The Art of Breakfast Hashbrowns

What makes a good breakfast potato? Ask 10 people, get 10 answers I tell you. Everyone has a favourite style! I'm not going to use this post to try and tell you I have the best way to make a hashbrown but instead I have am going to share the techniques to make a damn good breakfast potato. I have talked about this topic a lot with a lot of people. I am breakfast person and the potato is the lynch pin. Everyone can toast some bread and put some nice sausage and poached eggs on a plate but if your potatoes suck then I am going to be ticked.

The key is twofold: soft inside and crunchy outside. How do you do this? Boil first, fry second. The boiling action cooks the potato through and makes it soft. The frying brings not just the crunch but the flavour too.

Follow this method and breakfast at your house will become legend.

Method:

• Chop your potatoes into larger chunks. You don’t want shredded potatoes or even cubed ones. You are aiming for the nickel to quarter range. No golf balls but half golf balls. Does anyone understand or am I talking crazy?
• Drop the potatoes into cold, salted water. Cover, set on high and bring to a rolling boil.
• When it is boiling rapidly, count to 30 and then drain them. Let them steam in the colander until dry. If they are still moist you won’t achieve your crunch.
• In a frying pan, put equal parts butter and oil. Heat until it foams over medium high heat.
• Add in your potatoes and CAREFULLY toss them in the butter and oil. The less you touch them with a spoon the better. You don’t want them to break up.
• Fry until they start to color, flipping frequently.
• Now is the time to add some flavorings. I like to use garlic powder, dried herbs and lots of salt and pepper. I know that some of you will cringe at the garlic powder rather than the fresh stuff but you want the garlic to coat every little bit of potato. Sprinkle it all over, flipping the potatoes in the pan to make sure it is equally covered.
• Continue to cook over medium – medium high until they become deep golden.
• You can blot them on kitchen paper but don’t let them sit, serve right away so they stay CRISP.

Soups On! The Classic, The Creamy, The Delicious: Potato Leek with Bacon and Onion Salad

Tell me: Is there any better food on a cold rainy day than a steaming bowl of soup with maybe a little crusty bread to soak up all the last drips?

I have a soft spot for tomato, I grew up on cream of chicken and I feel invigorated after a fresh veggie soup. But my favorite will always be leek and potato. It’s always creamy and seems to fill you up without being heavy. The way I love to make soup is to put something delicious and crispy in the centre of the bowl so there is texture and extra flavour. It makes it more of a meal and more well rounded. In this recipe I used some crispy bacon ends that also went into flavoring the stock that made the soup. Yay dual purpose! You could use anything: some asparagus tips sautéed in butter, crispy chicken fried in garlic or perhaps some sundried tomatoes and croutons. Unbelievable. If you do decide to go a different way, simply replace the bacon and leek infusion part of the recipe with simple chicken stock.

One recommendation for a super creamy soup is to push it through a chinois. If you don’t have one of these classic cone shaped sieves, use a normal fine holed one and push it through twice. This process will make the soup have a very fine texture and send it to a whole new level.

Ingredients:

3 leeks, washed, dark greens removed and white and light green parts chopped

2 small onions, chopped rough

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 large potato (a good baker’s russet, or a couple of the medium to large gold-type potatoes), chopped rough. I like to leave the skins on cause I find they are tasty and nutritious.

A couple of Tbsp of Herbs (Rosemary is a tasty choice, I love chives or parsley)

A glass of white wine

4-5 strips of bacon (If you can, get a handful of smoked bacon ends. You can get these at good butcher shops and some grocers. They are basically off cuts from slab bacon and they are darn tasty)

3-4 green onions, minced fine

¼ cup cream, warmed slightly

Method:

