The Gouda Life

Every so often I need to be reminded. 

That food is to be enjoyed, each bite relished in - not rushed through so I can edit photos and start writing. Meals are to be made because you want them - not because it’s been thismany days since you posted a recipe with thiskind of ingredient. Food is a gift - not a given. This article was my reminder. And a thought-provoking, somewhat shameful one, at that.

Blogging, as many of my peers know, can be a daunting task at times. It’s hard not to get wrapped up in the process of the planning, the cooking, the editing, the writing, the sharing… and somewhere in there the act of the eating gets lost. The simple pleasure of enjoying the meal just for the sake of enjoyment is a task I find myself pushing aside more and more often. To put the fork down and taste, really taste each bite fully - something I never thought I’d have to remind myself to do - is a practice in self-control. 



I’m trying to be better. To be more quiet and thoughtful in the presence of a meal. To appreciate the act of simply eating. And with that said, I’ll let todays simple, earthy mushroom soup speak for itself. 

Cream of Mushroom Soup
adapted from Smitten Kitchen

1oz dried wild mushrooms 
3 cups hot water
¼ cup olive oil
3 sprigs of both thyme and sage, tied together
1 medium onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
½ tsp red pepper flakes, optional
1 pound button mushrooms, cleaned, stemmed and sliced 
1 pound shiitake mushrooms, cleaned, stemmed and sliced 
1 cup dry white wine
Salt & fresh ground pepper
3 cups organic or homemade beef stock
¼ cup table cream
2 tbsp. butter



Place the dried mushrooms in a bowl and cover them with hot water for 30 minutes until plump. Remove the mushrooms and strain the mushroom water through a coffee filter set in a bowl to remove excess grit. Set mushrooms and soaking liquid aside. 

In a large pot over medium-high heat, add the oil and bundle of herbs. As the oil heats up the herbs will start to infuse it with flavour. After 2 minutes, add the onions. Cook until just starting to brown, 5 minutes. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes, if using, and cook for another minute. 

Turn the heat up to high and add the sliced mushrooms. Cook for 10 minutes or until they have released all their moisture. They will shrink considerably.  Once browned, add the white wine and cook, scraping up all the browned bits on the bottom of the pot, until reduced completely. Add the rehydrated mushrooms and their liquid, beef stock, a few pinches of salt and pepper and simmer over medium heat for 30 minutes.  Remove the herbs and stir in the cream and butter. Using a blender (or immersion blender), puree until smooth and serve with a drizzle of good olive oil, fresh thyme leaves and crusty bread. 

  

What a beautiful few weeks it’s been. 

In the aftermath of a hectic month that’s included a whirlwind trip out East, baking for a wedding of 130, followed by sisters stunning wedding last weekend, came many nights of nothing. Nothing. We’re talking buns on couch, wine in hand, sweater wrapped snug around my midsection and toes locked in by moccasin slippers. There might have been some reading. There might have been some movies. But for the most part, my movement has been minimal, at best. 

In the slothful days that passed while I was on the couch, something beautiful happened. The air got cooler, gently urging for knitted sweaters and stored blankets to come out of storage, the windows whined to be closed each evening and the unmistakable, intoxicating smell of evening fires and slow roasted dinners made their way into my nose and filled me with feelings of nostalgia. Of course, this can only mean one thing. And that one thing is what I look forward to 365 days a year. Fall. My time.



I have a fairy-tale romance with fall. When I think of it, I get butterflies in my stomach. It’s all I can do to stifle the heavy sighs that escape me when I get a whiff of someone starting a fire, or cooking, what I like to imagine, is roasted chicken, homemade bread and braised vegetables.Can I really sniff out what random people are cooking for dinner every night during the fall? No. But do I imagine everyone, every single one of you, is sitting around a grand table, with friends and family alike, feasting on a spread of roasted, braised, mashed, creamy, rich concoctions? Abso-frigging-lutely. 

It’s always a challenge for me to adjust healthily to cooking for the change in season. My stomach urges me to grab for the nearest bag of pasta and block of cheese and eat ooey gooey cheesy pasta every night. Probably not the best decision if I plan on.. you know, making it through fall/winter without exploding. 



On a particularly brisk night last week, I decided I would opt out of the pasta and instead reach for the bag of cornmeal. Polenta is comforting in ways pasta can’t quite grasp. It’s smooth and creamy, rich without being heavy. It’s, quite simply, perfect. This time around, I added some crunchy green beans and mushrooms sauteed with thyme and vermouth. It’s a simple dish that’s comforting and perfect for a fall evening. 



Polenta with Green Beans and Vermouth Sauteed Mushrooms with Thyme

I use Marcella Hazan’s recipe for No-Stir Polenta. It’s simple and yeilds perfect results every time. If you have your own method you prefer, go with that. 
 
4 cups water
1 tsp salt
1 cup polenta or yellow cornmeal
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2-1 cup Parmesan cheese plus more for serving
2 handfuls green beans, trimmed
olive oil
3 cups cremini mushrooms, cleaned and sliced
1/4 cup vermouth 
2 tbsp fresh thyme
salt and fresh ground pepper

In a large heavy pot, bring water and salt to a boil. Once boiling, add the polenta in a thin stream while whisking. Turn heat down to medium-low and stir constantly for 2 minutes until it thickens slightly. Turn heat to low and cover pot, stirring with a large spoon for 1 minutes after every 10 minutes of cooking. It will take about 45 minutes to cook through completely. 



While polenta is cooking, bring a pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, add the green beans and cook until bright green but still crunchy, about 1-2 minutes. Dunk beans into a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking process. Let sit for a few minutes. Strain and set aside. 



Add enough oil to coat the bottom of a heavy pan and place over medium-high heat. Once oil is shiny, add mushrooms and cook, stirring every couple minutes, until deep brown and soft. Add the vermouth and thyme and cook until the liquid is absorbed. 



Once polenta has cooked through, add the butter and cheese and stir to combine. Season with salt to taste. 

Spoon into bowls and top each bowl with the mushrooms and beans. Serve with extra cheese, olive oil and pepper. 

 

When I first started becoming more interested in cooking and food writing, around 2007, I assumed that if I could get my hands on a

Le Creuset dutch oven, I would be able to cook anything. It is, afterall, the mother of all cookware in my mind. It’s always been my excuse for not trying certain recipes. “Oh, umm… well I don’t have the proper cookware to make that…”. Of course, it was an easy excuse not to try recipes I found overly intimidating, specifically, the classics that rely on technique rather than fancy ingredients.

As time went on, I became more comfortable making moderately complicated recipes, but still pined after the one and only, Le Creuset, which comes in at a hefty $400 for a 5.5qt pot, so you can understand why it was slightly unattainable for an 21 year old. As far as I was concerned, this pot was the pièce de résistance for any perfect kitchen. Not one could be complete without it. And further to that, one could not cook certain classics without the use of it (which is, of course, entirely false.)

You can probably only imagine my heart-stopping surprise when I curiously plucked the tissue paper from a gift bag, courtesy of my extremely generous older sister Laura and her fiance, to see the notorious bright orange box that could only contain a Le Creuset pot. This was it, I could die a happy woman, clutching tightly to my beloved dutch oven. Sorry Allan, somethings are just more important than true love. Like heavy, enameled cast iron cookware.

So now I had the pot. But I wanted to cook something deserving of it’s perfection. Something new to me, but classic in it’s preperation. I had put out a request for ideas and shortly after, had a suggestion for Beef Bourguignon. Now, why hadn’t I thought of that myself? In all honesty, I’m not much for beef stew. I make it occasionally and eat it reluctantly. It’s easy to make, good for leftovers, and completely insipid. You know, ho hum, uninteresting, boring… all of the above. Yawn.



