Presto Pesto

The kitchen is a magical place. Full of delicious whiffs, tastes and buzzing with creativity. We needn't turn on the TV to get inspired to cook. Rather, a walk through your local farmers market, your weekly CSA pick up or your own garden is inspiration enough. This year the veggies are extremely beautiful and well worth the effort preserving the summer's harvest.

Working in a few kitchens, I can tell you that preparing pestos is a great way to preserve the herbs that are growing in abundance and given the right conditions, you too can enjoy fresh fragrant basil in your own kitchen without a pricey flight to Italy.

Rules to good herbal mixes:

1. Okay so get chopping after you've been shopping. -Don't let your herbs sit in the fridge! The best herbs are freshly picked whether its from your own garden or your neighbours or local market. I made a terrible mistake with Cilantro once leaving it for 3 days beside our milk. Cilantro milk was not very popular and the leaves were terribly unimpressed with my lack of enthusiasm.



2. Some herbs do better than others for making pesto. Basil, Cilantro, Parsley, Dill, Rocket and Tarragon all make excellent pesto. Some herbs can be pretty over powering (Sage, Thyme or Lovage) These are best frozen. If you chop them and freeze in a block you can use a grater and grate into you soup, dip or whatever you are preparing.



3. Wash and dry your herbs carefully. Herbs need extra care -basil can be very unforgiving if you have a dull knife or making them spin around. Gently wash, do not submerge them in water for extended periods of time and pat dry to preserve their flavour and colour.



4. Use ingredients you cook with. If you are making a pesto or pistou with basil and you add an ingredient you wouldn't use in the end recipe, why would you put it in the pesto? Which leads me to my next point which is...



5. Leave the garlic out if you are not cooking it. Uncooked garlic once frozen can change the flavour in a negative way. I like to roast my garlic and add fresh later on. Its up to you and you may never notice the difference. You be the judge. Your palette is important too.



6. Mortar and Pestle versus the food processor. I like a food processor for big batches or if you want to use stems. (Cilantro stems can be used in this case) But every kitchen should have a mortar and Pestle. Its a great way to work out any frustrations you could experience through the day.



7. Pine nuts are delicious but sun flower seeds work too. Along with alot of other nuts. I have seen walnuts in commercial pesto. I don't like the taste of it but hey, someone obviously does. And please roast them. If you are going to spend the coin on pine nuts at least have the decency to treat them to a light roast. Roasting them gives better flavour. And that is the entire point of this -flavour!



8. Olive Oil is good but so is Sunflower or Canola. You can always use a mixture if you like and depending on how you are using your pesto, you may choose one over another.



9. Refrigerate and/or freeze. Your pesto will last up to two weeks in the fridge or a couple of months in the deep freeze. Do not leave it sit out. As an old cooking chum once said, "things boiling in the fridge are never a good sign."



10. Cleaning out your machine. Throw a block of cream cheese, some ricotta or make some flavourful mayonnaise in it with the left over mix. I have even grated cheese into it. An herb is a terrible thing to waste.

Basil Pesto or Pesto Genovese or (without the nuts) Pistou

6 cups of Basil- 2/3 cup roasted sunflower seeds or pine nuts -3/4 cup of Parmesan Regianno- 2 heads of roasted garlic -1 cup of olive oil-juice of half a lemon-salt and pepper to taste

Cilantro Pesto (absolutely amazing with eggplant roasted)

4 cups of Cilantro -2/3 cup of sunflower seeds-half head of roasted garlic- juice of two limes or half a lemon-1/2 cup sunflower oil-salt and pepper -and if you like it spicy throw in a jalapeno for a little zing!

So now that you have scads of delicious pesto, what will you be making?

Cilantro pesto is great in Curries, stir frys, and salsa and dips. Basil is great with pasta, salad dressings, dips, bread... and really when you think about it... the only limit is your imagination.

This morning I made scrambled eggs with Garlic Scape pesto. I will be baking bread and using some basil pesto for foccasia bread later on today.... you get the idea! Throw half a cup with some black olives and make a fantastic tapanade or with some chick peas and make some really great bean dips. Start cooking and the end result will be delicious!

