Rocky Mountain Cooking serves up a taste of the Canadian backcountry
Credit to Author: Aleesha Harris| Date: Fri, 03 Jan 2020 19:00:30 +0000
Rocky Mountain Cooking
Katie Mitzel | Appetite by Random House
$30, 213 pages
Altitude can have some unexpected effects on food preparation, primarily baking. It’s a fact Katie Mitzel knows all too well.
“I recall one late morning, cooking at just over 7,200 feet,” Mitzel says.
“A storm was moving in and the atmospheric pressure was dropping rapidly ahead of this event. I really wanted to join some fellow lodge staff on a traverse of a big peak, and we knew in order to accomplish our objective we would have to have an early start.”
Mitzel “rushed” to create a chocolate cake, sticking to the recipe listed in a cookbook rather than adjusting the various ingredients and steps — the leavening agents, sugar, liquid and even the oven time and temperature — required to successfully create the cake in the kitchen of the mountain lodge.
“I threw the ingredients together, popped the cake in the oven and went to get my hiking gear together, when I returned to the kitchen there was smoke billowing out of the oven,” Mitzel recalls.
“The cake had exploded all over the oven and the mess, smell and missed trip were all fantastic convincing that I needed to pay closer attention to the elevation and adjust my baking accordingly.”
She learned from the experience and went on to master the art of cooking and baking at high elevations. That prowess is on display in her latest cookbook Rocky Mountain Cooking, which features a variety of rib-sticking recipes she’s compiled during her years living in the Rocky Mountains including in Alberta and British Columbia.
Each recipe is designed to satiate the appetites of fellow outdoor enthusiasts as well as those who are just hungry for more info on “lodge food.”
“People often ask me what exactly backcountry cooking is, and Rocky Mountain Cooking tells the story itself by bringing a variety of different visual experiences, coupled with unpretentious, down-to-earth recipes to your own home,” Mitzel says.
“Lodge recipes are mainly compiled of ingredients that most people already have in their pantry and refrigerator. The genius is in their simplicity. Most of the recipes were created to get folks outside in the shortest time possible.”
What the genre of cooking is not, she says, is finicky and overcomplicated.
“A lot of recipes feel complicated and like you have to take a trip to the moon for the fixings,” Mitzel says.
“This cookbook was created in backcountry lodges, so being a hiker and skier myself, I developed the recipes so I could also get out and enjoy the splendour of whatever the day had to offer.”
While Mitzel admits many of the recipes are hearty dishes made for “calorie depleted” individuals either facing or fresh off of a day of fun in the outdoors, she assures that there’s a lot more to her backcountry cooking creations than just “a plate full of meat and potatoes.”
Instead, she says, the recipes reflect the changes in dietary preferences that are happening everywhere — yes, in the Rocky Mountains, too.
“Folks are certainly recognizing that a balanced diet is a favourable one and this has, indeed, found its way into all of the backcountry lodges that I cook at,” Mitzel says.
“There are certainly the classics like Pan-Seared Beef Tenderloin with Peppercorn Gravy and Mountain Pork Medallions with Hinterland Mushrooms. But, what the reader will also find though is an incredible amount of gorgeous and easy to prepare vegetables: Asparagus Fries with Roasted Garlic Aioli, Chickpeas and Kale in Pomodoro Sauce, Brussels sprouts with Homemade Pesto. There is also an immense array of sumptuous and simple salads and dressings — Mighty Kale Caesar Salad with Crispy Quinoa, Pear and Walnut Salad with Crumbled Blue Cheese, Hearty Greens and Shredded Beet Salad and a First Tracks Salad — that eat like a meal.”
Katie Mitzel.
After some pressing, Mitzel pointed to the Baked French Toast Casserole with Streusel among her personal favourites and “a family staple”; as well as the Lemony Lavender Buttermilk Cake, which Mitzel says is “made at least once a week”; the “simple to make” Killer Vegetarian Chili that is “a favourite with everyone”; and the Arancini with Vodka Marinara, which has been made “over a million times,” yet still prompts cravings.
Rocky Mountain Cooking, according to Mitzel, boils down to three main ideals: “Gorgeous. Abundant. Essential.”
The cookbook, she points out proudly, also provides readers with a unique glimpse into the backcountry areas that the B.C.-based author holds so dear.
“The mountain photography and food photography are also so immensely riveting that even if you aren’t a terrific cook, you could easily become one just by the inspiration of the dazzling images,” Mitzel says.
“And the stories of each of the lodges in Rocky Mountain Cooking are a great way to begin and end a meal, recognizing that these beautiful places are much like our own lives; built with love and nurtured by the people that come into them.
