Amateur Food Porn [General]

2012 Jul 19
There already is a topic called "Food Porn" here (Forum - food porn), but I'm starting one called "Amateur Food Porn". It's different from the one called just "Food Porn".

Let's define Amateur Food Porn as pictures (or videos) taken by ourselves of our own foodie creations, and not what we a see in restaurants etc. (Some OF foodies already do that in the Buzz section.)

And lets' say the photographer can be pro but ... please NO
- preping the food for the shot e.g. misting, fake steam, wax sprays etc
- no photoshoping ... lets' keep it raw (like real amateur porn)

Here is my first entry.

Stirfry Szechwan beef with mixed vegatbles and black bean (四川牛肉豉混合蔬菜)


2012 Jul 20
OK this week I made my first attempt at a jelly roll. Filled with peach curd and apricot jam. Saturn peaches and bourbon whipped cream on the side.

2012 Jul 20
Looks and sounds divine, blubarry.

2012 Jul 20
Captain, I love food porn, amateur or professional.
Here`s my only enticing pornshot for the week (I`m eating simple as I`m alone `cause my wife is driving around Iceland with her Ma). I thawed out a pound of pulled pork, had a jar of leftover curtido, and made baked arepas, put it all together with some sauce and had a scrumptious, messy, lip-smacking dinner.

The stirfry and jellyroll are both dishes I`d love to eat - will bring chopsticks for the stirfry and some nice Kenyan coffee to go with the jellyroll!

2012 Jul 20
I love food porn!
Pad Thai from Sweet Basil

2012 Jul 20
*facepalm*

Lucky 13 - your production is of too high quality for the amateur section.

I have seen that plate of food somewhere before - in no way is she an amateur...

2012 Jul 20
"Pad Thai from Sweet Basil"

Lucky13, Please adhere to the spirit of this thread and not contribute pictures of professionally made food. See the original post for details.

Nice Pic, but it belongs on the Sweet Basil vendor page : Sweet Basil

2012 Jul 20
Sorry about that folks....I just get excited about food porn!

2012 Jul 20
Todays light supper.

Grilled chicken breast with Szechuan chili paste and stirfried Yu Choy with garlic and ginger.


2012 Jul 20
Cream Cheese Tart with fresh berries

2012 Jul 20
Plated cheese tart with peach compote, blueberry sauce, chocolate

2012 Jul 20
Aisu Kurimu :
Looks like you have a food porn star in front of your lens.
Nice work!

Now come on all you other Ottawa Foodies. ... before you chow dowm on your creatio (or just lunch or supper) ... GET YOUR PHONE OR CAMERA OUT !

Some of us what to be voyeurs with your amateur food porn !

2012 Jul 20
Steak salad and homemade buns.
I am a cook, but I cooked these food at home, Can I post pictures?

2012 Jul 20
Aisu Kurimu:
As a cook, do you always (or often) plate your food like we see in your amateur food porn ?


2012 Jul 20
strawberry macaron

Yes I do! I always do...it is kind of my obsession.
I make plating design when I do grocery shopping.
I even plate take out chinese food.
White plates are the best for food pictures:)

2012 Jul 21
Never learned any plating techniques, but i'll giv'er a go next wknd... just me and the baby boy here today, so no time to get a decent meal going... may try to smoke a pizza mind you... we'll see where that goes... could be messy

2012 Jul 21
Beautiful platings, Aisu Kurimu, the one with the delicate peach compote especially so. Your talents are prodigious!

2012 Jul 21
Aisu Kurimu

Beautiful plating.

how much work are macaron? Seen some recipes around and have been debating to try it.

A friend daughter loves them from their 2+ years in France and they are kind of expansive in Toronto the rate she eats them lol

2012 Jul 21
I looked at this garlic lying on the counter in a different light the morning after I had dug it up and checked the number of layers of skin to determine whether the variety was ready to dig up. I thought it was kinda cheeky. I call it "The Blushing Rose".

2012 Jul 21
My take on sushi with help from the wife. fresh tuna, crab and avocado rolls ;)

2012 Jul 21
so, i got ballsy an actually tried a smoked pizza, which turned into two types of home made dough, (half whole wheat and reg) and topped it with mozza, pepperoni, jalapeno, green pepper, red onion, cherry tomato, ham, and some of my home made bacon. smoked it with hickory for an hour at 260 f and it turned out bloody amazing! i was so surprised :) (broiled it for 2 min to get the cheese to brown a bit better

2012 Jul 21
Just pulled a batch of salmon out of the Bradley. Does this constitute porn because I think I made my O face when I took the first bite.
Cheers

2012 Jul 22
www.youtube.com/watch?v=4mWQYNylQzg

2012 Jul 22
Lemon Crumble,cream brulee ice cream, berry compote

Food Travel:Macaron is very simple, main ingredients are flour,almond powder, sugar,and egg white. You justneed to know how to make Italian meringue, ( of course you can use French meringue if you like)how long you need to mix meringue and dry ingredients together and right oven temperature. I failed at least 10 times. Filling can be chocolate ganache,jam, anything.
I have recipes from Pierre Hermé Paris and Le Cordon Bleu, I like Pierre Hermé Paris better than bleu.

2012 Jul 22
Aisu Kurimu, your work is beautiful. Can you share with us where you cook professionally?

2012 Jul 22
FILLETS DE PICKEREL A L'ANIS : used pastis for the sauce.

2012 Jul 22
Pear tart, peach and cherry compote, champagne sabayon sauce

blubarry:I used to work at Brookstreet Hotel. I learned so much from all the chefs and cooks there!
I am working at a private restaurant for this summer, it is not open for public:(

2012 Jul 22
Hmmm, my video did not show up properly - let's try again


2012 Jul 22
Supper for tonight: Crispy chicken caesar wrap with hot sauce.
If you recognize this white plate with lines, you are a fun of Play Food and Wine! I am a big fan!

2012 Jul 23
Was making a grilled cheese sandwich on Sunday afternoon and got carried away...

I had some buttermilk fried chicken and spicy red cabbage slaw from the night before. So I made two grilled cheeses (mozzarella and aged cheddar), they became the bun on a ridiculous sandwich.


2012 Jul 24
I've been lurking here for a long time. But I was really happy with how photogenic my last ribs were so I thought this would be a good place to finally pipe up.

Ribs rubbed with a home-made brown-sugar-based rub; 2 hrs at 225 indirect heat with whiskey barrel chips, 1.5 hrs wrapped in foil, 10 minutes over direct high heat while I mopped on the sauce of ketchup + rub + bourbon.

2012 Jul 24
BigGreenAwsome: It's a beautiful rib and your recipe sounds really yummy.
Earlier this year, I cooked ribs for 100ppl, all by myself :( and it was a huge pain in the butt and I didn't want to see or cook ribs never again! but I have changed my mind by looking at your rib porn!

2012 Jul 24
Blueberry and cream cheese mousse cake
I like straweberry,raspberry,lemon and mango for making mousse cake.

2012 Jul 24
Can we get a recipe (or link to) of that cheese cake? not that i would expect mine to be anywhere in the realm of this beautiful, but it might still taste really good...

2012 Jul 24
You will need 18cm diameter cake ring and strip of acetate

Ingredients:
Slice of genoise, about 1cm thick ,17cm diameter
Simple syrup( 1part sugar 1part water , boil them for few minutes.)
Blueberry puree ( strained)200g
Sugar 80g
Gelatine 8g (1table spoon)
Creamcheese 150g at room temp
Lemon juice ½ teaspoon
Blueberry liquor 1/2 table spoon (I used Crème de cassis)
35% cream 100ml
Plain yoghurt 60g
1. Slice genoise 1cm thick, place it into the 18cm diameter cake ring, line it with a strip of acetate, brush genoise with simple syrup.
2. Mix gelatine with 4 table spoons of warm water, then melt it by bain marie
3. Mix blueberry puree, lemon juice and sugar in a saucepan and heat them, but do not boil, just dissolve suger.
4. Add gelatin solution to the step# 3 blueberry puree
5. Put creamcheese over bain marie, whisk cheese until soft and smooth
6. Add blueberry and gelatine mix to the creamcheese bit by bit, whisk well to make smooth mixture. Don’t add blueberry to the creamcheese at once, because mix becomes lumpy.
7. Strain the mix, then cool the mix with ice bath so it will thicken
8. Meantime,make whip cream untill soft peak, then add yoghurt.
9. Mix cream and blueberry together, and pour the mix over the genoise.
10. Make smooth surface. Refridgerate at least 2 hours
11. Once the mousse is set, Pour blueberry jerry on the top.
I don’t really have the recipe for this jerry, it is just blueberry puree, sugar and gelatine.
12. once the jerry is set, carefully remove the mousse from the cake ring.


2012 Jul 24
I borrowed this image from a web site, prepare cake ring like this picture,
Cut parchment paper to line the cake ring,if you don't have acetate.

2012 Jul 24
Oh man, I found it very difficult to explain the recipe in English. I hope ppl can understand my poor English :(

Picture: cake ring prepared with strip of acetate.

2012 Jul 25
If you don't have a cake ring or feel pain baking genoise, use glass cup for the mousse, just pour the mixture in the cup and let it set.
This is strawberry mousse, I used same recipe above, but no genoise.

2012 Jul 25
Portabello White Wine Risotto.

Even the Sprout (2.5 years old) ate this. Sorry about the quality of the picture I am a professional photographer (17+ years) but, I took this with my phone.

2012 Jul 25
We recently had a 6 course meal, sharing the couses among us.
This was the appetizer course:
crab cakes
balsamic reduction /goat cheese on bread
smoked salmon /chive creme fraiche on corn, scalion pancake
served with prosecco.
Will just show the highlights

2012 Jul 25
Salad
carpacchio of vegetables.
thinly sliced zucchini, tomato, pickled onion with lemon oil vinaigrette.

2012 Jul 25
This was dessert. lemon loaf with raspberries, whipped cream and coffee.
The other courses were
fish deep fried with egg, crushed saltine crackers. (my husband's recipe) which was very good and crispy.
home made gnocchi /fresh tomato, wine, herbs
rack of lamb /chilled green beans.
We kept portions small, and the meal lasted 4 hours. Thank heavens this is only an annual event.

2012 Jul 25
My last entry (for now).
Thank you captain caper for this forum. I love seeing everyone's posts of a food they are proud of and I love posting.
This recipe was from sheeatsbears.com
It is garlic, lemon roasted kale
roasted beets
shallot vinaigrette with sauteed haloumi cheese.
It was delicious. now you know what to do with all that kale!

2012 Jul 25
Beef ribs. 6 hours on BGE, sauce on at the very end for 15 minutes. Smoked for first two hours with cherry wood soaked in Appleton Rum.

2012 Jul 25
Thanks so much Aisu... I'll be trying that out (in the cups, thx for the extra tip) this weekend for sure!

2012 Jul 26
Not a great picture from my phone, and probably need help with my plating skills, but expecting folks for coffee/lunch today. From the outside in here are church lady strawberry cookies, Peach/mint mini hand pies and bourbon chocolate balls.

2012 Jul 26
Limoncello cake with buttercream icing.
Put a good pour of heavy cream in the buttercream icing and it really cuts the sweetness nicely.
Three layers of lemon curd mixed with Limoncello on the inside.
A fresh, tangy and boozy cake. :)

2012 Jul 26
Blubarry - what time is lunch?

AMR - that looks fantastic, boozy lemon, my kind of cake.

2012 Jul 26
lovetoeat, will post pics of lunch later if I remember to take pics before we start eating. AMR I WANT that cake!

2012 Jul 26
Since I've been pretty much living in the hospital going on three weeks now (not me who's ill, here with a family member) I am getting my vicarious foodie thrills with this forum topic! Drool and yum!

2012 Jul 26
I just made my "My Kitchen" facebook album publicly viewable. That's the most efficient way for me to share my amateur food porn.

www.facebook.com

2012 Jul 26
Buttermilk "Cat's Head" biscuits with homemade tomato jam.

2012 Jul 26
Tarragon cherry chicken salad sandwiches with smoked almond crust.

2012 Jul 26
Sweet corn with ramp butter.

2012 Jul 27
AMR: That cake is beautiful. Really gorgeous.
Blubarry: Love the kerchief for your biscuits! And the jelly roll looked awesome.

Seriously. Are you all just home chefs or are you trained? How do you find the time?

