A twist on the classic BLT

Tags

bacon, eat, food, pork

For all of you who know me, you know I love pork. I spilled the beans in my first blog post My Love Affair With Pork.

Today it is about the classic BLT made better with avocado. So how do you make it?

Step 1: How to cook bacon

The key to perfectly cooked bacon is to do it in the oven. You need a high rimmed baking sheet, bacon and parchment paper. Lay out the bacon on the parchment paper and place it on the baking sheet. Bake it in a preheated oven set to 400 degrees and bake for approximately 18-20 mins. Around the 15 minute mark peak in and take a look. Once it is done, place it on paper towel to remove the extra grease and let it cool a bit.

 

Place bacon on parchment paper

Step 2: Time to assemble.

*Important Tip – Toast the bread lightly, the worst thing you can do it over toast the bread so that it shreds the top of your mouth apart, and you can’t enjoy your sandwich.

You can use any type of lettuce you have (iceberg, mache, bib, arugula, romaine), you need fresh tomatoes, sea salt, an avocado, cooked bacon and toasted bread. You can use a bit of mayo if you would like, but it is not necessary. Mash up some avocado with sea salt. Spread it on both sides of the toasted bread. Top with lettuce, slices of bacon and tomatoes sprinkled with a touch of salt.

Avocado Bacon Lettuce Tomato Sandwich

And while one could argue that nearly any sandwich is improved by avocado, I would say there is something particularly special about a BLT with avocado, as it sits there, nestled alongside the salty bacon, crisp lettuce and juicy tomato, it is exactly where an avocado was meant to be.

Time to eat.

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I am a girl who loves food. I grew up with a Mom who was an excellent cook. She wrote a cookbook when I was a child, and as they say, the rest is history. Started a catering business in 2005 and haven’t looked back. I am a mom to 2 beautiful girls and I want them to love food as much as I do. In the meantime, I love life and love my job @ www.monicaskitchen.com

 

 

 

Tasty Chocolate Truffles

Tags

chocolate, eat, food, Jacques Torres, truffles

Everyone loves truffles. Not only are they easy to make, they are also very easy to eat. 🙂 I learned to make truffles years and years ago from Mr. Chocolate himself Jacques Torres. He was on an old PBS cooking show and I was mesmerized. He made it look so easy, and it is.

Here’s how:

For the Ganache you will need:

 

1. 600 grams of good chocolate (Callebaut, Valrhona) (bittersweet / semi sweet) In this case I used Ghirardelli. Use chocolate chips or a bar of chocolate. If you use a bar, chop it up into small pieces so it melts easily.
2. 2 cups of heavy cream 35%
3. 1/4 of liquor (optional but I love it) In this case I used Baileys, but you would use, Grand Marnier, Brandy etc.

To coat the truffles you will need:

1. 2 cups of sifted cocoa powder
2. 2 cups of toasted and cooled chopped nuts (I used almonds)

Directions:

Heat the heavy cream in a 2-quart heavy-bottomed saucepan until bubbles begin to form around the edge of the pan.

Heavy cream and baileys

 

When small bubbles form it is ready

Make sure that you have chopped the chocolate as finely as possible to allow it to melt quickly and easily. Place the chopped chocolate in a medium-size mixing bowl. Make a ganache by pouring about half of the hot cream over the chocolate and letting it sit for 30 seconds to melt the chocolate.

Pour 1/2 the cream over top, let sit for 30 secs and then whisk

Then slowly whisk until smooth and homogenous.

Do not add all of the hot cream to the cold chocolate at once; the shock of the temperature extremes would cause the fat in the chocolate to separate. As the chocolate melts, you will see some elasticity if there is no fat separation. This means the chocolate still has an emulsion; the fat molecules are still holding together. Once chocolate is starting to melt and you are whisking, add the remaining cream and whisk until is becomes shiny and all the chocolate is melted.

*IMPORTANT – If the ganache separates, it loses its elasticity, collapses, and becomes very liquid. Use a hand-held immersion blender to ensure a smooth ganache and to keep the emulsion of the chocolate. Add the remaining cream gradually and mix until all of the hot cream is incorporated and the ganache is smooth and homogenous. If the ganache separates, it is very easy to fix. Simply add a small amount of cold cream and whisk well. This will bring the ganache back together.

Ready to go in to fridge to cool

The ganache should be thick, shiny, and smooth. Cover the ganache with plastic wrap and allow it to cool for at least 4 hours at room temperature. I usually make the ganache at the end of the day and let it cool overnight. As it cools, it will thicken and set.

