Chicken Cutlets & Ginger Mango Barbecue Sauce on a Bed of Arugula with Fresh Corn

Following the disappointment of my burned tart, I made this delicious mango barbecue sauce!

Here's the recipe:

2 cloves garlic, minced
a drizzle of olive oil
1 mango, peeled and chopped
the zest and juice of one orange
the zest and juice of one lime
1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tsp. grated ginger
4 tbsp. steak sauce (like A1)
4 tbsp. water

Heat up the oil in a small skilled and add the garlic. Let the garlic fry for a bit and then add the rest of the ingredients. Allow the sauce to reduce over medium heat for 2o minutes or so, or until thick.

This sauce turned out fruity (but not overly sweet) and zesty. It was perfect over chicken. I laid chicken cutlets atop baby arugula and spread over the sauce. The corn was just boiled, cut off the cob, and salted...it was a perfect complement to the chicken and sauce.

Burned Brown Butter Raspberry Tart

This entry is a tragic story of multiple acts of burning.

To make the filling for this tart, you arrange raspberries in a concentric pattern inside a baked tart shell, and then pour over a batter made mostly of browned butter, eggs, vanilla, sugar, etc. When making the browned butter (you cook the butter in a small skillet over medium heat until it's browned and nutty) the first time, I totally burned it. I just walked away and when I came back to the stove it was black butter. Luckily, I had more butter to brown and this time I kept an eye on it.

To make the crust, which is kind of a cookie crust, you mix melted butter with flour, sugar, and vanilla and press it into the pan. You blind bake it for ten minutes or so, and then add the raspberries and filling batter and bake it again.

I followed the recipe directions exactly, but didn't check on the tart until it was supposed to be fully baked, and when I opened the oven at the time specified by the recipe, the tart crust was completely burned. I later read the reviews of the recipe online and learned this was a common problem with the recipe.

We still ate the tart. But still, I feel that even if the tart had not been burned, I would not consider it one of my great culinary achievements. The filling was good enough and tasted of raspberries, but it was nothing special. I was a little disappointed because this recipe was just featured in the June 2009 edition of Bon Appetit and for some reason I had really high expectations that it would taste fresh and wonderful and bursting with summer flavors.

Anyway, here's the link to the recipe if you're still inclined to make this burned, mediocre tart.

Summer Rainbows

Crispy Roast Duck with Gingered Rhubarb Confit

Last week Georg was in Indiana for a whole week! I really missed him, so the day after he got home I decided to bake him a wonderful roast duck as a decadent homecoming meal.

I was pretty anxious about how it was going to turn out because I've never cooked duck before in any form. I also know duck is pretty fatty and I was worried that the fat would be gummy rather than crispy if I didn't cook it properly.

According to my recipe, in order for the duck skin to become really crispy, it has to be dry. To ensure this, the recipe said to remove the duck from its covering, rinse it, dry it well with paper towels, and then put it uncovered on a plate in the fridge for 24 hours to let the skin fully dry out.

This technique worked pretty well, and by the time I was ready to cook the duck, the skin was almost leathery. I made tiny holes in the duck skin all over like the recipe said, sprinkled some salt and pepper on the duck, and preheated the oven to 450 degrees.

I popped the little duck in the oven, and waited. I had a while to wait....it was supposed to cook for 1 hour and 50 minutes. After a few minutes, I heard a LOT of crackling inside the oven and soon I saw some smoke rising from under the electric burners on my oven. Oh no! The duck's fat was getting hot, liquefying, and popping all over the oven.

I was really afraid I'd start a grease fire but I wasn't really sure what to do about it. I didn't want to just quit cooking my duck and ruin the meal I'd been planning for a whole week! I thought about reducing the oven temperature, but I was afraid then that the skin wouldn't get as crispy as I had been daydreaming about! I decided to keep a watchful eye on it and see what happened.

The crackling noise got louder and louder, the smoke more and more detectable, and eventually the fire alarm went off. I just couldn't take the drama anymore so I ended up taking the duck out of the oven, letting it cool off a bit, and putting it back into a less hot oven, at around 375 degrees instead of 450. This helped a lot and I was able to keep cooking the duck without worrying so much.

