Cod and carrots in French yuzu butter

I pan-fried some cod the other day for lunch, and here is the crazy part. When I was in France in 2009, I smuggled various butters back with me, maybe 5 different blocks. One was from a place in St. Malo, La Maison du Beurre (The House of Butter). They even had a small museum at the back, and various butter tools and accessories for purchase. They had flavoured butters, and I got one called yuzu. Yuzu is an Asian citrus type fruit, and goes amazingly with white fish. I always find lemony things go with white fish, where salmon type fish are yummy with orangey flavours. I tried to find yuzu here in various Asian markets and couldn't. Most of the people didn't know what I was talking about. I wanted to make my own yuzu butter. When my friend went to France in 2011, she brought me another block of this butter, and I used most of it, but I had a piece in the fridge for too long, and then instead of tossing it I put it in the freezer. It's been years (4-5), and I took it out the other day. It was a bit darker, the way butter gets when it gets old, but it wasn't rancid, and had no sign of mold. I tried it, and it tasted fine, so I used it for my cod. Lunch was amazing! So that's nuts, because when I had a block of Stirling butter in the freezer, and it didn't sit in the fridge for months but went in the freezer shortly after I bought it, when I took it out and put it in the fridge to thaw out, it didn't take long for it to grow mold inside of the block. It looked like blue cheese. Stirling, if you don't know, is from Stirling Creamery in Ontario (north of Belleville), and has won awards. It's supposed to be Canada's top butter. Canadian butter is s**t, not just because of this incident. Stirling is the first and only Canadian butter, as far as I know, to recently make butter with 84% fat. Most full fat butter here is 80-82%. When it comes to butter each % counts. It's why so many people complain about not being able to make great croissants here. The Polish butter I buy is minimum 84% fat, and that's the norm, standard across various brands. I keep it on the counter in a stoneware covered butter dish, and it does change colour around the edges, but I haven't had any go moldy yet, even after being in the freezer and thawing out, and then sitting on the counter. I often freeze butter when I buy extras. This is why I wish I had access to trusty raw milk, so that I could make my own cultured butter and cultured creme fraiche with a high fat content, as well as sour milk (similar to kefir) and so many other yummy fermented dairy products that most people here haven't even heard of and so get easily grossed out by. That is a sad part of human nature–not knowing something, being uncomfortable with it, and so shutting it down. Anyway, I though the butter surviving for so long was amazing. The butter didn't have mold or a rancid taste after years of sitting in the freezer. I still have a little piece big enough for one more fish fry  :) I should get some scallops.

The picture isn't the greatest, but it was a delicious lunch. The carrots I sauteed in plain Polish butter with cumin, black cumin (nigella, jeera, and various other names that it goes by), and tarragon. Tarragon and carrots are an amazing combination, especially when roasting carrots. I had these in a pot with a bit of water, so they wouldn't eventually burn, and the extra moisture creates a steam in the pot, so they soften faster, without being boiled. It's like roasting, but on the stove and in a pot. 

The fish I placed on a plate with paper towel in the fridge for a few hours changing the towel about 3x. I wanted some of the moisture to leave the fish, so that I could get a crispier outside without breading or frying. It's like drying a duck or goose for that crispy skin when it's baking, except my fish was skinless. Much of the formed crust was left in the pan, but I scraped it out because it was too good to discard. I sprinkled some salt and pepper on both sides of the fish filet, then sauteed it in yuzu butter. That's it. It's as yummy as it is simple.

If you try making the fish or the carrots leave a comment and let me know how it went. I imagine most of you won't have yuzu butter, but if you have access to yuzu fruit, just add it to the pan when you're sauteeing your fish. Another option is to use lemons, or even just plain butter, and then squeeze some lemon juice just before eating, otherwise the crispy coating will get soggy.

Enjoy!

Baked Farm Chicken

I got this chicken from a small scale, honest goodness, hobby farm.  Farmer Tom is an easy going, laid back hobby farmer, who loves to show you around his farm and tell you about how everything works.  His farm is where I get my eggs at $2.50/dozen.  He doesn't advertise, and I wish I lived closer to his farm.

