A Life, Lived

Photo Contest Update

I promised that I wouldn't post about the photo contest EVERY day for fear of annoying the regular readers to the blog. However, I said nothing at all about updating things every now and then.

If you haven't voted yet - what have you been up to? Vote and share the links with friends and loved ones *smile* Serioulsy, it only takes a few seconds to vote and everyone has a few seconds to spare, right? Why haven't you voted yet? Twice even?

The first photo is one that I took in Chicago at the Millennium Park. Cloud Gate is a public sculpture by British artist Anish Kapoor. Nicknamed "The Bean" for obvious reasons, Cloud Gate's exterior consists of 168 highly polished stainless steel plates. The sculpture's highly polished exterior reflects and transforms the city's skyline. You can vote this photo by clicking here. (remember 10 is a good vote! *smile*) 

This photo currently is in fourth place with 1650 points. Goodness, we can do better than that!

The second photo is from our trip to Italy this spring. When we were in Siena we visited the Torre del Mangia which is the tower that overlooks the campo. Built in 1325-1348, it is located adiacent to the Palazzo Pubblico (Town Hall). When built it was one of the tallest non-sectarian towers in mediaeval Italy. At 102 m, it is now second only to Cremona's Torrazzo. We climbed the tower back in 2006. This year it was far too hot for such activity, instead we snapped some pictures and visited the adjacent Civic Museum. You can vote for this photo by clicking here.

Again - '10' is the way to go.  This picture is in sixth place with 1440 votes. If this picture doesn't get some votes it will soon be overtaken by a silly pictures of dogs on a beach! GASP

The third picture is a close up I took of the poppies in Tuscany. Everywhere you drive among the Tuscan hills in late May, early June the fields of poppies cut a swathe of picturesque colour and strike a chord of nostalgia in those from countries where agriculture is now dominated by herbicides and pesticides. I understand that they were particularly brilliant this year because of the rain - whatever the cause, I was 'forced' to pull over on numerous occasions to snap photos. You can vote for this photo by clicking here. 

This photo is currently in fifth place with 1566 votes - again we can do far better than that! It requires lots of '10' votes.

The fourth photo is the shadow of our balloon as we floated over the colourful fields and forests near the Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore. Frankly I think that it is the best of the lot yet here it is languishing on 18th place. The horrors of it all. You can vote for this picture by clicking here.

You can only vote once from any given IP address - this means you can vote once from both home and work! If you have two computers networked at home, you can only vote on one of them, however. If you have a Blackberry though that is a third vote.

Chicken and Prosciutto Roll-ups

This chicken dish, done on the grill, is reminiscent of the Italian 'braciola' Braciola refers to thinly sliced (pounded) meat that is wrapped around savouries such as Italian ham, cheese, and herbs before being baked. Here the traditional steak is replaced by chicken breast.

The recipe is from my Better Homes and Gardens New Grilling Book.

One of the nicest things about this recipe is the speed with which it comes together. In less than 30 minutes you can have a delicious dish on the table and it looks as if you've been slaving for hours over a hot grill. Enjoy the praise but keep the secret!

Chicken and Prosciutto Roll-ups

1/4  cup dry white wine
2  teaspoons snipped fresh thyme or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed
4  medium skinless, boneless chicken breast halves (about 1 pound total)
4  thin slices prosciutto (about 1 ounce total),
2  ounces fontina cheese, thinly sliced
1/2 of a  7-ounce jar roasted red sweet peppers, cut into thin strips (about 1/2 cup)
Fresh thyme

For sauce, in a small bowl combine wine and the 2 teaspoons fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme. Set aside.

Place a chicken piece between 2 pieces of plastic wrap. Using the flat side of a meat mallet, pound the chicken lightly into a rectangle about 1/8 inch thick. Remove plastic wrap. Repeat with remaining chicken pieces.

Place a slice of prosciutto and one-fourth of the cheese on each chicken piece. Arrange one-fourth of the roasted pepper strips on cheese near bottom edge of chicken. Starting from bottom edge, roll up jelly-roll style; secure with wooden toothpicks. (At this point, chicken may be individually wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated up to 4 hours.)

