I’ll post the method soon, but in the meantime — imagine a bacon, red onion and tomato pizza, topped with lots of halloumi and grilled to perfection.  Garnish it with some Charman Farms basil, and you’ve got yourself a killer ‘za.

Halloumi is a Cypriot cheese that is also popular in the rest of the Middle East. Traditionally made from a mixture of goat’s and sheep milk and set with rennet, it is unusual in that no acid or acid-producing bacterium is used in its preparation. It has a high melting point, and so can easily be fried or grilled.  Intrigued?  I promise the method/recipe is coming…

Ocean Wise Qualicum Bay Scallops, seasoned with s+p and seared for mere seconds in a blisteringly hot cast iron pan — served with linguine tossed in fresh-out-of-the-garden Basil Pesto, peppers and toasted almonds.

Some may say it`s a bit `fancy`for lunch, but I put it together in less than 1/2 hour, which, in my books makes it a totally viable option for lunch any day of the week.

I’ll toot my own horn quickly by saying that I make WICKED sandwiches.  Come up to the top of the Harbour Hill Road on Pender Island and taste for yourself.

Come join us!  Taste & buy some great Pender wines, shop for art & cards by Amy Heggie, preserves and bread from Gulf Islands Gourmet, get a chair massage or some handmade beauty products from Trish.  I hear there’ll be jewellry too!

Sometimes, when it’s really, really hot, a crazy cool-down idea will take shape around here.

Like injecting a watermelon with vodka — circa Lollapalooza ’93 — which is the last (and more age-appropriate) time I considered using a syringe to introduce alcohol into fruit. Back then it was a scheme to get booze past the festival gate checkpoint — a scheme we never got around to actually attempting…

Fast forward 17 years later, to the peak of this week’s heatwave: I bought a syringe and the biggest, ugliest horse needle you’ve ever seen at the pharmacy. Then I went around the corner to the Liquor Store and picked up a bottle of Absolut Pear.

I figured at 40 it’s not good enough to just inject vodka into a watermelon. No, no, no. At this ripe age, a little sophistication is required — sophistication in the form of pear-infused-vodka-infused watermelon — served as little balls. Oooh…la, la.

Howard and I had some fun trying to inject our little 3 lb watermelon. The first squeeze went in fine, but when we moved the needle, the second injection came squirting out of the hole left by the first — seriously. Very 3 Stooges.

Plan B: Use an apple corer to pull a plug out of one end, then invert in a strainer in the fridge overnight to drain. The next morning, use a wooden skewer to poke holes, or “vodka channels”, downward and outward towards the rind, into the length of the flesh exposed by the apple corer.

Using a funnel, pour vodka in the hole to fill. Stabilize the watermelon in a bowl and refrigerate for 2 hours. The vodka will absorb into the flesh and drain into the holes you poked with the skewer. After 2 hours, top up the vodka and return to the fridge. Repeat until the vodka is no longer absorbed.

Drain any vodka remaining in the hole and chill in the fridge until cold. Serve, sliced into wedges or melon balled into, well, balls.

A rather delicate looking salad — and a slightly more classic presentation that I gave you yesterday.   So what’s on the plate?

Golden beets, soft goat’s cheese and homegrown baby greens dressed in a Roasted Tomato & Jalapeno Vinaigrette.  The  edible flowers are rocket and calendula — it’s almost too pretty to eat!

I said almost.

The dressing is quite heavy, so I brushed it onto the beets as well as the greens.  I also had  a little bowl of vinaigrette on the side to dip our bread into.

What?  I was just ensuring we got all of our veggies for the day…

A summer salad of grilled halloumi cheese, local heirloom tomatoes,  some (very) baby greens from my container garden, a squeeze of lemon, a pour of olive oil, and a crack of fresh pepper — most definitely worthy of a late afternoon lunch on the back deck.

Too bad the weather was more worthy of a sou’wester and oilskin coat ensemble.

(We ate inside.)

We loved this — talked about it for 2 days — that said, once you learn the number of steps involved to get it to its ultimate end , it’s highly unlikely that you’ll want to attempt it — even if you could find some “lamb riblets” – which is what these delectable Lamb Flat Bread Sandwiches started out as before I cooked the bejesus out of them.

To get them to the state you see in the photo above, I:

1. Trimmed
2. Broiled
3. Braised
4. Cooled
5. Pulled
6. Fried
7. Served

Seven steps and about 5 hours to taste nirvana.  Is great taste worth that kind of time?

