Cook the Cover: Canadian Living October 2014

Whether we like it or not, autumn is here. Chilly nights, jackets, leggings, and boots. Time to add on the layers when you step outside. Don't forget to boost your immune system, it's also the time of year you're most likely to catch a cold. I know I did, but I'm thankful that my sick days were kept to a minimum.

With September almost over, it's time to think of the lovely fall harvest. Soups and comfort food is on everyone's radar and don't forget that Thanksgiving is October 13 this year!

When I saw this month's cover, I panicked a little bit. Turkey? Such a huge undertaking! I've never roasted a turkey before! Aren't they tricky? What's the best way to fully cook the bird and not dry it out? I almost decided to skip this challenge, but then when would I ever get around to my first turkey attempt? What better way could there be than to have other bloggers go through the same cooking experience? Let's do it!

Lemon and Thyme Roast Turkey With White Wine Gravy
Shopping List: turkey, fresh thyme, garlic, dry white wine, sodium-reduced chicken broth, all-purpose flour, butter, lemon zest, salt, and pepper.

The shopping list was fairly easy. Most people already have garlic, wine, chicken broth, flour, butter, and your staples: salt and pepper in the kitchen. We only had to go find the turkey, thyme, and pick up a lemon. The short grocery list was another reason that I wanted to try this recipe. It's fairly straightforward and simple. No stuffing or bed of vegetables to tackle.

First up, make the lemon and thyme butter: In a bowl, melt the butter (a few seconds in the microwave), stir in the thyme, lemon zest, salt, and pepper.

Next, remove the giblets and neck from turkey; place the neck in roasting pan. Fill the turkey's cavity with thyme and garlic (ahhh I placed my hand in there!!). Place the turkey on a rack in the roasting pan (thank goodness the turkey fit). That lemon and thyme butter? Brush it all over the turkey.

Roast in 325°F (160°C) oven, basting every 45 minutes. To baste, take the pan out. Using oven mitts, tip all the juices to a corner and gather with baster. Pour the juices over the turkey to keep it from drying out.

The turkey is ready when the thermometer inserted in thickest part of breast reads 170°F (77°C). This takes about three and a half hours.

Isn't it beautiful?? That lovely golden skin and my home smelled soooo good!

Take the turkey out and gently tip to pour juices from the cavity into the roasting pan. Transfer turkey to carving board and cover loosely with foil. Let it rest for half an hour.

To make the gravy, discard the turkey neck from the pan. In a small pot, bring wine to a boil over medium-high heat. Whisk the turkey's juices with the broth and flour until smooth. Pour the wine into the roasting pan. Place the roasting pan on the stove and bring to a boil. Keep whisking as it'll thicken fairly quickly. Another first for me, making gravy from scratch!

Howard had the honours of carving the turkey (sneaking in bites now and then) and we set out sides for everyone to help themselves - buffet style. Mixed green salad, hasselback potatoes, stuffing, and cauliflower-broccoli gratin. The turkey and gravy still the star of the meal. The skin was delicious and we even ended up pouring the light gravy over the salad, stuffing, potatoes ...

I'm sure there are no-muss and no-fuss turkey recipes out there with no basting. But I think this is still a pretty easy and minimal prep recipe, plus the results were stellar. Give it a try if it's your first turkey! I would recommend having two timers on hand, one for every 45 minutes and one for the total cooking time. And the most important tool was the leave-in meat thermometer for peace of mind, you wouldn't want to carve the turkey and pop it back in the oven after finding it still cold!

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post by Canadian Living and I received compensation for it. There was no requirement to produce a positive review of this recipe. All opinions are our own.

Cook the Cover: Canadian Living August 2014

Cobblers are awesome. Seriously. You get all of the deliciousness of a pie but it takes less time to prepare! They don't have to look perfect, be blind baked, or agonized in search of that perfect crust. And just like pie, they're good with a scoop (or more) of ice cream.

What should you do with all that time? Make more fruit cobblers to eat!

This blueberry dessert can be easily whipped up, but don't skip on the "something extras." The ground ginger adds a surprising punch of flavour and the cornmeal gives it a nice crunch. However, I do think that the almond extract could go. Maybe it was the extract I used, but I found it too overpowering.

Blueberry Cornmeal Cobbler
Shopping List: fresh blueberries, granulated sugar, cornstarch, almond extract, all-purpose flour, cornmeal, baking powder, ground ginger, baking soda, salt, butter, and buttermilk.

Preheat your oven to 400F (200C). Gently toss the blueberries, sugar, cornstarch, and almond extract together. Divide the covered blueberries evenly among individual ramekins or into an 8-inch square baking dish.

