Recipe: Southwest Breakfast Skillet

Posted on March 12, 2012 by The Knife and Steel

Breakfast is by far my favourite meal of the day. Breakfast skillets are probably my favourite type of breakfast. Beware though, it’s not a healthy breakfast. It’s definitely a guilty pleasure, Saturday morning with the paper kind of breakfast. Get ready.

Southwest Breakfast Skillet
serves 4

8 eggs, poached
4 russet potatoes
butter
sour cream
salsa
green onions, sliced thin
tabasco
white cheddar

Cut the potatoes into half-inch cubes, leaving the skin on. Heat butter in a pan and add potatoes, cooking on medium-high heat until they develop a golden brown colour and start to crisp up. Throw them in a 400°F oven to finish cooking, tossing a few times during cooking. Near the end, season with salt and pepper and add grated white cheddar cheese and let it melt in the oven. Divide the potatoes into 4 small skillets and top with sour cream, salsa, and tabasco sauce to taste. Top with two poached eggs and green onions. If you don’t know how to poach an egg, check out this earlier post with a recipe in which I explain the process. Serve with thick cut toast and some fresh squeezed OJ. Hungry yet?

Recipe: Spicy Chili

Posted on March 9, 2012 by The Knife and Steel

Chili is THE ultimate comfort food. It’s hot, filling, savoury, fatty, and it sticks to your bones. Generally when I make a pot of chili I just freehand the ingredients and fix it as I go. In the end it ALWAYS ends up tasting great. For your sake I’ve made a recipe you can follow for it, but feel free to use less or more of ingredients like cayenne, chilies, or really anything. Oh, and do yourself a favour and make a double recipe and freeze some of it up so you can use it later when you need that comfort food fix.

Oops. Just noticed you can see me in the spoon. Oh well.

Spicy Chili
yields approx 4 litres

3/4 lb lean ground beef
1/4 lb ground pork
3 Tablespoons tomato paste
2 cups canned crushed tomatoes
1 medium onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon cayenne Pepper
5-10 crushed small dried chillies
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon all spice
Basil to taste
Thyme to taste
Ketchup to taste
Worcestershire sauce to taste
Salt to taste
Olive oil
Water

Sweat your onions and garlic with olive oil and salt in a large thick bottomed pot. Add spices, herbs, and peppers and cook out for a couple minutes. Add tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, ketchup, and worcestershire sauce. Add ground meat and water and mix together. Cover and let simmer for 1 hour. Top with grated cheese (I like to use Asiago cheese) and sour cream. Sit down on the couch with your chili and some crackers and enjoy.

Ingredient Focus: Sablefish

Posted on March 8, 2012 by The Knife and Steel

I love fish. I love cooking fish, I love eating fish, I love seeing fish at the aquarium, I love swimming with fish (snorkelling, not Old School Italian Mob style), and I love catching fish. One of my earliest memories is of fishing for Brook Trout in the small streams in the woods behind my grandparent’s home in Newfoundland. Come to think of it, this memory of catching my food, cleaning it, cooking it, and eating it probably played a large role in my eventual decision to become a chef.

One of my favourite fish to cook is Sablefish. Also known as Black Cod, it is a delicate white fish with a mild flavour and firm flesh. It can be poached, seared with a crisp skin, and roasted. It pairs excellently with winter vegetables (at the restaurant right now we’re serving it with a Butternut Squash puree), earthy flavours, and rich sauces.

Do yourself a favour and go to your nearest fish monger and pick up some Sablefish for dinner!

For a bit more technical and scientific data on Sablefish check out this link: http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/fishwatch/species/sablefish.htm

For some recipes from chefs whose names you will recognize follow this link: http://www.canadiansablefish.com/recipes.htm

Recipe: Truffled Poached Egg Salad on Rye

Posted on March 7, 2012 by The Knife and Steel

This is one of my favourite lunches because it’s filling, easy to do, and healthy. It’s great for breakfast or dinner as well. All you have to do is poach an egg, make a simple vinaigrette (a guideline of 3 parts oil to 2 parts acid always works), toss the greens in it, and layer it up. In this particular recipe I add apple slices, goat cheese, and a truffled honey vinaigrette. If you want to know how to poach an egg you can find the directions in another post by clicking HERE.

