Author: Lynn

Grape and Rosemary Cake

~ Lynn ~ 30 Comments

Another of summer treasures has arrived in Quebec over the last couple of weeks: Concord Grapes. Concord Grapes are a little smaller than the standard varieties, and I find them to be much sweeter. Their season only lasts a couple of weeks and they’re really easy to miss. I bought a small box and started munching on them right away.

As I was stuffing my face with grapes I wondered how else I could use them. Then I remembered this month’s Bake Together. Abby Dodge has asked us to bake a simple fruit cake our way. Concord Grapes were clearly how I wanted to go. I struggled with how to flavour the cake for awhile. I considered following Abby’s original instructions, or maybe some cardamom. Then Janice suggested rosemary, which sounded perfect. I didn’t want an overwhelming rosemary flavour so I used Janice’s infused honey method from her Lavender Honey Cakelettes.

Grape and Rosemary Cake

  • 1 1/3 cups all purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon table salt
  • 6 tablespoons clarified butter
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 tbsp rosemary infused honey
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup sour cream
  • 1 pint Concord Grapes
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1 tbsp flour
  1. Preheat the oven to 350. Line a 9 in round pan with parchment paper, leaving enough overhang to pull the cake out of the pan once done.
  2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
  3. In a separate bowl, beat the butter and sugar together with an electric mixer. Mix in the honey. Add the eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla.
  4. Mix in the dry ingredients alternating with the sour cream.
  5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 15 minutes. During this time prepare the fruit, toss the grapes with 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tbsp flour. Once the 15 minutes are done pour the fruit on top of the cake (you’ll have to work quickly). Bake for and additional 25 to 30 minutes.
  6. Serve with a drizzle of rosemary honey.
Enjoy!

Nectarine Basil Iced Tea

~ Lynn ~ 43 Comments

Sunday in Montreal was oppressively hot, so humid the air felt wet. My mom and I spent the afternoon going to thrift shops on the West Island. There are 3 Nova Stores in our area. Nova is an organization that provides nursing home care services in Montreal. To raise money they have thrift stores around the city. Run by volunteers, often retired nurses, they sell everything from furniture to fabric remnants. I could spend hours in those stores. And there’s no need to feel shopping guilt because all for a great cause.

My goal today was to find props for photos, and I did; antique bowls, 25 cent glasses, and a tiney tiny silver spoon. I also picked up a copy of Anne of Green Gables for $1, just because I love that book. But the best find of the day was a teak chair for $35, very similar to this one. It needs to be reupholstered, but still an amazing deal. I can’t wait to start searching for fabric for it!

The drive from store to store is a very pretty stretch of road along the water. We had the windows rolled down enjoying what the summer has to offer. By the time we got home we were quite parched. Thankfully I had this Nectarine and Basil Iced Tea waiting for us. I was a little hesitant to add the basil, but it actually gives the tea a really nice almost spicy flavour. It was surprisingly refreshing. I kept the iced tea alcohol free, but feel free to booze it up.

Nectarine and Basil Iced Tea

  • 4 bags black tea
  • 4 nectarines, sliced
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 5-10 basil leaves
  1. Steep the tea in 8 cups boiled water for 5 minutes, then discard the tea bags.
  2. While the tea is steeping, bring the nectarine slices and sugar to boil with 1 cup of water. Reserve 1/4 of the nectarine slices. Simmer for 10 minutes, then turn off the heat and add the basil leaves to the pot for 5 minutes to flavour the syrup. Discard the leaves and pour the nectarine mixture into the tea.
  3. Chill, then serve with ice and remaining nectarine slices.
Enjoy!

 

 

Cherry and Sorrel Salad

~ Lynn ~ 15 Comments

Growing up I would ask my parents to get a pool every summer. Every summer they would say no. To be honest I asked them to get a pool this summer too; still no. Sigh. I guess it’s a turtle shaped kiddie pool for me again this year.

Instead of a pool they have trees and gardens. Sitting in the backyard almost makes me forget that I’m in a city. There are two little herb gardens, tomato plants, cucumbers, peppers, all kinds of flowers and more. Birds and squirrels are regular visitors.

