Zuppa di salsiccia

This is such a lovely and simple soup. I have a note on this at the bottom, but it bears mentioning several times because it really makes a difference - save your Parmesan rinds and add to the soup while it simmers. It's delicious! I called this soup simply Italian Sausage, Chard and Cannellini Bean Soup, but Ben felt that it didn't have enough mystique. So I called it Zuppa di salsiccia, which Google Translate says means Sausage Soup.

1 or 2 Tbsps olive oil or bacon fat
1 lb spicy Italian sausage
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 to 8 cups chicken stock
OPTIONAL: Parmesan cheese rind
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp ground fennel
2 cans Cannellini beans, drained OR 8oz dry beans
Tender leafy greens such as Swiss chard or Turnip greens or young nettle tops, 5 to 6 large leaves
Salt, to taste (if you follow the NOTE, consider adding less salt, since the Parmesan rind will add saltiness)
freshly grated Parmesan cheese

1. If using dry beans, soak them the night before.
2. Drizzle the oil in a soup pot and squeeze the sausage out of their casings into it, then turn on the heat. When the sausage meat starts to sizzle, add the onions and mix to break up the sausage, then let cook until onions are soft and the sausage begins to brown. You will notice a stage when a lot of liquid is liberated from the sausage and the onion - the browning begins once this excess water is cooked off. (If you want to reduce the fat, you put the cooked sausage and onion mix in a colander and rinse with hot water).
3. Scrape the browned sausage bits off the bottom of the pan as the mixture cooks. Add the garlic and sauté 1 minute more. 
4. Deglaze the pan by adding the chicken stock, making sure to scrape off as much of the sausage that may still be sticking to the bottom of the pot. If using, add the cheese rind. Increase the temperature to bring to a boil.
5. Meanwhile, add the beans, the fennel seeds and the basil. If using dry beans, cook the soup for one hour or until the beans are tender.
6. Wash the chard, and cut out the stems. Slice the stems very fine, and add them to the soup. Once it starts to boil, reduce the temperature and let it simmer for about a half hour.
7. While the soup simmers, lay out the chard leaves on top of each other, fold lengthwise once or twice, and cut into thin ribbons, about ¼" wide.
8. When the soup has simmered at least 30 minutes, add the chard ribbons and simmer for another 10 minutes more, or until the chard is softened and the flavours have come out. Serve the soup hot, with freshly grated Parmesan cheese - the cheese adds to the flavour of the soup (see NOTE).

NOTE: If you happen to have a Parmesan rind in the fridge, add it to the soup when you first start simmering for added flavour.

Torta di pere e crema pasticcera (Pear Cake with Custard)

This is a cake Carole mentioned several times, having read it in Donna Leon's Commissario Brunetti detective novels. This recipe figured in the recently released cookbook based on those novels. I decided to make it for her retirement party. Well I tried to make the darned thing four times, and it wasn't until, the night before the event, despairing of ever making a version that was good enough for Carole, that I gave up and just put it together any old how. And to my surprise, it turned out! Although I had some better and worse versions of it in my experimentations, I always found the cake part was too dry, until, in that last moment, while working on my final version (re-created below), I decided to use all the cooking liquid from the pears and completely saturate the cake with it. This last element was all that was really needed to make it work. I admit that I've snuck in my own pastry cream recipe, and I simplified the sponge cake recipe, but it really was the darned potato flour that I found so hard to work with!

NOTE : There are two kinds of potato flour - one isn't really a flour but is sometimes passed as a flour; it is potato starch, which is very fine and almost totally white. Real potato flour is a pale yellow and a bit grainy.

For the sponge cake
4 eggs
¾ cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tsp baking powder
1¼ cup potato flour

1. Before juicing the lemon, cut away a ribbon of the lemon zest for the pastry cream, leaving no white pith on the ribbon (which is bitter).
2. Whip egg and sugar and vanilla together in a mixer for about 5 minutes, no less! It will increase in volume and become pale and sort of frothy. Add the lemon juice and beat for another 5 minutes.
3. Turn mixer down to slowest setting and sprinkle in very slowly the flour and baking powder until combined, then whip on high for 20 to 30 seconds. Pour into a buttered and floured spring-form pan and bake at 325°F for 25 to 30 minutes (the usual toothpick test works to find out if it's done).

