Weekend Food and Kitchen Finds

I love this time of year when various community groups and schools host bake and craft sales.  The stores put a variety of small kitchen appliances and equipment on sale with gift giving in mind.  Old fashioned ribbon and satin candies, nuts in the shells, and fruit cakes become available.  The stores carry a larger variety of baking supplies because they know many folks do a lot of baking over the holiday season.  Interesting and festive serving ware become available and then there are the food events.  So far, we have tickets to a community Christmas concert (cabaret style aka wine and cheese), a yellow perch fish fry, a dinner cruise, and two dinner concerts!

Home Hardware is a Canadian owned hardware chain.  It is one of my favourite places to shop because we know the owners and staff.  Shopping there supports the local economy.  They have a Paderno sale each year offering rather amazing deals on Paderno products.  Paderno is a Canadian company specializing in making and distributing high quality stainless steel cookware, utensils and housewares.  We stopped at Home Hardware on Saturday to check out the sale.  I absolutely love the quality of their nylon kitchen accessories so I picked up another set (reg. $34.99, sale $19.99) for our vacation home.  We bought the Paderno steak knives (reg. $49.99, sale $19.99) with 25 year warranty.  The steak knives are precision ground with serrated blades that will stand up to years of use.  What I really like about these knives is the one piece ergonomic design that eliminates any cracks or crevices for food and bacteria to accumulate.

I am not a fan on coated non-stick bakeware or cookware but for some foods non-stick is the best solution.  I became fed up with the non-stick coating flaking off even though my non-stick is always hand washed and I don't use metal in them.  Teflon non-stick coating has a few health concerns due to off gasing at higher temperatures so a couple of years ago I bought two  Baker's & Chefs fry pans from Sam's Club.  These are commercial grade fry pans with the Eclipse reinforced non-stick coating but the coating still has PTFF (polytetrafluoroethylene) that off gases at higher temperatures or if the coating has been compromised.  This has always been a concern for me because fumes from Teflon have killed birds (warning on Dupont's website) and I prefer to use products that do not reduce air quality in our home.  Studies have shown that C8 particles are in the blood of those who use Teflon non-stick.  This is not a naturally occuring chemical so what damage C8 does in the body is still questionable. 

I just bought two of the Paderno EcoPan Platinum fry pans - 10" (reg $129.99, sale $34.99) and 12" (reg. $149.99, sale $39.99).  These are eco-friendly fry pans with a 100% ceramic, non-stick coating that is six times stronger than traditional non-stick coatings.  The coating is completely free of PFOA (polytetrafluoroethylene aka C8) and PTFF so there is no concern over off gasing or C8 particles getting into your body making these pans the healthier choice in non-stick coatings.  The pans can be used on ceramic, gas or electic stovetops and in the oven to 450ºF.

We also stopped at a community group sponsored craft and bake sale.  There were six of those delicious butter tarts but I was lucky to even get one for the photo.  This truly Canadian desert makes an appearance at every bake sale!  Butter tarts are delicious.  Be sure to use a homemade pastry crust though.  That is a French Canadian sugar pie.  There was only one booth selling them so I bought one even though the crust was not homemade. The tea came from a booth set up by a new gourmet spice, coffee and tea shop that recently opened in our area.  I'll have to go check the shop out.  I bought Sleepy Me, a caffeine free loose tea blend of valerian root, anise seed, fennel seed, caraway seed, rosehip, peppermint, passion flower, lemon balm leaf and calendula petal.  It is a lovely, soothing tea!  The light blue packet is a fisherman's chowder mix from Victorian Epicure Inc., a gourmet Canadian company from North Saanich, British Columbia.  I have not seen their products before so bought a packet to try as well as picked up their newest catalogue.  Their products are sold mainly through home parties.  I may be interested in hosting a couple of these parties since food is involved.  The Sicilian Herb dip mix is from a booth selling Wind & Willow gourmet cheeseball, soups, dips and salsa mixes.  The dip sounded interesting so if we like the overall flavour I'll tinker to create a clone recipe from scratch.