Grill chicken on the rack of an uncovered grill directly over medium heat for 15 to 17 minutes or until chicken is tender and no longer pink, turning to cook evenly and brushing twice with sauce. Garnish with additional fresh thyme, if desired. Makes 4 servings.

Nutritional information: 214 calories, 9 g total fat (4 g saturated fat), 76 mg chol., 294 mg sodium, 2 g carbs.

Jamie Oliver Pizza with Slow-roasted Pork, Taleggio, and Thyme

When I check to see who has googled what and ended up at my blog, the most popular search by far is jamie oliver slow roasted pork. In fact, I'd estimate that I get about 30 visitors a days from these two posts alone:

Jamie Oliver's Slow-roasted Pork

Jamie Oliver's Slow-roasted Pork Belly with Braised Fennel

One day last week I noticed that someone had googled jamie oliver slow-roasted pork pizza. Hmmm Now THAT sounded interesting! I went to his site and found a recipe here. This looked bloody amazing, as Jamie himself might say. I had some of the slow roasted pork in the freezer so I thawed it out and went searching for taleggio.

Taleggio is a semi-soft, washed-rind cheese from the Valtaleggio region in northern Italy, near Lombardy. It is characteristically aromatic yet mild in flavor and features tangy, meaty notes with a fruity finish. The texture of the cheese is moist-to-oozy with a very pleasant melt-in-your-mouth feel. The combination of the soft texture, pungent aroma, and buttery flavors has proven to be addictive especially when spread on fresh crusty bread. Taleggio pairs nicely with Italian Nebbiolo wines, as well as a wide range of reds and whites. I can also saw with certainty that it pairs bloody well with slow-roasted pork!

We enjoyed this pizza on Saturday after traipsing through wine country with mom and Rose. We are having the leftovers tonight. I did the pizza on the grill using the technique I describe here and using the recipe for dough I posted here.

If you don't have a supply of frozen slow-roasted pork on hand (poor thing, how do you survive?) make the pork one day and the pizza the next.

Enjoy!

Jamie Oliver's Pizza with Slow-roasted Pork, Thyme, Taleggio, and Lemon-dressed Arugula

for the pork
1kg/2lb 3oz pork shoulder
2 tablespoons fennel seeds
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
olive oil

for each pizza topping
2 tablespoons tomato sauce
85g/3oz taleggio cheese
1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
a small handful of rocket
juice of ½ a lemon

 

Preheat your oven to 170ºC/325ºF/gas 3. Score the pork shoulder. Bash the fennel seeds and rub them over the pork, then season and rub with olive oil. Roast in the preheated oven for at least 4 hours, until the meat is tender and shreds easily. When cool, shred up using a fork or your hands. Dress the meat with a little of the cooking juices – it will have almost the texture of a confit of duck.

Smear the tomato sauce thinly over the pizza base and scatter over a small handful of your roasted pork and some small pieces of taleggio. Sprinkle with the thyme leaves, drizzle with olive oil and cook until crisp and golden. Dress the rocket with a tiny bit of lemon juice, scatter over the pizza and serve.

Dinner with Mom, Rose, and Paul

A strange thing happens when you have a blog. Folks start to send you things that they think would make a great blog post - and I say 'YEAH' - because I don't have to think. Sometimes they will direct you to write something about them or to NOT to write something about them as the case may be. Last night over dinner Rose said 'when you blog about tonight's dinner be sure and dedicate it to Kim'. I thought that this request was an odd one because in 570 posts I have yet to dedicate a post to anyone.

Anyways, Kim - you were discussed last night! LOL Rose says to stop whining about working so hard - she does that amount of work all of the time.

Mom is in the air jetting to Paris as I type (well, I haven't heard otherwise so we shall go with that). Because she was leaving today we decided to have Rose and mom over for a family dinner last night. It made for a very busy weekend but Rose only visits once and awhile so we didn't mind.

We decided to start off with drinks and a variety of antipasti . . .

