Vegan Hamburger buns!

When it comes to mothers-in-law, I hit the jackpot. Not only is mine a wonderful woman who accepted me from the get go (which was a good thing since I married my husband before meeting his family!) but she has also rolled with the punches when it comes to feeding me. She jumped in both feet first, actively looking for replacements for things like breads and milks, and picking up random things she just thought I might like. She's got me pegged, too. She's already sent me not one but two cookbooks, both of which look amazing and made me happy on multiple levels. I'll do a proper review of them once I've had a chance to try out more recipes (I've only tried the one from one book and haven't touched the other at all yet) but so far, so good.

Both books are written by Laurie Sadowski, The Allergy-Free Cook; her books are both written for vegans, though she doesn't push it which is nice. One of the biggest issues, for me at least, when it comes to gluten free has got to be the baking, particularly in regards to yeast breads. They just do NOT work the same! Not even close! I'll be honest here: I know part of my problem is that I simply haven't done enough experimentation with different recipes, but my ego can only handle chucking so many batches of botched baking (pardon the alliteration) in the garbage. Hello, cinnamon buns. Still, I've had a number of successes in the last few weeks, so I decided to put my ego on the line and figured that as the weather has been so nice the last little while that it was time for hamburgers. Bring on the buns!

 

 

I actually had all the flours/starches she called for in the recipe (sorghum, arrowroot, quinoa, tapioca and almond) which was nice, as most of her recipes call for at least 3 or 4 different flours and she varies them quite a bit (for future recipes, I've already picked up teff, though I will still need to get millet, amaranth and coconut flours). What I didn't have were the English muffin rings she suggested, but she gave an alternative. Since GF yeast breads won't hold up to a second rise, you generally do whatever you are going to do and then let your bread rise in the container or shape desired. Since this was for buns, you want them to rise round and contained, hence using rings. What she suggested was to make rings out of tinfoil; worked surprisingly well, too! Looks ridiculous, sorta, but works on the same principle as a soufflé ring.



 

 

So once the dough had been made up (another thing I have had to get used to is how sticky bread doughs are) and dropped into the rounds, off they go to rise. She has very obviously done this as her rise times are way longer than I'm used to seeing, because it takes GF breads way longer to rise. I will usually warm my oven for about 5 minutes at 100F, turn the oven off and then allow the bread to rise in there. That certainly counts as draft free! After about an hour, you then bake them for 15-20 minutes at 350F and then let them cool. She suggests you allow them to cool for about 20 minutes before cutting, and she is absolutely right! The buns are so spongy and soft when they come out of the oven that cutting them still warm would ruin them.

 

 

 

Since we actually had these with hamburgers, I appreciate the irony of them being vegan buns. That did not keep me from enjoying them in any way, however. We ended up with monster burgers! I kept coming up with other toppings that just had to go on, so I think that, after condiments, we had Daiya cheese, grilled onions, pickles, spinach, tomatoes and avocadoes in there. Could probably have left the burger out, and we might not have even noticed! A five napkin burger, for sure, and I am still so full I am standing to write this. I'd say that's a success, wouldn't you?

 





Co-Op La Maison Verte (shop review)

Now that spring seems to be making a concerted effort to actually show up, I am eternally grateful that there are so many shops close to my home for me to choose from. I don't like going out in the rain! And I say that having grown up on the West (read: Wet) Coast. I love that I can get just about anything that I need within what is, in essence, skipping distance. I also really appreciate that most of my favourite stores are independants. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a hate on for chains or franchises. Necessarily. I just have a great deal of respect for those who choose to put their faith where their hearts are and go for broke; sometimes, literally. I think that might be one of the reasons why I like the idea of co-ops so much. Like minded people or groups of people working to support each other (even if only in principle). As far back as the 1830's, co-operative movements were already taking root in Canada, with insurance companies for farmers and creameries and cheese factories for dairy farmers being well established by the turn of the 20th century. The early 1900's saw the creation of  prairie grain co-operatives, other farm groups such as fruit growers and livestock farmers as well as stores and financial institutions (like Caisse Pops and Credit Unions) in cities, towns and communities all across Canada. For anyone who is interested in a more detailed history, you can check out Canada's official 2012 International Year of Co-Operatives web site here.

