Food, cooking and life

Personal Chef and Catering Services

2010-11-06T02:44:00.002+01:00

Ok, update.
It's been a while. How do I update after this long?
I started taking a nutritional course which will certify me as a Registered Holistic Nutritionist. The course is through the Canadian School of Natural Nutrition. So far, I am about four months into the two year course and, while it is more work each week than I thought it was going to be, it is going really well. I am about to enter into the Anatomy and Physiology section of my course which I am excited about.
I worked the past year at the Parkside Restaurant in Squamish and now I am currently unemployed.
I've thought more and more recently about having my own business. I would like to start a business offering Personal Chef and Catering services for individuals, couples or families in Squamish, Whistler and West Vancouver. I think that this would be a good balance for my creativity, urge for independance, drive and motivation for work and of course my love and passion for cooking. Now, how do I get clients?
Next weekend, I've signed up to volunteer for Cornucopia, the food and wine festival that is held every year in Whistler. Should be an interesting experience!
Oh, and I just turned thirty. Yesterday. Flirty thirty as my sister calls it. Ha.
That's all for now.

A few photos of Cravirola Cooperative and an update

2009-12-18T21:02:00.003+01:00

Le Cooperative Cravirola

Les Aubracs - wild meat cows

Britta et le fromagerie! Ladling out the cheese curd

Le Tomme de Maquis - a hard, cooked cows cheese

The wood fire bread oven built in Spring 2009

These are a few photos from my home at Cravirola Cooperative during the summertime.
I recently got an update from the group of lovely individuals at Cravirola and even though it is winter there , they are busy busy busy. They are undertaking a variety of projects to improve their facilities for next winter. New electrical lines, a new line for water for fire safety, improvements to the campground, new sanitation facilities on the campground, and of course all the other projects that are ongoing there! There are always animals to milk, animals to slaughter, animals to be fed, cheese to be made, wood to be cut, paper work to be completed, gardens to be prepared and merry making to be done!
They have a call out to any supportive individuals who might like to donate or potentially loan money to support all of these costly upgrades to their wonderful little utopia in the south of France. Visit www.cravirola.com for more information about their projects and the life at this cooperative.

On hot chili sauce and wood oven dried tomatoes - ie. the simpler things in life.

2009-10-22T21:33:00.011+02:00

My journey in France has recently come to an end (hence the change in the title to my blog) and I have come back to Canada with fresh perspectives, knowledge that is new to me and unique experiences that I will never recreate in my lifetime. It seems that this has little to do with the title of my blog post but despite the lack of obvious links, it all has to do with a shift in my perspectives. I believe that I've evolved. No, evolving - into a human being who wants to have time in their life for the simpler things in life, like making a damn fine hot chili sauce from the garden or drying the excess garden tomatoes in a wood oven, to have a garden, to have friends, to have kids, among so many other things.
Now of course food has been on my mind for years in one way or another and I find myself being less attracted to the service side of the industry (one reason being that the lifestyle just seems unrealistic for me at times - although I still do believe that there are alternate routes to every challenge) and more attracted to the production side of food, where the quality of the food is nurtured literally from the ground up.
I am secretly nursing an urge to start a farm. A pig farm actually, with vegetables of course and perhaps some other animals as well. While I am still working on the route to take in order to get there (and whether I'll end up there is another question entirely) I have found some interesting resources in my internet travels. Throughout Canada there are many programs that promote apprenticeships on farms so that a person can get a real, hands in the earth experience of what it is like. SOIL is one program that is Canada wide and offers a wide range of apprenticeship opportunities on a variety of different types of farms. Of course there is WWOOF -ing, the international organization of Willing Workers on Organic Farms. The Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada offers a large resource of interesting information on training, apprenticeships, jobs, volunteer opportunities and research links. FarmStart is an interesting program based out of Ontario that, among other things, offers mentorship programs and even "incubator farms" where people can start there project before getting there own land! Another website I happened along was PlanetFriendly.net , which, while not being focused on farming and agriculture, is a really interesting resource for environmental information, "green" jobs that are available, and other related links.
Now, that is enough said for one day I do believe.
Let me end on a recipe.

