» Tina

Gin, gin, the magical drink

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The deluge started this afternoon, settling itself in for the weekend like an unwanted house guest. Can you tell that I am pretty much over the rain this season? In my mind there is only one cure for such unsavoury situations like the arrive of the pineapple express. Gin.

Gin has long been a favourite of mine, but not because I often have unwanted house guests. I love its botanical flavours, its simplicity and at the same time its complexity. It was much to my delight when I learned that 2 and a half blocks for my house, a small batch distillery had opened up. Joy of joys, gin was one item on their fresh sheet. So after work one day I meandered on down to their store front to check out the situation.

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Long Table Distillery is Vancouver’s first small batch distillery. Charles, one of the owners showed us around, introduced us to their products and shared some of the exciting things we have to look forward to from Long Table. Then Charles pulled out a 10 gallon bucket of foraged juniper berries. Long Table’s London Dry style gin lets their hand-picked, west coast juniper berries be the star, with just a lovely hint of lemon. All and all the gin is a real star. One that is equally exceptional, whether enjoyed shaken over ice or in a cocktail. Did I mention their distillery is just one block off my daily running route. I think I need to adjust my route!

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Naturally I brought a bottle home with me and began experimenting. The inspiration for this cocktail came from a friends house warming party last weekend. They had created a full cocktail list for guests to order from, fun idea right! On the list was a lemongrass gin number with my name written all over it. The moment I saw it, I knew that I would love it and likely have to recreate it at home. Here goes.
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Lemongrass, Gin & Soda

2 oz gin
1 oz lemongrass syrup (recipe below)
Dash of fresh lime juice
Soda water

Fill a highball glass half full of ice, pour in gin, lemongrass syrup and the juice of one wedge of lime. Stir and top with soda water. Garnish with a lime. I found experimenting with different types of citrus can give you really lovely results. You could switch out the lime for a little blood orange and lemon or perhaps even a meyer lemon.

 

Lemongrass Syrup

1 cup water
1 cup sugar
2 stalks lemongrass (core only) grated or sliced

In a small sauce pan bring to a light boil water, sugar and lemongrass. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Gently boil for 10 to 15 minutes, then set aside to cool. Using a sieve or cheese cloth strain the lemongrass from the syrup, pour into a jar and store in the fridge until you are ready to use it.
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Earl grey tea cookies

Is tea the new coffee? I stumbled upon this question in an article or some such business earlier this week. My immediate reaction was, “Yes! Tea is totally the new coffee.” But upon reflection I realized “no”, both hold such distinctly different roles in my daily routine that I couldn’t do with only one or the other. Coffee is peppy, social and bright, it is the drink that drags me out of bed in the morning and shoves me out the front door. Tea is a whole other story. It is cozy, relaxing and lulls me into bed at the end of the day. Simply put, coffee is an extrovert and tea is an introvert. And life wouldn’t have any balance without both.

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I’ll admit it, I have a nightly tea tradition. The tradition varies a little, sometimes I have a cookie with my tea and if I’m really, really lucky, I get to have a Tim Tam. But most often I just have tea. Vanilla SleepyTime is the tea du jour. If I happen to have a Tim Tam on hand, the Tim Tam slam is the only way to go. Are you are sitting in front of your computer thinking “what the heck is a Tim Tam slam?” this guy will show you how it is done and if you don’t believe him Jennifer Love Hewitt will show you too. It is legit.

Sadly, I’m currently out of Tim Tams and my evening tea has been cookie-less for quite sometime now. As I was digesting the whole tea vs. coffee thing, I was inspired to do a little baking, and my inspiration point was a certain coffee flavoured cookie that we often had around the house at Christmas. If tea really is the new coffee, then I should make a tea flavoured cookie to celebrate. Earl Grey is my tea flavour of black tea, so naturally it is only fitting that I use it in my cookies. To give them a little twist, I decided to dip them in chocolate to mimic our Christmas coffee cookies.