I hope you enjoyed seeing a few of our weekend food and kitchen finds.  I bought a few items from the new bulk food store too.  It isn't a Bulk Barn and the slection is limited but overall it isn't too bad.  Saturday night we entertained for 18 plus ourselves so there was a lot of good food going out including moose meat chili, baked nachos with beef and cheese, homemade peanut butter cookies and several snacks.  Sunday was a lovely, laid back SOMA day watching football (hubby) and playing the 'villes on Facebook (me).  I made nacho and jerked pork with cheese nacho tray for a snack followed by roasted pork shoulder, baked potatoes and maple baked beans for dinner.  All in all it was a grand foodie weekend!

Kitchen Quick Tips - Meringue

Keep meringue from shrinking on pies by spreading the meringue to the pie shell sealing all around.  Form your peaks with the back of a spoon then bake.

Dinner at the Club House

We were extremely lucky in discovering this location for our vacation home.  The amenities are absolutely wonderful!  There is excellent food right at the club house without even leaving the park.  This worked out quite nicely for use on a working vacation trip.  We ended up eating breakfast and lunch most days at the house working between meals to get the house into shape then we headed down to the club house where we enjoyed very reasonably priced, home style cooked meals.

You just can't go wrong with fried chicken!  I ordered the fried chicken dinner that came with a garden salad, mashed potatoes green beans and dinner rolls ($9.99).  The chicken was some of the best fried chicken I've tasted!  It was nice and crispy on the outside, moist and tender on the inside and just a lovely flavour.  The potatoes were real mashed potatoes not instant and the green beans were cooked southern style.  I've heard a lot about southern style green beans but had not had them.  Southern style green beans are cooked a lot longer usually in a little bacon fat.  They have a lot of flavour.

My husband ordered the Turkey Manhattan.  The meal included turkey breast on bread slices served with mashed potatoes and gravy ($8.25).  It looked like there was a thin layer of dressing between the turkey breast and the bread as well.  The meal got two thumbs up from my husband.  He said it was just like homemade!  Now this would be an extremely easy meal to duplicate at home and a perfect way to use up left-over Thanksgiving turkey.  As such I've put the meal idea into my easy uses for left-overs folder. 

Sometimes just a little sweetness is needed to end a meal.  We are not huge dessert eaters by any stretch of the imagination.  We very seldom have dessert at home unless there is a special get-together or if I'm doing a bit of experimenting in the kitchen.  When we are eating out my husband will occasionally order a bowl of vanilla ice cream.     Instead of plain ice cream he finished this meal of with a slice of cherry pie topped with French vanilla ice cream.  Doesn't it just look like a scrumptious way to end a meal?  

Christmas Eve 2009

The holiday season brings a wealth and abundance of food! We are very, very blessed that in our family there is considerable diversity which is reflected in the culinary offerings. Christmas Eve is enjoyed at the home of one of my husband's siblings. Everyone gathers mid-afternoon to visit then we have a large meal followed by the little ones opening up a few presents. The get together breaks up around 10ish just in time to get to Midnight Mass.

Kibbeh

My MIL was the official kibbeh maker in her family. She passed on the tradition to me so I am now the official kibbeh maker in our family. Kibbeh is a traditional Lebanese dish originally made with ground lamb but we use beef. Now this isn't any ground beef! I deal with a local butcher who still prepares the meat for me the the way my MIL had it prepared. The raw meat is then mixed with seasonings and crushed wheat. The meat is formed into a round loaf shape and refrigerated a couple of hours before serving. Kibbeh is eaten raw on pita bread with a splash of good quality extra virgin olive oil. Any left over kibbeh is baked the following morning to be enjoyed for lunch. Pictured is the kibbeh I made for Christmas Eve and yes that is a dinner plate with a little over 3 lb of kibbeh to be enjoyed.

Turkey Dinner

It's funny how traditions start then get modified over generations. When I was growing up we enjoed Pork Tourtière (French Canadian Pork Pie) and butter tarts on Christmas Eve. The gathering was always small and quiet. We were tucked into bed early drifting off to visions of Chrismas Day which was also very small, cozy gathering. One thing for sure there would always be an orange waiting for us Christmas Day. I kept that tradition :)

My new in-laws on the other hand had a very large gathering on Christmas Eve complete with a huge meal followed by Midnight Mass then we gathered after mass to open presents. That tradition has been modified to a large meal followed by presents then those who want to go to Midnight Mass do so. Our holiday traditions encompassed those from my in laws and my family as well as those we have created ourselves over the years.

