Macaroons

My general approach to picking recipes for baking had long included avoiding anything that would require me to separate egg whites from yolks and especially anything calling for the magic of whipped egg whites or yeast for that matter. At school, I don't have an electric mixer so I avoid any recipe requiring whipping. But, at home with an electric mixer at the ready, I got gutsy. . . sort of. . . and it was time to conquer my fear of separating eggs.


I did so with a recipe from this very '80s cookbook:Many of my parents' cookbooks are "classic" like this. I decided to make the "french coconut macaroons." I prepared half the recipe due to a limited supply of coconut.

Here's how it went down:

I separated two eggs with my (clean) hands. (The yolks were remarkably reluctant to burst.)

I whipped the egg whites with a hand held electric mixer until (miraculously) stiff peaks formed. (I think they were stiff peaks, they didn't fall when I moved the beater. The whites whipped really easily, kind of like when I discovered that it's easy to whip whipping cream. That's why it's whipping cream, I guess.)

I added a half teaspoon of (my parents' artificial) vanilla extract. I beat it some more. I added 1/2 cup of icing sugar in several additions, beating well in between. I beat the whites some more until they were stiff and glossy.

I folded in a quarter cup of (whole-wheat) flour and a cup of coconut flakes.

I dropped 14 cookies onto a greased and floured cookie sheet and popped them in a 325 F oven. The recipe said to leave them 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Mine were brown after about 15 minutes and looked like this after I let them cool a little and lifted them off the sheet with a spatula.

These disappeared rather quickly as my family enjoyed their light, soft texture and coconutty flavour. I think they were pretty successful and the perfect way to conquer my fear of separating eggs. I still don't know if I could whip the whites by hand though. . . perhaps I will find out.

Can I Call This A Frittata?

I decided to try something new for dinner on Monday night, something oven baked with eggs, fritatta like. It would utilize some prime pattypan squash from the garden as well as squash blossoms, new nugget potatoes, basil, and tarragon. This is what I created, ahahaha:Looks pretty good, eh?

I've looked at many frittata recipes and most start cooking the eggs on the stove and transfer to the oven to broil. But, I don't think I have the right skillet for that. So, inspired by the Fava Bean and Mint Frittata in the Chocolate and Zucchini Cookbook, I baked mine in a cake pan. Here's what I did:

I got two frying pans going on the stove (for speed) with a little olive oil in each. In one pan I cooked thin slices of patty pan in a single layer seasoned with salt and pepper until tender and slightly brown flipping them once. I took about three batches to cook the rather large squash I had on hand. I layered the squash slices in the bottom of a greased 8-inch round cake pan. You could also use another type of summer squash like zucchini in place of the patty-pan, which is a bit unusual but very delicious.

In the second frying pan, I pan fried thin slices of nugget potato (about 150g) with salt and pepper until they were lightly browned and tender. I layered these over the squash in the cake pan. I also added about 1/8 of a yellow onion sauteed on top of the potatos and 3 squash blossoms also sauteed for a very short time.

In a bowl, I beat 2 eggs with 2 or 3 tablespoons of milk, some grated Parmesan, coarsely chopped basil and tarragon, salt and pepper. I poured the egg mixture over the veggies in the pan and popped it in the oven for 16 minutes until the egg was set and beginning to brown. I cut it into quarters and ate the whole thing with a nice sliced tomato.

Here's one splendiferous slice: It was good. What's not to like out of eggs, potato, and summer squash. I loooove summer squash. Actually, I quite like winter squash as well. It was my first time eating squash blossoms and they were. . . kind of unremarkable in this form. They looked pretty but the dish would still be tasty without them. I guess they'd be good deep fried, but I don't deep fry at home. The squash itself was silky and slightly sweet while the potatoes provided their satisfying starchy goodness, amped up by the pan frying.

It was quite a special little supper for me and I'll probably make something similar again.

Let's Talk Good Breakfasts

During our weekend in Calgary, Albert and I essentially skipped lunch opting instead for gargantuan breakfasts at Avenue Diner, which a waitress at Milestone's (closed at the time) recommended. This turned out to be an excellent breakfast spot.

