AsFreshAsItGets

Lobster Bisque has always been one of my favourite soups. Growing up in a family with 5 kids, it was always a treat when my mum would make it, cause lobster is very expensive for us in Ontario. I included a four photo collage of some steps, #1 being the cleaning of the live lobsters, #2 the lobster stock after cooking the lobsters, #3 the mire poix (Carrots, Onions, Celery sweated) #4 the mire poix- tomato base pureed and the picture n the right being the finish lobster bisque. I shared the Bisque with a couple people and this is what they had to say: Not enough salt- My mum (possible reason why- low sodium diced tomatoes) Could use a bit more texture, and more lobster- Karen Cook There are some things I would do differently, one would be, leave lobsters in water cause they poop (this was a challenge as well) I would also have used diced tomatoes with sodium added as it was not well seasoned before hand. I learned a bit about my cooking style, and that is that I excel when I wing things, when I know the basics to cooking a certain dish and then putting my own spin on it. ADRIAN’S HOMEMADE LOBSTER BISQUE

EQUIPMENT LIST: 3-4L Pot, Cutting board, good multi purpose kitchen knife, ladles, tasting spoons, Blender, 2L sauce pan, Strainer or Chinoise

MARKET LIST: 1.5kg live lobster, 2 Carrots, 400g yellow onions, 2 celery stalks, 15g tomato paste, 3 cloves of garlic, 736g No Sodium added Canned diced Tomatoes, 15g White Sugar, 30g unsalted butter, 2L water (to boil lobster and make stock- 900ml of stock for bisque) 1 bay leaf, Himalayean Pink Salt and Black Pepper to Taste. 5ml Lemon juice, and 5ml 35% Cream to finish off. I chose chopped spinach to garnish as I didn’t want to take much away from the taste of the lobster- alternatives such as basil or parsley work great as well.

INSTRUCTIONS: LOBSTER AND STOCK: Place live lobsters into the 2L water and cook for approximately 7 minutes, after Lobster is cooked strain lobster stock into bowl off to side, deshell lobster and place meat off to side until ready to serve bisque.

VEGETABLES AND TOMATO BASE: Wash peel and cut Onions, Carrots and Celery into a small to medium dice. Put 30g of butter into 2L Saucepan, sweat onions out until tinted slightly yellow then add in 3 cloves of crushed garlic, Bay leaf, Celery and Carrots. Sweat the remaining Vegetables until soft, then add in 15g of tomato paste, cook with paste until Veg is evenly spread with the tomato paste, then add in 736ml of Canned Diced Tomatoes, cook until it reduces and add in 15g White Sugar, let the Base cool down, then put in blender and blend until it is a puree consistency.

TURNING THE BASE AND STOCK INTO A BISQUE: After blending the base into a puree, place into Sauce pan and bring back up to heat, then slowly add in the 900ml of Lobster Stock, reduce the mixture until it is a nice mix between liquid and paste like, where it leaves a nice coating on your spoon when letting it pout off.

PICKLED BEETS

So I decided to pickle some beets. It’s a really tasty root veg on it’s own, with lots of it’s own natural sugars, so I thought it’d be a pretty versatile pickling food. I honestly haven’t ever researched how to pickle things, but years of watching food network has taught me a few things about it- I believe it’s a trial and error thing with the “preservation” of foods.

Beet process- So I oven roasted a large beet, skin on for about 45mins (wanted a bit of crunch to it and figured it would soften a bit in the brine)- Peeled and sliced beet into thin slices ready to put in the brine.

Brine Ingredients: 100ml Rice Vinegar, 100ml White Vinegar, 2 Dried Chilli Peppers, 5g White Sugar, 5ml Honey

Equipment Needed- Med Saucepan, Jar for Pickling with Lid

Brining Method- Fill Saucepan with Rice Vinegar and White Vinegar, let it come to a boil. Place Chillis in bottom of pickling jar, pour about 50ml hot liquid over Chillies add 5ml Honey, put lid on and shake. Put Sliced Beets in add the rest of the Hot Brine followed by the 5g White Sugar, then shake. Leave in fridge after Brine has cooled down, wait at least 3 days for best results (because pickling is a preservation method- these will last quite a while in the refridgerator).

The experiment- As I mentioned, I’ve pickled things in the past, but never beets, I wanted to try something new with a product I haven’t used in this preparation method before.

1- Thinking everyone was going to go to St. Lawrence Market to go “Fruit Hunting” I didn’t venture much further, by choosing a local produce market in Kensington market called- 4 Life Natural Foods, who have been around Kensington for years, but have recently expanded into a larger space in the market. They deal with a lot of local and/or organic produce, which is why I really like what their all about.

