Category: Recipes

Recipes

Bagels

Post author By Monica Bernard
Post date February 14, 2022

It was time to make bagels. I had not made bagels for many years and did not have a favorite recipe so went searching for one that looked authentic and would hopefully have the desired result. I made a few minor adjustments then halved the recipe and was absolutely ecstatic with the result. I made them again a week later and am sure they will become a staple ‘go-to’ recipe.

A preferment is used, and I used various types of honey (the darker the better) instead of barley malt. This is an easy recipe with basic method, and I encourage even beginner ‘boulangers’ to try it out.

Notes:

Recipe makes 10 bagels each about 90g

Make the preferment the night before. I find the best time to use the preferment is between 10-14 hours
For the preferment and dough I turn the oven light on and place the bowl in the oven to rise; this maintains a steady temperature if your kitchen is on the cool side
If using toppings like sesame or poppy seeds, onions, add these after step 12
Toasting the sesame seeds prior adds more flavour as well as lightly caramelizing diced onions prior to topping also adds much more flavour

Preferment:

170 g bread flour
170 g warm water
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast

Dough

85 g warm water
25-30 g honey (clover or dark honey but any will work; melt first if honey is not liquid)
370 g bread flour
1 teaspoon instant yeast
12 g salt

Boiling Water Bath

Approximately 2 quarts of water in a wide shallow pan
1 1/2 tablespoons of honey
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt

Method:

1 – Mix all ingredients for preferment in a medium bowl and cover with plastic wrap placing in a warm location for 10-14 hours.

2 – Bloom the dry yeast in a small bowl with about 1/4 cup of warm water (this water is in addition to the 85 g).

3 – Using the mixer bowl weigh the flour, salt, add the honey, warm water and bloomed yeast. Using the dough hook combine. If slightly dry add more warm water a tablespoon at a time and incorporate completely before adding more. Mix for about 7 minutes then turn out onto lightly floured surface, kneading lightly and forming a ball.

4 – Lightly oil the inside of a bowl, place the dough inside covering with the oil, cover with a damp cloth and place in a warm place to rise to double, about 1 hour.

5 – Once dough has doubled in size, place onto lightly floured surface and fold to de-gas (not necessary to punch the dough!) Return to the bowl and let rise again to double about 45 minutes. It is not necessary to add more oil to the bowl.

6 – Once risen, place the dough on a lightly floured surface to rest for 5 minutes.

7 – Place parchment paper on the sheet pan and brush lightly with oil. This is so the wet bagels do not stick to the parchment after boiling.

8 – Weigh 90 g pieces of dough and let rest 5 minutes.

9 – Form each 90 g ball of dough and poke a hole in the middle and gently stretch out the circle forming a bagel. Place on the parchment to rest and cover with a towel (same damp towel used for the bowl is fine) and let rise 15-20 minutes.

10 -While the bagels are rising prepare the water bath. Combine all ingredients and bring to a light boil then reduce heat to medium high to keep a steady simmer.

11 – Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F while boiling the bagels.

12 – Boil 2 – 3 bagels at a time depending on the size of the pan but do not crowd. Place the bagel in the waterbath seam side up and boil for 1.5 minutes. Flip over using a slotted spoon and boil for 30 seconds. Remove and place on the parchment paper.

12**** If using toppings such as sesame, poppy seeds or onions see Notes above for preparation. Add the toppings at this point when the bagels are still wet from the water bath.

13 – Once all bagels have been boiled and are on the parchment on the sheet pan, bake in 450F oven for 10 minutes. If you have a hot oven place the rack in the upper portion to avoid burning the bottom. After 10 minutes, rotate the sheet and bake another 6-7 minutes until golden brown. Remove from oven and slide off the parchment onto a rack to cool.

Bon Appetit!!

Tags Bagels, Bread, Fresh bread, Starter

Food Recipes

Basic Bread

Post author By Monica Bernard
Post date January 30, 2021

This recipe is for 2 loaves of what I call basic bread. It is similar to what I learned to make from my Mom growing up on the farm. It uses dry yeast and is made on the same day as baking; there is no levain or poolish although it is easy to separate out a portion of the flour / water and the yeast the night before if you want to try it.

