I had been thinking about what kind of cake to make for Rain’s first birthday for a few months. I’ll admit I’ve been really excited about all the fun things I can do for kids birthdays now, you know things in small format on sticks etc. Even before I had a kid, despite constantly dissing the cute trend that’s been snowballing in the last few years, I had thought about how I might get away with it at my next dinner party. But then the adult in me couldn’t visualizes brown butter rice krispy pops as the desert following beef bourgangion, go figure. This kid thing may open up a whole new chapter of cute, which used to terrify me but I find myself suddenly drawn to.

I’m sure all of you mothers out there with even the slightest interest in baking understand the dilemma. It was going to be his first taste of sugar so it had to be perfect. I went through the usual list of common first birthday cakes from the allergen free to the fake chocolate black bean cake, none of which seemed particularly appealing to me. I think maybe this is because I’m not exactly a birthday cake person *gasp* shocking I know. I do love many kinds of cake especially those that shine in the morning with a cup of coffee, I’m just not crazy about the typical icing heavy variety traditional to birthdays. I don’t find them very exciting. They have a tendency to be overly sweet with not much flavor, at least the North American variety. I also really wanted to give him something he would love, he’s never had cake before or really any sugar to speak of so I was challenged by trying to find something he already liked and take it to the next level with some serious sugar.

I know you’re thinking that I’m crazy because any kid presented with a high concentration of sugar for the very first time will absolutely go nuts over it no matter what form it come in. While I don’t deny that could be the case, there were also a few other problems that influenced the direction I took. Most important of all, I had yet to give him any form of wheat or eggs. I’m really not one to get all crazy about the allergen thing, but why take the risk on his first birthday even if it is remote?

Actually, once I stopped focusing on birthday cake the answer came quickly to me: yogurt. My son goes absolutely nuts over plain unsweetened yogurt. I mean completely nuts. You would think you were in a monkey cage at the zoo standing in the middle of a giant vat of bananas. It’s to the point where we have to conceal the yogurt all the way in the back of the fridge because if he even gets a glimpse of the shiny white container he becomes completely entranced, every fiber in his little body starts to twitch and noises of all frequencies come flying out of his mouth at such speed there’s no time to even comprehend whats happened before a melt down of epic proportions is well underway. We have to go to great lengths to conceal yogurt in our fridge or anything that resembles a yogurt container.

Yes this was going to be the perfect introduction to sugar and the perfect occasion to just let him have at it. I had the perfect cake… see how many times I’ve said perfect in the last 2 sentences? That’s how PERFECT it was going to be.

Raspberry Dacquoise for the adults and the filling which contained no wheat, nuts or eggs made into a mini individual flower shape for the wee one. I’ve been making this cake for a few years, a recipe I found over at Chocolate and Zucchini that has become one of our favorites. It’s definitely not the most simplistic but really worth it for a special occasion and the filling on the inside: a combination of Greek yogurt, whipping cream and sugar was the answer I was looking for. It is totally yogurt like, same colour, same texture with just a few ingredients to make it even better. I was sure he would love it and that it would result in tiny adorable yelps of joy, with little hands grabbing for it before the candle was even blown out. After which we would have to take him outside and hose him down because much like most meals his entire little body would be covered from head to toe… all of this would naturally be captured on video which we would watch years down the road… blah blah blah…

Oh my GOD was I wrong.

Who took my banshee and replaced him with this sweet little reserved angel? He barely even expressed interest in touching it. I had to feed him some with a spoon. Dude are you serious? My child hates being fed with a spoon, pureed baby food lasted for maybe a week or two with this guy. He has to do everything himself. He comes by that honestly.

After a good 20 minutes of trying to spark his interest we gave up and fed him plain unsweetened organic yogurt for dinner for which he displayed his usual enthusiasm. Sigh. Just when you think you have them figured out they change.

But not all was lost the cake was as amazing as ever and if you’re fairly brave in the kitchen I suggest you give it a whirl – it is truly exceptional. For the recipe you’re better off referring to Chocolate and Zucchini (Raspberry Dacquoise Entrements)as this time around I quadrupled the recipe making the dacquoise in a full sized sheet pan and assembling in a giant pastry ring to accommodate all of Rain’s party guests. I will mention that I used exclusively Greek yogurt which turned out to be my favorite so far. The original recipe calls for Fromage Blanc, which is not only hard to find in North America but adds another lengthy step to the process should you choose to make it like I previously did. Also, I used frozen raspberries this time, I wanted them to taste good and they’re not even close to in season right now – I would suggest using fresh if you can find some decent as mine bled as they thawed taking away from the aesthetics of it.

Aesthetics aside, it did look nice on the cake stand!

