use real butter

My days have been up and down. When they are down, I lay low and listen to my body and just try to recover. When they are up, I’m brimming with ideas and raring to go. Yesterday was a seriously up day for me. I was able to cook a ton of food and feel as if the kitchen was mine once again. Of course, there were a few changes to work through - like the fact that my taste has been heavily wankered, that my GI tract now rejects about 70% of what I typically love to eat (spicy, sour, salty, fatty, all that good stuff), and that I can’t eat berries. Well, I CAN eat berries, but I’ve been strongly advised to avoid eating raw berries (among other raw foods) for my own well-being.

I had bought some blueberries before my treatment began last week and Jeremy was taking a hell of a long time to finish them off. I really wanted those blueberries. And then I really wanted some… cake. And then I began flipping through my cookbooks and wondering what ingredients I had to make some cake with blueberries. I mean, if they’re cooked then I can eat them, right?

donna to the rescue

I don’t do celebrity chefs. I don’t ooh and ahh famous chef names. I just don’t pay enough attention and we also don’t own a brain rot box. [Side note: Oddly, I have been asked by several strangers if I know, am related to, or am Kylie Kwong. I had to google her to find out who the hell they were talking about.] So it was with great curiosity one evening a few years ago when I was at Nicole’s house for an awesome dinner of homemade butternut squash ravioli, that I flipped through some of her Donna Hay cookbooks. Never heard of the woman. But I loved her simple style and many of the recipes piqued my interest.

dry ingredients

I saw the delightful little blueberry muffins recipe in Donna’s Modern Classics 2. So simple to whip together and it called for lemon zest. Love lemon zest, you know.

zing!

When I last baked, I made those little lemon meringue tartelettes for the DB challenge. I felt so ill during that whole process. I mean, I felt like I wanted to keel over into the meringue and my OCD self didn’t care if I made a mess. That made me sad because I love to cook and bake - it brings me a lot of gratification and joy. The simplest thing was so labored both mentally and physically. But the blueberry muffin recipe… felt as natural as breathing!

mix up the wet ingredients

fold in the blueberries

At the last minute, I opted to make a cake instead of muffins. Maybe because washing little muffin tins makes me a little nutty and I wanted to use my flower-shaped cake pan because I paid so damn much for it in my student years.

everything feels like sunshine

Although the muffins were to bake for 15-20 minutes, this cake took about 40 minutes, but the edges were beautifully golden and crisp while the inside was fluffy, steamy, moist. Here’s the sad part: I couldn’t taste much of it. I tried. No really, I tried. I typically have a most discerning palate. My taste buds are hosed for now. The cake had almost no flavor and the blueberries blended in with the rest of it. I poked my tongue around my mouth trying to identify the lemon zest, but nada. I was bummed. Still, the making is 90% of the fun for me so it was definitely worth it. When Jeremy got home I forced him to try a slice and he quite liked it. So it was not for naught and now I can share it with you, right?

blueberry muffin cake

Blueberry Muffins (Cake)
from Donna Hay Modern Classics 2

2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder (I used 1 tsp because of my elevation)
3/4 cup superfine sugar
1 cup sour cream
2 eggs
1 tsp finely grated lemon rind
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 1/4 cups fresh or frozen blueberries

Preheat oven to 350F. Sift flour and baking powder into a bowl. Add sugar and combine. Whisk sour cream, eggs, lemon rind, and oil together in a bowl. Stir in the dry ingredients until just combined. Fold in the blueberries. To make a cake: spread batter into pan and bake for 40 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean. To make muffins: fill a dozen 1/2 cup muffin tins about 2/3 full and bake for 12 minutes or until clean toothpick stage.

Feeling puckery lately? If you’ve been cruising the food blogs, then most likely you’ve run across one or two or four hundred Daring Bakers brandishing their lovely Lemon Meringue Pies.

that’s right kids, we knead to bake

Jen of The Canadian Baker hosted the challenge this month and it was down to the wire for me this time. I started my treatment on Thursday and thought I’d recover with enough time to do the challenge yesterday but… things don’t always go as planned when your body gets pumped full of poison! However, I didn’t want to abandon my fellow DBers, so I managed to make a handful of tartelettes. Forgive me for the lack of detail I usually devote to my DB challenges. She’ll be right next time.

mixing the dough

pressed crust into tart molds

stirring lemony goodness into the curd

You can see I opted for tartelettes instead of the whole pie. I just love individual servings. When baking the tartelette crusts, I placed a second mold on top of each crust to hold its shape. I baked mine for 25 minutes and then removed the tops and baked the crusts uncovered for another 3 minutes to help it brown out. This worked very well, but makes a few dozen since they are so small. Once the shells were cooled, I spooned in lemon curd and topped with meringue.

a little topper over the curd

neat it up

Rather than bother with the oven again, I used my trusty propane torch to finish the tops… because I like any reason to use my propane torch *sheepish grin*. My treatment has jacked up my sense of taste, so I had to ask my official taste tester for the verdict. Jeremy gave it a big thumbs up! Thanks to Jen for the challenge and be sure to check out the rest of the fine DBer creations.

