Author: Kim Heinrichs

Rack of Lamb

I’ve never cooked a rack of lamb before, and in trying to do so I realized two things:

1.  It’s so easy

2.  It’s so tasty

So, here’s what I did, borrowing a recipe from Ina Garten that I only slightly modified.

What you need:

1 rack of lamb

2 teaspoons salt

1 tablespoon fresh rosemary

2 cloves garlic

3 tablespoons Dijon mustard

2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar

optional: red wine for deglazing the pan

What you do:

1.  Blend all the ingredients (well, except the lamb!) in  a food processor.  I couldn’t get mine to chop the rosemary very small, and it ended up being great even with some bigger pieces.

2.  Coat the lamb with this mixture, and let sit for about an hour to allow the meat to become infused.

3.  Preheat oven to 450F.  Cook the lamb 20(rare)-25(medium-rare) minutes.  I did 22 minutes and it was perfect.

4.  Cover the lamb with a lid and allow to rest for 15 minutes.

5.  Cut the lamb into individual pieces and plate on the plate.  Quickly deglaze the pan with a little red wine, and use this to drizzle on top of the lamb.

Voila!  Delicious and pretty simple!

Chocolate Rum Birthday Cake

I made this for my dad’s birthday the other day.  I wasn’t sure how the kids would like it because of the rum, but it was a hit with them too.  It’s safe, though, because the baking process removes most of the alcohol.

I found the recipe years ago in a magazine, calling for strong coffee rather than rum.  I’ve been making it that way for years, and recently tried it with rum – they’re both great!

What you need:

2/3 cup flour

2/3 cup cocoa, sifted

1/2 tsp salt

5 eggs, separated

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 & 1/4 cups sugar, divided

2/3 cup rum (or strong coffee)

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

For the icing:

2 cups whipping cream

1/2 cup cocoa, sifted

1/2 cup granulated sugar

What you do:

1.  Prepare two 8-inch round pans by lining the bottoms with parchment paper or wax paper.  Cut them into circles so they fit right in the bottom of the pans.  Don’t grease the sides of the pan – the cake needs to be able to cling to the sides of the pan so it can rise properly.  This is why I prefer to use pans that don’t have a non-stick coating.  Preheat the oven to 325F.

2.  Combine flour, cocoa and salt.

3.  In a large bowl beat egg whites and cream of tartar, then gradually beat in 1/2 cup of the sugar.  Beat until stiff peaks form and set aside.

4.  Beat the egg yolks and the other 3/4 cup of sugar until it turns very light in colour.  Stir in the rum and vanilla.  Stir in the dry ingredients.

5.  Fold the mixture into the egg whites.

6.  Pour the batter into the pans, then bake immediately for 35-40 minutes.  Test the cake with a toothpick to see if it comes out clean.  If not, it needs a few more minutes.

7.  After removing from the oven, allow cakes to rest for 10 minutes.  Then run a knife around the edge and invert onto wire racks to cool.

8.  To make the icing, place the ingredients in a large bowl and give it a bit of a stir.  Refrigerate for at least an hour, then beat until stiff.  Ice the cake, then refrigerate before serving.  This one is best served straight out of the fridge so the whipping cream doesn’t get too soft.

Don’t forget the candles!

Fleur de Sel Caramels

These are to die for – sweetness balanced perfectly with saltiness.  I made some plain, just caramels and fleur de sel, wrapped in parchment paper.  The others were dark chocolate-covered, with a sprinkling of fleur de sel.  It’s hard to choose a favourite . . . but I’d have to say the chocolate ones win out.  Try it and see – it takes a bit of patience, as the cooking process can’t be rushed, but if you’ve got the time and some good music to listen to while you’re stirring, it’s totally worth it.

Listening pairing: Luluc’s album ‘Dear Hamlyn.’  Sweet and smooth like the treats you’re making!

