Chuck Hughes Hails as New Iron Chef!

Just finished watching Sunday's Iron Chef on my PVR and saw that Chef Chuck Hughes from Montreal beat Bobby Flay (who I think can never be beaten!). He kicked some ass with lobster rolls, lobster poutine, lobster/onion ring salad, and jerk lobster but I think it was his lobster over lobster over lobster risotto that won the hearts of the judges. And mine. And I wasn't even there to taste it.

Me thinks Garde-Manger will be a bit trickier to get into after this. But I am gonna try!

Ode to Le Creuset

Could be that Valentine’s Day just passed and love and red are on the brain, or it could be this stormy cold night on the West Coast makes me hunger for warmth. My Creuset was a gift for my birthday last year. It is one of my favourite things.

Ode to Le Creuset....
Red
Heavy
Hot
Even
I dream of filling you up
Opening you up
Hearing Smelling Tasting
Satisfying

*sigh*

Rhubarb n' Raisin Betty

I think that it might be a bad sign that I have pictures of food on my camera's memory card and I am starting to forget what recipes I made when! The following one is a Rhubarb n'Raisin Betty that I made when there was fresh rhubarb from the garden (well, mom's garden) and when I was feeling like I wanted something a bit simple and homey to bring to the office for dessert. Here is the recipe.

6 cups rhubarb peeled and finely chopped
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup raisins

Topping
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup brown sugar packed
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 tsp salt

Fill 10 inch casserole dish with chopped rhubarb and raisins then pour the granulated sugar on top. For the topping - mix the ingredients then sprinkle over the fruit. Pat down lightly with your hand and back uncovered in a 375 F oven for 40 minutes. It is great served with ice cream or frozen yogurt.

Baconnaise - because everything should taste like bacon

Am I the only one who was not aware of Baconnaise? There seriously is a product with this name and flavor? And has less calories and fat than regular mayonnaise?
Stay tuned for the upcoming taste test. Until then, check out the website along with other products that J&D produce. mmmvelopes (that's right with bacon flavored glue, so at least you get to taste bacon when you seal it)

http://www.baconnaise.com/

The fetish continues

Dear Abby:

Yesterday all of the Eric Ripert cookbooks and a video arrived in the mail. Jason took the package up to bed with him. Should I be worried? Or should I rejoice in the new food I will get made for me in the coming weeks?

Signed,
Fat and happy in Canada

http://aveceric.com

Not to be outdone.... but I was

In an effort to keep up with my culinary hubby I decided that I had better step up my game! But, figured I had better use up the pork chops and cabbage (I know I know) that I had in the fridge. Hence I decided to put a little spin on a traditional German-ish comfort food using the Bon Appetit cookbook as the foundation for the recipe.

I don't know if I actually surpassed Jason's recent cooking adventures, but I made a damn good meal for about $1.25 per serving.
Here it goes:
Asian Inspired Pork Chops and Cabbage
4 centre cut pork loin chops, boneless
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 green onions chopped
1 Tbsp minced fresh ginger
7 ounces chicken or beef stock, divided
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tsp brown sugar
1/8 tsp chinese 5 spice powder
2 tsp cornstarch

Season pork on both sides with salt and pepper. Place in heated frying pan with oil. Saute until browned on both sides. Move the chops over to the side of the pan and toss in the green onions, ginger and garlic. Cook for a minutes until fragrant and then put in all (minus about a 1/4 cup of the broth), soy sauce, sugar and five spice powder. Cover and let simmer for a bit while you work on the cabbage.

For the cabbage:
1 tbsp veggie oil
one small cabbage (1.5 lbs-ish) sliced thinly
4 green onions chopped.
1 tbsp minced gresh ginger
1 tbsp sesame oil.

While the pork is cooking, heat oil in a new frying pan. Add the ginger and saute until fragrant - about 30 seconds. Add about half of the cabbage and cook until wilted. Then add the remainder of the cabbage and the green onions. Cook until cabbage is almost done. Toss with the sesame oil and stir fry while you are finishing the pork.

Finishing the pork and serving:
Stir the cornstarch into the remainder of the broth until smooth. Pour into the frying pan with the pork and let simmer for a minute until thickened. Place all of the cabbage into a large serving plate. The place the porkchops on top with the good sauce poured over top of everything. Serve at once.

It's always better with bacon

The Eric Ripert saga continues and my hubby decided to make the most amazing bacon carbonara for us tonight. Again, from Eric Ripert. He even found the 2007 Robert Mondavi Chardonnay that was to be paired with it - only having to visit 4 liquor stores to find it!

How great was the recipe?

AMAZING. The kids loved it despite the chives and cream.

Think that I will be working hard at bootcamp tomorrow AM. Whipping cream and bacon.....hmmmmmmmm.

To make your own gastroporn, visit the following link.
http://aveceric.com/wp/recipes/season-1/carbonara/

My husband and Eric Ripert

My husband enjoys Eric Ripert.

If you don't know who he is - he (Eric, I mean) is a fabulously awesome French guy who happens to be the chef of Le Bernadin in New York. He is also friends with Anthony Bourdain, famous food writer, chef and traveller.

