FoodFunk.ca

I’ll be rocking some old school funk, rock, hip hop and all kinds of tasty grooves this Friday night at Pepper’s Pub, 42 Princess Street in Saint John.   It’s the new pub’s first annual Halloween Bash and features loads of prizes and give-aways.   Come and say hi to the DJ!!  The lunacy starts at 10 pm on Halloween night, October 31st.

Click here to RSVP on the Facebook event page.

DJ Hawk. You didn't think he was just an awesome cook, did you?

How it all began.

Fresh pasta was one of the things that really got me on a path towards a love of food.
I was 20 years old when I finally got out on my own and had to start feeding myself for real.   At that stage, I was still a lot closer to third-trimester dependance on an umbilical cord than cooking from scratch when it came to my ability to get food into my body.
But I was willing to learn.
The first real eye-opener for me occurred at a friends wedding reception.   One course during the meal was a small appetizer of cheese-stuffed tortellini richly dressed in a cream sauce.  Wonderful stuff.  It was only after eating that I heard about the fact that it was made from scratch by a friend of the groom.   I knew the guy.  He wasn’t a brain scientist or rocket surgeon, so I thought, hey, I should be able to do this.
So I bought a cookbook by Biba Caggiano, Northern Italian cooking, and I was off to the kitchen.  It was a tough go at first, I’ll admit.  I’d never really mixed anything with anything before.  I probably went through a dozen eggs and I was covered in so much flour I looked like I was just about to take a dip in a deep fryer, but I finally nailed it.   I rolled out a sheet of thin pasta, sliced it by hand into fettuccine strips, boiled it for a couple minutes in salted water, drained and served with a tomato sauce.
Pure magic.  Real food and I made it.   Eighteen years later, I’m still energized from that first experience with real food and fresh pasta is still a huge love for me in my kitchen.
If you, unlike me in my early 20s, have actually mixed something with something before, this shouldn’t be too hard to pick up.   Fresh pasta is a whole world of difference from boxed pasta and once you get your fork around it, you’ll realize why it’s worth the (tiny bit of extra) effort.
There are a variety of things you can put in your pasta dough for different results but the basic rule is that one large egg will require 3/4 cup of flour, and one egg worth of dough is one serving.  I like to use a mix of durum semolina flour as well as all-purpose flour for a more firm finished pasta.  That’s what gives it a nice al dente’ as they say in Italy.   But while Italy likes it a bit “to the tooth”, other parts of the world like an egg noodle that’s more tender.  In China or Korea for example, the noodles are generally softer so if making egg noodles for a recipe from Asia, just use a mix of all purpose flour and egg (or mix in a bit of buckwheat flour or other soft flour) for a softer noodle.
Making fresh pasta is a fantastic skill to learn so give it a shot!

Fresh pasta (for two)

2 large eggs
1/2 cup durum semolina flour
1 cup all purpose flour, plus more for dusting

Mix the 1/2 cup durum semolina and a 1/2 cup of all purpose flour in a bowl.   Make a well and add the two eggs.   Beat the eggs a bit then start working the flour into to the eggs.  It will come together into a wet dough fairly quickly (use a stand mixer or food processor with the dough hook to make quick work of this).  Add a few tablespoons of flour at a time, kneading it in well with your hands until you have a dough that can be lifted out of the bowl onto a floured work surface.  Knead the dough for at least five minutes, adding flour as needed if it gets sticky.   Cover with plastic wrap and let stand for 10 minutes to rest.   Cut the dough into three pieces.  Toss a piece in flour on the board, flatten it slightly at pass it through your pasta roller at the widest setting.   Fold the dough, flour it again and pass it through the roller again.  Do this three or four times.   Flour the piece again and begin passing it through the roller at progressively thinner settings until you have the sheet you want for your particular application.  You’ll want a thick dough for lasagna or a string pasta, a thinner one for a stuffed pasta.  Whatever you end up doing, be sure to season your boiling water well with salt as there is no seasoning in the dough.  Enjoy!

Brined and roasted. The brown and crispy skin might be the best part!

