Easter weekend...and cooking for an actual chef!

Holiday weekends are the best, and can mean many different things. To most, it's a chance to relax, enjoy the weather, grab a beer, maybe. For me, it's cooking for an army - and in today's case: an army of 15.

Turkey is always the easiest choice - get a 20 lb bird, brine it, shove it in the oven and come back in 5 hours. Simple, huh? Sure. Except if you're cooking for a chef. One of my cousins is a chef (as in, he must cook well for others or he starves) and today, I found out that he would be sitting down to dinner at my table. No pressure.

So to impress (and because I'm just anal enough to do this), I prepped a meal with appetizers, a zillion side dishes, the main (mmmm...turkey) and a small dessert.

I won't bore you with the details of my day (except that it's now past midnight and I'm still super wired), but I will say the meal turned out well. And was enjoyed by all - even my chef cousin.

I can't take all the credit - Martha Stewart had a hand in it too. After all, it was her turkey brining recipe that I used. An amazing recipe - though I've tried it a few times and tinker every time.

Instead of thyme, I used savoury herbs (I find thyme a little too strong for the Asian palate). And for the wine, I used a Trius Dry Riesling (Hillebrand). Of the different wines I've used, this has worked out the best. I also skipped the juniper berries (used to flavour gin...it has a citrus flavour, which pairs well with the riesling).

Here are the directions (with my tinkered notes)
Makes enough brine for one 18- to 20-pound turkey
- 7 quarts (28 cups) water
- 1 1/2 cups coarse salt
- 6 bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds
- 1 tablespoon dried juniper berries - I couldn't find these so skipped it altogether
- 2 tablespoons whole black peppercorns
- 1 tablespoon fennel seeds
- 1 teaspoon black or brown mustard seeds
- 1 fresh whole turkey (18 to 20 pounds), patted dry, neck and giblets reserved for stock, liver reserved for stuffing
- 1 bottle dry Riesling
- 2 medium onions, thinly sliced
- 6 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 bunch fresh thyme/savoury

Directions

- Bring 1 quart water, the salt, bay leaves, and spices to a simmer, stirring until salt has dissolved.
- Let cool for 5 minutes.
- Line a 5-gallon container with a large brining or oven-roasting bag.
- Place turkey in bag.
- Add salt mixture, remaining 6 quarts (24 cups) water, and the other ingredients.
- Tie bag; if turkey is not submerged, weight it with a plate.
- Refrigerate for 24 hours, flipping turkey once.



Believe it or not, the turkey was the easy part. Brine the day before, rinse the day of, shove it into the oven and forget about it.

It's everything else that took time. I won't get into it today (since I'm now exhausted), but eggs are an important part of Easter. Tomorrow, I'll post my recipes for the appetizers served today. Stay-tuned...and Happy Easter, everyone!

P.S. My cousin the chef ate with gusto. No compliment better than that!

Prime rib roasting on a cold spring day...

After a week of spring-like weather, we're back to winter weather - on the first day of spring! To bring some comfort to my family's bellies, I decided to make a prime rib roast, along with mashed potatoes, gravy and salad.

Making a roast seems like a lot of work, but in fact, it's just time. All you have to do is figure out how long you need to roast the meat for, season it, and then pop it into the oven. An hour or so later (or longer, if you've got a large piece of meat) - voila! Perfectly medium-rare, prime rib roast.

In today's case, the prime rib roast was 4.38 pounds. For medium rare, the calculations are 17-20 minutes per pound at 330. It took me about 1.5 hours.

Here's my seasoning recipe:
- Dijon mustard (option)
- 5 cloves of garlic
- 1 Tbs sea salt

- Let the prime rib roast warm up to room temperature before you start working with it; otherwise, you'll need to increase your roasting temperature.
- Take the garlic and slice each clove into 2-3 pieces
- Where there are natural folds of the meat (fat, etc), and put the garlic into the meat
- Take the salt and likely coat the entire outside of the roast
- This is optional, but take a pastry brush and coat the outside of the roast with dijon mustard (this helps to keep the roast moist); you can also add rosemary to the mixture
- Pre-heat the oven, and when it hits 330C, put the roast in
- After the roast is done, take it out and cover the roast for 20 minutes (this process is called tenting, and helps keep the roast moist by letting the juices in the meat settle) - DO NOT cut into the roast until it's done.

