One Whole Clove

Baklava Cheesecake

I love to make cheesecake, however I have grown tired of serving an unembellished slice at a special occasion, moreover tasting that creamy yet expected bite.  Now that I have mastered the art of basic cheesecake making, I aspire for fireworks.  Adeptness in pyrotechnics have come to be expected at every family celebration and I am eager to please.
I started off quite modestly responding to a birthday request for a banana cream pie.  I envisioned the soft velvet of banana "curd" and fluffy whipped topping as only a nightmare of mess and an unsteady base for candle illumination.  I had to think cake while fulfilling the wishes of the birthday honouree.  Cheater Cheesecake Factory recipes gave me the amazing inspiration I required for combining favourite desserts with the lush texture of sweet cheese.
Over the past few years I have mastered a few notables.  Among these raspberry, white chocolate truffle, and the most requested carrot cake cheesecake.  I am now formulating a One Whole Clove original  inspired by the desserts of Quebec.
In early July we had a Greek themed barbecue for my in-law's birthday.  I made the compatible baklava cheesecake.  This recipe necessitates a great deal of time.  Each step, however is surprisingly easy and fun.

Baklava Cheesecake

Ingredients:

Cream Cheese Filling

32 Oz Cream cheese, room temp
1 C Honey
1/4 C Lemon juice, fresh
2 Ts Vanilla
6 Eggs, room temperature
1/3 C Butter
1 Lb Phyllo pastry

Baklava Topping
1/2 C Walnuts
1/3 C Almonds, blanched
1 T Sugar
1 T Cinnamon
1/2 C Butter
1/3 C Sugar
1/4 C Water
1 T Lemon juice, fresh
1 Cinnamon stick
1 T Brandy, (opt)

Directions:

Position rack in lower third of oven and preheat to 350 degrees. Beat cream cheese in large bowl of electric mixer until light and fluffy. Gradually, mix in honey, then lemon juice and vanilla. Beat in eggs one at a time until just incorporated. Set aside.

Brush 10" springform pan with butter. Arrange 1 phyllo sheet with long edge parallel to edge of surface (cover other sheets with dampened towel). Brush left half of sheet with butter and fold right half over. Brush top with butter. Place in prepared pan, buttered side up, leaving a 5" overhang on one end. Cover with another dampened towel. Butter and fold second sheet and arrange in pan, overlapping first sheet by 3". Repeat with 4 more sheets, covering entire pan. Wrap remaining phyllo in plastic and refrigerate.

Stir through filling and pour into crust. Cover filling with overhanging ends of phyllo at edge of pan. Bake until pastry is light brown and cake is firm to the touch, about 50 minutes. Remove pan sides. Using a toothpick, poke 12 holes in top of cake to allow heat to escape. Cool completely on rack. Refrigerate 2 days to mellow flavors, covering after the first day.

For topping, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cover baking sheet with 2 pieces of parchment. Coarsely grind all nuts with 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp cinnamon. Stack 10 reserved phyllo pastry sheets on work surface. Set rim of 10" springform pan atop pastry . Cut around inside of rim through entire stack. Using a sharp knife, make 10 rounds.

Set pan rim on prepared baking sheet. Brush parchment and inside of pan rim with butter. Place 1 pastry round in pan rim and brush with butter. Repeat with 4 more rounds. Spread nut mixture evenly over pastry. Top with remaining 5 rounds, brushing each with butter. Using ruler as guide, cut pastry into 16 wedges with sharp knife. Sprinkle lightly with water. Bake until crisp and golden, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat 1/2 cup sugar, water and lemon juice in heavy small saucepan over low heat, swirling pan occasionally until sugar dissolves. Add cinnamon stick, increase heat and boil until syrupy, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat. When bubbles subside, stir in brandy, if desired. Flatten pastry atop cake. Remove pan rim from topping. Set topping on cake, using large spatula. Recut wedges.

Replace pan rim on cake. Pour on hot syrup. Cool 1 hour. Refrigerate 1 to 6 hours. Let cake stand at room temperature for 20 minutes before serving.

