Another mountain climbed! Vegans need not apply.

I have made it my mission for the summer to become a meat cooking expert. While I've always been adept at making side dishes, meat, especially larger cuts like roasts, have always intimidated and intrigued me. They're notoriously easy for novices to ruin, and yet there's this caveman appeal, this prehistoric urge for humans to cook meat over fire. Reason #32 why I don't understand vegans. They see a drawing of a cave-family in their fur skirts cooking a side of gazelle over a fire and they see a massacre. I see a family dinner.

It's not really fair to make fun of vegans. They don't have the strength to fight back.

Last week, I'm proud to say I cooked a whole chicken for the first time, and what a success that was. It's not that hard to make something taste good when you have butter and garlic at your disposal. To prepare my chicken, I trimmed away the excess fat, ripped the guts out, and gently began pulling the skin away from the flesh. I really got my hands in there, all along both sides of the body of my bird, creating a tasty pocket to hold butter, which I melted and added a few cloves of garlic, some lemon zest, and some dry tarragon. Baked for an hour at 350 in a covered roasting pan, then took off the lid and stuck it under the broiler to crisp up the skin. AND there were enough drippings to make gravy! Which I ate on toast.

OK, chicken down. Easy. So I decided to seek out a notoriously difficult to cook cut of meat.

Brisket.

If cooked wrong, fatty, tough and stringy. If cooked slowly, melt in your mouth beef candy. Never having cooked brisket before, I did the sensible thing and Googled a recipe. Now because brisket has so much fat and connective tissue in it, it needs to be cooked slowly for the fat to melt into the meat, which softens it. I've had it slow cooked on the grill, which was to die for. Unfortunately, it takes about 6 hours to cook on low indirect heat. I opted for the braising method which takes a mere 2 hours. Until recently, I had no idea what braising was. It's a method of oven cooking where the cut of meat is immersed partially in liquid and tightly covered to preserve the meat's tenderness. The recipes I encountered in the google-sphere ranged from boring (just broth) to the insane (ketchup, onion soup mix and cola). I opted to wing mine.

For a 2 pound brisket:
1 cup broth (I had vegetable broth)
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp salt (I'm fancy, so I used smoked sea salt)
1 tsp ground pepper
1/2 tsp dry rosemary
1/2 tsp cumin
maple syrup
(I didn't measure, but my estimate would be 1 1/2-2 oz, yes I measure in shots)
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp paprika
3 cloves of garlic, crushed

I'm guessing on most of those measurements. I rarely measure, I add stuff, I taste, etc. I added everything to a small sauce pan and simmered until the concoction reduced to about 3/4 of the original volume.

Brisket has a thick layer of fat on one side, so to prep, I cut into the fat diagonally in both directions, which will help the fat render into the meat. I rubbed the meat with a mixture of sea salt, brown sugar, pepper and dry rosemary, which I ground with my mortar and pestle. Really crust that mixture on both sides of the roast. I also opted to sear the meat before I put it in the oven, in a large frying pan on high heat. Just under a minute on each side, until the fatty side gets a bit crispy looking. Then pop that sucker in a roasting pan, fatty side up, pour in the braising liquid, which should come up about halfway on the side of the roast, cover and stick it in a 275 degree oven for 2 hours.

After 2 hours, I removed my roast from the oven, poured the braising liquid back into a saucepan over medium heat to reduce it some more. And I put the roast back in the oven under the broiler for a few minutes to crisp up that fat. Oh and I coated it with more maple syrup. Serve with the reduced braising liquid for dipping.

Warning! Even slow cooking won't render away all the fat. Do not operate any heavy machinery after a brisket. This is a very heavy meal, and as a result I will be eating salads for the next few days.

My favourite gadget and some musings about bacon

Hello everyone!

Real life has caused me to take a brief hiatus, but I am back to preach the yummy gospel. To your right you'll see a photo of what's called a RASP. This baby is not only useful at grating citrus zest, but hard cheeses, nutmeg, ginger, and garlic. Think of a cheese grater crossed with a 5-blade lady razor.