After waiting 20 minutes, I like to cut into the meat and use some of the juices that have come out to make a gravy.

I'm not a big fan of instant gravy - it just tastes off. If you're boiling vegetables, save the water (as it is now technically a broth) and use it as the base for your gravy.

- Bring the vegetable stock to a boil (you can also take 3 cups of water and add a beef bouillon cube)
- When it boils, pour in the meat juices
- Take 1 tbs of corn starch (or 1.5 tbs if you like a thicker gravy) and add about 2 tbs of cold water
- Mix the corn starch and water together until the cornstarch no longer sticks
- Pour this mixture into the boiling pot - being careful to stir / whisk the bubbling mixture (whisking reduces the chances of the gravy being lumpy)
- The gravy will start to thicken - once it does, take if off the heat

And...that's my prime rib roast recipe...simple, huh?

Why are slimy noodles from a can so delectable?

When it comes to food, I'm the first to admit that I'm not a fan of stuff from a can. I mean, it just sits there for months on end...and the scary thing is that it's supposed to! So why is it, that on a Sunday night, after a workout, that I'm craving chicken noodle soup? That's right, Campbell's slimy, noodle soup with too salty chicken broth. Not even the homemade stuff (which, I'll sometimes make from scratch).

Could it be that it's cold, a little rainy and I'm getting over a case of allergies (damn you honeydews!) that I just want something warm and comforting in my belly? I guess it makes sense...growing up, whenever I was sick, (or growing up watching TV, when somebody else got sick) chicken noodle soup was at the top of the medicine list.

And to be honest, if you're feeling craptastic, would you really be in the mood to make a hearty bowl of chicken noodle soup from scratch? Of course not - unless you're Martha Stewart. I'm the first to admit that I wouldn't. It's much easier to reach for a can opener and that red and white tin, dump the entire thing into a pot and heat it up on the stove. Or in tonight's case, the microwave. (PL and CY - if you're reading this, you'll be proud - I'm eating straight out of the pot).

Is it really the taste that I'm craving or just the familiarity of it all? An entire series of books (Chicken Noodle Soup for the Soul / the working woman / the insomniac / the person who's read too many chicken noodle soup books) based on this dish has been written - and supposedly comforted millions of people.

Could it be that just the thought or it - not even tasting it can have huge psychological benefits? (And should I even continue writing down this strange path of ramblings?) I don't know.

But what I do know is this: as I'm writing, a pot of chicken noodle soup waits for me - steaming, and yellowy, and just a spoonful away from bringing me comfort on a cold rainy day. <>

Mini chicken pie tartlets / chicken pot pie

One of my favourite things to do is to take a recipe or a dish and adapt it to make something smaller. I often find recipes overwhelming because the portions are usually meant to feed 6-8 people, which is a lot of food. (And to be honest, I'm sometimes just too lazy to do the math). But over the last few years, I've gotten pretty comfortable (through lots of trial and error) with tinkering. I once made chicken pot pie from scratch - pie crust, roasted chicken - and it took forever. After thinking through the basics, I decided to do something much simpler - namely buying a roast chicken (or using leftovers) and the pie crust.

Since then, I've adapted the recipe again and turned it into finger foods. The end result? Mini chicken pie tartlets, or "home made" chicken pot pies

Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken (or the leftovers from roasted chicken...at least 1/2 though)
- 2-3 cups of frozen mixed veggies (more chicken = less veggies, and vice versa)
- 1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1/2 teaspoon of olive oil
- pinch of salt
- 1 can of cream of mushroom soup (low sodium)
- 1/2 cup of skim milk (or if you like more flavour, actual cream)
- 2 big pie shells or 12 mini pie shells


