Take it and Like it

Lobster Roll

2011-08-04T09:54:00.005-06:00

Last night I was laying on my couch with my cat. I was feeling a bit bunk and kind of zoning, when I noticed the look my cat was giving me. She was totally saying "Why don't you blog?" I said "Don't judge me cat, I am busy/tired/full of other excuses." "You know you like taking food pictures and writing about stuff you make, and admit it, you miss the camaraderie of your fellow bloggers - they get you." "Fine! I will do a post tomorrow, I promise." "Okay...sure you will..." Take that sceptical cat! I'm posting! Anyway, this post is not about my bossy cat, it is about lobster.

I have a job where I occassionally benefit from perks. Most of them are wasted on me. Box seats to a hockey game - meh, an afternoon of golf - pass, but a while back we (my brother, dad and I) had a 30 lb box of lobster given to us. It came off the east coast dock Sat morning, boiled and packed, and arrived in our hands just in time for an amazing feast of a dinner. You can see the original haul at my brother's blog. It was the best day!

My brother and I sacrificed our fingers and foraged for all the remaining meat we could. You can see he made lobster rolls as well and then pasta. I did rolls and made a stock that I intend to use to make bisque.

The first thing I thought was "What kind of twist should I incorporate into my rolls?" I did some internet research, and then reconsidered. This was the best lobster I had ever had by far - why hide that - just go with it plain and simple! Here is all you need:
- shredded lobster (keep some of the bits in big hunks)
- a spritz of fresh lemon juice
- mayo (less is more, the lemon juice really makes it seem like more)
- a little finely diced celery
- some mixed greens for colour (I went with arugula and spinach from my garden)
- hot dog buns
I couldn't find the kind of top load buns I wanted, so I got large normal ones and trimmed off the edges. The toasty buttery outside of the bun is really a key part of the experience. Butter the outside, toast the buns, fill with some greens and top with a lobster salad of the remaining ingredients. Heaven! It amazes me sometimes how the simplest things, if made with real quality ingredients, can be the best. Yes, I ate both rolls myself :-)

Hole's Enjoy Centre (St. Albert)

2011-06-07T10:09:00.000-06:00

I think I have mentioned it many times before, but we actually don't live in Edmonton, we live in St. Albert (just outside Edmonton). The opening of the new Hole's Enjoy Centre has been a much anticipated event around here, and it happened ages ago, but I finally made it out there this week. Like most of our daytime outings, this was half for me to check it out, and half because it is a giant place that my little girl can run around and tire herself out. There is a lot of cool sounding stuff still coming (a natural food store, deli, etc.), but the Bistro is open already, so we stopped in for lunch.

Everything is promoted as being organic and/or local and/or generally good for the community in some way. There was a huge salad bar that had a make your own salad section as well as a wide selection of pre-made salads. You pay by the weight. There were also many pre-made sandwiches, and a couple of homemade soups. Everything looked good, but as is often the case with organic foods, they were a bit pricey.

My mom had a pre-made chicken and leek salad sandwich. It was really yummy, but was a bit sparse on the filling. I had a grilled veggie, brie and apple panini, which was excellent. I guess combining some of my favourite things in a warm, melty sandwich is pretty sure-fire to please. I am very interested to see how everything else builds out. The Centre was really busy when we were there considering it was mid day on a Thursday. I suspect that everything will do well out here given the support of me and all my suburbanite neighbours.

Family!

2011-06-04T09:52:00.004-06:00

My family loves food (both sides). I meant to post this ages ago, but as per usual I didn't. I seriously feel like I need to confirm I am alive each time I post because they are so few and far between! On the bright side, my little bro has taken up the torch and started his own food blog. Still read us, but check his out too. I give you a peek into life as an amazing housewife, but he gives you a peek into the mundane life of a rock star. You decide who wins.

Eating in Okinawa

2011-04-24T20:15:00.008-06:00

Well, I guess I jumped the gun calling Brooke on in my last post (do you remember my last post? No? That's because it was so long ago). Now she has shown me. In an attempt to prevent her from changing the name of the blog to Brooke's Blog, No Court Allowed, I decided to go back and pull out some oldie but goodie photos and try and remember what they were of. Now I'm not just cursing Brooke for forcing my hand, but also myself for leaving this so long I won't be able to include the detail this should have. Oh me - I'm the worst! The above is from our hotel (The Westin) which ended up being very swanky. We got upgraded to VIPs thanks to our frequent use of airmiles for hotel booking and got a nice little cocktail hour every night. Don't mind if I do!

Naha, the capital city, isn't huge, and it really only has one main strip that is filled with all the major shopping, We only went to the main strip one night for dinner. It was like being at a carnival with carnies trying to lure you over to their booth, only here it was to their restaurant or bar. We wanted to try one of these BBQ type places where you pick your meat and then it comes and you grill it and eat it yourself with your sides. Tricky since no one at the restaurant spoke English and none of their menus were in English. FYI, Japanese isn't one of those languages where you can just pull out your translation book and easily translate (unless you are maybe very good at seeing subtle differences between characters). We pointed at one in the category with a picture of a cow beside it, and one that was pig. The beef is shown, and really they don't over hype what fat marbling like this is like. It is amazing. We didn't even know how to cook it with the BBQ thing, but it just melted in my mouth.

Once we realized that the food in Okinawa was so different from what we were eating elsewhere, we decided to really go in a different direction one night. We were hungry, it was late, and there was a very busy tapas place just down the block from our hotel. It ended up being amazing. They had no real English menu, but one that someone had roughly translated and written out on a piece of paper. We ended up getting a chef's choice sampler plate (sadly, here is one of the gaps in my memory, I'm not sure what everything was), an octopus and pesto salad, and a four cheese pizza which was so good we went back and had one each night the rest of our stay - even when we had already eaten dinner. I think one of the cheeses was something like a haloumi or kefalatari since it held its shape even though it was cooked, and it had that great saltiness to it.

Okinawa is a strange place. With the US troops having been there for so long, and with the distance from the rest of Japan, and the proximity to south east Asia, it ends up offering an unusual mix of foods. Here is what we had at the aquarium (P.S. If you go to Okinawa, definitely hit up the aquarium, it is unreal). I had a curry dog on a naan bun, and my husband had a local specialty - taco rice.

This dude made us dinner our last night on the island. This is a special kind of place there, and the guide book had a name for it. Too bad I don't even have the guide book anymore. It is a restaurant where various pig parts are all cooked up (look to the left and you will see where the parts are all cooking). Okinawa is known for pork. This dude also ran a hotel up above, and he spoke very good English and talked to us for pretty much the whole meal.

Okay, I realize this post is not my best work. I guess I should be better at posting when I say I am going to. Hopefully you will hear from me again before another month passes!

Sweet and Sour Meatballs

2011-04-19T23:23:00.001-06:00

In my quest to improve my Japanese reading comprehension, I've started using Cookpad to search for new recipe ideas. One poster came particularly recommended, and this is my first try at one of her recipes (with minor changes - i.e. beef instead of pork and omitting the potatoes). I was impressed by how easy this was to make, as for some reason I always imagined sweet & sour would be difficult to make at home. This is particularly vinegar-y, which I like, but if you don't you may wish to reduce the vinegar in the sauce down to 2 tbsp.

Sweet and Sour Meatballs (serves 2):
200g ground beef
1 tsp sake
1 tbsp corn starch
1 tsp sesame oil
1 section lotus root (renkon), peeled, sliced & rinsed
splash of rice wine vinegar

Sauce
100ml chicken stock
3 tbsp rice wine vinegar
2 1/5 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp corn starch
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil

Mix the beef, sake, and corn starch together and roll into small meatballs. Heat the sesame oil in a fry pan and roll the meatballs until cooked through. Meanwhile, in a pot with boiling water and a splash of vinegar, cook the lotus root slices for about 5 minutes.

Once the meatballs are cooked, use the pan to make the sauce. Before adding the cornstarch to the mixture ensure you have made a paste with the starch and a little liquid, just to ensure there are no lumps. Reduce until thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon. Add the meatballs and lotus root and stir until they are heated up, serve with brown rice.

Kabocha, Spinach & Goat Cheese Pie

2011-04-15T08:09:00.002-06:00

Normally when I have people over for dinner I don't do the old-school Sunday dinner roast and potatoes (mostly because I am terrible at judging roasting times and I have a fear of serving overcooked meat). I finally decided to take the challenge however, and luckily Canadian Beef has a website that gave me exact cooking times by weight to acheive lovely medium-rare goodness. I wanted to change up the sides though, so I modified this pie slightly from Donna Hay's Seasons, which I received as a Christmas gift and is one of the most beautifully shot cookbooks I have ever seen.

