The flavours of fall are definitely in full swing and it’s no secret that the Tastitude of this particular season are some of my favourite tastes of the year. Often hearty, earthy, a little fatty and always rich and satisfying it’s just the type of food you crave as the weather turns colder.
Inside of the broad range of foods that make up fall eats is a fun and delicious category of food that might not be so glaringly obvious to most but due to the time of year and the types of food you find on these weekend warrior type menus they are for sure a pertinent part of autumn’s deliciousness.
Otherwise known as “Gameday Grub” we prepare and share these foods with our friends and family as we gather to watch our favourite fall and winter sports like football and hockey. They are very much a part of the fall food family. Sometimes regarded as little more than snacks or appetizers they can be under rated but when you think about it they most certainly fit with what we perceive as cold weather fare.
Dishes like thick chilies and crispy fried wings, hearty sandwiches and rich dips along with many combinations of meats and potatoes are standard culinary offerings as we sit to share our favourite sports.
They taste great, stick to your ribs, are easy to prepare and quite often require no utensils (maybe a few toothpicks and napkins). Just like any great eats quality ingredients are coupled with tongue inspiring seasonings and cooked in a variety of ways to produce irresistible flavour combinations that keep hungry fans satiated as the televised battles unfold on the big screen.
One of the best ways keep your game day food fanatics happy is to first know your fans. Once you have a good idea of what types of food might best please your armchair quarterbacks you can begin to map out all the plays you’re going the make from kitchen to table. You can elevate your game further by implementing some unexpected strategies.
By taking standard go to dishes and giving them some unique twists of your own design you can keep the opposition guessing.
Maybe you’ll make a curry chili, nachos made with smoked local cheese, charred wings with a little bourbon and sour cherry infused BBQ sauce or even a dip that goes way beyond artichokes and cream cheese.
No matter how you get your game on this weekend take some time to make your picks early so you can get a head start on formulating your culinary battle plans and use some of fall’s great flavours to feed some serious game day sized appetites. Here’s a recipe that will help you meet the trade deadline, keep you under the salary cap and be sure to give you a win this weekend. Game on!
– Chef House
Chef House’s Fried Chicken and Waffle Sliders
1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 3″ pieces 1 cup AP flour 2 tsp kosher salt 1 tsp black pepper 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp paprika 1 cup buttermilk 1 egg lightly beaten 1 cup panko Vegetable oil, for frying 12 small homemade waffles made with a ¼ pour of batter Maple syrup, for drizzling 2 tbsp melted butter
In a medium bowl, combine flour and spices. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg and buttermilk. Pour panko into a third bowl. Working in batches, dredge chicken tenders in the flour mixture then dip in buttermilk mixture. Finally, toss in panko for the final dredge.
Meanwhile, pour about 2” vegetable oil into a large, deep skillet. Heat over medium heat until the oil reaches about 350F. Cook the chicken in two batches, flipping the chicken once during cooking, approximately 3 -4 minutes per side. Place the fried chicken tenders on a cooling rack lined with paper towels. Lightly season with salt directly out of the fryer.
Brush toasted waffles with melted butter. Top the half of the waffles with fried chicken and drizzle with maple syrup. Top with the remaining waffles and lightly drizzle again.
***Top your sliders with anything from your favourite cheese and apple slices to more traditional toppings like lettuce, tomato and mayo.***
The flavours of fall are definitely in full swing and it’s no secret that the Tastitude of this particular season are some of my favourite tastes of the year. Often hearty, earthy, a little fatty and always rich and satisfying it’s just the type of food you crave as the weather turns colder.
Inside of the broad range of foods that make up fall eats is a fun and delicious category of food that might not be so glaringly obvious to most but due to the time of year and the types of food you find on these weekend warrior type menus they are for sure a pertinent part of autumn’s deliciousness.
Otherwise known as “Gameday Grub” we prepare and share these foods with our friends and family as we gather to watch our favourite fall and winter sports like football and hockey. They are very much a part of the fall food family. Sometimes regarded as little more than snacks or appetizers they can be under rated but when you think about it they most certainly fit with what we perceive as cold weather fare.
Dishes like thick chilies and crispy fried wings, hearty sandwiches and rich dips along with many combinations of meats and potatoes are standard culinary offerings as we sit to share our favourite sports.
