Crostata di Mirtilli

Tags

blueberries, blueberry crostata, blueberry desserts, blueberry galette, bluets du Lac Saint-Jean, crostata, galette, gelette aux bluets, mirtillo, Quebec wild blueberries, tart, wild blueberries

Perhaps you might be more familiar with Blueberry Galette? A crostata is exactly that. A galette. A rustic, free form, open-faced tart filled with luscious fruit. Or veggies. And that’s what I love most about crostata. That it is rustic and free-form. No perfection required here! Just loads of butter for a deliciously rich and buttery crust. And beautiful fruit which you can sweeten to your heart’s desire.

We’ve got these wild blueberries here from the Saguenay/Lac Saint-Jean region of Quebec. Walk through a farmers’ market in August and September, and you will be dazzled by these tiny blue-purple gems. And I do mean tiny! Smaller in stature than cultivated blueberries, wild blueberries contain the most powerful antioxidants of all, including powerful anti-inflammatory compounds. But that’s not why I eat them. I eat them because they are perfectly delicious! And they’re also Charlotte’s favourite fruit!

The recipe below is for two bellissime crostate di mirtilli. Go ahead and cut the recipe in half if you only want one. But trust me on this. You will want a second one after the first is gone! After looking at various recipes, I noticed that all of them added either cornstarch or flour, or both, to the fruit. I decided that I would rather not, preferring to have the pure taste of blueberries. With perhaps a little lemon because after all, blueberries and lemon do marry wonderfully together, no? As for the sugar, I added little. Again, I really just wanted the blueberry flavour bursting in my mouth. You go ahead and add more sugar if you prefer your crostata on the sweet side. As for myself, I’m already quite sweet as it is!

For the pastry:

 2 cups of flour

1/4 teaspoon of salt

2 teaspoons of sugar

12 tablespoons of cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

8 to 10 tablespoons of ice water

1 egg, for the egg wash

Sugar for sprinkling

Add the flour into a bowl with the salt and sugar, and stir. I cut the cold butter into cubes and then put them back in the refrigerator until it’s time to throw them in. The colder the better!

Cut the butter in with a pastry cutter. Here’s where my luck ran out. My cutter broke on me! So instead I used two knives to cut in the butter, which I’ve done before. My advice? If you bake lots, I urge you to indulge in such a simple tool as the pastry cutter. So much easier!

Add the ice water, one tablespoon at a time, stirring with a fork. Do not overwork the dough. I used 9 tablespoons of ice water. You might require 1 more or less. It should just come together nicely and not be too wet or sticky. Wrap in wax paper or plastic wrap and put in the refrigerator to chill for at least 1 hour.

For the filling:

6 cups of blueberries

Zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 tablespoons of sugar

Gently mix the blueberries with lemon juice, zest, and sugar.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Remove the dough from the fridge and cut it in half. Place one half back in the fridge while you prepare the first crostata dough. Roll the dough out on a lightly-floured surface to about ¼ inch thickness and transfer to a baking sheet. Place this dough in the fridge while you roll-out the second one. Repeat as with the first.

When you’re ready, work with one dough at a time, keeping the other in the fridge. Add half of the blueberries on top of the dough, creating a small mound in the centre, leaving enough of a border to fold the pastry edges over the blueberries. Repeat with the second crostata dough. Lightly beat the egg and brush the outer crust with it. Sprinkle the crust with sugar.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until the crust is nicely browned and the blueberries begin to break apart in the middle. Allow to cool to room temperature and serve. Buon Appetito!

Upside Down Plum Cake & a Winner

Tags

desserts, Ontario plums, plum cake, plums, seasonal desserts, summer desserts

I just love going to the market with my girls. Emma in particular. She hops from one farmer’s stand to the next, tasting everything she possibly can along the way. And always presenting me with pieces of sweet and luscious fruit. She knows that if I have a taste of these juicy offerings, I shall be sold. “Oh mama! Taste this. It’s so sweet and juicy… you’re gonna love it!”. And love it I do!

I went to the market with an idea in my mind, an upside down apple cake. But one look upon the various Ontario plums which were on display, and I was hooked. Vibrant colours of red, purple and yellow. Magnificent! A treat just had to be made with these sweet beauties. After Emma duly fed me a taste of each plum, I decided that we just had to have one more taste of summer! There would be plenty of time to bake with apples. Now, which one would grace the top of my upside down cake? The brilliant yellow or the lustrous red? Or perhaps the deep-purple, almost-black, plum? They all tasted perfect. Oh, who says I could only have one? Why not all three?