On Sunday morning, there was a short wait to get in around 10. Interestingly, there were about a dozen firefighters eating at the counter. They must have known it was good. I took their presence as a good sign. On this morning we went with traditional, hearty breakfasts of two eggs, maple bison sausage, hash browns and toast. My poached eggs were perfectly cooked with delightful runny yolks in which I dipped some of the multi-grain toast. The rest of the toast was slathered with an in-house berry jam that was absolutely delicious. Hash browns were very good, well seasoned and of the pan fried variety. The bison sausage was also excellent as it was no overly greasy and quite tasty. Maybe that's not a very good description, but I'd eat it again. Albert ate the same thing with eggs over easy.

On Monday morning, our breakfast was quite late but I think breakfast is served well into the afternoon. I went with a super-sugary breakfast this time, the banana split waffle. No ice cream was involved but the four pieces of waffle were between the halves of a banana and covered in lots of whipped cream, chocolate sauce, strawberries, and some chopped walnuts. There's nothing like chocolate at breakfast and I really enjoyed the strawberries and banana. The waffles were good, so good I sort of wished there was less chocolate and whipped cream on them so I could taste the waffle for itself. I felt a little guilty about this breakfast though, too much sugar and not enough substance. Albert ordered the Avenue French Toast stuffed with brie and bacon and served with sauteed granny smith apples. This dish had been mentioned by the server who recommended the diner. It seemed not as generous as other breakfasts, although perhaps very rich, as it was only two halves of one stuffed thick slice of bread. I tried a bit and thought it was good. Albert however commented that it might have been a little over cooked to his taste. Overall, breakfast at the Avenue Diner was very good, even if the chairs were slightly uncomfortable. Service was good and we were recognized on our second visit.

Before Albert left Edmonton on Thursday morning, we had some breakfast the the Sugarbowl. I've mentioned it many times and I need only say that the half cinnamon bun and fruit salad did not disappoint. The bun was a delicious blend of textures--soft and crisp-- with caramelized bits once again.

Highlights (not) For Children

Last week I was in the mood for a burger. Serendipitously, my friend Ryan brought over a patty for a turkey cacciatore burger a la Rachel Ray. I think it must be this recipe, although I don't know what substitutions were made and it was served on a bun--a whole wheat kaiser as shown below. I'm not going to get into the merits or sins against food of Rachel Ray. All I'm going to say is that with mustard, sauteed mushrooms, spinach and tomato this was a tasty burger. I absolutely love mushrooms with burgers. It's freaking awesome and if you don't agree you're crazy. It may also have stopped me noticing the chopped veggies in the burger and the fact that it was made of turkey. As for the bun, I think a whole wheat kaiser is really good for a burger. There's not too much bread and I like the texture. Thanks for the burger Ryan!Now I want to mention one of my comfort foods. Fried eggs on toast:
I used to eat a variation on this for breakfast on weekends pretty often as a kid. I used to require Cheese Whiz, an egg, and ketchup or salsa on a toasted slice of bread. On my own, I come up with some variations that might be a little more grown up. This one has ham under the egg, black pepper on it, and some shaved Romano cheese on top. The key to all of this is a runny yolk, you can't beat it. I eat this with a knife and fork by the way. If it were French I suppose it would be a tartine.

For a weekend meal, I cooked a rainbow trout--complete with head. It was okay, but really needed the lime juice I squeezed on it. I think I overcooked it slightly. I did eat the meat from it's cheeks though and it was particularly succulent. . . as I think fish cheeks are supposed to be. My side dish of roasted new nugget potatoes was awesome though. I made them based on Heidi Swanson's recipe for Black Pepper and Lime Oven Fries. They look pretty nice below:I didn't really measure anything and I forgot the cheese on the ones above--but they were still delicious. A sprinkling of Romano was a nice touch though once I remembered. Anyways, the chili and black pepper flavouring was good. To be honest, I think the nugget potatoes were so good that they would have made great oven fries no matter what I seasoned them with. There was just so much potato goodness.

To finish up this post, I want to talk about some damn good poultry. You might have thought I only like pork, but I also adore dark meat chicken. That's right: DARK meat. Not white, not what's in Chicken McNuggets (the gold standard for nutrition). My dad will not buy chicken thighs. But when he eats them, he seems to like it. Anyways, I've been using chicken thigh meat that I cook myself for my sandwiches with blue cheese and mustard. Pretty much any cheese would be good on the sandwich though. I used to love turkey, cheddar and mustard sandwiches. Anyways, to make the chicken I brown skinned thighs well. This step looks delish below:

When the chicken is well browned I add some chicken broth made with bullion 'cause I'm a cheater until the chicken is partially covered. Then I simmer the chicken until it's tender, about half an hour. I think this may count as braising. Finally, I take the meat off the bone and shred it. I froze some of the meat for future sandwiches and it seems to keep well. Sandwiches with this chicken are awesome because there's so much real chicken flavour and texture. The liquid left over seems intensely chickeny and I saves some for a possible future risotto in the freezer.

