Apricot Oat Bread

August 13, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 19 Comments

Once upon a time, my good friend and fellow tea partier Lynette was also my roommate. Being a tidy sort, one of her cardinal housekeeping rules was Everything Shall Have Its Own Place in The Fridge. This comes to mind frequently when surveying the inside of my own over-stuffed, disorganized and messy fridge, so last week I finally did something about it. During the subsequent clearing-out and re-organizing, I discovered two things: 1) I have neglected my poor sourdough starter at the back of the fridge for too long (luckily, nothing a good feeding couldn’t fix), and 2) I have a very large collection of half-empty jars of jam. These two things added up to one obvious solution: time to bake bread!

…

An Afternoon at Teafarm (plus a chocolate cake!)

August 7, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 6 Comments

The Canadian Food Experience Project began June 7, 2013. As we share our collective stories through our regional food experiences, we hope to bring global clarity to our Canadian culinary identity. The theme for this month’s Canadian Food Experience Project is “A Regional Canadian Food Hero”, which can be broadly defined as anyone involved in food growing, production, education, activism, or the like, working to preserve local foods, skills, traditions, or to define the local terroir.

{For some reason, I had a hard time writing this post – sometimes it’s difficult to put an experience in words. I wrote several drafts, one of which accidentally got published a few days ago, so apologies to anyone who got a bunk notification in their reader or email. This is the real post!}

The Cowichan Valley is home to many farms and artisanal food producers, one of which is Teafarm, located just north of Duncan in the Westholme area. My friends Lynette, Ang, and I visited on a beautiful Sunday in July for their “tea + sweet pairings” menu, and ended up having a pretty wonderful afternoon, sipping tea, enjoying chocolate goodies, and basking in the farm’s pastoral bliss. Believe me when I say I am not at all exaggerating about the bliss part.

Welcome to Teafarm!

…

Toffee Coffee Cookies

August 3, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 8 Comments

Pinterest is a dangerous place. I was browsing through some of the hundreds of recipes I have pinned (I know some people also pin, like, fashion or crafts or home decor or whatever, but 98% of my pins are food) and these toffee espresso cookies just spoke to me. I’m not a regular coffee drinker, but I can’t say no to a coffee-infused baked good, especially when it is talking so loudly (must be the caffeine).

…

Daring Bakers: Doughnuts {Choose Your Own Challenge}

July 27, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 45 Comments

In a “celebration” of past Daring Baker and Daring Cook challenges, Lisa challenged all of us to search through the Daring Kitchen archives and pick any one we’d like! The REAL challenge was picking which delicious recipe(s) to try!

You hear that? The “REAL” challenge? Was it ever! For someone who becomes paralyzed with indecision when faced with life-altering choices such as which flavours to use in a cake (yeah, I’m that cool), the most challenging part about this month’s challenge was most definitely just choosing what to do. I was thinking croquembouche at first, or perhaps éclairs, or maybe something with ice cream, but eventually I decided on yeasted doughnuts. This was a decision fraught with anxiety though, let me tell you: I desperately wanted to make them (they’re on the list!) but I figured that deep-frying in the middle of July was kind of a silly move, and being that one batch of doughnuts makes over two dozen, I knew that I would have at least twenty-three more doughnuts than would ever be necessary. But I went ahead with it anyway 😉

…

Colossal Sourdough Cinnamon Buns

July 20, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 34 Comments

You know those absolutely huge cinnamon buns – the ones the size of your face – that you find at hotbeds of food culture like the mall food court? These are like those in size only – they taste a million times better (that’s a mathematical fact, I can assure you).

…

Caramel Cake with Raspberries and Cream

July 12, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 25 Comments

I turned thirty this past Sunday. Thirty. I know that age is just a number and I’m still plenty young, but it sounds a lot older than twenty-nine, somehow. It was a milestone, anyway, so there had to be an appropriate cake. As with every birthday cake I make, there was some agonizing over what kind it should be – but only a little. I already had it narrowed down between a crêpe cake or a caramel cake, and the caramel cake won. (But the crêpe cake is still on the list, because WOW.)

…

The Canadian Food Experience Project: BC Spot Prawn Cioppino

July 7, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 19 Comments

{A Regional Canadian Food from the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island}

The Canadian Food Experience Project began June 7 2013. As we share our collective stories across the vastness of our Canadian landscape through our regional food experiences, we hope to bring global clarity to our Canadian culinary identity through the cadence of our concerted Canadian voice. Please join us.

What comes to mind when you think of Canadian food? Maple syrup and poutine? Canadian bacon? (Known as back bacon here, but everyone I know eats regular bacon.) Tim Horton’s coffee and doughnuts? Patriotic beer? (Just for the record, decidedly NOT the best this land has to offer.) Of course there is much more to Canadian food than that, but it’s a tough one to answer. Canada is a HUGE place and it includes people of so many different cultural backgrounds. Other than First Nations people, we are all immigrants from somewhere (some more recent than others), so naturally the way we prepare and eat food is influenced by whatever culture we came from. Discovering what “Canadian food” is, exactly, is kind of exciting to a food geek like me, so I am thrilled to be participating in The Canadian Food Experience Project, which was started last month by Valerie Lujonga of A Canadian Foodie in an attempt to explore and help answer the question, “What is Canadian food?“

Poutine: the most Canadian food? (photo credit: Huffingtonpost.ca)

…

Tomato Basil Risotto

July 4, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 2 Comments

Summer is finally here. After a long, wet June, July has brought the sunshine: five straight days (and counting!) of temperatures in the high 20s, plus over the weekend I a) went swimming in the lake, and b) bought a pint of fresh raspberries. That pretty much settles it.

It also means that it’s prime tomato growing season. This weekend in addition to a) and b) above, I planted some tomato plants in a very sunny spot beside the house, and hopefully towards the end of August, I will be rewarded with juicy, red, succulent fruit (says the girl who doesn’t usually like tomatoes all that much). In the meantime, I’ll be brushing up on my best tomato recipes.

…

Chocolate and Caramel Tart with Hazelnuts (Daring Bakers: Pies, Part III)

June 29, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 20 Comments

Rachael from pizzarossa was our lovely June 2013 Daring Bakers’ host and she had us whipping up delicious pies in our kitchens! Cream pies, fruit pies, chocolate pies, even crack pies! There’s nothing like pie! 🙂

As promised, the third and final installment of this month’s Daring Bakers pie challenge. I think my inner chocolate lover unconsciously saved the best for last. (Part I and Part II, for your reading pleasure.)

This tart has a buttery, crisp pastry shell, a thin layer of deeply flavoured caramel, and a thicker layer of dark and velvety smooth chocolate mousse. It is pretty decadent but so worth it. I added some ground hazelnuts to the crust and topped the finished tart with hazelnuts dipped in caramel for added drama. Not that a tart this good needs extra drama, but the fact that I lead a fairly drama-free life makes me feel the need to bring the drama sometimes – if only to dessert.

…

Shaker Lattice Strawberry Rhubarb Pie with Buckwheat Sourdough Pastry (Daring Bakers: Pies, Part II)

June 28, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 30 Comments

The title of this post is a bit of a mouthful, but there’s a lot going on in this pie (which is the second pie I made for the Daring Bakers Challenge this month). There’s perfectly ripe strawberries and rhubarb, a pâté brisée crust enriched with sourdough starter and buckwheat flour, and a funky lattice pattern.

…