Technivorm Coffee Machine

This is our latest gadget/appliance - the Technivorm coffee machine. 

You see, our former coffee machine expired this past weekend.  It had been acting up (aka the lights would go on, but nothing would happen) during the past week so my husband began researching options.

Our big thing is a good cup of coffee.  We don't need bells and whistles - no timer, no grinder, no extras - just coffee.  As long as we get a good cup of coffee we're not opposed to those things, but we're not interested in them for gimmicks sake. 

The Technivorm is all about good coffee.  It is hand made in the Netherlands.  It has copper piping so it heats propertly and accurately to 196C each time.  Even a 26 year old model still maintains this temperature- as an experiement while our past coffee maker was still working we checked the coffee temeprature and it struggled to reach 176C.  The Technivorm brews a full pot in under 9 minutes (our first try was 6 minutes).  And it is the only one that Cooks' llustrated (my mentor, my go to) testing competes with French Press. 

I am converted.  I am a Technivorm groupie. 

Chicken Enchiladas with Chipotle Sauce

You know I love Mexican food, especially if its spicy.  After having learned several dishes from my girlfriends, I figured it was time to venture out and try a variation on my own.  As usual, I had a craving.  I wanted Mexican.  I wanted spicy.  I wanted chipotle. 

I started by heating some chicken stock (handily leftover from pressure cooking the chicken) spiked with a bit of cumin.  I added about 1/2 can of processed chipotle peppers in adobo sauce.  That's it.  That was my sauce. 

I made two layers of sauce then chicken then tortillas (real ones from Mexico, baked in the oven to get a bit crispy).  Topped with grated marble cheese and baked to heat through. 

This picture looks a lot like my other enchilada pictures, but it really is very different.  BTW, that's romano bean refried beans on the side.

Homemade Rigatoni with Sunday Gravy

While in San Francisco this summer I finally purchased the Kitchenaid pasta press that I have been admiring for months.  This is not to be confused with the pasta roller set, or the pasta extruder set that doubles as a meat grinder (I have this set and the meat grinder works, but the pasta part is not good at all).  This is a whole new thing.  It's been out for less than a year and for most of that time was only available at Williams Sonoma.  Now it can be found elsewhere, including at C.A. Paradis in Ottawa, but I'm not seeing it widespread yet. 

The cool thing about this gadget is that it truly can make pasta with hollow middles like macaroni, rigatoni etc.  As a huge fan of homemade pasta, it was a natural that I had to have this.

I used my standard egg pasta recipe.  I love this recipe as it comes from my husband's grandmother's (who passed many years ago so I never got to meet her) repertoire of recipes, which I've modified for a stand mixer.  I think it is so cool as she lived on the prairies, but managed to make the most of all the resouces there.  She grew such things as garlic during a time when in that area it only came in powder format at the grocery and cultivated her own poppy seeds for delicious breads and rolls.  She also made her own home made pasta which my husband remembers fondly as she would lay bed sheets around the house and the three boys (this was before the other three were born) would all go to help roll and cut the strands. I think she was both old-school and ahead of her time.  I wish I could have met her.

Back to the gadget.  You don't have to roll the pasta, you simply drop small balls of the dough into the extruder.  It does almost all of the rest by pressing it through.  You do have to use the cutter to lop off the size of pasta that you want.

My first try worked out not too bad.  I think I could have made my pasta bit drier, but the experiement was successful.  More practice is required (I can't complain about though as I get to eat the results) - but at first blush, I'm thrilled with my new toy.

I topped with a Sunday Gravy made in the pressure cooker.   The details on the Sunday Gravy will soon be posted at Smoke Under Pressure.

Pasta Dough (scalable)
4 medium eggs beaten
1 tsp oil
2 cups flour

Mix the eggs and oil together in a measuring cup or small bowl.  Into the bowl of  a standing mixer add the flour.  Using the paddle attachment slowly add the egg/oil mixture until just mixed.  If too dry add water a tsp at a time.  Switch to the dough attachment and knead the dough for 5-10 minutes until smooth. 

Let stand for 20 minutes (this reduces elasticity) in a covered bowl before using.

You Say Kebab, I Say Kabob - either way it's steak

Mmmmm Steak.  As Homer Simpson would say.  Or my husband for that matter. 

