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Author Archives: Jay Elle
Rigatoni Rosé with Sausage
It’s hard to deny the fact that pasta is delicious. Spaghetti, penne, macaroni in tomato sauce, bolognese, rosé, alfredo; they are all good.
This pasta dish was made on a cold winter’s day, in the middle of Toronto’s wicked Ice Storm of 2013. Rigatoni noodles are paired with crispy cooked sausage and tossed in a thick and delicious rosé sauce.
Directions:
1. Set a large pot of water to boil. Once boiled, cook pasta as instructed on the box.
2. In a medium-sized frying pan over medium heat, drizzle 1 tbsp of olive oil. Once heated, add sausage of your choice. The photo above depicts fried all-beef hot dog slices, due to the inclement weather and lack of supplies, but turkey or pork sausage removed from its casing and crumbled works just as well!
3. Once cooked through and crispy, add 1.5 cups of marinara sauce. Cook for 3 minutes and add 3 tbsp of heavy whipping cream, or until sauce becomes desired shade of pink.
4. When the rigatoni has cooked, drain carefully and add back into pot. Cover with the sausage/rosé blend, and stir together.
5. Add a sprinkle of parmesan cheese before serving and enjoy!
Chef Warren’s Stovetop Lasagna
“This lasagna dish was cooked in 35 minutes on top of the stove. When cooking in Kitchen Charm cookware, the heat is distributed evenly so everything cooks through at the same time! Be sure to check your temperature as sometimes the lower heat setting and cooking for a longer time may be advised. Happy cooking!” – Chef Warren Goodgoll
Ingredients
1 Box dry lasagna noodle
1 ½ lb meat sauce
500 grams grated mozzarella cheese
Med container of cottage cheese
4 tbsp beef broth or water
Preserve Your Wedding Cake And Eat It On Your Anniversary by BrideBox.Com!
Preserving the top tier of your wedding cake and eating it a year later is known as an omen for good luck. You’ll get to celebrate your first anniversary together by reliving one of the most special moments you’ve shared. This wedding tradition is one that has been around for ages, and it’s important you take the proper steps if you are going to preserve your wedding cake so that it’s safe to eat a whole year later. We guide you through the process of bringing your wedding cake home at the end of the night.
Beginning steps
First off, make sure you let your caterer and staff know that you intend to preserve the top tier of your cake to take home. Next, choose someone reliable and that you can trust to be in charge of wrapping up the cake and putting it somewhere safe for you. As you will be exiting the reception to go off to your honeymoon or hotel room, the last thing you want to be on your mind is whether your wedding cake makes it home instead of into the trash. Choose your sister, a bridesmaid or your wedding planner, and ask them to carefully take the top tier off of the cake. Have them remove any decorations that may break and would make it difficult to wrap up the cake. You need to properly wrap up the cake so that it keeps its moist texture and so that it doesn’t dry out over time. Remove your cake from cardboard if it so happens to be on cardboard, for the taste may seep into the cake. It is important to put your cake in the freezer for about 30 minutes so that the icing hardens. Try to keep your cake away from anything with a strong or pungent smell so that the cake doesn’t absorb these flavors!
Photo Credit: Style Me Pretty
Step-by-step process
Now that you have a cake with frozen icing, you are ready to wrap the cake for good so that it does not go stale for another year. Cover the cake fully with plastic wrap, as tight as you possibly can. First wrap it with multiple layers of plastic wrap, and avoid foil for the bottom layers so that you do not get freezer burn on your cake! After wrapping your cake with several layers of plastic, wrap it with at least two layers of aluminum foil. We then suggest putting your cake into an airtight bag such as Ziploc. The more wrapping and protection you have over the cake, the less likely it is to get freezer burn or have any remnant smells from the freezer. You may want to put some sort of ribbon or decoration on the wrapped cake so that you don’t mistake it for something else and accidentally open it. Why not use something leftover from your reception decor? That way you’ll have another nice memory from your special day when you open the cake on your anniversary!
Photo Credit: Divacratus
Types of cakes
It is also important to know the type of cake you are eating. Some cakes will hold up much better than others. The more delicate your cake is, the more stale, less moist and drier your cake will become. For example, angel food cake is a lighter cake that will not hold up so well. Anything with fillings such as custards, creams or puddings will also not do so well. Cakes such as chocolate and carrot are more likely to stay more moist and have a longer shelf life than cakes such as fruit cake or white cake.
