What a Pear!

Pears are one of my favourite fruits. I love to let them sit on the counter, patiently waiting for them to ripen to that wonderful yellow colour that tells me they're perfect for eating out of hand. Of course I like cooking with them as well. They make great crumbles and pies, and amazing trifle!

I've made poached pears quite a few times but never with red wine so this was a new twist for me. The pears turned out great and the syrup even better. 

Woops! Forgot to post the recipe. Here you go Chris! Enjoy...

Poached Pears in Red Wine

1 cup sugar

2 cups red wine

1 orange, juice and zest

6 pears, peeled and cored.

1 tsp vanilla extract or 1/2 vanilla bean (cut length wise)

1 4 inch sprig of rosemary

12 peppercorns

½ cup chopped nuts

4 oz mascarpone cheese

1 oz blue cheese

2 tbsp sugar

1. Add the sugar, wine, orange juice and zest into a medium size pot and bring to a boil.
2. Peel the pears from the bottom to the top, leaving the stem on. Remove the core from the blossom end with a melon baller or apple corer, leaving the pear in tact.
3. Add peeled and cored pears to the poaching liquid along with the vanilla, rosemary and peppercorns. Simmer very slowly with a piece of parchment paper over top of the pears, so that no oxidization occurs, for 20 minutes or until tender and soft to touch.
4. Take off the heat, and let sit for another 10 – 15 minutes before removing pears.
5. Remove the pears from the wine and reduce it to make about 1 cup of syrup.
6. Cream the mascarpone and sugar together with a spoon until it is spreadable. Add the blue cheese and blend in. Toast the mixed nuts and add them to the cheese mixture.
7. Once the pears have cooled, stuff them with the cheese mixture. Serve them with the red wine reduction.

 

 

Smoked Beer

I used a new smoking gun to create a smoked beer tonight. I started with a Yukon Red Amber Ale brewed in Whitehorse, Yukon and infused it with mesquite smoke. It was quite simple really. Fill the smoke gun with mesquite wood chips, turn on the gun, light the chips, insert hose in beer for about 30 seconds and remove the hose. I kept the beer covered with plastic for about 2 minutes or so, then removed the plastic and tasted. No problem smelling the smoke on the beer (sounds like a new song, Smoke on the Beer) and I do believe I taste it as I sip the beer. Yup, it definitely tastes smokey and I think a bit more bitter than the first taste I had before smoking. So there you have it. You can have your beer and smoke it too!

Now what to eat with this smoked beer?

Pancakes

Ya just gotta love pancakes! This is my favourite recipe:

Banana Pancakes

1 3/4 cups flour all purpose  

2 tablespoons sugar  

4 tsp baking powder  

1/2 tsp salt

 

1 large banana

3 egg yolks  

1 1/2 cups milk  

1/3 cup canola oil 

3 egg whites  

1.    Mix flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl.

2.    Mash the banana in a separate bowl. Mix in the egg yolks, milk and oil.

3.    In a small bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer at high speed until stiff peaks form. Do not over beat!!

4.    Stir the wet mixture into the dry 

ingredients just until they are combined.

5.    Add the beaten egg whites to the batter 

and fold in.

6.    Drop 1/4 cup portions of batter onto a heated pan or griddle. Cook until bubbles form around the outside of the pancake. 

Turn and cook for another 3 minutes, or until they are cooked through.

 

Servings: 4

Hot Cuisine Club Does Ultimate Poutine

Prepping the ribs

Our latest Hot Cuisine Club session was all about creating the ultimate Poutine. Sebastien came in early this morning and prepped braised short ribs, using a John Besh recipe from the Eat Like a Man cookbook. I watched them as they braised through the morning then he turned the broth into a sauce after school. Shanna pulled the beef apart while Seth and Reid cut fries. We blanched the fries for 8 minutes at 325 then fried them for 3 at 375. The fries were great just on there own but we topped them with a bit of cheese curd and then some of the braised short ribs and sauce. This was by far the best Poutine I've ever had! Nice job guys!

The sauce was a bit sweet so I would cut the sugar down by half the next time but other than that it was a great recipe. It's nice to have a bit of meat on the usual Poutine. Sort of makes it a full meal. It was great though and I'll do it again for sure. 

