Ma's kitchen... Corn Salsa

Hello there and a happy Thursday afternoon. Today I am laughing. It is close to the end of the week and I have tomorrow evening to look forward to. It is my good friends birthday and we shall be celebrating the evening starting at the local Garrison Brewery If you have read any of my previous posts you will know that I love this brewery. They create amazing beers, support local, provide me with malt for beer bread and constantly have something new a brew'in.

Now each of my friends has a favorite dish that I make. Everyone of them has a different taste, and I've recognized that when they choose a favorite it barely ever changes. Thus making me feel a bit like the ol' ma in the kitchen. Anywho I love feeding my friends and so for my lovely's birthday I decided to get creative in the kitchen this morning and make loads of her favorite dish. I then thought if she enjoys it sooo much so might you. 

 Nova Scotia Sweet Corn and Tomato Salsa-Made with Love

Recipe

3 Large Field Tomatoes - Tomatoes are in season and you should be able to purchase them from your local farmers market or even in some locally sourcing grocery stores

1 Jalapeno Pepper

4 Cobs Corn

3 Avocados 

1 Red Onion

1 Bunch Parsley 

1 Lemon

2 tbsp Olive Oil 

Salt and Pepper

Directons:

Boil your corn in a pot or large saucepan with the husks on to cook the corn. Trust me my chef mentor showed me this and it's probably the most brilliant trick I ever heard. Your husks will fall right off and you wont have to worry about a crazy stringy mess in your kitchen. 

 

 Dice your tomatoes while the corn is cooking. Once the corn is cooked peel off the husk and cut the corn off the cob. Add to to diced tomatoes.  Then take a red onion and dice it in the same shape and size as you have your tomatoes.  When cutting the jalapeno be very careful. The seeds and vein of the pepper are what controls the heat. If  you want a spicy salsa then chop up the whole jalapeno seeds and all very fine and add it to the salsa. If you are not prone to spice cut out the seeds and then chop up the pepper very fine.

 

To cut your avocado slice it in half, and then cut diagonally and vertically. This is a very easy way to cut an avocado into salsa friendly squares. It will automatically come out as you press on the skin from the back. Add your avocado to the bowl of tomatoes, red onion, jalapeno and corn. Then zest a whole lemon into the bowl, cut in half and juice it as well. This will lighten up the salsa, and help to bring out the natural flavours. Chop up your parsley very fine, throw it in the bowl, and add in your olive oil. Salt and pepper to taste! E voila, you have made Nova Scotia Sweet Corn and Tomato Salsa

Eat, drink and enjoy!!

Keep on the sunny side... Gaspereau Vineyards

It is Tuesday afternoon and I am still smiling from an amazing Sunday full of adventure and fun.This Sunday I had the pleasure of competing in a Grape Stomping competition at Gaspereau Vineyards  for Charity. Gaspereau Vinyards is nestled in the center of Nova Scotia Wine Country and boasts some of Nova Scotia's great tasting wines. The Vineyard has competed and won yearly in different international competitions. Most recently Gaspereau Vineyards  took gold for their 2010 Rose.

On Sunday, Gaspereau Vineyards was hosting the: Fall Harvest Festival, and Charity Grape Stomp Now most days I do not need an excuse to visit a winery, however if I needed one this would be the best possible reason to go. 

Stomping for Charity - Absolutely - 

So I wrangled together 3 other stompers, a coach for our team, donations for our charity of choice and found inspiration from this clip. 

 

We arrived at Gaspereau Vineyards and made sure to talk up the judge while getting to know the rules of the stomp (Incredibly important) The stomp in full lasted for 10 minutes. I am not to sure how many of you have actually participated in a grape stomping competition... If you have i'm sure you'll agree that 10 minutes is a LONG time to grape stomp. I have a lot of respect for professional grape 'stompers'.  And so the stomp began!

INTENSE Teamwork was happening here.

A HUGE thank you to my favorite valley band for playing wonderful stomp worthy tunes to keep our excitment up and energy flowing.

We may not have come first but we had a blast and it was all for a great cause. The winning team of the grape stomping competition had all money raised by the individual teams donated to their charity of choice. Thank you Gaspereau Vineyards for an amazing day with a great cause.