2012 Jul 28
re: How do you find the time?

Everyone makes time for the things that are important to them. It's a simple question of priorities. For some, preparing an attractive meal takes precedence over other activities, like watching TV.

(says he who was searing a wagyu steak while most were watching the Olympic opening ceremonies)

2012 Jul 28
Cardamom, for me it's like fresh foodie said. It's important to me. This luncheon was with a group of people I get together with about once a month for cards. We all like to cook and there is nothing better than hosting a group of people who truly appreciate hospitality and good food. We take turns hosting and the guests always bring the things they have made too. This week a lemon icebox cake, some tasty salads and a couple of nice bottles of wine arrived with my guests. It pretty much takes the whole day, but we all enjoy committing the time to it. I do use convenience foods and fast food too, but there are lots of things I cook from scratch that take very little effort.

2012 Jul 28
Saturday breakfast. Buckwheat pancakes (I should have added butter/syrup before the photos I think - rank amateur!) fresh raspberries and on the side I repurposed some leftover cherry glazed ham and sauteed it with apples, shallots and fresh rosemary.

2012 Jul 28
tomato, goat cheese, with balsamic vinegar caviar spheres

2012 Jul 28
Atkins Diet Burger....lol

2012 Jul 29
Irish Coffee Sundae with Caramel Whiskey Sauce and Coffee Nut Crisp

2012 Jul 29
Lamb merguez sausages with Chinese greens (Yu Choi, Gai Lan and Baby Bok) in garlic and ginger.


2012 Jul 29
This is what happens when you put too many cooks/chefs in the kitchen with a bottle of crystal skull vodka. Our ode to Guy Fieri.

Captain Crunch Belgian Waffles

Belgian waffles dipped in Captain Crunch and deep fried, served with creme anglais, maple bacon and fresh berries (for the healthy part)

2012 Jul 31
tomatillo, carne asada chili verde - street taco style - on home made flour torilla's.

2012 Aug 4
Ancho burger over basque with avocado,heirloom tomato, mozza cheese pickle relish and a dab of mayo.

2012 Aug 5
My jalapeños are super hot this year so I mixed in some grilled corn to offset some of the heat since the tomato wasn't quite cutting it.

2012 Aug 6
This is the dinner I made last night. We are camping in upstate NY and found some fresh sweet golden bantam corn. I made the fritters with avocado cream from the current issue of "Food and Drink". Highly recommended! The chicken kababs and coleslaw were good too, but those fritters are an amazing way to use fresh corn.

2012 Aug 6
blubarry - please post recipe for the fritters! thanks.

2012 Aug 6
Venison tenderloin with grilled zuchinni , fresh wax beans and buttermilk biscuits. Only 3 more months till I can tag another bambi, good thing I'm almost out.

2012 Aug 6
I think this is a better pic.
Cheersi

2012 Aug 6
Ken V:
.
No wiping clean the edge of the plate (or bowl), before the picture.
.
Classic AMATEUR food porn !!
.
Oh ya baby ! ... now that's doin' for me !
.
You got my thumb up !


2012 Aug 6
recipe for the fritters from Food and Drink summer 2012 is way too long to rewrite from the road, so will repost later, but it's called "Fresh corn cakes with avocado tartare sauce". I can't find it on the website yet. will repost when I'm not single digit typing on a phone.

2012 Aug 7
Captain Caper that was my exact thinking about wiping the bowl I was distracted by hunger. Last night it was BBQ ed chicken naan and corn with a sprinkle of chili powder. Sadly the corn from Loblaws looked good but wasn't:(

2012 Aug 7
For a dinner party this weekend we made:

Potato Millefeuille with Duck Confit, Braised Red Cabbage and Jus. It exceeded our expectations. Then had it again to use up the leftovers. (Made fresh potato millefeuille and just reheated the confit and red cabbage.) So doing this again.

2012 Aug 8
blubarry - Just chiming in about those fritters too. I didn't manage to get the last issue of the LCBO mag, but would love to try that recipe. Sounds great.

2012 Aug 8
OK sorry for the length but here goes:
and btw I kept the leftover cakes wrapped tightly in the fridge and reheated them 2 days later for breakfast, and they were excellent with peanut butter and syrup.

Fresh corn cakes with avocado tartare sauce from LCBO Food and Drink Summer 2012

Corn cakes
3 ears corn
1 tbsp chopped jalapeno
1 green onion thinly sliced
3/4 cup all purpose flour
2 tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp each baking soda, baking powder, salt
1 egg
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 tbsp melted butter
1/2 tsp vanilla
canola oil for frying

Avocado tartar sauce
1/4 cup finely chopped dill pickle
1 tbsp capers
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 avocado
pinch salt
pea sprouts, coriander or chives for garnish

1.Boil corn until cooked about 6 minutes. Slice kernels off cob into a bowl.
there should be about 1 1/2 cups of kernels. Stir in jalapeno and green onion.
2.In a large bowl, whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In another bowl whisk egg, then buttermilk, melted butter and vanilla. Whisk liquid into dry ingredients then stir in corn mixture.
3. Cover the bottom of a skillet with oil (I used an electric skillet because I'm camping and I find it gives me pretty good temp control and even cooking)Heat to medium and drop batter by tbsp into the hot oil. Cook until the bottom side is golden, then flip. They should not brown too quickly or the insides will be raw, mine were about 3" diamter and took between 1 and 2 minutes per side at 350F. Cool on a baking rack (yes I have one with me when I'm camping LOL)
4.Cakes can be served hot (yummy and crispy on the outside!) or room temperatue, also good. Store covered separated by waxed paper. They can also reheated on a cookie sheet at 400 for about 4 mins per side.
5.For tartar sauce, place chopped pickle in a bowl. Finely chop capers and add along with mayonnaise. Sauce can be covered and refrigerated at this point up to 2 days. Just before serving, coarsely chop avocado and mash into sauce, which should remain chunky. Generously sprinkle with sauce.
6. to serve add a dollop of sauce to each cake and top with pea sprouts, coriander or chives.

2012 Aug 8
Amazing! Thanks blubarry. I'll be making these on Friday for some friends.

2012 Aug 8
thanks for posting it.

2012 Aug 9
I'm afraid I have no porn to share, as I only really started cooking about 6 weeks ago (yeah, at 32 - wild!), but I will most certainly be trying some of these. Thank you all for sharing your recipes :D

And EnglishFoodie: THAT is true food porn! Messy, shameful, and leaves you panting with a wicked grin

2012 Aug 9
Raw and hardcore.

Mountain of meat (pork shoulder from Sasloves, 2 types of kabanos - spicy and mild, 2 pounds of keilbassa, and quality smoked bacon - all from Continental delicatessen), with reconstituted wild polish forest mushrooms to be added to added to my Dad's killer Bigos recipe (the national dish of Poland).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bigos

Picture of the finished Bigos to come soon, after it’s been slow cooking for 2 days. I can eat this all day everyday, breakfast lunch and dinner.

2012 Aug 9
Ok, That bigos sounds like the most amazing thing I'll ever eat.... I'm going to make some sauerkraut and see what I can do to make this from scratch. You recommend cooking for 48hrs in a crockpot on low I would assume? Adding a bit of water periodically?

I'm gonna have fun with this one!Thx ilikerealfood!

2012 Aug 10
Nukem, it is not a particularly difficult dish to make, it is just a little time consuming. I didn't use a crock pot, because mine is not very big. Just a huge pot on the stove. Cooked it one evening for a few hours, placed it in the fridge, and did the same the next night.

In this particular version, I did not use prunes, or juniper berries, but I did use caraway, marjarom, bay leaf, an entire bulb of garlic, a nice amount of peppercorns and a few chillis.

Seasoning is open to interpretation, but the meat, kapusta (sauerkraut) and cabbage contribute most to the taste. Just a note on the sauerkraut, you must use polish sauerkraut (as opposed to German), meaning it should not be made with vinegar. I don't make sauerkraut so I can't comment on the fermenting process, but I find that bigos turns out waaay to sour if made with common sauerkraut from loblaws (I think its called brine, or vinegar based sauerkraut). I finished my bigos off with a glob of honey to take the edge off, but it's still nice and savory.

It's also great to make it with half and half (fresh cabbage/kapusta)

I made this bigos for a Polish themed party that I am going to on Saturday, but I couldn't help grabbing a little bowl for breakfast this morning.

Sorry for the crappy iphone picture, but man, this might be one of my favorite foods. In fact it is one of the best dishes to make and freeze, since it tastes better every time it is reheated, trust me.

2012 Aug 10
Captain, in another thread you asked if I grilled my halloumi - sometimes I grill it on the barbie, sometimes I fry it up; tonight I fried it up with a pinch of whole cumin seeds to flavour it. I also used beluga lentils flavoured with ground cumin and coriander seeds, mint and parsley, olive oil and lemon juice, as well as cukes and tomatoes from the garden. All in it was Yum!

2012 Aug 10
how do you make the buttermilk biscuits blubarry..if you don't mind.

2012 Aug 10
uhmm I think I seen a way to make buttermilk substitute, but cannot find the reference right now..


2012 Aug 11
iheart, I use different recipes for biscuits all the time. Those in the picture are called "cat's head" biscuits and I got the recipe from an episode of America's test kitchen. Don't have it with me unfortunately while I'm travelling. I have also lately had really good luck with recipes for "cream" biscuits. Search online at finecooking.com or epicurious.com. I think my biscuits turn out best when I use American flour for some reason. I brought back some white lily from texas and the results are consistent and dependable. Maybe someone can explain why white lily is different than Canadian flour?

2012 Aug 11
From Wikipedia: White Lily Flour is milled from only 100% pure, soft red winter wheat. Soft winter wheat is a variety of wheat that has a low protein content and low gluten content. It is the type of flour often recommended by bakers for cakes, biscuits, and quick breads. White Lily All-Purpose Flour is lower in protein content because the soft wheat is pure -- not blended with hard wheat. (Hard wheat has a much higher protein content and gluten content.)

I think that Canadian all purpose flour is typically made with hard wheat.

2012 Aug 11
Yes - as CBG says Canadian AP flour is made with hard wheat,American is made with a soft wheat. Interestingly, though when I was in Italy at my cooking course, the chef told us that the Canadian flour is closer to what he uses in Italy vs the American flour.

2012 Aug 11
Homemade lasagna. The "ricotta" is actually made of tofu and cauliflower mixture with spices. Sounds kinda weird I know but it's really good.

2012 Aug 11
I didn't know that parsley grows back after you cut it. So two bunches of parsley later made some tabbouleh along with some hummus and fresh sugar free pita from Middle East Bakery and supper is ready!

2012 Aug 13
Thanks CBG and lovetoeat. The texture of the biscuits with white lily is far superior to when I make them with Canadian flour. Softer interior and nice crunch on the outside too.

2012 Aug 13
Baked a fresh batch of rolls tonight, for use with left over pasta sauce from yesterday, which is made of strained tomatoes, 10 cherry, and two beef steak tomatoes from my garden, bacon, ground beef, a hand full of fresh herbs from my garden (parsley, chives, rosemary and oregano), a whole bulb of garlic, a nice dose of chili peppers, a red onion, salt, pepper and a splash of sugar.

Best dang sloppy Joes.

2012 Aug 14
Key Lime Cheesecake, it's a phone picture, and My lighting is horrible.

Normally I let the cheesecake rest for 6 hours before I add the key lime curd to the top, I was a little time constrained this time so instead I cooked the curd to a very thick consistency on the stove stop and poured it on the cheesecake while it had 5 mins left in the oven.

Saved me some time, but the cheesecake (obviously) came out denser than I prefer.

2012 Aug 15
Last nights dinner: fried pork schnitzel with garlic mash potatoes (filled with chives and other herbs from my garden), sautéed spinach with garlic, buttery corn, topped with chopped, pan fried keilbassa. (kind of turns into lardons, but leaner)

Left the schnitzel in the pan, about 30 seconds too long, but I love me a nice crispy crust so it was still very enjoyable and delicious. Today’s schnitzel sandwich for lunch is going to be great

2012 Aug 16
To "ilikerealfood", ilikeyourfood.

To you and all the others, keep em coming! Am greatly enjoying the porn.

2012 Aug 17
Thanks Big mouth! I appreciate it. I'll keep em coming. ;-) I've been cooking alot more lately, and saving a ton of money while still eating like a king. It keeps me out of trouble.

Tonight was date night.. and I cooked this lovely doosey for my lovely lady.

