Dad's Rotisserie Pork Roast

Dad's love of entertaining and cooking for crowds has always inspired me. My childhood memories from the cabin are full of large dinners with family friends, usually involving a large peice of meat cooked on the rotisserie. I'm lucky that some of dad's cooking creedos have stuck with me: brown everything (sugar, butter, meat), always use the full fat option (cream, butter, cuts of beef), some recipes take time and the one thing I'm still trying to learn: relax in the kitchen!

I realized last weekend as we were grilling up this roast why Dad always chose it for those summer weekends when cooking for crowds: you can prep everything the night before, then by the time you're a few beers deep, all you have to do to get dinner on the table is sit out on the deck in the sun, looking like a hero as your roast sizzles to perfect doneness. I don't often cook pork, but I remeber Dad's pork roast being as good as beef. I picked this one up from Costco, it could easily have served twenty people, and cost me a total of $30! It came out so juicy and flavourful. If you've never tried it before, it's so worth it, and it's not at all like ham.

I had to trust Dad for this recipe, something that doesn't come easily to me! When he brought out the cumin and curry powder I was weary - told him I didn't want an Indian pork rub, but he just laughed and told me to trust him. What resulted was the perfect rub to compliment the pork. Using the rotisserie was easier than I expected, and I feel as though it's a dying method that no one uses anymore. I'm definitely going to bring it back this summer! We were lucky enough to share this roast with dear family and friends after a pretty classic day at Brereton - a bit of work, walking the dogs, and a lot of shooting the shit at the Kippen's picnic table.  

Smoked Gouda and Swiss Chard Quiche - Mother's Day Brunch

It has become somewhat of a Mother's Day tradition for Dave and I to host a brunch for our mom's. I love planning a brunch menu - so many tasty and easy options. For mother's day I don't have to consider the tastes of any meat loving men, but only the tastes of my mom and mom-in-law, which happen to align very much with my own. This year I made a quiche, and replicated a recipe that I came up with for our family friend Ashli's baby shower. Ashli was a huge fan of the smoked gouda, egg and pastry combo, not really a huge surprise there though.

I haven't really given my mom full credit for her cooking abilities. I like to poke fun of her for her lack of passion in the kitchen - but I've realized that she does have a number of signature recipes that she puts her heart and soul into. One of them is Quiche Lorraine. She always makes the crust from scratch. This recipe largely uses the same ratios as the one she goes by, from her old Betty Crocker cookbook. Like my mom, I use the pastry recipe on the Tenderflake box and it has never failed me. There's no need to pre cook the curst for this one, a huge bonus in my opinion.

Moms Retirement Dinner

My insanely beautiful mother is retiring this week after 37 years of working full time. I know this is a recipe blog but I wanted to write a quick post to share some photos of the dinner party we hosted for her last Sunday. Mom had a great time, surrounded by her dearest friends.

We made a long table runner out of old photos of mom (thank you Pinterest), easily printed on a black and white printer. The cake was probably my favourite part of the whole dinner.

I used the rosette technique and buttercream recipe developed by i am baker found here. With rosette cakes you use a lot of sweet buttercream so I've found it's best to go with something less rich for the actual cake. I made a sort-of angel food cake with raspberry and blackberry mouse filling, by modifying the recipe found here. The filling was very light and tart so it worked well with the vanilla buttercream.

When I don't want to stress about appetizers - the best go to is a cheese board. Expensive, but so easy and beautiful. My friend Laneil is a master cheese board assembler so I tend to poach her ideas. The orange things are physalis fruit, which were found at Vic's. My fav cheeses: caramelized onion cheddar (aka heroin or crack cheese), aged gruyere, fresh mozzarella and dubliner.

Along with copious amounts of wine, we passed around blood orange margaritas to start. As usual, my younger brother Glen was keen to come over early and help. The poor guy was tasked with juicing 6 blood oranges and upwards of 10 limes. They were made by combining two parts tequila, one part triple sec, 2 parts fresh juice, and a squeeze of agave, shaken over.

For dinner we started with a procuitto melon salad. Made by placing a handful of arugula on each plate, drizzling over olive oil and balsamic, chopped canteloup and topping with a prosciutto crisp and grated pecorino. Note my amazing brother assiting again. Not pictured: homemade, warm breadsticks.