the other red meat?

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Pretty much everyone has heard the ad campaigns positioning pork as "the other white meat" - from my personal perspective, a dry, nasty alternative to chicken (he - sorry, not really a pork fan here....I always equate pork chops and the like to hard, dry protein pucks that must be endured). And yes, pork fans, you are welcome to try to convert me with any recipes you might have to share...

So to say I'm leery of 'alternative' animal proteins is more than fair. But that said, I've also made no secret of the fact that I'm super leery of most modern farming practices. In fact, they make me sick. Really, really sick (some fun education material here: Toxin by Robin Cook, a novel I read at the tender and impressionable age of 18...it turned me off almost all meat for a couple of years, so it's not for the weak of heart; for a little less time investment, you could watch Fast Food Nation, a somewhat diluted look at the farm in terms of factory, and of course, there is always the fabulous (and only five minute) Meatrix exploring the vast wrongdoings of industrial agriculture).

All that to say that it's a huge breath of fresh air when there is a local farmer doing something a little different...something that is humane, environmentally sustainable and healthier. How can you go wrong?

And what is this magic meat?

It's elk. Not too far from where I live is a fabulous elk ranch, hidden away admist trees and forest, where you'll find naturally-raised, grass-fed animals. I'm not going to go too much more into the details of the elk themselves, as that's the topic for this week's FoodTV post (will post link when it's posted), but suffice to say, this is a great alternative to beef.

This wasn't my first encounter with elk. I actually met a few of the rather large beasts a couple of years ago at Parc Omega. In fact, there's even photographic proof of this past encounter. First, this rather ginormous creature ambled up to our car (which barely even made it into the park in the first place, given the hills/snow/ice combo) and smeared his nose ALL OVER THE WINDOW and completely and totally freaked me out because of his utter hugeness...



Yep, that's me on the right, jaw agape and slightly panicked. Anyway, then this monstrous creature (okay, so he seemed relatively friendly, but he was GIGANTIC, PEOPLE) ambled away, showing us his better (more tender?) side...



BAHAHAHA. Anyway, that was my past acquaintaince with elk. I'd definitely never eaten it and was more than a little terrified of it. I'm a very glad to say that it was a wholly positive experience for all involved (except, perhaps, the, uh...elk) and that I would definitely recommend everyone try it. The ranchers, Fay and Thom, are lovely people who can be found weekly at both the Carp and Lansdowne Farmers' markets. So what are you waiting for...go find them! It's tasty and even I, who really am not interested in game-y meats, really enjoy it.

I had hubs grill the elk and I served it on a bed of greens with grilled curry-glazed vegetables. It was fabulous - a perfect balance of tang and sweet, with the rich flavour of grilled meat. This was an awesome dinner for a Sunday night. :)

Maple Balsamic Elk Salad with Curry-Glazed Vegetables

2 6-oz elk top sirloin (you could subsitute beef, but you should definitely try to find yourself some elk!)

Grill elk to medium-rare (2-3 minutes per side) and let rest for 5-10 minutes.


Vegetables
1 red onion
1 yellow pepper
1 zucchini
1 tomato
2 T balsamic vinegar
1 T olive oil
1 T indian curry paste (I used vindaloo)
4 skewers

1. Cut vegetables very coarsely (into sizes you'd want to put on a skewer!).


2. In a small bowl, combine oil, vinegar and curry paste.


3. Thread veggies onto skewer.


4. Brush with glaze and grill to desired doneness. (you can continue to baste them as they cook - it will be even yummier). The balsamic vinegar imparts a nice tangy sweetness.

Salad
lettuce
2 T balsamic vinegar
2 T olive oil
2 T maple syrup
2 T dijon mustard
salt, pepper

1. Wash, dry and chop lettuce.
2. Combine vinegar, oil, maple syrup and mustard.


3.Taste the dressing and adjust if it's not to your liking (if it's too sweet, add either some white vinegar or more mustard, if it's too acidic, add a little more oil).

To serve:
1. Dress plate with lettuce. Arrange veggies on top. Top with slices of grilled elk and drizzle vinaigrette over top. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm......this was a wonderful, and slightly indulgent-feeling meal. A great match with a bold red wine.

cast iron is the way to go

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Despite owning several teflon pans, I will freely admit that this material kinda scares me. It flakes off after a short-ish amount of time and I can't imagine that ingesting those little bits is in any way, shape or form, good for me.

