Violent crime in Canada fell for the eighth straight year — despite a slight increase in homicides — with Saskatoon becoming the country’s most crime-ridden city, Statistics Canada reported Wednesday.
The downward trend came as the agency reported serious crime in general fell to its lowest relative level since 1969 — marking 11 straight years of declines.
The world is definitely a super busy place these days and it never seems like there is enough time to accomplish the things we want to get done. After all there are only so many hours in a day, right? There are a million jobs out there that people work crazy long hours at and trust me as a chef I can very readily sympathize with those of you putting in 80+ hour weeks.
Maybe that’s part of the reason we eat so much on the fly. I’ve definitely got no issues making a few phone calls and ordering in some great eats when I’m crushed for time and let’s face it as a chef in a circle of great local chefs I have no trouble eating terrifically amazing local food on any given day. There are soooo many great food joints in our region pushing our culinary notoriety to heights we’ve never experienced before.
That said it is really great to decompress in the kitchen at home with some great tunes, a glass of dad made cab sauv and family in the next room. But when you aren’t on a day off and your average day is 12 or 14 hours how do you pull off a meal that doesn’t come out of box or a can? Well as a chef I’ve learned to do a little cheating over the years when it comes to cooking on the home front.
By utilizing some of your local market, store, neighbourhood eatery contacts you can create some serious Tastitude in a half hour or less. Having a few upper echelon ingredients on hand like some gourmet mushrooms, cherry, preserves, hand crafted sauces, pastas, coffee, some cheeses, a little fresh veg and even some great oils can make preparing something smashmouth pretty effortless and make you look like a home kitchen savant to your friends and family.
You could very easily take a local shelf sauce and add it to a little sautéed mushroom and caramelized onion and finish it with a touch of cream from the dairy and a healthy shaving of some handpicked cheese from your artisanal cheese supplier and add some fresh pasta and a crust of warmed local bakery bread. Suddenly you have a meal that would rival Mario Batali’s dinner special at Po.
Alternatively you could get to know the guy who owns and operate your favourite pizza place and charm him into selling you some of his hand crafted dough to take home so you can adulterate it with all kinds of tastiness. A drizzle of high end oil and a splash of that flavoured balsamic vinegar you got last week, some fresh herb, some pulled or sliced meat leftovers from last night’s dinner finished with some smoked local cheese and gourmet mini pizzas are keeping mouths everywhere happy inside a half hour.
Just remember the next time you’re feeling the pressure and a little under the gun when it comes time to ring the dinner bell at your house you don’t have to settle for mediocrity to make your dinner schedule balance with your life schedule. With a little imagination and a little cheating you can certainly enjoy the good life at home and keep the troops in awe of your culinary prowess.
– Chef House
Chef House’s Flatbread on the Fly
1 small dough ball from your favourite pizza joint 1 sweet onion such as Vidalia, sliced 2 cups sliced and lightly sautéed gourmet mushrooms 2 cup fresh spinach or greens lightly wilted 2 tbsp fresh basil, thinly sliced 1 tbsp olive flavoured olive oil ½ tbsp fine ground coffee ½ cup smoked gouda (optional) ½ cup of leftover meat (optional) salt and pepper, to taste
Pre-heat oven to 425F
Flour surface and roll out your dough to a suitable size, thin or thick crust. Use a docking roller or a fork to put holes in the dough. Par bake the dough for 6 minutes and remove from oven.
Brush crust with flavoured oil and top with onion, mushroom, wilted greens, coffee and the optional ingredients should you so choose.
Return the flatbread to the oven and bake for a further 8 – 10 minutes or until crusted is golden and toppings are hot.
Remove from the oven and finish with salt and pepper and fresh basil.
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.
Well parents everywhere are settling back into the school routine and the kids groans of agony as they dutifully march back to classes in the mornings will have begun to fade away as the first couple days of the new school year have come and gone. Of course back to school always has its challenges. The long shopping lines as parents get their young academics all clothed and stocked up with supplies followed by a small mountain of paperwork containing rules, policies, information and permission forms and of course then there is snacks and lunch.