Lemon Meringue & Pumpkin Pies

Christmas Eve was spent with my husband's side of the family. Dinner was turkey with stuffing (cooked in the bird), mashed potatoes, seasoned corn niblets and sweet potatoes. Dessert was delicious homemade apple, lemon meringue and pumpkin pies along with a large variety of homemade cookies and other goodies.

What is rather interesting is my extended family no longer gives me strange looks when I do a photo shoot of my plate or of any of the wonderful food we share. In fact others have started doing this as well especially to use for scrapbooking. So I've started a bit of a tradition of my own :)

Thanksgiving 2009 Highlights

The Canadian Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October. We normally have our big family Thanksgiving meal on Sunday before on years we are at home. If you recall we arrived home the previous Wednesday after being away for 6 days. The following couple of days I was busy processing corn so I had Saturday to do the menu and prep work for the meal. The meal highlights were the roast turkey and apple pie.

Roast Turkey

I decided to keep the menu simple relying on my freezer and pantry supplies since this was going to be a smaller family gathering. The turkey had already been taken out to thaw and I had plenty of potatoes on hand. The stuffing as in most turkey meals tends to take the place of bread even though I usually make a loaf. Saturday was quite cold and rainy so grocery shopping didn't sound like a very appealing endeavour to either of us so shopping the home supplies worked well.

The star of the show was the turkey accompanied by baked potatoes, niblet yellow corn, stuffing, gravy and freezer pickles. It was a simplified version of our normal Thanksgiving meals but still quite enjoyable. That bird tasted every it as good as it looked!

Apple Pie

The kids brought an apple pie from Chudleigh's in the spring so I pulled it from the freezer for dessert. These homemade style pies simply need to be reheated in the oven. Pictured is the ready to serve warm pie sitting safely in the homemade ceramic pie keeper.

There are pies and then there are pies. Homemade pies are wonderful! Places like Chudleigh's are selling homemade-style pies that really are about as close to homemade as you can get. They use fresh fruits to make the filling and the pie crust is made from scratch. Just like most homemade pies they can be frozen until you want to use them. This is an excellent and tasty alternative for those who don't like making pies or find themselves in need of a quick homemade quality dessert but don't have the time to make them.

Rhubarb Pie Filling & Rhubarb Pie

I grew up with a rhubarb patch and have had one at every house we've owned. Rhubarb grows almost like a weed once it is established. We moved here almost 2 years ago just as the rhubarb patch was starting to produce nicely in our former garden and too late to put in a patch that year. Last year we were still in the process of ripping out a lot of the overgrowth so we didn't plant rhubarb although in hindsight we should have. So our rhubarb patch did not get planted until this spring which means if we are lucky it might be big enough to get a pie or two out of next year. Instead we have been getting rhubarb from family, friends and neighbours. That means I'm being very frugal in using some fresh rhubarb and preserving rhubarb for later use.

Rhubarb Pie Filling

My husband loves rhubarb pie so the primary use for rhubarb is making pies. Normally I either freeze or can stewed rhubarb for later use. This year I decided to make a ready to use rhubarb pie filling. The problem was I couldn't find a plain rhubarb pie filling for canning so I relied on my canning knowledge to create one. The end result was a tasty, gorgeous looking, ready to use pie filling testing in at pH 2.9 suitable for boiling water bath canning. If you make this pie filling do not substitute the Clear Jel® with flour or corn starch. Clear Jel® is currently the only USDA approved thickener for canning.

Rhubarb Pie Filling

9½ c prepared rhubarb
2 c water

2 c organic sugar
⅝ c ClearJel®
1 c water

4 tbsp lemon juice

Wash rhubarb then cut into ¾ inch pieces. Place in stock pot. Pour the 2 c of water over the rhubarb. Bring to a boil. Remove from heat. Drain the rhubarb reserving the liquid. Set hot rhubarb aside. Combine sugar, Clear Gel®, 1 c water and reserve liquid in sauce pan. Heat on medium high while whisking until mixture thickens. Remove from heat. Stir in lemon juice. Stir the thickened mixture into the hot rhubarb pieces. Ladle into hot jars leaving 1-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles. Wipe rims. Adjust two piece lids. Process in boiling water bath canner for 15 minutes.

