Remember Mathilde from Bordeaux with whom I had an amazing Foodie Exchange? Well a while back she contacted me asking for a very specific product (real maple extract, really hard to find actually)  and we [...]]]>

Quiet on the blogging front this weekend as it is a long one with Labor Day celebrations. Enjoy!

Remember Mathilde from Bordeaux with whom I had an amazing Foodie Exchange? Well a while back she contacted me asking for a very specific product (real maple extract, really hard to find actually)  and we agreed to a small exchange again. And Again she went out of her way which a huge amazing package….

• Merlot wine confit
• Chili Mustard
• Foie Gras
• Cherry jam
• Tea

I will have to send her a little something again….whether she likes it or not

Some months I require quite a bit of research [...]]]>

Penny at Jeroxie is at it again with a new International Incident Party for the month of August. The theme is SCONES and this event is co-hosted with the August birthday babies: Anh of  A food’s lover journey & Cherrie of Sweet Cherrie Pie.

Some months I require quite a bit of research time before settling on a recipe and other times as soon as I see the theme an idea hits me like a bolt of lightning. The latter was the case with scones. And I have no idea why but I had to make Green Tea Scones using Matcha powder. I have cooked and baked with this powder a few times and I always love the results so why not with scones.

Shamelessly taken from Wiki…Matcha refers to finely-milled Japanese green tea. The cultural activity called the Japanese tea ceremony centers on the preparation, serving, and drinking of matcha. In modern times, matcha has also come to be used to flavor and dye foods such as mochi and soba noodles, green tea ice cream, and a variety of wagashi (Japanese confectionery). The Occidental hemisphere is quickly adapting recipes to include matcha as well, like in scones.

Wow, the scone were so easy and quick to make. And I love how they just rise straight up and high. This is a nice little treat for breakfast I can see myself preparing in large quantities. I would perhaps add a bit more of sugar next time though. I felt perhaps 2 tbsp would have balanced the recipe just perfectly. I am finding myself sneaking one every time I have a little pang of hunger. Hmmm maybe not a good idea then to make too many lol.

I had a bit of leftover heavy cream in the fridge so I whipped it up with a touch of sugar, matcha powder and 1 drop of green coloring. I have a lovely Japanese tray I painted myself in gold about 15 yeas ago. The setting was perfect: the Japanese tray, my cast iron green tea pot, a traditional green tea cup filled of course, my Matcha scones with a big dollop of Matcha cream. So without further a do I present to you my submission of Matcha Scones from the Culinary room of New York Mutual Trading.

Matcha Scones

• 9 ounces cake flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/3 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon Matcha powder
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 2 1/2 ounces butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 large egg yolk

1. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt, sugar and Matcha powder.
2. Cut butter into small pieces; process with the flour until becomes grain-size.
3. Combine milk, egg yolk; add to flour mixture; lightly knead.

4. Pat down the dough with your hands to 1 inch thick.

5. Use a 2 inch ring mold; cut into 8 to 10 circles.

6. Bake in 360°F oven 15 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool a little before serving.

These aromatic leaves are a staple of [...]]]>

I am going through an Asian cooking phase right now. I believe one reason for this little obsession is my visits to a few Asian grocery stores filled with unfamiliar ingredients. Oh pretty shiny new things to try! Here is my latest experiment: Korean Sesame Leaves

These aromatic leaves are a staple of Korean cuisine. And would you not know it there just so happens to be a Korean grocery store near where I live. This is where I found them. They were $1.50 for a bunch. I had not idea what to do with them but for that price I think it was worth the risk he he.  I nibbled a small piece of this leaf and it revealed to me subtle minty and nutty flavors.

Now the real name for this leaf is Perilla and the sesame leaf has no actually no relation to sesame seeds. It’s actually a case of lost-in-translation. The Korean word deulkkae gets translated literally into wild sesame. There is a Japanese version, same family but not same leaf, called shiso. From my online research you can shred it and toss it into a stir fry or a green salad. Some dishes use it an eating implement where you pick up a meat, a vegetable or else with the leaf instead or say a spoon or fork. I chose a really fun recipe, Leaf Jeon, for this new found ingredient.

Leaf Jeon

1lb ground beef
1/2 chopped onion
1 chopped garlic clove
salt and black pepper to taste
1 egg

20 sesame leaves, approximately
flour
2 eggs
olive oil or any oil for cooking

Directions:

In a bowl mix the ground beef, chopped onion, garlic, salt, black pepper, and 1 egg.

