Lemon Tart

A Wedding Cake

In a move designed not so much for its socio-political significance, or for its gender-defying "screw you!" to the man, but more out of thanks to her for having kept the groom alive for many years, [lemontart] was the Best Man. She also baked the yummy cake.

Someone quite special to me got married recently. The above words come from the liner notes of His and Her's wedding favour CD's. Those words sum up a special relationship my friend and I share- one created over years of support, hard times, good time and many laughs, often accompanied by Buffy and Muppets. The Groom and I have been friends for 21 years. And without getting mushy, since this is a food blog afterall, I couldn't be happier for this union. Like tomato and basil or peaches and cream, they are perfect together. Except that the Groom doesn't like tomatoes, so perhaps its not the best analogy. But heck, its my blog and I think there's fewer better pairings than tomato and basil, so I'm going with it. If anyone was to convince him to eat tomatoes(I've tried) its the Bride. When I met the Bride I knew she and I would be friends and a worthy partner of the Groom. Each time we share a table together there are no murmurs of "no I couldn't", "I'm on a diet", or "none for me". She enthusiastically eats whatever I've prepared with complete enjoyment and lack of guilt.That is one of the many things I love about her. 

The fact that I was perhaps the only Best Man in a silk, Mediterranean blue wrap dress this side of San Francisco makes me giggle with pride. After all, these labels are just that, labels, originating from another time when men and women weren't allowed to have friendships of the meaningful kind. Thankfully times have changed and the bride doesn't give me the evil eye anymore, unless I ask the groom when he's bringing his entire collection of Bat Man figurines out of storage. I was happy to wear the Best Man label with pride.  The fact that my compatriot, the Maid of Honour, was a witty lawyer named Mark just added to the charm of this truly original affair. He didn't wear the traditional sea foam green taffeta dress suggested but I'm sure the colour would have been lovely on him.

Perhaps the most traditional part of the wedding was this cake you see in the photo above. Being a proud Daring Baker, and always looking for a baking challenge, I knew as I watched this union move towards the inevitable nuptials this would be my chance and lucky for me they didn't have any other crazy baker friends. Initial conversations about the cake were a dream for me- complete artistic control was given. When prompted a little I discovered an icing preference- tasty was the word used. Once prompted a little more I was delighted to hear that a cake that tasted delicious was imperative. Fon don't became the word for the cake. There would be no bland fondant on this cake. Butter was more important than perfectly smooth corners. You can see why I approve of this gal.

And now, a day in the life of The Fon Don't Cake, if you will:

Make Your Own Vanilla Extract

I've been making my own vanilla extract for a few years now and have been thinking all year that its something that I should share with my readers, but sometimes I'll admit I like to keep some things to myself. Today is the day to share nicely. I'm not the first blogger to wax poetically about this process, but I'm also certain I won't be the last.

Since starting my batch about 3 years ago, I doubt I'll ever buy a bottle of it again. Its not to say that its better than store bought, but the site of the beans standing at attention in their ever changing brew makes me smile. I also love that in another very small way I've saved 100's of glass jars from being made and then recycled and then made again during the course of a lifetime.

So what exactly is vanilla extract anyways? Well, it's just a simple infusion. Fragrant, heady, aromatic vanilla beans (hopefully), are left to rest in a grain alcohol, which carries the essential oils and therefore flavour with it.  The good ones have a short list of ingredients. But you will come across extracts with added colourings, which along with bleached toilet paper, I don't really get, and sometimes sugar, added to enhance flavour. As long as the sugar is low on the ingredient list it's a fine addition, although you won't find it in the homemade version.  When you see corn syrup or propylene glycol or any other hard to pronounce words, I would suggest stepping away from the bottle. There's a lot of bad vanilla out there, and I'm not talking about artificial vanilla which at least is upfront about itself. If you've recently had someone bring a bottle back from Mexico, as most of us have, be a little skeptical, right after you thank them profusely for their thoughtful gift*. With weak regulations in the extract industry in  Mexico, its easy to end up with something that resembles vanilla while pretending to be the real thing. Although I must stress than not all vanilla bought in Mexico is a fake, but buyer beware.

