In Your Kitchen

Soup

Ingredients:

1 medium size butternut squash
75 ml butter
50 ml maple syrup
100 ml brown sugar
1 tsp all spice
3 cups (750 ml) water
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation:

• Peel the butternut squash and cut in half lengthwise to expose the core, this way you can easily remove the seeds with a spoon.
• Cut the butternut squash into cubes (don’t worry about size, the soup will be pureed).
• In a pan melt the butter and add all your ingredients with the exception of the water and sauté till the squash has a nice golden brown colour, then add your water,  let simmer for about 15-20 minutes till the squash is fully cooked.
• With a hand blender puree until nice and smooth, add salt and pepper to taste.

Ricotta

Ingredients:

4 cups (1 liter) of whole milk
1/5 cup (50 ml) lemon juice
A pinch of salt (less then ½ tsp)

Preparation:

• Heat the milk till 90 degrees Celsius, it’s important it doesn’t boil, for 5 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and stir in lemon juice and salt, let it stand until the milk sours (curdles). Line a strainer with cheese cloth (dollar store carries cheese cloth!).
• Carefully pour mixture in the strainer on top of a bowl and let the liquid drain out (I do this in the fridge so it firms up faster) after the liquid is drained completely you can remove the strainer from the bowl and put the ricotta in a container.

Chicken roulade with cranberry pesto

Ingredients:

1 whole chicken
1 cup (250 ml) cranberry sauce
1 bunch basil
1 bunch parsley
2 tablespoon ground parmesan
100 ml canola oil

Preparation:

• Debone the whole chicken and keep it in one piece. Once deboned, set aside and put the carcass in a stock pot.
• For the pesto, put on a small pot of water and bring to a boil, while the water is on separate the basil and parsley from its stems. Once the water is boiling drop the basil and parsley in it for a second or two and shock it in ice water.
• Chop or use a kitchen machine to blend the cranberry sauce, herbs, parmesan cheese, oil and cranberry sauce together. Once it is mixed, taste and season with salt and pepper.
• On a cookie pan/sheet pan lay out chicken, skin down. Rub the meat with your cranberry pesto, generously divide until all the pesto is used up. This will prevent your chicken from drying out and will give a nice savory tangy flavor.
• Gently fold the legs on the breasts, then roll the chicken into a compact roll.
• Roast in a 300-degree oven until it reaches an internal temperature of 165 Fahrenheit (75 Celsius), basting every 10-15 minutes.
• Once cooked it is important to let the meat rest for at least 10-15 minutes.

Roasted seasonal vegetables

Ingredients:

1 small turnip
8 baby carrots
1 red onion or shallot
1 sweet potato
4 cloves of garlic
Canola oil
Salt and pepper

Preparation:

• Wash and peel your vegetables. Leave the baby carrots whole, the turnip cut in half lengthwise then into wedges roughly the same size as the carrots. Leave the peeled onion cut in half, lengthwise, then slice lengthwise into strips.
• Cut the sweet potato into wedges, you can mix all the vegetables together in a bowl with some canola oil (enough for all vegetables to have a bit of shine). Add salt and pepper.
• Add the whole garlic cloves and spread out on a cookie pan/sheet pan. Roast at 375 Fahrenheit (180 Celsius) until cooked and caramelized.
  

Williams potato

Ingredients:

1 lb of peeled potato
3 eggs
100ml butter
Salt and pepper
1 cup liquid egg (beaten whole eggs)
2 cups of panko breadcrumb
1 liter of canola oil (for frying)
4 cloves, whole garlic

Preparation:

• Boil or steam the potatoes until completely cooked. Mash and mix with eggs, butter, salt and pepper. Let it cool in the fridge.
• Once cooled and firm shape the mashed potato into a pear shape. At the top, stick a whole clove where the stem would be.
• Roll through the bread crumb, then through the egg wash and back through the bread crumb again. You should have a nice tight even coating.
• Deep fry at 350 until hot and golden brown.

Beet chips

Ingredients:

1 beet
Flour
Salt and pepper

Preparation:

• Thinly slice the beets with skin on and drench in flour. Deep fry until bubbling stops. Season and set aside.
  

Reduction of natural juices

Ingredients:

1 chicken carcass
Salt and pepper
2 liters of water
3 tbsp butter

Preparation:

• Add all ingredients to a stock pot and put on the stove, let it slowly simmer until the 2 liters is reduced to about 1 cup. Remove the chicken carcass and downsize the juices to a small saucepan.
• Add salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat, whisk in the butter, whisk whisk, whisk until butter is absorbed juice is thick.

Crème brule

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup heavy cream
½ cup whole milk
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp ginger
4 egg yolks
½ cup white sugar
¼ cup pumpkin puree
1/3 cup coarse sugar for burning

Preparation:

•  In a saucepan heat all ingredients except sugar and egg yolks. Let it come to a slow simmer (not boil). Remove from heat. Whisk egg yolks and white sugar together, then slowly pour into the milk mixture, whisking fast so it doesn’t curdle
• Pour the mixture into bake proof ramekins. Place in oven pan and pour some water in the bottom to create a steam bath.
• Bake at 300 Fahrenheit (140 Celsius) for 30-45 minutes. After 30 minutes check to see if the mixture still jiggles but is not runny. Then it’s ready! If it is very liquidly, leave a bit longer.
• Once cooked, take out of the oven and let it cool in the fridge.
• Once cooled (and just before serving) sprinkle the coarse sugar on top. With a torch, caramelize the sugar by evenly “burning”.