2022-01-16

Mimi's Cretons (Spiced Pork Spread)

 

Every Christmas, I could count on my maternal, Quebecois-raised, grandmother--who I called Mimi--making a handful of favorites:
Christmas CrackTourtière, Chocolate Oat Bars, and Cretons. And these were all just foods ready and waiting when we arrived Christmas Eve, so its a wonder we had any room for dinner--especially with the addictive quality of both the Cretons and Christmas Crack! Although, it may have helped that we wouldn't eat dinner until after midnight mass--when we would come home and celebrate my Mother's Christmas birthday with dinner, Bûche de Noël, and presents in the wee hours of the morning. This recipe is adapted from one in a Quebecois cookbook I had given my mother several years ago, and now sits lovingly on my bookshelf.  I highly recommend the cookbook--Made in Quebec: A Culinary Journey, by Julian Armstrong--if only I had the time to cook my way through it!

Mimi's Cretons

Ingredients

  • 1.5 lbs. medium-fat Ground Pork
  • 1 c. Progresso Bread Crumbs or 2 slices dried bread crumbled
  • 1 medium onion, grated
  • 1 tsp. Salt
  • 1/2 tsp. Pepper, freshly ground
  • 1 tsp. ground Cinnamon, or more to taste
  • 1/2 tsp. ground Cloves, or more to taste
  • 1/2 tsp. ground Sage, or more to taste
  • 1/4 tsp. ground Ginger
  • 1/25 cups Whole Milk
  • Additional Pepper to taste
Directions
  1. Place all ingredients in a large saucepan and cook over medium heat for 1 hour, stirring often at first to break up meat.
  2. Remove from heat and use masher to breakup meat even more. 
  3. Let cool, and transfer to several airtight (freezer-safe) containers. 
  4. Refrigerate containers up to 5 days, or freeze up to two months. 
Serve spread on toasted or grilled bread, strong crackers, or bagel or pita chips; or use as a sandwich filling.

Note: Don't use lean pork, to prevent graininess in the final spread.

Photo courtesy of CLC Canada.

Carrot Raisin Pineapple Salad

 

I'm not sure why I was craving this salad recently, but it may have been the rainbow carrots I bought for a holiday recipe and didn't use.  I've adapted this recipe from several different ones I reviewed--partly to fit my taste, but mostly according to ingredients on hand. It was sweeter than I expected, but I was very happy with the result.

Carrot Raisin Pineapple Salad

Ingredients
  • 1 can/12 oz. of Pineapple tidbits, drained w/juice reserved
  • 1/2 cup Raisins (golden raisins recommended)
  • 1 lb Carrots, washed, ends removed (rainbow carrots recommended)
  • 1/4 cup Mayonnaise
  • 1/4 cup Pineapple Greek Yogurt
  • 1/2 tsp grated Ginger
  • 1/2 tsp Lemon Juice
  • 1 TBL Granulated Sugar
  • Salt to taste
  • Lemon Zest (optional)
Directions
  1. Drain pineapple and add to medium bowl; reserve juice in a small bowl 
  2. Soak raisins in reserved pineapple juice
  3. Grate carrots into bowl w/pineapple bits
  4. Add raisins to carrots/pineapple, discard juice
  5. In a small bowl, combine mayo, yogurt, ginger, lemon juice, and sugar
  6. Combine with carrot mixture
  7. Add salt and lemon zest (optional) to taste.
Keep refrigerated.  Best served after a few hours, when the flavors have had a chance to combine.

Photo courtesy of Betty Crocker

2021-08-18

Three Ingredient Scones

    While I'm not a fantastic cook, I'm an even worse baker.  I don't know if it's lack of patience or not enough attention to detail, but I have never mastered the art. So when I saw this recipe for three-ingredient scones–from a nutritionist who claims she's also never had success with making them–I thought it was worth a try. At first they were a little bland on flavor, so I added a little fresh-squeezed juice, and diced crystallized ginger and it added just a hint of zing. I was quite pleased with how these came out, and hope you enjoy! 

