Do you know what haggis does for me? Besides fill me up and make me happy, it always leaves me with leftovers. Leftovers that nobody really wants in on. So, with a few days to eat this two and a half pound slab of haggis, I haven't created anything new. Oh well, at least I can show you the beast I'm working on.
Oh and if you want to get in on some haggis, let me know next time. I'll be sure to have plenty. Or you can head over to Old Country Meats and Deli..that's where I get my goods.
As I mentioned last week, I was contacted by a PR company looking for someone to taste and review a few products. Being new at this, I wasn't exactly sure what would be expected of me, so before learning any more about the offer, I wanted to take care of any concerns I had. Mostly, would anything specific be required of me in the final post? With all my questions answered to a comfortable level, it was time to learn about the offer. With so many products in the food world, I've decided it's one thing to be on the receiving end of a promotional offer, but it's even better if the product is something that actually interests you. The items I would be receiving are from a line of Indian products produced by Sharwood's; so combined with my love of Indian food and the recent holiday, Diwali (more on that at the bottom of this post), this was starting to look like a great opportunity.
It only took a few days for my package to arrive, and when it did, I discovered 4 sauces and a bottle of chutney tucked neatly inside. I decided to wait and visit the Sharwood's website until after my package arrived and discovered, not only do they offer a line of Indian products, they dabble in Thai and Chinese as well. Within each product range, you may find; sauces, curry pastes, curry powders, chutneys, as well as noodles, crackers, and naan. I also learned that besides being a British company, Sharwood's has a history of selling products all the way back to 1889. This rich history may be the reason they hold the largest market share for these products in Britain.
Knowing I could test the sauces with various proteins, I decided to make the experience a little easier on my field of tasters and use chicken through out. Now, most of my experiences in cooking Indian dishes at home have required a fairly involved list of ingredients and a time commitment. These sauces, if you have cooked meat, only take 20 minutes on the stove to prepare. Too good to be true? Let's find out.
First up to bat, Tikka Masala. This sauce is described as bursting with flavours of coriander and lemon juice. Straight from the bottle the taste seemed muted, however, once mixed into the cooked chicken and warmed up it was totally different; not to mention the house came alive with some very lovely scents. One taster, who walked into the homestead while I was preparing the dish, mentioned crossing through the front door was very much like entering a local Indian restaurant. It's nice that the aroma didn't let us down. In fact, the tikka was a hit with everyone. The jasmine rice was used to soak, wipe, and absorb every last molecule of sauce. I think some plates could have been put back into the cupboard and you wouldn't even know they were used. High praise for any dish if you ask me. I should say, my father (who finds black pepper spicy) found the dish to have enough heat for his delicate palate to pick up. Nothing that hampered his enjoyment or sent him running for water, but in his words - a good heat.
Final taste verdict - 4 out of 5.
The jar of Korma, which fought to go first, won the coin toss for round two. Described as an Indian style aromatic, creamy cooking sauce with coconut and cardamom. It was completely different from our first sauce. Where the tikka needed a bit of heat to really bring out it's flavours, I found the korma showed the same face straight from the jar as it did after some time on the stove. I found the korma dish mild, both in flavour and in heat if that makes sense. The creaminess of this sauce hit us right away, but faded fairly quickly. A totally different experience compared with the tikka which left the back of your throat with a shot of flavour, and heat. Definitely not bad in any way, this dish gave me the take-it-or-leave-it vibe. The interesting comment came again from my father who compared the dish to his favorite Indian buffet plate, butter chicken. Even going as far to say he would easily go back for seconds or thirds of this dish. With my father being the only taster to be completely won over by the Korma, we couldn't rate it as high as the tikka. We did however, decided this is a perfect dish to introduce hesitant, or non-adventurous eaters. The lack of heat, and good initial flavours would provide a 'safe' meal any night of the week.
Final taste verdict - 3 out of 5.
