked look on my mom's face gave way to anger... I think. I was laughing too hard to remember.

I was in so much trouble. Well earned I'd say.

Bear Breaks into Bakery

2009-07-09T09:45:00.002-04:00

Being Canadian entails more wild life encounters than many countries.

Here, we had a school lockdown; not because of crazed lunatics with weapons but because there was a bear in the neighbourhood. No child could be allowed outside without adult supervision to ensure their safety.

Bears make news because they are generally shy and avoid people... unless they are hungry.

One of my aunts had a bear step on her hand when she was blueberry picking. She was stunned but calm and the bear went on his way.

Berry picking is a higher risk activity because both bears and humans want the juicy fruit. If you visit a blueberry patch and see plants stripped clean of berries, rest assured a bear has been visiting.

My grandparents have a cottage in blueberry country so they have seen plenty of bears.

The story that is most legend was when a bear stepped on my aunt's head.

My two aunts were playing in a pile of discarded brush and sticks. They had created a fort underneath and were hiding inside. All of sudden they heard a thumping running noise; a bear cub was running away, terrified, from some people. He ran over the pile of brush and his paw broke through to step on my aunt's head. He scrambled down to the entrance of the fort to head inside and came face to face with my terrified aunts.

They screamed at the face of the bear peering into the fort. My grandmother heard their screams and came tearing out of the cottage.

Thankfully the bear took off and no one was hurt. We still laugh at that story.

This news article about a bear breaking into a bakery triggered some of my bear recollections. Unfortunately there was no video of the event but I did track down a video of a bear at a Subway restaurant.

Bear Breaks into Bakery

TOBERMORY, Ont. - The owner of a bakery in Tobermory, Ont., has had a few sleepless nights after a black bear broke into the shop.

The bruin was first discovered last Friday enjoying some cookies as he sat atop a freezer at the Little Tub Bakery.

The Ministry of Natural Resources set a trap.

The owner of the shop says he woke up early today to loud noises as the bear got caught in the trap.

Wayne Hadcock says it was hard to get back to sleep because the bear was banging his body against the cage, trying to escape.

The bear is now in the custody of the Natural Resources Ministry.

Original article can be found here

This video shows a bear visiting a Subway restaurant in British Columbia, Canada.

Well Baked Tart

2009-07-03T08:19:00.006-04:00

Like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, I'm late once again for a challenge. But I made it... or rather Jenny and I made it.

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

I was pleasantly surprised by this challenge, in fact, everyone around the table seemed surprised. Jenny and I were very laissez faire about the whole thing and no one was expecting too much satisfaction out of the dessert. Surprisingly, the recipe rated a solid eight out of ten.

When I think of tarts, I think of oozing fillings with a pie crust. The frangipane in the Bakewell Tart was more like-cake than custardy. Could this be because it was gluten free? I have no idea.

Bakewell Tart... er... Pudding

Sweet shortcrust pastry

225g (8oz) gluten free flour mix*
1 teaspoon (5 mL) xanthan gum
30g (1oz) sugar
110g (4oz) salted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5ml (½ tsp) vanilla extract (optional)
45-60ml (3-4 Tbsp) cold water

Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside. Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Frangipane

125g (4.5oz) unsalted butter, softened
125g (4.5oz) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs
2.5ml (½ tsp) vanilla extract
125g (4.5oz) ground almonds
30g (1oz) gluten free flour mix*

Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle, don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour. Spoon the mixture over the jam.

Assembly Instructions

Place ball of dough on parchment paper. Cover with plastic wrap and squish down with your hands. Then use rolling pin and roll pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When pastry is to desired size and thickness, transfer it to tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F. Blind bake the crust for about ten minutes until golden and slightly puffy. It will not puff as much as a wheat flour crust. Remove from the oven and spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 20 minutes.

Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking. The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish. When you slice into the tart, the frangipane paste will be firm and cakelike. The crust should be crisp but not tough.

*Gluten Free Flour Mix
2 cups brown rice flour
2/3 cups potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca flour

Lessons Learned

1) Teamwork makes a challenge easy.

2) I may not have time for a challenge, but always will have some time to socialise.

3) The tartiest thing about this challenge were the two cooks.

4) Keep your guests' expectations low. That way they are pleasantly surprised. Keep 'em hungry too and they'll eat anything.

5) I owe some kids bribe money for trying some of the weird food we served.

Hop over to the Daring Kitchen to see the buzz this month. The original recipe will be posted at The Daring Kitchen and on the host blogs.

Thank you Jasmine and Annemarie!

Happy Canada Day

2009-07-01T18:09:00.002-04:00

When I was little, I lived on a border town with the United States. One of the best parts of living there was the chance to see fireworks on the 1st of July and on the 4th of July. Today I'm far from a neighbouring American town and I miss the excitement of the holidays so close together. Nonetheless, Happy Canada Day and I'm off to see the fireworks.