Making your own vanilla is a fun, easy project that is a great idea for anyone with a source of good but not too pricey vanilla beans. If you live somewhere where your source for beans runs at $5 a bean, this is not the project for you. Best to to spend the money on some great quality extract, it'll be cheaper in the end. If you are lucky enough to get your hands on some discounted dried up beans, this is the perfect remedy for them. Another thing to remember when considering making your own extract is that the finished product will only be as good as the beans. Your vanilla beans should ideally still have a nice fragrant aroma and hopefully a little pliability and you should be confident that even if you get your hands on some dried up premium beans that they haven't sitting on a shelf for a year.

Happy Birthday Lemon Tart!

Today Lemon Tart  turns 1. A whole year ago today I "put myself out there" into blogger land, in hopes that a couple people would read my personal take on food and cooking. Well, turns out there's more than a couple of you out there and for that I'd like to thank each one of you who's come by for whatever appeals to you on this little site of mine. It's been a fantastic experience and one that I hope to continue to get better at. I never dreamed I'd enjoy it so much. I've been thankful for the opportunity to improve my food photography, to craft my writing skills and to keep a record of favourite projects and experiences. But mostly its the sharing I enjoy. By nature I am someone who enjoys food most when I'm sharing it and sharing with you means my experiences and recipes live on without me.

It's no big surprise that I'm celebrating this special day with none other than Lemon Tart's namesake, my favourite tart. I have memorized this recipe and whip it up at all manner of occasions. In the new year I'll be divulging my recipe, since it seems rather an embarrassment that in a year I haven't actually done a post on a classic Lemon Tart. It never ceases to delight and I never tire of it. So I look forward to passing on what I believe is the perfect dessert.

There is a piece for each of you.

With love and dessert,

The Lemon Tart

Daring Bakers: Cannoli

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

Well isn't this fitting. 7 weeks since I was parlo-ing Italiano on Italian soil, and I'm making Cannoli for a Daring Bakers challenge. Who could resist these pistachio speckled  tubes? Cannoli (cannolo for one) are common Italian treats originating from Sicily. While there can be variations in filling and forms, some seeming more like a butterhorn from other parts of Europe,  traditionally they consist of a dough flavoured with cinnamon and a splash of Marsala wine which gives a lovely complex flavour.  The dough is rolled thin, cut into circles and wrapped around tubular forms of metal or more old school, wood, and  deep fried. The creamy filling is made of sweetened fresh ricotta cheese, sometimes mascarpone and flavoured commonly with cinnamon and candied orange zest.

  

This was perhaps my first attempt at a real deep fry operation and it went smooth as that vat of bubbling oil on the stove. With the exception of that spat of oil that hit me squarely in the corner of the eye, literally moments from when I said aloud "look at that, not one burn". But I've come out of this challenge with all my skin cells, no burn victim here and these crispy beauties convinced me that sometimes it is okay to fry. It's no big surprise that the homemade version of cannoli shells are superior to the readily available ones in Italian supermarkets, but I was still surprised at how superior. A lovely amount of crunch and all the right flavours came through. Dough scraps were dutifully cut, fried, and sprinkled with cinnamon sugar for the perfect waste not want not snack.
 

Muppet Distractions

What's the point of having a blog if you can't share the things that make you happiest. This video came to me from a friend who knew how it would brighten my day. I'm doing the same for you. There is no food to be seen, but there is joy and music and muppets. I hope you enjoy as much as I did. Happy weekend!

http://www.boingboing.net/2009/11/24/muppets-singing-quee.html

Daring Bakers: French Macaroons

Lemon Raspberry Macarons

It's good to be back. Back at home. Back in my kitchen. Back with The Daring Bakers. I've been absent for awhile now, so when I was ready to get back to baking and blogging I was delighted to find out this months challenge was something that pulls at my heart simply due to what it makes me think of - Paris.

