Brassica-phobic?

So, it turns out my husband hates all members of the Brassicaceae family, except broccoli and the occasional piece of cauliflower if it's well smothered in cheese sauce, with Cheese Whiz being the sauce of choice. Oh, and the coleslaw that you can find in the square 1lb tubs. Such a gourmand!

I love the cabbage family and can't understand why he doesn't like them. Perhaps he didn't get a chance to eat them much growing up (which probably explains my mental aversion to seafood), perhaps he just doesn't like green vegetables, who knows, but it is my New Year Resolution to make him like them!

Brussels sprouts seemed like an obvious first choice - I mean, really, where do you start? It has to be something, and they were in the market this week, so here they are.

I started out thinking I was going to make a bubble and squeak kind of dish, but as I made the base for it, I thought this could be a great side-dish all on its own. It is gorgeous and bright green, crispy smoked bacon and a hint of garlic with a squeeze of lemon - delightful!

Brussels Sprouts Hash
makes enough for 6-8 as a side dish

4 slices bacon, chopped fine
1 medium onion, 1/4" dice
1 clove garlic, minced
400g Brussels sprouts, thinly sliced
salt & pepper
1-2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Heat skillet and add bacon. Cook, stirring, until the fat has started to render. Add the onion and cook until translucent, and just turning golden. Mix in the garlic and cook until fragrant.

Add sliced Brussels sprouts and cook until softened and bright green in colour. Be careful cooking here, you don't want to overcook them or they will begin to turn brown-ish and dull.

Remove from heat, season well with salt and pepper, and mix through lemon juice. If you make this in advance, I would wait until serving before adding the lemon juice, as acid has a habit of turning green vegetables brown.

So delicious and so so easy!

And then, I made my bubble & squeak.

I made mashed potatoes from 1kg russet potatoes and just mixed in the Brussels sprouts mixture from above. I formed the bubble and squeak into 8 patties, dredged them in flour and then shallow fried them until golden on both sides.

And, my husband said he loved it, which I'm never really sure if it's true or not, because he would say he loved anything I cooked - and there have been some disasters!

Puffs of Heaven

My love affair with the simple marshmallow started way back when I was 18 and working in my first real job. It was so long ago, that now as I try to remember the name, I can't. I was a waitress and there was a French chef, well, now I can't even remember if he really was French, but it makes for a good story. It was a cold wintery day and he made all the girls (lucky us!) hot chocolate from scratch with pillows of fresh marshmallow on top. It didn't even have time to set up, it was still all gooey and sticky and melted oh-so-perfectly when you stirred it in. Wow, it's been a long time, but that was a really great day.

My family also goes camping every year in Victoria over the Easter long weekend, and have you ever seen a campsite without marshmallows to toast over the fire? I love campfire marshmallows two ways - the first is to hold the marshmallow (on a long stick, of course) over the flames and let the outside burn to a crisp, nice and black and cirspy, and then eat it in one mouthful. The outside is piping hot and the middle still feels like a normal marhsmallow, slightly warmed. The other way is to hold the marshmallow over the coals and let the whole thing heat through and the outside is perfectly caramelized. You have to be careful though, this way needs care and attention so that the gooey goodness just doesn't fall plop into the fire. Those marshmallows become pretty slippery when they are warm. Also, if there are lots of people toasting marshmallows and not so many marshmallows. you want to go for option #1 because it's quicker, and you will get more of them!

I was in the UK a couple of years ago wandering through the food halls at Harrods and wouldn't you believe it - a whole section devoted to gourmet marshmallows. Of course, I bought some strawberry flavoured and shaped ones, which until they were devoured over two nights and I arrived home to see the credit card statement, I paid about $25 for a 1/4 lb bag. But they were well worth it to me (not so much to my husband).

My most recent marshmallow purchase was in Florida in October where I found a bag of limited edition "swirlmallows". Yum. Chocolate and vanilla swirls in one bite. Who could resist?

I love marshmallows folded through ice cream, floating on top of hot chocolate, in rice crispie squares. I love them chocolate covered. I like the mini ones, the big ones, the gourmet ones, the funny shaped ones. I love them all. And now I know I can make them myself!

Marshmallows

only adapted a tiny tiny bit from the Joy of Baking

Makes 1 pan 13"x9"x2"

1 cup (250ml) cold water, divided

3 x 1/4oz (21g) envelopes unflavoured gelatine

2 cups (400g) white sugar

1 cup (240ml) light corn syrup (but you can use dark if you like)

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

lots and lots of icing sugar (about 4 cups)

Very lightly grease the pan and line the bottom and sides with parchment. I sprayed too much oil onto the bottom of my pan and it somehow came through the parchment and left yellow-ish spots on the botoms of my marshmallows. I assume the only reason for the greasing is to make the parchment stick to the pan.

Then sift 3 tablespoons icing sugar over the bottom of the pan (on the parchment). Trust me, this will help you get those marshmallows out.

Place 1/2 cup cold water into the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment. Sprinkle the gelatine over the water and leave to dissolve for 15 minutes.

This is where I went a little off the path - I have only worked in a very limited capacity with powdered gelatine and each time I have dissolved it in warm water, so I put my whole mixer bowl with the gelatine and the water over a saucepan of simmering water and dissolved it that way. On reflection, the heat from the sugar mixture would probably dissolve the gelatine when it is added, so it is entirely up to you which path you take.

