Bacon and Cheese Strata

Funny how I'm the breakfast/brunch cook around here, yet this is the meal I have the least imagination for. I purchased a book over the summer to help me out called The Big Book of Breakfast, by Maryana Vollstedt. It has a lot of great recipes in it, and I made this one for a brunch one morning in August.

Bacon and Cheese Strata

4 slices day old white bread, crusts removed
6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
6 large eggs
1 1/2 cups whole milk
1/4 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper
2 drops of Tobasco sauce (or to taste)
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
3 tbsp chopped parsley
1/2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
1/2 red bell pepper, seeded, and cut into rings

1. Arrange the bread slices, slightly overlapping, in a lightly sprayed or oiled 8x11.5" baking dish. Scatter the bacon over top.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, salt, pepper, and Tobasco. Fold in grated Cheddar and parsley. Pour the egg mixture over bread and bacon. Sprinkle with grated Monterey Jack. Cover and refrigerate several hours or overnight.

3. Preheat oven to 350F. Bring strata to room temperature before baking. Arrange bell peppers over top. Bake, uncovered, until set - about 45 - 5o minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes. Cut into squares and serve.

Notes

- I used all Cheddar because we don't get Monterey Jack. The beauty of this recipe is you can really add whatever you want.

- This puffs up quite a bit, so make sure your pan is deep enough.

- This recipe makes multiples well. I made it for two dozen and this recipe is supposed to serve 4 - 6 people.

Here are some tips from the beginning of the strata chapter to help you along.

1. Use day old bread, or bread you've lightly toasted, or bread you've let air-dry. This is so the milk/egg mixture will soak up nicely into the bread.

2. Use whole milk, or half-and-half. Low fat milks don't provide enough structure.

3. Make the strata several hours ahead or the night before to allow the bread to absorb the custard. Press the bread down to be sure it is fully covered.

4. Bring the strata to room temperature before baking, or allow an extra 10 minutes of baking time (which is what I did).

5. If the strata becomes too brown on top, cover it with foil for the rest of the baking time.

6. Let the strata stand for 10 minutes before serving.

Bon Appetit!

Cake Decoration

Birthday Cake
Originally uploaded by wanderingcoyote.

I did this yesterday and I think it's the nicest cake I've done yet.

The cake is the chocolate cake recipe I posted a month or so ago. The icing is just a simple buttercream. I piped the writing with a #4 plain tip and the scalloped border was done with a small star tip. For the flowers, I used a petal tip that came with the set I bought back in July. I need more practice with that, but I think this is pretty good. Way better than anything from the local supermarket, that's for sure!

For this cake, I'd charge $15-18. What do you think?

Snickerdoodles

I first had these cinnamon flavoured butter cookies in Baddeck, Nova Scotia, where I spent a few nights during my honeymoon. There is a fantastic little bakery there that I highly recommend if you ever get to Baddeck (it's not the one listed on the web site, though). I found a recipe in a friend's cookbook and I make these very regularly here at work, but I usually double the batch to make about 70 cookies.

Snickerdoodles

1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon

2 tsp cinnamon plus 2 tbsp sugar, combined

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the egg & vanilla and cream until smooth. Sift in the dry ingredients and mix well, but don't over mix.
3. Drop by teaspoonfuls on greased or parchment-lined baking sheet and press down to flatten, either with a fork or a wet hand. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top. Bake until golden brown.

The original recipe says you should form the dough into balls and roll the balls in the cinnamon sugar, then press the dough down to form the cookie. I can't be bothered and usually don't have the time. The ones I had in Baddeck didn't have this, they just had the cinnamon in the cookie dough. I kinda prefer it this way.

So, enjoy with a large glass of milk or a cup of cocoa!

The Ultimate Chocolate Cake

If you love chocolate, and if you love moist, delicious cakes, you'll love this recipe. I got it originally from a friend in Ottawa and it has never failed me.

Chocolate Cake

1 3/4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups cocoa, sifted
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil or melted butter
2 tsp vanilla

1. Grease & flour a 9x13" oblong cake pan, or line it with parchment paper. Preheat your oven to 350F.
2. Sift together your dry ingredients in a large bowl. Beat eggs and milk in a separate bowl, adding the vanilla. Add the oil. Gradually pour the wet ingredients into the dry and combine well with an electric hand mixer. Don't overmix! Add 1 cup of boiling water and mix until just combined.
3. Pour into prepared pan and bake 40-45 minutes, or until tester inserted in centre comes out clean.

