Stages of a Picnic

I've decided to base by picnics on the stages of an Italian meal. I figure it's a good guideline since picnics are about several dishes, this sense of abundance and luxury. I've started devising a table to help me organise my thoughts around the idea.

Meal stage	Composition
Antipasto	Snacky bits that can either be eaten at the opening of the meal or any time from getting the basket to sitting to eat.
Primo	Sort of a light opener to the meal, like a cold soup such as Gazpacho, or a terrine.
Secondo	"second course", the main dish. I've been fascinated with cold savoury pies, which would fit in very well here.
Contorno	"side dish", may be a salad or cooked vegetables. A traditional menu features salad along with the main course. Easy for a picnic, since North Americans love their picnic salads. Or, also, a terrine here.
Formaggio e frutta	"cheese and fruits", the first dessert. Local cheeses may be part of the Antipasto orContorno as well. There are also my marinated chèvre balls! Ben made a good suggestion to add home-made crackers.
Dolce	"sweet", such as cakes and cookies
Caffè	I don't know yet if this is something I should include. I mean, I'd like to have wine or bubbly water or something, but coffee?
Digestivo	"digestives", liquors/liqueurs (grappa, amaro, limoncello, sambuca, nocino, sometimes referred to as ammazzacaffè ("coffee killer"). I need to find out about liquor permits. Is this even feasible for this kind of enterprise? There is also the possibility of non-alcoholic special drinks, like Rhubarb Water

Pique Nique ideas

Today I went to my second Check In meeting with Emotus Operandi to help me focus and organise my picnic business. It's awesome! I got some really good ideas, lots of confirmation (the group was really enthusiastic about what I'd accomplished and planned to do). I wasn't sure how to proceed, and got some really good feedback. So, for this summer, I've committed to giving 10 picnics to friends (and family if any come to visit). For the next Check In meeting, I've committed to come up with one sample menu (which doesn't need to be perfect), and start sourcing the actual picnic containers.

I've already established that I was going to start with three types of picnics:

1 - the Romantic

2 - the Cyclist

3 - the Bocce Game

The Romantic is a no-brainer: a picnic for 2, beautiful and elegant and sensual.

The Cyclist is ideal for Vancouver, with all the bike rental places for people who want to use the bike paths around the sea wall. I was thinking of using bike bags that fit onto modern bike racks, and the necessary containers to fit in them, and filling them with food. I just need to visit the bike rental shops to see what kinds of racks they have on their bikes to purchase the correct bags. All the customer needs is to attach the bag to the bike, and go.

The Bocce Game is for groups, sunny afternoons on the lawn, in the park, etc. It can be for families as well as for small parties. The basket and accoutrements would be similar to The Romantic, but not as refined.

When I was asked when I was going to start, my reply was 'next summer' and there was an outburst of 'why wait'? I'll tell you why! There are behind-the-scenes logistics that feel like a big deal, like food permits (health department) and licensing (vendor, alcohol?). Those are the biggies. And there's also the matter of what form this should start with - in association with other businesses, like Township 7 and bike shops etc, or out of my own location.

One of the interesting and encouraging things was Craig at the Check In who does the Under the Piano stuff, suggested that there could be a partnership between us - he is discovering that his clients are leaning towards couples' sessions, and they may like a romantic picnic afterwards. Cool!

Practice Makes Perfect

My usual modus operandi is to try new recipes and stockpile the ones I like. Recently, I've been cherishing a few, and slowly building a relationship to them, documenting my discoveries. Tonight I finally made Tarragon Chicken properly, and it feels great! I will continue to explore recipes, but it's also important, like with a garden or with a work of art, to develop a relationship with your creation. Since food is something that is, by its very nature an ephemeral creation, I can build a relationship to it by making it often instead of relying on luck.


Jan 2015
My understanding and confidence in the kitchen has grown a lot. I now use what I think of as a Post Modern system where I Frankenstein different versions of the same recipe into what I think is a reasonable composition, then test it on The Experimental Mouffette, where I elaborate on my system. It's a more focused and outcome-based approach to building a relationship with a recipe, and one that is proving to be most useful in recording my own versions of dishes. It also means that I have been going back to previously posted recipes and re-adjusting them.

