Dear lord.

It’s Wednesday and I’m still on light snacks. At least I’m sleeping again. At least I don’t need to take thirsty oral baths in large glasses of cold water every 5 minutes. Is there a USB water hose yet? What? Confused? So was I.

On Sunday, after a moderately enjoyable drive through the rain soaked Lauentiens, myself and another well chosen four took advantage of a 6:30 reservation the Pied de Cochon Sugar Shack. Well chosen? Yes! Adequate team size? Noooo.

I love Au Pied de Cochon. The recipes and approaches to transforming available, local, and simple fairs are truly inspiring; almost as multilingual (gastronomically) as the dining room itself.

“Taber… c’est bon!”
“F*%@k – I know!”

The setting is impeccable. Mapled woods; mapled syrups; maple glazed eyes. We arrived on time and were offered our own table; at the time, hurdling the single shared bench with two others seemed almost trivial. Little did I know that bench would soon become akin to a WALL keeping me trapped tightly at a table that knew not but to give… and give… and eventually… the last thing to give is you…

… and it’s up (picture waving hands and SOS written in fats and syrup).

Ok. Enough with the run-on sentences… I can’t tell too much about the dishes as they were tricky to deconstruct, but I will make comments… and the menu (in order):

Opening ceremonies

BEER: 2 liters per person; done.

Pea Soup with Foie Gras and Ham
Pea soup always seems somewhat gritty, and that’s why, as a kid, I had had trouble enjoying a yellow lentil or pea dish. This, on the other hand, was unique. While still epically and perfectly pea, the diced and slightly melted foie gras was, in context, like a hose on a fire.

Salad with Cheese, Smoked Salty Ham, Oreilles de Crisse (et crisse y sont bon!), Pecans…
Dear god – this is a salad? Just the lettuce was “dressed” to impress. How can a leaf I’ve worked with so many times taste this different; great; crisp; complex? Lovely.

Chicken Feet
Here is an opportunity for me to crack some overplayed foot fetish joke, but let me tell you a story. Dim Sum, New Years Day, 2010. Some husky young man, sitting in my point of view, knew and loved his chicken feet. I mean really did love them. I sighed, “Ok. It’s time to play.” Not good. No. Wings; yes. Feet; no. No. No, not again. Here they were. Buck-buck-buckling at the knee – do I believe what I see? Feet somehow staring at up me? But you know what… it ain’t chicken butt. Foots are back on the menu! Not at Dim Sum; no; these were yum.

House-made Salmon Gravlax with Buckwheat Pancakes and Creton
Clean fresh salmon; sweet buckwheat; smooth and salty creton; maple syrup. Done.

Tourtiere a la APDC (no picture; too tasty) with real ketchup aux fruits
This was an add-on; extra $10 for the table; half a meat pie. This was where the bench started walling me in. A buttery crusted delight (or meatily packed butter delight) worth the trip on its own. Could’ve been the meal too…

Savoury Souffle cored with Maple-Smoked Smoked Sturgeon and Topped with a Braised Pulled Pork Shoulder served in a cast iron pan
This souffle was an amazing dish that successfully juxtaposed the soft cloudy eggs and creamy sturgeon against a mean and meaty shoulder. Fantastic!

Lobster, Ground Pork, and Foie Gras Stuffed Cabbage Served on Cream Poached Puy Lentils in a Lobster Roe Sauce
As this point, I started shaking my head and implied that “this ain’t right”. I could have just had the lentils; some lentils; a lentil. The were sauced in what might have been lightly smoked lobster roe and cream. Hm. Caviar and cream; salty dream. I officially needed help getting out of my seat – and “another brick in the wall…”

Duck, Celeriac, and Beef Tongue
Can’t move. Must eat tongue… and it was amazing. Sweet and tender, slight hint of liver or boudain-esque, classic notes of tongue, rich with a clean finish. My mom used to make lamb tongue (she likes tongue and marrow – used to creep me out – now I love it all), and I found this very different.

Tire d’érable
Yes. More maple product please – why not! WHY NOT! (insert sugar induced tantrum here!! DO IT!!!!!)

Fried Grand-père Doughnut
Can’t move. Must eat fried Grand-père donut, fried in duck fat, with maple syrup…

Maple Cream and Custard Mille Feuille
OMG. I love mille-feuille. I hate bad mille feuille – too many of those around. This was heaven… did not eat enough of this.

Banana Split with Maple barbe à papa, Maple Sponge Toffee, Maple-Glazed Peanuts, and Maple Ice Cream
No comment. (quietly sobbing boohoo-crycry).

Last thoughts: “Again!?”

The drive home (2 hours later)… you know when you overfill your coffee and you have to drive really carefully because bumps sucks and your coffee pops out the top… felt like an overfilled coffee on bumpy road.

Note: I seem to have some weird luck with food and cooking, both good and bad. With that said, while enjoying one of these fine dishes, I believe it was the lobster, I stumble upon what I thought was a piece of cabbage – and I chewed and chewed – then I pulled and pulled and a 3.5 inch piece of plastic emerged, like perforated the top of a freezer bag full of berries. Yikes.

Hey, we all make mistakes; some of us make them worse, some of us better – and better it got. I told them, they blushed, and they returned with two trays of rum and a maple reduit shooters. I turned red too! Now we all matched; me, the 3 staff, and the other 4 people at the table. 2 liters plus 2 shots… hm… coffee time? Think I’ll start smoking again too…

Ah, but that’s not all…

…because it still didn’t sit well with them, they dropped on my head a last dessert, and with that, the closing ceremony: count them 5! (or one per Homer) homemade APDC Sugar Shack Maple Donuts (consumed that next day and was in fact my only meal that day). Dunno. Fried in duck fat? Kissed by angels? Opiate laced?

