Vancouver Chilli

Let the gamers begin!

I know it’s been a while since my last blog but I haven’t been sitting idle. I’ve been working on a few blog ideas, getting ready for the holidays, and preparing for my sons’ departure for Vancouver. I’ve traveled here with them to help set up an apartment they will call home as they attend Vancouver Film School for the next 2 years. We’ve spent the last few days shopping for those bare necessities they would need to get them going, but as you can see in the picture, I think they would have been okay with a TV, their gaming gear and a couple of lawn chairs!

View from Grandville Island

We did stock the fridge though, and I’ve made a pot of chilli and a beef stew that I will portion out and freeze for later use. We shopped Granville Island for some really nice food I can take back to YK, (watch for the Osso Bucco blog coming up later!) and we wandered the neighborhood checking out the shops and restaurants they will be relying on for food. There is a Safeway down the street that should carry everything they need, a whole food store called Capers right next door if they ever feel the need to eat organic or more healthy, (wonderful baked goods, nice coffee, excellent produce) and a 7-11 across the street for all the junk food they will probably eat. I wonder which shop they will use the most? Time will tell I guess.

There are lots of Asian restaurants in the area, a pizza shop and a Greek food place just across the street, and even a Dutch pancake house a few blocks distant. I envy them as they explore the neighborhood and try all the different food options available to them.

But more than that, I hope they put in the effort to cook for themselves, and I don’t mean KD! It’s easy enough to whip up fresh stir fries or pasta dishes especially given the wide variety of food available to them in the neighborhood. Eat healthy you guys! You’ll feel better, think better and probably save money!!

Here’s the chilli recipe that I used. It’s quite simple so any student should be able to make it. I packaged it up in zip lock bags of 1 cup portions which they can take out and reheat later. You can also stretch it out by adding some cooked pasta to it or serving it over plain rice. That would increase the nutritional value as well!! Enjoy school, boys and take the time to eat right!!

Chilli

1 tbsp olive oil

1 lbs ground beef

Chilli prep

1 red pepper, diced

1 medium onion, diced

2 stalks celery, diced

1 small zucchini, diced

6 cloves garlic, minced

3 tbsp chilli powder

1 tbsp ground cumin 

1 28-oz cans diced tomatoes

½ can water (14 oz)

1 5.5 oz tin tomato paste

1 10 oz can red kidney beans

2 tsp salt

• Heat the oil in a large soup pot. Add the ground beef and cook, breaking it up as much as possible.
• Drain the fat from the meat and put the meat back in the pot.
• Add the peppers, onions, celery, zucchini and garlic.
• Sauté until the onions are clear then add the tomatoes, tomato paste, kidney beans and spices.
• Add water and simmer until meat is tender, adding water as needed.
• Season to taste with salt and pepper and a little hot sauce if desired. You may want to add a bit of hot sauce or a fresh chilli pepper to give it a bit more heat.

Fresh Pasta

Monica and Tyson rolling the dough.

Sunday afternoon was a very productive day in the kitchen. Monica, Tyson and Carine helped me prepare and perfect pasta dough and fillings that I hope to use in an upcoming Pasta Lesson. We made one dough using all semolina flour, two using all-purpose flour, and the fourth recipe was taken from the French Laundry cookbook and uses lots of egg yolks and milk of all things.

We found that the semolina dough was hard and difficult to work with, and decided that mixing half semolina and half all-purpose flour might give us a better result. The recipes using all purpose flour worked well and gave us nice pasta dough to work with. The French Laundry was a nice dough which I found very easy to work with. But it doesn’t matter how many times I make pasta, I never seem to be able to incorporate all the flour into the dough. There’s always some left over, sometimes as much as 20%. This however, doesn’t seem to have a negative affect on the end product.

We did find however that by mixing slowly, more flour was absorbed into the dough. Tyson wins the prize for the most patience, stirring the flour into the eggs little, by little, by little. I think he stirred for over 20 minutes before he had a firm dough, but there was only about 5% of his flour that he couldn’t mix into the dough.

