BEEF WELLINGTON WITH CHESTNUT AND AGED CHEDDAR PATE

Some will argue that this recipe is not a proper Wellington since it lacks a mushroom duxelles, however, original recipes actually use pate rather than duxelles and so since the chestnuts are made into a pate, I stand by the name. :P

Chestnut and Aged Cheddar Pate 
200 g of Roasted Chestnuts
200 g of Aged Cheddar; grated
Fresh Thyme
1 Clove of Garlic
1/4  Yellow Onion
1 Strip of Bacon

Put the chestnuts in a blender and grind. Cut up the bacon into small pieces and toss into a hot frying pan, turn down to medium and fry until crispy. Toss in the onions and garlic and caramelize. Add ground chestnuts and fry until everything is nice and dry.

Add a bit of fresh thyme, and the cheddar and mix.

Set aside to cool.
Beef Wellington
2 small strips of beef tenderloin. Also possible tenderloin medallion steak.
Puff pastry
100 g of Prosciutto (or 200g Lachsschinken)
Chestnut Pate
Mustard Mix: dijon, horseraddish, mesquite bbq sauca, honey
Egg Yolk
Salt and Pepper

Follow instructions x 2 (once for each tenderloin piece) 

Clean a piece small piece of beef tenderloin of skin and large fat. sprinkle with salt and pepper. Toss into hot skillet with hot olive oil and sear on all sides. Remove from pan and let rest. Immediately
after removing from heat, paint on a mustard mixture and allow to rest for at least 10 minutes.

Lay out some prosciutto on some saran wrap. Make sure they overlap slightly and that there is enough to fully cover the tenderloin. Put a layer of the chestnut pate on top of the prosciutto and then place the tenderloin on top. Using the Saran wrap, roll the prosciutto and chestnuts around the tendloin, making sure the ends are also closed, then roll the saran wrap tightly to give it a round shape and make it tight.

Put into fridge for 15 minutes or more to set.

Take out bundle. Roll in single layer of puff pastry, using saran wrap again to roll into right shape.

Put into fridge for 5 minutes again. You can also leave it in the fridge overnight to use the next day as well.

Preheat oven to 400. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes then at 350 for 10 for rare, 15 medium, 20 well done. Let rest for 10 minutes and serve.

This recipe is a modified version of the recipe presented in this Gordon Ramsey Video. I recommend watching the video to see Chef Ramsey’s amazing technique in how he does things. I tried to make a video to show a well but experienced some technical difficulties. I will however be trying again at some point so stay tuned.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5uXIPhxL5XA

Spiced Minced Yak Phyllo Cigars

One of the things I love about Ottawa is our weekly Farmer's Markets. The big one at Brewer's Park on Sundays has an amazing selection of meats to try. One such meat I picked up is Yak. A rich taste similar to beef, with less fat. It needs very little cooking, and doesn't taste gamey. 

I used some leftover spice mix from yesterday's dinner.

1 Tbsp Tomato-pepper powder

1 Tbsp Curry powder 

1 Tbsp Chile powder 

1 Tbsp Paprika 

1 Tbsp Ginger 

3 Tbsp Cinnamon 

1 Tbsp Cumin 

1 tsp Salt 

1 tsp Tumeric 

1 tsp Cayenne pepper

1 lb of ground Yak 

1 large carrot, grated 

2 cloves of garlic

1/2 onion, chopped or pureed 

1 tbsp of sugar 

salt to taste 

8 Sheets of Phylo 

1 Tbsp of Coconut oil 

1. Brown the yak. 

2. Add the carrot, onion, garlic, sugar, and the spice mix and salt to taste. 

3. Melt the coconut oil. Put down one sheet of phyllo. Paint on some coconut oil and place second sheet gently on top. Repeat until you have four layers sheets glued together. 

4. Spoon Yak onto the sheets and roll into cigars. I was able to make three large cigars from one prepared bundle of phyllo. Make another sheet to use rest of the meat. 

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes until crisp and golden brown. 

6. Serve with tomato sauce either poured on or for dipping. 

Tomato sauce:

1 cup ground tomato

1 cup of beef broth 

salt, pepper, sugar, onion, and cayenne pepper. 