• In a saucepan, pour 5 cups or so of water and a pinch of salt. Toss in the leek ends, the bacon (whole) and some salt and pepper. Bring it to a rolling boil and then shut it off and let it infuse.
• In a large saucepan, heat a tbsp or so of oil over medium high heat and add in the chopped leeks, onions and the garlic. Sauté while stirring for a few minutes until soft. Don’t let them color.
• Toss in the chopped potato and raise the heat to high. Stir for a few minutes.
• Add in the chopped herb of choice and the white wine to deglaze.
• Drain the water from the leek-bacon infusion into the soup pot. Bring it to the boil and turn it down so that it has a good simmer and keep it going until the potatoes are fully cooked, about 30 mins.
• Remove the bacon before throwing away the leeks. Chop the bacon roughly, fry it in some olive oil, drain and toss in with the chopped green onion and a pinch of pepper. Set it aside.
• When the potatoes are fully cooked and falling apart, remove the pot from the heat and blend. I use a little immersion blender but if you are using a countertop version, do it in batches. Set up a nice clean pot on the stove and push your newly blended soup through a chinois or sieve. Add in the warm cream and heat the soup to your desired temperature. Smooth goodness.
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• In a bowl put a mound of your bacon onion salad. Go for height. Pour the soup around it. Sprinkle some soft herbs around it, like parsley or chives or some watercress. Sprinkle with a little grated hard cheese if you are feeling particularly decadent.

Best enjoyed while sitting in a warm house watching the rain or snow fall outside.

BLT French Toast, A New Classic?

I don’t know where I picked this one up. Even as I sat down to make it I was a little confused. What would you call it: Savoury French toast? Fried bread?  I must say though, the end product is simple and delicious. As is true in most recipes but especially this one: quality ingredients makes for quality flavours.

The idea is to soak bread in a flavoured egg mix and then fry in fat. Seems simple enough? That's cause it is. For this recipe I tried rye bread with a little mustard mixed in with the egg base. Tasty. I then did a multi grain with a garlic herb base. Delectable. But my favourite of all, the one pictured here, uses a sourdough bread, little smoked paprika, red pepper flakes and dried herbs and tops off the whole thing in the flavours of the traditional BLT sandwich. Wacky I know but this type of re-imagined dish with classic flavours and the ability to adapt to any ingredients around: straight out of the bistro my friends.

Start off with a good loaf of bread. It doesn't have to be fresh but it can’t be stale either. Think about the end product and then match the flavours in the base. Are you going to be topping it with a poached egg and some ham? Maybe a little hollandaise? Go with a garlic-y base. Are you going to put a salad on top with big punchy flavours? Keep the base simple.

Whatever you choose to do, whatever you call this dish and however you present it: don’t limit this to the breakfast table! This could make a great brunch dish for a group or a light healthy entrée  Experiment. Go wild. I certainly plan to.

Ingredients:

A few pieces of quality (if a bit older) bread, try to use a firmer bread like sourdough or rye or something similar, nothing that is going to come apart in a little egg

2 eggs (adjust if you are using more bread, I used 3 eggs for 4 slices of bread the other night)

A pinch of smoked paprika

A pinch of dried herbs (thyme, rosemary or the like)

A pinch of crushed red pepper

A pinch of salt and pepper

A Tbsp or so of cream or milk

A little oil and a ‘nubbin’ of butter

A handful of lettuce leaves, chopped or torn

A few pieces of sundried tomatoes, shredded or a couple cherry tomatoes chopped into quarters

3 strips of bacon

Either a few Tbsp of your favourite dressing or whip up a simple balsamic dressing (1 part balsamic, 3 parts oil, salt and pepper)

A drizzle of maple syrup (optional, see the end of the method)

Method:

• In a large flat dish, crack in your eggs, sprinkle in all your spices and whisk very well. Pour in your cream to loosen it up a little and season well.
• The length of time you should soak your bread really depends on its type and thickness but generally around the time it takes you to perform the next couple of steps is fine. Make sure when you add the bread to your egg mix you apply a little bit of pressure to sponge up a little extra mix and every few minutes you flip the bread to make sure it is all coated.
• In a large frying pan, fry your bacon in a little oil. Don’t cook it crunchy, remove it from the pan and chop up finely. Combine it in with the tomatoes.
• Don’t remove the tasty fat from the bacon pan. Toss in the butter and return it to the heat. Bring it to medium or medium high, and stir the butter until it melts and foams up. Add the egg soaked bread to the pan and fry until golden on each side.
• As the bread is frying, toss the salad with the dressing and ½ the tomato-bacon mix.
• Blot the fried bread on paper towel and plate. At this point I have grown fond of a wee little drizzle of maple syrup. It seems to add to the entire dish. Your choice. But you know you want to.
• Top the bread off with a handful of salad, sprinkle on some more of the tomato-bacon mix. Enjoy. Perhaps with a glass of white wine. Or two. 