They taste great, stick to your ribs, are easy to prepare and quite often require no utensils (maybe a few toothpicks and napkins). Just like any great eats quality ingredients are coupled with tongue inspiring seasonings and cooked in a variety of ways to produce irresistible flavour combinations that keep hungry fans satiated as the televised battles unfold on the big screen.
One of the best ways keep your game day food fanatics happy is to first know your fans. Once you have a good idea of what types of food might best please your armchair quarterbacks you can begin to map out all the plays you’re going the make from kitchen to table. You can elevate your game further by implementing some unexpected strategies.
By taking standard go to dishes and giving them some unique twists of your own design you can keep the opposition guessing.
Maybe you’ll make a curry chili, nachos made with smoked local cheese, charred wings with a little bourbon and sour cherry infused BBQ sauce or even a dip that goes way beyond artichokes and cream cheese.
No matter how you get your game on this weekend take some time to make your picks early so you can get a head start on formulating your culinary battle plans and use some of fall’s great flavours to feed some serious game day sized appetites. Here’s a recipe that will help you meet the trade deadline, keep you under the salary cap and be sure to give you a win this weekend. Game on!
– Chef House
Chef House’s Fried Chicken and Waffle Sliders
1 lb skinless, boneless chicken breast, cut into 3″ pieces 1 cup AP flour 2 tsp kosher salt 1 tsp black pepper 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp paprika 1 cup buttermilk 1 egg lightly beaten 1 cup panko Vegetable oil, for frying 12 small homemade waffles made with a ¼ pour of batter Maple syrup, for drizzling 2 tbsp melted butter
In a medium bowl, combine flour and spices. In a separate bowl, whisk together egg and buttermilk. Pour panko into a third bowl. Working in batches, dredge chicken tenders in the flour mixture then dip in buttermilk mixture. Finally, toss in panko for the final dredge.
Meanwhile, pour about 2” vegetable oil into a large, deep skillet. Heat over medium heat until the oil reaches about 350F. Cook the chicken in two batches, flipping the chicken once during cooking, approximately 3 -4 minutes per side. Place the fried chicken tenders on a cooling rack lined with paper towels. Lightly season with salt directly out of the fryer.
Brush toasted waffles with melted butter. Top the half of the waffles with fried chicken and drizzle with maple syrup. Top with the remaining waffles and lightly drizzle again.
***Top your sliders with anything from your favourite cheese and apple slices to more traditional toppings like lettuce, tomato and mayo.***
Well another Thanksgiving has come and gone and most of us as always have probably gone a little overkill in the portion department. I certainly am one of those people that ends big event meals with leftovers. Part of being a good eats enthusiast and host is not only making sure that all of the evening’s munchables are off the charts delicious but as important is making sure there is sufficient food…and that usually means enough to feed a small army.
This type of party planning typically means that you should have a supply of Ziploc and Tupperware ready to go so you can off load some of your leftovers on willing recipients of after dinner take away but also a game plan to turn some of what’s left into even more Tastitude in the few days following Thanksgiving dinner.
Thanksgiving is for sure one of the most anticipated meals of the year (perhaps second only to Christmas…if its second at all) and while there isn’t much not to love about slow roasted turkeys, hams, whipped potatoes, turnips, rich gravy and decadent dressing after day two you may start craving something else on your dinner plate.
This is where some creative cooking can bring new flavours to the table and let you make use of leftovers while creating new meals that will reduce the risk of suffering from the bland, the blah and the dreaded “Not again…”
Of course some of your standard left over options are always good cards to play in the game of leftovers. Dishes like a hot and hearty turkey soup, terrific thanksgiving sandwiches fully loaded with everything from turkey and cranberry to potatoes and stuffing and potpies made easy with puff pastry are always good go too recipe ideas but you can be as imaginative as you want limited only by your culinary creativity.
Dishes like deep fried Thanksgiving Arancini made of stuffing and loaded with turkey, cheese and potato or tender Thanksgiving perogies filled with the same ingredients. Perhaps appetizers like loaded Thanksgiving potato skins or Thanksgiving poutine. If you fancy some international ethnic eats you may decide to give Thanksgiving Enchiladas a try or even turkey Shawarma with stuffing based Falafel.
Wherever your taste buds lead you this week there is definitely no shortage of delectable and irresistible ways to turn your Thanksgiving leftovers into Tastitude and help to empty your post-holiday refrigerator inventory. Here’s a creative leftover twist on delicious to get you started.