Mushroom "Ravioli" made with four kinds of mushrooms (portabella, cremini, shitake, those super thin ones (enoki or something), lots of garlic, fresh pasta from la botega, browned butter, great parmigiano reggiano cheese (also from la botega), dill from the market + other herbs from my garden.

This is one of my favorite things to make... my version is a variation of laura calder's recipe found here www.foodnetwork.ca

I use more butter, more herbs, a different blend of mushrooms, more cheese, just more...but its most certainly her recipe.

2012 Aug 18
A Dan O'Brien's rib steak dry aged 23 days by MVB seasoned with salt and pepper then cooked over char coal to rare with some fritz on the side.

2012 Aug 18
Kinda proud of this one today. My first attempt at making puff pastry from scratch, and there were no flops! It took all bloody day, but it was worth it.

Made these sausage rolls with dry hunters sausage from continental delicatessen.

Not sure why the picture keeps going sideways :-S, it looks normal on my computer.

2012 Aug 18
ilikerealfood, the sideways thing doesn't happen to many people other than you. I'm still not sure what exactly is causing it. Are you using a Sony product to generate your photos?

Somehow, there's a tag in your photo that instructs your computer to turn it sideways but the site software doesn't respect that. I'd love to find out the root cause because it bugs me when I see sideways pictures. And I'm getting a crick in my neck!

2012 Aug 19
Three little ribs done Memphis style atop some lemon pepper rice. Cooked over Basque at 350 for an hour and a half. Crispy juicy and spicy!
www.bbqu.net

2012 Aug 19
Hosted a tea today, and these are what we call "Aunt Vera's church lady tea sandwiches". They are addictive. Thin white bread and a mixture of cream cheese with chopped maraschino cherries and as much chopped crystallized ginger as you can stand. They don't look so pretty in this photo, but so tasty!

2012 Aug 19
Ginger? Really? I just might be able to get over the maraschinos and enjoy those. Unusual combo in my experience of church lady sammies.

2012 Aug 19
The best porcini mushrooms outside of Italy, and I picked them here in Ottawa.

2012 Aug 19
After many mediocre attempts at pulled pork, today's attempt was worthy to repeat. 3 adults ate a 4 pound roast in one sitting. A bit bummed there is nothing for lunch tomorrow :(


2012 Aug 21
So on my last visit to Union the chef asks me if my fridge has broken down -- maybe I should be eating in a bit more? ;o)

Big agribusiness here in Canada has ensured that small scale farmers such as Krusty are not allowed to advertise the fact that they have chickens for sale. So let me do it for him: fellow foodie Krusty raises kick ass chickens! I know firsthand, I've gotten 6 from him and still have 3 left.

One has been thawing in the fridge since the weekend so this afternoon I got my knife sharpened (www.sharpeningshoppe.com) and set about breaking down the bird. I'm quite good at this now but after butchering the legs, wings and back, I got lazy and called my Dad to pick up the rest of the carcass (with the neck and DD breasts still intact; a win-win situation really as I'll be invited over for whatever meal they become.)

Is anyone else here a fan of Steve Raichlen? I watched a few episodes of his BBQ U on PBS one summer and came to have quite a bit of respect for him as both a grilling expert and savoury chef. I really like the spice rub for his Calgary Hot Wings: salt, pepper, paprika, ground chile powder and the secret ingredient, celery seed. My husband used indirect grilling to cook the chicken and I finished it off with a decadent combination of melted butter and Chamomile Desjardins' Cool Canadian Hot Sauce which is heavy on the scotch bonnet peppers.

To offset the calories it seemed only reasonable to substitute kefir for sour cream as a dip, kefir being almost as tart but easier on the hips.

I had bought some Seed to Sausage bacon last week and decided to use the rendered fat to saute some zucchini slices, freshly shucked kernels of corn, onion, green peppers and blanched yellow beans as a side to the chicken. Wine tonight was a glass of Chardonnay from Stanner Vineyards in PEC (although it was bottled from Niagara grapes).

2012 Aug 23
Real Amateur Shucking
(Sorry for the recurring "Shuck" jokes, however it does just seem so fitting in this thread)

2012 Aug 23
Tonight's hurry-up dinner, a warm Middle Eastern chickpea dish known as Balila, often eaten as a breakfast dish. The chickpeas are bathed in a dressing of garlic, ground cumin and coriander seeds, green onions, lemon juice and olive oil. Making it extra tasty are cucumbers, tomatoes and parsley from the garden, with some toasted pine nuts and feta. Celery from the garden was an afterthought, tomatillos too, but they got eaten up. Delicious dinner!

2012 Aug 23
I had a craving for olive bread this week, olive bread with lots of olives! Also added some sauteed red onion and all the peppers and garlic that were in the spicy mixed olives. Wicked.

2012 Aug 28
Fast fry steak sandwich with sauteed onion and mushrooms, hot mustard and mayo with a mache salad with garden fresh tomatos, red onion and a whitewine vinegar based dijon mustard dressing.

2012 Aug 31
Timberframe Norm popped over for a bit of timberframe fun and also brought a delicious peach pie.......mmmm!


2012 Aug 31
Mmm-mmm - peach pie looks tasty, krusty. Did it have a bit of candied ginger in it or was it just those glorious peaches that we've enjoyed these past few weeks? Either way - mmm-mmm-mmm! Who knew Norm was such a peachy guy?

All I have is this pic of coriander seeds I picked yesterday to dry and was enjoying the smell of while downloading pics to my computer so I snapped this pic. I highly recommend that anyone growing coriander let some go to seed and pick it when the green seeds start to turn a lighter green to brown and dry it for a while before bagging or bottling. I've a couple cups to share come Xmas. Also good to just crush and enjoy (like I am now or when walking by it in the garden) tucked away in between cheek and jaw.

2012 Aug 31
Pure unadulterated peach pie. Makes me want to make some fall pies and I saw in a field down the road a lone apple tree. Off to check them out shortly and they may make it into a pie this weekend or into the pigpen for afternoon treats.

2012 Sep 1
Rigatoni with a basil parsley toasted walnut pesto. A little extra pecorino sprinkled on for good measure.

2012 Sep 2
A couple of chicken fajita pizzas from the summer 2009 lcbo mag. Thanks to krusty for the fresh made mozza he dropped off 20 min ago. Pizza on right is sporting krusty brand mozza while lefty is wearing saputo pizza mozza.

2012 Sep 3
Tomatillo salsa.

2012 Sep 3
Seed to Sausage chorizo smoked over hickory on a bed of lime cilantro rice.

2012 Sep 4
Last night's dinner, Tuscan Pork Pie, a Life of Pie recipe found here: blogs.ottawacitizen.com The meat was so tender, the crust so flaky, and it was a flavourful delight with balsamic vinegar, prunes, wine, homemade plum sauce... If I wasn't a piemaker (OK, dw makes the dough and rolls it out, I make the filling) I'd make just the filling and spoon it over mashed taters or maybe some spaetzle to fill my gizzard. If you haven't yet learned to love sweet with your meat this recipe might do ya.

Waiting for the next pie-day, fruit pies for the freezer for fall and Xmas...

Ken V I hope that chorizo was as good as it looks - I'm trying to pick up a piece of it with a toothpick to dip in your salsa for a quick bite! YUM!

2012 Sep 4
Good job kenV and Andy I now have the munchies. Nice.

2012 Sep 4
Live lobsters were $5.99 in Massena on the weekend. Here is one of the lobster rolls we enjoyed with fresh corn and potato salad for labour day.

2012 Sep 5
Blubarry YUM!
I'm headed to Maine in a couple of weeks and I plan on eating my body weight in seafood.

2012 Sep 5
I made an Irish brunch for my ma (who is Irish of course!)

I attempted an Irish Soda bread (very tasty, but not lookin much like the picture - LOL)
Slather it with butter warm from the oven.

And Irish Colcannon - which is mashed potatoes mixed with kale or cabbage and green onions. You spread it in a dish, make 4 pockets, crack an egg into each pocket and surround with sharp cheddar cheese.

Bake in the oven for some warm comfort food. (The photo is before it was baked.

2012 Sep 5
Here is the Colcannon (before being baked in the oven)

2012 Sep 5
ksw That Irish soda bread looks delish! I'll bet it tasted as yummy as it looks.

blubarry Those "Aunt Vera's church lady tea sandwiches" are the exact same sandwiches my mom used to make when she had her knitting club ladies over. Along with the cucumber sandwiches, egg salad sandwiches and other tea sandwiches she used to make. Thanks for the memories-;)

2012 Sep 5
lovetoeat, I am envious of your Maine trip. IIRC there is an ice cream store in Bar Harbor that does buttered lobster ice cream, so you can even have it for dessert.

2012 Sep 6
pictured is roasted Tomato soup a la Gordon Ramsey. Made with about 15 garden fresh tomatos, bunch of fresh herbs from my garden, and stock from saslov.

www.food.com

I added more sugar, some cayanne, more garlic, and herbs other than those listed here. Super simple, very rich and very healthy too :-) Roasting the tomatoes really deepens the flavour and lets not forget about all that healthy lycopene!

2012 Sep 7
I have been battling a nasty cold this week... hence the soups..

Pea soup, yummi garden salad, and homemade flour torilla. Simple, good.

2012 Sep 7
I love this thread. Someday when I figure out how to upload pictures I will share also--totally unsavvy with this stuff.

2012 Sep 7
Gouda.
Aged 120 days.
Yummy, yummy in my tummy.

2012 Sep 7
Oh w.c., me too! I also love this thread but am not tech-savvy enough to upload photos either. And I'd love to, now that I finally have a smart phone which actually takes a photo.

2012 Sep 8
Spaghetti bolagnese. With Lidia's bolognese sauce.
www.flickr.com

2012 Sep 8
I made fried sole tacos for date night yesterday.

Homemade tortilla, salsa, guac, sourcream/mayo/spices, Sole from Lapointe (fried in Rick Bayless' batter recipe), cabbage, onion, radishes and I fusioned it up with a pickled turnip.

2012 Sep 13
Fresh, really fresh, tomatillo salsa - they were hanging on the plants an hour ago and now they're filling my belly...

2012 Sep 13
And dinner was this super nutritional, beautiful and tasty beet and kale salad with some chevre and toasted pepitas from www.bastyrcenter.org

2012 Sep 14
Grilled cheese and bacon. Havarti with double smoked bacon with some pecorino sprinklled on the bread.

2012 Sep 14
Ken V Great minds think alike! Last night's supper at my place was also grilled cheese and bacon. Italian fontina from La Bottega, smoked bacon from the Sausage Kitchen, and twelve grain bread from the grocery store. I really should get a digital camera or smart phone...

2012 Sep 14
This past Sunday I wanted a light lunch and I thought of a Salade Nicoise.

Took me about 20 minutes to throw together. I tossed the potatoes with butter and fresh parsley and made a simple dressing with olive oil, red wine vinegar and grainy mustard.

Delish!


2012 Sep 14
ksw Looks simply delish! Really nice sharing plate.

Tonight I have a brownie that's worth sharing. Now I've eaten a lot of brownies in my time (and can't remember one not worth eating, even those dry, hard and chewy ones I used to make long, long ago) but these are my fave and have been for years. I found the recipe on a Unix consulting company website (huh?) years ago - recipe at www.stokely.com - and have loved them since I first made them. Chocolatey, cinnamony, nutty goodness whether cold, warm, or with a scoop of good vanilla ice cream. Thick in a 9" pan (pictured), even thicker in an 8" pan. MMM-MMM-MMM! Good stuff.

2012 Sep 16
Have to say Andy that is one killer brownie recipe. They didn't last very long around here. Thanks for sharing! I like them a tad on the under cooked side and next time toasting the wallnuts is a must. Had to substitute the Mexican chocolate though. Anyone know where to get Mexican chocolate in Ottawa?

2012 Sep 16
Ribs done on the egg for 2 hours with some apple smoke, then frozen and reheated on the campfire

2012 Sep 16
Ribs done on the egg for 2 hours with some apple smoke, then frozen and reheated on the campfire

2012 Sep 16
Ribs done on the egg for 2 hours with some apple smoke, then frozen and reheated on the campfire

2012 Sep 16
@ KenV You can find the Ibarra chocolate (the one in the brownie recipe) at the store attached to La Cabana on Merivale and the Latin Market (name escapes me right now) on Montreal Rd, between the Vanier Parkway and the bridge over the Rideau River. They might also have it at the new Chilly Chiles (the old one did).

