I think they call it "nesting"

I spent all weekend painting, sewing, or making lists of things to paint or sew. I was awake until almost 5 am on Friday night because I couldn't sleep for thinking of all the projects I want to work on. You would think that my bouts of pre-baby nesting would involve cooking, but I have an urge to make things- like curtains and refinishing furniture.

I blame it on the NHL play-offs. Hear me out. Tyler was watching his Flyers on Friday night, so I started casually looking at Design*Sponge for ideas for the baby's room. Four hours and many bookmarks of things from their DIY section later, I was hooked. Fast forward to 1:00 am- I am wide awake laying in bed, thinking of all kinds of other DIY things that I can do around the house, so I get up and watch DIY Network for a few hours. I now have a list of about 15 things I want to work on.

We went to Habitat for Humanity ReStore on Saturday and found all kinds of cool stuff to make over. A console table for $5? Sold. Sure, it needs some major sanding and painting and tightening of bolts that hold the legs on, but it has all four legs at least. For $5! It will be perfect for to hold a laptop and printer in our home office. Paint in the exact colour I was looking for to paint our bedside tables for $5? Done. Three shelves for $15? Cha-ching. These I think are actually remnants from cabinet-making, but are the perfect size for shelves and all I have to do is figure out a way to hang them.

Saturday night when other people are out partying and hanging out with friends (my husband included), found me in the garage painting a chair. Look at it! I got this chair at a garage sale when we bought our first house almost 5 years ago, and it was U-G-L-Y. Now it is pretty and happy. How could you not be obsessed with making something cool out of junk?

Here are a few things that I hope to have completed in the next week or so:
- Make an apron out of the material I cut off the curtains in the kitchen
- Finish sewing those curtains back up and get them hung before Tyler kills me for messing up the curtains
- Make fabric covered box valences for baby's room
- Re-work the old cabinets from my parents kitchen reno into storage benches (really excited about this one, but probably won't get this done this week!)

Since this is a food blog, I leave you with this recipe for BBQ Pork Kebabs. These are so good and easy- we have them for dinner with rice and grilled corn quite often in the summer, and even a made them couple of times for guests. Some recipes for grilled corn say to grill them in the husks- I like my corn husked and put right on the grill so it gets browned in spots and nutty. I think it takes about 20 minutes to cook on the grill over direct heat, turning often.

Aloha Pork Kebabs from Chatelaine Magazine May 2006

Heavenly Cheesecake

I am pretty impressed with myself. I mean, check out how gorgeous this cake turned out. Usually I make things that taste good, but look decidedly homemade. I think this cake almost looks like something you'd pay money for! It tastes as good as it looks too. The recipe is from a woman at work, Masuma, who is a fantastic baker. I hadn't tried her cheesecake, but everybody said it was the best they've ever had, so I got the recipe to make for our friend Jack's birthday this weekend.

The chocolate topping was part of original recipe, which gave me the idea for the chocolate dipped strawberries on top. Next time I make this I think I'll double the cheesecake filling to make for more cheese-cakey goodness, but use a chocolate ganache rather than just melted chocolate on top as the chocolate gets hard and makes the filling squish out when you cut it. I have included these changes in the recipe below. Other variations would be to use pie filling on top (apparently sour cherry is out of this world), or just some fresh fruit.

CHEESECAKE WITH CHOCOLATE DIPPED STRAWBERRIES

Serves about 8

I haven't actually tried the ganache topping, but I feel like I have enough baking experience at this point to know that it should work out well. I'll post an update when I make this again and let you know how it turns out. The recipe looks like it has a lot of components, but each is really easy and quick.

Crust

• 1 cup chocolate cookie or graham cracker crumbs
• 3 tbsp butter, melted

Filling

• 2 bricks cream cheese, room temperature
• 2 cans condensed milk (Masuma says PC brand works best- I trust her)
• 1/2 tub Cool Whip, thawed
• 1/2 cup lemon juice

Chocolate Ganache Topping

• 5 oz dark chocolate, finely chopped (or use chocolate chips)
• 1 1/4 cups whipping cream

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries

• 1 pint strawberries
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate, chopped and melted (I haven't listed this as a weight measurement as it normally would be because the amount really doesn't matter- you just need enough to coat the strawberries)

Crust:  Prepare a round springform pan by lining sides with foil before putting in bottom of pan (this will make it easier to remove the cake later). Mix crumbs and butter, press into the bottom of pan.

