Archive for the ‘Cookbooks’ Category

On Monday, I had the pleasure of attending a special Canadian Living Advantage/Dairy Farmers of Canada event, focusing on great ways to include nutritious dairy products in your cooking, and featuring guest celebrity chef, Anna Olson!

Celebrity baking and pastry expert and chef superstar, Anna Olson

We all had a wonderful time sipping wine, tasting delicious food and watching Anna demonstrate her recipes.

What did I not expect? To learn so many new things.

I mean, I know she's one of the most respected pastry chefs in this country, has hosted several TV extremely successful cooking shows and written 7 cookbooks and everything... but still. I'm always so pleasantly surprised when I get to learn — I mean really learn — something new, when it comes to cooking or baking.

And Anna did not disappoint. She was blowing me away with tip after amazing tip throughout the demo. I'm pretty sure my respect and fondness for her has now quadrupled. I think actually felt it happen during the event. I had a moment.

I caught up with Anna after the event for a little Q & A.

What is your philosophy on becoming a good baker?

Being a good baker is more than just precise measuring. Like anything worth a little effort, it takes practice — and with practice comes wisdom. I just ask that before you get stressed about baking, remind yourself that you are cooking to share with family and friends. If mistakes happen, it's OK. Your friends will forgive you because they are your friends and your family will forgive you because they have to! And also remember that STRESSED spelled backwards reads DESSERTS!

What are some of your best tips for fixing baking disasters?

Here are my top 3 disaster fixes:

Problem #1: I've overwhipped my egg whites and they look dry and craggy!

Solution: Make a cup of tea, sip it and then go back and visit your egg whites. Within that 10 minutes, the egg whites will have collapsed and can be re-whipped (even if sugar has already been added) on MEDIUM speed to the point that you missed the first time around.

Problem #2: I've overwhipped my cream and it's starting to separate!

Solution: Stir in a few tablespoons of fluid whipping cream — this will loosen the whipped cream so you can re-whip it on MEDIUM speed to the point that you missed.

Problem #3: I've overcooked (curdled) my custard!

Solution: While still hot, pour the custard into a blender or food processor (or use an immersion blender) and purée the custard until smooth. Immediately push it through a fine mesh strainer, then chill and use as instructed. No one will ever know!

What are some helpful tips that might help both new and experienced bakers?

To make perfect and long-lasting whipped cream, simply add 1 tbsp (15 mL) of instant skim milk powder to every 1 cup (250 mL) of whipping cream as you are whipping it. It does not impart a taste or change the texture, but it keeps every swirl and dollop of cream in place — even if you whip it a full day ahead or use it as frosting for a cake.

If you wish to increase the fibre content of some of your favourite conventional recipes, you can typically replace the measure of all-purpose flour with up to 50% whole wheat flour without impacting the taste or texture dramatically. If you try and replace all of the all-purpose flour with whole wheat, you may find that your goodies end up with a denser, heavier texture (the bran and germ in whole wheat flour interrupts the gluten, which is what holds in the gas formed by baking powder and other leavening agents).

Tell us a bit about your new book, Back to Baking.

Back to Baking has been a two-year project and has just been released. My aim was to provide a thorough all-purpose guide to baking — not just good recipes, but also tips to help you gain a better understanding of baking so that you can find the sheer pleasure in it.

Anna's latest cookbook, Back to Baking

Has a tip changed the way YOU bake or cook?

Or, the 8 most annoying things that happen when I try to eat.

Instead of in my mouth, this burger would be down my shirt and on my lap in record time.

1. A lock of hair gets pulled into my mouth as I take a bite of something.
This happened the other day. How? I can't explain. It's so annoying, it ruins the whole bite of whatever it is I'm trying to eat.

2. Sandwich juice runs down to my elbow before I notice.
This also goes for wraps, burgers, fajitas, tacos, and maybe a calzone if I'm alone and nobody is looking to see if I'm using a knife and fork. Even worse: the juice traps itself under a bracelet or watch band, floating unnoticed until many hours later...

