Blood Orange and Red Papaya Relish

Good morning everyone, today’s blog will be a little shorter than normal. Have you ever gone to the supermarket, see something and just buy it out of reflex? Well, while I was at the groceries last week I saw red papayas and got them not knowing what I was going to do, but it didn’t matter. It wasn’t until today I opened my fridge and stared at it for five minutes before thinking of what to do. I took a look through my culinary artistry and figured let’s make a relish. Now relishes are slightly similar to chutney’s but they are a bit savory. I liked this not only because you could taste all the fruits but it wasn’t as sharp as I thought It would have been, and you get a slight garlic taste at the end.

As I was juicing the blood orange, it reminded me of being back in A Voce and making a vinaigrette in the morning. Nothing was better than seeing that rich deep red leak out of the orange. Today all I could do was stare at this blood orange juice in amazement.

Let’s get to making this relish now.

1 med Red Papaya (seeded & peeled)

1 Blood orange (halved)

½ Garlic Clove

1 Tbsp. Ground Mustard

¼ tsp Ground Chili

½ Cup Apple Cider Vinegar

1 Cup Sugar

1/8 tsp Kosher salt

Combine all ingredients in a food Processor, and chop. Once mixed add to a non reactive saucepot and bring it to a boil for 30 minutes. This will help cook out a bit of the harsh acid from the vinegar and the garlic flavor. Please stir it every once in a while. Don’t leave it sitting there to stick and possibly burn. Once this is done, cool it to room temperature then put in a jar and refrigerate.

A restaurant's inspiration: Roasted Bell Pepper & Corn Chutney

Good Morning everyone! I hope all of my foodies are well. Last week me and my girlfriend made our second round to what might be one of our favorite restaurants downtown. Carmen’s is a great little Spanish restaurant that does tapas style food on Queen West. After we did our trip to Spain, we were having tapas withdrawals and finally, we found a restaurant to give us our fix when we needed a little Spain in our life! We knew exactly what we were having along with a few new additional items to try. There was one specific dish that made me smile, the Tomate Verde Frito con Queso Feta, Maiz y Pimientos (breaded green tomatoes, feta, roasted red peppers and corn chutney). The Chutney was so good, and being a cook I instantly wanted to try recreating it myself. So that weekend I decided that I was going to experiment. It didn’t matter whether or not I knew how to make a jam or chutney. In the end, I took it as an opportunity to be able to practice something and maybe when I am done I might think of a new idea or dish.

Here it is, my recipe for a Roasted Pepper & Corn Chutney

1 Roasted red bell pepper(rough dice)

1 Small onion (diced)

2 cups corn

½ Cup sugar

1 tsp Salt

1 tsp Coriander

½ tsp Cumin

¼ Cup Apple Cider Vinegar

1 Lemon Zest

Season your bell pepper with salt, pepper and oil. You want to roast it evenly in the oven. I roasted mine at 450 F for fifteen minutes on each side. The point of this is so that skin can come off. So if you notice the skin starts separating from the pepper, you're doing the right thing. Once your pepper is finished, get it in a bowl and cling wrap it. 

The steam will help continue any separation that needs to be done. Get all of your other ingredients together. Once you’ve done that then peel the pepper and give it a rough dice. Combine all the ingredients in a pot, covered on a low heat until the liquid is almost dehydrated. Its not going to be extremely sticky like that of a jam. Taste it periodically, get an idea of the textures and flavors as it cooks, understand what happens as you leave it on longer. Sure this is something that you just leave to sit but watch it every fifteen minutes, see what you can learn from it.

In the end I was very happy with the taste, I think next time I might put more peppers. Mine came out a little bit more orange looking and wasn’t as red as Carmen’s own but nevertheless it was yummy and is now in my fridge waiting to be used on a new dish.

A book I love: Culinary Artistry

Hey everyone I hope all is well out there in the culinary world. I know its been a while since I’ve done a book review and I’m hoping this article will be able to shed a new light on a book that I try to live and die by. It is honestly one of the greatest books, when it comes to ingredients and advice on dishes. The first time I came across the book “Culinary Artistry” was when I was attending the local hospitality college back in my home country of Antigua and Barbuda. I had a really close friend who I felt was a bit further ahead of me in the culinary field when it came to food memories and imagination. He introduced me to the book. It felt like a shining light came from the heavens as I held it - the key I needed to help take a step forward. As I flicked through there were so many ingredients I knew nothing about and immediately felt a jolt of motivation and love for my new discovery. Eventually I got my own book, given to me by my grandmother. I felt like no one could stop me now.