Filling: Beat cream cheese with a stand mixer or electric hand mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes. Do not over beat. With mixer on medium, add condensed milk a little at a time- if you add too much at once the mixture will get runny. Mix in Cool Whip at medium speed. Add 1/4 cup of lemon juice, mix well. Add remaining 1/4 cup lemon juice, mix well. Pour onto crust and refrigerate at least 4-5 hours.

Chocolate Ganache Topping: Once cake has had it's time in the fridge, bring cream just to a boil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Immediately pour over chopped chocolate. Stir until chocolate is melted. Allow to cool to room temperature. Remove cake from pan, peel off foil, and spread ganache over top- it will spill over the sides and look pretty. Refrigerate cake for another hour to set the ganache.

Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries: Wash strawberries and dry them really well- I spread them on some paper towels after washing and then dry them again with another paper towel just before dipping in chocolate. Holding strawberries by green hats, dip strawberries in melted chocolate halfway up the strawberry. Immediately place on cake. Keep cake refrigerated until serving.

Easy Entertaining

We had people over for dinner every night this weekend- Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Thinking about what to make when we are having guests stresses me out a bit. I bookmark lots of recipes in magazines, etc that I think would be a good meal to make when we have people over, but when it comes down to it I worry that they may not like an ingredient or that it won't turn out right (following the old principle of never make a recipe for the first time for guests). I think I hit the jackpot with this menu though- nothing difficult, not fancy but not boring, things that everybody likes with a bit of a twist. Trust me on these recipes- even if you have company coming and don't have time to test the dishes before hand!

Gougeres with drinks*

Tomato, Fresh Mozzarella, and Basil Pizza

Buffalo Chicken and Blue Cheese Pizza

Best -Ever Chocolate Cake with Berry Coulis

GOUGERES

Makes about 24, depending how big you make them

Instructions below use an electric hand mixer. If you don't have one, beat with a wooden spoon instead but your arm will get tired. I didn't take a photo of these, but there's a good photo here

• 6 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp white pepper
• 1 cup flour
• 3 large eggs
• 2 cups finely grated cheese - Gruyere is traditional, I used a mixture of Parmesan and sharp white cheddar

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Put the butter and water in a saucepan with salt and pepper, bring to a boil. Remove from heat, dump in flour all at once and beat with an electric mixer on low until mixture is smooth and forms a ball. If dough is a bit wet, put the pan back over low heat and beat for a minute until mixture dries out a bit. Remove from heat and cool for 5 minutes.

Add the eggs one at a time, beating with mixer on low until combined between each addition. Stir in the cheese. Fill a small glass with warm water. Using a soup spoon (I think those are what the big ones are called that come with your cutlery set), scoop a heaping spoonful of dough. Dip another spoon in the warm water, then use this spoon to drop the dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat, dipping spoon in water each time. Alternatively, dough can be piped onto baking sheet. Dough doesn't have to be spaced too far apart- gougeres will puff up, not so much out.

Bake 25-30 minutes- until puffed up and golden brown. Pierce the side of each puff with a paring knife after removing pan from oven- this will let the steam out so that they don't get soggy and/or deflate.

*the French drink these with champagne, but apparently they are also great with beer (I don't even drink beer when I'm not pregnant, so I wouldn't know)

TOMATO, FRESH MOZZARELLA, AND BASIL PIZZA

• 1 pizza dough
• 1/4 cup tomato sauce
• 1/2 cup diced tomatoes- either fresh or from a can (I use PC Blue Menu Diced Tomatoes for everything)
• 1 ball fresh mozzarella, sliced
• 1 large clove garlic, finely minced or pressed through a garlic press
• 6 or so large leaves basil, thinly sliced (julienned, if you will)

Heat oven to 425 degrees F with an oven rack on the bottom setting. Roll pizza dough really thin. Transfer to pizza pan or baking sheet. Spread with tomato sauce. Scatter tomatoes over dough and top with slices of mozzarella. Scatter garlic all over top of pizza, making sure there are no big clumps of garlic (the garlic kind of roasts in the oven and gets delicious). Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until edges are browned and crisp, and cheese is melted melted and dry (I don't know how else to describe that- if the cheese isn't cooked enough there will be little puddles of water on top of the pizza). Top with basil after removing from oven. Cool 5 minutes before slicing.

