Deep fried risotto. Need I say anything more to sell this dish? I can’t think of any better combination than the creamy texture of risotto bursting out of it’s crispy deep fried shell. It’s also the perfect way to use up leftover risotto, and can even be made partially in advance and stored in the freezer until it’s time to fire up the fryer!
This version of arancini, supplied by Chef Taryn Wa from Savoury Chef Food last year at a Vancouver Olympics event at the Northern House uses Japanese panko for breading and provolone cheese with sundried tomatoes as filling. It’s so delicious and there’s almost no way you can make this dish not tasty! We even put in fillings of pancetta, mushroom, red peppers into our arancini balls.
Summary
Preparation Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 60 min , including 15 mins cooling time.
Total Time: 70 min
Servings: 20 balls
Meal type: Appetizer
Cost: $17
Ingredients
120 garborio rice, $4 for a 750g bag. ~$0.65
20 gwhite onion, diced fine, $1
2 ggarlic, fresh whole peeled, $0.50
4 sprigs of thyme, fresh, $2
12 mlolive oil extra virgin
20 ggrana padano cheese, $3
20 mldry white wine, $4 for a 200 ml bottle
2 lwater, boiling
100 gprovolone cheese, $5.49 for 250 g package. ~$2.50
40 gsun dried tomatoes, $0.90 from antipasto bar
0.5 gsea salt
0.5 gpepper
2eggs
100 gflour
100 gpanko bread, $2.50
Instructions
Make the risotto 1.Heat water in pot 2.In a separate pot, sweat thyme, onion and garlic in olive oil until transluscent 3.Add rice and sautee for 2 minutes 4.Add wine and cook until wine has evaporated 5.Add 125 ml water and cook until evaporated 6.Repeat until rice is fully cooked (just slightly past al dente) 7.Add Grana Padano and stir until combined 8.Cool rice in a thin layer on a baking tray Tip:Make some extra risotto and have some dinner while you wait for the rest to cool
Assembling 9.Once rice is cool, take 20 g rice, roll into a ball and fill with 1 piece each of provolone and sundried tomato Tip:While the natural instinct is to just pick some risotto up and start rolling it around in your hands, we found that we just ended up with risotto stuck to our hands. It was a lot easier to assemble the risotto balls using a spoon (or a small ice cream scoop) than rolling it around in our hands. Also, get creative and try different fillings such as roasted tomatoes or prosciutto
Breading 10.Beat eggs with salt and pepper in a shallow dish 11.Put flour and panko in shallow dishes
Breading method 12.Dip arancini into the following:
Flour
Egg
Flour
Egg
Panko
Frying 13.Fry at 375 degrees F until golden brown.
We used an infrared temperature gun to get to the right temperature. We found that right after putting in the arancini balls, it brought down the temperature significantly so we had to keep playing with the stove settings to keep the oil at that temperature. Use a high temperature oil to fry the arancini, such as canola oil, soy oil, or sunflower oil. If you don’t have a deep-fryer, just put some oil in a pot – just be careful not to let the temperature get too hot or it will smoke and eventually combust. Do not use olive oil, this is not a high temperature oil.
Results
Like I said, I don’t think there’s a way you can go wrong while making this dish. The risotto takes some patience as it takes a good 20-30 minutes of active cooking time, but almost anything you throw in the risotto or stuff in the arancini tastes so yummy.
During the Olympics, Bosco Sports, the official Russian Olympic apparel company, rebranded the Joey Restaurant on Burrard and Robson as the Russian Bar.
I only found out because we were looking for drinks after watching Hey Rosetta and The Stars perform. I was rather impressed how beautiful the transformation into Russian branding was.
I was also impressed at the prices! All the double drinks were only $6. We were so used to $10 drinks at other restaurants and pavilions, $6 was such a steal! Joey didn’t want to abandon local patrons with auto gratuity or increased prices and I commend them for that.
Bosco Sports arranged for Russian chefs and bartenders to work along with Joey employees. We sat down with Sous Chef Timothy Teljuco to talk about his experience. When the Russian chef first came – he spoke no english and the Menu as well as the recipes were all in Russian. In the cooking world though, language barriers quickly go away and substituted with pointing at different ingredients and dishes, watching how things are done, tasting and smelling. As Chef Timothy Teljuco and Chef Chris Kaiser put it, Cooking is a universal language. After a few days, the kitchen was working in unison where Chef Teljuco’s team could coordinate the timing of their dishes and the Russian dishes. By the end both teams picked up a few words in each language and Joey could make all the Russian dishes for their wrapup party.
Russian cuisine is influenced by its harsh climates and rural populations of peasants. Basic Ingredients such as potatoes and beets are popular. In the 18-19th century, there was a large French influence on Russia and vice versa. Before the Russian influence, French food would be served family style – all dishes brought out to the center of the table and shared. The term Service à la Russe means that courses are brought out sequentially which is how most restaurants serve food today. The French influence can be seen in the Russian pancakes (similar to crepes) and many desserts. Since Russia borders China, there’s no surprise that there are Asian influences in the cooking as well.
The Piroshky seemed exactly like Chinese buns with meat.
The menu at Joey consisted of a reduced selection of favourites from Joey and Russian items
such as Perogies (dumplings), Borscht (Beets soup), Piroshky,
Herring Salad and Russian Salad.
The Herring Salad (main picture) is an interesting combination of Beets, Carrots, Herring, Potatoes, Green onion with a Mayonnaise sauce. I’ve never had anything like it before – the strong flavours and textures made it something different and memorable.
