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Friends Food Fun

Ep 7 – Baby Burger Bites with Blue Cheese & Sautéed Mushrooms

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So, while surfing the interweb, I happened across something that Google was up to lately called Search Stories where you get to create a very short video based upon some search terms (your story), add some music and – presto – ya gots a Google Search Story. Well, I made one which was fun to do called “Path to Happiness”. If you’d like to try this out yourselves, click here

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yxX-ZUEJ6i4

So after that distraction … back to our show. [Evil editor’s note: as if we weren’t enough of a distraction already!] In this week’s episode, we reviewed the mini burgers on page 76 of “Cook This Not That”. We renamed them “baby burger bites” – ’cause that’s what we do 😉 – which, in both of our opinions, were very good. Before we started, we had to make a choice between two wildly different topping flavours (Mushroom-Blue Cheese or Chipotle-Bacon). As much as we both love Bacon (okay, Helenka, stop moaning already), we knew we could never go wrong with the sautéed mushroom and blue cheese version. I do try to stay as close to the recipe as possible and make choices “in the spirit of the original recipe” when it comes time to finding the proper ingredients. For instance, I did not get a butcher to grind the beef for me (because when I was shopping there was no butcher to do it). So I looked for the best alternative in the ground beef section and chose the one that was free of antibiotics and hormones.

In anything that I cook, I do like to try adding something or taking something away even while baking (though not always with success, mind you). But that’s what is so much fun about cooking: mixing stuff up and finding different combinations that work really well. By the way, this is something that, in my opinion, Helenka does superbly. I can, on the spur of the moment, ask her what would go well with “food item” and she will envision something I would not have thought of. Which is why in her comments you will see variations on the theme of what we made. [Helenka’s reaction: Awwww, he’s making me blush. Oops, my Evil editor’s veneer is slipping.]

Anyway, we would love to hear if you’ve made anything from the book or any ideas on future shows that you would like to see (we will be doing BBQ once the warmer weather hits). I’m already planning some shows on the great salad recipes we’ve seen in the book. Those will be great once the fresher in-season veggies hit the markets.

Enjoy!
B&H =:)

httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOTzOsk9n7E

Please note: We try and review the recipes in the cookbook; however, in an effort to respect copyright, we are not able to reproduce the actual printed recipes here. If you do have the book, please follow along with us!

Baby Burger Bites
baby burger bites with portebello mushroom and sweet potato mash

Recipe: Baby Burger Bites From Cook This, Not That!: Kitchen Survival Guide

Notes from the Chef’s Sidekick (Helenka)

These baby burgers included blue cheese and sautéed ‘shrooms, served on small, toasted, round, dinner rolls. After Brian had eviscerated the innards of the rolls because – hello – that’s just “filler”, he offered me the bread scraps as a snack, to be dipped in oil in the European manner. The side dishes were sautéed portobello ‘shrooms (and, no, there is no such thing as too many mushrooms) dressed with balsamic, then broiled; and sweet potato mash seasoned with cinnamon (because he didn’t have nutmeg). Mmmmmm. Cinnamon was a delightful substitute. Of course, that brings back memories of North African cuisine (hey, I did mention that there are no such things as boundaries when it comes to food and me), especially the pigeon & egg pastries (okay, so we in North America substitute chicken) that incorporate cinnamon as an essential flavouring agent. The salt used this time was the Himalayan Pink. Anyway, I did the obligatory (and entirely truthful) moaning for the camera. And then we ate. I even got a kitty bag to take home (of the second baby burger and sides).

I heated up the plate of leftovers the next day (though it’s an insult to associate Brian’s cooking with that dismissive term) in the microwave for 3 minutes at 60%. Mm-mm-mmmm. The baby burger was even better, having absorbed the flavours of the blue cheese and sauteed ‘shrooms overnight. As the meat itself had been closer to the rare side when cooked the first time, it did not dry out when heated to completion. So I gobbled everything down enthusiastically.

Variations

The book already gave two choices of toppings (the other one having not only chipotle and bacon, but also mayo, sharp cheddar cheese and caramelized onions). While Brian was cooking according to the book’s instructions, I was rhapsodizing over something I hadn’t thought about in decades – and that was having the flavouring agents/ingredients stuffed inside the burger before cooking. [If memory serves me right, I believe that concept was first envisioned by Auguste Escoffier, regarded as the father of French cooking.]

Of course, I was thinking about blue cheese or brie or, better yet, cambozola … ::mind goes off-line temporarily:: anything that tastes good on top but would probably taste amazing inside and wouldn’t fall off while one is trying to bite. That’s one of the reasons why I enjoyed the burger even more the next day, because the blue cheese and mushrooms were heated up in proximity to the meat. Mind you, you either have to use something that’ll become all melty (such as cheese, please) from the heat that will eventually reach the centre or you have to cook the ingredient(s) first before surrounding them with meaty goodness.