Big Events Need Big Dishes: Double Cheese Soufflé

Almost a month has passed since I last posted! My girlfriend and I have packed up the house and moved to a new town. It has been hectic as we got everything together and made the arrangements for the move and I’m sorry to say the kitchen has been quiet. That has all changed now that we are moved in. The new stove had never been cooked on and I racked my brain on what I should make first. It had to be something special. Something that set the tone for our new home. Something I’d never made before. Soufflé. Double cheese soufflé to be exact.

At one point I whipped up some chocolate soufflés. They rose and they fell, they were a little dense but they were still tasty. Cheese is a different story. They are supposed to fluffy, airy, creamy and rich. I turned to the professional. Julia Child. She has pages and pages dedicated to the soufflé arts in her amazing cookbooks.

In the end, soufflés are actually quite easy. The reputation that precedes them intimidates people and makes them seem more complicated than they are. The key is to:

a) Make sure that everything is prepared and laid out in advance

b) The soufflé mold has to be well buttered and its edges clean so it can rise smoothly

c) The flavored base has to be strong enough

The last point is an odd one I know but as soufflé is essentially a flavor mixed in with egg whites to create puff, if the base isn’t strong enough or isn’t properly seasoned all you taste is egg. No good. Make sure that if you are making soufflé, the soufflé is going to wow.

Ingredients:

4 Tbsp butter

Just over 1 cup finely grated cheese (I used a Grana Padano Parm with a small amount of havarti but Swiss also works nice)

3 Tbsp flour

1 cup milk

A healthy pinch of paprika

A healthy pinch of nutmeg

5 eggs (separated into 4 yolks and 5 whites, 1 yolk does go to waste)

Method:

• Start off by using a little bit of butter to grease up a baking dish. The dish needs to have straight-ish sides and be able to hold about 6 cups. When it is all greased up sprinkle about a Tbsp of your finely grated cheese in there and shake it all around. The last set in preparing the dish is to take a cloth and wipe down the edges of the dish so that the soufflé doesn’t catch. Refrigerate the dish until you’re ready for it.
• Preheat your oven to 400 and put the milk into a sauce pan over medium high and bring it just to the simmer.
• Melt the remaining butter (about 3 Tbsp) in another saucepan until it is bubbling over medium to medium high.
• Add the flour to the butter and stir with a wooden spoon for about 2 min. It’ll foam up but don’t let it brown. It will probably toast a bit and smell nice and nutty.
• Take the butter mix off the heat and slowly add in the just simmering milk while whisking really well. Beat in some salt, pepper, the paprika and the nutmeg.
• Return the sauce to the heat and stir constantly while letting it boil for about a minute.
• Take the pan off the heat and while beating with a whisk, slowly, one at a time add in the yolks.
• In the bowl with the whites, add a pinch of salt and beat with either a hand mixer or stand mixer until stiff peaks form.  It may take a while, test if you’re done by lifting the beaters up and see if it is forming little mountain style peaks. Don’t do this by hand unless you are heavily muscled. I’m not. If you are, I applaud your dedication to fitness.
• When your peaks are peaked, stir a big spoonful into the yolk mixture with the cheese to loosen it all up. When it is all folded in add in the rest of the whites and gently fold it all together. DON’T MIX IT TO MUCH. DON’T MIX IT TO HARD. This is what will make it fluffy.
• Scoop it into the prepared mold and tap the mold on the counter a couple of times to settle it all. Sprinkle a little bit more cheese on top. Just for kicks.
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• Put it into the oven and immediately turn it down to 375. Bake it for about 30 mins before you open the door. It should be nice and brown and puffed up over the bowl.

Serve it immediately with a nice green salad.

Its Like Fall in Dessert Form: Apple, Pear and Candied Ginger Crumble

I am a big fan of crumbles, cobblers and crisps. I have never been much of a baker but this recipe is one of my fall backs.  It really is a catch all for any fruit you want to use but this time of year nothing beats apple and pear. To really punch it up, I like to add some sliced, candied ginger. It liquefies in the oven and gives it a sweet, spiced tang. Delicious.

