Tomato Tart Tatin to Honour Game Changer Dorothy Hamilton

For months now a growing group of bloggers have been cooking from Gourmet Live's list of 50 Women Game Changers. We have checked out books from the library, borrowed cookbooks from friends, surfed the Internet and browsed our own cookbook collections seeking that one recipe that will highlight that weeks outstanding woman. Finally after many searches I have hit a roadblock and come across a woman on the list for whom I could find no recipes. Perhaps the rest of the group had better luck. So to honour #17 on the list of Game Changers I decided to make a French-inspired dish which is a twist on a classic Apple Tatin using heirloom tomatoes, caramelized onions and goat cheese. This dish is very simple to make, yet is burnished and golden and reeking of the last glimpses of summer.

Black Bean Soup with Tender Potato Biscuits

Black Bean Soup with Tender Potato Biscuits

Soup is the epitome of comfort, that wonderful soul warming food filled with wholesome ingredients and fantastic flavours. On a cool day like today it seems the perfect way to have a pot of  the gastronomic version of a warm blanket purcolating on the stovetop filling the room with its intoxicating fragrance that says "you are home". 

As the cook, homemade soup allows me complete mastery over what goes into each recipe, and the methods and techniques used to create delicious and nutritious dishes. Todays soup come partly from the necessity of cleaning out the fridge and partly from wanting to enjoy a steamy bowl of heady goodness. No one will know that your inspiration came from leftover mashed yams, potatoes, and a myriad of leftover vegetables.

Winemaker's Coronation Grape Cake for La Cuisine d'Helene

Winemaker's Grape Cake

As seen on Honest Cooking....Recently my good friend Helene asked me to do a guest post over at her blog La Cusine de'Helene. It is always a challenge to make a decision about what to make for another persons blog. You want your recipe to reflect not only your own personality but that of the host blog as well. With the shorter days and impending cooler weather would I make some of my favourite comfort foods? I decided to make a kind of Eastern Canada meets Western Canada cake where the Coronation grape is the star! The Coronation Grape grows in both British Columbia and Ontario where both Helene and I have lived at some point in our lives, so, it seemed the perfect way to unite our blogs and our passion for food. Move over to Helene's blog to read the full post....here.

Recipe can also be found here

You are reading this post on More Than Burnt Toast at http://morethanburnttoast.blogspot.com. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to the author and or owner of More Than Burnt Toast. All rights reserved by Valerie Harrison.

Maida Heatter's Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies

For many years my positive results for baking cakes came from a box. My first attempt at making a cake from scratch was a flop and, right then and there, I swore off baking. Gradually over time I have eased my way slowly attempting more complex desserts for special occasions and reintroducing baking into my life. I have had some great successes. The key to success is patience and a little knowledge all of which you will find in Maida Heatters's books. Baking is a precise science and cannot be approached like a bull in a china shop. Maida Heatter is the "First Lady of Desserts" and number 16 on the list of Women Game Changers.

One of my favourite well-travelled bloggers Mary of One Perfect Bite invited bloggers to travel along on a culinary journey throughout the year. Gourmet Live brought out a list of the 50 most influential women in food...Fifty women game changers. Some are chefs, some are food writers, and some are women who are passionate about the creative process. You could certainly add or detract women from this list, but no matter what these women have all influenced us in one way or another. Being a woman and passionate about food myself I wanted to explore and join Mary on this journey and not only learn from the masters but recreate some of their dishes to better understand what has shaped and molded them into who they are today. In doing so I have learned more about myself, and have learned more than a few new recipes and techniques.

Just a Recipe (Since It Is Too Nice to Be Inside) Wednesdays

Fried Green Tomatoes with Sweet Corn Salsa

Chicken Saltimbocca with Garlic and Olive Oil Mash and Roasted Vine Tomatoes

Chicken Saltimbocca with Garlic and Olive Oil Mash

 and Roasted Vine Tomatoes

The days are shorter, the nights cooler, there is a nip in the air and the trees are showing their first signs of burnished gold. Although barbecue weather is still here my mind has already flipped over to comfort food, crackling fires and cozy blankets.  I am one Canadian that hopes the warm spell continues for a while and that an Indian Summer will carry on into November.

 With the shorter days comes the longing for comfort foods. When sick, or tired, or far from home, everyone seems to yearn for the gastronomic equivalent of a warm sweater, a kiss on the forehead, or a favourite blanket. Comfort foods nourish the soul as well as our bodies and tend to be familiar foods that remind us of simpler times or of a contented childhood. The best medicine when the weather turns is undeniably some delicious comfort food. Just like the pending season your senses can be awakened with anything from a caramelized squash soup to a large bowl of comfortable macaroni and cheese. It is not uncommon for my home to be filled with warm, fragrant and earthy aromas of a slow cooked roast or bubbling crock pot.

Coeur a la Creme with Blackberries and Poppy Seed Framboise Dressing

Coeur a la Creme with Blackberries

and Poppy Seed Framboise Dressing

When I first started learning to cook in my home kitchen, one of the initial things I discovered was that the key to outstanding meals was using good quality ingredients. As time passed I realized that this meant either growing or purchasing the best local ingredients available which with today's trends has become easier and easier with a resurgence of farmers markets, specialty food shops and local producers.

What has taken me years to understand is that recipes are merely guidelines and are open to any interpretation. I used to follow recipes to the letter and they always turned out well, but as the years progressed, and I have become confident in the kitchen, I am more open to experimentation and substitution. A good example would be this Coeur a la Creme that I discovered a lifetime ago from the Silver Palate series of cookbooks. Even as a teenager I collected recipes like hockey cards and had a burgeoning cookbook collection.

