My version of Oliver & Bonacini's Mushroom Soup

My version of the famous O&B Cafe Grill Mushroom Soup

I have read some reviews on Oliver & Bonacini's Cafe Grill Cream of Mushroom Soup and that it was fantastic so I decided to take what I read about it and tried to make my own version of the soup.

Ingredients:
- 1 large white onion (Small diced)
- 5 cups of an assortment of mushrooms (Enoki, shitake, king oyster, porcini, button, brown, morels)
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 3-4 cups of chicken stock
- 2 cloves of garlic, 1 minced for the soup and 1 sliced finely to fry for garlic chips as garnish
- 1 bunch of watercress for garnish 
- 3 sprigs of fresh thyme

Steps
1. In a large heated sauce pan add some butter. When the butter melts completely add in the small diced onion and cook without colour. Then when a lot of the water content within the onion is released then add 1 clove of garlic minced as well as the thyme and stir around. While this is cooking in another pot heat up the 4 cups of chicken stock and bring to a simmer.

2. Add in the 5 cups of assorted mushrooms roughly chopped and saute until the mushrooms shrink and about 75% of the moisture has dissipated. At this point you can add in the hot chicken stock and let it simmer for a bit with the mushroom mixture. After simmering for about 5 minutes pour into a blender or you can use a hand blender and blend until it comes out to the consistency that you are happy with. (I saved some mushrooms to the side before I cooked it so I could saute them in some butter and minced garlic and place ontop of the soup as garnish). When your soup has come to the consistency  you are happy with you can start to serve immediately. Garnish with some fresh watercress, some sauteed mushrooms, and garlic chips.

 I thought this soup was decent and flavourful but probably wouldn't make it again. I did like the earthiness of the soup coming from mushrooms obviously. I would have probably wanted to keep the assorted mushrooms whole and use them in a mushroom risotto so you could still taste the flavours and textures of the mushrooms rather than blending all the beautiful fungi together into one big gloop. I am not a big fan of soup unless it is super hearty or one of the flavourful communal soups that you are served in korean bbq restaurants. The soup was very simple to make. I feel it could have used a touch of cream. When I served it to my sister she felt that it was very chunky and thick. I suppose I should have actually gone to one of the O&B Cafe Grills to try the soup for myself so I could nail some of the complexities and flavour components.

Until next time,
K.M.W.

Canning & Preserving - Hot Chili Oils & Bomba

 I love spicy food and the level of spice I enjoy is one that I am able to enjoy the food but feel alittle bit of heat. I do not enjoy eating spicy food that burns my tongue and can't feel anything. I would much rather prefer tasting my food but this Italian condiment is the perfect level of heat for me especially.

 Near the beginning of September one of my neighbours wanted to teach me how to make their hot chili oils from the hot peppers we grew in our backyards as well as bomba which is an Italian spicy condiment. Since we did not have enough hot peppers we went to visit our favourite 19th avenue farmers market and picked up a buschel which was reasonably cheap. We bought long green hot peppers, small bulb like peppers that we used for a different condiment, as well as small red hot peppers. When we did the batch I didn't realize how hot my fingers would get after cutting all the peppers and soon learned you really need to wear plastic or rubber gloves when handling hot peppers or your hands will feel like they are on fire for approximately 4 hours. I googled different remedies like placing it in a bowl of milk or rubbing mint toothpaste on it but most of the pain comes from my own stupidity at not wearing any rubber/plastic gloves when handling the peppers.

In order to make the hot pepper oils you first need to sterilize your mason jars by placing it in boiling water for a period of time then letting them air dry. After you have done this step create your hot pepper oils by slicing the ppeppers roughly into medium sized rounds. Then place in a bowl and add in vinegar until it covers all of the peppers and leave it there to soak for about 10 minutes and occasionally stir it. After the 10 minutes is up then you strain the peppers and get your containers ready. Spoon some slowly into the jar and you can add some more flavours like basil leaves and a garlic clove. Leave about half an inch of the jar empty near the top. Fill the jar with extra virgin olive oil till it covers the peppers. Seal the top on and flip the jar upside down and leave it for about 10 minutes which helps with sealing the jars.