I know that I have been talking about chocolate dipped cookies but I have yet to show you any proof that they were ever made. Keep scrolling down and you will see one. Here is the deal. I dipped half of the cookies and then did a taste test. I know what you are thinking, “Chocolate and Earl Grey, sounds like a match made in heaven.” I know right! That is exactly what I thought. I don’t what to sell the chocolate dipped version short but they weren’t mind-blowing. They were fine, perhaps even good, but not better. So, unless you are a chocolate fiend, I would suggest that you just keep these cookies as is. Crisp, delicately favoured with tea and delicious.

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Earl Grey Tea Cookies
makes 2 dozen | adapted from The Kitchn

1 cup all purpose flour
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1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 tablespoon Russian Earl Grey tea leaves
1/4 teaspoon fleur de sel
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon water
1/2 cup unsalted butter (cut into cubes)

Using a spice grinder or mortar and pestle grind the tea into a fairly fine powder. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the first five ingredients. Add the vanilla, water and butter into the flour mixture. Using a pastry cutter, work the butter into the flour until it forms a dough. Form the dough into a ball and place it onto a sheet of parchment paper. Roll the dough into a smooth log shape, wrap with the parchment paper and freeze for 30 minutes.

Pre-heat your oven to 375. Remove dough from the freezer and slice into 1/3″ slices. Evenly space cookies on a baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes or until lightly golden. Remove the baking sheet from the oven and transfer the cookies onto a cooling rack.

Enjoy with a piping hot cup of tea!

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Handmade noodles with wild mushrooms & miso butter sauce

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For Christmas this year I received a new rolling-pin. It is no ordinary rolling-pin, it is a balyunONE rolling-pin designed by Canadian designer Tahir Mahmood. I had been coveting this handmade, european style rolling-pin for some time, so naturally I was beyond delighted when I found it under the tree on Christmas morning! I have since been trying to devise the perfect way to christen my rolling-pin. But inspiration eluded me, all I could come up with was cookies or pie. Delicious as they may, be neither was what I was looking for. I was bemoaning this fact to Ginger the other night and she struck gold when she suggested that I should make noodles. Noodles, what a spectacular idea! I had never made my own pasta before and it was a challenge that I was up for.

I turned to google, my trusty source for all things I don’t know and began reading about fresh pasta. This is where I ran into a little conflicting information. Who would have thought that I would find conflicting information on the internet! Some said “no” to hand rolled pasta, some said “yes, but it is a little tricky”. And finally I found a recipe from Jamie Oliver and he seemed to give hand rolled pasta a whole-hearted “yes”. I was in, if Jamie says it is ok, then I should be fine right?
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The noodle dish that I wanted to make is a dish inspired by a udon noodle dish featured on the menu of one of my favourite neighbourhood Japanese restaurants. The original is a luxurious combination of noodles and wild mushrooms, dredged in a sauce of miso and butter. For my version, I decided to give the recipe a little italian flare, replacing the udon noodles with fresh pasta. Let’s get back to the making of the pasta, as it is a bit of a tragic tale that needs to be shared so that no one else makes the same mistakes as I. So pasta dough, simple right? A little flour, some salt and a few eggs. It was easy, it mixed up nicely and after a little kneading, turning into a lovely smooth dough. I slipped it into the fridge and prepped up my sauce ingredients. Here is the tricky part, some people think a machine is a necessity if you want to get the pasta to a nice thinness, others like Jamie say that all the old Italian grandmas never use pasta machines, so with a little extra elbow grease, it can be done. I forged on, rolling my pasta to what I thought was a lovely thinness, cutting into wide noodles, sprinkling with semolina and repeating. Easy peasy. Perhaps I should have realized that it was just a little too easy.

