no reEATS

Brown Butter Soda Bread

2012-03-09T07:22:00.001-05:00

I guess I go backwards sometimes. After a lifetime of never making bread, I dove into the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day with gusto and spent two winters making all of our artisan loaves. I felt like a master baker, using yeast and not running scared out into the woods. Okay, I didn't have to knead it or do any other fancy bakery things to it but it was real bread and it was good.

This week I was taking lunch to a friend's house and made some soup and at the last minute decided to try a new bread. I loved the sound of this brown butter soda bread I found on Epicurious, it got rave reviews and looked easy as pie. I made it exactly as written (one or two tiny changes) and it was so ridiculously easy that I can't believe I have never tried it before.

The texture is more like a giant biscuit or scone than it is like a true bread, but you put some butter on a wedge of this baby while it's still a bit warm?
Shut the front door.
Honestly, now I know why my Irish fore bearers were never know for their svelte, willowy figures with bread like this every day.

We at this crazy yummy bread with a parsnip corn chowder and The Kid declared it perfect soup dunking bread, so there you have it.

Brown Butter Soda Bread
from Epicurious

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup old-fashioned oats
1 tablespoon sugar
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary plus more for topping
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon ground black pepper plus additional for topping
1 3/4 cups buttermilk

1 egg white, beaten to blend

Make sure your rack is in the middle of the oven and preheat it to 375F
Melt butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat and swirl it around until it turns golden brown (about 2-3 minutes) and remove it from the heat.

Put the flour, oats, sugar, rosemary, baking powder, baking soda, salt and a few grinds of black pepper (I didn't measure) in a large bowl and mix well with a whisk. Pour the buttermilk and the melted butter on top and stir it together until the flour is moistened - don't over stir. The recipe calls for using a fork but I used a silicone spatula and it worked really well.

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead very gently until it feels likes it all mixed together - I did exactly 7 turns as instructed. Divide that in half, shape each half into a ball and flatten it. I put them on a parchment lined baking pan with lots of room in between them. Brush the tops with the egg white and sprinkle with a couple more grinds of black pepper and some more chopped rosemary. Using a knife, cut a nice, deep X into the top of each round.

Bake until deep golden brown and a tester comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool on racks for another 30 minutes. Serve warm or at room temp.

Chili Beef Stew

2012-02-28T14:07:00.000-05:00

Last week was a crazy week that involved NO cooking at all. We had a long weekend away with family followed by a sick kid for two days and it wrapped up with two 13+ hour work days for me. Frankly, we are lucky to be alive at this point. We made a big pot of spaghetti sauce on the weekend for the freezer and I was anxiously awaiting Monday so I could be alone again and get back in my kitchen.

Even though this is basically chili, I would never call it that because I have enough friends from Texas who would never speak to me again if I advocated putting beans in there (even though I totally do) so I am on board with Smith and Ratliff and I agree that we will, instead, call this a stew. It tastes just like a good chili but the whole chunks of beef make it much heartier somehow. I went pretty light on the dried chills because it's the first time I have used these chilis that I brought back from my Xmas trip to mexico and I wasn't sure how much heat they would pack. Next time I will use more of them and I also might try a few other varieties in there as well.

It's thicker than a beef stew, heartier than chili with ground beef and the addition of the masa harina at the end gives it a really nice, earthy flavour. It was a big hit with both of my menfolk so I will definitely be trying more variations on this stuff - maybe I will get all crazy and even leave the beans out next time.

Chili Beef Stew
adapted from Smith and Ratliff

A glug of olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 lbs stew beef
2 cans small mexican kidney beans
2 cups tomato puree
1 500ml can beer (2 cups)
2 tbls chili powder
1 tbls cumin
1 dried pasilla chili
1 dired ancho chili
1 cup chicken stock
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbls masa harina
fresh cilantro for garnish

Heat a heavy frying pan over med heat (i like to use a cast iron skillet) put your dried chills in the dry pan and cook for a minute on each side until it puffs up a bit. Remove them to a bowl and cover them with hot water and set aside so they can soak for at least 30 minutes.

Heat a heavy pot over med heat and add a good glug of olive oil. Brown the meat, in batches. When that is done set the beef aside in a bowl and add the onion and garlic to the pot. Cook those for a few minutes until softened and then add the beef back into the pot.

Throw in the tomatoes, the beans, the beer, chili powder, cumin and some salt to taste.

Cut open your dried chills that have been soaking and remove the seeds unless you want maximum heat and in that case, leave the seeds and cut them up. Put the cut up chills (I just use kitchen shears - easier than trying to cut them with a knife) in a blender with a cup of chicken stock and whiz them up until they are pureed.
Add the pureed chili and chicken stock to the pot and bring to a light simmer. Let that cook for a few hours over low heat, so it's just barely simmering. What I did was cook it for about an hour and a half on the stove and then, because I was called out for a couple of hours, I put the lid on and popped the pot into the oven at 285F for the rest of the afternoon and by the time I got home, it was perfect. It had really thickened up, the meat was falling apart and it was delicious. Because it had already thicker up perfectly but I still wanted the flavour of the masa harina, I added about 1/2 cup of chicken stock with the masa harina and simmered it on low for ten more minutes on the burner.

If you cook the whole thing on the stove top, about 20 minutes before you are going to serve the stew, add the masa harina and stir thoroughly, letting that thicken it up a bit. It also gives it a really great flavour that you just don't get from using plain old flour.

Serve with some fresh cilantro and even over rice if you like.

Desserts for the Oscars

2012-02-28T07:19:00.009-05:00

For our annual Oscar party this year, I wanted to make use of the kazillion mini-mason jars that are always clinking and tumbling around my cupboards and just calling out to be made into something pretty and delicious. So I decided on mini dulce de leche cheesecakes, mini coconut cream pies and trifles in a jar, with some s'mores on a stick on the side. Handy-dandy, individual, no-cook, make-ahead desserts that were hopefully gonna simplify my life and delight my guests. Assemble and chill; perfect for my busy weekend.

Last summer when I prepared similar desserts, I made the mistake of tamping down the graham-crumb bases too much and when they hardened it was nearly impossible to chisel them out with a small spoon. So this time around I gently laid the bases but just smoothed them out without using any pressure, and when they were refrigerated, they set perfectly. You can really adapt this dessert to any of your favourite cheesecake recipes and top with fruit or another favourite topping.... I just happen to love the creaminess of the dulce de leche combined with the crunch of the sugared nuts. I found that recipes that call for using 8 oz of cream cheese yield about 11 or 12 of these mini cheesecakes. If you use a recipe that uses more than a pound of cheese, you'll be doubling your final numbers.

These s'mores on a stick were probably more a hit with the kiddie guests than the adults but still worth the (very little) effort.
And these mini coconut cream pies were pretty scrumptious too. I used chocolate cookie wafers combined with some shredded coconut for the bases and then topped with the coconut pastry cream, whipped cream and toasted coconut.

Mini dulce de leche cheesecakes

Combine 1 1/2 cups of graham crumbs with 1/2 cup melted butter. Stir together and then gently spoon about 2 tbsp or so of the mixture into the mini mason jars (about a dozen). Gently, very gently, smooth out but don't push it down too hard or your guests will have a hard time scooping it out.

Then, I chose an easy no-bake cheesecake recipe, using all of four basic ingredients (8 oz cream cheese at room temp, 1 can condensed milk, 1 tbsp lemon juice and 1 tbsp vanilla), stirred them all together until smooth and poured the mixture on top of the graham-crumb bases and then threw them in the fridge to set for at least two hours or up to a day ahead. Then, gently heat about a cup of dulce de leche with about 3 tbsp of whipping cream; mix well and pour on top. Chill again and top with sugared nuts.

Rocky Road Bars and One-Bowl Chocolate Chunk Pecan Cookies

2012-02-17T07:41:00.006-05:00

My new copy of Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey arrived in the mail this week (and Sticky, Chewy, Messy Gooey Treats for Kids is on its way) and I was hoping it'd be as good as Chewy, Gooey, Crispy, Crunchy, which Carole gave me for Christmas two years ago, and which I totally love and go back to time and time again (spine is broken and pages are sticky... always good signs). Different authors and totally different looks to the books but obviously titles with delicious-sounding adjectives stacked one of top of the other appeal to me... great marketing idea! I'd been wanting to do some baking since The Eldest was coming home from university for reading week and that's as good an excuse as any to pull out the sugar and vanilla and get the kitchen smelling good.

I first decided on making these Rocky Road Bars from Carole's book, but halfway through remembered that Corbin had sworn off anything marshmallowy years ago, following a particularly dramatic upchuck on the cobblestone streets of London after gobbling back a dime-bag of penny candy in our rental car. To be fair, Q's driving of a manual car generally gives us all motion sickness of some sort, but Corbin has held a personal grudge against marshmallows ever since. Sorry... too much information on our domestic affairs but this is only to explain why I ended up baking twice that afternoon, following up with the "best" choc chip cookies from my newest cookbook. Some ooey-gooey followed by some chewy-crispy. O'Connor's approach is to use melted butter and then to refrigerate the dough for an hour before cooking. The results were worth the extra time involved... and loved the addition of pecans, even though it ruled out taking cookies for school lunches. Bummer.

Rocky Road Bars
from Alice Medrich's Chewy, Gooey, Crispy, Crunchy
makes 16 2-inch bars

6 tbsp (3/4 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups fine graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup walnut halves or large pieces
12 regular marshmallows, quartered
1 cup milk or semisweet chocolate chips

Line an 8-inch square pan with foil (bottom and all sides). Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mix the butter with the graham cracker crumbs and sugar until all of the crumbs are moistened. (I screwed up here and used 3/4 cup of butter instead of 3/4 stick so I had to add more graham crumbs. Made for a thicker crust but no complaints.) Scatter half the nuts on top and pop in the oven for 10 mins until crust starts to turn golden brown. Remove from the oven (turn up heat to 375 degrees) and scatter the remaining nuts, marshmallows and chocolate on top. Pop back in the oven on the top shelf and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until golden brown. Allow to cool completely and then cut into bars.

The Best One-Bowl Chocolate Chunk-Pecan Cookies
from Jill O'Connor's Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey

makes 3 dozen cookies

2 cups pecan halves

1 cup unsalted butter (melted)

3/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp salt

2 tsp pure vanilla

2 large eggs

2 1/4 cups bleached all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp baking powder

2 cups semisweet chocolate chunks

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toast pecans for 6 to 9 minutes; remove and allow to cool. Turn off the oven.

Stir together the melted butter and the two sugars. Add the salt, vanilla and eggs and stir until smooth. Add in the flour, baking soda and baking powder, and stir until until incorporated. Fold in the chocolate and pecans. Transfer the batter to the fridge and refrigerate for an hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Using a 1-inch ice-cream scoop, place the dough balls on parchment lined trays and bake for 15 to 18 minutes, until golden brown.

Vietnamese BBQ Lemongrass Pork

2012-02-15T14:14:00.000-05:00

Although I like chinese bbq pork, nothing beats vietnamese bbq for me and I order a side of it almost every time I go out for pho. It's like pork candy.

I didn't actually bbq this because it's winter but I will most certainly do that ASAP because this stuff is the bomb. Sticky, sweet pork is always my friend and even without the charred bits that it gets from grilling over charcoal, this stuff is delicious. After much searching around and needing a new recipe to try, I settled on this recipe from The Ravenous Couple.

Vietnamese BBQ Lemongrass Pork
adapted from the ravenous couple

2 pork tenderloins
1/4 cup minced lemongrass
1/4 cup sugar
2 tbls fish sauce
few grinds of black pepper
3 cloves garlic
3 tbls sesame oil
1 tbls kecap manis ( i am not sure what thick soy sauce is but this is what I use)
3 tbls toasted sesame seeds

I chopped up 3" of lemongrass stalk and then whizzed it up in the bullet - do enough that you end up with 1/4 cup of the minced lemongrass.
Add the rest of the ingredients, except for the sesame seeds, to your food processor or blender or bullet and whiz it up until its completely blended.

Slice the pork into thin slices, probably about 1/4" or so and then pour the marinade all over the pork, mix it well making sure that every inch of each piece of pork is coated. Cover and put it in the fridge for at least an hour up to 24 hrs.

You can heat a grill pan (or just a heavy sauté pan if you don't have a grill pan) over medium high heat and grill the pork for a couple of minutes per side. You could also broil it. If you want charred bits but want to cook it on the stove top you can just throw it under a really hot broiler for a minute before you serve it.
Luckily for me, The Neighbour has a gas BBQ so I threaded the meat on skewers and we grilled it over med high heat for a few minutes per side. It gets nice and caramelized when you grill it so I was happy to share our meal with them - they have the bbq lol.
We ate it with rice this time.

Smoked Paprika Roast Chicken

2012-02-09T08:13:00.000-05:00

My first dish of the new year was roasted paprika chicken breast with tomatoes and chick peas . I used bone in chicken breasts that time and I fell so in love with the oil that I have been using it for lots of other things like some roasted some cauliflower and a batch of peppers, zucchini and red onion. This stuff is the bomb.

Tonight I wanted to roast a chicken and so what could be more perfect than a slathering of the paprika oil on a whole chicken? It is very similar to the original but I think adapting the dish to a whole chicken and changing up the veg makes it new enough for me. As a change from my sticky rotisserie method that I usually use, I roasted the bird at high heat. So simple. It really is cooking for dummies and since I have a no good, terrible head cold and can't even remember my own name right now, that made it a perfect dish. The skin was beautifully crispy and the smoked paprika flavour really shines through.

Smoked Paprika Roast Chicken

smoked paprika oil
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tbls smoked paprika
1 tsp cumin

1 3 lb roasting chicken
kosher salt

3 yellow fleshed potatoes
handful of brussels sprouts, washed and ends trimmed but left whole

mix up the paprika oil

Rub some of the paprika oil on the chicken, making sure you get every spot covered.If you can do it earlier in the day and leave it, uncovered, in the fridge that would be great but I am sure it would still be good if you can't do that.
Preheat the oven to 450F

Cut the potatoes into big chunks and toss them, along with the brussel sprouts, in a small drizzle of the paprika oil, salt and pepper and toss to coat well.

Place your chicken in a roasting pan and surround it with the potatoes and brussels sprouts, sprinkle the bird with some kosher salt and roast it on the second to bottom level in your oven for about 1 hr. I put the other rack on the top spot and lay a piece of foil on that so that the fat won't splatter up onto the upper element and make it smoke like crazy.

That's it. I didn't baste it or stir the vegetables or anything.
I took it out after an hour, carved the chicken, put the veggies in a bowl.

Carrot and Parsnip Soup with Parsnip Chips and Apple/Cheddar Quick Bread

2012-02-07T05:36:00.004-05:00

After eating away from home so much lately, I was craving some veggies and comfort food, so what better than a nice bowl of soup and some cheesy bread alongside? Maddie ain't a big fan of parsnips but I figured the carrots would hide their existence... and who could resist the crispy parsnip chips on top? Apparently she could. At first she asked if this was my "burnt carrot" soup (aka roasted carrots that I guess she thinks get overly browned in the oven) and then she was highly suspicious that another ingredient was being kept from her. But she was the only non-believer. Austin and I were busy popping back the parsnip chips so quickly before dinner, I wish I'd made double the amount. Total yum. And the quick bread was quick, easy and delish. When I saw that it had no spices, I was concerned that it might be really bland but instead it allowed the tang of both the apples and the cheese to shine through... in fact, it would have complicated things to add another flavour. And kids have already asked to take for lunch tomorrow... a hit for sure.

Carrot and Parsnip Soup with Parsnip Chips

2 tbsp olive oil, divided

2 1/2 cups chopped yellow onions

3 cups coarsely chopped parsnips (about 1 lb)

2 1/2 cups coarsely chopped carrots (about 1 lb)

3 cups water

2 (14-oz) cans fat-free, low-sodium vegetable or chicken broth

1 cup thinly sliced parsnip

1 tbsp chopped fresh chives

Heat 1 tsp oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until tender (about 10 mins). Add the parsnip, carrot, watter and broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 50 mins or until veggies are tender. Remove from heat and let stand for 5 mins. Use a handheld blender to process until smooth. Stir in salt and pepper.

Heat remaining oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the parsnip slices; cook 5 minutes or until lightly browned, turning occasionally. Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle chips and chives over soup.

Apple and Cheddar Quick Bread

1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

2 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup milk plus 2 tbsp

1/3 cup canola oil

1 egg

2 tbsp brown sugar

1 cup finely diced apples

1 cup strong cheddar cheese, grated

3 tbsp cheddar cheese, grated

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Prep your loaf pan by lightly greasing it with butter and then use a mixture of cornmeal and flour to dust the insides. About a spoonful of each will do.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, mix together the milk, oil, egg and brown sugar until well blended. Pour in the diced apples and stir in the flour mixture. Add in the cheese in 3 handfuls--stirring between each. Dump the batter into the loaf pan and bake for 45-50 mins. Sprinkle the remaining cheese on top and cook for 10 mins longer until the cheese melts and the bread is cooked all the way through--use a wooden skewer in the middle to test doneness.

Greek Stuffed Pork Roast

2012-01-26T10:45:00.001-05:00

It was a rare night where both of my men were going to be home for dinner so I kindly asked them if they would like to put in any requests. I got a "whatever you want to make" from The Kid and a very emphatic "I don't want any curried anything and nothing stir fried" as Shack stomped out the door.
Well, okay then. Somebody has been working and living off catering for too long I think. It was time for a manly meal of roast meat.

My first impulse was to do a pork tenderloin with a nice mustard, creamy pan sauce but that is how I usually make pork. I realized the one thing I never do is to cook a pork loin roast and I certainly never butterfly it and stuff it. The Kid is turning into a hungry teenager and the days of 1 pork tenderloin feeding all three of us for dinner are behind us so it's time for me to start getting used to different cuts of meat. Greek roasted potatoes were already on the menu so it made sense to do the pork with flavours to compliment them. Spinach, feta, garlic, oregano and lemon was perfect to stuff the roast and a nice port pan sauce finished it off nicely.

Greek Stuffed Pork Loin

1 2lb pork loin roast
olive oil
salt and pepper
oregano
cotton kitchen string

olive oil
1/2 red onion, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, chopped
1/4 cup finely diced, seeded tomato
zest from one lemon
1 bunch fresh spinach, washed and roughly chopped
salt and pepper
100g feta cheese, crumbled
1 slice fresh bread buzzed into crumbs

2 tbls oregano
zest from 1 lemon
pinch kosher salt

sauce:
1 small shallot, minced
1/2 cup port
1/2 cup chicken stock
1 tbls cold butter

Butterfly your pork roast - here is a video showing you both methods - just butterfly it unless you want to make yourself all crazy.

to make the stuffing, heat up a small glug of olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Saute the red onion and garlic for about 5 minutes until softened. Add the tomato and the spinach and stir it around until the spinach is wilted. Take it off the heat, add the lemon zest, stir again and taste and salt and pepper to taste. Let it cool to room temperature before you add the feta and the bread crumbs.

spread the stuffing evenly over the butterflied pork loin and then fold it back over like a book.
Mix together the oregano, zest and salt and rub that all over the top of the pork roast (fat side up).Now tie that thing together with kitchen twine (the video shows you how to do the twine. Honestly, as long as you tie it up nice and tight and don't care about it looking pretty, just do what you can).

Preheat the oven to 425F

heat an oven proof skillet or pan over med heat with a bit of olive oil. Put the pork roast in the pan, fat side down and brown it for a few minutes before turning it over, fat side up again and put it in the oven. After about 15 minutes, turn the heat down to 325F and continue to roast until the internal temp of the pork is about 155F (that took about another 45 min). Take it out and let it sit for another 10 to 15 minutes while you make a pan sauce to serve with it if you like.

For pan sauce: In the pan you roasted the pork in, sauté the shallot in the drippings over med heat for a few minutes. Add the port and simmer for a minute, scraping up all the bits from the pan before you add the chicken stock. Let that simmer and reduce by half or for about 5 to 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in a tbls of cold butter.
Slice your pork roast and drizzle the sauce over it.
YUM

Toblerone Shortbread Cookies

2012-01-22T09:26:00.005-05:00

It's been a hairy few weeks and we've all been flying by the seat of our pants in terms of food... as a result, unfortunately there's been nothing of interest to post--not even baking! It must be bad! Work has been crazy so it's been a relief to be able to return to old favourites and, more importantly, to repeat them and eat them as leftovers. The kiddies have also been pitching in and, as is always the case when I'm swamped, Q promptly got on a plane and left town. The timing is uncanny and somewhat suspicious but I guess I can't really question a conference in Whistler in January. He's a smart guy, after all, and who's going to turn down that opportunity? Just bad timing for the rest of us remaining on the homefront.
Anyway, back to domestic issues. I thought I'd at least buy some goodwill from the young 'uns by doing some baking over the weekend. After all, if the cookie jar is full, they must know that their mom at least remembers they exist, even if they're not seeing her very often. Three Toblerones had been sitting on the kitchen countertop for the past week and they were driving Austin and Maddie to distraction. They begged to open them; I refused because I knew they'd be gone as soon as we had a bite. Instead, I was determined to bake with them, and since we hadn't made any shortbread over the Christmas season, chunky Toblerone shortbread cookies seemed like the perfect solution. With just a handful of ingredients and a couple of quick steps, they were minutes in the making and a huge hit for kids who'd been neglected for too long. I've seen some Toblerone cookies with the chocolate triangle embedded on top, but I've never had a lot of success with that technique. Either the chocolate burns or turns white or runs over the sides, so I figured hiding chunks inside was probably the safer bet and so far the critics haven't registered any complaints.

Toblerone Shortbread Cookies
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp icing sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch or rice flour
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 100-gram bars Toblerone, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat butter until light and fluffy. Sift in icing sugar and beat again until fluffy, scraping down the sides of the bowl often. Sift in cornstarch or rice flour and blend in. Sift in all purpose flour and salt, and mix until dough comes together (it'll be soft). Stir in vanilla and chunks of Toblerone.
Using a 1-inch ice cream scoop, spoon cooking dough onto parchment-lined cookie sheets, leaving 2 inches between cookies. Bake for 9 minutes, turn cookie sheets, and bake for another 9 minutes until bottoms brown lightly.
Remove from oven and allow to cool on racks. Makes about 28 cookies.

Third week of January and it's time for Chili with Pork

2012-01-17T12:15:00.000-05:00

It was a drizzly, miserable morning and so comfort food was certainly on the menu. Poor Shack is back on set and so I am trying to make things that he can heat up and eat when he gets home later in the evening because even though they do feed him on set, he doesn't always have the time to eat much. Some movies have better catering than others as well, so it becomes even more important to try to make sure he has yummy food at home to even out the endless parade of chicken dishes they serve at work.

We all love chili and we although we are dying for all of our old favourites again, in the spirit of adventure and trying new things, I thought I would make a different kind of chili. Thinking I had a container of leftover canned poblano chills in the fridge, I foolish planned it around those without actually looking at them first. I went out and bought some ground pork, PC tomatillo salsa and a can of black beans, thinking I would do a chili version of our favourite pork stew, chili verde.

