Christmas Dinner '14 : On the Side

Roasted Honey Walnut Beet

When I chose the sides for this meal, I wanted a hint of a traditional flavour - sweetness that is usually presented in the form of sweet potatoes or honey glazed carrots. Since beet, which I love, is rarely shown in cookbooks or on the cooking shows as part of these meals, I went with them. I made them for last years Christmas dinner in a root vegetable medley. This year the beets are a star all their own.

Beets are a powerhouse of nutrition that more people need to embrace. They are easy and fast to prepare and cook and impart a sweet flavour without overpowering the taste buds. The addition of walnuts and a faint drizzle of honey just pushes it up to the stratosphere of yumminess.

3-4 lbs of beets, washed and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
olive oil
salt & pepper
about 1 1/2 tbsp honey
3/4 cup or so of crushed walnuts

Toss cut beets in olive oil and spread onto a baking tray. Cover with foil, shiny side down, and roast in oven for about 15 minutes. Remove foil cover and drizzle honey and walnuts over beets. Return, uncovered, to oven and continue cooking until beets are soft, about another 5-8 minutes.
Put beets into a covered serving dish and keep warm.

Roasted Potatoes with Bacon and Scallions

This dish can be roasted at the same time as the beets and the rabbit but will take a little longer due to the bacon. By parboiling the potatoes until a knife just pierces about a 1/4 inch into the skin of the potato, you will keep the potatoes from overcooking as the bacon becomes crisp. This dish is truly so simple it doesn't require a recipe but here it is below.

I bag of mini yellow potatoes, about 15-20 of them
1/3 of a pound of bacon rashers, cut into lardons
4 scallions, chopped with greens reserved for garnish

After potatoes are parboiled, cut into bite size pieces (which will mean in halves for most of them). 
Lay bacon in the bottom of a baking dish (I used a 9" glass one) and top with scallions and potatoes. Cover with foil and roast, stirring occasionally until bacon is crisp. 
If the potatoes look to be overcooking remove potatoes into a serving dish and return the bacon to the oven until it becomes crisp. 
If you prefer soggy bacon (shudder) then by all means eat it that way and either skip the parboiling part or remove the dish when the potatoes are done but before the bacon crisps.
Serve with a garnish of the scallion greens.


all text and photographs ©michelle levasseur The Groaning Board 2014

Read More

Christmas Dinner '14 : Quick and Easy: Green Pea Soup

Off to a Great Start

I've been wanting to make this delicious soup for a while now. The idea popped in my head after watching yet another documentary from the BBC in which was mentioned 'mushy peas', a British staple in a lot of houses. I know that a green pea soup exists but I've never come across a recipe for it, so I made my own. 

One thing that I am trying to stress with this blog, aside from my governing statement, is to show/educate people on how easy it actually is to cook. Once you begin to make soups from scratch, you can make any soup from scratch. 

All it takes to make a healthy and great tasting soup is to master three basic steps. The first and most important step is the stock. It is always, always preferable to use homemade stock and I don't believe that is an exaggeration. A hearty and flavourful stock is like the foundation of a building - very necessary to have a strong start to your construction in order to build beautiful things from it. Without it you have a shoddy construction that inevitably ends in disappointment, flames, bloodcurdling screams, explosions, ruin…okay, maybe I go too far but you get my point. Make a good stock. 

If needs must, a good quality, unsalted boxed broth will suffice. Please avoid using powdered or cubed bouillon as they are too high in salt and chemicals. Just keep in mind that boxed stocks/broths do not have much flavour so adding more in the way of herbs or spices may be in order, so taste often as cooking progresses.

The second step is the flavour base. In most cases this will be onion, garlic and carrots or onion, celery and carrots as in this recipe. This step is crucial so the freshest and healthiest specimens are best. Large carrots tend to taste woody but once done up in a soup they impart flavour subtly but add a strong body to the soup. Ideally you want to use small carrots but really, if you're buying them at the supermarket, they're probably all going to taste the same.

The third step isn't really a step but more a moment of balance. Once you begin cooking often, you begin 'thinking' cooking often as well. Ideas are always churning away whether you're at the grocery store or staring blankly into your fridge 1/2 hour before supper. You begin to develop an almost instinct on food combinations, seasoning complements, and how to balance flavours as well as nutritional benefits. Each soup you make should contain a complete balance of nutrients even if one ingredient stands out above the others, as in this soup. Vegetarians and vegans of course have a more difficult time maintaining this balance so requires a bit more thinking and planning.

