Ultimate Buttermilk Recipe Repository

How many times have I bought buttermilk for one recipe (usually scones) and let it go to waste for lack of inspiration? Nice post from one of my go-to food blogs, Pink of Perfection.

Ultimate Buttermilk Recipe Repository

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How to cure a salmon, Swedish style

For the ninth year running now, I've been hosting an orphan Thanksgiving for everyone out here without family to celebrate together (and in fact, doors are open for those with family too - I host on the Monday so they can double up on pumpkin pie).

It's a potluck, so everyone brings something awesome: Matt does his cheese ball (recipe to come), I made an awesome maple-syrup-and-rum-soaked sweet potato dish from Bon Appetit, and Melissa Edwards (organizer of the epic 3-day novel contest) brought the star of the show: Gravlax, or cured salmon, Swedish style.

We cleaned the plate, twice, and she generously offered to share her recipe with us. I'm so trying this out for Christmas this year.

Gravlax
A Swedish method of curing salmon. Typically served as part of a Christmas smorgåsbord.

Ingredients
Two equal-size salmon fillets, skin on (can be a small or as large as you wish. I usually buy a whole salmon and have it filleted at the store)
1.5 cups sugar
3/4 cup salt
2 tbsp white pepper, coarsely ground
2 tsp dill seeds
3 bunches of dill, coarsely chopped

(Amounts are for 6 lbs of salmon. Adjust as needed.)

Remove the pin bones from the salmon with needle-nose pliers. Mix the salt, sugar and pepper together and pat it all over the fillets, applying heavier in the thicker parts and lighter in the thin parts. Pat it into the sides and any cut ends as well.

Sprinkle on the dill seeds, then pile the dill on one fillet. Lay the second fillet over top to make a sandwich with the skin sides out.
Since I make a lot, I usually cut the “sandwich” into thirds at this point. Wrap each chunk tightly in plastic wrap (seal well) or into small ziploc bags with all the air pressed out. Lay them on something that will collect any leakage, and place another flat surface on top. (I usually put them into a cake pan, then put another cake pan on top.) Put it in the fridge, and put some heavy things on top of the upper pan (jars of pickles, whatever you have).

Leave in the fridge for at least 48 hours and up to five days. (It will get saltier the longer you leave it.) Turn the chunks once every day.

When cured, take the fish out of the plastic and scrape off most of the dill and salt film. Wrap what you want to save in tinfoil and freeze. To serve, cut thin slices off the chunk with a fish knife. Serve plain or with a mustard-dill sauce (available at Ikea - or mix honey mustard, canola oil, a bit of vinegar, dill weed and a bit of salt and pepper to taste).

Lebkuchen!

One lovely September long weekend at my friend Claire's mom's place on the island, Claire & I did some recipe testing for an upcoming issue of Western Living dedicated to retro cookies. All of the recipes are from the 1950s and 60s, so everyone on staff chipped in to test a few out.

When I saw Lebkuchen on the list, I jumped for joy. Yes! Delicious spicy German Christmas cookies that my friend Christina used to make for me when we didn't live 6,000 miles away from each other. I love, love, love them. Lebkuchen=cake of life. Indeed.

This recipe is a little white bread compared to the authentic recipe--no chopped fruit or ground nuts—so it's pretty straightforward to make. I thought it needed an extra kick, so I added chopped ginger. This stuff from Capers is particularly tasty.

After a few taste tests, Claire thought they could use a little more salt, so I added Kosher salt on the second go-around - I love Kosher salt in cookies for the little hit of salt you get with the sweet. We upped some of the spice factor too with cloves and more cinnamon, and added an egg to make them a little more cake-like--and even German Christina thought they were winners. Here's the recipe - and you'll find the rest of the retro ones in November's Western Living!

Lebkuchen (From Western Homes & Living, December 1964)

3/4 cup butter or margarine
1 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup liquid honey
3 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1/2 cup chopped candied ginger
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cloves
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup cold strong coffee
1 egg (optional)
Split blanched almonds
1 1/2 cups sifted icing sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp lemon juice

Using a double boiler, combine butter or margarine, brown sugar and honey, stirring occasionally until butter is melted and sugar dissolved. Pour into a large mixing bowl and set aside to cool.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salts, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and cloves. Using a hand blender, combine dry ingredients with the cooled honey mixture, alternating with the buttermilk and coffee. Beat in egg (optional). Tightly cover dough and chill several hours.