Pommes Maria

Last Christmas I made dinner for my parents and my husband. One of the dishes I made was Pommes Anna, a potato dish I thought was schmancy French cuisine. When I served it I was shocked, and so was my dad, that it was one of the dishes my grandmother used to make on a regular basis. This is why I call them Pommes Maria, in honour of her, and my father.

NOTES: The first time I made them they were creamy, but the top had not browned properly. This time (the second) they were delicious but not as good - the inside potatoes were more dry. I did make some mistakes while preparing them, and the oven ran a bit hot, but it may also be that I left them in the oven with the cover off for too long.

Pommes Anna

3 lbs russet potatoes, Yukon Gold potatoes, or white potatoes, peeled and sliced 1/16 to 1/8 inch thick

1/3 cup (5oz/76gr) butter, melted

1/4 cup grapeseed oil or peanut oil, plus additional for greasing cookie sheet

Salt and pepper

1. Toss potato slices with melted butter in large bowl until potatoes are evenly coated. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Pour oil into 10-inch heavy-bottomed ovenproof non-stick skillet; swirl to coat pan bottom and set skillet over medium-low heat. Begin timing, and arrange potato slices in skillet, starting in centre to form first layer. Sprinkle evenly with scant 1/4 teaspoon salt and ground black pepper to taste. Arrange second layer of potatoes, working in opposite direction of first layer; sprinkle evenly with scant 1/4 teaspoon salt and ground black pepper. Repeat, layering potatoes in opposite directions and sprinkling with salt and pepper, until no slices remain (broken or uneven slices can be pieced together to form a single slice; potatoes will mound in centre of skillet); continue to cook over medium-low heat until 30 minutes elapse from the time you began arranging potatoes in skillet.
3. Using bottom of 9-inch cake pan, press potatoes down firmly to compact. Cover skillet and place in oven. Bake until potatoes begin to soften, about 15 minutes. Uncover and continue to bake until potatoes are tender when paring knife is inserted in centre and edge of potatoes near skillet is browned, about 10 minutes longer. Meanwhile, line rimless cookie sheet or back of baking sheet with foil and coat very lightly with oil. Drain off excess fat from potatoes by pressing potatoes into skillet with bottom of cake pan while tilting skillet to pour off fat.
4. Set foil-lined cookie sheet on top of skillet. With hands protected by oven mitts or pot-holders, hold cookie sheet in place with one hand and carefully invert skillet and cookie sheet together. Remove skillet. Carefully slide potatoes onto platter; cut into wedges and serve immediately.

Structuring picnics

Picnics are usually multi-dish meals. I’ve been trying to bring together traditional North American picnic fare with a well-rounded summer menu. For example, potato salad – where does it fit in? I started to think about what actually constitutes a multi-dish meal, and shifted my thinking to multi-course meals, so instead of thinking about individual dishes and how they work together, giving myself a framework of types of courses that I could find dishes to fit in. I found on Wikipedia an entry on Italian eating traditions with a section on meal structures, which offered up this handy table.

Meal stage	Composition
Aperitivo	apéritif usually enjoyed as an appetizer before a large meal, may be § Campari, Cinzano, Prosecco, Aperol, Spritz, Vermouth
Antipasto	literally "before (the) meal", hot or cold appetizers
Primo	"first course", usually consists of a hot dish like pasta, risotto, gnocchi, polenta or soup.
Secondo	"second course", the main dish, usually fish or meat. Traditionally veal, pork and chicken are most commonly used, at least in the North, though beef has become more popular since World War II and wild game is found, particularly in Tuscany. Fish are generally caught locally.
Contorno	"side dish", may be a salad or cooked vegetables. A traditional menu features salad along with the main course.
Formaggio e frutta	"cheese and fruits", the first dessert. Local cheeses may be part of the Antipasto orContorno as well.
Dolce	"sweet", such as cakes and cookies
Caffè	coffee
Digestivo	"digestives", liquors/liqueurs (grappa, amaro, limoncello, sambuca, nocino, sometimes referred to as ammazzacaffè ("coffee killer")

Apart from the drinks (Aperitivo, Caffè, Digestivo) I think this is a good framework to work from. Which still leaves me wondering where the starchy potato salad fits into a balanced summer meal? I think I shall have to ask friends and relations who enjoy starches more than I do some questions to help me clarify this point, or leave off the potato salad all together.