Some soups do just fine as a starter or an appetizer even though they have a slight imbalance of nutrients but if you are preparing one to be a meal, then make a greater effort to include all the food groups. This Green Pea soup is high in fibre and has both beta carotene and vitamin C. Using evaporated milk instead of cream is a lower fat and less expensive option. In 1 tbsp of evaporated milk there are 20 calories while cream has 30; 1 gram of fat while cream has 2.5; 1 gram of protein while cream has 0.3 and vitamin C and calcium are higher by 2% in both.

Here in London a carton of 18% cream, which is the only cream I use, is about $5 while a can of evaporated milk is $1.89. I always have a carton on hand for my coffee but for cooking I use the canned milk most often.

What you need to know

If you don't have a mortar & pestle I recommend you get one. I have a small marble set that has seen great use but is still going strong. A lot of people have been talked into purchasing or even using their existing coffee grinder for their spices but I don't think it's a good way of spending your money or treating your food. In order to justify the expense and the cupboard space of purchasing one (as a uni-tasker), you'd have to grind up large quantities of spice. Many large quantities of spice. Unless you're cooking for 100 people or more, quite often, you couldn't use that much ground spice before the flavourful granules degrade into a tasteless powder. If you plan to use your grinder for coffee and spices, then either clean, clean, clean or get used to the taste of spiced coffee. That may be okay if you ground up cardamon or cinnamon but cumin or fenugreek? Umm, pass. 

A small mortar and pestle set is more than sufficient for the little amount of spices used in most recipes.

Green Pea Soup

1 leek, cut into rings and washed
or 1/2 sweet onion, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
1 large carrot, diced
6 allspice berries, crushed
salt
12 peppercorns, cracked
5 cups chicken stock
1 can evaporated milk
approx 1.5 kg or 3 lbs frozen green peas
mint and two thin slices of red pepper for garnish

In a medium sized soup pot sauté leeks, celery, peppers, onions and carrots in a splash of olive oil until softened. Add spices, chicken stock, milk and peas. Bring to boil; reduce heat to simmer. Cook for 20 minutes. Whiz up using hand blender.

Serve with mint and red pepper garnish.



Now what could be simpler?

Try it out and let me know what you think !



all text and photographs ©michelle levasseur The Groaning Board 2014

Read More

Christmas Dinner '14 : Hoppy Holidays !

Watch Me Pull a Rabbit Out of My Hat

The Set up

As I mentioned in my previous post, Baubles and Wobbles, my meat of choice for this years Christmas Day dinner was rabbit. I realize this was probably a weird choice for most people's comfort level - the look my son gave me was worth the $23.95 I paid - but I enjoy trying new things, some would say almost obsessively. Special occasions are just opportunities for my culinary imagination to get a workout. One Easter while many were cooking a ham, as tradition dictates in this country, or a turkey which seems to be de rigeur for all three major eating holidays, I made an attempt at an authentic-ish Middle Eastern dinner. I had never done anything like that before but there were no leftovers so I'll mark that as a success!

This year, with the rabbit and the sides I chose, I seem to have blended a few European countries together for an interesting menu. I think it's cool how it ended up mainly British and French both of which are part of my heritage, as well as two countries where rabbit was once a main staple in most diets. The popularity of rabbit and its cousin the hare has waxed and waned over the years but has since returned to garden 'farmyards' of many, many people. They are relatively easy to raise, reproduce prodigiously so just about anyone can breed their own, in the right conditions. I find it encouraging that people are embracing the notion of not throwing the baby out with the bathwater while adapting to the technologies and knowledge of today. More and more people are looking to the past to help navigate their futures and their children's futures and so on. These are the people who understand the role of consumption in the preservation of animal diversity and existence.

Since this was a trial run on cooking and eating rabbit, I didn't bother to find a local source. Instead I picked this up at my local Sobies Supermarket in the frozen meat section. This particular package was imported from France, which seems appropriate given that most of the recipes I have come across ( and that would be four) have a French influence if not a direct example of a preparation by French cooks. Rabbit is a meat that roasts beautifully, apparently but I chose to keep things simple for myself and make a casserole style dish.