SO – DAMN – GOOD and GET– IT – AWAY! I’m CLEAN NOW (whilst gnawing a carrot and scrubbing with kale)!

Bof. Fini!

We’ve been a bit lazy about adding new posts these days; I’m not quite sure why. There are some fun posts in the works, including a description of our decadent meal at the Au Pied de Cochon sugarshack, as well as one all about bananas, chocolate, pecans and cinnamon. But until we can get those ones out, here’s a quick post about some easy, easy chocolate truffles with a hint of Grand Marnier.

Not so long ago, I wrote about my “cheat” fudge – a really simple, foolproof way to get yourself that quick chocolate fix. These truffles aren’t much different. I tend to get dismayed by all those truffle recipes out there that call for tempering and a truckload of chocolate that I can’t afford, so when I found this recipe for easy chocolate truffles, I was thrilled. I did feel like I was cheating a little, but that’s okay, because the end result doesn’t taste like cheating!

You can basically flavour this base recipe with any alcohol you like. I opted for Grand Marnier, and it was a fine choice. Two tablespoons didn’t overpower the truffle, but just added a light, orange tinge, slightly tasting of alcohol. The truffle was creamy and smooth – my only caution is to really make sure that the chocolate is completely melted. I was a bit impatient, and a few of the truffles had the occasional chunk of hard chocolate. That’s easily fixed though.

I rolled the chocolates in cocoa powder, and enjoyed its slight bitterness. Next time, I would add some grated orange peel to the chocolate though, I think.

Dark Chocolate Grand Marnier Truffles
adapted from Joy of Baking

8 ounces (227 grams) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup (180 ml) heavy whipping cream
2 tablespoons (28 grams) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons alcohol (Cognac, brandy, Grand Marnier, kirsch, rum, bourbon, or Kahlua to name a few) (optional)

Different Coatings for Truffles:
Dutch-Processed Cocoa Powder
Confectioners Sugar (Icing or Powdered)
Toasted and Chopped Nuts (pecans, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts)
Toasted Coconut
Shaved Chocolate

1. Place the chopped chocolate in a medium sized stainless steel bowl. Set aside.

2. Heat the cream and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil. Immediately pour the boiling cream over the chocolate and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Stir with a whisk until smooth. If desired, add the liqueur. Cover and place in the refrigerator until the truffle mixture is firm (this will take several hours or overnight).

3. Place your coatings for the truffles on a plate. Remove the truffle mixture from the refrigerator. With your hands, or else a melon baller or small spoon form the chocolate into round or mis-shaped bite-sized balls. Immediately roll the truffle in the coating and place on a parchment lined baking sheet or tray. Cover and place in the refrigerator until firm. Truffles can be refrigerated for a couple of weeks or else frozen for a couple of months. Bring to room temperature before serving.

Makes 30 small truffles.

As any baker knows, we’re often left with leftover buttermilk. This just happened to me this week; I made a chocolate cake with salted caramel filling and chocolate sour cream frosting for my father’s birthday dinner (sadly, no photos of this heavenly cake, as we were at a restaurant and I have no photos…) that called for buttermilk. I also made too much frosting, so I decided to spend the next evening whipping up a one-bowl recipe for vanilla cupcakes that uses buttermilk. And nothing better to use up chocolate frosting than a vanilla cupcake, so what an added bonus!

These are pretty much the perfect cupcake. Lightly vanilla-flavoured, they’re versatile enough to go with pretty much any frosting, or filling, or flavouring. Their texture is the cupcake-ideal: a little bit dense, a little bit airy, nicely moist. They’re really easy to make too; I didn’t even pull out the stand mixer, but just mixed it all together in one bowl with a spoon. For a straightforward, easy cupcake, these are the ones! I wouldn’t change a thing.

The chocolate frosting is a great choice for these cupcake and for any cake or sweet that demands a seriously chocolately and tangy frosting. I mixed together the sour cream and melted chocolate, and then just added icing sugar by the 1/2 cup, until I got to the flavour and consistency I wanted. I would guess I used 2 cups total, but it could’ve been more, could’ve been less. This is one seriously chocolate frosting!

Buttermilk-Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Sour Cream Frosting
adapted from Martha Stewart

CUPCAKES
1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons buttermilk
1/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 12 muffin tins with paper liners.

2. Sift flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a mixer bowl. Transfer bowl to mixer, and add egg, yolk, water, buttermilk, oil, and vanilla. Beat on low speed until mixture is well combined and smooth, about 3 minutes.

3. Divide batter among liners. Bake, rotating tins halfway through, until golden brown and a tester inserted into centers comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Let cool in tins. Invert cupcakes onto racks, and let cool completely. (Cupcakes can be stored for up to 3 days.)

CHOCOLATE SOUR CREAM FROSTING

12 oz semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 teaspoon instant coffee
1 teaspoon hot water
1 1/4 cup sour cream
icing sugar (about 2 cups)

1. Melt chocolate in a double-boiler.

2. Dissolve instant coffee in hot water. Stir coffee into the sour cream.

3. With a mixer, beat chocolate with sour cream. Add icing sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, to the chocolate mixture, until you reach the desired consistency and flavour.