Nettle Ravioli

A bit of fancy for spring's first fresh greens. Stinging nettles are full of nutrients and blah blah blah. Most importantly, they are tasty! For seasonal cooking, what's left in your stores that can go with the first of the year's fresh food? I came up with this earthy, grounding recipe that's also a li'l bit fancy. The pine nuts can be replaced by other locally grown nuts like walnuts or hazelnuts. As with many substitutions, you may have to adjust the quantity a bit to balance the flavors to your liking.

Pasta dough

2 cups flour (or try 3 oz flour per egg)

3 eggs

pinch salt

Filling

50g by weight stinging nettle leaves, tough stems removed

1 clove garlic

25g by weight of pine nuts

1 egg

salt and pepper

a little oil

Sauce

1/4 cup (2oz/58gr) butter per 16 ravioli (for dairy free, substitute with olive oil)

1 clove garlic, pressed

1 Tbsp snipped fresh sage, oregano, Italian (flat-leaf) parsley, and/or chives or 1/2 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves

Garnish

Ground black pepper

Grated parmesan

Pasta - part 1

1. On a board or the counter, make a mound of flour, sprinkle on the salt, create a bowl in the centre of the flour mound, crack in the eggs and start combining with your fingers. You should end up with a very dry dough, almost cracking. Cover and allow to rest for 1 hour. 

Filling

1. Simmer all the nettles in a little water for ten minutes then drain. 
2. Put the nettle on a strong paper towel or tea towel, fold the towel to make a bag around the nettle, and twist to squeeze out the excess water. The nettle should be a little clump of just moist, pressed material when you're done. Chop finely.
3. Roughly grind the pine nuts.
4. In a small bowl whisk the egg. Mix in the chopped nettles, pressed garlic, pine nuts, salt and pepper.
5. Heat a small non-stick pan, add a little oil, and dump in the egg and nettle mixture. Cook just until the egg starts to solidify.
6. Set aside while rolling out the pasta.

Pasta - part 2

1. After the hour of rest, knead the dough for about 10 minutes before rolling out the pasta.
2. Divide the dough into two balls and roll as thin as you can (1/8" or thinner) or run through the pasta machine up to the thinnest setting. If the dough is sticky when you're rolling it, there isn't enough flour, so sprinkle some on, fold, and run it through again until it becomes a nice smooth sheet.
3. To stuff the ravioli: lay out one sheet of pasta on a floured surface. Evenly space out small lumps of the filling allowing plenty of room of virgin dough to make a good seal. Brush around the filling with water.
4. Lay the second sheet of pasta on top, smoothing out and pressing gently to make the two sheets touch around the stuffing and seal with the help of the dampened bottom sheet (this last bit can also be done after cutting the shapes).
5. Cut out the ravioli in circles or squares with a knife or pasta cutter. Press out any remaining air bubbles and be OCD about pressing the edges a lot.
6. While bringing a large pot of salted water to a simmer, prepare the sauce.

The Sauce

1. In a medium saucepan, heat the butter to a froth and cook about 4-5 minutes. 
2. Add the pressed garlic and continue cooking and stirring over medium heat until the butter is lightly browned, another 2-4 minutes. 
3. Remove from heat and stir in the herb(s).

The Big Finish

1. Reduce the heat under the boiling water and let it slow to a gentle simmer. Carefully drop in the ravioli and cook until they rise to the surface and puff up (3-4 minutes). 
2. With a slotted spoon remove the ravioli and put directly in the sauce, covering each of them with the butter sauce before dropping in the next one.
3. Plate the ravioli, drizzle any remaining sauce on top, and garnish with fresh ground pepper and parmesan.

Spaghetti con aglio et olio

Simplicity and speed do not exclude delicious. This is a quick recipe which should take slightly longer than it takes to cook your pasta. While it is delicious with fresh pasta, in terms of timing, it has been calculated for dry spaghetti.

