One Whole Clove

Ribs in Blanche de Chambly Beer Sauce

My new favourite show on Food Network Canada is Ricardo and Friends.  Here is an excerpt from Foodtv.ca about his new show:

"Fun, fresh and brimming with French flair, join the irrepressible Ricardo as he explores the products, producers and merchants that make up the Quebec terroir. In each episode he takes his viewers on a sensory adventure to learn about vegetable production, animal breeding and fish farming in all their refinement and diversity. Then it’s back to his own kitchen where he whips up simple, accessible dishes, sharing valuable tips on technique, accessories and presentation along the way. Ricardo and Friends is always fun, always local and always very real."

Attempting to promote terroir du Quebec for sometime, I am more than pleased to welcome this new program into my living room.  I have also discovered his colourful, new magazine Ricardo printed in both French and English.  Above all, the publication's most appealing feature is the obvious partiality for the Canadian and Quebecois market.  While recipes stay true to rustic Quebec (Québécois Meatball and Potato Stew, Country Paté, Maple Glazed Chicken Livers) a plethora of international ingredients visit the French Canadian countryside to offer up diversity and exceptional taste (Tagliatelle with Pigs' Feet, Duck Pastrami Salad, Chocolate-Mascarpone Yule Log)

Ricardo and Friends has displayed the same affection for his native province, ameliorating tried and true plates of comfort with Quebec products.  I just had to try this recipe for Spare Ribs with Beer Sauce featuring Blanche de Chambly beer.

Spare Ribs in a Beer Sauce

Ingredients:

Spare Ribs

8 pounds (4 kg) pork baby back spare ribs

Beer Sauce

1 cup (250 ml) chilli sauce
3/4 cup (180 ml) brown sugar
1 cup (250 ml) tomato paste
2 cups (500 ml) light or white Belgium style beer (Blanche de Chambly)
6 garlic cloves, chopped
4 tsp (20 ml) Dijon mustard
4 tsp (20 ml) Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp (10 ml) powdered ginger
1 tsp (5 ml) Cayenne pepper (optional)
1 tsp (5 ml) salt

Directions:

Spare Ribs

Cut the meat between the ribs to obtain 3 ribs per piece.
In a large saucepan, cover the ribs with slightly salted water.
Bring to a boil and skim.
Cover and simmer slowly for 45 minutes. Drain. Reserve.

Beer Sauce

In a saucepan, bring to a boil all the ingredients over medium heat while stirring.
Simmer for 7 minutes.
In a large dish, mix the spare ribs with the sauce.
Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours.
After the ribs have marinated....Put the oven rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to 375 °F (190 °C).
Line two cooking dishes with aluminium foil.
Lay the ribs on the dishes. Spread the sauce over the meat. Cover with aluminium foil and cook for 40 minutes.
Remove the aluminium foil and continue cooking for 30 minutes or until the meat is easily parted from the bone.

Serves 4

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Granny Smith Apple Pie with Cheddar Crust

A hap-hazard, free-form pie crust embraces imperfections while delivering the same sweet results as its classical counterpart.  This rustic cheddar crust folds in the bubbling fruit like an edible cauldron.  Serve warm with a slice of melted cheddar, c'est délicieux!
 

Granny Smith Apple Pie with Cheddar Crust

(Adapted from dairygoodness.ca)

Crust:

2 cups (500 mL) Five Roses All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
1/2 cup (125 mL) cold butter, cubed
1 cup (250 mL) shredded Sharp Canadian Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup (125 mL) milk

Filling:

1/2 cup (125 mL) lightly packed brown sugar
2 tbsp (30 mL) Five Roses All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp (2 mL) grated lemon rind
1/2 tsp (2 mL) each ground cinnamon and ginger
4 large Granny Smith apples, peeled and thickly sliced
2 tbsp (30 mL) shredded Sharp Canadian Cheddar cheese

Preparation:

Crust:

In food processor, combine flour and salt. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add Sharp Canadian Cheddar cheese. With machine running, drizzle in milk, processing just until dough comes together. Press dough into ball. Wrap in plastic; let rest in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Filling:

In large bowl, mix together brown sugar, flour, lemon rind, cinnamon and ginger. Add apples and toss to coat; set aside.

