Tourtière with Homemade Ketchup

Tourtière is a Québécois (French Canadian) meat pie traditionally served at Christmas. I'm not actually sure where I ate it but I remember having it regularly as a child. I'm guessing at daycare or else, it was store bought, because we definitely never made it at home. I have been craving tourtière since last year. My sister talked about making it for Christmas but she ended up making an Asian influenced meal instead. You need a crowd to make it since it is a whole pie and it is a colder weather dish; Thanksgiving seemed like the perfect opportunity. When I told my sister of my plans, she stated that I should make homemade ketchup to go along with it. She's a bossy one! The tourtière was quite easy to make and everyone enjoyed it. The ketchup was also easy but I thought rather labour intensive.



Homemade Ketchup - makes 1 cup
From Jamie at Home.
The original recipe requires putting the ketchup through a sieve twice. Once was enough for me - this was the step I thought labour and time intensive. I also skipped the cloves because I didn't have any. Add some if you like. My sister thought it was good because it tasted like... ketchup! So is this worthwhile if it tastes like the store-bought stuff? Well, if you're worried about ingredients (which are really not that bad, the weirdest one being liquid sugar), sure. If I made this again, I would add more chili to make it spicier and more interesting.



* ½ large red onion, peeled and roughly chopped
* ¼ bulb of fennel, trimmed and roughly chopped
* ½ stick of celery, trimmed and roughly chopped
* olive oil
* ½ thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
* 1 clove of garlic, peeled and sliced
* 1 fresh red chili, deseeded and finely chopped
* ½ bunch of fresh basil, leaves picked, stalks chopped
* 1-½ tsp coriander seeds
* salt and pepper, to taste
* 1 lb cherry or plum tomatoes, diced roughly
* ¼ cup red wine vinegar
* 2-½ tbsp brown sugar

Heat up the olive oil in a saucepan.
Place all the vegetables, ginger, garlic, chili, basil stalks and coriander seeds into the pan.
Season with salt and pepper.
Cook gently over low heat for 10-15 min until the vegetables have softened, stirring every so often.
Add the tomatoes and ¾ cups of cold water.
Bring to boil and simmer gently until the sauce reduces by half.
Add basil leaves, then purée sauce in a food processor.
Push the sauce through a sieve with the back of a spoon.
Place sauce into a clean pan and add vinegar and sugar.
Turn on the heat and simmer until it reduces and thickens to consistency of tomato ketchup. At this point, adjust the seasoning to taste.


All of the ingredients that went into the ketchup.


Putting it through a sieve was a pain.

Tourtière - Serves 6-8
As I mentioned above, this was very easy and quick to make. My sister's fiancé D made pie dough from scratch but you could just use store-bought pie dough. I think any mixture of ground meats can be used, but traditionally pork is used. I bought a tray of beef, veal and pork, and added more pork to it. Again, I didn't have cloves but the recipe did call for it.



* oil
* 1 onion, diced very small
* 1 garlic clove
* 200 g ground beef
* 200 g ground veal
* 400 g ground pork
* 1 potato, grated
* ½ tsp ground cinnamon
* ¼ tsp ground nutmeg
* thyme leaves from 5-6 sprigs, or to taste
* salt, to taste
* ground pepper, to taste
* 2 pie doughs, homemade or store-bought
* 1 egg yolk
* 1 tbsp milk

Heat up oil in a large pan.
Cook onions and garlic until softened.
Add all of the ground meat and all of the spices.
Season with salt and pepper.
Break the meat apart until cooked.
When the meat is cooked and any liquid has evaporated, turn off the heat.
Taste and adjust seasoning.

Mix in the grated potato and let the mixture cool.
Place one pie dough into a 9" pie pan.
Add the meat mixture on top, using a fork to even out the surface.
Roll the second pie dough on top and pinch the edges of the crust to seal.
Cut some slits or a hole in the middle, to allow the meat to steam.
Mix the milk and egg yolk together, and brush the top of the pie with it (oops, we forgot this step).
Bake in the oven at 400F for 10 minutes.
Decrease the temperature to 350F and bake for another 20 minutes.
Tada!


Ok, ground meat does not look appealing but it tasted good, I swear!

Everyone really enjoyed this dish. My sister liked it even better than the turkey and had seconds! I can't wait for another occasion to make it again.

