Canadian Living KitchenAid 2007 Cook of the Year Contest

Calling all Chef wannabes (me included)! This is our chance to make our mark on the cooking world!

Last years winner, Dan Roberts took the top honour for home cooks in Canada: He was named the Canadian Living Cook of the Year with his winning recipe: Stuffed Beef Tenderloin with Rösti Potatoes.

Here's how it works:

You are given a list of ingredients. You then get some wildcard ingredients to add to the list (I'm clearly adding some Domaine Pinnacle Ice Cider to the list- food judges are happier when their tipsy). You then make a fabulous original recipe and submit it. The Canadian Living Test Kitchen will choose the top 16 recipes from across Canada. From these, we'll select four finalists, who will fly to Toronto to compete in a cook-off in The Canadian Living Test Kitchen on June 22, where the Cook of the Year will be chosen by a panel of food professionals.

The winners will get to see their photos and recipes published in an upcoming issue of Canadian Living, which could be even cooler than the grand prize, a bunch of kitchenAid appliances.

For more info please check out www.canadianliving.com

PS: My buddy Hubba (see pic of her below in her office) says she's gonna win. I have $10 in my pocket that says that I get further in the competition than she does. (Okay, truth be told, it was Hubba that told me about the contest so if any of us win we owe her a cut. Its like if someone buys you a coffee from Timmy's during roll-up-the-rim time and you win a donut- you owe that person a bite.)

Great Quote from E.B. White

Hey, this completely applies to my view of cooking. I thought you'd enjoy it as much as I do.

"I get up every morning determined to both change the world and have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning my day difficult." - E.B. White

Perch, the other white fish

So, B went to the grocery store on the weekend and decided to randomly ask the fish guy what was on sale. Two things in this story are bizarre 1) Who on earth talks to the fish guy? 2) Why would you ask what's on sale? It probably means that its been sitting there for a few days.

Anyway, the fish guy says that the Perch is on sale. B gives him this horrible look, like she's just smelled my hockey bag. The fish guy responds that perch is good...really! So he gives her a recipe and she buys the fish. We made it the other night and it was great. Here's the recipe

Ingredients
1 Filet of perch
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp olive oil
1 shallot (not a green onion but a french shallot)
1/4-1/2 cup white wine

Directions

• Warm a skillet on medium-high heat. Add the butter and olive oil. Add the perch and brown on 1 side (about 3 minutes, not more than 5).
• Turn the perch over to brown the other side. Add the wine and shallots and cook for another 3-5 minutes until cooked through. The wine, butter, shallots and olive oil turns into a great sauce so don't forget to serve it over the perch.

Honestly, this is a good recipe even if you're not a big fish eater. Try it, I know you'll like it.

Quebec Pea Soup

I got this recipe from A Taste of Quebec by Julian Armstrong which I've referenced before. It is a great Quebecois cookbook.

This recipe is for Pea Soup, Beauce Style but it is very similar to what they serve at the Cabane à Sucre.

Ingredients
2 cups dried white pea beans
2 tbsp. butter
1/2 cup chopped onion
1/4 cup chopped leek, white part only
1/4 cup smoked ham, plus ham bone
1/2 lb. salt pork
1 clove garlic
2 L cold water

Directions

• Soak peas for at least 8 hours or overnight in water to cover; drain.
• Heat butter in a large heavy hot and saute onion and leek just until tender.
• Add peas, ham, salt pork (in one piece), garlic, water and salted herbs. Bringquickly to a boil, lower heat, partly cover, and cook gently for 2-3 hours oruntil peas are tender.
• Stir occasionally during cooking, adding more water if necessary.
• Remove salt pork, cut in small pieces, then return to soup and serve warm .

Feast at the Sugar Shack

It's that time of year again, the nights are still cold with temperatures below freezing and the day is warmer. These are the perfect conditions for making maple syrup. In Quebec this is celebrated with great feasts and some good, down-home partying. This weekend my fiancé and I along with some family took a visit to the sugar shack, otherwise known as "La Cabane à Sucre".


Our visit to the Cabane à Sucre started with the traditional feast. This generally includes Quebecois Pea Soup, scrambled eggs, ham, sausage, bacon, oreille de Crisse (you can always count on wikipedia for a decent definition), baked beans, cretons and of course- all the real maple syrup you can eat, which you pour over everything. This might sound like breakfast, and essentially it is, but there's always dessert afterwards. At le Sous-Bois where we went this year dessert is buffet style and includes homemade donuts, pouding chomeur, pancakes, maple-sugar pie and grand-pères (essentially baked dough in maple syrup). Of course all of these items are perfect vehicles for more maple syrup. Below is a picture of the food from their website. I didn't take any pictures because there's no better way to destroy a camera than getting maple syrup all over it.