The Backyard BBQ

What would summer be without that big family BBQ in the back yard? Whenever I come home during the summer it has to happen and this year was no exception. It was quite special this year because my nephew Chris was taking care of the meat. He and a friend had built a new BBQ and were perfecting their BBQ skills so Chris picked up the meat he wanted to prepare and I set it up for the grill. We smothered the prime rib with garlic butter and herbs, then put the fat cap back on and tied it up. Three pork roasts were seasoned differently, one with Chinese 5 spice, one rubbed with my Northern Smoke spice rub and believe it or not, I can't remember what we seasoned the last one with. We basted the 5 spice rubbed roast with pomegranate molasses during the last half hour or so and that was the best. Grilled garlic chicken sausage from Hilltop Farms and garlic butter soaked grilled corn rounded out the meal. It was one of those meals that seems to taste better when all the family was around to enjoy it. Way to go Chris! We did a pretty spectacular job!

St. Jacobs Market

So many berries!!

Mom picks out a  cabbage.

Whenever I travel, one of my main objectives is to visit as many food outlets as I can find! The St. Jacobs Farmers Market in Ontario is the ultimate jackpot! There is so much food there and it looks so good that you just want to buy everything! I went this morning with my mom and was pleased to see a ton of local Ontario produce. Lots of cherries, berries and peaches to choose from and a big selection of fresh vegetables as well. We picked up peaches of course, some carrots, potatoes and cabbage and also fresh corn for dinner. We stopped at the Hilltop Acres Poultry Products and picked up some garlic turkey sausage to go with the corn as well.

Corn and sausage on the plate!

Corn and sausage on the barbie.

The corn and sausage went on the BBQ later in the day. I slow roasted the corn, brushing it with sage butter near the end and grilled the sausage, basting it with pomegranate molasses when it browned. A bit of fresh greens went with the corn and the salad and I washed that all down with a cold Organic Lager (or two!) from Mill St. Brewery. Great meal.

South African Food

A Taste of Africa

I travelled to Richards Bay in South Africa with the St Patrick High School Interact Club to visit the Grantleigh School and to help out in some orphanages and crèches. Of course while we were there we did a few tourist things as well and as always, I did my best to taste as much of the local food as possible!

My hosts for the first few days were Karen and Dudley and they started me off with a great meal of Bobote, rice and pumpkin, complemented by a Melktert for dessert. Very nicely done Karen! The Bobotie was made with nicely seasoned ground beef with raisins and a kind of custardy layer on top. Simply delicious! The squash and rice were great accompaniments for it.

Although was winter there and I missed the harvest season, I was able to taste some nice South African fruit. My day usually started with some of the best papaya (paw paw)  I have ever had! Perfectly ripe and nicely sweet, papaya has great taste and texture as well as some restorative properties. Pair that with melons and yogurt and you’ve got a great start to the day! I also tasted a couple varieties of oranges and apples as well as something that looked like a passion fruit. This we found on a walk with Pete through his son-in-law’s farm near the Grantleigh School. Pete spotted it on a vine that kind of curled through the other trees and picked it off. He pulled out his trusty Swiss Army knife, cut it open and we both had a taste. Although it wasn’t quite ripe, it was still delicious and only a bit sour. I think it would have great taste if it were fully ripe. I’ve seen people on the side of the road with fresh pineapple for sale, sometimes a whole pickup truck full. We were able to purchase some at a fruit stand in St. Lucia. One pineapple cost 5 rand. They sliced the peel off for you and handed it to you stem down so you could eat it like a popsicle.

 I get the impression that South Africans normally drink instant coffee, and although I’m not sure why, I quickly became used to it, especially if I had a Rusk to dip into it. A Rusk is sort of like a cookie as far as I can tell, completely hard and dry, sort of like an Italian Biscotti, but it quickly softens when dipped in your coffee and it also takes on the flavour of the coffee.  And speaking of coffee, I had a fabulous Cappuccino muffin at a little café at the boardwalk (mall) that was paired with a delicious cup of Red Tea Cappuccino! I’ve never had red tea or tea cappuccino but I must say it was delicious. There was a nice foam on top with a swirl of honey which really went well with the taste of the tea.

I was happy to see that the students we were travelling with got a taste of South Africa as well. They stayed with host families for the first few days so they had their evening meal with them and the hosts sent them off to school with some nice snacks and lunches as well. Jackson ate a wild boar and antelope pie and loved it. Wish I could have tasted that one!

The Grad Cake

 For the past few years my Foods 20/30 class has been responsible for creating the Grad Cake. This year we tried to tie the grad cake to the theme of the dry grad, which was Greece. I'm not sure who's idea it was but we ended up trying to produce a cake that looked like the Parthenon. We used 8 recipes of chocolate cake, 3 recipes buttercream, containing 36 cups icing sugar, plus 2 recipes fondant icing, containing another 4 lbs icing sugar. We also made one recipe of pastiage for the picture frame and grad sign. We ended up with a pretty good cake but more importantly, had fun doing it and learned something about cakes in the process. Thanks to all the students who were involved. Nice job!!

