November 2010

Strata

It is well known that breakfast is most important meal of the day. It will give you that early energy boost to carry us through whole day. I love breakfast - fresh squeezed orange juice, French toast and, of course, EGGS - sunny side up, egg Benedict, scrambled, soft-boiled, fritatta.... I could go on and on! Unfortunately, most of us are so busy in the morning that we feel lucky if we have time to stop by at Dunkin Donuts to grab a cup of coffee.

But what could be better then breakfast? Some of you probably would say "Breakfast in bed." Sounds great! But the chances of getting it will go waaay down even in comparing for having fresh squeezed orange juice.. Sad but true...

But I still love to treat my family with a nice REAL breakfast without spending all morning cooking, even if it is just on the weekend. And my secret is strata. Strata is a savory breakfast casserole. It is much faster to make then the quiche and more substantial then soufflé. There are four staple ingredients - bread, eggs, cream and cheese. Then you can add any of you favorite ingredients and you own Strata du Jour is ready! And here is another good news - it can be assembled as an all-in-one casserole the night before. It will actually be better if it rests in the fridge overnight because it will give the bread more time to absorb all the custard. So the only thing you have to do in the morning is bake it! A Rich, hearty and delicious strata makes a fantastic choice for a holiday brunch!

Strata with Sausages, Mushrooms and Sun Dried Tomatoes 1/2 # your favourite breakfast sausages 2 shallots, chopped 1/2 # sliced mushrooms (can use variety of mushrooms but white mushrooms work just great) 1/2 cup sundried tomatoes 2 tablespoon butter 1 loaf country of Italian bread, sliced 1/2" thick (leave the slices out overnight to dry) 1/2 # fontina (feel free to substitute for any of your favorite good melting cheese such as havarti, gruyere, cheddar) 9 eggs 1 1/2 cups of heavy cream 1 1/2 cups of milk 1 teaspoon salt fresh ground pepper to taste

1. Fry sausage in medium nonstick skillet over medium heat, breaking sausage apart with wooden spoon, until sausage begins to brown, about 4 minutes; add shallots and cook, stirring frequently, until softened and translucent, about 1 minute longer. Add mushrooms to skillet, and cook until mushrooms no longer release liquid, about 6 minutes; add sun dried tomatoes transfer mixture to medium bowl and season to taste with salt and pepper.

2. Butter 9 by 13-inch baking dish or half hotel pan; arrange half of the bread slices in single layer in dish. Sprinkle half of sausage mixture, then ½ grated cheese evenly over bread slices. Arrange remaining bread slices in single layer over cheese; sprinkle remaining sausage mixture and another ½ cup cheese evenly over bread.

3. Whisk eggs, half and half, salt and pepper in medium bowl until combined. Pour the custard over bread layers; cover surface with plastic wrap, weight down* (put the same size dish on top with some weight). And refrigerate at least 1 hour or up to overnight.

*Weighting down helps the custard to penetrate the bread which insures a perfectly even, custardy texture throughout the dish.

4. Preheat the oven to 350F. Remove dish from refrigerator and let stand at room temperature 20 minutes. Uncover strata and bake until both edges and center are puffed and edges have pulled away slightly from sides of dish, about an hour.

The Joy of giving

The holiday season is wonderful time but it can be a little stressful with all the house decorating, cooking and of course, gift shopping. It takes a lot of time to find a great unique gift especially now, when money could be tight. I love to give the gifts as much (or even a little more) then receiving them. After all the holiday season is about spreading joy and good spirit. There are so many people in our day to day lives that deserve a little cheer. Your co-workers, the mail-man, UPS truck driver, your child's kindergarten teacher, dry cleaning lady or your dog walker...you name it. A small gift is the great way to show them your appreciation and gratitude.

I don't know about you but for me it is so much easier to find a great gift for my husband, my mom or my daughters then trying to find a gift for the person I'm so thankful to but don't really know well. Here where the home-made gifts come to place - you can show your personal touch (not just a gift card from Starbucks), they are truly unique and .. very importantly... from the heart.

Home-made bake goods or any type of candies and chocolates always make a great gift that anyone will appreciate!

Today I'm going to make home-made marshmallows. They are so easy to make, but not many people know that! So you can really impress them with your culinary skills!. These little sweet pillows are so light and airy they melt in your mouth. The best thing is that you can make them in advance. Unlike the cookies, the marshmallows can be kept in an airtight container for up to two weeks. Once you try this easy recipe it will hard to go back to the dry tasteless store bought version!

Basic Home-made Marshmallows Yields: 40 pieces 4 packets unflavoured gelatin 1 1/2 cup water 2 cups sugar 1 tbs light corn syrup 2 egg whites 1 cup powdered sugar

In a small pot bloom* the gelatin in 1 cup water. Slowly heat the gelatin to dissolve it.

*Blooming gelatin is a step to ensure the smooth texture of a finished product. It involves sprinkling the powdered gelatin into a liquid and letting it sit for 3 to 5 minutes. Then, when the mixture is heated, the gelatin will dissolve evenly.

Mix together the sugar, corn syrup and remaining water in the heavy bottomed pot and heat until the sugar dissolves. Place a candy thermometer in the pan and boil until the temperature reaches 250-265F (hard-ball stage).

* The sugar concentration at this stage is very high now (92%), which means there’s less and less moisture in the sugar syrup. A little of this syrup dropped into cold water will form a hard ball. If you take the ball out of the water, it won’t flatten. The ball will be hard, but you can still change its shape by squashing it.

Whisk the egg whites to the soft peaks* while the sugar mixture is boiling.

*When the beaters are removed, soft peaks curl over and droop rather than stand straight up.

When the sugar mixture reaches 260F, stir it in the gelatin.

Turn the mixer on the high speed and slowly pour hot sugar syrup into the egg whites. Whisk until l the mixture turns white and becomes very thick, about 5-6 min.

Spray 9 by 13" pan with non-stick oil spray and then dust with confection sugar. Spread the marshmallow mixture in the pan, smoothing the top with the spatula. Let it sit uncovered for 6 hours or overnight.

Remove the marshmallow from the pan into cutting board dusted with the confection sugar. Cut them with clean knife, dipped in cold water. Dust the marshmallows with more confection sugar.

The best thing about this marshmallows that they are just like blank white (literally!) canvas. You can add some red food colouring to make the swirls and peppermint extract to give it Christmas spirit. Or add some strawberry jam and dip in chocolate for luscious Valentine's gift. Or even pipe them up as a little yellow peeps for Easter!

Put a few of these fresh marshmallow in a small plastic bag, add cute seasonal ribbon. And Vuala! your unique and delicious gift is ready!

Happy Holidays!!!!