Old Ideas, New Theories

Ah, another hectic few weeks in the can. I wish I could update more - honest! But there doesn't seem to be enough time in the week to actually think about what to write about. And that I don't have time to conjure something up on the weekends. Last weekend I took the ferry over to the 'local' island to visit a friend with another friend (confusing enough for you?) and took in some local sights and eats. Had my first ever neapolitan pizza! Yes, you read that right. I have never had neapolitan pizza. Doesn't mean that I am clueless to the mystery of that hallowed tradition - I'm totally down for the 00 grade flour and everything that is involved in a certified neapolitan pizza, and I have to say, it was great! However, I still have weakness for the less-than-traditional pizza pies, namely - Domino's thin crust Hawaiian. Or sausage and mushroom. Mmmmm.

Anyway - moving on - to today's post! As it is the summer time, it means that it is ice cream season! Admittedly, it is always ice cream season - but the summer, of course, is a perfect opportunity to whip out some frozen treats. I came across this recipe for EGGLESS ice cream that was supposedly as creamy and rich as their traditional French counterpart! "Impossible!" I thought to myself, "egg yolks give ice cream their silky richness, no egg yolks and you'd be left with a soft serve-worthy mess!" But I was intrigued, and inspired to give it a go. I followed the recipe for the basic vanilla - but amped it up with a ton of vanilla beans (gratefully given to me by a coworker), frozen blueberries and "pie". I had a few ideas last year about ice cream concoctions and one that always hung over me was "blueberry pie" ice cream - not just straight blueberry ice cream, but a flavour that would encapsulate the entire 'bite'. I tried to replicate this with a rich vanilla ice cream with a frozen blueberry coulis swirl and crust-like cookies mixed in.

Celebrating Summer's Bounty

One of the many things I love about the summer is the abundance of fresh fruits and vegetables at the local markets - and for cheap! I love checking out the local farmers markets - whether it is the one 10 minutes away or an hour - each one offers something special and unique. This weekend I went to one fairy off-the-beaten path for me. Usually the one I go to is about a 25 min run away (hey, gotta get your exercise!) but this one is about...a 35 min transit ride away - and on an express bus at that! But it was worth it!

I had indulged a bit too much at the end of the week - with too many meals out and felt like something fresh and whole and loaded with some seasonal goodies!

My buys:
-two bunches of locally grown 'baby' carrots
-one bag of yellow and orange peppers ("all you can pick" for $4/bag)
-three bags of assorted spices

Not a ton of stuff, but definitely enough to kick off my dinner of "Summer Panzanella." This summer salad is a great way to use an abundance of leftover or plentiful veggies - namely, tomatoes! This Italian salad is also more commonly referred to as a 'bread salad' - with stale chunks of bread tossed with veggies and a vinegar-based dressing. What is really terrific about this salad is that it is so..."what you make it". I went more traditional and used tomatoes, bread, and fresh herbs - but why not add some fruit to the mix? Peaches, strawberries, and oranges would complement the salad well, as well as some grilled asparagus, grilled  peppers, or cucumbers. I actually wanted to do a side raw carrot salad, but ran out of time (shaved carrot strips tossed with lemon juice & olive oil, with lots of salt & pepper!). I came up with a basic panzanella on top off romaine lettuce and avocado.

Happy 30th Anniversary Spoon Parents!

It was the 'Pearl' Anniversary of this Spoon's parents! Yes, yes, I know. Spoons can't exactly have 'parents' now, can they? But let's just play along.

It was also their combined birthday parties - with the event being fairly spaced between their respective birthdates. The Mothership took it upon herself to cook for the entire crowd - something that even I would not undertake!

An occasion like this of course, calls for a special dessert; a special challenge fit for 30 years of marriage. A coworker suggested, "why don't you make them a 3-tiered cake? One for each celebration!" Yes! Genius! Why hadn't I thought of that?

The Last Bite Is the Greatest

I JUST finished the last remnants of that giant lasagne. No worries, readers - I made a 'mini-lasagne' from the leftover fillings & pasta and froze it to bake later.

Later happened late last week, and I just finished the last bite.

Dare I say it was more delicious than the very first bite?

However - although I am not in a rush to replicate it - I am sure another 22-layer monstrosity is in my future!

Burn baby burn!

This Spoon should be tucked away in the night-time drawer already, but because dinner was served super late - I've got a sudden burst of energy! Not enough to bake something new, but to upload some stuff from the weekend. THE WEEKEND OF EPIC BAKING FAIL. Hey, it happens. And I was due for a real dud of a day anyway, I had been having too much good luck, what with the macarons actually turning out the first time they were made!

Anyway, as I mentioned in my last post - I had to salvage together a dessert for dinner at T&J's - I smushed the graham cracker crusts into glass ramekins, topped them with some lemon curd and meringue and torched away! I saved the meringue making for T&J's as they have a gorgeous onyx stand mixer themselves and I was dying to fondle another sexy kitchen gadget (don't worry Daisy, I still love you...but I wanted something with...MORE POWER!). The T&J are also my torch buddies - they were there when I opened my new blowtorch and T was the one who bravely filled it with butane. The torch actually needed a butane top-up actually and she was more than willing to put on a repeat performance!

Have I mentioned that I love torching things?

(as you can see - the glass ramekins show off the three layers extremely well!)

(closer shot of the top - meringue piped with a fat star tip)

 I'll post the recipes for the three components shortly!

Epic Fail Weekend Baking

Today is a beautiful day - the sun is shining, I can see the trees swaying gently outside my window. Ideally, I should be outside for a run, but instead I decided to stay in and bake.

Bad idea.

Hot day = horrible day for pastry.

I had the best intentions, heck, I even charted out what I wanted to accomplish!

Dulce de Leche - Slippin 'n slidin'!

One of my latest loves - dulce de leche. This South American (in origin) treat is basically caramelized condensed milk - either cow or goat milk. I find goat DdL has an earthier taste that has an interesting tang, cow DdL is pretty sweet, easy on the palate.  Do I have a preference? Not really! I love them both!

I was recently gifted a bottle of goat dulce de leche (with white wine!) and after gorging myself on the sweet treat, I decided to make proper use of it and incorporate it into my baking. The trick is to balance the sweetness of the dulce de leche with a cookie doesn't have too much sugar and generally has a neutral base. I revisited the madeleine pan cookies and made dulce de leche cookie sandwiches with hazelnut shortbread. The shortbread is not only subtle but the hazelnut added an almost-savoury feel to the cookie. In other words, it was a perfect pairing! I think another combination that could work would be a dark chocolate wafer or espresso cookie - using cocoa powder or espresso could add that dense bitterness that would offset the sweetness of the filling quite well.

Photographic evidence for your pleasure: