Mushroom and Thyme Ragu with hand torn pasta

This turned out really good! It is something I will be making again. The only changes I would make are I would use linguine or fettuccini noodles instead of the lasagne noodles. Only because they are cheaper and you get more. : )


2 T oil
2 T butter
1 onion chopped
2 cloves of garlic chopped
3 portabella mushrooms, chopped into 1 inch pieces
6 oz button mushrooms
5 oz cremini mushrooms
3 thyme sprigs I used marjoram and parsley
1 cup red wine (I used a Chianti)
1 cinnamon stick
1 cup of beef stock
1 cup diced tomatoes with juice. I used canned because that’s what I had on hand.

14 oz fresh lasagne sheets torn into strips
fresh grated parmesan cheese

• Heat butter and oil over medium heat add onions and garlic. Cook until onions are soft.
• Turn up heat to high and add mushrooms and thyme. Cook for 8-10 minutes stirring often.
• Add wine and cinnamon and boil for 5 minutes. Add stock, tomatoes and simmer for 35-40 minutes.
• Remove cinnamon stick. 
• Season before serving over the cooked pasta top with parmesan cheese.

Deep fried oysters

I had oysters in the fridge that HAD to be used!  So I deep fried them! 

We ate them with sriracha mayo! YUMMMY!

I shucked them, dredged them in flour seasoned with smoked paprika, salt and pepper and chili flakes. Then they had a little egg wash bath and then into some panko crumbs. I seasoned the panko with some lemon zest and good old salt and pepper.

Isn't that a huge oyster!  Imagine eating that one raw!  EWWW  no thank you! But deep fried it was delicious!

Cream of wheat parfait

 Thats right cream of wheat!  Beautiful eh!?

Mixed berries, fresh whipped cream and good old cream of wheat porridge. 
I simply made a pot of cream of wheat, added some sugar and cream. Cooled it down and then layered everything in a wine glass and chilled.  Yummy but still kinda good for you!

Bacon Mac 'n Cheese

Tonight I needed a little comfort food so mac 'n cheese was the obvious choice!  Except this time I added some bacon to the mix! I also used panko for the topping instead of bread crumbs.  Nice and crunchy.

Yummy!  But definately needs more bacon next time!  : )

Seafood feast

So tonight hubby and I had a huge seafood craving.  Not for just scallops or shrimp.  But for everything scallops, shrimp, oysters, mussels and even lobster.

So we started with mussels with a plate of chilled mussels on the half shell with mignonette sauce.  These were delicious!  We always have our mussels hot.  But these were steam in white wine then tossed in a mignonette sauce of the leftover wine from the mussels, shallots, parlsely and chopped capers.  Then you put the mussel on each shell and top with a bit of the sauce.

Then we had a plate of hot seafoods.

I made a sweet potato puree and topped it with a corn, red pepper and red onion succotash.  It was topped with 4 panko coated scallops.  In the back are deep fried oysters.  3 lemon garlic shrimp and a lobster complete the dinner.  It was yummy! 

The only thing I would do different next time is to make a dip or sauce for the oysters.  They were good but needed something.
All in all a pretty good meal.  Can't wait to do it again!

Indian Dinner

Tonight we had an Indian feast!  Rice, yellow curry chicken,  roast cauliflower and potatoes, red lentils, madras curry beef and mango chutney.  It was pretty darn good if I do say so myself!  lol

Applesauce

Tonight I made applesauce. I had picked up a basket of apples from home and thought I should use some up.


And voila! Isn't is a beautiful red!

Grab your spoon and dig in!

Dinner at the Camp

This weekend at the camp I made a chili and caramelized pears. My youngest son also made beer bread. He found it in a magazine and wanted to try it so we did.

Beer Bread

1 can of beer, your choice

3 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

3 tsp baking powder

1.5 tsp salt

1/4 cup melted butter

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• In a large bowl mix dry ingredients, pour in beer and stir until moistened. Dough will be sticky.
• Press in to a greased loaf pan.
• Bake 40-45 minutes
• Pour melted butter over the top of loaf and bake for 10 more minutes.
  

It was really easy to make and quite tasty. The butter on top makes it all crunchy and yummy!

What a surprise!

So...... my last day at work Chef hands me a package with this jacket in it! He totally caught me off guard.

Every month he gives a jacket to a team member and I guess August was my month. I had no idea and that made it even sweeter!

Amuse Bouche Part 2

My amuse was beef tenderloin, sweet pea puree and horseradish sour cream. Quite yummy! I like how the green really pops.

Sean made smoked chicken salad in puff pastry cups.

Another one of Sean's creations. Smoked pork with pear compote.

Adam made apple mouse to go with his pork, cranberry relish. The pork had an orange-maple reduction on it. Delish!

Andrea's Duck on a mango puree.

Adam's duck with a chickpea puree and a sweet pea flower.

Andrea made "Caesar" amuse. Clams, celery, tomato juice and a spicy extreme bean slice.

Sean's mini herb goat cheese bruschetta.

Andrea again...... beef tenderloin and mushroom sauce on a potato chip.

My amuse was julienned pork tossed in a mango chutney, a dot of srachia and some pepper curls on a spinach puree. Yummy! Sweet and spicy....and the spinach seemed to bring it all together.