torch it

dig in

Lemon Meringue Pie
Makes one 10-inch (25 cm) pie

crust:
¾ cup (180 mL) cold butter; cut into ½-inch (1.2 cm) pieces
2 cups (475 mL) all-purpose flour
¼ cup (60 mL) granulated sugar
¼ tsp (1.2 mL) salt
⅓ cup (80 mL) ice water

filling:
2 cups (475 mL) water
1 cup (240 mL) granulated sugar
½ cup (120 mL) cornstarch
5 egg yolks, beaten
¼ cup (60 mL) butter
¾ cup (180 mL) fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp (15 mL) lemon zest
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract

meringue:
5 egg whites, room temperature
½ tsp (2.5 mL) cream of tartar
¼ tsp (1.2 mL) salt
½ tsp (2.5 mL) vanilla extract
¾ cup (180 mL) granulated sugar

For the Crust: Make sure all ingredients are as cold as possible. Using a food processor or pastry cutter and a large bowl, combine the butter, flour, sugar and salt. Process or cut in until the mixture resembles coarse meal and begins to clump together. Sprinkle with water, let rest 30 seconds and then either process very briefly or cut in with about 15 strokes of the pastry cutter, just until the dough begins to stick together and come away from the sides of the bowl. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and press together to form a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 20 minutes. Allow the dough to warm slightly to room temperature if it is too hard to roll. On a lightly floured board (or countertop) roll the disk to a thickness of ⅛ inch (.3 cm). Cut a circle about 2 inches (5 cm) larger than the pie plate and transfer the pastry into the plate by folding it in half or by rolling it onto the rolling pin. Turn the pastry under, leaving an edge that hangs over the plate about ½ inch (1.2 cm). Flute decoratively. Chill for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line the crust with foil and fill with metal pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden. Cool completely before filling.

For the Filling: Bring the water to a boil in a large, heavy saucepan. Remove from the heat and let rest 5 minutes. Whisk the sugar and cornstarch together. Add the mixture gradually to the hot water, whisking until completely incorporated. Return to the heat and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. The mixture will be very thick. Add about 1 cup (240 mL) of the hot mixture to the beaten egg yolks, whisking until smooth. Whisking vigorously, add the warmed yolks to the pot and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in butter until incorporated. Add the lemon juice, zest and vanilla, stirring until combined. Pour into the prepared crust. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming on the surface, and cool to room temperature.

For the Meringue: Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Using an electric mixer beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar, salt and vanilla extract until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually, beating until it forms stiff, glossy peaks. Pile onto the cooled pie, bringing the meringue all the way over to the edge of the crust to seal it completely. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a rack. Serve within 6 hours to avoid a soggy crust.

You’re probably familiar with artichoke dip. It’s a great goto appetizer for guests and especially when I used to host stitch-n-bitches. It really boils down to a lot of fat with fiber, I mean a lot of delicious fat with fiber! I’ve had it in restaurants and I can’t stand their versions because they skimp on the arties and load it with even more creamy filler. Blegh.

I made so much soup and stew and curry last week that we were working on leftovers when I remembered I had planned on roast chicken. The chicken wouldn’t wait and I didn’t want to chuck it in the freezer, so I went ahead and roasted it, then put it in the fridge. Instead of having it straight, I had a smack of inspiration.

preparing to harvest the meat

I stripped the bird of the meat and saved the carcass for chicken broth like any good cook would. I decided to make a twist on the artichoke dip and turn it into a hearty pasta dinner on the fly. I’m sure fresh artichokes would have been heavenly, but I was running short on time because I spent most of the day skiing with a bunch of tele babes - whoosh! I used trusty canned artichokes in the interest of time and less swearing.

quartered artichoke hearts

The dip recipe calls for blending everything together and baking it to heady goodness. I wanted to incorporate all of the flavors without baking anything. So I started with the minced garlic, except I used a lot more garlic than is called for in the dip recipe.

sauté garlic in olive oil

Once the sautéed garlic was fragrant, I added cooked penne and sautéed that for a few minutes before adding the chopped roast chicken and artichokes. You can add salt and pepper at this point, but since my roast chicken is typically well-seasoned, I don’t.

the hot mix

I removed the pot from the stove and grated about 2 cups of parmesan cheese over the pasta. I added 1.5 cups of mayonnaise as well as 1/2 cup of lemon juice. Most of these ingredients should be adjusted to your taste. I think I may have added a little more lemon juice - I love that stuff.

grating parmesan

mixing in the mayo, parm, and lemon juice

It’s a bit of a warm pasta salad dish. I guess I think of it as salad since it has mayo. It would have been great with a cream base sauce, but I’m trying to avoid dairy and the mayo lends more to the original artichoke dip.

artichoke dip as dinner

Roast Chicken Artichoke Pasta

1 lb roast chicken, chopped
24 oz. artichoke hearts, cooked, drained, quartered
1 lb. penne, cooked and drained
3 tbsp olive oil
8 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
2 cups Parmesan, grated (to taste)
1.5 cups, mayonnaise (to taste)
1/2 cup lemon juice (to taste)
1/2 cup fresh parsley, chopped

In a large sauté pan heat olive oil on high flame. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant. Add the drained penne and saut&eacute for a few minutes. When the pasta is well-coated, toss in the chicken and artichokes and stir until thoroughly heated. Remove pot from heat. Toss in the Parmesan, mayonnaise, lemon juice, and parsley. Stir well and serve hot.