Category Archives: Recipes
La Normandie et dernière journée
A little of snow this morning and we actually have to scrape the car!! We head off from Saint-Malo after a visit to the Surf School on the awesome beach of Saint-Malo. A quick meeting to confirm this summer’s activities for the group. LANDRY sailing on the beautiful beach of Saint-Malo.
Then we are off to Normandie to check out the inn by way of Mont-St-Michel. On our way, we encounter a bit more snow and then a thick fog envelops the car. As we arrive to Mont St-Michel, we are still hopeful as we wait for the shuttle to take us at the foot of the Mont. This place has changed significantly since my last visit in 2007. No longer can we park close to the Mont and walk on the Passerelle. To protect the erosion, we now park quite a distance away and have to shuttle over through hotels and restaurants. The whole thing has taken a commercial air that I am not sure I enjoy. At the foot of the Landmark, we have no luck. We can barely see the first row of houses. We take a picture anyways and hop back on the shuttle to go back to the car.
We hurry over and drive the hour and a bit to make our appointment in Lion-sur-mer just past Courseulle. A great spot for our youth group this summer and very pretty beach.
The whole town seems to be closed though and we can not find anywhere to eat. We drive over to Juno Centre in Courseulle and confirm our visit, walk on the beach and take pictures of the bunkers. What a great private museum and a worthwhile reminder of all the Canadian soldiers that have given their lives for us and the history of D-Day.
We find the only restaurant open and have a nice lunch of soup, quiche and some salads. We now get settled for the longer drive back to Paris for our last night with our cousins. Again we encounter toilet without seats and even one where the women toilets is actually just a hole in the floor. We just can’t do it!!
As we drove all day today we seem to always be going in the direction of Rennes, but finally now, we part ways as we approach Paris. We text our cousin who informs us that his lovely partner has prepared us a Tartiflette (a potato dish with cream, bacon and roblechon cheese melted on top, excellent!!). Now we can’t wait. We get into Paris and find the parking lot quite easily and after a short walk over, we are greeted by a happy Victoria and her beautiful smile 🙂
They were nice enough to find us some great pâte de foie gras to take back home for my husband!!!
A lovely meal accompanied by great wine and great conversation and we are off to bed to get ready for our return flight home tomorrow.
The next day, we find our way to the airport and return the car without any problems and embark on our long journey home. A very satisfying and successful scouting trip for the youth trip this summer and at the same time, a nice visit with our cousins and fun time with my sister. All and all a wonderful trip!
En route pour Saint-Malo
Today we started the day a bit late and so we lost our cab. Apparently, here they just can’t wait 10 minutes for their customers!!
Off to pick up our rental car, visit the inns for this summer’s trip, which was much nicer than expected!! Very impressed by the rooms and the lounge. Great!!
We then leave for Carantec to get a view to the Chateau du Taureau and the beautiful Bay of Morlaix. It is low tide and we are shocked with how far it retreats!! The Chateau is very striking as expected.
We then drive back to Morlaix to cross the Morlaix river and go on the east side on our way to the Cairn Barnenez. Surprise surprise we arrive at 12:05 and the visit ends at 12:30. Guess what?? They won’t let us in because it takes 30 minutes to visit!! Those darn bureaucrats!! We drive around on a dirt road to take a picture still! This is a mausoleum dating back to 5000 years BC!! Blows your mind! Was discovered by accident about 60 years ago.
Now off we go to Saint-Malo passing by Dinan to show Lorraine. We stop by their very unhelpful tourism office and drive down to the River Rance to take a few shots of the beautiful bridge.
It is now 3:30 and all the restaurants are closed for their break. Our lunch has to wait. Off for Saint-Malo. We find our nice hotel and a very helpful receptionist who shows us the rooms, lounge and dining area for this summer. Excellent! She then phones my appointment to reschedule a few and after doing some business we head off for Intra-Muro (la vieille ville). We stop at the tourism office and get fabulous help for my summer activities. Wouldn’t you know, we are here for the “Chandeleur”. The Festival de crèpes!! Yay!! We set out to walk the top of the wall.
Spectacular view!
Towards the end of our walk we come across a creperie on the wall overlooking the “Manche”!! Beautiful view and extensive crèpes and “galette de sarazin” menu!!