    Three-Ingredient Scones

    Ingredients

    • 3 cups Self-rising Flour
    • 300 ml/10 oz Heavy Cream
    • 300 ml/10 oz Plain or flavored Sparkling Water/Seltzer
    Directions
    1. Preheat oven to 430° F/220° C
    2. Sift flour into a large bowl
    3. In a separate bowl, add heavy cream, then add the seltzer, and give a very gentle stir with a table knife (to reduce air loss from the seltzer)
    4. Make a well in the flour, then gently add liquids to the flour
    5. Lightly stir with table knife around the bowl and through the middle a few time until combined, but still slightly damp
    6. Prepare pan/sheet with parchment paper
    7. Flour your work surface, and lightly empty dough onto flour (using knife to help if needed)
    8. Flour the top of the dough, and your hands liberally
    9. Help the dough come together by pulling the sides gently in, folding over, and repeat a couple times until it has a rustic pillow-like shape
    10. Create your scones using a floured cookie cutters or knife. Be sure to flour the tool between cuts.
    11. Put scones very close together on pan/sheet to encourage rising
    12. Use a pastry brush to lightly brush milk over the top of each scone
    13. Bake 15-20 minutes, until golden on top, and hollow sounding when tapped, then enjoy! 
    If you would like to make Lemon Ginger Scones as I did:
    • Use lemon seltzer/sparkling water, or ginger ale
    • Add an extra 2 TBSP flour in step 2
    • Add 1/4 cup lemon juice to the cream, before the seltzer, in step 4
    • Finely dice a few pieces of candied ginger and add at beginning of step 5
    Many thanks to Charity at Easy Healthy Tasty for the inspiration, and you can watch her makes these scones here.

    2021-04-24

    Ten Vermont Cheeses Worth Tasting

    Along time ago, I promised to make a foodie friend a list of my favorite Vermont cheeses. There are certainly many more, but here are my top nine--with the addition of a tenth from a fellow VT cheese-lover.. Additional Vermont foods that pair well are also listed. Enjoy!


    Ten Vermont Cheeses Worth Tasting 


    Cabot Creamery Co-operative: Alpine Cheddar

    Cabot cheddar is every day cheese to Vermonters, but this kicks it up a notch with a drier, nuttier flavor I find addictive. Yummy paired with
    Vermont Smoke & Cure Summer Sausage
    .


    Twig Farm: Goat Tomme
    This was the first tomme I ever tried, and still my favorite years later. Also, I think the cheesemaker's wife practicing/teaching violin makes for happy goats. To come full circle...we often put Twig Farm cheese in out visiting artists' green room.


    Maplebrook Farm: Hand Dipped Ricotta
    I've been on a real ricotta binge lately, and the rich, fresh flavor of this versatile cheese just overshadows the other ricottas in the dairy aisle.


    Blue Ledge Farm: Maple Chevre
    You knew something maple had to make it to the list. It was not uncommon for me to have a package of Maple Chevre and Whitney's Castleton Crackers' Middlebury Maple (now Salted Maple) crackers in my office at all times.


    Jasper Hill Farm: Bayley Hazen Blue
    I bought this yummy blue to make homemade blue cheese dressing. It's so creamy, it covered the fact that I totally botched the recipe.


    Plymouth Artisan Cheese: Garlic Peppercorn
    I'm not usually partial to flavored cheddar cheese, but this makes a killer companion to a LaPlatte River Angus Farm burger.


    Grafton Village Cheese Company: Shepsog
    I first tasted this earthy sheep/cow cheese on a charcuterie platter at a post-concert reception in a barn in southern Vermont. Quite fitting!


    Vermont Creamery: Herb Chevre
    Spread this on grilled O Bread Bakery French Batard and add the slightest drizzle of Champlain Valley Apiaries Honey or Sidehill Farm's Damson Plum Jam.


    Taylor Farm Cheese: Leyden Gouda
    I fell in love with Leyden—with its cumin and/or caraway seed flavor—in the Netherlands. Taylor Farms doesn’t make it often, but their Maple-smoked Farmstead Gouda is another yummy choice if the Leyden isn’t available. And these Goudas pair nicely with
    Jan's Farmhouse Crisps
    .


    And lastly a recommendation from a friend: 
    Handmade in small batches, their Coulommiers-style cheese--thicker ancestor to Brie--has a northern French origin as does the name itself, Lillé.

     ---

    Walnut Serving Board and picture by J.K. Adams Co. in Dorset, VT