Blueberry Lake Resort: Thanksgiving 2010

I've been to the Blueberry Lake Resort twice in the past month. The first time was with some friends during Canada's Thanksgiving (the weekend of Oct. 30th). While I went away during the holiday weekend with some friends, the family had an unusually quiet Thanksgiving.



We arrived at the beautiful cottage on Friday and had a whole wheat pasta dinner. The next morning, we made bacon, scrambled eggs, breakfast smoothies and bruschetta.



To make the bruschetta, tomatoes and garlic were diced, then simmered for about twenty mintutes with a few herbs from the spice rack. A sprinkle of salt was added to adjust the flavour and then the marinara sauce was taken off the heat to cool. Slices of baguette were toasted, topped with the marinara sauce and slices of prosciutto before consumption.





For the breakfast fruit smoothies; milk, orange juice, bananas, strawberries, and some ice cubes were blended up. This was such a brightly flavoured smoothie - perfect for breakfast. The bananas weren't too ripe so the banana flavour didn't overpower the strawberries. I don't know why our family doesn't make breakfast smoothies. It's so simple and delicious!

For Thanksgiving dinner, we made everything from scratch - which was a first for me. Before this Thanksgiving, I helped chop stuff up for my mom and help with little things here and there, like making the garlic bread. VN had made Thanksgiving dinner before so the two of us were making the whole dinner based on my experience with cooking and her experience of making the turkey dinner a few times. I wasn't worried at all. We'd be fine.



Mashed potatoes from scratch. Boiled potatoes, butter, milk, and a bit of chicken bake.



Asparagus with garlic and red wine. A believe there was a bit of lemon juice, too. This was grilled on the BBQ.



Stuffing from scratch. Celery and onions were diced up and sauteed with butter and oil. We dried out some bread in the oven and ripped them into larger chunks so that the end result of the stuffing wasn't a paste, but rather something solid. The bread was added to the sautéed vegetables and then poultry seasoning and other spices were added with some hot water. The main spice in stuffing is poultry seasoning. The rest is up to you. I can't remember what I put, but it turned out real well. Just taste and season as you go.

When my family makes Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner, we bake the stuffing separately in a baking pan. We've stuffed the stuffing into the turkey once a while back, but it didn't turn out as well as we had hoped. We had to scoop out the stuffing out of the turkey because it wasn't cooking. We ended up scooping the stuffing out from the turkey cavity and into a baking pan - the way we've always done it. From that point on, our family has always baked the stuffing separately.



It was decided that we were going to stuff the stuffing into the turkey this time. Great. DG bought a stuffing bag, though, so no one would be scooping the stuffing out of the turkey. VN and DG put the bag in the turkey and filled it with stuffing. The turkey was massaged with butter and then placed in a pan that was lined with onions, celery, carrots, a few potatoes, olive oil and some thyme. It was thrown into the oven for a few hours and came out looking... uh.. appetizing... yes...



Is it supposed to look like that? Hahaa! I think the poor turkey was over stuffed. We took the bag of stuffing out of the turkey and it looked like a thing of haggis. Bleh. It didn't look bad when we took the stuffing out of the bag-sock-thing.

Oh, the turkey gravy was made with the drippings, a bit of gravy mix and roux. It was a bit on the salty side, but it was very good nonetheless.



Oops, I said that we made everything from scratch, but I kinda lied. Kinda. The caesar salad dressing and croutons came out of a jar and box. But VN and I didn't put it together, so it wasn't a total lie. The turkey was over done. It was a bit on the drier side (you can tell by the amount of turkey shrinkage in the photo of the turkey). Other than that, everything else was fine.





For dessert, we had both apple and pumpkin pie. I don't think I've ever had pumpkin pie before, since our family usually just makes apple pie. The cold pumpkin pie tasted of gingerbread cookies with a bit of pumpkin. Quite tasty! The warm apple pie was pretty good, too. Despite a bit of drama, Thanksgiving dinner turned out alright.


Disclaimer: I wasn't asked to write about the resort or paid in any way. My friend booked the cottage for the holiday back when there was a special price on a site called travelzoom. It's an amazing place. I definitely recommend it.

