La Fromagerie

La Fromagerie, how I love thee!

I always manage to overdose on dairy when in London. Their milk, butter, yogurt and cheeses are so much richer than what we get in North America! Without a doubt, visiting La Fromagerie is a must on my very long London “to eat” checklist.  In a way it’s good I don’t have a kitchen in my hotel room as I’d spend all my time cooking things purchased from this very fine establishmentJ Although nothing I’ll feature will be cooked by me, all of these beautiful places inspire my recipes and fuel my creativity.

I’m here for ten days and this was my very first stop. La fromagerie is a culinary paradise. There is a cheese room, café, loads of fresh produce, homemade pickled veggies and spreads, cakes galore and so much more!

If you’re ever in London, you must visit this cheese paradise!

http://www.lafromagerie.co.uk/

Chocolate Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Icing

I love cupcakes! They're so tiny and girlie and delicious... I tried using several cupcake batter recipes and they were lacking. Fed up, I used David Lebovitz devil food cake recipe with one revision- sour cream! It made them even more airy and delicious!!!


The cream cheese icing was not over the top sweet which is important as I'm not a fan of things that are too sugary. The tart cream cheese, when mixed with butter and sugar is perfectly balanced and makes for an icing that's silky smooth.


If you want to get pastel colours, make sure you only use ONE SMALL DROP of food colouring. It's amazing how potent these dyes are!


I made the cakes a night prior to serving. I waited for them to cool and stored them in a cake container. They were still moist when I iced them the following day!


Ingredients:
9 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1½ cups cake flour (not self-rising)

½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon baking powder
4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1½ cups granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
½ cup strong coffee
1/4 cup whole milk

1/4 cup full fat sour cream


Method:

Line muffin tins with cupcake liners. Sift together the cocoa powder, cake flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a bowl.

4. In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, or by hand, beat together the butter and sugar about 5 minutes until smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. (If using a standing electric mixer, stop the mixer as necessary to scrape down the sides to be sure everything is getting mixed in.)

5. Mix together the coffee, sour and milk. Stir half of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, the add the coffee and milk. Finally stir in the other half of the dry ingredients.

6. Use an ice cream scooper to divide the batter into the cupcake liners and bake for 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting:
1/2 cup butter (room temperature)
8 oz cream cheese (room temperature)
2-3 cups confectioner sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Method:
With a paddle attachment on an electric mixer, mix the cream cheese and butter together for 3-5 minutes until it's smooth and creamy. Add the vanilla and when it's well blended add the sugar 1/4 cup at a time. After the second cup I taste it and add more sugar 1 tablespoon at a time if desired. Ice your cupcakes as you like:)

Slow Roasted Leg of Lamb

Are you a good cook? Are you a bit challenged in the kitchen? Well your skill level really doesn't matter when it comes to this dish. All you have to do is mix the marinade and let your oven do the rest! This is the most insanely succulent, tender, and absurdly delicious lamb dish ever:)

The lamb is slow cooked for 9 hours and releases a medley of juices that intensify to make such a delicious gravy. This is a show-stopper kind of dish that will leave you hassle-free before your guests arrive.

I like to serve it on a large platter and then wow everyone as I effortlessly pull the meat apart with a knife and fork..

Ingredients:
1 large leg of lamb (6-9pounds)
12 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon dijon mustard
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard
1 tablespoon coriander seeds (smashed)
1/2 tablespoon dried oregano
2 rosemary sprigs
5 sprigs of thyme
1/2 tablespoon salt
1.2 tablespoon pepper
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup white wine
1/2 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Method:
As your butcher to take off the silver skin from the leg and cut the bone if it's too big (save them though! They add to the gravy). If there's loads of fat then trim some off. But if only parts of it are covered, leave it on as it gets rendered and makes for an incredible gravy.

Insert the tip of a sharp knife into several parts of the lamb and twist (you want to make a wide incision so you can insert garlic. Add the reserved bones. Cut garlic cloves in half and push into the holes. Salt and pepper the entire leg and rub the mustards, oregano and coriander seeds well into the meat. Add the thyme, rosemary, olive oil, wine and balsamic on the lamb and let marinade for at least 12 hours but ideally 24.

Before roasting, remove the lamb from the fridge and let it sit covered for about 1.5 hours- it's best to put the meat in the oven at just above room temp than cold.

Heat oven to 250 and cook, tightly covered in tinfoil for 6-9 hours (depending on how many pounds your piece is). Baste every two hours. Half way through cooking, flip the leg over.  The meat will tenderize and fall off the bone with ease. Serve on a platter and pour the pan gravy all over the lamb:)

ps. sorry for the poor quality pictures- eating was the first thing on our minds and I took it in haste!!

Housewarming

My husband and I recently moved into a new apartment and wanted to start things off with great memories filled with friends, laughter and FOOD!

I love hosting people. It's such a joy for me to prepare a menu and watch it come to fruition. I also prefer family style servings so I made: a veggie crudite in jam jars, sun dried tomato and orzo salad, semi-homemade babaganoush, garlic and chili PEI mussels, roasted dill potatoes, slow roasted leg of lamb, chimichurri sauce and homemade cupcakes!

