One Whole Clove

Tarte Aux Oeufs

If one could fathom the oxymoronic ideology of breadless bread pudding served hot in baked crust then one would be familiar with the taste of tarte aux oeufs.

On it's naked little own, egg tart is rather, well, lonely.  It is best paired with a drizzle of maple syrup, a sprinkle of maple sugar or dressed in any sort of maple product available.  Although a good little jar of fruit preserves would also compliment a slice of this pie just fine. 

Tarte aux Oeufs (Egg Tart)

(Adapted from Au Goût du Québec)

2 cups milk
3 organic eggs
1/2 cup pure cane sugar
1/2 tsp. fresh grated nutmeg
1 pinch salt
1 9-inch spelt piecrust or 1 recipe for your favourite piecrust

Prepare pie crust in a 9-inch pie plate.  Crimp edges and pierce bottom and sides of unbaked crust with the tines of a fork.  Cover the shell with aluminum foil and fill the bottom with uncooked rice or dried beans (pie weights, ideally).  Bake in a preheated 425 degree F oven for 6 minutes.  Remove aluminum and rice or beans and cook naked shell for an additional 4 minutes or until crust is firm.  Put the crust on a baking rack and let cool.

In a pot, bring milk just to the point of boiling.  In a mixing bowl, blend together eggs and cane sugar.  Add hot milk to egg mixture.  Add nutmeg and salt.  Mix vigorously.

Pour the preparation into the cooled pie crust.  Bake in a 400 degree F oven for 15 minutes.  Turn down the temperature to 350 degrees F and bake an additional 30 minutes or until a knife inserted in to the centre of the pie comes out clean.  Let cool completely.  Serves 8.

Sugar High Friday #27: Chocolate By Brand

As "the new thin is fat" trend is sweeping the nation, its undercurrent proving too strong for waifs and manarexics alike, a crop of healthy cheeked Bavarian physiques have literally bit into fashion scene. 

For this very reason 2007 just may be the year for the occasional indulger, food blogger and gourmand.  Delicious, organic both naughty and wholesome edibles of every food group are popular, again, among the masses.  Starvation is so 2006.

In the electricity of this very exciting time, what better to follow-up a champagne toast than  participate in Sugar High Friday #27: Chocolate By Brand hosted by celebrity foodblogger David Lebovitz. 

Despite some traditional Quebec recipes calling for the standards, I try to incorporate organic sugar, Quebec maple syrup or honey as alternatives to refined sugar in dessert recipes, a task accomplished with my chocolate choice of today.

Cupidon Chocolatier based in Sainte-Foy, Quebec maintains an admirable standard of high quality and organic chocolate working at an international level with Valrhona, Cacao Barry, Callebault and Carma companies.  Created by husband and wife team Rachid Mogabgab and Carine Maher in 1991, Cupidon has been presenting superior products not only to the general public but to some highly regarded patrons such as the Governor General to Canada and the Hotel Waldorf Astoria in New York.    

In 2001, Cupidon won le prix d'excellence and most original chocolate exhibit at the Fancy Food Show in New York with their mask art work.  In 2002 they opened a boutique at the world renowned Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City.  Ever expanding, the factory launched yet another boutique in Sillery one year later, diversifying their provisions to include goods from the reputed Chef Jean Soulard, the first Canadian chef to receive the Maître Cuisiniere de France.

Montignac from Cupidon is a dark bitter chocolate of 85% cacao concentration.  This particular brand of bar is made according to traditional methods with unique products, superior and authentic cacao butter from which cacao paste is derived.  Named after Micheal Montignac of clinique minceur fame, the bar does not contain regular or reduced fat cocoa powder.   Likewise, it includes no sugar but rather maltitol, a sucrose substitute known for its tooth friendly properties (however, rumored to cause indigestion if consumed in large quantities).

For it's healthier attributes, I incorporated Montignac chocolate into a bite sized dessert. Packed with enough "rum" punch to awaken the emaciated population, the following recipe allows for a wholesome transition from diet deprived to diet enlivened.   

Reminiscent of bonbon-patate chocolat from one of my favourite cookbooks, du moment, Cuisine traditionnelle d'un Québec oublié, each truffle sized morsel of boules au chocolat et au rhum satisfies the sweet tooth adequately . 

Boules au chocolat et au rhum (Chocolate Rum Balls)

(Adapted from Recettes du Québec)

250 g softened cream cheese (I must try this one day with creamy raisin goat cheese)
100 g blanched almond powder (ground)
1 cup powdered sugar (I used Organic made from evaporated cane juice)
1/2 tsp. organic instant coffee granules
2 tsp. rum or to taste
3 squares (3 oz.) Montignac or other dark bitter or unsweetened chocolate
Coconut flakes, chocolate paillettes (jimmies in the U.S.), toasted almonds or pecan, chopped, extra icing sugar.

Mix together cream cheese, ground almonds, powdered sugar and coffee granules.  Refrigerate for an hour.

Melt chocolate using your preferred method, in the microwave for 2 minutes or bain marie, a heat proof bowl over a pot of simmering water, mix until shiny smooth.  Add to cream cheese mixture. 

Roll mixture into 1-inch balls.  Roll each ball in garnish of your choice.  I used coconut.