The desserts included Pancakes, Dumplings stuffed with cherries, Tiramisu and assorted tartlets.
You can really see the French influences in these desserts.
All of the food represented hearty staples and favourites of Russia. As for the Joey menu, not surprisingly the Russian clientel favoured all Meat and Potato dishes. For the choice of drinks, Vodka was not the number one seller but Whiskey was.
We got some recipes and will attempt to make Borscht. We’ll write about our experience soon!
Thanks Chef Timothy Teljuco and Chef Chris Kaiser for showing us the Bosco Bar before it was converted back into Joey.
The Ontario Pavilion during the Vancouver 2010 Olympics was my favourite venue to go to, it was 5 min walk away from my apartment and I felt at home there. I stopped by a total of 6 times (for both Opening and Closing Ceremonies). I was there for the Canada vs Russia hockey game but unfortunately couldn’t get past the lineup during the Canada vs Slovakia or the Canada vs USA game.
There was cool 4-D tourism show – you wear the 3D dorky glasses and the fourth dimension is the rumbling under your seat or sprays of water in your face.
I tried out InteraXon thought control experiment. The concept is that you sit in a chair and put this device on your head with sensors by your forehead. Based on whether you’re very focused or relax, your brain sends a different amount of alpha and beta waves. Their device reads this information and changes the light and rotation of the CN Tower (LIVE!) or the spotlights on Niagara Falls or the intensity of the lights in the Parliament Building in Ottawa.
I can see a future application such as Wii Mediation or Wii Yoga. The concept is pretty cool, but it takes getting used to. With some practice I could get down into the “relaxed” area but try as I might, I could never force my brain into the “focused” region.
But I digress, lets talk about Food. The food and drinks at the Ontario house was delicious. It was catered by Opus Hotel with never more than 1-2 minute delay before receiving your order. Drinks were $6: I enjoyed the wines – Wayne Gretzky and Dan Akroyd Vineyards were on the list. The beers from Mill Street were also so good. As for food, there was nothing I could go wrong with for $5. The burger slider, mac n cheese, fries, duck spring rolls, cheese plate, meat plate – you name it, it was solidly delicious.
One of my most memorable times during the Olympics at the Ontario house was when Jamie Kennedy did a demonstration of his Pork Belly and Apple Compote. He talked for a full hour about the Toronto food scene since the 1970s, all his initiatives in bringing local farmers and produce to people, his experience in farming and making wine, and the emerging culinary scene in Ontario.
Jamie Kennedy graduated from George Brown in 1977 and cooked in Europe for a few years. He became good friends with Michael Stadtlander and they both ended up back in Toronto at Scaramouche in 1980. Jamie Kennedy passionately advocated the use of local and fresh ingredients early on and now, 30 years later, it’s become mainstream and expected of good restaurants to use fresh and local produce. In 1989, Jamie Kennedy and Michael Stadtlander started Knives and Forks – a non-profit organization that promotes the environmental and human benefits of organic agriculture for people in Toronto. Its purpose is to unite chefs and organic local producers. They have an event called the Ontario Feast of Fields every September, which brings farmers and consumers and chefs together. Ever since 1994, British Columbia also adapted the Feast of Fields through Vancouver’s FarmFolk/CityFolk Society.
When I think of a Canadian Celebrity Chef whose name is recognized by every foodie that I know, I think of Jamie Kennedy. From his JK ROM (in the Museum) to Jamie Kennedy Kitchen to Jamie Kennedy Wine Bar and now Gilead Cafe – he definitely has shaped the culture of food selection and food making in Toronto. In his presentation he talked about his experiences on the farm, his failed attempts at making good wine, working with wine makers to make drinks that pair well with food, his famous poutine, and more food anecdotes. I couldn’t help but miss Toronto. It’s really exciting to hear from the man that shaped the food I ate while growing up and the culture I’m experiencing today.
I approached him for a chat after his demonstration and was impressed when he said: “My hope is that everyone learns how to cook. Once people see how easy it is to make delicious food at home, they will realize that there’s no need to buy processed food or fast food. They will demand fresh produce and basic ingredients and local sources of food. This will drive organic and local prices down. Also it will drive processed and fast food prices up and out”.
I whole-heartedly agreed with him since this is essentially one of the reasons why we started YouCook.ca. When I started my journey of learning how to cook I took Michael Pollan’s advice to avoid all the middle aisles of a grocery store (which contained processed foods/fake food) and just shop on the edges – which typically contain the fresh vegetables and meats. If everyone did this, perhaps more of the grocery store will be filled with fresh produce instead of processed sugar.
It was a pleasure to meet Jamie Kennedy in Vancouver promoting Toronto culture. Definitely another defining moment in my Olympics experience.
The month of February flew by quickly with the setup and now packup of the Olympics in Vancouver. Just a month ago, pavilions were just starting to be built. Everyday on my walk along the seawall there would be something new to see.
Then the Olympics started, bringing along with it people from all over the world, skilled chefs from all over the world, beautiful tourism pavilions, clothing, flags, paraphernalia, pins, music, culture…oh… and the athletes and medals! Can you believe it ?? Canadians broke the record for the number of gold medals in the Winter Olympics – all 14 of them!