Once I got my ingredients ready, I realized that my poblanos had gone bad but I was already committed so I had to forge ahead anyway. I was also out of beer so clearly this was not going to be my regular chili verde with ground pork instead of chunks of pork. I really need to take inventory BEFORE I go shopping.
In the end, I just made it up as I went along and the end result was very tasty indeed. The brand of tomatillo salsa you use will determine how spicy the end product will be so keep that in mind. I am, once again, quite thankful for this blog because this is the kind of thing I would normally whip up on the spot but then I would have forgotten how I made it. Now that I actually have to measure and write everything down, I can make this again whenever I want.
Actually, now I can make it again and again and again and again!

Oh, and Dianne has not disappeared but after her christmas break with her family, she had to dive straight into a huge work project and is most likely living on deli sandwiches and diet coke.

Chili with Pork

500g ( 1 lb) ground lean pork
glug of olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, small dice
2 cups tomato puree
3/4 cup chicken stock (or beer but I didn't have any)
1 540 ml can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup tomatillo salsa
salt and pepper
1 tbls mexican oregano
1 tbls ground cumin
1 tbls chili powder
cilantro
l tbl lime juice

Heat a heavy pot over med heat. Add a small glug of oil and brown the ground pork. When it's cooked, remove it to a bowl using a slotted spoon and set it aside. If there is more than a tbls or so of fat in the bottom of the pot, get rid of enough to leave you with about a tbls. Throw the onions, garlic and celery into the pot and sauté until softened, about five minutes. At that point, add the pork back in and stir to mix well. Add the tomato puree, the salsa, the chicken stock, black beans, oregano, cumin and chili powder and bring to a light simmer. Lower the heat and let it simmer gently for about an hour or so. It's chili so it can certainly simmer a bit longer than an hour but not less that that. During the last ten minutes of cooking add a handful of chopped cilantro and the lime juice, stir and let it simmer for ten minutes before taking it off the heat.
Chili is always better after it sits so if you can make it in the morning and then reheat it for supper that's great but it will be even tastier the next day.

Of course, you could also throw the whole think in a slow cooker after the meat and the onion/garlic/celery have been done and let it cook on low all day too.

serve with more cilantro, a wedge of lime, whatever things you like on your chili - we do sour cream or crema and some tortilla chips

I'm back with my first new dish of 2012

2012-01-12T11:11:00.001-05:00

I have been thoroughly enjoying either eating out OR eating the same thing for a couple of nights in a row since New Year's and I don't feel one ounce of guilt about that. It was a long year and we all enjoyed our spaghetti and meatballs two nights in a row at last. We would have made it three nights but we ate it all in two to be honest but it was time to find my new dish of the week.

I bought some nice looking chicken breasts and was just going to do my greek roast chicken but the need to try out something new was nagging at me. I found this dish on bon appetite and was very intrigued by the spiced oil. I just ate at Pizzeria Libretto on The Danforth in Toronto where they have an addictive spiced chili oil that I basically drank out of the bottle and so flavoured, spicy oil is very much on my mind right now. For some reason, I didn't like the idea of throwing the chick peas in there and was just going to just steal the oil/chicken breast part and that alone made this an obvious dish for my first of the new year. The fact that I would NEVER add chickpeas to this chicken was the very reason that I MUST add the chickpeas.

The oil is delicious and I think I can see myself making this to use on other dishes or as a beverage, I mean, condiment all the time. I mixed the tomatoes, chickpeas and cilantro with the oil prior to adding it to the roasting pan and it would have made a delicious cold dish on it's own, served raw just like that. Add some slivered red onion and maybe a bit of crumbled feta and you have yourself a really great salad for dinner next time.

In the end, this was DELICIOUS! All plates were licked clean and this is definitely going into the regular rotation. As frustrating and difficult as the year was, this recipe is the reason I am happy to devote a day a week to the cause because this is something I would have never made on my own. The very idea of the roasted chickpeas and tomato was just completely unappealing to me and it ended up being my favourite part.

roast chicken with chick peas, tomatoes and smoked paprika
from bon appetite

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

4 garlic cloves, pressed

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1/2 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper

1/2 cup Greek yogurt

4 chicken breast halves, bone in and skin on

1 15-ounce can chickpeas , drained

1 350g container red and orange cherry tomatoes

1 cup chopped fresh cilantro, divided

Preheat the oven to 450F.
Mix the olive oil with the garlic, paprika, cumin and dried crushed red pepper and set aside. I did this in the morning and let it sit all day. Whisk a generous tsp into the greek yogurt and set aside to serve with the finished dish.
Place the chicken on a large rimmed baking sheet or a roasting pan (I always use my huge cast iron skillet). Rub 2 tbls of the spicy oil mixture over the four chicken breasts.

Mix together the remaining oil, the chick peas, the tomatoes and about 1/2 cup chopped cilantro and pour that around the chicken. Salt pepper the whole shebang.

Roast until the chicken is cooked through, anywhere from about 25 to 45 minutes, depending on the size of your breasts. To serve, sprinkle each portion of chicken and tomato/beans with a bit more cilantro and serve with the yogurt sauce.

My Last Post of 2011 - Pozole Verde

2011-12-29T11:08:00.001-05:00

We had a great trip to Mexico ( I HATE the term Mayan Riveria but that is where we were) but because it seems that everyone needed more rest than usual, we didn't leave the resort all that much - so unlike us. We usually jump in the jeep every morning after breakfast and go do stuff and that also means we look for great stuff to eat while we are out and about. Breakfast is always good at these resorts because you can load up on a huge plate of tropical fruits like papaya and mango, have some yogurt with granola, a nice cappuccino, maybe a pastry and be on your way. This time, because we hung out on the beach and read and swam and only really went on on big outing to Coba to climb the ruins, we came home tanned and happy but feeling very unsatisfied in the eating department. Even the resorts with the best food get kind of boring and repetitive after a few days if you stay on site and eat all of your meals there. This means I have lots of things I have to make to make us all happy and the first thing I chose to make is Pozole Verde. I love to make chili verde with pork and was going to just do that but I have never made pozole so I thought it the perfect dish to ring out my year of making new things.

I am happy to report that both boys loved the pozole as much as they love chili verde. I will probably make chili verde more often because it's much easier and this dish is more labour intensive but it is worth a bit more effort if you make a nice, big batch that you can freeze for enjoying at a later date. If you have never had pozole or hominy, you need to get out and find a mexican market and make this stuff because it is really very tasty and the green sauce with the pumpkin seeds gives it a very distinct flavour and texture, unlike any other stew.

You know, I understand that these resorts are catering to picky eaters from all over the world. I have watched terrified Brits wandering around the buffet looking for something that looks familiar so I get that they want sun and beach and margaritas but they don't want to eat anything "weird" and would probably just as happy in Florida, to be honest. I get all that but I find it frustrating that they would rather eat a disappointing facsimile of white people food made by people who have no real frame of reference for making this stuff than to eat really delicious regional mexican food that the cooks know inside out and could really take pride in preparing for their guests.

One funny story about the "japanese" restaurant. We don't go in expecting fabulous japanese food so we are okay with whatever comes our way. We order okay looking nigiri sushi as our apps and it comes and apart from super vinegary rice and fish sliced way too thin, we are all pleasantly surprised. It came without ginger, wasabi or soy but that was okay too. After our lovely waiter whisks our empty plates away for us, he proudly puts down a beautiful tray full of all of those condiments plus a tasty sesame seed sauce. We just laughed and laughed because how is he supposed to know that those condiments are to be served WITH the sushi? It was all done with such care and seriousness and flourish that we didn't have the heart to break it to him. We tipped him well and went on our way wishing that we could have had a nice, steaming bowl of pozole instead and I bet the staff wished that they could be cooking that instead.

It's kind of ironic that I had to come home to make this to really "feel" Mexico after spending a week there, no?

This is my last official post of this year long challenge although Dianne and I will be continue to make one brand new dish a week and share them here on the blog. I have had some really frustrating moments, there have been tears and arguments but, in the end, I am really happy that we did this. Even for the best of home cooks, we all find ourselves getting into ruts. Things I discovered during this year:

1. We eat out waaaaaaaaay more than I would have ever admitted to

2. We eat waaaaaaaay too much pasta as a fall back dinner

3. The Kid and I are creatures of habit and although we are both very adventurous eaters, we are also both happy to eat the very same thing day after day before we get bored with it - this made things particularly difficult this summer when it was just the two of us eating at home

4. I am very, very lucky to have a kid who will pretty much try anything I put in front of him and when he doesn't like something, he doesn't declare it gross or disgusting, he makes no terrible gagging noises and there is no drama. He will simply take a bite and say that he doesn't really care for this and that's that. Thank you god responsible for gracing parents with non picky eaters who are also decent about it when they don't like what they have been served.

5. That said, The Kid and Shack are still way pickier than they think they are and I, on the other hand, will clearly eat anything put in front of me, even when I don't like it all that much.

6. I am pretty resourceful

7. We used to waste way too much food and way too many leftovers that could have been fashioned into a pretty tasty second meal were thrown out.

All in all, it's been a challenging year but it's been fun and we have all found some new favourites that were born out of the desperation to make something different AGAIN. Beet risotto is now one of The Kid's favourite new things, for instance and it's something I never made before because I just thought it wouldn't be all that great, and once I was forced to make it we discovered that it IS that great.

Happy New Year and if you are not ready to commit to an entire year of no reEATS, why not join us for 2012 in choosing one day a week where you commit to making a brand new dish that you have never tried before?

See you in January! (except for the one day a week I am committing to no reEATS, I plan to make the exact same dinner every night for the entire month - Shack says it should be spaghetti bolognese, The Kid wants plain risotto with peas and pancetta, and I want green curry anything at this point. Maybe I will give everyone a week just to be nice)

Pozole Verde

1 onion
2 cloves garlic
1 tbls mexican oregano
pinch cumin seed
pinch peppercorns
2 lbs pork shoulder butt

1/2 cups pumpkin seeds
28 oz or approx 800g tomatillos, drained
1/2 cup chopped, canned poblano peppers
small sprig cilantro
2 or 3 cloves garlic
1 onion, chopped
kosher salt
freshly ground black pepper
a couple of tbls of vegetable oil

2 or 3 red potatoes, 1/2" dice
36.5 oz or 1 kg can hominy, drained
the pork cooking stock and any additional water or chicken stock to bring it to about 5 cups

garnish:
thinly sliced radish, deep fried corn tortilla strips, fresh lime wedges, raw red onion sliced really thinly, mexican oregano if you can find it

Put the pork butt, onion, cumin seed, peppercorns and garlic in a heavy pot and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil then turn down and simmer, half covered, for about three hours or until the pork is falling apart tender.
Remove the pork from the liquid and set aside to cool a bit. You can do this the day before and let the strained stock sit in the fridge overnight so you can get rid of most of the fat (don't get rid of all of it because it's really tasty and this isn't the time to worry about your diet). If you aren't making it the next day, strain it and let it sit and then do your best to remove the thick layer of fat on the top of the stock.

Meanwhile, toast the pumpkin seeds over medium heat in a dry skillet until they swell up and start to pop and then remove and set aside. Drain the tomatillos and the peppers.
When the pumpkin seeds cool down, put them in a blender or food processor and grind to a fine powder. Then add the tomatillos, peppers, salt and pepper, onion, garlic and cilantro and process until completely smooth (you might have to add up to 1/2 cup of the pork stock if it's too thick to process)

Heat a couple of tbls of veg oil in the same heavy pot you cooked the pork in over med high heat and pour in the green pumpkin seed/tomatillo puree and cook it until the colour deepens at a nice simmer, about 15 to 25 minutes. It will thicken and the colour will become darker and richer.

Meanwhile, shred up the pork, discard the fat and set aside. Wash and chop the potatoes without peeling them and set those aside too.

After the green sauce has cooked for about 20 minutes, add the shredded pork,drained hominy and the potatoes. Add enough of the pork broth that it is a nice, soupy consistency but not a thin soup. Use your judgement - it's between a soup and a stew. I added about 5 cups of stock and the constancy was perfect.

Let that continue to simmer for another 20 minutes or more, until the potatoes are cooked. Squeeze in the juice of a lime and serve in shallow bowls.

Serve it with your additions so people can add whatever they want to the top of their pozole. You can also serve it with chopped avocado, shredded cabbage or lettuce but we didn't this time.

Still No Cooking - Urge Taquitos in Tulum

2011-12-28T12:35:00.000-05:00

This should have been my Monday post but I had to turn around and go back out of town as soon as we got home to visit with my sister and her family, so better late than never, right?

I kind of feel terrible that after all of the hard work , I am ending my official year of no reEATS with nothing to share. We got back from our holiday in Mexico at about 3am Xmas morning and we had Xmas dinner with my father in law and his family and it was lovely but I didn't cook anything at all. Now, it's boxing day and we are on our way to visit my sister and so, clearly I have nothing to share again. I promise that even if I have nothing for Thursday that I will share one last dinner before NYE. As I wrote earlier, Dianne and I are going to continue on with the blog but only devote one day a week to making something brand new so the content will slow down to a steady twice weekly entry but we are exited to keep going and hope we will inspire others to break out of their comfort zones and explore new things.
I will share the best meal we had in Mexico - actually, it was the only great meal we had. We usually stay at a resort but after eating breakfast there, we go off in the jeep to have adventures all day and we eat endless delicious things while we are out and about but this time we all needed a serious restful week and we only ventured out a few times. That means that most of our food was eaten on the resort and so that also means that 95% of what we ate was unmemorable.

The day before we left we drove down to Tulum and ate at Urge Taquitos for fish tacos and ceviche. They basically make fish and chips battered fish or shrimp and they have a big selection of delicious salsas and condiments like shredded cabbage, a great chipotle tamarind sauce, super spicy avocado sauce etc. If you go to the area, you MUST seek this place out for a nice cold beer, some great tacos and one of the yummiest shrimp/fish ceviches ever.

For my final no reEATS of the year, I will be making pozole because for the first time ever, this trip held no food love apart from this meal and I am left with unmet cravings that I am going to have to fill myself over the next few weeks.

I swear to god that there is some deep fried fish under all of those condiments

I can never decide and end up using all of them

this ceviche is ripe with lime juice and salt and so much black pepper that it will make you a bit sneezy but only in the best way possible

until you have eaten resort guacamole, you don't realize that there is such a thing as bad guacamole. THIS is not that.

crazy habernero sauce

the carnage

My favourite taco joint in Tulum, by far

No cooking down Mexico way

2011-12-22T22:49:00.001-05:00

I had a long, detailed post complete with pictures but it won't post. Long story short, I am on vacation and not cooking and enjoying a week of not thinking about cooking.
We come home Xmas day, eat Xmas dinner at my father in law's and then go to my sister's for dinner boxing day so I might have nothing to share Monday as well. I feel a bit guilty for shirking cooking duties at the end of this

year but I am very happy to be with my boys in Mexico.
Merry Xmas, happy holidays and eat well and often my friends!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Mexico

Squash Baked Macaroni

2011-12-20T16:49:00.007-05:00

I was looking for variations on macaroni and cheese this week, but most of them were overly rich and also pretty "adult," with additions of pancetta and mushrooms and the like (probably unlikely to be a hit with the kiddies). So when I came across this hidden-squash version, I thought it might be worth a try, even though Maddie hates the stuff. If I could fool her by slipping it into her fave meal, it'd be a success. Austin and Q loved it, with full vegetable disclosure, but we did the blind test with the little missus who, despite being able to taste the offending veg from her first bite, liked it regardless. Am I showing my age if I say, "Hey Mikey, she likes it!" (anyone over 40 will relate...). She said that I should write in my blog that any moms whose kids hate squash and yet they want to secretly get it into their tummies should try this recipe. The perfect endorsement as far as I'm concerned.

Squash Baked Macaroni
(adapted from Martha Stewart)
serves 4

2 tbsp olive oil
1 medium butternut squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
1 medium acorn squash, halved lengthwise and seeded
1 tbsp butter
1 lb macaroni or pasta of your choice
1/2 cup light cream
1/2 cup milk
pinch nutmeg
1/4 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese
1/4 cup mascarpone cheese
1/4 cup fresh ricotta cheese
1/2 cup breadcrumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place squashes on a rimmed baking sheet; drizzle with oil. Toss squashes until evenly coated and rub the cut sides and the cavities of the squashes with the butter and season with salt and pepper. Place cut side down and bake until very soft, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool. Do not turn off oven.

When cool, use a large spoon to scoop the flesh of the squash into the bowl of a food processor. Add cream and milk, and puree until smooth. Add nutmeg and season with salt and pepper. Process until well combined. Transfer mixture to a large bowl; set aside.

Cook pasta to al dente in boiling salted water. Drain and add to bowl with squash mixture along with the cheeses. Top with breadcrumbs and bake until golden brown, about 30 minutes.

Rest of the week
Dec 17 Pizza night for girls' sleepover
Dec 18 Family Xmas get-together
Dec 19 Salmon hash
Dec 20 Squash mac 'n' cheese with broccoli

Dec 15- 19 Salmon Cakes

2011-12-19T13:43:00.001-05:00

Dec 15 Salmon Cakes
Dec 16
Dec 17
Dec 18

I spent the entire day on Thursday baking and making candy because on Wednesday night we decided we would go to Mexico and we had to leave on Saturday. That suddenly meant that I would have to have all of my baking done by Friday morning so I could package up treats for The Kid's teachers etc. Since I spent the entire day working with nothing but chocolate, sugar, butter and more sugar, I wanted something really simple and quick and light and I didn't want to have to do a big grocery shop so I had to turn to the pantry. It was either salmon cakes or a can of pork and beans with toast and although the can of beans was tempting me like nobodies' business, I couldn't really write about that, now could I? Not now, after lasting for 11 months and two weeks of endeavouring to make not just something different every night but something kind of worth talking about. Not that salmon cakes are the most exiting thing in the world but it's better than heating a can of beans, right?

Sorry for the bad iPhone photo but The Kid ate the extra salmon cake I had tried to sneak into the fridge so I could take a pretty picture tomorrow in the daylight.

Salmon Cakes

1 213g can pacific wild salmon
1/4 cup panko and then another 1/4 cup or so for dredging
1/2 tsp grated ginger
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/3 shallot, finely chopped
1 heaping tbls of kewpie mayonnaise if you have it or regular if you don't
1 tbls black sesame seeds
a squeeze of lemon (i squeezed in half of a meyer lemon)
the zest from half of the lemon
kosher salt and a few grinds of pepper to taste
1 egg yolk (I would normally use a whole egg but I had yolks leftover from making meringues)

Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl. I put it in the fridge for about 45 minutes to firm up and then I take it out and form my little hockey puck sized patties. Dredge them on both sides with more panko.

Heat a frying pan over med heat and add a bit of oil. Fry them for about 4 or 5 minutes per side so they get nice and crispy.

We ate them with a salad with a japanese sesame dressing. I also put them on a nest of really thin rice vermicelli and if you want to do that you just put the nest of dry noodles in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Let it sit for about 3-5 minutes until it's softened and then drain it and rinse it under cold water and let sit and drain in a strainer while you get the salad ready.

Quick and Easy Borscht

2011-12-16T18:55:00.004-05:00

Ever since Carole posted her beet risotto a week or so ago, I've been wanting to make something beet related. I'm not sure if it's all in my imagination, but I always feel stronger after eating beets. Yes, I know they're chockful of all sorts of nutrients and vitamins, but someone long ago told me they're especially great for your blood, and after fainting recently and feeling a bit lightheaded/dizzy at times, I figured I had nothing to lose and hopefully everything to gain. Borscht isn't something I've ever made before, or even wanted to, for that matter, but what better time to try it than in the final stretch of our all-new journey. Easy enough to roast up the beets and prep the soup. A bit harder to find someone to eat it alongside me since the boyfolk are all away and Maddie took one look at the vivid jewel tones of the final product and headed straight out the door with an empty stomach instead of having to partake. As for me, I loved it, feel stronger for it and will repeat again sometime next year.

Quick and Easy Borscht
serves 4 to 6

6 medium beets plus tops and stems
4 medium carrots, peeled and grated
1 medium bunch kale, trimmed stems, then coarsely chopped
1/2 28-oz can plum tomatoes, with juice, coarsely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 red onions, medium diced
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 tsp sugar
2 bay leaves
3 chopped dill fronds
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
3 to 4 cups water

Roast beets in foil for 40 minutes at 425 degrees. Cool, peel and medium chop along with stems and leaves. In a large soup pot, heat 1 tsp oil over medium heat and then add onions, garlic, caraway seeds, dill and bay leaf and saute briefly. Add rest of the vegetables (except tomatoes), cover and saute briefly. Add tomatoes, vinegar, sugar, juice and water; stir, cover loosely and simmer for approximately one hour until flavours blend and vegetables are soft. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Rest of week
Dec 14 Hors d'oeuvres a la Daniel et Daniel at Q's work party
Dec 15 Dinner propped up at the bar of The Keg w Maddie
Dec 16 Borscht with crusty loaf

Dec 12-14 Crock Pot Fennel Roast Beef

2011-12-15T11:27:00.000-05:00

Dec 12 chicken green bean stir fry
Dec 13 meatloaf sandwiches
Dec 14 Crock Pot Fennel Roast Beef with pasta

I truly had no idea what I was going to make for dinner on Wednesday night until I went to the grocery store and they had eye of round roasts on sale so I grabbed one and walked around the store getting all of my baking stuff trying to figure out what to do with it. I actually don't like roast beef. I don't like prime rib or standing rib roast or any of that stuff. The only way I enjoy a big chunk of beef is if it is falling apart so I pretty much only braise them or cook them in my handy dandy crock pot (or as we like to call it, my crotch pot). I was either going to go beer, mustard beef on mashed potatoes or a more italian beef served over pasta.
Clearly I chose to go the Italian over pasta route. I might just pick up another one at this price and make it with beer next week now that I think about it.

I will have a post for next Monday but I am leaving this Saturday for a week of christmas beach and sand and will be be back until christmas day. Clearly I am not going to be cooking anything myself but I will post next thursday with photos of some of the delicious things we will be eating and then that only leaves ONE LAST WEEK UNTIL THIS NO REEATS CHALLENGE IS FINISHED!!!

Clearly, we lost our third partner, Jen, somewhere around the end of October when her work schedule sent her into a black hole but I am pretty thrilled that Dianne and I have made it to the bitter end. We have both decided that although neither of us wants to do this again for another year, we do like being forced to step out of our comfort zones and make things that we would not normally make. We will continue with the blog but we will each just take one day a week where we have to make something completely new and we will share that with you. I plan to make exactly the same thing the other six nights of the week just for sport.
If there is anyone out there who is crazy enough and would like to take the year long challenge, you are welcome to get in touch and let us know and maybe you could join our crazy train.
With that, I give you:

Crock Pot Fennel Roast Beef
1 lb (about 600g) beef eye of round roast
kosher salt and pepper
glug olive oil
*tbls of #5 Umamai paste
1 cup tomato puree
3/4 cup of chicken stock
fresh thyme, at least a small handful or to taste
2 cloves garlic
1 fennel bulb, sliced

serve with any hearty pasta - I like it with paperadelle but it's good with rigatoni or something like that

Slice the fennel bulb like this:

Put the fennel and the garlic into the crock pot. Mix in the tomato and 1/2 cup of the chicken stock and the thyme. Add salt and pepper to taste ( I have to salt because I use my own tomatoes that were preserved without salt).

