Pie and Punch

Meyer Lemon Pie

2012-02-07T16:20:00.000-08:00

Meyer lemon pie: the subtractive addition by omission of meringue

Abstract: A lemon pie was made similar to a lemon meringue pie but with marked differences. Meyer lemons were used as a lemon flavourant while the meringue was removed completely. This resulted in a superior lemon pie product.

Introduction
The flavour of lemon has been enjoyed in dessert applications far back into medieval times. The tart acidity and bright flavour of the lemon makes it ideal for refreshing the palate after heavy meals. While many strains of lemon exist, it is the Eureka strain which is most often found in grocery stores. However, the popularity of the Meyer lemon has been on the rise in recent history due to it being featured by popular cooks, notably among them, Martha Stewart.

The Meyer lemon differs from the Eureka lemon in not only taste but appearance as well. The Meyer lemon is slightly smaller, notably rounder, and has a more rich yellow color tinged with orange. This is because the Meyer lemon is a hybrid of lemon and mandarin. This cross also yields a more deeply colored juice which is sweeter and therefore more pleasant to many palates. Although this variety is grown in the United States, crops were briefly abolished in the 1940's after it was discovered that the strain of Meyer lemons being grown were symptomless carriers of a citrus virus which wrecked havoc among other citrus producers.

While the flavour of the Meyer lemon is delicious in flavoured sodas and drinks, a thickener is necessary to make it suitable in pies. In a gelatinous form, the most commonly used thickeners are egg yolks which create a sabayon, and starches which create a curd. While both thickeners are good carriers of flavour, egg yolks are temperamental to work with and require careful tempering when using hot liquids. In contrast, starches are much less fussy although they do require supervision during the cooking process. The best known household starch thickener is corn starch, which is relatively new to the cooking scene. Until the mid 1800's, corn starch was used exclusively in industry and starching of clothing and linens. This starch unravels and collides together upon the application of heat, to form a gelatinous mesh. The base of cornstarch and water is a blank canvas onto which both savory or sweet flavourants can be applied to form gravy, stews, or pies.

Lemon meringue pie is a commonly known pie throughout North America. Although the lemon filling is generally accepted as "fantastic," the meringue is divisive among consumers, including the authors. Therefore the authors set out to create a meringue-less lemon curd pie to celebrate the lemon flavour while eschewing the egg-y sweet meringue fluff. By combining the subtly sweeter flavour of the Meyer lemon with the thickening power of corn starch, the authors were able to create a pie so delectably scrumptious that the cloying meringue was completely unnecessary.

Materials and Methods
Crust
For the creation of a pie crust, 1 1/2c. flour is mixed with 1/4 tsp salt. Then 2/3c. fat (half shortening, half butter) is cut into the crust using a pastry cutter. To bring the dough together, 1 egg and 1 tbsp of Meyer lemon juice are whisked together and quickly incorporated into the dough until a ball forms. The dough is then incubated at 4°C for a minimum of 1h or longer.

Blind baking
Once rolled and applied to a pie pan, the crust is blast chilled in a freezer for 10min to set. It is then blind baked at 400°F for 10min, then an additional 15min at 375°F. In order to properly blind bake, the crust is first covered in foil, and the center is weighted down with pie weights (beans, rice, or pie weights sold in stores). To avoid the crust forming bubbles, small holes are punched into the bottom of the crust with a fork. The crust is cooked for an additional 10min at 375°F without the foil and weights to dry the crust before it is allowed to fully cool.

Figure 1: Blind baking pie crusts. (A) The apparatus of blind baking is displayed diagrammatically. Crust is laid in the pie platter, with tin foil layered on top. The tin foil is then weighted down with pie weights (dry rice). (B) The proper timeline of blind baking is illustrated. Above are incubation times, while below are corresponding incubation temperatures. BB stand for blind baked, meaning the blind bake apparatus should be applied during the indicated incubation periods.

Lemon curd
To form the curd, 1 1/4c. sugar is whisked together with 1 1/2c. H2O, 5 egg yolks, 5 tbsp cornstarch, and 1/16 tsp salt. The slurry is heated over medium heat while constant whisking is applied until it thickens to a custard-like consistency (approximately 10min). The base is then strained to remove any corn starch or egg clumps. To finish, 1 tbsp Meyer lemon zest, 2 tbsp unsalted butter, and 1/2c. Meyer lemon juice is stirred in.

Discussion
Crust construction was well done, resulting in a crisp golden yellow crust that was ready for consumption once filled. The curd was added immediately following its completion and allowed to cool for several hours at 4°C. However one slight change was made to the curd before it's completion; an extra 1/2c. Meyer lemon juice was added to enhance the lemon flavour and remove some of the pure sweetness of the sugar.