Kabocha, Spinach & Goat Cheese Pie (serves 6):
tomato paste
1 small kabocha/butternut squash, peeled & sliced
1 small onion, sliced
1 tbsp olive oil
1 roll PC puff pastry (1/2 package), thawed
spinach
150g goat cheese
1 egg, lightly beaten

Using President's Choice pastry over Tenderflake is practically a necessity. PC comes in 2 rolls which are very easy to use, rather than the flat blocks that take forever to roll out yourself.

Preheat oven to 200C/390F. Cook onion and squash 15-20min until tender and set aside to cool. Roll out pastry to about half it's original thickness, then cut in half and place one half on a lined cookie sheet or baking pan. Spread with tomato past then top with the remaining ingredients. Place the second half of the pastry on top and press or roll the edges to seal. Brush with the egg and bake 30 minutes until golden.

Pâté de foie gras

2011-04-12T17:14:00.000-06:00

I love, love, love all types of pâté, but j'adore foie gras. Mmmm, that extra fattiness makes all the difference, and I am fortunate to have friends that understand my love and bring some back for me on each trip to France. Somehow, it seems you can always tell the difference in quality between what I have tasted that's been produced here and the original. Also, since I seem to be one of the few people I know that enjoy it, it means I get most of the tin to myself!

Anna Olson's Pear Almond Tart

2011-04-06T10:13:00.001-06:00

I always seem to purchase too much fruit for one person to reasonably eat, so end up with a glut of it on the verge of going off. In my search for a way to use up some pears, I came across this gluten free tart in a recipe on the Food Network site. It doesn't really have a cake texture, more of a squidgy/meringue-y/sticky goodness texture... and if that's not enough to sell it I don't know what is.

Pear Almond Tart:
2 ripe pears
1/2 tsp cardamom
1 tbsp sugar
2 cups ground almonds
6 eggs
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/4 tsp almond extract

Preheat oven to 350F/180C and butter a 14"x3" pan or tart shell. Halve and core the pears, then toss with cardamom and 1 tbsp sugar. Blend together almonds, eggs, 1 3/4 cups sugar, and almond extract, then pour into your buttered pan. Press the pears into the batter, cut side up. Bake for 40-50 minutes.

Chikuzen-ni

2011-04-03T09:49:00.009-06:00

Winter is nearly over but I am still kind of in winter-mode and craving simmered dishes like stews or this one. Without the stick-to-your-bones gravy of most stews though, this is a pretty light dish that is heavy on vegetables and uses the konnyaku (almost calorie-less) to fill you up.

Chikuzen-ni (serves 4-5):
450g chicken thighs, diced in 2cm cubes
4-6 shiitake mushrooms
2 carrots, cut into rolling wedges
1 burdock root (gobo - pictured), cut into rolling wedges
1 cake konnyaku, sliced and twisted
1-2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 cup dashi
2 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp soy sauce
60g snow peas or green beans, parboiled

Heat the oil over high heat and add the chicken, konnyaku, mushrooms, carrot, and burdock. Cook for about 3 minutes, ensuring everything has a light coating of oil and is partially cooked. Next add the dashi and bring to a boil, then add the sugar and soy sauce. Cover with a drop lid (or a vent-lid like pictured) and simmer until reduced by about 1/3. Add in the cooked snow peas just prior to serving.

Cream Cheese + Skor = Better Than It Sounds

2011-04-01T09:11:00.000-06:00

Don't judge me, okay. THIS DISH IS REALLY SHALLOW. After going to several book clubs and birthdays featuring this dip, I finally caved and asked a friend how it was made. Thus, my downfall. I did a quick google search to get the quantities right (the only change I made was to add a little vanilla) and had a Saturday night dessert in 5 minutes.

Beard Papa in NYC, LA... Edmonton?

2011-03-28T07:44:00.001-06:00

I had heard about the Japanese cream puff chain Beard Papa, so when I first spotted it in New York in 2009 I knew I had to stop in even laden with shopping bags. I'm certainly glad I did. The pastry is made fresh and filled to order with a choice of vanilla, chocolate, or matcha custard.

I next came across it in LA in June of last year and of course dragged my mum with me to create another addict. This time I got the vanilla topped with chocolate. One would think that chocolate could only enhance the goodness, but these are actually better without - light and airy and not too sweet. I didn't bother stopping in Tokyo as there were too many other things to try, but now I wish I had so the title of this post would be more exciting.

You can imagine my delight when I heard that an Edmonton outpost (located near the Ice Palace in West Edmonton Mall) was opening last fall. Somehow it took me until last weekend to finally stop by, and it was delicious as usual. Standard size was $2.69 each, and they also offered mini versions for $0.99. One important note - they really do not travel well as the custard filling causes the pastry to get soggy quite quickly.

Niche

2011-03-23T07:09:00.000-06:00

As the last person on earth without a Facebook account, the only thing I didn't like about Niche was it's lack of a website. Other than that, the food was delicious and reasonably priced, service was good, and the interior both modern and cosy. And had I had access to Facebook I would have also known that they give free parking passes to customers (instead I drove around in circles and was late for the reservation).

Above, quinoa salad with roasted vegetables and mixed greens with a lemon tahini vinaigrette. Below, braised pork and lentil soup.

Above, Spring Creek braised beef cheeks in a wild mushroom cream with broad egg noodles. Below, roasted pork tenderloin with blackberry gastrique on mashed potatoes.

Below, brownie with salted caramel and lemon whipped cream.

Nomiya - New Japanese!

2011-03-20T19:53:00.007-06:00

Courtney is so mean to me! :( That's why she didn't get to come when I visited Nomiya (3803 Calgary Tr) earlier today. I was super excited to hear about new non-sushi Japanese in Edmonton. They still have sushi on the menu, but the main draw is the ramen. They also had a good selection of standard Japanese fare that is typically not found at other local restaurants.

Sunday lunch hours end at 2:30 (they reopen for dinner at 4:30) and we arrived just past 2pm with about 4 groups of people ahead of us. We luckily sneaked in just in time as we were the last allowed to be seated at the bar after a 30 minute wait. Who knew it would be so popular?

We started with the chicken karaage which was extremely tender and made with fatty chicken resulting in juicy bites of meat cooked to perfection. For mains we had the shio (salt) ramen and miso ramen. Both were delicious and had a rich tasty broth with a generous portion of pork. I'll definitely be back - likely on my Ikea runs as I don't often get that far south. Next time I look forward to trying the Curry Katsu.
I've added photos of the menu even though I couldn't get good shots, and none at all of the ramen menu unfortunately (there were six: shio, shoyu, miso, spicy miso, tan-tan... and one more I can't recall).

St. Paddy's Risotto

2011-03-17T21:34:00.005-06:00

Doin' it! Posting for real! Take that Brooke, I am the queen and you are the loser (okay, Brooke isn't actually my little sister and I'm not 7, so maybe I should take that back). Okay, it's been forever, so I know this is a bit sucky, but it is a start. I have done posts previously on how to do a basic risotto. This is the same generally, I just did it with peas and goat cheese thinking my little one would eat it since she eats rice, peas and strongish cheeses. How silly am I to think then that she would eat a combo of the three? Pretty silly apparently. I even pureed some of the peas so the risotto would look a bit green and St. Paddy's-ish. She ate a bit and then gave me a look that clearly conveyed that she would rather be eating a big pile of Cheerios. I like it though :-) Sorry the idea comes too late for most of you to use it to green up your dinner tonight.

Eat Alberta Conference

2011-03-15T10:29:00.005-06:00

Okay, we are terrible bloggers who never post but always think we are about to start posting regularly again (maybe next week? haha). Anyway, I am a day late on this, but I want to support it because it is being organized by a number of my internet friends. Stop laughing, I am not a nerd for having internet friends - in fact, if you are reading this you might actually be one of my internet friends. Take that nerd. Seriously though, this event sounds amazing, and I will definitely be going provided I can get a sitter.

This is a DIY conference! Some of the hands on sessions include:

· Sausage making

· Cheese making demonstration

· Apple pie and pastry making

· Bread making

· Pasta making

Tasting sessions include:

· Fruit wine tasting

· Honey tasting

· Coffee tasting

· Canadian wine and cheese pairing

· Goat Cheese Tasting

There will also be opening and closing keynote sessions on urban gardening and urban homesteading, respectively.

What the day looks like:

· 8:30 to 5 p.m.

· Continental Breakfast followed by the morning keynote

· Two morning break out sessions (choose from 8 different sessions)

· A charcuterie and cheese tasting lunch with artisan breads

· Two afternoon break out sessions (choose from 8 different sessions)

· Closing session followed by a “wine” down

Is it redundant to say that you had me at "wine" down?

Eating in Kyoto

2010-11-22T17:11:00.012-07:00

Kyoto was the second stop on my Japanese adventure. It was so different from Tokyo. Where Tokyo is all about modern Japan, Kyoto felt like it was all about traditional Japan. What better place to try okonomiyaki?

