Projects a Go Go

Due to the frustration of my week of failed vegetarian dinners (which I still do on and off here and there), I decided to do projects here and there.

Project #1 Homemade vanilla extract on a hectic, bad karma Sunday

Bruce Willis Vodka

Received vanilla beans for Christmas from my best friend Bud as per my request (yes, we do tell each other what we want for Christmas.  Does it take away the magic?  Yes.  Does it save us from the guilt of returning an awkward gift?  Yes.).  Used one in banana bread, but I don't make enough desserts so they sat in my cupboard for four months.

I bought a large bottle of No Name artifical vanilla extract eons ago and still use it.  But thought to make my own homemade vanilla extract for special desserts.  Home made vanilla extract requires vodka.  Being a 50% Polish little family OBVIOUSLY we have vodka sitting around.  In fact, we have two bottles:  Bruce Willis vodka (which is actually Sobieski, a Polish vodka.  Bruce Willis' picture was on the back of the bottle) and Grey Goose, a French vodka.  I asked P if I could use the Bruce Willis vodka because I felt weird using Grey Goose, an expensive vodka, for vanilla extract.  I don't think it makes a difference either way.  P graciously says yes I can use the Bruce Willis vodka.

It was a bad karma Sunday because that same day, P broke out in a bad allergic reaction, he forgot his keys at his BFF's house, and on the way to a friend's daughter's b-day party, our car died.  Okay it was more bad karma Sunday for P than me.

Project #2 Rhubarb jam...Maillardville represent!

Went to a jam making class at a rec centre in Vancouver after work on Monday.  It was taught by one of the mamas from Homesteading Mama's.  During introductions, we had to say what our favorite food out of a jar was.  People said strawberry jam, peaches, rhubarb jam, you know...obvious stuff.  I say bacon marmalade.  Yes, I chose a meat jam to be my favorite thing out of a jar.  Another guy said beer.  Ugh...I wish I was funny like that guy.

The jam we were making was rhubarb.  I never thought to make jam out of rhubarb, so was excited to try it.  Some great tips:

Bought at Homesteader's Emporium

1. You don't have to buy a canning kit.  If you have a very large stock pot, that should be sufficient.  The only accessories then you need to buy are the jars and a jar lifter (which comes in handy).  I will be scouring my favorite local boutique Village de Value (sounds fancier when you French it up).

2.  Pomona's Pectin is a great product to use instead of the usual pectin you buy at the store.  Pomona's relies on calcium instead of sugar to jell-ify the fruit.  The calcium comes with the packet.  By using Pomona's you can make sugar free jam.  Homesteading Mama says that by using regular pectin, you could be using up to 4 cups of sugar for 4 cups of fruit.  Yuck!

3.   It's not suggested you tinker around with measurements in a recipe.  Canning is a science.  Canning comes with the risk of botulism (botulism thrives in zero oxygen environments), so you want to follow a recipe to a tee.  The only thing that can perhaps be changed up is flavourings.  That's why we chose ginger for the Rhubarb jam.

But again...lonely heart.  There were two couples and one girl who was a friend of a couple.  Everyone made a connection with one another because they all lived in Vancouver and talked about all the neighbourhoods they lived in and how dynamic and lively their neighbourhoods were.  This lonely heart  was raised in Maillardville and resides in Pocompton on the wrong side of the tracks.  So yeah...I live near downtown too...Downton Pocompton What!   I don't have the cute fruit and vegetable shops down the street.  I have Coopers at the end of the street and the nerd shop at the end of the block (nerd shop being a video game store).  My sister in law M's car gotten broken into the last time she visited.  I felt like I was too thug to be in this class. 

All in all, a really interesting class and my interest has been piqued for canning.  P's BFF AM wants to do canning too.  I bought myself some jars, some Pomona's Pectin, and I have ordered the recommended book from Chapters and am now waiting for it so I can start my canning.  PUMPED!

As you can see from the photo, the rhubarb ginger jam has proven quite popular in our little home.  We're not big jam eaters, but we're almost done the jar.

Project #3 Making some cheese, preparing for the Zombie Apocalypse

UBC Farm...so far and annoying to get to

Drove all the way out to UBC Farm on Saturday.  What a nightmare.  Honestly, Vancouverites do not know how to drive in the rain.  Was 1/2 an hour late for class.  Argh!

The instructor, David, showed us how cheese making on a small scale at home is really accessible and it really is!  He showed us how to make paneer, yogurt cheese (which he calls dream cheese because you pretty much start it the day before, go to sleep and the next day you have yogurt cheese), and the beginning of camembert.

I would post some useful tips I learned, but his website pretty much walks you through everything so better to hear it from the horse's mouth (not that he looks like a horse).

