Beet 'em or join 'em

Posted by Bonita



I've really come to like beets this past summer. There's nothing more beautiful than the deep purples of a beet, or the bright pink hues it'll give when diluted. Beets are certainly an acquired taste; they have a rich, earthy taste to them. However, I love roasting my beets in oven (skin on!). It allows the beets to keep in their flavour, but also concentrates that sweetness. I find that beets taste better the next day after roasting them. They taste delicious cold, simply drizzled with some good-quality balsamic vinegar.



Dinner this week consisted of quick and easy salads that strays away from the boring lettuce. The first is a Roasted Shrimp and Orzo salad, inspired by Ina Garten after watching her make it last weekend on Barefoot Contessa. I added some chopped tomatoes to the salad and added some honey to the dressing to balance the tartness of the lemon juice. The salad was really refreshing and delicious, and definitely tasted better the longer it was in the fridge since it allowed everything to absorb all the different flavours.



The other salad I made this week consisted of...surprise surprise...beets. I simply roasted the beets a day before, and when I was ready to use them, drizzled the chopped roasted beets with some good-quality balsamic vinegar and sprinkled with some chopped dill and feta cheese. The balsamic really helps to bring out the natural sweetness in the beets, while the saltiness of the feta helps to balance that sweetness, while also adding a creamyiness to the salad. And the dill just adds a really nice, bold flavour to the salad as a whole.

However, my piece of resistance this week is the Chocolate Beet Cake. I actually saw this recipe a few months back on Cook & Eat, and with the 10 lb. bag of beets that I had picked up last week (yes...10 lb...which I carried back home on my back), I thought this would be a great chance for me to try the cake out.



The cake is really simple to make in itself. Since I already roasted a whole bunch of beets the day before, all I had to do was take some and puree them. Unfortunately, I only had one of those mini food-choppers to work with, so I didn't get as fine as a puree as I would with a food processor or a blender. But the cake turned out really well. It was superly moist with a fine crumb. Furthermore, you can't really taste the beets. There's a hint of something there, but it's not obvious so it adds a layer of interest and mysteriousness to the cake. I finished the cake off with a Beet Buttercream which didn't turn out as nicely as I would have wanted it to (consistency-wise). I also thought it would be too sweet at first, but paired with the cake, it was the perfect degree of sweetness. Best of all, I love the colour of that frosting, with that vibrant pink just popping out at you. All in all, I think the cake was a great success!

A little bit of therapy

Posted by Bonita



Unfortunately I haven't had the chance to update much since I've gone back to school a couple of weeks ago. Work and readings have started to pile up, extra-curricular activites have to be attended to and the ever-present F-word seems to be haunting my every step lately: the Future. Yes, so it's been a bit of a stressful time ("a bit" being the understatement of the year), so what better than a little culinary therapy, right?



I usually try to eat healthy when I'm back at school. I also tend to opt for things that I can make in less than 15 minutes and that can be made in huge batches so that I have dinner ready for the rest of the week. I've made Miso with Tofu and Nori soup a couple of times, and had it with some store-bought kimchi. It's really fast, really delicious and really good for you. The dashi stock was instant though, since I really don't have the time to make my own dashi stock. Despite the stock being instant, the soup still turns out really well.



With the stress of school and life, I needed to bake this past weekend. I made Chocolate Chip Muffins for my roommate Amy, since she likes to have a muffin for breakfast. I also made some Italian-inspired cookies, Chocolate Baci Cookies. The cookie base is really moist and rich, almost reminiscent of a brownie, while the nutella adds some smoothness to the cookie, and the toasted hazelnut some crunch. The cookies went over very well with my Italian Lit. class; my professor ended up eating half the box! Yeah...extra brownie points for me?!? Lol....these were really easy to make. You can find the recipe over at chef-girl.net, a great food blog.



Oh yes, and I ended up picking up a case of Black Mission Figs this past weekend. Absolutely delicious simply served with some ricotta and honey. Delizioso! Also picked up a 10 kg bag of beets. Yes...10 kg! God knows what I'll end up doing with 10 kg worth of beets, but I plan to have a bit of experiment this weekend with dinner. I'm thinking Beet Risotto and Chocolate Beet Cake perhaps?!? Stay tuned and find out....

A More Veggie Weekend

Posted by Andrew

This weekend I managed to make three different vegetable-focussed dishes, a rarity under my wing. OK, so one of the veggie dishes really is more of a sideshow, but even then it's not often meat plays a shadowing role in my cooking. First on Saturday night I made myself some braised nappa cabbage with slivered Chinese sausage (a locally available substitute to locally unavailable Chinese ham). Then on Sunday I decided to do something more Western in taste.

















