The quest for homemade Mayonnaise

I had a tea date with my friend Carol and I offered to bring the sandwiches. I mulled for days over what kind I would make. I finally decided on cheese and onion; egg salad; smoked salmon with cream cheese; chicken salad and cream cheese and cucumber. Unfortunately, many things worked against me:
1. I didn't have time to prepare the night before
2. Ariana stayed up late so didn't wake up until late so we were 1.5 hours late for our 10:30 date
3. Nica ate all the mayonnaise.

Say what?! ALL the mayonnaise you say? yup. All of it. And it was boxing day so a lot of shops were closed. But have no fear. I had eggs. 5 of them. I had watched loads of youtube videos about making homemade mayonnaise. How hard could it be since I have a fancy new food processor (Merry Christmas to me).

Well, it's hard.

Attempt #1 after watching Gordon Ramsay make it on youtube:
Result: FAIL. I put three egg yolks and a bit of dijon mustard in the food processor. Whirred it for a bit and then added sunflower oil VERRRRRRRRY slowly. The end result was a gross mess. Super runny and it didn't emulsify. Tossed it down the toilet. Figured I must have added the oil too slowly and overwhipped it.

Attempt #2 after watching this guy on youtube:
Result: FAIL again in the food processor. I used up one more egg. Still runny and gross. Tossed it down the toilet.

Attempt #3 after deciding I would hand mix it and use lemon juice instead of mustard to stabilize the yolks initially. I whisked and whisked. The husband at this point had woken up. He tried to give me advice by telling me how it didn't look right and it was too runny and how I should whisk it until it was thicker. Lemme tell you something... NOT helpful! Well, definitely not helpful when I'm down to my last egg, my last bit of sunflower oil and out of time for a lunch date. So I threw it all at him and told him to do it and retreated to my bedroom. Yes, I am that mature. He came in a little while later and you know what? He had beautiful mayonnaise in the bowl. I reluctantly took it and mumbled thanks and went on making my sandwiches (clearly I didn't have any eggs leftover for egg sandwiches so I just used it for the chicken salad instead). The husband tried to tell me that the secret was whisking in the same direction. I thought that was total baloney since it really shouldn't make a difference what direction you whisk it in. Eggs are eggs. At the molecular level it doesn't care which direction it's being beat from.

Successful thick mayonnaise!

So a few days later I found myself needing mayonnaise again. I am lazy enough that I wanted to try an appliance to make this stuff so I didn't have to use my arm muscles whisking. The food processor was getting one last chance. I added two eggs and a splash of lemon juice and dijon mustard and watched the processor go. This time I watched it more closely to see if it was actually mixing everything together. And... it wasn't. I have an 11 cup food processor and the blades weren't reaching the yolk/juice/mustard mixture. It was just splashing it around or just beneath the blade. So I tossed in another yolk to see if the slightly larger volume would help the blades grab it. Nope.

Beater Blade

So I scooped everything out of the food processor and put it into my kitchenaid mixer bowl. Used the wire whisk attachment and turned it on. Still not enough volume for the whisk to grab onto the liquid. So I took it off and whisked it by hand while slowly adding the sunflower oil. Much better. By hand seemed to do the trick. When the volume had increased enough, I thought I'd try the stand mixer again. The whisk attachment seemed kind of useless so I used the flat beater instead. Worked beautifully - I could control the whisking speed and it picked up all the mix. I should note that I don't ever use the Kitchenaid flat beater that comes with the stand mixer. I bought this after market beater blade that has silicone sides that help scrape food along the sides of the bowl for thorough mixing and it is worth every penny I spent on it (~$30).

I am definitely going to try this again with my kitchenaid in the future and forget about the food processor. That appliance is awesome, but not for mayonnaise.

Fuzion

 Christmas season = Family time, vacation, work parties and... Secret Santa gift exchanges. This year was a bit ridiculous for me. Since I switched jobs halfway through the year and my new job has a team, a department and building party planning committees, there was a ridiculous amount of holiday festivities.

A safe bet if you're doing a secret santa gift swap with gift stealing is booze. To give or to receive. (Lotto tickets also work well but I find booze to be more instantaneously fulfilling). Anyway, I ended up with this bottle of fuzion. I expect it was under $15 since that was the max amount for our exchange. At two separate gift exchanges it showed up so I figure it must be a pretty decent wine.

