fudge - second try

So this week has been fudge week. It's a family tradition that has lapsed for years, but when we were little, every Christmas my grammie would send us fudge. I remember two kinds, maple and chocolate, and they were called "chicken livers" in our house, as they were usually sent in recycled chicken liver containers. Or maybe they were only one year but the name stuck. Guests were usually taken aback when offered "chicken livers" on the sweets tray - until we would explain, usually all of us at once...Sadly, since Gram died, there has been no fudge at Christmas so this year I thought maybe I could revive the tradition. I tried maple fudge first - I read the recipe and thought - how hard can this be? Seriously, I should know better. I mixed up the ingredients and while stirring I read the words, soft ball stage or 236 deg F. Hmmm I thought. I don't think I have a candy thermometer (I do it turns out) so when I got to the part where I didn't have to stir constantly, I ran to my Joy of Cooking and flipped to the fudge page. A glass of cold water and some strands of the syrup later and I thought I had got to soft ball stage. But you can guess what happened.

The fudge didn't set and there was no way it was going to slice. So in the meantime I had found my candy thermometer so I thought - well I heat it up again. I did and it went hard this time - concrete rock hard. So now I have a big bag of maple fudge crumbles to mix into vanilla ice cream and to crumble into fruit crisps for a maple sugar zing. Sigh. Ok - then I found this recipe which lead me here and here and today I tried again. Of course, I tweaked - a bit - I added a bit of chocolate hazelnut spread to the recipe to make up for the tiny bit of condensed milk that was missing from the can (used elsewhere) as I didn't have another can in the cupboard and I didn't have enough eggs to make chocolate sugar cookies (sorry - that was my logic!). Anyway - the whole not really cooking it worked (I mean you do have to heat it over water to melt the chocolate and I sometimes find that a bit tricky). So well, that when I turned it out and was cutting and packaging it, there was an attack of the dinosaur puppets who all wanted a piece of fudge.

Chocolate Fudge with hint of hazelnut (adapted from Giada de Laurentis)

1 can condensed milk (less 1/3 c)
1/3 c chocolate hazelnut spread
1 lb bittersweet chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla
3 tbsp salted butter, sliced into 1/2" pieces

Butter an 8x8 baking pan and line with parchment paper so that the paper overhangs 2 sides.

Into a stainless steel mixing bowl, add the milk, hazelnut spread and vanilla and place over a pot of simmering water. Add the chocolate and butter and stir until melted (~ 5-8 minutes). The mixture will be thick and glossy. Pour into the prepared pan and spread evenly. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours to set. Cut into 1" pieces and store in an airtight container or freeze.

simple things

I hate it when things don't turn out the way you think they should. Especially food things. So tonight I was very disappointed when we tried some portobello mushroom bites which were supposed to be yummy bites of porto and mozzarella and parmesan goodness but ended up being rubbery, odd tasting breaded hunks on our plate. Redeemed somewhat by toast and homemade tapenade, roasted broccoli with pine nuts and parmesan and oven roasted potatoes. Maybe D is right - homemade is better. So I'll give mushroom bites a go and see if I can come up with a recipe that tastes like cheesy mushrooms. Stand by.

In the meantime, here is a picture of lunch on Monday

 - our Victoria Day Holiday which meant we (T, D and I) were all home together. It stopped raining for the day and I was able (with my trusty assistants) to plant my tomatoes and basil. Which gives me hope that soon the weather will be warm and sunny. Fingers crossed!

So lunch was green olive tapenade and oatmeal spelt bread, sliced radishes, microgreens salad with balsamic vinagrette (with garlic, dijon and lemon zest) with warm goat cheese rounds. Simple and delicious.

Here is how I made the tapenade:

2 cups pitted green olives, drained
1 tsp minced garlic
good grinding of pepper
a handful of capers
a couple of sundried tomatoes in oil
~ 1/4 of a lemon's zest

Whiz all this in the food processor until chunky, scraping down the sides. Drizzle olive oil in a stream into the mixture while the processor is running until the mixture comes together. Keep whizzing until the consistency is as you like it. (I usually make my green olive tapenade with goat cheese added but as I was serving warm goat cheese rounds for lunch, I left out the goat cheese - and also I had used it all up making the rounds...). The goat cheese rounds I made following a recipe from Nigella Express. It was a lovely lunch and reminded me of our honeymoon in provence and yorkshire - lovely food and markets. I hope soon I can serve this outside in the garden. (Now I just have to source a bigger table to share the bounty!).

Saturday

This was our Saturday yesterday. Awakened just minutes after the clock rolled over to 7AM by T - " Mummy.....Mummy.......Mummy.......Mummy - when are you waking up?" Then he decided to start wearing my glasses and I figured for the future of being able to see, it was better to get up and keep the boy somewhat amused with things other than my glasses. Of course, as soon as I get up and give him juice and breakfast, he can amuse himself with making lego roads and reconfiguring his trucks into new positions on the roads. So I took myself to the kitchen and roasted rhubarb. Once that was in the oven I made banana chocolate chip muffins (again) except I only had two remaining bananas in the freezer so I added one very ripe pear to the mix and used white sugar instead of brown. I guess I zoned out during the mixing process. D ate two muffins seconds after they came out of the oven and pronounced them delicious. The roasted rhubarb

was also declared delicious as dessert after supper. I debated making lemon yogurt cake but in the end decided against it as I would likely eat it all. (This morning I read this post and think that might be made soon.)

We all got ready and off we went to run errands and then it was time for soccer! Yes, yesterday marked the second week for T's pre-school soccer - mostly a 40 minute running around session for 7 kids T's age with some soccer balls thrown into the mix. T doesn't listen very well to instructions, so during the drills was the only child continuing to run around the room when all the others were stopping their ball with their heads or ears or elbows as instructed. He did better with the airplane kick the ball into the net drill and actually played "what time is it Mr. Wolf" this week although he is still a bit unclear on the rules. I think we'll be doing some soccer drills and playing Mr. Wolf a bit today. Then it was time for the game - 10 minutes of kids running in a pack after the ball, all around the room! Very fun. The kids don't really have a sense of which net they are supposed to be defending or shooting into. T scored a goal in his own team's net this week....Oh well. The kids all end the class with pink cheeks and they have fun!

After soccer we met up with some friends visiting from out of town for lunch. After a long visit we came home in time for me to make almost vegetarian chili and for T and D to play with trucks.

Almost Veggie Chili
1 onion, chopped
sliced mushrooms
1 sliced red pepper
2 carrots sliced into thin slices
1 c. frozen corn
1 tsp garlic
1 tsp dry mustard
1 tbsp brown sugar
2 cans (or cooked equivalent) of beans (red kidney, black, navy)
1 jar tomato sauce (I used a batch of frozen sauce from last year's harvest)
2 tbsps tomato paste
chili powder, cumin, smoked paprika to taste
4-5 bacon rashers, sliced

Saute the bacon and onion together until the onion is soft. Add the pepper, mushrooms, carrots, corn, garlic, chili, paprika, mustard and brown sugar and cook about 5 minutes. Add the tomato paste. Then add the rest of the ingredients and cook together for at least 20 minutes until the flavours are melded. Adjust seasonings to taste. Serve topped with grated cheddar cheese and sour cream.
Note - I sometimes add chopped zuccini to this recipe - yesterday I added 2 c of cubed roasted winter squash (from the freezer) - it added fiber and texture to the chili.