We stayed at a great little hostel called the Capsule Hotel that had showers right in the room with blue lights inside them (romantic? sexy?). They also gave us a little guide that showed local restaurants that were near where we were staying, economical, and had various types of Japanese food. It was so helpful! The first night we went for okonomiyaki at Chabana. The one above is seafood and the one below is chicken and leek. It is like a savoury pancake - batter poured over "fillings" and cabbage, topped with Japanese mayo and a sweet sauce. They were really good, but very rich, so by the end you feel crazy full.

After, even though we were stuffed, we stopped at a "standing bar" and couldn't resist splitting tempura ice cream. To die for!

While in Kyoto we visited the Nishiki Market. It was crazy! Read the sign below the octopus lollipops. We saw a guy buy three! Also, check out the sack of fish row. It was the size of a small salmon.
In the middle of our big temple and shrine touring day we stopped for our favourite: Tonkatsu.

One evening we went to an amazing Yakitori place. Basically Yakitori is grilled skewers of chicken, but not just chicken breast, all sorts of chicken parts. We had chicken skin, chicken meatballs (middle right), chicken hearts (top right), a lot of chicken thigh and leek, and then we took a break from chicken and had some mushrooms wrapped in bacon (bottom left), and some littleneck clams in a wine and butter sauce (yup, as good as it sounds - bottom right). Oh I wish I could have more.
In the mornings we didn't have breakfast buffet like in Tokyo, so we stopped at a little bakery. The one on the bottom was almond paste in a pastry that was dense like a bagel, and the top one has eggs, bacon and cheese baked in. I liked that one the best.

In the morning we would also get ourselves vending machine drinks. I like the iced coffee, even though at home I don't really drink coffee, because it was heavily sweetened. My husband got hooked on Royal Milk Tea, which is basically half tea, half milk, sugared to within an inch of its life. It is served cold as well.

And what is a trip to a foreign country without a stop at McDonalds to try things we don't have at home. We got a Salt and Lemon chicken sandwich (left) and a German Sausage Chicken sandwich (right), neither of which we were very impressed with. We also got a Shake-a-Shake-a Chicken (a breaded filet with a package of seasoning in a shaking pouch). It came in pepper (good), cheese (a bit too Kraft dinner for me), and lemon (didn't try). My husband loved the white grape drink.

Unlike Tokyo, I feel like I have "done" Kyoto now, so I am not sure I will be back, but it was really nice and some of the cultural sites were amazing! It was also cute that we were approached by many groups of school children asking us to do a quick interview in English. How did they know? Haha.

Almost Pocky

2010-11-21T21:40:00.007-07:00

I thought it would be a cute idea post-Japan to give home-made Pocky out as a Christmas treat, so this weekend I roped Court into helping me out. As she said, our efforts were "not quite Not Quite Nigella" (whose recipe & instructions I pinched). The dough was not the easiest to make without a stand mixer but I managed, and the results are remarkably close to the real thing. It also made for a fun afternoon of decorating, even if our artistic skills are approximately Grade 4 level (and I'm being generous here). For toppings, we had dark, milk, and white chocolate, and some green tea chocolate made by mixing matcha into white chocolate. Everything else was whatever I could find in the pantry: - dark chocolate shavings - yellow & pink decorating sugars - cashews - dried cranberries - ground almonds - candied ginger - kinako powder - sea salt - pepper - chili powder

Eating in Tokyo

2010-11-15T12:15:00.013-07:00

I went to Japan! It was amazing (and much too short, but better short than not getting to go at all). For those of you that read and actually know us, it should be noted that Brooke also went to Japan, for much longer than me and has been back more than long enough to have posted first.... Anyway, here are some food pics from Tokyo. I loved Tokyo. The food was great and cheap, and the people watching was unreal (but the fashion didn't translate well for 30somthings in Canada). The above was from one of many 270 Yen places. It is 270 Yen for anything on the menu (just over $3). We had chicken skin and chicken thigh skewers, sushi, and fried shrimp (which turned out to be fried shrimp heads).

We ate a ton of Tonkatsu. This one was from a vending machine restaurant and only cost about 700 yen.
Speaking of vending machines, getting drinks anywhere at anytime was no problem. Here are some of our favourite alcoholic selections (the Chu-Hi was like a cooler but not sickly sweet like the ones here can be).
One day we went to a place called NamjaTown (which seemed to be some sort of kitty themed amusement place). It contained GyozaTown and Ice Cream City, both of which we gave a try.

When my brother was on tour in Japan, they visited Yamachan a lot for wings and then insisted we go too when we got there. It was a good recommendation. How to describe their wings? Sweet, salty and spicy all in one in perfect proportion.

A tempura restaurant on the restaurant floor of a mall.

Mmmm fried chicken (they keep a lot more fat on their meat than we do, and it is a good move taste wise) and BBQ beef in a Korean BBQ sauce. Korean BBQ sauce is everywhere and delicious!

and just for laughs, this was part of the breakfast buffet at our hotel (the B Ikebukuro). I am pretty sure it is just rice and milk, but calling it gruel is pretty funny.

Rainbow Cake

2010-10-19T20:40:00.008-06:00

My baby's favourite colour is rainbow (okay, my favourite colour for her is rainbow), so I went with that as a theme for her first birthday (how is she one already!?!?). I know, I know, it's not exactly new anymore, but I wanted to do something cute without spending hours piping little icing rosettes all over a cake. I just don't have time to spend 5 hours making a first birthday cake that she won't even remember. This rainbow cake is a great solution because it takes about 2 minutes more than any normal cake. I used a nice sugary, buttery cake recipe that has gone over well in the past. It freezes well, so I got to make it a couple of days in advance. All I did was put the batter into 5 cereal bowls and coloured each one with different food colours (yellow, orange, red, green, and blue). Then I drizzled each colour into the cake pan. Unlike marble cake, I don't swirl the colours because I want them to all be visible themselves. To finish, I iced the cake with a plain white buttercream icing. I just wanted it to look really plain on the outside so that it would be more of a surprise when it was cut. My daughter stuffed as much of a full piece as possible into her mouth and gobbled it up, so it went over well with the target audience.

Waffles - Homemade Eggos

2010-10-16T11:40:00.007-06:00

I really like waffles. I figure an Eggo waffle on a regular basis is probably not the most healthy choice though, so the other day I decided to make my own buttermilk waffles - tons of them! - and freeze them like homemade Eggos. I guess it may have also had something to do with the fact that I accidentally bought a big thing of buttermilk instead of homo milk. Why are they almost the same!?!? Anyway, this is my favourite waffle recipe, and freezing them and then toasting them in the morning worked out really well. I got the recipe from the Epicurious website:

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups well-shaken buttermilk

3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature

2 large eggs

Vegetable oil for waffle iron

Put oven rack in middle position and put a large metal cooling rack directly on it. Preheat oven to 250°F and preheat waffle iron.

Whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl.

Whisk together buttermilk, melted butter, and eggs in another bowl, then whisk into flour mixture until just combined.

Brush hot waffle iron lightly with vegetable oil and pour a slightly rounded 1/2 cup of batter into each waffle mold (see cooks' note, below). Cook waffles according to manufacturer's instructions until golden and cooked through, about 3 minutes. Transfer as cooked to rack in oven to keep warm, keeping waffles in 1 layer to stay crisp. Make more waffles in same manner.

Salmon Salad

2010-10-09T11:07:00.004-06:00

I still exist! I'm going to go ahead and assume most of our readers have jumped ship under the assumption that we did. I'm still here, still cooking and baking, still eating, just have not been posting thanks to my little one's need for attention and her love of my laptop (I need to keep it hidden or risk losing keys). This is an oldie from the summer, but I wanted to pop something up during nap time so that I can try and get back into blogging. Nothing fancy, just took some leftover BBQ salmon (BBQ'd with butter, lemon and dill) and flaked it on top of spinach and mixed salad greens from my garden. I added some dried cranberries and goat cheese because I like adding those to most salads, and then topped with a quick balsamic dressing. Yay for posting! I hope to keep it up over the next little while again since I have realized a few recipes I use a lot need to be added.

Simple Pork Wrap

2010-07-12T11:13:00.004-06:00

Celebration! I have a new computer! My old one crapped out a while ago, and I am finally getting going with my new one, but it will take some time to transfer all my photos and files over. Really it's great though because I have so much spare time to do stuff like that - haha. I have now put that task on my husband's to do list. As seems to be the case all the time now, I have been keeping things simple on the cooking side. The other day I made a pork tenderloin crusted in rosemary, thyme, oregano, and whole grain mustard. I love making little roasts because they leave me with great leftovers for lunches. I made a little variation on an old favourite proscuitto sandwich of mine.