Paneer in the back, blue cheese in the front

One funny thing from the class is that he was using this cheese cloth that seemed just perfect for his yogurt cheese project.  After giving us his opinion on store bought cheese cloth (which he is not especially fond of), he let us in on a little secret about his cheese cloth.  His cheese cloth is...wait for it...a du-rag.  Yes, a du-rag he buys from a Jamaican hair place (but he says that Homesteaders Emporium on Hastings sells them now too upon his insistence).  His cheese has that extra bit of street cred and a taste of gangster.  One older person asks what a du-rag is and his reply is, "you know, what rappers wear on their head".  I pretty much die of laughter at this point and debated leaving the classroom just to call P (which I didn't because it was cramped in the classroom).

David gives us a drink of kefir.  It's essentially a tastier, carbonated fermented milk yogurty drink.  He then gives us each a clump of grains of kefir, which is essentially good yeast and bacteria.  I name mine P Jr.   

My shopping expedition at Homesteader's Emporium

I went to Homesteaders Emporium today and picked up some cheese making supplies: camembert cheese molds (not mold mold, but shape molds), a thermometer (which David says we don't need, but knowing myself and my hit or miss with cooking, better to err on the side of caution), rennet tabs and the blessed du-rug (I pick up two).  The cashier mentions there has been a surge in du-rag purchases since his cheese class.

My first project is the yogurt cheese.  Not having a deep enough pot, I improvise with the following until P gets home and figures something better (which he always does).

Yogurt cheese in a du-rag

Drainage system until we found an even bigger bowl

 I'm really digging these little projects that allow me to make things from scratch and let's me be self-sufficient.  I'm convinced when the Zombie Apocalypse hits, we'll have plenty of cheese, jam, and vanilla extract.

Project #4 Pancetta 2013 update

Something went weird with the pancetta.  It went moldy in the middle, but it's not green mold, but white mold like on salami.  I'm going to have to investigate this further.

So those are my projects on the go.  Will provide updates.

Vegetarian for a week...somewhat: An update

So my vegetarian for a week saga continues.  An update:

Thursday:

FAILURE!

I had every intention that day.  I was going to make a braised tofu dish, but the following happened:

1. I invited my parents over for dinner.  I warned them that we are eating vegetarian this week.  My mom in the same breath stated: "we'll eat whatever you put in front of us" and "what if we don't get full because all we ate were vegetables".  Filipinos love their food and it would be the ultimate faux pas if your guest leave hungry so I quickly call P and tell him to start defrosting some chicken.

2. I borrowed P's car to drive to work and left the lights on, thus the battery died.  I have the worse short term memory so I was not surprised I forgot to leave the lights on because P's car does not alert you when the lights are left on (it's an old Honda Civic).  I stand in the pouring rain for the next hour trying to find someone who has jumper cables.  I run out of patience and decide to call the taxi cab company to jump my car at the cost of $20.  Luckily enough, two IT (the guys that work with computers) nerds come to my rescue.  I finally start driving home an hour and a half after I finished work.  I am in no mood to cook at this point.

We end up trying the Thai restaurant by my house and we ate chicken pad thai and chicken pineapple fried rice.  I debate getting vegetarian pad thai, but P asserts "if you're going to order food in and pay for it, you might as well get some meat".  My rubber arm was easily twisted.  My parents and P liked it.  It was alright in my opinion.  The Thai place near my work is better.

Friday

FAILURE!

Hard to eat vegetarian when you're visiting someone else's house  and that someone is my sister.  Chasing after the other important man in my life, my nephew Put-Put (obviously a nickname), you work up an appetite and your resolve to be vegetarian is weak.  My brother in law N makes a really tasty dish with sole fillets covered in a lemon, parsley, wine, caper sauce.  I have an intense aversion to any white fish fillet after a bad run in with food poisoning from eating under cooked white fish.  But, I am slowly integrating it back into my life.  But this dish has slowly made me a convert.  It has inspired me to replicate it to see if I can make it.  That's for another post.

Saturday

Today P and I had portabello mushroom burgers.  One of the best burgers I have ever eaten was at a local pub and it was a portabello mushroom burger with pesto mayo.  Did not ask "where's the beef?" because it was that good.

I'm not even going to post a recipe because portabello burgers are just too easy.  I cleaned the portabellos (remove gills and give them a quick wash under water or wipe with a damp cloth), marinated them in bottled teriyaki sauce (to enhance the umami flavour), brushed on  the sauce and a sprinkle of thyme and pepper before I popped them on our George Foreman grill.  Cooked until they were tender (approx. 6-8 minute).  Served them on a kaiser bun with swiss cheese, tomato, lettuce, carmelized onions, mayo, and grainy mustard.  Served with French Fries (I cheated and used frozen fries).

Score:5  P loved them stating he doesn't miss the meat which shocks me because P is a MEAT EATER.  P is a burger aficianado as well.  I would definitely make this again and change up the marinade for the mushrooms.

