Sharing a Kitchen in an Ingredient Desert

[Kerry Beal]

Those artichoke hearts (sliced) are a lovely addition to a strata, along with ham, cheese and caramelized onions, layered with slightly stale bread and soaked with savory egg custard.

I don't have a recipe, I just wing it when putting one of these together.

Here's some suggestions; stratas.

Good idea - thanks Andi. A frittata might use a few too!

[Kerry Beal]

with this amazing Northern Whisper vinegar which Kerry will tell you more about.

The story of the vinegar. It was a dark and stormy night...

Actually I discovered Roger, aka Mr Vinegar in the Hamilton Farmer's Market several weeks back. On Friday's I work at the Salvation Army and the market is located in a mall a half a block away. I had forgotten to take my lunch so went in search of something to munch on. In my wandering I came across a fellow who was selling his own home made vinegars. He had a whole lot of awards on the shelf in his stall for the vinegars he as been making essentially at home.

I tasted a number of his wonderful vinegars and selected a couple to take along. We got talking about chocolate in vinegar and he admitted to having tried a chocolate version using cocoa that turned out rather poorly. I suggested he needed to try infusing with nibs and told him I'd bring him some the next week. I roasted some and left some unroasted and we did a little experiment with them in the vinegar. Within a week there was a clearly pleasant chocolate undertone to the vinegar we'd infused.

He dropped by the house with his wife Joyce last week to pick up a 1 kg container of nibs and he gave me one of his last bottles of this vintage of this Northern Whisper vinegar. He makes it from maple syrup that he makes into a wine then ferments to vinegar. It's a thick as syrup and very complex and wonderful. Like the finest aged balsamic!

It was the perfect drizzle on the top of the wonderful baked strawberries that Anna made.

[Kerry Beal]

This morning I decided to go with a gingerbread to take to the nursing home on the reserve where I'm working today. I screwed up a bit - was looking at the metric side of my measuring cup and used 1 dl of molasses and 1 1/2 dl of boiling water instead of 1 cup and 1 1/2 cups. Duh!

When the batter came out of the Thermomix I was thinking it looked a little more viscous than usual. I added a bit of extra water and stirred it around in the pan (an interesting challenge). Anyway it baked up looking OK - so we'll have to see.

[Beth Wilson]

I know you are here to work, but after reading about 2 baking mistakes in your short time here I have a diagnosis for you!!! You have reached vacation mode! Sounds like a full blown case of it and I am sorry to say, there is no known cure

[Kent Wang]

Tell me more about roasting strawberries. They don't look very different from non-roasted.

[Anna N]

Tell me more about roasting strawberries. They don't look very different from non-roasted.

The strawberries on the baking tray are very lightly sprinkled with some brown sugar and painted with a little melted butter. They are then slowly roasted at 250F for a couple of hours. They become wonderfully concentrated in flavour during the slow roasting.

[Anna N]

Today we had lunch out and there is a photo and report over here on the Ladies Who Lunch topic.

[janeer]

He dropped by the house with his wife Joyce last week to pick up a 1 kg container of nibs and he gave me one of his last bottles of this vintage of this Northern Whisper vinegar. He makes it from maple syrup that he makes into a wine then ferments to vinegar. It's a thick as syrup and very complex and wonderful. Like the finest aged balsamic!

First of all I have been reading with amazement that you are doing all this cooking while doctoring...and there is nothing better than being with a cooking friend,ALL ALONE.

Before you leave, any chance you can ask the Vinegar Man if he would part with at least the method for making the Northern Whisper. I've got to have some...

[Kerry Beal]

He dropped by the house with his wife Joyce last week to pick up a 1 kg container of nibs and he gave me one of his last bottles of this vintage of this Northern Whisper vinegar. He makes it from maple syrup that he makes into a wine then ferments to vinegar. It's a thick as syrup and very complex and wonderful. Like the finest aged balsamic!

First of all I have been reading with amazement that you are doing all this cooking while doctoring...and there is nothing better than being with a cooking friend,ALL ALONE.

