Roast chicken and young love

"You know, under that crusty and cynical exterior is a soft and glooshy romantic."
-- my former colleague and (still) dear friend Helena

Never say I don't do things for young couples in love.

Late Friday I received an email from one of the women I work with. Her brother-in-law entered a contest in his local paper to perform the perfect proposal. The prize is a gorgeous ring. The winner is decided by on-line voting and although he was doing well, he wasn't in first place. Could we please vote for him?

He has absolutely lovely things to say about her: beautiful, hard-working, realistic (and by inference: patient). They've just graduated from uni, bought house and are starting their lives together. Unfortunately the house has turned into a money pit (no matter which way you slice it $60K in repairs is cause to say "ouch.") and a cause for a delayed engagement ring.

What does his perfect proposal include? Asking her father's permission is first and foremost. We hope Daddy says yes. Assuming that happens, proposal day (their anniversary) begins with a dozen roses delivered to her work, followed by a champagne-flowing limo ride to one of London (Ontario's) best restaurants. The table is decorated with her favourite flowers, white orchids. Her boyfriend is no where to be seen...

Then in walks a giant chicken.

The chicken approaches other women at the restaurant. Some laugh (hey, it is London...not a place known for a healthy sense of humour), but they aren't whom le grand poulet's looking for.

Giant chicken approaches the lonely diner, and hands her a card asking if she is the women he is looking for. One hopes she nods "yes."

The chicken hands her another card saying that he has been sent to her by someone very special.

The chicken then hands her a third card saying that he is sorry that he has been such a chicken for so long.

The chicken then hands the young woman a paper bag with a small engagement ring like box inside, with another card which reads "I love you."

The chicken mask comes off, he goes down on one knee and proposes to her.

Gosh...isn't that just so...sweet?

Although Cupid recently decided to bruise my own heart, I couldn't help but let my usually well-hidden glooshy side out for them. So I voted for him.

Normally I don't ask you to do this sort of thing, but I'd really like him to win the contest, the ring and the girl. If you can, please vote for him on this site:
http://www.lfpress.com/perfectproposalvoting/index.php?action=showform&page=proposal&id=65&start=70&n=10&sort=id

You do have to register an email address, but you can check the "please don't email me" ticky box to not be bothered by the newspaper and its partners. You can vote a maximum of once/day per computer (yes, we know people who are voting at home and at work). Voting closes on 6 April, so there's still some time...and I'll let you know if he wins.

In exchange, I offer you a compound butter that's a great baste for roast chicken. Simply mix all the ingredients together and squoosh some between the skin and meat and again on the skin. Sprinkle the skin with salt and pop into a 350F/180C oven. As the butter and chicken fat melt out, slurp the flavourful fats with a baster and baste the chicken (I do this every 10 minutes or so), until the chicken is cooked.


Ginger-Lime-Coriander Compound Butter
3 Tbsp butter
half a thumb ginger, grated
1 clove garlic, minced
2-3 generous pinches black pepper
Zest and juice of half a lime
2 Tbsp finely chopped coriander leaf
0.25 tsp chilli garlic sauce


edit: One of my readers has requested a video of the proposal if he wins the ring...I have forwarded this to the powers that be...

cheers!
jasmine

I'm an e-Auntie

No foodish post, but some important foodish news...

Our very dear Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar has some very wonderful news.

cheers!
jasmine

Daring Bakers: Lavosh crackers and toppings

Note to self: there's a reason you named your stove Beelzebub

Sigh...

You see, he fed me a line and I believed him. He actually made me believe he wasn't demon spawn, he wasn't a product of an unholy alliance between (insert your own despised political party *here*) and (insert your own despised corporate sector *here*), he wasn't put on this planet to convince people that big box prepared processed and cooked takeaway foods really is the way to eat

I thought we had a break through. I stopped cursing at him and he stopped playing with the temps to keep a constant heat. It was a lovely three weeks. I made banana breads, scones and cookies and lost nary a one.

Admittedly, my time management has been in the loo this month. I didn't get around to this month's Daring Bakers' challenge until this morning. Our dearest Natalie of Gluten a Go-Go and Shel from Fishbowl challenged the vast DB masses to make Lavosh crackers and toppings. The lavosh recipe is easy and I will keep it on hand to make again...hopefully with a different stove, whether mine or borrowed

Maybe Beelzebub picked upon my slightly elevated stress levels or he picked up on the urgency of the issue (heck, the post needs to be up today). Maybe he thought he was being taken for granted. I don't know, but he was a naughty boy. Whatever he thought, he played with the temperature dial like a bored teenager with his PSP.

The dough is very simple and easily adaptable to your palate. I had no issues making the ball, passing the window pane test, letting it rise, getting it to double in size or rolling out the dough. I had no issues choosing its flavourings--I chose freshly cracked black pepper, ground salt and sesame seeds. I wound up baking them on two trays...and I'm glad I did.

This is what happened to the first tray. I suppose if I were making cocoa or molasses lavosh, it would be fine...but I wasn't. Yes, I tasted a shard. Apart from the heavy charcoalish notes along with the bonfire-like aromas left in the condo, it was quite tasty.




