A Degree in Cell and Molecular Gastronomy?

Yes, I finally graduated from my BSc in a Specialization of Cell and Molecular BIOLOGY! But these days as I search for jobs and cook I find myself falling further into the culinary aspects of the molecular world as opposed to Genomics. This whole Molecular Gastronomy craze both annoys and intrigues me. I truly believe in a whole and healthy meal; you know those ones that have been prepared the same way for generations. On the other hand I am constantly interested in the 'what, why, and how can I mess with it to make it better' aspect of life.


In comes this month’s Daring Cooks challenge, a recipe from Alinea the leading edge cookbook on molecular gastronomy. Supposedly this is the easiest recipe in the book as it doesn’t call for any ingredients or instruments that would have to be checked out of the lab. The idea was to present five different powders made from simple dehydrated ingredients to accompany a lush burre monte poached Skate wing.

For this challenge I decided to powder Capers, Lemon, Red Onion, Cilantro, and Field Strawberries from last weekend’s Quinn Farms raid. Everything was going well until the last minute of dehydration. You see I was one of the participants that didn’t own a dehydrator and had to “wing it” with the microwave. Each ingredient that I painstakingly attended to tried eagerly to burn in mere seconds after almost 30 minutes on low. Luckily I caught them before they all burnt to a crisp and most were salvaged. Needless to say I spent most of Sunday making and ruining powders.

Despite the small setbacks everything turned out wonderfully. The burre monte poached skate was tender yet juicy and each powder added a burst of flavour to every succulent bite. I really only made the strawberry powder for aesthetic reasons, but in the end it was one of my favourites. The lemon and red onion powders were transformed into an intensely flavourful complement to the Skate that I wasn’t expecting.

After the two days of dehydration and prep that went into this dish I don’t think that I will be making it again anytime soon, but I'm so glad to have tried it. Thanks to Sketchy's Kitchen for picking such a wonderful challenge and you can find the recipe for this and other challenges at The Daring Kitchen.

Fiddleheads in a Garlic Butter Lemon Sauce

Breakfast for Supper! Well that is the theme of the next supper club we are holding so Ian and I thought we would get into the spirit early and try these poached eggs on asparagus and fiddleheads for supper. That day my Gale Gand "Brunch!" cookbook came in the mail and we couldn't resist all the full page glossy photos of breakfast.

Fiddleheads are in season here right now and I just love them so we added them to the recipe. I hope that they freeze well because they would be great all year round. If you don't know what fiddle heads are, they are basically a type of fern that is picked at a young age. If the fern is straight it is too old to eat, but if it is curled around itself like a fiddle head, they are tender and delicious.

This dish was scrumptious, but I think the star of the show was the light butter, garlic, and lemon sauce that was drizzled over the asparagus and fiddleheads. The next day I made the sauce again for the fiddleheads alone and it was just as stunning. I don't think that I could eat them any other way. I will post the sauce below, try it, you won’t be disappointed!

P.S, the recipe for the Fennel Sausage Pasta has been posted.

Fiddleheads in a Garlic Butter Lemon Sauce
adapted from Gale Gand's "Brunch!"

20-40 Fiddleheads
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tbsp. Olive Oil
2 tbsp. butter
Juice of 1 lemon
Salt and Pepper

Cut the brown end off of the fiddleheads and let sit in cold water for 3 minutes to clean away any unwanted dirt. Blanche the fiddleheads by bringing salted water to a boil and cook for 4-6 minutes. Drain the fiddleheads and water, and then set aside. In the same pot heat the olive oil and sauté the garlic for 1 minute. Turn off the heat and add butter. When the butter has melted add the lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Drizzle over the fiddleheads and serve.

Ricotta Gnocchi with Lemon and Sage Buerre Sauce - Daring Cooks

So here it is guys, the first ever Daring Cooks Challenge! This one was exciting because I was finally pushed to make fresh ricotta. And you know what; it was one of the easiest and fastest foods I have ever made. I poo poo on those $6.95 tubs of glue like cheese now. Seriously, all you need is a 2L carton of whole milk, a 1 cup carton of cream, 1 lemon, a splash of vinegar, and a pinch of salt. Presto, in five minutes you have ricotta.