So good I started chomping on it then remembered near the end to take the picture

  Being vegetarian just for dinner is starting to get on my nerves, although I do enjoy the challenge of preparing dishes without meat and eating them.  I'll keep trying, but not making anymore promises.  Stupid life getting in the way! :)

Wednesday's Everyone in the Pool Chickpea Stew (cheesy!)

Forgiveness please for the corny dish name.  Just thought of it on the fly.  I had a ton of vegetables that were just sitting in the fridge, begging to be in something, so this stew was a great way to dump them in the stew and use them up.  Let's get to the recipe:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 medium onion diced

2 tsp cumin

1 tbsp coriander seeds crushed

1-2 cups of sliced shitake mushrooms (or use regular button mushrooms)

1 19 oz can of chickpeas

1 cup water

1/2 cup yogurt (I used 2%)

1 tbsp soy sauce

a bunch of spinach

2 tbsp cilantro chopped

5 small to medium de-seeded tomatoes diced chunky (peel if you want to)

 super uber optional ingredient: heaping tsp of Dean and Deluca's Moroccan spice mix (if you're fortunate enough to have it.  Bought mine at an Italian china store in Victoria, B.C.)

Heat oil.  Add onions, 1 tsp cumin and coriander seed.  Cook until softened.  Add shitake mushrooms.  Cook until softened, stirring often (approx 10 minutes).

Drain chickpeas into a colander and rinse.  Add chickpeas, soy sauce and tomatoes.  Simmer on low-medium for 10-15 minutes covered.  Add water.  1 cup of water is suggested in the recipe, but depending on how much water the tomatoes release, adjust water accordingly.  You want a bit of a sauce, but not a soup.  It's a stew after all!  Add remaining tsp of cumin.  Add Moroccan spice mix if using.  Leave cover off until liquid is reduced and thickened somewhat (add a little bit more water if it's over reduced). Taste and adjust season accordingly (as in add more spices if you feel like it or season with more salt, etc).

Add spinach and allow to wilt.  Add 1/2 cup yogurt and stir.  Simmer for one or two more minutes.  Stir in cilantro.

It ain't pretty, but it's my dinner

Serve with basmati rice.

I meant to follow a recipe I found on a website for chickpea stew and this was the end result and looks nothing like the original recipe.  It's hard developing a recipe because when I'm in the moment, I don't keep track of time and measurements.  Cooking is my creative outlet and so I make up things as I go along.  So apologies if my measurements or timing seems off.  Definitely challenge yourself to trust your skills, judgement, and your sense when it comes to cooking.  Recipes are just a guidelines. 

Score:  (remember 1 being I am dying for meat and 5 I'm almost a vegetarian convert). 

5!  This isn't a hot spicy stew (though the addition of chili flakes would be quite nice), but it does not lack in flavour.  Seems weird adding soy sauce, but it adds that extra bit of savoury-ness.  The chickpeas are creamy and the mushrooms sucked up the flavour of the stew.  Did not miss the meat whatsoever.  P says this is the best thing I've cooked yet.  Feel happy but also think of all the cooking I've done these past four months since moving out and this is the best thing so far.  Hmph!

Pumped to try the next vegetarian dish!  Stay tuned!

A week of vegetarian dinners...Monday and Tuesday

I will admit that although I love all food, to totally bastardize and misuse a famous literary quote from  Animal farm, all food are equal, but some food are more equal than others (I am cringing inside that I even went there).  What I mean to say is that although I am game to try all food and love food in general, there is one thing that I honestly love less: vegetables.

This aversion to vegetables isn't unique, however I don't like vegetables as much not because I don't like the taste but because I have no clue as to how to prepare vegetables creatively.  My go to is salad and even that starts to get old after a few days.  Another side dish I commonly serve is steamed veggies with olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Feel my angst!

Wanting to be healthier and integrate more vegetables in my life, I challenged me and P to eat vegetarian meals this week.  Eating vegetarian meals will require me to be creative or I will have a meltdown.

Each day I will prepare a vegetarian meal.  I will rate it from 1 to 5 with 1 being I am clawing at my face craving for meat and 5 being a dish that gets me on the verge of conversion.

Let's do this!

Monday:

FAILURE!

Too tired to cook, I went to T & T, the local Asian market, and picked up a few ingredients for vegetarian week.  I grabbed some cold sweet Thai chili sauce tofu (one of my favorite dishes at T & T) and this was going to be our dinner with some rice.  But as I was walking by the hot dishes section, I saw crab legs with oyster sauce, ginger and green onions.  Crab legs are one of my weaknesses so I had to have it. 

Get home and gorged on crab.  Sigh!

I will rate the cold spicy tofu though.

Score: 5.  Cold spicy sweet Thai chili sauce tofu from T & T is an old standby I could eat almost everyday.  So good!

Tuesday

SEMI-FAILURE!

