eG Foodblog: Marlene Maple Leaves, Bacon & Pecans - A Canadian go

[Marlene]

Jason was the one who recommended the soya oil to me, and that's what I used to make the blooming onion. I was pretty happy with the way it performed, but hell, it was the first time I'd ever successfully deep fried anything so what do I know?

[Marlene]

Now begins Ryan's grazing hours. From now until bed, it will be "I'm hungry" every 10 minutes or so.

First up the chocolate covered pretzels. I got these at Costco because I liked the picture on the box, not because I thought they'd taste any good. Ryan's "helping" with the blog pictues. He stuck the jube jube in the middle for "presentation"

I knew I'd heard mutterings of popcorn. WE bought this hot air popper last year for Ryan for Christmas, it's kinda cute:

Here I'm telling him to get his hand out of there.

Sometimes he sprinkles a nacho seasoning on his popcorn, but tonight was pure butter and lots of it.

[Priscilla]

Oh my goodness I love popcorn. Air-popped buttered & sea-salted. I remind myself it's a whole grain.

Marlene, what toppings will you put on pizza tomorrow? We're making pizza tonight, and have in queue caramelized onion & goat cheese, and sun-dried tomato and long-cooked garlic, as well as tomato sauce-mozz.

Also, reminds me: What about convection? I've noted your convection roasting comments elsewhere. I'm presently learning the ins and outs of a convection oven, fine-tuning its affect on familiar preparations, pizza for one. Once the stone is up to temp, convecting has helped with nice brown but not leatherfied cheese. Experiments are ongoing.

[Marlene]

Hmmm, I'm thinking that pizza would be a good dish to use convection on. Of course I've never made it before. I do not have a pizza stone. I don't even know if I still have a pizza pan. This could be interesting.

Toppings? Hmmm, probably pepperoni and green peppers. Lots of cheese. Whatever my son will let me put on there.

[snowangel]

Strikes me you need to go out tomorrow morning and get a pizza stone.

Breakfast? Coffee and a cigarette for you, I suppose? For the lad, how about bacon, scrambled eggs and toast?

[little ms foodie]

Or you could pull an Alton Brown and just use a few bricks for the pizza!!

We love making pizza at home. It is soooo fun, I'm sure the lad will have a ball.

pesto and goat cheese..... the basic- tomato sauce, basil leaves and mozz......roasted garlic..... some pepperoni slices.....mmmm....

Make them small so you can make lots of different ones and enjoy!

[Dave the Cook]

You asked for pecan pie recipes. Many people swear by the one in Emeril's New New Orleans Cooking. I've made it several times, and eaten it many more, and I can't disagree. Here it is, adapted for Canadian use (I'm leaving out the crust):

Canadian Pecan Pie

4 large eggs

3/4 C sugar

1/2 t salt

3/4 C Lyle's Golden Syrup

3/4 C Grade B maple syrup

1 T melted butter

1 t vanilla extract

1-1/2 C pecan pieces (halves are prettier)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Beat the eggs with the sugar and salt. Add syrups, butter and vanilla. Mix until thoroughly combined and frothy (I use a stand mixer with the whisk at low speed).

3. Spread the pecans on the bottom of the pie shell. Pour the filling over them.

4. Bake until firm, about an hour (check at 50 minutes).

[Dave the Cook]

Or you could pull an Alton Brown and just use a few bricks for the pizza!!

Or an assemblage of the largest unglazed stone or terra cotta tiles you can find -- enough to line an oven rack, minus an inch or three all the way 'round. Let them heat for a while (like twice as long as the oven takes to come to temperature), so the heat across the tiles has a chance to even out.

[Mayhaw Man]

For the sake of comparison I am going to make this pie with some fabulous duty free maple syrup that I bought this summer at the duty free in the Winnipeg Airport while unloading loonies that I was stuck with. I bet it's going to be awesome. Thanks Dave.

[SobaAddict70]

It's probably too late for this request tomorrow...

...but there's always later in the week.

Grillades and grits maybe? For breakfast?

Soba

[Dave the Cook]

It's probably too late for this request tomorrow...

...but there's always later in the week.       

Grillades and grits maybe?  For breakfast?

Soba

Marlene will hate it, but I bet Ryan will scarf it up. Let's get a recipe up here.

[Dave the Cook]

For the sake of comparison I am going to make this pie with some fabulous duty free maple syrup that I bought this summer at the duty free in the Winnipeg Airport while unloading loonies that I was stuck with. I bet it's going to be awesome. Thanks Dave.

←

Your chances of finding Lyle's Golden Syrup are probably about equal to Marlene's of finding Steen's.

[Marlene]

Strikes me you need to go out tomorrow morning and get a pizza stone.

Breakfast?  Coffee and a cigarette for you, I suppose?  For the lad, how about bacon, scrambled eggs and toast?

←

Pizza stone? I don't even know what one looks like never mind have any clue as to where to buy one! I'll wait on this until I can determine if I can make pizza with any success or not!

