A far from lazy Sunday in the kitchen

This post is more of a diary write up of what I accomplished today to prep for my cooking extravaganza that will be happening at casa M. and Steph's, tomorrow.

I have a four day weekend that stretches until tomorrow and after spending two days that included hanging out at the River Heights Farmers' Market and at a friends pool, I am ready to dive into my new cookbook- The French Market - and also to find a recipe that will incorporate one of the new pans I purchased a couple weeks ago.

I found a recipe for Eggplant and Fresh Herb Tabouleh as well as Goat Cheese and Rosemary Sables from the cookbook. I decided to try the Eggplant/ Tabouleh recipe when I found eggplant at the River Heights Famers' Market. The vendor, Stefan who runs the Blu Lagoon booth, explained to me how to cook eggplant (since I never have), and, when I explained to him the recipe I was planning to make, it turned out that he also had the fresh basil and mint that are also required ingredients. Score!

That left the tahini (I was out), whole wheat couscous and Harissa spice to find. Now for those who have indulged on tabouleh (I have not... yet) you must be thinking Harissa? In Tabouleh? But tabouleh is a salad! Why would you put a very hot spice in a salad!? My answer to you is... I am following the recipe. I don't know why! Clotilde Dusoulier, who is the author of this cookbook, and that's good enough for me.

M. and I picked up some groceries today and after not being able to find Harissa at Bulk Barn, I remembered that there was a middle eastern grocery store in Wolseley, off Maryland, that may have it. Well, when I asked (possibly the owner) for Harissa and I told him it was for tabouleh... well, did I ever open a can of worms. He flat out told me Harissa does not belong in tabouleh then proceeded to sell me a pre-made tabouleh mix. Still bought Harissa in a paste form, just to try it in the recipe. (They had probably a half dozen brands/consistencies of Harissa, so I'd like to think he knows what he's talking about.) Anyway, when we were paying for our items, we noticed that they had vegetarian roti's ready to go, so we also picked up a couple.

Our snack when we got home; vegetable roti's (M. took a bite before I snapped the pic), cucumbers, sliced apple, cheddar cheese and pickles.

After our snack, M. wanted to make our protein bars for the week. We switched up the protein powder we normally use from vanilla to chocolate. So, these protein bars are double chocolate protein bars! Click here for the recipe that I posted previously.

Once that was done, onto the prep work for tomorrow's supper. As per the tabouleh recipe I was following, we could prepare the eggplant the day. I was instructed to let it sit at room temperature with a thin coat of salt for at least an hour and then steam it. Once it was cooked, it had to be completely cooled. The plan is to do the prep work today and enjoy it tomorrow.

Eggplant hanging out before the steam.

The reason, as I learned, for the eggplant to be left alone for at least an hour with a thin coat of salt is to remove the bitterness.

Since this recipe would be our supper tomorrow night, M. wanted to make a tofu stirfry with kale, the rest of the tariyaki sauce we picked up in the States, peas and chopped up cashews over top a bed of quinoa. Yum!

After supper (and before Breaking Bad at 8pm... obsessed!) I wanted to make the pastry for the mini tartletts since they needed to sit in the fridge in disk form for a couple hours. It can stay in the fridge for up to two days. I might as well bake them tomorrow and make the vegan custard filling with raspberries tomorrow afternoon. Here are some pictures of the process of making the pastry...

Pan I will be using.

Ingredients required.

Dough being 'pulsed'.

After the pulsing action happened.

Dough in disk form covered by saran wrap.

I wasn't really in the mood to make the Sable's tonight after spending over an hour and a half of my day doing dishes. Also, since the mixture for the Sable's only need to sit in the fridge for one hour after you make it, the Sable's can be prepared, baked and presented tomorrow at supper.

M. will come home from a long day at work with a feast awaiting him!

More details regarding each recipe will follow in the next post. I hope everyone had a lovely Sunday in the kitchen, too!

Some Seitan, please!

Seitan? What is that? How do you pronounce that? Where can I find that?!