Once sufficiently cooled, the pie was sampled by the authors. The curd had a markedly tart acidic flavour which the authors found "delightful" and "succulent". The crust had a flaky consistency which contrasted well with the custard-like filling. In addition the ratio of curd to crust was harmonious in achieving textural contrast in the mouth. However there was an aspect that could have been improved upon. The final consistency of the curd was looser than what is normally seen due to the addition of extra lemon juice. In future recreations, the authors would likely employ only 1c. sugar in the curd with the recommended 1/2c. lemon juice. Alternatively, arrowroot could also be used in place of corn starch at a ratio of 1:1. Arrowroot will keep it's gelling capacity at lower pH's whereas cornstarch looses some potency in such situations.

In comparison of the final product with it's companion, the lemon meringue pie, the authors believe there is no contest in the superior product. The omission of meringue allows for the enhanced sampling of lemon without the textural oddity that is whipped egg whites. The Meyer lemon flavour also added a more complex note with hints of orange flavour that a Eureka lemon lacks. In conclusion, the authors found that the subtraction of meringue in a lemon meringue pie is actually an addition of flavour and enjoyment.

Figure 2: Meringue-less Meyer lemon pie. (A) Meyer lemons, bought at a local grocery store. (B) Complete Meyer lemon pie. The curd becomes fully set, held in by a golden flaky crust.

Croquets

2011-12-01T19:52:00.000-08:00

Croquets: The incorporation of both ham and potatoes by frying

Abstract: Due to the recent completion of my Masters degree, and the giant ham in my fridge, I have opted to explain via scientific paper format how to properly combine ham and potatoes with hot oil to make dinner.

Introduction: The cooking of dinner often combines the classic flavour of potatoes with a meat such as ham. Applications involving both ham and potatoes are frequently successful in developing flavour which can be classified as "yummy." One simple way to increase yummy-ness is by the addition of hot oil for cooking. However how to combine these ingredients is often debated in the scientific community. Many believe that the ham should be kept in large pieces or slices while this manuscript posits that finely minced ham can also be used to create deliciousness in the form of a croquet.

The ham itself is a major contributor of flavour to the dish. Ham can be purchased in such varieties as Maple, Smoked, or Black Forest to name a few. Each will subtly alter the final flavour of a croquet dish and must be chosen to suit the pallet. Be sure to note that the ham flavour will permeate the oil used for cooking so if maple ham is used, subsequent food items cooked in the same oil will develop maple flavour qualities. But what of the origins of ham? The word ham is a derivation of the old English word hom meaning the bend of the knee. Although North Americans associate ham with a specific cut of pork, the word itself indicates a cut of meat from the thigh or hind leg of an animal. Deli hams bought in a standard grocery store are cured pieces of pork, ready for ingestion which have been flavoured by a variety of methods from wet cures to smoking.

A major component in binding the ham within the context of a croquet is the potatoes. Although close to 4000 varieties of potato exist, selecting a potato, like ham, is done according to personal preference. The authors commonly use red skinned potatoes in culinary applications. The starchy tuber is a domesticated crop seen throughout international cuisine. It's origins can be genetically traced to a crop originally cultivated in what is now Southern Peru approximately 7,000-10,000 years ago. However, this genetic purity does not come without a cost which became apparent in the Great Irish Famine caused by a late blight which wiped out the majority of potato crops.

In order to hold the ham-tastic-ness, now consisting of both ham and potatoes, a shell is created using Panko break crumbs. The bread crumbs form a crispy contrast to the soft filling of deliciousness. Panko was chosen in order to maximize the textural contrast from shell to filling. Regular bread crumbs, being created from stale bread, are small and boulder shaped leading to easier compaction. On the other hand, Panko is irregular and jagged in shape leading to less compaction and increased surface area to oil frying creating a more crisp surface overall.

In this manuscript, the authors combined ham with potatoes. Once combined the mixture was fried with it's shell of Panko bread crumbs which lead to a dinner full of yummy-ness and deliciousness.

Materials and Methods:
Mashed potatoes: Potatoes were peeled and chopped into medium size pieces and boiled until fork tender. Note that any green potato flesh was discarded as this is an indicator of high Solanine content which is toxic. Once tender, they were processed using a ricer, although a masher would work equally well, into a smooth potato mash. No additional salt, butter, or cream was added as the ham contributes enough salt.

Ham: One large piece of ham (cured) was cut into small cubes. Cubes were then processed into a crumbly mixture which can be formed into a loose ball by hand. Processing done using a Cuisinart food processor generously lent by Sarah Lawrie et al.

Discussion:
In order to create a successful filling, ham and mashed potatoes (as described in Materials and Methods) were combined by hand mixing in a large bowl. A smoked variety of ham was used. Ham to potato ratio may vary according to taste. For one large ham, 8 red potatoes were used. The mixture is then bound by the addition of eggs. The exact number will vary with total volume of the reaction. For the given reaction, 3 eggs were necessary to fully bind the mixture into moldable balls. Spices were added at this point. The authors included smoked paprika and cracked black pepper. Amounts are variable according to taste. Balls were formed to the approximate size of baseballs (2-3 inch diameter) and set aside.

