Pheasant

I have never tried pheasant but my friend Sylvain from "The Arrogant Chef" invited me and my wife for a pheasant supper. This was a truly outstanding meal. The sauce was incredible and I hope to post the recipe soon. For now here are some photos from this outstanding meal.

I have never tried pheasant but my friend Sylvain from "The Arrogant Chef" invited me and my wife for a pheasant supper. This was a truly outstanding meal. The sauce was incredible and I hope to post the recipe soon. For now here are some photos from this outstanding meal.

Carrot Cake Success

I am happy to report that my first carrot cake turned out great thanks to Lisa's recipe. The cake was very moist and the icing was fantastic. I will definitely be making this again.

Lisa's Famous Carrot Cake

This is without a doubt the best carrot cake on the planet. I hope I can do it justice. I will be making this for the first time this afternoon. I am not much of a baker. I tend to limit my sweet tooth cooking to pies. But after Dave brought some of Lisa's carrot cake to work, I knew I was going to have to give this a try someday and today is the day. Here is the recipe. I will let you know how it turned out.

Lisa’s Famous Carrot Cake

2 cups of flour

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. salt

3 eggs

1 ¼ cups oil

2 cups white sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

2 cups coconut

1 cup crushed pineapple including juice

2 cups grated carrots

1.       Stir together flour, cinnamon, salt and baking soda and set aside.

2.       Beat eggs, add oil the sugar.

3.       Stir in vanilla. Add flour mixture.

4.       Blend well, add coconut, pineapple, juice and carrots

5.       Pour into buttered waxed paper 9 x 13in. pan.

6.       Bake just above centre in 350F oven for 50 minutes or until done.

7.       Let set in pan 10 minutes before removing to rack

Icing

½ cup butter

2 4oz. packages of cream cheese

3 cups icing sugar

2 tsp. vanilla

1.       Cream butter and cheese together. Add vanilla then the icing sugar.

2.       Blend well, spread over cake.

Antigonish Meat Pie (Tortiere)

This is my father's recipe for tortiere. It isn't traditional but it is damn good. The crust has sort of been a family secret but I am about to print it so that is does not just disappear. I think I will make that my Christmas present to all you bloggers out there and my friends at Serious Eats.

Meat Pies

3 lbs minced pork

2 lbs lean ground beef

salt and pepper to taste (adjust as it cooks)

3 or 4 chopped fried onions

flour and water to thicken up (about 1 cup of water and 1/3 cup flower

Italian Seasoning to taste (adjust as it cooks.

Brown meat in large pot add fried onions, salt, pepper, and Italian seasoning. Cook until meat is cooked through. Add water and flour to thicken. Add mixture to pie shells and cook in oven at 350 until crusts are golden brown. The Italian seasoning is the secret ingredient in these pies. You adjust to taste as it cooks.

Fish and Chips

It was a rainy, miserable day here. I decided it was a perfect day for some homemade fish and chips. The batter was not as puffy as usual but it still had a great taste. The fries were perfectly done.

Friday Night Pizza

Made this veggie pizza on Friday night. Onions, mushroom, broccoli, red and green pepper, and basil pesto. The cheese was shredded mozzarela covered with slice of provolone. The pizza was topped with slices of tomato. Served this up with some good wine.

The Arrogant Chef's Clam Chowder

It was rainy and very cool here today. Decided to make some clam chowder. Got this recipe off the Internet last year sometime. Not sure where I got it, but it is delicious. Probably breaks the clam chowder purist's rules but hey I'm all about taste and this tasted fantastic.

Clam Chowder  

Ingredients:

1/2 pound bacon, cut into 1/2 inch pieces

5 unpeeled new potatoes, diced

2 carrots, diced

salt and pepper to taste

2 (6.5 ounce) cans chopped clams with

juice

2 (1.8 ounce) packages dry leek soup

mix

1 quart half-and-half

Directions:

1. Place the bacon in a large pot and cook over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, until crisped and browned, about 10 minutes. Remove the bacon with a slotted spoon, leaving the drippings in the pot. Set the bacon aside. Stir the potatoes and carrots into the bacon fat. Season with salt and pepper, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring frequently.

2. Pour the juice from the clams into the pot, and add enough water to just cover the potatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the potatoes are just tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

3. Gently stir the leek soup mix into the potatoes until no lumps of soup remain. Stir in the clams, reserved bacon, and half-and-half cream. Cook and stir until the chowder returns to a simmer and thickens, about 10 minutes more