For the pears
2⅓ cups Bosc (also known as Kaiser) pears, peeled, cored and sliced lengthwise into eighths
½ cup + 2 Tbsp sugar

1. Meanwhile, place the pears, sugar and ½ cup water in a non-stick pan and cook over moderate heat for about 30 minutes or more. The pears should be sort of transparent and the sauce a syrup.

For the pastry cream
1 cup milk
1 long ribbon of lemon zest (remove all white pith)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 egg yolks
¼ cup sugar
2 Tbsps flour
2 Tbsps Cointreau

1. Put the milk in a saucepan with the ribbon of lemon zest and heat to a simmer, then remove from heat. Cover, and let infuse 10 minutes. When cool, add vanilla extract.
2. Meanwhile, in a mixer bowl, beat the yolks with the sugar until nice and pale. Beat in the flour. Then gradually whisk the milk into the egg mixture. Pour the lot back into the saucepan, bring to a boil, and cook one minute. Remove from the heat, and stir in the Cointreau. Strain into a bowl (this helps avoid any lumps), cover with a plastic wrap, and set aside to cool (make sure the plastic wrap touches the surface of the pastry cream, or a 'skin' will form on top). 

Assembling

When the sponge cake, pears and custard are completely cooled, assemble the cake. Using a very long knife, cut the sponge cake into 2 discs, and place one on a round cake plate (it will be messy when you pour the pear syrup over the cake, so make sure the plate has a lip). Measure out the cooked syrup left over from simmering the pears, and use exactly half of this juice to pour evenly over the bottom round of sponge cake so that it infuses. Then, spread the pastry cream, and place the second disc on top.
With a skewer, poke lots of holes all over the top of the cake so that when you slowly and carefully pour the remaining pear syrup over it, it will seep into the cake and not over the sides! This can take time, and if you want to poke more holes in go ahead - the pears will completely cover the top if you've made a mess of it. Once all the liquid has been poured and absorbed, garnish it with the pears in whatever design you like - a simple rose pattern does for me; you can pile on the pear slices until they're all used up. Put the cake in the refrigerator and let sit from a couple of hours to 24 hours. Serve slightly chilled (if it's been in the refrigerator for a long time, let it sit at room temperature for about an hour).
ANOTHER NOTE: This is a cake that doesn't seem to keep well, so try to eat it up as soon as you can.

Cilantro Chicken

Part 1 - the Chicken
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts
½ tsp salt
½ tsp ground cumin
¼ tsp pepper

Part 2 - the Sauce
¼ cup (2oz/58gr) butter, divided
2 large onions, sliced (20oz/570gr)
½ cup lemon (or lime) juice
1 bunch minced fresh cilantro

1. Pound the chicken breasts flat. Sprinkle with salt, cumin and pepper, and set aside.
2. In a large skillet over medium heat, sauté the onions in 2 Tbsps of butter until tender and golden brown; remove from the pan and set aside. 
3. Add the remaining 2 Tbsps of butter and then the chicken to the pan and cook until no longer pink.
4. Stir in the lemon juice, the fresh cilantro, and the onions. Bring to a boil, turn off the heat, and serve immediately.

Spicy Chocolate BBQ Rub

We've been doing a lot of grilling on our little hibachi bbq this summer and, I discovered that one of the things I like about cooking is mixing things together. A little salt and pepper didn't quite satisfy my desires, and Ben took over the actual bbq part of the affair. We'd made some spice rubs at a fundraising event in Los Angeles for the charity my brother-in-law started with a friend of his, called Food Forward. We ran out of that and Ben bought a dry rub at the grocery store and I didn't like it so much. I decided to look for some interesting rub recipes and this is where I realised that one of the things I love about cooking is mixing stuff together and seeing what happens. This is my second rub recipe and the first that I would like to save. With Ben's increasing skill at the grill, we eat very well indeed.