Makes two large loaves approximately 700g each or three smaller ones just under 500g each or make two decent sized loaves of 550g and use the extra dough to make a large cinnamon roll or deep fried scone – a treat for the baker!

1 tbsp yeast (~20 g)

Bloom in ~1/3 c of warm water

175 g milk

40 g sugar

75 g butter

Heat milk , butter and sugar to scald; remove from heat and add 175 g cold water to cool the mixture.

Add 1 beaten egg to the cooled milk mixture.

Weigh 730 g flour – can use a mix of bread flour and All-purpose or all of one or the other. In this particular case I used 400 g of bread flour, 280 g AP and 50 g dark rye flour.

20 g salt

If using a mixer, weigh flour and salt into the bowl, add milk mixture and bloomed yeast. Mix on low with bread hook approximately 10 min. Scrape the sides of the bowl; a few grams of extra flour may be needed but do not add too much.

Turn out onto floured surface and lightly knead until soft and smooth, not sticky, about 5 minutes. Place into clean bowl, cover and set in a warm place to double about 1 1/2 to 2 hours.

Turn onto floured surface and fold into itself to remove the gas and return to the bowl, cover to rise to double about 45 minutes.

Turn onto floured surface and separate into portions for loaves (see above weights and options).

If using metal loaf pans, grease the pans before shaping the loaves and placing into the pans to proof. Cover to proof before baking.

Heat oven to 425 F whilst bread is proofing.

Bake to golden brown about 35-40 minutes. For the first 15 minutes of baking the oven can be sprayed with a mister every 5 minutes to enhance the golden crust.

Bon Appetit!

Tags Basic bread, Bread

Food Recipes

MB Sourdough Bread (1 cup starter)

Post author By Monica Bernard
Post date January 20, 2021

MB Sourdough Bread (1 cup starter)

This recipe for sourdough is denser than the traditional sourdough with many ‘holes’ in the bread. I wanted to experiment with various additions to get a loaf with less holes that still retained a nice sourdough flavour.

Day 1 Evening:

Make a poolish the night before planning to bake bread:

230 g (about 1 cup) of fed sourdough starter

200 g bread flour or All-Purpose (AP) or mix of both

200 g warm water

Mix together well, cover and place in a warm place for 10 to 14 hours.

Day 2 the Bake:

Method:

Heat to scald but not boil:

250 g milk

40 g sugar (about 2 tbsp)

Remove and add:

250 g Cold water to cool the mixture

Pour the milk mixture into mixer bowl and add flour:

780 g flour – can use bread flour or AP or a mixture of both

15 – 20 g salt

Add the poolish mixture.

Mix with bread hook on low about 5 minutes then increase to medium-low speed for another 5 minutes.

Dough will still be sticky, do not keep adding flour.

Turn out onto a well-floured surface and fold the dough over itself to work in the flour on the surface.

More flour is needed at this point – maybe another 1/3 cup but do not add too much. The dough is soft and very flexible but should not stick to your fingers.

Place into a clean bowl, cover with a towel and put in warm place to rise for 2- 3 hours.

The dough should double in volume in 2 – 3 hours.

Once doubled, turn out onto floured surface and degas by folding over upon itself. It is not necessary to ‘punch down forcefully!’

Return dough to the bowl to rise a second time approximately 1-2 hours.

Degas the dough on a floured surface by folding over and into itself and cut into two portions (or three smaller ones). Let rest 5 – 10 minutes then form into loaves by folding and place into bannetons upside down seam side up. The loaves will be turned into the hot pans thus the bottom of the loaf becomes the top of the loaf.

Cover and let rise in a warm place approximately 45 minutes to one hour or enough for the loaves to almost double in size.

About 15 minutes before the dough is ready preheat the oven and heat the pans.

The best pan in my experience is a Dutch oven but I have been experimenting with various pans and pots.

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F to heat the pots.

Reduce to 450 degrees F and place the loaves into the hot pans. Be very careful!

