UrbnSpice

"A Taste Of Heart & Home"

Archives for September 2017

How To Make a Classic Braised Beef Stew

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UrbnSpice Tips and Techniques Series

I sooooo enjoy a Classic Beef Stew, and my absolute favourite recipe is adapted from the first Canadian Living Cookbook (circa 1977).  It is called Old Fashioned Beef Stew with Vegetables. I like to use root vegetables, which are a perfect accompaniment, and a number of herbs. In this post, I will discuss the braising method of cooking a more inexpensive tougher cut of meat and share a recipe for Classic Braised Beef Stew.

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Ask any chef what their favourite cooking method is and a large majority, myself included, will say braising because it produces a rich and flavourful product that is hard to beat. It is a cooking method that I use often in the Urb’n’Spice kitchen. Braising is commonly utilized in preparing meat, but there are numerous other food items that can be braised as well. You can learn all about braising in this post.

“Braising is one of the most amazingly delicious and yet simple methods of cooking
an otherwise tough cut of meat.”
The UrbnSpice Chef

What is braising?  It uses a combination of cooking techniques; for example, cubes of beef are first seared to brown and then slowly cooked in a liquid at a low temperature.  Beef stew, Osso Buco,  pot roasts, chicken thighs, pork belly, beef ribs, lamb shanks and pulled pork are a few examples of braised meats, whereas Vichy Carrots and Honey Glazed Rutabaga are some examples of braised vegetable dishes.

Try cooking a tough piece of meat (such as cubed stewing beef) using the braising method and I can guarantee that you will become a fan as well.  I will guide you through a step-by-step process on how to braise cubes of beef, how to deglaze a pan properly and then create and reduce a braising liquid to perfection.

Plated Classic Braised Beef Stew | urbnspice.com

The prepared vegetables are arranged on top of the Beef Stew for presentation

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How to Make Your Own Herb and Spice Turkey Deli Meat

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The Confident Kitchen Series

One of my favourite deli lunch meats is thinly sliced turkey breast, which is one of the most expensive lunch meats available. After posting the Pork and Ham Lunch Loaf last month, I had a number of requests for additional lunch meat recipes that can easily be made at home for a fraction of the cost when compared to store bought luncheon meats. The recipe for Herb and Spice Turkey Deli Meat provides a simple technique that does not involve roasting. It is very economical to make an extremely high-quality product which is gluten free, grain free, dairy free and preservative free.

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Herb and Spice DIY Turkey Deli Meat | urbnspice.com

The Herb and Spice Turkey Breast Deli Meat is sliced thinly for sandwiches

COST ANALYSIS:

Store Purchased Turkey Deli Meat vs. my Make Your Own Turkey Deli Meat

  • Store Purchased Prepared Turkey Breast: $ 4.99/100 grams sliced Turkey Deli Meat or approximately $50.00/kg.
  • Make Your Own Turkey Deli Meat: Cost to purchase $15.41/kg of boneless raw turkey breast
  • #WOWSavings : $ 50.00 – 15.41 = $ 34.59 Savings on just 1 kg of lunch meat

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How to Make Aquafaba Meringues

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Aquafaba is a unique bonus ingredient that not too many people know about.  I call it a bonus ingredient because it is something that most people discard like the heel from a head of celery or the skin of a cooking onion (both of which I keep and freeze and use in making soup stock).  Aquafaba is the liquid from a can of chickpeas, or beans or peas.  It is used as an egg substitute, and can be added to baking; for example: made into meringues.  Aquafaba can be whipped exactly like egg whites and can be used to make products where a meringue is called for such as amaretti cookies or lemon meringue pie.  In this post, I will teach you How to Make Aquafaba Meringues.

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Aquafaba meringues plated | urbnspice.com

Aquafaba meringues plated

People react in disbelief when I explain to them the meringues are made from a liquid from a can of chickpeas. After a taste test, they admit that they are really good and they cannot tell the difference between the aquafaba and an egg white meringue.

I always try to build my recipe/product repertoire for dietary restrictions, and aquafaba has been on my ‘to try list’ as an egg-free option. I found the aquafaba meringues somewhat more tender but as indicated, there is little difference in taste from meringues made from egg whites….

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School Lunches – Oh, How Things Have Changed!

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Culinary Historians of CANADA 150 FOOD BLOG CHALLENGE SERIES

Featuring a Recipe for Pork and Ham Lunch Loaf

Prelude: I am a proud Canadian. When the Culinary Historians of Canada (CHC) invited food bloggers to participate in the “CHC Canada 150 Food Blog Challenge”, I knew that I wanted in! What a great way to celebrate and honour Canada’s 150th birthday by featuring a different Canadian dish or discussing a topic which reflects on what it means to be Canadian.  For the month of September, CHC invited food bloggers to share stories and recipes about the history of school food: lunchbox lunches, school cafeterias, or any related topic. This article is called: School Lunches – Oh, How Things Have Changed. I thought it would be fun to take a different approach to this post by writing about what my lunch was like when I was a child compared to what children take in their lunch kits today. To further capture yesterday and today, I will share with you a recipe for Pork and Ham Lunch Loaf, with a bit of history that I think you will enjoy.

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Pork and Ham Loaf | urbnspice.com

School Lunches:  Pork and Ham Lunch Loaf

It is interesting to note that school lunches when I was a kid were completely biodegradable. Our simple lunches consisted of a peanut butter and jam sandwich on homemade bread and a fruit. We did not even know that we were excellent environmental stewards by using wax paper wrapping and paper bags, and throwing all fruit and vegetable scraps into the compost bin or feed to the animals if you lived on a farm. Nowadays, children have special insulated lunch kits with ice packs, bento boxes, garbage-free packaging, completely nut-free options, and high-quality BPA-free water bottles. Oh, how things have changed over three generations.

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Crispy Roasted Chick Peas – Kid Friendly

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It is time for the new school year and thoughts of healthy lunch box treats dance through every parent’s head.  I was talking to my daughter today as she was pulling hot spiced chickpeas from the oven.  Roasted chickpeas are a family favourite, especially for her little boys.  I decided that this would be a great idea for a school make-ahead snack.  Roasted chickpeas are something that I have made many times using various blends of spices and seasonings, but it was my creative husband who asked, ‘can you make them like those roasted bar nuts?’  Why not?  The result is my recipe for Crispy Roasted Chick Peas.  For this particular recipe, I opted for kid-friendly seasonings and spices, unrefined sugar, and an optional dusting of maple sugar for extra crunchiness.

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Crispy Roasted Chick Peas | urbnspice.com

Crispy Roasted Chick Peas ready to snack on

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