Slow Cooked Vegetables (plating practice)

I've been revisiting a video series by Raymond Blanc (a brilliant Michelin starred French chef) called "How To Cook Well". Each half hour episode covers a different cooking technique from roasting, slow cooking, poaching, frying, baking and grilling. One of the dishes in the slow cooking episode really caught my eye. He simply calls it "slow cooked vegetables" but by the end there is an absolute masterpiece on the plate. The browned vegetables are braised simply in a bit of balsamic vinegar and boiling water from a kettle. In his version, he plates the vegetables with squash seeds, cured ham, deep fried crispy sage leaves, shaved Parmigiano Reggiano and an extra drizzle of balsamic and olive oil (although when it shows the finished plate at the end there seem to be thin crackers or tuile of some kind which is not explained or shown prior). I fell in love with it so I decided to make my own version.

In Chef Raymond Blanc's version he slow cooked fennel, red onion, chicory and fresh artichoke hearts. I kept the fennel and red onion but chose radicchio and kohlrabi as my additional two. I didn't want to copy his recipe exactly (not that his was imperfect in any way, I just wanted to recreate rather than duplicate). You could use any vegetables you want but keep in mind that woody, chewy vegetables are best for slow cooking. The low and slow cooking method breaks down in the fibres in the vegetables and make them tender but maintain a certain level of crunch. I decided to keep my version vegetarian (so no ham) and I had some halloumi on hand so I used that instead of the Parmigiano Reggiano.

If you're not familiar, halloumi is Cyprian cheese made from cow, goat and sheep milk. It is salty in flavour and firm in texture. When raw it's consistency is similar to a firm mozzarella, but the interesting thing about halloumi is that it doesn't melt like most cheeses. You can grill or fry it and it will maintain its shape while acquiring a golden, crispy exterior. I thought that might make an interesting substitute in this dish. Another ingredient in this recipe that you might not be familiar with is kohlrabi. It is a usually light green, bulbous root with leafy stems coming out the top. They are very firm and their flavour is a cross between stem broccoli and turnip. When cooked, its starch converts to sugar and the flavour sweetens, slightly like that of a beet. Other vegetables that are great for braising/slow cooking is cabbage, carrots, parsnips, rutabaga, potatoes, squash, etc...

In the video series the precise measurements of ingredients are not provided. In the video, he drizzles about 2 tbsp (I'm guessing) of balsamic vinegar and then he pours in some boiling water from a kettle before placing the pan in the oven. The next time I try this recipe I'm going to fill the pan up with about 1 cm of boiling water. When I cooked this I filled it probably closer to an inch. When you braise something you tend to add more liquid but the idea here is to allow the water to evaporate and create a rich glaze on the vegetables. I'm sure Chef Blanc's balsamic vinegar was better than mine anyway. I had to get some more and I found a really great deal on organic balsamic vinegar. It was such a great deal, I unfortunately discovered later, because it is sub par and not quite as thick as it should be. So if you try this, use good quality balsamic vinegar and only add about 1 cm of water. Keep an eye on your vegetables in case you may need to add just a little more.

   
   

Above is a photo of the main vegetables I used. From left: radicchio, kohlrabi, red onion and fennel. The radicchio and the onion I simply cut into quarters. For the fennel, I cut off the tops and quarter the base and reserved the leafy fronds for fresh garnish at the end (they can be used like an herb and have a sweet anise seed flavour). I only used the bulbs (quartered) of the kohlrabi but the stems and leaves I froze to use in a future batch of stock. 

In a pan over medium-high heat I added about 2 tbsp of olive oil 2/3 cup of peeled garlic cloves. At this temperature it won't take the garlic long to brown. Just keep an eye on them because they'll turn bitter if they burn and it doesn't take much. Three minutes should be fine. The garlic should sizzle immediately when it's introduced to the oil, otherwise it is not hot enough yet. 

 

Once lightly browned, add the cut vegetables and season with salt and pepper. Sautée for a few minutes.

Then add a stalk of fresh sage, 2 sprigs of fresh thyme and 1 sprig of fresh rosemary. Sautée for an additional minute or so.

Then drizzle a couple tbsp of good balsamic vinegar and some boiling water from a kettle. I added too much water so please do not replicate what you see in the photo. I recommend about a cm worth of boiling water in the pan.

Then place the pan at the bottom of a preheated oven to 250 F/120 C. If you place the pan in the middle of the rack the heat that will reflect off the ceiling of the oven could burn the vegetables. The idea is to let the gentle steam from the water keep the vegetables moist as they slowly roast. After 90 minutes or until the the vegetables are coated with a rich balsamic glaze. It should look better than mine:

I had to pour some of the excess liquid away. Womp, womp.

