Recipe Review: Chuck Hughes' Maple Pecan Pie

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I really enjoy Montrealer Chuck Hughes' show Chuck's Day Off. His approach to food is very simple yet delicious. A guy who left the world of advertising to open up a restaurant with his friends and hires his mom to make desserts sounds like one of the coolest foodies around and when he made his version of his mom's Maple Pecan Pie, I just had to try it out!



Holy moly it has been dark and dreary in Nova Scotia. Three summers in a row, there is barely enough light in my kitchen to bake and cook by! Still, baking always makes me feel better. You get one stick/one cup of very cold butter and cut it up. You put flour, salt and the butter in a food processor and whiz until it looks like breadcrumbs. You add 1 egg and 1 tbsp of cold water and whiz. As usual, I needed a lot more water for the dough to come together:



When the dough looks like this with no floury bits on the bottom, you know it is going to come together. Knead a little on a board to bring it together then cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least an hour.



Roll out the dough until it is much bigger than your pie plate. Put in the pie plate and trim the dough. I folded mine over and then fluted the edges. With a fork, prick the bottom of the dough all over.



In a bowl you combine whipping cream, brown sugar, real maple syrup and an egg. You can not get a simpler, richer filling than that! Pour into the crust:



Top with pecans and bake at 350F. The recipe says to bake for 35 minutes but there was no way my pie filling was close to being set. I kept it in the oven for an additional 15 minutes, although it may have taken around 25 minutes for it to come close to setting. It is hard to say, I kept testing it to see if the middle was still super wobbly and if it was, baked it for longer until it souffled and seemed to come together.



My husband insisted on having some of my coffee ice cream on top because he thought it was a little dry. When I look at this picture the last thing I think of is dry, I think he just wanted ice cream! I really loved this pie and wow, how the maple flavour rings true throughout! My one and only complaint is the toughness of the pie crust. That is probably due to the fact that I needed to keep adding extra water as I processed but I did want to follow the recipe as closely as possible. Next time I will just add a lot more water right away. I give this recipe four out of five wooden spoons.

Chuck is going to be at CATCH: The Nova Scotia Seafood Festival June 19th!

President's Choice throws Canada's Biggest BBQ Event

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The weather improved a little and the sun seemed to come out just so President's Choice's could throw their Canada's Biggest BBQ Event. They had their ice cream shop truck there and were handing out free mini ice cream cones of some of their parlor ice cream flavours.



I tried their Rainbow Ice Cream and I gotta say, um, I really did not like it. It just tasted like candy, all fake. I know it was supposed to be bubble gum flavoured but I was hoping to taste some of the raspberry. Definitely not my cup of tea.



My husband tried the Marshmallow Chocolate Swirl and he liked it, he said that it tasted like a campfire, roasted marshmallows and chocolate, kind of like a s'more! He was disappointed they did not have their Tiger Tail Ice Cream to sample. He used to have that as a kid and misses it. I can not imagine orange ice cream with a streak of black licorice in it! I may have to use the $1 coupon I got at the truck to let him try that one later on.



I did buy the PC Maple Crunch Ice Cream which is very delicious but uber sweet! That kind of goes with the territory of maple though. I sometimes find ice creams with this flavour only have a hint of maple but not this ice cream. It is all maple, all the time. In fact there are little candy maple bits all over the place. I really did enjoy this ice cream and probably will get it again.



The PC Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies were a controversial product in my house. I ate one and could barely finish it. As usual, boxed cookies do absolutely nothing for me. If I am going to ingest all those calories, they better be fabulous. Ever since I was a kid I have not enjoyed them so I figured I was prejudiced against them so I tried them out on my husband. He LOVED them! Big time. He has been enjoying them every day all week which shocks and amazes me. We had two completely different reactions to this product so my advice? If you like store-bought cookies these are apparently very good ones. If you are like me and do not like boxed cookies, these probably will not convert you.