Makes approx. 1 dozen chocolate rum balls.

 

Brandied Meatballs

The cold of January brings out my inner flexitarian as I am more apt to taste a sliver of homemade meat pie, rustic ragout or boozy meatball.  When I feel so inclined to cook up some carnivorous French Canadian or Acadian eatables, as the greater number tend to be, I try more often than not to buy organic, hormone free meat products (although salt pork and pig's feet of the biologique ilk can be a rare commodity even among Quebec's health food freezers).

However, we all succumb to fast food flavours and as I am partial to Ikea's Swedish meatballs, I thought I would give this homegrown recipe a try. Swimming in lovely mango chutney, red pepper jelly and brandy bubbles these magnificent mouthfuls made their public appearance at Mini Réveillon 2006 and were simply out of this province!

Brandied Meatballs

(Adapted from Canadian House and Home)

4 cups beef broth
1 cup mango chutney
1/2 cup red pepper jelly
1/3 cup brandy
1/4 cup cornstarch whisked with 1/4 cup cold water
1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 bay leaf
Black pepper to taste
1 680-g package frozen meatballs

In a large pot on the stove, whisk together all ingredients (except the meatballs) and bring to a boil.  Add the meatballs and bring back to a simmer; simmer for about 10 minutes.  Pour into a Crockpot set on low or a chafing dish to serve.  Serves 10.

Salade De Chou

As the old joke goes: in the aftermath of nuclear war the only survivors would be a cockroach and Keith Richards.  The thought often pops into my mind on those bitterly cold winter days in Quebec.  Days, I wonder, if I can make it into work without my eyeballs transforming into two blocks of ice. When I do make it into the confines of my warm office overlooking the frozen river, I have to wonder how anything can survive our harsh climate.

And yet every year we Canadians manage to come out of 6 long months of harsh conditions with much complaint (what did you expect us to be happy about it?)

If humankind can pull through a few balmy minus 35 degree plagued months there may be hope yet for certain hearty root vegetables and those of the Cruciferae family.   

If one was to question the recurring theme of thick skinned, solid vegetables which appear more ugly than rustic in most bygone Quebec recipes, they would only have to honeymoon in the cool reaches of a French Canadian's cellar.  Even today, those same potatoes, cabbage, turnip and parsnips remain standards, for the most part, in modern Quebecois kitchens across the province as the grueling freeze remains consistent even this day and age.

Au Goût du Quebec is one of these cookbooks cleverly reporting by region, the culinary traditions of the province.  This particular recipe for salade de chou confirms my ancestors preference for coleslaw.

As basic as coleslaw is, the simple fact remains, most people will eat their cabbage if supported by compelling ingredients.  A pinch of sweet here, a bit-o-sour there and suddenly your winter doesn't seem so bleak.

Salade De Chou

(Adapted from Au Goût du Quebec)

3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white vinegar
2 tsp. prepared mustard
1 tsp. celery seed
1 tsp. salt
1 large head of cabbage, shredded
2 carrots, peeled and grated
2 onions, minced

In a saucepan over medium heat, mix together sugar, oil, vinegar, mustard, celery seed and salt.  Bring to a boil, turn of heat and let mixture cool slightly.  In a large bowl, mix together cabbage, carrots and onions.  Pour the cooled sauce over the vegetables, mixing the liquid to incorporate all ingredients.  Cover and refrigerate for several hours.  This salad can be kept in the refrigerator for up to one week.  Serves 16.

5 Food Challenges of 2006, A Review

Taking measure of my half baked food challenges list for 2006 has left me more than crestfallen in the wake of a fresh new year.  I pondered my impending deadline over a five-course New Year's eve meal of cream of chestnut soup with parsnip papeton and frizzled leeks/black truffle mascarpone cheese risotto with root vegetable brunoise/choke cherry sorbet and sparkling wine/garlic roasted shittake mushroom caps, yam gnocchi, le Douanier cheese croquette, cipolinne purée and inside out kimchi cabbage roll/star anise ice cream, gingerbread cake, shredded mango salad, Manitoba birch syrup topped with a black pepper tuile immediately after which I was much too exhausted to whip up a soufflé au chocolat chez nous. 

It was the morning after, New Year's Day, I woke up with regret and a dry mouth like most of the celebrating nation, and the sudden realization I had completed but 50% of my 5 Food Challenges of 2006 list.

Accepting the inevitable in 2007 I would look back at my accomplishments rather than dwell on my neglect.  This year I will not make lists as I put end to any kind of structure.  However, I find guilty pleasure with the knowledge of the slowly evolving philosophy that the new thin is fat.

I say accomplishments in that I executed the recipes but this is not say I was fully satisfied with the result.  I have yet to give proper rise to my savory soufflés.  Nevertheless, here is the excerpt of my original list with links to the finished product:

My top 5 food challenges of 2006 are:

1) Stocks (a proper poultry, fish, veal and meat stock)

2) Sauces (a few of the most important of the major 7 from the French family of sauces)

3) Yeast breads (flatbread, Focaccia and pizza crust)

4) Pie Crust 101 (pâté brisée)

5) Soufflé (both sweet and savory)