A Life, Lived

Raspberry Lemon Ricotta Muffins

The other day a colleague and I were making a long drive for a meeting. Since we had such an early start we decided to bring some treats for the car. I wanted to make ricotta muffins because I had some ricotta that needed to be used. I also had some Meyer lemons in the fridge. Throw in some raspberries that ALSO needed to be out of the fridge and I had a plan.

With my good friend google I consulted the great cookbook known as the internet where I found a great sounding recipe for Lemon Ricotta muffins. The recipe was by  Giada de Laurentiis so normally I would run for the hills, however it hit all of the right buttons so I persevered. Raspberries were not included in the recipe but 'how hard would it be to toss some in?' I thought.

I love what ricotta cheese does to baked goods. It lightens, and fluffs, and imparts such a lovely consistency to the batter. I had had a lot of success adding it to our favorite pancake recipe, so I was almost positive this recipe would prevail. And whatever you do, don't substitute for the almond extract. The intense flavor it provides works so beautifully with the fresh lemon.

This was an easy recipe to follow and the resulting muffins were incredible - definitely a new favourite for me! In fact, when we got back my colleague grabbed the leftovers and ran. Good thing I had 6 left at home to share with Paolo.

Raspberry Lemon Ricotta Muffins

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar for sprinkling
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon finely grated Meyer lemon zest (from 2 lemons)
1 cup whole-milk ricotta cheese
1 large egg
1 tablespoon fresh Meyer lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/3 cup thinly sliced almonds

Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners, and preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl to blend. Using an electric mixer, beat 1 cup sugar, butter, and lemon zest in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Beat in the ricotta. Beat in the egg, lemon juice, and almond extract. Add the dry ingredients and stir just until blended (the batter will be thick and fluffy).

Using an ice cream scoop, divide the batter among the prepared muffin cups. Sprinkle the tops with almonds and then the remaining 1 teaspoon of sugar. Bake until the muffins just become pale golden on top, about 22-24 minutes. Cool slightly. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Asparagus Panini

One of the hallmarks of spring here in Ontario is when the first local asparagus enters the market - it isn't until then that we all breathe a sign of relief . . . winter is over! Asparagus is soon followed by a barrage of produce  . . . each new item a happier find than the last. We relish the fresh produce here because it is so fleeting; two to three weeks of local strawberries and then it is back to ones grown in California or Florida that must be lovely there but are just tasteless by the time they make their way to us!

When ever I see something local I go crazy and buy far more than we can possible eat. Asparagus is a good example right now. I bought two bunches this weekend. Soon it was cropping up everywhere - like in these panini.

Asparagus Panini

4 asparagus spears, par-cooked but still crisp
2 slices prosciutto
4 slices bread
2 slices of a mild cheese (I used Guernsey Girl from the Upper Canada Cheese Company but if you're not around here you can't partake . . . Provolone would work as well).

Heat a panini grill. Place 1 cheese slice on two pieces of bread. Slice the asparagus in half. Arrange half of the asparagus on top of each slice of cheese. Cover with the prosciutto. Cover with the last slices of bread. Place on panini grill until cheese is melted and the bread is toasted.
 

Pigeons on the Subway?

And now for something completely different. . . . this cute video is making the rounds these days. I love the way this guy seems to know exactly what he is doing - unlike the majority of TTC riders I have found!

Of course the local media had to devote an entire page in today's newspaper to this critter - experts weighed in on the intelligence of pigeons. For once I must admit it was nice to think of something light and frivolous for a minute rather than the troubles of the world.

Pork Tenderloin with Maple-Chipotle Sauce

A colleague of mine recently gifted me with a huge jug of maple syrup made by her father. This isn't the crap maple syrup one finds in the store but a robust amber syrup that calls out for a better use than just on pancakes. Don't get me wrong, its fine for pancakes but a full-flavoured syrup has a far greater calling than that.

Recently I discovered what that calling was!

I found this recipe on the Cooking Light site while I was searching for something interesting to do with pork tenderloins (note to self - do not purchase more pork tenderloins until the 12 in the freezer are used up first!) It would use up 2 pork tenderloins, combine some of my favourite flavours in a rub, and included a sauce made from maple syrup and those wonderful smokey chipotle peppers.