It was my husband who introduced me to La Maison Verte, located at 5785 Sherbrooke West. We popped in before Easter (on a nice sunny day) and he had to drag me out to hunt down Peeps, or I could have stayed long enough for it to have gotten expensive. The membership fees are only $10 a year, and while members don't get a deal on everything, regular purchases will get you your fees back quite quickly. They carry a lot of a lot, to be honest. You can pick up food stuffs (both local and/or organic as well as allergen friendly), cleaning producs, personal products, plants (I am very excited that they are going to be getting in their seedlings soon!) and it is even a drop point for a CSA (community sponsored agriculture) farmers basket. Or you could go in for some reference materials (they have books), some new music from a local or independant artist, to see who has posted up new fliers or business cards, or even just for a cup of coffee and a snack!

Needless to say, we are now members and did I mention that I can't wait for the seedlings?? Nice place, friendly staffers and I highly recommend checking them out!

Dinner party nerves - check!

We are going over to our friends house tonight to cook them dinner. Usually, we would just have them come here, but unfortunately, one of them is deathly allergic to cats, but the problem comes from the fact that she plays with them anyways! So, we have our meal planned out (5 courses, no less) and I've only got 3 more shops to hit up, 4 more dishes to prep, one cake to figure out transport for, and then the simple task of getting ready. No sweat. *Cue panic!*

Unfinished cake that is a lot taller than anticipated!

Bakery Options from Premiere Moisson?

I generally avoid most commercial bakeries, mostly because I can't get anything there and people look at me funny when I whimper while looking at the cookies. Yet a couple of weeks ago, a friend of mine let me know that Premiere Moisson seemed to be offering a line of products that are gluten free. Interesting.... Now, there is no way that this would be an acceptable alternative for serious sensitivities let alone Celiac sufferers, as you would not be able to avoid cross contamination on any level. Being that it is also coming from a commercial bakery of that large a scale, I also wrote them off figuring that everything would be made with dairy. On Thursday I went to the Atwater market and, remembering what my friend had told me, popped into the Premiere Moisson just to see what there was to be seen.

They did in fact have several gluten free products on offer; two types of bread and two 'pastry' type sweets. The lady that I spoke with was incredibly helpful, and actually went off and printed the ingredients lists of what they had so we could check the dairy content. I was right, for the most part. The two sweets, an apple-chocolate and pistachio cake and an almond and praline cream financier, had butter listed as either the second or third ingedient, and once she told me that the coconut topped bread had white chocolate in it, we moved right along. The last offering they had, though, a maple walnut bread, that one I could actually eat. I figured why not, and after the nice lady changed her gloves, I bought a loaf.

If you are expecting this to be like a typical bread, you will be disappointed. In taste and texture it was closer to a banana loaf or other quick bread. The Premiere Moisson web site lists their gluten free breads as being moist and as far as the maple walnut bread goes they are not kidding! I would definitely recommend that you toast this. The other thing that I found particular about this bread is that it is barely sweet and only has a hint of maple while the only place you'll find any walnuts is on the top. Which means that on first glance, the bread actually looks a little over cooked. It isn't, but it is a little off putting.

It could be interesting to see what other options they come up with (this particular bread is one of their seasonal selections) as well as if any future options might also be dairy free though I'm not holding my breath. I'm also not going to pin my hopes on Premiere Moisson's turning into a Go-To for gluten free breads, though to their credit, they are aware that they can't guarantee products free from contaminants or traces of allergens. Not a bad experiment, but I don't think I'll rush back to get any more. We'll just have to wait and see. And in the mean time, I get to keep looking for treats and breads and cafes. I love my life!

The perfect caramel? Not yet, but closer

Every year, my boss has a Super Bowl party, and every year, he'll bring the left over treats into the shop since they always get enough to feed a small army. One of the left overs this year was a bacon caramel brownie that was devoured in about 10 minutes. I guess the reason there were any left overs in the first place was because they'd gotten 2 - I think. At any rate, everyone raved about them so much that I was galvanized to make another attempt.

I did some snooping around, looking up caramel recipes and reading instructions. After finally settling on a recipe, I made my decisions about what I was going to use in place of the butter and cream, and then I started.

Having had such good success with the MimicCream, I chose that as the cream replacement, and my go-to for butter is the soy free version of Earth Balance. Basically, all of your ingredients (with the exception of the vanilla) go into your pot, you bring it to a boil, and then after 30-45 minutes at a low boil, it should reach about 248 degrees Farenheit which is also the hard ball stage. At this point you take it off the heat, stir in your vanilla and pour it into your lined/oiled tin to cool and harden. Simple, right? Well, mostly...

