Hauntingly Easy

Need to whip up a batch of Halloween-themed cupcakes faster than a bat can fly out of you-know-where?

These ideas are for you.

First, you'll need to bake up a batch of your favourite cupcakes. Use a mix if you want or make them from scratch. A recipe for dark, fudgy, brownie-style cupcakes can be found here.

Now, with stuff you probably already have hanging around in the cupboard, you can do this:

Simply Scary Sayings: Spread vanilla or chocolate icing in a smooth layer over plain cupcakes. Gently melt 50 ml (one quarter cup) chocolate chips in the microwave or for a minute or two (use white chocolate if cupcakes are iced in regular chocolate), scoop into a zippered plastic bag, snip off a very small corner and carefully spell out short and scary sayings such as Boo!, Eek! and R.I.P.

Kitty Cat Cupcakes: Spread white icing in a smooth layer over tops of cupcakes. Use chocolate chips, small black gumdrops or jelly beans for the cat’s eyes and nose. Press on black liquorice shoestring candy for whiskers.

Dracula cupcakes: Spread white icing over cupcakes. Dip a toothpick into a little cherry or raspberry jam or red cake decorating gel. (Thin with a tiny amount of water if necessary) and then poke the toothpick into the icing to make two red vampire fang marks. Use the toothpick to draw a thin trail of raspberry “blood” dripping out of each fang hole.


OK, in the best Count Dracula voice you can muster, repeat after me: "I vant to bite your cupcake!"

Eat, Drink and Be Scary

If ghosts could have babies, I'm thinking this is what they would look like.

These sweet little meringue ghosts are so cute, I can't stand it.

I first saw them on one of my favourite blogs, 1o1 Cookbooks, but then I started seeing them everywhere.

Of course, I had to have them, but sweet as they are, I thought they needed just a little something ... perhaps a pedestal to celebrate their cutitude ... so I perched the pudgy spooksters atop some chocolate cupcakes.

Now we're talking. The taste is spooky good, somewhere between an old-fashioned, chocolate birthday cake slathered with boiled icing and rocky road-style brownies. You know the ones with that ooey-gooey topping of mini marshallows, chopped nuts and chocolate? I'll try to post a recipe for those someday.

Back to the ghosts. I tried a few different things for eyes (chocolate chips, chocolate sprinkles) but finally decided I liked the look of the shiny silver dragee candies best. I like shiny things. Watch your teeth, though. You certainly wouldn't want to suffer a dental injury on the night before the festival of candy gluttony that is Halloween.

MERINGUE GHOST CUPCAKES
The recipe for the meringue ghosts is adapted from one I found on 101 Cookbooks. The cupcakes were my idea. It doesn't really matter which you make first, the cupcakes or the meringue ghosts; both can be made up to a day ahead and stored in an airtight container until you're ready to assemble them.

For the cupcakes:
120 g (4 ounces) good quality dark chocolate, chopped
125 ml (1/2 cup) butter
250 ml (1 cup) white sugar
50 ml (1/4 cup) brown sugar
5 ml (1 tsp) vanilla
3 eggs
175 ml (3/4 cup) unbleached flour
75 ml (1/3 cup) cocoa
1 ml (1/4 tsp) salt
125 ml (1/2 cup) pecan pieces that have been lightly toasted in a dry frying pan

Method:
Preheat oven to 160 C (325 F). Line a muffin tin with paper cupcake cups and lightly spray with cooking spray.
In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt butter but don’t let it get so hot that it sputters. Turn off the heat, add chopped chocolate and set aside for a few minutes to allow the chocolate to melt into the butter. Stir chocolate and butter together until smooth, let cool for a few minutes and then stir in the sugars. Let this mixture cool some more until it is just warm to the touch.
Meanwhile, sift together flour, cocoa and salt into a medium-sized mixing bowl.
Now stir eggs, one at a time, into the chocolate mixture, beating well after each addition. Stir in vanilla.
Pour the chocolate mixture into the flour mixture, add nuts and gently stir everything together just until well-combined and smooth. Do not overmix.
Spoon batter into cupcake cups and bake for 15-20 minutes, rotating the pan once to ensure even baking. The cupcakes are done when a toothpick inserted into the centre of a cupcake comes out not quite clean. (These cupcakes should result in a fudgy, brownie-style cake.)
Cool cupcakes in the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