I finally bought myself a cast iron pan a couple of months ago (broke it in on my tarte tatin!) and it seemed the logical choice to bring on our camping expedition.

Not having had our fill of red meat the night before, we opted for a second steak meal - not filet mignon this time though.....just a sirloin medallion, which hubs grilled.

I used the handy cast iron pan to grill peppers, onion and garlic to add to provolone and make a sort of cheese steak sandwich, which we feasted on out in the snow.

There isn't really much of a recipe for this - it's just as a simple as peppers, butter, onion, garlic and pepper, and steak seasoning for the steak. Yummy!



Yum. Clearly, we don't like out steak to be well done.

Breakfast was equally yummy.........back bacon (or Canadian bacon, as it's known in the states), free range eggs, leftover potatoes as hashbrowns, fresh melon and blackberries, orange juice and yummy, yummy coffee. Making coffee while camping can be a little bit of a challenge for those of us accustomed to an electric coffee maker.....I used to depend on a melitta drip filter for camp coffee......but a couple of unfortunate clumsy incidents led me to believe that really wasn't the best idea....so now I've brought my melitta to work (because that's clearly a better idea...hahahaha). Anyway, for Christmas, we got a bodum-esque coffee maker and it's great for camping. Love it.



The morning light did very strange things to the steam coming off the coffee.....you could actually see all the little particles. I was transfixed, so hubs started snapping away.....



Coffee is very important for camping.

return to ancestral roots

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I apologize for the dearth in posting lately - I was far away in the wilds of Algonquin Park celebrating my first wedding anniversary with hubs. In a return to ancestral roots, we celebrated the anniversary of our wintry wedding in classic Canadian style.....camping!

It's been a great year and we COMPLETELY and totally lucked out with our weather - at a balmy -3C during the day, we were practically sunbathing.

Granted, the fact that it went down to -20C at night was a little less exciting, and I was even less stoked to find out they decided to perform "maintenance" on the only running water in the place, and hence took away my nice warm, flushy toilets and left me to deal with a cold yucky (and oh so ickily-named) 'vault' toilet. A vault, eh?

Technically, I should be at work today and not writing this (especially as I only worked one day this week....), but I awoke to the sound of ice pellets grinding down my windows in gale-force winds and decided that I just really really REALLY could not stomach making the the 10-minute trek to the bus stop, only to wait fruitlessly in the blizzard and never have the blasted bus show (rule of thumb - if it's nice out, the bus will show, if it sucks, well, it sucks to be you because you are OUT in the cold).

SO I'm at home, still in my jammies. I did do some work, but as I'm not really going to call this 'working from home' I thought I would blog about my nice wintry trip. Of course, I'm a bit of a knob when it comes to packing, so I forgot the camera battery charger at home....pics are limited and of extremely mediocre quality.....one flourescent tube really does NOT make for ideal photography.......

Anyway.....we arrived on Sunday the 25th (our anniversary!) and celebrated in style with filet mignon, peppercorn sauce, potatoes over the fire and a robust yummy bordeaux.

For the steak, it was simply seasoned with montreal steak spice and cooked to perfection over the fire by hubs. I will confess that the peppercorn sauce came from a packaged mix......it was easy and somewhat tasty, though once you've had the yummy homemade stuff, it really doesn't compare.

But the potatoes are amazing, and make for fabulous hash browns when they are leftover. :)

Potatoes over the fire
Serves 2, plus hashbrown leftovers!

2 very large potatoes
1 small onion
2 T butter
1 t fleur de sel (yes, I brought fleur de sel camping)
1 clove garlic, minced
pepper
heavy-duty foil

1. Take one large piece of foil, and spray with non-stick cooking spray (or just oil it). Cut the potatoes into 1/2 inch pieces and place in the centre of the foil.
2. Chop the onion relatively finely (it seems like a lot, but always cooks down!) and sprinkle over top of the potatoes.
3. Add the minced garlic, and cut the butter in small pieces, spreading them somewhat evenly on top of the potato/onion mixture. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4. Seal completely in the foil. Wrap with two more layers of foil (in my experience, this keeps the potatoes from searing themselves to the foil). Cook over the fire for about 30 minutes, flipping every 5-7 minutes. Enjoy with sour cream.

