Christmas Countdown: Food & Drink magazine - a source of holiday inspiration

December 1, 2008 in Christmas Recipes, Cooking, Culinary Education, Food, Holidays, Recipes | Tags: , , | No comments

LCBO's Food & Drink magazine - 2008 Holiday Issue

The LCBO's complimentary Food & Drink magazine - 2008 Holiday Issue

If you live in Ontario - run, don’t walk, to your nearest Liquor Control Board of Ontario (LCBO) to pick up the holiday issue of Food & Drink magazine. This glossy magazine is always a knock-out, and the latest issue is no exception. That the magazine is free (yes, FREE!) makes it even more enticing, although I’ll bet many faithful readers would gladly pay to peruse the pages of this prodigious periodical.

Food & Drink is known for its exquisite photography, superb recipes, excellent information on wine and spirit, and inspiring ideas for entertaining and gift giving. It is published six times a year.

I drooled (figuratively, of course!) all over the 300+ pages of the latest issue, packed with holiday food and drink suggestions. The list of recipes I’d like to try is long. This is just a small portion of it!

Profiteroles with Caramel Sauce and Hedgehog Almond Praline (cover photo)…Baked Eggs with Mushroom Sauce…Caribbean Cruise Cocktail…Rich Chocolate Souffle…Individual Brie and Fig Strudels…Pecan and Banana Cake with Buttered Rum Glaze…Sesame Ginger Edamame…Raspberry Truffle Martini…Chinese Roast Turkey with Cranberry Ginger Chutney, Dry Fried Green Beans & Rice Stuffing…Butter Chicken…an Icewine Dinner Menu…Chocolate Mascarpone Cheese Ball with Dried Cherries & Bittersweet Wafers…

If your local LCBO has run out of copies of Food & Drink (they often disappear quickly), jog over to another LCBO (find the locations here). Or, let your fingers do the walking and sprint over to the LCBO’s web site for recipe and beverage suggestions for the Christmas season. You might not find the current issue’s contents posted yet, but recipes from past issues are online.

The Winter issue of Food & Drink will be on LCBO store shelves on Jan. 14. You’ll want to keep your running shoes handy.

An Appetite for Humour #4 - Diary of a Novice Cook

November 30, 2008 in Food, Food Jokes | Tags: , , , | No comments

Wish I knew who to credit for this “Diary of a Novice Cook”, formerly titled “Blonde Cookbook”. (I changed the title so as not to slander anyone based on their natural or preferred hair colour, and to protect the innocent!!)

I received this joke via email, of course. Wouldn’t you love to know how many jokes are circulating at any one time?

If you haven’t read or heard this one yet, enjoy!

Diary of a Novice Cook

Dear Diary:
Monday:

It’s fun to cook for Bob. Today I made an angel food cake. The recipe said “beat 12 eggs separately”. The neighbors were nice enough to loan me some extra bowls.

Tuesday:
Bob wanted fruit salad for supper. The recipe said “serve without dressing”, so I didn’t dress. What a surprise when Bob brought a friend home for supper.

Wednesday:
A good day for rice. The recipe said “wash thoroughly before steaming the rice”. It seemed kinda of silly but I took a bath. I can’t say it improved the rice any.

Thursday:
Today Bob asked for salad again. I tried a new recipe. It said “prepare ingredients, then toss on a bed of lettuce one hour before serving”. Bob didn’t understand why I was rolling around in the garden.

Friday:
I found an easy recipe for cookies. It said “put all ingredients in a bowl and beat it”. There must have been something wrong with the recipe. When I got back, everything was the same as when I left.

Saturday:
Bob did the shopping today and brought home a chicken. He asked me to dress it for Sunday. (Oh boy!). For some reason, Bob keeps counting to ten.

Sunday:
Bob’s folks came to dinner today. I wanted to serve roast. All I could find was hamburger. Suddenly I had a flash of genius. I put the hamburger in the oven and set the controls for roast. It still came out hamburger, much to my disappointment.

Good Night Dear Diary:
This has been a very exciting week. I am eager for tomorrow to come so I can try out a new recipe on Bob. If we could just get a bigger oven, I’d like to surprise him with Chocolate Moose.

When life gives you…..mushrooms?

November 28, 2008 in Cooking, Eggs, Food | Tags: , , , , , | No comments

Who doesn’t love getting free stuff?

I recently scored some free mushrooms. It helps to have friends who are in the business of promoting mushrooms.

Sauteed Mushrooms

Sauteed mushrooms for filling an omelette

After Wednesday night’s WOW Seminar in Paris (no, not Paris, France - Paris, Ontario - also a lovely place but minus the language problems I’d encounter if I hopped across the pond!), Nikki from Mushrooms Canada had some leftovers from her cooking demonstration. She kindly packed up a nice assortment and sent them home with me.

