It is all about potatoes and all about the Potato festival happening next month in September.  I was approached and asked to do a piece with John Pritchard on the infamous PEI ingredient “Potatoes”.  I was more than thrilled and of course said YES.  This will be featured in the August addition of the G! so needless to say I was pumped for a couple of reasons.

Wednesday evening I went over to John’s kitchen and we worked (mostly John as I took pictures) on a couple of dishes inspired by potatoes. Over the two hours we spent together, I likely asked John 3000 questions as I am very intrigued as you know with the career of cooking and well I just love talking “FOOD“.

As we were prepping the dishes before the photographer showed up it was very casual and organized.  Once the camera-man showed up and was ready to shoot the final product, John went into full fledged chef mode.  You could tell he was back in his element and was moving at mach speed to dress the plates and complete the dishes.

Glorious Food

Check out these shots….. Are you drooling yet?  The recipes and full details will be released soon.

Here is a potato crusted halibut, served a top a warm brussel sprout slaw and a tomato jam.

Below is a seared shrimp and scallop dish served on a bed of fresh sauteed corn and fresh herbs, a little bit of bacon and drizzled with a reduction of a maple syrup and potato reduction.

I ate this dish and was a very happy camper.  Thanks John!

The Kitchen Set-Up

Here are a few shots of John’s cool industrial kitchen set-up.

Of course I took pictures all along of the food and the dishes as they came together.  The recipes will be featured in the G! as well as on zesty once John completes the writing of the recipes.  I will definitely be sharing them with you. They both involved fresh local ingredients either from his garden or the local markets.  It was great to see a “PRO” in action.

Here are some shots from the garden

A little bit about John

John has been ‘chefing’ professionally since 1986, to raves in Canada and abroad. John’s passion for fine cooking truly runs the gamut, from traditional ethnic to contemporary, haute cuisine to bistro. After working with some of Canada’s finest chefs, John moved to Bermuda to expand his horizons, directing the kitchens of the country’s best restaurants, most notably at the exclusive five star Elbow Beach Resort. John has also been the star of a TV show called  Red, Hot & Ready.  It is John’s wit, intelligence and occasionally shocking candor that keeps you coming back for seconds!

Since April of this year, John has embarked on a slightly different twist on his career.  It of course still involves food – full service catering.  John is offering a full service catering experience that includes, weddings, in house parties, corporate/ office gigs, other events and even cooking classes.  In recent news, John Pritchard Cuisine won top prize at the 2010 Savour Food and Wine festival and is also playing a big part at the upcoming potato festival in September.

I had a great time on Wednesday and I learned a lot as well.  I want to take this opportunity to thank John for letting me come into his kitchen as well as thanking the G! for hooking me up with such a fun event. Have a great Friday and a super weekend.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty

Happy Wednesday!  With Mother’s day not that far away and lobster season quickly approaching, I thought I would switch gears and present you some facts and tips about lobster.

PEI is famous for lobster that has bright red shells and juicy tender meat.  Lobster was once so common that they were used as fertilizer.  Lobster has now, as you know, become a gourmet delicacy.  Lobsters have ten legs, beady eyes, long antennae and a crust-like shell (like the picture below).  The bright red color characteristic of the lobster is only achieved by cooking.

When alive, lobster are usually greenish-blue and speckled with dark spots. Once the meat is cooked it turns a delicate white tinged with red.

How to Buy Lobster

Lobster may be purchased live in the shell, or freshly cooked in the shell.  When purchased live, make sure the lobster has some movement and the tail should spring back when straightened out.  When handling live lobster, be careful of the claws as they can give you a serious pinch.  To protect yourself and to prevent the lobsters from harming each other in captivity, the claws are usually immobilized by placing an elastic band around them.

Lobster Traps (Photo provided by John Byer)

When buying cooked lobster, make sure that they are a bright “red-orange” colour, have a fresh aroma and that the tail section will spring back into a curled position after being straightened out.  For the most part, lobster is sold as either canners or markets, in accordance with the size.

Canners weigh between 1/2 and 3/4 pounds (250-375 g) while markets weigh over 3/4 pound (375 g).  Lobster is also sold in as cold pack (meat, frozen in cans) and hot pack (meat, heat processed in cans).

How to Store Lobster

Live lobster should never be placed in fresh water or on ice. Under ideal cool, damp storage conditions, lobster can live out of water for up to 36 hours.  They can be stored in your refrigerator for several hours by placing them in a large container covered with damp newspaper or seaweed. Cooked lobster in the shell can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days if placed in a tightly covered container. Shucked lobster meat can be refrigerated for 2-3 days. Live lobster should never be frozen but cooked lobster freezes well. For best results, the cooked meat should be removed from the shell and placed in plastic containers, glass bottles or freezer bags.