Please excuse the inferior pictures.....


Doesn't make it less yummy!

So I'll leave you with a good picture, but it isn't one I took....this one is from our wedding last year, taken by Frank Fenn, after the snow finally stopped coming down!

m-p-v done right

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Regular readers will know of my periodic rants about unadventurous eaters.....people who maintain that a meal is not a meal unless it includes meat (m), potatoes (p) and vegetables (v...duh). And they better not touch. Or have any weird sauce or seasoning.

Drives me nuts. But that's not to say that m-p-v type meals are precluded from being tasty.....they just have to be done right. Sure, you could have well-done steak, boiled potatoes and frozen vegetables.....but just imagine if you took it to the next level.....a nice thick steak (from a happy cow ;) ), drizzled with a rich green peppercorn sauce......potatoes that have been stuffed with tang and flavour....and a salad befitting its own regional nomenclature.

Now we're talking food. And it's actually courtesy of my brother......he's a more than occasional weekend visitor (not sure if he comes for the food or the company), and tends to be more of a typical m-p-v eater. So he bought me some steak, some massive potatoes, bocconcini and spinach.

And so I played with it a bit, and came up with grilled top sirloin with green peppercorn cream sauce, twice-baked potatoes with horseradish and dijon and caprese salad. And if I hadn't downed nearly a half pound of chorizo while I was cooking, I probably would have eaten a little more. :)

Insalata Caprese
I can't say how much I love this salad. There are billions of version out there, mine's definitely not anything close to authentic....but it's yummy. Generally, this salad consists of fresh buffalo mozzarella, sliced tomatoes, olive oil and basil. I change it up a bit, but the flavour inspiration remains.

fresh baby greens (mesclun mix, arugular or spinach)
1 pint grape tomatoes
200 g bocconcini (minis)
1 bunch fresh basil
balsamic vinaigrette (1 T balsamic vinegar, 1/2 t fleur de sel, 3 T evoo, 1 T dijon mustard)

1. Arrange greens on a place. Top with grape tomatoes and mini bocconcini.
2. Drizzle vinaigrette and sprinkle basil. Yum.
Oooo....and check out my fun new triangle plate. I'm sure you'll see it again soon. :)


Twice-baked potatoes with horseradish and dijon
3 MASSIVE baking potatoes
2 T horseradish
1 T dijon mustard
1/2 t sea salt
1/2 t black pepper, cracked
1/3 c sour cream
1/4 c whipping cream
garnish - parmesan cheese, paprika

1. Set the oven to 400F. Pierce the potatoes so they don't explode. Bake for about 1 hour (or until soft).
2. Set the potatoes on a flat surface....figure out their most stable side (i.e., so they don't roll over once stuffed). Cut the top 1/2 inch off the potatoes. Hollow them out with a spoon, putting the flesh in a bowl. Be careful, as the baked potato is really brutally freaking hot (yes, I burnt myself yet AGAIN). Meh.


3. To the potato flesh, add the horseradish, dijon mustard, sea salt, black pepper, sour cream and whipping cream. Use an electric mixer to beat this until it's nice and fluffy. You want a consistency similar to icing, because you want it to be pipe-able, but still hold its shape. Add more liquid if needed.

4. Using a spoon, fill the potatoes until they're just below level.


5. I have a very handy little icing gun (picture above) and works great for simple piping jobs. Since I'm really not a baking/pastry person, this is totally adequate for my needs. I fill it up and use it to decorate the very top of the potatoes.


6. Top with grated parmesan and or paprika. Bake at 350F for about 25 minutes. Alternatively, you could fill these with goat cheese, chives, roasted garlic, etc. I used what I had available (which wasn't much), but you can use your imagination a bit for these. People will be super impressed with their pretty potatoes.


Steak with Green Peppercorn Cream Sauce
2 pounds grilling steak (I like top sirloin due to lack of fat and marbling - it's still quite tender and flavourful too. A good balance all around).


montreal steak spice (for grilling)

1. Allow steaks to come to room temperature. Trim of visible fat. Sprinkle with Montreal Steak Spice and grill to desired doneness.

