I always struggle to find ideas about what to do when my family visits. This time, I thought we could head to St. Jacobs. St. Jacobs is a little town near Waterloo (home of RIM and blackberry) known for its Mennonite community. There's a farmer's market and the town has a quaint strip for shopping.
The market was surprisingly busy. I guess it was not such an original idea to come to St. Jacobs on Thanksgiving weekend. The St. Jacob's Farmers' Market also includes a flea market. We just walked around the farmer's market and looked at the various produced offered.
Then when we started to get hungry, we headed to the food stalls. As we drove in near Waterloo, there was a lot of unexpected traffic. Then we saw the Oktoberfest signs and it all made sense. Nearby Waterloo hosts the largest Oktoberfest outside Germany. I have never attended Oktoberfest but I thought I should at least have an Oktoberfest sausage! My sister and I shared a sausage. It was good, but nothing special.
Oktoberfest sausage topped with sauerkraut.
Next, we were very excited to have apple fritters! This is what I associate St. Jacobs with! There was a long line waiting outside. My sister and I waited for probably 45 minutes, at the amusement of our family. Apple fritters are made up of fresh apple rings that are deep fried, then coated with cinnamon and sugar. They are made from scratch and when people come in to buy them by the dozen, it's a slow process! But we thought it was worth the wait!
Line for apple fritters!
Our reward for waiting!
We got a half dozen apple fritters, and one serving with ice cream. We inhaled those apple fritters very quickly compared to our wait. The cooked apples had softened and the dough was piping hot, a perfect combination with the ice cream. If you do come to St. Jacobs, you must have some apple fritters!
My sister's fiancé D asked what treat would be awaiting when he and L arrived on Friday night before Thanksgiving. I had a specific treat in mind! After watching At The Table With...Elizabeth Falkner, I took out her book Demolition Desserts from the library. In it were tempting desserts, from delectable cookie recipes to elaborate desserts, requiring several components.
On the show and in the book, Elizabeth boasts that her brother deems her chocolate chip cookies the best and I thought I'd try it out! I made a batch at my friends Superfly and T, and they were a hit! In the book, following the Chocolate Cookie Recipe, is the recipe for Chococolate2 Chip Espresso Cookies, which looked equally delicious. I thought I would make both recipes and have a chocolate cookie faceoff! I followed the chocolate chip cookie recipe, baked half and added ingredients from the second recipe. I like both recipes equally, while my sister preferred the basic chocolate chip cookie recipe. I think the key ingredient is the brown sugar!
Chocolate Chip Cookies - Makes 3 dozens I recently heard a great tip that for all dessert recipes, the sugar can be cut by 10%. I would agree since I tend to find desserts too sweet.Follow this tip according to your own sweet tooth!
* ½ cup butter, softened but still cool * ¾ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar * ½ cup granulated sugar * 1 large egg * 1 tsp pure vanilla extract * ¼ tsp kosher salt * 1-¼ cup plus 3 tbsp (7 oz) all-purpose flour * ½ tsp baking soda * ¼ tsp baking powder * 8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped the size of chocolate, or bittersweet chocolate chips (about 1-½ cups)
In a large bowl, using a wooden spoon, cream together the butter, brown and granulated sugars until smooth but not overmixed. Add the egg, vanilla, and salt and stir just until combined. Sift in the flour, baking soda, and baking powder and stir gently just until combined. Add the chocolate and stir just evenly distributed throughout the dough. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes (I didn't actually follow this step - too anxious to bake!). Scoop 1 tbsp of the dough and set them on parchment paper lined baking sheets. (At this point I baked 12 cookies and set aside 6 tbsp of dough.) Bake for 10 minutes.
This is the batch I made at my friends' a few weeks ago.
Chococolate2 Chip Espresso Cookies From Elizabeth Falkner's Demolition Desserts. Because I didn't want two batches of cookies I made the second chocolate chip cookie recipe by adding ingredients to half of the first one (did that make sense?). It doesn't follow exactly Elizabeth Falkner's recipe but I think it's close enough.