I really love making Indian food. Another lifetime ago, long before I was married and even longer before baby Rain was an idea, I spend around 8 months travelling all around India and Nepal with two of my girlfriends. Despite my indifference to almost everything at that time of my life, somehow food and cooking was a priority as it’s always been. I was relatively intent on learning as much as I could about the regional cuisine of the many different places we travelled and I did a pretty good job of retaining and documenting most of that information considering I was completely stoned out of my mind 98% of the time.

All of you former young world travellers out there know how it is to be 18 and in search of the next “life changing” experience. Or maybe that was just typical to the angsty teenage backpackers travelling in South Asia in the late 90s? Either way, I was definitely in search of something or at least thought I was because it was all or nothing on every front. I think it’s safe to say that was the case for my friends as well. From the strange yogi who completely hypnotized my friend into covering her whole body with turmeric – incidentally my first experience with the spice – which despite relentless scrubbing made her appear jaundiced for 2 weeks afterwards (this still makes me laugh harder than most things), to the apprentice of a particularly famous guru, who I thought had the answers to all of life’s questions and had me dressing all in white and carrying a poster sized FRAMED picture of her with me for the rest of my travels. It’s safe to say that I am completely terrified of having a teenager, or at least one as willful as I was.

All things considered, I’m happy that those initial lessons in one of my favorit cuisines managed somehow to stay with me because I still have yet to make it back to India and when I do I will have a lot less freedom to spend time in the kitchen. We are actually planning a trip in the next year or so once Rain is out of diapers and I gather up enough courage to take him on another long plane trip. In all honesty, it is extremely rare that I even cook Indian food these days which is unfortunate because it’s something I always loved cooking. After marrying into an Indian family I just haven’t needed to cook it anymore because I am so spoiled with my mother-in-laws amazing food. I’m not generally one to be discouraged when someone does a better job of something, it generally sparks some of my natural competitiveness with myself and I try harder to learn what makes something as good as it is. I think in a way I’m just trying to avoid overload.

Since S’s family have been in India for the last few months we have been seriously deprived of good Indian food, namely the amazing northern Indian/Punjabi food we depend on. I have taken time in years past to learn some of the dishes from my MIL and I do make them quite good, not as good as her of course and have documented a few here before (Punjabi Cholay and Urad Dal). Rajma however, is not one of them. It’s one of my favourite Northern Indian dishes but I’ve never actually made it myself. I decided to try to improvise this dish based on what I know is in it with the addition of a few ingredients I thought may work as well. My main concern when improvisation is concerned, is that it doesn’t turn into that too-many-spices-mixed-together-muck that happens when you don’t let a particular spice do the job it should. When you add in a little bit of every common Indian spice it tends to just confuses things and result in that generic taste common to dishes cooked by people who don’t understand the subtitles of this cuisine. I’m not saying that I’m a master at this, in fact I have the tendency to be the worst offender – or at least used to be. It was only in recent years, after spending time watching and analyzing that I understood this completely. It’s funny how with food of all kinds it always come down to the same thing: simplicity. Revolutionary isn’t it? It’s probably on of the most overstated words among food bloggers and chefs. Of course the best ingredients count as well.

Rajma – serves 4

vegetable oil

2-3 cups dried kidny beans, soaked and cooked until just tender

1 teaspoon whole cumin seeds

1 large onion, diced

5 garlic cloves, diced

2 large tomatoes, diced

1 tablespoon tumeric

1 teaspoon Indian red chilli powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

small handful of Kasoori Methi (dried fenugreek)

2 tablespoons of clarified butter

Place a large sauce pan over medium heat, when hot add in the oil and whole cumin seed. Allow the cumin seed to fry until fragrant about a minute, add in the onion and cook until golden brown – about 10 minutes. Don’t rush this stage, I have found that actually browning the onion ( not burning!) is crucial to the flavor. Add in the garlic and cook for another minute, then add the tomatoes, tumeric, chili powder, ground cumin fry until all of the spices are fragrant. Add in the kidney beans and cook for a minute or two until they are coated in the spice mixture. Add in enough water to cover 2- 4 cups as well as the Methi and butter and bring to a simmer. cook for 20- 30 minutes. Serve warm with rice and roti.

Sometimes a little unplanned baking session can really work to your advantage, even in cases where substitutions are necessary. I’m the kind of person that believes in having a fully stocked pantry if I can at all times, meaning that if I am a little low on one sort of baking staple I will make sure to restock on my next trip to the store. I’m likely even a little over stocked with many different grain flours, sugars and nuts – I like to be prepared because I really love to bake and running out quickly to grab what I’m missing is really not as easy as it used to be.