This is the best chocolate cake I've ever had. I have also done the following variations:

- I substituted the milk for 2/3 cup Bailey's Irish Cream and 1/3 cup milk; I iced this cake with a buttercream icing that was make with Bailey's instead of milk or cream - this was the best cake ever!
- I have added a couple of teaspoons of instant coffee granules when adding the boiling water
- I have also added Khalua, about 1/4 cup, with the hot water (and only 3/4 cups hot water in that case)

Enjoy!

Chicken Noodle Soup

I haven't posted anything savoury in quite some time, but fall is upon us and soup is called for now during the chilly weather. I can't remember where I got this recipe from, but it's a very good one. If you have homemade chicken stock, all the better.

Chicken Noodle Soup

2 tbsp vegetable oil
12 oz boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite size pieces
1 medium onion, chopped
1 grated carrot
1 tsp each dried oregano and basil
4 cups chicken stock
2 tsp Dijon mustard
3 oz. spaghettini, broken up (about 1 cup)
2 cups sliced celery
2 tbsp all purpose flour
2 1/2 cups milk
salt & pepper to taste

1. Brown chicken is a large saucepan with oil. Remove to a bowl. Add onion & carrot and saute until onion is softened.
2. Add stock and mustard; bring to boil. Stir in celery and pasta and return to the boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer until noodles are almost tender. Add chicken with accumulated juices and cook for 5 minutes longer.
3. Whisk flour into milk and gradually whisk this into the soup. Simmer, stirring, for about 3 minutes or until slightly thickened. Serve and enjoy!

Just make sure the chicken is cooked through, eh? I tend to cook it pretty much completely in step one just to be safe.

If you have leftovers, this thickens up quite a bit upon cooling. When you got to reheat it, you'll probably need to add some liquid to it just to make it soupy again.

Pumpkin Pie

This is a little late for my Canadian readers, but my American friends may appreciate this. I just made six of these for the Thanksgiving dinner here last weekend, and this recipe has been a favourite amongst my friends at previous Thanksgivings. It's simple and delicious. I'll admit, however, that I got the recipe from the label of a Carnation evaporated milk can.

Pumpkin Pie

1 1/2 cups canned pumpkin puree (NOT pumpkin pie filling from E.D. Smith or similar!)
1 cup sugar
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp each ground ginger, cloves, nutmeg
1 tin (385mL) evaporated milk (2% is fine, whole is better, DON'T use skim whatever you do)
1 9" unbaked pie shell

In a large bowl combine pumpkin, sugar, eggs, salt, & spices. Gradually stir in the evaporated milk, mixing well. Pour into pie shell. Bake at 350F for 50 - 55 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the centre comes out clean. Let cool completely.

I serve this with a sweetened whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon over the top. I have also been known to make decorative pastry cutouts to put on top of the pie as a garnish.

See how easy this is? I tend to be more liberal with my spices than this recipe indicates, so do everything to your own taste, and be sure to taste the mixture before you put it in the oven, just so you know that it's seasoned properly. And that you haven't forgotten anything, like, say, the sugar. If you've been to Wandering Coyote lately, you might have read about my rather enormous booboo on Sunday. I am over it.

Enjoy!

Dinner Tonight: Roast Pig

RoastingPig
Originally uploaded by wanderingcoyote.

So, this weekend is a big one here at The Centre. Not only is it Thanksgiving up here in Canada, but we host a big to-do for the friends of the centre, who come here for a weekend of working and studying. They volunteer for various jobs, pray, etc., and we feed 'em copious amounts of food. The staff here look forward to this because it's got a real family feel to it.

One of the big traditions is the pig roast on Saturday night. The pig was purchased in town earlier on in the week and spent a few days on a low shelf in my walk-in fridge. I had someone put a bag over its head because I couldn't stand going in there and seeing it's little face poking out of the butcher's paper. It almost looked as if it was smiling at me.

We got this thing trussed and on the spit just before 11 this morning. Supper is supposed to be at 6, but I don't know if this'll be ready on time. At about 3, as I was coming off shift, you could see and hear the fat boiling inside the skin. At one point, it burst and the drippings caught fire and we had a big spurt of flame and black smoke. Luckily, there was a hose nearby.

I am planning on having a left over egg salad sandwich. Sorry, I just can't do this one.

Honey Cake

I made this for lunch today and it was a big hit. I got the recipe from an old Canadian Living from 1993. This is apparently a Jewish cake, containing no dairy and traditionally consumed at Rosh Hashana.

