DO-IT-YOURSELF CRÈME FRAÎCHE: AN EASTER WEEKEND STAPLE $0--&$5*7*5 r$0..6/*5:
ANDREW COPPOLINO andrewcoppolino@gmail.com
higher fat content and, depending on the ingredients used to make it, may have fewer additives and stabilizers like carrageenan and locust bean gum (which many liquid dairy products have). Crème fraiche: the DIY version So, rather than buy an expensive crème fraiche from a specialty grocer, make a delicious and simple home version yourself – and maintain the safety of pasteurized dairy. Here’s how to do it. In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, add two tablespoons of buttermilk (or sour cream) to one cup of 35% heavy cream or whipping cream. Stir and warm the mixture gently. (It’s an unfortunate logistical characte- ristic of our dairy packaging, but if you can only buy buttermilk in one-litre cartons, plan to make other dishes with the remainder: perhaps cornbread, buttermilk pancakes or ranch-style salad dressing.) When slightly warm, transfer the cream- buttermilk mixture into a clean glass bowl, cover with a clean kitchen towel and let stand at room temperature, or warmer, for at least 24 hours and until the concoction gets quite thick. Stir the crème fraîche and refrigerate. Home-made crème fraîche can’t be frozen very well, but it can be stored, tightly sealed
in your refrigerator, for about 10 days. Crème fraîche is versatile While I can’t say that crème fraîche will never, ever split, it is in fact a much more stable dairy product and can withstand being incorporated at high temperatures even to the point of boiling: it resists “splitting” or separating which occurs when fats coagulate and separate from their liquid components. This quality makes crème fraîche quite versatile and suited to both sweet and savoury dishes. Consider adding a tablespoon or two to soups and sauces. But as well, its smooth and tangy taste is a great garnish to be dolloped onto fresh fruit and desserts such as cobblers, crisps, and clafoutis, the latter the fruit-and-batter dessert of the Limousin region of France. 5IFQSPDFTTGPS%*:DSÍNFGSBJDIFJTBMTP a good activity for teaching kids a bit about science in the kitchen environment. Food writer Andrew Coppolino lives in Rockland. He is the author of “Farm to Table” and co-author of “Cooking with Shakespeare.” Follow him on Instagram @ andrewcoppolino.
With Easter just around the corner, home cooks will fire up barbecues and snap on their ovens to prepare traditio- nal dishes such as roast lamb or glazed ham served with an assortment of side dishes – after the kids have polished off the treats they found during the Easter egg hunt. As you plan your menu, here’s a sugges- tion for a simple home-made condiment to garnish a creamy asparagus soup, accom- pany a side dish such as a potato galette or to be dolloped on a piece of strawberry- rhubarb pie or pineapple upside-down cake: do-it-yourself crème fraîche. This thick cream is a bit tart and tangy, is satin in texture with full and round mouthfeel and often carries a slight buttery or nutty flavour. Depending on the quality of the ingre- dients used to make it and the time allowed for it to set up, the viscosity of crème fraiche can vary from a sour cream consistency to that of something approaching margarine. Louis Pasteur had a hand in your crème fraîche As it often does, culinary history inter- twines with other, often more serious, events JOUIFXPSME/BQPMFPO GPSFYBNQMF QSFUUZ directly helped spur on developments in canning and preserving food in order to feed his marauding imperialist armies in the early 1800s. When it comes to crème fraiche, if we could easily get unpasteurized cream (which is not permitted by law) with the necessary helpful bacteria already in it, we could get crème fraîche naturally. This is where Louis Pasteur, a French microbiologist and chemist born in 1822, comes into play: as his name indicates, Pas- teur is responsible for the food-preservation process known as pasteurization (as well as helping prove the germ theory of disease and developing a vaccine for rabies). Pasteur did research in Dijon, in Burgundy
in eastern France – which of course is famous for both its mustard and its wine – before moving to Lille to become the dean of the faculty of sciences. There, Professor Pasteur was primarily involved with solving the problem of beer and wine spoilage, a major economic concern in France in the mid-1800s. In the course of his work with dairy, howe- ver, Pasteur changed our world – and crème fraiche – forever: as everyone likely knows, our milk and cream has been pasteurized, or heated, and does not have fermenting agents in it. That’s a good thing, of course: because it has been heated to about 80-degrees C for 30 minutes and then quickly cooled, the milk has been purged of the bacteria that is responsible for typhoid fever, tuberculosis and polio. Of course, that heating also means it is stripped of some nutritive qualities and the chance to have “natural” crème fraiche. When you buy commercially-made crème fraiche, it is usually milder and less tangy than sour cream at the same time it has a La crème fraiche est un peu acidulée et piquante, sa texture est satinée, sa bouche est pleine et ronde et elle a souvent un léger goût de beurre ou de noisette. Elle s'utilise sur une variété de plats d'accompagnement comme la galette de pommes de terre ou sur une part de tarte aux fraises et à la rhubarbe. (Andrew Coppolino)
THRILLS AND LITERARY INSIGHT: CRIME AUTHOR RICK MOFINA VISITS RUSSELL LIBRARY
L’auteur de romans policiers Rick Mofina s’adresse à une salle comble à la bibliothèque de Russell Branch le 14 avril, partageant des anecdotes sur sa carrière de journaliste et donnant un aperçu de son prochain thriller, If Two Are Dead (Si deux sont morts). (Gabrielle Vinette, EAP)
LES SPÉCIALISTES THE SPECIALIST 4
GABRIELLE VINETTE gabrielle.vinette@eap.on.ca
novel, If Two Are Dead, set for release later this month. Inspired by the Benjamin Franklin quote, “Three may keep a secret, if two of them are dead,” the novel explores themes of secrecy, trust and betrayal. .PàOBTUSVFDSJNFXSJUJOHIBTBQQFBSFE JONBKPSPVUMFUTTVDIBT5IF/FX:PSL5JNFT 3FBEFST%JHFTU 5IF5FMFHSBQI 6, BOE5IF .PTDPX5JNFT)JTàDUJPOIBTFBSOFEIJN numerous accolades, including two Arthur Ellis Awards and two Barry Awards, along with multiple nominations for the Thriller and Shamus awards. The event concluded with a book signing, giving attendees the chance to meet the author and have their copies personalized. “When you make something up in your mind and someone connects with it, it’s hard UPEFTDSJCF u.PàOBTBJEEVSJOHUIFFWFOU “I just make this stuff up and I suggest you join me in my imagination and hope it makes sense.”
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Fans of crime fiction were treated to an evening of suspense, storytelling and behind-the-scenes insight as celebrated Canadian author Rick Mofina visited the Russell Branch Library on Monday, April 14. A few dozen residents attended the event to hear from the Ottawa-based author, whose career spans more than 30 internationally published thrillers. Drawing on his back- HSPVOEBTBKPVSOBMJTU .PàOBIBTCVJMUB reputation for gripping stories set against backdrops shaped by his real-life experiences reporting from around the world. %VSJOHUIFFWFOJOH .PàOBDBQUJWBUFEUIF audience with anecdotes from his reporting days, including interviews with murderers on death row, flying over Los Angeles with the -"1%BOEQBUSPMMJOHXJUIUIF3$.1JO"MCFSUB He also offered a preview of his upcoming
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