:: The Zen Gourmand ::

My entire production of Biscotti for the coming Chrismas season has sold out. You can still get your hands on some of them. All you have to do is follow this easy recipe and make them yourself ;-).
This recipe can be made into a traditional, hard biscotti or if served with a sparkling wine, as a soft biscotti.
Champagne is used as the main wet ingredient and with its fine aromas and effervescence produced a dough of subtle delicacy.

What you need:

4 cups (1L) all-purpouse flour
2 tsp (10ml) baking powder
1/2 tsp (2ml) salt
Grated zest of 1 orange
1 cup (250ml) of slivered almonds, lightly toasted (optional)
3 large eggs (4 if not using champagne)
1 1/3 cups (275ml) granulated sugar
1/4 cup (60ml) vegetable oil (1/2 if not using champagne)
1/2 cup (125ml)of champagne
2 tbsp (30ml) orange juice
1 tsp (5ml) vanilla extract (almond)
1 cup (250ml) dried cranberries

Method:

• Preheat oven to 325F (160C)
• Line large baking sheet with parchment paper
• In a large bowl combine flour, baking powder, salt, orange zest and almonds (if using).
• In a medium bowl beat eggs until fluffy and light in colour
  Beat in the sugar, oil, orange juice and vanilla.
  Stir in champagne.
• Add to flour mixture and stir until nearly absorbed
• Add cranberries and stir until all is well combined
• With moist hands, divide dough in half and form into two loafes about 15 in (38cm) long, about 4 in (10 cm) wide and about 3/4 in (2cm) high, keeping the loafs 2 in (5cm) apart.
  Keep moistening your hands as needed. Smooth the
  loafs into desired shape.
• Bake the loafs for about 35 minutes or until cracks start to appear and the top of the loafes take on a golden colour.
• Remove the loafes and slide the onto a cutting board.
• Cut the loafes diagonally into 1/2 in (1.25cm) thick slices, keeping the knife clean with a damp cloth as it becomes sticky.

For soft biscotti:

• Place the slices on their sides on a cookie sheet and toast lightly on both sides under the broiler.
• Cool on the baking sheet placed on a rack.

For hard biscotti:

• Stand the slices upright on a baking sheet 1/4 – 1/2 in (1cm) appart.
• Reduce the oven temperature to 300F (150C) and bake for an sdditional 30 to 35 minutes or until the biscotti are dry.
• Cool on the baking sheet placed on a rack.

Going through one of my bookshelf the other day I came across a book I meant to mention here for some time.

The book is calle “Have Some Dim Sum” and was written by a good friend of mine, Evelyn Chau.

If you enjoy Dim Sum and always wanted to know more about it or even how to prepare some of these dishes yourself, this book is for you.

Or perhaps you are always a bit intimidated at a Dim Sum restaurant wondering what it is you are looking at?

After alll, there could be as many as 60 or 70 different items to choose from!

In Have Some Dim Sum, Evelyn Chau takes the mystery out of dim sum dining.

Not only does Chau explore the evolution of Dim Sum but also has some 20 clearly written recipes and the book is generously illustrated with gorgeous photographs by well known Toronto food photographer Vince Noguchi.

After reading the book you’ll know that when you are ordering Ha Guen you are getting those delicious shrimp balls you love so much  and that Chinese Tapioca Pudding is made with tapioca pearls and lotus paste.

Yum!

Check it out: Have Some Dim Sum

During the recent Toronto Wine and Cheese Show I had the pleasure of meeting Anna Olson, famous pastry chef, author and host of the Food Network’s “Fresh with Anna Olson” along with old acquaintance Michael Fagan from the LCBO aka the “The Matchmaker” in “Food & Drink” magazine’s column of the same name. The specific occasion was the “Wine and Chocolate” seminar held Friday night of the Toronto Wine and Cheese Show.The seminar Anna and Michael presented explored the fundamentals of pairing wines with chocolate which is always a bit of a challenge as chocolate can have and comes in many forms. Pairing a wine with a simple bar of unsweetened dark chocolate is not going to require the same criteria as pairing a wine with a rich, creamy and sweet chocolate brownie.

