Delia Smith, an icon of the BBC Cooking shows.

During the year there are lots of Holidays and the food offered is usually the same. The dishes go with the idea or spirit of that holiday. It seems that turkey is always coming back and if not turkey then its burgers or hot dogs. I am thinking here of Victoria Day in May, that is the start of the Summer Season and Cottage opening time, so a Bar-B-Q is de rigueur. Then Canada Day again being Summer and July more Bar-B-Q meats of all kinds. At Thanksgiving in October it's roast Turkey or ham and the same at Christmas and or New Year. At Easter it can be a ham though I one point Lamb was a favourite, though Canadian Lamb is becoming quite expensive, New Zealand lamb is quite cheap but full of chemicals and so lately people have been cooking other dishes.  In Canada Tourtière is popular, the famous meat pie of French-Canada, though how it is prepared is important and what quality ingredients you use makes a difference. For some reason the Lac St-Jean version of the tourtière seems a favourite with some people or at least in popular mindset.

Personally, I am not a fan of turkey nor tourtière meat pie, so come any major holiday and I will not think of having either dishes on the table. As for ham at Easter, I like ham in a sandwich but not at a main dish for a feast, I am also horrified by the tradition of sticking pineapple and cherries on it.

So I am always looking for new ideas for Holiday meals, even if it is just for a simple Bar-B-Q in the Summer, I want something different.  Instead of turkey, why not Goose or Cornish Hens, instead of beef burgers why not veal and beef or mixed with some pork burger stuffed with soft cheese and mixed with herbs and a strong dry mustard. Of course you can also get dishes of Seafood, lobster meat (shelled) in a cream sauce or a mix of seafood served in timbale.

Delia Smith with her CBE

Here comes Delia Smith, who through the years has perfected Holiday cooking. I always liked her because her recipes are A, easy to follow, B, there are no mystery ingredients and C, anyone even someone with little experience can prepare her recipes. She proposes menus, from what type of hors d'oeuvres to prepare for a pre-Xmas party, to a dinner party during the Season to the Christmas day lunch menu timed in such a way as to leave cook with time to spare to relax and enjoy the day. By lunch time around 1:30pm all is ready. Of course Delia is an organized person and you have to be too. She will prepare her vegetables the day before, her desserts are also prepared a day or more in advance, so on the actual day only the bird and stuffing is left to be done. I liked her stuffing, a good mix of pork with fine bread crumbs and celery and herb mix. She also tells you to get a bird around 14 lbs no more, and shop around for a black turkey which is gamier and better tasting instead of the supermarket white one which is often very bland tasting. In her preparation of the bird she will smother it in butter and then place bacon strips on top. Placing it in a roasting pan builds a cover for it which allows for a cavity around the bird instead of having the foil wrap itself close and tight on the bird. This way while cooking air circulates all around and in the last 40 minutes of cooking you  remove the foil and let it roast to get that golden skin colour not forgetting to baste it.

She also cooks chipolatas and bacon separately this will accompany the bird and it is a very Bristish tradition. I do not know if you can get chipolatas in Canada.

This year for Christmas dinner I will cook Canadian Lamb filet (12 minutes cooking time) do some roasted vegetables and voilà. I have ordered my desserts and we also have the most wonderful home made Fruit Cake known as a John H. Special. Uncle Johnny has been making them for us for the last 40 years. I am not one to eat fruit cake usually but his Fruit Cake is really something to behold, it is home made and it is his recipe and a very nice recipe it is indeed. I also got a Stollen and we have nice cheeses,  a firm cheddar Goat cheese, some Stilton blue, and other cheeses with nice crackers and fruits like the big Clementines and a nice variety of apples.

Do have a look at Delia website, the one recipe I want to try because it looks so amazing ''Venison Braised in BlackFriars Porter ale and Port with Pickled Walnuts.'' If you do not like venison no problem substitute for beef instead. At any time in Winter this would make a fantastic dish.

http://www.deliaonline.com

Then there is one very light and wonderful dessert she makes which is perfect when your main dish is rich and heavy. This dessert is called, Champagne Jellies with Syllabub Cream and Frosted Grapes.
You do not have to use champagne instead use a Prosecco or a bubbly wine, much cheaper and perfect for this recipe.

