Author: Jarred "Duck" Feldstain

A Rich Spud On the Side

Every year, I have a BBQ to help raise money for The Ottawa Mission. They are a organization that is very near and dear to my heart. Amongst other things, they dedicate themselves to making sure no one goes hungry. They have a kitchen that is open for three meals a day to anyone that who needs it, regardless of their situation. I plan on writing about some of the awesome stuff they did for me in particular, but in the mean time, I’ll leave a link to donate on the bottom.

This year I made four dishes: Roasted Potato Salad, Vegetable Sticks with Hummus, Ravioli Stuffed with Grilled Vegetables and smoked Tomato Sauce, and Smoked then Fried Chicken. The Chicken came out well, but utilized some equipment I built myself. The good news is, I’ve already shared my Hummus recipe here and I plan on sharing the potato salad recip today.

Potato salad is a staple at any BBQ. I can’t think of any other dish, let alone side dish, that can be creamy, light, while still being hardy. This is my 4th year holding this event, and the spud-tastic side has always been a go-to, however this year I took a whole new approach on it. Assuming you’re not a big fan of German cuisine, most of us think potato salad as boiled potatoes mixed with a mayo based dressing, then cooled. If you happen to know the aforementioned Germans Cuisine, then you know they skip the mayo all together.
Instead they take the potatoes right from the boiling water and mix it with oil and vinegar, then season accordingly. The result is the potatoes absorb most of the liquid, giving you more of seasoning opposed to a dressing. My understanding is it’s often served hot.

What I came up with was a mixture of the two, with a twist that I haven’t seen before. The potatoes were very flavourful because I did the german style of “hot mixing” with vinegar and oil, but then added a small amount of mayo and seasoning to give them the creamy texture we all associate with Potato salad. Here is the twist, I roasted the potatoes! They just came out beautifully.
A few side points,

I made a vegan mayo for this recipe. It’s one of the few vegan foods that imitate something else, that I actually find better then the original. Seriously, vegan mayo is better tasting then the store bought mayo you find in stores. So I give it a pass.
I didn’t add hard boiled eggs to this recipe, because of dietary restrictions of some guests who attended. If I were to made it again, this would definitely be added

Here is how I did it:

Vegan Mayo:

Ingredients:

  • 1/2C Soy Milk (If you don’t have Soymilk, or prefer traditional mayo, you can use the recipe found here)
  • 1/2C Canola Oil
  • 1/2C Olive Oil
  • 2t Apple Cider Vinegar
  1. Place all the ingredients in a high thinner cup. I used a measuring cup.
  2. Wait about 1 minute for the oil to float to the top.
  3. Insert the immersion blender into the mixture slowly.
  4. Pulse the blender until you start seeing mayo form.
  5. Once you see the majority of the mixture has emulsified, keep the blender on, and slowly lift the blender up and down until it’s a unified mixture.

Potato Salad:

  • 1lbs Russet Potatoes*
  • Pinch Salt
  • Double Pinch of Pepper
  • 1/4t of Garlic Powder
  • 6T Olive Oil
  • 1.5T Lemon Juice
  • 1.5T Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 1.5oz Onion
  • 3/4oz Celery
  • 2T Mayo
  1. Wash, dry and Cut Potatoes into 3/4″ squares. Leave the skin on, they add a wonderful
  2. Toss the cut potatoes in 1T of olive oil until they are throughly covered
  3. Place oiled potatoes directly on a baking sheet and roast at 350 degrees Fahrenheit in a convection oven (375 degrees in a non convection oven) for 30 minutes. Make sure to mix the potatoes up half way through.
  4. While the potatoes cook, mix all the other ingredients except the onion, celery and mayo into a bowl, mix as well as you can. The oil and vinegar will want to separate, which is fine. This will be your seasoning.
  5. Check to see if the potatoes are soft, golden-brown and delicious, if they need more time, crank the oven up 50 degrees, and check on them every 10 minutes until they are ready. Make sure to mix them every time you look at them.
  6. Once your potatoes are done, quickly put them directly from the oven, into a a clean mixing bowl. Then pour the seasoning, onto the hot potatoes and quickly mix until the potatoes have absorbed all the liquid.
  7. Mix in celery, onion and mayo.
  8. Place in fridge overnight and serve.
  9. Take a fancy photo, and post it to Instagram with the hashtag #foryourfoulmouth

*I used Potatoes my roommate picked up from a farmers market. They were very unusual. They had paper thin skins, and even after 45 minutes in the oven, they didn’t really brown. They were very delicious, but I switched the recipe to russet. Since I have no way of knowing what I actually used, and feel they weren’t the best choice.

Donate to the Ottawa Mission: Here

Purée-ly Delicious

Sometimes, the difference between good and great is 2%. At least that’s what I told John, a class mate of mine; because my class average was 2% higher than his. At the time I meant it as a joke, but I think I might have been on to something. A better way to say it, might be ‘Sometimes, the different between good and great are the fine details.’ I bring this up because I was in the mood to make Hummus, and this is a perfect example of something that can be great, if you look after all the small details. The recipe I give down below is not based on the recipe we use at my place of employment, but I do make hummus at work at least twice a week. Here are some tips that I’ve learned:

Try and use a very good food processor. A cheap or low quality one will make the job longer. Personally, I find it takes a good 7-10 minutes of processing before the hummus is soft and creamy, longer with a cheap processor. If you’re in a situation where your processor isn’t up to the task, run it as long as you can, and when you feel it get hot, let the processor rest for ten or fifteen minutes, then continue. Keep doing this until your hummus is ready. Tahini on the other hand, you definitely can’t fake. If you’re like me, you may have to buy Tahini if you don’t and have a top notch food processor.

