Sharing a Kitchen in an Ingredient Desert

[Anna N]

So tonight we ate leftover pulled pork with a side of Dorie Greenspan's Cauliflower-Bacon Gratin:

And I have to share with you the beautiful hues of these farm-fresh eggs:

[Kerry Beal]

Tom yum for me.

Is that tom yum or tom kha gai? It looks like it has coconut milk, and although there is a version of tom yum with coconut milk, it's not very common.

Last night I was lying in bed worrying - thinking "did I title that soup Tom yum when it was supposed to be Tom kha?" Just knew I'd get caught! Indeed Tom kha.

[Kerry Beal]

So - playing with food - when I was home a couple of time for a few minutes this afternoon I started various parts for my Bologna musubi. Anna finished off the sushi rice for me when I got called out. Got called out again just after it was assembled so took it with me to work so the girls could polish it off.

So sushi rice, bologna rounds grilled on the little Egg, brushed with teriyaki sauce, assembled with toasted nori and sprinkled with home made furikake.

It really needs one of the little plexiglass assemblers I have (thank you Suzi Sushi) for the spam musubi to push everything nice and tightly together.

[Kerry Beal]

Blueberry Oatmeal muffins for rounds.

Hermits for the clinic where I'm working until noon.

[Anna N]

So after Kerry left for work I pulled together Dorie's "back-of-the-box cheese and olive bread". I know I should have waited until it cooled before cutting into it but it smelled too good to obey anyone's instructions! It really is quite delicious. I used a combination of cheeses: asiago, cheddar and gruyere - just because I could .

Now I will do the mise for "my go-to beef daube". Kerry will pick up some wine on her way back from work and I will pull it together this afternoon. Wish I had some of those really cute cocottes that are in the photo of the recipe.

[Anna N]

Tonight Society member, Beth Wilson, joined us for dinner. She sampled and enjoyed the smoked cheeses that Kerry had made on Eggbertina, tried the Cheese and Olive Bread from Dorie's book and then had a plate of Dorie's Beef Daube and a side of Kerry's pureed cauliflower:

Thanks for the photo, Beth!

The beef was meltingly tender. My only small complaint is that the parsnips turned a rather unappetizing colour in the red wine-based sauce. Since they were an optional ingredient I would leave them out next time or cook them separately and add just before plating.

There are no rules up here as to what constitutes dinner so we all also enjoyed a taste of "The Chicken" done on Eggbertina and an artichoke and cheese dip. I will leave it to Kerry to expand on this.

[Kerry Beal]

"The Chicken" is a recipe from the egghead forum that is very popular. It consists of thigh and drums shaken in flour and cooked on the egg on a raised rack over a bed of veg (veg not necessary to the cooking - but very necessary to prevent the flareup). They are then bathed in a nice sauce that has about 4 different types of hot stuff in it, wrapped in foil, then held wrapped in a towel for 30 to 60 minutes in a cooler.

Working on a mini means the chicken is pretty darn close to the heat source and we suffered some major flares. The skin was black with creosote! But we peeled off the skin, bathed it in the sauce, wrapped it in some parchment and foil with a little extra sauce and let it sit in the cooler. It was not a thing of beauty - but it certainly tasted great - nice moist chicken, a sauce that surprisingly only bit back a little.

"The Chicken"

With the residual heat after cooking the chicken I finally got around to making the artichoke dip - the mayo that Anna had made the other day, grated asiago and parmesan and chopped up marinated artichokes. Put it on the Egg until it was bubbly and browned.

[Anna N]

Today I made the Pierre Herme Olive Sables from Dorie's book and was well on my way to finishing the whole batch when I came to my senses and packed them away!

I made them in the Thermomix except for the last step of folding in the olives.

Then I learned we were having company for dinner tonight so when Kerry and I got back from shopping I quickly made these two tiny boules.

[Kerry Beal]

Two Boiurrote aux poire this time - the square loaf pan turned out beautifully - the round pan was a bit raw on the inside after the 40 minute baking time. So back in it went for another 20 minutes or so.

