What Dish?

New hat!

2010-04-13T16:09:00.003-02:30

This is in no way food related, but I bought a new hat today to celebrate the fact that I'm nearly done my first year of Creative Photography.

If I make the Dean's List again, I will definitely buy something else....I've been eyeing a flight bag from one of the neighbourhood antique shops.

In food related news, I am making Potato Leek Soup for dinner tonight. The thing I love about living in Roncesvalles Village is the vegetable markets. I buy my potatoes here, my leeks there, and my herbs further up the street. You can get everything you need to make dinner just by walking up and down Roncesvalles. The only time I actually go to a supermarket is if I need canned goods, because the milk is just as fresh and cheap in the multitudes of corner stores.

It's Been A Long, Long Time

2010-04-02T11:34:00.002-02:30

After my last post, I was reminded that I haven't been updating this blog anymore.. it's true. Even that last post was an accident, a happy one at that. I had meant to publish that on my new blog, which is dedicated to my photographic pursuits.

Once this school year is done, I hope to be back in my kitchen, cooking up a storm.

Lunch

2010-03-24T19:05:00.001-02:30

Lunch
Originally uploaded by tj.cuthbert

My unappetizing lunch. Culinary Arts people, do *not* serve people pate and a terrine. It's like having a meal of two cinder blocks.

Spam on Vacation

2009-07-23T19:25:00.003-02:30

So the other reason for my lax blogging is that I was at the in-laws' cottage for a week with no TV, no computer. It was bliss.

Anyway, we found a Spamalot tin of Spam at the Co-Op and had it for breakfast, view the photos

There will be another vacation food set of Dave and I cooking up Phil and Lem (live lobsters).

Swiss Chard and Potato Pie

2009-07-23T17:19:00.005-02:30

I've had a lot on my mind lately. I've been thinking about grand plans, potential destinies and money... and so no posts. To be honest, I haven't been doing much cooking. I can't seem to concentrate long enough to put together a shopping list, or decide on what to eat for dinner.

I'm going back to school in the fall (Creative Photography Program at Humber), which is great, wonderful, exciting and all that. But I have developed a bit of a life here in St. John's and I'm not so excited about leaving it behind and doing the long distance thing with my husband and cats... I'm still trying to figure out a way to have a decent long distance relationship with my cats.

Anyway, I did manage to muster up some excitement for fresh, locally grown produce.

Lester's Farm is the best. If you live in St. John's and you have a car, go to Lester's. Beginning mid-July the produce starts coming in. Dave and I went last weekend and we picked up some beautiful swiss chard, carrots, cauliflower and red leaf lettuce.

Swiss Chard and Potato Pie

Dough:
1-1/4 cups flour, sifted
pinch of salt
1-1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup cold water

Mix flour and salt together in a large bowl. Drizzle oil into flour, mixing with a fork or pastry cutter. Sprinkle the water in about 1 tbsp at a time, mixing until dough just comes together. Knead until smooth and elastic, about 15 minutes. Shape dough into ball and cover with a damp cloth, and chill for 2 hours.

Filling

1 bunch swiss chard (about 3/4 lb), stems removed
1 med yellow onion
1 med russet potato
1 cup crumbled feta
handful of flat-leaf parsley
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 tbsp olive oil

First off, stab your potato with a fork in a couple of place, then boil your potato. It will take a while, and you want it cooked completely through. It's done when you can easily push a butter knife through it.

Pulse the swiss chard leaves in a food processor until roughly chopped. Place in a colander and sprinkle with a few pinches of salt, and toss to mix. Let drain for about 20 minutes.

When cooled, peel and dice the potato. Pulse the onion and parsley in the food processor--don't worry if there are bits of chard left inside, it doesn't matter. Put potato, onion, parsley and feta in a bowl, season with salt and pepper... mostly pepper, you're not going to need much salt.

Squeeze out the excess water from the chard by pressing it against the colander with a wooden spoon. Using a slotted spoon, add the the potato mixture. Mix in eggs and 1 tbsp olive oil (if it's fairly dry, add a bit more olive oil, if quite wet, omit it altogether).

Preheat oven to 375F. Lightly oil a pizza pan, or use a stone. Divide the dough into 2 balls, 2/3 for bottom, 1/3 for top crust. Roll out the dough for the bottom on a floured surface until it's about the size of your pan (13" - 15"). I find that you really have to work at this dough to get the right size.. don't be discouraged if it's small, just keep rolling! Place the dough in the pan, trim if necessary so that it fits. Evenly distribute the filling over the dough, leaving about 1" around the edge.

The top part is pretty much the same, except that you'll find it will be nearly see-through in places, which is totally okay. Place the top crust over the filling. Wet the bottom edge, and fold in the crust and crimp to seal. Sometimes I have to stretch the top dough to meet the bottom. Pierce the dough in a couple of places with a fork, this lets the steam out. Then gently push the surface of the pie to spread it out a bit more. Drizzle with some olive oil and pop it in the oven for about half an hour, or until golden.

This recipe is adapted from Saveur Cooks Italian. A very wonderful cookbook.

Fancy Bannock

2009-06-23T08:49:00.008-02:30

Bannock and peanut butter cookies were the first things I baked on my own. My first bannocks were dry and rock hard but with some practice I eventually got it right. So this is fancy bannock, which really just means that it has raisins. Typically this is made on a stick over an open fire (a feat my mother used to brag about) or in a large cast iron frying pan in a wood stove.

Well, while I appreciate tradition, I am not going to attempt open fire stick-bannock, nor do I have a large cast iron frying--it's on the list. My Uncle Armand has this nifty tin contraption that allows one to make bannock while camping. You rest the device next to the fire and the tin reflects the heat to create an oven; we tried it out when we went camping in Bisco for a couple of days... there were a few kinks that still needed to be worked out.

Anyway, back to bannock.

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tbsp baking powder
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup Sultana raisins
1/2 cup cold lard (or vegetable shortening)
1-1/4 cup chilled buttermilk

The very first thing you need to do is boil some water and soak the raisins for about 10 minutes or until they plump up, then drain and gently pat dry. Make sure they are dry before adding them to the dough

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, mix flour, baking powder, sugar and salt. Cut in lard with a pastry cutter or two forks, until crumbly. Gently mix in the raisins. Gradually add enough buttermilk to make a soft dough--you might not need the whole 1-1/4 cup of buttermilk. Turn out onto lightly floured surface and gently knead the dough until the liquid is evenly distributed. Don't over knead, or else the bannock with be hard as a rock.

Shape it into a ball, then flatten into a circle about 1" thick; cut an 'X' on top of the loaf. Place on greased cookie sheet; bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown and an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Cool on rack. Serve with butter.

The bannock turned out beautifully, it's nice and flaky, not too dense and not too dry.

Me and My Oregano

2009-06-22T14:11:00.007-02:30

I asked for oregano... and oregano I now have. Last year, I hadn't quite figured out what to use it for besides spaghetti sauce.

I had dried some in the fall last year, and was happy to have freshly dried oregano available with just a clip of the scissors--my natural laziness meant that I had hung the oregano to dry in the kitchen, and never took it down, instead of removing the leaves and putting them in a jar.

Right now, my patch of oregano is already overgrown so I've decided to try to use it more often... so I made some yogurt oregano marinade for some pork chops. I just eyeballed all this..

About 1.5 cups of Balkan-style Yogurt
5-6 stalks of oregano, leaves removed and chopped. (I really love oregano and tend to over do it)
2 cloves of garlic, minced (*updated. oops! forgot an ingredient)
the juice of one lemon
a few grates of lemon rind
a pinch of pepper
a pinch of Fleur de Sel (or regular salt)

Mix it all together. Taste and see if anything needs adjusting.

I marinaded the pork chops in this overnight in the fridge. They were delicious, not moist tho but that's probably because Dave and I are still figuring out how to use our charcoal grill properly. Use the remaining marinade to baste the meat.

I think I might try this again but with stewing pork, then skewered like kabobs.

My other oregano experiment was a pesto. I didn't have pine nuts so I used walnuts. The end result was quite bitter.

On a completely unrelated note, here is a picture of our very first lilacs!

It's a provincial holiday (Discovery Day) today and it's not fabulous outside so I'm thinking I might make some fancy bannock.

Summer Reading: French Taste

2009-06-18T12:15:00.003-02:30

Just picked up Laura Calder's new cookbook at Chapters today. I'm very excited about trying it out. It's mostly recipes from her Food Network Canada show French Food at Home but I don't mind having a hard copy.

Rhubarb Mojitos

2009-06-17T20:50:00.006-02:30

That's right, I'm still playing around with rhubarb. There's tons of it around and people are happy to be rid of it. This idea came to me while I was flipping through a Canadian Living while waiting in the grocery store checkout line.

St. John's folks, it's supposed to be beautiful and sunny this weekend, make up a batch of these and have a bbq.

4 cups sliced rhubarb
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
slice of lemon

Combine the ingredients in a pot, bring to a boil, turn the heat down and let simmer until the rhubarb breaks apart.

Using a fine sieve, pour out the hot syrup over a bowl and let it drain, you can push on the rhubarb, but do it gently, so you don't get strands in your syrup. Let cool.
This makes about a cup.. as it would.

Mojitos:
a handful of mint leaves
4 tbsp lime juice
1 oz rum
1/4 cup rhubarb syrup
club soda

Put the mint in a glass, crush until fragrant using the back of a spoon. Fill glass with ice. Add lime juice, rum, rhubarb syrup and stir. Add club soda, to taste.

So.. the mix kinda stayed at the bottom while the club soda was on top.. I'm thinking next time, add club soda first, and mix the other ingredients separately. But all in all these were quite refreshing.

Tiffany vs Parmalat

2009-06-16T09:23:00.004-02:30

I figure that since this is my blog, I can use it (occasionally) as a platform to air my grievances, whatever they may be.

My current grievances are with yogurt companies, and Parmalat in particular.

So, #1) What's up with the non-recyclable containers, yogurt companies? It's 2009, give me my yogurt in something I can either re-use or recycle. I feel like a criminal every time I throw away the single serving yogurt containers.

#2) Where's the boysenberry, Parmalat? It's been missing since Parmalat quietly started taking over of the Canadian Dairy industry and I would like it back.

Thank you, that is all.

Making Strawberry Tequila

2009-06-11T14:49:00.000-02:30

I am totally making this when Juneuary's over! Making Strawberry Tequila

Tool of the Trade

2009-06-08T23:12:00.002-02:30

My inheritance:

Rhubarb Muffins

2009-06-08T22:47:00.006-02:30

Just got some more rhubarb and decided to make some muffins.

9 oz all-purpose flour (I used 8 oz, then 1/2 oz soy flour, 1/2 oz wheat germ)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2-1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup Balkan-style yogurt
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and cooled a little
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
8 oz rhubarb, diced, about 1/4" pieces.

Topping
1-1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
1/4 tsp ground cardamom

With a rack in the centre of the oven, preheat to 350F. Line a muffin tin with baking cups.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, cardamom, baking soda and salt, whisk to blend.

In a medium sized bowl, whisk together yogurt, butter, eggs and vanilla until smooth. Add the yogurt mixture to the dry, mixing gently. Don't mix too much, just let it come together. Add the rhubarb, stir gently.

Drop the batter into the muffin cups, should be a little higher than the top of the cups.

Topping: combine sugar and cardamom. Sprinkle over the muffins.

Bake muffins until golden brown, or until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clean, about 20 minutes.

All by Myself

2009-06-06T08:14:00.003-02:30

Food and I haven't been getting along lately. Last weekend I made my favourite pie (Raspberry Rhubarb) that, although didn't look very good (I blame the frozen raspberries), tasted awesome. The problem with this particular kind of pie is that if you eat too much of it (which I did), it can seriously mess you up for a few days. Then my tummy was upset yesterday, due either to unintentional mayo consumption, or posssibly over-medication of my shoulder.

