Valentine's

Have you ever had a love hate relationship? Firmly in the February Blaw's and I am caught in the middle of a bad love triangle. My love triad is with my clothes, food and The Cheese Boutique. The Cheese Boutique, obviously never got the memo regarding , rude staff, lack of service and selection that is the deriguer of retail shopping in Toronto. I love and hate this store all at the same time. If you are looking for cheese, come here. If you are looking for cheese selection, come here If you are looking for cheese education, come here. If you are looking for smug service people who don't care about what they do, don't come here because you won't find it. My love is also based on the fact that, if you are looking for some obscure hard to find ingredient, come here. I was in France, bought a mustard from guy who swore up and down it was made by his wife on a farm down the road, found it again at The Cheese Boutique. The problem is that things you never even knew you needed, wanted or sometimes even knew existed in Canada are also here. And here in lies the hate, they just follow you home. I went in earlier this week to buy Duck Fat. Simple, one ingredient right! ( I am making casoulet this weekend) I walked out with, spices, peppers, real French beans for the casolout, and two fabulous cheeses, the mustard Violet and a great French stick. I had forgotten what I had come for. Went again today to get the duck fat only. Got Duck Fat, Walnut Oil, more French beans......And crap they had Truffles...............They had truffles bigger then my fist. As 'the husband' walked through the door on Friday, he got a truffle for Valentines. Saturday we sauted, filet Mignon and served with a Pechement and Truffle reduction. Yum.

Roast Beast with Smirking Bastards

You know I give my mother a lot of guffaw, concerning cooking. A lot of it is well deserved. She is the 'Master' of well done. But she has always meant well and we never went hungry (She does make a killer 'apple crisp'). My mother did give me exposure to the city beyond my front door. I remember going to 'Chinatown' where we would buy blue and white 'rice bowls', rattan mats, sandalwood soap, slippers and all the exotic things that were not for us in the suburbs. I also remember snagging a size 4 raw silk Alfred Sung suit that I, and my friends wore for years. We would walk right by the hanging flattened Peking ducks along Spadina, ( avert your eyes girls) and be marshaled through the cafeteria at 'Shopsy's Deli' for lunch. Where we were instructed that we had to order apple juice to eat with our meal to conform to 'Jewish Dietary Laws' because we would not have been allowed to have milk in our tea. I don't remember anything remarkable about the smoked meat sandwiches, but I do remember the time when my sister Clare pointed out that they had a 'Pepsi' machine that we felt that we had been rooked into apple juice by our parents. Shopsy's is gone from Spadina and moved to a higher rent district and the days of a 'kosher deli' in the core of downtown have all but vanished. As an adult, I have discovered that I like my beef medium, which is something that I never had growing up. And I love asparagus, which is not that 'unaffordable' of a vegetable and I like it ' al dente' . That being said, you might be wondering what on earth a 'smirking bastard' is? Anyone who has read 'Acquired Tastes' by Peter Mayle might know. A smirking bastard is the waiter in a restaurant that sells asparagus 'by the inch' and 50$ lamb chops for lunch ( published in 1986 ). And as well it is a joke between the 'husband' and I, its what we call white asparagus, one of the ultimate in midwinter decadence (Truffles would be dipping into the long term savings plan). This is an adaption of an two LCBO recipes one, http://www.lcbo.com/lcbo-ear/RecipeController?action=recipe&language=1&recipeID=217&recipeType=1 and the other adapted for the oven from ' France, love at first sip' undated. The Roast Beast: Marinade 3 tbsp Grape or violet mustard ( or coarse Dijon) 2 tbsp soy sauce 1 tbsp dried Herbes de Provence 1 tbsp chopped garlic 1 tbsp olive oil freshly ground pepper one 2.5-lb beef fillet roast Sauce 6 tbsp cold butter, divided into 1 tbsp sections 1 cup thinly sliced onions ( two small) 1 tsp sugar 1/4 cup ruby port 1/4 cup white wine 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar 2 cups beef broth Salt and freshly ground pepper Combine marinade ingredients and brush over roast. Marinate at room temp for a couple of hours. Preheat oven to 450 degrees ( it really helps to have a super clean oven) . Place roast on rack over a roasting pan ( I wrap the pan in foil for easier clean up.) Bake for 40 minutes for medium . Remove from oven Place on board and let sit for 10 - 30 minutes. Meanwhile, you have popped the roast in, heat 2 tbsp butter in skillet on medium-high heat, reserving remaining butter. Add thinly sliced onions and saute until softened and slightly brown, about 3 minutes. Add sugar, cook 1 minute, add port, wine and balsamic vinegar. Reduce heat and cook for 10 minutes or until wine is reduced almost evaporated . Add broth and simmer 10 to 15 minutes or until reduced by half. Remove from heat and whisk in remaining butter piece by piece until sauce thickens. Smirking bastards: White asparagus Fleur de sel Steam asparagus, sprinkle with lovely crunchy 'fleur de sel' or sea salt. Serve beef thinly sliced with sauce on top , asparagus, green salad and potatoes if desired.