@ Andy thanks for the recipe - it is on my list and I have Ibarra chocolate in the cupboard - yum!

2012 Sep 16
You are most welcome, Ken V and Gardener Mom. Yours look good Ken V; I only made them once without the Ibarra and they were still good. Gardener Mom, fyi I add a pinch or 2 of cinnamon to them when made with Ibarra for a little extra cinnamon flavour - neither my dw nor a friend who had one for dessert the other night (and later asked my dw for the recipe) noticed the cinnamon flavour in the brownies but I do. Funny, but the one time I made them without Ibarra I found them too cinnamony and made a note to reduce the cinnamon and try maybe 3/4 tsp.
I have also picked up Ibarra at Sultan's Supermarket in the Produce Depot mall at Hunt Club, Ken V. They have a small Mexican foods section.

2012 Sep 16
I spent some time this lovely afternoon making my Grilled Tomatillo Salsa - we picked 6+ lb of tomatillos yesterday in anticipation of our 2nd frost last night. I also roasted some of my poblanos separately to flavour the salsa.

2012 Sep 16
The finished salsa - my dw complained a bit about the heat but I say have some cheese dear! Even though it's cooked and run through a food processor it maintains some texture and even some crunch from the onions and some of the tomatillo skins. Dinner with some corn chips and a Harviestoun Bitter and Twisted, one of my favourite beers with this salsa. And from South River, Ont., Highlander Brew Co.'s Scottish Ale is another good one to match this stuff.

2012 Sep 16
This was dinner last night -- I has just planned on baking the tortilla into something chiplike but it ended up becoming perfectly puffed so I punched a whole in the top and used it as a bowl. It's filled with sauteed onions, peppers, corn and black beans, topped with some homemade salsa verde and avocados. And eggs of course because I love runny yolks in most circumstances.

The only downside is that I forgot to add the cilantro I had kicking around. D'oh.

2012 Sep 17
Lamb Sliders with Wilshire Bacon, Red & Yellow Tomatoes and goat's cheese mixed with diced cucumbers, green onions and fresh mint.

It's a full British Sunday Dinner on a bun.

2012 Sep 27
Spanish padrons on the bbq - my dd was impressed, first that I was growing these, and second that they were so big. We ate these with some grilled Albert's Meats chicken, grilled halloumi, and garden greens. Yum!

2012 Sep 27
Continuing with pepper week, Crimson Hots going into the oven to dehydrate at 140 deg. overnight. I then bagged them in paper bags and will leave them a few weeks before grinding them and passing them out to fellow aficionados of flavour + heat.

2012 Sep 28
You know... sometimes you have to just dial it all back and keep it real simple ;o)

One of my absolute, all-time favourite meals: a soft boiled egg sprinkled with sea salt, eaten with a slice of hot buttered, toasted slice of Rideau Bakery rye bread.

2012 Sep 28
Agreed! Sooo rewarding to crack in and see that yellow ooze....there may not be a better "feeling" in food.

2012 Sep 30
sugar free wild blueberry tarts from end of July. Just noticed the picture today.

Disclaimer, I cheated and used bought tart shells.

2012 Sep 30
Spice cake with cream cheese icing, pistachio dust, caramel and chocolate sauce,fresh fig, black berry and grape.

2012 Sep 30
BLTMC- Double smoked bacon from the butchery,lettuce,mayo and Havarti jalapeño cheese on white with a Nathans Famous pickle on the side. Well the pickle sure was not famous. Why is it so hard to find a decent pickle that actually tastes like dill in Ottawa? Anyone got any recommendations for good dill pickles? I have tried Strubbs,Mrs Whytes Bicks another from Bank Street deli and a few others I can't remember the names but no luck:(

2012 Sep 30
Pickles - I like Moishes, Vlasic (more for the crunch than flavour) and full sour Strubbs.I like the pickles that are in the buffet at Scores, but not too sure who makes them.

2012 Sep 30
If I'm not lucky enough to have a bottle of my friend's homemade dill pickles (Lil's Dills), then Vlasic will do (I agree with Bobby Fillet about the crunch).

2012 Sep 30
Claussen are also very good. Well balanced. Great crunch, some dill flavour, not overly salty.

2012 Oct 1
Apple and cranberry tarte tatin, pâte feuilletée,calvados cream cranberry compote. I used Granny Smith. I am eating this right now and it's good!

2012 Oct 1
I made chestnut cream today. I love chestnut cream so much, it is very popular cake filling in Japan.
I can buy sweetened chestnut paste in a can at Metro, so I make chestnut cream with mixing with chocolate or 35% cream or cream cheese or pastry cream.
My last supper will be a cake called Montblanc.
en.wikipedia.org(dessert)

2012 Oct 4
Salad Niçoise

2012 Oct 4
Salad Niçoise

2012 Oct 4
Absolutely stunning Salad Niçoise pictures, Aisu Kurimu. The top one is like a beautiful painting - I can see a print of it hanging on a wall! Gorgeous! And to think it`s meant to be eaten, wowsa. I`d love to see it full screen, must be wonderful...or hanging on my wall...I love it. Well done.

2012 Oct 5
Andy
Thank you! I sent you a message.
I forgot to add boiled egg. I wanted to add soft boiled quail egg, or egg yolk and miso dressing.

2012 Oct 5
great looking Salad Nicoise. I would miss the potatoes and the green beans though.

Where do you get the tuna?

2012 Oct 5
FoodTravel
I used few slices of purple potato and green beans for this salad,
It's more of a tuna dish than a salad.
I bought this yellow fin tuna at Sobeys in Kanata.

2012 Oct 5
Cherry tomato compote (remove skin and add maple syrup and lemon juice)
Leave it in fridge over night. That's it.

Serve with basil, mint, spinach, whatever the greens,balsamic reduction, goat cream cheese and olive.
I will dehydrate olive and crash to make olive dust,it's a fun garnish.

2012 Oct 6
Paella 7:30pm -- while I am in utmost awe of Aisu's plating and photography skills, those of you who have had paella know that this piece of amateur work owns this entire thread... ;o)

2012 Oct 6
Paella 8:45pm -- judging from what's left, I'd say my guests agree with the above statement... ;o)

2012 Oct 6
Aisu,

Was looking at your mousse cake recipe and have a few questions to pick your brain..

1. If you use acetate, you throw the acetate out after? or would they be reused? I know parchment paper after use you throw out.
2. Do you need to get food grade acetate? And if so where can you get it?
3. Do you have a recipe for the genoise?
4. Do you think I can substitute the sugar with splenda or stevia for the mousse part?
5. I think instead of simple syrup I should be able to substitute for sugar free syrup I can buy at the supermarket. thoughts?
6. For the blueberry jelly, Do you think I can puree some sugar free blueberry jam that I bought in the US and add some geletin?

2012 Oct 6
Joanna,

The Paella looked great. Is that a real paella pan or a wok or something else?

Had a real paella pan while living in Europe but did not bring it back since I had too much stuff. I only brought back the smaller 2 of my copper pots and now I really miss the other 3..

2012 Oct 6
Johanna
I usually use my pictures as resume and portfolio, so I spend so much time and effort into it. I will upload "not so hardcore" pics next time :)

FoodTravel

1: Acetate is resuseable. I wash it by hand.
2: I got my acetate at Goulda's kitchen
www.goldaskitchen.com
I am not sure if it is available in Ottawa.
3:Yes I do have a recipe for genoise from Cordon bleu.
I use tempura flour from Japan instead of pastry flour, genoise is very soft and moist.I will send you a email.
4: I think you can do that.
5:You can use sugar free syrup instead of simple syrup
6:I think you can use sugar free bberry jam. Why not!!

2012 Oct 6
Udon noodle soup. My snack for tonight.

2012 Oct 7
Damn, should have gone wide, not tall


2012 Oct 7
Chimi, how's your bird looking? :-)


2012 Oct 7
It was fantastic! Brined for 12 hours and smoked on my kamado!

2012 Oct 8
Aisu,

Kanata is kind of far for me and I have been a little cautious about buying sushi grade tuna in Ottawa due to concern about their freshness. Any other place you would recommend in East End or downtown. I might go as far as Merivale/Woodroffe area.

Also do you know if it would be better to buy fresh sushi grade tuna on a particular day for optimal freshness? I would probably avoid Sunday and Monday myself. I tend to sear any tuna I buy since I am not 100% sure how fresh they are.

Off topic, had decent sushi in Mikado in Montreal including tuna sashimi and salmon sashimi and freshly grilled unagi sushi plus some rolls.


2012 Oct 8
Zym and chimi,

Nice looking turkey and turkey dinner... Glad I am not cooking it this year lol

2012 Oct 8
After smoking my first bird I found I was not a big fan of smoked poultry so I just roast that bad boy in there. Not the slightest bit of smoke flavour - oh man it was good! Hopefully my wife will post some pics of the rest of the meal - I did the bird and gravy and she did everything else including a fantastic squash pie and some quick no-knead bread

2012 Oct 8
I didn't, actually, but I did grab a pic of the squash pie! ;)

2012 Oct 8
I picked all the usable chilis this weekend - jalapenos, huizaches, abuelas, Crimson Hots, and Spanish Padrons, as well as the last of the tomatillo. I made lunch with some sliced Crimson Hot pepper, sauteed in olive oil, then added the eggs, and served on rye bread toast from The Crusty Baker - tasty!

Great year for hot peppers - I`m only sorry I didn't plant any sweet peppers. One of the first breakfasts my son in law made for himself after moving in with us 2 weeks ago was a toasted Kettleman's bagel which he covered with slices of red jalapenos, seeds and membranes included - he was more than impressed, saying that my jalapenos were the hottest he's ever had. And this guy eats more chili peppers and ground chili than anyone I know. He's looking forward to my freshly ground dried chilis and is making do with cleaning out my last year's stock.

2012 Oct 8
Play with food, Thomas Keller in 10 minutes.
Whipped brie,crostini, freshly ground black pepper.

2012 Oct 8
My Japanese fusion dish
Seared sea scallop with keylime, butter and soy sauce
Lotus root kinpira, keylime pico de gallo.
I wanted to use yuzu citrus instead of keylime. I wish I can buy fresh yuzu in Ottawa.

2012 Oct 8
I used "Benrina" slicer to slice all the veg on this plate.
It works like a charm.

2012 Oct 8
This is a favorite of ours. Recipe says serves six but we can barely get four servings LOL!Penne ala Caprese in Crudo.
www.lidiasitaly.com

2012 Oct 8
FoodTravel

www.pelicanfisheryandgrill.com

At work, get lots fish from here.
www.capitalfish.ca/

Sushi chef order from Toronto too. I think the name of the company is Ozawa
www.ozawa.ca/home.php

Nobu in Montreal is also nice sushi restro
www.sushinobu.ca/#

2012 Oct 9
FoodTravel, there's no reason sushi-grade fish would be any worse in Ottawa than anywhere else (like, say, Vancouver). For fish to be safe for sushi it must be frozen (ref: en.wikipedia.org).

That wikipedia entry has a somewhat concerning mention that Ontario has no guidelines for treatment of fish prior to serving raw. If true, that is scary as hell! BC and Alberta mandate the FDA guidelines to deep freeze fish prior to using for sashimi/sushi.

Googling the topic suggests that there is no guarantee that sushi has been frozen prior to consumption. What is clear, however, is that true sushi experts cannot tell the difference between fresh and properly frozen sushi (ref: www.nytimes.com). The implicit suggestion in there is that if you think you can tell the difference, you're probably fooling yourself. :-)

2012 Oct 10
FF,

With the turnover not as high in Sushi restaurant in Ottawa vs NYC, SF, vancouver, Montreal, etc that actually have a coast. I guess I am sometimes concerned with how long it has been frozen, it it has been properly frozen, and how long it has been defrosted. Also with the prolifiration of sushi places, including some of the AYCE places that are not owned by japanese restauranteurs, does all their staff know about properly frozen sushi grade fish?

Also you depend on the ethics of the restaurant and their owner to toss out expansive fish that is no longer fresh. I think it is actually true that there are no regulation or guidelines for fish served raw in Ontario that is why I look for sushi restaurants that are busy with high turnover.

I have had sushi at Mikado on St Denis recently in Montreal and the salmon and tuna sashimi was very fresh and the unagi tasty and freshly grilled. The rolls were decent for the spicy tuna and very good for the dragon and they had a nice looking spider roll from what they were doing since I was sitting at the Sushi bar.