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I started my pasta water to boil, sautéed my garlic and mushrooms, things were going along just tickety boo. Calamity struck when I dropped the noodles into boiling salted water and virtually immediately the noodles doubled in width and thickness! Seriously what the heck  is up with that. No one mentioned anything about the noodles “rising”! Be warned, the noodles rise. When all is said and done, I think that with a little more practice and finesse, hand rolled noodles aren’t that big of a stretch, they just take a little patience.

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Handmade noodles with wild mushrooms & miso butter sauce
Serves 4

For the noodles:
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup semolina flour
3 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt

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2 cloves garlic
8-12 oz wild mushrooms sliced (I used a blend of Chanterelle, Brown hon shimeji, white hon shimeji, baby blue oyster, hen of the woods, king erengi and nameko mushrooms)
3 tablespoons butter
3 green onions, sliced, whites and greens separated
3 tablespoons miso paste
1 1/2 tablespoons sake
1 1/2 tablespoons soya sauce
1 teaspoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon toasted black sesame seeds for garnish

Preparing the pasta:
On a clean workspace, mix together the two flours and salt forming into a mound. Make a well in the centre of the mound and crack the three eggs into the well. Whisk the eggs lightly with a fork and then begin mixing the mixture together with your hands. Once the dough comes together, knead for 10 to 15 minutes until you have a nice smooth dough. Shape the kneaded dough into a dish, cover completely with plastic wrap and allow dough to rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour. *Most recipes don’t recommend letting it rest overnight as it can turn a grey colour.

Cut the disk of dough into 4 pieces, as it is easier to work with in smaller amounts. Lightly dust a work surface with semolina flour and begin to roll out the dough. Roll the dough out as thinly as possible, mine was about 3 mm thick and it would have been better if it had been about  1-2 mm thick. Use a knife to cut the pasta into your desired noodle shape. Set finished noodles aside and sprinkle with more semolina to avoid sticking. Continue rolling and cutting pasta. Cover the finished pasta with a damp towel to avoid drying.

Preparing the sauce:
Cook the noodles in boiling salted water until al dente. The cooking time will depend on the thickness of your noodles, so check for doneness often.

Heat a medium sauce pan over medium heat, once the pan is hot melt the butter. Add the garlic and the whites from the green onions to the pan and sauté for about 30 seconds until fragrant. Add the mushrooms to the pan and cook for 5 minutes, until the mushrooms are soft and just starting to turn golden on the edges. Add in the miso, soy sauce, sake and oyster sauce and stir until well mixed. Combined the noodles with the mushrooms and toss together until the noodles covered with sauce.

Garnish with the remaining green onions and black sesame seeds and serve!

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Rose Avenue

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One of my guilty pleasures is rose scented treats. Rose is one of those scents that polarizes peoples opinions. Either it is thought of as being classic and romantic or old and stuffy, calling to mind your grandma. But that is what I like about it.
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My grandma lived on Rose avenue in a white bungalow encrusted in broken glass stucco and backstairs covered in synthetic green turfy looking stuff. The backyard featured a diamond flower bed full of her prized roses and wild violets grew rampant in the back lawn. For a young girl grandmas house was a treasure trove filled with delightful flower smells and treats. I was especially fond of the bathroom. It was a galley style bathroom, can you call bathrooms galley style? It had a purple toilet and a secret built-in medicine cabinet behind the mirror. At the far end of the room there was a window, shinning like a light at the end of the tunnel. It was a textured, tinted window that cast the most magical light onto the sill, a sill lined with a myriad of treasures, namely perfume bottles and lipstick tubes.
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I loved to go into the bathroom and examine all of the items displayed on the window sill. I would take down the lipstick tubes and smell them, never trying then on of course, I was much to timid for that. The bottles of perfume where my favourite part. The pretty glass sparkling in the light, filled with delicately coloured liquids. There were big bottles, small bottles, empty bottles and full bottles. Even a few bottles with atomizers and I loves those specimens best. When I think of all my grandmas perfumes, the only smell I can remember is rose. Now, whenever I find pretty little things that smell of rose I secretly what to pack them all up and take them home.
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When I stumbled upon the delightful little pink, coconut and rose Tuckers in the December issue of Bon Appétit I knew they would be a must have holiday cookie for me. However, Christmas came and went and my little jar of rose extract still remained unopened. That was until I realized that with a slight change in shape, Tuckers would be the perfect accompaniment to any Valentines Day celebration. If you enjoy rose as much as I do, I think you will fall in love with these delightfully simple treats.
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Tuckers
Recipe from Dorie Greenspan