She is so cute!

I just had to share this with you all. This is my great niece on her first visit to the dentist. I think I want to go to this dentist ( although my current dentist is very nice, unhurtful and really cute). You get to dress up as the toothfairy and they take your picture, how great is that? Sure beats the sadistic dentist's, who drilled for gold, that I went to as a kid.

Tarragon Roast Chicken

Could it already be halfway through January? I have really been slack with my posts for my Blog during the last quarter of 2005. I could use the excuse that I was busy at work, relentless travel schedule, crunching numbers and burning the midnight oil to finish out the year on a corporate high. I was really busy, and I have only been to Vancouver, Barrie, Orillia, Bracebridge. Not necessarily glamorous and mostly not work related. I really never crunch numbers, unless eating cookies shaped as numbers or balling up the change from shopping and throwing it into the bottom of my purse instead of my wallet counts. I have been really busy at work running a product blitz, designing a new training program, National Sales Meetings and product presentations. But I have always found the time to be cooking something, it brings out my creativity..... And Santa ( aka 'the husband') gave me some truly wonderful cookbooks for Christmas. Also my sisters gave me a really great one from Vancouver called "La Regalade", by Alain Raye. But truthfully, I was just too lazy. I just slacked off. I just got back home from a week away from home. Monday through Thursday, I was at a national sales meeting away from my home but as a guest in my own city. It was really cool to be a tourist and tour guide on your home turf. But tonight I have a tiny tickle in the back of my throat and craving food from my own kitchen, and on the menu is Roast Chicken. Comfort food. This is just a basic roast chicken, I have made it with and without the Tarragon and with all sorts of other herbs like thyme or rosemary even with cilantro all of which taste great. I have also made it 3 at a time to feed a crowd. It is super easy, smells and tastes great, and your guests ( if they mostly eat out of boxes) will think you have reached a stage in your cooking akin to splitting the atom. Be creative have fun it will be our little secret. 1 chicken 2 small onions roughly chopped olive oil 3 - 5 sprigs fresh Tarragon 1 lemon, quartered seasalt ( or any other salt you may have on hand) 3 tablespoons of melted butter toasted slices of French bread Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove any giblets from chicken, rinse and pat dry with paper towels. Generously salt the inside of the bird. Roughly chop the Tarragon. Loosely stuff, the chicken with about 1/2 to 3/4 of the lemon and Tarragon. Place the onions in a roasting pan, drizzle with olive oil and place the chicken on top and any left over lemon. Brush with melted butter and place in a preheated oven for about 1 hour or until the juices run clear ( if you are doubling or tripling adjust the time accordingly). Remove chicken from the pan and rest for 15 minutes but keep warm. Drain excess fat off the top of the juices in the pan. I toast my French bread in a pan on the stove top as rough croutons with olive oil and a bit of garlic but in a pinch I guess you could just throw them into the regular toaster. Place the croutons on a platter, slice chicken and place on top. Pour the pan juices , onions and any blackened roasted lemons from outside of the bird over it. The crisp bread will soak up all the juicy sauce, yummy. Serve with Green Beans and a salad, if desired add some couscous as a extra side for a crowd.

