Gazpacho

Holy Jeepers! Just once in a lifetime, the planets all line up and the perfect storm of flavour erupts across your tongue and you just want to sing to the heavens! I ate the gazpacho an hour ago and my mouth is still a symphony alive with flavour and freshness. Hallelujah! And I just had a hunch that it was going to be a gazpacho kind of a day. With temperatures outside soaring above 40 degrees Celsius, and most of the vegetables in their prime of freshness, I knew I couldn't go wrong. Gazpacho is the perfect food to rehydrate your body and leave you feeling wonderfully satisfied without feeling full and bloated. It is heatwave chowder! Many people prefer to puree their gazpacho, but I love the crunch and the texture, so I don't puree at all. I just chop everything into bite size chunks and leave it at that. And nor do I put a dollop of sour cream to garnish. Although I'm sure that would be delicious. I'm all about keeping it to a bare minimum and letting it speak for itself.
So let's make a gazpacho that will tell Mother Nature her work has not been in vain!

You'll need:
3 tomatoes chopped
1/2 red onion chopped
half an English cucumber peeled and chopped
2 stalks of celery chopped
5 sliced green onions
1 red pepper chopped
2 cloves minced garlic
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 freshly squeezed lemon
2 teaspoons of sugar
Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper (lots)
a couple of splashes of Tabasco sauce
a good splash of Worcestershire sauce
Using a large can of Tomato juice, pour yourself a bloody mary for all your effort and use the rest for the soup.
Now here is what makes this recipe magical - you stand on your feet for a good hour and chop everything up and put it in a big bowl. The trick is to be thinking of all the people you love and how thankful you are to have them in your life. The chopping time goes by in the blink of an eye if you do this! Then add everything else on the list and stir it all up. Cover it and let it chill for at least 6 hours but overnight is even better.
Serve it up and that's all there is to it! You can change up this recipe however you like by adding the fresh vegetables that you like and you really should add some parsley or cilantro if you can. I just didn't feel like going out into the heat and down to the garden. And shame on me for that. But in this case, my herbs weren't missed. And I could kiss Mother Nature a thousand times for providing everything I needed for today's supper! Enjoy!

Stuffed Peppers

Here's the thing I like about an old favourite recipe - you can tweak it and modify it as the years go by, and it will still give you the same thrill it did the first time you made it. You just can't buy that kind of satisfaction when you buy a car. It just gets old and rusty and starts breaking down and ultimately fails you miserably until you replace it altogether. Material things don't stay committed to you the way a recipe does. They always need to be fully replaced. To be true, my favourite recipes have stood by me through thick and thin over the years. More than I can say about many of my relationships!
Take my stuffed peppers for instance. I think this was one of the first weekly standards that landed on my dinner table. Of course back then, Betty Crocker was next to Godliness. I had her recipe book and my mother had one before me. I don't think she ever published a recipe that had garlic in it, let alone chorizo. As a child I marvelled at the photos of jello mold salads with miniature marshmallows and pineapple chunks in them and chocolate cakes with smashed up candy canes sprinkled on the top. This was some high end gourmet at its best as far as I could tell. So as a very young newlywed, I made her stuffed pepper recipe and I was pretty sure food couldn't get any better than that! It was a green pepper stuffed with rice and hamburger meat and salt and pepper and you had the option to put some tomato paste in it too I seem to recall. After about ten years, I boldly threw in some canned corn just to show the world I was a pretty independent, freestyle and forward thinking cook!
My stuffed pepper recipe of today has nothing to do with the one I started out with. My love of Mexican flavours has altered my pepper recipe to a whole new level. I traded in my Buick sedan and now I'm riding in a sexy foreign convertible if you will!
You will need:
6 red peppers (or any pepper you like)
1 lb of chorizo. Get the mild one. If you use a hot one, omit the hot spices unless you're a masochist.
1 finely chopped onion
4 cloves of finely chopped garlic
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro
1 stalk finely chopped celery
salt and freshly ground pepper
6 roughly chopped tomatoes (or a can of chopped tomatoes if you don't have a vegetable garden)
2 finely chopped canned chipotles
1 tsp cumin
1 tablespoon of chili powder
1/4 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
1/2 cup long grain rice (Don't use the instant rice as I've warned you before)
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup shredded Monterrey Jack cheese
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup pepperjack cheese
1 can black beans
Cut the tops off your peppers and scoop out the seeds and put them in a big pot of boiling water for just 5 minutes and remove them and let them cool down.
In a big skillet, brown your chorizo sausage on medium heat and add your onion. Let it sweat for a few minutes and add your celery and garlic. After about 5 minutes, add your tomatoes and the chipotles and your spices. Stir it around for a few minutes and add the rice and water. When it comes up to a boil, reduce your heat to Med-Low, give it a stir and cover it for about 40 minutes or until the rice is completely cooked. Preheat your oven to 350. Drain the beans and add them to the skillet and also your cheeses. Leave enough cheese to the side to put on the tops of the peppers. Stir it all around until the cheese melts. Now add your cilantro and taste for salt and pepper in case you need a bit more.
Stuff each pepper right up to the top with this mixture and sprinkle the remaining cheese on the top of each one. Place them uncovered in a casserole dish and bake for 25-30 minutes. Serve with sour cream and whatever else you like. Salad is good and also fresh tortillas. Mostly you'll need beer though because it marries so well with this recipe. Enjoy this meal and be thankful to God that you're not starting out with Betty Crocker's peppers!