I made the cookies exactly as the recipe specified and they really are absolutely perfect. Apparently the trick to making these cookies is to not rush them. “…go low and slow—both on the stove-top and in the oven—to prevent the egg whites from scrambling.” Dorie says.

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
4 large egg whites
2/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon food-grade pure rose extract (not rose water); optional
Red liquid food colouring
White sanding sugar

Preparation
In a medium sauce pan, cook the coconut, egg whites and sugar over medium-low heat. Stir the coconut mixture occasionally until it feels hot and dry to the touch, this should take about 10 minutes.
Now it is time to flavour the coconut! Turn the mixture out into a heatproof bowl, stir in the vanilla, rose extract and one drop of red food colouring. Mix well resisting the temptation to add more colour. Cover with plastic wrap patting it right on top of the dough to prevent it from drying out as it chills. Cool for 5 hours or overnight.

Heat the oven to 300°. Line a baking sheet with a double layer of parchment paper or two silicone baking mats. Form dough into 1 tablespoon sized balls, shape into hearts and dip in sanding sugar.

Put cookies in the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes, until they are lightly golden and firm to the touch. Transfer to a wire rack and allow to cool.

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Pause…

Pause with me for a moment and reflect back, 31 days ago to be exact. Yes, the day we made all those resolutions that we have either long since forgotten about or are seriously regretting ever making. That might be a little harsh, but this week I have rather unintentionally found myself revisiting those plans that I made. But instead of focusing on what I haven’t done (not to brag or anything but, I have been doing pretty well) I have been focusing on fine tuning, devising ways to keep my plans on track and perhaps making them more realistic. I am notorious for taking on too much, planning too big and getting side tracked.

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This year I hope to learn to focus on being present and in the now. This week I have been reminding myself that life is made up of little details, in-between stages and stolen moments. It is so easy to get caught up in the big picture and forget to enjoy the moments that we have right now. We forget to admire the purple stock of the thai basil that went into last nights dinner or the fuzzy silver sage leaves that I really need to figure out how to use up before they go to waste or watch the milk as it swirls into a cup of tea. All of these lovely moments meant to be enjoyed to the fullest and remembered.

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While plenty of food was made this week; recipes tried and modified, some saved and others quickly forgotten. This week I want to pause… pause and remember to enjoy every bit of it.
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Winter Panzanella with Pancetta & Brussels Sprouts

Would You Rather, have you played the game before? It is a game of comparison that we often play on road trips or a warm summers eve surrounding a campfire. Food is not the usual topic for Would Your Rather, but if it were, this is how it would go. Would you rather: a light, leafy, green salad or something stewed, steaming hot and smothered in sauce?

Here in Vancouver we are just coming out the other side of about 5 straight days of fog. No joke. Before that we had about 2 months of rain! Couple that with the fact that we are smack dabb in the middle of winter and the only thing that I want in my mouth is either braised, stewed, roasted, piping hot… you get my drift. Leafy greens aren’t going to cut it right now and let’s face it, they aren’t at their prime right now. I am not a salad hater, I just don’t want one that was cooked up in some hothouse and picked 4 weeks before it was ripe. Needless to say, a salad has to be some kinda wonderful to catch my eye.

So what does this mythical salad look like? It has to have a little staying power, nothing too light and fluffy. Bold, full of flavour, crisp and finally it needs to feel like comfort food. I like to think of this salad as all the fix’ns from Christmas dinner brought together into a salad. A vivid, crunchy, salty and sweet winter panzanella salad hits all the right notes and leaves you feeling like you have just eaten a meal.