I did wonder though, if the duck would need longer to cook and if the skin would get as crisp. I decided to cook the duck for 15 extra minutes to compensate for the temperature difference. When I opened the oven door at the time I'd planned, I was pleasantly surprised. The duck was crispy, golden brown, and beautiful. Success!

About an hour into the cooking time of the duck, I made the confit by cutting up about a pound of rhubarb, grating about a tablespoon of fresh ginger, and simmering these ingredients with some cider vinegar, hard pear cider, and sugar. The confit was super easy to make and smelled delicious. I was excited to see how it'd pair with the duck.

Georg and I were both really impressed by the dish once put together! The duck skin was impossibly crispy, the flesh beneath was juicy. As a foil to the rich, fattiness of the duck, the rhubarb and ginger confit really shone. Yes, I'd recommend this recipe, but make sure you've got a full can of oven cleaner on hand for the next day!

Edmonton Sky

Friday, June 19, 2009


Sunday, June 14, 2009

Bloomed Delphinium

Tarragon & Orange Olive Oil Cake with Strawberry Rhubarb Compote

I am a little bit obsessed about herb and sweet combinations. A few weeks ago to celebrate the French Open tennis men's final, I made this orange olive oil cake, simmering the milk with two tablespoons of dried tarragon before adding it to the batter because I love orange and tarragon together. As I was straining the tarragon out of the milk, some of the tarragon slipped out of the strainer and back into the milk, which was fine because I don't like to add flavors to dishes without giving any visual indication that I've done so.


To top off the cake, I made some strawberry rhubarb compote, cooking sliced strawberries and rhubarb along with a bit of sugar and vanilla. I saved some of the sliced strawberries and added them at the end to add texture. It turned out brightly colored and brightly flavored.


I loved this olive oil cake...it rose beautifully and had a very delicate crumb. Plus, the flavors I'd mixed worked out really well. Since I used olive oil to make it instead of butter, I deemed it virtuous enough to eat for breakfast!

My Balcony Garden

This summer I've started something I've always wanted to have--my very own balcony garden! I began only a few weeks ago, and it was a lot of work, but I am already enjoying all my efforts! Above is my blue delphinium plant. I wanted to grow them because I had these flowers at my wedding and I love them. Since I took this photo, the plant has gotten really tall and has developed buds which are just beginning to acquire a blue tinge. It's so exciting!


Above are my herbs. I tried to transplant the herbs I had in my Aerogarden, but it didn't work very well. The roots just weren't developed to reap nutrients from soil, so they wilted and died pretty quickly. For some reason though, the parsley managed to survive and is doing well. I replaced the rest of the herbs with new thyme and mint plants as well as rosemary and lavender.

I wanted to have some kind of plant that produced edible fruits, but there's not a lot of space, so I opted for a basket of cherry tomatoes. Originally it was a hanging basket, but I figured if I hung the basket it would get too windy and blow right away! Instead, I decided to cut the hangers off the basket and put it on a stand. It's doing well and has produced two ripe tomatoes since I took this picture.


On the ground in a corner I have a Japanese lilac plant. It's just starting to bloom and smells really nice.



On the table, I have some ivy. The leafy tendrils look lovely spread out on the tabletop.


Finally, I have some moss roses. They were a really good choice for a windy, high-altitude balcony--they grow really low and can withstand the conditions. Right now they're blooming like crazy, and it seems that as soon as one of the blooms wilts, three more blooms replace it!


And here's a wider shot of my balcony garden! In the balcony railing box to the left, I have some assorted flower seeds growing. I can't remember which ones--I guess I'll find out when they bloom!

In case anyone who's reading this is thinking about starting a balcony garden, I'd like to offer a few tips for higher-altitude balcony gardening (I live on the 8th floor). I think it is a bit more of a challenge due to the windy conditions that seem to come along with being anywhere above the 4th floor of a building.