This chicken was delicious.  I think the last time I had good chicken, other than two weeks ago at The Prune in Stratford (which uses local ingredients), was when I was a kid back in Poland, and we grew our own chickens among other edibles.  BTW, I never order chicken in restaurants, the reason I had it at The Prune was because it was part of the fixed menu.

I made it simply.  Cut up a carrot, used one leek (from the farm), a few bay leafs, and sprinkled a mixture of French inspired herbs: savory, thyme, basil, fennel, lavender (very small amount), some s&p.

I started cutting before remembering to take a photo, as it happens often.

This is the chicken neck.  It's hard to look proper when eating bony parts, but who cares, the neck is one of the best parts.  Any meat closest to bones is tastiest.  I mention that all the time.

This chicken (about $15) was enough for six proper meals, and I got about 50 ml of chicken fat.  I wouldn't advise rendering chicken fat from store bought poultry.  Fat contains a lot of toxins, and chances are store bought poultry has no shortage of toxins.

I can't wait to use this.  I wish I had more.  I'll have to decide what I will use it for, maybe a crust for a savoury tart, or to fry up chicken livers.  Mmmm, I'm salivating.

Vegetable Soup with Pork Stock

I was a vegetarian for six years back in the 90s.  It's one of my regrets.  This soup is full of vegetables, but it is made with a pork stock as base.  You can make a vegetable stock instead, but it will not taste this good.

The vegetables used here are carrots, peas, green beans, cauliflower, and potatoes.

Whenever I'm making soup, I start with a meat stock.  I often like to use pork ribs, because they taste good even when boiled.  First, I boil the meat in water for a few minutes, until I see froth and bits floating.  I fish out the meat, and dump out the water, rinse the pot.  Add fresh water, the pork, spices and vegetables.  So easy and delicious, and perfect for autumn.

Enjoy!

Coleslaw my way

I love cabbage, because it's so versatile, but also so tasty in its many ways.  The crazy thing is that I have never made coleslaw until last week.  I've had coleslaw loads of times, some good some great, and I've finally decided to make some myself.  I was inspired by a coleslaw I had at a Pork Party a few weekends ago at a Slow Food Market.

I used a cone shaped cabbage I picked up at the Slow Food Market:

And peppers I picked up at a hobby farm.  Believe it or not, I paid $2.50 for all those vegetables.  I love this hobby farm, it's not advertised in any way, but I found out about it in early Spring.  The onions were a dollar, and the 4 corns were free.  The rest of the vegetables were 10 cents a piece.

Since I had all the coleslaw to myself, I was having it twice a day for three days in a row.  It was so good that I didn't even get tired of it, and surprisingly it remained crunchy.

It was good enough to eat alone.

I also had it with a pork roast stuffed with prunes and cabbage pierogi.

Pork sausage, of course, and my fave mustard, Polish with horseradish.  I sliced it up for easy dipping.

Here I had it without mustard.

Ingredients:

- cabbage

- carrots

- peppers

- apple cider vinegar

- grape seed oil, or any oil really, I used grape, because it barely has a flavour

- mustard seed powder

- celery seed

- S&P

- a bit of sugar

Chop the cabbage, mix all other ingredients and pour over chopped cabbage.  Mix it all up.  You can eat it right away, but it tastes even better after it stands for a while and the flavours get to mingle.

I didn't measure anything, just taste as you're adding and mixing and adjust to your liking.

I like this so much that I made it again this weekend.

Pork Riblets

Pork riblets are yummy, I usually make them in a mushroom sauce or use them to make stock, then serve them in the soup, makes for a more filling meal.

Here I made them in mushroom sauce, I don't like to use the word gravy.  "Gravy" always makes me think of that disgusting sludge people used to get on their icky french fries in our high school cafeteria.  I use wild mushrooms to make the sauce.  The carrots, surprisingly sweet, I peeled, cooked lightly, drained, put a bit of butter on them, and sprinkled fresh, home grown from seed, chopped parsley.  If you recall my mini garden in my kitchen, that parsley was in that photo.