Okay so this time I actually meant to eat vegetarian and prepared a vegetarian dish, but we still had a 4 crab legs so I nibbled on them while I cooked the vegetarian meal.  Hate wasting food.

Keep your fanciness to yourself. 

Today I prepared a childhood Filipino favorite of mine that my Mom makes: Filipino potato torta. Torta is similar to a frittata.  It is the ultimate poor man's dish.  It's potatoes, eggs, salt and pepper.  That is it.   My Mom makes this when she wants something fast and simple.  When my Mom makes it though, it is something truly magical.  The potatoes are soft and fluffy.  The eggs have some crispy parts, but it's also salty, eggy, and fluffy in some areas.  The omelette is always intact.  It's nothing fancy, but to me, very tasty.   When I make it, it's never as good.  Mind you, Mom's (any Mom's) cooking is always better.  One day my omelette will remain intact...one day. 

I don't really have a recipe for you because it's really about taste.  It's too simple a recipe to write out, but for all you who require instruction, I adapted this recipe from a blog post written by Ramona French titled "How to Cook a Filipino Torta without Beef".  Usually you do make torta with beef, but I'm not a fan.

Potato Torta

6 eggs

Salt and pepper

Oil

3-4 potatoes (my Mom usually uses Russet)

Cut potatoes into sticks like this:

You could peel the potato.  My Mom usually does, but the nutrients are in the skin so I always keep the skin on.  You could even chop them into smaller sticks, but I like the chunky cut.

Heat enough oil in a large pan to coat the bottom (I used approx 2 tbs canola).  Cook the potatoes until they are brown and soft.  

Meanwhile, beat your eggs.  I beat my eggs until air bubbles form.

Once the potatoes are done, put onto a plate.  Replenish oil if needed to cover the bottom of the pan.  Work in batches at this point.  Put a portion of the potato back into the pan.  Pour some of the egg, enough to cover the bottom if you lift the pan off the heat and rotate it.

When it comes time to flip (raw side is somewhat half cooked), take a plate and put on top of torta like so:

Take pan off heat.  With one hand on the plate, flip torta over so that raw cooked side is exposed when you lift pan up:

Cooked side up

With the help of a spatula, slide raw side into pan.  Continue to cook.  Take a peek after a few minutes and remove from pan once cooked.  Continue cooking in batches until all the potato and egg are used up.  Serve with rice and some salad.

Unfortunately, my omelette broke.  I was none to gentle slipping it onto a plate and it broke like crazy.  I was in a rush!  I usually eat my torta with ketchup (told you it wasn't fancy) and my secret little indulgence: a healthy squeeze of sriracha sauce on the ketchup.  

Score: 4.  I love potato torta, but like I said, I never make it as well as my Mom so I subtracted a point.  I didn't miss the meat, but I did miss my Mom.  I should go visit her sometime this week.

More on tomorrow's meal in the next post!

Bacon/Pancetta update

BACON IS READY!  Finally the wait is over.  Got my hair did today after work and then went to my mother in law's for dinner.  But, I was dying to try my bacon.  By the time I got home, it was 8:30 pm, but I was determined to try even a little bite.

I sniffed the bacon to ensure it was not rotten and thankfully, it was not.  I rinsed the slab to get rid of the extra salt, but most of the fennel seeds and black pepper stayed on.

Yup...back to crappy pics for now.  It's 830 pm and I am tired!

The bacon smelled sooooooooooooooo good cooking.  Finally I got to taste the fruits of my labour (not really labour.  It sat in the fridge for seven days and I flipped it once a day).  It was really tasty!  The fennel added a nice licorice-y tarragon-y flavour.  P says it's fatty.  Well yeah, it's bacon.  P says that bacon isn't usually this fatty.  Okay I will admit it is fatty, but it's a treat and not meant to be eaten everyday.  Plus it's high quality pork and it tastes soooo yummy.  The only downside is that with the awful knives that I own, it's impossible to slice the bacon thin like store bought bacon.

So much potential, so little time

Last night, I made polenta and put it in a loaf pan in preparation for a dish I was going to make today, but as mentioned above, I did not get home early enough.  It was to be polenta cakes with caremlized onions, bacon, and goat cheese with a honey drizzle (based on a recipe I had seen on the internet).  To add to the naughtiness of eating bacon at 8:30 pm at night, I pan fried a slice of polenta in the pork fat for my lunch tomorrow and cooked a few more little pieces of bacon.  Packed some asparagus as well to be microwaved with some lemon juice.  That's my lunch.

Honestly, I can't go back to store bought bacon.  This is revolutionary in my little world.  

Shame!

Got a message this morning from Verf regarding my pancetta.  Verf says it has not become a rotted body part.  Here's a pic:

Looks good so far!  Three more weeks and an x number of days to go!  Can't wait to try this as well.

Further updates to be posted.