For the halloumi I sliced a few rectangular segments. Then in a pan I heated a couple tbsp of olive oil over medium-high.

They should also sizzle as soon as they hit the oil. They should only take a couple of minutes each side for a golden, crispy exterior. 

After that it was just a matter of arranging the vegetables on the plate with the fried halloumi. I deep fried some sage leaves (which only take a few seconds in hot oil) and garnished with them as well as some toasted walnut pieces, some of the fresh fennel fronds and a couple of edible flowers.

I hope you enjoyed this post. Stay tuned as there will be lots of new and exciting stuff happening in the future. 

B

Gastropost (Toronto) featured me in the paper again today!

A dish of mine has been featured in the National Post for the fourth time as of today. The National Post runs a foodie photo competition every week. Each week has a different theme. Photos on Instagram and Twitter are tagged for a chance to be featured in the newspaper. I have been participating for a few months now (not every week, but I do when I can). A gnocchi dish of mine was featured on their mushrooms themed challenge on the Nov 23, 2013 paper, my spicy kale chips were featured on their finger food themed challenge on January 11, 2014 , my swordfish ceviche was featured in the raw vs. slow issue on January 18, 2014 and now my curry sweet potato soup is featured in today's curry issue. 

It is always such a great feeling to have your name and work featured in such a well known newspaper and on the weekend edition. I just have to say an enormous thank you to Gastropost and the National Post for all of the support. While I'm at it, I want to say a big thank you to all of you as well following the blog and for your feedback on my recipes and techniques. 

Stay tuned for much more and have a great weekend, everybody!

PS: You can follow me on Instagram for plenty more mouth watering food photos @bramdoublel

B

One more thing, Gastropost featured me in a tweet today too!

 

Grilled Cauliflower Steak (plating practice)

There has been a remarkable amount of meat and seafood on the blog lately so I figured it was time for a special dish that could appeal to vegans and vegetarians alike. Something that I quite like but hadn't made in a very long time was barbecued cauliflower steaks. It snowed lightly here in Toronto today, but that didn't stop me from firing up the outdoor grill (nor has that stopped me before). All you do is remove the greenery from a head of cauliflower, rinse it with cold water and pat it dry. Then cut the cauliflower lengthwise in about 2 cm slices. Lightly rub each "steak" with oil then season with salt and pepper. Grill over a relatively high heat for just a few minutes each side and you have a uniquely delicious way of eating a classic vegetable. The cauliflower maintains its crunch but takes on a smokey, homey flavour. The edges get slightly charred and black making a beautiful presentation. It's one of the easiest impressive things you can make at home.

To incorporate it into a dish, I decided to make an elevated salad inspired by Korean and Japanese flavours. I went to an organic health food store near my apartment and picked up some kimchi, white miso paste, an English cucumber and some cress microgreens. I also had some multicoloured, heirloom carrots from my trip to St Lawrence Market last weekend (orange, yellow and purple). I picked a cucumber that was roughly the same width as the carrots. Using a speed peeler I made thin slices of the carrots and cucumber. 

 


In two glass bowls (I had to pickle the purple carrots separately because it would have stained the other veggies) I combined 1 part white vinegar with 1 part water and a generous pinch of salt. I eyeballed it, but I added 4-5 times more sugar than salt (which was no more than a tbsp) just to counteract the sourness a little. I placed the veggies in the brine and let them sit for 20-30 minutes. They can pickle for longer but because they are sliced so thinly that's all they need. Then it's just a matter of rolling them up into little rosebud style shapes and plating them as desired.

For the miso sauce I added a bit of chicken stock (okay, you got me... not vegetarian, but it's all I had) and warmed it over the stove until I had a consistency that I was happy with. Overall, this dish was very easy to put together and is one of the better looking plates on the blog. In terms of a well rounded dish, it's missing a thing or two. Miso is quite salty and the pickles (kimchi included) are sour. So it's kind of sour, on sour, on salty with the savoury cauliflower and a bit of fresh, peppery cress. It needed a level of sweetness or richness to round it out. I love using quick pickles like this but they work best along side a juicy piece of meat to cut though the richness (like Korean pickle with braised short ribs... mmm). So don't get me wrong, it was a tasty dish, it just looks better than it eats. All in the name of experimenting!

So for the cauliflower, get your steak slices cut, lightly rub with oil then season with salt and pepper. you could add whatever other spices you want depending on what kind of dish you're making. The organic cauliflower I had was kind of small so I only got two steaks out of mine but a larger cauliflower will yield one or two more.

Place the cauliflower over the hot spot of your grill and keep an eye on them. They don't take long to cook. Mine took about 3-4 minutes per side but judge by sight, not time. You want slightly blackened edges. 

Unlike meat, cauliflower doesn't really need to rest once it's taken off the grill. As soon as it's cool enough to eat you can dig right in. Feel free to enjoy as a side or the hero of your dish. You may even choose to make your own version of my pickle and miso salad. Definitely give it a try though. It is scrumptious!

Stay tuned for more food by Bram in the near future!

B

Rabbit and Chorizo Cacciatore

I went to St Lawrence Market this passed weekend without a single dish in mind. St Lawrence is by far the most impressive food market that Toronto (if not Canada) has to offer. It is a conveniently short streetcar ride from where I live so I frequent the market several times a year. Most of the time I have an idea of what I am going there for but aside from a couple of standard things I needed, I decided to surprise myself when I got there. As I was strolling around the main level I passed one of the butchers that carries a variety of common and not so common meat (you'll have to pardon me, I am familiar with many of the businesses at the market but very few by name). They always have whole rabbit carcasses when I'm there. I've tried rabbit once a year or two ago prepared by a friend of mine when she worked at the butcher shop near my apartment. I had just a bite but enjoyed it. So I thought this would be a good opportunity to broaden my horizons on my path to becoming a chef. 

So I decided to get a whole rabbit and base a dish around that. Rabbit has lean meat that responds well to stewing. So I started to develop a Spanish inspired stew in my mind with chorizo, yellow onion, tomatoes, potatoes and Mediterranean olives. I ended up adding black beans to my list of ingredients for extra fiber. I was experimenting with this dish, and it turned out great... however the more I tasted it as it cooked the more and more it was turning into an Italian cacciatore. Cacciatore literally means "hunter" in Italian. There is no set-in-stone recipe for it because it would always be a stew of whatever a hunter managed to catch at the time. It is popularly made with chicken or rabbit simmered in tomatoes, onions, herbs and sometimes wine. I cooked my rabbit for over two hours and as I tasted it I realized that it needed something acidic to brighten up the earthy, stewed flavour profile. I had some balsamic vinegar on hand which worked wonderfully (and steered the flavour of the overall dish even more Italian). Balsamic vinegar worked great. When its cooked its intense sourness transforms into a mellower sweet tang that's gorgeous and works really well with the tomatoes and the rabbit. Sherry vinegar would have worked just as well in its place, and would have given it more of a Spanish note. So that is up to you, if you decide to make this. The base flavours will still be the same. It's your choice whether you want to give it an Italian kiss with balsamic or a Spanish kiss with sherry vinegar. Alternatively yet still, a good, dry red wine would work in place of either. 

If rabbit isn't your thing, don't worry, you can use a whole, butchered chicken instead. just cut the cooking time in half because chicken doesn't need as long to cook as rabbit. If you've never tried rabbit and are curious about what it's like, it has a slightly gamey flavour but it is overall quite mild. Not to be confused with hare, which to my understanding does have a stronger flavour). It's a white meat animal that's very lean. It is similar to poultry. They have some pesky bones that you may not be used to and it has less meat to bone ratio than a chicken, but it's a nice change once in a while. The extra bones do provide more flavour to the simmering sauce, as they would in a stock.

As you'll see in the next photo, my rabbit carcass came with a bit of offal. I'm no biology expert but I'm fairly certain it came with liver, two kidneys and two lungs. A lot of people seem to differ about offal. It is something that I never ate growing up. Both of my parents hate it so we never had it in the house. I have tried it very few times. It is overall inexpensive and quite good for you (richer in minerals than the muscle meat most of us are used to). I have to say, I have not had many good experiences with it yet. I have had some well seasoned and flavoured liver pâtés before that I have enjoyed but the rest of it hasn't been as great. Offal doesn't really have a bad flavour (though it's not necessarily the best either) but the texture is not very appealing to me. It is reminiscent of dry, muddy sponge.  In this recipe, I added the offal to the stew and removed them before serving, almost like an inedible aromatic. That way I got some of the flavour but didn't have to worry about the texture hidden away in there like a deadly game of Russian roulette. You may choose to not include any offal whatsoever. There are people though who do enjoy it and may prefer to leave it in. If you are one of those people, I trust you to know what to do with it. My guess would be to cut it in smallish pieces and add to the sauce near the end as not to overcook it. I tried, what can I say? There will be times where I will try again, I'm sure. Some people swear that done right, offal can be just as tasty as any other part of an animal. It's possible I've just never had it done right before. Until then, I'm confident in the fact that I'm not a huge fan of the stuff. 


Ingredients

1 whole rabbit, cut into eight equal pieces (your butcher can do this for you)
1 cured chorizo sausage, finely sliced
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 waxy potatoes, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 tin of crushed tomatoes
1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup of pitted olives (green or black, I'm using green here)
2-3 cups of chicken stock
1/2 cup balsamic vinegar (you may choose sherry vinegar or a good red wine)
3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme
2 dried chilies (optional)
1 bay leaf 
2 tbsp oil for frying
Salt & Pepper

Here is a shot of the carcass that I promised. I asked my butcher to chop it for me. To the bottom left you can see its liver, lungs and kidneys.

Start by seasoning the meat with salt and pepper. Brown the rabbit in batches in a heavy bottomed pot over medium heat with a little oil. Each batch should take about five minutes.  If you are using any offal, omit this step for it.

Set the browned rabbit aside and add the chorizo slices to the pot. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes until they start to crisp up. 

You may need to add a little more oil at this point. Add the onion and season. Sautée for about five minutes or until the onions soften and take on the colour of the paprika from the chorizo.

Add the garlic and stir for 90 seconds. Add the dried chilies, bay leaf, fresh thyme and stir for about 30 seconds. Then dump in the crushed tomatoes. Stir and bring to a simmer. 

Add the browned pieces of rabbit along with any juice that accumulated and the potatoes. Top up with chicken stock until it come up to the top of the meat and potatoes. Stir.

Reduce the heat to low and keep it at a simmer for about 2.5 hours or until the rabbit and potatoes are tender. Stir from time to time to distribute the stew and prevent a skin from forming. Every now and then add a little more stock (or wine or water) as required.

Then, remove the rabbit from the stew and set aside. Increase the heat to medium high and keep it at a gentle boil. Add the vinegar (or wine) and stir. If you're using balsamic vinegar like me here, the colour of the stew will darken. Let reduce for five to ten minutes depending how thick you want your sauce to be. This will also cook out the intensity from the vinegar and bring out its sweetness. Add the black beans and olives with a minute or two left of the gentle boil. They don't need to cook so much as they just need to be warmed through. 

Then turn off the heat. Add the rabbit pieces back into the stew, stir to combine and you are almost ready to serve. You will probably want to add seasoning at this point so taste and adjust. Also remember to remove the thyme, chilies and bay leaf.

For me, this was perfect as it was but if you want it a little heavier you could eat this with rice or bread. It's one of those comforting one-pot-wonders that hit that feel good note in you. Feel free to add, replace, subtract any vegetable you like. You could use pancetta or mushrooms instead of chorizo if you like. Some freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano would work nicely with this as well. Have fun!

I hope you enjoyed this out of the ordinary, Mediterranean inspired dish. Stay tuned for more surprised and useful recipes that you can make at home for any occasion.

Until then,

B

Frozen Grapes

Yep, you read that right. This isn't much of a recipe since it's only one ingredient but I have been hooked on these lately and they are more versatile than you might think. There isn't much of a technique either but I'm sharing it anyway because it's my blog and I do what I want. lol.

The only ingredient you need is seedless grapes. You can use any colour or variety you like but I like mixing a generally equal amount of the standard red and green. The red ones are sweeter and the green ones have a slight sourness to them so they compliment each other when together. All you need to do is remove the grapes from the stems and discard any that may be bruised, wrinkled or below standard in any way. If you remove the grapes too quickly or aggressively you can end up with small pieces of stems that are still attached, which we don't want. Take the time and care to ensure each grape is free of stems. Then rinse the grapes in cold water to wash them. Gently dry the grapes with a paper towel and then spread them out evenly on a surface to air dry completely. It's important that they are dry before you freeze them or any moisture left on them will freeze into crystals on the grapes and cause them to stick to each other. 

When your washed grapes are completely dry, place them on a tray or plate in a way that they are all lying flat. Since they are round they will roll about when you move the tray but the idea here is not to bunch them in a container right away and stick them in the freezer. You want the grapes to freeze individually before you do that. It's just another precaution to ensure they don't freeze together in a big clump. 

   

Place in the freezer for a few hours or overnight. Just until each grape is frozen stiff. Then you can combine them in a plastic container and keep them in the freezer. It couldn't be easier. 

