Slice the shallots thin and dry on paper towels. Heat oil in a wok on medium to high heat and add the shallots. Cook, stirring regularly, until the shallots have caramelized. Transfer with a slotted spoon to paper towels.
Mix together the mirin, soy and fish sauce and set aside. Drain most of the oil except for a small coating in the bottom of the wok. Add the garlic, stir frying until fragrant. Add the zucchini and cook until browned slightly, then add the enoki mushrooms. Stir until the mushroom have just started to soften, then add the sauce. Cook until the sauce is almost completely reduced.
Top with the shallots and serve.
Keyword Enoki Mushrooms, Mushrooms, Zucchini
And now for the details…
I love mushrooms. No seriously, I do. All kinds of mushrooms. I love cremini mushrooms. Oyster mushrooms. Matsutake’s. Shimeji’s. Portobello’s… *drool* Deeeeelicious. I love them so much so that a friend of mine suggested that “Mushrooms for Emily” sounds like it would be a great band name. The hilarious part of this is that when I was younger, I hated mushrooms. It wasn’t until my late teens/early twenties (*ahem* which aren’t THAT far behind me…) that I started to appreciate them. And that appreciation grew at logarithmic levels. Yep. Nerd joke. My love for mushroom was fast and hard, so much so that I really don’t think it can increase much more over time.
Enoki mushroom (full name enokitake, and also known as straw or golden needle mushrooms) are such a fun mushroom option. Long and thin, but with that slightly springy, spongy texture, they are almost like a noodle replacement, but way better.
Fun fact, a study done in Japan demonstrated that regular consumption of enoki mushroom resulted in reduced cancer death rates. So eating enoki mushrooms isn’t only delicious, it’s good for your health! 😛
We are going to cook this dish in a wok. Because we are going to be cooking at high heat, mix the sauce together in advance, because once cooking starts, things are going to move quite quickly.
Prepare your veggies by slicing the zucchini, and slicing off the base of your mushrooms. once the base is cut, the mushrooms should separate quite easily.
Heat the oil in your wok on a heat just below high, until a drop of water sizzles. Okay, so maybe my job has infiltrated my home life, but safety first here. Any time I am cooking with a mass of hot oil, I make sure I am wearing my glasses and not my contacts. Safety first, and PPE (personal protective equipment) where possible!
Add your shallots, and cook, stirring regularly, until they have turned a nice golden brown. Remove the shallots with a slotted spoon to a dish lined with paper towels to allow the shallots to cool. Drain the oil into a container, you can reserve this for future cooking where you need a savoury, shallot-y flavour, it keeps very well in the fridge. There should be a bit of oil left in the pan for the next part.
Are those giant chopsticks for stir frying? You bet they are.
Keeping the temperature high, add the garlic, and stir until fragrant. Immediately add the zucchini and cook until the zucchini pieces have started to soften, and have a glassy surface (2-3 minutes).
Add your mushrooms and continue to stir, with a bit of a light touch at first to avoid breaking the mushrooms into pieces. As they cook and soften, they will become more malleable and will not break as easily.
Once the mushrooms have become soft, add your sauce and stir, allowing the sauce to cook down. This should not take very long at high heat, likely less than 60 seconds.
Turn out onto your serving platter and top with the shallots. Serve and enjoy!
Slice the tomatoes into 1.5-2cm (1/2-3/4") slices. Slice the halloumi into 1/2-1cm-thick slices. Oil the tomato and halloumi slices, reserving some of the oil. Grill at medium-high heat on either side for several minutes per side. Place tomatoes, top with the halloumi. Drizzle with reserved olive oil. Sprinkle with cilantro and Maldon salt and serve.
Keyword Cheese, Halloumi, Salad, Tomatoes
And now for the details…
Yeah okay, so this was a super simple recipe. But it is also super delicious. Field ripened tomatoes are just starting to become available, and I have a bit of an infatuation with halloumi.
Halloumi. How could one not enjoy this fabulous creation. It is a cheese that is strong enough to withstand being placed on the grill or a hot pan. The result? Melting, salty, creamy tastiness that has the crispy finish of toasty cheese on the outside. Good enough to eat on its own with no further additions, we are going to balance that creaminess with the slight tang from our tomatoes and the fresh herbaceousness of the cilantro. Did I just make up a word there? Perhaps, but its appropriately descriptive.
We start by slicing our tomatoes and halloumi, and oil each side. Slice the tomatoes nice and thick, as they are going to have to withstand the high heat of the grill. If your tomatoes are very ripe and quite soft, slice them a little thicker yet.
Next we move to the grill. A medium-high heat on the grill, place the tomatoes and halloumi directly on the grill. Heat them just enough to get a nice brown grill mark on one side (3-6 minutes), then flip and grill on the other side.
Am I grilling pineapple as well for another salad? Why yes, yes I am.
As soon as the tomatoes and halloumi are ready, place the tomatoes on a plate and top with the halloumi (I cut each of my halloumi pieces in half to have the right tomato-cheese ratio). Drizzle the entire salad generously with the olive oil, and finish by sprinkling the chopped cilantro and Maldon salt overtop (sea salt or kosher salt will work too), and serve. Highly advised to serve with some crusty bread to soak up that rich, tomatoey oil left on the plate after you have cleared off the vegetables!
3/4cupcanola oil (can use other veg oil like corn, safflower, peanut, or soy)
1 + 1/2cupsgranulated sugar
2tspvanilla extract
Icing
340gplain cream cheese(softened, 12 oz)
1cupbutter(softened)
290gwhite chocolate(10 oz)
4-5cupsicing sugar
2tspvanilla extract
Instructions
Whisk or sift together the top six ingredients (dry ingredients) in a large bowl. Mix together the next five ingredients (carrots, coconut, walnuts, pineapple, raisins) in a medium bowl. Mix together the final five ingredients (wet ingredients) in a small to medium bowl. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix lightly until the dry ingredients have just moistened. Fold the carrot mixture into the batter and until consistently mixed. Pour the batter into greased and papered cake tin(s). Bake at 350ºF/177ºC until toothpick comes out clean (~25min for 6" cake tins. Cool fully.