Natalie, Mellissa, Joe Denns, Brendan, Tyler

Poutine? I did it my way!

Kids (and adults!) are always raving about Poutine, asking me to make it for lunch but I just don't get the attraction. I mean, potatoes, cheese, gravy. What's the big deal? Seems like it's Quebec's national (wishful thinking) dish. It certainly is popular not only in Quebec but all over the place. Even KFC has the stuff! Their version of it anyway. Probably made from a secret recipe with 11 different chemicals and additives! I was inspired recently though by an appearance by Chuck Hughes on Iron Chef America. He made his version of Poutine while competing against Bobby Flay, and he won! With Poutine against one of the best Iron Chefs ever! So I thought I would give my own version a try and this is what I came up with.
I wanted to make a really rich gravy so I started with short ribs. I braised them nice and slow until they were just about falling off the bone then let them cool overnight in their own cooking liquid. I wanted to serve some roast striploin with it so I used the trim from that to make a bit more stock then let that cool overnight as well.
The next day I removed the short rib meat from the bones pulling off all the trim and breaking the meat up in small peices. I started a roux in a large pot then added the bones, the stock and the braising liquid from the short ribs with other flavouring ingredients like garlic, onions, herbs and spices, tomato paste etc. I also reduced about a half bottle of red wine I had left over from the night before and added that to the pot. It cooked for about two hours, simmering slowly and thickening up nicely while developing a really rich meaty flavour.
In the meantime I put on some oven roasted potatoes to take the place of the fries. Lots of my special Northern Smoke seasoning blend, fresh thyme, onions and garlic and roasted to perfection! The strip loin was in the oven roasting with the potatoes, almost done...
I strained my gravy and added the short rib meat back to it, sort of like a beef stew but more gravy than meat if you know what I mean. A freind of mine brought over 4 of those little bottles of port, you know the ones you find in the mini bar of your hotel room or like they serve you on the plane? Anyway I dumped those in and checked the seasoning and called it done. Very rich and meaty flavour!
And for the plate, a few roasted potatoes, a generous sprinkle of cheese curds, lots of gravy with bits of short ribs in it and a slice of roasted striploin to finish it off! Now that's poutine!! My Way!!
It was so good I did it again the next day but left off the strip loin and added some grilled veggies! Yummy!

Fish Fry, Northern Style.

Every once in a while I have the opportunity to cook in a setting that's a little more challenging than my kitchen. A few weeks ago I went with a group of friends to check fish nets set up on Great Slave Lake, about 10 km out of Yellowknife. It was a great day with plenty of sunshine and fairly mild temperatures. There were about 20 people there, riding out on nearly as many snow machines.
When we arrived at the site it was pretty quick work for the guys to pull up the nets. We were rewarded with about 20 whitefish, 2 lake trout and 2 pretty big inconnu. Working quickly and skillfully, the 20 whitefish were filleted and readied for the pan. While they were doing this I was readying the pan and setting up the cooking station.
I brought with me buns, a bag of crispy cole slaw, a bowl of feta dill dressing (feta, mayo, sour cream, white balsamic vinegar, fresh lemon juice, fresh dill, salt and pepper) and a seasoned flour mix. The flour was flavoured with my own Northern Smoke spice blend with a bit of curry powder added for good measure. The whitefish fillets were dredged in the flour and fried in hot shortening. The fillets were then placed on the buns with a bit of the feta dressing on the bottom and topped with the cole slaw. This made for a pretty tasty sandwich. Of course, have that great fresh whitefish was what really made the meal. Having it on the frozen ice of Great Slave Lake made it, well, priceless!

Bison Chilli

Bison Chilli with Saffron, Cranberry and Pistachio Rice

Bison Chilli

I’ve been asked a couple times about recipes for game meat. Since I love making chilli this was one of the first recipes I developed for game. I like it because the use of red wine at the beginning and chocolate in the end really work well with any type of game, but especially well with the smoky heat of the chipotle peppers. I’ve also included a few dates in this recipe. A friend of mine got me started using dates when she included them in some of her uber-healthy recipes. (thanks Lori!) I liked the way they affected savoury dishes so much that I use them all the time now. They give a certain sweetness to a savoury dish that I like and have some great health benefits as well!