Well my shopping is done for this Xmas so the next few days should be quiet, going to dinner at friends and cocktail parties.

 



  

Cooking with recipes, Autumn and September

Late August means the start of harvest time in Canada. Fruits and vegetables in many varieties appear  at the Farmer's Markets around the Capital. I bought a basket of Ontario Peaches and was looking for a recipe to make a cobbler. Will said he had a recipe in one of the books where we collect our favourites. Could not find it at first and then saw it wedged as a page marker in one old cook book, I also found recipes on little photo like cards for various dishes.

One was Spinach sautéed with Indian spices another was Carrot and Parsnip purée or a winter crudité salad. All pretty simple and things I like to make for dinner.  Canadian Thanksgiving is one month away, will we be at home or will we go to Merrickville on the Rideau Canal like we have done in the last two years for lunch.

So I went through the books we have, most are fairly old cook books bought because we loved the recipes. I also found cards with hand written recipes. One is for Fennel Parmesan bake, another for Egg Potato and Prosciutto Pie, that one is really good on a Fall or Winter morning. Or what about Chicken Curry Tea Sandwiches, I remember this one from my Beijing days where we use to go downstairs to my colleague's place, Caryl A. and she made those sandwiches while we sang Karaoke, Bridge over troubled waters was my hit song, Unforgettable was another. There is also Crunchy Turkey Cranberry Pie and I did find the recipe card for Peach Schnitz Pie, Will was looking for.

I also found in my Mom's handwriting, she had a lovely hand and her handwriting is very easy to read. Her Campbell Tomato Soup Cake with cream cheese icing, I really have to try this one, she wrote it out for me years ago and the paper is all yellow with age now. A sentimental memory, the first anniversary of her death comes on 28 September.

If you want copies of these recipes let me know and I can send them to my readers/friends (only).

Sunday 31 August was also the day of a spectacular storm, high winds, crashing thunder and lightning, heavy rains with sunshine and what I call 18th Century clouds a la Canaletto with the most vibrant double rainbow I have ever seen. Afterwards we had fresh air and a beautiful sunset.
Which got us to talk of the Gustave Doré (d.1882) exhibit at the National Gallery which ends in 2 weeks. I have seen this exhibit 5 times and attended 3 lectures on it.

Doré lived in 19th Century Paris but also travelled to England and Scotland, his art is full of the romantic style of the era and false religiosity which looks so kitsch to us today. White clouds are transformed in swarms of Heavenly Angels descending to do God's work.  From the DeYoung Museum in San Francisco the 3 ton bronze, 156 feet high and 81 feet circumference, Poem of the Vine is on display. It came to Ottawa on a flat bed truck.

Poème de la vigne. A spectacular piece 

So this being the last long weekend of Summer it is still summer until 21 September, despite the fact that kids go back to school tomorrow and Universities have re-opened. I only hope that the old Almanac is correct and that our September-October months will be warmer than usual, this past summer has not been exactly the warmest.

I continue at the War Museum until 18 September and then return to the National Gallery for the Season, now as a Docent and Cultural Conference convener (les mercredis culturels). A Season of training and learning, not to forget the school program Vive les Arts for the 6 to 12 years old, a tough crowd who likes the moderns.

Weekend of cooking and Feast Day San Lorenzo

This weekend has been sunny and hot, something rare this summer in Ottawa.

It is also the Feast Day of San Lorenzo in Rome, 10 August, Patron Saint of this most Summer like activity the Bar-B-Q.

Martyrdom of San Lorenzo by Pellegrino Tibaldi, 1592, at the Church of El Escorial, Spain. 

Peaches and plums are back in Season and have started to appear in Farmers Markets. Ontario is a great producer of many fruits and vegetables not to mention award winning wines.

So Will decided to make peach ice cream, he has a machine to do just that and for many decades now he has been making wonderful ice cream, what can I say home made is by far superior to anything you would buy in a store, no chemicals, no added sugar, no emulsifiers or colouring which often gives an acidic taste to commercial ice creams. Many decades ago, I wish I had a picture to show you, he use to make Bombe Glacée which looked like a watermelon with real chocolate pépites to simulate the seeds.

The trick is to have lots of ice to keep things cold, using cream and the whole peach fruit. It taste like ice cream tasted in olden times.

Peaches with cream (peel and pits) to infuse the cream with flavour of the peaches. 