Hot chili sauce

6 large hot chili peppers
1 onion
4 cloves of garlic
olive oil
salt
pepper

*The quantities of onion and garlic are a bit of an estimation so taste is really, always the best guidance to what you like.

To start, char the skin of all the peppers on a gas flame or if you only have an electric stove, char the skin under the broiler. Remove the skins, the seeds and the stem of the pepper.
Place the peppers in a food processor and puree. Add the onions and the garlic. Slowly add a stream of olive oil to the mix. (This is where the tasting begins, so forewarn your taste buds!) Add salt and pepper to taste.
The mix will become thick and a fairly homogenous puree.
Place in a pot and heat over a low flame until it simmers. Simmer for five minutes or so.
Remove and store in airtight container in the fridge. Keeps well. If you want to can it in glass jars, have your jars ready after you heat the mix and put it directly in them. Seal the jars and turn over on their lids until cool so that a good seal is formed.

As for the wood oven dried tomatoes, that will have to wait for another opportunity.

Cravirola Cooperative - Summer season

2009-08-12T17:27:00.005+02:00

Time flies by quickly here in this bustling niche in the south of France. It seems to me that the summer flies by especially fast because I have a tendency to work especially hard during these months where the daylight hours are slowly, ever so slowly starting to retract.
The summer season really started up here around the end of June with the start of the concert schedule and since then, the momentum has only been growing. The camping is constantly renewing itself with great new faces and the music that passes through this corner of France has been original, funny, entertaining, dancable and all in all good fun. (A few groups that were especially notable were the Troublamours who played here this past weekend, Astataboops, a hilarious comedy musical mix, Goulamas-K who have not played here yet but will in the next week and who I saw in Mons La Trivalle in the springtime, french ska and Bob's Not Dead, french punk. Also to mention is the Mal Coiffée who I saw perform at a wine festival in Minerve.)
On the work side of things, as soon as the summer started, I jumped into full time cooking mode, working in the snack bar\restaurant here. Since then, things have been going full steam. I have been commissioned as the head of and the only member of the pastry department here. This has been great because I get the opportunity to make a lot of tasty treats for others to enjoy and exercise my creativity with it too.
Other than pastry, I also work the grill, prepare salads and salad ingredients, make vegetable and goat cheese terrines each week, make the plat du jour an average about two times a week and well, always a host of other activities too! It is good fun, hard work but good fun.
As for what comes next, all I know is that I've decided to leave here in September but I am still not sure what I am headed for... any ideas? It has been great here but it is time to move on.
To finish off, I will leave a recipe for brownies that is really good and easy.

Brownies
To make and 8 inch square pan ( double the recipe for a 9 by 13 inch pan)

Ingredients:

4 oz chocolate
1/2 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 t vanilla
2 eggs
3/4 cup flour
1/4 t salt
1/4 cup roasted walnuts

Ganache
3 oz chocolate
1/3 cup cream
1T butter

Methode:

1. Melt the chocolate and the butter over a pot of simmering water.
2. Add the sugar.
3. Add the eggs one by one and add the vanilla.
4. Add the flour, salt and walnuts.
5. Spread into a greased baking pan.
6. Bake at 325 degrees fahrenheit for about 25 minutes.
7. For the ganache, melt the chocolate, cream and butter together.
8. Mix well and let cool to thicken slightly.
9. When the brownies are cooled , spread the ganache evenly over the brownies.
10. Let set in the refrigerator before cutting.

L'Atelier de Vaour

2009-06-18T19:56:00.002+02:00

This past week I went with two other people from the farm here to a meat and vegetable transformaion workspace in Vaour, a small village in south east-ish France. Apparently this is the only atelier of its kind in France because they are permitted to transform all different varieties of meat, fruits and vegetables in the same building. Now if someone wishes to start a similar cooperative it is limited to one sort of product. ie: pork etc. They have over seventeen members who each use the facility for different purposes. I went there on one other occasion as well to cook prepared meals for a music festival that we were going to be selling at. Our mission this time around was to transform four Gascon pigs that were raised on the farm here into tasty charcuterie treats for the summer season to come on the farm. Mission well accomplished! We arrived with four hundred kilograms of porc and left with fresh cuts, roasts, sausage, boudin noir in sausage, four hams sent to be cooked and duly returned to us, bacon and rillette, fromage de tete, patés, boudin, and jambonneau in tins. Wow is all I can say and YUM!! It is tasty when you know where your meat and derived products is coming from. Fortunately I brought my camera along but unfortunately, I forgot to take photos while I was there. Boo.