Here's the second tray. MUCH better. Okay...slightly underdone in spots, but I can live with that. I think next time I'll toast the sesame seeds before sprinkling them on the wet dough.

Same dough. Same oven. Same cooking time.

Sigh.

The second part of the challenge was to make a dip for the crackers. Our lovely hosts suggested salsa. Even though we were recently in the throes of tomato season, I wasn't in the mood to make (or buy) a salsa. Instead, I opened a bottle of my lascivious peach chutney and tried the crackers with it--absolutely delicious.

Yes. It was my breakfast.


To read what the other DBs did with this challenge, take a meander through our blogroll.


cheers!
jasmine

The VGT Ominivore's Hundred

If you are a regular foodblog reader you've probably found one of the more than 3000 mentions about the VGT Omnivore's Hundred. The rules are simple...mark which of the 100 listed foods you've partaken in.

I think it's a great idea--by no means is the list supposed to be a be-all and end-all list of foods we must have--but it has a nice cross section of things to nibble on.

The way I've done it is to grey out the ones I've not eaten (can't figure out the strikethrough command), the bits in blue are things I won't have and what's in pink are my comments.

1. Venison

2. Nettle tea

3. Huevos rancheros

4. Steak tartare

5. Crocodile

6. Black pudding

7. Cheese fondue

8. Carp

9. Borscht

10. Baba ghanoush

11. Calamari

12. Pho

13. PB&J sandwich

14. Aloo gobi

15. Hot dog from a street cart

16. Epoisses

17. Black truffle

18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes

19. Steamed pork buns

20. Pistachio ice cream

21. Heirloom tomatoes (qualification: home grown tomatoes from harvested seeds)

22. Fresh wild berries (qualification: berries that weren’t obtained from a shop, but from friends’ (and strangers’) yards)

23. Foie gras

24. Rice and beans

25. Brawn, or head cheese (nope, won't try this)

26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper

27. Dulce de leche

28. Oysters

29. Baklava

30. Bagna cauda

31. Wasabi peas

32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl (separately: yes, together: no)

33. Salted lassi

34. Sauerkraut

35. Root beer float

36. Cognac with a fat cigar

37. Clotted cream tea

38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O (I have a dim memory of this from my uni days)

39. Gumbo

40. Oxtail

41. Curried goat

42. Whole insects

43. Phaal

44. Goat’s milk

45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more

46. Fugu

47. Chicken tikka masala

48. Eel

49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut

50. Sea urchin

51. Prickly pear

52. Umeboshi

53. Abalone

54. Paneer

55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal

56. Spaetzle

57. Dirty gin martini

58. Beer above 8% ABV (so close: I’ve had 7.5 per cent ABV)

59. Poutine

60. Carob chips

61. S’mores

62. Sweetbreads

63. Kaolin (qualification: in the form of freshly picked fruit/veggies that haven’t been washed)

64. Currywurst

65. Durian

66. Frogs’ legs

67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake (comment:: Hey! What about beaver tails?!)

68. Haggis

69. Fried plantain

70. Chitterlings, or andouillette

71. Gazpacho

72. Caviar and blini (qualification: not at the same time)

73. Louche absinthe

74. Gjetost, or brunost

75. Roadkill

76. Baijiu

77. Hostess Fruit Pie

78. Snail

79. Lapsang souchong

80. Bellini

81. Tom yum

82. Eggs Benedict

83. Pocky

84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.

85. Kobe beef

86. Hare

87. Goulash

88. Flowers

89. Horse

90. Criollo chocolate

91. Spam

92. Soft shell crab

93. Rose harissa

94. Catfish

95. Mole poblano

96. Bagel and lox

97. Lobster Thermidor

98. Polenta

99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee

100. Snake

It's not a meme, but if you want to participate, here are the rules:

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.

2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.

3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.

4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

cheers!
jasmine

Invitation: Mmm...Canada

"Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are.”
- Brillat-Savarin, The Physiology of Taste

Long before Samuel De Champlain’s L’ordre de bon temps feasted in Port Royal, our First Nations’ peoples gathered and shared what they hunted and grew. Settlers arrived, and adapted their food traditions to the wild and cultivated bounties they found. Immigrants brought new crops and herds, techniques and ideas to Canada, furthering expanding our national palate.

New Canadians used their traditional meals as a connection to the home and family they left thousands of kilometres away. Eventually, as people from different cultures began living side by side, meals were shared and replicated in other kitchens. From kitchen to kitchen, table to table and plate to plate, foods were adapted and shared and adapted again to become an integral part of the Canadian mosaic.

I think it’s time to celebrate the foods that help to make Canada, well, Canada.

But which foods are they? Are they traditional and indigenous ingredients such as salmon, maple syrup, bison, Jerusalem artichokes and corn? What about what early European settlers brought and whose descendants helped to adapt and develop such as Red Fife wheat, cheeses, wines and spirits and Yukon Gold Potatoes? Or is it how subsequent immigrant waves tempt our palates with foods such as roti, gormeh-sabzi, kimchi and aloo gobi?

I think it’s all of the above and then some.

We have traditional European-inspired foods to cutting-edge fusion cuisine. We are brewers and vintners; we are cheese makers, chocolatiers and farmers.

