Tag: Hazelnuts

Try a Terrine Tonight! Duck, Pork and Hazelnut Terrine

Duck and Hazelnut Terrine

Print Recipe
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Time in Oven 2 hours
Course Appetizer, Main Course, Snack
Servings 1 Terrine

Ingredients
  

  • 2 duck breasts
  • 1 set duck giblets (organs from 1 whole duck)
  • 450 g ground pork
  • 2 garlic cloves (peeled and shredded)
  • 10 peppercorns
  • 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
  • 3 whole cloves
  • 2 shallots (peeled and minced)
  • 1/2 cup whole hazelnuts
  • 1 cup fresh parsley (chopped)
  • 1 egg
  • 3 Tbsps panko crumbs
  • 3 Tbsps sour cherry preserves
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 2 Tbsps duck fat
  • 2 Tbsps cognac (or other brandy)

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 400ºF/205ºC. Separate skin from the duck breasts. Lay the skins along the bottom of the terrine mold/loaf tin.
  • Add the ducks breasts, giblets and pork to a food processor and pulse until mostly broken down and mixed, leave some of the pieces of meat intact.
  • Using a mortar and pestle, grind the peppercorns, mustard seeds and cloves together.
  • Mix together the meat mixture, spices, garlic, shallots, parsley, egg, panko crumbs, salt, duck fat, and cognac. Fold in the hazelnuts and cherry preserves. Spoon this mixture over the skins in the terrine mold, press it down and smooth out. Cover with foil, place in a water bath in the oven and bake for 1 hour.
  • Turn off oven, but leave terrine in the oven for 2 hours without opening the door. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Slice the terrine and serve with crusty bread. Remaining terrine can be re-covered and stored in the fridge.
Keyword Duck, Duck Breast, Duck Giblets, Hazelnut, Pork

And now for the details…

I am sure I am not the only one, but I have been dreaming and reminiscing of travelling a LOT lately. One of the ways I have been trying to feed my travel bug is through food. I have been doing this a number of ways, like finding new and imported foods (I tried Spanish Lomo for the first time that I got from our local Italian grocer, soooo yummy), getting takeaway from different restaurants (for those in Calgary, I would be remiss to not recommend Bar Von Der Fels, UNA Pizza or Myung Ga), and the last way I have been feeding my travel bug is through trying to recreate foods that we have had when we have been travelling. That last case is where this recipe came from. I was reminiscing of our trip to France several years ago; in particular the spread we would set up for ourselves in the late morning from the goodies we picked up at the local marchés. One of the items I fell in love with there were the terrines. There would be a selection of different terrines, and could including a wide variety of meats, like duck, pork or rabbit. I would simply tell the vendor how thick of a slice I would like and they would cut off the generous slab of terrine and wrap it in thick butcher paper, and hand it over for us to take home. We would pick up baguettes on the way back to where we were staying and then have the terrine with the fresh, crusty bread and a generous dollop of mustard. Oh boy. I am drooling.

If you have never had a terrine before and are looking at the ingredients and thinking “this looks a lot like a meatloaf”… yep! Think of a terrine as a cousin to the traditional North American meatloaf. After all, they are both meat dishes made in a loaf pan and baked in the oven. But the terrine differs in a few ways, one of them being the type of meat used. Terrines often use a mix of different meats, and often use organ meat. In this case, we are using duck and pork, which leaves the delicacy in flavour profile to allow the spices and nuts to also shine. Another way that the terrine often differs is in the fat content. The terrine is usually higher in fat, which is one of the reason why it has some spreadability when smushing it over a piece of crusty bread, or scooping it up with crackers. In our case, we are getting some of the fat content from the pork, but also from the duck skin and the duck fat that is being added to the mix. Finally, terrines are usually served cold or at room temperature. I like to serve it on a plate with other delicious charcuterie bits with mustard and fresh bread, trying to mimic the experience we had (which seems so long ago) in France.