Sometimes back to school can have your kids excited and sometimes not so much of course it depends on your kid(s) and their perception of school. My man is into grade 8 this year and is one of those guys who is kind of on the fence about school. There are so many things he likes and is excited about returning to and certain aspects of the education experience that he’d be more than happy to skip. He is particularly excited about his new head start program where he attends Hammarskjold twice a week to take a HOME EC class where they will be doing lots of cooking and earn an advance standing credit while they are at it.
Whether or not your kid(s) are pumped or deflated about the end of summer vacation or somewhere in the middle like my guy, one way to make the days go easier for your studious little school goer is to pack them snacks and a good lunch that they’ll actually like eating. Of course good eats for school lunches seems pretty obvious but it can be difficult to get straight A’s all the time when it comes to what’s in the lunch kit. Kids these days are pretty food savvy and not only are their tastes often way beyond where we were at that age but they are far more educated in eats than we were too. Finding a variety of cool foods that won’t get traded, given away or hidden in the lunch room trash can might be a bit of a challenge but with a little insight and some imagination is very achievable.
A great place to start is to ask your kids for their input, their opinions and perhaps a list of ingredients and foods they like to eat and you will be sure to get some great ideas that came directly from the mouths that you’re trying to feed.
If you use this info to build a weekly game plan and write out a weekly lunch menu for your child you can shop more easily, prep in advance and even get the nod of approval from your little one giving you much better odds of opening an empty lunch bag after school. Not only does having a game plan save you time in the long run but will also allow you to avoid too many repeat lunches and is a good way to keep lunch interesting and ideas fresh.
By getting little hands involved in making snacks and lunches with you is also a great opportunity to earn extra credit with your kids. Not only will many kids get a kick out of cooking and learning something new that is tasty and fun but it’s something else you can do together and very often kids who participate in making food are much more likely to eat it as they had a hand in creating it. When they help to choose the ingredients and the dish and they help to make it many kids will get a sense of pride through the creation of their lunch time eats and feel some ownership of the food that’s in their lunchbox making them far more likely to eat what they’re bringing to the lunchroom.
Don’t be a total health nut. While good nutrition is truly important and educating your kids on healthy food is a task for all parents, going too hard core on the healthy eats is a sure fire way to turn most kids off of their lunches.
While it’s always advisable to get a good serving of fruits and vegetables etc if you’re packing nothing but kelp, kale, tofu, sprouts, nutritional yeast and goji berries it’s likely to go to waste. Instead find that balance that keeps everyone happy. A youngster who has things that they like to eat is far more likely to finish their meal than one that dreads what’s in their lunchbox
Let your kids have a cheat day. Everyone needs a break from making the healthy and wise food choices they usually do, your kids included. Some schools offer a hot lunch once a week that is quite often a treat like pizza, or pasta and meatballs. Make sure your kid gets a “break” day so they have something to look forward to every week that is in the realm of kid delicious.
By remembering what it was like to be a kid and what your lunchtime favourites were you can get into a routine of keeping your kid’s lunches and snacks fun and flavourful, packed full of delicious stuff that they will want to eat and by doing a little planning and letting your prodigy have a hand in making their academic eats you’ll be less likely to be emptying a lunch bag into the garbage after school.
Here’s a great lunch idea to get your lunchbox repertoire started on a positive note and earn you your first A+ of the year.
– Chef House
Chef House Lunch Box Taco Bar
By using small containers to store each ingredient and keeping things separate you can easily turn taco night into an amazing lunch surprise that is sure to earn you an A+
2 fresh soft or hard taco shells 1 cup of prepared taco beef (cooked hamburger with taco seasoning) ½ cup julienne lettuce ½ cup Pico De Gallo ½ cup shredded aged cheddar ¼ cup sour cream
Set up this lunchbox taco bar so your child can easily heat the taco beef in its own container and build hot fresh and tasty tacos for lunch! This will be a lunch that’s sure to return with empty containers after school.
Fresh and Easy Pico De Gallo
1 ½ pounds ripe tomatoes, finely diced ½ large red onion, finely diced 1 jalapeño pepper, finely diced ½ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves 1 tablespoon lime juice from 1 lime plus zest Salt and pepper to taste
Season tomatoes with 1 teaspoon salt and toss to combine. Transfer to a fine mesh strainer or colander set in a bowl and allow to drain for 20 to 30 minutes. Discard liquid.
