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Rhubarb and Marzipan Pie

May 18, 2018 By Korena in the Kitchen 8 Comments

According to Instagram, it’s been rhubarb season since about January, judging by all the gorgeous rhubarb baked goods that have been showing up in my feed since then. I guess spring comes a lot later here in the Far North (ha) because even now that it’s mid-May, the rhubarb in my garden is not quite ready to harvest yet. But it has finally been showing up in the grocery store, and when I snapped some up a few weekends ago I knew exactly what to do with it: I had just seen a delicious looking rhubarb and marzipan cake, and my first thought was, “That would make a good pie.”

Rhubarb & Marzipan Pie | Korena in the Kitchen

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Filed Under: Cakes & Pies, Fruit, Recipes Tagged With: almond, baking, dessert, marzipan, pastry, pie, recipe, rhubarb, spring

Kate’s Rhubarb Upside Down Cake

May 12, 2014 By Korena in the Kitchen 2 Comments

Kate's Rhubarb Upside Down Cake | Korena in the Kitchen

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. Visit Valerie’s blog, A Canadian Foodie, on the 15th for a round-up of this month’s posts.

May’s theme for the Canadian Food Experience Project is “The Canadian Garden”, which frankly seems like a bit of a joke at this time of the year. Even living in one of the most temperate places in the country (“Cowichan” means “The Warm Land” in the local First Nations language), my garden is mostly bare dirt at the moment… save for my rhubarb plant.

Rhubarb in my garden | Korena in the Kitchen…

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Filed Under: Cakes & Pies, Fruit, Recipes Tagged With: buckwheat flour, cake, freshly ground flour, grain mill, guest post, recipe, rhubarb, spring, The Canadian Food Experience Project, Venison for Dinner, whole grain, WonderMill

Petite Strawberry Frangipane Tart

April 30, 2014 By Korena in the Kitchen 6 Comments

Petite Strawberry Frangipane Tart | Korena in the Kitchen

While local strawberries are still at least a month off, I admit to thoroughly enjoying the juicy red California-grown gems that have been showing up at the green grocer lately. I can’t help myself – this winter felt SO LONG and strawberries are like the breath of fresh air and ray of sunlight that I’m craving right now. And while they might not be local, they are at least in season, and for that I am grateful!

Petite Strawberry Frangipane Tart | Korena in the Kitchen…

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Filed Under: Cakes & Pies, Fruit, Recipes Tagged With: baking, dessert, Easter, food, frangipane, pastry, pâté sablée, recipe, spring, strawberries, tart

Leek and Bacon Quiche with Wholegrain Pastry

April 7, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 6 Comments

Leek & Bcaon Quiche with Whole Grain CrustNate and I had a pretty quiet Easter weekend at home, so instead of a big Easter Sunday dinner, I made a quiche with leek and bacon, a dish of scalloped potatoes, and a green salad (and dessert, of course – that post is coming!). I was lucky enough to have dinner with my parents on Salt Spring on Good Friday, which included not only the traditional baked ham but also a huge pile of fresh crab, caught by a family friend. It was amazing, but after all that food I was quite happy to keep it lighter for the rest of the weekend.

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Filed Under: Breakfast & Brunch, Main Dishes, Recipes Tagged With: bacon, coconut oil, Easter dinner, food, leeks, quiche, recipe, spring, whole grain pastry

Chocolate Porter Sourdough Hot Cross Buns

March 31, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 32 Comments

Chocolate Porter Sourdough Hot Cross BunsHappy Easter! I hope the Easter Bunny brought you all lots of chocolate. :)

This Easter I wanted to make some special hot cross buns (as in, more special than these or these). I was thinking something along the lines of “hot cross bunnies” (haha, I’m so punny… bunny… sorry) but then I came across these spiced stout sourdough beauties from Lauren Bakes (she recently posted a chocolate chip version, too), which stopped me dead in my cutesy little bunny tracks. Her recipe contained dried fruit soaked in tea plus a sourdough levain made with Guinness, which I swapped out for chocolate porter because, well, I’ll take any excuse to buy it, really….

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Filed Under: Bread, Breakfast & Brunch, Other Baked Goods & Sweets, Recipes Tagged With: baking, baking with beer, chocolate porter, Easter, hot cross buns, Phillips Longboat Chocolate Porter, recipe, sourdough, spring, tea time

Strawberry Rhubarb Skillet Clafoutis

July 3, 2012 By Korena in the Kitchen 16 Comments

The move is over and we have settled into our temporary new home – temporary because (fingers crossed!) we have plans in the works for bigger, better things. I have not really taken the new kitchen for a spin yet, but I’m looking forward to it. It’s bigger and better laid-out than the kitchen in our last place, which was a galley-style layout that could only accommodate one person and had barely any usable counter space:

The kitchen on a good day (there was usually a dish rack taking up valuable real estate above the dishwasher).

