Often when I'm entertaining the last thing I want to worry about is dessert. I kind of turn into a nightmare in the kitchen while I'm finishing off the final touches, so it's nice to have simple stand-bys to fall back on. Usually there is so much food that dessert is almost an afterthought anyway.
I usually have vanilla ice milk in my freezer (my favourite is Island Farms), and it's easy to make this a casual treat or a slightly fancier dessert. To class things up a bit, just put a scoop of ice cream in a pretty glass and pour over hot unsweetened espresso. The ice cream sweetens it as it melts, and it's a delicious substitute for after-dinner coffee. For lunch-time treats, serving the ice cream with fresh berries or fruit is always delicious. I've made this look a little cuter by lining a small tupperware container with cling film and using that to form the ice cream into little cakes. I like this best with fresh peaches, but this time I used what I had - ripe mangoes and blackberries.
Tuesday, August 11, 2009
Ice Cream 2 Ways
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Local Pork Sausage
Irving Farms allows their pigs to roam and forage outdoors, which essentially means that you are getting free range pork (why is that not as common as free range chicken?). The result is a darker more heavily marbled pork, and with that comes extra flavour. The whole sausage is natural, including the casings. I picked mine up at the City Center Farmer's market, but they are available at all the big markets around the city (including St. Albert).
I have not tried all of their flavours because my husband loves the intense sage flavour of the Lincolnshire, and freaks out if I deviate from that now. If you don't love sage, I have also had the pork and leek sausages, which were significantly milder. In the next couple of weeks I will be trying out their pork belly roast, after seeing that they featured pork belly as part of the Indulgence event put on by Slow Food Edmonton . It made a nice meat and cheese plate with the Sylvan Star Gouda I picked up downtown as well. Sylvan Star is a great local cheese producer that has consistently had cheeses placing first in various categories at the Canadian Gran Prix of Cheese - did you even know such a thing existed?!?!
The whole grain mustard I served it all with was not local in any way.
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
Fentiman's - A Grown Up Soda
Our first tasting was done with at an impromtu dinner party with some friends, trying them straight for the first time. The results were as follows:
Victorian Lemonade - had mixed reviews, if you like natural lemonade you'd like this as it's strong and quite tart, most thought kids would not love it and that it might be good as a mixer
Mandarin and Seville Orange Jigger - generally liked, fresh, like Orangina with a hint of ginger
Dandelion & Burdock - mixed reviews, three liked it the best the other two did not like it at all, very licorice-y like Ouzo and Sambuca
Shandy - generally liked, a bit refreshing and similar to a light beer
Ginger Beer - so much ginger it tastes spicy, potent!, feels like it should be mixer
Curiosity Cola - smells and tastes like coke bottles candy
The second tasting was just me and my brother Norm (Court's husband). I came over assuming we would do a similar tasting to last time, only this time with alcohol... but it turned into a pretty drunken night as each taster was a full size high-ball. We started off with the Ginger Beer; while it had seemed too strong to drink plain, it was excellent in a Moscow Mule (2 parts Ginger Beer, 1 part vodka, 1 part lime or lemon). We each had a couple of these, and they
were potent but delicious and refreshing, and would be perfect in summer. Next up was an Arnold Palmer (2 parts Victorian Lemonade, 2 parts iced tea, 2 parts vodka) and after that a modified Tequila Sunrise (4 parts Mandarin and Seville Orange Jigger, 2 parts tequila), both of which worked well. I would not recommend using saskatoonberry syrup in your Tequila Sunrise as a substitute for grenadine, however. After that, my notes get (understandably) a little messier. I know Norm started drinking a mix with the Dandelion & Burdock and said it was very good, and I was drinking Curiosity Cola and Crown Royal which was also good, if a bit too sweet. A good night with good drinks - and no hangover the next day!Finally, to accompany the Mother's Day lunch I had I made one of my favo
urite drinks - Pimm's Cocktail. It's made with 2 parts Victorian Lemonade, 1 part Ginger Beer, and 1 part Pimm's; added to that are slices of strawberry, lemon, cucumber, and oranges (I used a mixture of navel and blood). For a 1 litre jug, use 400ml lemonade, 200ml ginger beer or gingerale, and 200ml Pimm's. This is the perfect summer drink and was a big hit. Pimm's however, is very difficult to find in Edmonton. If anyone knows where you can get it, let me know! I had to pick up my current bottle the last time I was in BC.Thursday, February 19, 2009
PC Blue Menu Steel Cut Oats
I had been hearing about steel cut oats for a long time without really knowing what they were, so when I saw them at Superstore a while ago I finally decided to give them a try. However, the long cooking time indicated on the packaging made me put off making it... and then I remembered that my rice cooker has a porridge setting. Yay! No effort required (that's my kind of breakfast).
Steel Cut Oats:
1/2 cup oats (rice cooker cups)
water to fill line
1/2 stick cinnamon
If you don't
have a rice cooker, just follow the package directions. But it is absolutely genius to be able to pop all the ingredients in the rice cooker in the evening, and set the timer to have my breakfast ready in the morning. This made enough for 2+ servings, and I just left the machine on Warming to keep breakfast ready for the second morning. It tasted just as good! On day one I topped it with brown sugar, 1/2 a chopped apple, and chopped walnuts, and on day two with dried cranberries, chopped walnuts, and a little sugar. Delicious both ways!
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Liberté Méditerranée Yogurt - Best Ever!
My new favourite thing is Liberté Méditerranée yogurt. This is a bigger deal than you might think, as I have kind of a love/hate relationship with yogurt and it has to be exactly what I'm looking for or I won't touch it.
Since leaving England (and the perfection that is Yeo Valley Organic Wholemilk yogurt), I have settled for Astro Original Balkan Style yogurt mixed with my own fresh fruit. While the Astro yogurt is delicious and has it's uses, it is a bit sour even with the fruit. I've spent years (not an exaggeration) trying to find exactly what I'm looking for, so I have pretty much purchased every brand on the market and nothing had the consistency, texture, and taste I wanted.
When I saw this at Sobey's a couple of weeks ago, I decided to give it a try. Don't be put off by the fat content (8% M.F.) - this is serious, stand-a-spoon-in-it yogurt. It has an amazingly smooth creaminess that I can't get enough of, and there are 12 flavours to choose from. To prevent myself from eating bowlfuls of the stuff, I have mostly been using it as a topper/garnish; really, it's almost a dessert - tonight I had some as a treat instead of ice cream. Delicious!
