Truffle Mutt

They're so Cute!

I love the occasions when I am wandering through the familiar isles of my grocery store and I happen across something new.  A new kind of soup, a creative blend of juices, a fruit I haven't seen before, whatever it is I usually end up trying it.  On some occasions the excitement is far greater than the taste, but even in those cases it's still fun. 

The other day, while I was browsing through the mounds of flavorless field and Roma tomatoes, I spotted a small stash of these deliciously red and sweet strawberry tomatoes.  They come in a small plastic box that houses one little string of baby tomatoes on-the-vine.  But don't let their size fool you these tomatoes pack a huge amount of flavor, beating out even those yummy grape tomatoes and like the name would lead you believe, they are shaped like little strawberries. 

The strong, sweet flavor makes them perfect in salsas but half the package is gone from me nibbling on them as I walk by the fridge.  I haven't had a package survive long enough to try making anything else, they are just too darn good. 

Exploring Chile

This cheesy mound of chile pepper heaven is my entry to WCC #5 - Cinco De Mayo, Tex-Mex Truck-stop Enchiladas, a recipe from The Border Cookbook.  I've made several dishes out of this book and they have all turned out really well, but for quite some time now the book has been doing little more than occupying space on the self.  Mostly becasue Mexican ingredients are difficult or impossible to find in stores here. 

But in this case, the theme for WCC was perfectly timed because my Mom and Dad recently brought me a huge bag of dried ancho chile peppers from Las Vegas.  And where did they get them, you ask.  That's right, Walmart!  I wish we had chile peppers in Canadian Walmarts, sadly the Mexican food isles here are Old El Paso taco kits and Pace salsa.

Now that I've discovered a few great Mexican food sites maybe I'll be reaching for this book more often.

A Word to the Wise

Have a good look... Because this is what happens when a chocoholic takes the lava cakes out of the oven too soon in order to hurry up and eat them.  Proving that although practice might make perfect it is still no match for simple impatience. 

Most of the time chocolate lava cakes are super easy and can be whipped up in a few minutes.  This time however they were slightly less attractive than normal and crazy hot, but they were still easy and they still tasted good.

I used Nigella Lawson's recipe for Molten Chocolate Babycakes.  I didn't line the cups and the cakes slid out just fine, so I wouldn't bother with that step, unless you're serving them for the Queen or something and need them to be absolutely perfect. 

A Successful Cloning

Last Saturday was the first really nice day so far this spring and I was excited to celebrate it by finding a patio to lounge on with my brother, his girlfriend and my parents.  We were in Bragg Creek anyway since my brother was taking his new puppy to the vet, so we all ended up at Madrina's Ristorante a cozy cabin nestled in the trees across the street from the main shopping complex.  The patio is a spacious and in a super sunny spot, which also coincidentally, provided the perfect vantage point for us to keep an eye on the pesky puppy "sleeping" in the car. 

After some serious deliberation I ordered the Roseline al Forno which was a tightly rolled sheet of pasta filled with ham and mozzarella cheese, served sliced into three pieces with a tomato rose sauce.  The pasta was sooo fabulous that I ended up passing bites around the table for everyone to try. 

I liked it so much in fact, that Sunday afternoon I popped over to the Farmers' Market and picked up tomatoes, basil, smoked ham and provolone to try making it myself.  It was nice to see all the glossy red tomatoes, fresh herbs and baby cucumbers lining the isles, instead of the Christmas decorations and cookies that filled the place when I last visited in December.  And in not much time -but several $ later- I found everything I wanted except for the pasta.  So, I thought I'd make it on my own.  Homemade pasta, no problem.

And I was right as far as the dough went anyway.  It's just flour, egg and a touch of water.  The harder part proved to be the rolling of the darn thing.  I tried to roll it by hand with a rolling pin, but after half an hour of rolling and only a pie plate sized circle of pasta, I gave up.  Man that stuff is springy.  I was on a stool pushing all my weight into it and as soon as I lifted the rolling pin off -BOING-  it would just bounce back, mocking my attempts.  That was enough of that.  If I'd wanted that kind of work out I'd have been down the hall at the gym not making pasta, so it was off to Home Outfitters for me to pick up this pasta maker. 

Once I had that it was a piece of cake.  Yeah!  I win!   

All Work No Play

It seems like I've been at work a lot lately, which is cutting significantly into my kitchen and blog time.  I haven't even had a chance to try out my new Mini Whip, so it's really serious.

That's what comes with starting a new job though, I suppose.  Normal tasks take twice the amount of time because you have to figure out how everything works first.  But, it feels like things are starting to come together and I've survived the learning curve.

So, the other day, after one more late night, I got home and put my exhausted brain to work making pasta.  Nothing too complicated, just a few ingredients thrown together from the fridge.  Hamburger fried with 1 chopped onion and a clove of garlic, simmered in a can of Italian cherry tomatoes and some homemade beef stock and then finished with chopped spinach and basil.  Tossed with pasta and served with a cheese stick fresh from the oven.