Well this is it. Christmas is almost here. I have completed just enough of my shopping and hand making so I can safely leave the rest to the last minute. I like having something left to do then.

I like handmade gifts. This year I made a bunch of fruit preserves, jams and ice cream toppings. I had never preserved much of anything before (mabey a few tomatoes back in chefs school) but I was inspired by a new cookbook I bought, Sarabeth's Bakery cookbook by Sarabeth Levine.  It inspired me to make fruit preserves and bread, and muffins, and chocolate pound cake and buttermilk biscuits. It has also inspired my daughter Bella to mark the pages of the recipes she'd like me to be inspired to make. This is my favourite new cookbook this year.

I also made caramel corn. I gave some to my sister for her birthday, like my mom and I, she has a December birthday. I also knit her a scarf which ended up in the lost and found at her yoga studio. I left it at the front desk unwrapped with a verbal instruction that it was her birthday present. After teaching her class she didn't get the message that it was her present and she admired it and tried to find its rightful owner. I just mention this since it makes a good case for wrapping and labelling gifts. A good thing to remember at this time of the year. My sister doesn't eat wheat so I thought caramel corn would be a nice treat. Turns out she's not eating sugar at the moment either but could make an exception for her birthday.

I called my friend Mel for her caramel corn recipe. She made this and brought it to our Christmas staff parties out at Casa Bella and everyone loves it. I was reminded of caramel corn while reading Orangette, a blog I've been reading, her recipe is here. She recommends you don't make her recipe without a candy thermometer but you don't need one for Mel's recipe. The recipe on orangette instructs you to boil the caramel till it reaches 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Mel's recipe instructs you boil the caramel for 5 minutes then proceed. I followed Mel's recipe but I also have a candy thermometer so I was taking the temperature as well out of curiosity. After 5 minutes the caramel was at 220 or so and the caramel corn turned out perfectly. 

Caramel Corn

1 cup butter

2 cups brown sugar, lightly packed

1/2 cup of corn syrop

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon vanilla

6 quarts of popped pop corn (24 cups, about 2/3 cup unpopped)

Step 1- pop the corn. I did mine in a 6 quart pot with 2 tablespoons of canola oil. Then measure the popped corn into a large roasting pan.

Step 2- combine the butter, brown sugar, corn syrop, and salt in a pot and set it on the stove.

Step 3- measure the baking soda and vanilla and have them handy with the popcorn. Also have two wooden spoons or heatproof spatulas. Turn the heat on high under the pot and stir till all the sugar is dissolved and the butter, brown sugar, corn syrup is rapidly boiling. Then stop stirring and turn the heat to medium and leave it alone to boil for 5 minutes. 

Step 4- after the 5 minutes turn off the heat and add the baking soda and vanilla. The boiling sugar and butter will sizzle and boil up in the pot a bit when you do this. Stir carefully to incorporate the baking soda and vanilla then pour the caramel over the popcorn. Stir it all around to coat the popcorn with the caramel.

Step 5- then bake the caramel corn in the oven for 1 hour at 250 stirring every 10 minutes or so.

Step 6- after 1 hour in the oven I poured my caramel corn on to a peice of parchment paper to cool because I was worried it would stick to the pan and I also wanted to get the pan soaking so it would be easier to clean. After doing that though I think it was unnecessary. You could just leave it in the pan to cool. Once cool break up the caramel corn gently and keep in a air tight container or ziplock bag. I think it will last a week like that but you will eat it all before then.

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year.

We had one of my favourite meals this week and I took pictures so I could share it with you. I think this would be an a excellent meal to have, if the ingredients were on hand, for over the holidays. That way, if you tire of rich, sugary, and fatty foods, you will have a refreshing and healthy option. Stev and I were introduced to this fun, healthy dinner by our great friends Suzanne and Bernie who own and operate the Victoria Rose Inn , in Gananoque. Suzanne and Bernie lived in Ottawa before they bought the Victoria Rose Inn and while living there, discovered a Vietnamese restaurant that offered this meal for take out. One night, several years ago, they brought this take out meal (from New Mee Fung, 350 Booth St., Ottawa) to our then home, in Gananoque and a new favourite supper was born.

Vietnamese Salad Rolls are fun, fresh tasting and easier than you think to make. You basically take fresh herbs, vegetables, rice noodles and meat or shrimp or tofu and wrap them up in a sheet of softened rice paper. Hoisin, sambal, and fish sauce are used for seasoning and dipping.

To start, here's what you need to have: thin rice vermicelli noodles, rice paper sheets (they are thin and round and come in two sizes, we use Rose Brand), Hoisin Sauce (Asian Ketchup), Sambal Oelek (fresh ground chilli paste), and fish sauce (recipe below).

You can use any fresh herbs you like, however, we used basil leaves, coriander leaves, and mint leaves. The herbs add a significant liveliness to the taste, so they are definetly worth getting. Don't worry if you only have one or two of these on hand, you can still make the salad rolls.

Julienne (match size cut) fresh vegetables. We used yellow and red peppers and cucumbers. Bean sprouts are good too, but we didn't have any.

Grill/cook the meat or seafood. You can use chicken, pork, beef, shrimp or any meat/seafood/tofu you like. Once cooked, thinly slice. Stev and I shared one chicken breast and we cooked another for the kids.

