Christmas Cookie Exchange

The Epi Christmas Cookie Exchange was such a success that even our men got in on the baking. Diane’s husband Rob and Kaarina’s Mike faced off with their shortbreads. Mike likes the macho version - big thick jaw-breakers fit for Highland lads. Rob’s are more refined - half as thick, softer, with a hint of lemon. Caroline’s Jimmy shared his stash of authentic fennel-laced biscotti gifted by Italian friends.

Laura and Peter missed out on the exchange but Laura did bake up a batch of Chocolate Chunk Shortbread fit for Santa Claus and joined our Zoom cookie tasting on the Saturday before Christmas.

Caroline has been trying to replicate the Chilli Pepper Chocolate cookies we love so much from our local Scarborough Bluff’s bakery, the Cliffside Hearth. She’s getting closer by putting her own spin on a Martha Stewart recipe for Spicy Chocolate cookies. Diane departed from the cookie theme by roasting up a batch of delicious Teriyaki Spiced nuts.

Kaarina isn’t much of a baker having grown up in a bakery where baking was serious business, done on a large scale with huge mixers, a massive two-level oven and a staff. It took Ottolenghi, the cookbook that made Chef Yotam Ottolenghi an international sensation, to tempt Kaarina into trying her hand at baking at home. In the Introduction, Ottolenghi addresses the “angst the idea of baking evokes in some.” He acknowledges that there’s grounds for the “phobia” since things can and do “go horribly wrong” but the “gratification of good baking is unbeatable ... and a clear mark of a mature cook.” He then promised that the selection of recipes in the book were mostly beginner friendly.

Ottolenghi’s Almond and Orange Florentines were reminiscent of a cookie made especially for Christmas by Kaarina’s family bakery. As this version is simple enough for a novice, she tackled it first. Once on a roll she moved on to another popular Italian treat, Sour Cherry Amaretti. Also easy and the results for both were stellar, something one could proudly include in a Christmas Cookie Exchange.

Almond and Orange Florentines

Makes about 20

Vegetable oil for brushing

2 free-range egg whites

3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp confectioners sugar

2 3/4 cups sliced almonds

Grated zest of 1 orange

Preheat the oven to 300°F / 150°C. Line a heavy baking sheet with parchment paper and brush lightly with vegetable oil. Next to you have a small bowl of cold water.

Put the egg whites, confectioners' sugar, sliced almonds, and orange zest in a bowl and gently mix them together. Dip your hand in the bowl of water and pick up portions of the mix to make little mounds on the lined pan, well spaced apart. Dip a fork in the water and flatten each mound very thinly. Try to make them as thin as possible without creating too many gaps between the almond slices. They should be about 3 1/4 inches / 8 cm in diameter.

Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for about 12 minutes, until the cookies are golden brown. Check underneath one cookie to make sure they are cooked through.

Allow to cool, then gently, using an icing spatula, remove the cookies from the baking sheet. Store in a sealed jar. 

Sour Cherry Amaretti

Makes 20

60 g dried sour cherries (or cranberries)

120 g caster sugar

180 g ground almonds

1/2 tsp almond extract

zest one lemon

pinch salt

2 tsp honey

2 egg whites

icing sugar

Heat oven to 325F (170C). Mix together the almonds, sugar, lemon zest, almond extract and salt using your fingers to disperse the zest evenly. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg whites and honey into soft peaks. Fold these gently into the other ingredients to a soft meringue consistency.

Divide the mixture into 20 balls, roll liberally in icing sugar, and place on a parchment-covered baking tray. Bake for about 12 mins, until slightly coloured but still pale and chewy in the centre. Cool completely before storing in sealed jar.

Caroline’s Spicy Chocolate Cookies

https://www.marthastewart.com/1515705/spicy-chocolate-cookies

For this recipe from Martha Stewart, Caroline used Lindt’s dark chili chocolate for choco chips, doubled the cayenne to 1/2 tsp and topped the cookies with Maldon salt instead of sugar.

