Chocolate Sauce

Generally speaking I try to avoid using corn syrup. However, I haven't yet found a substitute for a chocolate sauce that remains liquid at room temperature. I wonder what the sweetness difference is between honey or maple syrup is, and how much of their flavour comes through when mixed in the the chocolate? Corn syrup is sweet but has no other flavour. Maybe agave syrup? I believe in the edict "Avoid, don't eliminate". This is from Fran Bigelow's book Pure Chocolate.
Dutch-processed cocoa powder is recommended here because it is de-bittered therefore is milder.

1 cup heavy cream
¾ cup sugar
½ cup corn syrup (try substituting with Golden Syrup)
¾ cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder, sifted into a mixing bowl

1. In a saucepan stir together cream and sugar; heat gently 'til sugar dissolves. Stir in the corn syrup and bring just to a boil.
2. Remove from heat and pour in ½ of the mixture into the sifted cocoa; whisk until smooth, then add the remaining sweet cream and whisk again until smooth.
3. To make sure there are no lumps, pass through a fine-meshed sieve back into the saucepan. Put over low heat and slowly cook until there are large bubbles that begin to break the surface and the chocolate is glossy, about 5 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and allow to cool a bit. Serve warm or store in the refrigerator for as long as two weeks.

Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

I'd been looking for a good recipe for whole wheat bread, and I think I found it. Whole wheat bread recipes tended to taste too strongly of whole wheat and be more dense than I like, and thanks to http://www.cooksillustrated.com/, I think I've figured out why and, also found out what bread dough should feel like. More in the Instructions for the recipe on that! I've made a few changes to their recipe and am really pleased with the result.
NOTE: It is pretty sweet. I reduced the 3 Tbsps. of syrup to only 2.

2 1⁄4 cups bread flour, plus extra for work surface

1 1⁄3 cups whole wheat flour

2 tsps salt

2 Tbsps (1oz/28gr) butter

1 cup milk

1⁄3 cup water

2 Tbsps maple syrup (or honey, or agave syrup)

2 1⁄4 tsps dry active yeast 

1. Adjust oven rack to low position and heat oven to 200°F. Once oven temperature reaches 200°F, maintain heat 10 minutes, then turn off oven heat.
2. Mix flours and salt in a large bowl and create a well in the middle. In a pot, melt butter, add milk, water, and maple syrup and heat to 110°F. Remove from heat immediately and allow to cool - the pot will continue to heat the liquid, and you want it to be no greater than 110F or it will kill the yeast. Pour the 110°F liquid into the well, then add yeast to the liquid. With a wooden spoon, start mixing the flour and the liquid/yeast together. When it thickens, use hands to combine everything. Now this is important: the dough will be quite sticky to start - just rub your hands together to get the dough off and keep kneading in the bowl. Once in coalesces into a ball, pour out any remaining flour from the bowl onto your work surface, and keep kneading the dough to incorporate it all. And this is my real discovery about making bread - do not add more flour than this or the bread will be tough. Just knead the bread until it stops feeling sticky, and starts to feel smooth, slightly warm and damp, like someone whose palms are sweaty. If the ball feels dry and floury, then you've used too much flour. Another test is to lightly pinch the dough, and if it bounces back, it's done. Kneading should take anywhere from 10 to 15 minutes.
3. Place dough in a very lightly oiled bowl, rubbing dough around bowl to lightly coat. Cover bowl with plastic wrap OR a (very) damp cloth; place in the warm oven until the dough doubles in size, 40 to 50 minutes.
4. Form the dough into a loaf by gently pressing the dough into a rectangle, one inch thick and no wider than the length of the loaf pan. Next, roll the dough firmly into a cylinder, pressing with your fingers to make sure the dough sticks to itself. Turn the dough seam side up and pinch it closed. Place the dough in a greased 9-by-5-by-3-inch loaf pan and press gently so dough touches all four sides of pan.
5. Cover with plastic wrap OR (very) damp cloth; set aside in a warm spot until the dough almost doubles in size, 40 minutes. Heat the oven to 350°F, placing an empty loaf pan on the bottom rack. Bring 2 cups of water to a boil.
6. Remove the plastic wrap/cloth from the loaf pan. Place the pan in the oven, also pouring heated water into the empty loaf pan; close the oven door. Bake until instant-read thermometer inserted at an angle from the short end just above the pan rim into the center of the loaf reads 195°F, about 40 to 50 minutes. Remove the bread from the pan, transfer to a wire rack, and cool to room temperature. Slice and serve.