This weekend some raccoons also stopped by. They showed up in the middle of the afternoon, and didn’t seem to be afraid of people at all. One them came right up to the patio door knocked. He would have come and sit down to lunch if we had opened the door. They are strangely cute and terrifying at the same time. They knocked over some plants, pulled my laundry off the rack. I assume they must have been very hungry because as far as I know raccoons are nocturnal, and although I felt bad I couldn’t feed them. I wanted my backyard back. My dad eventually scared them off, and we were once again able to enjoy the day.

Along with the sage and oregano in the picture above, there is also sorrel in the garden. I had never tried sorrel until yesterday; it’s got a zesty almost lemony taste to it. I instantly wanted to make a salad with it. I had already been planning to make a salad with cherries and decided to use the sorrel as well as some baby spinach as greens. The sweetness of the cherries was a great contrast to the zesty favour of the sorrel.


Cherry and Sorrel Salad

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 2 tbps lemon juice
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • 2 tbsp fresh tarragon
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 2 cups sorrel, chopped
  • 4 cups baby spinach
  • 1 cup sweet cherries, pitted and halved
  • 6 ounces goat cheese
  • 1/2 cup hazelnuts, roughly chopped
  1. In a small jar, mix the olive oil, lemon juice, tarragon, salt and pepper together.
  2. Put the greens and cherries in a large bowl. Toss with the dressing.
  3. Plate then top with the goat cheese and hazelnuts.
Enjoy!

Peach Cherry Crisp

~ Lynn ~ 20 Comments

When I was a kid if you asked me what my favourite fruit was I would answer with zero hesitation: cherries.

Today the answer is a little more complicated. It varies from month to month. In June I think strawberries are the greatest thing ever. Once July comes around my attention is divided between raspberries and cherries. In August I eat Lac St Jean Blueberries by the handful.

I’d like to say that peaches are on my list, but I’ve found it increasingly difficult to find good peaches in the last few years. I remember eating Niagara peaches from those pretty little baskets when I was young that were incredibly sweet and bursting with flavour. Lately I’ve found them to hard and tasteless; so disappointing I would rarely buy them. This weekend I had a peach that brought me back to my childhood. It was exactly the flavours I remembered. These weren’t from Niagara; I don’t know where they were from (unless Costco is a country).

Fruit that good cannot be allowed to go to waste so I used a few in a crisp. I decided to add a few cherries to please my inner child as well.I flavoured the fruits with almond extract and added some almond meal to the crisp topping. If you can find oats that haven’t been in contact with wheat this dessert is a great gluten free treat.

Peach Cherry Crisp

  • 3 large peaches, sliced
  • 1 cup cherries, pitted and halved
  • 1/4 cup plus 1 tbsp sugar
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract (or 1 tbsp amaretto)
  • 2 cups oats
  • 1/3 cup almond meal
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/3 cup butter, cold and cut into cubes
  1. Preheat the oven to 375 F
  2. In a bowl toss the fruit with 1 tbsp sugar and the almond extract. Set aside.
  3. In a separate bowl, mix the oats, almond meal, cinnamon and salt together. Add the butter, then using your fingers tips cut the butter into the oat mixture. It should clump together when combined
  4. Pour the fruit into a baking dish or pie plate, top with the oat mixture.
  5. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes.
  6. Serve warm or cold.
Enjoy!

Crème Bavaroise avec Gelée aux Fraises

~ Lynn ~ 24 Comments

Montreal is a city that is bursting at the seams with restaurants. I read recently that we have the most restaurants per capita in North America. I don’t know if that’s true but based on the number of restaurants I want to try, it certainly feels possible. To keep track of all the places we need to try Janice and I have a List. The List is hard to track; it’s maintained in email strings that are hundreds of emails long. The only way to find it is to search our mail for “restaurant list”, then sort through random chit chat. We might we need a better system.