Snacking on these is so addictive. They remind me eating popsicle treats as a kid, only bite sized and they don't melt in your hand. I often find myself trying to stop, thinking "God, I shouldn't be eating all this candy" and then I remember it's not candy, it's just fruit! They are quite a healthy alternative to candy or frozen desserts. I know it sounds numbingly simple but you've just got to try them. They're so tasty. Since they are frozen, they keep edible for much, much longer than if you were to buy them just to eat as they are. I don't add anything to them. They're perfect.

   

They're not just a sweet, healthy and refreshing snack. They can be used instead of ice cubes to keep your drink cold. You could also blitz them into smoothies or cocktails instead of ice for the same iciness and texture but with an added boost of completely natural flavour. If you have a sweet tooth but are trying to cut back on eating sweets these could be just the thing for you because they honestly have a candy-like quality to them. Granted, there is natural sugar in grapes that can have its consequences when eaten in excess but nothing compared to processed candy and frozen desserts. Since they're frozen it keeps you from overeating them unless you dare to endure the dreaded "brain freeze" phenomenon so portion control is effortless. 

I can't wait to try these in the summer time when the weather is hot and local grapes are in prime season. What a treat that will be!

Give these a try. If you fall under the one in a hundred chance that you won't like them you can just let them thaw and eat them as plain ol' regular grapes again. You've got nothing to lose!  It's an interesting spin on an otherwise common and maybe unexciting ingredient. 

All this writing about them is making hungry for them. I think I might just have another noshing session right now!

Until next time,

B

Perfect Hard Boiled Eggs

Going back to basics on the blog today. Let's take a look at how to make perfectly cooked hard boiled eggs. Hard boiled eggs have so many uses: spruce up just about any salad, Asian soups, egg salad sandwiches, pickling, part of any breakfast, deviled eggs, Scotch eggs, simmered in a curry sauce and countless other ways. They're easy and remarkably inexpensive. It's never a bad idea to have some on hand in your fridge for incorporating into some dishes you create or even just for healthy snacking.    

Surprisingly, a lot can go wrong when hard boiling eggs. They could be rubbery and overcooked. They could have a pungent smell. They could be scarred and beaten up when peeling. They can develop a nasty green-grey colour around the yolk (a reaction between the iron in the yolk and the hydrogen sulfide from the white). Here are some tips and techniques to avoid all of the obstacles and end up with perfectly cooked hard boiled eggs.

First of all, try to use eggs that are at the very least a week old. Very fresh eggs don't work so well for this technique (which makes this a perfect solution if you end up with several leftover eggs that need to be consumed). Generally speaking, as an egg ages it gradually loses carbon dioxide through tiny pores within the shell. This increases the size of the small air bubble within the egg. This in turn causes the contents of the egg to contract slightly which makes them much easier to peel. You may notice that when trying to peel a hard boiled fresh egg you may end up with pockmarks and craters all over your otherwise smooth whites. Though, this can still happen a bit if the eggs aren't as fresh. The secret to avoid this is a little baking soda. The sodium bicarbonate will help the egg separate from the shell as it cooks. 

Here's what you need to do...

Place your eggs in a large pot. Fill with cold water leaving about an inch of above the eggs. For every three cups of water, add 1/2 tsp of baking powder. Gently stir to dissolve the baking soda. The baking soda will fizz and cloud up the water a little. 

Bring the water up to a rolling boil over the stove. Let it boil for one whole minute (set a timer) then place a tight fitting lid on over the pot and remove from the heat. Leave the pot with the lid on for ten minutes (set a timer). Eggs can overcook in the blink of an eye so try to be as precise as possible with your timing.

Be prepared to have a large bowl filled with cold water and ice cubes to keep it cold. When your eggs have had their ten minutes off the heat, use a slotted spoon to carefully place each egg into the ice water. This will begin to stop the cooking process from the outside in. Leave the eggs in the ice bath for 5 minutes. Do not allow them to cool completely, they should still be slightly warm to the touch. 

Then fish the eggs out of the ice bath. Gently rap each egg a few times over a hard surface and begin peeling from the base (less pointy end) of the egg. The air bubble mentioned earlier will collect at this part of the egg. With little effort the shells should come right off without any fuss. 

There you have it! Pretty manageable, right? You should end up with perfectly smooth, perfectly cooked hard boiled eggs to be used however you desire. Even after refrigerating them, they should have bright yellow yolks and clean whites (no grey and no green).