Marry Me Apple Pie

Most of you ladies out there have probably heard of a little thing called Engagement Chicken. It's a magical recipe that supposedly brings about a proposal, but I can't vouch for its effectiveness just yet. And I'm not going to blog that one, because although I've made it in the past, you can find it online anywhere. Instead, I'm going to write about Marry Me Apple Pie. I suggest serving it after the Engagement Chicken for a sort of one-two punch - and don't forget to wear your orange blossom oil because that's important too.

First step is to buy your apples. Get about 8 granny smiths, or whatever apple you like. Granny smith are nice because their tartness stands up to all the sweetness of the pie. (I used only 6 and my pie had a bit too much space. Get 8). Peel them up, slice them thinly, and spritz them with some lemon juice so they don't turn ugly.

The next thing is the crust. I just went and bought the frozen Tenderflake, and here's why: first of all, it doesn't really matter. Second of all, a delicious pastry crust from scratch calls for ice cold butter. My apartment has no air conditioning and it's the middle of July, so I have no ice cold anything. I also have no food processor so even if I did have cold butter, touching the dough with my hands would ruin it instantly. (I'm fully aware that back in the Dark Ages, before A/C and food processors, people still made apple pie effectively. I just have no idea how. It's probably something you can Google if you want Pioneer-level authenticity though). So just use Tenderflake. No big deal.

Everybody in the pool.

Next, get a sauce pot going over med-high heat. Melt some butter and brown sugar and throw in your apples. Stir them about to coat them with the caramel flavour of the sugar and butter. Cooking them on the stovetop first isn't really necessary, but I like a soft apple in my pie. Add some nutmeg, cinnamon, and a bit of white sugar. Just use your judgment with the amounts because I'm sure it will be fine. Just don't go too crazy with the nutmeg.

When your apples start to brown and soften, put them into the bottom half of your pie shell. Make sure that the shell is room temp so that you can pinch together any cracks if necessary. Add a little more cinnamon, a little more sugar, and some lemon juice. Then put a few dollops of butter on top of the apples. 

Ready for the top shell.

Add your top layer of pie shell. This is where I realized I didn't have very many apples, so I ended up tearing off about a one-inch margin of the shell all around. You probably won't have to if you use enough apples. Wet a fork and use that to crimp down all the sides of the dough. It makes it look pretty and keeps your filling from bursting out of the pie in the oven. Next, make sure you cut some vents in the top of the pie. Four vents about 1.5 inches long should do it. Now sprinkle some white sugar over the top layer of crust so that it crisps up in the oven.