Being a blend of Shiraz and Malbec, you'd expect something typically spicy. Surprisingly, it was quite smooth and mellow. An easy to drink wine that would pair well with a steak dinner. I had it on its own and it wasn't 'OHMIGOD, this is AMAZING', but a nice 'I could drink this again'. I might even buy it if I were going to a friends house for dinner. 8 out of 10.

Chewy Chcolate Chip Cookies

Here's a chewy chocolate chip recipe that Trang gave me: http://www.freestylefarm.ca/2011/04/03/the-best-oatmeal-chocolate-chip-cookies/

THE BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP OATMEAL COOKIES

A perfect balance of crispy & chewy cookies, yields 3-4 dozen depending on how big you make them.

Wet Ingredients:

• ½ cup (or one stick) Melted Unsalted Butter
• ¼ cup Canola or Vegetable Oil
• 1 cup White Sugar
• 1 cup Brown Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract

Dry Ingredients:

• 2 cup Whole Wheat Flour
• 2 tsp Baking Soda
• ½ tsp Cinnamon
• ½ tsp Salt
  
• 1 cup Chocolate Chips (semi-sweet)
• 1½ cup Oatmeal

1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Combined melted butter, oil and sugar in a medium size bowl. Add eggs and vanilla, beat until smooth and glossy.
2. Add whole wheat flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon (sprinkle and distribute evenly) into wet mixture, and mix well. You should probably combine dry ingredients in a separate bowl first before adding, but this works too.
3. Add oatmeal and chocolate chips, and cut into the dough mixture.
4. Use two teaspoons to make ping-pong size balls, and drop onto parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Leave room in between for cookies to spread.
5. Bake for 8-10 minutes, ovens vary, so keep an eye and look for browning around the outside edge. A lighter brown cookie (slighter under done) for a chewier cookie, an darker brown for a crispier cookie. They will be very soft straightout of the oven, let them cool a bit to crisp up before handling or they will break.

December 23, 2012 update: I finally had time to bake these. Not bad... but not the best ever. I took them out early so they'd be chewy. Husband said they were fine but something was missing or... just not quite right. The search for the perfect cookie will continue.

Mac N' Cheese

My friend Janine is a vegetarian and the other day came into work complimenting a recipe she had tried the night before. It's Rachael Ray's mac n' cheese with roasted parsnips and cauliflower. She said it was easy to make and soooo delicious.

Having a toddler, mac n' cheese was a surefire win, right? (then again, my kid eats anything so that's not much to go by). Without reading the recipe, I bought a parsnip before I headed home.

It took me a few days before I finally had a night to try the recipe and by this time Mommy-brain had kicked in and I was convinced it was a risotto recipe. *sigh*. Anyway, I googled the recipe and tried it out. Turns out I should have bought TWO large parsnips (not one) but it did still turn out quite well. I had also run out of my regular extra virgin olive oil so I used less than what was called for (I only had super good extra virgin olive oil that I use for salads).  Also, instead of roasting the garlic with the oil (to make garlic oil), I just wrapped it in foil and tossed it in the oven along with the cauliflower.

The end result? 8 out of 10. I saw Nica sneak at least three bowls and Ariana finished off her plate too. Would be great for a children's party!

Here's the website link: http://www.rachaelray.com/recipe.php?recipe_id=4566

And here's the recipe:

Ingredients

• 4 cloves garlic, halved
• About 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
• 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 tablespoons fresh thyme
• Salt and pepper
• 1/2 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese
• 2 large parsnips, peeled and chopped
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1 cup chicken stock or vegetable stock
• 1 3/4 cups milk
• Freshly grated nutmeg, to taste
• 1 1/2 cups shredded Fontina cheese or Gruyère cheese
• 1 pound regular or whole wheat ziti or Italian-style, straight-cut macaroni

Serves 4-6

Preparation

Pre-heat the oven to 400°F.

In a small pot, combine the garlic and EVOO; heat over a low flame and gently cook until the garlic is light golden in color and very fragrant, about 10-15 minutes. Remove the garlic cloves and reserve.

