What I did on Wednesday

From the City...

We got home yesterday and had a major day of unpacking, organizing, diaper washing, plant watering, grocery shopping, farmers marketing, corn freezing, banana bread baking, cooking and having dinner with our good friend Andrew.    

We picked up three dozen corn from a farm on the way to the city and spent the day cooking it off and freezing it for the winter.

We also decided to whip these little suckers up for our vegetarian friend Andrew for dinner.  We served them with maple syrup and they were delicious. Recipe courtesy of The JOy of Cooking.

 These heirloom tomatoes I bought from the Bloor borden farmers market.  It was a pretty big basket for $10 as you can see.  We made a tomato basil salad with goat cheese and we're going to have pasta tonight as well as tomato sammy's for lunch.

 So worth the $10.

A little olive oil, a little vinegar, salt and pepper.

Wahoo!! Sime's band the Strumbies were featured on Degrassi last night.  The best, quite frankly.

ab

Chicken Butchery 101

From the City...

One of the most economical ways to buy organic chicken is to buy it whole and butcher it up yourself, it's also a very good life lesson that everyone should learn (this is almost a direct quote from my brother in law Mark and damn-it if the bugger wasn't right). This chicken cost me $11 and made three meals. Barbeque chicken on Monday night, chicken salad sandwiches on Tuesday for lunch and chicken soup for dins that night.

It really didn't take long either. The whole process of cutting the chicken took me maybe 15 minutes tops. So you can't really use that as an excuse. A whole chicken is going to take a good hour (at least ) to cook but cut up, it took me only 20 minutes on the bbq. Not too bad, not too bad at all.

Here are some pics on the process and yes, I did get chicken guts on my camera and have to wash it.

Slice down the one side of the breast bone.

Crack open and place your knife down the spine starting at the legs.

Voila, one chicken, two halves ready for the bbq.

Bowl o' chicken ready for cooking. I took the skin off but don't tell Mark, he'll think its sacrilege.

Here's a video that'll help you out.

**yes, I do realize the above pic is of a rooster Laura. Thank you for noticing.

Pork Loin Roast Heaven

From the City...

I can honestly say that there is nothing better than having farmers in your family. As a christmas present this year, Mark and Laura gave us a meat gift certificate and with this certificate came a gorgeous porkloin roast. The winter was busy having Theo and I also forgot about it tucked away behind all the frozen casseroles and soups but this pass week I finally got around to making it and it was definitely worth the wait.

Seeing as I've never cooked a pork roast before, I wanted to cook it the perfect way so I called up Mark to get a little direction. This was the marinade/paste that he toldme to use on it.

• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 tsp chopped fresh thyme
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp mustard
• salt and pepper

Smear it all over and then let it all marinate. I started it at 400 degrees for the first 5 minutes and then turned it down to 325 for the remainder. My roast took about 80-90 minutes and then I let the meat rest for an additional 15 minutes.

Seriously so good and so tender. We also had lots of leftovers so Simon took it for lunch the next day and I made egg fried rice with pork for dinner. It was literally the roast that just kept on giving.

Our dinner tonight.

From the City...

I frequent this butcher shop near my house called Vince Gasparro's meat market, at least once a week and I just love it. It's completely family owned and run and on a good day you'll see the older generations making fresh sausages (all sausages are made in house). All the meats are ontario grown on small scale farms, grain fed, good quality stuffs and Matt Galloway, a local toronto CBC celebrity, shops there and plugs it as one of his favorite spots in Toronto. Deep down, I also shop there in hopes that one day we'll both order the last sausage and have to share it a la Lady and the Tramp. A girl can dream can't she?

So I bought this incredible 2lb pork tenderloin and found a recipe online that sounded pretty delicious. Here is it:

2 cloves garlic, minced

juice of one lemon

2 tbsp honey

1 tsp cumin

salt and pepper

Mince garlic and add to cumin. Rub well over tenderloin.