Although this chilli is made with bison, I’ve also made it with caribou and musk ox with equal success. I’m sure venison or moose would work nicely as well.

I topped this chilli with some grated smoked gouda cheese and served it with Saffron Rice with Cranberries and Pistachios which really goes well with it. Again you have sweet nutty flavours that pair nicely with the heat of the chilli, plus the rice has a cooling affect as well. Not that this is a blow your head off chilli. If you like it really hot, add more chipotle pepper sauce, chipotles in adobo sauce, or simply a big splash of hot sauce! Enjoy!

Bison Chilli

1 tbsp olive oil

1 kg ground bison

1 onion, diced

1 red pepper, diced

1 green pepper, diced

2 jalapeños, diced really small

2 stalks celery, diced

3 tbsp chilli powder

1 tbsp cumin

1 tsp salt

1 ½ cups red wine

3 Medjool dates, stone removed, minced

4 cloves garlic

2 tbsp chipotle hot sauce (or one chipotle pepper, minced)

2 bay leaves

1 – 28 oz can tomatoes

28 oz water

1 – 5.5 oz can tomato paste

1 – 19 oz can black beans

4 oz  dark chocolate

1. Heat a large soup pot over high heat. Add the ground bison and sauté until almost cooked through.
2. Add the diced onions, peppers, celery and sauté until they soften, about 3 minutes.
3. Add the chilli powder, cumin and salt and mix in, cooking to bring out the flavour of the spices. Add the wine and deglaze the pot. Cook the wine until it reduced to a saucy consistency.
4. Add the dates, garlic, chipotle hot sauce and bay leaves and mix in.
5. Add the tomatoes, water and tomato paste and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 1 hour. Rinse the black beans under cold water and add them to the chilli. Continue to cook for about 30 minutes more. The sauce should reduce a bit, thicken slightly and darken.
6. Add the chocolate and mix in until it is completely melted and disappears into the sauce.
7. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Arancini

I was in Edmonton recently and was fortunate enough to have dinner at Corso 32. The food was excellent, very nicely cooked. The braised dishes we tried were nicely done, very tender and tasty. One of the appetizers we shared was Arancini. Great little breaded deep fried balls of risotto. Nice and crisp on the outside and really light, gooey and tasty  on the inside. So, of course, when I came home, I had to try to duplicate them. I used my leftover mushroom risotto, stuffing it with a little ball of goat cheese giving them a light breadcrumb coating. I didn’t quite get the fluffy texture of the Corso rice balls but they were very tasty! Next time I’ll match them!

Mushroom Arancini

    1 tablespoon olive oil

    ¼ cup onion, finely chopped

    1 clove garlic, minced

    1 cup Arborio rice

    1/2 cup dry white wine

    2 1/2 cups boiling vegetable stock

    ½ oz dried mushrooms

    salt and pepper to taste

    1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

    ¼ cup celery leaves, chopped fine

    2 tsp fresh thyme leaves

Breading

    1 egg

    1 tablespoon milk

    4 ounces goat cheese,

    1/2 cup all-purpose flour

    1 cup dry bread crumbs

    vegetable oil for deep frying

1. Place the dried mushrooms in a small bowl and pour enough boiling water over them to cover. Let them stand until soft. Drain the liquid from the mushrooms and set aside. Chop the mushrooms into small pieces.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and cook, stirring until onion is soft but not browned. Pour in the rice, and cook stirring for 2 minutes, then stir in the wine, and continue cooking and stirring until the liquid has evaporated.
3. Add enough hot vegetable stock to the reserved mushroom liquid to make 2 ½ cups. Add the stock to the rice 1/3 cup at a time, stirring and cooking until the liquid has evaporated before adding more. (Keep the stock hot on medium heat while cooking the rice)
4. Add the chopped, dried mushrooms when half of the stock has been added to the rice.
5. When the vegetable stock has all been added, and the liquid has evaporated, the rice should soft but not mushy. Remove from the heat, and stir in the Parmesan cheese, celery leaves and thyme. Taste the risotto and season with salt and pepper if needed. Transfer the risotto to a bowl, and allow to cool slightly, or cool overnight.
6. In a small bowl, whisk together the egg and milk with a fork. Roll about 2 tablespoons of the risotto into a ball. Press a piece of goat cheese into the center, and roll to enclose. Coat lightly with flour, dip into the milk mixture, then roll in bread crumbs to coat.
7. Heat oil for frying in a deep-fryer or large deep saucepan to 350 degrees F. Fry the balls in small batches until evenly golden, turning as needed. Drain on paper towels. Keep warm in a low oven while the rest are frying.

