mmm... BACON

Tip of the Day:

Need to cook up a bunch of yummy yummy Bacon?

Do it like the Pro's: Put away your frying pan - pull out a baking sheet, add a sheet of parchment paper.

Line up your bacon on the parchment paper lined baking sheet - insert into a cold oven, turn in up to 400(F). In about 23-25 minutes you'll have a full sheet of bacon cooked evenly and with no hot oil splatter.

Fall favorite - Roasted Red Pepper Soup

Roasted Red Pepper Soup, Make it one your fall staples for those chilly days.

Ingredients:

3 Roasted Peppers (see the previous post for roasting peppers)

1L of Low or No Sodium Chicken Stock

2 Tbsp Butter

1 Onion diced

3 Cloves of minced garlic

1 Parsnip roughly chopped

1 Carrot roughly chopped

1 Potato roughly chopped

1 or 2 Bay Leaves

1 or 2 whole sprigs of Thyme

Salt & Pepper to taste

Optional:

1 tsp Hot Sauce (of your choice)

Sour Cream

Chopped Chives

Method:

Melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Place onions and garlic in the saucepan and saute for a few minutes until the onions become translucent, add the carrots and parsnip, add a pinch of salt & pepper and continue to stir.

Now add the chicken stock, roasted peppers and potatoes, hot sauce and Bay Leaf & Thyme.

Bring to a boil while stirring well, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer for 30-40 minutes.

Remove from the heat and allow to cool for about 15 minutes, then remove the Bay & Thyme.

Now, either using an immersion blender, or transfer to a blender and puree until smooth.

Run the soup through a strainer and return the liquid to the saucepan over medium low heat. (OPTIONAL: Stir in 1/2 cup heavy cream) and the ground black pepper and allow to heat through, about 5 to 10 minutes.

Taste and season with salt & pepper to taste.

Serve and top with a dollop of Sour cream & some chopped chives.

Thanksgiving Part 3: Get to know your ROOTS

Get those Canadian ROOTS on the plate

Ingredients: Loads of chopped or cubed root vegetables (winter squash, celeriac, garlic, beets, parsnips, carrots, potato, sweet potato) All that good stuff that you never buy in the grocery store.

1/4 cup CANADIAN maple syrup (the real stuff)

1/4 cup olive oil (plus extra to coat pan)

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon of freshly ground black pepper

a bunch of freshly chopped flat leaf parsley.

Method:

Preheat oven to 400°F, and toss the vegetables with the syrup, oil, vinegar, and thyme for an somewhat even coating.

Transfer onto 2 large baking pans (this is a good time to use parchment paper or a silpat), distributing evenly into one layer in each pan.

oast for about 1 hour, removing pans from oven every 12 minutes or so to stir; halfway through the cooking time, toss roots with the salt and pepper. Roasting is complete when veggies are nice and tender. Serve hot.

Thanksgiving - Cranberry Sauce

CRANBERRY De-Lish

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups orange marmalade - store bought, or even better from a farmers market.

2/3 cup orange juice

1 cinnamon stick, broken in half

1 12-ounce bag cranberries

1/3 cup finely chopped fresh Italian parsley

Freshly ground black pepper

Combine first 3 ingredients in medium saucepan. Stir over medium-high heat until mixture comes to boil. Mix in cranberries; return to boil. Reduce heat to medium; simmer until berries burst and sauce thickens slightly, stirring occasionally, about 5 minutes. Transfer sauce to medium bowl; cool completely. Mix in parsley; season with pepper. (Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and chill.)

By making this ahead, it takes one thing off the list on Thanksgiving, and is so so so much more tasty.

Terrific Thanksgiving Turkey

Brine your Bird

Ingredients:

1 Turkey (12-25 lbs) - thawed if frozen

2 Cups Sea Salt or Kosher Salt

2 Cups Sugar

Method:

You will need an accurate meat thermometer to gauge exactly when the meat is done.

A typical 12 to 25 pound turkey you will need 2 pounds of salt, ideally sea salt and 2 cups of brown sugar. You need a picnic cooler large enough if you don't have one in your storage, but a styrofoam one, to hold the turkey when completely submerged in water.

Put the turkey, a layer of ice and the salt and sugar into the cooler and completely cover with cold (COLD being important), water and submerge the turkey upside down. Turn the turkey a few times to mix the salt and sugar. Put the cooler in a cold place for four hours for a smaller turkey and as much as six hours for a larger one, no more no less. If necessary to keep the brine cold replace some of the water with a few bags of ice or even throw in some freezer packs.