My best experiences with sushi was with Blue Water Cafe in vancouver and surprisingly enough at Marssa in Lake Las Vegas where they have one of the 7 master chefs in North America?, chef Osamu "Fuji" Fujita. It boggles my mind since that is in the middle of a desert at a hotel which used to be Hyatt Lake Las Vegas then Lowes Lake Las Vegas now Westin Lake Las Vegas. Had sushi there and also the Omasaka for $100 US.

Going for a conference to Las Vegas and really bummed to hear that he was leaving Sept 2012 (so probably left already) to take a job in beverly hills. He is a third generation sushi chef whose father was the personal chef for the Emperor of Japan. Really need to find out where he landed in CA.

This is an interesting article at WSJ about master sushi chefs in Japan and comment why there are so few female sushi chefs..

online.wsj.com

2012 Oct 10
Here is our thanksgiving dinner, cooked in the RV last weekend. Roasted celery root with pearl onions, sweet potato/apple/pecan casserole and duck breast with a grand marnier reduction. Not high points for presentation, and excuse the melamine dinner plate, but we were camping.

2012 Oct 10
And here's our dessert: squash pie, also cooked in the RV, although lacking the finesse of refashionista's beautiful offering above.

2012 Oct 12
Daifuku-mochi is Japanese sweets and it's vegan. Red bean paste and candied chestnut in the soft rice cake.

2012 Oct 12
"The Paella looked great. Is that a real paella pan or a wok or something else?"

Food Travel, indeed this is a genuine paella pan, a wok really wouldn't work IMO.

2012 Oct 13
Cocktail party last night: puff pastries with serrano and russian mustard.

2012 Oct 18
Yeah I had a paella while living in Europe but that and a couple of copper pans did not make it back when I moved back to Canada. They were happy to stay in Europe with friends.

2012 Oct 24
Warm Potato, Egg and Kale Salad, our dinner last night, a request of my dw (second time this fall she's requested this dish!). Found at food.ninemsn.com.au it makes 2 or 3 servings so I had to double it. Mustardy good! I think a nice grilled sausage would be in order here (but we had them the night before with perogies). I added some mustard leaves for extra mustardy goodness. An especially tasty dish with garlic, potatoes, kale, capers, lemon, olive oil, and Dijon. Yum!

2012 Oct 24
Torta di Pepe di Camaiore, a Tuscan rice, Parmesan and pepper dish my daughter made - she's trying to recreate a dish she and her dh had in Italy. Served with our garden greens (yup, still growing, albeit slowly) and much red wine.

2012 Oct 24
Rice inside a pastry crust! What will those crazy Italians think of next?

(That looks so delicious.)

2012 Oct 25
Made this separated salade niçoise with some smoked tuna I still had from Seattle.

2012 Oct 25
Debs, those eggs look like perfection to me. I love the look of this salad!

2012 Oct 27
I call it the carb-loader. Grilled mac and cheese sammy on art-is-in sourdough.
Substituted bacon for the ham and added jalapeno to this recipe. Oh and everything was full fat. Great all on it's own! Even better in a sandwich.
www.myrecipes.com

2012 Oct 27
Rainy day chilli.

2012 Nov 1
Pizza with marinara sauce napoli pepperoni buffalo mozzarella olives and mushrooms cooling on the rack.

2012 Nov 4
Here's what's left of an olive oil & red grape polenta cake after tea today.

2012 Nov 4
Futomaki sushi

2012 Nov 4
Gomoku inari sushi and Salmon temari sushi

2012 Nov 6
Fried catfish on a bed of garlic cilantro lime rice. Very hard to find plain catfish in Ottawa.
www.myrecipes.com

2012 Nov 10
Ken V : Where do you buy catfish in Ottawa? Cat fish with garlic cilantro lime rice sounds really good!

Picture: I made French Macaron with chocolate ganache filling.
Silicone baking sheet does great job.

2012 Nov 10
Four baked goodies
From left to right

Orange honey cigarette
Madeleine
French macaron with chocolate ganache
Almond cookie sandwich rum and raisin butter cream inside.

2012 Nov 10
I want what she's having.

2012 Nov 10
Aisu Kurimu you can get fresh at thenewseafood counter at Produce Depot at Hunclub and Bank or Farmboy has it seasoned but you can ask for it plain but it has to be ordered special they get orders on on Wednesdays I think just ask at the fish counter. You can get frozen at Lapoints in Stittsville.

2012 Nov 11
I have gotten plain catfish at farmboy too.

2012 Nov 15
Ok all you Amateur Food Porn followers. My Neighbourhood Bites is a competition just for you. We are currently looking for amateur cooks, home cooks and foodies with great recipes...which from reading and viewing all your yummy posts...this is exactly for YOU!

Twelve neighbourhoods are competing across the winter months with top three category winners in each neighbourhood having recipes published in a cookbook for the Ottawa Food Bank. Overall winners in the twelve neighbourhoods will be competing in finale event in May 2013 to deem BEST of Ottawa.

We know there is tons of talent in Ottawa and Taboo Eats wants to Expose your Chef-ability! Check out www.tabooeats.com for all details.

Wellington West and Centretown residents and those working in these neighbourhoods apply before the end of November.

2012 Nov 16
Not to complain, you just know I'm going to anyway, but is this BEST OF OTTAWA competition open only to Wellington West and Centretown residents?

2012 Nov 16
There are area's of Ottawa outside Centretown and West Wellington? News to me...
;-)

2012 Nov 17
Mixed berries and chocolate ganache french macaron.

KenV: Thank you for your reply! I will check it out!

2012 Nov 17
Chocolate macarons getting ready to be baked.
I will fill the macarons with chestnut,rum and dark chocolate ganache.

2012 Nov 17
That loods good Aisu. I started getting more into them in Paris but making them seems a lot of work. A friend who used to live in Lyon has a daughter that loves macarons but they are pretty expansive and hard to find in Toronto.

2012 Nov 17
FoodTravel: My chocolate macaron failed :( Very sad.
I want to visit France to try all kinds of pastry, especially Macaron...it has very simple ingredients but you need to know and understand the science behind it...I am still trying to figure out the secrets of macaron.

2012 Nov 18
Focaccia meatloaf sandwich with my apple wood smoked mozzarella and a bacon tomato sauce. Meatloaf and sauce are Lydia's
www.lidiasitaly.com

2012 Nov 20
I saw a cranberry/pistachio/ coconut icebox cookie recipe from Sobeys, so I tried it. Mine doesn't look like the one from Sobeys...but it tastes good.
I would put more pistachio next time.


2012 Nov 20
Cream puff (rum custard cream)
Gateau chocolat classique with Grand Marnier whip
French macaron with chocolate ganache
Cranberry, pistachio and coconut cookie.

My husband told me no goodies for a while :( He is getting bigger.

2012 Nov 21
I'll send you my address!

2012 Nov 21
Saw some tentacles while I was buying brown bag lunch at Whalesbone yesterday.. Never cooked octopus before.

2012 Nov 21
Pressure Cooked, then put in the broiler for 7 minutes a side to give him a bit of colour.

Served with a red wine sweet pepper Jam? Chutney? Spring Green Salad with Mushrooms, and Hard boiled Egg.. (Not Pictured)

2012 Nov 21
So, how did it turn out? Will you buy it again?

2012 Nov 21
It would be need to see Whalesbone cut the tentacle from a live octopus and have the thing wiggle and squiggle up to the point of cooking.

Or better yet ... eat it while it's wiggling and squiggling .. like in Japan.


2012 Nov 21
I enjoyed it, I'll buy it again, I had the idea for Jerk octopus, but didn't have the time to try that, maybe next time.

it was pretty tender, but next time I'd give him another 5-10 minutes in the pressure cooker. Also, I only beat him up for 20 minutes or so beforehand, a lot of advice I had read said to freeze him first or spend at least 40 minutes tenderizing.

Pressure cooker contained Red Wine Vinegar, Basil, Rosemary, Garlic and Bay Leaf, when I threw him in the broiler I added some olive oil, and fresh pepper.

Captain Caper, always like eating live animals it adds a visceral quality to my meal, eating something that is perfectly capable of crawling out however, may be tough..

To be fair I've only ever eaten live shrimp and live oysters, I've yet to sneak onto a farm and bite a cow...

2012 Nov 21
Sous-vide grilled lamb loin with spiced pomegranate glaze, pearl barley pilaf with lemon and pomegranate salad with feta and mint.


2012 Nov 21
English Foodie : My mom used to boil octopus by adding little bit of baking soda in the water. It should help tenderize the octopus.
My favorite Octopus dish is Takoyaki, it is so good.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takoyaki
I heared "Taste Ramen + Fusion" on Bank Street serve Takoyaki, but I have not tried yet.

Stir fried octopus with garlic,olive oil, salt and pepper is also really good. Serve with lemon. I would drink cava with it!

2012 Nov 22
Caperbeachgal: what is your favorite sweets?

From the past

Gateau au chocolat classique with grand marnier whip

2012 Nov 22
Gateau au chocolat classique with grand marnier whip
Hotel banquet style

2012 Nov 22
Gateau au chocolat classique with grand marnier whip
lines and shapes

2012 Nov 22
Aisu Kurimu, I like most sweets but particulary love fruit-based ones, especially blueberry, apple and lemon. I have been admiring your lovely photos of French macarons too. I have never attempted to make them nor have I ever eaten one. I have made meringues but they are free-form and easy.

2012 Nov 22
Caperbeachgal: The basic French macaron has very simple taste since it's ingredients are almond powder, sugar and egg white, so you can kinda imagine the taste. The fun part of making macaron is that you can play with colour, flavour and filling!That's the best part of making macaron...unlimited possibilities!
This picture is from my work, I made them about 2 years ago.(so I shouldn't post this on forum...but want to show you )
Filling was rose water white chocolate ganache. It was soooooooo good.

I love fruit-based pastries, not so much about heavy chocolate cakes.

2012 Nov 23
Leopard macaron

2012 Nov 23
I agree on the fun of making macarons. I was surprised by how much they expand on baking - my first batch turned out the size of wagon wheels. :)
Though needing two hands to hold your cookie is not such a bad thing. The favourite that I've built so far: matcha green tea. Really delcious.

p.s. Time to start an Amateur Food Porn Part II.

2012 Nov 25
Chipotle-Seasoned Pot Roast. Luckily Produce Depot now carries fresh tomatillos.
speakesonemonthatatime.blogspot.ca

2012 Dec 3
My entry for sandwich of the year. Venison tenderloin on a garlic-rubbed focacia bun right before adding brie and placing under the broiler. Onion and mustard followed.

2012 Dec 5
Fried pickerel step #1

2012 Dec 5
Fried pickerel #2

2012 Dec 5
Fried pickerel #3

2012 Dec 6
Smoked nuts-pistachio,cashew,almond and wallnut,pecan.
www.foodnetwork.ca

2012 Dec 7
AMR: I bought matcha green tea after I read your comment!!I will try matche macaron when I have time!

Picture

Tea from Paris.
Thank you FoodTravel, you are so kind!!
Mariage Frères "ÉROS"

2012 Dec 7
Chcolate and Blueberry cheese cake and ÉROS tea.
Very nice treat, after working 12 hours.

2012 Dec 8
Okay, Aisu. You're not allowed to post here anymore.
Your pictures have a more 'professional' feel to them and this thread is for amateurs.

;)

2012 Dec 8
Rizak: Ok, fair enough, I retire from this forum and back to my work. I accept your comment as a great compliment for my porn works...Thank you!
I enjoyed this forum so much:) KenV's food looks amazing.

2012 Dec 8
Aisu I love your pictures. Please don't stop posting them. Maybe if you put them in the regular food porn section rather than amateur? Your work is certainly good enough!

2012 Dec 8
New forum topic: Forum - Aisu Kurimu's food porn :-)

2012 Dec 9
I guess I need to work on my sarcasm. I meant what I said about your pictures being very beautiful and professional looking, but didn't actually intend for you to leave. I think it's great that you'll have your own thread, though. Keep the pics coming!

Hell, I haven't contributed a jot toward this thread with pictures of my own, so my opinion isn't backed up very well with personal effort.

2012 Dec 9
For the fruitcake lovers among us. This year's crop, freshly glazed and ready to be portioned and individually wrapped for giving.