Apple Pie with Meringue Cream

I've converted this recipe from French metric, and it seems to work really well. It's not a single-bowl kind of recipe, but it's well worth it. The word"emmitouflée" is used to describe someone well dressed against the cold, but I'm guessing here it means 'slathered' or 'encased' or something of the sort - the apples are under a tasty blanket of sweet meringue.

Les pommes emmitouflées de Grand-Mère

Part 1 - the pie crust

1 cup flour

1⁄4 tsp salt

1 Tbsp sugar

1⁄2 cup (4oz/114gr) butter, cut into pieces

1 egg yolk

1 Tbsp + cold water

1. Follow the instructions for the Cookie Pie Crust, but substitute the vanilla for 1 egg yolk and be careful about the amount of water you add to avoid having a wet dough. Roll out, place in a pie plate and keep in the refrigerator until the filling is ready. Do not pre-bake.

Part 2 - the filling; apples

5 to 6 large apples, firm when cooked

1⁄4 cup (2oz/58gr) butter 

1⁄4 cup apricot jam

1. Peel and core the apples, then slice them into sections about 1⁄4" thick.
2. Melt the butter and get it to froth before adding the apples. Cook until the apples just start to brown. Finally, add the apricot jam and allow to melt completely before taking the pan off the heat.

Part 3 - the topping

1 Tbsp (1⁄2 oz/14gr) butter

1⁄4 cup sugar
3 egg yolks

3 egg whites
1⁄4 cup sugar

1. In a small bowl, cream the butter as best you can, getting it nice and soft, before adding half the sugar and the three egg yolk, one at a time. Beat vigorously until you get some volume out of the mix.
2. Meanwhile, beat the egg whites, adding the rest of the sugar. Beat until the whites become hard peaks - you should be able to rest a teaspoon on top of the whites without it sinking.
3. Add a bit of the whites into the butter-and-yolk cream, then pour this into the egg whites, gently folding so as to retain as much volume as possible.

Final Assembly

1. Pre-heat oven at 375°F.
2. In the chilled pie shell, pour in apple mixture, then top with the beaten egg mixture. Bake for 45 minutes or until the top gets some nice colour.

Lemony good butter cookies

These are delicious and versatile butter cookies that can be flavoured with all sorts of good stuff. The standard I make is with lemon rind, but I've also put in ground anise, and I'm looking forward to trying it with fresh lavender flowers. What else can I use in them? Only time and inventiveness can tell.

1 1⁄2 cups (12oz/339gr) butter, softened

2⁄3 cup white sugar

1⁄4 cup sifted confectioners' sugar

(see Options, below)

1 tsp grated lemon zest

2 1⁄2 cups flour

1⁄2 cup cornstarch or arrowroot powder

1⁄4 tsp salt

1. In a medium bowl, cream together the butter, white sugar and confectioners' sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in lemon zest. Combine the flour, cornstarch and salt; mix into the batter until well blended. Divide dough into two balls, wrap in plastic wrap and flatten to about 1 inch thick. Refrigerate to let the dough rest for about 1 hour and up to 72 hours.
2. Preheat the oven to 325°F. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough out to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Place on cookie sheets - stoneware works great.
3. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, just until cookies begin to brown at the edges. Cool for a few minutes on the baking sheets then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
4. OPTIONS: 2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh lavender, 1 tsp ground star anise seeds, and/or hey, why not, fresh mint leaves, etc, etc, etc...

Lemon loaf

This Lemon Poppy Seed Loaf recipe turned me on because of the lemon syrup you soak into the loaf after it has baked. After it's been sitting for a while, the syrup soaks pretty much uniformly to scent and flavour the loaf. Fun! The first time I made this I used a slightly smaller loaf pan, and there was a tiny bit in the centre that wasn't cooked - it was yummy, but not cooked. I wonder what kind of tea or coffee would work best with this delicacy?

