Jumbo Empanadas

Rhubarb, Rhubarb, Rhubarb

2009-05-26T10:39:00.004-04:00

A couple summers ago when my little nephew Alex was visiting we were all entertained by playing a game with him called “What Do You Like More?” It was a pretty straight forward game, we would simply name two items and ask Alex which one he liked more. My brother especially enjoyed replacing one of the items with Auntie Brilynn and asking him questions like “What do you like more… Bear or Auntie Brilynn?” or “What do you like more… Cookies or Auntie Brilynn?” or “What do you like more… Mosquitoes or Auntie Brilynn?” or “What do you like more… Dragon flies or Auntie Brilynn?”. For the record, I tied with Bear, (his favourite stuffed animal) lost to dragon flies and beat out both cookies and mosquitoes! You can find out all sorts of interesting information by playing this game with other people, not just a three year old. For example, if you were to play this game with me and compare everything to rhubarb, rhubarb would probably lose every time.

What do you like more… Rhubarb or chocolate? Chocolate.

What do you like more… Rhubarb or lobster? Lobster.

Ok, so maybe those ones were obvious, but if we keep playing, you’ll notice the rhubarb hating continues.

What do you like more… Rhubarb or three day old stale pizza? Pizza.

What do you like more… Rhubarb or doing the dishes? Dishes.

What do you like more… Rhubarb or chopping herbs and shucking oysters? Finally, a victory for rhubarb!

It’s not that I actually hate rhubarb but given the option of eating rhubarb or something else, nine times out of ten I’ll choose the something else. Despite this, rhubarb intrigues me. Possibly in part because it brings back fond memories of plucking a sun warmed stalk of rhubarb from the garden and proceeding to eat it by dipping the end in a cup of sugar between bites. These days I want to pair it with more savoury dishes, perhaps in a tangy bbq sauce or a chutney? Even though I’m harbouring thoughts of savoury rhubarb, I’ve been making nothing but sweet things in the form of Strawberry Rhubarb Ripple ice cream and Strawberry Rhubarb Mousse. If you asked me what do you like more… Strawberries or rhubarb? Strawberries would clearly win.

Unfortunately there aren’t recipes to accompany these dishes. The ice cream was made as an afterthought. I had made strawberry rhubarb jam and decided that I wanted to swirl it into a vanilla ice cream base. So I did. And it was good. It was extra good when eaten out of Cinnamon Tuiles, which I will provide a recipe for. Those were sort of an accident too. I had to make tuiles for a dessert at work and I’d never made them before so I did a trial run at home first. It just so happened that it paired great with my ice cream. The Strawberry Rhubarb Mousse was adapted from a recipe for cherry mousse that I found in Food & Drink magazine, which I’ve touted before as a great free publication put out by the Liquor Control Board of Ontario. I made that one for Mother’s Day as Mom requested ‘something with rhubarb’ and I grudgingly complied.

Cinnamon Tuiles, (Adapted slightly from Gourmet, November 1998)

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter

1/4 cup packed light brown sugar

3 tablespoons light corn syrup

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a saucepan melt butter with brown sugar and corn syrup over moderate heat, stirring occasionally until sugar is dissolved. Remove pan from heat and stir in flour, cinnamon and a pinch of salt until smooth.

Drop batter by the tablespoon full onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Leave a lot of space in between as these cookies spread immensely. Bake cookies in middle of oven 6 minutes, or until golden.

Once you remove the tray from the oven, let the tuiles rest for about a minute before you try to remove them. If you try to pick them up too soon, they’ll fall apart. As soon as you’re able to gently lift a tuile off the parchment without tearing it, they’re ready to mold. You can mold them any way you like, I’ve pressed them into muffin tins as well as draped them over coffee cups and small bowls, it all depends what shape you want. Cool cookie completely and then transfer to an airtight container. Tuiles keep 5 days in an airtight container at cool room temperature.

Dessert Special

2009-05-18T13:00:00.005-04:00

Carrot Cake with Candied Carrots and Carrot Shooters

Given my extreme inability to make decisions, it’s a miracle that I can figure out a dessert special every night at work. And truth be told, I can’t always. Sometimes I get part way through an idea and have to call for reinforcement. Like the day I made carrot cake. I had no problem making a carrot cake with nuts, raisins and spices, topped with an orange scented cream cheese icing but figuring out how to make it look interesting, (and not from 1972) left me drawing a blank. When in doubt, the guy with the tall hat and name embroidered on his jacket is probably a good person to ask. His answers, however, are sometimes more than I bargained for. I was looking for a little something to garnish my carrot cake with and ended up making candied carrots and carrot shooters to order.

Chocolate Caramel Walnut Tart Wrapped in Raspberry Jelly with Raspberry Confetti

Dessert specials allow for a little more freedom like being able to make carrot shooters. It was nice for one night, but it’s definitely not something I’d want to do at the height of summer business. Kind of like the day I made a Chocolate-Caramel-Walnut Tart and needed something to garnish it with. The tart on its own is quite nice, but needs some colour to look good on a plate. Chef suggested I do something with raspberry syrup and agar agar… that snowballed into wrapping rectangular pieces of tart in a raspberry jelly and then sealing the jelly with a blowtorch and sprinkling raspberry jelly confetti around the tart in a pool of crème anglaise. Once again, it was interesting for one night, not so fun for the whole summer.

Bread Pudding with Chocolate Sauce, Creme Anglaise and Vanilla Ice Cream Coated in Chocolate Crumbs

As much as I’d like to get an industrial ice cream machine and make every summer dessert ice cream based, it’s not going to happen, (sadly). That means I have to come up with new summer desserts for a menu change happening very shortly. This task should not be as difficult as it is for me. I’ve been pouring over cookbooks and looking through blogs for inspiration and coming up empty. I see tons of beautiful desserts and things that I love, but they don’t necessarily translate well in my work kitchen. Some items are too fancy, some are too plain, some are out of season, some are too fragile, we don’t have the equipment, the time, the right customers or the labour force for others. I’ve been told to employ the K.I.S.S. strategy to my summer dessert making, but with so many options, (and also restrictions) I can’t seem to narrow it down to five new menu items.

Lemon Curd Tart with Fresh Strawberries, Creme Anglaise and Strawberry Coulis

So I’m asking for your help. Bloggers and blog readers are notoriously generous and full of great ideas and I want you to help me choose some new dessert options for work. What are your favourite desserts to make and eat? What would you like to see on a restaurant menu? While you’re being creative with your suggestions, keep the following in mind:

-The dessert has to be able to be refrigerated for storage, without compromising quality.

-It has to be able to stand up to extreme heat and humidity, (meringues and sugar garnish are out).

-It has to be relatively easy to make, (because I’m not working 7 days a week for the rest of the summer).

-There needs to be a chocolate dessert, a fruit dessert and something cakey, (those don’t have to be together, but have to exist somewhere).

-It has to look pretty on a plate.

-I don’t have an ice cream maker :(

-It has to be able to be mildly mass produced, (and without taking me forever to do so or occupying all of the stoves and ovens and bench space).

Thanks for the suggestions… if I end up choosing any of your ideas, I’ll be sure to let you know! And will probably then ask for your mailing address so that I can send you something as thanks for helping save part of my sanity…

Chocolate Dipped Strawberries for a Wedding

Before the Heat

2009-05-14T00:49:00.002-04:00

The heat is coming and summer is fast approaching. For school aged kids, teachers and anyone with holidays due, this is something to look forward to. Summer means days filled with bike riding in the sunshine, swimming at the beach, bbq’s and eating freezies. Or at least that’s the way I remember it once being… This summer is going to be different. I work in a restaurant where the busiest months of the year are by far the summer months. It’s so much busier that the staff size effectively doubles from May to September to be able to handle the flux in business. Having started my job there mid September of last year, I missed the majority of the rush. I have heard horror stories of how busy it was and will be, but I have yet to experience it myself. You could say I’m kind of like these Cinnamon Rolls and Peanut Butter Cookies, they’re waiting to be baked and I’m waiting to be overwhelmed by work, both of us are heading into the heat. I’m hoping that when it’s all over, I fair as well as they did…

Sangria Bites

2009-05-10T23:55:00.002-04:00

A couple weeks ago, I posted about Manhattan Drops, which are basically a sophisticated version of jello shooters. I got the recipe from Food & Drink Magazine and along with the Manhattan Drops, there were recipes for Cucumber Rose Gin and Tonics, White Russian Bars, Cosmopolitan Meltaways and Sangria Bites. Since the Manhattan Drops went over so well, I thought I’d give one of the other recipes a try and decided on the Sangria Bites, mainly because I had most of the ingredients on hand.

