Do you know what I am?

The first person who can tell me what this is, gets it. Go.

Sundays

If you're like me, Sundays are all about the left overs cringing in the corners of your fridge. For me it's especially so, as Essence is usually closed on Mondays, so lots to get rid of. Today I had to get a pork shoulder that was curing into the oven. At the same time I did a quick scan of food lurking in my commercial fridges.
I think I came away in spades. Another easy Sunday of cooking for the family. Today we nosh on polenta lasagna with pancetta, 6cheeses, sundried tomato cream, chili stewed cherry tomatoes, and a sweet balsamic reduction.
Was pretty freakin tasty. I hope you enjoy your Sunday meal.

Roasted poblano avocado sauce

I stumbled onto this idea a couple of weeks ago. I had read somewhere about a sauce with poblanos and avocados and it just stuck in my head. I needed to try it out on something. Well the pork belly the other night was just the right moment. And boy was I glad I did. This is my new fave sauce. Tangy, smokey, really great mouthfeel, and a consistency that allows for alot of different plating techniques. It was perfect with the pork belly as it cut through the unctuousness of it. But I had a bunch left over. What was I to do with it.
The first idea was to see how it would do as a pasta sauce. The thought was to just add a little cream and check it out. DAMN. You need to make this sauce.

1 poblano, blistered over a flame and peeled.
1 lrg. avocado

Pretty simple no. Put the peeled and seeded chili in a container with the avocado. Blitz with an immersion blender. Season with salt and pepper. If you ar egoing to use it as is as sauce for a meat or seafood dish, just give it a small squeeze of lime and maybe a pinch of smoked paprika.
If you are using it as a pasta sauce, add enough cream to reduce to a sauce that will stick to your desired pasta. Omit the lime. Opt here for a squeeze of lemon at the very end.
Enjoy. I have, and will continue to make this sauce. BTW it's even good cold.

Pork Belly

I love pork belly. I mean I really love pork belly. Cooking it just makes me happy. These days I have two preparations that I seem to fall back on over and over. Both start with a salt cure. Usually 3parts salt 1part sugar, and the addition of some flavours based on the finished product. For this one we had a cure with hickory smoke flavouring, garlic, and an assortment a ground dried chilis. After 24 hr cure it was rinsed and dried. From there it went into the sous vide bag and into 180degree water bath for 14hrs.
The finished product was sublime. Brushed with a glaze of rum bbq sauce
We paired it with a creamy center polenta cake. Sauteed aspiration. And the most awesome sauce of roasted poblanos and avocado. This sauce was sheer beauty. What a nice tang and mouth feel. Thinking tomorrow we are going to make it into a pasta sauce.

Shrimp Gnocchi

So in keeping with our new format of POST POST POST. Here is a dish we did up for dinner from left overs from this weeks events. We had these stellar shrimp that our fishmonger told us we had to try. Only guy in town with them. Patagonian sustainable (though it is being trucked form Patagonia, so prob. not environmental) jumbo shrimp. According to him they are the closest thing to prawns he's seen. I think if I want prawns I don't go looking for shrimp alternatives, but hey, they're free so we need to make something of them.
I was going to use some leftover chicken thigh confit, which was truly deliscious. The idea was something quick and sinful. Gnocchi with gorganzola cream sauce, some left over black trumpet mushrooms, the ever present pancetta. We now subbed the shrimp for the chicken.
Super tasty. And a little lighter than the chicken would have been.

New office/dining room

It has been so long since my office was in my kitchen space at Essence. Going back and forth from home to kitchen has taken a huge toll on me over the last 5 months. BUt there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I can actually sit at my desk and work now. BLISS.
I know it may seem silly to be this happy about an office, but if you saw my old office, you'd understand.
Right in the middle of doing the finishing I had a vision of the room more as a multi use space then just an office. I really wanted a space to bring my customers for consultations, brides for tastings, and ok a place for me and the boys to have our games nights. BUt I hadn't really thought of using it as a small dining room. It is still not altogether finished in this respect, but it is very close.
Essence will have a slick space with audio visual capabilities, food (obviously), and an all round very cool vibe. It will sit 8-10 very lucky people. It has everything on casters and can be rearranged to suit your needs.
We look forward to our evolving definition of what we do and offer to our customers. The other bonus is that having my office and computer right beside me at the kitchen means bloggin will be a whole new ballgame from here on in. Look forward to our finally being consistent in our approach to providing you with food porn.

Some things we are working with this week

I happened to be early for a cocktail party yesterday in Rockliffe Park. Not wanting to be ridicualously early, I stopped at a little food shop on Beechwood. Jacobsons was a really nice little shop. Tons of preserves, jams, chutneys and the like. They also had a decent cheese counter, with lots of nice products available. Not wanting to leave without something new to play with, I picked up some Wild blueberry syrup, Lime vinegar, and sloe and apple gin jelly. These should produce some fantastic new sauces, but we shall have to see what I can come up with.
I happen to be partial to Gin and tonics, and have been working on a gin and tonic bite for what seems like forever. Have had a few successes, but they were too similar to ones I had already seen. With the apple jelly, some new avenues of thought have been opened. I am now thinking and appple based bite with overtones of gin and tonic and an effervescent finish is now possible. Anyone have green apple pop rocks, or better yet, neutral flavoured ones I can mess with....
On the way home from the set up of the party. Yes I set up just about every party, and then leave the servers. I stopped at the LCBO for some ice wones and late harvest vidals. I turn these into our ice wine bite. In this case two different versions. Ice wine is not a cheap raw ingredient, and as such produces a fairly expensive little bite. But I am working on a way to extend the flavor profile without diluting the taste. Expensive experiments, but someones gotta try it.
IF you'd like to try an ice wine bite, why not attend Cycle Logiks, Rumour has it, art sale. Everyone purchasing a piece of art will receive an ice wine bite. Sorry if you don't buy one, but you can't have one. So don't ask. I will though have several other contemporary bites out to nosh while you drink.