Top Chef Canada: Taking the Challenge Home, Week One

Dan    Mains, Recipes, Top Chef Canada: Taking The Challenge Home     calgary, CHARCUT, fish, Food Network Canada, Indian-inspired, pakoras, recipes, saskatoon, Top Chef Canada

Do you ever have those moments when you look at yourself in the mirror and say, “What the hell did I sign myself up for?”

I do. All the time. My most recent mirror confrontation was, in fact, in regards to this 13-week Top Chef Canada challenge. Too often, I fall victim to my oh-that-couldn’t-be-that-hard tendencies, but I digress… I am signed up and 100% committed to recreating your favourite dishes from this series week after week and I hope you’ll join in on the fun on occasion as well.

So, without further delay, here is my first adventure in Top Chef Canada land…

The FoodNetwork.ca poll closed on Wednesday evening and you decided I would make Kunal’s Masala Cod with Potato Pakoras, Mango Onion Slaw and Herb Raita. This was fairly fitting for the first recreation seeing as the chefs were challenged in episode one to create dishes inspired by their hometowns—and I was just about to board a plane back to mine: Saskatoon.

I woke up bright and early and headed to the Saskatoon Farmers’ Market, grocery list in hand (with each of these cooking adventures I’m hoping to source all ingredients locally, when possible). I was tipped off (via Twitter) to stop by Fono’s Fish stand in the market to pick up my fish for the challenge. In lieu of cod, the worker recommended a local variety of fish called Burbot. Best described as an eel-like freshwater cod, it certainly sounded ugly—but I bought it anyway!

I made a quick stop at a local ethnic marketplace, Swadesh Super Market, to grab some Garam Masala spice mix as well as the chickpea flour for the pakoras. While walking down an aisle, I did notice some packaging of pakora mixes, which were tempting, but that would be cheating, wouldn’t it?

The majority of my produce I obtained through a Saskatoon food initiative called Good Food Box. It’s a program where local vegetables, fruits, and grains are available for weekly order.

The box contents vary based on season and availability, but I was able to use the bulk of the items in my cooking process. Perfect! Now it was time to start cooking…

To read the rest of my Top Chef Canada recreation adventure and to see my recipe for from the first episode, head over to FoodNetwork.ca here!

Roasted Green Beans with Drunk Tomato Sauce

Dan    Appetizers & Co., Recipes     beans, delicious, gluten-free, green beans, recipes, tomato sauce, vegetarian

What you’ll need…

3 TBSP butter

2 cloves garlic

2/3 cup white whine

3 TBSP tomato paste

1 TBSP balsamic vinegar

1 TSP cayenne pepper

1 TSP brown sugar

zest of 1 lemon

salt and pepper

4 cups fresh green beans (trimmed)

2/3 cup bread crumbs (crushed rice crackers to stay gluten-free)

1/2 cup parmesan cheese (finely grated)

Today marks the beginning of my official Top Chef Canada, thirteen week, cooking venture. With the show’s season two premiere looming over my head (only mere hours away now!), I have been tasked, by Food Network Canada, with the challenge of taking one dish from each episode and trying to recreate it at home.

What scares me is not having to try and recreate something. What scares me is the fact that viewers can vote online for the dish I have to try and recreate. You and I both know that they’re going to vote for the weird crocodile steak, or raccoon filet, or goldfish caviar, etc….You get my point. Nonetheless, I shall try my best to persevere regardless of appointed dish.

In honour of committing myself to being ridiculously stressed out in my kitchen for the next thirteen weeks, I’ve whipped up a very simple, yet delicious, and surprisingly inexpensive, dish at home this weekend. Green beans are totally where it’s at!

Start off by preheating your oven to 425 degrees. melting the butter over medium-high heat in a large pan. Once the butter is melted and starts to bubble, add the garlic and the wine. Reduce to medium heat and let simmer for 10 minutes. Next, place the following five ingredients in the pan and stir to combine. Let the sauce cook for another five minutes. Take a taste, then add some salt and pepper.

Once the sauces done simmering, place the green beans into the pan and toss to coat. Remove from heat and let sit for the moment. Combine bread crumbs, or rice crumbs (is that what you call them?), in a small mixing bowl. This next part of the recipe will kind of be like ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’…

- If you’ve been using an oven safe frying pan, sprinkle bread crumb mixture on top of the sauce-coated beans. Pop into the oven for 15 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the topping looks crisp.

- If your frying pan is not oven safe, transfer beans and sauce to prepared baking dish, top with bread crumb mixture and bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the topping looks crisp.

Yes, I am aware that this was not nearly as exciting as a ‘Choose Your Own Adventure’ story…

Once the beans are done baking, serve, piping hot, to the table. Best served with hyacinth macaw. In lieu of that, some simple roasted chicken will do!

Serves 3-4

Total cook time…35 min

Top Chef Canada premieres tonight, at 8 p.m. ET/PT, on Food Network Canada. Head to FoodNetwork.ca after the show to help decide which dish from the season two premiere episode I have to recreate this week. Remember, do not vote for the hard ones!