The gnocchi on the other hand was long and intensive. As you can tell the main ingredient is ricotta and these are not the normal potato gnocchi that we all love. These little buggers are each hand rolled with (decreasing) love; each dipped individually in flour, and cooked in small batches.

Even though the gnocchi took a day to make, the taste was sensational and we ate them all in one sitting. They were so soft and fluffy, and every time you bit into one it would burst delicious ricotta into your mouth. I have never had anything like these and I would encourage everyone to try ricotta gnocchi at least once in your life. Just don't ask me to roll them; you’re out of luck there.




Zuni Ricotta Gnocchi
adapted from The Zuni Café Cookbook.
Makes 40 to 48 gnocchi (serves 4 to 6)
Prep time: Step 1 will take 24 hours. Steps 2 through 4 will take approximately 1 hour.(lies)

For the ricotta:
2L whole milk
1 cup cream
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice
1-1/2 tbsp. vinegar

For the gnocchi:
1 pound fresh ricotta (2 cups)
2 large cold eggs, lightly beaten
1 tablespoon (1/2 ounce) unsalted butter
2 or 3 fresh sage leaves, or a few pinches of freshly grated nutmeg
½ ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated (about ¼ cup very lightly packed)
about ¼ teaspoon salt (a little more if using kosher salt)
all-purpose flour for forming the gnocchi

For the gnocchi sauce:
6 tbsp butter, sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
Zest of 1 lemon
10 Sage leaves, chopped
Salt, pepper

Tips:
- If you can find it, use fresh ricotta. As Judy Rodgers advises in her recipe, there is no substitute for fresh ricotta. It may be a bit more expensive, but it's worth it.
- Do not skip the draining step. Even if the fresh ricotta doesn't look very wet, it is. Draining the ricotta will help your gnocchi tremendously.
- When shaping your gnocchi, resist the urge to over handle them. It's okay if they look a bit wrinkled or if they're not perfectly smooth.

Step 1: Making and Preparing the ricotta

Line a large sieve with a layer of heavy-duty (fine-mesh) cheesecloth and place it over a large bowl. Slowly bring milk, cream, and salt to a boil in a pot over medium heat, stirring occasionally to prevent scorching. Add lemon juice and vinegar, then reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring once half way through, until the mixture curdles, about 2-4 minutes.Pour the mixture into the lined sieve and let it drain for 1 hour. After discarding the liquid, chill the ricotta, covered; it will keep in the refrigerator 2 days.

If the ricotta is too wet, your gnocchi will not form properly. To remove some of the moisture, line a sieve with cheesecloth or paper towels and place the ricotta in the sieve. Cover it and let it drain for at least 8 hours and up to 24 hours in the refrigerator. It’s recommended that you do this step the day before you plan on making the gnocchi.

Step 2: Making the gnocchi dough.

To make great gnocchi, the ricotta has to be fairly smooth. Place the drained ricotta in a large bowl and mash it as best as you can with a rubber spatula or a large spoon (it’s best to use a utensil with some flexibility here). As you mash the ricotta, if you noticed that you can still see curds, then press the ricotta through a strainer to smooth it out as much as possible.

Add the lightly beaten eggs to the mashed ricotta. Melt the tablespoon of butter. As it melts, add in the sage and nutmeg. Then add it all to the ricotta mixture. Add the Parmigiano-Reggiano and the salt. Beat all the ingredients together very well. You should end up with a soft and fluffy batter with no streaks (everything should be mixed in very well).

