Adventures of a Third Time Gardener!

Hello loyal readers! It’s that time of year again – That’s right! It’s gardening time! This will be the first time we garden in the new house – how exciting! We were debating about whether or not to put in a garden this summer, because we were worried about how much time we would have with everything else going on with the new house, but when the weather turned around, we decided there would be no way we couldn’t! So we dug up a nice (but small) area in the backyard where we would be able to plant a few veggies.

Here is the garden patch, dug by hand!

And here is our stash of veggies! My wonderful boss, John at Gold Forest Grains, gave me two wonderful heritage tomato plants, and my mother in law seeded a whole bunch of plants for us as gifts. We are spoiled!

This year, we will be growing acorn squash again, seeing as how successful it was last year!

Here’s our butternut plant! Let’s hope it takes off this year, because we didn’t even get one butternut last season…

Here are the two heritage tomato plants. These are going to be beauties!

Here is a baby pepper plant my mother-in-law gave us.

And here is the mystery plant (she couldn’t remember what she seeded! Anyone want to venture a guess?)

And of course, we had to start a new strawberry patch. It was so hard to leave the old one behind… It gave us such lovely strawberries!

Here is the row of red onions! Last but not least, a beautiful zucchini! (It just wouldn’t be summer without a garden full of zucchini, now would it?)

Stay tuned for updated throughout the summer!

Toasted Barley Salad with Black Beans, Mango and Corn

It’s time for another one of Julie Van Rosendaal’s FANTASTIC recipes! This one is a tasty spring salad, loaded with beautiful colours and flavours. I love Julie’s recipes! And I also love that I can add a local twist to them whenever I can.

For this recipe, I used Gold Forest Grain’s Pearled Barley. Julie also has a really good recipe for a curried quinoa salad, but I have recently vowed never to buy quinoa again, since I heard about the South American Quinoa Crisis. Besides, we have a plethora of rock awesome local grains that are just as tasty. Use local grains instead, people! Let South Americans eat their staple grains, and we can eat ours! Any… I digress…

I made this recipe the day before I served it, to give the barley enough time to cool completely. I cooked it by toasting the barley in the pan before cooking it up. It added a nice smoky flavour to the barley.

When the barley had cooled completely, I chopped up all my veggies, and the mango.

Here’s a neat trick to cut mangoes easily. They’re so slimy, I use this as my mainstay for mango cutting now. First cut the mango in half, and then cut checkered lines in the flesh.

Next, flip the skin inside out, and you’ll have easily accessible little pockets of fruit that you can just lob off. No slimy, slippery mess!

I used canned corn for this recipe, because I find the quality better than off season corn on the cob from the grocery store. Oh man, I’m excited for Taber corn at the end of summer…

Here are all of the ingredients in the bowl.

And here’s the salad all mixed up with the dressing.

Voila! A beautiful addition to any summer BBQ!

Jacquie’s Awesome Toasted Barley Salad with Black Beans, Mango and Corn (Courtesy of Julie Van Rosendaal)

You will need:

1/2 cup pearled barley

1.5 cups water

1 can corn

1 can black beans

1 red peper

1 orange pepper

1/2 purple onion

2 ripe mangoes

For the dressing:

1/2 cup olive oil

1/4 cup lime juice

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp honey

1 garlic clove, crushed.

Begin by toasting you barley in a saucepan over medium-high heat for a few minutes, until the barley is golden and tasty-smelling. Pour in the water, and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down and let simmer for about 40 minutes, until tender. Let cool completely (I put it in the fridge overnight). Next, chop all of your veggies and slice your mango. Throw everything into a big bowl. For the dressing, combine all ingredients in a tupperware container and shake. Pour over all ingredients and coat everything very well. Serve as a side, or for lunch! Enjoy, a lot!

Eat Alberta 2013

This post comes super late after the event (2 weeks ago… sorry al!), but that wont stop me from writing about it! Eat Alberta was a wonderful day of culinary adventures! I attended the first Eat Alberta two years, but couldn’t attend last year because of the election. There was no way I was going to miss out this year, so I decided to volunteer to offset the cost of attending. It was super fun!

All of the food for the event prepared by NAIT’s culinary program. Wow. Breakfast was incredible! We were definitely well looked after that day.

As a volunteer, I got to attend one of the hands-on classes for free! I was so lucky, I got my first choice – knife skills! Kevin Kent from Knifewears led the session, and let me borrow one of his knives – this one says “Hello Kevin” on the side. How awesome, eh?