This is where the bannetons are very handy as it is simply a flip over from the banneton into the pan or pot.

Slash surface with a lame or sharp knife.

Place the cover on the pot and bake for 25 minutes at 450F.

After 25 minutes reduce the temperature to 425 F and remove the lids and further bake for approximately 20-25 minutes.

Dutch Oven Loaf (above)

Using the Dutch oven results in a nice caramelized crust and the alternate pan also produced a nice loaf.

Below is a cut of the alternate loaf.

Bon Appetit!!

Tags crusty bread, food, poolish, Sourdough

Food Recipes

Sourdough Bread

Post author By Monica Bernard
Post date September 17, 2020

Before diving into this recipe there are a few assumptions, the main one being you have an active sourdough starter. Do the float test to see if it is ready before making the levain.

This is also fairly straightforward and what I would classify as easy to medium for those who already bake bread.

Check the link for my sourdough starter recipe fermented 14 days and used in this recipe:

Sourdough Starter

Day 1 Evening:

Make a levain the night before planning to bake bread

NB: The levain and the starter are both preferments but the starter or ‘Mother’ is maintained and kept for long periods (potentially forever) and the levain uses a small portion of the Mother and is used in its entirety the next day.

More info here from Kitchn if you want to read about preferments:

https://www.thekitchn.com/what-the-difference-between-sourdough-starter-250218

2 generous tablespoons of sourdough starter

75 g bread flour

75 g warm water

Mix together well, cover and place in a warm place for 8-12 hours. I made this in the fall and my house is generally cool so I placed it in the oven with the light on which helps maintain a temperature of about 70 degrees F.

Day 2 the Bake:

525 g warm water

700 g flour (I used 500 All-Purpose and 200 bread flour)

15 g salt (about 1 tablespoon)

Method:

1 – In a separate small bowl mix 50 g water with the salt, stir to dissolve and set aside. This will be added later to the dough.

2 – Add the remaining 475 g warm water to the levain and break it up with your fingers or spatula.

3 – In a large bowl measure out the flour, add the levain mixture and mix with a spatula until you get a shaggy, rough dough about 5 minutes.

4 – Cover with a clean tea towel and let rest 30 – 45 minutes.

5 – Add the dissolved salt and gently mix in using your fingers. Be gentle with your sourdough bread there is no need (knead??!) to punch or be aggressive with the dough; it will love you more in the end trust me.

**Shaggy dough with levain, flour and salt**

6 – Cover and let rest in a warm place for about 1 hour (I placed mine in the oven with the light on).

7 – Now start the stretch and fold process. The dough should look quite fluffy and moist, it will not be like other bread doughs. Go around the edge of the inside of the bowl in sections and gently pick up a portion of the dough, stretching upwards and towards you so you are placing it on top of the dough in the middle of the bowl. Go around and do this in 4 or 5 sections until you come back to the first spot. This stretching and folding will give you the nice holes so characteristic of the inside of sourdough.

I did this every 30 – 45 minutes for a total of about 4 hours. You can do it longer if you have the time.

**Dough after folding and turning / stretching**

I found Kitchn explains it in a great video here, along with the overall process of making sourdough:

https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-sourdough-bread-224367

8 – Flour the counter and gently turn out the dough. It should be a big fluffy poof of dough. No punching!

This is a generous recipe and I made two large loaves and thus divided the dough into two equal parts.

Let rest a few minutes.

9 – Flour a couche or parchment paper on a baking sheet (so it can be moved) or banneton bowl, whatever you are using to proof. I did not have banneton bowls but could have easily lined a bowl with a floured tea towel which I will do next time. Instead I used a couche which worked fine. There are dozens of choices on Amazon if you are searching for supplies.

NB: Ensure your surfaces are well floured – very well-floured. You do not want the dough to stick when you are read to place into the baking vessels.

10 – Shape your loaves, fold in quarters, flip over and place on the couche or in the bowl you are using to rise the dough.

11 – Cover with a tea towel and let rise in a warm place at least 3 hours.

This can also be placed in the fridge for another 12-hour slow rise but I did not do this for this bake.

