Food Mamma

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the great cream challenge and caramel creme brulee

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I was happy to have participated last year in the Anyday Magic’s Recipe Makeover with my Indian Rice Pudding. So, when I was approached again to participate in The Great Cream Challenge, I was happy to do so.  I was chosen to participate in The Caramel Challenge – what a delicious task!

Cream and caramel go so well together, it was so hard to just pick one
recipe! I finally settled on crème brulée which is almost everyone’s
favourite!  Head on over to their site for the recipe and while you’re there, feel free to vote for my recipe. You could win yourself a blender!  Thanks for your support!

an evening at muse

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It’s been two weeks and I’m still thinking about the fabulous meal that I had at Muse. It had been a few years since I had been to Muse and I was excited to have been invited to the Media Showcase.  New owners Heather Wighton and Stephen Deere along with their Executive Chef JP Pidhirney invited some Calgary food lovers to try out a few of their amazing offerings.

The evening started mingling with fellow foodies while enjoying drinks and fresh shucked oysters. This was followed by a tasting menu complete with wine pairings.

Highlights of the five course meal were the fresh hamachi and the succulent lamb. Here’s a recap of the delicious meal that we enjoyed:

An amuse bouche consisting of Pears and Crispy Chicken Skin in a Rutabaga Cream Bisque.

Hamachi with Coriander and Lime Vin, Radishes, Red Chili’s and Togarashi

Potato Risotto with Green Peas, Truffles and a Sous Vide Egg

Grilled Sturgeon with Beet Ribbon, Brussel Sprouts, served with a Borscht Consomme and Caviar Creme Fraiche

Grilled Lamb Saddle with Crispy Lamb Belly, Cippolini Onion, Farinata and a Black Olive Emulsion.

A palate cleanser of a Crab Apple Soda

Chocolate Cremaux with Toasted Meringue, Sweet Potato Sorbet and Lemon Gel.

food mamma is 3! we are celebrating with a few giveaways!

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Food Mamma is 3! Can’t believe it’s already been three years since the inception of my blog. It’s been a great outlet to share my love of food and all the pictures I seem to take of everything I eat. This blog has also helped in connecting me to some fabulous food loving people. Thanks to everyone who follow my blog and for all your support!

In honour of Food Mamma’s 3rd blogiversary, we are celebrating with 3 awesome giveaways from 3 great sponsors! Chocolate, cheese and kitchen gadgets…just a few of my favourite things!

Win a baking basket from Chocolaterie Bernard valued at $100. All the best baking products for you to make some amazing stuff. This prize is for those in Calgary and surrounding areas as it will have to be picked up at one of their stores.

Win a Castello cheese board and $20 in grocery vouchers. Use these vouchers to pick up some cheese to eat by itself or incorporate it into something delicious.

Win a Real Cream whisk and spatula set. These useful kitchen gadgets are perfect for baking or cooking!

Entering is easy! Just leave a comment below. Also, please let me know if you are local to Calgary, so I know which draws I can enter you for. Earn extra entries by liking on Facebook and following on Twitter.  Contest closes on April 3rd.  Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

playing with spices: pink peppercorn

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This month, we are playing with pink peppercorns.

Unlike how the name suggests, these are not related to actual peppercorns. They are the dried berries of Baies rose plant. They taste peppery but are not spicy in flavour.  The pink peppercorns are sweet and mild.

These delicate little spices are rosy in colour and are brittle compared to the black peppercorn.  They are soft with papery skins and can easily be ground by hand.  I love how the colour accents the dishes that they are added to. They are very eye-catching and I’m so happy I stocked up the last time I was in France.

Although great with chicken and fish, I was hoping to find a sweet way to showcase these pink berries. I was intrigued when I found Martha Stewart’s Peppercorn Shortbread. Instead of using a variety of peppercorns, I stuck with the ones I wanted to showcase.

The combination of the buttery shortbread with the peppery berries sounds strange but it really works!

Peppercorn Shortbread
Adapted slightly from Martha Stewart

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 tsp pink peppercorns, coarsely ground
3/4 cup icing sugar

Topping:
3/4 tsp pink peppercorns, coarsely ground
2 TB granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 300 degrees, with rack in center. Lightly butter a 10-inch springform pan, and set aside.

Stir together flour, salt, and peppercorns; set aside. Put butter and icing sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, and mix on medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down sides of bowl as needed. Reduce speed to low. Gradually add flour mixture, and mix until combined.

Using a small offset spatula, spread dough evenly into prepared pan, smoothing top. Bake until shortbread is golden brown, about 1 hour 20 minutes.

