Farenheit makes coffee right

A friend of mine is a coffee connoisseur and wanted to meet up at a new coffee shop called FARENHEIT at Jarvis and Lombard. The only indication that this place was a coffee shop was a small sandwich board outside of the front door with a big letter F in red on it and in small little letters underneath it said Coffee.

It's almost like a secret club location. You would never know about it unless you happened to walk by and noticed the sandwich board or you knew someone who was an ex Starbuck's employee with an affinity for coffee. The owner is obviously passionate about making a quality coffee and has won awards doing it. I got to meet the owner and their in house baker while I was there. They were both very sweet and I hope they have a successful place.

I tried the Mocha and was impressed by the hand poured Turkey design on the top.

For me the mark of a good coffee is when I don't have to add sugar or milk to take away any bitterness. I don't like regular coffee and prefer cappuccino style or flavoured coffees. I normally have to add lots of sugar to most coffees I order but didn't have to add anything in this case.

I also tried the lemon Madeleine's. Nicely made and tasty.

What I am worried about is that this place may be missing out on potential business and may have a hard time sustaining itself. There is no sign that it is a coffee shop on the window on Lombard Street so you wouldn't know what the place is unless you looked in the window. If you are driving by and see the F sign you wouldn't know what it was because you wouldn't be able to read Coffee at the bottom of the sign. When you walk by and see the window you see unfinished wood counters that make the place look like it's still in progress. There is no seating whatsoever making it difficult to meet friends there unless you plan on standing at the counter tables. The only food is about half a dozen sweet baked goods so it won't promote people going in at all hours and spending more money. You would never know the quality of the coffee unless you knew someone that knew the owner or his previous shops.

So I do hope word of mouth spreads so that this coffee savvy owner has the chance to compete with the big coffee guys. Support your small local businesses and give FARENHEIT a try.

http://www.fahrenheitcoffee.com/

White Beans elevated with Spanish flavours

I was watching a food network show from Spain recently and they were making a recipe with white beans and Chorizo so I thought that would be a pretty good combination so I attempted my own version today. As I finished it I was watching Jamie Oliver who was also making white beans and he added a dash of red wine vinegar at the end so I tried that with and without the red wine vinegar and I have to say that it gave it a really great boost of flavour.

Here's what I did to make it:

No measurements ... experiment to your liking on quantities.. I didn't use a recipe so you shouldn't either. I just used an influence. That influence was Spanish flavours. I took a little trip to Spain in my kitchen today.

Starting off yesterday I soaked a couple of cups of white kidney beans in water over night.
I rinsed them a couple of times this morning and then drained them.

I sliced about a 3/4's of a Chorizo Sausage. I used a Mild one but if you like it spicier you can use a hot one.

I diced a white onion
I small diced one stalk of celery
2 cloves of garlic
Parsley
Cilantro
Bay Leaf
Dried Thyme
Paprika
Smoked Paprika
Salt and Pepper
Butter
Flour
Bacon Fat
Water or stock
Tomato paste for color

I first started off rendering off the sliced Chorizo Sausage. I went lightly on the browning but would recommend getting a bit of color on them. Then I added the celery and onion and cooked them until softened.
I added the drained white beans and then added some stock and water to cover.

I added a Bay leaf and some dried thyme.
Add salt and pepper to taste

I tossed in some chunks of Garlic but you can crush it and add it when you toss in the onions. I was going to pick them out but they are big enough to fish out if you don't want them.

There will be scum that rises to the top after you cook the beans for a bit so make sure you skim that off.

Add a lot of paprika and I added some smoked Paprika for a smoky flavour.

I also added some chopped cilantro and fresh parsley for a little fresh flavour.

Let the beans cook for about an hour.

Just before they are done in a seperate pan cook a roux mixture of butter, flour and more paprika and cook until it the flour is cooked a bit.
Mix that into the beans.

You could add wine to the beans if you like. I added about a tablespoon to the butter/flour mixture.

At the end I added about a half tablespoon of red wine vinegar.

Cook the beans until they are soft and tender and the juices are like a gravy instead of a soup.

You can be fancy and garnish with the cilantro and parsley but I just dished it up as is in a bowl.

The beans should be creamy like mashed potatoes in the middle and the sauce should be velvety and spicy but it can be as spicy as you like it depending on how hot the Chorizo is and how much smoked Paprika you add.

I have had the dried beans in my cupboard waiting for a great way to make them and I think this way really makes it work out great.

I have been wanting to find new recipes for beans so that it encourages me to eat them more since they are cheap and healthy. I hope this recipe inspires you to cook some beans up soon.

Give your beans a Spanish Kiss and Enjoy.

Bread to Bread Pudding

I got a new Kitchen Aid mixer recently and decided to give it a test ride making a batch of bread. I never bake bread so I thought this would be a good test to see if it would be easy to make a loaf at home anytime I wanted fresh bread and didn't want to have to go to the store just to buy bread. I decided to use the recipe that came in the cooking instructions in the box just to see if it would work out. The only thing was that I didn't have enough all purpose flour so I mixed some whole wheat flour in with it. The whole wheat flour made the loaf a lot denser but at least it upped the health content. The batch I made mixed 2 loafs. It took about 3 hours to complete the whole thing so it wasn't a quick process when you add up all the resting time but mixing it was pretty easy. I would finesse it a lot more next time I make it and probably just use all purpose flour but other than that it came out pretty good.

Since it made 2 loaves of bread and I didn't have enough room to put one in the freezer it got really hard after about 2 days so I had to decide what to do with it. After all the work and time put into it there was no way I was going to just throw it out.

I had 3 options as I saw it.
1. throw it out.
2. Make bread crumbs or
3. the Best idea.. Make Bread Pudding

I decided on making the bread pudding. I could use all of the leftover bread to make something delicious. I suppose bread pudding was created in the lean years when people couldn't afford to waste any food but really even if you can afford to waste money on food it's still a delicious dish to make.

I made mine with a traditional custard mix of milk, eggs and sugar and then added cinnamon and vanilla. For a little extra kick I added some Brandy.

I tossed in some dried cranberries and dark chocolate chunks.

You have to make sure you cover all the bread with the custard mixture and let it soak in the fridge until the liquid is absorbed by the stale bread.

Mine was a little under on the custard so the whole top was like crunchy french toast.

This is another one of those great winter comfort foods that makes you want to stay at home and just relax with great food.

This is what the bread to bread pudding looked like. I added some french vanilla ice cream but you could add whip cream, yogurt, caramel sauce or whatever you like to top it or just eat it as is.

And since you asked.. they both turned out great. The bread was very dense but it had good flavour.

The bread pudding turned out fantastic. The top was like crunchy little french toast croutons and the odd bit of chocolate and cranberry here and there gave it an extra layer of flavour. The middle of the bread pudding was like a very moist cake and the bottom had more crunch bits and was more cookie like in taste as it caramelized and crunchified.

Most people have bread, sugar, milk and eggs and a few spices in their pantry or fridge so this is a great last minute pull together brunch or dessert item for drop in friends and family.

Try it and I am sure you will love it.