The loaves should be nice and poofy and will spread out rather than a vertical rise typical of other doughs.

12 – Preheat the oven to 475 F (some say 500 but I stick with 475) and place whatever you are using to bake the bread inside the oven during preheat – I used a Dutch oven for one loaf and a baking stone for the other. I actually used a stone pie plate which worked well to keep a little bit of the form rather than a flat baking stone. These need to be piping hot when placing the dough – I left these in for about 20 minutes to heat up.

NB: obvious comment but if proofing bread in the oven remember to take it out before preheating

13 – Since I used a stone, I also had ready a spray bottle with water to mist the oven, as well as some ice to place in a pie plate on the rack below the stone.

14 – Remove the Dutch oven and / or stone and gently place each loaf in / on. Take extra caution as these are hot!

15 – For the dough on the stone, spray some mist on top before placing in the oven. For the Dutch oven, just put the lid on, the Dutch oven will do the work with the steam.

16 – Spray mist into the oven above the stone, place the ice in the pan in the rack below and close the door.

17 – Leave it for 20 minutes do NOT open the Dutch oven. You can spray mist again a few times but do not touch the lid of the Dutch oven.

18 – Remove the lid of the Dutch oven after 20 minutes. There should be a decent oven spring.

19 – Reduce the heat to 450 F and bake another 15 minutes for the stone and 20 minutes for the Dutch oven. The extra 5 minutes for the Dutch oven may or may not be necessary depending on the heat of your oven; I wanted the crust darker so I left it in a few more minutes.

20 – Remove the loaves and cool on a wire rack. Let them cool for a decent time before cutting into them. I waited about 20 minutes before cutting into the loaf baked in the Dutch oven. Fabulous. Very pleased with the turnout of both loaves.

**Dutch oven loaf on left, Stone loaf on right**

The crust is quite well developed and very crunchy and the crumb has the holes exactly as I envisioned.

**Crust and crumb from Dutch oven product**

The sourdough taste is distinct although it could be further defined. The starter could be aged longer and / or longer and / or cold proofing.

Overall I am quite pleased with this and it tastes great!

Bon appetit!

Tags couche, crust and crumb, Dutch oven, proofing, Sourdough, Sourdough bread

Food Recipes

Sourdough Starter

Post author By Monica Bernard
Post date September 17, 2020

I usually make a poolish, levain or preferment the night before baking bread, but wanted to try my hand at making my own sourdough starter and if successful, to keep for as long as I am willing to maintain it. Alternatively I also plan to dry some of the Mother and keep it in a sealed jar in a cool dry place when I might not be able to use it for months. When I need it again, simply rehydrate some of the chips and use as a normal starter would be used. At least that is the plan.

There are a multitude of sites to read and learn about developing your own starter and some say you can use it within a day or two but the longer it is fed and allowed to ferment the more flavour it will add to the product. King Arthur Flour and Kitchn sites have good recipes to develop your own starter as well as some nice recipes to use with the starter and discard:

https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/sourdough-starter-recipe

https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-your-own-sourdough-starter-cooking-lessons-from-the-kitchn-47337

I planned on leaving mine at least 21 days but gave in at 14. I am still pleased with the outcome and now have the Mother in the fridge and depending how often I plan to bake sourdough bread or sourdough products, I will feed it every 7-14 days.

I am not sure why I changed volumes throughout but the end product appears to be a good sourdough starter

Day 1

Thursday September 03, 2020

Mix together in Tupperware bowl with lid:

About 1 cup of organic seedless red grapes cut in half

1 cup dark rye flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups warm water

Cover and let sit on the counter checking occasionally and opening the lid

Day 3

Saturday September 05, 2020

I noticed it had peaked and fallen from the line on the side of the bowl (I did not have a marker) and there were some bubbles

Remove grapes

I decided to reduce the volume and transfer to a wide mouth mason jar. I had another clean wide mouth mason jar on hand to use for each refresh feed.