1 pound spaghetti

¼ cup pasta water

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp salt +

½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Pinch red pepper flakes

2 Tbsps chopped flat-leaf parsley

½ lemon, zested (2gr)

Freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano, optional

OPTIONAL: Soft poached egg, 4 (1 per serving)

1. Boil the spaghetti about 8 minutes or until al dente. RESERVE ¼ cup pasta water before draining.
2. Meanwhile, before heating the skillet, combine the garlic, olive oil, 1 tsp salt and the red pepper flakes in a large skillet. Warm over low heat until the garlic softens and turns golden.
3. Reserve the ¼ cup pasta water and drain the pasta. 
4. Add the pasta and the reserved water to the garlic mixture. 
5. Allow to cook some more for about 2 minutes, tossing often. 
6. Turn off the heat.
7. Add the parsley and lemon zest, toss all together thoroughly. Adjust seasoning, to taste. 
8. Serve topped with grated cheese, or pass around a bowl of grated cheese OR;
9. Optionally, pop a soft poached egg on top.

Brown Rice Mujadara Bowl with a Fried Egg

A 'mujadara' is a classic Arabic dish. Apparently, the word translates as 'pockmarked'. A bit of a strange reference to food, but the lentils make the dish look like it has pimples, or so it did to those who named the dish. For me, it's a delicious accompaniment to eggs and harissa.

Serves 4

For the mujadara:
1 cup brown basmati rice
1 cup French lentils
4½ cups vegetable broth
2 + 1 Tbsps olive oil
2 large yellow onions, thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp ground cumin
½ cup parsley leaves, finely chopped
Salt

For the bowl:
Olive oil
4 large eggs
Salt
Freshly cracked black pepper
Paprika
2½ Tbsps harissa (spicy or mild)
(optional) ¼ cup pine nuts, toasted

1. In a large saucepan, bring the broth to a boil. Add the brown rice, lentils, and a hefty pinch of salt. Reduce the flame to a simmer and cook for 40 minutes, uncovered, or until the rice and lentils are cooked through (add more liquid as needed). Once the rice and lentils are fully cooked, turn off the heat, put the lid on and set aside. Let sit for another 10 minutes.
2. In a large skillet, heat 2 Tbsps of olive oil over medium heat. Cook the sliced onions until deeply browned and beginning to caramelize, about 20 minutes (TIP: add small amounts of water when you feel the need, to prevent the onions from burning; you can also continue cooking the onions for as long as the rice and lentils cook for a deeper caramelization). When the onions are nicely browned and almost finished, add in the minced garlic and cook for another 2 minutes.
3. When the rice and lentils have finished cooking, gently mix in the cumin, parsley, half of the onion mixture and the remaining 1 Tbsp of olive oil. Reserve the rest of the onions for serving.
4. Wipe clean the skillet used to cook the onions, lightly grease with olive oil, and return to medium heat. Crack the eggs into the pan and cook to your desired doneness. Sprinkle the tops of the eggs with salt, pepper, and a dash of paprika.
5. Divide the mujadara equally between 4 bowls and place a fried egg into each bowl. Garnish with the remaining caramelized onions, harissa, and toasted pine nuts.

Custard Pie - for the clowns in your life

I live in a household that loves custard. To eat, that is, not to throw in someone's face - we're not clowns. But that was part of the inspiration: how does one make a custard pie worthy of throwing in someone's face that would be welcomed by the receiver. I don't know if I got it right, but we sure like this version.

