Thinking about New Year's Eve...Tourtiere

I'm recycling my tourtiere recipe for the blog but, in truth, this is what I do.....use the same tried and true recipes over and over, year after year. We're having tourtiere for our New Year's Eve dinner party tomorrow. 

According to the Laura Secord Canadian Cookbook, this French Canadian specialty was originally prepared with passenger pigeon (tourtes). As a child, I read a fictionalized account of the final days of the last passenger pigeon and it just about did me in. Until recently, I had no idea that my favourite pork pie had any relationship to a now extinct bird.

Currently, either minced pork or a mixture of different meats is used to make this savoury pie. Many people serve tourtiere on Christmas Eve, but our family often served it on New Year's Eve or on the first day of the new year, (along with oyster stew). 

Madame Benoit's chutney (posted earlier this month) would be great with this, as would a green salad with a nice acidic dressing.

Ingredients:
- enough pastry for a 2-crust, 9 inch pie
- 3 potatoes

In a heavy 3 quart saucepan combine the rest of the ingredients:
- 1 and 1/2 pounds of ground pork
- 1 small onion minced
- 1/2 cup of boiling water
- 1 clove of garlic, chopped
- 1.5 teaspoons of salt
- 1/4 teaspoon celery salt
- 1/4 teaspoon of black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon sage
- pinch of ground cloves

Instructions:
Cook the meat mixture over a low heat, stirring constantly until the meat loses its redness and about half of the liquid has evaporated. Cover and cook for 45 minutes longer.

Meanwhile, boil and mash 3 medium sized potatoes. Mix the mashed potatoes into the meat mixture and cool.

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F. Roll out half the dough and line a deep 9-inch pie plate with pastry. Fill with the cooled meat mixture and cover with the remaining dough. Seal the edges and make a cut in the top crust with a sharp knife. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes and then reduce the heat to 350 degrees F. and bake for 30-40 minutes longer. Makes 6 to 7 servings.

And try not to think about the pigeons.

Dried Fruit Crusted Turkey a.k.a. Spiedo di Taccinella in Crosta di Frutta Secca

It's turkey season so I thought I'd re-cycle a recipe that I posted several years ago following a trip to Umbria. To say that the menus during that particular cooking school vacation were 'pork heavy' is a bit of an understatement. I’m not complaining...I had some really great prosciutto (day after day after day). However, when Flavio, our chef/teacher, indicated that turkey was on the menu, we all pretty much wept tears of joy.   

  

Ingredients:

-  1 pound turkey breast (or pork, or chicken, or veal)

-  ½ cup breadcrumbs

-  ¼ cup almonds

-  ¼ cup hazelnuts

-  2 tablespoons raisins or dried cranberries

-  ¼ cup dried apricots

-  2 tablespoons sesame seeds (toasted)

-  2 tablespoons olive oil

-  3 tablespoons fresh marjoram (use much less if the marjoram is dried)

-  5 fresh basil leaves

-  Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

Remove the skin and bone from the turkey breast and cut the meat into 4 cm. cubes. Chop all of the dried fruit, nuts and seeds together in a blender with the olive oil, herbs and salt and pepper. Mix everything with the breadcrumbs. Toss the turkey in olive oil, and then coat the meat in the breadcrumb mixture. Bake in a hot oven (400 degrees F) for about 30 minutes.  You can place the meat on skewers prior to baking if that appeals to you as a serving option.

Pork with White Beans and Winter Greens

This one-pot supper of Italian-style pork and beans is adapted from a recipe provided by Globe & Mail food columnist Lucy Waverman. I'm sure that her more rigorous approach to re-hydrating dried cannellini beans yields a more authentic dish. Whatever. My approach (using canned white kidney beans) was way faster and still got rave reviews. You'll note that although I took a great photo of the kale that I used in the recipe, I forgot to take a photo of the finished product. So, the photo you see above is taken from page 11 of the Oct 24, 2015 Style section of the Globe & Mail. It's all Lucy's.  

Ingredients:
- 1 tin of white kidney beans (very well rinsed and drained)
- 1 and 1/2 pounds of pork shoulder, cut in 1 inch cubes
- several sprigs of thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 3 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 cup chopped onion
- 1 tbsp. chopped garlic
- 1 tbsp. slivered sage leaves (I used 3 sprigs of rosemary instead)
- 2 cups chicken stock
- lemon juice
- 6 cups thinly sliced kale (or other bitter greens)

Lots of kale

Instructions:

Season the pork with salt, pepper and thyme. Heat oil in large sauté pan or heavy pot over high heat and sear 1 minute per side or until browned. Remove to a plate and reserve. Reduce heat to medium and add onions. Cook for about 5 minutes or until softened. Add garlic and slivered sage ( or rosemary)  and continue to cook until the garlic is softened, about 1 more minute. Stir in the beans and pork. Add stock to the pot and return the mixture to a boil. Cover the pot and then reduce heat to a simmer for 45 minutes to an hour.