Cupcake Crazy

I like cupcakes. No I think stronger words are required here. I love cupcakes. They are small delicious and individually wrapped. They mark happy celebrations and bring smiles to all who are lucky to get one. The great thing about them (especially for large groups) you can offer people a choice of flavours and appeal to the eye. I am getting many orders for these little morsels and I really enjoy making them. Part of the reason they are so enjoyable to decorate is that each one has its own personality and together they give a real presence to the table. A group of these at a dinner party, baby shower or luncheon just say party. Who could be feeling sad with a cupcake I ask you? Having cupcakes just make you feel good. So grab a cup of your favourite cup of java, put your feet up and have a cupcake. And you don't have any, call me!

MySoti - nome - 'I Heart Cup Cakes T Shirt'- Tees

MySoti - nome - 'I Heart Cup Cakes T Shirt'- Tees

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Food Memories

A bunch of bananas mashed in a bowl and I can reflect on days when our daughter was just starting to try solid food. Something so simple can be a powerful memory trigger and today while combing my cookbooks I came across another means of reflection; the hand-written recipes of family members past and present.

Cookbooks are wonderful and I love to get as many as I can. Our house is proof that every room one can have fully stocked bookshelves. Rotary potluck was coming up and I decided to pull out one such cookbook my grandpa had left behind and a collection of handwritten cards with recipes shared from my grandma's friends and acquaintances fell onto my lap. It was a very powerful feeling to unfold these and read them. Mushroom Clafouti, Chicken with Lemon and Herbs, Swiss Chard soup, and Fondue Gleep with a tip at the bottom of, "use own head" for judgement in quantities. I felt suddenly very close to someone long gone but not forgotten.
I remember the sandwiches and jello she used to make me and wish that she could hang in the kitchen with me today. We'd have a great time and she could tell me some of the disastrous culinary mistakes she has made because I see from her notes she was not always pleased with some of these recipes. Notes like "don't make again" or just NO in capital letters and underlined for effect.

Food memories of the first time you ate chevre or grew your own tomatoes and salad. I think food is so much more than a necessary means to an end. Its who we are, who are ancestors were and how we hope future generations will become. My wish is that those smashed up bananas become a good food memory for our daughter... eventually. And I can share in creating some food memories of our own, as a family...and that we cook and talk and learn about each other.

I wonder if she made these often and if she used Fondue Gleep. Salmon Strata looks really good Grandma. I am going to have a Dinner by Jean night and use all of these recipes.

In the meanwhile, please enjoy the following from Grandma Jean to you:

Mushroom Clafouti

by J Johannson

2 T Margarine (granddaughter version please use butter)
1 medium Onion finely chopped
1 1/2 lb cup mushrooms thinly sliced
1/4 cup sherry
1 1/3 cup milk
1 egg
3 egg whites
1/4 t salt
1/4 t pepper
3/4 c unbleached all purpose flour
1/2 cup Parmesan

1. Preheat oven to 350 F
2. Melt margarine or butter in pan
3. cook onions lightly and add mushrooms cover and stir
4. remove cover and add sherry -cook until liquid is gone -set aside
5. In another bowl -combine the rest of the ingredients except cheese and blend.
6. Pour a thin layer of egg mixture into buttered pie pan and cook for 8 minutes.
7. Add mushroom mixture and pour remaining egg mixture on top and garnish with
cheese.
8. Bake for 1 hour -cool for 15 minutes and serve.

Note: For extra bit use a mixture of herbs from your garden. (in the words of the Fondue
Gleep -use your head!)

So lets all hold our glasses up high for for our mothers, grandmothers and the people who taught us to love food. Thank you Grandma J, Thank you Farmor and thanks Mom!

Buttercream Icing

I will never forget the first time I watched a chef split buttercream icing. I was working & apprenticing in a fantastic restaurant within pastry. During a large preparation for a brunch, the sous chef asked me if I had made buttercream icing. I said yes all the time. He sniffed that I had never made it properly and that he was going to show me how. Great I thought that's what I'm here for and quickly grabbed my book to take notes. The chef got the egg whites and sugar ready to make the Italian Meringue, set a pot of water on the stove and starting to whip them by hand over the bubbling water. (that part was impressive) I whipped the butter on the small standing mixer and when the meringue had met the proper temperature he started to seed it with the butter. I watched as he made a lumpy split mess. (not so impressive) The meringue was unfortunately still too warm!