Peppercorn sauce
1 T evoo
1 shallot, minced
3 T marsala wine
1 cup concentrated beef broth (i.e., if you're using bouillon use 2 packages, or if you're using homemade, take 2 cups and boil it away until it's reduced to 1 cup)
1 cup whipping cream
2 T green peppercorns in brine, drained and rinsed (these are fun to find.....ask your grocer if you can't find them!)

1. In a small pot, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Add shallots and sauté until translucent. Add marsala.
2. When marsala is evaporated, add broth, whipping cream and peppercorns. Boil until it reduces to sauce consistency (about 30 minutes). Serve over steak.

Hubs rocks at bbq'ing.

The meat and potatoes of it all....

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As much as I enjoy displays of scorn and derision toward unadventurous eaters...sometimes what you really need are good old-fashioned steak and potatoes. Friday night was such a night....richness, decadence and good old-fashioned red meat beckoned.....along with red wine, it was simple meal worthy of a feast.

As the recommendations of winemadeeasy, I hunted down the 2003 Cathedral Cellar Cabernet Sauvignon. And what a hunt it was - in super-sub-zero temperatures, I trekked well over a kilometre off my bus route to seek out this wine.

Totally worth it. I think it might be my new favourite wine to sip and enjoy alongside a hearty meal.

One of my favourite veggie side dishes is roasted potatoes. Just pure, fresh potato goodness, crispy from the oven and flavoured with nothing more than fresh rosemary, fleur de sel, olive oil, and garlic. No powder from a package, no over-processed dressing. Just pure goodness.....

Roasted Potatoes (PERFECT with steak)
3 T extra-virgin olive oil
1 t fleur de sel or sea salt
1 T fresh chopped rosemary (+1 T reserved)
1 clove garlic, minced
5-6 yukon gold potatoes, cut in small cubes (less than an inch)

1. Preheat oven to 300F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper (or a silpat).
2. In a large bowl, combine olive oil, salt, rosemary and garlic.


3. Add potatoes and stir well, making sure potatoes are well-coated.
4. Dump the mixture onto the baking sheet and pop in the oven.


5. Set the timer for 20 minutes, and then turn the potatoes. Set the timer for another 20 minutes.
6. Reduce the temperature to about 175F, add the extra rosemary and another sprinkle of salt and cook a further 30 minutes (the long, slow cooking time is key to getting the perfect texture to these guys - you can cook them at a higher temp, but they won't be as tasty!).

Wild Mushroom Indulgence (perfect for a VERY rich topping for steak)
2 T unsalted butter
12 oz mixed mushrooms (I had shitake, oyster and crimini) and cut them into tiny little pieces)
2 small shallots
1 t peppercorns, crushed
1.5 oz brandy or cognac
1 c broth (undiluted)
1 c whipping cream
2 T dijon mustard
2 T butter

1. In a medium skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Add mushrooms. Once the mushrooms start releasing their liquid (about 3-4 minutes), add the chopped shallots and the peppercorns.
2. Once most of the mushroom liquid is gone, add the brandy and boil until most of it has evaporated.
3. Add broth, cream and dijon. Boil the mixture over medium high heat until desired consistency is reached (probably about 15 minutes). Just before serving, stir in the extra butter. Yum.



For the steak, we used top sirloin, bbq'ed by a very brave hubby in the deep-freeze-like outdoors, with just montreal steak spice to season. His was cooked to medium, and mine to medium-rare. Served with a green salad with balsamic vinaigrette (1 T balsamic vinegar, sea salt, pepper, 3 T olive oil, 1 T dijon mustard and whisk away).



One of the best dinners we've had in a while....simple, decadent and AWESOME with the right bottle of red wine. Thanks for reading!

Culinary Intertextuality

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Feeling geeky today. (pushes glasses up nose – ignore the fact that the glasses are pink, rhinestone-studded Versace for a sec…)

Food is a source of inspiration for me. I find it’s an opportunity to show creativity, artistic talent even, and to just enjoy myself. But in reading another blog – http://blog.fatfreevegan.com/ – the subject of original recipes came up.

Is there such a thing as an original recipe?

Probably not.