We also made two fillings for our pasta, cheese and butternut squash. They were both very tasty but I think the squash was the most popular. The mild, sweet flavour of the squash is a perfect vehicle for carrying other flavours, especially herbs. For this version we added Mascarpone cheese and fresh dill to the squash for a really tasty filling.

All and all it was a great afternoon. It’s nice to spend time with family and friends making something that everyone can enjoy. The pasta turned out really nicely, we had a great meal, we learned a bit more about pasta making and we had fun! What more could you ask for?

Here are two recipes that we worked out, one for dough and one for filling:

Pasta Dough

1 ½  cups flour

1/2 cup semolina flour
3 eggs

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp olive oil

1. Pour the flour onto a clean smooth work area.
2. Make a well in the center, large enough to hold the eggs.
3. Beat the eggs together and pour them into the well. Sprinkle in the salt and add the oil.
4. Begin mixing the dough by drawing flour from into the egg in the center, bringing more and more flour in to make the dough.
5. If the dough is too dry and does not come together, you may need to sprinkle a little cold water over it. If the dough is too moist and becomes sticky, you may have to add a bit of flour.
6. Knead the dough until it becomes smooth and elastic.
7. Wrap the dough in plastic and let it rest in the fridge for at least 20 minutes.

Butternut Squash Filling

1/2-3/4 large butternut squash, peeled, seeded and chopped (about 1 lb)

2 tbsp butter

1/2 cup mascarpone cheese

¼ cup grated parmesan

¼ cup fresh dill leaves

salt and pepper           

1. Steam the squash until easily pierced with a fork.
2. Mash the squash, add the butter, mascarpone and parmesan cheese and salt and pepper.
3. Cool.

To Make the Ravioli

1. Cut out an even number of circles in the dough.
2. Drop a spoonful of filling in the center of each circle, moisten edges with water, and cover with a separate circle.
3. Pinch edges together, and leave ravioli dry for about 2 hrs, and refrigerate until needed.
4. Cook ravioli in boiling salted water for about 3 or 4 minutes, drain, and serve with preferred sauce.

Into Africa

I help out with the Interact Club at school and we’ve been fund raising for a trip to Africa to help some people there. We decided to do an African flavoured dinner as part of our fund raising activities. Our dinner featured a silent auction, an African Legend, read by Rutendo, and a performance by our Djembe Drummers.

For African flavour inspiration I turned to The Soul of a New Cuisine, by Marcus Samuelsson. I love this book because it has great food ideas representing a wide range of dishes from Africa…but that’s another blog, and I’ll get to it some other time. Suffice to say that the book is full of flavour that pops! We had to adjust the recipes a bit to feed our hungry guests but I think we maintained the overall integrity of Chef Marcus’s dishes. Here’s the menu as we presented it:

Spiced Cucumber Salad with Peanuts

Citrus Cabbage Salad

Minted Mango Couscous Salad

Mixed Greens with Tamarind Vinaigrette

Sweet Corn Fufu

Vegetable Tagine with Raisins and Pine Nuts

Braised Peanut Chicken with Coconut Peanut Sauce

Grilled Boerewors Sausage with Roasted Peppers and Onion

Kofta with Okra Tomato Sauce

Avocado Fool with Mango

Peanut Cake with Papaya and Plums

Malva Pudding

Tropical Fruit and Cashew Salad

Though we tried to get as much flavour into the food as possible, I have no idea if we were successful or not. I mean, we’re not from Africa, and we’ve never been there! We go next July! But we received good reviews on the food so I guess we’ll have to wait until July to find out if we produced food that was anywhere close to what people eat in Africa. In the meantime, I think I’ll continue to experiment with African flavours, so if you know of any other books that focus on African cuisine, please let me know and I’ll give them a try.

Panna Cotta Revisited

I like making Panna Cotta because it’s one of those old traditional dishes that you can update quite easily. By starting with a plain vanilla panna cotta and adding vibrant flavours, colourful garnishes or even tangy sauces, a new dessert is created. 