Basically the elements end up being very similar. I used sliced pork instead of proscuitto, a pesto wrap instead of the ciabatta bun, stuck with the apple and sharp cheddar, and added in a mix of spinach and baby kale from my garden. Simple, healthy, and easy to eat with one hand (which is a major bonus for me these days since I can now do most things around my house one handed).

Restaurant Update

2010-07-06T11:36:00.002-06:00

It's not like I am eating out a lot lately, but I thought that it was about time to start updating The Restaurant List slowly but surely since I have not been keeping up with openings and closings. I started today with St. Albert because it is small, manageable, and we live here. There are some new places, some that I just hadn't listed before, and some places have new websites - yay! I'll be trying to update other sections over the next bit, but feel free to leave a note if your fave is not on the list.

Chicken, Fig and Mushroom Wilted Salad

2010-06-29T18:20:00.004-06:00

This salad is perhaps the opposite of healthy. It is, however, extremely delicious. Also incredibly easy - made up on the fly, as it was - providing you have some pretty obscure ingredients to hand. Luckily, I had stopped by the Italian Centre on the weekend and noticed fresh figs (which I had not previously tried) and my freezer has goodies like the pan scrapings from a roast goose. Fabulous, and under 10 minutes to make.

Chicken, Fig & Mushroom Salad (serves 1):
100g chicken thigh or breast, cubed
large handful crimini mushrooms, sliced
1/4 onion, sliced
1 fresh fig, quartered
very large handful spinach leaves
1 tbsp goose fat
1/4 cup goose pan scrapings
salt & pepper

The pan scrapings and goose fat meant I did not have to spend any time worrying about flavouring for the meat. To start off, I melted the goose fat in a fry pan and cooked the onion and mushrooms until softened. Those were set aside and the pan scrapings were added to the pan with the chicken until cooked through. The spinach was topped with the mushrooms and onion and those were topped with the chicken. Then I added the fig and some good bread to mop up the drippings, and had a lovely al fresco dinner.

Avocado Pear Salad

2010-06-23T15:30:00.003-06:00

A few weeks ago I was over at Court's for a family dinner and forced(!) onto salad duty. Without any pre-planning, we had to work with what she had on hand, and also work around preferences that include no balsamic vinegar and no strong cheese. Surprisingly, this was a hit with everyone. I say surprisingly because Court's husband claims to not like pears or avocado, and my dad claims to not like avocado and cheese.

Avocado Pear Salad:
1 head romaine lettuce
1 avocado, chopped
1 pear, chopped
goat cheese

Sweet Vinaigrette: (my new go-to)
2 tbsp minced onion
1 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tsp honey
salt & pepper
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup rice wine vinegar

Melting Pot - Bad Pictures, Good Times

2010-06-17T11:37:00.006-06:00

I think I have mentioned before that Brooke and I are in a dinner club. Last month, we hit up the Melting Pot fondue restaurant. I have to say that our little group of four had a fantastic time enjoying this very unique dining experience. A few notes to start, I would definitely recommend going as a group of four - a lot of the meals are priced per couple, and a group of four allows you to try two different cook styles, and I would also make sure you have some time to spend out - our dinner took close to three hours, and we felt like we were moving at a pretty good clip.

Seeing as our dinner club is more about experience than budget consciousness, we decided to go with the Big Night Out feature menu. It is a four course meal starting with a cheese fondue, followed by a salad course, then an entree, and finally a dessert. Although each meal is set out in the menu, you are able to change out items from the a la carte menu, and we did so that we got to try more options.
For the first course, we stuck with one of the suggested cheese dips: the Feng Shui, and substituted in one Fiesta. The reviews were mixed from the group. I really liked the Feng Shui, it was very much what one would expect from a traditional cheese fondue. Made with gruyere cheese, white wine, mirin and sake, it was subtle and delicious. I wasn't as taken with the Fiesta. It was cheddar with jalapenos and salsa, and reminded me a bit too much of "nacho" cheese. Our cheese dips were served nice and warm with sides of raw veggies, breads, tortilla chips and granny smith apples. I thought the best pairing was the apple with the Feng Shui. The tartness of the apple paired perfectly with the boozy cheese.

The second course of salad wraps was mostly filler for us. Honestly, with picking all the other dishes, we paid very little attention to the salad course. Really though, how can salad compare with melty cheese or melty chocolate? We were careful not to fill up on the salad, which was not difficult as the salad wraps had some mint in them, and that didn't appeal to any of us.
For our main, we went with the bourguignonne (oil), and the coq au vin (burgundy wine, broth, herbs, mushrooms, garlic). The bourguignonne also cam with a tempura and sesame batters. We had entree plates that were packed with selection. There was ahi tuna, chicken, pork, beef, shrimp, lobster, veggie dumplings, mushrooms, potatoes, and broccoli. As if the food and cook styles didn't offer enough variety, there were sauces as well! The sauces are a bit of challenge to remember, so I may not have each of them 100%. There was a flavoured butter, two different cheesy sauces (one that made for great stuffed mushrooms), a plum sauce, a curry sauce, a teryaki sauce, and one other that I can't recall. Darn it! I knew my memory would fail me.

The bourguignonne was generally the favourite, but it got very hot and therefore it was a bit difficult to cook the chicken and pork through without overdoing the exterior. The coq au vin was also very nice, but without the batters, it didn't rate quite as highly with our group.

Eating this way was tons of fun. We all shared tips on what were the best combos, and the cooking gave us lots of time for visiting in between. The time just flew by.
They saved the best for last. I would definitely go back again just for dessert, and without being as full when it arrived I would be tempted to eat any left overs like soup (I'm classy like that). We totally abandoned the Big Night Out for these choices, and had a very difficult time choosing. In the end we went with one Original (milk chocolate with a swirl of peanut butter), and one Flaming Turtle (milk chocolate, pecans, caramel, and yes, it was flambeed!). We got strawberries, bananas, pineapple, cheesecake, marshmallows, pound cake and brownies for dipping. Just seeing the dipping tray come out was exciting. It's hard to describe how good this all was. I was lusting over the cheesecake dipped in the chocolate and peanut butter fondue for days after. To be truthful, I am lusting after still at this very moment. Yum....

In the end, the bill was a bit pricey (with drinks we were at $60 and higher per person), but to recreate this experience at home would also be pricey and very time intensive. All in all I would say it is worth it for an occasional fun night out. Make sure you go with people that don't mind sharing, and have similar tastes as you so that you can try more. I will be back at some point for sure.

Pulled Pork

2010-06-10T20:35:00.001-06:00

Does everyone get a slow cooker when they get married? I think slow cookers are like fondue pots that way. I seem to use mine in fits and spurts, but at the moment it is back in my regular dinner rotation. Why? Pulled pork! I love getting pulled pork sandwiches at pubs and restaurants. When we were down in Palm Springs this past winter it seemed to be the thing to have on every happy hour menu. There's a good reason for that, it's cheap and delicious!

The hardest part about this is just remembering to take a pork shoulder out of the freezer, and putting the slow cooker on the counter so that when you wake up you remember to pop the roast into it. Pork shoulders are fantastically inexpensive and manage to produce a huge amount of meat. The best part is that left over meat makes excellent sandwiches/wraps/quesadillas etc.

I generally do the pork roast in one of two ways. The first is to pop it in as is, turn it once or twice during the day if I have time, and just leave it cooking on low for 8-12 hours.

If I feel a bit more ambitious, I throw the roast in a freezer bag overnight with a rub of about 1/4 cup sea salt, 3/4 cup brown sugar, a couple of tbsp of cumin and one tbsp of chilli powder. Other than tossing stuff in a bag, it is the same as above in terms of preparation.
When the shoulder is all cooked, you just pull it out and use a couple of forks to "shred" it. It pretty much falls apart as soon as you touch it. I do get rid of a little of the outer fat if I see any big chunks, and I take off the skin. Some people might be a bit put off seeing the skin, but the skin and fat are where all the flavour and moisture come from. If you are a bit more adventurous, you can make crackling with the skin (we did this once, but over did it sadly). Cooked pork skin is tasty, but not exactly diet friendly. Also, if I don't do the rub, I will sometimes make a pan gravy from the drippings. If I use the rub, the drippings are a bit too salty to make a usable gravy.

JapaDog - Vancouver

2010-06-07T20:16:00.006-06:00

My child is a seven month old jet setter. Already having flown to Palm Springs twice, she got to accompany my husband and I to Vancouver a few weekends ago as well. Airplanes are old news to her. She was great walking around, and that gave us a chance to see a lot more of the city than we expected. With the goal of trying to eat some interesting food while staying child friendly, we followed Anthony Bourdain's lead and hit up the JapaDog stand by our hotel.

Apparently many celebrities have done the same thing - haha!

