White and Sweet Potatoes Anna, BBQ Chicken with Shallot Red Wine Reduction

I saw this picture in the LCBO magazine and I wanted to make this dish. I love the way the the tops of the potatoes are browned, the sweet potato layer in the middle and the way it's cut and spaced so nicely.

(Image taken from Autumn 2014 - LCBO Food and Drink Magazine)

But.... not all my recipes end up looking as good as in the magazines. As I mentioned before, I really wanted to make this dish but because the potatoes would take a good 50 minutes to cook, I had to wait for a weekend to make this one. The other thing I was repeatedly asked / told in the days leading up to making it was "What's so special about this dish? It's just potatoes." Now granted it is pretty much just potatoes but for whatever reason I kind of took offense to that comment but that's when I realized that it was just a side dish and I needed to make something with it. I went with the classic BBQ chicken but decided to make a sauce out of some Red Wine and extra Shallots.

Note: My directions differ a little bit from the original LCBO magazine do to lack of cookware.

Ingredients (Potatoes):
4 - Medium Potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 - Medium Sweet Potato, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 - Cup Butter, melted
Salt and Pepper
4 - Cloves of Garlic, chopped
1/4 - Cup of chopped sage



Ingredients (Chicken Sauce):
4 - Small Shallots. peeled and sliced
2 - Cloves of Garlic, chopped
1 - Tsp of Rosemary
5 - Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1 1/2 - Cups Red Wine
1 1/2 - Cups Beef or Chicken Stock
1 - Tbsp Butter

(I really like how this photo turned out)

Directions:
Since the potatoes are going to take the longest to cook, lets start with those. Using three or four medium potatoes, skin and then thinly slice them.

In the original recipe you are supposed to brush butter in an ovenproof skillet or cast iron pan with but I don't have one (Christmas present Idea!!!) so I used this "Stoneware" container thing but I think not having the cast iron pan ultimately lead to my my final product not looking as good as the magazine.

Back to the recipe. Brush butter all around your oven proof pan. Tightly later potatoes (do a better job than I did).

(Layer 1) 

After each layer, brush with melted butter.

(Layer 2)

(Layer 3)

After laying the third layer sprinkle with half the garlic and half the sage. Now lay the three sweet potato layers brushing butter after each layer.

After laying the three layers of sweet potatoes (only two layers shown in the pictures) sprinkle the remaining garlic and sage on top. Lay two more layers of white potato brushing butter after each layer. Sprinkle with some salt and pepper.

If you are using the cast iron pan, place the potatoes on the stove over medium heat until the butter begins to sizzle. Cover the top with a round of parchment paper roughly the same size as the pan (it should just loosely over the potatoes). Put into the oven at 425 for 45 - 50 minutes or until potatoes are soft and the bottom and edges are golden.

After the potatoes have been baking for about 30 minutes we can start on the sauce. Put the Shallots into a frying pan with some butter. Saute over medium heat for 6 - 8 minutes or until the start to turn translucent. Add in Garlic and Rosemary and cook for another minute.

Add in 5 Tbsp of Balsamic Vinegar. At this point you should probably start the Chicken.

The Balsamic will bubble and start to reduce.

Let it reduce until almost completely gone.

Add in Red Wine and Stock. Bring to a boil and then reduce to medium heat. The Sauce should reduce by about half at which point you can mix in some butter.

(I didn't let mine reduce enough)

Pull the Potatoes out of the oven and uncover.

Invert plate over pan and flip both pan and plate to turn out. Cut into Wedges (not as easy as it sounds...)

(As you can see, not exactly as the LCBO Magazine picture)

Plate the Potatoes with BBQ Chicken, top with the Wine Sauce.

As you can see, the potatoes didn't turn out as nicely as they did in the magazine and they were pretty much just potatoes.... If you think my sauce looks a little runny then you are right. I didn't let it thicken long enough or I should have added in some corn starch to help with the thickening. On a positive note the sauce tasted really good and went well with the chicken.

Garlic Potato Soup with Parsley oil, Frizzled Shallots & Bacon

Garlic Potato Soup with Parsley Oil, Frizzled Shallots and Bacon. That's a pretty long name isn't it? This is the second recipe that I tried out for the Autumn 2014 Edition of the Food & Drink magazine from the LCBO. Based of the name of this one, it seems like it would be pretty complicated but it really isn't. If you like creamy filling soups then you need to try this one.