“I hope that people are able to bring these recipes into their homes, whether or not they are backcountry enthusiasts, and recognize that it is the delight of creating a home-cooked meal that is the true inspiration of Rocky Mountain Cooking.”
Red Lentil and Creamy Carrot Soup
1 tbsp (15 mL) salted butter
1 tbsp (15 mL) extra virgin olive oil
2 medium white onions, diced
2 garlic cloves, minced
4 carrots, roughly chopped
1-inch (2.5 cm) piece ginger, peeled and minced
1 tsp (5 mL) granulated sugar
1 tsp (5 mL) ground coriander
1 tsp (5 mL) ground cumin
1/2 tsp (2 1/2 mL) ground turmeric
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
6 cups (1.5 L) chicken stock, divided
3/4 cup (180 mL) dried red lentils
1 (13.5 oz) can coconut milk
1 carrot, grated
1/2 cup (125 mL) freshly chopped cilantro, or more to taste
In a large, heavy-bottomed soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat, melt the butter and oil. Add the onions and garlic and sauté for 5 to 6 minutes, or until the onions start to soften and become transparent. Add the carrots, ginger, sugar, coriander, cumin, turmeric, and a large pinch of salt and pepper. Mix to combine.
Pour in 1 cup (250 mL) of the stock, bring to a simmer, and cook, uncovered, for 5 minutes. Rinse the lentils in a colander and set aside.
Add the remaining stock and turn up the heat to medium-high. Add the lentils, stir, and bring to a boil. Boil for a full minute and then turn down the heat to a low simmer. Simmer, uncovered, for 20 to 25 minutes.
Remove from the heat and let cool for 20 to 30 minutes before puréeing. If you are using a food processor or blender, do so in batches. If using an immersion blender, make sure you are wearing an apron.
Return the soup to the pot, add the coconut milk, and place the pot over medium-low heat. Bring back to a low simmer until warmed through.
Garnish with a sprinkle of grated carrot and cilantro.
Serves six to eight.
Lemony Lavender Buttermilk Cake
2 tsp (10 mL) lavender buds
2 cups + 3 tbsp (545 mL) granulated sugar, divided
3 cups (750 mL) all-purpose flour
1 tbsp (15 mL) baking powder
1 tsp (5 mL) fine sea salt
1 cup (250 mL) salted butter, softened
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp (7 1/2 mL) lemon zest
1 tsp (5 mL) vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups (310 mL) buttermilk
Lemon drizzle
2 tbsp (30 mL) buttermilk
1 tsp (5 mL) lemon juice
1 1/4 cups (310 mL) icing sugar
Topping
1 tbsp (15 mL) cane sugar
1 tsp (5 mL) lavender buds
1 lemon, zested into long strips
1 tsp (5 mL) lemon juice
Lavender sprigs
Preheat the oven to 350 F (175 C). Grease every nook and cranny of a 9-inch (22.5 cm) springform pan.
If you have never worked with lavender, don’t worry. I’ve learned that essential oils infuse better if you blend them with sugar, so blend the lavender buds with 3 tbsp (45 mL) of the sugar in a coffee mill or grinder.
To make the cake, in a mixing bowl, mix together the ground lavender-sugar blend, flour, baking powder, and salt.
Using a hand-held or stand mixer, beat the butter until smooth. Add the remaining 2 cups (500 mL) of sugar and beat until pale and fluffy. With the mixer running, add the eggs one at a time, beating well between each addition. Add the lemon zest and vanilla and mix. Add half of the flour mixture and mix on medium speed for a couple of minutes, just to combine.
Add the buttermilk in one addition beating until mixed in. Add the rest of the flour mixture. Mix for one full minute, scraping down the sides of the bowl as required.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake on the centre rack of the oven for 50 to 55 minutes, or until the cake is pulling slightly away from the sides of the pan and a cake tester inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Let the cake cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before releasing from the pan.
To make the lemon drizzle, in a medium bowl, use a fork to whisk the buttermilk and lemon juice with the icing sugar. Place the cooled cake on a serving plate and pour the lemon drizzle overtop the cake, letting it travel down the sides.
To make the topping, grind the cane sugar and lavender buds in a coffee mill or grinder. Transfer to a small bowl and mix with the strips of lemon and 1 tsp (5 mL) of lemon juice. Toss everything around a bit with your hand and place the lemon strips on top of the cake or on individually cut pieces. Add a few lavender sprigs for a delightful finish.
Serves 12 to 14.
Excerpted with permission from Rocky Mountain Cooking by Katie Mitzel, published by Appetite by Random House.
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