So, last night it was a simple mushroom omelette and a salad for supper. This weekend I’m making mushroom crepes. Might also make mushroom soup. Or maybe mushroom risotto……or stuffed mushrooms……

Mushroom (and cheese) omelette - a simple, tasty supper!

Mushroom (and cheese) omelette - a simple, tasty supper!

If you want to know anything about mushrooms (nutritional value, varieties, or how to clean, store or cook them), check in with the mushroom experts. Mushrooms Canada’s web site - mushrooms.ca - has everything you need to know, as well as recipes. There are also cooking videos starring my friend and colleague, home economist Clare Jones.

If you’d like to enjoy mushrooms in an omelette and are looking for a few tips on omelette making, check out the recommended omelette technique from Egg Farmers of Ontario. To make the omelette filling, I prefer sauteing the mushrooms first in a little oil or butter, then using them to fill my omelette. But you don’t have to cook the mushrooms if you chop them finely, then sprinkle them over your omelette before folding it over.

There’s also a recipe for a Wild Mushroom Frittata on EFO’s web site.

Celebrity chefs inspire adoring foodie fans

November 24, 2008 in Cooking, Culinary Education, Events, Food, Food and Culture | Tags: , , , , , , , , | No comments

I spent this past weekend at the Seasons Christmas Show at the International Centre in Toronto. No, not shopping for Christmas decorations, gifts and baking. I was working at the Egg Farmers of Ontario’s booth where we were giving out recipes for holiday baking and entertaining, and selling microwave egg cookers. (The cookers make excellent poached eggs, not to mention great stocking stuffers!) I’ll admit I did slip away from the booth a couple times to check out the show, but most of the time, it was work, work, work….

Our booth was located across the aisle from the Toronto Star Theatre, one of the presentation stages at the Show. Occasionally there was a lull in the activity in front of our booth; when no one was picking up recipes or asking a question about the nutritional value of eggs, I and the staff at our booth were entertained by the demonstrations on the cooking stage.

The presenters, who included Food Network’s Chefs Anna Olson and Anthony Sedlak from FoodTV, as well as Elizabeth Baird, Executive Food Editor for Canadian Living magazine and Chef James Smith from George Brown College, attracted large crowds. As the weekend progressed, I made a few mental observations about the crowds and the high-profile cooks.

* Lots of talk, but not so much cooking! Most of the cooking dems went on for nearly an hour, but some presenters spent much of that time talking, not cooking. The crowds seemed content to sit and listen to cooking tips and techniques, food facts, and stories about what happens behind-the-scenes of a televized cooking show, despite witnessing a minimal amount of chopping, stirring and actual cooking.

* It tastes great - or so we’ve been told! Once the demonstration was over, samples of the finished dish were not typically provided for the gathered crowd to taste. Having done quite a few cooking demonstrations in my life, I know from experience that it can be a challenge to find a recipe to demonstrate for a large group of people that can also be easily sampled by the crowd. The problem is neatly solved by simply demonstrating the recipe but not offering samples of the finished product. This seemed to be the solution for a number of the presentations at the Toronto Star Theatre. I did notice that over at Canadian Living magazine’s stage, there appeared to be samples at each of the cooking dems.

Read the rest of this entry »

Chocolate flows in Vegas

November 18, 2008 in Chocolate, Food, Food and Travel | Tags: , , , , , | No comments

“What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.”

I was reminded of this by friends and colleagues at least a dozen times prior to my recent trip to Las Vegas to attend a conference. It was my first time visiting what some consider the entertainment capital of the world.

Well, this is one time when what happened in Vegas will be shared!

Any one who has visited this city of a gazillion slot machines and equally as many lights knows that Las Vegas is a place where things are more than a little over the top. Prior to my trip, I had read somewhere that inside the Bellagio Hotel on the Strip one would find what some consider the “8th wonder of the world” - - the tallest chocolate fountain on the planet! As a die-hard chocoholic, a visit to see free-flowing chocolate falling from the heavens was a must while in town.

The Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas - with dancing waterfalls!

The Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas - with dancing water fountains that perform every 15 minutes!

And so, one evening, after the day’s conference sessions were over, I made a pilgrimage to the Strip where I easily found the Bellagio.

On the lake in front of the hotel, the Bellagio’s signature dancing water fountains performed routines to music every 15 minutes. Amidst a throng of tourists, I watched a couple routines, then ventured inside the grand hotel to track down the chocolate fountain.

