(This is the lychee martini we had at the Four Seasons. It was $18, so I ate my weight in cashews. Doesn’t it look awfully Halloween-ish, like a bloody eyeball?)
So yes, I started today by shoving a ham inside a turkey on live national TV (in a bit of a mistake of a shirt – I’m really not that booby – and if perhaps I am but just don’t know it, I certainly don’t have Nigella’s hourglass middle to pull it off) and then hung out in the hallway with the Wiggles. (Yesterday morning at around the same time, just to contrast this experience, I was making spaetzle for the very first time when I looked down and noticed a giant spider crawling up my right boob, and he was in a hurry, and lets just say that dried spaetzle could be a very effective mortar if it ever needed to be called into action for construction purposes.)
I went straight from the studio – having not yet found a coffee nor had anything to eat since the plane last night – to a two-hour, two-bottle lunch with the editors of Parents Canada magazine, and guess what? I’m their new food editor! (Which had nothing to do with the shiraz, which came afterwards.) And because everyone else had to go back to the office and actually work afterwards, guess who was obligated to ensure the air miles that were spent getting that wine here from Australia weren’t wasted?)
Later, I met a friend in the bar at the Four Seasons, a place full of beautiful, stylish people meeting for apres-work drinks, and hordes of ‘tweens giggling outside the windows, hoping to catch a glimpse of a Jonas brother, all of whom were apparently staying at the hotel with their parents. The Wiggles AND the Jonas Brothers IN ONE DAY? I must be dreaming.
From there we went to a little event put on by the organizers of the Edinburgh Festivals to promote the 7 festivals they have every August (in 2009 – 34,236 performances by over 18,000 performers from 60 different countries – wow), hosted by a Scottish stand-up comic wearing a leather kilt and army boots and drank 18 year old scotch. They served teeny hors d’oeuvres, the most memorable being Parmesan crisps pressed into mini muffin cups (before they cooled, so that they set like that) and then filled with finely shredded lettuce tossed with Caesar dressing. Must try to recreate that when I get home. I’m really glad they didn’t make me eat haggis.
When M dropped me back at my hotel, I dumped my stuff and walked up and down King Street until late, stopping in a Vietnamese shop for greasy, gingery chicken spring rolls and pad Thai topped with lemongrass shrimp.
And now I can tell you how to cook turkey in a CrockPot! There’s not much to it, actually. Start with a 10-12 lb. turkey (mine was 4.5 kg) and a 6-6.5 qt oval CrockPot. (There are some pretty good sales on right now – one at Costco.) If you want to do a turpigen, shove a 1 kg. football-shaped precooked ham (like a Black Forest or honey ham) into the bird, otherwise you could stuff it with bread stuffing or a lemon, some garlic cloves and fresh herbs. Rub it with oil and/or butter and sprinkle with salt and pepper, and put it in the CrockPot. Tuck fresh herbs around it if you like. I didn’t even bother adding any liquid – the turkey does that on its own.
Put on the lid and if there are gaps, cover the lid with foil to seal them. Cook on high for 2 hours (I just did this to get it going more quickly) and then reduce the heat to low for 4-6 hours, until impossibly tender. No need to baste.
It won’t be quite as golden as the oven makes it – if you want to crisp up the skin, transfer the cooked turkey to a roasting pan, 9″x13″ baking pan or cookie sheet and put it under the broiler for a few minutes.
October 07 2009 | leftovers | 31 Comments »
I’ll let you in on a little secret: if you’re in Calgary, the Italian Supermarket on the corner of 20th Ave and Edmonton Trail NE has a woodburning pizza oven that they fire up on Saturday afternoons only. You can thank me later. With a pizza.
We picked one up just before 2 – and just before they ran out of dough. Of course being an Italian Supermarket there are all kinds of real Italian toppings; we got as much as the dough would structurally tolerate: capicola, salami, prosciutto, artichokes, peppers, olives, mushrooms, fresh tomatoes and mozzarella. (Next time I’m going for the one topped with tomato bruschetta, fresh basil, mozzarella and bocconcini, but the boys wanted meat. This would be like the Italian Supermarket’s version of a Meat Lover’s.) The dough is thin and crispy-edged but bendy, so that you can fold it up around the innards and eat it like the very best pizza pocket ever. This was the perfect balance of meats, creamy cheese, and salty, briny bits of olive and artichoke; Mike could not stop groaning over it, and claims he could have eaten the entire thing himself. Actually, he almost did. I think maybe he loved it more than me.
You can sit in the sunny little corner of the supermarket and eat your pizza there, or order it, shop, and by the time you’re paying for your stuff (espresso, chunky olive bruschetta, Italian chocolate-hazelnut cookies, still-warm crusty bread, dropped into a basket by the cash register by someone’s silver-haired nonna, fresh black pepper fettuccine and green pea ravioli made by the owner – Emilio-’s wife, Lina) it’s being slid out of the oven and into a box for you to take home. They’re pretty huge, but will set you back only $13.99-$14.99.
(And another reason I like milling about this place, waiting for my pizza: I always find cool things like raw olives, chokecherry concentrate and teeny bottles of Italian sodas in interesting flavours that make me feel like maybe I’m not in Calgary after all, I’m in a little shop somewhere in Italy.)
We didn’t need dinner. (I did, however, need a few more slabs of bread.)
One Year Ago: French Onion Soup
October 03 2009 | eating out | 18 Comments »
While I emceed an event, M and W had leftover turkey chili (I think – they might have eaten Ichiban and Cheezies in my absence) – a recipe I had to make as soon as I saw it. It’s not your traditional chili – although it does have beans (black) it’s more loaded with chunks of butternut squash and apples, with a curry quality brought on by a can of coconut milk. Très fall. Apparently it’s pretty fab made with leftover roast turkey – I had some ground in my freezer, but I’ll be sure to make use of turkey leftovers in a couple weeks (HOW DID OCTOBER SNEAK UP ON ME LIKE THIS?).
Or sooner, because I just discovered you can cook a whole entire turkey in your CrockPot. Oh yes, and you don’t have to debone it in order to cram it in! I’ll fill you in on the details soon – experiment #1 is chilling right now in its pot in my barbecue.
I love when the temperature dips to near freezing overnight and I can use my backyard as a second fridge.
CrockPot Turkey Chili with Apples
from my friend Korey Kealey of FoodThought
1 each: onion, carrot and celery stalk, chopped
2 cups each: apples, cored and chopped and butternut squash, diced
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 lb (454 g) ground turkey, cooked
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp (15 mL) ground cumin
1 tsp (5 mL) dried oregano
¼ tsp (1 mL) each: salt and freshly ground pepper
1 can (10 fl oz/284 mL) undiluted chicken broth
1 can (400 mL) light coconut milk
2 tbsp (25 mL) tomato paste
1 cup (250 mL) canned black beans, drained and rinsed
cilantro, for garnish (optional)
Combine everything in your CrockPot and cook on low for 6-8 hours. Garnish with fresh cilantro, if you like.
One Year Ago: Ribs, Roasted Sweet Potatoes and Green Beans
October 01 2009 | chicken & turkey and slow cooker | 19 Comments »