If you want to be classy, serve the Sangria Bites in individual spoons, topped with a little lime zest. If you want to go the trashy route, make them in one big pan, hand everyone a spoon and let them dig in. Although the alcohol content in these isn’t as potent as the Manhattan Drops, after enough of them, no one will care how they’re served.

Given the success of these two recipes I think I’m going to venture out on my own and start turning all my favourite drinks into jellies. I’m going to make jellied drinks the new black. Next up on my list to make? Mojito jellies. You know you want some.

Sangria Bites, (Adapted from Food & Drink, Spring 2009)

1 ½ cups lime simple syrup, (equal parts sugar and water, infused with the zest of 3 limes)

3 packages (7g each) unflavoured gelatin crystals.

2 cups Spanish red wine

½ cup Grand Marnier

Extra lime zest for garnish

Pour the simple syrup into a small saucepan. Sprinkle gelatin overtop and stir to combine. Let stand until gelatin softens, about 2 minutes. Place this mixture over low heat and stir, gently splashing around the sides of the pan until all the gelatin has dissolved. Do not boil.

Stir the win and Grand Marnier into the gelatin mixture. Stir slowly for 1 minute. Pour into an 8 inch glass baking dish. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until very firmly set.

Cut the jelly into cubes and serves with a little lime zest on top.

Blueberry Maple Fro Yo

2009-05-07T13:09:00.003-04:00

Favourite fro yo
Yummy blueberry maple
In chocolate cup

***************************************************************

Haikus are easy
But sometimes they don't make sense
Refrigerator

Blueberry Maple Frozen Yogurt
1 750ml container of yogurt, (whatever % you feel like using)
Maple sryup, to taste, (I start with maybe 1/4 cup combined with the blueberries and add more when I mix it into the strained yogurt if I think it needs more)
Blueberries, as much as you want, (maybe a cup and a half is a good place to start)
Vodka, a splash
Strain the yogurt overnight. On the stove stop, combine maple syrup and blueberries and cook until the blueberries release some juice and soften. Chill completely and stir this into the strained yogurt. Add a splash of vodka. Pour into ice cream machine and then freeze.

Cherry Blossoms

2009-05-07T00:54:00.001-04:00

These blossoms mean that cherry season can't be too far off! The countdown is on.

Fresh Pasta

2009-04-30T18:28:00.003-04:00

Reasons chickens are better than roosters:

1- Chickens lay eggs.

2- Chickens don’t crow at 3am.

We had a rooster once. Dad thought it would be a good idea to get a silkie chicken and rooster pair. The logic was that we thought we would end up with some eggs and the pair of them would look pretty neat. What he did not account for was the fact that our rooster would turn out to be deranged. He had no clue what time of day or night it was and would crow for hours on end in the middle of the night. I hated that rooster. One day Dad had finally had enough of him too and took the pair out to a friend’s farm where the rooster could crow as much as he wanted without robbing us of sleep and sanity. Now we have six chickens and although I’m not sure why Dad thought we needed SIX of them, I like them a whole lot better than that stupid rooster. Six chickens, however, equal up to six eggs a day. That means I have to continuously come up with ways to use them up.

Besides ice cream, one of my favourite ways to use eggs is by making homemade pasta. Michael Ruhlman, in his new book Ratio gives this easy to remember recipe for basic pasta dough:

Pasta Dough = 3 parts flour : 2 parts egg

I find measuring by weight a whole lot easier than by volume or piece, especially if some of the eggs your chickens are laying are double yolkers. But for those of you that don’t have a scale, (just go buy one, seriously) Ruhlman says that ratio works out to approximately 1 cup flour : 2 eggs. I use 00 flour when making pasta, (an Italian fine grind) and I find it works the best. Once you’ve got your pasta dough made there’s no end to the things you can do with it. I would be happy eating fresh pasta with lots of butter and a little cheese but since I was cooking for others I thought it would probably be better to make a meal of it. So I made a pesto sauce and also fried up some green onions, red peppers, bacon, shrimp and scallops. Tossed the whole thing together and there was dinner. Very good dinner.

Simple Breakfast Math

2009-04-27T23:02:00.006-04:00

Homemade bread

+
Homemade maple smoked bacon
+
A poached egg courtesy of the chickens in my backyard

= 1 Tasty Breakfast

Team Cookies

2009-04-27T01:15:00.005-04:00

Sometimes writing ideas come to me without any effort and in full detail. Other times I can only form thoughts in bits and pieces. Today you get the latter. But it comes with cookies!

Cookie of the Day: Peanut Butter, Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip Team Cookies.

Word of the Day: Schadenfreude.

Website of the Day: FMyLife.

Colour of the Day: Maroon.

Activity of the Day: Tennis.

Hunted Animal of the Day: Wild turkey.

Destination of the Day: Korea.

Rule of the Day: Rule #76, No excuses, play like a champion.

Song of the Day: Savior by Rise Against

Team Cookies (from Jls’ Mom and adapted slightly by me)

1 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 cup soft butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup lightly-packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tsp salt
1-1½ cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Cream together peanut butter, butter, white and brown sugar and brown sugar. Add eggs and vanilla , and beat until light and fluffy. In a separate bowl, combine oats, flour and baking soda and salt, and stir into peanut butter mixture. Add chocolate chips. Drop by spoonfuls onto silpat or parchment lined baking sheets. Place in oven at 350 degrees for 9-11 minutes or until lightly brown. Cool on rack. Makes 4 dozen.

My notes: These cookies are my favourite. And yes, I’ve already posted about them here and in ice cream form here, but they’re my favourite and it’s my party and I’ll post about them again if I want to. For those who are allergic to chocolate, (sad but true) substituting toasted pecans for the chocolate chips works well. In the past white chocolate chips and butterscotch chips have also been swapped in, but I like the chocolate ones best. If you don’t use chunky peanut butter, I’d suggest adding salted peanuts and omitting the salt.

First Morel of the Season!

2009-04-25T13:09:00.000-04:00

Curtis Stone Can Cook Me Dinner Anytime

2009-04-23T22:11:00.004-04:00

As I mentioned in my previous post, I recently got my passport renewed. The last time that I had to do that was four years ago when I was headed to Australia as part of a University exchange program. I find it almost impossible to believe that it was so long ago that I was enjoying soaking up the Australian sun, playing beach volleyball at the University of Queensland in Brisbane and taking weekend trips to Byron Bay. I have some great memories of my time in Australia and ever since have had quite the soft spot for Aussies. Especially tall, adorable Australian chefs like Curtis Stone. And before any of you try to tell me I’m being suckered in by a pretty face and charming accent, the man can seriously cook and has the background to prove it. Long before I discovered him on his TLC show, Take Home Chef, Curtis was working as head chef in several Michelin-starred restaurants in London. So there.

His newest book, Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone: Recipes to Put You in My Favourite Mood, contains approachable recipes gathered under chapters with titles like Brunch That Will Blow Their Minds, Something to Eat on the Sofa and Sweet Dreams. Given my recent brunch party, affinity for eating on the sofa and everything sweet, I definitely approve of his choices. The book is also full of gorgeous pictures of almost every recipe and quite a few of Curtis too. I think I could have made anything from this book and been pretty happy. The only thing that would have made it better were if I ran into Curtis at the supermarket while gathering ingredients and he came home to cook with me. That’s practically reason enough to move to L.A. and hang out excessively at Whole Foods. Or to move to Australia and find someone just like him, (ha, as if anyone could be as great as Curtis Stone…). I even tried to get Chef to hire an Aussie at work but so far my pleas have gone unanswered. Maybe my wonderful blog readers should start a letter writing campaign to Chef in support of my need to have Aussies in the kitchen…

A few notes on the recipes I made…

Brownie Cupcakes: Truly a cross between a brownie and cupcake and frosted with a chocolate cream cheese frosting, these went over very well. The frosting received extra compliments and I used the leftovers to top banana muffins and my fingers.

Steamed Mussels with Chorizo and White Wine: Mussels are a weekly affair at my house and this version got high praise. The sprinkling of fresh cilantro on top was a great addition.