I make loads of this now and with much success. I always tell our daughter you learn more from a mistake than by making it perfectly and watching Amadeus muck up real buttercream ranks up highly in the days of learning for me.

There are several important steps to awesome buttercream. Excellent ingredients, everything ready and temperature is key.

Lets talk Meringue. Copper bowl. It produces creamier foam. It's quicker and it's a key component to your kitchen. Buy one. Put your egg whites and sugar in the bowl and under you will have waterin a larger pot to cook whilst you whip (bain marie method). Hand mixer. There is no shame and I happily use one. I can think of alot better uses for my energy than standing and whipping.

Swiss Meringue

480 ml egg whites -680 g granulated suger (I use vanilla sugar)

• whip over simmering water until it reaches 140 degrees


• keep your egg yolks to make Lemon curd -an excellent addition to any buttercream!

Lets talk butter. Lots of butter

Whipped Butter

1kg plus 500 g of butter- whip the heck out of it and keep at room temperature

Once your meringue has reached 140 degrees, remove it from the stove and continue to whip it while it cools. Once it reaches room temp. you can start seeding your butter but don't rush! If the butter feels cooler than the meringue you might be okay if you are using a hand mixer. Continue to seed until its all in. You will end up with alot of buttercream and you needn't worry about using it all right away. You can freeze it. Just allow it to reach room temperature and then re whip it. It will split and look awful. I hold my hands on the mixing bowl while the standing mixer is whipping it and voila! Its back together no harm done!

You can add chocolate, lemon curd vanilla bean seeds or extract... to change it to whatever you wish. It's very versatile and yummy. Just remember that they need to be the same temperature!

Keeping it Local

Its a tough thing this time of year. Local produce is still available but hard to find. I trekked to the grocery store this week to get our weekly groceries & found with great dismay that there were few choices. The last of my garden tomatoes that I roasted and froze are nearly done, my herbs are dwindling fast and now walking through the produce area feels like walking through a mind field of weary distant travellers wilted and tired.

Don't get me wrong. We have great cheese such as Wooldrift farms , fantastic honey such as Wildwood Farm Honey and great places that support the local food industry such as myself and Foodlink. I make a point of purchasing local if its available but this time of year it is difficult to get fresh produce that is at the very least coming from countries that support safe farming practices. We do have the ability to vote with our spending. Support the grocery stores that support local. Buy from countries that don't use toxic pesticides on their crops , support local farms that grow organically and start your own vegetable garden.

There are still great choices we just need to make them!

Chocolate is

I used to make chocolates every day. Tempering chocolate was a time consuming process and preparing ganaches was always lots of fun. Infusing teas with the cream, making lemon buttercream to fill those white chocolate confections. It is both creative and rewarding.

Baking with chocolate is an entirely different method. Instead of tempering chocolate, the decision lies with using cocoa powder versus melting chocolate. I like to use both. Nothing beats the mouth feel of melted chocolate baked goods. You can add as much fat as you like to a cocoa powder recipe but it lacks the depth of flavour you get from melting chocolate and folding it into your batter. When choosing the right chocolate for your recipe consider what you are attempting to achieve. If I was baking for grown ups I would never consider anything less than 70% cocoa. I keep 53% in the cupboard if I get an order for a child's birthday cake. I only use Valrona cocoa powder and would never consider anything else. It is far superior to anything else out there. 100% Dutch process cocoa.

http://www.valrhona.com/

The Vegetable Garden

I ordered my seeds today. Its a daunting task because there are so many great varieties out there. Tomatoes and cucumbers are fantastic out of the garden. I grow Lemon cucumbers every year. They are small yellow and very sweet. You could eat them right out of the garden like an apple... and I do. Tomatoes I struggle with choosing.

Last year I didn't get seeds but relied on a family member who starts seeds. I was able to harvest one or two before the frost. Not a good year. Now it was cold but it turned out that there was another reason for the lack of proliferation. He confessed much later to starting seeds from store bought plants. The plants were from genetically modified seeds as they are now producing genetically modified plants that will produce seed that doesn't amount to much.

