Potato Bar

R-
I was treated to a Mothers Day Potato Bar tonight. I don't think that you've experienced the Potato Bar, although I'm sure that you've heard about Mike's specialty. It involves many stages and the results are always over-the-top delicious. Mike is very particular about how he bakes his potatoes - he doesn't let me in the kitchen during the preparation process, mostly due to the amount of oil used to get the perfect crispy skins to compliment the soft fluffy interiors. The potato bar consists of a multitude of toppings; in addition to your basic baked potato toppings he makes things such as asparagus sauteed with pine nuts and balsamic vinegar, various types of beans, cheeses, sauteed mushrooms, shrimp.. The list goes on. So now I'm in post-bar satiation; which necessitates a couch and the forgiving stretch of yoga pants.

Potato Pancakes

Rach -

Brag away, I have to say those are beautiful buns. They're on my to-make list; I've been using your recipes - this weekend we devoured your chocolate blueberry cake and the eggplant skillet lasagna. Both were delicious.

And speaking of bumping social lives- Do you remember my solo date two weeks ago? Of course you do - since it was your husband that was ill and unable to attend the Victoria-Reems contingent's Belfry theatre night, and I scooped up his replacement ticket. The play/musical was hilarious and the company was top notch - my internal dialogue is nothing if not witty and self-indulgent. My only regret? You know what is coming next - I failed your dare. Yes, you know how I pride myself on meeting a challenge, yet at the last moment, as I stood in line at the intermission concession debating whether or not to follow through, I faltered, and instead of ordering the dared glass of wine I requested a bag of chocolate covered almonds. Next dare you give me- I'm on it.

Well, I've dated myself again, and yes, it was fabulous. The occasion? The Chilliwack library was hosting an evening with Gail Anderson-Dargatz. This had been marked on my calendar for many weeks. A lot of preparation (mostly mental) went into the evening: I'd worried about my babe not going to sleep without a pre-bedtime nurse; I bought a copy of The Cure for Death by Lightening at my local VV boutique; I'd plotted how early I was going to need to be there in order to get one of the 50 seats.. This was all unnecessary, as Mike had predicted, apparently Chilliwack is not a literary hot bed- about 25 of us were there, mostly white headed members of the library association. Gail was not put off by the intimate gathering and was suitably impressive - smart, funny, and personable. I was too nervous to ask a question, but was able to have a mini-chat later when I had her sign my book.

OK, lots of non-food related rambling going on, looks like a phone call may be overdue. Here's a quick and easy meal - Mike's favourite - potato pancakes. We never eat these with anything else like salad or bread. No, these are strictly for when you haven't planned dinner, but you do have a few potatoes and a husband that will make you queen for the evening if you keep these patties coming. This method makes enough for 3 people:

Grate:
3 yukon gold potatoes (or 2 large russets)
1 small yellow onion

Add:
2 eggs
1/3 cup flour
salt and pepper

Fry - I use a non-stick griddle with only a bit of oil. I make sure that they are fairly flat so that there is no undercooked middle.

Eat - Mike likes them with a dollop of sour cream. Finn likes apple sauce.

Look What I Can Do!

Hey Smoochy,

Do you remember that MAD tv skit, 'look what I can do!' Stuart, I think it was. Sigh. This is what I did this weekend, made a giant bun. You know your social life is bumping when...



Actually, what appears to be a giant bun, is in fact a small focaccia bread topped with herbs, cherry tomatoes and caramelized onions. Yum, For the first round, I split the beast and stuffed it with roasted veggies. For the second, I used a broccoli filling. The broccoli filling will work on any sandwich, or would make a nice filler for an omelet, savoury crepe or a wrap. I choose to share the recipe for the broccoli filling. If you want to make the focacci as well, see this previous post, and instead of making one focaccia, shape the dough into four rounds.

Broccoli Almond Filling

Head of broccoli, chopped into large pieces (what you might use for a veggie platter)
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
3 Tbsp almonds, toasted and chopped
a couple dashes of hot sauce (Tabasco or other)
2 Tbsp yogurt

Place the broccoli in a pan of boiling water and boil until just tender. Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a pan. Add the garlic and saute a couple minutes. Add the broccoli. Fry for four minutes. Transfer the broccoli mixture to a food processor. Add the remaining ingredients.

Note, before you process, that you want the broccoli to retain its texture. Do not process into a sauce. The final product should be chunky. Okay, now press the pulse button until desired texture is achieved. Mix in additional salt and pepper and Tabasco sauce until it tastes right.

Use on a sandwich, wrap, or an omelet.