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ cup salt
1 tsp dried red pepper flakes
½ tsp ground cloves
2 Tbsps granulated sugar

1. Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a food processor, spice grinder, or mortar and pestle. Grind until the pepper flakes are crushed into a fine powder. Store leftovers in a tightly covered jar for up to one month.
2. It is particularly good with lamb, but also good with steak, and accompanied by grilled red onion.
3. To Try - with a cut of pork.

Pannakoeken (Dutch pancakes)

As a kid in a French household we rarely had fluffy pancakes. Instead, we quite regularly had flat 'crepes', which were essentially a cup flour, a beaten egg, a cup milk, a tsp. vanilla. This was slathered, or more aptly put, drowned in the maple syrup we made from our maple grove. So many fond memories of that. However, being the curious George that I am, I started experimenting with more milk or more egg etc. Then I discovered that this experimentation had already been done, apparently by generations of Dutch people. There are far more complex and labour intensive recipes which I may explore at some point, but this is a simple and delicious version.
NOTE: I don't know what the chemical reaction is, but cow's milk makes for a much thicker batter and a different texture than non-dairy milk does. If you use cow's milk, I'd recommend experimenting by adding more water to lighten the batter.

1½ cups flour
2 tsps sugar
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
3 eggs
A splash of vanilla (1 tsp up to 1 Tbsp, to taste)
1 Tbsp oil
2½ cups milk (any kind)

IMPORTANT: They cook quickly and can burn very quickly. Much of the flavour comes from perfect browning - not brown enough and they're bland, leave them too long and they take on a burnt taste. Use moderate heat and keep a sharp lookout. I'm putting this here because I have a tendency of not reading instructions thoroughly once I've made something a few times and forget important bits.

1. Mix the dry ingredients together. Add the oil, eggs, vanilla, milk and water until you get a very thin consistency (add more water until it feels right). Whisk this well until smooth.
2. Fry about ½ cup at a time in a large, hot frying pan - no need for oil or butter if it's a non-stick pan. Spread thinly in the hot pan by tipping the pan in a circular motion; the thinner the pancake the better. Fry them till the top of the pancake appears dry then flip over until it is quite brown on the bottom.
3. Troubleshooting: If your batter is too thick and doesn't spread on your pan, add a few tablespoons to a quarter cup of water. Conversely, if it's hard to get a round pancake, it may be that your batter is too liquid.
4. Keep in a warming oven or at 150°F (or lowest setting on your oven) until ready to serve

Lamb Stew with Lemon and Thyme

This is a quicker than usual stew recipe, taking under an hour of actual cooking time, therefore very little actual stewing time. The original recipe was published in the New York Times, and this is a slightly altered version of it. To be truthful, our friend Susan was over and I'd invited her for dinner and made her wait longer than I should have since I usually buy my stewing meat as whole roasts which I cut up and de-fat (to my liking), and hadn't prepared the meat beforehand, compounded by the fact that it was my first time making this recipe. I only really changed the amount of wine from 1 cup to 3/4 cups because, er, I only had that much left in the bottle. But I think it was a happy accident because the end product was such that Susan asked me to post in in my blog right away, and to forego the usual testing I put my recipes through. This, therefore, is for Diyan, to make for Susan; or so I've been informed. Enjoy!

1½ lbs boneless lamb shoulder, cut into 1 ½-inch chunks, fat removed
2 Tbsps flour (I use rice flour)
2 Tbsps grapeseed oil
2 shallots, minced
3 leeks, ends trimmed, green parts discarded, thinly sliced
1 garlic cloves, minced
1 tsp thyme, minced
1 cup chicken stock
¾ cup dry white wine
2 tsps lemon juice
2 strips lemon peel
Salt and pepper
Chopped parsley