Between two sheets of waxed paper, roll out dough into 13-inch (33 cm) circle. Transfer to large baking sheet. Spoon apple mixture into centre. Fold sides up over filling, leaving filling exposed in centre. Fold edge of pastry over to make finished edge.

Bake on lower rack in 425 ºF (220 ºC) oven for 20 minutes; reduce heat to 350 ºF (180 ºC) and bake for 30 minutes or until fruit is tender and crust is golden. Remove from oven and sprinkle with Sharp Canadian Cheddar cheese, if using. Let cool before serving

Serves 8

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Dishes of Comfort

[Boeuf Haché en Sauce]

It is with these cold November skies I come to remember weekday evenings as a child with fondness, walking home from primary school shrouded in pea soup-like dusk, being sufficiently spooked by Passe Partout's Alakazou on the television as I anticipated my warm supper, evening turning into eventual dark night.  The most requested and least complicated of my mother's home cooked meals was quite simply reminiscent of the American classic Salisbury steak.  In the wake of my still untested tongue and inexperienced palate, I was partial to a side plate of canned peas, imagine the thought!

Boeuf Haché is no frills dining and would only find itself as an Au Pied de Cochon menu option if only dressed in serious truffle shavings (see their venison Shepard's pie and foie gras stuffed pig's foot)  perfect for the undiscerning palate.

Cream Puffs in Venice and Viaggi & Sapori have joined forces to offer us  "Dishes of Comfort", food memories through the eyes of a child.  Once I learned of this event (a little to late) I had to make my attempt to join in the magic and innocence of youth.

Boeuf Haché en Sauce

(Adapted from recipezaar)

2 lbs ground beef
6 pieces bread, broken into small bits
1 envelope onion soup mix, dry
salt, to taste (because of the soup mix, you may not need it, although we still do)
1/2 teaspoon pepper
2 tablespoons ketchup
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons parsley flakes
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups prepared gravy

Combine ground beef, bread, soup mix, salt, pepper, ketchup, garlic powder, parsley and eggs in a large bowl until well mixed.

Prepare each burger with approx 1/3 cup of meat mixture and form into patties about 1/2 inch thick.

Heat a 12" skillet over med-high heat and fry burgers for about 5 minutes on each side, until they are almost done.

Remove burgers to a plate and discard all but about a tablespoon of drippings from skillet.

Lower heat under skillet add brown gravy with water slowly into skillet, stirring constantly, scraping up any brown bits from the bottom.

When gravy has thickened, place burgers back in the pan and cover.

Simmer for about 20 minutes, or until burgers are done.

10 servings

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Butter Tart Cheesecake

[Individual Butter Tart Cheesecakes]

Fresh off a high from making Butter Tart Muffins, a dessert fusion junkie, of sorts,  I satiate the sweet tooth with one recipe for Butter Tart Cheesecake.  Allow yourself to overdose on the unity of a buttery cookie base, fluffy, creamy cheese middle and sensual maple top.

Grenache is a creamy maple spread with real maple syrup produced in Ste-Marie, Beauce, Quebec.  It is the definitive à la mode to one's warm apple pie.

Individual Butter Tart Cheesecakes

(Adapted from dairygoodness.ca)

1-1/3 cups (325 mL) graham cracker crumbs
1/3 cup (75 mL) butter, melted
2 tbsp (30 mL) butter
1/4 cup (50 mL) packed brown sugar
1/4 cup (50 mL) corn syrup
1/4 cup (50 mL) raisins
2 pkgs (250 g each) Canadian Cream Cheese, softened
1/2 cup (125 mL) granulated sugar
1/2 tsp (2 mL) vanilla extract
8 tbsp (100 mL) Break-Free (or 2 eggs)
Butterscotch sauce or Grenache maple spread (store-bought or homemade)

Preparation:

Mix together crumbs and melted butter. Press into 12 muffin tins lined with giant paper liners (I used a Texas muffin tin). (Alternatively, use 8-inch/20 cm springform pan or 9-inch/23 cm pie plate.) Bake in 350 ºF (180 ºC) oven for 10 minutes; set aside.