Diane’s Teriyaki Spiced Nuts

https://www.google.ca/amp/s/www.bigoven.com/recipe/teriyaki-almond-nuts/29897/amp

(The mixture includes almonds, pistachios and cashews)

Laura’s Chocolate Chunk Shortbread

2 cups butter

1 cup of fine sugar (blend in food processor if you can’t find instant-dissolving, fruit sugar)

3 1⁄2 cups flour

1⁄2 cup of rice flour

12 oz dark chocolate, chopped into bit-size chunks

Beat butter until light gradually add sugar until dissolved (about 5 minutes).
Sift flours together and stir into butter until well combined.
Save 50 of the biggest chunks of chocolate for the top of cookies and mix the rest into the batter.
Scoop dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment. Press a chunk of chocolate in the top of each cookie.
Bake 20-25 minutes at 325 until lightly browned cool on racks and dust with icing sugar.

Mezze Christmas

When Diane announced in late November that our favourite chef Yotam Ottolenghi had turned up on MasterClass, Caroline and Kaarina rushed to share a 2-for-1 membership. When after watching the first few video lessons of Ottolenghi Teaches Middle-eastern Cooking on the online platform, Diane proposed a mezze feast,  we were immediately on board.

Menu

Muhammara

Smoky Pea Spread with Marinated Feta

Hummus with Garlic Confit

Clearly we would not be having in-person Epi gatherings any time soon. There wouldn’t be any Holiday parties and even family Christmas dinners were doubtful as the second wave of Covid-19 was taking hold in Ontario.

We missed our get-togethers, sharing news, food and wine as well as the inspiration, the challenge and encouragement we get from one another. Like virtual meetings or not, we needed to Zoom.

This time we were determined to share, if not the actual table, at least our cooking. I volunteered to be the delivery service. The food had to be prepped ahead and had to travel well. Mezze was perfect for make-ahead. And Ottolenghi was the right man to show us how to do it.

Kaarina selected Lesson 1 - Muhammara

This gorgeous roasted red pepper dip with shiny pomegranate seeds looks like Christmas on a plate. It originates in Syria and Lebanon but is made across the region. The walnuts add crunch and the pomegranate seeds provide a sweet, slightly acidic pop. You scoop it up with flatbread. Crackers with seeds also work well. 

Muhammara Walnut Dip

Ingredients

• 3 red bell peppers, halved, stemmed, and cored
• 2 cloves garlic, smashed
• ½ cup extra virgin olive oil, divided, plus more if needed
• 1 cup walnuts
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, plus more to taste
• 2 tablespoons red pepper flakes, preferably Aleppo-style
• 1 tablespoon pomegranate molasses
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1 cup breadcrumbs, preferably unseasoned, fresh breadcrumbs
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
Arrange red bell peppers and garlic cloves on a baking sheet and drizzle with 2 tablespoons olive oil. Roast until peppers are tender and slightly charred, about 20 minutes. Transfer roasted peppers to a plate to cool, and squeeze the garlic cloves out of their skins.
Meanwhile, toast the walnuts. In a large skillet over medium heat, toast the walnuts in an even layer, stirring occasionally until fragrant and lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Rub warm toasted walnuts in a folded kitchen towel to remove as much of the bitter skins as possible. (It doesn't have to be perfect.) Transfer the walnuts to a plate to cool.
In the bowl of a food processor, combine cooled roasted peppers, garlic, walnuts, salt, Aleppo pepper, pomegranate molasses, lemon juice, breadcrumbs, cumin, and remaining olive oil. Process until smooth. Taste and adjust seasoning.
Transfer to a serving bowl and drizzle with olive oil. Serve with flatbread.

Diane chose Lesson 2: Smoky Pea Spread with Marinated Feta

It seems an unlikely pairing - peas and feta - but the combination is downright addictive. 

The feta adds richness and saltiness to the sweet, peas. 

Ottolenghi’s MasterClass directions for the Pea Spread are super simple:

Add into a food processor
600 grams of defrosted frozen peas
10 grams tarragon and 5 grams mint, roughly chopped
1 crushed garlic clove
1 1/2 tsp lemon zest
2 tbsp lemon juice
4 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper
Pulse a few times to form a coarse paste. Taste, add more lemon juice and/or salt. It should taste fresh and bright.