1. Heat the oil over medium heat until it's shimmering.
2. Meanwhile, toss the lamb cubes with the flour; you can do this in a bowl or shallow plate, but I find it's easier and I get more even coverage if I put it in a bag and shake it around... and it's more fun. Immediately dump the floured lamb cubes in the hot oil (otherwise the flour draws out moisture from the lamb and they start to stick together. If this happens though, it's no big deal, you just have to work harder at separating them).
3. Cook the lamb until it's browned on each side, about eight minutes total. Remove the cubes and set aside.
4. Add shallots, leeks, garlic, and thyme to dutch oven, adding a little oil if the pot is too dry. Cook, stirring often, until the leeks are lightly browned, about four minutes. The temperature should allow for the moisture from the alliums to start unsticking the browned bits at the bottom of the pot so that, in the next step, very little of the fond is left stuck to the bottom.
5. Pour in the stock, white wine, lemon juice, and lemon peels. Scrape any browned bits off the bottom of the Dutch oven with a wooden spoon. Season with pinch of salt and pepper, put the lamb back in.
6. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat to a slow simmer, and partially cover (the lid to my pot doesn't fit perfectly, and this is enough for me). Cook, stirring occasionally, until the lamb is very tender, 45 minutes to an hour.
7. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve with the chopped parsley.

Perfect Hard-Boiled Eggs

There is no separation between art and science. The definitions may be distinct, but the relationship between the two is symbiotic. And so we come to the art and science of the perfect boiled egg. For yolks that are creamy and not dried-out, follow these instructions to the letter!

1. Place the eggs in a pan large enough to hold them, without crowding, in a single layer.
2. Cover the eggs with cool water—the eggs should have at least an inch of water above them.
3. Cover the pot and bring the water to a boil; a real boil with large bubbles coming up all over, not a little simmer with a few bubbles along the edges.
4. Turn off the heat, and let the eggs sit for precisely 14 minutes..
5. Drain the eggs and set the pot in the sink, running the cold water continuously until the pot feels cold. Alternatively, you can prepare an ice bath and pop in the hot eggs.
6. Peel and eat the eggs as soon as you can handle them for warm hard boiled eggs. Let them sit until cool (about 10 minutes) and chill for up to two days before using, if you prefer.

Black Bean Chocolate Chilli

I first made this while cooking at the Coming Home Café in New Westminster BC. It got a lot of attention, and I had people try to guess the ingredients. The funny thing was that the one ingredient most people didn't get were the red bell peppers... don't know why, it just is. The chocolate can be substituted with cacao powder and sugar, to taste; a 2 to 1 ratio should work, start with 1 Tbsp cacao and ½ Tbsp sugar and add to your taste.

2 Tbsps olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1 stalk celery, sliced
1 jalapeno chilli, minced (or more, for more heat)
1 Tbsp ground cumin
2 tsps oregano
½ tsp cinnamon
a pinch of ground cloves
1 tsp ground coriander
2 Tbsps chilli powder
½ tsp pepper
1 tsp salt
1 red bell pepper
2 x19oz cans black beans WITH the liquid
14oz (398mL) can diced tomatoes
1 Tbsp fresh lime juice
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1½ oz (about ¼ cup) 70% chocolate, grated
Cheddar cheese, Sour cream, Scallions, Fresh Cilantro

1. Heat the oil in a soup pot and add onion and garlic; sauté until the onion becomes soft. Add the celery, chile and bell pepper. Adjust the heat; cover and cook another 5 minutes.
2. Turn heat down to lowest setting and add the spices. Cook for 1 to 2 minutes, until spices are fragrant, stirring occasionally to prevent burning (ground spices can quickly burn. If the pan gets too dry add a little liquid from the diced tomatoes or some water)
3. Add the beans, the tomatoes, lime juice and soy sauce. Increase heat until you get a bit of a boil, then reduce to a slow simmer. Simmer for as long as you want, but it is ready in about 10 minutes, when the liquid starts to thicken.
4. Stir in the chocolate, adjust the seasoning and serve.
5. Top with Cheddar cheese, Sour cream, Scallions, Fresh Cilantro.

Decadent Corn Bread

This is not for the faint of heart... or with heart conditions. It is such a rich, silky cornbread, filled with cheese and butter! Just amazing, and packed with calories.