Heat a frying pan over med heat, add a little glug of oil and then liberally salt and pepper your roast before putting in in the hot pan to sear on all sides until nice and brown.
Put the browned meat on top of the fennel and push it around until the fennel is surrounding the meat and the meat is partially submerged.
In the hot pan you just seared the meat, add the umami paste and then the last 1/4 cup of chicken stock and let that bubble up. Take it off the heat immediately and use a spatula to scrape all of the goodness into the crockpot over the meat.
Put the lid on, turn it onto high and walk away.

I cook it all day on low or if you don't have all day, you can do it for about 4 or 5 hours on high but the longer you let it sit, the softer the meat gets and the easier it is to shred it up.
When it's done, as your pasta is cooking, open the lid and take two forks and start shredding the meat up until it looks like pulled pork.
Ladle the meat, the fennel and some of the liquid over pasta and grate lots of fresh parmesan on top. Of course, I like to sprinkle lots of hot chili flake on mine. You can also eat it over rice or mashed potatoes of course.

*about this #5 umami paste, I am LOVING it. It adds a really nice depth of flavour, a hit of salty, briny goodness and I will make sure I always have a tube of this in my pantry. In Canada, you can get it at Loblaws as part of their new Black Lable line and it looks like it's widely available at fine food stores like Dean and De Luca in the States. If you don't have it, you can just use some tomato paste for thickness but it won't bump up the flavour

Quinoa-Crusted Chicken or Salmon with Sage

2011-12-13T05:23:00.007-05:00

I found myself leafing through Quinoa 365 again this week, looking for a salmon recipe, and this simple weeknight Quinoa-Crusted Chicken with Sage sounded light, fresh and delicious--and I figured I could adapt it to salmon for three of us, while the remaining holdout from anything fishy could enjoy her chicken alone. The recipe called for a gouda cheese sauce to go alongside the chicken but since I don't really like gouda and I didn't want a heavy sauce, I wasn't tempted to make it and I was also pretty sure that none of us would miss it anyway. And they didn't. Then again, I didn't tell them that it even existed so who knows, it might have been a hit since nobody in this family ever turns down anything cheesy.
Since I didn't have the quinoa flakes that were listed, I just used my regular quinoa and it worked perfectly... grainy, nutty and light, with a zing from the Dijon and the freshness of the sage... a nice change from normal breading of any kind. No complaints from anyone, neither fish nor fowl camps, and that's often the highest praise since my food critics are feeling the fatigue of providing positive feedback after more than a year of new stuff. Just quiet acceptance is enough for all of us right now and I'm grateful for that.

Quinoa-Crusted Chicken with Sage
adapted from Quinoa 365
serves 4

3 tbsp milk
3 tsp Dijon mustard
1/2 tsp minced fresh garlic
3/4 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1/3 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup quinoa flakes
6 tsp finely chopped fresh sage
1/2 tsp salt
4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

cheese sauce
1/4 cup milk
2 tsp quinoa flour
1/4 cup grated Gouda cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet or line with parchment paper.

Mix the milk and 2 tsp of the mustard in a small, shallow bowl. Add the garlic and Worcestershire sauce and mix well. Set aside.
Combine the parmesan, quinoa, 2 tsp of the sage and the salt and place in a shallow bowl. Working with 1 chicken breast at a time, dip evenly into the milk mixture, then place in the bowl and coat with the quinoa mixture.
Place the chicken breasts on the baking sheet and bake on the centre rack for about 20 minutes, until the meat is no longer pink and the juices run clear.
To make the sauce, heat the milk and quinoa flour in a small saucepan on medium heat, stirring frequently. Whisk in the cheese with the remaining 4 tsp sage and 1 tsp Dijon. Heat the mixture until it thickens, about 3 to 4 minutes, whisking frequently. Season with salt and pepper. Pour the sauce over the chicken and serve immediately.
Rest of the week

Dec 10 Dinner with family at golf club

Dec 11 Busy day so ordered in from Vivetha

Dec 12 Quinoa-crusted salmon with tossed salad

Dec 8-11

2011-12-12T10:57:00.000-05:00

Dec 8 Creamy Tomato Fennel Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons
Dec 9 We had to be out and didn't really eat dinner
Dec 10 ordered in Thai
Dec 11 Meatloaf

This ended up being a bit of a stressful end to the week for various reasons so we either weren't home to eat or too spent to think about cooking. Thankfully I had made a fabulous tomato soup and The Kid was happy with two big bowls full of grilled cheese croutons for Thursday because he certainly didn't get any real dinner on Friday night.
Sunday came along and Shack had to work so I felt like I should make something that the boys would find really comforting. It was time to whip out a basic meatloaf. I have been holding back on a couple of winter staples so that I could make them this last month of this challenge to make it all go by a bit faster. They really enjoyed the turkey meatloaf but they both love a good, solid meatloaf so much and it was the perfect meal to end a not so good week.
It's not like anyone is actively counting the days until I no longer have to stick to this crazy challenge or anything.

The Kid's Favourite Meatloaf
makes 2 meatloaves, serves 6 to 8

1 onion, chopped fine
1 stalk celery, chopped fine
2 cloves garlic, chopped fine
olive oil
600 g ground pork
600 g lean ground beef
1/4 cup milk
1 slice whole grain bread
1/2 cup of your favourite bbq sauce
about a tbls each fresh thyme, sage and rosemary chopped fine
2 eggs, beaten
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dry hot chinese mustard

glaze:
1/4 cup bbq sauce
1 tbls chipotle chili in adobo
1/4 red onion sliced really thinly

heat a sauté pan over med heat with a small glug of olive oil and sauté the onion, celery and garlic for about five minutes until it's softened. Remove from heat and let cool to room temp.
Preheat oven to 400F

Put the slice of bread in the food processor and grind up into crumbs. Add the milk and let sit and put aside. Put the beef, pork, bbq sauce, eggs, herbs, salt and chinese mustard in a big bowl. Add the bread crumbs that you soaked in milk and mix with your hands for about a minute. Don't over mix or your meatloaf will be tough.

Line a baking sheet with parchment or foil. Divide the meat mixture into halves and form each half into a loaf shape on the parchment lined pan. Mix the glaze ingredients and then brush each of the two meatloaves with the glaze. Scatter the red onion slices over each meatloaf.
Put the baking tray in your hot oven and bake for about 45 minutes to 1 hr. Check after 45 minutes and the internal temp should be at least 160F. Take it out of the oven and let it sit for about ten minutes to settle before slicing and serving.

A Simple Hearty Minestrone

2011-12-09T15:16:00.006-05:00

I don't know about you but at this time of the year I could pretty much skip dinner altogether most evenings. Maybe it's overindulging during the day so there's no appetite left at night or I'm tired and/or lazy or I'd just rather be bakin' instead of cookin'. Whatever the reason, the last thing I want to do is make dinner. But with the eldest home from university and craving home-cooked meals and drinking us out of house and home in terms of milk but who's keeping track of these things, it still seems to be a priority (to him, at least) and order-in or take-out aren't viable options right now.
So, on one busy Friday afternoon, this minestrone soup pretty much made itself and hit the spot for all of us, as we all came and went at different times. Chopped up some veggies, got the onions and garlic a-going, and then threw it all in the pot and walked away for the good part of an hour. I waited til almost dinnertime to add the pasta so it wouldn't be too soggy once we made it to the table. Good, stick-to-your-ribs fare that will tide us over til the next piece of shortbread.

Hale and Hearty Minestrone Soup
serves 6 to 8

2 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
6 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup tomato paste
1/4 cup chopped parsley
1 tbsp chopped basil
2 medium carrots, peeled and chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 dried bay leaf
1 28-oz can chopped tomatoes, with their liquid
1 cup canned kidney beans, drained
1 cup dried penne pasta

In a large stockpot, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic and onions and cook until translucent.
Add the broth, tomato paste, parsley, basil, celery, carrots, bay leaf, and tomatoes along with their juice and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, until the vegetables are cooked tender.
Add the kidney beans and pasta at the very end, and simmer for another 20 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
Rest of the week

Dec 6 Bubble chicken with salad

Dec 7 Barbecued ribs w mashed potatoes and broccoli

Dec 8 Linguine with pesto and veggies

Dec 9 Minestrone with cheese sticks

Dec 5-7 Tandoori Salmon and Parippu

2011-12-08T08:00:00.000-05:00

Dec 5 sparkling wine and candy at Dianne's gingerbread house party!

Dec 6 Tandoori Salmon and Parippu (dal)

Dec 7 Tandoori Salmon Tacos

Shack is back on another movie so he hasn't been around a ton for dinner which means we are back to finding things that The Kid and I love that Shack doesn't love as much. We both really, really love salmon and Little Shack is developing a love for Indian food so I decided on tandoori salmon. I used the tandoori marinade from my beloved The Food Of India book for both the tandoori and the parippu, which is just a kind of dal using red lentils. For those of you who find making Indian food intimidating, this is a really simple thing to start with and although the list of ingredients can look kind of long, it's so easy to throw together. My only recommendation would be to grill the salmon if you can because it would have been better if it had all the nice, dark bits and the slightly burnt skin that comes from grilling but it's December and I don't have a gas grill so that was out of the question.

Little Shack loved the coconutty lentils and I will eat that dal every day until it is gone and be very happy about that so I made a big pot. I also made extra salmon because I knew we would do tandoori salmon tacos the next night because, remember, everything is delicious in a corn tortilla!

Tandoori Salmon

adapted from The Food Of India cookbook

marinade:

2 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1 onion, rough chop

3 cloves garlic, rough chop

2 inch piece ginger, rough chop

1 cup greek yogurt

grated zest of 1 lemon
3 tbls lemon juice

2 tbls white vinegar

1 tsp paprika

2 tsp garam masala

To make the marinade, blend all the ingredients in a food processor or blender and blend to a smooth paste. Season with salt to taste.

Marinate the salmon for at least a couple of hours and preferably all day.

When it's time to cook it, remove the salmon from the marinade, brush the excess marinade off and get rid of the marinade.

Preheat the oven to 450F

I like to heat an oven proof pan over med to med high heat and add a bit of oil and then put the salmon fillets in the pan, skin side down and cook for about three or four minutes like that, until the skin is getting nice and crispy. Then I pop the whole thing in a really hot oven until its cooked, about another 10 minutes. I then whip it out, put the rack up to the top, turn on the broiler and then broil the fish for a couple of minutes.

I served this with some raita , basmati rice, the parippu (dal) and steamed green beans.

Parippu (red lentils cooked in coconut milk)

1 cup masoor dal (red lentils)

1 onion, chopped

1 ripe tomato, chopped

1 cup coconut milk

1/4 tsp ground turmeric

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp ground coriander

2 tbls butter (ghee if you have it is better but i didn't) or vegetable oil

1 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp black mustard seeds

1/2 tsp grated ginger

1 onion, finely chopped

fresh cilantro

Put the lentils into a heavy bottomed saucepan with 2 cups of water, the roughly chopped onion and tomato, coconut milk, turmeric, ground cumin and coriander and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the lentils are cooked to a nice, soft mush - about 25 to 30 minutes. If they have dried out, add a bit more water.

For the final seasoning, or tarka, heat the butter or oil in a small saucepan over med low heat. Add the cumin seed and mustard seed and cook until the seeds pop. Add the onion and the ginger and fry over med low heat until the onions are nice and golden brown. Stir this mixture into the lentils and cook for about 5 more minutes, adding salt to taste. Serve with a bit of fresh cilantro

Candy for Dinner because It's the Annual Gingerbread House Party

2011-12-06T16:37:00.015-05:00

Ever since December 1, the kids have been having a little piece of chocolate from their advent calendars as part of their breakfast, so I figured it was only fair that I also got to eat candy for dinner on this, one of my favourite nights of the year--my annual gingerbread house party for some of my closest girlfriends. This tradition started out about 11 years ago, I think, because my first memory of the Kitchenaid whirring away making batches upon batches of royal icing was when Maddie was still a wee baby, strapped in her car seat on the counter and a totally captive audience, watching me run around the kitchen before my guests arrived. Now she's graduated to my second- or third-in-command, if Austin is around, and they're both part of the action as my friends are sweet enough to include them in decorating their own masterpieces.

Over the years, the group has whittled itself down to the true "hard-corers" who come armed and ready with blueprints, plans, spreadsheets, and bags of candy/cereal/props/lights to adorn their creations, and be part of the (generally) warmhearted "competition." Hard to believe that everyone starts with the same simple pre-assembled six-inch house and ends up with such completely unique and amazing results. From English cottages to pink wonderlands to silver winter scenes and even a Whoville extravaganza a few years back when the Grinch was in theatres, the possibilities are endless and we've seen it all over the years. Christmas just wouldn't be Christmas in this household without feeling sticky for two days straight, finding globs of royal icing stuck in my hair the next day, hearing all the leftover dragees/sprinkles/candies being sucked up by the vacuum later that night, and enjoying friendly female company and competition in my warm kitchen. Thank god for girlfriends at any time of year.

Dec 1-4 Beet Risotto

2011-12-05T11:39:00.000-05:00

Dec 1 Butternut Squash Pear Soup and a big salad
Dec 2 Dinner with The Neighbours
Dec 3 Beet Risotto
Dec 4 Shack made pasta with meat sauce

When your 12 year old requests beet risotto, you make him beet risotto. You don't ask questions, you just say yes, of course I will make you beet risotto.That is all I have to say about that.

So, about the actual risotto, all the recipes I saw called for peeling, chopping and roasting the beets before hand and then mixing them into the almost finished risotto but I didn't want to go to all that trouble AND I wanted the risotto to have a really pretty, strong colour. I decided instead to grate the beets and cook them right in the rice and I also threw some beet as well as the stems into the stock for good measure to make the stock red and beety. I think I made the right choice because the colour on this risotto was insane - Little Shack said it's the perfect Christmas dish what with the beautiful deep red from the beets and the dark green from the beet greens making it all festive. I put aside a tiny bowl, thankfully, because between the two of them, they hoovered the entire thing. I was lucky to get a small bowl for myself alongside the tiny portion I hid so I could get a picture the next day. I am actually pretty exited that now, on the home stretch in our year long challenge, I am actually still making stuff that I know will become life long family favourites.
WIN WIN WIN

Beet Risotto
Serves 4

5 1/2 to 6 1/2 cups of chicken stock
3 small beets with greens attached
1 tbls butter
1 tbls olive oil
2 large shallots, chopped finely
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups arborio rice
1/2 cup white wine
salt and pepper
3 tbls cold butter
3/4 cup grated grano padano
a drizzle of truffle oil

Put the stock in a large pot. Chop the stems and greens off of the beets and add the stems to the pot of stock. Wash and chop the leaves and set aside.

Peel the beets and grate on a large box grater and set aside. Throw the nubs leftover into the stock pot.
Finely chop the shallots and throw the skins and any scraps into the stock pot.

Heat up the stock pot on a back burner until it comes to barely a simmer. On the front burner, heat the oil and butter in a deep sauté pan and cook the shallot and garlic for about 4 minutes. Add the arborio rice and stir constantly for about 2 minutes, until the rice is opaque.
This is when you add the wine and stir until the wine is almost completely absorbed. Start adding stock, one ladle full at a time. After the first ladle, add the grated beets. Keep stirring, pretty much constantly for another ten minutes, adding a ladle full of stock when the rice absorbs the last addition.
At the halfway mark, about ten minutes in, add the reserved, chopped beet green leaves. Keep adding a ladle of stock until it is absorbed and stirring non stop, making nice figure eights, for a bother ten minutes for a total of about 20 minutes of cooking time. Salt and pepper to taste.
When the risotto is finished (it should be a tiny bit soupy and the rice should still have a bit of bite to it - just keep tasting as you go but it will almost always take between 18 and about 23 minutes) take it off the heat and add in the cold butter and the grano paddano and stir vigorously until all the cheese is incorporated and the butter is melted.
Don't worry if you don't have truffle oil because this stuff is so delicious that you don't really need it but I have some so I use it.
Serve in shallow bowls.

Roasted Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons

2011-12-04T19:31:00.000-05:00

Maddie mentioned the other day that the only soup she really likes is tomato soup. Campbell's, that is. That of the liquidy ketchupy fame. A definite yuck for me but apparently appealing to her. Felt like she'd thrown down the gauntlet and I was up for the challenge. When I found this roasted tomato soup recipe I was pretty sure I could top the canned variety but obviously I spoke too soon. My first mistake was probably thinking I could make a truly flavourful tomato soup when it's the end of November and not exactly prime tomato season. But I still held out hope that the roasting process would somehow intensify the flavours. It didn't. Then, of course, as the pic shows, my soup turned out more orange than red, which led to kid-suspicions that I had actually made butternut squash soup or sweet potato soup and was trying to pass it off as the tomato variety. Taste couldn't convince them otherwise since it was so bland that none of us could identify what the main vegetable even was. The only redeeming grace was the addition of the grilled cheese croutons, which saved the greasy finger approach of having to dip your sandwich in da soup. But enough said: quite simply, Campbell's won this showdown.

Roasted Tomato Soup with Grilled Cheese Croutons

serves 4

2 lbs tomatoes, diced

1 red pepper, diced and seeded

1 onion, diced

1 carrot, diced

4 cloves garlic, unpeeled

olive oil

1/4 tsp garlic powder

1/4 tsp paprika

1 tsp oregano

2 cups chicken stock

1/4 cup heavy cream, optional

handful of basil, chopped

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place the tomatoes, red pepper, carrot, onion and garlic on a baking pan and drizzle with the oil and salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes. Place everything but the cream into a saucepan and simmer for 15 minutes. Puree with a hand blender and mix in the cream and basil.

For the croutons, make up a couple of grilled cheese sandwiches (I used my panini press) with the cheese of your choice. Cut off the crusts and cut into small squares.

Rest of the week

Nov 26 Dinner at Bravi with friends

Nov 27 Rotini with sun-dried tomato sauce

Nov 28 Roasted tomato soup

Pulled Braised Beef and Onions

2011-12-04T18:58:00.004-05:00

Trust me, this meal is more delicious than the photo may suggest (totally brown food is never easy to photograph, especially in the evening)... totally delicious, in fact, if we do say so ourselves. I was looking for a throw-in-the-oven-and-walk-away kinda meal because Q and I were hoping to hit a matinee but still wanted to walk in to a homecooked dinner at the end of our day. And this recipe not only met both these criteria but also had the house smellin' like a cozy dream. Austin kept an eye on things in our absence and even took care of the "pulling of the beef" too. A perfectly easy Sunday night dinner that began before noon with a quick browning of the roast, followed by a super-fast toss of all the other ingredients. Then I threw it in the oven at a low heat, walked away and it took care of itself from there on in. Sweet, caramelly, slightly spicy pulled beef is the reward--and a nice change from the traditional pulled pork.

Pulled Braised Beef and Onions
serves 8 to 10

a bit of olive oil, for browning
1 eye of round or top round beef roast
2 onions, halved and thinly sliced
1 1/2 cups beef stock
1 1/2 cups barbecue sauce
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp grainy mustard
a few cloves garlic, crushed

In a heavy skillet, heat a drizzle of oil over medium-high heat and brown the roast on all sides. Meanwhile, toss everything else together in a slow cooker or ovenproof casserole; top with the browned meat. Cover and cook on low (in the slow cooker) for 6-8 hours, or cover and bake at 275 to 300 degrees for 6 hours. Using two forks, pull the meat apart in the sauce and serve on soft buns.

Rest of the week

Dec 3 Ordered pizza and watched a movie

Dec 4 Pulled beef

Turkey Sweet-Potato Shepherd's Pie

2011-12-02T16:34:00.009-05:00

I was inspired by Carole's mini-turkey-meatloaves a week or so ago and had been thinking about making something similar, when my dear friend Peggi-Jean mentioned that she'd also made turkey/veggie/mashed potato cupcakes or muffins that same week and they were totally delicious. So as not to be a complete copycat of Carole (accidental alliteration), I figured I'd use PJ's recipe, which had originally been posted on Foodbuzz. Sadly for us, however, I had no success finding them in their archives and by that point PJ had flitted off to NYC for a crazy girls-gone-wild weekend so I had to resort to Rachael Ray's version instead. The verdict here on the homefront was that this one was on the bland side... a common refrain lately so I'm going to have to work on the seasoning side of things... and since we're all lamb lovers, we'll likely return to that in the future for traditional shepherd's pie. But I won't give up on PJ's cupcakes once she makes it back to TO and gives up the elusive recipe.

Turkey Sweet-Potato Shepherd's Pie
adapted from Rachael Ray
serves 4

2/ lb sweet potatos, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 lb ground turkey
1 onion, chopped
1 large carrot, diced
2 ribs celery, chopped
1 cup peas
1 cup turkey or chicken broth
1 tbsp flour
a few dashes Worchestershire sauce
1 tbsp butter
1/4 cup grated cheese of your choice

In a large saucepan, combine the sweet potatoes and enough cold water to cover. Bring to a boil, salt the water and cook until tender, about 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.

In the meantime, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. In a deep skillet or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil, add the turkey and cook, breaking up with a spoon. Stir in the onion, carrots, celery and salt and pepper. Cook for 5 minutes. Sprinkle the flour over the meat mixture and cook for 2 to 3 minutes and then add the chicken broth and Worchestershire sauce. Stir and allow to thicken, about 5 minutes. Add the peas and remove from the heat.

Mash the sweet potatoes with the butter and season with salt and pepper. In individual ramekins or a larger casserole dish, top the turkey with the sweet potato and then sprinkle with cheese. Bake until the cheese is completely melted, about 5 minutes.

Rest of the week

Nov 30 Ordered Thai food for early celebration of Austin's birthday; molten lava chocolate birthday cakes

Dec 1 Cheese on toast due to crazy night of parent-teacher interviews

Dec 2 Turkey shepherd's pie

Nov 29-30 Creamy Pasta with Brussels Sprouts and Pancetta

2011-12-01T13:27:00.000-05:00

Nov 29 Date night with The Kid at Amaya Bread Bar
Nov 30 Creamy Pasta with Brussels Sprouts and Pancetta

I had to make something that was going to be quick and easy because we had a busy Wednesday night filled with parent/teacher meeting, karate and then I had to go back out to a "thing" so I was pretty sure it would be a pasta. Before this year, we usually ate pasta at least three times a week but I realized that we have not been eating much pasta at all lately and I am missing it.
I was feeling like I was probably shooting my self in the foot by wanting to make a simple pasta out of ingredients we all love and would appear to be a no brainer because I can never forget the great cauliflower pasta incident where it all went terribly wrong. That is the day that I learned that my adventurous foodie eaters were actually not as adventurous as I thought and just because they love all the ingredients in a dish doesn't mean they are going to love them all together as a finished dish.
I have no patience for this nonsense but I was going to throw caution to the wind and do it anyway. To be honest, since Little Shack was doing his vow of silence for Free The Children he couldn't complain about it even if he didn't like it, so I was kind of taking advantage of his generous spirit. You gotta do what you gotta do to get by sometimes.
In the end, this pasta was really, really, really good and even my little silent bob was having a hard time not moaning and rhapsodizing about the deliciousness that he was shovelling into his non speaking little mouth.

