Baked Brown Sugar Custard

Baked Brown Sugar Custards.           The hotel bakers were the first to arrive before my dad. Toni was the one who I would spend most of the morning with and she unknowingly taught me how to bake. She would turn on the ovens and get the big stainless steel urns of coffee on the go and start baking  the fresh proofed bread, scones, parker house rolls and sweet buns first thing. She was a very meticulous pastry chef and made every step count. I think about her now and when I was around five, she must have been in her late fifties. She would always...

Bubba Rumba Salsa

              Bubba  Rumba  Salsa I do a lot of research travelling from farms to markets to find the right produce. Tomatoes are one of the most used items for my recipes. The quest to find the best tasting tomatoes takes a lot of trial and error circumstances. They all look so good sitting there on the grocers produce island. Looks can be deceiving! That’s why shopping at the source gets the best results. Picked green and held in controlled atmosphere till they are shipped to the retail stores takes out a big bite of flavour. But...

Sauce’s and Butters

                            Sauce’s and Butters When thekitchenman needs to add some sizzle to the steak he uses a range of different sauces and flavoured butters to get that optimum level of good taste. These next recipes are the ones that I use and once you add these to your cooking repertoire your next meal at home will be taken to another level. Onion Sauce This is a béchamel sauce flavored with sweet onion. It is a lovely silky sauce for delicate-flavored foods and perfect for baked-in-cream...

Lasagne Bolognese

Lasagna Bolognese. Fresh made pasta is available at Granville Island Market from the source Zara’s Italian Deli. Or you can make your own homemade lasagna pasta (sometimes called “lasagna noodles”) with a dough made of flour and eggs, with or without spinach—or using just semolina (durum wheat flour) and water. But today, the dried packaged ready-to-use lasagna noodles available in the grocery store are really excellent. When using regular store-bought lasagna noodles boil them in batches. To avoid the noodles sticking together, place them vertically on the sides of...