One of the restaurants that has been on the list since we started it over a year ago is Joe Beef. We finally made it there a couple of weeks ago and had an incredible meal. I’m really not sure why we waited so long to go. I chose not to bring my camera to dinner because I wanted to focus on the meal, but as soon as we stepped out onto the terrace in the back and saw the incredible garden I regretted it. The patio is surrounded by a vegetable and flower garden that would make any home gardener quite jealous.

After quite a bit of deliberation, we finally chose our meal. For appetizers we shared shrimp with aioli and stuffed squash blossoms as well as scallop ceviche and cucumber salad. Both were excellent, but the highlight for me was the squash blossom. It was the first time I had ever had one, and I loved it. I honestly don’t know how to describe it other than delicate and deep fried.

For mains I had the cod and onion and Janice had the ribs. The fish was perfect served with onions cooked three ways (including a really awesome onion ring). Towards the end of our meal, Dave (one of the owners) came by to see how we were doing. Through the magic of twitter he knew who I was, which is fun. He told us about the hydroponic garden the have the restaurants basement, and the constant inspections they go through because of unusual electricity usage. It’s pretty safe to say that most people in Montreal with hydroponic equipment are not growing tomatoes. Some review boards have complaints about Dave’s attitude, but I found him to be warm and inviting; our conversation with him added to the ambiance of the evening.

For dessert Janice had the financiers and I had the bavarian cream with rhubarb compote. Having a dessert in a restaurant made from food grown in the backyard garden is pretty incredible. The bavarian cream was really light and airy, and the rhubarb had just the right amount of sweetness. That dessert inspired the recipe I’m sharing with you now.

I decided to use Quebec strawberries instead of rhubarb, and added a layer of strawberry gelée at the bottom. For the gelée I followed this recipe from the LA Times. My bavarian cream wasn’t quite as airy as what I had at Joe Beef, but it was very good. It was thick and creamy, not too gelatin-ey. It’s a perfect dessert for hot summer days. This dessert does take time to put together as there are several “setting” periods.

Bavarian Cream with Strawberry Gelée

For the Gelée

  • 1 pint strawberries, hulled
  • Juice of one lime
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 package gelatine
  1. Fill a medium pot halfway with water then bring to a boil. In a metal bowl that will fit over the pot, mix the strawberries lime juice and sugar together. Cover with plastic wrap then place over the boiling water (like a doulble boiler). Lower the heat and let the water simmer for an hour.
  2. Using a mesh strainer lined with a paper coffee filter, strain the strawberries into another bowl. Gently press down on the strawberries to extract all the juice, reserve the strawberry pulp for another use (great on pancakes)
  3. Mix the gelatin with 1/4 cup warm water to dissolve, then add it to the strawberry juice. Pour into serving dishes and let cool in the refrigerator until set, about 2 hours.
Bavarian Cream
  • 3 tablespoons cold water
  • 2 1/4 teaspoons gelatin
  • 4 egg yolks
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups whole milk
  • 1tsp vanilla
  • 1 1/2 cups whipping cream
  1. Dissolve the gelatin in the water. Set aside.
  2. In a metal bowl, whisk the egg yolks and sugar together.
  3. In a medium saucepan heat the milk and vanilla until small bubbles form around the edges of the pot. Do not let it come to a full boil.
  4. Whisk a small amount of the milk into the egg yolks to temper them. Slowly pour the remaining milk into the eggs whisking constantly.
  5. Pour the mixture back into the sauce pan and bring to a boil, whisking constantly. The mixture should start to thicken.
  6. Pour back into a bowl and stir in the gelatin. Place the bowl in an ice bat to cool.
  7. While the custard is cooling, whip the cream to soft peak. Once the custard has cooled completely but before it starts to set, fold the whipped cream in. Pour into serving dishes and let set in the refrigerator for at least three hours.
Macerated Strawberries
  • 1/2 pint strawberries, hulled and sliced
  • 1/4 cup sugar
  • 2 tbsp lime juice
  • mint, sliced
  1. Toss all the ingredients together and let sit for about 30 minutes until the strawberries start to release their juice.
  2. Pour over set bavarian cream and serve.
Enjoy!