He had a huge knowledge base on knives – I was super impressed!

He first showed us how to hone a knife (that means to straighten the blade so that it cuts more true). To do this – you use a steel rod and carve it like a Donair.

Front and back.

Next, to actually sharpen the knife, you need an abrasive surface (if I’m remembering correctly, he used leather). The concept is to remove a small layer of the knife’s surface to make the edge smoother and sharper.

To do this, you spread the knife on the pallet like butter!

He then showed us how to properly hold our knives. Curl your fingers on one side…

And hold your thumb on the other to steady the knife.

Kevin then showed us how to properly hold a potato while cutting it. Hold the end of the potato with your thumb, to steady it, then curl your fingers in so that the knife runs along the knuckles as you cut. This grasp helps you cut really fast!

The next adventure was to learn how to perfectly cube a potato. First things first. Cut the potato into a rectangle.

And then cut it into perfect cubes (yea, his were perfect, mine definitely were not!)

then cube them smaller! (Mine were definitely uneven!)

He showed us how to julienne too.

The little pieces looked like spaghetti!

He then chopped up the pieces super small and they looked like confetti. (I can’t really remember when you would use potato like this, other than for decorating a plate…)

Kevin showed us how to cut carrots beautifully!

This is how you cut pineapples, to remove the eyes, without having to waste so much fruit.

And as a bonus, when you chop it up, it’s beautiful!

The next session I volunteered at was a beer tasting with Niel Herbst, owner of Alley Kat brewery. It was super informative and tasty!

My favourite taste of the day was Alley Kat’s new summer squeeze grapefruit ale. Wowza, it tasted like summer in a bottle. I can’t wait to sit on a patio this summer sipping that bad boy!

The next session I helped out with was Ricotta Cheese making. I wasn’t there long, but it was pretty cool to see how ricotta is made!

The next session I volunteered at was with Owen Petersen from Prairie Mill Bakery. He taught a class how to make bread using a sourdough starter.

He named his starter Julie. How awesome!

I got some pretty good shots of volunteers mixing their dough.

And some great shots of Owen expertly kneading his dough.

Look at those skilled hands!

In the end, there was a beautiful ball of dough. I was super impressed with that session, and made me consider wanting to bake with a starter!

At the end of the day, we were all presented with an incredible tasting board filled with local treats (Sylvan Star Gouda, Evans Cherry jello, Gold Forest Grains Wheat Berry salad… hmmmm it was so good!)

A big shout out to the organizers for putting on such a great event! I was floored at how much work must have gone into preparing for it! I had a great time, and loved the sessions! I will definitely be volunteering again next year!

New blog name!

Hello Dear Readers!

My sincerest apologies for prolonged my absence from the blogosphere. I am FINALLY back from my blogging hiatus (and couldn’t be happier!). As you can tell, there have been a few changes: First things first, I changed the named of the blog! Justin and I have recently moved into the quaint little community of Parkallen in the heart of Edmonton, and seeing as we were no longer living in the Garneau house anymore, I couldn’t very well be blogging about the Garneau Kitchen, now could I?

Yes that is why, when you search for Garneau Home Kitchen, you will be re-directed to this lovely new site (Yay!) My new kitchen has many characters of the old kitchen (cute, historical looking…etc) with some added upgrades (a dishwasher and a gas stove!)

While some things have changed, some stay the same. The blog’s theme will always be, as it always has been, local food in Edmonton. I will strive to live as locally as possible, on a modest budget, and I hope you continue to enjoy the journey as I go! Stay tuned for foodie posts!

Jacquie

Times they are a’changing…

Good Morning dear readers,

Hi! How are you? It’s been a while and I apologize for my absence. Life has been so full and exciting over the past few weeks and I wanted to update my loyal readers on a new adventure I’ve embarked on! Justin and I have moved to Parkallen. While it is only 20 blocks south from the legendary Garneau Home Kitchen, it feels miles away. My Landlord listed the house for sale and Justin and I decided it was time to purchase our own home. We now live in a beautiful, sunny, character home in Parkallen. We are in the process of making it feel like a home, but, as many of you have had the pleasure of experiencing, it takes a while – and many growing pains- to do so.