What you need to know

There isn't a 'new' technique or food stuff, I don't think as long as you are somewhat experienced with cooking meats in liquids or 'braising'. A casserole with whole pieces of meat can be considered braising (pot-roasting) if the amounts of the liquid are adequate to partially submerge the meat portions in the liquid even though vegetables are added in a casserole. In this recipe there are two purposes and ways to add vegetables.

As noted below the cooking liquid is usually used as a sauce or gravy so one purpose of the vegetables is to make a flavourful sauce as well as to season the meat. Cutting the vegetables in large chunks is fine in this case as the sauce/gravy will either be blended or sieved before using. 

If you want to serve it like a casserole like Chicken Caccitore, then the vegetables are cut finer and of a variety that is visually appealing as well as imparting a nice flavour to the meat.

Here is Wikipedia's definition of braising that I think sums it up perfectly :

Most braises follow the same basic steps. The food to be braised (meats, vegetables, mushrooms, etc.) is first pan-seared to brown its surface and enhance its flavor (through the Maillard reaction).

If the food will not produce enough liquid of its own, a small amount of cooking liquid that often includes an acidic element (e.g.,tomatoes, beer, balsamic vinegar, wine), is added to the pot, often with stock. A classic braise is done with a relatively whole cut of meat, and the braising liquid will cover 2/3 of the product while in the pan. Then, the dish is covered and cooked at a very low simmer, until the meat becomes so tender that it can be 'cut' with just the gentlest of pressure from a fork (vs., a knife). Often the cooking liquid is finished to create a sauce or gravy, as well.^[3][4]

Sometimes, foods with high water content (particularly vegetables) can be cooked in their own juices, making the addition of liquid unnecessary.^[5]A successful braise intermingles the flavors of the foods being cooked, with those of the cooking liquid. This cooking method dissolves the meat's collagen into gelatin, which can greatly enrich and thicken the liquid.

Braising is economical (as it allows the use of tough and inexpensive cuts), and efficient (as it often enables an entire meal to be prepared in just a single dish -- the pot/pan).

The Performance

Whole rabbit, cut up
2 tbsp or so Dijon mustard
1/2 bunch of celery diced or chunked if making sauce
1 large sweet onion, chopped or 
  1 bag pearl onions, peeled if making casserole
2 carrots, cut on the diagonal
2 cups white grapes
1 1/4 cup hard apple cider
2 cups chicken stock
2 tbsp flour
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper
butter/oil for frying


Rub Dijon mustard over the washed and dried portions of rabbit. Let sit while chopping the vegetables. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Sear meat in a butter/oil mixture or as I did, lard/oil mix in a large pan until golden brown in colour. Remove meat. Saute the onions, carrots and celery until softened. Add flour and cook for 2 minutes to remove flour taste. Deglaze with the hard cider, scraping up the stuck bits. Put chicken stock, rabbit, bay leaves, salt and pepper in a casserole dish or dutch oven. Add the vegetable/cider mixture.

Cover and cook for 35 minutes. Add grapes and cook, uncovered, for another 10 minutes.

Serve on a bed of braised fennel with a grilled portabello mushroom just under the rabbit. 

If making a sauce, remove a spoonful of grapes and some of the carrots. Using a hand blender, whiz up the remaining liquid and solids until smooth. Add grapes and carrots back in and serve.
If leaving as a casserole, arrange the vegetables in a pleasing way around the rabbit and on the fennel, adding a bit of the juice over top.

Braised Fennel

I bulb of fennel, fronds removed, thinly sliced into spears
1/2 sweet onion, thinly sliced
1 tsp celery seed
olive oil
good 7 or 8 dashes of white wine vinegar
Chicken stock/white wine to cover the fennel, about two cups of each
kosher salt
fresh ground pepper

Place all ingredients in baking dish. Braise for approx 30 minutes. Leave in liquid and use a slotted spoon to remove fennel to serve.

Behind the scenes

So, what did I think of rabbit? Dare I say it? It tastes like chicken. Okay, so I do so dare. It really does. Just a very moist and tender chicken. Hares are larger animals so I would assume more meat which I think would make this a more economical meal - at least until I could find a cheaper, local source. One rib and leg portion had almost no meat on it at all. The breast/flank portion was fairly substantial and very juicy. I'm not sure how roasting would affect the moistness of the meat but I can say that the rabbit was juicier than chicken that I have prepared in a similar manner, even though they were pretty moist themselves.