Pile the cauliflower on a baking sheet and dress with the lemon juice, about 3-4 tablespoons of the garlic-infused oil and the thyme, salt and pepper. Toss to combine and spread the florets out in a single layer. Roast to brown at the edges and until tender, 20-25 minutes. Cover with the Parmigiano Reggiano and roast for 5 minutes more. Turn the oven off.

Meanwhile, boil the parsnips in salted water to tender, 10-15 minutes. Puree in a food processor with the garlic cloves.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil for the pasta.

In a saucepot, combine the remaining garlic oil and butter over medium heat. When the butter foams, whisk in the flour and cook for 1 minute; add the stock and milk and thicken. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg; combine the sauce with the parsnip puree and melt in the cheese.

Cook the pasta to al dente. Drain the pasta and toss with the sauce. Arrange in a serving dish topped with crispy cauliflower florets on top.

This is one of many "Yum-o!" recipes – it's good and good for you. To find out more about Yum-o!, Rachael's nonprofit organization, visit
www.yum-o.org.

Easy Pasta recipe

When I finally found a seller for a pasta roller on craigslist, he parted with his pasta recipe as well. So far, it's been the best one I've tried! It's super simple too. Here it is:
- 2 cups flour
- pinch of salt
- 1 egg
- max 1/2 cup water
- 1 tablespoon of oil.

Mix it all up (i.e. put flour and salt on table, make a well, put in egg and oil, mix with flour and then add water as needed. , put it through the pasta roller and voila!

Recently my brother was attempting to make his own pasta and I was trying to find this recipe (it was only written on a post it and buried in the depths of all our moving boxes). Now that I've found it, it's going electronic so I don't lose it again!

Plum and Ginger sorbet

On a recent trip to Napa Valley, my friend Mela and I visited the Culinary Institute of the Arts. It was my Holy Grail. She even surprised me with a cooking class! We got to cook in the CIA kitchen under the instruction of an author of one of their cookbooks.
The chef I cooked with was Cate Conniff, the author of Seasons in the Wine country. We were divided into separate groups and given a few recipes to execute. Afterwards we all sat down together to eat the fruits of our labor.

One of the dishes I really enjoyed was the plum and ginger sorbet. So upon returning home, I found an ice cream maker in my parents magical basement (if you wish for something, I swear it just turns up) and this week with the weird hot spell, I put the recipe into action.

Here's what you need:
- 2 lbs of ripe sweet plums. Washed, pitted and quartered
- 2 cups cold water
- 1 cup sugar
- one inch of ginger, peeled
- 1 tablespoon vodka (lemon flavoured, plain or limoncello)
- pinch of kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice


Combine the plums, water, sugar and ginger. Bring it to a boil and then simmer for 20 minutes. Take out the ginger and then blend it until it's smooth. Strain the mixture through a sieve and then stir in vodka, salt and lemon juice. Chill (at least 2 hours). Then pour it into the ice cream maker.

Yeee-um. It was so easy that now I'm dreaming about making all sorts of ice creams and sorbets with fresh fruit. Blackberries, peaches, strawberries... the possibilities are endless!

The hunt for Starbucks banana bread

Ali's son, Ben, will only eat banana bread from Starbucks. So I have made it my mission to try and find this recipe. Usually, my staple banana bread is the sour cream recipe. However that recipe results in a lighter coloured moist bread. Starbucks is a lot darker.

So in the wee hours of the morning during another one of my insomniac nights, I googled "dark banana bread" and found this recipe: http://www.grouprecipes.com/51782/black-banana-bread.html


Ingredients:

• 3 large black bananas
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 tsp. baking soda
• dash salt
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 cup cooking oil
• 1 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup buttermilk 

Directions:

• Line two loaf pans with tin foil and heat oven to 275 F.
• In a large mixing bowl mash the bananas with the sugar and then mix with the salt and soda. Blend in the eggs, then, in order, the oil, flour and buttermilk.
• Pour batter into loaf pans and bake for about 2 1/2 hours or until a tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

Buttermilk had proven itself to be the key ingredient in making chocolate cupcakes moist - why not banana bread?

Some alterations:
I didn't use two loaf pans, I just used one.
I added probably 1/4 cup more buttermilk.
I used 4 small-ish bananas that weren't black.
I couldn't stand waiting 2 1/2 hours so I put the oven at 325 F. It took 90 minutes to cook.