Initially I was going to use the Butter Chicken sauce last, but with my father bringing it up in the korma test, I bumped this sauce to dish 3. My only hope was that it would be good, I mean this is one of the most popular Indian offerings in the world for a reason, right. Described as a warm, buttery Indian cooking sauce, bursting with flavours of cream and cardamom. I should say that I've found plenty of butter chicken offerings in my time to be lacking. By all means, I haven't sampled every offering in the city, but combined, the panel of tasters has a pretty good base to compare too. What ever it was I've found missing in many local offerings is definitely not missing in this dish. It has a great flavour profile with a nice bit of heat. How much heat? Enough to make my father pass on the dish, and from a man who loves butter chicken this means a lot. A hit with the rest of the taste panel, this may just be the first time I've found a bottle of sauce that could easily replace many restaurant offerings.
Final taste verdict - 5 out of 5.
Pulling up in fourth, by my default move of butter chicken to the third spot, Balti was ready to go. Definitely a lighter sauce (the lowest calories of the bunch), balti is described as a rich, tomato based Indian style cooking sauce seasoned with coriander & fenugreek leaves. I've always had a sweet spot for tomato based sauces, which may be why this sauce ranked highest in my pre-cooked taste sampling. Served up, this dish had mixed results. From below average to home run success, this dish was all over the map. Even after some time to contemplate the sauce, I'm still not sure why it showed so many faces. I, for one, enjoyed the sauce so much that I went back to the pan to tackle any extras that might not have been dished out. With it's range of personalities, we decided that the balti is good, having the potential to be a hit with the right crowd, but not safe enough to guarantee a success.
Final taste verdict - 3 out of 5.
Finally the last bottle from the package was this mango chutney. With chutneys falling into two main categories in my experience, hot or sweet, this falls into the latter category. A addition to all the meals, it provided a nice amount of sweetness. The mango chutney worked together with the rice, to cool some of the panels palates . Besides working with the main dishes, it did a decent job on toast one day.
The product sampling was a really good experience. As someone who rarely, if ever, uses pre-packaged sauces, I would have easily passed by the jars for years to come. It's almost a shame, because these sauces did a great job of showing how far packaged sauces have come when a company cares about the final product. The flavours and spices that Sharwood's lists are not just describing what you might taste, but what you will. It also seemed to us after this experience that Sharwood's has approached each sauce from an appropriate place, giving each sauce it's due course if you will. In a world where everyone's mom has their own version, I think Sharwood's does a great job of offering these delicious sauces. If you want to change up the regular dinner routine, I suggest giving one of these sauces an opportunity to win you over.
*October 17th was the start of Diwali this year, a significant five-day religious festival that is celebrated by Hindus, Sikhs and Buddhist all over the world. Diwali, which means ‘rows of lighted lamps,’ signifies the victory of good over evil and the banishment of darkness. During Diwali, families decorate their homes and gardens with candles and coloured lights. Diwali encourages people to gather together with family and friends to enjoy scrumptious meals, sweets and savories. In addition, many people exchange gifts and wear new clothes.
Sooooo its not really brains, although, I'm sure brains and cheese could be taste pretty good. It's actually Mac-n-Cheese. My friend Sarah was looking for something to bring to a Halloween themed potluck at her work last week. Asking for any creative assistance I may have, and all the Halloween themed desserts, it should be easy right? Unfortunately, the sweeter side of things were already called for, so this left us looking at savory dishes. Ye Ol' Internet had a few options, but Sarah saved the day by mentioning mac n' cheese. . So with Sarah on the hunt for her brain-like pasta, I looked to my man Alton Brown.
Whole Wheat Fusilli - aka brains!
I've been wanting to make Alton's stove top macaroni and cheese for as long as I can remember. Yes..since I was 2. OK you caught me again, but it does seems like forever. Why have I wanted to make this for so long. While it seems like Mr. Brown's recipe has been an Internet cornerstone in the mac n' cheese world. Sure, there is still room for that baked vs. stovetop argument (I grew up on an baked version), but people rave about this recipe.
