Oh Canada!-2/14/10

Friday night was the Opening Ceremonies for the Vancouver Olympic Winter Games. I must confess, I'm an Olympics junkie. Growing up, my family did not have a television. I remember spending summer nights at my friend's homes, watching the Olympics until all hours of the night. Then, when I was 20, I was able to attend the Barcelona Olympic Games. What an amazing experience! If you can make it to any Olympics, go. If you are American and can attend an Olympics in another country, be prepared to see the Olympics in a completely different light. Watching on television we see primarily American athletes, many of whom are among the top athletes at the Games and are expected to compete for medals. The eye-opening part of attending the Games elsewhere is that the citizens of the host country are just as proud of their athletes, regardless of their medal hopes. While I was in Barcelona, a Spanish biker won silver and the television covered him for the next several hours, doing everything short of take a shower. The American stars of that Olympics were treated much like everyone else by the local media. It was a refreshing reminder that the United States is not, as we often think, the center of the world.
Tonight I veered from my Bon Appetit based monthly menu and scanned around on the Internet for a meal that would represent the home country of Canada. I didn't find a ready made menu that looked very authentic, just lots of high end recipes from Canadian chefs. So I found some fun recipes with Canadian ingredients and had a little fun with it.
My appetizer used Canadian bacon and a traditional French cheese, Brie, as a nod to Francophone Quebec. I found the recipe for Brie and Canadian Bacon Appetizer at the dorothylane.com website, a high end grocery store in Ohio. Honestly, the recipe didn't really work. The brown sugar/ pecan mixture was too thick to melt in the time allotted while the bacon overcooked making it incredibly chewy. The appetizer would have been better with the whole appetizer heated together. The baguette crispy, the cheese melted, and just a frosting of the brown sugar/pecan mixture, that would have been much better. Oh well, you live and learn.
The Maple-Glazed Squash and Green Beans with Walnuts was a creative and yummy side dish.
The contrasting orange and green looked great and the soy-maple glaze was subtly sweet. I found this recipe on recipezaar.com as it was recommended for Canadian Thanksgiving. In all fairness, it would work for American Thanksgiving just as well.
The main dish, the Potato Crusted Salmon, was also from recipezaar and was created by a Canadian chef, Michael Smith. The horseradish-potato crust was good but did not brown up in the time allotted. Richard and I both liked the dish but did not find it spectacular.
The final dish, Apple and Maple Bread Pudding was a Bon Appetit recipe from last month. This was an excellent bread pudding with the apple retaining a nice crunch and the maple syrup adding a flavorful sweetness. The addition of a little syrup while serving the dessert added a nice alternative to ice cream. This was a fun and easy menu that showed off some key ingredients from a wonderful country.
Brie and Canadian Bacon Appetizer-D
Maple-Glazed Squash and Green Beans with Walnuts-B+
Potato Crusted Salmon-B
Apple and Maple Bread Pudding-A

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