Happy New Year!

Hi everyone! I just want to take the opportunity to thank you all for all the love and support I have received from you this year. I am looking forward to an exciting and fruitful new year and I wish the same for all of you. Be good to yourselves and the ones around you. Keep cooking and stay tuned for heaps more recipes and techniques on the blog. We are in the thick of winter so there will be warm, comforting dishes ahead as well as some healthy items for those who want to watch their weight but still eat delicious and interesting food.

MasterChef Canada premieres in less than 3 weeks! I can't wait. I hope they don't edit me to look like a fool. LOL!

Finally, if your New Years celebrations tonight involve you drinking, please enjoy yourselves but be responsible. Do not drive or get in a car where someone else who has been drinking is the driver. This is a night about new beginnings not avoidable mistakes.

Much love & respect. See you next year!

B

Christmas 2013

Hi everyone. I hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas time. Before I continue I just want to offer a brief disclaimer that there was a smudge on my camera lens so most of the photos do not look good. Now that that is out of the way, I had a good Christmas. I am fighting a cold that I woke up with on Christmas Eve so that part wasn't fun. Sound familiar? That might be because this is the fourth Christmas in a row that I have been sick. Not to mention the last time I was sick was at Thanksgiving. Unbelievable. This is getting pretty ridiculous. I am perfectly healthy as long as it's not a national holiday it seems. Fingers crossed that I will be in good health next year.

For those who don't know, Southern Ontario was hit by an epic ice storm last weekend. The likes of which I've never seen in my ongoing seven years living here. Thousands of people lost power, some of which have had to wait days for it to be restored. Not everyone has power yet and many went without power on Christmas forcing them to double up their festivities with friends (either that or have peanut butter and jam sandwiches by candlelight).  Though many people in my neighbourhood lost power I was lucky enough to have it the whole time. My aunt & uncle's place in the country, where I spent my Christmas, was without power for about 12 hours and it was restored the morning of the day before we arrived anyway. We were fortunate for that.

The branches of every tree were weighed down by ice and we got a good amount of snow on Christmas day which added more weight to them. Several trees in the area have been damaged. So it was a very white Christmas this year to say the very least!

 
  
 
On Christmas morning, a rabbit came to graze on some of the fallen bird feed just outside the window which was pretty cool. I managed to get a shot. He is accompanied by a bird sharing their Christmas morning breakfast together.

As usual we had some great food this year. Similar to last Christmas, my aunt and uncle made lemon and ricotta pancakes for breakfast. This year my aunt added fresh blueberries to them. We had fresh berries and fried bacon on the side. We also had the choice of maple syrup or blueberry coulee for our pancakes. To go with the blueberry theme I chose the coulee. It was essentially blueberries and sugar reduced down into a syrup with some lemon juice at the end. This was a real treat.

Instead of lunch my family has what they call "twosies" which is basically a buffet of snacks to nibble at around 2:00 (hence the name). Stuff like cheese, crackers, olives, pickled chilies and garlic, roasted and seasoned nuts... My cousin's fiancé (who hails from England) contributed a bunch of his own traditional Christmas food like chicken liver pâté, salmon mould, a yule log and sausage rolls. Everything was from scratch, even the pastry for the sausage. I was very impressed. 

For dinner we had roast turkey, bread stuffing, gravy, mashed potato, grilled carrots, parsnips and onion, dinner rolls and cranberry sauce. It was very festive and traditional for us. If only I can enjoy a Christmas dinner without a nasty cold hindering my taste buds! Luckily my taste wasn't completely impaired so I was able to enjoy it to a degree. Dinner was wonderful.

 
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For dessert my aunt made individual raisin tarts. For those unfamiliar, it is a little cup of pastry encapsulating a gooey reduction of butter and caramelized sugar studded with raisins. They are very good. It is common to see them with nuts instead of raisins or just the plain filling. Raisins add a Moorish sweetness to them which is a great touch.

Being a foodie I would have loved to contribute my efforts in fixing up all of these but my cold prevented me. What a shame! I can't properly put into words the frustration I feel. Oh well, the rest of Christmas was amazing. It was great to spend quality time with family. We open presents throughout the day rather than all of them in the morning so that's always a pleasure. We enjoyed a few drinks and played some games. Just wholesome family time. As for gifts, I got spoiled. I have a bunch of great new kitchen stuff (such as an immersion blender, electric egg beater and a superior mortar and pestle) which will all contribute to the blog in the unfolding months so stay tuned for that.

I am wishing everyone a fantastic new year. Be safe and enjoy yourself. I hope that 2014 is good to you and yours. It is less than a month until the premiere of MasterChef Canada! That is one of the most exciting things about my 2014 so far. Don't forget to tune in on January 20th on CTV to see me (check your local listing) compete for a white apron. The audition process will be the first two episodes (Jan 20th and 27th) so I'm not sure which one might feature my audition. Guess we'll have to wait and see!

Happy Holidays and looking forward to seeing you again soon,

B

Exotic Honey Glazed Carrots

There was a holiday pot luck lunch today at work with roasted turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce and your typical North American special occasion dinner items. I wanted to make sure there was at least one interesting vegetable sidedish so I opted to make honey glazed carrots but with a twist. Honey glazed carrots are just carrots cooked in butter, honey and usually a bit of fresh orange juice until they are softened and glazed. I added a few other elements for something more memorable. The glaze is infused with fresh ginger and garam masala, an Indian spice blend. I also found these astounding walnuts with dark red skin so I had to use those. I toasted some sesame seeds and picked some fresh thyme which completed the side dish. Not only was this decently healthy but was appropriately festive and the right amount of complexity. I'd be keen to try this again for any occasion.

See? What did I tell ya? Red!

For maximum texture and flavour  I took a couple of extra steps by roasting the walnuts and toasting the sesame seeds. If you decide to try this for your Christmas or any special meal, you may not have the extra equipment to do all that while cooking everything else. You can add the sesame seeds and walnuts raw but the few extra steps will be well worth it. You can do your toasting and roasting up to a day in advance anyway. To roast walnuts, spread them out on a dry baking sheet and bake them at 350F/175C for 8-10 minutes. You can leave them whole or break them in pieces, up to you. For the sesame seeds, add them to a warm, dry pan over medium-high and shake them in the pan for 60-90 seconds. They burn fast so keep an eye on them. Keep them moving constantly until you remove them from the pan to prevent burning.  


Ingredients

about 1 lb (7-8 large) carrots, peeled and thickly sliced
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup walnuts, roasted
1/4 cup sesame seeds, toasted
2 inch piece ginger, peeled and cut into eight even pieces
1 orange (zest and juice)
1 tsp Garam Masala
Fresh thyme
Salt
Pepper

Just a head's up, the quantities in this recipe are a bit less than the demonstration so don't worry if your amounts don't look quite the same.

Cut your carrots differently from your ginger so that they are easier to recognize and remove before serving. I cut the carrots into diagonal discs and left the ginger in cube shapes. All we want is the ginger flavour to go into the dish during cooking. They will be discarded after. I ended up with 8 cubes of ginger. The number of cubes isn't imperative but take note of how many you end up with so you know how many to remove at the end.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat and add the honey. Add the pieces of ginger and stir. Let the honey and butter simmer and reduce for about five minutes.

  

Add the carrots and stir to coat evenly with the honey and butter. Let it cook for a minute or two. Season with salt and pepper.

Add the orange juice, stir and bring to a boil.

Once boiling, place a lid on the saucepan and turn down the heat. Allow to steam, covered, for about seven minutes. This will help give the carrots a head start with the cooking. Carrots are durable vegetables so they can take quite a bit of cooking. Everyone has their texture preference but I like them softened but still slightly crunchy. I don't recommend mushy, overcooked carrots. Cooking time is up to you.

Uncover and turn the heat back up to a gentle boil. This will finish cooking the carrots and reduce the liquid into a thin, sticky glaze. Add the garam masala during this stage and stir.

When the liquid has reduced, remove from the heat. Remove the ginger pieces. Now you can add the sesame seeds, walnuts and stir to combine. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.

 


Dump onto a serving platter or in a large bowl and garnish with orange zest and fresh thyme. Serve immediately alongside your holiday feast.

