It seems too cloyingly retro to put little frilly paper cuffs on the bones of a rack of lamb, but using a parchment paper or silver bone holder (called a manche, en Francais) for a larger roast has a truly practical purpose: it gives you a clean handle to hold when you’re carving your roast.
You can go fancy, like the silver ‘manche à gigot’, a clamp that is designed to be the perfect size for holding a leg of lamb. Or you can keep it simple like I did on Christmas Eve when I tied a triangle of parchment paper around the bone end of the whole ham I glazed for our family feast.
When’s the last time you cooked a bone-in roast? If you don’t do it often, what holds you back?
Did I mention to you that my husband is writing a cookbook? Well, he is. And, it’s already two weeks overdue to be submitted to the publisher. That means I’ve been jumping in and helping him with last minute testing and proofreading. As a result, even though I desperately needed and wanted to go for a manicure, we spent all Saturday afternoon making oxtail ravioli.
To be honest, spending time in the kitchen with him again is rather fun. I think I’ll miss it when he goes back to working downtown at his restaurant. Likewise, I learned a lot about making ravioli and thought I’d share some tips with you in case you get inspired to give it a whirl yourself. I can’t share Martin’s recipe since his book isn’t published yet, but I’ll add a couple of links to other good sources after my tips.
• Don’t try to make ravioli with bought fresh lasagna noodles from the grocery store. They are about 1000 times too thick. If you don’t want to make fresh pasta, substitute wonton wrappers instead.
• No matter what filling you choose, be sure to roll it into compact little balls so that there are no air pockets in the final raviolis.
• Let the freshly made ravioli cure for an hour or so before boiling so that the egg used to make the two layers of pasta cling to one another has time to set.
• Keep the fresh ravioli in a single layer on a cornmeal or flour dusted tray. If freezing, flash freeze in a single layer and then bag the ravioli.
Some recommended recipes:
-Artichoke Ravioli with Tomatoes
-Mango Chicken Ravioli
-Ravioli Caprese
I imagine I’m like most moms. News stories about children in trouble pull at my heartstrings and stick with me. Like most food writers, I’m also well aware of the startling statistics that show how many children struggle with their health due to childhood obesity. While I don’t think we should shut down our dialogue about this problem, recently, I’ve become concerned about how our discourse is leading – in some cases – to more problems.
Case in point, Joanne Richard’s recent Toronto Sun article points out that more young girls than ever before are skipping meals to lose weight. It seems we’ve told them they are fat but not given them the proper tools to self evaluate or take healthy actions if they are indeed overweight.
Worse yet, parents in Florida are being urged to make foolish, radical choices to ‘help’ their fat kids. While Martin and I were vacationing there earlier this month, I was gob smacked to hear radio commercials advertising lap band surgery for kids. The big selling feature on these commercials was that your child would only need to miss 3 days of school. No mention of the nutritional issues, dietary or lifestyle changes they would need to cope with after the surgery.
How do you think we can better bring awareness to childhood obesity and help families to work with their kids to change their eating habits so that they’ll be healthy teens and adults? There must be a better way.
Blame it on higher unemployment rates or nostalgia for things past, but the current trend in side dishes is to welcome back baked faves such as classic cauliflower gratin. I made one myself a few weeks ago and I was surprised by the reaction I got at the table. My dining companions that night were my son (age 13) and my cousin (age 21). You’d think I had introduced them to a new, exotic food. Not only did they love it, but they both marveled and asked what this wonderful new concoction might be. Neither, apparently, had ever eaten a veggie gratin before.
I was prompted to make cauliflower gratin by a recipe and picture in a British food magazine (I forget which one) and by the many mentions of veggie crumbles and bakes that I’ve noted turning up more often in books and on TV shows. Some are classic (like the one I served which featured steamed cauliflower draped in a roux based cream sauce enriched with lots of Cheddar) while others are updated like the cranberry-crumb topped sweet potato gratin pictured above.