Transfer pan to a wire rack. Immediately sprinkle with granulated sugar and remaining peppercorns. Remove springform; let shortbread cool completely. Cut into wedges.

chocolate mousse cake

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It’s been a lovely month of birthdays and we’ve had a great time celebrating with family, and lots of cake! This past Friday was my dad’s birthday and I wanted to make something awesome for this special man. Chocolate and mousse came to mind.

I made a chocolate cake but baked it in a sheet pan to make a thin layer. I cut this one layer into three to make a nice tall cake, kind of like the tuxedo cake at Costco.  I made a simple mousse by combining melted chocolate and whipping cream and spread it between the chocolatey layers.  It was also the crown of the cake topped with shaved chocolate.  It was kind of a mess of a cake but everyone loved it.

Chocolate Mousse Cake

Your favourite chocolate cake recipe, like this one
1 cup chocolate chips, melted
1 1/2 cups whipping cream

Beat the whipping cream until peaks are formed.  Fold slowly into the melted chocolate until both are incorporated. Let chill for half an hour.  Cut the cake into layers and spread the mousse between the layers.

tasting menu at teatro

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Today is my birthday! As long as I don’t think about the fact that I’m a year older, I love birthdays. That may be due to the fact that in our house, we celebrate all week long! Our celebration began on Friday and since then, we’ve been to the hockey game, had dinner with my fabulous cousins and had a celebration with my awesome family. My birthday present this year from hubby was an evening at Teatro for the chef’s tasting menu.  We had been wanting to do this for a while, ever since we observed another table enjoying the food when we were last there and I was happy to finally experience it on Sunday.

Good food is always better when enjoyed with friends so we were happy that some of our food-loving friends were able to join us. The food came out at a great pace. We savoured the meal and enjoyed the company and I was surprised that three and a half hours had passed by. Every time I thought I had tasted my favourite, they would bring out something even more delicious. It was an incredible experience and definitely worth the time and money.  Teatro is great at making people feel special and their extra touches, like the stools for your purse, are well received. I also love the open kitchen so you can watch the chefs in action as they prepare the delicious food.

Here’s a recap of our fabulous meal:

Venison tartare
Apple consommé with butternut squash

Root vegetables with goat cheese and ouzu encapsulation

Brussel sprouts caesar salad with lemon air, toasted parmesan, shaved parmesan
Duck prosciutto with focaccia, garlic aioli and raspberry spaghetti
Passion fruit marshmallows and dehydrated passion fruit
Kale filled tortellini with red pepper and saffron sauce with a citrus buerre blanc
Parsley crusted scallop with spaetzle and morels and lemon foam
(they also, using liquid nitrogen, created the ambience of the ocean)
Dry aged sous vide beef tenderloin with parisian carrots, fried mashed
potato, brussel sprouts with a fermented garlic beef jus
Goat cheese snowman with a sage cream puddle and dehydrated blueberries for the eyes and buttons
Parsnip creme brûlée

Caramel ice cream made with liquid nitrogen and topped black Cyprus sea salt

Birthday Tiramisu

Teatro on Urbanspoon

salted caramel chocolate pie for pi day

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Today is Pi Day (3.14 = 3/14 = March 14). What better excuse than to celebrate with a pie! I’ve been wanting to try out a salted caramel chocolate pie for some time, just needed an occasion to do so.

Just use your favourite crust recipe, fill with caramel and top with chocolate ganache. This recipe is incredibly rich but so delicious. Hubby, who is not much into the sweet stuff, loved this pie. I even saw him go back for seconds! I couldn’t trust myself around this pie. To ensure that the two of us didn’t inhale it ourselves, I gave most of it away.

Q wanted to get in on the pie making action too.  He really wanted an apple pie and made up these little pies.  He rolled the dough, mixed the apples and even cut the stars for the top.  He was very proud of his creation.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Pie
From Sprinkle Bakes

Caramel:
1 cup sugar
6 tbsp. unsalted butter, cubed
½ cup plus 2 tbsp. heavy cream at room temperature
¼ tsp. sea salt

Melt the sugar over medium-high heat in a large pot. Whisk the sugar as it melts, and cook until it becomes a deep amber color.

Add the butter and stir it in until melted.

Pour in the heavy cream (the mixture will foam) and whisk until the mixture becomes a smooth sauce. Note: If lumps form, keep stirring over gentle heat until they have melted.

Remove from heat, stir in salt and let cool slightly.

Pour the caramel into the tart shell.  Tilt to cover the bottom evenly.  Let cool in the refrigerator until caramel is firm.

Chocolate Ganache
3/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
3/4 cups heavy cream

Place the chocolate in a medium bowl.

In a small saucepan, heat the heavy cream over medium-high heat until just boiling.

Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and gently whisk until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

Allow to cool slightly before using.

Very gently pour the ganache over the caramel layer.  The caramel may want to move around a little, so pour a little at a time.  Place in refrigerator until firm.

Sprinkle with coarse sea salt before serving.