Eat drink and enjoy!!

Gimmie a pigfoot..... Pulled Pork

Hello all and a very joyous Sunday morning to you. Now If I had it my way today I think I would have woken up to the lovely smells of some 12 hour brisket, and ribs coming out of the smoker in my back yard. Such an amazing smell to wake up to on a perfect autumn day. Alas instead I sit here with a black coffee. Not even 1/100 as exciting. 

Meat. - I love meat. I enjoy many different cuts, from many different animals, and the many different cooking techniques in the world. Today I am going to share with you an old classic, one of my favorites. This is will surely have you waking up to some sweet scents and the idea of an old backyard BBQ.

Pulled Pork 

Now many people think that pulled pork has to be incredibly difficulty to make because it is so very tasty. Naturally taste = hard work. Not true my friends. One of the loveliest details about pulled pork is that the pork really does all the work. 

 Go to your local butcher and ask for Pork Shoulder or "Picnic Ham" This is a cut that is taken from the upper part of the foreleg that includes a portion of the pork shoulder. You can either get this cut with the bone in or out. I enjoy bone in because then you can really see the meat fall of the bone after roasting. This is the perfect cut of meet for pulled pork and is one of the lesser expensive cuts as well. 

 As you can see from the picture on the right there is a huge fat cap on this piece of meat. This is the layer of  1inch fat that runs along the animals back. Essential in pulled pork. 

Now you want to cut right between the flesh of the meat and fat and slowly pull it back off. Leave the fatback connected to the meat. You are going to create a layer between the fat and flesh so that as the meat cooks it is consistently filled with flavour.

Rub the whole cut of meat with a generous portion Salt, Pepper, 1tbsp smoked paprika, 1/4 cup grainy mustard, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and then fresh thyme and rosemary. Then place the fat back onto the meat and tie so that the bundle of herbs is secure. 

Place in your roasting pan. 

On the bottom of my roasting pan I always put a liquid. I enjoy using beers (of all kinds) I used a Apple Cider Beer last time because I wanted to get a hint of the sweetness of the apple so that my pork could be in tune with the autumn weather.Make sure that the bottom of the pan is fully covered with beer. If you have to use 2 bottles or cans. You don't your roasting pan going dry. =)

Put your oven to 500 and broil the fat of the pork for 5 minutes or until crisping. This will have the fat immediately starting to release and baste the rest of the meat. It will also secure the fat back on to the meat.

 Once the top of the fat has browned turn your oven way down to 220F. This is going to be some sslloowww. Good for the heart and uplifting for the soul. Cover your roasting pan with tin foil and place in the oven. I like to do this in the evening so that my pork can slow roast over night. I also love that I get to wake up in the morning to the sweet sweet scents of pulled pork. ahhhhh . 

If you are uncomfortable leaving your pork in the oven while you sleep roast it during the day or in a slow cooker. This way you can check it every hour or so to see how it's coming along. You want to give it time so at least 8 hours (depending on how big your meat is) Even so do not rush it. When you pull the pork from the oven the meat should be falling apart on it's own, and easily pulling away from the bone. 

Now remove the string, the fat cap and your roasting rack. I like to let my pork fall right into the roasting liquid that has settled into the bottom of the pan. 

This makes a beautiful natural sauce. 

You have now created love in a pan. Eat this as is, on a baguette, in a bun, on poached eggs, on a picnic, in the backyard or simply standing over your stove as is.

Eat drink and enjoy!

Don't sit under the apple tree.... Apple Butter

Hello Hello and good middle of the week to you. I hope that you are having a fabulous Wednesday evening and enjoyed a tasty treat for dinner and dessert. 

Apples, apples, apples... a magical fruit and tis' a wonderful time of the year to appreciate all that apples have to offer. I love September, the leaves have started to change colour, fruits fall from the tree's and scents of honey bee's turn to cinnamon, nutmeg and spice. 

Here in good ol' N.S. we are in full on apple harvest and their are many different kinds of apples to enjoy. 

