The other [...]]]> Shrimp and grits is likely in my top 20 favourite foods.  I make it fairly regularly and if I go out and see it on a menu I must order it.  Unfortunately shrimp and grits is a bit of an anomaly on Toronto menus so it makes the dish even more special.

The other day I was craving shrimp and grits but wanted to switch things up a bit.  I didn’t want to do a fancy shrimp and grits but I wanted something a bit above just making grits and sauteeing shrimp.  I ended up on one of my fave sites, the kitchn and came across this recipe.

First of all the photos on that post make the food look amazing.  I love the way the gravy clings to the shrimp!    What really sucked me in was the liberal use of bacon (I know, what a surprise). And. That. Gravy.  Heaven only knows how I’m not 500lbs!

If you don’t mind the looming threat of 3rd degree grit burns, this recipe is dead easy.  I can’t be the only one that has to duck from sputtering spattering grits as they cook? Am I?  The shrimp comes together while the grits cook and dinner ends up on the table in less than an hour.  Seriously, this dish is a party in my mouth each and every time.

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I took a little break from Charcutepalooza over the past two months. August’s challenge involved making a terrine, headcheese, trotters or mouselline, none of which I found particularly appealing. September was all about making various types of pâtés, some en crôute.  These options were a bit more exciting to me [...]]]>

I took a little break from Charcutepalooza over the past two months. August’s challenge involved making a terrine, headcheese, trotters or mouselline, none of which I found particularly appealing. September was all about making various types of pâtés, some en crôute.  These options were a bit more exciting to me but with a vacation, the film fest and various other distractions, I couldn’t quite fit it in.

When the October challenge was posted I was excited to see that making rillette and confit were both options.  My first memorable (or maybe even my first period) experience with rillettes was during a trip to Niagara where we sampled some goodies, including rillettes, at Ravine. I have subsequently enjoyed rillettes while in London while dining at Arbutus. Rillettes is basically a meat spread that is made by poaching meat in fat. Health food, really.

I made pork rillettes since I already had the ingredients on hand (yes, I keep fat back and pork shoulder in my freezer) although you could make rillettes with other types of meat.  The process of making rillettes is really simple.  You season the meat and let it rest ideally overnight.  Then you combine the meat with water and sherry in a saucepan, bring it to a boil and allow it to simmer.  Then you wait. And wait.  While you’re waiting, your entire house will smell like pure porky, boozy goodness.  The scent is intoxicating.

What are you waiting for?  You’re waiting for the chunks of fat to become clear.  The recipe says this should happen in about two hours.  It totally didn’t for me.  After about 2.5 hours I started cutting the fat into smaller pieces hoping to speeds things up.  It helped, but not really.  At about the three hour mark I gave up.  I mean the fat was super soft, it just wasn’t clear.  I followed the rest of the recipe, draining the meat, mashing the fat and meat up etc.

I halved the recipe and ended up with two lovely ramekins filled with the porcine goodness.  I toasted up some baguette and served the rillette with my homemade zucchini dill pickles. Everything about this was fantastic.  The rillettes was really soft and not overly fatty.  The seasoning was spot on and I loved the notes that the sherry added to the mix.

This is totally one of those dishes that is easy to make and perfect for company.  Your friends will be impressed that you were able to whip up this goodness.  Serve this alongside some other charcuterie goodness and you’ll totally be a star.

I used the recipe found on the Charcutepalooza site. Enjoy!

My earliest memories [...]]]> First things first, I have no clue who Nancy is.  This recipe comes from Paula Deen’s The Lady & Sons Cookbook. I imagine that Nancy is perhaps someone who used to work at the restaurant, or maybe one of Paula’s girlfriends. Who knows. It doesn’t make a difference.

My earliest memories of coleslaw is of that minty green stuff that you get at KFC.  When I was younger I used to regularly consume the KFC and it obviously comes with fries but then you also get to choose a side!  The sides in Canada aren’t as exciting as in the U.S.  We usually only get to choose between potato, macaroni, coleslaw and maybe a vegetable salad.  For the longest time coleslaw was my default.  I don’t even think I liked it at all but I kept on choosing it (years later the potato salad became my default).

I’m not sure when I discovered what real coleslaw was but thank goodness I did!  Coleslaw is a critical part of my barbecued foods consumption.  I can’t have a pulled pork sandwich without some coleslaw goodness on top.  Well, I guess I could but it’s just not the same.

I’m in the camp that likes a bit of a crunchy coleslaw that’s not too heavy on the dressing.  I can’t do the soupy coleslaws.  I love a coleslaw that adds some texture to whatever you’re eating it alongside of.

My go-to recipe is the above mentioned slaw courtesy of Paula Deen.  Trust me when I say not only is it super easy, it has the right balance of flavours.  I love the tip of combining the sugar and onions to tone down the onion flavours – brilliant! I also use the pre-packaged, shredded coleslaw mix from the supermarket to make things even easier.

While the days of summer are quickly away, definitely take this to your next barbecue or picnic.