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

French Macarons you see are a far cry from the Canadian version - those ubiquitous, sugary, coconut laden mountains that show up in coffee shops, church bazaars and cookie trays everywhere. Yet I have yet to meet anyone you actually enjoys them, although I think that is because so many of them out there are so bad. A future post perhaps - Macaroons rediscovered?

French Macaroons, or Macarons, are a different macaroon altogether. A meringue based cookie (sans coconut), light as air, is sandwiched between a filling of chocolate ganache, or buttercream, with endless variations from nutella to preserves. This creates a cookie that at first shatters on your teeth on contact, seemingly delicate and crackly, only to yield to a chewy interior layer followed by a creamy, flavour packed filling. 3 different textures, a single flavour or a mixture of contrasting flavours, makes these cookies a winner in my books. Not too sweet, delicate, but not too much, and oh so pretty make these a favourite tea cookie of mine. Of course they allow for so much creativity that it invites crazy combinations like green olive and olive oil, ketchup, matcha tea and everything in between.

Composed of a short ingredient list of egg whites, almond flour and sugar, they are a lot trickier than you would imagine. But then again a baguette is made up of the same number of ingredients and finding a good one is a lot more difficult than you would think should be. A challenge for those of us who like to bake, but also a gamble. Even if you've made dozens of these without thinking, most of them turning out near perfect, this is a cookie that eludes and sometimes just decides not to work out. So if you decide to tackle them, don't despair, it happens. Aging egg whites, grinding your own almond flour, sifting the almonds, letting the cookies air dry before baking. They come with a number of tricks and requirements. The good news is that once you get the hang of them, they are quick to make and even quicker to eat!

I began making these at home 4 years ago upon returning home from my first trip to Paris where they are as as common as the chocolate chip cookie or Nanaimo bar here. Back then a recipe for macarons was difficult to find, but I managed to find a couple and began baking (and selling) these little bits of Paris. These were cookies that inspired such smiles from people, especially fellow travelers and Francophiles. Reminders of beautiful times in the city of light. I was happy to bring that back for people and share something new for people who'd never heard of such a thing.

Now macarons have hit North American shores and I'm not sure if its for the better. I've seen them overpriced and stale at upscale gourmet grocers and just shake my head. Who would be so stupid to spend money on these? But apparently people do and I think I understand why. Food can often be as much about memory of time and place than the actual food itself. To me they have to taste good too, but to some people the purchase itself brings them back to happier times.  Recreating my little bit of a city I love is exciting and challenging.

They are also a huge trend internationally and you've likely come across them somewhere near or far from home. What started as a darling little cookie seen only in Paris or France, some people say, are the next trend threatening to derail the cupcake. I don't know about that, but when McDo's  (McDonalds) starts selling them, that's gotta mean its outgrown its humble roots. Although to be fare I can bet the Macarons at Mcdonalds in Paris are for certain going to be better than the sad ones at my local grocer.

Grape Bread: schiacciata con l'uva

Every year around this time, two of my closest friends have a Harvest Party. It's a great reason for a party and something I look forward to each year as the trees start to lose their leaves, the air turns crisp and the markets are still bountiful with squash, apples and plenty of root vegetables. Its a potluck affair, which seems fitting for an event centred around the harvest, so there's always a mosaic of different dishes and styles of cooking. The best part of the party is something called "Fruits of your Labour", where each guest must bring to the party something that they have made or grown themselves. The sideboard overflows with a unique mix of items brought with pride, and I am always excited to see the variety of items on display: creatively made cards, all manner of jams and preserves, coveted buttercrunch, homegrown fruits and vegetables, a handmade beehouse...each year it changes.  When its your turn you go up, admire all the possibilities, and pick something to take home with you. For a lover of all things homegrown and made, it's better than Christmas.

