chefdemaison.ca

Cooking break for low iodine diet followers

chef michelle — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 16:24:43 +0000

Every once in a while I cook for patients undergoing thyroid treatments that require me to follow a low iodine diet. I have created a repertoire of recipes to manage diet restrictions and to make their diet weeks as pleasant as possible and to enjoy gourmet food like everyone else. Of course salt can be a significant source of iodine but most companies make an iodine free version, it’s usually a pickling or koshering salt. For Windsor salt it’s the salt in the green coloured bags. You can email your salt company and they will confirm which variety is iodine free.

Once the salt issue is taken care of it’s a matter of following your health practitioner’s recommendations. Rather than focusing on what you cannot eat, try to make a big list of what you can have and work from there.

In my last low iodine cooking day I made flour tortillas. I had never made these before and they were very easy and I would recommend trying them.

I mixed up some dough and I divided the dough into equal size balls.

I rolled out each ball on a floured cutting board. As you can see I did not achieve a nice circle and my tortilla is rather square. I fried the tortilla in a hot pan.

They turned out great and my client loved them.

Sugar Free, Gluten Free Delicious Cupcakes

chef michelle — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 16:23:35 +0000

Sometimes only a fabulous cupcake will do. In celebration of my husband’s and my son’s birthdays we decided to make cupcakes that Zaidy (grandpa) could enjoy as well.
Made from black beans, white kidney beans, eggs, cocoa or coconut flour they are sweetened with Stevia and Splenda. They won’t raise your blood sugar but you will love them as all of our guests did and they disappeared in no time.

Pork and Liver Terrine with Cranberries and Pistachios

chef michelle — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 16:22:58 +0000

Pork and Liver Terrine with Cranberries and Pistachios - Serves 16

Ingredients
500   gram   Pork, Ground
200   gram   Veal, Ground
150   grams   Chicken liver — chopped or minced
2   cloves   Garlic — minced
½       Onions — finely chopped and sauteed in butter
1 ½   tsp   Salt — or to taste
1 ½   tsp   Pepper — or to taste
Egg
2   tbsp   Cream, Heavy, Whipping — optional if you want it dairy free, replace with water
1   tbsp   Cognac
1   tsp   Sage
½   tsp   Nutmeg
1       Orange Peel — minced from one orange
¼   lbs   Bacon — chopped
¼   cup   Cranberries, Dried — ideally splenda sweetened
¼   cup   Pistachio Nuts — shelled

Instructions
In a large bowl mix together all ingredients except for cranberries and pistachios.
Once ingredients are very well mixed, heat a frying pan to medium high. Take a small amount of the filling and cook a little hamburger shaped piece until well done. Taste for seasoning and adjust. When you are satisfied with the seasonings line a loaf pan with cling wrap and pack mixture in.
Heat oven to 350. Cook loaf pan in a bain marie til an interior temperature of 160F. This should take 45 minutes to an hour.

To make a bain marie place loaf pan in a large baking pan, fill with boiling water til it comes it about halfway up the sides of the baking pan.

Once cooked remove loaf pan and cool. Wrap in tin foil and place in fridge with a weight onto for 1 or 2 days.

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We’ve been making ice cream and it’s all sugar free! Diabetics can rejoice!

chef michelle — Fri, 18 May 2012 21:12:42 +0000

In an effort to help my favourite diabetic client I have been working on creating some really excellent ice cream flavours. My best effort yet is Lemon Meringue. It’s made from lemon ice cream, ribbons of lemon curd and meringues. It uses a combination of sweeteners: liquid splenda and stevia for the ice cream and lemon curd and maltitol for the meringues. I’m not convinced that the meringues are necessary but they were fun.

I also made Maple Ice Cream with Pecan Praline Bacon. Again this was a long process to candy the bacon but the whole project was exciting.

Of course, ice cream is not the only thing that I make. I have been working very hard supply my clients with controlled carbohydrate meals to try and help them with their insulin doses and sugar levels. The biggest focus is on adequate protein…so I did some smoking today with maple. Here are some Powderpuff Smoked Ribs

I also made some Cod and Salmon with Sweet Chipotle Mustard (sugar free of course).

Some Vegetarian Treats

chef michelle — Mon, 16 Apr 2012 21:01:56 +0000

I was cooking for my one of my clients who’s family is expecting their first child. While I enjoy the flavours of these two vegetarian dishes it was the colours that jumped out at me today.

This Mardi Gras Red Bean stew is loaded with kidney beans and kale.

This Eggplant Parmigiana just hits the spot!

Gorgeous Decorated Cupcakes! What a birthday party.

chef michelle — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 13:40:24 +0000

We just had a marvellous time as 6 girlfriends spent a morning learning about cake decorating, working with fondant and piping skills. The final results were just amazing.

Gingerbread Decorating Class Saturday December 17, 2011

chef michelle — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 02:56:38 +0000

Come spend the day decorating your own gingerbread tree. We supply the baked and assembled tree, 24 gingerbread cookies, assorted candies and royal icing. Learn to pipe, colour flow and sugaring techniques.

Class is Saturday December 17, 2011 from 10 a.m. to 12 noon. Suitable for children 8 and over. Younger children may attend accompanied by an adult. Class is held at the Royal Canadian Curling Club, 131 Broadview Ave. Class is $35. Limited Spaces.

To register send an email to michelle@chefdemaison.ca

Order Your Gingerbread Menorah

chef michelle — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 20:23:27 +0000

Can’t believe that it took me so long to make it up. With Christmas and Chanukah falling on the same week this year I thought that it was only fitting to create a decorate your own gingerbread menorah for all of those people who stare longingly at gingerbread houses.

Order this menorah fully decorated (with 8 candles waiting to be attached with royal icing) $45 or order this menorah as a kit, with all pieces, a piping bag of royal icing and then you get to go to your favourite bulk candy store and choose the candies of your dreams to decorate your menorah. $25.

Delivery not included. Order deadline is Friday November 25th.

Countdown to Christmas Gingerbread Trees!

chef michelle — Sat, 22 Oct 2011 19:04:21 +0000

Order yours now. Nibble on a fragrant gingerbread cookie every day from December 1st to 24th.
This tree stands over 16 inches tall.
$50. Pick up or local Toronto delivery available for a fee.

Day Five - Culinary Exploration 2

chef michelle — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 11:27:46 +0000

Our last day at camp saw the students prepare the day’s baking and meals on their own. As usual we started our morning with baking. The group collectively decided to make Boston Cream Pie Cupcakes.

After the cupcakes were baked, we sliced them in half and scooped out a wee hole in the centre for the filing.

This was a team effort

We drizzled the cupcakes with chocolate ganache

and here is the yummy result

Here is Emma getting the chicken prepped for the stir fry

together Tash and Kassidy chopped up all of the vegetables

Elizabeth gets working on prepping the vegetables for the Phad Thai

Vincent works on the tofu and the cooks the Phad Thai

Here is our lunch: Basmati Rice, Ginger Chicken Stir Fry and Phad Thai

After lunch we made irresistible treats. We collected leftover egg whites from the weeks’ work, whipped them up with some sugar and then got to use our piping skills again. Here we are making meringues.

Next we cooked up my favourite brown sugar fudge

We learned lots of candy making skills, especially about how different cooking temperatures affect the texture of sugar. Here we are making popcorn balls (our sugar went to 240F)

We finished our afternoon off with chocolate truffles. It takes a lot of chopping, fortunately everyone was a real pro by this time in the week

Just like the Swiss Master Chocolatiers we hand dip our centres.

And that’s it for camp for the summer. Shortly I’ll post our fall cooking lesson schedule for after school and evenings for both kids and adults.