Wild Mushroom, Spinach and Goat Cheese Tarts: I took these with me to my brunch potluck and was pleased with how they looked and tasted. Andrea went back for more of this tart over the caramel/pecan/chocolate tart, so it must have been alright.

Seafood Wonton Soup: Wonton soup, like mussels, is something I used to think couldn’t easily be made at home. Although slightly time consuming to fill wonton wrappers, (don’t overfill!) it’s not difficult by any means and the results are better than most places you can buy it at. Certainly worth making again.

Brownie Cupcakes (from Relaxed Cooking with Curtis Stone: Recipes to Put You in My Favourite Mood)

Cupcakes
6 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate, (60-70% cacao). Chopped
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tablespoon Lyle’s Golden Syrup or light corn syrup
Pinch of salt
¾ cup sugar
2 large eggs
½ cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2/3 cup coarsely chopped walnuts

Frosting
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup Lyle’s Golden Syrup or light corn syrup
4 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate, (60-70% cacao). Chopped

To make the cupcakes: Position an oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Line a standard cupcake tin with 8 paper cupcake liners. Stir the chocolate and butter in a small heavy saucepan over low heat until they melt and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the syrup and salt. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar and eggs in a large bowl for 2 minutes or until the mixture is thick and light. Stir in the chocolate mixture. Add the flour and baking powder, and stir just until blended; then stir in the walnuts. Divide the batter equally among the cupcake liners, filling them completely. Bake for about 25 minutes, or until the cupcakes puff and crack on top and a skewer inserted into the center of one comes out with fudgy crumbs attached. Remove the cupcakes from the tin and let them cool completely on a wire rack.

To frost the cupcakes: Using an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese in a large bowl until it is light and smooth. Beat in the syrup. Place the chocolate in another bowl and set the bowl over a small pot of simmering water. Stir constantly until the chocolate melts. Add the melted chocolate to the cream cheese mixture and beat until bended and fluffy, stopping the machine and scraping the bottom of the bowl to ensure that the mixture is well blended. Spread the frosting generously over the cooled cupcakes.

Brunch

2009-04-22T16:58:00.011-04:00

Some people seem to lead such interesting lives, always meeting new people and traveling all over the place. Often those people will be told they’re so lucky to do all the things they do. The thing is, they’re not lucky, they simply create opportunities for themselves that most people don’t. One such person is my friend Andrea. Andrea is always on the move and manages to find fun in even the most dismal of places so if you’re invited to do something with her, it’s to your advantage to say yes and go along for the ride.

Whereas some people make tentative plans to do things in the future, Andrea just does things. I don’t know how many times I’ve talked about doing potluck lunches or dinners with friends, only for them not to materialize. A couple days ago Andrea invited myself and another friend over for potluck brunch. It wasn’t hard to put together and yet it’s something I’d probably talk about more than ever do.

When we arrived at Andrea’s yesterday she had set the table in bright spring colours, complete with champagne flutes and coupes, (legend has it they were modeled on the breasts of Marie Antoinette, Andrea's full of trivia too) fluffy chicks for company and fresh fruit. Our flutes were soon filled with champagne and Chambord as we set out the rest of our feast. I decided to bring themed baking and went with savoury and sweet tarts because brunch is one of those wonderful meals where if it’s acceptable to drink in the morning, it’s also acceptable to eat dessert. For savoury tarts I made Wild Mushroom and Spinach Tarts from Curtis Stone’s new book, (review to come soon) and for sweet I went with Caramel, Pecan, Chocolate Tarts, a switch up on a Dorie Greenspan recipe I’ve made numerous times. We also had homemade granola and a Dill and Ricotta Cheesecake whose recipe came via 101 Cookbooks.

It was a great way to start what could have been a day full of random activities. Unfortunately I had to cut things short to head into work. Being employed really gets in the way of spontaneity. It gets in the way of travel too. Flying away is on my mind since I got my passport in the mail today, (I had sent it in to be renewed, was it really four years ago that I went to Australia???) and just having it in my hands made me want to go places… Faraway places… I get a travel itch every now and then and it seems to have flared up lately. If I were more like Andrea I would probably be on a plane right now. Instead I’ll look at old photos, pine for days when I’m in a new place and then head into the kitchen to bake away my frustrations.

Manhattan Drops

2009-04-20T11:33:00.003-04:00

Last week I invited the work crew to come over after service for a little bonding time outside of the kitchen. I considered making some snacks for the evening, but cooking for cooks is not the most relaxing thing ever. Especially not when they’re making stuff like this and demand for there to be a winner when cook offs take place. I decided a much better option would be to stock the fridge with beer. It’s less stressful for me but still keeps everyone happy. Buying beer is boring though and I like to make things. So how could I make something but not have to worry too much about being judged? Make sure that whatever I made was full of booze and I had just the recipe. One of my favourite, (and free!) food magazines is Food and Drink which is put out by the LCBO, (Liquor Control Board of Ontario). Sure, it’s just a giant advertisement for the liquor store, but all food magazines are full of ads and at least this one pairs food with alcohol and has some pretty solid recipes to boot. Anyways, in one of the recent issues there was a section on cocktails that had been turned into jellies that caught my eye. Basically, they’re a more sophisticated version of jello shooters. Instead of neon coloured jello shooters spiked with so much vodka they barely set and served out of Dixie cups at high school parties, these alcoholic jellies are borderline classy. The photos in Food and Drink are gorgeous and the recipes include Cucumber Rose Gin and Tonics, White Russian Bars, Cosmopolitan Meltaways, Sangria Bites and Manhattan Drops. I made the Manhattan Drops and the biggest complaint I received was that I didn’t make enough of them. Apparently a kitchen crew gathering isn’t so far off from a high school party afterall…

Manhattan Drops, (from Food and Drink, Spring 2009)

1 jar, (225mL) maraschino cherries with stems

1 cup simply syrup

3 pkgs (7g each) unflavoured gelatin crystals

1 ½ cups rye whisky

¾ cup sweet vermouth

¼ tsp Angostura or Peychaud Bitters***

Drain cherries well and blot on paper towel. Menawhile, pour the simple syrup into a small saucepan. Sprinkle gelatin overtop and stir to combine. Let stand until gelatin softens, about 2 minutes. Place this mixture over low heat and stir, gently splashing around the sides of the pan until all of the gelatin has dissolved. Do not boil.

Combine whisky, vermouth and bitters in a bowl. Stir in gelatin mixture. Stir slowly for 1 minute.

Arrange cherries, stems pointing up, in mini tart tins, round candy moulds or small ice cube trays. Divide alcohol mixture evenly between moulds. Transfer to refrigerator for 45 minutes or until softly set. Straighten any slanted stems. Chill for a least 1 hour longer.

To unmold, dip bottoms of moulds briefly in body temperature water. Use a rubber spatula to lift jellies out of moulds.

Makes about 48.

***Note- I didn’t use Bitters, but did add a little splash of the marschino cherry liquid. I also set mine in a mini muffin tin and surprisingly didn’t have trouble getting them out after dipping the bottom briefly in warm water.

Chef Challenge: Battle Cream Cheese

2009-04-14T20:53:00.006-04:00

Zeppole

I’ve previously told you about how lucky I am to work in a restaurant where we get to do some pretty neat things in the kitchen when we’re not busy. Sometimes that comes in the form of challenging Chef to create something on the spot, but sometimes Chef will flip the tables and challenge us instead. Usually that involves Chef telling us to produce a fully plated dish, using whatever we want, in under 30 minutes. This doesn’t sound like it should be a difficult task, but if you’re an indecisive person like myself, it can be 30 minutes of torture.

Cook1's Lamb Dish

The other day I was bugging Chef to make me something wonderful and he decided that I should instead make something for him. I hate when he does that. To buy myself some time, I suggested that one of the other cooks should have to take on the challenge. When Cook1 came back into the kitchen from a trip to the walk in fridge, completely unaware of what was going on, he was told he had 30 minutes to plate two identical dishes and that he’d better hurry up and get started. He began scrambling around to gather ingredients and come up with something to make. As he was doing this, Cook2 who had been observing, was pulled into the game when Chef told him he also had 30 minutes and the same challenge. I escaped being a direct part of the challenge as I actually had some work to get done before service. As Cook1 and Cook2 approached the 30 minute mark, (with Chef counting down in Iron Chef fashion… 10 minutes have elapsed) I suggested they should get 45 minutes instead as it was becoming clear that 30 wouldn’t cut it. I’d fail on the real Iron Chef as I’m all for giving out extra time when needed. Coming up with a dish under pressure is hard enough as it is, I’ll take any bonuses I can get.