Ottolenghi’s Smoky Marinated Feta  recipe makes lots and can be made well ahead of time. “It will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for up to a week. Have it on toast for breakfast or with pita and a glass of wine for an anytime snack,” Ottolenghi recommends.

Ingredients

• 10 garlic cloves, peeled
• 1-2 lemons – zest finely shaved into 8 strips, and juiced, to get 1½ tbsp
• 4 bay leaves
• 2½ tsp chipotle chilli flakes
• 1½ tsp paprika
• 250ml olive oil
• 1 tsp flaked sea salt
• 2 blocks Greek feta (360g), cut into 2cm cubes

Put a small saute pan on a medium-high heat. Once very hot, add the garlic and cook for about three to four minutes, turning halfway, until charred on the outside. Add the lemon and bay leaves, cook for 90 seconds more, then add the chipotle and cook, stirring continuously, for about 30 seconds, until well toasted and fragrant. Off the heat, stir in the paprika, oil and salt, then leave to cool completely.

Once the mix is cold, stir through the feta, then transfer to a bowl or glass jar and leave to marinate, at room temperature if you plan to eat it within the next couple of hours, or refrigerated (and covered) if you’re having it later. Take the feta out of the fridge about an hour or so before you want to serve it, for the oil to come back up to room temperature.
To serve: Spread the pea mixture on a shallow plate and top with 100 grams of smoky marinated feta including 3-4 tbsp of the marinating oil, bit of lemon peel and few garlic cloves. Sprinkle it 1/2 tsp of toasted and crushed crushed cumin seeds. Enjoy with flatbread.

Caroline mastered Lesson 3: Hummus with Garlic Confit

Store-bought and even restaurant-made hummus pale in comparison to Ottolenghi’s version of the Mideastern staple.

 
The key is cooking your own chickpeas, Ottolenghi says. Start by soaking 200 grams of chickpeas overnight in water and 1 1/2 tsp of baking soda, which helps to break down the skin and allows the chickpeas to absorb more water, making for a smoother hummus. His advice is not to salt the water until the final 15 minutes of cooking or the chickpeas will never soften. Cooking can take from 30 to 60 minutes. They need to be soft but not mushy.

As to tahini paste (ground roasted sesame seeds) Ottolenghi prefers ones from Israeli, Lebanese, Syrian and Palestine.

Hummus

Ingredients

• 60 grams Tahini Sauce (see recipe linked below)
• 12 confit garlic cloves, plus 4 tablespoons Confit Garlic Oil (see recipe linked below)
• 550 grams cooked chickpeas
• 180 grams to 210 grams tahini paste (depending on the brand)
• Salt
• 1/4 cup lemon juice
• 5 tbsp plus 2 tsp ice-cold water, plus extra
• 1 ½ tablespoons parsley, finely chopped

Set about 100 grams of the cooked chickpeas aside in a small bowl.
Add the remaining chickpeas, tahini paste, 8 of the confit garlic cloves, ½ teaspoon salt, and the lemon juice to the bowl of a food processor and blitz until smooth, 2–3 minutes.
With the machine running, slowly drizzle in the ice water until completely smooth and aerated. You may have to add slightly more water to reach the desired texture. Taste and adjust for seasoning if necessary.
Add the parsley, 2 tablespoons of Confit Garlic Oil, and a pinch of salt to the bowl with the reserved chickpeas, and stir to combine. Set aside.
Transfer the hummus to a shallow platter and smooth it out with the back of a spoon, creating a slight well in the center. (It’s okay if the hummus is a little runny; hummus will set as it cools.) Spoon the herbed chickpea mixture over the top of the tahini. Top the dish with the remaining confit garlic cloves along with some of the aromatics in the jar (thyme and chili). Finish with a drizzle of Confit Garlic Oil.