Combine all ingredients in a mixing bowl. Toss to combine and season to taste with salt and pepper.
Well 2017 is definitely rolling along and seemingly at a record pace! August is coming to a close and we’re already seeing tinges of colour change in the greenery outside. While some of us may lament the seasonal change or the fact that we’re running a little thin on what’s left of summer you can take solace in the fact that it’s one of the most delicious times of the year…Harvest time!
So many sweet, succulent and savoury things are coming of age and ready to be incorporated into some serious Tastitude made right in your kitchen. There are millions of recipe options and so much deliciousness that it can be mind boggling. One of the best ways to maximize taste bud time is to use recipes that allow you to use a basic recipe to create a wide variety of flavour profiles. Enter one of my favourite eats…the Hand Pie.
Some people reference the hand pie as a turnover, an empanada, pirrakka or pirukad, a calzone, a pasty, a pita, as patties and even samosas but no matter what you call them hand pies are extremely versatile and an easy way to satiate the crew.
They can be sweet made with fresh fruit and berries, they can be savoury made with root vegetables and cheeses, they can be spicy to satisfy those that like to wipe their brows while they indulge and they can host any mix of ingredients that will have carnivores drooling and vegetarians swooning.
Hand pies are simple to make and can be easily mastered and made to suit almost any taste. One of my favourite things about hand pies is how easily cooking techniques, the dough and fillings can be interchanged to create so many different flavour profiles. They can be made to be at eaten breakfast, lunch and dinner and are perfectly portable ideal for work, school, outings or any other time when you need something that’s grab and go.
So here are some ideas and a recipe to give you a little help to get your very own hand pie handbook off the ground so you can enjoy some of what harvest time has to offer in your hand held eats. As a chef I guarantee you’ll enjoy exploring what the world beyond hot pockets and pizza pops has to offer.
– Chef House
Hand Pie Ideas:
Shepherd’s Hand Pies
All the best parts of a shepherd’s pie stuffed into a hand held pastry these ones are amazing deep fried
Broccoli and Chicken Alfredo with Gorgonzola
Dough Pockets filled with fresh broccoli florets, diced and cooked chicken with a Gorgonzola spiked Alfredo Sauce
Bacon, Egg and Hash Brown Breakfast Hand Pies
Although you can use scrambled egg in this one I like chopping up hardboiled egg and adding just a hint of mayo along with crispy bacon and hash browns along with a healthy dose of aged cheddar
Margherita Hand Pies
The meat won’t be missed in this vegetarian marvel with all the bold and fresh flavours including olive oil, parmesan, garlic, tomato, fresh basil and buffalo mozzarella. Baked or fried this one’s a favourite.
Pulled Pork Hand Pies
Imagine a BBQ pulled pork sandwich in a flaky and buttery crust. Need I say more?
Curried Lamb with Potato and Peas Hand Pie
Savoury and succulent lamb with a little international flavour and garden fresh boiled potato and peas. Definitely decadent.
Chef House’s Northern Fruit Harvest Hand Pies
Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour ½ cup bread or pastry flour 1 tbsp sugar 8 oz cold butter cubed ¾ cup cold water
Filling:
1 cup fresh blueberries 1 pound rhubarb, peeled and diced 1 cup strawberries, quartered ¼ cup corn starch 2 tbsp sugar ¼ tsp salt ¼ tsp cinnamon ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
Topping:
1 large egg beaten with a splash of water (for the egg wash) Crystal sugar
In a food processor, combine the dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, bread flour, and sugar, pulsing to combine. Add the butter cubes to the food processor and pulse until the butter is evenly distributed. Add ½ cup of water; pulse the dough together until it just begins to clump together. The dough should begin to look shaggy. Add the remaining water one tablespoon at a time stopping when it starts to come together.
Remove the dough from the bowl of the food processor and place it on a lightly floured counter. Knead the dough a few times until it comes together and shape it into a mound. Cut the dough ball into 2 equal parts and wrap them in plastic wrap; transfer them to the refrigerator to chill for at least an hour.
Preheat the oven to 400F
To prepare the filling add the fruit, corn starch, sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg to a saucepan. Over medium heat cook the mixture for 5 minutes, until the fruit has softened. Depending on your fruit, there may be a bit of liquid and this is okay.