3. Flecks of food shoot themselves down "the wrong tube" and I cough forever.
Does this ever happen when I'm alone at home? NEVER! Does this happen around people I know well and am comfortable around? NEVER! A business lunch or formal dinner is exactly when bits of food get sucked down my windpipe.

4. Phyllo pastry bits shoot out of my mouth at cocktail receptions.
Fancy cocktail receptions often involve delicate hors d'oeuvres made from phyllo pastry. Every time I think, "surely just one of these delicious bites floating past won't end in disaster?" No. Disaster always happens. Soon after my first bite, I am trying to carry on a polite conversation with strangers without spitting phyllo on their shirts with every consonant. Phyllo is social suicide.

5. Corn silk hangs from every crevice of my teeth.
By my 10th summer cob of corn, I can control myself. But those first few - oh! I mash my face into that corn and chow down like I've never eaten before. But when I surface for air, I am a sea monster with corn silk hanging from my jaws. By this time, butter has also likely left a grease-trail down to my elbows.

6. Water pours out the side of the glass, away from my mouth.
Every so often, a hole in my mouth appears out of nowhere. Water heading straight for my throat somehow ends up on my shirt, the table, or dribbling down the side of my face. I can't explain it, beyond that tiny wormholes through the space-time continuum randomly appear just as I take a sip of water.

7. Sometimes, wasabi looks like guacamole.
OK, only once in my life did wasabi look like guacamole. Fool me twice, bowl of nacho chips placed beside a sizable dish of wasabi, then shame on me. I should have listened to the shrieks in the room before I put that fully-loaded chip into my mouth.

8. Things explode out the back end when you take a bite from the front end.
Splat. The alleged hand-held and contained meal is not my friend. Especially while driving.

How does food make an April Fool out of you?

Just Add Shoyu: A culinary journey of Japanese Canadian cooking (2011)

(What is "shoyu"? It's the Japanese term for soy sauce.)

Not only are the images breathtaking, the recipes simple to understand, and the breadth of food dazzling, Just Add Shoyu (2011) is a collaborative project of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre. It serves as a food history book and culinary documentary of Japanese Canadian kitchens, including inspiring stories of the issei (first generation) and nisei (second generation), and how they wove their Canadian experience into the Japanese fare served at home.

Below is a quick Q&A with Russell Onizuka and Jan Nobuto of the Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre's Heritage Committee:

Q: How many chefs collaborated on the recipes in Just Add Shoyu?
A: The recipes were sent in by the [Japanese Canadian] community. A committee of volunteers who were familiar with the cooking helped determine the ones that would be used. These are truly Japanese Canadian recipes that reflect comfort foods made in the home.

Q: I was delighted to find the Stories section in the back of the book (page 188), illustrating the experiences of Japanese Canadians over generations. What convinced the JCCC to add this section, or did it start with the Stories and extend into recipes?
A: The stories are a key component of this book, as the intention is give a sense of the journey of the early Japanese immigrant through the war years, to resettlement, to the present. The hope is that this book will stimulate conversations about the Japanese Canadian experience among the generations of Japanese Canadians, their families and friends.

Q: Japanese cuisine is often considered difficult to make with hard-to-find ingredients. Are these recipes suitable for the Canadian home cook?
A: Just Add Shoyu reflects Japanese Canadian cooking and the use of Canadian (available) ingredients that were incorporated into the recipes when more traditional Japanese ingredients could not be found.

Q: If someone has never made Japanese cuisine before and is nervous to try, which recipe should they start with?
A: All of the recipes are fairly easy though a few may have more steps than others. Try Shoyu Wieners (kids usually love them), Chicken Yakitori or Beef Patty Okazu for meats; Salmon Miso Yaki if you like fish; Nasubi or Broccoli and Meatball Stir-fry for veggies; and Azuki Crescent rolls for a very quick and tasty dessert.

Pssst: You could WIN one of 10 copies of Just Add Shoyu - click here to enter!

Excerpted recipe (with permission): With spring fever in the air, I thought what better recipe to publish than this wonderful dish serving a wild Canadian specialty: fiddleheads.

