The Gouda Life

1. Stir the warm water and yeast together in a small bowl. Let sit until frothy, 5-7 minutes. Whisk in the sugar, salt, oil, and honey and egg + yolk. Stir 1 cup of flour in until full incorporated. Add another 3 cups and stir with a wooden spoon until a shaggy dough forms. Dump bowl onto a lightly floured surface and knead, adding up to another ½ cup of flour if needed, for no less than 10 minutes. The dough should be extremely supple and smooth. Cover with an inverted bowl and let rise for 20 minutes.
2. Divide dough into 18 equal portions. Stretch or gently roll, using finger tips, each portion of dough into an 8 inch rope and bring the ends together to form a circle. Pinch the ends together and then roll gently with the heal of your hand to seal. It’s important the ends are well secured otherwise they’ll open when boiling. Place bagels on 2 parchment-lined baking sheets and cover with a clean towel for 20 minutes.
3. Pour the sesame seeds into a large shallow dish.
4. While the bagels rise, bring 16 cups of water to a boil in a large pot or dutch oven. Add the baking soda and honey and turn down to a simmer. When ready, add the bagels 2 at a time to the simmering water. Let cook for 1 minute on each side. Remove with a deep-fryer spoon or slotted spatula/spoon, drag through the sesame seeds on both sides and place back on the baking sheet. Repeat with all bagels.
5. Preheat oven to 500. Place 1 sheet of bagels in for 10-12 minutes or until starting to brown on the bottom. Flip bagels and cook for another 5-8 minutes, watching closely after 5 minutes so they don’t over cook. They should be golden brown. Serve warm with cream cheese, lox, tomatoes & bacon, or anything else your heart desires.
6. Keep in airtight container in the fridge for 1 week.

For the chowder:

1. Dice up your bacon and cook in a large heavy soup pot over med-high heat until fat has rendered and bacon is crisp. Remove bacon from pan with slotted spoon to paper towel.
2. There should be about 2-3 tbsp rendered bacon fat in the bottom of your pot. If there is less, add a bit of vegetable or olive oil to top it up. Turn heat down to low-medium. Add the diced onion and celery and cook until translucent, 4-5 minutes Add in sweet potato, stir and cover. Cook for 6-7 minutes or until sweet potato is starting to soften. Add thyme and spices and cook for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add in flour and cook, stirring constantly,for another minute. Pour in stock and milk and bring to a gentle simmer, whisking constantly. It should start to thicken. Pour in the corn kernels. Simmer for 8-10 minutes or until it’s thick and creamy. If it’s too thick, add in some more milk or stock to thin it out. Taste for seasoning and add more salt if needed.

For the shrimp:

1. While soup simmers and thickens, toss your peeled and de-veined shrimp with the spices. Let rest for 2 minutes. Add vegetable oil to a pan over med-high heat and cook shrimp, one layer at a time, for 2-3 minutes on each side until cooked through and starting to curl and turn golden brown.
2. At this point, you can leave shrimp whole to top the soup or cut into bite-sized chunks and toss into soup. Top with bacon bits, fresh ground pepper and thyme leaves. Ladle into mugs and enjoy!

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. In a large bowl, toss shredded chicken with the buffalo sauce until combined.
3. Lay wrappers flat on a dry surface. In one corner of the wrapper, put 2 tbsp of the spicy shredded chicken. Place about 1 tbsp cheese on top.
4. To fold: pull bottom corner over the filling until it’s completely covered and tip of corner points to the center of the wrapper. Fold in the bottom left corner, followed by the right, so that you now have formed an envelope. Lightly moisten the top corner with a little water. Roll towards the top corner until you have a tidy little bundle of yum.
5. Place a wire rack on a cookie sheet and put the rolls onto the rack. This helps the heat circulate better which means better browning/crispiness on all sides of rolls.
6. Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown all over.

Peanut/Jalapeno Slaw with Lime Aioli

• 1 bag of your favourite slaw (or 4 cups shredded cabbage)
• 1 cup roasted, unsalted peanuts 
• 2-3 large jalapenos, diced
• 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
• 1/2 tbsp dijon mustard[br]Zest from 1 lime
• Juice of half a lime
• 1 clove of garlic, minced very fine or pressed
• kosher salt
• 3/4 - 1 cup favourite olive oil

1. Add the slaw, peanuts and jalapenos together. 
2. In a large metal bowl, add the yolk, dijon, lime zest/juice, garlic and a small pinch of salt. Whisk until combined. Starting with just a drop at a time, add the oil, whisking constantly as you do. Start slowly adding a stream, whisking constantly, until it starts to thicken. Taste for seasoning, add more salt if needed. 
3. Mine didn’t thicken as much as I would have liked (I assume because I got tired halfway through and started slowing down…pathetic), but it was still just fine as is.
4. Toss the slaw with the aioli. Serve as is, or refridgerate for a few hours. Note: coleslaw tastes better the next day.

1. Blanch the bacon to remove its smoky taste. Drop bacon slices into 2 quarts of cold water, bring to a boil, and simmer 6 to 8 minutes. Drain, rinse in cold water, and dry on paper towels.
2. In a large frying pan, sauté the blanched bacon to brown and crispy slightly. Set them aside and add to the beef before it goes into the oven. Pat cubes of beef dry with a peper towel. Ih a large frying pan over high heat, brown the chunks of beef on all sides in the bacon fat and olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and put them into a heavy-bottomed Dutch oven or covered casserole pan.
3. Remove all but a little fat from the frying pan, add the sliced vegetables and brown them, and add to the meat. Deglaze the pan with 1 cup of wine and pour over the beef along with 2 more cups. Add enough beef stock to almost cover the beef. Add the herb bouquet. Bring to a simmer, cover, and plce in the oven at 325 for 2-3 hours. When finished cooking, the meat should be extremely tender and the liquid should have reduced by almost half.
4. While the stew is cooking, prepare the onions. Blanch the onions in boiling water for 1 minute. Drain and rinse in cold water to stop the cooking. Slice the end tips off of the onions, peel the onions and score the root end with 1/4 inch cuts. Sauté onions in a single layer in a tablespoon or two of butter until lightly browned. Add beef stock or water half way up the sides of the onions. Add a teaspoon of sugar, and season with salt and pepper. Cover and simmer slowly for 25 minutes or until tender. The onions should absorb most of the stock. Drain any remaining liquid.
5. Prepare the mushrooms a few minutes before serving the stew. Sauté quartered mushrooms on high in a few tablespoons of butter and olive oil until browned and cooked through.
6. When the stew is finished cooking to your liking, remove from the oven and strain over a large sauce pan, pressing so the juices come out, so you are left with all the sauce in one pan, and the solids in the strainer. Discard the stewed carrots/onions, reserving the beef. Rinse casserole dish and add reserved beef to it. Boil the sauce until it has reduced to about 3 cups. Remove from heat and whisk in the beurre manié. Return to heat and simmer for 2 minutes until the sauce thickens slightly. Taste for seasoning and adjust accordingly. Pour sauce over stewed beef cubes and fold in the mushrooms and pearl onions. Simmer again to heat everything through, and serve.
7. You can serve this with the classic pairing of boiled potatoes or buttered noodles. Or the less classic (but my favourite) mashed potatoes, or rice or all on it’s own.