This is a very flexible salad. Every time I have made it I have tried different variation and loved them all the same. The original recipe calls for panettone or raisin challah, however, if you can’t find any, switch it out for a nice french bread and 1/4 cup of  dried fruit, such as dried cranberries or raisins. If you don’t happen to have a pomegranate on hand, try adding some additional dried cranberries. I would recommend putting in the extra effort to get your hands on one, as the little seeds bursting with juice are a real treat. My final motification was to the brussels sprouts preperation, I have a preference for roasted brussels sprouts but if you are interested in speeding things up a little you can dunk them into a pot of salted boiling water for about 7 minutes. However, speaking from experience don’t skip soaking the radicchio in ice water. It helps to remove a little of the natural bitterness and leaves the radicchio crisp and plump. On a side note the recipe does half well. I like to prepare a full recipe of the apple vinaigrette and save half for a later dinner.

Winter Panzanella with Pancetta & Brussels Sprouts
Adapted from Bon Appetit (serves 8 as a side or 4–6 as a main)

Ingredients

Apple Vinaigrette:
2 tablespoons (1/4 stick) butter
1 Granny Smith apple cut into slices
1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1/3 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
8 tablespoons (about) apple juice
Course sea salt
Fresh ground black pepper

Croutons:
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1/4 cup butter
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage
2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
6 tablespoons finely grated Parmesan cheese
Coarse sea salt
Fresh ground black pepper

Salad:
1 head of radicchio, halved, cored, thinly sliced
12 ounces 1/8-inch-thick slices pancetta, cut into 2×1/8-inch strips
1 pound small brussels sprouts, trimmed, halved lengthwise
Seeds from one fresh pomegranate (optional)
Dried cranberries (optional)
Coarse sea salt
Fresh ground black pepper

For the vinaigrette:
Heat a sauce pan over medium heat. Add butter and allow to melt, then add the apples. Sauté the apple over medium heat, stirring occasionally until they are golden brown and have softened throughout. Scrap the apples and all of the remaining pan juices into a blender and allow them to cool.

Once the apples have cooled add olive oil, apple cider vinegar and shallots and purée until smooth. Slowly add the apple cider a tablespoon at a time until vinaigrette reaches a desired thickness. Season with salt and pepper to taste and set aside.

For the croutons:
Preheat oven to 400F. Warm a small sauce pan, add butter and allow it to melt. Once the butter has melted add the garlic, sage and thyme and allow to cook for about a minute or until the herbs become fragrant but do not brown. Place bread into a large boil, evenly pour the butter mixture over the bread, tossing until all the cubes are evenly covered. Spread the cubes out onto a baking sheet, top with grated parmesan, salt and pepper. Place in the oven and bake for 6 minutes stirring occasionaly until the croutons are golden brown. Set aside and allow to cool.

For the salad
Place the halved brussels sprouts onto a baking sheet, lightly toss with salt and pepper and a little olive oil if you like. Place in the oven which is still heated to 400F and roast for 15-20 minutes turning about half way through the roasting time. Remove from oven and allow to cool. In the meantime saute the pancetta in a large pan until crispy and lightly browned. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon and allow to drain on a paper towel.

In a large salad bowl combine croutons, brussels sprouts and pancetta. Remove radicchio from its ice bath, drain thoroughly and add to salad bowl. Add vinaigrette to salad, mixing well. Top with pomegranate seed and dried cranberries if desired.

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Lemony bacon & pea risotto


Charlie and I are gunning for frozen peas to be officially named the best thing since sliced bread (here’s hoping that frozen peas actually came after sliced bread). In any case, I do believe that peas are the answer to most any weekday dinner conundrum. Charlie on the other hand just thinks they are a tasty snack for cats and will hightail it into the kitchen when he hears me removing the package from the freezer.