So let’s get to making this thing.

First things first: preheat the oven! Always a good first step, so we do not get to the end of preparation, and then need to wait for the oven to catch up. We are going surprisingly high heat here, 400ºF/205ºC.

Next step, let’s get to the ingredients. The good news: since we have a decent amount of fat here, there is no need to grease the pan! We start by separating the duck skin from the duck breast. The easiest way to do this is to start at an end that the skin is already “floppy” off the meat. You should be able to pinch the meat with one hand, and pinch the skin in the other and start to pull them apart. There will be some connective tissue, so when it starts to pull at the skin a bit too much and you see the skin tearing, use a small knife and cut through the piece connecting the skin to the meat, and then continue to pull apart. Place the skins in your loaf pan and spread them out so they are covering most of the bottom of the pan.

The next step will be to get our spices ready. If you have a spice grinder, feel free to use that, I have an ol’ fashioned mortar and pestle, so that is what I went with. Grind the mustard seeds, peppercorns and cloves until mostly broken down, but leaving a couple little chunks. I feel they add some character and make the dish a bit more charmingly unrefined.

Our next step is to get the meat ready. I got my pork ground so I did not have to mess with a grinder. For the duck, I threw the giblets and duck breasts all together in a food processor and gave them a few whirs to break them down mostly, but leaving a few chunky bits, to try and get that coarse element to the terrine.

The last step is to mix all the ingredients together. I left the hazelnuts and cherry preserves for last, and mixed everything else quite well with my hands. Then, I folded the nuts and preserves in so the preserves did not fully mix in with the rest and you could get occasional bites where the cherries shone through. Pout the entire mixture into the pan over the skins, and press it down.

Finally, it is time to cover the loaf with foil and place in the oven. We will be placing it into a water bath, or bain-marie, to keep the cooking consistent. Place the loaf pan in a larger pan, and fill the outer pan with boiling water until it comes at least halfway up the pan with the terrine. Make sure you do not overfill, we do not want water coming into the terrine pan! Bake the terrine for one hour, then, NO PEEKING, turn off the oven and let the terrine rest for another two hours without opening the oven door.

If you want to go really traditional, this last step is for you! Take the terrine out of the oven, and place a heavy weight directly onto the meat while it cools to room temperature. Some terrine pans have the press included, but there are other DIY options. You could use another loaf pan that is the same size, placing it on top and adding in some weight. You could wrap some cardboard in tin foil and put the weight on top. Or, I have even seen a suggestion to use a brick! What to use as the weight? You could use canned goods, literal hand weights or anything you can find that weighs a few pounds (Julia Child recommends up to 5 pounds!) and you can balance on top of the terrine and press while it cools. The purpose of this step is to compress the terrine as it cools to keep it from forming air bubbles, contracting, and losing its consistency.

Once the terrine has cooled, you can either cut it right out of the pan (this is what we did, no dinner parties for us right now, so let’s just eat!) or flip the terrine onto a plate to serve.

Happy eating

The Drool-Inducing Hazelnut Nutella Cake You Will Love

Nutella Hazelnut Cake

A chocolate, hazelnut confection, perfect for a birthday or a snowy Sunday afternoon
Print Recipe
Prep Time 45 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Cooling Time 1 hour
Total Time 2 hours 10 minutes
Course Dessert
Servings 1 Cake (2-layer)

Ingredients
  

Cake

  • 3 cups Flour (All-purpose or cake flour)
  • 1/2 cup cocoa
  • 2 cups water (hot)
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp kosher salt
  • 1.5 cups sugar
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp hazelnut extract (or 1 Tbsp hazelnut liqueur)
  • 2 tbsp white vinegar
  • 3/4 cup vegetable oil (canola, corn, avocado, etc.)
  • 0.5 tsp instant espresso powder (or instant coffee)