Cook2's White Fish Dish

When Cook1 and Cook2 finished their dishes they had to explain what they were before we all gave them a taste and Chef gave his opinion on the outcome. That’s also my opportunity to ask questions like “What part of the dish did you think of first?” I find it interesting to hear how other people conceive of a dish and where their ideas come from. I like answers that tell a story and let me get a little glimpse into their twisted minds, (they work in a kitchen, their minds are inherently twisted… we’re an odd bunch). I dislike answers like “I don’t know.”

Cook1 chose to make a lamb dish with greens beans, rice, walnuts and a pear puree.

Cook2 made a white fish mousse with rice and veg medley.

I love these little challenges because two completely different dishes were made, using different techniques and different trains of thought to lead to a final product. It’s just neat to watch.

Chef's Appetizer

The following day Chef told me to make him something amazing. I decided to make donuts since it’s something that allowed me to use the deep fryer. I don’t have a deep fryer at home, especially not an industrial one, so I like any excuse to use it at work, (even though really hot oil kinda scares me). I was also looking for an excuse to try out a recipe I had seen in Giada DeLaurentiis’ most recent book, Giada’s Kitchen. She calls them Zeppole, but they’re basically deep fried pâte à choux. Also, you can call me a cheater if you want, but I used a recipe. It’s much harder to create something pastry related in 30 minutes without some sort of recipe to build on. It’s not nearly as forgiving as cooking. I did, however, create two dipping sauces to go with the zeppole that I made without measuring utensils. The first was an orange caramel and the second a maple blueberry compote. When Chef came to taste them, he asked if they would be super mind blowingly awesome and amazing. Somehow, between the time he asked me if I was making him something and tasting time, his request got a few more adjectives tacked onto it. And while I wouldn’t qualify the zeppole as super mind blowingly awesome and amazing, they were alright but definitely best almost right out of the fryer.

Chef's Main

Later that night Chef decided someone should still complete a proper challenge and since a new sous chef just started this week, he was the perfect candidate to choose. To make things more interesting, Chef decided to compete against him and allowed the cooks to choose a mystery ingredient for them to use. There’s nothing like starting a new job and immediately being thrown into competition with your boss… The New Sous handled it a million times better than I would have. And being the generous group that we are, we granted them a fifteen minute preparation period, followed by one hour of cooking to produce an appetizer and main dish in Battle Cream Cheese. I really should have been taking notes as this happened last week, but from what I can recall, this is what they made…

New Sous' Appetizer

Chef’s Appetizer: Bacon wrapped around a cream cheese filling, topped with lobster ceviche and julienned marinated peas, sprinkled with small diced red onion and a reduced lemon liqueur drizzle.

Chef’s Main: Venison chop topped with cream cheese, leek and mushroom, with green beans, candied cherry tomatoes and pine nuts.

New Sous’ Appetizer: Smoked salmon, potato and cream cheese croquette, sitting on top a cream cheese based sauce and topped with orange and onion relish and micro greens, surrounded by a reduced balsamic drizzle.

New Sous’ Main: Chorizo stuffed chicken breast with a mustard and cream cheese sauce, accompanied by grilled portabello mushrooms, orzo and veg.

New Sous' Main

After plating their dishes, both the kitchen team and servers got to taste everything and vote on whose they thought was better. Everyone chose their favourites except me. I gave my opinion on what I liked and disliked about each dish, but refused to say definitively which I liked better. Chef and New Sous are both waiting for this post because they think I’m going to reveal a winner. I keep telling them I love them both equally and refuse to cast a vote. Instead of leaving them completely in limbo however, I’ve decided to let you vote. In the comments section, simply say who you think should win Battle Cream Cheese, based on which dish you think you’d like better. At least this way they’ll be able to sleep at night. Although I don’t know how accurate that decision method is either since Chef has been known to comment on my blog anonymously, using up to four aliases to keep his identity a secret. I might have to start Chef at negative four votes just to give New Sous a fair chance.

Zeppole (from Giada DeLaurentiis’, Giada’s Kitchen)

½ cup unsalted butter

¼ cup sugar

½ cup water

¼ tsp salt

1 cup all purpose flour

4 eggs

1 T grated orange zest

Vegetable oil for frying

Combine the butter, sugar, salt, and ½ cup water in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Take the pan off the heat and stir in the flour. Return the pan to low heat and cook, stirring continuously, until the mixture forms a ball, about 4 minutes. Transfer the flour mixture to a medium bowl. Using an electric hand mixer on low speed, beat in the eggs, one at a time, incorporating each egg completely before adding the next. Add the orange zest and beat until smooth. Set aside.

Pour enough oil into a large frying pan to reach a depth of 3 inches. Heat the oil over medium heat until a deep fry thermometer registers 350F.

Using a small ice cream scoop or 2 small spoons, carefully drop about a tablespoon of the dough into the hot oil. Make three more zeppole, being careful to not crowd the pan. Turn each zeppole once or twice, cooking until golden and puffed, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a plate and continue frying the remaining batter in batches of 4.

Happy Sunday!

2009-04-11T23:55:00.005-04:00

Hot cross buns,

Hot cross buns,
One ha' penny,
Two ha' penny,
Hot cross buns.
If you have no daughters,
Give them to your sons,
One ha' penny,
Two ha' penny,
Hot Cross Buns

Lemon Currant Hot Cross Buns (From LCBO Food and Wine Magazine, Spring 2009)

Dough:
2 cups 2% milk, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. dry instant yeast
1 1/2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/4 cups dried currants

Hot Glaze:
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. lemon juice
1 Tbsp. water

Icing:
3/4 cup icing sugar, sifted
1 Tbsp. lemon juice

1. For the dough, stir milk, sugar, yeast, lemon zest and vanilla in the base of a tabletop mixer or by hand and let sit 5 minutes. Add flour, salt, nutmeg, cinnamon and currants and blend. Using a dough hook attachment, knead until elastic, but dough still sticks to the bottom of the bowl. (If mixing by hand, stir until stiff, then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until elastic but still sticky.) Place in a large, lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set in a warm, draft-free place for 1 1/2 hours.

2. Turn dough onto a lightly floured surface and cut into 12 equal sized pieces. Roll each piece of dough into a ball and place in a greased 9x13-inch cake pan. Cover pan loosely with plastic wrap and let rise 45 minutes.

3. Preheat oven to 350° F. (180c)

4. Bake buns for 40 - 45 minutes, until a rich golden colour. While buns are baking, prepare hot glaze.

5. For hot glaze, stir sugar, lemon juice and water in a small pot over medium heat until sugar has dissolved. When buns come out of the oven, poke holes with a bamboo skewer and brush buns with glaze repeatedly, allowing glaze to soak in to buns. Let buns cool in pan.

6. For icing, beat icing sugar and lemon juice until thick and pipe a cross onto each bun. Store buns in pan until ready to serve. The buns are best served on the day they are baked but can be baked ahead and frozen.

Ice Cream and Chickens

2009-04-07T00:07:00.003-04:00

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream with a snowy backdrop.

I’ve made ice cream four times in the past week. It was supposed to be a celebration of spring and the arrival of warm weather. I woke up this morning, ready to freeze the Vanilla Bean custard I made last night and discovered 15cm of snow on the ground. Where did that come from? The Pomegranate Frozen Yogurt photo was taken only days earlier when the temperature climbed to a hopeful 14°C, (57°F) and now this. I had hoped we were done with snow this year. As much as I like to ski and can appreciate the beauty of a white, snow covered landscape, I’m done with winter. Bring on the sun. I want to see flowers blossoming, asparagus and rhubarb coming up in the garden and I want to ride my bike. I want to continue making ice cream but I want to eat it outside on the deck. And I want it to be so bright outside that I have to wear sunglasses. Is that too much to ask?

Orange Popsicle Ice Cream

There may be another reason I’m making so much ice cream and that would be that I have approximately a million eggs to use up so I’m making lots of egg based things, (challah, egg salad sandwiches, deviled eggs…). The source of all these eggs? Chickens! Six of them. They’re in my backyard and each of them is laying an egg a day. For some time now Dad has been complaining that eggs are always on the grocery list and that I go through too many eggs with my baking and ice cream making. He recently came up with a solution to that problem. He built a chicken coop and acquired six chickens. Now I’ve got more eggs than I know what to do with and ice cream is accumulating in my freezer at a rapid rate as that seems to be my favourite thing to make with eggs.