Step 3: Forming the gnocchi

In a large, shallow baking dish or on a sheet pan, make a bed of all-purpose flour that’s ½ an inch deep.With a spatula, scrape the ricotta mixture away from the sides of the bowl and form a large mass in the centre of your bowl.Scoop up about 1 teaspoon of batter and then gently roll into a log and toss into the bed of flour. Use your fingers to very gently dust the gnocchi with flour. Gently pick up the gnocchi and cradle it in your hand rolling it to form it in an oval as best as you can, at no point should you squeeze it.

Step 4: Cooking the gnocchi.

Have a large skillet ready to go. Melt the butter and oil for the sauce in the skillet and set aside. In the largest pan or pot that you have, bring at least 2 quarts of water to a boil. You need a wide pot or pan so that your gnocchi won’t bump into each other and damage each other. Once the water is boiling, salt it generously.Drop the gnocchi into the water one by one. They will sink and then bob to the top. From the time that it bobs to the surface, you want to cook the gnocchi until it’s just firm. This could take 3 to 5 minutes.If your gnocchi begins to fall apart, this means that the ricotta cheese was probably still too wet. You can remedy this by beating a teaspoon of egg white into your gnocchi batter. If your gnocchi batter was fluffy but the sample comes out heavy, add a teaspoon of beaten egg to the batter and beat that in.
When the gnocchi float to the top, you can start your sauce while you wait for them to finish cooking. Place the skillet over the heat again. Add the lemon zest, sage, salt and pepper. With a slotted spoon, remove the gnocchi from the boiling water and gently drop into the butter sauce. Carefully roll in the sauce until coated. Serve immediately.

Lemon Tea Cakes!

Are these not the cutest things you've ever seen! Last time I was in Toronto I saw this super cute tea cake pan and had to have it. I have been meaning to use it for the past month, but truth be told, I was a little afraid. The man that sold it to me said that if I didn’t oil and flour it just right the little guys would stick and create a crumbly mess. Then I actually saw a sticky catastrophe on someone else’s blog and really got scared.

I decided that I needed something dense and that wouldn’t rise very much so that the suckers would just pop right out. Pound cake it was, and Ian is a lemon fanatic making it an easy choice. I looked at Martha Stewart’s recipe, and then heard about the Barefoot Contessa’s. Well it turns out that the two recipes are the same, and Ina actually took Martha’s! Oh the horror! I wouldn’t mess with Martha, she’s got a record.

Anyways, they didn’t stick at all! Oh, and the taste was amazing, I made these for the Supper Club and while everyone was mingling, Ian’s roommate would tiptoe into the kitchen and steal one or two at a time for Ian and himself. Then they would stand in the corner and eat their contraband snacks. Sneaky guys, very sneaky.

If you are interested in the recipe you can find it here.

St. Paddy's Day Lemon Vanilla Cookies

In Montreal we all celebrate St.Paddy's Day the Sunday after the actual day because that is when the whole city shuts down for the giant parade. These are a homage to that wonderful time when we drink on the streets right along side the cops.

P.s. One of these cookies is for Jen, her first St.Paddy's away from the big M.


St. Paddy's Day Lemon Vanilla Cookies
adapted from Martha Stewart's Cookies Book

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
6 tbsp.unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1/2 vanilla bean, split, seeds scraped and reserved
Finely grated zest of 1 lemon
1 large egg
Icing
2 1/4 cups confectioners' sugar
7 1/2 teaspoons meringue powder
2-3 drops of green food colouring

Preheat oven to 375. Put butter, granulated and confectioners' sugars, vanilla seeds, and zest into a bowl, whisk until pale and fluffy. Mix in egg. Add flour, baking powder, and salt in 3 batches; mix until combined. Roll out dough between 2 pieces of parchment paper to 1/8 inch thick. Cut cookies with clover cookie cutter then refrigerate until firm, about 20 minutes. Remove shapes from dough. Re roll scraps, and cut out. Space cookies 2 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake until pale golden, 5 to 6 minutes. For the royal icing: Put confectioners' sugar, meringue powder,a couple drops of green colouring, and 1/4 cup water into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment; whisk for 10 minutes. Transfer to a pastry bag fitted with a small plain round tip. Decorate each cookie with icing.