The asparagus, I sautéed in butter, then sprinkled with s&p, lemon juice, and freshly ground parmigiano reggiano.

Ith gu leòir! (Eat plenty!)  (Scottish Gaelic)

Lunches, Snacks, and Bites

Some days I like "grazing", where I eat bits of food throughout the day, other days I have meals.  In the end they're all meals varying in size.  I thought I'd share what I eat for lunch when I'm home, some ingredients will repeat, and there is a "formula", usually some grain, mainly rye bread in various forms, meat, veg, and cheese, sometimes with soup, sometimes with tea, or a smoothie, a milk shake, or freshly squeezed lemonade.  At times, it's not only dinner ideas that people get in a rut with, it's boring to eat the same stuff for lunch all the time too.  Here are some examples of what I like to eat, very easy, nutritious and filling lunches or snacks:

Fresh carrots, savoy sauerkraut (home made), pickled beets (home made), and Smoked Sirloin Tip (Ogonowka in Polish) on a piece of pumpernickel.

Very crusty walnut cranberry bread with a slice of salted butter.  

Brussel sprouts, with butter and maple smoked unrefined sea salt.

Leek and horseradish sauerkraut (home made, one of my very favourite flavours), rye grilled cheese (Irish old cheddar), and carrots, made with butter.

Goose liver pate with cumin sauerkraut (made by me; I love sauerkraut).

Pumpernickel with lard, lardons, and raw maple smoked rock salt.

Rye with butter and a slice of pig skin sausage - amazing!  I get this sausage at Sausage Partners in Toronto; they make it on site.

Zucchini, smoked Polish sausage, parmigiano reggiano, lachsschinken, kale, sautéed in butter.

I'm not sure what this is called in English, but it's a type of blood sausage, with fat chunks, and tongue; it's delicious.  I find congealed blood tastes a bit like chocolate, the two go well together in recipes.

Here is the blood sausage from above, on rye, with fresh cucumbers, and tomato soup.

Avocado, my caraway bay sauerkraut, Calabrese salami, fresh greens and parsley, grown in my kitchen.

Pumpernickel, Calabrese salami, sauerkraut, creamy tomato soup.

Pumpernickel with lard, lardons, and my delicious home made sauerkraut.

Scrambled eggs with sausage, onion, and rye.

Pumpernickel with lard and lardons and dill pickles, which my dad made.  When I say dill pickles I mean real pickles in brine, not vinegar.

I hope some of my lunch and snack ideas will help you try new things, and keep lunch exciting.  When I work, I always make and bring my own lunch.  It always gets comments and people start making excuses why they don't make their own lunch.  In reality, tasty, healthy, and filling food doesn't have to take  a long time to plan or make.

Figs, tasty on their own, or with a variety of meats and cheeses, also great in tarts with caramelized onions and cheese.

Kalon Digor!  (Breton)

Purple Yam

First off, sweet potatoes and yams are not the same thing, just as fennel and anise root are not the same thing, even if the grocery clerk tries to tell you that the terms are interchangeable.  I'll focus on the sweet potato vs yam for this post.  They are two completely different plants.  Yams are related to lilies, where as sweet potatoes are in the morning glory family.  Yams have a rough surface, with ivory, yellow, or purple flesh.  Sweet potatoes have orange flesh with white, yellow, orange, or purple skin.  Sweet potatoes have much more beta carotene, something like 160 times more, 1/2 cup contains twice the RDI (recommended daily intake).  They are also much less starchy, so score lower on the glycemic index.  Yams are a good source of potassium and fibre.  Yams are also not always available at your local supermarket, check out a Caribbean market.

I use sweet potatoes often, because they are delicious, and it's a bonus that they are also nutritious.  I often cut them into fries, and bake them with a Cajun spice blend, and have them as a side or just a snack on their own.  Recently I picked up two yams.  I used one to make my baked fries, with some spices, mix of thyme, basil, savoury, and fennel; I wasn't sure if they'd make good fries, since they are so starchy.  They turned out yummy.  We inhaled them while I was making the dish that follows.