The Bomba is an amazing condiments that Italians use for adding to a charchuterie plate or even ontop of toasted bread. Bomba is a condiment that is made mostly of fresh cut tomatoes, about 60% of hot peppers, 3% of sweet peppers, and that's about it. In the bomba's that I made I grilled some beautiful yellow zucchinis and eggplants and diced it for later use. To start the bomba off get a large deep sauce pan on the stove. Fill it with about 8 large tomatoes roughly chopped, add in 1 clove of garlic minced, and about 8 cups of roughly chopped hot peppers (which ever ones you like / on sale). Let the sauce simmer for about 20-25 minutes and stir occasionally until it thickens. Also add a drizzle of olive oil in it. Once it has thickened get an immersion blender and pulse the sauce until it is mostly smooth but not too smooth. Now you can add in the diced grilled vegetables and leave it to simmer for about 5 minutes so the flavours and smokiness can infuse.

In order to fill the bombas, you need to make sure you have sterilized mason jars. Slowly ladle in the sauce until again about half an inch is left at the top. Let the sauce settle in and then add in some olive oil to cover the sauce. Seal it and then place it in a pot of cold water and let it come to a boil and leave it in there for about 10 minutes and turn off the heat and it it cool in the water.

Another condiment we made with the hot peppers was using the bulb like hot peppers we cored them and then placed it in vinegar. Then we took some canned tuna, strained it then added some lemon zest, finely chopped parsley and basil then we stuffed it into the hot pepper bulbs. We then squished them into the larger jars, placed in some garlic cloves and some basil sprigs just to infuse and then filled it with oil to the top. This is supposed to taste incredible. I haven't tasted it yet since I am letting them age in my cold room till around Christmas time where we will distribute some of the hot chili oils and bombas to family and friends that I know would enjoy with their food. We would probably crate some kind of Italian basket for gifts and I would make homemade ricotta.

In the winter time my neighbour and I are planning to go up north because I asked him if he can teach me how to make proscuitto so we will go up north and purchase a pig. We will split the legs, two for him and two for me and then we'll make our own proscuitto and then the rest of the pig we will use for pork sausages and let them cure and hang in the cold room so again we could use it and serve it to company when they come over the holidays and can enjoy. These condiments will age in the cold room for about 3 months so the oils will be fully infused and won't be too spicy since we soaked the peppers in alittle bit of vinegar to take away some of the heat. Although this process is extremely time consuming it is well worth it as I have about 40-50 different types of bomba's and hot pepper oils in my cold room waiting to be gifted to people.

To the left homemade hot bomba, next to it small, medium, and large hot pepper oil, next to that small grilled hot pepper oils for a smoky taste, next to that large hot peppers stuffed with a tuna, basil parsley Oregano blend and next to that large medium spice bomba. The green painter tape says what they are as well as the date it was made.

Close up of the Hot chili oils and the beautiful colours

Until next time,
K.M.W.

Fruit Hunters - 19th Avenue Farmer's Market & T&T

 For this culinary blog I went to go visit my favourite farmer's market at 19th avenue to see what they had just picked that morning. I had to buy some vegetables for our thanksgiving feast so I bought a lot of root vegetables like Hubbard Squash, Butternut Squash, Rutabaga, Celery Root Heirloom Carrots, Celery, beets, and leeks.  A lot of the vegetables were reasonably cheap as they were in season. This family has been operating this farm for a long time as a lot of Italian and Portugese families drive here to purchase tomatoes and hot peppers at the end of summer when they are making their tomato sauces to jar for the winter time. Before I roasted them in the oven I just added some olive oil, salt, and pepper and placed it in the oven and after they finished cooking I couldn't believe how sweet they were just naturally as no sugar was added.




























Since I have eaten all the fruits that they sell at this market I decided to visit T&T since there was one in the area.I haven't visited this one before but couldn't believe how clean and organized everything was.  We had to visit this store as I was making a crab & shrimp boil and needed to get some fresh crabs and T&T was the first place I thought of because of how clean most of their stores are.