It’s time to eat!
After a year, it is finally time to eat your cake. Make sure to begin defrosting your cake a day in advance in your refrigerator. Remove the cake from its wrapping and let it continue defrosting. It will taste the best if you let it sit in room temperature for a bit before diving into your wedding anniversary cake!
Another option in the case that you do not want to freeze your cake the night of your wedding day is to order a similar, smaller cake on your one year anniversary. Many bakeries will work with you to provide the same cake you had on your wedding day. This will help you remember and enjoy your wedding day cake without having to deal with the freezing of the cake.
Photo Credit: Arkansas Bride
Blog Post Credit to Bride Box Blog
Fall Desserts
The seasons are changing right before our eyes. With October flying by, the leaves are turning from summer’s green to beautiful shades of amber. Stores are filling up with beautiful autumn themed items, from prop pumpkins to bejeweled pine cones. With Thanksgiving only a few days away, here at Kitchen Charm Canada, we’re already salivating over dishes that have not even been made yet! Scents of cinnamon, cardamom, clove, and ginger are in the air, and we could not be more excited. Here are a round-up of some delicious desserts that were found across the internet!
Individual Salted Caramel Apple Pie’s from SugarApron.Com
Adapted from Just a Taste
For the dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup cold sour cream
For the filling:
2 large Granny Smith apples diced and peeled
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup sugar
2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
8 store-bought soft caramels, roughly chopped or use homemade salted caramels
A sprinkle of sea salt (if you use store bought caramels)
Egg wash
1 egg lightly whisked
1 Tablespoon water
Crystal sanding sugar (optional)
1. Whisk together the flour, salt and baking powder in a large bowl. Add the cubed butter to the bowl and use your fingers to work the butter into the flour until the mixture is the consistency of wet sand. Stir in the sour cream (the dough will be very wet), and then turn the dough out onto a well-floured work surface.
2. Knead the dough a few times until it comes together, adding more flour, 1 teaspoon at a time, if the dough is too sticky to handle. Wrap it securely in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes while you make the filling.
3. In a medium bowl, mix apples, lemon juice, flour, sugar, and cinnamon. Set aside.
4. Preheat the oven to 425ºF.
5. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and rolling it out onto a well-floured surface. Using a 3-inch circular cookie cutter or cup, cut out as many circles as possible. Re-roll the scraps and continue cutting out circles until you run out of dough, ensuring you end up with an even number of circles. (You should have approximately 18 3-inch circles.)
6. Place half of the crusts on the parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Top each pie crust circle with about a tablespoon of the apple mixture. Cover with a few pieces of caramel. (Sprinkle with sea salt if you using a store bought caramel)
7. Place a second dough circle atop each filled circle then use a fork to crimp the edges together, sealing each pie. Using a sharp knife, cut two or three vents on the top of each pie. Brush each pie with the egg wash using a pastry brush.
8. Bake in pre-heated oven for around 15 minutes, or until pies are golden brown. Allow to cool on a cooling rack. Keep in an airtight container and enjoy!
-Photo and Recipe Credit to Sugar Apron
Baked Peaches and Cream from MadeFromPinterest.net
Ingredients
4 Peaches
Butter
Honey
1 cup mascarpone
½ cup Heavy whipping cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
flaked almonds
cinnamon sugar
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350°. Cut the peaches in half and remove pits. Place in a baking dish. I used a cast iron skillet.
- Place a pat of butter on each peach half and drizzle with honey.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes. Make sure to keep an eye on them so they brown but don’t burn. The time is dependent on the size of your peaches.
- While they are baking and browning, mix your cream, mascarpone and vanilla extract. Lightly toast almonds in pan.
- When your peaches are baked and browned remove them from the oven.
- Place peach on plate. Spoon remaining butter and honey in pan and pool over the peach. Place a heaping spoonful of marscapone cream on peach and top with almonds and cinnamon sugar.
- Serve and enjoy!
