Spicy Italian Sausage and Kale Pasta

Yes, kale. As an easy-to-grow cold weather vegetable, it's worthwhile for us to try to find ways of making this tough, strong-tasting vegetable palatable. I've found that strong flavours can achieve this goal. In this instance, the sausage has a strong flavor and is robust enough in texture to balance the kale.

12 oz hot Italian sausage
8 oz kale leaves, massaged and thinly sliced
6 large garlic cloves (30g) coarsely chopped
3 Tbsps olive oil
¼ tsp red pepper flakes (or to taste)
2 cups chicken stock
1 lb Rotini pasta (or use your favorite chunky pasta)

½ cup Pasta Water
¼ tsp salt
½ cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

1. Heat olive oil in a large frying pan; squeeze sausage out of casings and crumble into the pan, cooking until the sausage is nicely browned. Turn the heat down.
2. Meanwhile, wash and massage the kale and cut into thin slices.
3. Add the garlic and hot pepper flakes and cook for about a minute, then add the kale. Cook until the kale is all wilted, stirring constantly to prevent garlic from browning.  Add the chicken stock and bring to a simmer, leaving the pan uncovered. This will increase the flavour by concentrating the liquid and further contributing to browning.
4. Now, start the water for the pasta and bring to a boil. The kale needs lots of time to soften while cooking. NOTE: Save ½ cup pasta cooking water, then drain pasta.
5. Add the cooked pasta to the sausage/kale mixture, adding as much pasta cooking water as you think you need for it to be moist enough.  Add the Parmesan cheese and serve hot, garnished with extra Parmesan cheese.

Dessert Crackers with Custard and Blackberries

What happy things accidents can be! I've been trying to find an easy and 'perfect' way of baking little tart shells because I wanted to make Lucie's Buttertarts for Linda for her birthday. I still haven't succeeded in making the little shells (an ongoing project until I can crack the code, sans the troublesome pie weights), but one of the accidents in my attempts was that they just baked into flaky delicious disks. The following is what I made with them.

1 recipe Cookie Pie Crust

2 recipes Pastry Cream

80 to 90 blackberries

¼ cup chopped 70% dark chocolate

1. Start the Cookie Pie Crust to make the dessert cracker base.
2. While the dough is cooling, prepare the Pastry Cream up to step 5, then set aside.
3. When you've rolled out the dough, cut into disks - I use the top of a standard round plastic container, like a yoghurt container lid, for my cutting shape.
4. Arrange the disks on a large cookie sheet to blind bake, as per the instructions in the recipe, except lightly place a second cookie sheet on top. This will prevent the dough from puffing up excessively. Bake for 10 minutes, then remove the top cookie sheet and bake another 5 minutes or until the crackers start to lightly brown.
5. Allow the crackers to cool completely. 
6. Finish the Pastry Cream by following step 6 of the recipe which is to whisk in the heavy cream.
7. Assemble the crackers by evenly distributing the Pastry Cream in dollops onto the crackers; arrange the blackberries on top of the cream and lightly press into the cream.
8. In a double boiler melt the chocolate and drizzle lightly over the loaded crackers. 
9. You can either wait for the chocolate to set, or serve with the chocolate still semi-liquid. 
10. Have napkins at the ready - it's easy to get smeared with the chocolate!

Crème pâtissière - Pastry Cream

I've seen other pastry cream recipes call for whipped cream instead of liquid cream. I've tried this, and it is a tasty variation but it also changes the texture, making it much lighter. In most of the recipes I use this for, a thicker, more unctuous texture is preferable.

1 cup milk
2 tsps. vanilla extract
3 egg yolks
¼ cup (50g) sugar
2 Tbsps. (16g) flour
¼ cup heavy cream (option: whipped cream)

1. Put the milk in a saucepan. Heat to a simmer, remove from heat, add vanilla, cover, and set aside to cool about 10 minutes. 
2. Whisk the yolks with the sugar until pale, then whisk in the flour. 
3. Gradually whisk the milk into the sweet egg mixture. 
4. Pour this back into the saucepan and, whisking constantly, bring to a boil, turn off the heat and cook, whisking, one minute. Remove from the heat. 
5. Strain into a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and set aside to cool. 
6. When chilled, stream the cream in and mix with whisk until smooth.
7. OR, if you want a lighter cream, first whip the cream then gently fold in.

Pommes de terre en omelette (Potato omelette)

Although this is a simple recipe, it requires about an hour to complete, since each ingredient can only be cooked when the previous is done. It is a delicious brunch item.

A few strips of bacon (4oz/120gr) cut into lardons or paper clip-size pieces
1 Tbsp (½ oz/14gr) butter 
1 onion, chopped (6oz/170gr)
1 clove garlic, chopped
Splash of balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp (½ oz/14gr) butter (yes, another one)
4 medium potatoes (about 2lbs), peeled, quartered and thinly sliced
5 eggs
½ tsp salt
Pepper, to taste

1. Heat a cast iron pan at a medium-high temperature. Cook the bacon until just starting to brown. With a slotted spoon, remove the meat and reserve in a medium sized bowl.
2. Lower the temperature to medium, add a Tbsp of butter, and slowly cook the onion until soft and translucent. This will take a while, maybe something like 20 minutes. For the last minute of cooking, add the garlic. Strain out and add to the bacon bowl for set aside.
3. Splash the balsamic vinegar in the hot oil and cook until the spitting and bubbling almost ceases - this is when most of the extra water will have been cooked away.
4. Add the potatoes with another Tbsp of butter and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until it is soft and starts to brown.
5. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs, add the salt and pepper.
6. When the potatoes are cooked, use a slotted spoon to remove from the pan and pop into the bowl with the bacon and onion. Pour out all but 1 or 2 Tbsps. of bacon fat. 
7. Put the bacon, onion and potato back in the pan, stir to mix well, and then pour the egg on top, settling everything with the back of the spoon to make an even surface. 
8. Cover and cook at a low temperature until the egg sets, but the surface remains a little soft or runny or, conversely, cover and bake in the oven at 350°F until set.
9. Serve with cornbread muffins and a fresh salad or pickled onions and beets.