I went with the Terimayo dog (teriyaki sauce, Japanese mayo and seaweed flakes). It was good. I think some people would find it a bit sweet, but I thought it was quite a lot like a sweet BBQ sauce, which I enjoyed. The seaweed was a bit daunting. I wasn't sure I would be able to eat it without spilling everywhere, but it was good, and not as overpowering as I feared. My husband had the Oroshi dog, and it had tons of radish on it. He found that to be a bit intense, and was feeling it all day afterward.

It is definitely worth a stop next time you are downtown Vancouver and looking for a quick bite. I intend to hit it up again next time we are there and try a different offering.

Pecan Scones for a Chilly Spring Weekend

2010-05-30T20:36:00.005-06:00

A rainy weekend is perfect for doing not much at all. This morning my Corporate Challenge event was cancelled due to the poor weather, so I got to head home to make a tasty brunch for myself. I found a recipe a while ago on Chowhound (but failed to keep a link to the original post) and while I personally thought these were a bit too vanilla-y and sugary, they were a hit with everyone else who tried them. Who am I to judge?

Pecan Scones (makes 8):
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup cold butter, cubed
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla
1/2 cup cold whole cream
1/2 cup pecans, finely chopped
1/2 cup dried fruit (I used PC Mixed Dried Berries)

Preheat oven to 375F/190C. In a food processor, quickly blitz the flour, baking powder, salt, sugar, and butter. Mix together the egg, vanilla, and cream, then add slowly to the mixture in the food processor. Pulse until just blended, then mix in the nuts and fruit. The mixture will be very dry, so just dump everything out and form into a circle about 1 inch high. Cut into eighths and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake 17 minutes.

Cheese-y Chicken Quesadillas

2010-05-19T21:22:00.003-06:00

While it's been so hot lately, I've been doing anything I can to avoid turning on the oven. My house is already a sauna, and there's no need to make it worse. My limited barbecue skills only get me so far, so my latest easy dinner has been quesadillas. Pretty much anything goes, so I can use whatever I have on hand to fill them.

Chicken Quesadillas (for 2):
2 chicken thighs, chopped in 1cm cubes
grapeseed oil
salt & pepper
rosemary, finely chopped
garlic, minced
1/4 small eggplant, chopped
1/4 small zucchini, chopped
2 button mushrooms, chopped
1/4 red pepper, chopped
2 multigrain tortillas
cheddar cheese, shredded

In a fry pan heat up a little oil and add the chicken, s&p, rosemary, and garlic and heat through. Remove to a bowl, then add the vegetables to the same pan and cook for 1-2 minutes until softened. Add the vegetables to the bowl with the chicken and mix together. Wipe clean the pan and put back on medium heat, lay down the first tortilla, add the mix and about 2 tbsp shreded cheese (or more!) to one side of the tortilla then fold over. Heat until nicely browned on both sides and the cheese is melted. Repeat.

Asparagus Tart

2010-05-15T07:53:00.003-06:00

As a stay at home mom, I have been doing more than the usual amount of ladies lunches and brunches. With the spring influx of asparagus, I decided to make an asparagus tart. It was very easy since I never make my own pastry. It's the kind of thing you can make that will make your guest feel special, but that won't take you all day to make.

Asparagus Tart:
One box of puff pastry (rolled out)
One bunch of Asparagus
5-6 good sized mushrooms, sliced
2 eggs, beaten
A wedge of brie
Chives, salt and pepper to taste

Start by baking the asparagus and sliced mushrooms for 5 minutes at 425F in olive oil salt and pepper. This just makes sure they will be cooked through even if the asparagus is thick.

Take the puff pastry and roll up the edges a bit. Poke some holes in it with a fork or knife so that it doesn't bubble up while cooking. Lay out the asparagus and mushrooms to cover. Brush the edges of the pastry with the egg, and then pour the remaining egg over the tart. Cover with slices of the brie and chives and bake for 20-30 minutes (until pastry is brown). The second time I made this I added some slivers of onion, which added some nice flavour. Yum!

Mango & Papya Salad

2010-05-12T16:42:00.003-06:00

Summer weather calls for easy summer flavours. The other day I read an article indicating that North Americans get most of their "phytonutrients" from sources that are not as rich as they could be. One of the switches they recommended was to eat more papya instead of oranges, so last time I was at the store I went and bought me a papya. What to do with a papya though.... Well, mangos were on sale as well, and I regularly get avocado and feta, and that's all this salad takes! It tastes so tropical and fresh, and the saltiness of the feta keeps it from being too sweet. This is the way summer should taste, and this is the amount of time summer cooking should take. I plan to have this with fish next time I BBQ.

Vietnamese-style Pork Burgers

2010-05-03T10:54:00.002-06:00

I've been playing around with a recipe for Vietnamese meatballs for a few years now, and have only recently gotten close to the flavour I was looking for. For any of you trying this at home, do not think that you will ever get close without fish sauce... even if you hate fish sauce. Yes, it is one of the most rank smelling foods I've had to work with, but the umami it imparts cannot be beaten. I decided to use this to update a standard burger, and served it with sliced chinese cabbage for some crunch and thinned out Thai Peanut Sauce instead of ketchup.

Vietnamese-style Pork Burgers (makes 6)
500g lean ground pork
1/2 onion, diced
2 stalks lemongrass
3 cloves garlic
1/2 tbsp szechuan pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp fish sauce
1/4 cup breadcrumbs

Blitz lemongrass and garlic in the food processor until nearly a puree, then toss in the diced onion to chop a bit more finely. Mix thoroughly with the pork, fish sauce, and breadcrumbs, adding the pepper and salt to taste. (To check the flavour, pinch off a small bit and cook in a fry pan. This may seem like a waste of time, but I find I never quite achieve the taste I'm looking for without doing this.)

Grabbing small handfuls, shape into patties. I stack my leftovers between layers of parchment paper and wrap for freezing. The remaining can be pan cooked over medium-low heat or done on the barbecue. Serve with sliced chinese cabbage and peanut sauce on hamburger buns.

Prawn Sandwich

2010-04-28T16:03:00.002-06:00

Dear British Soccer Fans,
I don't know why I am supposed to feel dissed when you call me a "prawn sandwich eater." I get that it basically means I am hoity toity, but really, who wouldn't want to sit in the nicer seats at the game, and more importantly, who wouldn't want to eat prawn sandwiches. Prawns are delicious. I think I will make myself a prawn sandwich right now.
Sincerely CourtJ

I seriously eat tons of prawn sandwiches. I always keep frozen uncooked prawns in the freezer because they take seconds to defrost, and so I can make myself a meal that feels fancy - because it has seafood in it - without having to do advance planning. For me a prawn sandwich is made up quite a lot like a tuna sandwich. I make up a "salad" with the prawns, some finely diced onion, peppers and mayo, and then layer the salad with other fixings to make an open faced sandwich that I warm up. Today's had goat cheese, finely sliced tomato and avocado. It's nice that something so easy to make can feel like such a treat!

Jackalope Ranch - Palm Springs

2010-04-24T10:28:00.009-06:00

I'm a bit late with this one, especially since Palm Springs snowbird season is coming to an end, but I was looking through my food pictures and the salmon made my mouth water, so here it is. I love going down to Palm Springs. My husband calls it the big easy because my parents take such good care of us when we stay down there with them (they also babysit so we get blissful time alone!). The thing about the Big Easy is that they sure love their happy hours. Stereotypical? Yes. True though, and oh so good.

Jackalope Ranch is right by my parent's place, and it is owned by the same people as Babes (down at "the River" for those of you who frequent Palm Desert). Technically I think it is in Indio, but Palm Springs and all the other desert cities basically seem like one spread out place. We go to Jackalope's for happy hour at least once every time we are in town. The food costs between $4 and $8 and it goes from 3 pm to 6 pm. Perfect for an early dinner, and a lot of the "appetizers" offered are easily dinner sized seeing as many come with fries.

The corn and shrimp chowder and the pulled pork sandwich are the favorites in our family, but everything we have had there has been good for the money. Here are some lovely pictures showing a few menu selections from various visits. On an overcast day like today I sure miss sitting on their gorgeous patio enjoying snacks and drinks.

Seafood BBQ

2010-04-17T20:56:00.002-06:00

Sum-sum-summertime is here! Well, not really, but that's what it felt like today, and a perfect sunny day on a weekend is a magical thing. I took the little one for a walk, and other family members spent the day doing yard work. I had flipped through one of our many Jamie Oliver cook books the other day and decided that a nice thing to do this evening would be to do a big seafood cook-up. Sadly, the fire ban that is on here prevented me from doing it on the fire pit, but the BBQ worked out pretty well.

I have one of those BBQs with a side burner, so on that I fryed up some potatoes in duck fat. It was nice to have something a bit heavier to go with the seafood since it is pretty light. I also served it with pita and tzaziki. Cooking up all this seafood was pretty much guess work. I did some red snapper, live muscles, shrimp and some pre-cooked crab. I heated up the BBQ to high, and put the snapper in a BBQ "basket" so that I didn't have to worry about it flaking through the grates. Next I did the muscles in batches in BBQ baskets as well, and right at the end I threw the shrimp on and the crab legs to warm.