In a bowl, whisk together the flour, 1/4 cup of the cornmeal, sugar, baking powder, ginger, baking soda, and salt. Add in the butter and cut it in until the mixture resembles crumbs. Drizzle in buttermilk, stirring with a fork to form soft, sticky dough. With a spoon or ice cream scoop, drop 1 scoop (if using individual ramekins) or 9 evenly spaced mounds (if using baking dish) over the blueberry mixture. Sprinkle with the remaining cornmeal.

Place the ramekins or baking dish on a sheet pan - these bad boys will overflow. And they should, you want that homemade rustic look with cobblers. Bake until the crumble is golden, about 35 minutes.

Serve warm with cold ice cream. Then, dig in!

Things to keep in mind when you're making cobblers:

The fruit does shrink when it's being baked! So don't worry about filling up the ramekins a bit more. The height will eventually sink in.

The crumble can be mixed by hand! No need for a stand mixer here. The crumble is also designed to spread, so don't worry about flattening it over the fruit mixture. The mounds will level itself out when it's in the hot oven.

As I said before, bake these with a sheet pan underneath to catch any bubbling goodness that spills over!

See what other bloggers thought about the recipe here.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post by Canadian Living and I received compensation for it. There was no requirement to produce a positive review of this recipe. All opinions are our own.

Cook the Cover: Canadian Living July 2014

You don't even know how excited I was to see this cover recipe!

Grilled peach? It's one of our favourite summertime desserts, made popular last year when we repeatedly had grilled pound cake with grilled peaches and vanilla ice cream. There's something wonderful in seeing grilled marks on fruits and vegetables, something different from the usual meat selection.

This sundae is pretty easy to make and the raspberry sauce can be made ahead of time so that when you're ready to eat, all you have to do is grill the peaches and scoop the ice cream. Almond slivers can be optional, but they provide a nice crunchy texture if you have the time to give them a quick toss in the oven.

Grilled Peach Melba Sundae
Shopping List: unsalted butter, brown sugar, peaches, vanilla ice cream, raspberries, sliced almonds, granulated sugar, lemons, and cornstarch.

I love summer for the abundance of fruits!

Here's me showing you that a scale is the best thing you can invest in when you're following recipes. It works so much better. For the sauce, I have a cup of raspberries there and showing you what 250 ml of raspberries look like. There's a huge difference!

The raspberry sundae sauce is super easy, just throw in the raspberries, sugar, lemon juice, and 1 tbsp water in a blender. Strain the sauce through a sieve into a saucepan (discard seeds). Cook the sauce over medium heat, stirring, for about 2 minutes until it is warmed through.

Whisk the cornstarch with 1 tbsp water and then stir it into raspberry mixture. Bring the sauce to a boil, keep stirring until it thickens, about 1 minute. Transfer to bowl (or jar in my case) and cover and refrigerate to cool completely, about 40 minutes. You can even make this sauce a week in advance and leave it in the fridge until you need it.

Remove the skin from the peaches and cut them into wedges. Mix softened butter with brown sugar.

Heat the grill pan over medium heat (or if you have a barbecue, use that) and place wedges on to get the charred markings. Turn over to do the same. Near the end, brush the butter and brown sugar mixture on and flip once. You have to watch carefully as it caramelizes very quickly. Remove from the grill and let it cool.

Serve with ice cream, raspberry sauce, raspberries, and toasted almond slivers.

Yes?

Yes to grilled peaches.

Yes to raspberries.

If you've never grilled fruits before.
Do it.

If you've never grilled peaches before.
I highly recommend that you do it.

There's just a wonderful mix of flavour and aroma when a peach is getting its grill marks on. Come on, there's no excuse, this is an easy sundae to make and a sure crowd-pleaser. I don't know how else I should convince you!

See what other bloggers thought about the recipe here.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post by Canadian Living and I received compensation for it. There was no requirement to produce a positive review of this recipe. All opinions are our own.

Cook the Cover: Canadian Living June 2014

Wow! We've been getting much warmer weather lately in Toronto, it's almost enough to forgive and forget the icy cold winter we just had. T-shirts! Shorts! Ballet flats! Dresses and skirts! I am all for the summer wardrobe.

How was the past month for you? Did you celebrate Mother's Day by cooking?

I don't know if many of you have gardening, but Howard and I have decked out our balcony. We bought bright teal patio chairs and built our first planter. Looking at all the blooming flowers and green leaves make me so happy. We even started an ambitious herb trolley in the living room. The hope is that we can stop buying bunches of herbs that we can never finish.