Out of the oven!

375 degrees at about 30 minutes, or whenever you think it looks done. Serve with vanilla ice cream and you can't go wrong! You are now the "marrying type." Await the proposal. 

Seasoning for Your Staples

Today we are going to talk about seasoning-not your food, but your cookware. Specifically we are going to talk about a cast iron pan and a mortar and pestle. Neither of these items get “washed”, you want to keep the flavour in them, so no soap EVER! After the time it took to season this pan today, I pity the poor bastard who tries to help out by pouring some Dawn into it.

            Seasoning your cast iron cookware is not for the faint of heart, so we’ll get to that second. First, we’ll deal with the mortar and pestle. (What the hell is that, you ask? Here’s the answer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mortar_and_pestle) These are used for grinding whole spices, mixing pastes, and all sorts of culinary wizardry that makes you look like an Iron Chef. I promise, whip one of these out when you’re making someone’s dinner and an engagement is only a month or two away. They do enhance the flavour of food because freshly ground spices always taste “bigger”, but mostly it just looks very cool to be grinding things up. As my very wise mother says, “It’s all smoke and mirrors, baby.” She’s right about that!

I learned how to season my mortar and pestle from Jamie Oliver (who is just a delight of a human, don’t you think?). When you take it out of the box, or the bag, or whatever, DO wash it with soap and water. God only knows who has manhandled it previously. Once it’s clean and very dry, pour in a little olive oil, a bit of rice, a few whole peppercorns and some coarse salt into the mortar part (that’s the bowl one). Using the pestle (that would be your stick part) grind all of that into a nice paste. Be sure to get every bit of the mortar covered. Take a paper towel and scoop all that out. Now cut a clove of garlic in half and rub it all into the bowl and end of the pestle. Wipe again with paper towel. Give it a quick rise under running water and then dry. That’s it! Now you can grind to your heart’s delight.

Let’s move on to the cast iron cookware. I’ve been excited to have a cast iron pan my whole life. It’s heavy, high-maintenance and so very retro. The implementation of Teflon, ceramic and stainless steel pushed the cast iron pan into the back of the cupboard, but nothing beats the flavour of food that’s cooked in it.

As I said, this is not for the faint of heart, since I nearly burned the house down in my attempt. Maybe I struggled particularly because earlier today I washed my car and that, frankly, was a much bigger pain in the ass.  But the effort did exhaust me and clearly I wasn’t totally on my game.

I’m sure you will not have nearly as much trouble as I did, because I have faith that you will have the sense not to open the oven door whilst cooking bacon lard into the pan at high heat. If you, in fact, do not have the sense not to do that, as I did not, then I am going to tell you right now- do not open the oven door. Turn on the exhaust fan. I have never given better advice in my life.

I’ll get to the point now. There are several steps involved in this task, and it will take at least an hour to do. Set an afternoon aside for this and you might as well drink ales while you’re at it. First things first, wash the pan. Mine came pre-seasoned, so hypothetically I didn’t have to season it. But I am a control freak, not to mention how much I enjoy an experiment, so I wanted to do it myself anyway. 


After you wash the pan, you want to make sure it’s very dry. Pop it in your hot oven for a few minutes, or leave it for a good bit of time to ensure its dryness. The reason for this is that next step is to coat it in oil, and if you do this with moisture it won’t have the same effect. Use olive oil, Crisco, lard or bacon fat (this is what I used because I always have some in my freezer) to coat the entire pan, front and back. Place this upside down in your oven (but first put some tinfoil underneath to protect the oven) at high heat. I set mine to 450°. Let it cook in for an hour. This is that part where you want to avoid opening the oven door. I opened mine and a huge waft of smoke came out. This set off the fire alarm, which then upset the dog. I turned on the fan and opened the back door, but that wasn’t enough and I had to get a towel to fan the smoke alarm. The whole scenario was highly annoying and also let 52 flies in the house. Had I not opened the oven door, I wouldn’t be swatting at flies this very moment.

