Cooking International Style

With the World Cup in full swing, this is as good of a time as any to learn a bit about world cuisine. Thanks to the good people of Kit Stone, 36 regions have had their unique flavours whittled down to three major ingredients.

"Pressure Cooker" - Review of a food documentary

Now that the school year is winding down, I thought this would be a good time to watch this documentary. The documentary follows Philadelphia inner city high school culinary teacher Wilma Stephenson through a school year, leading her students in her challenging classroom. Like all chefs in their kitchens, Stephenson holds high standards and demands respect; heaven help the student who doesn't come correct. The documentary also focuses on some of Stephenson's students - a football player, a cheerleader, and an African immigrant - as they work to compete in a cooking competition with scholarships on the line. This was a delight to watch, and it will bring back memories of that favourite teacher some of us were (hopefully) lucky to have who made a difference in our lives and made us work for a better tomorrow.

• Pressure Cooker

Rocking the Lobster Roll

This Sunday is Father's Day, so after giving him the usual gift of after-shave and a tie, why not serve up something different for dear old Dad this year?  During a recent visit to the supermarket, I noticed there was a special on pre-cooked lobsters. I bought a few, brought them home, put them in the downstairs freezer, and forgot about them until my wife discovered them a few days later. I decided I wanted to do more than just boiling and serving them with some butter, so after doing a quick check on the interwebs, I made the recipe below. Happy Father's Day everyone!

Ingredients
454g cooked and cubed lobster meat (I let my lobsters thaw out, then boiled them in water for 2-3 minutes)
2 hot dog buns or kaiser rolls
1-1/2 teaspoons butter, softened
2 lettuce leaves
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1/2 teaspoon lime juice
1/2 dash hot pepper sauce
1 green onion, chopped
1/2 stalk celery, finely chopped
1/2 pinch dried basil, parsley, tarragon, or dill
salt and pepper to taste

1. Lightly butter the insides of the buns or rolls and line with lettuce leaves, then set them aside.
2. Mix the mayonnaise, lime juice, hot pepper sauce, salt and pepper in a bowl until well blended. Mix in the green onion and celery, then lightly mix in the lobster so it just gets coated without falling apart..
3. Put the lobster filling into the buns and sprinkle lightly with the remaining spice ingredients.