Add the rice vermicelli noodles in a small pot of boiling water. Stir often and boil for 2 minutes. Then drain and rinse in cold water.

Fish Sauce Recipe 

We make ours in a measuring cup.

Ingredients:

-1/3 cup lime juice (approx. 2 limes)

-1/3 cup fish sauce (we like Lucky Brand)

-1/3 cup water

-1 teaspoon finely chopped garlic

-1/2 teaspoon finely chopped Thai chilli, or more to taste.

Stir all ingredients together. It will taste pungent and strong and mabey a bit weird if you haven't had it before, but don't worry it works as a dipping sauce for the rolls.

Assembly

Make a platter with the washed and dried fresh herbs, julienned vegetables, cooked rice noodles, and sliced cooked meat/seafood/tofu.

Put the platter on the table with individual dishes of fish sauce, and have some Sambal and Hoisin sauce on the table as well.

Take a pie plate of warm water to the table and the rice paper wrappers. 

Dip the rice paper wrapper in the warm water for approximately 30 seconds. Remove when it is slightly softened but not limp, and lay flat on a plate.

Once you have selected the filling for your salad roll, roll it up.

This is is the finished Vietnamese Salad Roll.

I shop at the Asian Market at 354 Princess Street in Kingston. This store has all the ingredients I've mentioned, including the fresh herbs and chillies.

When we had these salad rolls this week, I also cooked some rice in the rice cooker. Olivia, our daughter, had rice, chicken and soy sauce wrapped up in her rice paper roll. Our son Harry asked me to take a picture of his dinner. He food styled this picture himself, so I'll leave you with this lovely picture of his nutritious dinner.

This year back in March or April, Stev and I went to Les Fougeres for the first time and fell in love with everything about this place. I love it's location in Chelsea Quebec. I love that it is a beautiful restaurant set in an old roadside gas station. Creatively made over, of course, to include: a restaurant; gourmet food shop; wrap around screened in porch; and a plentiful gardens that produce food for the restaurant and act as a backdrop for summer weddings. There is also an outdoor dance floor, little nature paths through the woods, and old fashioned swings for the kids. I love the owners Charles and Jennifer! We met them at the 2008 Gold Metal Plates event, where Charles won the gold and Stev the bronze. They invited us to come and visit them at Les Fougeres, and two years later we did. Since then we have been back three more times and bought their cookbook...which is why I had a busy week!

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Lamb Curry as presented at Les Fougere

On one of our visits to Les Fougeres Stev ordered the Lamb and Apple Curry. Charles is originally from England where there is a strong tradition of going out to the pub for a curry, so I was excited to get to taste this tradition without the airfare. I had the feeling I was tasting something authentic. It was fragrant with spices and lime and tasted rich and layered with ginger and coconut. There is a recipe for this dish in the Les Fougeres cookbook so this week I decided to make a big batch for Bella Bistro.

I started this endeavour by talking to Wendy at Wendy's Mobile Market and ordered some local boneless lamb shoulder. Then Tuesday morning made a shopping list....there are 27 ingredients in the Lamb and Apple Curry!!  And one of which is a Lime Pickle which you have to also make and it has 19 ingredients! This endeavour just got more daunting! The Lime Pickle involves boiling the limes, then cutting them in quarters and squeezing out the pulp, chopping up the skins, then boiling it all in sugar and vinegar with onions and spices. This took me so long that it did not even make it into the lamb curry; which was already bubbling well on its way by the time I had finished. So Paul is serving it on the side as a condiment. It tastes.....interesting....a little bitter like the pith of citrus fruit bitter and with lime pickle. Somehow, I'm sure this is my fault, the one at Les Fougeres was perfect.

When I made my shopping list on Tuesday it was raining, so I just made one stop at No Frills for Granny Smith Apples before I collected my kids from school so they wouldn't have to walk home in the rain. I thought to myself, I'll shop tomorrow when the weather is better. Wednesday the weather went from bad to worse! I needed to get some ingredients from Tara Foods and Asian Market downtown so I went for lunch at Olivea...I had a lovely lunch and when I left Olivea it had started saining (snow/raining). So I did all my shopping in the worst weather of the week!

Finally on Thursday I made the lamb curry. I started around 10 am browning the lamb and frying the onions, which I added together. The peeled and chopped apple went in next, along with the coconut, green pepper and spices, which I had toasted and ground. Lastly I added the coconut milk and apple juice as the liquid, and then the whole curry goes into the oven to cook slowly for 3 to 4 hours till the lamb is tender. Success! While nothing can compare to the original, especially since someone else made it and served it to me, I am happy with my Lamb and Apple Curry.

Today I made a mango chutney to serve along with the lime pickle. I froze some of the curry to feature on our Port-A-Bella Menu of Frozen Prepared Foods and it's the special this weekend at Bella Bistro, while supplies last.

Thanks to Charles and Jennifer for the generous cookbook. I recommend it. My favourite sentence from the book is "At it's very best a restaurant is a handmade project in a world of mass production." I couldn't agree more and reading that sentence helps me know I'm on the right path in life, and keeps me striving to make Bella Bistro the very best it can be.