Try to use a good cooking apple rather than an eating one. I know this sounds odd but some apples just seem to hold their shape much better when baked and you want texture: We’re not making apple mush with crumble topping. This also explains the cornstarch. Although you could go without, the starch absorbs any excess liquid in the dish and thickens it so the apples don’t boil in their own juices.

One last thing....don’t skip the ice cream or whipping cream. Some may fight it but it is a part of the crumble and a small scoop when the dish is fresh out of the oven....perfection.

Ingredients:

6 apples (I wanted to use some pears so I went 4 apples and 2 pears)

2 tbsp cornstarch

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup oatmeal

¼ cup granola or raisans

Half cup of butter, melted

4 or 5 little nubs of candied ginger, sliced

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 350⁰
• Wash and chop up your fruit. I like to leave the skins on but that’s a personal preference, up to you. Whatever you decide, leave the fruit nice and chunky.
• Toss the fruit with the cornstarch and in a separate bowl mix together the other ingredients. Really mix it all up and evenly distribute all the butter.
• Toss the fruit with half of the topping mix. Put it into a good size casserole dish and spread the rest of the crumble onto the top.
• Bake in the oven for about 45 mins or until nicely browned. Serve warm.

A Break from the French Bistro to the Spanish Tapa: Crabcakes with Spicy Remoulade

Whew. It’s been a week, I tell you. Scratch that it has been a few weeks. I haven’t been able to sit down and plan out my relaxing cooking time and write up my posts with life being all crazy around me. That isn’t to say I haven’t been cooking, it just means I haven’t been able to plan it all out. This particular post comes out of that hectic time. Its a flavor base I don’t usually roll with but I needed to get my mind out there, and hey bistros exist the world over so instead of this post being a cornerstone bistro recipe it might just be a cornerstone tapa recipe.

I drew inspiration from a fellow blogger’s recent activity (Seafood Cakes from Johnny Condor Eats) and coupled it with a recipe I learned from a fabulous cook in Ireland. It came as an eye opener, it’s got flavor coming from the crab cake, coming from the sauce, its slightly spicy, moist and juicy, it’s got crunch, and I hate to say it....its got style.

The key to pulling this recipe off is threefold: 

1. Use fresh crab not canned, good fishmongers will have ‘picked’ crab in containers and that is the stuff you want to get, don’t go through the problem of picking a whole crab by yourself.
2. Use your best judgement when it comes to the ratios, if you see in the bowl that the mix is a little dry, up your mayo a bit, if it is a little moist than you think it should be, add in some more bread crumbs. Don’t blindly follow the recipe.
3. Don’t skip the sauce and the additions. Prep these in advance. They make the dish.

Crabcake Ingredients:

Container of fresh crab meat (I managed to get some good blue crab, it was mixed white and brown meat and that kept it moist. I had about 2lbs all together)

½ red onion, sliced very fine

5 scallions, finely diced

Small handful of parsley, finely chopped

3 egg yolks

100 ml mayo

200g or so of bread crumbs

1 tbsp mild chilli powder

1 tsp ground cumin

Method:

• Pick through the crab and check for shells. Set aside.
• Combine all of the ingredients except for 1 egg yolk and the bread crumbs in a large bowl. Add in the crab and half of the bread crumbs. Check consistency. Add in some more bread and check again. You want it to stick together not be crumbly or too wet. Judgement time.
• Chill the mix for about 20 minutes so the flavors merry together. Take it out, form it into little cakes and put it back into the fridge for 10 more minutes.
• Heat a pan with some oil over medium high heat. Flour the cakes lightly, getting rid of any excess and then fry for about 2 mins each side. Place the cakes into the oven for about 10 minutes. This combo cooking method allows for a crunch on the outside but slows down the process so they stay moist.

Plate with some Spicy Remoulade (recipe below), some fresh salsa (for an idea of what I mean by fresh try the salsa used in this recipe here) and some crispy tortilla chips (take a tortilla and slice it into strips, throw it into the 350⁰ oven for a few minutes with a sprinkling of oil until crisp)

Spicy Remoulade

This recipe is a fantastic pairing with the crab cakes as it carries some of the same flavors, really bringing the dish together. I usually puree it all together in the end but you can keep it chunky if you’d like.