What you need:

1 cup sugar

1 cup heavy cream

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 & 1/2 tablespoons butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

fleur se sel

3 oz chocolate (I used 2 oz semi-sweet and 1 oz bitter-sweet)

parchment paper

candy thermometer – helpful but not essential (you can test the accuracy of your thermometer by placing it in boiling water – it should read 212F)

What you do:

1.  Line a bread pan with lightly buttered parchment paper.

2.  Combine the sugar, syrup, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and half a cup of the cream in a pot.  Place on medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula until it boils.  This may take a while, but make sure you don’t raise the heat to hurry it up – it needs to stay on medium.

3.  While it boils, add the cream slowly, continuing to stir.  Reduce heat to medium-low and continue to boil for 5-6 minutes, stirring little.  Add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, and stir until melted.

4.  For the next steps you need to have patience, as you will be stirring for about 30-40 minutes.  Continue boiling over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.  You will begin to see the mixture turn a more caramel-brown colour.  If you’ve got a candy thermometer, you want it to read 250F.  If you don’t have one, you can get a bowl of ice water and place a drop of the mixture into it.  When it forms a “firm ball” in the ice water, take it off the heat right away.

5.  After removing from the heat, stir in the vanilla.

6.  Pour immediately into the parchment-lined pan.  Just pour it in and don’t scrape the caramel from the bottom of the pot, to avoid crystallization.  Of course you can scrape it out into another container and eat it up!

7.  Allow the caramel to cool, then remove it from the pan by pulling up the parchment paper.

8.  With a lightly buttered knife, cut into desired shapes.  Sprinkle the fleur de sel on the ones that you won’t be dipping in chocolate.

9. Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler, or place a bowl on top of a pot of water.  Melt the chocolate, or read here for the more complicated process of tempering chocolate.

10.  Dip caramels in the melted chocolate, then sprinkle with a little fleur de sel.

11.  The caramel will stick to almost everything.  Parchment paper, however, is like magic when it comes to caramel. you can line your plate with it, or use it for wrapping the individual caramels.

I found this recipe on Not So Humble Pie.  I’ve just halved the recipe, as it was too much for me.  But it takes a long time to make, so you might want to double it – it’s not double the work until you get to the cutting and dipping.

Green Beans, Sundried Tomatoes and Brazil Nuts

The cupboards are  bare except for the few ingredients I threw together to make these beans.  It’s surprisingly good – so good that I think I need to go out and buy more sun-dried tomatoes so I can make it again.

What you need:

green beans

sun-dried tomatoes, in oil

brazil nuts

salt

butter (or substitute for vegans)

What you do:

1.  Cut the ends off the beans and cut them in half.  Pour a few centimetres of water into a pot and bring it to a boil.  Add a teaspoon or so of butter to the water, then add the beans.  Cover and cook 3-4 minutes, until they are cooked but still a little crisp and bright green.

2.  Chop the sun-dried tomatoes, about 1/2 a tomato per serving.  Chop the brazil nuts, about one nut per serving.

3.  Drain and lightly salt the beans.

4.  Arrange the beans on plates, topping with tomatoes and nuts.  Enjoy!

Gingerbread Men with Candy Hearts

These are so cute, and fun to make!  I don’t actually like eating gingerbread – but I enjoy making them, and people love to get them.  They are a bit of work, so you can make them one day when it’s c-c-cold out and you want to stay in, or in three steps: 1. make the dough 2. roll and bake the cookies 3. have fun with the icing.

Recommended listening pairing: Over the Rhine‘s ‘Snow Angels’ album.

What you need:

2 & 3/4 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons ground ginger

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/2 cup unsalted butter or substitute (margarine or vegan “butter”)

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

3/4 cup molasses

red candies

parchment paper

gingerbread man cutter

small heart cutter

for the icing:

2 & 2/3 cups icing sugar

2 egg whites

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

just less than 1/4 cup of water

icing bag or ziplock baggie

What you do:

1.  Whisk together dry ingredients  (flour to nutmeg).

2.  In a large bowl beat butter and brown sugar until fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time and beat until fluffy, then beat in the molasses.

3.  Gradually add the flour mixture until it is just combined.  Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for about an hour, or do this ahead of time.

4.  Smash up the candies into little bits.  I bought candies that were wrapped, then smashed them in their wrappers with a hammer on my wooden cutting board.