The lineup of wines consisted of a NCT (Niagara College Teaching Winery) 2005 Late Harvest Cabernet Franc, a McGuigan Black Label Shiraz and a W&J Graham 2003 LBV Port while the chocolate delicacies consisted of one of Anna’s famous brownies, a chocolate chip cookie and a white chocolate crusted artisanal brie. While Anna demonstrated some of her chocolate based recipes we also learned a lot about various characteristics of chocolate as well as some neat chocolate recipe tricks from her. Michael guided the group through the various possible combinations of the wines and chocolate treats presented and the attending crowd ended up leaving with an elevated understanding of what works and what doesn’t.Here is a quick Zen Gourmand summary of Wine and Chocolate pairing considerations:

• - The wine should be as sweet as or sweeter than the chocolate (fundamentally applies to pairing any dessert with a wine)
• - Heavier wines with heavier chocolate based desserts
• - Dark or Bittersweet Chocolate requires a wine that echoes roasted and bitter (tannic) flavors and possibly offer a hint of chocolate on the nose and palate (Shiraz, Cabernet Sauvignon and Zinfandel make good candidates)
• - For Milk Chocolate look towards a lighter bodied wine such as Pinot Noirs, light bodied Merlots, Rieslings and Muscats.
• - For White Chocolate, steer towards Sherries, Moscato d’Asti, even an Orange Muscat in order to pick up the mellow and buttery flavors and possible fruit tones.
• - Rich and creamy Chocolate Desserts and Treats call for sweeter wines such as a Port, Late Harvest Vidal or Cabernet Franc, Ice Wine, perhaps even a Tokay Azu.

Don’t forget to check out some of Anna’s books. You will find some truly amazing and easy to do recipes.

Anna and Michael Olson Cook at HomeJoin premier chefs Anna and Michael Olson as they entertain at home Anna and Michael Olson Cook at Home invites readers into the home kitchen of Ontario’s premier chefs …

SugarOn her Food Network show Sugar, pastry chef Anna Olson shows viewers how to create simple, original desserts that they can create at home…

Another Cup Of SugarSatisfy that sweet tooth — some more! You can never have too much of a good thing. Anna Olson brings you more of her favorite dessert recipes in Another Cup of Sugar…

The Zen Gourmand series of cooking demonstrations and tutored tastings continued on Saturday January 12th with an authentic Swiss Cheese Fondue and a tasting of three appropriate whites. Traditional convention pairs cheese fondue with wines such as Fendant, Riesling, Veltliner, Gewürtz and Pinot Gris. I chose a Peller Estates Signature Series Pinot Gris 2006 ¹⁾, a Hillebrand Artist Series 2006 Gewürztraminer ²⁾ and the Peller Estates French Cross Dry White Vidal ³⁾ which I often use a my standard white cooking wine.

The evening got under way by cracking a bottle of Ice Cuvée (see Linzer Torte post) to get everybody in the swing. It didn’t take long for the cheeses to make an appearance for sampling as well. This included Gruyere, Emmental, Appenzeller and some pretty potent Vacherin.

While the participants were still sampling cheeses I set out to pour the wines for a blind tasting (bottles carefully wrapped in aluminum foil and at proper service temperature).

Palates cleared with bread and water, the tasting proceeded and the results were not unexpected with the Pinot Gris the winner while the Gewürtz was a bit of a disappointment barely nudging out the FX Dry.

Once the fondue was prepared (using the FX Dry as the wine component) the participants had an opportunity to evaluate the wines once more on the basis of how well they paired with the fondu.

The consensus was again in favour of the Pinot Gris with the others sharing second place.

The fondue itself was a hit and the participants were polite enough not to lick the pot at the end :)

You can download the recipe here.

Winemaker’s notes:

¹⁾ Hint of copper colour with a fresh, aromatic nose of peach, melon, orange and banana with just a hint of white pepper spice. A medium-bodied wine with a soft, opulent mouth-feel and flavours of honeydew melon, pear and peach. A summer-fresh finish with flavours of green apple, lemon and pear

²⁾ Intense floral aromas and lychee notes make this classically styled Gewürztraminer easy to identify. The palate is weighty with great floral notes and a hint of honeydew.

³⁾ Pale yellow straw; Cooked pear and yellow apple aroma. Off-dry with soft round fruit flavours and light tropical fruit notes. Easy drinking wine.

Saturday Nov. 17th saw another successful evening of cooking demonstrations and a tutored tasting of sparkling wines with the Zen Gourmand.

The evening started out with the wine tasting. The three sparkling wines tasted were the Peller Estates Cuvée Niagara Brut ¹⁾, Trius Brut VQA ²⁾ and the Peller Estates Signature Series Ice Cuvée VQA ³⁾. The latter one being the clear winner.

The Linzer torte was a great hit as well. I had one made up beforehand using black currant (cassis) jam which is what the earliest recorded recipes were calling for. For the actual demonstration I used the more conventionally used raspberry jam. When the demo torte was ready to eat (a bit warm still), the consensus voted for the raspberry version. Personally, I prefer the more sophisticated and a bit tarter taste of the black currant version. If you are interested in trying your hand at one of these fabulous creations, you can download the recipe here.

Enjoy!

¹⁾ Peller Estates Cuvée Niagara Brut:  A medium-bodied sparkling wine exhibits tiny bubbles with apple, citrus and floral aromas. On the pallet echo juicy green apples and pear followed by a refreshing citrus finish.