2012 Dec 10
Chicken in oaxacan yellow mole with green beans and chayote.
www.cookstr.com

2012 Dec 11
I've got a bit of a backlog to post, sorry for flooding the topic with a few posts in a row :)

Up first: brined pork rib chop, reverse seared over lump charcoal, served with celery root mash and Brussel sprouts with double smoked bacon. The plate was screaming for a sauce.

2012 Dec 11
Roasted butternut squash soup with a seared scallop and dotted with creme fraiche. Starter to the next post.

2012 Dec 11
Seared steak burrito served with roasted peppers, onions and fresh Avacado. See next post for full plating with side.

2012 Dec 11
Aforementioned burrito with corn, red pepper and jalapeño hash. The recipe for the hash is from a weight watchers cookbook and its awesome.

2012 Dec 11
Applewood Smoked salmon, seared scallops, dill sauce, pearl harvest Israeli cous-cous and green beans with lime butter.

2012 Dec 11
Cranberry sauce in the making.

2012 Dec 11
12 hour brined then apple wood smoked turkey.

2012 Dec 11
King of steaks with sweet potatoe fries and corn slathered in lime butter.

2012 Dec 11
Old-style comfort food, Potatoes with Polish Sauerkraut and hot Debreziner Sausage from the Sausage Kitchen. I've been looking forward this past week to making this tasty dish. Our bellies are full, moreso after also having what may be the ultimate comfort dessert, creamy rice pudding, with a rosemary citrus biscotti on the side.

2012 Dec 11
Andy that looks and sounds so good! Carbs followed by carbs!

2012 Dec 11
Rustic terrine of port soaked dates, apricots, pistachios, chicken livers and pork wrapped in prosciutto.

2012 Dec 12
Breakfast:

Potato and onion latkes, eggs scrambled with chives, smoked salmon and topped with sour cream and another sprinkle of chives.
Garnished with arugula and a drizzle of our olive oil we brought home from Italy.

Keeper for sure.

2012 Dec 12
Quick, easy and delish supper:

Cut spaghetti squash in half, drizzle with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast in oven until cooked.

Then add marinara sauce (White Linen from Costco - so good!), top with home-made meatballs (previously made and then frozen), more sauce and some mixed grated cheese.

Put back in the oven till warmed through and brown cheese if desired.

2012 Dec 17
Christmas baking today - my spiced stollen, made with homemade almond paste, and with raisins and candied orange peel soaked in brandy for the past 3 weeks. It will be sliced, toasted and buttered for our enjoyment, a treat my dw & I look forward to.

2012 Dec 18
Interesting looking stollen. It looks like it is folded over? We make it more like a braided loaf. I'm just wondering what is more traditional.

2012 Dec 18
Hi sourdough. I've never seen a braided stollen, that's cool - I'd like that. I used to buy stollen from a young Swiss baker in Embrun years ago, then we moved to our location now and I had to learn how to make them and all recipes I looked at or tried were the traditional folded shape so that is all I've ever done. Here's a pic of a slice of yesterday's bread. I had a little fire going in the toaster oven this morning because I forgot to knock the loose sugar off the top before toasting it. We're kinda used to toaster oven fires but it is more often likely the almond paste melting that's the cause, but it didn't melt today. btw I used some Red Fife flour in the stollen.
Added note: the Swiss baker went out of business in Embrun but I've heard that he and his wife sell their home-baked goods at some farmer's markets around Ottawa - I wonder if they sell their stollen that so inspired me.

Edit: sourdough, what's the story of your stollen, and why is it braided?

2012 Dec 19
Andy - I'll have to get back to you on that one. My wife bakes it, and it my mom's recipe, which is probably from someone else. Ironically I don't really like the stuff, dried fruit with bread is just not my thing. Anyway I will investigate and see if I can get you some answers.

2012 Dec 26
Boxing day: Leftover ripe persimmons, so I sieved the pulp and made muffins with a little buckwheat flour mixed in, and some Maui sugar on top. They didn't rise super high, but they were very moist and tasty.

2012 Dec 27
Something different for Christmas dinner. 13lb venison haunch. Rubbed with olive oil, garlic, rosemary, oregano puree, plus salt and pepper. Roasted at 325 for about 3.5 hours. Pulled it out at internal temp of 145 before letting it rest. A great crust on the well-done outer edges; close to the bone was rare enough to satisfy the bloothirstiest of carnivires.

My lazy approach to butchering (keeping the leg primal) paid off with a great festive meal. Would definitely do this again.

2013 Jan 1
New Year's Day Breakfast: Buckwheat/Sweet potato/Pecan waffles with cider/orange/cinnamon glazed bacon. We served them with maple butter rather than syrup and a dish of fresh persimmons.

2013 Jan 7
Oh for the love of food...

I'm starving now - Everything looks fabulous!

Here is my submission: Homemade Granola Bars using some of the fruit that I dehydrated in my Excalibur this summer. Cooling off on a wire kitchen rack.

Find the recipe and instructions here:
treasuretrunklifestyles.blogspot.ca

2013 Jan 7
Not sure I know how to post a photo, but here goes. We rent a room to a student in the pastry program at Cordon Bleu. So here is what we have to endure!!! On the left is a fruit tart with a layer of almond cream, and on the right - passion fruit cream!

2013 Jan 8
Quesadilla-Shredded chicken,my majic seasoning,peppers(green,yellow,jalapeno), onion, montery jack and smoked cheddar with tomatillo salsa inside and on the side.

2013 Jan 12
Osso bucco with risotto alla milanese and sautéed green beans.

2013 Jan 13
Black eyes peas and Spanish chorizo in sofrito.

2013 Jan 13
I made some Zwicker Inn fish chowder Friday and invited friends over to enjoy it, and served this sabayon lemon tart with pine nut crust for dessert (with a dollop of Liberté Med. lemon yogurt and yummy Thai basil garnish).

2013 Jan 13
OMG Andy. Zwicker Inn, Mahone Bay about 10 years ago, Mimi,s recepe? If so could you post the recepie please. Loved that chowder....

2013 Jan 13
I've made this terrine twice (Xmas Eve & New Year's Eve) since Laura Robin had it in The Citizen just before Xmas - it's super easy and very tasty; served with garlic bread from The Crusty Baker. It's a Goat Cheese, Pesto and Sun-Dried Tomato Terrine.

2013 Jan 13
Hey southshoregirl, here it is, and it is delicious - a slightly lightened version I think (ie made without whipping cream). I tend to add various things like lobster, shrimp, scallop, haddock or other white fish, more than a pound... My wife made tea biscuits to go with it.

Zwicker's Inn Chowder

1 lb. haddock fillets, (fresh or frozen) or 1 lb. clam meat
1 cup water or clam juice
1 bay leaf
1 cup diced potato
1/4 cup butter
1 stalk celery
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. freshly ground pepper
3 tbsp. flour
2 cups light cream
1 cup milk
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley

HADDOCK: Slice fillets into bite-size pieces; place in saucepan with water and bay leaf. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, about 6 minutes, or until fish flakes easily with a fork. Remove fish with slotted spoon; set aside. Save juice left in saucepan.

CLAMS: Steam about 3 lbs. of clams, strain and reserve juice, and add bay leaf. Remove meat from clams. Or use two cans of clams if you must. Add diced potato to water or reserved juice and cook, covered, 5 to 6 minutes, or until just tender. Set aside, without draining.

In a large, heavy saucepan, melt butter; add celery, onion and seasonings. Fry until tender, about 10 minutes; add flour, stirring over medium heat for 3 minutes, until mixture begins to bubble. Meanwhile, in another saucepan, heat the cream and milk until hot; do not allow to boil. Gradually add cream mixture, stirring constantly until it begins to thicken, about 2 minutes. Stir in potato and cooking water; add fish. Return to the boiling point, and remove from heat. DO NOT ALLOW TO BOIL. Remove bay leaf, sprinkle with parsley and serve in heated bowls.

Zwicker's Inn at Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia, was originally established as a hostelry around 1805, operating for most of the last century. Following renovations that kept the original charm but brought the cooking into the 20th century, the Inn was re-opened as a restaurant in 1980. The Seafood Chowder is rich and famous. Best served with crackers, tea biscuits or freshly baked bread.

Enjoy!


2013 Jan 13
Thanks Andy! I will make it this week. If its half as good as I remember...It will be fantastic..
Thank you, Thank You, Thank You!

2013 Jan 20
Spaghettini with Oil and Garlic. Comfort food.
www.lidiasitaly.com

2013 Jan 22
This is the birthday cake I made last weekend: Not the most beautiful perhaps, but OMG was it good! Three layer banana cake, and the frosting was an egg white, bourbon, walnut and coffee mixture that I could eat by the bowlful.

2013 Jan 23
Yep it is pasta week. Trying to find the best dry pasta at a fair price.
Capellini alla Primavera from lydia.
www.lidiasitaly.com

2013 Jan 23
Ken ... Trying to find the best dried pasta .

Reminds me of an old thread from 2007.

Here it is so (new) Ottawa Foodies can chime in on dried pasta:

ottawafoodies.com


2013 Jan 24
To cold to BBQ so the cast skillet made a rare appearance. Burger is ground NY strip seasoned fried in bacon fat with sauteed onions,cheddar,relish,mayo,ketchup,mustard inbetween some day old calabrese that was slathered in garlic butter and also pan fried. I call it the heart stopper!

2013 Jan 24
A couple of pics of ribs off the bradley from this fall (just emptying out the camera now). Its a nice warm up thought on cold days like this.


2013 Jan 24
and after I sliced them up, ready for noshing.

2013 Jan 27
Puerco Con Chile Verde with rice,pinto beans and home made corn tortillas.
www.foodnetwork.com

2013 Feb 1
Got out for some brook trout ice fishing near Algonquin Park this past December...

2013 Feb 1
...and caught enough to last for a few months...

2013 Feb 1
...the end results.

2013 Feb 1
Nice! Where were you fishing?

2013 Feb 1
Hi zymurgist,

I was at one of the Ontario MNR stocked lakes near Madawaska, accessed off of the Major Lake road via a 2 km walk pulling a sled with gear (it is too rough for snowmobiles or atv's). I ice fish these lakes based on the MNR annual stocking lists; this lake was stocked in 2012 (June) with around 1500 trout, I believe. The earlier you go during the ice fishing season, the better you will do, because as time goes on the stocked lakes get "fished out" (until they are stocked again).

2013 Feb 2
One of my favourite desserts, Thai sticky rice with coconut milk sauce and mango. It's so good when you can find some good mangoes, and really easy to make.

2013 Feb 2
Some lime and fresh Thai basil biscotti I made this week as my dw hadn't had biscotti in a few weeks, poor dear. Will be all gone tomorrow, sadly, as will the last of the mango sticky rice. Gone, but not forgotten...

2013 Feb 5
Seed to Sausage chorizo bacon. Perfect thickness! Burger joints are you listening?

2013 Feb 7
Tiella with spinach,kalamata olives,bacon and smoked mozzarella. Cooled down just in time for supper.

2013 Feb 7
Some nice buttermilk fried chicken parts with homemade buttermilk biscuits and a small romaine salad.

Mmmmm. Buttermilk.

2013 Feb 7
Tried my hand at pizza again, after many years. Dry yeast didn't want to cooperate, took three tries and was still unsatisfactory.

Margherita try. Had bought a stone, but not flouring the pan I built the pizza on meant I had to cook it on there instead. Sauce was reduced Aurora diced tomatoes, and Italian buffalo mozzarella. Tasted nice enough.

2013 Feb 8
So for try #2, I went and got a peel and cornmeal. Worked much nicer. Standard combination (with ground beef instead of pepperoni), and the dough was very dense - hard when out of the oven, but not solid. Same dough batch.

2013 Feb 8
Not my creations, but was a guest at luncheon today. No-bake chocolate cookies and really nice home made banana/orange ice cream. I thought the little sorbet watermelon wedges were a fun idea. She put homemade strawberry sorbet in lime shells and made seeds out of tiny mini m&m pieces.

2013 Feb 13
Scrambled eggs with dill Philly, smoked salmon, capers and many squeezes of lemon. It was kind of the best!

2013 Feb 13
Sautéed kale with garlic, layered in ramekins with feta and parmesan, raw egg on top, baked until white is set but not the yolk. Drench in lemon juice with salt and pepper. ALSO THE BEST.