Being a prairie girl at heart, I love steak.  Or at least I usually do.  Lately I find myself not enjoying it quite as much, so when my husband requested steak for dinner, I had to find some sort of middle ground on it as I just wasn't up for a another New York steak (although deep inside I know this is blasphemy). 

My compromise or happy medium was a steak kabob.  I found some lovely top sirloin at the grocery on sale.  I was hoping to digress on some revealing top sirloin facts here, but a quick google search informed me that the top sirloin is above the bottom sirloin on a cow.  Somehow, I think I could have figured that out.  Nonetheless, it was perfect for this recipe.

I cubed the sirloin and marinaded it in a soy-based marinade.  I'm lucky to have a vacuum packed marinader so only needed to do this for about 40 minutes.  I then skewered the beef and grilled 7 minutes per side (two sides only, not all four) on a 400F grill.

The result was amazing.  Right up there with Not Your Average Joes (but that's another post) steak tips.  A perfect medium-rare, tender and great flavour.  A new household recipe staple.

Steak Kabobs
Marinade:
1 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup sherry
1/4 cup olive oil
2-4 cloves garlic minced
1 stalk rosemary

2-3 medium sized top sirloin steaks, in large cubes
4 kabob skewers (soaked if using wooden)

Mix all the marinade ingredients together and add meat.  Let marinade 4 hours or 40 minutes if able to vacuum.  Divide meat onto 4 skewers.  Heat your grill to 400F and grill skewers for 7 minutes per side (two sides only). 

AGA Courgette Pasta

I was recently in England visiting family where my sister-in-law subscribes to a weekly veg box.  I used to subscribe to one in Canada, but have been travelling a bit too much the past few years to make good use of one.  The great thing about these boxes is that you don't know what you are going to get so it forces you to try new things.  Also, it's like meal planning in reverse where instead of making your grocery list based for the meals you want, you make a menu list to accommodate what's arrived in the veg box. 

And that's where this recipe came from.  The veg box had several courgettes (aka zucchini) in it, and also came with a rough recipe (e.g. no measurements) which my sister-and-law and I decided to pursue.  I've listed them below with my estimation of amounts and process. 

Before we get to the recipe, I have a couple of other notable mentions.  First off, I have to mention that I bought the sprial pasta that we used in this recipe at the most amazing Burough Market in London.  I'm a huge fan of markets, but this one is pretty much at the top of my list.  It has the most amazing vendors and selction, and the atmosphere is brilliant.  If you do get to go there, be sure to try the grilled cheese sandwich at the raclette stand.

My other mention is the AGA.  I used this in the title, but it's a bit of a misnomer as really all you use the AGA for is boiling the pasta.  I had to mention it though as they are such an English tradition which I haven't seen much of in North America.  It's an oven that is always on and ready to do duty.  As a result, they throw a bit of heat and have traditionally been used to hang laundry over for drying.

Well there it is.  Courgette pasta is a perfect summer dish as its easy preparation, high on flavours, and no cooking beyond boiling water for pasta.  In fact, even my wee nephews who aren't keen on zucchini thought that this would be edible!

Courgette Pasta
1/2 lemon, zested and juiced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 red chile, finely diced
3 small-medium zucchini, grated
3 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
fresh basil, chopped
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
Spiral pasta for 4

Get a pot ready with water for boiling your pasta.  Meanwhile, mix the lemon zest, lemon juice, garlic and chile in a small bowl.  Set aside. 

When your pasta is ready and drained, toss with the lemon mixture, zucchini, olive oil and salt and pepper.  Serve with parmesan and basil. 

Gnocchi: Trial #1

I'm a huge fan of gnocchi. I have no specific expertise in the area, but after trying it in various locales it seems that its pronunciation is of endless variations (NYOH-kee according to the Food Lover's Companion), but its preparation options are even more endless.


I've had the opportunity to try gnocchi in a variety of cities recently: Stella Osteria in Ottawa; Weczaria in Saskatoon; Tulio in Seattle . . . and the list goes on. Having sampled all these various concoctions, I found that I truly had to separate the gnocchi from the sauce. Was it the little bundle of potato based flour that I was enjoying or the sauce.

Turns out it was both, however, upon breaking it down I did reach a conclusion. Of the actual gnocchi varietals, I truly adore the pillowy bundle that is tender and melting compared to its firmer cousins. So I began reviewing gnocchi recipes. As near as I could figure there are two schools of gnocchi (just like risotto) the French and the Italian. The French are based on a choux pastry recipe, whereas the French on more of a dough.