I included Orange White Chocolate Panna Cotta as part of my Cocktail Party Apps lesson I delivered the other night and it turned out great. The small portion size was just big enough to satisfy my sweet craving without being too much. I think everyone else felt the same way because they were all scraping out the tiny little cups we used so they could get every last spoonful.

I’ve mostly seen panna cotta served ‘unmolded’ but I like to serve it in a small serving dish of its own. For this one I used a tiny Maxwell Williams coffee cup that I picked up at a closing out sale last year. They hold about 4 oz maximum so I put 2 -3 oz of the mix into them so the berries fit nicely on top. And they come with a really cute spoon! A small brandy snifter or other clear glass also does well here because you can see that white creamy layer on the bottom with the bright berries sitting on top. Sometimes I make the berries, or other fruit garnish the dominant feature of the dessert. So you have fresh raspberries with lemon panna cotta, the panna cotta acting sort of as a sweet, silky cream for those delicious berries!

I’ve also served this portion size as part of a dessert plate to finish a nice meal. The size of the portion allows you to add home made cookies, a piece of cake or another type of fruit. The little serving vessel really adds to the appearance of the dessert.

Any way you serve it, any way you flavour it, it’s one of those desserts you can come back to time and again, making a different version or going back to a combination that you really liked. Try out a few different flavours for yourself. I’m sure you’ll love it!

   Orange White Chocolate Panna Cotta

    1 1/2 teaspoons unflavoured gelatine

    2 tablespoons whole milk

    ½ cup sugar

    1/8 teaspoon salt

    1 1/2 cups heavy cream

    zest of one orange

    1/4 cup fresh orange juice

    2 oz white chocolate chunks

    3/4 cup sour cream

1. Sprinkle gelatin over milk in a small bowl and let stand 1 minute to soften.

2. Whisk together sugar, salt, heavy cream, orange zest and orange juice and heat just until the boiling point. Don’t let the mixture boil.

3. Stir in the gelatin mixture and white chocolate and whisk until they are both dissolved. 

4. Mix in the sour cream and pour through a fine sieve into small wine glasses.

5. Chill until firm, at least 8 hours.

6. For service, add mixed berries to the glasses and serve.

Makes 12 little desserts suitable for a cocktail party or 6 larger size for dessert.

Great Chefs Of Our Time

If you stop by to see me and the TV’s on, it’s more than likely on the Food Network and whatever else I'm doing, I’m also watching a food show. I like watching most of them and can’t stand some of them. I thought that I would write a blog about my favourite shows and chefs but once I got going, I soon realized there were too many to fit in one blog. So I thought I would break it down into individual blogs about 1 chef and come back to the theme over time.So here goes my first installment of Great Chefs Of Our Time.

Let’s start with Mark McEwen and The Heat. I sometimes feel a little nostalgic when I watch this show because some of the names and sites are familiar to me. I was working at Le Select Bistro on Queen St. when Chef McEwen started up North 44. There was quite the buzz at the time about the new venture and it was the place to go as soon as it opened. The food has been creative, tasty and visually appealing and has garnered great reviews over the years. Since the start of North 44 Mark has added two other restaurants to his holdings, Bymark and One, as well as an upscale gourmet shop, simply called McEwen. (I want to call it a grocery store but I don’t think the term does it justice).

But back to the show, I like The Heat because it’s real. McEwen takes you through catering gigs from start to finish. What his team goes through to get the job done, what problems he encounters along the way and of course the stellar end results. From ‘small’ parties to 500 seat extravaganzas, the team always pays great attention to detail and the food always looks fantastic. I like the cooks on the show and would love to cook along side them. They all seem passionate about food and what they do and dedicated to Chef McEwen and his restaurants. That says a lot about Chef McEwen.

McEwen just published his first book, Great Food at Home, which I purchased right away because I’ve been so impressed with his food and what he’s done throughout his career. Though I’ve just opened the book and skimmed through it a few times, I’m already impressed. When I read through the introduction and descriptions of food items, I can here Mark’s voice as he explains why he did this or included that. I’m looking forward to trying many of the dishes contained in the book and will let you know how that goes.