I put everything out so people could serve themselves and not feel shy about asking for seconds and I think the annihilated leg of lamb shows it worked out rather successfully:)

Recipes to follow...xo

Chicken Cutlets

I grew up in a very Italian neighbourhood and was able to enjoy authentic Italian homecooking from a very early age. What's even better is that I got to taste it straight from the hands of my friends Nonnas hailing from Calabria, Sicily, Abruzzi, Napoli and so on. I was able to taste the different but equally delicious twists on the same recipe. It was culinary heaven.

Chicken cutlets are so delicious. They're tender, juicy, crispy, super tasty..oh how my mouth waters. Every Nonna had her own "best way" method.. some used salt and pepper, others soaked them in an olive oil, garlic parsley bath before dredging and the list goes on and on..
They taste great with tomato sauce on a fresh panini with roasted peppers, onions and mushrooms. They also taste great alongside pasta. They also taste good with a salad. Put it this way- they are just so good that they taste good with EVERYTHING!...I lolololoooooooove Chicken cutlets!

Ingredients:
5 skinless chicken breasts
1/2 cup grated parmegianno regianno cheese
1.5 cups bread crumbs
1 cup flour
3 eggs
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried oregano
salt and pepper to taste
enough olive oil to cover a shallow frying pan by
1 clove garlic

Method:
Make your breading station. Place flour, breadcrumbs and eggs in three seperate and large plates. Add a pinch of salt to your flour. Beat your egg with milk. Add parm cheese and dried herbs to the breadcrumbs. Line up the plates so you start with flour, then eggs then breadcrumbs.

Put one chicken breast at a time in the center of a large ziploc bag and pound the cutlets with the smooth head of a tenderizing mallet. Pound it out (not too aggressively) until it flattens out and increases width twice over- it should be quite thin, about 1/3 of an inch if possible.

Salt and pepper your chicken.

In the meantime, heat your pan with the olive oil and a clove of garlic with the skin covered.
When the garlic turns black- discard it. You just want it to infuse the oil.

Now bread your chicken- start with coating both sides with flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs. In each station make sure to shake off any excess. Fry in batches until golden and crispy- about 2.5-3 minutes per side. Use a meat thermometer to be sure. When you remove the cutlets, allow the excess oil to drip and rest on a paper towel.

Hearty Tuna and Green Bean Salad

Several random and incomplete thoughts about salad:

A salad doesn't need thick creamy dressing and croutons to fill you up.

Yes you can eat it as a main!

Be creative..don't limit yourself to store-bought dressings.

Try to mix textures and colours.

Make it look pretty. It's always more appetizing when food looks good...even if you're cooking for one. For me that's all the more reason to make it special:)

I know I've made a good salad when people who love meat and aren't on diets go for seconds and thirds!

Thank you.....

I love this salad because there are so many things harmoniously taking place. There's a lot of subtle and bold flavours and textures. For instance, the green beans have a subtle flavour but very bold texture and colour, while the frisee is subtle in texture but bold in flavour and so on. Then there's the hearty potatoes, tuna and cannellini  beans that turn into velvet in your mouth...The dressing is the best bit! I rarely use garlic in salad dressings but made sure I used it in this one because it's a very bold and filling salad that welcomes the extra bite! But garlic haters don't be discouraged, it was very much toned down with other components like dijon and honey... an absolutely stellar salad!

Ingredients:
2 cups green beans cut in thirds
1 head frisee
1 can cannellini beans
1 red potato thinly sliced
1 can albacore tuna
1 cup grape tomatoes cut in half
1/4 cup red onion sliced thinly
7 pepperoncini

Dressing:
1/4 teaspoon grated garlic
1/4 teaspoon honey
1/2 teaspoon dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt...or less if you're low sodium
1/2 teaspoon oregano powder

Method:
place potatoes in a pot of salted water and bring to a boil. Once the potatoes are nearly cooked, add the green beans and cook until they're tender yet crisp. Strain and reserve.

In the meantime place the tomatoes, frisee, tuna, cannellini beans and onions in a bowl. Add the potato and beans. whisk the dressing ingredients together and pour over the salad. Toss well, place pepperoncini on top and serve.

Butter Lane Cupcakes

WOW! I had so much fun today!

There's an incredible cupcake shop on the lower east side that completely blows Magnolia or any other competitor out of the water! The cupcakes are creative and thoughtful...PLUS they have a workshop right beside the store where you can take cupcake baking classes, decorating workshops or have a private party! Pretty cool:)

My culinary BFF Leeana and I stumbled upon the shop last week and immediately went online to sign up for a class...It was insanely fun. There's complimentary cupcakes, coffee, tea and water PLUS the actual class where our Pastry Chef extraordinaire very patiently taught us how to make leaves, flowers, basket weaves and any other requests we had. It was such a delight! I HIGHLY recommend this to EVERYONE... Boys, if you want to impress a girl and live in the NY area- take her here for a class!!!!