The other day when the urge to bake struck I was unusually underprepared and couldn’t manage to shake the desire to make some sort of soft cake-like apple muffin, so I was forced into improvisation and completely out of my comfort zone. I’ll admit the situation wasn’t dire, I had little bits of different flours: regular AP flour, whole wheat, rye, corn, barley, oat and rice as well as about 1/4 cup of flax and a few walnuts. I routinely bake with a mix of these, but all together and completely unmeasured made me a bit nervous and the fact that I had only one single egg, almost no sugar and half the amount of oil I generally use was not going to help me. I knew that if I didn’t add in a significant amount of moisture, the result would be dry.

Fortunately, I had a can of pumpkin which to be quite honest is one of the most important pantry shelf items because of its versatility. I use a lot of this stuff both for baking and cooking it can completely save you in a situation like this. I also had some apple sauce and yogurt that was meant for baby R and a container of molasses that would substitute for some of the sugar. I was on my way, but still feeling a bit skeptical – again baking substations are really not my thing.

I’m happy to say this baking story has a good ending. I have to say I surprised myself with these – they turned out exactly as I was hoping. They are soft and incredibly moist, with sticky molasses undertones and a top that is the furthest thing from dry. There is something about the combination of the apples and molasses that is sensational. They are sweet but not overly so, I almost called them muffins but decided they were definitely more cake like and i didn’t want to lead anyone into thinking these were a healthily breakfast item, although I will say they are out of this world with a cup of coffee or tea in the morning!

This recipe makes quite a bit, it turned into 18 cupcake size mini coffee cakes as well as a loaf pan cake. There were 5 of us on the day I made these so I wanted to make sure there were enough to go around. If you are interested in a more modest amount I would half the recipe but honestly I can eat like 7 of these in a sitting so if you”re anything like me you’ll just go for it!

Pumpkin, Apple and Molasses Coffee Cake

2 cups mixed grain flours (rice, whole wheat, rye, corn barley, oat or whatever you have on hand)

1 1/2 cups regular AP flour

1/4 – 1/2 cup ground flax meal

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

1/2 cup pumpkin seeds, roasted

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup white sugar

1 cup molasses

1 egg

1/2 cup apple sauce

1 can organic pumpkin puree

3/4 cup yogurt

2 medium apples, diced

1. preheat oven to 425 F and prepare your muffin trays. I lined mine with parchment and the loaf pan I buttered and floured.

2. In a large bowl sift together all of the dry ingredients adding in the nuts or the first 8 on the list.

3. In the bowl of your  stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment beat the brown sugar, white sugar, molasses, egg and apple sauce together for about 2 minutes. Add in the pumpkin puree and beat again for another 2 minutes. 

4. Remove the sugar pumpkin mixture from the mixer and with a spatula gently fold in 1/3 of the dry ingredients once that is incorporated adding 1/3 of the yogurt, continue alternating dry ingredients with the yogurt until all incorporated, be careful not to over mix!

5. Fold in the apples and divide the batter out in the the prepared muffin trays and loaf pan.

6. Bake muffins for about 30 minutes or until tops are puffy and hold shape when gently pressed on. The loaf will need a bit longer around 1 hour.

7. Allow the muffins and loaf to cool before removing them from the trays onto a rack. Dust with powdered sugar and serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

]]> http://thehungerstruck.com/2012/02/23/pumpkin-apple-molasses-coffee-cake/feed/ 0 http://thehungerstruck.com/2011/11/16/butternut-squash-kale-and-balsamic-glazed-onion-tart-with-whole-grain-flax-crust/ http://thehungerstruck.com/2011/11/16/butternut-squash-kale-and-balsamic-glazed-onion-tart-with-whole-grain-flax-crust/#comments Wed, 16 Nov 2011 21:11:08 +0000 Natalie http://thehungerstruck.com/?p=2286

While we’re on the topic of butternut squash I thought I may as well post this improvised tart I made with left over squash from my previous post. I bought one of those jumbo squash this time around so we’ve been eating a lot of it. I have to hold back making my absolute favorit squash loaf as i am trying to control the urge to bake 24/7. Baby Rain even sampled some of the pureed variety and of course he loves it – still haven’t encountered a food he wont eat, including greens, we are so fortunate!

This tart is a little involved as there are many components that require individual cooking and of course anything involving crust will take just a bit longer. It’s definitely worth it though and this crust is now one of my favorits. I have been improvising with different whole grain flours for a while and while I do use a combination of white AP flour you could substitute all whole grain if you like. This is a really flavourful crust which we’ve come to love and it pairs perfectly with these sort of  Autumn root vegetable tarts.