Eggs-actly as Planned

2009-06-29T15:53:00.005-04:00

Jenny is my idol for organisation and she faithfully creates a menu plan each week. It always sounds lovely and I can attest that her food is fabulous.

I've slid in the food preparation department in the last month. However, this week I thought about a menu plan and here is goes...

Monday - Buy groceries after work for hamburgers and salad. Oops I'm back home and forgot hamburger, guess we'll have eggs.

Tuesday - Hubby has a meeting and we're down to three of us. Hmmm, one is vegetarian. Ok, eggs again.

Wednesday - Canada Day - Picnic and fireworks... hard boiled eggs are easy to transport.....

Thursday - Friends over for a Mexican themed supper. Make salsa for eggs.

Friday - Pizza.

Jenny, I'm joking about eggs on Thursday, but the rest of the week ... not so much.

Fingersticking Challenge

2009-06-16T12:03:00.006-04:00

What was that sound? It was the wooooooosh of a Daring Cook's Challenge being posted around the world and passing me by. Ooops, totally fogot about the date and mixed it up with the reveal date.

This month's challenge was hosted by Jen of Use Real Butter. She chose to challenge us with Chinese Potstickers.

Jen's blog is gorgeous and she beautifully illustrates how to make the potstickers. Although, she pokes fun of how white folks roll out the dough! Well Jen, this whitey used her tortilla press and the dough was perfectly round.... but pleating skills in this house leave a lot to be desired.

We used a gluten free recipe and the dough was very gluey. Our finger tips morphed with the dough until we just pleated finger sticking blobs.

The gluten free recipe can be found on Jen's blog. Since it included wheat starch and I wasn't confident I could find a gluten free wheat starch, I substituted a combination of tapioca starch, rice starch and other gluten free flours.

Note that one of my connoisseurs loved the pot stickers.

Filling chopped and ready to be stuffed into the dough. It looked good but tasted suspiciously like dried out tofu. Wait, it was tofu. Ugh.

My perfectly round dough disks morphed into blobs once they were cooked.

Lessons Learned

1) For perfectly round flat gorgeous disks of dough, just use the tortilla press. I love my tortilla press.

2) Gluten free potstickers cling to fingers like glue so attempts at perfect pleats are laughable. Hahahahaha

3) Substituting tofu for pork in the filling is really not that appetizing.

4) This challenge pushed me way beyond my comfort zone and I loved the introduction to a completely different technique. Would I do this again? Maybe.

Thank you Jen for a great challenge!

Pop over to the Daring Kitchen to see some of the other posts.

Hoofbeats

2009-06-08T08:25:00.001-04:00

I was awoken yesterday by the sound of a large animal and hooves clattering on the pavement. Unfortunately, I wasn't fast enough to catch a glimpse of what it was... but I suspect a deer.

However, this little creature has been hopping around for a while.

I wish bunnies ate dandelions. He would be one well fed little fellow!

Stretchless Strudel

2009-05-27T01:13:00.000-04:00

Strudel was the challenge this month and visions of bakers stretching their thin glutinous dough filled my head... but not for me. Gluten free meant more research to recreate a thin, flaky crispy dough that would not break when rolled. It didn't look very hopeful.

A round of applause to Karen of Gluten Free Sox Fan - she helped with a recipe that recreated the thin flaky texture of a strudel dough. But the shaping and baking was very different from a traditional wheat flour.

First Step

Mix the thimblefuls of flour mixes (the amounts were very small) into a pasty dough. Not much to look at.

Second Step

Spread pasty dough into even layer on Silpat or parchment. Any wrinkles in the parchment become fissures through which all filling leaks. Silpat would be better.

Third Step

Cook until it begins to release from the paper. Gently fill and roll, then cook again.

Fourth Step

Photograph before devouring.

The recipe for the gluten free strudel can be found here in the book Gluten-Free Baking with Culinary Institute of America.

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

Lessons Learned

1) Baking gluten free strudel is possible with a great team of advisers. I surprised myself. Despite not being hopeful about a great strudel - it was amazing.

2) Gluten free strudel is faster to make then regular - no stretching required!

3) For a thin flexible and flaky dough, this GF dough is loaded with egg, whey and soy protein. Not a problem in this household but loaded with potential allergens for other households.

Mystery Solved!

2009-05-24T08:41:00.006-04:00

Thanks to some research, a few comments and an email from Jenny we solved the mystery of the package I purchased.

The package of Yerba Mate was right beside the Pan in the Mexican and South American food section. The label on the shelf was covered by a stack of food but the packages were peeking out over top.

See the resemblance?

What I thought was a bag of coarsely ground cornmeal (the package resembled the same type of packaging) turned out to be a kilogram of loose tea.