Whip cream cheese and butter together add 1/2 cup icing sugar, whip. Melt white chocolate, pour slowly into icing while whipping. Add vanilla. Add remaining icing sugar cup by cup until desired consistency.
Okaaaaay, so it seems super biased and a bit self-absorbed to call this my favourite carrot cake when… I’m… writing about it. Okay, so I swear I’m not that much of a narcissist. I did not create the recipe for this carrot cake. In fact, I found it online over a decade ago when I was looking for a carrot cake recipe that had ALL THE STUFF. Not just some light cake with a tad bit of cinnamon and carrots, but a toothy, rich, almost-worthy-of-a-meal concoction. And there it was. “Sam’s Famous Carrot Cake“. *heavenly sounds, rays of light, rainbows, and unicorns* And it is, in fact, still there to this day, as you can see by the hyperlink. Before even attempting to make it for the first time, I was already in love. Carrots. And pineapple. And coconut. And walnuts. And raisins. Seriously, I am drooling just listing this off. How can one even begin to enjoy a carrot cake that is simply carrots and cake??? Not when you can have this divine panoply that is… *royal trumpets sound* Sam’s Famous Carrot Cake.
Is there any way to boost this recipe even more? How about amping up the spices, and adding white chocolate cream cheese frosting to the mix? That sounds about right to me. So let’s do it.
We are going to start by mixing all our dry ingredients together. I use a wire strainer to do my sifting, and sift together the flour and baking soda into a large bowl, then whisk in the salt and spices until evenly mixed.
Next, shred your carrots and add them to a separate bowl. To that bowl, add in the coconut, walnuts, pineapple (do not drain!), and raisins. Stir these ingredients together until it is evenly blended.
Next, mix together all the wet ingredients (eggs, buttermilk, oil, sugar and vanilla) in a third, smaller bowl. Now is also a good time to preheat the oven to 350ºF so it is ready to go when the cake tins are filled.
Mix the dry and wet ingredients together until the dry ingredients are just moistened. This will ensure we do not “overwork” the batter.
Next, stir in the carrot mixture, just until all the ingredients are fairly evenly blended.
Before we pour the batter into the cake tins, we need to prepare the tins for baking. Some people will just butter the tins. Others will butter, then flour the base. For me, my mom passed on how she baked cakes, which is to bake them with the tins buttered and a piece of waxed or parchment paper cut to just the right size to fit the bottom of the pan. I have tried the other methods, but this one has been the only tried and true to avoid chunks of cake falling out when I am removing the baked cake from its tin. The tins I used for this cake were three 6″ tins, but two 9″ tins would work fine, or if you are interested in a pan, a 9″x13″ pan should work as well. Baking time, of course, will need to be adjusted for the different kinds of tins.
Bake the cakes until a toothpick inserted in the centre of the cake comes out clean. Run a knife around the edges of the tines, then turn the cakes out onto a cooling rack and remove the waxed or parchment paper. Let them cool completely before frosting.
Next, we make the frosting. The cream cheese and butter need to be room temperature and soft in order to blend well. When they are soft, whip the two together until smooth. I add a bit of the icing sugar (about 1/2 cup) to them, as it seems to help cut through the cream cheese and the two blend more easily together.
Before adding the rest of the icing sugar, we will add the white chocolate. The white chocolate I used for this recipe is from Choklat, a chocolatier… sorry: chocolate maker (there is a difference! Did you know that most of the chocolatiers you know do not actually make their own chocolate?) in my city, whose chocolate I have become a bit obsessed with since they opened around the same time I first moved here. The smell of the store as you walk in to make your purchase is understated if its called mouth-watering. And the chocolate… oh, the chocolate. When they moved their store to a new location, it was a bit out of the way for me. But luckily, I recently discovered that my local grocery store is stocking a few choice offerings, score! For this recipe, I am using their white chocolate, which is actually a bit of a beige colour. They actually explain this on their label: white chocolate should not be purely white. Good quality cocoa butter is not white. Good quality vanilla is not white. Therefore, the resulting mix the creates white chocolate should be a luscious, melting, delicious off-white.
So maybe the entire bar did not make it into the recipe… I had to taste for quality, right?
We will use a bain-marie, to melt the chocolate more consistently and avoid scorching or burning it while melting. I used a metal bowl on a small pot of simmering water (the bowl should sit over the water, not touching it), stirring constantly as the chocolate melted all the way through. I added this to my cream cheese and butter, and mixed it in completely.
Finally, whip in the vanilla, then the remaining icing sugar, adding a bit of sugar (about 1 cup) at a time until you get your desired consistency (slowing the mixer speed in between each additions, of course; I prefer to not have my entire kitchen dusted in powdered sugar.)
Finally, it is time to frost the cake. Because I put the cake into 6″ tins, they cakes ended up quite thick. So I cut each of them in half, ending up with two cakes: one a two-layer and the other a four-layer. A local bakery has provided the amazing idea of garnishing the frosted carrot cakes with pumpkin seeds, dried apricots, and raisins, resulting in an added crunch and bite to the cake that is beyond… just… beyond.
540mlcanned red kidney beans(19 oz, drained and rinsed)
540mlcanned white kidney beans(19 oz, drained and rinsed)
2cupscherry tomatos(halved)
1cupfrozen or fresh corn kernels
1.5Tbspchilli powder
1tspchipotle chilli powder
1tspsmoked paprika
1Tbspground cumin
2tspsalt
1/2tsppepper
1tspWorcestershire sauce
250mlbeer(1 cup)
Instructions
On stove: Using a heavy bottomed pot, heat the olive oil on medium high heat, then add the shallots and garlic, sautéing until softened. Add the beef and pork, stirring regularly, and breaking apart large chunks, until cooked through. Add the rest of the ingredients (except corn), turn the temperature down and simmer for 45-60 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the corn within the last 5 minutes.