2013 Feb 14
Corn tortilla doing the puff dance.

2013 Feb 15
Home made poutine using oven-baked fries. Why have I not been making this for my entire life???

Made the gravy using roughly the Jamie Oliver method from one of his Christmas specials. Roast chicken pieces at high heat in the oven with garlic, celery, onion and carrot. Transfer the whole mess to the stove and add a couple pints of water and a few spoons of flour. Boil the crap out of it and strain it. Season. It yields tremendous amounts of tasty gravy. Jamie uses wings, but they aren't cheap anymore. I used dark meat quarters, which I re-crisped in the oven while cooking up my fries - they can hold up to that amount of abuse and still be fairly tasty. But who's kidding who, poutine was the star and over-cooked chicken was a thrifty afterthought.

2013 Feb 17
Last night's dinner. Prosciutto, artichokes, three cheeses and basil leaves.

2013 Mar 23
Grilled burger with smoked provalone,pickel,tomato with a mayo cut with home made tomato sauce all on top of a ciabatta. On the side some roasted potatoes in a butter/Franks sauce with and crumbled blue cheese minced cellery and green onion.

2013 Mar 27
Roasted pork belly hash. Left over pork belly fried up then mixed in with some roasted poblano,onion,red pepper,potato and a bit of hot sauce.

2013 Mar 31
made this for breakfast once....beer batter onion rings, bacon, mozzarella and bacon fat hollandaise.

2013 Mar 31
Kickin old school. Turkey pastrami on toasted rye with Swiss and grainy mustard. Accompanied by fries and spicy ketchup and pickle.

2013 Mar 31
Ken V ..... No that's what I call some down-and-dirty food porn. Not a hint of any air brushing or Photoshop !

...and the kitchen chair in the background works for me on so many levels.


2013 Apr 2
baked potato hollowed out and then stuffed with salsa, cheese curds, hash brown and ham topped with a poached egg

2013 Apr 2
Baked Mac & Cheese. Three year old cheddar,pecorino,double smoked bacon with a sourdough bread crumb top. Slightly modified recipe from How To Cook Everything by Mark Bittman.

2013 Apr 4
Lean ground beef + cabbage + sour cream on special at the same grocery and at the same time = cabbage rolls!

2013 Apr 6
Seafood chowder - the Dragonlady has been jonesing for some more chowder since shortly after I last made it (though this version was a little different).

2013 Apr 8
Homemade Orange Blueberry Scones with the double Devonshire cream and sugar free blueberry jam.

I was afraid to kned it much since the defrosting blueberries were bursting left right and center. More rustic then pretty but it taste great.

Need to try and make cream scone sometime.

2013 Apr 8
More than half of the flank steak from Anderson Farm went to my Mom and she rewarded me with one of my favourites: Beef with stir fried rice cake.

Sliced flank steak marinated in soya sauce, sesame seed oil, corn starch, salt, pepper and a little bit of water. With sliced rice cake from T&T and veggies such as asparagus and mushroom.

2013 Apr 8
2hr braised Lamb shank (front shank, which was taken off of the bone. Served with homemade papardelle - topped with sauteed shiitake mushrooms, garlic and fresh thyme.

2013 Apr 10
Three Amigos:cubed pork butt braised in home made salsa verde then shredded in sauce,on corn with tomatoes lime pickled cabbage,avocado all topped off with smoked Monterey Jack.

2013 Apr 10
Looking REALLY good Ken! Did you smoke the Jack?

I made these for my wife: Oat Scones.

2013 Apr 10
And we had them for breakfast with lemon yogurt and ginger jam; our other favourite topping is Greek yogurt and blackcurrant jam. Both ways are stunningly good for brekkie. For dessert some whipped cream and and a cinnamon or maple apple butter ain't too shabby.

2013 Apr 10
I did smoke it myself Andy. ProduceDpot At Hunclub had fresh tomatillos. The must was the corn shell. I tried a flour tortilla and it just wasn't right.

2013 Apr 14
Lentils with double-smke bacon, cream fraiche,12 hour sous-vide thyme and mustard crusted pork chop and apple, calvados and raisins compote

2013 Apr 14
Sousvide Lobster with Lobster Broth and Mascarpone Orzo,
(from Thomas Keller's French Laundry)

2013 Apr 14
Crab cake with tomato confit, croutons and tartar sauce.

2013 Apr 18
Toasted batard with aioli, romaine, tomato, thick cut double smoked bacon, sliced BBQed chicken and cheddar.

2013 Apr 18
Oh how "Toasted batard" rolls of my tongue.

Thanks for that one Ken.

2013 Apr 21
Never been a fan of lettuce. Two words, Coran Salatasi.
www.dvo.com

2013 Apr 21
Things I've made in the past few weeks or so.

Mango flavoured macarons.
Sponge cake
Quinoa Salad
Roasted red pepper and tomato soup. --> First soup I ever made or attempted to make that did not come from a can!

2013 Apr 23
Salsa Verde cooling.

2013 Apr 23
Looking good Ken. Did you grill them? I still have some tubs of salsa, smoked and grilled, in the freezer from last fall - had some with corn chips and guac and some with black bean tostadas when friends were out last weekend - good stuff! I was surprised to see tomatillos at Produce Depot this spring for only $1.99/lb - a bargain, yes?
What I had cooling tonight was homemade Jamaican beef patties - served them with some mango chutney and hot sauce with a Tree IPA chaser.

2013 Apr 23
Looks tastyAndy. I roasted all the ingredients. Produce Depot has been carrying them regularly. Had fajita tacos with the salsa and a Beaver River IPEh tonight. Used Arbol powder on the chicken it was a hot one.

2013 Apr 25
What's your recipe, Ken? I tried making salsa verde once, but it ended up tasting mostly of soap and I'm not sure what I did wrong.

2013 Apr 25
@ Momomoto. I used the recipe from How to Grill with a few modifications. Can't find it online. This is close.
www.inspiredtaste.net
I went with water instead of chicken stock and left out lime increased the garlic and onion and roasted everything before processing. Also used three jalapenos, one and a half with seeds included for a bit of kick. I gave it a 10 minute cook on medium as well.

2013 Apr 26
@Momomoto Use less soap next time.

2013 Apr 26
Rizak may be right, Momo; I know sometimes in my haste I reach for the green bottle of lime juice and discover a soapy taste in my food...always turns out to be the Dawn I grabbed by mistake.
If you don`t use green Dawn maybe you added some cilantro to your salsa - some people find it tastes kinda soapy, like the gum I used to love, Thrills! If you love thrills you gotta love cilantro, yes?

2013 Apr 26
Hey Andy I may have a solution. Use the blue Dawn it works better LOL! Fresh squeezed limes might help in this dilemma as well;)

2013 Apr 26
All beef, applewood smoked cheddar, bacon and grilled onions. So good I had two.

2013 May 1
So lately I've been into baking.
I made another sponge cake, but this time I made a dark chocolate custard to be topped with whipped cream before serving with lots of strawberries in and on it.

I also made a decorated swiss roll filled with a mango infused whipped cream!
Very happy with how it came out! Polka dots are just so cute!

also been trying to do some latte art. I can't do rosettas or the ones that require you to quickly sway the "crema" to make the pattern.
youtube can't teach me to do that right.
so I've only done simple designs.

also included, one small dog looking for dropped food... haha

2013 May 4
Carne asada tacos for lunch today. Grilled sirloin, thinly sliced and mixed with my thick, grilled tomatillo salsa, topped with onion, green onion from the garden, cilantro, avocado and tomato, all topped with a squeeze of lime juice and some chipotle hot sauce. All on homemade corn tortilla. All good!

2013 May 4
"All on homemade corn tortilla" WOW !!

Andy.. Please set up a REAL taco stand in Hintonburg.

2013 May 5
Lux mac-n-cheese

2013 May 5
Spice-rubbed lamb chops with arugula-mushroom salad

2013 May 5
Some thigh rubbed with a mix of bone dust basic BBQ rub and arbol pwr. Cooked over oak resting

2013 May 5
Just foolin' around: orange segments, rosemary, pepper, cayenne, couple drops of rice vinegar, smoked salt.

2013 May 5
Lamb roast (before the fire...)

2013 May 6
Murgh Chaat

2013 May 7
Back ribs dry rubbed cooked over hickory on the kettle.

2013 May 16
Hash with aioli.

2013 Jun 14
Is this thread winding down? are people just cooking less or not taking pictures anymore? Is this thread taking too long to open? Time for a last kick at the can?

Last night's dinner: pizza, made using refashionista's very good pizza dough with dark rye, topped with Mediterranean goat cheese with mixed with lemon, sherry and smoked Spanish hot pimenton, plus chorizo, olives, peppers and asparagus and topped with some dried ground Spanish Padron peppers for a bit of peppery zing.

2013 Jun 14
Wed. we had a quinoa corn salad with asparagus, freshly picked cilantro and a ripe Huizache ancho chili from the garden. Yup, first pepper of the season (but it is from a plant I overwintered); on the side some cheddar and pickled hot pepper focaccia from The Crusty Baker.

2013 Jun 14
I post this for all the snickers and guffaws that these muffins regularly receive when I tell people they are Prune Muffins. Oh well, I like my prune muffins. Let them eat a Timmies' muffin and drink a doubledouble! I'll enjoy my cup of Ugandan Bugisu and a prune muffin...go ahead and enjoy your snicker or guffaw...

2013 Jun 14
Andy Thanks for reviving this thread. I do not have a smart phone/DSLR but enjoy seeing the lovely photos everyone has been posting!

As for the ancho peppers you used in your quinoa salada - aren't they dried poblanos?...

As for those muffins they look delicious! What time is breakfast?-;)

2013 Jun 14
Andy I like Prune anything, and those muffins look amazing. What else is in them?

2013 Jun 14
Pastalover, technically they are poblanos so technically I'm wrong again. I've been referring to them all winter as anchos cause that's what I've been using, my dried anchos. Nice to have a fresh poblano taste in my salad.
So, you like prunes - thumbs up! And thanks.

blubarry, here's the basic rec: www.food.com
I made some changes like replacing some of the flour with Red Fife whole wheat flour, replacing the white sugar with dark brown, adding in nuts (walnuts this time - the nut that gets just a little bit more respect than prunes), and sprinkling the top with coconut palm sugar and cinnamon before baking rather than dipping in butter and cinnamon sugar. There is also some cinnamon (and sour cream) in the muffins for more flavour. I also add about 1/4 cup of milk as the dough is very thick and could add a bit more than that but never have. They are dense muffins that don't rise much and are best eaten with a coffee, tea or glass of milk as they are rib-sticking little cakes. And tasty! The original recipe is good too, btw.
Thumbs up and thanks!

2013 Jun 14
Andy I want to eat at your house!

2013 Jun 14
Better hurry then Caperbeachgal; happy hour starts in an hour and we'll be eating guacamole and salsa and corn chips til we're full (although there might be a few prune muffins left for dessert). Head out to Mountain - we're in the house beside the field of spring wheat blowing in the wind and sun! We'd be happy to have someone with a bit of CB in their blood visit.
And thanks, you're too kind. I love to eat at other people's houses (yours included), even if it's just what we're having tonight with our beer and G&T's.
Cheers!

2013 Jun 15
Baby Backs done Rendezvous Style.

2013 Jun 21
I had some pizza dough in the freezer, leftover from a week ago, and for some reason got a hankering for an Indonesian pizza??? Never heard of one but it gave me an excuse to make some satay sauce. So I topped the dough with that and some grated mozzarella, then added some leftover cooked chicken I had marinated in satay sauce and spices, some onion, red peppers, carrots, and mango, then baked it. When done I topped it with fresh coriander, roasted peanuts, toasted coconut, and squeezed some lime juice over it and the we ate it. Yum. Very tasty.
My dw said it was like eating a stir fry on a pizza crust.

2013 Jun 21
I was having some buttered chicken a couple of nights ago and was wondering if I could have used the butter chicken sauce as a base and have chicken, red pepper, mushroom, red onion on pizza crust or naan bread with mozzarella cheese.

uhmm....

2013 Jun 21
Andy and FT - first looks awesome, second pretty sure you could make a mean butter chicken pizza as described. I've also done a pretty yummy, but hugely caloric pulled pork pizza. Cheese, pulled pork, bell peppers, some hot peppers (or better yet home made smoked poblano salsa), onions and topped with cilantro.

2013 Jun 21
Oh ya, FT, butter chicken pizza - on naan or pizza dough - sounds good to me.

Sourdough, pulled pork pizza? Well now you're talking. We had pulled pork last night on some of Moomie's buns, tonight leftover Greek burgers on the leftover Moomie's buns, so I gotta do something with the leftover pulled pork tomorrow. I was thinking of maybe of putting it on some pupusa as I've done before but you may have inspired me! Thanks.

