Cidre et Poires

Plum jam with cinnamon and star anise

2011-04-18T20:51:00.001-04:00

Here is one more canning recipe ! This was done for Christmas 2009, to give to the guests attending our annual Christmas meeting. I can't remember exactly what triggered me on the path of canning, but I know it happened totally unplanned, an evening I was cooking some cranberry sauce. I suddenly felt the urge to can the recipe, and got around to improvise some canning equipment.

I found old mason jars, got water boiling, sterilized everything and followed instructions for hot water bath canning that I had in one of my books. I didn't have a safe pair of grips to lift the jars out of the water, so Guyuk proposed that we use a small rope around the rim of the jar, to lift them out, and we kept the other end out of the cauldron.

Chopped plums, cinnamon sticks and star anise

That evening, I produced 3 500ml jars of cranberry sauce, that I was able to keep stored at room temperature. Can't tell you how proud I was ! I think what I like about canning, is that it doesn't take up space in the freezer / fridge. It's less of a concern right now, with the new freezer, but I still like to have something on hand that I can hand out as hostess gift or just because. I also love to be able to turn around and have that stash of food. It appeals to my self-sufficiency sense.

Getting everything together is fairly simple: chop the plums in coarse bits, dump the whole spices (you could use powdered, but it's easier to fish them out when whole, when clarity is important), add the lemon juice and the sugar. Then, magic happens. Congratulations ! You've made jam !

Gooey sticky delicious mess

For this project, I had some smallish 125 ml jars (so cute !), so that I could have one jar for everyone. The goal was not to have an overwhelming amount of jam but just to do cute little presents. Still, these are empty quite fast, and to store jam for me, I prefer to use the 250 ml ones. I had two jars leftover from my production (I got a total of 12), which I should open soon to finish... as soon as I finish up the other jams in my fridge, I guess.

The finished product, ready to be offered

Plum jam with cinnamon and star anise
adapted from Pease Pudding

(yields approximately 5 190ml jars)

Ingredients
1kg black plums, stoned and chopped
800g sugar
juice of 1 lemon
3 cinnamon sticks
3 star anise

How to
Place all ingredients into a non-reactive pan over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved.

Bring heat to medium-high and let reduce for about 45 minutes. (I simply monitored things there from time to time). To test the final consistency of your jam, set a plate in the freezer, and when it's cold, drop some jam on top. If too runny, either reduce more or add some powdered or liquid pectin. (I added one pouch of pectin to mine). Remove the cinnamon sticks and the star anise.

After filling your sterilized jars, can the jam in a hot water bath. You need to sterilize the jars for 10 minutes, then process in hot water bath for an additionnal 10 minutes. Ensure that all jars "pop". If they do not, either re-can or keep in fridge. You can also skip this step and just keep it in the fridge.

If you are not familiar with canning, please consider looking at in-depth information, as not following proper procedures could lead to being very ill or even could result in death. If you ever have a doubt about one of your jars, please, throw it away instead of taking chances.

Spiced pears chocolate cake

2011-01-13T09:18:00.000-05:00

I'm so excited ! This Friday, I'll be going with my mother-in-law to the Canard du Lac Brome (Lake Brome's duck) to buy whole ducks directly from the producer. What are we going to do with all those ducks ? They're going to be slowly and patiently transformed into canard confit ! I'm SO excited !

Duck confit eaten at Guyuk's birthday

We're also to prepare the festivities for "Christmas". Yeah, you read that right. Since usually nobody's available during the holidays, we just make things simple and post-pone the gathering in January, so everyone can attend. When we started this, we were living in a 4 1/2 in Montreal, then, we've been hosting it the two following years at our house where we live now. This year, for different reasons, it's going to be hosted at my mother-in-law's place.

Along with the duck to confit, we'll be preparing the food for our gathering. I tought this was a great opportunity to try out some of the recipes in one of the book I ordered from Amazon last year, Mastering The Art of Chinese Cooking. I settled on a kind of "dim sum" spread, with spring rolls, sui mai and potstickers of different flavors. There's gonna be pork and shrimp involved ! I'll try to take as much pictures and notes as I can, but hey, a chef works fast, and she sets the pace when we're together.

But today, I'd like to share a cake with you.

It's a classic, simple chocolate cake, with the addition of pears embedded in it. You of course, start by poaching the pears. The recipe called only for cinnamon sticks, but I decided that the pears could use something a little more potent, and dropped some star anise as well in the pot.

Pear halves poaching away

The cake mix itself is not very complicated. It's almost a one-bowl-cake mix. It does ask for chocolate to be melted. I do bain-marie, but you might prefer the microwave. If so, beware of burning the chocolate ! The original cake was intending you to find out about the pears as a surprise, but I tought it would make a really cute pattern if I didn't cover them; so I decided to press them only a little in the batter.

The cake before the bake

The cake baked well for the amount of time mentioned. It came out moist and with a great crumb. The tops of the pears weren't burned, or even dry. Even though it's chocolate, the pears keep the balance for that lighter side. We had an ice cider along with this cake, the first time, which was quite appropriate.

