National Peanut Butter Day

 

 

Sandwiches are beautiful, sandwiches are fine.
I like sandwiches, I eat them all the time;
I eat them for my supper and I eat them for my lunch;
If I had a hundred sandwiches, I’d eat them all at once. 

~Fred Penner 

 

No, I did not accidently post the Pastrami blog again.  This is a tribute to Peanut Butter. I have to confess, I think the only reason the blog ladies assigned this one to me is because I told them my favourite sandwich is Peanut Butter and Pickle.  Yes, you read that correctly, and no I’m not pregnant, and no, this is not some malicious food dare.  But more on my favourite sandwich later, first a few observations.

If you plug “peanut butter” into the Epicurious search line it returns 226 recipes.  Food Network Canada gives you 116.  They run the course from sweet to savoury and everything in between.  Google it and you’ll find peanut butter lovers and peanut butter haters and 2000 things you can do with peanut butter.  (Hold the snickering and fat dog jokes.)  Of course, all the big peanut butter producers offer up plenty of their own suggests hoping to encourage peanut butter consumption. 

Apparently all that advertising has paid off.  According to several unassailable internet sources (and I believe everything I read on the internet) Americans consume over 3 pounds of peanut butter each year.  About half of the American peanut crop is used to make peanut butter.  Canada is the largest importer of American peanut products including nearly $16 million worth of peanut butter annually.  While peanut butter consumption may be easily established, the invention of peanut butter is hotly contested.  Some say the first patent for peanut butter production was held by none other than J.H. Kellogg.  I prefer to believe the Wiki version of events that that credits Montrealler, Marcellus Gilmore Edson with the honour in 1884.  Regardless, peanut butter has been widely available and wildly popular for more than a century.  No wonder it’s been lunch box staple for practically every kid in North American for generations.

Now, I don’t eat peanut butter for lunch everyday, but it does play a supporting role in several dishes that I make.  Earlier this week we had cold soba noodles tossed with a peanut dressing with a tilapia fillet on the side.  (Sorry, no photos.  I wasn’t thinking about the blog, only dinner.) Yesterday, I was looking for something sweet to make for my diabetic grandmother.  She doesn’t eat peanut butter much because it usually has so much sugar in it, but the one in my cupboard has no sugar or salt added.  We decided on peanut butter bars.  I adapted a brownie recipe to create what was an undeniable success.

Cakey, moist and delicious Peanut Butter Squares

Diabetic Friendly Peanut Butter Bars

• 1/2 cup peanut butter, no added salt or sugar
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/3 cups Splenda
• 2 tbsp fancy molasses
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, optional

 Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Grease a 9×9 inch baking pan.
3. Cream together peanut butter and margarine. Gradually blend in the Splenda, molasses, eggs, and vanilla.  Mix until fluffy.
4. Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add nuts to dry ingredients.
5. Stir dry ingredients into the peanut butter mixture until well blended.
6. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in preheated oven, or until the top springs back when touched.
7. Cool, and cut into 16 squares.

Now back to my favourite sandwich… I don’t remember the first time I put peanut butter and pickles together, but it never seemed odd to me.  I loved peanut butter, particularly on a thick crust of fresh baked bread.  I loved dill pickles and have eaten pickle sandwiches for as long as I can remember.  No one blinks and eye over peanut butter with jam, bananas, celery and chocolate.  Why not pickles?  You may not think of this peculiar combo as haute cuisine but it possesses all the qualities that you look for in truly good food; a combination of textures and colours and a balance between salty and sweet, and between acid and fat.  Are you starting to see the light?

 I understand your scepticism.  It’s not something you’ll see on the menu at the local deli, though you would if I owned it.  It took a lot of convincing to get the sandwich shop near my office to make a PB&P for me.  Just recently my son’s fiancé refused to make him a PB&P because she was so utterly convinced that he was joking. 

K: Okay, funny, now what do you really want for lunch?

D: I want a peanut butter and pickle sandwich.

K: Tell me what you want now or you can make your own lunch.

D: I’m serious. I want a peanut butter and pickle sandwich.

K: I’m not standing here all day.  Just make your own lunch.