We both order excellent choices as well as a flamed rhum banana chocolate crèpe for dessert. yum!!
A great day again and nice discovery.
We are off to Normandie and then back to Paris tomorrow.
En route vers la Bretagne
We leave our cousins this morning for the Gare the Montparnasse by Uber. That service is so cool!! We take the opportunity to take in the panoramic view of Paris and the Eiffel Tower atop the tower.
A yummy lunch at a brasserie across the train station and once again a very friendly waiter!! What is going on in Paris!!
We climb aboard for a 4 hour train ride and then we have a bit of a scare as we were in the wrong part of a train that was splitting up in Rennes. Once again surprised to get help from a very friendly train controller!! No problem. Walk over to the right coach in Rennes.
Arrive in Morlaix and Oh Joy, get in a cab with the world men handball championship on The radio. France is winning and the cab driver is happy to tell me about the fantastic goal keeper. Am I dreaming? We quickly check in our very beautiful hotel, with lots of history and charm in the heart of Morlaix.
And get on our way to find a bar where the game is on. We make a wrong turn and stumble across the viaduc at night. What a sight!!
I am now running to get there before the end. Still 10 minutes left and the bar is packed with lots of fan. SOO COOL! And bonus France wins!!
Then off to dinner in a charming little restaurant. Yummy mussels to start for me. Not Lorraine of course!! Cool bowl !!
Back at the hotel for a planning session. Lots of places to check out for the camp and not a lot of time. I think we are all set! Big day ahead tomorrow!!!
Belles découvertes en France
I arrive in Paris with my sister Lorraine to a bright sunny day despite our cousin’s warning that the weather is horrible in Paris. We decipher the subway system and successful make it to the apartment of our amazing little cousin and his partner Dan and Virginie and their daughter Victoria.
Drop our luggage, a great coffee and off we go to Montmartre, Sacré-Coeur and d’Orsay.
We get to Abbesse subway and we laugh at the bunch of people waiting for the elevator and off we go up the stairs. One flight of stairs going round and round, 2 rounds of stairs going round and round, and more and more and more. What did we get ourselves to!!!! We finally emerge from the depth of the earth and start waking towards Montmartre. We find a cafe facing Sacre-Coeur. How majestic. Beautiful!!! And guess what, we got a friendly French waiter!! He asks if I want a large beer. I had no idea what I got into!!! Large is large!!
After a great onion soup and fries, we decide to forgo the funicular and walk up the stairs. Great view and definitely worth it!! We make our way back, now in the rain and cold on our way to D’Orsay. Not as much fun as waking in the sun :(.
We are all excited when they wave us in for free. Must be that we are so special!! We get to the 5th floor to view the beautiful impressionist collection. Some Monet I had never seen, and I re-discover Sisley. I love his paintbrush. Within half an hour we hear on the intercom, the museum closes in 15 minutes. Oh that is why it was free 😦 was worth it anyways.
Back to Daniel for an awesome cheese fondue, salami and wonderful champaign, red wine, and polish vodka. Lorraine beat her record of staying awake more than 34 hours ! An awesome first day!!
This is where u realize that it is not about what you visit or see, nothing is better than spending time with family and friends that you love. A wonderful day in Paris.
Texas Steak Pot Roast
This is a recipe I found in a magazine over 20 years ago. Being the pack rat I am, I still have the little cutting, but of course I have adapted it over the years and the results is a crowd pleaser. I use this when I am short on time as it takes about 15 minutes to put everything together and throw it in the oven. It is also a very cheap recipe to make so university kids, take notice…and it also freezes well!!
It has become one of my go-to recipe for making meals for Mathew’s film set and everyone loves it, especially the gravy :)) It is a very easy recipe to double or triple for a crowd.
I love to use my big round creuset pot for this as it goes so well from stove top to oven 🙂
Ingredients: This is for 4 people, I usually make 3 times this.
- 1 tbsp of olive oil
- 1 1/4 lb of outside round roast or flank steak (you can use a cheaper cut as it cooks it the oven for a long time)
- 1 each of beef broth and bottle salsa (this is the key ingredient, I use medium)2 tbsp of lime juice
- 2 onions sliced
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 tsp cumin
- 1/4 tsp of hot pepper flakes ( or more if you like it hot!!)
