Fredericton Fudge is adapted from The Laura Secord Cookbook and is based on their recipe for Fredericton Walnut Toffee. For those of you who don’t know where Fredericton, New Brunswick is, look it up. My beautiful hometown, perched on the banks of the stunning Saint John River and birthplace, if you trust Laura Secord, of a candy that tastes a bit like a Skor bar, but way better. And we call it Fredericton Fudge.

First of all, you need a day that looks like this:

Or, one that looks like this:

Snow is optional as are freezing temperatures, but in order to successfully make this delicious confection I’ve always found you need clear skies and a distinct lack of humidity. At least, I’ve never had success making it on a rainy day or in very humid weather.

Ingredients are straightforward: butter, brown sugar, chocolate and toasted pecans. That’s it! I use disposable aluminum lasagne pans and reuse them a number of times. Start by buttering the pan and scattering a couple of handfuls of chopped pecans. I always toast the pecans first in a 350 degree oven for 7 – 8 minutes which really develops their flavour.

Next, ready the ingredients because once you start stirring the fudge there’s no walking away until it’s time to pour it in the pan. Take out a frying pan and melt the butter, adding the brown sugar when the butter is nearly melted. Timing matters, so when the butter and brown sugar are melted together turn the heat to medium or medium high because you want the mixture bubbling gently throughout the next 12 minutes. Start the timer and continue to stir.

During the 12 minutes, the mixture will go from looking not so great to better to really pretty good. And if one batch doesn’t quite come together, I’ve been know to make another.

After cooking and stirring for 12 minutes, carefully pour the fudge over the chopped pecans in the prepared pan.

This fudge is looking a bit naked, so cover it with a blanket of dark chocolate chips or chopped chocolate and let the chocolate softten for a couple of minutes.

After a few minutes, the chocolate will have melted and you can spread it into a smooth layer, finishing the fudge by sprinkling more chopped pecans onto the top. Now comes the tough part – letting it cool and harden before you enjoy it so that you a) don’t burn yourself eating hot fudge and b) practice self-restraint! Break into random pieces using a knife and enjoy – don’t worry if the pieces are uneven, people will choose large or small, and any leftover crumbs are yummy topping ice cream, yogurt, you name it!

           

Christmas is a time to count your blessings and I am very fortunate to be blessed with many special people in my life – my own family, my sisters and brother and many dear friends. One of my greatest blessings is my sister-in-law Charlotte, who has been a wonderful support and friend over the years, I love to sit at her table and she willingly shares her favourite recipes, including this one for Dark Christmas Cake. What is it about people who don’t like fruitcake? Can you trust them? Okay, just kidding, but really, there’s something so comforting to me about a good cup of tea and some of this incredible cake. With relatively few ingredients, this is the easiest fruitcake I’ve ever made, this year I didn’t even chop the cherries or nuts, just threw them in whole. Also, because it calls for only a few types of fruit and one type of nuts it’s a reasonable investment, cost wise!

Making this cake does require some planning, as the base is mixed, briefly cooked and left overnight at room temperature, but unlike many fruitcakes, this doesn’t require weeks to ripen. I have stored it wrapped in brandy-soaked cheesecloth before, but that isn’t necessary either, although it may be more fun. Start by mixing the raisins, sugar and butter with water and spices and bring to a boil for a brief time, then just cover and let it sit overnight. The recipe calls for sticky raisins and this year I used lexia raisins, but usually buy whichever ones look the stickiest at the bulk store.

Next morning, put on a pot of coffee and don’t do anything until that’s ready. Now, pour yourself a cup, add whatever you need to function and drink at least half. Okay, now you can proceed. Add the remaining ingredients, the dry ingredients and the fruit – chop the cherries and walnuts if you prefer but you can see that I didn’t. You can also choose to use all red or all green cherries or mix them like I did.

Then, let the cake sit in the bowl and rise for about a half hour.

Meanwhile, pour more coffee and then prepare your pan. I bought a special pan several years ago (one can never have too much cookware), mine is 8 inches square by 3 inches deep. I grease it lightly and line it with parchment paper, greasing it first keeps the parchment paper from slipping.