Honey Cake

1 1/3 cups liquid honey
1 cup strong coffee
1 tbsp grated orange rind
2 3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp each cloves and ground ginger
pinch of salt
1 cup chopped walnuts
4 eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 cup granulated sugar
icing sugar to sprinkle over the top, if desired

1. In a small saucepan, bring honey just to the boil. Remove from heat and stir in coffee & orange rind. Let cool slightly.

2. Stir together flour, soda, baking powder, salt, spices. Add walnuts and toss together.

3. In a large mixing bowl using an electric mixer, beat eggs until lemon-coloured. Beat in the oil. Add sugar gradually, beating until pale & thickened, about 3 minutes.

4. Using a whisk, alternately fold dry ingredients and liquid mixture into the eggs, making 3 additions of dry and 2 of liquid.

5. Pour the batter into a 10" or 3L bundt pan (or you can use two 9"x5" loaf pans) that is either non-stick or has been well buttered/floured. Bake at 325F for 60 - 65 minutes, or until tester comes out clean and the cake springs back when lightly pressed.

6. Let the cake cool in the pan for 30 minutes, then invert onto a rack to cool completely. Sift icing sugar over the top.

Notes.

- I found this took longer to cook than the recipe stated by about half an hour. Keep an eye on it and you should be fine.
- Like many cake recipes, you add the flour and liquid in in stages. This is mainly so you don't overwork your flour and get a denser cake, or a cake that flops. Don't skip this step!
- The recipe mentions some variations. One is that you can substitute the walnuts for candied citron (citrus peel), raisins, or walnuts. The other thing you can do is substitute 3 tbsp of cognac for 3 tbsp of the coffee.

Let me know how it goes and enjoy!

Real Lemon Pie

RealLemonPie
Originally uploaded by wanderingcoyote.

Now I am truly back in business. I dug out my camera software from the depths of my little closet and installed it on this staff computer. Now you'll be seeing more of my creations!

I'm sure you're reading the title and groaning because it is yet another lemon/citrus recipe. Well, tough! I served this for staff dinner last night and it was fantastic. Not only did it look wonderful, it was bursting with lemony flavour. This is a simple recipe with few ingredients. I hope you like it.

Real Lemon Pie

Filling

4 thin-skinned lemons (I don't know how you tell a thin one from a thick one without cutting it first, but I just used what I had on hand)
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs

Shortcrust Pastry

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
150g (5oz) chilled unsalted butter, chopped
2 tbsp granulated sugar
3 - 4 tbsp cold water

1 egg, beaten, for glazing

1. Wash the lemons. Slice 2 unpeeled lemons very thinly and remove the seeds. Peel the other lemons, removing all pith and seeds, and slice the flesh thinly. Put all this in a bowl, not metallic, with the 2 cups of sugar and mix well, coating all the lemon with sugar. Cover and refrigerate over night.

2. Preheat oven to 350F. For the pastry, sift together the salt and the sugar. Sable in the butter. (Remember what sable means, from the previous post? No? Ok. Rub the butter in with your fingertips - quickly so it doesn't melt.)

3. When you have a cornmeal-like consistency, add the water, one tablespoon at a time and toss gently with a fork. Add just enough water so that the dough comes together and is rollable. Divide in half and roll out 2 10 inch circles.

4. Lightly grease a 9" pie plate. Line the pie plate with one disk of dough; cover and chill. Somehow chill the other disk of dough, too; I put it into a second pie plate for easy tranferring.

5. Beat the eggs well and add the lemon slices, mixing gently but thoroughly. Pour the filling into the shell and put on the "lid." Crimp the edges to seal them. Decorate the top with pastry scraps. Brush on the beaten egg you reserved for the glaze, and bake until golden brown - 55 minutes to an hour. But keep an eye on it. Let it cool completely before serving.

Notes to the Readership

- this is a great shortcrust recipe that comes out crisp and cookie-like. It can be used for other pies and tarts as well. Be sure to add the water gradually as I described because it shouldn't be sticky or wet. Neither should it be too dry so it's difficult to roll out. Also, be sure not to work your flour too much or else you'll get a tougher pastry.
- letting the lemons sit in the sugar overnight draws out the liquid from the fruit. This, combined with the eggs, creates a custard-like filling, so don't skip this step.

Questions? Comments? You know the drill.

Hot Water Gingerbread

Fall's the time for warm, spicey baking that screams comfort food. This is such a recipe. I got this from Cook Great Food by The Dieticians of Canada, an excellent cookbook if you're in the market for simple, tasty, healthy meals for yourself and/or your family. They recommend serving this with a lemon sauce, but that flavour combination doesn't quite do it for my palate. When I have served this (warm, of course), I've accompanied it with a scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt or a simple custard sauce (Bird's is just fine).