Truffled Poached Egg Salad on Rye with Apple and Goat Cheese
serves 4

4 eggs

100 ml olive oil
50 ml white or black truffle oil
25 ml honey
100 ml white wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
mixed greens

1 apple
soft goat cheese
4 slices of dark rye bread, thick

Whisk the vinaigrette ingredients together and season with salt and pepper to taste. Toss the greens with the vinaigrette to lightly coat. Poach the eggs and toast the bread. Thinly slice apples with the peel still on. Place salad on top of the toast, apples and crumbled goat cheese on top of the salad, and top everything with a poached egg. Sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper on top of the egg. Enjoy.

Recipe: Homemade Ricotta Cheese

Posted on March 1, 2012 by The Knife and Steel

Ricotta is a cheese that I usually avoid at the grocery store. The problem with generic ricotta is it is usually drastically under seasoned, very grainy, and really lacks depth. Enter homemade ricotta.

This weekend at the restaurant we need some ricotta so I decided that I would make a batch and make it good. This was my first try but I had heard it was really easy. If you’re interested in starting to make your own cheese, this is a great place to start.

**Please excuse the photos, all I had was my phone.

Whole Milk Ricotta
yields 1 pound

3.75 L whole milk
125 ml whipping cream
1 teaspoon citric acid powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt

In a non-reactive pot combine the milk, cream, citric acid, and one teaspoon of the salt. Mix with a whisk to combine. Over medium-low heat, slowly bring the temperature up to 185°F. Stir the milk frequently and gently with a rubber spatula. Once the milk nears the desired temperature you will notice that the curds start to separate from the whey (the clear-ish yellow liquid). Run your spatula around the edge of the pot to loosen the curds and make them rotate. Once the milk reaches the right temperature, remove from the heat and cover. Let stand undisturbed for 10 minutes. Line a strainer with cheese cloth over a bowl and gently ladle the curds into the strainer. Gently toss the remaining teaspoon of salt in the curds. Bring the corners of the cheesecloth together and hang over a bowl in the fridge for 1-2 hours. Andddddd you’re done! Enjoy the best ricotta you’ll have ever had.

Ingredient Focus: Star Anise

Posted on February 29, 2012 by The Knife and Steel

I love ingredients that can be used in both savoury and sweet dishes. The idea of creating a three course meal around a theme flavour used in all of the courses is a challenge that excites me. Star Anise is one of those ingredients.

Star Anise is actually not related to Anise but contains anethole, which is the same thing in Anise that gives it it’s flavour. Star Anise is harvested from Illicium Verum, an evergreen tree that grows in Asia. As a result, Star Anise is most widely used in Asian cuisines as a flavour enhancer for meats, broths, teas, and rice dishes. It is also used in the production of liquors such as Absinthe, Sambuca, and Pastis.

The spicy liquorice flavour of Anise pairs amazingly with proteins such as duck and pork, it is great when infused into a dessert such as creme brûlée, and tastes fantastic in a meat broth for soup noodles.

Book: A Taste of My Life by Raymond Blanc

Posted on February 27, 2012 by The Knife and Steel

Raymond Blanc is the chef of two-star Michelin restaurant Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons in Oxfordshire England. He was born in France and moved at an early age to England to work in the food industry. This book is a story of his early years as a farm boy all the way to his major success as one of England and the world’s finest chefs. Raymond Blanc also includes a few recipes of his classic recipes in the pages.

It’s as much an entertaining read as it is a useful read for aspiring young chefs. Allow me to show you just a few of the reviews the book has received.

“A delicious offering.”
~The Times

“A rattling good story.”
~BBC Good Food

“We hail his astonishing determination and his evocation of his life at home with Mum and Dad, and revel too in his descriptions of English catering in the years before Blanc.”
~Guardian

“Only a few great chefs are produced every century. Raymond Blanc is one of those great chefs.”
~Marco Pierre White

And an excerpt from the book if I may:

“I remember one of those rabbit meals when I looked up from my plate and stared at my mother. She had misty eyes, yet she had a smile on her face. The teardrops were there because she loved her rabbits. She adored them when they were alive, and it broke her heard when they were turned into a dish. The smile was there because, my God, the rabbit tasted superb. You could call it the French paradox. In France in those days, if a driver spotted a hare on the road he would, without hesitation, chase the animal in his car, if need be chase it across the fields, and probably get nowhere. My point is that although animals were regarded as stroke able, they were primarily viewed as eatable. Invariably, the family pet ended up on the plate.”