This leads me to the blog. As much as it saddens me to say, the Garneau Home Kitchen is no more. I am in the process of changing direction of the blog from the culinary adventures in my 1940s Garneau Home Kitchen to my culinary adventures in my 1950s Parkallen Home Kitchen. The name, the feel and the tone will change, but one thing will always remain the same – I will always strive to eat as locally as possible, albeit on a modest budget.

As always, I love having you all along on my journey. I look forward to bringing you along on my culinary adventures as I explore how to use a gas range stove for the very first time and break in my Kitchen in a big way. Stay tuned!

Here’s a teaser – A picture of my new kitchen:

Hearty Vegetable Curry with Red Lentils and Chard

Lentils are great. They are super hearty, tasty little morsels of yum. Recently, my market stall Gold Forest Grains, has been selling organic red lentils. Well, I’m up for a challenge, and with the help of Julie Van Rosendaal, I can achieve anyone’s lentil dreams!

I let these bad boys soak all day long, so they’d be easy to cook in the evening.

I used a whole bunch of spices for the curry, to give it tons of flavour.

First things first, I diced some onions and chopped up some potatoes to throw in the pot.

I cooked them up a bit and added the spices.

Next, I diced up some peppers and added those.

and opened a can of diced tomatoes and added those.

Next, in went the lentils.

And the coconut milk. I closed the lid and let it cook down for a while, to get the potatoes and lentils nice and soft.

In went the chard… (Now I don’t normally buy chard, but we recently picked up an edible arrangement as a thank you for the Vegas Trip, and it was covered in chard as a decoration, so I picked off every piece, determined to never waste food!)and voila! This recipe was amazing! I had dreams about it! Make this- right now. And swing by our booth at Old Strathcona on Saturday to get your local organic red lentils!

Jacquie’s Awesome Vegetable Curry with Red Lentils and Chard (Courtesy of Julie Van Rosendaal)

You will need:

1.5 cups red lentils, soaked for min 6 hrs

1 onion, diced

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tsp ginger

1 tbsp yellow curry powder

1 tbsp tumeric

1 tbsp cumin

1 tsp seasoning salt

2 potatoes, cubed

1 red bell pepper, diced

1 can diced tomatoes, drained

1 can coconut milk

1/4 cup chutney (any kind you like! I used pear.)

1 cup roughly chopped chard

Cut up your veggies and begin by adding a little olive oil to your wok or big pot and cook down onions and potatoes. Add spices and cook down some more (5 mins). Add peppers and tomatoes, cook down some more. (5 mins again!). Add lentils and coconut milk and keep lid on pot for approx 10-15 mins. When lentils and potatoes and cooked, add chutney and chard at the last minute, just long enough to have the chard wilt a little. Serve on a bed of rice and enjoy. This recipe makes six good sized servings. Enjoy- a lot!

Eating my way through Las Vegas – A food journal

I just recently got back from Las Vegas. It was quite the culinary adventure, with celebrity chefs opening restaurants left right and centre, there is no better place to eat your way through. Here are some of the food adventures we went on while we were there!

This creperie in the Bellagio had a 3 stream chocolate fountain. No Big Deal.

We decided that we needed to go to at least one celebrity chef’s restaurant while we were there, and we opted for MESA, Iron Chef Bobby Flay‘s restaurant. It was honestly one of the best meals of my life.

Here is a shot of the restaurant. It was beautiful in there!

For appies, we for spicy shrimp tamales. Divine!

We also got a blue corn crepe with duck in a sweet habenero sauce. This was my favourite dish.

Here was Justin’s rabbit. It was quite hot, but delicious!

This was my sister’s mahi mahi. The rice won as a favourite for Jeff!

I got a Chile Ralleno. Having tasted these for the first time in Oaxaca, I just had to try Bobby Flay’s version.

One bite and the cheese was all oozy out of the bottom. Incredible!

We got a side dish of the sweet potato au gratin. Omg, I’m honestly salivating at the memory.

We ordered desert, but we devoured them before I could take a picture. Churros and a sweet potato bread pudding. If you get the chance to head down to Vegas anytime soon, GO TO MESA! You will not regret it for a second. Your belly will be thanking you!

Next door, Gordon Ramsy opened a pub. It lost to Bobby Flay’s restaurant in our decision making process, but I thought I’d include some pictures. On the first day in Vegas, we went on a food tour of Cesar’s palace with the Walking Gourmet. There are 5 stops over the course of 4 hours. That was quite the feast!