Assuming the chocolate shop would be in the Shops area, I followed the signs which took me through the hotel’s casino to a series of high-end stores. No chocolate store or chocolate fountain to be found. After some fruitless searching, I thought it best to ask for directions. I was advised to return to the lobby, then veer right into the Spa Tower. After retracing my steps through the casino (every path through every hotel in Vegas takes you through a casino!!) to the front desk, then wending my way down an elegantly appointed hall, I soon found Jean-Philippe Maury’s Patisserie.

Chocolate Shop in Bellagio Hotel

Jean-Philippe Maury's Patisserie in the Bellagio Hotel

Can you see the chocolate fountain on the right side of the picture? It’s quite a sight - an architectural and culinary marvel created by the Bellagio’s Executive Pastry Chef Maury.

The Patisserie sells chocolate (of course) and cakes and other baked treats as well as gelato and savoury dishes such as sandwiches, salads and crepes.

Triple Chocolate Fountain in the Bellagio Hotel, Las Vegas

Nearly two tonnes of chocolate are pumped through this fountain.

Chocolate Fountain

The chocolate fountain is housed in a climate-controlled enclosure where the temperature is kept at 95 degrees F.

The chocolate fountain is a star attraction with many visitors stopping to admire the clever design. Nearly two tonnes of white, medium and dark chocolate circulate through six pumps and 500 feet of stainless steel piping. The chocolate rises 27 vertical feet from a lower level pump room. It is dispensed through six spouts in the ceiling, 14 feet above floor level, and falls into 25 handmade glass vessels.

The world’s tallest and largest volume chocolate fountain took two years to plan, design and create. Its creator, Executive Pastry Chef Jean-Philippe Maury, talks about it in this video.

The perils of in-flight dining

November 13, 2008 in Food, Food and Travel | Tags: | No comments

There are many reasons why airline food - when you can even get it - is often less than stellar.

Here’s one!

Overheard on a recent flight from Toronto to Las Vegas just prior to take-off:

Flight attendant #1: I’m not sure how long to heat the pizza. Any idea?

Flight attendant #2: I haven’t a clue.

Flight attendant #1: Think I’ll try 10 minutes on low. How does that sound?

Flight attendant #2: Works for me.

……a few minutes later flight attendant #3 comes back to the kitchen area just behind where I’m seated……

Flight attendant #1: I’m going to heat the pizza for 10 minutes on low.

Flight attendant #3: Oh no! It always takes at least 20 minutes on high.

Flight attendant #1: Really? I wouldn’t think it would take that long.

Flight attendant #3: Well, let’s compromise then - 15 minutes on medium.

I settled in for the 4-1/2 hour flight, thankful I’d picked up a sandwich and a cookie prior to boarding.

A cooking website well worth a look

November 8, 2008 in Beverages, Chocolate, Cooking, Culinary Education, Education, Food, Recipes | Tags: , , , | No comments

My friend Mike found a great cooking website recently which he shared with me and which I think deserves passing on.

Former home economics teacher Kathy Maister has created a website (and blog) - www.startcooking.com - full of instructional videos that contain helpful cooking tips and techniques and lots of sound and visual effects. The videos are fun to watch and educational too. The site also has a great selection of recipes with step-by-step directions and photographs to help both novice and experienced cooks perform better in the kitchen.

While poking around the site, I found a list of a dozen tasty ways to spice up instant hot chocolate. With cold weather moving into southern Ontario tonight (could snow be far behind??), hot chocolate seems especially appealing.

Update to scheduled airing of new Pressure Cooker cooking show

November 3, 2008 in Cooking, Culinary Education, Events, Food | Tags: , , , | No comments

In case you missed it last night, the first episode of the new Pressure Cooker tv show I wrote about in my last post will air again on SUN TV on Thursday, Nov. 6 at 10 p.m.

The show has also been rescheduled to air on Men TV on Tuesdays instead of Mondays, starting tomorrow, at 7 a.m., noon and 7 p.m.

“Pressure cooking” takes on new meaning with start of new cooking show

November 1, 2008 in Cooking, Culinary Education, Entertaining, Events, Food | Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , | No comments

There’s a new cooking show starting on TV tomorrow night. It promises to turn up the pressure on 16 Canadian chefs who test their cooking skills, stamina, and ability to handle stress and manage their egos as they attempt to outlast each other in an intense series of cooking competitions.

The Pressure Cooker pits the chefs against each other in a series of cooking competitions designed by chef Mark Walpole that require them to create specific dishes from mystery boxes of ingredients in very short time frames. To add to the excitement for viewers, the chefs wear wireless heart monitors that record their stress levels. The elimination-style format of the show gradually whittles the starting line-up down to two chefs who compete in a final grueling cook off.