 The fruit I decided to try was Jackfruit and since the peel is hard and prickly to hold I decided to purchase one already peeled. The smell was a bit funky as it didn't smell as bad as durian but it had a sweet funky smell to it. The inside of the jack fruit is very sticky so in order to cut it it is best to rub oil on your knife and your hands so its easier to handle. AS you can tell in the photo the sweet parts are easy to peel out of the fruit and there is a seed typically found in the center which you remove. When you hold it it feels quite rubbery and flexible. To those who haven't tasted it to me it was similar to a mix with mango and apple. I chose this fruit because I had it before in a halo halo I had in Oahu, Hawaii last summer. It was delicious in that drink and I wanted to try it just as a fruit itself. If I were to cook it I definitely wouldn't cook it in any heat, it may intensify the flavour but the flavours I believe are good as they are andwouldjust serve it on a plate like that with other fruits. Or serve it in a fruit salad. I thought the flavours were very delicate and should purely just be eaten like that. I haven't attempted making Halo halo at home as it uses about 20 different ingredients prepared in many different ways. It is much easier to purchase it already made in Oahu or at any filipino grocery store. It is a beautiful drink as they are many different colours and textures in it.

Until Next Time,
K.M.W.

Sensory Blog Post

The new food I tried this week was Romanesco Broccoli. My dad and I decided to go up north to go shopping at some of the farms because on the weekend we were going to make our own Bomba, which is spicy Italian hot pepper oils so that we can give it out as gifts for Christmas and we needed a large amount of hot peppers. At one of the farmer's markets I noticed this strange and yet beautiful vegetable, the Romanesco Broccoli. I had no idea how to cook it or what to do with it so we bought two. The meer shape and structure of it was magnificent. My mind kept trying to figure out how I  was going to cook it and I am always up for a challenge.  

After we visited the farmer's market we went to the grocery store and they had wild pickerel on display and decided to pick some of those up. Then and there I decided to make dinner: wild pickerel, with a warm charred Romanesco salad with parsnip puree.

     When creating the dish I thought about the delicateness of the pickerel, the smoothness and sweet notes the parsnip puree would give and the nice smoky and spicy flavours the warm Romanesco salad would give. The Romanesco salad was made by charring some of the buds, obviously and placing it in a roasting pan with some freshly sliced chilli, and a mire poix and some white wine given to my family that was made by one of our neighbours. I cooked the Romanesco broccoli as I would of either broccoli or cauliflower in that I did not overcook it so that it is soft but undercook it so that it still has its crunch and the sweet clean notes that are associated with broccoli and cauliflower. The warm salad really complimented the pickerel as the pickerel did not have too much flavour but more so with texture. I thought it was a perfect pairing as the salad was crunchy, the fish was cooked so it's still tender on the inside and soft, and the parsnip puree just soaked up any juices from the fishes and the salad and acted just like a sauce. There was a lot of umami in the warm salad because I added some anchioves which just melted in the dressing whilst it cooked. The broccoli had a toasted nutty sort of flavour and just a little bit of bitterness but not an overwhelming sort of bitterness it just sort of had a soft note in the background.

Seared Wild Pickerel with warm Romanesco salad served with parsnip puree

     I really enjoyed the Romanesco broccoli and I would probably use it again. For the recipe above I didn't want to create a dish with this beautiful produce that someone would typically do with a broccoli or cauliflower as it was so different and unique that I knew most people probably would not have seen it or cooked with it. 

     I always encourage my friends to try something that makes them uncomfortable because life shouldn't always be about being in comfort it should be about moving outside of your bubble and living on the edge. If one's life is just kept in comfort that life is not a life well lived. There are so many things to learn about the world and especially in the culinary world that if we close the shutters to these opportunities we might as well just leave the profession.