But when you come to think of it, is there such thing as an original anything? Exploring my favourite literary vein again, let’s go back to Homer’s Odyssey (or the Iliad). Many consider this to be one of the first written works of fiction (or legend or what have you) in the Western world. But as my comp lit prof so often told us, there was nothing original with Homer. He was taking thousands of years of oral tradition and merely putting them into a new and less metamorphosing form. Something concrete, at that point in time.

Virgil came later and tried to surpass what Homer did, by writing the Aeneid. And then Ovid tried to turn it all topsy-turvy with his Metamorphosis. Fine, dandy.

Then you get real nutcases like Boccacio who, for example, uses a crazy frame-work to turn the structure of fiction on its head (holy story within a story in that one batman) to build a canvas for his fiction or not fiction, depending on what frame you see.

And this just continues in modern times – you can look at experimental fiction today and really, is it that much stranger than The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy (which dates back to 1759)?

The real crux, however, is that nothing is being done that hasn’t been done before. There is nothing new. Very rarely do we truly innovate, in the literary sense. The tools change, the context changes, but the people-vs-people interaction remains as it always has been. You can’t separate yourself from what you already know and what you’ve already done, and hence this is the nature of literary intertextuality. People do not exist in vacuums and all you do is influenced by who you are and what you’ve already done.

Is food any different?

Probably not. Is it possible to create a new recipe that hasn’t been influenced by anything you’ve ever made and tasted before? No way. So this is what I like to call culinary intertextuality, or really, the impossibility of culinary innovation.

That said I don’t care. :)

I revel in the fact that all of the amazing cuisines I’ve had the fortune to enjoy are as we speak revolving around my little brain, influencing how I create a meal. It just makes it SOOOO much more fun. The cosmopolitan nature of today’s food economy means that now, more than ever, we have the opportunity to be exposed to how others throughout the world prepare food. I love seeing how surroundings influence the flavours of the dishes – the spices that are used, the way the food is eaten, everything.

I just enjoyed a yummy meal of homemade chowmein, and am now sipping on a delightful cup of chai tea. The world at my fingertips, indeed.

On Sunday, I ended up with an impromptu mini dinner party, and had a good time getting that together. Had a little too much time on my hands and hubs had invited a friend over to work on some sort of project, so I suggested that the friend stay for dinner as well.

And then spent the rest of the afternoon having a little fun in the kitchen.

Homemade foccacia was the first thing that I made. It wasn’t that hard! I was inspired (see??!!??) by the ACE bakery rosemary foccacia I had enjoyed the night before. I LOVE that stuff, but I just can’t foresee spending $4 for a teeny loaf of bread that hubs and I will devour in a matter of minutes (it’s that good – the lazy among you should buy it and eat it!). I opened up a cookbook and found myself a recipe. Foccacia is a time-consuming bread to make, but not terribly labour-intensive. First you make a “sponge” (warm water, flour and yeast) that is technically *supposed* to stand overnight. I only had a few hours to let it stand, and it seemed to work just fine, though the fermented flavour would probably benefit from a longer standing time. After you’ve made the sponge, you add more flour, water, a bit of snipped rosemary, and some sea salt. Also pretty simple. The somewhat yucky part is kneading for 10 minutes (I could not ever knead again and die happy, but I guess that is the price we pay for tasty homemade bread). Let rise for a while (tip: cover your dough, put in a cool oven, turn on the oven light, and voila, you have the perfect warm draft-free place for your bread to rise!)……then you dump it out of the bowl onto a baking stone (if you have one, which I don’t) and let rise for some more time. The fun part is spreading it out, dimpling it with your fingers, and then brushing with olive oil. At this point, I also snipped more rosemary and sprinkled sea salt and then baked my way to salty, chewy, crusty perfection. I love bread.

We also had Caesar salad, but I was very lazy with this – renee’s light dressing, jarred (real) bacon bits, boxed croutons…..and some fresh parmigiano-reggiano to try to redeem it. It was tasty.

Main course was also very tasty. I had lucked out a couple of weeks ago finding striploin steaks on sale, so I stocked up. Pulled a couple out of the freezer, and trimmed of visible fat (I hate fat on my meat! Blech!). These were bbq’d to perfection by my cute hubby (with some montreal steak spice). I topped the steaks with a mixture of caramelized onions, marsala and cracked peppercorns. I have to say cracking peppercorns is one of the most fun things ever.....you put them in a little baggie and then go at them with a meat mallet. :) It's like therapy, but free!

