Professional chef, recipe developer, and aspiring locavore Elizabeth Nyland's blog Guilty Kitchen is actually quite guilt free! Promoting fresh locally available ingredients and a zero mile diet, her recipes and photographs appear deliciously crisp and healthy discovers Rajani Mani
What inspires you to blog?
“My blogging inspiration began with learning where the food was coming from, for my first born son. I had dabbled in food knowledge before, even becoming a vegetarian for a number of years because I just didn’t want to deal with where most of North America’s meat comes from. My child inspired in me a thirst for the knowledge of what goes into our food. Namely that it not contain poisonous chemicals or be treated inhumanely or that the workers who make it are also treated fairly. I also love to write, so it is an amazing vehicle for my soul.”
Have you always loved to cook?
“From the time I was a small child, I always wanted to help in the kitchen. My mother would leave detailed instructions for me on how to cook dinner when she would not be home in time to do it herself. From there it led to working in kitchens as my first job, taking chef’s training and cooking with many restaurants for about seven years.”
Has blogging made you more adventurous when it comes to trying out new recipes?
“Absolutely! One of the biggest hurdles in food blogging is coming up with new material for every week. I cannot have the same recipe more than once, so I am always making new recipes and filling up notebooks as I go. I have almost two hundred original recipes so far.”
Tell us about food from your part of the world.
“I live on Vancouver Island, on the West Coast of British Columbia, surrounded by ocean on all sides, so we have a huge amount of seafood here. My favourites include Sockeye salmon and Dungeness crab. On this island there are also numerous cheese makers, artisan bread makers, vineyards, farms, etc. I love digging deep to find all the local goodies I can get my hands on.”
Your favourite cooking smell?
“Without a doubt, it is bacon. If I could not have bacon, then the smell of apple pie baking is a close second.”
5 ingredients you just can’t do without?
“Butter, flour, salt, Dijon mustard and garlic.”
Other than the knife, is there a kitchen tool that you can’t do without?
“My microplane.”
What would you like your last meal to be?
“I would want the following: Appetizer: Prosciutto wrapped goat cheese stuffed figs, grilled on the BBQ; Entrée: Steamed Dungeness crab with clarified garlic butter; Side dish: Mashed potatoes with truffle oil drizzled over and roasted asparagus; Dessert: No need to worry about calories, right? Dark chocolate mocha cake with a whipped cream mocha frosting and ganache poured over. Here’s the recipe…”
DARK CHOCOLATE MOCHA CAKE
Ingredients
2 cups dark brown sugar, packed
1 3/4 cups pastry flour
3/4 cup good quality Dutch Process Cocoa
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup melted unsalted butter
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup hot strong coffee (or 1 tbsp instant coffee with 1 cup hot water)
Method
1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Arrange racks in middle of oven. Grease 29” round pans and line bottoms with parchment paper (makes removal of this ultra-moist cake easier).
2. Stir dry ingredients together.
3. Add eggs, buttermilk, melted butter, and vanilla to dry mix. Mix for 2 minutes with a whisk.
4. Pour in hot coffee and mix thoroughly.
5. Pour into pans and bake for 35-40 minutes.
6. Remove from oven and cool in pans for 20 minutes or more before turning onto wire rack to completely cool. Serve with whipped cream mocha frosting and ganache poured over.
For more delicious servings with a local spin, head over to Elizabeth Nyland’s blog Guilty Kitchen.
No comments:
Post a Comment