²⁾  Trius Brut VQA : A medium-bodied sparkling wine offering pretty lively mousse, refreshing acidity and follows through with citrus, apple and yeasty notes.

³⁾ Peller Estates Signature Series Ice Cuvée VQA: A brilliant yellow/straw coloured sparkling wine exhibiting aromas of apricot and ripe apple with hints of honey and yeast. These are followed by tropical fruits on the palate and a refreshing sweet grapefruit finish.

I’m having a great time this summer trying out all kinds of different ways to grill and BBQ foods.
Earlier on I posted my secret rib recipe.
Well, I have another one now and the title of this post should give you a clue.
I finally decided to try ribs on my grill without precooking them and rubbing them instead. In doing so I discovered 2 things.
1. It’s easier
2. They taste even better
Granted, you have to like your grilled meats boldly flavoured and I’m not talking about just drowning then in some BBQ sauce or smoking them with some exotic or raunchy woods.

The other neat thing about rubbing your ribs is that there is really no wrong way to rub the ribs. Essentially you can just o through your pantry or cupboards and see what you’ve got that makes any sense. After that, and providing you have some stuff to play with, you can impart your ribs with a variety of flavours and call them “Cajun”, “South Western”, “Mediterranean”, “French Prevençal” or whatever depending on what you are going to mix up for the occasion.

Here is my ZenGourmand version:

Makes about 250ml (1 cup) which is enough to rub 2 rack of baby pork back ribs.
50 ml (4 tblsp) fresh rosemary leaves, ground up in a mortar (crushed if all you have is dry)
50 ml (4 tblsp) fresh thyme, leaves picked and chopped (use dry if you don’t have fresh)
50 ml (4 tblsp) freshly cracked black pepper (use ground white if you want to be more French)
5 bay leaves, crumbled as fine as you have patience for
8-12 juniper berries* (this can be a challenge to get unless you pick them yourself or try your healthfood store)
25 ml (2 tblsp) ground cumin
25 ml (2 tblsp) salt

Now mix this all up thoroughly. If you are making this ahead of time, or if you are multiplying the recipe to last you all season, place the ingredients in a jar of appropriate size, close with a tight fitting lid, shake it well to thoroughl blend all the seasonongs and store at room temperature.

If you are going to do the ribs the same day, take your ribs and rub your creation onto them on both sides and on the ends, patting them to make the rub stick. Don’t be shy, use lots.

If you are in a hurry, you can proceed to grill your ribs right away but if you want a more sensational taste and have the time, place them in suitable dish, cover them with foil and “marinate” them in the fridge for 4 hour or more. Just remove them sufficiently ahead of time to let them come up to room temperature before tossing them on the grill.

So now we get to the grilling part.
Does your grill have a smoking chamber? Great. Soak a good load of your favorite wood chips (mesquite, hickory, chipotle), and load up the smoke chamber. Keep enough chips soaked and ready to toss in the smoker over the time it takes to cook the ribs, about 1.5 – 2 hours.
Fire up your grill full blast on the side with the smoker only. Get the smoke happening but then keep the grill at 180 C (350 F). Put the ribs on the grill and slowly cook for 1.5 – 2 hours depending on your grill. After about 30 minutes, start basting (mopping) them with a suitable and complimentary BBQ sauce (try to match the smoke and the sauce to the ingredients). For the ZenGourmand rub, use mesquite chips and a mesquite sauce or chipotle chips and chipotle sauce.
This accomplishes two things.
1) It prevents your ribs from drying out
2) It gives the an additional flavour attitude and a nice looking glaze

<>Don’t forget to turn the ribs once in a while and top up the smoker.
The ribs are ready whee they look read and the meat wiggles from the bone.

Enjoy

There are as many ways to do ribs on the grill as there are grills, I’m sure. Maybe you don’t need yet another recipe because yours is the all-time award winning recipe handed down from generation to rib eating generation.

Well, I’ve tried dozens of them and ended up cooking up my own secret recipe. Needless to say, the secret changes every time I make ribs on the BBQ, but the main theme stays the same.

Here goes…

Get yourself some ribs. Back, side, baby back, beef, frozen or not; whatever turns your crank. The recipe does 2 racks approximately, so adjust quantities to suit. Make sure the ribs are at room temperature when you start.

Preheat your stove or BBQ to 180 C (350 F).