Directions
- Defrost pie shells
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees celcius
- Separate the cooked chicken from the bones and shred / cut into small pieces
- Pour oil into a large pan and wait for the pan to heat
- Once the oil starts popping, toss in the minced garlic with the salt
- Lower the heat to medium as soon as the garlic starts to brown (approximately 15-20 seconds)
- Toss in the frozen vegetables
- Cook the veggies on medium heat for 3-5 minutes
- Toss in the chicken
- Open the cream of mushroom soup and pour into the mixture
- Add the milk
- Stir until the soup and milk are evenly distributed
- Wait until the mixture starts to bubble a bit and remove from the heat
- Take the defrosted pie shells out of the box
- Add the filling to one of the pie shells (or half the small shells) - be careful not to overfill
- Take a little bit of water, and with your finger, wet the edge of the pie shell
- Take the remaining pie shell, turn it upside down and put it on top of the pie shell
- Pinch the edges of both pie shells so that they stick together
- Using a fork, poke a few holes into the top of the pie (this allows steam to escape...otherwise your pie could explode)
- Place the pie in the oven and let it cook for 50 - 60 minutes (or until the crust is golden brown)
- Remove from oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes
- Enjoy

Whole new appreciation for Iron Chef...

In my last posting, I mentioned that I'd be cooking a few dishes for my almost sister. I had a lot of dishes to make in a short period of time, so I had to come up with a battle plan. Namely, a work back schedule. Up at 7:00 a.m. to light the fire place so that the dough for my cinnamon buns would have a warm place to rise. 7:15 - 7:30 mixing dough (which, is AWESOME with my red KitchenAid mixer). The ultimate goal was to be done cooking by 11:45. Let's just say that when I was done, I had a whole new appreciation for Iron Chef. Cooking quickly is one thing, but to cook, plate, and then transport...let's just say that my own version of Iron Chef took much longer than an hour.

The end result? Foods that brought a smile to my baby sister's face. Which made the five hours of non-stop cooking completely worth it.

I used this recipe from the Food Network as a base for the cinnamon buns. However, I did change one thing - I mixed brown sugar with white sugar.

Ingredients
For the Dough:
- 1 cup whole milk
- 1 1/4-ounce packet active dry yeast
- 1/4 cup plus 1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, plus more for the bowl
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more if needed
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

For the Filling:
- All-purpose flour, for dusting
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus more for the pan
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons ground cinnamon

For the Glaze:
- 2 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Directions
Make the dough:
- Warm the milk in a medium saucepan over low heat until it reaches about 100.
- Remove from the heat and sprinkle in the yeast and 1/4 teaspoon sugar (don't stir). Set aside until foamy, 5 minutes.
- Whisk in the melted butter, egg yolk and vanilla.

- Whisk the flour, the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, the salt and nutmeg in the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Make a well in the center and pour in the yeast mixture.
- Mix on low speed with the dough hook until thick and slightly sticky. Knead on medium speed until the dough gathers around the hook, 6 minutes. (Add up to 2 more tablespoons flour if necessary.)
- Remove the dough and shape into a ball.
- Butter the mixer bowl and return the dough to the bowl, turning to coat with butter. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, 1 hour 15 minutes.

See how to form these Cinnamon Buns

- Roll out the dough, fill and cut into buns (see instructions below).

- Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan; place the buns cut-side down in the pan, leaving space between each.
- Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled, 40 minutes. Preheat the oven to 325.
- Bake the buns until golden brown, about 35 minutes.
- Cool in the pan 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the glaze:
- Sift the confectioners' sugar into a bowl, then whisk in the cream and melted butter.
- Transfer the buns to a rack and spoon the glaze on top while still warm.

How to Form Cinnamon Buns
1. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a 12-by-14-inch rectangle with the longer side facing you.

2. Spread with the softened butter, leaving a 1/2-inch border on the far long edge. Mix the sugar and cinnamon; sprinkle over the butter.

3. Brush the unbuttered far edge with water. Roll the dough away from you into a tight cylinder and press on the long edge to seal.

4. Cut the cylinder with a sharp knife to make 6 equal-size buns.