Breakfast for me? I must confess that most mornings, coffee and cigarettes are my breakfast of choice. But this week, with Ry being home and things being somewhat more leisurely, I'm more inclined to eat, especially as I'm already cooking something for him. I did in fact have a pancake yesterday. I mean really it was too cute not to eat.

Sadly, my workouts at the gym have suffered the last few months, although my treadmill downstairs stares at me forlornly every now and then. I figure after Christmas he and I will become reaquainted. Or I'll be buying a whole new wardrobe.

Or you could pull an Alton Brown and just use a few bricks for the pizza!!

Or an assemblage of the largest unglazed stone or terra cotta tiles you can find -- enough to line an oven rack, minus an inch or three all the way 'round. Let them heat for a while (like twice as long as the oven takes to come to temperature), so the heat across the tiles has a chance to even out.

←

No! I do NOT need another piece of kitchen equipment. (I've got my ears covered so I can't hear you all mouthing "pizza stone, pizza stone" at me.

It's probably too late for this request tomorrow...

...but there's always later in the week.        

Grillades and grits maybe?  For breakfast?

Soba

Marlene will hate it, but I bet Ryan will scarf it up. Let's get a recipe up here.

←

You're kidding me right? First of all, what are Grillades? Secondly, I suppose if you tortured me, I might, just might, consider bringing grits into my kitchen.

[Marlene]

You asked for pecan pie recipes. Many people swear by the one in Emeril's New New Orleans Cooking. I've made it several times, and eaten it many more, and I can't disagree. Here it is, adapted for Canadian use (I'm leaving out the crust):

Canadian Pecan Pie

4 large eggs

3/4 C sugar

1/2 t salt

3/4 C Lyle's Golden Syrup

3/4 C Grade B maple syrup

1 T melted butter

1 t vanilla extract

1-1/2 C pecan pieces (halves are prettier)

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Beat the eggs with the sugar and salt. Add syrups, butter and vanilla. Mix until thoroughly combined and frothy (I use a stand mixer with the whisk at low speed).

3. Spread the pecans on the bottom of the pie shell. Pour the filling over them.

4. Bake until firm, about an hour (check at 50 minutes).

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Thank you for this. I asked Don last night if he liked Pecan Pie. His response? "Sure, - without the pecans".

Not that it will stop me from making it. I mean, everyone hates squash here, but I promised Brooks I'd make the squash casserole.. If nothing else, the food will look purty on my table.

[Marlene]

Good morning everyone. The fairies came along last night and provided a lovely dusting of snow. Not deep enough to shovel or make driving a huge mess, but pretty enough to dust the evergreens and lawns with white sparkly powder. Now it feels like it's almost Christmas.

It's so pretty looking out the sunroom windows, drinking coffee, planning out the day while Ryan sleeps. The sumroom can be a little chilly in the morning in the winter, so I have a fuzzy throw wrapped around my legs, watching the day being to break. These are the moments I treasure most. The quiet time before the house wakes up and demands my attention. This is my time, something I get precious little of during the rest of the day. I'm a homebody at heart and there's nothing I like more than taking care of my family, but in these few moments as the sun rises, and my menfolk sleep, I can be as selfish as I like and think only of myself.

I almost never take on clients in December, it's just too busy a month, so I can focus on birthdays, Christmas and families. Everyone here except me, has a birthday in Dec. Ryan, Don, Ry's Dad, my mom, and Don's mom are all December born.

And so, onto breakfast. Snowangel? Bacon, scrambled eggs and toast, yes, but holidays require that pinnacle of bacon, Canadian peameal bacon. Sometimes known as back bacon.

Today's baking will include shortbreads, maybe rum balls, and the pizza experiment.

I'll look forward to sharing the day with y'all.

[Safran]

Good morning Marlene!

Hum....I can smell the bacon and coffee....yum! Now, uncover your ears, Girl, and get thee to a kitchen store. You NEED, read again, NEED a pizza stone. Get a peel while you're at it. You'll love these additions and will be making pizza regularly from now on. Homemade pizza is just too darn good and actually fast to order in...but a pizza stone makes a big difference. The crust is so much better baked on one. I've had mine 12 years, without cracking. It has survived many many moves....

As for grits, what's not to like?? I tasted them for the first time many many years ago in New Orleans. While others were bringing back clothing and other goodies, I had grits in my suitcase, along with filé powder etc.... Grits, well prepared, are good! If you don't want to serve them with grillades, serve them with thick natural bacon...I suspect that Ryan would love them. Enjoy!

[momlovestocook]

Pancakes, gingerbread houses and december birthdays-sounds like my house!

My kids love making their own pizzas(they are 5 and 7). I actually think they enjoy the taste of the frozen mini pizzas better but they enjoy actually creating thier own. Oh well, I loved store bought frozen and canned crap when I was young too-thank goodness our tastes grow up with us(sometimes LOL).