Not So Simple Pot Roast Made Simple

Pot roasts have really been hit-and-miss with me. Sometimes I've made pot roasts to melt-in-your-mouth perfect that we ate it all in one sitting, other times the meat came out very dry. I like buying tough cuts of meat and braise them to get a lovely, moist roast, so I decided I'd trust Cooks Illustrated, which was partly the right thing to do, because the broth is delicious, but the roast itself came out dry, dry, dry. Enough is enough, I said, so I did my research and figured out what I was doing wrong.

NOTES:

1 - Use a meat thermometre. The size of the roast dictates how long it should cook for. Braising is good for tough cuts because the meat gets hotter than roasting in the oven, which allows for greater collagen break-down and moist meat. However, because braising is hotter, it cooks the meat faster, and cooking for too long is what dries out the meat. Read the recipe instructions below before cooking.

1 3lb sirloin tip roast, boneless

2 Tbsps. vegetable oil

1  onion, chopped

1  carrot, chopped

1 rib celery, chopped

a couple of dried shiitake mushroom

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 teaspoons sugar

1 cup chicken broth

1 cup beef broth

1 sprig fresh thyme

1 1/2 cups water

1/4 cup dry red wine

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 300 degrees. Wash and thoroughly pat roast dry with paper towels; sprinkle generously with salt and pepper.
2. Heat oil in large heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium-high heat until shimmering but not smoking. Brown roast thoroughly on all sides, reducing heat if fat begins to smoke. The entire process should take about 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the roast to large plate to set aside. 
3. Reduce the heat to medium; cook the onion, carrot, shiitake and celery in the remaining oil, stirring occasionally, until beginning to brown, 6 to 8 minutes. 
4. Add the garlic and sugar and cook until the garlic is fragrant, about 30 seconds. 
5. Add the broths, the red wine and thyme, scraping the bottom of the pan with a wooden spoon to loosen the browned bits. 
6. Return roast and any accumulated juices to the pot; add enough water to come halfway up the sides of the roast (half-way up is essential for proper braising). Bring liquid to simmer over medium heat, then place large piece of foil over the pot and cover tightly with the lid. Transfer the pot to the oven. 
7. Cook, turning the roast every 30 minutes, until fully tender and meat fork or when a sharp knife easily slips in and out of the meat, and the internal temperature reaches 130-140F (internal temperature will rise another 5-10 degrees while resting), about 1:30 to 2 hours.
8. Transfer the roast to a carving board; tent with foil to keep warm, and let rest 10 minutes. Meanwhile, allow the liquid in pot to settle for about 5 minutes, then use a wide spoon to skim any fat off the surface and discard the sprig of thyme. Boil over high heat until reduced to about 1 1/2 cups, about 8 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
9. Using a chef’s or carving knife, cut the meat against the grain into 1/2-inch-thick slices, or pull apart into large pieces; transfer the meat to a warmed serving platter and pour about 1/2 cup of the sauce over the meat. Serve, passing remaining the sauce separately.

Boeuf aux carrottes

This is an odd recipe. While cooking, it smells good, then smells really bad, then smells good again.  But power through, because it's a really, really tasty stew. And it's good to be surprised.

Boeuf aux carrottes

4 lbs. stewing beef, cut into chunks (bones left on if there are bones)

salt and pepper to season

1 oz. of (preferably thick) bacon, cut into paper clip-sized pieces

2 Tbsps. oil, more if needed

2 medium onions, sliced

2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

2 Tbsps. Jerez vinegar or red wine vinegar

3 cups beef stock

3 cups dry red or white wine

1 bay leaf

1 celery stalk, cut into two

1 bouquet parsley (small bunch tied together with string to be removed later)

1 bouquet thyme (small bunch tied together with string to be removed later)