For the Crust:

1 cup AP flour

1 cup whole grain flour, I used a oat, whole wheat, brown rice, quinoa blend

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 – 1/2 cup ground flax seed

1 tablespoon finely chopped thyme

1 cup cold butter, cut into chunks

1/4 cold water

For the Veggies:

about 2-3 cups of thinly sliced butternut squash

bunch of fresh thyme leaves

2 red onions, sliced

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 bunches of kale, stems removed

olive oil

For the Filling:

2 cups of Ricotta cheese

1 tablespoon finely chopped thyme

1/4 grated parmesano regiano

1 cup grated mozzarella

1 egg

salt and pepper

First get started on the crust so it can rest while you prepare the other ingredients. Combine first 5 ingredients in your food processor and pulse a few times, add in the butter and pulse again until the butter is the size of small peas. Add in the water slowly until the dough just comes together. Form dough into 2 discs, wrap well in plastic and refrigerate for 1 hour. For a standard sized tart you will only use one disc for dough, the other can be frozen for another use.

Preheat your oven to 350 f and coat your slices of squash in some olive oil, sprinkle over the thyme and season well with salt and pepper roast until the squash is just tender – you don’t want to overdo it at this stage as the whole thing will bake again once assembled. Once just cooked through remover from the oven and allow the squash to cool.

While your squash is roasting prepare the onions. In a skillet heat a tablespoon or so of olive oil and fry the onions until they are soft and tranclucent add in the balsamic vinegar and continue to cook for another 10 minutes or so or until the start to caramelize, season with salt and pepper and transfer them to a plate to cool. Using the same skillet set the heat to high and add in 3-4 cups of water making sure to dissolve all of the brown bits from the onions. Once the water is simmering throw in your kale and cook until tender. Drain and squeeze out any extra water in a clean dish towel like you would with spinah. Set aside.

In a medium sized bowl combine all of the filling ingredients and stir to make sure everything is incorporated well.

Preheat oven to 425 f.

On a lightly floured surface roll out your chilled dough and lay it in your tart or pie pan. Lightly crimp the edges and prick all over with a fork. Bake the pie crust blind (lay over a piece of parchment and some dried beans) for 10 minutes then remove the parchment and beans and bake for an additional 5 minutes or so.

Reduce oven temperature to 350 f.

To assemble the tart first pour in the ricotta filling, followed by the onions, then the kale and finally the roasted butternut squash sprinkle with some more thyme leaves and bake for 35 minutes or until filling is set. Allow tart to cool and serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

I have been on the hunt for new and exciting sage recipes. I don’t know what it is with this herb but it sure does grows like a weed in my garden. I was looking through some pictures the other day, taken in May just after planting and realized how quickly I forgot about the savory, marjoram and dill I planted – all absorbed by my mutant sage bush. I have cut it back twice now, but this just seems to encourage new and stronger growth to the point where half of one of my vegetable beds is now all sage. I used to love sage but I have to say it is officially getting a little old.

I’ve made several varieties of sage pesto, sage anchovy fritters on 2 separate occasions for a crowd, stuffing, brown butter sage ravioli, crispy fried sage for topping salads, sage in every soup imaginable I even harvested large bundles for bouquets, this thing is unstoppable. I was considering dedicating a whole series of posts to good old sage but this guy thought otherwise and I am bound to obey. A series of posts, ha! You are crazy lady.

You see those eyes?

Don’t look directly into them because he will hypnotize you.

He did however agree to a compromise and so I selected one of my current favorits. I really like the contrast of the sweet squash with the slightly bitter taste of crispy fried sage. This is such a great Autumn recipe, everything about it tastes like Fall. I will be adding this to my Christmas appetizer menu list if the mutant sage bush survives, who am I kidding it definitely will. I used goat cheese this time around, the original recipe calls for ricotta which is also really nice and a bit more subtle. The way I see it any variety of cream cheese would work.

Butternut Squash, Goat Cheese and Sage Crostini – Adapted from Bon Appetit

A handful of fresh sage leaves

Olive oil

Fresh butternut squash, cubed

A few spoons of brown sugar

Salt and  pepper

Goat cheese

Lemon zest to taste

Small baguette sliced thinly

Preheat your oven to 400F

Heat the olive oil in a small skillet, when it’s hot fry the sage leaves for a second or two until crispy – you will see the edges curl. Drain on a paper towel and set aside.

Coat your butternut squash cubes in a bit of olive oil then sprinkle with brown sugar and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven until golden borwn and soft – about 20 minutes depending on how small your cubes are.

While your squash is roasting prepare the cheese by goat cheese and lemon zest, season with salt and pepper.

Once the squash is done allow it  to come to room temperature if you can stand to wait, if not continue right along like I did.