SOLD

This was easy to make (providing one doesn't forget about the sauce and have it boil over all over the stove, alas that is a tale for another day) and has a brilliant flavour. Some might find the sauce spicy. They should give their plate to someone who appreciates some heat and tuck into a nice plate of steamed rice, mushy peas, and steamed chicken breast. We did not find the sauce spicy at all - instead we found it brilliant!

The only thing that I did different was to grill the tenderloin rather than roast it.

This was my kind of dinner - tasty, relatively quick,and low-fat/low-cal!

Pork Tenderloin with Maple-Chipotle Sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
2 (1-pound) pork tenderloins, trimmed
2 teaspoons olive oil
1 (7-ounce) can chipotle chiles, canned in adobo sauce
1/2 cup maple syrup
3 tablespoons fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 tablespoons cider vinegar

To prepare pork, combine first 6 ingredients; sprinkle evenly over pork. Place in a large zip-top plastic bag; seal and refrigerate 3 hours.

Preheat oven to 375°.

Remove pork from bag. Place pork in a roasting pan; drizzle with oil. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until a thermometer inserted in center of pork registers 155°. Remove pork from pan; cover and let stand 10 minutes.

To prepare sauce, remove 2 teaspoons adobo sauce from can of chiles; reserve remaining chiles and sauce for another use. Add 2 teaspoons adobo sauce, syrup, broth, and vinegar to roasting pan, scraping pan to loosen browned bits. Cook over medium heat 5 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Place pork in pan, turning to coat. Remove pork from pan, reserving sauce in pan. Cut pork into 1/2-inch-thick slices. Strain sauce through a fine sieve into a bowl; serve with pork.

Boobquake

Did you notice a tad more cleavage about the office today?

If you did it could be as a result of Boobquake.

On April 16thsenior Iranian cleric Hojatoleslam Kazem Sedighi suggested women who wear revealing clothing are to blame for earthquakes. “Women who do not dress modestly…lead young men astray, corrupt their chastity and spread adultery in society, which increases (consequently) earthquakes,” he was quoted as saying by Iranian media. 

My goodness, it has long been established that a pair of boobs has incredible power over many men but who knew that those same boobs controlled the tectonic plates?

The mind is boggled.

Boobwash! said tens of thousands of women who refuse to believe flaunting their breasts is triggering a world-wide Boobageddon. Led by Purdue University student Jen McCreight they staged a 24-hour protest Monday.

Dubbed Boobquake, McCreight set up a facebook page encouraging women around the world to flaunt their breasts and their cleavage to prove the Iranian clerics wrong. She even came up with some cleavage-flaunting t-shirts that she was selling for charity with messages that read: “Boobquake 2010: Who says science has to be boring?” and “Boobquake 2010: Did the Earth move for you?”

Thousands of women signed up to participate via facebook and twitter - pictures of women strutting their stuff flowed onto the internet - where previously there had been no dearth of boob photos.

Of course, this being the era of technology and free opinion . . . soon contrarian sites were set up. Some suggested that instead of posting pictures of their boobs concerned women should post their resumes and describe their accomplishments whilst at work. Ummmm - in case I missed the cleric wasn't suggesting that successful women in the workplace were causing the earth to shaker, rather it was those jiggling bits of flesh appearing from suits, blouses, t-shirts and the like.

So. Did these excessive number of exposed breasts cause the earth to shake at an inordinate rate?

Nope. Of course quake activity is down. Mind you, it is only 6:30 on the east coast and California still has plenty of time to slide into the ocean thereby proving that previously unknown clerics might be on to more than we knew . . .

Meanwhile, Boobquake creator McCreight has become a minor celebrity, doing interviews with BBC World, Canada AM, CBC TV and the CNN’s Situation Room as she proudly flaunted her cleavage. She was also named on CNN’s website as one of the day’s most intriguing people.

Just to be safe I do hope that Pam Anderson has had a house dress sewn on her to protect LA!