Meanwhile, place the sugar, corn syrup, salt and remaining 1/2 cup water in a saucepan. Stir over medium heat until the sigar dissolves and the mixture comes to a boil. Cover the saucepan with a lid and let boil for about three minutes to allow any sugar crystals to dissolve from sides of the saucepan (I really like this trick - it should work with other candy making adventures too).

Remove lid and cook until temperature reaches 240F. I used my digital probe thermometer. You could use any thermometer, but you want to take it to the soft ball stage, if you know how to test with a glass of cold water.

So now attach your mixing bowl back onto your stand mixer (if you used my heating method) and with the mixer running at low speed, slowly pour the hot syrup into the gelatine mixture in a thin stream down the side of the bowl. Gradually increase the speed to high and beat until mixture has tripled in volume and is very thick and stiff, takes about 8 - 10 minutes. Add vanilla and continue beating to incorporate.

The pink marshmallows you see in my photo, I made two batches of marshmallows and the second batch I added red gel paste food colour when the marshmallows were about a minute away from adding the vanilla. You could add any colour or flavour here*.

Scrape marshmallow mixture into prepared pan and spread with a damp offset or rubber spatula. And, as the original recipe says, it is really sticky so just smooth it out as best you can. Dust the top with another 3 tablespoons sifted icing sugar and leave to set up overnight, or at least for 12 hours.

To remove the marshmallows from the pan, I turned mine out onto a very well icing sugar dusted piece of parchment paper (here's a big NO to scraping and scrubbing that off my counter tops). Peel off the parchment as best you can, and then the easiest way to cut them is to use a pizza wheel. I know, sounds wierd, but I tried a chefs knife, a stainless pastry scraper and the pizza wheel and it honestly worked like a charm. I also used scissors, but they got really gummy really quickly. They still worked though. Use lots of icing sugar to dust the cut edges, and there you have it - fresh home made marshmallows.

The original recipe says you can store them for up to two weeks in an airtight container at room temperature, but really, who are they kidding....there's none left after today :)

*I think pink coloured, rose water flavoured marshmallows would be delicious. Or use orange colour and orange blossom water...decadent!

Feelin' Beet?

OK, so not my most glamourous photo, and you can't really tell, but there are six pieces on the platter...maybe too much Horseradish Cream? I don't know. Can I blame it on the new camera?

Beets are so delicious, I can't understand why they get such a bad wrap. My husband hates them, although he did eat one of these gems because I asked him to. I told him if he didn't like it, he didn't have to eat the whole thing, but he did, so it can't have been that bad.

I wonder if it's the pickled variety that gets shoved to the back of the cupboard. But then you think about the Canadian obsession with dill pickles, that it just can't be so. I often wonder if it's because people have forgotten how to cook them, and are really not sure what to do with them. Kind of like turnips and rutabaga, and parsnips, come to think of it.

There's just something so glorious about the colour of beets, that jewel-toned red purplish colour, that screams "eat me". It's almost a fashion statement on your plate. Regarding the colour, a few years ago my friend and I were going to start a paint company and name all our colours after food - beetroot was going to be one of them. You can tell we needed something more interesting in our lives, and it obviously never eventualised. I have a few business ideas that never made it off the ground...hmmm...

Back to beets, they are wonderfully healthy for you too - folic acid (for those of us trying to get, or already are, pregnant), calcium, iron, vitamin A & C, vitamin B6, they keep your liver healthy (metabolising fats properly and helping you lose weight (yay!)), lower colesterol, full of antioxidants and are beneficial against fighting cancer.* Wow, we should be eating these daily!

I have seen some beautiful heirloom varieties that are striped yellow and pink, or white and pink, and star shapes inside. The golden ones and albino ones are really pretty too. You can choose whichever beet you like for this recipe, but I love the ordinary vibrant hued beet here.

Beet & Sweet Potato Rosti (not a real rosti, no, but for the love of a name)

Makes 6 cakes

1 medium sized sweet potato (350g), peeled

4 medium sized beets (600g), peeled

2 cloves garlic, minced

3 green onions, finely chopped

2 teaspoons lemon juice

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 cup flour

1 egg, lightly beaten

1/4 cup canola oil (for cooking rosti)

Shred the sweet potato and place in a large bowl. Shred the beets and before placing in the bowl with the sweet potato, squeeze out the excess juices (using your hands - wash them straight after and they won't stay dyed pink all day). Discard the juice or save for another purpose. I used my food processor for the shredding and I did the sweet potato first, so that the red juices didn't dye everything.

Combine all the other ingredients with the shredded vegetables (except the oil, of course), and mix well. Your hands will go pink again, but wash them straight away and you will be fine.

Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan over med-low heat. Divide the shredded vegetable mixture into six equal portions and kind of squash into a patty-shape. Place in oil and gently press to flatten. You want the oil to be hot enough so that it sizzles, but not too hot that it burns the sugars in the vegetables. And, let me tell you, these are easy to burn because the colour is so dark to begin with. You want to be able to cook the patties about 6-7 minutes on each side. They are fairly delicate, so be careful when you flip them over.

Transfer cooked patties to a baking sheet when done and keep warm in a 350F oven while you cook the rest. Serve warm with horseradish cream - recipe follows.

Horseradish Cream

Makes about 1 cup

3/4 cup sour cream, or creme fraiche

1/4 cup horseradish (or more if you like it spicy)

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Place all ingredients in a small bowl, mix well. Adjust seasoning to your liking. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

I think these would be amazing at a holiday party, because of their festive colour, made small into little appetisers and topped with some smoked salmon and fresh dill.

*All health information was collected from www.elements4health.com - I'm not a nutritionist, but I like to know when something is good for me.