Archive for November, 2009
My good pal Pierre just launched his brand-new very first cookbook, named Kitchen Scraps for his blog, and I don’t think I ever did properly congratulate him. I mean, I went to his book launch and ate a lot, something I’m willing to do for only the closest of friends, and even swallowed my very first escargot (sorry Pierre, a slug’s a slug), but I never did publicly pat him on the back. His new book is brilliant – funny, entertaining, well written. Perfect bedtime reading. I love the illustration of the guy with the hairy chest about to be jolted back to life by one of those things they used to use on every episode of Emergency! (with Randolph Mantooth – I can’t honestly believe I remember his name – funny what your brain holds onto and what it jettisons) because he ate a heart attack sandwich. Sorry I can’t tell you what’s on it, you’ll have to get the book. Or check out his blog.
So this is Pierre’s recipe, from his new book. I made it for an article I was working on on the subject of offal. I adapted it a little, baking the pastry right on the pie instead of cutting rounds to bake separately. To be honest, I picked at it a little before leaving to teach a hands-on hors d’oeuvres class at the Cookbook Company tonight, and then left Mike to have his way with it. I came home to about half in the fridge. I imagine W picked out a few chunks of meat and asked for eggs on toast.
Steak & Kidney Cowpie
The Offal Truth: The biological function of a kidney is to filter urine. The unfortunate result is that kidneys can smell like pee. If you can get over this inevitable truth there are a couple tricks to diminish this smell, like soaking them in vinegar and salt, but the smell will probably linger like your six-year-old cousin’s mattress. If there is absolutely no way you will eat kidney, you can substitute mushrooms.
1 calf’s kidney, or substitute 30 button mushrooms, quartered
2 Tbsp. white vinegar (any kind)
2 Tbsp. kosher or sea salt
2 lb stewing beef or chuck steak, cut into 1-inch cubes
vegetable oil for the pan, up to 2 Tbsp for onions
3 Tbsp. flour
1 onion, chopped
2 cups beef broth
1 cup Guinness
1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
pinch of nutmeg
salt and pepper
1 package frozen puff pastry, thawed
Soak the kidney overnight in water with the vinegar and salt in the fridge. Replace the soaking solution as often as you like.
Remove and discard the white membranous material from the kidney, and dice the glumpy lumps into small 1/2-inch cubes and get them into a bowl.
In a big pot over medium-high heat, heat some oil and start to brown the cubed beef in small batches, removing the beef when it is browned onto a large plate or casserole dish. The meat doesn’t need to be cooked through, just browned on the outside for flavour. After you have browned all the beef, brown little batches of the kidney (or mushrooms), and then transfer to the same dish as the beef.
Reduce the heat to medium, pour in some oil if the drippings don’t amount to about 2 Tbsp, and cook the onion until it is translucent, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle in the flour evenly and mix it up a bit with a wooden spoon. Crank the heat to full blast and throw in the beef broth and the Guinness. Scrape the sticky bits off the bottom of the pan. Now add all the previously browned beef along with their juices, and the kidneys (or mushrooms), Worcestershire sauce, nutmeg, and salt and pepper. Drop the heat to low, cover and simmer for at least 2 hours.
Spoon the mixture into a baking dish that will accommodate it, and top with the pastry – no need to cut it to shape, just drape it over the top and let the edges hang over. Press them against the sides of the dish. Bake at 400F for about 15 minutes, until the pastry is golden and it’s all heated through. Serves 6 close friends.
November 30 2009 | beef | 16 Comments »
Question: is it really 2 for 1 pizza when one pizza is $9.75 and two are $18.95? I didn’t think so.
So we passed on Inglewood Pizza for Spillery Pizza (yes, the website still says Paul’s – it hasn’t been updated yet), which was really very good, and chased it with a little bag of delicate, chewy, gluten-free amaretti made by my friend Pina. She and her mom have launched a delicious biscotti/amaretti company called Piccola Cucina, and I’m proud to say she’s managed to get in with some coffee shops around town, and these little babies are served at Holt’s trunk sales and private shopping nights. (If you need someone to take care of your holiday baking and package it all up for you, she’s your girl. And a really sweet one at that.)
