You See What I`m Reduced To

Now that my website is up and running I am forced to update my blog as frequently as possible. Some posts may be very simple just so I can amass a good amount of them. Nonetheless, each of my recipes are still worth making (with the possible exception of the fresh pasta) and have my wife`s seal of approval. I hope the new website will increase my readership and I hope there will more comments in the comment box.

So, without further ado, here we go with our next little dish. This is one is really, really easy. It's a simple classic. It's fool proof. It's alive, afraid, a lie, a sin. It's magic, it's tragic, it`s a loss, it's a win.

Balsamic reduction is a great back-up garnish in a professional kitchen. It's cheap to make. Keeps forever. Great contrast on your plate. And it's pretty darn tasty. If it's available to you, try purchasing Vin Cotto at your fine grocer. For your reduction, just buy the cheapest balsamic vinegar you can get. Do not be fooled by fancy packaging that says it`s from Modena or something. You are about to change the taste of the vinegar so don`t bother spending your money. It`s like using expensive wine for your Red Wine Jus on your Prime Rib.

I may have explained this before but I am going to repeat: a chiffonade is a technique of cutting a large flat herb. Take several leaves of the herb (basil in this case) and layer them. Then roll it up and slice thinly. Basil can bruise easily and if chopped up, they go brown and lose their appeal.

When cutting your tomatoes, keep them evenly sliced, and not too thick and not too thin. Seems like common sense, but I`ve learned to take very little for granted when giving out recipes. Besides, in a salad, presentation is even more important because, in a restaurant, many patrons ask themselves, "Why would I order this when I can make it at home?" There is truth to that question, so, I take a little extra care in making my salads look great.

Tomato Salad with Bocconcini Cheese and Balsamic Reduction

4 Ripe Tomatoes, sliced as in photo
4 Balls of Bocconcini Cheese, cut in slices
1 Red Onion, sliced thinly
1 Bunch of Basil, chiffonade
Drizzle of Balsamic Reduction (see below for recipe)
Sea Salt to taste

On one large plate or evenly distributed over six, arrange tomatoes attractively. In other words, make nice. In between each tomato, place a slice of cheese for contrast. Randomly sprinkle onion. Randomly sprinkle the basil. Randomly drizzle the reduction. Randomly sprinkle some sea salt. Randomly give to your guests.

Serves 6.

Balsamic Reduction

500 ml of Balsamic Vinegar
Small Handful of Brown Sugar

Put in pot and reduce on low heat to one fifth its original volume. Let cool at room temp, store in an airtight container and serve whenever needed.

A Humble Chef`s Tip: the reduction will bleed quickly after you drizzle it. Do this at the last minute so the salad doesn`t become a pool of balsamic and tomato water.

Variation: Go fusion with this and add a drop of soy sauce to your reduction. Trust me, it`s not bad.

The Prancing Pony's Soup of the Day

My goodness. I was on a roll there for a while. But, as summer came, writing was the last thing I wanted to do. Besides, my hard drive failed and I am currently sans laptop. Nevertheless, I am still cooking (unfortunately at times) and still experimenting.

I am making soups for a local business in the small town I call home and today I made something different. In this part of the world, some people like to cook to season. Sometimes I do. In this case, asparagus has come to town from local farmers and so I am obliged to help out the local economy and use what they grow.

Asparagus is my favourite vegetable. It has a nice natural tang, it goes well with everything, it looks great on a plate (height, contrast, appearance) and it's really easy to cook. On top of that, you can eat raw, steamed, blanched, sautéed or cooked and served cold. Brilliant.

This soup (another soup I know) is essentially a variation on the standard theme. I imagine you may start seeing a reoccurring theme.

With the asparagus, trim only bit of the woody part. After liquefying the soup, it adds to the flavour and helps thicken the soup.

Asparagus Purée with the Village of Brie

2 Shallots, roughly cut
1 Clove of Garlic, crushed
2 Bunches of Asparagus, roughly cut (save one spear for garnish)
1 Sprig of Basil
3l Vegetable Stock
20g Brie (basically two slivers; one for thickening, one for garnish)
Salt and Pepper to Taste

In a soup pot, sauté the garlic and the shallots until golden. Add chopped asparagus and cook for one minute. Add stock and basil. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to a simmer for ten minutes.

Add half of the brie and stir. With a hand blender, liquefy the soup until desired texture. Season to taste.

In a separate pan, sauté the remainder of the asparagus and add so the soup. Chop up remainder and add to the soup.

Serves 6.

A Humble Chef's tip: Don't forget to not cover the vegetables when they're cooking through.

Variation: If brie is unattainable, go ahead and use camembert (everybody has camembert in their fridge for back-up).