The finished cake

Spiced pears chocolate cake
from Confessions of a tart

Ingredients
4 oz unsalted butter, softened (or unsalted non-dairy substitute)
1/2 cup sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
4 oz dark chocolate, chopped (melted and cooled slightly)
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup almond meal (finely ground almonds), or hazelnut meal, or combination of both
4 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder, or Dutch process cocoa powder
1 1/4 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
4 pears, poached

How to
Poach the pears
Peel, cut in half and core the pears. Combine 2-3 cups of water and 1/2 cup of sugar in a sauce pan on medium-high heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Add the pears (add more water if it doesn't cover the pears), bring to a low boil and cook for 20-25 min or until fork tender. Drain and set aside

Make the cake
Preheat oven to 350 F. Butter 9 or 10 inch springform pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.
Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie and set aside. Some like to use the microwave. I do not, as the risk of burning your chocolate increases dramatically when done this way.

Sift together the flour, almond meal, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Beat butter and sugar on a medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Add the melted chocolate, beat on a low speed until combined. Still on low speed, add the sifted flour mixture and beat for about 1 minute, or until just combined.

Pour the batter into prepared cake pan. Arrange the sliced pears in a circle. Bake the cake for 30 to 40 minutes. Do not over bake. When a tester is inserted into the center of the cake, it should come out with a few moist crumbs attached. If you have access to it, I highly recommend trying an ice cider with the cake, or a light sweet cider (as in the alcoholic drink, not as in "apple juice").

Bread pudding

2011-01-08T21:42:00.008-05:00

What's better than have a sweet bowl of steaming dessert in your hands, when the weather gets colder ?

Maybe knowing that this bowl is made with love AND stale bread that you forgot about on your counter. No spoilage !

Winter is there already !

Gosh, I feel like time goes by so fast ! Just yesterday, I think I remember that the top of one particular tree around where I worked just had started to be yellow-ish... then BOOM ! snow came, with the sub-zero temperatures, along with the end of the year festivities. It has been an awful lot on me. Since I changed departments at my job, I knew christmas would be a busy time, but I never realized it would be THAT busy. I litterally came home some days, and never got around to eat before I crashed and slept until the next day.

We had a birthday to celebrate (Guyuk's uncle), for which I made an almond paste cake, along with some honey-pear icecream. Also, we had a wonderful christmas eve supper with my dad and my in-laws, where I cooked a lamb leg, that we had with fresh diner rolls, roasted winter vegetables and some cranberry sauce I had canned earlier. I got compliments from my mother-in-law about the lamb... wow, was I proud !

The christmas eve table

I'm also glad that we were able to spend the new year's eve with my in-laws, and 3 more friends of ours. This is quite special, as my mother-in-law is a chef, and Guyuk can barely remember when was the last time she was off on new year's eve !

One of the lovely drinks made by DeathBreeze

Snails in garlic butter

We had a great chinese fondue, with all kinds of meats (rabbit, deer, boar, buffalo, chicken and beef !) along with summer rolls, duck rillettes, duck liver with port, cheeses and garlic butter snails. We ended the meal with leftover honey-pear ice cream and a slice of delicious rum infused fruitcake, and of course, sparkling stuff for the new year (the majority of us had a go with pink champagne, but I kinda dislike champagne and opened a sparkling apple cider instead).

 Cheeses, nuts, bread and spreads

The meat: beef, buffalo, boar, rabbit, deer, chicken

Those three occasions have been full of warmth, comforting, filled with laughter, friend and family. I wish I could repeat that every year. Everyone came to have some relaxed fun and we sure did !

This bread pudding is simple comfort food. It's really not expensive to make, and you can pull it off for unexpected guests as well without too much hassle. It's delicious served hot, with vanilla ice cream, or with maple syrup. Please don't use the cheap immitation "maple" syrup, which we call "sirop de poteau" here, you deserve the real stuff.

Simple classic dessert

For those wondering where this expression is coming from, to make maple syrup, we have to stick little tubes in the maple trees, to get the maple water. In the case of sirop de poteau, it refers as if we were doing the same thing, but sticking it in false trees (basically in electrical posts), which would then give a "fake syrup". Don't worry tought, the false is mainly only sugar and water...

With maple syrup

Bread pudding
by Kirsa

Ingredients
Stale bread (wathever you have on hand)
Raisins
Milk (can also be cream, half and half or even soy or almond milk)
Powdered cinnamon

How to
Cut or shred the bread with your hands (depending on how stale it is), in a baking dish.

Depending on how hard the bread is, you need to add your milk. Pour as much as it takes for the bread to completely soak and become soft and mushy. Near the end, preheat the oven to 375 F.

When it's done, mix in the raisins and sprinkle with cinnamon powder on top. Get in the oven and let cook for about 30 minutes or so. The pudding is done when the top is getting drier and with a slight "crunch", and the pudding seems like it all fused together. There should be very little to no liquid in the botton of your dish.