~*~*~

Blueberry Lake Resort

4801 Chemin St Cyr

Labelle, QC

819-686-1413

Bok La Hong a.k.a Cambodian Papaya Salad - Nov. 17th

We don't post nearly enough Cambodian dishes, which is weird, because I swear I've taken a lot of pictures of them.



Anyway, this will be a short post about the Cambodian style papaya salad called bok l'hong or bok la hong. The papaya used for this salad isn't soft and sweet, but rather crunchy and sour.

The papaya is first peeled and then shredded. Fish sauce, rehydrated dried shrimp, lime juice, and sugar are added and mixed together with beans and tomatoes.



That night, we had a plate of stir fried baby bok choy with garlic and oyster sauce. There was also a plate of braised pork with eggs, cabbage, and sliced bamboo shoots to go with the steamed rice.

Buttercup Squash Custard aka Sankya Lapov

Buttercup squash has been on sale quite a few times this fall, so we bought some and made dessert with it. I did some research and found out that this is a Cambodian dish, sankya lapov. I always thought it was something my mom picked up while working at Kardish Deli or something.

My mom wrote this recipe down:


2               Buttercup Squash

2 cups     Coconut Milk

5               Eggs

1 cup       Granulated Sugar

½ tsp      Salt

As far as I know, this buttercup squash dessert can be made two different ways. You can scoop out the insides of the squash, make the custard, poor it inside the squash and then bake it in a bain-marie for about an hour and a half at 350 degrees. Like all of our other recipes, you can add a cup and a half of sugar if you like a sweeter custard. My mom added about 2 cups of water for the bain-marie.


If you want to get fancy, like my mom was (for some odd reason), you can try and carve some patterns on the outside of the squash - just be careful to make sure they're shallow carvings. You don't want the custard to leak out. My mom accidently carved into the squash a bit too deep and the final product was a mess. Luckily, the second squash wasn't carved and turned out fine.



Once it's finished baking, allow it to cool for about 10 minutes. Slice it up and serve with a spoon. This dessert reminds me of my childhood when we'd use buttercup squash from my grandma's fruitful garden.



The second method to make this dessert is by making into a square-bar-thing. The recipe is a bit different from the one above. The squares will still be soft and custardy, but will hold up a bit better with the addition flour.

2              Buttercup Squash
2 cups     Coconut Milk
5               Eggs
1 cup       Granulated Sugar
½ tsp      Salt
1½ cup   Flour
1 tsp         Baking Powder

First, take off the hard green outside layer of the squash. The skin is very thick and hard to slice off, so Mom's trick is to soften the buttercup squash in the microwave. Once all of the green skin is cut off, the squash is shredded by using a mandolin or a food processor. Mix the shredded squash with the custard and dry ingredients. Pour the mixture into a pan and bake.


If you and your family don't like shredded coconut, you can omit this. You don't need to bake this with a bain-marie. My mom baked it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 45 minutes, on the middle-bottom rack.


These squares are soft and custardy. You can pick it up if you're gentle with it. It's easier to just use a fork/spoon though.

This is a great alternative dessert for Thanksgiving, for all of our American friends out there. I still see buttercup squash in the grocery stores, so it's not too late to try it out for next Thanksgiving. Try it out and let us know how it turns out!

Kare Raisu, Revisited – October 23, 2010

So how do you go from this:



To this?



It takes at least 20 minutes of prep, less than 10 minutes of real cooking, and hours of simmering. I’ve noticed that every time I make Japanese curry (also known as “kare raisu”), I end up exhausted in a messy kitchen and with absolutely no appetite for the meal. Lucky for me, there are always hungry mouths in the house, so this dish didn’t go to waste.



I started with the onions and garlic. I minced two or three cloves of garlic, and finely chopped two medium onions.



Then I worked on the vegetables. We had potatoes and carrots, so I chopped them into cubes. They should only be about half the size of your thumb (in terms of length) to ensure that it cooks quickly and absorbs the curry flavour as it simmers. Any smaller would have them disintegrate in the curry and larger would mean giant chunks of bland (and possibly undercooked) vegetables.



Christine chopped up the chicken into bite-sized pieces. We used boneless, skinless chicken thighs, and as you can see here, there’s quite a bit of fat still on it. If I were using this for a stir-fry, I would meticulously cut the fat off, but in a dish where I use very little fat, the chicken benefits from having a bit of fat stuck to it. I’ve made the dish with chicken breast before, and it was dry and tasteless. There wasn’t enough fat in the chicken to withstand the hours of simmering, so it simply overcooked.