I don't think that rabbit is going to replace chicken as our meat of choice but I can see it being an alternative a few times a year. I hope you give it a go too !


Starter: Green Pea Soup with Mint
Sides: Roasted Honey Walnut Beets 
            Roasted Yellow Potatoes with Bacon and Scallions 




all text and photographs ©michelle levasseur The Groaning Board 2014

Read More

Baubles and Wobbles

Christmas Greetings 2014

Here we are once again at another Christmas season and once again I'm totally overwhelmed but I wouldn't have it any other way. I love this time of year from the houses all decked out in their illuminated finery, to the muzak playing in the malls, to the food, food, food that you're allowed to indulge in to your hearts content. After all, worrying about your diet is what New Years is for, right?

I don't know about you but I've spent enough time this past year worrying about things and I  am taking a break from all of that.  One thing I love to do to de-stress over the holidays is to 'light-spot' christmas lighting displays by hitting suburbia to see the creative results by those who love this time of year as much as I do. There is a sense of community to be found along with a healthy dollop of christmas spirit. You don't have to have any religious sensibilities to appreciate this time of year either - simple appreciation for friends, family and the child-like joy that wells up in your soul at this time is all that's needed.

Take advantage of lower gas prices and do a tour of where you live - I'm sure you'll be surprised at how an undemanding task like sitting in a car can reap some sparkling rewards :)

Lights ! Lights ! Found in suburbia in Woodstock, Ontario

This year, at the new house, I decided to do a bit of outside decorating. I have never been able to accomplish this before so the potential to go all out was there, lurking below the surface of practicality but I did manage to restrain myself. Nothing like an implacable budget to keep the christmas faeries in line ! So while I wanted to go "Griswold" on the tree and house, I ended up going "Charlie Brown" instead. My Magnolia  at the front looks very scraggly without the leaves so I picked up a wagon load of oversized ornaments and hung them from the tree after wrapping the base with white lights. It really does look like a Charlie Brown tree, which is just fine by me. I'm just happy I got to join in the fun this year. Gotta love that dollar store !

Simple materials from the dollar store

My Christmas craft project this year was something simple and inexpensive but oh so pretty when you're done. What started me thinking of doing this wreath is that I have an assortment of handed down ornaments from my mother that I don't usually put on the tree. I don't decorate with a gold scheme but I still want to utilize the ones my mother gave to me. So to practice and to see the effect, I decided to use balls I already had along with some balls and a wreath purchased from the dollar store. It was an easier project than I thought, or I should say it wasn't as messy as I thought it would be. Me and a glue gun usually means burns and taking a chisel to the glue that ended up everywhere but where I needed it. 

Directions are pretty straightforward. Start with the inner and outer edges then fill in the centre with assorted sized. Fill in any holes with some mini ornaments. If you have some special ones you'd like to showcase, then add those at the end in strategic places.

Now that I've made this one, I'll be making either a wreath or a garland with my mothers glass ornaments for next Christmas.

Handmade joy !

For Christmas dinner this year I am not doing a fowl as I usually make, but am going down a food alley I've never gone before. Rabbit. That's right, I'm cooking rabbit. Now before I get people with their "up with bunnies" T-shirts all riled up, I should point out that rabbit has been eaten the world over for centuries upon centuries. It's a good lean protein that is easy and cheap to raise. 

I will be posting the recipe I've come up with along with the sides I'll be serving. Check back over the next week to see those posts :)

Christmas Menu

Green Pea Soup with Mint

Goat cheese, Pepper and Artichoke bundles

Rabbit in White wine with Pearl Onions, Carrots, Celery and Grapes

                   served on a grilled Portabello Mushroom

Sauteed Potatoes with Bacon and Chives

Roasted Honey Walnut Beets

I hope each and everyone of you have a fabulous and safe Christmas holiday!

Edit Dec 29 2014: I decided to make the goat cheese bundles for New Years instead and I went with my recipe of Rabbit in Cider instead of wine. The pearl onions were changed to chopped sweet onion.

all text and photographs ©michelle levasseur The Groaning Board

Read More