Consistency is a bit fickle. I find as I’m adding liquid, at first you’ll have to add a lot before you’ll see a big difference in consistency, but as the hummus loosens, you’ll see even a little bit will make a big difference

Finally, there are only a few ingredients in hummus, and as I mentioned in past posts, the fewer the number ingredients you have in a recipe, the more important the quality of each one is. So make sure to use the best ingredients you can get your hands on.

All that being said, there was one fine detail that I felt could elevate my hummus game, and that was roasting the chickpeas. Chickpeas are perfect candidates for roasting! That’s because they are high in proteins and starches, which cause them to undergo the Maillard Reaction. Which is chemists speak for, heat makes them golden brown and delicious.

Ingredients:

  • 1 1⁄2C Chickpeas
  • 10 Cloves of Garlic
  • 2T Canola Oil
  • 2T Water
  • 2 1⁄2T Tahini
  • 2T Lemon Juice
  • 1⁄2T Salt
  • 1 1⁄2T Extra Virgin Olive
  1. Place dried chickpeas in a container, fill the container with water so that it covers the chickpeas by two inches, seal container and place in fridge overnight.
  2. If the chickpeas are still good, they should have doubled or tripled in size. If that’s the case discard the water, put the chickpeas in a pot and fill with fresh water until the water just covers the chickpeas. Set the stove to max heat.
  3. Bring the water to a boil, then lower heat to its lowest setting and place the lid on the pot. Let sit until the chickpeas become soft. It takes about an hour and a half to two hours.
  4. Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit on conventional oven, or 400 degrees on a non conventional oven. Drain and dry the chickpeas, then lightly cover with Canola oil. Make sure to save the water they were cooked in.
  5. Place the garlic in a ramekin, with a pinch of salt and pepper, two table spoons of water, and two table spoons of canola oil.
  6. Place your oil covered chickpeas on a parchment lined baking sheet, then place your chickpeas and ramekin with the garlic into the pre-heated oven. The chickpeas should take about 20 to 30 minutes to become golden brown, while the garlic should thake ablut 25 to 35 minutes to achieve the same.
  7. Place two cups of your roasted chickpeas, roasted garlic, the oil the garlic was cooked in, tahini, lemon juice, a pinch of salt into your food processor.
  8. Turn your food processor on, until your chickpeas are coarse in size.
  9. Turn the processor off and scrape down the sides of the interior of the processor bowl and add a little of the reserved chickpea cooking liquid.
  10. Repeat step 9 until the chickpeas make a uniformed paste, and is CLOSE to the consistency you’re looking for. Remember, at first it will take more liquid for the consistency of the hummus to change, but be careful because as it thins out, a little bit of the reserved liquid will make a much bigger change, I ended up using 5.5floz of the reserved cooking liquid.
  11. Add the Olive Oil, and continue to process until the hummus takes on a creamy consistency.
  12. Repeat step 9 until the hummus is the desired consistency. The hummus will thicken when you put it in the fridge, so keep that in mind.
  13. Place hummus in fridge overnight, and taste for seasoning the next day. Add salt as needed.
  14. Take a fancy Photo and post it to Instagram with the hashtag #foryourfoulmouth!

Wonderfully Flat

Imagine this: you open your eyes after a good nights sleep, and that’s when the nutty smell of melting butter, and the sweet aroma of vanilla and maple syrup fill the air. The sizzle of batter being cooked, so you run to the kitchen  and see a high stack of soft fluffy pancakes on a plate!

What is it about these pan fried pastries that makes us so happy? I’m sure science and psychology have a lot to do with it, after all most of us out there associate pancakes with happy memories, and if the story of Pavlov’s dog had taught us anything, it’s that even the foreshadowing of a good meal is enough to get any living creature excited.

If we go a bit further down that road, we could explore the idea that it’s nostalgia. I mean, pancakes are the breakfast equivalent of a surprise bouquet of flowers. In the way that it’s always from someone important to you.

However, I’m going to go with a more spiritual theory. I believe pancakes are a gift from the culinary GODS! A reward for those of who choose to wake up early and sacrifice themselves to such a messy time consuming ordeal. In those moments of early morning cooking, you are turning your cooking space into a church! I would even go as far to say, that making pancakes for someone is practically a religious right of passage in any parental, platonic or romantic relationship, no different than a wedding or a baptism.