I hope you take advantage of this foolproof technique. Eggs are a great source of protein, vitamins, amino acids and minerals. They are timeless and enjoyed all over the world. This is one of the best ways to enjoy them.

Keep coming back for more techniques, recipes and exciting things to come...

B

MasterChef Canada update (Spoilers)

From left: Kelly Rothschild, Narida Mohammed, Christina Menchenton, myself, Rob Slivchak, Marida Mohammed, Carly Tennant & Brooke Feldman. Eight of Canada's top 50 best home cooks, MasterChef Canada, Season 1. 

I was able to take part in another MasterChef Canada reunion this week, although for bittersweet reasons. More on that in a moment. Two episodes have aired since my last MCC recap so the show is down to its top 8 contestants now. Two episodes ago, Kaila and Pino were team captains in a challenge that had their teams making 151 steak dishes (with a sauce and two sides) for a slew of Canadian military officers. There were clashes in both teams, but Kaila's red team (composed of herself, Danielle, Marida, Julie and Dale) lost with only 44 soldiers preferring their dish to the 107 that preferred the blue team's. The red team had to go into the dreaded pressure test but not before voting as a team to save one of their own, without voting for themselves. Tensions flared, particularly between Julie and Kaila, but Danielle ended up with immunity. The remaining members of the red team went head to head in a salmon wellington challenge. Salmon wellington (which frankly is a dish you would expect from the 80s) is a piece of filleted salmon topped with a wilted swiss chard filling, wrapped in puff pastry and served with a dill hollandaise. After a tough battle, it was Dale who had to hand in his apron. Dale and I have become friends since the show and he has appeared on this blog a few times. He was edited to appear as somewhat of the villain but I know him to be a friendly and fun individual who carried himself like a champion throughout the competition. I think he should be very proud of himself and I wish him the best in his catering endeavours. 

In this week's episode, the remaining nine contestants participated in a mystery box challenge. In the mystery box this week was an exotic combination of taro, kimchi, sea urchin, durian fruit, yellow foot chanterelle mushrooms, cipollini onions, quinoa, mostarda, squab, monkfish (which we recently made on the blog), white miso, and pork belly. Until this episode aired I had never even heard of mostarda. It is a northern Italian condiment of candied fruit in a mustard syrup... interesting. lol

Personally I think I would have gone the Asian route with this challenge. Maybe something along the lines of monkfish with kimchi, crispy taro chips and a miso pan sauce. Pork belly would have been nice too, but trying to pull it off within the allotted sixty minutes would be a huge risk (the kind of risk that burned me in my audition dish, lol). 

Danielle ended up winning the mystery box challenge with her brown butter basted monkfish with a sea urchin velouté and taro crisps. As her prize, not only was she granted immunity from the elimination challenge but she got to choose from three Canadian desserts that the remaining contestants would need to deconstruct and reinvent in a creative way. The options were nanaimo bars, a blueberry grunt and butter tarts. Danielle chose the nanaimo bar. 

There were some interesting creations, some innovative and some that didn't make the mark. The judges felt that Tammara and Eric produced the best desserts, with her sweet black and white nanaimo bar inspired perogies and his chocolate mousse tart with coconut and chocolate crust. In a shocking twist, Pino, Carly and Marida found themselves in the bottom three. One of them had to be eliminated and the axe fell on my dear Carly. If you've been following the blog and my MasterChef recaps you'll know that Carly & I had a real connection on set and I was rooting for her to be Canada's first MasterChef. I think she was eliminated too soon. 

Since Carly was eliminated this week, she managed to free up some time in her schedule to fly back to Toronto from Vancouver to have an interview on the Marilyn Denis show and some other press related to MasterChef Canada. Since she was in town, we managed to have a get-together and it was the first time I'd seen her since we were in the competition together. That's what I meant by bittersweet earlier. It's sad to see her leave the competition but was amazing to catch up and have some fun. I'm grateful that we got to hang out again. Carly, all the best to you and all of your endeavours! You should be incredibly proud of your accomplishments and how you stayed true to yourself in a competition full of smoke and mirrors. 

Well guys, that's it for now. Stay tuned for more amazing recipes and techniques as well as MasterChef Canada updates.

Take care everyone,

B     

PS: I am still Carly's biggest fan!     

Mystery Ingredient Challenge - Winter 2013

Well guys, our third mystery ingredient challenge this weekend was quite successful. We were presented with seven ingredients this time. To make it more interesting, they decided to throw us a curve ball. Halfway through preparing the courses, we were given an additional eighth ingredient and we had to use a specific method while preparing it. As usual, the event was a lot of fun. There were a couple of setbacks though. More on that in a bit. My aunt and I ended up putting together some very crowd pleasing courses. Let's get right into it.