– Chef House
Chef House’s Thanksgiving Samosas
Pastry
3 cups AP flour 1 cup cold butter, cut into ½ inch cubes ½ cup + 4 tablespoons ice cold water
Filling
1 cup leftover mashed potato 1 cup leftover stuffing ½ cup diced leftover turkey 2 tbsp cranberry jelly 1 tsp chopped Coriander ½ teaspoon curry powder ½ teaspoon Garam Masala
Egg Wash
1 egg + 1 tbsp milk
In a food processor, add flour. Add ½ of the chopped butter and process it until pea size granules form. Add the remaining butter and process again to form pea size chunks.
Sprinkle the ice cold water and process until the mixture is moist. The mixture will still look powdery, but when pressed between your fingers it should retain its shape.
Transfer into a bowl and knead for another 30 seconds. You will see chunks of butter. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and place it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. While the dough is resting, prepare the filling.
In a separate bowl add the filling ingredients and combine well by hand. Set aside.
Place a non-stick mat or parchment paper on the counter and lightly dust with flour. Roll the dough into a circle about 1/8th inch thick. Use a 4 inch round shaped cutter to cut circles. Place approximately one over full tablespoon of filling in the center. Bring the other edge together and press the edges with a fork. Place about an inch apart on a sheet lined with parchment paper. Brush generously with egg wash.
Bake in a 400F preheated oven for 20 minutes or until the crust turns golden brown.
Well folks we have officially entered into fall and it almost seems like Mother Nature was waiting for the calendar date to make some big changes. It was as if the calendar flipped to the twenty first and the leaves started to vacate their posts but on the bright side the last week of weather leading up to this mass leaf exodus was truly a summerlike experience. Now that the weather is cooling off again it’s almost inevitable that food begins to make its seasonal shift into fall flavours.
Fall flavours to me are deep, rich, earthy and hearty. They are represented by ingredients and recipes that are dense, filling and have that classic stick to your ribs appeal. One of the most recognizable types of food that we associate with fall flavours are of course root vegetables. Root vegetables are typically in season and ready to make some amazing dishes this time of year and fit perfectly with fall Tastitude.
Of course there are so many delicious and irresistible root vegetables to choose from. Potatoes, carrots, celery, turnips. rutabagas, celeriac, beets, parsnip, celery root, onions, jicama and yams are just a few of the amazing root vegetables that we can choose from this time of year but one of my personal favourites is the iconic sweet potato.
Although the sweet potato isn’t really a potato at all we associate this distant cousin of the potato as such because of its potato like shape. Some people also mistakenly call the sweet potato a yam but they are separate vegetables entirely and you might be surprised to learn that there is so much confusion over yams and sweet potatoes that in the USA labellers must put “sweet potato” on “yam” labels because they are so commonly misidentified.
You might be even more surprised to learn that most of us have never tasted an actual yam! Yams are tuberous vegetables and while they share a vaguely similar shape and can have similar flesh colours the similarities pretty much stop there. A yam has a higher sugar content but typically only grow in very tropical areas. They have a much darker and rougher skin that can have a hair like texture on the outside and can grow up to seven feet long. Yams are also actually toxic and must be cooked to neutralize the toxins and make them safe to eat.
Sweet potatoes are what we typically see when in grocery stores and at farmers markets. Sweet potatoes can be pale, orange, dark coloured or even purple. Flavours and sweetness can vary a little with the orange fleshed sweet potatoes tending to be the sweetest but all sweet potatoes can be identified by the tapered shape at both ends.
While most of us have had a sweet potato fry or heard of a sweet potato pie the sweet potato is a truly versatile ingredient and its natural sweetness, savoury notes and soft texture make it perfect for soups, stews, as an accompaniment for any fall meal or even in a dessert. So this week take another look at the sweet potato and check out some new ways to enjoy how sweet it is.
-Chef House
Chef House’s Citrus Sweet Potato Waffles
1 ½ cups peeled and cubed sweet potatoes (boiled until tender) 2 cups flour 1 tbsp baking powder ½ tsp salt 6 egg whites 1 cup milk ¼ cup brown sugar ¼ cup butter, melted 1 tsp grated orange zest 1 tsp grated lime zest 1 tsp lime juice Vegetable spray, for waffle iron
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside.
In another bowl combine the sweet potatoes, milk, brown sugar, butter, orange and lime zest and lime juice. Stir the sweet potato mixture into the flour mixture and thoroughly combine.
Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gradually fold egg whites into batter.
Scoop batter onto a hot oiled waffle iron, and cook until lightly browned, about 5 minutes.
