Dish Cafe and Food Shop

For those of you who aren't in the loop, Dish Cafe and Food Shop is where you'll find me cooking these days. I opened last week at 15 1/2 Second St. East in Cornwall ON and have not stopped since!

Here are a few of the things we've been cooking up for you...

 (Apple Crisp)

(I'm eating a Grilled Aged Cheddar and Carmelized Onion Sandwich)

The sandwiches are made fresh every morning using locally raised meats from Langview Farms and prepared on the delicious breads from http://www.artisinbakery.com/ 

Stop in for a sandwich, a bowl of soup or some of our amazing coffee (from http://cafedejoel.ca/). I'm gonna blog about Joel and his coffee (and passion for said coffee) next. I liked coffee before. Now I'm sort of obsessed.

Cold Weather Means Stew

I decided tonight was the night for me to start to do stews. I've been in denial that the cold weather is upon us. (That could partially be due to the fact that I accidentally donated my new winter coat with all of my family's hand me downs at the end of last season and I'm still searching for a new one - but...)

I still had some stewing beef in the freezer from Langview Farms and had everything else I needed in the fridge. Beef Bourguignon it is!

As the Lunch Tramp is getting ready to once again start feeding the public at the soon to be opened Dish...Real Food Shop located in downtown Cornwall, I'm in full-on recipe testing mode. Unfortunately, that means I'm not quite as vigilant at photo taking - but the good news is the stew was REALLY good.

I'm not gonna lie to you. My intention was to make Julia Child's recipe - and that's basically what this was, albeit without the pearl onions and using pancetta instead of bacon. Also, I thought I had tomato paste in the cupboard but I did not - so there was none in the stew. I absolutely encourage you to try Julia's recipe. There's no question it is amazing in every possible way and I wasn't trying to change it to do anything more than actually get to make this without running out to buy the things I thought I had but didn't.

• pancetta (about 6 ounces)
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 pounds lean stew beef, cut into 2-inch cubes
• 1  carrot, chopped
• 1  onion, diced
• Salt and pepper
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 3 cups red wine (I used a Shiraz)
• 1 cup beef stock
• 3 cloves garlic, crushed
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 pound fresh mushrooms, quartered

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. 

I cubed the pancetta and added it to a casserole with 1 tablespoon olive oil and took it out with a slotted spoon.

Heat the oil and fat in pot. Again, for the interest of full disclosure, I did not dry the beef with paper towels (as Julia instructs) but did sauté on all sides until browned. In the same fat, I browned the onions and carrots. 

I returned the beef and pancetta to the pot and tossed with salt and pepper. Then I sprinkled on the flour and tossed again to coat the beef lightly. (Julia uses less flour but I didn't think there was enough to coat so I added more.) I set the pot uncovered in middle position of preheated oven for 4ish minutes. I tossed the meat again and return to oven for 4 minutes (this was supposed to brown the flour and cover the meat with a light crust. It did not.). 

At this point, I took the pot out and turned the oven down to 325 degrees. Add in wine (I used the whole bottle) and stock. Add the garlic and thyme. Bring to a simmer. Cover pot and set in lower third of oven for 3 to 4 hours. The meat is done when a fork pierces it easily. (This happened for me at just over 2 hours.)

 

When the beef is nearly done, sauté mushrooms in 2 tablespoons butter. (Had I been using the pearl onions she uses, I'd have cooked them for about an hour first.)

 

At this point, Julia has you strain the liquid. I did not do this. The sauce was thick enough that I did not have to cook it down. 

I'm not sure if you can tell by these pictures that the sauce was thick without being overly thick. The original recipe does call for more stock, although she does use a lot of it for the pearl onions which I didn't use. 

My kids aren't very big on "sauce" and we tend to give them things with all of scraped off. Tonight was no exception. However, they totally lost out because this was REALLY really good.

I served it with some Smashed Yukon Gold Potatoes. 

 

Sour Cream Pancakes

DH and I tend to try to go all out for breakfast on Sundays. Part of that is I missed breakfasts on Saturdays this summer while at the Farmers' Market - and part of it is his love affair with bacon. This week we didn't have a lot of time but I wanted to try something new. Enter Sour Cream Pancakes. My rationale is I didn't feel like doing crepes (I prefer to let crepe batter sit overnight) and also, I cleaned out the fridge yesterday and discovered two brand new containers of sour cream inside. (It happens.)