For the rest of the Thanksgiving Menu:
* Mushroom Soup
* Turkey Breast Stuffed with Pancetta & Chestnut Stuffing
* Martha Stewart's Cranberry-Orange Sauce
* Roasted Carnival Squash
* Pumpkin Fritters served with ice cream

Crispy Zucchini Flowers stuffed with Ricotta and Mint

Every time I see a recipe for deep fried zucchini flowers I’ve wanted to try my hand at it. What can I say? I just can’t resist deep fried food! Having said that, I really don’t often make deep fried food. Since I had noticed a few zucchini flowers in my garden, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to try this dish while my sister and co. were visiting.

Among the many zucchini flower recipes that are out there, we decided to make Jamie Oliver’s from his cookbook Jamie at Home. It’s quite easy. We also really liked the filling and I want to try in other recipes. In his cookbook, Jamie recommends buying good quality crumbly ricotta cheese (not supermarket, best bought from specialty shop). We ended up buying the ricotta from an Italian lady’s cheese stall at the food market and I really liked her ricotta!



We found we did not need as much batter because I’m assuming my zucchini flowers were smaller than Jamie's. One note is to carefully clean the flowers if you got them from your garden. While washing them, we found a bug trying to get out of the flower (it reminded me of the scene in Alien or in Spaceball, but I digress...). While trying to cut it out, we realized it was a wasp! My sister and I screamed like school girls while her boyfriend took care of removing the wasp.


Wasps in a zucchini flower.

Crispy Zucchini Flowers stuffed with Ricotta and Mint
Adapted from Jamie at Home.

* 100 g good quality crumbly ricotta
* freshly grated parmesan
* grated zest of 1 lemon
* small bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked and finely chopped
* salt and pepper
* ½ cup white wine
* ½ cup flour
* sparkling water (mine was lime flavoured, leftover from making mojitos!)

* 8 zucchini flowers, washed and patted dry
* vegetable oil
* 1 lemon, halved

Mix the ricotta in a bowl with the parmesan, lemon zest and chopped mint.

Season to taste with salt and pepper.
Spoon the ricotta into the corner of a sandwich bag.

Snip ½" off the corner and use this as a piping bag.

Squeeze the filling into each flower, until just full.

Carefully press the flowers back together around the mixture to seal it in.
For the batter, put the flour and wine in a bowl and whisk until thick and smooth.

Add some sparkling water as required.

Dip a zucchini flower into the batter and gently let any excess drip off.

In a pot of hot oil, deep fry the flower until golden and crisp all over.

Remove to a plate or board and sprinkle with a good pinch of salt.

Serve with half a lemon to squeeze over.

Tada!

Stuffing the zucchini's. My sister L did a good job!

I took a lots of pics because I find they're so pretty!

I was assigned to deep frying!

Not as pretty before frying but definitely tasty!

Grilled Vegetable Couscous

It really seems like I'm obsessessed with Jamie Oliver these days. I've cooked from his cookbook Jamie at Home and also gone through Cooking with Jamie. I watched the first episode of his new show Jamie's Ministry of Food last night. I also made one of the first Jamie Oliver recipes I ever made, from The Naked Chef, couscous with grilled vegetables. I was unable to find his recipe online but I remember the ingredients and that's all I need!

I love couscous, and that was even before I went to Morocco. I don't even remember the first time I ate it. It takes minutes to make and it's so versatile. On a three day tour in the Atlas mountain range in Morocco, we ate couscous and tagine at every meal. While other tourists (mainly Belgian) complained about the repetitiveness, my friend MC and I enjoyed every bite of it!

This recipe is perfect for summer because it's loaded with vegetables and it's very light. It would be a perfect accompaniment to BBQ meat!

Grilled Vegetable Couscous - Serves 2
Adapted from Jamie Oliver's The Naked Chef.

This is really just a guideline as you can add whatever you prefer.

* ½ cup couscous

* 1 green onion, chopped thinly

* ½ cup + a few tablespoons of vegetable or chicken broth

* 1 roasted red pepper, chopped small

* 1 small zucchini, grilled and chopped small

* ½ a bunch of aspargus, grilled and chopped

* a handful of olives, chopped

* feta cheese

* herbs of your choice, chopped small

* juice of 1 lemon

* extra virgin olive oil

* salt and pepper, to taste

For the couscous, place the couscous and green onion in a bowl.