Fiddleheads with Sesame Noodles

Fiddleheads with Sesame Noodles - Photography by Vince Noguchi

Ingredients:
1 cup (240 mL) tahini (sesame paste)
1/4 cup (60 mL) light miso
1/4 cup (60 mL) cilantro or parsley
1/4 cup (60 mL) lemon juice
8 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp (10 mL) ground cumin
2 tsp (10 mL) chili paste or 1/4 tsp (1.25 mL) cayenne hot pepper
1-1/4 cups (300 mL) water
8 cups (1.9 L) fiddleheads (or asparagus)
1/2 lb (227 g) of any thin, flat, white noodle
2 tbsp (30 mL) olive oil
1/4 cup (60 mL) mirin
2 tbsp (30 mL) saké
2 tbsp (30 mL) shoyu

Method
In blender, purée tahini, miso, cilantro, lemon juice, garlic, cumin and chili paste.

Chop cleaned fiddleheads into 1-inch (2.5 cm) pieces, reserving a few longer ones for garnish. Blanch fiddleheads and cool in cold water.

Boil noodles in salted water until al denté. Drain and toss with olive oil, mirin, saké, and shoyu. Add puréed mixture and half the drained fiddleheads to noodles and mix together.

Serve with rest of fiddleheads placed over dressed noodles.

Preparation Time: 1 hour
Servings: 6

P.S. -  The acclaimed Chef Masaki Hashimoto (Kaiseki Yu-zen Hashimoto) from Toronto had this to say about Just Add Shoyu in January:

書籍「Just Add Shoyu」の発行を心よりお喜び致します。
海外に於ける日系社会の歴史を料理と言う形で受け継がれながら
長い長い年月を経て今の世代に息づいている過程を垣間みて
改めて、頭の下がる思いが致します。

日本料理を生涯の仕事として携わっておりますと海外に於ける日本料理の歴史に大変興味を覚えます。
先人の方々の知恵と工夫によって現在の料理形態が確立され、
時代の移り変わりによる調理道具や嗜好、食材の変化に対応しながら生み出された郷愁の料理だと思います。

「Just Add Shoyu」は日系カナダ人の歩まれた年輪を料理に依って
表現した貴重な一冊の歴史本であると共に、私の日本料理文献の
一つとして大事に取って置きたい資料でもあります。

懐石遊膳橋本　　　橋本正樹

Translation: The cookbook “Just add Shoyu” brings great pleasure to my heart. It displays the rich history of cooking for the Japanese Canadian community. The journey through countless generations to its current carries with it an immense amount of admiration to where it stands today.

I have always taken interest to how Japanese cuisine strived within foreign nations as I have spent my life cooking it. Through this book, I can feel each predecessor’s wisdom and skill in overcoming each passing era of cooking and changing ingredients. To conclude, this book has passed on the nostalgic memory of cooking for future generations.

“Just add Shoyu” I believe is what embraces cooking for the Japanese Canadians from the past to its present generation. This book expressing the precious history of its cultural cuisine, touched my heart of how powerful cooking can be to tie together our culture. Without a doubt, I will keep this book close, as an important resource to where my roots lie, right here in Canada.

I wish there was a Canadian cookbook that documented my cultural culinary roots, as varied as they are. What are your roots, and does the food you tend to cook reflect those roots?

Last week, I told you all about my new favourite cookie cookbook, Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy by Alice Medrich.

When it came time to decide what recipe to try, it really wasn't much of a stretch. As I've mentioned before, I'm all about chocolate. Can't imagine a dessert without it. Yes, I know that's heresy to the lemon bar/ginger cookie lovers out there but hey, I calls 'em as I sees 'em.

Photo by Angie McKaig

The recipe I decided to give a whirl was Robert's Brownies My Way - a recipe that tastes much sexier than it sounds. The reason? You have to know the back story:

Robert is not just Medrich's neighbour or plumber, he's the late Robert Steinberg, co-founder of Scharffen Berger Chocolate (one of my all time favorite chocolates - yeah, I'm one of those crazy nuts who have favourite chocolate companies like some people have favourite wineries, except mine taste better AND simulate the feeling of being in love, and what's better than that?).

So, a brownie recipe modified by one of my favorite cookbook authors from a man who co-founded some of the best chocolate, like, ever? I'm there. Let me get my stretchy pants.