In a separate bowl add lemon juice, honey and a little salt and pepper. Glaze the tenderloin during the last ten minutes of cooking.

Barbeque tenderloin for about 20 minutes or until just a hint of pink remains on the inside.

I served it with ontario asparagus that I also barbecued with a little salt/pepper and olive oil and a potato salad with avocado (not local but still delicious). Here's the recipe for the salad.

1 lb.Cooked potatoes, cooled and cubed

1 half an avocado

2 tbsp mayonaise

1/3 cup plain yogurt

whatever herbs you have and love, on hand (I had rosemary and chives)

1 clove of garlic

salt and pepper taste

Throw everything except the potatoes in the food processor. Blend and season to taste.

Pour over potatoes and allow to chill in the fridge.

enjoy.

Sunday Soup Series

From the City:

It's been cold and rainy in Toronto for the past three days. Simon and I have literally been hibernating all weekend just so we can avoid going out into the wind and the cold rain, because of this I have been cooking all weekend.

I'm a big fan of my freezer. I love spending a Sunday cooking large batches of soups, stews, lasagnas, casseroles and burritos for those nights during the week when you get home and don't feel like cooking but totally feel like eating.

This is another recipe that I came across at work. It's a crockpot recipe so it requires a little planning because it takes about 8-10 hrs. What I like to do with these long crockpot recipes is I prep the whole thing the night before and then just start it in the morning when I get up.

Beef and Barley Soup:

Ingredients:

• 1 lb stewing beef
• 1/2 tsp salt and pepper
• 1/2 tsp thyme
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 onions, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 carrots
• 5 cups mushrooms (whatever you like)
• 6 cups stock
• 1/2 cup pot barley
• 1 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 bay leaf

Heat oil in a pot. Sprinkle beef with salt, pepper and thyme. When the oil is hot, braise beef. Add to crockpot.

Add onions, carrots and garlic to pot and cook until onions are translucent. Add mushrooms and cook for 5 min. Add vegetable mixture to crockpot.

Add stock, barley, 1 cup of water, barley, tomato paste and bay leaf. Cook on low for 8-10 hrs.

Enjoy your Sunday!

Dinner Last Night

From the country...

Here is a trick to make a roast chicken dinner super yummy. Take a couple cloves of garlic and smash em, add butter (I know right?), sea salt and whatever dried herb you have (I used rosemary) Then smear the butter concoction between the skin and the breast of the bird. Pan sear on all sides and place into the oven. The garlic infuses through the meat of the bird and the butter (aside from being buttery deliciousness...) really crisps the skin. Try it out!

Birthday Celebration Part 2

From the City:

Well the birthday festivities just kept on rollin for me this weekend. I guess you could say I'm a little on the spoiled side. The weekend started off with dinner with my lovely friend Lisa at Sheba, an ethiopian restaurant conveniently located just down the street from us. One of the strangest foods texturally to me is the injera. Injera is an ethiopian bread made from teff and barley flours and cooked like a pancake. My favorite ethiopian dish is the tikel gomen, it's made with chopped cabbage and carrots and cooked in this onion and garlic sauce. It's so good!

On Saturday night Simon and I went out for dinner with my dad at PROHIBITION gastrohouse on Queen East.

Hey that's my brother Aaron! He works at Prohibition and cooked our dinner last night. The only way you can totally assure that your food hasn't been spit in is if one of your family members actually cooks it.

I loved the menu because it was pub food done really really well

Haute Poutine: Frites, duck confit, marinated quebec curds and duck gravy makes for the best poutine I've ever had

Fresh shucked oysters for Dad

Buckingham Blanket for me: Rare Rotisserie Beef wrapped in Yorkshire Pudding, Caramelized Onions, Arugula, Wasabi-Mayo, Dipping Jus...don't mind if I do...

Bison Burger for Simon

All capped off by a hot brownie sundae.

Not a bad birthday if I do say so myself.

Hope everyone had a weekend of good food...