But for now, I look forward to every show, even if I’ve already seen it once. When I watch the show I feel like I’m right there with his team and that’s a great place to be. If you haven't seen The Heat, it's well worth checking out.

It's All In The Bean

I just love vanilla! The scent it spreads in the air, the flavour it imparts to baked goods, desserts and even savoury dishes. I think it’s kind of comforting somehow. When I smell it, I think of home, but I’m not sure why. Is it because I associate it with my mother’s (and father’s) baking? Is it because I think of a kitchen when I smell it, which is the most comfortable place in the world for me? Who knows? I wonder if that’s why they use it to scent some baby toys? To give that comforting feeling to children. Even my kitchen and bathroom hand soap is vanilla scented! My hands smell like vanilla! I love it!

One thing I know is that it’s a flavour I don’t want to do without. When I use it in desserts, I always put double the amount called for in the recipe. I like to put extra vanilla in chocolaty desserts because it goes so well with chocolate and the same with coffee sauces. Or simply in coffee, or even a glass of milk!  Have you ever added vanilla to the milk you add to your morning cereal? Give it a try if you haven’t. Or how about your oatmeal?  

Vanilla is even a welcome addition to some savoury items. Lobster is one of them. We used to feature a lobster dish with a vanilla butter sauce at the Explorer Hotel that was actually quite nice. Paring it with rosemary also creates a nice flavour combination. But you have to be careful when using it in a savoury preparation. Use it sparingly so you just get a hint of vanilla, otherwise it overpowers the main ingredient. You want the vanilla to just compliment the other ingredients in the dish.

My cupboards usually contain vanilla in at least 3 different forms. I always have a whole bean or two for those special items that need the little specks of seeds and deep flavour of real vanilla, like ice cream, crème brulee or crème Anglaise. A friend of mine has been known to bring me a bunch of beans from a shop he visits in Montreal. Since I can’t use them all at once, I put them in a tall skinny jar and cover them with vodka. The vanilla flavour infuses the vodka which can be used in some preparations but more important, the beans seem to suck in the vodka, making them plump and juicy. Simply cut them open and squeeze out the vanilla beans and syrup into what ever you are making. Of course I always put the left over shell of the bean in my sugar jar so that it becomes infused with vanilla and adds to the applications I use the sugar in.

I also have a small jar of Madagascar Bourbon Pure Vanilla Bean Paste that I picked up at my favourite Kitchener food shop, Vincenzo’s. It’s a bit pricey but a great addition to my spice shelves. And if for some reason I run out of vanilla in these forms, there’s always that old back-up bottle of vanilla extract! It will do in a pinch…I guess.

So next time you’re baking, making a dessert, or trying to think of an exotic flavour to use, don’t be afraid to add an extra splash of vanilla. Perhaps you too will find the scent and flavour comforting, and reminiscent of warm kitchens and of home.

 

Mark's Best Oatmeal

2/3 cup milk

1/3 cup quick cooking oats

1 tbsp dried cranberries

1 tbsp pecans, chopped          

1 tbsp dried banana

1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste

1 tbsp  maple syrup

• Mix the milk and oatmeal in a small pot.
• Add the pecans, cranberries and dried bananas
• Bring to a simmer and cook gently for about 3 minutes.
• Pour into a bowl and top with maple syrup.

The Icing On The Cake

Cake decorating is always a fun lesson to do, for me and for the students! I know it’s hard for them to sit through the demonstration but they really need to see a few of the techniques that are key to a nicely iced cake. It’s important they understand these elements before starting to decorate:

 

       Try to achieve the right consistency for your icing. If it’s too hard it can tear and crumb the cake as you decorate, making your job more difficult and your cake less visually appealing. If the icing is too soft, it won’t stay where you put it and the layers might slide around, making it difficult to ice. The icing should be firm but easily spreadable.

       Make sure the cake is flat. If your cake has crowned, trim the crown off so your cake is flat and you can spread a nice even and flat layer of icing on it.

       Use simple syrup to moisten the cake. Not only does this help keep your cake moist, it also provides a bit of flavour and better texture. You’re cake should not ‘crunch’ when you bite into it.

