Serious dinner-making ensues!
Helen stirs the soup!
We made Thai butternut squash soup from the Moosewood Cookbook, but adapted to include fried tofu! See C is for Kitchen for recipe.
Uh-mazing. We also made roast potatoes and the leftover butternut squash seasoned with rosemary and thyme. 45 minutes in a 400F oven = perfectly crisp, soft-on-the-inside patates.
Roasty toasty deliciousness.
On another occasion, I made a batch of simple scones with sultanas and orange zest, as part of a gift for my childhood British nanny:
Recipe from Joy of Baking (slightly adapted), as usual:
2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated white sugar
2 teaspoons (10 grams) baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 c sultana raisins
Zest of one orange
1/3 cup (75 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup (120 ml) milk
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F and place the rack in the middle of the oven. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, whisk or sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and orange zest. Cut the butter into small pieces and blend into the flour mixture with a pastry blender, two knives, or with your fingertips. (The mixture should look like coarse crumbs.) In a small measuring cup whisk together the milk, beaten egg and vanilla. Add this mixture to the flour mixture. Stir just until combined. Do not over mix.
Transfer to a lightly floured surface and knead the dough gently four or five times and then pat into a 7 inch (18 cm) round. Then, using a lightly floured 2 1/2 inch (6.5 cm) round cookie cutter, cut the dough into rounds. Place the rounds on the prepared cookie sheet, spacing a few inches apart. Brush the tops of the scones with a little milk. (This helps to brown the tops of the scones during baking.)
Bake for about 15 – 18 minutes or until nicely browned and a toothpick inserted into the center of a scone comes out clean. Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Makes about 10 – 2 1/2 inch (6.5 cm) round scones.
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Lookie here, Toronto finally has some of that glorious white stuff!
The family strolls home from dinner in Yorkville.
Now what I’d really like is a solid buildup of snow so that I can relive my childhood dreams of tobogganing down the best slope in Toronto AKA Riverdale Park!