That's not all this gadget is good for. I hate wasting food, as I'm sure most people do. As a single chick who does most of her cooking for one, it's a common issue, especially with seasonings like ginger, jalapenos, and lemongrass that I use in my Asian cooking. I learned a little trick from one of my favourite TV chefs who freezes ingredients like these and grates them frozen into his cooking. This not only prevents wastage, but allows you better control over your seasonings. What would you normally do with a half a jalapeno? Probably chuck it, or awkwardly try to work it into recipes it doesn't belong in (about to expire jalapeno oatmeal anyone?).

Genius, I know. It would really be genius if they were paying me to hock their product.

Another trick I've learned over the years is to freeze bacon on cookie sheets lined with waxed paper. Want a couple of slices for a club sandwich? Throw them frozen into a pan. They cook up just like if they were thawed. Bacon bits you ask? Frozen bacon is infinitely easier to slice prior to cooking.

Prevent against the crimes against bacon. Don't let it spoil.

Sweet potato bonanza!

Words cannot express how much I love sweet potatoes. They're so versatile and yummy and when you slap on as much butter as I do you totally forget how healthy they are.

They come in all shapes and sizes. Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, the last time I went shopping for sweet potatoes, they only had ones the size of footballs. Maybe not NFL footballs, but certainly peewee footballs. Seriously, these things were almost 2 pounds each. Now, I'm single and do 90% of my cooking for just me, and have no desire to sit down and eat 2 entire pounds of sweet potatoes. Then I would have no room for bacon. So I had to get creative with my left overs.

Step 1: Cook
Peel and cube your gigantic sweet potato. Put it in a pot, cover with water. Bring to a boil uncovered and then turn down to medium low and simmer for 10-15 minutes or until fork-tender.

I love that expression. Fork-tender. Sexy.

Drain.

From this point, sweet potatoes can be cooled and added to salads, or kept warm and mashed with lots of butter and garlic.

Step 2: Flavour!

Garlic-mashed Sweet Potatoes

Dump sweet potatoes in a colander in the sink. Leave them there to drain. Put the pot back on the stove and add butter and crushed garlic. Melt the butter and let the garlic unleash some of its fragrant goodness. Turn off the heat. Throw the sweet potato tots back into the pan with the butter, toss 'em around and then mash everything together. Salt and pepper.

Good with steak. Also, good garnished with finely chopped red onion, fresh parsely and crumbled feta cheese.


White bean and sweet potato salad

1/2 red pepper, diced
1 can white kidney beans
1 1/2 cups cooked diced sweet potato (or roughly the same measurement as the beans)
1 apple, diced
1 small red onion, finely chopped

Dressing:
2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon dijon mustard
3 tablespoons mayo
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 large pinch dried tarragon
zest of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper

Mix all that stuff together. It's not rocket science.

Salads like this are best after refridgerating for a while so that all those flavours in the dressing work their way into the beans and potatoes.

Step 3: Leftovers!

Breakfast, lunch or dinner. So good.

Sweet potato pancakes

1/2 cup leftover garlic mashed sweet potatoes
1 egg
2/3 cup milk (or soy milk)
1 tablespoon olive oil

Whisk together in a large bowl. Who likes dirtying two bowls? No one. So put a sieve over the bowl full of wet ingredients and add:

1/2 cup spelt flour (if using regular flour, use a bit less than 1/2 cup)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Stir dry ingredients around a bit in the sieve and then shake into the wet ingredients. Whisk together. Thick batter (like the consistency of yogurt) will make thick pancakes. Thin it out if you like them thinner, like crepes. They also cook faster if they're thinner. In a lightly buttered pan over medium heat, spoon batter in and cook until bubbles appear around the edges of the pancake (3 or 4 minutes) then flip.

If made like crepes they can be filled with...cheese? goat cheese? cream cheese? Whatever, like you can ever go wrong with cheese. If made like pancakes, just crumble cheese on top.

I made them like crepes for breakfast and filled them with sheep's milk feta, spinach, and sauteed red onion.

Run out of hamburger buns?

Use waffles.

An Homage to...

PEACH SCHNAPPS.

No, you didn't misread that.

