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[newurbanpeasant]

A Mediterranean Diet with a Peanut Allergy

(https://www.everydayhealth.com/sanjay-gupta/what-makes-the-mediterranean-diet-a-keeper.aspx)

Example of typical daily menu: 

Breakfast—Plain 2% Greek Yogurt with Honey, blueberries and steel cut oats

Lunch-- spinach salad with cherry tomatoes, black olives, cucumber, red onion and feta cheese. Olive oil and lemon juice dressing.

Dinner—grilled red snapper with mixed grilled vegetables (zucchini, asparagus and red pepper)

Snacks—apple between breakfast and lunch, cut raw carrots between lunch and dinner.

(https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/mediterranean-diet-meal-plan#section8)

A fun recipe for this diet!

Recipe:

Grilled Chicken with Quinoa salad

Ingredients:

Grilled Chicken -4 organic freerange boneless/skinless chicken breasts - 2 tblsp olive oil -juice of 1 lemon -1tsp oregano -salt and pepper

Quinoa Salad -1 cup quinoa -2 cups vegetable broth -2 cups kale leaves (chopped) -1 large cucumber (small dice) -1 red pepper (small dice) -½ medium red onion (small dice) -¾ cup crumbled feta cheese -2 jalapenos (seeds removed, minced) -1 clove garlic (minced)

Dressing -6tblsp extra virgin olive oil -1tblsp lime juice -1tblsp red wine vinegar

Directions:

Quinoa Salad:

1. Add 1 cup of quinoa and 2 cups of vegetable stock to a medium pot and bring to a boil, cover and turn temperature to low. Let simmer for 10 minutes, remove from heat and fluff with fork. Allow to cool 2. In a large bowl add all remaining ingredients and stir together. Once quinoa has cooled, add to bowl and mix well. 3. Add all ingredients of dressing to a small jar, cover and shake vigorously until well mixed, add dressing to salad and toss all together, season with salt to taste. 4. Place salad in refrigerator and allow flavors to come together. This salad is usually best after at least 30mins in the refrigerator.  

Grilled Chicken: 1. In a bowl, coat chicken breasts with olive oil, lemon juice oregano and pinch of salt and pepper. Allow to marinate for at least 20 mins. 2. Heat grill pan or barbecue to medium until hot. Grill chicken breasts to internal temperature of 165F allowing to rest once removed from the grill

To Serve, add 1 cup of quinoa salad to plate and 1 breast of grilled chicken sliced.

7 Day Eating Habits Log:

Sunday:

Breakfast: 2 poached eggs, 1 tomato sliced and 1 piece whole grain toast

Lunch: small Mediteranean pizza with whole wheat crust from Queen Margarita Pizza Dinner: Baked Salmon with baked potato and asparagus (I made a large batch of this supper and meal prepped for the next two days dinner)

I also grilled 5 chicken breasts and made a double batch of the quinoa salad above to meal prep for lunches.

Monday:

Breakfast: Oatmeal with raisins, walnuts and apple Lunch: Grilled chicken and quinoa Dinner: Salmon, potato and asparagus

Tuesday:

Breakfast: Yogurt with sliced fruit and walnuts Lunch: Salmon, potato and asparagus Dinner: Grilled chicken and asparagus

Wednesday:

Breakfast: 2 eggs poached with smoked salmon and whole grain bagel Lunch: Grilled Chicken with quinoa salad Dinner: Salmon with potato and asparagus

Thursday:

Breakfast: Yogurt with blueberries and walnuts Lunch: Grilled trout with brussle sprouts and sweet potato Dinner: Grilled Lamb with Greek salad

Friday:

Breakfast: 2 poached eggs, avocado, 1 piece whole wheat toast Lunch: Grilled Trout with brussle sprouts and sweet potato Dinner: Grilled Lamb with Greek Salad

Saturday:

Lunch: small Mediterranean Pizza with whole wheat crust from Queen Margarita Pizza Dinner: Octopus from Bar Isabel

Final thoughts of this experiment:

By the end of the week, I was ready to eat something greasy. I loved the food I was eating all week but it felt like I was on a diet. It was easy to abide by my dietary restrictions even with an allergy. But by the end I had a craving for something with some different flavours!

