Lemon Bars and Swiss Meringues

I always bake more in the winter, except for pies which I love making in the summer and fall, when the fruit is ripe and naturally sweet.  I miss fruit.  I miss parts of my childhood, especially the home grown fruits and veggies, all the yummy preserves and pickles my gran used to make for the winter.  Life was simpler then, I miss it.

In the last week I made Swiss Meringues, they were a hit at Family Day, which my sister hosts each year, and invites a bunch of friends.  They were reminiscent of the chocolate bat marshmallows from Count Chocula cereal, which I'm not even sure exists any more.  Anyway, these were easy to make, but time consuming, especially the baking time: 2hrs.

I also tried to make Pecan Bars, from  Linda Collister's book, but they didn't stick.  I know that ingredients differ between different countries, especially flour and dairy, but this recipe just didn't work.  I made some notes in the margin, so when I try to make them again, I will do things a bit differently.  I ended up eating the "muesli" with unhomogenized milk, and it was delicious with its sweet and buttery crunch.  The ingredients were simple: oats, brown sugar, butter, pecans, maple syrup.

The Lemon Bars, also from Linda Collister, were awesome.  I love good quality lemon desserts.  I always feel like I have to say that, because I don't mean donuts.  I am a sucker for pastries and butter.

The base on these lemon treats was very buttery, something between short bread and butter pie crust.  I specify, because when I make pies I only use butter, anything else ruins the taste.  Butter produces a flaky enough crust.  Shortening leaves an awful aftertaste, if you're not happy with the flakiness from butter, I suggest making French pastry flaky dough, it doesn't get any flakier, and you're still using butter.
I skipped the lemon rind in this recipe, mainly because my lemons were getting a bit wilty, and it's impossible to grate wilted rind; I've tried in the past.  The texture was smooth and firm, but not hard.  Both the pastry and the filling were delicious.  I find a lot of bakery bought lemon tarts either have good pastry or good filling, this had both.

I was craving something sweet this evening, but wasn't in the mood to bake, mainly cause I wasn't sure what I was craving.  I ended up making a yummy smoothie, with strawberries, peaches, ground flax seeds, a bit of water and some almond milk, I also added a bit of local light honey.  I didn't want a honey flavour, and light coloured honey is mild compared to dark or amber, which you should use if you want a honey taste.

Bonsoir  ;)

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Sausage Class and Black Pudding

Last Wednesday I went to a sausage making class.  It was fun, there were only six of us.  Class finished an hour early, so with that much time left over, I think it would've been better, if we were working on our own, instead of in two teams of three.  Anyway, at the end of the day, we each left with eight sausages.

We got to grind out own meat, and then stuff it into natural casings.  We didn't get to be creative with spices, only used salt and pepper.  The teacher said that he likes to taste the good quality meat.  I love meat, but using the right spices in the right amounts doesn't mask the quality,  it compliments it, giving the sausage depth.  He also didn't have set measurements as to how much salt and pepper to use per whatever amount of meat, and just poured both out of their containers.  That's how I do things, though I try to give some measurements here.

When I boiled the sausages, I added some marjoram, thyme, and garlic powder to the water.  Not the same as having the spices in the meat, but it still added a bit more flavour, and took the meaty edge off.

I sauteed the green and yellow beans in butter, and then sprinkled with maple smoked rock salt.  I added some 10% M.F. plain yogurt to the mashed potatoes.  Sometimes I use sour cream or butter.  I don't like using anything liquidy, like milk or stock, because of the taste and texture. 

I still have a few sausages left, so I will make a different dish with them, and post in another blog.

After class, I picked up some pig skin sausage, Cotechino, it's amazing, the texture and flavour.  It was pricey, but what a treat!  I also got a black pudding, because I love black pudding and blood sausage.  Depending on country of origin/ recipe, there are so many variations.  Sometimes they are too salty, but this one was great.

I fried it up with shallots.

I also fried up some zucchini in butter, and sprinkled with maple smoked rock salt (I love this salt).

It was a very tasty lunch, and very filling.

Rice Pudding

It's back to snow again.  This winter's been up and down with the temperatures and weather.  In a way it's good because even when it snows a lot, it either melts the next day with high temps, or washes away with rain.
It's Saturday evening, and James was craving rice pudding.  I was planing on going to the market to get some eggs, and he asked me if I can pick up some rice pudding.  I never made it to the store, but I ended up making rice pudding with the ingredients I have on hand.  I find store bought rice pudding very sugary.  As I get older, I still like sweets, but not sugary stuff.  For example, I like good quality milk chocolate, but can't stand typical check out line chocolate bars, which should really be called refined sugar bars.

I've made rice pudding in the past, but like with a lot of my recipes, or lack of, it's different every time.  This one turned out quite tasty, so I decided it was worthy being posted, and it made it into my recipe book.

What you'll need is:
- coconut oil
- carrot, shredded
- raisins
- short grain rice, round or semi-round, such as Arborio, Carnaroli, or Vialone Nano
- milk
- cinnamon
- cardamom
- honey or maple syrup

I used 1 cup of rice, and 3.5 cups of almond milk, the rest I didn't measure.  Also, using cow's or goat's milk will work, as both are creamy.  This would've been even yummier with full fat (non-homogenized) milk, but I didn't have enough left.

Heat up the oil, add rice, stir and coat for a minute; the rice will start turning translucent.
Add milk, 1/2 cup at a time.
After the first 1/2, add spices and raisins, and shred carrot, add honey or maple syrup.
           - for best results taste the "liquid" and adjust flavour; you can always add more.
Keep stirring, and waiting for milk to be absorbed before adding more.

The carrot adds sweetness, texture, and nutrition.  I didn't add too much honey, because I didn't want to make this treat too sweet.  The raisins add a lot of sweetness with each bite.  If you don't like raisins, you can skip them, or add nuts instead.

Perfect treat for a wintery evening.  Enjoy with a cup of tea!  I had a dried fruit infusion.