The Final Countdown

OMG!!!!!

Just 7 more days until my episode airs on Recipe to Riches.


SEVEN!!!

Trick or treat Canada!!


Sooooooo nervous!

http://www.foodnetwork.ca/recipe-to-riches/season2/

Texas Style Chili

Well I'm feeling particularly bloggish this week - probably due to a two month dry spell. It's 7am and I should be getting ready for work but I wanted to get this out before I did.

This is my attempt on making a beanless chili. I was going to go all meat but I just couldn't do it. This is my compromise.

Hope you like it!

Tracey’s take on Texas Style Chili

Ingredients

·         2 lbs ground beef

·         5 chorizo sausages

·         3 carrots – finely diced

·         2 medium onions – finely diced

·         3 celery ribs – finely diced

·         2 cloves garlic – minced

·         2 jalapenos – finely diced

·         3 chipotle peppers – diced (with some of the adobo sauce)

·         2 18 oz cans of spicy or chili seasoned diced tomatoes

·         1 28 oz can of regular diced tomatoes

·         1 can tomato paste

·         1 tsp salt

·         Fresh cracked pepper to taste

·         1 tsp cumin

·         1 tsp coriander

·         1 tsp cayenne pepper

·         2 tsp oregano

Directions

1.       Take the sausage out of the casings

2.       Brown the ground beef and sausage together on medium high

3.       Drain excess fat

4.       Add the diced garlic and jalapenos, sweat for a few minutes

5.       Add the diced vegetables, sweat down for a few minutes

6.       Add the canned tomatoes and tomato paste

7.       Stir in spices

8.       Reduce to low and let simmer on the stove for the day (I usually let mine simmer about 5-7 hours to make it lush and rich and thick.)

NB – I like my chili spicy but if you don’t use regular tomatoes, take out the cayenne and the jalapenos and use a milder sausage.

Eat!

Enjoy!!

Shaved Fennel Salad

I was trying to decide what to have with my coffee coriander seed marinated sous-vide steak tonight (Thank you Amos's!) and decided to get a little cheffy in the kitchen. This is what I came up with!

Shaved Fennel Salad

Dressing Ingredients

• 3 tblspns orange juice
• 3 tblspns Rice wine vinegar
• 3 tblspns mirin (cooking wine)
•  2 tblspns Grape seed oil
• 2 tsp grainy mustard
• 1 tsp Fennel powder
• 1 tblspn curry powder
•  ½ tsp tarragon
• Salt & pepper to taste

Salad Ingredients

•  Fennel
• Green apple
• Shallot
• Orange
•  Dried figs

Directions

1. Using a mandolin shave fennel, shallot and green apple
2. Thinly slice orange and dried figs
3. Mix it all together and toss with dressing.

Eat!

Enjoy!!

Raspberry Lemon Blondies

It's been a long two months without being able to bake - I think I was going into withdrawal!!! This weekend has been lovely - I've baked _and_ cooked. I'm feeling relaxed and happy and ready to take a nap ::laughing::

But before I do I thought I'd share a recipe. My Raspberry Lemon Blondies!

Raspberries and lemons are just a perfect marriage of flavors; how could I not try to incorporate them in a dessert?

I've tested this recipe amongst friends and co-workers and I've been told they're just as good as the brownies that landed me on Recipes to Riches so I know I've got a good thing here! ;-)

Raspberry LEmon Blondies

Ingredients

1 cup of butter (2 sticks)

