Birthday 2012 ... BDT

My birthday this year ... number 46 ... was bittersweet.  The Saturday two days after my actual birthday was the day I planned my party.  It was also the morning we said goodbye to my Jakey.  I had been up almost the whole night beforehand and made the decision around 3am.  What a terrible choice to have to make about someone you love so much.  I know it was the right thing to do and he's in a much better place but I'm still so sad and continue to miss him everyday.

Thoughtfully, several of my friends coming to the party offered to postpone to another night when I was feeling better but I thought the best thing to do was to go on with the party.  Jakey, always one for a party (i.e. eating), would have wanted it that way!

I had a terrible time trying to find a place to go.  My initial thought was to organize a gourmet dinner at The Urban Element or Table 40.  Turns out October is an extremely busy month for birthdays and weddings.  I could not find a date that worked for me.  And while I still love this idea and might pursue it for a future birthday, it can be quite expensive.  My next idea was just to plan a dinner for a bunch of us ... again a challenge since the places I wanted to go to either do not take reservations on Saturday night (even for a group of 20 people) or they were all booked up for large groups.  I finally managed to confirm at Brasseurs du Temps (BDT) on the Gatineau side for a group of 15.  That was the most they could accommodate even though I was planning about two weeks in advance!

As you know, if you've read my previous posts I have had both good and mediocre experiences at BDT.  The place is great, the beer is awesome, but there have been some misses on the food and service.  Generally I thought it was a good choice with a good variety of food and the brewery right on site, a bit unfortunate about having to go over to the Quebec side but, really ... at this point I had no choice if I wanted to have a birthday par-tay!

We had a great location right in the centre of the main room - almost with a view of the beer vats.  There were no other tables close to us which was nice.  I won't go into all the food -- frankly I'm not even sure what I had ... I think I had ribs but I'm not positive.  I know several of us started with the goat cheese salad which was really really good -- and huge.  It is a dinner sized salad with ... guess what?  poached pears.  As I mentioned in my post about Burnt Butter, this fall I was inundated with poached pears everywhere.  The goat cheese salad also led to a heated discussion between Jack and I ... disagreeing whether there was horseradish in the dressing.

There was.  I won.

 

I don't know for sure what everyone ordered.  I know that the three women sitting closest to me (Stacey, FunBobby and Caitlyn I'm looking at you) ordered the mussels.  I gave Caitlyn a pass on my ultimatum that that she not order mussels anymore when we go out only because there were other people having them too.  Everyone who had the mussels said they were awesome.

 

Emma started with the bison tartare.  She loved it ... and to her great surprise I tried it.  She never expected me to try it since it grosses me out everytime she tells me about the fab-u-lus steak tartare she gets at a resto that she goes to in London.  I can assure you ... the bison tartare was excellent.  You just have to be able to get over the fact that you are eating raw meat ... it's worth trying.  Obviously, this was before Emma went vegan!

 

 

I also can vouch for the fact that the french onion soup smelled amazing!  Bonnie ordered it as a starter and she assured me it was really good.  Also there were a couple of people who ordered the poutine with smoked meat and it also smelled amazing.  Next time I'm at BDT I'm definitely going to try that -- Caitlyn, Yves-Etienne and Ivana all said it was really really good too.

We had a great time.  I'm glad that I had a designated-driver so I was able to sample all the beers.  And some bosoms too ... FunBobby nestled me in her ample boobies.

 Special birthday treat for me!

 

and to think I insisted I didn't want any birthday presents ...!

It was lots of laughs and fun all around.  When you get Chicklit laughing this much you know it's gotta be a good time, and/or she she's had much more booze than usual!

 

Stacey got a little treat from Emma too ... at the end of the night with a little whipped cream delight.

 

mmmmm whipped cream and wine

 

We really had a great time at the restaurant.  The guys were good enough to head out and let me and my girls finish off the night together on our own.  Stacey got a gorgeous set of beer glasses and then we headed back to my place for another little cocktail.  We had tossed around the idea of heading of to a Gatineau club but we didn't think any of us had enough of a fake tan and bleached blond hairs to fit in.  And, it really had been a very long day for me and I appreciated soooooo much all my dear friends hanging out with me to celebrate my birthday and to comfort me in such a difficult time.  Love you all.

Arancini - The Obsession Continues

I've mentioned my obsession with arancini (rice balls) several times now.  In October I finally got around to trying to make some myself.  It can't be that hard right?  I've googled several recipes and after having eaten a few different versions (see my posts from my weekend in Toronto:  Part 2 at Table 17 and  Part Trois at Gusto) I figured I could basically recreate the mushroom/fontina ones that we had had at Table 17.