It’s a soft cover book written by Andrew Dorneburg & Karen Page, and is at least 20 years old. But I would advise you to always keep it nearby. It talks about being an artist, choosing a medium, understanding flavors, combining flavors and much more. There is a wealth of information in here from a few chefs, who give a quick reasoning behind a dish or a menu. This way you have an understanding of why everything was done or the logic behind it. From this book your brain could instantly start getting ideas and techniques. It doesn’t limit you to a specific technique with a meat or cuisine, but shows you how versatile one can be in this field.

I remember reading a section where one chef, Patrick O’Connell, understood that you can’t just serve barbeque pulled pork in a restaurant and charge people any amount of money. So instead he took a boneless rack of lamb and barbecued it and made his own twist.

Your ability to create is only limited by your imagination and curiosity. If you already have a curious mind, then get to reading. I take little markers and tag pages that I like or don’t want to forget. If there is an ingredient you can think of the book usually has it. Being about 20 years old, there have been a few ingredients I haven’t been able to find, but I can count on both hands how many times that has happened since I’ve owned the book. Also, if you can’t find it in the book just look online. Once you have this book you can make your own notes on the side of a page if you have an idea that you should jot down. At the back of the book is the long index, you will find that some ingredients will have multiple page numbers. That’s because some ingredients have a sub category called “accompaniment”, or they are mentioned in a recipe. I can guarantee that you will find your ingredient though.

I think the book is awesome and I am hoping one day that there will be a new issue with more ingredients added to the list.

Post Christmas Brunch: Turkey, Waffles and Gravy

Happy holidays everyone! After lots of eating & belly stuffing, I hope everyone is well fed. You ever wonder what to do with your left over turkey? Well, that depends on if you have any of that good stuff left back. Usually people resort to a fricassee or soup of some kind. You ever just want to have a hearty filling brunch? You see, what I did was strip my turkey to the bone, which was fairly easy to do. You’ll be surprised as to how much meat you can scrape off of a turkey carcass with some gloves on and a fork in your hand. Another thing is I got a waffle maker for Christmas compliments to my family and I haven’t stopped making waffles since. I then decided what better way to spend your Sunday than having a post holiday brunch with those yummy leftovers.

Want to get to it? Let’s go! Turkey gravy and waffle time.

2 Turkey thighs (bone out)

1 Waffle (check Waffle Recipe)

150g Sauce/ gravy

Maple Syrup

1 Sprig sage

2 Tbsp. Butter

1 Tbsp. Corn starch

1 ½ Tbsp. Water

Okay so first thing is, you have any waffles? If not, please check the Waffle Recipe. It’s the Culinary Institute of Americaès recipe and I love it. Once you have your waffles we can go to the next step.

 

Do, you have any gravy left back? Please don’t tell me you used it all up. If you have gravy just pour some into a little pot and warm it up. If you did use it all up I can still help you out. We will get back to the gravy. I just needed to see where you stood with that.

Take the turkey leg and separate the thigh from the leg bone, then going to remove the bone and give the meat rough chop, reserve in a container. Take the sage and give it a chop as well, reserve.

We are going to get our saute pan hot for the turkey. 

Add the butter and sage, I like my butter a little nutty so I prefer it brown rather than just melted. Next we will add our turkey, with a touch of salt and pepper, then leave it to heat up on a medium fire. We want it to crispen up a little, then we will give it a stir. Now because we don’t have gravy we will remove the turkey once its hot and leave all that good stuff in the pan. Add some water/ chicken stock if you have any and “deglaze’ the pan. This is what u will use as your gravy. I am pretty sure its not thick enough so get the corn starch and water, make a slurry. Add to sauce, check for seasoning.

 

Get your plate with your waffles, place your turkey on it, sauce, maple syrup, done! Time to enjoy your lovely brunch. 

Spiced Plum Chutney

Hey everyone another day of fall, another recipe. Today we have a spiced plum chutney. This is the season for all those spices you have in your house, your cinnamon's, cardamoms, nutmegs. I had some plums in my fridge that hadn't been used up and to be honest I was over eating them so I decided to just knock up a chutney. So I did a check up on the internet to get an idea of what people used. Some people had the longest list of spices ever and I didn't want to lose the taste of the plums so I was very selective in what I used. In the end it was a nice little blend of flavors .