Slaughter and butchery . Queasy readers take caution.

2009-04-15T13:25:00.001+02:00

I eat meat. However, for as long as I remember I never have had any contact with the animals that I eat. It confuses me a little to think that I do not know where my meat comes from, how it is killed, how it is skinned and then subsequently butchered and cooked. (the cooking part I know well enough, but it is a small step on a long chain leading to the food on my table.) So in this vain, I slaughtered a baby goat last week. I can't say that I liked it but I don't think it is something anyone would particularly take a shine to. There were two goats to be slaughtered that day so that they could be sold to customers at the farm. Fateh slaughtered, skinned and gutted the first one to show me how to do it as I watched and he asked me if I wanted to do the second one. So we drove up to the barn and picked out the baby goat who was to be killed. It was a male because they are less usefull on the farm to keep around because they do not produce any milk and he was marked with blue paint on his back and had a string tied around his ankle. We loaded him into the truck and he sat between my legs as we drove to the workshop. Fateh explained how I was to kill him. I took the goat out and set him on the ground being careful to always have one hand on one of his feet so that he could not run away and sat over top of him to keep him in one position. The killing is done with a bolt gun that propels a quick bolt into the skull of the animal. It is quickly done and over with. Afterwards, the animals throat must be slit to let out the blood. Two cuts are made on his lower legs in the gap that is formed by the tendon connecting the feet to the legs. I pick the goat up, bring him inside and hook both his legs so that he hangs upside down. I take a knife in hand and make an incision in the skin at his belly so that I can start to skin him. For skinning, the knife is used to make the first cuts and to work the skin loose from the membrane that attaches it to the meat. I work up his belly and into his hindlegs. I am advised to use a cloth and my hand to separate the skin once I have detached enough skin with the knife to get a good grip. Once the skin is separated from this portion of his body, a cut is made around his hindlegs and the skin is halfway off the body. I work the other half and then work the skin off the head. This is hard and time consuming because there are so many small areas to detach. Once skinned, a slit is made in the belly in order to empty the contents of the body cavity. I am warned not to puncture the stomach because it really smells and his messy if this happens. I work my way through the organs, salvaging the liver (detaching the bile duct - not sure if this is the right terminology- because if it is punctured it ruins the liver for eating, the kidneys, the heart and the lungs for food. All the rest is waste. The animal is sawed in half, the tendons on the ankles cut to release the animal, the feet removed and that is that. A done deed. The head is left on because the brain can be eaten as well as a little of the meat in the head. ( Although it was a small animal because it was still quite young.) The animal is rinsed of all remaining hairs and blood and stored in the fridge. I think that the animal has to be kept in the fridge for about three days before eaten.
And that is a small snapshot of one way meat can come to our table.

Cravirola Cooperative

2009-04-02T19:52:00.002+02:00

It has been about three weeks since I have been working at the Cravirola Cooperative and time has gone by very fast here. How do I start to explain life here? The farm is on 280 hectares of land set in a rocky landscape just north of Narbonne in southern France. It is a group run farm where the products that are produced are used to sustain the farm and life here. There are approximately 150 animals, cows, goats and sheep, a cheese atelier, a wood fire bread oven under construction, two large gardens, rooms for rent, a campground and a performance stage. In the summer, the campground is open and there is a snack bar that makes food for the visitors using produce, meat and cheese all from the farm. Impressive! Apart from all of this, the products are also used to sell a local organic markets in the region.
Last week I left the farm to travel with two people to an transformation atelier. This is a cooperative processing building that is used for a variety of purposes. From what I gathered, it is the only one of its kind in France, where meat of all kinds, fruit, vegetables, fish etc... can all be transformed in the same building. We were there to make use of two cows from the farm that had been slaughtered the week before. The idea was that we were to make chili and curry to sell at a music festival that starts tomorrow. It went well. The atelier was really interesting. Most of the people working there either raised animals, slaughtered them and then used the atelier to butcher, make sausages, tinned pates or package the meat sousvide or some people used it for catering operations and still others, thre was one man in particlar who used it to make tins of cassoulet to sell at the markets. All very local.
Tomorrow I am going to a 40000 person music festival t sell the meals that we prepared at the atelier. I think it will be a riot, tiring bu entertaining at the same time.
Salut for now. Nadia