This was great. They smelled amazing, they were sweet, spicy in the exotic sense, different levels of crunchy while being sticky at the same time. A coworker of mine admitted that she doesn't like cooked carrots but really liked this side dish. The coolest thing about cooking for yourself is that you can have fun and be creative. This is another one of those recipes that's a guide that you can refer to while adding or substituting your own ideas. 

Whether this makes it to your table or not, I hope you enjoyed this post and that it opened your mind to new and creative ways to enjoy vegetables. 

Until next time,

B 

Eggnog (No Cooking Experiment)

Eggnog is a popular drink commonly associated with Christmas. It is sweet, creamy and rich. I have loved this stuff ever since I was a kid. Traditionally a custard-like mix of milk, cream and egg yolks are warmed on the stove to thicken up a bit. I heard of a technique of making eggnog that requires no heat at all. My friend and I decided to try it out. I find that store bought eggnog is a little too thick for me. I usually cut it with milk to thin it out just a bit. The no heat method tends to come out thinner than your usual eggnog so I was interested in trying it. You know what, it wasn't bad at all. The richness in flavour wasn't quite there but the texture was nice (not to mention the recipe was very hassle-free). 

I spiked my eggnog with a little bourbon, which is common. Feel free to replace bourbon with spiced rum, brandy, whiskey or any combination of the above. If you would rather leave alcohol out of the recipe that's perfectly fine too. You can drink the eggnog as is but I prefer it with some fresh grated nutmeg on top. If you don't have fresh nutmeg, ground cinnamon or pumpkin spice are great alternatives. 

"Hold the phone, Bram! Eggs? No cooking? Isn't that dangerous? Are you trying to kill us!?" You are correct in assuming that this does contain raw egg. Caution must be exerted to prevent contamination of salmonella and some other food-borne illnesses. Only use fresh and properly refrigerated A or AA grade eggs. Chickens in Europe are mostly treated with a salmonella immunization which makes the eggs almost entirely safe. This is a problem that exists more in North America (as for any other continent I am not sure). It is a risk, but using fresh, refrigerated eggs is rather safe. I had two friends enjoy this eggnog with me and we were all unaffected by any ailment.  


Ingredients

4 egg yolks
1/3 cup sugar
2 cups whole fat milk
1 cup whipping cream (or "heavy cream")
1 vanilla bean (or 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
3 ounces of bourbon
4 egg whites
1 tbsp sugar (separate from the aforementioned sugar)

I'm going to briefly go over how to use a vanilla bean for this or pretty much any recipe that calls for one. They are harder to find than extract and quite a bit pricier but very worth it. 

Lay the vanilla bean flat on a cutting board. Using the back of a paring knife, stroke the bean to flatten it. This will release the seeds inside and make them easier to remove.

Make an incision across the whole vanilla bean, lengthwise. Then open the vanilla bean up (like a book) from the incision you made.

Gently run the blade across the inside of the bean, collecting as much of the black seeds as possible. 

Now you have fresh vanilla ready to be added to any recipe. In this case, you would add the black seeds directly to the milk mixture. Vanilla beans, as I said before, can be expensive. There is plenty of aromatic vanilla flavour left in the skin of the pod. Add the used pod to a container with a cup or two of sugar. Give the container a good shake and leave it to infuse. After a couple of weeks you will have your very own vanilla sugar at your disposal and it will keep for well over a year. 

Now that that's out of the way, let's make some egg nog!

Take four fresh, refrigerated eggs and separate the yolks from the whites.

In a large bowl (you can use a stand mixer for this part) add1/3 cup of sugar to the egg yolks and beat until combined. The colour of the mixture should lighten from yellow to blonde and the sugar should dissolve completely.

Add the milk, cream, bourbon, nutmeg, vanilla and whisk to thoroughly combine.

Add 1 tbsp of sugar to the egg whites and whisk until they form stiff peaks. Be cautious as not to overwhip them or they will separate. 

Add the whipped egg whites to the milk mixture and whisk to incorporate completely. This will give the eggnog its frothy texture.

  

Chill and serve!

Because the eggnog is never cooked, it doesn't thicken up as much and so it tastes and feels much lighter (don't be fooled, this recipe is not for dieters). If you are confident that you will prefer the standard version where the egg yolk portion is cooked, here's what you do...

