Clafoutis aux pommes

Pour cette recette, j’ai toujours simplement coupé les pommes en deux, parce que c’est ça qui est écrit dans la recette. Cependant, après réflexion, je pense que vous devriez les couper en quartiers. C’est un dessert super simple et très bon. Vous pouvez aussi le faire avec d’autres fruits, comme des poires, des cerises, des framboises, etc.

4 pommes, pelées et coupées en quartiers (ou en deux)
2 œufs
¼ tasse de sucre
1 pincée de sel
1 c. à thé de vanille
1 tasse de lait
¼ tasse de farine tout usage


Préchauffer le four à 350 °F. Beurrer un moule carré de 8 pouces.

Déposer les pommes dans le moule.



Dans un grand bol, battre les œufs, le sucre, le sel et la vanille. Ajouter le lait, puis la farine, et bien mélanger le tout.




Verser le mélange sur les pommes et cuire au four environ 40 minutes. Laisser refroidir et, si vous voulez, saupoudrer de sucre à glacer (je ne le fais jamais, mais ça serait bon).

Morning Radio

It’s the end of an era. I’ve been listening to Mix 96 (CJFM, now Virgin Radio) every weekday morning for 11 years, almost to the day. And certainly not because I like the music they play – 90 % of it is crap. (I’m sure you’ve heard of a recent study exposing the correlation between someone’s IQ and their taste in music. Let’s just say Virgin wouldn’t score too well on the SATs, whereas I got 1260 way back when.) However, I liked the morning show. I really liked Cat and Lisa, but the new recruit, Sir Patrick, is jut obnoxious. Oh, how I miss Murray Sherrifs... And since the station became Virgin, the whole format has changed, to become trendier, more superficial, dumbed down, with more contests and the same crappy music all the time in a loop (though that last point is nothing new). And now, the nail in the coffin: John Moore is leaving. So I’m leaving too. I’ve had enough.

This leaves me with three options:
1 – Not listening to radio at all. I don’t like this option.
2 – Listening to CFRB, a Toronto station, on my laptop each morning, just to hear John Moore.
3 – Picking a better Montreal station. Maybe something like CISM, CKUTor even CHOM?

I’m still not sure what to do. All I know is that my morning routine is about to change, hopefully for the better. The Engineer agrees with me (the music on Virgin made him want to bash his head against a wall, but he too enjoys John Moore).

Pâtisserie Harmonie

J’ai récemment découvert la pâtisserie Harmonie, au 85, rue de la Gauchetière Ouest à Montréal, dans le quartier chinois. Quel délice! J’y suis allée pour satisfaire mon envie de gâteaux de lune, que je n’avais pas mangés depuis des années.



En entrant dans la pâtisserie, on est assaillis par les bonnes odeurs. Le principe est celui d’une cafétéria où on prend un plateau et une paire de pinces pour se servir. Le problème, c’est qu’on finit avec plus de choses qu’on voulait. Par contre, tout est si bon que je ne m’en plaindrai certainement pas! En plus des gâteaux de lune au lotus (à gauche sur la photo), j’ai pris une boulette au sésame et aux fèves rouges, une boulette au sésame noir et aux arachides, un petit pain au porc et un au cari de bœuf (à droite). Le tout pour 12,40 $, alors que les gâteaux étaient 4 $ chacun... Vraiment, ça vaut la peine! Il y avait aussi toute une panoplie de pâtisseries traditionnelles de Hong Kong, comme les tartelettes aux œufs, les gâteaux au thé vert, seigneur que j’en passe... Je me suis vraiment retenue pour ne pas tout acheter.



Je dirai que les petits pains à la viande contenaient un peu trop de pain à mon goût, mais ils étaient très bons (surtout celui au porc). Les boules au sésame étaient parfaites. Les gâteaux de lune étaient excellents, à ceci près que le jaune d’œuf était peut-être un peu trop gros vu la taille individuelle du gâteau. Mais ils m’ont satisfaite, et l’Ingénieur les a aimés lui aussi. J’ajoute cette pâtisserie sur ma liste d’endroits où retourner!