Meanwhile, breading stations where assembled. This was constituted by one bowl of Panko bread crumbs and one bowl containing eggs and a splash of water beaten with a fork. Breading was done by immersing one ball of ham-potato reaction into the egg solution. Once all sides were covered, the ball was removed and rolled in the Panko bread crumbs. Excess bread crumbs were shaken off and the ball was set aside for frying.

Figure 1: Assembly of croquets. (A) Main ingredients for culinary assembling of croquets are displayed. From left to right: mashed potatoes, Panko, finely diced cured ham, eggs. (B) The potato-ham-egg reactions are rolled into balls, size bar indicated 2.5 inches. (C) Breading stations for croquet assembly. Panko and egg wash in bowls are next to four rows of ham reactions. The upper two rows have been processed through the breading stations while the lower two have not.

In a pot, oil was heated to medium-high heat. By using a vegetable oil, a neutral flavour was maintained while making use of the high smoke point to avoid burning. Acceptable heat was determined by dropping a flake of Panko into the oil and checking for formation of bubbles. 4-5 coated ham-potato reactions were added to the oil at a time and cooked until all sides were golden brown. Balls were then removed onto a cooling rack lined with paper towel for excess oil drainage.

Figure 2: Cooking of croquets. (A) Ham reactions coated in Panko are lowered into heated oil for cooking. (B) Finished croquets, being drained of excess oil.

The final result was a smooth ham-potato filling inside a crisp layer of bread crumbs. The authors feel that dinner was both yummy and delicious.

French Sushi

2011-05-15T19:03:00.000-07:00

Hi guys!

Remember that time I started a blog, then failed to update it for...oh say, a year or so? As it turns out I have been Mastering (aha ahaha ahahaha I'm so funny) a whole lot of science since I posted last. I'm now nearing the end of my Masters and am successfully wasting time writing a thesis among many other time wasting things I find essential like watching Chuck, and desperately looking for news on The Hobbit production. Turns out I also have a penchant for, what I will call on this public access blog, choreography-based fitness and acrobatics so much so that when I'm not in the lab I am at the studio teaching students to fling themselves wildly around the studio equipment. Which means that when I am home between my two jobs, I am putting in time with the man who is my fiance-but-will-soon-cross-into-husband. So here I am, attempting to update my blog in a bid to not make it look so sad.

When I told my fella what I would blog about he said "Does that even count as a recipe?" To which I reply yes. Yes it does. No, this recipe doesn't call for long periods of simmering or careful addition of ingredients in just the right order but it's easy to make and terribly tasty so I say who cares!

Due to Andrew's rampant seafood allergy and my rampant seafood dislike, sushi is not really an option. But it's so terribly trendy looking, and you know what's like seaweed paper? Crepes. And you know what's like fish? Ham. It's a bit of a stretch but just hang in there with me, ok?

What you need
Crepes (from Canadian Living)
1 1/3c. flour
1/4 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 1/2c. milk
1/4c. melted butter

Filling
deli ham
mozzarella
asparagus

Putting it all together
Make the crepe batter by mixing the flour and salt in one bowl and 2 tbsp of the butter with the milk and eggs in a second bowl. Combine the two and strain (if you feel fancy) then let sit in the fridge for 1h. This way you get rid of a lot of the bubbles you just mixed in and you end up with a heavy, delicious batter.

Get yourself a crepe pan or any large-ish pan with a flat bottom and non-stick coating set to medium heat. Brush the pan with the exrta butter and pour in just enough batter to coat the bottom of the pan thinly. Let it cook until the edges are golden brown and the middle is set. Flip the crepe and cook on the other side for about 30sec. I hear some people don't even cook the other side, but I just do...for funsies. The crepes can be made ahead and refrigerated until ready for assembly.

In a pot of boiling water, cook the asparagus for about 4-6min depending on how crunchy you like them to be. Once cooked, immediately put them in ice water to cool so they keep their color and texture. This is called blanching. Also grate some cheese. I used mozza but really with so many cheeses to choose from, just go nuts!

To assemble, lay out a crepe and layer in 2-3 slices of ham. Sprinkle with cheese and add 3-4 stalks of asparagus. Roll up the crepe and sprinkle with extra cheese. Then pop it in an oven (at lets say 350F but who really cares?) until the cheese on top is melted and the crepe is crispy.

Then feel free to slice and pretend you're eating the best french sushi of your life!

Chicken Pot Pie

2010-03-09T15:16:00.000-08:00

This is one of those recipes that are theoretically planned for "leftovers" but really you end up needing to plan what exactly the leftovers will be and how much will be left over in advance. With that warning out of the way, it's a really tasty recipe. Very hearty and great on cold winter nights....or any other time really!