To be a chef and remain on this dietary choice would probably be a great idea. It’s a healthy diet that does actually provide a wide variety of bold flavors. There are many different dishes a chef can get creative with while still maintaining this dietary choice and with the current health trend in the world, this would probably be a very popular place!

Personally, I wouldn’t continue with this choice. It was nice to do for a week and generally I felt really good physically.  But I believe its never good to pigeonhole yourself into any kind of dietary restriction if you have the choice.

[newurbanpeasant]

How Sous Vide has Shaped Modern Cooking

Fathers of Sous Vide: Bruno Goussault and George Pralus:

Photo of Bruno Goussault(http://www.seoulfoodfest.co.kr/en/chefs_view.php?cat_no=&idx=37)

Photo of George Pralus (http://www.padovanirestaurants.com/Padovani_Restaurants/Georges_Pralus.html)

Sous vide is encompassed by three different cooking factors: 1. Low temperature 2. Containerized cooking which separates the food from its cooking environment. (i.e. vacuum sealed plastic bags that separate the food from the water bath) 3. Pressurized enclosure using full or partial vaccum (i.e. the vacuum sealed bag) Sous-vide was first used in 1974 by a french chef named Georges Pralus (pictured above) who worked at a restaurant in Roanne, France named Troisgros. Chef Pralus discovered that when he used this method to cook foie gras, the foie gras held its shape, kept its fat and texture far better than other cooking methods. This was the initial spark in sous vide cooking. Another developer of sous vide cooking was Bruno Goussault (Pictured above) who was a scientist and researcher at a food manufacturer called Cuisine Solutions in the United States. Goussault developed set cooking times and temperatures for various foods using the sous vide method, and essentially wrote the guide and “how-to” cook using this method. Without these two forefathers in modern cookery sous vide would not be possible and would not be as prevalent today as it is in the modern kitchen. (“Under Pressure” New York Times article by Amanda Hesser from 2005)

Photo: (http://modernistcuisine.com/2013/01/why-cook-sous-vide/)

This cooking technique falls into the Process and Technology category and has shaped modern cuisine. Sous vide cooking is used in virtually all fine dining establishments and ensures perfectly cooked food with little margin for error. With new Sous Vide machines, temperatures can be held within 0.1 F. This allows food to be cooked extremely accurately with very little to no room for error. (https://sansaire.com/)

Sous vide was accomplished by compounding multiple practiced cooking techniques. The first chefs that attempted sous vide cooking used Low temperature cooking combined with containerized cooking in a pressurized environment. Like many new cooking techniques, it was a lot of trial and error before this technique was dialled in. Hence one of the founding fathers of sous vide being a scientist. The process of sous vide cooking is quite scientific in itself compared to many other cooking techniques. It requires very precise temperatures and times to accomplish the perfect product but if followed there is a very small margin for error. It sounds more like a lab experiment than a cooking technique as a lot of chefs don’t even follow a recipe after they have cooked something a number of times. Sous vide requires regimented following of the times and temperatures allotted to each single dish.

Sous vide is important because it is used in virtually all fine dining restaurants today in one way or another. The sous vide method yields results that are nearly impossible using a traditional method. The sous vide method also frees a cook from constantly watching over something being cooked. When a chef is cooking something over a grill or in a pan there is a very small window as to when to take the item off of the heat to stop the cooking. With sous vide and a longer cooking period, things can be prepared ahead of time and once the timer goes, you know the food is perfectly cooked. It can then be held at that temperature for a long time before it needs to be finished in a different cooking method or used as is for service.

(Modernist Cooking “Why Cook Sous Vide”) http://modernistcuisine.com/2013/01/why-cook-sous-vide/

Sous vide cooking hasn’t yet affected me in my career as a chef as I have never actually used it first hand. The benefits where I have seen sous vide are the restaurants Ive eaten at. A lot of my money is spent eating out, and by a lot I mean basically all. Through my experience eating out, I now know the difference in a piece of steak or meat of any kind that has been cooked using the sous vide method vs a tradional cooking method. I have even found in more basic and common eating establishments the sous vide method is being used and marketed as being sous vide. Starbucks now has “sous vide egg bites” as part of their breakfast offerings:

https://www.starbucks.com/menu/food/hot-breakfast/sous-vide-egg-bites-egg-white-roasted-red-pepper

With the sous vide method becoming more and more popular in all restaurants, I guarantee that if you haven’t already you will experience this cooking technique soon!