Add the sliced kale to the pot. Cover and cook for another 5 minutes or until the greens are wilted. Add salt and pepper to taste and a spritz of lemon juice.

Gigot de Sept Heures...aka Lamb Cooked for Seven Hours

No one will ever accuse you of undercooking this lamb.

 

I've forgotten in which publication I found this recipe but I do know that its author is a fellow by the name of David McMillan.

Ingredients:

- 1 and 1/2 cup dry navy beans
- one 5 to 6 pound lamb leg
- 4 cloves garlic, 2 of which are sliced
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 2 Tbsp fresh thyme leaves
- 1 Tbsp chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 Tbsp kosher salt
- pepper to taste
- 3 onions sliced
- 5 carrots cut into 2 inch pieces
- 2 ribs of celery cut into 2 inch pieces
- 2 bay leaves
- approximately 2 cups water
- 1 Tbsp tomato paste

Instructions:

Place the dry beans in a bowl and cover them with cold water. Set aside.

Using a sharp knife cut slits in the lamb leg and insert the pieces of sliced garlic (2 cloves). Combine the olive oil, rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper in a small bowl and rub the resultant paste all over the lamb leg.

Place the remaining 2 garlic cloves and the vegetables in a roasting pan that is just larger than the leg. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper. Add the bay leaves and about 1 cup of water to the pan. Place the leg of lamb on the vegetables and roast for 1 hour at 375 degrees F.

Remove the roasting pan from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 280 degrees F. Drain the beans and add them to the bottom of the pan along with the tomato paste and return everything to the oven. Continue roasting for another 6 hours or so, checking to make sure the bottom of the pan does not dry out. Add water in half cup increments as necessary.  About halfway through the roasting, grasp the leg by its bone and flip it to ensure even browning. Continue roasting until the lamb is deeply browned on all sides and the beans are tender.

Flank Steak Tacos

This is my take on a recipe for seared salmon tacos that I ripped out of the May 2015 edition of REALSIMPLE while at my hairdresser's. (I'm not totally uncouth by the way, I did ask for permission before removing it from the magazine).

So, last night I served my husband half a seared flank steak and decided to keep the other half for these tacos. They had a nice crunch and were tasty, not spectacular, but definitely crunchy and tasty. Lunchworthy.   

 

Ingredients:

- 3 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- leftover (rare) flank steak sliced thinly (about 12 ounces)
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons hot sauce (Sriracha is fine, and seemingly very trendy, but any hot sauce will do)
- 2 baby cucumbers sliced
- 1/4 cup sliced scallions
- 1/2 cup of raw julienned carrots
- a small amount of red cabbage finely sliced
- 6 small corn tortillas, warmed

Instructions:

Wrap the tortillas in aluminum foil and place in a 250 degree F. oven until warmed through. Alternatively, you can warm each tortilla individually in a skillet on the stove.

Combine the soy sauce and brown sugar in a small bowl. Pour half the dressing over the already cooked and sliced steak. Reserve the remaining dressing.

Then combine the mayonnaise and hot sauce in a small bowl.

Quickly re-heat the leftover steak in a non-stick skillet.

Divide the steak, carrots, scallions and sliced cucumber and cabbage between the warmed tortillas. Spoon on as much of the spicy mayo as you prefer and drizzle with a smidge of the reserved dressing (or not). Then roll 'em up and serve. 

Tortillas ready to pop in the oven. They appear to be floating over the countertop towards the oven....that's what happens in my magical kitchen.
 

Now lunchworthy

Torta Rustica di Pecorino e Ciauscolo a.k.a. Sausage and Romano Cheese Country Tart

 

Garnished with more chickpeas and thinly sliced onions.

I have slightly adapted one of the recipes from my cooking vacation in Norcia by suggesting the use of ground sausage meat rather than cured meat. Either works. It is the aromatics in this savoury pie (the rosemary and the orange zest) that really make the difference.

 

What you see in the photo above is an individual-sized portion containing a single 0.5 cm. slice of salumi.  Salumi are Italian cured meats predominantly made from pork. The word is derived from the word salume (pl. salumi) meaning "salted meat", which in turn originates from Latin sal meaning "salt".

 

FYI, all you pedantic types out there, what we in North America call salami is a specific type of salumi.