In Instant Pot: Set the pot to Sauté, add the oil and sauté the shallots and garlic until softened. Add the beef and pork,stirring regularly, and breaking apart large chunks, until cooked through. Add the rest of the ingredients (except corn), set the pot to Meat/Stew, and close under sealing for 15-25 minutes. Flip back to Sauté and add the corn, stirring for a few minutes until the corn is cooked.
Once done, serve with preferred toppings, like avocado, sour cream, shredded cheese and a squeeze of fresh lime juice.
Keyword Beef, Chilli, Stew, Tomatoes
And now for the details…
Even though it’s already May, we have been hit up with some pretty chilly weather. And so I figured what better meal for chilly than… chilli. Oh I am soooo witty *rolling eyes*.
This recipe was interesting to measure and document for me, since chilli is something I have been making sans recipe since I was kid. When I was little, I would be so insistent on “helping” while my mom cooked. When she cooked chilli, it was never off a recipe card, and it has become the same for me. A bit of an eyeball on quantities, cook a little longer, taste, adjust.
The bit of research I did on chilli was interesting. There is a lot of debate on the origins of the well known stew. Whether the true origin of chilli was as a pack meal, the angelic vision of Sister Mary Ágreda, or the preparation of defeated conquistadors by the Aztecs (ewwwwwwww), it seems as though the debate will continue. After learning more, I also apologize to the hardcores on the addition of beans, which I understand is also a matter of huge debate. But the simple fact that I am spelling it “chilli”, not “chili” is probably a clear indication that we are pretty far north from the origin (which has been determined as northern Mexico/southern Texas), and since I am Canadian, of course I have to apologize at some point here! All in all, chilli has become a staple for many, with chilli competitions across the globe, canned chilli being readily available in most grocery stores, and several pop culture chilli references (El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer, anyone?), it is a popular dish that will likely never be agreed upon, but readily enjoyed by all.
For this version, I have given instructions for both on the stove or in an Instant Pot. It is typically a stove dish for me, but I wanted to see how this did in the Instant Pot to see if I could get that “long simmer” flavour in a short period of time. It seems to have worked out quite well! For the purpose of these detailed instructions, I used the Instant Pot, but following the instruction on the stove would work just as well, it will just need a bit more simmering time.
Let’s start by sautéing the shallots and garlic in our pot (either Sauté setting for Instant, or medium-high heat on the stove). Once the shallots have softened, add the meats, sautéing until they are mostly cooked through, and stirring regularly to break the ground meat apart so it does not form into large chunks.
Next, we add the tomatoes, beans (drain and rinse them first!), spices, and Worcestershire sauce. Give it all a good stir and make sure everyone in there are close, personal friends. If in the Instant Pot, close it up on Sealing, set it to Meat/Stew and cook for 15-25 minutes. If on the stove, turn the heat down to a simmer, and let it cook for 45-60 minutes, and stir occasionally so that the meat does not burn on the bottom of the pot.
If you are using the Instant Pot, once the pressure cook is done, set the pot back to Sauté. Add the corn and cook until the corn is cooked. This should only take 3-5 minutes. I found this corn and jalapeño mix at my grocery store and thought it would be a great add to chilli! The jalapeños added their slight heat and flavour, which probably would have been lost if added at the beginning and stewed. If you are cooking on the stove, this step would happen in the last 5-ish minutes of cooking.
Now that your chilli is ready, ladle into a bowl, top with your toppings of choice (cheese, avocado and sour cream (or crème fraîche!) are the preferred options in our house) and enjoy!
Prep the veggies. Heat the coconut milk with the lime leaves over low heat for 20-30 minutes. Let cool, and mix with the rest of the dressing ingredients. Pour over the veggies and mix.
And now for the details…
I have a bit of an obsession with makrut lime leaves. They are also known by the name kaffir lime leaves, but this title is now considered defunct due to the offensive nature of the k-word. Some use makrut, or simply lime leaves to describe these items of deliciousness. These leaves impart the fabulously floral, tropical, and citrusy flavour to many Thai curries, and offer a great flavour to many other items as well. Plus, when you store them in your fridge, you are welcomed by their amazing aroma every time you open the door.
I had a salad very similar to this once and thought it was a brilliant blend of veggies. The fennel offers its freshness, with a hint of liquorice. The carrot is earthy and sweet. And the radicchio provides a slight bitterness to balance the flavours. But to up the ante on the tropical look of the salad with all the colours, I wanted to impart an exotic flavour to add to the experience. Enter lime leaves. Their delicate flavour adds an air of mystery to the salad. The taste being somewhat familiar, but at the same time foreign or indeterminate compared to most western flavours.
Let’s get to cooking. To start ourselves off, we are going to cook the lime leaves in the coconut milk. Try and use a “premium” coconut milk, as these will be higher fat, and will provide you with a creamier and less watery dressing. Place the lime leaves in the milk and cook over low heat until the milk is infused, about 20-30 minutes.
I drool now at the memory.
I actually cooked too much, using the entire can of coconut milk. I saved and froze the leftovers, which could be used for a smoothie, a delicious addition to a cocktail in place of ice, or even melted into a curry for an added punch of flavour. Tasting it frozen, it does inspire me to make an attempt at a makrut lime ice cream sometime in my near future. A forthcoming blog post, you ask? I would say likely.
Now that we have the base of our dressing ready, and we are waiting for it to cool, we will prep our veggies. Wash everything and set on a a towel to dry. Have a large bowl ready for the veggies as they are ready. Removing the core, slice the fennel very thin, either using mandolin or a very sharp knife. If you want, you can reserve some of the fennel greens to add some visual pop to the presentation of the salad at the end. De-stalk the kale and slice thinly. Slice the radicchio. Peel and shred the carrots. Slice the green onions, including part of the white. Add everything into the bowl.
This balance of colours and flavours excites all elements of the palate!