I made these delicious twice-baked potatoes from epicurious - Potato Recipe I used whipping cream instead of half and half (I had some leftover from last week’s dinner party), PC peppercorn goat cheese, skipped the butter and topped with a sprinkling of paprika. I suggest adding salt, and perhaps some garlic for a little more flavour, but the presentation is quite impressive (yay for the good old icing gun!) and they are very easy to make. Two thumbs up. I also added some stir-fried veggies – matchstick carrots (leftover from some other recipe), green beans, peppers, onion and mushrooms, along with some olive oil, garlic, sea salt and rosemary. Yum!

And it was a success. Hubs’ confirmed bachelor friend is now re-considering his status.

Have two more dinner parties on the near horizon. A low-key one next week for the in-laws (it’s on a weeknight) and one next Sunday for some friends of ours. I’m always bittersweet on in-law dinners. On the one hand, I love preparing things that I know they will like, but on the other hand, they make such a HUGE kerfuffle about me not fussing that it has a somewhat vampirish effect on the joy I take from cooking. I mean, I *could* serve them plain baked chicken and potatoes with boiled veggies, but I wouldn’t serve that to myself! So why would I serve it to them????? It’s funny how a woman who seems to derive pleasure from keeping her house meticulously clean (a pleasure that I, clearly, do not share), would not understand the pleasure that I get in preparing tasty food for the enjoyment of others? They're awesome people, but not inclined to indulge themselves....

So I will make the whole dinner on Monday night, so when they arrive for dinner on Tuesday, all is taken care of, and we won’t need to order in (which is what they want to do…they’ll treat, but I’d still rather cook).

For our friends, I’m thinking Moroccan. Not sure why, but I think it will be fun. I think I’ll do a little research over the next little while – I’m thinking like Moroccan/French fusion something – so it’s exotic, but not too much so. The french colonial link makes me think that there could already be some great fusion ideas out there.

I want to make something with a "foam" just because I never have and it sounds cool. And I think apricots will somehow have to be involved. Any suggestions?

Thanks for reading!

Success.....for the most part

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I have way too much fun planning these parties. I could seriously have one every second week and be ecstatic about it. It's so much fun to plan and execute the menu, and then see everyone enjoy the food. :)

And I think it was enjoyed! :) I won't lie and say it wasn't a ton of work - I probably spent about 4 hours on Friday night in the kitchen, and then another 4-5 hours on Saturday....but I think it was worth it. It was nice to have everything ready ahead of time so I didn't have last minute fussing - just things like, reheating sauces I had already made, etc. Highly recommend this sort of approach to making food for other people.

I often lament that the formal dinner party seems to have fallen by the wayside...people don't like to plan them, don't like to host them, etc....but I will tell ya, I never have problems getting people to come to them. ;)

I'll go by course and give you a little rundown and analysis. The first little snack I had for folks was the little roasted red pepper bocconcini sticks. This was very easy and quick to put together. I had a *minor* moment earlier on Saturday, because I opened my container of bocconcini and it smelled like feta. Bocconcini should NOT smell like feta. I made the mistake of sampling one of these slightly sticky balls....and then suffered a few moments of angst regarding whether or not I had just inadvertently poisoned myself...but I think I'm okay. Anyway, I chucked that container, and hubs was kind enough to buy me another container. One I had the non-feta-scented bocconcini, I just tossed it in purchased pesto. Then I threaded it on toothpicks with (purchased) roasted red peppers. I arranged it on the platter and then drizzled with balsamic vinaigrette (not purchased). All were eaten, so I think they were enjoyed. Here is a pic!



