Wish List

Working as a pastry chef is different than baking at home. Most people don't realize that being a pastry chef is hard work. It is a very physical job where you're on your feet for 8 to 10 hours a day, you are constantly lifting heavy bags of flour or big bowls of dough and the heat in the kitchen can be hotter than Hades on some days.

However, there are advantages. Most professional kitchens are just that - professional. Your equipment is at your fingertips, ingredients are organized and in bins just where you need them, tables can be scraped and wiped down with ease and you have large ovens that fit all of your trays and give a nice, steady heat especially if you are lucky enough to have a convection oven. Essentially, the kitchen works with you.

Which brings me to today. I am at home baking bread, something I know how to do. I used to make at least a dozen loaves a day when I worked at the restaurant, no problem. And still, most of my baking is done at work not in my own home kitchen. My problem today was with my oven, an ordinary electric oven that heats from the top and bottom. Unfortunately for me it heats more from the top than the bottom so my bread was baked on the top but not on the bottom.

So my wish for today is that somehow, someday I will get a convection oven. I already have my eye on a steam assisted convection oven from KitchenAid. Perhaps Santa will think I've been a good pastry chef and send one my way next Christmas....then again, my birthday is coming up - perhaps he'll show up early.

Fun in the Kitchen

I’ve always had an interest in baking and from a young age I would watch and “help” my mother in the kitchen. I had my own little tin baking set with wooden rolling pin and there would always be enough dough left over to make my own jam pie. While she scooped out cookies and rolled out dough, I would be up to my elbows in flour working on my masterpiece.

I still have that tin baking set but now my girls are the ones who use it. They eagerly help me out when I make pies and cookies, sneaking a bit of cookie dough and rolling out their own jam pies. I’m thrilled that they want to spend time in the kitchen with me because the time spent together is much more important than the product that results from our efforts. Baking is fun for us and we get to be silly, share secrets and sing off key to the music on the radio.

So when I’m asked for advice and recipes for baking with kids I always suggest keeping it simple. Children really don’t mind that much what the end result is – they just want to spend time with you. So whether you are making cookies, muffins or biscuits it doesn’t really matter. The act of being together is what is important.

Here is a quick and easy recipe to make with your children:

Berry Crisp

2 cups rolled oats (not instant)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup flour
1 cup white cake mix
1 cup butter

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. Chop up butter and then add to dry ingredients. Using a pastry blender, knife or your hands, break up the butter and mix into the dry ingredients. They butter bits should be the size of peas.

In a greased casserole dish put 1/2 of the crisp mixture and pat down gently. Then mix together:

4 cups berries (I used blueberries and strawberries) fresh or frozen
1 cup white sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1 Tbsp flour
1/2 plain yogourt or sour cream

Mix berry mixture well and then pour over crumb base. Top with remaining crisp mixture and pat down gently.

Bake in 325F oven for 30 minutes or until the fruit starts to bubble from the sides. Serve warm with ice cream!!

My Kitchen Garden

I’m not a gardener, I am a pastry chef. I know all about the 100 mile diet, buying local, sustainable living and greenhouse gases and how far my food has to travel to get to my plate. And up until now I didn’t care about it. I’m a busy mom and it is easier for me to go to the grocery store and pick out my food than to think about where that food comes from and its effect on the environment.

However, at the end of last summer, after spending more than $1500 to have a perfect lawn and ending up with weeds, I half jokingly said to my husband that we should just dig it up. That’s when the idea of a kitchen garden began to take root. I started visiting websites, ordering seed catalogues and imagining what it would be like to have a kitchen garden in my backyard. I could pick fresh lettuce and tomatoes to go with my dinner, eat beans right off the vine and introduce my children to what real food tastes like.

So here I am, early March, and the freezing rain has cancelled school for the day and the kids are looking for something to do. I have some seed packets and a little plastic greenhouse so I decide, although a bit early, to start our garden. I’ve got a general idea of what I want to grow – lettuce, tomatoes and cucumbers – but now I have to put it down on paper and figure out how to make it a reality.

I’ve figured out that what I want is a “potager” garden - a French method of gardening where the garden plot looks nice while still providing for the kitchen. This means including flowers and herbs – both edible and non-edible – in the layout to add colour and interest. So while the snow is still on the ground outside I’m plotting my backyard on a piece of paper and trying to come up with a design.