After the hour, there may be smoke if you open the door right away. It is my suggestion to turn the oven off and let it cool down for a few minutes before you go in for the pan. Once your pan is seasoned, you definitely do not want to wash it, unless you like heating up your house for hours. Instead of soap, wipe your pan as clean as you can. To disinfect it, fill it up with water and bring it to a boil for ten minutes. That is all you need to do! To maintain the seasoning, after each “wash”, coat it with a little more oil or lard, put it on the stovetop and heat it until it starts to smoke. Then turn the heat off. (Turn the heat off right away or you'll be in the same smoke predicament) After this, you can see why people are so fanatical about their cast iron cookware. I certainly will be- and I will definitely share the recipe of the first thing I make in this pan!

Author’s note: There are no pretty pictures of this process today because it was far too much to try to get Instagram up and running while the dog panicked and I swatted flies. If you want illustrations, go here: http://www.wikihow.com/Season-Cast-Iron-Cookware) 

Pretty Supper

Here we are only barely into the first few days of July and we're already on our second official heatwave. And that doesn't take into account all of the unofficial hot, humid days we've had that didn't make heatwave grade. The kids have only been out of school for a few days and they're already fighting with each other and bored. Thank God mine are grown and out of the house now, but that doesn't make the memories any less vivid at all. Summer vacation seemed like it lasted for a few years instead of a few months. Often, the ladygirls would be smacking the gob off one another fighting over a dolly by 7:30 in the morning. Buying two identical toys or dolls somehow never was effective because the one other sibling was playing with was the object of desire. It was going to be a long, long day. And to make matters worse, we lived in Arizona at the time and playing outdoors was not an option. It was just too damn hot.
So I became an expert at diversionary tactics. And I became shameless with my bribery techniques too. Desperate times call for desperate measures. We had a Safeway two hundred yards from our house, but I chose to drive across town to Smitty's during summer vacation. And why? Because they had one of those horsey rides that you put a quarter in to get a ride in the lobby of the store. And the rule was that whoever was the very best girl that they could be got the first ride. :) So you had the one grinning like a Cheshire cat taking the ride, and the other one clearly plotting revenge on how to get even later when we got home and all hellfire could break loose again! Long days indeed! And that's how Bailey and Kelly became the Ladygirls. They would be fighting and I would raise my voice just enough to put the fear of God into them, but not enough to show I had a loss of control, and I would just say "Ladygirls!" And they soon learned that if they didn't step back in line immediately, a loss of control would soon ensue. Hahah the name stuck and now it's a term of pure endearment!
And you could not possibly cook anything during an Arizona summer where the average temperature exceeded 110 degrees. The rubber would literally melt off the sole of your flip flops if you were to stand at the barbeque for any length of time. And back then, 25 years ago, hydro cost a fortune and then some. One day I took out my big platter and just made a cold plate with some fresh buns for dinner. The platter was just so I would have only the one dish to wash, but it clearly made an impression because I asked the girls a few weeks later what they wanted for dinner and Bailey immediately piped up "Pretty Supper!" I had no idea what she was talking about. She said "that one where you put all the pretty things on the plate." It was so very, very cute that I decided to take that cold platter Top Drawer that night. We ate cold platter off my very best dishes with linen napkins and they had their milk in my good wine glasses. And it is a tradition that we have carried on for twenty five years now. The hot, humid days of summer will always seem happier if you have Pretty Supper for dinner.
So take out your very best platter that you save just for company and line it with the lettuce of your choice. Buy a variety of cold meats that you like, and I always buy one I've never tried before just for the fun of it. Roll them up and arrange them in the middle of the platter. Buy a couple of nice cheeses. Remember we're really just making sandwiches here, so use something suitable for that. Arrange them alongside the meats on the outer edges of the platter. Slice a tomato and spread it around on either side of the cheese. Basically add whatever you like. I make some carrot sticks and celery sticks, sliced cucumber and arrange them around. And also some sliced hard boiled eggs. Sprinkle a few black olives around if you like them. Just think of it as the platter is your canvas and decorate it however you like including wonderful things to put on a sandwich and a few cold vegetables to nibble on. The trick is to make it pretty! I do a plate of fresh sliced fruit too because who doesn't love that? Buy some wonderfully fresh buns or artisan bread and serve it in a basket lined with a linen napkin. Use pretty little bowls to put your condiments in. We like mayonnaise and different mustards. And a bowl of ranch or blue cheese dressing to dip your veggies in. It would really take away from the beauty of it all if you were to slam a plastic mustard bottle on the table and a bottle of Hellmans. So take the time to make it feel like high tea at the Savoy! And set your table with your best linens and a vase of fresh flowers. Everybody gets to make their own customized sandwich with the things they like on it. It's light and fun and delicious! And one thing I've noticed over the years - EVERYBODY puts their best manners on when you bring out the good china! Enjoy your pretty supper experience and try to stay cool!

