Category Archives: Entree

Entree, Meat, Recipes

Easy Sunday Beef Stew

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When there’s a bit of time to have a stew simmer all afternoon, there are few things less enticing, especially on a cool fall or winter evening. The vegetables are just a guideline, so feel free to add your favourites. I like celery root and parsnip if they are available, as well as changing the flavour profile a bit by using fennel instead of celery. Additional spices will also change the style of the stew, perhaps by using some chili powder, cumin, and coriander.

2 lb stewing beef, cut into 1 inch pieces
salt and pepper
1/4 cup olive or vegetable oil
1/2 cup flour

2 cups diced sweet onion
1 cup diced celery
2 cups diced carrots
1 cup diced turnip
1 28 oz tin diced tomatoes

1 tbsp thyme, chopped
1 bay leaf
4 cups chicken or beef stock

Season beef well with salt and pepper, and toss in flour
In a large pot, heat oil until hot over medium high heat and add beef, no more than will cover the bottom of the pot in a single layer, and brown well on all sides.
Remove browned beef and set aside, continuing the process until all of the beef has been seared.
Place onion, celery, carrot, and turnip into pan and sauté over medium heat until lightly browned and the onions and celery are translucent.
Add the diced tomatoes, herbs, the browned beef, and stock to cover well.
Bring to a simmer, reduce heat to low, cover, and cook for 2-3 hours, until meat and vegetables are very tender.
Serve with boiled or mashed potatoes, fresh bread or biscuits.

Bread, Cooking, Dessert, Entree, Food, Meat, Menus, Recipes, Writing

To market, to market…

Yesterday, my first Saturday in years that I didn’t have to go to work at night, I decided to get up early and meet a few friends and former co-workers at the East Van Farmer’s Market. Ashamedly, my first visit, as many of the farmers there had been supplying me for years, forgoing my need to go down myself on a Saturday. The sun was shining, a beautiful warm September morning, and as I stopped in and took a look around I spotted Gabriel and Katie from Sapo Bravo, said a quick hello and promised to return shortly. After meeting up with my pastry crew, we made the rounds. First stop: Milan; picked up some tomatoes large and small, Walla Walla onions, beans, grapes. Next: Susan from Glorious Organics and the Organic Farm Connection; a bag of assorted coloured carrots. Back to Gabriel; the last of the peaches for the year, some green and purple basil, some plums. Over to Stein Mountain: peppers, mixed colours. By this time, my bags were heavy and after a nice visit with the girls I made my way home, arms bursting with produce.

Once home, a full assessment of the lot: the carrots were delicious and sweet, a shame to cook them; the bag of Sungolds bursting with sugar as well. Sounding like a salad, I thought, with some of the peppers, fantastic! The basil was amazingly fragrant, the perfume filling the kitchen. Definitely for the dressing. Peaches were perfectly ripe, something for dessert, maybe a Tarte Tatin, I figured I’d ponder it for a while.

A trip to the butcher with my 13 year old provided some conversation and planning.
The requests:

Foccacia: (Great, I can put Walla Walla onion and basil on top, and I won’t have to make a starch)

Crumble: using the peaches. Tarte tatin maybe, I suggest, but am convinced the crumble will be less work.

Main Course: let’s see, pork perhaps, the suggestion being mustard and bread crumbs on top.

A look at the counter and a beautiful rack of pork was spied, about 5 pounds. Perfect for the barbecue. Meat in hand, back home we went to peruse the cupboards for some inspiration.

Deciding to barbecue put the bread crumbs out the window, so I looked on my shelf of condiments to see what was there to make a marinade. Raspberry vinegar and hazelnut oil sounded like a good start. I needed some sweetness and spied a bottle of agave syrup a friend had given me. Made from the cactus that is used to make tequila, it has an interesting flavour and is quite sweet. I needed a bit of spice, and saw the tin of Old Bay Seasoning I had brought back from Baltimore. (For those of you unfamiliar, it’s a combination of celery salt, mustard, red pepper, black pepper, bay leaves, clove, allspice, ginger, mace, cardamom, cinnamon, and paprika). Just a shot to give it a kick. a bit of Dijon was added to the mix, all was whisked together and rubbed into the pork rack, then off to exile in the fridge.