Whisk all the dressing ingredients well together (make sure you have removed and discarded the lime leaves), then drench your veggies with the delicious mix and stir all together. Serve with some of the fennel greens as adornment.
Wash the turkey, rub with the kosher salt (including in cavity), and place in a large pot. Fill pot with water until the turkey is submerged. Let sit overnight in fridge.
Melt 1 cup of butter in a large pan, add shallots and cook until softened. Tear the baguette into small-ish pieces, and mix in the butter and shallots, then the herbs and salt and pepper to taste.
Take the turkey out of the brine, rinse, and place in roasting pan. Fill with stuffing, close up, place breastside-down in the pan. Melt remaining cup of butter, and brush the entire turkey. Save excess butter to brush during cooking. Pour 1 cup of wine overtop, then place in oven heated to 325ºF/ 165ºC. Every 30 minutes, remove turkey from the oven, apply more butter, and top up wine in the pan, maintaining liquid in the bottom of the pan. At around 2/3 of the cooking time, flip the turkey breast side-up (approximately 2-2 1/2 hours), and continue with the 30 minute butter-basting and wine top-up until the turkey registers 165ºF/74ºC in the breast.
Remove from the oven, set the turkey aside to rest, and pour the juices into a pot and heat on medium-high heat until bubbling. Mix flour with about 1/2 cup water until there are no lumps. Add slowly to the juices, mixing constantly, until desired thickness of gravy is reached. Add salt, pepper or wine as desired. Carve turkey, removing stuffing, and serve with gravy.
This Easter was a pretty special one. This turkey was made remotely, in another city. The reason for this is that I was going to pick up a good friend of mine who had just done a very selfless thing. Connie had just gotten out of hospital as a living liver donor for a coworker of ours who was in need of a new liver. A bit of a long story, but the long and short of it: cancer is an asshole.
While in the city, we were also able to visit with another of our friends and her mom, who is currently undergoing chemotherapy. Say it with me this time: CANCER IS AN ASSHOLE.
And you may be wondering… wait Emily, you said this Easter was special. And it was. I got to spend time with an extremely giving, selfless, and loving friend (Connie) who seems to be well on the mend, visit with our other friend and her mom, who is one of the most lovely, joyful, and kind people I have ever met (she passed these same attributes on to her daughter!), and have a tasty meal with all these amazing women, as well as with some additional family. Not to mention, we spent the day, while the turkey was cooking, hanging out and watching Star Wars. #starwarsnerd
I started naming my turkey when preparing turkey dinners years ago, and I guess it’s become a bit of a tradition for me. This year, the naming responsibility went to our donor, Connie. In honour of our brave and strong donee, and a story that her and her husband had told, we ended up naming the turkey “Mo”. His full name is Morton Turkington, but he prefers to go by by Mo.
Let’s start cooking. Well… preparing. Big side note before we start preparing Mo! Was Mo frozen? Yes. Standard thaw time is about 5 hours/lb in the fridge. For Mo’s case, who was 14 lbs, this means he needed 70 hours, or almost 3 days of thaw time before we would be ready. And in our case, since we are brining the night before, tack on a bit of time. It’s okay if Mo is still a bit chilly. As long as you can “clean” him properly and get him in the pot for brining, he should be okay.
Once thawed, we are going to get Mo prepared the night before his big day. The night before, find nice big stockpot that will be able to handle Mo. All of him. Before we place Mo in the stockpot, give him a clean once he is out of his package. And by clean, I mean that if he has them, remove the giblets and his neck out of where they have stuffed them (up his behind), and give him a rinse, inside and out. (Side note: save them both. You can use the giblets, if you want, for the stuffing, and the neck is great to add to the pot when making stock.) Next, we put him in the pot, and take out the coarse or kosher salt. We will be giving Mo a salt scrub, rubbing the salt into and all over his body, as well as in his cavity. Any extra salt that falls off of Mo can stay in the bottom of the pot. After his vigorous exfoliation, let’s give Mo a nice refreshing bath. Fill his pot with cold water until he is completely submerged. If the pot is a bit too small to do this (mine was), cover whatever pieces of Mo that are poking up above the surface with some aluminum foil, making sure the foil ends are in the water (this will keep all of Mo humidified, and make sure portions of him do not dry out).
Mo has had his body treatment and is ready for an overnight soak
Before moving forward, let’s check the time required for cooking. Like I said, Mo was about 14 pounds, and I was planning on stuffing him. Recommended cooking time was 3.75-4.25 hours (thanks Food Network!). Factor this in to when you plan on eating to make sure Mo is ready for dinner. We were aiming to eat at 6pm, so I got Mo in the oven by 1pm, to allow for resting, carving, and gravy preparation time.
This all means that Mo got pulled out of his bath at about noon and got a quick rinse. We’ll transfer him to the roaster, and he can rest here until we have the stuffing ready.
Start by melting the 1 cup of butter, then add the chopped shallots (and giblets, cut into smaller pieces, if you so desire), all over medium heat, stirring occasionally. As we are waiting for the shallots to soften in the butter, tear the bread into small chunks into a large bowl or container. Once the shallots have softened, pour the butter and shallots over the bread, mixing well. Then sprinkle with your chopped herbs, salt and pepper, and the cognac. Taste testing is clearly required… Y’know… for quality.
Before moving on, preheat the oven to 325ºF. And now that the stuffing is ready, we’re going to get some of that up in Mo. Stuff in as much as Mo’s cavity can handle, leaving a tiny bit of space so we can stitch Mo up without working around the stuffing. Next is time for some stitching. I… clearly made the right choice by not becoming a surgeon.
And yes, I did use red thread. This is something my mom always did. It makes sure you can find the thread easily after the turkey has cooked, so you remove all thread, instead of chancing that someone else find it in their teeth…
Now that Mo is ready to go, flip him breast-side-down before putting him in the oven. By starting the cooking process with Mo flipped down, it will give the light, typically drier, meat a chance to cook in the juices, so Mo is nice and moist (yes, moist) once he is done.
