Ramsey to shut down Melbourne restaurant.

The star of Ramsay’s Kitchen Nightmares has closed Maze and Maze Grill in Melbourne’s Crown Metropol hotel – a decision that caused surprise among hotel staff.

‘Gordon made the decision without telling the Crown Metropol – people there were shocked,’ says a source. ‘He says the business is not sustainable. It all happened very quickly.’

The foul-mouthed chef, 44, who lives in America with his wife Tana, 37, and their four children, had previously claimed he wanted to ‘f*** off to Australia and retire’, but those plans may now be on ice.

To add to his woes, the star is also facing a £1.1 million court battle in New Zealand after pulling out of a number of charity engagements, ¬citing personal reasons.

Ramsay and his long-term business partner, Tana’s father Chris Hutcheson, have been embroiled in a very public split, with Ramsay accusing him of taking money out of parent company Gordon Ramsay Holdings (GRH). Ramsay has blamed his father-in-law for a financial crisis that has seen the closure of a number of his restaurants around the world.

A GRH spokeswoman said: ‘We have put Maze and Maze Grill into liquidation. Since the recent change in management at GRH, we have been conducting reviews of all of our group operations and concluded the business was not sustainable.’

1. Eat a balanced, varied diet containing healthy ingredients from the four main food groups (visit the American Diabetes Association nutrition page).
2. Bulk up on 100% whole grains for fiber and 5-10 servings per day of richly colored fruits and vegetables.
3. Trim bad fats like saturated and trans and get healthy monounsaturated fats from ingredients like canola oil, salmon or other fatty fish, nuts and avocados.
4. Eat seafood 2-3 times per week.
5. Try meat alternatives like beans and tofu and milk alternatives like soy milk.
6. Pass on adding salt to your food to keep blood pressure in check.
7. Be mindful of serving sizes and the number of calories you consume daily.
8. Limit your intake of alcohol, caffeine and sugar.
9. Strive for 30-60 minutes a day of exercise, and 60-90 minutes of physical activity per day for children (visit the American Diabetes Association fitness page).
10. Minimize stress and get plenty of sleep.

Safeway has 3130 meals that can be prepared in under 30 minutes.

Ingredients

• 1 package (16 ounces) uncooked bowtie pasta
• 4 cups of milk
• 2 cloves of garlic, peeled and smashed
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) plus 3 tablespoons of butter, divided
• 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1 pound Gouda cheese, shredded
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1/8 teaspoon smoked paprika or paprika
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 head cauliflower, cut into florets
• 1 cup panko bread crumbs

Directions

1. Cook pasta according to package directions or until almost tender.  Drain pasta, reserving pasta water; keep warm.  Return water to a boil.
2. Bring milk and garlic to a boil in a small saucepan.  Reduce heat; keep warm.  Discard garlic.
3. Melt 1/4 cup butter in large saucepan over medium heat; whisk in flour.  Cook 1 minute, whisking constantly.  Gradually add milk, whisking after each addition.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cook and stir 10 minutes until thickened.  Remove from heat.
4. Add cheese, mustard and paprika to sauce; whisk until melted.  Season with salt and pepper.  Keep warm.
5. Preheat broiler.  Add cauliflower to boiling pasta water.  Cook 3 to 5 minutes or just until tender; drain.  Toss pasta and cauliflower with sauce.  Spoon pasta mixture into 6 to 8 ramekins or 13x9-inch baking dish.
6. Melt remaining 3 tablespoons butter in a small saucepan over medium heat.  Add panko; stir just until moistened.  Sprinkle panko mixture over pasta mixture.  Broil 2 minutes or until golden brown.

Source: 3 in 1 Vegetarian Cookbook

Sophia Grace is a local Saskatoon company (one of the few things in Saskatoon not ridiculed by Rolling Stone magazine), that makes cool, fabulous and sexy kitchen aprons in a variety of patterns and looks.

Not only do they look good, Sophia Grace is also offering free shipping.  They are a great gift for a favourite foodie, lover of retro styling or anyone who wants to look nice in the kitchen.

