Mmm...Canada: Strawberry-Rhubarb French Toast

This post is part of the Mmm...Canada event, hosted by Jennifer of The Domestic Goddess and Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict.

When I thought of what food screams "Canada!" to me, I aimed for something recent vs. my all-time favourite. The reason? There are just too many Canadian foods that I love to mention.

In Canada, we are so lucky to be able to produce so many delicious things. On my recent trip to the Niagara Wine Country, I got to sample the many delicious wines being produced just a short drive away from me.

When I still lived in London, I loved to go to the St. Jacob's farmer's market to buy maple syrup produced by local mennonites.

And when I visit my hometown now, I'm even more appreciative of the roadside stands where I love to buy my fruits and vegetables...like rhubarb. So that's why, for this event, I decided to make something with Essex County rhubarb.

Essex County is the best place I know to buy fresh, local produce. And it's inextricably tied to "Canada," for me, since I spent the first 18 years of my life there. Growing up in a Canadian small town, to me, meant growing up in Essex County, with its roadside fruit stands and huge farming community. I took rhubarb from Essex County and some strawberries I picked in London and made Strawberry-Rhubarb French Toast.








The recipe itself is pretty basic. I used about 1 cup of chopped rhubarb and only 1/4 cup of chopped strawberries (I really wanted the rhubarb to be the dominant flavour, but you could increase the amount of strawberries, too). I stewed the fruit in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat with a couple tablespoons of water, a few tablespoons of granulated sugar, and a splash of vanilla. I let it cook until the rhubarb released its juices and the fruit was nice and tender. You could add more sugar, but since I was planning on dousing my french toast in maple syrup, too, I cut back on the sugar in the sauce. This made enough for about 2 servings (with about a 1/2 cup of sauce per person). You can adjust it accordingly, if you'd like.

I made standard french toast -- bread dipped in a milk, egg and cinnamon mixture, then fried like grilled cheese (I'm sure you know the drill) -- cut it into halves, and dusted it with icing sugar before spooning the strawberry rhubarb sauce over top. A heap of maple syrup completed the dish.

So, there you have it. A basic recipe with lots of room to make adjustments. With its abundance of local produce, I can't think of any other recent dish I've made that epitomizes Canadian food for me.

Pear and Goat Cheese Pizza with Lavender Rose Wine Jelly

This recipe was my attempt to re-create the amazing Pear and Goat Cheese Pizza With Lavender Rosé-Gamay Glaze I had at the Wineries of Niagara on the Lake's Wine and Herb Festival. This is my second attempt, and I have to say, it turned out perfectly. It was much more successful than my previous attempt -- that time, I spread the the lavender-rosé jelly on top of the toppings before cooking, and the sugary jelly turned part of the crust into a burnt mess. Yuck.


I don't know how useful this is for those who didn't attend the wine and herb festival or who don't have access to lavender jelly, but I thought I'd post it anyway for any attendees who may stumble upon it via a Google search, or for others to drool over. If you do happen to find some lavender jelly in your travels, give this a shot. It would also be good with plain old rosé wine jelly, which should be a little easier to find.




So, here's the recipe. I sort of cheated by using a pre-made pizza crust. I do normally make my own crust, but I had one to use up from the weekend. And it did make the recipe come together in about 20 minutes.

Pear and Goat Cheese Pizza with Lavender Gamay-Rosé Wine Jelly
Serves 4
1 pre-made pizza crust, or your favourite pizza dough recipe, rolled out to make one pizza
1 Bosc pear, thinly sliced (I used a mandoline)
About 3/4 cup of goat cheese (or to taste)
1/2 cup lavender rosé jelly, or just rosé jelly, microwaved for about 15 seconds in order to slightly melt it, with 2 tbsp reserved

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees, or according to the directions given for your pizza dough recipe. Brush a pre-rolled or pre-bought pizza dough with all but the 2 reserved tbsp. of jelly. Arrange pear slices on top. Crumble goat cheese on top, about 3/4 of a cup, or to taste. I happen to like a lot of goat cheese.