1 cup (8oz/225gr) butter, melted
½ cup white sugar
4 eggs
1¼ cups (10oz) cream-style corn
½ cup corn kernels
½ cup (4oz) chopped pickled chile peppers
½ cup grated Monterey Jack cheese
½ cup grated Cheddar cheese
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup yellow cornmeal
4 tsps baking powder
¼ tsp salt

1. Set oven rack to the middle position. Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly grease a 9x13" baking dish.
2. In a large bowl, beat together the melted butter and sugar. Beat in eggs one at a time. Blend in cream corn, corn kernels, chiles, Monterey Jack and Cheddar cheese.
3. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt. Add flour mixture to corn mixture; stir until smooth. Pour batter into the prepared pan.
4. Bake in the preheated oven for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan comes out clean.

Maple Sautéed Parsnips and Carrots

New Years dinner didn't quite take the form I'd expected. I wanted to make a Pennsylvania Dutch meal with roast pork and potatoes and sauerkraut, but didn't realize that Ben expected the pork to be cooked in the sauerkraut. So he took over and made the dish he posted a little earlier. However, before leaving for our Christmas trek to Lafontaine I'd gotten all I needed for the meal I'd planned, since we were coming back on New Year's Eve. This means I had extra ingredients Ben didn't need for the roast. This is the side-dish I came up with, which turned out pretty good.

2 Tbsps vegetable oil
1 lb carrots (about 4 large), peeled, cut into 3x¼" sticks
1 lb large parsnips, peeled, halved lengthwise, cored, cut into 3x¼" sticks
Salt, to taste
2 Tbsps (1oz/28gr) butter
1 tsp powdered rosemary (or 1 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary)
1½ Tbsps maple syrup

1. Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add carrots (if large and mature, put in carrots alone first and sauté for about 2 minutes before adding parsnips) and parsnips. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Sauté until the vegetables are beginning to brown at the edges, about 12 minutes. 
2. Add butter, rosemary, and maple syrup. Toss over medium heat until heated through and the vegetables are glazed, about 5 minutes. Season to taste with more salt and pepper.

Traditional New Years PA Dutch Lucky Pork, Sauerkraut and Mashed Potatoes

Hey there! Ben here. Roland is letting me add this traditional Pennsylvania Dutch New Year's Day dinner to the blog. The recipe is based on my Mom's recipe, but I've added more specifics - my mom, like her mom before her, tends to give directions like "put it in a hot oven for a bit, then turn the temperature down to a warm oven till it's done." I've actually added some temperatures and times for all those "detail-oriented" people out there. It goes very well with  seared carrots and parsnips.

3 or 4lbs pork roast (pork shoulder or leg)

Salt, pepper, thyme, and vegetable oil
2 stalks of celery - cut into 2" pieces
1 apple, peeled and cut into chunks
1 jar of sauerkraut
4 large potatoes - peeled and cut into chunks, or ½ lb of potatoes per person
Cream and butter (for mashed potatoes)

1. Preheat the over to 450°F with the Dutch oven (with a lid) or other pot you'll be cooking the roast in to heat up. You'll be searing the roast in the hot pot, in the oven.
2. Season the pork roast on all sides with salt, pepper and thyme. Drizzle with vegetable oil.
3. In the uncovered Dutch oven, brown the roast on all sides, turning frequently for about 5 minutes per side, which comes to about 30 minutes.
4. Reduce heat to 325°F. 
5. Add the celery and apple and enough water to cover the bottom with about a half inch. Cover and continue to roast for 30 minutes. 
6. Add sauerkraut and cover. Turn the potatoes on to boil. 
7.  Continue roasting until the internal temperature of the roast is 160°F, at least another 45 minutes. 
8. Boil the potatoes in salted water for mashed potatoes. Cook until tender then mash with cream, butter, salt and pepper to taste. 

We always served it all together - a bed of mashed potatoes with the sauerkraut on top, and a slice of the roast leaning up against the whole thing. Roland made pan seared carrots and parsnips as a side which added a little sweetness and some beautiful colour to the dish.