What you need:

Pie Crust:

2 1/4 c. flour

2 tsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 c. vegetable shortening

5-8 tbsp chilled cream

Filling:

3 tbsp butter

3 cloves garlic

~1/4 c. flour

1 1/2 c. milk

1/2 c. cream

2 carrots

peas

corn

~1 c. chicken leftovers

Putting it together:

The first step and the reason that this recipe takes so long to make is the pastry crust. Sure you could buy the frozen crusts but trust me, they are just not very good. To prep in advance, chop up the shortening and pop it in the freezer. Place the cream in the freezer for a few minutes as well. The colder all the ingredients are, the better the pie crust will be. It keeps the butter from

melting from the heat of your hands and the pockets of butter make a light and flaky crust! Which brings me to my aside; pie hands! The best days to make pie crusts are those days when your hands are just really cold.

Ok so carrying on... I get a little distracted when I talk about pasty. Mix the flour, salt and sugar in a bowl. Add in the shortening and cut it in until it reaches the consistency of oats. Pastry cutters are available in most grocery stores now but if you don't have one, a fork will do (but take much longer) or a food processor although you have to be careful not to over process the flour and shortening. Then, a few tbsp at a time, add in the cream and mix with a fork until the dough just holds together. Make two balls of the dough and pat them into disks handling them as little as possible. Now pop the dough into the fridge for at least a half hour. Or make it the night before to speed up the whole process!

The tricky part is now over and you can relax! The filling is pretty easy. Melt the butter in a pan and add in the garlic until fragrant (30sec or so). Add the flour to the pan and allow to cook out for a few minutes. Stir in the milk and cream and it should turn into a nice sauce. Just throw in the veggies and simmer for a few minutes until the sauce is thickened to your liking. It doesn't take long at all!

Next up is assembly. Roll out one disk of dough and lay it in a pie pan, no buttering required! Pour in the filling. Roll out the second disk and lay it on top. Seal the edges however you want. Last step is to give the top of the pie an egg wash and poke some holes with a fork or knife so the steam can escape. Bake at 350F until golden brown (~30min).

Extra tips:

For handy clean up, bake the pie over a cookie sheet covered with foil. Sometimes the filling bubbles out if the crust isn't sealed completely.

Truthfully, this really can be a dish for leftovers. Vegetables you didn't finish can be thrown in. The best idea is to cook a full chicken earlier in the week and take the leftover meat from that for the pie. Other tasty add ins include onions and celery (best added with the butter in the beginning), pancetta (use the rendered fat for cooking the garlic), mushrooms....it's pretty open to interpretation.

Carrot Vichyssoise

2010-03-06T16:51:00.000-08:00

It's been a pretty long time since I've posted. Not really for lack of cooking, but mostly out of laziness and incredible lack of free time. It turns out that a Masters degree require work! Who would have guessed that? But in the spirit of getting back in the game, I have several recipes and pictures on my computer that will be coming out in the next few days.

The first of my recipes needing to come out is a simple, elegant, easy, and above all tasty veggie soup dish that I love. Vichyssoise is just a fancy name for pureed soup with leeks and cream and stock, i.e. a soup. I highly recommend an immersion blender for this recipe because it helps achieve the velvety smooth texture that you just can't get with a blender when you're forced to blend it batches because the batch is too big and the blender is too small. Been there before. Also that way you risk having your soup explode out of the blender much like the Great Tomato Disaster of '05.

What You'll Need:

3-4 tbsp butter
2 leeks
4-6 carrots
chicken stock (or stock concentrate)
water
1c. milk
paprika
lemon juice

Putting It Together:

Let's start with the leeks. These belong in the same family as onions but have a milder flavour. Bigger isn't always better and the thinner leeks tend to be more tender. Take the leeks and cut off the roots and all the green leaving only the white portion. Slice it in half lengthwise and give it a good rinse under cold water. Leeks are grown in sandy soil and the whole sandy texture just doesn't go well with the soup. Once rinsed, cut them into rough chuncks about a half inch thick. While you're at it peel and chop the carrots into similar sized bits and set aside for later.

Now melt the butter in a pot and toss in the leeks. Season well with salt and pepper. Cook the leeks over medium heat until translucent. The idea is to soften the leeks but not caramelize and the salt helps the process along.

When the leeks look good and translucent (about 10min, but keep an eye on them!), add in the carrots and water/chicken stock. Because I'm cheap I but the concentrate so I toss in water and a few tbsp of the concentrate. With everything added, the temperature can be raised to a boil and left to cook.

The cooking time will depend on the size of the carrot pieces. But once tender (maybe 20min?) the soup is almost done. As a warning learnt over time, it can be great to cut big pieces if you want a late dinner but keep an eye on the pot! I've burnt a few soups by not checking the water level every so often.