How do you feel about gratin-style side dish veggie casseroles? Too much work or a great make-ahead solution?
I just love the Scots! Burly men in dresses; whisky by the tumbler and salads that contain more meat and cheese than vegetables — they know how to live. Even in the winter, the Scots have a knack for making their own fun. Instead of whining about seasonal affective disorder, they have Burns Night. A great reason to get together, share a laugh and eat your fill of organ meats and root vegetables. How can’t that be fun?
This year in honour of Burns Day, my husband created a haggis contest for his restaurant staff. They’ve all embraced the charcuterie trend and many have become wonderful salami makers so why not direct their enthusiasm and chef training toward a food that really needs a makeover: haggis!
Six cooks and one waiter took up the challenge and last week, at a tasting presided over by professional palates Lucy Waverman, Allison Fryer, Corey Mintz and Sheryl Kirby, a winner was crowned. The competition was tough but in the end, saucier Chris Waye had the full stomach that won the most votes. His prize: a bottle of 17-year-old Macallan scotch whisky and having his haggis recipe featured on today’s lunch menu at Pangaea.
Here, in case you feel like filling a stomach that isn’t your own, is a traditional haggis recipe and Chris’s winning haggis tips:
Chris Waye’s Top Five Haggis Tips
1 Simmer, never boil.
Rapidly boiling your offal increases the chance of a dry product. Gently simmering helps to create a moist texture.
2 Poach in a flavorful broth.
The advantage to cooking the offal twice is the opportunity to infuse flavours. I begin with a lamb stock which I season like a court bouillon. Set aside the used broth for later use.
3 You don’t have to use a sheep’s stomach.
Using a sheep’s stomach — although traditional — is not mandatory. In my personal opinion it isn’t even practical. Beef middles, collagen casing, even caul fat are possible alternatives, all of which are rather neutral in flavour.
4 The haggis mixture should be well saturated but not wet.
This step is critical for the texture of the final product. Use some of the flavorful lamb broth from the first blanch of the offal. This not only adds moisture but also helps to intensify the flavour.
5 Use lots of pepper
Black pepper adds a pleasant heat and spiciness. Add a generous handful of black peppercorns to season the first broth and white pepper to the mixture itself.
It’s the perfect time of year to make a big roast and have some friends over for supper, don’t you think? I love a good roast beef dinner with Yorkshire puddings and gravy. But, being just a family of three, it’s impossible to make that menu and not have tons of leftovers so I save making a prime rib for when we have company.
It’s not hard to do, but – because it’s so pricey – you want to make sure you roast a prime rib correctly. Follow my tips for making the perfect roast beef.
• Preheat the oven to 425°F (225°c).
• Pat the roast dry all over and rub with just enough vegetable oil to coat.
• Sprinkle evenly and generously with coarse salt and black pepper.
• Place the seasoned roast on a rack in a shallow roasting pan (reserve your covered roaster for pot roast and cabbage rolls!).
• Place in the oven and cook for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350°F (180°C).
• Roast for 12 to 15 minutes per pound or until an instant read thermometer inserted into the roast registers 125 °F (51°C).
• Remove from the oven and let rest for 10 minutes (The temperature will rise to about 130°F (55°C), which will mean the roast will be medium-rare when you carve.)
I recently met a man – a highly successful Canadian executive – who has the world’s second largest collection of potato chip varieties. No, really. He does. Until I met him I had no idea that people a.) collect potato chips or, b.) that they kept track of each other. But, as it turns out, they do.
Then I started to think about my own life and I realized that I know a lot of people who have culinary collections of some kind. I, for instance, collect vintage Coalport cups and saucers (that’s few of them in the picture). My husband has a vintage ice cream scoop collection. And my mother-in-law has a collection of vintage tins that decorate her shelves.
What about you? Do you have a culinary collection of any kind? If so, what do you collect and why do you continue with it?
I like beans but I sometimes forget about them. And that’s too bad since they’re great sources of low fat protein and fibre.