Rhubarb Pie

My husband would have been very upset had I not made him a rhubarb pie. I have made the same rhubarb pie from my aged Betty Crocker cookbook that includes my favourite pie pastry  for as long as I've had the cookbook. This time I made a couple of changes. First and this has always been a problem with my pies is I changed the thickener. The recipe calls for flour but I substituted Clear Jel®. This is a modified corn starch that tolerates high heat without breaking down and doesn't thicken until the pie starts cooling down. By the time the pie had cooled enough to slice the filling had nicely thickened unlike my normal runny results.

Rhubarb Pie

pastry for 10-inch two crust pie
2 c sugar
½ c Clear Jel®
1 tbsp lemon juice
5 c fresh cut rhubarb
3 tbsp butter
organic sugar

Heat oven to 219ºC (425ºF). Prepare pastry. Wash and cut rhubarb into ¾-inch pieces. Mix Clear Jel® and sugar together then mix with rhubarb. Pour the rhubarb mixture into the prepared pie shell. Drizzle the lemon juice on top. Add the butter in small pieces over the rhubarb. Top with pastry top. Crimp the edges. Poke a few holes in the pastry top with a fork. Sprinkle organic sugar on top of the pastry top. Cover edges with aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning. Remove during the last 15 minutes of baking. Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through the crust.

Kitchen Quick Tips - Perfect Two Crust Pie

To prevent a soggy bottom crust, bake two crust pies close to the bottom of the oven on the lowest rack.

Fresh Rhubarb Pie

Rhubarb pie is one of my husband's favourite pies. He insists on eating it warm from the oven! Rhubarb pie is best made using freshly picked rhubarb.

Rhubarb Pie

The crust for this rhubarb pie is the standard pastry (my favourite pastry) from an earlier entry. It is a tender, flaky pastry suitable for every pie. I prefer deep dish pies so this pie was 2 1/4" deep and 10" diameter.

Fresh Rhubarb Pie

pastry for 10 inch two crust pie
1 3/4 c organic sugar
1/2 c unbleached flour
1/2 tsp grated orange peel
5 c fresh rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 tbsp butter

Pre-heat oven to 425ºF. Prepare pastry. Mix sugar, flour, orange peel and rhubarb together making sure the rhubarb is well coated. Pour into prepared pastry-lined pie pan. Dot with butter. Cover with top crust and seal edge. Poke holes in the top crust with a fork. Cover the edge with a strip of aluminum foil to prevent excessiving browing. Remove the foil for the last 15 minutes of baking. Bake 40 to 50 minutes or until crust is brown and juice begins to bubble through the crust.

Enjoy!

Garden Gnome
©2007

Pork Tourtière (French Canadian Pork Pie)

Pork Tourtière is also known as French Canadian pork pie. My early French Canadian ancestors would have brought a very similar recipe with them in the very early 1600's. This pie was originally made with game something that would have served my ancestors well until their farms were established. Because pigs were important for the survival of farms in Québec, pork was later substituted for game.

Traditionally Pork Tourtière is served as part of the Christmas celebrations, often served upon returning from Midnight Mass. My eighth great grandparents would have not only served this meal Christmas Eve but likelyate it often through the winter months. My second great grandparents (cira. 1808-1872) would have served this dish with turnip and perhaps an apple desert of some type, more than likely applesauce. The pie crust would have been made with lard so for an authentic taste, use lard instead of shortening and the pork would have been ground at home. The pie would have been bake either in a fireplace later a woodstove. It is a simple, unpretentious dish that is true comfort food.


Pork Tourtière
source: Canadian Pork Council, Pork Perfect Pork. 1983. Saskatoon, Canada. Pp. 129.

2 lb ground pork
3 small onions, minced
1/2 c boiling water
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tsp salt
2 tsp sage
1/2 tsp celery salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp ground cloves
3 medium potatoes, cooked and mashed
pastry for a deep double-crust pie

In large saucepan, cook pork, onion, water, garlic, and seasonings over low heat, stirring constantly until meat loses its red color and aout half the liquid has evaporated. Cover and cook 45 min longer. Mix mashed potatoes into cooked meat mixture. Cool. Prepare pastry; roll out half and line pie plate. Fill with cooled meat mixture. Roll out remaining dough and cover pie. Seal and flute edges and slash top crust. Bake in 230ºC (450ºF) oven 10 min. Reduce heat to 180ºC(350ºF) and bake 30 to 40 minutes longer.
Makes 6 to 8 servings.

