Auchentoshan Chocolate Pecan Pie

When Jeff had a milestone birthday this summer, our dear friends bought him a bottle of 12-year-old Auchentoshan. As this was his first nice bottle of single malt scotch whisky, they offered to host a tasting for us. Since they are both scotch connoisseurs, we knew we were in for a treat; in fact, one of them, Mortie C, is the blogger behind The Spirit Safe. Definitely check it out; he is very knowledgeable and informative. I've learned a lot from him!


Mortie and I thought that it would be interesting if I used the Auchentoshan in a dessert, so that we both could blog about the tasting (for Mortie's complete review of the Auchentoshan at The Spirit Safe, click here.) I knew exactly where to look for a delicious recipe: Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, is a book full of classic-with-a-twist desserts that includes Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie. As a novice baker, most of their recipes are a little advanced for my abilities, but the book is so gorgeous and inspiring that I've read it from cover to cover at least 4 times. The Baked pecan pie recipe, I thought, seemed manageable, and I was excited to actually use the book for the first time.

Another first for me was making my own pie crust. Oh, boy. On my list of "Things that Terrify Me to My Very Core," making my own pie crust is sandwiched between being mauled by a grizzly bear and burning the house down with my hair straightener. So, as I began my pie adventure, I was even more frazzled than usual. Thankfully, after two attempts, I ended up with something that looked OK; in fact, I was quite pleased with myself!

Once the crust had a chance to freeze, the recipe called for a single layer of semi-sweet chocolate chips. Clearly, the gentlemen behind Baked know what they're doing!

Onto the custard filling. I combined eggs, corn syrup, white and brown sugars, butter, salt and vanilla. I replaced the bourbon in the recipe with Auchentoshan, of course, and increased its amount from 3 tbsp to 1/4 cup so that I could be sure it would shine. I mixed in some chopped toasted pecan halves from the farmer's market, and poured it carefully onto the chocolate layer.

Then, it was time to arrange the rest of the pecan halves on top of the filling.

After about an hour of baking, the pie was done. I had a moment of sheer panic when I realized that the pie looked like a soufflé! The custard had puffed right up to a dome that was three times as high as the crust! I set it out to cool, and thankfully, while I was pacing around the kitchen, sweating and muttering, it settled down to a normal height for pie. I've since done some research, and it turns out the puffing up is typical. Apparently, this is common knowledge to the point where no recipe that I looked at even bothered mentioning it. What, am I the only moron in the world who would bake a pecan pie and not expect this hot air balloon phenomenon? How are we beginners supposed to know these things?! WHY WASN'T I WARNED?!?!!!

Aaaaaaah, much better.

When I finally cut into the pie at the tasting, it was clear that something had gone awry with the dough. Although it looked nice, the texture was all wrong. The crust was too tough, and more crunchy than flaky (both Jeff and Mortie's wife likened it to phyllo). I was somewhat comforted by the fact that it had a really nice, buttery taste, which motivates me to perfect my method. I've read Deb's tutorial at Smitten Kitchen, and I suspect that I added too much ice water to the dough before resting it. Oh well, you can't win 'em all, and I've read many times that it takes a lot of practice to master pie crust. I shall soldier on!

On the bright side, I really enjoyed the filling. The pecans were nice and toasty, the custard was sweet and gooey, and the chocolate provided an added layer of richness. I particularly enjoyed the Auchentoshan, which I thought came through nicely in the final product. With notes of toffee, vanilla, and nuts, it complemented the pecan pie in the most delightful way.
Mortie C kindly provided this picture of a leftover slice of pie, so that you can better appreciate its layers. He reported that he enjoyed the pie even more cold, right out of the fridge, as the custard had a chance to set.

Baked does flavour right, and I know I will make this Auchentoshan Chocolate Pecan Pie again when I'm more confident in my technique. Although I was disappointed, what's important is that I had a wonderful evening with great friends and a good spirit. You know you've found nice people when they'll not only hack through a pie with a rock-solid crust without complaint, but even give compliments. Today's lesson: when in doubt about your dessert, be sure to serve it with copious amounts of delicious scotch whisky!

Embracing Fat

Like any other person in our society who watches TV, reads magazines, and associates with other human beings, I am constantly bombarded by two little words. Two words that make my skin crawl, two words that invite me to bash my head against my desk, two tiny little words that represent everything I think is wrong with the way we eat.

Those two little words? "Low" and "Fat".