My parents gave it 9 out of 10, Nica only gave it 8. I'm with Nica. In comparison to the sour cream banana bread, this wasn't as tasty (but probably just as moist). The colour was definitely darker though.

The true test? Ben wouldn't eat it. he took one look and had a "I'm not eating that" face. Back to the banana board.

Chocolate oatmeal cookies

My prenatal class instructor gave us a little treat every time we went: cookies! She's an amazing baker and even though I wasn't suppose to, I did take a little nibble on a couple of occasions. Ohmigod, her cookies were delicious. I asked her for the recipe and unfortunately, she conveniently "forgot" to send it. I don't think she wanted to part with the secret.

Since then, I have been DREAMING of the chocolate oatmeal cookies she made. Tomorrow, I am going to attempt to recreate them!

This is the first recipe I'll try:
http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/chewy-chocolate-chip-oatmeal-cookies/Detail.aspx

Chewy Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies
Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups quick-cooking oats
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats, walnuts, and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto ungreased baking sheets.
Bake for 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Update January 7, 2011:
Not bad, not bad!!! I omitted the walnuts from the recipe above but overall, 8 out of 10. They're a little chewier than the ones Alexis made (Mom complimented the moistness) and I think if I make these again I'll use 1/2 teaspoon less salt.

Zesty Lemon Potato Salad

The other night while having a SYTYCD marathon, we did a potluck dinner at Janine's house. I brought grilled vegetables and a crab appetizer and Janine made chili salmon and a zesty mint limeade. I can't tell what was better: the show or the food!

The potato salad was just right for a hot summer's night and the dill and lemon just added that lift that a boring potato salad is always desperately in need of. The mint limeade was a little tart but a perfect non-alcoholic accompaniment to a summer's night dinner.

Here's the recipe for the zesty lemon potato salad (thanks Victoria!)

Ingredients:
600g of fingerling potatoes (sliced),
50g shredded rocket (arugula) leaves

Dressing:
2 tbsp chopped preserved lemon rind,
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard,
1/2 cup whole egg mayonnaise,
2 tbsp lemon juice,
sea salt and cracked pepper.

Place the potatoes in a saucepan of boiling water and cook until tender (usually about 8 minutes). Drain and rinse under running water. toss the potato with the rocket.

To make the dressing, place the preserved lemon rind, mustard, mayonnaise, lemon juice, salt and pepper in a bowl and whisk to combine. to serve pour the dressing over the potatoes and rocket and toss gently. serves 4.

Note: we dropped the arugula from the recipe (thank God) because I find the green a little too bitter for my liking.

Show me dem Mussels!

About a week and a half ago, Nica and I took this one-day French cooking course at this place called "Cookshop" in City Square. All Summer long they had 2 for 1 classes so for the two of us, it only cost $99. http://www.cookshop.ca/store/

So essentially what happens is that you're in the class with a bunch of other people. There's a demonstration area at the front of the class, and a series of tables in front of that. Each table has a portable stovestop on it, with the ingredients for whatever dish you're going to make. In our class, we were going to learn how to make 7 different dishes from the French Brittany region. I initially thought that we were going to make all 7 ourselves (just Nica and I) but I learnt that each couple would prepare one of the dishes, and then we'd all share together at the end of it.

It was a bit of a gong show. The chef was good in coming around to each one of our tables and showing us the cooking technique for our own dish. Sometimes he'd call everyone over to watch what he was doing but since you were cooking for everyone, you didn't want to abandon your station and ruin the food. So I did miss a few demonstrations. I didn't leave with the comfort of knowing how to cook the other dishes so I probably wouldn't do a participation class again.

My review aside, we have put to use some of the recipes he gave us. Last night we enjoyed the Steamed mussels with White Wine, Shallot and Parsley. In the class my friends Janine and Cam made this. They said it was super simple so we thought we could give it a try too. I picked up a bag of mussels from Costco and had enough to make this dish twice: once for ourselves and again last night with another couple, Flo and Scott.

Here's the recipe:

4 1/2 pounds of mussels, scrubbed with the beard removed
1 1/2 ounces butter
1/2 cup chopped shallots
1/2 chopped celery stalk
2 garlic cloves
1 2/3 cup white wine
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs fresh thyme
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Discard any mussels that are open already and don't close when tapped on the work surface. Melt the butter in a large saucepan and cook the shallots, celery and garlic, stirring occasionally, over moderate heat until the onion is softened but not browned.