Pour the batter into the pan and place in a low oven, along with a pan of hot water and bake. Charlotte’s recipe calls for baking the cake for 2 -3 hours, but I have always cooked mine for about 4 hours, which certainly confirms that ovens vary considerably. So be patient and plan to spend the morning at home! What’s important is that the middle of the cake is firm to the touch when you take it out of the oven, but the cake isn’t too dry.

Cool in the pan on a rack for an hour or so and then remove from pan to cool fully. Double wrap in plastic wrap and store in a large container for a couple of days.

I cut the cake in half for storing and to give some away. This makes a large cake which good for sharing, each half is the size of a loaf pan. Charlotte usually freezes some of hers, mine doesn’t last that long or I forget to freeze it, but I have kept it for several months in a covered container.

And once you’ve cut it in half, I recommend tasting the cake to ensure the quality is up to snuff, you may need to have two to three pieces while enjoying a good cup of tea until you’ll be able to verify the quality! Enjoy and take good care.

           

Good news – Lochie the Sheltie Wonder Dog is virtually fully recovered and thriving on the homemade chicken breast and steamed rice meal plan I’ve been preparing lovingly for him. For those who missed my recent post, his run-in with a bag of organic dark chocolate and roasted salted cashews has had minimal negative effects and he’s back to his usual self. This happened in the middle of our November 24th, 40-year record breaking snowfall which has launched us into winter in Nova Scotia! Inspiration can come in many forms and out of a desire to nourish and at the same time celebrate Lochie’s return to normalcy, I crafted this shepherd’s pie – which should be a nod to his heritage, but my husband says it best about our lovable but not so brilliant Sheltie, “he would have flunked shepherd school!”.

I’ve made shepherd’s pie before using leftover roast and plain hamburger, but today decided a mix of ground beef and ground turkey would not only be healthy and tasty but provide enough that I could freeze some extra portions for later. Always handy when three of us are feeling like fish and the carnivore in the family wants something else! I have these tucked safely in the freezer now and will probably bake them from frozen, at 350 degrees. Suggest starting them covered loosely with foil for the first half hour and then leaving uncovered for another 30 – 40 minutes – great opportunity to experiment.

Look at that beautiful topping, the result of mashing together sweet and russet potatoes, using a little more sweet than white, healthy and tasty. Many ingredients come together quickly and easily and I think you can adapt this recipe to suit your tastes, use more or less carrots and celery, add some parsnips, chopped to the same size. Once the meat has browned, add the chopped vegetables, cook briefly and then the sauce ingredients.

I steamed the potatoes together but you could boil them, I cut the white potatoes slightly smaller than the sweet as I find that sweet cook a little more quickly, you could use all sweet potatoes or all white if you prefer.

I mashed the potatoes with cream cheese, sour cream and butter both for extra creaminess and because this allows them to freeze beautifully. This recipe does have a lot of ingredients but it comes together quickly and is loved by my family! Enjoy and Take Good Care!

           

So, now, instead of the wonderful aromas of Christmas baking wafting through the house as the first snow of 2011 settles gently on the ground, there will be the rather pedestrian smell of boiled chicken and boiled white rice permeating the air. His nibs must have a bland, homemade diet, but not of course until tomorrow morning. He’s been to the vet, shot full of anti-nausea and antacids, been poked and prodded and is now home to be coddled until he can return to his normal, “I’ll eat anything” self.

So just in case my loyal readers think that writing this blog is all glam and glitz, just wanted to set the record straight! Take good care.

Lucky me! I’ve just had a birthday, treated wonderfully by my family, enjoyed an incredible dinner at home and capped a great day with a big slice of my favourite cake, Granny’s Birthday Cake. This is a real cake, substantial yet tender, simple to make but flavourful, and like many of us, is even better as it ages – this is a cake with honesty, integrity and delightful character – much like Jean whose recipe this was. She taught her grand-daughter, Hannah how to make it and my dear friend shared it with me, I hope you will try it and enjoy it!