Well, Seitan (sa-ay-tan and yes, I have said 'Satan') can be found at Organza and Vita Health. Seitan is essentially a 'wheat meat' as it is made of wheat gluten. This is a an alternative protein for vegetarians instead of using Tofu or Tempeh. 

I really enjoy Seitan because, despite it's expensive price ($5.69 at Organza) for 225 grams, it has a high amount of protein per package. The only negative I have is that this product is made from wheat gluten so, obviously, not gluten-free. However, one of my favorite things about seitan is that it really absorbs the flavors from marinades/ sauces so there is no need to marinate hours before you make your meal! BONUS!

Now, for some nutritional facts per 100 grams;

• 124 calories 
• no saturated or trans fats
• no cholesterol
• 390 mg of sodium which is 17% of you RDA
• 6 grams of carbs
• 1 gram of fibre
• 1 gram of sugar
• 18 grams of protein (YES!)

Other than Green Cuisine brand (above), we haven't spotted any other competing seitan brands yet in the city.

However....

We spotted these babies at Whole Foods during our Minneapolis trip for a criminally low price of $3.99 each! There were about 7 flavours to choose from (!!!), and we picked up the chipotle. Fortunately, we had the foresight to bring a cooler with us on the trip, so we were able to keep the product chilled as we travelled home across the border.

Preparing it was simple. We heated it up in a pan, and it tasted exactly like Italian Tofurkey sausages except instead of it being 280 calories a sausage it was 160 calories per 114 grams. That's a big win. Plus, it's a welcome break from soy protein. 

Did you notice the packaging?! 3.2 X more protein than most tofu! And it's vegan! And there's 28 grams of protein per serving! You will also notice that for the traditional seitan, there seems to be more protein per serving. I really don't have an answer to why except that each company has their own recipe that they tinker with but in the end, it is very nutritious and it gives us veggies a break from soy and also provides a different texture to play around with in recipes! The texture reminds me of ground beef. 

You can actually make your own seitan. I have a recipe from Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz on page 132 and 133 to be exact. I have never made it but you better believe it on my 'must attempt' recipe list. 

With seitan, you can deep fry it, grill it or chop it up or even add it in a fried quinoa stir fry recipe, like so... 

Fried Quinoa with Seitan

This recipe is a play on fried rice. I made it 'healthier' by using low sodium tamari and seitan to amp up the protein. 

You can be very versatile with your vegetables but I used cauliflower, butternut squash and peas. There is no need to add too many seasonings. The tamari is very flavourful with the garlic. 

Squash is a fryin'!

Quinoa cooking to the left. 

I have a 3 cup food processor that I use to grind up the seitan. Looks like veggie ground beef doesn't it?

Time to add the eggs!

Scramble them up!

Time to eat!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups of chopped cauliflower in bite size pieces
• 1 cup of peas
• 1 cup of butternut squash chopped in bite size pieces
• 1 package of seitan (225 grams)
• 2 large eggs
• 1 cup of uncooked quinoa
• 1 vegetable cube
• 1 tablespoon of minced garlic
• 5 tablespoons of Tamari
• 1 teaspoon of crushed red peppers
• 2 tablepoons of olive oil
• black sesame seeds for garnish

Directions:

• Use a very large non-stick frying pan if you do not have a wok available to you.
• Add both tablespoons of olive oil while the pan is heating up to medium-high heat.
• Add the garlic and once it's fragrant, add the butternut squash.
• Make sure not to burn the squash but cook until you can pierce your folk through it but not enough that it's cooked all the way through.
• While this is cooking, make quinoa as per the directions on the package. Quinoa can be prepared the same way as rice. Therefore, in this case, 1 cup of uncooked quinoa needs 2 cups of water and 1 vegetable cube.  It takes approximately 10-12 minutes. FYI- the vegetable cube adds flavour to the stir fry.
• Add the cauliflower to your pan with the squash when the squash is starting to cook through.
• With seitan, it is usually in a vaccum sealed package with a bit of liquid. Drain the liquid in it's entirety. Using a food processor, ground up all of the seitan.
• Once the cauliflower is starting to cook through, add the seitan, peas and cooked quinoa and mix. Add the Tamari and let it cook for approximately 5-7 minutes. You can add more Tamari if you like but it really is to your taste. The more you add, the more salty it becomes. 
• Spread the mixture up to the sides because you want to make a well for the eggs.
• Crack open those eggs in your well. You want the eggs to be scrambled but over cooked a bit before you add to the entire mixture. Try and scramble them within the well you made. Once it's starting to be in scramble form, add a bit of the mixture at a time. You really want to taste bits of eggs in your stir fry. You will end up mixing it in the entire mixture. 
• We're done! Time to eat!