Add the wine, bay leaf and thyme to the saucepan and bring to a boil. Add the mussels, cover the saucepan tightly and simmer over low heat for 2-3 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally. Use tongs to lift out the mussels as they open, putting them into a warm dish. Throw away any mussels that haven't opened after 3 minutes.

Strain the liquid through a fine sieve into a clean saucepan, leaving behind any grit or sand. Bring to a boil again for 2 minutes. Add the cream and reheat the sauce without boiling. Season well. Serve the mussels in individual bowls with liquid poured over. Sprinkle with parsley and serve with plenty of bread.

My notes: Both times we made the mussels I forgot to buy the celery and thyme so we did it without. Also we used half-and-half cream instead of cream. The first time it separated when we added it to the broth because it was boiling and we added the cream too quickly. Plus we used our Gustav Adolf Schmitt as the wine which was far too sweet. The second time we used a Pinot Gris by Coppermoon and Nica let the broth cool a bit before adding the cream slowly as he stirred. It was a 100 times better the second time and Flo gave it a great review.

My changes for next time? I don't think I'll buy mussels from Costco again. And I'll probably use celery and fresh thyme to see if it makes a big difference.

Wolf Blass: 2006 Shiraz Cabernet Sauvignon

My friend Naz brought over this bottle of red wine. Can't remember if I liked it or not! I drank it all so I can only figure that I did...I'm giving it an 8 out of 10.

Salmon teriyaki with udon noodles

Since I still had a whole filet left from my party, I needed to do something else with that salmon.
Nica and I had been out all day doing errands and when we finally got home, I thought about having udon noodles with salmon teriyaki on top.

Here is what I used:
1/3 salmon filet from Costco
teriyaki sauce (the huge tub from Costco, where else?)
salt and pepper
2 packages udon noodles (from Superstore, the ones that don't need to be refrigerated)
soy sauce
worcestire sauce
oyster sauce
water
broccoli
cabbage
garlic
1/2 onion, sliced
oil

Instructions:
In a wok, heat a little bit of oil. Add the washed cabbage, garlic, onion and broccoli and stir fry.

Heat a separate frying pan and add the salmon that has teriyaki sauce brushed all over it. Cover.

Once the vegetables are cooked, add the udon noodles and some water. I like the udon noodles tender and juicy. I also added worcestire, soy and oyster sauce. Cover and let the evaporating water steam the noodles. Stir often. Leave it for a few minutes uncovered so the soup can evaporate.

Serve the salmon over the udon/vegetable mixture. There shouldn't be much juice left since most of it should have evaporated.

Nica loved this dish which again, surprised me because he doesn't like salmon!

Make it again? Yup. But maybe add some carrots next time for more colour.
Rating: 8 out of 10.

Garlic Mushroom CousCous

I was busy trying to put the herb salmon recipe together (see last post) so I asked Mela if she could help me make the Garlic mushroom couscous. I decided on this one because it seemed healthy and I love garlic and mushroom. I didn't want too much onion in the food since it leaves such a strong after-breath.

I'm pretty sure she followed the directions to a T, so here it is:
1 1/4 cup chicken or vegetable broth
1 cup couscous
1/3 cup chopped mushrooms
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp shredded parmesan cheese or soy "parmesan" shreds

Instructions:
1. Bring broth to a boil in sauce pan or microwavable dish. Remove from heat.
2. Add couscous, mushrooms, and garlic. Mix well.
3. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes
4. Stir and fluff couscous mixture
5. Top with cheese before serving.

Yes, it was *that* easy. Now for the bumps we hit along the way: Mela accidentally opened cream of chicken soup instead of the chicken broth. No biggie, but now I have to find a recipe that uses that since it's just sitting in a container in the fridge. We didn't have real parm cheese so I used the fake KRAFT Parm cheese. Not quite the same, but the results were delicious! It sat for a while before we ate (we were waiting for the salmon and garlic bread) so it was kinda cold but I imagine it would have been better if we could have eaten it immediately.

Would I make it again? Rather would I make it myself again? Definitely. But I would leave it until 5 minutes before everything else was made since it was so simple and quick.

Rating: 8 out of 10.