Serves 4

Ingredients:

500 grams ground beef (not the cheapest you can find)

1/2 onion, diced small

2 tbsp. Worchestershire Sauce (pronounced “worstershire”)

2 tbsp. herbes de provence (or if you don’t have that, some parsley or oregano will do)

2 tsp. salt

2 tsp. pepper

1 egg

2/3 cup bread crumbs

Directions:

Mix all ingredients together in bowl. Using your hands is easiest. Then, using your hands, shape the meat into balls, slightly smaller than a golf ball (unless you want really big meat balls). Heat up a tall-sided sauce pan with a small amount of vegetable oil in the bottom, on about medium to medium high. Cook the meatballs, browning every side, for about 7 minutes a ball.

Meatballs go great in all kinds of dishes, and are best with a sauce. Buon appetito!

I don’t usually use a recipe so you don’t need exact portions of each ingredient.

Ingredients:

1 Chopped Onion (Chipolla)

5 ml Chopped Garlic (Aglio)

5 ml Dried Sage (Salvia)

500 g Chopped Fresh Porcini

3 L   Chicken Stock (or vegetable stock) I’ll include a recipe at the end.

2 kg Pumpkin (Zucca) try to get one with an orange flesh

15 ml Ground Pepper(pepe)

30 ml Salt

Directions:

Cut the pumpkin in half and remove any seeds and cut the skin off. Chop the pumpkin into large pieces and roast with some Salt and Olive Oil in a 150-200 degree (celsius) oven until the pumpkin is cooked through. You should occasionally stir the pumpkin to keep it from burning on one side. Once cooked set the pumpkin aside to cool.

Heat up about 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of oil in a large pot. Add the onions and cook until golden brown, stirring occasionally. Add the Garlic, Sage, Pepper and Porcini. Continue to cook until the mushrooms are soft. Add the roasted pumpkin and Chicken (or Vegetable) stock and simmer for about 45 minutes. Puree the soup. If the soup is a little thick add a little more chicken stock or water.

Taste the soup to make sure there is enough salt. What I do is taste it once as it is, then I fill up my spoon and taste it again with a small sprinkle of salt (very small, about 2-3 grains of salt). If I can’t taste salt in my second taste I add more salt to the soup, then taste again the same way. I keep doing this until I can taste the salt I add to my spoon.

I know it sounds long but the actual process goes fairly quick and once you do it once or twice it get’s a lot easier. Also you can easily substitute any mushroom for Porcini if you can’t find any of those.

Chicken Stock:

A “Stock” is basically a broth. You can make a good chicken stock from the leftover bones of a whole chicken by roasting them a little until they brown a little. Then put them in a large pot with a couple of onions (cut in quarters), 1 carrot cut in half, some whole garlic (2 cloves is enough). Slowly simmer in water about 4-5 L for about 1.5 hours. Strain and save the liquid and throw out the rest.

Vegetable Stock:

Even easier than a Chicken Stock. Chop some Carrots, Onion, Celery and simmer in water for about 45 minutes with some dry herbs and a few cloves of garlic. Use 1 part carrots, 1 part celery, 2 parts onion, and 8 parts water. Strain and save the liquid and throw out the rest.

Ingredients:

7-9 cups of chicken stock

4 cups cubed cooked chicken

1/4 cup roux (3 heaping tablespoons flour to 3 tablespoons oil, approx.)

1 cup diced carrots

1 cup diced celery

1 onion, diced

1 cup diced leek

2 cloves crushed garlic

1 cup cubed potato

1 cup cubed turnip/rutabaga/celery root

1 can sweet corn

Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions for Stock:

To make the chicken stock, the easiest thing to do is go out and buy two whole COOKED chickens, debone them, and then throw the carcasses in a big pot with 1 leek, 3 carrots, 2 stalks of celery, 2 onions, and 2 big bay leaves (or 3 small ones). The chicken meat can be set aside, and you can use it for the soup later on. Add 10-12 cups of water, and boil that for 2-3 hours, until the liquid has reduced by 1/4. You don’t need to use a stiff boil, just simmer it. Strain the liquid, discarding of the chicken carcass and the vegetables. Now you have stock. DON’T ADD SALT, you only need to add salt to the final dish. Set your stock aside.

Directions for Stew:

Dice your onion and crush your garlic. In a big pot over medium heat, melt 2 tablespoons of butter and sauté your onions and garlic till they are translucent (about 4min). Add your oil and flour, mixing it all together to make what looks like a very soft dough. Then, getting someone to help you, add the stock slowly WHILE WISKING to incorporate the roux into your stock. This will help to thicken it as it simmers. Let this simmer for 5-10 minutes to help it thicken before you add your vegetable. If you want a thicker soup, make more roux by adding equal parts flour and oil, and wisk that into your liquid. Don’t add too much at a time, as it can get really thick really fast.

Add your carrots, potatoes and turnip and let them simmer for about15 minutes. Then add your celery and leek, and let that simmer for about 15min. Finally, add your chicken and can of corn, and let that simmer for 5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Serve hot with bread and butter. Enjoy!

