Tropical Fruit Sundaes

We have recently been blessed by having guests stay with us for as much as two weeks at a time which, while wonderful, does present a challenge in coming up with new menus each day. Many B&Bs and guest houses simply create 8 menus and rotate them, but I much prefer (whenever possible) to surprise our guests every day with something new and hopefully appealing. I find that this is especially tricky with respect to fruit dishes as there are only so many combinations out there and often there's a danger of it just becoming one more fruit salad or broiled grapefruit! However, what this (very nice to have) problem does do is push me to be more creative and the results can be great fun. I was out scouring the fruit and vegetable markets on Commercial Drive for ideas and found myself drawn to the amazing aroma of ripe guavas, which I could smell long before I saw them. I've had disappointing results with guavas in the past as they are often not very ripe when we get them here in Canada, and sometimes full of hard seeds. I bought them anyway, along with a selection of other tropical fruits, and then started brainstorming about what I could do with them. Obviously, the answer to hard seeds in a small fruit is to blend it and push it through a sieve, so that's what I did. Then I whipped up some cream cheese and blended it together with the guava pulp. It was quite thick so I thinned it down with whipping cream & added a very small amount of icing sugar - so far, all good! How can you go wrong with guavas, cream cheese, icing sugar and whipping cream?! I taste tested the guava cream on my grandson, who tends to eat like a sparrow, and he gobbled it up, along with healthy portions of fruit! So, then, my new dish, which I call "Tropical Fruit Sundaes" was born. (By the way, in looking on the internet, I discovered I wasn't nearly as original as I thought I was! There are quite a few recipes out there for guava cream, which appears to be often used as a pastry filling.) I blind baked some puff pastry tart shells, spread a bit of chocolate sauce in the bottom, piled them high with a mixture of tropical fruit - Satsumu mandarins, Ya pears, mango, bananas, papaya, kiwi fruit and green grapes for colour. Then I poured a generous amounts of the guava cream over the top, a drizzle of either chocolate or strawberry sauce to create the appearance of a sundae, a dollop of whipped cream and topped it all off with a fresh cherry! Yum, yum! The biggest danger is of me gaining 50 pounds from wolfing down all the left over guava cream!

Tomatillos - Amazing to Grow and Delicious in Huevos Verde!

I adore almost every type of flowering plant in the world but, if it comes down to a choice, I always make room for a food producing plant over a flowering one (well, there are a few exceptions - the gorgeous white tree peony that just finished blooming has a special spot in amongst the blueberries, for example!). In my wee garden, I do have to be selective about what I plant and only those that produce a good harvest get a second chance! I had never grown Tomatillos "Physalis ixocarpa" until last year when a friend gave me a started purple plant as a companion to the little green variety "Toma Verde" that I had purchased from a local garden shop. These definitely fall within the class of plants that will always have a spot in my garden from now on. They do grow fairly tall and spindly and seemed to like the trellis they were sharing with a potted plant nearby. Of the two varieties I tried, the Toma Verde was far superior, both in the number and size of fruit produced. The little fruits amazed me as they appeared in their little papery wrappers, which slowly began splitting open to reveal the firm, shiny green fruit within. When I first touched one I was surprised at the slightly sticky feeling of the skin of the fruit. With the bountiful harvest of the Toma Verde, I had to immediately begin looking for ways to cook my little treasures. Pouring over on-line recipes I, as usual, ended up combining a few and came up with a "Salsa Verde" that I've been making ever since and which I love (what can I say - I adore Mexican food!). Tomatillos are expensive in Vancouver in the winter months so I can't wait to get some more plants into the garden for this year. In our guest house, one of our basic menus includes Huevos Verde - basically poached eggs nestled in some Salsa Verde in a tortilla shell with cheese melted over the top. Throw in some refritos (i.e. refried beans), a little sour cream and some home made guacamole, and you have a feast! Here's the recipe for Salsa Verdes:

Salsa Verde

10 medium tomatillos, husked (cut larger ones in half)

1 small onion

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/2 - 2 jalapeno peppers finely chopped (I only use 1/2 for my guests)

1/2 c. chopped cilantro

Juice of 1/2 a Lime

Salt & Pepper to taste

Directions: place tomatillos on baking sheet and roast at 350 degrees for 20 - 30 minutes, or until cooked through and juice is escaping. Drain (but reserve liquid for thinning salsa later, if required). Place tomatillos, garlic, jalapeno, cilantro & salt & pepper in blender and process to desired consistency. Pour into bowl and add finely chopped onion. Adjust salt & pepper to taste. Add more lime if it needs a bit more zip. I also experimented with canning and freezing the salsa. I wasn't very pleased with the canned product but freezing worked well.


This is the Tree Peony that should have equal billing with the tomatillos as it is also spectacular!

My New Favorite Side Dish - Chorizo Potato Wraps

It's been a while since I've done any posting - I'm discovering that innkeeping can be extremely hectic (but it's still fun!). I have a couple of things that I would like to share - the first is my new favourite side dish which is based on a recipe from Anna Olson. I first saw her create these on the Food Network so here's the link: http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipes/Main/Cheese/recipe.html?dishid=10086. I have to say that Anna is one of my favourite chefs. I really find I can trust her recipes and I own several of her cookbooks - both of her "Sugar" books and "Fresh with Anna Olson". Anna calls this recipe "Chorizo Potato Cheese Wraps" and she made them as a portable snack. However, I think I would like to call them "Potato Petals" because when you arrange them in a martini glass with a dollop of sour cream and some chives, they do resemble the petals of a flower. Here's the recipe: 

Ingredients

Vegetable oil, for brushing

3 large russet potatoes

12 thin slices cured chorizo sausage (or cooked)

1 cup grated Old Cheddar cheese 

Directions 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking tray with parchment paper and brush parchment with oil. Peel potatoes and slice lengthwise into 24 slices, just under ¼-inch thick (using a mandolin is easiest). Place 12 potato slices onto prepared baking tray. Arrange a slice of chorizo on each potato slice and sprinkle with cheese, leaving edges of potato clear. Cover cheese with remaining potato slices. Place a sheet of parchment paper over “wraps” and place a second baking tray on top. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove top baking tray and parchment paper and bake until potatoes are golden brown, about 8 minutes more. Serve “wraps” warm or at room temperature.  

I know these look like a lot of work but if you own a mandolin, you can quickly slice the potatoes, lay them on a cookie sheet, fill and bake them in moments (well, the baking takes at least 15 minutes. I sometimes brown them under the broiler to give them that nice golden brown colour). I have also made them dairy free by using soy cheese and they worked beautifully. The chorizo substantially improves the flavour of the soy cheese and they are delicious.