Butternut Squash Lasagna

This week the Sunday Supper group worked with pasta. Nancy selected a healthy recipe for butternut Squash and Leek lasagna that she found on the Kaiser Permanente website. The recipe is by Bruce Weinstein & Mark Scarbrough who often write for Cooking Light magazine so I knew that it would be good.

I googled to see how it compared with other squash lasagna recipes out there. It seems that it is impossible to be a celebrity cook without having a squash lasagna recipe! Giada's uses whole milk, basil (?????), and a whopping 2 1/2 cups of whole milk mozzarella and 1/3 cup of Parmesan cheese! Now it also adds some crumbled amaretti cookies with the squash which I do think would be nice. Martha's uses 1 lb ricotta, 1/2 cup whipping cream, 2 egg yolks, 1/2 lb mozzarella cheese, and 1 1/2 cups parmesan cheese. Michael Chiarello uses 3 cups of cheese, whole milk, and 1/4 lb of butter. Jamie Oliver has a deconstructed version. Mario Batoli has a version with a rich bechamel. You get the picture . . .

Rachel Ray has a version as well but given that I used the proviso 'cook' I won't include her.

Anyway, the recipe that Nancy selected is healthy. Only 2 tablespoon of added fat. Low-fat milk. No cheese other than a good quality parmigiano (which is a very low-fat cheese). It's pretty well just veggies, pasta, and some dairy. We were curious to see how it would taste with all of that gooey-goodness from pounds of cheese removed . . .

The only ingredient changes that I made was to add a tsp of ground sage because we really like the combination of butternut squash and sage; I also left out the salt.

After hearing about Sandi's unfortunate butternut squash grating incident I decided to just chop the squash up fine in the food processor - this seemed to work.

I didn't add any additional cheese (although I was sorely tempted to do so) and it was fine as is.

It wasn't identical to the butternut squash lasagna that we buy pre-made from Pass da Pasta in Stratford but it was sure approaching it in taste!

Squash is one of those flavours that I associate with fall. I do hope that I remember this great lasagna when butternut squash is plentiful in October!

Butternut Squash Lasagna

10 ounces lasagna noodles, preferably whole-wheat
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
4 large or 5 medium leeks, pale green and white parts only, thinly sliced and washed thoroughly (about 6 cups)
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
4 cups nonfat milk
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
2 2-pound butternut squash, peeled, halved, seeded and grated using the large hole side of a box grater
6 ounces Parmigiano Reggiano, grated using the large hole side of a box grater
1/4 cup toasted pine nuts, (see Tip)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9-by-13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cook noodles until not quite al dente, about 2 minutes less than the package directions. Drain; return the noodles to the pot and cover with cool water.

Melt butter in a Dutch oven over medium heat. Add leeks; cook, stirring often, until softened, about 6 minutes. Sprinkle flour over the leeks; stir well. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Whisk in milk in a slow stream and cook, whisking constantly, until thick and bubbling, 8 to 10 minutes. Whisk in thyme, salt, nutmeg and pepper. Remove from the heat.

Assemble lasagna in the prepared baking dish by layering one third of the noodles, one third of the sauce, half the squash, one third of the cheese, half the remaining noodles, half the remaining sauce, all the pine nuts, all the remaining squash, half the remaining cheese, all the remaining noodles, all the remaining sauce and all the remaining cheese. Cover with parchment paper then foil.

Bake the lasagna for 50 minutes. Uncover and bake until bubbling and lightly browned, 30 to 45 minutes more. Let stand for 10 minutes before serving (or follow make ahead instructions).

Tip: To toast pine nuts, cook in a small dry skillet over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until fragrant and lightly browned, 2 to 4 minutes.

Recipe Nutrition:
Per serving: 277 calories; 9 g fat (4 g saturated fat, 2 g mono unsaturated fat); 19 mg cholesterol; 37 g carbohydrates; 14 g protein; 6 g fiber; 464 mg sodium; 514 mg potassium
Nutrition Bonus: Vitamin A (150% daily value), Calcium & Vitamin C (30% dv), Iron (15% dv)
2 Carbohydrate Servings
Exchanges: 2 starch, 1 vegetable, 1 high-fat meat

Photo Hunt - Addiction

This week's Photo Hunt theme is addiction. Oh my. I can only imagine the level of self disclosure out there. I could have posted food, wine, travel, my computer, or martinis as examples of addictions. Instead I shall post this:

There is a reason why these babbies are called 'crackberries' - a term which has entered Webster's dictionary (now there is a true test of legitimacy!). Researchers have determinded that Blackberry users can show symptoms similar to those with drug and alcohol addictions, according to a new study.