Lightly toast your baguette pieces and spread on some of the cheese mixture. Top with roasted squash and finish with a few crispy sage leaves. Adjust seasoning if necessary.

I bake a lot. Probably too much. I’m starting to realize this is the reason I’m currently about 40 pounds overweight. Funny how that realization just makes me want to bake more. Just joking… I do have every intention of being able to wear jeans again and hopefully soon at that. After one full year in leggings I think its time, and when I say leggings I mean underneath long muumuu type shirts so lets not get excited people i am NOT that person. Actually, I was trying to evaluate how long I thought I could safely get away with the whole just had a baby thing and I came to the conclusion that I am rapidly approaching the the end of that era.

Waaaaaaaa. But its definitely for the best.

So in celebration of less baking I made some mason jar pies. Nice idea right? No, truthfully I made these a few weeks back. While gooseberries are still available in Vancouver sour cherries are no more. It’s actually quite difficult to find sour cherries in these parts even when they’re in season and when I do manage to find some they’re not cheap. Sour cherries have a very short season but they’re so worth it. I actually had a tough time getting enough of these for one pie and entirely cleaned out the vendor at the farmers market so I decided to make mini pies and throw in some gooseberries to keep these a little out of the ordinary. Sour Cherries have such an amazingly distinct flavor and really do make the perfect pie. We had a sour cherry tree growing up in North Van so sour cherry desserts were in abundance in my childhood. From clafouti to cobbler to pie they are versatile as a regular cherry, so if you’ve never tried them you must!

Sour Cherry & Gooseberry Mason Jar Pies – 10 small pies

Recipe for pie crust x2

3 cups sour cherries, pitted

3 cups goose berries, half of them halved

1 cup granulated white sugar, divided

1 tablespoon quick cooking tapioca

fresh grated nutmeg

squeeze of fresh lemon juice

2-3 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons cream

2 tablespoons coarse or raw sugar

First make your crust. I used my favorite pie crust recipe for these and doubled it. Make sure you allow the crust to chill for at least an hour before continuing.

Preheat your oven to 425 F.

Place the Sour Cherries and Gooseberries in two separate bowls. Divide the sugar between them adjusting to your taste. Sour Cherries are quite tart so you may like to add a bit more than 1/2 cup of sugar to them, I like them tart. Add the tapioca to the sour cherries and the nutmeg to the gooseberries and squeeze some lemon into both. Set aside while you fit your jars with the crust.

Roll out your pie crust and fit them into 10 small 125ml mason jars. Divide the cherries into 5 jars and the goose berries into 5 jars. Dot the top of each pie with some butter and fit each with a lid. Make sure the pies are well sealed and then brush each top with some cream and sprinkle with raw sugar.

Bake for 30 -45 minutes or until pies are bubbly and browned.

Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

I decided to repost a recipe from my archives while I finish up a few new posts. This was originally posted a few years back and is still one of my favorite recipes. It’s so great for a party or even just a very indulgent weekend snack. It’s a bit of a time commitment but very much worth the effort. If you’re entertaining it’s unexpected and will even appeal to the most picky eaters. These chicken rillettes are fabulous with a good glass of chardonnay, throw a few cheeses on a board with some great bread and you’ve got an instant party. 

OK guys, after more than 6 months with my new camera and several BlogHer Food panels about food photography I decided to get proactive and actually start to read my camera manual in the hope that one day I may actually understand at least 2 of its functions. I haven’t started yet but the decision has been made, which is more than I could say for myself a few weeks ago.

My dear friend in San Francisco was kind enough to spend an hour or so with me on the weekend going over some of it’s basic functions. I’m proud to announce that I now know what shutter speed is and took my first pictures on the manual setting. Where are some examples you ask? Well lets just say they were taken while watching a band I enjoy perform at the Folsom Street Fair on Sunday and though I tried I just couldn’t find a way to work all that leather and nakedness into this site. Also, I didn’t want the people who organize leather pride week to hold me accountable. This event is definitely not the ideal place for a newbie behind a camera on manual setting for the first time. Overexposure just got taken to the next level. Not funny, I’ll stop.

Before all of this inspiration and new found photo enthusiasm following BlogHer Food conference, I took some very bad pictures of some very good food. I decided initially that I wasn’t going to post this recipe because the photos were so bad that no one would possibly believe that this was in fact edible and I would lose all credibility before I even had any. After some thought I came to the conclusion that this recipe needed to be shared because it is truly one of those keepers.