A couple of days later when they were at our place, he made me tell her that we do actually eat PB&P sandwiches.  She looked disgusted.  I’m not sure if she’s tried one yet. 

But I promise you, it’s not as weird as it sounds.  If you like peanut butter and you like pickles, I am positive you’ll like them together.  Many have taken the plunge before you and they’ve all come up extolling the virtues of the peanut butter and pickle sandwich.  Just ask my once incredulous husband.  My personal favourite is thick slices of dill pickle and creamy peanut butter on good chewy multi-grain bread.  Bread and butter pickles might be too sweet but there’s nothing wrong with a good kosher pickle.  And, I see no reason why pickled beets wouldn’t be just as good.  I implore you to give it a try.  No, better yet, I dare you!

Bon appétit.

Della

National Pastrami Day

Sandwiches are beautiful, sandwiches are fine.
I like sandwiches, I eat them all the time;
I eat them for my supper and I eat them for my lunch;
If I had a hundred sandwiches, I’d eat them all at once.

~Fred Penner

Okay, I don’t quite share Fred Penner’s enthusiasm for sandwiches but I do love a good sandwich and an overstuffed pastrami on dark rye is among my favourites.  Pastrami is not to be confused with its corned beef cousin.  Pastrami is dry cured and smoked whereas corned beef is brined and roasted without smoke.  Though corned beef is great stuff, it just doesn’t compare to a good smoked brisket.  To me this is a great example of simple ingredients delivering big flavour.  Great pastrami is all about the spices in the dry rub and, of course, the smoke.  The finished product is complex, peppery and smoky yet layered with the aromatic notes of coriander and allspice.  Delectably seasoned and roasted to tender perfection, a hot pastrami sandwich on a cold day is pure beefy bliss.

Schwartz's Smoked Meat on Rye with a Kosher Pickle

New Yorkers claim to be the current epicentre of pastrami achievement.  There are hundreds of delis, good and bad, preparing their own unique recipes.  Manhattan delis run the gamut.  Carnegies is a Time Square tourist trap where the lines are long, the prices high and the sandwiches large enough to feed a family of four.  That said the pastrami on rye was awesome.  Better yet there is Katz’s Deli on the Lower East Side.  Katz’s has been a Manhattan institution since 1888 and still home to a really great sandwich.  If you have space after a sandwich as big as your arm, try to the matzo ball soup while you’re at it.  

But, Montreal boasts its own proud “pastrami” tradition.  While purists may argue they are different, Montreal smoked meat really is pastrami by another name.  My first encounter with Montreal smoked meat in its natural environment was Rueben’s on Rue Ste. Catherine in downtown Montreal.  We squeezed our way into a small table near the back of the restaurant, the only one left in the bustling lunch spot.  So impressed were we with Rueben’s mouth-watering creation we went back a few days later for take-out to bring along on the train to Quebec City.  We were the envy of our rail-car-mates who were left with few dining options outside a vacuum packed tuna on white bread. 

Of course, dear readers, you deserve more than just my nostalgia-fogged memories.  So, being the unreasonably demanding mother that I am sent my daughter on a quest.  Go have a smoked meat sandwich at your favourite deli (on me – she is a student after all).  The terribly onerous conditions were to send me a photo and to share her thoughts.  There is no shortage of delis offering up smoked meat in Montreal.  Rueben’s, Dunn’s, Snowden and the list goes on.  She chose Schwartz’s on St. Laurent which claims to be the oldest deli in Canada, in business since 1928.  Unlike Katz’s the sandwich is a meal for one and it is priced accordingly, still just $5.50 prepared as you like it.

Schwartz's in 1928

The pastrami assignment wasn’t much of a strain for Monique.  She is a true carnivore. So much so that when she came home for Christmas a trip to Memphis Blues Barbeque House was at the top of the “To Do” list.  Memphis Blues is euphemistically known as the “meat restaurant” around our house.  Schwartz’s is her Montreal “meat restaurant” and Monique has tried them all.  After several months of rigorous research she has concluded that Shwartz’s is the best.  According to Monique, “the brisket is well marbled and is really moist and flakey.  The sandwich needs something acid to cut the fat and the plain French’s yellow mustard definitely makes the difference.”  Then she betrayed me and rejected the superior wisdom of a sophisticated palate!  “The hot mustard at Max’s would overwhelm the flavour of Montreal smoked meat,” she said naively.  Blasphemy I say!