I used the other yam to make a curry.

Super easy and fast, for a healthy home made meal.

Cook some green lentils.  I like to cook them separately, otherwise they get mushy and make the dish look awful.  Drain and set aside.  Lentils don't take long to cook like beans, about 15 minutes, depending on how much you're making.  If you have to, use canned, but soak in cold water first to decrease the sodium.

Melt some butter in a pot, add chopped garlic and onion, cinnamon, cayenne, curry powder, coriander powder, cumin ( I used seeds and pink Himalayan salt rocks, so I crushed them with a mortar and pestle.  If you have cumin powder, use that and fine sea salt, or if you have seeds or coarse salt and no mortar and pestle, place either or both between wax paper or plain paper and use a rolling pin or a round mug to mash or roll over.  If you use a single sheet and fold it in half instead of two separate sheets, it's easier to "pour" the spices into the pot.

Let it all fry for a minute, it'll smell wonderful.  Add a bit of water.  Then add chopped carrots and yam(s), cook for a bit, about 10 min; add cooked lentils, cover and simmer for another 10.

To thicken up the water, I made a roux, basically melt butter and add some flour:

Then stir it into the pot.  

If you don't have as much "sauce" as you'd like, stir in more water.  

Serve with basmati and fresh cilantro.

Selamat makan! (Indonesian)

(I hope I'm getting the right translations, if not please correct me).

Soup

I love soup.  Make a basic stock and the possibilities are endless.

I like meat based stocks, but you can make an all veg stock as well.  If using meat, boil the meat on it's own first.  Dump out the water, clean the pot, and rinse the meat if necessary; meat gets frothy, so this keeps your stock clean.  In a clean pot, add water, parsley, carrots, celery, peppercorns, sea salt, bay leaf.  You can add other vegetables and spices, this is just a basic stock.  If you're making a sour soup, add the cooked meat closer to the end of the soup being done, just to heat it up, otherwise the meat will get too hard from the acidity.

I used pork riblets for this soup base.  A package for about $4 is enough for 3 stocks, could've been 4, but this way there was enough meat to be part of the meal.  Here are some soup ideas:

Cream of mushroom, goes great with a sandwich, like porchetta on rye with butter and mustard.

Or with egg noodles, I left the carrots and meat in this one.

Pickle soup with star noodles.

I left the celery in for James, with carrots and pork.

Beet soup with flat noodles, using veal stock.

Pumpkin soup, specifically Rouge vid D'Etampes, my fave.  Great with any sandwich.

Tomato soup, which is tasty with noodles, rice, or even mashed potatoes, or on its own in a mug with a grilled cheese sandwich.

Tripe soup.  Try it before you decide you don't like it.

Smacznego!  (Polish)

Beef Stew

Stews are an easy dish to make, mainly because it's a one pot kind of a dinner.  They are perfect for cold days, healthy and hardy.  It's like a soup, but more filling, and who doesn't love soup.  They are convenient too, because you can pretty much put anything into a stew.  When you're in a pinch, you don't even need much meat, or any meat for that matter, veggie stews are delicious, and you can include various beans to make them more filling and increase the protein and extra fibre.

I used grass fed, AAA, ribeye steak, cubed it and seared it in spices.  I love marjoram with red meat.

In a pot, I fried up some fresh garlic in butter.  I found an Ontario grown heirloom variety, it's amazing how much flavour there is in such small cloves/ heads compared to the majority of standard supermarket garlic from China, and sometimes from the USA.  When I was a kid, and my grandma grew a lot of stuff, her garlic was also small.

I added diced carrots, potatoes, dry polish sausage (Krakowska), some peas, spices (bay leaf, marjoram, rosemary, thyme, s&p), and a bit of water, enough to barely cover the stuff.

Once the beef cubes were about half way cooked through, I added them to the pot.

Then as it was cooking, I made a roux (flour and butter) to thicken up the water, and make it into a sauce, otherwise it would be a chunky soup.

It was delicious, nutritious, and filling.  Now I'm waiting for my brownies to cool down  :)