- Salt and Pepper
Heat the oil in the dutch oven and brown the roast on all side. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Remove it from the pot and set aside.
Stir in the stock and scrape up any bits from the bottom of the pot. Stir in the salsa, the lime juice,, onions, garlic, cumin and hot pepper. Bring to boil and return the meat to the mixture.
At this point, you will start having guests in the kitchen asking what this amazing smell is 🙂 Put the cover on and place it in a pre-heated oven at 325F for a good 2 to 2 1/2 hours or until the meat is very tender and pulls apart.
To serve it, slice the meat thinly and spoon the gravy on top. I serve it with mash potatoes and it is a perfect combo but you can also serve it with pasta. You HAVE to have crusty bread on hand to soak up the gravy :))
Moroccan Couscous
I took this recipe from the VERY excellent cookbook we received free of charge when we purchased our great Broil King BBQ. We love both the BBQ and the cookbook :).
I have made this recipe lots of time and always to rave reviews, particularly to the spicy-lover guests (including my husband) we entertain!! Of course I have adapted it a bit to suit our taste better. For example, they add currants and ginger which I omit. As mentioned in a previous blog, this is what I served with the camel stew on New Year’s Eve 2015. I love to make couscous because it is SO quick to make and you can spice it up to your taste easily. It is also very inexpensive to make for the budget conscious crowd out there!!
Ingredients
- 2 tsp Canola Oil
- 1 onion diced
- 2 garlic cloves minced
- 3 cups of chicken stock
- 2 large carrots diced
- 1 tsp each black pepper, coriander, cumin, chili pepper flakes
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 medium size zucchini
- 1 1/2 cups of medium grain couscous
- 1/2 cups fresh parsley (optional)
Heat oil in a medium size pot and saute for a few minutes, the onion first and then add garlic. Add the chicken broth, carrots and all the spices.
Cover and bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5-7 minutes. Add the zucchini and cook for 2-3 minutes longer. Turn the burner off and add the couscous.
Mix well, cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff, taste and adjust seasonings. Garnish with the parsley if using.
Enjoy!!
New Year Eve’s Fancy Potluck dinner / Camel Stew recipe
My husband and I started a tradition for New Year’s Eve 4 years ago, once the boys were older and were not celebrating with us anymore, and it has been a lot of fun.
The Tradition
Each year, we invite a few neighbourhood friends to come share a meal with us on New Year’s Eve and they each bring one of the courses paired with a wine/beer/liquor. We use a different plate/bowl for each serving and each couple presents their course as well as describes their wine selection. Sometimes we have a theme such as the country of origin of one’s family and sometimes anything goes. I prepare a menu once everyone has chosen what they will prepare and I print a copy for everyone to have at the table. Everyone really buys into the idea and brings exceptional dishes. It is always a fantastic mix of aroma and taste!!!
This year, we also added a little something fun that I hope will become tradition as well. Our neighbour across the street suggested that our party and theirs come out before midnight to cheer the new year together. It was decided that we should have fireworks and that the guys would set up our fire pit in advance at the end of their driveway (with much conversation and a few beers). We ended up with roughly 20 of us ringing in the New Year together!! It was sooo much fun!!
The Dinner
For our dinner, I usually prepare the main dish and try to make something unusual. This year I chose to make a camel stew, a recipe I adapted from 3 different ones I found online. I served it with a moroccan couscous (recipe in a future post). I was inspired by Mark, the owner of the local Black Angus Beef market store, who stocks all kinds of different meat and cuts including wild games and unusual animals, such as camel meat of course. He and I discussed the best way to cook this and he shared with me his favorite way to cook it. You should check out this store, it is worth your time!!!
Here is the menu for our happening to ring in the year 2015: Menu New Years Eve 2015
Camel Stew Recipe
Since I was making this for 10 adults and with the goal of having left over for my boys, I made this recipe with 3 pounds of cubed camel meat. As it turns out, I could have made half the recipe and we would have had enough.