For the cheese we served a French cheese with shaved black truffles, a bleu cheese from Quebec, and a delicious white cow's milk cheese from the Eastern Townships. To go with the cheese we had our fig and rosemary jam, a pear jam we had brought back from Florence, and a hot and spicy mixed fruit jam called Berry Blast. We had crackers, bread, and the taralli that I had baked on the morning.

We also served a variety of cured olives and some shortbread 'coins' made with sharp, aged cheddar cheese.

I started grilling early . . . with the assorted Italian cured meats we had fresh figs stuffed with gorgonzola cheese and wrapped in proscuitto. After the figs were grilled I drizzled them with the 12 year old balsamic vinegar we purchased in Barolo. On the left is my new favourite treat - Asparagus wrapped with proscuitto with an orange citronette. WOW, WOW - this recipe was from the Mario Batali grilling cookbook that Paul bought me for my birthday.

We washed these treats down with a bellini made by Paul (reputed to be the recipe used by a popular area restaurant Milestones. I posted the recipe for the Milestones Bellini here). We generally always have some waiting the the freezer for when we get the urge for a delicious peach drink.

We relaxed for a bit before enjoying the main course. Paul had marinated some pork loin chops in white wine, herbs, garlic, and olive oil. I grilled them and just before serving them squeezed fresh lemon over top. These chops were HUGE - I could only eat half of mine.

For a salad I made a version of caprese but sadly I bought the wrong tomatoes at the farmers' market - yellow - ARGH. I'm not sure you can call it a caprese without the wonderul red, white, and green of the Italian flag but sobeit. I used basil from the garden.

I also grilled some of the first fingerling potatoes of the year - they were amazing - I LOVE fresh vegetables.

I had found some fresh swiss chard at the market as well. Grown by a local farmer and picked Friday morning, it was delicious sauteed with some olive oil and lemon juice.

With dinner we served two red wines - Rose got the last of the Casa Emma reserve chianti that we had opened up earlier in the week and Paul and I sipped a big, red blend from Coyote's Run winery in Niagara-on-the-Lake.

Of course we waited a while before dessert. Mom wanted to go for a walk, something that she, Paul, and I often do to help our dinner digest but Rose would have none of that discussion.

For dessert we served some chocolates and assorted Italian cookies that I bought at SOMA - the best chocolate shop in Toronto.

I also had made a tart that I found on Cindy Ruth's blog earlier in the week. The crust is sweet, almost shortbread-like, the filling a wonderful almond infused concoction studded with fresh fruit. She had made her tart with plums but I had some apricots from the market so I used those. It was a wonderful dessert - easy to make, not too sweet, and light - perfect for the end of a HUGE dinner.

Finally the end. Oh yes - we served the last of the Lemoncello we had brought back from Rome with dessert - a fine finish to the meal.

Kim - Rose said you'd be jealous about missing dinner. I suggested that she save some leftovers for you but she ate it all anyways. Sorry, I tried! :-)

Sunday Slow Baking # 16 - Taralli with Red Pepper and Oregano

Another Sunday and another great recipe by Gina De Palma. This is the latest stage in the Sunday Slow Bakers' exploration of Dolce Italiano by Gina De Palma. Krista came up with the notion that it might be interesting to get a group of folks together to bake and blog each week. This week's recipe is a savoury one for a change and was selected by Cindy, sadly she wasn't thrilled with the results she achieved.

Today's recipe is a favourite of Gina's - in fact she wrote about it on the Babbo website. Taralli are snack food, a type of bread common throughout the southern half of the Italian peninsula: they're doughnut shaped, about 3 inches across, and are moderately crunchy; they can be either somewhat sweet or slightly salty, and some people sprinkle their surfaces with anise seed, pepper, or whatever. Gina suggests that they are like a pretzel but the ones I have tried are more bagel-like.

I really enjoyed these - they are a little more effort than some recipes to make but the result is well worth it. They will be perfect tonight with a bottle of wine! Next time I make them I will try different herb/cheese combinations.

