Tag Archives: Carla Hall

Hazelnut Praline Truffles

Click here to print recipe for Hazelnut Praline Truffles

Green and Yellow Beans with Salami Vinaigrette

I like to think of green beans as the little black dress (LBD) of the vegetable world. Just as versatile as a LBD, green beans can get get dressed in so many different ways. Accessorized with dill, celery and an apple cider vinaigrette, green beans are casual and ready for a backyard BBQ. Adorn them up with blood oranges, hazelnuts and a sherry vinaigrette, and they are perfect for a formal dinner (pearls optional). Tart them up with spicy chiles, almonds and a soy- honey dressing and they are all set for a hot date.

When the baskets at the market are spilling over with green and yellow beans I get very excited. That satisfying sharp snapping sound they make when you break off the ends tells me that these beans are fresh from the field.

Traditionally in North America, veggies have been portrayed as a minor character on the plate, letting meat take center stage. However, chefs around the world are beginning to inspire us to flip that view around. Let vegetables shine on the plate , but use meat sparingly, to add some acidity, richness and fat. This recipe was created by Chef Josh Keeler from Two Boroughs Larder in Charleston, SC.As I perused Chef Josh’s recipe, I did a double take reading the instructions. Put the salami in the blender. Really??? Remember that episode of The Chew when host Carla Hall wonders “Can you blend it?” and then proceeds to puree leftover chicken pot pie? Well, blended salami vinaigrette is way better than that. Surprisingly delicious. It adds richness and an unctuous quality to the beans. The pureed dressing is a rather vibrant orange colour, thanks to the paprika, but don’t let it scare you. Press on!

I decided to add a touch more salami , crisping up little cubes to use as a sort of meat crouton.The first time I made this we added chick peas to the dish to up the protein content. As my sister Bonnie says, “Chick peas make everything better.” For this photo shoot, I left them out.

Click here to print recipe for Green and Yellow Beans with Salami Vinaigrette.

Greek Farro Salad

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Savvy contemporary chefs have a secret ingredient in their cuinary tool box. If you remember this treat from your childhood, you might guess what this mystery ingredient is.Lik-m-aid, a sweet-sour treat was eaten by licking your finger, sticking it into the little envelope and coating your wet finger with the crystal-like powder inside. Then you would lick your finger to eat the tart-sweet goodness. It came in several fruit flavours; lemon, lime, strawberry, raspberry, grape and orange, but a quick look at the ingredient list (dextrose and citric acid) revealed that this treat contained no actual fruit. Today Lik-m-aid is sold under the name of Fun Dip and it comes with a candy dipping stick so modern kids do not have to use their fingers. I hope that kids today appreciate how good they have it. Chefs in the know are using citric acid to create pucker-inducing flavours that consumers are starting to embrace. Sour is no longer a four letter word. Sour beers are gaining in popularity, and the pickling craze is not about to die down any time soon. I fully expect Carla Hall to introduce “Can you Pickle it?” based on her wildly amusing (well, amusing certainly to my sisters and I ) game, “Can you Blend it?”

Citric acid occurs naturally in lemons, limes and other citrus fruits. It is also manufactured in a dry powder form by adding a special mould to glucose and letting it ferment. The dry powdered stuff is the one that chefs are using to elevate flavours and bring harmony and balance to a finished dish. It is easily available in small bags at most bulk food or health food stores. Food writer Shawna Wagman calls it the “fairy dust of flavour amplification.”

Here in Ottawa, Chef Kevin Mathieson, founder of Art is In Bakery, is creating magic with it. He sprinkles a touch of citric acid and confectioners sugar on citrus peel or wild Quebec blueberries and lets it dry out for a week. Then he grinds it all up in a coffee grinder and adds it to jellies for filling house-made chocolate truffles and marmalade that gets thickly spread on their buttermilk multi-seed bread for Sunday brunch.

The Food Section of the April 9 2014 Globe and Mail featured a recipe for a Greek salad dressing using citric acid. Chef Carlotte Langley learned to make this from the French-Lebanese mom of the very first chef she worked for. I decided to creat a Farro Greek Salad to showcase this fantastic dressing. Tart and full of bright zingy flavour it plays very well with the nutty, chewy farro and all the fresh crunchy vegetables. I usually just cook farro in boiling water, but I learned a great method over at Food52. I added half a red onion, a clove of garlic, parsley and salt to the water to infuse the farro with more flavour. I am not a huge fan of raw red onion, so I thinly sliced and pickled it. A short 20 minute bath in red wine vinegar, water, salt and sugar are all that’s needed to tame the harshness.

Click here to print recipe for Greek Farro Salad.

Check out what Lindsay over at Love and Olive Oil made using citric acid!