In saucepan over medium heat, combine butter, brown sugar and corn syrup; bring to a boil. Stir in raisins. Spoon equal amounts into each prepared crust.

In large bowl using electric mixer, beat together Canadian Cream Cheese, sugar and vanilla extract until very smooth. Add eggs (4 tbsp/50 mL or one egg at a time); beating just until smooth. Spoon equal amounts over filling in each crust.

Bake in 350 ºF (180 ºC) oven for 20 minutes or until almost set. (For springform pan or pie plate, bake for 35 minutes.) Let cool completely on rack; refrigerate until chilled through. Serve drizzled with butterscotch sauce. Makes 6 large individual cakes or 12 regular size.

Nutritional information:

For 1 serving:

Energy: 330 Cal / 1380 kJ
Proteins: 5 g
Carbohydrates: 28 g
Fat: 23 g
Calcium: 44 mg (4 % Recommended Daily Intake)

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Canadian Blogging By Post #2: The Arrival

I woke up this morning with a little flutter in my stomach only evocative of Christmas morning as a child.  Today, I could collect my package from the postal outlet.  Today, my "secret Santa" would be disclosed. 

Should you be unacquainted with "Canadian Blogging By Post" I encourage you to take pause from this particular entry and read the origins here before continuing.

The package, has it turned out was from Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice and I could not have been happier.  Ivonne's muse happens to be the  potent recollection  of childhood through the comforts of food.  Her site  recognizes such, with Italian inspired recipes reminiscent of her ancestral country and childhood, summer retreat.

Thematically wrapped in scraps of the Toronto Sun, I fell victim to the first bundle, Ivonne's homemade Vanilla Orange Nuts, the likes of which have been on my mind ever since I read her CBBP #2 post.  Willpower in overdrive, I placed the cherished bounty aside and continued to reveal my gifts.  A tin of chocolate-covered blueberries from Dufflets, a bakery in Toronto, an Oriental-style bookmark and two Food and Drink magazines from the Liquor Conrtol Bord of Canada, a highly anticipated glossy I have come to love around this time each year.  One Whole Clove's best recipe of 2005 came from LCBO's previous Christmas edition. 

As I write this very excerpt I am awash with, what I can only describe as, butter-y vanilla explosions from Ivonne's inspiring recipe.  Thank-you Ivonne for your kind words of encouragement and your generosity.  Now, the indulgence is all mine!

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Maple Syrup Tarts

[Tarte au sirop d'érable]

Have you noticed I am partial to maple syrup?  Perhaps a few of my previous posts will refresh your memory or introduce you to my preoccupation for the amber liquid.  I could drizzle it over steamed carrots or use it as a mechanism to caramelize a sweet potato.  I love a thin stream atop my oatmeal or French toast.  I can pass a few several hours number crunching while savoring an endless maple "pastil", awaken my senses with a nub of pure maple sugar or simply indulge in a moist morning muffin.  Maple syrup is my condiment companion.  It keeps well all year long.  Come spring I am ready to replenish my pantry with a good supply of maple product. 

La cabane à sucre (sugar shack) is famous for ending traditional offerings with a generous slice of maple syrup or sugar tart (tarte au sirop d'érable/tarte au sucre à l'érable).  While it is often painful to fully appreciate the sweet pastry after servings of split pea soup (soupe aux pois), maple smoked ham (jambon fumé à l'érable) or sausage (saucisses dans le sirop), baked beans (fèves au lard), salted pork crisps (oreilles de crisse) and creton, it is expected.

While the skies fall desolate upon us once again and we as Canadians prepare for an informal hibernation, I ensure my stock of sap is at the ready.  This allows me to indulge in the true taste of spring, should I feel so inclined.

Maple Syrup Tarts

Ingredients:

1/3 cup (75 mL) butter

1/3 cup (75 mL) all-purpose flour

1/2 cup (125 mL) water

1 1/2 cups (375 mL) maple syrup

24 3 inch (7.5 cm) frozen tart shells, baked, cooled

Preparation:

In medium saucepan, melt butter. Blend in flour. Gradually stir in water, then maple syrup.

Cook and stir over medium heat until mixture boils and thickens. Let cool a few minutes.

Pour into tart shells and let stand until cooled and set.

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