From MB to ND to MN and Back

Alright, Folks! Who is ready to live vicariously through my shopping excursion in America? Hold on to your hats! This is a long one...

Last weekend, M. and I went off to Minneapolis as our final destination to do some shopping and taste some great food.

I gave you a little teaser in the last post of some 'must-have' ingredients and cook wear that I wanted to give a home to in my kitchen. Essentially, I wanted to take my time through Whole Foods and Trader Joe's and find funky and different spices or foods that we can't find in Winnipeg.

Well, this is what we came back with...

Turns out that after I took this picture and started putting away my new purchases, M. had already put away approximately 20% of our groceries. Yup, there was more. Eeeep!

Either way, I think you get the idea.

On my 'must buy' list was a second madeleine pan that I found for $10 and a mini tarts pan that I picked up from William and Sonoma for $24.99 (but with a 20% off  discount, so it was well worth it.) I also found a mini whoopie pie pan that was an impulse purchase from Bed Bath and Beyond in Grand Forks, N.D. for $10 marked down from $15. I also picked up a pack of 6 individual tartlett pans from there for $15. All in all, I found the prices were reasonable and my head is now swimming with new recipes (that most of the pans came with) that I am eager to try.

Here are some spices that I found at Whole Foods and Trader Joe's. 

From right to left; unfiltered Apple Cider Vinegar (Trader Joe's), Organic Balti Curry, Organic Ras el hanout seasoning, aged Apple Cider Vinegar, and cocoa, sugar and chili seasonings (Whole Foods),  Himalayan pink sea salt (The Gourmet Chef), Taco seasoning (Trader Joe's) and finally, Avocado Oil from Whole Foods. Funny thing about the oil is that this 500ml container cost us $10.99 USD, so we bought two thinking it was a good price. After all, the exact container sells for $16.99 at Vic's Fruit Market. Sure enough, the day after we returned we hit Costco in Winnipeg and saw, for the first time, avocado oil. 1L for $10.99 CDN. Speechless.

Some of these items were pricey but have you ever seen a cocoa, sugar and chili seasoning grinder that is perfect to top off cookies, bread, pudding and fudge in Winnipeg? NOPE! Well worth the $5. 

What about the food? Well...

The hot buffet from Whole Foods

Macaroni and cheese, sauteed broccoli, mashed potatoes, grilled zucchini, chili lime tofu and red quinoa.

Peach Iced Greed Tea for me and Rootbeer for M. 

We ended up staying at Sofitel through Hotwire. We were not disappointed. There was a French theme to the hotel so the local parisian cafe had these treats waiting for us every morning. 

 I gobbled down chocolate croissants. I didn't have a choice.

Also, in the lobby, they had some form of French baking and water flavoured with either cucumbers, oranges or lemons on a daily basis. One day, there were madeleines...

I grabbed these before we left for the day but I wish I grabbed 6 more packs... they were so fluffy and light. They really were incredible.

Here is a shot of the hotel lobby.

 When we were at the Mall of America, we unexpectedly stopped at Starbucks for lunch.

This is called the 'Protein' bistro box. For $3.99 USD we had half an apple, a handful of grapes, a couple slices of Wisconsin cheddar cheese, a raisin pita with honey peanut butter and a hard boiled egg. I washed it down with a grande peach iced green tea lemonade for another $3. I have seen these types of packs in Alberta but, man oh man, did this ever hit the spot. 