My pal Cheryl Sternman Rule over at 5 Second Rule has been on a bean kick lately and Charmian at Christie’s Corner made refried beans in the slow cooker the other day. Together, these two writers have urged me to use beans more often. After all, if the other cool food bloggers are doing it, I should be, too!
My blog has been pretty recipe heavy this week so instead of providing a list of bean recipes to inspire both you and me, I think I’ll just offer some easy ways to add beans to your meals:
• Add a handful of beans to an omelet along with other stuff such as cheese and green onions.
• Craving a snack? Mix equal parts beans with salsa before you dip that tortilla chip.
• Having rice for dinner? Fluff 2 cups (500 mL) hot, cooked rice with 1 cup (250 mL) of warm beans (such as red kidney) before serving.
• Halve the meat in spaghetti sauce and make up the difference with cooked chickpeas.
• Add a handful of cooked beans to chicken noodle or any broth-based soup to add protein and make it more satisfying.
What great ideas do you have for using beans when you cook?
Baked apple recipes that combine sweet and savoury elements are popping up in recipe books and on menus more often. Served as either a side dish for dishes such as pork chops or ham or as a combination dessert and cheese course, these identity challenged little morsels add an interesting twist to home entertaining menus, too.
Here’s a “trendy” recipe you can try out on your friends and family:
Cheesy Stuffed Baked Apples
4 Granny Smith apples
1/4 cup (50 mL) softened butter
1/3 cup (75 mL) lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup (125 mL) each dried cranberries and chopped walnuts or pecans
1 1/2 cups (375 mL) shredded aged Cheddar cheese
Sauce:
1 cup (250 mL) cranberry or apple juice
1 cinnamon stick
1 tbsp (15 mL) brandy
1 tsp (5 mL) butter
1. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Core each apple, leaving the bottom intact. Cream the butter with the brown sugar and stir in the cranberries, walnuts and 1/2 cup (125 mL) of the cheese. Divide the mixture evenly between each apple, packing it gently into the cavities.
2. Arrange the apples in a 9-in (23-cm) round cake pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until tender. Transfer the hot apples to a deep serving platter and sprinkle tops evenly with remaining cheese.
3. Set the hot baking pan on the stovetop over medium-high heat. Add the juice, cinnamon stick and brandy and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes or until the pan juices are reduced and slightly thickened. Discard cinnamon sticks. Whisk in butter. Drizzle sauce over the apples on the platter. Makes 4 servings.
How do you feel about sweet and savoury baked apples? Hit or miss?
Got the winter blues? Craving comfort food but don’t have the time make lasagna? Want to spice things up but too lazy to shave your legs or find a date? Then these firecracker noodles are for you!
Firecracker Noodles
2/3 cup (150 mL) chicken broth
2 tbsp (30 mL) siracha
2 tbsp (30 mL) mirin or sherry
4 tsp (20 mL) soy sauce
2 tsp (10 mL) each lime juice and fish sauce
1 tsp (5 mL) granulated sugar
1 tbsp (15 mL) cornstarch
2tbsp (30 mL) sesame oil
2 finely chopped red chilies
1 onion, thinly sliced
3 cups (750 mL) thinly sliced veggies such as peppers, snow peas, broccoli, green beans, water chestnuts
8 cups (2 L) hot cooked chow mein noodles or whole wheat spaghetti
Chopped fresh coriander
Sesame seeds
Blend the broth with the siracha, mirin, soy sauce, lime juice, fish sauce, sugar and cornstarch. Set aside.
Heat the oil in a large wok or deep skillet set over high heat. Add the chilies and toss to coat in oil. Add the onion and veggies and stir-fry for 3 to 5 minutes or until fork tender. Make a well in the vegetables; stir the cornstarch mixture and pour into the well. Cook, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes or until thickened. Add the noodles and toss to coat.
Sprinkle with coriander and sesame seeds and serve immediately. Makes 4 servings.
How do you spice things up in the kitchen this time of year?