* ½ chocolate chip cookie dough recipe above * ¼ cup + 2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder * 1 tbsp finely ground espresso (I just used coffee I had) ½ cup white chocolate chips
Mix the cocoa powder and espresso (or ground coffee). Sift cocoa mixture onto the dough and stir gently just until combined. Add the white chocolate chips and mix again. Scoop 1 tbsp of the dough and set them on parchment paper lined baking sheets. (At this point I baked 12 cookies and set aside 6 tbsp of dough.) Bake for 10 minutes. Chocolate Chip Cookies Faceoff I thought combining both recipes onto one cookie would literally create a cookie faceoff. You can bite one side, then the opposite one and compare!
6 tbsp of chocolate chip cookie dough recipe above 6 tbsp of chococolate2 chip espresso cookie dough recipe above Cut each tablespoon of cookie dough in half. Combine two ½ tbsp of each recipe to make one cookie. Set them on parchment paper lined baking sheets. Bake for 10 minutes. Tada!
A faceoff cookie combines the best of both worlds!
Ok, this dish might sound weird (my mom asked me not to post it because we would look odd!). As I mentioned in my previous post on wonton soup, I was trying to clean my freezer and used up some frozen shrimps. While doing this, my mom found a bag of shrimp heads. That's because when I made baked shrimp toasts this summer, I accidentally bought whole shrimps with heads on (don't ask why I bought shrimps when I clearly had some in the freezer - this is why my freezer needed organizing!). Not wanting to waste, I figured I would do something with the heads, but never did. So my mom took it upon herself to cook them.
This recipe is exactly the same as the tôm kho (braised shrimps), except we only used shrimp heads and we did not have to add lobster paste. Shrimps heads added tremendous flavours and a beautiful orange colour. We cooked a bit of rice to throw in with the heads and sauce. The rice also turned a nice orange colour and was very tasty.
While my mom visited, she asked me what I wanted for dinner. Yes, I've said this before and I'll say it again: I am totally spoiled! It's been getting colder and it was rainy. Soup is the perfect meal for such weather and I had a sudden craving for wonton soup. It was also a perfect choice because I wanted to clean my freezer and so I was able to use up some of the frozen shrimp I had.
Wonton Soup - Makes about 50 wontons
Wontons Irarely make this dish on my own because I thought it was rather involved. However, it wasn't too time consuming. A package of wonton wrappers makes a lot of wontons, but you may as well make a large number of wontons, freeze them and then enjoy them whenever you want. While I used ground pork and shrimps, these could easily be substituted for ground chicken or turkey, or other seafood like scallops.
150g ground pork 12 shrimps 2 tbsp onion, minced finely 1 tsp salt ½ tsp ground pepper 2 tsp sesame oil a package of wonton wrappers
Add all of the ingredients, except the wrappers, into a food processor and blend until the meat mixture becomes a paste. Add 1-2 teaspoons of the meat mixture onto the middle of the least floured side of a wrapper. Fold the wrapper in half, two opposing corners together, to make a triangle (refer to pictures below). Gather both sides and squish together to make a little dumpling. Bring water to a boil in a small saucepan. Add 5-6 wontons and cook until they float (about 2 minutes) on medium-high. Once they are cooked, soak them in cold water so they don’t stick.
Wonton wrappers and ingredients for the filling.
Adding the meat mixture on a wrapper and folding it in two.
Gathering the wrapper to make a perfect little package!
Wontons can be frozen in a bag for later. Cooking them in water.
Wonton Broth Broth for wonton soup is just a Vietnamese chicken broth (actually, my mom used turkey bones from our Thanksgiving turkey!), with the added flavour of dried shrimps. If you already have broth in the freezer like I usually do, just heat it up and add a handful or so of dried shrimp. Turn off the heat. Let the shrimp flavours seep in for 15 minutes and remove them (according to my mom, leaving them there too long can result in a fishy broth). You could also skip the dried shrimp like my sister does. Putting Wonton Soup Together Wonton soup can be enjoyed as a meal; adding noodles and some vegetables help bulk it up. It can also be served as a starter, just serve a few wontons in a bowl of broth. chicken broth vegetables of your choice (thin carrot sticks, bok choy and shiitake mushroom slices are great) cooked wontons egg noodles sliced char siu pork, optional (Chinese BBQ pork can be purchased at Asian grocery stores) green onion, sliced, as garnish coriander, as garnish
Heat up the chicken broth. Add vegetables of your choice into the broth until cooked. Meanwhile, spread a handful of noodles onto a plate and microwave for a minute (this will prevent the noodles from getting soggy). Place the noodles and cooked wontons in a bowl. Spoon the hot broth into the bowls. Add the vegetables and char siu. Garnish with green onion and coriander. Tada! Shanghai bok choy. Cooking noodles and heating up wontons.