In a clean wide mouth mason jar:

100g starter

70 g all-purpose flour

30 g dark rye flour

100 g warm water

Stir and place lid on very lightly so as to allow air in and out

Place a rubber band on the level of the starter

Day 4

Sunday September 06, 2020

The line was visible where it had peaked and fallen so it might need more frequent feeding

In a clean wide mouth mason jar mix:

100 g starter

70 g all-purpose flour

30 g dark rye

100 g warm water

Cover, place rubber band on level

It was already starting to bubble and the smell is developing nicely

Day 5

Monday September 07, 2020

Cold snap this weekend so I put the starter jar in the oven with only the light on to maintain a steady temp. and noticed bubbles forming within minutes.

In a clean wide mouth mason jar mix:

100 g starter

70 g all-purpose flour

30 g dark rye

100 g warm water

Cover, place rubber band on level and place in off oven with light on

Day 6

Tuesday September 08, 2020

Not much activity and it does not appear to have peaked.

Fed this morning about 7 am and decided to feed again around 5 pm to see if it makes any difference; it might need more food.

5 pm feeding just added to existing starter and did not discard any:

70 g all-purpose flour

30 g dark rye

100 g warm water

Day 7

Wednesday September 09, 2020

Starter bubbling and working overnight so I think it needed more food.

Discarded all but 113 g of starter and fed:

70 g all-purpose flour

30 g dark rye

100 g warm water

Checked at 9 pm and it had exploded! Pushed the lid off the jar it grew so much so I know there is yeast and it is feeding.

Discarded all but 113 g of starter and fed:

50 g all-purpose flour

25 g dark rye

75 g warm water

Day 8

Thursday September 10, 2020

Overnight not much so I left all starter in the jar and fed:

50 g all-purpose flour

25 g rye flour

75 g water

In less than an hour it had bubbled to the top of the jar again.

It seems like it needs more starter left in the jar. Maybe I will try leaving 150 g starter and feeding tonight.

Feeding 2

~185 g starter

200 g water

150 g AP

50 g rye

Within an hour it had more than doubled. I have started adding the water after the starter then the flours and mixing well. Seems to help.

Day 9

Friday September 11, 2020

Will try less product and twice daily feeds for a few days to see how the fermentation develops.

Feed 1 morning

~80 g starter

80 g water

50 g AP

25 rye

Within an hour it was growing and almost doubled in volume. I think it is now reaching a stage of fermentation where the bacteria is regularly feeding on the yeast so it is a matter of maturing the product to a proper sourdough. As I am feeding twice daily I will reduce the volume used to 75g.

Feed 2 evening

~80 g starter

80 g water

50 g AP

25 rye

Day 10

Saturday September 12, 2020

Feed 1 morning

~80 g starter

80 g water

50 g AP

25 rye

Feed 2 evening

~75 – 80 g starter

75 – 80 g water

50 g AP

25 rye

Day 11

Sunday September 13, 2020

Feed 1 morning

~75 – 80 g starter

75 – 80 g water

50 g AP

25 rye

Tasted the product and it is very sour. The fermentation is working well and within about 2 hours from feeding it has almost tripled in volume to peak before falling. I am very tempted to use it now in bread but want to develop it at least one more day.

Feed 2 evening

~75 – 80 g starter

75 – 80 g water

50 g AP

25 rye

Day 12

Monday September 14, 2020

Feed 1 morning

~75 – 80 g starter

75 – 80 g water

50 g AP

25 rye

Did the float test and it practically bounced out of the bowl it is so buoyant.

Feed 2 evening

~75 – 80 g starter

75 – 80 g water

50 g AP

25 rye

Day 13

Tuesday September 15, 2020

Feed 1 morning

~75 – 80 g starter

75 – 80 g water

50 g AP

25 rye

Feed 2 evening

~75 – 80 g starter

75 – 80 g water

50 g AP

25 rye

I decided to make a levain tonight and bake bread tomorrow.

Day 14

Wednesday September 16, 2020

Made two loaves of sourdough which turned out amazing!

One baked in a Dutch oven and one on a stone with misting.

Both fabulous.

Crumb and crust are great, sour taste could be more developed but it is distinctly sourdough. The starter is now in the fridge and I will feed weekly to bi-weekly depending on requirements.

