Easter and Eating, TV Viewing, Bunnies.

The discussion on whether to eat turkey or lamb for our Easter dinner ended up with us choosing turkey. The gumbo last night was very good, made more so by the oysters although they didn’t seem to have a lot of flavour not compared with oysters fresh from the sea. They were huge though, I don’t think I have ever had to cut an oyster in half before. I didn’t like oysters for many years although both my parents would woof them down on the half shell. Then I moved to North Carolina and learned to eat them steamed – wonderful – I could knock off a bushel in very short order. Matt even built a small outdoor fire for steaming them. In case you don’t know, we used to put them on a metal sheet over the fire and cover them with a piece of wet sacking. Once they started opening they were done. I then had a table with lots of paper towel and some Tabasco plus an oyster knife in case they weren’t fully open. I was then in heaven. Matt would rescue a few and take them indoors and cook them with wine and shallots; he no longer eats shellfish very much after we pigged out, with friends, on 1,800 clams which we ate every which way you could think of including chowder. Matt never really touched shellfish after that, not even when we went to a clam bake.

We went to vote yesterday afternoon although I was busy cooking but decided to go and get it done with. We can then relax for the rest of the weekend. I mentioned the US voting ads at the banqueting the other night and our friends hadn’t seen them, which means, I guess, that they don’t watch any of the US channels. In particular we enjoy watching Jeopardy in the evening and that is an American Channel, as is Good Morning America of course.

Tomorrow I can start eating my chocolate rabbit. As you saw from the picture, we have two. Matt bought one in dark chocolate but I prefer milk chocolate, yes I know its not as good for me, but still – rather than take it back he decided he would eat it himself. Maybe that was the plan all along. I have a serious problem though, do I start with the ears or the rear end or even another part? I have discussed it with a friend on Facebook. You must have seen the cartoon, it comes out every year. I do love those Lindt chocolate bunnies, they make excellent chocolate – Matt is nuts about Swiss chocolate, with good reason. As I have mentioned before though, one doesn’t find much in the way of really nice Easter Eggs as we used to have in England. I do miss those.

Here is something which, to me, is very unusual, from Eating Well. It is a healthy food and I would imagine could be served either as a starter or a main course for lunch.

Parmesan Spinach Cakes

From EatingWell:  September/October 2008

If you like spinach-cheese pie, try these simple but elegant-looking little spinach cakes.

4 servings, 2 spinach cakes each

Ingredients

• 12 ounces fresh spinach, (see Note)
• 1/2 cup part-skim ricotta cheese, or low-fat cottage cheese
• 1/2 cup finely shredded Parmesan cheese, plus more for garnish
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Pulse spinach in three batches in a food processor until finely chopped. Transfer to a medium bowl. Add ricotta (or cottage cheese), Parmesan, eggs, garlic, salt and pepper; stir to combine.
3. Coat 8 cups of the muffin pan with cooking spray. Divide the spinach mixture among the 8 cups (they will be very full).
4. Bake the spinach cakes until set, about 20 minutes. Let stand in the pan for 5 minutes. Loosen the edges with a knife and turn out onto a clean cutting board or large plate. Serve warm, sprinkled with more Parmesan, if desired.

Nutrition

Per serving : 141 Calories; 8 g Fat; 4 g Sat; 3 g Mono; 123 mg Cholesterol; 6 g Carbohydrates; 13 g Protein; 2 g Fiber; 456 mg Sodium; 560 mg Potassium

Tips & Notes

Note: Baby spinach is immature or young spinach—it's harvested earlier than large-leaved mature spinach. We like the sturdy texture of mature spinach in cooked dishes and serve tender, mild-flavored baby spinach raw or lightly wilted. Baby and mature spinach can be used interchangeably in these recipes (yields may vary slightly); be sure to remove the tough stems from mature spinach before using.