As the days inched closer, I was excited to get a mini culinary tour of Europe, all in a 10km radius of Vancouver. Then hospitality started popping up and ready for visits from the media a few days before the Olympics. I enjoyed the conversations about food, food preparation, dining traditions and culture in Switzerland, Germany, Holland, Italy, France and Russia. I loved learning about the special care and attention to air cured meats, sausage seasonings, cheese and potatoes. Alright, I’ll admit that the free food samplings were delicious perks.
What I did not expect was how much I enjoyed the journey through all the Provincial houses of Canada. The Ontario House, Northern House (representing Northwest Territories, Yukon, Nunavut), Quebec House, Alberta House, Atlantic Canada House, Saskatchewan, BC Street, Vancouver Island and Sunshine Coast all put on an amazing tourism experience, and more specifically a delicious culinary experience.
Canada’s Culinary Culture
I’ve come to a realization that Canada’s Culinary scene is World Class. Between the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean, we have the freshest selection of seafood possible. Our prairies produce a large quantity of grains, vegetables, fruits as well as a diverse selection of livestock and wildlife. Our metropolitan cities cater to people’s tastes from all over the world. Our chefs have gone around the globe and learned from the best chefs in the world in all different cuisines and styles of cooking. We’re exposed to so many styles of cooking since everyone’s background is so diverse. I’m actually so excited about the next few years in the Canadian Culinary scene as we evolve and show the world what Canadian Cuisine really is. Susur Lee mentioned this in an interview with YouCook a few months ago and I suppose I’m realizing it now – We have the best and freshest ingredients in Canada. Our people know what good quality is and restaurants and chefs are always pushing the bar to make even more creative dishes with the fresh ingredients.
Maybe I’m just high on Canada right now as I write this
…but it does bring a smile to my face and optimism that somehow YouCook.ca can play a role to facilitate this promotion of the Canadian Culinary Culture.
Stephan Brunt captures it pretty well in this video essay:
Between winning the most gold medals in the Winter Olympics, and seeing Canadian flags, gear, gloves, face paint everywhere I go, and people sharing stickers, pins, drinks – I am feeling very proud of my country right now.
I like how we can show our patriotism but are mindful that we’re not the centre of the world and the Olympics has really shown that. Several of the international houses and chefs mentioned record number of people visiting, sales and consumption of the food. Most of the international houses were set up mainly to host the athletes and people from that country plus expatriates. Nobody really expected the demand from local Canadians to line up for 1-4 hours to get into the Heineken House or the Switzerland House or the Saxony House. Canadians want to try cuisine from all over the world, we love learning from other cultures and everyone around us, we love trying new things, and we love traveling. This is a really cool attitude and it hasn’t gone unnoticed by the world!
Manuel Salchli, Director of the House of Switzerland Canada 2010 said “There was a strong comradery between Canadian and Swiss fans. Nations joining together to celebrate sport and humanity is what the Olympic Games represents and it has been exemplified at the House of Switzerland Canada 2010 in Vancouver and Whistler.”
Hospitality House Numbers
Switzerland House reported:
Over 60,000 guests
“The Swiss also learned that Canadians are food lovers, with a record amount of fondue, raclette, and Lindt chocolate being consumed at the House of Switzerland Canada 2010.”
4 tonnes of Cheese from Switzerland consumed Had to order another shipment of cheese half-way through the Games
2 tonnes of Lindt chocolate
Saxony House reported:
75% more people than expected (34,000 total)
11,000 sausages, 1000 steaks, 130kg of Venison
320 kegs of Wernesgrüner Beer
The flip side to all local Canadians wanting to see each of the houses and taste all the food, is that the hospitality houses could barely keep up with all the demand promptly.
The biggest complaint echoed throughout Vancouver online and offline were the Line Ups. The Atlantic House had multiple lineups and many people were in the wrong line up or lined up for hours to be told that there were no more tastings. The Heineken House would prioritize Dutch guests first before letting in any Canadians. The Quebec House ran out of Poutine within 30 minutes.
Locals and tourists alike probably spent the majority of their time in lineups during the Olympics. There were 1 hour – 5 hour lineups for tastings, tourism, free samples, concerts, clubs, restaurants, bars, skytrains, buses. For the Gold Medal Hockey game, people had to show up to the Pavilions or Bars at 8am for the game at noon.
There’s always the good and the bad. We are after all Canadian and pretty patient, as long as the free stuff or food at the end of the line is worth it. World, take note, the next time you have an event in Canada and offer food or free stuff, expect to accommodate all of us!
YouCook.ca by the numbers:
So YouCook did our best to write about our experiences with the food, the chefs and the host province or country involved in the hospitality. Here’s some statistics of our experience in February in Vancouver.
Pavilions and Hospitality Houses visited:
23
Chefs Interviewed:
20
Pins Received:
32
Olympic Events Attended:
3
Number of Days of Fireworks Watching:
5
Number of Concerts Seen:
9
Number of Consecutive Days with at least 1 drink:
22
Number of Pictures Taken by Thu:
3147
YouCook.ca Staff during the Olympics:
10
YouCook.ca Thank You
Many thanks to everyone who did helped me with Photography, Videography, Cooking, Proofreading, and Support in making the YouCook.ca idea viral around the world in 2010.
Special thanks to:
Melody Lei, Catherine Lam, Elaine Yip – YouCook Toronto
Kevin Chew – YouCook Vancouver
Irene Wijoyo – YouCook Victoria,
Glen Yi – Korea,
David Montgomery – Seattle,
Josefine Westberg – Sweden,
Tomoko Takami – Japan
Thanks to all the friendly people I met – all the chefs and organizers and media that I got to know. To Stephan Colbert for making us wake up early to watch the live tapings of your show! And for everyone in the City of Vancouver for making our olympic experience priceless!
