Tag Archives: Food

Talking eggs with Leanne Cusack of CTV Ottawa

I was pleased to be invited to Ottawa yesterday to talk about eggs and Easter with CTV News at Noon host Leanne Cusack, St-Isidore egg farmer Marcel Laviolette and chef Jason Laurin of Essence Catering. (Video links below!)

Having worked for many years as the Food and Nutrition Specialist for Egg Farmers of Ontario, I’m always happy to talk ‘eggs’ with anyone who will listen!

Eggs with Leanne Cusack at CTV OttawaMe with egg farmer Marcel, host Leanne and chef Jason

Here in Canada, we are fortunate to have a system of supply management in place that ensures our eggs are fresh, local and readily available. Within this system, there are over 1,000 Canadian egg farmers caring for the hens that lay the eggs we enjoy year round, and revere especially at this time of year when eggs are not only eaten, but decorated and celebrated.

Eggs have long been considered a symbol of life, birth and renewal, concepts celebrated especially during spring and Easter (although bunnies and chocolate do their utmost to vie for attention at this time!). People in ancient civilizations used to give gifts of eggs to one another at spring festivals. And according to mythology, it was believed two halves of an egg formed heaven and earth.

Prized for their nutritional quality, culinary versatility and delicious flavour, not to mention all the craft and decorating possibilities they possess, it’s fitting to showcase eggs anytime of the year, and really appropriate to do so this week as Easter approaches!

Here are links to the video segments with Leanne – part 1 and part 2, and to Easter recipe suggestions and egg decorating techniques from Egg Farmers of Canada.

Oh, and a list of the nutritional attributes of eggs, in case after watching part 1, you’re wondering exactly how eggs help our eyes do what they’re supposed to do!!

Food at the Fair likely not fair to your waist line!

Are there any foods that can’t be fried – or eaten on a stick – or combined in wild and whacky ways?

Visitors to the Canadian National Exhibition (CNE), currently on in Toronto until Monday, Sept. 5, will find the answer is no, no and no.

This year the buzz in the Food Building at the CNE is over the latest culinary creation, or what some might dub ‘culinary catastrophe’: Epic Burgers and Waffles Doughnut Cheeseburger.

This entree/dessert combo consists of a hamburger patty topped with cheese, lettuce and tomato, and sandwiched between two Krispy Kreme doughnuts. Adding a fried egg and bacon is optional.

Tipping the scales at 1,500 calories (minus the egg and bacon), it isn’t for the faint of heart. And probably not a wise choice for the strong of heart either!

Also making their appearance at the fair are deep-fried peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and deep-fried butter balls (introduced in 2010), as well as an assortment of other foods dipped in batter and fried in oil. Apparently deep-frying just about anything makes it taste good? Just not so great for one’s waist line and arteries.

Give these treats a try if you must. It is the Ex after all and nutritious eating does tend to be the furthest virtue from peoples’ minds while there and confronted with options like deep-fried cola and deep-fried slushies. Yum. Once you’ve indulged, please wipe this fair fare out of your mind as future dining options!

In addition to fried foods, decidedly popular is anything edible served on a stick. This video by Jennifer Bain, the Toronto Star’s food editor, documents 30 foods served skewered at the CNE!

If you’re heading to the Ex this year, seems there’s a good chance you’ll be downing something bathed in oil or pierced. Bon appetit!

Chocolate or dyed….it’s Easter egg time!

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With Easter a few days away, chocolate, coloured and cooked eggs are a natural choice for snacking or crafting!

I’ll admit to indulging in a Cadbury Caramilk Egg or two in this pre-Easter season. Yes, their caramel centre does make them overly sweet and the chocolate may not be the finest quality available, however at this time of year, these eggs call out my name!

The craft of colouring shell eggs is also a sign of the season. This chart from McCormick, maker of food colours, will help you create a rainbow of perfect hues for dyeing raw or hard-cooked eggs. Think watermelon, jungle green, plum, canteloupe, fuschia…….