Now, I want to be perfectly clear that I cook according to how I feel. I often change the order of ingredients going into the pot, but the results are fairly consistent. I normally start with a sauté of onions and garlic, but this time, I knew I needed the curry to cook quickly for the empty bellies.

I started with heating about two tablespoons of oil in a large pot. Then I put in the chicken with a sprinkle of salt and stir-fried it until it was half-cooked. I added the onions first with another sprinkle of salt, waited until they softened, and then the garlic. I added garlic after the onions because it burns faster.

After it became aromatic, I tossed in the carrots, potatoes, and a pinch of salt. I’ve been adding small amounts of salt each time I introduce a new ingredient. It helps me control the amount of salt I use, and it ensures that the food is properly seasoned.

I stir-fried the ingredients for another minute or two before adding three cups of water. I made sure that it was just enough to cover the ingredients. I brought the mixture up to a boil, and dissolved the curry blocks. How many curry blocks? Enough to make the sauce opaque. This time, I used an entire box (family-sized) and two blocks.



I lowered the heat to a slow simmer, and stirred in about one cup of frozen peas. I add this last so that the peas don’t get overcooked and mushy. Normally, I’d also gently stir in some medium tofu, but the grocery store didn’t seem to have any that day.



As long as this mixture is simmered for at least half an hour, it’s ready to eat. You’ll notice, however, that it tastes best the next day after the ingredients have been absorbing the curry flavours overnight. That’s pretty much it!

My family didn’t love the curry as much as I’d hoped. My parents found it overly thick and sweet in comparison to other Southeast Asian curries. They also hoped it would be spicier. I was disappointed in their disappointment. This is the first year I’ve actually cooked regularly for my family, instead of cooking for Jimmy and myself, so I’m starting to get used to their palates and preferences. I should have known that this wouldn’t suit their tastes, but I’m just happy that they ate a bowl of it without much complaint.

Jimmy and my brother, on the other hand, cleaned up the pot themselves. They ate it every day, for three days straight. The smell was nauseating to me after the first day, so I cannot comprehend how they still managed to enjoy kare raisu after three days! Having them around to devour my meals is a real confidence booster, haha. Anyway, since there was lukewarm reception to the dish, I don’t anticipate I’ll be making it again anytime soon, so this will probably be the last post on kare raisu for a long time. Fret not, there will be more recipe posts coming up in the next few weeks!

Kare Raisu Recipe

I'm getting ready to write a new post about Japanese curry (kare raisu), which has drawn a lot of interest in our blog in the past. I'm surprised my original post was so popular, so I hope this new post will be written a little better and have better accompanying photos.

*Update: Read the new post here.

An Unusual Thanksgiving – October 11, 2010

This year, we didn’t have a big Thanksgiving feast. No one wanted to spend all day trapped in the kitchen, so our annual Thanksgiving blowout was cancelled. It was also unusual because Christine went away with friends that weekend and my brother was overseas for school. In the end, it was a very low-key day.



We had an abundance of vegetables in the fridge, so my mum made a quiche for lunch. It was full of zucchini, spinach, broccoli, chopped bacon, and cheddar cheese. My mum went wild with the cream, so it filled us up pretty quickly. I honestly couldn’t believe how quickly she threw this together. It took less than two hours, from start to finish! She made the dough from scratch, and even had time to teach my brother how to roll it out.

It was a wonderful lunch, especially when paired with a side salad. In fact, this is my go-to lunch when I’m bored with my usual lunches at work.



For Thanksgiving dinner, my parents prepared a pot roast, while we cooked up the side dishes. I’m not entirely sure how, but the pot roast was a complete fail. The fat was cooked out completely, so I’m assuming the heat was too high. I found it dry and tasteless. Definitely not one of my favourite meals.

Christine's comment: I arrived on Sunday while everyone was preparing dinner. The beef was on the stove, boiling in a fragrant liquid. It reminded me of stew. I think the tenderloin wasn't a good choice of meat, since it doesn't have much marbling. You need to cook tenderloin on low heat for a longer period of time to avoid drying it out.