I think you should get that pizza stone-Golda's sells nice ones by old stone oven-only had to carry it home from the post office(they usually have everything on sale starting the 26th!!!)

Enjoying your blog

Sandra

ps, we made our gingerbread house sunday and the kids are chowing on it already

[snowangel]

Pizza stone. Pizza stone. (at any kitchen stuff store) It will not be unused; you just leave it in the oven all the time!

[Marlene]

It's probably too late for this request tomorrow...

...but there's always later in the week.        

Grillades and grits maybe?  For breakfast?

Soba

Marlene will hate it, but I bet Ryan will scarf it up. Let's get a recipe up here.

←

Recipes? Recipes are good. The more the merriere here folks. But, just a gentle reminder to make sure they are adapted and conform to our copyright policies. That means, you can use the ingredient list as is from a recipe or you can change a few ingredients, but you must re-write the method rather than copying it verbatim.

thanks!

[Marlene]

Pizza stone.  Pizza stone.  (at any kitchen stuff store)  It will not be unused; you just leave it in the oven all the time!

←

Argh! Ok, ok. If the roads aren't slippery, I'll slip over to the mall and see if I can find a pizza stone. I need to finish up some Christmas shopping anyway. (sigh)

[bleudauvergne]

Marlene, your talk of snow and sunrooms brings back a flood of memories. Reading about your quiet moments this morning was very uplifting. Thank you.

Myself from a transplanted Southern family in a very snowy part of New York state, I grew up on cheese grits in the winter for breakfast using that lovely tangy cheddar only found hovering near the border with Canada. I suggest preparing the grits according to the package and grating in a nice dose of that wonderful cheddar that is perhaps produced in your region. Then there's shrimp and grits - for a brunch. That's an all time favorite that I guarantee you cannot help but love.

Now a general question for this Canadian pie, I have two questions, one involving the syrup, and one involving the syrup. Can I use grade A New York State light amber maple syrup (as is an ample supply brought to me by my mother) instead of grade B and can I use syrop de canne in place of Lyles Golden as it is the only sugar syrup available to me here?

Thanks!

[Mayhaw Man]

For the sake of comparison I am going to make this pie with some fabulous duty free maple syrup that I bought this summer at the duty free in the Winnipeg Airport while unloading loonies that I was stuck with. I bet it's going to be awesome. Thanks Dave.

←

Your chances of finding Lyle's Golden Syrup are probably about equal to Marlene's of finding Steen's.

←

Karo dude, Karo. I don't need no stinking Lyle's. The maple syrup is a big enough departure for me. I have about 30 pounds of picked pecans in the freezer that came from our farm, but I only have a limited amount of maple syrup, and I won't be getting more until next Summer, when we return to the Northland.

[Marlene]

Marlene, your talk of snow and sunrooms brings back a flood of memories.  Reading about your quiet moments this morning was very uplifting.  Thank you. 

Myself from a transplanted Southern family in a very snowy part of New York state, I grew up on cheese grits in the winter for breakfast using that lovely tangy cheddar only found hovering near the border with Canada.  I suggest preparing the grits according to the package and grating in a nice dose of that wonderful cheddar that is perhaps produced in your region.  Then there's shrimp and grits - for a brunch.  That's an all time favorite that I guarantee you cannot help but love. 

Now a general question for this Canadian pie, I have two questions, one involving the syrup, and one involving the syrup.  Can I use grade A New York State light amber maple syrup (as is an ample supply brought to me by my mother) instead of grade B and can I use syrop de canne in place of Lyles Golden as it is the only sugar syrup available to me here? 

Thanks!

←

Thanks Lucy.  I love mornings.      I can answer the Maple syrup question but someone else will have to answer the Lyles question.  You can certainly use a Grade A maple syrup.  Grade B is the best, but hey, you use what you can get your hands on.  All maple syrup is good.

[Abra]

Suck it up a pop for the pizza stone. Otherwise your first pizza will be more or less just bread with toppings, you'll think you can't make pizza, and it'll be a one-time deal. A pizza stone lasts a lifetime, lives in your oven, goes through the self-cleaning oven cycle, and generally more than pulls its weight around the kitchen.

I can't believe no one's suggested this, but if I had a deep fryer, which I don't, probably the first thing I'd try would be doughnuts. Make 'em maple bars, in keeping with the Canadiana theme. And sure, Lucy, you can use grade A syrup, it's just that the darker syrup delivers a whole lot more maple flavor.

Fun blog! I'm really sorry I'll be out of town for the rest of the week and will have to catch up with it later.

[SobaAddict70]

re grillades: this is a classic Creole brunch dish, usually beef, veal or pork, in a roux-based tomato sauce. Some versions use beef round, some use veal scallops, others use pork chops. Whatever version you do use, it's muy delicioso. I'd add to Marlene's comment about copyrights that if you don't want to rewrite the recipe, you can always link to it as below.

Behold the power of Google...

Another recipe for grillades and grits, courtesy of Google

Soba