Peach schnapps has been given a bad name. Perhaps you drank too much of it when you were 14? Perhaps you think of it as a perennial girly drink ingredient? While we've all been guilty of drinking it out of the bottle on a warm summer's day (just me?), peach schnapps is more suitable as a guest star in cocktails. Like its syrupy, intensely flavoured liqueur cousins (lychee and melon, I'm looking at you), all you need is a splash.


Liquid Peach Cobbler
One of many cocktails that taste like food...

1 1/2 oz. dark rum
1/2 oz. peach schnapps
pink lemonade
ginger beer
cinnamon

In a highball, add liquor over ice, fill almost to the top with pink lemonade and finish with a splash of ginger beer. Sprinkle cinnamon on top.


The Brunch Bomb
pairs wonderfully with bacon and eggs

1 1/2 oz. vodka
1/2 oz. peach schnapps
grapefruit juice
grenadine

In a highball, add liquor over ice, fill almost to the top with grapefruit juice, and slowly pour grenadine down the inside of the glass for that "sunrise" effect.


The "Ms. Montana"
all the flavours of the southern states in a glass

1 1/2 oz. Jack Daniels
1/2 oz. peach schnapps
pink lemonade
apple cider

In a highball, add liquor over ice, top up with half lemonade and half cider.

Love you, Pumpkin!

Our recent autumn-esque February weather left me feeling nostalgic for the flavours of Thanksgiving. I prepared a yummy turkey dish and pumpkin chocolate chip squares. I will probably post the turkey recipe at some point, but dessert should come first, no?

These squares are rich and moist, similar in texture to a really fudgy brownie. I use spelt flour in my baking, which is very similar to wheat flour, but doesn't absorb water the same way. I've found I can usually substitute spelt into recipes by simply adding more flour than the recipe calls for. Spelt does contain gluten, but many people with wheat sensitivities, including myself, can eat it consequence free. I find it has a slightly nuttier flavour than wheat flour, and has the added bonus of not giving me wrenching stomach cramps!

I must give my parents credit for this recipe, it was arrived at completely by accident. The original recipe only called for a cup of pumpkin. Recipes including canned goods should always require an entire can! Yes, the thriftier of us out there will likely freeze what remains, or just dump the entire can into the bowl and hope for the best. You'll find it was a successful experiment!



1 cup unsalted butter room temp
1 ¼ cups granulated sugar
2 cups spelt flour
1tsp each: cinnamon, baking soda
¾ tsp. salt
½ tsp. each: ground nutmeg, ground cloves , ground ginger
1 large egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup pure pumpkin
300 gram bag semi-sweet chocolate chips (I "accidentally" put a bag and a half in)



Preheat oven to 350.



In one large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Add the egg, vanilla and pumpkin. In another bowl, mix dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, cloves and ginger). Add dry ingredient mixture to the pumpkin mixture until combined, then add chocolate chips. Spread evenly in a 9x13" pan and bake for 35-40 minutes. They are meant to be quite moist so don't be alarmed if a toothpick doesn't come out clean.



Cool completely before cutting. Patience is needed here...perhaps I should add it to the ingredients. They smell good, I know, but if you cut them before the chocolate sets they don't look as nice because the melted chocolate gets smeared all over them. If you're not picky about aesthetics then cut away. Try not to burn your tongue.

The first Saucy Dish...

I figure I should start off my journey into the blogosphere with something simple, my most basic of recipes. The recipe I give to the people I meet who love food but are completely helpless in the kitchen. Sigh. Always disappointing to meet one of those. For me, food is such an integral part of life; not only are you never alone during the greatest moments of your life, but chances are, someone at least brought some dip. If you love food, I think learning how to make it yourself, and taking the time to do so is more of a means of survival than a luxury.

I must digress...

Here it is, the easiest yet most impressive pasta sauce recipe:

1 tablespoon olive oil
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 large pinch dried basil
1 can baby clams
1 can diced tomatoes

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, add oil and basil. Swirl around for a few seconds until you start to really smell the basil. Add can of baby clams and garlic. Simmer for a few minutes until the liquid from the clams reduces about halfway. Add the tomatoes. Turn down to medium-low and simmer until it reaches the desired consistency (about 10-20 minutes). Serve with pasta such as rotini (I use rice pasta).

So easy. So good. Please don't burn it and blame me.