Spicy Chicken and Lentil Succotash

Dan    Mains, Recipes     chicken, delicious, jalapeños, lentils, quick and easy, recipes, spicy, succotash

What you’ll need…

1 TBSP butter

1 yellow onion (finely chopped)

2 cloves garlic (minced)

1 small jalapeño (seeds removed, chopped)

1 orange (zest and juice)

2 TBSP soy sauce

2 TSP sugar

1 TSP cayenne pepper

1 large turnip (1/2″ chopped, approximately 2 cups)

2 cups cooked chicken (loosely chopped)

2 cups green lentils (cooked)

1/2 cup chicken broth

2 TSP white wine vinegar

salt and pepper

parsley (for garnish, optional)

If you’re like me, you’ve probably heard the term ‘Sufferin’ Succotash!‘ a few times in your life, but have never actually tasted it…Without going to much into a history lesson (boring), succotash was a popular dish in during the great depression, using corn, beans and any other miscellaneous ingredients that were onhand. Think: Cheap, cheap, cheap! Cheap food for tough times, you know? Now, fast forward a few years, to my version of succotash utilizing lentils instead of corn and some other items that I happened to have in my kitchen on ‘clean out the fridge’ day.

On a secondary note, it’s been a long, long time since I’ve cooked with lentils. I’ve missed them and decided that it’s time to give lentils the makeover they deserve. Just like Rachael Leigh Cook in She’s All That, I’m going to take off the glasses, let down that ponytail, and discover the beauty of lentils! I apologize for the dated pop culture reference…

Start off by melting the butter in a large pan on medium-high heat. Add the onion and garlic to the pan and let cook until the onion begins to caramelize, about 10 minutes. Once the onions start to turn golden, stir in the next 5 ingredients. Reduce to medium heat and let the mixture simmer for 5 minutes. (Use just half of the jalapeño and cut out the cayenne if you don’t like your food too spicy!)

Once the 5 minutes are up, place the turnip, chicken, lentils and broth into the pan. Let the mixture cook, stirring occasionally, until liquid reduces by half, about 8 minutes or so. Have a taste, add some salt and pepper to the dish and you’re ready to eat! See, cheap good ol’ succotash also means it’s nice and simple to throw together.

After portioning out onto some plates, add some fresh parsley as a nice garnish and serve with some stale bread. If you’re anything like me, you probably have in your kitchen!

Serves 4-5

Total cook time…25 min

Gnocchi with Roasted Cauliflower and Pancetta in Balsamic Cream Sauce

Dan    Mains, Recipes     awesome, delicious, gnocchi, italian, pasta, recipes, sauce

What you’ll need…

Roasted cauliflower mixture:

2 1/2 cups cauliflower florets (loosely chopped)

1/2 cup pancetta (thinly sliced)

1/2 red onion (chopped)

1 TSP lemon juice

2 TSP sugar

salt and pepper

olive oil

Pasta and sauce:

1 TBSP butter

1 TBSP flour

2 cups cream

1/2 cup parmesan cheese (freshly grated)

1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes

2 TSP tomato paste

2 cups red swiss chard (chopped and blanched)

4 cups cooked gnocchi

2 TSP balsamic vinegar

So, I finally got a ‘real’ camera, a ‘big boy’ camera, if you will. Thank you for the golf claps (I imagined golf claps after the first sentence). It was an expensive purchase, slightly scary, but, I find, pricey times like these seem less real when you just close your eyes and hand someone your credit card. I approach the majority of life’s situations like this…Anyway, five days later, here I am with this ‘big’ camera and a couple different lenses that I don’t know how to deal with and all I’m thinking is: ‘Is this what puberty was like?’. Yes, yes it was. Except it didn’t cost me $1000.

End tangent.

I do realize that this recipe is going up on Valentine’s Day and, although, gnocchi doesn’t necessary lend itself to ‘romance’, I think eating this for dinner could be, at the very least, chalked up to a fun foodie fling.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Place the first 5 ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl, season with salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil and toss to combine. Put the cauliflower mixture into a prepared baking dish and let bake in oven, uncovered, for 20 minutes.

Remove from oven, give the dish a quick stir, turn heat to high broil, and let cook for another 10 minutes or until the cauliflower and pancetta really start to caramelize and crisp up. Remove from oven and set aside for now.

For the sauce, melt the butter in a large pan on medium-high heat. Add in the flour and whisk to form a rue. Pour in the cream. Once the liquid begins to simmer and thicken, stir in the grated cheese, sun dried tomatoes and tomato paste. Reduce to medium heat and let cook for 10 minutes.

Now you can add the cauliflower/pancetta mixture to the pan as well as the chard and cooked gnocchi. Toss a few times to coat everything in the sauce. Finally, add the balsamic vinegar and give the pan one last, solid toss.

Serve nice and hot to hungry dinner-mates!