House Warming

I like to say, with no modesty, that 'the husband' and I live on perhaps the best street in Toronto. When we moved here 6 years ago, as seasoned apartment dwellers, we were kind of stunned by the hospitality of our neighbour's. "Watch the house while you are away?” no problem. "Haul, two yards of limestone scree up the drive to the backyard?” I will get my shovel. "You are planning a garden?" Let me split my perennials. Steak Knives, Onions, Lemon's, Brown Sugar, Spices, Lawn Chairs, Power Washers, Tree trimmers, Recipes, Wine, Beer, Smoke's, Wet Vac's and tools of all sizes and descriptions....... have all gone back and forth from house to house. We have watched, 4 pregnancies, 1 death, 3 weddings, 1 divorce, 2 renovations, 2 job losses, 3 new careers, 1 missing person (actually a cat 'Buttons' who sadly never came back) 1 evacuation (ruptured gas pipe caused by one of the renovations) 1 fire (saved from catastrophe by my next door neighbour, who heard the smoke alarm from across the street and 3 doors up. With us broke into the house and put it out, I KID YOU NOT) Birthdays, anniversary's, graduations, and celebrations of all kinds too numerous to mention. Sadly, it was moving day yesterday for one of our neighbor's on our street. We have watched as this family grew from 2 to 4. The gradual progression of tiny premature infant, to fat chubby toddlers, to surprisingly smart young boys (never turn your back). Over cups of tea and glasses of wine there was always time for a 'good chat' about the street we live on and life in general. They have moved not far, too a bigger house, just north of here. To send them into the new house I am bringing up dinner for them tonight. On the Menu: Roast Chicken stuffed with Lemon and Thyme (Preheat oven at 400, Slice an onion into a roasting pan and mix with olive oil. Rinse chicken and salt the interior. Stuff Chicken with 1 quartered lemon, and a handful of fresh thyme. Place chicken on top of the onions. Brush with 1/4 cup of melted butter and pop into the oven for 1 hour or juices run clear. Green Beans (Boil green beans until tender crisp. In a pan crisp 3 slices of pancetta and one sliced onion. Place drained beans in for about two minutes more) Green salad French Bread Chocolate Chip Cookies ( Mum's Recipe) The new house is lovely, I hope they will be happy but, we will miss them. I wonder about the new family............. the painters truck showed up this morning at 8am and I have been sneaking peeks all morning. I hope they are nice.

Thanksgiving Turkey and Stuffing

I love holidays, and perhaps most of all Thanksgiving. I love it for the fact that you don't have to shop for any particular gifts or decorate in a particular way ( aka Christmas and Easter). There is no dreaded 'Thanksgiving office party'. There are no special, long and seemingly double church services ( aka Christmas and Easter). The food involves no raisins or candy peel, both of which I detest and are involved in Christmas Cake and Hot Cross Buns. The weather is pleasant with very little chance of snow, both a very real possibility with the C & E holidays. No dressing up, no itchy gift sweaters that you have to wear, or funny hats, or dreaded white shoes. No, as a matter of fact, you just have to show up and ready to eat. We eat our dinner on Sunday so that gives us a lazy Monday, good leftovers and a short work week. What a great Holiday! ( I also really like Boxing day, for much of the same reasons) I picked up a cookbook called 'Les recettes Perigourdines de Tante Celestine' recently in France. I think it could be actually a kind of French 'Little House on the Prairie' sort of cookbook. In it there is a recipe for 'Dinde farcie de Noel', or literally translated from my good friends at Babblefish as 'Turkey Stuffed with Christmas'. I was cooking a double turkey breast rather than the whole bird do I had to adapt it in a few places and here it is. 1 double turkey breast, ( its really just a turkey with all the parts cut off except for the breast) 1 or 2 thick slices of Pancetta ( or ham if you like) blanched 1 cup of pork stuffing 5-6 slices of double smoked bacon ( meat counter at Sobey's) 3 small onions 5 shallots 1 cup of port 2 eggs 1 cup of bread crumbs soaked in 1/2 cup of milk 1 jar of vacuum packed chestnuts ( 250 gm which I bought at Dominion of all places) 2 tablespoons of duck fat ( in a pinch you could use butter) two chicken livers sliced 3 or four truffles (I used Valette extra choice #1 which were from France, you can get French truffles in Canada or send a child to university for about the same price, just kidding) Soak the turkey breast overnight in the fridge in a pot of water with about 1/2 cup of salt. Soak the truffles and chicken liver in the port for 1 hour. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Chop the blanched pancetta, the onions and shallots. Heat 1 tablespoon of the duck fat in a pan and saute the onion, shallots and pancetta until translucent, about 15 minutes over medium heat. Add the pork stuffing, saute until cooked through. Add the chestnuts in the last 5 minutes and break them up a bit. Remove from heat Fish out the truffles from the port and carefully peel them into the frying pan, put the peeled truffles aside. Mix in the drained livers reserving the soaking liquid. Mix in the bread crumbs. Crack in the eggs and mix. Bring the turkey to room temperature, pat dry inside and out, salt. With the breast side down, mound in the stuffing, and cover with the bacon slices, fill the neck cavity with stuffing and either truss the bird with kitchen string or turkey pins or a combination of both. Flip the bird breast side up and place snug fitting roasting pan, don't worry if a bit of stuffing rolls out this is after all home cooked food. The bacon should act as a band-aid and keep the stuffing in. Thinly slice two of the truffles and pop under the skin ('the husband' , scarfed these up later, as he carved the turkey thinking that it was a special chef's treat, not so!). Liberally grease the skin with the remaining fat. Put the turkey into the preheated oven for 1/2 hour at 400 then reduce the heat to 375 until the juices run clear or the internal temp reaches 185 on a meat thermometer. Remove the bird from the oven and let rest tented for about 20 minutes to 1/2 hour. Drain any pan juices, the reserved port marinade, slice the 1 or 2 remaining truffles and reduce in a saucepan. Add turkey stock and thicken with a bit of butter and flour for a pan gravy if desired. I served with bread, greenbeans with 'Herb's de Provence', mashed potatoes, green salad with a shallot vinaigrette and cranberries. For desert was my adaption of Nigella Lawson's 'Massacre in a Snowstorm' (that is a whole blog in itself) . Today I lazed about eating leftovers and reading 'On the Rue Tatin' by Susan Loomis, dreaming of France. Inspired, I looked up houses for sale in France on the internet, 'the husband' is now ignoring me. Why? The ones I showed him and that we could afford are somewhere between, 'a fixer upper' and 'condemned'. Actually much closer to the latter. Is it my fault that 'the husband' is handy? He just needs to have a bit of faith, and cash! Bon Appetite and Happy Thanksgiving