For the meringue ghosts:
2 very fresh, large egg whites, at room temperature
pinch of salt
pinch of cream of tartar
175 ml (3/4 cup) icing sugar, sifted
tiny silver candy dragees, mini chocolate chips or chocolate sprinkles for eyes
1 milk or dark chocolate bar

Tools:
Spotlessly clean metal mixing bowl (if the bowl has any traces of oil or grease at all, meringue will not whip)pastry bag or large sturdy freezer bag for piping
1 cm (half-inch) plain, round piping tip


Method:
Preheat oven to 95 C (200F).
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Whip egg whites, salt and cream of tartar in an electric mixer until white and frothy, then start sprinkling in the sugar a spoonful at a time with the machine still running. Keep whipping until the whites become glossy and full of volume; this can take as long as 10-15 minutes, depending on the speed of your mixer and the freshness of the eggs. Stop the mixer and check the meringue. It should be able to form stiff peaks that hold their shape.
Fit the piping tip into the pastry bag. If using a plastic freezer bag, snip off one corner just large enough to hold the piping tip, drop the tip into the corner and make sure it’s secure.
Scoop the meringue into the piping bag, twist the top closed and pipe little ghost-like mounds of meringue onto the baking sheets by starting with a 5 cm (2 in) circle and keep working upwards as if you were filling a soft-serve ice-cream cone. Make 12 little ghosts.
Now, with either your finger or a pair of clean tweezers, carefully press two candy eyes into the face of each ghost. (If you have trouble with this step, not to worry; you can always dab a little melted chocolate on for eyes after the ghosts finish baking.)
Place the baking sheets in the oven and bake for an hour. After an hour, rotate the pan, leave the oven door open a crack and bake for another 30 minutes. Check one of the ghosts by touching it lightly. It should no longer be gummy or wobbly. If they still seem wet and sticky, bake them for 10-15 minutes longer until they are dry to the touch. Turn off the oven and leave the meringues to dry for two or three hours, or overnight.

To assemble the cupcakes:
Use a sharp, serrated knife to slice off a tiny amount of the top from the cupcakes, creating a flat surface. Melt the chocolate bar and use it as glue to secure the ghosts to the cupcakes: Paint a little of the melted chocolate on top of each cupcake, perch the ghosts on top and set aside to let the chocolate set up. (If you decided not to apply the candy eyes before baking, you can go ahead and dab some on now. Just dip a toothpick into some of the remaining melted chocolate and dab a couple of beady little eyes on the face each ghost. So cute!)
Variation: Mix 0.5 ml (one eighth tsp) peppermint flavouring into the meringue for chocolate-peppermint meringue ghost cupcakes.

Scallops in Curry Cream

Curries are perfect for fall.

Their deep, rich burnt-ochre colour looks like autumn on a plate, and the combination of earthy, aromatic spices such as cumin, coriander, ginger and turmeric will warm you through and through on a nippy October evening.

Curry is a versatile flavouring as well, pairing perfectly with pork, chicken, beef and seafood, as well as most vegetables. Cauliflower, squash and lentils are surprisingly delicious when cloaked in a spicy curry sauce.

Curries are usually quick and easy to make, too. If you have all your ingredients chopped and ready to go, you can produce spectacularly delicious results in about the same time as it takes to steam a pot of basmati rice.

This is my go-to dish when I have friends coming over at the last minute and I want to make something special, but don't have all day to mess around in the kitchen. I pick up the freshest scallops I can get my hands on, sear them in butter and drape with this sauce.


Everyone swoons.

*You can certainly make your own curry seasoning by mixing up your spices in a food processor, but this is one of the rare times when I think store-bought curry pastes work just fine.





Scallops in Curry Cream


I love scallops in this dish, but you can use just about anything: fresh or leftover chicken or turkey, roasted cubes of squash, stir-fried cauliflower or lentils.

For the seared scallops:
50 ml (1/4 cup) butter
30 ml (2 tbsp) olive oil
500-750 g (1 to 1 1/2 lbs) fresh, large scallops
Salt and freshly ground pepper

For the sauce:
30 ml (2 tbsp) butter or olive oil
50 ml (1/4 cup) each red onion, carrot, red pepper, cut into thin slivers about 7 cm (3 inches) long
2 cloves garlic, crushed and finely minced
Optional: 50 ml (1/4 cup) thinly slivered leek and fennel bulb
1 heaping spoonful (20 ml or a heaping tbsp) mild or medium curry paste; adjust to taste
Dash Thai chili sauce (optional)
50 ml (1/4 cup) dry white wine (good quality drinking wine, not cooking wine)
50 ml (1/4 cup) slivered almonds lightly toasted in a dry skillet
125 ml (1/2 cup) heavy cream

To finish: 50 ml (1/4 cup) loosely packed basil leaves, roughly chopped just before serving Cooked basmati or jasmine rice, to serve four
Lemon wedges

Before you begin, it's important to have all your ingredients chopped and ready to go. This dish goes together very quickly. Don't forget to make rice before starting on the rest of the dish.