The ingredients are pretty standard, but the method is unlike any other cake I’ve made before! All of the ingredients, except for two of the eggs, go into the bowl together and are beaten for two minutes! It’s important to have the butter and eggs at room temperature and you can use an electric mixer but I’ve also made this by hand (a good workout!) at the cottage and it was just as good.

I make my own sour milk for this cake, using lemon juice. Just squeeze half a lemon, strain juice into a one cup measure, fill with milk and let this stand for about 5 minutes while you assemble the other ingredients.

After beating the batter for two minutes, either by mixer or hand you add the remaining two eggs and beat another two minutes. The batter comes together beautifully.

Bake the cake in a tube pan, bottom lined with waxed paper or parchment. A trick passed on to me by one of Jean’s daughters, Margie, is to make the cake the day before you want to serve it and once it has cooled, wrap it overnight in plastic wrap and foil, I think this helps the cake to ripen.

What icing to use is always my question and usually my preference is a traditional butter icing, but this year I was in the mood for something a little different and found a wonderful White Chocolate Cream Cheese Icing to use instead. Topped the cake with toasted coconut and had the best of traditional and modern for the birthday festivities! You can find the frosting recipe on Chatelaine’s website, http://food.chatelaine.com/Recipes/View/White_chocolate_cream_cheese_icing. Whether making this for a birthday or just because it’s November, you’ll enjoy this cake!

           

Available seasonally before the garlic bulb ripens, and with a distinct but mild garlic flavour, garlic scapes, according to 2 Sisters Garlic,  http://www.2sistersgarlic.com, ”are the flower stalk of the garlic. The entire stalk and flower are edible. With mild garlic flavor and aroma they are wonderful additions to stew, roasts, marinade, salads, sandwiches, sauces, bread, pasta, pesto, stir-fry, roasted, or even steamed and eaten as a vegetable. The possibilities are endless! ”

So, why write about garlic scapes in November, when my loyal blog readers can’t find them? Well, think of me as proactive or think of me as succumbing to intense pressure from my family to post this recipe! And because when garlic scapes aren’t available, I just use more garlic cloves and dream of next summer at Toney…

Start by washing and chopping your plum tomatoes and measure your capers and tapenade. Tapenade is a condiment made from black olives, garlic, capers, herbs, and olive oil and President’s Choice makes a great one, available in Canada – it’s also good on crackers or as a spread.

Next, saute chopped onion in a little olive oil and add the chopped garlic. Once softened, I add all of the chopped tomatoes and cook over medium high heat until the tomatoes release their juice. Plum tomatoes tend to be less juicy than regular tomatoes, you could use regular in this recipe but may need to cook longer until you achieve the right consistency.

Cooking the sauce until most of the liquid from the tomatoes has evaporated, concentrates the flavours, then chicken broth is added and the sauce reduced twice more over medium high heat. These extra steps result in sauce with a very creamy finish and intense flavours.

Roll the basil leaves together and slice into strips, and put the pasta water on to boil. We prefer rice pasta, and this time had shells, penne and orzo shapes so used them all for an interesting finished dish! You can use your favourite type of pasta, I’ve also made this with spaghetti and the results were just as good.

Another key step to this dish’s success is using some of the pasta cooking water to finish the sauce. Just scoop out about a half cup of cooking water towards the end of the pasta cooking time and reserve for later. Drain the pasta and add to the pan of sauce, tossing to mix, adding the shredded basil and using only as much of the reserved pasta water as necessary to give a creamy sauce. Top each serving with some crumbled feta and grated parmesan and enjoy!

           

But in the interest of good health and balanced living, I’m offering my favourite older sister’s(FOS) Sweet Potato Chili, which I usually make to have on Meatless Mondays or any other day of the week when we think we should go vegetarian, but today I decided to add some diced chicken breast near the end of the cooking time; trust me it’s just as good without. FOS advises that you could also add ground beef or ground turkey instead of the diced chicken breast. Either way, this has just a few ingredients, cooks quickly, keeps and freezes well!