       Hold the palette knife straight as you ice the cake. I think the hardest thing for students to do is to develop the habit of holding the palette knife straight horizontally to do the top and straight perpendicular to ice the sides.

       Use long even strokes to spread the icing. A smooth back and forth motion will help you spread the icing evenly without too many lines.

       Enough is enough! When your cake is iced evenly, stop. Sometimes trying to make things perfect can lead to problems that detract from the final appearance of your cake. Leave well enough alone!

 

Here are a few simple recipes for completing this project:

Vanilla Cake

    2 cup white sugar

    1 cup butter

    4 eggs

    1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract

    3 cups all-purpose flour

    1 tbsp baking powder

    1 cup milk

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour two 9 inch round cake pans.
2. In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.
3. Combine flour and baking powder. Add the dry ingredients and the milk to the creamed mixture alternating between the two to mix the batter evenly.
4.  Pour or spoon batter into the prepared pan.
5. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes in the preheated oven.

Simple Vanilla Buttercream

1 cup soft butter

1 tablespoon vanilla

4 cups sifted icing sugar

2 tablespoons milk

1. Cream butter with an electric mixer. Add the vanilla and mix in. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl often.
2.  Add milk as the icing firms up. If the icing is too hard to spread, add a bit more milk and blend in until smooth.

Simple Syrup

½ cup water

½ cup sugar

2 strips of orange peel, just the zest part

Place all ingredients in a small pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for 3 minutes. Cool before using.

Flight of the Concord

I don’t know about you but whenever I taste grape juice, grape jelly or even grape bubble gum, I think of concord grapes. Whenever I eat concord grapes I think of grape jelly and all things flavoured grape! They have a flavour that is all their own, kind of musky, but so sweet and tart at the same time. I like they way they slip from their skins when I pop them in my mouth, the inside being the sweet part, but then if you bit down or chew the skin you get the tart flavour which balances the sweet taste so well. I like to vary the amount I chew the skins to create different taste sensations in my mouth as I graze through my bunch, bowl or basket of those tiny little purple gems.

The scent of these grapes also draws me. As soon as I hit the produce section of the grocery store, in the fall which is the only time they are available, I smell them before any other fruit. Perhaps it’s their unique ‘purple’ scent, or maybe it’s the memories their aroma invokes within me that draws me back to them year after year. My first encounter with concord grapes was ‘harvesting’ them from our neighbours’ yard when I was quite young. My brothers, friends and I would sleep outside during those hot summer nights, in tents, on the porch or under the stars, but sometime during the night we would sneak off to explore the various gardens of our neighbourhood. The places that always drew me back were those that had vines of concord grapes growing along the fences. I wonder if the owners missed those grapes as much as I enjoyed eating them!

I bought a small basket of them the other day but when I popped those first few in my mouth and thought of grape jelly, I knew I had to make some so I would have that taste later when those luscious grapes were no longer on the produce shelves. Of course I was back at the market next day to buy some more, taking advantage of their limited season. A few days later they were gone, eaten by people who are drawn to them, or enjoy them I hope as much as I do, people who will have to wait until next year to savour their flavour once more. But in the meantime, there’s grape jelly in my pantry!

 

Concord Grape Jelly

2 L fresh concord grapes

125 ml water

250 ml red wine

625 ml granulated sugar

Wash and stem the grapes. Combine them with water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil and cook, uncovered, for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally

.

Strain the juice through a bag or cheese cloth and allow it to stand overnight in the refrigerator. Measure the juice, being careful not to use sediment. You should have about 2 cups.

Combine 2 cups grape juice with the red wine and sugar. Bring to a boil and boil, uncovered for 20 minutes or until a spoonful when chilled quickly has desired consistency.

Sterilize your jars by placing them in a 250F oven for about 10 minutes. Sterilize the lids by putting them in boiling water until you need them.

Ladle the liquid jam into sterilized jars. Put the lids and tighten lightly. The jars should seal as they cool.

Makes about 3 ½ 250 ml jars of jelly.