Ok, the soup is now cooked and bot burnt and we're ready for the finishing touches. Remove the soup from the heat and while still hot, blend the whole mix with the milk added. The hotter the soup when you blend it, the smoother it will come. The last step is to add paprika and lemon juice to taste. Once it tastes the way you want it, you're ready to eat!

Some extra notes on the subject:

The soup goes great with some sliced baguette! Or other tasty dipping bread.

The same idea for the soup is pretty universal and can be used for any type of veggie soup you want. You can add tomatoes, celery, onions, etc. to the pot and call it veggie soup. Another good one is to start by fring bacon bits in the pot and use that oil to start the leeks (bacon bits removed), then add a few veggies and a lot of peas for a tasty pea soup topped with bacon. The possibilities are pretty much endless!

November's Cupcake Club Colaboration

2009-12-09T16:16:00.000-08:00

For the past few months, whenever I would find myself in Indigo, I'd spend most of my time flipping through cupcake books, particularly the Martha Stewart Cupcake book (That or WWZ but since this is about cooking and not being a nerd...). A few weeks after the book staring started, I found a friend of mine who had also been eyeing the same book. And when we found out a mutual friend had the Martha Stewart book and would lend it to us, we started a cupcake club! It started something like this;

"OMG I LOVE CUPCAKES!!"
"ME TOO!!"
"OMG THIS ONE IS SOOOO CUUUUTTTEEEE!!!! EEEESJKHFSLHFS"
...and then our excitement went somewhere above the decibles audible to humans. We agreed to meet once a month to bake themed cupcakes and improve our baking/decorating skills. For our first meeting, we found a marble cupcake recipe with instructions to pipe pansies and sweet peas (a mother's day inspiration according to Martha).

What you need:

1 3/4c. cake flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 c. milk
1/3 c. heavy cream
1/2 c. unsalted butter
1 c. granulated sugar
3 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/3 c. cocoa powder
1/4 c. boiling water

Putting it together:

Start like most recipes; preheat the oven to 350F, line cupcake tins with liners. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in one bowl and milk and cream in another. In yet a third bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Creaming the butter and sugar takes a few minutes and results in a light an fluffy batter that will help leven the cupcakes. Then add in the eggs one at a time followed by the vanilla. Lastly, add the flour mix and milk mix to the butter alternating between the two.

Now that the vanilla batter is done, it's on to the chocolate batter! Measure out 1 c. of the vanilla batter into a new bowl. In another bowl (the 5th used! Yikes!), mix the boiling water and cocoa which helps bring out the chocolate flavour, then mix the reserved batter and cocoa mix together.

In the cupcake tin, alternate 1 tbsp vanilla batter and 1 tbsp chocolate batter, ending with a last dollop of vanilla batter. Try not to pass the 3/4 mark of fullness in the cupcake liner. Swirl the betters with a knife or skewer to create the marbles effect. Cook for 20min and allow to cool on a rack.

Icing tiiiiiime!!! For this recipe I tried a new icing; Swiss meringue buttercream. It has all the buttery flavour of a buttercream but with the addition of meringue which stabilizes the icing making it softer to eat but more supple to pipe with. Whisk 1 1/4 c. granulated sugar into 5 egg whites over a bain marie (a bowl over gently simmering water). Whisk over heat until the egg whites are warm and the sugar has completely disolved. Remove from heat and beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form and the mixture has cooled. Slowly beat in 1lb butter by the tablespoon and 1 tsp vanilla until the icing is smooth.

Then just ice the cupcakes and decorate at will! We found the panies to be deceptively hard to pipe but the sweet peas are fairly easy and beautiful. I also used some dried coconut shavings to make a third, easier flower that is equally pretty.

Additional Notes:

This makes about 16 cupcakes. It had a really soft crumb but was maybe a bit dry for my taste. But they rose nicely and were great canvases for some decorating practice.

And for your viewing pleasure, here's pictures of the icing process, followed by some of our finished products. First a tray by my friend filled with pretty flowers. Then a punnet square of sweet peas (yes, that was a heredity/Bio30 reference), and some coconut flowers.

Jaime Oliver Pasta

2009-10-06T16:30:00.000-07:00

I found this recipe on one of my marathon Food Network viewings. It struck me because it seemed pretty healthy and also used a ton of garlic. And I do love a garlic-y dinner. This dinner does take a while to put together but it's relatively cheap and can feed a crowd.

What you need:

Filling:
1 head broccoli
1 head cauliflower
6-12 cloves garlic
1 tsp dry chili flakes
2 tbsp concentrated chicken broth
3 dashes worchestershire sauce
salt and pepper to taste

The rest:
1 pkg oven-ready cannelloni
750 ml (one jug) tomato juice
1 pkg creme fraiche
1/3c. grated parmesan
salt and pepper
extra grated parmesan and mozarella

Putting it together:

The first thing to do is to cut up the broccoli and cauliflower into florets and boil them. Any stalks or leaves left in are fine. Boil them for a good 20min. They should be mushy and falling apart.

