Tag Archives: Professional Cooking

So the ll’s are Silent

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English is the only language that I know.

Its not that I wouldn’t love to know another language, its just, with 2 kids, and about a bazillion other things I should be learning for my career, there really isn’t a whole lot of time to spend trying to learn another language just for “fun”.

When we were first threw out the idea of an extended trip to Europe, one of my first thoughts was to sign up for either French or Spanish lessons – both of which would come in handy for the trip. The idea of learning, and being able to speak another language while we were away was something I thought would be super fun (…..terrifying) and beneficial for all of us.

Well the months passed, and I just never got around to sourcing a language class.  I even have a friend that just got her “official translator” designation (www.anythingandnothing.com). She speaks French, English, Spanish – AND she teaches lessons.  Now the thought of having someone I KNOW try and teach me another language – well that was a scary thought in itself. You know…… not being able to hide behind some guy named Johnny, in a classroom, and getting grilled on how to say something in another language…. well that was obviously way too much to think about, let alone do!

So here I sit, 3 weeks away from our trip and only being able to speak English.  I can read a bit of the written French language and muddle my way through, and have some common phrases down in French and Spanish, but my biggest fear (totally unfounded forsure) with a foreign language……. is saying the word incorrectly……

Last week we made Paella to continue on our culinary journey.  While shopping for ingredients I would say Paella phonetically when people asked what I was making……  It wasn’t till a couple of days later, after enjoying the amazingly delicious seafood rice, while talking to a good friend of mine that she made the correction for me.

“You say Pae-yay-yah…. the ll’s are silent….. similar to Tort-i-yah”

Yup….. I feel silly….. probably even turned a shade or two of red!

Mike and I had no mojor language barriers 12 years ago travelling through France….. so hopefully there won’t be any this go around now that we have 2 kids in tow, and are hitting up Spain!

So the ll’s are silent…….good to know.

Damn I find languages frustrating….. I wonder if there is an app on my phone for this!  😉

Enjoy your Daily Dose

Xox

B.

local BC seafood…. so sweet …. so yummy!

My precious!

Paella rice – grown in Spain, specifically for this dish

Rice MEP

Cooking on the BBQ grill for even heat – worked like a charm!

Another de-lish and inexpensive Spanish red

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A Big Ol’ Bowl of Magic and a Half Marathon

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This past week saw the kiddies get hit hard by a virus. To say it has not been the best week in our house would be an understatement, but I think we have made our way through the worst of it….. well for the kiddies anyway!

I was unsure what to cook for our travels this week.  With everyone either sick or on the verge of being sick, cooking a themed dinner was not high on my list of priorities. It never seems to fail that when you are really looking forward to (not to mention training really hard for) something, a virus or illness always seems to creep into the picture!  It happened to Mike earlier this year when he was to run the “First-Half” Half Marathon, but became so ill he was unable to move.  I don’t think he got out of bed for 3 days!!  So this was my weekend, and it was an important one.  I was to be running in one of my favourite races, the Vancouver Half Marathon……. I was not about to get sick!

As I was going through The Food of Spain cookbook, my initial thought was that a soup would be nice.  Something warm, super easy, yummy. Everyone would feel better!  There were a few different recipes for soup in the book, but the one I kept coming back to was Gazpacho.  It’s not a warm soup, but a cold soup, and its best served really, REALLY, COLD!  The thought of all the raw yummy veggies packed full of vitamins was enough to convince me that this is EXACTLY what our family needed!  I wanted to keep with the Tapas style menu and decided to also make Tortilla….. aka Potato Omelette.

Now I have a Gazpacho recipe that I love.  I have no idea where I got it from……  all I know is its on my computer, in my documents folder, and I LOVE it.  With that said, I am trying to stay pretty authentic in my dinners, so I decided to use a recipe in my cookbook.  The  recipe in the book definitely has fewer vegetables than my recipe, (maybe my recipe is the V-8 version), but the one in the book also has the addition of soaked and puree’d bread.  I was totally intrigued by this, and have since found that I REALLY like this little addition.  The bread gives the soup a real nice texture and richness.  The soup was a pretty delicious, but both the kiddies were uninterested (I think due to them both being sick).  Brodie, managed a few big spoonfuls, while little Syd could only bring herself to try just one bite.  I personally, had a second helping of the soup, and then managed to eat all the leftovers on Saturday.