Next, pour about 1 cup of the wine over Mo, and baste him with a whole lotta butter (you don’t need to use all the butter at this time, we will be basting him more than once), and sprinkle him with a bit of S&P. Then, we place him in the oven and get him to cooking. Every 30 minutes, we will be taking him out, re-basting with more butter, and adding wine to make sure there is always liquid in the base of the pan. Here’s Mo after the first 30 minutes. Did I use a foil pan instead of a roaster? Yes I did. I’m super lazy, and it’s way easier to clean.
About 2/3 of the way through cooking, we are going to flip Mo. In this case, that was at about the 2.5 hour mark. Mo looks a little rough here, his skin ripped a bit, and it looked like he had gotten into a fight… and lost. Honestly, when it comes to most turkeys, I have not found a direct correlation between prettiness and deliciousness, so I was not too fussed.
Now is also a good time to start getting the rest of your side dishes ready to go. The side dishes I chose for this meal were mashed potatoes, peas and carrots, and haricots verts with caramelized shallots and candied walnuts (Ohhh! It’s a throwback for this one). We do not need to start cooking yet, but there some peeling and cutting to be done! Peel the potatoes (1kg worth, yellow flesh) and cut into chunks about 1.5”x1.5”. To keep your potatoes from turning brown, place the peeled and cut pieces in a large pot, half-filled with cold water. We will be cooking the potatoes in this same pot and water, but for now, it can rest on the stove, ready for action. We will trim the beans and cook the shallots and nuts to get ready for fast assembly at go-time. Now… for the mashed potatoes we are going to be making, I am inspired by a potato recipe I learned in Paris. The original is Joelle Robuchon’s recipe, which, let’s admit, I bastardized pretty badly here. The main similarity I kept was the ratio of butter:potato, as well as the method of adding the butter. Because… well, for the high ratio, it just makes sense. We’ll take 1 cup (yes, a full cup) of butter out of the fridge (cold butter cuts much easier, you may even want to stick it in the freezer for a couple minutes) and cut it into small pieces, about 1cmx1cm. Put it back into the fridge, and we will have this ready for when we are ready to mash. We will also peel and cut the carrots (3 large-ish) into little medallions and placing them in a smaller pot in the same manner as the potatoes. I just use frozen peas, you could add them now (about 1 cup) in with the carrots, or just before starting to cook.
Juicy little carrot medallions and peas, just waiting to go
Even as do all this other prep, we still need to pay attention to Mo and continue with the 30 minute basting and wine refill through until the end of the cooking. Recommended temperatures for Mo are his thigh reading 180ºF and/or is breast reading 165ºF for him to be ready to come out. As Mo’s temperature nears final, (about 10ºF below doneness), turn on the potatoes and let them cook until when you pierce with a fork, they fall off on their own back into the pot. This timing will likely be pretty close to when Mo is ready to come out of the oven.
Heresy, I know, I cooked them without the skins…
Once out of the oven, Mo will rest to the side. Here’s where things get busy. Drain the potatoes, and keep them in their warm pot. Put the peas and carrots on the stove at medium high heat. Also, heat up the frying pan for the beans, and add the oil, then the beans and salt. Stir the beans regularly. Once the peas and carrots start to simmer, turn them off and let them cook a little further in the hot water. Stir the beans. Add the juices from the turkey roaster (you may want to strain yours) to a pot, and place on the stove at medium high heat, letting them come to a boil, then reduce the heat to a simmer. Stir the beans. Mix the flour with water and a little bit of the heated juices. Mix this really well, there should be zero lumps. Check the beans, and remove from the heat to a serving dish if they are done. Add the flour mix slowly to the juices, stirring constantly, until the desired thickness of the gravy is reached, then remove from the heat. Drain the peas and carrots, and place in a bowl, top with the butter, allowing it to melt down into the veggies. Take the cut butter out of the fridge, and mash those carefully cut small pieces into the potatoes, adding the grated garlic, and salt and pepper to taste, then transfer to serving dish (did you notice how easy it was to mash all that butter into the potatoes when it was precut??) Sprinkle the beans with the nuts and shallots. Transfer everything to the table, it’s time to eat!
No food mill, just a masher. Yet again… not at all according to Joel Robuchon’s instruction, but at least it wasn’t an electric mixer!!
I luckily had a helper at the end who carved Mo before he made his grand appearance on the table, but if he was prettier, there is always the option of presenting Mo is his full glory and carve at the table. Maybe even get those white fluffy shoes for his feet. Now is the time to kick back, relax, and enjoy the fruits of your labour! And let someone else clean up the kitchen 😉
Instant Pot Duck Breast with Baby King Oyster Mushrooms
Duck breast with crispy skin, done from frozen in the Instant Pot and finished on the stove, with a currant sauce and miso glazed king oyster mushrooms.
Pour the port, broth, and currants into the bottom of the instant pot. Add the rack into the pot, then place the duck breasts, skin side up, on the rack and sprinkle with 1/2 tsp salt. Cook on Poultry setting under pressure for 23 minutes (resulted in doneness of medium-well). Release the steam, take out the duck breast, score the skin in a crisscross pattern and sprinkle with more salt, then sear on a medium-high heat pan until the skin has browned, remove from pan and set aside. Pour the rendered duck fat into a bowl and set aside. Add the currants and liquid from the instant pot pan with the garlic jelly. Cook down, stirring regularly, to half the original volume. Remove from heat, strain out the pips, then pour over the duck breast and serve.
Miso-glazed Mushrooms
Add the garlic for the mushrooms to the pan into the rendered duck fat. Once the garlic starts to brown, add the mushrooms and some salt. Stir regularly, until the mushrooms have browned and started to soften. Then add the brandy and cook down. Mix the miso paste with the water, then add to the pan with the sugar, and cook until almost all the liquid is cooked out. Serve with the duck.