With hands this fast, the cheese didn't stand a chance.
So with our dish, and recipe in order, we set about putting it all together. I have to say first off, the recipe is so easy! I'd almost dare to say it's as fast as your blue box mac n' cheese. Sure you have to whisk some eggs, and grate some cheese, but really it's so simple. Heck, get your kids to grate the cheese and your cat to whisk the eggs. Voila! With our pasta to-the-tooth, all the ingredients were dumped in the pot and we stirred everything over low heat until the cheese did it's magic. I can't tell you how delicious this was. I now understand. The only major change, was the use of garlic chili sauce, as Sarah didn't have the required hot sauce in her fridge, yet, I think it was better this way. It's seems Sarah and I weren't the only ones to enjoy the brains, as her coworkers did a number, leaving Sarah with nothing but an empty pot to bring home. Good thing they didn't eat the bowl! *terrible Canadian joke, I know*
OK, so not exactly pumpkin, this milkshake helped to use up yet another portion of my huge supply of squash puree. So I guess you could call it a squash milkshake, but that isn't nearly as sexy and it might deter some folks. Don't let it though, stay the course!
I picked up the inspiration for this treat over at Closet Cooking where a pumpkin milkshake was recently featured. I was, however, lacking frozen yogurt, cloves, and gingersnap cookies so I made some alterations. Damn tasty if I do say so myself, it really does give you an autumn sensation....although one lucky recipient said it reminded them of Christmas.
The List:
2 cups vanilla ice cream
1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup squash puree
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon crumbled graham cracker
Blend everything together until the right consistency, adding more milk if needed. Insert a straw, sprinkle a little garnish, and enjoy.
Sure you can eat a hearty bowl anytime of the year, but it seems to make more sense when the weather starts to go south. This little cooking adventure virtually materialized out of nowhere. While I was cleaning out the vegetable crisper this week, the homestead was gifted 8lbs of ground beef. It seems the very kind meat-donor, had recently purchased a side of organic Alberta beef and didn't realize how much product they would actually be receiving. So, combining the homesteads new found stash of beef with a cleaned out crisper, I set out to make chili.
With the beef basically appearing out of the nowhere, this chili was a random free for all. I browned off 2 pounds of beef, with onions and garlic, while chopping vegetables and opening cans. Eventually both my recycling bin and slow cooker were filled to the brim. Opting for the fastest route, I switched the cooker to high and patiently wait 4 hours to fill my belly. For such a gong show creation, I was actually quite impressed by the final product. Needing to keep the heat to a bare minimum for the heat-allergic homesteader, I didn't sink too deep in the spice cupboard, but fixed this after wards with a generous sprinkle of chili flakes. I almost wish I had more vegetables in the crisper, as I could have easily added another zucchini, some mushrooms, or even shredded carrots. At least I had freshly baked Pain a l'Ancienne to accompany everything.
Pantry Chili
2lbs organic beef
2 19oz cans of mixed medley beans
1 19oz can of dark red kidney beans
2 28oz can whole tomatoes
1 14oz can of hot and spicy diced tomatoes
2 8oz cans of hot and spicy pizza sauce
4 or 5 tbls of chili powder
1 tsp of basil
1 tsp of Italian seasoning
1 tsp cayenne
1 can of corn
1 zucchini
1 green pepper
1 sweet onion
4 cloves of garlic minced
1 cinnamon stick
I'm not going to deny it any longer; there is a small army of buttercup squash in my basement and they must be dealt with. How you ask, well first I'm going to cut them all in half, that's right all of them! Then I'm going to pull out every baking sheet I can find and fill them with squash. Cut side down of course. Now like the evil food captain I am, I'm going to ship my army of squash off to oven land (350 degrees) and wait until they come back from their mission, soft and delicious. After which, I'll scoop out their insides and pulse, mash, and whip everything into a light, smooth pile. Muhahahahaha.
As you can see, just like most of us, they love their time in the heat!