     The next food I am going to try is something I have tried before but haven't made it yet or made it at home. Come the colder season I will be making my own homemade proscuitto as well as cure my own italian pork sausages and let them cure and age in my cantina ( Italian for cold room) with my homemade bomba's as well as the hot pepper oils and hot peppers stuffed with tuna in extra virgin olive oil. I cannot wait to see the results and hear what other's think of them. The great thing is about doing this is I haven't done it before and it is something I am very interested in learning more about and if I make mistakes along the way that's fine because that just means more learning and you always learn from your mistakes.

Until next time,

K.M.W.

Simple Marinara Sauce

             

Kevin's Perfect Tomato Sauce

I get so annoyed when I hear my friends tell me that they went to the grocery store and bought canned tomato sauce when it is super simple to make, you know exactly what goes in it and you can control how it' made. This is a very versatile sauce that can be used for foccaccia, pizza, panzerotti, and homemade pastas.

 





Serves 4 people

Ingredients

5 cloves of garlic sliced thinly

1 medium sized onion small dice

6 Large Roma Tomatoes, large dice

2 sprigs of Fresh Basil

4 Sprigs of Fresh Italian Parsley

1/2 cup of red wine (one that you would drink)

3 tablespoon of Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Above: Bucatini Al'Amatricana with purple basil  
                                                                             florets and the simple

 

Cooking Method

1.      Place a medium size sauce pan on a burner and add the Extra Virgin Olive oil and let it heat up

2.      Just before the olive oil smokes add in your thinly sliced garlic and let it cook and lightly roast in the olive oil. After it becomes a light golden hue add in your diced onion and let it caramelize.

3.      After the onions turn into a light caramel colour add in your red wine and let it reduce to half.

4.      After the wine has reduced add in your fresh diced tomatoes to the pot and let it simmer on medium high heat and stir occasionally

5.      After about 30-40 minutes the tomato sauce should reach a texture somewhat similar to thick cooked oatmeal. The tomatoes would have broken down into a sauce. When it has reached such point add in some Basil Leaves & some chopped Italian parsley.

6.      Season to taste and serve with some fresh homemade ravioli. It is up to you whether you want to take out the tomato skins or not. I like to leave it in so it's more rustic.

Cheers,
K.M.W.

Biography

Hi my name is Kevin Wong. I am a first year student in Culinary Management at George Brown College in Toronto. I have loved food and the joy and art of cooking since I was in grade 1. The passion grew when I first heard my mom making tomato sauce in the kitchen and I loved hearing the sizzle of onions caramelizing in a pan with olive oil and that's where I learned my first recipe. Ever since then I have always had a hunger and thirst for learning more about cooking whether it be the latest technologies being used like sous vide, or the uses of many ingredients, or even ingredients that are foreign to me.

   I have always enjoyed eating out and therefore I love to cook. If I see a recipe or a famous dish at a restaurant, I would always want to try to make it myself and then sometimes go to the restaurant and compare the dishes all dependable on if the price is affordable. The reason I want to become a chef is because I cannot see myself in an occupation that does not involve food. Recently I competed for Masterchef Canada for it's first season. It was not for me to actually be on the show although that would have been nice it was just to compete and learn and meet other people that are just as passionate about cooking and food as I am. I was able to meet Michael Bonacini and Chef Claudio Aprile as well as one of the Master Tasters from Masterchef US.It was definitely a great learning experience.

Before coming to George Brown I was working for Compass Group Canada as a Chef Manager at several of their units around the GTA from The Globe & Mail to the Royal Bank managing the food within the building. In that position I provided customers with a variety of different cuisines such as teriyaki beef lettuce wraps, baked ziti, among other things. In regards to cooking and eating my philosophy is I will try a dish twice so I can know whether or not I like it or an ingredient this way I will be able to know what it tastes like before I judge the ingredient.

Through this experience going to George Brown I hope to network with fellow students and hopefully we will all become successful in this field and know where we came from.

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This is me making Roasted Bone Marrow on Roasted Garlic Crostini with a mini parsley salad and smoked salt after having a craving watching Fergus Henderson cook it in his restaurant, St. John's in London.