Serves 4

Total cook time…40 min

Red Wine and Sriracha Marinated Steak with Coconut Lemongrass Risotto

Dan    Mains, Recipes     Alberta steak, Asian-inspired, coconut, dinner, recipes, risotto, steak

What you’ll need…

Steaks:

4 beef tenderloins

2 garlic cloves (chopped)

2 TSP freshly grated ginger

1 cup red wine

2 TBSP sirarcha

1 TBSP soy sauce

1 TBSP rice wine vinegar

1 TSP sugar

salt and pepper

Risotto:

5 cups chicken stock

1 13.5oz can coconut milk

1 lemongrass stalk (segmented into 2″ pieces)

1TSP freshly grated ginger

1 TSP chili flakes

1 yellow onion (finely chopped)

2 cloves garlic (minced)

1 cup green onions (finely chopped)

2 cups arborio rice (uncooked)

4 pieces Laughing Cow cheese (random, I know…In lieu, a 1/4 cup of cream cheese will do!)

salt and pepper

olive oil

grape seed oil

I recently dined at Mercato here in Calgary for the first time ever. I know, I’m a terrible, terrible foodie. If you’ve eaten there, you know their red meat claim to fame is the ‘Bistecca’ a steak of epic proportions served with prosciutto-wrapped asparagus of equal delicious monstrosity. Perhaps I’ll share a picture of the dish at the bottom of the post (‘perhaps’ = ‘will’). Needless to say, steak has been the object of my affection ever since. Thus, this dinner recipe was born.

Before starting on the risotto, you’ll need to marinate the steaks for a few hours (at least two). Place all of the steak ingredients into a large ziploc bag, sprinkle with salt and pepper, seal and swish the bag around a few times to mix the marinade nicely. Pop the bag of steaks into the fridge for the next while. In the meantime, watch an episode of Dawson’s Creek.

When it’s getting closer to dinner time, you can start preparing the risotto. Mix the first 5 ingredients together in a medium-sized pot. Turn to medium-high heat and let cook until the liquid is just about to boil. Reduce to low heat to stay hot. Next, in a large pan on medium-high heat, cook down the onions and garlic in some olive oil for 5 minutes. Add the chopped green onions and rice to the pan, give everything a good stir and let cook for another 3-4 minutes.

At this point, start preheating your oven to 400 degrees (for finishing the steaks).

Now, start adding the hot liquid to the pan, ladle by ladle. Each time you add some liquid, stir occasionally until the rice has just about absorbed all of it, then add some more. Repeat until all of the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is al dente, 20 minutes or so. Finally, add your Laughing Cow cheese (just because you had some in the fridge) and stir until it’s melted away into the risotto. Finish with some salt and pepper and reduce to low heat to stay warm while you cook the steaks.

Now to sear! Place a medium-sized pan (cast iron if you have one) on the stove with a bit of grape seed oil, and turn to high heat. Remove the steaks from their marinade and add to the hot pan. Let them cook for approximately 2-3 minutes on each side, then pop into the preheated oven for 6-8 minutes for a medium-rare cut. Remove and let sit for a few minutes on your cooking board before slicing.

When you’re ready to serve, portion out the risotto onto four plates followed by the (now) sliced steak. Everyone will definitely be full after this!

Serves 4

Total cook time…40 min (not including marinade time)

The Bistecca at Mercato. A thing of beauty!

Orange Chocolate Walnut Biscuits

Dan    Appetizers & Co., Something Sweet     baking, biscuits, chocolate, dessert, quick and easy, recipes

What you’ll need…

2 cups flour

1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup walnuts (loosely chopped)

1 TBSP orange zest

2 TSP cinnamon

3 TSP baking powder

1 TSP salt

1/2 cup butter (chilled, 1/2″ cubed)

1 cup milk

2 TSP vanilla

1/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 egg (for egg wash, optional)

I’m not much of a baker. So, when I ‘bake’, I make biscuits. They’re simple and consistently delicious no matter what you decide to fold into them. Since I’m not much of a baker, I don’t often excel in the dessert category of awesomeness. These orange biscuits are just sweet enough and can pass as a delicious dessert if you slice them in half, add a dollop of whipped cream and some orange slices (from the orange you zested for the recipe, peel to pulp cooking, right?). One day I’ll learn to make a one-of-a-kind cake or something…I promise…Until then, enjoy this biscuit-y goodness I guess?

So, this recipe will be easier to make than your bed. Unless you have a really complicated linens system…Start by preheating your oven to 425 degrees. Place the first 7 ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Whisk to combine. Add the chunks of butter and loosely mix in with your hands.

Next, mix the milk, vanilla and sugar together in a separate bowl, stir until sugar dissolves. Pour the mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients and mix together with a spoon, or by hand, until a dough forms. Place dough on a lightly floured surface and form into a circle-esque shape, 2″ thick. Slice into 12 pieces and place onto a prepared baking sheet. Brush the top of each piece of dough with the egg wash and let bake in the oven for 15 minutes, or until the biscuits start to brown.

Let cool slightly before eating, however hard that may be…

As previously mentioned, slice in half, add a spoonful of whipped cream, some orange slices, and you have yourself a simple, ‘rustic’ if you will, dessert. Happy eating!

Yields 12 biscuits

Total cook time…20 min