BUFFALO CHICKEN AND BLUE CHEESE PIZZA

• 1 pizza dough (I used a whole wheat dough- the ingredients will stand up to this more full flavored dough)
• 2 small or 1 large boneless, skinless chicken breast
• salt and pepper, to season chicken
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 3-4 tbsp Franks Red Hot Sauce
• 1/4 cup crumbled blue cheese 
• 2 green onions, sliced
• 1 1/2 cups shredded mozzarella (not fresh mozzarella)

Heat oven to 425 degrees F with rack on bottom setting. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Cook in frying pan with oil over med-high heat until golden brown on both sides and cooked through. Remove chicken to a cutting board and cool slightly. Roll dough as thin as you can and transfer to a pizza pan or baking sheet. Spread with hot sauce. Slice chicken thinly across the grain, spread evenly on pizza. Scatter blue cheese and green onions. Top with mozzarella cheese. Bake 15-20 minutes or until edges are browned and crisp. Cool 5 minutes before slicing.

BEST-EVER CHOCOLATE CAKE

Go to Molly Wizenburg's blog Orangette for the recipe. I originally found the recipe in her book A Homemade Life. It was her wedding cake. Yum.

 For the chocolate component, I use 2 oz unsweetened chocolate + 5 oz Hershey's dark chocolate chips

This cake will keep 3 days at room temperature, or up to 5 days in the fridge. It won't last that long though. I suggest making this when you have people coming over that can help you eat it so that you and your husband don't polish it off yourselves within 3 days (not like that happened the first time I made this or anything)

BERRY COULIS

• 1/2 cup frozen mixed berries (fresh works too- I just always have frozen berries on hand)
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp sugar

Blend all ingredients until smooth. Strain through fine-meshed sieve.

This last bite of cake did not go to waste. Trust me.

Stuffed Shells

These stuffed shells are super duper easy to make. They are another recipe that I improvised with great results. So maybe I'm better at this than I thought. I never really plan to make stuffed shells, but sometimes I just happen to have the pasta and ricotta that are the main components at the same time, and it comes to mind when I have no other ideas of what to cook for dinner but I spot the ricotta in the fridge. I always think after dinner, "Why don't I make this more often?". My husband concurs.

You can put pretty much anything in the filling. Fresh herbs are even better than the dried herbs I have included in the below recipe- use a big handful of any fresh herbs you have on hand and chop finely. Some other variations that come to mind would be to use pesto instead of dried herbs, or omit the spinach and use other finely chopped veggies (some chopped roasted tomatoes would be really good I bet). I like to use spinach, however, because I don't really like it so I never use it in anything else. Somehow spinach is delicious and perfect in the stuffed shells. If I have mozzarella cheese, I'll also grate some into the filling. So, without further ado, here is the recipe. Buon appetito!

P.S. Tyler got home from work late on Thursday when we had this for dinner so we ended up eating dinner while watching CSI. Is that weird?

SPINACH AND RICOTTA STUFFED SHELLS

Serves 3-4

To double this recipe to serve a crowd,  cook the same amount of pasta but double the filling and sauce.

• 350 g box dried jumbo shells
• 475 g tub ricotta cheese
• 300 g box chopped frozen spinach, defrosted and squeezed dry
• 1/2 grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 large egg
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 to 3/4 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp dried thyme
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• dash of nutmeg (I would probably omit if not using spinach)
• drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cups tomato sauce

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F with rack in middle. Cook pasta in boiling, well salted water for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water. Mix all other ingredients except for tomato sauce. Cover bottom of a baking dish (I use a 10.5" x 7" dish) with 1 cup of tomato sauce.