So I'm not sure what to eat. Dave is in Gander til Sunday, so I'm trying to pick something that is a special treat that only I like, some childhood favourite. I have come up with nothing, except that I have come into some more rhubarb and am thinking of making muffins.

Spinach Oven Dried Tomato Tart

2009-05-26T16:06:00.009-02:30

This dish is an attempt to combine three other dishes: swiss chard torta, oven dried tomatoes, and tarts.

Oven dry tomatoes

This is my second attempt at oven drying tomatoes, a better effort this time around:

Preheat oven at 250F. Slice 5 tomatoes in half and remove the core bit.

Line a baking sheet with tinfoil and oil with about 1-2 tbsp of olive oil. Arrange the tomatoes on the sheet cut side up. Drizzle tomatoes with olive oil and sprinkle salt, pepper, and thyme (or whatever) and 2 cloves minced garlic. Bake for 3 - 3-1/2 hours, until they look all shriveled up. Let them cool on a rack.

Make a butter pastry

Spinach Mix

2 cups cups packed baby spinach
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup parsley
1 medium sized onion
1 cup crumbled feta
1 egg, lightly beaten
pepper

Run the spinach through the food processor until it's all choppy like. Place in a colander and add about 1-2 tsp salt. Mix in the salt and let sit for about 30 minutes. Pat the spinach down with a paper towel to remove some of the excess liquid.

Run the parsley and onion through the food processor until finely chopped. Take the dough out of the fridge and let chill for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 350F.

Put onion mix, spinach, the feta and egg in a bowl and mix well. Season with pepper.

Roll out the dough to about 12-14". Spoon out the spinach into the middle of the dough and spread evenly until about 1-1/2" from the edge. Place the tomatoes over the spinach. Fold the dough over the filling, about 1-1/2". Bake for about an hour, on a baking sheet or preferably a stone.

This turned out pretty well, although I still need to tinker with it. I didn't dry the spinach enough, just pressed it against the colander so it had a bit more liquid than I would have liked. The dough was flaky but held together. The tomato flavour was nice and concentrated and the spinach balanced the acidity of the tomatoes quite nicely. I think this one's a keeper.

Post-AGM Hangover

2009-05-24T12:21:00.003-02:30

I'm exhausted. Spent all day yesterday in meetings. Thankfully, Craft Council folks now how to meet: always have lots of food on hand.. it keeps the natives from getting restless.

Anyway, I was going to the actual AGM meeting this morning but apparently I needed 12 hours of sleep to recover from the past two days... so I didn't make it.

Today, I was thinking of making something to welcome Dave home after his weekend of covering the Newfoundland and Labrador Liberal Convention.. but I don't know, man. Right now all I feel capable of doing is picking up the phone and dialing the number for Magic Wok.

I might head up to the Blackmarsh Dominion and see what's on the go. I've been dreaming of a tomato, chive and goat cheese with a butter pastry. Sundays right after church is just a horrible time to go to that particular grocery store.

Testing: Couscous Cakes

2009-05-20T18:01:00.005-02:30

The latest issue of Fine Cooking recently arrived on my doorstep with some wonderful ideas. One of which was couscous cakes served on a spinach salad.

Couscous cakes

3/4 cup couscous
Kosher salt
1 large garlic clove, peeled
1/4 cup packed fresh Italian parsley leaves
1/2 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 large eggs, lightly beaten
finely grated zest of 1 med. lemon
3 tbsp vegetable oil.

*So.. as I'm typing this out, I can see that I skimmed the measures. I actually used a full can of chickpeas and not the zest of a whole lemon. I also can never get my hands on flat-leaf parsley, so I used a mix of curly parsley and coriander.*

Put the couscous and 1 tsp salt in a medium bowl; add 1 cup boiling water and cover. Let sit for 4-5 minutes.

Pulse the garlic and parsley until finely chopped. Add the chickpeas and 1 tsp salt and pulse until finely chopped.

Uncover couscous and fluff. Stir in chickpea mix, eggs and zest until well combined. Press the couscous mixture into a 1/4-cup measure, smooth the top, and invert the measuring cup to release the cake on a plate. Repeat.

Heat 1-1/2 tbsp of the oil in a large skillet over medium heat until shimmering hot. Add 4-5 cakes (don't over crowd). Lightly flatten with a spatula so they're about 3/4" thick. Cook, flipping one, until crisp and golden brown on both sides. Transfer to paper towel lined plate. Add remaining oil and repeat.

So.. these were pretty bland. More zest was not the issue, I think cayenne or cumin was seriously missing from these couscous cakes. I'm glad to have used the whole can of chickpeas although I ended up with a lot more cakes as a result. They kind of tasted like falafels... which makes sense. Anyway, make these tonight!

I served these with a spinach salad and baked halibut... delicious the next day for lunch as well.

You know, I've never cooked couscous in that manner but my god it is so much easier. I've been using the box instructions like a sucker and suffering through overcooked, mushy couscous.

Tonight, I'm making nachos! And I hope to get at those pakoras.

Both Sides Now: rice and lentils

2009-05-13T11:19:00.004-02:30

Parts of my plan that didn't quite come together with my chicken curry were the sides. I made basmati rice and sauteed lentils with butter, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and chopped cilantro.

I can't seem to get the hang of basmati rice. I rinse, I soak, I boil and simmer and it's either soft on the outside, hard inside or a pot full of mush. This time around it was only half mush. Is there a secret? I can cook Uncle Ben's properly, why not this?!

The lentils. I have officially given up on Unico products. Every time I buy a can of beans they are like a paste inside the can; very few keep their original shape and the taste isn't so great either. So, next time Unico beans are on sale for 89 cents a can, I will say 'no!'. And I must say, I haven't been too happy with the tomatoes either... always gritty and stringy.

I just bought a whole bunch cause they were super cheap. Oh well, I'll just have to use them up, anyway.

All of this doesn't really matter, because the curry was so good. I can't wait to test more!

Testing: Vij's Chicken Curry

2009-05-13T09:35:00.003-02:30

As a great leader once said, "I love it when a plan comes together."

I have Indian Cuisine cookbooks and I rarely use them. It's not that they don't have great food, or pretty pictures, they just don't click with me, or my style of cooking. When my friend Lori offered to lend me her cookbook Vij's, I was excited that maybe this time I would find an Indian cookbook that I could relate to and cook with.

Monday night, I picked a recipe for which I had most of the ingredients on hand, Chicken Curry. I made a few substitutions, the recipe called for sour cream, I used Balkan style yogurt; it called for bone-in thighs, I used boneless... next time, I will use sour cream, the yogurt didn't quite hold up.

Vij's chicken curry was super easy, cooked fairly quickly, and made enough for supper and lunch the next day.

Next up, Vij's pakoras.

Lori, I will return the book soon, thank you so much for lending to me.

How to Thaw Blueberries

2009-05-10T12:19:00.002-02:30

It's Sunday, it's Mother's Day, it's raining and I have to work. blerg.

Anyway, I found some blueberries buried in my deep freezer which I thought would be a great way to distract me from the crappiness that has been this day so far.

People probably have their own way of thawing berries but this is how my mother taught me, it's very tedious but fairly effective.

Line a colander with two doubled up layers of paper towel. Gently pour the blueberries into the colander. One berry at a time, pick away at any ice build up and throw it in the sink. Don't pick too hard, you'll hurt the berries. When you think you've got it all, lift the paper towel to uncover the berries on the bottom, pick away at those. Remove the top layer of paper towel and discard (so I don't feel guilty about my paper towel use, I dip it in hot soapy water and clean my counter). Pick at any more ice chunks, and then let the berries sit until they are thawed. This process will keep them from getting all mushy.

Fun with Mail

2009-05-04T17:43:00.002-02:30

My brother and I had a deal: I send Dark Tickle Vinegars, he sends celeriac. The transaction is now complete and thanks to my wonderful sibling I have two large celeriacs.

Mailing food stuffs ain't easy and it ain't cheap so I appreciate it. Tho, I think Canada Post ignored suggestions to 'keep cool'.. there was a minor touch of mould, easily chopped off.

My Fajitas

2009-05-04T14:01:00.004-02:30

I don't pretend to make ethnically authentic foods, what is authentic anyway? Free from outside cultural influences? Free from modern cooking techniques?

And so I admit that I don't really know what a real Mexican fajitas tastes like, I have only Old El Paso as a reference point. Now I suppose I could keep using the packages, but my ultimate goal is to be free of such things.

My own fajitas mix goes like this

1 cup HP Sauce (I suppose you could use A1, but why would you when HP is better?)
juice of 2 limes
some splashes of tequila
1-2 tsp chili powder

(This is for 4 chicken breasts.. I probably could've made less sauce)

Mix it up. Add chicken and marinate for an hour or so.

Heat oil in a large skillet or wok, use a slotted spoon to scoop up the chicken. When the chicken has changed colour, add sliced onions, julienned red peppers. Let simmer until the chicken is thoroughly cooked.

Use a slotted spoon to take it up if you don't like all that liquid.

Potato Salad - My Continuing Potato Adventures

2009-05-02T13:41:00.005-02:30

Our friends Jenny & Phillip hosted a games day over at their place and I thought it would be fun to make potato salad to bring over.

The thing with potato salad is that I fear mayonnaise. Every time I eat it, I never know what's going to happen. Sometimes I'm fine, sometimes I'm really not. So I tend to avoid mayo, especially dressing, whenever possible.

Initially, I had considered some sort of yogurt or sour cream based dressing with lots of herbs and things but eventually decided to do this:

2 lbs small-medium sized red skinned potatoes, peeled
basil oil
the juice of 1 lemon
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tbsp whole grain mustard
1 tbsp olive oil
1 shallot, thinly sliced
butter
sugar
1 leek, white part only, thinly sliced
1 green onion, finely chopped
salt and pepper
bacon bits

Boil the potatoes whole in salted water. They'll need about 20-30 minutes depending on the size. You want them slightly underdone, and not falling apart. Stick a knife through one and if it goes in easy, they should be ready. When you drain them, let them sit until everything else is ready; they will continue to cook a little.

Melt a hunk of butter in a small skillet on low. Add shallots and a big pinch of sugar; cook on low, stirring occasionally, for about 15 minutes. Add the leeks and continue to cook for another 15 minutes or until the leeks are done and the shallots are nicely caramelised. I woosh a piece of paper towel through the frying pan to soak up some of the butter (it keeps my gall bladder happy).

Whisk lemon juice and mustards in a small bowl. Gradually whisk in olive oil.

Basil Oil
1 cup basil, packed
1/2 olive oil

Blanch the basil leaves in boiling salted water for 1 minute; drain (don't use mesh, use a colander or drain by keep pot lidded). Run under cold water, squeeze out water. Wrap in tea towel and squeeze tightly to get as much water out as possible. But the basil in a food processor, add the oil and process on low (you could easily use an immersion blender for this).

This will keep for a couple of days, so make more to have for other purposes, like halibut. Also, I didn't have a full cup of basil so I added arugula to make up the difference.

Assembly.
Cut potatoes into bite-sized pieces (if they still feel underdone, don't worry, we can fix it) in a medium sized oven proof bowl. Add caramelised shallots and leeks, and green onions. Stir to combine. Add the mustard mixture and the basil oil. You may not need all of the basil oil. Season with salt and pepper.

If the potatoes aren't quite cooked cover the bowl with tin foil and put them in a 200F oven for 20-30 minutes. This also helps the potatoes soak up some of the liquid. If they are still not done to your liking, leave them in the oven for a little longer. 200F tends not to do much damage to foods, not even in my oven.

Add bacon bits. Serve at room temperature.

Now, I had some asparagus in the fridge that I decided to use. Cut into 1" pieces. Blanch, 1 minute, put in ice bath. Pat dry and mix into potato salad.

Lessons learned: Add real bacon and not store bought bacon bits.

Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

2009-04-28T19:40:00.005-02:30

This past weekend was our last trip to Price Club; the membership expires soon. So in honour of this final excursion I bought lots of meat and veggies; for whatever reason, Price Club is the best place in town to buy such things. So along with my lamb chops, sausages and beef tenderloin, I picked up a 1.75 lb container of cherry tomatoes and 2 pkgs of English shelled peas. The peas I will deal with at a later date, cherry tomatoes are the star tonight.

