Caramel Pecan Pumpkin Pie

Pastry for single pie crust.

2 slightly beaten eggs
15 oz of cooked pumpkin
1/4 cup half and half cream
3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 Tbsp all purpose flour
1 tsp finely shredded lemon peel
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp ground allspice

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 Tbsp butter


Prepare pastry for single crust pie. Line 9" pie plate with pastry.

In a large bowl stir together eggs pupkin and cream. Stir in granulated sugar, flour, lemon peel, vanilla, salt and spices.

Pour pupkin mixture into pastry lined pie plate. To prevent over browning, cover edge of pie with foil. Bake in 375 degree oven for 25 minutes.

Meanwhile in a medium bowl stir together brown sugar, pecans and butter until combined. Remove foil. Sprinkle brown sugar mixture over top of pie. Bake for 20 mins more or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean and topping is golden and bubbly. Cool on a wire rack cover and refrigerate within 2 hours.

Recipe: CLASSIC CHEESE FONDUE

(serves 4-6)

A)
1 garlic clove crushed

B)
200-250g Swiss Gruyere shredded
200-250g Swiss Emmenthal shredded*
100g Swiss Appenzeller shredded*
500ml Light Dry White Wine **
Nutmeg freshly grated
Black Pepper freshly ground
Pinch Salt

C)
20 ml Cornstarch
30 ml Kirch ***

D)
1 Crusty Baguette or ½ Boule or ½ crusty wholewheat loaf cubed

METHOD:

1. Rub enameled or heavy stainless steel 2L pot with A), then leave in pot.
2. Add B), place pot on medium heat.
3. Stir continuously 8-10 minutes until cheese has melted and wine has mellowed.
4. Increase heat, to med-high, continue stirring.
5. Combine C) well and add to pot and stir. Continue stirring until mixture has thickened, do not boil.
6. Taste for seasoning, keep warm, and serve.

* For a more complex flavour try “cave aged” Gruyere.
French Comte Gruyere is also a suitable replacement for Swiss Gruyere

** Swiss White wines are not available in BC. Try an Alsatian Pinot Gris or Blanc or blend such as Hugel, “Gentil”

*** Kirch is a distillate of Black Cherries, Swiss is best, although an Austrian Brand, “Schloss” is suitable. Also drink with fondue.

Tradition dictates if a man looses his cubed bread for his fork a round of drinks must be supplied, a woman looses hers a kiss is proffered!

Casa del Parmigiano

One of our customers sent us this great photograph, taken while roaming around the canals of Venice. You can read about the history of the 'House of Parmesan' here. It's a fun story - kind of familiar...

A Few Amusing Cookbooks

We carry a small selection of cookbooks. A publishing rep dropped off a handful of catalogs the other day, and though we can't vouch for their contents, a few titles stood out as we flipped through - some in good ways... and some in not so good (but pretty funny) ways.

Momofuku
by David Chang and Peter Meehan

This Asian cookbook by superstar chef David Chang looks like it's going to be excellent. It will be released next week - more details here.

Entertaining with Booze: Designer Drinks, Fabulous Food and Inspired Ideas for Your Next Party
by Ryan Jennings

Is this what they refer to as 'calling a spade a spade'? There's such a fine and ultimately unimportant line between oenophile and booze-hound...

The Marmite Cookbook
by Paul Hartley

We all know no one really eats the stuff. Here's how to make it disappear into various dishes.

Falling Cloudberries: A World of Family Recipes
by Tessa Kiros

We just really like the title: Falling Cloudberries. Sounds like a delicious and elegantly theatrical dessert.

The Divas Have Landed

If anything can brighten this grey, grey day, it's these girls. The Cowichan Bay Dragon Divas, all breast cancer survivors, are at Charelli's until 2pm today signing their new calendars. For $20 you get 18 months of FUN - proceeds support the Diva's team in their efforts to paddle for breast cancer awareness. Come by and say hello - it's a guaranteed spirit lift!

November Wine Tasting at Mattick's Farm

A relaxing and delicious way to spend a post-Halloween, pre-Christmas-madness afternoon:

Fall Release Tasting at Art Knapp Victoria Garden Centre (next to the Wine Shop)

Fall is here - and with it the new releases from the Cellars of BC's finest
wineries. Join the staff and guest pourer, Wine Educator Dr. Wilf Krutzmann. We will be on hand to answer questions and present an amazing selection of 30- 40 wines from a variety of vineyards. Crisp, fresh whites and luscious reds... The November tasting offers additional special treats - a selection of late harvest and Icewines! You can try them all.

