Blogger Secret Ingredient

Thanks to Meghan at Travel Eat Love for passing the Blogger Secret Ingredient (BSI) honour on to me! Check out her site for last week’s winner and secret ingredient!

What exactly is Blogger Secret Ingredient? (Thanks Meghan for the roundup!)

• The host picks an ingredient, preferably one that is in season, readily available and not too expensive.
• The host links back to all the other previous weekly hosts.
• Participants create a unique recipe using the BSI and e-mail the host their recipes.
• You do not need to have a food blog to participate, and you do not have to submit a photograph (though, it’s preferred so I can show everyone your fabulous creations).
• If you don’t have a blog, you can e-mail the host directly and it will be posted on the blog.
• The host reviews recipes Sunday evening of each week and picks a favorite (Change of rules: I will review the recipe submissions on Monday evening, February 15th).
• The winner is posted Monday morning and receives a prize of the host’s choice (I will announce the winner next Tuesday, February 16th, see below for the prize).

What is this week’s Blogger Secret Ingredient, you ask? Drumroll please. . .


Lemon Zest!
(picture courtesy gelskitchen.com)

I LOVE lemon zest - it's the magical ingredient that makes this dish take me back to our trip to Italy in 2005 when we first discovered it... It's useful in both savory and sweet dishes and packs such a flavour punch in any recipe. Can't wait to see what you do with it!

The prize? A $25 gift card from Chefs Catalog.com. This was originally in my goodie bag at the Foodbuzz Festival last November but I have yet to use it so I figured what better use than to offer it as a prize for your creativity?

So how do you participate?

Simply send me an email by next Monday morning, February 15th with a picture of your dish (if you have one) and a link to your post (if you have a blog) or a copy of your recipe (if you don't). I will review the recipes, announce the winner and post a recap of your recipes next Tuesday February 16th. In the meantime, if you are interested in hosting BSI next week, let me know in your email.

If you need inspiration check out BSI from past weeks:

Week 66: Travel Eat Love Coconut milk

Week 65: Run Beans Run Tofu

Week 64: Chicago Marathon Val - Mushrooms

Week 63: Biggest Diabetic Loser Cheddar Cheese

Week 62: A Fit and Spicy Life Balsamic Vinegar

Week 61: Peanut Butter Fingers - Nutmeg

Week 60: Jenn Eats Nutritiously Now - Garlic

Week 59: Home Cooked Em Cinnamon

Week 58: The Balanced Broad Flax

Week 57: Cookin Fanatic - Blue Cheese

Week 56: Foodie in the City - Ricotta Cheese

Week 55: Savvy Eats - Maple Syrup

Week 54: Sound Eats - Dried Fruit

Week 53: Mega Nerd Runs - Acorn Squash

Week 52: Healthy Tipping Point - Pancake Mix

Week 51: Live, Laugh Eat - Almond Butter

Week 50: Balance, Joy and Delicias! Cauliflower

Week 49: Healthy San Diego Living - Chickpeas

Week 48: Thought 4 Food - Yogurt

Week 47: London Foodie in New York - Chocolate

Week 46: Johnstone's Vin Blanc - Oats

Week 45: Guilty Kitchen - Figs

Week 44: Ordinary Recipes Made Gourmet - Peanut Butter

Week 43: The Sophisticated Gourmet - Brown Sugar

Week 42: My Kitchen Addiction Lime

Week 41: Nutmeg Nanny Coffee

Week 40: Chayaís Comfy Cook Broccoli

Week 39: Healthy Delicious Plums

Week 38: Zoe - Feta

Week 37: ChezWhat- Potatoes

Week 36: Cinnamon, Spice & Everything Nice Blueberries

Week 35: Girlichef -Greens

Week 34: The Ungourmet Watermelon

Week 33: Bread + Butter Bell Pepper

Week 32: Burp and Slurp -Corn

Week 31: Say Yes to Salad Kabocha

Week 31 1/2: Simply Fabulous Now Cherries

Week 30: Thinspired Bananas

Week 29: To Be The Whole Package Almonds

Week 28: Kristas Kravings Lemon

Week 27: From French Fries To Flax Seeds Coconut

Week 26: Plentiful Plants Avocado

Week 25: Training Fuel Eggs

Week 24: Dinner at Christinaís Cabbage

Week 23: Hey What's for Dinner, Mom? Strawberries

Week 22: One Bite at a Time Basil

Week 21: Just Sweet Enough Black Beans

Week 20: What I Ate Yesterday Kale

Week 19: What's for Dinner Orange

Week 18: BranAppetit! Spinach

Week 17: Tales of Expansion Dates

Week 16: Biggest Diabetic Loser Zucchini

Week 15: Sweet & Natural Peppermint

Week 14: bella eats [and runs] Ginger

Week 13: Coffee Talk Walnuts

Week 12: For the Love of Oats Pumpkin

Week 11: Trying to Heal Sweet Potatoes

Week 10: The Inner Workings of a College Graduate Eggplant

Week 9: Itzy's Kitchen Pears

Week 8: The Fitnessista Cranberries

Week 7: Tri to Cook Lentils

Week 6: Rhodey Girl Tests Polenta

Week 5: Eating Bender Butternut Squash

Week 4: Care to Eat Apples

Week 3: On a Lobster Placemat Mushrooms

Week 2: Hangry Pants Tomatoes

Week 1: sportsnutritionliving Quinoa

I can't wait to read your recipes - good luck!!!