First, sear the scallops:
First, heat large skillet over medium-high to high heat. Add butter and oil to pan and get these quite hot and bubbly, but take care that the butter does not burn. Season scallops on both sides with salt and pepper; add them to hot pan.

Remember to give each scallop plenty of space. You want scallops to sizzle and sear in the butter so that a lovely caramelized crust forms on the outside. If the pan is too crowded or not hot enough, scallops will steam and become rubbery. Cook for only two to three minutes per side (do not cook all the way through), then remove to platter and tent with foil to keep warm. Dump fat, wipe out the pan and begin curry sauce.

For the curry sauce:
In the same skillet you used to sear the scallops, heat butter over medium-high heat. Add thinly slivered vegetables and saute just until onion starts to soften and become translucent. Add minced garlic and curry paste; quickly but gently stir into vegetables. If pan is too hot, remove it from the heat for a minute so garlic doesn't burn. Add dash of Thai chili sauce (optional). Stir in wine, using wooden spoon to scrape up and dissolve any caramelized bits that have stuck to bottom of the pan. (This deglazing adds fantastic flavour to the finished dish.) Let wine cook down until it's reduced by half; then stir in cream and bring to a boil.

Now, put it all together:
Add scallops to the sauce, along with any juices that have accumulated in the plate, and gently stir into sauce just long enough to heat through. Serve immediately over hot basmati rice. Scatter each plate with freshly chopped or torn basil leaves and toasted almonds and tuck a lemon wedge on the side.

Enjoy with the rest of the bottle of white wine you opened to make this recipe.

Happy Thanksgiving!

So ... full.

Must ... lie ... down.

It's Thanksgiving and we've just finished gorging ourselves silly on roast turkey and all the fixings.

There were just the four of us, but we probably could have fed 40. There were maple-glazed sweet potatoes, buttercup squash (that came from my parents' garden), mashed potatoes (also grown by my parents), hot buttered beets and sauteed beet greens, brussels sprouts, my mother's homemade cabbage salad and, of course, the turkey and the stuffing.

Oh, and pie. Rich, creamy, dreamy pumpkin pie in buttery, melt-in-your-mouth flaky pastry.

We would have had cranberry sauce, too, but I forgot to buy cranberries.

Why would only four people need so much food? Well, you see, this is what happens when one person doesn't like brussels sprouts and another doesn't like 'orange' vegetables. As for the rest of us? We like just about everything.

Here is my delicious recipe for stuffed turkey. It might be too late for this Thanksgiving, but Christmas is just 72 sleeps away.

Roast Turkey with Classic Mushroom Stuffing

You'll need:

Fresh local turkey

For the stuffing:

75 ml (1/3 cup) butter

1 medium red onion, chopped

500 ml (2 cups) chopped celery

500 ml (2 cups) mushrooms, sliced

1 large apple, cubed (remove the core but do not peel)

20 ml (1 heaping tbsp) crumbled dried sage

5 ml (1 tsp) thyme

5 ml (1 tsp) kosher salt

2 ml (1/2 tsp)freshly ground pepper

2 litres (8 cups) cubed day-old bread, spread out on a cookie sheet and allowed to dry
250 ml (1 cup) toasted pecans
250 ml (1 cup) raisins
125 ml (1/2 cup) dried cranberries

250-500 ml (1-2 cups) chicken stock

For roasting the bird:

50 ml (1/4 cup) butter

kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

thyme

What to do:

Rinse turkey in cold water and pat dry inside and out with paper towels. Set aside.

Heat butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Saute onions and celery in butter just until they start to become translucent. Add mushrooms and stir constantly until the mushrooms turn golden and have released most of their moisture. Be sure to keep the pan snapping hot so the mushrooms saute in the butter and turn golden rather than steam and turn grey. Add the cubed apple and fry a minute or so more. Add sage, thyme, salt and pepper and take pan off the heat.