First, you have to make the mushroom risotto.  I have a G-R-E-A-T mushroom risotto recipe that comes from the LCBO's Food & Drink magazine (Lucy Waverman's mushroom risotto) and I've made it several times and it has turned out great every time.  In fact, it seems Lucy Waverman liked it so much she first published it in the Autumn 2001 edition and then repeated it in the Autumn 2003 edition of Food & Drink.  I see all these cooking competition shows where risotto is the death of contestants but this one is seriously reliably good.  There are a number of steps involved but it's not overly complicated or time-consuming.  I won't replicate the entire recipe here, since you can look it up in Food & Drink but I will show you how I made it.

 

First rehydrate dried mushrooms (I used a mixed variety pack) in 1 cup of boiling water.  Set aside.  Chop fresh mushrooms (I use white and cremini) - about 1.5 - 2 cups.  Sauté the fresh mushrooms in olive oil and butter until the mushrooms are soft and all the liquid has been released.  Season with salt, pepper, parsley and I usually add some thyme.

 

 

Next, heat olive oil and butter in a sauce pan.  Add onions and arborio rice and coat well with oil/butter.  Add white wine and cook until all the liquid has been absorbed.  Add the mushroom soaking liquid and the rehydrated mushrooms (I strain the liquid and give the mushrooms a bit of a finer chop as the rehydrated dried mushrooms can sometimes be a bit rubbery so you don't want a big bite of one).  Continue to cook and stir until all the liquid has again been absorbed.

 

 

 Then add stock in one-cup increments adding more after the last cup has been absorbed.  Now I know you are supposed to add warm stock ... sometimes I heat the stock in the microwave so it is warm when I add it to the rice; other times I've added the stock at room temperature -  this recipe is very forgiving.  I've also been known to add more white wine than the recipe calls for, as well as to have a little glass or two for drinking while I'm cooking -- hey the bottle is already opened and you don't need the whole thing for the risotto.  Don't judge. 

 

This whole process should take about 20 minutes or so.  The rice should still have a bit of firmness in the centre (I think those chefy types say the rice has a bit of a bite).  Add the sautéd mushrooms and stir well.  Remove from heat and add parmesan cheese.  Stir till well combined.

 

 

Now you have to let the risotto cool before you can move on to actually making the arancini.  I put it in the fridge and took the dogs for a walk.  It still wasn't cool enough so I had to watch some tv till it was cool enough to work with.  This recipe is ideal if you were using left-over risotto or were able to chill it overnight.

 

First chop the fontina cheese into small cubes.  I cut them into about 1.5cm to 2cm squares and as I was stuffing the rice I realized the smaller ones actually worked a bit better.  Then form the risotto into balls approximately 2 tablespoons or slightly larger in size.  Use your thumb to create a hole in the rice ball and insert the cube of fontina.  Close up the ball to cover the cheese with rice.

 

 

Set up a two-stage breading station with beaten egg and bread crumbs (I used the seasoned Italian bread crumbs).  Roll each ball in the egg then into the bread crumbs.  Continue with this process until all your balls are rolled.  Ahahahahaha!!!

 

Then deep fry.  I don't have a deep fryer and just use vegetable oil in a large sauce pan on the stove.  The first batch I cooked I had the oil a bit too hot and they cooked too quickly so the cheese in the middle didn't melt and get all ooey-gooey like it should have.  After that I got the temperature of the oil regulated a bit better (you can use a candy/deep fry thermometer if you have one ... if I recall correctly I think it was best to not have the oil over 300*F). 

 

 

They don't take long to cook about 5-8 minutes (I flipped mine in the pot while frying since they were not immersed in oil).  They should be golden brown all over.  Remove from oil onto a paper towel.  Serve hot with tomato sauce.

 

 

 

Since I had made a full batch of risotto I had a lot of arancini.  I breaded them all and put half of them uncooked in the fridge and then just fried them up the next day.  I also took some of the fully cooked ones to work for my lunch for the next few days (hey ... I had about 15 rice balls) and they heated up in the microwave really nicely too.

 

All in all it is fairly time consuming with having to make the risotto first.  For me it was totally worth it and and they were totally delicious.  They are super crispy on the outside and the gooey cheesy goodness on the inside is really yummy.  If you are thinking of trying them out I would suggest planning on making them on a weekend where you can do things in stages.