Marcus Samuleson from Aquavit restaurant in New York had a cooking demo at DISH Cooking Studio last Thursday. He was showcasing Bluestar’s cooking ranges and cook-tops. His new venture Merkato55 just opened last month and features a pan African menu.

His menu featured african flavours - shrimp with piri piri sauce, Kofta Meatballs with Okra tomato sauce and ethiopian beef stir fry served on Injera bread. He brought these spice blends for his audience to appreciate - they look like the colours of Africa. (more…)

The first time I had Irish soda bread was at a tea room in St. George Ontario. They serve a plain version with honey and butter and a “spotted dog” dotted with currants. I immediately loved it when I discovered how easy it is to make, it became a staple in my baking repertoire for many years. It was one of the first things I ever mastered baking as a kid. The magic of the bread is the baking soda reacting with the acid in the buttermilk that makes the bread rise and creates a beautiful crunchy crust. I especially love it toasted and buttered. I have been reading many outraged postings by Irish folk who are mortified by what passes as Irish soda bread, I especially liked the taking down on “Society for the Preservation of Soda Bread” where (more…)

This is a second blog on the Georgain Cheese bread, also known as Khachapuri or Hachapuri, because I guess my pictures looked so good that people have been asking me for the recipe. Well I don’t blame them, it is delicious and well worth and easy to make.

This is the recipe for the dough:

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The test kitchen was clearing out their cupboards right before the holidays and I picked up this Aebleskiver pan, also known as a munks pan. Aebleskiver’s are Danish pancakes cooked in this pan to make round balls of dough. They are traditionally flavoured with cardamom, dusted with icing sugar and served with fruit preserves or filled with apples. I have my nephew spending a few days with me so I thought we should try out the pan. We flavoured our batter with vanilla and a bit of cinnamon. I had some Crofters organic jams on my shelf so we filled them with blueberry and sour cherry preserves. They were really fun to make and eat; my nephew had them again this morning for breakfast doused in maple syrup. (more…)

I talked my sister and her family into meeting me in The Berkshire’s for a post Christmas rendezvous, afterwards we headed back to Connecticut where she lives and spent a lively New Years Eve with our friends Kristin and Stew. Dinner was a group effort: K&S made the short ribs and roasted brussels sprouts, (which were much debated over but I thought were delicious)! My brother-in-law (the brussels sprout hater) made soft polenta to serve along side and I made ceviche as a starter that we had with champagne.

Ceviche is a really flexible way to serve fish as an appetizer or first course, the important thing is that the fish is very fresh and you use some acid to cure the fish. There are many versions of how to make it - here are a couple of ways but really use your imagination and whatever flavours you have on hand. (more…)

Here is another traditional holiday treat I thought I would try my hand at this year. This pastry is made in different parts of southern Italy with many variations. These ones have the filling made with chickpeas but they are also traditionally made with chestnuts. The filling is usually flavoured with Vin Cotto, a thick syrupy substance made from the leftover must of wine production. I always think of these as Italian mincemeat (more…)

Panettone is Italian Christmas cake, it is egg and butter enriched brioche type dough studded with dried fruits. For Italians the smell and taste of panettone is Christmas – it is given as a gift and eaten Christmas morning for breakfast. In Italy they are beautifully wrapped and hung in shop store windows. (more…)

Here is my attempt at the Danish cake from my previous post. I had to take two tries at it to get it as good as the version I had. The first one was a bit too cakey, not quite as cookie like as the original version - but edible none-the-less! I tweaked it and the second version is spot on. (more…)