Last week-end I was outside of Toronto for a family wedding. It was a lovely setting, and I wanted to share a sample of photos from the area and the wedding.
This is a beautiful part of Canada. Hopefully you will be lucky enough to spend time travelling in this wonderful country.
Fresh corn on the cob has been available in our grocery store recently. I don’t know where it comes from, because it certainly can’t be local, but throwing caution to the wind, we decided to give it a try. Unexpectedly, it was delicious. Good enough that I wanted to find a chowder recipe that used fresh corn. Searching the internet turned up numerous variations that appealed to me. I started with a recipe from Cooks Illustrated, and tweaked it to match what I had on hand.
This is what the corn looks like to begin with, after cutting off kernels, and after scraping with a dull knife. This is Peaches and Cream corn – yellow and white kernels. I should mention that this corn cutting and scraping is a tad messy. There was corn juice splattered all over the counter, the window ledge, the window, the sink (I tried to contain some of the spray by working in the sink – not totally successful) and of course, my glasses! In good weather, I would move this outside. Then I could just hose down the work area.
The scraped corn was squeezed in a clean teatowel to extract the juice. I got a little carried away and started making a hole in my teatowel. Of course, it is a lovely linen towel that I have had for at least 30 years. Did I mention that I don’t like to throw things away?
There’s the start of the soup – onions and bacon, flour added, and finally water whisked in.
After the soup simmered a bit, it was time to add the corn and potatoes. Then after they cooked, some of the soup was pureed.
Cream was added and heated through, and finally the corn juice was mixed in. The basil garnish added another flavor component.
I was carried away taking photos right up until the soup was ready. I’ve never made chowder with fresh corn before, and I was intrigued with the process. Also very impressed with the flavor. There was a lovely smokey taste from the bacon, and it wasn’t anything special. The soup, however, was very special. Yumm. Do not try to make this with anything but fresh corn. Trust me on this.
Corn Chowder
Over the week-end I had an opportunity to try another sous vide recipe. I was invited out for dinner and offered to bring my sous vide equipment over to do an experimental main course. Nothing like trying out a recipe (and new technique) on a dinner party group, right? My friend bought all the ingredients from a recipe that I supplied. I went over early in the afternoon to help prep the lamb chops. Our first challenge was figuring out the new vacuum seal bag maker, but once we did that there wasn’t much to learn. The lamb chops were seasoned with salt and pepper, rubbed with a little olive oil and placed by twos in bags, hopefully with a sprig of rosemary. I fell off the job a bit and some of the lamb was done sans rosemary. I was also too focused on bagging the lamb to remember to take any photos!
After all the meat was seasoned and sealed in bags, it was dropped into a large tank of 130 degree water. The water circulated and the temperature was held for about 2 and 1/2 hours. I had gone home to clean up for dinner, so when the time was up the chops were quickly chilled and refrigerated. They looked pretty sad at that point.
At dinner time the chops were released from their packages, spread out on paper towels to dry and then seared on a hot grill for about 2 minutes per side – just long enough to give some nice color. At this stage they were looking good. The lamb was perfectly cooked. It seemed a bit tough to cut, but it was tender to eat. I think the bones of the loin chops made access difficult because of the thickness of the bones, but it was a minor issue we were able to overcome.
We enjoyed a fabulous meal which included prosciutto wrapped shrimp and scallops, a beautiful selection of cheeses with gourmet crackers, an outstanding salad, lamb loin chops, grilled baby potatoes, steamed broccolini with lemon, a delicious carrot cake and alfajor cookies. I was unable to photograph most of the meal properly, as the low battery light started flashing just as the lamb came off the grill. I didn’t want to risk not catching it in presentation form. I won’t go to dinner without my extra battery again!
As you can see, this cake and cookie photo was not “set up” for the blog, but forgive me. I was having too much fun!
I’ve chosen several photos (as usual) for the challenge. The first two show my hands since surgery, and trust me – they are looking good.
The next three photos show hands working on food preparation, making movements we take for granted. We humans are lucky to have those great opposable thumbs!
Then there are two pictures of my friend and I carving printing plates. This creative work is extremely important to us. I am taking care of my hands by taking breaks and stretching while I work, instead of trying to do marathon work sessions.
This last photo is not technically a hand, but I’m not going to be the one to tell the cat. Are you?