Some nutrition facts about our Protein Bistro Box as they call it, 380 calories, 19g of fat, 6g of saturated fat, 470mg of sodium (ouch), 19g of sugar and 13g of protein. Not bad! This kept me quite full until dinner. Wish we had these in Winnipeg. Perfect lunch. 

Onto dinner! I googled 'vegetarian friendly restaurant and Minneapolis' and the restaurant Barbette came up. The menu looked very appealing and so were the reviews. With confirmation of local brews that are served on tap, M. and I decided to try it out.

The decor for me felt like a European (French?) Bistro and the menu was heavy on the Italian classics with a twist. It was very cozy with some cool and interesting art hanging on the walls.

 We tried their cheese and fruit plate to start. We were served thinly sliced apples, strawberries, grapes, apricots that were soaked in honey and a spread out drop (yup that yellow strip next to the apple) of truffled honey. The cheese we received was a gruyere and a Wisconsin cheese but I can't remember what kind. Either way, it was all wonderful. It was a great start to our meal.

M. ordered the Zucchini and Summer Squash Parpadelle

I had the sweet corn risotto. This is the first time I have ever had risotto. I really want to find this recipe and make it every weekend if I could. If M. would have let me (and if we weren't in public) I would have licked my plate clean.

We finished off our meal with the seared banana and Nutella Panna Cotta. 

I would highly recommend this restaurant. You can check out their menu here. It's located in a very hipster type neighbourhood called Uptown and I made a note for the next time I am in town to explore this neighbourhood a little more. It reminded me quite a bit of Osborne Village. 

One of the last items on my "must buy" list was to pick up these two cookbooks:

and

I only found the French Market Cookbook at Barnes and Noble. I maybe saved close to $15 than buying it in Canada but I could have definitely purchased both of these for the same price I paid for one on Amazon. Ah well. It was good reading material for the drive down to Minneapolis! A post about this beautiful book with its glossy pages, alluring photographs and achievable recipes will follow soon.

My trip was wonderful and I hope we can go again next year to try out new restaurants and explore new gourmet food stores I discovered on this trip. 

The hunt begins...

This past long weekend, M. and I went to Minneapolis for some shopping, eating, more shopping and exploring!

I have been looking forward to this trip for MONTHS because that meant new grocery stores, fun and unique shops that sold wacky and relatively inexpensive cooking tools and most importantly new restaurants to explore. In order to prepare for my culinary journey, I went through all of my cookbooks so that I can make a list of common obscure ingredients that I know I could get at a cheaper price (or find in general) in America and most importantly, cooking tools.

The first cookbook that I devoured (ha ha not literally) was Pâtisserie at Home.  I purchased this gem back in May and it quickly became my favourite cookbook. There are so many recipes that I want to attempt but can't because I don't have the specific cooking tools that these recipes require. You can find the necessary pans or specific ingredients here in Winnipeg but it is very expensive. Because of that, I have only managed to make one recipe at this time: the honey vanilla madeleines because I already own that pan (which cost $21.99 plus tax!)

Before I get back on topic, I want to share with you why this is one of my favourite cookbooks and maybe you will be inspired too (to become the ultimate pastry chef... well at least within your own household :))

Pâtisserie at Home by Will Torrent, an award winning pastry chef and chocolatier, is like a 1-2-3 how-to guide for anyone who wants to make french pastry and desserts at home. Anyone who's tried this knows it can be an overwhelming, daunting, frightening and exhilarating task. With French baking, you must be so precise in measurements, cooking temperatures and of course your timing when adding ingredients, mixing, whisking and whatever 'ing' that needs to be done. This type of baking is an art, and not everyone can master it. See what I mean by daunting and overwhelming? This is like trying to attempt organic chemistry. Many will try, but most will fail.

As I mentioned, I made honey and vanilla madeleines. Baby steps, right? They have coffee and chocolate madeleines that I want to try next!

I love the touch of the honey and the nuttiness of the almonds.

I found the directions to be much more complicated than it needed to be. I guess that's French baking, right? With the directions from the recipe that I posted here, I baked my second batch with the ingredients from this book and it worked just as well... why wait for the mixture to cool off in the fridge for 20 minutes when I can bake it now? Obviously, I must be missing something here through my impatience. That is one thing that making french pastries requires: patience. Something I need to work on.

