Chef`s Table dinner

On June the 30th I will host my first Chef`s Table dinner @ Pias Bakery.
It will be a theme from the Provence and we will tantalize your senses with a nice Charcuterie and Crudites, a wonderful fish stew and a cheese plate and as dessert we will have a honey lavender ice cream with madeleines. My husband, who is excellent in matching the wine with the food will be the somelier.

I hope I will get enough people together to make it a success and also fun for everybody, it is going to be like coming to our house for dinner and our dinner parties are always a  hit.

salmon and a green herb sauce

Salmon is a fish that I actually do not like that much anymore. It is a delicacy in Germany, so very expensive and so we only had it once in a while. Then we moved to Canada and here it is cheaper, so I bought it all the time...got bored with it.
I combined a very German sauce with a seared salmon and I now like it again, not too often...
I take a fillet, about 150 g and sear it in a very hot pan und put it in the oven after until it is just done, maybe a little bit more pink in the center.
For the sauce( Frankfurter Green Sauce) you need:
7 herbs( Parsley, dill, sorrel, chives, thyme, tarragon, cilantro)
1 cup of Mayonnaise
1 cup of sour cream
1 small onion, chopped
Salt and pepper

You should chop the herbs, but I take the blender, add the mayo and the sour cream and blitz it for  a short time and add the salt and pepper, almost ready.
Now I add the small chopped onion. Done
It is super light and delicious with a glass of Chardonnay and a green salad.

It is now available at my store and bistro, Pia's Bakery.

charcuterie and crudites

There is nothing better or simpler than a good plate of charcuterie( it took me a little time to understand what it means when spoken with an English accent), but my daughters told me that it sounds arrogant when you pronounce it in French, but whatever....
A variety of wonderful salamis, maybe ham and pate, little cornichons and some pearl onions and fresh radishes, mustard, butter and wonderful country bread, simply delicious, of course  you have to enjoy with a nice Pinot Noir( my favourite red, most of the time. And my all time favourite Pinot is from Oregon, believe it or not)
The vegetarian version is crudites, an assortment of fresh raw vegetables, usually served in a basket with butter, a wonderful vinaigrette or a beautiful dip and fresh country bread.  A feast for the palate with a crisp Rose wine from the Provence .

tulips

This year the tulips last so much longer because of the rain...

Rain

Rain and more rain....
nothing that can be done but still to enjoy spring, greenness, smell and taste...

fresh spring greens, asparagus, green peas, put together in a salad or a spring veggie stew
all available at Pia`s...
inside today, maybe on the patio tomorrow

Well, the weather looks bad again. However our patio is open, maybe it will force the sun to stay..it is worth a try.

We changed the Spinach Salad to a Salade Nicoise. A nice summer salad, a meal in itself. Fresh greens, tuna, olives, potatoes, avocado and tomato, a fresh vinaigrette and some nice baguette, soon to be enjoyed with a glass of fresh white wine, how does that sound for a lunch, on the patio, under the umbrella, you might think you are somewhere else, in France, maybe?

Crepes with Wild Leeks

If you are lucky like me and have a forest next to your bedroom, literally, go out before it is too late and look for wild leeks, nothing better this time of the year.
I enjoy making a Wild Leek Soup or Crepes with these lovely things.
For the crepes you need:
3 eggs
1 cup flour( pastry flour works best)
milk
half a stick of unsalted butter, melted

put the flour in a mixing bowl, add the eggs, stir and add as much milk as you need to get a creamy consistency and then add the butter. Let rest for 30 minutes.
In the meantime, wash the leeks, best twice, as there is a lot of sand in them. Dice and saute in some butter until just wilted. Add to the crepe batter and bake, one at the time in a crepe pan. Add salt and pepper, a little green salad and you have a lovely dinner, of course much better with a glass of light crisp white wine.

spring

It is here, finally, better late than never.

new menu

Today, our new menu is ready.
I must say that after trying all of the items myself, I can`t wait to prepare them for my customers.
The hamburger is divine, with avocados, tomatoes and more. Or the hamburger for vegetarians with a portabello mushroom and guacamole.
Or our classic dip mixture with hummus, pico de gallo and a black bean dip with different breads.
I also love the fat free bean salad, the new veggie sandwich and the smoked salmon with a lemon vinaigrette or the seared salmon with a orange dijon glaze.
And after have a wonderful dessert.
Enjoy spring!