And have you started your grill yet? We found the rib sauce in this month's cover recipe to be tasty and easy to make!

Char Siu-Style Ribs
Shopping List: pork back ribs, shallots, hoisin sauce, garlic, grenadine, honey, ginger, Chinese cooking wine, soy sauce, pepper, and five-space powder.

When I say that the rib sauce is easy to make, I'm not kidding. You just have to put everything in a blender. Purée the shallots, hoisin sauce, garlic, grenadine, honey, ginger, cooking wine, soy sauce, pepper and five-spice powder.

See? All done. You can even make this ahead of time and keep it in the fridge for up to two days.

I had Howard come help remove the membrane from the underside of ribs. For the first rib, we scored it and peeled the membrane off. By the second rib, Howard was a confident membrane remover and just yanked the whole thing off.

Next, you take the sauce and rub 1⁄2 cup all over ribs. We thought that it might not be enough marinade so we poured all of the sauce in. Cover and refrigerate for 12 to 24 hours. I made another batch of the sauce (because we used it all and because it was easy to do) to be saved for the grill.

Mmm saucy! Place the ribs, bone side down, in a roasting pan (we thought ahead and marinated the ribs in the roasting pan - no need to perform a messy transfer). Cover pan with foil and roast at 350°F (180°C) in the oven until the meat is tender, about 1-3⁄4 hours. Brush with pan drippings.

This step should not be skipped! It really helps give the ribs a nice finish and flavour. Place the ribs on a greased grill over medium heat. Grill the ribs while brushing the sauce on it. It'll start to caramelized in about about 5 to 8 minutes.

When everyone's ready to eat, slice the ribs and serve!

Having grown up eating char siu pork, we were pleasantly surprised. The char siu flavor wasn't super strong, but it was there! This was a nice subtle homage to one of the most popular take-out dishes at food courts and butcher shops. The consensus was that this would be a recipe to keep and maybe we can use the sauce for other types of meat as well.

We served our ribs with a garden salad, garlic bread, and quinoa - we were full to the max! Not to mention, we had cookie bark and ice cream for dessert. I always feel that ribs are associated with a feast-like spread. The only thing missing was grilled corn, the best summer treat!

See what other bloggers thought about the recipe here.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post by Canadian Living and I received compensation for it. There was no requirement to produce a positive review of this recipe. All opinions are our own.

Cook the Cover: Canadian Living May 2014

Happy spring everyone! Although it still doesn't feel like spring here in Toronto, we're still getting bouts of cool temperature and snow flurries. It'll truly be spring when I can wear my ballet flats and spring jacket to work. For now, I'm still rocking the boots and wool coat.

This month, we were given a salad recipe to try. For me, this was an adventurous one to try. I love a good salad, but I like them green! Iceberg lettuce, arugula, or even spring mix, those are my favourite leafy greens. But cabbage, let alone red cabbage? Fennel? These two ingredients were out of my comfort zone. I do have to acknowledge that I like that Canadian Living is challenging me, it's the reason I signed up to cook the covers in the first place! I want to learn about new things that I normally wouldn't pick up and expand my tastebuds, so to speak.

Sesame Chicken with Fennel and Orange Salad
Shopping List: boneless skinless chicken breasts, salt and pepper, sesame seeds, liquid honey, lime juice, mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, mustard, garlic, fennel, red cabbage, cilantro, and orange.

I whisked together the mayonnaise, apple cider vinegar, mustard, and garlic.

Sob! I really dislike mayonnaise. It is not a staple in my pantry and I never use it on sandwiches or anything else. But, I wanted to give this recipe a true test so I could report back to you, so I bought mayo. Even Howard cringed when it went into our shopping basket. Another condiment I dislike is mustard - Howard's not with me on this one though - and we had this in the fridge. I was starting to wonder if I would like this salad dressing. So far it included two ingredients that I normally don't eat.

I had to take a photograph of the first fennel I ever purchased. It looks pretty cute, like a little heart in some ways. I had no idea how to prepare it so I may have watched a YouTube video to find out. If you're trying it out for the first time too, this is how you core and slice fennel:

1. Slice the bottom of the bulb (the line on the left of the top photograph).
2. Remove the outer white layer.
3. No stalks in this recipe, so slice those off as well (the line on the right of the top photograph).
4. Cut the bulb in half. To core it, make two cuts (the green lines on the top photograph) on the bottom half.
5. You're finished coring it! Thinly slice the fennel. It'll smell like licorice.