On the other hand, the sides were quite delicious. We had mashed potatoes, gravy, and garlic bread. It’s very sad to say, but I filled up on starches that night.

I smothered my small piece of pot roast with gravy and ate it with lots of bread and mashed potatoes. It's so disappointing how this dinner failed. Our family could successfully pump out dishes more complicated than this, but for some reason, pot roast is always a wreck. I think it's because we usually don't plan to make it for dinner, so we throw it all together quicker than we should. 

Next Thanksgiving will have to be mind-blasting to make up for this year’s epic fail. I’ve already begun to compile ideas and recipes!

Steak, Biscuits and a Parisian Snack - Aug. 12th

Beef was on sale that week, and my parents stocked up. We ended up having steak for dinner. For the sides, we were planning to make biscuits, steamed beans, sauteed onions, and baked potatoes.

Since biscuits take the longest to make, my mom started on it. She didn't have a recipe while making this. She just made it by feel.



Once they were baked, they looked like this.



Unfortunately, these didn't taste like biscuits. They tasted like dry scones, probably because she used added half butter and half lard, instead of just butter.

I made the potatoes by adding vegetable oil, a handful of Italian seasoning and a bit of chili powder to add a little kick. Crispy outsides with fluffy insides. Yum.



If I could do it again though, I'd crank the oven higher and add more oil, Italian seasoning and chili powder to get a stronger flavour and crispier potatoes. Maybe add a bit of garlic, too.

The beans and onions didn't take long. We steamed the beans and sauteed the onions with more Italian seasoning.



The steaks were seasoned with Montreal steak spice and thrown on the barbeque. (Sorry for the blurry picture)



I wish the biscuits turned out like biscuits and not dry scones, that way I'd have carbs to fill up on. The steak wasn't flavourful - other than the steak spice on the outside. We don't marinade the steak for more than an hour or so, which I don't understand. A marinade would improve any steak. Anyway, dinner was so-so.

Thankfully, Lucy and Jimmy went out after dinner and came back with some cheese, a few baguettes and wine.



Lucy's comment: We bought havarti cheese with carraway seeds, a double creme brie (slightly warmed in the oven), and a bottle of wine (Deinhard Green Label Riesling). Though the flavours didn't exactly mesh together, they were still delicious. I'm going to have to pay more attention to the combination of flavours next time.



We grabbed a few things we had in the kitchen: fig preserves, fine herb liver pate, nectarines, and smoked salmon. The baguettes and cheese were warmed in the toaster oven and everything was then assembled onto the plate.

Everyone enjoyed the Parisian-inspired "snack." I particularly enjoyed it, since I thought dinner was disappointing.

A Sudden Craving for Coquilles St-Jacques - October 2, 2010

One cold, autumn day, my mum had a sudden craving for something.  This normally isn’t a problem, but this time, she didn’t know what it was called.  Piecing together her descriptions, I concluded it could only be the totally retro dish, Coquilles St-Jacques.

This picture may not seem like the dish to you, but it certainly resembled the one in my mum’s memories.  You see, she first had the dish at a buffet dinner somewhere in Québec years and years ago, and she has apparently been craving it ever since.  We started this cooking adventure with the notion that it was a seafood chowder, topped with mashed potatoes and cheese.  I don’t think the cheese is authentic, but we were aiming to recreate the dish from my mum’s memory.  If she says there’s cheese, then there’s cheese, damn it!

We went over the game plan, and everyone got started on their assigned tasks while my mum went out to the grocery store for the missing ingredients.

We had a few filets of frozen white fish (the name escapes me now), so we cut it into small, bite-sized chunks.  I was a little skeptical about whether or not it would hold together in a chowder once fully cooked, but everyone assured me that it would not fall apart.  We dusted this lightly with salt.

Christine's comment: I think the it was basa fish. I can't confirm it, but for some reason, that type of fish pops up in my head.

Next, we prepared the shrimp.  We normally have shrimp in our freezer, and so mom peeled and deveined them.  It was quick work to cut it up, and toss it with the fish.  While it’s not pictured, my mum also added two handfuls of scallops to the seafood bowl.

My brother went outside to pick fresh herbs and came back with what looks like thyme, oregano, and maybe a little rosemary.  We minced this up and set it aside.