Hmmm . . . time to turn this baby off.

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Lots of the slow travel  community members also photo hunt when they aren't traveling. You can find their posts by clicking the links below. 

• Old Shoes, New Trip
• Eden's Wanderings and Wonderings
• My Place in the Sun
• Churches in Venice – Mosaics, Marble, and Miracle-Working Madonnas
• Palmabella's Passions
• What I Really Think
• shave Ice and Gelato
• Jerry's Thoughts, Musings, and Rants!
• Keep your Feet in the Street
• Postcards from the Trail
• Cooking at the Whistlestop Cafe
• Candi's Corner
• Trekcapri's Blog 

Niagara College Teaching Winery

For the past few days I've been working in Niagara on the Lake - we had a conference for our system leaders. It was amazing two days. The hotel we were staying in was located about 5 minutes from the Niagara College teaching Winery, a place I've heard much about but never visited.

Yesterday at 4:30 I decided to pop down the street to see what all of the fuss I've been hearing was about. The Niagara College Teaching Winery has been graduating outstanding young local winemakers since its inception in 2000. Its students' wines, made under the hands-on tutelage of much-lauded winemakers, have been outstanding, though often available only in tiny quantities.

I'm so glad that I popped in. I was able to visit the new wine centre which was opened by Prince Charles last October. The Royal Visit was the lead event celebrating the opening of the $3.6 million Wine Visitor + Education Centre, a unique state-of-the-art industry centre set in the College's teaching vineyards. The Centre showcases and promotes the Ontario and Canadian wine industry, provide wine tourism information services, and feature academic and wine industry programming.

I had the place to myself and had an amazing chat with Robin who clearly knew a huge deal about the wine industry in Ontario. He lead me through a tasting of 5 wines and provided a great background of each.

All of the wines were excellent!

First up was their 2007 Cab Franc Rose. This wine is crimson red in colour, emits strawberries on the nose and suggests tropical fruit flavours. Its palate is light to medium bodied, has a great balance and just a hint of sweetness. At only $ 10.95 it is a great deal!

The College has a general label and then they have a reserve label - the Dean's List. They had a Dean's List 2007 Meritage listed so I asked ot taste it. They didn't have any open but they agreed to open a bottle for me to taste.

It was my lucky day! This wine was a deep ruby in colour with a stunning nose of cedar and currants. The flavour emanates from red and black berries. This superb wine has a complex and lingering finish. It wasn't an inexpensive wine at $ 47.95 so I warned Paolo not to open the bottle I purchased unless I was around to enjoy it. LOL

Then I moved on to their two pinot noirs. Both were from 2007 and both were a part of the Dean's List reserve wines. The first was aged in French and American oak barrels.

It was a bright ruby-plum colour; minerally beetroot and raspberry bouquet, a real sense of terroir here. Mature plum and raspberry flavours with a note of violets; medium-bodied, forward fruit with mellow tannins, a fine spine of acidity and a lovely mouth feel. This pinot was a wee bit more reasonable at $ 38.95.

The second was an 'experimental' wine. Because this is a teaching winery they decided to tate the same juice form the press and age it in Canadian oak barrels. This excellent wine has a ruby garnet colour with strawberry, black cherry and mocha aromas. It has a silky smooth taste with flavours of spicy vanilla and oak which concludes with a long finish. This 'experiment' was also priced at $ 38.95.

It was stunning to taste the difference between the two wines - a difference created by the type of barrel that the wine was cellared in for close to 2 years. Both wines were excellent but they had very subtle differences. of course, both made it into my wine carrier.

The final wine I tasted was a Baco Noir. Not a big wine nor a famous wine but one of our favourites nonetheless. Little known in the rest of the world, Baco is a signature hybrid for Ontario. It is also one of Paolo's favourite grapes.