Turkey With a Twist

Turkey With a Twist

Thanksgiving usually means a big roast turkey with all the trimmings but I was faced with two challenges this year that would mean a change of plans. Firstly, my oven wasn’t working properly which meant I couldn’t cook a whole bird in it, and secondly, Darwin’s turkeys proved to be a little smaller than expected this year. I needed 3 of them to feed all of our family and friends.

 

After some consideration, I decided to break the birds down and do a variety of dishes using the different parts. I removed the legs, cutting them into drumsticks and thighs, the wings, cutting them in two each, and the breasts, keeping them joined by the skin by cutting from the back, then along the rib cage and down the keel.

The thighs were marinated in red wine overnight and turned into ‘Dinde au Vin’. The wings were seasoned with a standard BBQ rub and slow smoke roasted on the BBQ. I make a bread stuffing with sausage meat, pistachios and dried cranberries, stuffed the turkey breasts, rolled and tied them forming nice little roasts. These were roasted in the BBQ as well using indirect heat. The drumsticks were used to make turkey confit, which when paired with a traditional French white bean cassoulet proved to be the star of the dinner. The turkey was cooked just enough to fall off the bones easily and almost melted in our mouths. The beans had a nice sweet, fresh savory taste that went perfectly with the turkey.

 

Add to this feast the usual accompaniments, cranberries, potatoes, vegetables, stuffing, pumpkin pie and cheese cake, and you end with a very traditional thanksgiving dinner.

     

Cassoulet

    2 cups dried white beans, picked over and rinsed

    1 smoked pork hock

    1 onion, chopped

    1 carrot, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

    6 cloves garlic finely chopped

    2 pieces smoked sausage, diced

    4 qt water

    ¼ cup ketchup

    1 tbsp savoury

    1 tbsp Dijon mustard

    1 bay leaf

    5 sprigs fresh thyme

    1 tablespoon salt

    3/4 teaspoon black pepper

Cover the beans with cold water by 2 inches in a bowl and soak them overnight. Drain well in a colander.

Place all the ingredients in a slow cooker and cook on high for about 8 hours, or until the beans soften and all the ingredients combine to make a thick sauce. Adjust the seasoning and serve.

The Rustic Pizza

We made a great pizza for the high school open house the other night. It was a bit rustic, a bit sparse in toppings, but looked and tasted just great. Aiden rolled the dough and dressed most of the pizzas, I helped him out when he needed it and Harrison ‘burned’ the crème brulee. Here’s how we did the pizza:

We started with a 3 oz piece of my usual pizza dough (recipe follows) but rolled it out oblong, so we had a long thin pizza. Each crust was about 3 inches by 6 inches. We had a very smooth tomato sauce that we could squeeze out of a bottle and we used that to squeeze lines of sauce onto the dough, not covering the pizza at all, but just giving it enough sauce to give it some taste and moistness. We then gave it a drizzle of olive oil, maybe a teaspoon or a bit more on each little pie. I had some left over prosciutto so we cut that into strips and put that on, and then a few pieces of oven roasted asparagus. Next came little globs of goat cheese, a sprinkle of mozzarella, some fresh dill leaves and a bit of cracked pepper. That may seem like a lot of toppings, but we just put a little of each on, so that you could still see the dough through them. We sent these little pies through the pizza oven and they came out the other end perfectly browned, cheese melty, a few bubbles poking up, and very rustic looking. The crust was thin and crisp and the pizza was quite light because of the small amount of toppings. Perfect for snacking! 

You could make these pizzas very easily on the BBQ as well. Switch the toppings around to create your own taste sensation!

Pizza Dough

4 ½  cups warm water

4 tablespoons yeast

1/2 cup oil

2 tablespoon basil

2 teaspoon black pepper

1/2 cup tomato sauce

1 teaspoon salt

10 ½  cups flour

Place the yeast in the warm water and mix in.

Add the oil, basil, pepper, tomato sauce and salt and mix together.

Add 2 cups flour and mix until it forms a paste.

Add the remaining flour until a soft dough is formed.

Knead for 10 minutes. Let rise for about 1 hour

Form into 3 oz balls and refrigerate.

Makes about 32  3 oz pizza shells.