Cake:

1⁄2 cup (4oz/114gr) room temperature butter

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour

3 Tbsps poppy seeds

1 tbsp grated lemon rind

1 tsp baking powder

1⁄4 tsp salt

1⁄2 cup milk

Lemon Syrup:

1⁄3 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp grated lemon rind

1⁄3 cup lemon juice

1. In a large bowl, beat butter with sugar until light and fluffy; beat in eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, poppy seeds, lemon rind, baking powder and salt ; stir into the butter mixture alternately with milk, making 3 additions of the flour mixture and 2 of milk. Spread in greased 8- x 4-inch (1.5 L) loaf pan.
3. Bake in the centre of a 325°F oven for 1 hour or until a cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean. Set on a cooling rack to rest.
4. Lemon Syrup: In a saucepan, warm together the sugar, lemon rind and juice until the sugar dissolves. With a skewer, pierce the hot loaf in 12 places right to bottom; pour lemon syrup over loaf.
5. Let the loaf cool in the pan for 30 minutes; turn it out onto rack and let it cool completely. Wrap and let it stand for 12 hours before slicing.

Beef and Mushroom Stew in Red Wine

Size matters when it comes to your pan and properly browning your stewing meat. I use a large 12 inch stew pot. If the cubed beef is too crowded it won't brown properly and steam instead. It's the browning that gives you that rich stew flavour. I usually buy a cheap cut of meat and cut it up in my kitchen. This way I can trim off as much fat as I like and have the size of cubes I like.

4 slices bacon
2 lbs. beef chuck

4 Tbsps. flour (I use rice flour)

1 tsp. ground rosemary

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 tsp. salt
Black pepper, to taste

2 garlic cloves

1 1/2 cups red wine

1 cup chicken broth

2 -3 carrots

1 lb. button mushroom

1. Start by creating the oil you will brown the beef in, and the best for a really rich, smoky flavor is bacon fat. Dice the bacon and cook in your stew pot over medium-high heat. Once the bacon bits are crispy and have rendered all their fat, remove the bacon with a slotted spoon and set aside. Then pour out all but a tablespoon of the fat and keep the rest handy.
2. Combine the flour, rosemary, thyme and salt with black pepper to powder the beef cubes until covered.
3. Brown half of the beef in the fat, browning on both sides - add fat if it isn't browning properly. Remove the first batch of beef and brown the second, including any left over flour mixture. Add fat as needed, then remove from the pot and set aside.
4. Reduce the heat to medium, mince garlic and add to pan, adding a little fat if needed. Once the garlic becomes fragrant, add the quartered mushrooms and cook until they sweat.
5. Add the red wine, stir to deglaze the pan, pour in the broth and throw in the cubed carrots and crispy bacon bits. Bring this all to a boil then reduce to a simmer.
6. Cover and cook on the stove-top until the meat is tender, about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Albanian Lamb Stew

Searching for lamb stew recipes, I happened on this Albanian stew recipe. It sounded strange, and, well, that's all I need to get curious and want to try something! It is in fact a strange recipe, from execution to the final product, but actually quite good, although it still needs work. I highly recommend pairing it with a crisp green salad - the textures of the rich mean, tart yoghurt custard and crunchy, fresh salad is surprisingly good.
The result of my alterations is excellent. The cooking time is greatly increased to tenderize the meat and create a lovely sauce.

1 pound lean lamb, cut into 3/4 inch cubes (boneless shoulder or leg of lamb can be used)

2 Tbsps. vegetable oil

2 cups chicken or other meat stock

2 eggs

1 cup plain yoghurt

1/4 tsp. salt

1. Brown lamb in hot oil in a large skillet. Cook in batches to properly brown the meat, and be sure to brown it on all sides. 
2. Add the stock and bring to a slow simmer. Stew the meat this way, covered, for 40 minutes. 
3. Preheat the oven to 375F (originally 350).
4. Remove the cover and turn up the heat to Medium-Low and let most of the liquid evaporate, so that you end up with, essentially, a reduction of the juices. It should be thick and unctuous, and about only a couple of tablespoons worth. 
5. Place meat in shallow, 1-quart casserole dish or individual ramekins.
6. Beat together eggs, yoghurt, and salt; and pour over the meat.
7. Bake in the preheated oven for about 40 minutes or until golden brown.

Tea of Memory - Chai (Indian Tea)

I brought my darling to Vij's for his birthday - it's a taste experience-type of restaurant and for the end of the meal, I ordered Chai tea and to my surprise, it transported me back to my village in Nepal oh, so long ago on my Canada World Youth exchange after high school. It was a bit thin and not sweet enough, but the smell and the flavour is just right! Luckily Vij's has the recipe on-line on their site.

