taste alberta and retro redone

So I have to tell you about something new.  Although, I did say there was something retro, I really want you to know more about Taste Alberta.

It was just over year ago when Dinner with Julie, Kitchenscraps, Patent and the Pantry, Backseat Gourmet, and I, met up for a "Julie and Julia"-styled dinner. So it is only fitting that I flipped through the pages of some Julia Child recipes, and recalled why there were so many pink sticky notes, to mark the multitude of pages on which the recipe I created were found. Yes, that's right, there were multiple pages... what was I thinking?

Oddly enough, we recalled all of this yesterday evening, at the Calgary launch party of Taste Alberta. We sampled some superb Alberta products, expertly prepared by Alberta chef's...oh darn. The idea is to create awareness about the "huge variety of food grown, raised, produced and processed in the province, where to buy it and how to prepare and serve it." It will evolve in the Calgary Herald on Sundays, and in the Edmonton Journal on Wednesdays, and here.  A great opportunity for everyone to learn more about the vast amount of food and produce grown in the province.  Stay tuned!

And in honour of the pink-sticky notes still attached in  my Julia Child cookbook a year later, I made a gratin.  I have recently become completely entrenched in the knowledge of a gratin.  There is so very much to love;  it sounds so elegant, but yet it is really quite simple to throw together.  Quite literally in fact.  You just might have to dust your face with a little flour, and dirty a few more dishes, just to make it seem like you have been slaving away for hours on end; without actually having to do so.

Yes, I actually make most of this dish while carrying my five month old baby in a wrap on my chest.  Okay, not the flaming, cooking over the stove parts, but the whisking parts.  The breaking the egg parts.  He likes it, and heck, so do I.

Oh, and, there's usually leftovers.  Usually.

Did I mention that it's like a quiche without the shell?  It is quite rich, so paired with a fabulously colourful, and perhaps semi-flamboyant, red cabbage coleslaw, there isn't much to complain about.

The gratin has shrimp, curry, eggs, and a whopping cup of whipping cream.  It's heavenly in a seriously retro casserole dish.  The coleslaw?  Right. It's inspired by Nigella Lawson herself, with red cabbage, fennel, red onion, beet, garam masala, buttermilk, mayonnaise, and orange marmalade.  I know it sounds totally and completely bizarre, but just trust me that it is something that you will relish having made a large batch of.  Then, there's more time the next day, say for making cookies or other holiday deliciousness.

The retro part? Well coleslaw is always fashionable, but a dish like this? This is old school. But corning ware dishes are never out of style.


Add some cheese for the last ten to fifteen minutes.


No, it does not look like "dino-cut out chicken fingers" (thank goodness!), but it sure is colourful.


Especially when paired with this colourful festive coleslaw -


A Gratin with Shrimp & Curry

2 tbsp butter
1/4 cup finely chopped onion
1 pound peeled and deveined raw shrimp
1 tsp curry powder
3 eggs
1 cup whipping/heavy cream
2 tbsp tomato paste
1/4 tsp kosher salt
white pepper
1-2 tbsp grana padano

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Heat the butter in a skillet until foaming. Cook the onion, until soft and translucent, 5-10 minutes. Add the shrimp, and stir, stir, stir, until the shrimp is nearly cooked. Just cooked so there is not a hint of grey left, but no more. Stir in the curry powder, and turn off the heat.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, cream, tomato paste, salt, and pepper. Stir in the shrimp mixture.
4. Transfer the mix to a glass or ceramic baking dish suitable for the oven. Bake until the middle has risen as much as the edges, and jiggles just a bit. Sprinkle over a little grated grana padano, and place back in the oven with the oven off. When the cheese has melted, serve immediately.

Colourful Festive Coleslaw

If you own a food processor, this is a snap. It's a fabulously delicious way to enjoy raw vegetables in the middle of winter.

1/2 head red/purple cabbage
1 fennel bulb
1 medium beet
1/2 red onion
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup orange preserves, aka marmalade
1 tsp garam masala (delish Indian spice mix)

1. Using the food processor, chop the vegetables using the grating attachment. Just chop the pieces small enough to insert into the machine. Just trim the cores and ends of the vegetables. Include the top of the fennel bulb, beautiful fronds and all.
2. Combine the buttermilk, mayonnaise, preserves, and garam masal in a mason jar. Shake! Give it all you've got. You've really got to work to get the marmalade mixed in.
3. If you have enough eaters to devour all of the coleslaw, toss the veggies with all of the dressing. Otherwise, spoon over the dressing over each individual serving, saving the remainders for the next couple days. Enjoy!
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Eggs Baked in Phyllo with Goat Cheese and Bacon

For the next few recipes, I am going to share a few of my favourite brunch ideas. Ideas that I've used to entertain a couple times, but do plan to use again over the holidays. These are tried and true recipes, and come with my own twist. Not everything can be made when guests are arriving at the door, and who really wants that much work anyways? It's supposed to be a holiday!