 

Ingredients for one large tart:

·         8 ounces puff pastry

·         10 oz (250 gm) mild sausage

          ( cook it first if using ground meat; slice it if using a cured   meat)

·         ¾ cup boiled chickpeas ( or tinned chickpeas rinsed)

·         1 small twig of fresh rosemary

·         pepper to taste

·         ½ cup of pecorino cheese chopped into small pieces or grated

·         2 cups heavy cream

·         5 eggs

·         zest of one orange

 

Mix the filling for the tart by combining the eggs, grated orange peel, cream, pepper, rosemary, and pecorino cheese. Let this mixture rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. In the meantime roll out the puff pastry into a round and fit the dough into a large pie plate. Cover the pastry on the bottom of the pie plate with the sausage and chickpeas. Pour in the prepared filling and bake the tart at 340 degrees F. for 40 minutes.

Trota Fario Croccante al Pane di Erbe Aromatiche Dell’orto a.k.a. Herb-crusted Trout Filets

Appetizer in the raw

This was an attractive and delicious appetizer that we were vaguely taught how to prepare by Chef Flavio in Norcia. I sense that he may have been tiring of his hapless students by the end of the week so did much of the preparation of the trout on his own. The rest of us watched with varying degrees of concentration. I happened to miss the instruction on how long to bake the fish, however, given the size of the filets and how quickly fish cooks, it should not take long.

Trout, with balsamic roasted apricots.

 

Ingredients:

·         8 boneless trout filets ( I’m guessing that each filet was about 1/3 pound in weight)

·         ¾ cup breadcrumbs

·         a few leaves of basil, marjoram, thyme, chives and oregano

·         3 cloves of garlic

·         zest of 2 lemons

·         extra virgin olive oil

 

Combine the breadcrumbs, herbs, lemon zest and garlic together in a blender. Oil a baking pan and place the trout filets skin side down on the pan. Cover each filet with a layer of the lovely herb green breadcrumb mixture. Cover the baking pan with tinfoil and bake in a 400 degree F. oven until the fish flesh is firm (a few minutes should do it). 

 

Organic Pork Meatballs

Umbria is a region of Italy known for its prosciutto, salamis, and other pork products as well its cheese, spelt, lentils and olive oil production. As I mentioned in a previous post, I was recently on a cooking vacation that was centred in the medieval walled town of Norcia in Umbria. One of our many field trips outside the walls of Norcia took us to a local organic pig farm. These friendly and remarkably fresh smelling pigs, (they nosh on mint plants among other things), roam a wooded hillside for two years prior to being sent to market. 

Prosciutto on the hoof, organic that is.

Coincidentally, back in Canada, my sister Sylvia was dreaming up recipes for using organic pork. Here is her take on garlicky organic pork meatballs.

Ingredients: 

·         1 pound organic ground pork

·         1 egg

·         2 tbsp ground flax seeds

·         1 tsp lavender-rosemary salt ( or simply use 1/2 tsp sea salt & a pinch of rosemary)

·         1 tsp oregano

·         3 garlic cloves, pressed

·         freshly ground pepper

Mix all the ingredients together and form into small balls about an inch (2.5 cm) in diameter. Bake the meatballs on a sheet pan with a lip in a 350 degree F. oven for 20 minutes. Allow to cool, then add the meatballs to tomato sauce and enjoy at will. 

Bub Burgers

Blame it on the packaging.... a cute little 1/2 pound of pork and a darling little 1/2 pound of beef separated by a sprig of parsley. I thought that the mixture would make a tasty alternative to burgers made completely from beef. I'm a sucker for things that come in either very large or very small packages; this is why I don't have a Costco membership.

The burgers were OK but the dressing I made to go with the arugula was great.

Ingredients:
- ½ pound of lean ground beef
- ½ pound of ground pork
- ¼ cup of finely diced onion, I used a sweet red onion
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 2 tablespoons of plain bread crumbs
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground pepper

Mix everything together well in a medium bowl and form into 4 patties. Grill as you would a normal burger. Serve on a sesame seed bun and top with arugula and a dressing made of a couple of tablespoons of mayo, a little milk to thin the mayo, abut 1/4 cup of a crumbled creamy blue cheese and a chopped green onion/scallion (both green and white parts).

Lovely Lamb Chops

Lamb chops raw and ready to roll

Lamb has a unique flavour that does not appeal to everyone. I believe that the general wariness around this meat is a holdover from the days of yore when mutton was more readily available than lamb, and the flavour of the older animal could be distinctly distasteful.

I happen to love lamb. Like beef, it can be prepared in a number of ways using varying cooking techniques. I had a lovely package of fresh chops available to me last night. After seasoning them with kosher salt, cracked black pepper and fresh rosemary, I seared them briefly on the stovetop and then placed them in a hot oven (375 degrees F) to finish cooking.

The length of time that you need to cook lamb chops depends on their thickness, and your comfort with rare meat. As a general rule of thumb, when grilling shoulder, loin or rib chops that are 1 inch thick, you will need to cook them for 5 minutes on each side to achieve medium rare meat, 8 minutes per side for medium, and 10 minutes per side for well-done meat.