Ingredients:

400g mayo

150g sour cream

1 lime, zested and juiced

2 peppers, seeded and finely diced (I used a nice Jalapeno)

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1 tbsp mild chilli powder

1 tsp ground cumin

2 dashes Tabasco

Method:

• Mix the first five ingredients together in a bowl with some salt and pepper.
• Add half of each of the remaining ingredients. Taste. Does it need more slow heat? More chilli powder. Does it need more spice? Cumin. Do you want it to have a bite to it? Tabasco.
• Let it sit in the fridge, covered until you’re ready for it.

Fall off the Bone Braised Beef Ribs with Fried Mushrooms and Bacon

This recipe is definitely a show stopper. Braised beef, red wine sauce, crispy mushrooms and salty bacon. Similar in style to the bistro classic beef bourguignon, this dish is braised in its sauce over a long time to develop deep flavors out of ingredients that many consider too tough to work with: beef short ribs. The mushrooms and bacon are cooked separately to ensure a differing contrast: melt in your mouth meat with crispy mushrooms. Not that braised mushroom is bad eating, far from it. I just prefer it cooked separately.

I served this braise with a bright, acidic coleslaw and some lemon butter boiled potatoes. But feel free to riff a little with whatever you want. Maybe toss the potatoes into the sauce for the last 20-25 minutes of cook time or add carrots, onions or sautéed spinach to the pancetta and mushrooms.

I must admit though that I made an error with this recipe. When I removed the meat from the braise and reduced the sauce a little bit, I should have removed as much of the residual fat off the top as possible. It didn’t affect the end taste but it added a shine and oiliness to the plate that I was not happy with. To fix this problem when you give this recipe a try, you should spoon off any of the fat floating on the surface when the pan comes out of the oven and do so again when you remove the meat to reduce the sauce a bit. Hmmmm maybe I’ll have to make it again to perfect it......yum.

Ingredients:

2-3 pounds, Beef Short Ribs about 6 large pieces, try to find the meaty ones with small bones

1 whole bulb Garlic, smashed up and cloves removed but not cut up

1 Tbsp tomato puree, I used a leftover tomato sauce I had around

¾ of a bottle of red wine, nothing too expensive, ask at the store for something to braise with

3 cups or so of chicken stock

¾ pound of mushrooms, white, brown, portabella, etc. Halved but kept quite chunky

2 or 3 thick strips of bacon or pancetta, diced into lardons

Small handful of parsley leaves

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 350⁰ as you prepare all of your ingredients.
• Place a heavy roasting pan onto the stove and preheat to high with a tbsp or 3 of oil.
• When the pan is hot enough to sear, brown all of the short ribs. Turn the pan down if necessary to make sure the ribs are browning not burning.
• When you are browning the last side, toss in the tomato sauce and the garlic. Cook them for a minute.
• Deglaze with a cup of the red wine. Scrap up any bits and let it reduce a little bit.
• Add the rest of the wine after a minute or two and bring to the boil. Top the liquid up with the stock until it’s an inch or so from the top of the ribs.
• Cover with tin foil and place in the preheated oven. Two and a half hours of slow cooking will turn this tough meat into something unbelievably delicious.
• When you have half an hour left, open the oven and pierce the foil with a knife, two or three times. This allows steam to leave and the sauce to reduce a bit.
• Fry the bacon in a dry pan until the fat has rendered a bit and the lardons begin crisping. Add the mushrooms and sauté until golden and crisp all around.
• Remove the pan from the oven and skim the fat that has accumulated. Remove the meat to a plate to rest, and set the pan over medium to get a simmer going. Reduce it down a little bit.
• Plate up the short ribs. Spoon some sauce over. Top with the fried mushroom mix and a sprinkling of parsley. Yum.

Nothing Need Go To Waste and I'll Waste no Time in Making Palmiers

Nothing goes to waste in my kitchen. Spices get used up until I'm scraping the bag clean. Veggie trimmings are saved for stock. Leftovers become soup. It is a natural cycle that I keep up because hey I'm not rich and hey who likes to throw things away? So when a few days ago I posted a recipe on the blog for Tarte Tatin (baked upside down caramel apple tart, recipe link here) and I didn't actually need all of the puff pastry I had bought, I knew I needed to come up with a good use for it. I kept this little nubbin of flaky goodness in my fridge for a few days drumming through the possibilities. Puff pastry is extremely versatile. You can top pies both savory and sweet with it, you can wrap meats with it or even turn it into the simple French cookie known as a palmier as I did here.