All complimented by a selection of cheeses from Charelli's Delicatessen

Details:
Saturday, November 7th - 7 to 9 pm
Advance tickets only - $30
Contact the Wine Shop for more information 658-3116

Happy Thanksgiving!

We hope you're all having a wonderful, food-filled weekend. One of our favourite parts of Thanksgiving is pie. We love pie. Our staff pies this year include pumpkin with pecan and brown sugar topping - if it's good we'll post the recipe... for next year... Anyway, in honour of the holiday, of pie, and of Charelli's Dutch roots, we thought we'd post this lovely painting by early Dutch still life painter, Willem Claesz (b.1594 ): Breakfast Table with Blackberry Pie.

Here's a recipe for a contemporary version of (the apparently very traditional) blackberry pie. For more visual pie inspiration, you can browse the Pie Club group on Flickr. And then there's always this, the only worthwhile pie chart ever created...

Happy Pie Day!

Why We Love Our Job: Reason #346

While getting paid to eat cheese may be reason enough to love one's job, it's also pretty great that we get to harness the power of cheese to make other people's important days that much more enjoyable. We really appreciated being sent these four images from a wedding we recently provided platters for.

From the Happy Couple: Thanks for the always-excellent food. Rave reviews all around. Our photographer: Rae Murphy

Dragon Divas Calendar Signing

We are so excited about this. On Saturday, October 17th, the fabulous women of the Cowichan Valley Dragon Divas dragon boat racing team will be at Charelli's signing their new calendar.  To elaborate on why this is so exciting, some of you may remember the 2003 film Calendar Girls...   the Dragon Divas are the Island's own phenomenally spirited women fighting for an extremely important cause. Each Diva is currently living with, or has lived through, breast cancer, and they have fully committed themselves to promoting breast cancer awareness.  Their calendar is an absolute blast and not to be missed. Please have a look through their site, and if you can make it on Saturday the Dragon Divas and the Cheese Chicks would love to see you. As an added bonus, we'll be barbecuing tasty European hot dogs - proceeds go to this amazing cause.

The Details Are:
Saturday, October 17th at our place. (The cheese shop.)
10.00am - 2.00pm
Cost per calendar: $20

Christmas Spirit Rocks

Most of us haven't started the Christmas count down quite yet, but in order to ensure everyone has a happy holiday the oganisers of Victoria's annual Christmas Spirit Community Dinner need to think ahead. They're hosting a dance and silent auction at Element night club, the proceeds of which will be used to create a beautiful community dinner for anyone who happens to find themselves without resources and/or family close by this year.  Come out, shake a tail-feather and bid on a Charelli's cheese plate!

The Details Are:
Thursday October 16th, 7pm.
Tickets: $25 at the Strathcona Hotel
Note: The Silent Auction receives cash or cheque only.

You can participate in a few ways:
donate or bid on a silent auction item.
: send in or bring a donation for the Dinner.
: bring your friends, colleagues to a night full of fun.

Uncork Your Palate!

We've got some great events coming up. Uncork Your Palate is an annual fundraiser for the Victoria Conservatory of Music. Generously hosted at Ambrosia Event Center, this event pairs 70 wines with appetisers from several of Victoria's hottest food spots (including us!) Your ears will be as spoiled as your tastebuds - conservatory musicians provide the perfect audio-backdrop to your gastronomic meanderings.

The Details Are:
Thursday, October 22nd, 2009
7:00 PM to 9:30 PM
Cost: $75
Ticket outlets: Munro’s Books, Ivy’s Book Store, and generous participating restaurants (again, including us!)
(Outlets accept cash or cheques only)

FOO: Asian Street Food in Victoria

A few days ago we blogged about Susan' Feniger's street-food-themed restaurant in LA. Since LA is inconvenient for most of us, you'll be pleased to know Victoria now has its own tribute to street food, in FOO. With a beautifully contemporary interior, FOO is great place to stop for a quick bite of Paneer Cheese Dumplings, or Vietnamese Ginger Caramel Chicken, or Laksa with Local Fish... there's a solid selection of delicious choices all at very reasonable prices. Located at 769 Yates St. (250.383.3111)

British Cheese Week

Lucky Brits - it's Cheese Week in the UK. We should probably show our solidarity and eat lots of extra cheese this week...

