tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-32767037027842644702011-11-27T18:27:06.678-05:00Helping children become good eaters!Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comBlogger341100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-45808665899470791272009-09-22T19:51:00.029-04:002009-10-10T20:24:14.002-04:00

The beef is ground (in this instance), the beans are kidney and there is a little red wine and parsley involved. Otherwise, the basis of chilli is pretty much universal, and mine was made using the chilli tomato sauce from the other day that was frozen (see tomato madness).Freezing tomato sauces intensifies the flavour and makes for a sweeter, more "tomato" tasting base for a multitude of

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-57734253182459053562009-09-21T09:13:00.010-04:002009-09-24T20:13:20.221-04:00

With the filet mignon (fillet beef) left over from the steaks with gremolata, I ground black pepper onto a plate, added kosher (rock) salt then rolled the sides of the fillet in it. In a hot pan, I literally seared it then took it out and let it rest. I don't always do this, but since it is the outside which houses the bad bugs, it was a day old so the prudent health and safety manager in me

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-67688385845137344572009-09-20T10:49:00.021-04:002009-09-21T21:00:28.420-04:00

The other evening I had an absolutely disastrous attempt at cooking a joint of filet mignon (fillet steak for us Brits) for friends, where I made the fatal mistake of putting it back in the oven instead of letting it rest when it still felt quite "bouncy" after its due time. Granted the timing issue was not helped by the flowing wine & conversation, but nonetheless I was determined to prove to

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-82942045375621598272009-09-17T11:50:00.009-04:002009-09-17T12:46:22.886-04:00

I love to take the kids to the many markets we are blessed with in Montreal, not just for the quality of the food but also for the whole experience of the sights and smells and the characters you meet. There are so any different fruit and vegetables at the market and the producers tend to be so very passionate about their produce and are keen for you to try before buying. They are also great for

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-61230322187582872092009-09-14T18:26:00.004-04:002009-09-15T08:54:05.100-04:00

Since moving to Montreal, I've been both exasperated and exhilerated by the volume verses weight system. Whilst it's great that you can just pour and fill and make things quickly, it still doesn't come naturally to me and I find myself frustrated trying to convert recipes. What was once my easy 4-4-2 cake recipe has become experimental, and my easy chocolate fondants I get the kids to make have

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-47026924676274520062009-09-13T13:19:00.002-04:002009-09-13T14:29:21.000-04:00

Having purchased my box of green figs the other week and hence the appearance in several concoctions of these delightful fruits, there were still half a dozen or so lurking in the fridge which were starting to "split". I decided to use these for a quick jam and the idea went down a storm with my son.So, 6 figs, a teaspoon of sugar and a good centimetre of fresh ginger, grated into the pot, and

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-5253505637081992852009-09-10T20:06:00.018-04:002009-09-11T08:33:58.313-04:00

I've always been known in my family as the one who'll eat anything, cook anything and whose world pretty much evolves around food. That is true, but I must also make the comment that my sister has been hiding her food light under a bushel for many, many years. Even though there are (very!) many things she won't eat, she is an amazing cook and even as a child was a superb baker (I always loved

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-7155939031947136502009-09-09T20:05:00.014-04:002009-09-09T20:31:40.493-04:00

I confess that we didn't eat this last night - we went to the mall and had thai food (my daughter's choice) - but the night I made it, I didn't do my blog, so here I am extolling the virtues of one of my favourite dishes to make, and a dish many of my friends have converted to loving: potato pie.The image is from the last time when I had no cream or anything similar - I used only milk. The end

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-4416355133862416682009-09-06T16:44:00.004-04:002009-09-06T17:05:49.989-04:00

Having been extolling the virtues of poaching chicken to my sister yesterday, I was left with the notion to do this myself for lunch today. Poaching in chicken stock with some fresh herbs added to it, leaves the meat not only tender and moist, it also imparts a subtle fragrance but with a depth of flavour.The chicken breast or supreme can be poached as is, however you can also shape it in

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-44987425078718442932009-09-05T16:41:00.007-04:002009-09-05T17:11:43.136-04:00

Having rushed out to a parents' evening at school the other evening when my husband announced it was starting in fifteen minutes, I later rushed back home with some fresh shashimi and nigiri from my favourite sushi place (ever)* having arrived to find I was a day early.So the night of the actual "rencontre de parents", it was quickly sauteed shrimp, cooked with ginger, garlic, green onions,

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-5004553934839206712009-09-02T08:16:00.002-04:002009-09-02T08:24:59.267-04:00

With some prosciutto left from my "nibbles" the other evening and following an indulgent spending spree at my local delicatessen for an array of cheeses (mainly local Québec cheese), I decided to put the leftover pastry from the mince pie to good use.Having bought ready rolled (amazingly buttery) flaky pastry, I marked a line around the edge so the centre would remain flat and the outside edges

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-68129393533884867082009-09-01T15:04:00.004-04:002009-09-01T15:16:44.560-04:00

