Cooking and Baking - July 2012 - Salt Spring Island

Cooking and Baking
          July 2012
   Salt Spring Island

Sunshine in the kitchen

Recently, due to many influences, I have had the desire to create in the kitchen.  What more perfect opportunity in which to attend to my current culinary obsession, than in an enormous kitchen in a beautiful house overlooking a breath taking view, surrounded by air that breathes the calm anticipation required for exploratory artistic endeavours?  

Oh, and perfect summer has just arrived!

 

It was all that, plus a few mouths happy to taste-test the results.  

Seriously, food is for sharing!  

( I hope everyone likes their stick human representation!)

                                                                            

                                                                                                     The captivating setting where my creativity simply belongs 

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And so my endeavors began: 

I wanted to concentrate on presentation to encourage mouthwatering before tucking in. 

Why not use the fancy dishes and accessories?  

They were gifted or purchased to be used and admired after all!

See! Presentation is FUN!!!

     

Ode to Tools, Marvelous Tools, Accessories and Appliances:

What a wonderful feeling to unpack my Red Kitchen Aid.  I added a small off-set spatula to my collection of baking tools and found it to be an excellent addition to my larger flat spatula.  My cake carrier also came out... Perhaps not the best looking presentation, but the cake makes it there in one piece and it's so simple to store the yet-to-be-eaten part.  Function is always a winner with me.

But where has my piping set disappeared?  Oh! Moving! ...

Other notable stars of the kitchen:  

The silicone spatula, the always handy whisk and the smallest of the three nesting spring form pans. Also, Kitchen Aid wins again when it comes to convection ovens.  The outside is rather pretty, which counts for something, too, but inside is where it really counts.  Energy efficient and versatile.  Every kitchen with an amateur chef or pastry artist deserves one of these beauties!

What I desire? A cake stand with a turnable top.  I believe it would be the icing on the cake.

(Ahem, Dad?)

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Delicious food, Real Food                                                                      take time to prepare, time that is pleasure

Midday Mediterranean Repast

Tapas

• Tapas                                  
• Caramelized Onion Quiche 
• Chocolate Hazelnut Torte

Tapas - Tasty Morsels I Adore

A selection of olives with feta and fresh tomato and cucumber, served cold alongside warm home made croutons, drizzled with balsamic reduction.

• Olives and Feta from Highland Farms Deli which has many fresh, well priced choices
• Next time more tomato in place of the cucumber as the texture was too crisp, or maybe use artichoke hearts...

Caramelized Onion Quiche

Caramelized Onion Quiche   *My Idea

A scruptious, savory pie with delicate and luxurious flavour, served warm, but not hot. 

Begin by making the Pâte Brisée dough and line your pie plate with a generous crust, decorating the edges as you like - set aside.  Next gently caramelize the onion rounds:  Preheat a frying pan with the a deep layer of olive oil mixed with the fresh herbs and a little salt.  Add rounds, being careful not to burn or particularly brown, turning to do the same on both sides.  Remove rounds with tongs, placing them in the crust.  Crumble feta on top.  In a separate bowl, beat eggs, then add milk and salt and pepper and stir.  Pour mixture over onions and feta.  Top with a few herbs and bake at 350 degree F until set, about 50-60 minutes.  Remove from heat and let cool down, but eat warm, or reheat!

Ingredients

• Pâte Brisée, one unbaked crust in pie plate  *recipe to follow*
• Olive Oil
• Various Fresh Herbs, Chopped Finely
• 4 (or More!) Onions, Sliced 1.5 cm thick
• Feta Cheese 2''x2''x2''
• 4 Small Tomatoes, Sliced Thinly
• 3-4 Eggs
• 1 cup Milk
• Salt and Pepper

Pâte Brisée   *Martha Stewart

"Rich flavour, delicate texture and versitility"is the perfect description for this pastry.  Although lard pastry may be flakier, it can be frustrating to work with if the first roll out and kitchen temperature are not ideal, so I have been using this recipe, or a variation of, since I found it and cannot get enough of it's virtues.  (I have heard though, that you may get the best of both the butter and lard worlds by using half and half.)  Freezing and doubling the recipe are encouraged!

Ingredients

• 2 and 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour  (Cake flour if you are in Europe)
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Sugar
• 1 Cup Butter
• 1/4-1/2 Cup Cold Water

Make as you would any pie pastry:  Combine dry ingredients with whisk.  Cut in cold butter (or shortening of whatever type you like) and use pastry blender to reduce butter pieces to pea-sized or smaller.  Carefully add water so as not to add too much.  You may not need all, though at times I've used a little more.  Crunch up in a ball as you are adding the water until it can all stick together and you are done.  Easy Peasy!  Makes 2 shells or 1 top and bottom.

Chocolate Hazelnut Torte   *Always Order Dessert

Simple and quick, very moist flour-less cake.  

• No icing required - just a sprinkle of icing sugar!
• I am sorry I didn't take a photo, but perhaps that's a sign of how quickly it disappeared!
• The only thing that might bring to mind 'gluten-free' about this cake is the fact that it is a little pricy (ie. ground hazelnuts and olive oil).
• I found hazelnut meal at John Vince Foods in Toronto, North York, where I also purchased the dark cocoa powder I also used in the recipe.
• The recipe can be found here: http://www.alwaysorderdessert.com/2008/01/flourless-chocolate-hazlenut-torte.html 

Triple Lemon and Blueberry Cake   *Sweetapolita 

Lemon Curd and Zest

• Lemon Curd from Scratch
• Lemon Blueberry Cake
• Lemon Icing

I had no idea I liked LEMON so much!

  

It is a refreshing summer flavour.  I'm so glad I've become acquainted with this yellow delight; blueberries and I go way back.

Sweetapolita's bolg is inspiring.  You can check her page out here: http://sweetapolita.com/.  This is the first of her cake recipes I've tried and because it turned out so well, it will be the first of many.

This was made for Anne's Birthday!!! 

Delicious Lemon Curd

Make the curd!  Really, it is amazing!  The recipe makes more than you need, but since it keeps well frozen, have it on stand by for other endeavors as it takes a bit of time to make.  I wish I'd had the piping bag and tips, but a ziplock had to do the trick.  The pan I used was the smallest of the nesting spring-form pans and I baked the three layers individually.  The icing was flavoured with the curd and it was the perfect amount (even though we ate some, too... well maybe a little more than some!)

http://sweetapolita.com/2011/02/triple-lemon-blueberry-layer-cake/

This cake cuts best just out of the fridge, but tastes great room at temperature.
I just want to dive in head first!!!!

I planned to make so many more things, 

but as usual there is only so much time and stomachs get full...