First, with my super sharp filet knife, I trimmed the ribs and removed the thick membrane covering some of them –  I could have made a patchwork-hot-air balloon out of that membrane it was so thick– let’s just say it wasn’t your average silverskin…

Then I seasoned the ribs with s+p, and put them under the broiler to brown the fat.

After that, they took a long ride (4 hours) in the slow cooker with their friends:  fresh rosemary, bay, cumin seeds and a little beef stock.

After letting them cool, I pulled the meat from the bones, and picked out and discarded the little bits of fat and gristle that remained.

To complete the donairification of the lamb, I fried in in a hot DRY  cast iron with ground coriander, chili flakes, some chopped fresh oregano and s+p until crisp, but not too dry.

There was enough meat from 1lb of raw ribs to pile 2 flatbreads high.  Lettuce, grilled peppers and sumac yoghurt served as accompaniments, and we all lived happily ever after — in the end, from $5 worth of the previously unheard of riblets came a pretty awesome late afternoon Sunday lunch/dinner dinner for the 2 of us, and bones and broth to make a week’s worth of fortified stock for little Koda-Bear.

But at the end of the day,  it was more work and time than most sane people would devote to dinner, never mind Sunday Lunch.

A Fridgecleaner Flatbread Pizza that would have had Odysseus home years earlier.

Leftover flatbread dough, partially cooked on the stovetop, then dressed with pizza sauce from the freezer, mozzarella, mushrooms and onions, and browned in our workhorse of a countertop convection oven.

Out of the oven, we dressed them with leftover basil oil, freshly roasted red peppers, cilantro rescued from the vegetable drawer and one of my very favourite locally produced preserves…

Pickled Garlic Scapes made by Susan at Charman Farms.  Insanely tasty — a grown-up pickle, and the crown of laurel on my pizza worthy of Homer (Simpson, that is.)

Classic bisques are thickened with rice, but all of my culinary instructors used roux to thicken their bisques.  Rice, no matter how finely you puree it, will always be grainy.

A roux is a combination of equal parts, by weight, of flour and fat that are cooked together to form a paste.  The cooking eliminates the raw flour taste, and the fat-coated starch particles are prevented from congregating together in lumps when added to liquid — making roux the front runner to thicken anything you want smooth and creamy — like a bisque.

White roux is cooked just until the mixture becomes frothy.  It is used in white sauces where no colour is desired– like a béchamel.

Brown roux is cooked much longer — until it develops a darker colour and nutty flavour and aroma. Use clarified butter in brown roux to avoid a burnt taste, and, although started on the stove top, brown roux should be finished in the oven to avoid scorching.  Brown roux are used to add colour and flavour to a dish — like a gumbo.

Right in the middle is blond roux — cooked slightly longer than white roux, until it takes on a light colour — it is used where a richer flavour, but not too much colour is desired.  As a woman of moderate tastes, blond roux suits me just fine for most occasions — like this bisque.

More fun roux facts:

• The darker the roux, the less thickening power it has.
• To avoid lumps when using a roux to thicken liquid, either whisk a room temperature roux into hot liquid or a hot roux into room temperature liquid.  Lumps happen when the roux and the liquid are the same temperature.
• Leftover roux will keep, covered in the fridge, for 7-10 days.
• The first recorded recipe to use a roux is in a German cookbook from 1533:  “How to Cook a Wild Boar’s Head, Also How to Prepare a Sauce for It.”

Enough with the roux, already…

Bisques are smooth, creamy comforts.  They are also labours of love, and take some time and care to prepare.  Some folk may consider smashing the flambéed and simmered heads of shrimp against the side of a conical strainer to be beyond the limits of what is visually acceptable (it can get a little gross, especially if you really put some elbow grease into it.)  Just remember — it’s all in the name of flavour.

Shrimp Bisque – Culinary School Technique
Yield 6-8 servings

Blond Roux

The volume measurements I have listed here are approximations.  As always, weight is more accurate than volume when it comes to cooking (and baking too).

Melt the butter over med heat in a small, heavy-bottomed saucepan.  Whisk in the flour until well incorporated and the mixture is a thick paste.  Cook, stirring constantly, for approx 3-4 minutes, until the flour just begins to colour.  Transfer to a bowl and cool.

Shrimp Bisque

C=cup       ml=millilitres     T=tablespoon       t=teaspoon
TT=to taste

Sweat the onion, carrot and celery in olive oil in a large skillet over med heat until the onion is translucent.  Increase the heat to med-high, add the seafood shells and toss until pink.  Pour the alcohol over the shells, wait 10 seconds, then flambé with a match.  Cover the pan with a lid to extinguish the flames after 10 seconds.