I've been making palmiers a long time but they are usually of the savory variety. I love rolling the dough out, sprinkling them with cheese and pesto and rolling them up in their trade mark shape and baking them into super flavorful little party appetizers. It has always been that dish in my repertoire that looks complicated and can be thrown together in twenty minutes. Always gets the ooohs and awwws if you know what I mean.

This recipe is a simple sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and butter cookie, that uses the puff pastry for a super flaky crunch. It goes very well with a nice cup of coffee in the morning and because it can be thrown easily together with little effort it is a great thing to pop in the oven when you have guests stopping by.

Sweet Palmiers

Ingredients: (I have left out specific measurements as it all depends on your taste, see method below)

Puff Pastry, thawed if it was frozen

White sugar

Brown sugar

Butter

Cinnamon

Nutmeg

Method:

• Start by taking your puff pastry out of the fridge for 10 minutes to soften up and preheating your oven to 350⁰
• On a large cutting board or your counter top, sprinkle a light mix of white sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg. Put the puff pastry onto the seasoned board and roll it out without flipping it over until it is quite thin.
• Melt a few tablespoons of butter in a small bowl and sprinkle in some brown sugar (about 2 to 1, butter to sugar) and stir well so the sugar dissolves. Using a spoon or a pastry brush, spread a small amount of butter over the pastry. Don’t overdo it. You don’t want soggy cookies.
• This is where your personal taste comes into play.  Sprinkle white sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg onto the buttered side of the pastry. If you like your cookies a little more neutral ease up on the sugar. If you want something a bit sweeter, adjust the sugar. Your call.  Not going to lie, I get a different cookie every time. I kind of like it.
• Now comes the fun part. Starting from one side, roll the dough tightly into the middle and then stop. From the other side, roll to meet the other side in the middle. You are looking for a long thin bundle that looks like a scroll. See the pictures if you don’t understand the shape we’re aiming for.
• Flip it over. Brush it down with a little more butter on the outside and slice into 1 cm disks. Place onto a non stick sheet pan (use baking paper if you have it. I didn’t so I used tin foil). Bake in the preheated oven for around 8 mins.
• Let rest for a few minutes on the pan and then remove to a cooling rack. Eat within a day or seal them up tight and finish them off the next day.

A Classic Pan Braise: Porc Avec Sauce Moutarde

Pork and mustard are best friends. A good pork sandwich with a smear of strong whole grain or a roast ham with a sweet, honey mustard glaze are both classic examples. In the bistro, mustards were a common accompaniment to different cured meats and so were readily available for other uses. In this recipe it is slowly braised with pork. The simmer of the sauce mellows the mustard and a touch of cream at the very end makes it very smooth. There are many different varieties of mustard, from dry seeds, sour whole grain, acidic yellow and the one used in this recipe: Dijon. Made using wine, the deep flavor of the mustard works well as a sauce base.

The stove top braise is a classic technique in the French bistro and works well with all types of tougher proteins. Some examples:

• An older chicken sautéed and then braised in wine with vegetables is a coq au vin.
• Meat sautéed and then braised in red wine and stock with vegetables is a beef bourguignon.

They all are cooked the same way: brown the meat in oil or butter and then remove from the pan, cook any vegetables you would like to include in the leftover oil, deglaze with a liquid and add the meat back to the pan, simmer until tender. This recipe is perhaps the simplest of all as the vegetables are cooked separately. This also allows nothing to come between the pork and the mustard sauce, which means great flavor.

I chose to serve the braised pork with some sautéed carrots, brussel sprout leaves and roasted potatoes. These are all seasonal but could be swapped out for a light salad, smooth mashed potatoes or a crunchy apple and cabbage slaw (apple and pork and mustard, are an amazing flavor combo). I love letting the leftover pork sit in the mustard sauce overnight in the fridge. Sliced thin the next day on some good bread with a little cheese broiled on top, delicious!