Green Tea Ice Cream

When I want to make ice cream, one of the first places I look for a recipe is David Lebovitz’s The Perfect Scoop. Sometimes I make his recipes exactly as written and other times I tweak them a bit to suit what I’ve got in mind or on hand. Once I’ve got an ice cream idea I usually check Lebovitz’s book for a recipe before looking anywhere else. Work is usually the source of my ice cream making inspiration, (no real surprise there considering it’s where I spend most of my time) and one of the guys at work is currently addicted to green tea. I think he’s single handedly decimating the kitchen’s supply of green tea so when I felt like making ice cream earlier this week, green tea was an easy choice. It had also been a long time since the last time I used my matcha powder to make ice cream in the form of Matcha White Chocolate Raspberry Ice Cream, so it was definitely time. The Orange Popsicle Ice Cream you see here was also inspired by a workplace conversation with someone who said they loved creamsicle bars. This ice cream is pretty close in taste, although I’d like to try making my own version of creamsicle ice cream that incorporates an orange sherbert swirl into a creamy ice cream.

Pomegranate Frozen Yogurt

While I was thinking about an orange sherbert swirl I got distracted from ice cream for an instant and somehow drifted into frozen yogurt land, (which is useless for using up eggs, but tasty nonetheless) and I decided that it was imperative I make Pomegranate Frozen Yogurt. I have a few bottles of POM Wonderful sitting in my fridge and I’ve been contemplating what to do with them besides drink them as is. The colour drove me to make frozen yogurt out of one of them. I reduced a bottle of POM Wonderful by about a quarter and could have reduced it even more but I was impatient. I then stirred in a little less than half a cup of sugar, a squirt of lemon juice, a splash of vodka and about 2 cups of plain, strained yogurt, (you could use Greek yogurt if it’s available to you, otherwise strain 2% yogurt overnight in a sieve). I absolutely love frozen yogurt made with strained yogurt, (I also love eating strained yogurt with maple syrup and blueberries and think I should make a frozen yogurt out of that too) and the pomegranate was perfect with it. It was definitely an experiment gone right.

And last but certainly not least, we’re back on track with using up eggs by making Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. Vanilla Bean Ice Cream is not new to me. I’ve previously exalted the virtues of the humble vanilla bean and after recently making vanilla bean cupcakes with a friend I decided I need a Vanilla Bean Ice Cream fix. David Lebovitz to the rescue again, (although I’ve made vanilla bean ice cream using a variety of recipes and never been disappointed) he’s got a modified version of the Vanilla Ice Cream in The Perfect Scoop, posted on his blog. I chose to go for a richer custard and used a couple extra egg yolks, it was a good choice.

Any suggestions for what flavour of ice cream I should make next? What are your favourites?

My chickens! And their eggs.

Vanilla Bean Ice Cream, (from DavidLebovitz.com)

For a richer custard, you can add up to 3 more egg yolks. For a less-rich custard, substitute half-and-half for the heavy cream, realizing that the final texture won't be as rich or as smooth as if using cream.

1 cup (250ml) whole milk

A pinch of salt

3/4 cup (150g) sugar

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise

2 cups (500ml) heavy cream

5 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a saucepan. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the milk with a paring knife, then add the bean pod to the milk. Cover, remove from heat, and infuse for one hour.

2. To make the ice cream, set up an ice bath by placing a 2-quart (2l) bowl in a larger bowl partially filled with ice and water. Set a strainer over the top of the smaller bowl and pour the cream into the bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, stir together the egg yolks. Rewarm the milk then gradually pour some of the milk into the yolks, whisking constantly as you pour. Scrape the warmed yolks and milk back into the saucepan.

4. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly and scraping the bottom with a heat-resistant spatula, until the custard thickens enough to coat the spatula.

5. Strain the custard into the heavy cream. Stir over the ice until cool, add the vanilla extract, then refrigerate to chill thoroughly. Preferably overnight.

6. Remove the vanilla bean and freeze the custard in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Note: Used vanilla beans can be rinsed and dried, then stored in a bin of sugar. That sugar can be used for baking and, of course, for future ice cream making.

Duck, Duck… Duck

2009-04-05T01:06:00.007-04:00

The more you do something the better you get at it, (hopefully). Excelling at anything comes only after hours of practice, (at least 10000 according to Outliers author Malcom Gladwell) and I understand that, but it still kills me to make mistakes if they’re at all avoidable. As much as I love experimenting and trying new things, I hate when they don’t work out. I hate it even more when things don’t work out in the restaurant kitchen as opposed to the safety of my home kitchen. That wide eyed look of fear Chef sees on my face when he throws something new at me is exactly that, fear. It’s a fear of messing up, even though I know it’s a part of learning. And it’s a fear of letting others down, especially those who believe in me the most. But along with the fear is a desire to achieve and to do better. A nervous desire, but desire nonetheless. I’d like to be at the point where not only can I understand why something didn’t work but also see when something needs adjusting while there’s still time to fix it. That’s one of the major problems with baking, there’s a finite amount of time in which to make changes. As soon as whatever you’re making goes into the oven, there’s nothing you can do except have faith that you’ve done everything properly and that it will turn out. If not, hopefully you’ve learned what not to do for next time. Cooking is more flexible to an extent, but if you overcook the duck there’s no way to make it raw again.

Speaking of duck, since the only way to get better at something is to keep doing it, I’ve been cooking a lot of duck lately. The price of duck is motivation to learn quickly how to do it right. Because when you mess up duck it hurts on many levels.

Cassoulet with Duck Confit

At the restaurant we serve cassoulet with duck confit and it’s probably one of my favourite things on the menu. I’ve wanted to make it at home for ages and finally decided if I was going to do it, I was going the full nine yards by first making the duck confit and then soaking and cooking the beans and assembling everything with a bread crumb crust and a prolonged bake in the oven. I used a recipe from Michael Ruhlman’s Charcuterie for the duck confit. Don’t let the fact that it takes over two days to complete put you off making your own duck confit. It’s not difficult and the hands on time is minimal. The pay off is definitely worth it as you’re left with beautifully done duck legs and a vat of duck fat that can be used for all sorts of awesome things, like making duck fat fried potatoes. The cassoulet recipe I used was taken mostly from Fat although I improvised a little bit. Consequently the end result was good, but not as good as at work. It was certainly a learning experience though. My finished dish lacked both seasoning and moisture, but at least I was able to determine that.

Duck Fat Fried Potatoes with Duck Confit Hash and A Runny Egg

Like I said though, when you make duck confit, you end up with leftover duck fat and the best thing you can do with that is to use it to fry up some potatoes. I happened to also have a leg of duck confit leftover one morning so I decided to make one of the most decadent but also amazing brunches ever. I shredded the duck leg and made a duck confit hash with peppers, onions and homemade bacon, (also from Charcuterie) then fried up some potatoes in duck fat and served the two with a runny egg overtop. Breakfast has never been the same since.

Mandarin Pancakes with Peking Duck

Mandarin pancakes might sound like breakfast food but they’re usually served for dinner in dishes such as Mu Shu Pork or, as in this case, with Peking duck. The pancakes are made with a simple dough, often made of just flour, boiling water and sesame oil which is allowed to rest and then rolled out flat and sandwiched to another pancake before being browned in a frying pan. The pancakes are then pulled apart and used to wrap up other ingredients, like duck. Mandarin pancakes are one of my favourites and I don’t make them nearly enough, I think it’s the sesame oil in the dough that I just can’t resist. When you pair Mandarin pancakes with Peking duck, life is good.