I had a couple of recipes in mind when I made the pumpkin purée, one of which was pumpkin bread. I thought it would be a nice treat for my mom and H, when they arrived for Thanksgiving weekend. I couldn't decide between making the bread or muffins. I ended up making the bread, and halfway through baking it, also making muffins.
The recipe that first inspired me to make pumpkin bread was Orangette's Pumpkin Bread with Roasted Hazelnuts while I was browsing recipes on Saveur.com (yours truly was also featuredfor mygrilled pizza recipe!). However, I was looking for a dairy free recipe because my mom doesn't like dairy so I found a vegan recipe. My mom preferred the muffins because she thought the bread was too moist. I really enjoyed both and thought the spices made it taste like pumpkin pie. The pumpkin purée added a nice tinge of yellow to the muffins. I would probably choose muffins over bread because it takes half the time to bake.
Super Moist Pumpkin Bread & Muffins - Makes 12 muffins or one bread Adapted from Post Punk Kitchen and Orangette. I cut the white sugar in the recipe and didn't miss it - I think the sugar could be further reduced to taste. I liked the idea of adding roasted hazelnuts mainly because my mom really likes them. I also added cranberries since it seemed timely for Thanksgiving.
½ cup hazelnuts, or to taste 1-¾ cups all-purpose flour 1 cup packed dark brown sugar 1 teaspoons baking soda ½ teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg ¾ teaspoons ground cinnamon 1 cup pumpkin purée ½ cup vegetable oil ⅓ cup coconut milk ½ cup cranberries, or to taste ¼ dried cranberries, or to taste
Roast hazelnuts in a hot pan until golden brown. In a large bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and cinnamon. Add the pumpkin purée, oil, and coconut milk, and mix until all of the flour is absorbed. Fold in the toasted hazelnuts, fresh and dried cranberries. For pumpkin bread: Bake for 1 hour until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. For muffins: Bake for 30 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a rack. Tada!
Making the batter and adding cranberries and hazelnuts.
My friend Trapezista and I chat on Facebook regularly. We recently chatted about our plans for Thanksgiving and both wanted to try pumpkin recipes. However, Trapezista likes me to test recipes first, test them and post them. She can then read my posts and decide if a recipe is worthwhile (did I get that right, D?). So here is the requested post on pumpkin purée.
Most pumpkin purée recipes called for sugar pumpkins. I found some small pumpkins at the Westdale Farmer's Market on my way back from a game of squash (squash! funny!). After asking about whether I could use these pumpkins for purée's, the helpful "farmer" informed me that any pumpkin can be used. However, a pumpkin retains the same total amount of sugar. Therefore, the smaller the pumpkins are sweeter than the larger ones. I asked another lady at the Hamilton Farmers' Market about pumpkin purée and using squash instead. Her answer was that any squash could be used but would not provide the distinct pumpkin flavour. So what's the short answer? Use small pumpkins for pumpkin purée's, but squashes can also be good substitutes.
Pumpkin Purée - makes about 4 cups Here are three points I want to make about pumpkin purée: 1) Some of the pumpkin purée recipes I found on the internet amused me because they advised that the final product should be like canned pumpkin purée. But I have never bought pumpkin purée nor have I ever seen it! 2) I cooked the pumpkins (about 45 minutes) until I could pierce them with a fork, thinking they were cooked. The pieces of pumpkins were still too hard to purée properly so I had to add water. I then had to cook the mixture for another 30 minutes further to decrease the water content. I also picked out pieces of pumpkin I spotted. I would bake the pumpkin longer (maybe another 30 minutes) until the pumpkin can be mashed with a fork. 3) Many recipes suggested putting the mixture through a sieve. I was too lazy. I wanted to make pumpkin bread and so a perfect purée was not necessary. This may be different for a pumpkin pie, which requires a smooth texture.