First stop, Rao’s. It was a recreation of a New York Italian restaurant. It was quite good. We were all impressed.

They served Penne a la Vodka…

And Margarita Pizza. Nothing too fancy, but good old Italian Grub!

Next was PJ Carke’s. As you see from the sign, it is a raw bar and chop house…

They even had an Oyster display…

And then they gave us tater tots and a burger… I was a little confused. The items were good, but disjointed, to say the least. Next time, Walking Gourmet, I suggest some sea food, as advertised.

Next, we went to Planet Hollywood…

They also served us a burger and a chicken finger… While they were good items, I was expecting a little more from a Walking Gourmet tour… I mean common… Planet Hollywood? Another Burger? When there are over fifty restaurants of good gourmet food to choose from in Cesear’s Palace? Anyway, moving on!

Next stop was Max Brenner.

Chocolate by the Bald Man. (Tee hee!) This one was the winner for most of us. The food was outstanding and the chocolate divine.

They started us off with a chocolate martini, which most of us licked clean

Here are the spicy sweet (huge!) chicken wings.

Satay chicken skewers.

And corn chowder croquettes. WOW these were good!

Next stop, the Palm Restaurant. Another NY recreation.

They served us a massive piece of cheesecake. We all had to take ours home, because they were huge and we were all ready to burst!

Overall, I liked the tour and would recommend it to others. I do have some criticisms though – I wish that the restaurants were a little more high caliber, and that they would coordinate the menu a little better. We were served two burgers in a row, and neither were that spectacular. Also, a cheesecake at the end of a day of eating? Oh man, it was just too much. I was also very sad we didn’t even hit up one of the many celebrity chef restaurants in Cesear’s. In all honestly, that was kind of why I signed up, knowing Bobby Flay, Gordon Ramsay and Guy Savoy both have places there. If we were not going to hit those up, they should have advertised as such. Anyway, it was good, just not what I was expecting. They have other tours, for those interested. Check out their website!

Roasted Tomato and Red Lentil Soup

My boss at the farmer’s market recently started to sell red lentils and they are a hit! I decided it was high time I busted out Julie Van Rosendaal‘s Spilling the Beans another time for a new tasty adventure!

The original recipe incorporated steel cut oats into the soup at the end. I thought that may be a little too adventurous for my palate, so I stuck to the tasty tomatoes and lentils.

First things first, I laid out what was left of my garden tomatoes on a baking sheet lined with tinfoil.

Next, I sprinkled the tomatoes with a little olive oil and brown sugar and threw in some whole garlic cloves.

While the tomatoes were roasting, I cooked down some onions.

Here are the tomatoes, all roasty.

I used my handy masher to break them down.

Here they are! Organic Red Lentils from Gold Forest Grains. Delicious!

Here are my onions, all cooked down. I apologize, I forgot to take another picture of the soup after it had been simmering.

Here’s the soup in the blender. You can keep it as is or blend it up a bit. The soup’s texture was nice after I blended half of the soup, then added it back into the pot.

Here it is, all ready to be enjoyed!

Jacquie’s Roasted Tomato and Red Lentil Soup (Courtesy of Julie Van Rosendaal)

You will need:

(if not using fresh or frozen tomatoes)

2 cans whole tomatoes

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp brown sugar

6 garlic cloves, peeled and halved

2 onions, diced

8 cups chicken or veggie stock

1/4 cup tomato paste or sauce

1 cup dry red lentils

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp rosemary

Preheat oven to 425. Line baking sheet with tinfoil. Arrange tomatoes in single layer on baking sheet. Drizzle with oil and sprinkle with sugar and season. Roast for 30 minutes. Add whole garlic cloves and continue to roast until there are some blackened edges, and the garlic is soft. Remove from oven and cool slightly. When cool, mash roasted tomatoes and garlic together. In a large pot, brown onions with oil until cooked down. Add stock, tomato paste or sauce, lentils, herbs and roasted tomatoes. Stir well and let it come to a simmer. Cook until lentils and tender. If you like a smoother texture, blend with immersion blender, or add half to a blender then add back to pot. Serve and enjoy!

Bacon Bison Cheeseburgers

So, winter has reached it’s blah point. Every winter, there is a point in the middle where everyone feels a little down. It’s not for any reason in particular, it’s more because we are all so sick of the cold, slush and snow. When times like these hit, I aim to make the tastiest meal possible, to rid us of the winter blues. What’s screams summer more than a juicy burger? Nothing!I decided to go all out, with local bacon from Irving’s Farm Fresh.