2013 Jun 23
Baked beans for breakfast -- one of those foods that tastes best as leftovers, IMO. ;) These are made with Jacobs Cattle beans, grown in my parents' Nova Scotia backyard last season.

2013 Jun 23
With the heat finally here it was time for a batch of Raspado de Sandia y Frambuesa.
www.rickbayless.com

Not being a big sugar fan I cut the sugar in half added a bit more lime juice and watermelon and mira aqui!

2013 Jun 28
This pic just got my mouth watering all over again for that bbq'd Greek burger on a toasted Moomie's bun with evelyn/athen's world famous tzatziki, tomato, onions, sheep feta and arugula - my wife didn't like this pic, too messy, but I remember it for the entry bite which was indeed memorable. The oversize bun makes for less messy eating as you finish your burger.

2013 Jun 28
Thanks for the suggestion above, sourdough! This is the pulled pork pizza I made. I formed the crust, brushed with oil, spooned my bbq sauce on, covered with mozz. cheese, then pulled pork, onions, peppers and asparagus, drizzled some more bbq sauce over top and baked. My wife said "Well, this is a goood way to eat pulled pork!" I more than second her opinion.

2013 Jul 3
Glad it worked out Andy. Looks great! Pulled pork nachos works good too - similar ingredients on a bed of corn chips.

2013 Jul 22
Smoked chorizo taco with tomatillo salsa, pickled onions and jalapenos, tomato, lettuce and fresh mozzarella.

2013 Jul 24
Good and simple. Half a large orient express cuke on a 5" homemade bun with mayo, S&P, and ground hot chilies. Yum. It's cucumber season. Yum.

2013 Aug 12
Enchiladas! www.cookstr.com

2013 Aug 23
About once a week I try to make a new dish using a recipe I have in a cookbook or pinned from Pinterest. This creation was a Pinterest offering and it was heavenly. I greatly preferred the panko crumbs to traditional breadcrumbs.

Edit: I'd add a link to the recipe but I'm not too sure how to do it on here. The help section just mentions linking to vendors and food on the forum.

2013 Aug 24
This is my contribution to a wonderful summer luncheon al fresco today. Wild blueberry tart on an almond crust with grand marnier whipped cream

2013 Aug 25
blubarry
Your blueberry tart must be so tasty...I really enjoyed your blueberry cream cheese pound cake, it was one of the best pound cake I ever had.
I will try to make one like that at home, wish me good luck!

2013 Aug 25
aisu...the trick is to use the tiny wild blueberries. I cook a cup of them with sugar and cornstarch, lemon juice and grand marnier. Then I chill that for about an hour, and just before serving I mix in 3 cups of fresh uncooked blueberries and put them in the shell. I find that using them raw gives a lot of flavour.

2013 Aug 25
theup: Linking to the recipes can be done just by pasting the URL into the text box. I don't remember if HTML tags work, but the URL will be there all the same.

blubarry: I've heard that pearl tapioca really works well as a thickener, too, but I don't remember from whom I heard it (America's Test Kitchen or Alton Brown, probably?)

2013 Sep 8
This is the pie/cobbler hybrid I baked last weekend when we were camping. Frozen Pepperidge Farm puff pastry and fresh Pennsylvania peaches from the Potsdam Farmer's market.

2013 Oct 2
Pepper day 2013 - dehydrated 3 racks of them today in convection oven @ 140 deg. F. about 7 hours. The house has been a pepper lover's haven all day with the smells.

2013 Oct 3
Mexican Rice. www.food.com

2013 Oct 14
I made my first soup this weekend: Roasted butternut squash (with celery, onion, veggie broth, pepper and sage).

I was quite proud.

Recipe: www.tasteofhome.com

2013 Oct 19
I posted the recipe for this salad or a simpler version of this here > Forum - Simple recipes for a crowd#new. Chicken and bacon tortellini with a whole bunch of garden greens 'n stuff from the garden this afternoon, Oct 19, 2013: spinach, mustard, kale, Swiss chard, arugula, cos lettuce, sorrel, and garlic, green onions, zucchini, tomatoes, tomatillo, 3 kinds of peppers, and peas (the last of my second planting of peas - they were awesome this fall!). Also on there are Kalamatas, feta, smoked gouda, etc. - things I haven't yet learned to grow.
Dw and I enjoyed it all immensely, knowing that the end is near.

2013 Oct 19
@Andy, that looks good . . .

2013 Oct 29
Thanks Francis.

A tomatillo chili cornbread cobbler.

Made tomatillo chili for dinner last night (inspired by this rec: food52.com) using up some of the last tomatillo picked before the weekend and tonight I used most of the leftover chili to make a version of this rec: www.epicurious.com which I have made various versions of for half a doz. years. I love putting the cornbread on top of the hot chili and baking it.
My dw practically sang out its praises!

2013 Nov 2
Sweet Potato Biscuits fresh and hot!

2013 Nov 2
spiced pear upside down cake.

2013 Nov 4
My daughter started her own food blog (with a bit of help), here is her latest entry
nibblenibblechompclick.blogspot.ca

Shameless plug from proud dad.

2013 Nov 4
Forgot to take pictures but Sausage Kitchen Marguez with Moroccan vegetable stew with 7 vegetables (onion, fennel, turnip, parsnip, carrots, sweet potatoes, zucchini) and chick peas on couscous.

Wish I can find good Couscous Royal in Ottawa. May have to buy some lamb shoulder and chicken and do it myself.

2013 Nov 10

Cooked up a couple of favourite eats this week: these are beets, Beet and Coriander Puree from Rosso & Lukins "The New Basics". I make them once a year, every fall, and freeze them for use when needed. They are surprisingly good to me and are a tasty way to use up 6 lb of the beets (usually pretty big ones) in the fall garden. They are so good to pull out of the freezer throughout the year to enjoy the flavours and colour with a variety of dishes. I leave 'em a little bit chunky as I like a little texture. A great use for some of that home-grown coriander seed. (contains ground seed, no fresh coriander leaves btw).

2013 Nov 10

and these are some Chive and Onion Twists I made this afternoon. I used green onions in place of the chives as I still have them in the garden (the chives have suffered with the repeated frosts). I flavoured the filling with butter, onion, green onion, pecorino romano, hot curry powder, and kalongi. A lovely appy, with the recipe coming from a posting at Gail's Recipe Swap years ago by Keith from the Isle of Man. Yum!

2013 Dec 4
A Mexican flavored shepherds pie. Hit with some broiler time for some crunchy cheesy goodness.

2013 Dec 8
Nice Ken!

I've some Mexican goodness too: roasted vegetables + local goat cheese enchiladas with a grilled tomatillo sauce, served up last night with some local Mexican chorizo sausages and some Coronas.

2013 Dec 8
These Apple Pie Cookies (recipe from smitten kitchen) look good but I don't know how they taste - I can only imagine because they all got eaten before I could grab one at a party we had last weekend. Will make again and will try them! My dd says they are also good made with raspberries or blueberries or... Imagine that.

2013 Dec 14
Looking good Andy! Tried my hand a baking helping with the Christmas bake.Started with toasting pecans,walnuts,almonds them mixing them into a candy brittle then topping with bitter sweet chocolate and dusting with regular and smoked sea salt. Have to wait till they cool before breaking up and trying.

2013 Dec 14
Hey Ken, can Christmas baking be food porn? Something just doesn't seem right about that thought!
SO how was the chocolate nut brittle? Rhetorical question - it was great, no doubt about it, eh?!
So here's an old Xmas fave of mine, food porn or not I love 'em. Little spicy ginger cookies called Hottendots. They are about the size of a quarter; I used to make them smaller, the size of a penny, trying to compete with all those Oma's back in the old countries, but I can't beat them for the tiniest Hottendots in town. Pic is of today's crispy/chewy cookies. One recipe makes 15 dozen or more.

2013 Dec 15
I'm a pretty novice cook, and this is the second time I've made mac & cheese using real ingredients (not from a box). I found the recipe (cooking-in-college.com) on Pinterest, and I try to make at least one thing a week from the recipes I pin.

In this recipe you cook the noodles in the milk, so it reduces and makes a sauce once you add the cheese. I added to the recipe baking it in the oven with some sprinkled cheese, bread crumbs and Italian seasoning on top. Next time I think I will use Panko bread crumbs to add more texture.

2013 Dec 15
Okay, this is olde-timey porn. The kind that you used to have to read, not dependent on pictures or video. Though, pics may come later.

This is something I'm planning to make for the last F.O.O.D. Show of the year.

VANILLA WHISKY SALTED CHOCOLATE BACON DELIGHT

Thick cut bacon, soaked in Wiser's vanilla flavoured whisky, then baked in the oven until crispy, one edge coated in a lovely strip of milk chocolate, and dusted with a touch of smoked salt. I almost had a heart attack just writing that.

I think dark chocolate might be better, but don't have any just now. I may go get some.

2013 Dec 15
Rizak - Do you deliver?

2013 Dec 20
I've changed the name to PIG CANDY. Much easier to remember, and to type.

So good.

Okay, I went out and got a brick of Callebaut bittersweet chocolate to edge the bacon with and it is just gorgeous. You don't really want any more than that.

I think this is almost as good as the bacon cinnamon buns. Nothing can compete with that, though.

2013 Dec 26
Christmas breakfast was maple glazed pepper bacon with apricot french toast casserole. The french toast was completely awesome, and the recipe is here: www.finecooking.com

2013 Dec 28
I made my first shepherd's pie on Boxing Day. I found the recipe online (menumusings.blogspot.ca), and modified it slightly (more beef stock, no wine, no frozen peas, sub thyme for Italian seasoning). I loved it! It was one of the best things I have ever made. It took about 2 hours to make, which I think has a lot to do with my novice cooking skills, but it was so worth it in the end. It was wonderfully seasoned and I couldn't eat enough. I really loved the fact that it didn't require any of those club house/St. Hubert mixes. You can see in the picture that some of the sauce oozed up the top, so I think next time I'll have the meat sauce portion reduce a bit more.

2013 Dec 31
Made these garlic parmesan pull-apart rolls a couple of nights ago! I used the recipe here (www.melissassouthernstylekitchen.com), but modified it to use Pillsbury flakey rolls instead of frozen dinner roll dough. Reason 1: Couldn't find frozen dinner roll dough. Reason 2: I didn't have over 2 hours to watch it rise + the 30/40 minutes for it to thaw.

They were a HUGE success! They reminded me of the bread at Jack Astors. I did find, though, that they were on the salty side, so I may either use unsalted butter, or omit the additional salt.

2014 Jan 2
Happy New Year Everybody! We hosted an open house yesterday, and this is the Rustic Pork Terrine I made which also has bacon, chicken livers, pistachios and port soaked dates. All wrapped in prosciutto. It's an annual favorite.

2014 Jan 6
Tacos with pulled pork on Beer Corn Tortillas, yup, that's right, beer tortillas. I replaced the water in the tortillas with Schneider Weisse. I was given a cookbook for Xmas from friends south of the border and the recipe is in there. The Craft Beer Cookbook by Jacquelyn Dodd, a craft beer lover who has a very beery recipe blog that has lots more good ideas for cooking with beer thebeeroness.com/. I don't have a lot of wheat beers in the cold room and I was tempted to use a Coup Grisou buckwheat beer, one I quite like for it's unique flavours. The beer tortillas have a great smell and really good flavours with that wonderful masa flavour and smell and that Weisse character mixed in.

They'll be on the menu when The Captain and I open up our taco stand!

2014 Jan 7
So what do you do with leftover beer corn tortillas? Glad you asked.
You make tortilla soup, full of cut up tortilla, topped with fried tortilla strips and some good sour cream, and made with Xmas turkey and stock from the freezer. My kind of comfort food, richly flavoured and filling, and oh-so-good on a cold and windy winter's night.

2014 Jan 8
I hate this thread so much.
...SO HUNGRYYYYY...

Here, have a picture of the Cthulfruut that assaulted me at Metro last night... aka Buddha Hand Citron, but don't be fooled, that thing's an alien facehugger if i ever saw one...


2014 Jan 26
factoid: Buddha's hand is a traditional material used in Ikebana (Japanese floral arranging). I would use the wide open one pictured, as it has more of a "floral" appeal, but as a religious offering, the ones that look more like closed hands are preferable.