Now…… I wish I could say yummy and good things about the Tortilla that I made.  The recipe even states “such a simple dish, so difficult to perfect…… The Tortilla is the dish by which to judge a tapas bar.”  Uuummmm ….. OK……so I LIKE things to be PERFECT! I really should have read that and decided to try a different recipe…. that was the red flag waving high in the air for all to see! Did I listen…. no… of course not!

Having made this dish, I honestly can’t wait to try this in an authentic Spanish Tapas Bar.   It is the one dish I thought was sooooooo BORING!  I didn’t like how it looked, and I didn’t like how it tasted. Maybe I didn’t add enough salt, maybe the potatoes were cut to thick…. maybe I just didn’t have a clue what I was doing….. I’m still at a bit of a loss on this one, but in no hurry to make it again! Mike however, seemed to REALLY enjoy it, (eating 2 whole pieces).  Brodie had a few bites….. and little Syd, well she had none!  You can bet that this topic it will pop up again on the blog during our travels through Spain!

I am happy to report that both the kiddies and Mike are on the road to recovery.  It is always tough when the kiddies are sick.  Very often, you wish it was you, and that they didn’t have to go through it…… however…… that was not my thought until Sunday at 10:30am. Race weekend was pretty important and I managed to stay healthy enough to have a pretty decent half marathon finishing in 2:14:54.  It was a beautiful new course, in one FABULOUS city! You really should do it if you haven’t… an amazing run…..you won’t be disappointed!

I have no doubt that my determination in not getting sick played a big part in keeping the virus at bay till after race day, however I also think the Gazpacho played an even bigger part with all the freshly pureed vitamins and minerals!  Well it looks like I now need to make another big batch of Gazpacho….. I am getting pretty hard hit with the same thing the kiddies and Mike had…. time for that big ol’ bowl to work her magic!

Enjoy your Daily Dose.

Xox

B.

Fresh Roma Tomatoes blanched and ready to be peeled.

Soup Garnish

A touch of EVOO and a little S&P to mix it all together

Hello Big Ol’ Bowl of Magic

Not my favourite dish…..

For me…. So yummy!

For MIke…..

One of the worlds most beautiful half marathon courses…. on your “bucket list” it should be!

2:14:54  So FUN!

The Little Red Tin of Awesomeness

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Well here she is folks:  The Little Red Tin of Awesomeness!

(and I will come back to her importance in a bit!)

This past week, we started our culinary journey just over the border from France and into Spain. Since I  thoughoghly and 100% enjoyed cooking from The Food of France cookbook, I decided to pick up The Food of Spain cookbook.  If you are looking for an uncomplicated, tasty, and authentic meals, these are definitely the books you should check out….. they are pretty great!

When we travel to Spain in July 2012, we will be hitting both the west coast (staying in San Sebastian) as well as the east coast (staying in Barcelona) of Spain. This past week, for our dining adventure, I decided we would be having a couple of different “tapas” (small Spanish savoury dishes), a chicken dish, as well as a seafood dish.

The nights menu consisted of :

Tortillitas de Gambas con Salsa Romesco

Pollo en salsa de Ajo

aka:

Prawn Fritters with Romesco Sauce

Chicken in Garlic Sauce

Sooooooo……. the kids have NOT been exposed a lot of seafood in their short little lives (I know…..weird…..we live on the west coast of Canada).  So with this thought in mind, I thought it was best to “disguise” the shrimp (now this might be a bit of a “no-no” in the book I’m reading – French Kids Eat Everything {and Yours Can Too}), but I haven’t gotten that far in the book, so…….. I made “Tortillias De Gambas”.  I chopped up the shrimp and make a “prawn pancake”, (yes I even called it a “pancake” for Brodie sake) served with a romesco sauce for dipping.