So, once you're done with this huge feast you go outside for Tir. This is roughly translated to maple taffy. Essentially what they do is heat up the maple syrup to further reduce it and then pour it on fresh snow. It hardens to a taffy-like consistency. You then roll it onto a popsicle stick and enjoy. It is perhaps the best reason for going to a cabane à sucre. So whatever you do, make sure the Cabane you visit has "tir a volonté" (all you can eat maple taffy).

BBQ for Beginners- Pulled Pork

Okay, it’s fine to be a beginner. Everyone needs to start somewhere. This is a warm-up BBQ recipe for those that want to get into BBQ and for those that are in the north where its still a little too cold to fire up the smoker. I applaud you, but hope that you realize what you are getting yourself into. Okay, I don't have either of these recipes written down but I know them by heart. So here goes;

Pulled Pork
1- pork shoulder roast (1.5-3 Kg)
Your fave dry rub (I have included a copy of the dry rub from a Montreal BBQ restaurant)
Your fave BBQ sauce, I recommend making your own or maybe buying the chipotle Beer BBQ sauce from President's choice at Loblaws.
some white vinegar (optional)

Instructions
The key to pulled pork is to cook is on a low temperature for a long time. If you are doing this on a smoker it will take easily 8 hours. If you are doing this in an oven, it will take 5-6 hours depending on the size and thickness of the roast.
1- Score the tough outer skin of the roast but don't remove it until after cooking.
2- Preheat oven to 250 degrees F (yes, this isn't very hot)
3- Apply the rub liberally to the roast and allow to rest until the roast is glistening (about 15 minutes).
4- Cook the roast at 250 for a long, long time, until the meat begins to fall apart. During the cooking (about every hour) you can inject or mop with a mixture of vinegar and dry rub. This should help to marinade and breakdown the meat. It is not essential.
5- Once the roast is falling apart remove from the oven and rip/shred/tear/cut the meat into small pieces.
6- There are varying ideas on how much sauce to use. Sauce is a great way to cover up mistakes and also makes it fun because everyone gets covered in sauce. So add as much or as little as you want. Some people put the meat and the sauce in a foil tray on the BBQ to keep it warm. Important to note, you only add sauce to the meat once it is removed from the oven.

Pulled pork is generally served in a bun (perhaps a kaiser is best) with some cole slaw on it or beside it. Another great side dish is corn on the cob, if it’s in season. You could also do a carrot salad or a pasta salad. Serve with a good Canadian beer like Moosehead and lots of napkins. I suggest having some hot sauce on the side for those who like it hot.

Braised Mojito Pork Shoulder

This recipe kicks off Stu's Cooking Club's Salute to Pork! This tasty little pork with some latino influences will give you something to chew on over the weekend. I got the recipe from Rene Rodriguez from the old food network show, Cook like a chef.

Ingredients
5 lb. bone-in pork, shoulder, skinless with some fat
1 bunch fresh cilantro
2 cups orange juice
1 cup juice of lime
1 cup canola oil
1/2 cup chipotle chili
2 Bay Leaf, crushed
5 cloves of garlic
1 tbsp coarse salt
1 tbsp coriander, seeds
1 tbsp ground toasted cumin, seeds
1 tbsp crushed black peppercorns

For the Mojito (any recipe with a mojito is a good one)
2 cups orange juice
2 tbsp minced garlic
1/2 cup canola oil
1 cup minced shallot
1 jalapeno, diced, seeded
6 tbsp juice of lime
1/2 tsp coarse salt
peanut oil, for frying

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Combine all the ingredients except the pork shoulder in a food processor and mix for 2 minutes, until well combined.
3. Place the pork shoulder in a large enough bag to hold it, then add the marinade and close the bag with a twist tie. Wrap it in another bag. Transfer the pork to a bowl large enough to hold the bag and marinate it in the fridge for 2 days, turning the bag occasionally to make sure the marinade covers the pork.
4. When you are ready to cook, preheat the oven and remove the pork from the bag. Transfer it to a roasting pan, fat side up, add 3 cups of water and pour the marinade on top of pork. Cover it with foil and cook for 1 ½ hours then turn the pork fat-side down and cook for another 1 ½ hours or until the meat is almost falling of the bone.
5. Increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and discard the foil. Cook the pork for a further ½ hour fat side up until brown.
6. Remove the pork from the oven and let it sit for a few minutes. Test it with a meat thermometer in thickest part of pork, not touching bone, until the temperature reads170 degrees Fahrenheit.
7. Set the pork aside to cool, then pull the meat from the bone with your fingers.

