You Say Perogy’s, I Say Varenyky&#...

You Say Perogy’s, I Say Varenyky’s! Authentic Perogy’s A large solid wood table sat in the kitchen with my grandfather’s hand crafted homestead chair’s and well hued benches which could easily sit a dozen people. This vast table was used as the main preparation table that all my aunts and us kids sat at while hand prepping the many perogy’s, cabbage rolls, and other cultural delicacies from early homestead recipes. Easter and Christmas season meant lots of company to feed. My Ukrainian born mother and Romanian father had 21 siblings between them and about half...

Seafood and Chicken Paella

Seafood and Chicken Paella On the Mediterranean coast, Valencians used seafood instead of meat and beans to make paella. Valencians regard this recipe as authentic as well. In this recipe the seafood is served unshelled. A variant on this is paella del senyoret which utilizes shelled seafood. Later, however, Spaniards living outside of Valencia combined these two recipes and mixed paella was born. During the 20th century, paella’s popularity spread past Spain’s borders. As other cultures set out to make paella, the dish invariably acquired regional influences....

Wild Forest Mushroom Truffle Cream Soup.

Wild Forest Mushroom Truffle Cream Soup. While cleaning out my condiment pantry, I found some air dried wild forest mushrooms that I picked several years back. I didn’t realize how much I still had left. Beside that was also a small tin of imported Italian dried truffle flakes with lots of residue intact. With these ingredients I started to prepare some mushroom tarragon cream soup with some dehydrated garlic c crisps to intensify the flavours. A quick chop of diced celery, onion and shallot, some… unsalted butter into a sauté pan heat and stir while the...

Toffee Apples and Maple Praline Nutty Br...

Toffee Apples and Maple Pralines Back when I was a kid Halloween was a favourite friend get together with the neighbourhood kids all participating in the celebratory activities. Each adjacent house would decorate some part into a scary ghoulish stage to try and scare the living daylights out of you!  Back then the costumes were simply homemade from a cut out cardboard box silver painted robot to a red paper mache robe and your sisters blue leotards for the Superman look. An old pillow case was the chosen candy tote for the night and trying to fill it with many treats was...

Fruit Salads

Got Fruit! When thekitchenman makes a fruit platter, I search for the best fruit available. It still costs less than buying one of those ambrosia platters purchased at the Supermarkets. Plus, its not soaked in any ammonia preservatives. So many choices and a few simple fruits and you have a salad. Try adding some fruit and garden vegetables together.  Great Idea is using waffle cones for a kids health party snack. all you’ll need is one pine apple, honeydew melon, small watermelon, grapes, cantaloupe blueberries and strawberries. I use a simple sweetened oil and...