4 black peppercorns

3 lbs. large carrots, thickly sliced

1. Season the meat on both sides with salt and pepper. In a large casserole, fry the bacon until cooked, 7 minutes. Remove, and set aside. Add half the oil and fry the onions until soft, adding the garlic towards the end, 10 minutes total. Remove into the same bowl as the bacon. Add the remaining oil to the pot and brown the meat well in batches on both sides, 3 minutes per side. Remove into the bowl with the bacon and onions.
2. Deglaze the pan with the vinegar, scraping up the good bits from the bottom. When the vinegar has almost disappeared, add the wine. Now, put the meat, bacon, onions, and garlic back in the pot. Pour over the stock, adding more water if needed to cover.
3. Wrap the bay leaf, celery, parsley, thyme, and peppercorns together in a bundle, and tie with a string. Add it to the pot. Season with salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for an hour and a half.
4. Add the carrots and continue cooking for half an hour, until they are tender. Discard the string-tied bundle of flavourings.
5. Cool the contents completely, cover, and refrigerate overnight. (You can actually eat it straight away, but it's one of those things which is always better the next day.) To serve, bring to a simmer for half an hour, until the sauce has reduced to gravy consistency.

Marinated Chèvre

My sister Marie-Thérèse introduced me to chèvre from a goat farm near her house that was marinated in olive oil. They are yummy herby cheesy goodness! My plan is to make a new batch every month to always have some on hand. I'm guessing the olive oil preserves the cheese and keeps it from going bad... I hope!

3 oz soft chèvre cheese

2 bay leaves

2 tsps. black peppercorns

3 or more sprigs of fresh herbs

2 garlic cloves, peeled and lightly crushed

Zest from 1 lemon

olive oil to cover

1. Prepare your herbs and spices to add as you put in chèvre balls.
2. Put in a bay leaf on the bottom and the sprigs of thym along the edges of a sterilized jar.
3. To make the cheese balls, use the teaspoon size from your measuring spoons, scoop up chèvre and shape into a ball in your hands. Pop into the jar. After every layer of balls, add a few spices and cover with olive oil. Continue until you reach the top of the jar, make sure the olive oil reaches the top of any food mater.
4. Be sure there are no air bubbles, which could cause spoilage. You can slip a knife down the sides of the jar to help move the culprits.
5. Seal and refrigerate. Let it marinate for a minimum of 12 hours.
6. This will keep for about a month.

Sautéed Chicken Breast Cutlets

Cooks Illustrated is great. It gives instructions on the basics, like how to sauté skinless, boneless chicken breasts. Here's what they say:

4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds), rinsed and dried thoroughly
1/4 cup flour (I prefer rice flour)
1 1/2 Tbsps (23gr) butter
1 1/2 Tbsps grapeseed oil

1. Generously season both sides of each breast with salt and pepper and dredge one at a time in flour placed in a shallow dish; shake gently to remove excess flour and set aside.
2. Heat butter and vegetable oil in 12-inch heavy-bottomed skillet over high heat, swirling to melt butter.
3. When foam subsides and butter begins to color, place cutlets in skillet, skinned side up. Reduce heat to medium-high and sauté without moving until nicely browned, about 4 minutes. Turn cutlets over and cook on other side until meat feels firm when pressed and clotted juices begin to emerge around tenderloin, 3 to 4 minutes.
4. If preparing pan sauce, transfer cutlets to plate, cover loosely with foil, and keep warm in 200-degree oven.

Crisp, Chewy Meringue

EXPERIMENTATION: I tried substituting lavender essential oil for 1 tsp vanilla. I put in too much lavender, and it left a bitter after-taste on the back of the tongue. TRY adding vanilla for depth of flavor and only 4-5 drops of lavender essential oil instead of 11.

EXPERIMENTATION: try substituting the vanilla with lavender water instead of essential oil, and try orange flower water or maple extract or other flavours, especially floral, like, oh, ROSE!

NOTES: When paired with the Chocolate Pavements with Candied Ginger, the lavender taste is tamed and more pleasant. Try with less lavender but still paired. The cookie itself was beautiful and, Susan being a true meringue officionado, was perfect in every other respect.