Beef Bourguignon, on the otherhand, is not your typical beef stew. It’s flavourful, exciting, rich, and satsfying. “Certainly one of the most delicious beef dishes concocted by man.”, claimed the queen of French Cuisine, Dame Julia Childs in her book Mastering the Art of French Cooking. And after cooking it for dinner last night, I would be hard pressed to disagree with Mrs. Childs. It was, in fact, the most delicious beef dish (ok, short of Allan’s dads steaks) I have had. The beef, strugging not to fall apart at the slightest poke of a fork, is blanketed by a sauce of red wine and beef broth, thickened and made richer with buerre manié, and served with browned pearl onions (that just about melt) and butter sauted mushrooms. It was, in a word, divine. Every bit worth the extra steps and time it takes to come together. And don’t worry, you don’t need a $400 dutch oven to make it. Only pretentious, spoiled brats need those. And nobody likes those people. Not even me.

Classic Beef Bourguignon
Recipe via Simply Recipes from Julia Child’s Boeuf Bourguignon in her book Julia’s Kitchen Wisdom

Be sure to make this on a day when you can start cooking earlier in the afternoon. It does take quite a bit of time to prep (1 hour) and to cook (2-3 hours) and I would hate for you to be eating dinner at 9pm like me.

Beef Stew
6 oz bacon (6 slices or 6oz slab bacon)
2 to 3 Tbsp olive oil
4 lbs beef chuck, cute into ” cubes (for best results, use a rump roast and cube yourself)
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 cups sliced onions
1 cup sliced carrots
3 cups of young red wine (burgundy/côtes-du-rhône/bordeaux)
2 cups beef stock (if you don’t have homemade, buy the best quality you can find)
1 medium herb bouquet (5 sprigs thyme, 2 sprigs parsley, 3 smashed garlic cloves, 1 whole clove tied in cheesecloth or, in my case, a tied-up tea sac)

Beurre manié:
3 Tbsp flour blended to a paste with 2 Tbsp butter

Mushrooms & Onions
24 pearl onions
Chicken stock
Butter
1 1/2 pounds of button or cremini mushrooms, quartered

Blanch the bacon to remove its smoky taste. Drop bacon slices into 2 quarts of cold water, bring to a boil, and simmer 6 to 8 minutes. Drain, rinse in cold water, and dry on paper towels.

In a large frying pan, sauté the blanched bacon to brown and crispy slightly. Set them aside and add to the beef before it goes into the oven. Pat cubes of beef dry with a peper towel. Ih a large frying pan over high heat, brown the chunks of beef on all sides in the bacon fat and olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and put them into a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven or covered casserole pan. 



Remove all but a little fat from the frying pan, add the sliced vegetables and brown them, and add to the meat. Deglaze the pan with 1 cup of wine and pour over the beef along with 2 more cups. Add enough beef stock to almost cover the beef. Add the herb bouquet. Bring to a simmer, cover, and plce in the oven at 325 for 2-3 hours. When finished cooking, the meat should be extremely tender and the liquid should have reduced by almost half.







While the stew is cooking, prepare the onions. Blanch the onions in boiling water for 1 minute. Drain and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking. Slice the end tips off of the onions, peel the onions and score the root end with 1/4 inch cuts. Sauté onions in a single layer in a tablespoon or two of butter until lightly browned. Add beef stock or water half way up the sides of the onions. Add a teaspoon of sugar, and season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer slowly for 25 minutes or until tender. The onions should absorb most of the stock. Drain any remaining liquid.

Prepare the mushrooms a few minutes before serving the stew. Sauté quartered mushrooms on high in a few tablespoons of butter and olive oil until browned and cooked through.

When the stew is finished cooking to your liking, remove from the oven and strain over a large sauce pan, pressing so the juices come out, so you are left with all the sauce in one pan, and the solids in the strainer. Discard the stewed carrots/onions, reserving the beef. Rinse casserole dish and add reserved beef to it. Boil the sauce until it has reduced to about 3 cups. Remove from heat and whisk in the beurre manié. Return to heat and simmer for 2 minutes until the sauce thickens slightly. Taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly. Pour sauce over stewed beef cubes and fold in the mushrooms and pearl onions. Simmer again to heat everything through, and serve.







You can serve this with the classic pairing of boiled potatoes or buttered noodles. Or the less classic (but my favourite) mashed potatoes, or rice or all on it’s own.

I served this with a 2008 Chateau St Germain Bordeaux Superieur, since I used Bordeaux to cook with.