My good husband brought me the fancy spices in the cans from London, wonderful Mexican oregano and rich diced chipotle chiles; http://www.coolchile.co.uk. They have a wonderful website – have a look – and I have inquired but unfortunately they don’t ship to Canada, so when my can is empty I will either have to go back to London or find a source in Halifax!

Back to the chili; saute the onions, garlic and spices in olive oil until nicely softened, this may take about 5 – 7 minutes in total. I usually start on medium heat and switch to low, stirring occasionally. In addition to the chili powder called for in the recipe I added 1/2 tsp of the diced chipotle chiles and used the Mexican oregano, rubbing it between my palms, over the pan, to release more of the fragrance (based on a tip given to my husband by the seller of these herbs).

Add the peeled and cubed sweet potatoes, drained and rinsed black beans and diced tomatoes, stir gently but well to combine and bring to a boil. Turn heat to low and simmer until potatoes are tender.

At this point, provided the sweet potatoes are tender, this chili is ready, but if you want to add some animal protein to it now would be the time. I browned two boneless chicken breasts, seasoned with salt and pepper, in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, diced them and added them to the chili to finish cooking. This took another 10 – 15 minutes. I also deglazed the chicken saute pan with a bit of chicken stock both to recover all of the yummy browned bits on the bottom and to add a little more liquid to the chili.

Here are the browned, but not cooked chicken breasts being stirred into the chili. When the chicken was done I topped the Sweet Potato Chili with a spoonful of sour cream and a sprig of cilantro. Delicious, next time I might use a full teaspoon of the chipotle chiles!

           

I’m tempted to call this Milestone Cake but it really belongs to Nanny MacDonald, my grandmother who made it often for us and it was always a welcome treat. However, I decided to make it today in honour of Baby Sister who’s turning 50 (certainly a Milestone) today, November 1st! Our Nanny was one of those grandmothers with bottomless cookie jars and a chocolate bar drawer (yes, a whole drawer), she was a wonderful cook but didn’t fuss in the kitchen. This is a simple and delicious cake which all kids seem to love – and Baby Sister, who is not simple but brilliant and accomplished, probably doesn’t eat much chocolate cake, being one of those people who runs long distances for fun, so I will just have to eat her piece!

The ingredients are simple and the finished cake is quite small, good for a weekday treat or even a small birthday party. I used semi-sweet chocolate chips as I didn’t have any semi-sweet chocolate squares. The marshmallows are for the icing not the cake, but I liked how they looked snuggled up next to the chocolate chips for the picture. Start by melting the chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler, stirring until smooth and let cool.

Add the sugar and water to the cooled mixture and then the egg and mix well.

I made my own sour milk by adding the juice of half a fresh lemon to a half cup of milk and letting it sit and curdle for 5 minutes or so, probably more lemon juice than needed but the finished product was beautiful so it worked. You only need a 1/4 cup of milk so I threw away the rest.

Nanny’s instructions were to add the sifted mixture alternately with the liquid and vanilla and then “this may be beaten for a few minutes” – seems a fairly flexible approach to me but I used my trusty small whisk and did just that!

My cake baked exactly the time specified and, after cooling, wasn’t the most attractive but I’ve made this before and know that the icing elevates the finished product, at least in the eyes and tummies of chocolate lovers.

Let the cake cool completely and then make the icing. Nanny called this Rocky Mountain Frosting, probably because of the hills and valleys created by the marshmallows, not as impressive as The Rocky Mountains, but when you’re eight it was pretty impressive. It’s a good idea to pre-measure and sift your icing sugar before you begin as once the marshmallows are melted into the chocolate, the icing becomes very firm very quickly. Start by melting the chocolate, butter and water over very low heat, stirring constantly.

Once these are melted together, add half of the marshmallows and stir until melted. My marshmallows had been in the pantry for several months and can best be described as “firm”, but after 5 – 7 minutes over very low heat while being stirred, they melted and were fine.

