Slow Roasted Balsamic Tomatoes

-    12 tomatoes
-    4 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
-    1 handful of fresh basil leaves, torn
-    12 bay leaves
-    12 green onions
-    salt
-    fresh ground black peper
-    ¾ cup balsamic vinegar
-    2 tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven at 325°F

Make an X on the tops of the tomatoes. Springkle the botton of a glass baking dish with the garlic and basil leaves. Place the tomatoes snuggly into the baking dish. Push a bay leaf into each of the scored tomates. Lay the green onions on a board and sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Using a rolling pin, press down on top of the onions to really press the seasoning into them. Weave the green onions in and around the tomatoes. Pour over the balsamic vinegar and drizzle olive oil over the tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Bake in the preheated oven for one hour. Remove the bay leaves before serving.

Original recipe via Jamie Oliver

It's quilting time!

Remember the baby quilt that I came across when I was looking for gift ideas for my new niece? 

Well, I decided to try and make one myself! You must be warned… I have no knowledge or experience in quilting. What does one do when faced with such problem? Turn to You Tube of coarse! So I watched at a few videos, took a couple of notes and pulled my sewing machine out of my closet. 

There is this great little shop on the Plaza St-Hubert in Montreal called Effiloché. They offer an impressive variety of textiles (for quilting and sewing projects of all kinds) in many colors and motifs, tons of different kinds of yarns, all the knitting apparatus you can dream of and even offer sewing and knitting classes.  

Picking out the different textiles to use in the quilt is great fun but at the same time pretty tricky. I don’t really know the quilting rules of choosing the patterns (if there are any….), so I just went with what I thought looked really cute and girly!

More to come later… as I get this quilt making under control!

I can’t wait to see how this is going to turn out!

Herb Salad on a Tomato Bruschetta

 

-    3 or 4 large ripe tomatoes

-    olive oil
-    balsamic vinegar
-    salt
-    fresh ground black pepper
-    4 thick slices of crusted bread
-    1 clove garlic

-    juice ½ of one lemon
-    olive oil

-    1 handful arugula
-    3 or 4 springs of fresh tarragon, leaves picked
-    springs of fresh herby fennel top
-    2 or 3 springs of fresh mint, leaves picked
-    2 good handfuls of  fresh mixed herbs (ex. Mix of basil, parley and dill)

-    crumbled goat cheese


 Chop up the tomatoes and place in a bowl. Add a good glug of olive oil and a splash of balsamic vinegar. Season with salt and fresh ground pepper. Mix together.

Toast the bread slices on a hot griddle or in the toaster (in the summer I like to grill the bread on the BBQ but for now, I just use the toaster).  Once the bread is nicely toasted, gently rub the clove of garlic over the bread to lightly flavour.

To make the dressing, whisk the lemon juice with 3 times the amount of olive oil. Season with salt and fresh black pepper. Toss in the arugula, fennel tops and and mixed herbs.

Put a heap of the tomatoes on top of each slice of toasted bread. Press the tomatoes into the bread. Place a good pile of the herb-arugula salad on top and finish of with some crumbled goat cheese.

Pear Caramel Pots

  

Don’t be frightened by the different components of this dessert. Yes it takes a bit of time to prepare all of the layers but once they’re done, it’s quite easy to assemble and the result is stunning.


Custard
-    2 cups milk
-    1 cup 35% cream
-    ½ cup sugar
-    6 tbsp of all purpose flour
-    2 eggs
-    6 egg yolks
-    2 tsp of vanilla extract

Caramelised Pears
-    ½ cup sugar
-    3 tbsp water
-    8 pears, pealed, cored and cut into small cubes

Caramel Sauce
-    ¼ cup water
-    1 ¼ cups sugar
-    3 tbsp corn syrup
-    1 cup 35% cream, warm

Almond crunch
-    ¼ cup surgar
-    2 tbsp corn sirop
-    1 tbsp water
-    1/3 cup slithered almonds

Whipped cream
-    2 ½ 35% cream
-    ½ sugar
-    2 tsp vanilla extract

-12 lady finger cookies, cut into small cubes



Custard
In a pot, warm the cream and set aside. The cream must not boil.

In a pot, combine the sugar and flour. Add the eggs and the egg yolks and whisk until smooth and homogenous. Slowley whisk in the hot cream. Bring to a boil over medium heat stiring constantly. Add the vanilla. Pour the mixture into a bowl and place a sheet of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the custard. Let cool and refrigerate for two hours or until the custard has cooled completely.

Caramelised Pears
In a large skillet, heat the sugar and water until the mixture becomes a golden brown colour. Add the cubed pears and cook for 5 minutes on high heat. Refrigerate until completely cooled.

Caramel Sauce
In a pot, bring the water, sugar and corn syrup to a boil. Cook without stiring until the mixture becomes a golden brown colour. Remove from the heat and gradually add the cream. Return to heat and bring to a boil, mixing constantly until homogenous. Let cool completely.

Almond crunch
In a pot, bring the water, sugar and corn syrup to a boil. Cook without stiring until the mixture becomes a golden brown colour. Add the almonds and stir until they are completely coated. Spread on a piece of parchment paper and let cool. Once cooled, the almond mixture will become hard and brittle. Chop up into small pieces.

Whipped cream
In a bowl, whisk the cream, sugar and vanilla until you get stiff peaks.


For the assembling of the pear caramel pots
In 12 small glass recipients (I used small jam jars but you could use a wine glass or small bowls), alternate a layer of custard, lady finger cookies, caramelised pears, caramel, almond crunch and whipped cream. Place the whipped cream and the custard each into a pastry bag (I don’t have any so I use a ZipLock bag and I cut off one of the corners). I find that this really helps to control the ingredients because you want the sides of the container to stay clean in order to see all of the different layers.
Repeat the layers twice and finish off with whipped cream, caramel sauce and almond crunch.


Refrigerate at least 2 hours, over night is even better.

 Enjoy!

Original recipe via Ricardo