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Le Chalet

[Quebec Cottage Country]

July's campfire kept us warm and well fed.  We watched as the last of the embers smoldered and finally extinguished.  As we sank into the deep country darkness in search of our sleeping quarters a sense of contented dreaminess enrobed our being.  It was a fine night and the stars would lead us home.  Under soft patchwork quilts, we summoned up memories of our delicious evening before falling into heavy slumber.

The hue of nine o'clock dusk signaled supper as did a red lick of heat and crackle, the modest cry of fire.  I approached our outdoor dining area burdened by a wicker carrier of common campfire fare, saucy bean-less chili, all-beef wieners, sesame hot dog buns, condiments, graham crackers and milk- chocolate squares.  Oops! Forgot the marshmallows again.

[Bean-less chili dog]

A marshmallow-less s'more is nothing more than a square of chocolate on two dry crackers, a rather bitter pill.  Before failure could ensue I acted on a whim and created another campfire classic.

Campfire Havana Bananas

1 banana, split in 2 lengthwise and cut in half
brown sugar
milk chocolate chips
dab of butter
marshmallows (optional)
tinfoil

Pat butter on each slice of banana, cut side up.  Generously sprinkle each slice with brown sugar, chips and marshmallows, if so inclined.  Sandwich the slices together and wrap in tinfoil.  Heat the package over a low flame on the campfire for a few minutes.  Unwrap carefully.  Serve as is or use the bananas to create a Campfire Havana Banana Split (not recommended for camping trips.  Ice cream does not keep well in tents but fares well in cottage freezers).  Use your imagination.  I made one with praline ice cream, caramel sauce and toasted slivered almonds.

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Montreal Smoked Wheat?

[Blasphemy on a bun, er, bread]

For the past eight decades, carnivores have declared Schwartz's Hebrew Delicatessen on St. Laurent as the invariable producer of the best Montreal smoked meat sandwich. 

Smoked meat or la viande fumée is a specially seasoned, marinated and sliced beef brisket, customarily served on rye bread with mustard.  Each thin slice of meat proclaims that enunciated smoldering flavour, the result from a slow marinade and a secret blend of herbs and seasonings which only puts the Colonel to shame. 

The last century saw Jewish immigrants set up residence and business along the main.  These Eastern Europeans turned Quebecers further introduced two of Montreal's culinary phenomenons, the bagel and the smoked meat sandwich.   Reuben Schwartz established his reputable deli in Montreal centre in 1928, where it remains today unchanged both structurally and nutritionally. 

Sadly, the story ends here.  For this is not a post about Montreal's prodigy.  It is a post about the veggie-friendly Montreal smoked "wheat".  If, my dear reader you suddenly feel gypped, I implore you to read further if only for entertainment purposes.

I went in, as I always do, with the naive curiosity most commonly identified in small golden retrievers.  After all, I was fairly satisfied with the spreadable results of Porat's Veggie Creton.

Firstly, I must admit to being continually mystified by an apparent market for vegetarian product emulating the taste of meat.  Does this not defeat the purpose?

Secondly, ingredients like oleoresin paprika, natural smoked flavours and caramel colour are always a gamble (?)

The texture of soy protein or hydrolyzed plant protein, the same component used in many of the faux meat meals available, is no comparison to the distinctly choppy surface of sliced brisket.  Mind you, it achieves a certain coarseness but one that is proportionally too small and thick.  Smoked meat is characteristically long and thinly sliced. 

The taste is another matter altogether.  Claims of natural smoked flavours in fact leave an unnatural under bite and are mostly overpowering.

To be fair, I sampled the goods au naturel and between two slices of whole wheat.  Granted, rye was absent in my dealings but at this point does it really matter? 

Wakefield Boulangerie

[Olive Bread]

Our intention from the beginning was to beat the steam train rush.  It is often difficult to examine a certain loaf of sourdough or savour the smells of moist biscuits when throngs of tourists are grabbing and pushing, yelling and dealing.  Yet, here we were in an arbitrary bread line among an awkward congregation of bakery excursionists.