Taralli with Red Pepper and Oregano
Taralli al Peperoncino e Herbe  

4 1/2 cups “00” Flour 
2 Tablespoon kosher salt
1 Tablespoon sugar
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh oregano 
2 teaspoons crushed red pepper flakes 
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons dry white wine 
1 cup extra virgin olive oil

Place the flour, 1 tablespoon salt, sugar, oregano and red pepper flakes in the bowl of an electric mixer. Add the wine and oil and mix on medium speed with the paddle attachment to form a wet dough. Beat fro three minutes. Transfer the dough to a plastic container that has been oiled and well dusted with flour. Cover with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rest for at least 2 hours. You can also refrigerate the dough overnight in an airtight container; bring it to room temperature before proceeding with the recipe. 

Preheat the oven to 375 and position the rack in the centre.

In a stock pot or dutch oven bring approximately 4 quarts of water to a boil. Season the water with the remaining 1 T. salt. Reduce the heat to a simmer. Cover the pot to prevent the water from evaporating.

Prepare two baking sheets by lightly brudhing them with olive oil.

Have ready some paper towels to drain the tarilli on as they come out of the water.

Turn the dough out onto a floured board and knead lightly. Divide the dough into four pieces. Work with one piece at a time, keeping the rest in the bowl until ready to use. Roll portions of the dough into long ropes, about ¾ inch in diameter and 18 inches long. Cut the rope into about 4 or 5 pieces and shape them into rings, making a small knot at the top. As you finish each ring, place it on a cookie sheet dusted with flour, repeat with the remaining pieces of dough.

Drop the rings in to the simmering water, about 4-5 at a time; the water should remain at a simmer. The taralli will sink and then float when they are done. Increase the heat as necassary to keep the water at a simmer. Gently scoop them out of the water with a slotted spoon or a Chinese skimmer, allowing them to drain for a moment in the spoon, place on paper towels for a few moments to remove any excess water. Place them on a cookie sheet greased with a bit of olive oil. You do not have to space the taralli too far apart, as they will not grow while they bake.

Bake the taralli should bake for about 25 minutes or so, or until they are a nice even, golden brown. When they are evenly golden brown, remove them from the oven and transfer to a rack to cool completely before storing them in an airtight container. They will last only as long as you can keep from eating them!

Be sure and check in on the other sunday slow bakers to see how their taralli turned out:

Baked Alaska
Destination Anywhere
Happy Trails for Us: My Reluctant Blog
Keep your Feet in the Street
In and Out of the Garden
My Place in the Sun
Palmabella's Passions
Postcards From the Trail
Whistlestop Cafe Cooking

A Day in Wine Country with Mom, Rose, and Paul

My sister is visiting from Nova Scotia and one of the things that she wanted to do while she was here was to visit wineries in Niagara. Originally we were going to go yesterday but Paul was a bit sad about us visiting wineries while he was at work. No one wants a sad Paul so we changed plans and went today. Mom decided that packing for her cruise could wait so she joined us as well - it was a repeat of our trip to Napa and Sonoma in 2006.

We left home at 10 am under menacing skies. Enough with the bloody rain!

Ah, the rolling hills of grapes!

We visited a number of wineries, actually we tasted at six! I was the driver so I didn't taste at all of the wineries. How sad.

We had brought the cooler to protect our purchases from the heat but I think we would have been fine without it because the temperature was not too bad. The clouds couldn't figure out what to do so we had short bits of rain followed by clearing skies and sunshine.

We saw a fascinating site at Featherstone, one of our favourite wineries. A herd of sheep was being used to prune the vines! Apparently this practice is common in New Zealand but Featherstone is unique in introducing this practice into Canada. The sheep eat the leaves where the grape clusters grow exposing the grapes to the sun.

The sheep 'pruning' the grapes.

After visiting a few wineries we drove through the town of Beamsville, where mom grew up and Rose and I spent countless holidays staying with our grandparents. We stopped at the Dutch bakery in town which has been in business for close to 50 years (family trivia here - mom's wedding cake was made there) where we bought far more treats than we needed.

Of course, we couldn't wait to dig in!

We ate lunch at Penninsula Ridge, a winery that makes some of the best wines in Niagara in my opinion. The restaurant is in the Kitchen House which was built in 1885.

