So, when I was a little girl, I remember my Memiere making these “things”  called Poutine (pronounced  ‘Put-zin’.) Apparently she and my ancestors considered them quite the delicacy.  They were an old French Canadian recipe, not to be confused with the Quebecois Poutine which are fries topped with cheese curds and gravy.  Oh, no…these little beauties look like brains.  Gelatinous balls of starch.  Doesn’t that sound appetizing???  Cookbooks and sentimentals call them “dumplings”…I call them “disgusting.”

A bit of history can be found here .

The recipe can be found here .

A picture of this “dumpling” can be found in this post at Bill Casselman’s site.

Makes you want to run right out and buy a bunch of potatoes and salt pork and try boiling up a few of these bad boys doesn’t it?  *gag*

I believe my Memiere used pork sausage in the center of her’s as opposed to the salt pork…for the purists out there, this is a mortal sin, however the thought of biting into a hunk of salt pork is quite unappealing.  (Who am I kidding?! The entire ball of starch is unappealing.) *gag*

My Aunt attempted to make them for my Memiere several years ago as a Christmas surprise.  Unfortunately, after all her hard work, they turned out gray-ish…okay, gray….okay.  Honestly?  The things were nearly BLACK.  A gelatinous, shiny, ash gray/black ball of something otherworldly.  I believe words like “turd” and “poop” were tossed carelessly about the table upon their presentation.  Thank goodness my Aunt is a good sport…in fact I think the word “turd” came from her own mouth.

So why am I telling you about Poutine?  Well, because I am thinking about making some for my Memiere as a Christmas gift.  It goes against the grain to cook something that I won’t eat, but I already bought the cheesecloth (that’s how my Memiere kept hers from falling apart in the boiling water.)  And I bought the potatoes.  I just have to talk to my Mom and find out what goes in the middle of these alien mutations.  Salt pork?  Sausage?  Or something “else.”  And when I do get to preparing these delights, I promise I will photo document the process so you can all be a witness to history coming back to life.  Maybe I’ll even wear one of my Grand-Memiere’s old aprons to add to the venerable feel of the occasion.

Stay tuned…Poutine Rapee are about to make a comeback.

 

Two slices of French Baguette, lightly toasted, spread with pesto, with fresh mozzarella, roasted red pepper, fresh basil, and sliced red onion sandwiched in between. Not bad for you unless you eat a half dozen of them like I have already today.

Enjoy. 🙂

If you follow my Facebook page, you already know that I have been dreaming of this Macaroni and Cheese recipe that I found online last week.  I call it “Mac n’ Cheese on Steroids.”

Do yourself a favor and bake a batch of this stuff for yourself.  My dear friend Anywho and I spent the day together, shopping for ingredients, preparing, baking and eating (and eating more) of this decadent dish.  It is to-die-for delicious!

My only advice is to do all your prep work before you start cooking the sauce.  And if you are inclined to add mushrooms, or extra bacon, or ham, or sauteed diced chicken, go for it!  Happy Cooking!

Five Cheese Mac’n Cheese for Grownups

As most of you know, our dear friend Ivoryhut has been carrying on an illicit love affair with homemade bread as evidenced by this blog post, and this one….oh, yeah and this one.  Yesterday, my resolve failed me, and I couldn’t take the pressure of denial anymore.  There’s only so many photos of tempting homemade bread any poor soul can take!  So with Challah recipe printed and in hand, I went to my kitchen to stir up some dough.

I jumped right in assuming I had everything on hand to make this wonderful treat….then realized I didn’t have anymore unsalted butter, enough honey, or a stash of sesame or poppy seeds in the house.  No matter.  Not wanting to leave my house, and not being prone to delayed gratification, I decided to make do with what I had.  Hmmm…no unsalted butter, and only vegetable oil?  Oh, well, in goes the vegetable oil.  Hmmm….only 2 tablespoons of honey when I needed 1/2 cup?  Oh, well, throw in the honey and make up the difference with corn syrup.  They’re both thick and sweet right?  Hmmm….no seeds for the topping?  Well….assuming this bread might be on the sweeter side, how about some cinnamon sugar on top instead?

So I stirred it up, crossed my fingers, and let it rise through the afternoon having to give it a boost in my bread proofing drawer after about an hour of no action at room temperature.  Refrigerated overnight, formed and baked this morning, and OH MY YUMMO!!!!!

I can only imagine….

…what this bread must taste like…

…with all the right ingredients.

Yeah, and I couldn’t wait for it to cool either.

I am SOOOO buying this book!

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day by Jeff Hertzberg MD and Zoe Francois