Yes, we are still in the 21st century.  Yet the town of Saint-Pierre-de-Wakefield endorses an 1800s era feel through bakeries, a general store and a summer line for the steam powered locomotive. 

The selection of loaves at Wakefield Boulangerie Bakery is daunting. However, once you shake the Starbucks overwhelm from your frazzled self it is observed that the fresh baked doughs are familiar friends like that of multigrain, sunflower, raisin, wholewheat molasses, honey whole wheat, foccacia and spelt.  Suffering bread head, already?  Look to other delicious standards such as danishes, turnovers, scones, a choice of butter or pecan tarts, sausage buns, kaisers and my favourite Memère's cookies. The luscious smells have swept you off your feet?  Sit down and enjoy comfort food in the adjacent "casse croûte".

Of course there is always fudge to sweeten the deal.  Flavors include amaretto chocolate swirl, chocolate pecan, Quebec maple, pumpkin and chocolate mint.

It was a handsome paper wrapped olive bread which summoned me closer.  I maneuvered between a fazed bunch in an attempt to connect with the allure of it's crisp skin.  Call it loaf at first sight, I began to cook up sonnets. My compositions mentioned such concoctions as barbecued veggie meatloaf with Swiss, a smoked eggplant purée or even better a smoky baba ganoush spread or the amalgamation of feta cheese, hummus red onion and tomato.  Another possibility, prosciutto, provolone, capers and pickled vegetable pizza (a muffupizza?)

In the end, olive bread became the antithesis to any boxed lunch.  Smothered in roasted pepper pesto, topped with a mild goat's cheese feta, a couple of thinly sliced vine-ripened tomatoes and a heady bouquet of olive oil, the sandwich was a grilled cheese masterpiece. This, a simple reward for crowd dodging in rustic Wakefield, Quebec.

813 chemin Riverside RR 2
Saint-Pierre-de-Wakefield, Quebec
819-459-1528

Organic Boulevard and Poltimore's Maple Syrup

Bohemian as the town of Wakefield, Quebec, itself, Boulevard Biologique has become a congruous part of the puzzle in only a few short months.

The store offers organic clothing, kitchen products and even a small produce section.  I love their collection of kitchen staples such as brown rice vinegar, toasted sesame oil, salad dressings and pasta.

It was the fire boiled maple syrup from the Pontiac region's town of Poltimore, however, which begged be part of my French Canadian pantry.

Modern day maple syrup production is consistent, in that most sugar bushes tend to follow the same procedure.   To keep up with the demand for the sweet syrup, the twentieth century "cabane à sucre" saw many a convenient apparatus emerge as an aid in the transformation from sticky sap to a pancake condiment and more. 

It is unlikely one would happen upon a tubing system, vacuum pump or reverse osmosis filter at a Saturday morning vente de garage in hoping to start their own sweet business.  For these are the complicated contraptions required to meet with the growing demand for Quebec maple syrup. 

Human labour, in the collection of silver buckets from tree to the evaporator house, were replaced by an elaborate tubing system.  Along with the aforementioned accouterments, today, the sap's water content is reduced to a consistency we recognize as syrup. 

This being said, one can occasionally come across a producer who yields small quantities of the famous breakfast accompaniment through old fashioned methods.  It takes approximately 40 gallons of maple sap to make just 1 gallon of maple syrup by way of boiling out the water content over a fire.  The originators of this fine commodity have done just that.

There is belief that the best maple syrup in the land is collected from the farms between Montreal and Quebec City "where the ground is less contaminated."  It was thought that the soil around the capital region of Canada was tainted by hazardous chemicals many decades ago. 

Even if this were true, it is highly doubtful the effects of the waste reached terrain more than 35 miles west.  Nevertheless, it is well documented that Quebec's maple syrup business is highly competitive.  Throughout the years, this myth only became "fact". Honestly, who wouldn't  be interested in owning a monopoly to a very lucrative enterprise?   But my question is, why would an organic store sell nothing less than purity?

Organic Boulevard Biologique
797 ch River, Wakefield, Quebec