Upside Down Plum Cake

cake batter adapted from Cooking Light

2 tablespoons of unsalted butter

1 tablespoon of melted unsalted butter

1 cup of sugar, divided into 1/2 cups

3 tablespoons of orange juice

6 to 9 plums, depending on their size, enough to fill the bottom of your pan

3/4 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup of milk

1 teaspoon of grated orange zest

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

2 egg yolks

4 egg whites

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Cut the plums in half and remove the pit. If they’re rather big, quarter them as I did.

In a 9 or 10 inch cast-iron skillet or oven pan, melt the 2 tablespoons of butter over medium-heat on the stovetop. Add 1/2 cup of sugar and the orange juice. Cook until sugar dissolves and remove from heat. Arrange the plums, cut sides up, on the bottom of your pan or skillet.

In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Add milk, melted butter, orange zest, vanilla and egg yolks. Stir with a whisk until smooth.

Beat the egg whites at high speed of a mixer, until foamy. Gradually add remaining 1/2 cup of sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until stiff peaks form.

Gently stir in 1/4 of the egg whites into the batter. Gently fold in the remaining egg whites. Pour the batter over the plums, spreading evenly.

Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean. Cool in the pan or skillet for 10 minutes. Place a plate upside down on top of skillet/pan and invert the cake onto the plate. Serve warm or at room temperature. Enjoy!

And now for the winner of the Maple Bundle Giveaway (see Pouding Chômeur & an Anniversary).  

I had my daughter Emma write down all the names of those who had left comments on the above-mentioned post. She then proceeded to cut them out and placed them in a little box. I then wanted Charlotte to pick a name from the box, but Oh No! Emma would not have it! She had done all the work, why should Charlotte have the enjoyment of picking the winner? This happens every time I try to engage the two of them to do something, and I always end up asking myself why, oh why? So I had them do it together, after much reluctance on behalf of Emma. And the winner is:

Karen, over at Back Road Journal. Congratulations Karen!

Pouding Chômeur & an Anniversary

Tags

desserts, maple syrup, maple syrup cake, maple syrup dessert, Quebec, Quebec desserts, Quebec maple products

Oh Lidia celebrates 1 year today! Yay! And what a year it’s been! Who knew I would so be enjoying this blogging thing? I’ll tell you who. Sue! Sue knew. This was her idea. I still recall the e-mail she sent back in March 2012. Simple. “I’ve been thinking. I think you should start a food blog. Actually, you must start a food blog. You must!”. And the rest, as they say, is history!

Well, not quite. There were a few hitches. Such as not-so encouraging comments. Like, “Oh, not another food blog!”. And, “What’s the purpose of a food blog?”. Or this one, “A blog? Don’t you have to BE someone to have a blog?”. I think they meant someone of importance. Someone knowledgeable who people could look up to. Well, I can tell you this. I’m pretty important to my daughters and they look up to me. They also believe that I know everything!

Oh, and then there was the confidence issue. Not believing that I could do it. In late March 2012, Sue had pretty much set-up my blog and showed me how to go about it. By the time June rolled around, I still hadn’t done anything with it. Why? I wasn’t a writer. I would be terrible at it. I can still recall my creative writing class in college. On the first day of class, the professor went through the course outline and stated that he would be calling upon students every class and have them read their writing out loud. And at the very end of that first class, I went straight to the admin office and dropped that class! No joke. In August, her hubby Halvdan asked my what the problem was. I told him. “I’m not a writer. I can’t write! I look at other blogs and I can’t do what they’re doing. What will people think?”. And then came his words of wisdom: “You don’t want to do what others are doing. You have to be you. And you’re not doing this for anyone. You’re doing it for you. Because it’s your passion. Just write the way you talk to me about food. Pretend you’re talking to me or Sue.” One week later, I launched my blog. And now it’s one year later! Hurray!

Thank you my friends! And not just those who gave me that gentle shove. To all my good friends who have encouraged and supported me. To my family, Carmine and Franca. To hubby and my girls, Charlotte and Emma. Especially them. For keeping them waiting while they were starving because I had to take just one more picture. And then when dinner was finally on the table, asking them to wait just a smidgen longer for that final photo. And to all of my new friends. That would be you! For without you, this blog would be pretty much non-existent. So thank you!

And now, on to the good stuff! Pouding Chômeur and a giveaway! 

I was once asked if I preferred receiving or giving gifts. I LOVE to give gifts. And to celebrate the first anniversary of Oh Lidia, I will be giving one of you a Maple Syrup Bundle. Maple syrup, maple butter and maple sugar! All pure, and all made in La Belle Province, Quebec. This way, you could make my Maple Syrup Cake. Or my Rhubarb-Maple Syrup Crème Brûlée (Yumminess in a Jar).  And even this very sinful Pouding Chômeur. If you’re into bourbon, why not give my Bourbon & Maple Syrup Fusion a try. Leave a comment if you’re interested in entering the draw, and I will contact the winner in just over a week.