For the Mojito
1. Mix together all the ingredients for the mojito. Then, heat 3 tablespoons of peanut oil in a frying pan and add 4 cups of pulled pork pieces and fry a few minutes until crisp on edges. Add ½ a cup of the mojito and cook for a few minutes until the liquid has evaporated, season with chopped cilantro salt and pepper and serve on a bed of salad with sour cream.

The Other White Meat

The Quebec pork industry is in trouble. (I can hear the shrieks of terror from wherever you’re reading this) To pin the tail on the pig, it's the demand for Quebec pork which has fallen. Don't worry, we still have lots of healthy pigs and healthy Quebecers to produce them. The chop of the issue is that we’re having problems exporting our pork because the Canadian dollar has gone up meaning that foreigners have to fork-over more dough to buy our pork. Additionally, there are low cost producers that are cutting the pork belly out of the price (yes, this is happening in almost every manufacturing sector). Quebec exports 45% ($1.06 billion) of its pork production meaning that it is a very big part of the pig that is at stake here (yummm, Steak).

What’s the answer? Not sure, probably a combination of things including increased efficiencies in our production plants allowing us to produce the same quality at a cheaper price. It has meant decreased wages at different plants around the province. But we can also do our part by enjoying the other white meat.

So what does this have to do with cooking?
I’m just trying to do my bit as a good citizen that cares about his pig brothers and pig sisters so for the next week I’ll post a number of pork recipes. The truth is that pork is delicious, and I’m not just talking about bacon or sausages. Not only that, pork can be very healthy as well.

So have a good week, and get ready to eat some pork.

The Quebec Pork Industry at a Glance (info from La Presse Saturday March 3rd)
- There are 4111 pork producers in Quebec
- 28,000 direct and indirect jobs (that's a lot for one province)
- $2.7 billion industry

Tortilla Soup

I was invited over to a friend's place for a Mexican themed night a few weeks ago. One of the problem's with Mexican night is to find interesting things that are different than what you generally get; tacos, fajitas, Quesadillas, etc. I've found a great option that is delicious and out of the ordinary.

My friend Laurie taught high school for two years in Mexico and made an amazing Tortilla Soup that she had picked up from the locals. Strangely enough, there's also a recipe for Tortilla Soup in the LCBO magazine this month but I prefer my Laurie’s recipe which you will find below. The soup is fabulous and certainly a departure from the ordinary. Use it to spice up your next Mexican Fiesta.

Ingredients
1 dried ancho chili de-seeded
1 tablespoon corn oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
4 tomatoes, chopped
1.5 liters chicken or vegetable broth
Yellow or white plain tortilla chips
Salt and pepper
4 limes halved
2 avocados
110g feta cheese (Crodner coudn’t find the cheese they used in Mexico so used this as a substitute.)
110g sour cream
Half bunch fresh coriander finely chopped


Directions
1- Soak chili in 125ml boiling water for 5 minutes or until soft. Remove chili and chop finely. Reserve the water for your stock.
2- Heat the oil in a saucepan. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes and chili and cook 5 minutes more. Put the mixture into a blender. Add 2 tablespoons of broth and blend until smooth. Return to the pan and add the remainder of the stock. Bring to a boil, and then simmer for twenty minutes. Season to taste.
3- Serve immediately in individual bowls with a wedge of lime to accompany each serving. Garnish with avocado, feta, sour cream, coriander and a squeeze of lime juice to taste.

**Laurie’s notes:
- If you can find an ancho chili please let me know. I experiment but usually use jalapeno.
- I don’t pour into a blender; I have a hand mixer and just blend it in the pot.


Thanks for the recipe Laurie!

Valentine’s Day Meal Ideas

A lot of people have been asking my opinion on what to cook for Valentine’s Day. My advice falls into a couple of different categories you’ll find below. But one thing is certain; it’s Valentine’s day- a good opportunity to do something special for your loved one. Any night of the year can be pizza and a movie night; I think you should do something special.