Bust a move

2009-03-09T18:17:00.001+01:00

Leaving Paris tomorrow and heading south to a small town just outside of Minerve, sort of between Montpellier and Toulouse. I will work for a while learning how to make cheese. The farm I'll be at is called Cravirola. Sort of a communal farm where I work as a volunteer in exchange for room and board. Should be interesting.

Les Halles

2009-03-08T22:14:00.006+01:00

Currently, la forum des Halles is a large underground mall and a tranportation hub in the center of Paris close to the Chatelet district in the 1st arrondissment. Up until 1971, it was a lively market that I can only imagine (unfortunately!!) would have been a center for high quality food products from all over France.

Les Halles was created in 1137 and survived for almost 800 years as a bustling marketplace, undergoing various architectural changes throughout it's history, the most notable being the construction of an iron and glass complex by Victor Baltard in the mid eighteen hundreds.

As the city grew and traffic congestion from the trucks bringing food to and from the markets became a problem, the market was moved in 1971, to the Rungis in the outskirts of Paris.

Click here for some good photos of the new Rungis marketplace.
Click here for the Rungis marketplace website.
And here for some old photos and/or art of les Halles.

Steak Tartare

2009-03-06T11:21:00.015+01:00

I am here in my apartment trying to dig up information on steak tartare. It is a dish that I have tended to associate with France and with Paris in particular but it's history is long in the making and it seems that many countries have a version of this popular dish.

From what I can discern, the name Tartar refers to a group of Mongolian warriors in the late 13th century who were called this by the people in the villages that they attacked. The sound of the horses hoofs as the warriors approached made a "trrtrr" sound and villagers would use this as a cry of alarm and terror when they could hear this oncoming attack. As the story goes, these warriors would place long thin strips of meat under their saddles as they rode. Some historians claim that this practice was to tenderize, season and marinade the meat which was chopped finely and served with caper berries when the warriors stopped riding. (Thus the origin of the dish steak tartar.) The counter argument to this theory is that the meat would have been placed under the saddle in an attempt to heal the wounds of the horse and would have been inedible after being used in this way.
The Tartars were seen to be fierce and powerful warriors and it was a commonly held belief that eating raw meat could be the source of their great strength and endurance, therefore, this practice was adopted by other cultures and was adapted to local tastes.
Here in France, steak tartare is typically finely diced raw meat, bound with egg yolks and served with capers, shallots, small dill pickes, sea salt, ground pepper. Hot sauce and worcestershire sauce are served as condiments on the side and diners may add these as they wish. It will often be served with a raw egg yolk on top as a garnish.
I tried steak tartar at the restaurant I was at here in Paris and I quite enjoyed their recipe.

Steak Tartare, a variation

100 g lean, fresh beef, diced small
1 T diced shallots
2 t diced ginger
2 t chopped parsley
1 t chopped tarragon
2 t diced dill pickle
1 T capers
2 T salad oil
2 t soya sauce
1 t mayonnaise
1/2 t dijon
salt and pepper to taste

Mix everything together and serve with a salad and some nice crusty french bread!! (Warm is always nice...) This is a rough estimation of amounts, so adjust as necessary to your taste!

Nougat Glace or Frozen Nougat

2009-03-02T20:09:00.007+01:00

I made this recipe at the restaurant today. It is quite tasty and a nice dessert that is frozen and therefore has a long shelf life.

Yield: 1 - 9 by 13 inch pan (probably will yield approximately 15 generous servings )

Ingredients

Nougatine:

80 g sugar
35 g honey
100 ml water
2 cups chopped nuts

Nougat glace:

150 g sugar
water , enough just to cover sugar
200 g honey
6 egg whites
1 tbsp sugar (for the whites)
1 litre 35% cream
1 cup roasted nuts
1 cup candied fruit
(or two cups nuts if candied fruit is just not your thing...)