Now cooking these dinners has been a bit of a challenge for me.  The “Chef” in me has really been holding back on my natural impulses for changing recipes.  It has all been for the sake of creating “authentic” national dishes that I have not acted on these impulses.  With that said, and the recipes I chose this past weekend, I really thought that the Prawn Fritters was the one dish, that, so far, could have used a bit of livening up (a hit of lemon zest, some cilantro….. ).  It totally would have brought the dish to life…… but then, maybe not so “Spanish”?!? RIGHT?!?)).

The Romesco sauce was nothing short of AMAZING! My first I thought was that I had made way too much sauce, but it turns out, it was just the right amount since we couldn’t get enough of the stuff, and ate it like it was going out of style!

The Chicken in  Garlic Sauce was  as close to “unbelievable” as you can imagine.  WOW, it was soooooo good!  My total favourite of the night,and maybe even since I stared writing this whole blog thingy.  The caption for the recipe even states…..

“……in a way that is so impressive the dish will soon enter your repertoire of everyday meals”.

To say I was a bit sceptical as I was preparing the dish was a bit of an understatement, but this dish took me by total surprise….  happily, 150% by surprise!  It was so AMAZING…. it really was not something I was expecting from reading the recipe when deciding to put it on our evening menu.  Really, the only reason I picked it, was because it was chicken, and the kids like chicken!

I am happy to say that Brodie LOVED it …. although at one point he stated “my lips are burning a bit”…… yes little man…… it will take some time to get used to the Smoked Sweet Paprika (aka the Little Red Tin of Awesomeness)!  Little Syd (being the tough nut she is…) was not such a fan. I think she is gonna be a hard one to convert (too all types of food) no matter what. Unless of course we are going to Japan…. then I know that girl would EAT!  But since we are not……..

Well that brings me back to “The Little Red Tin of Awesomeness”,

aka… Sweet Smoked Paprika!

I have used this little gem in my Turkey Chilli for a number of years (though, not much else aside from this), and it is the one addition that everyone asks about when they inquire about my chilli.

Now there are a couple of things I learned about whlle making this dinner

1. Sweet Smoked Paprika is in 2 of 3 recipes, so I need to have it on hand.

2. I now need to go and replenish my supply of Sweet Smoked Paprika before Friday and our next “inspired” meal, since it was all used up this past weekend, and you can almost bet its gonna be in at least one of the dishes I decide to make this coming weekend!

If you don’t already have this “Little Red Tin of Awesomeness”  in your pantry….. make your way to the grocery store to get some …… she is a delight to have in your cupboard. You will be happy to have it on hand and to add to just about any of your recipes, especially if you ever intend on cooking traditional Spanish meals!

Enjoy your Daily Dose.

Xox

B.

Hello Romesco….

Mmmmmm…  yummy goodness!

Fritters…. aka “Pancakes”!

Chop chop chop

I see you little red tin of awesomeness!

Tasty… but needs a bit of an “tweak” for my taste

This was beyond AMAZING!

Mmmmmmmm……. the finished product.

$10.00 red and it was so de-lish….

Mikes beer, crafted especially for food pairing… although he didn’t drink it from a champagne glass like directed! Oh Mike!

Looks like the little man is as excited as I am to get to Europe!  I LOVE the Eiffel Tower “space ship”!

The “Unintentional” Food Blog

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Ok ….. so…….it looks like I am doing an “unintentional” food blog leading up to our European adventure. Ooooops!

This past weekend, after much internal debate, on how I was letting the kids (and myself) down, I decided that I would NOT be doing a themed dinner with the kiddies…..  ugghhhhhh ………seriously…….. the guilt…. this was my goal leading upto the trip!  So with Mike still away on business, I really couldn’t (now you should really read “didn’t want too”) muster the energy to try and pull off  a European themed dinner.

On Friday night, the kiddies and I were lucky enough to be invited to a friends house for dinner.  Tandori chicken was served. India……. Closer to Europe than Canada,  yes……but, alas, not on our trip itinerary so…..

On Saturday we spent the afternoon, and  well into the evening at 3rd beach in Vancouver. So really, “THE ONLY” thing we could do, was order sushi, and do a “pick up” enroute home.  I did however, once we returned home, boil water for a bowl full of edemame, and then added some super nice sea salt, but really, that is where the cooking ended for me on Saturday night.  Sunday night we were with “Grammy”, and cooking once again, was thankfully, out of my hands.