You can purchase them locally at

Saskatchewan

• McNally Robinson Booksellers
• Skin Deep
• Alchemy Clothing and Salon
• The Uniform Choice
• Western Development Museum Gift Shop

Manitoba

• McNally Robinson Booksellers

Alberta

• The Tin Box

You can also purchase online at www.sophiagrace.ca

Peas and Thank You is a website and Vegetarian cookbook by Sara Matheny which features innovative recipes that are designed to appeal to the entire family, whether they are vegetarian or not.  Recipes like Tortilla Soup, Chickpea Curry Salad, or vegetarian Italian Wedding Soup.  They all look good.  You can purchase the cookbook via Amazon.com.

Ingredients

• 8 small boneless, skinless single chicken breasts (about 3 oz/90 g each)
• 1 tablespoon of hoisin sauce
• 1 tablespoon of honey
• 1 tablespoon of dark sesame oil
• 1 tablespoon of minced fresh ginger root
• 1 teaspoon of hot Asian chilli paste
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 pound of Asian eggplant or zucchini (about 4), cut lengthwise in 1/4 inch slices
• 2 large onions, sliced
• 8 10 inch whole wheat flour tortillas (or 8 pieces of pita bread)
• 1/3 cup of hoisin sauce
• 2 cups of shredded lettuce
• 1/4 cup of chopped fresh cilantro or parsley

Directions

1. Pat chicken dry.  Combine 1 tablespoon of hoisin sauce, honey, sesame oil, ginger, chilli paste, and garlic.  Combine half of sauce with chicken and marinate in refrigerator until ready to cook.
2. Brush remaining marinade on eggplant and onion slices.  Grill eggplant and onions for a few minutes until browned and cooked through.
3. Grill chicken for 3 to 4 minutes per side until browned and cooked through but don’t overcook.  Cut vegetables and chicken into 2 inch pieces and toss together.
4. To warm tortillas, wrap in foil and place into a preheated (350 degrees) oven for five to ten minutes (or until warm)
5. To assemble, spread a spoonful of hoisin sauce over the middle of each tortilla.  Place chicken  and vegetable mixture in centre.  Top with lettuce and cilantro.  Fold up bottom, fold up sides and continue to roll up to enclose filling

Nutritional Information

1. Calories per serving | 340
2. Protein | 26g
3. Fat 7g
4. Cholesterol | 53 mg
5. Fibre | 4g
6. Sodium | 444g
7. Potassium 497 mg

Source: The Best of HeartSmart Cooking by Bonnie Stern

Jordon has heart disease.  He just spent several days at Royal University Hospital having blockages cleared and getting the scare of his life.  He is high risk because of his Type II Diabetes  but we haven’t watched his cholesterol like we should have.  Today I wandered out to Indigo! and bought some heart smart cookbooks which I will be trying out more and more around here and of course posting some recipes to The Cooking Blog in the new Heart Smart category.  I’ll also be adding this logo to the recipe along with the source.

It’s been posted at The Google Blog by the Charlie Ayers, former executive chef for Google.  Since it used Google sized portions, here is a recipe portion convertor to convert it.

As a recent study says

A healthy diet is expensive and could make it difficult for Americans to meet new U.S. nutritional guidelines, according to a study published Thursday that says the government should do more to help consumers eat healthier.

A 2010 update of what used to be known as the food pyramid called on Americans to eat more foods containing potassium, dietary fiber, vitamin D and calcium. But if they did that, the journal Health Affairs said, they would add hundreds more dollars to their annual grocery bill.

Inexpensive ways to add these nutrients to a person's diet include potatoes and beans for potassium and dietary fiber. But the study found introducing more potassium in a diet is likely to add $380 per year to the average consumer's food costs, said lead researcher Pablo Monsivais, an assistant professor in the Department of Epidemiology and the School of Public Health at the University of Washington.

"We know more than ever about the science of nutrition, and yet we have not yet been able to move the needle on healthful eating," he said. The government should provide help for meeting the nutritional guidelines in an affordable way.

Ingredients

1. 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2. 1 egg
3. 1 1/4 cups buttermilk
4. 1/4 cup granulated sugar
5. 1 teaspoon baking powder
6. 1 teaspoon baking soda
7. 1/4 cup cooking oil
8. 1 pinch salt

Directions

1. Preheat a skillet over medium heat.
2. Mix all of the ingredients til combined.
3. Melt a little bit of butter in the pan.
4. Pour the batter by spoonfuls into the hot pan, forming 5-inch circles.
5. When the edges appear to harden, flip the pancakes.
6. They should be golden brown.
7. Cook the pancakes on the other side until they are also golden brown.