| |
 |
|
|
|
|  There seems to be construction activity
in the vacant retail space beside our shop at 2297 St. Joseph Blvd.
Whatever could that mean?
Stay tuned...
|  | Tip of the month
|
|
|  When you are cooking a pie crust without
the filling, here's how to avoid having the bottom bubble up in the pan:
fill the crust with dried beans or rice. That will keep it down.
Once done, the beans or rice cannot be cooked or eaten but you
can store them for this use again later.
|
| Holiday meal in the works--don't miss
it!
|
| |
Maybe the Easter Bunny will leave something special this
year  A special day means a special dinner here
at Cuisine & Passion. As always, we will be preparing a multi-course
meal that can be pre-ordered. It can then be picked up on Saturday,
April 11, the day before Easter.
Keep an eye on our weekly
menu mailings for details...
| | Best wishes from Chef Neil Perry
|
|
|  Hi Marc.
It's been a while and the
Sydney scene misses you. I trust you and Chantal are having a great time
out there in Canada. Keep cooking old friend and I look forward to
seeing you again one day soon! All the best.
Chef Neil Perry
Australian chef, restaurateur, author, television
personality and co-ordinator of Qantas Flight Catering
[Those of you who know Chef
Marc know he is far too modest to solicit these comments for himself. In
fact, when they show up in the monthly newsletter, they are always a
surprise to him as I never tell him in advance. I just thought it would
be a nice surprise. -- Editor]
|
| Featured product: Banana Cinnamon
Jam
|
| |
It's not just for toast anymore
 Sure, slather it on your toast. Or,
try it on French toast or pancakes. It works well with crepes, too. But
those are the easy ones.
How about trying Chef Marc's Banana Cinnamon Jam on ice cream or
even as a condiment with pork? No matter what you pair it with, you'll
love this combination of sweet bananas with just a hint of cinnamon. A
new batch has just been prepared. Why not drop by to see what the fuss
is all about?
|
| Saturday tasting: Roasted Tomato
Jam
|
| |
A little taste of heaven
 It begins simply enough... We take
vine-ripened tomatoes--or local tomatoes, when they are in season--and
roast them ever so gently in a moderate oven for two hours. When roasted
to perfection, we peel them, chop them and pot them along with vinegar,
Hungarian smoked paprika, lemon juice, sugar and, to boost the
aromatics, lemon zest. We then simmer and cook the mixture down for
about an hour. Finally, we carefully fill sterilized bottles so you can
enjoy it all year long.
How
it can be used -- Roasted Tomato Jam is a great substitute for
the more common condiments such as ketchup, mustard or relish. Use it to
dress up hamburgers or to add some zest to your barbequed
meats--spring's not that far
way!
Because it is a full-bodied jam, it goes best with red
meats such as beef, veal or lamb, but it can also spice up a nice piece
of roasted or barbequed chicken. In some cases, such as in a Spanish
Omelet, you can even use it as a replacement for salsa.
Sound
good? Why not drop by Saturday
starting at 11:00 a.m. to taste
it for yourself?
| | Featured recipe: A simple sauce...
|
by Chef
Marc Miron
|
| ...that
can turn a good dish into a great dish!
 Sometimes you just need a good white
sauce.
As one of the mother sauces of French cuisine,
Béchamel sauce, also known as white sauce, is the base for a number of
other sauces such as Mornay (with cheese), crème (with heavy cream),
Soubise (with finely diced onions that have been sweated in butter),
Nantua (with crayfish, butter and cream), mustard (with prepared
mustard) and cheddar cheese (with cheddar cheese, dry mustard and
Worcestershire sauce).
Try this basic white sauce with your
favourite flavours and watch your dinners come to life!
Classic Béchamel
sauce
(Makes one cup)
1/4 cup butter
1 cup whole milk
2 tbsp all-purpose flour
pinch nutmeg
salt and pepper to
taste
DIRECTIONS
1. Melt the butter over medium-high
heat in a heavy-bottomed sauce pan.
2. Add flour all at once
and stir with a wooden spoon until all the flour is incorporated. Cook
this mixture--properly called "roux"--for a minute or two.
3. Add half the milk and stir until it starts to thicken.
4. Add the remaining milk and stir until the desired thickness is
reached.
5. Season with salt, pepper and a pinch of
nutmeg.
6. Enjoy!
(For extra smoothness, you can
strain the sauce before you serve it.)
|
| Expanding our offering
|
| |
Tens of thousands of choices--what a day!
 Chef Marc snuck away early one recent
Saturday. With enough planning, he thought, he could hit the Canadian
Gift and Tableware Show in Toronto on Sunday and be back before the shop
opened Monday morning. It was a chance to see what new items he could
offer at the store.
A few hours, a couple of bags of
catalogues and 1,100 exhibitors later, he flopped down in a restaurant
chair to grab a bite before heading back to Ottawa.
Over the
next few weeks and months, you'll start to see new items popping up in
the store. All thanks to that Sunday in Toronto.
PHOTO: Chef Marc meets with a
representative from Swissmar, a kitchenware distributor and manufacturer
of products such as raclettes, fondues, wine accessories, bamboo boards,
cheese knives and assorted kitchen tools.
| | Keep your cool!
|
| |
Safe food-handling basics
 Bacteria thrives in the temperature
zone between 40F and 160F (4C and 72C). Between cooking and
refrigerating, your food must pass through this zone, of course. The
trick is to make that visit as short as possible--and never let it go
longer than two hours. Here are some tips: · DO
NOT go from the stove right to the fridge. While that might cool your
hot food quickly, it could also warm up your refrigerator and cause
other foods to spoil. · Try cooling off a hot pot of food by
letting it rest in cold water. Change the water frequently. ·
If the food is still just a little--we stress a little--warm when placed in the refrigerator, leave it
uncovered until it has cooled. It will cool more quickly this way. · Never mix leftovers with fresh food.
· Give the food in your refrigerator a little breathing
space so the cold air can circulate and cool things quickly and
evenly. For more food-safety facts, visit the Canadian Food
Inspection Agency website. | | |
|
|
| |
| |
Give the gift of fine cuisine
| Available in any amount, a gift certificate
from Cuisine & Passion is a great way to celebrate a birthday,
anniversary or any special event.
Call us at 613-845-1090 today for more
information.
|
| Visit us today at 2297 St. Joseph Blvd. in Orléans
and we will help you make that certain someone feel extra special!
| |
| |