[newurbanpeasant]

The Mighty Ribeye

Cow Beef Ribeye

Why?

This cut of meat has a tremendous amount of marbling, great thickenss and perfect for a cast iron skillet!

The cow…what a magnificent animal. We get so many great food products from this animal it is difficult to decide what my favourite is. From all the great cheeses, to butter, to all the great cuts of meat. The cut of meat I chose (the ribeye) comes from the rib section of the cow and includes the longisimus dorsi, complexus and spinalis muscles. The ribeye is a boneless cut with a great amount of fat marbling, this contributes to its succulent flavor and mouthwatering tenderness.

The cost of this cut ranges. I chose to get grass fed locally sourced meat which does come at a price but is truly important to me as I believe it is a great way to minimize our carbon footprint when we are purchasing meat. These steaks cost $30/lb, very expensive but I don’t eat steak often so when I do I make sure I am getting the absolute best product and indulge a little. These ribeeyes are from a Mennonite farm near Harrison Ontario and are 100% grass fed pasture raised. I purchased them from Bespoke Butchers in Liberty Village.

In my opinion, there is only one way to cook a ribeye and that is on a cast iron skillet. For steaks this thick (approximately 2”) I chose the reverse sear technique. In this process, I cooked the steaks to rare (125-128) in a low temperature oven and then finished them in a piping hot skillet with butter, garlic and rosemary. I believe that this technique guarantees a perfectly cooked steak.

Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 x 1lb 2” thick grass fed ribeye steaks

3 cloves garlic (crushed)

2 sprigs rosemary

3 Tbsp grass fed butter

Duck Fat (or any high temp cooking oil)

Salt and Pepper

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 220 F.

2. Take steaks out of fridge to come to room temperature.

3. Generously season steaks all over with salt and pepper

4. Add steaks to oven on top of a resting rack on a baking sheet

5. After 40 mins, check internal temp of steaks with a thermometer. When steak has reached internal temp of 120 F remove from oven

6. Preheat cast iron skilled over high heat, a bit of cooking oil (I used duck fat I had left over)

7. When oil is shimmering and the pan is very hot, add steaks.

8. When the steaks have formed a crust on the side facing the pan turn the steaks over, add butter, crushed garlic and rosemary to parn, tilt the pan slightly towards you so that the melted, now browned butter, pools in the pan. Continuously baste steaks with the frafrant butter until crust has formed on the side that is now facing the pan.

9. Check the internal temp of the steak, it should be around 125F.

10. Remove the steaks and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes.

11. Once steaks are done resting, slice and tehn wipe the drool from your chin as you wonder how you cooked such a perfectly delicious looking steak

Bon Appetit!

[newurbanpeasant]

Fruit Hunter

Countless times I have driven past T&T Supermarket with awe and wonderment. I had always wanted to go in and explore but never really committed to actually stepping foot through the door. Today I explored T&T Supermarket on Cherry Street. This is the largest Asian Supermarket in Canada and was it ever amazing!

I began to explore all the different sections of the supermarket, starting at the meat and fish section and working my way through the dry goods and finally onto the produce section. At this point it was time to decide what fruit I wanted to pick for my analysis. This part was difficult because there were so many different fruits I had never tried before. In desperation I grabbed 5 different fruits I had never tried and decided I would pick once I had tasted them all:

After trying all of my new fruits, one stuck out to me the most. The Longan. It was so different than any fruit I was every used to, It was sweet but not over bearing and came with a shell around its flesh accompanied with a seed in the middle. It interested me in a way that none of the other fruit did. It was the obvious standout for my selection.