That would explain why making pancakes predates and is more wide spread than all current major religion! That’s right! Some scratch marks on a 30,000 year old grinding tool suggest that people back then where making flour out of fern and cattails, mixing it with water and cooking it on a greased rock…. so basically pancakes! Not to mention Otzi, the 5,300 year old caveman found in the ice of the Italian alps. His stomach contained… that’s right PANCAKES. They are also literally made everywhere. Each continent has a variation; some even differing vastly from country to country. At one time, pancakes where common place for Strove Tuesday. This was in anticipation for lent. People would want to use up their perishable eggs and milk, and what a better way to celebrate a 6 week long commitment to the divine then to make pancakes, the FOOD OF THE CULINARY GODS!!!… even if it’s really THE Christian god.

So while I can’t say for sure whether it’s nostalgia, science or the divinity of the pancake that has contributed to its longevity, and cultural significance, I will say it’s definitely worth making.

I decided I wanted yeasted pancakes. Yeast isn’t as fast or convenient as Baking Powder or Soda, but it does bring complex and wonderful flavours that they can’t.  It also has the added benefit of being done the night before, so you don’t have to wake up early to make them.

Ingredients:

  • 1 Cups Buttermilk
  • 1/2 Cups Milk
  • 2 1/2 Cups Cake Flour or Soft Flour
  • 3 Tablespoons Honey
  • 3/4 teaspoons Salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon Nutmeg
  • 1/4 Cup Butter
  • 2 Eggs, lightly beaten
  • 2 teaspoons Vanilla
  • 1 3/4 teaspoons Dry Active Yeast
  1. Put Butter on a pan set to medium low heat, You want to wait for it to completely melt, and turn brown. It should take on a nutty/caramel smell. Run it though a fine strainer, and allow to cool.
  2. Mix Together Buttermilk, Milk and Honey into a bowl and mix until the honey has completely dissolved. add the yeast and allow to sit for 10 minute in a warm place to Bloom.
  3. While Milk mixture is Blooming, sift together the Flour, Cinnamon, Nutmeg and Salt into a a clean bowl.
  4. Once the Milk Mixture has bloomed, combine it with the cooled Brown Butter, Vanilla and eggs, whist until nicely combined.
  5. Mix the Sifted Flour mixture into the Milk Mixture. DO NOT OVER MIX. It’s ok if there are a few lumps.
  6. Cover the bowl of batter with plastic wrap, and place it into the fridge over night.
  7. Remove the batter from the fridge, and let sit on the counter for 20 mins
  8. Heat buttered cast iron pan to medium heat.
  9. Place a 1/4 of batter on to the Pan. This is a thick batter, so you might have to use a spatula to spread the batter out nicely.
  10. Wait about 30/40 seconds, and tap the part of pancake that is on the heat with your spatula. If the whole pancake moves, it’s time to flip it over.
  11. Push the top of the pancake down to make a little thinner. Leave to cook until pancake is cooked entirely though
  12. Take a fancy Photo and post it to Instagram with the hashtag #foryourfoulmouth!
Sources:
http://theplate.nationalgeographic.com/2014/05/21/hot-off-the-griddle-heres-the-history-of-pancakes/
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancake
My recipe is a heavily altered version of this recipe quite a bit, however if you’re looking for the orginal here it is: http://www.cookingbythebook.com/recipes/yeasted-overnight-pancakes-from-homemade-decadence-by-joy-wilson

A Hot Innovation

There is an old adage that claims, ‘necessity is the mother of all innovation,’ buffalo wings are a great example of that. Even though there are few stories about how bar owner Teressa Bellissimo created the dish, my favourite involves a group of hungry bar students coming into her bar and needing nourishment fast. So she threw some chicken wings into the deep fryer then covered them in a butter and hot sauce mixture. This may not sound like a huge innovation, but remember, at this point chicken wings were used for stocks and soups. Ordering ‘wings’ wasn’t a thing!

Legend has it she served it with a blue cheese dressing, and celery, which is how it is still served today.

Since July 29 is National Chicken Wing Day and July 23 was National Hot Enough For Ya day, this recipe kills two birds with one stone, or errr… ummm two days with one recipe…

Blue Cheese Dressing:
I used a recipe I that I found on one of my favourite food blogs, Food Wishes. I’ll link to it down below, Chef John is amazing, and his recipes are very solid!

I believe traditionally, you’d use a hot sauce made with vinegar and Cayenne peppers, like Frank’s Red Hot, or Louisiana Hot Sauce. However, fresh Cayenne isn’t easy to get a hold of this time of year in my area. So, I used a mixture of Scotch Bonnet, and Red Thai.

Buffalo Wings:

  • 50g Scotch Bonnet Peppers
  • 75g Red Thai Peppers
  • 3T Lime Juice
  • 1/3C Lemon Juice
  • 1C Vinegar
  • 3 Cloves Garlic Minced
  • 6T Butter
  • 1lbs Chicken Wings
  1. Put Scotch Bonnet peppers in a 325 degree Fahrenheit Convection oven (350 degree non Convection) on a parchment lined baking sheet. Let roast until they turn wrinkled and dark in colour. This should take about 30 minutes
  2. Remove the stems from all the peppers, then place in a pot with the: Garlic, Lemon Juice, Lime Juice, Vinegar.
  3. Bring the pot up to a boil, then reduce heat to a gentle simmer, and let sit for 20 minutes.
  4. Remove from heat, and let cool.
  5. Place mixture into a blender and blend until a smooth homogenous mixture forms.
  6. Place the back in to pot, and simmer for 20 minutes
  7. Place Butter into mixture and mix until butter had melted and fully incorporated, keep the temperature low so the mixture doesn’t separate.
  8. Place Buffalo sauce into bowl, and place aside.
  9. Pan on medium heat, and fill with oil about half way. You want to make sure it’s a pan with high sides, and preferably cast iron. Bring oil to 350 degrees.
  10. Place chicken wings in the oil, and let fry. If the oil doesn’t completely cover the chicken, just turn the wings over every 2 minutes. Don’t over crowd the pan, you’re better off doing small batches, so the oil will stay hot.
  11. Once the wings are golden brown and delicious, temp the biggest wings and make sure they are at least 175 degrees Fahrenheit.
  12. Place cooked wings in a clean bowl, and toss with the buffalo sauce until evenly coated.
  13. Take a fancy Photo and post it to Instagram with the hashtag #foryourfoulmouth!
Sources:
Blue Cheese Dressing: http://foodwishes.blogspot.ca/2013/03/creamy-blue-cheese-dressing-chicken.html
National Chicken Wing Day: http://www.nationalchickenwingday.com/

Open Face

It is said that the Sandwich as we know it, was the result of John Montagu, 4th Earl of Sandwich. He was a card player and wanted food he could eat with one hand, so he wouldn’t have to put his cards down. It’s my understanding that even though there have been instances of food being prepared this way before that, this is what created the trend we know and love today. Knowing that, an open face sandwich almost seems counter productive… but here’s the thing, in my opinion, when food is good enough, you CAN’T eat it while doing something else! When food is done properly, it demands your attention. Which brings me to what to the recipe I’ve created. This open faced sandwich, you eat with a knife and fork. That mens no distractions like cards, phones, and if it’s an awkward breakfast with someone you don’t like, conversation.

It has a few layers: Buttermilk toast with Mayo, Roasted Mushrooms, lettuce, and a ‘cloudy egg’.  For the Buttermilk Bread, I really recommend my roommate, Cheryl’s recipe. She doesn’t have it posted anywhere, but you can always text her, I’m sure she’ll give it to you. If you don’t have her number, I suggest asking her for it the next time you see her. Failing that, store bought buttermilk bread, a thick piece of Challah bread, or sour dough will work very well here.

I made up a simple Mayo recipe; it’s creamy, and zesty, and awesome. I used an immersion blender, and had it made in the time it took to make the toast.

The lettuce mixture was Parsley and Boston Lettuce. If you’ve never had the latter before, it’s similar to arugula in taste. It is; however, much sweeter. It’s shaped more like a smooth loose cabbage.

A layer of crispy Mushrooms & finally, the cloudy egg. This is a food that has been trending for a while, but I have never seen in it as part of a sandwich. Which is insane because it makes so much sense. The beaten egg whites give it a nice soft texture, and a rich taste because of the folded in cheese. Since the yolks are cooked for less time then the whites, the are runny, and create a perfect sauce!! This is a great recipe for breakfast, but it is a little involved, prepping the lettuce and the mushrooms the night before is a good idea.

Roasted Mushrooms:

  • 3 Button Mushrooms
  • 34g Oyster Mushrooms
  • 1T Olive Oil
  • 3 Pinch Salt
  • 2 Oregano
  1. Place a baking sheet into a 450 degree Convection oven (475 degree non convection). Don’t put any parchment on down.
  2. While the oven and the baking sheet are preheating, slice the mushrooms, you want them about 1/8″ thick and place them into a bowl.
  3. Mix oil, salt and oregano and mushrooms until they evenly coated.
  4. Place the Mushroom mixture onto the hot baking sheet. return the sheet into the oven for 18 minutes, make sure to mix the mushroom once half way through
  5. Put mushroom aside until needed.

Lettuce Mixture:

  • 1T Red Wine Vinegar
  • 1T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1/4t Sugar
  • 18g Parsley
  • 46g Boston Lettuce
  1. Mix the Sugar into the Red Wine Vinegar until it’s
    completely dissolved.
  2. Cut the leafs of the Parsley off using a sharp knife. If you hold a bundle of parsley stem side closer to you, and use the knife to sheer off the leafs.
  3. Cut the Boston Lettuce using the chiffonade cut. You can see the process HERE. It’s how the Basil is cut.
  4. Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, and place aside until needed.

Cloudy Eggs:

  • 20g Mozzarella
  • 9g Parmesan (you want the bricked stuff, not the pre shredded canned stuff.)
  • 3 Eggs Whites.
  1. Preheat convection oven to 325 degrees (350 non convections).
  2. Separate the eggs, and keep the same the whites and yolks.
  3. Beat the whites until the form a stiff peak foam. I used a stand mixer with the whisk attachment. You can use a hand mixer, or a regular whisk. If you do it the old fashioned way, make sure you use a whisk with a lot of tines, or else it will take a while.
  4. Fold in both cheeses to the meringue gently.
  5. Divide the meringue into two piles on a parchment lined baking sheet. Use a spoon to put a dip in the middle of each one.
  6. Place into the oven for 3 minutes
  7. Remove the meringue and place an egg yolk into the dip of each pile, place back into the oven for 2 minutes. Place one egg yolk aside for mayo
  8. Remove from the oven, and turn on the broiler, place the baking sheet under the broiler for about a minute. Don’t leave this unattended. Keep your eye on it, and remove it once you see the gold brown form on the white. You don’t want to burn the whites, or over cook the yolks.
  9. The Egg on the left is perfect, The egg on the right had the yolk burst because I wasn't gentle enough when I placed it on the meringue Place eggs on the side, put 2 pieces of bread in the toaster and make toast.

