Northern Ontario Breakfast

Hello dear friends, I hope you are not cold like me.  The weather is extremely cold, all this week the temperature was between -40C to -45C with the wind-chill, and the school buses are not running in this cold weather, this is not fun for working parents, when they get the call that the school buses are not running due to severe cold weather.

I can imagine their chaos to rush the children to drop them to school before they go to work, and the same in the afternoon, either they have to leave early to pick up the children to take an hour from their schedule to pick up the children and then go back to work… not fun at all.

For some time I was planning on inviting a dear friend for breakfast but the timing didn’t work for both of us.  Yesterday we both decided that we do need to get together and enjoy some quality time … and for that I decided to make a pancakes breakfast, to be honest I was wishing on a Lebanese breakfast, but either the weather or the convenient were working for me.

For my breakfast I decided to prepare savoury and sweet pancakes and serve them with tea and then end up with Turkish coffee and cardamom Danish Fritters.

For some years I had a Æbleskive (Danish Fritters) cast iron pan which I never used, and every time I make pancakes or waffles I plan to use my fritters pan and practice on making some , this never happened, until yesterday –which I advise don’t try it when you have company coming and you are busy doing more than one thing at one time.  I thought it’s an easy process heating the pan greasing it pouring and then turning – it is not and you need practice to be able to pour the right amount, control the heat, and be an expert in turning the fritters...  I did make two pans the first one was not good at all, the second pan were accepted but my batter was not enough to get a real round fluffed fritter.  I didn’t give up, I need to practice more.

For the savoury pancakes I added white pepper, sharp old cheddar cheese, dash of nutmeg and I sprinkled some Himalayan sea salt .  Chopped chives or green onions will complete the flavour but to be honest it was so cold to go out warm the car for at least 30 minutes to drive to the store and pick up a package of chives.  If you are trying this version do add some it will lift the flavour .

For my sweet pancakes what is better than Northern Ontario Blueberry pancakes served with amazing local maple syrup (this past summer I got some nice local blueberries from a friend who sell at the farmer’s market and I froze them, the berries you buy at the store these days don’t  the same at all, they are good for decoration only)

I served my pancakes with a local Northern Ontario maple syrup, prepared by my friend Lori who is producing amazing products from the maple sap and she won many prizes for  the good quality of her products, Lori also participate at the North Bay Farmer’s Market from May till October .  I do use her maple syrup in some savoury dishes, with salmon and in marinating meat.





Danish Fritters

 



Bella Hill Maple Syrup Products

 

Best Pancakes Recipe

 

1¾ cup buttermilk or 1 ½ cup milk + ¼ cup white vinegar

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tbsp. sugar  -  1/4 cup if you are making sweet version

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

2 eggs

¼ cup melted butter plus extra for the pan or use cooking spray

Direction

 

In a bowl whip the eggs until fluffy add the melted butter, buttermilk and sugar and mix well.  In another bowl sift all the dry ingredients and then add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until no lumps. 

You can prepare this mix and leave it in the fridge and take it out one hour before cooking, or prepare the mix and let it rest for half an hour to rest before you start making your pancakes.  Some flour requires more liquid than others, you might need more buttermilk to adjust the recipe. 

 

I doubled the amount to have enough for my recipes.

I hope you give this recipe a try, honestly it’s an amazing recipe and the pancakes are fluffy with amazing flavour .

 

Cheese Pancakes some has cheese and blueberries

 

 

 

Best Gourmet Chili

Day-after-day it seems you hear of weather records being shattered . it seems we are bombarded by records we hear on a day-to-day basis. Is there a reason for this? 

                                              """Global warming"""

Since mother nature is not mercy on us these days, especially if you live in Northern Ontario where the temperature hits -40C up to -45C with the wind-chill, and when the weather is extremely cold you often think of something warm and satisfying and tastes better the second day and freezes well in case of any leftovers.  You can prepare the chili in a slow cooker and when you come home from work, your dinner is ready to  serve, you can cook it on top of the stop, or even bake it in the oven.