2- Because of the markets mostly local produce, their selection of “unusual’ or better put uncommon fruits is not so great- the two non local fruits that stood out to me were Pomegranates (which I have tried many times) or Persimmon (had never had before)- having not tried Persimmon before, I chose it.

3- Persimmon is a very interesting fruit, grows in many environments around the world, but most commonly in Ontario, ours Chile, and California. Though most of the Persimmon we get is from the US or South America; China is a massive exporter of Persimmon. Availability of the fruit is typically from November- February, the pricing is relative to where it came from- Chilean Persimmon I’ve seen go for $1.99 a lb in Chinese supermarkets, but the ones I purchased at 4 Life was $1.99 a fruit. When I first saw the Persimmon, it reminded me very much of a Tomato- which I later found out that both the Tomato and Persimmon are both in the Berry family.

4- Persimmon was a very pleasant fruit I had never had the chance to try before- quite sweet, with a slight sourness to it, texture was almost plum meets honeydew melon with the texture of an unripe tomato.

5- After tasting Persimmon, it’s hard not to just think it would make a nice jam, but after days of trying to figure out a savoury option, I’ve settles on a sweet and salty mix- and that is- Bacon Wrapped Persimmon- which is as easy to make as it sounds

NEED- Frying Pan, toothpicks 8 pieces Bacon 2 Persimmons and Pepper         Step 1: Slice Persimmon in half, then cut about 4 slices per half                           Step 2: Wrap 1 piece of Bacon around 2 slices of Persimmon, put toothpick so it holds shape while Frying                                                                                     Step 3: Heat up Frying pan, place Bacon Wrapper Persimmon in pan on med-high heat, wait until bacon is cooked, add pinch of black pepper when almost cooked                                                                                                                     Step 4: After cooked, put on plate with paper towel to take off excess fat and ready to serve

Homemade black bear stew- first time ever cooking and eating bear- Soaked in water for about 36 hrs then another 16hrs in Buttermilk and spices, put a sear on the bear meat cooked with onions and carrots then put in slow cooker with crushed tomatoes, garlic and more spices for another 12hrs.

Topped the Bear stew with roasted Carrots and Beets

-Homemade Turtle Croquettes- Ingredients: Ground Turtle, Eggs (wash), Cracker Crumbs (triscuit), Flour- Spices- Garlic Powder, Onion Powder, Paprika, Black Pepper and Pink Salt

-Turtle is a food I had never tried before, I was walking around an Asian Supermarket looking for unusual things I had never tried before, and came across turtle. I was unsure of whether or not it was even legal to sell turtle, so I quickly searched up regulations on softshell turtle in Ontario, which it stated that because softshell turtle is a vulnerable creature in Ontario that sale of them is prohibited; I checked the package and it did say product of China, so I thought it was not against any regulations or laws as there was nothing mentioned on the government website prohibiting the sale of softshell turtle from out of Ontario.

Taste- None of the 5 basic tastes really stood out, it was pretty dull tasting, reminiscent of fish mostly and chicken, slightly salty.

5 senses- Uncooked, the texture was less dense than ground poultry. I was impressed with how they turned out, I kinda winged it, they had a nice crust, I was a little too heavy on the cracker crumbs, but very soft inside almost melt in your mouth.

Similar foods- By texture I think it is comparable to any sort of ground poultry, but by taste it is reminiscent of any sort of white fish.

Uniqueness- I don’t believe by any means that turtle is unique as far as flavour, but it is very unique in the sense that it is not a very common protein in Canada.

Palate- From tasting turtle, I have realized my palate is more sensitive to slight flavours, I picked up on the pinches of garlic and onion powder I had used as well as the weak fishy flavour.

Enjoy- I wouldn’t say I particularly enjoyed it, but am more so indifferent to it, as turtle is quite bland.

Eat again- I would eat turtle again, but I wouldn’t go out of my way to prepare it or get at a restaurant, if it was offered I would for sure eat it again.

Taste appeal- It hasn’t made any taste more or less appealing to me, but the taste did remind me a tad of fish food.

Lesson- I’ve learned from trying turtle that I am very open to trying and butchering many different types of protein and relate them using 5 senses.

IV-I’ve worked in the restaurant industry for about 7 years now, started off with a fast food job, then started dishwashing and went from there; have mostly bartended and served since, but am currently working in the kitchen.

V-Delicious can also be nutritious if you know what youre doing.

VI-I want to learn different methods of preparing foods, other peoples interests in food and how they link both food and nutrition in comparison to I.

VII-”To eat is a neccesity, but to eat intelligently is an art”- Francois La Rouchefoucauld