I found it in the September issue of Bon Appetit and was immediately attracted to it as I love anything that is served on bread and involves cornichons.  It would be a great addition to a cocktail party menu, but if you’re anything like me I would suggest making it for yourself first because you will just end up resenting your guests after they eat it all. It does however involve some prep time, but don’t let that deter you it is worth every second of the time you spend making it. This was also one of those few occasions where I followed a recipe almost completely. There were a few small alterations but for the most part I prepared it exactly as was instructed in Bon Appetit.

Chicken Rillettes – recipe from Bon Appetit Magazine

Braised Chicken

4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil, divided

2 tablespoons of fresh chopped thyme leaves plus 4 sprigs of thyme

4 bay leaves

1 5 pound whole chicken, washed and patted dry

1 cup chopped carrot

1 cup chopped celery

1 cup chopped onion

6 garlic cloves, chopped

1 cup white wine

6 cups of low sodium organic chicken broth

Chicken Rillettes

1 cup butter divided

1 1/2 cups finely chopped shallots

3 tablespoons of freshly chopped tarragon

1 tablespoon of fresh chopped thyme

shredded braised chicken from recipe above

2 tablespoons of chopped fresh Italian parsley

2 tablespoons of chopped fresh chives

1 whole wheat Georgian baguette sliced

Cornichons

Preparation

Braised Chicken

Combine 2 tablespoons of the olive oil, thyme leaves and 2 bay leaves in a bowl. Rub on the chicken, cover and chill in the fridge over night.Because I’m an impatient person I only managed about 5 hours, but if you have the time I would recommend following the original recipe and leaving it in the fridge overnight.

Preheat your oven to 350 F and take the chicken out of the fridge and let it come up to room temperature while the oven heats. About 15 minutes.

Heat the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a dutch oven or other heavy bottomed oven proof dish over medium high heat. Brown the chicken on all sides and reserve. In the same pot brown the carrot, celery, onion and garlic for about 5 to 7 minutes and then add in the 4 thyme sprigs and remaining 2 bay leaves.

Add the chicken back into the pot with the carrot, celery onion and garlic. Add the wine and boil until it has evaporated. You want almost all of the wine gone before you add the chicken broth. Add chicken stock so it comes half way up the chicken. Depending on the size of your pot you may not need as much. Bring to a boil. Cover the pot and braise in the over for 1 hour and 15 minutes, turning the chicken half way through.My oven is a little on the cool side so this part actually took me closer to an hour and a half.

Remove chicken from the pot and transfer to a bowl and let cool. Strain the braising liquid and reduce over medium flame until you have about 2 1/2 cups about 20 minutes. Remove the skin and bones from the chicken and shred the meat unto bite-sized pieces and reserve.

This part can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill the chicken and braising liquid separately.

Chicken Rillettes

Melt the 1/4 cup butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and saute until tender. Add the remaining 3/4 cup butter to the skillet, let it just melt and try not to have a heart attack looking at it. Add in the tarragon, thyme, shredded chicken and reduced braising liquid. Let this simmer until the chicken is very tender and the liquid is slightly reduced. You want there to be some liquid left but not enough for it to be soupy. Let the mixture cool slightly and then add in the chives and parsley.

Pack the chicken into a nice large serving dish or several small ones and refrigerate until chilled. This can keep in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Serve rillettes with a good baguette and cornichons.

I started writing this post in April and it was pretty much complete without recipe and picture, but I never managed to get it published. Seeing as it’s so hard to complete a post these days I thought I would publish it anyway – the recipe is truly great. Having a baby who wont let you put him down (my fault I know – and we are working on that) really doesn’t’ leave much time for anything else. I am also happy to report that my vegetable garden did incredibly well despite all the rain this year and the fact that summer still really hasn’t arrived – hot summer that is. 

Spring has yet to really make it to Vancouver. For those of you not familiar with the climate here that means it has been raining or cloudy pretty much since October of last year, with an exception of a few days here and there. Depressing I know. I continue to hear that this must mean we will be having a really hot summer – a symptom of widespread desperation no doubt. I hate to be a pessimist but as far as consistent sunny weather goes this area of the world is not reliable and we are lucky to have a few months of sun before it starts all over again. In the past I have chosen to not let this bother me, I didn’t really have a choice. In fact, I generally embrace the rain and cloudiness. I grew up in this town after all, its a part of who I am and I can’t deny that.

This year is different. This year  after many years of pining, planning and envisioning I was finally able to realize a dream: my very own vegetable garden. A few weeks ago we moved into our new house a small apartment sized 100 year old East Van charmer. It’s perfect and felt like home immediately. More importantly it has two amazing vegetable beds, that were all ready for planting. I was so excited about this that I think we were in the house for only a few days before I planted every single vegetable that is known to thrive in the Pacific Northwest. No really, if everything goes my way I will be my own Farmers Market. For this to happen I need sun and lots of it. I can already see a few of my lettuce varieties starting to droop and I am really not impressed. I have high expectations for my garden, despite being a newcomer to gardening and the lousy weather.