This is was you're supposed to do:

4 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper
1/2 cup crumbled goat cheese
1/3 cup bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 400F.

In a gratin dish, toss together tomatoes, garlic, oil, salt and pepper. Sprinkle breadcrumbs and dot with cheese. Roast for 45 minutes or until tomatoes are wrinkled.

This is what I did:

basically you're looking for 1.5 to 2 pints worth of cherry tomatoes (or sweet cocktail tomatoes which is what I used, so they were a little bigger than cherries)
3 cloves garlic, thinly sliced
olive oil, just drizzle over the tomatoes for a couple of seconds.
salt and pepper
a handful of oil packed olives, pitted and roughly chopped
1 cup dried white kidney beans
1/2 cup grated melty cheeses
1/3 cup bread crumbs

So a couple of days ago, I soaked my 1 cup of beans, Monday while other dinner was preparing, I simmered the beans, adding smashed cloves of garlic and bay leaves, for about an hour to an hour and a half. If you're pressed for time, use one can of white kidney beans, drained and rinsed.

Follow the instructions above, adding the white kidney beans with the tomatoes and mixing. For cheese, I had mozzerella and Romano, but Asiago and Parm is quite nice too.

Lessons learned: I've fiddled with this recipe before, usually adding artichokes to the mix, but the beans through me off a bit. I was worried that if I straight up roasted, the beans would turn out dry because I left them slightly underdone so they wouldn't turn to mush when recooked. So I lidded my gratin dish for the first 20 minutes, then cooked uncovered for the last 25 minutes. After serving, I noticed that there was a small pool of liquid forming so I guess next time, I will just cook without a cover.

Testing, testing. One, Two, One, Two.

2009-04-27T18:17:00.011-02:30

Pure laziness has been the name of the game lately so rather than create my own recipes, I decided to test other people's work.

First up, Curried Lentil and Spinach Soup from Epicurious.com. I was surprised at how easy it was to make. I didn't actually have curry powder (I tend to be allergic to store bought kinds) so I used a combination of homemade meat and garam masalas, plus lots of turmeric for colour. No one suspected a thing! Okay, yes, there was no one to suspect a thing, but that's beside the point.

The soup turned out well, tho I must say that it does not hold up over time. You can make it a day ahead, but it won't last longer than that unfortunately. Since there are only two of us, a big pot of soup takes us a while finish... so maybe next time I will reduce by half.

Next up, curried, grilled chicken.
hmm.. I've been craving curry lately. I had used a packet of that Taste of Asia stuff and I had a bad reaction to it, so I've been making up for it.

So this one is a 'tandoori style' marinade from an issue of Fine Cooking, but I don't see how it's necessarily tandoori. I think they just call it that to make it sexy, since tandoori sounds better than curry-yogurt marinade.

I figure you can do this the easy way or the easier way. The easy way is heating oil in a small skillet and adding 2-3 tbsp of your favourite curry flavours (again, I used my homemade garam and meat masalas) with 1 tbsp of very minced ginger. Cook it til it bubbles and looks like a nice paste, then add it to 1/2 cup good Balkan style yogurt. Add your chicken and marinade in the fridge for at least 20 minutes, but preferably a few hours.

The easier way would be to use a couple of tbsp of your favourite curry paste and mix with the yogurt.

So my masalas aren't my masalas they are from a HeartSmart cookbook that I bought in the late 90s.

Meat Masala

6 tbsp coriander seeds
3 tbsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp carom seeds (optional)
1/4 star anise (2-3 section)
3" cinnamon stiick
4 cloves
3 cardamom pods
4-5 bay leaves
1-1/2 tsp dried cilantro
1/2 tsp mace
1-2/3 tsp ground tumeric
1-1/2 tsp red chili powder

Heat large unoiled skillet (you really need cast iron to do this properly) over low heat. Add whole spices and toast, stirring occasionally until fragrant. Let cool. Grind (I used a mortar and pestle but I think it's time I bought an electric grinder). The remaining ground ingredients to the just ground toasted spices.

Garam Masala

4 tbsp ground cinnamon
1 tbsp ground cloves
1 tbsp ground cardamom
1 tsp ground mace

Measure and combine.

To go with the chicken, I made Citrus Quinoa from Canadian Living. The first thing that I have to say about this is that 2 cups of quinoa is way too much quinoa. I cooked one cup and that was still too much. Although I cut the quinoa in half, I kept all the other measures the same. The result was a bright and nutty side dish that refreshed the palate.

And then I made cookies for dessert from the Joy of Cooking. The cookies were awesome and my oven even co-operated with me for once.

Preheat oven to 350F.
1/2 cup butter (1 stick) softened, cream with 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar.
Whisk together 1 egg, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1 tbsp milk (or orange juice would be good too). Beat into butter mixture.
Sift together 1 cup flour, 1/2 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/2 tsp salt. Slowly add to butter mixture in 2-3 additions.
Add 1 cup quick rolled oats, and 1/2 cup chocolate chips.

I didn't have chocolate chips but I did have large bars of very good bittersweet chocolate baking bars (get yours at Bulk Barn) and chopped about 3/4 cup worth.
Bake until light brown.

And that's it. That is what I did this weekend.

Right now I'm working on idea for white kidney beans with basil oil (The Lettuce Farm also grows basil) and roasted cherry tomatoes.

YumSugar

2009-04-27T15:40:00.001-02:30

If words like 'delish' and 'totes' don't make you want to gauge out your eyes, check out YumSugar. Generally the site is pretty middling in terms of content, but if you dig, there's some neat recipes that they copy from other places.

A weird week

2009-04-24T14:59:00.002-02:30

It's been a weird week. I had Monday off for St. George's Day and continued my potato work but I kind of well off the 'cooking interesting things' wagon.

I made samosas on Monday which was alright. I never find samosa work satisfying. You work hard all day, then they're gone in an instant. sigh.

I've been very excited about lettuce this week. While shopping, I discovered this thing called The Lettuce Farm, locally grown lettuces, a variety of leaves, all cleaned and ready to eat. Absolutely delicious! I've spent the rest of my week searching for more but everyone's sold out.

The sun is finally out and I think it's time to bust out the BBQ.

Working Through the Potatoes: Ricotta Spinach Pie

2009-04-19T13:44:00.012-02:30

Thank you to everyone who submitted ideas, the week of potatoes begins!

Day 1:

What do you do with leftover mashed besides use it for potato cakes? Use it for a pie crust! I have made many a fried mashed potato and it takes time to form a nice crust, it also needs butter. For this crust you'll need about 4 potatoes worth of mashed.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Melt a hunk of butter (probably 3-4 tbsp). Brush a pie (or quiche) pan with the butter. Spoon in mashed potatoes and spread evenly. I say spoon, but honestly, your fingers work best. The mashed potatoes will shrink so make sure you build it up on the sides. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and brush enough butter to coat the potato shell. Bake for an additional 25 minutes, or until the top is a light golden brown.*

Fill it right away, don't let it cool.

For the filling I used an epicurious recipe and made some minor modifications.

Four hours before I made the filling, I scooped the ricotta into a fine sieve lined with cheese cloth then gathered the ends and tied it up and set it over a small bowl. I would have like to have suspended it in the fridge but didn't have time to figure out how. Anyway, I still managed to get rid of some of the liquid from the cheese. And while the crust was baking, I did hang the cheese from a cupboard.
Used Romano instead of Parm because, well, that's what I had.

This dish is best if you can let it set for 20 minutes before diving in.

I served this with pan fried mild Italian sausages and roasted red pepper.

Yes, that's mustard.. this is me working on my plating technique... New plates might help.

**I know I said I was tired of mashed potatoes, but I made some earlier in the week to go with a cider roasted chicken (the chicken was a disaster, it only cooked on one side, even though I rotated it half way through).

Just Like Mom

2009-04-16T09:32:00.011-02:30

I have another cold goddammit. This one isn't nearly as bad as the last, just a stuffed up nose which I can deal with.

But when you're sick, you want your mom. Since that ain't happenin', I figured the next best thing is Chicken and Dumplings Stew the way Mom made it.

It's at this point you'll realize that I make a lot of stew. That's because it's cheap, filling, and it can be stretched out over a couple of days as lunches.

4-6 chicken thighs, cut into bite sized pieces
onions, roughly chopped
carrots, slice
celery, sliced (with leaves set aside)
bay leaves
a good pinch of herbes de Provence
red or white fleshed potatoes potatoes, quartered (best not to peel)
salt and pepper
6- 7 chicken stock
corn starch
zucchini, cut into coins, then halved.

Bisquick
milk

Brown the the chicken in some oil over medium heat in a large pot (or dutch oven). Add onion, cook, stirring occasionally, until softened. Add carrots and celery, saute until slightly tender. Add Herbes de Provence, salt and pepper, and bay leaves, continue to cook until the Herbes are fragrant.

Add potatoes, salt and pepper, stir to combine. Add the chicken stock and celery leaves. Bring the stew to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer until the potatoes are just done. Taste and adjust any seasonings.

Mix 2 tea spoons (not tsp, but small spoons) of cornstarch with cold water to make a paste; stir into simmering stew until thickened. Add zucchini. Let simmer while you make the dumplings

Take a 4-cup liquid measuring cup, add two cups of Bisquick. Break up any lumps with a fork. Add enough milk to make a dough; it's best to add a little milk at a time, until you get the right consistency. You can't overmix this, make sure you get right to the bottom of the measuring cup. Add the dough to the stew in small drops. Reduce heat and cover. The dumplings will take about 15-20 minutes depending on their size. Don't take the cover off, it will take longer for the dumplings to cook.

A few things about stew, especially this one:

Don't be shy with the salt. Stews need lots of salt to boost the flavours.
I don't know why I use a measuring cup to make dumplings, force of habit I suppose, you could easily use a bowl.
I didn't really use 6-7 cups of chicken stock. I used one 900mL tetra pak then refilled it with water. I'm poor.
This stew, once cooled, will be solid. I'm serious.

Of course, this isn't exactly how my mother made her stew, she threw everything into a pot of water and just let it simmer.. she also didn't use Herbes de Provence. Also, I suppose you could make your own dumplings but Bisquick is just so easy.

A Mountain of Potatoes

2009-04-15T12:17:00.003-02:30

Maybe it's less mountain and more molehill but still, right now I have a shitload of potatoes in the house and I need something--that is not mashed potatoes--to do with them.

Any ideas?

Soup and Bread

2009-04-14T16:16:00.008-02:30

This bread (From Laura Calder's French Food at Home) is so easy, and so delicious you should make it right now. Go! Now!

I made bread (I started it Saturday night after dinner) on Sunday to go with a Bean Soup that I had made

1 onion, roughly chopped
2 celery ribs, roughly chopped
2 carrots, peeled, roughly chopped
3 medium sized tomatoes, also roughly chopped
thyme
garlic
salt and pepper
2 cans white kidney beans, drained and rinsed
3 cups of water (or chicken stock)

Puree half of the kidney beans and set aside.
Sauté onion on medium heat until softened. Add carrots and celery, cook for about 10 minutes, stirring often. Add tomatoes, garlic and thyme. Cook until garlic is fragrant. Add white beans and puree, mix well into soup base. Add water, bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer and partially cover. I simmered this for a while, until it was a consistency that I like--thick. If you like your soup thinner, you probably only need half an hour.

So I didn't have 3 cups of chicken stock, I'm not really sure how much I had.. maybe 2 cups. To make up the difference, I used some leftover the liquid drained from a can of tomatoes(from another pizza night).

The soup is very hearty, and excellent with the world's easiest bread recipe. Of course it tastes better the next day. Let it cool completely before.

Cooking to Peter, Bjorn and John - Writer's Block

Easter Saturday for Two

2009-04-12T09:33:00.018-02:30

Holidays are Mom Food days. No one is looking to eat anything terribly fancy, they just want something satisfying, that reminds them of the foods their mother's would make.