Photo and Recipe Credit to Made From Pinterest
Pumpkin Cupcakes with Browned Butter Cream Cheese Frosting and Sugared Pecans from YammiesNoshery.com
Ingredients
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon cloves
Frosting Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
8 oz. cream cheese
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups powdered sugar
Sugared Pecan Ingredients
2/3 cup pecans
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
Instructions
Preheat oven to 375ºF. Combine the pumpkin, eggs, oil, vanilla, and sugar. Stir together the remaining ingredients and add to the pumpkin mixture, mixing just until blended. Bake in a muffin tin for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
Frosting Instructions
Cook the butter in a pan on the stove until browned. Add the cream cheese, vanilla, cinnamon, and powdered sugar and mix until smooth. Chill the frosting until it’s pretty cool and then beat until fluffy.
Pecan Instructions:
Combine the pecans, sugar, and butter in a pan on the stove. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the sugar is all melted. Cool on a piece of greased parchment paper.
Photo and Recipe Credit to Yammie’s Noshery
Chef Warren’s Stovetop Pineapple Cake
Ingredients
1 box Duncan Hines yellow cake mix
Zest and juice of ½ lemon
1 tsp chopped ginger
3 tbl brown sugar
2 tbl unsalted butter
1 can pineapple rings
Maraschino cherries
1 large egg
Directions
Take the ginger, lemon zest and a couple TBL of the pineapple juice. Microwave it for 30 sec.
In a bowl mix cake mix, egg, ginger lemon mixture and pineapple juice from the can of pineapple rings. Mix them together to give it the consistency of a thick pancake batter.
In the Kitchen Charm 8” skillet melt the butter at a med low heat, sprinkle the sugar eavenly around.
Add the pineapple rings, put a maraschino cherry in the middle of each pineapple ring.
Add cake mixture, cover with redo vent open. Wait for steam to come out of the vent. It doesn’t have to whistle. Aprox 12 min. sometimes the cake may rise enough and block the vent. You should not need to cook more than 15min.
After the steam has started to come out of the vent, or after the time, take the pot of the burner if you are cooking on electric turn the stove off. Try to not open the lid to look this will release the heat inside the pan and the cake may not finish cooking. Let sit for ten minutes with the vent closed.
Take the lid off, run a knife around the side of the pot and invert onto a plate.
If you would like to make a quick caramel sauce, turn the pan on to a med heat add 1 cup heavy cream reduce till nice consistency. Aprox 3-5 min. the sugar and bits will mix the reduction to make a nice cream to pour over the slice of cake.
Check out our products used in this recipe on our website!
– Chef Warren at chefwarren.ca
Easy Chicken & Veggie Stirfry with Quinoa
This dish is incredibly easy, and quick to whip up! It is also very filling and HEALTHY! If you are watching your sodium, just be sure to accordingly adjust the amount of soy sauce/teriyaki sauce/hoisin sauce. We pre-made the quinoa and marinated the chicken earlier in the day, but this can all be done in less than an hour at dinnertime.
Start with two chicken breasts, sliced into strips. Put into a Ziploc bag, and add garlic, ginger powder, soy sauce and hoisin sauce. Close Ziploc bag and mix around, making sure to coat each piece evenly with the marinade. Leave to marinate for up to 12 hours in the fridge, or while you prepare the quinoa and vegetables.
Prepare quinoa according to box directions if you’re making the whole amount (you will have leftovers, but you can keep the cooked quinoa in the fridge for a few days and add to salads, substitute for rice, etc.) If you choose not to make the whole box, the quinoa to water ratio is 1:2; in other words, use 2 cups of water for every cup of quinoa.
While the quinoa is cooking, rinse and chop the broccoli into small pieces, wipe down the mushrooms with a damp cloth and chop, and chop up cabbage (or, simply used pre-chopped cabbage from a coleslaw mix).
In one pot, we cooked the chicken until done, and in another, we cooked the veggies until slightly softened. We added the chicken to the vegetables, and stirfried with a small amount of hot sauce, teriyaki sauce, and a dash more soy sauce.
Once the chicken and veggies were well coated, we added 3 large scoops of quinoa, and tossed everything together before serving. (The picture below is post-serving). Enjoy!
INGREDIENTS
2 chicken breasts, sliced
1 tbsp chopped garlic
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp (+1 tsp) soy sauce
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 box Black & Gold quinoa (or less, your choice)
1 cup chopped broccoli
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1 cup chopped cabbage
2 tsp hot sauce
2 tbsp teriyaki sauce
Serves 3. Everything cooked in Kitchen Charm cookware.