After my questionable first attempt at making roasted vegetables, I decided to try that again this weekend. This time I used carrots, beets, red onion, new red potatoes and garlic, and I added a bit more olive oil and salt compared to last time as well as some ground pepper and a splash of balsamic vinegar. This time the flavouring was more acceptable, and the beets definitely helped! The sweetness of the beets matched well with the unique sourness of the balsamic vinegar, which was well absorbed by the onions. Not only were my veggies not bland this time, they weren't burnt at all, only slightly caramelized. At least I've got that one down pat now.

I recalled somewhere that beet stalks were edible, so why throw away those when they can be just as palatable as the beet root itself? Following my sister's advice I sauted the stalks in some olive oil and chopped garlic, and I almost let it burn on the stove, but fortunately it was only slightly tanned. It turns out that the stalks tasted alright, the leaves having soaked up a bit of the garlic flavour while the stalks remained nice and firm. Both the beet stalks and roasted vegetables went very well with my pork chop that night.

Now if only beets actually grew more stalks on each root...

Just peachy

Posted by Bonita



It's that time of year again, when beautiful fresh, local produces start hitting the stores and markets in huge baskets and bins, tempting and seducing keen foodies like myself. I love peaches. They're probably one of my favourite fruits (although to be quite honest, there are very few fruits I don't love. What can I say? I could eat fruits all hours of the day!). From the fuzzy, blushing exterior to the orangey-yellow, juicy flesh, peaches are to die for, especially when it's in season and in abundance. At my home, we used to can peaches all the time around this season. We would pick up a good number of baskets of peaches, skin them, pit them, quarter them and can them. This allows us to preserve the fresh, juicy sweetness of the peaches and enjoy any time of the year, even in the dead of winter!



However, for some reason, we stopped canning peaches for a few years, and it wasn't until last year, after I mentioned how much I missed those canned peaches, that we started the tradition again. I myself am now old enough to actually be of use in the kitchen while canning, and have become part of the production line, where I, often or not, am responsible for peeling the peaches. We made a good number of canned peaches the other day, and had some leftover. Rather than can some more, I thought I would make some Peach Jam with the remaining peaches to change things up a bit. After having successfully made some delicious Apricot Preserves earlier this summer, I definitely wasn't worried about making jam this time around. It was quick and simple, and I'm sure when I have it on my toast tomorrow morning, it will be delicious! And I absolutely love the colour of the final product of this jam; it's such a beautiful golden yellow! It's rays of sunshine and all things summer all bottled up into little jars! :D

The black forest...

Posted by Bonita



I've really increased my intake of fish this year, considering I've started to eat considerably less meat (especially red meat) and pork and try to stick with leaner meats like chicken and even meat substitutes like tofu. I also love to go grocery shopping, and nothing's more exciting than when fresh ingredients inspire your dinner plans. The other day, I picked up some nice whole rainbow trouts. It's been a long time since we've had rainbow trout in my home. My mom used to make it all the time, but stopped after my dad complained about the numerous bones he has to pick out of his fish. However, having a craving for rainbow trout, I picked some up, hoping that my dad gained some patience over the years to pick out those bones!



I think simple is the best way to go with fish, so as not to cover up the often delicate flavour and texture of the fish. I stuffed the inside of the trouts with fresh parsley and dill and sliced citrus fruits, seasoned with olive oil, salt and pepper and threw it in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes (depending on the size of your fish). The trouts were cooked perfectly...just cooked through so that it falls off the bones but still melts in your mouth. I roasted some lovely beets and sauteed the beet greens to go with the fish. I never knew you could eat the greens as well until this year, and they are really delicious! Simply blanched them for a few minutes, and then sauteed them with a little garlic, ginger and some lemon juice. Unfortunately I went a little heavy on the lemon juice this time around, but I personally found them delicious this way!



As for dessert, I made a Black Forest Gâteau today. We picked up two large 10 kilo buckets of pitted cherries a couple of weeks back and put them in the freezer. I've been meaning to make this cake for a couple of weeks now, ever since we bought the cherries, but another recipe always came up instead. Finally, after weeks of waiting, I got around to making this cake! I used the recipe from my Le Cordon Bleu Cake book. Instructions were simple enough to follow, although it does require a bit of work to put the cake together. The most painstaking part is decorating the cake, especially with my lack of talent for icing and decorating cakes. Let's just say that by the end, there was whipped cream and chocolate shavings all over the counter, the floor, and even in my hair (yes...don't ask how it got there!). Sadly, like most of my cakes, it turned out looking ugly and very amateur-looking, but thankfully it did taste pretty good.