3 Star Anise

1 Clove

1 Stick Cinnamon

1/3 Cup Red Wine Vinegar

3 Tbsp Sugar

1/2 Tbsp Ginger

1/2 Tbsp Ground Mustard Seeds

1/2 Tbsp Ground Black Pepper

3 T Water

1 Cardamom

1/4 Tbsp Chili Powder

1/4 Tbsp Paprika

1/4 Tbsp Ground Cumin

4 Red/ Black Plums

Now the plums can be done two ways, you can either give the plums a cross mark at the bottom of the fruit then put them in boiling water for up to a minute, shock it in ice water, then peel it and cut it in half then separate them. It's a very common method for tomatoes. If they are hard enough you can just grab a peeler and peel them then just cut them in half up to the seed, rotate the sides in opposite directions and separate them.

The fact of the matter is, its up to you.

Once you've got your peeled and separated plums then cut them up and put them in the pot.

Measure your spices and liquids then put them in your pot. Keep your pot on a medium heat and let the soon be chutney simmer. Be sure to constantly stir it. You don't want it to burn

Once its done, remove your Cinnamon Stick, Anise seed, and Cardamom seeds 

Care for another fall salad?

Beet Root Salad

1 Stick Cinnamon

2 Cardamom seed

½ Star Anise

3 Clove

1/3 tsp Nutmeg

3 Small/Baby Red beets

1 Yellow beet*

½ cup baby spinach

2 Stalks purple Kale

1/3 Cup walnuts

¼ Grapefruit

¼ Red Cabbage

8oz Goat Cheese

2tbsp Heavy/Whipping Cream

Lemon zest

Salt

Pepper

Do you ever get bored of your classic beet salad with arugula goat cheese and beets? It’s nice but I’m a little over the original salad. So I decided I wanted to do my own. You know, there is something about spices that I love, some people don’t like them; I would cook with them every day if I could. The spices in this salad are very subtle and aren’t overpowering at all; I love it.

Wash your beets thoroughly and remove the roots

Take your spices and just place them in your roasting pan, place your beets in the roasting pan then grate the nutmeg over them, followed by salt and pepper. We need to drizzle it with oil or else it will burn. Add a small amount of water and wrap your pan with foil, before putting them in just give the beets a little shake so they move around, be sure to constantly give the pan a push and pull every time you check on them. This will ensure even roasting and allow the spices to get over the beets more.

The Yellow beets*(try and use one similar in size to the red beets) we will roast separately with oil, salt and pepper. I didn’t want too much spice in the salad and not enough beet flavor so I did them differently.

Once they are cooked you will have to cut the beets into quarters and save them in separate containers.

Next grab all your leaves, wash and rinse them then leave them to dry.

We will take the cabbage then shred it and save it in a bowl or container.

The grapefruits, we are going to peel and segment them like we did in the previous recipe. Don’t cut them, we are going to leave them in whole pieces.

The goat cheese is going to be made into a spread. To do that we will put the cheese in a bowl, and add a little heavy cream. We are now going to work it with a spoon or spatula until it’s a paste then add a bit more cream. When it’s soft enough you want to use a whisk now to work it and add air to the mixture making it light, you want it to almost reach to soft peak. Add a small amount of salt, pepper and lemon zest and give it a final mix. Taste Taste Taste!  

Put the goat cheese on the bottom of the plate and mix all of your ingredients in a bowl (walnuts, cabbage, kale, baby spinach, grapefruit, and the yellow beets) add a little salt, pepper and olive oil. Plate and serve! Have a great salad and enjoy

 

Citrus Fall salad anyone?

A Citrus Salad for Fall

1 Vanilla Persimmon

1 Yellow Beet

1 Shallot

1/3 Pomegranate Deseeded

½ C Spinach

4 Stalks Purple Kale

1/3 Red Cabbage

½ Pint Gooseberries

1 Red Grapefruit

1 Pakistan Sweet Lime

1/3 Celery Root

½ Milk

½ Cream

2 Tbsp. Red Wine Vinegar

Salt

Pepper

1/3 C Olive Oil

Canola Oil

1/2 Tbsp Honey

From left to Right: Red Grapefruit, Sweet Lime,(top) Persimmon, Vanilla Persimmon, Pomegranate

Hey everyone! It’s fall and soon to be winter but that doesn’t mean that we need to stop eating those lovely little citrus fruits just because it’s a different season. Last week I went shopping for the house and ran into a few good looking produce in the market, so I decided to go back the following day. I knocked up a list of things I wanted, and figured I would make a really nice salad that was refreshing using fall fruit and vegetables. Please keep in mind I had never used some of these ingredients before and this was just supposed to be an experiment. Let’s get to it then.