Ooooooooh so that's how they do it: Learning Food Photography

I was given the feedback that my blog needs more photos.  I agree.  I started trying to post more food photos but found my picture taking, to put it bluntly, majorly sucked.  I attributed this to my cell phone camera.  When Googling "best food blogs", I realized the best food blogs had the most gorgeous photos.

My favorite gorgeous food photo blogs:

Hungry Girl Por Vida (scroll down for the pics)
Loving the rustic-ity (not a word I don't think) of Honey and Jam's photos
Along with food photos, the travel photos are beautiful on La Buena Vida's blog
Ugh...so jealous of this blog's witty title: A Clockwork Lemon. Wish I was that clever. The author is Canadian as well. Gotta support my fellow Canadian eh?


Too poor to afford a bad ass camera and hating point and shoot cameras with a passion because I could never get beautiful photos like my friend Bud does with her fancy schmancy SLR camera, I trolled Craigslist.  I found a Canon Rebel (insert a bunch of letters and numbers here that make no sense to me) for $80.  I consulted my financial advisor, P, as to whether I should invest in a used camera that came out in 2003, but would add that extra bit glamour to my blog.  P says that I don't need a new camera and that I can use his point and shoot.  I HATE POINT AND SHOOTS.  I tell P that I want to try to improve my blog with better photos.  P starts to give me pointers as to how I can improve my photos, but my heart is determined to get  a new camera and, as with most things P suggests, my stubborn, know it all brain shuts off.  I stand my ground and say I will be getting a new camera.  P says we will talk about this later.  Sigh!

While browsing Smitten Kitchen's blog's FAQ section, Deb Perelman, the author of Smitten Kitchen, makes mention of how she makes beautiful food photographs.  Click here to see her tips and here to see another website recommended by Deb for more tips on food photography.

Having today off, I decided to give better food photography a try.  Here are my attempts.

My little makeshift photo studio.  I barely get any natural light in my kitchen.

Uuuuuuugh...yes I still have plums.

Just a little taste.  Still amateurish, but I'm learning.  These were taken with my camera phone.  I'm going to give P's point and shoot a try now that I know how to take better pictures.  Doesn't mean I'll ever like point and shoot cameras though.  I show P my photos and he says "see told you you don't need a new camera".  I tell him that I don't remember having a conversation with him about buying a camera just so I wouldn't have to admit that he's right.  Eventually, I concede a little and tell him I have agreed with him this whole time and never had my heart set on a camera anyway.  P gives up. 

Pancetta update:

Hung my pancetta yesterday.  This is Verf's makeshift pancetta hanging container:

Fingers crossed!  Bacon should be ready by Wednesday.  Fingers crossed again!

Bringing Home the Bacon (Literally)

Attended a class on making bacon, pancetta, and sausage at Save on Meats in Vancouver.  If you're from Vancouver, you know Save on Meats is not located in the nicest of neighbourhoods.  I start to feel uncomfortable.  Now don't get me wrong.  I'm a social worker and work with all different types of people from all walks of life.  I don't think they mean any harm, but as I was walking, a few young guys in tracksuits attempted to talk to me.  When I got to the thick of the crowd, I walked faster and held my purse a little bit tighter.  It's hard not to when you see people strung out, making drug deals in front of you, and passing drug paraphenalia back and forth.  If one did not come from Vancouver and did not know about the Downtown Eastside, they may be quick to dismiss Save on Meats as a place with good food with quality ingredients.  But, Save on Meats seems to pride themselves on this.

Onto the meat!  The class was taught by a chef who no joke reminded me of Keanu Reeves.  So far, having had the hugest crush on Keanu Reeves when I was 13, I'm liking the class.  The recipe booklet they gave us says the following: "with a little patience and some high quality meat in hand you can harness the power of bacon in your own kitchen".  The power of bacon.  So infinitely amazing.

I won't bore you with the process (which is so easy to make), but here are some few interesting things I learned:
 

-Quality in, quality out.  The pork we used was from Gelderman Farm which is of high quality.  The pigs are free-range, antibiotic free, and apparently have lived a better life than the rest of us. 

-Nitrate, or pink salt, used to cure the pork is lethal in high doses so you have to be extra careful using it and store out of the reach of children.  A high dose of pink salt can kill a 200 lb man in four hours.  Yikes!  This does not bode well for P since he just proudly dropped below 200 lb.

-After day 4, you can add liquids for flavouring.  Genius Keanu Reeves says he pours scotch into the bag to get the smoky flavour without actually smoking the bacon.  I begin to drool at this point.

-The salt mixture can also be used on salmon to make lox.  Keanu Reeves makes me forget for one moment I have P in my life.  Lox makes me weak in the knees.

-You can use any seasoning you want.  The sky is the limit.  But, Keanu says to use dry herbs not fresh because fresh herbs are not consistent in flavour.  Dry herbs are.