In a pan, fry up the garlic and chili flakes with a bit of salt and pepper in olive oil for about 30sec or until they're fragrent. Spoon the soft broccoli and cauliflower in with a few ladels of water, and add the chicken broth concentrate, and worchestershire. Let the mix simmer until it's a good consistency for filling. The filling can always be mashed if it's too chunky. And salt and pepper to taste. Then let the mix cool until it can be handled.

In a separate bowl, mix the creme fraiche with the parmesan and salt and pepper. If it seems too thick, add a dash of milk. It should be about the consistency of...melted ice cream? lava? Something liquidy enough to be poured but still with some thickness...you get the idea.

Now for assembly time! pour a bit of tomato juice into the bottom of the casserole dish you use. Stuff the cannelloni with the cooled stuffing. Then top off the casserole dish with the rest of the tomato juice. The cannelloni should be covered. Then pour the creme fraiche on top and top it all with the grated cheese.

Cook the casserole at 350F for 30-45min or until the cheese is slightly browned on top.

Additional Notes:

Really not too much to add to this one. If you like spicy food you can always add more chili flakes to the filling. It's just really tasty. The cream mixes down into the tomato juice so you get these tasty layers of just juice, then a mix, then the cream...and with the spicy veggie filling it cuts the richness of the cream.

Oh and in the original recipe, it calls for 2 anchovies to be added when you fry up the garlic and chili flakes. Apparently you don't even taste anything fishy, it just adds some salty-ness... I just wasn't sold on fish in my dish so it got left out.

Sweet Coconut Cupcake

2009-09-16T19:08:00.000-07:00

It's time for something sweet! I love baking and these were super sweet and adorable cupcakes. The cupcakes came about for two reasons;

1. I promised my lab I would bring in sweets
2. I found a coconut sale at the grocery store

As it turns out, opening coconuts is difficult and messy. Luckily there are many many video tutorials on the web for situations like this. I recomend draining the coconut water by poking out the eye holes and draining, then put the coconut in a towel and whack it like there's a prize inside (spoiler: there is!)! I didn't use my coconut water mostly because it needs to be filtered and I own nothing capable of filtering it well because I don't drink coffee. But I did make my own coconut milk! It's done by boiling equal parts shredded coconut meat and milk until it froths for 5min, then strain and cool. I don't think opened coconut product has a good shelf life so I'd use everything within 2-3 days max.

So carrying on, lets get to the good stuff! I used a recipe from Vanilla Garlic which by the way has some great stuff.

Ingredients

3/4 c. of unsalted butter

1 1/4 c. sugar

3 eggs

1 c. coconut milk

1 tspof vanilla extract

2 1/4 c. flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

3/4 c. dried coconut

6 oz chocolate

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350F. In an interesting side note, I read that preheating to 375F and then lowering to 350F when you put the cupcakes in produces more moist (moister?) cupcakes but I haven't tried yet...we'll get back to you on that one.

Cream together the butter and sugar until it's light and fluffy. It will take a few minutes so don't rush it. Add the eggs in one at a time beating very well between each addition.

In a separate bowl, mix up the dry ingredients (flour, salt, baking powder) and in yet another bowl mix the coconut milk and vanilla. Alternate adding dry and wet ingredients to the butter mix starting and ending with wet if you please. Try not to overbeat or the gluten will start to develop and it will be breadier and not as short. Fold in the dessicated coconut. Here I split the batter in half and added melted chocolate to half the batter because, I mean, choices are really the spice of life!

Scoop the batter in to the liners to just over 3/4 full and bake them for 18-22min. Don't bother waiting for the vanilla guys to turn golden brown. Those suckers are pale and delicious!

Decorating

I completely ignored the frosting on Vanilla Garlic because....7 whole minutes? With egg whites? Pass. Instead I did a buttercream which is delicious with just about everything. It's mainly just room temperature unsalted butter mixed with powdered sugar. For all the cupcakes 1/2c. butter should be enough. Add sugar until it suits your taste. Then I add a bit of vanilla (~1tsp) and a bit more coconut milk (~1tbsp) to thin it out. Make sure the milk is room temperature though or you could separate your frosting. Once the cupcakes have cooled, frost away! Although when frosting, remember that this is the only time that less is not more. For extra specialness I dipped the frosted coconut into dessicated coconut.