The verdict:  Fudgy, dark, chocolatey and rich without being too sweet. Absolutely best when eaten within the first two hours after coming out of the oven, while still warm and gooey. After cooling, they do get a little crunchier - like a thick fudgy cookie with a crackly top.  Also, definitely follow the recipe's suggestion to put two strips of foil across the bottom - it really did make removing the brownies a snap and: cleanup? What cleanup?

(Yes, I licked the bowl clean. What's the point of making brownies otherwise?)

Don't just take my word for it, though - try it yourself (and then, seriously, buy the book).

Robert's Brownies My Way
excerpted from Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy by Alice Medrich

Ingredients

6 tbsp unsalted butter
8 oz bittersweet chocolate (at least 70% cacao)
1 scant cup (6.5 oz) sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract (optional)
2 large eggs, cold
1/3 cup plus 1 tbsp (1.75 oz) unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup (3.5 ounces) walnut or pecan pieces (optional)

Equipment

An 8 inch square pan, the bottom and sides lined with foil

Directions

Preheat  the oven  to 350 degrees F. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven

Melt the butter with the chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl set directly in wide skillet of barely simmering water. Stir frequently until the mixture is melted and smooth and fairly hot to the touch. Remove the bowl from the water. Stir in the sugar, salt, and vanilla, if using. Add 1 egg, stirring until it is incorporated. Repeat with the second egg. Stir in the flour and beat with a wooden spoon or spatula until the batter is smooth and glossy and comes away from the sides of the pan; it is critical that the batter pull itself together, so don't stop mixing until it does. Stir in the nuts, if using. Scrape the batter into the pan.

Spread the batter evenly but with lots of raised swirls and ridges - these look great and get slightly crusty in the oven. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs, not totally gooey.

Cool on a rack. Lift the foil ends to transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Cut into 16 squares. May be kept in an airtight container for 2 or 3 days.

My stretchy pants will assure you that no such airtight container is necessary! These brownies are definitely on my list of go-to chocolate desserts to make for when I'm suffering from a craving.

What's your favourite chocolate dessert? If you had to choose, that is. Or is it just me with a huge list of favourites?

[Warning: hard core foodie crush ahead.]

Yes, it's true - I have a huge foodie crush on Alice Medrich.  The woman is credited with bringing dark chocolate truffles to North America (see her book Bittersweet for the deets); how could I not love her? When I heard about her latest book - Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy, Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies - I knew I would fall in love.

Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich

To me, dessert has always meant a healthy helping of chocolate. Luckily, Medrich feels the same way: there are a ton of fabulous cookies recipes in this book that feature chocolate. Think Cocoa Tuiles, Bittersweet Orange Decadence Cookies, and more than a half dozen brownie recipes. However, the book will keep the non-chocolate lovers more than happy with buttery, nutty, airy options that have no chocolate.

You'll find the classics here, of course. Biscotti, lace cookies, Florentines, macaroons, linzer bars and meringues, but also unique twists (Sticky Pecan Bites, which I HAVE to try - think of wee little sticky buns, cookie-sized) and international inspirations like Meneinas, made with orange blossom water and tangerine zest. Literally, there are dozens of recipes guaranteed to make your mouth water and your New Year's resolutions waver.

But wait!

You'll also find a fabulous selection of cookies to appeal to your health-loving side. Yes, I said healthier cookies. One of Medrich's signature elements in her cookbooks is the references she provides, and this book doesn't disappoint - particularly useful is the Smart Search page (pg. 365 in the book) which provides lists of cookies from the book which are Wheat Free, Dairy Free, Cookies with Whole Grains,  and even a list of recipes which you can eat for 2 points or less on the Weight Watchers diet.

See? You can have cookies and stick to that New Year's resolution.

If there's one thing that might make the less experienced baker pause before buying, it would be the lack of photos provided. While there are some truly gorgeous photographs, I'd say that less than 10% of the recipes have photos available. I can tell you from experience, however, that her recipes are so well tested and described that I had little trouble making anything from this book.

If I had to choose only ONE cookie cookbook to keep on my shelves (not that I could ever imagine being able to do so), Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy would be It. Hands down.