Apple Tart Cake

I had bookmarked this on Orangette and man, am I sorry I waited until I had a big bag of lobos to make it. I should have tried it way before. It is so good, you would not believe it. It’s the perfect midway point between tart and cake. The Engineer and I polished it off in two days – and that was with restraint. Those of you who don’t like cinnamon could try replacing it with nutmeg here, it might work.

Molly Wizenberg says that “for this cake, it is particularly important that your oven temperature is accurate. If it runs too hot, the base of the cake could burn before the apples are fully cooked, and the topping, too, could burn before it has time to set. Also, if your apples aren’t terribly tart, you might consider reducing the sugar in the base a little bit, down from 1 cup to maybe, say, ¾ cup.” She used Granny Smith apples, but I used what I had on hand.

Tart cake
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
5 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into a few pieces
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg, lightly beaten
3 large apples, peeled, cored, and sliced very thinly

Topping
3 Tbsp granulated sugar
3 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 large egg

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Butter and flour a 9-inch springform pan.

In the bowl of a food processor fitted with the steel blade attachment, combine the sugar, flour, and baking powder. Pulse to mix. Add the butter, and pulse until no large lumps remain. Add the vanilla and the egg, and blend well, until it resembles cornmeal. Dump it into the prepared springform pan. Nudge it around with your fingertips to distribute it evenly, and then gently press it along the bottom of the pan. You’re not trying to really tamp it down; you just want to compact it a little. At the edges, let it curve up ever so slightly, like a tart shell with a very low, subtle rim. Arrange the apple slices over the base in a tight circular pattern. It may seem as though you have too many apple slices to fit, but keep going. Really squeeze them in. Slide the pan into the oven, and bake for 45 minutes.




Meanwhile, make the topping. Combine the ingredients in a small bowl, and whisk to blend well. After the cake has baked for 45 minutes, remove it from the oven, and spoon the topping evenly over it.




Bake for another 25 minutes or so, until the topping looks set. Transfer the pan to a wire rack, and cool for 20 minutes. Then run a thin knife around the edge to release any areas that may have stuck, and remove the sides of the pan. Cool completely before serving.

Gâteau aux pommes 1

Chez nous, on a deux sortes fondamentales de gâteau aux pommes. Celui-ci et celui de ma belle-mère (tiré de Second Helpings). Je vais sûrement faire la recette de ma belle-mère la semaine prochaine, mais pour l’instant, je voulais renouer avec celle-ci. Il s’agit d’un gâteau... Je voudrais dire « stout », mais je ne trouve pas de bon équivalent français dans ce contexte-ci. Lourd? Costaud? Robuste? Solide? Bof... Attendez. Consistant? En tout cas, vous avez compris.

J’ignore vraiment où j’ai pris cette recette à l’origine. Je l’ai copiée dans mon cahier de recettes il doit y avoir huit ans déjà, sans même d’image pour m’aider à en identifier la source aujourd’hui. On va donc dire que c’est ma recette. Je mets du vermouth de pommes parce que je n’ai pas de Tia Maria et, puisque mes parents ont laissé chez moi du vermouth de pomme, je me suis dit que c’était approprié. Je me permets aussi de dire que c’est un gâteau sans noix parce que je n’ajoute jamais ces dernières de toute façon. L’Ingénieur et moi en avons mangé quelques parts et nous avons mis le reste au congélateur pour une autre fois.

1/3 tasse d’huile végétale
2/3 tasse de compote de pommes non sucrée
1 tasse de sucre granulé
1 tasse de cassonade
3 gros œufs
2 ½ tasses de farine tout usage
2 c. à thé de levure chimique
1 c. à thé de bicarbonate de sodium
1 c. à thé de sel
1 c. à thé de cannelle
1 c. à th de muscade
3 c. à soupe de Tia Maria ou de vermouth de pommes
3 ½ tasses de pommes cuites, hachées
½ tasse de noix hachées (facultatif)

Préchauffer le four à 325 °F. Beurrer et fariner un moule à gâteau à fond amovible de 25 cm (10 pouces).

Dans un grand bol, mettre l’huile, la compote de pommes, le sucre et la cassonade. Mélanger avec un batteur électrique. Incorporer les œufs un à un, en battant bien entre chaque addition.