Ingredients for Pork with Mustard Sauce:

2 pork blade steaks, cut in half, bone removed (a fatty cut works better, lean pork chops might go tough during the braise)

2 ½ Tbsp butter

2 ½ Tbsp Dijon mustard, I used chardonnay mustard

2/3 cup water

2 Tbsp cream

Method:

• Marinate pork in a splash of wine, splash of oil, pinch of pepper and salt. Throw some herbs in if you're feeling particularly bold.
• Melt butter on medium high in a pan large enough to hold all the pork in a single layer. Brown the pork in the butter, about 2 min each side.
• Thoroughly stir the mustard into the water and add to the pan with the browned pork.
• Bring the pan to the boil, cover and cook at a low simmer for 15-20 mins flipping the pork once or twice to make sure the sauce evenly coats the pieces.
• Remove the pork from the pan, set aside and bring the sauce to a rolling boil. Reduce by half, about 7 mins. It should coat the back of a spoon. Stir often so the sauce doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
• Stir the cream into the pan juices, season with salt and pepper and spoon over the pork.

Ingredients for Potato, Carrot and Brussel Sprout Sauté:

5 or 6 new potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1” chunks

Small piece of Pancetta or Bacon, diced small

1 clove garlic, minced

3 small carrots, diced

Wineglass of white wine

6 or 7 brussel sprouts, rinsed, cored removed and leaves stripped

Squirt of lemon juice

Method:

• Place potatoes in cold salted water and bring to a rolling boil until tender. Drain; toss with a little bit of butter and leave to roast in a 350⁰ oven until the other vegetables are done. Every once in a while toss to make sure they are nice and golden.
• While the pork is cooking, preheat a pan over medium high with a splash of oil. Sauté the pancetta and garlic for a minute or two.
• Toss in the carrots, fry for another min or two, deglaze with wine and cover. Cook until carrots are tender.
• Remove the lid and add the brussel sprout leaves, stirring to cook about 4 mins.
• Toss in the potatoes, add a splash of lemon juice, season with salt and pepper, remove from the heat and cover until pork is done.

It Was My Sister's Fault I Made These and Now Suffer an Addiction: Profiteroles also known as Cream Puffs

It was Friday afternoon when I received a call from my sister. She was having a house party on Sunday and wanted to make cream puffs. I immediately was drawn back into my childhood: My mom making light, fluffy cream puffs bursting with cream and drizzled with chocolate. They would come out for special occasions and be devoured as soon as possible. I was drooling. But then my sister explained the problem: she was trying to use my mom’s recipe.

My mother is a wonderful cook and baker but her recipes are instinctual and sometimes difficult to explain. What is a palmful? How does that measure in cups? Why did you add that like that? How do you know that pinch you put in was a tablespoon? I had been down that road before. I knew that sometimes walking in mom’s culinary footsteps is a daunting task. I went home and scoured my books for recipes and called my sister back. She said she was on the right track; she had the right ingredients she just needed to mix them another way. Problem solved. (They turned out beautiful and were a hit a few days later at the party.) As soon as the phone call ended though, I knew I was in trouble. I could taste them. I could imagine sneaking chocolate off the top and eating myself sick on cream puffs and I knew I had to make them. NOW.

This recipe is adapted from a couple different sources but takes most of its inspiration from the recipe of Thomas Keller, famed chef and owner of the French laundry, Bouchon and many others. Cream Puffs as they are known in this part of the world are actually the French delicacy, Profiteroles made from Pate du Choux or Choux pastry. They feature prominently in different cakes and desserts but made simply like this and filled with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, they are a classic everyone needs to experience.

Ingredients:

1 cup water

5 ½ Tbsp butter

1 ½ Tbsp sugar

Pinch of salt

1 cup white flour, sieved

4 eggs (have an extra around just in case you need it as it describes in the method), beaten lightly in four separate bowls

Method:

• Preheat oven to 450⁰ and prepare two baking sheets. Optimally you should use a non stick mat or baking parchment but you can use tinfoil like I did in a pinch. Also set yourself out a large bowl and wooden spoon.
• In a sauce pan over medium high, combine butter, sugar and salt until the butter melts and then add in the water. Bring to a simmer.
• Turn the pan down a little bit and add in the flour. Stir with a wooden spoon until you smell a nutty aroma and it pulls away from the sides of the pan. It might take a few minutes.
• Take off the heat and remove the dough into the bowl you set aside earlier. Stir for a few seconds with your spoon to release some of the heat. This is important as you are about to add eggs. You don’t want scrambled egg dough.
• One at a time and mixing thoroughly between each, add in the eggs. Check the consistency: is it slowly sliding off the spoon or is it hanging out all clumpy? If it seems dry, add in that spare egg I told you to have around.
• When you are done mixing, put the dough into a piping bag with a plain 1” tip on it. Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets, with lots of room around each one, in a shape just smaller than a golf ball. Dip your finger into some water and smooth out their tops so the little nubs left by the piping bag don’t burn.
• Bake in the oven for 10 minutes, turn the pan, lower the oven to 350⁰ and bake for 15 more.
• Remove from the pan after a few minutes and place on a cooling rack. When they are completely cool and you want to serve them/eat them all yourself, you can do one of two things: poke a hole and inject them with whipping cream or slice them in half horizontally and stuff them with cream either whipped or iced. Drizzle with chocolate. That’s important.

A Guest Writer and a Possible New Classic: Maple, Bourbon Brussel Sprouts with Pancetta and Pecans

According to Google: This is a classic
 thanksgiving feast

This year’s thanksgiving was a different one for me. On most years I would go home to my parent’s house and have the traditional feast: turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, cranberry sauce, etc. This year I instead cooked it myself. My parents were away in Toronto with my sister and I had to work but I knew it just wouldn’t be the same without the traditional food. Although I may have over done it and have been eating leftovers for days, I kept it conventional. Across the country my sister had the responsibility for cooking up the feast and wanted to put her own spin on it. I told her that she should write something up and send it over. I was incredibly surprised by what she sent. She might have recorded a classic thanksgiving item: the perfect gravy or the creamiest mashed potatoes. Instead she sent her recipe for Maple Bourbon Brussel Sprouts. Definitely will be trying this one out as soon as possible, it may even have to be added to my menu for next year!

I am thankful for... Brussel Sprouts?

Written by Kirsti Stubbs

I am very thankful for many things in my life including a great brother, so it seems fitting that I get a chance to be a guest on his Blog, Cornerstone Bistro, this Thanksgiving Monday! I successfully added some new flavors to our Thanksgiving table this year and it turned out rather delicious so I thought I would share with all of you! It all started with a trip to the local farmers market with my brother, when he was visiting Toronto last week.  Here we discovered Brussel Sprouts ... but like I had never seen before. So fresh they are still on the branch!

After a week worth of Toby ruling my kitchen there was also quite a number of exciting ingredients left over when he left ... one of which I rarely buy, Pancetta! Yum. So here began the inspiration for my newest Thanksgiving dinner treat:

Maple, Bourbon Brussels with Pancetta and Pecans

3 cups Fresh Brussels

¼ cup small diced pancetta

2 tbsp butter

1-2 tbsp maple syrup

1-2 tbsp bourbon

¼ cup stock

¼ cup chopped pecans

Let’s get cooking

• First I put a tbsp of olive oil and my pancetta into a skillet and cooked until crisp on medium high heat.
• While I was doing this... watching the pancetta carefully... I pulled my Brussels off the branch, washed them and cleaned them up (they stay fresh a long time on the branch by the way) I also put a small cut in the bottom core of each large brussel to help them cook more evenly.
• Once the pancetta was cooked through I took it out of the skillet and set it aside, leaving the bacon fat in the skillet I added 2 tbsp of butter to the pan and brought it up to high.
• I added my brussels and sautéed until slightly browned, about 3 or 4 minutes on high. They look glossy and delicious at this stage. Yum.
• I then added my syrup, bourbon, stock and pecans and tossed to coat the sprouts... I waited for the sauce to bubble and let them cook at a boil, covered, for 4 minutes.
• Then remove lid and stir while cooking at medium another 5-8 minutes depending on how ‘done’ you like‘em!
• Serve warm and sprinkle with pancetta... you will love these rich, sweet, delicious and flavorful greens!

NOTE – I chose Makers 46 Bourbon (the good stuff) as it was what I had and what my husband likes – plus it has a vanilla aroma and sweetness that paired well with maple syrup! Keep this in mind if you use another type that isn’t as sweet, you may need to adjust the syrup you use.