Our restaurants boast everything from home-style dining to haute cuisine. Our bloggers write and photograph everything from regional foods to their own kitchen creations.

A few years ago, Jennifer of The Domestic Goddess celebrated the culinary diversity that is Canada through Taste Canada. She asked bloggers—Canadian, ex-pat Canadian and even a few wish-they-were-Canadians -- to share what Canada tastes like to them.

This year I’m continuing her quest, but asking you to share which savoury dishes or drinks tastes like Canada to you? Is it the first meal you had when you landed at Pearson? Can it be found in the handwritten notes your grandmother brought with her when she docked at Pier 21? What about the local food co-op that brings local, organically grown food to its members? Do the memories of the meat pies, smothered in gravy at your hometown's little ma and pa diner immediately spring to mind? Do you think Canada tastes like one of our many craft breweries or wineries? Or does a recipe or two from one of the dozens of Canadian foodbloggers let your imagination run away with you?

Any course, any reason, any season: it just needs to taste like Canada to you.

How to participate in Mmm…Canada, The Savoury Edition:

Write and upload your post between 23 and 28 June 2008. It can be in whatever form you wish: an essay, a series of photographs, a restaurant review, a recipe, an interview, a video.

Email me at cardamomaddict at gmail dot com (you know what to do) with the following information:

• Your name
• Your blog name and URL
• Your post’s title and URL
• One photo (if applicable), sized to 150 pixels wide, with your blog name as the filename
• If you are a Canadian blogger, which province or territory you are in
• If you are an expat Canadian blogger, which province or territory you are from and what country you are in now
• If you want to be an honorary Canadian for this event (sorry, I’m not so powerful as to bestow that on you for your day-to-day affairs), what country you are in now
• For those of you who want to use the Mmm…Canada, The Savoury Edition badge, you can find it here.

If you aren’t a blogger and would like to participate, please send me your contribution (along with the above info) and I will post your contribution onto my Kitchen Diaries site.

And in response to some questions I've received about the savoury side of things (to be updated as they come in):

• You don't have to be Canadian to participate.
• Savoury drinks would include things like beers, spirits, non-dessert wines...even beef tea. Dessert wines such as Ice Wine would be part of the SHF edition.
• Entries can be in any language.
• Entries must be new posts BUT if you really want to enter a recipe, dining or drinking experience, food aventure (etc) that you've previously blogged about, you can upload new content about it within the posting dates.
• Please link back to the invitation post.

I’ll have my round-up posted for, when else, Canada Day (1 July 2008).

For those of you who think Canada’s pretty sweet, Jennifer is taking care of all Canadian-inspired sweet dishes in this month’s SHF: Mmm... Canada, the Sugar High Edition. And if you think Canada’s both sweet and savoury: yes, you can participate in both events.

Questions, concerns or anything else? Please send me an email.


cheers!
jasmine

Related Posts:

Mmm...Canada: A wee bit of inspiration

Round-up

SHF 43: Chilled lemon soufflé

Our wonderful Tartelette made an astonishing discovery prior to declaring this month's Sugar High Friday Theme: it's been three years since citrus was on our sweet menu.

THREE years? That can't be right...but I know it is.

I remember reading somewhere that there are two types of people out there: those who like chocolate and those who like lemon (or citrus). I must admit that until this past summer, I would have put myself in the former group--automatically drawn to the dark, rich and sometimes spicy depths of chocolate. Now I seem to have lost my chocolate tooth--maybe it's with my sweet tooth as that's been MIA for more than nine months now--and I lean more towards citrus--lime, tangerine and lemon.

I think what draws me now to their flavours is what I think of as exactly opposite to why I like(d) chocolatey desserts--They are sweet, tart and their acidic nature makes them refreshing.

So, what to do? I originally wanted to do a lemon-lime ice cream, but my little freezer is so over committed with bargain chicken and ground beef, bags of veggies and rainy-day cooking, I couldn't fit the ice cream maker's in for chilling.

The answer came in an email. About 10 days ago the good people at America's Test Kitchen must have been reading my mind when they sent out their enewsletter, because it included a link to their chilled lemon soufflé.

Well...it was kind of like ice cream...and the quantity was reasonable (the recipe states enough for two).

It's very simple to make and really doesn't take much time at all--make a custard, add lemon juice and zest, fold in sweetened whipped egg whites and whipped cream and chill. The primrose treat was creamy and refreshing. I could easily see it served with fresh blueberries or raspberries, when they come into season.






To read the lovely goodness others contributed, please visit Tartelette's round-up.

cheers!
jasmine

Taste of Yellow: Sweetcorn pudding

Last year 149 bloggers came together for Barbara of Winos and Foodies' Taste of Yellow in support of LiveSTRONG Day and The Lance Armstrong Foundation's awareness event for cancer issues and cancer survivors.

When she announced Taste of Yellow 2008 I knew I wanted to participate, but wasn't sure if my schedule would alow it. During the past week, when I caught up with my backlog of blog reading, I saw so many wonderful posts like Bron's, Annemarie's, Paz's and Ivonne's, I knew I had to carve some time out for it.