Tamiser les ingrédients secs dans un bol et incorporer le tout graduellement au mélange.



Avec une spatule, incorporer l’alcool et les pommes.




Verser dans le moule et cuire environ 1 h 30, ou jusqu’à ce qu’un cure-dents inséré au milieu en ressorte sec. Laisser refroidir sur une grille.

Papillotes de porc aux pommes et à l'érable

Comme vous le savez, je suis allée aux pommes en fin de semaine, alors je cuisine beaucoup avec des pommes ces temps-ci. Cette recette est très appréciée par l’Ingénieur et moi-même, mais je ne saurais vous dire avec certitude d’où elle vient. Je ne serais pas surprise que ce soit des producteurs de porc du Québec!

2 côtelettes de porc
1 petit oignon, émincé
2 pommes, pelées et taillées en quartiers
1/3 tasse de sirop d’érable (j’y vais au pif)
1 c. à table de base de poulet
½ c. à thé de thym
sel et poivre

Préchauffer le four à 350 °F.

Faire revenir les côtelettes dans une poêle, juste le temps de colorer de chaque côté.

Placer deux grands carrés de papier aluminium sur le plan de travail. Y déposer la côtelette, l’oignon et les pommes.



Fermer à moitié le papier, de manière à former un petit récipient. Répartir les autres ingrédients sur le porc.



Bien fermer les papillotes (ajouter une deuxième feuille de papier aluminium au besoin pour bien sceller).



Enfourner et laisser cuire pendant environ une heure.

Pour servir, vous pouvez simplement ouvrir la papillote, ou déposer son contenu dans l’assiette, comme vous voulez. La recette d’origine demandait de l’eau, mais je trouve que c’est de trop. (Pour bien faire, j’avais suivi la recette ce coup-ci, mais en fin de compte nous avons dû drainer nos papillotes. Je vais donc continuer à ne pas en mettre. J’inclus quand même les deux photos.)

How do you like them apples?

Last weekend, the Engineer and I went apple picking on a whim with our friends M. and A. We ended up with a big bag of lobo apples. You’ll therefore be seeing a whole series of recipes with apples for the next few weeks! Today’s recipe is from Orangette again. It was very easy and absolutely delicious.



To make this completely lactose-free, you can use lactose-free margarine that you’ve put in the freezer first. It’s a general rule when you substitute it for butter: it usually works, but it has to be colder. So room-temperature butter is fridge-temperature margarine, and fridge-temperature butter is freezer-temperature margarine. Note that the amount of butter in this crust does not affect me, though, so I tend to use it anyway.

Apple Tart

For crust
4 Tbsp ice water, plus more as needed
¾ tsp. apple cider vinegar
1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp sugar
¾ tsp salt
9 Tbsp cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes

For filling
6 to 7 medium apples (about 2 1⁄2 pounds)
1 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling
1 cup water


To prepare the crust
In a small bowl or measuring cup, combine 4 Tbsp ice water and the cider vinegar.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, and salt. Pulse to blend. Add the butter, and pulse until the mixture resembles a coarse meal; there should be no pieces of butter bigger than a large pea. With the motor running, slowly add the water-vinegar mixture, processing just until moist clumps form. If you pick up a handful of the dough and squeeze it in your fist, it should hold together. If the dough seems a bit dry, add more ice water by the teaspoon, pulsing to incorporate.

Turn the dough out onto a wooden board or clean countertop, and gather it, massaging and pressing, until it just holds together. Shape it into a ball, and press it into a disk about 1 1⁄2 inches thick. If the disk cracks a bit at the edges, don’t worry; just pinch the cracks together as well as you can. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap, and then press it a bit more, massaging away any cracks around the edges, allowing the constraint of the plastic wrap to help you form it into a smooth disk. Refrigerate the wrapped dough for 1 or 2 hours. Before rolling it out, allow the dough to soften slightly at room temperature.

To assemble
Set an oven rack to the middle position, and preheat the oven to 375°F.

On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a rectangle measuring approximately 11 by 16 inches. Transfer the dough to a rimmed baking sheet. (Now, I’m not saying this is easy, but surely for those of you whose kitchen counter is bigger than mine, it’s perfectly doable. I ended up with an oval, so I tore off a few pieces and pressed them into place once in the baking sheet.)