That brings us to today.

Since Mike was landing at YVR in the late afternoon after 10 days in Europe, my thought was, what better way to celebrate him being home, than with a European inspired dinner!

With my culinary training being mostly French, I decided not to stretch my comfort zone too much, and to once again look to France for inspiration.  I decided it was going to be a relatively easy meal….. Quiche Lorraine.   It’s a dish I thought both kids would enjoy, and, you know…..  it’s not overly complicated.  Brodie IS getting more adventurous with food, and Sydney… well she LOVES eggs…. win-win!

Hahahahaha…..

While shopping for the dinner I saw “THE BIGGEST ARTICHOKES” I had ever seen…..I  then proceeded to think of all the hundreds (and hundreds) of itty bitty small artichokes I cleaned over the years working in a professional kitchen for Artichokes Barigoule…. Now don’t be fooled people….. its “super fun”  cleaning 100’s of baby artichokes!….. you really should try it!  😉

At first I didn’t think too much about the artichokes, but then thoughts kept coming back to me and how much they remind me of France!  I do, however, think it’s mostly from photographs and cookbooks…… and not something that I remember from being there in  April 2000 while on my honeymoon.

It was right then I decided that we would have steamed artichokes and lemon butter as our vegetable accompaniment to our Quiche. YAY!  I also picked up some fresh kale as I knew the kiddies would love to help out with the prep for kale chips.

I had the kiddies pick and wash the kale.  They then helped splash the kale with olive oil, sprinkle with sea salt, and placed it on the trays for the chips.  They were in heaven!  I prepped the artichokes and got them steaming as I knew they would take “a long time to steam” given their size.  The quiche was straight forward. Bacon, eggs, heavy cream, salt and pepper…… I decided to add Gruyere Cheese to the recipe even though the “cookbook” I have didn’t call for it…… the “recipe” that I know has cheese, and that was confirmed by many online searches…… just to make sure.

Dinner took a bit longer to bake then expected, so the kiddies ate the entire bowl of kale chips….. YAY!  Once dinner was on the table, Brodie looked intrigued by the steamed artichoke and lemon butter for dipping, as well by the “slice of egg pie” in front of him.  Sydney however, came to the table, and proclaimed with the most “sour” looking face…… “I don’t want that” and with tears in her eyes, she sat on the floor with her “Playmobil” doll house and sulked.

It turns out that Brodie actually LOVES artichokes… I actually think its a “butter and salt” thing, but I am willing to give it to him since he ate over half of the artichoke leaves! Sydney…. well she has no idea on the “awesome-ness” that she is missing out on!  She refused both the Quiche Lorraine, and the steamed artichokes with melted lemon butter…… and not to mention, SALT!  Since she is “THE BIGGEST” salt fiend around,  I know, she will one day be remorseful….. HELLO…….all that SALT!

Quiche Lorraine….. well……she was delightful and super tasty!  Everyone in the family was in agreement except for “Little Syd”…. hopefully next time little lady!

In the  cookbook I have, it states that Quiche Lorraine is traditional dish served it on “May Day” also known as Labour Day.  It is a French National Holiday and will be held on May 1 2012.  Looks like I’m jumping the gun a bit here, but that was “unintentional”….. pretty much like writing a food blog….. hmmmm…….. interesting.

Enjoy your Daily Dose

Xox

B.

Saturday night at Third Beach in Vancouver….. no…. I wasn’t going to cook!

Hello Lorraine!

The “LARGEST” artichokes EVER…. seriously…..no joke.

The “Little Chefs” cooking’ it up!

Fun with Kale!

The makings for our Quiche

Hello Lorraine… nice to “finally” see you!

Simple and delicious…. Steamed Artichokes with Lemon Butter

The little man is LOVING artichoke and I am super happy….  😉

With all the craziness we actually pulled it off……

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…… a “themed dinner” that is!

I  wasn’t even sure if we would be able to pull off a “themed dinner” this past weekend as there was much to do……multiple birthday parties to attend, as well Mike had a 12 hour turn around between coming back from working in San Fran and then having to hop on a plane bound for Europe.