Note: You can also make this with fresh mushrooms. Use about 2 – 3 ounces fresh mushrooms, chopping them fine and sautéing them with the onions and garlic.

Osso Bucco

The Market at Granville

When I visited Vancouver last month, I had the chance to visit Granville Island. Well actually, I went a few times. I mean, how can you visit Vancouver without shopping for great food at Granville Island? Anyway, my last day there I picked up some fresh veal. I bought some loin, a little bit of tenderloin and eight large pieces of veal shank. I rushed the meat home to my sons’ apartment, wrapped it in a couple layers of newspaper and stored it in the coldest part of the fridge. The next morning when I packed my bag for my trip home, in went the chilled meat, surrounded by my clothes and whatever else I picked up this trip. When you live in Yellowknife, you learn a few tricks about what to buy and transport safely back to the great white north.

Veal in the bag, waiting to turn into Osso Bucco

 One of my favourite dishes of all time is Osso Bucco. I think I first had it when I worked at Waldens way back when I was still an apprentice. I was so impressed with how soft and rich the meat was after it’s long braise in the oven. And the flavour the sauce picks up from the meat and bones is simply incredible. I thought perhaps I would try some radical new flavour blend for this Osso Bucco but in the end I went with the traditional recipe and served it with Braised Fennel and Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes. Simple sides for a very rustic and homey dish. Some cooks leave the sauce just as it is when it comes out of the pan but I chose to puree the sauce to make a nice smooth gravy. The fennel seed I added to it gave it a nice touch and went well with the braised fennel.

Full meal deal.

I also tried to heighten the flavour of the meat by marinating it under a vacuum seal overnight. I’m not sure if it helped the dish but it sure didn’t hurt it! (I’ll be using the vacuum seal technique in the future as I explore cooking ‘sous vide’) I cooked the Osso Bucco one day then served it the next. This also helped intensify the flavour by allowing the veal to rest in its braising liquid over night.

Overall, this was a great meal. A great warming meal for those cold, 40 below nights in Yellowknife. Surprisingly enough, it did have a little veal leftover. I have the perfect idea for it though and you’ll see that coming up in a future blog.

Osso Bucco

Osso Bucco

Zest of 1 orange

1 onion, julienne

6 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp thyme, fresh

1 tsp cracked peppercorn

1 cup olive oil

8 large pieces veal shank

3 cups chicken stock

3 tbsp flour

1 tbsp northern smoke spice (or any seasoning salt)

4 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, diced

3 stalks celery, diced

1 carrot, diced

6 cloves garlic, crushed

1 cup white wine

1cup diced tomato

2 bay leaves

1 tbsp fennel seeds

2 sprigs fresh thyme

salt and pepper

Mix the zest, the onion, garlic, thyme and peppercorn with the olive oil. (for the zest in this recipe, peel the orange with a peeler, trying to take only the top layer of skin, then cut them in very thin julienne strips)

Spread the mixture all over the veal shank and place them in a zip lock bag. Remove as much air as possible and store in the fridge overnight.

Remove the marinated veal shanks from the bag, scraping off as much of the marinade as possible. Add the marinade ingredients to the chicken stock, place it on medium heat and bring it to a simmer.

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium high heat.

Mix the seasoning salt and flour together. Dry the veal shanks then dip them in the flour. Add the floured veal to the hot pan and cook until they are brown. Turn the veal over and repeat on the other side. Remove the veal from the pan and place in a roasting pan just large enough to hold them.

Add the onion, celery, carrot and garlic to the pan and sauté until slightly cooked. Deglaze the pan with the white wine and bring that to a simmer. Add the tomatoes, fennel seeds and thyme. Season with salt and pepper. Add the vegetables and wine to the veal. Pour the chicken stock mixture over the veal, straining out the onion and zest.

Cover the pan with foil and place it in the oven. Cook for about 2 hours, just until the meat becomes tender and pulls away from the bone.

Remove the cooked veal shanks from the pan and puree the sauce. Season to taste with salt and pepper, top with Gremolata, below, and serve.

Gremolata

½ cup loosely packed flat-leaf parsley leaves

½ cup fennel fronds

1 clove garlic, minced

Zest from 1 orange and 1 lemon, minced fine

Mince the parsley, fennel fronds, garlic and lemon and orange zest, mixing them together. Sprinkle this mixture over the finished Osso Bucco.