Celebrating Cookie Week with Lemon Pistachio Cookies

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Apparently, this week is officially “Cookie Week”. Everyday my inbox is filled with cookie emails like this, this, this, this and this. Ordinarily I would not be paying attention to any of this food porn, since typically at this time of year, I am up to my armpits in butter and sugar preparing the 42 baskets of assorted cookies that I send out to my nearest and dearest. However, this year, I am taking a break. Or I should say, 2 breaks. I am hobbling about on crutches and wearing an air cast because I broke 2 bones in my foot a few weeks ago.

To be honest, my first thought when this happened, was great concern over not being able to work out everyday. I rely on physical activity to keep me centered and sane. However, as the weeks have passed, and we inch ever closer to the Holidays, what has been making me crazy is the fact that I am unable to stand up and bake. I get irritable if I go more than a few days without baking. I am itching to bake! Everyone is cranking out cookies except me and I am feeling a little sorry for myself.

The straw that broke the camel’s back was watching Carla Hall make Marcona Almond Wedding Cookies on Tuesday’s episode of The Chew. I woke up this morning determined to bake them. I figured that these are a simple cookie and I could try to sit down on a stool to do most of the work.When I went to gather all my ingredients I discovered that my supply of Trader Joe’s Marcona Almonds, which I smuggle in from America, has been depleted by some sneaky snackers. (If anyone in Ottawa knows where to get Marcona Almonds, let me know!) I had some pistachios in the freezer and thought they would make a wonderful variation.These cookies are a riff on Mexican Wedding Cookies, which are traditionally made with pecans. Almonds, pistachios, walnuts and hazelnuts would all be excellent substitutes. What I loved about Carla’s variation is that the salty marcona almonds would provide a wonderful contrast to the sweet powdered sugar coating. (Marcona almonds are Spanish almonds that are roasted in olive oil and salted). I added a tablespoon of Kosher Salt to my unsalted pistachios when I was grinding them.

Powdered sugar and butter are creamed and then flavoured with orange and lemon zest, lemon juice and vanilla. The dough is then formed into Tablespoon size balls. A mini spring loaded scoop makes easy work of the shaping. They can be placed fairly close together on the baking sheet as they do not spread very much.Once they are baked, the warm cookies get a coating of lemon powdered sugar. Lemon zest is dried and mixed with some confectioners sugar.

These buttery cookies just melt in your mouth. They are light and crumbly and the lemon and orange flavours play off so well against the salty pistachios. Just before packaging they got an extra coating.

Click here to get the recipe for Lemon Pistachio Cookies.

Chili Hand Pies

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Just the words “Hand Pie” make me smile. Could there be anything more adorable and appealing than a little pie you eat with your hands? To be honest, I’m not a huge fruit pie fan. Perhaps it’s because of my peach pie blunder. Or maybe it’s just that if I’m going to ingest copious amounts of butter and sugar, I’d rather partner it with chocolate or caramel rather than fruit. Plus, there’s something about a fruit hand pie makes me think of McDonald’s deep-fried apple pies. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

But stuff something savory in pastry and I’m all over it!

I was watching The Chew last week and Carla and Clinton teamed up to make Chili Hand Pies. They had way too much fun making them, and I wanted in on it. I think it would be so much fun to have the cast of The Chew over for drinks! Cooking dinner for them would be too much pressure, but I know that certainly after a few cocktails, they’d all be in my kitchen with me cooking away. Michael would be laughing while he prepared some porky goodness, Mario would be grating Parmesan Cheese over everything and Clinton would surely keep the cocktails flowing.

My sisters just read the last paragraph and I know they are thinking that I am turning into my mother, having imaginary parties with my TV friends.

Carla and Clinton did a Beef Chili. I decided to do a vegetarian version, substituting Veggie Ground Round for the beef. I also added some onions to the chili and ramped up the heat, using 3 kinds of peppers: fresh jalapeno, diced pickled jalapeno and ancho chili powder. You want the filling to be quite spicy because the pastry crust is quite mild.

The dough is made with cornmeal. They recommended cutting the butter into small slices, but I took it right from the freezer and grated it into the dry ingredients. This is a wonderfully supple dough and rolls out without any problems. I used a 5 inch tin to cut out my circles. Use whatever you have on hand. Smaller ones would also be a wonderful hors d’oeuvre. You can make the chili and the pastry a day ahead and refrigerate them separately. I rolled out all my pastry circles and stacked them between sheets of waxed paper, before chilling. That way, the next day it was all ready to assemble and bake.

Onions, garlic, red pepper, jalapeno pepper, cumin, chili powder and salt form the flavour base.

Make sure you let the chili cool before mixing in some grated cheddar.

Don’t overfill them or you will have trouble sealing them. You can simply press the edges with the tines of a fork, or get fancy and roll the edges like a rope.

Cut a few slits so the steam can escape. 20 minutes in a 400 degree oven, and they are ready to serve.

Salt and Serenity

Tales from my kitchen