5.  Roll dough out on a floured surface to 1/2 to 3/4 of a centimetre.  I rolled onto parchment paper, then put them in the freezer for 15 minutes before cutting, and they came out all in one piece.

6.  Cut the hearts out and place them, along with the men, on a parchment-lined cookie sheet.  Fill the hearts with some candy shards.  If you don’t use parchment the candy will stick to your pan – not good!

7.  Bake at 350 F for 6 minutes, then take them out and tap the pan on the counter, and put them back in the oven to bake for 6-8 more minutes.  Let them cool on the pan for about 10 minutes before moving them to a cooling rack; this will give the candy time to harden.

8.  To make the icing, first sift the icing sugar.  Beat the egg whites with cream of tartar, then gradually add the icing sugar.  Add a little water at a time, but make sure it doesn’t get too runny.

9.  Fill icing bag part way with icing.  Place a damp cloth over the top of the icing bowl so the part you aren’t using doesn’t dry up.  If you don’t have an icing bag, put the icing in a ziplock baggie, then cut a very small hole in one of the corners.  Pipe the icing on in any designs you wish!

Fruit wrapped in Prosciutto with Arugula

Well, this one started out as just persimmons, but I was growing frustrated trying to wrap each of the slippery little things up neatly with some arugula tucked inside.  So I cut my losses and grabbed the apples and asian pear I had on hand.  In the end it was great to have some variety.

What you need:

200 grams prosciutto

fruit – persimmons, crisp apples, asian pear

arugula

What you do:

1.  Cut the fruit into wedges.

2.  Place  a few pieces of arugula on a slice of fruit, then wrap with the prosciutto.  For the smaller pieces of fruit I used half a slice of prosciutto.

3.  Arrange on a platter, along with a few unwrapped pieces of each fruit.

Serve right away, especially if you are serving apple: the apples will brown and the prosciutto will dry out if it sits of long.

Chicken, Corn and Kale Soup

This cold weather is perfect for soup making.  This one’s quite easy, too, an old standby that I created a long time ago out of foods I had on hand.  Kale is packed with vitamin C – and don’t we all need a bit more of that with all the germs flying around these days?  It also provides a lot of iron and calcium, among other nutritional benefits.

What you need:

3-4 chicken thighs, bone-in, skin removed

1-3 whole cloves garlic, skin removed

3 cups chicken or vegetable broth

1 can cannellini beans (white kidney beans), drained and rinsed

1 bunch kale, chopped roughly

1 can corn

salt and a generous amount of pepper

optional:  1/2 cup orzo

What you do:

1.  Place a large pot on medium heat, then put the chicken thighs in.  Add the garlic cloves and cook for a few minutes on one side.

2.  Add the broth, bring to a boil, then lower heat and cook for 30 minutes.

3.  Add the beans and cook for 20 more minutes, unless you’re in a big hurry, in which case you can move to step 4.

4.  Cook the pasta in a separate pot and have it ready to add at the end.

5.  Remove the chicken and pull it apart with a fork, so it is shredded rather than chopped.

6.  Put the chicken back in the pot, add the kale, corn, pasta, salt and pepper, and cook until just heated.

Done!  And it’s great for left-overs.

Vegan Caesar Salad Dressing

A creamy dressing that’s also vegan – yum!

What you need:

2/3 cup soft Silken Tofu

3 teaspoons Dijon mustard

1/3 cup lactose-free parmesan or soy parmesan

1/4 teaspoon sugar or agave nectar

juice of 1 lemon

1/2 clove chopped garlic

2 tablespoons olive oil (or more as needed)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

What you do:

1.  Blend all the ingredients using a blender or immersion blender.  Add a little more olive oil if it’s too runny.

2.  Refrigerate for an hour or two, if you’ve got the time, to let the flavours mingle.

3.  Toss with romaine and top with croutons.  Serve with a wedge of lemon for squeezing on top.

And here’s a crouton recipe:

For 2 servings you need:

2 slices bread

olive oil

2 cloves garlic

1/4 teaspoon sage

1/4 teaspoon oregano

salt and pepper

What you do:

1. Cut the bread into cubes.  Heat a frying pan to medium, then add a little olive oil.  Once the oil is hot add the bread, tossing until coated.  Add a little more olive oil if necessary.