To dress it all, I threw on some knobs of butter with lime zest and juice, a finely chopped chili and some garlic.

Sobagetti

2010-04-16T13:09:00.000-06:00

I found this in one of my Japanese cookbooks when I was looking for something quick that didn't require leaving the house for any ingredients. I always have bacon on hand (frozen in sets of 4 strips), and found some chopped spinach in my freezer from last summer's harvest. Soba is high in essential amino acids and antioxidents, as well as being one of my favourite kind of noodles. It has a nice bite to it and is takes less than half the time to cook that regular pasta takes. This was a little bit western and a little eastern, but mostly just delicious.

Soba with Bacon & Spinach (for 1):
100g soba noodles
2 tbsp olive oil
3 pieces bacon, cut in 1/2 cm strips
1/2 clove garlic, crushed
50g chopped spinach
2 tbsp soy sauce
salt & pepper

In a fry pan with olive oil, cook the bacon until crispy. Add the garlic and cook another couple of minutes before adding the spinach. Flavour with soy sauce, salt & pepper. While you are doing this cook the soba noodles in boiling water for 4 minutes, then drain and toss with the spinach/bacon mixture.

Herb Roast

2010-04-11T11:11:00.003-06:00

A couple of days ago it snowed here. We were all primed up for spring, and then winter returned. There is nothing that I like better on a cold day than staying in and popping a roast in the oven. Seeing as last year I froze all of my remaining herbs at the end of the gardening season, all I had to do was pull them out of the freezer and wiz them through my mini food processor with some olive oil, salt and pepper and smear it all on. For this one I used chives, rosemary, thyme and parsley. Smear the roast with the herb paste, and pop it in a roasting pan on top of some chopped onion, carrots and celery. I cook it uncovered at 450 F for the first half hour to brown it up, and then cover it and finish it at 350 F (a total cook time of 1 hour per kilo). The juices left at the end make an amazing pan gravy!

Sweet & Spicy Roast Kabocha

2010-04-09T07:19:00.004-06:00

This makes a yummy alternative to roast potatoes or sweet potatoes, with the added benefit that it takes less time to cook and you can eat the peel. Most squash is a pain to peel, and one of the reasons I love kabocha is not having to deal with that. It's also high in beta carotene and iron. Of course, since I've added a bunch of sugar to it I'm not sure how healthy the final product is.

Sweet & Spicy Kabocha Squash:
1 kabocha, deseeded and sliced
grapeseed oil, or other flavourless oil
4 tbsp brown sugar
1 tbsp ground coriander
1/2 tbsp ground cumin
1/2 tbsp szechuan pepper
sprinkle of soy sauce or salt

Preheat oven to 375F/190C and line a baking tray with a silicone sheet or parchment paper. In a bowl drizzle just enough oil to lightly coat the squash slices (or use spray oil). Put the sugar, coriander, cumin, and pepper in a plastic bag and shake to mix. Drop the kabocha slices into the bag a handful at a time and shake to coat in the mixture. Lay the slices on the baking tray and sprinkle a little soy sauce or salt on top. Bake for 15 minutes, then flip the slices over and bake another 10 minutes.

Syllabub

2010-04-04T07:07:00.001-06:00

Syllabub is a seriously easy dessert that only requires 3 ingredients and about 10 minutes of your time. It also seems great for parties or an after dinner treat as, being very rich, it lends itself well to small portions. It also is extremely adaptable - you could use any liqueur to flavour this. This time I went slightly asian to match my dinner, but I think next time I'll try Cointreau and orange peel, or maybe Chambord and raspberries, or maybe...

Matcha Syllabub (serves 4):
1/3 Zen Green Tea Liqueur
2 tbsp sugar
1 cup/250 ml heavy cream
matcha powder (optional)

Pour the green tea liqueur into a bowl with the sugar and whisk to dissolve. Next, whisk in the heavy cream and whip until it has thickened but is still soft and billowy. I sprinkled matcha powder on top for an extra punch of green tea flavour.

Asian Inspired Turkey Salad

2010-04-01T12:55:00.003-06:00

I'm back! Well, really I was always here, just not posting because I thought staying home with a baby would leave me tons of time to do a correspondence course through the University. All you mom's out there are probably laughing hysterically and wiping the tears from your eyes at the thought. I know, I know, that was a ridiculous move on my part. Anyhow, I now have a huge back log of photos to edit and write up for posting. This is something I made after Christmas with some of the left over turkey I was given (new moms are given tons of free food). I saw Jamie Oliver make it on the Food Network, and decided it looked good. It was actually pretty great!

Asian Inspired Turkey Salad:

• 2 large handfuls of brown turkey meat
• 1 large handful of cashew nuts
• 1 handful of dried cranberries
• 2 teaspoons ground five-spice
• a bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked (I left this out)
• a bunch of fresh coriander, leaves picked (I used parsley instead, since that is what I had)
• 4 large handfuls of mixed salad leaves such as chicory, rocket, spinach, watercress (a mixture)
• 1 tablespoon runny honey
• 1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped (I used chilli powder)

for the dressing
• juice of 1 clementine
• juice of 1 lime
• 1 pomegranate, halved
• ½ red onion, peeled and coarsely grated
• extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and coarsely grated

Shred the brown turkey meat into thin strips using your fingers and put it into a dry pan on a medium heat. Add the cashew nuts, dried cranberries and five-spice. Give it all a good stir then let it toast away while you get on with your salad. Give the pan a shake every now and then to make sure nothing catches.

Add the mint and most of your coriander leaves to a bowl with your mixed salad leaves. Make your dressing in a separate bowl by mixing the juice from your clementine and lime. Squeeze the juice from one of your pomegranate halves through your hands to catch any seeds then discard them. Stir in your grated onion. I tend to use 3 parts oil to 1 part acid when I’m making dressings, so look at what you’ve got in the bowl so far then pour in 3 times as much extra virgin olive oil. Add the soy sauce and sesame oil.

Squeeze in all the juice from your grated ginger then throw away the pulp.Give this lovely dressing a really good stir, and have a taste. If you want more salt, add a splash more soy. If you want more acid, add another squeeze of lime juice. Drizzle over enough dressing to coat the salad leaves then use your hands to toss and dress them.

Add the honey to the pan with the turkey meat and stir through until coated. Turn the heat up to full whack for the last few seconds to really crisp up the meat mixture. At this point, make sure your guests are all at the table and ready to eat so you can serve the salad as soon as the hot meat hits the salad leaves. Toss half of your pan-fried ingredients through the salad leaves and transfer to a serving platter.

Spoon the remaining nuts, cranberries and crispy meat over the top of the salad and add another drizzle of dressing. Hold the remaining pomegranate half over the salad and knock it on the back with a spoon so the seeds pop onto the salad. Garnish with a nice sprinkling of fresh red chilli, any remaining coriander leaves and serve right away.

Savoury Stuffed Zucchini

2010-03-26T20:31:00.005-06:00

I made this for a family dinner where only Court and I are lovers of zucchini, and somehow it was so good I didn't even get a chance to photograph it when it came out of the oven. That may have something to do with my planning skills, as by this point in the night I am more concerned with getting everything in serving dishes and on the table at the same time than I am with getting a good shot of the finished product. I think it's pretty clear though that adding cheese and bacon to nearly anything will make people love it.

Stuffed Zucchini (serves 5-6 as a side):
1 large zucchini, hollowed
1/4 red pepper, finely chopped
1 slice onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 slices bacon, finely chopped
basil, sprinkle of dried to taste
salt & pepper
1 tbsp pine nuts
3 tbsp ricotta
1 egg white

Hollow out the zucchini with a spoon, and chop up about half of what was scooped out. Saute the chopped zucchini, onion, red pepper, bacon and garlic - the bacon should release enough fat to cook with or add a little olive oil to help it along. Season the mixture with salt & pepper and dried basil. Into this, add the pine nuts, ricotta and egg white and stir to combine. Place the filling in the hollowed zucchini halves and bake at 350F/180C for 15-20 minutes until the top is golden brown and the filling is slightly firm.

It's always a risk making something for the first time for a big dinner, but this turned out so wonderfully that I will definitely be making it again. Next time maybe just for me.

Quince Clafoutis

2010-01-21T11:19:00.005-07:00

Quince is not something I'd ever cooked with, or even tasted, before. Naturally that meant that when I saw some at Sobey's I had to purchase it. And then it sat for ages in my fruit bowl until finally I figured they would need to be used before they starting going off. I decided to poach these (as they cannot be eaten raw) and use them in an adapted clafoutis. It's a French recipe that's a little bit asian, with star anise in the poached quince and Zen Green Tea liqueur in the clafoutis.