Stuff pasta with about 1 heaping tbsp of filling* and place in baking dish. Continue stuffing shells until all filling is used up**. The filling will do about 25 shells. Any stuffed shells that don't fit in your baking dish can be frozen- line a baking sheet with plastic wrap, freeze shells until solid, store in a Ziploc bag. To cook follow same method as follows, but bake for longer.

Cover shells with remaining tomato sauce, making sure that everything is well covered or else the pasta will dry out in the oven and be crunchy (not what we're going for here). Cover dish with foil, bake 25 minutes. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese.

*I find it easiest to use my (well washed) hands to stuff the shells.
**There will be leftover cooked pasta. I have these for lunch the next day with tomato sauce.

Roasted Tomato and Goat Cheese Pasta

So if anybody is still reading Four Seasons Kitchen, here I am! Sorry about the delay in posts- I haven't cooked or baked much or note lately; either because I don't feel like it or when I do, the results haven't been spectacular. I did cook one of my favorite meals this past Friday, but I haven't posted for so long that I forgot to take a photo before we ate! I will make it again soon and share... I know you'll all be waiting with baited breath until then.

I don't make up my own dishes very often. Or when I do, it's throwing together whatever I can find and it's nothing to write home about. Tonight, however, I made the best thing we've eaten for a while- and I'd still say that even if we hadn't eaten scalloped potatoes made from a box and cupcakes made from a mix last week.

I read Molly Wiezenburg's A Homemade Life this weekend and she made me want to cook almost recipe in there. This book is so good; each chapter is like a short auto-biographical essay prefacing a recipe on the at the end of the chapter. I laughed, I cried. A good book should do that, I think. Otherwise, why are you wasting your time reading something that doesn't move you to some sort of emotional reaction? Anyways, about the food. I really wanted to make Molly's Slow-Roasted Tomatoes, but they take 6 hours in the oven and that would mean setting my alarm to get up at 1 am and turn off the oven. Plus, I wanted them now. I remembered a similar recipe in Barefoot Contessa's Back to Basics. That one is for roasted tomatoes that only take 25 minutes. Perfect. I followed that method, but not the recipe itself. Tomatoes done, I chopped up half of them, cooked some pasta, tossed it with some goat cheese and basil, and that was that. So good. Please make this now, and let me know in the comments if you loved it as much as us (yes, Tyler even liked a dish with goat cheese!).

ROASTED TOMATO AND GOAT CHEESE PASTA

Serves 2-3

• 1/2 Roasted Tomatoes recipe (recipe follows), chopped
• 350 g dried penne pasta
• 70 g goat cheese
• a handful finely grated Parmesan cheese
• ground black pepper, to taste
• 1/2 cup reserved pasta water
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh basil

Cook pasta in well salted water to al dente. Drain, reserving 1/2 cup pasta water. Put pasta back into pot, crumble in goat cheese, add Parmesan, pepper. Add about 1/4 cup pasta water, stir pasta vigorously- you want the Parmesan and goat cheese to make a sauce with the water. Add more pasta water if sauce isn't saucy enough. Stir in basil and serve.

ROASTED TOMATOES

These can be used in pasta, on a sandwich, make a pesto type sauce, the possibilities are endless for these babies! They have a flavor boarding on sun-dried tomatoes, but aren't chewy and gnarly and overpowering like sun-dried tomatoes.

• 10-12 Roma tomatoes
• olive oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 tsp dried basil
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F with a rack in the middle. Cut off the very top of the tomatoes where the stem was attached. Cut tomatoes in half. Remove seeds- I find it easiest to wash my hands really well and then stick my fingers into the halves to pop out the seeds over the garbage*. Toss tomatoes with remaining ingredients.

Roast on a baking sheet (I always cover baking sheets with foil so I don't have to wash them) cut side up for 25 minutes. Cool slightly, then use as desired. 

*I would say to keep the seeds and juice for some clever, less wasteful endeavor, but I've no idea what the heck you would do with them.

Almond Cake and Thoughts of Spring

I made this delicious, springy (as in the season, not bouncy. I don't think) cake last week when it was sunny and getting warm, but now I'm writing this post when it's cold, windy, and rainy again. It just doesn't feel right. I can't not share this cake though. It's my new favorite. I love almond flavor, and this cake has the perfect amount of almond and it's not cloyingly sweet. I also love how humble this cake; and I suppose any baked goods in general; look so humble until you put some fruit on them. Add a ring of raspberries and it looks beautiful and even more delicious.