This wine is intensely coloured with ruby-black highlights and sings ripe black fruit from the depths of the glass, in this case rounded out by aromas of tobacco and pepper with blackberry, rhubarb, vanilla and smoke. The mouth feel is full with concentrated black cherry and sour cherry flavours. At $ 13.95 it was a huge steal!

The Niagara College Teaching Winery is producing our winemakers of the future (as well as their own wines) and they seem to be teaching these, for lack of a better term, “kids”, good technique, if these wines were any indication of what is being taught there.

Earth Day

The recent disruption of air travel over Europe reinforced the impact of the air industry on the environment. While many suggested that the amount of ash, gas, and rocks spewed from the volcano in Iceland would fill the atmosphere with carbon dioxide it turns out that the opposite was true.

It has been calculated that the emissions from the volcano . . . which looked like this:

were estimated to be 72 % LESS than what the normal emissions would have been from the air travel in Europe. In fact, the grounding of the flights reduced emissions by 206,465 tons!

So what is a travel loving person who also loves the planet to do?

Climate change is a serious threat to the ecosystems that humans rely upon, and air travel is thought to be the fastest-growing contributor to the problem. I view travel, as a HUGE benefit, but we all have a responsibility to limit our personal impact on global warming.

The best way to do this - travel less often but stay LONGER! Think about it. Travel to Spain. Stay for 4 weeks, 5 weeks, 6 weeks. Rent a house or apartment. Walk. Relax and travel slowly. The result is a wonderfully rich vacation and a significantly reduced carbon footprint. Fewer flights, more vacation.

There you have it folks, not only is slow travel the better way to travel it is also better for the environment.

Something to think about today. Yes, it is.

Salmon with Sweet Chili Glaze, Sugar Snap Peas, and Greens

The cover of the April Bon Appetit magazine had a delicious looking dish on the cover . . . as always it was colourful and the food was beautifully presented. My immediate reaction was 'I want to have that'. Thank goodness they left the Triple Chocolate Layer cake off of the cover!

Paul made this for dinner the last time mom was over. We all agreed that it was wonderful! It comes together in a snap (pardon the bad pun) and with the exception of the sugar snap peas, and pea tendrils (which are delicious BTW), the ingredients are already around the house. Who knew a quick and healthy meal could be so delicious, interesting, and easy!

The only change that we made to the recipe was to grill the salmon - no reason for that other than the weather has warmed up and we want to be outside as much as possible!

If you're looking for a new salmon recipe to try that is quick and delicious (and who isn't?) this is one for you!

Salmon with Sweet Chili Glaze, Sugar Snap Peas, and Pea Tendrils

Makes 6 servings. Recipe from Bon Appetit.

Ingredients
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
1/4 cup Asian sweet chili sauce
3 tablespoons soy sauce, divided
2 tablespoons finely grated peeled fresh ginger, divided
6 6-ounce salmon fillets with skin
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
8 ounces sugar snap peas, trimmed
1 1/2 tablespoons Chinese rice wine or dry Sherry
3 cups pea tendrils or pea sprouts (about 6 ounces)
1 teaspoon Asian sesame oil

Directions
Line rimmed baking sheet with foil. Coat with nonstick spray. Whisk chili sauce, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, and 1 tablespoon ginger in small bowl. Place salmon fillets, skin side down, on prepared sheet. Spoon chili sauce marinade over and let stand at room temperature 30 minutes.

Preheat broiler. Spoon any marinade remaining on baking sheet over salmon fillets. Broil salmon without turning until browned in spots and almost opaque in center, 6 to 10 minutes, depending on thickness of fillet.

Meanwhile, heat vegetable oil in wok or heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add remaining 1 tablespoon ginger and minced garlic; stir until aromatic, about 30 seconds. Add sugar snap peas and stir until crisp-tender, about 2 minutes. Add remaining 1 tablespoon soy sauce, rice wine, and pea tendrils and stir just until wilted, about 1 minute. Drizzle with sesame oil.

Place 1 salmon fillet on each plate. Spoon warm pea mixture over salmon fillets and serve.