Before you leave, any chance you can ask the Vinegar Man if he would part with at least the method for making the Northern Whisper. I've got to have some...

It's great fun having Anna here so we can cook together - usually at home we are just e-mailing back and forth talking about what we are making. Anna is an amazing cook - I learn a ton from her all the time.

I don't think Mr Vinegar would tell me the complete details - but what he has mentioned to me is that he dilutes maple syrup to a level that will allow him to make wine with it that gives about 5% alcohol. I suspect he dilutes with apple cider. After he gets the wine he must add the vinegar mother. I don't know how he gets it so thick though.

Anyway he's back at home - so it's unlikely I'll see him again for another few weeks.

[Kerry Beal]

For work today I'm taking this Boirotte au Pomme. Normally I make it in a 6 inch tall round pan, but I don't appear to have one of those up here - so I increased the batch size and put it in a bundt type pan. Had a challenge getting it out, but only lost one slice of apple (the cooks share).

When I get home I've committed to helping make 7200 truffles for the Wrapped up in the Valley wine festival. The guests get a box of 12 of 18 truffles made from the wine produced in the Twenty Valley region. We are using the premade truffle shells, filling, capping, double enrobing then decorating. I've brought my truffle shell mold up and I'm working on some recipes. I'm also figuring out average quantities of filling per truffle so I can determine batch size for 400 truffles of each wine as well as costing out the ingredients. The wine is provided by the wineries so that helps with the cost. Chocolate of course is the most expensive part of the filling.

So here is my first experiment - double enrobed but not decorated as yet.

[andiesenji]

Those are beautiful Kerry. Just another reason having an allergy to chocolate makes me sad.

I am increasingly amazed at the things you and Anna produce.

So, where's the recipe for the Boirotte au Pomme? Now that, I can have.

[Tri2Cook]

Before you leave, any chance you can ask the Vinegar Man if he would part with at least the method for making the Northern Whisper. I've got to have some...

According to the link in the original post, you can buy it (as well as several other interesting sounding vinegars). It's apparently just bottled under a different name now.

Roger's Maple Syrup Vinegar... "Formerly known as Northern Whisper Maple Syrup Vinegar".

[Kerry Beal]

Those are beautiful Kerry. Just another reason having an allergy to chocolate makes me sad.

I am increasingly amazed at the things you and Anna produce.

So, where's the recipe for the Boirotte au Pomme? Now that, I can have.

Indeed - I will make it so. Anna and I were tasting a little piece I brought home from work and figure a little fresh or candied ginger would make a nice addition to the basic recipe. It's really nice with pears too.

Boiurrote Aux Pommes

60 grams cornstarch

100 grams all purpose flour

100 grams sugar (less)

75 grams melted butter

5 tablespoons milk

2 eggs

1 tablespoon baking powder

vanilla

4 cut up apples or pears

mix all then stir in butter. Bake 375º for 40 minutes. She bakes in a charlotte pan.

[Kerry Beal]

Before you leave, any chance you can ask the Vinegar Man if he would part with at least the method for making the Northern Whisper. I've got to have some...

According to the link in the original post, you can buy it (as well as several other interesting sounding vinegars). It's apparently just bottled under a different name now.

Roger's Maple Syrup Vinegar... "Formerly known as Northern Whisper Maple Syrup Vinegar".

There you go - that explains why I got the last bottle! The last one with the old label. So he must barrel age it or something like you do with balsamic to dehydrate. One day I'm going to go for a visit and check out his set up.

[Tri2Cook]

The "Sweet Sunrise Honey Vinegar" that is apparently made and aged the same way as the maple vinegar sounds very interesting as well. I'm really glad you posted this Kerry, I'm going to check some of those vinegars out.

[Kerry Beal]

The "Sweet Sunrise Honey Vinegar" that is apparently made and aged the same way as the maple vinegar sounds very interesting as well. I'm really glad you posted this Kerry, I'm going to check some of those vinegars out.