Stay tuned 'til next week, when I'll be posting pictures and a recipe from this book!

Well, actually addicted to a simple limey dip, slathered on the Test Kitchen's brilliant solution to soggy sweet potato fries.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

I tried a lot of sweet potato fry recipes - altered the temperature, the baking time, the amount of olive oil and salt -  but they always turned out limp. I love the crisp outside/soft inside of regular potato fries, so I was thrilled to discover the Test Kitchen's trick: add beaten egg whites to the olive oil before tossing. No wonder more than a thousand people have saved the Sweet Potato Fries with Curry Mayonnaise recipe in their recipe boxes!

My guests loved the curry mayo, but I crave Thai flavours more than Indian. Enter the limey dipping sauce I adapted from the recently published Fast, Fresh & Green cookbook. Author Susie Middleton says "The sauce is my quick version of the French sauce called aioli, which is a garlicky mayonnaise usually spiked with lemon. I use good-quality store-bought mayonnaise, lime zest,  and lime juice for a fast, sassy sauce that's just as good on grilled fish or chicken as it is on sweet potato fries."

My zesting friend: microplane rasp from Lee Valley Tools

Limey Dipping Sauce (adapted from Fast, Fresh and Green)

• 1/2 cup mayonnaise
• zest of one lime
• juice of one lime
• 1 tsp minced fresh garlic
• pinch salt

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and whisk well to blend.

Limey Dipping Sauce

Let sit for 10 to 15 minutes to let the flavours marry.

Limey dipping sauce ready yet?

Try to save some for the rest of the family.

Like most folks, I struggle with getting enough fruits and veggies during the day. Most vegetable dishes on our table end up being either salads or roasted vegetables of some kind - save for the occasional all-veg, no-meat weekend I impose on my family just to assuage my guilt.

When the folks from Chronicle sent me a copy of Susie Middleton's new Fast, Fresh & Green - More Than 90 Delicious Recipes For Veggie Lovers, I could feel the guilt setting in again. I'm SO bad at remembering to try new side dish/vegetable recipes from my cookbooks. It's the meat and eggs and cheese and baked goods that invariably catch my attention.

Fast, Fresh & Green by Susie Middleton

I'm really not gushing when I say that this book really got me jazzed about cooking vegetables again and out of the roast-everything-with-olive-oil-salt-and-pepper rut that I'd been stuck in.

It's all about adding the sexy to veggies, and the cookbook concentrates on a few simple techniques (quick roasting, quick braising and hands-on sauteeing, for example) and then punching them up with a mixture of flavors (both from the veg themselves as well as condiments, aromatics, herbs and other addons) that will help you add the zing to your zucchini (I can't believe I just wrote that).

Mouthwatering recipes (that come together in very little time for the most part) include:

1. Quick-Roasted Cauliflower with Zesty Orange-Olive Dressing
2. Roasted Turnips and Pears with Rosemary-Honey Drizzle
3. Cider-Braised Baby Bok Choy and Golden Apples
4. Sauteed Savoy Cabbage with Apple Cider Butter
5. Crushed Red Potatoes with Scallions, Pancetta and Sour Cream*

* Yes, there are bits of meat in the book, as garnish or flavor enhancers to the vegetables. This isn't a strictly vegetarian/vegan book but an accessible vegetable book for all of us.

The recipes themselves are simple to follow - yes, there are occasionally 5+ ingredients but usually only 2-4 steps to follow. Susie has a great eye for suggesting complementary flavors, ingredients and methods and frankly, even those of you who, like me, struggle to get their vegetable intake will find themselves drooling over these recipes.

My favourite part of this cookbook was the fabulous explanations - both in the recipes and in the chapter headers that explain the cooking techniques. If you're a less experienced cook, there's plenty of hand holding and most of the recipes have photos. If you're more experienced in the kitchen, there are helpful suggestions on variations to try and inspiration aplenty.

Want to know more about Fast, Fresh & Green? There's a Facebook page for that.

I have this thing for old cookbooks; partly it's the smell. Partly it's the archaeology of finding the most chocolate-or-butter-smeared page in the book (that's where ALL the best recipes are found). But mostly it's for the cooking inspiration and history lesson I get, all in one fell swoop.