For the past few years I have been making minute modifications to the holiday menus we had growing up. I may brown the roast, and brine the chicken, but everything else pretty much stayed the same: mashed potatoes, salad, turnip, gravy. This Easter I changed things up a bit.

My Easter Saturday Menu: Prime Rib with Potato Gratin and Green Swiss Chard.

The prime rib just had the one rib so really it was a very large t-bone steak (just shy of 2lbs), but there's only two of us; I don't need a multi-ribbed 9 lb roast.

2 lb prime rib
garlic clove, thinly sliced
freshly ground pepper
cabernet grape powder or a bit of flour (optional)
oil
onions
thyme
beef broth
red wine

Let the roast sit at room temperature for an hour. Preheat oven to 350F.

Pat roast down with paper towel and cut slits into it. Insert the thinly sliced garlic into the slits.* Heat a 10" skillet with oil on medium high heat. Season roast with pepper and the optional cabernet grape powder (this has been the best use of the powder so far). Brown the roast in the skillet, 1 min on each side. Deglaze the pan with red wine, scraping up the good, brown bits. Set aside to add to roasting pan.

Get your roasting pan out, add some thyme (whole twigs), roughly chopped onion, bay leaf, bit of salt, beef broth and red wine. Just want enough liquid to cover the pan, but not so much that you're steaming the roast. Put the roast on the rack in the pan, put it in the oven. Baste after 30 minutes, add more liquid to pan if needed and rotate the roast to ensure even cooking (my oven does not cook evenly). Cook for about 20-30 minutes, or until thermometer reads 140F.

Put roast on plate and loosely cover with foil. Let it sit until the potatoes are done, about 30 minutes.

*I've never done this before, but had seen Jamie Oliver do it eons ago on a Naked Chef episode and decided to give it a try. I will certainly do this again, the meat was infused with garlic. So good!

I usually only let roasts rest for 15 minutes but because I had the gratin was going to be half an hour to bake, I just left it. That was the best decision, all the juices stayed inside the roast which was great for the meat... not so good for my gravy.

Moving along!

Gratins are not something I eat--for reasons involving familial complexes handed down to me. I have tried a few gratins in adulthood but haven't been too keen on them, just too much milk. So I had to think of a way to make a gratin that didn't require so much milk.

Then the answer came to me: lasagnas! Gratins are essentially layers of starch, milk, cheese, maybe a little somethin' else, and repeat with extra cheese on top. Lasagnas are starch, tomato sauce, bechemel, cheese, repeat, with extra cheese on top. And the bechemel is just fat, flour and milk heated.

Thinly slice (about 1/8" thickness) 1/5 lbs of yellow fleshed potatoes.
1 cup whipping cream (1 250mL container)
1/4 coffee cream
1/4 2% milk
salt and pepper
thyme
4 oz Gruyere, grated
1/4 cup Romano cheese, finely grated
1/4 Gruyere finely grated
breadcrumbs

Preheat the oven to 450F.

Add the potato slices and creams and milk to a large skillet, like 12" wide, high sides helps too. Spread the potatoes out evenly in the liquid and simmer on medium heat for about 10 minutes. Every once in a while, gently(!) turn the slices making sure that every piece gets its turn in the milk bath. The potatoes are done when you can just pierce the slices.

Butter a casserole dish. With a slotted spoon, carefully remove potato slices enough slices to cover the bottom of the casserole dish, making your first layer. Add 4 oz of grated Gruyere and spread evenly over top. Salt, pepper and some thyme. Add the rest of the potatoes, then sprinkle the Romano, Gruyere and breadcrumbs to top.

Bake for about 30 minutes (while your roast is resting) or until the top is golden brown. Let set for 10 minutes before devouring it.

Green Swiss Chard: remove leaves from stalk--just run a sharp knife down the stalk, usually does the trick--tear into bite sized pieces. Woks are good for cooking swiss chard because of their size. Add some water to the wok and let it get to a simmer on medium-high heat. Add swiss chard and let it simmer till dark green. The best way to tell if it's done is to taste it: if it's still bitter, cook it for a bit longer. Strain and serve.

So all this serves 2 with a bit leftover for lunch the next day.

And that's it. Whew!

Lessons learned: letting the roast sit for 30 minutes was a fabulous idea. Sauteed shallots and bits of bacon would have made excellent additions to my gratin.

Round 2: Fight!

2009-04-10T11:38:00.008-02:30

We're playing D&D this afternoon at our friend's place and I wanted to bring this Orange Cranberry Pepitas tea loaf over.

Modifications to the first loaf:

reduced honey to 1/4 cup
instead of orange juice I used 1/2 cup steeped Earl Grey tea and measured it this time
I only had 1 tbsp of milk powder so I added an extra tbsp of soy flour.
The oven preheated at 275F (300).
I really must have added too much oj last time because the batter consistency was better.

So I was a little concerned that because I had reduced the honey by half and used tea instead of orange juice that my loaf would be bitter. But it worked and the butter flavour came out better I think because the honey was reduced.

Handy tip that you probably already knew. Lightly grease your liquid measuring cup before adding the honey, it makes it so much easier to remove all the honey. I did this the first time, but forgot the second time.. I was just too wrapped up in my revenge to remember.

I win!

Something Went Horribly Wrong: Orange Cranberry Pepitas Loaf

2009-04-08T09:23:00.013-02:30

Something went terribly wrong with my Orange Cranberry Pepitas Loaf. Admittedly I went a little offbook, and didn't measure my orange juice but it still should not have turned out the way it did: burnt edges with underdone centre... I think it's time for a new oven.

I used a Whole Foods tea loaf as a base and improved it to meet my needs.

Orange Cranberry Pepitas Loaf

1 1/2 sticks butter, softened
1/2 cup unpasturized, buckwheat honey (or any honey)
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup orange juice
1 teaspoon orange zest
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
2 tbsp soy flour
2 tbsp milk powder
2 tbsp wheat germ
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup pepitas (unsalted, roasted pumpkin seeds)

Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Cream butter and honey together in a large bowl. Stir in eggs, orange juice and zest.
In a another bowl, mix together flour, baking powder, soy flour, milk powder and wheat germ and salt and add to honey mixture in thirds, mixing well after each addition. Stir in cranberries and pepitas, then transfer to a greased loaf pan. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in centre comes out clean.

Lessons learned: 1/2 cup of honey is too much honey. Also, because I added soy flour, milk powder and wheat germ to the original recipe I added more orange juice. How much more? I can't really say because I decided I didn't need to measure the amount.

As I've mentioned before, I have a hot oven. So I baked this at 300F which really is 350F for 50 minutes. Any longer and my crust would have been black. So I'm thinking that when I try this again, I will turn the oven down further, or maybe hijack someone else's oven for an hour.

The loaf turned out well taste wise, despite the burnt/uncooked results. The outer edges were cooked perfectly in the centre, and so edible. The cranberries plumped up nicely, the pumpkin seeds were like crunchy surprises and the orange flavour was refreshing, perfect with a cup of Earl Grey.

My New Favourite Burger

2009-04-06T22:33:00.009-02:30

Dave and I spent yesterday afternoon playing a massive game of Settlers of Catan and our gracious hosts made us some burgers.. which got me thinking about burgers.

Apple-Sage Pork Burgers with Caramelized Onions

2lb ground pork
1/2 cup onion, finely chopped
1 MacIntosh apple, finely chopped
2 tbsp fresh sage, finely chopped
1 egg
1/4 fresh pressed apple cider
breadcrumbs, if needed and as needed to bind together

Combine pork, onion, apple, and sage. Whisk together egg and cider, add to meat mixture. Mix with your hands, they do a better job than spoons or spatulas (spatulae?). Add breadcrumbs if needed to help bind the mixture together.

Form patties, place on a plate and let rest in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes.

Our BBQ isn't out yet so I did these on my sandwich press which worked beautifully. I grilled the burgers until the outsides were nice and brown, then popped it in the oven at 350F for 10 minutes just to make sure it was cooked.

Caramelized Onions

1 onion, thinly sliced
1 tbsp Just Us! Sugar (or brown sugar, or turbinado)
a hunk of butter
a splash of white wine vinegar

Heat your small skillet on low (3) and add butter. While it melts, thinly slice your onions and place in the pan; stir to coat. Sprinkle in sugar. Cook on low, stirring occasionally, for about half an hour. Add the white wine vinegar half way through. If the butter is burning, turn the heat down! In the interest of keeping my gall bladder for a little while longer, I patted the caramelized onions down with paper towel.

My oh my these burgers were tasty, the mix of sweet and savory worked so well. The apple was nice and refreshing, the pork was a lighter choice than beef. This is exactly what I was looking for in a Spring burger.

As noted in a previous post, President's Choice sometimes makes really shitty products.. (often, even?) but their Burger First buns are fucking amazing for those of us who dislike the traditional Wonderbread type hamburger buns... the hot dog version are also worth a try. The only problem (catch?) is that the buns are huge.. so this recipe only made 4 burgers big enough for the Burger First buns... that's a 1/2 lb burger.

I don't believe in cheeseless burgers, so I used Stilton which added a nice bite and rounded out all the flavours. No ketchup, just a bit of Dijon.

Photo: Massive Settlers of Catan board, photographed by Phillip Cairns.

Keep it Simple, Stupid

2009-04-06T11:34:00.004-02:30

After a weekend of indulgence, my system needed something simple to help recalibrate. So I made an old favourite, chicken with cherry tomatoes. It's from the Urban Peasant, who I credit for my love of cooking.

2 chicken breasts, cut into bite sized pieces
1 inch ginger, peeled, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 pint cherry tomatoes (grape are too small, but strawberry tomatoes are okay too)
1 cup frozen peas
1/4 chicken stock (or water), with 1 tbsp flour whisked in.

Heat some oil in a large skillet (one for which you have a lid) on medium-low. Add chicken and let it cook until it's white on the outside, about 3-5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add ginger and garlic, and cook, stirring frequently until fragrant. Add whole cherry tomatoes, peas and flour water. Stir until liquid is thickened a bit, cover and reduce heat to low, let cook until the peas are done.

Because I was in a bland mood, I just served this over rice but usually I make buckwheat noodles and toss them with some sesame oil to go with this meal.

You could add chili flakes to add more kick, or change up the sauce.

Grilled Sandwich Fridays!

2009-04-03T20:20:00.007-02:30

So I followed Culinary Immunity's advice and made steak and Stilton grilled sandwiches with my Keg leftovers.

I managed to get some Stilton cheese at Auntie Crae's, a fairly expensive St. John's bakery/coffee house that has cornered the market on speciality food stuffs.

Heat your sandwich press (or if you have a non-stick grill pan you can use that over medium heat, then use another frying pan to 'press' the sandwich, then flip, and press).

Thinly slice the meat, then pan sear it in a pan over medium heat, with a bit of vegetable oil. Put the steaks into a small mixing bowl (with lid), then deglaze the pan with some cooking Marsala (or red wine). Reduced to half, then added some chopped sage. Added the sauce to the steak in the bowl and toss.

Slice the bread on an angle so you have more surface area, brush one side with olive oil--this will be the exterior of the sandwich. Add the meat to the non-oiled side of the bread and add as much Stilton as you like.

Served this with a Caesar salad (Renee's Mighty Caesar) and Mission Hill Cab Merlot.. quick and delicious, perfect for a Friday night.

The Keg

2009-04-03T11:43:00.001-02:30

My mother- and sister-in-law were in town last night and so Dave and I were treated to an evening at The Keg. We didn't get to the restaurant until 7:30. Starving, we pigged out on appetizers: bacon-wrapped scallops, baked brie, and 'tempura' snap peas and asparagus. I put the tempura in quotation marks because it seemed more like beer batter than a light flaky tempura.

For my main, I order the bacon-wrapped filet mignon, rare --you can never have too much bacon. It was delicious but I couldn't finish it. So tonight, I'm going to make grilled sandwiches using the leftover steak, on my homemade rye bread with Emmental cheese. I can't wait.