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While I love meat, I try not to eat it all the time.  My weekly diet usually involves some meat, some seafood, maybe some poultry and usually a meatless dish, like pasta.  My lunches recently usually consist of leftover dinner so I’ve been having much more meat at lunch than I’d [...]]]>

While I love meat, I try not to eat it all the time.  My weekly diet usually involves some meat, some seafood, maybe some poultry and usually a meatless dish, like pasta.  My lunches recently usually consist of leftover dinner so I’ve been having much more meat at lunch than I’d normally like.  In the past, I used to make meals exclusively for lunch and they were often vegetable or grain-based.  Somewhere along the way I got lazy and stopped making meals exclusively for lunch.

I’ve made it a bit of a goal recently to get back on that bandwagon.  The other day I was browsing Bon Appétit recipes on Epicurious when I came across this recipe for a Chickpea Salad with lemon, Parmesan and herbs. It sounded like a winner and easy enough to make for lunch.

While the recipe as-is seemed pretty good I decided to switch things up a bit. Right away I thought that roasted red peppers would be a great addition. Then looking in my fridge I realized that I didn’t have any basil or parsley. And I wasn’t going out to get some. But then I looked in my freezer and found some basil.

The resulting salad was really simple and delicious. It works well as a side dish or on it’s own as a salad. This would also be really nice served on top of a bed of couscous or as an addition to a lettuce-based salad.

Hopefully over the next few weeks I’ll do a few more grain or legume-based lunch salads. My body is definitely telling me to feed it some healthy goodness. I will listen.

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I [...]]]>
I’ve been having a craving for Mexican food as of late.  It was likely spurred by my recent trip to Chicago where I dined at Rick Bayless’ Xoco twice. Toronto isn’t known for its Mexican food so when I have a craving I usually crack open my cookbooks.

I knew that I wanted to make something involving tortillas which is when I got the idea to make them myself. The whole thing didn’t seem to daunting because my friend Shea over at Hungry in Brooklyn made them and pretty much said they totally change your tortilla game. Sold.

I did some research to see if I really needed to buy a tortilla press. I was reluctant at first to buy a tortilla press because really it only has one use and I hate buying kitchen gadgets that only do one job. The Kitchn had a good post about alternatives to using a tortilla press. I ended up deciding in favour of a tortilla press thinking that once I bought a big bag of Maseca (masa harina) I would need an excuse to use it up.

For those of you that have no clue what I’m talking about, here’s a link to a tortilla press.

I honestly had never really thought about what goes into making corn tortillas.  Sure I knew there was some sort of corn floury stuff and water.  I assumed there would be lard or salt or something else.  Nope.  This is a two ingredient thing – just water and masa harina.

The process to make them isn’t that complicated either.  You mix the masa harina with water and let it sit for 15 minutes.  Then you grab clumps of the mixture and roll into balls.  From there you take out your handy dandy tortilla press and flatten the balls.  All you do from there is throw them onto a hot griddle or pan and cook them for a few minutes.  As Ina would say, “how easy is that?”

I still need some practice making tortillas because as you can see they are on the thick side but regardless these were delicious.  Whenever I buy packaged tortillas they are always so mediocre and they end up sitting in the back of my fridge.  By making my own I can make a few at a time for literally pennies.

So now that I’ve realized that making tortillas is so easy I’ve been looking for excuses to make them all the time.  I think I may just make some quesadillas in the next few days.

For detailed instructions on how to make tortillas click here.

I love beets. I only really started eating them when I used to babysit in NYC. I have a distinct memory of feeding the child beets and then later freaking out that his pee was red. I’m pretty sure that I called the parents who were on their weekly date because [...]]]>

I love beets. I only really started eating them when I used to babysit in NYC. I have a distinct memory of feeding the child beets and then later freaking out that his pee was red. I’m pretty sure that I called the parents who were on their weekly date because I was convinced I had a sick child. Thank goodness it was just the beets!

Beets find other ways to wreak havoc in your life besides the colour of your pee.  Just try peeling beets with your hands.  Your hands will be a lovely shade of red for a few hand washings.  It’s super frustrating.  But beets are just so good that I can’t give them up.

i needed a side dish one day and thought it would be cool to prepare a few different varieties/colours of beets.  Normally when I cook beets I just wrap them in foil and throw them in the oven.  This time around I thought I’d get just a bit more “jiggy with it” and use Thomas Keller’s recipe from Ad Hoc at Home which is a really lovely cookbook.  The recipe is ground-breaking, you basically toss the beets in oil, top with salt and pepper and a bit of butter, wrap in foil and cook.  Super easy.

The part that had me at “hello” was at the end when you have to remove the skins.  You just rub them off with a paper towel.  Yes, RUB THEM OFF WITH A PAPER TOWEL.  Now am I just behind the times here? I had never thought to do that.  This is seriously my new favourite trick.  I feel like I should be eating beets all the time now because of this.

The beets turned out well and were perfectly cooked.  I thought there was a bit too much oil on them at the end but that isn’t a deal-breaker. Plus I can look past that because I now have an easy way to peel beets!

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