Apple Cinnamon Biscotti

Hello darling readers!

I love Italy... Or at least I think I do. I've never actually been. But I do love the idea of Italy.

Carafes of Tuscan wine. Cafes with cute little patios. Football...the real football. Not American football. The architecture. The canals. Endless meals of pasta, gnocchi and fresh tomato sauces and herbs and cheese. Tiramisu. And the language - oh so pretty.

Okay, that sounds an awful lot like any country I imagine in Western Europe. But there's nothing wrong with that.

Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong place. I think I was meant for small town European living. Italian living. On the coast. On a small little farm with dogs and chickens and ducks, a couple of pigs and our own acre of vegetables. Detached from the materialism of North American culture, I'd get around on an old bicycle with a basket on the front. Every day would be a balmy 24 degrees and sunny. My days would be spent making slow food that we'd eat on the veranda looking out over the country side. I'd can tomato sauce made from tomatoes off my own vines and write and paint and read and sip tea and coffee all day long... my own home-made biscotti on the side.

Well, I've got the biscotti down, anyhow.

Baby steps, my friends. Baby steps.

Apple Cinnamon Biscotti
(printable recipe) - makes a lot.

Ingredients:

2 C Flour+ extra for dusting.
2 Tsp Baking Powder.
1/2 C Sugar + extra for dusting.
1 Tsp Salt.
1 Tsp Ground Cinnamon.
Pinch of Nutmeg.
2 Tsp Pure Vanilla Extract.
2 Pastured Eggs, room temperature.
6 Tbsp Butter, room temperature.
1 C Apple, cored and diced.
1/2 C Blanched Slivered Almonds, toasted.

What to Do:

Pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium sized bowl, combine the dry ingredients save for the sugar. In another, the wet - but not the butter.

In a third bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the wet mixture. Mix well. Then add the dry, followed by the almonds and the apple.

Dump onto a well floured counter and massage until it's semi-dough like. Break into two halves and place each one on the parchment lined baking sheet. 

Shape into logs, about 1 1/2" thick and sprinkle with a little extra sugar.

Bake in hot oven for 25 - 30 minutes. Remove from the heat and allow to cool about 15 minutes. 

Slice the logs at an angle. Place back in the oven and bake a further 20 - 25 minutes. Remove from the heat. Place biscotti pieces on wire racks to cool completely before serving.

Serve with a big cup of tea.

Eat.

What's your dream life look like? Where would you live? What would you do?

RPI - Lamb: Lamb & Date Meatball Tagine

The Lowdown:

Every now and then something beautiful comes from a mistake. We've all had these moments, and we all love these moments. This meal was one of those moments. It started out as a disaster. Very rarely do I create something that I don't like. I'm not saying I'm a garbarator, but I like most foods and will eat just about anything (other than eggplant and durian). The meatballs.. well, I hate to admit it, but they were lacking something. Perhaps the dates made them too sweet (probably because I was too lazy to chop them up fine enough). Or perhaps it was the lack of spiciness. Either way, they were destined to be doomed. The countdown was on, and their fate was looking rather grim.

Then it came to me. Why not stew them in a tagine? They are all ready Moroccan spiced, so it made perfect sense.With the kick of the cayenne pepper, and the robust flavours of the tagine, the meatballs were much more well-rounded. Fear not; no food was wasted in the making of this blog, and I ate happily every after. Everyone loves a fairytale ending.

If I could change one thing about this, it would have been to remove the tomatoes and substitute them with something else. I'm not quite sure what, but although I enjoyed it, I found it to be a bit too similar to an odd pasta sauce. Oh well, live and learn.