I finely diced three or four small onions.  It didn’t matter that we used yellow and red onions, since it was all cooked down in the end.  This provided the body to the chowder.

We sautéed the onions and half of the minced herbs in about half a cup of butter until softened.  A tiny sprinkle of salt and a quarter bottle of white wine (Lindeman’s Bin 65 Chardonnay, if you must know) later, we then began a roux, adding about a quarter cup of flour.  It’s a rich stew, to be sure!  Once that began to thicken, we added half and half cream.  We added another quarter bottle of wine, a little more flour to thicken it up some more, and salt and pepper to taste.  It was divine.  Once we doctored the chowder to our desired consistency, we gently stirred in the seafood and remaining herbs and turned off the heat.

Yes, the directions are all over the place, but with three people cooking one dish in the kitchen, it was confusing.  Before we added anything, we had to check and double-check to make sure no one else had already added the ingredient to the pot.

While all of this was going on, my brother made mashed potatoes and shredded the marble cheddar cheese for the topping.

To assemble the dish, we spooned the chowder into scallop shells that my mum bought years ago specifically to recreate this dish.  Then we flattened a spoonful of mashed potatoes and used it to seal the chowder.  This step helped mitigate any ugly spillage in the oven.  With a sprinkle of cheese on top, the coquilles were ready for the broiler.  Since everything was cooked, we were only browning the top for the textural contrast and appealing presentation.

Once out of the oven, we served it with a small side salad of baby spinach, diced red peppers, and the remaining cheese.  It was such a luxurious Saturday night dinner at home, and it certainly satisfied my mum’s cravings.  The dish was so successful that Christine’s been asking for it ever since!

I tried not to have any expectations, but I couldn't help but worry about how fishy it would taste. I'm not a fan of clam chowder, especially when Lucy makes it (she uses all the clam juice there is). So when everything was finished being broiled, I attempted to eat it with an open mind.


I was blown away at how good it was. You can taste the individual ingredients in the sauce, but at the same time, all the individual flavours complemented one another. I really liked the wine in the sauce, too. I don't usually drink/enjoy alcohol, so if I were to make this by myself, I wouldn't have added any. But now, after tasting the coquille St-Jacque that we made, I will definitely add white wine - only after a quick recommendation by Lucy. So not only was the sauce amazingly good, but the seafood was cooked to perfection! I can't wait to make it again!

I could see this being added to our larger family dinners (Christmas, Thanksgiving), but only if it was made in advance.  It’s quite a bit of assembly work for a few spoonfuls of chowder.  We’ll see if it makes an appearance at Christmas.

Instant Ramyun, Reinterpreted – August 10th, 2010

I am guilty of always playing with my food, especially when I don’t like the food in front of me. I’m not sure how it started, but one of my brothers made a pot of ramyun (Korean instant noodles – used interchangeably with ramen and la mian).



We were joking around, and before we knew it, we had assembled a dish that looked... a little more refined than the usual ramyun. We joked that we could probably sell it in a nice restaurant for $8.00 as an appetizer. Yes, the presentation is a little messy. We probably should have wiped the plate clean, but we were kidding around anyway.



In terms of preparation, it was just a package of ramyun. I believe this one was kimchi flavoured ramyun from Nong Shim. My brother did add a few slices of fried Chinese sausages, which you can see in the background.

Amazing what imagination, a sense of humour, and some good lighting can do, eh?

My Meatloaf and Jimmy’s Patties, with a Side of Pickled Limeade – July 18th, 2010

July was a disgustingly hot month in Ottawa. We spent most of it parked directly in front of an air conditioner and complaining about the humidity. While our parents were away in Paris, we cleaned out the kitchen and found a few jars of pickled limes my mum made before she left. This reminded us to make pickled limeade!



She first salted the limes, then set them out in the sun to dry until they shrunk to half their size, and finally plunged them into a jar of brine. These delightful pickles mix with the brine and create a salty, supremely sour pickling juice. Apparently, this type of lime pickling is very common in Cambodia and Vietnam.



Anyway, we scooped out a few ladlefuls of the juice into a pitcher, added sugar (lots of it!), and topped it off with water. Pickled limeade makes a refreshing drink, but you have to be careful. The combination of sour and sweet from the preserved limes often creates indigestion and (sometimes) diarrhoea. An unpleasant price to pay for a fresh taste of summer, even for the most experienced drinkers.