And last but certainly not least in my adventures in cooking duck is Pan Seared Duck Breast with Dried Cherry and Shallot Confit, served on Roasted Squash Risotto. Pan searing duck breast and finishing it in the oven is fast becoming my go-to way to make duck. I’ve also recently made Soy and Maple Glazed Duck, and Duck Breast with Chili, Honey and Ginger Glaze using the pan searing method. It’s pretty easy to do, (just be careful not to leave it in the oven too long and over cook it, I like my duck pink, thank you) and can be served with any number of sauces and sides. I’m a big fan of pairing fruit with meat and an even bigger fan of cherries so when I saw a recipe for a Dried Cherry and Shallot Confit I knew it was meant to be. As for the risotto, it’s one of those few dishes that I’m comfortable enough cooking that I no longer refer to a recipe. I know the basic method for making risotto and I’ve found that you can introduce any flavour you want to a risotto and it takes fairly well. That being said, as comfortable as I am making risotto in my own kitchen, if you asked me to do it at the restaurant it would be a completely different story…

Pan Seared Duck Breast with Dried Cherry and Shallot Confit with Roasted Squash Risotto

Dried Cherry and Shallot Confit (from Gourmet, 1991)

1 1/2 cups dried sour cherries
1/2 cup white-wine vinegar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
2 cups thinly sliced shallot (about 1/2 pound)
1 cup finely chopped onion
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons sugar

In a bowl let the cherries soak in the vinegars for 30 minutes. While the cherries are soaking, in a heavy skillet cook the shallot and the onion in the butter, covered, over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes, or until the shallot is soft. Sprinkle mixture with the sugar and cook the mixture, covered, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes. Add the cherries with the soaking liquid, simmer the mixture, uncovered, for 10 to 15 minutes, or until almost all the liquid is evaporated, and season the confit with salt and pepper. The confit may be made 1 day in advance, kept covered and chilled, and reheat when needed.

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Spring Has Sprung, Maple Syrup Is Here!

2009-03-29T23:12:00.007-04:00

Maple Sap Dripping Into Collection Bucket

Spring has sprung, the sap is flowing and it’s time for maple syrup and another Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24 post! Each month Foodbuzz hosts a wonderful event whereby 24 bloggers post about 24 different meal experiences in 24 hours. It was easy for me to pick a topic this month as it’s maple syrup collection time. Canadian cuisine may be difficult to define but one food item that I associate strongly with Canada is maple syrup. And when you live in the country, surrounded by maple trees, it’s impossible not to have an appreciation for the sweet stuff.

Wood Fired Oven Used to Boil Sap Into Syrup

A memory that I’m sure is shared by many Canadians is a springtime visit to the sugar bush on an elementary school class trip. There you got to see not only how maple syrup is produced, but you also, (and most importantly) got to sample all sorts of maple products. The only problem is that too much maple candy can make anyone crazy. In retrospect, I feel bad for any teacher who has ever had to take their class to a maple sugar bush because that bus ride home is anything but pleasant. Want to know what a maple sugar high is like? Just watch this clip of Friends where Ross and Chandler stay at a fancy hotel, six hours away from home and on the way hit up every maple candy stand they see. Ross overdoses on maple candy and is completely nutty. Now picture Ross, times 30, in child form and you’ve got one of the worst ideas for a class trip ever. But also one that creates lots of memories.

Pouring Freshly Made Maple Sryup

In an effort to recreate some childhood memories, I recently visited a local sugar bush and was treated to a tour of the sugar shack, complete with mandatory maple taffy tasting, (a classic sugar shack treat, made by boiling maple syrup and pouring it over fresh snow). Bob and Mary-Beth Gray of Kemble Mountain Maple Products collect sap from their maple trees and boil it down to syrup in enormous pans, heated by a wood fired stove. The amount of wood they go through in one day is astounding, requiring them to constantly feed the fire with long logs. The fire heats the sap and it reduces, flowing down a gradient, becoming thicker at each level until it can be poured out as syrup at the other end. Tasty, tasty syrup.

Making Maple Taffy

I left the sugar shack eager to return to my kitchen and to create a meal full of maple flavour. The options were endless but I eventually narrowed my choices down to include a maple flavoured cocktail, salad dressing, two maple glazes and a maple cookie. Let’s begin with the cocktail, shall we? It’s a good one and it’s called a Maplelito, a riff on the class mojito but it’s made with maple syrup instead of mint. In my version, I combined the juice of 1 lime, an ounce of white rum and an ounce of maple syrup and served it over crushed ice. Delicious.

Maplelito!

Next up was the salad course. In general, salad is for rabbits, but when you add maple cured bacon, homemade croutons, red peppers and freshly made maple vinaigrette, salad is awesome. The vinaigrette recipe is an inexact science but contained the following: maple syrup, olive oil, white balsamic vinegar, paprika, dry mustard and salt.

Maple Dressed Salad with Maple Cured Bacon Bits

The main course featured a double dose of maple syrup with maple glazed carrots, (recipe from Bon Appetit) and soy and maple glazed duck breast served over garlic mashed potatoes with a wild mushroom ragout. Making the duck breast couldn’t be easier. Simply season on all sides with salt and pepper and score the fat in a crosshatch pattern. Place fat side down in a skillet and allow some of the fat to render out and the skin to become crispy. Drain off most of the fat, flip with duck breast, glaze with equal parts maple syrup and soy sauce and put in a 400 degree oven for about 6-8 minutes, glazing again half way through. Remove from the oven and let rest before slicing and serving.

Maple and Soy Glazed Duck Breast with Maple Glazed Carrots, Garlic Mashed Potatoes and Mushroom Ragout

For dessert I made Chewy Maple Cookies from the always enticing blog, Habeas Brûlée. Danielle says these cookies, which were initially created by her partner Dave, are basically maple candy in the guise of chewy cookies. And although mine looked nothing like hers, they were still addictive and definitely along the lines of maple candy. After a couple of these cookies you started to feel a little loopy and doped up on maple sugar.

Chewy Maple Cookies

An all around sweet evening.

All of the maple syrup I used to create this meal came from:
Kemble Mountain Maple Products
“Produced with pride from the forests of Ontario’s beautiful Niagara Escarpment.”
Bob and Mary-Beth Gray
519-371-9128
kemblemt@log.on.ca

And the Winner Is...

2009-03-28T10:26:00.004-04:00

BC of Beans and Caviar who commented:

"Ohh, this would be wonderful. My favourite spring recipe would be fiddleheads and young asparagus sauteed in butter."

Congratulations! Be sure to check your email and send me your address so I can get your brand new Vita-Mix 5200 in the mail and on its way to your kitchen.

Thanks to everyone who entered the contest, I discovered a lot of new bloggers to follow and great ideas for spring recipes.

And special thanks to the people at Vita-Mix for making this happen!

Happy Spring!

Vita-Mix Giveaway!

2009-03-20T23:05:00.005-04:00

Oh yes, you read that correctly, I’m giving away a Vita-Mix! After a long dreary winter we could all use some cheering up and in an attempt to make one lucky person especially happy, I’m giving away a brand new Vita-Mix 5200. If you’ve never heard of Vita-Mix then you live under a rock. Seriously. It’s a high powered blender that can chew up virtually anything. How do I know this?

Quick Raspberry Ice Cream

Recently the wonderful people at Vita-Mix offered to let me try one out and I jumped at the chance. I love kitchen toys and this is a particularly awesome one. After playing around with it for a while, (and pretty much throwing everything in my fridge and cupboard into the canister just to watch it blend) I decided it was selfish of me to keep something so great all to myself. But I didn’t want to give it up though either. So I asked Vita-Mix if they would be willing to give away another blender to one of my readers. They graciously agreed and there you have it.

Silky Smooth Pumpkin Soup

I’m not the only one who thinks highly of Vita-Mix. Michael Ruhlman lists their blender as one of his favourite kitchen gadgets, (besides his hands that is). And I could give you a list of all the things you can do with your Vita-Mix, but we’d be here forever.

Almond and Lemon Macaron

Here are a few random suggestions:

Grind your own almonds and then proceed to make Almond and Lemon Macarons.
Whip up a homemade prune and Armagnac bbq sauce and then smother it on ribs.
Whir together some cream, sugar and frozen fruit and you’ve got soft serve ice cream, freeze it a little longer if you want to be able to scoop it.
Smoothies, smoothies, smoothies.
Soup! You can make hot soup, from raw ingredients in about 5 minutes. And the texture is out of this world, super smooth.

Homemade BBQ Rib Sauce In Blender, After Blending and On Ribs

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Want a chance to win? There are lots of ways:

Leave a comment on this post telling me your favourite Spring recipe.
Twitter about the giveaway, linking to this post and leave me another comment to let me know. Or follow me on Twitter! @jumboempanadas
Post about the giveaway on Facebook, linking to this post and leave me another comment to let me know.
Post about the giveaway on your own blog, linking to this post and leave me another comment to let me know.

I'll give you an entry ballot for each way that you enter the contest. Unfortunately the contest is only open to readers in the USA and Canada, (but I love you all equally). Make sure you leave an email address,(or link to your blog if you have one) so that I can contact you if you win. The contest will run until Saturday, March 28th, at which point I’ll use a random number generator to determine a winner. Good luck everyone! Happy Spring!