Because the weather has been so unacceptable, I have been inside the house pouring over my cookbooks more than a healthy amount. I have such a backlog of recipe posts, and its not for lack of motivation – life with a 2.5 month old who has yet to embrace napping is really not conducive to any personal time. But we’ll get there and he has been sleeping through the night since about 7-8 weeks so we consider ourselves extremely lucky to have that, I don’t want to push it.

Anyway, this recipe is one of those that is best when you actually follow it. I found this out the first time I made it and decided that I would substiute in my favorit pastry as well as make a more traditional quiche filling without the creme fraiche. If I think about it I didn’t really make the recipe at all, which really cracks me up because I’m known to criticize those classic substituers (you know who you are) especially those ones that make drastic changes and then wonder why it didn’t turn out, must be a bad recipe… riiiight. I realized immediately that this was a mistake, because though it did turn out good, there was really no difference between what I made and your standard quiche recipe beside maybe the shape of it. Moral of the story is the addition of creme fraiche and this short crust pastry are what make this tart exceptional. The crust is very much like a savory shortbread cookie, and the filling is surpasses every quiche I’ve ever made in texture – it’s smooth and like the most delicate custard you’ve ever have. So get yourself to the nearest kitchen and give this a try immediately – it is a wee bit time consuming but it will not disappoint.

Italian Ham and Spinach Tart – Serves 6 – 8 (4 if you’re an Indra) Adapted from Jamie Oliver

Savory shortcrust recipe (follows)

1 tablespoon of butter

olive oil

3 red onions, peeled and finely sliced

1 clove of garlic, diced

12 ounces of spinach

fresh marjoram or oregano, leaves chipped

salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 cups of creme fraiche

5 ounces freshly grated Parmesan cheese

3 large eggs

7 ounces of smoked ham – I used black forest

Grease a 11×15 inch pan well with butter, you will be very disappointed if any of this amazing crust gets stuck to the pan. Line your an with the pastry and crimp the edges so that non of the filling spills out. Prick the pastry all over with a fork and chill in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Preheat your oven to 375f.

Remove the crust from the freezer and bake in your preheated oven for about 10 minutes or until its slightly golden. I find a little more time in the oven than is common for “baking it blind” is beneficial and ensures a nice crisp crust, not a soggy one.

In a large saute an heat some olive oil and fry the onions on a low heat for 10 minutes until they are just soft – you don’t want to brown them. Turn up the heat a bit and add in the garlic and spinach (this may have to be done in batches depending on the size of your pan) also add in your marjoram or oregano at this time.

For the filling combine the creme fraiche, Parmesan and eggs in a bowl and whisk until combined. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.

Spread the spinach onion mixture evenly over your baked tart along with the ham and then spoon the filling mixture over top, smooth with a spatula or spoon. Grate over some more Parmesan cheese, sprinkle a few of the leftover marjoram or oregano leaves and drizzle with a little olive oil.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until the filling has set and is brown and bubbling – you can check if its set by giggling the pan slightly.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Well I finally managed to get an hour to post a much needed update. Things have been extremely busy around here and even though I was warned, I still had some delusions that I would be able to handle it all and not  get so unacceptably behind around here. To all those peeps who told me otherwise you can officially pat your selves on the back and give me a big I told you so. You were right and I was so so incredibly wrong. Go ahead and rub it in I’m cool with it. In fact, I scoff at my former self for even thinking that I would still retain even an ounce of independence and able to enjoy some of the luxuries I once did.

Turns out I work on no ones schedule but his and he is very demanding and never takes no for an answer. But of course I enjoy every moment and when you’re this cute you can pretty much get away with anything.

His name is Rain Phoenix and he will be 2 months old on Saturday. I can’t believe how fast the time goes by at this rate he’ll be leaving for college next week. Sigh.

In light of my new responsibilities, which take up the majority of my time, I thought it would be best to start with something simple. Rhubarb always reminds me of spring and though spring has yet to hit in Vancouver, I thought I’d share a simple Rhubarb tart recipe that is quickly becoming a favorite in my family. This recipe is so simple and really just lets the rhubarb be itself. It’s lightly sweetened in a vanilla bean syrup and topped with some ground amaretti cookies for some crunch. There is really nothing to it. Happy Spring everyone!