Longan means “Dragon Eye” in Mandarin. They are native to southern Asia and seasonally are available July through September. The Longan I bought came from California where growing conditions are ideal all year long. The cost that I paid was $8.80/kg but the cashier that I spoke to said the price goes down to about $5.00/kg in the summer months when they are in season in Asia. Longan belongs to the Soapberry family (same family as Lychee and Rambutan).

Sensory Evaluation

How does this appeal to The five basic tastes - salty, sweet, sour, bitter and umame?

Salty: No salt can be detected when eating this fruit. Sweet: This is the star of the senses when it comes to this fruit. It is sweet but not over bearing. It tastes almost like a mix between mango and grape. Sour: If you get a Longan that isn’t quite ripe you will definitely get some sour notes. Again nothing to powerful but just as you first bite in there is a touch of sour on your tongue. Bitter: Along with the sour taste you will find with a not so ripe Longan you will also get bitter flavours towards the end. These flavours aren’t pleasant at all and it is best to get the most ripe possible Longan you can find. Umame: I would say this this taste is also quite hard to find on the palate when tasting this fruit. Sweet over powers all other flavours unless as previously described the fruit is not ripe.

What is it's appearance, colour, shape, size, texture, flavour, smell?

The Longan has a brown shell covering a white flesh. Inside of the flesh you will also find the inedible seed. The fruit is about the size of a large grape with a more rounded shape. Texturally the Longan is similar to the flesh of a grape but far sweeter; the smell is sweet but also a bit nutty. The flavour is sweet with hints of nut as well.

Use your sense of Taste, Smell, Sight, Hearing and Touch; what do you observe with each?

As I have described the smell, look and taste of the longan, it is really what you hear and feel with the fruit that I can go further into detail. There is an indescribable satisfaction of listening to the cracking of the hard exterior shell of the fruit and exposing the white juicy flesh. The anticipation of popping the grape like fruit into your mouth, eating all of the flesh and spitting out the seed tucked away inside inspires an addiction that I know will bring me back to this Asian supermarket again in search of these delicious little treats.

Are there relatable or similar flavours that you detect? "Tastes like....."

I would say there aren’t really any similar flavours I detect other than that of coconut which seems like a ridiculous comparison.

How is this food unique?

This food is unique because it isn’t common in Canada! I had never even seen the fruit until I had gone to a specialty Asian supermarket.

I would personally think these fruit would go best in deserts or smoothies because of their sweet flavor. From my research online Longan are typically used in desserts and cocktails. I found a recipe online that I would love to try:

LONGAN RAW CHEESECAKE:

Ingredients:

Crust: • ½ cup raw cashews • 1 soft medjool date, pitted • ½ tbsp maple syrup • ½ tbsp coconut oil

Filling: • ½ cup raw cashews, pre-soaked and strained • 2 tbsp coconut oil • 2 tbsp agave • 20 longan fruit, peeled and de-seeded • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract • ½ tsp salt

INSTRUCTIONS 1. Process all crust ingredients in a food processor into a sticky crumble. Transfer to a 4" springform pan and press down into a flat crust. Freeze while working on the next step. 2. Blend all filling ingredients in a power blender into a smooth consistency (make sure they're all at room temp first). Pour the filling into the pan over the crust and smooth out the top. Decorate with desired toppings. Freeze for 5-6 hours or overnight. Thaw out slightly, slice and enjoy! (Keep leftovers frozen).

Source: (https://www.unconventionalbaker.com/recipes/longan-raw-cheesecake-recipe/)

What I learned:

From this experience I learned that there are so many different options for supermarkets around the city that are at our fingertips in a city as culturally diverse as Toronto. We get so comfortable going to the same Loblaws, Metro or NoFrills that we forget about the different markets that exist with ingredients we have never even heard of before! I implore everybody to step out of their comfort zone and go work with an ingredient (or in my case fruit) that you have never seen before and I promise that you will not be disappointed.

Bye for now friends, until next time!