Place cubed bread in a large bowl. Add nuts, raisins, dried cranberries. Pour the sauteed vegetables over the top and toss together gently. Pour in just enough chicken stock to moisten the stuffing but not so much that the mixture becomes mushy.

Preheat the oven to 220 C (425 F).

Position the turkey upright in a large mixing bowl with the cavity toward you. This will help to keep the bird steady while you spoon the stuffing into the cavity. Loosely pack the stuffing into the bird. Truss the cavity closed with trussing needles and string. Turn the bird around fill the neck cavity with stuffing. Truss that end closed as well. Now carefully lift the turkey out of the bowl and place it breast-side up in the roasting pan. Tuck the wings under the body and tie kitchen string around the turkey, making sure the drumsticks are secured as tightly as possible to the body of the bird. This will help keep the bird moist and prevent the drumsticks from drying out.

(If you have any stuffing leftover at this point, pour it into a buttered casserole dish, cover with foil and store in the fridge for now. You can bake it in the oven when the turkey has finished roasting.)

Rub softened butter all over the turkey breast and drumsticks. You could also use olive oil, if you'd prefer. Sprinkle the turkey with kosher salt, freshly ground black pepper and crumbled thyme leaves.

Roast, uncovered, in a 220 C (425 f) oven for 15-20 minutes, then reduce the temperature to 160 C (325 F) and continue roasting until a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the thigh reads 82 C (180 F). You will need to roast the stuffed turkey for 20 minutes per pound to ensure proper cooking.

When the turkey is done, remove from the oven, place the turkey on a platter and tent with foil. The bird needs to rest for at least 20 minutes before carving to allow the juices to settle back into the meat. While the turkey is resting, prepare the rest of your dinner and make the gravy.

Welcome to my blog!

Martha has one. Rachael Ray has one. So does Lucy Waverman.
Come to think of it, most of my culinary heroes have one.

Well, now I have one, too!

Welcome to my very own food blog.

I spend so many hours drooling over the writing and photography of other foodies, I thought it was high time that I started blogging and sharing my work online, too.

But bear with me: This whole blogging thing is new to me and I'm still a little wobbly on my training wheels, so I'm going to have to start slow ... real slow.

So, on this first time around the block, or should I say blog, let's try something quick and easy: a simple, very tasty recipe for Potato Crusted Haddock Fillets.

Now, if this recipe looks familiar to some of you, it's because it was first published a few months ago in my newspaper column, Comfort Food, which appears in The Chronicle Herald's Arts & Life section every other Wednesday. So many people have e-mailed me asking if I could please repeat the recipe, I thought it was as good a choice as any for my blogging debut.

I hope you enjoy it! Please let me know what you think, and thanks for dropping by.

Nadine Fownes


POTATO-CRUSTED HADDOCK FILLETS




4 fillets (100-175 g/4-6 ounces) fresh haddock (salmon, trout or fresh cod would also be delicious)
2-3 large russet potatoes, peeled and grated
30 ml (2 tbsp) mayonnaise
15 ml (1 tbsp) freshly squeezed lemon juice
salt and freshly ground pepper
fresh herbs, such as dill or basil (optional)
canola oil and butter


Method:
Pat the fillets dry with paper towels.


Whisk together the mayonnaise and lemon juice and lightly brush this over both sides of the fish. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.


Take half of the grated potatoes and divide over the tops of each fillet, spreading out the potato to cover the fish. Press it firmly into place. Season again with a bit more salt and pepper.


Heat equal parts of oil and butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat (about a 15 ml – 1 tbsp of each should do, depending on the size of your pan.) When the pan is hot, carefully place the fish potato-side down in the pan.



Take the rest of the grated potato and spread it out over the top sides of the fillets. Let the fish cook without turning it until the bottom potato crust is golden and crispy, about 3-4 minutes. Use a large spatula to flip the fish and continue cooking for another 3-4 minutes, depending on the thickness of the fish, until the other side is crispy and golden as well. (Thinner fillets might not take as long, thicker fillets may take a few minutes extra.)



Remove from the pan and drain on paper towel. Transfer to warm plates and serve immediately garnished with freshly chopped dill and lemon wedges.


Note: Be careful not the crowd the fish in the pan or the potato will steam instead of fry and it won't become crispy. If your pan is too small to give each fillet its own dance space in the pan (a couple of centimetres on all sides should be sufficient, as in the photograph.)