Garlic Confit

Ingredients

• 12 peeled garlic cloves
• 6 thyme sprigs
• 1 green chili
• 200 ml olive oil
• Salt

Combine all ingredients in a small sauce- pan over medium-low heat. Cover and cook until the garlic is soft and just beginning to color, about 20 to 25 minutes.
Leave the lid on, remove from the heat, and set aside for 10 minutes; the garlic will continue to cook in the heat of the oil.
Strain the oil into a clean glass jar and spoon in the garlic, thyme, and chili.
Once cool, transfer everything to an airtight, sterilized jar and store at room temperature for several weeks.

Harvest Bounty

Menu

Salmorejo
Tomatoes with Sumac Shallots

Zucchini with Thyme and Walnut

Cod, Clams and Corn with Parsley

Sabayon

Such abundance in September! Still in the time of Covid, we got together in Kaarina's backyard Bamba Shack but eventually moved indoors - social distancing, of course. Lovely Laura was unable to join, so it was an Epi trio of Kaarina, Caroline and Diane.

Kaarina

 

Salmorejo

If there’s one thing I’ve learned in this journey with my friends, the Epitourists, it’s that great food doesn’t need to be complicated. Like there’s no need to over direct a cob of corn. A bit of butter, a sprinkle of salt and it will sing all on its own.

So the Epitourists’ September Harvest Bounty production followed the Keep it Simple, Keep it Local and and Keep it Seasonal rules. The stars of the show were local Ontario corn, tomatoes and zucchini with a supporting cast of garlic, shallots, thyme, parsley and basil, Niagara peaches and Concord grapes. The guests  - fresh clams and cod - came from the East Coast.Our welcome G&Ts were infused with basil from a pot in my garden. Our first course, Salmorejo, a cold Spanish tomato soup from Córdoba, was laced with fresh garlic from Laura’s Wolfe Island garden. 

Salmorejo, not to be confused with its cousin gazpacho, is super quick to prepare and an easy hot weather solution to a bumper crop of tomatoes if you’re lucky enough to have one. No cooking involved. You need ripe tomatoes, rustic bread, garlic, olive oil, Sherry vinegar and a food processor. I used a traditional garnish of boiled eggs, Serrano ham and pitted olives. Here are no-fuss directions from my Spanish food guru, chef Jose Andres.

Diane

In charge of the salad course I consulted Ottolenghi's Simple for the recipes: tomatoes with sumac shallots and zucchini with thyme and walnut. 

I was able to use fists full of fresh basil and thyme from plants out my back door. Making these colourful salads was a very visual and tactile experience for me: peeling long curls from the zucchini; massaging fragrant oil into the white flesh; gently lifting the multi-coloured tomatoes to hide bits of fresh green basil. 

After the salad course I watched Caroline prepare fresh clams as I'd never had them before. Not as intimidating to cook as I thought, and a real show with all the sizzle and steam. But then, Caro does make it seem easy. The Bon Appetit recipe called for a generous amount of shallots in the bottom of a hot pan, fresh white wine added to evaporate for one minute, then add the clams and steam for another 5 minutes. Delicious brine drizzled on top and served alongside fresh corn and cod browned on the skillet. 

For an encore Kaarina disappeared into the kitchen to whip up sabayon. Smooth and silky, it warmed up the last of the season’s Niagara peaches (still so sweet), raspberries and blackberries. This Julia Child classic will wrap up any meal in style.

After, a selection of cheeses, concord grapes and crackers, a splash of Scotch.

Feasting on each other's company.

Oooooooo-la-la! Grillade française

 MENU
Moules Grillées
Asperges Grillées avec sa Sauce Maltaise
Carré d’agneau Pistou avec Vinaigrette aux Poireaux 
Salade de Steak Bistrot
Crème Fouettée et ses Petits Fruits de la Saison

We rose to the challenge of Covid-19 again with a social distanced outdoor lunch under the shelter of my backyard Bamba Shack roof.  Having caught the French cuisine bug at Caroline’s delightful spring picnic in May, I chose French BBQ as our June Epitourist theme.

 

Who knew the French have a passion for BBQ? Apparently masters at the charcoal grill, they insist that nothing but wood charcoal will do, with fruit and nut wood chips or woody branches of herbs like rosemary or lavender contributing a delicate smokey flavour. Sadly, we had to make do with a plain old Canadian gas BBQ. But never mind — the garden was bursting with herbs and local asparagus was at its peak.

