July 3, 2012

Berry-Berry Delicious

It is that time of year! The smell of sweet strawberries is in the air, and you can find pints of these red berries in abundance everywhere.

My earliest and fondest memory of the ruby red berry is of my father taking me to the local u-pick. Here, he would hand me a large basket and let me roam free to pick and eat as many berries as humanly possible. For what felt like hours, I would scavenge the plants for the biggest and sweetest berries of the bunch; placing half of them in my mouth and the other half in my basket. Once finished picking, we would head home to sit on our front porch and then proceed to hull the berries. One quarter would get frozen, one quarter would get turned into jam, and the other half was left to be eaten by me and my family. Big bowls of the ripe berries would get doused in heavy cream and sprinkled with sugar; every child's strawberry fantasy.

June 26, 2012

Tuesdays are here to stay.

by Renee Lavallee in Favorites, Recipes

For the past two years, Tuesdays have been the days when my Chronicle Herald column would come out. Now, that my column is no longer running, I felt the need to continue my "Tuesday" stories of food and fun. I promise, whole heartedly, to have a new post every Tuesday and even a few peppered in between too.

For my first Tuesday post, I want to share a super simple yet beautiful snack that I recently made for my Sunday family dinners. Every second Sunday, my husbands family gathers to eat, talk and hang out. I feel this is very important not only for my husband, but for our two kids. Family time over the dinner table is something that has become extinct, and I am trying to bring it back!

This particular Sunday, the hot house tomatoes had just appeared at the market and Doug had made a batch of his now famous, no-knead bread. With mere minutes to whip up a spectacular looking dinner for ten people, I threw together a few simple and tasty ingredients that were lurking in my fridge; pickled red onions, goats cheese and pea shoots. I quickly toasted slices of the day old bread and gave them a splash of olive oil and salt and pepper. My mixed coloured tomatoes, some fresh basil from my garden and a good splash of olive oil finished the pretty dish. So simple, yet so satisfying. Once placed on a platter on our dinner table, the ooh's and aah's came out and everyone tucked in to a delicious treat.

Now that Summer is here, feel free to take what I have made and use it as an outline. I love loading my home made crostinis with everything from smashed peas and mint with feta, to earthy roasted chanterelle mushrooms with bacon. Invite your family over for dinner and wow them with your simple Sunday meal.

April 10, 2012

Jambon Dans Le Petit Moulin

by Renee Lavallee in Favorites, Recipes, Video

We all have childhood memories; smells, tastes, textures. One particular food memory for me was when my maman would boil a ham. It sounds pretty simple, and it was, but what came out of this ham was pretty darn good. The boiling liquid would get saved for ham and pea soup, and after a few days of ham with beans or potato salad, we would take all the little bits and pieces leftover and make "jambon dans le petit moulin" which is basically ham passed through the grinder.

I still remember the first time my husband came to visit me at my parents' place and the look of wonder on his face when I pulled out an old school, hand cranked meat grinder and set it up at the end of the kitchen table. With ham scraps in hand, some celery, onion, mayo, relish and mustard, the magic began. The meat, onions and celery go through the meat grinder (followed by a wee bit of bread to clean it all out), mix with the other ingredients and savour the flavour of this yummy ham mix. To this day, it is a special treat to make and eat.

March 14, 2012

My Secret Spaghetti Sauce Recipe

by Renee Lavallee in Recipes, Favorites, Video

This spaghetti sauce was a favourite of mine growing up and now it has become a favourite my own family. This is the first time that I'm sharing this recipe with the masses! Make a batch and invite your friends and family over for a feast.

January 16, 2012

Oyster-ific!

by Renee Lavallee in Favorites

It is almost here! That one night out of the year where lovemaking is all around us, and what do we need to eat to make it happen? One might call it an “aphrodisiac”, some might call it revolting, but I like to order these by the dozen and slurp them down with reckless abandon. I am of course talking about the ever lovable and super sexy, oyster.

What can I say about these bivalve molluscs? They are quite certainly Mother Nature’s most perfect food; salty, chewy and slippery on the tongue. These slippery little suckers also pack a vitamin rich punch! High in zinc, calcium, Iron and vitamin A and B12. A dozen of these eaten raw, is also the supreme diet food; adding a mere 110 calories to your body.

January 8, 2012

Asian Noodles to the Rescue

by Renee Lavallee in Favorites, Recipes

This isn't the first time I have written about Udon noodles, and it won't be the last! My love for these thick, chewy noodles began a long time ago. Udon soup is my go to; my feel good. Now that the New Year is in full swing, and I, like many others, have decided to go meatless for awhile. I have begun to count on such old favorites as this quick and easy soup.

A good broth is needed; whether you make your own dashi broth using Kombu and bonito, or use store bought that you can enrich with some mushroom stock. I do a bit of both. With broth simmering away, noodles should be cooked and placed off to the side, then the secondary players in the soup get into the action. I like to add a handful of dried wakame, some shelled edamame, medium firm tofu and sweetened fried tofu too. Sliced shitake mushrooms, and handful of the cutesy enoki mushrooms and some seafood such as shrimp or scallops. All this goes into the stock, then the noodles go in to just heat through and you have what I like to call the perfect food.

This soup is great the next day too. Heated up, with the addition of a handful of fresh spinach, it makes a great breakfast or lunch. When in doubt, I like to get the noodles out and make a batch of my favorite rescue food.

January 7, 2012

The Famous Lavallée Tourtière

by Renee Lavallee in Favorites, Recipes

Due to popular demand, I am posting this recent column that I wrote for The Chronicle Herald.

What is tourtière? That is a question that was asked to me before the holidays by a group of lovely ladies at “Our Thyme Cafe” in Dartmouth. I had the pleasure of spending the afternoon with these ladies, cooking and talking and showing them how to make my “famous” tourtière. Many of the women had never heard of such a thing. A pie made of meat? With spices? One woman in particular almost fell over in shock when she saw me add my mix of ultra-secret spices. Her disdain was quite apparent, and she kept repeating over and over again how crazy my recipe sounded. Guess what? In the end, she was the first to try it, and the one who took most of the tourtière home.