Step 1: Poaching the quince.
4 cups water
1/2 cup sugar
a couple of star anise or stick of cinnamon
3 quince

I tried to peel these, then got lazy and gave up. They were simply chopped and cored and dropped in the poaching liquid, then simmered for an hour plus. These need to be drained very well, as they retain a lot of liquid. I let them sit overnight in the fridge to get as much liquid out as I could. They have a lovely fragrant flavour and would be delicious on their own just after poaching, but I didn't want the extra liquid to ruin the clafoutis.

Step 2: Making the clafoutis.
3 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
6 tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
zest of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp Zen Green Tea Liqueur
3 quince, poached

Preheat the oven to 375F/190C. Butter a 1 quart/1 litre dish and sprinkle the bottom and sides with sugar. In a bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy, then mix in the flour, cream, zest, salt, and liqueur. Set that aside and line the dish with your poached quince. Pour the batter over the quince and bake around 40-45 minutes until the custard is firm and golden.

Renkon Chips

2010-01-18T12:15:00.001-07:00

I actually cook with lotus root (or renkon) quite often, mostly because it makes such a pretty addition to my bento lunches. Luckily, it turns out it's also quite good for you. It has a delicate flavour and a lovely crunchy texture (even when not deep fried).

1 section renkon
vegetable oil for frying
1 tbsp flour
1/2 tbsp shichimi togarashi or szechuan pepper

Peel the vegetable, then slice thinly. I used a mandoline for this as I wanted paper-thin slices for the chips. Drop them in a bowl of water with a generous splash of vinegar to keep them white, as they start to discolour quite quickly. Once cut, briefly dry on paper towel and drop them into a plastic bag with the flour and spice, then shake around to coat.

Drop into the heated oil in batches, pulling out when lightly browned. This only took a couple of minutes as my slices were so thin.

Prosciutto & Fig Crostini

2010-01-16T17:13:00.005-07:00

I don't recall where I first read about someone combining fig jam and butter, but whoever it was is a genius. These appetizers have been a hit every time, and have even resulted in a marriage proposal. The sweet fig butter and salty prosciutto are a perfect contrast to each other. The first time I made these I went down to the Italian Centre to get Parma ham and kofylitiri cheese, and I recommend splurging on a good quality prosciutto. Subsequent attempts with supermarket prosciutto didn't have the same saltiness and bite.

Prosciutto & Fig Crostini:
1 loaf skinny french bread
olive oil
1/2 cup butter, softened
5-6 tbsp fig jam
salty firm cheese
prosciutto or Parma ham

For the crostini, I like them a little crispy and a little soft so I only toast one side. Slice the bread and lay out on a baking sheet, then brush the slices with olive oil. Heat under a broiler until just browning, then lay out to cool. These can be done a day or two in advance and kept in ziploc.

Mix the butter and fig jam together very well (this takes some doing). Spread generously on the crostini, top with a thin slice of cheese and then prosciutto. These appetizers were very easy to assemble on site, which is a lot more convenient than worrying about how to transport them as a finished product.

Crème Brûlée

2010-01-13T08:54:00.003-07:00

This recipe is from John Burton Race's book, French Leave. It was my first crack at making Crème brûlée, and I expected it to be difficult, but it was surprisingly easy! Seriously, I wouldn't say it if it wasn't true. It amazes me that I have had so many bad brûlées at restaurants in the past (seriously - scrambled egg consistency at a high end restaurant that I won't name!). This is going to be a bad bad thing for me, as I will likely start keeping full cream in my fridge at all times and make this very regularly. Methinks that will not help me on the road to losing the baby weight...

Crème Brûlée (Serves 4):
2 egg yolks
90 grams caster sugar (seeing as we are in North America I used fine berry sugar)
1 vanilla pod (I used vanilla extract about a teaspoon)
70 mL milk
175 mL double cream

Put the egg yolks and 40g of the sugar into a bowl with the vanilla and whisk to a smooth paste. Add the milk, whisk in the cream (thicken a bit, but it won't be like whipped cream), pour into four ramekins and refrigerate for an hour before cooking.

Preheat the oven to 300F/150C and put the ramekins in a shallow pan filled with water to a depth of about 2.5 cm (1 inch) as shown. The brûlées will take about an hour in the oven to set. When cooked, remove from the oven and let the brûlées cool to room temperature.

When you are about ready to serve, sprinkle the tops with the remaining sugar and put them either under a very hot broiler or use a torch to caramelize the sugar. Using high heat is important because you want to create the sugar crust on top, but not warm the custard through and make it runny. Serve right away.

This is so good I am thinking about making it for breakfast now, thank goodness I don't have any cream on hand and I have a baby that will be back up to eat again any second!

Pizza Dough - Take 1

2010-01-08T08:34:00.002-07:00

Being a stay at home mom now, I keep trying to make more things from scratch. Part of the reason is that I want things to be healthier (without a bunch of preservatives), and it is usually less expensive and tastier to have anything made from scratch. Other Edmonton food bloggers seem to be big fans of Peter Reinhart, so I looked up his Neo-Neapolitan Pizza dough recipe. Ours ended up a bit heavy, so I will have to try it again and see if I can work more air into it and let it rise better. This is a picture of the cheese pizza I made with it. Hopefully the next round goes better.

Pizza Dough:
5 cups all purpose flour
1 Tablespoon sugar or honey
2 teaspoons salt (or 3 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt)
1 teaspoon instant yeast
2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 3/4 to 2 cups room-temperature water

Combine all of the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and stir vigorously with a wooden spoon or mix in an electric mixer. After you've combined all of the ingredients, set the dough aside to rest for 5 minutes. Stir again for 3 to 5 minutes, adding more water or flour if necessary. Generally speaking, you want the dough to be wetter and stickier than your typical bread dough. It should be dry enough that it holds together and pulls away from the side of the bowl when you mix it, but it doesn't need to be dry enough to knead by hand.

Divide the dough into 4 pieces. Place each one into an oiled freezer bag.

If you aren't going to bake them that day, you can throw the bags into the freezer. They'll stay good in there for at least a month. The evening before you intend to bake them, move the frozen dough balls to the refrigerator to thaw.

If you intend to bake them later that day, place the bagged dough balls in the refrigerator. Remove them from the fridge and let them warm to room temperature an hour or two before you intend to bake them.

Remember that, as a baker, time is your friend: longer, slower rises at reduced temperature result in better tasting bread. But sometimes you don't have the luxury of time - that is OK; this dough will still work well if only given an hour or so to rise at room temperature. Allowing pizza dough to rise is more about giving the yeast time to bring flavors out of the wheat than it is about leavening. Most of the leavening occurs when you put the active dough into the hot oven, so you don't need to wait until the dough balls double in size.

Top with your pizza toppings and bake at 450 F for 5 to 7 minutes or until the cheese and dough are brown.

Creamy Mushroom Soup

2009-12-28T08:59:00.004-07:00

After the overindulgences at Christmas, I don't really feel like cooking a lot. (And even the thought of sweets makes me slightly ill!) This is an easy, homey dinner that makes great leftovers as well. You could easily omit the dried mushrooms, but they seem to give the soup an even richer depth of flavour... along with the cognac, which is my new "secret" ingredient in almost everything. I like to keep the texture of this quite rustic, rather than making it a puree.

Mushroom Soup (serves 4):
1 litre vegetable or chicken stock
1 litre water
1/2 cup dried shiitake mushrooms
24 oz button mushrooms, chopped
1/4 cup butter
1 leek, finely chopped
salt & pepper
1 tbsp fresh thyme
1/4 cup cream
3 tbsp cognac

Bring the stock, water, and dried mushrooms up to a boil in a large soup pot. While that is heating, fry the butter, leeks, and mushrooms until softened and browned. Dump that to the hot water and cook for about 1 hour, adding salt, pepper, and thyme to season. Pulse with an immersion blender until it's to your desired consistency, then add the the cream and cognac and bring it back up nearly to a boil.

Reese's PB Cookie Tarts

2009-12-20T23:26:00.003-07:00

Well, here it is almost Christmas time. As I mentioned in my last cookie post, my mom came by to help me with Christmas baking (and more importantly child minding). This cookie is a real hit with all peanut butter and chocolate lovers. It looks really cute too!

Reese's PB Cookie Tarts:
1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 cup flour
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1 package mini peanut butter cups

Cream the margarine, peanut butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla together. In another bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and blend into the creamed mixture. Shape into 1 inch balls and press into ungreased mini muffin tins (tins should be about 3/4 full).

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes - don't over bake! While cookies are baking, unwrap the peanut butter cups, and keep them in the fridge. As soon as you remove the cookies from the oven, press a peanut butter cup into the centre of each cookie. Work quickly while the cookies are still soft and hot. Let the muffin tins cool completely before removing the cookies.