 

Laura : Moules Grillées

Mussels are quintessential French bistro, so I knew I wanted to grill them as part of our BBQ theme. I’d never done it before, but it proved to be so easy. If you have a grilling basket, putting them in there makes it a bit easier to get them on and off the grill, but I didn’t have a basket, so I just set them right on the medium-high temperature grill and closed the lid—minutes later the shells were open and they were ready to pop into a bowl and serve with Caroline’s beautiful baguette and a simple garlic-scape aioli made with garlic scapes from my garden. I garnished the dish with some bronze fennel fronds, also from my garden.

I chose Vineland Estates unoaked Chardonnay, as well as a Rhone Valley Ventoux Rosé, to pair with the dish. Chardonnay is a nice match with mussels, but you can’t beat a glass of rosé on a summer’s day.

Caroline : Asperges Grillées et sa Sauce Maltaise

I anticipate Canadian asparagus season. When Kaarina announced that she was happy to continue with a French theme and that it had to be cooked on the Q, I immediately thought of grilled asparagus. There's nothing more French than asparagus with sauce maltaise and what better way to grill these little green soldiers than on the BBQ. 

I must admit that, while researching my dish, I learned something about the French"aise" group of sauces. First comes Hollandaise Sauce which is the mother of the "aise"sauces. Add tarragon and you have Béarnaise Sauce. Or add zest and juice of an orange (preferably a Maltaise orange) and you have Maltaise Sauce. All of them made rich with copious amount of butter and tempered egg yolks. What's not to like. For added dimensions, I sprinkled Maldon sea salt flakes for a bit of crunch and umami. 

Sourdough baguettes were also calling to me. I had yet to try my hand at making them and thought it would be the perfect opportunity. I turned to Chad Robertson's Tartine Bread. I was humbly happy with my first attempt.  In these Covid days and to fit in my oven, I made individual baguettes. Approximately 30 cm in length, their shape was worthy, crust crunchy with a good colour and with a dense and tasty crumb. A perfect vehicule to sop up all those delicious sauces.

Kaarina : Carré d'Agneau Pistou avec Vinaigrette aux Poireaux

I managed to procure a rack of spring lamb from a sheep farming acquaintance in eastern Ontario and set out to frenching it with help from a You Tube video.

I turned to Patricia Wells for inspiration on infusing the lamb with French flavours, choosing a Four Herb Pistou from her Bistro BBQ book for both the marinade and serving sauce.

Makes two cups: Process a half a cup of each — chopped parsley, basil, chives and mint — along with a half a dozen cloves of roughly chopped garlic. With the motor running, add a half a cup of EVOO through the feeder tube. Season with salt and pepper.

The lamb shared the plate with a classic French starter, Poireaux Vinaigrette, leeks in a vinaigrette.

This recipe reminded me of the pure joy to be had from a simple, properly constructed vinaigrette. All you need is Dijon, a good wine vinegar, S&P in a large bowl. The key is in beating it continuously with a large balloon whisk as you slowly drizzle in the oil until the dressing is perfectly emulsified. Smother your steamed leeks with this!

I chose Saint Roch, a lighter bodied blend of Syrah, Grenache and Carignan from Rousillon in the South of France for the lamb although I much preferred Diane’s wine choice, the Gerard Bertrand Languadoc, which is a spicier Syrah blend from neighbouring Languadoc. The bolder classic Bordeaux Argaden does not go amiss either - and it takes you effortlessly into a cheese course.

Diane : Salade de Steak Bistrot

Sensationel!

 

When the theme was named I did some quick research before settling on French Bistro Steak, a triple-tested recipe I found online from Canadian Living. Dijon, thyme and tarragon vinaigrette poured over grilled steak and lightly roasted vegetables, with soft-boiled egg on the side. Ease-y! What surprised me was the lack of a marinade, something I always assumed was essential for this cut of meat. A little more poking around revealed there is a school of thought to marinade proteins after you grill, because the moisture and sugar in most marinades can actually cause a protein to simultaneously steam and burn without ever truly searing.
 