Infused Bread Dip made with Camelina Oil from the Prairies

Infused Bread Dip

Throughout the history of agriculture and food consumption, many foods have come and gone. In recent years, we have "rediscovered" certain grains that were once a primary part of our ancestors' diets. The term Ancient Grains has been used to describe those seeds that are "new" in the sense that they are not recognizable to the current generation and yet have been around for centuries and remain untouched and unmodified over time. Camelina is one such seed. They are the same seeds that grew wild centuries before us and were harvested by our foraging ancestors. It is an ancient grain that has retained its natural flavour and nutritional properties. The nutty oil that is extracted from the seed is rich in omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids and has an abundance of Vitamin E. It is a shelf stable and heat tolerant oil which adds to its versatility for use in the kitchen. I was lucky enough to receive some camelina oil to try and here is what I have discovered.

Truly Tender Meatballs and Spaghetti... the Presto Pasta Nights Edition

Truly Tender Meatballs and Spaghetti

We all have those tried and true comfort food recipes that we have been making for years. Recipes like meatloaf and macaroni and cheese that wrap us like a culinary version of a warm blanket. We have found the perfect recipe and do not deviate in any way shape or form because it is already the best that it can be. Well I am here to tell you that although the spaghetti and meatball recipe I have used for ions is pretty darn good, I have found a truly tender meatball recipe that beats mine hands down.

Today being the anniversary of 9/11 I think we are all in need of some good comfort food!!! Hug the person next to you and make them some spaghetti and meatballs. I have turned out some satisfying versions in the past, but none of them have ever really knocked my socks off, until these. What is the secret you ask? Ricotta cheese in the meat mixture adds that something extra. Thanks to the ricotta, the meatballs are extremely light and tender. Even the sauce has a depth and sweetness from the port, as well as a bright fruitiness from the wine added near the end that compliments the meatballs nicely. This recipe was entered in the contest by Last Nights Dinner over at Food 52 and I have made it exactly as written my first time out.

Elizabeth David's Game Changing Piedmont Roasted Peppers

Piedmont Roasted Peppers

Sixty years. Three generations. A life time ago! That's how much time has passed since the publication of Elizabeth David's first cookbook  A Book of Mediterranean Food. Her cookbook launched her into the limelight she disliked as a kind of gastronomic deity. "Chefs cling to her books and recipes as holy writ, collect old volumes and inhale her biographies like the scent of fresh bread." Elizabeth David introduced post WW11 Britain to a bright new world of Mediterranean food using ingredients that were scarce or nonexistent for the times, but have now become an essential part of our lives.  I was intrigued when I discovered her on the list of 50 Women GameChangers from Gourmet Live.

Cooking Light Breakfast for Dinner

Blueberry and Maple-Pecan Granola Parfaits

We are so glad you have decided to join us once again for our Cooking Light Virtual Supper Club. This is a monthly event where 5 ladies and one gent in two neighbouring countries, Canada and the United States, get together to create a delicious meal with a theme in mind. We are now in our second year and continue to share a love for Cooking Light magazine which has an emphasis on healthy eating and living. This is a team effort where we combine what Cooking Light readers like best...good food with great company!!! Every month millions of readers turn to Cooking Light for recipes, advice on nutrition and fitness. This months theme Breakfast for Dinner is hosted by Jamie of Mom's Cooking Club. Do you have a delicious light Breakfast for Dinner recipe? Join in using the Linky below or link to this post.

Fried Green Tomato BLT with Sweet Basil Mayonnaise

Fried Green Tomato BLT with Sweet Basil Mayonnaise

As seen on Honest Cooking...With such a late Spring the seasons seem off kilter. In a recent drive south to pick blackberries I stopped at one of the local fruit stands and cherries were still available in ample supply. Now don't get me wrong I would never turn down a few cherries, but the season for cherries usually ends by mid July, and yet peaches, nectarines and even berries are overflowing from the market stands at the same time. The fruit seasons seem to be running together and we have produce spilling from our baskets.

The days get a bit shorter, a nip bites at the edge of the air, and you know that all of that lush promise is going to stop delivering. But an autumn garden can be a thing of beauty. Sure, your early-summer crops have come and gone, but apples are dripping off the trees, vines are laden with ridiculously large squashes and melons, and tomatoes are everywhere.  As soon as the frost descends, those tomato plants are done for.

A Women Game Changer Creates Spanakopita Burgers

Turkey Spanakopita Burgers and Fries with Yogurt Dip

She's here!!! Born in Glen Falls, New York, Rachael Domenica Ray, grew up with restaurant-owning parents, who helped nurture her interest not only in everything related to food but also the business side. She must have sprung out of the womb with a gleaming smile and a positive attitude. Rachel worked as a manager at many different food companies, including the fresh foods department at Macy’s, and Mister Brown’s Pub at a popular hotel, The Sagamore, in upstate New York. You can find out everything you ever wanted to know about her life here on her website. Whether you love her or are a "hater" all of Rachel’s achievements have amounted to her not only becoming a household name, but acquiring an estimated net worth of millions in the double digits. Even if you have one foot heavily in the "hater" camp we all know who she is! For a small town girl, with no formal culinary training, this is quite an achievement! I wish I were Rachel Ray and had even a small amount of her ambition, or her lifestyle. It seems that if you fall under Oprah's radar, success is never far behind.