Fall colours Canadian Style Thai Turkey noodle Soup · Sunday October 16, 2016 by colin newell
It is a cool October evening and what better way of heating it up a notch than with some Thai turkey soup.
Granted this is a variation on the old classic Chicken soup… but it prepares well and is mighty spicy.
What is special about this recipe is the addition of fresh uncooked Shanghai thick noodle which you can get at most Asian markets. It is an awesome addition to a very authentic recipe.
The basics
2 teaspoons canola oil
2 cups sliced mushrooms
1 whole chopped red bell pepper
1/2 cup minced peeled fresh ginger
6 garlic cloves, minced
1 (6-inch) stalk lemongrass, halved lengthwise
1/4 cup sambal oelek (ground fresh chile paste)
4 cups Turkey stock
1 standard tin coconut milk
4 teaspoons fish sauce
1 tablespoon sugar
1 cups shredded cooked Turkey breast
1/2 cup green onion strips
3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 package (250g) fresh Shanghai thick cut noodles
Preparation
1. Heat a stock pot over medium heat. Add oil to pan.
2. Add mushrooms, red bell pepper, peeled ginger, garlic and lemon grass – stir constantly for 3 minutes or so.
3. Add chile paste; stir for another minute.
4. Add Turkey Stock, coconut milk, fish sauce, and sugar;
5. Ease to a simmer.
6. Reduce heat to low; simmer for 10 minutes. Add turkey to pan
7.) Simmer for a few minutes. Discard lemongrass. Top with onions, cilantro, and lime juice.
8.) While soup is simmering, bring sauce pan of water to boil. Cook the fresh Shanghai thick noodle for 4 minutes. Rinse with cold water. Add to soup. Simmer for a few more minutes.
Garnish with cilantro and green onions.
Serve with bread.
Fall colours Canadian Style sourdough pizza · Sunday October 16, 2016 by colin newell
At this time of the Fall, Andrea and I start looking forward to some rustic cooking; soups, stews and, yes, the occasional treat of pizza with seasonal ingredients. And since I have a sourdough starter that has been on the go since 2008, what better opportunity than right now to whip up a great pizza dough and accompanying pizza. Here goes:
Andrea and Colin’s simple Sourdough Pizza
Ingredients
1 cup sourdough starter, unfed or not at room temperature
1/2 cup warm tap water
2 1/2 cups Caputo 00 Pizza Flour *
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon active dry yeast
A word about Captuo “00” Bread Flour: It is the gold standard of pizza flours by which most others are judged, but there’s quite a bit of confusion as to exactly what it is. You’ll read in countless sources that Italian Tipo “00” flour, like the Caputo, is a “soft wheat flour,” with a low protein content. Caputo 00 flour is ideal for pizza dough for two reasons: one, it’s finely ground, and two, it has a lower gluten content than most flours.
The “00” refers to the texture of the flour: Italian flours are classified by numbers according to how finely they are ground, from the roughest ground “tipo“1, to 0, and the finest 00. Gluten, the natural protein that remains when starch is removed from wheat grains, creates the elasticity you feel when you bite into a crunchy loaf of bread. The lower the protein content of the flour, the lower the gluten, and the lower the gluten, the less elasticity there will be in your dough (cake flour has the lowest gluten level).
Instructions
In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a hook attachment, combine all ingredients. Mix on medium low until all ingredients are incorporated and you have a firm ball. If dough is still very sticky, add about 1/8 cup of flour at a time until dough is firm. Your dough may be wetter than expected based on how wet your starter is. Don’t worry, just add more flour.
Remove dough from bowl and transfer to a lightly floured surface.
Kneed by hand for about 1 – 2 minutes, then form into a ball.
Place the dough ball in a medium mixing bowl that has been coated in olive oil or cooking spray. Lightly toss the dough ball in the bowl to coat in oil/spray.
Cover with plastic wrap and a dish towel. Place covered bowl in a warm area for 2 hours or until about doubled in size.
You can make this pizza dough ahead of time and keep in fridge for 1 or 2 days.
Transfer risen dough to a lightly floured surface. Roll out with rolling pin or spread with your knuckles to desired crust thickness.
Transfer dough to a pizza peel, if baking on a pizza stone, or onto a pizza pan or baking tray.
Top with sauce and favorite toppings.
In our case:
- Tomato sauce (by Jamie Oliver)
- Saute mushrooms and shallots
- Salami
- fresh mozzarella balls (from our local market, Root Cellar…)
Bake in a preheated 500 degree oven (or outdoor BBQ) for 7 to 10 minutes – until cheese is bubbly and crust is browning.