I'm still frustrated though how my whipped cakes always turn out either on the dry side or too dense. This cake turned out a little dry for my taste, even though I soaked a lot of the Kirsch syrup into the cakes. I'll definitely need to take a course one of these days to learn a few trade secrets from the pros on how to obtain a fluffy and moist génoise cake. Despite the few glitches here and there, my mom really liked it! She's not a big sweets person, but she came back for seconds! It helps that Black Forest is her favourite cake...

From Thailand to Japan

Posted by Bonita

It was another busy day in the kitchen yesterday. My mom and I have been meaning to do a Thai meal for awhile, butit kept on getting pushed back until now. We finally huckered down, bought some Thai ingredients and got our Thai meal to the table.



Mom made Tom Yum Goong, a hot and sour soup with a soup base made from lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, galanga, shallots, lime juice, fish sauce and chillis. We also put some mushrooms, tomatoes, shrimp and of course, coriander into the soup. She also made a Papaya & Jicama Salad and the ever popular Pad Thai. I, on the other hand, made Deep-Fried Tofu with Peanut Sauce. Despite a couple of glitches here and there, the meal turned out nice enough and everything was delicious.



I also FINALLY got around to making that Japanese Cheesecake I've been meaning to make all summer. Unfortunately, I forgot to wrap my cake pan in foil...and water from the water bath ended up leaking into my pan. **cries** So despite the side of my cake being water-logged, it would have been perfect. Cake tasted delicious though, almost like the real thing you might get from a Japanese or Chinese pastry shop.

In good company

Posted by Bonita



My family is a pretty quiet one, so we don't often entertain guests. However, I've been itching to host a dinner party the last couple of weeks, and we finally had some time in our schedule to invite our neighbours and old family friends over for dinner last night. It was definitely an enjoyable evening, not only for me, who's always delighted to cook for others, but a great way to catch up with old friends once more. I've known them ever since I was born, so they're more like a family than anything else.



I spent the last week and a half contemplating last evening's dinner menu. I poured over my many culinary books, searched high and low on many internet sites, and after much deliberation with my mom, finally planned out the menu. The evening started off with Poached Pear Salad with Baby Greens and Prosciutto, and simply drizzled with some good-quality balsamic vinegar and lemon-infused olive oil. Freshly baked bread was also served at the table, along with some lemon & herb butter: Olive Oil & Herbes de Provence Bread and Fig & Walnut Boule. The picture at the top of the page is the Fig & Walnut Boule. Sadly, I forgot to take a picture of my pretty Herbes de Provence loaf before I sliced it.



The hardest part of the menu was coming up with the main course. We deliberated on several options over the course of the past week. Would it be beef? Chicken? Veal? Duck? Fish? We had eventually narrowed it down to poultry and fish by some point last week, but eventually opted for cornish hens. I ended up making Stuffed Cornish Hens with Port Sauce, the stuffing made from a medley of wild and brown rice, turkey sausage, sun-dried tomatoes, dried cranberries and fresh herbs. The port sauce that accompanied the hens was also very delicious; the use of Tawny Port gave the sauce a perfect hint of sweetness without making it too heavy or overwhelming. We served Roasted Beets drizzeld with some balsamic vinegar and Steamed Broccoli as side dishes.



Dessert was a simple affair. I had some extra cookies (Shortbread, Pistachio White Chocolate Thumbprints and Rugelach) from last week which I threw into the freezer. I merely pulled them out of the freezer yesterday morning to thaw, and they were still absolutely delicious. I also made Dorie Greenspan's World Peace Cookies after reading so much about it on other foodblogs. Made the dough the day before and baked half of them yesterday morning. However, I found the dough impossible to work with; maybe it's just me? The dough kept crumbling on me when I tried to cut it, and it was impossible to get some nicely-cut cookies. Needless to say, the melt-in-your-mouth shortbread was a huge hit, along with the coconut-laced pistachio white chocolate thumbprints.