Bistro Roast Chicken with Pommes Frites

2009-04-02T17:52:00.003-02:30

I made this last night but didn't eat it until lunchtime today... the chicken held up well, the potatoes not so much. It's a great dinner for two, that jazzes up plain ol' chicken 'n' taters.

Roast Chicken Legs

2 chicken leg quarters, rinsed and patted dry
dried Italian seasoning
olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375F.
Loosen skin from chicken leg and thigh by inserting fingers and gently pushing between skin and meat. Combine Italian seasoning, olive oil, salt and pepper in a ramekin or small bowl. Rub mixture under skin. Place chicken on a broiler pan.

Bake 375 for 45 minutes (at this point, make the potatoes). Increase oven temperature to 450F and bake for 30 minutes. Put chicken meat side down on a plate, cover with tinfoil; let stand for 10 minutes.

Pommes Frites (cook these when for last 30 minutes of chicken, at 450F)

3-4 medium sized red potatoes, cut into sticks approx. 1" sticks
olive oil
herbs
salt and pepper

Combine all the ingredients in a ziploc bag or lidded mixing bowl. Shake to coat. Arrange potatoes evenly on a baking sheet with parchment paper. Bake for 30 minutes, turning once.

Lessons learned: I don't have a broiler pan (it's also nearly impossible to purchase one in a store) so I just used my roasting pan with its rack to cook the chicken. Next time, I will cover the chicken for the first 45 minutes of cooking then remove the tinfoil for the 450F cooking. My house turned to smoke and the chicken was cooked after only 10 minutes @ 450F.

Fries turned out beautifully-at least the ones that I ate right away were delicious. The chicken was nice and juicy, and the herb mixture punched it up.

This is another one of these recipes that I copied down when I was a teenager but can't remember the original source. I have an entire whole notebook of these.

Favourite Things

2009-04-02T13:45:00.005-02:30

So, to keep content varying a bit on this blog, occasionally I will write about something that I find handy.

So one of my favourite things in the kitchen is Coffee Soap by TVAL, a St. John's soap company. There are coffee grinds embedded in the soap which are nice and exfoliating, plus the coffee is also an odor remover and great for those who use garlic and onions often.

I know it's nice to smell your hands and have them smell like garlic, but after awhile the smell gets a bit annoying. So if you're looking for something useful in your kitchen that's hand made and Canadian, I suggest this.

They have an online store, plus a store in St. John's and a store in Toronto where Songbird used to be on Queen W.

**this post was in no way sponsored by TVAL, I just really love their soap.

Crazy Country Rye

2009-04-01T17:28:00.006-02:30

Once in a while I crave rye bread.. which is nearly impossible to get in Newfoundland. Sure there is one 'European' bakery that has a sign which vaguely resemble Future Bakery's but this bakery just doesn't have the right stuff to make a decent loaf of rye bread.

So this rye bread recipe in no way reminds me of a Future Bakery rye but it's dark, dense, and not for the faint of heart. Really, you must have some experience making your own bread (not with the bread machine) to attempt this bread.

This recipe comes from somewhere, but I can't remembered which magazine. So my apologies to the magazine and the chef who created this.

Country Rye Loaves

4-1/2 tsps dry active yeast (2 pkgs)
3 cups of warm water
4 cups rye flour
6 tbsp molasses
1 tbsp olive oil
2-1/2 tsp Kosher salt
3 cups whole wheat flour
3 cups all purpose flour, divided
cooking spray
2 tsp cornmeal
2 tbsp all purpose flour

Dissolve yeast in warm water in a large bowl; let stand for 5 minutes. Spoon rye flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Add rye flour and molasses to yeast mixture, stir until combined. Cover and let stand at room temperature for 8 hours or overnight to make a sponge.
*Preheat oven to 200F, once preheated, turn the oven off and cover bowl with tin foil, put in oven. The longer you can leave the sponge, the better, I left it in the oven for 24 hours.

Stir oil and salt into sponge. Spoon whole wheat flour and bread flour into measuring cups, level with a knife. Add whole wheat flour and 1-1/2 cups of bread flour to the sponge; stir until a dough forms. You fill not be able to get all the flour in. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface; knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 8-10 minutes, and work in the remaining dough, 1 tbsp at a time, to prevent the dough from sticking.

Place the dough in a large bowl (I used a stock pot) coated with cooking spray, turning to coat. Cover and let rise in a warm place (oven preheated to 200F), free from drafts, 1 hour or until doubled in size. Press two fingers into dough, if the indentation remains, the dough is done rising.

Punch dough down, cover and let rest for 5. Divide dough into half. Shape each portion into a 6" round. Place dough on a baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Light coat surface of dough with cooking spray (lightly!). Cover loosely and let rise in a warm place, free from drafts, 20 min or until doubled.

Heat oven to 350F. Uncover dough. Sift 2 tbsp of flour evenly over loaves. Cut a shallow X in the centre of each. Bake for 1 hour or until bread is browned on the bottom and sounds hollow when tapped.

Cool on wire racks.

Makes 2 loaves.

I'm always terrified that my bread will not turn out until I cut the first slice. It's tricky to make, the first couple of times I made it the dough seemed wet and felt a bit like oatmeal, but always turned out. This time around, because I have more experience making breads, it turned out much better and I was less scared through the process.

This bread is very dense, and has a wonderful molasses taste. Wonderful with corned beef and swiss.

Never Cook When You're Angry

2009-04-01T11:31:00.005-02:30

I've discovered that--just like you shouldn't grocery shop when you're hungry--you shouldn't cook when you're angry.

The whole slow cooker incident made me furious. I know I shouldn't get me that upset, but I really hate wasting food. And to watch an entire batch of soup go down the toilet.. well I didn't like it.

So after getting rid of the soup, I still had to eat something and so I whipped up a quick pasta. I didn't have any small shells (my go-to pasta) and was stuck using these President's Choice Piemonte pasta which are considerably better than this President's Choice pasta--it was on sale! But it's still crap and I don't recommend buying it.

So you have to be really careful with this pasta because it does not taste good when completely cooked.. but it doesn't taste great when al dente either.

Anyway, I sauteed some leeks and threw in some pierced grape tomatoes, put the lid on it and let the tomatoes cook. Then I added some jarred artichokes and roasted red peppers which I had leftover from pizza the other night. I mixed this with the pasta and added some of the fresh, unripened goat cheese (also leftover from pizza).. I wasn't paying full attention and added too much cheese and the result was gummy (because of the pasta) and very rich (because of the cheese).

So last night, everything was not coming up Milhouse.

I did make rye bread which turned out nicely but it was a little on the misshapen side due to my frustration.

I feel much better today and look forward to making some bistro-like chicken legs with sweet potato fries.

Slow Cooker II

2009-03-31T17:28:00.005-02:30

I've decided that slow cookers can kiss my ass.

I have now tried to use one twice, both times I have been forced to go back to the stove.

This time, I even followed a slow cooker recipe and my Three Bean Soup taste like watered down curried, crap. So now instead of having a yummy dinner waiting for me, I now have to fix (correct) my dinner.

**update**
There was no fixing the soup. I couldn't do anything to fix the awful taste. It's not the recipe, I have combined the same flavours in a pot, many times. It's that damn contraption which is now next to the door ready to be turfed. Goodbye and good riddance.

Moose Roast Post Mortem

2009-03-30T09:32:00.007-02:30

So, I bet everyone wants to know how the moose roast went.. it went well. I was scared at first, but it was fucking delicious.

Step 1: Pat down the roast with paper towel, then cover with pepper. I used this as an opportunity to use some of that Vinifera Cabernet Powder, which I sprinkled all over the roast and rubbed it in a bit.

Step 2: Brown the meat on all sides and preheat oven to 350F. Turn roast when the meat lets go of the pan easily.

Step 3: Place roast on a rack in a roasting pan. Deglaze browning pan with 1/4 of red wine, or tea, coffee, beef broth, whatever you have on hand. Red wine is best though. Scrape any brown bits off the skilled and pour liquid into the roasting pan. Add onions, cut into wedges and then separated, and a bay leaf.

Step 4: Pin bacon on roast, cover widthwise and lengthwise, with toothpicks. Don't try to force the toothpicks into the roast, you will just end up with broken toothpicks.

Step 5: Cover with lid, or tin foil. My roasting pan doesn't have a lid. Baste every 30 minutes. Add more liquid if needed.

Step 6: I cooked my 2.75 lb (slightly frozen) roast at 350F for an hour and a half, checked the temperature with a meat thermometer.. it wasn't done yet. So I turned the heat down to 300F and cooked for another 30 minutes, then removed the tin foil, and continued to bake it for another 15-20 min. Once it's done cooking, take it out and leave on cutting board.

Gravy.. Pour the pan drippings and onions into a small pot. Add some beef broth to the roasting pan and scrape up any brown bits.

I cheated a little and used McCormick Green Peppercorn Gravy Mix. I had a great deal of drippings plus juices from the rested meat, but I like this gravy mix with moose because that's what my mother used.

When carved, the roast was cooked perfectly. A nice pink colour in the centre for me and no pink on the outside for Dave. It was moist and tender for moose.

Served with garlic mashed potatoes, mashed turnip with butter and brown sugar, and Caesar salad.

See previous post's Tips from Dad regarding cooking times.

No photos, sorry, I forgot to bring my camera home for the weekend.

Sunday Supper

2009-03-29T13:32:00.003-02:30

I'm working on emptying my deep freezer so it's moose roast for dinner tonight.

It's been a while since I've made one.. any helpful hints? I have bacon.

**tips from Dad**

Just a variant of Grandma Jane's prescription for beaver kittens (but moose will be naturally drier, so mustn't overcook.)

pin bacon strips on top of roast with skewers or toothpicks
cheap red wine to baste (at least every 30 min.)
cook covered on a rack and NO SALT (dries meat-but pepper welcome. Onions too, either in the wine, or on top)
remove lid for last 30 min. and don't burn onions if you have any on top
no more than 15-18 minutes per pound
then remove and let stand, covered for about 10-15 min.
in a foreign language reputed to be spoken in parts of Canada, time would be 33-40 minutes per kilo, whatever that is

D&D Saturday: Making Pizzas

2009-03-28T18:16:00.010-02:30

It's Saturday and we're playing Dungeons and Dragons tonight, which means snacking foods that won't make a mess on our hands. I opted for pizzas.

Pizza Dough (makes enough for 3 thin crust or 2 thick crust):

2-1/2 cups warm water
4-1/4 tsp active dry yeast (if your dry yeast is old, add a bit more since it loses potency)
1/2 tbsp sugar
6-1/2 cups all purpose flour, divided
2 tbsp olive oil
5 tsp coarse kosher salt

Stir together water, yeast and sugar in a large bowl. Let stand until yeast dissolves, 15 minutes. Whisk in 2 cups of flour and let rest in a warm, non-drafty area for an hour (at least).

If you don't have a draft-free zone preheat the oven to 200F and turn off once preheated and put the dough in the oven.

Stir in oil and salt, then 4 cups of flour into the bubbling yeast mixture. Knead dough in bowl adding 1/2 cup flour to keep it from sticking. Knead until smooth and pulling away from the bowl.

Preheat oven to 200 again.

Turn out onto a floured surface and continue to knead, adding flour by the tablespoon as needed. Work the dough until it's less sticky and more elastic, about 5 minutes. Place the dough in a large bowl (quite large or a stock pot), cover with plastic wrap and place in the oven for 2-3 hours or until doubled in volume.

Divide dough into desired portion sizes. I made two pizzas, one I wanted dough, the other thin.. so 2/3 and 1/3. There was some dough leftover that I used for patchwork and to make the edges the same thickness.

Topping #1:
The toppings for my first pizza is based on my brother's pizza which is based on our grandfather's neighbour's pizza recipe. It's an authentic Sicilian pizza, spicy, with lots of tomatoes.