I really do believe that fresh is best when your talking pastrami, but outside Montreal and New York, you’re unlikely to find someone hand slicing a brisket behind the counter. Here in Vancouver our choices are not plentiful but your pastrami craving can be deliciously satisfied.   Max’s Bakery and Delicatessen on Oak Street (at 15^th) is my personal favourite.  The menu options are plentiful, but I have to admit I always have the same thing, pastrami and smoked goulda on dark rye with hot mustard.  And at Max’s when they say hot, they mean it!  Of course you’ll find a crisp kosher pickle on the side.  A close second is homemade.  You can now buy Dunn’s Montreal Smoked Meat at Costco of all places!  George and I had pastrami and ementhaller on rye for lunch last weekend.  Mmmmmm.  It might not have the ambience of Swartz’s but my kitchen rarely smells so good on a Saturday afternoon.

Montreal Smoked Meat on Rye with an appropriate array of pickles

Now, you could make your own pastrami but it takes time, a significant chunk of fridge space for three to four weeks and a multi burner barbeque to allow you to smoke and slow cook the meat.  I made my own corned beef once and while I was thrilled with the result, on balance, it was just not worth the effort.  There are just too many high-quality, affordable options available.  However, having made it myself, I now respect the craft and enjoy the finished product all the more.  Whether you visit your favourite deli, buy a packaged product for home or undertake making your own, I encourage you to have a hot, juicy pastrami sandwich the next time you’re looking for a casual but immensely satisfying meal.  Can you use pastrami to make something other than a sandwich? Of course, but why would you?

Sandwiches are beautiful, sandwiches are fine.
I like sandwiches, I eat them all the time…

Bon appétit.

Della

National Cream Puff Day

Chocolate Covered Maple Cream Puffs

When I was a little girl I loved cream puffs more than almost anything.  Almost as much as I loved pickles, pizza and Greek food.  Every year for my birthday, from ages 2 to, oh, probably, 14, instead of birthday cake, I wanted cream puffs and that’s what I got.  As I got older, we would go for Greek food at my favorite Greek restaurant and they don’t serve cream puffs.  It was often a difficult choice for me – my favorite dinner or my favorite dessert?  A conundrum for the ages.

What is a cream puff exactly?  It is a large pastry made from choux paste and filled with sweet cream or custard.  Profiteroles are a miniature version of the cream puff and usually filled with ice cream.  They can be topped with a little icing sugar, chocolate sauce, or any other flavour sauce one wants, or just left plain.  I like my cream puffs to be wee in size.  That way, if there are different flavours, you can sample the whole variety.  I’ve seen cream puffs or profiteroles filled with sweet whipped cream, chantilly cream, boston cream, vanilla custard, chocolate mousse, lemon curd, espresso cream, maple cream … the list is endless really.  Of course, any of the cream based fillings can be flavoured with a variety of booze.  Wouldn’t be me if I didn’t at least try.

Past Cream Puffs Worthy of Note:

Eva made me profiteroles once.  For my birthday.  She’s a grand friend.  She knows me well.  She filled them with a mango mousse sorbet.  They were amazing.

Lemon curd filled mini cream puffs dusted with icing sugar sold at the now defunct patisserie wing of Bon Rouge Restaurant.  We called them “Crack Puffs” ’cause we were addicted and went there every second lunch hour to buy some.  They were that good.

Last year I made mini cream puffs for Easter.  It was my first time making choux paste.  Amazingly, after all those many years of loving cream puffs, I had never actually tried making them!  Shocking, right?  Anyway, it was an adventure, to be sure.  My beautiful Kitchenaid Professional stand mixer (wedding gift) upped and died in the middle of making the choux paste (thank goodness it was from Costco and they replaced it with a brand spankin’ new candy apple red better version – but that’s another story).  Now, here’s the thing.  To make choux paste, you first have to make what is essentially a big ball of roux, and then you have to beat eggs into it.  This is not a task that a person wants to undertake by hand!  But the batch was half done and there was no other choice.  I discovered new muscles in my arms and shoulders that day.  Reminded me of that time when I made risotto for 150 people in one giant pot.   Such work is generally best done when assisted by copious amounts of vino.

