Ice Cream Sandwiches

I was invited to my friends for a BBQ. I offered to bring ice cream sandwiches for dessert. I had a massive failure with ice cream sandwiches last year (which explains why it didn't make it into the blog). What makes this recipe easy is using ice cream in brick form. It's much easier and less messy to slice ice cream and place it onto the cookie rather than scooping it. The issue with this is that you're limited with flavours. I bought Neapolitan ice cream because I thought the three colours would make the sandwiches a bit more fun.



Ice Cream Sandwiches - Makes 12-14 sandwiches
From Foodtv.ca's Ricardo and Friends
The cookie recipe takes no time to bake and assembling the sandwiches is just as quick!

* ½ cup allpurpose flour
* ½ tsp baking soda
* 1 oz semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
* ¼ cup unsalted butter
* ¼ cup cocoa powder
* 3 eggs
* ½ cup brown sugar
* ½ a 2-litre brick ice cream, cut lengthwise

Baking the chocolate cookie
With the rack in the middle position, preheat the oven to 400°F.
Line a 17" x 12" jelly roll pan with parchment paper.
In a bowl, combine the flour and baking soda. Set aside.
In a saucepan over low heat, melt the chocolate and butter with the cocoa powder.
Whisk until smooth.
In another bowl, beat the eggs and brown sugar until the mixture turns pale, about 5 minutes.
With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients, followed by the chocolate mixture.
Spread the dough evenly on the pan.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean, about 5 minutes.
Let cool for 5 minutes.
Unmould onto a cooling rack and remove the paper.
Let cool completely.

Putting the sandwiches together
Cut the cookie wafer in half lengthwise.
Cut the ice cream brick lengthwise into 3 equal rectangles - 7.5" x 4.5" x ¾" inches (I thought the ice cream was a bit too thick and would slice it more thinly).
Return one of the ice cream rectangles to the freezer for another use.
Arrange the two remaining ice cream rectangles short end to short end on one cookie wafer.
Cover with the other cookie wafer.
Using a knife, trim away any excess ice cream.
Cut into 12 sandwiches (or as many as you'd like - I made 14).
Store in a large container in the freezer.
Tada!



Top: the batter and the whole cookie wafer.
Bottom: cutting the cookie lengthwise and adding the ice cream.

Everyone enjoyed these sandwiches at the BBQ. Who wouldn't like ice cream sandwiches?


These will be a guaranteed hit!

Red Lentil Soup

I've made this soup a couple of times but had a hard time taking a good picture. I got a so-so picture this time. Although the soup is simple, it is quite hearty due to the lentils. Perfect soup for a light meal! You get your protein from the lentils and the rest of the vegetables round out the flavours. It will definitely become a part of my soup répertoire.



Red Lentil Soup
From Ricardo & Friends.
Ricardo suggests finishing the soup with oil and vinegar. I don't even bother and it's good as-is.

* 2 carrots, sliced
* 1 stalk celery, diced
* 1 onion, chopped
* 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
* 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
* 2 tablespoons olive oil
* 6 cups vegetable broth
* 1 can diced tomatoes (14oz)
* 1 cup red lentils
* 2 bay leaves
* 1 sprig fresh thyme
* salt and pepper, to taste
* dried chili flakes (optional)

In a large pot, cook the onion, garlic, carrots and celery with the cumin in the oil.
Season with salt, pepper and dried chili flakes.
Add the broth, tomatoes, lentils, bay leaves and thyme.
Bring to a boil, reduce the heat and simmer until the vegetables and lentils are tender, about 20 minutes.
Remove the bay leaves and thyme sprigs.
In a blender, purée until smooth.
Add more broth (or water) if necessary.
Adjust the seasoning.
Tada!



Cooking the vegetables and lentils before purée-ing it.

Tajine au Poulet et aux Olives (Chicken and Olive Tajine)

MC is my oldest friend. Not old old (she's actually younger than me!) but I've known her since grade 2. She came for a visit from Montréal for a few days. I don't see her as often as I should but we have gone on vacation together a couple of times, the last one being in Morroco in 2007. Inspired by our trip, I thought of making a Morrocan tajine. I saw a quick chicken tajine recipe on Ricardo (Ricardo Larrivée's French cooking show on Radio-Canada) a while ago and saved it for a special occasion. This was the perfect occasion and also perfect on a cold and rainy day.

MC and I had a great trip in Morroco. It was just as I imagined, and a bit more. As women, we got more attention than we wanted. Otherwise, the food was great, simple and delicious. Everything is so colourful over there. I loved going into a souk, even though it's quite intense. We spent a few days in the city of Marrakesh then spent most of our days in a 4x4 driving through the Atlas mountain range. We spent our final days at the beach in Agadir.

Pictures from MC's and my 2007 trip to Morroco.

Tajine au Poulet et aux Olives (Chicken and Olive Tajine) - Serves 3-4
Adapted from Isabelle Brossard (Ricardo).

I really liked this recipe because it was very simple to make. The longest step is the cooking time to make sure you get maximum flavour. I sliced the lemon and browned them beause I thought that's what I saw on TV. However, the recipe does not call for it and I'm not sure if it's necessary. If you can find preserved lemon, I'm sure that's even better! I added potatoes per the recipe, but for a non-carb option, adding zucchini near the end would be a great addition (there always seemed to be zucchini in the dishes in Morroco!)