Moroccan Chicken

I am having the BEST week, because I’m off work and have all day to shop for food and then cook that food. And! I have someone to actually cook for. I have a friend staying with me right now, and she has travelled all over the world. I’ve been listening to her stories all week and can’t get enough. It’s basically my dream life right now.

Final Plating! 

In the spirit of international travel, I decided to make an adaptation of Moroccan chicken for her. This is an ADAPTATION- the inspiration of the recipes came from Canadian Living (not Moroccan) and allrecipes.com (also not Moroccan), so I cannot vouch for the authenticity of it. I would love to go to Morocco and just spend a year there, learning how to cook and finding myself and such. An “Eat, Pray, Love” experience, just without the yoga and the men. Sadly, I have responsibilities such as a mortgage and a dog, so that’s off the table for now and I’m left with only the “facts” of the Internet.

Because I am a lover (read: sucker) of all things that can be put in the kitchen, I purchased a tagine last year as well, although I’m too scared to put it on my stovetop. I won’t cook the chicken in that, plus it’s small for an entire meal. (I know it’s designed to go on the stovetop, but I feel like I’m going to burn it or something.) Instead of cooking the chicken in the tagine, I make my couscous in it. That works very well.

This is one of those recipes that taste better the longer you cook it. I suggest chicken thighs, although you can also chop up an entire chicken and use that. So put on some Moroccan music, get out your spices and get ready to thrill your taste buds!

You’ll need:

-Chicken thighs or drumsticks (bone-in)

-Splash of orange juice

Hell yeah, tagine. 

-Half a cup of chicken stock (and we know my homemade snobbery about that, but store bought can work just fine)

-Cinnamon, cumin, turmeric, nutmeg, salt and pepper (about a teaspoon of each)

-2-4 cloves (optional- if you add them make sure you tell people not to eat them)

-1 onion sliced thinly

-4-6 cloves of garlic chopped finely

-Honey (1 tbsp)

                                           

For the couscous:

Browning in the pot

-A box of the couscous and just follow the instructions about how much water

-Golden raisins

-Toasted pine nuts

-Chopped parsley (about two tbsp.)

*Couscous is the easiest and quickest thing in the world to cook. I am a huge supporter of it.

The first thing to do is put a little oil in your chicken pot (just a LITTLE… you aren’t deep-frying anything). Put your onion and garlic in until translucent. Then put in your chicken and brown the skin. You can also remove the skin if you wish. It isn’t going to get crispy because we are braising this, so if that texture will put you off, just take the skin off before you put in the chicken.

When your chicken is browned, add in your spices, the honey, orange juice and stock. Bring to a boil uncovered in your pot and let it reduce a little. Cover and simmer for as long as you like, at least half an hour.