Ingredients (Garnish):
6 - Slices of bacon
2 - Shallots, peeled and sliced
1 - Tbsp chopped parsley
2 - Tbsp olive oil

Ingredients (Soup):
4 - Medium potatoes
1 - Head of roasted garlic
1 - Tbsp butter
1 - Medium onion, chopped
4 - Cups of chicken broth
1/2 - Tsp salt
1/3 - Tsp cayenne
1/2 - Cup whipping cream

Directions:
The first thing you need to do is set the oven to 350 so you can start on the Garlic. Roasting the Garlic is going to take about 40 minutes.

I ended up roasting two cloves at once and I used one to have with an appetizer while waiting for the soup to simmer.

Take your garlic and remove the lose skin.





Cut the top off and drizzle with olive oil (an additional Tsp).





Cover in aluminum foil and put in the oven for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.



Because we need to wait for the garlic, we can start on the Garnish. Fry bacon in a medium sized frying pan over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until desired crispiness. Remove bacon to paper towel, leaving all fat in the pan.







Add shallots and fry for 6 - 8 minutes over low-medium heat. Remove shallots to paper towel. Combined Shallots and Bacon on a small paper and keep to the size for later. The bacon fat can be discarded.







Finely chop parsley, combined with olive oil and set aside.



For the soup, peel and cut potatoes into small pieces.





Heat butter over low-medium heat and add onion. Cook for 8 - 10 minutes or until golden brown.





At this point the Garlic should be ready to come out of the oven.



Add Chicken stock, potatoes, roasted garlic, salt and cayenne to the onions that you just finished frying.



Cover and simmer for 20 - 25 minutes or until potatoes are tender.



The next step is to puree in a blender until smooth. I blend half, poured it into a new large serving bowl, add the whipping cream and then added the second blended half and then mix together well.



Ladle soup into bowls. Garnish in center with heap of bacon and shallots. Drizzle a little of the parley oil around the sides.



Fun Fact: The LCBO recipe called for a "Generous pinch of cayenne" so that's what I did. Oh man was that a mistake... The soup tasted great but then my mouth was immediately over come with the heat from the cayenne. If you like heat then go a head and add some more but if you don't want to sweat while eating your soup, keep it to 1/2 Tsp or less ;)

Kale & Nut Soup with Wild Mushrooms

The Autumn 2014 Edition of the Food & Drink magazine is in the LCBO and it's full of recipes that I want to try! With it being a cold and rainy weekend, I thought it would be a good opportunity to try out one of the soups. The recipe in the magazine is called "Kale & Chestnut soup with wild mushrooms" but I wasn't able to find chestnuts anywhere! I did a search for Chestnut substitutes and that didn't really help me either so I ended up going with a mixture of nuts.

I found this soup to be a little bit nutty/grainy in texture but the sweetness of the apple and nuts came through to really take away the kale's bitterness. The fried shiitake mushrooms with thyme and garlic is just amazing as a garnish! Don't make this soup without the mushroom garnish.



Ingredients (Soup):
2 - Tbsp butter
1 - Onion, chopped
1 - Small McIntosh apple, peeled, cored and chopped
2 - Cups chopped mixture of Hazelnuts, Pecans and Brazil nuts
2 - Tbsp thyme
5 - Sage leaves, chopped
6 - Cups chicken stock
4 - Cups kale, chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients (Garnish):
1 - Tbsp butter
8 - oz Shiitake mushrooms, torn
1 - Tbsp thyme
1 - Clove garlic, finely chopped

Directions:
Heat butter in large saucepan over medium heat; add onion and cook until lightly golden

Add apples, nuts, thyme, sage and chicken stock

Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes



In the meantime, chop up the Kale

Stir in the Kale and cook for another 4 - 6 minutes

Blend in blender, transfer to a larger serving bowl and season with Salt and Pepper

Now for the Garnish! Heat butter in another sauce pan, add Shiitake mushrooms and thyme. Saute for 5 - 6 minutes over a low-medium heat then add garlic and cook for another minute

Scoop the soup into bowls and top with mushrooms

Server with fresh bread