How to Prepare Lobster

Lobster should be cooked either in clean seawater or salted fresh water (add 2 Tbsp. salt to each quart/litre of fresh water). Fill a large pot with enough water to cover the lobster and bring it to a boil.  Grasp the lobster firmly by the back just behind the claws and plunge it head first into the boiling water. Cover, return the water to a boil and then lower the heat to a bubbly simmer.

Cook no more than two to four lobsters at a time, so there will be room for the water to cover and boil around them. Once completed they can be served hot or chilled quickly by being dipped in cold water.  It is important to cool the lobster quickly so that they do not remain in the temperature range in which bacteria multiply rapidly.

How to Serve Lobster

There are two methods for serving lobster in the shell. The shell can be broken apart using lobster crackers and the meat then picked out (and dipped in clarifed butter), or the lobster can be cut in half down the centre and the claws cut open with a large heavy knife.

All of the lobster is edible except for the shell, the small stomach (hard sac) behind the head and the dark vein, running down the back of the tail. The green material in the body is the liver or tomally. This is excellent eating, as is the red material, or roe, which is found in the body of the female lobster (I tend to avoid this but everyone around me always eats it).

Some other fun stuff

1. Jenna at eatliverun updated her sidebar and added her weekly training plan.
2. Clumbsy Cookie is all about cookies – check this idea out!
3. Matt creates a killer Homemade Chicken stock.
4. Angela at OhSheGlows is all about the green monsters and has a page dedicated to it.

I hope you have a great Wednesday!  I will see you tomorrow.

Take care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty

I thought I would take some time and share with you some tips that I have learned in the past about cooking one of my favorite foods – pasta.

I hear time and time again from people that have problems cooking pasta.  Whether it be over-cooked, under-cooked, tasteless or all stuck together, a lot of people struggle with cooking pasta.

First of all, 90% of cooking pasta is simply being there. That is, letting the telephone ring through to voice-mail; perhaps leaving guests in the living room talking amongst themselves and simply keeping your focus on the task at hand. By tending to the pasta, you’ll be able to do the only test available to judge its doneness: to taste.

These tips today will hopefully help you in the future when you are craving the starch that I love so much.

Follow along and by all means add your tips in the comments below as I may have missed some other great techniques.

Ten Tips for Cooking Pasta

1. All pasta is not created equal. Choose a brand with a solid reputation in the marketplace. Depending on your location the brands may vary.
2. Use a pot that’s large enough to accommodate the pasta without crowding. For one pound of pasta, an eight-liter pot is good; a ten-liter pot is better. Pasta needs room to move freely as it cooks. At a minimum, use nothing smaller than a six-liter pot.
3. Use plenty of water. For one pound of pasta, you should use at least six liters of water.
4. Add salt to the water. About 1 Tbsp per liter of water. Salt adds flavor to the pasta that helps to create a well-seasoned dish.
5. Bring the water to a full, rolling boil before adding the pasta. One of the prime causes for pasta sticking together is that the water had not yet come to a full boil. When you add pasta to water that has not yet reached the boiling point, it releases natural starches, which act like glue. Since the pasta is simply sitting in the water at the time, the strands stick together.
6. Keep the heat up and get it back to a boil quickly. In the case of pasta strands, like spaghetti or linguine, stir the pasta until it has become submerged in the cooking water, then cover the pot until the water returns to the boil. When the water reaches boil again, uncover the pot and finish cooking uncovered.
7. Stir the pasta two or three times throughout the cooking process. Pasta cooks in eight to ten minutes.
8. Never add olive oil to the pasta cooking water. The olive oil coats the pasta, and prevents sauce from adhering to it when you’ve put the entire dish together.
9. Cook the pasta to the ‘al dente’ state. The only way to judge this is by tasting.  Note there will be a small amount of carryover cooking between the time you remove the pasta from the stove, drain in the sink, and combine with the sauce.
10. Never rinse pasta. When you rinse pasta, you’re washing away most of the starches and nutrients that you were seeking to enjoy in the first place.

So be there. Be attentive. Taste, and learn when pasta has cooked to the consistency that you like. Follow these ten little steps, and you’ll develop a reputation as a pasta guru.

Zesty Tip: When cooking pasta, regardless of the sauce you are using, I always like to add a little bit of the pasta water to the sauce to add great flavor.  Try it next time and tell me what you think.

I hope you have a great Wednesday and I look forward to hearing your tips as well.

Take Care

zesty

Download my Free Recipe Book: Simply Zesty