This wonderfully decadent recipe comes from the National Chocolate Contest held at the House of Switzerland during the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics. One of the top three mentions was Julie Blanchard St-Jacques’ recipe for “L’Ephemeres Chocolate aux Poires”. It is essentially a chocolate macaron with a rich dark chocolate ganache and roasted pear filling.
Despite sounding quite intimidating, this recipe is actually quite simple to make and the results are amazing! I have included a number of extra steps and comments throughout as the original recipe was intended for a chef’s use.
Bon appetit!!
Summary
For the Chocolate Macaron Shells:
Preparation Time: 45 min
Wait Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 20 min
For the Dark Chocolate Ganache:
Preparation Time: 5 min
Wait Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 5 min
For the Roasted Pear Filling:
Preparation Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 10 min
Servings: 15 macarons Meal type: Dessert
Recipe Rating:
Ingredients for Chocolate Macaron Shells
100 g Egg Whites
40 g Granulated Sugar
120g Almond Flour
200 g Icing Sugar
20g Cocoa Powder, 90% Lindt Since I did not have Lindt Cocoa Powder, I used Fry’s cocoa powder, which is always available in your local grocery store.
Ingredients for Dark Chocolate Ganache
200g Dark Couverture Chocolate or 70% Lindt Dark Chocolate I used Dark Couverture Chocolate (Lindt) for my ganache
100g Whipping Cream (35%)
3-4 drops of Vanilla Extract Approximately 1 tbsp
60 g Unsalted Butter It is easiest when your butter is at room temperature
Ingredients for Roasted Pear Filling
200g Pears (peeled, cored, and cubed) I used an almost ripe Bosc pear for this as I really like how the flavour develops as it ripens. I then cut the pear into very tiny pieces since this will need to be sandwiched between your macaron shells. My pear was originally about 250g, so it worked out perfectly that I only needed to use 1 pear after peeling and coring it.
25g Unsalted Butter
50g Granulated Sugar
1tsp corn starch (optional) Corn starch was not part of the original recipe. However, I found the pear mixture to be quite liquid after cooking it down, so I added some corn starch to allow it to thicken. This resulted in a consistency similar to a chutney, which was perfect for filling the macarons with.
Instructions for Chocolate Macaron Shells
1. With your whisk attachment, beat your egg whites with a little bit of granulated sugar. 2. Add the remaining sugar slowly as your egg whites are beating. Your egg whites should triple in volume. Once it creates stiff peaks (but not too stiff), your egg whites are ready. This process takes about 5-6 minutes. 3. While your egg whites are beating, sift together the almond flour, icing sugar, and cocoa powder in a separate bowl. 4. Once your egg whites have reached the stiff peak stage, add the dry ingredients to the mixture. I like to sift the dry ingredients again at this point.
5. Using a rubber spatula, fold the egg whites and dry ingredients together until it is homogeneous.
6. Since the original recipe was meant for Valentine’s Day, it recommends shaping your macaron shells into heart shapes. I prefer the traditional look of a macaron, so I stuck with the round shape. In order to achieve uniform shells, I drew circles with a pencil on the back side of a sheet of parchment paper cut to the size of my baking sheet. Line your baking sheet with this sheet of parchment paper, pencil side down. 7. Using a large round pastry tip, fill a pastry bag with the macaron batter.
8. Pipe the batter onto the parchment, using your circles as a guide.
9. Allow your macaron circles to rest in the open air for 20 minutes (I left it out for 30 minutes). During this time, you can preheat your oven to 320F.
10. Before baking, place another baking sheet (of the same size) underneath so that it is double lined. 11. Bake for 20 minutes.
12. Once the macarons have cooled, carefully unstick them from the parchment paper.
Instructions for Dark Chocolate Ganache
1. Chop the chocolate and place into a heat safe bowl. 2. In a small saucepan, bring the cream and vanilla to a boil. Stir occasionally, and keep a watchful eye on your cream so that it doesn’t boil over.
3. Pour the boiling cream over the chocolate. Ensure the chocolate is submersed in the cream. Allow to sit for approximately 5 minutes.
4. Mix the melted chocolate and cream together until it becomes homogeneous.
5. Soften the butter and add it to the ganache. Mix until fully combined. The addition of butter adds a sheen to the ganache
6. Place your ganache (still in its bowl) into an ice bath. Once cooled, the ganache will be a nice consistency for spreading onto your macaron shells.
Instructions for Roasted Pear Filling
1. In a small saucepan, brown the butter and sugar on medium heat. The mixture will come together and resembles a roux.
2. Add the pears and cook until transparent.
3. At this point, I added the corn starch and brought the mixture to a boil. You will notice the mixture thickening.
4. Allow pear filling to cool. The cooled mixture looks like a thick chutney or jam.
Instructions for Final Assembly
1. For each macaron, you will require 2 macaron shells. On one half, spread a layer of ganache. I used an offset spatula for this. 2. One the other half, spoon some of the roasted pear filling evenly.
3. Put these two halves together, et voila!
Results
These macarons are classy and something different from your everyday dessert. They are beautiful to look at and absolutely divine when you have a taste! The couverture chocolate makes the entire dessert rich and decadent.
I will definitely be making these again!!