Dinner at El Bulli: Seriously Entertaining

This is a seriously dedicated and entertaining homage to one foodie's experience of dining at The Greatest Restaurant in the World - El Bulli.

(Full escapade here.)

We Love BC!

Sorry about (borrowing) the animated gif. We couldn't resist. But now that we have your attention, here's a quick list of some of the amazing local Victoria and BC products we carry. Each one deserves its own post - and hopefully we'll get there - but in the meantime, feel free to call (250-598-4794), email or come in and ask us about any of them. Or about anything at all, really... we like the company.

Sebastian & Co. Organic Meats
Continental Meats & Sausages
Bonnie Bea Oat Cakes
Wildwood preserves
Vij's Curries
Fol Epi
The Fishery Seafood
Golda’s Pesto
Fanny Bay Oysters
Dundarave Olive Company
Poplar Grove
Moonstruck Cheeses
Salt Spring Island Cheese
The Farmhouse Natural Cheeses
Babe's Honey

Stilton Found to be from.... Stilton!

The origins of Stilton cheese have been a mystery for a long time, but recent events seem to have finally pinned them down to the village of Stilton, of all places. As yesterday's Times article described, "Richard Landy, a local historian, found a letter dated 1722 to Richard Bradley, the first professor of botany at the University of Cambridge, which had a recipe for the cheese attached to it. The author of the letter, Francis Pawlett, wrote of a delicious cheese produced by Cooper Thornhill, the well-known landlord of the Bull Inn, in Stilton." The full story is here.

Drink Coffee - Save the Monkeys

And by monkeys we mean chimpanzees, specifically. This a really interesting article about how coffee sales in Tanzania are helping Jane Goodall protect the region's endangered chimpanzees. This gist of it is, because beans can grow in the shade of forests, and aren't eaten by chimps, coffee cultivation results in the reforestation of corridors that allow chimpanzee communities greater access to food, and the ability to interbreed, leading to stronger, healthier populations. The coffee income has also been really beneficial to local human communities. More information on agroforestry can be found here

Eats from the Streets

The constant cultural exchange between highbrow and lowbrow, fringe and mainstream, affects culinary trends as much as it does fashion, art or music. This circular energy has lately swept street food to the forefront of hip restaurant cuisine, and this is one fad that actually has some real substance. In many countries, meals from street vendors far surpass the ubiquitous hot dog northern North Americans are used to burying in heaps of pickled toppings. Earlier this year, LA chef Susan Feniger opened Street, a restaurant that celebrates her personal experience of eating on the streets of the world. Her website is worth exploring - definitely check out the menu (under 'street food').

(The site worked better for us in Safari and Internet Explorer than in Firefox. Maybe Street should follow its own principles here - basic is better? If you have trouble with the main site, you can peruse the press clippings.)

Porcini Cream Pizza

(yield 1 X 12-14” pizza)

Ingredients

A) ½ Recipe Thin Crust Pizza Dough
B) 200 ml Crème Fraiche
30 g Dried Porcini Mushrooms
1 Garlic Clove, finely chopped
C) 15 ml Fresh Thyme Leaves, picked
Sea Salt & Freshly Ground Pepper
D) 150 g Cacciocavallo or Mozzarella Grated
30 g Parmesan or Pecorino Fresco
E) 6 Cremini Mushrooms, Thinly sliced
F) 30 ml Italian Parsley, finely chopped

Preparation:

1. Combine (B) in a small stainless steel pot, bring to a very gentle simmer and reduce by almost ½, stirring often.
2. Add (C) and cool mixture completely ((B) & (C) may be prepared the day before).
3. Press (A) gently with fingertips on a floured surface and shaped gently with the palms of hands into approximately 12-14” circle. Transfer to a piece of parchment paper laid on a inverted cookie sheet.
4. Spread (B) mixture onto curst leaving a 2cm border.
5. Scatter (D) over evenly followed by (E)
6. Bake on a pizza stone in a preheated oven 500 F oven, by simply sliding the paper onto the stone in 2 or 3 minutes simply pull the paper out.
7. Bake for about 8-10 minutes until crispy & bubbling
8. Cool on wire rack a few minutes before cutting.