I think the recipe is pretty generic. I found a few identical ones on various websites and in two different cookbooks:

1 cup flour

1 tablespoon sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk (we had 1% here today although the recipe called for whole milk)

1/2 cup sour cream (it was the low fat kind but the recipe said regular)

1 large egg*

2 tablespoons melted butter, plus more for pan

*Unrelated side note, although I realize they sell other sizes of eggs, I have never seen a recipe that calls for another size. But I digress.

Combine the dry ingredients in one bowl and wet ingredients in another. 

Whisk together the wet ingredients and slowly add to the flour mixture, whisking the whole time. 

This batter is MUCH more firm than the pancakes I usually make. I thought about thinning it out but given that 4 or 5 separate recipe sites/books said not to, I decided to stick with firm.

Heat your non stick skillet to medium high and melt butter. I added about 1/4 cup batter to the pan for the first one but less for the remaining. The batter doesn't spread (it is really really thick) and even though I wanted fluffy pancakes, this would have been excessive. 

The remaining ones were less than 1/4 cup - and I spread it out a bit. Still fluffy but no chance of being gooey in the middle.

 

The finished product was a significantly fluffier pancake than the regular ones we make - and they took no time at all to make. These MIGHT be our new Sunday staple.

 

Guacamole - aka How To Win Friends

I'm not implying that people would NOT have been friends with me if I hadn't shared my guacamole recipe with them - it's just that it is a FACT that when I did share it, I suddenly got a weekly coffee date... (I'm talkin' to YOU Dan.)

We do a LOT of Mexican and/or Tex-Mex cooking at our place, probably because both DH and I have worked in Mexican restaurants - and most of our friends did too. Guacamole is one of those staples that can either be amazing or really really not. I've seen it made simply by smushing avocadoes and adding tomatoes (ick), and as complicated as having a bunch of herbs and spices thrown in (complicated ick).

I'll tell you right now, we are NOT cilantro people so this recipe doesn't have it. If you ARE cilantro people, add some at the end. (It pains me to type that.)

Here's what we do. Notice the measurements are "ish":
3-5 avocadoes
1/4 spanish onion, minced
1-2 garlic cloves, crushed
few splashes lemon juice (or lime in a pinch)
few splashes green Tabasco (this makes the difference - people always say it is the thing that makes it more awesome...)
sea salt and pepper to taste
diced and seeded tomato (optional)

Start by cutting around the pit of the avocado.


Getting the pit out is actually really easy. All you have to do is hit it in the centre with your chef's knife and twist. It comes right out. (I'm pretty sure I have a video of me doing this. If I can find it, I'll post it.)

Next step, scoop out the avocado into a bowl. Dice the onion and add it to the bowl with the minced garlic.


Use a masher and combine with lemon juice, green Tabasco, salt and pepper.

If you're adding tomatoes, now's the time to do it. We tend not to at our house these days, partially because they tend to make the guacamole turn yucky more quickly, and also because we have a friend with a tomato allergy. (If you're a crazy cilantro loving person, feel free to add it now as well...)


That's it. Serve with chips, veggies or alongside fajitas, burritos, quesadillas, your choice!

Monday "I'm MUCH too busy to cook but really should" Supper

Funny thing about teaching "Quick Cooking" and "30 Minute Meal" Classes for as many years as I did - I realize there's ALWAYS time to make supper. Pair that with related classes like "Stock Your Pantry" and I really have no excuse.

Now, that doesn't mean I don't still sometimes make excuses but, well, I suspect you get the point.

So, tonight's supper came from 3 different inspirations.
#1 We had shrimp leftover from last night
#2 It is really cold out
#3 I was in the mood for pasta and there's a Spicy Shrimp Pasta dish I make sometimes that is really yummy.

Now #3 was a challenge because the dish I had in mind takes some time to prepare but I figured I could alter it with some of the stuff I have in my pantry and get it done quickly.

