Recent Food Adventures

Scallops !

Bottlin' the wine

We now have 30 bottles of Pinot Noir. Now time to start the next batch !

Next recipe to try - Courgette Soup

Since we're getting into fall...it's soup time !

Here's a recipe that I want to try:

Bacon, Blue Cheese, and Courgette Soup

2 Tablespoons of olive oil
5 to 6 streaky rashers (Irish Bacon) diced
1 medium onion, chopped
3 Medium Zucchini, sliced, and a few slices reserved for garnish
3 Medium Potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
4 cups homemade chicken stock
4 ounces Blue Cheese
1/2 Cup Half-and-half
Freshly ground pepper to taste
3 Tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley

1. In a stockpot or large saucepan over medium heat, warm the oil. Add the bacon and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until nearly crisp. With a slotted spoon, remove a few pieces and reserve for garnish. Stir in the onion, zucchini, and potatoes. Cover and cook, stirring once or twice, for 5 to 7 minutes, or until the onion and zucchini is soft but not browned. Stir in the stock or broth and bring to boil. Lower the heat and simmer, covered, for 12 to 15 minutes, or until the potatoes are tender. Remove from the heat and let cool for 10 minutes.
2. Working in batches, transfer the soup to a food processor or blender and puree until smooth. Return the soup to the pot, whisk in the cheese and half-and-half and season with pepper. Simmer until heated through
3. To serve, ladle the soup into shallow bowls and garnish with the reserved bacon and zucchini slices, and the parsley.

This recipe is from a very cool cook book called The Irish Pub Cookbook by Margaret M Johnson

when I make it I'll let you know how it turns out.

Bread, Cookies and WIne oh my

Yesterday was a big day of cooking, baking and getting ready to do some fermenting !

We started off the day by making some Turkey Soup. We had the stock in the freezer leftover from Christmas and the temp here has started to drop (fall already?) so it felt like soup weather. While the soup was on the stove, I fired up some of the Parmesan oregano bread (see previous post) and some m&m chocolate chip cookies...
Once we were done, supper was a bowl of soup, with a fresh bread, English bacon, goat cheese brie, garden tomato, and lettuce sandwich...top notch !

Then...we took a look at a new wine kit...we've been talking about it for a while, so we decided to take the plunge. We picked up a Cellar Craft Premium Pinot Noir...I'll be posting about the process (we read the instructions yesterday and are beginning tonight).

Here are some pics of the days adventure.

What the ? It's 2012 ?

Where the heck did the last few months go ?
I must apologize for the lack of posting...things have been crazy 'round here...

I plan to get back on this posting thang very soon.

In the meantime, here's something we've been dipping into a bit here and there. It's President Choice Beer....the price of beer is steadily increasing and because we feel the pinch every now and then we decided to check out some of the, shall we say, inexpensive beers on the market. I was pleasantly surprised with the Pilsner and the Dry...my first thought was it was being brewed by Molson...after a quick google I found out it's being brewed by Big Rock....very cool.

Anyway, if you're looking for a cheap, not bad beer try one out...they run about 12.99 for 12.

Beer Bread

I was flipping through an old Jamie Oliver Naked Chef cookbook and found his section on bread, and since I'm all bread-tastic these days I read through what he had to say. One of the recipes was for beer bread. It was basically a bread recipe with beer instead of water....

so

Since I had a neat beer in the 'fridge (of course)...that beer is La Fin Du Monde

I decided this would be a good one to use.

I used the recipe found in the previous post and just used beer instead of water and did not add the cheese....I still added the oregano...1) I like the smell and taste and 2) I thought it might add a bit of flavour

It worked out GREAT !

My dough didn't rise much and I waited longer...I'll chalk that up to the fact that we had an 'ass snapping' cold weekend and the dough was not getting any external heat.

In the end it still worked out and had a nice taste...not super beery...

This is the type of bread that would be great as a starter with a flavoured butter, while sipping a beer and waiting for your tray of meats and cheeses.

Next ?

I'm going to make SAUSAGE !

Look at me go !!!