I set about to prepare the foccacia dough, assembled it in the Kitchen Aid and set it aside to proof. I turned to the carrots (who had been fooling around unsupervised) and peppers, peeled and cut them for the salad, and gave the sungolds a rinse. I popped outside and spotted some small ripe cherry tomatoes in the garden and picked them to add to the salad. A few more windfall apples under the tree were gathered and decided upon for a sauce to go with the pork, along with some very ripe Italian Prune plums.

Then for the barbecue: When it comes to cooking over flame, I am decidedly still in the stone age. There is really only one piece of equipment that does a joint of meat over 5 pounds justice, and that is a very well conditioned Weber kettle barbecue. Loaded with real lump charcoal, (about 6 pounds for a pork rack this size), the coals were lit in anticipation. Once white hot, I arranged the coals on either side, providing a trench in the middle for the pork to drip without flaring up and bursting into flame, as well as heating the sides of the kettle, creating an oven environment once the lid was down.

Back into the kitchen, where the pork was removed from the marinade, seasoned well with coarse salt and steak spice and carried out to its new home on the grill. I reserved the marinade, put it in a small bowl with a brush for basting, and returned to attend to the bread. I punched the dough down for the first time, after which I sliced thinly one of the onions, and sauteed it in olive oil until golden, and set it aside to top the foccacia later.

Bread well looked after, I turned my attention to dessert. A pot of water was put on the stove to blanch the peaches, and while it heated I prepared the topping. Butter, brown sugar, flour and almonds were quickly combined to make a crumbly mixture, and then peaches were blanched, pitted, diced, tossed with sugar, spices and a touch of cornstarch to absorb the liquid, and placed in a casserole dish. A scattering of the topping was administered and the oven turned on to preheat. A quick trip outside to baste the pork, by which time the oven was ready, the crumble safely inside, and my efforts turned to shaping the foccacia.

I lightly floured my large cutting board, punched down the dough, and rolled it out into a rectangle the same size as my baking sheet. A quick burst of nonstick spray and a scatter of cornmeal to provide a nice crust, the dough was laid out, tucked into the corners, and lightly covered for its final rise. I chopped some of the basil, set some aside for the bread, and turned the rest into a vinaigrette for the salad with some red wine vinegar, olive oil, honey, and garlic.

One more trip outside to check the pork, another baste, and at this point I checked the temperature. It was only registering 120 degrees, so I figured I had 20 minutes or so more before it should come off. Back inside, the crumble was ready, so out it came, and the foccacia was risen nicely. A top dressing of the caramelized onion, including the olive oil it was sauteed in, plus a scatter of basil and coarse salt, and into the oven she went. My final task completed, I grabbed a cold beer and headed outside to keep the pork company on its final lap. Once it reached its correct temperature (140 F before resting, it comes out nice and juicy and just a touch pink) I removed it form the Weber, set it on a rack to rest and relaxed for 15 minutes.

We both made our way back in to the house, took the foccacia out of the oven, and all that was left to do was a toss of the salad with the dressing and to slice the meat and bread. That accomplished, we tucked in for a terrific summer meal, full of flavour, texture, and satisfaction.

I wonder what I’ll do next weekend?

Entree, Meat, Recipes

Rack of Pork with Raspberry Hazelnut Glaze and Plum Apple Sauce

When preparing a marinade for pork I always try and strike a balance between sweet, sour, salt and spice, as all are complimentary to the flavour. My preferred method for marinating is to put the meat in a large resealable plastic bag, combine the marinade ingredients, add them to the bag, zip it shut, removing all of the air so that the marinade gets all around the meat, rubbing it well, and then placing the bag in the fridge for a couple of hours. I have found that this way, you need only a small amount of marinade to cover the meat, and it penetrates the flavour in further.