Grandma's Cake

Hi Haley,

I miss having you in Victoria. Thanks for passing on the photo shoot of Grandma's B-day. I particularly like the one of Atley delivering cake. He's one of the better servers I've seen in action. When we open our restaurant we'll have to hire him. Right now he gets pretty excited over pennies and nickles to add to the leather man's wallet he totes around. I'm thinking his labour price could be right.

I won't give you the entire chocolate cake recipe, as there are a million and one good chocolate cake recipes out there. If you don't have one, use the six minute cake. It's actually one of my top chocolate cake recipes.

What I did in creating this towering cake, was use a bunt pan instead of 2 nine inch pans. I increased the baking time to about one hour. When the cake cooled, I sliced them horizontally into three pieces and spread them with blueberry jam (any flavour will do). Then I iced the outside of the cake in this most excellent frosting.

Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting
5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped (best to use good quality)
1/2 a pound cold butter, diced (use room temp butter if you don't have a stand mixer)
1 and 3/4 cup icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream
1 Tbsp coffee liqueur (optional)

Melt the butter in a double boiler and in the meantime, beat the butter in a stand mixer, with the paddle attachment, until light and fluffy. Slowly add the chocolate and mix until combined. Stop the mixer, add the icing sugar, and mix on low until smooth. (If you mix on high you will be enveloped in a white cloud). Add the salt, vanilla, sour cream, and coffee liqueur and mix until very smooth.

Ice your cake!

Take a bite out of that-

Rach-

Part of being on maternity leave is to give the impression that you're Super Mom - you know, stimulating the mind of your active almost-3 year old through carefully constructed teachable moments, nursing and fostering the cognitive, physical, and emotional development of your angel babe, keeping your house immaculate, appearing effortlessly gorgeous in your Mommy lulu lemon uniform, and always being a lovingly doting wife- all while masking any sleep deprivation (because that may take away Angel Babe's rock star status). I know that you're probably chuckling right now because yes, I am sometimes self-aware, and do acknowledge that I don't meet any number of those criteria.

This became painfully obvious when I was in Victoria last week fielding phone calls from a frantic Mike; he needed his passport to cross the border for a principals conference. After finally helping him locate the passport, he commented on the amount of 'junk drawers' that we have. Oh well, being Super Mom is overrated I'm sure. In order to compensate for my hidden messes I need to go above and beyond in the one Super Mom category that I am capable of achieving - sneaking in a chapter or two of my novel while Finn plays quietly-that is making nutritious meals for my crew.

The latest on the dinner front? Whole wheat pitas from the original Moosewood. They turned out beautifully, puffing out nicely and just asking to be stuffed with deliciousness. For a filling I made: chicken patties with peanut sauce, sauteed onions and mushrooms, bean sprouts, avocado, feta, and tzaztiki sauce. A bit eclectic but tasted amazing.

Here is the Moosewood pita recipe (I made with 1/2 whole wheat flour):

PITA BREAD

Prep. time: about 2 hours (most of which is raising time) Yield: 6 larger (or 12 smaller) pocket breads

1 Cup wrist-temp. water

1 1/2 teaspoons ( half of a 1/4-oz. packet) active dry yeast

1 Tablespoon sugar or honey

1 teaspoon salt

about 3 1/2 cups of flour (1 cup of it can be whole wheat)

OPTIONAL: 1 Tablespoon sesame seeds

a little oil for the dough extra flour for rolling out

oil or cornmeal, for the baking tray

1) Place the water in a medium-sized bowl and sprinkle in the yeast. Let stand for 5 minutes-it will become foamy

2) Add sugar or honey and salt. Stir until everything dissolves.

3) Add three cups of flour, one cup at a time, mixing enthusiastically. As the dough thickens switch to your hand. Knead the dough in the bowl for a few minutes, adding up to 1/2 cup more flour, as needed, to combat stickiness. When the dough is smooth, oil both the bowl and the top surface of the dough. Cover with a clean tea towel, and let rise in a warm place for about an hour, or until the dough has doubled in bulk.

4) Punch down the dough and transfer it to a clean, floured surface. Knead it for about five minutes, then divide it into either 6 or 12 equal pieces I wanted smaller pitas so I did 12. Use a floured rolling pin to flatten the pieces into a thin circle (flour surface and sprinkle flour on dough). The diameter of each circle is unimportant, as long as it is no thicker than 1/8 inch. Let the circles rest for 30 minutes.

5) Preheat the oven to 500 degrees. Place a baking tray in the oven for a minute or two, to heat it. Then brush it with oil (I used cooking spray) - or dust it with corn meal. Place as many circles on the tray as will fit without touching, and bake for just 6-8 minutes, or until puffed up and very lightly browned. Hot oven is key.