Lamb Squash and coconut curry

Ever since our visit to Ceylonta restaurant I've wanted to try my hand at reproducing the delicious creamy squash and coconut curry we tried. This recipe was delicious and had several similar flavors but had more of an smoky roasted flavor than the one we had previously tried.

I had purchased some delicious locally farmed lamb chops from a friend farmer, and decided that this would be the perfect recipe to try them out on. Many people will swear at me for removing the meat from the bone, but I think the addition from the lamb stock was so worth it. 

To make vegan, remove lamb and replace stock with veggie stock or if you are feeling adventurous, coconut water. 

1 small butternut squash - chopped into 1/2 peeled pieces

1 Tbsp of Coconut Oil

1 tsp of salt 

Roast the squash, with salt and coconut oil at 425* for 35 min. 

4 small lamb chops 

1 Tbsp Tomato-pepper powder

1 Tbsp Curry powder 

1 Tbsp Chile powder 

1 Tbsp Paprika 

1 Tbsp Ginger 

3 Tbsp Cinnamon 

1 Tbsp Cumin 

1 tsp Salt 

1 tsp Tumeric 

1 tsp Cayenne pepper 

Small pot of water

2 inches of leek greens 

1/2 carrot 

1 bay leaf 

10 peppercorns

1/2 an onion, chopped or pureed 

1 tsp Coconut Oil 

leftover spice mix 

salt to taste 

1 can of coconut milk 

1/2 tsp curry paste 

1. Cut the meat out of the bone and fat. 

2. Cut the meat into small cubes, and seasons with the spice mix. Allow to sit in spice rub for about 30 minutes.

3. In the small pot of water, add leaks, carrot, bay leaf, and peppercorns and lamb bones. Allow to simmer for at least 30 minutes. If you want a more intense flavour use a pressure cooker. 

4. Using coconut oil grease and heat a skillet. Add onion and spiced meat and brown. 

5. Add the squash, stock, coconut milk, remaining spice mixture and curry paste. Allow to simmer for about 30 minutes or until the sauce becomes creamy. 

6. Serve over Jasmine rice. 

Spiced Pumpkin Scones

The other day I had the most amazing squash curry at a Sri Lankan restaurant. Since yesterday I have had a craving for coconut and spiced gourd. I also wanted dessert. I decided to make scones!


4 cups all-purpose flour 
14 Tablespoons sugar 
2 Tablespoon baking powder 
1 teaspoon salt 
2 tablespoon ground cinnamon 
2 teaspoon ground cloves 
1 tablespoon ground ginger 
12 Tablespoons coconut oil 
1 cup canned pumpkin 
6 Tablespoons coconut milk 
2 large egg

1 cup shredded coconut

Sugar Glaze Ingredients:

3 Tablespoons powdered sugar  
2 Tablespoons coconut milk

Spiced Glaze Ingredients:

1 cup powdered sugar 
3 Tablespoons powdered sugar 
2 Tablespoons Coconut Milk
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
½ teaspoon ginger 
½ teaspoon ground cloves

¼ teaspoon tomato-pepper powder (with cayenne)

Scones Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Lightly grease a cookie sheet.

3. Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, and spices in a large mixing bowl.

4. With a fork, pastry knife, or food processor, cut coconut oil into the dry ingredients until mixture is crumbly and no chunks of butter remain.

5. Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients.

6. Spoon out scone portions.

7. Bake for 20 minutes until scones turn light brown. Knife test to ensure they are cooked all the way through.

8. Place on wire rack to cool.

9. Glaze

The best gooey cookies Evah!!!

•        1 cup coconut oil or butter/margarine

•        1/2 cup molasses

•        1 cup Peanut Butter

•        1 cup sugar

•        1 tsp. salt

•        2 tsp. vanilla

•        2 eggs

•        2 1/2 cups flour

•        1/2 tsp. baking soda

•        2 cups chocolate chips

1.       Preheat oven to 350°.

2.       In a mixing bowl, combine the butter with sugar and molasses; cream together until light and fluffy.

3.       Add peanut butter and mix well.

4.       Add the salt, vanilla, and eggs and beat until well mixed.  

5.       Add flour and baking soda; mix until just combined.

6.       Stir in the chocolate chips.

7.       Drop heaping tablespoon-size balls of dough about 2 inches apart on greased baking sheets

8.       Bake until cookies are golden around the edges, but still soft in the center, 10 – 12 minutes.

9.       Transfer onto plate or wire rack and let cool, or eat them hot (careful melted chocolate can burn)

If you want plain chocolate chip cookies, just leave out the peanut butter. This recipe works great without it as well. To make ginger molasses cookies, leave out peanut butter but add 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger and 2 tbsps powdered ginger! 