1 recipe blind-baked Cookie Pie Crust, completely cooled
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla
¼ tsp nutmeg

¼ cup (2oz/58gr) butter 
⅓ cup sugar
3 egg yolks
1 egg

1. Heat the oven to 325°F.
2. Bring the cream and milk to a very slow boil in a saucepan.
3. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla and the nutmeg. 
4. Cut the butter into small chunks and slowly whisk them into the hot dairy until it all dissolves. This part is important to do thoroughly otherwise the butter will separate and rise to the top as the pie bakes creating a weird crust.
5. In a bowl, whisk together the yolk and sugar until the yolk turns a pale yellow. Whisk in the extra whole egg.
6. Very slowly whisk the flavored dairy into the egg mixture. Do this slowly; this is to gradually increase the temperature of the egg and avoid making scrambled eggs with the hot liquid.
7. Strain the mixture into the baked tart shell.
8. Bake about 35 to 40 minutes or until set. The pie will puff up a bit when it is cooked, and will settle again as it cools.
9. Let it cool completely, which can take several hours.
10. Delicious accompanied by a fresh sprig of currants or other tart fruit.

Pasta Frittata

8 oz/4 cups cooked pasta (preferably fresh)
2 strips bacon cut into lardons (2 oz)
3 onions, chopped (16oz)
2 large eggs
2 large egg whites
½ cup milk or crème fraîche
½ cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese + ¼ cup
2 Tbsps chopped fresh parsley
2 tsps chopped fresh thyme or basil (or ¼ tsp dried sage)
1 tsp salt
½ tsp freshly ground pepper
1 Tbsp olive oil

1. Heat an 8" nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add the bacon and when it just starts to sizzle, lower the temperature and add the onion. Cook stirring occasionally until the bacon just starts to brown and the onion is mostly caramelized (this can take a while). Set aside.
2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F.
3. Whisk together the eggs, egg whites and dairy in a large bowl. Stir in the Parmesan, herbs, salt and pepper. Add the onion mixture (if it's still hot simply add a little at a time and stir constantly to avoid the hot onions cooking the eggs into clumps). Add the pasta. Mix it up well to evenly distribute the onions, bacon and herbs.
4. Oil the pan, pour in the frittata mixture and place over medium heat for about 6 to 7 minutes. Sprinkle over it the additional ¼ cup Parmesan and bake for 20 minutes or until the custard has set.
5. Put under the broiler until the top starts to brown and bubble. 
6. OPTIONAL - flip over onto a plate to serve - if it doesn't stick, you'll have a lovely browned dome, like a pie, to cut into.
7. Serve immediately.

Popovers

(NOTE: This recipe stopped working. I posted it before I had established my testing methodology, so it's now in the recipe development blog, the Experimental Mouffette. Things are going very well, it has been improved, has passed the first testing phases, and should be updated, here, shortly).

I have recently rediscovered the joy of popovers. These were never standard fare growing up. In fact, the first time I'd had them was in my mid-twenties at a friend's country place in McDonald's Corners near Perth, Ontario. Baked in a gas oven with home-made crabapple jelly (which I'd made), they were a revelation. A few days ago, realizing that my repertoire of breakfast foods was sadly under-developed, I mixed a batch from a recipe I found in the good-old Moosewood cookbook. This time, right after taking them out of the oven, I stuffed a few squares of dark chocolate into the pastry's hollow, covered it with parchment paper and waited a few minutes. The chocolate melted beautifully and I had a gooey, chocolatey treat to eat. The recipe below is mostly from Moosewood, with a few minor alterations.

But the popover has raised some questions - can it be stuffed? Can it act as a receptacle for savory foods? Would it be good flavored with, say, fruit juice, or herbs? My investigation is just beginning.

I think I'm onto somethine, if not new, at least tasty. While searching for popover recipes on-line, I found a restaurant review for something in Amherst, MA in the U.S. called Judy's, where the signature element in many of the dishes is the humble popover.

In the meantime, here's what is, so far, my favorite popover recipe.

NOTE: put ramikins or muffin tins in oven to heat before starting your mix. This can be done at least 5 minutes before pouring in the batter.