Pork and Grainy Mustard Stew

I can take no credit for this wonderful recipe. I've made several recipes published by the good people at Canadian Living magazine and find that they are exactly to my tastes. Here's the link to the original recipe: Pork and Grainy Mustard Stew

3 lbs pork shoulder, trimmed and cubed
2 Tbsps flour
3 Tbsps vegetable oil
2 onions, chopped
4 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
A few sprigs of fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme
½ tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
2 cups chicken stock
½ cup white wine

1½ cups water
1 bay leaf
¼ cup grainy mustard
⅔ cup fresh green peas
¼ cup minced fresh parsley

1. Toss pork with 1 tbsp of the flour. In Dutch oven, heat half of the oil over medium-high heat; brown pork, in batches and adding more oil as needed. Remove to plate.
2. In same Dutch oven, heat remaining oil. Fry onions, carrots, celery, garlic, thyme, salt and pepper, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes.
3. Add stock, wine, bay leaf and 1½ cups water; return pork and any accumulated juices to pan. Bring to boil; reduce heat, cover and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 45 minutes or until meat is tender. Discard bay leaf.
4. Whisk in the mustard and simmer, uncovered, until it thickens a bit. Stir in the peas and the parsley a continue simmering until they're heated through, about 3 minutes.

Pear or Apple Cake

We juiced some pears to make cocktails with, using some really lovely whiskey. What was left in the juicer was this wonderful frothy slurry which I strained to get more juice out of, then saved the rest to make a cake with. With this same recipe I've used sliced apple, apple butter, and a mixture of apple butter and apple diced small. All have worked nicely. In short, it's a pretty versatile recipe to use all sorts of fruit as the filling.

2 eggs
⅓ cup milk
¼ cup grape seed oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
¾ cup (105g) flour

½ cup (105g) sugar

¼ tsp salt
2 tsps baking powder
1½ cups crushed pears, apple sauce or butter or fresh fruit etc.
3 Tbsps whiskey

Part 2: The Topping
3oz (80gr) of butter (about ⅓ cup)
¼ cup (35g) icing sugar
1 egg

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Lightly butter a spring form pan.
3. Thoroughly beat the egg separately, and add the milk, oil, vanilla. Set aside.
4. In another bowl, mix together the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder. 
5. NOTE: Work the batter as little as possible.
6. Create a well in the centre and add the beaten egg, milk, oil and vanilla, folding gently until the batter is uniform.
7. Mix together the whiskey and fruit.
8. Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan, about 235g. Pour the fruit as a ribbon in the middle, to make a ring. Pour the remains of the batter over this, and put in the oven for 15 minutes or until the surface is starting to set.
9. While this is baking melt the butter and whisk in the sugar, then set aside to allow it to cool.
10. Just before the timer rings, add the egg and whisk until it's all uniform.
11. Pour the butter mixture on top of the cake, to even it out, and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes, or until the top is uniformly golden (you may have to turn the dish after about 10 to 15 minutes for even browning).
12. Allow to cool and serve while still warm or at room temperature.

DuPuy Lentil Soup

A simple wintery soup. I've indicated "beef broth concentrate" in the recipe, but any very rich beef broth will do. Just make sure the flavours are big and bold or they'll get lost in the warm richness of the other flavours.

Servings : 6

180g of bacon cut in small cubes (retain 4 Tbsps. of the rendered bacon fat)
5 onions, chopped (approx 800gr)
3 Bay laurel leaves
1 Tbsp. ground cumin
6 garlic cloves, minced
1½ cup DuPuy lentils
8 cups water
1½ Tbsp beef broth concentrate
¾ tsp salt

1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
Ground black pepper, to taste
Hot sauce, to taste

1. In a large casserole slowly render the bacon until it is brown and crispy. Cook the onion in the hot fat, along with the Bay leaves and cumin until the onion is tender. (Cooking the onions over low heat for a long time allows for the sweetness of the onion to come through). 
2. Add the garlic and cook another 2 to 3 minutes.
3. Toast the lentils in the hot bacon fat and onion mix for 2 to 3 minute.
4. Add a bit of the water to start and scrape up as much of the fond that developed from browning the onions as you can, then add the rest of the water and beef broth concentrate and bring to a boil. Let simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 50 to 60 minutes, or until the lentils are completely soft.
5. Optional: Once the lentils are cooked, you can blend about a quarter of the soup. This will make it thicker.
6. Stir back in the rendered bacon, along with the salt, pepper and vinegar.
7. Adjust the seasoning to taste.
8. Serve with ground black pepper on top and, if desired, a few drops of hot sauce.