Now that’s a cupcake!

Last Thursday’s meal contained the most spectacular dessert – a Decadent Chocolate Cupcake.  We made these cupcakes using an old recipe that contains an unusual ingredient that became a popular baking ingredient about 30 years ago – mayonnaise.  I am sure that it was Kraft or Hellmans that first thought this one up, but it make sense when you think about it.  Real mayonnaise is essentially an emulsion of eggs, oil and a bit of vinegar. I am sure this recipe was born out of necessity, when some creative cook ran out of eggs for her chocolate cake.

Mayonnaise Chocolate Cake

2 cups flour
1 1/3 cup of sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips (we only use organic fair trade Cocoa Camino chocolate)

Whisk the wet ingredients in a bowl.  In a separate bowl sift the dry ingredients.  Combine wet and dry ingredients and mix well until combined.  Add chocolate chips.  Pour into 9″ round cake pan (well oiled) or in 24 lined muffin tins.  Bake cake in a 350 degree pre-heated oven for 25 minutes.  Test for doneness.

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Moo Shu

For years Mu Shu (or Moo Shu) pork was the most popular Chinese food restaurant dish in North America.  In Cantonese this dish is called “muk see yuk” or “wood shaved pork.” Traditionally, Mu Shu Pork is served in pancakes brushed with hoisin sauce. We decided to challenge ourselves this week by cooking a few things that we have never cooked before.  The Heritage Ontario Berkshire pork was slowly braised in our own ‘hoisin’ sauce, made with miso, organic brown sugar, and aromatics like cloves, cinnamon & coriander.  Once cooked and cooled, the pork was shredded.

The dough recipe is quite simple – just flour & water.  After it has rested for some time, the dough was cut into small, uniform pieces and rolled into a ball, then flattened.  Two pieces of dough were placed one on top of each other with a generous layer of sesame oil in between.  These two pieces of dough were then rolled out in flour to form a ‘pancake’

The pancakes were fried on a dry griddle for about 1 minute each side until they puffed up in the middle.  When they were removed from the pan, it was possible to separate the one pancake into two because the oiled layer in the middle.  It was all quite fascinating!

Here is the recipe:

Makes 12

1 3/4 cups (8 ounces) unbleached flour
3/4 cup boiling water
1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
1 teaspoon salt

In a bowl, mix the flour and the boiling water. Turn the dough onto a lightly floured board, gather it into a heap, and knead it until smooth, about 3 minutes. Cover with a towel and let it rest for about 1/2 hour.

With your hands, shape the dough into an even cylinder about 12 inches long. With a sharp knife, preferably serrated, cut the roll into 1-inch pieces.

Lightly flour your palms and use them to flatten the pieces into 2-inch rounds. Brush the top of each round generously with sesame oil. Lay one round on top of another, oiled sides together. Flatten the pair together with the heel of your hand. Continue until you have 6 pairs.

With a floured rolling pin, roll each pair into a thin pancake about 7 inches in diameter, flipping the pancake over now and again to roll evenly on both sides. Stack the pancakes as you finish rolling them.

In an ungreased cast-iron skillet or nonstick pan over medium-high heat, cook the pancakes one at a time. Heat one side until it becomes less opaque and starts to bubble slightly, and just a few brown spots appear, about 1 min. Flip it over and cook it until a few light brown spots appear on the other side, about 30 seconds.

While the pancake is still hot, pick it up, look for a seam to grab, and separate it into two very thin pancakes. Stack them on a plate as you go and wrap them in foil to keep them warm and prevent drying. If not using right away, refrigerate until ready to use.

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Ottawa Eco Fair

Jacqueline Cooks Soup!

This past weekend Jacqueline from the Red Apron was the featured Chef at the Ottawa Eco Fair.  This event celebrates green living ideas, products and services.  While there Jacqueline prepared an Heirloom Tomato Soup using heirloom tomatoes that we purchased from Bryson Farms.  This simple soup is a taste of summer, and we will be preparing a similar soup next week at Bonappetit!

Many people asked Jacqueline for the recipe, so by popular demand!

Roasted Garlic and Heirloom Tomato Soup

1 large or two small head garlic
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
2 large onions, sliced
8 cups tomatoes, fresh or frozen, skins removed.  You can also use canned tomatoes, but the quality is very important!
1/2 cup red wine
salt
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup whipping cream or cashew cream – See note (optional, but scrumptious)
fresh basil, parsley and chives, finely chopped

Roast garlic by wrapping it in foil and baking it a 350 oven for 35-40 minutes, until very soft.  Cut off the top and squeeze the garlic out into a bowl.  Heat the olive oil at med high, and when shimmery, add onions and 1/2 tsp of salt.  Saute onions, stirring every minute or so, until they are brown and very soft. Add minced garlic and cook another two minutes on medium, stirring constantly. Add wine and stir to scrape up the caramel from the onions.  Cook one more minute.

Add tomatoes,balsamic and sugar and a bit more salt, and heat through. Use the hand blender to blend until smooth or put it in the food processor. If it’s thick,  add a little stock or water.  Adjust seasoning. Add cream or cashew cream, and heat through to serving temperature.  Serve garnished with a generous portion of minced herbs.

Note:  To make cashew cream, blend raw cashews with the same quantity of  water in blender until it resembles cream.

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Food for Young Palates

Not everyone knows this, but the Red Apron provides fresh meals each day to Acorn Early Learning Centre, located in the Glebe on Rosebery Ave.  Joanne Saunders and her caring staff provide a safe, healthy and stimulating program for preschool children.

Many childcare centres operate with little budget allotted – or consideration made – for the food the children are eating.  Joanne’s desire to provide the children with a rich understanding of the importance of quality, nourishing ingredients, and also to educate them on the relationships between their personal health and the health of the environment and their communities, made this a project we had to be part of.

Each day the children eat the same types of food we prepare for our regular clients.  They enjoy a variety of organic whole grains (pastas, rice, couscous and barley).  They devour a healthy vegetable soup once a week, the type of soup changing from one week to the next – they have tried everything from gazpacho (not their favourite) to sweet potato & curried coconut (a big hit!).  They celebrated Chinese New Year this year with a feast of Long Life Noodles with Lucky Chicken and Greens. Each Friday throughout the warmer months, they receive a picnic-type lunch, which they take to the park to enjoy.

Many of the parents from Acorn visit our store, searching out their child’s favourite soup or muffin, but since all of the food is custom-made for the Centre, we rarely have the exact same item in our retail store.  So, to satisfy the needs of those hungry kids, we are sharing the recipe for the muffins we provide each day.  The recipe was created so that we could provide a moist and tasty, dairy-free and egg-free (Vegan) muffin.

So, by popular demand, here is the recipe.  This recipe makes a large batch (40-50 muffins).

3 cups        organic whole wheat flour
¾ cup        organic cane sugar
1/3 cup       oat bran
¼ tsp          salt
½ tsp          cinnamon
½ Tbsp      baking soda
½ Tbsp      baking powder

Mix all the dry ingredients together

3 cups         water
1 cup           oil
4 cups         fruit (frozen berries, chopped apples, etc.)

Note:  we have made a wide variety of combinations using this base recipe.  For banana muffins, we mash in 4 ripe bananas, and still add the chopped fruit.  We have made them as well with date puree.  They were fantastic!  You can also mix up the dry ingredients and keep the mixture in an airtight container, so when you want a small batch of muffins, you can just scoop out 1/4 of the dry ingredients, quarter the wet ingredients, mix, scoop into greased muffin tins and bake in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes.  Test for doneness. Enjoy!

Today's Very Berry Muffins

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