I also took a photo of the first red cabbage I bought. It's such a deep purple and felt like shiny leather. It was pretty tough too, I wonder if there's a way to soften up the cabbage?

Mixing in the fennel and cilantro with the salad dressing.

For the chicken, mix the honey, sesame seeds, and lime juice together. Sorry that I don't have a photo of the grilling chicken. I'm not able to work carefully with heat and my camera yet. Plus, the instructions told me to cover the chicken with a lid!

While the chicken is cooking, slice the orange, this should go on the salad last. Once the chicken is done, slice and top it on the fennel and orange salad, serve right away!

What can I say about this recipe? The chicken I would add to my repertoire for future use. I like eating honey glazed chicken and the sesame seeds were a nice touch. Orange slices in my salad? I like that too.

But . . . this salad isn't something I would want to eat again. It includes a lot of strong flavours - fennel, red cabbage, and cilantro. It also includes things I personally don't like - mayonnaise, mustard, and fennel. But that's just me. Howard didn't seem to mind it, his only comment being that the dressing was really creamy. That surprised me too because the image on the cover doesn't show the creamy dressing. However, if I were to make the salad again, I would probably slice the fennel even smaller. And I would use a mandolin for the red cabbage.

See what other bloggers thought about the recipe here.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post by Canadian Living and I received compensation for it. There was no requirement to produce a positive review of this recipe. All opinions are our own.

Cook the Cover: Canadian Living April 2014

We're back! This time with a fresh trifle from the Canadian Living Test Kitchen.

Even though it doesn't feel like spring yet, this bright dessert will give you a little kick to your step. Plan ahead for this showstopper and make the orange vanilla bean custard and rhubarb sauce the night before. After the custard and sauce are chilled overnight, you can assemble the dessert in the morning and it'll be ready for dinner time!

You might already have some of these dessert staples in your kitchen - sugar, eggs, vanilla bean, milk, cornstarch - and would only have to pick up the fresh fruits, juice, and pound cake. And, if you don't have a trifle bowl (like me), I'll show you a different presentation approach! So needless to say, I was pretty excited to tackle this recipe because I've never made a trifle before and never worked with rhubarb either.

Layered Strawberry Rhubarb Trifle
Shopping List: strawberries, vanilla pound cake, oranges, whipping cream, sugar, vanilla bean, eggs, milk, cornstarch, rhubarb, and orange juice.

I love making vanilla bean custard, it always feels like magic when you can see something transform right before your eyes. Keep whisking and the custard will turn thick.

This is what ". . . thick enough to mound on spoon . . ." looks like. And do you see the glorious vanilla bean specks?

Rhubarb! I have never bought or cooked rhubarb before. I hear it is quite tasty and it took me two grocery store visits before finding it (Loblaws had a bunch). They weren't labeled on the shelf so I took the precaution to ask store workers and shoppers to confirm that I was holding rhubarb. It looks like red celery with lettuce-like leaves. I also had to look up how to clean and prepare it. Just give it a good scrub in cold water and cut off the leaves and the bottom of the stalk. Whatever you do, don't eat the leaves!

Cut them up into 1 cm pieces.

Voilà! Rhubarb sauce! The middle melts away when you're cooking it, leaving only the bright red and stringy outer layer.

So, no trifle bowl? Make individual sized trifles with mason jars or glass cups! I used a round cookie cutter on the pound cake.

Drop it in your jar.

Drizzle with rhubarb sauce.

Top with strawberries.

Cover with orange vanilla bean custard and start again with the pound cake slice.

I was able to get three slices of pound cake in there. Try to leave the top garnished with strawberries. With this method, I was able to make six jars of trifle.

When ready to serve, dig in! Would I recommend sharing this delicious trifle? Yes. Two can enjoy one mason jar of trifle. But . . . one can also polish it off too. I've tried it both ways, a dessert all for myself and I shared it with Howard too. Depends how hungry you are!

I think it was a successful first run with rhubarb. I'll have to try it by itself next time since I wasn't sure if it really shined with the orange juice mixed into it.

The orange vanilla bean custard is a winner and if you want to go the extra mile and earn a gold star, make your own pound cake! Oh and if you want a prettier presentation? Make sure each layer touches the edge of your jar/glass/bowl so that the sauce and custard doesn't run down the sides. I was using chopsticks to help lay out the strawberry layers. It takes patience and practice to prevent the whole thing from looking like a jar of custard.

See what other bloggers thought about the recipe here.

Disclaimer: This is a sponsored post by Canadian Living and I received compensation for it. There was no requirement to produce a positive review of this recipe. All opinions are our own.