The Menu for Tuesday 25 - Friday 28

I have actually posted pictures and descriptions for some of the days this week. Monday was a citrus baking day as one of the folks celebrated a birthday the day before and yes you guessed right she loves lemon. The Ancho Brownies were a big hit with those who like their brownies with a bit of a kick. We added a tablespoon of ancho chili powder to a single recipe of One Bowl Brownies. The Blueberry  Muffins were well received on Friday morning. The nickname for these muffins is hangover muffins as some folks will swear that the muffins have cured their hangovers! The Bison Burgers were very tasty especially because we baked the buns for them. Nothing quite like putting burgers on the menu when haven't ordered the buns to go with them. We did learn that it is easy and tastier just to go ahead and make our own. a good way to end a very good week

Wednesday dinner 26/05

The steamtable is full and ready for the campers to descend upon it. There is Rice Pilaf, baked Sweet Potato. Parsnip fries, steamed Asparagus,  Caribbean Black Bean stew and Shrimp, Chicken and Ham Garlic Sausage Gumbo. The sausage is locally made and tastes fantastic with a great texture, both characteristics of a good sausage. I am very fortunate to have two splendid individuals working with me this year. While one works with me doing prep the other is taking care of the baking. they switch positions every two weeks so they both get to try making new dishes or learning more about cooking.
At left is the Gumbo with a ladle full of shrimp and sausage. to finish the dish I reheated the sauce and added the leftover chicken cut into bite size pieces and the sausage, After this had simmered for and hour I added the shrimp and corrected the seasoning with a generous spoonful of de Arbol chili powder. The addition of the de Arbol gave the gumbo a very nice back heat as opposed to the front heat of the cayenne. I also added File Powder. the e in file has an accent over it. the file powder adds a bit of flavour but mostly it thickens the sauce
The vegetarian dish is actually a variation on the Caribbean Black Bean Stew. I added the yellow peppers and green onions for colour and added lime juice to the orange juice for a bit off zip. The stew is seasoned with allspice, cayenne, de arbol, and fresh thyme. Spicy goodness!
Below are avocados beautifully presented to go alongside the mixed greens salad. We mix Greenleaf and Romaine lettuce as well as Spring Mix, Arugula and Spinach and top off with Cucumber, Tomato,  Radish, Celery and Carrot.

Last but certainly not least is the Pecan Pie with whipped cream for dessert.

Wednesday lunch 26/05

Here you see a vegetable quiche which we ate for lunch today. asparagus dominates the vegetable mix. I also included left over broccoli and cauliflower as well as mushroom duxelle. i substituted soy milk for the cream as i have a surplus of soy milk at the moment. I did use emmenthal cheese though which i believe is the traditional choice for quiche. In the picture on the right you can see how puffy the quiche was when it came out of the oven. while the quiche was baking I set about making the sauce for the gumbo for tonight's dinner.This process begins by adding flour to melted margarine and cooking this mixture, called roux,  till the roux is a deep brown colour. I checked the roux every ten minutes or so to ensure it wasn't burning and to stir it well. when the roux was done i added a large amount of finely diced onion, celery and a mixture of green, red, and orange sweet peppers as well as the spice mixture. The spice mix consisted of white, black and cayenne peppers, thyme, basil, hungarian and smoked hot paprika, and salt. this is the mixture in the front pot. In the back pot is chicken stock made from the carcasses from the roast chicken we had last night and chicken broth. I added the chicken stock to the gumbo base and stirred like mad to ensure that no lumps formed in the sauce. The sauce simmered on the stove until after lunch and then was refrigerated until I returned to the kitchen to make dinner.

Thursday lunch 27/05

I received two packages of dried mushrooms with the food delivery last Tuesday. One of Porcini and one of mixed mushrooms consisting of Shiitake, Oyster, Chanterelle and Porcini. I decided to make Pasta with Mushroom sauce. I rehydrated the mushrooms overnight and drained them the next morning, reserving the liquid from the mushrooms. I began the sauce by sauteing finely diced onion and minced garlic and once these were starting to brown I  added sliced Crimini mushrooms and the rehydrated mushrooms. When all were browning nicely i added white wine and sherry and reduced the liquids by half. I then added the
mushroom liquor and reduced this by two thirds. Next into the pan went fresh oregano, coarse salt and pepper and 35% cream. I simmered the sauce for a short time until it was thick enough to cling to the pasta. Maple Sage Mustard Papardelle was cooked and toosed with the mushroom sauce and finished with thinly sliced green onions. We served Rosemary Bread and Caesar salad with the pasta.

Thursday dinner 27/05

For dinner this evening i made 
Jerk Turkey and Jerk Tofu with Rice Pilaf, steamed Asparagus and stir fry vegetables along with mixed greens salad. 
After removing the turkey breasts from the carcass I marinated them for about 4 hours in a mixture of onions,green and white, garlic, lime and de Arbol and cayenne pepper with allspice, nutmeg, cinnamon and fresh thyme. I reserved some of the marinade for the tofu and for napping over the barbecued turkey and tofu.

Dessert was a creation inspired by my discovery of one ingredient ice cream in a blog I was reading. To make this "ice cream" simply place frozen, chopped bananas into a food processor or blender and whizz or blend until thick and creamy. 
I decided this "ice cream" would taste very good when layered with large cookies the size of a spring form pan. We were too low on peanut butter to make the first choice in cookie layer so I opted for double chocolate with walnuts.  We served the three layer Banana Chocolate Torte with our homemade Chocolate Kahlua sauce.

Here are some photos of the prep done in the morning for the dinner dishes. to the left large cookies being made and to the right banana ice cream being whizzed. below the prep for the stir fry vegetables and the torte being assembled.

a new week

back in biz

i was awarded the contract to provide the food services for the next three years so i'll be blogging again about the meals we serve throughout the open water season.
we actually started last week but it was very hectic. i have two folks working with me this year so i'm having to rethink how i get things done in the kitchen. also last week we got the rest of the food to fill the shelves in the pantry,  the walk-in fridge and  the walk-in freezer. we are well stocked and reasddy to cook and bake all manner of tasty dishes. below is a picture of this weeks menu, just click on the picture to enlarge for reading.

i'll be uploading pictures from tonight's supper later.  well the week flew by and no pictures!  the baked ham was the gift that kept on giving.  i brined the ham over the weekend and then marinated it in cider overnight before slow cooking for about five hours. it was very sweet and rich. i saved the larger pieces from the leftovers to thinly slice for the ham melts on thursday. the smaller bits went into the soup, du jour throughout the week. this monday i made green split pea soup with the hambones and the aujus from the roastpan.  oh my goodness but the soup was so tasty,  rich with gelatin and a subtle smoky flavour. i'll be baking another bone in ham before long. the ribs were put on the menu this week for one of the fellows working for this week only. he loves my barbecue sauce so i knew he would be pleased to see a mess of ribs for dinner.
for now here are the hands of those giving me a hand this season. i'm grateful for their hard work.