Very pleased overall.

Check out my post on Dijon for more info and pics.

www.monicabernard.com

Tags Bread, Sourdough, Starter

Food Recipes

Baked Chicken with Herbs

Post author By Monica Bernard
Post date December 2, 2016

This is such an easy dish to make and so flavourful!

What you need:

Chicken pieces preferably chicken leg and thigh pieces with skin on. It is really important to have pieces with skin on – you can trim them but leave a good portion of skin as this adds much of the flavour.

Olive oil

Spices such as rosemary, oregano, sage

Chili pepper flakes or cut up a dried chili

Sea salt and fresh ground pepper

1/2 onion chopped

A couple garlic cloves

White wine about 1/4 cup or some sherry vinegar or just use a little extra stock

Chicken stock about 1/2 to 2/3 cup

Heat oven to 400F

Heat a frying pan on medium heat with some olive oil. Add the onion, sauté a few minutes, add the garlic. Add wine or sherry let reduce a few minutes. Add stock, reduce heat a little and let reduce slightly. Add salt and pepper.

Wash the chicken pieces and trim some of the skin if necessary. Place in a large casserole dish so there is no overlap.

Sprinkle the chicken the herbs and chili and then season with a little sea salt and pepper.

Cook, uncovered, in heated oven for 30 minutes.

Remove the dish from the oven and pour the sauce over the chicken pieces and cover the pan with foil and return to the oven reduced to 300F and cook for another 30 minutes.

The initial cooking at high heat with these simple seasonings leave a crispy skin, sealing in the flavour followed by the final cooking session to finish off the dish. The chicken is so moist and tender and flavourful this is one of my favourite fast and easy chicken dishes to make.

Chicken with herbs, fresh pasta with onion and tomatoes and rum-maple baked quince

Serve with potatoes, vegetables, pasta etc.

Bon Appetit!!

Food Recipes

Pork Chops with Fennel and Bacon

Post author By Monica Bernard
Post date November 29, 2016

You need some nice thick pork chops on the bone for this dish. The chops I got were from the food market at Piazza De Nardi. http://www.piazzadenardi.com/food-1/ These chops were over an inch thick they were fabulous!

Olive oil

Fennel (ground) I only had seeds so I ground them in a mortar and pestle

Thick sliced bacon, about 3 slices for each chop

Salt and pepper

Heat oven to about 375F, rack about mid-level

Brush chops with olive oil both sides.

Place in a dish, season with a little salt and pepper.

Place a good portion of the fennel on top of each chop to cover.

Place bacon strips on top to cover each chop.

Bake until a meat thermometer registers about 135F; this will take about 20 minutes maybe a little longer depending on your oven.

Reposition the rack higher for broil (but not the highest position) and turn on broil.

Return the pan to the oven and finish cooking until meat thermometer registers 145F; the bacon should be well cooked and slightly crispy.

Finished chops after baking and broiling

Remove and cover with foil, let rest about 10 minutes.

Serve with some potatoes or pasta and a vegetable.

Saute roasted peppers and garlic, add some pasta water to make sauce

Chops, Roasted pepper pasta and broccolini — Chops, roasted pepper pasta and broccolini

I served this with a fresh pasta and a simple sauce of garlic and roasted peppers alongside some steamed broccolini with a touch of butter and salt and pepper.

The meat is so tender and juicy and the fennel added an amazing flavor!

Bon Appetit!

Food Recipes

Bolognese Sauce

Post author By Monica Bernard
Post date November 10, 2016

Classic Bolognese Sauce – great ragu or meat sauce, with some tomatoes (not tomato sauce with meat as is the common misconception).

Easy to make and great to enjoy; leftovers (if you have any) taste just as good, and if you are making a big pot, it freezes well.

It takes a few hours but most of that is simmering time. The prep work is minimal and takes about 20 minutes.

What you need:

Ground meat about 1.5 lb or roughly half a kilo will make a good sized batch – I use primarily beef but you can mix beef and pork

1 medium onion chopped

1 or 2 carrots chopped

1 or 2 stalks of celery chopped

A few garlic cloves chopped

A few cups of beef or vegetable stock

A few cups of crushed or finely chopped tomatoes – I use my home canned tomatoes that have been mashed but have skins on.