A good blender helps a lot this is our Cuisinart the second one in 36 years.

But if you are in a rush and have no time to make ice cream, here is another old Italian dessert, this is as old as time itself and most authentic Italian dessert you can possibly imagine. Take white peaches wash them and then cut them up, fill a large wine glass with them, then simply pour a chilled dry white wine over them until they are swimming in it. Voilà and serve. Elegant and simple as they day is young.

Also in the summer we will have cold soups, one I like and again it is an old recipe that Will has used for many decades is a cold Zucchini soup to which you can add curry for a spicy twist. There are other recipes using seedless English cucumbers.

This weekend he also made Creamy gazpacho Andaluz, which is a soup we encountered for the first time while travelling in Andalusia last fall in Seville and Granada.  It is served cold and is delicious, especially on a hot summer day.

For this recipe you will need 3 lbs of medium ripe tomatoes, cored
1 small cucumber, peeled, halved and seeded.
1 medium green bell pepper, halved, cored and seeded
1 small red onion, peeled and halved.
2 medium garlic cloves, peeled and quartered
1 small serrano chile, stemmed and halved length wise
 Kosher salt
1 slice high-quality white sandwich bread, crust removed, torn into 1inch pieces
Half a cup of extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for serving
2 tablespoon finely minced parsley, chives, or basil leaves
Ground black pepper
for the preparation see http://www.americastestkitchen.com/recipes/6061-creamy-gazpacho-andaluz


I made a warm potatoes salad this weekend, using 4 red potatoes, 2 green onions chopped, half of a large red onion chopped fine, a small tea spoon of cayenne pepper, half a cup of mayonnaise and 3 soup spoons of Dijon Mustard and two soup spoons of grated Parmesan Cheese.

Once your potatoes are cooked cut them up in smaller pieces, mix all the ingredients together and serve.

And we had lots of our favourite Canadian Official Cocktail Bloody Caesar,
with a large celery stalk.

The puppies love the celery stalk.

Nora just back from the groomer's our groomer is Kathryn Bowcott, she does a wonderful job with Dachshunds. You can look her up at Kathy.bowcott@rogers.com

Not to worry Nicky is next, he does not know it yet. Both went to the dentist this summer to have their teeth cleaned so now they have a nice smile with 50 lbs of crush, who knew!

  

Fad, Fadish, Transitory, Ephemeral

The restaurant scene in Ottawa and across the river in Gatineau is constantly changing and transforming itself. Since 2000 there has been a net improvement in restaurants in Ottawa. Gatineau which always had the best restaurants of the region has also evolved but the competition from Ottawa is present not to say pressing.

Though this was not the case prior to 1990, Gatineau then known as Hull had restaurants which attracted the high and mighty for its fine cuisine and good wines. Ottawa had the Canadian Grill at the Chateau Laurier Hotel. The rest of the City was composed of restaurants offering mediocre cuisine, a poor wine selection and bad service. Many restaurants like the Green Valley offered a cuisine you might think safe and not challenging, the sort of meal you knew an elderly relative would enjoy with peas and carrots and mash potatoes and gravy. People went out for anniversaries otherwise you did not go out, certainly not during a week night and on weekends only on Friday if you were a childless couple and on Saturday nights with family. Dinner was always early starting around 05:30pm meaning that restaurants were deserted by 08:00pm. The Quebec side of the river was very different, it had restaurants, dance clubs, bars, entertainment, none of which existed in Ottawa, the founders of Ottawa were Presbyterians after all.

In the 1980's the concept of Family restaurants became very popular, it seems that every new restaurants was family oriented, offered all you can eat menus for a few dollars. We had the Spaghetti Factory, various restaurants offering all you can eat salad bars and the kids could run around. None of it was conducive to fine dining or a pleasant atmosphere. Then the Brunch scene on Sunday became another fad, quickly extended to Saturday and then morphing with breakfast, so the Brunch could start at 8am and run until 1pm. Most clients though they might go out very late for breakfast preferred still a breakfast menu, eggs and sausage than a more lunch mid-day style menu. So to this day we still do not have in Ottawa a real Brunch menu of dishes mixing both early morning and mid-day meal. For the longest while Quiche and Black Forest cakes were all the rage until the Cheese Cake New-York style made its entry, all of that has now disappeared, another fad.