Get the book. It kept me entertained on the train during my commutes to school while in London. You’ll enjoy it, I promise.

Find it on Amazon.ca or Amazon.com for between $12-$19.

Recipe: Lavender Goat Cheese Tart with Cranberry Port Compote

Posted on February 23, 2012 by The Knife and Steel

I absolutely love a nice fresh, soft goat cheese. The creaminess, tartness, slight saltiness, and depth of flavours in a good goats cheese make it one of the most enjoyable cheeses to eat.

A while ago while preparing for a catering event I had the idea of mixing goat cheese with a bit of dried lavender I had purchased while in Maui. The result, when paired with a bit of honey, was magical. The lavender brought a beautiful floral quality to the cheese and the honey really just set everything off.

This recipe is a great one to use for an appetizer or just for a snack with friends. Enjoy!

Lavender Goat Cheese Tart with Cranberry Port Compote
serves 4

16 six-inch circles of phyllo pastry
clarified butter
600 g soft goat cheese
1 tablespoon dried lavender ground into a powder

1 cup fresh cranberries
100 ml port wine
1/2 cup sugar

honey

In sets of four, layer the phyllo pastry circles with a brushed coating of clarified butter in between each layer. Line 4 greased four-inch round skillets or baking dishes with the pastry like you would for a pie crust. Mix the goat cheese with the lavender and divide between the four pastry lined skillets. Bake in a 360°F oven for 15-20 minutes or until the cheese starts to brown slightly on the top and the pastry is golden.

For the compote, simply add all the ingredients to a small saucepan and cook over medium heat until it is a thick, jam-like consistency. Let it cool and spoon on top of the finished tarts. Drizzle with a bit of good quality honey and serve.

Book: The Flavour Thesaurus

Posted on February 22, 2012 by The Knife and Steel

It’s a book without pictures. It’s a book with no recipes. Yet I still consider it one of the most helpful cook books I have.

The book is The Flavour Thesaurus by Niki Segnit. Like it’s title suggest, it’s a guide to ingredients and their flavours. The book puts ingredients into different flavour categories such as Earthy, Floral Fruity, Marine, Green + Grassy, and many more. It then will take an ingredient and give pairing suggestions. An example would be Globe Artichoke. Some of the pairings suggested are: Globe Artichoke and Bacon, Globe Artichoke and mint, Globe Artichoke and Pea, and Globe Artichoke and Pork. For each pairing, the book gives details on the flavour and texture profiles of each and reasons to why the two work together.

If you enjoy being creative in the kitchen, if you’re a chef responsible for developing menu items, or if you just want to know why the heck the chef at the last restaurant you went to would put Goat’s Cheese and Coffee together, then you need to get this book.

Buy it online at Amazon.ca or Amazon.com for about $20.

Recipe: Confit of Duck with Rustic Potatoes

Posted on February 21, 2012 by The Knife and Steel

Confit. Meat cooked slowly in it’s own fat until it melts under your fork. Yes please.

Today’s recipe is one of my ultimate comfort foods. The best part is that you can cook a lot of the confit, and if you store covered it in it’s own fat in the fridge it will last for months. Here we go.

Confit of Duck with Rustic Potatoes
serves 4

4 duck legs
2-3 litres of duck fat (use pork fat if duck fat is too expensive)
6 cloves of garlic, smashed
10 sprigs of thyme
1 cup rock salt

4 large potatoes
mixed salad greens

Rub the duck legs with rock salt, garlic, and thyme. Let the duck sit with all of the previous for an hour and a half in the fridge. Melt the fat in a pot. Rinse off the duck legs and place them in the fat along with the garlic and herbs, making sure they are completely covered. Place in a 250°F oven and cook for about 4 hours or until the skin on the drumstick near the joint shrinks back towards the thigh. Alternatively you can cook on the stovetop at a medium-low temperature, making sure the oil never boils. Once the legs are cooked you can store them in the fat (fully submerged) and they will keep in the fridge for months.

In a saute pan, heat up some of the fat to quite hot and add the potatoes, cut into rough chunks. Continue to cook on high heat to get some good colour and crispness on the potatoes. Put into a 400°F oven to finish cooking, tossing a few times through the cooking process. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Heat up a bit of the fat in a pan and place the duck leg in, skin side down. Keep the skin pressed to the pan and cook until the skin is crisp. Serve with the potatoes and a bit of mixed greens tossed with olive oil and a bit of lemon juice.