The New Urban Peasant

[newurbanpeasant]

Lobster Bisque:

For my Soup blog assignment, I chose Lobster Bisque. I chose this soup because I am a huge fan first of bisque’s in general and more importantly of Lobster! The velvetty, creamy soup is delicious and packed with flavour. This was my first time making a Lobster Bisque so I based my recipe off of one I found online from SeriousEats.Com:(http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2017/05/lobster-bisque-recipe.html) I slightly altered the recipe as it calls for 4 live lobsters. Unfortunately, I am not a millionaire, so I chose to use 4 lobster tails that I found at my local grocery store which came out to about a quarter of the weight the recipe called for, so I used a 1/4 of all other ingredients in the recipe.

RECIPE

Ingredients: 

-4 Small Lobster Tails (550g -28g unsalted butter - 20ml EVOO - 85g diced Carrot - 115g diced white onion - 50g diced celery - 1 clove garlic - 1/2 tablespoon tomato paste - Splash of brandy - 1/4 cup of white wine - 1.25 cups chicken stock - 1 sprig of parsley - 1 sprig of tarragon - 1 bay leaf - Splash of heavy cream - Salt and pepper - Cayenne to taste - Minced parsley leaves for garnish

Method:

1. Place a steamer insert in the bottom of a large stock pot and add about an inch of water. Bring to a boil over high heat and add lobster tails. Cover and cook until lobster shells are bright red and meat is fork tender and remove tails from pot to cool. Reserve cooking liquid.

2. Once the lobster tails have cooled down, remove meat and set aside for later. There will be a lot of juice coming out of these guys so it is important that you do this over a bowl to save that delicious nectar.

3. In a large dutch oven or stockpot heat the butter and olive oil over medium high heat until everything has fully melted. Add the cooked lobster tail (shells, not meat) continuously stirring and scraping up brown bits forming at the bottom of the pot.

4. Add carrot, onion, celery and garlic. Cook, stirring frequently until vegetables begin to soften and a fond (brown bits) has formed at the bottom of the pot (this should take about 5 minutes). Stir in tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. 

5. Add a splash of brandy being careful if you are working with a gas stove as not to cause a flame. Cook off until the raw alcohol smell has gone away and then add your white wine bringing the pot to a simmer, stirring continuously until again there is no more raw alcohol smell. 6. Add in reserved lobster steaming water and chicken stock, make sure that the liquid just barely covers the shells, if not, don’t sweat it, just add some water to barely cover. Add in parsley sprig, tarragon sprig and bay leaf. 7. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and gently simmer, uncovered for about an hour. 8. Once the stock has reduced, strain with a fine mesh sieve pressing well on shells to extract all of the liquid and set solids aside. Add stock to a blender with about 1 tablespoon or 2 of the cooked aromatic vegetables reserved from stock solids. Add in a splash of cream and blend until soup is completely smooth. 9. Pass the blended soup through a fine mesh strainer into a clean pot to eliminate any shell remnants. 10. Reheat the soup on low heat and season with salt, pepper and a dash of cayenne. 11. In a skillet, heat up a small amount of butter over medium high heat and add reserved lobster meat, tossing and stirring until heated through. 12. Ladle broth into warmed bowls and add lobster meat. Garnish with parsley and its ready to serve!

Side note: I made some toasted baguette crisps for dipping that added a great crunchy element to the soup. (cut thin slices of baguette and broil until toasted, or just use a toaster!)

Sensory Evaluation:

Look, Smell, Taste and Feel!

The sensory evaluation helps identify all of the flavours that are present throughout the soup:

Without any of the garnishes the lobster bisque can look, well….boring! Once the beautiful chunks of lobster are added with some toasted crispy thin baguette slices and a sprinkle of parsley to add colour. The whole bowl is transformed from a boring bowl of creamy red liquid to a textural adventure that you just can’t wait to dive in to!

The smell of the bisque is quite rich, with notes of saltiness and fragrance from the tarragon and bay leaf. The sweetness of the lobster meat is carried with hints of acidity from the tomato paste and the overall smell is quite delicious albeit very decadent.

The general feel of the bisque is like velvet. Smooth and not to thick but can still coat the back of a spoon. The best possible bite texturally that you can get in the soup is with a bit of the toasted crips, some lobster meat, and all covered in the bisque it self.

Finally, the most important aspect of the dish is the taste! The bisque is rich but also a bit salty, the savoury flavours are carried through the sweet lobster meat and brought even further with the warmth of the cayenne. The texture of all components of this soup combine in your mouth and make you feel like you are sitting by the Atlantic ocean in a warm cozy sweater.