The Capital also grew, from half a million people in 1976 to one million today, the government presence has shrank considerably and with new arrivals to the city, new taste develop and new offerings appear. Many new young Chefs have opened restaurants in Ottawa, the market place is less crowded for them than in say Montreal or Toronto and with the awards they have won at various culinary contests have established a new philosophy of food creation in the public mind.

You will often hear the word Hipster to describe those who go out a lot. I am not quite sure what that term means, Hipsters do this or that, they are on the scene, is there a scene? Where? Also the word Hipster appears to describe a young person, under 40 who is single and lives in the downtown core.
But I am not so sure they have all that much influence in the changes we have seen in restaurant offering. What has definitely changed is the atmosphere in restaurants, more qualified Chefs instead of general cooks and menus are created not simply put together with no thought. Many restaurants are Chef Owned, I think here of Café Fraser, Oz, 327 Wine Bar, Atelier, DiVino and others. Meaning that you are not dealing with an owner who hired some cook with little knowledge of food preparation, this was too often the case in the past. Now you see the Chef at work in an open concept kitchen.

There is a emphasis on quality, preparing food from scratch, innovative cuisine and a quality decor.
Though this does not prevent the return of the fad restaurant with items copied from foreign cuisines, usually Southern US foods and presented as innovative and different, boiled peanuts, yard bird AKA roast chicken and ribs. Micro breweries have mushroomed and more are coming, the market will certainly be saturated very quickly. This is probably a fad and will pass, there is always a crowd following trends and maybe this is where the Hipsters fall in.

Quality bakeries from the original BOKO on Elgin c.1980 we now have Art-Is-In at City Centre which offers daily fresh bake breads and goods and the guarantee is that it is organic and just out of the oven. I can vouch for that, the bread is still hot when you buy it. There are many more who offer a variety of bake goods, the famous gluten free Pastry Shop Thimblecakes on Bank street produces the most fanciful cakes, just looking at their website is fun.

Restaurants also offer a wider selection of wines, for years the Government of Ontario through the Liquor Board (LCBO) had a choke hold on liquor sales. Now restaurants go through agents who buy on consignment, private customers can do the same. This has a beneficial effect of opening up the offer and allowing people to sample wines otherwise not available. Anyone remember the days of the Chablis or Chardonnay as if that was the only White wines available.

All these changes can only bode well for the future of the City and by 2017 when we celebrate 150 years of Confederation, Ottawa will not be like the small town of 1967.

Cooking recipes

A few weeks ago Will suddenly got up and went looking for an old red binder with the word Air Canada on the cover, inside are old yellow sheets of paper with type written recipes for various dishes from appetizers to main course to desserts. We have had this binder and recipes for at least 35 years. He was looking for a recipe in particular and wanted to see if we could try it out. We did and it was quite good, a simple sauce to accompany a dish of pasta. Many of the recipes are from a time a few decades ago when people ate heavier dishes. Mind you, I know a lot of people who still eat fairly heavy dishes with lots of cream and butter sauces and cheese topping for good measure. It's the same with desserts, many are fudge chocolate like with cream and a side of ice cream. I simply cannot imagine eating any dishes like that today. My desserts now tend to be a fruit usually fresh never in a can or just an espresso
with a spot of milk no sugar.

So far we tried two recipes and both are sauces requiring fresh tomatoes chopped up and at least 500 gr of fresh leafy spinach. In Europe spinach is very popular usually just tossed in a pan with a bit of garlic, in the USA at least in New England, cream spinach is popular but in Canada you do not see it so often on menus or in peoples homes as a side dish. A shame really, it is a very good vegetable and so easy to prepare but you must remember to clean it well, like all leafy greens. There is always a lot of dirt on the leaves and it needs a good rinsing once of twice under cold water.

Among these old recipes are some of Will's signature dishes, like Smoky Pumpkin Soup done usually for Canadian Thanksgiving in October, Sopa de Tortilla from our time in Mexico 1986-89. Or his
Tomato tart with polenta crust and rocket, or Mushroom rarebit. A dessert he use to make was Treacle tart.

                                        Recipe teasers

So he looked up this Pasta with Spicy Tomatoes and Spinach.  I got the ingredients at the store and made it for dinner, it was easy and quite good. This recipe can be made in less than 30 minutes if you are slightly organized in the kitchen and have a nice glass of wine at hand.