Bring the broth of your choice to a boil.

Slowly add a portion of the hot broth to the couscous and fluff with a fork.

Add some more as required, a bit at a time. Covering the couscous also helps allow the heat to remain and the couscous to absorb the broth.

Couscous: before and after.

Add the roasted red peppers, grilled zucchini and asparagus, olives, feta and herbs, to the couscous and mix in.
Mix the lemon juice, olive oil and oregano, with salt and pepper. Adjust seasoning to taste.
Dress the couscous with the lemon dressing.
Tada!

Jamie Oliver stopped at the vegetables!


I "Greeked" it up with some olives, feta and oregano!

Asparagus alla Carbonara

Jamie Oliver has a few TV shows and I enjoy all of them. One of my favourites is Jamie at Home because he combines gardening and cooking. Each episode focuses on one ingredient, usually from his garden (he also sometimes hunt). His garden is to die for and I am terribly envious of his gardner Brian!



I sometimes would furiously scribble down a recipe that I thought I might want to make in the future. One of these was his Zucchini alla Carbonara. I only recently found out that this was unnecessary since he has a Jamie at Home cookbook that I borrowed at the library. All the recipes from the show are included, including his gardening tips. The book is divided by seasons and then broken down by ingredient like the episode format of the TV show. Each recipe, and even the gardening page, is accompanied by beautiful pictures!

Asparagus alla Carbonara - 1 serving
From the Jamie at Home cookbook. I followed Jamie's suggestion and replaced the zucchini with asparagus since it is in season in Ontario. I really like how he recommends cutting the vegetables in the size and shape of the penne. I only had half-and-half (10% cream) that I was trying to finish so I decided to use it instead of full cream; the sauce ended up being runny. I recommend sticking with real cream.

* salt and pepper
* ½ bunch of asparagus, sliced on the diagonal to look like penne (and sliced lengthwise if very thick)
* a handful of penne
* 1 egg yolk
* 2 tbsp heavy cream
* Parmesan cheese, grated
* olive oil
* 2 slices of bacon
* fresh thyme, leaves picked and chopped

Cook asparagus for a minute in boiling salted water.
Remove and drain asparagus, leaving the water in the pot.
Add penne to boiling water and cook.
To make creamy carbonara sauce, put egg yolks into bowl, add cream and half parmesan, and mix together with a fork.
Season lightly and set aside.
Fry bacon in a frying pan until dark brown and crisp.
Add asparagus slices and ground black pepper, not just to season but to give it a kick.
Sprinkle with thyme leaves, give everything a stir, so asparagus become coated and fry until they start to turn lightly golden and have softened slightly.
When pasta is cooked, drain it, reserving a little of the cooking water.
Immediately, toss the pasta in the pan with asparagus, bacon and lovely flavours, then remove from the heat and add a bit of the reserved cooking water and your creamy sauce.
Stir together quickly (no more cooking now, otherwise you’ll scramble the eggs).
While you’re tossing the pasta and sauce, sprinkle in the rest of Parmesan and a little more cooking water if needed, to give a silky and shiny sauce.
Adjust seasoning to taste.
Tada!


Cooking the asparagus and bacon.

Dig into a perfect spring dish!

Chickpea and Leek Soup

I really enjoy eating soups. Did I mention I am a total SOUP person?? As the weather gets cooler and cooler, I have a collection of soups that I rotate through. Luckily, I find them all delicious and most of the time they can be healthy at the same time.



This Chickpea and Leek Soup recipe is from Jamie Oliver - I think from one of his first shows. I have made it for a number of years. The chickpeas add the protein component and leeks make everything taste good. While I did use broth that I had in the freezer, I know my mom just adds water when she makes leek soup because leeks are so flavourful.

Mighty leeks.

Sliced leeks. Leeks have to be carefully washed because there is always a lot of dirt!

Leek, potato and chick pea mixture.

This soup is surprisingly sweet. The recipe suggests processing half the soup. This makes the soup creamy, without the cream. I like the chunks of chickpeas and potatoes, and the slices of leeks. Yum! I'm ready for winter (not really... I'm never ready for winter).

Some ground pepper and we're good to go.

What did I eat my soup with? Another pita pizza!