4 eggs

1 cup flour

1 cup milk

½ tsp salt

2 Tbsps (28gr) butter + more for buttering the tins

1. Pre-heat the oven to 425°F.
2. Melt the butter and allow to cool a bit.
3. Warm the milk a bit (microwave for 30 secs).
4. Whisk together the butter and warm milk, add the eggs and, when uniform, add the flour and salt; continue to whisk until it's a lovely smooth consistency.
5. When the oven reaches 425°F, put a little pat of butter in each muffin tin (about 1⁄4 tsp or less) and pop in the oven. It's important that the tin be super hot when you pour in the mix.
6. Work quickly for this part; take muffin tin out of the oven and quickly swirl the now-melted butter around until the bottom 2⁄3 of the containers are covered with butter (this is less of an issue for non-stick tins). With a 1⁄4 cup measure, distribute the batter among the tins (I use a muffin tin with 12 cups) and pop back into the oven.
7. Bake for 25 minutes; then bake for another 10 minutes at 325°F. Serve immediately with butter and jam or, stuff into the middle a square of chocolate - it will melt.

Originally published Sunday, April 4, 2010

Chłodnik - Polish Cold Yoghurt Beet Soup

This makes an unusual, violent pink soup that is beautiful and delicious. It's great for a lunch on early fall days, with the warm, buttered potatoes and the cool, colourful soup.

Serves 8

One bunch of young beets with leaves (about 6)
1 tsp lemon juice, to taste
1 garlic clove, minced
5 cups of boiling water
1 English cucumber, quartered and finely diced
about 10 radishes, halved and sliced
4 spring onion tops or chives, chopped (40 to 60g)
A small bunch of dill, minced
4 cups natural yogurt or cultured buttermilk
sea salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste
golden caster sugar to taste - optional
4 to 6 hard boiled eggs to serve
1 to 1½ kg cooked baby potatoes to serve
1 Tbsp (½ oz/14gr) butter for potatoes

1. Wash beet leaves, stems and roots. Peel roots and dice them, chop leaves and stems (if there are lots of leaves use only half).
2. Boil water, add beet material along with garlic and lemon juice. Cook covered until beets are soft but still crunchy.
3. Remove from heat, add cucumber, radishes, half of the dill (reserve the rest to sprinkle over potatoes), spring onions and set aside to cool down a bit. Add yogurt (or buttermilk), season to taste with salt, pepper (and sugar if using, but good young beets should be plenty sweet already) and place in the fridge for at least an hour.
4. Serve chilled with freshly cooked baby potatoes topped with butter and dill and hard boiled eggs on the side.
5. Add more boiled water if the soup is too thick or too intense in flavour.
6. If you have too many beetroot leaves, wash and chop them and freeze to use later in different soups.

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.

Cheese Soufflé

Although this is another fabulous Laura Calder recipe I've removed and changed a few things. Instead of putting in herbs, I just depend on using fabulous, flavorful cheeses - this is an excellent recipe, by the way, to use up the little left-over heels from your cheese board or just what's in your cheese box. The key to a light, flavorful cheese soufflé is to remember that the quantity of cheese is important - you need just enough cheese for flavour, because too much will make for a heavy soufflé that won't rise properly. I also tend to be judicious with my use of salt, depending on the types of cheese I'm using - the saltier the cheese, the less salt I'll add.

1 cup milk

1 bay leaf

half of a small onion, peeled

pinch of paprika

Parmesan, grated, for dusting the dish (optional)

1 1⁄2 Tbsps (23gr) butter 

1 1⁄2 Tbsps flour

3 eggs, separated + 1 egg white

3 oz cheese, grated or mashed

1 Tbsp chopped fresh herbs (optional)

1 pinch Salt and pepper

1. Put the milk with the bay leaf, onion, and pinch of paprika in a saucepan and bring just to the boil. Turn off the heat, cover, and set aside to infuse 10 minutes. Heat the oven to 400°F. Butter 8 1⁄2 cup/125 ml ramekins or a 4 cup/1 litre soufflé dish, and dust with the grated Parmesan.
2. In a clean saucepan, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and cook one minute. Gradually whisk over the milk, and cook, stirring, until thick, about 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and beat in the yolks. Stir through the cheese and herbs. Season with salt (remember, the saltier the cheese, less salt here) and pepper.
3. Beat the whites to stiff peaks with a pinch of salt. Stir a spoonful into the yolk mixture, then pour the yolk mixture onto the remaining whites and gently fold together. Pour into the soufflé dish and run your finger through the mix in a circle about a half inch from the edge. This creates the lovely top-hat appearance of the soufflé. Bake until risen and set, but still slightly creamy in the centre, about 30 minutes, depending on the size of the soufflé dishes. Serve immediately before it slumps.