One Year Ago: Baked Penne and Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting
November 29 2009 | eating out | 15 Comments »
Good news! We have a ton of freezer space now. Bad news! Mike unplugged it last week when he had to replace the stairs he had to tear out in order to get the new furnace in.
I’ve been digging stuff out of the upstairs freezer a lot this week, mostly in order to feed the boys before ditching them and heading to Red Deer. Tonight was my third of four classes at The Cooking Room, and I timed it just exactly so that I would be one of hundreds detoured off the main highway to the 2A so that they could clear up the 40 or so (I’m not even exaggerating) collisions and pull vehicles from the ditch. I left Calgary at 3, and arrived in Red Deer (typically an hour and a quarter away) at 7:20. At one point I didn’t make it out of first gear for 2 1/2 hours. Bored, I ate everything within reach in the car – Jelly Bellys from the console, half a peanut butter granola bar and a slab of this pumpkin loaf, made with a glob of what turned out to be pumpkin salvaged from the freezer.
It was the product of a blissful hour W and I spent in the kitchen together this week. He came up to me a few mornings ago in his Buzz Lightyear PJ bottoms and said, completely out of the blue, “Mom, I love you. And cake.” How could we not bake one?
Really, that’s what most muffin and loaf recipes are – loaf cakes and cupcakes. The biggest difference (although some may argue there are two distinct mixing methods) is quantity of sugar – cakes tend to have more – although those rules have been blurred over the years and now it seems that even double chocolate chunk cakes the size of a cat’s head can be innocently labeled a “muffin”.
So really, this pumpkin loaf, particularly since it’s studded with chocolate chips, is referred to as “cake” in our house. It’s made with canola oil and less sugar than many cakes, but you could still probably take it down a few more notches if you like.
Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Loaf
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar (white or brown)
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground ginger
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup pumpkin puree
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup buttermilk, thin plain yogurt or milk
3 large eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2-1 cup chocolate chips, chopped walnuts or pecans, or a combination
Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9″x5″ loaf pan with nonstick spray.
In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, spices, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, oil, milk, eggs and vanilla.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry along with a few handfuls of chocolate chips and/or nuts, if you’re so inclined, and stir just until the batter comes together. Scrape into the prepared pan and bake for an hour, until the top is cracked and springy to the touch.
Sorry, I completely blew past Free Stuff Friday last week. I’m still disoriented, in a (seedyish, but then again I’m spoiled by the Faimont JPL) hotel in Red Deer listening to the guy in the next room cough (I hope) from under my 100% polyester covers. And I do have a little loot bag to give away – it was the swag from The Cookbook Company’s 25th Anniversary soiree last week, and the only thing I ate from it was the Hardbite potato chips. Still in there: a copy of the Dishing cookbook and a bunch of interesting edibles from the store – to be honest I can’t even remember them all now. Suffice to say it’s a delicious little bagful of loot.
So what did you have for dinner this week that was memorable? Any turkeys?
November 28 2009 | breakfast and cake | 57 Comments »
Yes, hello. I’m still here. It’s funny how a mere 4 days’ absence can feel like a decade when I’m used to being umbilically connected to this place. I have missed you guys, but didn’t want to be the little raincloud that popped up over your head every time you stopped by for a visit.
(Also, I’ve been teaching in Red Deer the past two evenings, arriving home tonight and last at close to midnight. Yesterday, having been up since 5:30, I couldn’t bring myself to open my laptop.)
To bring you up to speed on the past few days, I’ll give you the Coles notes: I survived Saturday, in no small part due to Pierre. A chili cook-off at the Ramsay Christmas Fair on Sunday, more sad news from friends, and the arrival of other friends from BC, whose coming provided ample excuse to make beef bourguignon and open some wine.
Monday we baked dark fruitcake (the very best therapy, I’m telling you) and took the kids to see
A Christmas Carol (the movie) which – by the way? SCARY. Dark. Heavy. Very traditional Dickens (save for the occasional poke at religion, which I don’t recall in any versions I’ve seen) – spectacular effects, but all in all not as lightened/humoured by Jim Carrey or the Disney title as I expected. The kids aren’t particularly inclined to be scared of stuff, but we spent half the movie covering their 3D glasses with our hands. I may have nightmares. About the $45 popcorn tab and over $100 admission between the 8 of us, at least.
