Fiddlehead and morel mushroom omelettes for Mother's Day

This morning I presented a lovely seasonal omelette for CBC's Weekend Morning Show with host Terry MacLeod.  In season now are fiddleheads and morel mushrooms, perfect in a fluffy omelette made with Nature's Farm eggs.  If you don't want to hunt in the woods for them, you can buy them at DeLuca's on Portage Ave. in Winnipeg.

This was served with Brandied Farmer's Sausage.

Fiddleheads and Morels Omelette
1/2 cup fresh fiddleheads (available at DeLuca’s)
1 cup whole or sliced fresh morels (available at DeLuca’s)
1 tbsp. butter
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
6 eggs
quick drizzle cold water or cream
3 tbsp. grated Parmesan (padano or reggiano - optional)
pinch grated nutmeg

INSTRUCTIONS

1.Blanch trimmed fiddleheads for 1 minute in boiling water and cool immediately in ice water.  (http://healthycanadians.gc.ca/eating-nutrition/safety-salubrite/fruits-vegetables-legumes-fruits/fiddlehead-fougere-eng.php)
2. Sauté fiddleheads in browned butter and set aside.  Sauté morel mushrooms in brown butter.  Season and add nutmeg.  Can deglaze with wine or vermouth.  Set aside.
3. Whisk eggs, salt, cream and pepper in a bowl. Heat butter in a 12" nonstick skillet over medium heat; cook until milky foam settles at the bottom of the skillet and turns nut brown. Add eggs; cook, without stirring, until large curds form, 3-4 minutes, then gently stir until eggs are almost set. Using a rubber spatula, pat eggs into an even layer. Place fiddleheads and mushrooms and cheese over eggs. Remove from heat and using spatula, roll omelette up and over filling; slide omelette onto a plate and garnish with remaining extra fiddleheads and cheese or chives.

Serve immediately. 
Enjoy!

Easy Summer Appetizers with the Assiniboine Park Conservancy and the MLCC

Turkish Stuffed Apricots - Cevizli Kayisi Tatlisi

Last night I had the pleasure of presenting the following easy appetizers to a group at the Madison Square MLCC for the Assiniboine Park Conservancy. Bonnie Tulloch, Education Coordinator for the Assiniboine Park Conservancy, presented on the flora of each recipe presented while Carol Herntier, Product Ambassador for the MLCC, presented excellent and surprising pairings for each dish.

Reception beverage: Vex Pink Lemonade $6.06

Easy Summer Appetizers

1. Tuna Tataki on Summer Greens
Paired with See Ya Later Ranch Pino 3 VQA - B.C. $20.05 and Mission Hill Pinot Noir VQA - B.C. $16.99

1 tuna steak
½ cup ground nori sheet (try also ground green tea, black pepper, sesame seeds, etc.)
sesame oil
sea salt, to taste
white pepper, to taste
Salad greens

Pat tuna steak dry and press into chosen flavouring. Wrap and chill until ready to serve. Prepare salad and plate. Heat a pan to high heat and drizzle in some sesame oil. Place tuna steak on hot pan and sear each side for up to 1 minute. Remove from heat and let rest. Slice across the bias and place over salad greens or serve on its own with a dipping sauce.
Enjoy!

2. Fiddleheads in Brown Butter with Pancetta
Paired with Flat Rock Cellars Pinot Noir VQA - Ontario $26.99 and Unibroue Ephémere Apple White Ale - Quebec $5.40

Kosher salt
3 pounds fiddle head ferns, trimmed and washed
1/4 lb chopped pancetta
6 tablespoons brown butter
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon freshly nutmeg


1. In a large pot bring 2 quarts water and 1 tablespoon salt to a boil. Fill a medium bowl halfway with ice water. Drop the fiddleheads into the pot and cook for 1 minute. Drain the fiddleheads in a colander, then submerge in the ice water until completely cool. Let the fiddleheads drain well in a colander and wrap them in a clean kitchen towel to dry.
2. Slowly brown butter in a large skillet. Bring up to higher temperature and cook chopped pancetta.
3.Heat for a minute or two until they are warm, then divide the fiddleheads among the plates. Serve at once as a side dish or on Chinese soup spoons as an appetizer.

Enjoy!

Fiddleheads from BC are available at DeLuca's on Portage and local Manitoba fiddleheads are available through Fresh Option Organic Delivery.

3. Soba Spoons
Paired with Jost Beavercreek Gerensheim - Nova Scotia $13.75

1 -3 bundles Buckwheat Soba Noodles (try green tea or other varieties)
2 tsp good Dijon Mustard
1 tsp grainy mustard
1-2 tsp good soy sauce
1 inch grated fresh ginger
2-3 tbs white vinegar
1/2 tsp white sugar
2 green onions, finely chopped
drizzle sesame oil

Cook Soba noodles in unsalted boiling water for 5 minutes. Drain in cold water immediately. Drain completely. Drizzle with sesame oil to prevent sticking and set aside to chill.

In a larger bowl, mix grated ginger, vinegar, mustards, soy sauce, sugar, finely chopped green onions and a drizzle of sesame oil. When ready to serve, gently mix noodles with sauce. With a fork, twirl a bite-sized amount of dressed noodles and place on a Chinese soup spoon. Place spoons on a platter and serve.
Enjoy!