4 egg whites

pinch salt

1 teaspoon vanilla
4-5 drops Lavender (see EXPERIMENTATION)
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup icing sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch

1. Whip the whites and salt into peaks, add the essences, and continue beating to stiff, dry peaks. Stir the cream of tartar into the regular sugar and whisk into the whites very gradually, a spoonful at a time, until the meringue is stiff and the sugar has dissolved. Sift together the icing sugar and cornstarch. Sift over the meringue and gently fold until fully incorporated.
2. Spoon the meringues onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, spinning the spoon around the tops to create the pretty cloudy peaks. Bake at 225ºF/110ºC until cream-coloured and crisp on top when tapped, 1 to 1-1/2 hours. Remove from the oven. Cool on the trays. Store in an air-tight container.

Chocolate Pavement

I'm always surprised at the reaction I get from this incredibly simple dish. It's a perfect thing to do if you don't have time to make a dessert, such as when unexpected guests drop by and the company is so good that they end up staying for dinner.

At least 6 oz. 70% chocolate

1/4 cup of dried fruit or nuts or both (cranberries, cherries, candied ginger, salted almonds, etc)

1. Chop the chocolate bar into small pieces. Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie.
2. Put some parchment paper in a cookie sheet or plate or pan. Arrange the fruit and/or nuts in the general area of you think the chocolate will cover, keeping a few bits aside.
3. Pour the chocolate over the other ingredients, pushing stray pieces into the chocolate, to cover. Sprinkle to top with the bits of fruit/nuts you've kept aside. Let harden in the refrigerator or, if this is last minute, in the freezer, which should take about 10-20 minutes to set.
4. Break into slabs and pile on a plate or serve the whole stretch of pavement on a board and let guests hack away as they please.

Sauteed Asparagus

Simple and reinvented - the smoky flavour from the sautéing nicely complements the sweetness of the asparagus, and coarse-ground black pepper add texture and spice.

2 bunches asparagus, about 1 lb. each
Olive oil

Fleur de sel (coarse sea salt)
Freshly ground pepper

1. Trim the tough ends from the asparagus and discard. Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a sauté pan. When very hot, add the asparagus, ideally not overlapping but not necessary.
2. Sauté, turning occasionally with tongs, until slightly golden and tender, but still maintaining a bit of bite – approx. 5 minutes, depending on how thick the asparagus are. Season with salt (fleur de sel) and coarse-ground pepper. Arrange on a platter and serve.

Herbed Chicken Saute

Yes, another wonderful recipe from Laura Calder. The first time I made this I used parsley with some dill, and Ben didn't seem to like it as much, but I did. I figured it was probably that the herbs were subtle flavours, and my Ben tends to like stronger flavours (although he has an amazing palate). The second time I made it was with tarragon and parsley, and Ben, Susan and Diyan loved it. It was also a confirmation that following through with each step is very important. I think the first time I made it I didn't brown the chicken at a high enough temperature (the time was the same, but the result was different). Browning is where loads of flavour comes from, so why skip this step?

The one thing was the cooking time - the last 15 minutes may be a bit too long. I checked about half-way through with a thermometer and immediately pulled it off the heat because it was way over.

1/4 cup (2oz/58gr) butter or vegetable oil
1 chicken (about 3 pounds) cut into eight
salt and pepper to season
½ cup dry white wine
4 Tbsps chopped, fresh herbs (such as thyme, rosemary, parsley, chives, dill, tarragon, chervil or coriander)
Half a lemon, for seasoning

1. Melt the butter in a sauté pan. Season the chicken pieces with salt and pepper, and brown well on all sides, 5 minutes, working in batches if necessary. Remove the chicken. Deglaze the pan with the wine, scraping up the good bits from the bottom. Put the chicken back in the pan, cover, and cook gently for 15 minutes.
2. Sprinkle in the herbs, cover, and continue cooking until the chicken is tender, 15 minutes more, or until white meat reaches 165F and dark meat 180F. Remove the chicken to a serving dish and allow to rest while boiling the pan juices down, if necessary. Check the seasoning, adding a squirt of lemon if you like. Serve.

A Summery Salad - Cucumber, Tomato, Avocado Salad

This salad is simple and delicious but requires a lot of fine dicing. It's a great opportunity to develop dicing skills, but if in a rush, not a good recipe for a quick meal.
Please note that the veggies are best when diced into small cubes. It causes that same feeling of plenty that pasta does to me.