Banana Berry Smoothie

Sunny Shrimp Tacos

2009-03-18T21:33:00.001-04:00

I’m one of those people that need sunlight in order to function properly. Rainy, snowy and dreary days make me grumpy. Call me a bad Canadian, but I can’t stand the cold, (though to be fair, my version of cold is a few degrees cooler than say, an Australian’s). It’s not that I hate winter, I just wish snow were warmer. And after way too many months of winter, all I want are sunny days so that I can get out and ride my bike and leave the house without having to put on nineteen layers of clothing. Eating habits change with the seasons too and just like I crave the sun after a long winter, I also crave fresh flavours and bright colours. We’ve had a couple sunny days here recently, (I’ve even ridden my bike twice!) and for some reason I’ve had it in my head that I wanted to make fish tacos. Once the idea was swimming around, mingling with my daily thoughts, I knew I had to make it before it drove me crazy. As frequently happens though, what I initially plan for and what I ended up with were slightly different and shrimp was used in place of fish.

Despite the fact that I like to use recipes when working at the restaurant, I don’t necessarily use them at home. There’s a reason for this; at the restaurant each dish needs to be consistent regardless of who makes it and I don’t want to mess that up. At home where I don’t have anyone judging me, (at least not too critically) it really doesn’t matter. So I made these shrimp tacos without a recipe and if you want to make some of your own, I suggest putting together a salsa made out of things like mango, avocado, tomatoes, lime, cumin, smoky paprika and fresh cilantro. The shrimp were quickly pan fried after marinating in flavours similar to that of the salsa, with the addition of white wine. I also caramelized some onions and fried red peppers to add to the tortilla shells. The shrimp tacos were not the easiest things to eat, (bibs are required) but I thought they were pretty good and definitely put me in a sunnier mood with all those bright colours and tastes.

What kind of foods do you think of for Spring time?

Happy in the Kitchen

2009-03-10T10:16:00.005-04:00

Deep Fried Bison Burger

I think it’s pretty obvious that I have a love of food. Until recently though, my love of cooking and baking was restricted to my own kitchen. Since I started at the restaurant I’ve been asked by a lot of people whether or not I enjoy working in a professional kitchen. That’s a tricky question. I usually reply with something to the effect of, “I like work when we’re not doing work.” What’s that supposed to mean? Well, it means I like Chef Challenges and learning new things and playing around with different ideas. I like the silly days in the kitchen when we get our work done but have fun doing it. For example, one of my least favourite jobs is chopping herbs. I know it has to be done though. On silly kitchen days, the herbs get chopped, but they might morph into other shapes on their way to being finely chopped into, as one of the guys likes to say, dust!

Thyme Heart... Making Herb Chopping Bearable

On slower days when we find ourselves with a little extra time on our hands, a question that frequently comes up is “What can we deep fry?” I don’t think I ever get tired of that one. There have been some interesting things to go in the deep fryer, with varying results. Deep fried cheesecake was fun and completely decadent, especially after it was topped with chocolate and caramel sauce. Besides being decadent, it was really pretty too. Dropping the batter covered cheesecake into the deep fryer was a messy affair that resulted in ‘tails’ that were an arty accident. Times like those inch me closer to buying a dSLR and learning how to use it so that my pictures can reflect how cool food really looks.

Deep Fried Cheesecake with Caramel and Chocolate Sauce

One of the best things to come out of the deep fryer was a bison burger. I’m still having dreams about that burger. What was so special about it, besides being a deep fried burger? Let me break it down for you, from top to bottom: Ace bakery bun, a blend of mustards, lettuce, heirloom tomato, red onion, bacon, applewood smoked chedder cheese, a panko breaded deep fried housemade bison burger, gourmet housemade ketchup and an ace bakery bun. Wow. You don’t even know how amazing that burger was. We decided that it could in fact be improved upon though, by adding caramelized onions, a grilled portobello and embedding cheese in the centre of the burger. One day soon this must happen and when it does, it will be glorious.

Deep Fried Bison Burger with All the Fixings

Right up there with, “What can we deep fry?” is, “What can we fry in duck fat?” Duck fat is an ingredient I’ve come to have an appreciation for since working at the restaurant. I just didn’t know what I was missing before then. A more difficult question might be, “What can’t we fry in duck fat?” Because I think the answer might be nothing. Potatoes in duck fat are basically the best French fry in the world but a lot of other items have been fried in duck fat at work too.

I find I get the most random creations from Chef after he’s been cooped up in his office for a while and hasn’t been in the kitchen cooking. When he finally makes an appearance and I ask him to teach me something new or make me something awesome he gets a certain glint in his eyes and comes up with Spaghetti Bolognese or Turkey Pizza. Of course, neither of those things sounds very unusual until you see them made his way. Spaghetti Bolognese was turned inside out and became a beef tenderloin and tomato confit wrapped in spaghetti and pan fried in duck fat. It had the flavours of spaghetti Bolognese but looked nothing like the classical version.

Spaghetti Bolognese

Most recently Chef made turkey pizza, which is to say, not really pizza at all. He butterflied a turkey breast, pan fried it in duck fat and brown butter before topping it with more traditional pizza toppings like mushrooms, onions, salami, tomatoes, basil puree and bocconcini. Turkey pizza! Sort of.

Turkey Pizza

Every now and then actual work is kinda fun too, even if it’s completely different from just playing around at home. Recently there was a function that required 75 portions of white chocolate mousse in dark chocolate cups. That’s clearly not something I’m going to be making at home on a regular basis, (at least not in that quantity) so getting to make something new and seeing the process is fun for me. The ‘cupcakes’ so to speak, were then garnished with sugar glass, a sprig of mint and a little fruit salad of oranges, blueberries and strawberries. I’m sure if you ask me again in the middle of summer when I have to make a million of them if I like making white chocolate mousse cups, you may get a different response, (and possibly a cupcake in the face) but who knows? Hopefully I’ll like it just as much. When work is fun, I’m happy in the kitchen.

White Chocolate Mousse in Dark Chocolate Cups

Peanut Butter and Caramel Smores

2009-03-07T00:19:00.004-05:00

As I’ve said before, I find blogging events useful when I’m looking for inspiration. Sometimes the theme alone is enough to get me thinking in different directions. Although whether or not those different directions actually make sense is another matter entirely. When I found out The Peanut Butter Boy is hosting The Great Peanut Butter Exhibition #5 and the theme is sandwiches I immediately had an idea of what to make. It was like a cartoon light bulb went on above my head. For some reason all I could think of was a peanut butter, apple and cheddar panini. It’s not completely out of left field though, there’s a logical train of thought that brought me to that idea. It went something likes this: I like granny smith apples with peanut butter. I like apple pie with cheddar cheese. I keep seeing paninis on all the blogs and don’t use my panini maker nearly enough. Therefore, if apples are good with both peanut putter and cheddar cheese, all three should also be good together. And what better way to put them together than in a panini? Once I had the thought, I knew the only way to get it out of my head was to actually make this concoction.

When I went to get my panini maker out of the cupboard it had the waffle plates on as opposed to the panini plates and I decided that a waffle shaped sandwich was the way to go. I then built my sandwich on homemade bread, with a thick layer of peanut butter, thin slices of granny smith apples and smoked applewood cheddar cheese. I squished the whole thing into the panini/waffle maker and waited for it to do its thing. The result? Ah… it was ok. It seemed like pure genius in my head but once it was on the plate I just wanted to deconstruct it into apple slices smeared with peanut butter and a grilled cheese sandwich. The sum was not greater than its parts. Sigh.

But I couldn’t submit a less than stellar sandwich to the Peanut Butter Boy so something else had to be made. It was about at that time that I reverted back to my love of desserts for inspiration. I had some caramel sauce in the fridge, leftover from making apple strudel and I knew there were graham crackers in the cupboard, leftover from making cheesecake and before you knew it I had built a peanut butter and caramel smore. Now that’s a sandwich to be proud of! As if smores weren’t already good with layers of graham cracker, marshmallow and chocolate, I jacked them up with caramel sauce and peanut butter too! The only problem is that I now believe that all smores should be made like that… After you try it my way you’ll be a believer too.