3 cloves garlic, sliced
pinch of red chili flakes
pinch salt
2 tbsp olive oil

1 lg can whole tomatoes
Italian seasoning
salt and pepper
more olive oil
pinch of sugar
mozzarella cheese, make it as cheesy as you like.

Place the garlic, chili flakes, salt and olive oil in a ramekin, cover with tin foil and place in a toaster oven at 150F for an hour, or until the garlic is no longer white. If you don't have a toaster oven, you can place all the ingredients in a small skillet on low heat, you'll just have to watch it. I'm not sure of the timing for the stove, the point is for the garlic to mellow a bit, and for the oil to absorb all the flavours.

Preheat the oven to 500F. Grease a baking sheet (Sicilian pizza must be rectangular, it's a rule) with olive oil; if the sheet isn't seasoned very well (or you're very good at keeping it clean) add a fair bit of oil, you don't want this to stick. Sprinkle salt, pepper and Italian seasoning onto the baking sheet. Roll out the dough to fit, place on baking sheet, cover with a tea towel and let it relax.

Drain the can of tomatoes into a bowl, reserving the liquid. Chop the whole tomatoes (don't worry about the seeds) and place in a bowl. Add Italian seasoning, the garlic oil mixture, salt and pepper, and sugar to the tomatoes. Add some of the reserved tomato liquid. You don't want it to be watery, but smooth enough to spread as a paste. Let this set around on the counter for a bit, so the tomatoes get all garlicky and yummy.

Baste the dough with olive oil (not too much, just to cover). Spread the tomato mixture evenly over the dough. Spread cheese evenly over dough. Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes, rotating the dough half way through the cooking time.

Toppings #2:
This one is based on one of my favourite Toronto pizza places, John's Classic Pizza on College in Little Italy.

For this one use a round pizza pan or stone (stone is the best).

Pesto
jarred roasted red peppers
jarred artichokes
soft goat cheese

If using something well seasoned, scatter some corn meal over the stone or pan. If it's not well seasoned, grease then corn meal. Roll or stretch the dough out to fit on your pan, place on pan and cover with tea towel. Let it rest while you get everything together.

The amount of roasted red peppers and artichokes you use is entirely up to you. Just pat them down to remove any excess liquid and then roughly chop.

Spread pesto over the dough, start with a heaping spoonful in the centre of the dough and then use the back of the spoon to spread it evenly. Add red peppers, artichokes. For the goat cheese, you want little drops of cheese, evenly over the dough. You really don't want to cover the dough entirely because it will end up being too rich.

Place in preheated, 500F oven, for 8-10 minutes turning half way through the cooking time.

And eat!

No lessons to learn, I make pizzas often. Get the tomato topping ready while the dough is rising, that way it has plenty of time to sit around.

If you're good at shifting doughs, you can preheat your stone in the oven, then top the pizza (with toppings) on a large rimless, floured, baking sheet or a cutting board, then slide onto the stone. I have never done this successfully.

Couscous Salad

2009-03-26T10:57:00.003-02:30

In my continued efforts to save money (and also tiring of leftovers) I've been making little salads to take to work with me.

Last night was a couscous salad, quick, easy and endlessly adaptable.

1 cup couscous
1-1/2 cups of water
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
sprig of fresh rosemary

grape tomatoes, deseeded and diced.
cucumber, deseeded and diced
1 can chick peas, drained and rinsed
2 green onions, roughly chopped
salt and pepper
generous pinches: mustard powder, ground cumin, tumeric.
fresh lemon juice

Put the water on to boil over high heat, add garlic and rosemary (use a bay leaf if you don't have fresh rosemary). When the water comes to a boil, add couscous, cover and remove from heat. Let stand for 5 minutes. Fluff the couscous with a fork and set aside. The couscous should be relatively cool when you mix in the vegetables so stick it in the fridge for a bit.

Add tomatoes, cucumber, chick peas and green onion in a large boil and mix. Add spices and mix well. Add couscous and mix. Add lemon juice; start with 1/4 of a lemon, then stir; slowly add more lemon juice, tasting and mixing as you go, until you have enough. Cover and let sit in fridge.

This really tastes better the next day when all the flavours blend. It's very fresh tasting and perfect in the summer.

Lessons learned: the spices were a last minute addition, and so were added when everything was all together and so the spices didn't mix in very well.. so I have suggested adding it with the vegetables first.

This would be great with chopped cilantro or flat-leaf parsley but none were available at the grocery store... one of the many disadvantages of living at the edge of civilization.

Books 2 Eat

2009-03-25T15:04:00.001-02:30

Every year I forget about the International Edible Book Festival. And I vow that the following year I will remember, and I will enter something.

Well, the due date is April 5th.. I think I still have enough time to come up with something. But what?

The Gelatinous Cube

2009-03-22T15:26:00.004-02:30

I have been out sick with a cold, and I've mostly been having Lipton's Chicken Noodle soup.

I feel as though I have been consumed by Gary Gygax's Gelatinous Cube that paralyzes people with electric shock and then slowly envelopes its prey and dissolving their organic matter.

It hasn't been fun.

When I'm up and at them again, I'll be posting once more, til then, I'm going back to bed.

Vanilla Extract Experiment Pt 1

2009-03-16T09:45:00.003-02:30

I like to do things myself. There's nothing like that sense of satisfaction when you make the extra effort to make something that could easily be purchased, like breadcrumbs. It's kind of a pain in the ass, but it's worth it.

So, when my brother gave me vanilla beans for Christmas, I thought it was an excellent opportunity to make my own vanilla extract.

I searched online, found a couple of variations, and did this.

2 Vanilla Beans
1 Mickey of Brandy
2-3 tbsp of light corn syrup

Chop the vanilla beans into half, then split lengthwise. Put into very clean glass jar. Add brandy. Add corn syrup and shake.

Leave in a cool, dark place, for 4 weeks (times found online vary between 3 and 8 weeks).

It's been in there for a few weeks now, and I used it in my apple tarts.

Spaghetti Sunday

2009-03-15T15:47:00.010-02:30

Sunday was spaghetti day in our house...

There were times though, when everyday was spaghetti day but homemade sauce only happened on Sundays... the rest of the time..well, someone had given us a flat of Hunt's spaghetti sauce and it was really the only thing I knew how to cook on my own.

My grandmother and mother both made delicious tomato sauces, despite neither of them being Italian.. Today, I continue the tradition with my own spaghetti Sundays. But just not every Sunday, or everyday.

I don't generally make things the same way twice (it's no fun) but this is the template. All seasonings are to taste, there's no correct amount...well, not really.

vegetable oil to coat the Dutch oven
1 lb lean or extra lean ground beef
2 tbsp Italian seasoning
salt and pepper
chili flakes
2 bay leaves
1 large onion, chopped
1 cup black olives, pitted then chopped (don't buy in cans! get the olives from the little olive bar or deli)
1/2 cup beef stock
1/2 red wine
2 cans tomato paste
2 large cans diced tomatoes
pinch of granulated sugar

Heat oil in the Dutch oven or large pot on medium heat. Add ground beef and break apart while it browns and and cook until there are no pink bits. If it's particularly greasy, put the meat into a fine sieve and let it sit there while you wipe out some of the greasy from the pot. Re-add ground beef.

Add onions, salt, pepper, and chili flakes. Cook until onion is softened, stirring often. If it sticks a bit, add a touch more olive oil. Add the beef stock and red wine, stirring and scraping up any brown bits from the bottom of the pot.

Add the tomato paste, and fill each the can with water twice, stirring to get up any leftover tomato paste. Stir well to blend the tomato paste.

Add the cans of diced tomatoes. Fill the cans 1/3 full and swish out any leftover bits and add to the sauce.

Bring the sauce to a boil over medium-high heat.. it might take a while. Adjust any of the seasonings, and add a pinch of sugar (this cuts some of the acidity). Then partially cover and reduce heat to medium low, or low. You don't want it to burn on the bottom. Stir the sauce every 20 minutes or so, just to check on the simmer and the flavours

Let it simmer for about 4-5 hours, or until reduced by half. Serve with your favourite pasta.

Lessons learned: Green pepper is not my favourite thing in the world but I have to admit, this sauce was seriously missing the green pepper.

Tonight, leftovers! I'd rather not have the same thing twice, so I'm making a pasta bake. Get a 2-3 qt casserole dish, add pasta and sauce, and 1/4 cup water. If you don't have enough homemade sauce leftover, add some jarred or canned sauce. Mix in some melty cheeses, I'm using mozzarella and any bits of other cheeses I have on hand. Add more cheese and some breadcrumbs to cover the top. Cover and bake in a 350F degree oven for 15 minutes. Remove lid, increase oven heat to 400F and bake until the top is golden.

Defatting Gravy

2009-03-15T09:38:00.007-02:30

After yesterday's post, my father had this helpful suggestion for defatting gravy:

To defat a hot liquid, let it cool and settle as much as you can, then try using a turkey baster to pick up the fat-free liquid on the bottom of the measuring cup. If baster is plastic, pre-heat under running hot water and be careful. I've never melted one, but it's possible.

This isn't quite what I did. I knew that turkey baster (stainless steel) was the way to go but I kind of did the opposite.

I turkey basted the fat itself, and ejected it. It took me a while, but I managed to get most of it. I also added some baking soda to the gravy.

Baking soda, you ask? A person that I follow on Twitter, Foodimentary, posts these Hints from Heloise type suggestions for everyday problems. Foodimentary had suggested that if your gravy is greasy, to add some baking soda.. but he/she/it didn't say how much. I probably added about 2 tsp to the gravy, and the result was pretty cool. The gravy got all foamy and didn't look or taste greasy at all. I would add less baking soda next time.. you could taste it a bit.

In the end, I recommend my father's method.

Saturday Supper

2009-03-14T17:16:00.009-02:30

I prefer to make my labour and dish intensive meals on Saturday, rather than Sunday. This way, the dirty dishes get done at our leisure on Sunday. We could do the dishes right after dinner, but I'd rather have a nice Scotch instead.

So today I'm braising the oxtails I gleefully mentioned earlier in the week. The basis is a recipe that I copied from the newspaper about 10 or so years ago. I've made it many, many times over the years and it's never failed me.. altho I usually use stewing beef.

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
4 meaty oxtails, trimmed of excess fat
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 cups beef stock
4 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp each: brown sugar, Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar
2 sprig of fresh rosemary
2 bay leaf
salt and pepper
2 cups frozen peas

Preheat oven to 300F.

In a Dutch over, heat oil over medium heat. Add oxtails and brown for on all sides. Remove from pan and set aside.

Add onion and garlic, cook, stirring often, 3-5 minutes, until onion is soft. Remove pot from heat. Re add oxtails to pot. Sprinkle flour over and stir until beef is evenly coated. Stir in stock, tomato paste, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, rosemary, bay leaf, salt and pepper.

Bring to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently. Cover pot and transfer to oven. Cook for 2 hours, check liquid levels. If there is little liquid left, add some beef stock and/or wine. Cook for 2 more hours or until meat is very tender.

When it's done, take the oxtails out, put it in a bowl and cover loosely with tin foil.

This is best served with mashed potatoes so get those started about now.

Take a 4-cup pyrex measuring cup and run the outside under hot water. Place a metal spoon or knife inside it (this will conduct heat). Pour liquid from Dutch oven into the measuring cup. Let the fat rise--there will be lots of fat--and spoon it out. The longer you let the liquid cool, the easier it will be to defat the liquid.

Put the defatted gravy into a medium-sized pot and the frozen peas and simmer until the peas are cooked and tender (but not bloated).

Serve over mashed potatoes with some Caesar salad.

Tip: rip off some parchment paper, larger than the Dutch oven or casserole dish, and put it over the pot and push down until it's a few inches from the braise. This does something... I think it has to do with making the cooking space smaller so you get more condensation working back into the braise. Put the lid over the parchment paper.

Quick Pasta Meal

2009-03-11T12:02:00.008-02:30

This one is so easy and flexible.. the catch is that it messes up a few dishes.

