Rhubarb Cream Cheese Cornmeal Muffins

rhubarb_muffins

It’s getting a bit difficult for me to create yet another rhubarb recipe after having already included several in my blog. Nonetheless, I came up with this cornmeal muffin idea in a delightfully whimsical manner.

I knew I wanted to cook some rhubarb from the garden so I started daydreaming and burrowing my face into the fur of one of my Labradors. If you are a dog owner, you know what I’m talking about! “Oh, you smell like cornmeal behind your ear…” Yes, the light bulb went off! Another strange coincidence was when I opened my food recipe journal and the first thing I saw was this old wrinkled handwritten recipe that read “Blueberry cornbread muffins.” I’m not kidding you here. It must be a 12 year-old-recipe because I used to hand copy recipes from food magazines just after I came to Canada for the sake of improving my English! I don’t remember ever having baked it though. Haha, it’s really funny… it appeared at just the right time to give me a clue as to what recipe I should share next.

rhubarb_muffins3rhubarbcornmeal cream_cheeserhubarb_muffin_mixturemint_tea3rhubarb_muffins2mint_tea2mint_tea peony

Rhubarb Cream Cheese Cornmeal Muffins

Makes 12 small muffins

2 cups rhubarb, cut into ½ inch pieces

6 tablespoons cane sugar

½ package (250g) cream cheese, room temperature and cut into cubes

¼ cup sugar

1¾ cups cake flour (I used this instead of all-purpose because it ran out)

¾ cup cornmeal (fine textured)

2/3 cup cane sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/3 cups 2% milk

1 large whole egg plus 2 egg whites

2 tablespoons canola oil

Place rhubarb and the sugar in a small saucepan over medium high heat, cook to dissolve sugar and continue until just before the rhubarb loses its shape. Strain the excess juice for another use (see below). Let cool.

In a bowl, beat the cream cheese and sugar until smooth.

Preheat the oven to 375F.

Combine the flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, baking powder and baking soda well in a bowl. In a separate mixing bowl, combine all remaining ingredients except cream cheese and whisk until smooth.  Then, pour the wet ingredients into the flour mixture. Mix just until all the ingredients are moist. Add the rhubarb and lightly mix with a spatula.

Pour the batter into a muffin cup-lined tin and spoon a big dollop of the cream cheese into each muffin cup. Bake until golden brown, for about 20 minutes. A cake tester inserted into the centre should come out clean. Let cool.

Serve warm or at room temperature. Store any leftovers in an airtight container and refrigerate.

 

Mint Tea

A bunch of mint leaves

Hot water

Wash the mint and cut into 1 inch pieces. Place the mint in a teapot (a jar in my case), pour hot water over top and steep for a few minutes. Strain into individual cups.

 

Rhubarb Refresher

Ice cubes

Extracted rhubarb juice (from above recipe)

Dash of lemon juice

Carbonated water or club soda and/or rum!

A sprig of mint leaves

Freestyle to accommodate whatever one’s heart desires.

rhubarb_refresher

Good Pumpkin Bread & Things from Our Pantry

Good_pumpkin_bread

It’s been a month since we came back from the exciting/ emotional trip to Japan, and things have been going back to normal. That means, for us, scavenging food from our garden, cold storage and kitchen pantry (and the occasional visit to a local grocery store). Although we enjoy challenging eating in this way, I felt that it was really a luxury not to plan a meal, not to gather ingredients from our household, and not to cook: the entire process and ritual. While we were traveling, we ate street food, decadent pastries, traditional meals that my family prepared plus enjoyed some delicious dishes at izakayas and a couple of restaurants.

One of my favourite snacks during the trip was a skewer of grilled chicken liver yakitori finished with teriyaki sauce, enjoyed while browsing the city streets. I also munched on a variety of salads with seafood, meat or grains that I could pick up at the food section at decent department stores. These experiences opened my eyes to creating new recipes with unusual ingredient combinations. As for those dishes that I have longed for but could not manage to eat during this trip, I will try to replicate them and introduce them to you in the near future. For now, here are some examples of what we’ve been eating recently.