Monthly Mingle: Caribbean Cooking

2009-03-03T23:48:00.005-05:00

In my quest to find inspiration by resuming participation in food blogging events I thought it seemed only fitting that I partake in one being hosted by Meeta of What’s For Lunch, Honey? Her Monthly Mingle was the first blogging event that I ever entered and when I saw that the theme for this month was Caribbean Cooking, I decided I should definitely be able to figure out something to make for it.

When I think of the Caribbean the first thing that comes to mind is Cuba. Cuba, si! It’s the only place I’ve been in the Caribbean and I’ve been three times. Although I can’t believe over two years have passed since I was there last, (and according to that post, over two years since I started baking from Dorie’s book!). I need to go back. I need to feel that soft white sand between my toes and sip on a mojito, or perhaps a Cuba Libre at inappropriately early times of day, (ie- 10am). I need to spend some time walking the beach, floating in the ocean, playing a little volleyball and then returning to my room to find swans made of towels. What else do I need? Tropical fruit! And that’s where the Monthly Mingle comes in. Despite the fact that I dislike pineapple upside down cake, I love pineapple, particularly fresh pineapple. Ideally I would eat all my pineapple fresh from the tree, but given that I live in cold and snowy Canada and it’s still the middle of winter here, that’s not going to happen. What that means is that by the time a pineapple has travelled from the tropics to my house, it’s likely not at the pinnacle of ripeness. Fortunately, it can still be salvaged with the addition of sugar, dark rum and roasting. While we’re at it, let’s throw in some more tropical flavours with coconut and bananas. What do you get? Roasted Pineapple with Coconut and Banana Ice Cream. It’s as close as I’m going to get to the Caribbean anytime soon and it’s delicious!

If you’re hosting a food blogging event, let me know! And Peanut Butter Boy? Don’t worry, I’ve got something planned for The Great Peanut Butter Exhibition…

Roasted Pineapple (Adapted from Michael Smith)

1 Pineapple skin and ends trimmed off and cut into rings, core removed
3 tablespoons brown sugar
½ cup dark Cuban rum
1 teaspoon ground allspice
½ cup flaked coconut
Banana ice cream, preferably homemade :)

Preheat oven to 375°F. Place sugar, rum and allspice in a bowl and stir together. Toss pineapple slices in mixture and lay into a 9" by 13" baking pan. Pour the remaining syrup overtop. Roast for 1 hour, or until pineapple is caramelized and tender, flipping half way through. When pineapple is completely tender sprinkle a little extra sugar on top and stick under the broiler to caramelize. Put a slice of pineapple into a bowl, sprinkle some coconut onto the middle and top with a scoop of banana ice cream. Serve immediately.

Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24: Five Courses, Five Primary Tastes

2009-03-01T12:10:00.008-05:00

It’s time for another round of Foodbuzz 24, 24,24, whereby 24 bloggers post about 24 different meal experiences in 24 hours. This month I proposed to make a five course meal, with each course highlighting one of the five tastes, which are bitter, salty, sour, umami and sweet. The folks at Foodbuzz thought that was a good idea so here we are! Let’s get right into it.

European Imported Beers

The first taste that I wanted to highlight was bitter. The bitter taste can also be described as sharp and can be detected in chocolate, coffee, olives, beer, bitters and some leafy greens. Since it’s my dinner to host I’m allowed to say that liquid courses count! That means it’s time for beer. To whet our appetite for more good things to come, we sampled some European imports. Beer always makes me hungry for snack food so it’s a good thing the salty course was up next.

Roasted Potatoes with Bacon, Cheese and Parsley

Salty tastes are produced predominantly by the presence of sodium ions. My favourite example of the salty flavour is bacon and I seriously debated for a while about just serving a few different slices of homemade bacon on a plate. Who wouldn’t love that? My somewhat rational side eventually vetoed that idea but only because I decided to enhance bacon with other delicious things like potatoes and cheese. Roasted Potatoes with Bacon, Cheese and Parsley from Gourmet complimented the beer perfectly and it began to become clear why it’s essential to combine all five tastes for ultimate enjoyment.

Lemon Raspberry Sorbet

After all of that saltiness we needed a palate cleanser. Sour taste buds to the rescue! Sour is the taste that detects acidity. The most common food group containing sour tastes is fruit like lemons and limes but wine can also have it. One bite of this mouth puckering Lemon Raspberry Sorbet is all you need to know exactly what sour tastes like. It’s definitely not dessert and you wouldn’t want a whole bowl of it but it was a great way to prep the mouth for umami. U-ma-what??? Just keep reading.

Roasted Veal Chops with Morels

Umami is the 5^th taste, although it is only as recent as 2002 that it has been included in culinary textbooks and literature as such. The concept, however, is not new. Escoffier identified sauces made with veal stock as having a flavor distinct from the four primary tastes although it took another hundred years before this fifth taste was finally accepted as valid. The word umami is Japanese and can mean yummy or delicious and has been described in English as meatiness, relish or savouriness. The umami taste is produced by compounds such as glutamate and is commonly found in fermented and aged foods, among others. Some examples of food containing glutamate are beef, lamb, mushrooms, parmesan and Roquefort cheese as well as soy sauce and fish sauce. I decided to take a cue from Escoffier and made Roasted Veal Chops with Morels to give my main course that umami taste.

White Chocolate Cheesecake with Chocolate Crumbs and Candied Kumquats

Finally, we end our meal with the sweet taste, one that is generally regarded as a pleasurable sensation. Sweetness is found in sugar rich foods and naturally in things like fruit, honey and maple syrup. I chose to go the less than natural, (but still very sweet) route with White Chocolate Cheesecake with Chocolate Crumbs and Candied Kumquats. Even the sour foods have been made sweet in this dessert, as kumquats are transformed into candied bites of sweetness with the aid of a simple syrup. I usually find white chocolate almost too cloyingly sweet to bear but combined with the tanginess of cream cheese it was actually quite enjoyable. Which reminds me, although each of the primary tastes can be delicious on their own, they’re at their best when combined with one another for a more complete and well rounded flavour. And although I enjoyed my five courses of tastes, I like how they play off of each other best as opposed to being sampled separately.

Be sure to check out the other 24, 24, 24 meals, there are sure to be some interesting ones that no doubt make full use of all five primary tastes. And if you’re looking for umami, look no further than the following recipe for Roasted Veal Chops with Morels.

Roasted Veal Chops with Morels, (From Gourmet, Adapted from Jean-Jacques Rachou and Charlie Palmer)

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1 1/4 oz dried morels (about 1 1/3 cups)

2 (1 1/3-inch-thick) veal rib chops

1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 garlic clove, smashed

1 thyme sprig

1 tablespoon finely chopped shallot

2 tablespoon Cognac

1/2 tablespoon chopped chives

1 teaspoon chopped tarragon

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.

Pour boiling water over morels in a small bowl and soak until morels are softened, about 30 minutes. Transfer morels with a slotted spoon to a medium-mesh sieve set over a bowl. Press on morels with back of spoon to remove excess liquid (be careful not to squeeze out all the moisture), then add to soaking liquid and reserve. Rinse morels to remove any grit. Reserve morels and liquid separately, allowing liquid to settle.

While morels soak, let veal chops stand at room temperature 30 minutes.

Pat chops dry and season with 1/2 teaspoon each of salt and pepper (total). Heat an ovenproof 12-inch heavy skillet (not nonstick) over medium-high heat until hot. Add oil and heat until smoking, then add veal chops and sear underside well, 2 to 3 minutes. Turn chops over and sear 1 minute.

Add butter, garlic, and thyme to skillet and baste veal with melting butter. Transfer skillet to oven and cook, basting every few minutes, until an instant-read thermometer inserted horizontally into center of chop registers 130 to 135°F for medium-rare, 10 to 15 minutes.

Transfer chops to a plate to rest. Discard garlic and thyme, keeping juices and fat in skillet, and return to burner over medium-high heat. (Handle will be very hot.) Add morels and sauté 1 minute. Add shallot and sauté 1 minute.

Remove from heat briefly and add Cognac, then return to heat and deglaze, stirring and scraping up brown bits, until most of liquid has evaporated. Slowly pour in reserved soaking liquid, being careful to leave last tablespoon (containing sediment) in bowl. Add meat juices from plate and boil until liquid has reduced to about 1/3 cup.

Stir in crème fraîche, swirling to incorporate, and boil until morels are lightly coated and liquid is slightly thickened. Stir in chives and tarragon and season with salt and pepper. Serve chops smothered with morels.