Mix the 4 egg yolks with 1/3 cup sugar until it's blonde in colour and fully incorporated. Set aside. In a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat, combine the milk, cream, vanilla and nutmeg and bring up to a gentle boil. Add a ladle of the warm milk mixture to the egg yolks and whisk them rapidly and constantly. This will temper the eggs so that they slowly warm up without scrambling. Return everything to the saucepan and continue to whisk for about three minutes as it thickens up. Remove from the heat and whisk in the bourbon. Pour the contents of the saucepan into a mixing bowl and allow to cool to room temperature. Then place the bowl in the fridge to chill. Once chilled, remove from the fridge, stir in the egg whites that have been whipped into stiff peaks with 1 tbsp of sugar. Then serve.

Whichever method you try this year I hope that you enjoy it. Leave a comment below and let me know how yours turned out. 

In the meantime, happy holidays and I'll be seeing you again soon,

B

Rack of Lamb (basic approach with pan sauce)

A rack of lamb can be one of the pricier items at your butcher shop but you owe it to yourself to cook it even if it's just once in your life. It is a popular menu item at many fine dining restaurants but oddly enough isn't cooked that often at home. You might be surprised how easy and quick it is to nail a perfectly roasted rack of lamb. Since this is the first rack of lamb on the blog, I'll ease you in with a dead simple technique that delivers outstanding results. 

This is a French technique that we've gone over a few times already on the blog (such as duck breast and pork chops) where a piece of meat is seared on all sides, placed in the oven to finish cooking, then set aside to rest. The remaining fond on the pan is deglazed with a liquid then reduced into a pan sauce. There are all kinds of liquids that work great as the base for pan sauces like wine, Marsala, apple cider, grainy mustard dissolved in water, broth, etc... but one of my favourite pan sauces for lamb is balsamic vinegar. Balsamic vinegar is sharp, sweet and has many complex layers that really play with the palate. When cooked down and reduced the sharp acidity relaxes into a mellow tang. A little brown sugar helps to bring out the sweetness and caramelize the sauce making it sticky and rich. It is such a beautiful thing.  

Last summer I butchered a lamb (well, most of it). You can check it out if you need to be acquainted but a rack of lamb comes from the rib cage. It is the upper rib bones accompanied by the rib-eye muscle that would have run along the backbone. 

Usually you will find rack of lamb "Frenched" which means the meat has been cut completely away from a section of the ribs. Each rib in turn becomes a handle for what one could describe as a meat lollipop. The butcher shop I frequent always sells racks of lamb Frenched (the scraps of meat that get removed go into grinds and Merguez sausage). 

The best way to enjoy rack of lamb is to season it generously and getting a good sear on all sides of the meat. Then finish it in a hot oven just enough to warm it through. Rack of lamb can easily be overcooked (and tough) so it is best eaten medium-rare. It should be blushing pink in the middle but never raw. It's all about capturing that perfect moment of doneness. I recommend the feel for firmness technique by lightly pressing your finger against the meat. To know what medium-rare meat should feel like when you touch it, touch the tip of your thumb with the tip of your middle finger. With your other hand, feel the firmness at the base of the thumb where it meets your palm. That's a general idea of medium rare. The temperature and time in the oven provided in this post are only guidelines. What you want to aim for is the feel of medium rare. The lamb will continue to cook a bit as it rests so I recommend taking it out of the oven when it feels just under where you want it to be.

Start by seasoning the lamb with salt and pepper and browning the sides of the meat. In an oven-safe skillet, place on medium-high heat and add 2 tbsp of oil. Sear the seasoned rack flesh side down. 

 
Try not to disturb it too much. Leave it to get a good sear for a few minutes. Then turn the rack on one side to get a good sear on top of the rack. If it doesn't stand on its own, let it rest standing against the side of the pan.

When all the sides of the lamb are seared, place the whole pan in the middle of the oven reheated to 375F/190C. 

Let the lamb roast for 8 - 10 minutes or until you are satisfied with its firmness. Remove  from the oven and set the rack of lamb aside to rest.

Now we are going to use the same pan to make a sauce. Since it has just been taken out of the oven, the handle will be very hot! I always put an oven mitt over the handle at this point. That way if I reach for the handle out of instinct I won't burn myself. I (unfortunately) have an electric stove in my apartment. If you have a gas stove, you can still use the oven mitt technique just make sure it doesn't catch fire. Place the hot pan over medium-high heat.