Anna's olive quick bread and olive sables were nothing but crumbs in about 5 minutes after they arrived.

[Kerry Beal]

Tonight we invited the doc on call (who lives 40 minutes away from town) to share dinner with us. We did another of the little rib roasts as a steak on the mini BGE, grilled some romaine, Anna made peperonata and some wonderful mushrooms. Horses duvers included some smoked cheese and Anna's olive sables.

We had nothing for dessert, but served the doc some marshmallows and chocolate callets. She was very happy with that - having spied the pink marshmallows when she came in.

[Kerry Beal]

Lemon Snaps as today's offering.

For some reason when I switched from Mastercook to MacGourmet all my cookie recipes got ditched - finally got them all back where they belong. I feel like I have choices again.

[prasantrin]

Two Boiurrote aux poire this time - the square loaf pan turned out beautifully - the round pan was a bit raw on the inside after the 40 minute baking time. So back in it went for another 20 minutes or so.

I've searched both the above spelling and the previous one (boirotte), and I can't find any google links! What's a boirotte/boiurotte and more importantly, how do I make one?

[Kerry Beal]

Two Boiurrote aux poire this time - the square loaf pan turned out beautifully - the round pan was a bit raw on the inside after the 40 minute baking time. So back in it went for another 20 minutes or so.

I've searched both the above spelling and the previous one (boirotte), and I can't find any google links! What's a boirotte/boiurotte and more importantly, how do I make one?

I know - I couldn't find anything online either - strange. Maybe we should go google france and check.

Anyway - recipe in post 38.

Nope - nothing google france either - I'll have to go back and ask Denny.

Edited October 6, 2010 by Kerry Beal (log)

[Toliver]

Today I made the Pierre Herme Olive Sables from Dorie's book and was well on my way to finishing the whole batch when I came to my senses and packed them away!

At first glance I thought they looked like they had blueberries in them.

The Olive Sables sound intriguing.

Of course, now I'm wondering if I could actually make blueberry sables.

[Kerry Beal]

Today I made the Pierre Herme Olive Sables from Dorie's book and was well on my way to finishing the whole batch when I came to my senses and packed them away!

At first glance I thought they looked like they had blueberries in them.

The Olive Sables sound intriguing.

Of course, now I'm wondering if I could actually make blueberry sables.

With dried blueberries - but I'm not sure that wet blueberries would work with the cutting required.

Another beauty of these olive sables - the salty counterpoint to the sweet cookies.

[Kerry Beal]

Pizza cooked on the mini BGE tonight. Much fun was had!

Pizza number 1 - temperature pretty low - took quite a while to cook - not so great. Tapanade, peperonata and mozzarella.

Pizza number 2 - Anna's - 5 minutes egg was getting quite warm. Funghi pizza.

Pizza number 3 - mine - 4 minutes - stone getting a bit warmer - couple of rather burned spots. Tapanade, mozzarella and parmesan.

A bit of leftover dough, drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper - 3 minutes.

Bottom of same.

Reason for bottom of same.

[Anna N]

Last night’s pizza might not have been the best I have ever eaten but cooking it was certainly up there as being the most fun I have had cooking a meal!

When Kerry finished work yesterday afternoon we headed off to Mindemoya on another part of the Island in search of appropriate racks and pie plates to fit Eggbertina. We were not overly successful on that score but the hardware store is an amazing collection of goods ranging from canning supplies and salt licks to guns and bows and arrows. I recalled that on the Australian Thermomix forum someone had mentioned that a gun cleaning rod and brush worked well to clean the blades on the TMX. The store clerk was very accommodating as we discussed the re-purposing of gun cleaning rods and I left there with the perfect tool but might have some explaining to do when I get home. We also dropped in to the Supermarket in Mindemoya and, lo and behold, there were shiitake mushrooms! These went on my pizza. We also found a few other ingredients not available here in Little Current.

[andiesenji]

I love a pizza with a slightly scorched bottom. That just enhances the other flavors for me.