Watermelon Salad

~ Lynn ~ 18 Comments

I’ve had a couple of conversations recently about how hard it is to meet men. Where do you go? It’s pretty much impossible to have a conversation in a bar. Online dating is like looking for a needle in haystack. I already know all of my friends friends, although I could go to the friends friends friends level. At one point I thought I might meet a man in the elevators of my office building. There was this really cute guy I’d see often who would smile at me. Then one day I saw him in a restaurant with his girlfriend and realized he’s just an elevator flirt.

Both of the friends I talked to about this had already come to the conclusion that the only place to meet a man is the grocery store. There are some rules to keep in mind though.

  1. A man in a big grocery store in the burbs is most likely already in a relationship; small urban markets are the way to go.
  2. There is nothing to talk about in the canned soup aisle other than the amount of sodium in the cans; if you spot a cute guy there try and catch him again in the beer aisle.
  3. A man who only has beer and chips in his cart might be fun, but ultimately I believe the relationship would be unsatisfying.
  4. The best spot to meet a man in the grocery store is the produce section. You can discuss weird looking greens, how to pick a ripe fruit, and if your lucky melons might get squeezed.

And that brings me to the recipe part of this post; watermelon salad. I considered doing a savoury version, as that seems to be the trend these days, but to me watermelon is a sweet treat to enjoy at the end of a long hot day. It’s Watermelon is quite sweet on its own so I used just a bit of honey to sweeten the salad and a little rum to make it extra delicious (booze always makes dessert better).

Watermelon Salad

Serves 4

  • 1/2 a medium watermelon
  • 2 mangoes
  • Juice of 1 lime
  • 3 tbsp honey
  • 1 oz rum
  • Mint, finely chopped
  1. Using a melon baller, scoop out the watermelon and the mangoes into a medium bowl.
  2. In a glass, mix the lime juice, honey and rum together.
  3. Pour the line mixture over the fruit and toss with the mint.
Enjoy!

Orzo Salad

~ Lynn ~ 9 Comments


How often do you make recipes from blogs? Although I read a lot of food blogs, I rarely follow recipes I’ve found on them. I read food blogs more to follow the people than the recipes. Every blogger has their own story to tell, and a style they use to tell it. My favourite blogs are the ones that engage me, the ones that give the impression I’m actually getting to know the author. Pretty pictures help too.

That’s not to say I only read blogs for the articles. The recipes inspire me. Sometimes I’ll see a blogger use an ingredient in a way I had never considered, which makes me think of other innovative things to try in the kitchen.

Other times I’m inspired by the simplicity of a recipe. This salad was inspired by a very simple pasta dish by Paula of bell’alimento. Her recipe got me thinking that pasta is the perfect showcase for some of my favourite summer ingredients.

This dish is comes together very quickly, but is still full of flavour, especially if you use fresh summer produce.

Orzo Salad

  • 1 cup orzo
  • 2-3 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • 2 plum tomatoes, diced
  • 1 green pepper
  • 1/2 cup pitted kalamata olives
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • chives, chopped
  1. In a large pot, cook the orzo according to the package instructions.
  2. While the orzo is cooking, in a large sautee pan heat the olive oil on medium. Add the minced garlic to the oil. Once you can smell the garlic, add the tomatoes, pepper and olives. Sautee for two to three minutes; the peppers should remain crisp.
  3. Strain the cooked pasta, pour into a serving bowl then add the tomato mixture. Toss with the lemon zest and chives.
Enjoy!

Mixed Berry Pie

~ Lynn ~ 19 Comments

Pretty isn’t it?

It tasted good too.

But this pie was a disaster from start to finish. It’s a chocolate pate sucré crust with a mixed berry filling and mascarpone cream topping.

The problems started with the crust.  I planned on making it in a food processor, but for some reason it wouldn`t start. I couldn’t figure it out, everything was locked in properly. This didn’t hold me back though, I just made it by hand instead. I put the dough in the fridge to chill, and a few hours later I rolled out the dough. Or at least I tried to. It was impossible to roll. It kept sticking to the board and breaking into pieces. It quickly became to warm to manage, so I pressed it into the pie plate and let it chill over night.