Remove the dough and liberally flour your work surface and rolling pin. Roll the dough to about a 1/8 inch thick. Using a 4 inch cookie cutter, cut circles out of all the dough.
Spoon a small amount of the fruit mixture into the center of the dough. Brush egg wash along the edges of each of the dough circles. Fold the dough over the filling, pressing the edges to seal. Using the tines of a fork, sealing the edges. Repeat the process until all of the hand pies are made. Transfer the pies to a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Brush the tops of the hand pies with egg wash and sprinkle with crystal sugar. Bake the pies for 15-17 minutes, until the tops and edges are golden brown. Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack.
Well 2017 is definitely rolling along and seemingly at a record pace! August is coming to a close and we’re already seeing tinges of colour change in the greenery outside. While some of us may lament the seasonal change or the fact that we’re running a little thin on what’s left of summer you can take solace in the fact that it’s one of the most delicious times of the year…Harvest time!
So many sweet, succulent and savoury things are coming of age and ready to be incorporated into some serious Tastitude made right in your kitchen. There are millions of recipe options and so much deliciousness that it can be mind boggling. One of the best ways to maximize taste bud time is to use recipes that allow you to use a basic recipe to create a wide variety of flavour profiles. Enter one of my favourite eats…the Hand Pie.
Some people reference the hand pie as a turnover, an empanada, pirrakka or pirukad, a calzone, a pasty, a pita, as patties and even samosas but no matter what you call them hand pies are extremely versatile and an easy way to satiate the crew.
They can be sweet made with fresh fruit and berries, they can be savoury made with root vegetables and cheeses, they can be spicy to satisfy those that like to wipe their brows while they indulge and they can host any mix of ingredients that will have carnivores drooling and vegetarians swooning.
Hand pies are simple to make and can be easily mastered and made to suit almost any taste. One of my favourite things about hand pies is how easily cooking techniques, the dough and fillings can be interchanged to create so many different flavour profiles. They can be made to be at eaten breakfast, lunch and dinner and are perfectly portable ideal for work, school, outings or any other time when you need something that’s grab and go.
So here are some ideas and a recipe to give you a little help to get your very own hand pie handbook off the ground so you can enjoy some of what harvest time has to offer in your hand held eats. As a chef I guarantee you’ll enjoy exploring what the world beyond hot pockets and pizza pops has to offer.
– Chef House
Hand Pie Ideas:
Shepherd’s Hand Pies
All the best parts of a shepherd’s pie stuffed into a hand held pastry these ones are amazing deep fried
Broccoli and Chicken Alfredo with Gorgonzola
Dough Pockets filled with fresh broccoli florets, diced and cooked chicken with a Gorgonzola spiked Alfredo Sauce
Bacon, Egg and Hash Brown Breakfast Hand Pies
Although you can use scrambled egg in this one I like chopping up hardboiled egg and adding just a hint of mayo along with crispy bacon and hash browns along with a healthy dose of aged cheddar
Margherita Hand Pies
The meat won’t be missed in this vegetarian marvel with all the bold and fresh flavours including olive oil, parmesan, garlic, tomato, fresh basil and buffalo mozzarella. Baked or fried this one’s a favourite.
Pulled Pork Hand Pies
Imagine a BBQ pulled pork sandwich in a flaky and buttery crust. Need I say more?
Curried Lamb with Potato and Peas Hand Pie
Savoury and succulent lamb with a little international flavour and garden fresh boiled potato and peas. Definitely decadent.
Chef House’s Northern Fruit Harvest Hand Pies
Crust:
2 cups all-purpose flour ½ cup bread or pastry flour 1 tbsp sugar 8 oz cold butter cubed ¾ cup cold water
Filling:
1 cup fresh blueberries 1 pound rhubarb, peeled and diced 1 cup strawberries, quartered ¼ cup corn starch 2 tbsp sugar ¼ tsp salt ¼ tsp cinnamon ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
Topping:
1 large egg beaten with a splash of water (for the egg wash) Crystal sugar
In a food processor, combine the dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, bread flour, and sugar, pulsing to combine. Add the butter cubes to the food processor and pulse until the butter is evenly distributed. Add ½ cup of water; pulse the dough together until it just begins to clump together. The dough should begin to look shaggy. Add the remaining water one tablespoon at a time stopping when it starts to come together.