* olive oil
* butter

* 4 chicken thighs, skinless

* salt, to taste

* freshly ground pepper, to taste

* 1 small onion, diced small

* 1 garlic clove, minced

* ½ lemon, quartered

* ½ can of green olives, chopped

* 2 potatoes, sliced into thick matchsticks or cubed

* ½ L of chicken broth

* ½ L of water

* ½ tsp cumin

* ½ tsp nutmeg

* ¼ tsp cardamom

* ½ tsp dried chili flakes

* ½ bunch of fresh coriander, sliced thinly

* ½ bunch of fresh parsley, sliced thinly

In a large pot, on medium/high heat, brown your chicken thighs in some olive oil and butter.

Season the chicken with salt and pepper.

Remove the chicken thighs and set aside.

In the remaining fat, add the onion, garlic and spices and cook for 3-4 minutes.

Add the chicken broth and the chicken thighs back.

Also add the olives, potatoes, lemon and water into the pot.

Bring to a boil.

Lower the heat and cook for 1.5 hours, with the lid on.

Taste and adjust seasoning (salt and pepper).

Garnish with coriander and parsley

Serve with couscous.

Tada!

Browned lemon slices and spice mixture.

Browned chicken thighs and the finished product.

I served it with some couscous and grilled asparagus.

Fiddlehead Omelette

I was shopping at the Farmer's Market when I spotted fiddleheads. I've often heard of fiddleheads but had never tried them. I was familiar enough with them to know that they are in season for a very short time so I decided to buy a small bunch. I felt slightly apprehensive not knowing what to do with them so I turned to foodtv.ca and found a recipe for Fiddlehead Omelette from Ricardo Larrivée. I like Ricardo and not just because he's Québécois!



I also took the opportunity to read up on fiddleheads. Fiddlehead ferns "refer to the unfurled fronds of a young fern harvested for food consumption". I really like their bright green colour and spiral shape. They are a traditional dish in Québec and the Maritimes in Canada, and in New England in the U.S. I assume they also grow in Ontario. They cannot be eaten raw to remove shikimic acid, which is poisonous. It is also suggested to cook them twice to remove their bitterness.



Fiddlehead Omelette - Serves 4
Adapted from Ricardo and Friends. I reduced the recipe to one serving for a light lunch for myself and skipped the bacon.

* a handful of fiddleheads, cleaned and cooked
* olive oil
* ¼ small onion, finely chopped
* salt and pepper, to taste
* 2 eggs, lightly beaten
* 1 tbsp half-and-half cream (10 per cent) or milk
* some finely chopped fresh chives
* grated Asiago cheese (that's what I had on hand, the original recipe calls for Gruyère)

First, wash the fiddleheads and remove the brown scale - I just soaked them in water for a bit.
Blanch the fiddleheads for 2 minutes in salted water.
Drain and rinse in cold water.
Meanwhile, heat up some oil and fry onion and cook until softened.
Add the fiddleheads and cook a couple of minutes. Set aside.
In a bowl, mix the eggs, cream and garlic chives.
Season with salt and pepper.
Heat up some oil and pour the egg mixture.
Cook over medium heat and puncture the bottom of the omelette with a spatula to facilitate cooking.
When the edge of the omelette is almost cooked, but not the center, put the fiddlehead filling on one side and the cheese on the other side of the omelette.
Using a spatula, fold the omelette.
Tada!


Stir frying the fiddleheads and adding them to an omelette.

How to describe the taste of fiddleheads? I would say it's more about texture since I thought it tasted pretty mild, slightly earthy. The taste reminded me of eating greens but with a more crunchy texture. I'll have to give it another try if they are still in season!

Mini Apple Tarte Tatin

After the beef stew for dinner, I followed up with tarte tatin for dessert. I love apple desserts and especially love tarte tatin. I even ordered some in Vietnam at Le Toit Gourmand with The Gastronomer and company! I have been looking for an excuse to try Ricardo's Mini ‘Tatin’ Apple Tarts with Caramel recipe.



I halved the recipe since we were three people. My Gala apples were rather small so had they been bigger, there would have been more filling. I decided to slice the apples and fan them out to make it pretty when I flipped the invidual pies. I'm not sure it was noticeable, especially with the caramel sauce and ice cream, so next time I would just dice the apples.


Coring and peeling Gala apples.


Slicing and dicing Gala apples.


Trying to fan out the apple slices.

Using puff pastry makes this recipe really easy. I have always bought pastry that was already rolled out. The supermarket didn't have that type anymore. However, this one was easy to use also; I just had to cut a piece and roll it out.


Aren't the super thin layers of pastry amazing?


Before flipping the tarte.

I made the caramel sauce and thought the portion was a bit too much. I guess leftover caramel is not necessarily a bad thing... Luckily, I found Häagen-Dazs ice cream on sale for $3.33 so I was able to top the dessert with vanilla bean ice cream. This dessert was a success with the boys, was a breeze to make and looks rather impressive. I'll have to find another opportunity to make this again!

I forgot to take a picture with the caramel sauce... Oops!