A combination of zucchini (green and/or yellow), bell peppers, eggplant. I didn't use onion in this one, but you could add some red onion.
Olive Oil
Linguine (however much you think you will eat)
garlic, minced
white kidney beans
red wine vinegar
pasta water or chicken stock
pesto
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 450F.
Slice, chop, into 1" thicknesses. Put all together in a bowl and toss with olive, salt and pepper. Put in roasting pan, or rimmed baking sheet.

Beware of shrinkage! The veggies will shrink considerably during the roasting process so make sure you add a few more veggies than you think you need.

Roast for about 15-20 minutes or until a nice caramel colour. About half-way through the cooking time, flip.

Use dry linguine, spaghetti, or fettuccine, it doesn't matter and follow the directions on the package.

Open the can of white kidney beans, drain and rinse. Set aside.

In a medium sized skillet, heat 1 tbsp olive oil on low heat. Add garlic, and cook until fragrant. Add beans, and stir to coat beans in oil and garlic. Add salt and pepper, and 2 tbsp of red wine vinegar or cooking marsala. If it's looking a bit dry, add some chicken stock if you have it on hand, or take some water from the cooking pasta.

Add the roasted veggies to the beans and mix it all together. If you roasted the vegetables earlier, and they're cold, keep it on the burner until heated through.

Add the cooked pasta to a serving bowl, toss with pesto (don't over do it on the pesto! A little goes a long way). Add bean and veggie mixture. Top with chopped flat-leaf parsley and Parmesan or Romano cheese. Serve.

This turned out really well, I have no complaints.

Fun with Meat

2009-03-11T10:34:00.003-02:30

I totally forgot. Last night, while I was getting a few things for supper (linguine tossed in pesto with roasted veggies and white beans, more on that later) I found oxtails! Nice, big, meaty oxtails!

I am VERY excited.

I found some a few months ago and slow cooked it for hours, then slow cooked it more the next day. They were heavenly and I can't wait to try something else.. (still slow cooking tho, there's no other way)

Just Desserts: When You Roll the Dough, Be Sure to Roll it Slow

2009-03-08T19:56:00.008-02:30

Oh my, I haven't had a moment to myself the past couple of days. So I apologize for the lateness of this post (especially to my Dad who I know has been checking and checking).

My neighbours are music scene type people and they got us into see the Great Lake Swimmers, so in return I made Thank You Tart (or galette). Apples were on sale so I thought it would be nice to work with them, since I've never done so before. Initially, I had planned something daring: Cinnamon-less Apple Tart. I hate cinnamon. I hate the smell of it, I hate the taste of it. So I thought apples with honey and almonds, maybe some cardamom would be nice but in the end I lost my nerve.

The pastry dough recipe isn't available on Fine Cooking's website freely so I can't copy it here. But it involves 1-1/2 cups of flour,a pinch of salt, 11 tbsp of butter, a yolk, and a few splashes of milk. Make a ball and flatten into a disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for half an hour, or overnight.

Take the dough out of the fridge, when it's pliable, roll it out to about 13". Put it on a rimless cookie sheet and put back in the fridge. Preheat the oven to 350 and get started with the fruit.

Peel 6 small (or 5 medium) apples and slice thinly. Toss with 1/4 cup granulated sugar, 1 tbsp flour, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp of vanilla, 1 tsp of vanilla brandy (or regular). If the apples are on the tart side, add a bit more sugar.

Take the pastry out of the fridge and let it warm up a bit.

Heap the fruit in the centre and fold the dough over the fruit, about 2 inches wide. Pleat the dough as you go around.

Make an egg wash and baste the pastry. Sprinkle raw sugar.

Bake for about an hour, or until the pastry is golden brown with no pale parts.

Wait for it to cool a bit before transferring to a cooling rack.

Lessons learned: Pay more attention! I accidentally added 1/4 of flour and 1 tbsp of sugar to the apples.. there's no coming back from that.

Dinner For One

2009-03-03T18:49:00.009-03:30

Dave is working late tonight so I was on my own for dinner and since I wasn't in the mood for more chicken curry (not that it wasn't delicious) I decided to get some fish*.

So on the plate tonight was pan-fried (next time roasted) salmon with egg noodles, roasted asparagus and guacamole.

1 salmon/trout fillet
salt and pepper
broad egg noodles
handful of asparagus, wooden ends removed**
1 avocado
2 tsp yogurt
squeeze of lemon
cilantro, chopped

Preheat the oven to 400F. Get the water started for the egg noodles.

Place asparagus in roasting pan, drizzle with olive oil, season with salt and pepper to taste. Roast for about 10 minutes. Turn off the oven.

When the water is boiled, add egg noodles and cook until tender.

Heat a bit of oil until it shimmers, in an oven-proof skillet just large enough for your fish. Fry skin side up for about 5 minutes, or until nicely browned. Flip, fry for a couple of minutes. At this point, if you have a really thick piece of fish and don't want to fry the crap out of it, throw it in the oven and let the fish hang out until everything else is done (until the fish itself is done).

Guacamole.
Everyone has their own way of making guacamole and mine differs depending on what I'm doing with it. This dish is all about simplicity and freshness so the guacamole reflects that.

Slice the avocado in half, lengthwise. Remove pit and set aside. With the creamy centre still in its rind, slice the avocado lengthwise then widthwise. Push out into a small bowl. With a fork, scoop out a mouthful of yogurt, add to avocado. Add cilantro, salt and pepper to avocado and mash together. Squeeze a wedge of lemon and mix.

And serve.

Lessons Learned: Next time, I'm just going to roast the piece of fish in the oven with the asparagus, rather than messing around with the frying pan.

If you're not eating all of the guacamole, add the pit, squeeze a bit more lemon and add. Cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge. It won't keep so have some tortillas on hand for late night snacking.

*it only took 20 minutes to get in and out of the Blackmarsh Dominion with my piece of fish. That's some kind of record!

**a trick I learned from watching the Urban Peasant, just snap the asparagus near the bottom, that will usually get rid of any woody bits.

Slow Cooker Chicken Curry

2009-03-03T13:45:00.010-03:30

6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, with most of the fat removed
1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
curry powder, meat masala, or garam masala
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 bell pepper, any colour, roughly chopped
curry paste
1 tbsp ginger, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 can diced tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato paste
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed.

Open up the chicken thighs and pat down with a piece of paper towel. Sprinkle each side with curry powder. Heat oil in a small skillet and fry chicken thighs until browned on both sides. Brown in batches and place thighs on paper towel to degrease, add to slow cooker.

Wipe out some of the grease in the frying pan, add another 1/2 tbsp and pat of butter and heaping spoonful of curry paste. Stir until paste is combined with fats. Add onions, peppers, saute for a couple of minutes, add ginger and garlic. Cook until ginger and garlic are fragrant. Add to slow cooker.

Add diced tomatoes and tomato paste to slow cooker, stir until the tomato paste is fully combined. Add more garam masala or curry paste if needed, and some salt. Cook on low, for a few hours. Add chickpeas during the last 20 minutes of cooking.

Serve with rice.

So this isn't really how I did this. I added chicken stock which made everything watery and so I ended up adding a full can of tomato paste and then simmering on the stove for about an hour. But this should work. This would also work as vegetarian, slow cooking lentils in the tomato sauce would be delicious.

Slow Food is the Best Food

2009-03-02T10:42:00.012-03:30

I have a slow cooker but I'm afraid of it.

So far, I have managed quite well without ever touching the damn thing. Usually if I'm slow cooking overnight, I just use the oven at 300F and everything's great by morning. But I was thinking that it would be nice to braise chicken thighs overnight and keep then them going until I get home from work.

It was a great idea, in theory. I abandoned my slow cooker plan this morning, when I realized that my braise was still very watery. So, I (well, not I, Dave) poured it into my Le Creuset Dutch Oven and put it in the fridge til I get home and re-adjust (add tomato paste) and slap it in the oven for an hour or so.

About the photo: this is not the slow cooker I have, I just thought it was funny.

What am I going to do with you??

2009-03-01T16:15:00.010-03:30

Zellers was having a crazy sale this weekend, 4 Pepsi or Coca-Cola 2L bottles for $5, fancy Kettle Chips 3 for $5, and while I was there I came across two things that jogged my memory.

One was Bravo Spaghetti Sauce which my Grandma Ruffo used to buy when it was on sale, then never use.

And the other was Hereford Corned Beef.

I will admit that I never had a lot of this type of canned meat, my grampa's canned meat preference was Klik (which was also on sale). But I remember my mother, every couple of years, would buy a can of Hereford Corned Beef and make us sandwiches.

Not generally being a fan of the sandwich, my mission is to try to make a yummy meal out of this canned corned beef. The Hereford website has a bunch of recipes which I will have a look at, but in the mean time, if anyone has any ideas, let me know.

I can't stop: May's Chicken Stew

2009-02-28T16:52:00.006-03:30

I broke down and made dinner. I felt that I had to redeem myself over last weekend's chicken stew disaster. This time, I kept it simple and used a family friend's recipe as a template:

May's Chicken Stew

4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
2 bay leaves
slice of lemon rind
2 small onions, quartered
2 stalks celery, diced
fresh thyme and rosemary
1.5 L chicken stock
1/4 lemon
potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 bell pepper, any colour but green, sliced
2 tsp cornstarch

In a dutch oven, drizzle vegetable oil and heat on medium-low (3-4 on the dial). Add chicken thighs, whole and opened, bay leaves and lemon rind. Brown chicken on both sides, 2-3 minutes per side. Do not flip the chicken until it comes off the surface easily, otherwise you will end up with shredded chicken by the time you're done.

Add onions, celery, a few celery leaves, rosemary and thyme (I can't tell you how much, it's personal preference). Cook until softened, season with salt and pepper. Add chicken stock and squeeze the quarter lemon into the pot. Raise the heat to medium high (dial, 6-7) and allow liquid to bowl. Add potatoes, stir. Let the potatoes cook until they're tender. Add peppers, turn the heat back down to medium low, and cook until peppers are soft. Thicken with cornstarch mixed with liquid to make a paste. Add the cornstarch while stirring the stew. Stir until thickened, turn the heat down to low (2-3) and let simmer for a couple of minutes. Serve with warm, baguette with garlic butter*.

Garlic Butter

1 stick of butter, at room temperature (not so warm that it loses it shape)
1 tsp rosemary, thyme (optional)
2 cloves of garlic with green stems removed, minced.
squeeze of lemon

Cut the garlic open and remove the stem in the centre (this will make the garlic a little less bitter). Mince the garlic, add a pinch of salt and with a large knife, smear the garlic into a paste.

In a small bowl, mash the butter with a fork. Add the garlic paste, optional herbs, and lemon. Mash until mixed.

Place on a sheet of parchment paper, and roll into a log, wrap in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for up to 6 weeks.

Cut off a hunk of baguette and slice in half, butter both sides. Wrap in tin foil and place in a 250F oven for 15-20 minutes.

Comfort food is always a must on the weekend.

Happy Eating!

Forced Vacation

2009-02-27T09:28:00.001-03:30

Under doctor's orders, I can't cook for a couple of days... I really shouldn't be cooking or baking at all, but I can't help myself. Anyway, my left shoulder was just injected with cortisone and now I'm supposed to not use my left arm for the next couple of days.

See you in a couple of days.

On Closer Inspection

2009-02-26T11:11:00.003-03:30

The Lamb Zucchini Stir Fry was delicious but not quite what I had expected. I used half lean ground turkey and lean ground pork, which I've never cooked with, and it had an interesting granular texture that reminded me of 'ground' soy products.

It was very greasy the next day, so I should cut down on the oil. It also made me realise why I don't generally cook this style of food: high heat. I don't like frying on high heat, it generates too much smoke and my kitchen doesn't have a vent.

I had thought that this recipe would be similar to my mother's classic hamburger, rice and peas. But wow, it really wasn't similar at all.

Overall, it was delicious and would definitely make this a regular.

