Family, Friends and Food in Quebec

Family, Friends and Food in Quebec

Beet Salad

Beet Salad

Last weekend, I flew up to Quebec to surprise my dad for his birthday. As always, the weekend was filled with an abundance of food and adult libations.

Lobster Dinner

Lobster Dinner

Friday, the weather was nice and we opted to grill pork tenderloin kebabs that my brother-in-law, Etienne, had marinated in his special concoction a good part of the afternoon. Since it was also my mom’s birthday a couple days prior to my arrival, my nieces and me made my Chocolate Éclair Squares, an easy-to-fix, tasty and light dessert (perfect for Memorial Day celebrations).

Wines for Lobster Dinner

Wines for Lobster Dinner

Saturday, my sister Josée, her daughters and me decorated her home for dad’s party and began cooking for the memorable dinner party. On the menu was a springtime salad of roasted beets, heirloom tomatoes, red onions, Mozzarella and basil. My brother-in-law boiled some lobsters and made his now-famous Lemon Butter Cream for dipping – fantastic. Dessert was a plate of vanilla bean cupcakes and my Zesty Key Lime Tart (minus the meringue and topped with whipped cream instead). The wine lineup wasn’t half bad either.

Poutine

Poutine

Sunday morning, mom fixed us a big breakfast of eggs benedict with homefries and after spending the morning at our horse ranch, I headed back to the airport to catch my flight back to New Jersey. As I’ve grown accustomed to doing when I fly out of Quebec, I had a poutine to mark the end of my wonderful weekend.

Hope your weekend adventures were as delicious as mine were.

Cheers,

Veronique

Galvaude – Poutine’s Fancy Cousin

Galvaude – Poutine’s Fancy Cousin

When I visit my hometown in Quebec, I try to make it a point to visit my local casse-croûte – a cross between a diner and a fast food restaurant.  In our town, that place is call Buffet St-Martin.

During my stay home a couple weeks ago, I opted to forego my usual standard, poutine, for its fancy cousin, the galvaude.  For those unfamiliar with poutine, it’s a dish of French fries, topped with squeaky cheddar cheese curds then smothered in brown gravy.  Is there a more perfect food?  Perhaps only if this dish was enhanced with white meat chicken and small peas!  That’s a galvaude.

I urge you to try one if you visit Quebec – it’s comfort food at its best.

Cheers,

Veronique

 

From Quebec with Food Love

From Quebec with Food Love

It was just Labor Day weekend and that typically means me heading up to Quebec to see my family. It’s one of a dozen trips I take each fall, but one that’s not work-related, so I try to enjoy every minute of it.

Smoked Meat

This year, food ran the gamut from Quebec’s famous/infamous poutine to smoked meat sandwiches to osso bucco. We celebrated my 7 and 5-year-old nieces birthdays on Saturday with a kids’ party in the afternoon and a family party in the evening. How fun are two cakes, two parties and two sets of people singing and wishing you a happy birthday when you’re little?! I decorated a cute cake made up of two half moons for the kids’ party that was a big hit and a two-tier, fondant-covered pink and blue girl-o-rama cake for the evening party.

Pied de Cochon Poutine

For those of you who haven’t had poutine yet, it’s a must-try when in Quebec. There are tons of variations, like the foie gras-covered version at Au Pied de Cochon in Montreal to the more common interpretation of french fries, brown gravy and fresh cheddar cheese curds. Was in Quebec three days and had this dish three times – thinking major thread mill’s in my future!

Another Quebec delicacy that I got to enjoy was a perfectly steamed smoked meat sandwich.  A 10-pound piece of corned beef was steamed for 3 hours in a restaurant-grade food steamer until perfectly moist.  Rye bread was also steamed to create THE perfect sandwich.  I hadn’t had a Quebec smoked meat for over 15 years and it was better than I remembered it, thanks to the steamer my father’s had since I was a little girl.

Isn’t it funny how foods from one’s youth can bring back memories decades later?  How is it that a trip ‘home’ to Quebec wouldn’t be complete without Yum Yum-brand All-Dressed chips or an Aero chocolate bar?  Hope that whatever you did this Labor Day weekend, it created memories you can think back on fondly.

Cheers,

Veronique