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Latte

Good Pumpkin Bread

Originally this recipe was given to me by a very beautiful person while I was studying at horticulture school. She loved nature and good, healthy food as much as I do. Upon tasting her bread, I demanded a copy of the recipe and she kindly shared it with me. I modified it slightly, and the bread got even better! This is why I now grow certain varieties of winter squashes. The key to this particular bread is to use creamy, nutty, sweet and flavourful squashes like Red Kuri or Marina Di Chioggia, but not those sugar pumpkins that you carve for Halloween.

Makes 2 of 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pans

3 cups sugar

1 cup grape seed oil

4 eggs

2 ½ cups all purpose flour

1 cup spelt flour

1 ¼ teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons sea salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg

2 cups pureed pumpkin from 1 large pumpkin (or winter squash)

½ cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping

3 tablespoons rolled oats

Handful of pecans

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 tablespoon water

Whipping cream for serving

Preheat the oven to 350C. Cut pumpkin in half. Remove seeds. Place them cut side up on a baking sheet and roast until tender, for about 30 minutes. Remove meat from the skin and puree in a food processor or blender (our dogs love the roasted skins!). If the puree feels too dense, add 1 or 2 tablespoons water to loosen it. Let cool to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 350C.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices together in a bowl. Mix the sugar, oil, and eggs in another large bowl.

Then, add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients while slowly adding in the water to create batter. Finally, add in the pumpkin and vanilla, and stir to combine completely.

Pour the batter into greased pans. Top with the rolled oats and pecans. Bake in the centre rack of the oven until an inserted skewer comes out clean, for about 1 hour. If the pecans become too dark, cover with a piece of tin foil to prevent them from burning.

Cool completely on a rack. In the meantime, make icing. Combine the brown sugar and water in a small saucepan and stir until bubbly. Pour onto the top of the bread.

If you have extras, they freeze beautifully. Thaw at room temperature when ready to eat.

Serve with a dollop of whipping cream.

 

Rhubarb Jam

If you read last year’s post “Rhubarb bars,” you may remember that I introduced the jam recipe there. Now is the time to enjoy the hard work of gardening and preserving from the growing season. I sit at the breakfast table, pour some tea, enjoy the view of my winter garden, savour the richly smeared condiment on toasts and, of course, contemplate another year of garden planning.

Rhubarb_jam_toasts

 

Beet Juice

We go through a lot of root vegetables, such as beets, carrots, and potatoes from our cold storage. In particular, we like to turn the beets and carrots, among other ingredients, into fresh juice. It looks like we have enough to make it to this year’s harvest. Recipe can be found here.

Beet_juice

 

Sprouts

This is our source of raw food during winter months. There are always a couple of bottles sprouting on our windowsill. They provide a great texture and flavour for sandwiches, noodle soups, salads and fresh juices.

sprouts

 

Gluten Free Bread “The Life-Changing Loaf of Bread” by My New Roots

Learning about this intriguingly named bread recipe actually made me run to a local organic store to pick up a bag of psyllium seed husks! The rest of ingredients are always at the read in my pantry. And the result? Yes, the bread changed my life! I feel lighter, healthier and more energetic after eating it. Sarah, the recipe creator, also has so many other amazingly sounding recipes that you may want to try, so I posted a link to her site above.  While this bread has about as many calories as my beloved French baguettes, it’s also packed with more protein and nutrients, making it a much healthier choice all around.. My favourite way of eating Sarah’s bread is to smear goat cheese on a toasted slice and drizzle maple syrup over top. It is unstoppably good! Oh, but I can’t live without that crust of French baguette once in a while.

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Plum Schnapps

After baking many plum upside-down cakes last August, I bottled the rest of the Japanese “Beauty” plums with vodka from our front yard. Six months later, I filtered and tasted the batch. It still seems young, so I’ll let it mature a little longer. Nonetheless, the schnapps burst with flavour like summer in my mouth on a winter evening.

plum_schnapps

 

Peperoncino Pasta

I’m not much of a pasta person, unless we’re talking about the delectable dishes that my Italian chef sister makes with tons of seafood. Another exception to the rule is this spicy peperoncino pasta! I remember the days when I looked forward to this pasta dish, served at a family owned café in the Yokohama vicinity, especially after long autumn motorcycle rides. Life is funny–I never ever imagined that I would no longer be riding a motorcycle and instead spend my time growing my own chili peppers in the Vancouver countryside. The heat of chili peppers and garlicky goodness melt together and wrap each individual pasta noodle in a fabulously oily sauce. This is a perfect pasta dish to help warm you up (and may eventually make you steam emerge from your head!). Oh, try not to rub your face while dealing with these peppers like I once absentmindedly did. It hurts for a long time! I miss motorcycling dearly and cherish even the memory of stuffing thick newspapers inside my leather jacket to keep myself warm while commuting on the highway in winter!