Cream of celery and leek

2010-09-14T23:55:00.008-04:00

For those of you who have read my previous post, you know that I had a little tantrum on the food bloging scene and so on. Despite the not soo good start, I still like to write about food and I decided it would be a waste and that I would regret if I just stopped. Anyway, I can't just stop because it's a bit hard, right ? I gotta persever, and learn from my mistakes.

Other news which will make possible more blogging, is that I just got myself a new camera. It broke my budget, but I'll just stop telling myself each time I cook something that it's a shame I can't photograph and share it here.

So, today's post is gonna be about perseverance (and soup !).

There are times when you wonder, how you even managed to get where you are, compared to your initial objective. Well, this soup was one of these moments.

Everything started when I found on the Fine Cooking's website a soup that looked light and refreshing, which I bookmarked to try later. It was also pretty interresting in iteself: I didn't think I had ever tasted a soup with celery as a main ingredient.

A few weeks later, I settled on trying the soup; so off I was to the grocery store to complete the ingredient list. With everything in hands, I started cutting, chopping, dicing, for the mise en place. I followed the instructions religiously, and remember thinking, that the recipe was calling for an awful lot of water, for a soup with celery as main ingredient... y'know, celery only has that much flavor, and it's also mostly made of water... but the reviews of this soup on the website were so good, that I was wondering how I could make this simple soup go wrong.

At the end of the prescribed cooking time, however, I panicked: the soup was tasteless... pretty much flavorless... and it was VERY thin.... almost no substance. I stopped wondering about how the soup went wrong and tried to figure out a way to save it. I checked the pantry and dumped dehydrated chicken broth, dried mustard (dried mustard is a favorite spice of mine, you'll never know it's in most dishes and it helps improving other ingredients flavors, yum !), some basil, parsley, garlic... about everything I quickly had on hand. I also let the soup reduce a bit, to increase the thickness.

Then, the ultimate test: I served it to Guyuk. When he tasted it, he declared it a winner. He even told me on the following day that it was so good that he could eat it right out from the fridge, cold. Hah ! In your face, soup !

The second time I did this soup, it had only 3 ingredients left in common with the original recipe, which is why I'm going to call it my own soup. When doing this second batch, I also realized that the reason why the soup was so thin and tasteless, is because it was using celery root, instead of just celery. When I translated the ingredients in french, I wasn't so sure why the editor mentionned it was a root. I thought maybe it indicated that there was need of a full celery. Just to make sure, I used a translator, and celery root gave me "celery", so off I went to get the wrong ingredient...

For those which would like to get the original recipe, please click on the link to Fine Cooking.

I'll only post my version here.

Leek and celery soup

by Kirsa

Ingredients

3 Tbs. unsalted butter

Olive oil (to prevent the butter from browning)

2 medium leeks (white and light green parts only), trimmed, halved lengthwise, cut crosswise into thin half-moon slices, rinsed thoroughly, and drained (Freeze the dark green parts, it's excellent for a broth)
2 1/2 cups chicken broth
2 medium yellow onion, roughly diced
1 Tbs. minced garlic
1 celery
Freshly ground black pepper and salt
Ground mustard, basil, parsley (and any other spice you love !)
Parmesan flakes
Coffee cream (10%)

How to
In a 4-quart or larger heavy-based pot, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the leeks, onion, and a generous pinch of salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until very soft and lightly golden but not brown, 15 to 20 minutes. Reduce the heat to low if you see signs of browning.

Meanwhile, medium dice the celery. You should have about 5 cups.
Add the celery, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 cup water to the leeks. Cover and cook until the celery is tender, 10 to 15 minutes. (Check occasionally; if all the water cooks off and the vegetables start to brown, add another 1/2 cup water.) Add 2-1/2 cups chicken broth and 2 cups water, bring to a simmer, and continue to cook another 20 minutes. Let cool slightly.

Purée the soup (with a hand blender, or in small batches in a stand blender) to a very smooth, creamy consistency. Let cool completely and then store in the refrigerator at least overnight or for up to two days.

Reheat the soup. Add a bit of cream, to your taste. Taste and add more salt as needed. Ladle the soup into small espresso cups or shot glasses. Top each portion with a small line of cream (don't mix it so it does a nice pattern). Finish each cup with a pinch of black pepper and a few parmesan flakes.

