Locally Made Chocolates for Valentine

If you are looking for special chocolates for Valentine, look no further than Chocolaterie de la Nouvelle France on East 21st Street off Main Street.

Walking into this cozy spot and seeing the chocolate makers working in the kitchen behind the counter brings back memories of the movie Chocolat. 

You can design your own combinations of six deliciously hand-made truffles (including a favourite of mine - orange blossom truffle) and/or twelve chocolate squares flavoured with exotic spices and herbs such as chili, lavender, cardamon, sea salt - to name a few.

They also sell (which I am yet to try) three flavours of caramel - next trip.

Beautiful Packaging

Exceptional Service

Open 12 - 6 daily

Chocolaterie de la Nouvelle France

198 E. 21st Avenue

Vancouver, BC

www.chocolaterienouvellefrance.ca 

Tres Leches Cake

I was having a chat with Jackie, Shaktea's talented bakeress, about condensed milk and she brought up the Tres Leches Cake. Up till then I have not even heard of this Mexican cake. Given that I just love sweetened condensed milk and can eat a full can with a spoon in one sitting, I could not resist trying it.


The experiment started with finding a reliable recipe. Versions of it are abundant on the net - they all include the three milks - regular milk, evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk. However, each version was different. So Martha Stewart, with her strong brand equity, won my trust (her recipe available at www.marthastewart.com/tres leches cake).

Not the easiest cake to make - bake,  poke,  add the three milk combo, chill. 

The cake was heavier than I expected (must be all the eggs), the milk mixture did not go into the cake enough. All-in-all it was not the most successful baking adventure at somerville kitchen.


At the end of the day, anything with sweetened condensed milk is tasty, at least in my books. But I am sure any of my featured bakeresses will make a way better version of this, so I am not going to attempt it again and leave it to the experts to make it for me.

Lebanese Stews Series - Bamieh (Okra)

In early December, I started a series on Lebanese stews (see Lebanese Stews Series) and promised to feature many of them over the next few months. I started with Loubieh (Green Beans) stew in December. A new one is long past due.

Tonight's stew is Bamieh (Okra). Lebanese Okra is smaller than many of the Chinese or East Indian Okra we find in Vancouver. I typically bring them frozen from Lebanon or buy frozen packages from middle eastern stores in Vancouver. 

As discussed in previous posts, these stews are made in steps.

1. Use the tiniest Okras you can find. Deep fry them in vegetable oil until they change colour. Set aside.

2. Cook beef cubes in a pot with no oil, on very low heat, until all meat liquid is evaporated. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
 
3. Add cooked Okras to the meat, sprinkle with dried coriander, 1 tsp of Alleyeh (see Lebanese Stews Series for recipe), juice of one lemon, and 1/4 cup water.

4. Bring to boil, then simmer for 20 minutes.

Lebanese stews are served with one of two types of rice: plain white long grain rice (not Basmati rice) or white long grain rice with vermicelli. Bamieh stew (Okra) is served with plain rice. Okra lovers - try it and enjoy.

Neighbourly Plate Exchange

I am so lucky to have the nicest and sweetest neighbours right next to my house. We are both into cooking and baking and, as a result, keep on exchanging plates of goodies - no plate returns empty. Here is a sequence of the latest neigbourly plate exchanges, finishing off with the most colourful Chinese new year goodies plate few days ago.

For The Love Of Bread - By Guest Correspondent Yum!

"I love bread. It's my classic carb of choice. Rice and potatoes are poor cousins to bread which is heavenly - especially still warm from the oven with a simple smear of melting butter or a triple cream brie and a paper-thin slice of dry salted ham."

Guest Correspondent - Yum!

I first saw Peter Reihnart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice at Boudin's flagship shop in San Francisco. I skirted around every other part of the store before picking it up, but eventually I left the store without the book. I have too many under-used cookbooks already and I think I am developing a cookbook problem.

But I couldn't help myself: soon after I arrived home, it was added to my preferred online book seller wish list. After just six months, my favourite Santa delivered it to me on Christmas day (quiet possibly to stop me talking about it, though that has definitely backfired).