Persimmon

So, I took a slice of all the things I had never eaten before. The Persimmon was quite interesting, it had a really mellow mango like taste and glowed a bright glossy orange on the outside and a dull matte orange on the inside. It was weird, it almost had the shape of a tomato and the texture of an apple.

Next was a Pakistan Sweet Lime, it was a bit bigger than your average lime and wasn’t as green. You know when limes start to lose their pigment of green and get a slight yellow tinge? That was the color of it. I sliced it, they tasted like a ball of honey in the skin of a lime, sweet but not overpowering. I gave a slice to my girlfriend and she looked at me in shock, like she had just tasted a bit of magic. Her eyes opened up wide, then she asked me “did they put sugar in the soil?” I almost died from laughter but I couldn’t blame her.

Let’s get into the details now as to how this yummy salad came together. I got everything together and one by one I prepped each ingredient. The Persimmons I put on their side and cut them into really thin slices, so they looked like disks. Once I couldn’t slice anymore, I placed the cap of the fruit on the board and sliced the sides. Now we have semi circles and full circles of this fruit, just to keep it a little exciting.

The Golden Beet will take the longest to cook. About an hour in the oven (feel free to boil it if you want) I seasoned mine with salt and pepper, drizzled some oil over it and covered it with foil. I baked it at 400⁰F for 1 hour then took a towel or paper towels and peeled it while it was still hot/warm. I cut them into segments and placed them on the side in a container.

Cooked Celery Root

Take your Celery Root and peel it, either with a peeler or shave off what you want from the whole root with a knife then cut it. Place root in a pot. Now I have half cream and milk in the recipe. You want the liquid to just cover the celery root. So you’re going to pour the milk half way and the other half with cream to cover the celery. Add a pinch of salt and boil until soft. When they are done, put the Celery Root in a blender then pour just enough cooking liquid to cover it and puree. You want to pour just enough canola oil to turn the puree almost white and help with the texture. Taste! Taste! Taste!

The shallot I put on its side like the Persimmon and sliced it. I picked through the spinach leaves and chose the smallest leaves in the bunch, I washed them then put them in a container with tissue. I did a similar process with the kale but instead I took the leaves off the stalk and chose the appropriate sizes for my salad. The red cabbage was also easy to prep. I just cut a third off of what I had and just sliced those fairly thin so it had a shredded look to it. The gooseberries were sliced in half.

Gooseberries

Now, the grapefruit and lime. I’m not sure how you peel your citrus but I cut the top and bottom so it can stand upright. I then run my knife down the sides along the body. This takes off the skin and any bitterness, and will help to segment the pieces. I then segmented it, kept half as they were and took the other pieces and just cut into tiny dices. Do the same for the Sweet lime. Once you’ve finished that, please squeeze the juice from the remains of the fruits and keep them in containers.
Take your Pomegranate and slice horizontally in half. Don’t cut it all the way. Twist it and it shall open up. Then take a wooden spoon. Turn the Pomegranate seed side facing your bowl and hit the outer shell. The seeds should just start to fall out.

(top) Shaved Red Cabbage, (bottom) Rolled and Sliced Cabbage Leaf

The dressing was very quick and simple. Put the juices, diced segments into your bowl or container. Add the honey, then the vinegar, pour the olive oil and whisk. Don’t use all of the oil at once. It’s always better to have too little then adjust. Taste it, season it, there should be a nice balance between sweet and sour and not too sharp.

Mise en Place

In another bowl get all of your greens, segmented fruits, your cabbage, kale, beet root and shallots together. Pour your dressing over it and mix your salad so it’s well coated. I put the Persimmon disks on the plate then I placed the salad on top, then with the celery root puree I put little drops on the side and topped everything with the pomegranates. Over all it was a nice salad, I had my girlfriend try as well and she liked it. Give this salad a try, this was enough for maybe two people if you stretch it. You can adjust quantities for more guests and even make it a little bit more rustic and tweak it to your liking. Tell me how it is! Thanks a lot everyone for taking the time to read this recipe.

Finished Product

From a different perspective