• Weights & Measures
• 10 ounces trimmed mature spinach=about 10 cups raw
• 10 ounces baby spinach=about 8 cups raw

Happy Easter

Malware, Raquel, Easter,

OK, I'm all better, well my desktop PC is thanks to the people at Avira who sent me to STOPzilla which fixed my virus problem. I was tearing my hair out at one point, if I hadn't at least had my laptop I would be totally bald by now LOL. As I said, I think the malware was delivered by an email which I stupidly opened. It purported to be from UPS about a delivery problem. As I was half expecting something to arrive by UPS or at least something had been delivered by them, I was dumb enough to open it without thinking properly.

Raquel Welch has been on Good Morning America a couple of times this week, the first time to promote her book Beyond the Cleavage and today just to chat about life in the US. She is incredible, at 69 she still looks as good as she did years ago in her movies - I don't know if she has had any face lifts, she doesn't look like she has, but her figure is great too, in fact I am as jealous as hell. Of course I didn't start off looking as good as she does; she must spend a great deal of time on preserving her looks and energy. She doesn't appear to have any aches and pains which seem to go with old age either. Sigh.

I was rather disappointed that due to so many medical appointments this week not to mention my computer problems, I didn't have time to make any Hot Cross Buns this year. Good Friday without them is just not the same. Matt has bought me a Lindt gold bunny for an Easter gift which I will try not to open til Sunday. They are rather delicious though and I will have to restrain myself. Maybe that's why Raquel looks so good, she doesn't have to fight herself over chocolate bunnies. Tomorrow I am going to cook a roast of lamb for dinner and have invited a neighbour to join us. It is a rather large lump of lamb too. Lamb to me is a traditional meat to serve for Easter although so many people in this part of the world don't seem to enjoy it. When I lived in the UK, lamb was not so scarce and therefore not too expensive, but although much more readily available here these days, it is still a very expensive meat.

I have mentioned before that I am a sucker for carrot cakes, especially the icing part. Yummy, I just found this recipe, through an email, on Cooking.com so thought I would share it. I don't have the ingredients handy otherwise I might be tempted.

Easter Basket Cupcakes Source: Easter Treats: Recipes and crafts for the whole family Active Time: 20 Minutes Total Time: 45 Minutes Makes 24 cupcakes My mother made these cupcakes for me when I was growing up, and they are just as much fun to make now as they were then. Children can help peel the carrots, measure dry ingredients into a large bowl, and stir together the wet and dry ingredients. Place bowls of icing, coconut, and jelly beans on the table and demonstrate how to construct the first basket. Let the children assemble the rest. They can choose red licorice whips for the basket handle, or try one of the new fruit-flavored whips that come in colors as varied as yellow, orange, and pink. INGREDIENTS For the Cupcakes: 3 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon salt 2 teaspoons cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1 cup vegetable oil 3/4 cup buttermilk 4 large eggs 1 cup granulated sugar 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract 1 pound carrots, peeled, grated (3 1/2 cups packed) 2 cups chopped walnuts 1 cup sweetened, shredded coconut 1 cup drained canned crushed pineapple For the Icing: 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened 1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened 1 teaspoon grated orange zest 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 4 cups (1 pound) confectioners' sugar, sifted For the Decorating: 3 cups coconut Liquid or paste food coloring 72 jelly beans, in assorted colors 24 red licorice or other fruit-flavored whips DIRECTIONS FOR THE CUPCAKES: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 24 standard muffin cups with paper liners. Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg into a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, granulated and brown sugars, and vanilla until smooth. Stir in the grated carrots, walnuts, coconut and pineapple. Using a wooden spoon, stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients just until combined. Spoon into the lined muffin cups, filling each three-quarters full. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. FOR THE ICING: In a bowl beat together the butter and cream cheese with an electric mixer set at medium speed until light and fluffy. Grate in the orange zest and vanilla. Beat in the confectioners' sugar, 1 cup at a time. Continue beating until light and creamy. You should have about 3 cups. TO COLOR COCONUT: Dissolve a few drops of liquid or paste food coloring in 1 teaspoon water. Put coconut in a lock-top plastic bag and dribble dissolved food coloring over it. Seal bag and massage food coloring into the coconut until it is evenly distributed and no white streaks remain. TO ASSEMBLE: Spread the cooled cupcakes generously with the icing. Press the coconut onto the icing to resemble Easter basket grass. Press 3 jelly beans into the coconut grass on each cupcake. To create the basket handle, insert one end of a licorice whip into one side of a cupcake. (If you experience difficulty inserting the licorice, pierce the cupcake with the tip of a paring knife to ease the way.) Insert the other end into the opposite side of the cupcake, to form the semicircular handle. TO SERVE: Serve the cupcakes immediately, or cover lightly with plastic wrap and chill for up to 12 hours before serving.