The bottom of the pan will have a dark fond stuck it. That is basically concentrated bits of lamb flavour that have charred against the metal. You want to get all of that flavour into your sauce. First, use a paper towel and a pair of tongs to soak up any excess oil. Then deglaze the pan with about 3/4 cup of good balsamic vinegar and 2-3 tbsp of brown sugar. The acidity in the vinegar will literally wash the fond off the pan and take on all of its flavours. Bring the sauce to a gentle boil and allow it to reduce to 1/4 - 1/3 its original size. The sourness will cook out and the natural sweet and earthy notes of the balsamic flavour will become concentrated and delicious. 

   

When the sauce has reduced, turn off the heat and stir in a small knob of butter. Then taste and adjust for seasoning. When making a pan sauce, I always wait until the end before seasoning. There is already seasoning in the fond and it also concentrates when the liquid reduces. There's nothing more tragic than a beautiful pan sauce that's been overpowered by salt. So season at the end.

Your lamb should have 5-10 minutes to rest before you cut it. That will keep all the juices from running out of the meat. If you have an electric stove your sauce will take between 5-10 minutes (less time if you have a gas stove). So you may be able to cut the rack of lamb as soon as your sauce is done. You can cut the meat however you like but I prefer them as 1 or 2 bone pieces. The feel for firmness method (which works the same with steaks) may take you a couple of attempts to perfect. But the lamb should be just cooked through and still blushing pink in the middle.

The rack of lamb and balsamic reduction are the heroes of your dish. You can add whatever side dishes you like. In the top photo I served mine with parsnip purée and wilted swiss chard. 

To make parsnip purée, chop parsnip and boil in lightly salted water until fork tender. In a separate pot, simmer cream with a crushed clove of garlic, sliced shallot and sprigs of fresh thyme. Drain parsnips reserving 2 tbsp of the liquid. Place in a blender (no more than half way) with a little butter and the reserve liquid. Pulse to begin blending. Strain the cream and slowly pour it in through the top of the blender while mixing. Stop when desired texture is achieved. Taste for seasoning before serving.

For this swiss chard, sweat some chopped shallots with a little salt and pepper in a pan and then add chopped swiss chard and stir until the greens wilt and soften. Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.

So as you can see, this is a very basic and simple meal but makes for a beautiful plate and was absolutely delicious. If you do the math, this meal takes about half an hour to make but looks like you put a lot of effort into it. This is a fantastic option if you need to impress someone when it's the middle of winter and your choices of fresh produce are limited. I kept this demonstration very basic but you can amp it up by marinating the rack of lamb before searing it for added flavour. Lamb is one of those meats that has  pronounced flavour on its own so it doesn't need much. Lamb does go very well with cinnamon and/or cumin though. Minced garlic, fresh rosemary, a touch of olive oil with salt and pepper would be a delicious marinade for rack of lamb. Those are just a couple of ideas. Have fun and be creative!

Give this a try sometime this winter. It's perfect for a date night, nice meal for the family, the boss is coming over for dinner or even if you just want to treat yourself. It is warm and comforting but refined and special. 

Coming up soon, a little something to wet your whistle this Christmas season. Stay tuned...


B      

Spanakopita (Spinach & Feta in Phyllo Pastry)

Not only have I been to Greece but I have been living in Toronto's festive Greektown for over six years now. So believe me when I say I am no stranger to Greek cuisine. There are many gems in the realm of Greek food but my favourite (arguably) is spanakopita. One of the greatest flavour pairings in the world is spinach and feta. They can be used in pasta, eggs, stuffed in meat, on pizza, casseroles and so many other things. Spanakopita is a kind of pie with shatteringly flaky phyllo pastry filled with wilted spinach and salty feta. Sometimes they are served in square slices or wrapped up in individual triangles. Either way, it is just so good.