Some of those vinegars would be lovely as flavouring in a chocolate center too.

[Anna N]

So after Kerry left for work this morning I attempted another recipe from Dorie’s book. The Salted Butter Break-Ups looked like an intriguing recipe and I knew from this post that Becca had success with it. I was a bit concerned when Kerry told me that there was no food processor here since she has turned to the Thermomix to do all the things that one normally does in an FP. But what an opportunity it presented to learn to use the TMX for things other than bread dough! I took advantage of a tip somewhere in the Cooking with Dorie topic and used a cooling rack to score the cookie. Like Becca I skinted on the salt so next time I would be a lot more generous.

This cookie has now made its way to the hospital to be enjoyed by the staff.

While the dough rested in the ‘fridge I started on another recipe, the Onion Carbonara. I steamed the onions in the Varoma (Thermomix steamer) and crisped up some bacon bits in a cast iron pan.

Very tasty but I should have cooked the onions just a bit longer and it would have benefitted from some additional parmesan (which I grated on top of my second serving!).

Currently I am babysitting Eggbertina (the mini green egg) for Kerry.

[Kerry Beal]

Most of the Salted Butter Breakup is gone! Only about half of the Boirotte is gone. They started snapping of pieces of the breakup as soon as it arrived and started complaining that they couldn't stop!

[Kerry Beal]

On the BGE today I made 'fatties' (which Anna insists on calling chubbies). As long as she doesn't start calling them woodies I guess we are OK.

They are a mixture of sausage meat and ground pork, rolled around the red pepper I roasted earlier and some nice mozzarella cheese. Rubbed with a few spices that included some of Johnnybird's Toast Dope. Then into a low and slow egg for about 2 to 3 hours to an internal temperature of 170 F.

Yum! Really moist - really tasty.

I'm thinking that meatloaf cooked on this little baby would be amazing.

[Anna N]

....

On the BGE today I made 'fatties' (which Anna insists on calling chubbies). As long as she doesn't start calling them woodies I guess we are OK.

....

Kerry was called away after she put these on the Egg and I was asked to keep an eye on them. I was quite sure they would be charcoal logs by the time they came off the grill. The Egg, though, is amazing. When the temperature inside the fatties reached 170F I opened the lid in fear and trembling but the fatties looked fabulous and the taste was great.

[Kerry Beal]

Snickerdoodles for work this morning. Just discovered that a whole lot of my cookie recipes didn't make the transfer from Mastercook to MacGourmet when I changed computers. So there will be a whole lot of back and forth figuring out what's disappeared so I can correct that. Fortunately at some point I e-mailed Anna my whole cookie file - so at least I don't have to tease out all the recipes from an e-mail I sent myself with my whole cookbook in it alphabetically.

Anna's going to make the speculoos from Dorie's new book today while I'm at work. Report to follow!

[Anna N]

Well the speculoos are resting in the fridge and probably won't get baked unti tomorrow. But with time on my hands and Kerry at work, I bit the bullet and made some mayonnaisse, roasted some shrimp and we'll have a nice snack before heading off to Espanola. The mayo looks so yellow because the egg yolks up here are the most amazing dark orange!

Hmmm the photo really doesn't show the mayo colour too well - it looks like the colour of butter in reality.

[Porthos]

Anna, I just finished breakfast and you're still making me hungry. Enjoy your shrimp.

[Kerry Beal]

Well the speculoos are resting in the fridge and probably won't get baked unti tomorrow. But with time on my hands and Kerry at work, I bit the bullet and made some mayonnaisse, roasted some shrimp and we'll have a nice snack before heading off to Espanola. The mayo looks so yellow because the egg yolks up here are the most amazing dark orange!

Hmmm the photo really doesn't show the mayo colour too well - it looks like the colour of butter in reality.

Oh yum - can't wait to get some for lunch!

[Kerry Beal]

Ok, snarfed down my shrimps - then polished off the little pot of mayo - it was like budda!