MAYO:

  • 1 Egg Yolk
  • 2 Garlic Cloves
  • 1.5 White Wine Vinegar
  • 3/8C Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 3/8C Canola Oil
  • 1/2t Salt
  • 1T Dijon
  1. Place all the ingredients in a high thinner cup. I used a measuring cup.
  2. Wait about 1 minute for the oil to float to the top.
  3. Insert the immersion blender into the mixture slowly, make sure not mix anything around too much.
  4. Pulse the blender until you start seeing mayo form.
  5. Once you see the majority of the mixture has emulsified, keep the blender on, and slowly lift the blender up and down until it’s a unified mixture.

The Final Construction

  1. Put mayo on one side of both pieces of toast.
  2. Place Lettuce mixture on the mayo side of the toast (incase you couldn’t figure that out)
  3. Then place the Roasted Mushroom mixture on top of the lettuce.
  4. Then finally place the cloudy egg to top it off.
  5. Take a fancy photo, and post it to Instagram with the hashtag #foryourfoulmouth.

This is Baller

There was a time when I worked for a company that ran the cafeteria for the residents students at local university. Amongst poor hygiene, subpar food, and dangerously apathetic management; follow through was a big problem. I don’t want to get sued, so I won’t say anything specific, but if you take a look down at the sources in footer, I linked to reviews, and a news report about the company. It speaks for itself.

Anyway, I bring this up for a specific reason. One day our nutritionist came up to me, put her hands out and asked me to smell. Me being up for an adventure, complied. They smelled sweet, complex, and wonderful. ‘Basil’ she said. ‘I just pruned some Basil from our herb garden, so now we have a lot of it, and we need to find a recipe, do you have any ideas?’

I remember that being the first time I had been asked for my advice for something to put on the menu. I was so excited! I said the first thing that came to my head ‘fruit salad, with melons.’ She thought about it, and said ‘yes!’ she then continued to pull all the management and chefs aside to let them know about my idea, and how it had to get made, and to make sure I got to do it. It felt really awesome, but it never happened.

I have wondered about how I would have made that fruit salad a few times since then, so I figured instead of just thinking about it, I’d actually do it!

We are approaching July, and with BBQ season roaring, I figured this might the perfect side dish. The kind people don’t see often, but instantly love.

So here is what we are going to need:

Infused Vinegar

  • 2T of Dried sweet Basil
  • 7G of Fresh Basil
  • 3 points from a Star Anis
  • 1C white Vinegar
  • 1C Apple Cider Vinegar

Dressing for Salad:

  • 1/3C Infused Vinegar
  • 4T Maple Syrup
  • 2T Extra Virgin Olive Oil
  • 1t Sesame Seeds
  • 4 Basil Leafs

Melon Ball Salad:

  • 1/2 Watermelon
  • 1/2  Honeydew Melon, Seeded

For this recipe we are making an infused vinegar. You can use this recipe with any dried or fresh herb mixture. The recipe shows you how to make two cups, though you won’t need that much. This vinegar will keep indefinitely, and has a lot of great future applications. The other great think about this, is it’s a great way to use up herbs that are starting to wilt. You will need more of the wilted herbs to get the same effect, but at least you’re not throwing them away. The final product was a little too strong for me, so next time make this, I will cut the quantity of dried basil in half.

  1. Put your dried basil in a 325 degree convection oven (or 350 non convection)  on a parchment lined baking sheet for 30 minutes, or until Basil becomes fragrant.
  2. Once basil is out of the oven, place the dried basil, and Star Anis tips into a pot with both of your vinegars.
  3. Put your pot on medium low heat, and using a thermometer, bring the vinegar up to 130 degrees.
  4. Put the fresh basil in a bowl or Tupperware, then poor the vinegar mixture on top. Once the vinegar has cooled, put a lid on the bowl/Tupperware and place into the fridge for at least 18 hours, or up to 36 hours.
  5. Strain mixture into clean storage container, and discard all herbs.
  6. Store in the fridge until needed.

Next we have to make the dressing. The final product is a bit tart, which is perfect because its going on top of very sweet melons, so it balances out nicely.

  1. Put half of the Sesame seeds in a dry frying pan set to medium high heat.
  2. Occasionally move them around until they turn a nice dark brown, then remove from the heat and set aside.
  3. Whisk together the Vinegar and Maple Syrup, then slowly add the Olive Oil.
  4. Mix in the both the toasted and non toasted Sesame seeds.