Tastiness. :)

The next course was the salad. I REALLY loved the salad (see previous post for recipe). I modified the dressing a bit, as per suggestions of reviewers on epicurious - used less oil, added a bit of red wine vinegar, more lemon and a touch of honey. I used mache instead of arugula - mache is very mildly flavoured and textured, and I much prefer it to a more strongly flavoured leaf....for the orange, I discovered that clementines are now in season (YIPPPPEEEEE!), so I cut the peel of several clementines, and then sliced horizontally to make beautifully tasty pieces of orange. The pomegranate was a bit of a pain to seed, but so brilliantly coloured and flavoured that I think it's worth the effort. It has such a beautiful jewel shade that it really just looks gorgeous on the plate. For goat cheese, I was at a bit of a loss, because I really don't eat it....I thought I wanted one coated in cranberry or something else that would complement the salad, but the cheapest cranberry one was like $10.....and the PC brand coated in peppercorns was only $3 (on sale!). So I went cheap....and you know what....I actually really enjoyed it. It was creamy and nice, with a bit of a different flavour, but nothing overly goaty.



I definitely recommend making this salad for company - it looks very pretty on the plate (I tossed the mache in dressing, plated it, and then topped with the pomegranate/orange and goat cheese). Easy to make too.

The soup was definitely NOT easy to make. Whenever I roast peppers, I always swear up and down afterward that I'll never make roasted peppers again. What a huge pain in the ass. I'm really glad I made these soups on Friday.....it took about four hours, all told. So much roasting, peeling, etc. BUT, they did look lovely. And yellow peppers are so gorgeous...

Both unroasted:


And roasted:


As I said before, I didn't bother straining the soups - the texture was pretty much even, so I just experimented with adding more chicken broth to make sure that the soups would work together.

I was a bit disappointed to find that my tomato soup was not the brilliant red I was hoping for....and must confess to adding several drops of red food colouring to get the nice colour I wanted....heehee. I have to say that it's a trick I've used before (for things like thai red or green curries....we can't stomach enough of the chilis to give it a nice colour so I just bump it up a bit....I'm sure the restaurants do this too because their curries aren't any hotter, but are always much more colourful). So there....that is my soupy confession.

The only disappointment with the soup is that my serrano cream was much more dense than the soup, so it sunk right to the bottom. So sad. :( Next time, I would try thinning out the cream a little bit so it would be less dense. The flavours were quite nice....not spectacular, but the presentation was so cool. My soups were thick enough that the two soups STAYED separate, which was kinda cool. I recommend making this if you have a lot of time on your hands and you want something different and cool.

Main course also turned out beautifully. I bought the fillet mignons from M&M (about 6 ounces each, for $10.99 for two). The size is just right for a nice amount of tasty tasty steak. The only thing I would change is that I also would have bought some bread to have on the table. I think the boys maybe could have eaten more (they had seconds) and bread might have filled them up a little better. The wasabi mashed potatoes were awesome. I think I did about 3-4 pounds of yukon gold potatoes, 3/4 c. homogeneized milk, just under 2 T wasabi powder (you could use more) and some butter and whipping cream to round it out. I made these up ahead of time, whipped them, and then just reheated in the oven when the time came. I had NO luck finding skinny beans, so I frenched the beans I did find.....steamed them in the rice cooker. Yum. And the peppercorn sauce, as always, was a big hit. I love that recipe!!!!!!!!

But the dessert was quite a disappointment to me. :( The flavour of the panna cotta was delicious and the sauce was amazing (I really didn't think that port, balsamic vinegar, sugar and raspberries would be so good!), but the texture of the blasted panna cotta was so tooth-suckingly gelatinous that I was quite disappointed. I made the recipe according to directions, 2T of gelatin powder (I was actually a little bit short) and it was WAY too much gelatin. Yucky. It was easy to make, but I would be tempted to use half the amount of gelatin and see how it went. If you don't already have a copy of the latest Food&Drink, you should find yourself a copy, because there are some great recipes in it!

Anyway, it's now 3:30pm, I'm still in my robe and I have a whole whack of yucky, congealing dishes to get through. Thanks for reading!

I will leave you with a couple of pictures of the room.....

Here is the living room, all done up


Here is the fun centrepiece I made (yay for $10 flowers! I did a couple of other little arrangements through the house, all out of the same bunch!)


And the table set-up.....



PS - I just tried to use the blogger spellcheck for the first time (figuring I might try to compensate for my atrocious brain-to-fingers reflexes) and it blows goats! It didn't recognize clementine, feta, arugula, bocconcini, or basically ANY food words....not very helpful!