Cut the stems off the sesame leaf, clean them under the tap water and shake off the excess water. Do not pat them dry . Grab a plate filed with some flour and coat both sides of the leaf with flour.

Grab one coated leaf, put some of the mixed meat mixture on it and spread it over most of the surface with your fingers. Top it of with the other coated leaf. It should look like a leaf sandwich with beef in the middle.

Beat 2 eggs in a bowl. Quickly dip the leaf sandwiches on both sides in the egg mixture and then fry in a bit of olive oil  them in a pan again on both sides until the meat is cooked and the outside has browned a bit.

I served mine with slices of pickled daikon and deep fried Shishito peppers (leftovers from my Adegashi Tofu). Other great accompaniments would be rice and kimchi. If you like prepare a  soy sauce mixture to serve with the Leaf Jeon.  This was quite a simple recipe and you can make it pretty fast. I really like the taste but I would perhaps adjust the spicing of the meat a bit. The sandwiches were still quite tasty with a very subtle flavor from the leave and an oozing fatty taste…in a good way. It’s like the fat from the ground beef had nowhere to escape during the cooking and it stayed trapped in there.

Soy sauce mixture: soy sauce slightly diluted with a bit of water, chopped green onions, sesame seeds, and red pepper powder.

Oh yummy yummy dumplings [...]]]>

The August 2010 Daring Cooks’ Challenge was hosted by LizG of Bits n’ Bites and Anula of Anula’s Kitchen. They chose to challenge Daring Cooks to make pierogi from scratch and an optional challenge to provide one filling that best represents their locale.

Oh yummy yummy dumplings type food. I love pierogies. There are a few Russian and Polish restaurants in Montreal and when I go I make sure to include some pierogi. I love eating them hot wit a large quantity of sour cream and chives. So hearty. For this challenge I enlisted my friend Karyn (she moonlights as a pastry chef btw). When I told her to come over I think she assumed we were having pierogies for inner. After a glass of wine and chat I suggested we get started. ‘what we are making them from scratch?’ Ah, yes, it is a challenge and you can cook!

Fried pierogis

It turned out o be quite an endeavour to start so late on a week night he he. We ate kind of late but it was so worth it. I had leftovers for another meal. I fried those and I preferred them even better that way actually. I know the challenge asked us to go local…but I am part Russian so I went traditional which remains local for me. We did attempt a sweet version with pineapple and cottage cheese but it got messy and the dough refused to stick with that mixture.

Our challenge was to make the dough from scratch and a savory or sweet filling of our choice. I chose the potato and cheese pierogi.

Makes around 30 dumplings.

Dough:
2 to 2 1/2 cups (300 to 375 g) all-purpose (plain) flour
1 large egg
1 teaspoon (5 ml) salt
About 1 cup (250 ml) lukewarm water or milk

Potato and cheese Filling:
4 – 5 boiled potatoes
4 table spoons butter (60 g) or olive oil (60 ml)
50 ml (3 tablespoons + 1 teaspoon) milk
1 egg white (from medium egg)
about 120 ml (½ cup) farmers’ cheese (any unripened cheese like Indian Paneer)
salt and pepper

1. Combine all the ingredients for the filling (it’s best to use one’s hands to do that) put into the bowl, cover and set aside in the fridge until you have to use it.

2. Place 2 cups flour in a large bowl or on a work surface and make a well in the center. Break the egg into it, add the salt and a little lukewarm at a time (in my situation 1/2 cup was enough). Bring the dough together, kneading well and adding more flour or water as necessary. Cover the dough with a bowl or towel. You’re aiming for soft dough. Let it rest 20 minutes.

Rest well tired dough!

3. Mix well all the ingredients for the filling. Set aside.

potato and cheese, yumm!

4. On a floured work surface, roll the dough out thinly (1/8” or about 3 millimeters) cut with a 2-inch (5 cm) round or glass.

Look at the pastry pro on the go

5. Spoon a portion (teaspoon will be the best) of the filling into the middle of each circle. Fold dough in half and pinch edges together. Gather scraps, re-roll and fill. Repeat with remaining dough.

Before their plunge into boiling water

6. Bring a large, low saucepan of salted water to boil. Drop in the pierogi, not too many, only single layer in the pan! Return to the boil and reduce heat. When the pierogi rise to the surface, continue to simmer a few minutes more ( usually about 5 minutes). Remove one dumpling with a slotted spoon and taste if ready. When satisfied, remove remaining pierogi from the water.