Chocolate Wrapper

Ever try to make phyllo pastry? I'll be honest here. I haven't. Even in cooking school, we used store bought. I cannot imagine a reason to justify me making this pastry from scratch. I imagine some readers may be disappointed by my honesty but here I have to be. If someone asked me for a recipe, I would look foolish.

For this recipe, I strongly recommend using the finest chocolate available to you (I used Milk Chocolate Pyramids from a great chocolatier downtown) and of your preference. White, dark, milk, whatever.

Keep this simple and you'll have no trouble at all.

Milk Chocolate Pyramid Wrapped in Phyllo with Strawberry and Blackberry Coulis

8 Milk Chocolate Pyramids
3 Sheets of Phyllo, cut in 16 rectangles
10g Unsalted Butter, melted
Icing Sugar for Garnish


Preheat oven at 325 celsius.

On your countertop, lay out 1 sheet of phyllo. Using a pastry brush, apply small amount of butter. Lay another sheet and lightly brush some butter. Place chocolate in center and fold up pastry to cover. Place on some parchment on a cookie sheet.

Repeat with other chocolates.

Back for 15 minutes or until pastry is golden brown on top edges. Let cool 10 minutes before serving. Dust with icing sugar and serve with coulis.

Serves 8.

Strawberry and Blackberry Coulis

1 pint of strawberries, washed and trimmed
1/2 pint of blackberries, washed
40 g sugar
Splash of Vanilla Extract
Splash of Maple Extract (optional)

In a small sauce pan, heat berries and sugar and extracts. Add splash of water and cover. Bring to boil on medium high heat. Remove cover and let cook for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Using a blender, purée until smooth. You can strain through a fine mesh chinois to remove seeds though not completely necessary.

Let cool completely and place into a sqeezee bottle.

Serves 30 desserts.

A Cheesy Post With A Cheesy Title

Well, my fellow connoisseur du fromage and I catered a small event over this past weekend with great success. Not only is she a great help with the small touches that I would normally overlook (we had little give-aways of Balsamic Reduction for the guests of the dinner party) but she was also invaluable in helping me with plating, tasting, cleaning and prepping. In fact, she visualized the Tomato Salad which was what we ended up going with in the end. She also made up a small menu to give to the guests. Here is what it looked like when I copied and pasted it:

Chef’s Amuse

*

Potage Crecy au Chèvre

*

Roma Tomato Salad with Bocconcini

& Balsamic Reduction

*

Filet Mignon with Molten Gorgonzola Mousse,

Thyme-scented Broccoli & Chesire Potato Purée

*

Sélection de Fromage

Queso Manchego, Oka Québécois,

Yorkshire Wensleydale with Cranberries

*

Milk Chocolate Pyramids in Phyllo

It looked much better on a little menu.

The party went extremely well. In case you're wondering, the Amuse was a Lobster Watermelon Salsa on an Endive. I was pretty happy with it, but next time I know how to make it unbelievable.

The next time you have a party, a cheese selection is highly recommended. You can do them in advance and use it for in between meals. Besides, 99 people out of 100, love cheese. Every once in a while, somebody is a vegan or lactose intolerant. Very rare when somebody simply dislikes cheese.

You can go with simple, local cheese with plain crackers. Or, go with some imported selections that you really like. One thing to keep in mind is to have a variety of flavours, textures and colours. I really like the aged cheddar with Guinness because it has great contrasting colours and because most people really enjoy it. Have one soft, ripened cheese like brie or camembert. Maybe a hard ripened cheese like Manchego, Edam, Gouda. I love blue cheeses myself, I usually go with Gorgonzola or of the like when I compose my platters. Don't use unripened cheese (mozzarella, feta, ricotta) because they aren't the classiest. Goat's cheese is usually a favourite

As for garnishes, you can do whatever you like: dried apricots or cranberries, fresh figs, dates, grapes, apple slices, pistachios, walnuts, whatever. Make sure it is a palate cleanser whatever it is. Grapes are basically a must. It the photo I used cranberries soaked in red wine and grapes.

Crackers are up to you. Going with crostini is a nice touch but nobody will begrudge you if you simply go with the store bought artisan crackers. Crostini is just a baguette cut into small circles with your flavours of choice: garlic cloves rubbed on, sprinkle some chopped parsley, olive oil or butter, whatever.

A Humble Chef`s tip: Be sure to have the cheeses at room temp. Otherwise, your brie will taste pretty much like butter.

Not Just Any Salad

I'm sick of writing about soups. They're cheap and easy and repetitive. Every so often I need to make something new.

Well, with spring apparently around the corner, how about a salad. But not just any salad. A potato salad. But not just any potato salad. A German potato salad. But not just any German potato salad. A Humble Chef's German potato salad. But not just any Humble Chef's German potato salad. But A Humble Chef's German potato salad made by none other than my wife, The Closet Optimist herself. That's right readers. My Equality Equation made this fantastic recipe as dictated by me.