The main dessert, however, was a Peach and Blueberry Crostata (adapted from this recipe), showcasing the beautiful, seasonal fruits. I absolutely love this recipe; I made this once before last year, and it went off well with the family, so I thought it would be a perfect ending to our evening. As you know, I'm not a huge fan of working with pastry since it can be tricky to work with, but what's great about a crostata is that it's very forgiving because it is a free-form pie. It hides any blemishes very well, and even if it doesn't work out perfectly, mistakes only add to the rustic look of this pie. The dough of this particular crostata is also a breeze to work with; it has a beautiful consistency to it and doesn't (and I swear it doesn't!) crack on you at all. It also contains a bit of cornmeal in it, which adds an extra crunch and an interesting texture to the crust. Absolutely delicious warm, served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Regardless of the food, it was the company that was the highlight of the evening. Indeed, there was good food and good wine, but most importantly, we were in good company, and nothing can beat that!

The sweeter side of life

Posted by Bonita



There's no question that I have a major sweet tooth. Despite my sweet tooth, I usually don't have dessert. Dessert for me usually consists of fresh fruit. However, I made dessert the other day because I felt like it. I had a pint of raspberries, some fresh blueberries I picked up earlier that day from the market and cream in the fridge, so I quickly whipped up a Berry Fool. Nothing beats a really simple but comforting dessert.



Also tried some Sicilian Cannoli the other day from a little Italian café, Johnny Guido's, down at Preston Street (the heart of Little Italy here in Ottawa). We actually first about their cannoli on the local news a couple of weeks ago, and my mom has been meaning to try them out. Being in the area that day, we picked some up on the way home. It was my first time having cannoli, and they were delicious. The fried, crispy cookie and the delicious rich, creamy ricotta filling....mmmmmmm......

Got Roasted?

Posted by Andrew

I've been meaning to try making my own batch of rasted vegetables ever since I bought a bottle of balsamic vinegar two months ago. Finally tonight I made myself an opportunity to make some as a side for my pork chop. For the dish I used a bunch of carrots, a medium sized leek, a red onion, two zucchini, about 1.5 lbs. of small new red potatoes, and a whole bulb of garlic (no typo here, a whole bulb of garlic). All the veggies were cut into bite sized pieces, with the exception of the garlic, whose cloves were simply crushed and tossed into the mix, and the potatoes, which were parboiled for ~3min. before being cut to pieces. To flavour the veggies I drizzled some olive oil and (generously) balsamic vinegar and sprinkled some coarse salt and pepper. Having preheated the oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit I let them cook for 45min.

Only halway through the cooking process did I realize I forgot to mix some herbs to the veggies; I'll have to try adding rosemary next time around. When the veggies were done they looked nice, but upon closer inspection and tasting I knew my first time wasn't a complete success. On top of the lack of herbs, apparently I didn't add enough salt. Worse still, though the upper layers looked fine, the bottom of the pan had crusted and almost burnt, most likely due to not enough oil. Oh well, at least I have something to go on now.

Cottony-soft

Posted by Bonita



Oh. My. God. This Raisin Loaf bread is absolutely amazing. No words here can describe how amazingly soft this bread turned out. I'll probably be one of my top favourites now, along with the Hokkaido Milk Loaf.

When I was in Hong Kong last winter, my uncle and aunt would always pick up these little raisin buns (often than not still fresh from the oven!) from the bakery while they were doing their grocery runs. I fell in love with these buns. They had a delicate, cotton-texture to them, and I just loved the sweetness the raisins added to the bun. I'll confess...I had more of those buns than I really should have. Ever since I've started my craze of bread this summer, my uncle has mentioned to me a couple of times on the phone that I should try to make those raisin buns. And as much as I wanted to, I hadn't found a recipe as a base to start off with. Until now.

This loaf is really easy to make, although it does take a bit of time and care to put it all together. Fortunately, my KitchenAid did most of the grunt work for me (thank goodness!). I've never worked with adding cold butter to a bread dough like this; I've only done the melted butter method, and that was usually added at the beginning of the process before flour would be added. So it was interesting and worrying at the same time; I was afraid that the butter wouldn't be able to incorporate itself properly into the dough and then I would wind up with a dough with random clumps of butter all over it. Luckily, that did not happen. Dough turned out beautifully, although I did need to add a bit more flour after I added the raisins, since the raisins made the dough a bit wet. The dough seemed kind of slow in rising at first too, which worried me. But once I popped it in the oven to bake after the 2nd proof, it all turned out well.



It baked beautifully, came out of the pan beautifully and tasted oh-so-good. It really reminded me of those raisin buns back in Hong Kong. And it's good to know that now I don't have to fly 20 hours (and also spend a ridiculous amount of money on airfare) to get good HK-style bread! The picture above really does no justice to the texture of the bread. The butter gave it an incredibly, incredibly soft, cottony, silky texture, as well as a beautiful scent. I made this bread 24 hours ago, and the loaf is almost gone now! That's how good it is!