Beer Battered Onion Rings

This post is dedicated to two good friends of mine. One is close by and and one is across the world from me. One of my closest friends, Travis, works for Molson and has supplied beer for more occasions than I can count. My favourite is the simple refreshing "Canadian" lager. This was the perfect beer for battering because it is light enough that the food doesn't weigh you down but still provides the flavour you are looking for.
My other friend, Ben, met Jess and I on our adventures through New Zealand and Australia. His hobby of metal working produced the amazing bottle opener shown above. "Canadian's" are convenient twist offs but I couldn't help but team the beer and the opener up to make beer battered onion rings for a BBQ.
At the BBQ I went crazy deep frying anything I could get my hands on. I started with some french fries followed by the onion ring then followed them up with fried jalapeno's and banana peppers. The rings and peppers disappeared pretty quickly right out of the frier, but we did have enough to snap some pictures and some of them even made their way on to the burgers.

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp chili powder
• 1 tsp paprika
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp cayenne
• 1/2 tsp mustard powder
• ~ 2 bottles of beer
• 2 large white onions
• canola oil, for frying

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, whisk together 3 cups of flour with the spices. Separate one cup.
2. Whisk in the beer until the mixture is well combined. Let the batter rest at room temperature for 10 minutes.
3. Slice the onions into 1/2-inch-thick rings and toss them with the remaining dry cup of flour.
4. Add the oil to a large, heavy-bottomed pot (or fryer) heat until a thermometer reaches 375°F.
5. Working in batches, dip the onion rings into the prepared batter then immediately drop them into the hot oil. 
6. Cook the onions in the oil, for about 3 minutes.
7. Immediately season them with salt.

Caprese Salad

This is a really quick and easy salad to throw together. It is a summer salad from the island of Capri in Italy. We have visited Capri but don't remember the salads being any better there than anywhere else. The island is mostly known for their Grotta Azzurra - "Blue Grotto" (see below). Jess and I traveled through Italy for 3 weeks about 4 years ago and it is where I really started getting into food, (not surprisingly it is when I started getting fat as well), and we learned that one of the best things you can do when traveling is to travel with luggage light enough to carry - I should be in an ad for MEC with both Jess and my bags on while waiting for a ferry back to the mainland.

It was a simple way to showcase my home made mozzarella and is a great cold salad to have on a hot night. My favourite part of it is the burst of freshness from the basil and tomato and the mix of vinegar and oil. You can eat it with a fork and knife or put the whole stack on a cracker or crostini .

Ingredients:
I started with a couple tomatoes and tried to use up all the cheese

• mozzarella cheese
• tomato
• basil
• olive oil 
• balsamic vinegar
• sea salt
• black pepper

Directions:

1.  If you are ambitious, you can thicken the balsamic vinegar by simmering it with some honey.
2. Slice the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper.
3. Top with a full basil leaf and slice of mozzarella.
4. Drizzle with the balsamic and olive oil.

 

Chevre Cheese - Homemade Goats Cheese

Jess and I were on Vancouver Island visiting my family and we took a day trip to Salt Spring Island. We were planning on going to a market but when we got there we found out that they weren't going to run the market for another week (typical island time starting something three weeks after it's planned). We decided to just go to the places that were supposed to be at the market. One of our favourites was the Salt Spring Island Cheese    company. They are mostly known for a fresh goats cheese that they pair with different things to flavour it. After touring the facility and abusing the samples I decided that it would be a good challenge to make it on my own.
I found it to be very easy to make a cheese that was just as good as Salt Spring and about a third of the cost.

Ingredients:

• 2 liters goats milk
• 1/4 tsp mesophilic culture  (Bought online from http://www.thecheesemaker.com/)
• 1 drop liquid vegetable rennet mixed in 1/8 cup water
• cheese cloth
• sea salt 
• flavouring of your choice (I used garlic chili and olive tapenade)

Directions:
* Plan to make this recipe 2 days before you plan on eating it. It is not time consuming on your part, it just requires a lot of setting and draining time.

1. Heat the milk to 75 degrees F.
2. Sprinkle the mesophilic culture on the milk and let it dissolve for a couple minutes.
3. Stir the milk with up and down motions of your spoon.
4. Add the rennet mixture and gently stir.
5. Cover the pot and set aside for 16 hours at room temperature.
6. After culturing it will look like yogurt sitting in whey (the clear liquid).
7. Line a colander with a couple layers of cheese cloth.
8. Pour in the cheese then tie the corners up and hang it from a cupboard handle to drain.
9. Drain for 6 to 8 hours.
10. Remove from the cheese cloth and add some sea salt. If your going to add herbs line a short glass with olive oil add the herbs then the cheese.

This is an easy recipe that produces amazing creamy cheese that you can kick up to another level with herbs or sauces that you probably have in the refrigerator.

Fresh Mozzarella Cheese - Updated

I finally caved and bought some cheese making citric acid and some liquid vegetable rennet and remade my mozzarella cheese. It turned out way better than the original. It stretched like I imagined it would and had the perfect creamy texture. I used 1/4 tsp of the liquid rennet.