My notes: I steam the potatoes then mash for a nicer texture. This pie freezes well either whole or in one-serving sizes. Freeze on a cookie sheet then vacuum seal when frozen.

Canning: Apple Pie Filling, Cranberry Claret Jelly, Apple Jelly, Cabernet Jelly

This is the perfect time of year to can apple pie filling since are fresh, plentiful and inexpensive. It is also the perfect time of year to can jellies for gift giving and to restock the pantry. Yesterday I decided to can up another batch of apple pie filling and make two wine jellies and apple jelly. My intent was to also make port wine jelly but the little liquor store here didn't have port wine so it will have to wait until tomorrow.

Apple Pie Filling

Apple pie filling is nice to have on hand and not just for pies. I usually make two or three batches this time of year using a nice firm cooking apple like Northern Spy or L-star. This year's batches are Northern Spy. I like doing batches of 5 - 6 pints at a time so I can use other apple varieties if desired. I use the USDA recipe from the Complete Guide to Home Canning, Agriculture Information Bulletin No. 539, USDA. Reviewed 1994. The measurements in the following recipe will yield 5 - 6 pints.

Apple Pie Filling

9 1/2 c blanched, sliced fresh apples
2 c + 4 tbsp granulated sugar
5/8 c Clear Jel®
1 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 1/4 c cold water
1 7/8 c apple juice
5 tbsp bottled lemon juice
1/4 tsp nutmeg (optional)

Wash, peel and core apples. Slice apples and place in water containing ascorbic acid or lemon juice to prevent browning. Bring 1 gallon water to a boil. Drain apples and pour into boiling water. Bring to a boil and boil one minute. Drain, but keep heated fruit in a covered pot. Combine sugar, Clear Jel®, cinnamon, nutmeg in large kettle with water and apple juice. Stir and cook on medium high heat until mixture thickens and begins to bubble. Add lemon juice and boil 1 minute, stirring constantly. Fold in drained apple slices immediately and fill jars with mixture with delay. Leave 1 inch headspace. Adjust lids and process 25 minutes in boiling water bath canner.


Cranberry Claret Jelly, Apple Jelly, Cabernet Jelly, Apple Pie Filling

Jellies always look so pretty sparkling like jewels in the jars. The nice thing about some jellies is they can be made year round as the need arises. They are quick and easy to make and have very short processing times. I make several kinds of jelly and surprisingly most are used as condiments, appetizer topping or in cooking. We seldom eat jelly on toast. I've include all three jelly recipes as they are perfect for gift giving. Be sure to label the wine jellies as they are not intended for children since they still contain alcohol. Wine jellies are nice served on top of fancy crackers and cream cheese. The are perfect condiments for meats and poultry or use as a glaze ingredient for chicken and ham.

Cranberry Claret Jelly

1 c cranberry juice
1 cup dry red wine (eg. cabernet)
3 1/2 c granulated sugar
1 pouch CERTO Liquid Pectin

Combine juice, wine and sugar in large saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Boil hard 1 min. Remove from heat and stir in CERTO. Stir and skim for 5 minutes. Pour into hot, steriliaed jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Cap with two piece lids. Process 5 minutes in boiling water bath canner.
Yield: 4 pt


Apple Jelly

5 c apple juice
2 tbsp lemon juice
7 1/2 c granulated sugar
1 pouch CERTO Liquid Pectin

Combine apple juice, lemon juice and sugar in large saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Boil hard 1 min. Remove from heat and stir in CERTO. Stir and skim for 5 minutes. Pour into hot, steriliaed jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Cap with two piece lids. Process 5 minutes in boiling water bath canner.
Yield: 8 pts


Cabernet Jelly

2 c dry red wine (eg. cabernet)
3 c granulated sugar
1 pouch CERTO Liquid Pectin

Combine wine and sugar in large saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Boil hard 1 min. Remove from heat and stir in CERTO. Stir and skim for 5 minutes. Pour into hot, steriliaed jars leaving 1/4 inch headspace. Cap with two piece lids. Process 5 minutes in boiling water bath canner.
Yield: 4 pt

Enjoy!

Garden Gnome