Raspberry Lemon Almost No-Fat Mini Muffins

I'm still on my health kick today so in keeping with the whole grain aspect I baked these wonderful little Raspberry Lemon muffins. And guess what... they have almost NO fat in them! How amazing eh!

They do sport a lot of baking powder and apple sauce to bind everything together which makes the batter light and fluffy. Not to mention all the berries I jam packed into them creates a melt in your mouth muffin. I love the berry right on top just like a beautiful jammy jewel.

Since raspberries are almost five dollars for a half pint right now I would advise buying the frozen ones. I was afraid that they would suck, but they actually really did the trick! Just don’t buy the ones frozen in their own juice or else you’ll end up with red muffins (which is not appropriate since Valentine's Day was a month ago).

Raspberry Lemon Almost No-Fat Mini Muffins
adapted from www.ilovemuffins.ca
makes 24 mini muffins

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp. baking powder
1 tbsp. lemon zest
1 egg
2/3 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 cups frozen raspberries

Preheat the oven to 400° F. Put 24 mini muffin papers in a mini muffin tin.
In a large bowl, mix together the all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, sugar, baking powder and lemon zest. In a small bowl, beat the egg until foamy. Stir in the buttermilk, applesauce and vanilla. Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and stir just until moistened. Gently fold in the raspberries right at the end and don't stir too much or the batter will turn red. Spoon the batter into the prepared cups and place one raspberry right on top of each muffin. Bake for 15 minutes.

Chicken Piccata

Hey there Barefoot Bloggers. So this is the second challenge that I have participated in with the BB's and let me tell you... it has been so much fun! This Thursday Noodle Nights and Muffin Mornings chose Chicken Piccata.

For those of you out there that don’t know the fancy name, it’s basically classic breaded chicken (no shake n' bake allowed) with a lemon sauce. Oh yeah, and butter. Lots, lots, lots of butter. I even cut the amount of butter in half, and still the sauce was buttery. What did you expect from Ina, really!

I truly enjoyed this dish, but I wasn't so fond of the three steps, three bowl breading catastrophe that left the walls and floor of my kitchen covered in egg, flour, breadcrumbs and salmonella.

I think it was worth it though. You should have seen Ian's face when he took the first bite, he was in pure heaven. For him, breading + chicken + lemon = win. Mind you, he was the kid in kindergarten that ate the left over lemon and lime candies that all the other kids wouldn’t touch.

Chicken Piccata
adapted from Ina Garten's book 'Barefoot Contessa at Home'

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 extra-large eggs
1 tbsp water
2 cups seasoned dry bread crumbs
4 tbsp. olive oil
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, divided
Freshly squeezed juice from 3 lemons, lemon halves reserved
1 cup dry white wine
Sliced lemon, for serving
Italian Seasoning, salt, and pepper

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
Place each chicken breast between 2 sheets of plastic wrap and pound out to 1/4-inch thick.
Mix the flour with salt and pepper in a shallow plate. In a second plate, beat the egg and water together. Place the bread crumbs on a third plate with Italian seasoning. Dip each chicken breast first in the flour, shake off the excess, and then dip in the egg and bread crumb mixtures.
Heat 2 tbsp. of olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium to medium-low heat. Add 1-2 of the chicken breasts and cook for 2 minutes on each side, until browned. Re-oil the pan with another 1 tbsp. of olive oil and repeat. Place the chicken on the sheet pan and allow them to bake for 5 to 7 minutes while you make the sauce.
For the sauce, wipe out the saute pan with a dry paper towel. Over medium heat, melt 1 tablespoon of the butter and then add the lemon juice, wine, the reserved lemon halves, salt and pepper. Boil over high heat until reduced in half. Off the heat, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter and swirl to combine. Discard the lemon halves and serve 1 chicken breast on each plate. Spoon on the sauce and serve with a slice of lemon.