I decided last minute to keep some of the seeds and roast them off as well. There are a million ways to go about this; some people suggest air drying the seeds for one or two days before baking, while others suggest a soak in heavily salted water for that same time. Instead of just soaking, some people boil the heck out of their seeds in salted water, while others are using the microwave...strange indeed. I've always just let the seeds dry up a bit naturally, but feeling the need for change I took the plunge and decided to dry-fry them in a skillet. The tough part is getting all the squash goo away from the seeds. Seriously, it took me almost an hour to clean, de-goo and prepare my seeds.
Keeping things relatively simple, all I did was toss the pile of seeds with oilve oil and kosher salt. Into the oven at 325 degrees I kept checking every 5 minutes, giving the pan a shake and flip. It was about 25 minutes in when I decided to pull them. Of course, I then burnt my lip trying to sample the scalding hot seeds. Silly me, I know. But oh so delicious.
Compared with actual pumpkin seeds, I didn't pick up any major difference. If anything, using olive oil was the most notable one as it changed the flavour profile a bit. I'm pretty sure I've used neutral oils in the past. These puppies are addictive, but even better like roasting nuts, you can toss them in whatever you like. Curry power, cumin, chili powder. Experiment a little and I bet you find something so surprisingly good, you will never want to tell anyone your secret.
Enough of the squash seeds though. It's time to bake!
What says a good time like cooking a turkey? I don't think it's always the bird, but the entire meal as a whole that gets people a little hectic. So many pots on the stove, so little space in the oven, and before you know it, the turkey is overcooked. Sure, some of the dark meat is delicious, but those lean breasts look like they need an IV. This year things were going to change. Not having to participate at a girlfriends house, I decided to not sit idle by. That's right, with the advent of high quality meat thermometers and a better understanding of proteins, this man was going to attempt his first crack at the celebratory turkey.
First things first, the brine. Look around, I'll be far from the first person to tell you about the glories of a salt water soak. Yet...many people still decided to forgo this step. In today's day and age, our turkeys our so big that it becomes hard enough to cook one of these behemoths to a juicy result. The brine soak, will help to denature some of the protein and create pockets of moisture. Look at that tip eh, get a little extra moisture in before you start cooking AND break down the meat.
I used one pound of salt and one pound of brown sugar stirred into 6 quarts of warm water. Once the salt and sugar were dissolved I let the water cool for 20-30 minutes. Finally, sink the bird into the bucket and drop in 5 pounds of ice. I put a lid on the container and placed my trusty bird in a cool, calm place (8-16 hours).
The bird needs to warm up after it's wet slumber, so remember to remove your bird about 30 minutes before you are ready to rock n' roll. Rinse the bird under cold water to remove the brine and then pat dry. You may choose, of course, to stuff the bird or not at this point. Just remember, stuffing the bird will result in a longer cooking time. The homestead bird was 4.08KG. So I figured if I factored in the stuffing, this bird would take a brief 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
I had a few loaves of bread cooking away at 450 degrees, so it didn't take long for the oven to work its way up to 500. After stuffing the bird, I rubbed her down with oil (you can use butter) for that added golden hue. Now 500 degrees might seem high, but your bird is only going to spend 20 or 30 minutes at this temperature before dropping to a more sustaining 350.
As you can see, my bird didn't exactly brown all over. Oh well, such is life. The next step of course is basting. I remembered reading about using bacon to keep the bird self-basted. So with that in mind, I covered the bird in maple roasted bacon when I dropped the temperature.
Now it's just a matter of checking in on my bird every half hour or so. Making sure a) there is liquid in the bottom of the pan, b) she's nice and basted and c) she isn't browning too much. If you do find your bird browning more than you would like, don't hesitate to place a layer of foil right on her.