I have rage, people! Low-Fat Rage! I hate how "low-fat" has become the gold standard qualifier against which we judge the nutritional value of food. Actually, in a lot of cases, "food." Here are some food items that you may hear are worth gorging on, due to the fact that they're low in fat (or, LOW-FAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!! as certain magazines love to exclaim):

-angel food cake

-gummy bears

-jelly beans

-marshmallows

-Crystal Light

-Frosted Flakes

-birch bark

That list sure represents the foundations of a healthy diet. I wonder why those clowns over at Canada's Food Guide haven't jumped all over this!

In all seriousness, it's a shame that fat has gotten such a bad rap over the years. Every single cell in your body is made up of fat. Your brain? Mostly fat! Fat fuels us. Why has it become the Boogey Man?

We have been misled, for years, about what is healthy for our bodies. It's no longer a secret that most food that is labelled as low-fat contains a terrifying amount of sugar (which, in abundance, is actually more like the Boogey Man, if you ask me, but I digress.) Forget our bodies for a second. What about our minds? We've been made to beat ourselves up and measure our self worth over what tasty things we put in our bellies! That's no way to live.

You know what tastes great? Butter. Eggs. Cheese. Cream. Real mayonnaise. Olive oil.

You know what tastes awful? Guilt.

Just let it go! I promise that you will be much happier. Isn't that what really matters? A few years ago, after reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan, and Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingslover, I decided to forget all of my Fat Guilt. It felt so wrong for a while, but I soon got used to my 2% milk, regular cheese, full-fat mayonnaise, and butter, because my life was so rich (pun intended) with deliciousness.

I have news for those who read things like this and say, "My stars! That's so unhealthy! Surely you're sabotaging your health by eating such evil things as butter!" Actually, eating fat does not equal getting fatter. Since making the transition to eating real food (that is, anything that grows in the ground, or on trees, or comes from an animal) I have never been healthier. I'm in better shape and at a lower weight than I ever was when I eat what I had been brainwashed into thinking was good for me. Even though I include fat in my diet, my blood pressure is in the healthy lower range, and the results from my routine blood work are better than average. My doctor loves me!

Here's the thing about real, natural fat: it tastes so good, that you only need a little. A small piece of real applewood smoked cheddar is far more satisfying than an entire block of low-fat, rubbery cheese. I'd rather eat one tablespoon of real, thick, 6% fat yogurt lightly sweetened with honey or maple syrup, than an entire 750mL container of thin, runny, non-fat yogurt sweetened with acid rain, or whatever it is they put in there.

So, in the spirit of embracing fat, I thought I would share part of what I had for brunch this morning. Since it's Saturday, I wanted it to be special.

I whisked three eggs with a splash of milk and some kosher salt, and poured it into a pan that was coated in a bit of sizzling butter.

I added some feta cheese, which was left over from Greek Finger Food Night (a popular Friday night meal at our place.)

Once I folded the omelette, I put some more cheese on top, just to make it look pretty.

I then finished it off with a dollop of tzatziki sauce. Mmmmm...

I'm convinced that if I had instead made an egg-white-from-a-carton omelette fried in margarine or cooking spray, with low-fat cheese and a dollop of non-fat yogurt, my foodie self would have been so unsatisfied, that I would have run to the store and bought an armload of (LOW-FAT!!!!!!) licorice for lunch to console myself. OK, maybe I'm exaggerating...but right now I feel satisfied, nourished, and, most of all, content. And nothing tastes better than that.

Weeknight Macaroni and Tomatoes

Does everyone's grandmother make macaroni and tomatoes? You know, canned tomatoes mixed with ground beef, macaroni, and not much else? Both Jeff and I have memories of our grandmothers fixing us this comforting concoction; so, when we found ourselves on a Thursday night with a basket of local Roma tomatoes that needed to be used up, and an inventory of our fridge was less than inspiring, we thought of this simple childhood dish.

We figured that neither Gram nor Grand-Maman would be offended by a version modified to our current tastes, so Jeff set to quartering the beautiful, fresh tomatoes.

Meanwhile, I sauteed an onion and some garlic in a mixture of olive oil and butter until softened and fragrant. In went the tomatoes, which looked so pretty in the pot with the spices Jeff added in abundance (basil, oregano, and herbes de provence, with salt and lots of freshly cracked pepper.)

I browned a pound of ground beef from Stephen Taylor's Farm in a nearby skillet, while the whole-wheat pasta boiled away in yet another pot. After we added the meat to the tomato mixture, I remembered a pack of mushrooms that we had in our sorry fridge. I softened those babies up in some garlic butter, and threw them and the drained pasta into the pool with the others. Then, the entire thing was poured into a baking dish.