Our list of ingredients for this challenge was:

• Yogurt
• Red Split Lentils
• Panko Bread Crumbs
• Maple Syrup
• Walnuts
• Spinach 
• Eggplant

At first I thought this set of ingredients was our easiest yet, but there were a couple of concerns. Firstly, I don't like eggplant. It's something I didn't grow up eating ever and never grew a taste for as an adult. I do however quite like baba ganoush which is a Middle Eastern dip quite similar to hummus where roasted or grilled eggplant is used instead of chickpeas. I like it because it's creamy and garlicky and doesn't really taste like eggplant, lol. The other concern at this point was the panko bread crumbs. It was the one ingredient my aunt and I had the most trouble incorporating because it didn't seem to fit in at all with the other ingredients. We both decided to do a panko shrimp. 

My idea was to make an app with homemade walnut bread with baba ganoush, red split lentil hummus and tzatziki. Then we added some pickled olives, chilies and garlic with it for a Mediterranean meets Middle East course everyone could share. My aunt came up with the idea of adding crispy pita chips that people could use to dip as well. By doing that, we got to use four of the seven ingredients right off the bat (yogurt, red split lentils, walnuts and eggplant). My aunt suggested that we do a pork tenderloin for the main entrée which I agreed to, but we still didn't have a spot for our panko shrimp. I recommended scrapping the shrimp idea and using the panko to make schnitzel with the pork tenderloin (breaded, fried pork cutlets). My aunt already had shrimp on hand and we both liked the idea of panko shrimp so we decided not to do that schnitzel idea. Then I suggested that we serve the panko shrimp along with the pork tenderloin as a cheeky version of surf and turf. My aunt wanted to add it to the app but I didn't think it went with the Middle Eastern theme. In the end, we ended up adding a whole extra course just to incorporate the panko. lol!

So we added a second app course with an Asian theme. We served the panko shrimp with vegetarian salad rolls and seared scallops. Since we had three dips with our Midldle Eastern app, we decided to do three sauces for our Asian app: hoisin, sambal and an Asian vinaigrette. I've made Vietnamese salad rolls before on the blog which was the inspiration for their role in this course. We decided to omit the fried tofu in this version to benefit a couple of people in the group who don't like it. Hoisin is a sweet and salty Chinese sauce that is dark, thick and glorious. Sambal is a common Asian chili paste with a hint of sweetness within its fiery flavour. For the vinaigrette, I mixed soy sauce, rice vinegar, a little water, sesame oil and some finely chopped green onion.

Since we ended up with two apps (the first of which being kind of heavy) we decided to lighten the main entrée by serving a simple salad with the pork. For the tenderloin, we decided to stuff it with spinach, feta, figs and onions. For the salad we decided to combine spinach, candied walnuts, crispy bacon and shallots. To tie the salad in with the pork, we made a maple-balsamic dressing and split it in two parts. One part was used to dress the salad, the other was reduced on the stove into a sauce for the pork. 

At this point we had used all of our ingredients but we still had to incorporate one of them in a dessert course. We originally thought about making small individual tarts filled with yogurt and fresh fruit. After scanning the faces of our audience we decided to go for something a little more indulgent instead. So we made a custard tart and topped it with maple-cinnamon apples. 

 

We were happy with our menu and out of all the cook off challenges we've had so far, obtaining the groceries for this one was the easiest with the fewest stops and time spent gathering items. We thought this was going to be a walk through the park. Little did we realize that in one day we were going to make fresh bread from scratch, prepare three dips, turn pita bread into crispy chips, sear scallops, make salad rolls (which is easy but requires a lot of prep), bread and bake shrimp, make a vinaigrette, make a pâte brisée pastry for our pie, blind bake it, make a custard, finish baking the tart, butterfly the pork tenderloin, pound it out, make a stuffing, stuff the tenderloin, wrap in prosciutto, roast that, make a salad, candy walnuts, fry bacon (or pancetta to be more accurate) make a salad dressing, make a sauce, make an apple topping for the tart, plate everything and we still had an extra ingredient and method to incorporate. We took our simplest list of ingredients and overcomplicated everything. It took about ten hours to pull everything off and the oven was on for pretty much the entire time. It might be the most cooking I've ever done in one day in my life! 