I have some esplainin' to do. She has this fear that if I were to unexpectedly meet my end, it would be unfortunately the cessation of my recipe development. She would never be able to eat any of my food again. Ever. So, she wrote down a few recipes while we were working together in the kitchen to preserve her pickle of a husband's legacy (actually, this is why I am writing this blog).

So, I will leave out any notes and go for the jugular.

Not Just Any A Humble Chef's Farinaceous Salad Made In the Style of the Germans

8 Red Potatoes, cleaned and quatered
5 Slices of Bacon Itself, medium chopped
1 Red Bell Pepper, medium dice
1 Green Bell Pepper, medium dice
1 Small Red Onion, finely diced
1 Green Zucchini, medium dice
1 Stalk of Celery, finely diced
3 or 4 Sprigs of Sage, chiffonade (don't you dare ask me what that is)
20 gr Pommery Dijon Mustard
200 ml Mayonnaise (or as needed)
A Few Drops of Worcestershire Sauce

Blanch potatoes until you can eat it. Probably 8-10 minutes. Try to not overcook them. It usually doesn't take very long.

In a sauté pan, fry up yummy bacon until crispy. 5 min. on medium high heat. Remove bacon and add peppers, onion, celery and zucchini until bright. Season with salt and pepper.

Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

In a mixing bowl, combine all ingredients and mix well. Season to taste.

Serve warm.

Serves 4.

Variations: Everybody has their own version of potato salad. Add your signature to this classic. I like to add quatered hard boiled eggs myself.

A Humble Chef's tip: Add a few extra potatoes to use as testers. Don't be embarrassed that you have to check your potatoes to see their doneness: everybody does it.

What Are Ya? Chicken?

Here we go again. Another soup. Well, my restaurant partner (known as my wife) and I really enjoy this thai inspired recipe that we used to get at a local place by our old home. I have taken it and pretty much adapted the flavours to a method that I find to be very easy.

I was at my cousin's apartment making some of this soup and he and his fiancé loved the stuff. It's so easy that I figured that I'll give my take on this basic of basic of soups.

One last note: Please try this recipe. It is so easy it should be illegal.

Did I mention it was easy?

Easy Mushroom and Chicken in a Coconut Broth

Dab of Butter
1 Medium White Onion, finely diced
1 Clove of Garlic, minced
200 g Mixed Mushrooms (Shitake, Button, Oyster, Cremini), sliced
2 Chicken Breasts, sliced
1 Can of Coconut Milk
600 ml Chicken Stock (or veg)
5ml Honey
1 Small Bunch of Cilantro, roughly chopped
A Few Leaves of Basil, chiffonade (chopped)
Salt and Pepper to Taste

In a mid sized soup pot on medium heat, melt up some butter until frothy. Add onion and garlic. Cook but not browning. Add mushrooms. Cook for one minute. Add chicken and lightly brown.

Add coconut milk. Add stock. Add honey. Add something else . . . . you got it! The cilantro and basil. Bring to a boil. Simmer and season to taste. That's it. No really! Walk away from the soup and let it sink in how simple that was.

Serves 4. Not including my cousin. For him, it serves 2.

A Humble Chef's tip: Use a whisk if the coconut milk is still a little lumpy. The greater amount of surface area of the coconut milk, the faster it dissolves into the soup.

Variation: I almost made this with mussels. Take out the 600ml of chicken stock and add half wine, half fish stock and you've got a real winner.

Uncle Ben's Making Dessert

I was fortunate enough today to bear witness the famous rice pudding my in-laws were spoiled with; made with love by their neighbour. I've never been the biggest fan of this particular dessert but I will try anything at least once. It is very easy to make and fairly foolproof.

It is an interesting recipe (a different method than I would use) but that is how things are done in the country and when you've made this recipe for several decades, well, why then would you change it?

She used instant rice strictly because that is what she had available to her. Besides, it cuts the cooking time considerably.

Concession 8 Rice Pudding

500g Instant Rice
Dab of Unsalted Butter
350g Sugar
450ml 2% Milk
250g Raisins, soaked in warm water
2 Eggs
Splash of Lemon Juice

Preheat oven on broil at 450 degrees.

In a pot, boil 500ml of water. Add rice and butter. Turn off heat and cook for 5 minutes.

In a casserole dish, whisk together sugar and eggs. Add 500ml of milk, lemon juice and raisins. Add cooked rice and mix. Add 50ml of milk on top.

Place into broiler and cook for 20-30 minutes.

Serves the ladies at church for several days.

A Humble Chef`s tip: Well, what can I say without offending anybody and come across as a know it all. But if were to, well, maybe I'll keep the comments to myself.

Variation:Uhhh, add vanilla? How about maple syrup? Or almond extract? Or dried cranberries? Or whatever you have in your house.