Creamy Pasta with Brussels Sprouts and Pancetta
300 g brussels sprouts
2 tbls olive oil
2 cloves garlic
50g pancetta, diced small
2 tsp PC #5 Umami paste (spiced tomato/anchovy paste) (or you can do 1 tsp of anchovy paste and 1 tsp of tomato paste instead I would think)
3/4 cup evaporated milk
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
grana pandano cheese
300g pasta ( I used PC Splendido gemelli )

wash and chiffonade the brussel sprouts (I use a mandolin to get them really fine but you can slice them really thinly with a knife too) and set aside

Get a big pot of salted water boiling.

Heat a saute pan over med heat and throw in the pancetta. Cook the pancetta until it's crispy and remove it with a slotted spoon, reserving whatever fat has rendered in the pan. Add the olive oil to that and throw in the garlic, stir it around for 30 seconds and then add the brussel sprouts and stir them until they are softened. I keep going until they actually start to brown up a bit but you don't have to go that far if you don't like your brussel sprouts as sassy as I do.
Meanwhile, your water should be boiling so you can add your pasta and cook according to the package directions.
Add the Umami paste to the brussel sprouts and stir that around for a minute. Throw in the evaporated milk, add the pasta and toss to make sure everything is mixed up and the pasta is completely coated in the sauce. Taste and salt and pepper to taste. Throw in 3/4 of the pancetta, toss again and plate it up. Top with freshly grated grana padano and the rest of the crispy pancetta.

Nov 28 Chili Baked Potatoes

2011-11-28T14:55:00.000-05:00

Nov 27 We all ate movie popcorn for supper because we are clearly terrible parents
Nov 28 Baked potatoes with chili and a big salad

Sunday Shack was supposed to work so The Kid and I were going to have an easy supper of baked potatoes stuffed with chili, some more of my cojita cheese leftover from our black bean soup and whatever else I have in the fridge but that meal got pushed to Monday. Instead, we took him to play Warhammer with all of the other geeks and then saw Hugo and dined on popcorn and sprite. I think they both ate some leftovers before bedtime but I am not sure because I was already in my own bed celebrating my mother of the year award.

Baked Potatoes with Chili

2 baking potatoes
some butter
1 cup of chili
handful of crumbled cojita cheese (or feta would be good too)
handful of grated sharp cheddar
pinch of fresh, chopped cilantro
drizzle of greek yogurt

preheat the oven to 350F
wash and dry your potatoes, prick them a few times with a fork and wrap them in foil. Bake them for about an hour - I like my baked potatoes really soft so I don't worry about over cooking them.
Unwrap them from the foil and cut them in half or a cross down the middle and spread it open a bit.
Heat up the chili and pour about 1/2 cup of hot chili on top of each potato. Grate on some sharp cheddar, sprinkle on some crumbled cojita cheese. I put the greek yogurt into a little snack baggie and snip off a tiny hole in one corner and squeeze the yogurt out so it looks prettier. Scatter the whole thing with some fresh cilantro and dig in.

Nov 24-26 Cranberry GlazedTurkey Meatloaf With All The Trimmings

2011-11-27T10:56:00.001-05:00

Nov 24 Black bean tofu
Nov 25 Black Bean Soup and a cheese quesadilla for The Kid
Nov 26 Turkey Meatloaf with all the trimmings

We really love a big, traditional turkey dinner and all look forward to Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving just so we have an excuse to make it. We would never dream of serving anything else on those holidays if we have any say in the matter but we didn't get turkey at Easter (it was simply out of our control people) so we are still all feeling one quart of gravy down. With all this talk of American Thanksgiving taking over our internet lives, I am dying for the big bird but don't want to roast one for the three of us so I thought, why not make a meatloaf that tastes like turkey dinner in one loaf? How bad could it be, right?

I made mini meat loafs so that I could make mine with a cranberry/chipotle glaze- The Kid doesn't like cranberry and I wanted to avoid the meatloaf going uneaten because of that one thing. Since our Canadian thanksgiving has long past I couldn't find fresh cranberries to make the glaze but to be perfectly honest with you, I LOVE the canned jellied cranberry sauce so I was not really looking all that hard. Since there weren't going to be any drippings from roasting a turkey, I made a turkey veloute instead of a proper gravy. I made some stock with a couple of turkey necks so although it's not as dark and rich as turkey gravy, it's still pretty darned tasty. I was worried about the meat being dry and almost added some ground pork but it was moist and tender and not dry as dust, as I had feared.
All in all it was a great success and everyone gobbled up every last bit of dinner. In fact, plates were licked clean and I was assured that no changes were needed at all. I am so happy that we seem to have a nice alternative to a full on thanksgiving dinner that we can eat any time of year.

Cranberry Glazed Turkey Meatloaf With All The Trimmings

1 stalk celery, chopped finely
1/2 onion, chopped finely
1 small clove garlic, chopped finely
2 tbls butter
1 piece of 12 grain bread, whizzed in the food processor
1 tbls each: fresh rosemary, thyme ,parsley and sage, chopped (or more to taste if you really like herbs)
1 to 2 tbls chicken or turkey stock to moisten
500g or 1 lb ground turkey
1 egg, beaten
salt and pepper

glaze:
1/3 cup mashed cranberry sauce
1/4 cup brown sugar
chipotle in adobo to taste

Turkey Veloute:
2 turkey necks
veggie scraps - celery, onion, parsely, garlic
4 tbls butter
4 tbls flour
2 cups stock

As far as timing goes, I would start the stock and let it start simmering about half an hour or so before I get everything ready for the meatloaf. I would then make the veloute as soon as the meatloaf goes into the oven since they both take about the same time to cook.

Heat a pan over medium heat and melt the butter. Add the chopped celery, onion and garlic and cook for a few minutes until softened. When they seem cooked, add the fresh herbs and the fresh bread crumbs, combine thoroughly, taste and add some salt and pepper and then add a bit of chicken stock to moisten the mixture so that it's not wet, but not dry.

Heat the oven to 375F.

Meatloaf:
Set the onion/bread crumb aside to cool to room temperature. When it's cooled, combine the ground turkey, the bread crumb mixture and the beaten egg - don't over mix or your meatloaf will be dry.
Divide the meat mixture into four portions. You can either make four individual little loaves or pack them into large sized muffin tins. I used the tins but next time I will not bother but it's up to you. If you shape four little loaves make sure to cook them on a rack placed on a cookie tray lined with foil or parchment if you can so that the fat drips off. If you don't have a rack, just lay them out on a parchment or foil lined baking sheet.
Mix the glaze ingredients and brush the tops with it. Cook the tray in the oven for about 25 to 35 minutes until the internal temperature is about 165 F

Turkey Veloute:
To make the turkey veloute, you put the necks and veggie scraps into a pot and cover with cold water or some chicken stock (or in my case, turkey stock) and you let that simmer away while you make everything else for at least an hour.

Strain your stock and taste. If it doesn't taste strong enough, you can bring it to a boil and reduce it a bit or you can add more chicken/turkey stock. In the end you want to be left with about 2 cups of stock
Heat a sauce pan over medium heat and melt the butter. Add the flour and quickly stir it i, making a paste and then cook, stirring frequently for a few minutes until it starts to get to be a straw colour.
Take it off the heat and whisk in half the stock, making sure that you have no lumps. Return the pot to the heat, add the rest of the stock and whisk well, bring the stock to a gentle simmer, lower the heat and let simmer gently for about 25 minutes. Skim any skin that forms off the top from time to time.
When it's time to serve, I still pass it through a strainer to make sure that there are absolutely no lumps in it at all if I am at all in doubt. Serve in a gravy boat and cover your mashed potatoes in it.

A Sick Day... It Happens

2011-11-25T23:00:00.000-05:00

Lesson learned: don't leave things til the last minute. This is what I tell my kids and this is what I try to live by but I learned it the hard way on Friday when the best of intentions to make and post a meal in the afternoon slowly but steadily got nixed by a series of events. Austin had unexpected gum surgery in the morning so we were trying to figure out what he might like/be able to eat by dinnertime. Then I spent the afternoon fighting a headache so the two of us just cocooned on the couch and watched a movie. (Can you hear the hours quickly ticking by?) Then I headed down the street to donate blood... and passed out afterwards. Embarrassing. Mortifying to wake up on a gurney. But all the sweet people who help out at these blood drives try to assure you that it's totally normal and to be expected and then push free juice and cookies on you so I just laid back and basked in all the TLC. Sorta.

Anyway, at that point, with my head still spinning, I knew that the rest of my evening would be spent on the couch. I didn't want to fall head-first into some pot boiling on the stove (okay, I'm being overly dramatic) so I figured horizontal was probably my best position. My independent kiddies cobbled together something for themselves and Q did the same. They step up to the plate in a pinch and I love them all for that.

So that's my long, pathetic story of my lost post for today. Apologies. Lesson learned.

Nov 21-23 Orange thyme pork

2011-11-24T08:49:00.000-05:00

Nov 21 Orange Thyme Pork
Nov 22 Dinner at Table 17
Nov 23 Worked through dinner and boys were on their own

I have been really at a loss as far as dinner is concerned as we near the home stretch of this year long challenge and so I bought Donna Hay's new book - Fast, Fresh, Simple. She has always been a favourite of mine with her simple, tasty recipes, her beautiful food photography and styling and heavy asian influence. I have all of her books and they always give me tons of inspiration so I am counting on this book to bring me into the home stretch.

I liked the sound of her Thyme and Orange Pork with Winter Slaw except that I wasn't in the mood for the slaw and I wanted to use my pork tenderloin instead of loin steaks. A little tweak here, a little change there and I ended up with a simple, fast and tasty dinner for The Kid and I. I am going to apologize in advance for the quality of many of the photos that are going to come, including this one. With the time change, it's totally dark by dinner time and I cannot always make the food early in the day just so I can get a beautiful photo of it and there aren't always leftovers that I can photograph the next day. Such is the life of a no reEATER after the time change.

Orange Thyme Pork
adapted from Donna Hay

1 tbls olive oil
1 clove garlic
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
1 tbls grated orange zest (i used a rasp but next time I would want my zest to be less fine)
1 pork tenderloin
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
1/4 cup chicken stock
1 tbls brown sugar

Heat a frying pan over medium high heat.Add the oil, orange zest, garlic and thyme and cook for about three minutes, until it becomes kind of crisp. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Cut the tenderloin into 2" sections. Pound each section flat (I put the disk of pork between two sheets of plastic wrap and pound it with a wine bottle) until it's about 1/4" thick. Salt and pepper all of the pork and add them to the hot pan. Cook for about 3 minutes per side or until well browned. Remove from the pan and set aside. Add the orange juice, chicken stock and sugar and cook until reduced a bit before you put the pork back in the pan along with the zest mixture and cook for another minute until the pork is heated through. I served this over rice.

Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes with Leeks and Sausage

2011-11-22T18:34:00.004-05:00

Work has been crazy and, for whatever reason, whenever it's nuts for me, Q coincidentally also needs to catch a plane and fly across an ocean or a continent for work... hmmm... Vamoosh, he's outta here. So, the little devils/angels have been fending for themselves more often than not and managed to prepare some lasagna the other night, although the kitchen floor looked like a marinara food fight must have been part of the bargain. Regardless, I'm not complaining because they fed themselves and pretty much cleaned up too and show me a mom who isn't grateful for that as she comes in the front door right at bedtime.

Anyway, on Sunday night, when the three of us were home together for dinner, we had a quick meal-in-a-sweet-potato... crammed full of assorted veggies, fresh herbs, some sausage and a zing of sour cream too. This recipe from Fine Cooking also called for Gruyere but I thought these were probably rich enough on their own so I just lightly grated some parmesan on top. I had leftover Brussels sprouts and mushrooms from the other night, which we reheated, and threw them in with the mashed potatoes, along with some chopped carrots and broccoli florets. Pretty much any vegetable you like tastes good here. Nice, comforting, quick and easy meal that got positive reviews from all of us.

Twice-Baked Sweet Potatoes with Leeks and Sausage
serves 4

4 small sweet potatoes
1/2 lb sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
1 tbsp butter
1 lb leeks, white and light-green parts only, quartered and thinly sliced
1 tsp chopped fresh sage
1/4 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 cup grated Gruyere

Heat the oven to 375 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil. Prick the sweet potatoes a few times with a fork and then bake them until tender, about 45 to 60 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat a skillet over medium heat. Add the sausage, reduce the heat to medium, and cook, breaking it into small bits with the edge of a slotted spoon, until no longer pink, about 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

Add the butter to the skillet and allow it to melt. Add the leeks, sage, thyme and some salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the mixture just starts to sizzle. Reduce the heat to low and cook, until the leeks are very soft and just starting to turn golden, 10 to 15 minutes.

When the sweet potatoes are cool enough to handle, carefully cut them in half lengthwise and gently scoop the flesh into a medium bowl, leaving about 1/8 inch of flesh in the shells. Mass the scooped flesh with a fork or potato masher until smooth. Stir in the sour cream and some salt. Fold the sausage and leeks into the potato mixture and season to taste.

Position a rack 6 inches from the broiler and heat to high. Mound the filling into the potato skins and top with the cheese. Broil until the cheese is golden, about 4 minutes.

Rest of the week

Nov 18 Ate Indian at Delhi Bistro

Nov 19 Girls night... ate popcorn

Nov 20 Stuffed sweet potatoes and salad

Nov 21 Kiddies made lasagna and I worked late

Nov 17-19 Flourless Chocolate Cake

2011-11-21T08:15:00.002-05:00

Nov 17 Thai take out
Nov 18 Nobody home but me so I ate popcorn. Put some smoked paprika on it to make it new
Nov 19 Dinner out with friends (I am actually starting to get tired of eating out if you can believe that)
Nov 20 American thanksgiving dinner at Jen's house and I made flour less chocolate cake

So, once again I didn't cook dinner at all in the last four days unless you count my popcorn with olive oil and smoked paprika as cooking dinner. I am alarmed at how much we eat out and if this year has taught me nothing else, it has taught me that we eat out way too damned much!
Anyway, too late to do anything about this now so I will share my recipe for flourless chocolate cake since that is what I made as my contribution to Sunday night's dinner. This cake is so easy but so delicious that it has become my fall back, go to dessert. It's easy to make sure you always have good chocolate, eggs and sugar in the pantry so it really is something you can whip up at the last minute. You can make any sort of additions too - some chopped up candied ginger or some orange zest and extract and you have something a bit new. For ease of remembering, I like the 200/200/200 gram ratio too -it's kind like Herman Cain's 9/9/9 but it actually makes sense.
It would actually make a fine main course any night of the week if you round it out with a nice salad, of course.

Flourless Chocolate Cake
adapted from Laura Calder and featured on The Yum Yum Factor last year

200 grams good dark chocolate (i like to use about 70% dark), broken into chunks
200 grams butter, cut into chunks
1 tsp vanilla
200 grams sugar, divided in half
4 eggs, separated

butter and flour to flour the pan **(to make it gluten free, sub in cocoa powder for flour)
whipped cream and berries to serve

Heat the oven to 375F

Prep an 8" spring form pan by buttering and flouring and put a circle of parchment on the bottom (if you want to make it totally gluten free you can butter and instead of flouring, use cocoa)

Put a stainless bowl over a pot of simmering water and gently melt the chocolate and the butter together. When it's all melted add the vanilla and give it a good stir with a spatula.

Divide the eggs into two steel bowls -whites in one, yolks in the other. Whisk in 1/2 cup of sugar with the yolks until they are pale and ribbony. In the other bowl, beat the whites into soft peaks. Sprinkle the other 1/2 cup of sugar over the whites and beat until stiff peaks.

Slowly melt your melted chocolate/butter into the yolks, whisking the whole time so that it doesn't cook the egg. When the chocolate/butter is totally mixed into the yolks, stir in a spoonful of egg white. When that is mixed in, gently fold in the rest of the whites with your spatula until it's totally incorporated. Pour this mixture into your prepared spring form pan and put in your hot oven. Bake for 50 minutes.

Take the cooked cake out of the oven, run a clean knife around the outside edge and let cool completely in the spring form pan.

Serve with whipped cream or ice cream or creme anglaise or just about anything. Again, serve with a nice salad to turn it into a healthy week night supper.

Whole Grain Spaghetti with Brussels Sprouts and Mushrooms

2011-11-18T07:00:00.000-05:00

This meal started out with the best of intentions. I selfishly chose it because I just wanted an excuse to eat some Brussels sprouts although I did figure that the menfolk would be happy with the pasta part. If they were actually home to eat it, that is, and that's where the story of this dinner fell apart. I began prepping it in the afternoon and even got a little mise en place going, as the photo shows, which is a total surprise since I'm usually racing against the clock, madly chopping and throwing the veggies as water boils, oil heats and something burns. But on Thursday, for once, I had a somewhat leisurely beginning to the meal that ultimately never was. I even began sauteeing up the sprouts, shrooms, garlic and onions in advance so that most of the scut work would be done early. But then, one by one, my guests began to fall. Austin headed off for a babysitting gig and informed me he'd be having dinner there. Q texted to say he was at a work gig that he'd previously informed me of (hmmm... suspended doubt and disbelief) and they'd be feeding him. And Maddie, who had 10 mins flat to eat between her evening activities, took one look at my pan of browned veggies and shook her head, "no, mama, I don't wanna eat that." And so, a bit later, I sat down alone and ate myself a little bowl of the veggies and was happy as a clam without the pasta and sauce. However, I've included the full recipe here since I have lots of leftovers and fully intend to complete what I started, maybe for a lunch for us all over the weekend. If anyone shows up, that is.

Whole Grain Spaghetti with Brussels Sprouts and Mushrooms
4 to 6 servings

1 lb whole grain or whole wheat spaghetti
1 cup grated pecorino romano
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 lb Brussels sprouts, trimmed, halved and thinly sliced
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 lb mushrooms, cleaned and chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup creme fraiche, at room temperature
1/2 cup vegetable broth
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice (from 1/2 large lemon)
zest of same lemon
1/2 cup slivered almonds, optional

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until tender but still firm to the bite, stirring occasionally, 8 to 10 minutes. Drain and place in a large serving bowl. Toss with 1/2 cup cheese.

In a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the Brussels sprouts, onions, mushrooms, garlic, salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are soft, about 6 to 8 minutes. Add the creme fraiche, vegetable broth, lemon juice and zest. Bring to a simmer and stir until the mixture forms a creamy sauce, about 2 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Pour the sauce over the pasta, add the almonds if you choose, and toss until coated. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and serve.

Rest of the week

Nov 14 Bubble chicken and tossed salad

Nov 15 Teriyaki beef stirfry

Nov 16 Spaghetti w Brussels sprouts and mushrooms

Nov 15-16 Slow Cooker Asian Ribs

2011-11-17T14:26:00.003-05:00

Nov 15 the Buffet at the Niagara Casino - it was what one would expect it to be
Nov 16 Slow Cooker Asian Ribs

We spent day two of nokidapalooza grocery shopping in Buffalo, New York and then dining on buffet fare at the Niagara Casino. We are both HUGE fans of Wegman's and your cheap American cheeses and sody pop (Shack is addicted to cherry coke zero which means that we need to do regular runs to Buffalo to fill the truck to the rafters with it).
Wednesday was the day that Little Shack was coming home so I wanted to make something that he would really like. I wanted to do ribs, I needed to be out much of the day and I wanted to use asian flavours so I began my internet hunt. Lots of bloggers swear that they get fabulous results with ribs in a slow cooker so I decided to give it a try. I found a recipe on Mmmisformommy that was pretty close to what I wanted, flavour wise, so I used that and tweaked it a bit. She is a fellow Canadian food blogger who is one of the six (along with myself) who is being featured in the holiday issue of Eat In Eat Out magazine and I swear to god that I found her recipe through tastespotting before I realized who she was.
These ribs were pretty awesome. They were falling off the bone, sticky and sweet - the only thing I would do differently is to perhaps add some chili flake or something to give it a little kick but it was certainly packed with flavour and I can't wait until I can make these again in the new year.

Sticky Slow Cooker Asian Ribs
serves 3-4
adapted from a recipe on mmmisformommy

4 lbs pork side ribs
Paste:
3 tbls dark brown sugar
2 tbls chu hou paste
2 tsp grated ginger or ginger paste
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tsp sesame oil

bbq sauce:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup mirin
3/4 cup water3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbls ginger paste
2 tbls soy sauce
1 tbls ketchup
1 tbls smoky bbq sauce like Bulleye (I used my Wegman's Kansas style of course)
1 tbls cornstarch

If your ribs are in long racks, cut the into serving sized sections. Make the paste and coat the top sides of the ribs with it and let them sit for about an hour or more.

Get your slow cooker out - if you don't have one I can only ask why not? I fought the slow cooker for years and years and once I used it, I was sold. It's a really useful kitchen tool, especially for busy people.
Anyway, stand your ribs up, meaty side against the walls of the crock pot, like this:

Put all of the sauce ingredients, except for the cornstarch, in a pot and bring to a boil. When it's boiling, add the cornstarch and let it boil for another 30 seconds to a minute. Pour that sauce over the ribs, cover and cook them on low for at least 6 hours and up to about 8 hrs.

At that point, remove them very carefully and lay them out on a rack place on a foil lined baking sheet and tent with more foil. Strain all the liquid left in the slow cooker into a pot and let it sit for a few minutes so you can skim off most of the fat. Bring it to a boil and let reduce for about 15 minutes or until it's halved in volume.
Preheat the broiler and brush the ribs with the reduced sauce and broil them for about 10 minutes. Don't put them too close to the broiler or they will burn and keep an eye on them.

Nov 10-13 Cheese Ravioli with Chanterelles and Sage

2011-11-14T17:51:00.000-05:00

Nov 11 Indian food at Amaya Bread Bar with a friend
Nov 12 Dinner at a friend's house
Nov 13 Dinner with the in laws
Nov 14 Cheese Ravioli with Chanterelles and Sage

This has been a no good, terrible weekend as far as any home cooking went. I took my good friend, Alice, out for dinner at Amaya Bread Bar and it was wonderful. We had onion bahji, pakoras, butter chicken and a really great coastal prawn curry and I can't wait to go back.

On Saturday good friends made us dinner and then on Sunday, despite big plans to do a pork shoulder in the crockpot for tacos, we ended up visiting my in laws and had take out veal sandwiches there. One would think that meant that by Monday we would definitely cook dinner at home but Monday was also the day Little Shack left for a three day leadership camp. The chances of NOT going out to dinner were looking slim to none.

I basically just told him that I was cooking dinner on Monday, we were eating in and that was going to be that. Because The Kid is not home, we can eat mushrooms. The only thing we both love that he hates are mushrooms so we have just sort of gotten to the point where we forget mushrooms exist as an ingredient and we never buy them, I walk by them in the supermarket like they aren't there and my eyes skim past any recipe that features them. The last time he went to his retreat, we ate mushroom risotto the first night.
Some people like to have wild monkey sex in the living room, get drunk and go wild when the kids are gone for a few days. We eat mushrooms.