Most of us know someone who was afflicted by it or know someone cared for a sufferer. Some of us have had our own scares--as some of you know, I've had two breast cancer scares in ten years--I'm fine, but they were life-defining moments.

My contribution to this year's event is a favourite side dish that I usually make with ribs or pork chops, Nigella Lawson's Sweetcorn Pudding. It's tasty and easy and wonderful to eat on its own, especially after a very long day...


cheers!
jasmine

Related: Taste of Yellow: Cornish Saffron Cake and Happiness Soup

It's like being five years old again

Two snowstorms within seven days left us with a lot of snow and not a lot of places to put the tonnes of frozen flakes. The weather forecasters, newsreaders and traffic reporters spent days warning us about how bad things would be...and they were right.

Sunday night I got a call from My Dear Little Mummy, who'd gotten wind of the storm...all the way in India. She tracked the storm via BBC News, and watched the destruction on the Atlantic and Ohio...as she said "It was all white and then I saw a little head peeping out (from behind the snow drifts)." Which she thought was funny...then I told her the snow banks were taller than her...she didn't think that was funny. Really, it was like being in kindergarten, not being able to see over the drifts and banks.

Unfortunately, the air pressure turned migraine inducing...I have little memory of Friday, or most of Sunday for that matter, except for a couple of handfuls of pain pills, blankets and almost total darkness.

Saturday, I was one of the insane people who went out grocery shopping. The MidsizedMildlyAnnoyingMegamart is pretty much across the street from me, but I took my life into my own hands, given the slippy roads, notsogreat visibility and the ice that kept forming on my wiper blades. I was well enough to do some baking, but Beelzebub lived up to his name and turned my poor little blueberry buttermilk muffins into charcoal-stumped cakelettes. They are so sad, I couldn't bare taking pictures...really...bad things should not happen to good blueberries.

Sunday, before the vice grip-like hold on my head rendered me useless, I dug out George (my car)...with the help of my two wonderful neighbours. I also took some pictures, so my parents could appreciate what they skipped out on...



L: The view from my front door...that smear of grey is George. Yes I have a garage, but there's a desk in there which is keeping me from parking in it...

M: My parent's walk...

R: See that splotch of red? That's my Dad's car. Apart from the lumpy snow in front, it's all drift.



L: My parents' front garden...that loopy thing is a wire trellissy thing that theoretically protects the plants from the former neighbours' kids...and vermin...

M: My condo again...see that big snow pile under the tree--it's more than twice the height of a car.

R: My neighour's front garden, seen from the shared driveway.

Sorry, no food pictures or food post. If you're interested in a dessert that uses snow, take a look at Jenny's post.


cheers!
jasmine

Daring Bakers: Julia Child's French Bread

I think it's a rare North American home cook who can claim to be pristine against the influence of the great Julia Child. I remember watching her show, The French Chef, as PBS repeats: her distinctive sing-songy voice teaching viewers how to make sauces or crêpes or beasts in a way that was very matter-of-fact, but approachable. More importantly, I thought she was having fun.

When our fabulous Daring Bakers hosts, Sarah of i like to cook and Breadchick of The Sour Dough challenged us to make Julia Child's French Bread, I knew this would be a combination of fun and, well...work.

Yes, I'm fully aware of those glorious home bread machines that via prest-o-change-o magic fill homes with scrumptious aromas in three hours. Relatively effortless, all you have to do --apart from measure out the ingredients-- is dump the fixings into the gadget and walk away until it dings its "the bread has loafed" ding. Then all you need to do is cool it, wipe down the inside of the machine and wash the tin. It's a little too sterile for my liking...and truth be told, I usually wind up losing one of the kneading paddles into the crumb, so I end up massacring its underside, pulling out huge wodges of bread in search of a wandering machine part.

I wasn't forced to use the bread machine, something an uncle convinced my parents to get, but being the lazy sort I am, it became very convenient...and a very lah-di-dah excuse to not be lassoed into doing something as exciting as digging my eyes out with the catbox scoop--"Oh no, thanks for the invite, but I really do need to make some bread...yes, I do bake my own...it's terribly complicated...I really can't leave it, even through the second rise...yes, there's more than one rise...it's that sort of thing." Given the bread machine was usually hid under a tea towel, many people never noticed it.

To tell you the truth, there was a bit of me that was happy when the bread machine broke some 10-odd years ago. I'd rather have my hands stuck in a mass of sticky, yeasty and, well, farty dough than letting some dispassionate contraption have all the fun.

Let's face it, breadmaking by hand is not for the feint of heart, nor wimpy of arm. Although not required, a...healthy, if not plumptious physique helps with all that kneading and rolling and slapping and smacking that goes on when taming yeast bubbles. It also helps if you have a wee bit...or a whole bushel-load...of frustrations to work through. Think of the dough as a soon-to-be edible stressball.

If you've ever wanted to make French Bread, this recipe is one to try. Whatever you do, don't be discouraged by its copious notations, nor the total amount of time needed to make this bread from start to finish: Sarah's and Mary's hints, suggestions and clarifications are a fabulous way to calm even the most nervous of novice breadmakers, and well, you really aren't that active for all that breadmaking time (up to nine hours, if you want to know)...most of it is spent letting the dough grow, so you can go about your normal housey antics...cleaning, flitting through blogs, chasing the cat, watching Coronation Street, all of the above...