I've made the French style before, but it didn't have the pillowy substance that I was looking for. So this evening I opted to concoct a French variation (or at least that's what I call it). I started by baking some potatoes. Usually these recipes call for Yukon baking potatoes, but I didn't have any so I opted for teenie red potatoes (gasp from the crowd). I baked them at 400F until tender then riced them. I forgot to take a picture of the compilation of riced potatoes, but here's the remnants.

When my potatoes were nearing completion I started my choux pasty. It's a standard recipe that I've used for various things. You start by heating up butter and water. Then you quickly add flour and stir. Then you add eggs - one at a time - and stir in between. Any recipe I've seen says specirfically to use a wooden spoon for this - I'm not sure why, but am not one to mess with tradition.  My arms were sore from stirring (perhaps my afternoon of raking leaves didn't help the cause). Once I finished this process I started it all over by adding my riced potatoes and some parmesan cheese and stirring more (it's even hard to type this my hands are sore from the stirring!).  I now had my dough, which admittedly was much diffent, aka pasty, compared to other gnocchi doughs I've made.

I set up my own little gnocci production facility complete with a tea towel, flour, the dough, and a handy gnocchi roller. I dropped large teaspoons of the pastry onto the floured portion of my tea towel then rolled about, moving the nuggets to the other side of the tea towel in the process. I also cut them in half (or thirds) as requried to try ot maintain some uniformity of size. As for my gnocchi roller, purchased at an Italian grocery in Edmonton, I never realized its full potential until this cooking event.

After the little nuggets were all prepared, I put some water on to boil. Once boiling I added the gnocchi and lowered the heat to a simmer (boiling would obviously destroy them as they are so tender) for 15 minutes.

For serving I tried a parmesan cream sauce as well as a simple parmesan sprinkle with butter.

The verdict: my gnocchi had that pillowy soft texture that I love. But the sauce and finishing left a lot to be desired. I will have to try this again, hence the Trial #1 in the title - more experimenting to come.

Bobby Does It Again: Tuna Steak

Bobby Flay that is. I think I've previously mentioned that I wasn't necessarily a Bobby fan until I ate at Mesa Grill in NYC last summer. I had nothing against the guy, I just didn't realize he was a guy after my own heart with his mix of spicy southwestern cuisine. Once discovered though, I'm apparently a huge fan. A groupie as it were.

Today I purchased lovely tuna steak for dinner. Tuna isn't a usual on my grocery list. It's not that I don't like it, it's that my locale doesn't exactly lend itself to great tuna. But the gods of excellent food storage and flight travel do bless, and I was able to obtain a beautiful, non-fishy smelling, perfect coloured tuna steak.

Having secured the lovely tuna steak, the only dilemma I had in hand was to determine preparation options. A relatively easy option, as Mexican flavour was beckoning, and I knew Bobby Flay could deliver.

In his Mesa Grill cookbook, there are two tuna recipes. Of course I opted for the one that I had the ingredients for (at least nearly). The thing about Bobby's recipes in this book is the ingredient lists are long, and therefore the recipes look daunting. Look again, as it's simply his signature blend of simple flavours (usually) that are assembled using pretty much usual ingredients.

First I prepared his apricot glaze. My biggest variation here was the lack of apricots. But certainly the apricots were for sweetened flavour and colour, so a mix of peach and mango preserves seemed sufficient . Although my idea was appropriate, because I wasn't using dried fruit, I had to extend the reduction phase almost triple the time to achieve appropriate consistency in the sauce.

Whilst my glaze reduced, I prepared the rub for the tuna steak. All straight forward - ingredient permitting and with the aid of a trust spice grinder (formerly a coffee grinder). Having made several BF rubs I would depict this one as typical. That's not a slight, but he definitely has a unique flair. As well, I often find myself thinking I'm not crazy about what I'm adding, but I've learned to trust the process - Bobby will deliver.

In the end I finished my glaze as prescribed (red wine vinegar, Dijon mustard, mint)and seared the tuna (I'd do it a smidge less next time). I also put together accompaniments - guacamole salad and refried black beans (not your usual, but a prepared option directly from Mexico - thanks Jimena).

Mmmmm.