So it’s 2011. We’ve established that, right? And with every new year, comes a slew of folks who are gung-ho and motivated to start their resolutions …and then swiftly forget about them.

I’m not much for resolutions. Likely because I lack the willpower needed to stay with them and I feel they set me up to be disappointed in myself if I don’t live up to my own standards. So instead of giving myself something way too specific to stick to, I just try to start every year with a fresh outlook and a clean slate. If it doesn’t last, it doesn’t last.  If I don’t lose 30lbs (unlikely), or buy a house (highly unlikely), or get a promotion, life will go on and I’ll still be happy with who I am. Thunder thighs, rented apartment and all!

I’ve started 2011 hoping to get into better eating habits. I’m not necessarily wanting to lose weight but rather, find better ways to incorporate healthy ingredients into my current diet. Replace some of the heavier things with lighter alternatives and learn how to cook them so they don’t taste like drywall garnished with sawdust.

The first item I hope to incorporate more of are grains. I love them dearly, I really do. But usually more so when other people make them. Whenever I’m at a restaurant, I find myself glancing past the protein and looking to the grain/legume/veg that lays humbly under the beef. Cooking a good steak is easy. Turning a pile of bland, toothsome grains into something worth giving your first born away for is not.

Today was a day for barley. I’ve cooked with barley before so it was something that didn’t feel too daunting. Like I said, this mission is to cook things that I want to eat. Things that are comforting and feel like they should be bad for you without the fear of them attaching themselves to your rear end.

My local grocery store carries a nice selection of dehydrated mushrooms, so I wanted to somehow incorporate them into dinner. Risotto seemed warm, filling and appropriate for this time of year. A risotto that was rich and creamy without so much as a pea-sized clump of butter or cream to be found. My favourite part was the fact that no stock was needed, and therefor no excess sodium. It reheats well, it’s good as a side or a main (great for work lunch!), and it doesn’t leave you feeling bloated, or guilty that you’ve messed up your new years resolution on January 5th. Whoops!

Wild Mushroom Barley Risotto

1 cup dehydrated wild mushrooms (I used a mix of porcini, portobello, shiitake, and oyster)
6 cups of water

1 medium-large onion, diced
glug of olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 - 2 cups pearled barley
1 cup white wine
sea salt and fresh ground pepper
1/3 cup parmesan cheese + extra shavings for garnish



Quick method for re-hydrating mushrooms: fill a microwave-safe bowl with your 6 cups of water. Microwave until boiling (4-5 minutes). Remove carefully and add your mushrooms to the water. Let sit 30 minutes. Remove mushrooms with slotted spoon, set aside and reheat mushroom stock when ready to start your risotto.

Alternatively, heat 6 cups of water in a large pan over high heat until boiling. Turn the heat off and add the mushrooms. Let stand for 30 minutes. Remove mushrooms and set aside. Keep stock warm over low heat until ready to use.



In a large pan, heat a glug of olive oil and add your onions and garlic. Cook until translucent but not browning. Turn heat up to medium-high. Add your barley and stir constantly for 2 minutes. This toasts the barley so it doesn’t get smooshy (a technical term) in the cooking process. Add the re-hydrated mushrooms and wine and let it reduce until mostly absorbed.



Start adding your mushroom stock, one cup at a time, and let it cook until almost no liquid is left. Do this until you have no stock left.


(about halfway through cooking process)

The barley will still have a bite to it, it’s not the same consistency as arborio. If it still feels too toothsome, add an extra cup of water and cook off. Taste and season with salt to your liking (it will likely need quite a bit as your stock didn’t have any salt added in the beginning). Add 1/3-1/2 cup of grated Parmesan and stir into the risotto until creamy. Serve with fresh ground pepper.



If you’re lazy and hate dishes like me, you could also serve in a roasted acorn squash bowl. A little more nutrition, a little more filling. I cut mine in half, drizzle with oil, honey, salt and pepper and roast at 400 for about 35-40 minutes.

If I had to describe myself in a few words, the ones that would ring most true would likely be: hungry, easy-going, homebody. 