I also brought a selection of Italian cheeses. Why? "Leftovers" from our February visit to Eataly. We were so stuffed at our February feast we couldn't manage another bite; of course, I didn't really save them, I don't have that much self control! So I pre-ordered from Alex Cheese Farms, doing my best to match our Eataly selections. Over the phone, I would name the cheese and then he would describe what was on hand. Oh, how I wanted to taste! He laughed and explained they weren't offering counter tastings in the store either. When I asked him to pre-cut into one ounce portions so I could minimize food handling, he gladly complied. On the plate: bosco tartufo with truffle (sheep and cow), montasio (cow), taleggio (buffalo), and pecorino moliterno (sheep and goat).

Whipped Cream
and Seasonal Petits Fruits

 

 

Lobster Boil

If you could stop the hands of time, how would you wile the suspended moments away? I would cook up a feast, invite cherished ones and gather around a beautifully appointed table to enjoy for hours! Delicious decadence, rustic French linen, white china plates awaiting for the colours of food to descend upon them, a myriad glasses for carefully thought out wines and other libation, a hint of soft music in the backdrop, the gentle clank and clink of cutlery and the constant flow of talk and laughter. The idea of a lobster boil came up at our French pique-nique during which we had a very pleasant and successful outdoor lunch, all the while respecting the social distancing order. Starving for social interaction, we put the plan in motion. What can be more sanitary than boiled lobster and oven roasted baked potatoes?

Kaarina kindly offered to pick up everyone's lobster order from Diana's Seafood in the city. I would look after the potatoes. But as theses things do, the planning snowballed (a bit). Diane brought a delicious salad with a champagne, shallot and walnut dressing. The dessert most worthy of mention was most certainly Rob's homemade, chocolate Babka! Oh and I must not forget Diane's A.O.C. Camembert de Normandy!

The sun was shining oh so brightly and not a single cloud cast a shadow on the afternoon. Delicious decadence of sweet lobster meat dipped in butter, a mix and match of cloths weighed down with river rocks covered every table carried out of the house, white china plates, wine glasses and petite champagne flutes, yes, the clank and clink of cutlery and the constant flow of long awaited chatter and laughter. And who knows, maybe the hands of time did stand still...
 

 

Pique-nique français

Caroline

Pique-nique printanier français or French picnic was the theme for our May lunch. It was up to each and everyone to create their garden picnic look. Tables were set out on the patio allowing for proper SD. Everyone was asked to bring:

1. Tablecloth, napkin 

2. Place setting: cutlery and all necessary dishes and glasses

3. Prepared French spring picnic (up to each individual to put together a menu)

4. Menu must contain egg as an ingredient

We patiently waited for spring to warm up and jumped at the first sunny and warm day to set our date. 

My pique-nique consisted of smoked salmon, grilled asparagus crêpes with a twist on béarnaise sauce (tasty and butter free!) and a side salad dressed with a traditional French vinaigrette and poached egg. 

Diane

Being somewhat pressed for time I ended up curating my plate to create a classic French meal with ingredients from my favourite grocery store, McKewans. Grilled salmon on top of salad niçoise with a Normandy camembert, and fizzy lemonade on the side. I packed everything into a cooler so it was wonderfully chilled when served.

I so look forward to time together and the time to savour each other's company. This month's get together was definitely fun, but I really did want a taste off my Epi's plates as the food looked absolutely delicious! Now I will simply have to make their recipes at home.

Kaarina

 

 

Pan Bagnat — the famous Provençal tuna sandwich — is tough to improve on as picnic fare, French or otherwise. It travels well, can be made the day before, and is bursting with the bold flavours of the south of France.

For me, however, the most delicious part of this bring-your-own-everything social-distancing picnic was simply the getting together with good friends and spending a sunny afternoon chatting about food and wine, gardening, books and boats. That was the real tonic for our souls. Sitting 10 feet apart at our separate bistro tables, we were able to put behind us for a few happy hours two months of self isolation.