The recipe is as follows:
Pasta with Spicy Tomatoes and Spinach

8 oz of fresh Linguini pasta
1 dried chili pepper, seeded and crushed
5 *anchovy fillets, rinsed under cold water, drained and chopped
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 lb (500gr) of fresh loose leaf spinach, washed, stemmed and coarsely chopped.
8 ripe plum tomatoes, peeled, seeded and diced (you can used the can variety)
3\4 cup of freshly grated parmesan
Fresh ground pepper
1 tsp of good olive oil

* about the anchovy, on the market you can find imported from Italy, fresh anchovies which is a white fish in oil or anchovies only in oil and a little salt. It is very different in taste from the anchovies which are cured and salted, do not use those.


First cook your pasta in boiling water until al dente. Drain and shake well, coat with 1 tsp of oil and mix up. Cover and set aside.

Heat the chill in 3 tsp of olive oil until the pepper is brown. Remove and discard pepper.
Now using the same large pan used for the pepper you have your base oil flavoured with the pepper.
Reheat the oil, add anchovies, garlic and cook stirring constantly until garlic turns golden brown. Add spinach and tomatoes and cook tossing until spinach is wilted.

Now add your pasta and toss well with the sauce until heated through ( approx 3 min.)

Remove from heat and add the parmesan and pepper. Serve immediately.


This weekend I made Breast Chicken fillets with Spinach and Tomato and for Sunday dinner Sautéd Chicken and Tortilla Salad.
Spring is here now, the Rideau canal water level is back up for boating, The many marathons along the canal have started, we have quite a few in Ottawa. The fishing season has opened and the Tulip Festival starts on 3 May in Ottawa our special connection with the Royal Family of the Netherlands. The weather is now on average 20C very pleasant. So I am switching the sheets to summer cloth and also our dinner menu to more Spring like fare.

Risqué Xmas Song

Back in the late 1950's lots of Christmas Season songs became more hip and Jazzed up. This one was considered naughty and risqué. Those were the days of women at home, housewives and busy with running the home and the kids, while the husband went to work in the City. This little song implies that mom is having an affair with Santa, and why not he's got all the gifts from Tiffany's and the Mink stole or a nice Cadillac. The kids spied on her and frankly do not seem to care as long as they get their gifts.

Listening to it 50 years later, it sounds pretty silly and funny. It seems that Christmas was fun back then and no one made too much of a fuss about being stressed out or kids on whatever. This was also before  the nonsense about Happy Holidays. Back then it was the Christmas Season and Christmas was all over the world. Ah, a simpler time. There were Xmas Cocktails, stiff drinks, lots of good food, remember Executive Chef Helen Corbitt (1906-1978) of Neiman Marcus, Zodiac Room fame, her recipes were the best, no diets or silly food allergies. Her book was dedicated to the men in her life.

In her time Helen Corbitt was the premier American Chef, The Chicago Tribune described her as the Balenciaga of Food, her food was loved by President Lyndon B. Johnson and Lady Bird. She was often described as the Best Cook in Texas. She won many prestigious food awards.

I like a lot of what Helen Corbitt called Meals from the Emergency Shelf,

Brunch
Frozen Strawberries in Orange Juice add a little Champagne.
Creamed Chicken over a Cheese Soufflé
Broiled Prunes, Peaches and Pear halves
Melba toast
Coffee

or her Dinner menu
Hot chicken livers sautéed in wine served with a nice cocktail in the Living room
Baked Ham glazed with jelly
Rum Flambéed Sweet Potatoes
Corn Muffins
Assorted relishes
Chilled Pears with Melba Sauce

She also gives in her book what should be in that Emergency Shelf of yours.
Beats processed fast-food any day in my book.

If you can find that book, her recipes are priceless and classics.


I saw Mommy kiss Santa Claus by the Ronettes. Quelle Scandale!!!!!

Cooking classes

Today in the kitchen Will was cooking look at the two attentive children of Cerberus, it is cooking class time for Nicholas and Nora.

Of course they want to learn and taste the pork ribs. Nothing could move them from their spot.
To go with the cooking a little Waltz by Prokofiev, what cultured little Dachshunds we have.