A St. Patrick’s Day menu – snake free!

Although I like to watch Survivor on TV, I could never participate in the game. There are many reasons, not the least of which is that there are always snakes slithering or swimming about in whatever location the show is filmed.

I’m not a fan of snakes. I figure the game of Survivor could probably use Ireland’s patron saint, St. Patrick. He is said to have rid Ireland of snakes and is commemorated annually on March 17, the date of his death in 460 A. D.

How he actually performed this feat is the stuff of legends. A popular explanation is that one day St. Patrick created a nice cozy box and invited the chief snake to climb in. The snake took a look at the box and deemed it too small. A heated discussion ensued. To prove he was right, the snake crawled into the box. Quick-thinking St. Paddy slammed the lid shut and threw the box into the sea!

To this day, Ireland is said to be snake-free (lucky Irish!), and some insist that the rough waters of the Irish Sea are caused by the boisterous attempts of the snake still trying to free himself from the box.

On March 17, whether you wish to celebrate a snake-free Ireland or the pleasure of swilling green beer, take the opportunity to indulge in some hearty Irish cuisine. Vegetables such as potatoes, onions, leeks, carrots and rutabagas figure prominently in Irish cooking, as do lamb stews, and braised meat and corned beef dishes. Accompany the main dish with potato bread or soda, and finish the meal with a sweet custard or apple cake, and an Irish coffee.

Irish Stew
(Makes 8 servings)

If lamb shanks are not available, thick shoulder chops can be substituted.

8 lamb shanks
Salt and pepper
1/2 cup (125 mL) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons (30 mL) olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon each (5 mL) dried thyme and rosemary (or 1 tablespoon/15 mL) chopped fresh
2 bottles (341 mL each) stout-based beer
3 cups (750 mL) beef stock or broth
1/4 cup (60 mL) butter
3 tablespoons (45 mL) packed brown sugar
3 onions, cut in wedges
3 carrots, cut in 1-inch (2.5 cm) pieces
3 parsnips, peeled and cut in 1-inch (2.5 cm) pieces
Half a rutabaga, peeled and cut in 1-inch (2.5 cm) chunks
1/4 cup (60 mL) chopped fresh parsley

Continue reading →

Making edible snowflakes

It’s March Break in Ontario and students are out of school for the week.

If you’re running out of things to do with your brood during the Break, consider spending time with them in the kitchen making edible snowflakes!

The kids will enjoy cutting snowflake shapes out of soft tortillas, then broiling them (with an adult’s supervision), and dusting each faux snowflake with icing sugar. They’re crisp, slightly sweet, cinnamon-scented and flavoured, and just plain fun to eat!
And since there’s not much you can do about the mountains of real snow still on the ground outside, helping the edible stuff disappear inside may give everyone at least some satisfaction!

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Tortilla Snowflakes

Small flour tortillas
Melted butter
Cinnamon sugar (3 tablespoons (45 mL) sugar and 1 teaspoon (5 mL) ground cinnamon)
Icing sugar

Preheat broiler.

Gently fold the tortilla in half without making a crease, then in half again. Hold the folds together without creasing the folds firmly into the tortilla. With kitchen scissors, cut out shapes and designs from the folded edges of the tortilla. Cut through all the layers, being careful not to tear the tortilla.

Open the tortilla and place it flat on a baking sheet. It should look like a snowflake. If more design is needed, carefully refold the tortilla and add more cuts. Repeat to make as many snowflakes as desired. (The number of snowflakes that can be broiled at one time will depend on the size of the snowflakes and the baking sheet.)

Using a pastry brush or an unused inexpensive artist’s paint brush, brush snowflakes with melted butter. Pick up a pinch of cinnamon sugar between your fingers and sprinkle over the snowflakes. Repeat with more cinnamon sugar until top of each snowflake is lightly covered.