As you may have noticed, there aren't very many dishes that make it past my inspection without the incorporation of cheese. Although not in my grandmother's original, I sprinkled a blend of shredded Italian cheeses (mozzarella, asiago, provolone, and parmesan) on top before baking. We were very patient, and then...

Heaven! The macaroni and tomatoes was extremely comforting. It tasted so familiar to me, with just a little bit of a new twist. This was a great way to use our tomatoes! I liked the bright and fresh flavour that they brought to the table (no pun intended.) Also, I can't say enough about using garlic butter in this dish; it really stood out, but in the most delightful way.

I enjoyed this so much, that I want to experiment further. Something I'd really like to try, when I've bothered to plan ahead, is folding in cubes of fresh mozzarella before baking. However, that being said, Jeff and I both found ourselves craving Kraft "Parmesan Cheese," the stuff in the green can. Yikes...funny what childhood memories can do to a person!

Not Your Grandmother's Macaroni and Tomatoes: The Recipe

Amanda's Notes: Make sure you undercook your pasta just a little bit, so that it will finish cooking to a perfect al dente in the oven.

Ingredients

3.0 L fresh tomatoes, quartered

1 onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1 lb mushrooms, sliced

olive oil, garlic butter

1 lb hamburger, browned

1 box whole-wheat macaroni

1 tsp each basil, oregano, herbes de provence

salt and freshly cracked pepper

Italian cheese, grated

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F.

Sautee onions and garlic in a mixture of olive oil and garlic butter, until soft. Add mushrooms, sautee until soft.

Add tomatoes and spices. Add ground beef and pasta. Season to taste.

Sprinkle with cheese and bake pasta for 25-30 min. Broil to brown the cheese.

Let the pasta sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

World's Best Garlic Bread

It has been very cold and rainy around here lately, which has made me kind of grouchy. Well, if the weather can't be nice, at least I can try to cheer myself up with food! Last night we made a gigantic pot of chili for supper, and today Jeff slaved away over a homemade pasta sauce made from local tomatoes. I decided that my life-changing* garlic bread would be a fitting contribution to this comforting Sunday night dinner.

*not an exaggeration

***Disclaimer: Readers should be advised that the following recipe may ruin their enjoyment of regular garlic bread.***

When I make garlic bread, I like to make my own roasted garlic butter. It's so easy, yet so very delicious! If you've never tried roasted garlic, you are missing out on one of life's most mouth-watering experiences. Once roasted, garlic is smooth and mellow, with a deliciously nutty taste that doesn't sting in the least. I can't do it justice with a simple description; you must try it yourself.

All you have to do is peel a bulb of garlic until you get down to the skins that cover the individual cloves; then, cut through the tips of the cloves so that they're exposed while the bulb remains intact. Drizzle the garlic bulb with olive oil, rub it into the cloves with your fingers, and top with salt and pepper. Wrap the whole thing in aluminum foil, and it's ready to roast.

Once your kitchen smells amazing, your bundle of joy is ready to be opened. The bulb is done roasting when the cloves are golden and soft, and the papery skins are browned.

Once it has cooled enough to be handled, just hold the bulb in your hand and squeeze it. The cloves will slide out of the bulb like butter.

Speaking of butter...

Hello, dear friend.

Mix your roasted garlic into one softened stick of butter. You've now made real, homemade garlic butter, in less time than it would take you to pick up a container of "garlic spread" from the grocery store deli. Roasted garlic butter just makes sense!

Here's how I like to proceed: I toast a loaf of crusty bread in the oven, just until it's warm; that way, the garlic butter spreads very easily on the bread halves.

I top them with more freshly cracked pepper, then broil until the butter is sizzling, and the garlic pieces and the edges of the bread are nice and golden brown.

I always slice my garlic bread into really thin slices. I was trying to remember why, and then I realized that that's just how my mom used to slice garlic bread on spaghetti nights. It just tastes better that way!

Most of the time, I like to keep my garlic bread simple. However, I do like to sprinkle some chopped fresh Italian parsley on top for a dash of colour.

Oh, my. There's nothing more to say.

Except: you must make this. You must make this now.

Boy, do I love rainy days.

World's Best Garlic Bread: The recipe

Amanda's notes: I roast the foil-covered bulb directly on the oven rack, although a muffin pan can come in handy for this purpose.

Leftover garlic butter is great on grilled cheese sandwiches or steak.