• Recreate a special meal. One our first date I cooked dinner for my Fiancé. It was a write-off, I substituted dried parsley for fresh and the pasta turned out to be a crunchy mess. I had been thinking for quite some time now that I need to re-create the meal (albeit with fresh parsley). This is a good Valentine’s Day idea because it will show your significant other that you remember important things about the relationship, hence that you care about the relationship. Important note, there is a risk factor here- if you mistakenly make the meal that you made for another girl it might not be good. I’m probably going to re-create the meal from the night I proposed. She has been craving Osso Bucco for a few weeks so I know she’ll love it.
• Finger food. There is something sensual about watching someone eat with their hands and lick their fingers. So try a menu that you can eat with your hands. Sushi might work well. Lots of appetizers like Phyllo Coureur des Bois, Bruschetta, cheese & pâté with crackers, dumplings, stuffed mushroom caps. Chicken wings aren’t very romantic but any guy would thank you. There’s also lots of finger licking going on with chicken wings, or ribs for that matter. Think about pairing it with a nice bottle of wine. For dessert I would suggest fresh strawberries. There are a few different things you could do with strawberries: you could dip them in nutella and serve them with Port, you could dip them in plain yogurt and then brown sugar or you could just dip them in chocolate for a classic Valentine’s Day treat.
• Take your time and make it a long night. Valentine’s Day is an occasion to take time with your loved one, a long time to really enjoy each other’s company. There are a number of long meals that really let you relax and enjoy. I suggest either a fondue or a raclette. Make sure to have more than 1 bottle of wine, because in my experience you’ll probably need them.

If you have other ideas feel free to share them in the comments. I’d love to hear what works for you. Whatever you do, make it special and tell those close to you how important they are and how much they mean to you. Happy Valentine’s Day.

Half-Point Chocolate Chip Cookies

I got this recipe from Weight Watchers since I'm on the plan. They are very satisfying and won't bust your point count for the day. If you're not on Weight Watchers, this means that they're low fat and low cal. That being said, you're not supposed to eat the whole entire batch.

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp butter, softened
2 tsp canola oil
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp table salt
1 large egg white(s)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips, about 1/2 cup
1/4 tsp baking soda

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
2. Cream together butter, oil and brown sugar. Add vanilla, salt and egg white, and mix together thoroughly.
3. Mix together flour and baking soda. Add chocolate chips and stir to distribute evenly.
4. Try not to eat all the batter before baking the cookies.
5. Drop rounded half-teaspoons of dough onto a nonstick baking sheet. Bake cookies for 4 to 6 minutes, then cool on a wire rack. They're so delicious that I doubt you'll be able to cool them for that long before diving in.

Yields 2 cookies per serving (yes, that's 1 point for two cookies! Yeah!!) .

My Romance with Smoked Meat

Its been a few days of hectic eating! I think I've gained 5 pounds or more. Yesterday I rekindled my romance with smoked meat when I had a Jumbo at Moe's. It was delightful. If you've never had real smoked meat before, you're missing out on one of life's great pleasures.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Chicken Cordon Bleu

This is a classic recipe that I’m sure you’ve tried before. But if you’re like me its been years since you had it last. While the classic filling is ham and swiss cheese, this becomes even more interesting if you change the meat and cheese. For example last time we used grison and monterey jack. I would also suggest using the combination from Phyllo Coureur des Bois, gouda and prosciutto. You could give a little bit of an Italian twist by filling the chicken with provolone and capicollo.

Ingredients
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (1 per person)
Slices of swiss cheese or another cheese of your choice (enough slices to cover each chicken breast)
Slices of ham or another meat (enough to cover each chicken breast)
Flour
Paprika
Wine (optional)
Chicken stock (optional)
Cream (optional)

Required Equipment
Cutting board
Chef’s knife
Frying pan
Heat source (I would completely be impressed if you made this over an open fire, but I suggest using stove top and an oven)

Directions
Pour yourself a glass of wine and roll up your sleeves. I think this goes nicely with a chardonnay but if you’re using stronger cheese than Swiss and stronger meat than ham you might be able to get away with a light-bodied red wine. Although if you’re looking for an excuse to drink rosé, this would be it.

Remove filets from chicken (with a knife unless you just want to rip them off with your hands, this is why your sleeves are rolled up) and save them for another recipe. Consider making Buffalo chicken strips with them, or perhaps dumplings. Butterfly each chicken breast by placing the chicken on a cutting board and slicing horizontally away from you through the thickest part of the breast. You’ll be left with a large thin piece of chicken breast.
Lay a large slice of cheese on the breast and then put the ham (or other meat) on top. Roll the breast leaving the meat and cheese in the middle. Hold the breast closed with tooth picks. I suggest not using colored tooth picks, have you ever seen Bridget Jones Diary when she uses green kitchen twine to hold a bouquet garnis in her soup? Green toothpicks will bleed green coloring into your chicken- which I suppose is okay on St Patrick’s day.