Notes on Chocolate
Although the cost of a higher quality chocolate is usually considerably more than the regular chocolate baking bars found in the grocery store, it makes a HUGE difference in the taste of your final product. Something I have learned over the years is that it is very important to bake with a chocolate that I would enjoy eating out of hand.
Couverture chocolate is defined to contain between 32% and 39% cocoa butter. For this particular recipe, the couverture chocolate produces a thicker, firmer ganache.
I also love making hot chocolate with couverture chocolate. It results in a VERY creamy, smooth, and semi-sweet drink.
A Tribute to Chocolate – In the words of the Chef
As a final note, I would like to include a few words from the Chef and creator of this recipe:
“ J’adore le chocolat tout d’abord pour son goût riche, onctueux et puissant. Non seulement le chocolat à lui seul possède un goût remarquable, mais la majorité des recettes agrémentées de cet ingrédient s’en retrouvent décuplées de saveur. En plus d’être d’une saveur exquise, le chocolat est une matière qui permet la créativité tant ses utilités et ses propriétés sont grandes. Que ce soit en pièces montées ou pour de simples éléments de décor, le chocolat doit se travailler avec patience et délicatesse pour donner des résultats surprenants. À mon avis, c’est la noblesse et la complexité de cet ingrédient qui lui donnent tout son charme”
This could not have been more elegantly put, so I will just leave you with that. I hope you all have a chance to try this and to explore the exotic world of chocolate.
As we approach the end of the Olympics, I wanted to write about my priceless experience on the Alberta Train to Whistler this week. The train is operated by Rocky Mountaineer Vacations and has been the ONLY transit alternative to motor coach buses to Whistler during the Olympics. The train’s purpose is to encourage business networking and promote tourism in Alberta and by far it was a success with all the media coverage I’ve read about and my own experience.
In this post, I’ll focus on the food on the Alberta Train on this post since this might turn out to be 10 pages long if I don’t. If you are interested in my Whistler Activities that day, stay tuned for another post. The short version of the day is: had amazing Photos Opportunities along the coast, attended the Biathlon Relay event, ate and soaked in the sights in the Whistler Village, received free iPod Touch with images and videos from Alberta, made awesome new friends, and met Maelle Ricker.
Breakfast
Bright and early (5:15am pickup, 6am departure from North Vancouver), we were equipped with cowboy hats and fresh juice. We also received the menu of our Breakfast and Dinner. The dining quarters fill up the first floor of the 6 car train while the passenger seats are up on the second floor.
Since there was two of us from YouCook, we could sample two dishes from breakfast: the All Aboard Omelette (mild Italian omelette with Gouda cheese and roasted potatoes)
and the Mountain Pass Pancakes (hot pancakes made with aprikat beer with wild boar bacon and maple syrup.
Breakfast set the tone for an amazing day aboard the Alberta Train. Wild boar bacon has this lean and sweet taste to it unlike regular bacon. I’m going to miss it (or go on a hunt for it in the city).
Afternoon Snacks
At 4:30pm, we made our way to the Golf Club where buses were waiting to take us back to the train, there were more food and drinks! Chips, Toffee and Popcorn awaited us.
Back on the train, the Men’s Hockey Canada – Germany game was being streamed from a laptop to a few TVs! We were able to watch the entire game with a few delicious Whiskeys from the open bar and Japanese rice snacks.
Dinner
Most passengers retired to their seats to enjoy the train ride home and dinner. A group of us took over the entire dining room closest to the Kitchen to get first dibs on food (and left overs as the servers returned to the kitchen!)
Braised Elk on a Ciabatta Bun – Slow braised elk on a Portuguese bun with horseradish chives creme fraiche
Skewered Beef – AAA Alberta beef striploin satay lightly marinated in aprikat beer and finished with old fashioned mustard
Grilled Goat Cheese Sandwich – Mini grilled goat cheese sandwiches with onion compote on a crispy golden focaccia
Cured Pork Loin on Polenta with Onion Jam – Roasted pork tenderloin with Gouda cheese, Polenta Crouton and Onion Compote
Mini Lamb Burgers with Mint Aioli – Lamb burger, Portuguese bun, mint puree mixed in garlic mayonnaise.
Rocky Mountain Mousse Cup – Preserved Saskatoon berries accented with Alberta Rye served over a dark chocolate mousse.
The selection was a hearty representation of Alberta with a good selection of different meats in Alberta. The soup was just as delicious as I had it the day before so that wasn’t a surprise. The surprise for me was Grilled Cheese sandwiches using Goat Cheese. It was delicious and will be part of my snacking repertoire. My only complaint was that each dish came with some kind of bread/carbs which was more filling than tasty on an already full stomach.
The kitchen was very accommodating to dietary concerns when a passenger listed out all her allergies: gluten, corn, wheat, lactose – and the list goes on. She had a delicious protein filled meal:
I was also quite impressed with the Rocky Mountain Mousse dessert.
I assumed that the desserts were premade and just served on the train, but I was wrong. Everything, including the desserts are made on the train’s fully stocked 6 kitchens.
Rocky Mountaineer Kitchen
Ah, the kitchen. I asked Steve Buzak, Executive Chef and Christos Chaldeos, Sous Chef of the Rocky Moutaineer for a tour after dinner service when the kitchen was all clean and polished! Each kitchen can handle the full food service of 70 guests. I have not visited a moving kitchen that pushes out gourmet food and was delighted to take a tour!