Divide chilled dough in half and roll out each portion to a 1/4-inch thickness. Cut into rounds with 2 1/2-inch floured cookie cutter. Arrange on greased cookie sheets and decorate each cookie with split blanched almonds. Bake at 350˚F for 15–18 minutes.

Combine icing sugar, vanilla and sufficient lemon juice to make a thin icing glaze. Immediately after removing cookies the oven, brush them with the glaze. Cool completely. Store in a tightly closed container for no more than a few days to keep soft. Makes 4 dozen.

Discovering Tarragon

My camera may be broken (so no photos here), but my heart is full of love...for tarragon. Where has it been all my life?? Last week at a workplace potluck/baby-shower, a colleague brought a plate of gorgeous pitas stuffed with deliciousness...I couldn't stop stuffing my face and asked him: WHAT IS THAT FLAVOUR? You guessed it, it was tarragon. I had heard of it, but realized I have never really gotten to know it. Tarragon, you shall be mine, I decided.

Tonight I made a mini-picnic for an old friend, and made up a recipe in my head: cooked yams (in chunks) sauteed with olive oil, fresh tarragon, green onion and salt. This sounded so good to me, that first I went to the Capers Deli to see if they had any, I just assumed that something like this must already exist. They didn't, so I guess I'm about to make a lot of money selling them the idea (no poachers!). Anyway, I found something almost just like my yam-tarragon fantasy online, felt affirmed, and sure enough, tarragon did not disappoint.

I will definitely be continuing to pursue adventures with tarragon, right after I smoke this cigarette.

Summer Tart & BBQ

I'm delighted to say I cooked tonight! Yay, finally. It's been so long.

The theme for tonight's dinner was simplicity, but it goes without saying that deliciousness is also a requirement. I decided put my own spin on a couple of Epicurious recipes, which sounded nice: Grilled Vegetables with Mixed Greens and Blue Cheese Dressing and Savory Summer Tarts.


I decided that I needed the veggies to be even simpler. I cut out the blue cheese dressing all together, and seasoned simply with salt and olive oil. I used:

• Carrots
• Fennel
• Bok choy
• Beets
• Zucchini
• Asparagus

For the tarts, I kept things simple again. I used my tried-and-true vodka crust recipe from Cook's Illustrated. Essentially, you substitute half the water for vodka and add a bit more liquid that you would ordinarily. The vodka lets the dough get wetter without the risking toughness. It's really quite genius. The result is flaky, light, and delicious.

Instead of filling the tarts with several options, I kept to something basic: grape tomatoes, basil from my herb garden, and goat's cheese. The results was delicious.



And we washed the whole meal down with a lovely New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc, which I would definitely buy again. It was about $25, and its veggie, grassy notes were the perfect complement to our herbivore's feast.

I hope you try this combo for yourselves sometime. Yum.

Funghi Assoluti

I'm hanging back east for a few days on a friend's farm in Damascus, population circa 56. Despite its serious small townness, the area is know for its Butter Tart Trail - farm gate stores throughout the area that sell fresh goat cheese, spinach, farm puppies (not the edible kind) and yes, butter tarts!

And of course, the area also comes with dear friends who love food too. This one is thanks to my friend Christina, who stole the recipe from Terroni in Toronto. Seriously delicious.

You'll need:
olive oil
oyster mushrooms
bread crumbs
parmesan
arugula
oil & balsamic vinegar vinaigrette.

Toss the oyster mushrooms in olive oil, then in equal parts bread crumbs & parmesan. Throw them in the oven and bake at 425 F until they start to get golden, about 10 to 15 minutes. Meantime, toss the arugula in vinaigrette. Take out the mushrooms, throw on the salad still warm and serve. Yum!

Sampling Delicious Setswana Cuisine

I wrote a post about Setswana Cuisine on UBC's Leave for Change blog. I think readers of Cardamom Pod might find it interesting, so I'm posting a link to the post here.

http://www.focusonpeople.ubc.ca/leaveforchange/2009/03/05/sampling-delicious-setswana-cuisine/