Luckily, everything turned out to be successful, fun and well worth it in the end. The craziness of it all just made my aunt and I kind of slaphappy and had us laughing all day. Good memories for sure. All the standing and running around literally made us sore by the end of it. What an experience.

Well, let's start off with some photos! The walnut bread turned out great. I admit, the bread was mostly my aunt's work. I helped with some of the kneading and shaping but it was her recipe. Baking isn't something I do much but it is a lot of fun. I'm feeling rather inspired now to do some artisan bread making on the blog...

We made the tzatziki, red split lentil hummus and baba ganoush ourselves. Neither of us had ever made baba ganoush before so that was experimental. We had to play with it quite a bit until we were satisfied with the result. The tzatziki was great and the lentil hummus was my favourite of the three. 

   
The Asian canape course was also a big hit. It's all about having a variety of sauces. lol

Then it was time to get on with our pastry for the dessert and start on our main. It was around this time that we were presented with our curve ball ingredient...

Sweet potato! The added catch was that we had to use a piping bag in some way with the sweet potato. At first my thought was mashing the sweet potato and piping a design onto each plate. Then my aunt thought of doing a stuffed sweet potato. I loved the idea so we decided to incorporate that with our stuffed pork and salad dish. We baked the sweet potatoes then halved them lengthwise and scooped out the flesh. We puréed the flesh with a little maple syrup then added some caramelized onion and fresh chives. Our filling was done. My aunt had some professional piping bags that we could use but the only tips available were intended for icing so they were all too small and would not have allowed the bits of onion and chive through. So we had to go no tip and just cut a plain hole out of the tip of the bag. Unfortunately when we piped the mixture back into the potato skin it resembled something you might find at a dog park left by a careless dog owner... only orange. After we all had some hysterical laughter and maybe a couple of tears we decided to use a fork to alter the appearance, thus destroying any sign of it being piped. Oh well. You live and learn, right? 

  

The stuffed pork turned out amazing and completely made up for the sweet potato side. The sauce was awesome too. The only thing about the completed dish that I didn't care for was that it was sweet, on sweet, on sweet. There was just too much of it. But hey, this kind of snags are to be expected with the mystery ingredient challenges. 

Then we finished it all off with a comforting custard tart with a warm and buttery maple-cinnamon apple topping. 

It was great to put all this together, to see everybody and have such a good time doing it all. Since I last saw my aunt and uncle at Christmas time they got a new puppy, so I got to meet her for the first time. She is 15 weeks old. She's a half New Foundland and half Bernese mountain dog. She is a young puppy but already very big. She's going to be a very big girl when she's full grown. Her name is Keeva. Isn't she cute?

lol, I just had to throw that in there.

Well guys, I hope you enjoyed this post. I am hoping that we will get to have our summer cook off. My cousin (their daughter) is getting married this summer so there are a lot of other things going on. I hope we can make it work. If not, no worries. There will be lots of other fun stuff on the blog any way.

Sorry to wrap this up so briefly. Have a great week everybody!

B

Big Tings a Gwan!

Hey guys, I am very excited for this weekend because some family members and I are embarking on another semi-annual Mystery Ingredient Challenge. Our intention is to have one every winter and every summer. We meant to have our winter one last month but schedule conflicts made us postpone until this weekend. If you're no stranger to the blog then you will already be familiar with these. If not, allow me to break it down for you.

My aunt, who is a remarkable foodie, and myself create a menu and cook an appetizer, main and dessert for some of our family and friends. Each person participating (with the exception of my aunt and myself) choose one secret ingredient. No one else knows what the other has selected. My aunt and I are then presented with all of the ingredients and we have ten minutes to come up with the three course menu using all of the ingredients that were submitted. We can add whatever else we want but we must incorporate all of the submitted ingredients in at least one of the three courses. It's a lot of fun. We end up with some pretty creative dishes and have had to work with some curve balls but so far nothing has stumped us. 

This will be our third mystery ingredient challenge. Be sure to check out the result of our first two events:

Winter 2013 and Summer 2013

It's going to be awesome. Be sure to tune in next week to check out the ingredients we were assigned and what we came up with. This is our first event since my MasterChef Canada experience so I have a lot to prove. Everybody at the end of the meal always seem to say, "That was great but we made it too easy for them. Next time we need to make it harder for them". They are welcome to try as they might but they also have to keep in mind that they have to eat whatever we make. lol! So it can't be too crazy. If I may say so, I have one of if not the most adventurous palettes of the bunch of us so I'm pretty game for whatever they throw at us.

Wish me luck and see yo next week!

B