PC 100% Sparkling Fruit Juice Orange Tangerine was both my favourite and most disappointing PC product to review. The good news? I have been waiting for a product like this. I make this kind of drink on my own all the time and thought how great it would be not to have to make it myself anymore. Carbonated water and fruit juice. No sodium. No caffeine. No syrups or additives of any kind. Two servings of fruit per can sounds perfect! Right?

The problem? The price. For a box of four cans the price was $3 on sale. As you can see in the photo above, one little 250mL (1 cup) can does not even fill my glass and yet it is a lot more expensive than a can of pop. At the same store, one can of Coke costs 44 cents per can. This can costs 73 cents per can, so you pay 29 cent more and you get 105 mL less. For just over $3 I can buy a large bottle of juice and combine with sparkling water and it will go a lot farther than four cups of liquid.

What a shame! We enjoyed this drink so much that we finished it before I had a chance to photograph it. I had to go out and buy more which drew my attention to the price. I was so disappointed. I will buy these product now and then but think I will stick with making my version of this drink for less money on a regular basis.

At the BBQ they were barbecuing up the angus sliders I reviewed and loved. I still can not believe the change in weather, the sun actually came out for this event! The turnout was good and the people working there were extremely helpful and friendly. 

The only PC product I could not review was the PC Maple Bacon Marinade. My husband and I do not eat pork and this marinade actually has pork in it. Sorry about that! You can blame the movie Babe, it had a profound impact on both my husband and I. I do have some now and then but pork actually makes my husband sick. Sadly, I will have to pass on this product.

Thanks goes out to President's Choice for letting me try and review their products. We had some big winners and not-so-big winners but I really appreciate being introduced to more products. I love cooking and baking but any help I can get in the kitchen I will take and I will definitely be making more of those sliders this summer and enjoying their maple ice cream.

Warning: Raspberry Ice Cream & Meringue Basket Disaster ahead!

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My husband was away for three weeks for work and I wanted to make him raspberry ice cream for his homecoming. He loves raspberries. After all the work that went into making coffee ice cream I wondered if there was a super easy and fast way to make it so I checked youtube and found this video on strawberry ice cream. At first glance, it seemed like a fantastic and brilliantly easy idea. You get a container of frozen fruit in a syrup and two cups of whipping cream. Strained out the fruit (did not want the seeds in there) and combine the syrup with the whipping cream.



I poured the mixture into the frozen ice cream maker thinking, if this works, it is sheer genius!



When it finished churning it looked like this. I have absolutely no idea what happened. It appears as though the whipping cream separated. It got all grainy but did melt on my fingers so it was not butter, thank goodness. Darn it! This was not the visually appealing dessert I envisioned for my husband's return so I decided to make meringue baskets for the ice cream to make it prettier.

For some reason when I was whipping up the egg whites I had this panic that 1 tsp of cornstarch would not be enough to make the meringue soft. If you make meringues with just egg whites and sugar and no cornstarch, I learned the hard way that they turn into rocks. Cornstarch makes them marshmallowy but 2 tsp is way too much. They could barely hold their shape when I put them in the oven. These were going to take two hours to bake so I had time to come up with something to hide my weak meringues with: 

I used another container of raspberries in syrup and made a raspberry reduction. As I looked at it in this bowl I realized that this dessert was going to be a slaughterhouse for the eyes!



Yup, not pretty at all I am afraid. Although a part of me looks at this disaster with fondness. It was because of my excitement that my husband was coming home that I screwed up everything. What was supposed to be just a bowl of raspberry ice cream turned out to be a foodie Odyssey of good intentions and a lot of mistakes.

The good news? This was delicious! I mean, super yummy! The meringue literally melted in your mouth and the raspberry flavour was strong and beautiful. We enjoyed every bite and I have a feeling I will be making many raspberry milkshakes for dessert very soon with all that leftover weird-looking ice cream.

Disasters in the kitchen happen to everybody! It is how we learn, it is how we grow. So don't be scared! Go for it!