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The Red Prince comes to Toronto!

The Red Prince has arrived in Toronto! Nope, not royalty perse, but a new variety of apple, which I got the opportunity to try last week!


According to the Red Prince website, the Red Prince apple was discovered in 1994 in an orchard located on the German/Holland border in a small town called Weert. The discovery happened by the owners when one of their apple trees had produced the most beautiful red apples among a sea of green apples. At the time, they believed it was a gift from Mother Nature and later discovered that it had been developed through the natural crossing of two varieties: the Jonathan and the Golden Delicious.



In 2001, Irma and Marius Botden, co-owners of Global Fruit, planted their first Red Prince trees in Ontario. Nine years later, as exclusive growers in Canada, they are proud to introduce the Red Prince apple to Ontarians.


The Red Prince is a premium apple, locally grown in Thornbury, Ontario, available during the winter months. Recognized for its antioxidant-rich red skin, the Red Prince has inherited the sweetness and juiciness of the Golden Delicious and the crispness and tanginess of the Jonathan. The Red Prince is ideal for fresh eating, in salads or in baking and pairs particularly well with sharp cheddars and blue cheeses.

I have to admit I am fussy about my apples - they can't be too tart or sweet and I don't like the skin to be too thick so I was interested to try these based on the above description. They are perfect - kind of like a cross between a Honey Crisp and a Granny Smith and I wish I was well enough to be eating cheese so I could pair this with some roquefort... My friend Alicia tried one and suggested it was "a very princely apple - well deserving of the ostentatious little pillow. So delicious, sweet, juicy and perfectly crispy. I loved it!"


(so did Cleo!)

The apple was officially launched in Toronto on Friday with a "Civility Event" featuring giveaways, free hand massages and etiquette tips provided by the Etiquette Ladies, and the launch of the Red Prince Civility Challenge, basically a 30 day challenge promoting simple courtesies (e.g. today's challenge is "Say please and thank you").

In my Media Pack, I also received some samples of Red Prince Royal Energy Bars.



These energy bars with all-natural ingredients are packed with fibre, protein and essential fatty acids. Great for breakfast or a snack anytime of the day, this was actually the first thing apart from soup and toast that I ate last week when I was recovering from my stomach flu and my body really appreciated the all-natural goodness. With only 8 ingredients and a super easy (and modifiable) recipe, you can bet I will be making these soon!

If you are in Toronto, keep an eye out for the apples in your local Sobey's.

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World Nutella Day 2010

Yes folks, it's World Nutella Day 2010! Who knew?


My contribution? A marbled baked Nutella cheesecake with a molten Nutella sauce.


I took my inspiration from this cheesecake I posted around American Thanksgiving, figuring I could substitute Nutella for the pumpkin (ahem, a whole CUP of it!) and make the crust with chocolate cookies and hazelnuts instead of gingersnaps and pecans.

The crust was awesome:






And the cheesecake about to go into the oven looked good, though a little runny... (ok, full disclosure here, I used light cream cheese because it is SUCH a decadent dessert... perhaps that had something to do with the texture of the filling?)


But augh - it cracked again :-( What's with that anyway?


Never mind, we can always cover those cracks with a molten Nutella sauce, made with 1/2 cup Nutella and 1/3 cup 18% pouring cream (no, I didn't say it was a low calorie dish, did I?). And voila:


Disclaimer - I have not actually tasted this - recovering from a bout of stomach flu (and yes, I plated this for no-one last night just so I could take a photo, like a big loser!!) but will be doing so this evening, hopefully. In any case, our dinner guests will surely enjoy this one.

As for me, well me and Nutella go back a long way (yes Dad, I know that's incorrect grammar - you know we just do that to annoy you!!). I remember the first time I tasted it, in 1978 when we were living in Sydney. "Imported" - soooo exotic. We have had a love/hate relationship ever since then. As in, I love the stuff but hate that I can't have it in the house without eating a whole jar. I must get it from my mum who was known to polish off jars of the stuff without anyone noticing as she would scoop from the inside, leaving the outer layer on the glass so ostensibly, the jar was full. Except that it wasn't ;-)


Happy World Nutella Day everyone!

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Nutella

Old and new favourites

I am a little loathe to start writing any long blog posts right now as the switch to WordPress is imminent and I am paranoid of losing half-written posts but fear not, as soon as we're up and running on WordPress, there are many more tales of Brittany to come!!

In the meantime, I thought I would leave you with a few images of a dish I created on a whim to enter in Food 52's "best mashed potato recipe" contest this week. Remember the tartiflette I made a few weeks ago? All that creamy, cheesy goodness??? Well I had the idea to create a tartiflette brûlée where the potato would be mashed with the cream, onion and bacon and baked in a small ramekin dish covered in cheese that would melt and crisp up, not unlike a proper crème brûlée... Result?



Looks good, huh? You can find the recipe here and I would definitely check it out if you are a fan of potato gratin dishes. The crunchy cheese top gives way to fluffy, creamy potatoes studded with bacon (or in my case, home-cured pancetta). So. Good. And I prepared it in less than 30 minutes this evening! Couldn't ask for more!


In other recipe news, I submitted my red roast pork with pomegranate glaze recipe to the Foodista Best of Food Blogs Cookbook Competition. Check out the entry here.


You can vote for the recipe by clicking on the badge below and rating it with the stars you see on the post.

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