Something delicious!

So i made the butterscotch pudding recipe from this post. Now I am not sure if it looks as it should but it is frightfully yummy. Super duper sweet - just as I love things!

First round I stupidly mixed the eggs and the sugar together so I started again for round two without any further mishaps. Yum! Kellie xx

Did someone say 'butterscotch pudding recipe'!?

Oh my what a divine dessert. I have been thinking about this for a while after I saw it here and I think this weekend is the weekend to give it a roaring chance! I love anything full of sugar. I am supposed to stay away of dairy but once every blue moon is ok isn't it!? Kellie xx

6 large egg yolks
1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1 tsp fine table salt {I used half the amount}
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Before you start: Position a rack in the center of your oven. Preheat the oven to 300*F. Place six 6-ounce ramekins in a 9×13 roasting pan.

In a large bowl, lightly whisk the egg yolks until smooth.

In a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat, combine the brown sugar, milk, and heavy cream and heat to scalding, or until the milk is steaming and tiny bubbles have formed along the edges. Do not boil. Stir frequently to dissolve the brown sugar. Remove from the heat.

While the cream mixture is heating, in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan over low heat, stir together the granulated sugar and water. Increase the heat to high and boil the sugar. When the sugar starts to sputter, use a pastry brush dipped in water to wash down the sides of the pan. As soon as the sugar turns amber in color (like clover honey), remove from the heat and slowly and carefully pour in the hot cream while stirring to stop the cooking. (The caramel will bubble as you add the cream, so use a long wooden spoon or whisk to stir them.)

In a slow, steady stream, slowly and gently whisk the hot caramel mixture into the egg yolks. Stir in the salt and vanilla. Strain the mixture into a clean pitcher and skim off any air bubbles with a spoon.

Pour the mixture into the prepared ramekins. Fill the roasting pan with hot water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Cover the pan with aluminum foil. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until just set. Begin checking after 45 minutes. When gently shaken, a pudding should no longer look liquidy; it will move as one mass (albeit somewhat jiggly) and register 150* – 155*F on an instant-read thermometer. Remove to a wire rack to cool to room temperature in the water bath.

Remove the ramekins from the pan. Refrigerate for several hours until chilled. Serve. For longer storage, one chilled, wrap each individually with plastic wrap and refrigerate.

Serve chilled with freshly whipped cream. The puddings keep covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

From here. x

Soup's On and Mush, Mush!

 If you are like me, you are doing what you can to survive the winter. We are going through a stretch of particularly cold weather. To keep warm, the handyman took me out for coffee yesterday, and this is what we saw on our drive over:

Well, I exaggerate, but not by much. Indeed, walking on the side of one of the busiest roads in town was a woman with a pack of sled dogs (five, I think) tied to her waist. And, boy, did they want to pull her! I figure that's what I would need if I decided I wanted to take up running again. A good pull. Or maybe a push?

Anyway, just in case any of you are thinking dog sleds can be seen in any of Canada's town or cities, this was a rare sight, indeed. It was one of those moments I wished I had my camera on hand to capture the actual scene! I am fairly certain she must be lost and yet to realize it is at least another twenty minutes drive to the North Pole from here...

Well, back to the soup. Every Sunday, I cook a roast turkey, chicken, beef or ham and use it later in the week for soup. Soup works very well for the afterschool onslaught of activities that keep the kids (and us) hopping.

The latest offering? Creamy turkey soup, which looks very much like the soup above, except with turkey, of course. Warm, hearty, creamy and full of good things. It is my version of take-out/eating on the run.

It must be why the handyman (aka Canny Scot) keeps me around.

Want the recipes? You can find them here and here.

Stay warm, everyone!!

Penne with Marinated Tomatoes, Basil and Mascarpone

I've been blogging for almost a year now, and for some reason, I've never posted a recipe of something I cooked myself. Ok, I do know the reason why. I like cooking and consider myself decent at it, but I'm certainly no wunderkind in the kitchen. I forget crucial steps, mess up measurements, and often add chunks of butter at the last minute because my "healthy" approach has left the dish tasting like kitchen counter.