 

I have been wanting to make fresh mozzarella for the last year or so and I finally got around to it last Sunday. It turns out that it is really cheap, easy and delicious. I made about half a pound of cheese that I divided in two flavoured balls; half with hot pepper flakes and the other half with rosemary. We used it in a salad and I dragged a couple pieces through bread crumbs and lightly pan fried it for the best mozzarella sticks ever. It took less than an hour and I think I am going to make it a regular thing. I am hoping to work my way up to make cottage cheese or ricotta cheese to use as perogy filling.

Here are photos of some of the process (full directions below).

Cheese Sauce

The pretzels I made had enough flavour to be satisfying on their own but when paired with a white cheddar, garlic, and rosemary sauce they were impossible to put down. This sauce was pretty heavy on the garlic so I would skip it as a first date appetizer. It took about 10mins to make and no effort other than grating the cheese.
It is a pretty classic method to get a smooth rich sauce. You start by making a roux, (flour and fat/butter), to thicken the sauce and incorporate milk and cheese for flavour.   
We ate half of it on the pretzels and used the leftovers on broccoli a couple days later.

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 tablespoons flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/8 tsp black pepper
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 2 cup grated Cheddar
• 2 cloves garlic
• Small bunch of rosemary

Directions:

1. Blend the garlic pepper and rosemary in a food processor.
2. Melt butter and add blended ingredients. Cook on low for a couple minutes to soften the garlic. 
3. Remove from heat and stir in flour and salt. 
4. Gradually add milk, stirring until well mixed. 
5. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened and smooth. 
6. Cook for 5 minutes longer; add cheese. 
7. Stir until smooth and well blended.

Soft Pretzels

I have made pretzels on the blog before: Everything Pretzels and they were great but did not have that golden crust that I crave. Last Friday I met up with some friends and got stuck in a bar due to torrential rain. I worked up a healthy hangover for Saturday and woke up needing a good dose of warm soft pretzels. I was not disappointed and think these were the best thing I have ever baked.
Boiling them for 30 seconds in baking soda elevated them to the pinnacle of carb goodness. I also made a hot cheese sauce to dunk them in and will get that post up soon.
 

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tbsp sugar
2 teaspoons sea salt
1 tbsp active dry yeast

4 cups all purpose flour

1/4  cup unsalted butter, melted
10 cups water
2/3 cup baking soda
1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Pretzel salt

Sesame seed

Poppy seed

Directions:

1. Combine the water, sugar and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer. Allow to sit until the mixture begins to foam. 
2. Add the flour, sea salt and butter.
3. Using the dough hook attachment, mix on low speed until well combined. 
4. Change to medium speed and knead until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the side of the bowl, approximately 4 to 5 minutes.
5. Remove the dough from the bowl then oil it well with some canola oil. Return the dough to the bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let it sit until the dough has doubled in size.
6. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper and lightly brush with the canola oil.
7. Bring the 10 cups of water and the baking soda to a rolling boil in a large pot.
8. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a 24-inch rope. Form the shape of a pretzel. Place onto the parchment-lined cookie sheet.
9. Place the pretzels into the boiling water, 1 by 1, for 30 seconds. Return them to the sheet. 
10. Brush the top of each pretzel with the beaten egg and water mixture and sprinkle with the pretzel salt, sesame seeds, and poppy seeds. 
11. Bake until golden brown in color, approximately 12 to 14 minutes.

Hot Italian Sausage

I have been pretty swamped lately between weddings, vacation, and the pending arrival of our first child so I haven't had much time to update the blog. I am still cooking just backlogged getting posts up.
Here is my second attempt at fresh sausage. It was even better than the first and didn't take more than a couple hours to get some great homemade sausage. I am looking forward getting my own BBQ soon so that I can smoke sausage as well as continuing the fresh sausages. So far it has been worth the effort.

Ingredients:

• 5lbs pork butt (boneless)
• 1 package Backwoods Hot Italian seasoning package
• ~ 5 feet LEM Collagen Casings (32mm)
• 5 cloves of garlic
• 2 red peppers

Directions:

1. Trim your pork butt into 1 inch square pieces.
2. Freeze the meat for about an hour and thirty minutes.
3. Grind the meat with a medium blade. 
4. Refrigerate for 30 mins.
5. Brush the garlic and peppers in olive oil.
6. Roast them until the skin starts to darken.
7. Allow to cool then peel the skin off the peppers.
8. Puree in a food processor.
9. Mix the seasoning package in 3/4 cup of ice cold water.
10. Add the puree and seasoning to the meat and mix thouroghly.
11. Add the meat to the hopper and put the casing on a 3/4 inch stuffing tube.
12. Tie off the end of the casing and stuff. Try to avoid air bubbles and over filling the casing. I didn't have problems with bubbles but the sausages were pretty plump when I twisted them into links.
13. Grill on medium/low or until they are cooked through.