1 rack of pork (4- 5 lb)

1/4 cup raspberry vinegar
1/4 cup hazelnut oil
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp agave syrup (or honey)
1/2 tsp Old Bay spice (or pinch cayenne)

coarse salt
steak spice

Place pork in a large resealable bag. Combine vinegar, oil, mustard, syrup (or honey), and bay spice (or cayenne), and add to bag. Zip shut, removing as much air as possible , and place in refrigerator for 2-6 hours to marinate. Remove from bag, reserving marinade, and transfer to a sheet pan. Season well with salt and steak spice (you can use your favourite blend, or make our own, recipe follows)

Place pork, bones down, on a preheated barbecue over medium indirect heat and cook, cover down for 1 1/2 hours, basting every 15 minutes, until it registers 140 F on a meat thermometer.
Remove from heat, allow to rest in a warm spot for 20 minutes, and carve into individual chops.

Steak Spice

This will make a nice sized jar, mix well, grind as needed and use to season meats and poultry.

3 tbsp black peppercorns
1 tbsp green or pink peppercorns (dry)
1 tbsp Szechuan pepper
1 tbsp fennel seed
1 tbsp dill seed
1 tbsp coriander
1 tbsp yellow mustard seed
1 tbsp brown mustard seed
1 1/2 tsp chili flakes

Appetizer, Cooking, Dessert, Entree, Food, Menus, Poultry, Recipes, Side dish, Vegetable, Writing

The Striped German

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The first of my Sunday Dinner series…

Last night, Milan Djordjevich from Stoney Paradise brought me a gift. Not just any gift to mark my new direction in life, but the tomato to end all tomatoes. Twelve years we have known each other, and there have been many fine specimens to grace my kitchen, but none quite as impressive as this. I opened the paper bag to see what was inside, and there was THE tomato, a 2 1/2 lb Striped German. It sat on the counter for the remainder of service while I contemplated its fate, knowing we were having friends over for dinner tonight, and wanted to see how that one tomato could inspire a meal.

the tomato in question

I woke this morning to see it proudly perched on my kitchen counter at home, and decided that I would hollow it out and use it as a vessel to serve an appetizer, reserving the flesh for something, perhaps the filling. A trip to the market in the morning provided a few complimentary items; peppers, sweet onion, and basil. I had picked up a few chickens in the hope of barbecuing, and figured we had a good start. Once home again, I noticed quite a few windfallen apples on the ground from one of our two trees, and went out to gather them. Not quite perfect, but great for applesauce or something along those lines. The tomato plants provided a few cocktail sized red tomatoes suitable for roasting along with the peppers and onion to add to the filling, and by now, the menu was starting to take shape.

Roasted vegetable relish (served in the Striped German, with fresh baguette)

Roast chicken of some description ( I had given up on the barbecue as it looked pretty gloomy outside)

Something with apples, still under consideration

Half a dozen cocktail tomatoes, halved, one sliced sweet onion, and two peppers, seeded and quartered made their way onto a sheet pan and into the oven with a splash of olive oil and salt. An hour or so at 300 degrees, I figured, and started carving the tomato. The flesh was soft and sweet, so I chopped it lightly, salted it, and placed it in a bowl with a couple of tablespoons of chopped basil.

I let it sit while I split the chickens and removed the thigh bones, and put them into a large pyrex pan to marinate. A couple of tablespoons each of honey and grainy mustard whisked together with a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar and a quarter cup olive oil provided a good rub down, topped with a few sprigs from the garden: rosemary, oregano flowers, and thyme, followed by a healthy pinch of coarse salt and about teaspoon of chili powder. Birds comfortably in the fridge, I returned to the tomato flesh, decided to puree it and go from there. The resulting liquid was magic, and it seemed a shame to toss it in with the roasted veg, fresh out of the oven. Maybe just a shooter of cold tomato soup? By the time it was strained, there was only about 10 ounces, not quite enough for the eight of us, so I decided to make some gnocchi, and toss them in the golden elixir.