Now — where was I? Pan Bagnat. Mine started with the best baguette in Toronto, which is baked by the Cliffside Hearth at 3047 Kingston Rd. in the Scarborough Bluffs. I followed — quite religiously, I might add — Patricia Wells directions from her Bistro Cooking cookbook, although there are many, many versions of Pan Bagnat online.

Slice the baguette lengthwise, and brush both sides generously with garlic oil (6 cloves minced into quarter cup olive oil.) Stir 2 tbsp of capers into a can of undrained tuna. Spread the tuna on one half of the baguette, then layer on sliced onion, tomatoes, egg and strips of red pepper. Pile on rinsed and dried anchovy fillets (yes, the whole can) and top with a half a cup of roasted red pepper confit (recipe follows) and the second half of the baguette.

Wrap the baguette tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate and place a heavy weight on top for at least four hours, even overnight. I used a cutting board and a cast iron frying pan. This pushes all the yummy juices into the bread. It’s a bit messy to eat, as sandwiches go, so be prepared with lots of napkins.

Makes four servings. I sliced my quarter sandwich into one-inch slices at the table to facilitate eating.

A favourite rose, La Fage Miraflors from Roussillon, is a perfect match but you can’t go wrong with any dry rose from Provence.

Red Pepper Confit

Paraphrased from Bistro Cooking
by Patricia Wells
- 2 to 5 oz hot peppers (depending on the peppers and your tolerance for heat) cut into strips or 1 tsp hot pepper flakes
- 5 large red bell peppers, cut into thick strips
- 2 heads garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup olive oil

Preheat oven to 400F. Layer everything into a shallow roasting dish. Cover with foil and bake for 45 to 60 min. Remove foil and bake for another 45 minutes. Serve as side dish or spoon into a jar and refrigerate to use as a condiment.

For more picnic fare, stir Red Pepper Confit into fusilli at room temperature for a no-fuss pasta salad. For cocktail hour, pile on baguette rounds and top with anchovies. For a garden brunch, dress up a cheese omelette.

Sourdough Country Rye Bake

Caroline

Thursday morning, I pull the starter out of the fridge and feed it. With half a loaf left in the bread box, it's time to bake again. Mill some rye kernels into flour; mix with 20 g of starter, bread flour and water. Repeat at bedtime.

What is it about sourdough? Challenge. Why settle for downhill when you can telemark! Crazy isn't it but, it's true. It's also a healthy choice. Good for the microbiome and all that jazz. OK, it's also delicious as heck!

Thursday morning starter feed.

Starter feeds and dough prep take place in the laundry room. Since the process stretches over 3 days, I like to keep the mess contained and out of the way.

An old pine hutch holds all the necessary tools: note book, Tartine Bread book, pans, flours, kernels, dough bowls, bannetons, utensils (and a spurtle to name one), flour mill, etc. Oh, I forgot the Brød-Taylor proofer. Since we keep a cool house at 19ºC, it was necessary to invest in this gadget to keep starter, levain and dough happy.

The right tools make the job much easier

Friday morning 8 o'clock finds me mixing my levain. I measured the flour the night before to expedite this step... after all morning coffee awaits. After 5 hours in the proofer, I start on the dough mix. I quickly realize that I have WAY too much levain. What to do? What to do? What the hoo let's make more bread. You know that feeling you get when you're about to step off the ledge. Well, I experienced it and guess what? I stepped off the ledge and found myself mixing, stretching and folding more dough than I cared to shake a spurtle at! It took sourdough bread making to an Olympic level. Arms of steel!

20 kg of wet dough!

Bulk fermentation comes to an end at 17.00.

Time to divide, shape and conquer.

 

Hero the dog is surprised to see me up at 7 bells on a Saturday morning. I turn on the oven and start scoring. I decide to keep it simple before coffee. Après café, I ramp things up with Anna and her lovely scoring tutorial.

I give it a whirl to discover that the scoring process
is very meditative and pleasant.

Sourdough has a life of its own. Truly. You can try your best. But in the end, the dough has the final say. Needless to say, I was very eager to see the end result.

Although the bread did burst out of the score lines...