1/4 English cucumber, peeled and diced

1 to 2 ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced
1 avocado, diced
1/4 small red onion, diced
1 bunch fresh mint leaves, finely chopped en chiffonade
A few spoonfuls of olive oil
A dash of red wine vinegar
A squirt of lemon juice
Salt and pepper
Boston or Cos lettuce leaves
OPTIONAL Chèvre cheese or feta cheese

1. Dice the avocado first and toss with a squeeze of lemon to prevent browning.
2. Dice remaining vegetables and toss with the chopped mint.
3. Season to taste at the last minute with olive oil, red wine vinegar, lemon juice, salt and pepper. Serve the salad in individual servings in a single lettuce leaf “boat.”
4. OPTIONAL: This is also good with goat cheese or feta cheese scattered on top.

Working in Wine Country

A co-worker, Heather Mitchell, also helps manage the Langley vineyard for Township 7 wines. She enlists volunteers who will work in the vines in exchange for wine. For a day's work, Ben and I both got 2 bottles of wine. Not a bad exchange, really. Sunshine, birds chirping, fresh air, physical work, a glass of wine with lunch, good company.

I mentioned to her my idea of having prepared picnic baskets: sell the food, rent out the baskets. She thought there might be an interesting partnership between the Township 7 tasting room and my idea. There are definite connexions. There's a picnic area at their tasting room/vineyard location in Langley, there is a client base in the area with lots of horse ranches and big houses, and there's the clientele who come to the wine tasting rooms. On top of that, the picnic baskets can have wine pairing suggestions, which is an added selling point for the wines and a draw for the baskets.

Logistically, how could it work?

-The location needs some sort of refrigeration for food.

-Would it be by advanced order only, or could I have some picnics ready and hope someone buys?

-Would the baskets and the dishes be rented or would there be a deposit ie: credit card number reimbursed once dishes are counted and accounted for?

-How many dishes? What kinds of containers?

-What kinds of 'grades' of picnics? Basic to Deluxe?

Table d'hôte #1

Susan and Diyan came for dinner last Thursday and the menu I'd planned, well, in a rush, worked out really well. So well that I think it's reasonable to make this my first complete Table d'hôte.

Starter - A Summery Salad

Main - Herbed Chicken Saute with Tarragon and Parsley)

Side - Sauteed Asparagus

Dessert - Chocolate Pavement with Candied Ginger with Lavender Meringues

The combination was a success! I don't have the proper wine pairing for these, which will be coming at some point. See my entry on Working in Wine Country

The Trouble with Naming - Beef Dip

I have this guilty pleasure - I love Beef Dip sandwiches, otherwise known as French Dip. I was a vegetarian for almost a decade. I decided to stop not because of a lack of will power, but because my body seemed to crave the ready and abundant protein of meat. I remember, at family gatherings when I was visiting my parents, I'd bring something down to the second refrigerator in the basement and there would be the left overs of the big family dinner from the night before. One little taste, I'd say, that's all, and then I'd loose self-control and eat by the fistful! Although I now eat meat, and try to eat organic, in the back of my mind I feel this twinge.

There, now that's off my chest, I want to talk about beef. Here's a recipe for pot roast for making Beef Dip. I prefer to call them Beef Dip since they are not French at all - the recipe comes from Los Angeles and the only thing French about it is the baguette!

3 1/2-4 lbs. boneless chuck roast

1/2 cup soy sauce

1 beef broth

1 bay leaf

3-4 peppercorns

1 tsp. dried rosemary, crushed

1 tsp. dried thyme

1 - 2 cloves garlic, whole and slightly crushed

Baguette bread

1. Place roast in a pot only slightly larger than itself. Pre-heat oven to 325F.
2. Combine soy sauce and next 6 ingredients.
3. Pour over roast.
4. Add broth until roast is almost covered. Bring to a boil.
5. Put pot in oven, covered, for 3-4 hours or until very tender (internal temp should be 170F+).
6. Remove roast, reserving broth.
7. Shred the roast with a fork and serve in baguette sandwiches with the broth on the side for dipping.