Taste of Nostalgia

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Last fall during my trip to Toronto I was shocked to see Mr. Greenjeans still upstairs in the Eaton Centre.  They are celebrating their 30th birthday this year and apparently changed their decor and menu. What a shame! It was here that I was introduced to my favourite sandwich of all time, one I have been trying to replicate and now have come so close.

I am pretty sure it was my sister Jamie who took me there for the first time. I thought their menu was wild and ordered the roast beef sandwich topped with coleslaw. How bizarre! I also ordered a blueberry milkshake which was one of the best things I have ever had in my life. I was in foodie paradise. I realize now that for a kid, I was a pretty adventurous eater. Sadly neither items made it to the new menu but that does not mean I can not have them at home.



I made a Dijon Rye Loaf in my breadmaker. You need: 1 1/3 cups water, 1/3 cup Dijon mustard, 1/4 cup skim milk powder, 3/4 tsp salt, 2 tbsp packed brown sugar, 2 tbsp olive oil, 1 cup whole wheat flour, 2 cups regular flour or bread flour, 3/4 cup rye flour, 1 tbsp dill seeds (I didn't have any so I omitted that) and 1 and a 3/4 tsp of bread machine yeast. Select whole wheat cycle.



Val from The Food Network wrote a post about her mom's coleslaw and when I looked at the recipe I saw that her mom makes a wilted coleslaw which would impress my mom, who insists that any real coleslaw is a cooked coleslaw. It was delicious! I made it with natural vinegar, something I had never heard of before, and it makes such a difference. It is much less overpowering than most vinegars but still packs a punch.



Not very pretty I know but wow, flavourful! I slathered on the mustard and some garlic aioli too. The bread was very moist, rustic and delicious. The roast beef contrasted fabulously with the vinegary coleslaw just like I remembered. It was like being back at Kerry Smith's birthday party in downtown Toronto all over again. I giggled as I ate this sandwich, like a kid.

Now I am on the hunt for a fabulous blueberry milkshake recipe. What childhood flavours do you miss? Isn't it amazing we can time travel through food?

What's the best lunch you ever had?

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I have been asked to answer the question, "What's the best lunch you ever had?" at Favedietsblog. My favourite lunch happened last fall when I got to hang out with the women in my family at Mandarin Restaurant. You will find lots of great stories of food and feasting at their site!

I would love to know what was the best lunch you ever had? Was it the food that made it the best or the people you were with? Lunch is a meal that many people work through and/or rush. Let's celebrate and honour food in the afternoon!

Jamie Oliver's Time Travelling Breaded Mushrooms

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Recently a friend of mine that I have known from public school asked me via Facebook if I had a recipe for breaded mushrooms. I did not, figuring that the only way to make them was deep frying them. Leave it to Jamie Oliver to come up with a baked version: Jamie Oliver's Breaded Mushrooms with Aioli. I used panko breadcrumbs which gave them a fabulous additional crunch.



Last weekend was my high school reunion and I could not go, stuck in Nova Scotia and all. Catching up with people I used to know on Facebook and getting to taste those mushrooms took me all the way back to my days as an usher at Canada's Wonderland. How I would love to get breaded mushrooms just outside the flume ride, my chin soaked in mushroom juice, my mouth burning from the hot oil. I think I was the only one who liked Barney's Burgers (a la the Flintstones) next door and still thinks of those burgers fondly.



Jamie's mushrooms are wonderful. No, they will never be as good as those deep fried mushrooms by the flume ride but they were close enough that I got to time travel back to happy days. My only suggestions may be to put some salt in the flour to help season them. I even made the aioli and it was fantastic! My first time successfully making aioli from scratch.

I can think of no more powerful tool for connecting to the past than food. I seem to be stuck in time here in my house in Nova Scotia. Not moving forward, blind to the future. I thought the only constant in life was change and yet I live in a time loop. My only escape seems to be, to go backwards. Connect with who I was through food to change my present. To figure out where I am going.

Makes me wonder where I will go next, back in time?