Before I knew it the house was filling with the most delicious odor of maple syrup and turkey. Deciding to check the temperature just shy of 2 1/2 hours, the lowest temperature I could find on my bird was 160. So out it came for the foil-down period. I am a strong, strong advocate of this post cooking relaxation, especially with poultry. Just give your bird a layer or two of foil and put it to the side for 20-30 minutes. I promise all the juices will flow back in, and nobody will be disappointed! Plus, this gives you plenty of time to work on those last few dishes; mash, boil, steam, and stir away.
I can't help but think that the 70's and 80's were filled with so much cooking fear, that people forgot what a properly done turkey should be like. Just think about how many over cooked chicken breasts you've encounter (or dry pork chops for that matter). I mentioned at the beginning of this post about new understandings. Maybe it's not a new understanding of cooking, I mean people have been cooking for centuries. But some things have changed. From the conditions they live in to the animals themselves. Don't believe me, have a heritage bird (or pig). We have breed birds that are too heavy to bread and pigs that lack proper fat marbling as we search for the 'healthiest meat'. I don't really know where I'm going with this...It just seems no matter how many times I produce perfectly cooked and super juicy poultry products, some diners fear under cooking - 'this breast is way too juicy to be cooked'. Winning some people over, to a place where turkey doesn't have to be 190 degrees may be impossible, but I know that cooking my first turkey was neither hard, tiring, or complicated.
Brine + Bird + Heat + Rest = fantastic. Happy Thanksgiving!
My neighbour so kindly donated a few of her buttercup squash to the homestead recently. Mentioning that her children don't eat squash, she thought I might be able to cook something up. What says a good time like cooking up free food!
To my delight, I discovered it was ok to substitute the buttercup squash for the more commonly used butternut. It makes sense, but I was a little worried when I couldn't find any recipe that called for buttercup squash. With this new found substitution information though, the internet my domain! Muhaha.
I flipped a coin and finally ended up on this recipe. All you need is stock, maple syrup, salt, pepper, garlic, onion, and cinnamon. After everything simmers for a bit, you can attack it with a blender or hand-wand. The inherent danger of transferring boiling liquids back and forth was enticing enough for me to bring out the blender.
Once back in the pot, I mixed in the maple syrup and S&P before diving in. A nice little treat I tell you. From cutting board to pot to bowl in well under an hour. This was my kind of lunch. Tasty, healthy, and something I'll make note of for future reference.
If any of you are like me, the fall season brings with it, big brown bags of corn. I love corn. From milling it for corn tortillas in Guatemala to picking fresh sweet Taber corn; it's a truly fantastic food. After the homestead manhandled 13 ears of corn one night, my father (who doesn't eat vegetables) decided I must really like it, brought home bags of the stuff. OK..I might not love it enough to eat for a week straight.
I had to create something with corn to make the eating process a little less monotonous. First up was cornbread. Always delicious; cornbread is a perfect place to sneak in a cup of sweet corn kernels.
Preheat oven to 375. Mix one egg into 1.25 cups of buttermilk, set aside. Combine 1.5 cups of cornmeal, .5 cup of flour, 1.5tsp baking powder, 1tsp salt, and 1tbls of sugar. Melt a few tablespoons of butter in a cast iron skillet. Mix wet ingredients into dry, before pouring into skillet and baking for 30 minutes. You will notice the corn bread pulling away from the sides, or browning on top. I used a larger cast iron pan, so it was thinner than usual and cooked a tad bit quicker.
The results were good. A thinner final product allowed for a lighter cornbread and made it seem ok to go back for extra slices! The fresh corn created little pockets of moisture. Love or leave it, this 12 inch slab of cornbread was gone in one evening.
With the cornbread barely cutting into my stash, I looked for something else to make. I thought about making a soup, but lacked bacon and vegetables. This lead me to cream corn. Now I haven't had cream corn in years, but my childhood memories are filled with it. I used to dig a hole in my mothers creamy mashed potatoes and ladle in the cream corn. Yum!