Hopefully you can find almond paste to make this cake. You don't want marizpan- it's too sweet and heavy and will sink to the bottom of your cake pan instead of incorporating into the cake. Trust me on this one. Sometime marzipan is labeled as almond paste; don't be fooled! Marzipan lists sugar first, whereas almond paste will list almonds as the first ingredient. I found mine at a gourmet food shop, you can sometimes find it in the grocery store or always online.Although I think I'm the only person I know who would buy a baking ingredient online...

ALMOND CAKE WITH RASPBERRIES

Adapted slightly from Bonnie Stern in The National Post

Makes 8 servings

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 8 oz almond paste, grated
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp almond extract *don't be tempted to add a little more like I sometimes do with vanilla. Almond extract is very strong!
• 1/2 all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt 
• 1 cup raspberries

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a food processor mix butter, almond paste and sugar using on/off pulses until smooth. Or beat with a hand mixer until smooth. 
3. Beat in eggs, vanilla, almond extract. Sift dry ingredients, add to batter, and mix.
4. Pour batter into a 9-inch cake pan lined on the bottom with parchment paper. Bake 35 to 40 minutes or until browned on top and firm to the touch. Cool in pan 5 minutes, then cool on cooling rack completely. Top with raspberries.

Ricotta Gnocchi

Potato gnocchi seems complicated to make. Cook potatoes, mash potatoes, mix the dough, shape the pasta, etc, etc. Ricotta gnocchi, however, is really simple and I think it tastes better- potato gnocchi is sometimes gummy to me. This is comfort food at it's best. We ate it twice last week because it's so easy and homey (I still haven't quite gotten the cooking bug back yet). Seriously, make this now before it gets spring comes along and all you want is salads and bbq. Or maybe that's just me.

RICOTTA GNOCCHI

from The Kitchn

serves 4

• 1 (16-ounce) container of whole-milk ricotta
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan or Pecorino cheese
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 - 1 cup flour

Set a strainer line with three coffee filters or paper towels over a bowl. Add the ricotta and let the cheese drain for about an hour. (This can be done several days in advance.)

In a large bowl, mix the strained ricotta, egg, cheese, and 3/4 cup of the flour until all ingredients are incorporated. Cover and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Check the dough by rolling a bit in your hand. It should be a bit tacky. If it clings to your fingers like bubble gum, incorporate more flour one tablespoon at a time until you reach a tacky, workable consistency. Refrigerate for another 15 minutes.

Before shaping, put a large pot of water on the stove to bring to a boil. Sprinkle a baking sheet with flour and set it close to your work space.

Sprinkle your hands and work surface with a little flour. Break off a tennis-ball sized piece of the dough and roll it into a thick log about 3/4-inch thick.

Using a bench scraper or sharp knife, cut the log into 3/4" pieces. You can leave them as little 'pillows' as in the photo above or shape them into the traditional grooved gnocchi by rolling them off the back of a fork with your thumb.

Transfer this batch to the baking sheet and toss with flour to prevent sticking. Repeat rolling process with the remaining dough.

Add 1 tablespoon of salt to the water and half of the gnocchi. Gently stir the gnocchi to make sure they don't stick. Once they bob to the surface, let them cook an additional 2 minutes. Remove gnocchi with a slotted spoon and transfer to a colander set over a bowl to finish draining.
Repeat with second batch of gnocchi.

Toss the gnocchi with sauce and serve immediately with sauce- I like a chunky tomato sauce as per below- and Parmesan cheese.

Gnocchi can be frozen as well- freeze gnocchis (that would the plural form of gnocchi, thank you very much) on a baking sheet until solid, then transfer to a freezer bag. Cook gnocchi from frozen, they'll take a minute or two longer.

SIMPLE CHUNKY TOMATO SAUCE

Heat some olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add 1 or 2 cloves of minced garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds- don't let garlic brown. Add a can of drained diced tomatoes, salt and pepper to taste, and some dried herbs if you like (or add fresh herbs at the end) i.e. basil, thyme, oregano. Cook until heated through.