Lucky for me frozen peas aren’t as labour intensive as I remember them being when I was a kid. We used to pack-up and head out to the Robertson’s farm for what seemed like a full day affair. I have a bit of a mental block around how the peas were collected, that could indicate one of three things, firstly it was a labor intensive project and I really hated it. Secondly, I had nothing to do with it and finally, shelling peas was so much fun that I have blocked all other memories from my mind. The latter is likely where the truth lies.

Shelling the peas was by far the best part, not because we would all sit on a porch for hours manually podding peas, but because someone had managed to turn an oldtimey ringer washing machine into a pea podding device extraordinaire. In my mind I always credited this invention to my grandpa. He was crafty that way and it seems like a good fit. The whole process unfolded as follows; you would feed a whole pea pod in between the two ringers the peas would pop out of one side, falling into a big vat and the empty pods would come out the other side. It was like taking your life into your own hands every time you shoved a pea pod into that contraption! A small child could very easily get caught up in the ringers and I thought it was fantastic.

In my mind some of the greatest comfort food features peas. Mac & cheese with peas, spaghetti and sauce with pea, fried rice… you name it and I’ll likely want to have it with green peas. One such recipe that I often make is this quick and easy risotto. The peas and lemon bring a wonderful brightness to the dish and the bacon adds a crispy, saltiness that make this dish an ultimate comfort food around here.

Lemony Bacon & Pea Risotto
adapted from Gourmet | Serves 2 

3 1/2 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 cup water
3 bacon slice, chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2/3 cup Arborio rice
3/4 cup frozen peas
5 tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano
2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
juice from half a lemon
2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley

In a medium saucepan bring chicken broth and water to a boil. Once the broth mixture has boiled reduce heat to low.

Cook bacon in a pan over low heat until crispy. If you rush this process on a higher heat the bacon fat will brown and leave your risotto a darker colour. Remove bacon from pan with a slotted spoon and place on a paper towel to drain.

Quickly add the garlic to the bacon fat, stirring until it is pale golden, about 30 seconds. Stir rice into garlic until nicely coated. Begin adding broth, 1/2 cup at a time to the rice and stirring occasionally. Once all the liquid has absorbed, add an additional 1/2 cup of liquid to the rice. Continue adding liquid, simmering and stirring until the rice is al dente and the dish has a creamy texture, about 18 – 20 minutes. Reserve the remaining broth mixture. Add the peas to the rice and cook for about 2 minutes.

Mix in the grated Parmigiano, butter, lemon zest and juice. Stir until incorporated. Adjust the thickness of the risotto with the reserved broth. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Top with bacon and parsley.

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Nothing beats warm bread

The smell of warm bread always brings back a flood of memories from my childhood. Growing up, it seemed like something bread related was always going down. Either bread was being made, bread was rising or bread was in the oven. Ginger and I were often relegated to tiptoeing around the house (or the back yard) instead of our usual hectic antics, so that we didn’t cause the bread to fall. I even recall a time or two when my mom rushed to the flour bag and dredged her hands before answering the door so that she wouldn’t have to engage with the salesman who had come calling.

Over the holidays we went to visit a friend who had her mother visiting from out of town. When we arrived her mother was baking bread, and over the course of our visit she somehow managed to whip up a couple of loaves of very lovely smelling bread. She told me that she hadn’t purchased a loaf of bread in over 40 years! “Why have I not been baking bread at home?” I asked myself. Thanks to my mother and the years of taking part in a 6 am highschool bread baking program. I have no excuse, I used to bake bread and I like it!

After my visit I headed home and straight for my archives and began to search for my bread recipe. Back in the day when I used to bake more often I had a bread recipe that I really liked, it was simple and tasty. But as luck would have it, time and a few moves have left me recipe-less. I had to start fresh. I wanted a recipe that had a simple ingredient list, was easy to put together and most importantly, wouldn’t take the whole weekend to make. I started looking for a recipe that featured beer. One trick that I have learned along the way is that if you want a fairly quick loaf of bread, that somewhat resembles an artisan loaf, you need to add beer to your dough.