On Hiatus

2010-09-02T08:49:00.000-04:00

Hey there everyone. Again, on a streak with lack of updates. There are a few reasons for that:

I'm currently working on a website project that is very dear to me. Therefore, little time is currently left to update this blog.
Weird work schedules. For some reason, we receive messed up schedules at work, which constantly change (this week, I started at 7, then 8, then 9:45, then 10:30 and tomorrow I'm back at 8:30)
Rethinking of the purpose of this blog. I started the blog because I wanted to be read and share some knowledge. However, since I started, only one comment or what-so-ever. Half the people I heard of complained it was in english, the other half apprently know the blog exists, but I don't hear about it.
The food / foodie scene got me angry. As most people in the foodie department, you most likely know that if you want traffic on your blog, you have to submit your posts either to FoodGawker or TasteSpotting. FoodGawker has been a total pain in the ass to deal with, which lead to more than 40 submissions, all rejected. I understand the importance of good photography, so I spent time reading and learning about photo, tricks, how to do a good arrangement, ligthing, a small bit of editing... But I'm trying to be a food blogger here and I'm unfortunatly not a professionnal photograph along with a professionnal graphist. Often, I had the feeling that no matter what I submitted, they just would never accept it (I have had the same picture submitted several times, and each time it came back with a different rejection reason... I mean it can't be THAT bad... I've seen pictures on their websites that are really horrible (bad colors, too dark, or just plain uninterresting, no efforts put in decorating or the like)) and each time I see that, I can't help but be depressed about the fact that no matter if the recipes are good or not, all that matters if that you make it look good with fake spot lights, heavy computer editing and a lot of blurring from the camera.
Camera. Speaking of which, my camera is out of order at this point. I think I hit it or something, but it means I don't get to photograph anything until I get it either repaired, or that I upgrade to another one.

So, when the blog will resume, I don't know. It may be in french or in english. I have to think about it, and what is important for me.

Buttermilk honey bread

2010-06-27T16:10:00.001-04:00

I'm not dead yet ! I feel sorry for the lack of updates in the past 2 or 3 months. Life has just been too chaotic around here lately. I had to go throught the announcement that my department was closing down, so some tough choices were made. Don't worry guys, I still have a job and everything is fine, but the changes were not made in the best way possible. Lots of confusion happened, with misinformation and so on. Had to take on a whole new training for the new department to which I was assigned, and I gave myself some time to get used to it.

But now back to business, with some bread !

This was the first time I made bread by hand. It seemed very complicated, but really the hardest part is to wait for the yeast to get into that leavening action, to get the yummy airy crumb inside. I did however, wondered why I had so much trouble kneading the dough at first... folks... don't hesitate ! If you think that you're not at the right consistency, even if you followed exactly the instructions, you're probably right and you need either to add a bit more moisture OR a little flour. Yeast is a living thing, and even in our standardized world, it will always have a slight difference from batch to batch. It's a tad hard to explain, but you'll know what I mean when you give it a try.

I've actually made two batches of the bread in the same week. Photo above shows the first batch of hot bread just out of the oven, with melting butter on top. It's quite an adventure to know when exactly to remove the bread, since we aren't accustomed to the real thing anymore. Most people will eat this soft (and full of preservatives) sandwich bread from the grocery, which is nothing like this beauty you'll get out of your oven. I'd never imagined I'd knock on my bread to judge it's doneness, without ruining it.

Here is some advice when making this recipe, especially if it's your first time.

If the dough is sticky, ligthly dust your work surface.
To make the seeds of your choice adhere to the bread, sprinkle them after you've brushed your dough with the egg glaze.
If your bread is turning darker than you'd like, but the baking isn't done yet, simply slide a piece of aluminium paper and place it loosely on the top of your bread; the global heath will still cook the bread, while the aluminium will reflect it off the top, avoiding to burn it.
Achieving the braided look isn't difficult at all. Split the dough in three equal portions, roll them out (yeah, like plasticine !), braid them together, then coil on itself and tuck the last end of the braid under everything. The smaller the braid, the better looking it'll be, because the pattern will look more complicated.
For conservation, I placed mine (once cooled off !) in a bread bag I had saved from my local bakery. It's probably better to eat it in the following 48 hours after you bake it. Do eat it fast, because bread without preservatives won't last as long as regular store bought bread.

Second batch I made was actually to bring to a Beltane feast with friends in Quebec city. I sprinkled it with sesame seeds. As you can see the texture is already better and the braiding got some skill up too ! The bread was a hit at the gathering. It has a slight tangy flavor and the sweetness is quite subtle. Still, I've been amazed at how it tasted and I think I've gained enough confidence to tackle another one of those recipes soon !

Buttermilk honey bread

From Rosa’s yummy yums

Makes 2 23x13 (9x5-inch) pan loaves or 2 freestyle round loaves.

Ingredients

3/4 Cup (180g/ml) Warm water (105°-115° F/40.5°-46° C)

1 Tbs (1 envelope/7g) Active dry yeast

1 Tsp Castor sugar (I used regular granulated sugar. You can also grind it to make it finer)

1 1/2 Cups (360g/ml) Buttermilk, warmed just to take off the chill (alternatively, brought up to room temperature)

2 Tbs (30g) Unsalted butter, melted

3 Tbs Runny honey (heat it, it's easier to pour)

1 Tbs Salt
6-6 1/4 Cups (765g-768g) Unbleached all-purpose flour (I used regular white flour)

1 Egg, beaten, with 1 Tbs Milk or cream (for rich egg glaze)

How to

Pour warm water into a small bowl. Sprinkle yeast and sugar over the surface of the water. Stir to combine and let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. Cover with a dish towel. In a large bowl (or in the work bowl of a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment), add buttermilk, butter, honey and yeast mixture, and stir to combine. Add salt and 2 cups flour. Beat hard to combine. Add remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula after each addition, until a shaggy dough is formed.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and knead about 5 minutes, until dough is smooth and satiny (if kneading by machine, switch from paddle to dough hook and knead for 3-4 minutes, or until dough is smooth and springy). Place dough in a greased bowl. Turn dough once to grease the top and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise at room temperature until double in bulk, 60-75 minutes. Gently deflate dough with your fist. Turn dough out on a lightly floured work surface.