Spices and herbs pictured here include garlic powder, ginger powder, italian seasoning, fennel seeds, chili flakes, cumin, Indian spice blend, cracked black pepper.  One girl dumped a whole crap load of garlic powder in her sausage mix.  Blech.

-The pancetta requires 5 weeks to hang and dry in a cool, humid place.  My tiny apartment does not allow me to do this.  As an alternative, I can cook the pancetta as is and it's considered porchetta.

-You can buy a meat grinder at Princess Auto.  That's random. Maybe I can also pick up a belt for my car because it has been screaming like a banshee for a month.  My neighbours hate my car and make faces when I drive by.

-When trimming the skin off the pork belly for bacon or pancetta, save it and boil it in water for 45 minutes.  Then take said skin and microwave on low for 10-15 minutes.  It becomes, what Keanu Reeves called, "the best potato chip of your life" or chicharone.  Don't talk to me about chicharone.  I am Filipino and we know our chicharone. 

Here's the recipe for the salt/sugar cure:

1 lb Kosher salt

8 oz granulated sugar

2 oz of pink salt, approx 10 tsp (to be safe measure by weight not volume) 

You can buy pink salt at a store called Homesteaders on Hastings.

Sausage casings.  The technique of putting casings on the extruder made me think of dirty jokes.

Here are the flavour combinations I used:

For the bacon:
-fennel seeds
-cumin

-garlic powder
-black pepper

For the pancetta:
-Went boring and used Italian seasoning

For the sausage
(went a bit crazy)
-indian spice blend (just a pinch for color)
-red chili flakes
-italian seasoning
-fennel seeds
-salt

-pepper
-cumin

Everyone that was in the class came with their significant other or a friend.  Three of us came by

Dirty jokes abound!

ourselves.  When it came time to partner up, the two men who came by themselves partnered up leaving me the odd person out.  Just like in gym class being picked last, but in this case I didn't even get picked at all.  I say out loud, "aw...lonely heart".  But that's fine.  I got the most pancetta for one person as a result.


When I got home I tried to rack my brain as to where I can hang my pancetta.  I tell P I am going to hang it in our underground parking because I was told to hang it in a cool, dry place.  I tell P I'll put where no one can see it.  P says he would absolutely not eat pancetta cured in a parking lot. It's a parking lot, not a deli.   My best friend and neighbour agrees to let me hang it in her basement.  I'm scared as hell it's going to look like a Walking Dead rotting zombie part and becomes inedible, thus wasting a really good piece of quality pork.  But my best friend tells me to take a risk and  be brave!

Ready for a hanging

P cooks up a piece of sausage.  It does lack salt.  I was wimpy with my salt.  But, the cumin and fennel flavour shone through and you could tell that the pork was good quality.  Pumped!

Overall, the class was really informative and I loved that it was hands on.  Keanu Reeves left early and the rest was taught by his colleague who was quite knowledgeable and helpful.  I am inspired not to buy bacon ever again.  Not after realizing how easy it is to make and I am able to control the quality and be creative with my flavours to suit my mood.  Asian inspired bacon with the flavours of ginger, star anise and lemon grass with sake?  Mediterranean bacon with italian seasoning and some good wine?  How about Indian curry bacon?  The options are endless.

Bacon power!

Hip Hop and Clafouti

Even in a shapeless shift, she looks gorg-e-ous

I always browse the cook book section of the library.   I came across Nigella Lawson's How to be a Domestic Goddess: Baking and the Art of Comfort Cooking.  Be still my beating heart.  I worship at the altar of Nigella.  Not only does her food look gorgeous, she is gorgeous!  With her dark perfectly done hair, curvy body, and perfectly groomed eyebrows (I'm all about the perfectly groomed eyebrows). 

My favorite part of her cooking show Nigella Lawson Express is when she entertains friends.  She quickly whips up a delicious meal, then goes to change for the evening, and the party is a hit.  Then the last clip is of her, before bed time, sneaking in a bed time snack of the meal she cooked.  My favorite part of the clip was when her friend asked her how she was able to whip up everything after work and she responds with her usual wit and grace.  Insert delighted dinner guests laugh here.  Click here to see what I'm talking about.  Last time I hosted a dinner party, I ran out of room in my oven, the guests started to arrive and I still hadn't done my hair, and because I was so exhausted and stressed out,  I didn't bother doing my make up and sat there in my Lululemon pants and grubby t-shirt with frizzy poufy hair.  Not that my friends cared because the food was good.  I didn't even get to the bedtime snack part.  I passed out on the couch. Not very Nigella-esque.

The inside cover of her cookbooks says the following:  "How to Be a Domestic Goddess is not only about baking, but also about enjoying being in the kitchen; about taking sensuous pleasure in the entire process". 

P goes to school and I'm left to my own devices.  Realize that it's still early in the evening.  I look at the plums leftover from Easter's plum cake.  I was going to return them to the store, but thought might as well eat them.  But, what to do with them?