And today, after the dog park and W’s gymnastics and before I drove to Red Deer, I retrieved some sausages from the freezer, grilled them and topped them with spiced figs from last week. It was a tapas menu item I stumbled upon that struck me as particularly tasty, and it was.
Grilled Pork Sausages with Spiced Figs
adapted from Bon Appétit, September 2007
1 cup red wine vinegar
3/4-1 cup sugar
1 pkg. dried black Mission figs (about 1 1/2 cups)
1 cinnamon stick or 1 sprig of rosemary
1 tsp. cornstarch (optional)
5 sweet Italian link pork sausages (about 1 pound)
In a small saucepan, combine the vinegar, sugar, figs and cinnamon stick or rosemary and bring to a simmer. Cook over low heat for about half an hour, until the figs are plump and the liquid is syrupy. If you like, dissolve the cornstarch in about 2 tsp. water and add it to the mixture to thicken it a little; bring back to a boil for at least 2 minutes to allow it to thicken and get rid of any starchy texture.
Meanwhile, grill the sausages until almost cooked through; holding them with tongs, cut them in half lengthwise, then throw them back on the grill for a few minutes, cut-side down, until char-marked on the bottom.
Serve each sausage half topped with a few figs and some sauce. Serves 10.
One Year Ago: Crab, Spinach and Artichoke Omelets
November 26 2009 | appetizers and on the grill | 19 Comments »
This is going to be a quick hello; my spinning plates are beginning to fall.
I suppose it’s Murphy’s Law that those weeks that hold the most promise, time-wise, end up being the ones that overflow. I have not touched the basement, nor the manuscript. My articles are unfinished, although I did manage to pull off a couple last-minute assignments this morning. And I had the best time covering traffic on the Homestretch all week.
By the third day on the job, I clued in to the fact that I didn’t really need a chocolate espresso truffle coffee to keep me lively through that chunk of the afternoon that I usually hit a wall, and I made a quick batch of sippable soup to bring along in my to-go mug instead. Four red peppers, an onion and some garlic, sauteed until soft. A litre of chicken stock and a splash of half & half, pureed. (Bonus: by hacking the peppers whole instead of using roasted ones, you also get their skins.) Although it was seriously lacking in the caffeine department, I’m sure it did me much more good.
I haven’t really eaten with the boys this week. Tonight, I walked in the door at 7 and was out again by 7:30, W in tow, to shop some more for this dinner party tomorrow. I’m cooking a birthday dinner for 10 for some folks I was auctioned off to at Ski for Heart (a fundraiser for the Alberta Heart & Stroke Foundation) last January. It’s quite the menu. Want to hear it?
Appetizers:
Prawns wrapped in prosciutto, with pesto for dipping
Gruyère Gougères
Balsamic Mushroom Crostini
Salad:
Something interesting and green
Soup:
Curried Squash with Apples & Pears
Fish Course:
Large Seared Scallops on Roasted Asparagus with Buerre Blanc & Caviar
Main:
Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon
Vegetarian Portabello Mushroom Bourguignon
Celeriac Mashed Potatoes
Haricots verts
Pattypan squash
Homemade bread
Cheese course:
Individual cheese plates with assortment of Quebec cheeses, pecans, etc.
Dessert:
Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream with Hot Fudge Sauce and Chocolate, Hazelnut & Espresso Shortbread
Phew. Now, at 10pm, I’ve tucked W into bed and am starting to brown beef for bourguignon and roast squash for soup. I’m trying to do as much as possible tonight, because tomorrow morning I’ll be going to help cook for, and then attend a funeral for a wonderful little two year old boy.
There are no words.
Luckily, my amazing and talented pal Pierre has stepped in to back me up at the dinner party - I’m so grateful to have friends like him. So after tomorrow, I may not be around for a day or two. Maybe three. Sunday I plan to spend snuggling W as much as he’ll let me. Of course I may just want to come back here and hang out. I’m not sure. But just know that I haven’t disappeared.
I’ll be back.
November 20 2009 | leftovers | 24 Comments »
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