The Kitchen House

At the end of a curving road high on the Niag­ara Escarpment, this Victorian house, next to the immaculately restored red brick winery, is a perfect spot for a relaxed meal. The best table, in a bay window, provides spectacular views of the surrounding vineyards and Lake Ontario, with the Toronto skyline in the distance (yeah - we got this table!). The wine list is predictably heavy with the estate’s own offerings, but considering winemaker Jean-Pierre Colas has quickly established the Ridge as a winery to watch, this is not a bad thing. With such inspiration, chef Robert Trout can’t help but deliver.  The food is inventive and delicious. Service is exceptionally smooth.

Paul's cannoli with roasted banana and chocolate filling - WOW

Lunch was made even better by the news that mom was treating!

On the way back to the car mom spotted a cherry tree laden with fruit. At first she wanted Paul to do grab some sweet cherries for her but he thought better of it and refused. Mom wasn't going to let that come between her and some cherries! Apparently they were quite tasty.

It was a great day in Niagara. We laughed a lot, enjoyed some wonderful wines and incredible food. It is easy to forget at times how spoiled we are in this area!

Italian American Cheeseburger

It has been almost a month since Paul's birthday - my lord, how life gets in the way of blogging plans! At the time I mentioned that he wanted burgers for his special dinner and my dismay at such a request. In the end, I passed on the control (people everywhere are still shocked) and gave him what he wanted.

Sort of.

These delicious treats ARE burgers. Mind you, they are considerably  'ramped up' from a plain burger with the addition of fresh thyme, sun dried tomatoes, and Gorgonzola cheese.

WOW

The best things about these burgers is the way the crumbled Gorgonzola melts in the burger as it grills, richly flavouring every bite!

Italian American Cheeseburger

1-1/2  pounds lean ground beef
1  cup crumbled Gorgonzola cheese (4 ounces)
1/3  cup snipped dried oil-pack tomatoes
1  tablespoon snipped fresh thyme
4  cloves garlic, minced
1/2  teaspoon salt
1/2  teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
6  sourdough rolls, split and toasted
Sliced red onions
Sliced tomatoes

Combine beef, 3/4 cup of the Gorgonzola cheese, all but 1 tablespoon of the snipped dried tomatoes, the thyme, garlic, salt, and pepper in a large mixing bowl. Shape mixture into 6 patties 3/4 inch thick.

Place burger patties on the lightly oiled rack of an uncovered grill directly over medium heat. Grill for 14 to 18 minutes or until an instant-read thermometer inserted in centers registers 160 degree F, turning burgers once halfway through grilling.

Remove burgers from grill. Top with remaining Gorgonzola and snipped dried tomatoes. Serve on toasted sourdough rolls with sliced red onions and tomatoes.  Makes 6 burgers.

Rosanne Cash's Potato Salad

I sometimes wonder if all families talk about food as much as mine. It seems that every time we get together, for five minutes or fifty, the talk turns to something about food. The other day is a case in point. My sister is visiting from Nova Scotia and she and my popped by one evening for a short visit - I served them some leftover dessert (good bye citrus polenta cake, mint ice cream, and strawberry cream cheese pie) and we chatted . . . about food.

For some bizarre reason the conversation turned to potato salad. This was clearly a serious conversation. Have you ever noticed how serious families take their recipes? It turns out that we all had a favourite potato salad recipe and the thought of anyone else's potato salad recipe almost was enough to induce a migraine.

For the record, my current 'favourite' potato salad recipe is one that originally appeared in Bon Appetit in June of 2004. On the last page of the magazine they feature a 'celebrity' (a word that has lost all meaning in my not so humble opinion). In June it was Rosanne Cash. The interview is about food - the questions designed to change the world and bring peace for all time to the middle east i.e. 'what five ingredients are always in your refrigerator' or 'what do you make that everyone always raves about' - that sort of pithy dialog.

Rosanne's 'rave recipe' was her potato salad. This was odd - most of the previous 'celebrities' were trying to send a message with their 'rave' recipe, not Rosanne. I thought it was worthy of a try - and guess what. People raved!

Give it a shot - you'll enjoy it!