I was so pleased with my humble little loaf. I knocked on the crust--it had that lovely deep sound a good crusty loaf should have. The outside was a beautifully burnished colour and he crumb was soft and yielding. Fresh, it's delicious with butter and jam. Cut into thick batons and lightly toasted, it's fabulous dunked into (Nigella's) Oeufs en Cocotte.





To read what the other DBs did with this challenge, take a meander through our blogroll.



cheers!
jasmine

WCC 25: Nigella Lawson

In the corner of my dining room is a stack of seemingly abandoned books. They aren't shelved, but they aren't on their way to find a new home. This collection of new, never-flexed spines, made possible by a combination of generous publishers and my own hunger for specific authors, has been the bane of my culinary and blogging existences...to make matters worse, uppermost tome is blanketed by the thinnest layer of dust.

Guiltily, I've eyed my stack of new and neglected cookbooks for several weeks, some titles for months. Don't get me wrong--I wanted to read them, cook from them and write about them, but until very recently, I just couldn't.

Since getting back into the swing of things, these titles have beckoned me to frolic in their pages. I've resisted to a certain extent, simply because I didn't think I was up to the challenge of trying something new. That is, until I saw this month's Weekend Cookbook Challenge theme: Nigella Lawson, hosted by Foodiechickie.

How better to get me riffling through pages than by mentioning a favoured food writer?

In as much as I love pottering away in the kitchen, that really is a luxury. Life is busy, and although I don't have little ones running around, between work, sorting out Michael's possessions, getting the condo up and running, finishing my last course and all those things --and people--that pop up when you least expect, supper is usually a mad root through the fridge and pantry, hurriedly thrown together, with any leftovers boxed for the next day's lunch. This, of course results in me relying upon a few standbys--sandwiches, doctored soups and pastas--followed by one night of bulk cooking, well bulk enough to last two nights.

Nigella Express is meant for those of us who want delicious meals with relatively little effort. As the opening flap pronounces, "The Domestic Goddess is back and this time it's instant." That's not to say this is a book for the enamoured followers of "semi-homemade." Yes, she uses premade or boullioned broths and some recipes, such as Minestrone in Minutes call for "tomato-based pasta sauce of your choice" but her book isn't permeated with the pong associated by the TMs or (R)s in ingredients lists, as happens with certain other recipe scratchers.

Nigella's language is exquisite and encouraging. Her speedy Chocolate Croissants, made with store-bough puff pastry, starts with "First, let me say that if I can do this, you can. As I have never tried to hide, I have not patience and even less dexterity. But this is child's play..." The recipes are also written with speed in mind--instructions are short and you don't have to turn the page.

The book is divided into 13 chapters, each addressing a different express need, from everyday meals, quick breakfasts, speedy entertaining, holidays, make-ahead meals and quickly-made restoratives. Regardless of speed or reason, this book contains instructions for the food you want to eat.

Here's what I made. Where ever possible, I've linked to recipes.

Please note, I have the UK version of the book--have learned to distrust conversions and "translations". If you are only to get the US version in your shop, you can order it (or many other UK imprints) online through amazon.co.uk, or Blackwell--I've used both in the past and have been extremely pleased.

Breakfast Bars p94
I knew I had to make these as my shopping trolley usually holds a box or two of granola or breakfast bars. Incredibly easy to put together. Yes, they take an hour to make, but I ended up with more than two weeks' worth of morning munchies. Sweet nutty and easily transportable. I've been using salvaged crumbs from my bar-butchering as an ice cream topper.


Pear and Ginger Muffins p 97
Yes, I know...two breakfast foods, but I generally find breakfast the meal I need most and the one I have the least amount of time for. The gingeryness gives the pear a zippy flavour and a happy morning snack food.



Oeufs en Cocotte p65
Is there anything simpler and more pleasurable than a baton of toasted bread dunked into squidgy, thickened and still-warm yolk? I luxuriated this a bit by adding a morel. All this in 15 minutes.



Buttermilk Roast Chicken p274
Roast chicken is a perennial favourite and chicken marinated in buttermilk even more so. I'm used to buttermilk poached chicken that's then fried, but the roasted version just as easily satiated my hunger.




If anything, Nigella Express reminds me that fast food doesn't have to be limiting to pasta and jarred sauce or a fried egg sandwich. Nor does it mean a Styrofoam box in my trash bin.

WCC25's mission was to cook from any of Nigella's books. And I've done my fair share of that. To see other Nigella recipes or -inspired foods I've conjured, click on this link.

cheers!
jasmine

Time to make the doughnuts: Dutchies

When I deduced that Tartelette and Peabody devised a divine doughnutty doo declared "Time to make the doughnuts" I knew I'd be getting out the big vat-o-oil for this one.

With so many flavours and types out there, narrowing down my entry was pretty easy: the Dutchie.

"Dutchie?" I hear some of you say. "What on Earth are you talking about?" (Okay, others are saying, "Oh man, couldn't you do something good?" while others are leaping about for joy (yeah, I hear the little thuddy sounds)).