Frosting

  • 1 cup butter (softened to room temperature)
  • 1/4 cup Nutella (plus a few extra tablespoons for optional garnish)
  • 5 cups icing sugar
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 5 tbsp heavy cream
  • 1/4 cup cocoa
  • 2-5 tbsps hot water
  • 1/2 cup toasted hazelnuts, roughly chopped (optional for garnish)

Instructions
 

Cake

  • Sift together the flour and baking soda, and stir in the salt and sugar. Mix the 1/2 cup cocoa powder and espresso powder into the 2 cups hot water. Form a well into the dry ingredients and add the cocoa-water mixture, the vanilla, hazelnut extract, and vegetable oil. Stir together just until the batter has formed, do not overmix. Pour into two prepared, round, 9" cake pans. Bake at 375ºF/190ºC for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes, then remove from pans and allow to cool completely before frosting.

Frosting

  • Beat together butter and Nutella until fluffy and light. Add one cup of icing sugar and cocoa, beating at high speed until icing starts to form up. Add the salt, cream and the rest of the icing sugar and mix at low speed until mostly mixed. Add hot water 1 tablespoon at a time, beating at medium to high speed until desired consistency is reached. Frost cooled cakes, adding swirls of Nutella from a piping bag and toasted hazelnuts as garnish.
Keyword Cake, Chocolate, Hazelnut, Nutella

And now for the details…

Howdy folks! Sorry for the delay; I have been away for the last little while. (From the blog, not from home… where am I supposed to go during a pandemic? ha!) The main reason is because I am making some changes to the blog on the technical side of things and that has been eating up (pun intended) a lot of my time. You might notice some changes coming through in the next little while, starting with this blog post! (check out that fancy new recipe set-up at the top… pretty fresh, right? Ooooooh! Aaaaaaah!)

Enough about that, let’s talk cake! I made this for a friend’s birthday, but let’s be honest, when is NOT a good time for Nutella cake? No time. No time is not a good time for Nutella cake. I.e. All times are a good time for Nutella cake. I am making as assumption here that you, dear reader, are familiar with Nutella. If you’re not… oh boy. Prepare to have your mind BLOWN. Nutella is a sweet chocolate hazelnut spread. It originates from Italy from the Ferrero company (fun fact: did you know that Ferrero also created and owns the Kinder chocolate brand as well?) and it’s origin dates back to 1946. Whether you’re smearing it on toast, drizzling it over crêpes, dipping strawberries into it, or, in this case, incorporating it in a cake, it is a delicious sweet treat worth enjoying.

Something to be aware of on this recipe: it is SWEEEEEEEEEET. Seriously. I actually think I could feel cavities forming on my first bite. The cake itself seems even sweeter than a normal chocolate cake thanks to the addition of the hazelnut extract. The frosting is an American-style buttercream, so it definitely has that thick, sugary texture. This is the frosting style I grew up with, not getting introduced to Swiss Meringue or Italian buttercream until later in life. And the American-style buttercream, with its thin, crystalline crust of sugar that forms on the outside, combined with the fluffy, rich sweetness of the rest of the frosting is what I crave when I am wanting a rich, toothy cake. And since Nutella forms the base of the frosting, it is rich sweet, and totally sweet-tooth satisfying.

Let’s get to baking.

We are going to start with the cake. For our cake today, we are going real simple. I am using an offshoot of a recipe my grandma used for chocolate cake. The cake itself it nice and simple.

We sift together the flour and baking soda, then whisk in the sugar and salt. Next, mix together some hot water (hot out of the tap is just fine) with the cocoa and espresso powder until the powders are mostly dissolved. If you are worried about the cake having a mocha flavour and aren’t a fan of coffee, fret not. That small amount of coffee powder will barely be detectable. The reason for adding it is the depth of flavour that this tiny bit of coffee adds by emphasizing the chocolate in the cake. Long story short: what to do if you want your chocolate cake to taste more chocolatey? Add a tiny bit of instant espresso powder (or instant coffee if you can’t find espresso).

Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients (use a spoon, or get your hands right in there), and add the coffee/cocoa liquid mixture, the oil, and the vanilla and hazelnut extracts. The hazelnut extract might be a bit hard to find. If you can’t find it, you can use a hazelnut liqueur (like Frangelico) instead, but since the liqueurs aren’t flavoured as strongly as the extract, you’ll like need to use more, about 1-2 tablespoons. Mix all these ingredients together just enough to fully mix, then pour the batter into two prepared, round, 9-inch cake tins. Not sure what a prepare cake tin looks like? The good news is I went to it in detail in my Lemon Bumbleberry Cake recipe, check it out to get details on how to prepare your tins for cakes 😉

Bake those cakes up for 20-25 minutes in a 375ºF/190ºC, or until a toothpick comes out clean when being inserted in the centre of the cake. Take the cakes out of the oven and let them cool for 5-10 minutes, then run a knife around the edges, and turn the cake out of the tins onto a cooling rack and allow the cakes to fully cool. (Don’t forget to peel the waxed or parchment paper off if you’re using my suggestion for how to prepare the pan!)

Once fully cooled, we move to the final step and get ready to frost the cake. Start by beating the room-temperature butter with the Nutella at a high speed until smooth and fluffy. Starting on low speed, mix in 1 cup of the icing sugar and cocoa into the Nutella/butter, then whip on high speed until fully mixed. Bring the speed back down to low and add the salt and cream, then mix the rest of the icing sugar, one cup at a time. Once there isn’t a bunch of loose powder and everything has mixed in, add the hot water 1 Tbsp at a time, allowing it to mix in completely, until you have the frosting just a LITTLE looser than your desired consistency. Blitz it one more time for a minute or two on high speed to push air into icing, getting it nice and fluffy. It will also stiffen a little in this last bit of beating, which is why we went with the frosting being a little looser than desired before it. If you go too far and it’s way too loose, add a bit more icing sugar. Too stiff? Add a tiny bit more water. If you go back and forth a bit with the icing sugar and water additions, yep, that’s pretty typical for the first few times making frosting! I had occasions when I was starting out that I almost doubled the amount of frosting that I meant to make! *whoops* (but… was it really a problem to have too much frosting? ;P)

Frost the cake, including a generous amount of icing between the two layers. If you are a great cake decorator and want to go down the path of cutting the cake to be perfectly flat, or even cut it into multiple layers, feel free! I love cake… but I am not the greatest cake decorator *eep* I am open to suggestions or ideas though! I finished mine off with some crushed roasted hazelnuts and a drizzling of straight Nutella. In order to get it to a drizzle-worth consistency, I heated it up for a short amount of time (about 10 seconds) in the microwave and then transferred it to a piping bag with a fine tip to drizzle it over the cake.

Finally, cut and enjoy!

Happy eating.

Creamy Pumpkin Macaroni and Cheese

2 Comments

Pumpkin Mac and Cheese

Print Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Course Main Course, Side Dish

Ingredients
  

  • 2 Tbsps butter
  • 2 Tbsps flour
  • 2 garlic cloves (peeled and minced)
  • 2-4 cups whole milk
  • 1/2 cup chicken broth (or vegetable broth)
  • 1+1/4 cup pumpkin purée (NOT pumpkin pie filling)
  • 1 pinch ground nutmeg
  • 1/8 tsp cinnamon
  • 115 g cream cheese (4 oz)
  • 1/4 cup parmesan cheese (grated)
  • 2 cups dry macaroni
  • salt and pepper (to taste)
  • 1/4 cup toasted hazelnuts (chopped loosely)