The Playlist:

Meatballs
2 lbs Lamb, ground
1/2 cup Dates, finely chopped
1/2 Onion, finely chopped
1 Egg
3 cloves Garlic, minced
3 tbsp Chickpea flour
1/2 tsp Coriander, ground
1/2 tsp Ginger, ground
1 tsp Turmeric
1 tsp White pepper
Pepper, to taste

Tagine
2 tbsp Oil or lard
5 Tomatoes, chopped
1 large Onion, chopped
5 cloves Garlic, minced
1/4 cup Dried apricots, halved
1 tsp Cayenne pepper
2 tsp Black pepper, fresh ground
2 tbsp Ginger, minced
1 tbsp Turmeric
2 tsp Cinnamon, ground
1 Cinnamon stick
2 tbsp Paprika, Spanish
2 cups Stock (beef or lamb)
1 tbsp Lemon juice

The Skinny:

1. Preheat oven to 350*.
2. In large mixing bowl: mix all ingredients together until everything is bound together. Roll into 8 - 12 balls, ensuring that they are firmly pressed together.
3. Place on a greased baking sheet and cook for 30-40 minutes.
4. In heavy pot: heat oil over medium-high and saute onions and garlic until translucent. Add tomatoes, cover, and simmer until tomatoes have lost their shape. Add remaining ingredients, turn heat down to low, and simmer for 30 minutes.
5. Remove meatbalss from the oven and put the desired amount into the tagine. Cover and allow to simmer for 1 hour.
6. Serve as a stew or with rice.

Stay Rad -h
Featured on: Premeditated Leftovers, 33 Shades of Green, Chef in Training, Food Renegade, 

RPI: Maple Syrup Mulled Wine

The Lowdown:

Apparently in the world of internet, there is a heated debate over mulled wine/hot punches (I'm not pardoning that pun, so just accept it). Everyone seems to have a different idea of what is acceptable, proper, or at the very least, tasty. All this means to me is that I can slip my version somewhere in that mix unnoticed and sneak away unscathed. Really, this is one punch you wont mind taking in the kisser. So for the time being, we'll just accept the fact that bickering over hot punch recipes is silly and childish. Well, I'm not sure how childish, because if any child inquired about my mulling abilities I would seriously question their upbringing. Then again, here I am sitting at 11am sipping on mulled wine.

I'm not much for Christmas spirit. Don't get me wrong, I love the tree full of memories, seeing family, getting hit in the head by freezer doors at Christmas dinner (don't think I forgot about your lovely hospitality Kristy), Baileys and coffee, mulled wine, the jazzy old Christmas albums, and a select few movies (Charlie Brown and National Lampoons Christmas). But the rest of it has gotten out of control. I'm not a present person in the first place, so this added presence of presents really kills me at this time of year. Not to mention, I swear everyones' IQ plummets into some intelligence-draining abyss when they enter the little pockets of hell known as the shopping centre.

No thank you, I'll sit here and sip on my mulled wine. Meanwhile, the commercially aspired "Christmas spirited" people can get mauled in malls, because I prefer to get mulled within my walls. So here's to one of those things that we can hopefully agree upon. Cheers, and enjoy your holiday season.

The Playlist:

1 bottle Red wine
3/4 cup Maple syrup
2 sticks Cinnamon
10 Cloves
6 Allspice berries
1 pod Cardamom
3 slices Ginger
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1/2 Mandarin, peel and juice
1/2 Lime, peel only
2-4 oz Yukon Jack (optional)

The Skinny:

1. In large sauce pan: add citrus peels, 1/2 cup of wine, maple syrup, and ginger then bring to a boil on high heat. Boil for two minutes, as this really brings out the oils from the peels.
2. Reduce heat to low, add the remaining ingredients, and simmer for 30 minutes.
3. Serve warm by a fireplace.

Stay Rad -h

Featured on: Premeditated Leftovers, Food Renegade, Chef in Training, 33 Shades of Green,

Spiced Red Wine Poached Pears

The Lowdown:

I'm not sure if it's because school is nearing, or if it's because summer is slowly fading away, or it's because some of my closest friends are moving away, but for some reason I have lost my drive and motivation to cook. It's almost as if a forcefield or warding spell was erected around my kitchen, like garlic to a vampire (not the fruity type of vampires that seem to be all the rage these days, the real vampires that used to cause nightmares). Not only have I stopped cooking, but shopping has taken a hit as well. My freezer is as empty as I've ever seen it. Who would have thought that a cooking funk was a real ailment.

By no means did this recipe get me over the cooking funk, but it was easy. Yes, that is the only reason that I did it. Although poached pears are delicious. Okay, so there were two reasons. Plus pears are in season now so their flavours are so much more pronounced. Okay, okay, so there was three reasons. Either way, it was easy and simple enough to get done despite a bad case of the cooking funks.