Asian Fusion Pierogi

Beef and Cabbage pierogi are pretty standard among Polish cuisine. I have never been a huge fan however.
Then a few years ago I found a great Korean BBQ restaurant, where the combination of meat and cabbage was shown to me in a different light. I fell in love and I wanted to see if I could bring the fusion to Polish cooking. I decided to take the flavours of the Gyoza and put them inside a pierogi.

1 lb ground beef
1 cup of grated cabbage
1 cup of soy sauce
1/2 cup of fish sauce
1/2 cup of rice vinegar
2 tbsp of chopped green onion
1/2 tsp chile flakes
1 tbsp of grated ginger
1 tsp crushed garlic
1 tbsp sesame seed oil
1 tbsp honey

Pierogi dough

Brown the ground beef, pour off fat, and bled dry to make the meat very fine.
Add all of the seasoning ingredients.
Let the liquid simmer out

Roll out the pierogi dough very fine.
Add 2 tsp of filling and seal tight. Make sure there are no holes in the dough and that the edges are sealed tight. add to boiling salted water and boil till they float on the top.

Fry or bake the cokked pierogi to get a nice crisp, or serve boiled.

Butter Chicken

The other night, my partner and I decided to use up the jar of what we believed to be butter chicken sauce in our pantry. Wanted to give it that extra kick, I decided to look up some recipes for something I could marinate the chicken in during the baking process to give it that little extra kick. I got some great advice on making some garam and tandoori masala and baking the chicken in a paste of that. Once I was done, I went to the pantry to grab the sauce, and wouldn't you know it, it wasn't Butter Chicken. On one of our grocery trips we had accidentally picked up a bottle of Mango Curry sauce instead. While I am sure it is wonderful, I had prepared everything with the idea of making butter chicken. I jumped online and scrolled through a bunch of recipes, until I put together something that I could enjoy. Here is the recipe. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

Spice Mix
2 tbsp Garam Masala (spice mix containing cloves, cinnamon, cumin, coriander, ginger)
1 small can of tomato paste (1 tbsp for spice mix, rest of can for sauce)
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp chile powder
1 tsp cayenne Pepper
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 tbsp Molasses
Salt

2 chicken breast

1 cup of whipping cream
1 cup of plain yoghurt or sour cream
2 tbsp butter
1/2 onion puréed
1 tsp lemon juice

Mix together the spice mix ingredients, using only 1 tbsp of the tomato paste and conserving the rest for the sauce. You should have a moist spice mixture/rub. Use some of the spice mix to rub onto the chicken breasts.

Bake chicken breast at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, 10 minutes on each side. Make sure chicken is fully cooked, then cut into cubes about 1/2 square inch.

In a saucepan, melt the butter and then add the onion. Fry for a few minutes until cooked. Add remaining ingredients and the spice mix, including remaining tomato paste. Let simmer and add more of less of the same spices from the spice mix depending on how strong you like the flavour. The longer you let it simmer, the spicier the sauce will get. If it evaporates too much, you can add more whipping cream, or use milk or water. Don't boil as you might curdle the cream.

Add the chicken cubes and allow to simmer in the sauce for a few minutes.

Serve with jasmine or basmati rice.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

I decided to give this a try to see how it would work out. It was a complete success and so I am writing down the recipe to keep for future reference.

Ingredients:
4 Large sweet potatoes
2 Cups grated parmesan cheese
Potato Flour or Potato Starch
1 egg
1/2 Tbsp Butter or margarine
Salt and Pepper to taste.

Boil the sweet potatoes until soft.

Strain out the water and using a potato press, puree the sweet potatoes*.
* sweet potatoes absorb more of the water than potatoes do. Before mashing the potatoes, squeeze the press gently to squeeze out the excess water, then mash the potatoes into a bowl.

Add the egg, butter, salt and pepper to the potatoes. Also add about half the quantity of potatoes of flour, and mix.