Hot Water Gingerbread

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup molasses
1/2 cup boiling water
1/3 cup melted butter

1. In a large bowl, combine all dry ingredients except the brown sugar.
2. In a second bowl, beat the egg, brown sugar, molasses and boiling water together until smooth. Stir this mixture into the flour mixture until just blended. Pour into a lightly greased or non-stick 8" square pan. Bake at 350F for about 35 minutes or until a tester inserted in the centre comes out clean.

It's as easy as that.

As usual, any feedback is appreciated.

Enjoy!

Alas...

Dear Readers,

I have been invaded by a series of spammers. Shocking! I have enabled the Blogger anti-spamming tools in order to combat this pesky business. Sorry to all you non-Bloggers for having to take such drastic action.

Lemon Scones

Miss me?

I sure have! Man, have I been busy this past month, and with limited computer access to boot.

For some bizarre reason, I have become famous for these scones. Of all the things I could be famous for, it had to scones. Well, what's a girl to do? Take what fame she can and run with it, baby!

Next week we are hosting a weekend for social workers, case workers, challenged families and others regarding food availability issues for underpriviledged people, and the organizer mentioned to my supervisor that she knew someone at the recent music camps who was raving over these scones, which I had served for Sunday brunch once. I'm sure I'm going to have a request made to me for these scones at a planning meeting tomorrow. So here is what all the hubbub is about.

Lemon Scones

2 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup cold butter
2 eggs
1/3 cup 10% cream
2 tsp finely grated lemon rind (approximately the zest of 2 - 3 lemons)
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice

Glaze:
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp icing sugar

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the first 4 ingredients. Sable (see notes) in the butter with your hands quickly, until the mixture resembles something slightly chunkier than cornmeal.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, lemon rind, lemon juice, and cream. Drizzle over the dry ingredients and toss gently until the mixture clumps into a very soft sticky dough.
3. Turn out onto a very well-floured surface. With floured hands, form into a ball, kneading about 8 times. The dough will be very wet, so use lots of flour. Place on a parchment paper-lined sheet or lightly floured rimless baking sheet. Pat into a 1.5 cm thick circle and cut into 8 wedges. Do not separate.
4. Bake in 350F oven unitl golden.
5. For the glaze, combine the juice and sugar. Apply the glaze with a pastry brush just after the scones come out of the oven while they're still piping hot.

Notes.

- To sable means to rub the dry ingredients and the butter together with your hands. I don't bother with the pastry cutter or two knives crap because my hands are much more efficient, especially when I quadruple this recipe for a larger batch.
- Don't make these in a mixer for God's sake: you'll overwork the flour. The key here is mixing as little as possible and kneading as lightly as possible to get a delicate product in the end.
- Please, please, please use real lemons! That stuff that comes in the yellow lemon-shaped bottle from the store is awful! You cannot beat the real McCoy here, or anywhere for that matter. Get yourself a cheap citrus juicer and a zester and away you go.
- I make several variations of this. For instance, the lemon zest and juice is directly interchangable with orange zest and juice, and I do that a lot. Also, I often add blueberries, but while still frozen because they're easier to mix in and they'll keep their shape. Frozen raspberries would also work, or just skip the citurs altogether and add raisins and a bit of cinnamon.


Well, let me know how they turn out.

I hope to be updated this blog more often now that I have more time and more reliable internet access. I miss this a lot.

First Professional Cake Decoration

firstprocakejob
Originally uploaded by wanderingcoyote.

This was my first ever professional, paid cake decoration. I want to stress that I didn't make the icing, my co-cook did. It was raspberry and quite runny. I can't remember now what the actual cake was...

Birthday Cake

wandacake
Originally uploaded by wanderingcoyote.

I did this cake a couple of weeks ago for a guest whom I never met but heard was tickled pink when this was presented to her. It's an 8" cake and this is a border similar to the one I did for my final exam back in March.

Family Reunion Cake

bagshawcake
Originally uploaded by wanderingcoyote.

This is the cake I did on Thursday for the family reunion we catered that night. The family just loved it and were posing for pictures with it and everything. The cake recipe I used was the orange cake from a couple of posts ago. This is a 16x24-inch slab, which is 4 times the original cake recipe. The icing is orange cream cheese buttercream and the piping of the words was done in chocolate.