Remove the turkey from the brine and rinse well under cold running water. Let rest uncovered overnight in the refrigerator. This will drain any excess moisture and help dry out the skin so it will brown better.

Rub the turkey with butter, ground pepper and a spice mix if you so chose. Stuff the turkey with fresh herb sprigs, garlic cloves and large chopped pieces of carrot, celery and onion. Place breast side down on a clean well oiled roasting rack in a roasting pan. Add about 2 cups of water to the pan, and throw in some dried Bay leafs if you them.

Place the turkey in a preheated 400° oven. Roast one hour then, without opening the oven, turn the heat down to 250° and continue roasting for two hours longer. For a 20 to 25 lb. turkey or larger roast for three more hours. If you have a convection oven only roast for 45 minutes first before turning down the oven heat, no other adjustments are needed.

Flip the turkey breast side up and baste it thoroughly. Add 2 cups of water to the roasting pan. Turn the oven back up to 400° and continue roasting until the breast meat is exactly 165° and the thigh reads 170°. Baste and check the temperature every 15 minutes or so. This finishing heat will help brown the skin. Let the turkey rest covered with foil for 20 to 30 minutes before carving then serve immediately.

Gobble Gobble.

Mise En Place

Todays Tip of the Day:

Mise en place

It's just a French term meaning, “everything in place,” and you hear it most often in relation to cooking and on every cooking show. The idea is that you do all your prep work first, so you are not scrambling around your kitchen looking for the next thing that goes into your dish. This is pretty simple, have small bowls or ramakins and pre-measure everything that goes into your recipe.

Being organized not only saves you time, but it also ensures you don't forget anything.

Before I start a dinner, I love to focus on putting everything in place. You still have to do the work but you can do most of it well ahead of time. , but clearing out the details and having what I need on hand allows me to minimize distractions and keep the kitchen workspace clean, because I'm not constantly prepping as I go. OH, and I don't look back and think "D'oh, I forgot that".

Cold Cherry Soup

Ingredients

2 Asian Pears, peeled & chopped

2 pounds cherries, chopped

1 tablespoon cornstarch

2 cups nonfat buttermilk

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

1/4 cup Crème fraîche (a dollop for each bowl)

Method:

Place the chopped Asian pears and cherries in a medium saucepan with water to cover by an inch. Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cover and reduce the heat to medium-low. Simmer until the Asian pears and cherries are soft enough to puree, about 30 minutes.

Puree with a food processor or immersion blender and return to low heat. Transfer 1/4 cup of the puree to a separate bowl and whisk in the cornstarch until the mixture is smooth. Whisking constantly, pour the cornstarch mixture into the saucepan. Continue whisking until the mixture thickens, about 7 minutes. Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool to room temperature.

Stir in the buttermilk, cover, and chill thoroughly, at least 3 hours. Ladle the soup into 4 soup bowls and sprinkle each serving with lime juice and add a dollop of Crème fraîche.

Roasting Red (or any colour) Peppers

Oven Broiler Method:

Cut out the stem of each pepper and cut it in half lengthwise. Remove and discard the stem and core and any seeds and white membrane. With the skin-side up, use your hand to gently flatten each pepper half. You can cut off the end bit to help flatten them, if you want. Repeat with all peppers and lay them flat, skin-side-up, in a single layer, on a baking sheet lined with foil.

Heat a broiler. Place the peppers under the broiler and cook until the skin is charred pretty much all over. Since most broils are not 100% even cooking, You may need to turn and rotate the pan a few times to get them evenly charred. Watch them carefully, while you want the skin charred, you don't want to burn the whole pepper. Some will cook much more quickly than others, remove them, and place them in a plastic ziploc baggie, or a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. but continue cooking the not-yet-done ones.

Once you have all the Peppers out of the oven, let the peppers sit (in a plastic baggie or a covered bowl) about 15-20 minutes for the skin to separate from the pepper a bit more, and allow them to cool for easier handling.

After the peppers have sat, simply peel off the blackened skin - it should slip right off. For less mess, you can do this under cold running water.

Braised Beef Short Ribs

Braised Beef Short Ribs in Red Wine Sauce with Mashed Potatoes and Roasted Peppers

Ingredients:

3 pounds bone-in beef short ribs

Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

3 tablespoons canola (or vegetable) oil

2 medium onions, peeled and chopped

2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped

1 large shallot, peeled and chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon tomato paste

2 Cups dry red wine

8 sprigs flat-leaf parsley

8 sprigs thyme

2 fresh or dried bay leaves

1 head of garlic, halved crosswise

4 cups low-salt beef stock

Chives finely chopped to garnish

Method:

Preheat oven to 350°.