The overall dough should be light, and still slightly sticky but not too much so.

roll out the dough on a floured surface and cut and mould into appropriate sized shapes. Some recipes also recommend putting the dough in a piping bag and sniping off pieces of dough as it comes out of the bag.

Add the gnocchi to salted boiling water and boil until they start to float.

Serve warms with butter and salt, or sauce of some kind.

Sauce recommendations: The sauce from the previous recipe (the goulash stew creation), Alfredo sauce, or Mushroom sauce.

Tips: Do not add too much flour since the result will be too heavy. If you are worried, boil a small amount of dough to see how it tastes before deciding whether to add more flour.

If you run out of potato flour, you can add normal flour. Too much normal flour however will weigh down the gnocchi.

If you are feeling experimental, you can try different cheeses. One option is to substitute the parmesan with cottage cheese (drained) and add nutmeg and cinnamon then serve with butter and sugar.

What Happens When You Want to Make Goulash, Stroganoff, and Stew?

You get creative! Or maybe that's just me.

I took some ground beef and cooked it with garlic and onion. I melted some butter, added a tablespoon of flour and added beefstock, tomato sauce, soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, rosemary, salt, honey, tossed in the minced meat and some noodles, and voila!

So far the result is delish! Must keep.

Bigos - Polish Hunter’s Stew

This is a very traditional Polish dish. It used to be prepared by hunters when they would go on long hunting trips. It would start out with just the basic base and as they caught meat, they would toss in various pieces of meat. It is one of those dishes that keeps well and seems to get better every time it is reheated. It is a little unusual, or rather exotic, for North American taste buds, but still quite good.

Base:

1 Jar of Sauerkraut

Cabbage, sliced and diced (optional)

Olive oil

1 small can of tomato paste

2 bay leaves

1 small onion, diced very fine

Whole peppercorns

Water

1 bouillon cube (your choice of chicken, vegetable, or beef. I prefer beef in this case)

Mushrooms (optional)

Garlic, crushed (to taste)

Salt (to taste)

Sugar (to taste)

Vinegar (to taste)

Additives:

These are very much to taste.  The fun thing about this dish is that you can really add in any cut of meat, or even type of meat that you want. It is a good idea to fry up the meat, and or bake it, or boil it, before you add it to the base, to counteract the strong acidity of the sauerkraut.  I will use a standard batch of ingredients for the purpose of this recipe, but feel free to experiment a little and have fun! This is also a great recipe to make when you have to use up cuts of different cuts of meat from the freezer and fridge.

1 hunk of bacon; cubed and baked or fried till crispy

1 lb of sirloin, eye of round, or beef roast, cubed and rubbed with salt and pepper.

1 string of Kielbasa sausage (if you like spicy sausage you can also try chorizo or Kabanos. Or all of the above)

1.       Drain the sauerkraut and rinse with cold water. Add to a large pot and cover with water.

2.       Bring to a boil, then strain out the water again. Repeat twice more, straining out the two batches of water, and then keeping the third.

3.       Lower heat to a simmer, add bay leaves, bouillon cube, and peppercorns. Sauté the onions and add to the pot. If adding mushrooms, sauté with the onions.

4.       If you prefer a dish that is less acidic overall, you can fry up some plain cabbage over a low heat and add to the pot with the sauerkraut.

5.       Let simmer.

6.       Fry up the bacon and sausage until crispy, and add to pot. Keep simmering.

7.       Brown the beef, and add water to skillet. Let simmer in the water for at least an hour, maybe two, until the meat is cooked through and at desired tenderness.  Pour the meat and the water into the pot.

8.       Let the whole mixture simmer together for at least half an hour. The sauerkraut should be soft and cooked.

9.        Add the can of tomato paste. Add the salt, and pepper to taste. If it tastes a little too acidic, add some sugar. If you want it more acidic, add some vinegar. This part of the recipe is really about personal preference.