Food Network Article: Susie's Shortbreads

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My latest article for The Food Network is up and I am thrilled! It is so very exciting to see my photographs and words up on their fantastic site.

What fun it was to spend a couple of afternoons shopping and eating cupcakes in downtown Halifax. How did I get so lucky? I will not go into details about my trip to Susie's Shortbreads here but did want to draw your attention to the article so you did not miss it.

What I will say is that if you are in the downtown area of Halifax and are looking for a treat, Susie's is the place you are looking for. Oh and I highly recommend the peanut butter cup cupcake. I am still dreaming about it.

Product Review: President's Choice Barbecue Event Products

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For those of you who do not live in Canada and do not know President's Choice, let me introduce you! You may have noticed their products in many of my food photographs because I find that they are high quality for less price than large brand name companies. I do not buy pre-packaged food very often but I do trust this company and was excited to have the opportunity to review many of their exciting brand new products!

The PC Thick Cut Ballpark Hot Dog Flavour Rippled Potato Chips were exciting for me to try. Chips are one of my favourite things in the whole world and I allow myself to eat some once or twice a year. Tangy! Savory! Smokey! These really do taste like hot dogs but with the works, including relish. There is a distinct dill pickle tang which made my knees weak. I absolutely love these chips but then I love big and bold flavours. My husband liked them too but later got a stomach ache from the MSG. I eat pre-packaged food so rarely I forgot to check the ingredients. Sorry Sweetie!

I was really excited to try the PC New World EVOO Extra-Virgin Olive Oil. I usually use their Splendido brand of olive oil and we love it in our favourite salad. I figured that would be the perfect way to test the olive oil since I make this salad almost every week:

The colour is lovely, a beautiful grassy green hue to it, easily absorbed into the dressing.

This spinach and strawberry salad felt like there was something missing. I believe the olive oil is so neutral that it just does not have the depth of the Splendido olive oil. For people who do not like strongly flavoured olive oils but want that single and cold-pressed quality, this is the olive oil for you.

I have never had sliders before. Those trendy mini burgers I see on foodie shows all the time look fabulous but who needs the hassle of figuring out what to do about those mini buns? Well President's Choice has taken care of that issue. Their Slider Thins Mini Burger Buns are a stroke of genius! They even have some whole wheat in them so you can feel less guilty about indulging in some carbs. I was very excited to get out my grill and start making some mini burgers and grilled veggies for dinner:

The PC Angus Sliders - Mini Angus Beef Burgers looked way too big at first for the buns. I was also worried they would not cook all the way through from frozen in three minutes per side. So I cooked them for four minutes and they just kept looking juicier and juicer. I added some seasoning with the PC Barbecue Seasoning Grinder on top:

It took me forever to figure out how to use this thing! I saw that you could twist the top like you would a grinder but how did it work, really? After a while I saw that you could flip off the very top and then it made sense. You turn it upside down with that off and then turn the knob. It may seem obvious to you but not to me at all. The seasoning was lovely but that frustration? Not a lot of fun.



For my grilled vegetables I drizzled on some of the PC Glaze with Balsamic Vinegar of Modena and it was fantastic! Just enough flavour to bring out the fabulous summer flavours of the vegetables and add that tang I am always looking for. Even my husband who loathes all things vinegary loved it. I put less on his veggies in case he hated it and it turned out he wanted more. High praise indeed!

And the sliders? We LOVED them! I mean, LOVED them. They were so deliciously moist, perfectly cooked and the flavour so fantastic, I wished I had made myself more than just two! That is OK because I am going to make them again tonight, I loved them so much. These are a real treat that I will be indulging in this summer for sure. The burgers shrunk enough in size to perfectly fit in the buns and are just so darn cute!

President's Choice is on tour across Canada right now and will be in my neck of the woods this week so I will definitely be showing up and celebrating summer's approach with them. Click here for details.

So concludes part one of my PC product review and so far, in general, I am very impressed. And relieved! As much as I love cooking and baking from scratch, there are days my health will not allow me to do so and President's Choice has made my life much easier.