When the ganache has cooled to the consistency of toothpaste, you can start forming your truffles. I use a spoon to gather some ganache and use my hands to form it into a ball. This recipe should make ~60 truffles. When all the truffles are rolled into balls, they are ready to be coated. If they have become too soft, place them in the refrigerator for 1 to 2 hours until they are firm enough to coat. To coat just roll the truffles into the cocoa or toasted nuts.

 

The truffles will keep for up to 2 weeks in the fridge, when stored in an airtight container.

Now sit back, grab a cup of coffee or a glass of red wine and enjoy all of your hard work. I promise you cannot eat just one.

 

 

 

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I am a girl who loves food. I grew up with a Mom who was an excellent cook. She wrote a cookbook when I was a child, and as they say, the rest is history. Started a catering business in 2005 and haven’t looked back. I am a mom to 2 beautiful girls and I want them to love food as much as I do. In the meantime, I love life and love my job @ www.monicaskitchen.com twitter @monicawhite9

 

 

Carbone NYC – Review

Tags

Carbone, food, NYC

Being a foodie, and taking a trip to NYC involved a lot of research. I knew there were a few places I just had to eat at, and Carbone was one of them. A reservation was tough to get, I called about 8 weeks ahead of time and got a 5:45 pm seating on a sunny Saturday evening in August.

Carbone is located in Greenwich Village. A gorgeous area of beautiful homes and small boutique shops and restaurants. Carbone is an Italian-American restaurant created by Mario Carbone, Rich Torrisi and Jeff Zalaznick. The restaurant pays homage to the essence of the great Italian-American restaurants of mid-20th century in New York, where delicious, exceptionally well-prepared food was served in settings that were simultaneously elegant, comfortable and unpretentious.

When you walk into Carbone’s it is like walking back in time.. or at least onto a Godfather movie set. It has a funky old school vibe. We also happened to be sitting 2 tables down from Jason Biggs of American Pie fame, so we are pretty cool. 🙂

This guy was actually our waiter.

The food. Bring your wallet and then bring someone else’s wallet. The food is amazing, don’t get me wrong, but the bill could give you indigestion.

Half eaten bread basket.

They start you off with a delicious bread basket, a huge chunk of Parmesan cheese drizzled with honey and pickled veggies. The menu is full of wonderful items like pastas, veal dishes, seafood, but no prices. For an appetizer we had oysters on the half shell. Tasty. Then my husband had a steak (he ate it so fast I could barely take a picture of it) and I had the lobster special.

Lobster special you ask? It was a 2 pound… yes a 2 POUND lobster stuffed with poblano chili’s, corn and basil. It was amazing, it also cost 89$.

At the end of the meal they offer you either limoncello or grappa.. both are like drinking gasoline IMO. The experience was fun. The food was delish. Would I go back? Yes of course.. after I rob a bank win the lottery. Dinner for 2, 2 drinks each, shared appetizer, and two meals cost $367.

All in all it was an experience. I had fun 🙂

 

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I am a girl who loves food. I grew up with a Mom who was an excellent cook. She wrote a cookbook when I was a child, and as they say, the rest is history. Started a catering business in 2005 and haven’t looked back. I am a mom to 2 beautiful girls and I want them to love food as much as I do. In the meantime, I love life and love my job @ www.monicaskitchen.com

Meeting the one and only Chef Elizabeth Falkner @ Corvo Bianco in NYC

Tags

Chef Elizabeth Falkner, Corvo Bianco, food, NYC

I really wish I had a better picture of the 2 of us, but beggars can’t be choosers. Maybe if my photographer had less beer, it would have been a better picture. 🙂

My dream come true. Meeting Chef Elizabeth Falkner 🙂

2013 was a great year. I celebrated my 10^th wedding anniversary with a trip to NYC and I met a chef I worship, Chef Elizabeth Falkner. When in NYC I searched out Chef Falkner’s latest endeavor called Corvo Bianco.

She relocated from San Fran to come to NYC. Corvo Bianco is a little gem on the Upper West Side, it was once the Upper West Side’s iconic Endicott Hotel lobby, and she is serving up plates of food that are both ambitious and comforting, and a delicious taste of the coast of Italy.

For those of you who are not familiar with Elizabeth Falkner, where do you live Mars? Not but seriously she is an über talented chef that has competed on The Next Iron Chef, Top Chef, Chopped All Stars just to name a few.