Knowing full well a few weeks ago that apples were a going to be plentiful this year I spoke to a lovely local farmer at the Alderney Landing Farmers Market from Noggins Farm in the Annappolis Valley. I bartered my way (somehow) into scoring 40lbs of apple seconds. Similar to strawberry seconds, these are the bruised, less pretty apples that are delicious but unfortunate looking. My absolute favorite kind!!! I took them home along with some cherries I scored, set myself up on the deck and peeled apples in the sun for a good hour and a half.

Peeling apples may not be my favorite past-time in the world but I luckily had some amazing music to help me through along with the delicious thought of apple butter, apple sauce, and port apple cherry compote.

Alas my adventure had begun. After the apples were peeled I cut and split them into four pots on my stove. Two for apple butter, one for apple sauce, and the other a port, apple, cherry compote.

Apple Butter for those of you who are unsure is produced by cooking your apples for a long slow period of time. Mixing the natural sugar of the fruit with cane sugar helps to naturally caramelize and darken the apples. The slow cooking has the apples concentrate down into a thicker darker liquid (similar consistency to honey) You can then use the apple butter as you would Jam. So tasty and perfect for cold winter mornings or late evening snacks. I love throwing a tablespoon on my granola or in hot oatmeal. 

Then into the jars did the cooked apples go. It is very important when preserving, canning, or jarring to sterilize all equipment you are using. In this case I boil my jars before using them and then re-boil them again after. 

Now I have a plentiful amount of wonderful apple preserves. I love passing these onto friends and family. As the air chills and leaves fall I love knowing that we will continue to taste the autumn apple harvest all year long.

Eat, drink and enjoy!

The beautiful briny sea..... Cured Salmon

-Home cured salmon - aka Gravlax ( A swedish specialty of salmon cured in salt/sugar)

What does this mean? To salt cure is to cook meat, cheese or fish by a method other than heat cooking to preserve it. In the method of salt curing to preserve you use a mixture of salt and sugar. The salt and sugar draw out a large amount of liquid and replace the liquid with the salt/sugar mixture that you've used. This in turn naturally preserves the food. 

Let me back up a bit... Why exactly am I sharing this information with you? Because I absolutely love home cured salmon and want to share this easy and fun to try recipe. Now I know you may be a little bit worried and perhaps have this dialogue running through your head" Raw fish... turned into cooked fish... via salt and sugar... Whoahhhh no way"  Let me whisk any fears away and present you with a easy curing recipe that in any case will be fun to try and impressive to friends and family.

Head down to your local fish store and hunt down a fresh piece of Salmon Fillet around 2-3lbs.  Depending on the size of your salmon this could be a whole side. Do not be scared to ask questions. Let your local fish enthusiast know that you are trying out this recipe, and I have no doubt they will gladly help with sizing.

Now that you have your fish head over to your local grocer and grab 3 Lemons. I hope you then head home with a super big smile knowing that I am proud of you for taking these first important curing steps. 

Once you are home you will need:

4 Cups Salt

4 Cups Sugar

Sliced 3 Lemons

Fresh Dill 

(Fresh dill is traditionally used to make gravlax and can very well be added if you please!)

Now add your salt and sugar together in a bowl and lay half of it down on a baking sheet that you know will fit the fish fillets. Then place half of the slices of lemon on the baking sheet over the lemon. (If you are also using dill you can lay this next to the lemon slices) Put the salmon on top of this flesh side down and then add the rest of your salt and sugar ontop of the fish so that it is fully covered on both sides. Then lay the rest of your lemon slices ontop of this.

Saran wrap bottom to top the whole baking sheet very tightly. Put a second baking sheet ontop and place in the fridge. Then place a heavier item ontop of the baking sheet in the fridge. Weight will help the salt and sugar work with the salmon to cure evenly, and will move the process along. Leave refrigerated for 1.5-2 days. 

2 days later remove from fridge and saran wrap. Rinse off the leftover salt and sugar from the fish, and then pat dry with paper towel. When you undo the saran wrap do not be surprised if the salt and sugar have turned to liquid and started to evaporate (This is a good sign!).Your salmon should now feel a little like leather and have taken on a bright orange tinge. - This means it has cooked!

You now have cured your own salmon and made gravlax . HURRAH to you for taking the chance and trying this out. Slice thin and eat with cream cheese, bagels, crackers, potatoes, on salad or just plain and simple on it's own. 