Enjoy your home made pizza!
Baking 101 Bernard Callebaut sticky chewy chocolate brownies · Thursday September 1, 2016 by colin newell
I just made this rich, dark chocolate brownie with a soft chewy center, firm edges and a crackly top. Simple to make using just one bowl. Pay attention to the measurements as they are the key to success.
INGREDIENTS
- ¾ cup Fry’s, Hershey’s or Dark Dutch cocoa
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ⅔ cup butter – melted
- ½ cup boiling water
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 free range jumbo eggs
- 1⅓ cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 cup dark/medium Bernard Callebaut chocolate chips
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease a 9 by 13 baking pan.
Add cocoa and baking soda to a large bowl and stir to combine.
Melt ⅔ of a cup of butter in your microwave. With a wooden spoon, stir ½ of the melted butter into the cocoa and baking soda. Stir until combined.
Add ½ cup of boiling water to bowl with cocoa and butter. Stir until combined and smooth.
Add sugar, eggs and the rest of the melted butter to the cocoa mixture. Stir until combined.
Sift in 1⅓ cup of flour. Add vanilla and salt. Stir until combined and batter is smooth.
Add chocolate chips to batter and stir until combined.
Pour into prepared baking pan and smooth the top out with a wooden spoon. Bake for between 35 and 40 minutes. Test with a toothpick for doneness.
Cool for 30 minutes in pan. When cool, remove from pan and cut into snack sized brownies.
Yield should be around 2 dozen.
Serve with ice cream while warm – or with black coffee. They are an addictive treat.
If you feel the urge to coat them with icing, wait until they are cool and use your imagination.
Alternately, one could swirl in peanut butter chips or raw peanut butter instead of the chocolate chips.
Colin Newell is a Victoria area resident and long time creative writer. A baker since the age of 12, he has been around the mixing bowl a time or two!
Food, drink and smoking Summer 2016 · Friday August 19, 2016 by colin newell
Having saved up for a house, back-yard and BBQ for going on 20 years, you can imagine my delight when all of this actually came true!
I now have the house and back yard and a very beat up but serviceable Weber Genesis 3-burner 300 series BBQ that is still cooking away (and over ten years of age…)
And in the first 60 days of living in our house, I BBQ’ed 45 nights! We just started our 3rd year in the house 1 month ago! Amazing. I am a better BBQ chef now but what kind of smoker am I?
Well, I am not a smoker at all – but I could aspire to be.
And if learning how to gas flame BBQ cook is one skill, then learning how to smoke meat is an entirely, ahem, different kettle of fish. But let’s discuss some basics.
Smoking meat to perfection requires much more finesse than many people are aware of. There are two distinct setups when it comes to the arrangement of a smoking system: the vertical setup, and the horizontal setup. In the vertical setup, the fire can be as low as the bottom level of the apparatus, separated from the meat at the top with water and smoking wood in the middle.
In the horizontal setup, the cooking chamber, water, meat, smoking agents, and firebox are all connected. Of course, it is also possible to achieve good smoking results simply by using a regular grill. The source of heat for completing the smoking process can be achieved with a number of different agents, including wood, steam, electricity, gas, and charcoal.
The greatest challenge in being able to achieve a consistent temperature throughout the meat is to be able to maintain a constant, healthy flow of smoke. Generally speaking, those who are new to the art of smoking meat will be best-suited with an electric smoking apparatus.
Generally speaking, indirectly seating through smoking is a method adopted for larger pieces of meat. Naturally, different cuts of meat will have a different amount of time that will be most ideal for dispersing the heat of the smoke across the full surface area and throughout the entire cut.
The attached graphic gives you a great idea how different meats or proteins respond to smoke – or in other words, “when they are done…” It was a neat graphic to look at and the attached image prints well – so use it freely and learn a bit more about “smoking” – smoking of the healthy kind that is!
What you can do is open up the graphic by clicking on it and then right clicking it to save to your desk top.
Or (and this should work better…) Click on this – smoking-times-and-temperature.jpg
Now I need to get out some of those hickory wood chips I have kicking around!
Apologies in advance to my lovely Vegan and Vegetarian friends.
Colin Newell has been writing this blog for over 20 years and you will notice the absence of junk content, click bait, promo links and other rubbish. We are better than that and everyone should demand better content!