Look at that sexy tagine! 

About ten minutes before you are ready to serve, do the couscous. If you have a tagine, just boil the amount of water you need, add the boiling water to the couscous in the tagine and cover. If you are doing this in a pot, then add your water, bring to a boil and cover. Let it sit for ten minutes. In the meantime, toast your pine nuts and get them ready. After ten minutes, fluff your couscous with a fork and add the nuts, parsley and raisins.

That is it! Within an hour, you too can feel like Elizabeth Gilbert, frolicking around exotic locales and having sex with the residents. Not bad for a Wednesday night! 

Tourtiere

The best laid plans sometimes never work out. I was all set to lay out my recipe for jambalaya today, but we just celebrated Canada Day, and my national pride has gotten a hold of me. We probably don't have one actual dish that defines us as a nation. We produce some of the best quality icewines in the world. And we export some of the finest quality salmon and lobster in the world. Also cheese and not to mention our beer! But none of that speaks to the world of just exactly who we are as a people. And I'm not even sure that we ourselves know the answer to that question. For sure we have the best maple syrup available, thanks to our vast abudance of hardwood forest. But we always just took that for granted. We have so many natural resources right at our doorstep that we don't even realize it. The one thing I do know that we export to the world is our athletes. Our hockey players - such as Wayne Gretzty, are second to none. Our Olympic athletes never fail to make us proud. And I just have to believe that the reason we produce such an abundance of all things robust, is because we are such hearty folk reigning from the far great north of the Yukon all the way east the the Atlantic ocean.
Every single thing about being Canadian makes me proud. We're still not sure what that single element is that makes us unique, but by God we're more than happy to embrace it! So here is a dish that I always enjoy making, and it's one of those dishes that every household has their own recipe for. If you were to take this recipe and show it to somebody in Quebec let's say, I think they would spit on it and say it's shit. And so they should since I made it up myself and I'm certain they stick with the one that their family has used for generations! And well they should. Recipes are always only a guideline in the way that rules are meant to be broken. In fact, every recipe I offer Should be tweaked and re-organized to suit you the cook!
So you'll need:
A pie crust. Top and bottom. Buy it in the frozen section of the grocery store just as I taught you in chicken pot pie recipe, unless you've fallen in love with all things culinary and you want to make your own. And I applaud you if you do! But whatever you choose, stab a fork in the bottom of the crust a few times and sprinkle a bit of celery seed on that.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
For the filling:
1 onion chopped
2 garlic cloves finely chopped
1 small carrot very finely choppped
1/2 pound of both ground beef (hamburger meat as we know it) and ground pork. (Here's where the people from Quebec - hunters would disagree. They use ground deer or moose meat and such. And use that if you can get it!)
1 potato grated on your regular square cheese grater
1/2 Tsp of thyme, sage, cinnamon and onion powder
salt and pepper.
A very hearty splash of red wine
a good splash of Worcestshire sauce
Saute the onion and carrot until they soften and add the garlic.  Saute for 3 or 4 minutes.
Add the meat and the grated potato and the spices and wine and Worcestshire. Let it all have a really nice time in the pan, stirring once in a while until everything reduces and the potato is soft. When it smells delicous and everthing in the pan is soft and the liquid is pretty much evapourated, drain off the fat and pour it all into your pie shell. Put the top on the pie and put a few slits in the top pastry to let the steam escape. Make sure your top and bottom shells are tightly sealed and let it bake for about 35 minutes. If you're in the mood for puttin' on the ritz, brush your pie shell with a beaten egg and it will come up golden brown like a restaurant or a commercial. I say do it if you have an egg lying around! But the main thing you want to remember is to put your pie on a cookie sheet when you put it in the oven so you don't have that overspill issue where you either have to clean the oven or go buy a new one. That really sucks! I like to serve this just with a salad of baby greens, or arugula. Happy Canada Day! Be proud of your nation!