I love having a gooey top layer with lots of flavor and a foundation with a good crunch.

I am so envious.

Any photos of the outside area, your domicile or ??

[Kerry Beal]

For work this am - a Schwenkfelder Cake - basically a brioche dough with a cinnamon crumble on top.

Last night I dipped a few things - I've got to make a basket for the Party in Pink - fundraiser for breast cancer - for when I get back. If I don't get some stuff done while I'm here I'll be way behind when I get home. So dipped licorice, marshmallows, oreos and maple cookies. I'll get them decorated in the next couple of days.

While I was at work this morning Anna was monitoring the smoked cheddar. A much more successful smoking - using a soldering iron in a can of wood chips as the smoke source. Much cooler, no slumpage of cheese.

Now for Andi's benefit - a few pictures of our kitchen, the pantry, fridge, spice cupboard, thermomix corner, and the view that the mini BGE has off the balcony. Please excuse the mess - not quite sure how Anna survives living with me up here - I'm a slob! Maybe it helps that all that wine in the fridge door is hers!

[Anna N]

Yesterday morning I attempted Dorie's "Chicken, apples and cream a la normandie":

I am usually reasonably able to follow directions but for some reason this time I failed. I covered the pan to simmer the chicken which left far too much liquid in there when it was time to add and reduce the brandy. I pulled the chicken out and set it aside and then reduced the liquid. This, of course, overcooked the apples so that they pretty much simply melded into the sauce. Nevertheless this was a tasty, comforting dish which both Kerry and I enjoyed for lunch.

Last night Kerry and I jointly attempted to make Socca from Dorie's book. This time we had no intention of following the recipe too closely as we wanted to cook in on the Egg. Well there was an icy wind coming off the water, it was dark by the time we were ready to make the attempt and it was a dismal failure! Not Dorie's fault at all. Perhaps Kerry will also comment on this when she posts later this morning.

[Kerry Beal]

After our rip roaring fire the night before - we figured we could get the egg up to a great socca temperature. I've watched them baking socca in Nice in the brick ovens and knew the egg would be ideal to bake it on.

Well as Anna said - we just weren't getting the high temperatures of the night before - 500 was the highest we got to, but that dropped back down after a very short while. Cleaning out the egg later we figured out the problem.

This -

- a rock that was occupying most of the firebox. It weighted over a pound. I think I should go back to the store and ask for a refund of 1/10 of the cost of my 10 lb bag of charcoal!

[Anna N]

Forgot to post a photo of the pizza I had last night. All shiitake mushrooms and sliced rather than grated cheese. I made the crust much thinner and it turned out to be an excellent pizza. I think we have pizza on the Egg down to a fine art.

Today we drove to Max Burt's and I will let Kerry fill you in on what we brought home but I will tell you about lunch.

We stopped here in M'Chigeeng:

and giggled at this (still food related) turkey:

For lunch I had poutine:

and a toasted BLT:

Kerry had "chicken poutine" which looked exactly like my poutine but had a couple of chicken nuggets thrown in.

[Kerry Beal]

Burt's Farm was a hopping place today - usually only one or two people come in while we are there - but today everyone was picking up their turkeys for Canadian Thanksgiving. I had hoped my turkey would be frozen as I won't have a chance to cook it this week - but it was a beautiful fresh gobbler of about 23 lbs. We picked up Beth's turkey as well - she had had her's cut in half. Fabulous idea when there is only two of you - especially given the size of these ones.

We also had Max cut us a couple of tritip steaks, picked up a couple of top blade steaks and for dinner tonight some nice strip loins. Oh yeah, and a brisket - got him to freeze me one for experiments on my egg when I get home. There was a nice little pork tenderloin in there too, for tomorrow night's dinner.

Surf and turf for tonight's dinner.

[Kerry Beal]

Figgy buckwheat scones (once again - thank you Marmish) to take to work today.

[Marmish]

Anytime, my friend! You guys and Chris Hennes are conspiring to make me buy Dorie's new book, I think,