Peel the apples, and cut them into quarters. Cut out the cores, and toss them into a medium saucepan. Cut the apples into thin – roughly 1/8- to ¼-inch-thick – slices. Arrange the apple slices over the pastry in rows, overlapping them like cards in solitaire. (I could have put more in there, had I been more patient with the slicing or had I used a mandoline to get thinner slices.)



Sprinkle sugar generously over the apples. (Molly Wizenberg uses a tablespoon – the eating kind, not the measuring kind – to do this, and I used about 1 slightly heaping spoonful for every 1 to 1 ½ rows of apple slices.) If you want to, fold up the edges of the dough a little bit, to form a small rim.

Bake the tart until the pastry is crisp and golden brown and the apples are beginning to color, about 35 to 45 minutes. (If your apples aren’t getting much color, don’t worry; if the pastry is looking right and the apples are at least tender, you should be fine. My apples stayed pretty pale.) Cool on the pan on a rack.



Meanwhile, to the cores, add 1 cup sugar and 1 cup water. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring until the sugar dissolves. Simmer until the mixture has reduced to a thick syrup. Strain out and discard the solids, and set the glaze aside.



Just before serving, rewarm the glaze. Slide the tart from the pan onto a cutting board. Brush the apples with the warm glaze. Slice, and serve. (Only glaze those pieces you are serving right away, though.)

Shelter in Tofino

The Engineer and I just got back from a week-long trip to British Columbia. He was presenting at a conference in Vancouver, and we also spent a few days in Tofino on Vancouver Island. We had some good meals in Vancouver, including dim sum, a Terimayo at Japadog, a few sushi dinners as well as The Old Spaghetti Factory in Gastown (a family favourite). I couldn’t resist Cupcakes, where the Red Velvet was, predictably, my choice (both on Thurlow and on Broadway, though one cupcake was a mini and the other was shared).



It was Tofino that really charmed us, though. It is a beautiful village, with entertainment (shopping, art AND an Easy Star All-Stars gig!), and as if all the scenery and nature weren’t enough, it also has great food. Schooner is pretty good (I had steak), and I definitely recommend Sobo, where I had the best salad ever along with awesome Key lime pie.





The place I’ll review here is actually Shelter. It’s a relatively new restaurant, but it’s already one of the most popular in town – and with good reason. It is somewhat fancy, but with a nice, hip lounge atmosphere. There is a casual menu for those who want good food without the high price tag. All ingredients are local and fresh. The staff was very friendly and competent, and handled a potentially embarrassing situation in an entirely professional and satisfactory manner.

We started with the tuna appetizer, which was seared local albacore tuna encrusted with black and white sesame seeds, with a sesame-ginger vinaigrette, segmented orange quarters and a bit of cilantro. This was absolutely delicious! I think I’d never had tuna this good, even in sushi restaurants.



The Engineer’s pizza was awesome, with a thin crust, provolone, mozzarella, bacon, chorizo, fresh basil and – the most interesting and tasty part – balsamic syrup. I had the warm chèvre salad. While it was good at first (I just love goat cheese), with its caramelized onions and smoky bacon complementing the flavour, and greens that didn’t wilt with the heat (kale along with red and green Swiss chard), it got to be too heavy towards the end. I think that the greens in this salad are best in small servings, and this was maybe a bit too much. I could eat raw arugula all day, for example, but it certainly wouldn’t resist the heat.




For dessert, the waitress recommended the apple pie, and we are so glad we went with it. It was layers upon layers of paper-thin apple slices, with a delicious crust, served with vanilla bean ice cream and a few Granny Smith apple wedges. A fantastic dessert! We definitely recommend the place to anyone visiting Tofino – and if it weren’t so darn far from Montreal, we’d go again ourselves!

Chapman's

This is my 100th post! :)

I've got a bit of bad news, though. I've mentionned before how much I like Chapman's lactose-free ice cream, because it is real dairy ice cream in several flavors (unlike soy- or rice-based frozen desserts, which can be good, but are not the same thing as dairy). Well, it turns out that Chapman's main manufacturing plant has burnt down. Luckily, the company hopes to rebuild the plant. And I have my ice cream-maker to help with cravings during the lull in production (not that Chapman's is always in stock at stores, but still). Let's hope they get back on their feet!

