By now, you have probably concluded that I like afternoon teas! So, today, I share photos from my Easter Tea.

Let’s begin with a stylized salad served in a hollowed-out cucumber cup.

And, of course, the most logical tea sandwiches for Easter would be made with egg salad and garnished with carrot sticks.

The little Easter eggs scattered on the table are actually little wooden eggs I hand-painted some years ago when I was doing a lot of decorative painting.

I love the bright, cheerful colors of Easter but what would Easter be without something chocolate!

The bright yellow tulips are from the Vanco Tulip Farm in Mt. Albion, PEI.

Love these little chocolate nests filled with tiny miniature Easter eggs! The fudge brownies were pretty awesome, too!

Seasonal cookie shapes of pink bunnies and lambs also found their way on to the Easter tea table along with melting moments sandwiched together with bright-colored buttercream icing.

I am always looking for creative uses for my teacup collection. Here, I have used them to serve brightly-colored Easter cupcakes.

Dainty little Scotch cookies decorated for the Easter season.

Decorating seasonal cookies is one of my passions – can you tell?

Fun and whimsical! Certain conversation pieces, for sure!

I realized, too late, that I had forgotten to take a close-up of my Easter teapot on the tea table. Fortunately, I had another photograph of it so here is photo of my “Little Lamb Teapot”.

And, when it’s all put together, this is what it looked like.

I hope you have enjoyed these photos of my Easter Tea. Thank you for visiting my blog today. I hope you are enjoying this Easter season.

Thank you for visiting “the Bistro” today. There are lots of ways to connect with “the Bistro” through social media:

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Barbara

General, Seafood

Blood Orange and Rhubarb Sauce for Halibut Steaks

March 24, 2013 Barbara99

Blood Orange and Rhubarb Sauce over Halibut Steak served with Herb-Roasted Potatoes and Steamed Root Vegetables — Blood Orange and Rhubarb Sauce over Halibut Steak served with Herb-Roasted Miniature Potatoes and Steamed Root Vegetables

Every Spring, I freeze bags and bags of rhubarb for recipes to be made through the remainder of the year. I am always looking for new ways to serve this versatile vegetable. Today, I am using it in this Blood Orange and Rhubarb Sauce for fish.

Living on an island on the East Coast of Canada, fish is readily available. Sometimes, I like to eat the fish plain, just pan-seared or oven-baked but, other times, I like it dressed up a bit. Rhubarb and citrus make a nice combination and citrus sauces go well with seafood so my sauce creation includes both rhubarb and citrus fruit.

I thought it was time to use up some of the remaining frozen rhubarb (or maybe I just needed to have a Spring food because our winter is getting very tiresome). You can use any kind of white fish with this sauce – my choice was the halibut steak because it had enough thickness to it that it would hold together to plate well for presentation and not break into pieces.

I love the rich red-colored sauce as a contrast to the white fish. I hope you enjoy.

Blood Orange and Rhubarb Sauce for Halibut Steaks

Ingredients:

1 cup rhubarb, fresh or frozen, chopped into 1/2″ pieces
2 tbsp sugar
¼ cup water

Juice of 2 blood oranges (about 2/3 cup juice)

1 tbsp butter
1 shallot, finely minced (about ¼ cup or a little less)
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
2 tsp liquid chicken bouillon concentrate mixed in ½ cup hot water
1½ tsp blood orange zest
¼ tsp sage
¼ tsp ginger
1½ – 2 tsp cornstarch mixed in 1 tbsp cold water to make thickening paste

Method:

In saucepan, place the rhubarb, sugar, and ¼ cup water. Cook over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, until rhubarb has softened. Push the rhubarb through a sieve to release the juice. You should have about 1/3 cup of rhubarb juice. Discard rhubarb pulp. Set juice aside.

Meanwhile, grate 1 1/2 tsp zest from one blood orange. Squeeze juice from 2 medium-sized blood oranges and strain through sieve to remove any pith and stones. In small saucepan, over medium-low heat, reduce the orange juice to about half. You should have about 1/3 cup of juice after this process.

In clean saucepan, melt the butter and sauté the shallot and minced garlic for 3-4 minutes until shallot is translucent.

Add the rhubarb and orange juices, balsamic vinegar, pomegranate molasses, chicken stock, orange zest, sage, and ginger. Bring to a boil over medium-low heat.

Remove from heat and strain through fine sieve into clean saucepan to remove any pieces of garlic and onion. This will make a clean, smooth sauce. Return mixture to low heat.

Mix cornstarch with water to make a paste. Add about 1 tbsp of the hot liquid from the sauce to temper the paste so it will not go lumpy when added to the hot mixture. Add to saucepan mixture and stir or whisk until thickened to consistency desired.

Makes enough sauce for 3-4 servings.