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No-Knead Beer Bread 
(make 2 rounds)

Ingredients:
1 1/2 teaspoon dry active yeast
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup warm water (about 100F)
12 oz bottled beer at room temperature
4 cups flour
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
cornmeal (for sprinkling on baking sheet)

For the sponge:
In a medium bowl use a wooden spoon to mix together yeast, flour and warm water. Be careful not to use too hot of water or the heat will kill the yeast. Once the ingredients are mixed together cover the bowl with a moist kitchen towel and set in a warm spot to rise for 30 minutes. I don’t have a warm place at home so I pre-heat my oven to about 75F and let the sponge rise there.

For the bread:
After 30 minutes you should have a nice bubbling bowl of sponge. Add the beer to the sponge and mix with a wooden spoon until smooth. Add the flour and salt and mix the dough until all the flour is incorporated. You should be left with a wet dough. Once again cover the bowl and return it to a warm spot to rise for 2 hours.

Once the dough has risen, use a rubber spatula to remove the dough from the sides of the bowl and turn the dough out onto a clean, well floured work surface. For more ease working with the wet dough, generously sprinkle the top of the dough with more flour and dredge your hands with flour before beginning to shape the dough. Divide the dough in half and roughly shape into two rough loaves. Sprinkle cornmeal onto a baking sheet and transfer loaves onto the sheet. Sprinkle the tops of the loaves with flour, cover with a dry towel and return to a warm spot to proof for 30 minutes.

Pre-heat oven to 425F. Once the loaves have fully risen use a very sharp knife to cut a cross into the tops of the loaves. I have found that you usually need to go over the cuts a second time to make them about 3/4″ to 1″ deep. Place the bread in the oven and bake for 35 minutes. You can tell that the bread is finished baking when it develops a lovely golden crust and makes a nice hollow sound when you flick it with your fingers. Allow the bread to cool before cutting into it… haha who am I kidding. Have atter.

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Candy cane cocoa affogato


Nothing beats a snow day. Seriously, they really are the best. Or perhaps the truth of the matter is that I am still a kid at heart. I am particularly fond of the blanket of silence snow brings and the brightness that it adds to winters often grey days. This Christmas was a white one! These types of Christmases seem to come few and far between these days, so when the heavens opened up and the snow began to fall I strapped on my snowshoes and headed for the mountains. That may not be a totally accurate recount of the actual order of events but you get my drift.




My favourite treks are ones that venture off the beaten path and ever so slightly veer off into the woods were the snow is light and fluffy and I am sure to see a set of bunny tracks. This years snowshoeing treks were especially delightful as we had 2 new snow trekkers join our ranks. Both of whom were great sports and happily spent a number of afternoons traipsing through the trees on what eventually became a Sasquatch hunt. Alas a Sasquatch wasn’t to be found and we would head home rosy cheeked and ready for a little something to warm us up.



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On these types of days nothing warms you like a cup of hot cocoa!  And what better reward for our new snow trekkers than with this holiday take on the affogato.

Candy Cane Hot Cocoa Affogato

Hot cocoa
Candy cane ice cream
Peppermint extract (optional)

This recipe really is as simple as whipping up a batch of your favourite hot cocoa and topping it with a scoop of candy cane ice cream. I am a die-hard peppermint fan so I also like to add a drop or two of  peppermint extract into my cup. If you are unable to get your hand on a carton of candy cane ice cream you easily create your own by mixing crushed candy cane into some softened vanilla ice cream or perhaps even try a scoop of chocolate chip mint.

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Happy holidays to you…

From both of us to all of you, may the season be filled with fun, food and fond memories. We’re celebrating the holidays together here at Chez Albrecht and we’ll be back to regular posts in the next week or so. In the mean time, happy holidays. Thanks for all of your support throughout the year.
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