The Tasting Judges - chefs Mark Picone, Cornelia Volino and Tawfik Shehata - are a demanding trio whose job is to taste, critique and score the dishes. Their standards are high and they aren’t afraid to voice their opinions, in no uncertain terms.

Kitchen Judges monitor the competing chefs’ performances as they prepare the dishes. They are tasked with eliminating chefs from the losing teams.

As a representative of one of the sponsoring organizations - Egg Farmers of Ontario - I was present for some of the week-long taping of the show which took place at Niagara Culinary Institute in Niagara-on-the-Lake in July. Judging by what I saw then, the show promises to be very entertaining. I don’t know the final outcome; that was kept very hush-hush! However, the show’s producer, Alan Aylward of Forevergreen Communications Inc., says he couldn’t have scripted the ending to be more exciting.

You can see a trailer of The Pressure Cooker at www.thepressurecooker.tv.

The hour-long show will air on Sunday (Nov. 2) at 10 p.m. on SUN TV and on Men TV Monday (Nov. 3) at 7 a.m., noon and 7 p.m. It runs for 9 episodes.

There will be an online component to the show where visitors to The Pressure Cooker’s website - www.pressurecooker.tv - are invited to answer trivia questions to win prizes.

Enjoy!

Hallowe’en Fun with Food

October 29, 2008 in 5 Ingredients or Less, Baking, Breads, Cooking, Desserts, Dinner, Eggs, Entertaining, Events, Food, Food Art, Holidays, Parties, Recipes, Recipes for Kids, Snacks | Tags: , , , , , | No comments

Happy Hallowe'en!

Happy Hallowe'en

Hallowe’en is the perfect holiday to go over the top with decorations and party food. It’s probably the only time of year when poor taste and “grossness” are preferred, or at least tolerated.

If you’re planning a Hallowe’en menu, you can go all out and spend lots of time, money and energy on creating a “terrorific” atmosphere at the dinner table. Or you can unleash your imagination and stir up little home-brewed ambiance by simply renaming favorite foods.

Need some inspiration?

Why not serve worms and eyeballs and dried bones (spaghetti and meatballs and biscuits) for supper? Or how about witch’s fingers and slime sauce (chicken strips and ranch dressing or plum sauce dyed green) or barbequed bat wings (chicken wings) or witches’ brew and dracula diggers (chili and tortilla chips)?

Wild and whacky side dishes might include grass and weeds with sliced toadstools and witch’s teeth (salad greens with mushrooms and sunflower seeds), maggots (rice), rotting teeth (corn) or lizard tongues (sautéed red pepper strips or carrot sticks).

Pond scum (jello with gummi worms) or bones (meringue cookies) make delicious desserts, and swamp water (frozen lemonade concentrate, lemon-lime pop and lime sherbet) will wash the meal down.

Sounds tasty, doesn’t it?

Here are a couple recipes for dried bones. Bon Appetit!

Breadstick Bones
(Makes 6 breadsticks)

1 can refrigerated breadsticks
Melted butter or margarine
Italian seasoning, Tex Mex seasoning or grated Parmesan cheese

Open can and unroll dough; separate into 6 strips. Carefully stretch each strip until about 12 inches (30 cm) long. Loosely tie a knot in both ends of each breadstick. Place breadsticks on an ungreased baking sheet.

Brush melted butter over breadsticks. Sprinkle seasoning or cheese over top.

Bake in a preheated 375F (190C) oven until golden brown, about 13 to 15 minutes. Serve warm.

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Meringue Bones
(Makes about 2 dozen cookies)

5 egg whites
1/4 tsp (1 mL) cream of tartar
1-1/4 cups (300 mL) sugar
1 teaspoon (5 mL) vanilla, orange or lemon extract

Line 1 or 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper. Prepare a piping bag with a round tip (about 3/8 inch/1 cm diameter).

With an electric mixer, beat egg whites and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, a couple tablespoons (about 30 mL) at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat until stiff peaks form and meringue is shiny and smooth. Add extract and beat just until combined.

Fill piping bag with meringue. Pipe a log about 3 inches (8 cm) long. Pipe two balls on both sides of the ends of the log. Repeat with remaining meringue. You can smooth any peaks that occur with a wet finger.

Bake in a preheated 220F (105C) oven for 30 minutes. Turn off heat. Leave cookies in oven for 8 hours or overnight. Store in an airtight container.

Tips:
* Let egg whites stand at room temperature for 20 minutes after separating; they will beat to a greater volume if they aren’t cold.

* Stirring a drop or two of yellow food colouring into the meringue mixture before baking will give the bones an aged look.

* If you don’t have a piping bag, use a sturdy ziplock bag. Cut off the tip once you have filled the bag with meringue mixture.

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