Cleaning vs. thinking

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Thinking always wins. Hubs and I are having some friends over for dinner next week, and since we haven't had a dinner party or company in a while, I'm all excited, planning the menu. I *should* be perhaps cleaning, getting dressed....or any of a number of things that would actually accomplish something.

But I'd rather revel in my be-robed bliss, with a rich cup of dark roast next to me. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm....... and then think about food, of course.

I haven't had these friends over for dinner yet, so I'm not really sure of preferences. I sent out the request for likes/dislikes, and the only thing I have is seafood and mushrooms.

So I thought I would plan a meal with the theme of passion - some red to every course, and just a hint of exoticism...

The menu....

Amuse Bouche
Bocconcini red pepper pesto bites (VERY simple - roasted red pepper wrapped around a mini bocconcini with some pesto) - nice basic flavours and easy prep for me. Just something for people to nibble before dins....

Soup
This will be a showstopper. It's a roasted yellow pepper soup, along with a roasted tomato soup, drizzled with serrano cream. The beauty of this is that you pour in the brilliant yellow and red soup from opposite sides of the bowl, to the presentation should be magnificent. Very excited. Puréed soup is one of my favourite things ever. This recipe is from epicurious - SOUP RECIPE and though I don't plan on putting it through a sieve, etc., I think it will be wonderful. The soups can be made the day before.

Salad
Arugula salad with pomegranate seeds, oranges and goat cheese - also from epicurious - again, I thought the jewel tones would go with the theme and pomegranates are just so cool. I can make this up earlier in the day and dress at the last minute. SALAD RECIPE

Main
6 oz fillet mignon with peppercorn brandy sauce, served with wasabi mashed potatoes and skinny green beans. Nothing is yummier than grilled beef with peppercorn sauce. *just in case* I end up with non-beef-eaters, I'll defrost a chicken breast or two....but hubs can cook the beef to everyone's liking so hopefully they will enjoy. Wasabi mashed is awesome. I always loved horseradish, but hated how it overpowered the meat - this is a more subtle version, with an exotic and surprising taste. I'll use yukon gold potatoes for an extra rich, golden colour. The beans I will just drizzle in a bit of butter, sea salt and pepper. I'm really hoping to find the skinny kind though, because they are just more elegant on the plate. The peppercorn sauce is amazing. It takes WAY longer to thicken than the recipe indicates, but I can make it earlier in the day, along with the mashed potatoes. Beans and steak are last minute finishes, but are relatively unfussy and quick. PEPPERCORN SAUCE REcIPE

Crap. Just found out one of the guests is a pseudo vegetarian.....I *think* I will make some stuffed peppers for her. Again, they are something I can make in advance, I can use veggie ground round for protein, and they are quite tasty. It's just a bit of a challenge to find a straight meat sub for this particular meal, because the meat is quite central, and I just don't feel that a bbq'd hunk of tofu is an adequate sub. Yuck! I think peppers might be okay, though I worry it might be too much 'pepprage' for a single meal. Then again, she may prefer a boneless chicken breast, which would also be quite tasty with the peppercorn sauce....we shall see. Now that I think of it, I could actually make the stuffed peppers for dinner on Friday, and just not cook a couple of them. They would keep fine in the fridge, and then I could cook them on Saturday....hmmmmmmmmm.....
Dessert
Steak demands a chocolate finish. I don't think anything else could hold up to the rich flavours and lingering red wine. I found a really yummy-looking panna cotta recipe in the new LCBO magazine. Bittersweet Chocolate Panna Cotta with Raspberry and Port Sauce. holy yummy decadence batman. The panna cottas can be made ahead of time as well and are just plated and drizzled with sauce at the last minute. I like that it won't be too sweet.

So hopefully it will be enjoyed.....I enjoy planning it out and making it, and this menu doesn't leave me with a lot of last minute fussing, which is key to having a fun evening. It's not that fun for the guests when the host is off hidden away in the sweat shop (oops....kitchen) and slaving away. An open kitchen would be ideal for entertaining, but I think this menu will be fab.

I'm super excited to try the soup....it just sounds so gorgeous, and really not that hard to make. mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm


SO yeah, day off work, should be doing something, not doing a darn thing and loving it!

Thanks for reading! Any suggestions on the menu? :)