...it is still visually appealing!

So, there you have it. That is how I came to bake 10 loaves of Tartine's country rye sourdough bread on Saturday morning. 

Lunch in the Time of Covid-19

Virtual crêpes!

Kaarina

With Covid-19 at large, Epitourists were all staying put: Safe in our homes — Laura on Wolfe Island, Caroline in the Durham Forest, Diane and I in Toronto. Yes, we were all social distancing, in self isolation, but we were not about to cancel our March Epitourist lunch.

There was no getting around it. If we wanted to eat and greet, we had to get over ourselves and our antipathy to seeing ourselves and being seen on video. It was time to dial up a video conference call. Of course, we couldn’t share the taste or smell of the dishes we each prepared in our own kitchens but we could see them and enjoy our own creations in virtual companionship.

This was more a social call than a culinary happening. The idea was to cook from ingredients that are pantry staples in most people’s kitchens. No special trips to the store required.

Caroline

 Opa!

An hour before our virtual lunch I decided on Greek Egg-Lemon Chicken Soup, or Avgolemono, to use up the chicken thighs from the freezer. This five ingredient soup is comforting and delicious. The eggs act as thickening agents. The lemon zest and juice bring a delightful zing of acidity to the savoury chicken broth. 

It was nice to have lunch with my epicurean friends. Life as we know it today has put a stop to the touristic aspect of our group. Trips are being cancelled and we give going out the door a second thought. 

Kaarina

Pasta, pesto with potatoes and green beans.

The great late Marcella Hazan who taught the world to cook Italian declared in her Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking: “When all its components are right, there is no single dish more delicious in the entire Italian pasta repertory.” This was not the case with my Pasta and Pesto with Potatoes and Green Beans. Unfortunately, I forgot Marcella’s cardinal rule. Seasonal. Perhaps if my potatoes really had been new small potatoes and the green beans fresh from the garden or a local farm market ...  Instead the potatoes were pantry staples at the end of winter, and the green beans were not even green beans but frozen edamame, and the pesto was the last of the pesto I made from my garden basil and froze in September. Well, you can’t freeze pesto for six months and expect it to taste like summer.

Diane

Crêpes Suzette!

Personally I have found extra time to tinker in the kitchen and spend a bit more time experimenting. Ruth Reichel started my quest for perfect crêpes with her recipe for German Apple Pancakes, making them seem deceptively simple in her book, Save Me the Plums. On my first attempt they were certainly not thin enough to be stacked three high, layered with filling and rolled. Try again. The secret to thin crêpes seems to be to refrigerate the batter and let it rest. I turned to the more classic crêpes Suzette for the Epitourist lunch, having simple ingredients at hand. I have to say, I did like flaming the crêpes with Grand Marnier, with the liqueur adding a taste of torched caramel. Delicious! Paired with a glass of the same liqueur.

We've all seen the internet memes showing the ten pound gain "before" and "after" self isolation. All this time on our hands and the fridge so nearby... I will have to seek out more recipes with a bit less butter, but why deny the occasional extravagance?

Laura

Having a well-stocked pantry is a regular fact of life when you live 20 minutes away from a 20-minute ferry ride to the closest grocery store. There’s never any popping out to pick up an ingredient you don’t have on hand. We are fortunate to have neighbours on the island who provide us with eggs and beautiful grass-fed beef and pork. During he summer I have land to grow vegetables. But at the moment I have my son and his girlfriend, who is vegan, living with me. The fresh summer veggies are not around yet and I don’t always feel like preparing meat and non-meat lunches. So I had to get creative. 

Hhmm... cauliflower bolognese!

There was a cauliflower lurking in my produce drawer, and I had most of the other ingredients on hand to make a cauliflower bolognese. I used olive oil instead of butter, and I kept the parmesan out of Mira’s portion, replacing it with a bit of nutritional yeast, which is a good umami substitute for cheese. I didn’t have rigatoni, so I substituted gemelli pasta. I didn’t have fresh parsley, so I snipped a few of my kale sprouts that I have growing in my little indoor microgreen garden. 

My little microgreen garden!