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!