Home Cured Salmon with Potato Fritters, Fried Capers and Lemon Creme Fraiche

Eat, drink and enjoy!

Jumpin at the Woodside.....Morris East

There are few mornings that I wake up and truly need to be inspired to get into the kitchen and create. Yesterday just happen to be a morning where I was looking for some good food to cure the rumble in my belly and add that culinary zest back into my life. So for Brunch to Morris East I went.

Morris East describes themselves as a "creative neighborhood restaurant in downtown Halifax" They pride themselves on sourcing artisanel, seasonal products and support local farmers. I was actually inspired to eat at Morris East after having a conversation with a local organic farmer about just how awesome they are! Farmers promoting restaurants promoting farmers... Too cool.

Morris East  makes traditional thin crust pizza, with an accompaniment of daily wood fire mains;having imported a beautiful wood-fire oven from Italy (Just like Nonna used). This menu transcends into brunch and we are offered a selection of 9 pizza's to choose from and 9 brunch plates.

 From the moment my friend and I step in to the restaurant my spirit was lifted and inspiration for food began to ignite once more. The restaurant is a beauty. Clean simple lines, high ceilings, comfortable tables and warm friendly servers who greeted us with a smile and a laugh.  We jumped right in starting off with a couple of cocktails to ease us further into our morning of glee. 

    Bee’s Knees

rittenhouse rye (1oz), evan williams
honey reserve bourbon (0.5oz),
ns wildflower honey, strawberry purée

A fresh pick-me up! I love the inhouse strawberry puree. A perfect calmer for the bourbon. Had it not of been Saturday morning I would have enjoyed a few more of these. My friend had a Tideview Raspberry Cider. Our server gladly explained that these ciders are made from all local Nova Scotian grown fruits.

First Course: was the scrumptious Breakfast Wrap stuffed with chantrelle mushrooms, cherry tomatoes, arugula and dijon aioli. 

Now don't let my picture fool you (my camera and I don't always get along) This wrap was the best breakfast wrap I have ever had. The eggs were cooked perfectly still light and fluffy, the wrap itself made in house served warm and fresh. The chantrelle's are still dancing on my tongue. Such flavour, and believe you me they packed it full.

Their breakfast wrap changes weekly, and I'm hoping the next time this special comes on they will call me so I can run down and experience the flavour combination for a second time.

Second Course:  Big Breakfast wood-fired pizza - If you have ever questioned having a fried egg on your pizza, head down to Morris East and let them shed some light onto any doubts you may have. The crust was light and crisp (definitely reminded me of thin crust napolitana pizza dough) I tried to poke my head into their kitchen on the way to the bathroom secretly hoping to see some old italians throwing dough. The toppings were plentiful and consisted of : Fresh tomato sauce, mozzarella, spinach, portobello mushroom, housemade bacon, greens and a perfectly cooked still runny sunnyside up fried egg. Bellisima.  This can also be accompanied by in house made chilli oil which was offered to us very politely before the pizza hit the table.

Last but not least the dessert portion of our meal.

Homemade French Toast. Our server recommended this right off the bat so we knew it was right to save it for last.  Picture this.... Light as air brioche french toast. A traditional French bread who's high egg and butter content give it a very tender texture and beautiful colour. This bread is perfect for french toast, and in turn the french toast was palate pleasing and oh so satisfying. Served with a trio of whip cream, maple syrup and blackberry coulis twas the perfect ending to a very satisfying brunch experience.

Yesterday Morris East set the tune for a great day. Fresh ingredients fly off the plates and create flavours I'm already craving again.The owner Jennie is lovely and came to our table with a huge smile and personal introduction. In any City I live in I seek to find a spot like this. Creative food, servers that appreciate the restaurants just as much as the patrons, easy atmosphere, appreciation for local, and an emphasis on drink pairing.

Yesterday I was insipired.

Eat, Drink and Enjoy!

La vie en rose... French Inspirations

Salut mais amis! J'espere que tu avait bien mangé ce weekend.