2.  Chop up the garlic, and add to the frying pan, along with the spices.

3.  When the bread has browned on one side, turn it over and let the other side brown.

4.  Throw it on top of your dressed salad, scraping out the spices with it.

Kim’s Lasagna, Lactose-Free but still cheesy and flavourful!

I’ve been avoiding making lasagna for years because I can’t eat cheese, and a non-cheesy lasagna just doesn’t seem right – but now there are all these great lactose-free cheeses out there, and my whole lactose-intolerant world is changing! I’m not talking about those horrible soy cheeses – I’m talking about real cheese that happens to have no lactose.  It tastes like cheese and melts like cheese – because it IS cheese.  I also added some of my tofu ricotta, which is as creamy as the real thing… try it and see.

Yes, this recipe is a bit of work, or a lot of work.  But it’s soooo good!  There’s the tomato sauce, a ricotta layer, mushrooms, pesto, and a white sauce.  Lots of flavour!

What you need:

1 & 1/2 to 2 recipes of tomato sauce (recipe here!)

tofu spinach ricotta (recipe here!)

1 lb mushrooms, fried

pesto (recipe here!)

9-12 lasagna noodles (I used the no-boil ones for this)

1 cup lactose-free mozzarella, grated

white sauce: -2 tablespoons butter/soy butter

-2 tablespoons flour

-3/4 – 1 cup soy milk (regular if you’re not concerned about lactose)

-1/2 of a  227 gram tub  of soy cream cheese

-salt and pepper

What you do:

1.  To make the white sauce, melt the butter in a small pot. then whisk in the flour.  Cook for about a minute, stirring constantly.  Don’t let it brown!  Very gradually add the soy milk, a little at a time so it boils.  Mix it in so it has no lumps, then add a bit more until it has a runny-pudding consistency.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

2.  You have all the parts ready to assemble the lasagna, so now you just have to build it.  This is the layering I did – of course you can experiment with this to make it your own.  If you are using no-boil noodles you just have to make sure you have enough moisture to cook them, or they will be a little crunchy around the edges. Use a 9×12 pan for this amount of lasagna.

– spread about 1/3 of the tomato sauce on the bottom of the pan, then lay down some noodles

– sprinkle the tofu ricotta. then the mushrooms, then another layer of noodles

– spread on another 1/3 of the tomato sauce, then the pesto, then another layer of noodles

– the final layer consists of the remaining tomato sauce, the white sauce, and the mozzarella cheese

3.  Cover with foil and bake at 350F for 45 minutes.  Remove the foil and bake for about 15 more minutes.  For the last minute I switched to broil so it would brown on top – since real cheese actually browns, I like to take advantage of this feature!

4.  Allow the lasagna to rest for 15 minutes before cutting it.  This will increase the chances that the pieces can be cut and stay together as you serve them.  And it won’t be too hot to eat.

Enjoy!

Note: if you’re one of the many people who can’t eat wheat, try out the brown rice, kamut or quinoa noodles – they’re great!  So great that they are all I usually eat.

Beets with Maple-Grapefruit Glaze

Beets are a beautiful vegetable to make for a winter feast.  The glaze is tangy yet sweet, and can be served hot or cold.  I’ve served them hot as a side dish, and cold on a green salad with some ground toasted sesame seeds.

What you need:

1/2 pound beets, cooked (You can use beets that have been boiled or baked, with the skins rubbed off.)

juice of 1 pink grapefruit

1 tablespoon rice vinegar

2 or more tablespoons maple syrup

1 teaspoon corn starch

What you do:

1.  Bring the grapefruit juice and vinegar to a boil, then mix the corn starch with a little cold water.  Mix it so there are no lumps, and stir it into the boiling juice. Make sure it is boiling when you add the cornstarch or you will get lumps.

2.  Add maple syrup to taste.  Remember that the beets are sweet, so you don’t want the sauce to be too sweet.