On the menu tonight, another epicurious recipe, Mustard-crusted tofu with kale and sweet potatoes. Since I don't like tofu, this should be interesting.

What's for Dinner?

2009-02-24T11:38:00.005-03:30

It's hard trying to come up with new and (more importantly) quick cooking recipes for dinner every night. I found this recipe while doing my previous search for quick stir fries.

Lamb with Zucchini Stir Fry from Epicurious.com.

I'm going to try it tonight, but I won't be using ground lamb (I'm too poor for lamb!) but maybe ground pork, chicken or turkey depending on what they have at the grocery store. I did my shopping last night after dinner but the Blackmarsh Dominion had none of those things so off to Sobey's I go. (I will post a rant about the Blackmarsh Dominion at a later date).

Happy frying!

Sometimes it just doesn't work out

2009-02-23T08:13:00.004-03:30

argh!

My muffins look fantastic.. still not great in the flavour department. I figured out that greasing the muffin tin is what added to the greasiness of the previous batch so I reduced the oil in the batter and that worked out really well. I used my Chef at Home template and combined it with a Joy of Cooking muffin recipe... I think I should stick to one.

Also, my stew supper was not fantastic. I used a little too much tea to deglaze the pan (very strong Earl Grey) and couldn't seem to get the flavours to balance. We'll see how it tastes tonight.

Sometimes things just turn to shit and there's nothing you can do about it.

The Perfect Muffin

2009-02-22T10:40:00.003-03:30

For the last two Sundays, I have been working on making a perfectly delicious muffin, so far I have had little success. I have a template and have made variations from that template.

The first time, I forgot to add vanilla extract. It's funny, I couldn't figure out what was wrong with the muffins, I knew something was missing. I also used half walnut oil, half vegetable oil

The second time around, deciding that walnut oil was a tad expensive, I used all vegetable oil. The results were oily, very oily.

Now I have decided to consult the classics. I'm searching for a good muffin recipe in my grandmother's Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook (it's hilariously old-fashioned) and my mother-in-law's abandoned Joy of Cooking.

I will post the results (hopefully with a photo, altho I'll admit that cooking and taking pictures don't always go hand in hand).

Stretching it Out

2009-02-20T23:20:00.007-03:30

Money's pretty tight 'round here. I work for a non-profit and my husband is a journalist so we're always teetering on the edge of a less comfortable life. So we try to make the most out of our food and money.

Panini Fridays was our first move. Fridays were usually take out night, because we were tired from a week of work and our dishes were usually not clean at this point. Grilled sandwiches are a great way to use up any leftover meat from Thursday or a neat way to extend a grocery store rotisserie chicken.

Friday, we made chicken, prosciutto (leftover from last week's paninis) and Gruyere sandwiches on artisan bread. They were great. I have two tricks, one, always artisan bread. Sandwich bread just won't do, it doesn't grill as well, and sometimes can't withstand the weight of the filling, and it just doesn't taste as good as a loaf sourdough, or calabrese. Secondly, brush olive oil on the outside of the bread. I've tried using butter but that tends to shred the fresh bread.

Saturday, with some the leftover chicken Dave and I made a quiche. Quiches are like stews, a good way to use up whatever you have on hand.

Quiche

1 tbsp butter
1 shallot, minced (or thinly sliced, I don't think it really matters)
2 cloves garlic, minced (again, if you want slices of garlic in your quiche, knock yourself out)
1-2 tbsp of white wine, white wine vinegar.
5-6 asparagus spears, wooden ends removed, cut into 1/2" pieces, tips reserved
a good pinch of Herbes de Provence
pinch of salt
1 tbsp of Dijon mustard

1 cup grated Gruyere, packed
1-1/2 cup cold, cooked chicken, cubed

4 eggs
2 tbsp flour
1 cup milk

1 pastry shell (either store bought, or homemade)

Preheat oven to 375F.

Heat butter in small skillet on medium-low. When foaming, add shallots, a pinch of brown sugar, pinch of salt. Stirring occasionally, cook shallots until a nice caramel colour, about 8 minutes. If the butter begins to brown, turn down the heat.

Add garlic, Herbes de Provences, stirring until fragrant. Add wine (I didn't have wine so I used tea cause it was next to the stove). Add Dijon, stir til combined. Add asparagus and cook for 23 minutes. Remove from heat, set aside.

With an electric beater, combine eggs, flour and milk in a medium bowl. Beat 2-3 minutes or until mixture is lumpless.

Place pastry in a well-greased pie plate. Sprinkle cheese evenly over pastry. Add chicken, spreading evenly into pie plate. Add asparagus mixture. Gently pour in egg mixture. Place spears gently on top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Place in oven and bake about 35-45 minutes or until browned and set. Cool completely and serve.

Lessons learned: D'oh! I forgot to add salt!

I find quiche tastes better the next day, so I would think about making this on Saturday for Sunday brunch, or dinner.

I tried a new cooking method. I baked the quiche on the lower rack, on top of a baking sheet (I got this idea from Chef at Home). It was alright. My crust was a little tough, but that could be because I used half whole wheat, half white flour. Whole wheat is a little gluteny.

Now, if I was really on the ball, I would have saved the chicken carcass and made chicken stock.

Trying Something New

2009-02-16T19:46:00.011-03:30

For whatever reason, we don't eat a lot of Asian style cooking in our house. It's not that we don't like it, it's just that the restaurants do it better.

But, while on a shopping spree at the grocery store (yes, I shopped hungry) I grabbed fish sauce, hoisin sauce, and dry cooking sherry with the idea that I might give Asian cooking a shot. I mean, my brother cooks Asian-style all the time, so it can't be that hard :)

Not having an Asian cookbook, I made a couple of searches on Epicurious.com and Canadian Living. I printed off the recipes and plan to try them in the coming weeks.

So, on the menu this evening is Steak and Black Bean Stir-Fry from Canadian Living.

Lessons learned: I didn't add any salt to the cooking process, thinking that the black bean sauce and soy sauce later would do the trick, but not so. I should have added a pinch of salt to the frying veggies. I ended up doubling the recipe cooking times, and so I wouldn't add the garlic at the same time as the onions, etc. I would wait a minute or two, then add it.

I must say, for an Asian stir fry from Canadian Living, it did its job: delicious, healthy, and quick.

Blueberry Yogurt Pound Cake

2009-02-14T09:00:00.020-03:30

I don't eat blueberries very often. Growing up, blueberries were more chore than delicious treat. Blueberries had to be picked (carefully, don't bruise the berries), cleaned (carefully, don't bruise the berries), frozen, then thawed, baked and eaten. That doesn't sound that bad, but when you've picked litres upon litres of blueberries.. it gets..tedious.

Once in a while I make this cake and it's the only thing I do with blueberries:

1 cup butter, softened
1-1/3 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups blueberries (if frozen, thawed)
1 cup plain yogurt (the good, fatty stuff) or sour cream
3/4 cup orange juice
1 tbsp orange rind, grated
icing sugar

Preheat oven to 350F.

In a large bowl, cream butter until fluffy; beat in sugar until light and fluffy, 5-8 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time.*

In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and salt; mix in berries, gently.

In a small bowl, stir together yogurt, orange juice and rind**. Alternately add dry and wet mixtures to creamed mixture, making three additions of dry and two of wet.

Pour batter into well-greased and floured deep 9"-10" tube pan; smooth top and tap pan lightly on work surface to release air bubbles.

Bake in oven for 60-70 minutes. Let cool 15 minutes in pan. Turn out onto rack to cool completely. To serve, sieve icing sugar over the cake.

Makes about 12 servings.

*It kills me to use a full 1-1/3 cup of granulated sugar, so I used 1 cup granulated sugar and 1/3 cup light brown sugar, not packed.

**About the orange juice, usually I have Tropicana orange juice on hand but no such luck this time, so I sent my husband to the store to pick up a small bottle of Fairlee concentrated orange juice and the result was much tastier. I also only had two eggs so I actually put in 1 cup of orange juice to make up the difference.

Lessons learned: I learned this one after the first time my mother and I made this cake, don't overdo it on the blueberries or else the cake won't cook properly.

This cake is great for dessert, but also a nice treat for breakfast and is best served with tea instead of coffee.

Cook or Starve

2009-02-12T17:31:00.006-03:30

Sometimes cooking can be a real drag.

It's 5:30, I just got back from the grocery store where I bought stuff for dinner tonight (beef and black bean gorditas) and tomorrow night (Grilled Sandwich Friday).

But I have to admit that I just don't feel like grating, chopping, frying, or stirring. I just want to eat but I don't usually keep prepared foods in the house and so I'm stuck.

Also, I indulged in a big bacon classic last night so take out is not an option.

About Vinifera Cabernet Grape Powder

2009-02-12T09:54:00.009-03:30

In yesterday's Lentil-Carrot Loaf I added 1 tsp of Vinifera Cabernet Grape Powder so I thought it would be useful to say a little something about it.

For my birthday, my brother gave me this package of Vinifera Cabernet Grape Powder which his work was selling.

I had read through the website, looked at the recipes and have been trying to incorporate it into my pantry.

It's an interesting little product, it has the consistency of soy flour, powdery but dense, but I'm not really sure what to do with it, so I've been using it randomly hoping something will work.

To date, I've tried using it in Bolognese sauce, meatloaf, cherry tomato sauce, beef braises, and lentil-carrot loaf with varying degrees of success.

The first thing I learned is that a little of this stuff goes a very long way. I put 1 heaping tbsp of it in my cherry tomato sauce and the end result was bitter and very purple.

If anyone has a good use for this product, please let me know. In the meantime, I will keep experimenting.

Lentil Carrot Loaf Part II

2009-02-11T10:22:00.016-03:30

Victory is mine!

So I scoured the interwebs for a Lentil Carrot Loaf recipe and found one that seemed like a good starting off point.

Here's my version:

1-3/4 cups shredded carrots (3 large bulk carrots)
1 cup finely chopped onion
1 tablespoon olive or canola oil
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley (fresh flat-leaf parsley is nearly impossible to find in Newfoundland, so I used fresh cilantro instead)
1 14oz. can lentils
1/2 cup walnuts
1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese (I actually cut this with some Fontina because I had it on hand and it's yummy)
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1 egg
1 tsp Vinifera Cabernet Grape Powder (optional)
A couple of shake of Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp HP Sauce (or other steak sauce, or even ketchup)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350F.

Heat a non-stick skillet or wok on medium-low with the oil, add onions and carrots, add a pinch of salt. When the onions begin to soften, add the garlic, Italian seasoning, and cilantro. Continue cooking until you smell the garlic. Remove from heat.

Meanwhile, pulse the lentils with the walnuts in a food processor, until it looks a bit like a paste.

In a large bowl, add the cheese, lentil paste, breadcrumbs, carrot mixture, Worcestershire sauce, HP sauce, egg, and Vinifera if using, and salt and pepper. Mix well (hands are best). If it's too liquidy, add more breadcrumbs, if it's too dry, add another egg or more HP sauce.

Transfer to a greased loaf pan and bake for 40-50 minutes. Let stand for 10 minutes.

I served this with buttered egg noodles and a salad.

Lessons learned: more Worcestershire sauce, and maybe a few dash of Frank's Red Hot, more cheese, 2 tsp more Vinifera for colour.

Next time, I will add grated zucchini and potatoes, if salted and wrung out, they could add an interesting earthy taste previously provided by the mushrooms.

Lentil Carrot Loaf

2009-02-10T11:01:00.006-03:30

So in bed last night my husband and I were discussing what to eat for dinner tonight. We have been eating a lot of meat lately. A lot. Crazy amounts. So now I'm feeling a little guilty for eating so much meat. The guilt is less because of animal-killing and more about being poor.

So in an effort to save money I thought about making a lentil-carrot loaf. I have lentils, I have carrots, I have cheese!

I have no recipe for such a thing but will search online for one. I have two Moosewood Cookbooks and I know there is a mushroom carrot loaf, but I don't really dig mushrooms.

Anyway, wish me luck!