Category: Recipes

Madeleines

.Reading time 6 minutes.
Elias likes to eat his bump first
Nicholas’s afternoon snack

Madeleines are just one of a number of new snacks we’ve tried out with the boys over the summer. They’re sweet, but not crazy sweet. And the batter rests overnight so it’s a great snack to prep in advance (you can keep the batter on hand for several days). What is a madeleine? It is a small, delicate sponge cake known for its shell-shaped mold. It is light, airy and typically has a slight lemon flavour. When baked properly, it should have a pronounced bump. Our favourite one comes from Roselle, friends of ours who own an amazing bakery in Downtown Toronto. Unfortunately, it is too far of a drive for us on a regular basis. They also posted the recipe online. So why did I spend all this time trying to make our own when theirs works? I guess I just can’t help myself! lol

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Choux.0: Essential Tips and Techniques

.Reading time 3 minutes.

It’s been many years since I posted my choux religieuse and looking back it at, there’s a lot of missing information. Since I’m teaching the baking class again, I have added choux pastries to my curriculum. With each class, the students help me to identify different misunderstandings and potential pitfalls. I try to use these to make the process easier, and more clear for future students and whoever uses this blog.

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Chinese Style Cured Pork Belly (Lap Yuk 臘肉)

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Growing up, I always like Cantonese clay pot rice. If you go to dim sum, you will often find clay pot rice with an of assortment of toppings to choose from: fermented black bean with pork ribs, marinated chicken with mushrooms, minced meat with egg, and my favourite: Chinese cured meats. There’s something very comforting about that dish for me.

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Pancetta

.Reading time 2 minutes.

Next in the Odyssey of cured meats: pancetta. We bought a pork belly, and followed a process similar to the bresaola: rubbed it with a mixture of salt, sugar, Insta Cure #1, and some herbs and spices. We then placed it in the fridge for a week, turning it every other day. After that, we washed off the cure with warm water and returned the meat to the fridge to air dry for 4 to 6 hours. Next, we rolled it into a tight cylinder, starting from the thick side, and tied it securely with string. We then placed it in Cur’an (our fridge) at Temp: 10°C, RH: 67.5%. We pulled it at the target weight loss (about 30%), then vacuum packed it to be used at a later date.

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Passion Fruit and Coconut (Wedding Cake #2)

.Reading time 3 minutes.

When we got married, we went the DIY route for our wedding cake and desserts (among other things!). To keep things manageable, we opted for slab cakes for the desserts. Both cakes are special to us – for sentimental reasons but also because they turned out to be pretty darn tasty! One was our version of a Deep’N Delicious cake, the other was a passion fruit and coconut number. Now, five years and two kids later, we’ve finally gotten around to posting the second cake recipe.

Amazingly enough, this recipe survived on paper, albeit covered in toddler doodles, floating around our kitchen for more than a year before we realized we ought to record it someplace a little more permanent. So, here it is!

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