Um, we don't drink that much tea. Thankfully the kind cashier took pity on us (snickering all the while) and returned the package.

Wouldn't you have made the same mistake?

Gluten Free What?

2009-05-22T07:29:00.001-04:00

This little sign got me so excited .....

Libre de gluten

Even I can understand that much Spanish and I bought a package of gluten free.... well, I didn't really know what it was until I Googled it.

Any guesses?

Daring Cook's First Challenge

2009-05-22T06:54:00.008-04:00

Zuni Ricotta Gnocchi

I'm late, I'm late ... for a very important date!

The first Daring Cook's challenge from the Daring Kitchen and like the rabbit in Alice in Wonderland, I am late to post about it. Ironically I made the challenge twice because my family liked it so much.

This month our daring founders Ivonne from Creampuffs in Venice and Lisa from La Mia Cucina chose Ricotta Gnocchi from The Zuni Café Cookbook by Judy Rodgers, named after her restaurant, The Zuni Café.

Two thumbs up for this recipe and only a little tweaking was required to convert it to gluten free. For the original recipe, check out the Daring Kitchen or better yet, buy The Zuni Café Cookbook here.

Gnocchi rolled in a combination of cornmeal and potato flour.

Plump Lumps Ready for cooking.

Zuni Ricotta Gnocchi

Makes 40 to 48 gnocchi (serves 4 to 6)
Prep time: Step 1 will take 24 hours. Steps 2 through 4 will take approximately 1 hour.

For the gnocchi:
1 pound fresh ricotta (2 cups)
2 large cold eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) unsalted butter
2 or 3 fresh sage leaves (optional)
½ ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated (about ¼ cup very lightly packed)
about ¼ teaspoon salt (a little more if using kosher salt)
cornmeal and potato flour for forming the gnocchi

For the gnocchi sauce:
8 tablespoons (227 grams butter, sliced
2 teaspoons water

Step 1 (the day before you make the gnocchi): Preparing the ricotta.
If the ricotta is too wet, your gnocchi will not form properly. In her cookbook, Judy Rodgers recommends checking the ricotta’s wetness. To test the ricotta, take a teaspoon or so and place it on a paper towel. If you notice a very large ring of dampness forming around the ricotta after a minute or so, then the ricotta is too wet. To remove some of the moisture, line a sieve with cheesecloth or paper towels and place the ricotta in the sieve. Cover it and let it drain for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours in the refrigerator.

Alternatively, you can wrap the ricotta carefully in cheesecloth (2 layers) and suspend it in your refrigerator for 8 to 24 hours with a bowl underneath to catch the water that’s released. Either way, it’s recommended that you do this step the day before you plan on making the gnocchi.

Step 2 (the day you plan on eating the gnocchi): Making the gnocchi dough.
To make great gnocchi, the ricotta has to be fairly smooth. Place the drained ricotta in a large bowl and mash it as best as you can with a rubber spatula or a large spoon (it’s best to use a utensil with some flexibility here). As you mash the ricotta, if you noticed that you can still see curds, then press the ricotta through a strainer to smooth it out as much as possible. Add the lightly beaten eggs to the mashed ricotta.

Melt the tablespoon of butter. As it melts, add in the sage if you’re using it. If not, just melt the butter and add it to the ricotta mixture. Add in any flavouring that you’re using (i.e., nutmeg, lemon zest, etc.). If you’re not using any particular flavouring, that’s fine. Add the Parmigiano-Reggiano and the salt.
Beat all the ingredients together very well. You should end up with a soft and fluffy batter with no streaks.

Step 3: Forming the gnocchi.
Fill a small pot with water and bring to a boil. When it boils, salt the water generously and keep it at a simmer. You will use this water to test the first gnocchi that you make to ensure that it holds together and that your gnocchi batter isn’t too damp.

In a large, shallow baking dish or on a sheet pan, make a bed of all-purpose flour that’s ½ an inch deep. With a spatula, scrape the ricotta mixture away from the sides of the bowl and form a large mass in the centre of your bowl.

Using a tablespoon, scoop up about 2 to 3 teaspoons of batter and then holding the spoon at an angle, use your finger tip to gently push the ball of dough from the spoon into the bed of flour. At this point you can either shake the dish or pan gently to ensure that the flour covers the gnocchi or use your fingers to very gently dust the gnocchi with flour. Gently pick up the gnocchi and cradle it in your hand rolling it to form it in an oval as best as you can, at no point should you squeeze it. What you’re looking for is an oval lump of sorts that’s dusted in flour and plump.... that would be a plump lump.

Gently place your gnocchi in the simmering water. It will sink and then bob to the top. From the time that it bobs to the surface, you want to cook the gnocchi until it’s just firm. This could take 3 to 5 minutes.