Loopy Mini Cupcakes

Ok, today we have become kids again, but now we are free of all those binding rules (sorry mom, love you).

I saw these loopy mini muffins and thought "Ian will go crazy over these, I am going to make them for him" because seriously, we are grown ups now, we can eat cereal with our dessert, or even dessert for breakfast. This freedom is pretty much all that I wanted when I was young. I also wanted to eat only chocolate bars for a week straight, but mini cupcakes will do.

The thing that makes these little guys killer is that the fruit cereals flavours are in the batter. Orange, lime, and lemon paired with Fruity Cheerios™ (sorry, not Froot Loops™, the Cheerios version is made with real fruit juice, smaller, and they don’t tear apart the roof of your mouth) that completely increase the cereal flavour. There is even milk in the recipe! I made one batch and they were gone before they could cool, so was the second batch for that matter.

Loopy Mini Cupcakes
adapted from The Breakfast Cereal Gourmet by David Hoffman
makes 18 mini cupcakes

4 tbsp. unsalted butter
½ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
¾ cup sifted all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
¼ cup milk
Zest of half and orange
Zest of half a lemon
Zest of half a lime
¾ cup Fruity Cheerios
Powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg, mixing in well. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix into the butter mixture alternating with the milk. Add orange, lime, and lemon zest to batter. Spoon the batter into muffin pans lined with cupcake paper cups, filling them three-quarters full, and pushing cereal in to the top of each muffin, covering the surface. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until the cupcakes are puffed and firm in the center. One cooled dust with powdered sugar.

Chicken, Lemon, and Olive Stew with Saffron Couscous

While I was sitting around worrying about Ian these past few days I randomly picked up this great food magazine called Fine Cooking. Each recipe looks and sounds amazing, so when Ian said he was in the mood for couscous I, his makeshift nurse, knew exactly what to make.

Ian is also a large fan of any type of citrus, especially lemon, and he loves olives. My mom once gave him a jar of olives as a small gift and he was ecstatic. Needless to say, with the first bite he took of this scrumptious stew a big mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm escaped his mouth. I felt the same way too; the simplicity of the saffron couscous complemented the tangy chicken, olives, and lemons.
Thanks new magazine! Enjoy.


Chicken, Lemon and Olive Stew with Saffron Couscous
adapted from Fine Cooking Magazine No.96

Stew
12 boneless, skinless chicken thighs and or legs
Salt and pepper
1/8 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 onions, thinly sliced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 tbsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp. ground coriander
2 small dried red chiles, crumbled
1 cinnamon stick
2 bay leaves
2 cups low-salt chicken broth
Finely grated zest and juice of 2 lemons
1 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1 cup green olives

Saffron Couscous
1/2 cup couscous
1/2 cups low-salt chicken broth
2 Tbs. unsalted butter
1/2 tsp. saffron threads, crumbled
salt
1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

Stew
Season chicken all over with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Working in 2 batches, brown the chicken all over, transferring batch to a plate.
Reduce to medium heat, add the onions and garlic and cook until the onions are softened and brown, 5 to 6 minutes. Add the turmeric, cumin, coriander, chiles, cinnamon sticks, and bay leaves, cook until fragrant, about 1 minute more. Add the chicken broth, lemon zest, and 1/4 cup of the lemon juice. Cover and simmer over medium-low heat for 30 minutes.
Return the chicken to the pot. Stir in the chickpeas and olives. Increase the heat to medium high and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is cooked through, 6 to 8 minutes. Stir in 1 Tbsp. of the remaining lemon juice and season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve over the Saffron Couscous.

Saffron Couscous
Put the couscous in a large bowl, set aside. In a small saucepan, heat the chicken broth, butter, saffron, and 1 tsp. salt over medium-high heat until the butter is melted and the broth is hot. Pour the mixture over the couscous. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap until the liquid has been absorbed by the couscous, 10 min. Drizzle with olive oil then using a fork, gently mix the couscous and break apart any clumps.