Rhubarb Tart – Serves 4, recipe inspired by Donna Hay

5-6 large stalks of rhubarb

1 cup sugar

1 vanilla bean

2 tablespoons of butter, melted

2 tablespoons of brown sugar

1/2 cup of amaretti cookies, crushed

1 package of puff pastry rolled out into a 10×10 inch square

1. Prepare a simple syrup by combining the sugar with and equal part water in a sauce pan. Split the vanilla bean in half lengthwise and scrape out the seeds and add them to the pot, throw in the remaining vanilla pods as well. Bring mixture to a boil and allow the sugar to dissolve.

2. Cut the rhubarb into 5 inch strips, cutting them in half lengthwise if they are too thick and set aside.

3. Once the syrup is ready and the sugar ahs dissolved, add the rhubarb to it in batches and all ow it to poach for 3-4 minutes. Remove and set aside until all of the rhubarb has been poached. You want to be careful not to over cook them as they can get mushy very fast and you want them to retain their shape.

4. place your puff pastry on a baking sheet and brush with the melted butter. Sprinkle the brown sugar over top along with bout half of the crushed amaretti cookies.

5. Lay the rhubarb on top in rows and finish by sprinkling the remaining amaretti over the top.

6. Bake for 30 minutes or until pastry has puffed and browned.

7. Serve warm or at room temperature with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

It’s no secret that I am lover of all things soup, always have been and always will be. I’m pretty sure this has something to do with my absolute love for things that pair amazingly with bread, or more accurately my need to pair everything with bread. Isn’t everything just better with bread? I can fit it into any meal. Have what you think is a no bread necessary meal lined up? I bet I could fit it in, feel free to email me and we can discuss.

Actually, I have recently found myself in the unique position of having to eat much lighter than i’m used to. Not because I want to but because my body is forcing me too. Its definitely not like the earlier weeks of pregnancy where a seemingly never ending appetite seems to alert you to taste buds you never even knew existed, making eating even for a major food lover like me an elevated version of the usual religious experience. A few weeks back I was discovering flavor profiles in soda crackers that would blow your mind. Now sad as it is I can only eat very small amounts at once and even when I do that there seem to be uncomfortable consequences. It’s like alien resurrection inside my stomach after I eat so I’m really trying hard not to cramp his/her style cause revenge is a bitter bitter pill to swallow. No matter what you hear kicks feel like before you’re pregnant, nothing can prepare you for the feeling of a foot in the ribcage during the 8th month of pregnancy.

So you can see why soup seems like the perfect meal for me right now and I’m pretty sure I’ll be eating a lot of it over the next 3 weeks while the baby is still cooking.

Mushroom soup is one of my absolute favorites, and you don’t even need bacon to make it taste excellent. I joke, I just really like bacon. This is not exactly a vegetarian version though as I really think it benefits from chicken stock, but of course it could easily be substituted if that’s the way you roll. I will say that my one trick with mushroom soup, which I make different every time is to try and find some dried mushrooms to add to the mix. I uses whatever variety I happen to have at the time, this time it was dried Shiitakes (Thanks to my buddy Patricia!)  there is just something about the dried mushrooms that really takes the mushroom flavor from amateur to pro in a flash and it really doesn’t matter what variety you have it’ll seriously revolutionize this soup for you. Try it, you’ll see.

Mushroom Soup - Serves 6

olive oil

2 pounds of mixed fresh mushrooms, criminis, white button, shiitakes, oyster whatever you can find, sliced

a handful of dried mushrooms

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, diced

2 tablespoons of fresh rosemary, finely chopped

1/2 cup dry white wine

about 6 cups of chicken stock

1/2 – 3/4 cup of heavy cream

salt and pepper to taste

Heat a large pot over high heat, when its hot add in some olive oil and the the mushrooms. The key to getting all the flavor out of these mushrooms is to make sure they are browned adequately. In order to brown mushrooms up well you will have to make sure there is no salt anywhere near them or the juices will release and then it will take you an additional 20 minutes or so to get the water cooked off and the mushrooms brown. If this happens its no big deal it’ll just take a bit longer.

Put your dried mushrooms in a bowl and cover with boiling water and allow to soften for at least 10 minutes. Drain and dice the mushrooms reserving the soaking liquid. Add them to the pot with the dried mushrooms. Once they are all browned remove the mushrooms to a plate and reserve.

In the same pot add in the onion and brown then add in the garlic and rosemary and after a minute add back in the mushrooms. At this point you can season with some salt and pepper. De-glaze the pot with the wine and after it is entirely cooked off add in the chicken stock. Allow soup to simmer for 30 minutes.

With an immersion blender blend to soup up until smooth, alternatively you could leave the soup with a few chunks of mushroom for texture its whatever you prefer. Finish the soup with the cream and adjust the seasoning to taste. Serve hot with your favorite bread.

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