Ingredients
Spice mix to marinate the meat for at least an hour:
- 4 tsp PC Black Label Harissa Spice Blend
- 4 tbsp brown sugar
- 4 tsp ground cumin
- 2 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp each cinnamon, ginger, salt and pepper
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Ingredient for the stew
- 1 head of garlic, half of the cloves minced and the other half of the cloves cut in half only
- 5 very large carrots sliced
- 3 large spanish onions (or red ones)
- 1 whole bottle of red wine (I used a cabernet/merlot Ontario wine)
- 2 large cans of diced tomatoes
- 1/2 cup of balsamic vinegar
- 2 tsp herbes de provence
- 1 shallot studded with 5 cloves to simmer in the pot
- 4 ounces of pancetta / can be substituted with camel fat apparently but I did not have that on hand 🙂
Mix all the marinating spices together and sprinkle on the cubed camel meat. Mix it well and let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour.
Heat a few tsp of olive oil in a dutch oven ( i love my creuset pots for that!!) and brown the meat covered with the marinating spices.
Remove from the pot and drop in the pancetta chopped off to sizzle and render.
Add the onions and let them sweat for a few minutes ( I always like to let the onions caramelize first on their own in most recipes). Then add the garlic and carrots and let them cook for about 10 minutes. Add the canned tomatoes and bring to boil. Add the vinegar next and boil for 1 minute. Now it is time to add the meat back to the pot with the wine, the herbs and the studded with the cloves.
Cover the pot and let it simmer at very low heat for at least 2 hours or until the meat is fork tender and everyone who comes in the house can’t help but ask “what smells so good!!” If the liquid evaporates too much, add a bit of water to cover the meat during the simmering but I did not have that problem.
This pot will have wonderful aromas and a rich sauce. Make sure to have lots of bread on hand to soak up the wonderful gravy. As mentioned before, I served it with a moroccan couscous but it would do well over rice or mash potatoes as well in my opinion.
Cipaille de mon oncle Gilles avec conseils de maman Monique / Wild game Cipaille
My mom’s family, “Les Hurtubise”, congregate each new Year Day to my aunt Claire and uncle François’s house for as long as I can remember (so more than 50 years). Being a family of 14 children, there has always been a lot of people at this reunion. (I have 36 cousins on that side :)). Everyone would bring a dish to share with each other. My uncle Gilles who was a hunter, always brought his cipaille made with his kill from that year at the beginning and then from whatever he could find.
Pour ma famille les cousins et cousines Hurtubise, vous reconnaitrez ici la cipaille de mon oncle Gilles et j’espère que ça vous rappellera, comme à moi, d’excellents souvenirs de nos jours de l’An!!
This year, one of our good friend killed a moose and I decided that it was a perfect opportunity to try this recipe. I called my amazing 94 years old uncle, mon oncle Gilles in Quebec city and asked him for the recipe. It was so much fun listening to him telling me to put some of this and some of that!! Must have wapiti (what is that) and hare (can’t buy that) and pig skin at the bottom (can’t get that), some spices, you know spices, (okay but which one) etc…A call to my mom to the rescue!!
Last night my sister Anne-Marie came to make the pastry (her specialty) and my friend Alicia brought the moose and a grouse (what the heck, throw it in!!). I went to our local Angus Beef market who carries the best variety of wild game and bought some wild boar (instead of the hare), venison and elk. Mark (the fantastic owner) and I settled on wild boar bacon for the bottom of the pie to replace the pig skin.
So here it goes for the ingredients but as you can gather by now, anything goes!! We were making 2 very large roasting pans for our annual end of school dinner with friends and neighbours.
Ingredients (this is what I did on this particular day)
The meat should be cut in small cubes:
- 2 pounds of moose
- 2.5 pounds of wild boar
- 2 pounds of venison
- 2 pounds of elk
- 1 grouse (small bird and finicky to debone!!)
- 16 slices of wild boar bacon
Spices:
- bunch of parsley
- 2 tsp each of clove, cinnamon, salt, pepper, celery salt, fines herbs
- 3 tsp of paprika
- You also need some pie pastry and a lot of onions. On this day, we used 10 medium size sweet onions.
What to do:
- Mix all these ingredients together in a large bowl. Hands work best 🙂
- The principle here is to layer like a lasagna.
- Place the bacon at the bottom to cover the pan.
- Put a layer of sliced onions to cover the bacon.
- Spread a layer of the meat mixture to cover the onion.