I had a lovely weekend that was very french inspired. A good friend had to sadly say goodbye to a wonderful friend and employee who is headed to Paris! La vie et belle n'est pas? To be headed to Paris is a lovely thought. Knowing that you will be surrounded by tremendous cheese, breads, wine, fruits, and pastry's *sigh*  In order feel as though we were also headed to Paris with this wonderful woman there was a France inspired send off which I happily cooked for.

There were fresh charcouterie boards with lovely saucisson sec, cured with les herbes de provence. Some smoked meats, and mustard to accompany of course. Homemade bread sticks, crostini and a selection of Parisian cheese. Ahhhh the thought of a Camembert and Brie just make my heart swell with joy and my mouth water. Fruit platters filled with grapes, apricots, nectarines, peaches, apples and pears as well as petits quiche.

For those of you who are curious about the difference between Camembert and Brie cheese here you go. Camembert and Brie are made with a very similar production method. However, they are produced from different regions of France which means that the traditional technique, climate and animal feedings are different. The cheeses are also made into different shapes when produced. Traditionally Brie is formed into a large flat wheel and Camembert into a high cylinder shape. 

The picture above you will see the desert, some beautiful macarons! Je t'aime beaucoup les macarons. I love them. If you haven't eaten a traditional french macaron please go out today and treat yourself to one. They are little bits of heaven. Crunchy on the outside, pillowy soft on the inside. Gauranteed to delight. To go with the macaron and to make people laugh I made little sugar cookies and then iced them to look like the French flag. Many little french men saying hello. Now i'm off to switch regions and dive into the culinary delights of Italy. A la prochain!!

Eat, drink and enjoy!!

Hey hey good lookin, whatcha got cookin?.... Opening Soon (Toronto)

It's Friday afternoon and I hope that you are excited for your weekend fun to be paired with tummy satisfying food and some good ol fashion beverages. 

Today I woke up with a rumble in my belly and a longing for  homemade sausage. This must be because I just said farewell to a good friend in Toronto, Ontario who is the co-owner of Sausage Partners. Just about the coolest butcher shop, wholesale meat producer, farm loving, family owned, local sourcing produce store in the world. Don't worry folks I wasn't paid to say that I am just telling the gosh darn truth.  Let me explain a little bit more because today I am profiling them for your pleasure. 

Sausage partners was born from a love of meat. Local meat, and the idea that people should be able to create a connection between the animal, the farmer, the butcher, and the customer. So Lorraine and Kyle Deming along with their little girl decided to open a shop that creates this connection. Not just with sourcing local animals and buying from farmers who put emphasis on sustainable farming practices. But, by creating a community with it. They will be selling their sausages, home jarred pickles, relish, jams, and marmalade to restaurants in and around Toronto to share the locally produced love. Sausage Partners sources their meats from Kawartha Ecological Growers (KEG) A collective of small scale family farms in the Kawartha region of Ontario. These farmers have a beautiful mandate : Good, clean, fair food which works perfectly for Lorrain and Kyle because they believe in happy animals, small farms, responsible farming practices, respecting the land in which we produce from and free range.

To take you on a tour inside I have some photo's.  Their shop is FUN!

One side of the store has framed photo's for sale by Jordan Starr who takes pictures of organic farms. The artwork is enough to have you galloping out of the store in the direction of the closest farm. Creating a pure want to be closer to the land. They are truly beautiful pieces.

Then we have my favorite part of the business besides the fact that they buy local, produce local, eat local and love food. The spice grinder!!!!  On the white door to the left that is hung on the wall is an old spice grinder from the early 1900's. This means that you can buy your whole spices and grind them fresh at your local butcher/produce shop. How fun. I love this idea and am now on a hunt for one to hang in my kitchen.

Hurrah to the lovely vintage shelves that will hold all the delicious preserves and dried goods they have to sell. I love their preserves and seeing this bottle of pear jam reminds me of crazed conversations with Lorraine this summer where I would call her while strawberry preserving and she would pick up while also being knee deep jam. Both laughing over the phone and convincing each other that preserving on a Friday evening is a cool thing to do!

There we have it the tour of Sausage Partners I have to say I am incredibly proud of the shop and food culture Kyle and Lorraine Deming are helping to build. All from a love of good tasting sausages. See what good food can inspire. 

Eat, drink and enjoy!