4. Stuffed apricots
Paired with Palatine Hills Estate Vidal Select Late Harvest VQA - Ontario $20.16

20 dried apricots
scant ½ cup sugar
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
400g (1lb) mascarpone

Garnish:
Halved walnuts
Mint leaves
Ground pistachios

Cut into the apricots and place in a bowl of warm water with the sugar; soak for 15 minutes. Then transfer the apricots with the soaking water in a pot and cook for about 10 minutes.

To make the cream, mix the confectioner’s sugar and mascarpone in a bowl until smooth.

Spoon the cream into a forcing bag and fill the drained apricots. Arrange on a serving dish. Garnish with walnuts, mint and/or pistachio.

Enjoy!

Olive Oil Poached Halibut with Asparagus

This morning I had the pleasure of presenting this very easy method of preparing halibut on CBC Weekend morning with Kerän Sanders.

There is no fussing about. Halibut is in season now and available at Gimli Fish on Dufferin or Pembina Hwy. Asparagus and fiddleheads are in season now as well. Photo coming later today.

*How do I know when my fish is done cooking? When the fish looks gelatinous or opaque, it is still uncooked. When it is solid white it is cooked. Do not overcook.

Olive Oil poached Halibut with Grilled Asparagus or Fiddleheads


2 skinned filets of halibut (1/4 pound/125 g each)
1 1/2 cups olive oil
Zest of one orange (try grapefruit or lemon as well)
1/2 teaspoon fennel seed
2 sprigs thyme
1 clove garlic, cut in half
Freshly ground black pepper
Fleur de sel, for garnish


Heat the oven to 250°F/120°C. Lay the fish filets in a baking dish just large enough to hold them. Pour over enough oil to cover. Add the orange zest, fennel, thyme, garlic, and pepper. Bake until just tender, about 10 minutes. Remove the fish from the oil. Garnish with fleur de sel. Serve with Grilled Asparagus or Fiddleheads and a little of the cooking oil drizzled over.

To grill Asparagus, trim ends and drizzle with olive oil. Place over a hot grill and turn a minute or so on each side. Remove from heat and zest orange or lemon on top, freshly ground pepper and a pinch of fleur de sel.

Enjoy!

In Season Now! Morels and Fiddleheads on Weekend Morning with Kerän Sanders

I had the pleasure of presenting local fiddleheads and morel mushrooms on CBC Weekend morning with Kerän Sanders.

Morel Mushroom Port Pan Sauce

1/2 onion, small dice or 2-3 finely chopped shallots
1 tbs butter
1 tbs olive oil
1 sprig rosemary
1 cup morels, whole or sliced
1 tbs Dijon mustard
1/2 cup port, approximate amount
salt and pepper, to taste

Sauté onion until translucent in butter and olive oil over medium heat. Add rosemary and morel mushrooms and cook until soft. Stir in mustard and then add port, salt and pepper. You can add a bit more butter at the end. Spoon over grilled meats that are resting after grilling. Enjoy.

*For a white sauce option for fish or chicken, add cream to the recipe and use white wine instead of port. Grated nutmeg is also a nice flavour for the sauce.

*Adding butter at the end of the recipe can thicken the sauce nicely.


Fiddleheads in Brown Butter with Pancetta

Kosher salt
3 pounds fiddle head ferns, trimmed and washed
1/4 lb chopped pancetta
6 tablespoons brown butter
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon freshly nutmeg


1. In a large pot bring 2 quarts water and 1 tablespoon salt to a boil. Fill a medium bowl halfway with ice water. Drop the fiddleheads into the pot and cook for 1 minute. Drain the fiddleheads in a colander, then submerge in the ice water until completely cool. Let the fiddleheads drain well in a colander and wrap them in a clean kitchen towel to dry.
2. Slowly brown butter in a large skillet. Bring up to higher temperature and cook chopped pancetta.
3.Heat for a minute or two until they are warm, then divide the fiddleheads among the plates. Serve at once as a side dish or on Chinese soup spoons as an appetizer.

Enjoy!

Fiddleheads from BC are available at DeLuca's on Portage and local Manitoba fiddleheads are available through Fresh Option Organic Delivery.

Fiddleheads - their own posting this time around

Fiddlehead Ferns with Brown Butter and Pancetta


One of the special treats of spring are fiddlehead ferns, which grow wild along mossy stream banks. They are simply the immature leaf fronds of ostrich fern plants that have not yet opened. Fern leaves are poisonous once they open and can only be enjoyed in this early stage, when they taste like a cross between artichokes and asparagus.

After a fiddlehead is removed from the stalk, the cut end starts to turn brown. Be sure to trim back the stem (about 1/4 inch) to the healthy green section before cooking.

Kosher salt
3 pounds fiddle head ferns, trimmed and washed
1/4 lb chopped pancetta
6 tablespoons brown butter
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon freshly nutmeg


1. In a large pot bring 2 quarts water and 1 tablespoon salt to a boil. Fill a medium bowl halfway with ice water. Drop the fiddleheads into the pot and cook for 1 minute. Drain the fiddleheads in a colander, then submerge in the ice water until completely cool. Let the fiddleheads drain well in a colander and wrap them in a clean kitchen towel to dry.
2. Slowly brown butter in a large skillet. Bring up to higher temperature and cook chopped pancetta.
3.Heat for a minute or two until they are warm, then divide the fiddleheads among the plates. Serve at once as a side dish or on Chinese soup spoons as an appetizer.

Enjoy!

Fiddleheads are available at DeLuca's on Portage.