The new kitchen

Here are a couple of pics of the new kitchen. Love it!!!

Kitchen Gadget

I've come across a lot of kitchen gadgets in the past few years. Some are great, others are destined for the recycling bin. This herb chopper is one that not only do I love, but have now also purchased as gifts for friends.

I know chopping herbs isn't the hardest thing on the planet, but if it were so easy why are there numerous special tools to help with it? The reason I love this one is that it chops everything evenly and quickly without bruising. It also has a great little part on the handle that can be used to pull rosemary and thyme through, pulling each of the leaves off.

It's the Fresh Herb Pro, and I received mine as a gift. I have seen them in cooking stores, Sears etc., and I believe it retails around $15-$20. Definitely worth the investment!

One Ingredient "Ice-Cream"

Recently, thanks again to Canadian Living, I have discovered this fabulous one ingredient 'ice-cream', that is not only a cool treat, but is also dairy free!

The ingredient you may be wondering is Banana's!

One of my favourite things about cooking and baking, is the scientific element to it. The way you measure ingredients, and certain ingredients react to other ingredients to create something completely different. Think about the way yeast makes dough rise, or when you whip egg whites to create meringues. How is it that our food does this? And more importantly, who was the first person to discover this?

I don't know who first discovered this banana treat, but we've had it a couple of times and each time it has been great. This is definitely going to be on the summer hit list, it's easy, affordable, and also good for you!

One Ingredient Banana Ice Cream

- Banana's

1 - Peel and slice banana's no thinner than 1/4 inch thick. Place on cookie sheet or plate and freeze about 6 hours or overnight.

2 - Place banana's in food processor fitted with steel blade. Pulse.

3 - At first banana's will become granular, almost like astronaut ice cream. When this happens scrape down sides of bowl, continuing to scrape and pulse.

4 - Then the beautiful transformation takes place, and voila! The banana's begin to turn into a wonderful, creamy dessert.

If you'd like a soft-serve consistency, enjoy right away. For a harder 'ice-cream' texture, freeze and serve later (if you can wait!).

The first time we went with banana's only. The second time we decided to combo with strawberries. Make sure at least half the mixture is banana, and go ahead and experiment!

A look back

Where have I been? Well, I have been in the kitchen, but not the one from all of the past posts. So before I begin posting with new recipes and discoveries from my fabulous new kitchen, I thought I would take a moment to look back at some of the great dishes that came out of my tiny little kitchen.

Turkey dinners for 25

Easter Ham for 15

Homemade bread, pasta, crackers

Making jam!

First try at Ice Cream

Cocktails and Canape's

Cheesecake, Puddings and Truffles

The list goes on and on. More importantly, all of those meals, and many others, were executed in what I know refer to as my old tiny kitchen. And tiny it was, although packing it up did take 24 boxes!

I wanted to give everyone out there a real idea of how tiny my kitchen was, as a way to emphasize that you don't need a lot of space or fancy tools to make really great food.

Freezer - basically 1 foot square

Fridge - 3 ft high and 1 foot wide/deep

Stove - again, just over 1 foot square

Counter space - Overall I had two spaces - one was 3'8" x 2' and the other was 1' x 2', and it housed the dishrack most of the time!

So with barely any counter space, a small apartment size fridge and freezer, a single sink and no dishwasher, anything is possible!

There were definitely challenges, don't get me wrong. Having only one large burner, and not being able to really have two large pots on the stove was tough. Working with an oven that small, I was always gambling right before I'd put the turkey or the ham in (you'd think I would measure these things before buying the meat!). And don't get me started on having the wall directly beside the stovetop, or the carpet that went right up the kitchen on either side.

But for all of the trials and tribulations (making pasta with a hand crank machine was definitely trying), it was our kitchen, and the centre of our little apartment for 5 years. And for everything the kitchen lacked, it never disappointed.

Now that we have moved into our very first home, I thought I might feel nostalgic for that little kitchen. As I move around my new kitchen, with a regular size fridge and oven, two sinks (!) and a dishwasher, the nostalgic feeling is quickly fading, and being replaced with excitement about all of the great memories to be made in this new kitchen.

Dirty Apron Cooking School

The Dirty Apron Cooking School opened its doors in August of 2009. It took almost a year and a half later, but after much anticipation, we finally managed to take some classes, with many thanks to the wonderful women who threw me a Food Is Love wedding shower. Brent and I took our first of two classes in November, and I've finally uploaded the photo's so I could blog about it.

Ocean Potion - The Seafood Class

We weren't really sure what to expect when we arrived, but checked in and were handed aprons and a folder. We waited anxiously with the other attendees, until they rang the bell and announced we could enter for the class. Having been to The Dirty Apron for a fundraiser for Growing Chefs (check them out, they do fantastic work), we had been in the space before, but not seen it set up for a class. There was a demonstration station at the front of the class, with chairs of varying heights so everyone could see. The perimeter of the room was lined with cooking stations. We took our seats and waited to find out what the class was really all about.