I was at a loss for what to make for dinner this past Sunday afternoon and decided to raid our freezer to see what I could find. I had some frozen duck breast tucked into the freezer and thought “sure, why not?”
I assumed I would be able to find some kind of recipe online for an Instant Pot duck breast cooked from frozen, but all I could find was a recipe for a stew. It probably would have been good, but I was craving duck breast on it’s own, with that nice crispy skin… a little salty, a little fatty, mmmmmmmm…. *ahem* Anyhow, since I could not find a recipe… I made one up 😛
Now, I do say from frozen for the duck breast, but I did need to let them thaw just a little, since they had those soft, thin pieces in the package meant to absorb liquid; which were frozen solid onto the meat. I let it defrost just enough to be able to peel them off without ending up with a bunch of frozen plastic pieces adhered to my bird. When it made it to the pot, though, it was still pretty much rock-hard with the exception of a thin layer on the exterior (you can actually see some ice still on the meat in the photo!)
Place the breasts on the rack in the pot, skin side up, to keep it out of the liquid. Under the meat goes the port, broth and currants. Plus, of course, I sprinkled a bit of salt on top. Make sure your pot lid is set to “Sealing”, and then let it cook on “poultry” setting for about 23 minutes. This resulted in a doneness level of about medium-well. You could probably adjust to a little less or a little more if you would prefer a different level of doneness. If you are able to get the duck out of the package while it’s still frozen all the way through, I would add on a couple minutes.
While the duck is cooking, we can start to prepare the mushrooms. I found these baby king oyster mushrooms at T&T, our asian supermarket, where I went shopping with my husband and in-laws after we went for dim sum earlier that morning. As you know, I enjoy not just cooking and eating, but also shopping for ingredients. I love shopping at T&T, since the ingredient options are often quite different than the “standard western” grocery options. And I really love going there with my in-laws, since I will get all kinds of suggestions and advice from them on produce I am unfamiliar with, like whether the produce is is in good shape, if it is in season, or suggestions for different produce I would not know to take home. My husband finds these shopping trips amusingly frustrating with the three of us, since we tend to scatter and reform, which my husband, of course, refers to as “herding cats”. Mama and papa know that I LOVE mushrooms, particularly shimeji and king oyster, and brought over the baby king oysters. I was really excited to cook these. They looked so good; plump little morsels, ready to be fried up for dinner! Even though they looked fairly clean in the package, papa suggested I wash them and trim the ends anyhow, and so I did.
Attempting to maintain a pseudo-asian flavour for the mushrooms, I decided to fry them up and glaze them with some miso. If you cook your duck breast first, you can reserve the rendered duck fat (see below for more details) and cook the mushrooms in that after you’ve fried the duck breasts. For me, I happened to have some rendered goose fat in the fridge from foie gras I had made a few weeks before, so I melted some of that in the pan, and then started to sauté my mushrooms and garlic.
Add a pinch of salt to the pan and sauté the mushrooms and garlic. This will seem like a counterintuitive thing for me to say: but don’t add too much salt. The miso has some saltiness to it, and it is better to taste test and add a bit more towards the end than end up with too much salt. Cook the mushrooms until they start to soften and get patches of golden brown. Once that happens, add the brandy and allow it to cook down until there is almost no liquid left in the pan, stirring regularly.
While the brandy is cooking down, add the miso to the hot water and mix until the miso is mostly dissolved. Add the mixture to your pan, and sprinkle with the sugar, and again stir regularly while cooking down the liquid until a smooth glossy finish coats your mushrooms, and there is little to no liquid in the pan.
By now, the duck should be done. Allow the pressure to release from your instant pot, and open to reveal your beautifully cooked duck breast. Oh. Wait. Not so beautiful yet. The skin is all soggy looking and it appears as if the breast as been boiled. Ew.
We can fix that right quick. Remove the breasts from the pot, reserving the liquid, and score the skin in a criss-cross pattern with a sharp knife. Sprinkle the skin with salt, and then place in a dry pan at just below high heat. You may want to tilt and hold the meat in a few directions on the pan to crisp up the skin on all sides.
As you cook the skin and it starts crisping to a nice golden brown, it will be releasing a whole heck of a lot of fat. This fat can be used to cook your mushrooms, or you can pour it into a Tupperware and store it in the fridge to use as an olive oil or butter replacement in another dish later on.
Once the skin has crisped to your desired level of doneness, remove the breasts from the pan and let them rest to the side. Pour the fat from the pan into a container of choice, then pour the liquid from the instant pot (you almost forgot about that, didn’t you?) into the pan. Reduce the heat to medium high, and add the garlic jelly, stirring to dissolve the jelly in the liquid. Allow the liquid to reduce by about half, and then strain to remove the pips and skin from the currants. Then, slice the duck breasts across the grain into nice, moist (yes, I used the descriptor moist) slices, and spoon the sauce on top. Serve with mushrooms and enjoy!
8cupsgreen leaf lettuce(washed and torn into bite-sized pieces)
1avocado(peeled, pitted and sliced)
1cupcherry tomatoes(halved)
3/4cupfrozen corn(browned in a dry pan)
Salad
1/4cupbuttermilk
1/4cupmayonnaise
1lime(juiced)
2Tbspsfresh cilantro(cut fine)
1garlic clove(grated)
1/2tspsalt
1/2tspsugar
1/2tsppaprika
Instructions
The carnitas can be made in an instant pot or slow cooker.Either way, place the shoulder in the pot, rub down with the spices, covering as much of the surface as possible, letting the rest fall to the bottom of the pot. Add the onions and garlic, then pour in the juice. If cooking in the slow cooker, cook on low for 8 hours. If cooking in the instant pot, cook on the "meat" setting for 55 minutes, ensuring the pot is sealed for pressure cooking. Once the meat is cooked, let it cool for a bit, then tear it roughly into chunks. Reserve the liquid and add the meat to a frying pan at medium to high heat to crisp up the meat. Once the meat is starting to brown, slowly add the liquid, then allow it to cook down until the liquid has cooked into the meat and the sugars from the liquid have caramelized the meat.Whisk all the dressing ingredients together.Assemble your salad, top with the crisped carnitas and drizzle with the dressing.