I even caramelized some onions for this bad boy.

Here’s my bison meat.

With all the added ingredients.

I formed the meat into patties.

And cooked them on a skillet.

Once the bacon was nice and crispy, I drained the grease before assembling the burgers.

To make them extra decadent, I melted some cheese on top.

Dress with your favourite fixings, like homemade pickles, and serve alongside a summer beer, like Alley Kat‘s Brewberry, to chase those inter blues away.

Enjoy!

Jacquie’s homemade Bacon Bison Burgers

You will need:

1 pound local ground bison meat

1 egg

1/2 cup breadcrumbs

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp rosemary, minced

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

1 pack of bacon

1 medium onion

1 tbsp butter

5 slices of cheese

5 whole wheat buns

Your favourite burger condiments

Begin by slicing your onion and letting it caramelize with the butter in a pan, on low heat, for about 30-40 mins. While onion is caramelizing, begin cooking bacon. While your ingredients are cooking on the stove, make your patties. Combine bison, egg, breadcrumbs, garlic, rosemary and Worcestershire sauce in a bowl. Form patties with your hands. Cook on medium-high heat in a skillet until patties are cooked through. Let cheese melt on burgers burger assembling. Dress your bun with your favourite condiments and top burger with bacon, caramelized onions, lettuce, and pickles. Enjoy!

White Chocolate Blueberry Scones

On cold winter days like today, all you want to do is wrap yourself in a blanket and eat flaky pastries and drink warm hot drinks to weather out the winter. Hibernation never seemed like a better idea at this point in the cold winter months that is Northern Alberta. It’s -40 with the windchill today. That is the type of weather that makes your nose hairs stick together when breathe, and your eyelashes freeze shut. *Sigh… Only 3 more months until spring! I used frozen summer blueberries for this recipe, just to make me feel a little better about the long winter.

This recipe asked for grated frozen butter. What a good idea!

Here’s all the grated butter. It looks like little white hairs!

I Used Gold Forest Grain’s Spelt flour for this recipe. It was delicious!

The recipe called for sour cream, but since I didn’t have any, I substituted Greek yogurt instead.

Here’s the dry ingredients.

Here are the liquid ingredients, mixed in!

Tasty dough all ready to go.

Now the tasty dough is all rolled out, ready for its filling!

Sprinkle the blueberries and white chocolate all over the dough.

And roll it up into a sausage roll.

Pinch the ends to make sure that no chocolate or blueberries escape, and cut them up into little triangles.

Place them on a baking sheet, lined with wax paper, and bake at 425 for 20-25 mins, or until golden brown.

And enjoy the blueberry white chocolate goodness!

Jacquie’s Awesome White Chocolate Blueberry Scones (Courtesy of Lick the Bowl Good)

• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, frozen whole
• 1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup thick plain Greek yogurt
• 2 cups whole grain flour, plus additional for work surface
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon table salt

1. Adjust an oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Score and remove half of the wrapper from frozen butter (the wrapper will protect your hands while grating). Grate the unwrapped ends on large holes of box grater. Place grated butter in freezer until needed. Place blueberries and white chocolate chips in freezer until needed.Whisk together milk and sour cream in medium bowl; refrigerate until needed.

3. Whisk the flour, 1/2 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt in medium bowl. Add frozen grated butter to flour mixture and toss with fingers until thoroughly coated. Fold in the chilled milk mixture with a spatula until just combined (do not overmix).

4. Turn the dough and any floury bits onto a well floured work surface. Lightly flour your hands and the dough and knead the dough gently 6-8 times until it just holds together in a ragged ball, adding additional flour as needed to prevent sticking.

5. Transfer dough to floured work surface and roll into a long piece of dough. Sprinkle blueberries and white chocolate chips evenly over surface of dough, then press down so they are slightly embedded in dough. Using bench scraper or thin metal spatula, loosen dough from work surface. Roll up dough, pressing to form tight log, and pinch the seam closed. Lay seam-side down and press log into 12 by 4-inch rectangle. Using sharp, floured knife, cut rectangle crosswise into rectangles. Cut each rectangle diagonally to form triangles.

6. Transfer the scones to parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake until tops and bottoms are golden brown, 18 to 25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through baking. Transfer to wire rack and let cool 10 minutes before serving.