 

 

Best Gourmet Chili

 

Ingredients

1/4 c olive oil
1 lb. roast meat cut into small pieces (sirloin roast)
1 lb. ground Italian sausage, ( I will share my recipe later)

2 lbs. ground beef
2 c diced onions

pound of good quality bacon
1 green pepper, diced
1 yellow pepper, diced
1 red pepper, diced
1/2 c red wine, such as Chianti, Merlot
2 cans stewed tomatoes (14.5 oz.)
1 can tomato sauce (29 oz.)
2 tbsp. tomato paste
2 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. pepper
2 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. chili powder
2 tbsp. cumin
2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes

1 oz. unsweetened chocolate or cocoa
1 1/2 - 2 cups water from cooking the beans
1 cup dry kidney beans and 1 cup black beans soaked and boiled

* Garnishes: Shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, sliced green onions, sliced radishes baked tortilla strips or a piece of my corn bread.

Direction

 

1) Heat oil in a large pot and brown the stew meat on all sides.  Remove at set aside.  Brown the Italian sausage and ground beef.  Remove to the same bowl as the stew meat.
2) Remove excess oil leaving about 2 tbsp. and add the onions and peppers.  Sauté until tender.  Add the wine and reduce by half.
3) Return the meat and any juices that have accumulated to the pot and add all remaining ingredients (tomatoes through red pepper flakes).  Bring to a boil.  Reduce to simmer and cook for 2 hours on medium low , stirring occasionally. the meat will shred completely.
4) Add the beans and let the chili simmer for another 1-2 hours , stirring occasionally.

 

 

Note:  in case you cannot find a good quality sausages, you can substitute one pound of good quality smoke bacon, and use the fat rendered from the bacon to fry the meat and the vegetables.

My addition to the recipe two sprigs of finely chopped celery, two finely chopped carrots, and two smoked chipotle chili from a jar with the juice. 

 

Buttermilk Corn Bread

 

 

1/2 cup of sweet butter

½ - 2/3 cup white sugar depends how sweet you like it

2 eggs

1 cup buttermilk  

1 cup flour

1 cup coarse cornmeal

½ cup frozen or fresh corn

½ tsp. baking soda

½ tsp. sea salt

 

Melt the butter and mix in all the ingredients and whip well to avoid any lumps.  Warm the oven at 375F , grease an 8x8 square pan and you can line it with a parchment , pour the mixture, smooth the top by tapping the tray on the counter, bake for 35-40 minutes or

Until golden brown and the toothpick comes clean.

 

I hope you give these recipes a try , and let me know what do you think .

 

Blessing

Arlette

 

 

 

 

Amazing Pastry Dough

Hello – Marhaba to all my dear friends, amazing blogger and lovely followers, I missed you so much, missed visiting your amazing blogs, reading your mouth watering posts, also I miss my followers and reading your comments, and feedback.  

My apology for staying away for so long, sometimes Life put you through many tests, and trails and I thank God, that I am back to blogging and sharing my food and baking with you all… I hope you forgive me for being away for so long.

I need to thank you all being sincere followers, and kept visiting my blog all this time, and  checking my recipes specially the Lebanese Street Kaak  and Homemade Yogurt , which have more than 6000 visits.

I like to share my amazing dough recipe with you ,but to be honest, I don’t measure my ingredients when I am making this dough I use the basic 10 minutes sponge and add the  ingredients to make an amazing dough, sometimes I am short on yogurt I add sour cream but in less than required, sometimes all I have is 2% milk so I use that, sometimes I add olive oil instead of butter, and when I start kneading the dough by hand I can tell if it needs some of this or that... I can feel it in my hands .