Instructions
 

  • Melt the butter in a large pan over medium heat. Add the flour, and whisk to fully mix. Add the garlic, and continue to whisk until the garlic has turned fragrant and the flour as just started to turn golden brown. Add the milk in 1/2 cup portions at a time, whisking completely before adding the next amount. Add the milk until a cream sauce has formed, but not too thin. Cook until the sauce is thick enough to stick to the back of a wooden spoon. Whisk in the pumpkin, nutmeg and cinnamon, and salt and pepper to taste. Add the cream cheese and parmesan and stir until cheeses are completely melted and mixed into the sauce. Set a pot of heavily salted water to boiling. Cook the macaroni according to instructions. Drain the macaroni, then add to the pan with the sauce and mix well. Transfer to serving dish and sprinkle with hazelnuts. Serve.
Keyword Cheese, Cream Cheese, Macaroni, Pasta, Pumpkin, Sauce

And now for the details…

This dish could almost be viewed as an adult take on classic Mac and Cheese. Or, if you’re trying to hide fruits/veggies from your kids (or other members of your household… I do know some adults who aren’t fans of veg lol), you could tell them this is Mac and Cheese and not tell them about the pumpkin 😛 Although, if you are going to try and pull one over on your kids, be aware that the texture is a little less smooth than a typical Mac and Cheese because of the addition of the pumpkin, not to mention the addition of spices!

I came up with this recipe after I’d opened a large tin of pumpkin purée to bake muffins for my in-laws, then had a bunch of extra purée on my hands. I didn’t want to do more baking, so I figured, why not do a savoury take on pumpkin, and use it for a pasta sauce instead?

The cinnamon and nutmeg are subdued and delicate in the sauce, just a small addition to bring a teaser of pumpkin spice flavours. Then the addition of the cheeses brings this dish well into the savoury realm. The hazelnuts add a nice texture contrast, and I love their flavour up against the pumpkin cheesiness.

We are going to start out by making a béchamel, or white sauce. Melt the butter in a large pan over medium heat. As soon as the butter has melted, whisk the flour into the butter, and add the garlic. We are going to cook this, whisking constantly, until the garlic has become fragrant and the flour/butter has just started to turn a golden brown.

Next we will be adding the milk. We add the milk in small spurts, about 1/2 cup at a time, and whisking the milk in. The whisk is very important here! This will be hard if you try to using a different stirring utensil. The first couple of additions might worry you a bit. It will be very thick at first, almost paste-like. Fret not! Keep adding the milk a little bit at a time, whisking to fully mix each time, and soon you will have a nice, creamy sauce. Stop at about 2 cups, and see if you need to add any more. If the sauce is quite thick (think yogurt consistency), then you need to add some more milk. If it is closer to about syrup consistency, you’ve got it about right. We are going to cook the sauce for a bit longer after we’ve added all the milk, about 3-5 minutes, or until the sauce coats the back of a wooden spoon. A good way to test it? Drop your wooden spoon in the sauce, then pull it out and run a finger along the back of the spoon. If the line you’ve drawn with your finger stays in place without the sauce running back through it, your white sauce is done cooking. Turn the temperature down to medium-low.

Now is about a good time to get your macaroni a-cookin’. Boil some heavily-salted water, add the macaroni, turn down the heat on the pot to medium, and cook according to the pasta package instructions.

As the pasta cooks, let’s get our sauce finished up. Add the pumpkin purée, nutmeg, cinnamon, cheeses, and broth. When adding cream cheese to a sauce, it’s fastest to break it up into small-dish pieces so that it with melt a little easier. Allow the sauce to heat up until the cream cheese is fully melted and the sauce just starts to bubble. By now, your macaroni should be almost done cooking. Steal 1/4 cup of pasta water and add it to the sauce before draining the pasta, mixing the water in. This is going to help the sauce stick a bit easier to the pasta.

Drain your pasta, then add it right into the pan with the sauce. Stir well until every piece of macaroni is fully coated. Do one final taste test here and add salt and pepper to taste. We waited until the last minute for this, since the pasta water, broth, and cheese will have added salty elements, and it’s best to wait until all those are melded before adding any more salt.

Pour everything into your serving dish of choice, and then sprinkle the pasta with the toasted hazelnuts, and serve.

Happy eating.