Finally the final product:

  1. Roll the Basil into a roll, and thinly slice them into a chiffonade.
  2. Using a mellon baller, ball the the Watermelon and Honeydew and put the balled mellon chunks into a bowl.
  3. Drizzle the dressing on top of Melon Balls, and then portion into serving bowels, garnish with Basil and Kosher Salt.
  4. Take a fancy photo, and post it to Instagram with the hashtag #foryourfoulmouth
Sources:
Company That ran the Dinning servines https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eE85sJLSeSQ
Google Reviews: https://goo.gl/MLWLeU

Start Giving A Scrap!

We’ve all been there; we get the bill for our groceries and ask ourselves, where does it all go? The food looks so good and bountiful when we put it in the cart, but somehow it never seems like enough.

The fact is, we don’t use as much of it as we could.

Here are some stats that may baffle you

In the U.S.:

  • 40% of food is wasted
  • 90% of food is thrown away too soon
  • 20% of the food we buy never gets eaten

And this isn’t just a problem in the U.S., in my home country of Canada:

  • $31 billion of food annually wasted
  • 47% of that is from consumers

So, while I’m hardly ready to pull out my guitar and starting singing kumbaya, preach extremes like backyard composting, or the 100 mile diet. I am going to start posting more recipes made from parts of the food you wouldn’t think to keep. Also, I’m going to start indicating ‘scraps’ that should be kept for future recipes.

The first of these recipes is an important one, vegetable stock. There have been a few recipes that called for it that I wanted to post, but decided not to. The reason for this is I knew I was going to write this post eventually, and it would be redundant if I already had another recipe up with the steps for veg stock in it.

So the way I make my veg stock, it cost me next to nothing. The reason for this is whenever I cut green onions, onions, celery, carrots, garlic, or chives, I always put the cut away into a plastic bag in my freezer. Likewise, when the stock is done, I pour it into ice cube  trays, freeze it, then store the cubes in zip lock bags.

That being said, I use these cubes all the time. Just about any savoury recipe that calls for water, can often be replaced with stock for a much better result.

Ingredients:

  • Onions (Scraps or whole with skin and roots)
  • Carrots (Scraps or whole with whole with leaves)
  • Celery (Scraps or whole with leaves)
  • Water
  1. As mentioned above, I keep a bag in my freezer, and whenever I cut Onions, Celery or Carrots I put the scraps in the bag. I’ll also put in Garlic, Green Onions and Chive scraps but it isn’t necessary. As a general rule, you want the veg mixture to be a Onion, Celery and Carrot mixture of 2:1:1. So if you don’t have enough scraps for one of the veg, simply roughly chop up a fresh veg to make up the difference.
  2. Put vegetables in a big stock pot, and fill pot with water until it covers the veg.
  3. Bring stock pot up to a boil, then reduce heat to a simmer.
  4. Let the water simmer until vegetables are fork tender.
  5. Strain out liquid into a bowl, and let cool. Discard Vegetable remains.
  6. Pour veg stock into ice cube trays and freeze.
  7. Transfer each cube of Vegetable stock into a plastic bag and store in the freezer.
  8. Make something awesome with the Vegetable stock. Each cube is approximately 1 Fl oz (or two table spoons).
  9. Take a fancy photo, and post it to Instagram with the hashtag #foryourfoulmouth
Sources:
http://www.secondharvest.ca/hunger-facts
https://www.savethefood.com/

American Pie

Supposedly American soldiers overseas were once asked about why they were fighting, “Mom and apple pie,” they answered.
Apple pie is a universal symbol for americana. In fact, when you want to say something has reached the pinnacle of its American-ness, you say “it’s as American as apple pie.” With Independence Day coming up, I was really excited to learn about the classic traditions and folklore around this American icon. What I learned, is Apple pie pre-dates the U.S.!
The first recorded recipe was in a British cookbook written in 1381. The U.S. was only founded in 1776, which means apple pie is at least 395 years older. Most of the articles I have looked up really like to hammer this point and call out the beloved dish for not really being American. I say, if anything, the history of this flakey crust shelled fruit filled pasty makes it possibly the most American food in history!

Let’s look at some facts:

One, the original recipe called for apples, figs, raisins, saffron, and pears. Hardly what you think of when you think apple pie. I could only imagine with all those strong flavours, apples probably take a back seat.

Two, this apple Pie most likely had a ‘coffin’ opposed to a crust. Which wasn’t generally editable. They were usually used to preserve the filling.

Three, there was no added sugar! Sugar was an expensive spice at the time. Hardly what I call an apple pie. The irony of a recipe calling for saffron, but leaving out sugar because it’s too expensive is not lost on me…

Apple pie was something settlers had to leave behind when they came to the new world. They didn’t just come to America, and start baking pies! Apples didn’t grow here, it wasn’t until apple trees, and bees to pollinate them were imported before Apples were a viable product.

Even then, apples weren’t abundant enough for the average person to make pie, most of them were used as a hard cider. All that changed when a young entrepreneur named John Chapman (a.k.a., Johnny Appleseed) started planting apple trees on his properties. His business model was to maintain the tree so he could later sell the land for a profit. This actually made apples a supplyable item. Between all that and prohibition eliminating the market for hard cider, the American people were finally able to make apple pies. The pies American made were likely influenced the pie they knew from England, and Dutch and Italian recipes that had similar crust to what we know today.