But, the pictures from this book are really beautiful and inspiring, and it fills me with hope that I will master at least 58% of these recipes because the section of macaroons is still scaring the (expletive deleted) out of me. That and the mille feuille (thousand layers) cake, crème brûlée, red berry charlotte and croissants.

This is why I bought this book. I was looking for a challenge but I wanted authentic(ish) French baking recipes with no short cuts. This book delivers on that.

So, back on topic, what is on my 'must find' list for my trip to help me reach my goals?

• A tartlet pan (small and large)
• Brioche pan
• Second madeleine pan
• Macaron pan

I had a further list that included:

• Large glass bowl to use as a bain marie for ganache and brownie mixes
• Mandarin Olive Oil 
• Yuzu juice
• Donut pan
• Pastry board

These were not on the high priority list. 

What did I end up finding? Stay tuned... 

Burgers Part Deux

A second post about burgers within a week was definitely not intentional. But a happy accident. 

My papa decided to come to good ol’ Corydon to have dinner with M. and I this past Tuesday night. That left me in charge of picking the restaurant. I wanted to introduce this suburbanite (St V.) to something a little more fun so I thought of going to...

Market Burger!

They finally opened down the street from us, so what perfect time to try it out? We knew that there were two vegetarian burger options, so, I was pumped. 

Cute menu!

 While we were sipping our Heinekens ($7.50), Standard’s ($5.50) and Rickards Red ($5.50) while also downing some cucumber water (fancy), we realized it had been over a half hour since we ordered. Finally... 35 minutes later we received our food.

Yup, it took 35 minutes. Was it worth it? Sure? Was it hot? Well, warm... overall experience? I’ll get to that. 

They offered a build your own burger option for $8.50 (with more topping options for more moulah) which all three of us opted for. M. picked the black bean burger patty, grainy beer mustard, cucumbers, a fried egg and a skinny bun. There were many choices for sides such as home cut fries and Mac n’ Cheese but M. picked the vegetarian poutine. They actually had a vegan option which offered tofu curds instead of cheese curds. M. wanted the Bothwell cheese curds, though, that were part of the non-veggie poutine options. Well, the waiter informed us that after being open for two weeks, they do not offer the Bothwell Cheese Curds anymore because they don’t melt properly. Wait. What? They don't? News to us. 

Anyway...

I picked the sun burger patty (yup! same one you can find at Underground Cafe in the Exchange) with grainy beer mustard, tomatoes, cucumbers, ketchup and skinny bun. I also picked a side of fried pickles! They were only $5 which is a GREAT price for the amount we received.  They served it with a curry mayo dip.

My dad picked the beef burger with onion rings as a side.

 

The burger overall was actually really enjoyable. Not sure what a skinny bun is because the bun we received was quite thick, soft and warm, yet you didn’t have that overfull feeling after eating the burger. I guess that qualifies it to be a skinny bun. The sun burger patty was quite tasty but on the smallerish side -- I could compare it to a large meat ball that you smooshed between two pieces of bread. 

Now, on to the overall experience. I really enjoyed the decor and welcoming 'vibe' you felt when you walked in. It was very inviting. The staff was friendly. The menu options weren't anything special except for the fried egg and vegan tofu curds as options.

The burger patties were fine. M. even made a comment that he enjoyed the black bean burger patty I made earlier this week (on the previous post) than the burger patty he received. We found our burgers to be a little bland but in the end, the patties were fresh and we were offered a variety of toppings and choices that made the experience more fun because it was personalized. Another positive is that it's down the street from us but the 35 minute wait time on a Tuesday night along was questionable, especially if you want something quick.

I know I was harping on the burger patty options and that they were bland, but the fact that they had these options was a huge positive. This burger joint is a great place where vegans, vegetarians and meat eaters can all have a nice meal.

I give 7 out of 10 for my overall experience.

I would go back. After all, I want to try out the rooftop patio!

Cheers.