While it’s heating up make up this fabulous marinade:

6 cloves garlick, smashed
2 small onions, minced and sauteed in butter
2 bay leaves, whole or crumbled
45 ml (1.5 oz) maple syrup
45 ml (1.5 oz) Ketchup
2 tblsp Worcestershire sauce
1 lime, juice only
3 tblsp red wine vinegar
150 ml (2/3 cup) Chipotle/Beer BBQ sauce
150 ml (2/3 cup) Beer, preferably dark
3 tblsp brown sugar
2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper, more if you like your ribs on fire
1 tsp fresh cracked black pepper

Mix the whole thing up and baste your ribs with it on both sides.
Place the ribs bone up in a roasting pan or other fire proof dish just big enough to hold them.
Pour remaining marinade over ribs and cover with aluminum foil.
Bake for 1 – 1.5 hrs. in the preheated oven or on the grill.

Once cooked, cool and remove from the marinade, retaining the marinade.

Now grill the ribs over medium heat or even indirect heat depending on the kind of grill you own, turning and basting the ribs a couple of times until done, about 20 minutes max. If you have a smoke box, by all means put it to good use as well.
While the ribs are on the BBQ make the dipping sauce by reducing the marinade in a small saucepan until it sticks to the back of a spoon.
Serve ribs and sauce with your favorite sides and enjoy with a decent glass of red or your favorite brew.

Mmmmmm….

Yesterday I hinted on releasing my secret recipe designed to make the “Baby Spinach & Carrot” salad a superior culinary Zen Gourmand experience.
Take a deep breath because here it goes…

This is to make a salad for an enlightened couple (that’s 2 people resonating on the same page; adjust to suit actual number of gourmands):

We start by preparing my secret vinaigrette.

In a medium sized mixing bowl, saucier or other suitable vessel add:
2 tbsp of Red Wine Vinegar
2 tbsp of Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 (preferably 2 or even more) cloves of Garlic, pressed (use a decent Garlic Press or chop really fine)
1 tbsp of Ketchup
1/2 tsp of Honey
1/2 tsp of Dijon Mustard
1/2 tsp of fresh, carefully picked and chopped Thyme leaves (if available, otherwise use dried)
1/2 tsp of fresh, carefully picked and chopped Tarragon leaves (if available, otherwise use dried)
Whisk these ingredients together to make a homogenous vinaigrette.
Add Salt and Pepper to taste.

Now on to the salad.

Gently scrub and peel 2 medium sized carrots.
Coarsely shred or grate these carrots.
Take 1 good handful of washed, dried and chilled baby spinach.
Artistically arrange the leaves on a plate.
Arrange half the grated/shredded carrots in the center of the spinach using up about 2/3rd’s of the available spinach-estate.
When I feel particularly in tune with the Universe, I arrange the spinach and the carrots in a Yin-Yang pattern – quite attractive too, actually.
Repeat to make 2 plates.

Serve with my secret vinaigrette on the side.
Offer fresh ground pepper.
Optionally, and only if you are within your prescribed weight range and free of any other contra-indications, offer to liberally grate some really tasty Parmigiano Reggiano on top of this creation.
It will double the benefits of the the iron and vitamins in this salad by sheer psychological subversion – trust me.

Enjoy.

I started to write about the “Spinach & Carrot Salad vs. Dragon Fruit” on http://www.juliemoorespa.com/zen_gourmand.html.
Unfortunately, all the batteries for my digital camera died on me and I wasn’t able to download the amazing pictures for my “Dragon Fruit” essay.
So please bear with me.
I will have them (the pictures) and the essay, on-line ASAMBAC (As Soon As My Batteries Are Charged).
At least, you can read up on the Spinach & Carrot Salad at http://www.juliemoorespa.com/zen_gourmand.html.

Hmmmm….

The Zen Gourmand’s Cooking Class & Wine Tasting this past Saturday was a tremendous success and great fun. Thanks to all who attended. Your attendance, participation, contribution and support made for a wonderful evening.
We started our with introductions, light snacks and drinks followed by an overview of the evenings program.
The first item on the program was a tasting of “20 BEES LATE HARVEST VIDAL VQA“. Participants were handed out a tasting notes form allowing each to assess, judge and rate and comment on each of the 3 wines to be tasted this evening.
This tasting was followed by the evenings “cooking class” during which the Zen Gourmand demonstrated the preparation of a delicious Italian pear crostata, the recipe for which can be downloaded in 2 versions.
Click here for the metric measures version.
Click here for the imperial measures version.
While the crostata was baking in the oven, we proceeded to the 2nd tasting of the evening. The wine selected for this tasting was the 2001 “POMINO VIN SANTO” from the FRESCOBALDI estates in Tuscany. This very lovely dessert wine, somewhat reminiscent of fine ports, was enjoyed by all and ultimately declared the favorite of the 3 wines tasted.
With the crostata finished and ready to sample, the 3rd wine of the evening made its appearance to be tasted alongside a slice of crostata. The wine selected for this tasting was a fine 2001 “TOKAJI ASZU 4 PUTTONYOS” (DISZNOKO estates). It was generally felt that the Vin Santo would have made a better companion for the Pear Crostata.