Crap, Crap, Crap!

I could go on and on about how I loath the sign 'washrooms are for paying customers only'. I mean really what is the etiquette here? Do you order the coffee and then ask for the key? Because you would have to leave it at the counter to use the facilities. Do you ask for the key, use washroom and come back and order? And really, if you have to buy another drink it sort of defeats the purpose of finding a place with a washroom clean enough to use. I digress....... As a rule I hate every member of society that fines you for petty infractions. Like traffic police with 5 minutes over on the meter. I think tow truck drivers are vultures. I guess I am just having a bad day, I think it's Pizza night.

Mastering the Art of Julia Child

In the hunt for food this past week, I came home with a rabbit. Yup, I bagged that varmint in the meat cooler at the grocery store. Don't jump all over me about Thumper. It was just a cartoon and when was the last time you heard about "Mad Bunny Disease" or "Hare Flu"? I then deftly carved it up into pieces with my handy poultry shears (which ironically I sometimes search for uses for). Then I searched for a recipe..... And settled on 'Lapin au Saupiquet' or 'Rabbit Marinated in Vinegar and Herbs, and Stewed in Red Wine' from volume Two of Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child and Simone Beck. I inherited three Julia Child cookbooks from 'the husband's' family. My sister in law chucked them into a pile for me, Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume One and Two & Julia Child and Company. For good measure she also threw in 'La Rousse Gastronomique' and two massive enameled cast iron lidded casseroles for which cooking anything from Julia Child is a must. She might have been trying to tell me something, herself a very good cook. I started to marinate the rabbit on Friday night thinking, "How hard can this be as its just a stew?" Saturday in the 'Globe and Mail', as if a sign from God, was an article on Julie Powell. Julie Powell is the woman who decided to cook every recipe in the Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year and document it on her blog, http://blogs.salon.com/0001399/2002/08/25.html. Julie now has a book deal! The rest of Saturday morning I read excerpts from Julie's Blog and also checked out The American History Museum exhibit on Julia Child's kitchen on the web . It is a really great exhibit with all kinds of info. I read the history of Paul and Julia Child (I think they were spies?) . I admired her vintage Garland Range (It can hold two Turkeys). I was surprised to learn that Paul Child designed and picked the colours for the kitchen and reported these finding to 'the husband'. I felt as one with the J's and set about to work at around 5:30, 1. Large Bowl for the Marinade 2. Pot for Blanching the Bacon for Lardoons ( which I had forgotten and had to run back to the store) 3. Large frying pan for, onions and bacon, browning rabbit and then for reducing the marinade and wine ( Funny enough the wine I used was 'French Rabbit', I kid you not!) 4. Casserole for the Rabbit 5. Pot two for the Prunes. 6. Large measuring cup for stock 7. Tongs, slotted spoon and assorted spatulas. 8. Pot three for Mashed Potatoes 9. Potato ricer 10. Small frypan for the croutons By the time I had marinated, blanched, browned, tossed, boiled, simmered, stewed, riced and served the kitchen was a disaster and coming up on 9:00. The rabbit was beautiful served with croutons on mashed potatoes . Julia Child suggests sauted zucchini but 'the husband', who cleans up, appreciated one less pan to a green vegetable so it was green salad on the side. Later cuddled up as we drifted off to sleep, 'the husband' who designed and chose the colours for our kitchen asked, "Did Paul Child clean up after Julia's creations?' I said that he had and asked why. He countered, "He designed it so he would know where everything went back to on the pegboard walls after the big cleanup, smart guy". I think so too. Cooking Julia is hard work, the cleanup is harder but worth the benefits. My hat is off to Julie Powell.

