I Heart Cooking Club - Jamie Oliver's Invited to Brunch!

This week's IHCC options are wide open, as it's Pot Luck Week. While the other die-hard cooking club members may be sticking to Yotam Ottolenghi's recipes, I am still having fun with the idea of exploring the other chefs that the club has sponsored over the past couple years. Today, I decided to explore Jamie Oliver's archives on his website ...

Apricot Tart

When I was a sprout, my parents dutifully deposited me at the door to Mrs. Abrahamson's Sunday school class every Sunday morning. Mrs. Abrahamson was the picture of the soft and gentle Methodist maven. She came complete with a bag of multi-colored ribbons for awarding when we wee folk learned our Bible verses,  a Brownie camera for taking adorable pictures of us as we completed various class activities, a large box of graham crackers and two cans of apricot nectar for our Sunday school snack (kiddie communion). Golly, she was a peach! I guess I can't say she was an apricot of a gal, but she was my first exposure to apricots.

Pain Grenoblois - A Random Recipe

Baking bread is one of the most satisfying of baking ventures and it seems that Dom, our dear friend over at Belleau Kitchen, has tapped his inner baker and become a blogging bread fiend! Well, he's in good company here! In fact, when he suggested that May's Random Recipe challenge was to collect one's bread baking books and randomly choose a bread recipe to make and post, I was pretty excited! I only hoped that I would choose a bread recipe that was new and untried! Score!

This French recipe comes from Paris Boulangerie Patisserie, Linda Dannenberg's excellent book of recipes from the most famous and well-established bakeries in Paris. On opening the book to a random page, I  was greeted by a raisin and walnut bread that comes from the countryside in the southeastern region of France. This bread had me doing something I have never done before in my bread baking. It calls for making a yeast starter dough called Pâte Viennoise and letting it rise for 45 minutes. Then, another dough is made that incorporates the starter dough in during the kneading process. This white wheat flour starter combines with the second rye and wheat flour mixture to make a striated dough, rich with butter, raisins, currants, walnuts, and a bit more sugar than usual ... really a beautiful combination!

We Should Cocoa - Mango Chocolate Mousse

It couldn't get any easier than this ... a blender mousse that's healthier than the traditional version! What's not to love? I happened upon this recipe when I was searching for chocolate pudding recipes ages ago ... it has lingered on my 'favorites' bar for weeks. I found another chocolate pudding recipe for a pie that I needed to make, but this mango chocolate concoction sat patiently waiting. The chocolate cream pie has come and gone, but I still yearn for a small bowl of creamy custard goodness now and then!

Easy Sichuan Green Beans

A fast post for an easy green bean side ... beans are starting make the appearance in the produce markets. They are bright green and firm and perfect for a fast steam with an easy spicy topping ... enjoy! I made pork lo mein last evening and these beans sat alongside as a hot spicy counterpoint to all those slippery saucy noodles and pork strips. Heaven to our starving garden work-weary bodies!

My Spring Gift to You!

I hope your week is going beautifully !! 

I couldn't resist sending you some posies, dear friends! 

Happy Springtime! 

Happy Weekend!

Provencal Fish ... Good Basic Fare

This is no delicate seafood dish. No, this is a plate of food for a night when you're craving a hearty glass of wine, a substantial meat and vegetable plate with juices worthy of a thick crust of bread. This French recipe requires a thick meaty fillet of fish - no sole or perch, but a fat slab of cod or hake or pollock. I used cod and pollock.

The rest of the dish consists of good chunky oven roasted tomatoes (canned or fresh during the summertime!), some onions, garlic, black olives, white wine, and herbs. Start the tomatoes as a sauce and dredge the fish fillets in flour and salt and black pepper. Fry the fish briefly in very hot oil, then pat the fillets with paper towels to soak up some of the oil. Lay the fish in a shallow roasting dish, drizzle the hot tomato sauce over top and bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes to finish the fish. Scatter on some pretty green thyme sprigs and capers.  Have a good crusty artisan bread and a cold green salad waiting and pour the wine. This is good basic food that reminds me of seaside inn fare on Cape Ann; Provence may be in the title of the recipe, but this dish screams the coast of New England to me.

Pasta Ottolenghi - IHCC Uses the Noodles

Chef Ottolenghi calls this pasta bake 'luxurious' - the semi-fried carrots, celery, and eggplant give the pasta a nice edge. Ottolenghi's recipe calls for orzo pasta, but I prefer a bit more bite to my pasta so I opted for ditalini, little short tubes of macaroni. The neat thing about this recipe is that the pasta is rinsed and then cooked in the baking dish with olive oil, broth, the vegetables and their juices, and tomato paste. This process does make the flavour silky and yes, luxurious! Must be the starch from the pasta that makes the resulting sauce around the pasta and vegetables so silky! Put some cheese into the blend, oregano and thyme sprinkles on the tomato slices atop it all and you have one jazzy pasta and vegetable casserole!