Place the baking sheet with tortilla snowflakes under the broiler just until snowflakes begins to brown. Watch carefully; this only takes a minute or so. Wearing oven mitts, remove the baking sheet from the oven. Let snowflakes cool for a few minutes.

With a turner, remove snowflakes from the baking sheet to a wire rack. Let snowflakes rest for a few minutes to cool and firm. Sprinkle each with icing sugar.

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* Cocoa Snowflakes: Stir 1 teaspoon (5 mL) cocoa powder into cinnamon sugar mixture. Continue with recipe as directed.

* Cheese Snowflakes: Sprinkle grated Mozzarella or Swiss cheese on the tortilla snowflake, being careful to keep cheese on the tortilla and not in the holes. Place snowflakes under broiler to brown and crisp a little, 1 to 2 minutes. Let cool and firm on a wire rack.

Recipe Source: Adapted from Cooking Art by MaryAnn F. Kohl and Jean Potter, Gryphon House, 1997

My Near ‘Death by Chocolate’ Experience

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Chuck Siegel of Charles Chocolates prepares hot chocolate at COPIA's Death by Chocolate event in Napa, California

It was late afternoon last Saturday……I was struggling valiantly to down another sip of rich, thick, sweet, intensely chocolate hot chocolate. I was attending the Death by Chocolate event at COPIA (the Center for Wine, Food and the Arts) in Napa, California.

I had been sampling chocolate of all kinds, flavours and cocoa contents since 10 a.m. It was about 4 p.m. and I was sitting in COPIA’s beautiful tiered kitchen theatre, watching the final Master Class of the day. Chuck Siegel of Charles Chocolates had just passed around samples of the third of three hot chocolates he had made. Each was made with Guittard chocolate and tasted rather like drinking chocolate syrup (not that I will attest to knowing what drinking chocolate syrup tastes like!).

In terms of chocolate tasting, I was clearly done for the day. Continue reading →

The Lazy Way to Slice an Apple

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Apple Wedger/Corer

I used to silently wonder about people who meticulously cut their apples into wedges or slices with a knife before eating them.

What was wrong with just biting your way around the fruit until you’d found the inedible core? I suppose by slicing to the core, then cutting it away before eating each slice, you never risked not knowing you’d hit the centre of the apple! Duh!

Was cutting an apple into even sections a neat freak’s way to eat this favourite fruit? It did eliminate messy juices dripping down your chin when you chomped into an especially juicy apple. And, it did allow one to pay equal attention to each evenly cut apple wedge, if that was important to you. And I suppose it might be to someone anal about how they eat apples.

Maybe the apple somehow tasted better cut into pieces?

Then my sister tucked an apple wedger and corer into my Christmas gift bag (okay, so my family uses gift bags, not stockings!) and the light bulb went off.

Pre-cutting the apple is a neat, civilized way to eat an apple. You get rid of the core in one deft maneuvre and are left with evenly sized apple wedges that can be easily held by big or little fingers. What’s so wrong with that?

An apple may not taste better this way (although some may argue this point), but it is a simple, fast and fun way to make apple wedges to enjoy however you like (especially dipped in chocolate or caramel sauce ,which I seldom do but it’s fun to think about enjoying them this way!).

You may have to look a little to find an apple wedger/corer. Try a kitchen store, or wherever kitchen tools are sold. My sister picked up apple wedgers at a dollar store.

Chocolate as Art

Anyone who’s read my February posts so far will likely have noticed they’ve all included chocolate in one fashion or another. Since chocolate is a passion of mine, I trust I’m excused for this narrow focus, especially during the chocolatey month of February. I promise to move on to other food topics very soon, just after I share a few more chocolate thoughts.

Last year, Carol Wiebe, an artist and dear friend, created two pieces of chocolate-themed art for me. The first, Chocolate Confessions, was a commissioned piece I asked her to create when she began making personalized mixed media collages.
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Chocolate Confessions by Carol Wiebe, 2007

To create the piece, Carol asked me to give her a picture of myself, and to write out some thoughts about chocolate. One thing I wrote about was that I eat chocolate everyday. Using that idea, Carol designed a chocolate mandala sun with painted rays and my own words about chocolate radiating from it. (Although you can not see the fine details, my handwriting is sprinkled liberally throughout the art quilt.)