Ingredients

1 garlic bulb

1 stick butter, softened

1 loaf crusty bread

salt and freshly cracked pepper

fresh Italian parsley, chopped

Directions

Preheat oven to 400F.

Peel garlic bulb until you're left with the skins of the individual cloves. Slice off the top of the bulb, so that the tip of each clove is removed. Drizzle and rub with olive oil, season. Wrap in foil, and roast in oven for 30-40 min, until cloves are golden, and papery skins are browned. Cool.

Squeeze cloves into a bowl, and mix with butter. Meanwhile, warm loaf of bread or bread halves in oven. Spread garlic butter on bread halves, top with freshly cracked pepper, broil until golden brown.

Slice garlic bread into thin slices, sprinkle with parsley.

Enjoy!

Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Icing: A Success Story

As much as I love to cook, I am a terrible baker. I always get flustered, I always make a huge mess in the kitchen, and I always make myself nauseous from sampling too much batter. Most disappointing is the fact that I fail more often than not, especially when it comes to cake. Jeff recently had a milestone birthday, and, since his favourite cake in the whole world is carrot cake with cream cheese icing, I planned on making one for his birthday party.

You must understand how nervous I was about this cake. This was my third attempt at making a carrot cake for Jeff; the first time, I bought pre-grated carrots that didn't cook down into the cake, resulting in a stringy, crunchy mess that had to be eaten with the use of a knife (Jeff: "This is great, honey! Best carrot cake I've ever had!") The second time, although I hand-grated my carrots, I suspect I either over-mixed the batter or didn't add enough flour, because the cake didn't rise at all (Jeff: "This is amazing! I couldn't ask for a better birthday cake!") They say the third time's the charm, so I had high hopes that I would finally get it right.

I did a couple of things differently this time; to begin, I decided to grate the carrots on the finer side of my grater, so that I'd get a really smooth batter.

Most importantly, I think, I also tried to stay calm and take my time, carefully measuring all of my dry ingredients: flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. The lovely colour you see there is cinnamon and nutmeg, which give carrot cake its classic spiciness.

In another bowl went the wet ingredients: oil, eggs, both brown and white sugar, and vanilla.

The idea with separating the ingredients is that you can completely smooth out the wet ones before adding them to the dry ones, so that you don't over-mix the batter. Lumps are good in cake batter, because they produce air pockets during baking, which makes the cake fluffy (see, I'm aware of all the theory; it's just when it comes to practice that I'm a clumsy mess.)

Once the two are combined, you stir just until it's moistened. I find that trusting my judgement when following a baking recipe is hard, but I just went for an incorporated-yet-still-lumpy look to the batter (and tried really hard not to panic.)

I say "yes!" to adding crushed pineapple and walnuts. I really like them in carrot cake, but to each their own. Just a gentle stir into the batter, and then the whole thing goes into a greased pan.

I crossed my fingers, popped it in the oven, and spent the next half hour on the couch, moaning from the pain (read: sampling raw batter). However, once I got a glimpse of my cake, all of my worries and discomfort faded...

The cake looked like, well, a real cake! It had risen, and everything! Tears of joy sprang to my eyes as I hopped around, hooting and hollering, scaring the crap out of Jeff and the dog. Ah, what a moment.

As the cake cooled, I moved on to the cream cheese icing, which I decided to sweeten partly with maple syrup, one of Jeff's favourite flavours. I iced the cake, but there's no photographic evidence of the final product; it was, to put it bluntly, hideous. Who cares what the outside looks like, though, when the inside looks like this?

Folks, I finally did it. This carrot cake was extremely moist and fluffy, with the perfect amount of spice. The maple syrup acted as a subtle, yet intriguing background flavour in the icing, which I very much enjoyed. All in all, I was very pleased, and proud to serve the cake to our friends in honour of Jeff's birthday. (Jeff: "Not that I didn't love the other ones, but this one is your best!")

Lessons I learned: to calm down, take my time, trust my judgement, and stay away from the batter. I'm so jazzed, and ready for more! Anyone have a birthday coming up?

The Recipe: Carrot Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Icing

I followed this Canadian Living recipe to the letter to make the cake, except that I substituted walnuts for the pecans. To make the maple cream cheese icing, I omitted the vanilla, and added about 3 tbsp of pure maple syrup. I also used more icing sugar than this recipe called for, about 3 cups in total.

Enjoy!

The Joy of Leftovers: Sunday Brunch Hash

My sister was up for a visit last week, and I made her a potato salad. I absentmindedly boiled almost double the amount of potatoes that I needed, so I had quite a bit of leftover quartered red potatoes in my fridge.