I suppose you could technically make phyllo dough at home but it's one of those ingredients that some artisans train for years to perfect and it's very readily available from reputable purveyors. Not to mention you would need an incredible amount of counter space to make it from scratch. Don't feel like buying ready made phyllo is cheating, most chefs do it. A couple of things to keep in mind about phyllo, you must work very fast with it because it dries out quickly. You will most likely find it frozen. When you want to use it, let it thaw in the fridge the night before. When ready to use it, any thawed sheets of phyllo you are not using should be covered with a damp towel. Remember to move rapidly. You don't have to give yourself a heart attack or anything, just don't waste any time. Each layer of phyllo needs to be lightly brushed with oil before adding the next layer. This will ensure that they not only won't dry out, but will get incredibly flaky and crispy. 

Many people like to add a little fresh dill to spanakopita. I'm a little funny about dill in the sense that I'm picky about when to use it. I think it works very well in some applications but most of the time I don't particularly care for it. That's your call. I can't take it anymore, let's get started!



Ingredients

1 lb fresh spinach, chopped
5 oz (150 g) feta cheese
5 scallions, finely chopped
1 egg
1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
4 sheets of phyllo pastry (possibly 2 extra, more on that in a bit)
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper


Preheat your oven to 375 F/190C. 

Start by wilting your spinach. You can do that by boiling, steaming or sautéeing it. It's up to you. Spinach only takes a couple of minutes to wilt. After which you want to drain any excess moisture from the spinach. Squeeze them between sheets of paper towel to ring out any excess water. Sautée the scallions in a pan for 2 -3 minutes then add the cooked spinach and stir for about a minute. 

   

Add the spinach to a bowl with the egg, feta, parsley and seasoning. I do recommend a little added salt but remember the feta is quite salty. Stir until thoroughly mixed.

Lightly oil a baking dish. Lay a sheet of phyllo dough over the dish and allow some to hang over one side. Then lightly brush the dough with olive oil. Lay three more sheets in alternating positions so that there is excess dough hanging from all four sides. Remember to lightly brush every sheet of pastry with oil before adding the next sheet. That's right,there should be a little oil between every layer of phyllo.

Try your best not to rip the phyllo dough. Although a few small tears here and there are not a big problem since you are making several layers anyway.

Spoon the spinach and feta mixture into the layers of pastry and spread it so that it is level. Once your filling is in place, fold the excess pastry from the sides to envelope the filling. Again, each layer of phyllo dough gets a light brushing of olive oil. 

In an ideal scenario, you will have enough excess dough to completely cover the top of the pie. This will depend on the dimensions of your phyllo sheets and the dimensions of your baking tray. As you can see from the photo above, I still had an exposed section in the middle of the spanakopita. If this happens, just take an extra couple of sheets of phyllo and lay them over the entire pie, tucking them in at the sides. Lightly brush each layer with olive oil. 

  
When complete, brush a final light layer of olive oil all over the top of the pie. Then place in the middle of your preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until the pastry takes on a beautiful, golden colour all over.

Remove the spanakopita from the oven and let it rest for at least ten minutes before cutting in to it.

Cut into desired pieces and enjoy as a snack, side dish, with a light salad, as an appetizer, hell - I've even eaten it for breakfast. 

By the way, if you have one of those circular pizza cutter blades those work best at slicing pieces of spanakopita. There you have it guys. A very simple yet very delicious Greek treat. You can have fun with this recipe. As I mentioned before you can add a tbsp of fresh dill to your filling. A little bit of fresh minced garlic sautéed with the scallions would be very nice. You could trade the scallions for the same amount of finely chopped leek. Even 2 or 3 tbsps of ricotta mixed in the filling would add a little creamy richness and act as an added binder.

Give these a try. So easy, right? When baking the spanakopita gauge its doneness more by colour than time in the oven. Half an hour is pretty standard but I made this at my friend's place and her oven is crazy hot. This only took about 12 minutes! So keep an eye on your spanakopita. Yours might take the full 30 minutes (maybe even 35), who knows!

I have another technique coming up that you won't want to miss so stay tuned.