The kitchen is very spacious, with plenty of room for prep, cooking, cleaning and storage. To be honest, it looks bigger and better than some restaurant kitchens we’ve visited. The stoves are not gas but still heat up quickly. There is also a Hobart Combi Oven inside the kitchen.
They cook with pots half full to prevent splashing and spilling. Every door to every piece of equipment or storage has a latch on it. Actually there are no windows in the kitchen, so when the train turns corners, it often comes as a surprise so they have to be careful.
Each train car only has 2 chefs executing the menu with the Sous Chef and Executive Chef moving from car to car. Each chef of the car takes ownership of all the food coming out of the kitchen. Sometimes because of bumps and turns, dishes do get destroyed when they hit the floor. However, they do their best and try to recover as quick as possible.
Rocky Mountaineer does an apprenticeship program with VCC so I met some chefs there in training. The atmosphere of the kitchen, as well as the entire train is relaxed and full of camaraderie, after a long but successful day. Yes, the day started at 6am and ended at 9pm. They do a rotating 1 day on, 1 day off during the Olympics. During other Rocky Mountaineer trips to Alberta, they are working for 4 days. I found it interesting that although the Rocky Mountaineer is fully stocked with all amenities imaginable, there are no sleeping quarters on the this train. They always stop over at hotels overnight.
Long story short, this was an amazing culinary and Olympics experience that Alberta put on for locals and visitors alike to appreciate how beautiful Whistler is. I love Alberta and the Rocky Mountaineer hospitality and will be sure to sport my new cowboy hat at the Calgary Stampede this summer!
Nearing the end of my day in Whistler, we stumbled upon the Lake Placid Friendship Centre boblsed.
Everyone was so friendly there – we event met John Napier’s mom (US Bobsled team). Everyone there was raving about the healthy fresh and locally sourced food at Lift Coffee Company, their host for the Olympics. So I had to go in and introduce myself to the chef, Jamie MacAulay.
Jamie and everyone at Lift were very friendly and immediately brought out a Proscuitto and Goat Cheese with Fig and Onion Jam with a side of their house salad and special Miso Vinaigrette dressing. The goat cheese is from Kelowna and they try to source as much as they can from local suppliers of produce. YouCook has been posting a lot of calorie rich recipes lately so I welcome a change and love that Jamie has graciously given us a recipe for the Miso Vinaigrette dressing which is ever so popular at Lift.
Summary
Preparation Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 5 min
Servings: 500mL
Meal type: Dressing
Recipe Rating:
Ingredients
2 Tbsp light Miso
2 tsp Dijon Mustard
1 Tbsp Water
1.5 Tbsp Rice Vinegar
1/8 cup Grapeseed oil
1 tsp Minced Ginger
1 tsp Soy sauce
1 Tbsp Honey
1/8 cup Sesame Oil
1 tsp Siracha Hot Sauce
1 whole lemon juice
Instructions
1. Combine all ingredients except grapeseed oil into a blender. 2. Blend on high, slowly adding grapeseed oil.
Results
The dressing combines a lot of flavourful Asian ingredients makes for a delicious salad dressing. I really enjoyed it at Lift and will be making this to use for my lunches in the weeks to come.
Thank you Chef Jamie MacAulay. I can’t wait to try what else comes out of the kitchen at Lift!
“Basically what I love about chocolate is that it brings people together and is an immediate morale booster, whether it is a cup of hot chocolate on a cold night, or a pack of Lindt shared amongst friends. I love cooking with chocolate and I believe it is a versatile product whether in desserts or even in savory dishes.” That’s why Timothy Nathan Tejuco, the winner of the House of Switzerland Canada 2010 – National Chocolate Contest, loves chocolate. I love chocolate too so I was really eager to try Timothy’s award-winning recipe. It actually looked quite simple compared to the 2nd and 3rd place finishers in the contest – the simpler, the better!
However, I found his instructions deceptively simple – it assumes that you have knowledge on how to make “sabayons” and “ganaches” – which is understandable if you’re a chocolatier or baker, but not to me! I’ve modified the recipe in terms of portion size (his original one made A LOT and would’ve cost me about $40 in chocolate), and also have some comments on proportions. Unless Timothy has some secret trick to holding together rice krispies and crushed pecans with a tiny bit of chocolate, I really don’t see how his amount of chocolate for the base would work, so I’ve doubled the amount of chocolate in the base. I even tried both methods – his original proportions, and then with my doubling of the chocolate. His original proportions just didn’t hold the base together and ended up half the base flaking off. I’ve posted the original recipe in case you want to see his original.
This was a great learning experience for me, so I’ve shared my many tips (as a result of my mistakes) so I hope you find this educational and also have a great dessert in your arsenal of recipes! It turned out delicious, despite my trial and error!
Summary
Preparation Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 20 min
Servings: 30 servings (depends on how big you slice these bars)
Meal type: Dessert
Grocery Cost: $19.39 (~$0.65 per serving)
Recipe Rating:
Ingredients
For the base:
170g Pureed Toasted Pecans ~ $1.99
100g Lindt Excellence Extra Creamy Milk Chocolate ~ $1.76
100g Lindt White Chocolate ~ $1.76
126g Crushed Rice Crispies ~ $1.77
For the top:
80g Cream ~ $2.69
210g Lindt Excellence 70% Cacao Dark Chocolate ~ $6.98
80g Egg Yolks (about 3 large eggs) ~ $0.62
60g Icing Sugar ~ $0.10
50g Soft Butter ~ $1.71
10g Water
Instructions
For the base: 1. Melt the chocolate, stir in the pecans and the rice crispies. Note: If you can’t find crushed toasted pecans, you can buy whole pecans and roast and crush them yourself, which is what I did. This added a good 15 minutes to my prep time. To toast, I laid out my pecans in a single layer, brushed them with oil, and baked them in the oven at 350F for 4.5 minutes on both sides. Season with salt. See the following link for the method I used.