So how, you might ask, does all this make it the ‘the most American food in history’? Well, it came to America from England where it had a less than ideal situation, but through hard work and entrepreneurship, and the influence of other great traditions it was able to survive and make itself something better than it was. Now tell me, isn’t that the American dream? I’d say it’s as American as… well you know!

Source:
  • http://www.todayifoundout.com/index.php/2013/07/apple-pie-isnt-really-american/
  • https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_pie
  • https://travelmamas.com/where-was-apple-pie-invented/
  • http://toriavey.com/history-kitchen/2011/07/the-history-of-pie-in-america-2/
  • https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_pie
  • Photo Source: https://static1.squarespace.com/static/52d95db6e4b01b5207edf127/t/5593076ce4b0a81b267d6396/1435699077889/

Oh Canada

The date is April 10, 1917. Canada, still considered a British colony at the time; was in the middle of a fight many had lost before. The German forces had control of some high ground in France known as Vimy Ridge. Helping France regain control of it meant that the British Third Army would be able to easily move south bound, it would also lower the amount of German attacks on France. For Canadians, there was more on the line, whether the soldiers knew it or not this would be Canada’s chance to prove they were a nation on their own. This event was the first battle where all four divisions of Canada’s Corp’s attacked as one formation, and ultimately succeeded where other countries couldn’t. Canada received its status as a nation because of the unparalleled unity, and tactical superiority it had demonstrated… so why do I bring this up on a culinary blog, well shortly after Vimy Ridge, there was another battle forming at home for Canada. They were fighting on a global level, and with a population of only 8 million there was a need for soldiers and the food to feed them. Until now Canada’s military was based mostly on conscription, that farmers were excluded from. The problem was there just wasn’t enough people to provide them the manpower they needed, if they lifted the exceptions for farmers, they wouldn’t be able to provide the needed rations. Not to mention, Canada’s independence was on the line. This is where the Soldiers Of the Soil initiative came into play. The government started calling upon the women and youth of Canada to start helping out local farms. Urban students where given room bored, and $15-$30 per month, as well as exceptions from their final exams, and if they worked for three months or more, they were given an ‘honourable discharge’, that guaranteed they would move on to the next grade.

This greatly helped the war effort, which greatly helped Canada receive our Independence. So while I don’t consistently buy local, I do always keep in mind that when you support our local farmers, you’re supporting our ability to be indepent and strong.

Have a great Canada Day!

Sources:

  • https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Vimy_Ridge
  • http://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/history/life-at-home-during-the-war/the-war-economy/farming-and-food/
  • http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/history/first-world-war/canada/canada19
  • http://www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/memorials/overseas/first-world-war/france/vimy/battle
  • https://www.manitobacooperator.ca/2012/11/15/soldiers-of-the-soil-%E2%80%A8helped-feed-the-front/
  • https://www.loc.gov/item/2005696906/
  • http://www.warmuseum.ca/firstworldwar/history/life-at-home-during-the-war/the-war-economy/farming-and-food/

What I Think of When I Hear Oil & Water

So let’s be real: there are over 500 different pastas, and probably hundreds of different sauces. Take any pasta dish and simply switch one of those two things, and you have an entirely new dish. It’s probably the most modular cuisine on the face of the planet. Hell, pasta is basically the food equivalent of IKEA!

That is why pasta is one of my favourite foods. Italian food is so honest in a lot of ways. It is one of the few cuisines that aren’t drastically different between classes. This is contrary to a lot of other western foods, like British food. For example, a swanky restaurant in England, you would be hard pressed to find fish and chips, even though it’s a staple in most restaurants. Meanwhile, If you order spaghetti from a high end Italian restaurant, or a casual family diner the recipe is going to be very similar. Obviously, if the respective restaurants are true to their price points, one will use higher quality ingredients, fresher non-prefab products, and put more time and love into the product but the dishes are similar in concept.

That being said, Spaghetti Aglio e Olio is something I love to make. Fresh made pasta tastes like nothing else, and is simple to do. You can use store bought dried pasta, but I really recommend trying it fresh. The less ingredients a recipe has, the more important the quality of the ingredients are. What amazes me is watching the starch from the noodles bind with the oil and the water to make a mind-blowing, amazing sauce!

So before I get into the recipe, here are some facts you should know about pasta dough.

There are very few problems you can have with pasta dough that ‘resting’ the dough won’t fix. To do that, cover with plastic wrap, or a moist tea towel, and let sit for 10 mins. If the problem persists, wait an hour. More than likely, it will be fine.

Pasta dough is very much like a muscle. If you’re rough with it, the dough will become stiff and hard to work with.  if you’re too gentle nothing will happen at all. You want to be firm, but not aggressive so it will stay nice and soft. If you find that after rolling it, it quickly recoils back to the original shape, it means the dough is too ‘tense’, and need a ten minute rest.

Kneading the dough is the exception to the above. You want to be aggressive when kneading.

The dough becoming too dry is one of the few things that is very difficult to fix, and it’s easier to start over. A sign of this is crumbles apart.
This recipe is for one portion. So multiply it by the number of people you want to serve!