When we arrived to check in for our reservation, Chef Faulkner was standing at the front podium. I was speechless…I am such a huge fan I was start struck. While we were being seated my husband chatted with Chef Faulkner about how big of a fan I was. What a great guy eh? The end result was a meet and greet with her after dinner (I talk about that more later) and a few appetizers that were “compliments of the chef”

The food was awesome. The olives were amazing, the oil was scented with orange and chili, the arancini trio was delish as was the assorted salumi (salamis).  An off the menu item we ate was the veal meatball sliders served on choux pastry. I highly recommend the pizzetta (mini pizzas) simple, tasty and with such a great chew to the dough. For dinner I had the scallops and Joel ordered the steak. The scallops were unique with chunks of grilled cantaloupe on the plate. I never would have put the two together but it was amazing. By the time we ate our way through the menu we really didn’t have any room left for dessert… but… when in a pastry chef’s restaurant one must order dessert.

We ordered the tartuffo.

Mind Blowing dessert

I honestly will dream about this dessert for years…it was incredible. It is not ice cream but chocolate mousse topped with chocolate ganache, cookie and Malden salt crumble, hazelnuts from Italy and fennel fronds. Are you kidding me? One bite and I was hooked. I cannot even put into words how good it was except to say that the 500$ flight to NYC from Ottawa justifies eating this dessert again.

Eating at Corvo Bianco was very reasonable as well. Dinner for 2 including wine and beer, appetizers, mains and dessert cost 150$. I consider that a steal in NYC.

Chef Falkner is a culinary genius, so talented and so incredibly kind. She took the time to meet me, grab a picture and talk to me about cooking. She is an amazing person inside and out. I cannot wait to eat here again. Chef Falkner you made my day and I will never forget it.

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I am a girl who loves food. I grew up with a Mom who was an excellent cook. She wrote a cookbook when I was a child, and as they say, the rest is history. Started a catering business in 2005 and haven’t looked back. I am a mom to 2 beautiful girls and I want them to love food as much as I do. In the meantime, I love life and love my job @ www.monicaskitchen.com

My love affair with pork

Tags

BBQ, eat, food, pork

I know I am not alone in this claim, pork is very popular.. look at bacon for goodness sake. Bacon isn’t just for breakfast anymore: I use it in ice cream; I candy it; I wrap jalapenos with it and I even put it in cookies. Bacon is the filet of the pork world.

The cut of meat that is underused in my opinion is the pork chop. Not just any old pork chop, the rib end cut… the cut that has a bone in it, a rim of pork fat and both white and dark meat. My mouth is starting to salivate.

Delicious Rib Pork chop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For most of my life I have loved pork chops but it is the only meat I would never order in a restaurant, why do you ask? Because usually they show up on your plate bone dry and over cooked and resembling a hockey puck with a bone in it. A pork chop needs to be juicy, the golden pork fat on the outside needs to be sizzling and crisp. I must admit I love to gnaw on the bone too, the bone gives the meat so much flavor . My mom used to hate when I would but it wouldn’t stop me from doing it.

The How-2’s for cooking pork

There are 2 things, very key things you need to know about pork. The first thing is not to overcook it.  Pork can actually have a little bit of pink in the middle. I know shocking but it is true! The second is once your pork is cooked it needs to rest. Do not miss this step! What do I mean by rest? Wrap it in foil, cover it for 5-10 minutes. If you don’t, you will cut it, all the juice will run out and your pork will be dry…. A real shame.

To add extra flavor and make it even juicer you can brine your pork chops.

Here is a simple recipe:

• Pork chops 4-6 approx ¾ to 1 inch in thickness
• 3/4 cup coarse salt (sea salt if you have it)
• ½ brown sugar
• ¼ maple syrup
• 1 cup boiling water
• 8 cups of cold water
• 1 tablespoon black pepper, ½ onion cut up and a few cloves of smashed garlic

Dissolve salt and sugar and syrup in the boiling water. Add it to the cold water; add pepper and seasonings and stir to combine. Chill brine completely in the refrigerator before adding pork. Place your pork in the water and place in the refrigerator for the time required. For pork chops I would say you need to brine if for 12-24 hours. Once done, remove from brine (throw the brine out) and pat dry to chops. Do not salt them but you can rub them with a bit of oil and slap them on the BBQ to cook. If your BBQ is like mine it usually sits at 450-500 degrees. Put the Pork chops on the BBQ for approx. 4 – 5 minutes on each side. Once done remove from BBQ wrap in foil and let those babies rest for 5-7 mins. Unwrap and eat. I am drooling while tying.

So the next time you are at the butchery or grocery store and are looking for something to make, buy some rib pork chops, you won’t be sorry. And if you are too embarrassed to gnaw on the bone, step away from the table and take a bite. You will like it, I promise.