I could definitely see caramelized onions. Flame-roasted red pepper strips. Or – back to raw ingredients – grated zucchini, an excellent way of increasing fibre content. Or a spoonful of tomato sauce, turning the mini-burger into mini-meatloaf. [Oops! I think Brian’s got that glazed meatloaf look in his eyes.] What about sliced black olives? See what I mean? I’m certain that anything that can be combined with ground beef from just about any nationality can be turned into a gourmet treat. And that just made me think of a spoonful each of guacamole and salsa. Or … or … or…. Aha! The fish version of this could be finely chopped salmon with a luxurious heart of lobster or shrimp, with a wee bit of teriyaki sauce and a drop of sesame oil for flavouring. Now that my mind is racing, I don’t think I can stop. [Unless and until Brian cuts me off, lol.]

One of the best things about this recipe was the idea of using very small buns, thereby forcing the chef to match the burger in size. With the foundation being so small, one can only go up in height to add ingredients. And, if one chooses only healthy ingredients, then that’s a very good thing indeed.

And the verdict, which should come as no surprise, is “Brian, when can you make these again?”

Cooking time (duration): 60

Diet (other): Low calorie, Reduced fat, High protein

Number of servings (yield): 4

Meal type: dinner

My rating:5 stars: ★★★★★

“brianupward.com is a participant in the Amazon.ca, Inc. Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.ca.”

Friends Food Fun

Ep 6 – French Onion Soup!

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httpvhd://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Moaijb4p-g

Well, trying to stay on track and releasing an episode on a weekly basis (typically Wednesdays) was foiled this week – seeing as I do have a day job which involves travel, mostly out of the country. Hence the lateness of this post.

As you may have noticed, I have been cleaning out my cupboards of sauces that I had gathered over a period of time. Well, those days are now gone (at least for a while). So, our next adventure in cooking involved a recipe book, as I wanted to learn how to make great tasting dishes that could be accomplished within a reasonable period of time (albeit cut down to 10 minutes for the sake of YouTube). In my shopping travels, I happened upon a book that had caught my eye and whose authors were familiar to me (they write in Menshealth magazine – one of my faves). The book, called Cook This, Not That!: Kitchen Survival Guide , aims to teach people at home how to get the same great flavours of a restaurant meal but with less fat, salt and far fewer calories. By this point, Helenka and I have tried at least 9 different recipes. I must say it’s been an adventure for sure. Most have been fantastic with great ingredients. Although I do try to stay within the bounds of the recipe, I do take some creative leeway while shopping for ingredients.

In this episode, we tried their version of French Onion Soup using an organic beef broth that had the lowest amount of salt I could find. I also substituted garlic Melba toast rounds – a recommendation from a friend of mine (they really worked well and were lower in calories than the original ingredient). Oh – we did notice that ep 5 had sound issues. I will reexamine it and see if I can improve it. [Ya, I admit to being an amateur, but learning from mistakes is just part of this adventure. =;) ]

Please note: We try and review the recipes in the cookbook; however, in an effort to respect copyright, we are not able to reproduce the actual printed recipes here. If you do have the book, please follow along with us!

Enjoy! B&H =:)

FFF French Onion Soup

Recipe: Cook This Not That – French Onion Soup

Notes from the Chef’s Sidekick (Helenka)

The intent of the cookbook’s authors is to provide flavourful, less gasp-inducing versions of high-calorie, high-fat and/or high-sodium recipes. [BTW, we’re planning to cook a whole bunch of dishes from this source.] This was the healthier version of a traditional French onion soup. Normally, the traditional version would use tons of butter to saute the sliced onions. The revised version used much less butter to cook the onions, with the lid being added as an assist in providing more moisture through condensation. Brian used approximately half red and half yellow onions as well as organic beef broth (and more of it, too). More red wine as well. I think we’re going to have a lot of soup. [No kidding!] Herbs used for enhancing the flavour were bay leaves and sprigs of fresh thyme. Where the recipe called for salt, Brian reached into his salt chest and (at my direction) pulled out the most expensive salt: Fumee de Sel, cold smoked in oak wine barrels used to age fine Chardonnay wine. Well, it was the obvious choice to use a French salt for a French soup. When we sniffed it, we really got an intense smoked aroma. After the soup was fully cooked, he ladled it out into soup bowls, gently placing four garlic melba rounds on top of each (instead of the traditional baguette slices) and sprinkling them with aged cheddar cheese (instead of grated swiss). Verdict: a flavourful soup with loads of healthy onions. The pieces of melba had puffed up under the broiler and mixed with the cheese splendidly. Which just goes to prove that you don’t need to dig through a mountain of cheese with fork and shears to enjoy a proper onion soup. I kept getting a hint/aftertaste of caraway, even though it was not listed in the ingredients column on the box of melba rounds. Fascinating. Perhaps it was a chemical reaction to broiling the sesame seeds that were listed. I also enjoyed the leftover soup a few days later with my neighbour, heating it up in a 325 degree oven before adding the melba rounds and aged cheddar and sliding under the broiler.