For the potluck part of the party I always bring the same thing. If I didn't, I fear there would be a lot of sad faces in the room. It's a grape Schiacciata - an Italian foccacia-like flatbread covered in grapes. Its a traditional bread seen all over Italy in September and October in celebration of  the grape harvest. Wine grapes are the norm there, the seeds providing the characteristic crunch although I always make mine with organic seedless coronation grapes. These sweet, incredibly intense grapes make this bread what it is and while it may be traditional to use wine grapes, I don't think we would appreciate that bit of roughage here. The grapes cook on top of the bread, bursting their juices into the dough which absorbs it, some of the juices caramelize on the outer edges providing a smokey caramel flavour to the sweet collapsed grapes on top. Rosemary infused oil adds a savoury note and a generous sprinkling of sugar and honey add to the flavour. What you end up with is a simple, puffy bread, full of the goodness of the grapes and one of those dishes that simply screams autumn. When you serve this alongside turkey dinner, forget the cranberry sauce. Some people might even say, forget the turkey.

I fear that divulging my recipe will render me unnecessary at 2010's harvest party, but I'm willing to take the risk to help more people see grapes as more than something to make wine from or have in a fruit bowl.

Gourmet Distraction

 

You might be wondering what's taking me so long to tell you about my time in Italy and France...well I've been distracted today, and have spent quite a bit of time on a certain website, pilfering as many recipes as I can. My time in a foreign country can wait, but a wealth of well written and tested, creative and classic recipes that I thought I would always have access to but might not - can't. So this is where you'll find me. Sifting, sorting, printing, sadly pining for a culinary institution.

This is old news by now, but the day I was wandering the streets of a French Riviera town, shopping for the perfect Cote du Provence, baguette, creamy Religeuse, and haricots verts for a garden lunch, Gourmet magazine was announcing its closing. Since I was sitting in a garden drinking wine, feeding the cat chevre and nibbling on pissaladiere, I didn't know it until my arrival home.

Gourmet magazine is the oldest running food magazine in America and at the ripe old age of 69 years it will close with its current November 2009 issue. Whether you buy Gourmet or not, you probably know of it. And personal opinions aside, its what many would consider the gold standard of food publications, made possible by some of the best food writers, stylists and photographers, not to mention a diverse and info packed website and perhaps the best food tv series I've ever come across.

Bonjour mes amis!

I left you last on my way to Italy, and come to you now directly from France, hence the language change. We have returned from 4 lovely weeks of a mixed bag of experiences and sites. Some small disappointments, some surprises, some familiar places, but all great. We are happy to be home with our Emma-dog, North American plumbing and inexpensive readily available Asian food, but will miss long lunches, beautiful romantic languages, Cote du Provence Rose, lack of sales tax and tipping culture and narrow, ancient European lanes. My report to come soon. 

Arrivederci!

As this is being posted, we are flyin' outta here, Italy bound. First stop, Venezia (Venice). This is our first trip to Italy and of course with anywhere that conjures up such romantic notions of place, I have high expectations for it as well as extreme curiosity for how its going to play out. As you know I have a rather undying love affair with La Belle France and it is hard to turn your back on your first love, but it feels right, Italy has been calling this year and I'm ready for Italian food, wine, art, history and people. I've been taking Italian classes this year and am hoping that some of that pays off in many ways.

Of course this means you won't be hearing from me in awhile. Since internet access for me will be spotty at best and I don't like to spend my escapist vacations running around from internet cafe to internet cafe, I'll be saving all the best for my arrival home.  I promise a more than adequate report. 

We'll be spending time in Venezia, Firenze, Toscana, Umbira and the Cinque Terre

What I excited about the most:

Getting lost in Venezia

Driving through windy Tuscan hills with roads flanked by Cypress trees

Eating fresh seafood in the Cinque Terre

The Markets, ah...the markets...everywhere!

Art in Firenze.

Eating late into the night.

Drinking beautiful wine

Long leisurely lunches.

After Italy, we'll be spending our last leg in a familiar spot, Antibes and the Cote d'Azur of France. It will be lovely to spend some time there again as it is familiar and lovely with so much to see, do and well, most importantly, eat! We have a very special lunch reservation and lots of exploring - old town Antibes, hill towns, Nice...

I look forward to sharing some of our experiences with you. Until then, enjoy harvest season and the beautiful days of September wherever you are.

Ci vediamo!