Rosanne Cash's Potato Salad

3 pounds medium red-skinned potatoes, unpeeled, scrubbed
8 dill pickle spears, coarsely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
3 celery stalks, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 medium red onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
5 hard-boiled eggs, peeled, chopped
3/4 cup mayonnaise
2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Cook potatoes in large pot of boiling salted water until tender, about 30 minutes. Drain; cool. Cut potatoes into 1-inch pieces and transfer to large bowl. Stir in pickles, celery, onion, eggs, mayonnaise, and mustard. Season potato salad to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour before serving.)

Rosanne mentions that you can play around with fresh herbs. In particular, she will often add 2/3 cup chopped, fresh cilantro and 2 tablespoons of curry powder - YUM

Fig and Chile-Glazed Pork Tenderloin

We tried this quick recipe, originally from Cooking Light Magazine, the other day. I used the fig preserves that I had in the fruit cellar. The resulting dish was amazing! The chile heat is quite mild, in fact, I would consider doubling the amount for a more pronounced 'zing'.

This recipe serves 8. I used the leftovers for an amazing fig and pork tenderloin quesadilla. YUM

Enjoy!

Fig and Chile-Glazed Pork Tenderloin

1/2 cup fig preserves
1/4 cup rice vinegar
1 tablespoon chile paste with garlic
1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, divided
2 (1-pound) pork tenderloins, trimmed
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Cooking spray
Fresh chives, cut into 1-inch pieces (optional)

Prepare grill to medium-high heat.

Combine preserves, vinegar, chile paste, soy sauce, and 1/4 teaspoon salt, stirring with a whisk.

Sprinkle pork with 1/4 teaspoon salt and pepper. Place pork on a grill rack coated with cooking spray; grill 18 minutes or until thermometer registers 160° (slightly pink), turning occasionally and basting frequently with fig mixture. Garnish with fresh chives, if desired.

CALORIES 193(18% from fat); FAT 3.9g (sat 1.3g,mono 1.8g,poly 0.4g); IRON 1.6mg; CHOLESTEROL 74mg; CALCIUM 11mg; CARBOHYDRATE 14g; SODIUM 274mg; PROTEIN 24g; FIBER 0.3g

How to Tell if you Live in Canada

A few weeks back Paul and I were listening to the radio and we heard a comedian attempting to explain the difference between Canadians and Americans. We laughed at some and cringed at others.

Then last week while waiting at the vets I read an extensive article comparing Canada and the US (Canadians are healthier but spend far less money on health care; Canadians earn less money, pay more taxes but have a higher net worth than Americans . . . that sort of stuff. In fact, the article concluded that we had quietly started to live the American dream whilst our friends south of the boarder had been distracted) Anyways, it got me to thinking.

Then my friend Catherine sent this along stating that it would make a cute blog post - how right she was! This allegedly is Jeff Foxworthy attempting to explain to folks how to tell if you are living in Canada . . .

If your local Dairy Queen is closed from September through May, you live in Canada.

If someone in a Home Depot store offers you assistance and they don't work there, you live in Canada.

If you've worn shorts and a parka at the same time, you live in Canada.

If you've had a lengthy telephone conversation with someone who dialed a wrong number, you live in Canada.

If 'Vacation' means going anywhere south of Detroit for the weekend, you live in Canada.

If you measure distance in hours, you live in Canada.

If you know several people who have hit a deer more than once, you live in Canada.

If you have switched from 'heat' to 'A/C' in the same day and back again, you live in Canada

If you can drive 90 kms/hr through 2 feet of snow during a raging blizzard without flinching, you live in Canada.

If you install security lights on your house and garage, but leave both unlocked, you live in Canada.

If you carry jumpers in your car and your wife knows how to use them, you live in Canada.

If you design your kid's Halloween costume to fit over a snowsuit, you live in Canada.

If the speed limit on the highway is 80km -- you're going 90 and everybody is passing you, you live in Canada.

If driving is better in the winter because the potholes are filled  with snow, you live in Canada.

If you know all 4 seasons: almost winter, winter, still winter, and road construction, you live in Canada.

If you have more miles on your snow blower than your car, you live in Canada.

If you find 2 degrees 'a little chilly', you live in Canada.