I would like to make my very first blog post a good one. A memorable one; a post that will keep you all coming back to see what I have to say and what recipes of the week pique my interest.
So to start let me tell you a little about myself. I was born and raised in Oshawa, Ontario. As a young boy I was always interested in cooking. My grandmother was one incredible cook. She could pretty much make anything... from anything. I was always amazed at how she prepared her specialties. They always tasted so good!
But to be honest, aren't grandmothers always the best cooks ever!!! So heading to high school - with cooking in my thoughts always - I went to a trade school and started being trained there in every cooking class I could take. I would bake from large to small quantities. In my last year of high school, my chef who was also head of culinary in our school, Mr. Krohn, knew the then Executive Chef of The Delta Chelsea Inn here in Toronto. So Mr. Krohn advised me to take my apprenticeship there. So that's what I did.
The day after high school I started working at Delta. While working and taking my three year apprenticeship, I met the love of my life: my wife Lanya.
We became very good friends. We hung out, went on dates... and after dating for a year, I proposed to Lanya and we got married. A year after, my beautiful daughter Mariah was born.
The day after high school I started working at Delta. While working and taking my three year apprenticeship, I met the love of my life: my wife Lanya.
We became very good friends. We hung out, went on dates... and after dating for a year, I proposed to Lanya and we got married. A year after, my beautiful daughter Mariah was born.
Me being so young and now a father was a time in my life I will never forget. Watching little Mariah grow up so fast, time was just flying by. So five years later, we had another beautiful child: my son Jonathan.
I was so happy to have two children, but to have a boy and girl was just a blessing. From the very first moment Mariah saw Jonathan she became almost like a second mother to Jonathan. She took care of him with Lanya and myself. To this day Mariah still looks after Jonathan always.
I couldn't be any more proud of both my kids. They are growing up way to fast which means I'm getting way older.... Mariah is now 18 and Jonathan is 12. Can you imagine!!! Me and Lanya have been married for 19 years now.
So that's enough about me for now.. Let's get to the first food post. I think because I'm talking about how Grandma Paterson was the ultimate master chef in my eyes, I'll be paying tribute to her and posting one of her recipes that I've always enjoyed when we visited her...
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Grandma's Homemade Baked Macaroni & Cheese
1 (8 ounce) package of elbow pasta noodles
4 TBSP Butter
4 TBSP Flour
1 cup Milk
1 cup of cream
Salt and Pepper to taste
3 cups of shredded sharp cheddar
Paprika (optional)
Method:
Preheat oven to 400'
Cook macaroni in boiling salted water. Drain noodles and put aside.
In a large sauce pan melt butter, add flour. Using a whisk stir together making a blonde roux. Add milk and cream stirring constantly to prevent lumps in sauce. Bring to boil and let simmer to cook out flour. Reduce heat to low and let cook for 10 minutes. Add grated cheese gradually. Keep some grated cheese on the side. Let sauce simmer for another 5 minutes after adding cheese, taste and season with salt & pepper. Turn off heat, add noodles stirring and coating all noodles with sauce. Put pasta mixture in a lightly greased Pyrex dish top off with remaining grated cheese and sprinkle paprika on top. Place in oven and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Bake until golden brown.
This recipe you're whole family will love just like mine. This was absolutely one of Grandma's most popular recipes for us kids.
Thank you for reading my post! Until next time...
You can always follow me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram. Links are below. Please join my blog I will be posting weekly.. Looking forward to next week!
Derek :)
HAPPY COOKING!!!
For any of you that are having a party and are looking for a chef for your event I would be pleased to cater your event.... MJcatering
6 comments:
Love it Derek! I will be making that Mac n Cheese!!!!!! And by "I", I mean Scott! Ha.
Thanks Norma.. You and Scott are going to love it!!! As kids me and my brother would eat that stuff all the time. Hugs and kisses xoxo
"Always interested in cooking" is an understatement...
Only 7 year old friend I knew who watched cooking shows, “Wok with Yan” (I still remember the shrimp “family episode”* Three’s Company – ok not an actual cooking show, but about a cook is close – I did learn how to separate eggs – watch from 7:10. Remember trying it out in your mom’s kitchen right after. Heck even video games about food (yes kids, video games had just been invented) like Intellivision’s BurgerTime.
Couldn’t imagine you doing anything else – it was your destiny…
Great tribute first post – your Grandma was great – and after having real Mac and Cheese grandma style, powdered Mac and cheese lost its appeal for me. Even if the fake stuff was only a quarter at the time, I could find much better things to do with a quarter anyway (level 40 on WWF Wrestling at Checker’s Variety anyone – into the ropes, body slam and repeated pile drivers – never got tired of it! In fact, 20 years later my 2 year old loved the bedtime game “thru the roof and oddyslam”)
Can anyone ever really make better Mac and Cheese than Grandma? While my Grandma made a lot of amazing Eastern European dishes, the enigma was her 7 layer cake – even though she would gladly gave the recipe to friends, or her daughters, and even talk others through making it, to this day no one (by their own admission) could duplicate it. Was it her oven, her special touch, no one knows, they gave up trying to replicate it – hers was always better.
Grandma’s are great cooks because they cook with love – that is often the missing ingredient, loving what you do and who you are doing it for makes for greatness… and of course the memories...
BTW, you have her smile!
Wok with Yan - Chicken Chow Mein
Wok with Yan - Beef & Broccoli
Wok with Yan Cashew Nut Chicken
Wok Before You Run
David Letterman Stephen Yan 1988
Wow!! I remember all of that as well Jay... Lol!! Thanks for the links to "Wok withYan" awesomeness.. Three's Company will always be my favorite show of all time. Thanks for the amazing comment means a lot. You and the family should stop by the hotel again soon. All the best to you and your family.
Derek :)
Check out the link above to Ritter's Lesson on egg cracking - does the technique still hold :) (Many other epsiodes pop up - search out Philippe - hilarious!
I will stop by with the Fam again, (food was great) thanks for the invite, I'll get in touch so we don't repeat the coincidence of heading there on one go train as you are heading here on the opposite track like last time!
BTW - Stephen Yan is a National Treasure - archived on our Canadian Federal Government webpages:
History of Canadian Cookbooks
The Culture of Cooking
Scroll down....
"Many Canadians were first introduced to the intricacies of Chinese cooking through Stephen Yan's popular television programs."
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