I'd had this idea of piped chocolate toppers for a while so I tried my hand at chocolatiering and while it looked good, didn't even come close to proper tempering. You really need a good thermometer and lots of patience and high air conditioning. So they were pretty but totally out of temper. But for your info, I melted a few ounces of chocolate (first white then semi sweet) in the microwave. A site claimed this would keep the chocolate in temper which...it did not. Anyway, once it's melted, pour the chocolate into small folded piping bags made of parchment paper and pipe onto more parchement paper into whatever design you feel like. I attached the cooled chocolate with extra buttercream.

Extras

I think the cupcakes were coconuty but they could have been coconuty-er. Next time I'd add 1 tsp coconut extract to beef up the flavour. They turned out really light and tender which was delicious and since the batter makes about 20 cupcakes, plan on sharing or long term cupcake consumption.

And a quick decal explanation; the first is a kitty face because I thought it would be cute (totally was!). The second is some doodles and hearts when I ran out of good designs and started just messing around. The third is my nerd toppers for work. We work with HeLa cells and when you stain them they kind of look like that under the microscope. And lastly, doesn't the coconut just look all fluffly like freshly fallen snow? Answer: Yes, very much.

Stir Fry

2009-09-12T15:02:00.000-07:00

A stir fry is one of my favourite things to make when there are people coming over for supper. It's extremely cheap and you almost always end up with leftovers. This version should feed 4 people on an average night, or 3 extremely hungry people. The ingredients for a stir fry are extremely malleable based on your own taste preferences, this is just my personal favourite set.

What You'll Need

For the sauce:

- 3/4 cup water

- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar

- 3 tbls. soya sauce

- 2 tbls. corn starch

- 1 tbls. honey

- 2-4 cloves of fresh garlic, chopped finely or run through a press

- 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes

The rest:

- 2 large carrots, peeled and chopped how you like

- 2 good sized medallion steaks cut into small strips

- 1/2 head of cauliflower cut into bite sized pieces

- 1 head of broccoli also in bite sized florets

- 200g of sugar snap peas, with tips cut off (my preference)

- 1 can of bamboo chutes

- 1 cup of rice cooked in 1 and 1/2 cup of lightly salted water (you can use chicken broth or coconut milk instead of water if you prefer to flavour your rice)

Putting It Together

The sauce first!

Combine the dry ingredients together first, adding the brown sugar to the corn starch and stirring until mixed evenly. Add the water, soya sauce, honey, red pepper flakes and freshly chopped garlic and put it to boil stirring constantly. Let the sauce reduce until it is a little bit thicker than you want it to be after adding it to the rest of the dish, as it will thin out a bit from the moisture in the meat and vegetables. Once this is done, set it aside for later.

Time to get everything going!

The rice is the first thing that needs to go on to the burner, however at the same time it's best to get some water boiling in a larger pot in preparation to steam the vegetables. The lid must be left on the rice at all time while it's cooking. Once the water in the pot begins to boil, remove the pot from the burner and shut it off so the rice doesn't overcook, leave the lid on to let the boiling water steam the rice and cook it through over the next 10 minutes or so. As you take the pot of rice off the burner, put the vegetables in a strainer or steam tray on top of the pot of water that should now be at a rolling boil. As soon as the veggies are on, put a pan with a dash of olive oil on the oven at medium-high heat. 4 minutes into steaming the vegetables, add the strips of beef to the hot pan, stirring quickly to make sure all sides get browned. 3 minutes should be enough to cook all the meat, and the vegetables are now steamed after a combined 7 minutes, so take them off the burner. If there's a lot of fluid in the pan with the meat, drain it or your sauce will be very thin. After this is done, add in the vegetables to the pan with the meat, and pour the sauce over the combined ingredients stirring as you go. Make sure everything is covered in sauce to your liking before turning off the burner. When it's ready to go, it should look like the picture to the right.

Time to serve up!

Get some rice on the plate, poor your favourite drink and layer the food on the plate. Eat to your hearts content because it's actually a pretty healthy meal.

Home Style Pizza

2009-08-25T15:54:00.000-07:00

I will admit that pizza doesn't really qualify as quick, but it's pretty easy and relatively cheap depending on the toppings you pick. It's a favourite for us and we try to have it once a week (Pizza Fridays!). The measurements I give are more like approximations of what I usually add because for the most part I eyeball...well, all of the measurements.

What you need

1 1/2 c. warm water

1/4 c. granulated sugar

1 tsp yeast

1 tbsp salt

4 tbsp olive oil

Several cups of white flour

What to do

The first thing to do is dissolve the sugar in the warm water. Then add the yeast, cover and set it aside for about 10 minutes. The yeast will get all foamy on top. It it doesn't it means the yeast is dead and you have to restart or the pizza dough won't rise. It could be because your yeast expired or because the water is too hot (boiling water is waaay too hot!), but either way if it's not foamy it's no good.