Grease two 23x13cm (9-by-5 -inch) loaf pans or a baking sheet for freestyle round loaves. Cover lightly with plastic wrap or a towel and let rise until fully doubled in bulk, 30-45 minutes. Twenty minutes before you put the bread in the oven, preheat oven to 190° C (375° F). Brush top of loaves with egg glaze. Put pans on the center rack of the oven and bake about 45 minutes, or until loaves are brown, pull away from sides and sound hollow when tapped with your finger. Remove loaves immediately to a cooling rack. Cool completely before slicing. Enjoy !

Molten lava chocolate cake

2010-03-31T18:28:00.003-04:00

I originally had made this recipe in hopes to eat this as a classic, but oh-soo-good ending to our Valentine's day meal. We had a great breakfast with cocktail, fruits and everything, and we wanted the supper to stay in the same idea. We had everything planned out, with a fondue, and those cakes just waiting to be baked at the right time.

Then, (after using up half a bottle of white wine !) the fondue was just right, and we brang it to the table. I turned around to take my camera. Guyuk complained I needed to eat NOW, before we'd loose the right consistency again. He went back with the fondue to leave it on the heat. When I ran back down the stairs, I found...

...the table on fire.

Fuel had apparently leaked out of the container, and the tablecloth, along with the wood underneath caught on fire. We threw the metal cap on the burner, which solved part of the problem, but the table was still burning ! We ran to get the oven mitts (cause we just had cleaned up and everything was back in the kitchen) and we took the hot metal frame away, and without anything else to do it, I smacked the fire with a plate until it went out (no, I didn't shatter the plate).

This evening, we ended up eating on our small kitchen table, against the wall, under full light and heated the fondue (which we had to re-work to eating consistency) on an old portable electric stove. Not quite the ending we had planned for that day. Both exhausted from all the adrenaline, we simply went to bed and were planning to eat the cakes at a later time.

So, this time came to be. We had a couple of friends for supper last sunday, and with 4 of those beauties just waiting to be baked, it was the perfect time-saving excuse to eat all the delicousness inside. The trick to get all that gooey chocolatey goodness ozzing all over, is simply to underbake the cake so it remains liquid in it's center. After the prescribed 13 minutes of baking, however, I felt the cakes were still too soft and I was affraid they would splat open in the plate, so I monitored the baking and left them I think around an additionnal 5 minutes.

Maybe I overdid it, cause I would have liked more molten hot chocolate, but these were still insanely decadent and they definitively were the star of the meal. I think next time I will take the ramequins out of the freezer sooner to let them get to room temperature, which I think would shorten the baking time. We tried at the same time a Domaine Lafrance sparkling cider, which was made with a touch of ice cider, and even thought it was a bit higher in acidity than what I perfer, it counterbalanced the sweetness of the cake very well for an exiciting and delicious pairing.

Molten lava chocolate cakes
From Culinary Musings

Ingredients
100 grams good quality chocolate (I used callebault 54.4%)
2 large eggs
5 Tbsp white granulated sugar, plus extra for dusting the ramekins
4 Tbsp unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
2 3/4 Tbsp flour
1 Tbsp crème fraîche
4 oven-safe ramekins

How to
Lightly coat the inside of your ramekin molds with butter then dust with granulated sugar. Set aside. Next, using the bain marie method, melt the chocolate pieces (refrain from stirring as it melts). Meanwhile, whisk the eggs and 5 Tbsp of sugar until pale yellow.

Once the chocolate is completely melted, remove container from the heat and mix in the butter. Next, slowly add the the egg and sugar mixture. Add flour and finally the creme fraîche. Pour and distribute the batter evenly into four ramekins. Place in the freezer overnight.

When ready to serve, remove ramekins from freezer and place in a 375 degree preheated oven. Bake for 13 minutes. Remove ramekins from oven and allow to cool for 2 minutes. Use a sharp knife to scrape along the edge of the cake. Next, take individual serving plate and rest it on top of the ramekin mold. Holding the mold with an oven mitt and keeping the plate in contact with the mold, invert the cake onto the plate. Tap the ramekins lightly and gently lift away. Use a simple contrasting decoration, like mint leaves, fanned strawberry, powdered sugar or even itsy-bitsy little scoops of vanilla ice cream !

Guacamole

2010-03-24T14:40:00.001-04:00

It's now officially spring !