2 pumpkins, about 4 lbs oil or water
Wash pumpkins (mine were dirty). Slice pumpkins in half. Drizzle cut surfaces with oil or water so it does not dry out. Bake pumpkins for 1 hour 15 minutes until very soft. Remove seeds and scoop out the pumpkin flesh. (Mine was too hard to scoop out so I peeled the pumpkin and cut the flesh into pieces.) Purée the pumpkin in a food processor. (If the pumpkin pieces are too hard to purée on their own, add water. Cook down the mixture until there is no water.) The final product should be thick, like... canned pumpkin purée! Tada!
I love the smell of fresh cut pumpkins.
You can see the chunks are a bit on the hard side and I had to cook my mixture to decrease the water.
As I tried to clear my freezer for the upcoming Thanksgiving, I found a half container of ricotta. I'm very predictable and only use ricotta with spinach for Roasted Vegetable Lasagna Rolls or sometimes to stuff pasta shells. This time I wanted to try make a no carb version of the lasagna dish, eggplant rollatini.
Eggplant Rollatini - makes about 12 rollatini My sister commonly makes this dish so I asked her for advice on how to cook the eggplant slices. I think she said boiled or grilled. I thought grilling eggplant seemed like the better option considering how much I liked grilled eggplants on its own. I think I sliced the eggplant slices (about ¼") too thin and they would tear.I was still able to roll them but would consider slicing them thicker (just note that this would result in a small number of rollatini's).
1 eggplant, sliced ½" thick oil salt and pepper, to taste Italian seasoning to taste spinach and ricotta filling tomato sauce, homemade or store bought mozzarella cheese, grated
Drizzle oil over the eggplant slices and season with salt, pepper and Italian seasoning. Grill until cooked and softened. Spoon some of the tomato sauce at the bottom of a 9"x9" baking dish.
Place an eggplant slice on a flat surface, like a cutting board
Spread a spoonful or two of the spinach mixture.
Roll up the eggplant slice and place on the tomato sauce.
Repeat with the remaining eggplant slices.
Sprinkle the rollatini's with grated mozzarella.
Bake in the oven for 350C until the cheese has nicely melted.
Tada!
Grilled eggplant slices.
Simply roll the eggplant slice with the ricotta-spinach mixture.
70 Upper James Street Hamilton, Ontario 905.388.8864
It's always nice to find a meal for less than $5. Tarboosh Restaurant advertises their $2.99 falafel wraps so I thought I would check it out. I have previously been to Tarboosh but usually have a more expensive chicken sandwich.
So in these hard economic times, it seems suitable that I go for the more affordable option. I ordered the falafel sandwich in the middle of the afternoon. I was expecting a long wait after reading the restaurantica reviews. It took about 5 minutes, not too long, but not immediate, considering I was their only customer.
$2.99 falafel wrap.
I was asked if I wanted hot sauce and I said yes. It added a good amount of heat that I liked, which is probably a bit too much for the average palate. The wrap was filled with 3 falafels, tomatoes and lettuce. The falafels were good; the last time I had falafels was in Vietnam over a year ago. Can't complain for $2.99! I have my eye on the magic wrap, that is a bit more expensive, but also includes deep fried cauliflower!
Ok, this should be the last post on corn for the season. I remember when I was younger, my paternal grandmother cooking some corn for me. I just loved the nicely browned kernels, and the combination of sweet and salty. My grandmother passed away years ago, and I wasn't especially close to her, so I don't know the recipe. I can only guess there was soy sauce or fish sauce involved. I don't know if she added sugar, or if it was just the sweetness of the corn. Anyway, I recently started to make my own version of her dish. I have seriously been eating this every week since corn has been in season.
Sautéed Corn This is so easy and there are only 5 ingredients. Sometimes, I also throw on eggs for an omelet, making it a perfect breakfast, lunch, or even dinner! I've only used fresh corn for this dish, but I may try to use my own frozen kernels in the winter.
oil corn kernels, from one ear salt, to taste red pepper chili flakes (optional) green onion, sliced thinly
Heat oil in a pan (medium-high). Add corn kernels and cook until they start browning. Season with salt and red pepper chili flakes. Throw in the green onion until soft. Tada!