Instructions:

1. You’ll need two unbaked pie crusts (Pasta Brisée works best in Italy if you don’t want to make your own)

Line a 9-inch pie pan with one of the pie crusts

2. Peel, core and thinly slice 5-6 cups apples. Sprinkle with a little lemon juice (optional)

3. Combine and sift over the apples:

1/2 to 2/3 cup white or brown sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch (or flour)

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

4. Stir the apples gently until they are well coated. Place them in layers in the pie shell. Dot with 1 1/2 tablespoons butter

5. Preheat oven to 450°. Cover the pie with a pricked upper crust. For a delicious touch, brush the top with milk and sprinkle it lightly with sugar and cinnamon before you put the pie into the oven. Bake in a 450° oven for 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350°. Bake until done, 35 to 45 minutes or until golden brown.

1 tbsp. cooking oil
1 tbsp. honey
1 egg
1 1/2 cups milk
1 1/2 cups oatmeal (dry)
1 cup flour
1 tbsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

In a medium bowl, thoroughly mix the oil and honey. Add the egg and
the milk and beat until well combined using an egg beater (or a whisk
or a spoon). Add the dry ingredients and beat the mixture just until the
batter is smooth. Grease an electric skillet with 1 tablespoon of oil and
heat to 375 degrees. Use about 1/4 cup batter for each pancake. Cook
until the edges look a bit dry, then flip over and cook about 1 1/2
minutes longer.

Preheat Oven 175˚C/350˚F

1 ½ c butter       4 c flour

2 c sugar          1 T ginger         ½ t nutmeg         ½ t cloves

2 eggs             1 T cinnamon

½ c molasses       2 t baking soda

*Cream together butter and sugar.

*Add eggs and beat on high until fluffy.

*Add molasses and mix well.

*In separate bowl sift all dry ingredients.

*Add dry ingredients to wet and mix well.

*Get walnut sized pieces of dough and drop into a         mixture of sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.

*Roll into balls and place on cookie sheet. Cookies will spread a little; I usually get about a dozen or so per sheet.

BAKE 9-10 min or until cookie rises, spreads and has a crackle appearance.

Cookies will keep well for a week.

You can also make dough before hand and refrigerate.

Yield ~ 5 dozen

History: Interestingly, onion soup (or “French” onion soup) is not necessarily as gourmet as you might think! Though it is a standard on any upscale French restaurant in North America and Britain, onion soup is probably one of the most inexpensive soups that you can make. Its history goes back to the days of the Romans when onions were plentiful and French peasants had little to eat; onions were considered food for the poor. The modern rendition of onion soup (see below) comes from the 18th century.

Ingredients: (note, these are approximate!)

4-5 litres of beef stock (see below for preparation)

100 grams butter

6-8 onions (depending on size), halved and sliced

4-5 cloves of garlic, sliced

250 millilitres cooking wine (red)

salt and pepper to taste

for the croutons:

1 baguette or loaf of bread (stale)

300 grams of cheese (gruyere or emmental is best)

Beef Stock (makes 7-8 litres): While you could use bouillon cubes or pre-made stock, a rich browned beef stock made from scratch is much more satisfying. If you have the time, make a large batch and freeze what you don’t need… it preserves well and makes great gravies, soups or sauces later.

5-6 beef or veal bones (joints are best)

1 stock of celery

1 leek

4 carrots

2 onions

2 tomatoes (optional)

2-4 bay leaves (depending on size)

Place the bones in deep-sided roasting pan. Brown the bones in the oven at about 390 Fahrenheit for 2-3 hours, perhaps more depending on the size of the bones. You want the bones to be browned on all sides. Remember to turn the bones periodically. When the bones have been roasted, remove them and put them into your stock pot. Choose a pot that can handle between 10 and 12 litres of liquid. Put your vegetables in the liquid that has run off the bones, being careful not to splash as you could hurt yourself. Roast the veggies for 30-45 minutes at the same temperature, or until they are browned as well. Place the veggies and all the liquid from roasting pan the pan into the stock pot, throw in your bay leaves, then fill the stock pot with water. Boil the stock for 3-4 hours, letting the liquid reduce by 1/3. Strain and refrigerate. The reason you refrigerate is to let the fat come to the surface and harden, so you can easily skim it off and have a leaner stock. You don’t need all that fat for flavour, you’re better off without it.

Onion Soup: This is the easy part. Melt your butter in a big stock pot (like above), and wait till it just begins to brown. Then, throw in all the onions and garlic. You want to caramelize your onions (brown them), and this will take a few minutes. Be patient. The soup will be better if the onions are brown before you dump in the stock. When the onions are brown, pour in your cooking wine and let simmer for 3-4 minutes, until it has reduced by half. This will cook off all the alcohol but leave you with the flavour. Then, add your stock. Bring the soup to a simmer, and leave it for 10-15 minutes to let the onions continue to soften and the flavours mix. Then, season as you prefer. Because your stock is homemade, you will need more salt than a pre-made stock. This is ok. You get to decide the flavour. When it tastes right, you’re done the soup.

Croutons: Slice your baguette or bread. You can also make cubes, if you prefer. If you are using stale bread, you won’t need to toast it very long, you just need to get rid of some of the moisture. The bread doesn’t need to be very brown either, so don’t be concerned about colour, as it will be covered with cheese. Grate your cheese. Make sure the soup is hot. Turn your oven on to BROIL. When you’ve prepared the bread and cheese, portion out your soup into good, solid bowls that you can place in the oven (thus, plastic is no good!). Cover the soup with bread, then with cheese. Then, place your soups in the oven to melt and brown the cheese. When it is melted and browned, serve. Remember to be careful when removing from the oven, as the bowls will be extra hot! Bon appétit!