Add the icing sugar off the heat, whisk together and add vanilla, stirring until smooth. Add the remaining marshmallows, stir gently and frost the cake right away as this icing firms up very quickly, probably due to the melted marshmallows. Hope you enjoy this as much as we do – Happy Birthday Jeanne!

           

What you see here is pretty much it – yes, I added some parsley and lemon rind but that’s only because Alex is grown up now and I know he can handle a little improvisation. But if you, your partner, your kids are fussy, leave them out and stick to onions, orange juice concentrate (the “lemon” from Alex’s youth), chicken breasts and chicken broth. Easy peasy!

Start by browning the chicken breasts in olive oil and butter – heat the olive oil first, then add the butter. The olive oil keeps the butter from burning and the butter just adds deliciousness! Brown the chicken on one side, four to five minutes until nicely browned. When the chicken releases easily from the pan it’s ready to turn.

Turn the chicken and add the chopped onion, tucking it in around the chicken breasts so it can soften.

Then add the orange juice concentrate, thawed or frozen, either works as it will melt very quickly in the hot pan, and the chicken broth. The proportions of oj concentrate to chicken broth are the same and you can adjust them depending on whether you like lots of sauce or only a little.

Cover, turn the heat to low and simmer until chicken is no longer pink and cooked though. The sauce should be almost a glaze, so if too thin, remove the chicken and turn up the heat to reduce the sauce until syrupy. Spoon sauce over the chicken to serve and sprinkle with parsley and lemon rind if you wish. It doesn’t get much better or easier than this!

           

I started with a 2 1/2 lb. boneless cross rib roast, on the smallish side, but with only three of us eating, plenty for dinner and plenty of leftovers! I had slow roasted some plum tomatoes a few days earlier and decided to use those instead of sun-dried (either would be good), and relied on some beautiful Herbes de Provence to provide wonderful flavour.

Browning the roast prior to putting in the oven holds the key to a richly flavored finish. I didn’t use flour in the browning, just glugged some olive oil into the pre-heated pan, seasoned the roast with plenty of salt and pepper and browned it for 4 -5 minutes on each side until it was beautifully colored. Dredging the roast in flour first might thicken the sauce more, but we enjoyed it regardless!

Remove the roast and place in a roasting dish or oven-proof casserole, which will hold it fairly snugly, otherwise the liquid may evaporate too quickly in the oven. Slice the onions, chop the garlic and add to the saute pan to soften, sprinkle with the Herbes de Provence, the chopped tomatoes and stir together for about a minute.

Then add some stock and a small amount of white wine if you have it and scrape every last brown bit off the bottom of the saute pan – this will only take a couple of minutes but will add incredible flavor to the pot roast. If you don’t have white wine, use more stock, about a cup of liquid in total, and add a bit of balsamic vinegar to this mixture before pouring over the roast.

Pour over the roast, cover, and roast in a fairly slow oven for 3 – 4 hours, checking part way through to see if you need to add more stock. I find this depends on your casserole dish as much as anything. The roast should be tender but will still slice fairly well, when done. Remove the roast and let it rest while you mash some potatoes or roast your favourite fall vegetables in a hot oven for about 30 – 35 minutes – I really vary how I do these, sometimes on a metal cookie sheet, sometimes in a glass lasagne pan, sometimes they’re crispy, sometimes they’re softer, they’re always browned and flavourful, we usually fight over them, but hey, that’s what families are for.

I roasted butternut squash, sweet potatoes, parsnips and brussel sprouts (don’t knock ‘em ’til you’ve tried them roasted!), but you can roast any other favorites, the roasting brings out the sweetness and they taste totally different than steamed or boiled. Wash, peel if necessary and cut your vegetables into similar sized chunks for the sweet potatoes, parsnips and squash, halve your brussel sprouts, put on your pan of choice, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper. 30 – 35 minutes at 400 degrees should do it but if they don’t seem to be done, leave them a little longer, but watch closely. If your brussel sprouts are small, add after the others have been roasting about 15 – 20 minutes or they may burn. Enjoy and good eating!