Season short ribs with salt and pepper, cut the ribs into smaller sections (roughly 2").

Heat oil in a large Dutch oven (or large heavy bottom pot with fitted lid) over medium-high heat. When the oil is hot, and Working in batches, brown short ribs on all sides, about 5-6 minutes per batch. Transfer short ribs to a plate. Pour off all but 3 Tbsp. drippings from pot.

Add onions, shallots, carrots, and celery to pot and cook over medium-high heat, stirring often, until onions and shallots begin browning, about 5 minutes. Add the flour and tomato paste and continue to cook, stirring constantly, until well combined and deep red, 2-3 minutes.

Stir in wine, then add short ribs with any accumulated juices from the plate and bring to a boil; lower heat to medium and simmer until wine is reduced by half, about 25 minutes. Add all herbs and garlic to pot.

Now stir in stock. Bring to a boil, cover, and move to oven.

(At the 2hr mark, begin making the mashed potatoes)

Cook until short ribs are tender, 2–2 1/2 hours. Transfer short ribs to a platter, and cover with foil.

Strain sauce from pot into a measuring cup. Skim the fat from surface of sauce and discard and don't forget to season sauce to taste with salt and pepper and whisk in 1 pad (or tsp) of butter.

Serve in shallow bowls over mashed potatoes, place the roasted peppers ontop, and sauce the dish.

Dulce De Leche

Delicious Dulce De Leche

Ingredients

1 can of sweetened condensed milk (available in any supermarket)


Method:

1. Place the unopened can into a pot large enough to hold it.

2. Cover the can with water and over medium-high heat, bring to a simmer.

3. Reduce the heat and gently simmer for 2 hours. Keep an extra pot of boiling water on the side to replenish evaporated water from the pot. The can of condensed milk should always be covered by simmering water.

4. After 2 hours, remove the pot from the heat and let the can cool in the water bath. When cooled, remove the can.

5. Pop the top and scoop out the Dulce de Leche and serve.

♫ Gotta keep'em Separated ♫

Separating Eggs

Tip of the Day:

Separating Egg Yolks & Whites

Remember that crazy old plastic Turkey Baster that your Grandmother kept in her kitchen, and only brought out about 2-3 times a year?

Well, If you have one of these - (if not, go to a $dollar store, or use an empty plastic clean water bottle). Take the squeeze bulb off the plastic tubing.

Simply crack an egg into a small bowl, squeeze the bulb (or the bottle), bring it into gentle contact with the Yolk, and release your grip, and VOILA - the Yolk will be sucked into the bulb (or bottle), move the bulb or (bottle) to another bowl and gently squeeze again to extract it.

You'll be separating eggs like a Pro in no time, with no mess.

Simple Pasta Dish

Rotini with Tomatoes, Onions & Sausage

This dish is so simple, and requires so little equipment and clean up.

12 plum tomatoes or seasonal tomatoes quartered

2 onions, diced

6 cloves of garlic, gently smash them (press them with the broad side of your knife until the split.

3 Tbsp olive oil

Season with salt and freshly ground pepper

A box of Rotini pasta (454 gram or 1 lb)

2-3 or your favorite sausages (or use ground beef/turkey/chicken/pork)

Optional:(but well worth it)

Freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Flat Leaf Parsley (finely chopped)

Preheat your oven to 400°F (200°C).

Toss the tomatoes, onions, garlic and olive oil together in a large bowl. Season the works with salt and pepper, and wrap this all in aluminum foil and make sure the sides and top are tightly sealed by folding it in small folds, several times. Put your package of goodies on a baking sheet and poke some holes in the top with a fork.

Roast this package for about 45 minutes.

Now, remove your package, pick it up from the bottom, and open it into a the bowl you mixed it in and capture it ALL.

Pick you your chunks of garlic.

Remove your sausage meat from the casings, and in a large hot skillet, add the meat along with about 2 tsp of water, and brown the meat. When the meat is brown, add ALL the contents of the bowl into the pan, and stir, remove from the heat.

Cook Your Rotini pasta in lots of salted boiling water until "al dente" (read the box for cooking times, but always taste), drain the pasta with a colander (NEVER RINSE with water), and then Toss the hot pasta with the sauce, add in the chopped Parsley, stir it all together, serve and top with the fresh Parmesan and enjoy a wonderful pasta dish.