Back to the roasted vegetables, now cooled to room temperature: a brief chop, a splash of balsamic, a healthy dose of chopped basil, a pinch of salt, and into the shell of the German. Potatoes on, things really were shaping up. The windfallen apples were peeled, into a pot with some brown sugar and cinnamon they went, just a splash of water to keep them from sticking, and onto a low simmer. I figured a bit of fun would be nice for dessert, so settled on making some sweet cinnamon waffles, topping them with the applesauce, vanilla ice cream, and caramel. Popped the waffle batter together quickly and put it in the fridge, brought out the birds to be transferred to a sheet pan to go in the convection oven for an hour or so, and took the potatoes off the stove, strained them and allowed them to cool and dry out for a bit.

stuffed and ready to go

By this time, our guests were arriving, so I sliced the bread to go with the tomato relish, and sat down for a drink and a visit. Only the gnocchi to make yet, so we were in good shape. Once cooled to room temperature, I riced and weighed the potato, gather the prescribed amount of flour (1/3 the weight of the potato), a couple of eggs, and put the dough together while I waited for the water to boil. There was still a couple of tablespoons of chopped basil there, so I tossed it in, and rolled, cut, and shaped the gnocchi, laying them out on a sheet pan. By this time, the water was boiling, so in they went in batches (so as not to crowd the pot), and once they floated to the top they were cooled in cold water, strained, tossed in a touch of oil, and set aside.

The chicken was looking pretty good by this point, so I pulled it from the oven to rest, cleaned some yellow beans, and went back to our guests. the tomato shell was all that remained, and it looked quite juicy once all the roasted vegetable relish had been spooned out of it. As I carried the platter back to the kitchen, it seemed a shame not to make good use of the rest of the German, so I diced it up and threw it into the food processor, and strained the resulting liquid to add to the previous batch from the flesh of the fruit.

Beans went into the steamer, and two large saute pans were brought out for the gnocchi. Once heated to medium-high, I baptized them with a splash of olive oil, and divided the gnocchi among the two. Just a nice browning, then I tossed in the golden tomato puree and just cooked it enough to heat through. Dinner was served!

Following a respectful break for digestion, it was time to move forward on dessert. The waffle iron was heated, plates were laid out and the waffles cooked and quartered. A generous helping of the not too sweet applesauce on the hot waffle, a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top, and a fair drizzle of caramel sauce over everything put the finishing touches on a great Sunday dinner, the last before school starts and the first in my new-found existence. The kids went back for seconds, thirds even, polishing off the rest of the waffles and applesauce.

What a way to end the summer with good food and good friends, and to think it all started with one tomato, but what a tomato it was! I can’t wait for next week, I’m starting to get hungry again. Actually, there may still be some gnocchi left in the fridge…..

Entree, Poultry, Recipes

Split Roasted Chicken With Herbs And Grainy Mustard

A simple split roast chicken is one of our all time family favourite meals. The light marinade adds some interest to the skin and allows it to caramelize nicely.

2 chickens, split, breast and thigh bones removed
2 tbsp grainy mustard
2 tbsp honey
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp chili powder
2 sprigs each rosemary, oregano, and thyme
coarse salt

Split chickens in half and remove breast and thigh bones (or ask your butcher really nicely)
Place into a large container (I use a glass 9 by 13 pan, try and keep the chicken in a single layer)
Whisk together mustard, honey, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar and pour over chicken. Massage it in lightly
Sprinkle with chili powder, add herbs, and refrigerate until needed. It’s best if it has about 2 hours to marinate, but because of the vinegar in the marinade, don’t leave it longer than 6 hours.

Preheat oven to 400 F (375 if using convection)

Remove chicken from marinating dish and arrange on a baking pan lined with parchment, spooning remaining marinade and herbs over chicken.
Sprinkle with coarse salt
Place pan in oven and roast chicken until a meat thermometer registers 165 F when inserted into the thickest part of the thigh (it should take about 45 minutes to an hour)
Remove tray from oven and allow chicken to rest for 15 minutes at least before serving.