Tray-Baked Chicken Maryland

You might get a little freaked out when you see the ingredients, but bear with me, here. I saw this recipe in Jamie Oliver’s Jamie’s Dinners, and it intrigued me. Jamie Oliver has never led me astray, so I decided to take a leap of faith and try it. It turned out pretty good, actually! I did make the mistake of mashing the banana before I put it in the chicken, so try to do it right. Also, I reduced some ingredients and only used two chicken breasts, but we still had leftovers.

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
4 fresh corn on the cob (or canned corn, drained)
1 tin (410 g) of butter beans (or cannellini beans), drained
2 bananas, peeled
sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 large wineglass of white wine
1 ¼ cup of double cream (with lactase drops if you wish)
2 oz butter
12 strips of bacon
a handful of fresh mint leaves

Preheat oven to 425 °F and get an appropriately sized roasting tray in which you can snugly fit the chicken breasts side by side. Squash half of the beans into the tray with a fork until you have a pulp; add the rest of the beans to the tray.



Run a knife down the length of the raw corn cobs to remove the kernels. Add them to the tray.

Put the chicken breast on a cutting board. You will notice that each breast has a little flap of meat on one side. If you fold that back using a knife and make a cut, you can carefully form a little pocket inside the chicken breast. Once you have done this to all 4 chicken breasts, squash half a banana into each pocket. Then fold the flap back over to cover the banana and season with salt and pepper.



Turn the chicken breasts the other way up and carefully place them on top of the corn and the beans. Add the wine and cream, then divide butter into little knobs and scatter these all around the tray. Drape the bacon slices over the chicken breasts and bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes, until the bacon is crisp. The smoky flavour from the bacon and the smooth flavour of the bananas will have really cooked into the corn and chicken. Serve with mint leaves.



On a side note, I had said before that I would post pictures of the red velvet cake I made for the Engineer’s birthday. I’ve added them under the cake recipe itself. Enjoy!

Rien ne se perd, tout se crée

J’ai décidé de vous écrire un petit billet sur une entreprise québécoise que j’ai découverte récemment et que j’adore vraiment! Il s’agit de Rien ne se perd, tout se crée. On va jouer cartes sur table : il se trouve que je suis parente par alliance avec l’une des créatrices, mais je ne m’en suis rendu compte qu’en regardant les coordonnées de l’entreprise. J’ai donc consulté tout le site en m’extasiant sur la beauté des produits offerts avant de savoir qui les offrait, ce qui veut dire que cela ne m’a pas influencée dans ma première impression.

Evelyne Gélinas et Marie-Claude Trempe tissent de superbes tissus en coton biologique (allez voir les belles couleurs!), de façon artisanale, comme nos ancêtres le faisaient. L’article qui avait retenu mon attention dès le début est le foulard capuchon (très pratique quand on veut se protéger la tête sans effourarer ses cheveux avec une tuque; c’est d’ailleurs en regardant un modèle équivalent en tricot ailleurs que je suis tombée sur ce site). Il y a aussi de superbes tabliers, des linges à vaisselle, de très beaux sacs, des bandeaux, des foulards, des bavettes, des vêtements, et j’en passe! Toutes les retailles de tissu sont réutilisées. De plus, une partie des ventes de l‘entreprise est remise à un organisme à but non lucratif. Et le service à la clientèle est excellent!



Je suis allée aux Francofolies de Montréal voir leurs produits en personne. Je suis maintenant l’heureuse propriétaire d’un superbe chandail à manches courtes. Le tissu rouge uni est fait de coton et de chanvre; le motif rayé a été tissé par les artisanes de Rien ne se perd, tout se crée. Côté prix, on s’entend que c’est plus cher qu’au centre d’achat. Par contre, la qualité y est, c’est sûr! J’ai hâte d’acheter d’autres articles, car je suis tout à fait satisfaite des produits. N’hésitez pas à aller visiter le site, qui est très bien conçu!