Additional/optional toppings

o Pinch of dried chili flakes
o Julienne of prosciutto after the pizza has been removed from the oven.
o Top the baked pizza with a handful of arugula tossed with an excellent quality olive oil and a squeeze of fresh lemon or lime juice

Thin Crust Pizza Dough

(yield 2 X 12-14” pizzas)

Ingredients:

A) 8gr Active Dry Yeast (2 ½ tsp)
300ml Warm Water (110 F) (1 ¼ - ½ c)
B) 400gr “OO” Flour (3c)
5gr sea salt
C) Olive Oil

Preparation:

1. Combine (A), stir to dissolve, let stand until creamy
2. Combine (B) in another bowl.
3. Using a whip, add about 1 Cup of (B) to (A), whip to form a smooth batter.
4. Begin adding remaining (B) using a wooden spoon or by machine with a paddle (beater) attachment.
5. When all of (B) has been added, turn dough onto a lightly floured board to knead or attach dough hour to mixer, knead for 6-8 minutes until dough is elastic & smooth, additional sprinkles of flour may be added if dough is too sticky.
6. Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and leave until doubled, 1 ½ - 2 hours
7. Turn out dough, divide into half, round up and relax covered for 10 minutes before shaping.
8. Shaped dough gently by hand, apply toppings and bake directly on pre-heated pizza stone at 500 F until crispy & bubbling, 8-10 minutes.
9. Allow pizza to cool slightly on a wire rack before cutting.

NOTE: to maintain the light crispier character of this dough, handle it gently when shaping and try to avoid the use of a rolling pin.

* If “OO” Flour is not available use 200g Cake or Pastry Flour with 200g All Purpose Flour.
* Instant yeast may be substituted for active dry yeast, simply add it to the (B) ingredients leaving only water as (A)

Truffled Turkey

Gioachino Antonio Rossini is reputed to have only shed tears three times in his life: once after the monumental failure of his first opera, again on hearing Paganini play the violin, and finally when a truffled turkey tumbled out of his small pleasure craft and was lost in the water. It must be one good turkey...


Ingredients

8 to 10 pound turkey
Truffles, as many as possible, fresh if available
2 pounds ground pork
1 1/2 pounds ground veal
8 shallots
Butter
Salt, pepper to taste
3/4 cup cognac
2 cups fine bread crumbs
1/2 cup chopped parsley
3 carrots, cut in fine julienne
3 leeks, cut in fine julienne
3 stalks celery, cut in fine julienne
White wine
Beurre manié
Freshly ground white pepper


Preparation

The night before you plan to cook the turkey clean the bird, slice some truffles, and slip them under the skin. Slip several truffles into the cavity as well, wrap the bird loosely in foil, and leave in the refrigerator overnight.

Next day, prepare the stuffing. Sauté the pork, veal and shallots in 8 tablespoons butter and blend well with salt to taste and 1/2 cup cognac. Do not cook completely — merely mix over heat and add the crumbs and parsley. Add seasonings to taste. Combine with the truffles in the turkey and stuff lightly. Sew up the vent and truss the turkey.

Brown the turkey well in butter or butter and oil mixed and place the bird on a bed of the julienne carrots, leeks and celery in a large braising pan. Add the butter or butter and oil and 1 1/2 cups white wine and turn heat to high. Cover pan, reduce heat, and cook for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, basting the bird occasionally with equal parts of melted butter and white wine. When the bird is tender, remove to a hot platter and strain off the pan juices. Reduce the juices to 2 cups and thicken with beurre manié. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground white pepper and add remaining 1/4 cup cognac.

Serve with potatoes Anna and braised celery. Drink a fine Château-bottled Médoc — a Château Latour or Palmer.

From Epicurious.com

Meat-Flavoured Crisps

One thing we genrally lack in Canada, is a good selection of meat flavoured potato chips. So we're pretty pleased to have just received a whole variety of Walker's Crisps: Steak and Onion, Roast Chicken, Smoky Bacon, Prawn Cocktail... And here's something kind of unexpected - they're PETA approved. In 2008, PETA honoured them with their 'Best Vegan Snack' award. Who knew? Now please excuse us while go find ourselves a quiet corner and a nice pint...