Remove the dough from the bowl of the food processor and place it on a lightly floured counter. Knead the dough a few times until it comes together and shape it into a mound. Cut the dough ball into 2 equal parts and wrap them in plastic wrap; transfer them to the refrigerator to chill for at least an hour.
Preheat the oven to 400F
To prepare the filling add the fruit, corn starch, sugar, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg to a saucepan. Over medium heat cook the mixture for 5 minutes, until the fruit has softened. Depending on your fruit, there may be a bit of liquid and this is okay.
Remove the dough and liberally flour your work surface and rolling pin. Roll the dough to about a 1/8 inch thick. Using a 4 inch cookie cutter, cut circles out of all the dough.
Spoon a small amount of the fruit mixture into the center of the dough. Brush egg wash along the edges of each of the dough circles. Fold the dough over the filling, pressing the edges to seal. Using the tines of a fork, sealing the edges. Repeat the process until all of the hand pies are made. Transfer the pies to a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Brush the tops of the hand pies with egg wash and sprinkle with crystal sugar. Bake the pies for 15-17 minutes, until the tops and edges are golden brown. Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack.
There’s something special about spending time in the great outdoors. Getting away from the city for a few days with family and friends and out into some fresh air, sunshine among the beautiful lakes and the majestic forests that Northwestern Ontario has to offer is nothing short of a perfect way to decompress. With our short summers so many of us try to take advantage of getting out to enjoy all the great things camping has to offer as much as we can.
Exploring, swimming, fishing, hiking, sitting around the campfire and stargazing are definitely some of the highlight activities of time at camp and are bound to keep the crew busy. But after all the high energy activities of the day and with dinner approaching your outdoor adventurers will for sure be looking to fuel up on some good eats.
Your troops are usually so ravenous by dinner time that it doesn’t really matter what you’re cooking but whatever it is things somehow always just seem to taste better when they’re cooked on the fire at camp.
Camp food usually includes the basics like hotdogs, hamburgers, the day’s catch, potatoes and maybe some vegetables for good measure. But there is nothing that says camp food can’t be gourmet. I mean what’s to stop you from slow roasting a whole herb crusted chicken, coal firing crab legs with melted lime butter, making cast iron corn bread for a hearty lamb and stout stew or even grilling thick ribeye steaks and corn on the cob finishing them both with sundried tomato café butter. If you said this all sounds more like it’s off of a restaurant menu as opposed to a campfire most people might agree but I assure you meals like these are completely within reach and sure to make all your camp neighbours jealous.
Whether you’re a basic tent and sleeping bag camper, have a 50 ft Rolls Royce trailer or anything in between there’s nothing stopping you from eating like royalty while you are out enjoying all that nature has to offer. With a little imagination, some culinary know how and a touch of prudent planning you can take all the best of campfire flavours and incorporate them into gourmet back woods eats.
Mapping out your menu in advance is the best way to get a jump start on eating well in the woods. Plan your menus to use the most perishable of items first. For instance if you’re going to do a fish or seafood meal you will do well to make those meals in the first day or two of your getaway. Always buy the freshest ingredients you can and use a good cooler with lots of ice to keep things cold. Blocks of ice work the best for food storage as they provide ample chill and last longer than cubes. I like to use wire rack shelves in the cooler as well so things like bottles and jars which are waterproof can sit in the bottom but things like breads, lettuces and cheeses which aren’t can be up and out of any melt water.
Prepackaging ingredients in the quantities that recipes call for can save a lot of space and using waterproof storage like Ziploc bags or Tupperware containers is always a great idea. Lining the bottom of bags with a little damp paper towel for things like fresh herbs, vegetables and lettuce is always a great way to keep things fresh and having those little waterproof containers is perfect for ingredients like premixed spices, liquids like vanilla, stocks and BBQ sauce and small quantities of dairy and butter.
For cooking, heavy duty pots and cast iron pans work amazingly well and will stay hot longer, disperse heat well and help you keep things from burning. Thick heavy duty aluminum foil and disposable pans can be extremely useful and bringing along some lump hardwood charcoal can help you keep a bed of hot coals rolling longer for cooking.