First Course - Mussels Congolese

For our first course we were going to learn how to make one of Chambar's famous mussel dishes. What a surprise to have Nico Schuermans, Chef and Co-Owner at Chambar in the class. He even came to the front and taught us how to cook his mussel dish. This is when we learned how the class was going to work. The instructors - David Robertson and Takashi Mizukami - would demonstrate how to prepare the menu before sending us to our stations to try our hand at the dish. When we arrived at our station all of the ingredients for the dish were set out for us, pre-measured. All we had to do was chop and season and cook! We got right down to it, with both David and Takashi roaming the room to answer any questions and guide us along the way.

Once our dishes were prepared, and plated, we moved to an adjacent room and took a seat at some long wooden tables. This is where the class started to get really fun. At this point we were served red or white wine, and got a chance to not only try our food, but discuss our trials with other members of the class. We ate and drank to our hearts content, and headed back inside to tidy our stations. What a lovely surprise to find that most of the dishes were gone and all we had to do was tidy our knives and spoons.

Second Course - Maple-Seared Scallops on warm Chorizo with Kalamata Olives & Pea Coulis

Next we headed back to the seats to have the demonstration on our second course - seared scallops. Until this day, I had never cooked scallops before, and was pleasantly surprised to find out how easy they are. Once again, following the demonstration we headed back to our station to find all the ingredients laid out, and began cooking. After the cooking, again it was back to the wooden tables to enjoy our food and have another glass of wine.

Third Course - Pan-Roasted Halibut with Lemon and Olive Oil Crushed Potatoes

For the third course we prepared halibut. Again, I had only really cooked white fish one or two ways. We learned the secret to a crispy crust, as well as some neat plating techniques. Once again, we headed back to the wooden tables to enjoy our food and drink. But we weren't finished yet! Although we were done with our cooking for the night, we were also going to enjoy dessert, Poached Pears that were stuffed with ice cream and served with a Chocolate Sauce. We definitely left there stuffed to the gills!

Overall, the entire experience was absolutely wonderful. We were sent home with take-out containers of our leftovers, as well as copies of all of the recipes from the evening. I'm not going to publish the recipes on this blog, because I think you should really go and take the classes. I believe that some of the recipes are available online on their website though. The instructors really took the time to make sure everyone was comfortable with what they were cooking, and the camaraderie amongst the fellow students as we laughed about failed kitchen mishaps could be felt around the room.

I would definitely recommend The Dirty Apron to anyone who is interested in taking a cooking class. Not only do you get to learn amazing tricks of the trade, but you also leave feeling as if you've eaten at a fine dining establishment, and guess what? You did all the cooking!! Classes average at $145/person, and after taking the Mama Mia Italian Class as well, Brent and I are going to be saving up to do another class. It's definitely a memorable night out.

Happy New Year!!!

Hey Everyone,

I know I've been an absentee blogger lately, and I promise I will start the New Year with more regular blogging, as I've got lots of recipes, cookbooks, restaurants and classes to talk about.

For now, here's a photo of our wonderful New Years Eve feast last night. Mussels Congolese, recipe courtesy of one of our classes at The Dirty Apron. This was from the Ocean Potion class, and I will definitely blog about that experience in the New Year.

Wishing everyone a happy & healthy 2011!!

Reebs

Pumpkin Gnocchi

It seems like the theme these days is pumpkin, and I'm okwith that. This is the first time I'd ever roasted a pumpkin and made a puree for cooking with. I have a couple of cups of puree left in the freezer that I'm going to use for some ravioli or soup.

This recipe was from the October issue of Canadian Living. I grew up reading

Canadian Living and my mom bought me a subscription a few years ago, and keeps renewing it for me. One of the best gifts ever! I look forward to every issue, and cannot think of a recipe I've tried from the magazines or cookbooks that hasn't been successful. This was easy to make, and so good! The pumpkin puree can be used for all sorts of things.

I didn't realize that you don't use Jack-O-Lantern pumpkins, but rather sugar pumpkins to cook with. You could use squash in place of this as well.

Pumpkin Puree

Halve and seed pumpkin or squash (keep the seeds for roasting!). Prick skin all over with fork. Roast, cut side down, on rack on foil-lined baking sheet in 350 oven for about an hour, until flesh is browned and tender. Let cool then scoop into a food processor, puree. Refrigerate for up to 48 hours or freeze for up to 3 weeks.

Pumpkin Gnocchi

- 2 cups roasted pumpkin or squash puree

- 1/2 cup finely grated Parmigiano Reggiano

- 1 egg

- 1 tsp salt

- 1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg

- 3 cups (approx.) all-purpose flour

Sauce

- 1/3 cup butter

- 1/4 cup pine nuts

- 12 fresh sage leaves

To make Gnocchi: In large bowl, whisk together pumpkin puree, cheese, egg, salt and nutmeg. Using wooden spoon, stir in 2 cups of flour. Stir in remaining flour, 1/4 cup at a time to make a soft, sticky dough.

On well-floured surface with floured hands, roll dough into log; divide into quarters. Take each piece and gently roll and shape into 3/4 inch diameter rope. With sharp knife, cut each rope diagonally into 3/4 inch pieces.

In large pot of boiling salted water, cook gnocchi in 2 batches, stirring gently until it floats to the top, about 3 minutes. Transfer to warm serving dish with slotted spoon.

Meanwhile, in large skillet, melt butter over medium heat. Cook pine nuts until fragrant, and butter begins to brown, about 2 minutes. Add sage leaves and cook until fragrant (less than a minute). Scrape over gnocchi and serve. Deelish!