The soup covers 3 of the 5 taste profiles: It is sweet, salty, and umami (savoury).

The sweetness comes from the lobster meat itself, the saltiness also coming from the beautiful brininess of the lobster and the savoury flavours are developed from the cream, fat and aromatic vegetables and spices used to make the soup.

Peer Evaluation:

Food is always better with friends, even if they are brutally honest. For my peer evaluation I asked my friend Matt to give it a try and let me know what he thought:

“It was really delicious, who knew you could take frozen lobster tails and make them so good”

Discussion

Challenges

With this assignment I was first off challenged with costs, At first I wanted to make the recipe exactly like I had seen it online. But when I went to the grocery store and saw the cost of lobster I almost had a heart attack. Luckily there were some frozen lobster tails on special that worked out quite well. After speaking to a few other people I learned that you can actually buy just the shells of lobsters or crabs from certain fish mongers that cuts cost down incredibly. I think next time I make a lobster stock I will start there to save my wallet.

Success or……

SUCCESS! I would say without hesitation that this was definitely a success. I thought it was delicious and from the uncensored opinion of my friends, they did too. Definitely something I will experiment with down the road.

Reflection

This was overall a very fun cooking experience, I got to put into practice some of the techniques that we have been learning in school, I learned that it really helps to have a heavy bottomed stock pot that holds heat evenly throughout the pot when trying to brown vegetables or meat evenly. And for the future, now I know how to make a bisque! It really wasn’t as difficult as I had anticipated and now that the daunting first time is over I can make it happily again with some slight alterations.

Thanks again for stopping by!

Until next time friends,

The New Urban Peasant

[newurbanpeasant]

Cook’s Biography

Hi! My name is Phil Allain. I am a student at George Brown College and an aspiring Chef. This is my culinary blog! 

When I was younger, I would wake up early on Saturday mornings. Instead of turning on my favourite cartoon, I would beg my mother to find my favourite cooking show; The Urban Peasant. Since I was a child, I’ve always had a passion for food that has grown at an exponential rate. I have come to culinary school to feed my love for food and take my skills to the next level. My general philosophy towards food is simple: it should always be delicious, comforting and feel homemade. To me this is the trifecta of a perfect dish.

I am not currently working in the industry, but I hope to be very soon. Eventually, after gaining experience in the industry under multiple chefs, I hope that in five years time I will be working as a sous chef, and I will also have a strong social media presence. Ultimately, I would like to be providing unmatchable culinary experiences through the food that I am serving and the recipes/photography that I am sharing through social media. This blogging experience will be the stepping-stone I need to take my social media skills to the level I am striving towards.

The name of my culinary blog is an ode to my favourite TV show growing up as mentioned above; The Urban Peasant. I have always admired the way James Barber approached food “The secret to great cooking is to find amazing local ingredients and to not screw them up” (The Deerholme Forraging Book: Wild Foods from the Pacific Northwest by Bill Jones p.266). This quote speaks to the simplistic approach I take in cooking, all great dishes start with great ingredients and if you overthink it, generally you are going to mess something up. Along with being a great Chef, the man had tremendous style:

Photo Credit: http://www.nsnews.com/lifestyle/taste/the-legacy-of-barber-lives-on-1.349508

I hope eventually that I will be able to emulate my favourite culinary blog:

http://dennistheprescott.com 

This blog truly speaks to me because of the intense and obvious thought that is put into every single photograph used. Dennis is an extremely talented photographer and chef, I believe that we first taste through our eyes and in a culinary blog it is paramount to have the best quality photos that really allow the viewer to see all aspects of the dish in its best light. It is hard for me to say what Dennis could do better on his blog as to me there isn’t much to improve, but if I could change one thing, I believe overall the layout of the blog could be a bit more aesthetically pleasing. At times it gets a bit dull with the color palette but the vivid photographs bring the whole thing back to life in the end.

Thanks for visiting my blog and please stay tuned as I bring you on my culinary adventure!

Phil- The New Urban Peasant