The Five Million Pound Nose

There's no nose like a cheese nose. Wyke Farms of Somerset, England has insured their cheese grader's nose for £5.000.000. Read all about it.

Fundraiser: Wear 2 Start

And here's a great cause a little closer than Indonesia: Charelli's is pleased support Wear 2 Start in Spontaneous Combustion - a night of cabaret cocktails at The Mint, featuring a silent auction. In their own words, "Wear 2 Start outfits unemployed women who are living in poverty for job interviews." Have a look through their site - the before and after pictures are really inspiring. The event is Sept. 24, 5.30-.8.30, 1414 Douglas St. We'd love to see you there!

Indonesian Food Carts for Kids

This is a great project - Mercy Corps has teamed up with Saatchi and Saatchi to create food carts designed to help some of the poorest kids in the world eat better. The full story is here.

Peninsula Ribfest 2009 at RC Grillhouse

We're more than just a nice chunk of cheese. We also make killer ribs. Charelli's is taking part in the 2009 Peninsula Rib Cook-Off, in support of Cops for Cancer. Come by and try! (But no, we're not closing up shop to barbeque - regular Charelli's hours will be in effect.)

Date: Saturday, September 12, 2009
Location: RC Grillhouse, #202 - 9800 McDonald Park rd

Event schedule:
12:00-4:00pm Ribfest Competition - $1.00 per rib.
6:00-10:00pm Pig Roast and Hoedown
Beer Garden will be available.
Pig Roast $25.00 adults; $12.00 for children 5-12 years; children under 5 years are free.
For more information please call 250-665-7353 or email rcgrillhouse.ca

The Facebook event is here.

Hubby Hubby!

As of September 1st, gay marriage is legal in Vermont, and Ben & Jerry's is celebrating by renaming its Chubby Hubby ice cream Hubby Hubby. This is a really sweet acknowledgment of human rights - we may have to go eat a pint of the frozen Peanut Butter Cookie Dough, fudge and pretzel goodness in honour of their gesture. Tough life.

The Latest Edition of Culture Magazine

has just arrived.



This month they're featuring premium Dutch Goudas. More details here!

The Macaroon, and How It's the Best Thing to Eat

It's sort of a grey day and we're somewhat lamenting the impending end of summer, so forgive us while drift towards the lighter, fluffier end of the spectrum. We're going to take a moment to talk about macaroons (or 'macarons', if you will.)

These ones:


(Not those over-sugared stringy coconut things.)

Macaroons are the best. They're a hybrid cookie/pastry - much fancier than a biscuit, but you can still use your fingers. They have a paper-thin layer of delicate crispiness on the outside, through which you bite down into dense, moist, flavoured-almond deliciousness, until your top teeth meet the bottom ones in a thick, velvety layer of pastry cream. And they come in the most ridiculous colours. Ridiculous colour is important, if you want to create a truly fancy pastry. AND, they come in two sizes: regular, and mini. There's an inverse relationship between relative size and general amazingness. Anything done in miniature is automatically exponentially better than the regular-size version. And regular-size macarons are pretty incredible. So.

If you can't hop across the pond just to satisfy a sweet-tooth, Murchie's makes some pretty authentically Parisian ones that do very well in a pinch.

And if you're inclined to try your hand, Paris-based internationally trained pastry chef David Lebowitz, has put together some great resources.

Beehaus. The Best Thing Since Bauhaus?

Love bees. Love this. We welcome the rise of the Urban Apiarist!




And just for fun, another easy, snack-ish, cheese recipe - this one with honey:

Crostini with Blue Cheese, Honey, and Hazelnuts

Ingredients

* 12 1/3-inch-thick diagonal baguette slices
* 3 ounces blue cheese (such as Gorgonzola , Roquefort , or Maytag blue), room temperature
* 1/2 cup hazelnuts, toasted, husked , coarsely chopped
* Honey

Method

Preheat oven to 400°F. Place baguette slices in single layer on baking sheet. Toast in oven until golden, about 8 minutes. (Can be made 4 hours ahead.)

Spread blue cheese on baguette slices. Sprinkle hazelnuts over each. Drizzle each slice lightly with honey.

From epicurious.com

(Or, if you're feeling more adventurous/brave - here's one for Roaring 40's Blue Cheese and Truffle Honey Soufflé. If you make this, bring some in for us!)