At the request of my daughter, the other evening we ate a very simple mince pie, prepared with a lovely buttery pastry purchased from the frozen food department of my local supermarket. The mince was simply prepared, cooked in stock until the liquid had all but evaporated.As the children played with the pastry and made one side of the kitchen an even bigger mess than usual, I prepared a simple

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-73106139162383016092009-08-23T15:38:00.003-04:002009-09-01T15:22:19.708-04:00

I mentioned a few days ago about how I think there is an entire cook book which could be dedicated to mince in its every conceivable form. Last night was another example of how to use the stuff - simply, but full of flavour.Having had meatballs requested for dinner on Friday by my (now) four year old son, I had left over some pork and veal mince mixed together. To this my elder daughter added

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-80220709638359395422009-08-20T14:41:00.003-04:002009-08-20T14:58:12.876-04:00

At the supermarket yesterday I picked up a bag of Nova Scotia wild scallops - good sizes and beautifully tender. Scallops don't need much doing to them to taste good - just a close eye on cooking time and not much else.To go with it I did a potato and betroot mix with just the right amount of lardons for that whole sweet, savoury, salty mix. This works really well with simply cooked scallops.

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-83150513198449572722009-08-18T19:08:00.006-04:002009-08-18T19:30:57.221-04:00

Yesterday, while the children made cheese straws (well, more like cheese lumps really) with some left over pastry and some grated cheddar mixed with a little freshly grounded pepper, I stood looking into the fridge for some inspiration for tha main course. Staring back at me was a trio pack of minced meat, some potatoes, some "ends" of cheese and a box of eggs. Whilst minced beef, veal, pork -

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-2555767704737962532009-08-13T07:57:00.004-04:002009-08-13T08:14:53.567-04:00

Yesterday, the "glorious 12th" (all you Brits will know this date), was my Dad's 67th birthday. For many reasons, I was especially sad not to be able to join him to celebrate, but decided that for our meal I would try to emulate one of the things my Dad is an expert cooking - proper home made chips (fries). I have said on many an occasion that food evokes memories and is an integral part of

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-54369906335985026242009-08-11T19:20:00.005-04:002009-08-11T19:47:40.662-04:00

Tonight the kids are tucking into a beautiful side of smoked salmon on wholewheat bagels, one with the cream cheese added, the other not. The cat is also hovering, and in the middle of the table are the crudites left over from my son's birthday picnic. For his birthday, smoked salmon was the sandwich my son chose.Kids have a real palate for strong flavours - you shouldn't be afraid of giving

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-70097553621569110352009-08-01T15:31:00.006-04:002009-08-01T18:27:30.311-04:00

My kids love eggs in pretty much every shape and form, and after the hollondaise the night before, and hence 3 egg whites in the fridge, I decided to put them to good use and make a souffle.I add many things to souffle depending on what is lying around. Tins of salmon work well, onion, herb, cheese, bacon (pre-cooked though), ham...... my favourite at the moment is goats cheese and ricotta,

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-58870847567348510992009-07-30T12:27:00.002-04:002009-07-30T13:03:10.943-04:00

Two nights ago, we ended up having sausages and chips - which for years was my eldest daughter's preferred meal - served up with a chick pea salad. The sausages were from our local deli, and the chips frozen. Nothing wrong there.Last night however, I had a craving to make hollondaise. My favourite recipe for this, which involves having children stir in cubes of butter to the egg yolks over a

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-36563148362518850642009-07-26T14:43:00.004-04:002009-07-26T17:11:03.677-04:00

I have a tendency to buy food when it's on special offer - but only if it is something I would buy under normal circumstances. I pretty muc have at least one thing in my repertoire for almost every cut of meat, so special offers are never wasted. Yesterday while shopping, the minced beef was literally half price for the large packs, so 1.5kg of the stuff was put into the shopping cart.Always a

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-24978392347501743562009-07-25T12:48:00.006-04:002009-07-25T13:28:46.982-04:00

Like most people on a Friday evening we crave speed and simplicity, which often translates to "take out"! However I quite often find that when I do concede to heading to a local fast food place, I often end up regretting having spent a lot of money on something we could easily have made at home, and which either leaves you hungry or wishing you hadn't bothered!So last night instead of the

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-62815606141939866732009-07-24T13:16:00.009-04:002009-07-24T15:27:18.212-04:00

I'm very, very fussy about how I eat my pizza. I have a real problem with thick crust pizzas - to me, it's like eating flavoured bread. I strongly believe you need to taste the topping, have a nice thin, crisp base and keep it nice and simple. I used to add all sorts of things to pizzas but now we just take the time to make a really good tomato sauce, use fresh mozzarella and sprinkle with fresh

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-80138922502477689322009-07-21T08:34:00.004-04:002009-07-21T08:57:25.174-04:00