Friday night had the kids social calendar filled with the celebration of their friends 3rd birthday (Yay!).  With much socializing to be done, and great food being served, I took it as a sign that the themed dinner could wait a day (Yay!).

Saturday had Brodie and I attending another birthday party and saw Mike back, seated on a plane, bound for Heidelberg Germany, destined for a room at the hotel that we will all call home while we are there in June.

On Saturday, with all that was happening during the day, I definitely would have LOVED to have opted out of the “themed dinners” for one week and call it a sushi night with the kiddies at our favourite spot in Yaletown, but Brodie had a different idea.  At the end of the birthday party Brodie proclaimed that he wanted to make “homemade pizza”. OMG….. really….. I just wanted a menu plopped down in front of me knowing that both kiddies would have tummies full of sushi and no dishes to wash or kitchen to clean up.

With that said, after the party Brodie and I  made our way to the grocery store to purchase a few nessecities for the pizza. The whole time I was thinking…. “Pizza… but how does that fit into our themed nights of Gremany, France, and Spain, this trip does not include Italy….. Uuuggghhhh!”

Thats when my “aaaahhhhhh” moment happened! During my days in a professional kitchen, I was fortunate enough to work with a pretty awesome French Chef (Fabrice Rossman), at the Four Seasons in Vancouver.  One of the first dishes he put on the lounge menu when he took over as Executive Chef was Tarte Flambée…. an Alsatian version of Pizza!  Ha…. I could totally do pizza, and have us stay with our “themed night” after all.  I was super stoked!

I found it pretty funny that I actually had all of the ingredients at home for Tarte Flambée, all  while picking up the nesecities for Brodies and Sydneys pepperoni pizza (ironic…. no?).  Brodie and I  then made our way home to get started on the dough.  If its one thing Brodie likes to make …. its dough!  He loves the flour, rolling it out, and then creating little dough balls that he can come back to after a bit of time has passed to report “Look Mom ….. look how big its gotten because of the yeast” and then give the balls a good “smush” and start again.  Gottta love the little man!

I prepped the caramelized onions, rendered the lardon, got the cheese ready, and picked the thyme leaves for my tarte, all while Brodie rolled out his pizza shell and dressed his pizza with pepperoni and shredded mozzarella (we did the same for little Syd…. her FAVOURITE!).  It  looks like Brodie wanted to visit Italy and not France this past weekend……. well thats for ANOTHER trip “little Chef”!

I was really happy with how my Tarte Flambée turned out.  Not only was I super excited to keep with our weekly themed dinners, but the whole time making the “pizza” I thought about my career as a Chef, and all the Chefs, Sous Chefs, and fellow cooks that I looked upto, and what an impact they all have had on my life. I tell you it is nothing short of complete awesomeness!

The Tarte Flambée was amazing, super tasty…. something I think Chef Rossman, Chef Knaubert and Chef Bain would have been happy with……the flavour was super delicious  and I was in heaven. YUMMERS!  Brodie… ha……well….. not so much. He took a bite (and swallowed), then proclaimed it “wasn’t for him”, and that he “didn’t like it”.  I’m still so proud of the little man for trying something new and interesting.  Syd…… well……. she is still a “work in progress”. She didn’t even eat the pepperoni pizza offered to her let alone the Tarte Flambée. Looks like I really need to get farther into my book “French Kids eat Everything”……that is my goal for this week!

So I guess our family weekly themed dinners have turned out to be so much more than just a “themed” dinner after all. Funny how Brodie’s request for “pizza” actually turned into a night of refection and MY 10 year career as a professional Chef (and everyone involved in my journey).  There are sooooooo many Chefs to thank…… they are all so amazing (you all know who you are and the impact you had on my career!).  I am so proud of my time spent professionally cooking, and the people that I was so fortunate to have met and learned from.  So glad that I can now call you all friends……  Wow…… so freaking AMAZING …..you all totally ROCK and I so love it!

I love how this whole night turned out with Brodie asking for  “Homemade Pizza”

Enjoy your Daily Dose

Xox

B.

The “little Chef” at work

The “littlest Chef” getting in on the action

My Tarte Flambée