I've found two of the best places in the world to pick up fabulous old cookbooks are church flea markets and college/university book sales. The first, because that's where you'll find the real homey treasures that women have shared between themselves for generations. And the second, because that's where so many folks end up donating their piles of books when dear Aunt Esther passes away.

A local university here (Toronto) puts on a huge sale every November, and it's literally one of the highlights of my year (I'm such a cookbook geek!). Here's my haul from this year:

1. The Home Cook Book by Ladies Of Toronto *
2. Breakfast cookbook: Favorite recipes from America's bed & breakfast inns by Phyllis Winters
3. Thomas Jefferson's Cook Book by Marie Goebel Kimball (1949 edition)
4. Apples to Oysters: A Food Lover's Tour of Canadian Farms by Margaret Webb *
5. More Food That Really Schmecks by Edna Staebler *
6. The Encyclopedia of Homemade Preserves by Myra Street
7. The White House Family Cookbook by Henry Haller
8. Notes from a Country Kitchen: A Back-To-homemade Cookbook by Jocasta Innes *

* Canadian books

The Home Cook Book is particularly exciting for me because of its age and history. This is actually a 2002 reprint - the original was published in 1877. It's got a fabulous range of dishes as well as dinner etiquette and other social notes that, for me, really make it fun to read. It's like stepping back in time to find out what women just like me had to deal with every day. It's daunting but fascinating.

More Food That Really Schmecks, written by Edna Staebler, was a must-by for me this year when I saw it in the stacks. I found her first book, appropriately enough titled Food That Really Schmecks, at last year's sale and it was my first real foray into this wonderful collection of Mennonite dishes and simple country home cooking recipes.

Finally, Notes from a Country Kitchen is an awesome collection of back-to-homemade cooking. It shows you how to corn your own beef, make your own cheese and yogurt, and other from-the-farm skills that we've moved away from over the years. It's also from a Canadian author and is so timely right now it hurts.

Is it just me, with this love of older cookbooks? Would you rather a brand new cookbook or one that's been used, read, and spattered up a bit in the kitchen?

If there's one thing my husband loves, it's barbecue. (I think it's from watching a few too many Diners, Drive ins & Dives.) If it's meat, and it's cooked on a grill, he's in. Don't even have to ask.

Ribs, Chops, Steaks & Wings by Ray "Dr. BBQ" Lampe

Chronicle Books kindly sent me along a copy of Ray "Dr. BBQ" Lampe's newest book: Ribs, Chops, Steaks & Wings - Irresistible Recipes from the Grill, Stovetop and Oven. Needless to say, my husband was happy to help me try out a recipe from the book.

First, the rub. We chose Rib Rub #99 (there aren't really 98 other rib rub recipes in the book, so I'm not sure where the #99 came from). Here are the ingredients, just waiting to get all rubby with it:

Once we combined the ingredients, it's time to massage all that yummy flavour into the meat (in this case, pork loin baby back ribs):

Then it was time for the barbecue! The recipe/cooking method we chose was for the Memphis Dry-Rubbed Back Ribs. We decided to use hickory chips, wet and wrapped in a foil packet since the recipe called for smoking with apple or cherry wood (we had neither - necessity is the mother of invention). The whole kit and kaboodle went into a 300 degree F BBQ for two hours and then got cranked up at the end to 400 F get a nice crust on the whole thing. Looked yummy enough to eat:

Which we did, with great gusto and enjoyment. And what was the final verdict?

Definitely a recipe to do again - the dry rub was fantastic and the ribs were incredibly tender after the long slow go in the barbecue. However, we really should have used a proper oven thermometer to help regulate the temperature inside the barbecue - something we'll be sure to do the next time.

This slim volume of barbecue recipes (just 132 pages and 48 recipes) is a great way to get your toes wet in the world of grilling meats. It's got fabulous photos of each recipe, great background and instructions without being too complex or intimidating.

Of course, it may make you want to cook more meat. But hey, there's always the treadmill, right?

For more about Dr. BBQ himself, check out his official web site.