Have a great day and Happy Easter to everyone

Easter Treats, Lamb for Dinner, Pizza and Pasta

I have just read French Marilyn's blog (see link this page) which shows a couple of Easter treats from a master chocolatier in Paris. The prices are ridiculous however good the chocolate is. My $5 Lindt gold bunny is excellent value for money, good chocolate, 100 g of it and affordable. We also have some small chocolate eggs which we bought as garnish, their only decoration is the coloured foil they are wrapped in. I do miss the beautiful Easter Eggs of England. Unfortunately our dinner party is off tonight, so we decided to cook our leg of lamb - very much the way I showed in the recipe yesterday, without the rosemary. We will serve it with flat beans sliced in the French fashion and probably roast potatoes of which I will try and restrict myself to one and of course, gravy made by simmering celery, onion, mushrooms and herbs, adding wine and thickening at the end. We have been working our way through a nice piece of Brie the last couple of days, so will probably finish that tonight as well. All of this will be accompanied by a good bottle of wine, don't know which one at the moment. It could well be the Rosenblum Zinfandel which is one of my favourites. We have a 2007 bottle which should certainly be drinkable. It is a deep red wine with lots of excellent flavours and goes well with lamb, as it does with Brie. Terrible news, Chicago is famous for its Deep Dish Pizza, however, the President called in a chef from St. Louis, Missouri, to make DDPs for his guests last night (horrors). The Chicagoans are very upset. One of the anchors on GMA Weekend said it was like going to Wyoming for wine. That is difficult to equate in non American terms, but they are not wine makers there. If you would like to read an article about it click here, one of the partners, Ryan Mangialardo flew to Washington to make the pizzas in the White House kitchens. Lucky man, I wouldn't mind being let loose in those kitchens, not that I would be making pizza. That is something that has always staggered us about North America, their extreme fondness for pizza and pasta. They eat those items more than any Italian in Italy. Pizzerias are everywhere, there are 3 I can think of within easy reach of us and we rarely eat it. I think every North American housewife makes lasagna on a regular basis. I think we have made it twice. Matt once made pizza when we first came to Canada. At the time, a friend of ours, who loves pizza, went nuts on Matt's version. To me it was too rich and had too many flavours on it. Give me a genuine Italian pizza (well how they used to be anyway) with very few toppings so you could actually taste what was there. In my time over here, I have had seafood pizzas and dessert pizzas. Anything goes on top of a pizza crust it seems. After all that I should give you an Italian recipe. Its one of my gripes that real Italian cooking is very under appreciated. It is one of the great cuisines and much of what we consider typical French cooking was introduced to France by the Italian wife of one of the French kings, Catherine de Medici who, when sent to live in the French court found the food appalling so imported some Italian chefs. I thought of giving you the recipe for Osso Buco which is a favourite of ours, but it was a lot of typing. Maybe another day. Here is a basic Tomato and Garlic sauce very much used in Italy for both pizzas and various meat and fish dishes. Salsa Pizzaiola Source: Time Life Foods of the World 2 1/2 Tbs olive oil 4 oz. finely chopped onions 2 1/2 tsp finly chopped garlic (this was written when garlic was not too popular in the UK) 2 1/2 lb canned tomatoes, coarsely chopped, not drained 2 level tsp tomato purée or paste 2 1/2 tsp dried oregano, crumbled 2 1/2 tsp finely cut fresh basil or 1 scant tsp. dried basil, crumbled 1 bay leaf 2 scant tsp. sugar 2 1/2 tsp salt Freshly ground black pepper. Heat the 2 1/2 tbs olive oil in a medium sized non reactive saucepan and cook the onions in it over a moderate heat, stirring frequently, for 7 to 8 mins. When the onions are soft and transparent, not brown, add the garlic and cook for another 1 to 2 mins, stirring constantly. Then stir in the tomatoes and their liquid, the purée, oregano, basil, bayleaf, sugar, salt and a few grindings of black pepper. Bring the sauce to the boil, turn the heat very low and simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, for about an hour. When finished, the sauce should be thick and fairly rough in texture. Remove the bay leaf. Taste and season the sauce with salt and pepper. If you want a smooth texture, purée the sauce in a blender. This may be served on top of beef steak, chops or fish, or with meatballs Now if it were me, I would take that basic pie shown in the picture, which has cheese on it, add some sliced olives and a few anchovies and that would be it for me. Scrumptious. Hope the rest of your Easter holiday is great.