See, it never Got to 248 degrees Farenheit. After about an hour of low boil it changed colour as the recipe said it would, and it had achieved a hard ball when dropped into cold water, but no mater what I did, my candy thermometer indicated that it just wasn't hotter than 240. I think at one point, it even got colder! However, as I'd gotten a hard ball, I took it off the heat, added my vanilla and poured it into my parchement paper lined pan to cool. That part went well.

Once it was cold enough to cut into squares, I got a good taste of it. Sweet, rich, sticky and nutty. Nutty? Right; the MimicCream is almond and cashew nut based, and after cooking it long enough to amalgamate it and other things into caramel, the nut flavours really came through. More so than I actually enjoy.

We covered some pieces with chocolate and decided that these will make great turtles (though the next time I'll cook it less so that the caramel is actually a little runnier) and used some more to attempt the caramel brownies. Those were good! Getting a nut flavour in a brownie is something that you can almost expect, so that was ok. Still, I wasn't completely happy as I need to adjust the cooking time to take the caramel in the brownie batter into account, and I can't get over the flavour of the caramel to truly enjoy it. Nevertheless, I have a lot of volunteers for the next batch, and hope to get this right soon!

Back to the kitchen I go. Isn't life rough?! = )

Checking in on the 100 Mile Dinner

Spring in Quebec by George Campbell Tinning

I am sitting in my dinning room, listening to the 10th anniversary DVD of Les Miserables as performed at Wembley stadium. While drinking a beer. A little incongruous, perhaps, but I never promised anyone that I would be consistent. To be honest, my entire day has been somewhat all over the place. I think I got about 5 hours of sleep last night; three hours between 12 and 3 and then another two between 8 and 10 this morning. Eugh. Needless to say, I rose, but I sure didn't shine.

While ticking things off my to-do list, I was able to get more done than I would have thought by actually confining my errands to a smaller geographical area. It is truly amazing how efficient lazy people can be! I was able to order a special cut of meat from my local butcher for this weekend; looking up addresses on Google maps allowed me to find the closest cafe that sells a particular brand of treats that I have been looking for; and then once I actually made it to the market, I found not one but two home grown companies offering some pretty cool *and very tasty* products (stay tuned!)! I think that, with the advent of the internet and globaliztion, sometimes we atually make things a little more complicated for ourselves by going far afield.

Don't get me wrong, here. Most of the flours that I rely on, as well as more than half of the food stuffs I buy that accomodate my dietary requirements, are anything but local! Could I give them up? Sure, I could, but I have actively chosen not to because I believe in quality of life. Do I try to offset that by making the most responsible choices I can? Yes, but even there sometimes I have to choose for the lesser 'evil'. Am I going to feel guilty about it? Nope, not really, because I do the best I can. I think that is why the 100 Mile Dinner appeals to me so much.

Over the last couple of months, I have been absolutely amazed at the variety of local and provincal fare that we have available to us here! We have food stuffs, both farmed and wildcrafted, restaurants based on local foods, bakeries, alcohols (some of them world class) and our very own food celebrities, be they authors, chefs or TV personalities. Not bad for a place where, in 1996, 47% of the population of the Province lived in the greater Montreal region.

I will admit that the part I am having the hardest time with in regards to our locavore dinners is the seasonality of it all. I am having to not only relearn which foods are only supposed to be just showing up now but also what is seasonal for Quebec. I grumble every time my friends in Victoria post photos of themselves hanging out down at the harbour or picnicking as we have only just gotten rid of the snow (but don't look at the forecast for tomorrow as we're supposed to get more of the white stuff). Conversely, my brother who is in Saskatchewan is still up to his hips in winter, and he's 6'2". It's an interesting line to walk between local and seasonal; my husband and I have had more than one conversation about local seasonal versus local hothouse. We've decided to flat out table the discussion about local versus indigenous until later on this summer!

I think I know what I want to prepare for our next 100 Mile Dinner, and I'm steering clear of any hard and fast rules about seasonality. Yet. We'll just have to wait and see what we can find, but I'm looking forward to it, whatever it turns out to be.


Saki and Magazines

I have decided that tonight is going to be all about saki and magazines. My day was a bit of a rollercoaster, and allow me to simply state that I don't like rollercoasters. That being the case, I am going to read a couple of my newest magazines while enjoying what's left of my saki. I should probably also confess to having a slight addiction to magazines, at least if they are of the cooking (or winter holiday) variety, but I seem to have settled on Saveur and Fine Cooking, which also does a Best Of series. A little snooty on first glance, maybe, but I was pleasantly surprised when, after trying several of their recipes and tips, to find them easy to use, accurate and informative as to why some things are done the way they are. I seem to be out of saki, though, so I am going to have to do something about that.