Cheese Ravioli with Chanterelles and Sage
serves 2 hungry people or three people who are pretending to be watching what they eat

about 300 g or just over half a lb frozen cheese and arugula ravioli

Sauce:
2 tbls salted butter
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 cup thinly sliced leeks
3/4 lb chanterelles, wiped clean and chopped
1/4 lb baby bellos, wiped clean and sliced
2 tbls brandy
1/4 cup heavy cream
parmesan cheese
sage leaves
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Melt the butter in a saute pan over med heat. Add the leeks and sauté for about five minutes, until softened before you add the garlic and sauté for another minute or so. Throw in the mushrooms and turn up the heat to medium high and cook for about 3 or 4 minutes. Add the brandy and let reduce for about 45 seconds to a minute. Add the heavy cream and sage and let come to a boil. Turn the heat down to low and let it cook for another couple of minutes.

Meanwhile, you have brought a big pot of salted water to a boil. Cook the frozen ravioli according to package directions or until they all float to the top of the water, about 3 to 5 minutes. Drain well, put it in two shallow pasta bowls and cover with the mushroom sauce. Grate some parmesan on top and eat.

Chipotle Sweet Potato Corn Chowder

2011-11-14T16:41:00.004-05:00

After eating so much pasta over the weekend, I was hoping for something veggie-based for dinner on Monday. Austin's bags of summer-shucked corn were calling to me from the freezer so I knew that was my starting point. I figured a corn chowder was the quick ticket but sought out a sweet potato version as something slightly new and different, with the chipotles for a bit of a kick too. You could definitely choose to puree this into a smooth soup, but I wanted something chunky and hearty so I didn't bother. Just as well since Maddie made it clear she really just wanted corn chowder so she spent 20 minutes carefully spooning out all the sweet potatoes, bacon and onions, and then happily sipped away at the remaining corn/stock combo. Two soups in one is always a good thing.

Chipotle Sweet Potato Corn Chowder
serves 4
2 whole sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
2 cups corn
8 slices bacon, cubed
1 cup onion, peeled and diced
2 tbsp thyme
2 tbsp marjoram
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 whole chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, finely chopped
1/2 cup cream or milk

Fry up the bacon in a large saucepan. Once crispy, remove and set aside, leaving some of the bacon fat in the pot. Add the onions, corn, marjoram and thyme, and saute over medium heat for about 10 minutes. Add the diced sweet potatoes, stock, seasonings and peppers and simmer for another 15 to 20 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. If you want your chowder on the smooth side, blend half of the soup with a handheld blender and then add back to the chunky part. I wanted a real chowder so I skipped this step. Finally, add the cream or milk if you'd like it a bit creamy. Top with crumbled bacon.

Lasagna (again!)

2011-11-13T18:58:00.001-05:00

I wouldn't normally post two variations of the same dish back to back but the Prodigal Son came back from university on Sunday for his cousin's 18th birthday and asked for his favourite meal for dinner (lasagna). How could I refuse? Of course, he didn't want the veggie-packed orange version that we had had on Friday. Nope, he wanted our old standby, which is likely the same as your family's one. I sauteed up some onions, browned the ground beef, added seasonings, mixed in some marinara sauce and let it simmer away for an hour or so. Then Maddie jumped in to handle all the layering and before you knew it I had an assembly line of sauce/noodles/cheese action going on and we were ready to go. Popped it in the oven for an hour and a classic Italian comfort meal was delivered to the table and to Corbin's hungry lips.
I apologize for the lack of a photo and an accurate recipe but lasagna's lasagna and mine ain't nuthin' fancy or imaginative as you can tell from above. Spending time with him and family was the priority today and the icing on the cake was him choosing a home-cooked meal over heading out to a restaurant. No place like home, I guess.

Rest of the week

Nov 12 Dinner at Green Eggplant

Nov 13 Lasagna, caesar salad and garlic bread

Butternut Squash and Sage Lasagna

2011-11-11T14:11:00.006-05:00

I've been wanting to make a lasagna for a couple of weeks but just haven't had the time, so when I suddenly found myself with Friday off, I decided to give Martha Stewart's veggie version a try. Pretty straightforward but a little time-consuming so probably not great for a normal weekday night dinner. I began by roasting up a big tray of cubed butternut squash, which got the house smelling amazing right from the start. While that cooled, I mixed up the ricotta/milk/cheese mixture and then mashed up the cooled squash. This is where I misunderstood Martha's directions and left half of the cubed squash on the baking tray, which is where they stayed even as I put the lasagna in the oven. What I now realize is that (needless to say, I didn't read the directions carefully enough) all the squash goes into the bowl, but you only mash half of it, and leave some in chunks for texture in the final dish. Duh, me. So our version will be smoother than called for but I'm pretty sure we'll all survive and quite honestly, I'm happy to have the leftover cubes waiting for me to nibble on at lunch tomorrow anyway. All was not lost.
Anyway, if you want a truly veggie version, substitute veg stock for the chicken stock, and you'll be good to go. Otherwise, toss the squash with the crispy sage (sauteed for a couple of minutes in butter in a saute pan) and stock and then start layering with the noodles. Nice fall meal alongside a fresh salad.

Butternut Squash and Sage Lasagna
serves 4
1 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 lb ricotta cheese
1/4 cup heavy cream (or substitute milk or half-and-half)
1 large egg yolk
1/4 lb fresh mozzarella, coarsely grated
fresh nutmeg
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh sage leaves, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup chicken stock
fresh lasagna noodles, cooked, or dried noodles, cooked
1 cup finely grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. On a baking tray, toss cubed squash with the olive oil and some salt and pepper and roast until light gold and tender, about 30 minutes. Allow to cool.

Meanwhile, combine ricotta, cream, egg yolk and mozzarella, and a pinch of nutmeg in a medium bowl. Season with salt.

Melt butter in a small saute pan over medium heat. As soon as it starts to sizzle, add sage, and cook until light gold and crisp at edges, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Place squash in a medium bowl and mash 1/2 of it with the back of a wooden spoon, leaving the other 1/2 in whole pieces. Gently stir in the sage-butter and stock. Season with salt and pepper.

Spread 3/4 cup of ricotta mixture in a baking dish. Top with a layer of noodles. Spread 1/2 of the butternut squash mixture over noodles. Top with a layer of noodles. Spread 1 cup of ricotta mixture over noodles. Repeat layering once more (noodles, squash, noodles, ricotta). Sprinkle parmesan over ricotta mixture.

Place baking dish on rimmed baking tray and bake until cheese is golden and bubbling, about 30 to 35 minutes. Let stand for 15 minutes before serving.

Rest of the week

Nov 9 Worked late and skipped dinner
Nov 10 Drinks and nibbles at Keg before BCC party
Nov 11 Butternut squash lasagna and salad

Nov 8-9 Braised Pork with Pumpkin

2011-11-10T16:39:00.001-05:00

Nov 8 panko chicken strips with plum sauce and sweet potato fries
Nov 9 Out to the Playpen for dinner
Nov 10 Braised Pork with Pumpkin

This was going to be a stellar week of eating in every night, starting with an attempt to replace wing night with a healthier home version. I like going out for great wings every once and a while as much as anyone but it would be nice if we cut that back to a couple of times a month. I baked chicken strips with a panko/black sesame seed coating and baked sweet potato fries to replace our wings and poutine. Everyone seemed pretty happy with that so we were off to a good start. I had every intention of making the chinese braised pork with pumpkin to eat Wednesday and even walked all the way to chinatown to pick up one missing ingredient but Shack texted just as I got there to let me know he had made reservations at the Playpen, a new Johnny K restaurant that we have been waiting for. Foiled again by the saboteur , Mr ILOVETOEATOUTEVERYNIGHT.
I made the Pork anyway and we will eat it tonight. It is traditionally made with little pork spareribs but I used a pork butt cubed so it would be more meaty and less boney and easier to eat. I used half the weight in pork because I estimated that half the weight would be taken up by the bone in the ribs. It seemed like it worked out right so go me!

Braised Pork with Pumpkin
adapted from blueapocalypse.com

sunflower oil
1 500g pork butt roast, trimmed of excess fat and cubed into bite sized pieces
chicken stock
3 star anise
3 cloves garlic, smashed
1 tbls grated ginger
1 tsp chili flake
1 tbls curry powder
1 heaped tbls hoisin sauce
1 1/2 tbls chu hou sauce
1 tbls ground bean paste
1/2 tbls dark soy sauce
1/3 cup shoa xing wine
1 tsp kosher salt
pumpkin, chopped into bite sized pieces

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pot (I used my Le Creuset cast iron pot but you could use a heavy wok or any other good pot). Throw in the garlic, ginger, star anise, chili, hoisin, chu hou and ground bean pastes and fry over medium heat for a couple of minutes until very fragrant.

Add the pork and sauté for another 7 or 8 minutes until the pork is browned and totally coated in the sauce. Add in the curry powder and the dark soy and sauté for another minute.
Now add the Shaoxing wine and deglaze the wok for a couple of minutes before you add the stock or water just to cover to the pork. Bring it to a boil and then turn down the heat until you get a light simmer and let it simmer for about and hour and a half until the pork is really tender. I kept a pot of pork stock simmering lightly on the stove because I found that I had to top up the liquid a bit a couple of times during the cooking of the pork - maybe I simmered it too vigourously but keep an eye on it and make sure you don't let it get too dry. It should be a bit dry and sticky by the time the entire dish is done but you need some liquid to be left in the pot for cooking the pumpkin.
Bring back to a boil and season with some salt to taste. Add this point, you add in the pumpkin and move the meat to the top and the pumpkin to the bottom of the pot, cover lightly and let that cook for about 15 to 20 minutes until the pumpkin is tender.
Serve it with rice.

Sweet Potato Bread (with Broccoli Cheddar Soup)

2011-11-08T07:00:00.001-05:00

This originally started off as soup with a side of bread, but since the bread ended up getting rave reviews, it got moved up in the final billing. Pioneer Woman's broccoli cheese soup sounded comforting and appealing for a fall evening, although I had to reduce her proportions by more than half since the recipe claimed to feed 10. Granted, she has two extra kiddies but her family is also busy herding cattle all day whereas Urban Woman here just has about 30 bags of leaves waiting to be raked and bagged in her back yard so I'm guessing our appetites are more than a little smaller than theirs. Anyway, totally easy recipe, but next time I'd up the ante on the amount of broccoli since although we all loved the milky creaminess of the final bowl, we easily could have crammed in more of the green stuff without any complaints. Oh well.
But as I said, the sweet potato bread on the side was the big hit. Maddie said, "no offence, but this is better than the soup," and the "no offence" part was because she figured I had bought it. Diss. No offence taken since it was made by her mom's own hands and one thing is inevitably going to be better than another in a meal. Q said it was dessert for dinner and I guess he was right. Moist, dense, flavourful and with just a bit of crunchy/chewy with the nuts and dried cranberries. Reminiscent of the zucchini bread from a few weeks earlier but even better in our opinion. Pretty sure I know what the kids will be fighting over for breakfast on Tuesday morning.

Sweet Potato Bread

makes one loaf

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp cinnamon

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

2 eggs

1/2 cup milk

2 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups mashed sweet potatoes

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1/4 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs, vanilla, milk and mashed sweet potatoes until well blended. Stir sweet potato mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten. Toss in some pecans and cranberries. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Top with remaining pecans and dried cranberries. Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 70 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into centre of loaf comes out clean. Allow loaf to cool in pan for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a wire rack.

Broccoli Cheese Soup

serves 4

1/2 onion, diced

splash of olive oil

dab of butter

3 tbsp flour

2 1/2 cups whole milk (or 3 and skip the half-and-half)

1/2 cup half-and-half

3 cups broccoli florets

1 pinch nutmeg

1 1/2 cups grated cheddar

splash of chicken broth or more milk if needed for thinning

Melt butter and oil over medium heat, add onion and cook for 8 minutes until translucent. Add flour and cook for another 2 minutes, then add the milk and half-and-half. Add nutmeg, salt and pepper, and broccoli and allow to simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, until broccoli is tender. Remove from heat and stir in cheese; allow to melt. If you like it chunky, you can serve it as is or mash it up a bit with a potato masher. I pureed it with the handheld blender and it was totally creamy and slid down our throats like a charm.

Rest of the week

Nov 5 Nobody home and I skipped dinner

Nov 6 Dinner at Pic Nic Wine Bar w friends

Nov 7 Gnocchi with brown butter sauce and roasted garlic

Nov 8 Broccoli cheese soup and sweet potato bread

NOv 3-7 Espresso Braised Pot Roast with Balsamic Vinegar

2011-11-07T17:14:00.000-05:00

Nov 3 More fast food from EnRoute outside of Kingston Ont
Nov 4 Joe Beef in Montreal
Nov 5 Traditional Quebec lumberjack feast at the Wong/Lam wedding
Nov 6 McDonald's on the highway outside of Cornwall - don't be so jealous
Nov 7 Espresso braised pot roast

So, this is not going to be my prettiest dish but not everything worth eating is going to be beautiful. We left Thursday for Montreal to celebrate the wedding of our friends, Ivy and Craig so I did not cook one thing at all from Friday until Monday. We certainly ate well but there was no cooking and that means no recipes to share which puts the pressure on my to make sure that I cook today, on Monday, even though I really wanted to just eat out one more day. I had to work today and so that meant that I had to throw something in the crockpot. I asked the boys what sort of meat they wanted and Shack wanted bolognese sauce. Since that isn't happening for two more months, he settled on stew or something else with beef. I was completely uninspired so I got out my "Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Recipes for Two" book and opened it to the beef section and pretty much threw a dart at it and it landed on a Pot Roast with Espresso and Balsamic Vinegar recipe.
I made a couple of changes and added some potatoes halfway through and we ended up with a pretty tasty dinner. If I had been home to cook I would have made mashed potatoes instead of adding the potatoes but this way, even if I came home 5 minutes before it was time to eat, at least I knew there would be a starch and they were yummy all mashed up with the gravy. I will do something creative with the leftovers in the next day or two as well.

Espresso Braised Pot Roast with Balsamic Vinegar
Cooker: 3 quart
Cooking time: low for 8 or 9 hours

1.5 lb boneless chuck roast, trimmed of fat and blotted dry
small drizzle of oil
1/4 tsp salt or to taste
freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 large yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, sliced thinly
1 tbls olive oil
1/2 cup strong brewed coffee or expresso
1/4 beef or chicken stock (i always use chicken stock)
2 tbls balsamic vinegar
1 lb of halved baby potatoes
1.5 tbls cornstarch mixed with 1.5 tbls water.

Rub all sides of the roast with salt and pepper. Heat a frying pan over med heat and coat the bottom thinly with oil.Brown all sides of the roast and set aside. Place the onion and garlic in the bottom of the crock pot and toss with the olive oil. Place the meat on top and add the coffee, stock and vinegar. Cover and cook on low for 8 to 9 hours, until tender.
You can either throw in the potatoes from the start or wait and add them about halfway through. I was home so I could do that but if I were not going to be home I would have added them at the start.

Transfer the meat to a cutting board and tent with foil, letting it rest for about ten minutes. Meanwhile, skim the fat from the braising liquid in the crock pot. Tranfer that liquid to a saucepan and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Add the cornstarch mixture and cook, whisking, until sauce thickens slightly, about one minute. Carve the beef and serve with the gravy.

Stuffed Peppers

2011-11-04T07:09:00.004-04:00

It's been a really busy week, work-wise, and as a result we've been flying by the seat of our pants for dinners. Kids couldn't believe their luck when we went out for pizza midweek and then had breakfast for dinner the following night. So I think it'll have to be a plan-ahead, make-ahead kind of weekend or I can already feel next week unravelling before it even begins. Luckily for me, it's kinda casserole/soup/chili season and we'll try to put some things in the freezer and rest easy for at least one or two nights.
These stuffed peppers were an easy solution on Thursday night and I managed to make them in almost five-minute stages as I ran the kids back and forth to their activities. Chopped the veggies. Made the couscous. Already had leftover sausage waiting in the fridge. Assembled it all and then threw it in the oven just before heading back out for pickup. Ready to eat when we all got back. Perfect busy weeknight meal.

Stuffed Peppers
serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
12 oz fresh chicken or turkey sausage, casings removed
3/4 cup couscous
a handful of chopped veggies of your choice
4 bell peppers, halved, seeds and ribs removed
1/2 shredded cheese of your choice

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Cook couscous according to directions, fluff with a fork and set aside. Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, salt and pepper, and cook until onion is translucent, about 3 minutes. Add sausage and cook, breaking up with the back of a spoon, until lightly browned, about 4 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in with couscous and veggies. Fill pepper halves with couscous mixture and arrange peppers in a baking dish just large enough to hold them. Add 1/2 cup water. Cover with foil and bake until peppers are tender, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove foil, top with cheese and bake for another 10 minutes.

Rest of the week

Nov 1 Il Fornello pizza

Nov 2 Breakfast for dinner

Nov 3 Stuffed peppers

Nov 1-2 Shepherds Pie Lightened Up

2011-11-03T08:03:00.000-04:00

Nov 1 $10 pizza night at Il Fornello
Nov 2 Shepherd's Pie

My father in law called me about making shepherd's pie on the weekend and I had to talk him through it and doing this got me thinking about shepherd's pie. I never make it myself and once a year Shack makes a terrible version of it that includes a layer of canned cream corn between the meat and the potatoes that I refuse to eat and we mutually agree to not discuss. Clearly, it's not high on my list of things I am dying to cook BUT The Kid really likes it (they serve it at school) so I started to think of ways to make it a dish that I could be happy with. I would love to use lamb but Shack hates lamb so I thought I could grind up some chicken thighs, added some sweet potato to the mashed potato layer to make it prettier and more nutritious and went from there. The one mistake I made was to buy chicken breasts instead of thighs because I would have liked a bit of fat and the richness of the darker meat and next time I will use thighs. Even with the far too lean breast meat, the flavour is really nice but the texture of the chicken is not quite right. I think that the lack of fat caused the meat mixture to not blend together the way it would with a fattier meat so that the little chunks of chicken remain very separate and don't melt into the other ingredients the way ground beef would.

Then, I was thinking about how the newly healthy Rocco Dispirito is always using cornstarch to thicken his sauces without resorting to creams and fats so I thought I would give that a try since the chicken was too lean and just to make it really crazy, I subbed in a third of the mashed potato/yam with cooked, pureed cauliflower. I already like to use buttermilk because I like the tangy flavour but it's also 2% butter fat so without even trying it looks like I am making a diet dish or something. I am living on the edge people.

I have to tell you that the combo of potato/yam/cauliflower is pretty darned good and I would eat that on it's own in place of mashed potatoes any day. I am not sure I am buying that pureed cauliflower on it's own tastes JUST liked mashed potatoes, but when you mix it in there with some potato it's pretty tasty.

So, the shepherd's pie is a work in progress but for my first attempt, I am pretty pleased with myself and I would happily eat this on a regular basis. Both guys ate seconds and there was only a tiny bit left in the end but I would really, really, really like to make it with some lamb someday if I can get my picky 40 year old to try it.

Shepherd's Pie
makes about 6 servings

1 tbls olive oil
1 clove garlic, chopped finely
1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 small zucchini, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 lb ground chicken ( I ground my own but you can buy it pre ground)
1 tbls tomato paste
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
1 tbls cornstarch
fresh thyme ( a small sprig of fresh or about 2 tsp or to taste of dried)
small handful fresh italian parsley, chopped
2 lbs combined potato/sweet potato/cauliflower
2 tbls butter
1/4 to 1/2 cup buttermilk (depends on how thick you want them)

Preheat oven to 375F.

Put the potato and the sweet potato in a pot of salted water, bring to a boil and cook until soft. Drain and put it back in the same pot. At the same time I put my chopped up cauliflower in another pot of salted water and cooked it separately so that I could puree it before adding it to the potato/sweet potato. You can put the cooked, drained cauliflower in a food processor, a blender, use an immersion blender or you trusty bullet, like I did. Add that pureed cauliflower to the pot that contains the drained potato/sweet potato, mash in the butter and then start pouring in the buttermilk while you continue to mash until you get the texture you like. Taste, salt and pepper, taste and adjust until it's right. Set aside.

Heat the olive oil in a non stick sauté pan over med heat and sauté the onion and garlic for about five minutes until it softens. Add the ground meat and continue to cook until the pink is gone. Add a pinch of kosher salt and a few grinds of pepper and then add the carrot and celery and continue to cook for another five or six minutes. Throw in the zucchini and cook, stirring a couple of times for another five minutes. Push all of that to one side of the pan and add in the tomato paste and cook that for a minute on it's own to brown it (it's something that many of the italian chefs I like do so I do it too) before adding 1 cup of stock, the thyme and parsley. Cover, turn the heat to medium low and let it cook for about ten minutes. Remove the cover, turn the heat up to medium high. Stir the cornstarch into the 1/2 cup of stock you have left and add that to your chicken and vegetables and let it come up to a simmer and let that cook for a couple of minutes and then remove it from the heat.

the meat/vegetable mixture before topping with mashed potatoes

topped with a layer of mashed potatoes ready to go into the oven

You can do one of two things now. You can transfer your meat mixture into a baking dish or casserole or individual baking dishes OR if you used an oven proof sauté pan you can bake it right in there. I used three smaller casserole dishes because I knew we wouldn't eat it all and I wanted to freeze one.
Fill the dish up 3/4 of the way with the chicken and then top that with a nice, thick layer of the mashed potatoes , pop them in the oven and bake until the top is golden brown or for about 30 to 35 minutes.

Turkey, Avocado and Cheddar Panini with Coleslaw

2011-11-01T07:00:00.001-04:00

This past weekend I spent most of my time in the kitchen, cooking and baking, but really none of it amounted to a full meal. We were off to our friends' place on Saturday night for a tailgate party and I had offered to bring salad and desserts. Since others were bringing pulled beef, nachos and chili, I figured coleslaw was just the ticket but didn't want a mayo-laden one. Instead I found a yogurt/sour cream-based version, courtesy of Giada, and it was a crunchy, lighter alternative, with the interesting additions of pine nuts and dried cranberries. I also made some variations of the cute desserts-in-tiny-mason-jars that I've seen recently: a dulce de leche stacked cheesecake one and also s'mores in a jar, with Ina Garten's Grand Marnier chocolate mousse as the middle layer (too rich overall).

On Sunday, our attention then turned to all things Halloween for Maddie's belated 11th birthday party. Peggi-Jean's famous witch finger cookies were a huge hit, as were mummy hot dogs, cobweb cupcakes and fruit skewers stuck porcupine-style in a pumpkin.

Which brings us to Halloween night, which is never a great dinner evening since we've got kids with more important chocolate-gathering priorities than sitting down and eating a good meal. In fact, Maddie and Austin both vamooshed and found dinner elsewhere before trick-or-treating time so I quickly pulled together this sandwich for Q with some leftover coleslaw that he could gulp down before heading out to accompany a gaggle of girls around the neighbourhood for the next two hours. Not much of a recipe here, but just keeping it real.