So when I make something that is not only good, but revelatory, it means I have one damn good, idiot-proof recipe. I adapted this recipe from Martha Stewart Living, and it is hands down one of the tastiest things I've ever made. It's best to make in late summer, when you can get colorful and super-ripe heirloom tomatoes from a local market, but even now, in the dead of winter, it leaves me with a glorious summery feeling. Bon Appetit!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

* 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
* 5 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
* 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red-pepper flakes (depending on how much heat you like)
* 1 bunch asparagus, cut into penne-size pieces, spears removed
* 3/4 to 1 pound cherry tomatoes, halved
* 3/4 cup fresh basil
* Sea salt to taste
* 1 pound dried penne (rigatoni works too)
* 1/2 cup mascarpone cheese
* 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Directions:

1. Cook oil, garlic, and red-pepper flakes in a small skillet over low heat. After 3 minutes, add chopped asparagus and cook until tender, about 8 minutes. Let cool.
2. Place tomatoes, 1/2 cup basil, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl. Stir in asparagus-garlic mixture. Cover, and refrigerate for 2 hours, tossing occasionally.
3. Cook pasta according to package directions in salted water, and drain. Meanwhile, mix mascarpone and pepper in a small bowl. Add pasta to asparagus mixture. Stir in remaining basil, and serve with peppered mascarpone on the side or mixed in.

She Said: On the Menu...

Every friendship has its traditions and quirks. Inside jokes, the ability to be yourself, and the knowledge that you will be told when you have lettuce in your teeth. In my opinion, these are the measures of a true friendship. Equally important is the sharing of information and the bouncing off of ideas from one another...from the sharing of  weather forecasts to recipes.

What would be the benefit of being friends with Matthew Mead if you can't get the odd recipe or entertaining tip now and again? It would be silly to not take advantage of such an "in", wouldn't it? In a funny twist, a new tradition has made its way into our friendship lately. Most days, around 4pm (my time) Matthew will email me from his studio to ask, "What are the MacDonalds eating for dinner?"

I think the ritual began after Matthew and Jenny visited me this summer, and due to our crazy schedule, I ended up feeding them the same meal (seafood chowder and Mulligatawny soup) twice in a row. Worried that the entertaining guru himself might get the impression that was the extent of my culinary repertoire, I casually emailed him one day, boasting of the fancy dinner I had just made for my family.

And so the tradition began...

Usually it is Matthew, asking what I am dishing up, but sometimes it is me, looking for an expert opinion. Occasionally, Matthew sends me a photo of a delicious meal he and his team cooked up (and later, enjoyed!) for a photo shoot. Then I am inspired, and toss the frozen pizza box back into the freezer with guilt. Because Matthew and Jenny are so busy - working late and then faced with the prospect of cooking when all they feel like doing is collapsing - I think they live vicariously through me and my current state of domesticity. My cooking is borne from the necessity of feeding a growing, active family who return to me each day in various states of hunger...who are still entrenched in the nightly supper ritual. Matthew and Jenny's girls are grown and living independently, so their need to return to their nest and rustle up dinner has abated. I think my sharing of my family's dinner menu is more an offering that serves both to spark their appetite and their memories of feeding their own family.

photo: Matthew Mead Style.com

Sharing such seemingly trivial parts of our day is fun and light-hearted and has even begun to inspire me to cook better...plan more and serve more thoughtful meals. After all, when you are reporting in to the likes of Matthew Mead each day, a hotdog on a stick is not going to win any rave reviews!!

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To read Matthew Mead's take on our tradition, head on over to the Flea Market Style blog for the He Said alternative entitled, Whatcha Got Cookin'...?

Mother Hubbard pulls through...

This is my fridge. Sure, it has the basics - like margarine, ketchup, four eggs, a splash of milk... oops, and some bubbly (it's the weekend, after all)! Everything else is on a list in my purse, waiting to be purchased. Today was supposed to be grocery day. Technically, I had every intention to food shop; honestly, I had zero intention. Instead, I spent much of the day with my handy man, who took the day off to work on a project (while I tidied up after him). He treated me to a lunch date, which was wise considering what is in the cupboards...

Then came that moment in the day when I had to face up to my shortcomings. Too lazy to go to the grocery store, I rooted around in our deep freeze and found some ground beef. A quick rummage in our cupboards yielded some pasta and a jar of pasta sauce. Bonanza!

I could make a meal I like to call Good Enough: Good enough: AKA macaroni, meat sauce, a dash of Tobasco sauce and bottled crushed garlic, all topped with mozarella cheese. Everyone calls it something different, I just call it easy...

Then, just to show off, I made this:

A nice, white packaged mix cake. I used two of the four eggs, and thankfully I had some oil. Presto! I decided I would garner some mothering brownie points by telling my eldest son that it was a cake to celebrate the completion of his first ever exam. In reality, I just wanted something with my tea, but he appreciated my lie!

I know many of you have a fancy pants Kitchen-aid mixer. But honestly, who needs one of those when you can get a pretty red hand mixer for $9.99 at The Superstore? I might even dress it up with some pretty cherry stickers. Then again, I probably won't.

Either way, it was a perfectly acceptable supper...even if Sophie did pretend to gag on my splendid casserole. Apparently Good Enough, in her opinion, just isn't!!

It seems she would prefer to eat snow...

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What do you fix for dinner when the cupboards are near bare??