So with my history devoted to canned cream corn, it's no surprise this would be a first. I looked through a few cookbooks and ended up back with Mark Bittman. The recipe requires 6 ears of corn, so I knew this would make a bigger dent than the cornbread. Melt a few tablespoons of butter, add corn, cream (I used 1%, it's what I had), salt and pepper, a little sugar if you need it, and that's that. With everything in a pan, you simmer it down until soft and delicious. If you need to thicken things up, Mark says to mix in a tablespoon of corn starch when you feel ready.
Even without mash potatoes handy, this little dish was tasty. The kernels had more tooth to them when compared with the canned version. I suppose I could have mashed a bit in the pan before pulling from the stove, but it alas I didn't.
Which brings me to the last item. Yes, there was still corn left. With my corn enthusiasm dying slowly, I threw the remaining ears on the BBQ while I put together this chili lime butter. Combine 1 tbls honey, 2 tbls fresh lime juice, .5 teas of chili powder (I mixed in some cayenne too) with .5 cups of softened butter.
So there it is. Two days of corn. BBQ'd, boiled, baked, and simmered. Corn season 2009 is officially over in my life.
I've been wanting to make rice pudding for a while but I just couldn't seem to find my mothers recipe. Deciding to give the search a break, I turned to my copy Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything and found a baked rice pudding recipe. Rice pudding was always done on the stove-top in our house, so this would be different from the get-go. The more I read this recipe, the more I liked it. No stove-top spillage and no extra clean up! Just stir 4 cups of milk, 1/4 - 1/3 cup of rice, 1/2 cup of sugar, a pinch of salt, and cinnamon (I used two sticks) together before putting it in a 300 degree oven for 2 hours. You need to come back every 30 minutes to stir, and after an hour you can dump in your raisins. Three quarters of the way through, it says to check every 10 minutes and make sure you pull it before all the liquid is absorb. This is crucial as the rice pudding will coagulate as it cools and you need some moisture to prevent a crusty or dry product.
Unfortunately, this was strike two on the night. With the previous Tyler Florence BBQ sauce also a let down, my culinary adventure was disappointing. The problem with this recipe was the suggested time. After 2 hours it still looked like milk soup, with most of the rice in no way, shape, or form ready for our stomachs. I ended up pulling it at 3 1/2 hours (see photo) and it still wasn't in good shape. I salavaged what I could by throwing everything into a pot and letting it sit stove-top for a while. So much for unnecessary clean up!
It's been a while since I've made some unfortunate recipes, but all in due time I guess. Now I need to get back on the hunt and find my mothers recipe.
If there is one thing I need to make more of, it's BBQ sauce. With my pulled pork being requested almost weekly, I'm really hankering to track down a Chris-trade-secret recipe. So I figured I better start, since fellow homesteaders recently cashed in on the $1/pound pork butt sale at Sobeys, and brought home around 25 pounds. This apparently, as I'm told, leaves me no excuse not to make it. *shrug* Good thing I LOVE cooking. It's pretty much like asking me to listen to enjoy the guitar sounds of Mr. Mayer.
Before I digress any further, I started my search on Chowhound and found a few possible directions. The sauce I attempted, by Tyler Florence, had received some good reviews so I figure it was a safe place to start my journey. You may think that with the title of his show on Food Network, Tyler's Ultimate, Tyler would have narrowed it down, yet he actually has quite a few BBQ sauce recipes. I suppose with so many types of sauces out there, thick/thin, vinegar/tomato, North Carolina/Kansas City, why not. I wonder if discovering your favorite sauce is like a shot in the dark.
So with some fresh, juicy roasted chicken, I was ready to dance and dished everything into ciabatta buns. The results - not horrible, but not that good at all. We tried the sauce in multiple ways - straight up, dipping chicken right in, dipping bun/bread right in, and all together. No matter how it went town, everyone in the homestead agreed. The sauce has way to much mustard and vinegar to be enjoyed. So, while the initial flavor is good, it leaves an impression on the back of your mouth that is way too overpowering. Homestead - 0, BBQ sauce - 1.