Exactly twice a year, I ask myself why I don’t eat turkey more often.   It’s cheap, fabulous, versatile and celebratory.  And that skin, oh that skin.  Those cracklins alone are worth the price of admission.  Here’s how I slap together my annual Thanksgiving or Christmas bird.   I usually buy a roughly 13-pounder from Cochrane’s Market in Rothesay, New Brunswick.  They’re New Brunswick-grown free range birds and taste just amazing.

Roast turkey

1 cup salt

1 cup sugar

13-15 lb turkey

2 carrots, peeled and chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 onions, chopped

1 head garlic

2 cups chicken stock (or just use water)

fresh thyme and sage

1 onion and 1 orange to stuff the turkey

cracked black pepper

3 or 4 cups boiling water

1/2 cup unsalted butter

Rinse the turkey under running water.  In a large stock pot (mine was just large enough to hold the 13 pound bird with the lid on), add the salt and sugar.  Add a litre of water and stir to dissolve.   Add the bird to the brine and then add more cold water until the bird is covered.   Stir the water slightly so that it all mixes well.   Place in the refrigerator to brine for eight to 12 hours (overnight works well).  Remove the bird from the brine and dump the brine in the sink.  place the bird back in the pot and let cold water run over the bird continuously for five minutes (this removes excessive salt from the surfaces).   Meanwhile, add the carrots, onion, celery, chicken stock (if using, or water) and garlic to the roasting pan.  Add some fresh sprigs of thyme and several fresh sage leaves.  Season with black pepper.   Pre-heat the oven to 424 F at this point.   Place the turkey on the roasting pan and stuff it with a chopped onion and an orange.   Heat a kettle with the water until boiling.   Truss the bird well and then pour the boiling water slowly over the bird.  This will give the skin a head start on cooking and the immediate heat wll actually help to dry the skin so that butter will better adhere and brown on it.   Once the skin is dry (about a minute after you’ve applied the boiling water), brush on some unsalted butter, then season the whole bird well with black pepper.   Place uncovered in the oven for 30 minutes.   Baste again with butter and reduce heat to 350.   Roast another half hour and baste again.   Roast a further 30 minutes, baste again, then reduce heat to 300 F.   Cook gently until the thickest part of the breast registers 170 F, about two and a half hours.  With basting every 20 to 30 minutes with unsalted butter, the bird will be a deep, delicious golden brown.  Remove the turkey from the pan and set aside, covered, on a cutting board.   Strain the juices in the pan and make your gravy as you normally would.  Have all of your meal’s side dishes ready before slicing the turkey.  Carve the turkey and serve on a warm platter with a side of gravy.  Be sure to make some fresh cranberry sauce too!

Sliced turkey breast. Brining and careful roasting ensures even the breast meat is succulent and juicy.

Roasted dressing with sausage and cashews

My usual dressing gets a great kick from some Italian sausage and a cup of cashews (a great tip I picked up from my chiropractor last week).

1 loaf homemade bread, cubed

2 stalks celery, diced

2 onions, peeled and diced

1/3 cup butter

2 Italian sausages, cooked and cubed

1 cup salted cashews

heft pinch each of dried thyme, sage, oregano, salt and black pepper

2 cups chicken stock

1 cup juices from the roast turkey

Heat the butter in a large fry pan over medium heat for several minutes.   When the foaming stops, add the onion and celery.   Saute gently for five to seven minutes, until very soft.   Meanwhile, cube the bread and put in a very large bowl.  Add the sauteed onion and celery to the bread.  Saute the cubed sausage in the pan so that it browns a bit (add a bit more butter if necessary).  After a few minutes, toss in the cashews, toss well, then add the chicken stock to deglaze the pan.  Scrape that whole mixture into the bread mixture and toss well.   Place the dressing in a roasting pan.  When your turkey comes out of the oven, use a baster to grab about a cup or more of the pan juices and drizzle that all over your dressing.   Roast the dressing in the oven for about 40 minutes at 350 F while the turkey rests.

Lisa made some homemade cranberry sauce from New Brunswick-grown cranberries. Simple and fabulous!