To me, the Dutchie is the quintessential Canadian doughnut. And trust me, Canadians know doughnuts. According to this CBC article, there are more doughnut shops per capita here than anywhere else on our big blue marble, and we eat more doughnuts than anyone else in the world (that and, apparently, KD).

Available at pretty much every Tim Hortons (but the one in my office), these sultana-studded pillows of sugary-glazed, yeast-risen goodness seem to have as many fans as detractors...is it the coffee shop's embodiment of our two solitudes? Peut-être...but it has nothing to do with our national soul-searching, culture-defining, language-determining passtime...In my opinion, it has everything to do with freshness.

Enter any hockey area at 6am (or earlier) and you'll see a gaggle of parents, clutching their double-doubles, munching away on Dutchies watching their kids practice. Walk into a Timmy's and you'll see a number of women conversing and cajolling over coffee and their Dutchies. Head off to the office and you'll see the guys gravitate to the still-warm deep fried squares of dough-covered raisins. These, I think, are those in the pro-Dutchie contingent. People who happen to get their treats freshly made, retaining a bit of oven warmth.

The anti-Dutchie group seem to centre on two issues. The first is raisins: people either like them or they don't (not sure if I've ever met anyone who's indifferent to the wrinkled beasts). So, if you don't like raisins, you probably won't like Dutchies. The other point is their peculiar ability to go stale faster than any other of Tim's doughnutty offerings (ring, twists, fritters or Timbits); unless you see someone put them on display racks or if they still have their "just made" tag, chances are the glaze has dried and begun to flake off and the doughnut itself may be better used as the puck at those 6am practices.

Why are they called Dutchies? I don't know--and Tim's won't tell me. I sent them a very polite email asking for non-nutrient info on these treats, which they've promptly ignored. (Edit: They've since replied.) My theory is they are based on the Dutch oliebollen...but who really wants to eat something that sounds vaguely like "oily ball" so in true pocket-riffling, while wearing rubber gloves style, these fried cakes were monickered "Dutchies." (If someone really knows why they are called Dutchies, please let me know and I'll amend this post...or post your theory...and no "they were originally made from Dutch people" is not an acceptable response, sorry JDN.)

Unlike most doughnuts, Dutchies aren't ring doughnuts or twists--they are squares or rectangles, made from a yeast-risen dough, sprinkled with raisins. I want to say the Dutchies of my childhood were glazed in honey, but now seem to be glazed in a simple syrup. If anything, they are reminicent of a blueberry fritter-sans blueberries. Most I've seen are uncomfortably large and more filling than I'd like. If I have one, I usually split it into two or three and save the rest for later. Microwaving helps diminish the staleness a bit.

I searched for an appropriate recipe to try, but I couldn't find one. I looked at several oliebollen, olykoek and beignet recipes in attempts to figure out my own variant, but in the end, I decided to base the recipe on my dear friend Edna Staebler's Kucha recipe from Food That Really Schmecks.

In her fat cakes section, she recommened using plain kucha dough for yeast doughnuts (you can simply roll the dough out and form it into little buns and bake them at about 180-200C (350-400F) until done). Edna's never steered me wrong, so I followed her advice and used the plain kucha as the base, adding the sultanas, spicing and honey-water glazing to transform them into Dutchies.

Dutchies
adapted from Edna Staebler's Kucha from Food That Really Schmecks

yield approx. 15

250ml hand-hot milk
3tsp yeast
55g butter, very soft
60g sugar
1tsp salt
grated zest of one small lemon
1 egg, well beaten
420g plain flour (you may need less)
1/2tsp ground cinnamon
1/4tsp ground nutmeg
100g sultanas, soaked in boiling water with about 1/4tsp bicarbonate of soda
honey-water of whatever strength you prefer

Sprinkle the yeast into the warm milk, then add the butter, sugar, salt and zest and stir well. Add the egg and spices. Stir in enough flour so the dough holds together, but is still tacky. Be careful to not add so much flour that the dough is stiff-- if after you've added all the flour the dough still seems too loose and tacky, bundle it up and let it firm in the fridge for about 20 minutes. Take out your frustrations on the dough for about 15 minutes before letting it double in size in a warm place--anywhere from one to two hours.

After the dough has risen, punch it down and add the drained sultanas and knead again to distribute the fruit. Roll out to 1cm thickness and cut to 5cm squares. Place the squares on a lightly floured surface and let them rise again, until they've doubled in size.

Fry in hot oil until golden and blot on paper towels, then glaze with honey-water.

cheers!
jasmine

Edit: Kucha clarifcation

Related Post: Pass the Dutchie on the left hand side

Bits and bites

Yes, my busy bees are back--any and every excuse to bring them back...

Beanie updated you a bit as to what's going on over here on my side of the screen--he can be such a good boy sometimes.

Well, until I can get a "real" post up, here are a few things for you think about

Dorie Greenspan has a blog! Okay, I'm probably the last person in foodbloggerdom to know this. It's not totally food related, so it gives you an idea as to what she's been up to. If you're not sure who she is or why I'm happy to have found her blog, here's my review of her latest tome.