B

Spelt Tortilla Experiment

Not long ago I posted a recipe for tortillas and made some really delicious shrimp fajitas with them. My best friend and next door neighbour really wanted to try them but wondered if they could be made with spelt flour. We decided to do a little experiment of our own. Instead of shrimp we picked out a gorgeous fillet of Chilean sea bass. I removed the skin and sliced the fillet into 1 cm goujons and seasoned them with salt, pepper, chili powder and cumin. I let the fish marinate while we made the tortillas and prepped the fixings. We sautéed bell pepper, red onion, garlic and jalepeño before adding the marinated sea bass pieces. It's just a matter of gently stirring that for 2 or 3 minutes or until the fish is just cooked. Oh man, it was delicious on its own! For the fresh fixings we chopped cherry tomatoes, scallions and fresh mango. We intended to add fresh cilantro as well but the stuff we had on hand had unfortunately expired so we had to go without. 

Regardless of the lack of cilantro, they were really great and I'm happy to say that this recipe totally worked with spelt flour instead of all-purpose. Did I enjoy the all-purpose flour ones more? Yes. But if you are one of those people who prefers spelt you can still make this recipe. I found that I needed more flour than what the original recipe called for. Maybe 1/3/-1/2 cup. With any dough the humidity and climate of where you live will also affect the wet to dry ratio. I would suggest using 2 cups of spelt flour and spare some extra if you need it. It's fairly simple; if your dough is too sticky, add more flour. If it's too dry add a little more water. 

      


These turned out to be tasty but spelt flour is easier to overknead than all-purpose. So keep that in mind. We had a little hassle with this dough but in the end, it worked. I found that these ones were easier to rip so we had to roll some of them more than once which is not ideal. If you are a spelt kind of person, this might be something you might want to try. Let me know if you come up with a better way to tweak the recipe to better suit spelt flour.

I have another blog post already in the works so stay tuned...

B 

MasterChef Canada Announcement

CTV has officially announced the top 50 home cooks who will compete in the first season of MasterChef Canada. Guess who's one of them! 

That's right, me! As far as I know the show will only air in Canada but it will premiere on CTV on January 20th, 2014 (which also happens to be the day before my birthday). Check your local listing and be sure to tune in.The show starts with the top 50 dueling it out in the MasterChef Canada kitchen, each for a coveted white apron. I hope those who are able will watch and cheer me on. 

Click here for CTV's official top 50 announcement. The top prize is $100,000.00, a handsome trophy and the title of Canada's first ever MasterChef. 

I'll be talking a little bit about the show as the events unfold. I just couldn't wait to finally share this great news with all of you! Below is a group shot of the 50 of us. I'm in the back with the turquoise shirt. 

This has been such an exciting and incredible experience. Not only did I get to share it with so many other talented people, many of whom I now call friends, but this has completely validated my passion for what I love to do. It's a feeling impossible to describe. When you're doing something that you love and believe in, everything just feels right. 

Although we will all have to wait over a month for the premiere, I will have tons of recipes and techniques to share in the meantime.

Love and respect,

B



PS: An enormous thank you goes out to all those who have showed their support already.

Breaded Veal Scallopini with Blanched Purple Asparagus, Lamb's Lettuce and Marinara Sauce.

The blog is back already with a new and inspiring dish. Scallopini is a thin cut of meat usually of veal but can also be chicken or sometimes turkey. It is most commonly dredged in flour and/or breadcrumbs and fried. Because the meat is thin it only takes about a minute or two per side to cook which makes for a stupendously convenient weeknight meal. Some supermarkets wil sell cuts of scallopini as is or you can make your own by cutting medallions from a cut of veal (like a leg, for instance) and gently pounding it into a thin, flat serving. The particular cuts I used here are veal leg which I had bought as is. These are narrow cuts but scallopini can vary in shapes. 

You can go out a buy tomato sauce but it probably won't be as good as one you make yourself. As I mentioned in a previous post about tomato sauce, when tomatoes are not in season the best quality you can get are from canned tomatoes (which were picked and preserved at their peak ripeness). This post is a great opportunity for me to tell you how to make an effortless marinara sauce with canned tomatoes that will take less than 30 minutes.

I garnished the dish with some lamb's lettuce but you may be more familiar with it as corn salad, mâche, nut lettuce or rapunzel (there are even more names for it believe it or not). It's more of a salad green than an herb. It's flavour is very mild, nutty and has a sprouty aftertaste. They are fantastic in salads but work well as a refreshing garnish. Be sure to take advantage of it if you can find it.