Pasta Dough Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup Semolina Flour
  • 1/4 cup All Purpose Flour
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 T of olive Oil
  • 1 pinch of salt

‘Sauce’ ingredients

  • 3-5 Cloves of Garlic
  • 1/4 Cup of Olive Oil
  • 1/4 Cup of reserved pasta water
  • 1.5 t red chilli flakes

First let’s make the Noodles:

  1. Mix both flours together, then pour into a mound on a baking sheet. Push the centre of the mound down, so it resembles a volcano.
  2. Pour the egg(s), oil and salt into the centre of the mound of flour.
  3. Using a fork, beat the liquid together, as you do it, you should see the flour become incorporated into the egg mixture. If the flour ‘springs a leak’, just block it with some of the flour from around the mound.
  4. Once the mixture has become solid ball of dough, start kneading it. The best way to do this, is to fold be dough in half, sticky side on the inside of the fold.  Then put both palms on top of the dough, and push down and forward on it. Repeat the motion again until you notice that the dough has become elastic, and tense. A good sign it’s done is when it ‘recoils’ after you knead it. You can’t ‘over knead’ pasta dough, so if your not sure, do it a few more times. I should also note, that when I am pushing down on the dough, I lift my body up so I’m on my tip toes, this uses my body weight to my advantage. If it’s too sticky, lightly and evenly sprinkle the excess flour on the dough. If there is none left, you can take some fresh flour, but do so sparingly.
  5. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap tightly. I find the best way to do this is to wrap the wrap around the dough and twisting the ends of the plastic wrap. It should look like a giant wrapped candy.
  6. Let rest for twenty minutes. If you’re making this in advance, you can leave it in the fridge for a week.
  7.  If you don’t have a pasta machine, I strongly suggest you get one. They run about $40 CAD. They tend to be one trick ponies, but what they do, they do very well. If you don’t have one, then you can use a rolling pin, or a cylindrical wine bottle; whichever is closer. You want to create gluten (a protein that holds the noodles together) and so it is the correct size. to do this:
    • If you’re using a Pasta Machine:
      1. Remove your Dough from the plastic and set your Pasta machine to the widest setting where the rollers are farthest apart
      2. Fold the dough to go through the machine perpendicular to the rollers, or so the fold goes through the rollers first. This will allow any trapped air
        to escape. Run the Dough through the machine 4 to 5 times until the dough feels elastic. Every time you run it though the machine, you’re creating more gluten. You’ll notice the outside of the dough starts to feel more ‘dry’ after a couple of runs though the machine.
      3. If the dough is 1/8″ thick, move on to the next step, or else lower the setting on the machine by one, and repeat the above step
    • If you’re using a rolling pin:
      1. Remove the dough from the plastic and roll it up into a log. Cut the log into 1.5-2″ rounds.
      2. Roll each round out one at a time, keep the unrolled dough on a plate under a damp tea towel, and the rolled dough lightly dusted in flour stacked gently on top of each other.
      3. To roll out each round, place it on a lightly floured surface. you want to be very gentle with your dough, at least at first. Start at the centre of the disk, roll outwards, then repeat in the opposite direction turn the dough 90 degrees.
      4. If the dough is 1/8″, flour the dough, place under tea-towel, and move on to the next step, or repeat processes with the next round.
  8. Once your dough is rolled out, let it sit out for about ten minutes, then put it either In a zip lock, or cover with plastic wrap.
    • If you’re using a Pasta Machine:
      1. simply cut the pasta dough to the length you want the noodles
      2. Run the pasta through the spaghetti cutter attachment
    • If you’re not using a Pasta Machine:
      1. Gently roll the floured dough into a log
      2. cut the log width wise, each cut should be the same width you want the noodles. Unroll each cut piece of dough into your noodles.
  9. Portion your noodles in servings.
  10. Then wrap each portion into a circle and leave out for 20 minutes.
  11. Place each portion in a plastic bag to store until you’re ready to cook. It will keep in the freezer for a year, the fridge for a month, or on the shelf for a week.

Let’s make the final dish:

  1. Fill a pot on high heat with salted water. How much salt you need depends on how much water there is. The rule of thumb is the water should ‘taste of the sea’. Personally, if I’m using fresh pasta dough, I use less water; about an inch higher then the noodles should be fine. I say this because fresh noodles cook so fast that ultimately less starch is released into the water. In this recipe, you want the pasta water to be as starchy as possible, so by using less water, you get a higher concentration of starch.
  2. While the water is boiling, bias cut your garlic into rounds.
  3. Once the water has boiled, put the olive oil in a pan on medium heat and add the garlic right away. If you’re using store bought dried pasta, place it into the boiling water now, if you’re going fresh, wait for the garlic to get soft and slightly turn brown, This is the perfect time to throw in your fresh noodles.
  4. Once your garlic is golden brown and delicious, add an the now starchy water from used to cook the noodles. The amount should be equal to the amount of olive oil you used. Pour it in carefully, because you don’t want the oil to splash you.
  5. Mix in your crushed chilli and cooked noodles, no need to dry them, and especially don’t rinse them.
  6. Take a fancy photo, and post it to Instagram with the hashtag #foryourfoulmouth