10.   Once everything is seasoned to taste, remove the bay leaves and serve. Watch out for the peppercorns!

Serving Tip: It is usually a good idea to serve this stew with some bread to help mop up the bowl and sauce

Ania's Infamous Stew

This is one of my favourite meals to make. Not only is it comfort food for a chilly day, it also impresses guests, and still lets me get work done. It is easy to change around depending on what you have lying around the house.  This recipe started out as one of my mother’s. It is a variation on one of my favourite childhood meals that I used to call “dokładka” which means seconds in Polish. My mother sent me the original recipe during my first year of University, and I made it using a dorm room hotplate, and a small convection toaster oven. Over the years, I added a variety of small changes which eventually resulted in this amazingly versatile dish. After all this time, it still remains a favourite.

Stewing Beef:

1 ½ -2 lbs Beef, cubed*

Paprika

Garlic (crushed)

Salt

Pepper

Cayenne Pepper

Olive oil

Broth:

2 Bay Leaves

Whole pepper kernels

Chicken Bouillon cube

1 leek

1 yellow onion

2 large carrots

3 medium to large potatoes**

1 cup of corn

1 cup of peas

1 package favourite gravy sauce

Marsala Wine

Paprika

Cayenne Pepper

Equipment:

Stewing Pot

Strainer

Frying pan
Very Large heat resistant bowl or second pot

Time: 3-4 hours

* My favourite cut of meat to use for this is eye of round, because I love it when the meat just falls apart. You can also use steak cut, stew cubes, loin, really any cuts of beef you have lying around the house. If you have a freezer, this is a great way to use up any frozen pieces of meat before they go bad. Different cuts of meat will require different lengths of stewing depending on how delicate or tough you like it.
** There are some small variations you can make to change up this meal. You can leave out the potatoes, and serve the stew over rice for a more filling meal. You can also add a sweeter Latin or South Pacific flair to this dish by using sweet potato instead of plain potatoes.  The very brave can try adding yucca, although I would recommend adding it an hour before serving, to make sure it is cooked all the way through.

How to:

1.       Make sure the meat is cut into cubes between 1-2 inches square.

2.       Rub the meat with salt, ground pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika, and crushed garlic. (If you want to really saturate the meat with flavour, let it sit in the marinade for an hour to a day. Otherwise, you can proceed immediately)

3.       Heat olive oil in a frying pan until the oil is hot but not burnt. If you add a drop of water it should sizzle.  Right before you add the beef, lower the heat to medium. Add the cubes and stir consistently at first to avoid them sticking to the pan and burning. The meat should quickly coat with oil and brown nicely.

4.       Brown the outside of the meat completely. 

5.       Add a cup or two of water to the skillet.

6.       While it is simmering, add whole leeks and carrots to a pot, along with bouillon cube, bay leaves, pepper kernels, and fill with water. Take a large onion, peel it and cut it in half. For an added flavour, grill the middle side of the onion directly on the burner until it has a light brown colour. Add the onion to the vegetable broth mix. Add paprika and cayenne pepper to taste.

7.       Bring the vegetable broth to a boil, then lower to medium heat and allow it to simmer for one hour. Keep an eye on the meat mix to make sure the water does evaporate. The meat should always be covered in simmering water. Stir the meat occasionally to keep from burning. The more water you can add to the skillet, the less often you will have to stir it and refill it.

8.       After an hour, strain the vegetable broth into a large bowl. You can discard the leeks and bay leaves (some people like to keep the leeks; I find them to be too mushy after boiling. All of the nutrients are now in the broth) as well as the pepper kernels. Add the package of gravy to the bowl of broth and mix together.

9.       Pour the broth-gravy mix back into the pot. Add the meat with the simmering water. Cut up and add the cooked carrots.  If there is any space left in the pot, add more water and let the whole mixture simmer for another hour. Stir occasionally.

10.   About half an hour before serving, peel and cube the potatoes and add directly to the stew. Add also the peas, corn, and any other vegetables you might be interest in adding. If you prefer a thicker stew, add an extra gravy packet and either a tablespoon of flour, or a teaspoon of corn starch.

11.    Once the potatoes are fully cooked, add Marsala wine. One shot of wine is usually sufficient.

12.   Serve and Enjoy!

Apple Faux Samosas

I love the taste of baked apple. I was looking for something to make as a side with a molasses maple apple cider pork tenderloin.
I immediately thought of apples and I tried to think of something new to make. This is what I came up with.