By using some of these tips and tricks and mapping out your meals in advance you can take your backwoods eating experience to the next level and create some serious campfire Tastitude of your own that is sure to take your taste buds on their own outdoor adventure while you and your crew gets back to the wild. Here’s a recipe to get you started.
– Chef House
Lifted Kilt Bacon Wrapped Back Ribs
2 racks of back ribs 1 lb thick cut slab bacon 2 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp chili flake 1 cup Lifted Kilt Scotch Whiskey BBQ Sauce Salt and pepper to taste
Sprinkle each rack of back ribs with garlic, chili flake and salt and pepper. Wrap pieces of thick cut slab bacon around the back ribs until covered.
Triple wrap each of the racks separately with heavy duty aluminum foil ensuring a tight seal.
Place the ribs on the campfire cooking rack over a hot bed of coals for 45 minutes. Keep a good bed of hot coals the entire time and turn the packages over every ten minutes or so.
After 45 minutes open each of the packages and drain the excess fat. Place the bacon wrapped ribs directly on the cooking rack to crisp the bacon watching for flare ups and turning as required.
About 5 minutes before removing the ribs apply Lifted Kilt Scotch Whiskey BBQ Sauce liberally to the ribs turning and brushing both sides. Allow the sauce to glaze and create a little bark on the outside of the ribs.
Remove and allow the ribs to rest covered in foil for 10 minutes. Cut and serve as desired.
(We served ours with loaded baked potatoes and cilantro and lime buttered corn)
As a chef you often make crazy discoveries but oddly enough they aren’t always about food. You might discover your dishwasher is broken, half your staff is ill on Friday night or that your order won’t arrive today. You might discover you have a new dinner function for fifty seven people two hours before they arrive or even that you have a dozen special meals in a room twenty minutes after service starts. There are always so many new things to discover in the kitchen some of which can obviously increase blood pressure and turn some hair grey (that is if you haven’t pulled it all out yet.)
Not all discoveries are blood pressure increasing events though. While the other day I did turn around and discover that the summer is half gone I also discovered that its peak fruit season yet again. I have to admit that with me having been a little preoccupied with work lately it was really amazing to come home and find that my wife and son had taken a morning in the summer sun to go do a little berry picking. The berries this year seem a little smaller than usual but are very sweet. This means a little more work when it’s time for the cleaning but that they make for perfect additions to recipes or even for straight out of the bowl eating.
Another sweet discovery I had this week was finding absolutely stunning cherries at half the regular price per pound, it was a good find for sure. You know the type of cherries I mean. Cherries so dark and shiny they almost look black and so sweet you would think each was wrapped in a blanket of sugar. The cherries were definitely hard to resist and with as good as they were I figured getting extra was a wise move if I wanted any hope of having any left to cook with.
When I bit into those cherries it took me back a couple decades to the last time I had tasted cherries so good. With a couple of pounds of perfect cherries now in the game I was having such a hard time figuring out which to eat and which to make something with first. Of course the obvious choice was to roll both the ruby red strawberries and midnight black cherries into something that would make everyone happy.
One of my favourite fresh fruit desserts has always been the Clafouti. This simple yet classic dessert was one of the very first desserts I was introduced to in baking class at culinary school all those years ago and to this day I still marvel at how every time I enjoy a piece warm with a little real vanilla ice cream my taste buds time warp my memory right back to class.
Clafouti is one of those dishes that delivers rich and velvety baked custard flavours and is the perfect vessel for delivering summer fruit to your mouth and while I love crisps, cobblers and other baked dishes there is something decidedly more elegant about this classic and it’s just as easy to make. So if you’ve discovered that its peak fruit season and you’re looking to make a baked recipe discovery of your own this week check out my Cherry Berry Clafouti this week and make your repertoire a little sweeter in the process.
– Chef House
Chef House’s Summer Cherry Berry Clafouti
1 tablespoon butter 8 ounces fresh pitted cherries 8 ounces fresh strawberries 1 cup whole milk ½ cup granulated sugar 3 large eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract ½ cup AP flour 1 teaspoon finely grated fresh orange zest Pinch of salt
Heat the oven to 400F
Coat a 10-inch heavy cast iron skillet with the butter and set aside.
Combine the milk, sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a food processor fitted with the blade attachment and process until smooth.