Rest of the week
Oct 28 Liquid dinner with charcuterie at PicNic Wine Bar with gfs
Oct 29 Tailgate party at friends' place
Oct 30 Family dinner at Vivetha Bistro
Oct 31 TAC panini with coleslaw

Oct 27-31 Fried Risotto Cakes

2011-10-31T16:14:00.000-04:00

Oct 27 Shack made rigatoni bolognese
Oct 28 Drinks and snacks with the girls at PicNic Wine Bar
Oct 29 Swiss Chard Risotto to go with fish cooked by The Neighbours
Oct 30 Shack and I skipped dinner and went out for fancy little cakes and coffee
Oct 31 Fried risotto cakes and salad

This was a busy week and it seemed to just sort of slip by before we knew it. It's the last day of October and that means that there are only two months left to this challenge. The Kid is very exited about this because he is really missing repeats of his comfort foods but I have to give the kid props because he has not really complained at all, he just likes to wistfully ask how much longer before he can have XYZ which is really more than one could even hope to ask for.
We made dinner with the neighbours on Saturday and ended up with just enough leftover risotto for Little Shack and I to have for our dinner on Halloween. It is a perfect thing to make before sending him out into the night to beg for free candy because it is dense and filling and won't leave a ton of room left for tiny Kit Kats and Skittles. You can use any kind of risotto for this but if you aren't using leftovers, you need to make it at least a few hours ahead of time so that you can cool it down completely before making the cakes.

Risotto Cakes

leftover risotto (i used the swiss chard risotto from Saturday night)
100 grams smoked mozzarella
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup panko
1/4 cup grated parmesan
salt and pepper

Make a dredging station with three shallow bowls - one with flour and salt and pepper, the middle with the beaten egg and in the third combine the panko and parmesan.
I don't like making the cakes too huge or else they tend to fall apart when you are cooking them so I use about 1/2 cup in each. Form the cold risotto (Its easiest to work with straight from the fridge) into a ball and press and indent with your thumb. Insert a 1" square of cheese and then close the rice back over it until it's totally encased by the rice. Now make a little hamburger shaped patty out of it and dredge in the flour, then dip in the beaten egg and then, finally coat in the panko/parmesan/parsley.
Heat a fry pan over med to med high heat and add enough oil to completely coat the bottom of the pan. Add your cakes to the hot pan and cook around 3 to 5 minutes before flipping to the other side. Keep an eye and make sure the bottom looks like it has formed a nice, nutty brown crust. Flip and cook for another 3 to 5 minutes on the other side and remove to a paper towel lined plate (you don't have to do that but I like to feel like I am making the effort to soak up the excess oil).
If you are making a large batch, you can preheat the oven to about 250 and keep them warm on a cookie sheet in there until you done making them all.

Salmon Hash with Dilled Creme Fraiche

2011-10-27T15:57:00.005-04:00

This slightly more substantive breakfast-for-dinner recipe was a first for us. I've never made any type of hash, with the obvious exception of hash browns (do those even count?), probably because corned beef and ham don't appeal to me and until this week I'd never seen a salmon option. So, armed with some leftover salmon and some creme fraiche in the fridge just waiting to be used, we figured we'd give this a try. After browning up some potatoes and onions, you add a mustard-milk (you can use cream but I was trying to keep it on the lighter side) mixture and cook it all together to bring together the flavours. Loved the zing of the "sauce" that basically evaporates during the cooking. Add the flaked salmon and bingo, dinner is ready. Austin and I ate it this way along with the refreshing easy-peasy dill creme fraiche sauce and were happy as clams. Q was a bit hungrier when he got home so I poached two eggs and laid them on top for him and that rounded out his meal. This would also be a perfect brunch option.

Salmon Hash with Dilled Creme Fraiche
For the dilled creme fraiche

1 cup creme fraiche or sour cream
1 tbsp chopped fresh dill
pinch of salt
squeeze of lemon juice

Combine all ingredients and set aside in fridge.

For the hash
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1 lb Yukon gold potatoes, unpeeled and cut into small 1/2 dice
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 tbsp half-and-half, cream or milk
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 lb cooked, skinless salmon fillet, flaked
1 tbsp fresh dill, chopped

Optional garnishes
Fried or poached egg on top
Drained capers
Fresh dill
Prepared horseradish

Heat the butter and oil in a large skillet and add the potatoes. Cook over medium-low heat for around 15 minutes, turning often, until there are browned edges. Stir in the onions and cook for another 5 to 10 minutes, until onions are soft and brown too.

In a small bowl, whisk together the milk or cream, mustard, salt and pepper. Stir this mixture in with the hash and toss gently. Cook for another 5 minutes or so. Mix in the salmon and dill and cook until heated through, another 2 minutes.

Serve hot, topping each portion with a poached egg (if using) and a dollop of the creme fraiche.

Rest of the week

Oct 26 Assorted quesadillas with baked sweet potato wedges and roasted garlic aioli

Oct 27 Salmon hash with creme fraiche

Oct 25-26 Curried Parsnip Soup

2011-10-27T08:49:00.000-04:00

Oct 25 No supper because The Kid and I are both sick
Oct 26 Curried Parsnip Soup

The kid was sick all day on Tuesday with a fever and aches and a sore throat and by dinner time, I thought I was coming down with the same thing so there wasn't much in the way of dinner other than lots of green tea, juice and some toast. By Wednesday morning, he was still sick but it was clear that I had been feeling the beginnings of a migraine and not the same virus that was plaguing poor Little Shack so we both spent most of the day in bed reading and sleeping but I was still in better shape than he was. By about 3pm I was feeling good enough to drag my butt out of bed and think about making something to eat for the two of us (luckily for Shack, he had to go out of town to take care of some business stuff so it was just the two invalids) and I was also going to have to cook something that would appeal to sick people but using only what we already have in the house.
I had parsnips, carrots and celery and couldn't get a nice, curried parsnip soup out of my head when I realized I had no chicken stock of any kind. Thank god we have the best neighbours in the world because they rescued us with a carton of chicken stock AND a lovely apple for our soup.
Simple, comforting, just a hint of curry to clear up a stuffed up nose and best of all, I didn't have to get out of my pjs and brave the rain while feeling like I had been hit by a truck. THAT alone makes it the most delicious soup I have ever eaten.

Curried Parsnip Soup
makes about 4 cups of soup

small glug of olive oil
1/2 cup diced onion
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tsp grated ginger
1.5 cups diced parsnips
1/2 cup diced carrot
1/2 cup diced celery
2 tsp mild curry powder
900ml chicken stock
1 small, tart apple, peeled and diced
1 tbls coconut powder
* greek yogurt and cilantro to serve with it you like

Heat the oil in a med sized pot over med heat. Add the onion and sauté for a few minutes before adding the garlic and ginger. Saute for another couple of minutes and then add all of the diced vegetables. Continue to cook that for about five minutes until the veggies soften and might start to take on a bit of colour. Add the curry powder and stir well for a minute until you can really smell it and then pour in the stock. Add the apple and the coconut powder, bring to a light simmer and let it cook until all the vegetables are tender, about 20 minutes. Don't worry if you let it cook a bit longer because you are going to puree it anyway. When the vegetables are all well cooked, either use an immersion blender or pour into a blender to puree it until it's nice and smooth.
Serve with a dollop of greek yogurt and a bit of chopped cilantro if you like but it's tasty enough on it's own to skip any garnish too

Riopelle Stuffed Chicken Wrapped in Prosciutto

2011-10-26T22:10:00.003-04:00

If you are looking for an easy peasy and impressive meal, this is it! You likely noticed my lack of posting my last couple of days but I have a couple of delicious things to share and plan to back post them today or tomorrow. Work has completely caught up with me so I barely cook let alone have the time to take pictures and write.

One of my favorite cookbooks is Barbara Lynch's Stir, as I thumbed through it on Sunday looking for inspiration, I came across the recipe for Taleggio Stuffed Chicken Breasts Stuffed with Prosciutto. The name just sounds like decadent goodness, doesn't it? On a whim I had picked up some Riopelle at the cheese shop on Saturday and while it's no Taleggio, I know it would work really well in this recipe.

So when Sunday rolled around and since we are in full on Fall mode I knew I was going to tackle this recipe. I spent the morning at the farmer's market & butcher getting my delicious, local ingredients, including organic chicken, something I rarely splurge on. Chef Lynch paris the salad with a fresh tasting Tomato & Olive salad and I also made some braised kale to go along with it. It was a comforting and filling meal that we will happily eat again in the new year.

Riopelle Stuffed Chicken wrapped in Prosciutto
adapted from Barbara Lynch

2 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
2-3 ounces Taleggio cheese,* rind trimmed, cheese cut into six 2-inch-long slices
4-5 thin prosciutto slices

Place chicken breasts on work surface. Using sharp knife and starting at thickest side of 1 chicken breast, cut 2-inch-long, 1-inch-deep horizontal pocket, being careful not to cut through completely to other side of breast. Insert 1 piece of cheese in pocket and press opening closed. Sprinkle chicken with salt and pepper. Place 2 prosciutto slices side by side on work surface, slightly overlapping on long sides. Place 1 chicken breast crosswise atop center of prosciutto slices; wrap prosciutto slices around chicken, covering completely and pressing to adhere (if necessary, fasten with small turkey skewers). Repeat with remaining chicken, cheese, and prosciutto.

Preheat the oven to 375F. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the chicken breasts to the skillet and cook until browned, about 4 minutes per side. Transfer chicken to large baking sheet; roast in oven until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of chicken registers 160°F, 15 to 20 minutes, depending on size of chicken breasts. Transfer chicken to cutting board; let rest 5 minutes.

Good Old Chicken Noodle Soup

2011-10-25T16:38:00.005-04:00

Whenever I make a veggie soup, Maddie always asks why can't we just have chicken noodle soup? But for whatever reason, I just associate chicken noodle soup with someone feeling under the weather and therefore that's generally the only time someone eats it in this household. But she's right; it doesn't always have to be linked to "get well soon" and it actually hit the spot on a cool, rainy, October night. With five simple ingredients, it couldn't be simpler either. We paired it with some crusty bread and enjoyed the simplest of comfort meals.

Chicken Noodle Soup
serves 4

1 whole chicken breast, bone in, skin on
1 tsp olive oil
6 cups chicken stock
2 cups celery, cut into 3/4-inch pieces
2 cups carrots, cut into 1/4-inch rounds
2 cups egg noodles
parsley, if you like

Rub the chicken breast with the olive oil, sprinkle with some salt and pepper and then roast it in the oven at 350 degrees for about 35 to 40 minutes or until cooked through. When cool enough to handle, remove the meat from the bones, discard the skin and dice into bite-sized cubes.

Bring the chicken stock to a simmer in a large pot and add the carrots. Simmer uncovered for about 20 minutes, until the carrots are soft. Add the celery and egg noodles and cook an additional 10 minutes until the noodles are cooked. Add the cooked chicken meat and parsley and heat through. Season to taste and serve.

Rest of the week

Oct 24 Twice-baked potatoes with cheese, creme fraiche and leftover chorizo

Oct 25 Chicken noodle soup

Oct 20-26 Gnocchi and Chicken with Brown Butter and Sage

2011-10-24T12:14:00.000-04:00

Oct 20 Wing night with The Neighbour

Oct 21 Dinner at my sister's

Oct 22 Dinner at my sister's

Oct 23 Junk food on the train

Oct 24 Gnocchi with browned butter and sage

The kid and I went to spend the weekend with my sister and her family and I usually do some of the cooking while I am there but that didn't happen this time. We got in late on Friday so my sister whipped up some tasty tacos, Saturday she made her much requested pork schnitzel and then we left right at suppertime on Sunday so we didn't really eat dinner. Little Shack had a pizza from the little restaurant in my sister's village and took it with us to eat at the train station and I had an apple, a few bites of his pizza, some swedish berries and a few handfuls of kettle corn. It was not a stellar eating day for me lol.

Monday I made the dinner that I had planned to make last Thursday before I was swept away for wing night. It's nothing complicated and I didn't make the gnocchi myself but it was tasty and simple and quick and we were all very happy with it. I added the chicken so that it would be a complete one pan meal but it's delicious without any chicken and just more gnocchi and you can serve with some sort of meat or fish as a side.

Gnocchi with Browned Butter and Sage

500g potato gnocchi, cook according to package instructions

4 tbls salted butter

15 to 20 sage leaves, chopped

a small glug of chicken stock.2 tbls maximum

salt and pepper

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced thingly

Salt and pepper your sliced, raw chicken and set aside. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and while you wait for that, heat a sauté pan over med to med low heat and melt half the butter. Add the chopped sage and swish around for a minute before adding the chicken. Stir the chicken around and cook until all the pink has disappeared which will only take a couple of minutes, tops, since you have sliced it really thinly. By this time, your water is boiling so drop your gnocchi in to cook them for about 3 minutes or until they all float to the top of the simmering water.

This is when I add the other half of the butter to the pan with the chicken and let it melt. Push the chicken over to one side of the pan and let the butter just start to turn golden brown. As soon as that happens, splash in a touch of chicken stock - probably no more than 2 tbls if you need an exact measure and let that come to a boil.

By now your gnocchi are done so remove those from the pot with a big slotted spoon or pour out into a strainer and add the gnocchi to the pan with the buttery chicken and sage. Give it a good toss to coat well and serve.

Balsamic Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Quinoa and Chorizo

2011-10-23T17:57:00.004-04:00

Lately I'd be perfectly happy to sit down and eat a plateful of roasted veggies for dinner every night. I could even figure out enough different combos to legitimately finish off the rest of this challenge for the year without cheating. There's just something about caramelized, crunchy, salty vegetables that are satisfying my autumnal eating needs right now but somehow I think I'd have a mutiny on my hands if I completely skipped serving carbs and protein from here on in. This recipe claimed that Brussels sprouts were the star of the show (perfect!) and that the quinoa just rounded things out for a nice meatless-Monday meal. But since it was Sunday and since I knew at least a couple of family members would be happy to see meat on the plate, I added in some chorizo for good measure. I admit I've never served it before but since the Shacks are such big fans, we decided to give it a try. Big hit. Huge. Although the presentation was a bit of a mess, what it lacked in aesthetics it more than made up for in taste. Deep, earthy, salty and delicious. The balsamic vinegar can't be skipped--it perked up what would have otherwise been a somewhat bland dish and gave it total zing. I'm hiding the leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Quinoa and Chorizo

serves 4

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

1 lb Brussel Sprouts, peeled and cut in halves

1 large Spanish onion, peeled and cut in thin slices

1 cup quinoa

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

1/2 lb chorizo, cut into slices

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss Brussels sprouts and onion on a baking sheet with the oil and butter and season well with salt and pepper. Roast until caramelized, tossing occasionally, about 30 to 40 minutes.

Meanwhile, place quinoa and chicken stock in a saucepan and heat to a boil. Cover, reduce heat and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes until all liquid has been absorbed. Fluff lightly with a fork.

Toss the chorizo with the Brussels sprouts and onion, until heated through, about 5 minutes. Combine the veggies and meat with the quinoa and toss lightly. Drizzle the balsamic vinegar on top and serve.

Rest of the week

Oct 21 Eggs for dinner since we'd both had big lunches

Oct 22 Family dinner at Cafe Diplomatico

Oct 23 Roasted Brussels sprouts with quinoa and chorizo

French Onion Soup

2011-10-21T05:43:00.004-04:00

Until this challenge, French onion soup was like gazpacho in our house... something that Q would order in a restaurant but something that I wasn't likely to make at home. But this week it was finally time to give it a try and leave it for the menfolk to eat while I was out for a prolonged, seemingly weeklong birthday celebration extravaganza. This recipe was so simple to pull together and filled the house with one of our favourite smells--slow-cooked, brown and golden, caramelized onions. One of my colleagues had warned me that the onions tend to get "ropey" in the soup but I soldiered on and had faith it would work out. How bad could it be, anyway, when topped with a slice of toasted baguette and some salty, nutty, melted Gruyere? Exactly. I took a quick sip as I was making it and loved the earthy flavour but was saving my appetite for dinner out so I can't qualify as a full critic. Austin ended up giving it just a so-so (I think he was ultimately hoping for a more substantial dinner) and although Q gave it the thumbs-up, the soup had basically lost its shine when reheated for him later in the evening. Definitely a dish that's best served fresh out of the oven. Live and learn.

French Onion Soup

serves 4

1 lb yellow onions, halved and thinly cut lengthwise

3 to 5 sprigs fresh thyme

1 bay leaf

1/2 tsp paprika

1 tsp all-purpose flour

1/2 cup dry white wine

2 cups beef stock

1 cup water

half a baguette, sliced

1 tbsp unsalted butter

1 cup grated Gruyere cheese

In a heavy, large saucepan, melt butter over low heat. Add the onions, paprika, thyme, bay leaf, and salt and pepper to taste and cook until the onions are deep amber and soft, stirring occasionally, about 25 to 30 minutes. Add the flour and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, then add the wine, increase the heat, and let the wine bubble away for 2 to 3 minutes. Add the stock and water, and let the soup simmer for 25 to 30 minutes, allowing the flavours to blend. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Preheat the oven to broil. Toast the baguette slices until crisp on each side.

Remove the bay leaf and thyme sprigs from the soup and discard. Pour the soup into the ovenproof bowl, float the bread on top and cover with a thick layer of the cheese. Place under the broiler until the cheese is fully melted and golden.

Rest of the week

Oct 18 Leftovers; everyone fended for themselves

Oct 19 Mustard-crusted salmon with roasted broccoli, cauliflower and onions

Oct 20 French onion soup

Oct 18-19 Pork in Black Bean Sauce

2011-10-20T10:41:00.000-04:00

Oct 18 $10 pizza night at Il Fornello
Oct 19 Pork in Black Bean Sauce

I was craving beef with black bean sauce but I had a pork tenderloin in the fridge and, basically, anything is better in black bean sauce so pork worked for me! I used to joke that I'd even eat dog poop if it was in black bean sauce, so you know that I am very fond of the stuff.
I sort of cheated and used black bean garlic sauce like this and did not make my own from scratch using fermented black beans but I only had half an hour to whip some dinner together and this stuff tastes good, so sue me. Cauliflower is not a vegetable you would ever see a lot of in a chinese stir fry but we love it so it goes into most things it doesn't belong in.
This is a really simple dish and you can have the whole thing ready, from start to finish in half an hour. Sometimes, back in the days when I could make the same thing as often as I liked, I would cut up the meat and the vegetables in the morning and put everything in the fridge and then I could get the stir fry done in the time it took to cook the rice at dinner time. These kinds of quick dishes are perfect meals for busy week nights and there is really no end to the meat/veggie combos you can use - it's great with tofu and seafood too, although the black bean sauce is a bit overpowering for shrimp or other delicately flavoured proteins. Protein. I have clearly been watching way too much Top Chef.

Pork with Black Bean Sauce
Serves 4

1 pork tenderloin, sliced as thin as possible
1 tbls soy sauce
1-2 tbls of vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbls grated ginger
1/2 red onion cut in wedges
1 yellow pepper, chopped
1 orange pepper, chopped
1 stalk celery, sliced thinly
2 handful of green beans (I steam them with the cauliflower for 5 minutes first)
1 handful of cauliflower florets, halved if large (pre steamed with the green beans)
3 tbls black bean with garlic sauce
1/4 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup water
1 tsp cornstarch

toss the sliced pork with the tbls of soy sauce and set aside.
Steam the green beans and cauliflower for five minutes, run under cold water and set aside in a strainer.

Heat 1 tbls of oil in a wok or large sauté pan over med-high heat. Saute the onion for a couple of minutes and then add the garlic and ginger and sauté for another 30 seconds or so until really fragrant. Now add the pork and stir fry the meat until all the pink is gone. Remove all of that to a big bowl and set aside.

Pour in the second tbls of vegetable oil and add the celery and stir fry for a minute. Now add the peppers and stir fry for another minute or two, until you start to see little brown bits on the skin of the peppers. Next comes the green beans and cauliflower and after another minute, add the pork/onion mixture back in along with any juices that have collected in the bowl. Stir fry for another minute before you add the black bean sauce. Mix that in really well and then add the chicken stock. Whisk the cornstarch into the water and add that. Mix it all up really well, let the sauce come to a simmer and let that cook for one more minute, two tops.
Serve with rice.

Birthday Macaroni and Cheese

2011-10-18T08:01:00.008-04:00

Maddie turned 11 this week and I predicted she'd be asking for macaroni and cheese for her dinner birthday meal. And she did. She also asked for a familiar version, just to be assured full satisfaction on her special day, instead of her mom throwing in cauliflower or squash or some exotic ingredient that she'd never heard of, let alone wanted to eat. And that seemed a reasonable request, considering that she's eaten (or at least sampled) a whole lot of different stuff over the past several months, some of which she really didn't like, and has generally been a pretty good sport about this whole culinary journey.
So, in the interests of full disclosure, I'll admit that this recipe is a slight repeat of something I posted earlier in the year, although we didn't actually eat it that day--we had a healthier veggie-crammed version since Q was off to some sporting event. But this is probably our fave mac/cheese recipe that we've found and I was willing to make an exception of a repeat for her just for this one day. Hopefully the gesture will buy me some goodwill as we complete the final two months of the challenge.
This recipe is simple but incredibly rich, mainly due to the addition of the mascarpone. Decadent, delicious and hearty for a fall night. Lots of leftovers too.

Rich Baked Macaroni and Cheese
adapted from Bittman's How to Cook Everything

2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp butter
1 small onion, peeled and chopped
3 tbsp all purpose flour
3 1/2 cups milk
1 lb pasta of your choice
4 tbsp mascarpone cheese
1 1/2 cups grated cheese, like sharp cheddar (set aside 1/4 cup for topping)
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup bread crumbs or panko

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and cook the pasta; drain and set aside. Meanwhile, heat the milk in another pot.

In a large saucepan, heat the butter and oil and then add the onions. Cook over medium heat until the onions are translucent, about 10 minutes. Add the flour and cook for about 3 minutes. Add about 1/2 cup of the warmed milk, stirring with a wire whisk. As soon as the mixture becomes smooth, gradually add more milk until the mixture is thick and smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the two cheeses. Toss the cooked pasta with the cheese mixture and transfer to an ovenproof dish. Top with parmesan, reserved cheese and breadcrumbs. Cook for 20 minutes.

Rest of the week

Oct 14 Pizza night

Oct 15 Pre-half-marathon carb-loading of pesto/sundried tomato spaghettini with chicken

Oct 16 Shared birthday dinner at The Keg

Oct 17 Maddie's birthday macaroni and cheese

Monday Oct 16-17 Nachos

2011-10-17T14:15:00.001-04:00

Oct 17 No dinner - boys ate out and I forgot to eat
Oct 17 Nachos

I know, I know, how can someone who likes to eat as much as I do forget to eat? It happens. I was still not feeling really well and I had a bowl of chili for lunch and then I finally got the new Apple Tv working in my bedroom and spent the rest of the evening watching the first half of season one of The Big C on netflix.
It happens.
Anyway, Monday we were supposed to go visit a friend who was going to cut Little Shack's hair and she said she would feed us so I didn't play anything. She had to cancel at the last minute and so I had to cobble together a dinner with what was on hand and what was on hand was chili and tortilla chips and, therefore, nachos. At first I felt guilty because nachos doesn't seem all that different from the way we eat our chili in the first place and it uses most of the same ingredients but let me tell you this: nachos are NOT the same thing as eating a bowl of chili with some cheese sprinkled on top. Nachos are ooey, gooey and crunchy and delicious and they are there own delicious beast.