New Vegetarian Sandwich @ Pia`s

Well I am making sandwiches all the time and I get bored to make them. I also have customers who do not want no cheese on their sandwich.
I now make this one and it really is delicious.
I use our olive ciabatta. Spread hummus on both sides and layer, slices of cucumbers, golden beets, avocados, tomatoes, onions and roasted asparagus, slat and pepper. I swirl the organic greens in either my olive, balsamic vinaigrette or use my creamy Dijon vinaigrette and too be honest, it just tastes so fresh and light, really nice for the summer.
Also try the new fat free bean salad. Mix white and black beans, add lemon juice, a can of diced tomatoes, green and yellow onion, salt, cayenne pepper and cumin and lots of fresh cilantro. Light and fresh and good for you.

new spring menue

It is time to change the menu in my bakery. Not as easy as you think.  But I decided to have also a more healthier menu, like dandelion salad as a special or a veggie sandwich with hummus instead of mayo, smoked salmon with a lemon vinaigrette, no potato pancakes and a mushroom burger, also a Mexican bean salad with no fat in it. The breakfast is also including a granola fruit platter or just fruit. Asparagus served with a seared salmon with a marmalade Dijon glaze, it is exciting to change stuff around, it gets boring otherwise, for the people who cook it and for the people who have to eat it. Today I will also go and get wild leeks in the forest and we will have wild leek soup at the store...

Easter Sunday with family

Every Easter my family congregates around our table to eat. It is not that we celebrate Easter although Catholics, we celebrate our family, our health and the food that is on the table.
Most years I cook a lamb with spring vegetables and also a ham( for my brother in law), dessert is usually a variety of things, for this year I think I am going to make a European style cheesecake and a Greek dessert with phyllo pastry and cream of wheat custard laced with a lemon syrup. My husband always pairs the lovely wines( I hope for a good Chablis as a starter) I cook better with a glass of wine near by.
Then on Easter Sunday, after everybody is up, I am up for much longer, feeding horses, dogs and cats and hiding Easter eggs, my sister arrives with her children and even though my daughters are now 23 and 25 they still have major fun going on an Easter egg hunt with their cousins.
After that we sit in front of the fireplace( it is Canada after all and Easter is usually still cold) enjoy a drink and sit down for dinner soon.
I am really happy to see everybody tuck in and have a good time. After it is usually a walk, some digestif and my husband and brother in law have a little scotch tasting, much to my sisters dismay as she has to take her hubby home, who gets incredibly talkative after some of my husband 80 or more scotches.
After the day my little family that since last year also includes my daughter Laura's boyfriend Xel, sits down in front of the television and watches a season of ` 24`, totally pathetic, but so much fun. We do not answer the phone and sit there til late at night, from one episode to the other, just really crazy and restart the next morning. We call it ` work`.
Okay, that's a little bit of our life in my bloggie, I will add the recipes tomorrow...but maybe a picture is fine.

Friday night with my best friend, aka husband

Had a great night with my husband yesterday evening. First we had some cocktails( gin/tonic) my new favourite, then I cooked a lovely meal. Spelt spaghetti with garlic and herb sauteed shrimp and had a wonderful bottle of Chablis. Of course after I was still thirsty and had a bottle of Beaujolais after and we talked until late late late.
I found out over 28 years( that`s how long I am married now,) that it is important that you not only love your man or woman, but you must like him or her, that`s when you have these fantastic moments where you do not want to go to bed, because this is too precious.
By the way, spelt noodles are actually the closest to the real durum wheat noodles.
For the shrimp, just saute some garlic and fresh spring herbs in butter( yes, that ) and add the shrimp. 5 minutes, done and add to the pasta.

Easter weekend

So, Easter is here, it is still snowing, well no more snow on the ground, but it is cold and flurries are dancing through the air, it is grey and cold out there. It is funny, but I am listening to African Soundscape and watching the cold Canadian Landscape, unreal.

My children and my sister and family are coming for Easter Sunday. We have some Champagne( maybe, if my husband is generous enough) if not a nice Cremant de Bourgogne will do and then we all go for a Easteregg hunt, even in the snow, if necessary. After we have lamb, presale from the Ile Gaspais, spring vegetables and a greek desert with phyllo pastry and a cream of wheat with lemon syrup. Cheese and wine , too.

I love to set the table nice and it is for me always a happy moment to see everybody enjoy the food and the company.