Marzipan Log

Having grown up in a Danish Heritage household Marzipan holds a special place in my heart.  It is one of my favourite treats and this is an especially easy way to enjoy it.  If you can’t find chocolate covered bars substitute just marzipan which is available in most bulk barns.  I found this in Food and Drink Holiday 2015.  The logs did not last long in my house!

All Purpose flour for dusting

1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed according to package directions

4 dark (semi sweet) chocolate covered marzipan bars 125 g each, best quality you can find

1 egg

1 tbsp water

1/4 cup sliced almonds

1. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper; set aside.
2. Lightly flour the counter and rolling pin; lay out the thawed pastry and lightly flour it too.  Roll out into a rectangle of roughly 11 x 13 inches.
3. With the tip of a very sharp knife, cut in half, down the middle, lengthwise .  You should have 2 pieces about 5 x 13 inches.
4. Lay the chocolate marzipan bars, end to end, 2 pars per log, onto the puff pastry - a little off centre, about 1 1/2 inches in from one edge.
5. In a small bowl, whisk egg with water and brush all around the edges of the puff sheets - this is your glue.
6. First, fold the corners of the ends of the pastry up and over the ends of the marzipan bars - just like gift wrapping a box; press down a little to make it stick.  Then, starting at the edge closest to the marzipan bars, begin rolling the pastry into a log with a marzipan centre.  Lay on the parchment, seam down.  Pop the cookie sheet into the fridge for about 20 minutes.
7. Pre heat the oven to 425F.
8. Brush the tops and sides of cold logs with the remaining egg wash.  Sprinkle with sliced almonds - the almonds will stick if you sprinkle them carefully.
9. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes; pastry should be puffed and lightly golden.  Allow to cool completely before slicing, or it will just squish, not cut under the knife.
10. To serve, bring to the coffee table - room temperature is best - on a platter or board with a bread knife and let folks help themselves.

Moroccan Cookies

I had these out at our Thanksgiving Dinner and they were well received.  The spices made them more of an adult treat which was fine because there was plenty of other treats for the younger guests.  I got this recipe out of Food and Drink Holiday 2015.

3/4 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup icing sugar
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp each of ground coriander (I substituted Cumin) cardamom and salt
1/2 tsp each of curry powder and cinnamon
1/3 cup milk
3/4 cup finely chopped skin on almonds
1 egg white
1 tbsp water
Chutney or apricot or pepper jam for filling

• Preheat oven to 325F.
• Combine butter and icing sugar in bowl of a food processor.  Pulse until blended.  In a bowl, stir flour with coriander, cardamom, salt curry powder and cinnamon.  Add about half to the butter mixture in food processor bowl.  Pulse until blended.  Add all remaining flour mixture and pulse until even in texture.  Then with the machine running, slowly add milk through the feed tube just until the dough forms into a ball.   You may not need all the milk.  Use floured hands to form dough into a ball.
• Place nuts in a small bowl.  In another bowl, whisk egg white with 1 tbsp water.  Using a round shaped (rather than oval shaped) tsp measuring spoon, scoop out a rounded amount, about 1/2 tbsp of dough.  Roll into 1 inch ball.  Coat ball with egg white wash, then roll in nuts until evenly coated.  Place on a parchment lined baking sheet.  Repeat with remaining dough, placing cookies about 1 inch apart.
• Using your pinky finger or the end of a wooden spoon, make a deep indent in centre of each cookie.
• Bake until cookie fleets firm when pressed and the bottoms are lightly browned, from 17 to 22 minutes.  While still warm, dent centres again to assure room for the chutney.  Cool on pan 5 minutes, then remove to racks to cool completely.  Serve right away or store in an airtight container at room temperature up to a week.
• Just before serving, fill thumb print centres with chutney or jam.

Makes 48 cookies

EASY ALMOND TOPPED COOKIES

• Prepare cookie dough in balls as in Moroccan Cookies.  Do not coat with chopped nuts.  Place on parchment lined baking sheets and flatten cookies with your finger or tines of a fork to a 1/3 inch thickness.  Press a whole unblanched almond into the top of each.  Bake as above.

Oven Baked Pork Chops with Lemon Feta Potatoes

These potatoes are fabulous, top them with your protein of choice.

1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp coarsely ground black pepper
2 tbsp dried oregano
1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme
1 kg pork chops
5 medium Yukon Gold potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/3 inch thick
125 g Feta Cheese, crumbled
1/2 cup water

• In a resealable plastic bag, combine olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, pepper, oregano and thyme.  Insert pork chops, remove as much air as possible from bag and seal; massage marinade into pork and refrigerate at least 12 hours or overnight, turning over roughly midway through.
• Preheat oven to 350F.
• Heat a large heavy bottom skillet large enough to hold the pork, over medium heat on the stovetop.  Open bag containing pork and scrape off as much garlic as possible, returning garlic to the bag; reserve marinade.  Brown meat on all sides and remove to a plate.
• Brush roasting pan with some of the reserved marinade.  Arrange half of the potato slices, overlapping in the bottom of the pan; brush with additional marinade and sprinkle feta evenly over.  Cover with remaining potatoes; pour water over.  Arrange meat over potatoes and drizzle all with remaining marinade.  Season with additional black pepper.
• Roast for 1 hour or until a meat is cooked through.