Into the foamy yeasty mix, add the salt and oil. I use olive oil but whatever vegetable oil you have will work. Now start to add and mix in the flour. And keep adding and mixing. Keep adding until it's impossible to add any more...then add more. It should be doughy by now. Turn the dough out onto the counter and knead for about 10 minutes. To knead, fold the dough in half and turn 90 degrees, then repeat. The finished dough shouldn't be sticky but elasticy and smooth.

Fun filled fact: when you knead bread, the gluten in the flour develops into glutenin and gliadin. The glutenin develops elasticity in the dough which allows it to rise and keep a good chewy texture. The gliadin is the portion that prevents people with Celiac's disease from being able to enjoy wheat products.

Next you just have to leave it alone for a while. Cover and set the dough aside in a warm area free of drafts and it will start to double in size. Once it doubles, punch it down once and let it rise again. Rising will take somewhere around 1 hour but in general just wait until it doubles in size. I'll admit that I'm usually too lazy or in a rush to wait for dough to rise twice so I often skip the second round. You can also leave it in the fridge over night to rise a second time and then it's ready the next day!

So the dough has risen and now it's time for the toppings! Roll out the dough and move it to a pan that's either greased and floured, or sprinkled with cornmeal (this is our preferred way as its healthier for one, and produces a crunchier bottom crust). You don't want to see how sticky the dough can get after it bakes itself into a pan. Add the toppings and bake it at 350F for 30-45min or until it looks all delicious and golden brown.

Additional Notes:

Flavouring the dough: If you want to alter it a bit there's a few options. Milk can be substituted for water, and honey can be substituted for sugar. If you use whole wheat flour, go for the tasty substitutions or it looses a bit of flavour.

Awesome toppings: Our standard is ham, pepperoni, and goat cheese over the standard mozzarella and tomato sauce. This is one area to go wild with whatever it is you really like but don't go overboard. If toppings are stacked too thickly, the crust won't bake up as well and it can be pretty doughy on the inside.Try to keep it simple and somewhat flat for best results.

Photo trivia: If the finished pizza's crust looks really big, it's because we stuffed the crust with extra mozzarella. It's a fun treat.

Alternative dough uses: Left over dough makes great spice bread! Roll it out and top with olive oil and spices like salt and pepper, oregano, thyme, basil, rosemary and parmesan if you have it. The bread is great to dip in marinara, meat sauce, or tzatziki . For a desert try frying small squares of dough in oil (1/2 cm of oil in a pan is fine). Then sprinkle with a mix of white sugar and cinnamon for a poor man's beaver tail.

Broccoli Sausage Pasta

2009-08-17T18:00:00.000-07:00

This is one of my favourite fast and easy dinners. It's not that much prep time, a very short cooking time, and tastes delicious! It's like being Rachel Ray but without being annoying (yumm-o!).

What You'll Need

1 large broccoli

1 pkg spicy italian sausage (~400g)

300g pasta of your choice (Large shells or penne work well)

8 mini bocconcini

Olive oil

Assorted spices

How to Make It

I start by breaking the broccoli down into florets. Small florets. If it's not bite sized it will be very annoying. I boil them for 6 minutes in salted water, then blanch them really quickly so they don't over cook. If you like crunchier broccoli 3-4min will probably be enough. Set the broccoli aside, but don't throw out the cooking water!!

Cut the sausage out of it's casings so it's ready to go. While you're at it, quarter the bocconcini too. From here out it moves pretty quickly. I flavored the bocconcini with some olive oil, salt, pepper, oregano, and basil. By itself it can be a little bland and bitter.

Heat up a pan to med-high heat and throw in the sausage. Try to break it up into pieces as you go. For a bit of extra flavor and spice we added a dash of worchestershire sauce and tabasco (for more spice, add more tobasco or red chili flakes).

In your now slightly broccoli-flavoured water which should still be at a rolling boil, throw the pasta in for 8 minutes. If you start the sausage at the same time, they should be ready together. When you're done cooking the pasta be sure to reserve about 1/2 to 1c cooking liquid.

So that's about it! All that's left is to combine everything in a pot or bowl and serve up! I like to add the sausage and cheese first so it all combines, and then the broccoli. It's good to alternate adding bits of sausage and cheese with some pasta water which will be absobed by the pasta and make a delicious sauce. For two people, there should be enough for a lunch the next day, and the longer this sits the better the flavour gets.

This is the finished (tasty) product!

Lastly, a few notes from doing this quite a few times;

It originally started out with broccoli rabe instead of just broccoli. It's good, but the broccoli rabe can be very bitter if it's not boiled long enough, and the longer it's boiled the softer it gets. A vicious circle. If you want to try it, maybe leave out the stalks and only use the leaves and florets which are pretty good.

It also originally had parmesan cheese. We switched it out with the bocconcini for a bit of colour and texture. However I really like the parmesan in it as well. If you opt for parmesan, grate maybe 1/4c or more if you like (I'd go for more) and throw it in at the end. It makes for a really nice smooth sauce.