A traditional herbal pairing for lamb is rosemary, and a traditional lamb-accompanying condiment is mint sauce or jelly. My sister S. has been experimenting with preserves over the past couple of years. Last night I opened a jar of her mint/rosemary jelly. Delicious!



Lamb condiment
 

Quick Curry - Choose Chicken or Lamb



Quick chicken curry

This recipe was found in Prevention magazine; part of the stack of reading material at our family cottage on Lake Huron. Ingredients: 1 pound of ground lamb 5 teaspoons curry powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup water 15 ounce container of fresh

Draft

The original version of this recipe was found in Prevention magazine; part of the stack of reading material at our family cottage on Lake Huron. It called for 1 pound of ground lamb. I've adapted the recipe for chicken. Either works for a fast and tasty, if not exactly extraordinarily delicious or authentic, meal. It's definitely edible; I ate it.

 Ingredients:

• 1 pound of ground lamb or 1 pound of skinless, boneless chicken cut into bite-sized pieces
• a little vegetable oil for browning the meat 
• 5 teaspoons curry powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup water
• 15 ounce container of fresh marinara sauce (from the refrigerated section in your grocery store) 
• 6 ounces of fresh spinach 

In a large skillet, brown the chicken (or ground lamb) with the curry powder and salt. (This will take 7-10 minutes). Stir in the water, marinara sauce, and spinach. Simmer uncovered on the stovetop for 5 minutes. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve with naan (Indian flatbread available in most grocery stores), rice and chutney. Serves 4, rather sparingly.

Rosemary Roasted Lamb

I suppose lamb is a bit of an acquired taste, although in many parts of the world it makes a very common meal. I made this lamb as a Sunday roast. I did not marinate it prior to putting it in the oven but if you wish to add more flavour, a simple marinade of rosemary, olive oil, garlic, pepper, and lemon juice for a couple of hours would do. One can also make tiny slices into the surface of the roast and insert slivers of garlic and herbs.

Ingredients:

- 1 (6-pound) leg of lamb, bone-in or boneless. If boneless, the leg should be tied up with kitchen string by a/your butcher.
- 1 tablespoon of dried rosemary
- coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

Preheat your oven to 425°F. Remove the lamb from the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before putting in the oven to help bring it close to room temperature before roasting. Generously salt and pepper all sides of the roast. Arrange it with the fattiest side up, so while the lamb is cooking the fat will melt into the meat. Place the roasting pan on the middle rack of the oven. Roast at 425°F for 20 minutes then reduce the heat to 300°F and roast an additional hour (for a 6 pound roast), or about 10-12 minutes per pound. If you are cooking a roast bone-in, the bone will act as an insulator and will require a longer cooking time than a boneless roast.

Remove it from the oven when a meat thermometer reaches a temperature anywhere from 130°F to 135°F for medium rare. Lamb should never be cooked until well done or it will be too dry. Let the roast stand for 15-20 minutes before carving it. Cut away the kitchen string and slice with a sharp carving knife, 1/2 inch thick slices, against the grain of the meat. Lamb is traditionally serve with a mint sauce. I suspect that at a fancy restaurant, this sauce would be called a "gastrique" of some sort.

Ingredients for Mint Sauce:

- 1/2 cup finely chopped fresh mint leaves
- 1 cup malt vinegar
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- a small bottle for storage

Rinse young, healthy mint leaves and chop them into fine pieces or process in a blender. Bring the vinegar to a simmer in a small saucepan, then add the sugar and chopped leaves. Simmer the sauce for about 20 minutes to infuse well.

Sunday Dinner Roast Beef

I'm relieved to say that my angst about the roast was unfounded. I attribute my success with roasting to my new meat thermometer, which indicated exactly when the interior of the roast was 'rare'. Nothing caught on fire and the smoke alarm did not ring. The double-stuffed baked potatoes, balsamic-roasted beets and maple-mashed butternut squash all worked well with the beef, as did my sister's cauliflower and carrot salad. My sister also made the lemon olive oil cake (first posted on Nov. 25, 2009) for dessert and iced it with a truly delicious lemon icing. How lucky can we get?

Chef's Recipe-Traditional Roast Beef with Yorkshire Pudding

Earlier this week, Christine asked me for a roast beef recipe. Roast beef is not my thing, but lo and behold, in yesterday's Globe and Mail Life section, Chef David Lee provided us all with a fabulous recipe for roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding. (See link below) I had the pleasure of meeting Chef Lee at his restaurant Nota Bene in the Big Smoke a few weeks ago. The guy makes great food and has a great handshake. I like that.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/food-and-wine/chefs-recipe-roast-beef-with-yorkshire-pudding/article1322264/