Carol also painted a cacao tree to reflect my interest not only in eating chocolate but studying the history of it.

What about that chocolate egg? Those of you who know I work for the Egg Farmers of Ontario probably figured out the significance of the egg pretty quickly.

On the back of Chocolate Confessions, Carol appropriately penned the following: “Both chocolate and confessions can assuage the soul.”

Ancient Appetites came as a wonderful Christmas surprise from Carol. This piece included other aspects of my love of all things chocolate (like Cocoa, my poodle), historical references to chocolate and cocoa, as well as a favourite recipe for Molten Chocolate Cakes (the underbaked baby cakes that spill chocolate lava when unmolded onto a dessert plate and broken into with a fork or spoon).

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Ancient Appetites by Carol Wiebe, 2007

Showing these pieces here does not begin to do proper justice to their beautiful colours, textures and sparkle, or Carol’s fine workmanship, however believe me when I say both are beautifully crafted keepsakes I will treasure always.

Carol has written about both creations on her Silverspring Studio blog. Her reflections on these pieces can be found on her posts, Chocolate Confessions and A Surprise of Beautiful Work. On her blog, you can also read some of her thoughts about art and creating and the processes she uses to design and her create her art quilts. And, of course, you can see more of her art.

Pancakes, Plain or Chocolate Chipped

A few co-workers and I prepared a pancake lunch yesterday at work. We used a basic Buttermilk Pancake recipe courtesy of Carolynne Griffith, the chairwoman of the Board of Directors for Egg Farmers of Ontario. The pancakes were tender, light and fluffy, and enjoyed by everyone. For the chocolate lovers in the group, we made one batch of pancakes with chocolate chips. They were exceptionally delish! (The Triple Chocolate Pancakes from my February 4th post would also have gone over well with the chocoholics!)

Here’s the recipe, with the chocolate chip variation. (We omitted the sugar in the recipe.)

Buttermilk Pancakes
(Makes about 16 pancakes)

1 cup (250 mL) all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons (30 mL) sugar (optional)
2 teaspoons (10 mL) baking powder
1/2 teaspoon (2 mL) baking soda
1/2 teaspoon (2 mL) salt
2 large eggs
1 cup (250 mL) buttermilk
2 tablespoons (30 mL) melted butter or cooking oil
Cooking oil
Butter and maple syrup

In a medium bowl, stir together flour, sugar (if using), baking powder, baking soda and salt.

In a large bowl, whisk eggs. Add buttermilk and butter; whisk to combine.

Add dry ingredients to liquid ingredients; whisk just until combined (batter should be lumpy).

Heat a small amount of oil on a griddle or frying pan over medium heat. When the surface is hot enough, spoon about 2 tablespoons (30 mL) batter per pancake onto the skillet, spreading batter into a circle. Cook until edges appear set and bubbles form on the surface, about 1-1/2 minutes. Flip and cook second side until browned, about 1-1/2 minutes.

Serve immediately with butter and maple syrup. Or, transfer to a baking sheet or heatproof platter. Cover loosely with aluminum foil and keep pancakes warm in a 200F (95C) oven. Continue cooking remaining batter, brushing griddle with a small amount of oil as necessary to prevent sticking.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes: Prepare dry ingredients, adding 1/2 cup (125 mL) chocolate chips. Proceed as directed above.

Tips:

  • This recipe can be doubled or tripled.
  • If batter is too thick, thin with a small amount of additional buttermilk.
  • Freeze any leftover pancakes up to 3 months. Reheat on a baking sheet in a preheated 350F (190C) oven. Pancakes can be also be reheated in the toaster or microwave. If using the microwave, be careful not to overheat as they will become rubbery.