To serve:

Pan-sear or oven-bake halibut steaks till fish flakes easily. Plate the fish and pour 1-2 tbsp sauce over each steak. Garnish with chopped pistachio nuts, if desired, and blood orange slices.

I served the fish with a medley of yellow, red, and blue herb-roasted miniature potatoes, steamed carrots and turnip, and paired this meal with Beringer’s Chardonnay (CA).

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Blood Orange and Rhubarb Sauce for Halibut Steaks

Blood orange juice and rhubarb combine their flavors to make a wonderful sauce for white fish such as halibut.

Course Main Course

Keyword fish, seafood

My Island Bistro Kitchen Barbara99

Ingredients

1 cup rhubarb, fresh or frozen, (chopped into ½“ pieces
2 tbsp sugar
¼ cup water
Juice of 2 blood oranges (about 2/3 cup juice)
1 tbsp butter
1 shallot, finely minced (about ¼ cup or a little less)
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp pomegranate molasses
2 tsp liquid chicken bouillon concentrate mixed in ½ cup hot water
1½ tsp blood orange zest
¼ tsp dried sage
¼ tsp ground ginger
1½ - 2 tsp cornstarch mixed in 1 tbsp cold water to make thickening paste

Instructions

In saucepan, place the rhubarb, sugar, and ¼ cup water. Cook over medium-low heat for about 10 minutes, until rhubarb has softened. Push the rhubarb through a sieve to release the juice. This should yield about 1/3 cup rhubarb juice. Discard rhubarb pulp. Set juice aside.
Meanwhile, grate 1½ tsp zest from one blood orange. Squeeze juice from 2 medium-sized blood oranges and strain through sieve to remove any pith and stones. In small saucepan, over medium-low heat, reduce the orange juice to about half. This should yield about 1/3 cup of juice after this process.
In clean saucepan, melt the butter and sauté the shallot and garlic for 3-4 minutes, until shallot is translucent. Add the rhubarb and orange juices, balsamic vinegar, pomegranate molasses, chicken stock, orange zest, sage, and ginger. Bring to a boil over medium-low heat. Remove from heat and strain through fine sieve into clean saucepan to remove any pieces of garlic and onion. This will make a clean, smooth sauce. Return mixture to low heat.
Mix cornstarch with water to make a paste. Add about 1 tbsp of the hot liquid from the sauce to temper the paste so it will not go lumpy when added to the hot mixture. Add to saucepan mixture and stir or whisk until thickened to consistency desired.

Recipe Notes

Yield: Makes enough sauce for 3-4 servings.

To serve: Pan-sear or oven-bake halibut steaks till fish flakes easily. Plate the fish and pour 1-2 tbsp sauce over each steak. Garnish with chopped pistachio nuts, if desired, and blood orange slices.

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Afternoon Teas, General, St. Patrick's Day

St. Patrick’s Day Afternoon Tea

March 17, 2013 Barbara99 1 Comment

Happy St. Patrick’s Day, everyone! Today, I am sharing photos from my St. Patrick’s Day Afternoon Tea.

St. Patrick's Day Afternoon Tea Setting — St. Patrick’s Day Afternoon Tea Setting

I love this little square tablecloth and matching napkins. I bought them some years ago at the Blarney Castle on a visit to Ireland. It has been a tradition since to display this cloth on St. Patrick’s Day and it always evokes great memories of my visit to the Emerald Isle.

Of course, it’s also a time for me to bring out my small collection of Irish-themed dishes.

The tea offering from the teapot was English Afternoon Tea.

My choice of tea table flowers centered around the colors in the Irish flag – the green mums and Bells of Ireland, the orange roses, and the white tulips which, of course, came from our local PEI tulip growers – Vanco Tulip Farm in Mt. Albion, PEI.

I love these Canadian “loonie” chocolate coins!

On the tea tray menu – Currant scones with homemade raspberry jam, chocolate cupcakes (flavored with a bit of Irish stout, filled with whiskey-flavored chocolate ganache, and frosted with Bailey’s Irish Cream-flavoured icing), and chocolate drop cookies. The cookies are my March 2013 Cookie of the Month.

These scones are delicately rich!

And, my seedless raspberry jam only makes them that much more delectable!

And, of course, there would have to be a green beverage on the table.

The scones may have been good but the cupcakes were the “icing on the cake”, so to speak!

I like the white and milk chocolate swirled chips in these chocolate drop cookies.

The green color always makes for a bright, colorful, and cheery table!

I hope you have enjoyed a glimpse into my version of an afternoon tea to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. I’ll leave you with this Irish blessing:

May you always have walls for the winds,
a roof for the rain, tea beside the fire,
laughter to cheer you, those you love near you,
and all your heart might desire.

Thank you for visiting “the Bistro” today. There are lots of ways to connect with “the Bistro” through social media:

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Follow the Bistro’s tweets on twitter @PEIBistro
Find the Bistro on Pinterest at “Island Bistro Kitchen”
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Entrées/Main Dishes, General

Boiled Ham Dinner – Old-fashioned Comfort Food!