To crush them, place the roasted pecans in a ziplock bag and close it tightly. Use a rolling pin to roll over the pecans to crush them. If you don’t have a rolling pin, like me, you can use any round glass bottle (i.e.soy sauce bottle).
To melt the chocolate, use a double boiler. You can make-shift a double boiler like I did using a metal bowl over the top of a pot of boiling water.
2. Place this on the base of a non-stick sheet pan. Chill in fridge for 1 hour.
For the top (ganache): 3. Whisk the egg yolk and sugar in a double boiler over very low heat to create a sabayon. Note: A sabayon is a dessert sauce usually made with whipping eggs with sugar and alcohol. In this case, we are only using egg yolk and icing sugar. See the following link on more details on the technique of how to make a sabayon.
4. Melt the chocolate and combine with cream to form a ganache. Note:This was the hardest part of the recipe. A ganache is pretty complex – pay careful attention to the temperature of the ganache and how hard you’re beating it (don’t overbeat!). See my notes in the “Quick Notes” section below on more detailed steps on how to make a ganache and how to avoid my mistakes and how I fixed them.
5. Slowly add butter and water to the mixture until fully incorporated. 6. Place the mixture on top of the base and spread evenly. 7. Chill in fridge for about 4 hours. 8. Slice into 1 inch, by 2 cm bars and serve just under room temperature! Enjoy!
Quick Notes
My first attempt at ganache was an absolute mess. Every mistake you can make – I made it! My ganache turned grainy and it separated. Luckily, the fix for both is to add a teaspoon of cold cream and stir. This helped a bit but it was still grainy and a bit oily. In the end, I just gave up and scraping off the oil and spread my grainy ganache over the base. It actually turned out well, and no one seemed to notice my grainy, separated ganache. Imagine how much BETTER it would’ve tasted if I had made it properly! I will definitely try this recipe again to perfect my ganache.
I recommend reading up on ganache techniques before attempting to make this. Making a ganache is VERY precise because it is an emulsion. Emulsifying is the process of mixing 2 ingredients that typically do not combine (i.e. a liquid and a fat) into a stable homogenous mixture. The ingredients are forced together and held in suspension through the manual or mechanical action of beating, whisking, or mixing. In a chocolate emulsion, the cocoa butter is the fat and the cream is the liquid. Thus, they are very prone to separation. The 2 most common mistakes are: (a) the improper ratio of cocoa butter to cream or too much sugar; and (b) incorrect temperature. The temperature should be, at all times during the process, above 35C, ideally between 35C to 40C. Another suggestion I read is to use an immersion blender instead of mixing. Check out Elaine’s post on L’Ephemeres Chocolate aux Poires for her tips and simple method on making ganache.
As I bake more, I find a lot of recipes use weight. I do have a scale, but it’s not very accurate. If you plan on baking a lot, I would recommend investing in a good scale – it makes for much more consistent results. I had to estimate a lot, especially with the lighter ingredients, so that may have contributed to me having to adjust the proportions as I went along, or my mess with the ganache!
Variations
The recipe calls for Lindt chocolate because it was for a Lindt chocolate recipe. I found the cost of this recipe to be quite a lot, so to save on costs, you can use baking chocolate instead. Just remember to keep it to the same mix of dark, milk and white chocolate.
Results
Despite my many mistakes with the ganache, the Crispy Pecan Chocolate Bars turned out really well! I really love the mix of roasted pecans with the rice krispies. I brought these bars to work and they were a hit, with many coming back for seconds. I think that is a true sign of what’s good. I will definitely add this to my arsenal of desserts, and it is great for taking to a party. Enjoy and thanks to Timothy Nathan Tejuco and the House of Switzerland for providing this recipe!
After enjoying the Smoked Salmon Spheres at the Atlantic House, YouCook made it at home. This finger food will surely impress at any gathering and is relatively simple to make. We learned how to caramelize apples and how much sugar to put in. The apple cream cheese will also go well on bagels and crackers.
Summary
Preparation Time: 15 + 15 mins. (15 mins for cutting apples and then 15 mins for wrapping salmon balls)
Cook Time: 10 mins.
Servings: 20 balls
Meal type: Appetizer
Grocery Cost: $30.20 ($1.51 per ball)
Recipe Rating:
Ingredients
5 apples, preferably crisp tart cooking apples like granny smith or crispin, peeled and cut to a 1/4″ dice ($4.00)
1 cup (250g) cream cheese ($3.20)
1 cup sugar ($2.00)
1 tbsp shallots, finely diced ($1.00)
1 tsp ginger, finely diced ($0.50)
1 tsp garlic, finely diced ($0.50)
3 tbsp butter ($3.00)
2 packs (300g) smoked salmon ($16.00)
Five spice to taste
Procedure to Caramelize Apples
1. Peel and cut apples to a 1/4″ dice
The best way I found to chop the apples quickly was to cut slices off one side, then the opposite side, then the other two sides until you’re left with just the core in the middle. Cut the slices into strips (like french fries) and then dice up the strips until you get this: 2. Heat butter on medium heat. When butter turns light brown, add in apples. Cook until tender crisp, approx 5-6 mins. 3. Add sugar to apples. Here is my tender crisp apples with a bit of sugar sprinkled on top:
I actually only used about 3 tbsp of sugar but if you like sweet stuff, you’ll get better caramelization if you use the whole cup. 4. Cook for another few minutes until apples and sugar start to turn brown and caramelize. 5. Remove from heat and set aside and allow to cool.