Tips:

• when sealing pierogi don’t allow any filling to seep .. it should seal by itself very tight
• if your dumplings stick to each add a tablespoon of oil into the water
• when boiling your pierogi try to boil each type of filling separately
• Boiled pierogi can also be fried after boiling for a nice crunchy dumpling

Another dough recipe:

½ cup (125 ml) milk (can be whole milk, 2% or skim milk)
½ cup (125 ml) whipping cream
3 large egg whites
1 tsp (5 ml) salt
3 cups (450 gm) all-purpose flour

1. Mix flour and salt, add other ingredients, and knead dough until you have a smooth dough. (I kneaded this dough quite a bit, and it yielded a nice, pliable dough).
2. On a floured surface roll out fairly thin (1/8” or about 3 millimeters), cut into 2” (5 cm) squares, and fill with 1 tsp (5ml) cottage cheese filling (see below).

Other types of fillings:

Cottage cheese
1 lb (455 g) dry cottage cheese (or wet drained for a few hours)
3 large egg yolks
Salt to taste

Russian style pierogi (Pelmeni)
3 big potatoes, cooked & mashed
1 cup (225 g) cottage cheese, drained
1 onion, diced & sauteed in butter until clear
3 slices of streaky bacon, diced and fried till crispy
1 egg yolk (from medium egg)
1 tablespoon (15 g) butter, melted
1/4 (1.25 ml) teaspoon salt
pinch of pepper to taste

Meat and cabbage
200 g (7 oz) cooked meat (minced or cut very finely)
500 g white cabbage (chopped and simmered in a little bit of water, until soft)
1 onion (diced and fried)
1 whole medium egg
1 tablespoon (15g) butter
dry breadcrumbs (add as much to hold the filling together, about 2 tablespoons)
salt and pepper

Sauerkraut filling
2 cups (500 g)  sauerkraut
1 big carrot, grated
1 shallot, chopped and fried with a tablespoon of butter
few (about 3) wild mushrooms (I used dry ones, you can use fresh but chop them and fry on some butter before adding to the sauerkraut cabbage)
salt, pepper and cumin
- Saute all the ingredients together until soft, cool before filling pierogi.

You can also fill pierogi with whole seasonal fruits for example- strawberries, blueberries, morels, grated apples etc. To prevent the fruits from ‘sogging’ just add a little bit of potato flour inside with the fruit and sweeten them after the boiling on the plate rather than putting sugar inside.

Thanks Karyn for cooking with me! Coming over soon again?

Hush Puppies was my pet project this time around. I never in my life ate these before this trip to the South. I had then 4 times and it turns out my favorite ones were [...]]]>

One more recipe down from my public self-made promise to cook certain foods I ate during my trip.

Hush Puppies was my pet project this time around. I never in my life ate these before this trip to the South. I had then 4 times and it turns out my favorite ones were from the seafood restaurant Sanitary…which happens to post the recipe of their website. These hush puppies are super easy and quick to make. There is no flour in this recipe so you don’t get a cake-like hush puppy. I “spiked” mine with dehydrated garlic and chili flakes. You could add any seasoning you like: curry, onions, saffron, fresh herbs, etc.

FAMOUS TAR HEEL HUSH PUPPIES

1 lb fine corn meal
1 egg
1 Teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoons Sugar
Pinch baking soda
1 cup buttermilk

Stir, adding water, to thick consistency.
Drop by the spoonful in deep fat  heated to 375 F degrees.
Deep fry until golden. Drain on a paper towel.

Recipe serves six (or 10 normal people)

Don’t have buttermilk? Substitute with 1 cup of milk and 1 tablespoon of white vinegar or lemon juice.

Great so now you know how to make them…but where did the name come from?

Hushpuppies are a food with strong ties to the American South, although they are available in many areas of America on the menus of deep fried fish restaurants. The name “hushpuppies” is often attributed to hunters, fishermen or other cooks who would fry some basic cornmeal mixture and feed it to their dogs to “hush the puppies” during cook-outs or fish-frys. Also, runaway slaves would feed them to the guard dogs of their owners in order to “hush the puppies.”

Other hush puppy legends date to the Civil War. Southern soldiers would sit beside a campfire, preparing meals. When Union soldiers came near, they would toss some small pieces of fried cornbread to their barking dogs with the command “Hush, puppies”.