- Spread a layer of pastry.
- Then start again with onions, meat and pastry until you end with pastry. We stopped there as that was the depth of our pan but you can go on if you can!!
The whole mess goes in the oven at 250F all night!!! Cover it with aluminium for the night. When you are ready to serve later on for dinner, put it back for 30 minutes to warm up without the aluminium to brown the pastry.
Best served, of course, with ma tante Lucille’s catsup which is like a sweet and sour chili sauce. This recipe will be posted at some point also 🙂
We will enjoy tonight but it smells wonderful right now!!!
Left over turkey (or chicken) in Bechamel sauce / La sauce blanche versatile
I love left over cooked bird meat because there are so many recipes you can make with them!!! My mom made this sauce often sometimes with salmon, sometimes with chicken, served over puff pastry. C’est une sauce très versatile et utile pour les restants dans le frigo!
This time I made a Bechamel sauce with turkey and veggies. This could easily be served over puffed pastry, pour in between pie crust or over pasta. The day after US thanksgivings we were not looking for a filling meal, so I served it on its own with homemade garlic bread.
This is one of those recipes were you can make a lot of variations based on the leftover you have in your fridge or freezer 🙂
Ingredients
Bechamel sauce:
- 5 tbsp flour
- 5 tbsp butter
- 2 cups of chicken broth and 2 cups of milk (or all milk)
- 1 tsp paprika, garlic salt, celery salt
- 1/2 tsp pepper and salt
Note: you can adjust this for a smaller recipe to 3 tbsp of butter and flour and 2 cups of liquid. You adjust the liquid versus roux based on the thickness you are looking for.
Filling: these ingredients are just suggestions, you can mix and match whatever you have or like. I usually like to freeze left over broccoli that will not be used by cutting it in florets and then it is ready to throw in a sauce like this one.
- 2 carrots diced
- 2 branches of celery diced
- 1 onion diced
- 1/2 cups of sliced mushrooms
- brocoli and/or cauliflower if you have some
- 1/2 cup each of frozen peas and corn (and green beans if you have some)
- 1 cup of cooked turkey/chicken or as much as you like
Note: when I fix up a celery or use florets from a broccoli, I freeze the ends and stems in a plastic bag for future use in a broth. You can make your own veggie or chicken broth at no cost!
For the Bechamel, melt the butter first in a cast iron pot, add the flour and whisk for a minute or so until it is well combined and a bit brown. This is called making a “roux” and is the basis for thickening a sauce. Add all the spices and mix well. Pour the liquid slowly as you whisk, so it incorporates well only a bit at a time. Bring to a boil over medium heat and keep stirring until it becomes thick and creamy. Do not stop whisking as it will become lumpy.
In a separate pot, melt some butter, add the onions and stir until translucent. Add all the other vegetables and stir every now and again until they are soft. Add the turkey and pour the Bechamel sauce on top. Stir everything together and heat through.
This is a very easy and inexpensive recipe that can be served casually on a weekday or prettied up for entertaining in a bread bowl, in a pie for chicken pot pie or over puff pastry.
US thanksgivings and deep-fried turkey!
My husband is a big football fan and decided to invite a few friends for US thanksgivings to watch the games and have some turkey. Our neighbour brought his deep-fryer and I bough a 20 lbs turkey hoping it would fit!! Turns out we had to cut off the wings 🙂
We were also treated to the special chicken wings recipe cooked in the deep-fryer, which were yummy!
I made several (too many) sides in addition to the many (too many) hors d’oeuvres! Lesson learned for next year!!!
Here is a picture of the bird after frying it.
Sides:
- Mashed potatoes
- Mediterranean cauliflower salad (recipe in a previous post)
- Brussels sprouts and pancetta
- Gravy of course
- Our friend brought some steamed green beans with almonds
- Ceasar salad (recipe for homemade dressing to be posted on a later entry)
We had a GREAT time and were glad to have so many friends and all our boys and girl friend with us. This is definitely going to become an annual event and I will make sure to take more pictures of all the steps next time we deep fry and will post recipes for the brussels sprouts and the Ceasar salad dressing in upcoming entries! It had not occured to me to take pictures but I thought this would be a good reminder for next year!
Martine's food and places 