I'm not going to lie, I may also have a case of the writing funks too. So for that, I'm going to leave this short. Well, they say a photo is worth a thousand words, so I'll add a few of those to get my word count up. Enjoy. When my cooking/writing funks are over I will bless you with my regular sour wit. Cheers. 

The Playlist:

1 bottle Shiraz (minus a glass for yourself)
1 cup Organic cane sugar
1 tbsp Cinnamon
2 tbsp Vanilla
1 tbsp Allspice
4 Anjou pears, pealed/halved/cored

The Skinny:

1. Combined all of the ingredients in a medium sized sauce pan and bring to a boil. Once boiling add pears and reduce heat to medium-low. Allow to simmer to 8-10 minutes per side (or if fully submerged cook for 15-20 minutes).
2. When pears are soft to poke with a fork, remove from heat and allow to sit. The longer they sit the more flavourful and colourful they will be.
3. Reheat pears in liquid then remove pears and simmer the wine down to about half of the original volume.
4. Serve pears with a bit of the wine syrup (apparently blue cheese goes well with this too).

Stay Rad -h

Featured on:  Chef in Training, Premeditated Leftovers, 33 Shades of Green, Food Renegade,

Apple Cinnamon Mashed Potatoes

The Lowdown:

Mike Bannon, 2012

Potatoes, as everyone knows, are the blue jeans of cooking. They can be as boring or out-there as you want. You can fry them, deep fry them, saute them, mash them, smash them, thrash them, mush them, stuff them, bake them, flake them. You can turn them into pies, fries, or chips, or dips. You can salt them, butter them, or coat them in any concoction. They can be served for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or any snack in between. Yes, they truly are easier than a drunk prom date.

Potatoes, to me, have grown old and boring. They are sort of stuck in the pub fare fries section of the culinary sphere. Perhaps even in the I'm to lazy to make dinner so I'll make peas and mashed potatoes with ground beef section. By now, I feel like I've explored every avenue of patatoville. However, that theory was blown to smithereens when I went on vacation. Very rarely do I get surprised by a meals deliciousness when I go out for dinner. I always feel like the three bears story. It's too cold, it's too salty, it's just too unsatisfactory. Period. I'm not picky, so to say, I just have high expectations when I'm spending money on a meal that I could cook much better. I'm pretty sure we've all been there.

On the flip side, there are those rare occasions where you find a diamond in the rough. A great meal that seems to be a gift from the gods, tailored just for you. For me, this was the apple cinnamon mashed potatoes. Well, to be honest, I have no clue if they actually were apple cinnamon mashed potatoes. The menu was in Spanish, which I don't speak, and they looked like regular mashed something-or-anothers. The point being, if they were potatoes, they opened up my mind to the possibilities of potatoes once again. Good bye pub fare, hello renewed love for potatoes! Also, make enough for left-overs, because these make excellent "hash browns" for breakfast the next day.

The Playlist:

3 Potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 Apple, peeled and finely cubed

1 Cinnamon stick, whole

1 Cinnamon stick, crushed (using a mortar & pestle)

1 tbsp Apple cider vinegar

1 tbsp Canola/Vegetable oil

1 tsp Brown sugar (or honey)

1/2 tsp Vanilla

2 tbsp Ranch (or sour cream)

2 tbsp Butter

Salt & Pepper, to taste

The Skinny:

1. Boil potatoes and cinnamon stick in enough water to fully cover the potatoes. Cook until they are soft to the touch.
2. While potatoes are boiling, saute apple cubes in the vinegar, brown sugar, crushed cinnamon stick, and oil. Cook until each side is browned then turn off the heat and cover.
3. When potatoes are done, remove the cinnamon stick and add the ranch, butter, salt, and pepper. Mash until desired consistency, then add the apple cubes (which should be soft, but not mushy by now). Mix everything together.
4. Serve warm and enjoy.

Featured on: Premediated Leftovers, 33 Shades of Green, Chef in Training, Food Renegade


Stay Rad - h