Chocoholics Dream

Delicious Chocolate Sauce

Ingredients:

1 cup of Cream (5-10%), if you use heavier it will be very very thick.

3/4 cup of sugar

1/2 cup corn syrup

3/4 cup UNSWEETEND Cocoa powder (the better quality of the cocoa powder, the better the results.)

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp salt

Yield: About 1.5 cups

In a mixing bowl, sift the cocoa powder and add the salt and set aside.

In a heavy small/medium sized saucepan stir together the cream & sugar. Cook over medium heat until, stirring occasionally, until the sugar has dissolved. Add the corn syrup and bring to a boil while continuing to stir occasionally.

Remove from the heat and pour about 1/2 of the mixture into the mixing bowl with the dry ingredients.

Whisk (by hand) until smooth and then add the remaining hot liquids and continue whisking until smooth.

Now pour the chocolate mixture through the sieve back into the now empty saucepan and place over low heat (if you have an electric stove, use a different burner, and the previous one will still be HOT).

Slowly cook until large bubbles begin to form and the surface turns glossy. (about 5-10) minutes.

Remove from the heat, stir in the Vanilla and let it cool down a bit in the pot.

You can serve this warm over ice cream, or dip fruits into it. You can also store it in a sealed airtight container and keep it in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks, cold it works great for Milk shakes or over ice cream, but it can easily be portioned out and quickly microwaved is you wish to serve it warm again.

Eggs: White vs. Brown

Tip of the Day: Eggs

White eggs vs. Brown Eggs

There is one simple truth to this, the colour of the egg is determined by the colour of the Hen laying the egg. There is no difference in nutritional value.

So the next time you are in the grocery store, and see somebody picking up a dozen brown eggs, and paying an extra $0.25/dozen... Just laugh and walk-away.

She Bakes like a Mad Woman

While I might be able to pass on some good Chef Tips - I'm not a Pastry Chef, these are two different worlds, and schools ☺. So I'd recommend following my friend Becky, and her blog @ bebaking.com

She can take your baking to a whole new level.

Tortilla Bowls - Don't buy the crap on TV

Tip of the Day: Tortilla Bowls.

There are all sorts of gadgets being sold on TV and in specialty stores for making Tortilla Bowls.

DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY.

Simply turn a muffin tray upside down, spray a bit of oil onto the upside down pan, and then press down a Tortilla Shell, brush it with a bit of oil or butter, and put it in into a HOT OVEN (450), you WILL have to watch this, because it will burn fast.

In a few minutes you'll have a nicely shaped bowl that is perfect for Salsa, Guacamole, Salad or whatever floats your boat. And you won't end up with another kitchen gadget filling your cupboards.

Risotto with Roasted Peppers & Hot Italian Sausage

Ingredients

6 Cups low-sodium (or no sodium) chicken broth

2/3 cup dry white wine

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

2 cloves of garlic, finely mined

3 bell peppers, I use tri-colour (red/yellow/orange)

3 Hot Italian sausages

2 teaspoons olive oil

1/2 teaspoons salt

1/4 teaspoons white pepper

1/4 cup fresh flat leaf italian parsley - finely chopped

1/4 cup grated fresh Parmesan cheese + a bit for grating on top.

2 cups uncooked Arborio Rice

Preparation

Cut peppers in half lengthwise; discard seeds and membranes. Place peppers, skin sides up, on a foil-lined baking sheet; flatten with hand. Broil until blackened (Keep an eye on these). Place peppers in a heavy-duty plastic bag, or an air-tight container and seal; let stand 15 minutes. Peel peppers; cut into 1/2-inch pieces and set aside.

Bring chicken broth to a simmer in a medium saucepan (do not boil). Keep warm over low heat.

Remove casings from Italian sausage and discard.

Heat a large pan to med-high, add a splash of oil and a splash of water, and cook sausage until browned, stirring to crumble. Drain in a colander and set aside. Wipe drippings from pan with a paper towel.

Heat 2 tsps of olive oil in pan over medium-high heat. Add onion, and garlic; saute 3 minutes. Add rice; cook 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add wine and salt and white pepper; cook 1 minute or until liquid is nearly absorbed, stirring constantly.

Using a ladle, add the simmerng broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring constantly until each portion of broth is absorbed before adding the next (about 20 minutes total). Stir in roasted peppers and sausage and the grated parmesan, and 1/2 the parsley and cook 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Sprinkle each serving with cheese and remaining parsley.