Apple Samosas:

Filling:
2 Apples, peeled, cored, and cubed
1 Cup of Raisins
1 1/2 Cups of Fireball whiskey
1 Clove crushed garlic
1 Tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar
1/2 tsp Chile flakes
1/2 cup Molasses
 4 or 5 Strips of Bacon, baked and crumbled

You can use puff pastry for dough.

Toss the raisins in a pot and add molasses, garlic, vinegar and whiskey.
Reconstitute the raisins by simmering them in the whiskey. Stir often since the mix will become a toffee quickly.
Add the raisins to the cubed apples, along with the chile flakes, and the bacon.

Roll out the dough and cut into squares. Add a tsp of fillings and fold into triangles. Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 Degrees. If you would like a nicer brown colour, you can use an egg wash.

You can also fry the samosas.

Bon Appetit!

Little Polish Girl's recipe for Pho

I absolutely love various types of Asian foods, including soups. Pho and Udon in particular. When I realized that I was spending most lunch times eating at the Viet-Thai restaurant across from my work, I decided it was time to learn how to make my own Pho broth.

I looked up various recipes and then through a process of trial and error, I made up my recipe.

The traditional Pho as far as I understand is made on a beef broth base. I usually use chicken broth since I tend to have some around and I use it a lot.


1 Pot full of chicken or beef broth
4 or 5 Thick slices of Daikon raddish
1 Tbsp of Soy Sauce
2 Tbsp Sugar
2 Tbsp Fish Sauce
1 tsp Rice vinager (do not use sweet rice wine vinager)

Spice Mix:
4 Star Anise
1/2 Cinnamon Stick
5 Whole cloves
Peppercorns
Three leaves thai basil
1 Small cube of fresh ginger
2 Cloves of Garlic

Set the pot of broth to simmer. Put the spice mix in a tea diffuser or wrap in a cheesecloth, and add to the broth. Add in all the rest of the ingredients. Let simmer for at least an hour. Make sure to add water to replace what boils out. If you want a stronger flavour, you can add a bit more sugar, soy, and fish sauce. The spice flavour needs time to diffuse across the broth.

Boil some pho noodles and serve with some sliced chicken, thin beef slices, or shrimp, green onions, bean sprouts, and Sriracha sauce.

Yum!

Update: A friend of mine recommended adding a tablespoon of peanut butter to the broth while it simmers. I tried it and the result was delicious. If you like peanuts, this is a winning combination.

The Perfect Meringue

I've heard a lot of people complain that their meringue never works out. Usually the complaint is that they are too runny.

Here is a basic recipe and some tips, that have never steered me wrong. When you have the right stiffness of meringue  you can have a lot of fun with them, even making mushrooms.

4 Egg Whites
1 Cup of Sugar
1 tsp White Vinegar
1 tsp of Vanilla

In a large bowl beat the eggs with an egg beater at the high setting until white and frothy. Add the sugar slowly while continuing to beat. Once you have the mixture fairly stiff, add the vanilla and the vinegar  Keep beating until the eggs are so stiff that you can safely tip the bowl upside down.

Bake between at 225 degrees Farenheit for about 1 hour, until fully dried.

If you want to make gooeyer meringue, you can add half a cup of corn syrup. This is especially true for when you make certain types of meringue cake.

Now for tips:

1. Using room temperature eggs will double the yield of your meringue.  It can also help to make sure your bowl is not cold.

2. When you separate out the egg whites, make sure there is no trace of egg yolk. Even a bit of yolk will keep your whites from stiffening.

3. Make sure none of your equipment is greasy. Like yolks, grease will keep the yolks from stiffening.

4. Some recipes call for creme de tartre instead of vinegar, but I have found vinegar to provide consistent results. 

Made these mushrooms when my egg beater broke and beat the whole thing by hand with a fork.
The pain was worth it! 

Lessons from a Beef Wellington

The other day I had some friends coming over. Before they came, I sat down and watched an episode of Hell's Kitchen, just as I was deciding what to make for dinner.

Someone had burned one of the beef wellington again and I thought to myself, why not try it? Why not try to make beef wellington. I had always been curious about the taste. I had filet mignon and some puff pastry. How bad could it be?

The idea in principle was pretty good. I came up with my own take on the recipe and thought I would give it a try. Here are some things I learned along the way.