I start my recipe by preparing the “10 minutes sponge dough”

For the sponge

2 cups of flour
1 1/2 cups of warm milk - you can use warm water instead
1 tablespoons of yeast (this depends on the amount of flour you are using)
2 tbsps. sugar
Mix well either by hand or in the machine until well combined and let it rest for 10-15 minutes
its okay to leave it more.

For the dough

5 cups of flour
1 cup of full fat yogurt or sour cream
warm water for kneading in case it requires
2 eggs
½ cup sugar if you are making sweet dough only
1 tsp. of group mahleb (I love the smell of mahleb in the dough)
1 Tsp. or 1 tbsp. of sea salt depends if you are using the dough for savoury or sweet
½ of butter 

Direction

Mix all ingredients well to combine ,the dough has a sticky texture, this is how its supposed to be.  Keep kneading until it will form a nice soft dough a bit sticky, I don't recommend adding lots of flour to turn it into a dry and stiff dough, you will not get the same results, and will be hard to work with.

I don’t let it rest to rise, I put it in a freezer bag or a big Tupperware and leave it to rest in the fridge for at least 24 - 48 hours before I use it.
You can take the recipe play with it, add more flavours, spices.  Its an amazing dough for spongy fluffy /brioche texture.  I made lots of braided bread, stuffed it with savoury and sweet flavours.   I hope you will give it a try then share your experience and maybe your photos.  Here is some of the photos using the dough

  

Friendship

 

Friendship is love,

Without friendship love means nothing!
Without friendship love is empty…
Without friendship love is boring...!
 

Friendship means sharing…

People learn to share from friendship,
Share everything they have in life,

Friendship is like stars,

Even though we always see them together
Always mean to each other…
But,
Sometimes they argue!

Friendship is like flower,

Soft but strong!
Friendship is like sun,
Bright and beautiful!

Friendship is everything in life,

Life without friendship is like life without air…
Life without friendship is like eats without food
And
Life without friendship is like body without soul…

Friendship is wide!

Anybody can be our friend,
Our parents, our grandparents, our sister, our brother, our school principal!
and even our followers and subscribers.   I miss you all and sorry that I've been away
for such a long time.

Friendship….

Is everything!

 

Qistina Zaini

FESTIVE RICE PUDDING - ME-GH-LEH

This is a Special Christmas Eve Pudding, celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, then the tradition continued to include every house celebrating a new born baby, the pudding will be served to family and friends
Ingredients:
1 cup of pounded rice (Rice Powder)
8-9 cups of water (some rice requires 9 cups)
1 ¼ cups of sugar (depends on your taste) or 1 cup of healthy sweetener(swerve,stevia or your choice)
1 tbsp of Caraway seeds
1 tbsp of anise seeds
1 tbsp of Cinnamon
preparation
Rinse the spices specially the anise seeds, which grew in earth and contains sand, let them dry on a paper towel, then ground them in an electric spice machine.
In a thick bottom pot add 4 cups of water and the rice, if you are using store bought ground spices, add the spices to the other half of the water, in a bowl, and stir by hand, then wait around five minutes you will notice that the spices will float to the surface. Carefully and making sure not to stir the bottom drain the water and the spices, over the pot with the rest of the water. You will notice that there is sand resting in the bottom of the bowl.
Stir the mixture in the pot and cook on a medium high heat until it boils, lower the heat, and keep stirring as it stick to the bottom of the pot, add the sugar and keep stirring, if the rice thickened before it cooked completely add ½ cup of water, and stir the rice when it cooks completely will thickens and the seeds will double it will take around 30 minutes or so depends on the rice , you can taste to check for doneness turn your wooden spoons and run your finger through the middle of the pudding or "custard " if a clear path is left and an even run less film is left on the spoon the pudding is ready.  Serve in bowls or in a big platter. Leave till cool completely before you decorate the top with unsweetened coconuts, silvered almond, walnuts, and pine nuts or any toasted unsalted nuts.

I hope you will give this dessert a try, its very tasty, economic depends on your topping, and above all its vegan, and gluten free, and healthy.