Nachos with Chili
I like to do them in individual servings so everyone gets their own nice, little parchment parcel

tortilla chips
chorizo chili
sharp cheddar (or monterey jack or jalepeno jack would be great too), grated
1 tomato, diced
1 lime
cilantro
kosher salt
red onion, thinly sliced
1 fresh jalepeno, seeded and thinly sliced
chipotle crema

Chipotle Crema:
2 tbls plain greek yogurt (I am trying to be healthy here but you could use sour cream)
1 tlbs mayo ( I use helmans light)
1 tsp chipotle powder or to taste
juice of 1/2 lime
pinch kosher salt

To assemble your nachos:
Preheat the oven to 450. Warm up the chili in a pot or, easier still, in the microwave.
Mix the tomato, some cilantro, a squeeze of half a lime and kosher salt and set aside.

Cut a square of parchment for each serving and lay it on a baking sheet. In the centre lay out a small handful of tortilla chips (only you can determine how much a single serving of nachos is in your household. I am not here to judge). Put a couple of spoonfuls of chili on top of the chips, a scoop of the tomato mix, a handful of cheese and then pop that into the oven until the cheese gets good and melty. Take it back out and repeat with another layer of chips, chili, tomato, cheese and this time scatter some thinly sliced red onion on the top. Bake until the cheese is all melty and then turn on the broiler and get the cheese really bubbling and you will start to see the edges of the chips getting brown.
Take it out, scatter some jalepeno, more chopped cilantro and drizzle some crema over the whole thing.
I like to put the crema into a snack sized baggie and snip a small hole off of one corner so I can pipe it on but feel free to just spoon it on if you want to.

Oct 13-15 Chili with Chorizo

2011-10-16T09:58:00.000-04:00

Oct 13 Wing night at the pub
Oct 14 I was sick in bed and Shack cooked rigatoni with meat sauce for the boys
Oct 15 Chili with Chorizo

I made the mistake of taking some new drug that my neurologist gave me after drinking a couple of glasses of wine. You know, they say not to drink when you take everything so I did not heed this particular warning from my pharmacist. I will not make this mistake again. I spent the entire day in bed on Friday wanting to die and was in no shape to cook anything for anyone. The only reason I even ate myself was because my friend, Kate, was an angel and went and got me Pho. That meant that Shack got to make meat sauce again because he isn't part of this challenge and I am sure they weren't thrilled that I was in bed wanting to die but I do know that they were pretty thrilled that they could cook whatever they wanted for once.
Saturday, I woke up feeling quite a bit better but it was cold, windy and generally horrible outside so that meant either chili or stew and chili was requested. To make it a bit different, I bought some mild chorizo but Shack asked that I don't make fancy changes and to keep it really simple. I liked the chorizo in my sloppy joes and thought it would work really well in a pot of chill and I was right.

Chili with Chorizo

small glug olive oil
500 g ground beef
300 g mild chorizo sausage, removed from casing and broken up into chunks
1 large onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
796 ml can kidney beans
2 tbls cumin
5-6 tbls chili powder
1 heaping tbls mexican oregano
341 ml bottle of beer
700 ml tomato puree
1 cup chicken stock
kosher salt

optional to serve: sour creme, grated sharp cheddar, cilantro, lime and tortilla chips

Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy pot over med heat. Add the onion and garlic and sauté for a few minutes before adding the meats. Brown the meat until all the pink is gone. Add the cumin, chili powder, and a pinch of salt and sauté for a couple of minutes. Add the beer, the stock, the beans, tomato puree and oregano. Stir well and bring to a light simmer, cover partially with the lid and let it cook like that for an hour. Taste after an hour and adjust seasonings if you need to, add more salt if it needs it. Keep cooking it until it has reduced to the consistency that you like at this point. We like our chill pretty thick so I usually have to cook it for another 45 minutes or an hour.

We all eat it differently so I serve all of the condiments on the side - Shack likes it with sour creme and cheddar, I like a bit of cheddar, cilantro and a squeeze of lime and The Kid likes it naked. We all like to eat it with some tortilla chips

Chicken 'n Biscuits

2011-10-15T19:51:00.002-04:00

The in-laws are celebrating a belated Thanksgiving up at the cottage, but between my day job and the short film I'm doing on the side I had a ton to get done at home and actually relished in the idea of a bit of alone time this weekend. Today was horrendously cold and wet day. The kind of day where it's comfort food you crave.

In case it wasn't clear from previous posts, I LOVE comfort food.

The cool nights of fall and winter are my favorite times to cook.

If I can spend the day in the kitchen roasting meat, working on sauces. Putting together a stick to your ribs kind of meal, I'm happy.

Unfortunately I didn't have the time for that today, between the chores I already had planned and an unexpected visit to the vet, I didn't have alot of time. It was then that I remembered a recipe for Chicken 'n Biscuits that was posted over a year ago on Eat Live Run. It sounds ridiculously delicious and super easy to put together. Especially because I had a slew of leftover smoked chicken from a couple weeks ago that was still tasty but I knew wouldn't last much longer. It seemed like the most serendipitous coming together of leftover and an easy recipe.

Here's the problem, this recipe serves 4 and I am home alone. How was I to make this so that the Boy can have a couple of meals this week while I'm working insane hours. That's when I decided to portion it out in individual ramekins and froze the fresh made biscuits so that he could easily make some for dinner on his own. I served mine out of the ramekin because I always make a mess with a hot bowl like that I knew it would work out better if I did.

One note on the recipe I think this more accurately serves 6, because after serving it into 4 good-sized ramekins I have a good amount leftover. I packed it up and put it in the freezer to use another day, maybe I'll even turn it into a stew later in the fall. Stay tuned for that!

Chicken 'n Biscuits
adapted from Eat Live Run

1 quart chicken stock

3 large carrots, peeled and chopped

12 oz leftover roasted or smoked chicken - shredded

1 yellow onion, chopped

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley

2 large red potatoes, peeled and chopped

2 celery stalks, chopped

6 T all purpose flour

2 tsp fresh thyme, chopped

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp sea salt

1/4 tsp ground white pepper

6 T unsalted butter

2 cups sliced mushrooms

For the biscuits:

1 1/3 cup all purpose flour

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

2 T COLD butter - the cold is key in getting flaky biscuits

2 T COLD shortening - same here, some time in the freezer won't hurt

1/3 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

1 egg

1/2 tsp sea salt

1/3 cup buttermilk

In a dutch oven, melt the butter. Add the onions and the mushrooms and saute for about seven minutes, or until both onions and mushrooms are soft. Add the flour and stir to make a roux. Keep cooking for about five minutes, making sure to scrape the flour from the bottom of the pot so it doesn’t burn. Now, slowly pour in the remaining stock, whisking as you pour. Crank up the heat to high and whisk your heart out for about five minutes as the sauce thickens and boils. Add the thyme, parsley, white pepper and nutmeg and stir. Pour the sauce over the chicken and veggies and toss gently to combine. Portion into individual ramekins and set aside while you make the biscuits.

Now, preheat the oven to 450. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Cut in butter and shortening and use your fingers to mix until the mixture resembles cornmeal. Stir in the cheese. Break the egg into a measuring cup and add the buttermilk to the egg. Whisk and then pour the mixture into the flour mixture and mix so that you have a relatively smooth ball of dough. On a floured surface, knead the dough four times only and then roll out to 1/2 inch thick. Cut rounds with a water glass or cup . Place biscuit rounds on top of each ramekin and brush the tops of the biscuits with egg wash (or just a bit of cream if you are making one portion at a time) and prick with a fork.

Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the biscuits are golden and the chicken mixture is bubbling. Serve hot.

If you want to do like me and make enough for a couple dinners during the week. Place the unbaked biscuits on a cookie sheet and into the freezer for a couple hours. Then transfer into a freezer bag and keep until ready to use.

Salmon Cakes

2011-10-13T16:35:00.004-04:00

These salmon cakes ended up being a nice change from our typical grilled salmon in some form on a weekday night. Why I've never made salmon cakes before is a mystery to me now that I've come across them, but will definitely add them to the repertoire from here on in. This recipe sound appealing because of the additions of sweet potato and panko, which I knew would be well received at the dinner table. Three out of the four of us loved this (the fourth doesn't like salmon so she would have been a hard sell even if it had been dipped in sugar, deep-fried and then dunked in chocolate), although I probably will zip up the flavour in the future with some added hot sauce and maybe chopped onions or something. Not totally bland but could have been a bit more flavourful.

Baked Salmon Cakes
(makes 8 salmon cakes)

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and chopped
1 green onion, sliced
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
zest of 1/2 lemon
2 tbsp mayonnaise
1 egg, whisked
1/4 cup and 2/3 cup panko bread crumbs
3/4 tsp hot sauce
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp paprika
1 tbsp chopped capers
2 6-oz cans wild salmon

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook sweet potato until tender, about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, combine all other ingredients (reserving 2/3 cup of panko for breading later) in a large bowl. When sweet potato has cooked and cooled, add to bowl and mash mixture together.

Form mixture into 8 patties, using your hands, and then bread patties in the remaining panko. Place on a greased baking sheet and bake for 5 to 7 minutes, then flip them over and bake for another 5 minutes. Finally, put them under the broiler for 2 more minutes, to get them nice and crunchy and brown.

Rest of the week

Oct 12 Tacos with salad

Oct 13 Salmon cakes with broccoli

Oct 10-12 Turkey Scotch Broth

2011-10-13T09:35:00.001-04:00

Oct 10 BBQ lamb at our friend's house
Oct 11 Penne a la Vodka from Supperworks
Oct 12 Turkey Scotch Broth

The weather was so beautiful all weekend and it really was a perfect Thanksgiving even though we didn't get to spend it with my sister and her family but we will be going there in a week so I will get another turkey dinner then. This is never a bad thing in my books because I adore a turkey dinner. This year we had our thanksgiving dinner with The Neighbours and they kindly gave me the turkey carcass so that I could make soup for all of us. Shack's scottish Aunt Annie made us a big pot of scotch broth when we went to visit her in Aberdeen and that was the first time I had eaten this hearty, comforting soup. I have made it with beef a few times (he doesn't like lamb at all because he is insane) but his favourite is this turkey version so he was very happy about it and was really looking forward to it. This is a recipe that I never really change, I don't try to fancy it up or make it more elegant or infuse elements from some other exotic, ethnic cuisine into it. It's perfect as is.

Turkey Scotch Broth
(you will probably have way more turkey stock so you can either double this recipe and make a ton of scotch broth, or you can use the rest of the turkey stock for other stuff - I freeze mine and use it for sopa de lima at a later date)

Turkey Stock:
1 leftover carcass from a roast turkey, cut up and ripped apart
3 large carrots, cut in four chunks
3 stalks celery, cut into four chunks
2 whole onions, skin on, quartered
water
2 or 3 bay leaves
Kosher salt

Soup:
10 cups Turkey stock
1 tbls oil
1 cup carrots, diced
1 cup parsnips, diced
1 cup med turnip, diced
1 leek, cut in half and thinly sliced
1 clove garlic
1 bay leaf
1 cup potato diced
2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 cup pot barley
about 1 1/2 cups turkey from the carcass
kosher salt and pepper

Break your turkey carcass apart in big chunks and put it in the largest stock pot you own. Cover it with cold water until it's covered by at least a couple of inches of water. Add the rest of the ingredients, bring it to a boil and then turn it the heat down until you have a nice, light simmer and let it cook for at least a few hours. I often let it go for about 4 or 5 hours until it's reduced by quite a bit and tastes good. Since this is going to be the base of your soup, if it tastes weak or watery now, it's probably not going to be strong enough. If you don't think it tastes right, let it simmer longer. After it's been simmering for a couple of hours, I start tasting and salting. I also like to make it the day before so I can put it in the fridge and let all the fat congeal on the top so it's easier to dispose of. I also think the stock is tastier the next day. If you can't do that, let the finished, strained stock sit as long as you can off the heat and skim the fat off.

Anyway, when the stock tastes right to you, remove the huge pot from the heat and strain the contents of that pot into another, smaller but still large stock pot. I have my method - I use a large slotted spoon to start taking out the guts of the stock pot little by little and putting them in a mesh strainer that fits over my second stock pot. I have a giant bowl for the fat, bones, vegetable chunks etc and I pick out all of the good meat and put that in a big bowl to use later in the soup. This is kind of messy, tedious work if you are in a hurry so that is just one more reason why, if you can, make the stock the day before so you can let the bones and meat cool before you start picking through it or else you will burn your fingers a bit.

When this is all done, you will have a bowl of good turkey meat, an empty huge stock pot and a second stock pot full of strained turkey stock. Either put that in the fridge to use the next day or try to get as much fat off the top of the stock as you can manage.

Now you make the soup.

Heat the oil in a large soup pot over med heat and sauté the leek, carrot, turnip, parsnip, garlic and bay leaf for about 5 minutes or so, until the vegetables are softened. Add the barley and sauté for another minute before adding in the turkey stock. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about half an hour before adding the potato and the sprigs of thyme. Let cook for another 25 minutes and throw in the shredded, cooked turkey meat and cook for another 5 minutes or so and serve.

A working Wednesday

2011-10-12T19:42:00.001-04:00

I'd love to have some super easy and delicious recipe to share with you today. But the fact of the matter is, I am at work. I ate lunch at 4pm today and the chances of me making anything tonight are slim to none.

The next few months will no doubt be more than interesting for me. First because of the movie I have been working on since the summer, our hours while not long in the film world, will very often go long enough that the last thing I want to do when I get home is cook or eat. Second, I am producing a short film which will take up the bulk of my free weekend time, worrying me as to how much I'll be able to cook in the next month or so.

Both fo those factors are the main reason I don't have anything to share today. I apologize for that, but it's the reality of my situation and we did all go into this under the assumption that we would "keep it real."

Eggs in Purgatory

2011-10-11T16:07:00.008-04:00

Phew! After a weekend of non-stop Thanksgiving cooking and baking, I was craving something light, quick and easy for dinner on Tuesday night. Make it meatless and it'd be even better. I've been meaning to try this egg dish for several weeks now--I think it's mainly the name that appeals to me and makes me smile since anyone who lives with teens knows that some days you definitely find yourself in purgatory, if not something even farther south. But I digress... Although there were lots of versions of this recipe that showed it served in a large dish, family style, I knew the kids would like the individual servings in the ramekins. Even better, I was able to use up some of my veggie leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner so I whipped up the onions, carrots and potatoes with the canned tomatoes and allowed it all to simmer while the oven heated. Then cracked a couple of eggs on top and, voila, dinner in minutes. Great rustic, peasanty food for a cool fall night after a weekend of overindulgence.

Eggs in Purgatory
serves two

1 tbsp olive oil

1/2 onion, peeled and chopped

1 carrot, peeled and chopped

1 potato, peeled and chopped

1 large can diced tomatoes

1 tsp minced garlic

4 eggs

chopped thyme or basil for garnish (optional)

Heat olive oil in a frying pan and gently saute onion for about 5 minutes. Add carrot, potato and garlic and cook for another 5 minutes. Add can of diced tomatoes and gently simmer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat oven to 375 degrees. Spoon warm tomato mixture into ramekins and make slight indentation on top to allow for egg. Carefully crack each egg and place it in the indentation without breaking the yolk. Place in oven and cook for approximately 15 minutes or until white is set.

Rest of the week

Oct 8 Turkey, gravy, brussels sprouts, sweet potato casserole, roasted potatoes and carrots, sweet corn, pecan tarts, Corbin's birthday carrot cake

Oct 9 Chicken caesar club sandwiches, roast beef sandwiches with roasted garlic and horseradish mayonnaise, cranberry pecan wild rice salad, caesar salad, Greek salad, caramel apple streusel cheesecake bars (technically this was all brunch but we were still stuffed so it was dinner too)

Oct 10 Out for dinner

Oct 11 Eggs in purgatory with salad and toast

Oct 6-9 Malloreddus with Tomato/Fennel/Sausage

2011-10-10T09:39:00.000-04:00

Oct 6 Dinner at Banjara in NYC
Oct 7 Lunch at Il Brigante in NYC and drive home so doritos, a crispy chicken wrap from McD's
Oct 8 Malloreddus with tomato/fennel/sausage
Oct 9 Thanksgiving = turkey dinner with The Neighbours

Seeing that Shack and I had just spent 3 1/2 days in New York eating delicious food that someone else cooked for me, I was actually really looking forward to making dinner our first night home. It was killing me to go to Eataly and walk around and see all of these beautiful ingredients and not be able to buy stuff and take it home and cook it. I actually contemplated buying a cooler and filling it with ice and all manner of mollusks, fish, cheese and veal to drive home until Shack reminded me that despite the pretty environment, Toronto already has all that stuff. That place is actually kind of overwhelming and, in the end, we went there twice and never ate anything at all and only bought a big bag of goodies for The Neighbours as a thank you for watching our devil spawn while we were away. That's not true, I did buy myself two kinds of pasta that I had never heard of and one of those was a bag of malloreddus. They kind of look like the love child of an orecchiette and an uptight sea shell. After googling I found this simple, delicious sounding recipe and although I didn't have wild fennel, I made it using a fennel bulb so it would still sort of have the same flavours, more or less and capture the spirit of the original.
It was really simple and delicious and just what we were all craving.

adapted from this recipe on Aglio, Olio e Peporoncino

200 grams mild italian sausage
1 white onion, diced finely
1 clove garlic, chopped
3 1/2 cups tomato puree
1 bulb fennel, finely chopped (set aside the chopped frilly green tops)
1/4 cup olive oil
kosher salt to taste
three handfuls of grated parmesan

300 grams malloreddus

Heat the olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Remove the sausage casings and chop up the meat, add it to the hot pan and sauté it until the sausage is cooked and starts to brown a tiny bit. At that point, add the onion and cook for a few minutes over med low heat, until the onion is translucent. Now add the chopped fennel and garlic and sauté for another couple of minutes.
At that point, add the tomato puree , add a good pinch of kosher salt and let it simmer for about 30 to 45 minutes

Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a rolling boil, add the malloreddus, cook for about 8 minutes and drain quite al dente. Drop the pasta into the pan with the tomatoes and also add the chopped frilly fennel tops, blending and tossing until well coated and simmer over medium heat for another 3-4 minutes. Sprinkle 3 handfuls of grated cheese, and stir some more.

Roasted Tomato & Caramelized Onion Salad

2011-10-09T09:30:00.000-04:00

I saw this salad about a month ago and knew I had to make it. Chock full of some of my favorite ingredients and something that keeps well in the fridge, you can't go wrong as far as I'm concerned. Last weekend, as I was preparing to go back to work seemed like the perfect time, since it would be an easy bite to grab after a long day on set.

I sadly couldn't find faro, at least not as easily as I'd like, so I went with Joy's suggestion to try it with Israeli Couscous. It turned out to be a great suggestion and I'm in love with this delicious salad. I seriously would make and devour it every week, but I guess that will have to wait until next year. Unless of course simply switching it up for faro would be enough of a change to make it a noREEAT, what do you think?

Oh yeah and Happy Thanksgiving Canada! I'm in NH with my family as this posts and am sadly missing Canadian Thanksgiving, though the Boy and I are beyond happy to be celebrating an early birthday with my Mom.

Tomato and Caramalized Onion Farro Salad

adapted from Joy the Baker

serves 4

2 cups cherry tomatoes

1 tablespoon olive oil

3/4 (or a few good pinches) salt

1/2 teaspoon (or a good pinch) crushed red chili flakes

2 medium yellow onions, sliced

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon butter

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

1 1/2 cups Israeli Couscous

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/4 cup coarsely chopped parsley

1. Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Place cherry tomatoes on a sheet tray. Drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt and red chili flakes. Bake for 15 minutes, or until some tomatoes have burst and are golden brown and sizzling. Remove from the onion and set aside to cool slightly.

2. Place olive oil and butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add sliced onions and toss to coat in fat. Allow onions to cook down for 5 minutes without stirring. Toss after 5 minutes, then allow to cook without being disturbed for another 5 minutes. Add salt and toss. Onions will begin to brown and break down.

3. Remove onions from the heat momentarily, add balsamic vinegar. Toss to coat all of the onions. Return to heat and allow to cook down to a melty consistency. Onions will be browned, broken down and delicious.

4. Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a large pot. When water boils, add a pinch of salt. Add couscous and stir. Cook for 10-13 minutes until cooked through with a slight bite. Drain in a fine mesh strainer, return to pot, and toss with olive oil. Add roasted tomatoes, caramalized onions, and chopped parsley. Toss and serve warm.

Faux Tamales

2011-10-08T07:05:00.004-04:00

Monday was an early day at work meaning that I was able to cook myself something quick and easy for dinner. I remembered seeing a recipe for easy "tamales" in my canning book, one that used some of the salsa I made and canned a few weeks ago. It met the requirements for an easy recipe with few ingredients so I set about making it and adding in a few extra ingredients of my own.

I couldn't be happier I took the time to make these after a long day on set, since they were filling, satisfying and delicious and an ideal easy weeknight meal. The leftover reheated quite nicely too.

Snack-Size Faux Tamales
serves 2 as a main course
adapted from Canning for a New Generation by Liana Krisoff

2 large egg whites
2 Tbsps olive oil
1/2 cup frozen corn kernels - thawed
1/4 cup salsa - I used homemade Charred Tomato & Chile Salsa
1 cup cornmeal or masa harina
1/4 cup shredded smoked chicken - optional
1/4 cup shredded aged cheddar - optional
salsa & sour cream for serving

1. Put the egg whites, corn, oil and salsa in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth. Add the cornmeal, blending until incorporated.
2. Lay 6 sheets of (6"x 12") wax or parchment paper on a work surface. Divide the tamale mixture among the sheets.
3. Shape them into logs with the paper and press a couple pieces of chicken into each log. Sprinkle with some cheddar and and wrap each log tightly. Fold the long edged of the paper up and turn it seam side down and tuck the ends underneath.
4. Arrange the packages in a steam basket set over boiling water. Cover the pot and steam for 5 minutes or until firm. Unwrap and serve with more salsa and some sour cream.

Dulce de Leche Ice Cream for Dinner... just following doctor's orders, honest!

2011-10-07T14:35:00.005-04:00

Austin had three teeth pulled yesterday and the dentist told him he'd have to be on a soft diet for the next several days. Kinda a bummer, considering we're heading into Thanksgiving dinner but them's the breaks, kid, if Hollywood teeth are what you're after. Since I'm always up for sympathetic eating, I decided that if he had to eat ice cream, he may as well eat some homemade stuff. Carole has been raving about a super-easy key lime pie-flavoured ice cream she had made earlier in the summer... all without an ice-cream maker, and with just a few simple ingredients, so today was the day to give it a try. Just beat some whipping cream in one bowl; in another bowl, combine a can of condensed milk with whatever flavours you want to add. Even though it seemed overkill to add dulce de leche to the condensed milk, that's what I did, and if the little guy hadn't needed this to be super-smooth, I would have also thrown in something crunchy like sugared pecans. Next time. Then combine the two bowls together, store in the freezer for the rest of the day and dessert (or in our case, dinner) is on the table in about 5 or 6 hours. I tasted a quick spoonful as I was photographing it and I'd say Carole and I could have a showdown on this one. Amazing. Can't wait to make it again and mix up the flavours/textures.