Lastly before we carry on with the recipe, you may have noticed that in the title I specified purple asparagus though they look more green than purple in the photo. That's because most purple varietals of vegetables turn green when they're cooked. You might be surprised how many common vegetables can be found in purple versions (bell peppers, carrots, cauliflower, tomatoes, potatoes, kale, corn, etc...). All green vegetables contain chlorophyll which is responsible for their green colour. Purple vegetables contain an element called anthocyanins which appear in the plant's natural acids. They are very pH sensitive. When a purple vegetable is cooked the cells begin to rupture (so to speak) and release water thus diluting the anthocyanins. This causes the purple colour to fade as the green chlorophyll, which was always there to begin with, shows through. In case you are curious to know what purple asparagus looks like before it gets cooked, I took a picture just for you:

         


To blanche asparagus of any colour, drop them in lightly salted boiling water for no more than two minutes and then drain. For best results, dump the drained asparagus immediately into an ice bath to shock them and stop the cooking process. This will ensure that they are cooked through but still have a lovely crunch when you bite into them. One important tip about asparagus, the base of each spear tends to be woody and less palatable. You can slice those parts off with a knife but what I prefer to do is snap them with my hands. The asparagus will break naturally at the seam of the woody part and the edible part. 

If you don't have homemade or store bought tomato sauce at your disposal, make a basic canned tomato version. All you need is a small onion, a clove (or two) of garlic, a can of tomatoes, seasoning and preferably a little fresh herb like parsley, thyme or oregano. I finely sliced a small onion and allowed that to sweat in a pot with a little oil. A little salt helped to break down the onions. Once the onions go translucent, add finely minced garlic and stir frequently for a couple of minutes. Then add your canned tomatoes. Crush each one with your hand before adding it to the pot and pour in the liquid as well. Season with salt and pepper (I usually add a pinch of chili flakes too) and stir that from time to time as it reduces on medium to medium-high heat. The tomatoes will continue to break down in the process. If you are recreating this dish, be sure to start the sauce first as it takes the longest.   

After 20-25 minutes, pour the sauce into a blender. Add a pinch of fresh parsley (or the herb of your choice) and blitz into a smooth purée while it's still hot. SAFETY PRECAUTIONS TO KEEP IN MIND: Never fill a blender more than half way with a hot liquid before turning it on. Make sure that your blender has a tight fitting lid and I suggest holding the lid down with your other hand just to be sure the lid doesn't come flying off. Neglecting to do so will result in an enormous mess in your kitchen and even worse, injuries upon you and anyone else in the vicinity in the form of burns. That would not be cool. Otherwise, once you have your pureed tomato sauce, taste for seasoning, adjust if necessary and keep warm until you're ready to use.

The blanched asparagus and the tomato sauce are simple enough that you shouldn't need a step-by-step recipe. Let's go into a little more detail with the scallopini...


Ingredients

4 cuts veal leg scallopini
2 eggs
3/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Oil for frying


Set up your breading station. Beat the two eggs in some sort of vessel and in another combine the breadcrumbs and spices and stir to thoroughly combine. 

Take each cut of meat and dip it in the egg wash, shake off any excess, dredge with the seasoned breadcrumbs until completely coated, shake off any excess again and set aside. It will be easier and cleaner if you do this one cutlet at a time.

Lightly coat a pan with oil and heat it to medium-high. Place 2 of the cuts of meat in the oil making sure to lay them away from you as to ensure you don't splash any hot oil on yourself. 

Depending on the thickness of the meat, let it cook undisturbed for a minute or two. Then flip them to cook the other side for the same amount of time.

When cooked place the scallopini on a paper towel to drain any excess oil and repeat with the remaining two veal cutlets. Scallopini is such a thin cut of meat that you don't really need to bother with letting it rest. As soon as it's cool enough to eat, dig right in!

There you have it. Crispy on the outside, tender on the inside strips of veal with just enough richness to compliment the acidity and slight spiciness of the marinara sauce. The asparagus spears bring another dimension of colour, flavour and texture with the occasional kiss of tender, buttery lamb's lettuce. I was very happy with this dinner and I'm excited to enjoy the other half of it for lunch tomorrow.

As always, I hope I have inspired you to try something new. There will be more to come soon.

Until then,

B