Pouding Chômeur is a typical Quebecois dessert made with maple syrup. Chômeur meaning unemployed person in French, this dessert literally translates to unemployed person’s pudding, or poor man’s pudding. It was created by female factory workers during the Great Depression, in 1929. It consists of a maple syrup and cream sauce that is poured over the top of a cake batter. During the baking process, the sauce ends up on the bottom, all thick and gooey. And wickedly delicious! But it wasn’t always so. During the Depression, this dessert was meant to reflect its working-class roots. Back then, only the very basic of ingredients were available to these female factory workers: butter, flour, milk and brown sugar. No eggs, no cream. And definitely no maple syrup as it was too expensive. The original Pouding Chômeur cake batter was made without eggs, and its rich and sweet sauce was made up of brown sugar and water. I’ve had the original version, made by hubby himself. It’s good. But once you’ve tasted the “very rich poor man’s pudding”, oh my! There’s no turning back!

Maple Syrup Pouding Chômeur

2 cups of pure Maple Syrup

2 cups of 35% cream, heavy or double cream

1 1/2 cups of flour

2 teaspoons of baking powder

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup of unsalted butter, room temperature

1 cup of sugar

2 eggs

3/4 cups of milk

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium-sized saucepan, bring to boil the maple syrup and the cream. Set aside once it reaches a boil.

In a small bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. With the mixer on low speed, add the flour and milk, alternating between the two. Add vanilla and mix well. Pour the batter in a large baking dish or pan, a 10-cup capacity, and spread evenly.

Carefully pour the maple syrup and cream sauce over the cake batter.

Bake for 40 minutes and let it cool slightly. We like to eat ours warm so within 20 or 30 minutes, we’re ready to dig in!

You can also bake this in Mason jars. Pour some cake batter about half way up the jars and then pour some of the syrup sauce over the batter, stopping at about 1/4 away from the top. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the batter comes out clean.

Zucchini-Mascarpone Bread

Tags

baked goods, mascarpone, zucchini, zucchini bread, zucchini-cheese bread

I’m thinking of re-naming this The Disappearing Zucchini Bread. I cannot seem to bake them quick enough before my family polishes them off. Me included. Two large loaves will last exactly 3 days in my home. The secret? It’s all in the filling!

My sister Franca has been making an amazing Zucchini-Cream Cheese Bread for over 15 years. I thought I’d change the recipe up a little by giving it an Italian twist. Where the original recipe calls for the tanginess of cream cheese, I thought I’d give it a rich and creamy texture with mascarpone. Don’t you just love mascarpone? I’ve also replaced much of the vegetable oil with unsweetened applesauce. Sounds crazy but I have this thing about adding oil to a cake batter, especially a whole cup of it. And I’ve added lemon zest, for a fresh zesty twist as well. Besides, zucchini and lemon are  a perfect match. This recipe makes two big loaves and to one of them, I added some blackberries. Seeing as the cottage is surrounded by blackberry bushes, why not? My girls LOVE this zucchini bread and it makes the perfect snack. Or breakfast. So when life gives you zucchini, make zucchini bread!

Ingredients

for the bread:

3 eggs

2 cups of sugar

1/3 of a cup of vegetable/canola oil

2/3 of a cup of unsweetened applesauce

2 teaspoons of vanilla

3 cups of flour

1 teaspoon of baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

1 teaspoon of salt

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

2 medium zucchini, shredded and unpeeled, about 2 cups

Zest of 1 lemon

for the cheese:

250 g (8 oz) of mascarpone cheese, or cream cheese

1 egg

1/2 cup of sugar

2 tablespoons of flour

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter or oil 2 loaf pans.

In a large bowl, beat together the 3 eggs, 2 cups of of sugar, oil, applesauce and vanilla. Add the next 5 ingredients, flour to cinnamon, and mix well. Fold in the zucchini, lemon zest and juice.

In a separate bowl, beat the mascarpone, or cream cheese, with the egg, sugar and flour until light and fluffy.

Pour a layer of the zucchini batter in the bottom of each loaf pan, about 1/4 of the mixture in each. Spread the cheese mixture over the batter in each pan. If using blackberries, drop those on top of the cheese mixture. Add the remainder of the zucchini batter over the cheese mixture.

Bake at 350 degrees F for about 1hour to 1 hour and 10 minutes. Allow to cool completely in the pans on a wire rack. Remove from pans when cool and dig in!