About 1 cup of milk

Olive oil

Seasonings – Sea salt and black pepper and I also add some dried crushed oregano and basil I dried from my herb garden. You can use fresh herbs, just add them before the sauce is finished.

Pasta of your choice – preferably fresh (If I am able to I will pick up fresh pasta from De Luca’s as well as the meat http://www.deluca.ca )

I use a couple pans – one to brown the meat and one to sauté the onions and garlic and carrots/celery.

Saute Garlic and Onion — Saute the onion and garlic in some olive oil

If the meat is not lean I will drain off some of the fat.

Add the carrots and celery to the onion and garlic

Add the vegetables t the meat — Add the vegetables to the meat

I like to simmer the sauce for 1.5 to 2 hours. Check it every now and then give it a stir. About 30 minutes before you are ready to serve, add the milk and bring to a boil, then back down to simmer. You can taste the sauce for seasonings and add as desired.

Boil the salted water for the pasta and cook (4 – 5 minutes for fresh and up to 12 minutes for dried).

Serve up with some fresh parmesan and ground pepper, fresh basil if desired and garlic toast or toasted bread with olive oil.

Food

Bon Appetit!

Food Recipes

A little dinner

Post author By Monica Bernard
Post date October 4, 2016

Always a great evening with my favourite neighbours E&C. Last night was no exception and they joined me for a little chow…slow roasted pork with fennel (there are cloves of garlic stuffed into the roast with fennel, looking a little furry on top!) Throw in white wine, some onions and the fennel bulb, roast nice and slow.

Make some crisp roasted potatoes, beans, salad (great brussels sprout and grape salad compliments of E&C) sautéed celery in sesame oil and sea salt, the usual condiments of home made beet and bean pickles and of course lots of lovely beverages to enjoy!

Roast pork with fennel, sautéed celery in sesame oil, crispy roasted potatoes, beans, salad and pickles

I have a definite sweet tooth and dessert is a necessity. A meal does not seem to be finished without a little dessert to enjoy after all is said and done. That was the tradition growing up and it was usually some home canned fruit maybe with some fresh cake or one of those apple pies 😉

Last night it was a double chocolate zucchini cake with a thick rich chocolate ganache and a wee bit of french vanilla ice cream melting on top of the hot ganache. Oyyyy!!

Double Chocolate Zuchinni Cake with Chocolate Ganache

After my guests left many hours later, it was time to clean ip. I am not a fan of waking up to a mess…so I will pour another one, crank the music and get down to it. Last night it was the east coast and I had Matt Minglewood cranked along with the Rankin Family; fun finish to a great evening.

Bon Appetit!

Food Recipes

Basic Waffles

Post author By Monica Bernard
Post date October 2, 2016

This is for a small recipe that makes about 3 or 4 Belgian waffles. Double it for more.

Hot waffle iron oiled if required.

1 cup flour (can use white / whole wheat mixture if you want)

1 tablespoon sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

2 eggs lightly beaten

1/3 cup butter melted (can also use oil but the butter will make it lighter and crispier)

1 cup milk or buttermilk (plus a few extra tablespoons might be necessary when mixing)

Mix dry ingredients in a bowl.

In a separate small bowl mix eggs, milk and melted butter or oil and add to dry to blend.

At this stage you can add things to the batter if you like such as fruit, chocolate chips, chunks of ham or cheese. Or make a few plain waffles then add your additions for the last few waffles.

Pour about ½ cup batter onto the hot iron. You might need a bit more depending on the size of your waffle iron.

Leave the iron closed until done, a few minutes.

Serve hot with some butter and Canadian maple syrup or berries and fruit, whipped cream, jam, possibilities are endless.

Waffles with blueberries and maple syrup and greek breakfast sausages from a local market

Leftover waffles?

Do not waste them. They can be stored in a Ziploc bag or sealed container and frozen for a few days or a week then pop them into the toaster or oven to heat up.

Bon Appetit!

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