Lindt Bunny, Luxury Cars

I have just joined the Lindt Bunny search for the golden bunny. Yes, I know, its designed for kids, but I am the biggest kid around. I have also just discovered that Lindt Chocalatiers are going to be in a store close by today so I will have to pop down there and get my Lindt passport stamped, plus see what they are doing. If you want to try and win $10,000 by finding the solid gold bunny, you can go to www.lindtgoldbunny.ca (if you are not in Canada, maybe there is another site for you). The story is that they designed a solid gold bunny with a jewelled collar and it was about to be on display but a thief nicked it. You have to find it. I wouldn't mind winning a solid gold bunny, probably worth more than the prize they are offering. Matt's favourite TV channel for GMA went off the air for a while and we saw, on another channel, part of a report on luxurious possessions. There was a segment about a retired realtor in Florida who has a love affair with cars. They showed him driving around in a Dutch Spyker which he paid $300,000 for - never heard of the car before. He also has several other top of the line models of car. I wonder how on earth a realtor could afford that kind of spending. He really sounded ecstatic when he talked about his cars. Didn't even have a radio as he liked to listen to the sound of the Spyker. I belong to the "so long as it gets me from A to B" group. Well, have to go see a choclatier about a bunny. Roast Pork with Sweet Onion-Rhubarb Sauce Source: Eating Well Magazine Makes 4 servings 4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided 1 ½ teaspoons ground coriander 1 teaspoon kosher salt, divided ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper 1-1 ¼ pounds pork tenderloin, trimmed 1 large sweet onion, sliced 2-4 tablespoons water 2 cups diced rhubarb ¼ cup red-wine vinegar ¼ cup brown sugar ¼ cup minced fresh chives 1. Preheat oven to 450°F. 2. Mix 1 teaspoon oil, coriander, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper in a small bowl. Rub the mixture into pork. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add the pork and cook, turning occasionally, until brown on all sides, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer the pan to the oven and roast the pork until an instant-read thermometer registers 145°F, 15 to 17 minutes. Let rest 5 minutes before slicing. 3. Meanwhile, heat the remaining 2 teaspoons oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon salt; cook, stirring occasionally, until browned, 7 to 8 minutes. Add 2 tablespoons water; continue cooking, stirring often, until the onion is soft, 5 to 7 minutes more, adding water a tablespoon at a time if necessary to prevent burning. Stir in rhubarb, vinegar and brown sugar and cook, stirring often, until the rhubarb has broken down, about 5 minutes. Spoon the sauce over the sliced pork and sprinkle with chives. Have a great weekend.