March 16, 2013 Barbara99 5 Comments

This old-fashioned boiled ham dinner is a meal that is so familiar to me that it never occurred to me that some don’t even know what a “boiled dinner” is. So, today, I am going to demystify and explain the “boiled dinner” as I know it. Continue reading Boiled Ham Dinner – Old-fashioned Comfort Food! →

Cookie of the Month, Cookies, General

Double Chocolate Chip Drop Cookies

March 14, 2013 Barbara99

Chocolate Drop Cookies Made with Stout — Double Chocolate Chip Drop Cookies Made with Stout

Well, for my Cookie of the Month for March, I tried to find out if there is a cookie recipe that traces its origins to Ireland or, alternatively, a cookie that is particularly popular on the Emerald Isle. However, I had no luck in tracking down any (maybe it was lack of Irish luck!)

I decided to create a special recipe and give it a distinctly Irish flavour using stout in honour of St. Patrick’s Day on March 17th. As you know, whenever possible, I like to feature Island products in my cooking and baking. At the time of writing, PEI does have a brewing company that produces stout – The Island Brewing Company produces Gahan Sydney Street Stout. However, it is apparently a limited edition and is not available in local liquor stores year-round — at least I couldn’t track down any. So, instead, I opted to use Montreal-brewed St. Ambroise Oatmeal Stout because it boasts hints of espresso and chocolate.

I knew I was going to be making a chocolate cookie with a hint of coffee flavour so a stout with both chocolate and coffee flavour could only enhance the cookie’s taste. Like any ingredient, moderation is the trick. My goal was to flavour the cookie with the stout and bring out the chocolate flavour – I wasn’t aiming for a beer-tasting cookie. Therefore, I used only 1 1/2 tablespoons of stout as part of the liquid ingredients.

This recipe calls for both butter and shortening in the ingredients and I recommend both be used. For more information on why some cookie recipes call for both types of fat, click here.

For the chocolate, I chose to use semi-sweet squares of chocolate because I find the flavour a bit more intense than powdered cocoa. Using some brewed coffee gives these cookies a distinct mocha flavour. For interest, color, and texture, I used swirled milk and white chocolate chips.

This dough does well when it is chilled and allowed to “rest” for 24 hours after mixing and before baking the cookies. The purpose of letting the dough “rest” is to allow the liquid ingredients, including the egg, to get fully incorporated and absorbed into the other ingredients. The “resting” period makes for a drier and firmer cookie dough and this controls its spread while baking so you don’t end up with a really flat cookie.

Refrigerating the cookie dough also allows the fat content in the dough to firm up, and cold, firm butter/shortening takes longer to melt in the oven. This delay in melting gives the cookies a chance to rise up instead of immediately spreading out. As a result, the cookies begin to bake, create structure, and are able to hold their shape before the butter, in particular, breaks down and flattens and spreads them out. I do not recommend skipping the dough chilling step for these cookies.

If the dough is particularly hard when it comes out of the refrigerator to the point that it can’t be scooped or spooned without chibbling it, let it rest at room temperature for 10 – 15 minutes. Do not, however, bring the dough completely back to room temperature and soften as that will defeat the objective of having the butter and shortening firm up in the dough before the cookies enter the hot oven and start spreading out.

I like the drop cookies to be soft and somewhat chewy and, of course, the key to that texture is to slightly underbake the cookies – bake these no more than 10-12 minutes at 350F and let them cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

My Island Bistro Kitchen’s Double Chocolate Chip Drop Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup shortening, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup white sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp. cold brewed coffee
1 1/2 tbsp stout
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 squares of semi-sweet chocolate, melted
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup chocolate chips

Method:

Assemble ingredients.

Cream butter and shortening.

Add brown and white sugars. Beat until light and fluffy. Add egg and beat until blended.

In separate bowl, or large measuring cup, mix coffee, stout, milk, and vanilla. Stir to combine. Add to mixture. Mix well.

Add melted chocolate and mix to blend.

Combine dry ingredients. Add to mixture and stir just until flour is incorporated.

Stir in chocolate chips. Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate dough for 24 hours.

Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Drop by cookie scoop or spoonfuls onto baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between the cookies. Bake at 350F oven for 10-12 minutes. Let cookies cool on baking sheet for 2-3 minutes then transfer them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

These make a fine treat for St. Patrick’s Day (but are just as good any time of the year!)

My Island Bistro Kitchen's Double Chocolate Chip Drop Cookies

These Double Chocolate Chip Drop Cookies are both tasty and showy. Flavoured with a wee bit of stout. A treat anytime but especially good for a St. Patrick's Day treat!

Course Snack

My Island Bistro Kitchen My Island Bistro Kitchen