Is anyone's alarm going off? Mine is loud and clear! Genetically modified food or GMOs as people like to call them (we do love our acronyms don't we?) are now unmarked and sold in our grocery stores and we are blindly buying and feeding our families. This is beyond scary and the fact that Steven Harper is singing at a piano is getting more press time than our food crisis makes me very concerned for the future of the human race.

So let me tell you what is going in the mundcooks garden. Heirloom varieties of organically grown seeds, no sprays, no chemicals of any kind and my kitchen compost. We need to fight the GMOs in the stores and stop blindly buying whatever large corporations are feeding us.

Take charge, our future depends on it.

http://www.terraedibles.ca/

Variations of Apple

I just bought a very large bushel of local Gala apples. They are significantly smaller than the typical New Zealand variety that we see in the vast majority of grocery stores today. These are small light and very very sweet. They are far superior to those from distant regions as they are tree ripened. Tree ripened apples are sweeter and according to Harold McGee, small apples have smaller cells and will keep better. He also said that the only significant vitamin that is in the apple is in the peel so I completely raked havoc on these when I made my Alsatian Fruit Tart (as I peeled and roasted them). They were delicious and if nothing else, there is still fibre!

Crust recipe

(30' tart tin)

250 g flour-1/2 t salt-2t vanilla Castor sugar-125 g butter -1 egg yolk -5 t water

Filling

1.5 k gala apples -mace-cinnamon-nutmeg-allspice

Custard

100 g sugar-2 eggs-80 ml buttermilk-125 ml 35 % cream-1 t cinnamon

• make pastry and chill, roll out dough and arrange in tart shell and chill while peeling apples
• preheat oven to 400 F
• Peel, core and quarter apples, slice the quarters in half and toss in spices
• arrange artfully in the shell and put in oven for 35 mins
• while crust and apples are baking
• make the custard, I also made a *streusel topping but you needn't bother it tastes great without! (Alsace is quite close to Germany so this makes sense)
• After the apples and crust is baked pour into the tart and reduce temperature to 300 F and bake until set.

Apples are one of the best ways to enjoy the local region even when the harvest is long done. Buy local and if your grocery store doesn't offer them, ask! We can make this change if we keep it up! And now on to the next apple recipe!

*Streusel Topping
1/2 cup flour-4 tablespoons butter-4 tablespoons brown sugar1 -2 teaspoons cinnamon

New Year Resolutions

Every year people celebrate the New Year resolve to eat better, exercise more and generally develop a healthier lifestyle. What were people eating this year that was so bad? If they cooked more at home, I believe that they have accomplished more than most. With diabetes, heart and blood pressure problems are on the rise not to mention obesity; the problem of poor eating habits is just part of a bigger issue.

What are we doing that is so wrong? We rely on companies to provide us with all the answers to these issues for a start. If we could only simplify the issue we would be better off. Going out and buying our way through the problem does not solve anything. We buy a treadmill and dry our laundry on it. We buy fruits and vegetables and then go through a drive thru in the morning to get our meal. We need to make the time and effort to follow through on our good habits to make them a reality.

My answer is simple: turn off the television and get outside people! It doesn't take a rocket scientist (although it’s more up the nutritionists alley) to realize that sitting all the time is not going to create muscle!

I sometimes feel guilty when I cook. I mean, I cook with the good stuff. Cream and butter for a start and I use lots of fresh vegetables and fruit too everyday. I will also confess that I love good cheese.

A small portion of really lovingly prepared food is the true answer not avoidance. I feel no kinship for these people who wear a badge of honor for not eating something. They punish themselves by not trying something and that is truly sad. It’s the people who make hamburger helper or go through the drive through and eat themselves silly are not only doing themselves a great disservice to their palettes, they are also causing themselves greater health issues later on. I don't believe that anyone ever benefited from these quick fix diets -other than the people selling the books or the large corporations creating pre wrapped frozen entrees whose packaging threaten our landfill sites. We have lost our connection to food and it has to change. We have to change. Good food is not the enemy. Our poor lifestyle habits are.

People stop watching the food network and go for a walk. Get outside and get reacquainted with your neighbourhood. Reconnect with your community. Join a yoga class, a running club, go swimming. Do something.

So this year, I resolve to continue to cook with butter, eat fantastic local cheese and drink excellent wine. I also resolve to get outside for 20 -35 minutes a day outside and do something!