Here's what I did:

Put a large pot of water on to boil.* When it does come to a boil, salt the water, add the pasta and cook until al dente


Meanwhile, Chop a medium onion
Mince 2 cloves of garlic
Saute them in olive oil for about 5 minutes.
Deglaze the pan with some white wine (or chicken stock)
Add a small can of diced tomatoes (I used a can of Spicy Red Pepper ones to help with the spicy factor in the original recipe)
Reduce for about 5 minutes.
Add about 1/4 cup of either milk, cream, half and half, etc.
Reduce again.


Add the seasonings you have on hand. Tonight I used chopped fresh parsley, oregano and salt and pepper.
Add cooked shrimp once the sauce comes off the heat. (It is already cooked and you don't want it to get tough.)


Toss with cooked pasta and serve immediately.

Tomato Bocconcini Salad Two Ways

We probably all have our go-to salad. You know, the one you make when you need an extra vegetable at the table/have to prepare something for a potluck/realize an entire day has gone by without vegetable consumption.

At our house we're pretty big on salads in theory, although truth be told, it is sometimes the part of the meal that goes by the wayside when time is of the essence. However, this salad is so fast and easy, and is made with so few ingredients that it is really not something that takes any time to prepare.

A classic Italian salad, we enjoy this almost every day in the summer once the tomatoes in our garden ripen.



In the "off season" when tomatoes are less delicious, we switch it up by using grape tomatoes or a variety of smaller ones found in the grocery store.


For the recipe:

This is more of a "use what's on hand" than an actual recipe. It can be fore as many or as few people as you'd like.

2-3 ripe tomatoes of your choosing (beefsteak, roma, your favourite heritage kind, etc.) sliced*
2-3 balls bocconcini (fresh mozzarella) or a couple of handfuls of the bite-sized ones
handful fresh basil
extra virgin olive oil
aged balsamic vinegar
sea salt
pepper

*If you're using grape, pear or cherry tomatoes, use a couple of handfuls

Slice the tomatoes. Salt the cheese. Layer with a basil leaf (or if using baby bocconcini, reserve them for the center). Drizzle olive oil and balsamic vinegar around the plate and season to taste.

(Ahem) Embarrassed Second Start

Okay, so my original foray into food blogging didn't so much work out. What can I say? Since the original post way back in March I'm fairly certain I've cooked at least five times a week for an estimated total of 30-something-ish meals - but there's no blog proof...

So... here we are at a second start. It is the end of summer here but by no means the end of the harvest. Many local farmers and gardeners are busy taking in a plethora of vegetables including beans, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini, etc.

When I'm not blogging (she says sarcastically), I can be found at the Cornwall Farmers' Market, managing the site and meeting new and amazing food producers in the area. Last week, we came home with a pork tenderloin from Langview Farms, carrots and some fresh locally harvested garlic. I used some herbs from our garden and we had what my DH referred to as one of the best meals I've ever made. Now, I'm lucky in that he tends to use hyperbole fairly often when he describes his like of meals - but I had to sort of agree this time.

The pork was grass-fed/hormone-free and all of the ingredients were really simple. (contented sigh)

For those of you who're going to ask for a recipe, please believe me when I say I cleaned the silver skin off the pork tenderloin, rubbed it with extra virgin olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic, sage and thyme and seared it in a hot cast iron pan on all sides. I then put it in a 350 oven for 20 minutes. That is all.

(Don't confuse this with the pork tenderloin we did for supper tonight. I've posted some pics of it already on facebook - but you'll have to wait a bit for that recipe. Hopefully, not several months - just not tonight.)

The Intro

I'm an errant blogger. I have another blog that I'm not great at updating - even though I have the best of intentions. I hope this blog will be more regularly updated. I eat dinner everyday - and cook dinner most of those days.

I have an extensive food background that I'll probably address as the weeks (and months and years?) go by but for now all I'll say is I love to eat - and I love to create dinners that are delicious and "write about" worthy.

Ironically, tonight I was under the weather and DH did all the cooking. This almost never happens but he did a great job. He's helped me do Chicken Brochette and Greek Potatoes often enough to mostly remember how it was done - and given the cleared plates at our table tonight, he can make dinner again anytime!