1. If you have a a bottle of wine reducing on the stove, don't get distracted with political conversation. You will burn the wine and it will turn solid. Interesting, but also hard to clean and will fill your house with smoke.

2. NEVER try to make a beef wellington for the first time at 8:30 at night, when you have to get up early the next morning. Especially if you are going to keep getting distracted with talk that makes you abandon what you are doing to emphasize your point.

3. Remember you are using puff pastry and not pie pastry, so waiting for the spaces between the egg yolk to turn a bit more golden will result in overcooked beef.

4. If your steaks have been in the freezer for a while, even if they are still good otherwise, you may want to marinate them in order to make them more tender.

5. Even when everything goes wrong and you end up eating an overcooked but otherwise good beef wellington past midnight, with the house still smelling of burnt wine, good friends can still salvage the night and make it great.


That being said, if not for the overcooked part, the wellingtons' themselves were quite good. This recipe is going on the keep pile, with a couple alterations to be tested.

The Infamous Turducken

My wife is American, and we live in Canada. As such, we have the option of two thanksgivings to celebrate. To make things more interesting, his birthday falls around the American thanksgiving. Since we are in Canada, we have to celebrate the Canadian thanksgiving. That being said, we decided to have a little fun for his birthday and make Turducken.

For those of you who don't know, a turducken is a chicken stuffed in a duck and stuffed in a turkey. My wife often follows up with the joke that the ultimate challenge is the dish that starts with a hummingbird and ends with a cow.

Still turducken is enough of a challenge to start.

All three birds need to be completely deboned, although the turkey legs and wings can have their bones.

I am lucky and I have a great place to get birds. Saslov's meat market in the Byward market.They were nice enough to do the deboning for me, so that when I had half the work to do.

I decided to brine all three birds. This ended up being a great idea. One of the biggest risks with turducken is making sure that all three birds are safely cooked all the way through.  This could lead to the birds being dry. That being said, I also decided not to put stuffing in between the layers. Instead I filled it with seasonings.

Then came problem number 2. I needed to close each bird, but the end result has to be able to be sliced. If I sowed them closed then I wouldn't be able to slice.  I used some metal skewers and then used some string to tie the skewers and provide a means of pulling them out.Once everything was ready and set, I started baking.

That is when the success of the brining really showed. There was soo much gravy that about half way through the cooking process, I had to pour off the gravy. Why? There was so much gravy that the whole thing was covered! I wasn't going to have roasted turducken, I was going to have boiled poultry!

I poured out the liquid and made a lot of gravy. By the end of the roasting, I had half of a pan again of gravy. It was incredible!

The turducken was a hit. It was a fun recipe to make  and one I would make again.

Not an easy thing to slice for the first time.

To Brine or Not to Brine?

In my third year in Ottawa, I decided to stay there and make Thanksgiving dinner on my own. Turkey was always one of those recipes that was up on a pedestal. Every show on tv always had that one thanksgiving where someone burns the outside of the turkey and has the inside raw or frozen. Or better yet, the bird looks beautiful but the meat is dry.

Needless to say, I was a little nervous about making the turkey perfect.

I knew from my family that turkey had to be basted often to prevent drying out. I don't believe in stuffing a turkey. The heat and time needed to cook the stuffing to a safe temp would increase the risk of drying out.

That first time I made a basic turkey. I filled the cavity with herbs and rubbed the outside with salt pepper and a little garlic. The end result was delicious with me obsessively basting every half hour. The final product was delicious. The main problem was in how little gravy was produced. After the first half hour, there was no liquid to baste with. I countered this problem by adding a glass of water the first year, and a glass of chicken broth the second year.

That year started what would become a tradition. Over the next 4 years, Thanksgiving at my place would become a tradition. In year 3 I was watching some random TV while working on homework. I ended up seeing an Alton Brown special where he was talking about something called brining. The idea seems to be to soak the turkey in ice water, broth, and spices. The idea is to infuse the meat with enough moisture to guarantee  a moist bird. I decided to give it a try. The end result was amazing. The bird was so filled with juice that I ended up with a good jug of gravy and a perfect bird. I fell in love.

In the questions of to brine or not to brine, for me the question is easy.... Brine! 

That being said, both options have their disadvantages and advantages.