 

Variations

In retrospect, we felt that the cookbook’s authors didn’t quite get it right with this one as far as flavour is concerned because fat and salt are huge flavour carriers. If you reduce them substantially, you MUST replace the flavour with another ingredient (hint: herbs and spices). We thought that garlic would have made an excellent integral ingredient (and that was just from including the garlic melba rounds). And I’m voting for more fresh thyme.

 

Cooking time (duration): 60

Diet (other): Low calorie, Reduced fat

Meal type: dinner

Culinary tradition: French

My rating: 3 stars:

“brianupward.com is a participant in the Amazon.ca, Inc. Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.ca.”

 

Friends Food Fun

Ep 5 – Lamb Chops in Curry Sauce

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httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BvZGAppzODw

**Smoothed out the sound in this updated video**

Well, I found a new hobby. aka annoying Helenka (more than usual – and the funny thing is she gets to read this before it’s posted – ahh the evilness of it all) with bad spelling [Evil editor’s note: he spelled it ‘speling’] thrown in with some grammatically incorrect sentences. However, like the true perfectionist and very well written person that she is, she perseveres and sends me notes on what changes she has made (which is also why you may see changes being made in our RSS feeds). We have been friends for nearly 20 years and, as truly kindred spirits , adopted each other as little brother (me) and big sister (her) — so we get along famously, bickering and laughing all the way. Our episodes are more than 10 minutes long (as previously stated), so the parts I have to edit out are usually our antics (which spoils the fun because you can’t see them but, what the hey, ya does what ya can within the set limits).

Getting on with our real purpose for the blog, in this episode Helenka and I tried lamb, because I found within my cupboards a bottle of Vegetarian Lamb Curry Sauce by Sherri (I do not know why it’s called vegetarian, but there it is; I’d probably rename it myself to Meatetarian Lamb Curry Sauce – but who wants that on a bottle). [Evil editor’s note: Perhaps because the sauce contains NO animal protein, but you’re supposed to serve it with meat. Really, go figure.]

Hope you enjoy it!
B&H =:)

FFF EPP5 lamb

Now Serving: Lamp Chops in Curry Sauce

Recipe Ideas

  • Check Helenka’s detailed notes!

Notes from the Chef’s Sidekick (Helenka)

Starting with a jar of Sherri Lamb Curry Sauce, Brian added broccoli tenders (long, slender, young stalks and florets) to the cooking sauce, saving a couple for raw garnishes. As for the lamb, he had four adorable loin lamb chops. Well, they really were adorable. I’d suggested a few days earlier that they could be broiled before being added to the simmering sauce. So, after sprinkling them with Australian Murray River salt and freshly ground pepper, he broiled them, then cut a vertical slit in each so they could absorb more sauce. The broccoli turned out to be an excellent choice of veggie to soak up yet more sauce. And we gobbled up everything together with garlic naan. Verdict: from our obvious enjoyment, another winner.

While Brian and I do agree on a whole bunch of things, I actually prefer shoulder chops over loin chops and the wide variety of cooking methods that can be employed besides broiling. A couple of terrific websites for getting splendid lamb recipes are:
http://www.national-obsession.com/category/list
http://www.nzlamb.ca/recipes/recipes.php
The latter source also has recipes printed on the outside of the packages of their frozen lamb products. As Brian has already proved, you can get a lot of helpful recipe tips from packages and jars. But it’s still an eye-opener to get an idea of just how much of a variety you can get from the official producers themselves. Not only that, but you can achieve quite a different result based on following the directions of one package as opposed to another (for example, roasting a rack of lamb at a higher temp. for a shorter time). But, then again, that’s all a part of the experimentation and discovery and, yes, FUN of cooking.

Another website that I can personally vouch for is:
http://bit.ly/929kuT = This is the website of the LCBO, the primary source of alcohol in the Province of Ontario that publishes a Food & Drink magazine several times a year (though the recipes are also available online). Unfortunately, two of my most memorable recipes are out of date on the website. In past years, I have made (and served Brian) seared Lamb Shanks cooked in White Vermouth and broth, with the addition of lemon zest, not to mention the obligatory sauteed onions and garlic. I’ve also tried to cut through some of the heavier lamb fat taste by adding lemon juice (not in the original recipe). I’ve served this dish over rotini pasta.

Variations

I’ve used the aforementioned shoulder chops in another recipe: braised lamb shoulder in red wine with mushrooms. Once again, full of flavour, served over pasta and garnished with freshly grated parmesan and chopped parsley.

Cooking time (duration): 60

Number of servings (yield): 2

Meal type: dinner

Culinary tradition: USA (Nouveau)

Friends Food Fun, Party Tips, Special Videos

We Gots a Special (actually two!)

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httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1cIkC3QsUAI

For my birthday back in February 2010 I wanted something special to serve so I found a wonderful ice cream based upon a recipe from All Recipes (one of my favorite recipe sites) click this link.

httpvh://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KKT_xH7aNcA

When you were a kid do you remember getting a loot bag at the end of a birthday party!!??

In this video I show you what I created for my guests to take home at the end of my birthday party. I also added in some pencils and tea lights which was done after the taping.