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peperoncino_pasta

Peperoncino Pasta

Serves 2

200g spaghettini pasta noodles

3 tablespoons olive oil

4 garlic cloves, sliced

4 red chili peppers, seeds removed and sliced

Salt and pepper

Bring a pot of water to a boil and add PLENTY of salt. Cook pasta to just before al dente. Reserve some cooking liquid.

In the meantime, sauté the garlic and peppers with oil in a large skillet on low heat. Be patient and take time to infuse the oil, about 12 minutes. When the garlic turns golden and soft, add ¼ to ⅓ cup pasta water to create pasta sauce. Stir the pasta noodles into the sauce, making sure to coat all over. Finish cooking the pasta noodles in the sauce for a couple of minutes. Serve hot and adjust the taste with salt and pepper.

 

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Pumpkin Cheesecake with Caramel Sauce

pumpkin cheesecake with caramel sauce

Here in Vancouver, when the sun finally peeks through heavy clouds, I run outside, stand up straight with my arms outstretched, eyes closed, feeling the warmth of the sun.  This experience is rare, and lasts only for a few minutes during winter, however, I’m always in awe of how this simple act can help recharge me. “Just Feel the Warmth of the Sun Act.” In my kitchen, I tend to recreate the bright sunshine when actual sunlight isn’t an option.

crab apple tree in the garden

Pumpkin cheesecake

When it comes to baking, my twin sister is the go-to person. She bakes everything, from heavy, dense Scandinavian style bread with her own homemade yeast to traditional Japanese buns filled with red bean paste, to biscotti, bagels, gluten-free kids’ birthday cakes and so much more. Since she gladly shared this cheesecake recipe with me a long time ago, it has remained on my mind every time I roast Marina Di Chioggia winter squashes. As it turns out, the cake was absolutely loved by everyone at dinner parties even after a full season of feasts.

caramel sauce

Chasmanthium latifolium

Pumpkin cheesecake

Pumpkin cheesecake with caramel sauce

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Caramel Sauce

Makes 9 inch springform pan

Crust

30g whole wheat digestive cookies

40g chocolate cookies

30g butter, melted

Filling

250g cream cheese, room temperature

50ml whipping cream

100g sugar

2 eggs

10g cornstarch

200g pumpkin puree

30g sugar

1 egg yolk

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon

Caramel sauce

½ cup whipping cream

30g butter, cut into small pieces

½ cup brown sugar

Make crust by smashing cookies in a plastic bag with a rolling pin until fine texture is achieved. Combine well with butter, press into the bottom of the pan and keep refrigerated.

Preheat the oven to 390F. Set a kettle of water on the stove. You are going to use this later for steaming the cake in the oven. Not quite tea time yet!

In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth, and add the whipping cream, sugar, eggs and starch. Combine well.

In another bowl, thoroughly mix the pumpkin, sugar, egg yolk and cinnamon. Then, pour in ½ of cream cheese mixture and stir well.

Pour the rest of the cream cheese mixture into the prepared crust. Next, gently add the pumpkin mixture to the crust, and then swirl the top to create the marble effect.

Wrap the bottom of the springform pan with a piece of tin foil. Next, place the pan in a rimmed baking sheet on the centre rack in the oven. Pour the boiling water up to the rim of the baking sheet.

Lower the oven to 320F and bake for 1 hour. If the top becomes too dark after 40 minutes, cover the top with a piece of tin foil. Leave the cake in the oven to cool. When the cake is completely cooled, refrigerate at least 6 hours, but preferably overnight.

Make the caramel sauce ahead of time before serving. Place the cream, butter and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and stir until sugar is dissolved. Bring to a boil and keep stirring until thickened, for about 8 minutes.

When serving the cake, run a knife around the edge inside the springform, then release and lift the pan gently. Serve with caramel sauce.

Caramel sauce recipe adapted from Donna Hay Magazine.