Transfer everything to a stockpot and add wine, crushed tomatoes and garlic. Reduce 5 minutes.  Add fish stock to generously cover, cayenne, bouquet garnii, bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to med-low and simmer, uncovered, for 45 minutes.

Strain immediately through a conical strainer, pressing on the shells and vegetables to extract the maximum flavour.  Return the strained liquid to the clean stockpot over med heat.  Whisk in 4 tablespoons (60 g) of roux and bring to a slow boil then simmer to thicken – should lightly coat the back of a spoon.  Use additional roux if necessary.  Season to taste with s+p.

Reduce the heat to low, add the cream, and heat gently.  Season again with s+p, and serve garnished with finely chopped herbs.

Best served the day of preparation.

Tips:

• I added about a 1/2 bulb of chopped fennel to the onion, carrot and celery.  The licorice flavour matched the ouzo that I used to flambé the shells.
• To make a bouquet garnii, tie 2 bay leaves, 5-6 peppercorns, 3-4 sprigs of thyme and 3-4 sprigs of parsley in a square of cheesecloth, a tea ball, or the blanched dark green end of a leek.
• To freeze, cool the bisque after straining, but before you thicken with the roux.  Freeze for up to 2 weeks, then thaw and finish as described.
• Other garnish ideas:  paprika or chili infused olive oil, a swirl of saffron cream, diced shrimp meat…

Sunday Lunch has been hijacked today, for the sake of shameless alliteration.  Truth be told, I’m partial to assonance — who doesn’t prefer a little assonance? — but you can’t have everything.

“Alliteration is pleasant and precious, but some fancy assonance can make you dance in your pants,” that’s what my mama used to say.

Acutally, she never said that.  And I (still) call her Mom.  But I really do like assonance, if that counts for anything.

As for calling them Spot SHRIMP?  Again, it’s mostly a result of my overwhelming desire to rampantly spread the use of non-rhyming stylistic devices, but it is also technically correct.  Commonly referred to as Spot PRAWNS, these spotted little guys (see the white spots near the tail and head?) are actually biologically classified as shrimp.

Enough pretension and learning for one Sunday!  Let’s skip to what Howard and I had for dinner last night:

Roll #1 – The Raw (at the top of the photo):

Six raw Spot PRAWNS, freshly killed by moi, who grabbed their heads and twisted with grim determination.  It’s not exactly enjoyable, but if you’re going to eat animal protein, killing your own food, albeit occasionally, is important — and invigorating.   If you do it quickly and cleanly, you’re left feeling lightly charged and hungry.  And possibly in need of a drink.

Also in the raw roll was:

• BC Red Pepper and Cucumber
• Hot Pepper Jelly from Jane’s Herb Garden
• Pender Island Cilantro
• A squeeze of lime
• A few shoots of sea asparagus that I foraged from the shore at low tide

This is my first time using sea asparagus — it tasted super salty when I nibbled, so I blanched it for 1 minute in boiling unsalted water, then shocked in ice water to stop the cooking.  The result was a slightly tenderized, but still crunchy — and much less salty — addition to our Ceviche-like, British Columbia-Centric Roll.

My favourite of our 2 rolls…fresh, new, sweet, briny, crunchy, spicy and huge!  I should have cut it into 8 pieces instead of 6.  I also should have picked enough sea asparagus to make another one — so good…

Roll #2:  The Cooked

• Sake and green seaweed steamed spot SHRIMP (see the very first photo)
• Crispy Pender Island leeks
• Oven roasted BC cherry tomatoes
• Sesame seeds
• Mayonnaise

To make the crispy leeks, I trimmed and washed the leeks to get rid of the grit that resides in all leeks.  I then julienned the white and light green parts, and blanched them for 1 minute.  After shocking, draining and drying, I fried them in 1/4” of 350° F sunflower oil until crispy.  Drain and season.  Caution:  do not let them brown — they’ll taste burnt.

There’s nothing to complain about in this roll, but it didn’t shine the way the first one did.  It’s a keeper — with some adjustments.  Next time, I think I’ll skip the tomatoes, go light on the mayo, heavy on the leeks, and incorporate one other component, I’m just not quite sure what it is yet.

I’m also unsure about what to name my rolls.  We tossed Pender Island, B-Sea and a few others last night, but nothing really stood out.  Any suggestions out there?

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