6) Remove from the oven, and wrap the breads in a clean, slightly damp tea towel, then place in a brown paper bag, close up, for 15 minutes. This will keep the breads supple. I didn't have any paper bags so I just left them between two tea towels - worked beautifully.

I miss you - it was great hanging out last week!

Sunnyside-Up Over Rice-

Rach -


Thanks for logging me onto your school computer - I'm living in a luddite world at the present, I'm computer-free at Mom and Guy's this week. I'm going to see if I can actually get to posting a recipe - it all depends on how long Guy can entertain Finn in the classroom next door. I'm looking forward to being on the island for a few more days, and yes, eating with you (all in the name of blog-material of course).

What is this food wonder? A fried egg on a brown rice risotto (my take on a Spanish Rice kind of risotto). Even if you don't follow my risotto method, all you really need to take away from this post is that: you need to put a fried egg on your next meatless rice dish. You'll love me even more, if possible, than you do right now.

Here's what I did (please realize that this the amounts listed here are very approximate- don't try this if you are someone who needs precise measurements - yes I often give this warning but this time I mean it):

First I sauteed over a long slow heat: 1 finely minced onion and 2 cloves garlic garlic.

I added: 2 diced tomatoes and after cooking for a few minutes I pureed the lot with my immersion blender (this is unnecessary for most, necessary if you live with a texture-phobe).

Then I added: 1 cup medium grain brown rice and 1/2 tsp or so salt, pepper, a sprinkle of garlic powder, and an MSG-free beef bouillon cube.

Still with me? Then I slowly added over med-high heat about 1 cup of water (if you have beef or chicken stock you can skip the bouillon and use that in place of the water), mixing frequently with the lid off. Everytime the water seemed absorbed I gave the mixture a stir, put the heat up a notch, added another 1/2 cup or so, stirred again and then put the heat low again to simmer. I don't know how much liquid I added, maybe 3 cups?, but time-wise I did this over about 45 minutes.

At this point the rice still had a slightly chewy texture -I ensured that the rice was 'loose' with a bit more liquid, and then put the lid on and turned the heat off.

I left the pot for about half an hour and then, when Mike phoned me to let me know he was en route home from school (giving me about 15 minutes), I turned the heat back on under my rice, adding another 1/3 or so cup liquid and 1 cup of peas.

About 10 minutes to eating time, I started frying the eggs - you could also do a poach if have the gift of poaching (I don't). I like a soft yolk for this dish, I'll leave this up to your preference.

Right before serving I did a final seasoning taste, then plated the risotto, and sprinkled with grated old cheddar (parmesan would be great but I didn't have any) and chives from my garden. The final step? Place your fried egg atop.

Next time I make this I am going to try simplifying it by just adding all the liquid at once pilaf-style.

The verdict? Even Mike and Grace, of the white-rice camp, declared this to be delicious.

OK, I better go see what Finn and Grandpa are up to. Oh, and I think that the chocolate cake you made for Grandma's 88th festivities this past Sunday was on par with, or possibly even surpassed, your coconut creation . Sorry, this is a shamless recipe request.

Rhubarb Coffee Cake

Rach-

After dinner, after I kiss my sweet babe to sleep, and while Mike cuddles into the car bed swapping 'Dream Stories' with Mr. Finn, I sneak out the back gate and do my four laps of the park. You can probably guess that while I pretend that this is for exercise, it's delicious to be alone - without my busy little sidekick, my sous chef -no it's just me and the mountains. This evening, on my way back into the yard, I found that my seeds had sprouted - tiny pea sprouts and delicate little Swiss chard leaves that I am already dreaming of devouring.

Once again, almost eerily, our ovens are baking in unison. This weekend I harvested my first rhubarb of the season; while you squared yours up I went the coffee cake route. This was a nice friendly cake - moist, with a lovely sugary topping. I merged a few different recipes to come up with this one, which I will be making, along with your squares, all spring and summer long.

First make your topping.

Combine:
2 T melted butter
1/3 brown sugar
1/4 flour
1 tsp cinnamon

Then make your cake.

First chop 2 cups of rhubarb. I sprinkled the rhubarb with 2 T sugar and then put the lot into the microwave for 2 minutes - next time I'm skipping this step, but I thought that the rhubarb looked a bit green.

Cream:
1/3 cup butter (or you could sub canola oil) with 3/4 cup brown sugar
Add:
2 eggs and 1 tsp vanilla

Add the following, but don't stir until you have added all the dry ingredients (this should be done in a separate bowl, but I don't like to wash more dishes than I have to):

2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Mix together and add 1 cup buttermilk, or in my case 1 T lemon juice plus milk to equal 1 cup. Fold in the rhubarb. Pour into a 9 inch springform and sprinkle/dab the topping on top. Bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees.

To Rhubarb!