The next morning I baked the crust and got to work on the filling. I followed the directions for the filling from this recipe, poured it into the crust and let it set for about 5 hours. At that point I was ready to put the mascarpone topping on. I whipped some cream then added some mascarpone to the cream and tried to whip them together. It became a clumpy mess. My mom told me to whip the mascarpone first, then add the whipped cream to the cheese. I asked her if I should start over, she said yes, so I did. Her method worked perfectly, but later she realized I had made two batches. I’m not sure what she thought I meant by start over, but apparently I could have fixed the first batch.

So at this point I put the cream on the pie. But the pie wasn’t even close to set. The weight of the cream caused the pie to overflow. I knew it would not be set in time to eat for dessert. When it came time to cut the pie, I was expecting a goopie mess, but I was not expecting the crust to stick to the pie plate.

It was a disaster.

At least it tasted good.

Because of all my problems, I’m not going to post the recipes but if you’re interested you can check out my inspiration for the pie and the crust recipe I used.

The next day the filling was set and the crust stopped sticking.

Strawberry Rhubarb Mojitos

~ Lynn ~ 39 Comments

There are a few people on Twitter I follow but never speak to. They’re people I’m a little in awe of, so I lurk around their pages, eavesdrop on their conversations. I could interact with them but my shyness holds me back, even in the virtual world.

Abby Dodge is one of those people. She’s the author of several cookbooks, and a contributor to Fine Cooking Magazine. During one of my recent “lurking” bouts I discovered Bake Together. Bake Together came about through Twitter conversations about .. baking together. Since it would be pretty difficult to actually get together and bake, bloggers are invited to virtually bake together. Abby chooses a recipe, and bloggers each create their own version and post it. I missed the first challenge but decided to get in on the second, strawberry sorbet.

My original plan was to make strawberry rhubarb ice cream sandwiches with chocolate cookies. I don’t have an ice cream maker, but I’ve made ice cream without one before so I assumed sorbet would work too. I made the fruit puree, put it in the freezer, then blended it with an immersion blender every 45 minutes or so for 4 hours. At that point I let it freeze, just like I did with the ice cream. Unfortunately, I ended up with a block that was semi scoopable, but really too solid to consider sorbet. It tasted amazing though; the flavour of the Quebec strawberries really came through. I wasn’t going to let this go to waste.

My mind went back to the strawberry juice my mom used to make when I was young; it’s just strawberries blended with sugar and water but it’s soo good. My new plan was to make a grown up version of that. I melted the “sorbet” and mixed it with some club soda, rum and mint to make Strawberry Rhubarb Mojitos. And now Bake Together has become Drink Together.

If you have an ice cream maker, I’d really recommend making the sorbet. And if you don’t, you should try this drink!

Strawberry Rhubard Sorbet

  • 3  cups chopped rhubarb
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 cups strawberries, cleaned and hulled
  1. In a large saucepan, bring the rhubarb and sugar to a boil, then simmer for 10-15 minutes until the rhubarb is softened. Let cool.
  2. In a blender, puree the strawberries. Add the cooled rhubarb to the strawberries and blend.
  3. Follow the manufacturers instructions on your ice cream maker to freeze the sorbet.

Strawberry Rhubarb Mojitos

  • 1 cup Strawberry Rhubarb Puree
  • Mint leave (about 10 per person)
  • 1 cup White Rum
  • Club Soda
  • Simple Syrup (optional)
  1. In a pitcher, mix the mint leaves with some ice to muddle. Add the strawberry rhubarb puree and white rum. Top off the pitcher with club soda. If you feel it needs more sugar, and the simple syrup.

Enjoy! (Responsibly!)

Raspberry Cinnamon Muffins: Guest Post on Blog is The New Black

~ Lynn ~ 3 Comments

I made these amazing Raspberry Cinnamon Muffins for a guest post on Blog is The New Black. Liz has a great blog, full of awesome recipes and great pictures. If you haven’t seen it, take a couple of minutes to check it out!