SHF #29: Raw chocolate approacheth...Emily of Chocolate in Context is hosting this month and she's picked a great theme: unrefined chocolate. Not sure what that's all about? Read her post to find out. Participation deadline is 26 March.

I need to live vicariously through someone...but not just anyone. No, the person I'll live vicariously through is someone who will take a cooking course in Italy with Faye of Fayefood the week of 21-28 April. She emailed me today about an open spot for a couple of people interested in a week of cooking, eating and sightseeing in Cortona, Deruta and Assisi...yes ITALY. She had last-minute cancellations and is looking for people who may be interested in attending. Classes will take place at the local bakery, an olive oil tasting, dinner at Villa La Macchia, the home of the Scarpaccini family, and four Italian cooking classes by Faye, great tour guides, and of course a whole lot of fun. The regular price is 1050 euro pp (excluding airfare and transport), but she's offering a 25 per cent discount. If you or someone you know may be interested, email her at fayehess at earthlink dot net (you know what to do). Quite honestly, if I weren't so up-to-my-eyeballs, I'd probably see if I could swing it myself...but I can't...if someone reading this ends up going, please let me know and let me know how it goes.

Okay...that's it....I need to write an essay...well...research an essay...think about researching an essay...eat some chocolate cake...that's it...eat some chocolate cake...

cheers!
jasmine


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SHF#28: Sweet Seduction Round-Up

When I put out the call for participants for this month's Sugar High Friday, Sweet Seduction, I was very curious to see how foodbloggerdom would rise to the occasion.

Well...all I can say is we are a lusty little lot, aren't we?

Whether we are cooking for the one we love, would like to love, or simply ourselves, these food bloggers came up with deliciously sweet and creative ways to let their true feelings be known.

Of course, there's lots of chocolate, but there are also creamy puddings, astringent citruses, juicy berries and chewy cookies.

Please take the time to visit these wonderful posts. There are great stories and lots of suggestions as to how to make your next sweetly seductive moment truly memorable.

Thanks so much to everyone, especially Jennifer who started this fabulous event 27 Sugar High Fridays ago.

Jessica of Small Time Cooks – Eve’s Pudding
Jessica decided to create an homage to one of the original seductresses and her fruit of choice...

Swee, A Self Proclaimed Foodaholic- I love you honey
Swee's creativity is quite amazing, complete with a marzipan teddy...bear...



Béa of La Tartine Gourmet – Plum Cakes
Béa's contribution is a two-day celebration...




Elodie of Mon Petit Biscuit Cuit - Moelleux au chocolat, avec son coeur coulant
Mr. Darcy, please contact Elodie for her Chocolate Declaration of Love--and Elodie, if he responds, please let us know...

Veronica of Veronica’s Test Kitchen - Vanilla Brown Butter Almond Tea Cake with Crème Brûlée Filling
This fabulous little cake has a sweet and creamy filling...quite lovely...

Freya of Writing at the Kitchen Table - Honey and Goats Yoghurt Panna Cotta
Freya brings forth one of my favourite desserts, assisted by one of my favourite culinary journalists...


Devra of Puu’s Cookbook – Blood Orange Truffle Cake
A story of a cheesecake-obsessed suitor, trying to impress Devra, a non-cheesecake lover...



Monica of Pastry Princess - Peanut Butter Crème Brûlée
Monica creates a memorable dessert that combines crunchy, creamy, sweet and a little salty...





Sarah Lou of One Whole Clove – Maple Meringues
Quintessentially Canadian flavour in a crisp and melting little cloud...



Sara, The Winemaker’s Wife - Meringue Heart Sandwiches with Kulfi
Very romantic...



Laura - Truffles Nefarious
By far, one of my favourite titles...



Maggie of Applesticker - Raspberry-Prosecco Gelatin & Clementine-Raspberry Trifle
Double the pleasure...





Alwyn of Tsokolate – A Sweet Heart For My Sweetheart
Alwyn decides to tell us of a previous Valentine's Day...






Lara of Cook and Eat – Chocolate Beet Mash Cake
Lara presents a seductive dessert in shades of rose...





Eva of Sweet Sins – Valentine’s Day Chocolate Pudding
Eva's tale of mugs united, separated and reunited brings a smile to my face...




Madeline of Gourmet Peasant – Regine Truffle
An inspired sweet...




Ann of A Foodie Froggy - Ispahan
Inspired by Pierre Hermé’s Ispahan, Ann made this for her sweetie...





Jerry of Cooking By The Seat of My Pants – Chocolate Port Wine Cake
A delicious treat for his sweetie...




Angela of A Spoonful of Sugar – Nutmeg Scented Cupcakes with Caramel Ganache
I'm not sure which to swoon over--the nutmeg, the cakes or the ganache...



Karen of Cherry Leader – Valentine’s Berry Flan
I adore the contrast of the berries against the creamy filling...




Helen of Tartlette – Lemon Cream Tarts
Another Pierre Hermé -inspired treat..





Michelle of Je Mange La Ville – Chocolate Gingerbread and Pecan brownies
Spicy, sweet and just a little nutty...