Methodology:

Nougatine:

1. Ready a tray by covering it with parchment paper.

2. Heat sugar, honey and water over medium heat until the sugar takes on a light amber color. ( blond caramel stage)

3. Add chopped nuts to caramel and mix quickly.

4. Pour the mixture out onto the tray and spread quickly.

5. Place tray in freezer or fridge for 10 or 15 minutes so that the nougatine hardens. This makes it easier to break apart to use.

Nougat Glace:

1. Ready a 9 by 13 inch baking tray by lightly greasing it and lining it with plastic wrap.

2. Place the sugar and water in a small pan over medium heat and heat to 121 degrees celsuis. If a thermometer is not available then bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat and boil for two or three minutes.

2. At the same time, begin to beat the egg whites and the 1 tbsp of sugar to a firm peak. Ideally, the sugar syrup and the egg whites should be ready around the same time.

3. Add the honey to the syrup and bring the mixture back to a boil.

4. Add the hot syrup to the egg whites in a steady stream while continuing to whip. Whip until cool. (This is evidently easier with a machine, but if one is not available then beat the mixture for a few minutes and let it cool beating every once and while to distribute the heat.) This is the same as making an italian meringue.

5. Whip the cream.

6. Combine the cool meringue and the whipping cream.

7. Break apart the nougatine that was made earlier. Combine with the roasted nuts and the candied fruit and add it all to the meringue mixture.

8. Pour into prepared tray and spread evenly. Freeze for a minimum of three hours.

Cut and serve with fresh fruit or a fresh fruit coulis!

To make a quick coulis:

Dilute a little sugar in water over low heat. Place fruit in a blender (raspberries or strawberries would work reallt well) , add a squeeze of lemon juice and a little of the sugar syrup. Blend until smooth. Add more liquid if necessary, depending on the consistency that is wanted. Pass the coulis through a sieve to strain out the seeds.

La Table d'Hote de Caroll Sinclair

2009-02-24T18:39:00.004+01:00

Things are good here in Paris. I have started working. Thankfully. The restaurant is called La Table d'Hote de Caroll Sinclair and it is small and quite nice, good ambiance and a good feel to the place. I found it wandering one night in the streets in the second arrondissement. It attracted me, so I went back the next day to submit a resume. The website is www.carollsinclair.com if anyone is interested. So far I have worked eight days. I'll try to post photos of the restaurant soon.

2009-02-11T16:51:00.007+01:00

I arrived in Paris one week ago today but it feels like I have already been here much longer than that. Paris is a great city to walk around and I can attest to this as I have spent nearly eight hours every day doing this. Needless to say, I'm tiring a little.
My wandering did not prove to be entirely aimless since before I left Canada I researched many restaurants where I wanted to inquire about work, and I tried to visit as many of these in a day as I could manage. So far not too much has come of my efforts, except for exceptionally fit legs. However, I have managed to meet a few people; read a lot of menus and get a little more comfortable at dropping in on potential employers. Most people I visit say they'll get back to me but lacking a telephone number in France has made this difficult, so today I bought myself the cheapest possible mobile with all the free incoming calls I can handle. This I believe will work to my advantage.
Yesterday, I went for a trial day at Rose Bakery for a position as a pastry chef. This went well and I'm scheduled to go back there next week for one more trial day. As much as I'd like to work in a kitchen, I've decided that this would be a great place to get myself started and find some footing here in Paris. (not to mention to start bringing in a little income) There is the possibility of getting three days work there, which also leaves me with quite a bit of time to pick up another part time job in a kitchen, or at least to keep looking for other opportunities. My chef instructor Tony's words keep ringing in my ears, "Persist! Persist! Persist!".
Today I moved into an apartment in the 17th arrondissement. It is small and a shared space with one other. My roommates name is Fred and he is French. I met him for the first time the other night and talking with him about food and culture while eating a small meal at ten o'clock at night (he made a potato onion gratiné - very tasty and simple), I realized that I can learn a lot in restaurants and get good at my skills but the knowledge of the culture and traditions of France will largely come from meeting people, talking with them and eating with them. à bientot.
Nadia