Monday, August 25, 2008

MUSINGS ON LIQUEUR


LIMONCELLO LEMON LIQUEUR


I first discovered Limoncello whilst in Italy as a young adult. At 18 or 19 I was in Italy with my college wind symphony for an international band festival. We were billeted with local families in the Besana e Brianza area (Northern Italy, near Milan). Amongst my vivid memories are many gastronomical delights.


Limoncello - did I meet you at a bar or at a house? Or was it after a friend had purchased a bottle, which we passed around and chugged after hopping the fence of a gated park at night? Now that we have met, I enjoy you as an aperitif or in a cocktail. My favorite limoncello cocktail is from Luciano's restaurant - featuring champagne and the lemon liquer.

I recall an Italian man describing how his family makes limoncello. Lemon rinds and sugar are mixed with alcohol and left to meld in a bottle. That's all. It is tart, tangy and sweet all at once.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

BLUEBERRY SWIRL COFFEE CAKE




BLUEBERRY SWIRL COFFEE CAKE
(from "cooking smart for a healthy heart")

INGREDIENTS
2 1/2 cups fresh/frozen blueberries
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup (1 stick) of margarine
1 cup granulated sugar (I reduced this to 3/4 cup)
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1 tbsp grated lemon zest
2 1/2 cups self-rising flour (cake flour)
1 1/4 cups reduced-fat milk (I used 1 %)

METHOD
1.Get out all the ingredients and let the cold stuff warm a bit
2. preheat oven to 350 F.
3. grease & four a 13 x 9 " baking pan
4. Toss 2 cups blueberries, brown sugar, & cinnamon in a small bowl until berries are coated
(reserve 1/2 cup of blueberries for the end of recipe)
5. Cream margarine & white sugar in a large bowl - w/ electric mixer @ high speed until it's light & fluffy (~ 4 mins.)
6. Add egg and egg white - beat 2 mins
7. Beat in lemon zest. Reduce speed to low.
8. Add flour alternately with milk. Stop the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Do not over-beat.


9. Spread half the batter into pan and sprinkle with blueberry mixture.
10. Spoon remaining batter over the top of the blueberries & smooth out with a spatula.
(helps to spoon ~ 8 spoon fulls over the berries and then smooth out)
11. Use a knife and swirl through the batter several times. I found that this was done by touching the knife to the bottom of the dish and swirling around. You can also make a tick tack toe pattern. The idea is to bring the blueberry/sugar mixture towards the top a bit.
12. Bake at 350 F for 40 - 45 minutes.
13. Cool in pan on wire rack. Enjoy!!
NUTRITION FACTS:
If you cut this into 16 pieces = each piece has 214 calories, 6.5 g of fat.
1/2 cup of blueberres = 40 calories & a good source of vitamin C & anti-oxidants



Wednesday, August 6, 2008

LEFTOVERS




One of my favorite Italian-inspired meals is gnocchi with tomato, mushroom & basil sauce. Today I planned to make this dish and got all the ingredients except gnocchi. I forgot the gnocchi. Well, I had some left-over rice from two nights ago and decided to use that instead.


Also, I had a bunch of regular "hot house" tomatoes that were becoming overly soft, so I used them rather than roma tomatoes. I prefer roma tomatoes. Romas make a thicker sauce.







So here's my recipe for Rice with Tomato, Mushroom & Basic Sauce.

Makes one meal for one hungry person

INGREDIENTS:

4 large Mushrooms, sliced

2 large tomatoes (or 3 romas), roughly chopped

1 garlic clove, smashed

1 cup cooked rice

4-5 basil leaves

salt, pepper, hot sauce (or red pepper flakes) to taste

DIRECTIONS:

1. Slice Mushrooms

2. Heat pan with olive oil

3. Saute mushrooms

4. Chop / smash garlic

5. Add garlic to pan with mushrooms

6. Chop Tomatoes into quarters (or eights depending on size)

7. Add tomatoes to pan

8. Season with salt, pepper and hot sauce

9. Stir together, mash down the tomatoes to release the juices

10. Cook for a few minutes until tomatoes cook and make a light sauce

11. Stir in the rice until heated

12. Wash basil leaves. Stack leaves on top of each other. Roll leaves up like a carpet. Snip with scissors into strips directly into the pan.

13. Top with fresh parmesan cheese & Enjoy!





Sunday, August 3, 2008

BLUEBERRY SEASON


IN SEASON
Blueberries are in season! These ones here I had a hand in growing. They reside in my parent's backyard in the Fraser Valley. I picked out two blueberry bushes a few years' back, which were planted at my folks' place. We almost lost them once due to a mudslide (as a result of the next-door neighbour's construction), but here they are several years' later producing some of the juiciest berries around. Super food indeed!

NOODLE BOX


SPICY PEANUT = BLISS