Then I remember the dessert clafouti.  According to Wikipedia, clafouti is defined as a French dessert where cherries are covered in a flan like batter.  Last time I ate clafouti was on my first date with P so the dessert has a special place in my heart.  I had enough plums to last me til kingdom come so I took the liberty of using plums and frozen raspberries instead of cherries.  

Plum and Raspberry Clafouti

(adapted from Julia Child's (whom I also cooking worship) clafouti recipe)

1 1/4 cups milk
1/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup flour

 4 plums cut into slices

2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries

1 tablespoon brown sugar (optional)

1 tsp of cinnamon (optional)

Icing sugar to sprinkle once out of the oven Use more or less of the brown sugar depending on how sweet the fruit is.  Most clafouti recipes I saw didn't add any sugar or spice to the fruit, but I was already taking liberties as it is, so why the hell not?

Place plums and raspberries in a buttered 7 to 8 cup baking dish. Mix the milk, sugar, eggs, vanilla, salt and flour (you can either put it in a blender or mix by hand) until smooth.   Pour batter over the fruit.  Place in 350 degree oven.

While in oven, dance some hip hop for 45 minutes.

 Okay obviously the last instruction is super optional.  Having gorged all weekend on food for the sake of research, I decided that it was time to get back into exercising.  I hate the gym and love hip hop.  So while my clafouti was baking, I played some Hip Hop Dance Experience.  To be honest, thank goodness I was by myself because I am rusty and I kept messing the routines up.  Also, the hot oven heated up my tiny apartment and dancing became unbearable near the end.

After 45 minutes of waving your hands like you just don't care and being Naughty by Nature, take clafouti out of oven.  Let cool for a few minutes.  Sprinkle with icing sugar.

You down with clafouti?  Yeah you know me!

I didn't sprinkle it with icing sugar.  I had just done 45 minutes of exercise and didn't want to ruin it with extra calories.  I ate the clafouti with plain yogurt sweetened with a little bit of vanilla sugar (take a used vanilla pod and plop it into some white sugar.  It takes on the vanilla fragrance and can be used in just about anything like coffee, tea, or desserts).

The plums still had some tang which cut the rich eggy, custardy-ness of the batter.  The fruit released their juices, so it's juicy, custardy, and all around delicious.  It's not an overly sweet dessert.  Definitely would make this again, but with different fruit.  

It's so easy to make too that I could see myself making this for a Nigella-esque dinner.  I'm also happy that I got to do two things I love to do on my day off: cooking and dancing hip hop.  At the same time no less.  Nigella would probably approve (I say probably because she might not.  I'm not a mind reader!).  As for the sensuous pleasure part Nigella talks about, between you and me, I  put a little bit of vanilla extract behind my ears when I used it in this recipe so I am perfumed with vanilla.

 

Placek z Sliwkami...Polish Plum Caking It Up like a Babcia

Babcia=Grandma

P's family does Easter well.  Previous family dinners, I have brought Filipino desserts, such as tropical fruit salad with a creamy, sweet milk dressing or mango pudding (which my mom makes and I bring).  I'm always antsy when I bring Filipino desserts to my Polish family, but my Polish family is pretty game for anything I bring. 

But this time around, I wanted to try a Polish dessert.  I got nervous because this time I was treading onto their territory and P's Babcia usually makes dessert.   I Google'd Polish desserts and although all of them looked delicious, Placek z Sliwkami or Polish plum cake looked mighty tasty and simple enough to make.  But I wanted to, as fancy chefs say, "elevate it" to the next level.

I racked my brain trying to think of how I can do this.  Some ideas included using rhubarb and strawberries instead of the plums (not possible since there was no rhubarb in the store), adding lemon zest (yawn), or using cardamom (too risque).

Then I remembered coming across a recipe for browned butter peach bars (which will also be one of my future endeavors in the summer).  I've seen browned butter used in different dessert recipes as well as in sage and brown butter sauce.  I thought why not.  Let's do this!

Used the instructions from this website to make the browned butter.  I used salted butter because that's all I had.

Browning butter was a slow process.  In keeping with the Polish theme, Polish vodka with ginger ale keeps me company.

The butter browning process in pictures:

The bubbling milk solids reminds me of disgusting blisters I have seen in nursing school.  I almost feel nauseous.

Turned brown soon after this pic.  Must watch the butter at all times.

Tried to show the brown color, but the foam got in the way.  Ignore the stain on the stove.  It's a messy kitchen.

The nutty, sweet smell of browned butter permeated the apartment, only making me that much more excited to bake.  But it was 11:00 pm and it was time to settle in for a movie (Lincoln) so I put the browned butter in the fridge.

On Easter Day:

The recipe called for 40 plums and I only bought 12.  I panicked and dragged P after church and sushi (wanted something small to tie us over) to the store for more plums. 