Potato-crusted Chicken Breast Pie

There are as many kinds of this pie as there are cheeses. You can substitute whichever kind of cheese you like for the "1 cup grated cheese"; blue or gruyere or cheddar etc.

2 potatoes, sliced 1⁄4 inch thick
4 eggs
1 cup cottage cheese
1 Tbsp flour (wheat or rice)
1⁄8 tsp black pepper
1⁄2 tsp hot sauce
1 cup grated cheese
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cooked and diced
2 green onions, chopped

1. Pre-heat oven to 375F.
2. Bring a bot of water to boil, and blanch the potatoes; about 10 minutes. Drain the potatoes and allow them to cool.
3. Whisk together the eggs, cottage cheese, flour, pepper, and hot sauce. Stir in the cheese, the chicken, and the green onions.
4. Butter a pie dish and arrange the slices in a single layer to cover the bottom and the sides of the dish.
5. Pour the egg mixture into the potato bowl.
6. Bake for 40-45 minutes. Allow it to cool at room temperature for 5-10 minutes before serving, otherwise it'll be too hot!

Bread Pudding Recipe

This is a very simple recipe, but I'm so fascinated by how the ingredients I used reacted. I had the great fortune of living close to the only authentic French bakery in Vancouver at the time (that I know of). One of the baguettes they produced they called 'buche', which appears to be a flat baguette with a very dense crust. This is what I used to make this recipe. I did not remove the crust and to my delight it not only absorbed all of the custard, but it expanded, crust and sponge, into a beautiful soufflé that kept its rounded shape in the pot for at least a minute before slowly deflating, the bread pieces forming oval honeycomb-ish shapes. Beautiful, and simple, two of my favourite things. Nowadays, since I bake my own bread, the pudding is heartier with my more dense Commons Bread, usually, and it continues to be delicious. The best way to make sure you have the right amount of bread is to use the weight. I'll save the ends in the freezer as the material for this recipe; it creates variation in the texture, which is quite nice. A great breakfast pudding, and elevated by serving it with some Crème Anglaise.

Yield: one 8" round glass baking dish

1 Tbsp (1/2oz/14gr) butter

6 oz (170g) of diced day-old bread

4 large eggs

3/4 (150g) cups sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

A few pinches cinnamon

A smidgeon of nutmeg

2 tsp vanilla extract (or to taste, I likely use more, love the stuff)

2 cups light cream (or combine 1 cup heavy cream with 1 cup milk)

(optional) heavy cream

1. Grease a 4quart glass baking dish with butter to coat the bottom and sides. There will be leftover butter from this process, save it for the last step.
2. If the bread is still too soft, you can toast the slices, butter if you wish. Layer the bread into the buttered baking dish.
3. Whisk the eggs, add the sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg, pour in the dairy, whisking until uniform. Strain the mixture directly over the bread to completely soak the slices, cover and let sit as long as you like, even overnight, especially if the bread is very dry. The goal of course is to have maximum soaking and minimum dry bread.
4. Bake, covered, at 325°F for 45 minutes. Rotate the pan if needed for even baking, and continue to bake covered until the custard puffs up. Uncover, and continue to bake until firm at the edges, soft but set in the center. The internal temperature in the center should be 170°F for complete doneness.
5. (Optional) you can serve with a drizzle of cream or Crème Anglaise or some such.

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.