Lisa and I made a lobster salad topped with lemon zest and a green onion slice in a puff pastry shell. The shells are premade....good thing cause we needed to make 8 dozen of these babies! lol

Big Ass Beets!

Today when our organic greens delivery came in these babies were there too.

They are the biggest beets I have EVER seen!



Almost as big as a cantaloupe. And organic to boot!

Aren't they gorgeous!??

Adam strikes again!

So........ Adam was playing again today. Any idea what this powder is?


It is dried portabello mushroom gills! Crazy eh?!?! Most people throw them out but not Adam. He decides to dry them out and grind them up to a fine powder.

I think it is kinda of neat. It has a real earthy flavour. It left a nice taste in my mouth. I wonder what it would be like to make pasta with it? Black pasta made with out squid ink!?!? Might have to give it a try.

I think it would make a great garnish on a plate.....possiblities are endless really.

Amuse Bouche Part 1

I try to take pictures of the daily amuse bouche .....here are a few of them. Sorry for the quality of some......I need to buy a camera. The cell phone just doesn't do justice to some of these!




Rachel made a veggie amuse. Not 100% sure what was in it.....she had gone for the day before I spied these in the fridge!



Andrea made a parsnip/ginger puree then topped it with a piece of smoked salmon, a watercress leaf (organic- hence the holes in it! lol) a dot of balsamic reduction and a piece of crispy parsnip. It was delicious!

Sean's amuse-- smoked salmon "sushi" with cream cheese filling. wasabi dots on the side.

Dave made a pork confit amuse, the pork was marinated in a maple sauce, a soy sauce reduction and the dots are Sriracha. A hot chile/garlic sauce. Nice combo.

If you haven't tried Sriracha chile sauce you should! It is crazy how good this stuff is and how popular it is. Here is a link to a blog talking about her love of the sauce. Enjoy!

Lisa made an Asian Slaw with Pan seared Mahi Mahi, paprika oil.

A citrus lobster salad on puff pastry. Ice wine vinegar was added to give it a little sweetness.

Orange scallop ceviche on a cucumber slice.

Pasta Day!

Today at work Adam took the time to make gnocchi and angel hair pasta! He has such a passion and talent that I love listening to him talk about food. Weird thing is he wants to be a firefighter not a chef?!!?

Here Adam is rolling out the angel hair dough.....he added spinach to it!

And voila! Angel Hair Pasta!

I think I need to buy a pasta roller. It was so much fun!

Isn't that the neatest little roller. Much better than using a fork!
He added heirloom tomatoes to the gnocchi dough.

The finished gnocchi with a cream sauce, asparagus and more heirloom tomatoes! YUM!

Grand Manan Island

We took a day trip to Grand Manan Island. It is only about an hour from St Andrews. The island is only accessible by a 90 minute ferry ride.

Beautiful, rugged scenery.........but the fog was crazy! And it was so windy that we could not find a place to picnic that we could keep the BBQ lit!

On the way over to the island we saw 3 porpoises and on the way back a seal. It was a fun day.

Room Drops

At the hotel when a special person arrives or someone is celebrating a special day the pastry shop does room drops. It might be a fruit plate, or a dessert plate or this horrific chocolate lobster! LOL Seriously, would you want to get this delivered to your room!?

Nothing says tacky like a hollow chocolate lobster. Well at least it is not dipped in red!!

I assume it looks a little better when they add some fruit and treats to the plate but still......a chocolate lobster???

We also have a white chocolate whale that they use as a room drop. And people love it! I will try to get a picture of it to post.

Table d'hote

Table d'hote: n
A full-course meal offering a limited number of choices and served at a fixed price in a restaurant or hotel.

As part of our contract with the Hotel we are receiving coaching on menu writing. Particularly on writing a table d'hote.

Yesterday we had a test shift. Chef got us to cook our entire 5 course meal and present it to him. NERVE WRACKING! to say the least. It went fairly well though.

First course: bacon wrapped cherries with red pepper jam and balsamic reduction. As you can tell the table was not level and the reduction ran! lol Chef loves this dish, and is good to go as is.


Second course: Duck and roasted peach risotto in a sea salt and truffle tuille with a mango salsa.
Chef loves the presentation of this but I need to lose the peach and just go with the mango. I am also going to smoke the duck next time.

Third Course: Cucumber ginger sorbet shooter. Chef would like to see julienned pickled ginger added to this. He doesn't feel the ginger flavor is strong enough.

Fourth Course: This was a mess! I was running out of time and just threw this on the plate, and it looks it! lol It kinda looks like the halibut threw up the sprouts! lol

Flavors are perfect but needs to be re-plated. I need more negative space. Chef got a larger plate, placed the brussels sprouts in a ring on the bottom then the halibut on top, the parsnips, carrots, mushrooms were placed around the ring. I need to a have a buerre blanc sauce of some kind added to the plate. With orange, basil and coriander in it.

Fifth Course: Chocolate tart with caramel and chocolate ganache. I did not have time to make all three mini desserts so my dessert was incomplete. Which is fine because Chef loves the tart and wants me to make it bigger and just focus on it. The white chocolate cup with caramel mousse was gross anyways! ha!

All in all it was a great learning day! Chef was very supportive in critiquing the food so that helped a lot! Next time the food will be perfect! lol