4-5 orange pekoe teabags (7 - 8.75 gr)

1" cinnamon bark

1 1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds

4 green cardamom seeds

Whole milk

5-6 teaspoons sugar

5 1/2 teacups water (the actual size of the cup in which you'll serve tea)

1. You don't need all of the spices listed above to make chai. At home, we often just use green cardamom, and lots of it!
2. Depending on the strength of tea you prefer, use 4 teabags for a milder flavor and 5 for a stronger flavor. The amount of sugar should also be adjusted to your preference. Break the cardamom seeds. Place the cinnamon, fennel, cardamom, sugar and water in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling, add the teabags and let boil for another minute. Add 3/4 to 1 teacup of milk, bring to an almost boil and remove immediately from stove. Remove teabags. Pour tea through a strainer and into a teapot or directly into teacups. Serve while piping hot. Once the chai has cooled, it cannot be reheated.

Chocolate Torte with Dark Chocolate Frosting

We had some friends over for dinner who are gluten intolerant, so I decided to make a flourless chocolate cake. And since I'd just seen Laura Calder make one, I decided to try that one out. I don't know where the error was, if I put the oven too hot or if my oven, which has a random temperature generator, burned my cake, fifteen minutes before it was supposed to be done! I ended up cutting away the burned parts, and what was left was a wonderfully gooey chocolate pudding-like substance that I piled in large ramekins and topped with fresh whipped cream. What a save! But not an experience I'd like to repeat.

I tried this a second time, and it still started to burn about 15 minutes before the baking time was up, without the attractive crackling! I searched and most flourless chocolate cake recipes of this type give pretty much the same info.

THEN I was looking for an Easter chocolate cake to make for Isabelle and Ben and I found this recipe. It worked, it didn't burn, and it was delicious!

6 large eggs separated

1 cup (8oz/228gr) butter, cut into small pieces

7-9oz chocolate (70%), chopped

1 cup granulated white sugar, divided

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Ganache:

7-8 oz chocolate (70%), chopped

3/4 cup heavy (whipping) cream

2 Tbsps (28gr) butter

1 Tbsps brandy (optional)

1. THIS IS BEST MADE THE DAY BEFORE
2. Lightly coat a 9 x 3 inch spring form pan with melted butter. Line bottom of pan with parchment paper.
3. Separate the eggs with the whites in one bowl and the yolks in another. Cover and bring to room temperature (about 30 minutes).
4. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a double boiler or bain marie. Once the chocolate has melted, slowly add small chunks of butter and mix to blend until it's uniform. Allow to cool a bit.
5. Beat the egg yolks and 1/2 cup sugar until thick and lemon-coloured. (The eggs should have tripled in volume, look thick and soft, and fall from the whisk/beater in a slow ribbon.) Beat in the vanilla extract and slowly beat in the slightly cooled melted chocolate mixture (adding it slowly increases the yolk temperature and avoid making scrambled eggs au chocolat).
6. Preheat oven to 350F and place oven rack on lowest level of the oven. 
7. In a clean bowl beat the egg whites until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and continue beating until soft peaks form. Gradually add the remaining 1/2 cup sugar and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold a small amount of whites into the egg yolk mixture to lighten the batter, then pour the batter into the remaining egg whites all in one go, then gently fold just until incorporated to keep as much volume in the whites as possible.
8. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the top. Bake the cake for about 50 - 60 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out with a few moist crumbs - apparently you can use a cooking thermometer and, when the middle of the cake reaches 140F, it's done. (During baking the surface of the cake will form a crust which will collapse when the cake is removed from the oven.) Remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. The top of the cake will have become hard with a cracked surface and lots of crumbs. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator for a few hours or up to a few days.
9. Chocolate Icing: Put the chopped chocolate in a bowl. Heat the cream and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring just to a boil, then pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Stir until smooth. If desired, add the liqueur.
10. Assemble: Remove torte from refrigerator and brush any loose crumbs from the cake. Place on a wire rack, top of the cake facing down (so now the bottom of the cake is facing up). Put the wire rack on a baking sheet. In this way if the chocolate ganache drips it will fall on the baking sheet, which makes clean up easier. Pour the ganache into the centre of the cake. Spread the ganache with a spatula, using big strokes to push the ganache over the sides of the cake, to create an even coating. If there are any bare spots on the sides of cake, cover with ganache. If there is leftover ganache, strain to remove crumbs, and with a hand mixer or whisk, beat until light and fluffy. Place in a piping bag, fitted with a Wilton 1M open star tip, and pipe rosettes on top of the cake. Refrigerate cake. I find this cake is best served the next day as it allows the flavours to blend. Cut the cake in small slices with a sharp knife, wiping off the knife after slicing each piece. If you have problems cutting the slices, warm the blade of the knife under hot running water before cutting each slice.