If your gnocchi begins to fall apart, this means that the ricotta cheese was probably still too wet. You can remedy this by beating a teaspoon of egg white into your gnocchi batter. If your gnocchi batter was fluffy but the sample comes out heavy, add a teaspoon of beaten egg to the batter and beat that in. Test a second gnocchi to ensure success.

Form the rest of your gnocchi. You can put 4 to 6 gnocchi in the bed of flour at a time. But don’t overcrowd your bed of flour or you may damage your gnocchi as you coat them. Have a sheet pan ready to rest the formed gnocchi on. Line the sheet pan with wax or parchment paper and dust it with flour.

You can cook the gnocchi right away, however, Judy Rodgers recommends storing them in the refrigerator for an hour prior to cooking to allow them to firm up.

Step 4: Cooking the gnocchi.
Have a large skillet ready to go. Place the butter and water for the sauce in the skillet and set aside. In the largest pan or pot that you have (make sure it’s wide), bring at least 2 quarts of water to a boil (you can use as much as 3 quarts of water if your pot permits). You need a wide pot or pan so that your gnocchi won’t bump into each other and damage each other.

Once the water is boiling, salt it generously. Drop the gnocchi into the water one by one. Once they float to the top, cook them for 3 to 5 minutes (as in the case with the test gnocchi). When the gnocchi float to the top, you can start your sauce while you wait for them to finish cooking.

Place the skillet over medium heat and melt the butter. Swirl it gently a few times as it melts. As soon as it melts and is incorporated with the water, turn off the heat. Your gnocchi should be cooked by now. With a slotted spoon, remove the gnocchi from the boiling water and gently drop into the butter sauce. Carefully roll in the sauce until coated. Serve immediately.

Lessons Learned

1) Take pictures even if your first batch looks like albino poop.

2) Form the gnocchi using spoons to make quenelles. The dough is very delicate and will stick to your hands.

3) If you like ricotta, fresh milk and parmigiano, you will love these light gnocchi. If you aren't a milk and cheese person these gnocchi will not appeal to you.

4) We prefer the light texture of these gnocchi compared to some heavy pasty potato gnocchi we've tried.

5) Too much butter for the original sauce made the first batch too heavy. A lighter touch with the butter was our preference.

House Party Masala Sauce

2009-05-12T08:19:00.008-04:00

Spring is in full force here and the pink shoots of my rhubarb plants have unfurled into tender green leaves. It's heartening to have a robust plant that won't die no matter how I neglect it, and I do neglect it.

Why can't I appreciate this plant more? I guess familiarity breeds contempt and the bags of cut frozen rhubarb hibernating in my freezer remind me of last summer's bounty.

When we were children, we would grab a young stem of rhubarb and dip it repeatedly into a small bowl of sugar after each puckery bite. Each of us in turn would laugh at the sour faces we made as we gnawed on the pink stalks. Somehow repeating that experience as an adult no longer holds the same appeal, my children don't want to play that game either.

Our rhubarb plants are embarrassingly generous with their productivity and it just seems ungrateful to ignore the frozen chunks of rhubarb before our next harvest.

I must focus on the positive, the things we love to eat... Indian food and HP Sauce.

Our family has fallen in love with the complexity of Indian spice mixes and we generously douse HP Sauce on our food. How could I add rhubarb, Indian spices and the appeal of HP sauce into something delicious?

Experiment anyone?

House Party Masala was the result of adding everything up and cooking it into a sauce.

The sauce earned two thumbs up from the family. It had the appeal of HP Sauce, a touch more of a spicy bite and a lingering shadow of Indian spice. We loved it and the sauce is on our table just in time for barbecue season.

House Party Masala Sauce

11 cups rhubarb, diced (2750 mL)
2 cups onion, chopped (500 mL)
5 cloves garlic, peeled
1&1/2 cups water (375 mL)
15 whole cloves
1 tablespoon hot chili pepper flakes (15 mL)
1 cup white vinegar (250 mL)
3 cups brown sugar (750 mL)
1/4 cup black strap molasses (60 mL)
1 teaspoon salt (5 mL)
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper (2 mL)
1 tablespoon garam masala

Combine rhubarb, onions, garlic, cloves and hot pepper flakes in a large stainless steel pot. Bring everything to a boil and boil gently for 15 minutes. The rhubarb will begin fall apart.

Puree the mixture in a blender and return to the saucepan. Make sure the lid of the blender is firmly attached otherwise hot sauce may explode out of your blender when it is running.

Add vinegar, brown sugar, molasses, salt, pepper and garam masala. Stirring frequently, boil gently until mixture thickens - about 45 minutes. Pour into prepared jars.

Yields 4 x 500 mL jars (2 litres or 8 cups)

Note: For safe home canning techniques and food processing please refer to Bernardin's website here.

Happy Mother's Day!

2009-05-10T17:15:00.001-04:00