Anna of Morsels and Musings – Black Forest Cake
Jonas: are you reading this?



Meeta of What’s For Lunch, Honey? – Chocoholics Cake
Beautifully rich, deep and sweet...and covered in chocolate...



Anne of Anne’s Food – Five Citrus Salad with Pomegranate
A visually stunning treat...




Kristin of Dine and Dish - Ice Cream Sandwich
Kristin contemplates loss and how to be remembered...




Leticia of Food, Wine and Friends - Coeur à la Crème
A very sweet Valentine's Day indeed.




mrbunsrocks of Definitely Not Martha - Nigella Lawson's Chocohotopots with Berry Coulis
Who'd have thought such a clever bunny would have such luscious tastes...



Emily of Appetitive Behaviour – Milk Chocolate Brownies
Emily is a girl after my own heart in that there can never be enough sweet seduction, or seduction by sweets...



Y of Lemon Pi – Coconut Jelly with Black Pearls
Y sounds very lucky to have B and B is very lucky to have Y...




Marion of Il En Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux – A Very Sweet Nut Tart
Marion remembers this very sweet nut tart...





Latifa of Flavours - Warbat
Latifa seduces us all with this Arabic dessert...




Maria of Passion Fruit and Mangos – Czech Torte
What a lucky boyfriend to have this as a post-Valentine's Day treat...



Esther of Boxcar Kitchen - Mocha chocolate mousse with raspberry liqueur compote
"...even those non-chocolate lovers, has succombed to its chocolatey wiles...."




Michelle of Making Food. Eating Food – Chocolate Pear Cake
Thanks to her hubby and Donna Hay for this wonderful cake...




Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice- Dark Chocolate and White Chocolate Bundt Cake
Ivonne was simply overcome and baked this...



Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasm – Turtle Fondue
This choco-caramel fondue is enough to get anyone in the mood...





Ulrike of Küchenlatein – A Royal Parfait For My Sweethearts
Another beautiful citrussy creation...





Jen of Milk and Cookies – Chocolate Clementine Cake with Chocolate Syrup
This meditation on love and seduction finishes with a very tasty treat...




Megan of Chez Megan – Chewy Oatmeal Toffee Cookies with Dark Chocolate Chips
Megan thinks these aren't seductive...she's wrong...



Gemma of Dressing For Dinner – New York Baked Cheesecake
A very creamy and delicious treat for the one she loves...






Jennifer of The Domestic Goddess – Banana Split Brownies
I think these are amazing...





Alice Q. Foodie – Heart-Shaped Chocolate Chip Cookies
Where there's a heart-shaped cutter, there are tasty results...



Jennifer of Egg and Soldier – Chocolate Sambuca Cookies
Jennifer combines a number of aphrodisiacs for these seductive mouthfuls...



Sam of sweet pleasure: plaisir sucré – Orange Salad and chocolate creameaux
Our sweetie Sam offers two very different seduction techniques...



Meredith of Cooking 101 – Black Pearl Cupcakes
Is there anyone who won't be seduced by these...

Haalo of Cook Almost Anything Once - Crème Brûlée
Haalo, as usual, will never disappoint

Avital of Le Petrin – Bolanzo Apple Cake
There's a reason Eve seduced with an apple...





Brigitte of Küchendunst aus Singapur - Rocky Recchiuti brownies
Quite honestly, "marshmallow" is one of my favourite words, and Brigitte devises a chocolatey temptation with them...



Danielle of Habeas Brûlée - Pink Grapefruit Ginger Cream Cookies
I laughed when I read Danielle's sweetie's reaction to these...




Quellia of All Things Edible – Croissant French Toast
Sometimes fantasy is what we need...





Julie of A Mingling of Tastes – Chewy Chocolate Cookies with Mini Peanut Butter Cups
Seduction comes in many forms...including peanut butter and chocolate...



Ales of Preserveless - Lemon Curd Ice Cream
Homemade lemon curd turned into a rich and creamy dessert...



Barbie2be -- Barbie2be's Chocolate Bread Pudding
A wonderful way of seducing someone special...




Holly of The Glutton – Molton Chocolate Cake
Dark, oozing and sweet...

Vincci of Ceci Ce N'est Pas Un Food Blog
Vincci thought this was unsexy...but I didn't...






Abby of Confabulation in the Kitchen - Cream Cheese Mints
I think these are adorable...




Brilynn of Jumbo Empenadas - Two Soups
Yes, yes, yes...I know this is a seductively sweet event. Poor Brilynn had a rotten run of luck with her cakes and posted about these instead...




Me - Honey Almond Cheesecake
Almondy-creamy-honeyliscious...





Well...I don't know about you, but it's getting more than a little intense around here. I think I must go and rest a bit...

For those of you with a bit more stamina, Emily of Chocolate In Context will host SHF29: Unrefined Cacao. Creat culinary treats using cacao beans, cacao nibs, or untreated cocoa powder. Anyone with access to cacao at its source will also be invited to use ingredients that are even more raw--such as cacao pods or pulp, or cocoa butter. She's busy being the itinerant traveller, so the full post isn't up yet, but she will have more info up a bit later.


cheers!
jasmine

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tags: SHF