A bit “healthier” then the first few posts, my husband and I are resetting our eating a bit after the rich foods we had taken in over the several months. We are reducing our simple carbohydrate intake (which, to be honest, was not too hard once we started cutting out treats throughout the day, afternoon snacks, and bread with every meal), and have been focusing on dinners that are filling, fresh and flavourful.
This meal is one of my favourites because it’s got the freshness from the greens and the cilantro dressing, while also bringing in the heartiness and umami-rich carnitas.
I might be a little loose in calling this recipe “carnitas”. Traditionally carnitas is pork cooked low and slow in lard, similar to a confit. Probably a better title for what I am making here would be “pan-fried, slow-cooked pork shoulder”, but that’s just not nearly as fun to say.
We start everything off preparing our pork shoulder, since it needs the longest time to prepare and cook. I have done this recipe before in two different ways: in our slow cooker and our instant pot. Both work, but to be honest, it turns out better in the slow cooker. For the photos today, I have done the recipe in the instant pot.
Start by mixing the carnitas spices together in a small bowl. Place your shoulder in the pot, and rub the spice mix all over the meat, trying to coat the entire surface area. Place the shallots and garlic in the pot with the shoulder, then pour the juice into the bottom of the pot.
When you place the lid on the instant pot, ensure the vent is set to “sealing”, since we are going to be pressure cooking our meat. Set the pot to the “meat” setting, and cook the shoulder for 55 minutes.
While the meat is cooking, we can prepare our salad toppings and dressing. Set a dry pan on the stove at medium- to high-heat. Place the frozen corn into the pan, and stir regularly, allowing the corn to char slightly. Be cautious! Even though it’s not popcorn, some of the kernels may actually “pop” out of the pan under the high heat.
Next, let’s make our dressing. I love buttermilk dressings. They’re creamy and tangy, offering a nice balance of flavours. I also feel they necessitate a decent amount of garlic, because what goes better with richness than a nice garlicky punch to the tastebuds? To really allow the garlic to suffuse the entire dressing, I use my garlic grate plate, which basically destroys the garlic and breaks it down into a fine mash, which then lends to tiny bits of garlic spreading throughout the entire dressing. My mom got me this garlic plate over a decade ago, and it is a staple in my kitchen.
Those little ridges are what break down the garlic. Using the plate is easy; just peel the garlic, hold it in your fingers and then grind it into the plate.
Start by mixing together your buttermilk and mayo. I used the full fat buttermilk, as well as Japanese mayo for my recipe. I wanted that added richness to the dressing, to help balance the acidity of the lime juice and the freshness of the cilantro. Add the rest of the dressing ingredients and mix together.
By about now, your pork is likely ready to come out of the pot. Take out the shoulder, reserve the liquid, and tear the meat into chunks. Place a large pan on medium-high heat and transfer the pork into the pan. Once the meat has browned a bit, add the juices and let them cook down until the liquid has boiled off and the meat is starting to caramelize.
Finally, assemble your salad with your toppings, leaving a little nest in the middle of the salad for your pork. Pile the pork in the middle, drizzle with the dressing, and enjoy!
1lbgreens beans/haricots verts(cleaned and trimmed)
4-6shallotssliced thin
1/2cupvegetable oil
1 + 3Tbspsbutter
3Tbspbrown sugar
1tspkosher or Maldon salt
1/2cuppecanschopped in large pieces
Instructions
Slice the shallots thin (approximately 2mm) and lay them on paper towels to dry. Heat the vegetable oil in a large shallow pan at medium to medium-high heat. Lay the shallots out in the oil and allow them to turn gold brown. Stir regularly to allow them to brown on all sides. Once golden brown, transfer to a dish with a paper towel to drain any excess oil and allow to cool. Melt 3 tablespoons of butter and add the sugar. Add the pecans and stir, allowing the sugar to melt in the butter. Continue to cook until the sugar is completely melted and browns slightly. Lay the cooked nuts out onto a plate covered in parchment paper, sprinkle with the salt and allow to cool completely. Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a pan, add the beans, a bit of salt, and sauté until cooked through. Top with the crispy shallots and lightly chopped pecans.
Keyword Caramelized Nuts, Green Beans, Shallots, Vegetables
And now for the details…
So to “finish off” our Quebequoise night, we added a vegetable dish, being haricot verts, or green beans, with crispy shallots and caramelized nuts. Now… for our actual evening, we used walnuts, but when I recreated the recipe (since I kinda forgot to take enough photos the first go ’round), I had no walnuts in the house and used pecans instead. Both were delicious, and I feel filberts and almonds would be equally delicious with this recipe. However, if using the filberts or almonds, it would be a good idea to chop the nuts slightly before cooking, because they are quite a bit thicker and they would not toast through as well.
If you want additional accoutrements to your dinner besides the recipes listed, the suggestions that came from Krystal’s boyfriend, Philipe, was to add pickled beets and… pickles. Apparently sweet pickles are the traditional side dish, and he teased us that it would not be the same with garlic pickles… But… ummm… I am not the biggest fan of sweet pickles, so we settled for pickled beets and garlic pickles and left it at that. (Sorry Philipe!)
Right… the cooking… Let’s start by slicing the shallots nice and thin and laying them out on a paper towel to dry. Drying the shallots will allow them to crisp up nice and easy once they hit the oil, without steaming themselves first.
Heat the oil in a pan on medium to medium-high heat until adding a drop of water pops. Add the shallots to the pan, trying to keep them as spread out as possible, in a single layer. Let them cook, stirring regularly, to allow them to crisp up and get golden on all sides. As they cook, they will soften and break apart, but continue to push and pseudo flip them so that they brown on all sides. Once they have browned, use a slotted spoon to remove them and transfer onto a paper towel on a plate to allow them to drain any excess oil and to cool. If they are soft-ish when you remove them, fret not! As they cool, they will crisp up and be delicious little morsels of shalloty goodness.