When Sunday morning came along, I was a bit gloomy because my sister had left; therefore, I decided to cheer myself up by taking those potatoes and making something delicious and comforting: a potato hash.

I chopped up an onion and a green pepper, and sliced some cremini mushrooms. I then sauteed the onion and mushrooms in some butter, until softened. My kitchen smelled wonderful, and already I felt rejuvenated.

In went the potatoes, that I mashed into the pan. Since I like my potatoes with a bit of a crunch to them, I really wanted them to crisp up in the butter and form a crust on the bottom.

Once the potatoes had warmed through, I mixed in the chopped green pepper and some crumbled bacon, along with salt and freshly cracked pepper, and garlic powder.

As if all that wasn't enough in the way of comfort, I decided that my hash would need some cheese; I settled on grating a block of old cheddar, to provide a bit of sharpness.

I sprinkled the cheese all over the hash, and then set my oven-proof skillet under the broiler for a few minutes. When I removed the bubbly hash from the oven, there was a gasp of delight from my audience (Jeff). It was quite a sight!

It was hard to restrain myself from digging in and eating my brunch right off of the stove, but I had even bigger plans in mind; I topped my hash with a fried egg (I was aiming for over-easy, but I got distracted. Does anyone else find that timing breakfast dishes is one of life's biggest challenges?)

This hash was just what I needed to pick me up on a Sunday. The potatoes were so creamy, yet crispy and browned on the bottom. The onion and mushrooms were soft and fragrant, while the green pepper remained crunchy, and, along with the crispy bacon, improved the overall texture of the hash. Finally, the bubbly cheese just knocked this hash out of the park.

Trashy? Maybe. Delicious? Absolutely! Sometimes, that's all that matters.

Canada Day Potato Salad

I find it interesting to hear people talk about potato salad. I almost get the impression that, in order to make potato salad, you must think that your version is the absolute best, and you must remain fiercely loyal to your choice of ingredients and recipe. It isn't something that I grew up eating, but I have tried it a few times. I've never found one that has made me want to do backflips, usually finding them kind of bland; plus, the texture weirds me out. Cold mashed potatoes? No, thank you!

In the mood to experiment in honour of Canada Day yesterday, I decided to try making my own version of potato salad. Since I felt no traditional obligation to include any particular ingredient, all I envisioned were big chunks of potato in a simple, creamy dressing. After a bit of research, I found a couple of recipes from Martha Stewart to use as inspiration, combining elements of both to achieve my perfect potato salad.

I chose a patriotic combination of red and white potatoes for my dish. After boiling, I followed one of Martha's great tips and added vinegar and onions to the potato chunks while still hot. They really absorbed the vinegar as they cooled, which ensured that they remained very flavourful in the salad. I'm convinced that the end result wouldn't have been the same had I simply added vinegar to my dressing. Genius!

I used a mixture of mayonnaise and sour cream (both full-fat; sorry, Martha) to make the dressing, to which I decided to add some fresh dill for even more flavour. After the salad sat in the fridge for a few hours, I folded in some green onions and a little bit of bacon, and served it up to Jeff and some hungry friends.

I was really pleased with how the potato salad turned out. It didn't have very many ingredients, yet it was full of great taste. I enjoyed the texture of the chunky and vinegar-infused potatoes, and the creaminess of the dressing. The green onions and dill ensured a burst of fresh flavour in every bite, while the bacon...well, bacon just makes everything better! It was a total success.

Happy birthday, Canada! May we share this potato salad for years to come.

Canada Day Potato Salad: The Recipe

Serves 6-8

Inspired by Martha Stewart.

Ingredients
4 lb small and/or new potatoes, scrubbed and quartered
½ cup white wine vinegar
¾ cup mayonnaise
¼ cup sour cream
1 bunch fresh dill, chopped
6 green onions, minced, divided into green and white parts
4 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled
Kosher salt and freshly cracked black pepper to taste

Directions
Cover potatoes with cold, salted water in a large pot. Bring to a boil; reduce heat. Simmer until potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork (12 to 15 minutes.) Drain.

While potatoes are boiling, combine white wine vinegar with the white parts of the green onions, and a bit of salt and freshly cracked black pepper. Add warm potatoes, and toss to coat. Let potatoes cool to room temperature, tossing occasionally.

In a bowl, combine mayonnaise, sour cream, dill, and salt and pepper to taste. Add to cooled potatoes. Refrigerate salad for at least a couple of hours.

To serve, fold in remaining green onions and bacon. Taste and season, if needed.

Enjoy!