Not that I’m knocking small kitchens – I know you can do a lot in them and I’ve survived in an even smaller one – but a little extra space is so nice. …

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Filed Under: Cakes & Pies, Fruit, Recipes Tagged With: baking, cake, clafoutis, dessert, French, fruit, recipe, rhubarb, spring, strawberry, summer

Strawberry Shortcake Torte

April 20, 2012 By Korena in the Kitchen 14 Comments

Today is my last day of work before an (unfortunately unpaid) four month summer vacation; an occasion which, I think, merits a cake. This strawberry shortcake torte actually made its appearance as dessert after Easter dinner, and it disappeared pretty darn quickly. Really though, what’s not to like? Lemon-scented sponge cake topped with marshmallowy meringue, layered with whipped cream and fresh strawberries….

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Filed Under: Cakes & Pies, Fruit, Recipes Tagged With: baking, cake, celebration, dessert, Easter, recipe, sponge cake, spring, strawberries, strawberry shortcake, torte

Kale Tops and Spicy Peanut Stir Fry Sauce

April 15, 2011 By Korena in the Kitchen Leave a Comment

I love spring. I love the warmer weather (well, slightly warmer – it’s still pretty darn cold out around here!), the longer days, the crocuses and cherry blossoms, the singing birds… but what I’m really appreciating this spring, more than usual perhaps, is the abundance of gorgeous, fresh, spring vegetables that are available – many of them local. At The Root Cellar, which is a super awesome green grocer in Victoria that you should definitely check out if you have not already, they stock all kinds of fantastic local spring produce, some of it fairly standard – chard, parsley, butter lettuce – and some of it more unusual – sorrel, collard greens, and kale tops. Most of the local greens in stock at the moment are from Vantreight Farms, best known for all those daffodils.

Anyway. The other day I was at The Root Cellar, browsing for dinner ideas, and I saw these kale tops. I am a big fan of brassicas (the broccoli family – my Dad calls them broccolids) so I was intrigued. Essentially, this is kale that is going to seed and is just about to burst into flower – probably not something that most people would think to eat, and definitely the first time I’ve ever seen it in a store – but why not? They looked so beautiful, green and crisp and fresh… so I brought some home to try….

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Filed Under: Main Dishes, Recipes Tagged With: cooking, dinner, food, kale tops, peanut butter, recipe, spring, stir-fry, vegetables

Welcoming Spring with Hot Cross Buns

March 22, 2011 By Korena in the Kitchen 7 Comments

Spring is here! I know this because last weekend I went for a run in a t-shirt, there are crocuses everywhere, the cherry trees are blossoming, and hot cross buns are appearing on the bakery shelves. Also, Sunday was the first day of spring, so… I guess that makes it official.

I like hot cross buns – or rather, I want to like hot cross buns, but I rarely find a store-bought one that meets my expectations. Mostly because they all contain either candied peel or glacée fruit (bleh!). I also find the texture of store-bought hot cross buns to be somewhat lacking, so I decided to try making them myself.

I’ve gotten fairly comfortable with yeast doughs through experimenting with the no-knead doughs in the book Artisan Bread in Five Minutes A Day (which is super fantastic and I would recommend to everyone), and I had an idea of what kind of dough/final texture I was looking for. I considered using the no-knead challah dough from Artisan Bread, but then I realized that I just needed to find a recipe that used a similar kind of dough, enriched with butter and eggs. I finally settled on a Martha Stewart recipe, which had an enriched dough that contained lemon and orange zest, but no spices. So, I consulted a Canadian Living recipe and used it as a basis for adding cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves to the Martha Stewart recipe. The result is exactly what I ever could have wanted in a hot cross bun: rich, dense-but-light texture, just the right spice with citrus notes, and best of all, no nasty candied peel or glacée fruit! In my search for the perfect recipe, I came across several that contained only currants, and one with golden raisins and dried cherries, so I used all three, and it’s a great combination. Another thing to consider was what kind of “cross” to put on the buns – a flour/water paste combination applied before baking, or an icing cross applied after baking. My personal preference is for the flour/water paste, so I went with that. As a result, there is actually nothing about the recipe I would change next time – I would just refine my technique a little!

I halved the original recipe (which yielded two dozen), and after the first rise, I took half the dough and stuck it in the freezer because I though that twelve buns at once would be overkill, so I only ended up with six buns. When I decide I want more (which will probably be much sooner than later!), I will let the dough thaw to room temperature, divide it into six, and continue on from the second rise….

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Filed Under: Other Baked Goods & Sweets, Recipes Tagged With: dried fruit, Easter, hot cross buns, spring, yeast dough

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I'm Korena: cook, baker, dirty-dishes-maker. My favourite things include flour, butter, sugar, and chocolate. Read More…

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All content © Korena Vezerian and Korena in the Kitchen, 2011 – 2021. Please contact me before duplicating any content, including pictures. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Korena Vezerian and Korena in the Kitchen with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.

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