Next, let’s caramelize the nuts. Like I said, I didn’t have any walnuts in the house and made this with pecans instead. Equally as delicious, and I made them the same way.
Start by adding the three tablespoons of butter and sugar to your pan. I used brown sugar, but you could replace this with cane or even white sugar instead, since the sugar will brown and caramelize. Allow the butter to fully melt and the sugar should start to kinda stick together in a paste. Add the nuts, and continue to cook until the sugar looks like it is melting into the butter and around your nuts.
Pour everything out onto a large plate lined with parchment paper, sprinkle with your salt, and allow to cool completely. As they cool, the sugar will harden, leaving a nice buttery, sweet crust, and the salt gives that sweet with savoury crunch. I have made these for salads as well, and added a wee sprinkle of cayenne pepper while the nuts were cooking. This led to a deliciously sweet, savoury and spicy topping that was so good, but the cayenne didn’t seem very French, so I left it out of this recipe 😉
Lastly is to cook your beans. The good news: have you noticed how all these steps can be done in one pan?? My husband loves my cooking, but points out that I seem to need to use every dish in our kitchen while I’m preparing meals… luckily, this is all in one dish!
Start by trimming the ends off the beans. Next, melt the remaining tablespoon of butter in your pan, then add your beans and little (or… a lot) of salt to the pan.
Cook until the beans have changed to a vibrant green and are cooked to your preferred level of doneness.Personally, I like a bit of bite, so that the beans are still a bit crisp, but feel free to cook as much or as little as you prefer. I also chose to cook my beans at a slightly higher temperature so I would get the level of doneness I prefer, as well as a tiny bit of char. It doesn’t add much flavour, but I like how it looks.
Turn the beans out into your serving dish of choice, top with the nuts and shallots and enjoy.
Now that we have gone through all three parts, I hope you enjoyed your Québecois-inspired meal! Until next time… happy eating!
Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed pot, then sauté the balls, turning gently, to brown on all sides. Once all sides have browned, add the boiling water, cover the pot and simmer on low for one hour. Remove the balls, then thicken the broth by slowly adding the toasted flour until desired consistency. Add the gravy to the meatballs and serve.
Keyword Gravy, Main Course, Meat, Meatballs
And now for the details…
Ragoût de Boulettes or Meatball…euh…. Ragout.
Okay, so I have no idea of the traduction for ragout… I’ve always just heard folks refer to it as, well, ragout. Whoops… right. “Traduction.” French for “translation”. Certainly Franglais would need to make its way into one of these posts!
I can’t take really any credit for how this recipe turned out… like at all. As I said in the previous blog, this Quebequoise cuisine night was a joint effort, and Krystal did all the heavy lifting for the Ragoût. And it turned out AMAZEBALLS. Seriously. So good. Our credit for this recipe goes to Chef Cuisto, as we had never made these before and needed some help. The recipe turned out really, really well.
Krystal mixing the onions with spices before adding the pork to form the meatballs.
I feel as though I need to take this time to mention the fact that Krystal is a dietician. Now, her and I have had a number of conversations regarding food, diets, nutrition, and the like (fun fact: Krystal supported me while I was training for my first half Ironman. She helped me with everything from hydration to timing of nutrition to ensure I maximized my recovery). And in all of this, we have talked a lot about “healthy” food choices. When Krystal and I get together, often the meal choices we have made are for fairly rich foods (our first ever cooking adventure included molten chocolate lava cake). And the lucky recipients of our efforts often tease Krystal about her being a dietician and the food choices we make. But one of the things that I have learned through all these experiences is that all food is healthy. Preparing food socially with friends is healthy. Rich foods are healthy. “Healthy” foods are healthy. What I have learned most is that a balanced diet is key and having a healthy relationship with food is extremely important. Which I do my best to focus on, because I love food. I like it a lot. Alot alot…
So with that, lets start talking about the food!
Before we get into the cooking, a quick blurb on “farine grillée”, or toasted flour: When Krystal’s boyfriend had been telling us about ragoût de boulettes, he had mentioned making it with “farine grillée” to which Krystal responded with “eh?” And then later when she was telling me about what I translated in my brain incorrectly as “grilled flour”, I also responded with “eh??” And then we found out… it’s actually very simple. Toast the flour in the bottom of a dry pot on medium heat until it turns light brown and toasty… therefore: farine grillée. The toasted flour adds a nice flavour and reduces that “raw” taste you may get when you add flour to a recipe to thicken it up. Note: the more you toast, the less the thickening power… of the flour. (hee hee, I rhymed)
Alrighty, let’s get to cooking. Start out by combining pork, onions and spices, and forming into balls, and lightly cover them in flour. Melt the butter in a heavy bottomed pot to get ready to brown the meatballs.
Place the meatballs in a single layer of the pot and brown the meatballs at medium high heat, turning them gently to get all the sides.
A gentle hand is needed while flipping the meatballs to avoid breakage.
Once the meatballs have been browned on all sides, pour the boiling water into the pot, turn the heat down to a simmer, cover the pot and let the meatballs simmer for 1 hour.
You can use some of this time to toast your flour. In our search, Krystal and I found a few methods. You can bake the flour spread thinly across a cookie sheet until the desired level of doneness. You can actually purchase your farine grillée pre-toasted, at a several levels of toastiness. No seriously, it comes in a flour bag same as all-purpose. See an example here. The method we chose to use was to toast the flour on medium high heat in a dry pot until the flour released a slightly nutty smell and was a nice golden brown.
Once your meatballs have cooked for an hour, remove the balls to a serving dish, then slowly add the farine grillée, whisking as you add to avoid clumping, and cook at medium to medium high heat, allowing the gravy to thicken. Pour the gravy over the meatballs, and serve with patates pilées (mashed potatoes)
Enjoy!
Up next… haricots verts with crispy shallots and caramelized nuts.