We've been having quite nice temperatures here in Quebec during march, ranging between 5-14C. We had no snow at all for a good part of the winter (and not at all during february). So I guess it's simply logic that right after spring, we start to have cold temperatures and snow forecasts. Right ? Why, yes, I found this logic of mine in a box of cereals, what's the problem ?

Last weekend, we had Guyuk's sister over at the house. We did have a good time catching up on an old Dongeon and Dragons game we had started several months ago. Of course, players get hungry. They need snacks. And regardless of the temperature, what better snack than some tortilla chips along with some spring-like greenish fresh homade guacamole ?

I had some avocados in my fridge, just ripe enough to be mashed. All the other ingredients were waiting patiently to be transformed. I like to use the electric hand mixer instead of a potatoes masher because I prefer the homogene and silky texture that the electric mixer gives me. Guacamole is quite easy: You chop chop chop, you're done. I had never been a fan of avocados before, but this guacamole, with just the right amount of salt, has converted me into someone who eats her fair share of the bowl (and now I must make more to satisfy everyone). I guess since I wasn't a fan of avocados, I tended to load the guacamole until the bowl was full. That's my preference, but the original recipe actually calls for far less stuff in it.

So, take my word, do some ! You won't regret it and you'll be the star of your next party !

Guacamole
Adapted from Use Real Butter

Ingredients
4 avocados, ripe
2 tomatoes, deseeded and minced fine
1 jalapeño, deseeded and minced fine (I actually use Tabasco sauce to taste here)
1 big yellow onion, minced fine
2 cloves garlic, peeled
1 lemon, juice of
salt to taste

How to

Halve the avocados and remove the pits. Scoop out the flesh into a sturdy bowl. Mash the avocado to a consistency of your liking. Smash or mince the garlic clove and sprinkle the salt over the garlic. Turn the knife blade on its side and press the salt into the garlic forming a paste. Add the paste to the avocado. Cut the tomatoes along their equators and remove the seeds. Dice the tomatoes to a consistency of your preference. Add to the avocado. Deseed the jalapeño and mince the pepper, or add Tabasco sauce to your liking. Add to avocado. Chop or mince the onion and add to the avocado. Mix the ingredients together and then pour lemon juice to taste. Add more salt if needed. If not serving right away, wrap the guacamole in plastic wrap, pressing the wrap down to touch the surface of the dip so you minimize the amount of air between the two layers. Refrigerate.

Candied orange dipped in chocolate

2010-03-16T13:34:00.004-04:00

I've tackled this project in search of an inexpensive but classy looking wedding gift for some friends that got married last august. Money, we didn't have, but time, there was plenty (well, sorta, I had a shortened sleep schedule the whole week before and finished the packaging the very morning of the wedding).

I had gotten a 12 navel oranges bag and decided to experiment. I made half slices and I also made the regular peels. Aside from being much less time consuming to do, the slices came out much better to my liking than the regular peels, with that soft chewy middle. I was affraid to loose all the flavor and juices by blanching them like I did for the peels (to remove bitterness), so I just threw them in the pot of boiling sugar and let them candy away.

For that extra touch of fancyness, I decided to dip each candy half in dark chocolate. This was my first time dealing with chocolate for coating. I had no thermometer, I didn't know about the chocolate heat curve and all I understood from tempering chocolate is that somehow I had to keep asside some pieces of chocolate to "seed" it, so it would promote crystal formation.Really, I had no clue what I was doing, which ended up with most of the chocolate looking dull and streaked.

Still, I got lucky: because I wanted to speed up the drying process of the chocolate, which was taking forever, (untempered chocolate will take an obscene amount of time to harden) I just shoved one of the trays I was using in the fridge. Score ! My chocolate dried AND gained the glossy look of tempered chocolate.

We had some news from the newly wed after they came back from their honeymoon... the oranges were reported not to have lasted long (there was over 90 strips of peel and about 40 half slices if I remember well) and they were a complete hit !

So now, why don't you try them out and impress your family and friends ?

Candied orange peels

From Use Real Butter

Ingredients

4 oranges, peel of (or any thick skinned orange)

3 cups sugar
1 cup water

1 cup sugar for rolling
or
8 oz chocolate for dipping

How to

You can harvest the peel in many ways. Here are two of them: 1) Cut the oranges in half and juice them. Cut each half in half again and take a spoon to scrape the pulp out, leaving a clean pith. 2) Lop off the top and bottom of each orange (think of removing the polar caps where the stem and opposite end are) just to the fruit. Score the orange peel like lines of longitude every 60 degrees. Peel the orange and clean the inside of the peel with a spoon.

If you want to go for slices or half slices, remove top and bottom of orange, make slices and cut in half. I skipped the blanching part and just threw them in to boil.