All we had in the fridge tonight was a box of eggs, my trusty hunk of bacon and some leftover potato, mushroom & onion concoction we ate with some pork steaks the night before. Plenty for a meal.......The kids picked some parsley and lettuce leaves from the garden and spent a long time in the sink washing them (skiddling we used to call it as children). Since my son's speciality is cracking eggs

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-33267358483209907212009-07-19T17:10:00.005-04:002009-07-19T18:34:11.968-04:00

Mushrooms are GREAT for children to cut - all you need is a normal eating knife, a little guidance and supervision and they will happily provide you with all sorts of shapes and sizes!So for dinner last night, I put the childrens' cutting skills to good use and they set to with a punnet of brown cap mushrooms, a punnet of shitake mushrooms and 2 morels. My eldest also managed the onion (no fine

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-17688502711850849492009-07-15T09:11:00.002-04:002009-07-15T09:30:27.759-04:00

I'm rather fussy when it comes to meatballs. I don't like the 2 or 3 large ones they give you in restaurants and the sauce needs to have just a bit of bite to it. It's also super easy for the kids to make, although I have to admit that last night, being movie night, they were more interested in getting the popcorn ready and choosing which movie to watch after dinner to actually help. So, for

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-30791532841507560052009-07-12T20:59:00.007-04:002009-07-19T17:09:43.275-04:00

Whilst my nostalgia the other day left me with an intense desire to make stewed sausages (a sausage casserole my Nana used to make) the contents of the fridge dictated otherwise. I literally had a cauliflower, a few potatoes and some fresh ravioli. Fortunately the freezer had some goodies which would allow us to have a decent meal.My freezer is my friend. I freeze pretty much everything -

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-86957250410450903892009-07-11T15:51:00.011-04:002009-07-11T17:10:27.293-04:00

Today my sister sent me some old photographs that she had scanned, one of which was the two of us with our Grandpa taken over 30 years ago. I have really fond memories of spending time with Grandpa and being at his house which was in a small village on the west coast of Scotland. Many of these memories are culinary - he was a baker and before he retired I remember "helping" at the bakehouse and

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-25728504335785037652009-07-10T15:29:00.003-04:002009-07-10T15:47:25.273-04:00

I sometimes feel as if my middle name should be "old mother hubbard" - and last night was a classic example. I literally just had leftovers in the fridge, which in itself is a culinary challenge. What DO you do with one or two portions of meals left from previous evenings? I really think some of my crowning culinary moments - and most imaginative - have been when there has been "nothing" in

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-44654210341851589292009-07-09T15:26:00.007-04:002009-07-09T16:05:36.823-04:00

I always maintain that cooking & eating should be guilt-free. There are enough problems in life without adding food to the list, and at the end of the day it's all about making life easy for oneself as well as tasting good.Personally, I have a secret love for fish fingers (especially the ones in batter rather than breadcrumbs) and whilst sometimes we make our own, last night we took them out of

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-87821880233869532122009-07-07T08:10:00.006-04:002009-07-07T11:27:18.822-04:00

Pastry, is a great thing. Not only can you use it to turn any dull item of food into something a bit special - sweet or savoury - but it's great to have in the fridge for rainy days when the kids are getting a little bored. My two eldest will spend HOURS playing with pastry, and unlike Playdoh, you can actually get to eat the end result.Purists will say that it should never be overworked and

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-89542986325622783372009-07-05T16:02:00.005-04:002009-07-07T08:10:07.853-04:00

Apart from the muffins for dessert, I really was in a quandry as to what to cook today. I had some chicken supremes in the fridge that I'd bought "on special" yesterday, and not much else. The weather was nice, I planned on phoning Scotland to speak to my parents and I really wasn't in the mood for a "big shop". So, my two youngest (3 months and 3 years) came with me to the our local deli ("it

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-25467722838056985462009-07-04T11:32:00.004-04:002009-07-04T11:35:45.892-04:00

We didn't get home until after 7pm last night, having had the traditional Friday "treat" with the kids. They each have an evening during the week where it's just the two of us, where they choose what to do. This "special Mummy time" could be ice-cream, a trip to the mall, playing barbies, kicking a ball in the park. On a Friday, it's the three of them and me. However, as my son (the 3 year old)

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-49813666734405752842009-07-03T10:18:00.004-04:002009-07-04T11:31:31.043-04:00

Last night I started to prepare a meal for the children, and for once I was making something different for them than was planned for us later in the evening. Normally, if we are eating separately from the children, I'll simply give them what I am preparing for us - or a variation - to make life as simple and as quick as I can.So there I was, skewering bite size pieces of beef (fillet/fondue type

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3276703702784264470.post-51615266213768120852009-07-02T09:55:00.001-04:002009-07-03T14:19:00.360-04:00

This morning my daughter, who is 7, prepared her shopping list for the supermarket after spending some time on the internet playing a game where you can create a recipe, and the programme will show you what the end result will look like. There is a degree of "control" in that there are pre-selected ingredients, but none-the-less, she is so proud of herself for having created such fabulous new

Petits Gourmetshttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16517010124664819979noreply@blogger.com