Dulce de Leche Ice Cream
makes about a quart

2 cups whipping cream
1 can condensed milk
several spoonfuls of dulce de leche

Whip cream in a large bowl until stiff peaks appear. In another bowl, combine the condensed milk and the dulce de leche (add however much you want... it'll get diluted once you mix it with the cream so it's probably better to add more than less). Fold together all the ingredients and then pour into a plastic lidded container. Put in freezer for 5 to 6 hours.

Rest of the week

Oct 5 Sesame broccoli beef with noodles

Oct 6 Everyone fended for themselves while Mom went to theatre w girlfriends

Oct 7 Dulce de leche ice cream

Cosi Salad

2011-10-05T21:22:00.003-04:00

Work is in full force and I am beyond exhausted as I type this post. Shooting hours are a killer but I'm still pushing through with making at least a few dinners a week. On Sunday the Boy broke out the smoker and decided to smoke a whole chicken. He found a recipe he liked and went out and bought a gorgeous free range chicken. Prepped it with a rub the night before and put me in charge of sides.

I had a full Sunday with a trip to the Leslieville Farmers Market and a whole bunch of baking. So I knew I needed an easy side. That's when I remembered a salad my sister used to always make when we lived together. For some reason it's called Cosi salad, though I have no idea why. To me it's the perfect thing for fall because it's chock full of apple, pears and dried cranberries. It's super delicious super easy and can easily stand on it's own as a main if needed.

delicious whole smoked chicken!

Cosi Salad
serves 4

1 apple - diced - I like royal gala
1 pear - diced - 1 used bartlett
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup pistachios - shelled
2-3 oz blue cheese - crumbled
1 box of baby greens
extra virgin olive oil
balsamic vinegar
salt & pepper

Toss all the ingredients together for a super tasty salad!

Not much of a recipe, I know but it's yummy!

Oct 3-6 Tonkatsu-ish Pork Chops

2011-10-05T14:40:00.004-04:00

Oct 3 Pork Tonkatsu with Tonkatsu sauce
Oct 4 Dinner NYC
Oct 5 Dinner at Po NYC

Monday night was the last dinner I was going to cook for a few days because Shack and I were ditching The Kid with The Neighbours and running away to New York for the rest of the week. I wanted to use up stuff that was in the fridge and I had some pork chops so it made sense to follow up our Japanese curry with tonkatsu. It's not totally traditional since the pork chops are not deep fried, they were marinated in a bit of mustard and butter milk instead of dipping them in egg before I panko'd them but I did make the sauce and they were close enough for me. We had it with a spinach salad using a japanese sesame dressing that I am not sure I am 100% sold on but it is kind of growing on me. What's not to like about a nice, breaded pork chop with a sweet, slightly spicy yummy sauce on it? Since I knew that I was going to spend the next week eating my face off and The Kid was going to be spoiled rotten by The Neighbours, we are lucky that I even bothered to cook anything and not just hand everyone a peanut butter sandwich and call it a day.

Pork Tonkatsu-ish

3 centre cut, boneless pork chops
1 cup buttermilk
2 tbls dijon mustard

1 cup panko
salt and pepper

1-2 tbls oil
Tonkatsu sauce

mix the buttermilk and mustard and let the chops marinate in that at least a couple hours or all day if you can. Mix the panko with a bit of salt and pepper in a shallow bowl.
Heat a frying pan with the oil in it over med heat. Remove the chops from the buttermilk and coat them on all sides with the panko. Put the breaded chops in the pan and fry them for about 5-6 minutes per side.
Serve them with the tonkatsu sauce

Tonkatsu sauce
1/2 cup of ketchup
1/4 cup worcestershire sauce
1/4 cup sake
2 tbls sugar
2 tbls mirin
1 tbls grated ginger
1 tbls finely chopped garlic

Combine all the ingredients in a sauce pan, bring to a boil and then lower heat so that it simmers lightly for about 20 minutes. It should thicken up and reduce by about half. Let it cool to room temp.It will keep in the fridge for weeks.

Roasted Apple and Sweet Onion Soup with Zucchini/Sweet Potato Loaf

2011-10-04T07:00:00.000-04:00

We're planning on going apple picking over the Thanksgiving weekend so we've been thinking about all our fave apple recipes to make over the next little while. And then I came upon this recipe and liked the idea of the fruit being the main taste, rather than the veggies, for a change. Although it called for roasting the apples, you can basically just cook them in a pot on the stovetop and you'll be good to go; if you want to go an extra step and pop them in the oven with the onions to roast further after the initial browning, that'd work too and probably add some added depth of flavour. Regardless, this soup was fairly light but delicious and gobbled up quickly by all of us.
But the real hit of the meal was the zucchini sweet potato quick bread that I whipped up as well. Total yum, studded with chewy dried cranberries and crunchy walnuts, and moist and savoury/sweet throughout. Immediate requests for it in lunch bags the next day so that's the highest compliment, and even beats out our family's all-time favourite date-nut loaf, which we've all been eating forever.

Roasted Apple and Sweet Onion Soup

4 Granny Smith apples, peeled and cut into thick chunks
1 large onion, peeled and cut into large chunks
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp olive oil
few sprigs of thyme
1-2 tsp brown sugar
1 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 cup milk or cream
1 cup old cheddar

Heat the butter and oil in a large saucepan. Add the apples, onion and sugar, and cook over medium heat, gently stirring until the apples are soft but not mushy. Add the stock and boil for 3 minutes. Remove from heat and, using a handheld blender, puree the ingredients. Return to the stove and add the milk or cream until you have the consistency you want. Add the cheese and allow to melt into the soup. Season to taste.

Zucchini Sweet Potato Bread

makes one (overflowing!) loaf

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cloves
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup grated zucchini
1 1/2 cup peeled and grated sweet potato
1 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a loaf pan and set aside. Sift the first seven ingredients into a medium-sized bowl. In a separate large bowl, beat the sugar, oil eggs and vanilla. Mix in the zucchini and sweet potato. Add the dry ingredients and stir just to combine. Fold in the nuts and cranberries and stir well.

Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 1 hour and 20 minutes. Cook break in pan on rack for 15 minutes. Loosen the edges with a butter knife and turn out on a rack to cool completely. Can be prepared one day in advance. Wrap in foil and keep at room temperature.

Rest of the week

Oct 2 Dinner at Amaya

Oct 3 Apple/sweet onion soup with zucchini bread

Sept 29-Oct 2 Japanese Chicken Curry

2011-10-03T07:54:00.000-04:00

Sept 29 Meatloaf from SupperWorks potato/arugula pancakes with feta
Sept 30 Dinner out to celebrate the birthday of a friend
Oct 1 Japanese Chicken Curry
Oct 2 Mid Afternoon Dim Sum which left us all too full for supper

The Kid loves all things Japanese so this week I made him a curry. He likes Japanese curries because they are sweet and rarely spicy at all . Well, that and the mere fact that it is Japanese alone makes it better. I am going to be honest here, and admit that I use store bought curry base because every Japanese person I know also uses store-bought curry base so you can use it too, guilt free. I am sure I am now going to be inundated with emails from all of you who only make this stuff from scratch and that's cool because I would love to try that too at some point but, for now, I am using the pre made curry blocks. It's a popular dish here so I am sure I will make it again but use different meat/veg the next time. It's not the prettiest meal I have ever had to photograph but it is easy and tasty, it's quick and it just gets better the longer it sits in the fridge so it's the gift that just keeps on giving in terms of tasty lunch for me for the rest of the week.

Japanese Chicken Curry
serves 4-5 (it is great as leftovers - gets better as it sits)

1 onion (or in my case 4 shallots because I didn't have an onion) in bite sized dice
2 large carrots, diced into bite sized pieces
2 large potatoes, diced into bite sized pieces
about 1 tbls veg oil
300 grams boneless chicken thighs, cut into bite sized pieces
1.5 cups chicken stock
1.5 to 2 cups water
100 grams curry sauce mix

Heat the oil in a deep frying pan that accommodate the finished curry. Throw in the onions and cook until they start to just take on some colour before adding the chicken. Saute the chicken until it starts to brown and then add the potato and carrot and cook for a few more minutes. Add the stock and 1.5 cup of the water (or just 3 cups of water if you want), cover, lower the heat to med low and cook it until the veggies and chicken are cooked, about 20 minutes or so. When it's cooked, this is the time to add the curry sauce. It generally comes in a block. The brand I use has two blocks in a package and I use one of them for this amount of curry. Stir it in and continue to stir until it melts and incorporates and let them cook for about 5 minutes. Taste it at this point and if it seems thicker than you would like, add a bit more water, stir and check and do this until you get a consistency you are happy with. It is quite a thick sauce but some people don't like it that thick, it's up to you. Serve with rice.

Baked Chicken with Mushrooms

2011-10-02T08:27:00.005-04:00

Spent all of Friday afternoon baking for Corbin because Q was heading down to see him on Saturday at university for homecoming weekend. I figured that him and his res buddies would be happy to see some homebaked treats so I made brownies, pecan tarts, seven-layer bars and chocolate chip peanut-butter cookies. Maddie came home from school that afternoon, took one look at the stacks of stuff on the counters and immediately begged, "Don't give it all away!" because that's precisely what she expects me to do with any extra baked goods. It wasn't any consolation to her that it was all headed to her oldest bro but probably good incentive for her to think of university possibilities that lie ahead in her future and the care packages that'll inevitably be sent to her.

The weather turned really cool on Saturday in Toronto so a one-pot meal of chicken with meaty portobellos seemed the right choice for dinner that night. Let's just say that everything was going swimmingly until life got in the way--family details too boring to recount but I suddenly had to run out mid-way through the cooking stage to pick up one of the kiddies on the other side of town so the chicken didn't cook quite the way it was intended to. As a result, it wasn't the most delicious for us but the cook (or spouse, depending on how you look at it lol) was definitely to blame, not the recipe. Maybe you'll have more success.

Baked Chicken and Mushrooms

serves 4

1/4 cup olive oil

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp chopped garlic

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

1 tbsp chopped fresh sage leaves (I couldn't find any so I used thyme instead)

4 chicken pieces (either breasts or thighs, your choice)

4 portobello mushroom, stems removed, and cut into thick slices

2 tsp lemon juice

Combine oil, vinegar, garlic, sage and mustard in a large bowl. Add chicken and mushrooms and toss to coat. Marinate for 30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Layer mushrooms on bottom of ovenproof casserole dish and lay chicken pieces on top; scrape any remaining marinade onto chicken. Bake for 35 minutes or until chicken juices are clear. Just before serving, sprinkle with lemon juice and any pan juices.

Rest of the week

Sept 30 Dinner at The Beacher Cafe

Oct 1 Chicken with mushrooms and roasted asparagus

Caprese Risotto

2011-09-29T17:08:00.006-04:00

The latest issue of Chatelaine had an article on various kinds of risotto and the caprese version definitely appealed to me, until I saw that they had made it with tomato juice. And I hate tomato juice. The thought of a tomato-soupy, blood-red risotto wasn't grabbing me, although the combo of summer-fresh caprese ingredients with fall comfort food wouldn't let me go. After a quick search, I found this version that kept all the ingredients separate (which also meant that the kiddies could choose a plainer version if they wanted... and they did).
I initially added some chopped pancetta to the sauteed onions but immediately realized by the smell, in fact the stench, that the pancetta was horribly and terribly past its due date. So I had to start over again, with better results the second time around. Since Maddie and Austin chose the non-caprese version, it was a pretty bleak, monotone, unimaginative presentation on their plates and Austin accused me of serving him "the kind of food you get in jailhouses." Jailhouses. Hmmm. Gruel a la Oliver Twist is what he had in mind. Kind of like Little Shack accusing Carole of serving him prison food when she made homemade granola a few months ago. Not sure if Parmigiano-Reggiano is served by Her Majesty's Finest but he could be right, even though not a single grain of rice was left on his plate at the end of the meal. Q pointed out that something was missing in terms of overall taste and satisfaction, and I really do think the pancetta would have added some meaty ompf... just unfortunately not the rotten pancetta that we had on hand.

Caprese Risotto

serves 4

1 small onion, diced

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp butter

3 cloves garlic, chopped

1 1/4 cups arborio rice

1/2 cup white wine

6 cups chicken broth, warmed

handful of cherry tomatoes, quartered

handful of basil, chopped

six bocconcini balls, quartered

some grated parmesan

In a large saucepan, saute the onion in the olive oil and butter until translucent. Add the chopped garlic and cook for another two minutes, and then add the arborio rice. Cook for a few minutes to toast up the rice and then add the white wine to deglaze the pan. When the wine is absorbed, add a ladleful of broth to the rice and stir until absorbed. Continue to add a ladleful at a time until all the broth has been added, stirring constantly. It's time-consuming but a labour of love. When the rice is finished, stir in some grated parmesan and Carole's secret ingredient of a final pat of butter, and lastly fold in the caprese ingredients of tomatoes, basil and bocconcini. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Rest of the week

Sept 27 Turkey, avocado and cheese paninis with salad

Sept 28 Omelettes with red peppers and onions

Sept 29 Caprese risotto with salad

Sept 27-28 Braised Pork Chops

2011-09-29T09:33:00.001-04:00

Sept 27 Braised Pork Chops with mashed potatoes
Sept 28 Wing night with The Neighbours

You know, we had a few cold days and I started to crave mashed potatoes and stew and sauce and gravy and all of those great comfort foods of winter. I put away my short skirts and shorts and started wearing pants and cute little sweaters and jackets and jaunty scarves. Well, I am sitting here, sweating my butt off because it is muggy and humid and I really should be wearing shorts and flip flops and grilling squid but all I can think of are those comfort foods so hot September weather be damned!
We picked up a couple of marinated big, boneless pork chops from Shack's favourite butcher (there are only a couple of places where I will buy pre marinated meat and to be honest, I don't even know what the marinade was) but this dish would work with plain pork chops, seasoned with salt and pepper or any savoury spices you choose to use. Actually, the best thing about braising meat this way is that you can pretty much use your imagination. You can sub in part or all of the stock for beer, or white wine, or do half stock, half port. You can use heavy cream or evaporated milk like I did. You can add whatever herb you have laying around that you like. It's a no reEater's dream dish because I could make it every week from now until the end of the year and change it every single time.

Braised Pork Chops
Serves 2-3

2 tbls olive oil
1 shallot, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 boneless centre cut pork chops, about 2" thick
kosher salt and pepper (mine were pre marinated so I skipped this step)
3/4 cup chicken stock
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1 tbls grainy mustard
1 tbls chimichurri compound butter (or just plain old butter )
chopped italian parsley for garnish if you like

heat pan over med heat. Add the olive oil and sauté the shallots for a few minutes before adding the garlic. Saute for another minute or so. Season the pork chops with salt and pepper and add to the pan, browning well on both sides. Add the chicken stock and cover the pan, lower the heat just a bit and cook for about 20-25 minutes.
After that time (don't get too stressed about it because the pork is cooking in liquid you can't really overcook it or dry it out), take off the lid and remove the chops and set aside. Add the evaporated milk, grainy mustard and bring to a light simmer for a minute. Right before you are going to serve it, whisk in the cold butter and plate it up. Put a pork chop on top of some nice, delicious mashed potatoes and spoon a bunch of that lovely, creamy sauce over top.

Meat Stuffed Tomatoes

2011-09-28T11:47:00.000-04:00

This is a first. I am going to post a recipe this morning, that I plan to make tonight. The funny thing is I planned to make it Sunday night, Monday night and last night. I have all of the ingredients on hand and am now concerned that the ground pork I bought might not be so good. But we'll see when I get home tonight.

I know the whole idea here is keeping it real, so stay tuned for an update to this post with a photo OR with me saying I didn't make it. Regardless it's a tasty sounding recipe that I so want to make and am hoping it happens tonight.

So maybe I'm mildly obsessed with my new spanish cookbook. I mean I am sharing another recipe from it today. That has to do with the fact that I took five minutes to bookmark recipes that looked interesting to me. And ones that had a small number of ingredients and looked fairly east to assemble. Those are my two requirements these days. I'm really curious as to what I'm going to be sharing with in the coming months since cooking and shooting a movie rarely go hand in hand, at least not in my world. I might have to get creative on the craft truck on set.

Meat Stuffed Tomatoes
serves 2
adapted from the Food of Spain by Claudia Roden

2 large beefsteak tomatoes
1/4 onion chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
2.5 oz ground pork
salt & peppet
2 slice serrano ham
1/2 hard boiled egg halved

1. Cut a small slice off the stem of each tomato, to use as a lid. Shave the inside of the lids to leave more room for the stuffing. Carefully Remove some of the pulp and seeds.
2. Heat up a skillet over medium heat. Add the oil and onions and saute until golden. Add the pork and cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring and breaking it up unti it is no longer pink. Season to taste with salt & pepper
3. Transfer the pork and onions to a food processor with the ham and egg. Blend to a smooth paste and adjust the seasoning as necessary.
4. Stuff the tomatoes with the paste, pressing it firmly and cover with the lids
5. Arrange the tomatoes in a baking dish and bake in a 400F degree oven for 20-30 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft.

Southern Unfried Chicken

2011-09-26T18:49:00.006-04:00

Over the years I've thumbed through Art Smith's cookbooks but have always found them too "southern comfort foody" for me. You know... lots of fried stuff and biscuits and gravy, with all the fixin's piled on top to boot. Don't get me wrong: I love comfort food just like the next girl but my body doesn't need to be hanging onto the remnants of it for months to come. So when the latest issue of Runner's World arrived in the mail last week, I was surprised to see Art profiled inside--and proudly showing off his recent 120-pound weight loss as well. After being diagnosed with type-2 diabetes, he revamped his diet, took up walking and then running, and is now a marathoner. Totally impressive. He also insists that his new eating plan doesn't mean salads every night, but instead he's found ways to rework his old faves into healthier options.

Given that I've never made actual fried chicken before, and wouldn't be likely to either (too much mess and too greasy for our tastes), I loved his unfried option of soaking the chicken in a marinade of creamy buttermilk and hot sauce for a few hours, coating it in panko and then baking it instead. And we all loved it. Completely moist but crispy and only 320 calories and 7 grams of fat per serving.

Southern Unfried Chicken
serves 4

1 cup buttermilk
2-3 tsp hot sauce
4 skinless chicken breasts
1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs
3 tbsp parmesan
1 1/2 tsp onion powder
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1-2 tsp black pepper
1-2 tsp hot red pepper
1 tsp paprika

In a bowl, combine buttermilk and hot sauce. Soak chicken breasts in the buttermilk marinade for at least 1 hour and up to 24 hours. In the meantime, combine the panko, parmesan and the rest of the spices in a large ziplock bag. Shake to blend. Using tongs, remove the chicken from the marinade and place directly in the bag. Shake well, until the chicken is evenly coated with bread crumbs. Remove from the bag and lay flat on a sheet pan. Allow to chill uncovered in the fridge for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and then bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

Rest of the week

Sept 24 Ecuadorian theme dinner party at our friends' place; responsible for appetizers so we made ceviche and guacamole

Sept 25 Ate at Fran's before seeing Kathy Griffin (omg so funny and so offensive all at the same time)

Sept 26 Unfried chicken with salad and roasted broccoli

Sept 26 Salad with Beets, Walnut Vinaigrette and Steak

2011-09-26T15:02:00.001-04:00

Sept 26 Steak Salad with bread

This is the week that I often dread - it's the week where I take the Sunday which means that I have to make something worth sharing with you two days in a row which sounds like it wouldn't be a big deal. Before I started this challenge I clearly didn't think it would be a big deal either but not only do I have to come up with something new, it has to be pretty and I have to photograph it too.
Yesterday, we had delicious grilled strip loins with the chimichurri compound butter and we had a half a steak left over. I knew that I would be finding a use for that steak. I also had roasted beets leftover so I wanted to use those too.
I had bought some really good walnut oil from D'Avolio on the weekend and nothing goes better with roasted beets than walnut oil. It was all starting to come together. A salad with the beets, a nutty walnut vinaigrette and steak with some nice, crumbled feta. Throw in some warm, homemade bread with walnuts and you have yourself a pretty nice Monday supper. I am always happy to turn leftovers into something that would be worth making on another day with freshly made ingredients.

Steak Salad with Beets, Feta and Walnut Vinaigrette
serves 2

*walnut vinaigrette
2 servings of baby arugula (at least 2 to 3 cups)
cold, pre cooked beets brought to room temp
cold leftover strip loin, cut into thin slices and brought to room temp
1 avocado, sliced or in chunks
1/4 cup crumbled sheep feta
2 tbls toasted pumpkin seeds

*Walnut Vinaigrette

1 tbls walnut oil
2 tbls sunflower oil
1 tbls white balsamic vinegar
1/2 shallot, minced
1/2 tsp strong honey
1 tsp tarragon reisling dijon (use whatever dijon or grainy mustard you like)
kosher salt and black pepper

Toss the arugula with 3/4 of the vinaigrette and arrange on a plate. Arrange the sliced beets, avocado and steak artfully over the greens. Drizzle the extra dressing over the salad and then scatter the feta and the walnuts over each salad.

there are no avocados in this picture but we ate ours with avocado and it was delicious

Sept 22-24 Chimichurri Compound Butter

2011-09-25T19:27:00.002-04:00

Sept 22 half price apps at a pub
Sept 23 BBQ beef from the freezer on homemade rolls with coleslaw
Sept 24 impromptu road trip to Niagara and Buffalo, late lunch at The Anchor bar
Sept 25 Grilled Strip Loins with Chimichurri Compound Butter

We have been eating out a ton because Shack is finally done his movie and has been making it home in time to eat and he wants to go out all the time, so we have been out and about and not eating at home a ton. This Sunday was a beautiful, warm, sunny September day and seeing that we have barely used the bbq all summer, I demanded that we stay home and grill. He has been jonesing for steak and baked potatoes but I wanted to do something a little special. I LOVE chimichurri but thought it might be fun to make a compound butter using all the ingredients but substituting butter for the olive oil as the fat medium. Nobody wants to admit it, but nothing finishes off a great steak better than a pat of butter and the way the fat from the butter mingles with the meat juices to make a velvety little sauce the puddles around the meat on your plate
RIDICULOUS!

Chimichurri Compound Butter

125 g salted butter
1/2 cup finely chopped italian parsley
1/4 of a shallot, minced
1 tbls fresh oregano
juice of 1/2 lemon
grated zest from 1 lemon
1 tsp jalepeno white balsamic (you can just use regular white balsamic and add a pinch of chill flake)
a few grinds of black pepper
(optional) 1 tbls crumbled blue cheese ( I only put this in MY portions)

Let the butter come to room temperature before adding the rest of the ingredients. I used a silicone spatula so that I could really work all the ingredients into the butter. When it's all mixed together, you can roll it into a tube using parchment (here are good instructions on making compound butter ) or you can do what I did and smash the soft butter into little silicone ice cube molds to make pretty little pats of herby butter.

This stuff would be equally delicious plopped on top of any grilled meat, chicken or fish