When I got home, I channeled my inner Babcia and forged on.  I changed the original recipe a bit.  The browned butter took the place of the butter in the cake batter.  The plums weren't the sweetest so I mixed them with brown sugar and and added cinnamon instead of cloves.  Cloves remind me too much of dental work.  I used brown sugar in the batter to further enhance the carmelized browned butter taste.  I forgot the vanilla though...argh!

I got out my hand mixer and realized the blender attachments were missing, so I had to use the dough hooks.  Argh!  It does make a difference and I ended up having to whisk it by hand in the end.

I don't think you need 40 plums either.  Those are some small ass plums if you need a total of 40 plums split in half to cover the top.

40 plums?  Don't think so.  Had some big ass plums.

The sugar/butter mixture (I just used plain butter) I sprinkled on turned out to be a sloppy mess because my butter was too soft from the oven warmed kitchen and the warm day.  I don't even think it's necessary or there may be an error in the recipe.  It seems like the intent was to make a crumble, but instead it ended up being a gloppy mess on top of the cake.

I have an oven where you can switch between heat from above or heat from below.  To fix the gloppy melted butter mess, I switched to heat from above and cranked the temp way up in order to carmelize the sugar in the gloppy mess.  Then I reduced the heat.  Unfortunately, I forgot to switch back to heat from below.  The end result is some beautiful caramel brown areas and some really shame inducing burnt areas.

Oh the humanity!  This is the best section.  I didn't have the heart to show you the rest.

At this point, I break into a sweat.  P, in an attempt to comfort me, states, "not all ventures are successful", making my anxiety skyrocket through the roof and I think I had some unkind words for him.  I debate making another cake but saw there was no time.  I then begin to saw off the burnt parts and P tries to stop me.  We take one slice out and try it.  It still tasted good...just not the burnt parts.  I tell P that I'm going to leave it at home, but he insists that I bring it anyhow because no one was going to care.  On the drive to my mother in laws, I pretend to throw it out the window.

I arrive at my mother in law's and she gets excited when she sees me carrying a cake pan.  I tell her I made Polish plum cake, but I messed it up and showed her my shame.  She clucks sympathetically that at least I tried and it should be fine.  I die a little bit inside.

Dinner was really good.  We had perogies, cabbage rolls, Easter borscht which is white and creamy rather than the traditional red borscht, Polish sausages and ham, and a potato, carrot, pea salad.  There were also lots of boiled eggs.  My mother in law even takes the boiled eggs, which I guess symbolize life, to the church to have them blessed and we each get a slice from her and a kiss with a Happy Easter wish.  And there was smoked meat bonanza.  My parents were invited this year and tried Polish food for the first time and loved it (though my Dad avoided the sauerkraut).

A selection of smoked meats from Easter.  I made note of these for my Polish deli dream.

Dinner started formal with everyone sitting at the table, but later became informal with people wandering in between the living room and dining room area eating on and off.   P's Babcia arrives and there is a flurry of happy Polish chatter. P runs back into the dining room holding up a bag of Babcia's frozen pierogi's to take home with us.  We hit the big time!

Dessert came around and my mother in law served different  loaf cakes (a dark raisin spice loaf and a cinnamon swirl loaf) and then she put this on the table.

P asks what is this.  My mother in law says it's my cake.  She says , "I found a way to make it beautiful".  It's my cake upside down to hide the burnt top.  God bless her.  My mother in law can find the positive in every situation and turn things around.  Even a burnt cake situation.

My mom is all impressed by the look of my cake.  I showed it her what it looked like right side up.  My mom is mortified.  Everyone says it's tasty.  My mom takes a bite and says it's a bit too sour for her taste, but I explain that Polish desserts aren't too sweet and they like their fruit on the sour side (at least in P's family).

I taste the cake again.  There are some caramel notes from the browned butter and brown sugar and the cake was moist from the juice of the plums.  The plums remained somewhat sour despite the brown sugar, but it was fine because it offset the richness of the cake.  You couldn't even taste the burnt bits.  I think for next time though, I will definitely let the butter brown a touch more to really enhance the nutty taste.  I was just scared that I would burn the butter (like it matters since I burnt the cake anyway).

Babcia dished a slice up and my stomach goes in knots.  Babcia also makes this cake, but with apples and blueberries.  I wanted to go the traditional route.  Babcia is also honest.  I have brought a dish before at another meal and she told me it was too sweet.  And her opinion reasonates because Babcia doesn't speak much English so the fact that she took the effort to say something to me in English really indicates her opinion to me isn't given arbitrarily.  She takes a bite and I start to get anxious that maybe I didn't put enough sugar or maybe I put too much or maybe she can taste the burnt bits.

She says "it's good".

I pour myself some wine and sit back and enjoy the rest of my Easter with my family.