Chocolate Biscuit Gateau

I remember my mother making something similar to this at Christmas.  This is a great treat to make with kids!

225 g (8 oz) plain chocolate

225 g (8 oz) butter

2 eggs, beaten

25 g 1 oz caster sugar

225 g (8 oz) digestive biscuits

To Decorate

75 ml (3 oz) whipping cream

Glace Cherries

Walnut Halves

• Grease a 6 inch cake tin with a detachable base.  
• Break up chocolate and put in a bowl over saucepan of simmering water to melt.
• Melt butter gently in another pan.  
• Beat eggs with sugar in a bowl. 
• Pour in melted butter in a steady stream, beating continuously.  Now blend in melted chocolate.  
• Break up digestive biscuits into small pieces; fold into chocolate.  
• Turn mixture into cake tin; chill overnight in the refrigerator.
• To serve stand cake tin on a canister at least 5 cm smaller than the base of the tin.  Push the tin carefully down onto the table, leaving the base with the cake on the canister. 
• Slide it onto a serving plate and decorate with piped whipped cream, cherries and walnut halves.

**use unsalted butter and bitter sweet chocolate

Omelettes with Goat Cheese and Tomato

Goat Cheese is one of my favourite cheeses.  It provides a wonderful texture and flavour to almost any dish.

4 eggs
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme leaves or 1/2 tsp dried
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tbsp butter
2 oz fresh goat cheese, crumbled
1 small tomato, seeded and finely chopped

• In a bowl, beat eggs, milk, thyme, salt, and pepper.
• Melt butter in a medium skillet over medium heat.  Pour in egg mixture.  Let set 1 minute, push eggs to one side with a spatula, tilt pan, and let uncooked eggs slide onto skillet.
• Sprinkle goat cheese and tomato along set side of eggs.  Fold eggs over filling; cook for 2 minutes more.  Slide onto a serving plate; cut in two.  Serve immediately

Coriander-Almond-Crusted Halibut with Orange, Artichoke and Olive Salad

Halibut is a wonderful mild flavoured choice for this dish but if you aren’t able to find it use a Talapia or Cod.  I really liked the mixture of flavours in this dish.  From Food and Drink Summer 2015.

1 tbsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/4 cup raw untoasted almond slivers
1 tbsp fresh mint, coarsely torn
1 orange, peeled and cut into segments
1 jar artichoke quarters, drained
1/4 cup pitted Kalamata olives, coarsely chopped
1/4 cup olive oil, divided
Salt
4 pieces halibut fillet, skinless
Pepper

• In an electric grinder or small food processor, grind together the coriander, fennel and almonds to form fine crumbs (do not over grind or they will become a paste).  Place crumbs on a plate.
• Preheat oven to 350F.
• In a small bowl, stir together the mint, orange segments, artichokes, olives and 2 tbsp oil.  Season with salt to taste and set aside.
• In a large nonstick skillet (I prefer my cast iron) heat remaining 2 tbsp oil over medium high heat.  Season halibut with salt and pepper and gently press each piece into crumbs to coat well.  Place crumb side down in oil and cook until golden and the almonds are toasted, about 2 minutes.  Turn over and brown the second side for 1 minute.  Place seared fish in preheated oven (on a baking sheet, or still in pan if it is oven proof) until fish is just cooked through, about 7 to 9 minutes depending on thickness.
• Divide the orange salad between 4 plates and top each with a piece of halibut.

Serves 4.

Skillet Dutch Baby Provencal

From Food and Drink Holiday 2015 this is a wonderful recipe that highlights the benefits of cast iron skillets.  I cook in my cast iron most days and while I found it initially tricky to get the heat right now that I have mastered it I would go back to another skillet.

1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
2 tbsp unsalted butter
3 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp herbs de Provence
2 tbsp fresh parsley, roughly chopped, divided
Scant 2 oz (60g) goat cheese
1 dry pint (550 g) roma grape or cherry tomatoes, sliced in half
1/4 cup black olives, pitted and roughly chopped
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

• Preheat oven to 425F.
• Set sliced onions in a medium bowl and pour vinegar overtop to marinate while oven is preheating.
• Melt butter in an 8 inch cast iron skillet over medium heat.  Turn off heat once melted and frothy.
• In a blender, combine eggs, milk, flour and salt until well blended and foamy.  Pour batter into hot skillet.  Sprinkle evenly with herbs de Provence, 1 tbsp parsley and knobs of goat cheese.  Bake until pancake is puffed and browned around the edges, about 20 minutes.
• While pancake is baking, make tomato salad topper by pouring off 1/4 cup of vinegar from marinating onions, and adding remaining 1 tbsp parsley to the bowl, along with tomatoes, olives, olive oil, sugar, salt and pepper.
• Mound some of the tomato salad on hot pancake, serving the remainder on the side.  Cut pancake into 4 wedges and serve at once.

Serves 4