Sprinkle flour and paprika on a plate or a piece of wax paper. Roll the chicken breast in the flour and paprika until coated. If you want to be more traditional, instead of coating in flour you can dip the chicken in some beaten egg and then cover with bread crumbs.


In a hot pan heat some oil and then add the chicken and brown on all sides. Remove from pan and bake in a 350 degree oven until cooked. Meanwhile you can deglaze the pan that the chicken was cooking in with ½ cup white wine (if you haven’t already finished the bottle) and some chicken stock to create a sauce. If you would like the sauce a little thicker, add some cream and then reduce to the desired consistency.

To serve you can either give each of your guests an entire breast, otherwise you can slice and give everyone a few medallions, which looks pretty attractive.

Winter Travel: Canadian Culinary Hot Spots

While surfing foodtv.ca earlier today I came across a great article titled Winter Travel: Canadian Culinary Hot Spots. The article lists some of the great cuisine that each province is known for. Indeed there are great things to eat from coast to coast.

The reason I am blogging about this article is that too often we don't appreciate what's around us. There are so many local ingredients and delicacies that we need to explore. I applaud the author for her attempt to educate us about our culinary surroundings. I challenge each and every one of you to try something from the lists that you haven't tried before.

Great weekend of cooking

It's Monday morning and I am refreshed because I had a fabulous cooking weekend. It all started off with a great meal on Friday night. B and I made classic Chicken Cordon Bleu and then made it with a twist by changing the ham for grison and the Swiss cheese for Monterey jack. Needless to say, it makes for an even more interesting meal. It’s also really easy to do so I suggest you try it.

Saturday night we were hosting B’s family for her Mom’s birthday dinner. We decided to make one of our new favorites roasted leg of lamb. It was a big hit! One person at the table commented that it was the best lamb he had ever had. We served the lamb with some roasted potatoes, steamed green beans and a simple green salad. We opted for a chocolate fondue instead of a birthday cake. If you haven’t had chocolate fondue you are missing one of life’s great pleasures. I’ll try to blog that one in the next few days as well.

The weekend finished off with tacos on Sunday night. Tacos are another one of our faves that is just so easy to do, has lots of veggies in it and helps clean out the fridge because almost anything can go into a taco and be delicious.

Phabulous Phyllo Gouda Appetizer

This was my greatest find of the Christmas season and I know you’ll love it as much as I do. Guests are always impressed by this appetizer and it is very easy to do. I got the inspiration for this recipe Phyllo Coureur des Bois from a book called A Taste of Quebec by Julian Armstrong. Although the recipe suggests a larger serving size I prefer as a bite-sized appetizer.

It is named after a cheese produced by the Fromagerie Bergeron called Coureur des Bois which is a gouda cheese infused with cumin. The recipe below uses regular gouda and cumin because I couldn’t find any of the cheese from Fromagerie Bergeron. Here's a picture of them just before I put them in the oven. Unfortunately there's no after picture because they never last long enough to take out the camera.

Ingredients
4-5 slices of prosciutto
6 ounces of gouda cheese
1 tsp ground cumin
8-10 sheets of phyllo pastry
2 tbsp melted butter

Directions
Follow directions provided on package for working with phyllo pastry (you can’t work with it when frozen). Don’t remove it from wrapping yet as it will dry out if left out too long.

Cut gouda into 1 inch square pieces.

Sprinkle cumin over gouda and toss to have even coverage.

Tear prosciutto into pieces and then wrap the pieces around the squares of gouda. Pieces of prosciutto should be just large enough to wrap around the cheese.

Once all the pieces of gouda have been wrapped with prosciutto you can start working with the phyllo pastry.

Cut the phyllo pastry sheets in 4 equal squares. Brush each square with melted butter. Place the prosciutto and gouda towards the bottom of the square of phyllo fold it over the gouda once then fold in the sides of the phyllo and then finish folding until you have a mini cigar. Brush the top with melted butter. Repeat with all the pieces of gouda.

At this point you can put these in the fridge until you are ready to bake them. They should be baked at 375 F for 7-10 minutes until the phyllo pastry packages are golden brown. Enjoy immediately!