Wednesday, November 25, 2015

Sauces and Chili.

Well, I feel really industrious today, Tuesday. I have just made Marinara sauce for the freezer, Cheese sauce for a Cauliflower
cheese, the remains of which will also go in the freezer. A large pot of Chili con Carne which also will end in the freezer. My back is killing me. My stool didn't really work I'm afraid. In the first place one has to move around too much. I thought I had everything close, but I didn't, then I found one leg was hurting whilst the other was on the step stool. Bit different if you are a prep chef. All you do is stand and chop, dice or slice.  The cheese sauce shows a whisk
which is something I never use when making sauces. Presumably to whisk out lumps, but I make mine carefully in order to avoid lumps in the first place. I have "gone on about" making such sauces properly before. I forgot, naturally, to take pix of the sauces before I froze them. Same with the chili. Making it I realised I didn't have any pinto beans so decided to use black beans instead. Looks OK tastes OK too. Had a little lamb left so chopped it up fine and threw it in. Don't tell Matt he had enough roast lamb last week he said. I haven't made chili in  years - I really don't know why not. Have a friend in NC who submits chili to the local chili fest tournament every year. I once asked him for a recipe and he sent me his second best, the first is a secret. I have no clue what happened to that recipe.

We have cooked a similar recipe to this a number of times. Ours was a Jacques Pépin recipe, similar and always very popular with our guests. I would choose heavy cream for this dessert.

Poached Pears in Red Wine

Neal Brothers Cookbook - Day 10
Neal Brothers Cookbook 

From Kristina McMillan, director, NorWest Co-op Community Food Centre, Winnipeg Poached pears in red wine is pure heaven. This is a traditional Italian recipe made with simple ingredients. Chef Anna Paganelli of De Luca’s in Winnipeg shared the preparation with me. I had the pleasure of working alongside Anna for a few years, and she taught me that if you use quality ingredients in your recipes, the flavours will absolutely sing.

6                   ripe Bosc pears, unpeeled, cored and halved
1                   lemon, sliced
1                   cinnamon stick
2 cups       dry red wine
½ cup       granulated sugar
Vanilla ice cream or gelato

Place pears in large saucepan, skin side up, and cover with water. Add lemon and cinnamon stick. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Cover, reduce heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until pears are cooked but still firm.
Drain pears, reserving cinnamon stick. Return pears to pan, skin side up, along with reserved cinnamon stick. Pour in wine and sugar. Simmer over medium heat, uncovered, until liquid has reduced slightly and thickened, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.
Divide pears among serving plates. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the centre of each pear. Drizzle with wine syrup.

Serves 6 to 12

Have a great day
 

24 comments:

  1. Hi Jo - sounds like you were industrious - they all sound good. I love the idea of the pears ... such a great and easy dish to make ... cheers Hilary

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    1. I thought so Hilary LOL. The pears are delicious.

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  2. Wow! My back would be killing me too if I did all that in one day. I'm a whisker, but find I still need a spoon to get roux out of the edges of the pot. I too lost a chili recipe and have no idea where it went. That's why I had to find a new one.

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    1. With what you cook Denise, I am surprised you think that was a lot

      I use a spoon from start to finish. Very rarely use a whist for anything.

      Annoying when you lose a recipe isn't it. It just occurred to me where it might be, on an older recipe programme I have.

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    2. I cook a lot but I do it over several days. Makes a difference.

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    3. Well I do too Denise when I am preparing a special meal like yours for tomorrow.

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  3. Sorry it didn't work but I will tell you, as a prep cook, NOOOOOOOOO we don't stand still. I was the baker side of prep, called cold prep even though I baked and chopped. I'd have brownies in the oven, apple cake on the way, vedge chopped, in and out of the walk-in cooler every five minutes. A million things going at once (as you do). It's an extremely fast-moving job where I never got to just stand there and chop. That being said, I had several herniated discs and the stool relieved the pressure greatly.

    My suggestion is to give it some time and don't do to much right away.

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    1. Oh, OK, I had the wrong idea of a prep cook Ivy. I will try the stool again and see what happens. I found the "down" leg was hurting after a very short time.

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    2. It's so hard when we hurt like this and sometimes stools don't work or even sitting or standing. Having had several pinched/herniated/slipped discs, I share your back pain. It sucks and I wish you didn't have it.

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    3. PS: Yes, we had two preppies (is what they called us), cold side and hot side and we were the first ones in and had to have everything ready for everyone else by open. But I tell ya, it was one of the BEST jobs ever. Minus the pain in my spinal, legs, neck and all that unfun stuff.

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    4. I wish I didn't too Ivy. Sorry you have had so many back problems, mine is age related I think. Pity when you can't do a job you like because of pain.

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    5. Well, I couldn't walk anymore. Barely. So yeah, had to stop. But now, since I don't eat dairy, I barely have any more problems. Even the swollen area in my back, is long gone.

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    6. That's wonderful Ivy. I didn't know dairy could give you such problems

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  4. Smart to cook up things and store them in the freezer until you're ready for them. Now that the kid has flown the coop, I tend to make extra for a second meal later and put it in the freezer. It's especially nice on those days I don't feel like cooking.

    Chilli is so versatile and you use so many different type of beans. I love chilli with black beans but I've also made a black and white chilli using navy beans or great northerns with the black. And those pears look yummy!

    Sia McKye Over Coffee

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  5. Cheese and Cauliflower - I'm in love. What time should I arrive?

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    1. Funny Dixie, we eat it a lot. Sorry, we ate it last night although I have enough sauce to make two more.

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  6. I use a whisk when it's called for in recipes, esp. for flour. I've been making the 'Wendy's chili recipe' that's was on pinterest and FB a couple of years ago. It's delicious, one of Russell's faves. I use ground turkey though, and if I have any turkey chourico in the fridge I toss that in as well.

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    1. I don't think I have ever tried it with ground turkey JoJo although I make white chilli with chicken pieces. Not lately though.

      Never heard of turkey chorizo either.

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  7. Yummmm,...sounds tasty!!!! Happy Thanksgiving, Jo!

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  8. You have been industrious. We're feeling as if we've had a productive morning, too. We've been out pulling out the excess banana palms. Not as hard work as it sounds because they have very shallow root systems but it's too hot to do amy more now so we're retreating to the cool of the house for few hours.

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    1. How nice to have banana palms Helen. We saw them in the Dominican Republic, practically every household has one or two.

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  9. He gave you his second best recipe? Hilarious. The best one must be pretty good!

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    1. He never won a prize though Pinky. He always reckoned it was fixed with all the old boys and their families who had been competing for years.

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