Crisp, Chewy Meringue

EXPERIMENTATION: I tried substituting lavender essential oil for 1 tsp vanilla. I put in too much lavender, and it left a bitter after-taste on the back of the tongue. TRY adding vanilla for depth of flavor and only 4-5 drops of lavender essential oil instead of 11.

EXPERIMENTATION: try substituting the vanilla with lavender water instead of essential oil, and try orange flower water or maple extract or other flavours, especially floral, like, oh, ROSE!

NOTES: When paired with the Chocolate Pavements with Candied Ginger, the lavender taste is tamed and more pleasant. Try with less lavender but still paired. The cookie itself was beautiful and, Susan being a true meringue officionado, was perfect in every other respect.

4 egg whites

pinch salt

1 teaspoon vanilla
4-5 drops Lavender (see EXPERIMENTATION)
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup icing sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch

1. Whip the whites and salt into peaks, add the essences, and continue beating to stiff, dry peaks. Stir the cream of tartar into the regular sugar and whisk into the whites very gradually, a spoonful at a time, until the meringue is stiff and the sugar has dissolved. Sift together the icing sugar and cornstarch. Sift over the meringue and gently fold until fully incorporated.
2. Spoon the meringues onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, spinning the spoon around the tops to create the pretty cloudy peaks. Bake at 225ºF/110ºC until cream-coloured and crisp on top when tapped, 1 to 1-1/2 hours. Remove from the oven. Cool on the trays. Store in an air-tight container.

Carbonnade à la Flammande - Beef and Beer Stew

Last weekend someone broke into our apartment and stole my laptop - the one with all my recipes on it... So now I'm starting from scratch and saving the ones I like to this blog. One such recipe is Carbonnade à la Flammande. I'd found a version of it on a few different sites and tried them all. They were all good, but then I tried Laura Calder's version (I'm afraid that my blog will become a fan site for Laura!) and it was great. I made it again last night for Keven, my brother-in-law visiting from North Hollywood, and it was ok, but didn't compare to the first one I'd made; instead of caramelizing the onions, I cooked them until soft and brown from the beef residue, making them sweeter. Here is Carbonnade à la Flammande or, as Laura has called it, Beef in Beer.

2 Tbsps (1oz/28gr) butter, more as needed

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil

3 lbs sirloin tip, cut into cubes

3 onions, sliced

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 Tbsps. flour

1 Tbsp. brown sugar

1 and 1/2 cup beef stock

2 cups beer

1 Tbsp. red wine vinegar

Salt and pepper

Bouquet Garni (I usually use parsley, thyme and a couple of bay leaves)

1. Pre-heat the oven to 325F.
2. Melt the butter and oil together in a sauté pan and, working in batches, brown the beef strips on all sides. Remove. In the same pan, fry the onions until soft and brown, about 10-15 minutes, then add the garlic one minute. Set aside. (Check if there is fat in the pan. If not, add a good tablespoon of butter and let it melt.)
3. Add the flour and sugar to the pan and cook 1 minute to make a roux. Gradually whisk in the stock and bring to a boil. Add the beer and the vinegar to the boiling stock, and bring back to the boil, cooking until thickened, about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and set aside.
4. In a large casserole, layer the onion mixture alternately with the beef, seasoning each layer as you go with salt and pepper (don't skimp on the salt as the beer is quite sweet). Tuck in the bouquet garni and pour the liquid over. Cover and bake for 2-1/2 hours. If you can wait a day before eating; cool the dish completely when it’s out of the oven, and refrigerate overnight. The flavour will be even better when you reheat it.

EXPERIMENTATION: I haven't really paid attention to the kind of beer used, and would like to pin down if an ale is better than a stout or vice-versa.