Last Easter I learned that you should use wet fingers to pinch off the choux paste from the pastry bag (it is darn sticky) and that no one else in my family shares the same love of cream puffs as I do.  Strange.  I filled my Easter poppets with boston cream and with mocha whipped cream.  Since it was pretty much just me eating them (and maybe a couple of others) I also discovered that cream puffs freeze brilliantly.  Well, I can’t say that I discovered it.  To be fair, Costco has known this forever and you can buy boxes of the little pleasure-filled buns without any effort at all.  Of course, fresh homemade ones are better.

The National Cream Puff Day Batch:

At any rate, as much as I enjoy, love, adore cream puffs, I confess to being a tad daunted at the prospect of yet more rich bad for me food following on the heels of the Christmas holiday. This year was epic on the food front. We ate so much amazing food for every meal of every day that all I really feel like consuming at this point is raw vegetables and water.  My rich food stomach is lastingly full!  And seriously, how is a girl supposed to get herself off to a strong start for the New Year when she is forced to eat this stuff?

I made them anyway.

And I ate them too.

This time I used the Larousse recipe for choux pastry and learned that even greasing my non-stick cookie sheet doesn’t keep them from sticking.  I had to use a paring knife to scrape them off the sheet and unfortunately mangled one or several.  No matter, there were plenty left over.  The mangled ones went to the dogs and my kid (who, lo and behold, happens to love them too).

I am actually quite a purist when it comes to my cream puffs, so I didn’t want to muck about too much.  I just filled them with a lightly flavoured maple whipped cream and drizzled the smallest amount of chocolate over them for effect.  Mostly it was for the picture.  When given the option, I will happily use pieces of my choux pastry puffs to scoop up the whipped cream as though it were a veggie dip and the pastry was a carrot.  I had planned to make a caramel rum sauce to go on top, instead of the chocolat, but my caramel-loving hubby is out for the night and after all the recent gluttonous festivities, I didn’t really feel up to making and eating a bowl of caramel sauce to myself.

Basic Choux Pastry Recipe for Cream Puffs:

1. Heat in saucepan 1 cup of milk or water (or milk and water mixed in equal parts), 5 tbsp. butter, 1 pinch salt and 2 tsp. caster sugar stirrin frequently until butter is melted.

2. Slowly bring to a boil and then remove from heat and immediately mix in all of 1 cup all-purpose flour.  Return to heat and beat with wooden spoon until smooth and pulling away from sides of pan (approx. 1 minute).  Do not overmix or pastry will be greasy.

3.  Put into your mixer bowl and allow to cool slightly while you wash up from the previous two steps (this should be the right amount of time if you don’t have a dishwasher, otherwise wait another 5 minutes or so).

This is about what it should look like.

4.  Beat in two eggs and then two more one after the other until the paste is smooth and shiny.  To do this, I run my stand mixer on medium-high speed for at least two minutes.

5.  Use piping bag (or ziploc with the corner cut off) to pipe blobs of choux paste onto lightly greased baking sheets (approx. 1 1/2 – 2 inches in size) and bake in pre-heated 425 degree oven for 10 minutes, reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 10 minutes (or up to 25 minutes for larger puffs) to allow enough time for puffing up.

6. Remove from oven and break open immediately to prevent steam from making the pastry soggy.  Cool completely on wire racks before filling with your filling of choice.

Maple Whipped Cream:

Beat together 1 cup whipping cream and 2 – 3 tbsp maple syrup until stiff.

Caramel Rum Sauce: if I had ended up making it, this is the recipe I was going to use. It’s a pretty standard recipe. I’ve made it before.  It’s pretty tasty.

This concludes my entry for National Cream Puff Day.  Stay tuned when I return to you on January 4th with National Whipped Cream Day (really the two days ought to be together).  I’m off to roll my lardy arse into bed now.

xoxo B.