It has been going on for some time. First it was just me catching him watching Avec Eric on PBS. Then it was Top Chef - likely trying to make me think that he was watching Gail Simmons. He is now open about the whole affair. PVRing his show, ordering his books and, well here is just one of the big positives - making me his food.

Today he made Barely Cooked Salmon with Leeks and Red Wine Butter Sauce. I may have fallen in love with him (Eric and Jason) all over again.

http://aveceric.com/wp/recipes/season-2/barely-cooked-salmon-leeks-red-wine-butter-sauce/

Rummage sale!

I am getting a new fridge. So, I have about 5 days to clean out the old one so that I can move it downstairs! Dinner tonight, and for a few more nights after that, was themed after a rummage sale. Inspired a bit by the most recent "Hell's Kitchen" where chefs (er, I mean, contestants) had to stretch $10 worth of ingredients into a decent meal, I rummaged around in my fridge for supper and tried to make it fancy.

It passed the test and it cleared just a smidgeon more room out of the fridge and freezer. goodbye frozen scallops, shrimp, M&M stffed potatoes, chicken and feta

The Menu
Appetizer: scallops, tomatoes and shrimp baked with feta
Main dish: greek chicken with overstuffed portabello mushrooms and potatoes
Dessert: Grape jello (what? I was cleaning out the cupbaord too!)

For your recipe viewing pleasure - the overstuffed portabellos
1 zucchini (diced)
1/4 cup diced onion
3/4 cup diced tomatoes
1-2 garlic cloves chopped finely
2 large portabello mushrooms, cleaned.
3/4 cup feta
2 tbsp chopped fresh oregano or 1 tsp dried.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Using a spoon, remove the gills from the mushrooms and discard.
lightly oil a baking sheet or dish and place the mushrooms gill-side up on the sheet. Set aside.

In a frypan, saute onions with a bit of olive oil until translucent. Add zucchini and cook until softened. Add garlic, chopped oregano and tomatoes and heat until warm. Stuff mushrooms with filling and sprinkle with feta.

Place in the oven for about 20-30 minutes until the mushrooms are softened and cheese is melted.

Peas'n Prosciutto

Ok, so maybe I now have a lot of left over bacon. And pancetta. And prosciutto. Whatever. There have to be some consequences (besides poundage) for hosting Iron Chef. Hence, I tweaked a recipe that I saw Christine Cushing do that includes peas and prosciutto. A nice way to dress up peas - an even nicer way to rid yourself of extra pork.

prosciutto - a couple of slices cut into smallish pieces
a teaspoon or so of butter
1/4 onion or shallot chopped
about 2-3 cups of frozen peas, thawed.

Saute onion and prosciutto in butter until onion is softened and prosciutto a bit translucent and cooked looking. Toss in peas and stir gently until peas are cooked through. season with salt and pepper to taste. I am sure you could substitute pancetta or just old fashioned bacon- even diced ham - too.

Bow down to Raichlen

The dish that made him famous - beer can chicken - may be the reason that some of you have not discovered him yet. But Steven Raichlen might be my favorite cookbook author on the planet (he certainly is Jason's). Alright, I will admit there is some barbecuing involved, but it is not all smoked meat, charcoal and streaky sirloin steaks. He is truly an aficionado of all that is outdoor cooking - be it vegetarian or otherwise.

This past weekend we tried an amazing Morroccan salad out of his new book, Planet Barbecue that was truly like nothing you have ever tried before and out of this world. I needed to share so here it is.

3 anaheim or cubanelle peppers
4 bell peppers (assorted colors)
2 large ripe tomatoes, seeded and 1/4 inch dice
1/2 of a SWEET onion, chopped
3 tablespoons mint, chopped but not too fine.
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice or more to taste
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar (or more lemon juice
kosher or sea salt
fresh ground pepper

place whole peppers (all of them) on the grill and grill them until blackened. Take them off the grill and let cool. Then peel off as much as the blackened skin as you can, and chop into a 1/4 inch dice. Place in a non-reactive bowl and dump the rest of the ingredents on top and mix. Adjust seasoning with salt and pepper.

Lordy. So good - even a bit out of our usual food fare, but worth the attempt for your next summer meal.

Battle Bacon

Iron chef time again and this time it was a head to head battle between the Smiths and the Haneys! The ingredient was BACON. Have I had bacon since that day? Well, actually no, come to think of it, I have not. But nonetheless we did cook some very delectable bacon dishes.

The ingredient was picked by my coworkers so no one had any advance knowledge of the challenge at hand. However, we might have taken some license as we allowed any sort of bacon to be used - back bacon, pancetta, proscuitto or the old fashioned strips.

What was the outcome?
A delicious range of dishes.
Jason - bacon havarti "melts" on garlic bread, caramel bacon fritters
Sandy - bacon chowder and a decontructed caesar salad
Pat - brie proscuitto roll, melon and bacon, bacon in a "blanket" with duo of dipping sauces
Carlyn - bacon popped popcorn with pancetta croutons and parmesan cheese, deconstructed bacon avocado and tomato sandwich, potato skins and bacon wrapped stuffing.

Needless to say, I continue to kick ass and take names.