Cut peel into 1/4 inch strips. Place peels in a large saucepan and cover with cold water. Heat on high until water comes to a boil. Pour off the water. Repeat twice more. Combine sugar and water in the saucepan and bring to boil over high heat until temperature reaches 230F. Add peel and reduce heat to simmer. Simmer until peels are translucent (30 minutes or longer – 75 minutes at 8500 ft. elevation). Remove peels from syrup and roll in sugar if desired, and set on rack to dry for 4-5 hours (Mine were taking much longer, so I set them in the oven on the lowest temperature setting to speed things up. I did not roll them in sugar, so if you do that, you might want to stick to the rack drying thing.). Once the peel is dry, you can dip in tempered dark chocolate – shake off excess, and place on foil, wax paper, or baking sheet to dry. Store in a tupperware, or if not chocolate dipped, store in sugar or as is.

Roasted cauliflower, au grattin

2010-03-12T09:52:00.002-05:00

The eternal question: what are we going to eat for dinner ? Guyuk and me settled on some salmon, but still, we had to decide what was going to go with it. Having seen recently a lot of recipes involving cauliflower, and the fact that I had a head waiting in my fridge reminded me about a recipe I had seen about roasting cauliflower.

For some reason, almost everyone commenting those recipes mentions that spreading cheese on this dish is nothing less than a sacrilege. How is that so ? I mean unless you want to spread mozzarella on it, but then again, I believe cheese certainly has it's place on those roasted beauties. It also helped that I had some remaining cheese from a fondue we ate mid-february to use up. The mix was actually gruyère cheese, with appenzeller (If you've never tried appenzeller, go buy some right now !)

Since there wasn't a lot of cauliflower, I decided to quarter some white mushrooms and to slice up half a red onion for more flavor in the dish. My cheese, because it was a fondue, had white wine with it. It worked beautifully with the flavors and I would recommend you try this. If you don't have, like me, insanely boozy cheese, I'd say roast for 25 minutes, then add cheese and white wine at that point, and put back in the oven to melt and one or two minutes to broil.

Roasted cauliflower, au grattin
Adapted from Use Real Butter

Ingredients
1 head of cauliflower, cut into florets
8oz mushrooms, quartered
1/2 red onion, in slices
1 lemon, juice of (to taste)
1 cup melted cheese (double quantity if you use shredded)

3 cloves minced garlic, to taste (I used about 3 or 4 tsp)
salt and pepper to taste
olive oil (drizzle)
white wine (drizzle)

How to
Preheat oven to 400°F. Place the cauliflower, mushrooms, red onions and garlic in a baking dish so that everything sits in a single layer. Drizzle lemon juice, olive oil, and salt and pepper over. Toss to coat. Bake about 25 minutes minutes. Take out of oven, add cheese and white wine (if desired). Bake again for another 4-5 minutes, plus 1-2 minutes of broil to make the cheese golden. Serve hot.

Pain doré

2010-03-08T11:55:00.005-05:00

This is not almost not a recipe, seeing how easy it is to whip together. Really, three ingredients ? Eggs, milk and bread. If you tell me you don't have those, I won't believe you. This is as easy as you can get. I've always done those by hand, judging the donness of the mix with the texture, color, etc. so feel free to adjust from the measurements given.

Pain doré is also called pain perdu in french, which litterally means "lost bread". It takes it's name from the fact that it's better made with day-old bread, which has become more stiff, keeping the integrity of the bread when you dip it in the mixture. You can always try to do it with fresh bread, but there is absolutely no reason to, it won't taste any better and you will most likely simply tear it apart. So, if you have a craving and no aged bread, make sure you're quick and agile.

If you're on the go but would like to satisfy your sweet tooth, you can dump in some brown sugar, which will give it a nice sweet flavor, without the mess of syrup. I, however, suggest you eat it with pure maple syrup, which is much better. A few fruits (I've used supremed blood oranges here and a fanned strawberry) and you're done for a very nice looking breakfast in about 10 minutes ! Enjoy !

Pain Doré
From Kirsa

Ingredients
8 slices of stale bread
2 large eggs
2/3 cup of milk (I used skimmed)
Brown sugar (optionnal)

How to

Mix everything together in a large enough bowl for the slices of bread you have to dip. Dip the bread so it soaks up the mix. Throw in a hot pan (you can use your fingers, a fork works well too) with some oil and butter (the oil is there to keep the butter from burning) to cook on both sides, until golden. If you see that you get eggy bits cooking in the pan, it means you need more milk. Pour more to adjust. This should be enough to yield 8 regular slices of bread. If you prefer the pour-and-judge method, the general guideline is to use an egg per person and pour milk until the mix is a pale yellow.

Lemon and ginger marmalade

2010-03-03T21:07:00.023-05:00

I've been canning a few things since I discovered how to process the jars in hot water baths. This is the project I've been doing during weeknights recently: marmelade. I'm not a big fan of it, because I find most marmelades bitter and too zesty for me. Maybe this is the one that'll change my mind ! I finally kicked my butt into processing the lemons before they went bad and I'm so glad I did. I was awarded with fourteen 250ml jars of the stuff. Actually, I even had 15, butt the last jar's bottom actually broke, and the marmelade was lost into the 7 liters of boiling water.