Pulse in the flour, zest, and salt until just incorporated.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Top evenly with the fruit and bake until set and light golden brown around the edges about 40 – 45 minutes.
It seems like I’ve always got a story to tell about some ingredient that I’ve gotten iņ or a fresh and vibrant donation from someone’s garden that is just screaming to be turned into something delicious. Maybe it’s a fresh bit of game dropped off at my house or even a photo, a recipe suggestion or foodie idea sent in from a friend.
Whatever the inspiration is, the thing I marvel at most is how many of my gastronomic creations are seeded by family and friends. It really could be anything that sparks the next dish of deliciousness but I’ve certainly come to appreciate the fact that so many of my culinary creations start so close to home.
This week it all began with a simple photo that my step dad Jon snapped of my mom Janet holding an amazing lake trout that she caught on Lake Nipigon. This gorgeous fresh water monster immediately started me thinking about fresh lake trout recipes that I have made in the past and thoughts of new flavours for lake trout yet to be thought of. (Of course the knowledge that a little of this giant might end up in my fridge doesn’t stymie the creative process either…wink, wink.)
Lake trout is a delicious fish that carries a lot of flavour. The big cold water trout have a tendency to carry more fat and while some people dislike this I see it as nothing but a positive.
From a chef’s perspective the deep water monsters have more fat and fat is flavour. When you cook a fillet like this the fat also renders during the cooking process and bastes the meat keeping it moist and delicious. With traits like these what’s not to like about lake trout? They are definitely a foundation to building a meal with some serious Tastitude.
Fish like this loves big bright bold flavours that your spice cabinet might have. Spices like chipotle, paprika and even curries work well. Don’t however, be afraid to try any spice that strikes you as a possibility as there is no right and wrong here. Citrus and fresh herb are also great with lake trout. Don’t limit yourself to lemon either. Oranges, limes, blood oranges, key limes and grapefruit work especially well as flavour boosters for this beautiful catch and for some texture don’t exclude the possibility of using things like nuts and seeds or even panko bread crumbs.
So the next time you happen to haul in a big lake trout or happen to get your hands on a few fillets let it inspire your culinary creativity. Get your cook on and explore your flavour options. Here’s a recipe that might help to get you started and inspire your next flavour adventure.
– Chef House
Chef House’s Pan Seared Trout with Grilled Grapefruit, Toasted Sunflower Seed and Fresh Thyme
2 10 oz fillets lake trout (scaled with skin on) 2 tablespoons melted butter 1 teaspoon chipotle spice ½ cup toasted sunflower seeds 4 thick slices grapefruit 3 tablespoons olive oil Salt and Pepper to taste 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
Preheat grill on high.
Lightly pulse the toasted sunflower seeds in a food processor and set aside.
Drizzle the butter over the lake trout fillets and sprinkle with chipotle spice and salt and pepper to taste. Press the ground sunflower seeds onto the top of the fillets.
Place a heavy cast iron skillet on the grill to heat.
Grill the grapefruit slices to get a little char on both sides while the pan heats.
When the pan is hot drizzle the olive oil in and place the fish in skin side down. Lay the grilled grapefruit slices on the trout.
Turn off the heat on one side of the grill and move the cast iron pan to the cool side of the grill and close the lid.
Let the fish bake until opaque in the middle about 20 minutes depending on the thickness of the fillets.
Remove the pan and sprinkle each with some fresh thyme. Serve hot.
One of the best parts of being a chef is the sharing of food. Recipes, ideas, fresh ingredients, cooking techniques and whole meals are all meant to be shared. Food should be passed from one person to the next satisfying hunger, satiating cravings and inspiring the next session of creativity as it goes.
I’ve been lucky when it comes to being part of a family that not only loves to share food but cooks and bakes really well if I do say so myself. My wife makes some of my favourite dishes and as a vegetarian she has no small task making food that keeps my son and I happy. Not only does she bake but her perogy lasagna and loaded potato soup are definitely irresistible. At 13 my son Declan is well on his way to being a little culinarian and uses the BBQ like a champ and I have in-laws that you never have to drag me to when it’s time to do family dinner.