Procedure for Assembly
1. Finely dice shallots, ginger, and garlic. 2. Mix together cream cheese, apples, shallots, ginger, garlic, and add five spice to taste. 3. Lay salmon flat on plastic wrap. 4. Spoon cream cheese mixture onto salmon and use plastic wrap to form a ball. Tips:
For a colourful contrast, add some green stuff for garnish, like pea shoots or something else mild tasting.
I ended up with a lot of extra filling left, possible because the apples I used were huge. I think this recipe would work just as well with three large or four medium sized apples instead. The leftover cream cheese mixture tastes great on toasted bagels too, so it wasn’t so bad to have extra for breakfast the next morning.
Results
Variations
The apples taste great with the smoked salmon no matter how you do them – caramelized, lightly cooked, raw (although be careful, raw apples will brown if left exposed to air, and will release water if you let them sit with sugar on them). Cooking the apples less will result in a crispier texture which is interesting and still delicious.
Also, as I mentioned, I didn’t want to use too much sugar so I cut it down to about 3 tbsp. I find it’s entirely a matter of taste, because I got reviews from my guinea pigs…I mean, friends…ranging from too sweet to not sweet enough. The more sugar you use the easier it is to get the apples to caramelize.
I’m rather impressed with how beautifully renovated Alberta turned Atlantic Trap and Gill at the corner of Robson and Beatty Street into their home for two weeks.
YouCook was invited to a media event at Alberta House to taste the creations of Brad Smoliak.
Brad does Food Product Development all over Canada and came up with a very well executed menu to serve 20,000 people at the Alberta house (plus more on the Alberta Train but more on that later). We had four special tastings which were dishes created by Brad incorporating ingredients from all regions of Alberta.
Along with Brad we met Cindy Ady, the Alberta Minister of Tourism and Jack Hayden, Minister of Agriculture.
Wild Boar Bacon Vodka Caesar
We started the tasting at 10:30am, yes just in time for a Caesar. I didn’t realize this but the Caesar was invented in Calgary, Alberta in 1969 – 41 years ago at Calgary’s Westin Hotel.
As a twist on this classic drink, Brad infused vodka with bacon. Instead of celery, he included a thin strip of Wild Boar Bacon. Wild Boar Bacon has an amazing sweet taste (and if you can believe it, it tasted lighter than regular bacon). The combination of the sweet fatty boar with the caesar was sooooo good. Words don’t do this justice, you’ve got to try this or make it at home.
Prairie Chowder
Happily intoxicated, we moved on to the Prairie Chowder.
All my life, I’ve associate chowder with seafood. To my surprise, this dish was completely vegetarian. Brad is truly an amazing chef and food product developer. He combined ingredients from all the growing regions in Alberta: honey from the North (Peace country), potatoes from the South, three types of mushrooms from the Northeast, prarie barley from the Northwest, cream from the Central, and beans and potatoes from Southern Alberta. It was a delicious blend of flavours making this one of the best vegetarian soups I’ve ever had. I’ve asked for this recipe so stay tuned after YouCook learns how to cook this. I will never make clam chowder again after I get this recipe!
By this point, I could’ve gone home happy to blog about the food experience at the Alberta House. However, two more courses to go!
Cowboy Trail Chili
Brad created this dish to represent the hard working people that work on the ranches along the The Cowboy Trail is a 700km route along Highway 22 between the Rocky Mountains and the Canadian prairies. The first cattle was brought into the province in 1876 and now Alberta is the largest cattle producing province in Canada. Alberta Beef is quite famous and tasty because of it’s high quality feed grain. The chili had both ground beef plus chunks of Alberta beef along with beans, carrots and other vegetables. I’m not sure which herbs and spices were in this chili but the combination was flavourful and a little spicy. The beef chunks were tender and delicious. This definitely wasn’t just a regular chili and again showed me how creative and skilled Brad and his team is.
Homestead Gingerbread Cake
Finally to finish it off, we had a Gingerbread cake with hot caramel sauce and Saskatoon berries. The ingredients for this dish represents the historical Indian House Trade Store in Fort Edmonton where Aboriginals would barter for European goods, which included molasses and spices such as ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon. Alberta has the last sugar beet refinery in Canada which is what molasses is made of. At first instinct, I thought this was a carrot cake. However, it was the cinnamon, nutmeg and molasses that threw me off into that thought. Nope, no carrot in this cake. Again, the combination of flavours, sauce and berries really bring out this dish.
Alberta House was one of the final hospitality houses on my Olympic food coverage and I think I did save the best for last. During the tasting, I was informed that there are a few media seats on the much sought after Alberta Train to Whistler the next morning departing at 6am-9pm. The Rocky Mountaineer train is a luxurious train with 6 full size kitchens. Best of all, Brad Smoliak created the menu for the train as well ! It was sincerely my dream come true and you’ll hear more about it in the next post.
#gFoodie Seems like organic food will likely not ever be as cheap as non-organic. The good news is that it's getting easier to get organic.03:41:44 PM January 14, 2012from TweetDeck