After making a pitcher of pickled limeade, we prepared dinner. I was asked to make my Italian sausage meatloaf, which is slowly gaining fame within my family, and Jimmy made his meat patties.



I’m not going to lie – this stuff isn’t pretty. I mixed about 3 pounds of ground beef with the meat of 3-4 Italian sausage links squeezed out of their casings). I added 2-3 cloves of minced garlic, 1 finely chopped onion, 1 egg, and 2 cups of cubed sandwich bread to loosen up the meat. After the addition of salt, pepper, 1 tablespoon of ketchup, and 2 tablespoons of Sriracha hot sauce for heat, I began to prepare the secret ingredient. I take 2-3 sausage links, cook them fully in their casings, roughly chop them up, and add them for a hidden textural surprise in the meatloaf. Every other bite includes these bits of sausage, and it offers an unexpected hit of porky goodness in an already flavourful meatloaf.

I do play around with the ratios, depending on the ingredients I have on hand, so this isn’t a recipe I’ve ever strictly followed. That being said, some loaves are more successful than others. Once I figure out a recipe that works, I’ll be sure to share it for perfect meatloaves for everyone!



Being careful not to over-mix the meat, I formed it loosely into a loaf pan. You can see how roughly I chopped the ingredients. I always keep things chunky for the textural contrast. A meatloaf, by virtue, is normally a densely packed loaf of meat, but preparing it my way allows it to be juicy, light, and dare I say, interesting. Maybe I’m just tooting my own horn, but this approach has certainly won the favour of everyone who has eaten it.



I glazed it with a slick of ketchup and popped it into the oven. For how long? Who knows! Until it’s done. If the loaf is cold, I normally bake it at 350 degrees for about an hour and a half. With the large chunks of onions, fatty sausages, and bread cubes, it’s difficult to bake it into a brick. That’s another reason why I like this “recipe” of mine. The ingredients themselves continuously baste the meatloaf from the inside out. You’ll notice a large pool of bright orange fats and juices begin to rise from the meatloaf. This is mostly coming from the Italian sausages, so don’t worry too much. You can save some of these juices to incorporate into gravy (for your mashed potatoes on the side, of course). It helps tie in the flavours a little more.



After baking, the loaf will shrink by quite a bit, and it will probably brown into what looks like an unappetizing lump of poo, reminiscent of the usual picture of meatloaf or Salisbury steak. However, one bite into this union of pork, beef, and egg will change the way you look at meatloaf. It actually has flavour! And spiciness! And it’s soft and juicy!

Thinking back, I’m not sure why I chose to cook such a meat-laden dish in the middle of summer. It must be the dangers of blogging about food consumed months ago.

Christine:
Lucy's meatloaf was a totally different dish to me. Our parents rarely made meatloaf when we were younger and when they did, they weren't the best. Lucy's version was totally juicy and packed with flavour! I even made a gravy-like sauce with the pan juices by adding a slurry of flour to tighten up the sauce. A bit of ketchup was added to bring everything together.

There were leftovers. It didn't stand a chance of making it past lunchtime though.



That same night, we decided to make another dish that would cook in considerably less time. Jimmy made his famous meat patties – famous because it’s his faithful go-to dish in times of uncertainty. Imagine an Asian-ish Salisbury steak, but eaten with rice. I’ve never eaten this anywhere else, so I’m assuming it’s a family dish.



I’m not sure about the measurements, but there is a significant amount of vegetal matter versus meat. In fact, I’d say that there is nearly a 1:1 ratio of meat to vegetables in the patty. This makes it unusually juicy and tender. He chopped half an onion, a few cloves of garlic, 2 handfuls of white mushrooms, and 2 stalks of green onions.



Mixing it together with soy sauce, salt, pepper, and an egg, he formed a wet, slimy looking meat mixture. I formed them into palm-sized patties to panfry in a little bit of vegetable oil. I have child-sized hands, so the patties take only a few bites once fully cooked.



These will definitely turn brownish, black when you cook them, but be sure to cook them through. They are positively revolting when undercooked, not to mention dangerous since it contains ground beef.

Serve hot with steamed rice, and you’ve got yourself a quickie dinner!