Macaron's

Meringue based desserts are hugely popular in New Zealand and Australia. Their national dessert is Pavlova and the battle over who invented it was so hotly contested that an international court was involved eventually deciding in New Zealand's favour.
Another popular treat is the Macaron. The Macaron is basically a butter cream icing between two meringue cookies. They have become more available after being in the spotlight on Australia's "MasterChef" TV series. We watched MasterChef when we lived in NZ and when we moved in with our roommates in AUS they took us out to a live MasterChef  meet and greet where one the finalists of the season made Macaron's.   
There is some speculation about where they actually originated showing up in Switzerland and France but potentially by Italians. They come in every flavour you could imagine.
Jess and I decided to try and make a lemon version with a lemon butter cream. We had to play around with the proportions and ended up with perfect flavour, but we will still have to work at improving our recipe until we get smooth cookie tops with nice feet, (the bubbly ruffle at the bottom). I think I might have to crack and get a scale for the ingredients and should probably use a pastry bag instead of cutting off the corner of a Ziploc sandwich bag.

Ingredients:

Shells:

• 2 egg whites
• 1/8 cup caster sugar
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1/2 cup almond meal
• salt (tiny pinch)
• gel food colouring (optional)
• zest of one lemon (fully dried - about 2 hours)

 Icing:

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened (1/2 a stick)
• 1 to 2 cups powdered sugar (plus more if needed)
• 2-3 tsp whipping cream
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 2 tsp lemon zest (two lemons)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• salt (tiny pinch)

 Directions:

Shells:

1. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Process almonds, powdered sugar and dried lemon zest in a food processor until blended into a fine powder
3. Combine egg whites and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer and whip egg until stiff peaks form (about 10 min). Adding the food coloring during the last minute.
4. Add the dry mixture into the egg whites.
5. Using a spatula, smash dry ingredient into the egg white, flattening mixture. Then fold mixture onto itself until it becomes shiny (max 50 folds).
6. Transfer the batter to a large piping bag and pipe onto the baking sheets.
7. Slam the baking tray onto the counter 5 to 10 times to get the air bubbles out of the them. Let them sit for 30 mins.
8. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F.
9. Bake each sheet for about 18 minutes
10. Remove the sheet from the oven & place it on a cooling rack, allowing the cookies to cool before removing them.

Lemon Butter-cream:

1. Beat the butter on medium-high speed for 2 minutes. 
2. Add the powdered sugar, half cup at a time until combined.
3. Mix in the cream.
4. Add lemon juice, zest, vanilla & salt, continue to beat on medium for another 1-2 minutes.

Rosemary Chimichurri

While in New Orleans a couple months ago we went to Emeril's Delmonico  and enjoyed a variety of sauces that came with my steak dinner. There was herb butter, Emeril’s Worcestershire, béarnaise and chimichurri sauces. I loved all of them and decided that I needed to start making some to elevate my food. 
This weekend we had a birthday feast for Jess and she wanted a roast to pair with Yorkshire pudding. We were eating at her parents and I wanted to BBQ because we don't have one. I ended up making a delicious top sirloin roast that became an unbelievable roast once we covered it in this rosemary chimichurri.

 Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 3 tbsp rosemary
• 6 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 3 - 4 cloves garlic
• 1 cup flat leaf parsley

 Directions:

1. In a small sauce pan heat the rosemary and oil for a couple minutes then set it aside to cool.
2. Add the parsley and garlic in a food processor and start to puree.
3. Add the vinegar and oil mix and continue to puree.
4. Season with salt and pepper.

 

Ricotta Gnocchi

I love to make food at home that I would order in a restaurant because you get an idea of how much you are getting ripped off and how much effort goes into something. I find most Italian/American foods to be easily reproduced at home without too much trouble. I think a lot of Asian foods are worth going out for because the variety and number of spices used will be beyond what most people have at home.
Most people know of gnocchi and associate them with potato's. There are actually a ton of varieties including cheese based gnocchi. For this batch I went traditional and didn't add much to the gnocchi to flavour it. I let the sauce bring the taste and used the gnocchi to transport it. Next time I think I will kick up the ingredients in the gnocchi and have a lighter sauce.
I don't have a very large cookbook collection because my interests change faster than I can research and buy a book, but I do have a couple that I use every once in a while. The first cookbook in my collection was a Christmas gift of Mario Batali's Malto Italiano. In it is a Ricotta Gnocchi with Sausage and Fennel that I have had dog eared for a decade. I took the gnocchi recipe and swapped out his ricotta recommendation for my own homemade cheese which ended up being a perfect swap (I didn't add the dill that is in my original recipe).

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds cheese (I used 8L of 2% milk to get this much cheese)
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 2 large eggs (beaten)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp ground black pepper
• 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg

Directions:

1. Drain the cheese until it is dryer than wet.
2. In a large mixing bowl mix all the ingredients together.
3. A soft dough will form.
4. I rolled tbsp sized balls and rolled them off the back of a fork to get the ridges.
5. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.
6. Boil the gnocchi for 7 - 8 mins until they are cooked through.
7. We sauced and served immediately.