Another great use for chicken thighs is chicken curry. It starts with browned skinned (but bone in) chicken thighs but lots of veggies an seasoning go in as well. This one has carrot, onion, ginger, curry powder, chicken broth, and spinach. I kind of make it up as I go along. I think it's important not to be afraid to experiment in the kitchen. Chicken curry is a warming, filling, and satisfying meal with some rice.

2 Quick Dinners in the Colour Yellow, Plus a Random Chinese Baking Comment

I think I'm pretty behind on my blogging, not that a lot of people would notice. But, a lot of what I've been up to is food related, so I foresee three posts in the next couple of days, at least.

I talked about going to T&T Supermarket a week ago. When I go there, I like to buy Chinese-style baked goods. Last week, I got a taro bun with almonds. There weren't many almonds, but I didn't really care because I got that topping to avoid the sickly sweet "pineapple" topping on so many of the sweeter buns. Not that it's terrible or should be avoided, but I didn't feel like eating it for breakfast on Sunday. Chinese baked goods, judging from T&T's and things other people say are usually very soft. Buns like the taro bun are soft and slightly sweet. They're a nice change from other bread products.

The taro filling was purple and pleasantly sweet with a starchy texture. . . I think, it was a while ago. Anyways, I liked it. I think I may still prefer red bean filling, though. I think I'm the only white person I know who enjoys red bean sweets, I tried feeding red bean candy to my family and nobody really liked it. My sister in particular was disgusted and didn't finish her piece. Personally, I think it like it because I'm just that big of a fan of beans. If I can have bean texture in sweet form, it's fine by me. Probably the most revelatory baked good that I've bought at T&T was called "cumin bread." I only saw it once. It was a soft bread, not sweet, spiced with cumin and topped with cumin seeds containing raisins and walnuts. It was a very good breakfast. The reason it was a revelation was that it gave me the idea to spice oatmeal with cumin since if it works in a "raisin bread", why shouldn't it work in oatmeal. . . like cinnamon. That may not make sense but it's how my mind works. I'm a big fan of cumin, needless to say.

I didn't think I would have that much to say about the bun, but on to Tuesday. I made a couple of fried eggs on top of sauteed spinach and onion plus corn on the cob. First the corn,

I hadn't had corn on the cob in recent memory. Boiled and then spread with some butter, It was really good. I liked the sweetness and the sensation of biting into it. Plus, that bright sunny yellow is visually appealing. I will have to eat more corn this summer. Actually, it was kind of funny because I tried to boil the corn in a not terribly large pot. It didn't fit until i cut off some of the stem. So, use a big pot to boil corn.

On to the eggs and spinach. They were tasty as the onions were nicely caramelized. I messed up one of the eggs and broke the yolk, which was a big disappointment. I guess my point is that I looooooove runny egg yolks and the perfect over easy egg. I have a friend who is disgusted with runny yolks, but they have been a great pleasure to me since I was a kid. I remember eating over easy eggs on toast on the weekend when I was little. I used to save the yolk till the end and relish every bit. So here's a gratuitous yolk shot:

On Wednesday, I made some vegetarian comfort food, and no I'm not a vegetarian, but I find beans and legumes very satisfying. Anyways, I felt like some lentils and had leftover dried red lentils from making this soup. I decided to make a curry soup also using the remainder of my bunch of spinach. I began by sauteing about half an onion in some olive oil. Then I added two cups of water, a teaspoon of chicken bouillon (not so vegetarian after all. . . oops), and a heaping teaspoon of curry powder. I added a half cup of rinsed red lentils and boiled it for fifteen minutes. Then I added some torn spinach, probably about three cups, and cooked it until that wilted. It looked, a little bit gross perhaps:

But that doesn't mean it didn't taste good. And it did taste good, or else I wouldn't mention it. It had a good lentil texture, I guess it's the starch and protein, the leguminess. (Made up words are fine.) The curry flavour worked well and the spinach provided a nice contrast in colour and texture as well as a mild flavour. I thoroughly enjoyed eating this.