My main interest in the book was the rustic hearth loaves - dense, deeply flavoured with a lovely crisp crust and a chewy center that melts in your mouth. I quickly learned that all loaves I wanted to make require a wild yeast starter. Making a yeast starter and the barm that follows (sour dough starter) is not for the feint of heart.

After three weeks of trial and error, I finally had enough wild yeast in my seed starter to move on to making the barm. From what I gather, barm is just a name for the flour and water environment the wild yeast lives in. Because it is made up of live organisms, it has to be fed regularly, or it dies - kinda like having a new pet.

There are way too many steps to this process to outline here and keep anyone but the diehard awake.Next time will be much faster because I now have the starter.


 

But if you love to make bread and eating it warm from the oven you might want to give this a try. Not only will you have a home filled with the fantastic aroma of baking bread and a delicious loaf, but making the starter is rewarding in and of itself.



If you want a better home loaf, but wild yeast is more than you want to commit to, pick up a copy of Kneadlessly Simple. The breads in this book have fantastic flavours and require little from the baker. You just have to manage the stages and your time to bake the loaf a few hours before you want it. Recipes here take 2 - 4 days, but mostly in developing flavour and in extra long rising times.

Happy Baking!

Thank you Guest Correspondent Yum!

Mom's Baked Omelette

My mom always made this baked omelette when I was a kid but I was never a fan of it then.

As I grew older, this became one of my favourite dishes. It is tasty and a healthy alternative to fried omelettes. 

Here is the recipe.


1. Butter a rectangular small baking dish (8 x 3 or so).

2. Sprinkle 1 Tbsp bread crumbs in the baking dish to coat the butter well.

3. Whisk 8 eggs in a bowl, season with salt and pepper to taste.

4. Add some chopped vegetables (total of about 2 to 2.5 cups). Today I used carrots, onions, broccoli, green and red peppers. But zucchini, parsley, asparagus or any other vegetable will work as part of the mix.

5. Sprinkle with 4 Tbsp bread crumbs, mix well and pour in baking dish.

6. Bake in 425 oven for about 40 minutes, until loaf looks fully cooked and starts to brown at the edges and top.

You can serve it hot, warm or even at room temperature. It is great as a main dish or cut into small squares and served as hors d'oeuvres at parties.

But most impressive is the ease of making this omelette. When a somerville kitchen blog follower called me with a 911 for a recipe to make for a special one's birthday breakfast, and knowing she does not cook, I gave her this recipe. She sent me the picture of her production with the following note. 

"It looks like it might possibly be the best looking thing I have ever made. It tastes great too. When I took it out of the oven and saw it, I was jumping up and down with excitement. 

You can now say if I can make it, ANYBODY can."

Truly Lebanese Feast

I was invited today to a truly Lebanese feast at a Lebanese home. The hostess, cooking for her family for over four decades, put an impressive spread for just five of us (including her) attending.

The lunch began with a huge bowl of Tabouleh and a large platter of Humus. 



As the hostess rightly pointed out, these two platters are the first (and a must) to show up on a Lebanese dinner table. We then progressed to three Mehshi (a search on the word on this blog will give you few entries describing those). The Mehshi selection included:

Selek (chard - picture on the left), Warak (vine leaves) and  Kousa (zucchini).

There were also small Lebanese spinach pies. These were hand made with a very delicate flour and oil dough and stuffed with a mixture of spinach, onions and spices.


I know one loyal somerville kitchen follower who adores those and I bet she is really craving those right now - they were excellent.

Another part of the feast was the Lebanese-style grilled chicken - marinated with garlic, olive oil and thyme. 

Chicken is served with a garlic dip (bottom corner of the picture). This is simply crushed garlic and canola oil whipped into a mayonnaise-style texture. Garlic lovers will fall heads over heals over this dip.


But my favourite part of the meal is Kebbeh Nayeh. If you do a Kebbeh search on this blog, you'd see several versions of this dish. This was a raw meat version and one of my favourite Lebanese dishes that I am not able to figure out how to make it myself. I typically eat it when I travel to Lebanon so it was a special treat to have it here today. 

Our hostess comes from a Lebanese northern town that is famous for their Kebbeh. As such, this was a perfectly made platter, so perfect that I ate half of what you see above on my own.

We were on the table over two hours! 

What a lovely generous feast, delicious food and great company. 


Thank you Susan!