Italian (with a capital I) Plums

I put the capital in for all of you who are watching The Apprentice. (What the heck were they thinking, IT LOOKED BETTER??) I am in a huge denial after returning to Canada from France. (note the capitals) Firstly, grocery stores have no fresh food from local markets. Secondly, my usual grocery store Sobey's is on strike, and we do not cross picket lines if all avoidable (Thank God, the LCBO was able to reach an agreement earlier this year). Thirdly, the wonderful food that I made notes on in France, seems unattainable. (My cooking has declined into cardboard tasting facsimiles. I have two jars of truffles on the mantel which I am to afraid to cook with, mocking me) So all this week I was thinking about nice and easy comfort food. I thought of my father who was, in my mind a great and fearless cook. With him I think of 'Sausages with Stewed Tomatoes and Mashed Potatoes' which was to me the height of gastronomic satisfaction as a child and it was his favorite comfort food. Kiebasa, ditto. This week I made one of his signatures, Billy's Fried Potatoes. Canned potatoes, (yes really) chopped green onion, and butter - fried until golden and crisp. I make it once in a while. I know its cheesy but its quick and easy, 'the husband' loves it and so do I. My ultimate comfort food is associated with my Mother, 'Poached Egg on Toast'. Nobody, I mean Nobody, can make it like her. After my car accident last year, she came right over and whipped it up for me served with a nice cup of tea. I love my Mom! This week I also made another of my Mothers favorite comfort foods, Stewed Plums. Sweet, bright red and juicy, they could to some look like a science experiment gone off, but trust me on this one. You can eat them warm or at room temperature by themselves with a slice of blue cheese on the side, or over Icecream or Vanilla Yogurt. Refridgerate the leftovers and serve for breakfast over granola with yogurt. YUMMY and good for you, just ask my Mom! Stewed Plums 10-12 Italian Prune Plums (the purple oval ones, the more ripe the better) water 1/4 cup of sugar (aprox) Zest of Lemon ( optional) You can pit the Plums, but I don't and my mother never did (much to the chagrin of 'the husband' who I forgot to tell, but he still has all his teeth) Place the plums in a pot. Cover 1/2 to 3/4 up the plums with water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer about 1/2 hour until soft. Sprinkle in zest and sugar to taste. Stir to break the plums and let cool.

Back in the land of Reality, and bad food

Are there really still places in France which it seems as though time has not touched? Where vintage "Citroen" cars still amble through the heart of town? Where a walk down to the market with a basket on a Saturday morning is the norm? Where houses have charming shutters and 'faux bois' fences that would make Martha Stewart envious. Where bread and pastries are displayed in shop windows as jewels, not to mention the tastes. Where the words "line cook" do not exist? Where you are truly a guest in a restaurant and are made to feel as such? Yes! And this gem of a place is "Le Bugue", in the heart of the 'Perigord Noir'. This is the land of Walnuts, Chestnuts, Foie Gras, Truffles, Duck, Pork and Fish not to mention the other staples that no self respecting 'Frenchman' would live without- Cheese, Wine and Bread. Too many to taste - and describe! We sampled 4 restaurants in the town on our week stay. The first the 'Velo Rouge' attached to our lovely hotel. The second the '3 A's' which is run by a charming husband and wife team. The third is 'L'abreuvoir' and the fourth was, 'Le Pha', (the local Asian restaurant which was you guessed, packed with locals go figure). All excellent in their own way, each charming, and most importantly with excellent food and service. Too much to describe in one post. And currently too "crazy in the kitchen" as of yet share a recipe. I am currently perfecting two dishes. First my "Perigourdines Roast Chicken" and secondly my " Poulet Tourte". I hope to share them soon. This does lead me to a question of what your most favorable travel experience meal, and have you tried to recreate it?