Not brining has the advantage that it needs less prep. You can defrost the bird the night before and not have to worry about it till the morning of. The lack of gravy and juice can be mitigated by adding water or broth early on and using that to baste at the very beginning.

With brining you have to be ready to work the night before serving. You want to brine for about 8-12 hours. You will need ice, salt, hot and cold water, and broth, along with the right container to soak the bird. My first two times using this method, I used a band new outdoor garbage can that I purchase from a home hardware for this purpose alone. The last time, I used a cooler that I got from my parents. The advantage of the cooler was a little bit more portability.  My favourite aspect of brining is that this is a great way to infuse flavour into the meat. Whatever flavour you want in the meat should be in the brine.  I love adding lots of honey and adding a great kick of sweetness.

Before roasting, I rub down the turkey with a butter mixture that has lots of garlic, paprika, pepper, and some cayenne. The little extra fat helps to brown the skin a bit more, while the spice flavour gives the meat that little kick.

 

This is not my turkey! I can cook, but as you will see, my photography leaves a bit to me desired. Picture taken from http://houseandhome.com/food/recipes/holiday-roast-turkey-recipe

Noodles Continued

So I realize I am posting this on the same day, but I felt that this needed to be two separate posts. I cam down with a cold this weekend and decided to make some chicken soup. About 2 hours in, I realized I was out of any soup noodles.

You guessed it! I decided to make some on my own. I found a nice recipe for some egg noodles.

Mixing together flour, salt, eggs, and milk (lactose free). The mix worked out beautifully, although the noodles grew much more than expected and became quite large. As soup noodles, they failed since they would have to be cut extremely thin in order to work. However, I finally found what seems to work as a great Udon noodle recipe. I have tried cutting them a little thicker and will let you know tonight how it works.

UPDATE:

So while waiting for my boyfriend to come home, I got to work preparing the noodles for dinner. I took one batch and cut them very thin. I used the knife to bunch up a small amount of dough and then pressed down. After letting the noodles dry a little, I made myself a bowl of soup. The thin noodles worked out perfectly.

I also prepared the Udon noodles for the evening. Before we got down to dinner, Alex and I had to run a few errands. We packed up the drying noodles in a ziplock bag to keep from the dog and left. When we got back, we found that the cat had chewed through the bag and devoured the entire batch! I whole roll of raw dough devoured!

I guess it will have to wait till I next make noodles, before I can figure out if these work as Udon. *sigh* Silly Kitty! 

Wish me luck!

All About Udon Noodles!

One of the results of looking for work, is that when I am not sending resumes, I have too much time onn my hands. So what do I do? I bake, and cook, and roast, and what not.

The problem with that is: if money is tight, this is not the best moment to be going out grocery shopping for exotic ingredients. To kill two birds with one stone, I decided to try and make some of the staples we use around the house by hand.

One of these, believe it or not, is Udon noodles.

Since I love making udon soup and since I was out of Udon Noodles, I decided to embark on a quest to make my own. Inspired in part by this video,

I didn't expect to be able to do this, but I thought maybe at least I could make something to go with my spicy beef udon.

I found a pretty basic recipe involving:

3 cups of flour
1 Tbsp salt
1 cup of water

One of the important parts of noodles is making sure to release the gluten. To that effect, a friend of mine who does martial arts did me the honour of beating my dough (with all the associated jokes of course)

We worked it until we got a soft dough, then cut it into roughly the right shape.

The soup was delicious, but the noodles (although good) were somewhat heavy and a bit more tough than what we are used to.
---------

I decided to try a new recipe involving tapioca flour. They advertised as being chewy and I was hoping not as tough.

Much to my disappointment, the dough itself was so tough, I could barely work it. After an hour of stepping on it and having my friend punch and kick it for a while, it was still much too tough. Finally in a desperate effort to make it lighter, I added some melted butter.

It worked to soften the dough and make it easier to work but the noodles when thick were even heavier and tough than the ones before. When sliced much thinner and over cooked slightly, it was better but not really udon.

So the search continues. What does it take to make noodles thick, but still light?

Introduction

Hello Everyone!

This is Ania from Scribbles and Rants. Whenever I have a little extra time on my hands, I tend to become obsessed with cooking. This seems to especially be the case when I am looking for work.

Finally, I decided that it is time for me to start a food blog and catalogue my food adventures.