1¼ cups of Demerara sugar

2 eggs

1tsp vanilla paste/pure vanilla/seeds of 1 vanilla pod

¼ tsp salt

¼ tsp baking powder

1 tsp lemon extract

Zest of 1 lemon

1½ cups flour

1 pint of fresh raspberries or 1 cup of frozen raspberries

Directions

1. Place baking rack in centre of oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Butter (or spray) a 9x13 pan;
2. Place raspberries in a bowl and mash slightly
3. Sift together dry ingredients onto a sheet of parchment or wax paper (you don’t mess up a bowl and you can just slid the dry ingredients into the bowl and then reuse the parchment as separators when you store your blondies)
4. Cream butter on high and gradually incorporate sugar; beat until well incorporated;
5. Reduce mixer speed to medium and add eggs one at a time (I first crack mine in a clear bowl to make sure there is no shell) and add vanilla and lemon extract and lemon zest, mix until all ingredients are blended thoroughly;
6. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just incorporated
7. pour ingredients into greased pan and pour raspberry mash over top. Press in slightly and then with a skewer, palate knife or spatula swirl into blondie batter
8. bake for approx. 40 minutes or until toothpick/skewer comes out clean
9. Transfer to rack and cool completely before cutting into squares.

Serving suggestion: sift a little powdered sugar over top and garnish plate with some fresh raspberries, a lemon twist and a sprig of mint to make a ‘pretty’ presentation.

Eat!

Enjoy!!

OMG - I'm like famous or something!

LOL - well I've had my 15 minutes of fame now. I've been interviewed by a couple of news papers and for my work's newsletter. Since Topical is an internal newsletter only I thought I'd post it here - can you believe this is me?




OPSer may have the 'Recipe to Riches'
Posted on: October 15, 2012


If your weakness is chocolate or sweets of any kind, you wouldn’t want to sit next to Tracey Rigden. The Ministry of Aboriginal Affairs (MAA) law clerk does most of her baking on the weekends and brings her batches of brownies and cookies to the office for constructive criticism.

Needless to say, the sweet treats don’t last very long on her desk.



Tracey Rigden with her Dulche de Leche Brownies.

“I’ve been baking since I was a kid, with my grandmother,” said Rigden, who recalled making pocket pies with berries she had picked. “I find baking and cooking soothing and relaxing."

It would only seem fitting that the self-declared food network junkie would audition for one of their shows.
“I watched the first season of Recipe to Riches and when the auditions come up in Toronto, I was encouraged to venture out of my comfort zone and try something new.”

The winner of each episode receives $25,000 and moves on to the finale, where Canada votes for their favourite product. The grand prize winner receives $250,000 and the product is added to the President’s Choice brand at Loblaws’ stores.

Rigden also thought the prize money would come in handy. “My family means everything to me and we had just found out my aunt had cancer. I wanted to gift my parents with the airfare. They could do it themselves but I didn’t want them to have to worry about it. They put me through school and have given me so much. I looked on the contest as an opportunity to give back to my family.”

The recipe has to be original. Rigden used a generic brownie recipe and reinvented it batch after batch making it what it is today.

“I had never baked brownies from scratch, until this recipe,” said Rigden. “I used to always make them out of the box.”

She baked batch after batch until she was confident they were good enough to present to the judges.
And she was right. It was her dulce de leche brownies that landed her a finalist spot under the cookies and squares category, airing Oct. 31 on Food Network Canada. The show starts its new season this Wednesday, Oct. 17.

Rigden describes the brownies as rich and dense. “Someone once said they were the perfect border between fudgy and cakey. I cut them in one inch squares because they are so rich. You only need a tiny piece.”

“My office is great,” said Rigden, “They are a bunch of foodies, and offer suggestions. And with these brownies, I had nothing but positive feedback. People kept asking about them.”

Rigden herself has to keep quiet now that she’s taped her show – the network had her and other contenders sign confidentiality agreements. “I’m a huge talker, talk about everything and anything. It was the hardest secret I ever had to keep.”

Would she ever consider baking as a career? Although she says never say never, Rigden shared, “I love my job at MAA. I feel like I’m making a difference. This ministry is so incredible and does such important work and it’s up and coming. We’re making a big difference.”

For more information about Recipe to Riches visit the Food Network site or for great recipes and photos of Rigden’s baked goods, visit her blog.