Had no particular problem assembling everything together. The recipe is quite straight forward. The longest part is to zest the lemons (I highly recommand using a microplane if you have one ! I'll get one myself soon... there's no way I'll do again 14 lemons with a hand zester, and I made sure Guyuk understood that !), removing the seeds and the membranes. The cooking afterwards is speedy, only long step is to whisk all that sugar in before the final boil. It does mentions to whisk in the sugar while brigning to a boil, but I was so good at scalding myself with hot boiling citrus and sugar that I prefered to mix off the heat, then bring to a boil. I finished by canning all the jars, except the one which broke and this little guy there.

For people wondering, yes, I doubled this recipe, and the texture came out fine. I did use a bit more pectin than specified (2oz packages) however, so it might have helped, althought I also used the max number of lemons they were suggesting (used 16, versus 12 for the minimalist version). I thought it tasted fine, and I hope the taste remains the same even after it's chilled.

Lemon and ginger marmalade

From Fine Cooking

Ingredients

1-1/2 to 2 lb. lemons (6 to 8 medium)

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh ginger
One 1-3/4 -oz. package powdered pectin (I used 2oz packages)
6-1/2 cups granulated sugar

How to

Zest the lemons, avoiding as much of the white pith as possible. You’ll need 1 cup of zest strips. Put the zest in a 4-quart (or larger) saucepan.

Trim the ends from the zested lemons to expose the flesh. With one cut side down on the cutting board, trim the pith off the lemon all the way around and discard the pith. Supreme the lemons and remove the seeds.

Add the sliced lemons, ginger, and 2 cups water to the lemon zest. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, adjust the heat to maintain a simmer, and cook until the zest is soft and the membranes start to break down, 6 to 8 minutes.

Whisk the pectin into the mixture. Increase the heat to high, add the sugar, and bring to a boil, whisking constantly to smooth lumps. Boil vigorously for 1 minute, whisking constantly (move the pan off the burner momentarily if it threatens to boil over). Remove the pan from the heat and let sit undisturbed for 5 minutes.

Skim any foam and seeds off the surface of the marmalade. Stir gently to redistribute the solids. Transfer the marmalade to heatproof storage containers, let cool to room temperature, and then refrigerate for up to 1 month.

For longer storage at room temperature, can the marmalade.

Sortilège truffles, rolled in crushed toasted hazelnuts

2010-03-02T21:08:00.007-05:00

On with the food !

This is my first attempt at making truffles. Please, don't refrain from doing them, especially the rolled kind, because they are SO easy to make. Those dissapeared in a snap and my guests helped themselves to make sure there was none remaining at the end of the evening, by dividing what was left in containers to bring home.

You can see there that I had a little problem with the hazelnuts: I didn't quite have enough to cover all the truffles, but also, they got a bit oily and grinded a bit into a paste instead of cute crunchy bits. I'm thinking maybe the fact I toasted the nuts a few days before I grinded them might have done that. We'll have to test it later...

Sortilège Truffles
Adapted from Use Real Butter

Ingredients
1 pound good quality dark chocolate (I used Callebaut)
1 cup heavy cream
2-4 tbsps Sortilège (I went up to 7 myself, but feel free to replace with your favorite alchool)
2 cups of skinned toasted hazelnuts

How to

Fine chop the chocolate and place in a medium bowl. Heat the cream until it begins to boil. Remove from heat and pour the cream over the chocolate. Let sit for a minute (make sure all chocolate is covered by the cream). Stir the chocolate and cream together until velvety and smooth. Stir in the Sortilège. Let the ganache cool until solid. Scoop out teaspoon-size balls of ganache and roll into a ball.

Roll in cocoa powder, powdered sugar, nuts, crushed candy, or enrobe in tempered chocolate (if enrobing, you will want a pound of chocolate for the tempering and double enrobing may be necessary if cracking occurs on the first shell). To toast the hazelnuts, place them on a cookie sheet and bake until the skins will visibly start to split (should take about 10 minutes). When the hazelnuts are done, place them in a towel while hot, and rub them together. The skins will then fall off. Don't worry about taking all the skins off, some bits will remain, but it will not affect the taste.

Happy eating !

Grand opening

2010-02-18T04:11:00.001-05:00

Some people out there told me I ought to open a food blog.

Why would I do so ?

I don't have much interest in blogging. Previous attempts were pretty boring and actually a pain to keep up with updates. But I do have a genuine interest in food and love to brag about the new discoveries I've made while baking or cooking my last dish. I take pride in what I do, and I think that's what changed my mind. If I can inspire another cook, that would be my pleasure.

Why Cidre et Poires ? Let's be honest: it sounds fancy in french (which happens to be my first language). Also, Cidre means cider, which is one of my favorite beverages and Quebec, where I'm from, produces an insane amount of apples (and we do real good cider too, heh).

Poires, means pears, because I love the delicate flavor of that fruit and it sounds more European-ish, which I thought would be a good balance. Together, they represent drink and food, delicate fruits and the transformation they are undergoing in the cooking/brewing process.

So, I hope all of you have a good time reading my ramblings and I will try to keep it updated as much as possible.