First, installing a "windbreaker" onto the rails of the balcony--some kind of physical barrier to cut down on the wind and protect the plants--is a good idea and wasn't too difficult or expensive. You can put it on all three sides of the balcony or just two, and you can use all sorts of different materials, like bamboo or wooden/plastic lattice. I decided to use bamboo blinds turned sideways, which blended in and weren't too obvious. To install them, I used lots of plastic zip ties--they've created a very stable connection between the railing and the bamboo blinds and you can't see them unless you look really closely.

Second, I'd recommend choosing plants that don't grow too tall. The wind will whip a tall plant around and may destroy it. The blue delphinium is probably a bit too tall to grow especially well on my balcony, but I've positioned it up against the bamboo windbreaker I've installed on the side railings so that it blows against that instead of straight off the balcony.

Third, if you're planning on hanging window boxes off the balcony railing, invest in sturdy, adjustable brackets from a place like Home Depot. My window boxes came with some really flimsy, non-adjustable brackets that barely fit and I am really glad that I upgraded, because I have much more peace of mind knowing the window boxes are being properly supported.

That's about it! My balcony gets a lot of sun, so I have to water them every day. I don't mind, though, because then I can go outside and note the progress the plants are making. They change so much every day! I love my garden!

Warm Tomato and Fiddlehead Fern Salad with Lemon & Anchovy Vinaigrette

Fiddlehead ferns are something I'd always wanted to try but I feared I'd never have the opportunity because they're a highly regional, seasonal item. I saw some (for growing, not eating) at a garden shop with my friend Laura and she said she'd had them many times because they're harvested in BC where she's from. I was jealous that she has had the opportunity to liberally sample a culinary curiosity of mine. A few days later, I walked into my regular neighborhood grocery store and they were selling them in the produce department by the clamshell! They were a bit pricey ($6 or $7 for maybe a cup and a half of ferns), but it was a small price to pay for these elusive (to me) plant morsels.

Once I had made my purchase I had to decide what to do with them. On the package was a warning issued by the Canadian Department of Health or something to make sure to cook the ferns very thoroughly. Apparently there are toxins and food poisoning agents that need to be boiled away for safe consumption. I have to admit the warning attracted me to fiddlehead ferns even more.

In the end I decided to boil the ferns thoroughy (for 15 minutes or so) and then roast them in olive oil with some cherry tomatoes and a clove of garlic. I am glad I boiled the ferns because even though I rinsed them before boiling, the water was straight brown after the boiling, leading me to believe that they had a lot of dirt in them, which I guess is natural if they were collected from the forest.

I roasted the cherry tomatoes and fiddlehead ferns just long enough so that the ferns would crisp up a bit from their boiling and the tomatoes would soften (about 15 minutes in a 450 degree oven). As they cooked I whisked together the juice and zest of a lemon, a teaspoon of anchovy paste, olive oil, and a little salt and pepper. Once the vegetables were out of the oven I coated them in this vinaigrette and Georg and I ate the salad immediately.

The fiddlehead ferns were sort of interesting, but sort of not...they had a texture similar to asparagus. The flavor was fine...actually I didn't notice anything all that unique about their flavor. It was pretty much like eating any other green veggie. I am still glad I tried them though. Georg was not fazed by the profusion of ferns on his plate; he ate everything right up without question.

The salad overall was excellent, though--although one could probably substitute asparagus or even zucchini with similar results. The lemon-anchovy dressing was fantastic and it was really delicious warm.

Spring Flowers

It is spring at last here in Edmonton....about 2 months later than I am used to, which Georg and I have decided is actually really depressing. And the weather still isn't reliably warm. But nevertheless, here are some pictures of a spring flower walk we took on Sunday.

Georg's Trip to Ottawa

Georg went to Ottawa last week to participate in the Canadian Philosophical Association's annual conference which took place at Carleton University in Ottawa this year. He was pretty busy giving talks, commenting on other philosopher's works, and toiling away in the cold dorm room he rented for the week, but on one nice afternoon he managed to take a city stroll and photograph the scenery.