I do love baked eggs. But it doesn't lend itself to entertaining for a crowd easily. At least, not without a lot of dishes, or a large casserole of scrambled goo. This was until I racked my brain to be able to serve a Mother's Day brunch for a bunch. The problem was needing some sort of vessel to hold the eggs.

Pastry is good, but not quite as light and flaky as phyllo dough. Plus, there's no reason to feel guilty about not making phyllo dough yourself, and it helps to be widely available at many large chain grocery stores. It works to be nice little packages of individually served eggs which are easily plated, and many people will oooh and ahhh at your supremely hard effort. If you are looking to wow your guests over the holidays, but don't want to leave everything until the morning of the show, this is a very versatile recipe that can actually allow you to even relax. Yes, even over the holidays.

Ok, the complicated part is making the phyllo shells, and it's not too bad. It is especially nice during the holidays to ply things with butter, as with extra dishes, and colder weather, our hands get dry. They will not be dry anymore. Plus, then it just leaves you with placing the eggs in the cups, with any other desired accoutrements such as goat cheese, bacon, parmigiano, herbs Can you see how buttery this is?

Soon it's beautifully golden like this:

I used a little more than a teaspoon of goat cheese, and a couple teaspoons of chopped bacon.

Break the eggs into an individual cup, and then gently pour into the phyllo. Bake for 5 minutes, or until the white of the egg has just begun to set. Then add a little chopped herbs, I used flat-leaf parsley, smoked paprika, and kosher salt. Bake again.  

Phyllo Baked Eggs with Goat Cheese and Bacon

1 package of phyllo dough, defrosted according to package directions eggs, as many or as few as your want

1/2 cup (at least) of butter bacon, cooked and diced
2 tsp per egg goat cheese (chevre)
1 tsp per egg finely chopped herbs
couple teaspoons, parsley, chives

smoked paprika, less than 1/2 a tsp salt, less than 1/2 a tsp

muffin tin

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 fahrenheit. Grease a muffin tin, or more muffin tins if more than 12 eggs are desired.

2. Melt the butter, and have a pastry brush, and 2 tea towels slightly dampened.

3. Open the package of phyllo dough, and immediately take 3 sheets to a large cutting board. Cover the remaining dough with a damp tea towel. Cut the 3 sheets into 8 equal pieces.

4. With a pastry brush, cover 2 of the sheets with butter. Layer the other 2 pieces on top, and cover with more melted butter.

5. Carefully place the square into a muffin cup, being careful to shape it into the bottom without tearing it.

6. Bake for approximately 5 minutes, just until barely golden as the cups will be baked again with the eggs. Keep the phyllo cups in the muffin tin.

7. When it is time to eat, pre-heat the oven again to 375 degrees fahrenheit, or even 350 degrees, if you want a bit more time to spare, or are concerned that the cups might become too dark in colour.
8. When it's about 15 minutes before it's time to eat, place 1 tsp of goat cheese, and 2 tsp of chopped bacon into each phyllo cup. Then break an egg, one at a time, into a small ramekin, and then pour each egg into a phyllo cup.
9. Place the muffin tin with the phyllo cups and eggs into the oven. Prepare the herbs, smoked paprika, and salt ready.
10. After about 7-8 minutes, or when the egg whites have just set, remove the muffin tin, and sprinkle a few of the herbs over the top of the egg, as well as salt and smoked paprika.
11. Place the muffin tin back into the oven, and continue to cook the eggs until desired doneness is reached; approximately 12-15 minutes for over-easy, and 15-20 minutes for well-done. Do check an egg if you are unsure, as these do have a tendency to appear completely raw on the outside of the yolk, but are actually quite cooked. Generally, when the whites appear fairly firm, pull the muffin tin from the oven, and allow it to sit a minute before serving.
12. To serve, carefully remove each phyllo cup from the muffin tin with a knife, and place on a platter or directly onto a plate. I have to admit that this elegant little cups are even pretty tasty the next day; if they last that long

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