A stitch in time, time after time

The winter Bill Cassel was nine, he got sick and wasn’t allowed to leave the house for three months. “If you think you’re going to sit around and drive me crazy, you can think again,” his mother told him. “When you get back outside, you’re going to need socks, so you may as well learn to knit.” …Read more

Pizza that tops list of favourites

Ask any kid (or many adults that I know as well!) what their favourite food is and there’s a good chance that the answer will be pizza. Pizza as we know it now has strayed quite a distance from its original Naples creation of crisp dough, fresh tomato sauce, a basil leaf or two and some stringy mozzarella. So what is it about a simple crust and a few additions that make this food a favourite all over the world …Read more

Ingredient makes a great pear-ing

Most times I enter my kitchen with purpose. I know what I want to eat, what I need to cook or that there’s a bag of Lindt bittersweet chocolate (a good antioxidant!) calling my name.

On occasion I will enter the kitchen not knowing what I want to eat. The other day, while experiencing that dilemma, I was searching through my refrigerator and came across some poached pears I had leftover from a dinner party.  The poached pear is very versatile: it can be used in any course of a meal. It adds a sweetness to a salad, balance to a cheese plate and is an …Read more

Should I or shouldn’t I?

Have you ever had the intention of doing something, but found that you’ve been too “busy” or that “something” always comes up? Well, don’t be alarmed, as you’re not the only person on the planet with this common challenge. It’s called not having a system in place for task management …Read more

Add Jagermeister to your pork

One of the most popular requests we get for our interactive dinner parties is our Mustard Seed and Sour Dough Crusted Pork with Jagermeister Pan Jus.

What we like about this recipe is all the tasty elements. Wonderful sour dough bread from City Café Bakery (you can buy a loaf of day old, blitz it in your food processor and keep frozen in a Ziploc bag to have fresh …Read more

Critical steps to success

Was it your goal this year to create a healthier, stronger body?  Have you lived up to your commitment or have the everyday stresses of life got you off track? Setting up fitness goals is the first step toward reaching them. However, it takes more than just the desire to be fit. You must back that goal with a strategic plan and then implement it …Read more

Radio enthusiasts ham it up

When Rich Clausi was in university, he was in a band with a saxophone player who decided the band members needed a way to communicate with each other from their vehicles. This was in the days before cell phones and Bluetooth, so the members of the band took a course and became ham radio operators.

Clausi, head of math and computing at Elmira District Secondary School, has been a “ham” for 35 years …Read more

Stick-to-the-ribs cooking

After the groundhog saw his shadow earlier this month, I had only one choice: to cook and try to keep warm and cozy in this bleak winter with no end in sight. My saving grace? Braising. I recently acquired an amazing pot from Entertaining Elements in St. Jacobs: a flame-coloured Le Creuset braising pot (Dutch oven), the same kind Julia Child used extensively in her cooking in France. Its beauty calls to me from my stove: all it wants is to slowly cook food until it is meltingly tender.

So on a recent trip to the new Vincenzo’s on King Street in Waterloo, I stopped at the new ‘Bauer Butcher’ counter to have a chat with one of their knowledgeable staff members, who can tell me exactly where all of the meat in the counter hails from. Their beef is from Kerr Farms (see www.kerrfarms.ca) and it is antibiotic-free, hormone-free, treated humanely and is exclusively Angus, just to name a few of its attributes. And when we’re craving braising, beef short ribs fit the bill just perfectly. They are a tough cut of beef, but well marbleized and require slow, low cooking in liquid to break down the connective tissues. Braised meats are finished when a fork easily slides in and out of the meat. Finally, good braising always begins with some really good browning, or searing, to begin the flavour-country process.

Experiment with the following recipe by adding different herbs and spices, and serving with everything from creamy mashed potatoes to buttered egg noodles. The only requirement is a little love in the pot and patience for that ‘fall off the bone’ moment.

Braised Beef Short Ribs Serves 6-8

• 3 lbs thick cut beef short ribs
• Kosher salt and fresh pepper
• Canola oil
• 2-3 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 onion, thinly sliced
• 1 cup red wine
• 4-5 cups homemade beef stock (or low sodium)**

Season the beef well with Kosher salt and pepper on both sides;

Heat Dutch oven over medium-high heat; drizzle with canola oil;

Carefully add, but don’t crowd, the beef ribs (or they will simmer rather than brown);

Brown, and I mean really brown, the beef on both sides – do this in batches; reserve browned ribs on a plate;

Add garlic and onion to pot; cook to scrape up any browned bits; add red wine and cook for a couple minutes;

Return beef to pot, with collected juices, add stock (it should just cover the meat) and place lid on pot;

Simmer (small bubbles, once in a while, no boiling) for 2-3 hours or until meat is fork tender;

Remove ribs from liquid carefully and keep warm; reduce braising liquid until desired thickness and serve with ribs.*

*If there is a lot of leftover liquid, cool down quickly and reserve for another use.
**Your beef dish will be as good as your stock. If you use commercial stock use quite a bit less salt on your meat. Some butchers and other specialty shops make their own beef stock.

Chefs Kirstie Herbstreit and Jody O’Malley are both Red Seal certified chefs. Together they run the company YouCanCook2, specializing in interactive dinner parties. You can also find them cooking at Entertaining Elements in St. Jacobs, where they hold private dinners for eight people. To contact the chefs, visit their website www.youcancook2.com.

New school evokes old memories

Richard Bauman was in Grade 2 when S.S. No. 5 Woolwich closed in 1966. One afternoon in November, each student packed their school supplies in a brown paper bag, climbed on a bus, and rode to the new Floradale Public School, where they set their bags outside their classroom door …Read more

Seafood is nothing to be afraid of

One of the most common cooking concerns in the kitchen is how to properly cook and enjoy fish and seafood.  Fish and seafood are truly the most versatile and quick-cooking proteins available; add to that the lean, protein rich and heart-healthy benefits.  So before a working dinner with Jody (this is where …Read more