My mom and my stepdad Jon do a lot of outdoorsy stuff like gardening, hunting and fishing so I definitely score well when it comes to preserves, fish and game. My sister? Well she does some pretty amazing eats too. Homemade canned goods like jams, pickles, relishes and even fish as well as some being pretty proficient on a cook top too.
My dad and stepmom Jane are definitely foodies in their own right too. They have always enjoyed volunteering at foodie fundraisers and have even helped yours truly out with big dinners. They love to share food so much that when my crew does dinners in that neck of the woods they always host team EVOT dinner parties the night before the big event.
Jane has always done some amazing eats and has a personal cookbook that any chef would love to get his or her hands on. Terrific soups and salads, amazing burgers, great pastas and both sweet and savoury cheesecakes that are beyond extraordinary. My dad is no slouch in the kitchen either and not only is a great cook but has been learning how to do some delicious baking too.
This week you get to share a little of my family’s flavours. My dad was making a from scratch rhubarb pie this week and because food was made for sharing he was only too happy to let me do a little sharing with you this week. So here’s a family pastry crust recipe and the delicious rhubarb custard that makes it a perfect pie. Check it out I promise you won’t be disappointed!
– Chef House
Chef House’s Dads Rhubarb Custard Pie
Pastry Crust
5 cups Flour 1 tsp Salt 1 tsp Baking powder 1 tbsp Brown sugar 1 lb. Lard 2/3 cups Cold water 1 Egg 2 tbsp Vinegar
(These last three items should total 1 cup so put the water in last)
Mix the dry ingredients (feel the little lumps of sugar and break each on up. Keep feeling till they are all gone)
With a pastry blender or pair of forks cut in the lard
Whisk together the water, egg and vinegar then stir it into the lard mixture
Bag it in a freezer bag and chill it to make it easier to handle.
This recipe will make enough pastry for approximately 6, 8 inch double pie crusts.
Rhubarb Custard Pie Filling
3 cups Rhubarb cut in ½ in. Pieces 1 10 in. Unbaked pie shell 1 cup Sugar 2 tbsp Flour ½ tsp Salt 2 Eggs 2 tbsp Melted butter
1 cup Milk (This is an old recipe that used whole milk. You may want to use a little cream to make up the cup)
Roll out the pastry for the shell. The pastry should be cut about 1 inch larger than the pie plate so the edge will over hang. Crimp the edge so that it hooks on the edge of the pie plate. This will keep the pastry from shrinking into the pie plate when it is baking.
Mix sugar, flour and salt.
Mix the eggs, melted butter and milk thoroughly
Put the cut rhubarb into the pie shell and carefully pour the liquid mixture over the rhubarb.
Put it into a preheated oven at 450 degrees for 10 minutes.
After 10 minutes, reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for 30 to 35 minutes. It’s done when the center doesn’t jiggle. Allow to cool before digging in or you will burn the roof of your mouth!
Camp food usually includes the basics like hotdogs, hamburgers, the day’s catch, potatoes and maybe some vegetables for good measure. But there is nothing that says camp food can’t be gourmet. I mean what’s to stop you from slow roasting a whole herb crusted chicken, coal firing crab legs with melted lime butter, making cast iron corn bread for a hearty lamb and stout stew or even grilling thick ribeye steaks and corn on the cob finishing them both with sundried tomato café butter. If you said this all sounds more like it’s off of a restaurant menu as opposed to a campfire most people might agree but I assure you meals like these are completely within reach and sure to make all your camp neighbours jealous.
Prepackaging ingredients in the quantities that recipes call for can save a lot of space and using waterproof storage like Ziploc bags or Tupperware containers is always a great idea. Lining the bottom of bags with a little damp paper towel for things like fresh herbs, vegetables and lettuce is always a great way to keep things fresh and having those little waterproof containers is perfect for ingredients like premixed spices, liquids like vanilla, stocks and BBQ sauce and small quantities of dairy and butter.
This week it all began with a simple photo that my step dad Jon snapped of my mom Janet holding an amazing lake trout that she caught on Lake Nipigon. This gorgeous fresh water monster immediately started me thinking about fresh lake trout recipes that I have made in the past and thoughts of new flavours for lake trout yet to be thought of. (Of course the knowledge that a little of this giant might end up in my fridge doesn’t stymie the creative process either…wink, wink.)