Bake for about 10 minutes, or according to your pizza dough recipe's instructions. Both the goat cheese and the crust should be slightly browned. Serve immediately.

Winning Wednesday: June 25, 2008

I don't know why, but I've won another contest. I can't explain my recent luck--it defies logic. But hey, I'll take it. I won a $200 gift certificate to the Bruno Jamais restaurant in Manhattan and a spa treatment from Sothys New York courtesy of the lovely, sassy lady behind Fabulously Broke in the City. The boyfriend and I are headed to New York in the fall for a post-21st birthday celebration. Yes, I just revealed my age. Anyway, she's giving away the same prize until July 6, so visit her blog for details if you're interested in entering.

Sarah at The Delicious Life continues her birthday month cookbook giveaway--this girl is seriously generous. And funny. Right now she's giving away He Said Beer, She Said Wine, and some other contests from earlier this week are winding down.

FireMom at Stop, Drop and Blog is giving away a copy of Heart of the Home: Notes from a Vineyard Kitchen. And she's also featuring a yummy-sounding zucchini bread recipe.

Francie of Frantic Home Cook is giving away a strawberry cookbook. Strawberry lovers (ahem, like me) rejoice.

My work's been stolen

I logged on with the intention of blogging about receiving my copy of Baking: From My Home to Yours in the mail today. I was so excited to be able to join Tuesdays With Dorie.

Until, that is, I logged into my Technorati account and discovered that a (spam?) blog has been repeatedly ripping off my work.


At first I thought it was just aggregating various food blog posts, Technorati-style. Uh, no. Instead, the site just seems to be randomly stealing posts from around the foodie blogosphere.

With no contact information, owner information, or even an explanation of the point of the site -- I don't really know what to do. I've left a comment on the blog (subject to moderator approval!) warning them that my work is protected under a Creative Commons licence and they need to remove it right away. I'm also going to contact Wordpress and ask them to shut the blog down. Beyond that, I really don't know what to do. There aren't even any ads on the blog so I have no idea what the point is.

Has this ever happened to you? What did you do, or do you have any advice? Other than the steps I just mentioned, I'm at a loss.

Prosciutto, Pesto and Sun-dried Tomato Grilled Cheese

Sometimes I want a supper so simple that it appeals to my inner child. But most of the time, when I'm craving something simple, I still want it to feel a bit more grown up. Enter Prosciutto, Pesto, and Sun-dried Tomato grilled cheese, which I adapted from a recipe in Make It Super Simple With G. Garvin.


My version of this recipe fuses together classic Italian ingredients (except for the distinctly un-Italian sandwich bread) into something that comes together fast. That's the nature of grilled cheese, I suppose, but this is much tastier than a processed cheese slice sandwiched between bread slices. You'd do well to use ciabatta or focaccia instead of the generic sandwich bread; it's what I have on hand and I'm trying to use it up.



Prosciutto, Pesto and Sun-dried Tomato Grilled Cheese
Makes 1 sandwich -- multiply accordingly!

-2 slices of bread -- focaccia, or a ciabatta bun, or if you're stuck, like me, plain old sandwich bread
-About 1 tbsp of pesto
-2 or 3 sun-dried tomatoes, oil-packed or not, julienned (now, this is grilled cheese, so don't worry about making perfect little matchsticks--just slice them small enough that you won't bite off a big chunk of sun-dried tomato by mistake)
-A slice of mozzarella cheese, or a handful of shredded mozzarella
-1 or 2 thin slices of prosciutto
-Softened butter

Heat a frying pan over medium heat. Spread one side of each slice of bread with butter. Spread opposite side of each slice of bread with pesto. Lay one slice of bread on a plate, buttered-side down. Arrange prosciutto, cheese, and tomatoes on bread. Top with the second slice of bread (buttered side up this time). Cook about 5 minutes or until golden brown, turning once.