The last one is something I never really thought I’d be. According to some, I’m not nearly old enough to have all my ‘party’ out of me. And it’s true. It’s not that I don’t enjoy a good time out, dancing, yelling as loud as I can just to be heard by the person 5 inches in front of me, spending $8 on a pint that would otherwise cost me $4, waking up feeling like there’s a team of city workers drilling into the core of my brain… I just really like being home. I like my couch. I like my dog. I like my pyjamas. I like home. A good night at home (mine or someone else’s) with close friends is my idea of ‘doing something’ on a Friday or Saturday night. Dinner, drinks, boardgames, sitting outside on the balcony sipping wine, watching my street change from family-oriented bliss to a bit of a circus after sunset… it’s my ideal way of winding down after a long week sitting at a desk.

I’m lucky that my best friend feels the same way. Balcony dinners have been our ‘thing’ for the past year and a bit (you know, since I moved into a place with a balcony). It’s where we meet to talk about everything we haven’t been able to, and likely things we’ve already talked way too much about. I don’t have to compete with music or drunk college kids or people pushing by me just to hear how her week went. I like that.

As the cooler weather blows into Ottawa and fall approaches, there are precious few nights left we can spend drinking wine and gabbing into the wee hours. We spent Friday out there, and while it wasn’t the warmest, it was sort of nice to bundle in sweaters and socks.



I’ve been wanting to give polenta a second go for some time and figured it seemed appropriate for a cool night. For those who don’t know what polenta is, it’s a fine or medium grain cornmeal (or sometimes Semolina) that’s cooked slowly with liquid until it becomes creamy and soft. I’m sure there is a better, more precise definition for it out there, but you get the jist, don’t you? You might know it better as “grits” which is what it’s called in many southern American states. It can be eaten as a smooth creamy dish or it can be cooled, cut into pieces and fried. I prefer the former method by a long shot. Its creamy, buttery, comforting  and can be served with a multitude of other toppings/ingredients. Some recipes I’ve seen call for a mixture of ingredients of many different textures and flavours to create a “Polenta Bar”. I love that idea. But I didn’t have many things on hand Friday evening, so I settled for something simple, and delicious.

You’ll have to forgive my lack of good photos for this post, I was too anxious to eat and was trying to socialize at the same time. I never claimed to be good at multitasking.



Creamy Polenta with Roasted Mushrooms, Scallions and Eggs

Creamy Polenta:
I followed Marcella Hazan’s recipe for no-stir polenta with a few minor changes. I highly recommend it if you want perfectly creamy polenta without having to fuss over it.

4 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup polenta (not quick-cooking) or yellow cornmeal (5 ounces)
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4-1/2 C fresh grated parmesan

Add polenta to water in a large pot and bring to a boil. Turn heat down to medium-high and whisk 2 minutes. Reduce heat to low and cover pan, then cook at a bare simmer, stirring with a long-handled spoon for 1 minute after every 10 minutes of cooking, 45 minutes total. Remove from heat and whisk in butter and parmesan until incorporated. Put lid on and keep warm until your vegetables are ready.

Roasted Mushrooms & Scallions



2 C mushrooms of your choice (I used baby portabella), cleaned and cut into one inch cubes
1 C scallions, cleaned/dried/cut into 1-ich pieces
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper

Preheat oven to 450

Add olive oil, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to a bowl and let sit for a few minutes while you clean, and prep vegetables.

Toss the chopped mushrooms and scallions with the oil.

Spread out on a baking sheet and roast until browned. About 10 minutes.

While the vegetables are roasting, poach/fry/bake/boil an egg however you like it best. I fried mine but poached would be REALLY good, too.

Put polenta in a bowl, top with your egg and roasted veggies.



Honest to goodness, it’s better than it looks. I only wish I could have captured it’s beauty better.

The polenta is creamy, the scallions are crunchy and add a nice bite to the otherwise rich meal, the mushrooms add some texture and the runny egg just melts into everything else. It’s comforting but doesn’t leave you wanting a nap. And it’s a good meal to share while catching up with your best friend over a bottle of Campofiorin.