Pear Clafoutis

2009-12-15T13:51:00.004-07:00

Court and I invited the family over for a spur of the moment french dinner, featuring rabbit stew and this clafoutis for dessert. When we were deciding on what to make, we wanted something relatively simple since we were putting most of our effort into cooking rabbit for the first time. We remembered Chris' experiments in clafoutis back in June and decided to try our own.

Pear Clafoutis (adapted from Ina Garten):
1 tbsp butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar, plus enough to line dish
3 eggs
6 tbsp flour
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
seeds from 1 vanilla pod
zest of 1 lemon
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp cognac
2-3 ripe Bartlett pears

Preheat the oven to 375F/190C. Butter a 1 quart/1 litre dish and sprinkle the bottom and sides with sugar. In a bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy, then mix in the flour, cream, vanilla seeds, zest, salt, and cognac. Set that aside and peel and slice the pears to line the dish. Pour the batter over the pears and bake around 30-40 minutes until the custard is firm and golden.

We used vanilla seeds instead of extract and added the cognac, and then tried to convince ourselves that fruit desserts are always healthy.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-12-12T19:06:00.002-07:00

The other day my lovely mother came over to help me watch the baby, and we did some Christmas baking. We actually made four different things all in one day! It's wonderful because now when people pop over I have sweets to pull out of the freezer. It also doesn't hurt that I refer to my mother as the baby wisperer. Seriously, the woman can calm the most angry baby as if it is nothing! There are days I wish she would move in with me...

These cookies are from my Canadian Living cookbook that I got when I got married. My husband thinks they are better than when I make my mom's chocolate chip cookies with pudding mix. I can't say I agree, but they are pretty good.

Oatmeal Cookies:
2/3 cup softened butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tbsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 cups quick oats
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup chocolate chips
1/4 cup chopped walnuts

In a large bowl beat the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in the egg, vanilla, and cinnamon. In a sparate bowl mix the oats, flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir the dry mixture into the wet mixture along with the chocolate chips and walnuts.

Drop by heaping spoonful onto greased baking sheets and bake at 375 F for 10 minutes or until golden. Delish and great for freezing!

Marc's Creamy Salmon Miso Soup

2009-12-10T14:10:00.003-07:00

I have been dreaming of this since I saw it 9 months ago on No Recipes. Mine doesn't have the lovely glistening fat that Marc's does, since it is so difficult to find salmon belly in land-locked Edmonton (and I didn't bother making the trek to any specialty shops to check for it). Still, it was ridiculously good and incredibly simple to make. I luckily had most of the ingredients on hand so only had to pick up soy milk and parsnips. And what was even better is that I got all the leftovers to myself!

Budget Salmon Wellington

2009-12-08T13:03:00.007-07:00

Or, how to make 150g of salmon feed 3 people. This was a spur of the moment kind of meal, when Court & her husband invited me to stay for dinner but had no real plans. We searched the fridge and found just enough ingredients to make a delicious, filling supper. Without enough pastry to wrap these, it wasn't a true "Wellington" but we figured it was close enough. I love when random creations like this turn out to be something terrific; I'm sure we all know it doesn't always turn out that way.

Salmon Wellington:
150g salmon, cut into 3 pieces
25 shrimp
1 leek, chopped
1 large carrot, chopped
1/2 cup full cream
1/4 cup cream cheese
dill
salt & pepper
1 block puff pastry
1 egg, beaten

Put the leeks and carrots in a pan with a little bit of margarine and cook for a few minutes until they soften, then add the cream and cream cheese and stir together until melted and at your desired consistency to coat the seafood. Add dill, salt, and pepper to taste.

Next, oil 3 ramekins and line the bottom with shrimp. Layer some sauce on top, then add the salmon, more sauce, another layer of shrimp, and finally the last of the sauce. When I started to run out of the sauce I just added more cream to stretch it out a bit further. Roll out the puff pastry and cut out circles to top the ramekins, then coat with the egg wash. Bake in a 350F/180C oven until the pastry has browned.

Mish Mash Mushroom Risotto

2009-12-05T19:53:00.005-07:00

I am home solo tonight with the new babe, and I have to say this new life of mine is a serious adjustment. The little one seems to have colic - which is just another name for pretty much any baby discomfort that makes them miserable and so they cry about it for hours on end and there is nothing that seems to make it better. In an effort to feel just a tiny bit more in control of some part of my life, I decided to cook myself a decent meal, even though it was just me, even though I had to do most of it with the lovely background music of a baby crying. Sometimes when you feel like you are bad at being a mom, it is a tiny measure of comfort to remember that at least you are a good cook. That being said, if anyone has magic cures for colic - I welcome suggestions!

This risotto is based on my usual risotto recipe. In addition, I decided to mix in a little mixture Brooke gave me for "healthy rice" because I am breastfeeding, and therefore feel like I am doing a good thing any time I make any choice with the word "healthy" in it (it has flax seeds and other stuff like that in it). I also did not have white wine, so I put in a tiny splash of red, and I used onion soup base instead of chicken broth because I am trying not to eat actual onions (see above re: colic), and also my husband used the last of the chicken stock and we have about a foot of fresh snow on our roads telling me to stay home and make due with what I have.

Here is a picture of my finished dinner. That's right, I made a lobster tail to eat all by myself. I like to think I am classy like that.

Cheese Scones

2009-12-02T15:34:00.003-07:00

The other day I made leek soup with the last of my share of the leeks from the garden (and of course, didn't take pictures!). I decided I wanted to have cheese scones with it, and luckily made enough that I could photograph them the next day when I had a second. I found this recipe on The Foreign Kitchen blog after trying a couple of other recipes unsuccessfully. As long as you have a food processor this is a very quick and easy recipe to whip up. It's great to make when you want home baked bread but don't have the time to make it. Really, could anything with cheese melted on top be bad?

Cheese Scones:

2 cups of flour
4 tsp of baking powder
1/4 tsp of salt
a pinch of ground nutmeg
1 Tbsp of Maple Syrup (I used sugar)
4 Tbsp of cold unsalted butter
1 egg beaten, combined with milk to make 3/4 cup
1 1/2 cup of grated cheddar (I used white cheddar to keep the scones lighter in colour)
3 Tbs grated Parmesan cheese

Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl. In a separate bowl mix the egg, milk, and syrup together. Cut and rub the butter into the flour (Use a food processor).

Now, I added 1 1/4 cups of grated cheddar to the flour and butter and combined these before I added the egg and milk mixture, but if you want an ooey-gooier texture stir the milk and egg mixture into the flour first and then fold in the cheese.

Looseley shape this into a disc, without handeling it too much. Turn it out onto a well floured suface, sprinkle it with the remaining 1/4 of cheddar and the Parmesan, and cut the disc into 8 slices. Place these onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper (or just greased) and bake at 475 Fahrenheit (250 Celsius) for 10 minutes until the tops are browned.The scones taste best fresh out of the oven, and even though they are savory a fresh gob of peach marmalade or a drizzling of honey makes these an extra special treat.

Delia Smith's Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding

2009-11-28T20:15:00.006-07:00

Okay, it's not that I am not cooking or eating, I just haven't had time with the little one to then take pictures and write about it. Basically I end up making food as fast as possible and then either relish the few second I have to eat with both hands free or I end up eating while holding her or feeding her. This was actually made the weekend before I had the baby, back when I still had time to photograph things not baby related. It is delicious though. It's not just kind of delicious, it is amazingly delicious if you like dark chocolate. It's like a mix between the perfect gooey brownie and a chocolate lava cake.

I've never made bread pudding before, it just isn't the first thing that comes to mind for me when I think about dessert. My husband picked it out though when I told him that he had to pick a cake for me to make for him for his birthday. It was a big hit all around, I can't wait until I have an occasion to make it again so I can show off. I also like that you make it a day ahead, and then just pop it in the oven when the time comes.

Chocolate Bread and Butter Pudding:

9 slices, each ¼ inch (5 mm) thick, good-quality white bread, 1 day old, taken from a large loaf
5 oz (150 g) dark chocolate (75 per cent cocoa solids)
3 oz (75 g) butter
15 fl oz (425 ml) whipping cream
4 tablespoons dark rum (I used Kahlua instead)
4 oz (110 g) caster sugar
good pinch cinnamon
3 large eggs

Begin by removing the crusts from the slices of bread, which should leave you with 9 pieces about 4 inches (10 cm) square. So now cut each slice into 4 triangles. Next, place the chocolate, whipping cream, rum, sugar, butter and cinnamon in a bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, being careful not to let the bowl touch the water, then wait until the butter and chocolate have melted and the sugar has completely dissolved. Next, remove the bowl from the heat and give it a really good stir to amalgamate all the ingredients.

Now in a separate bowl, whisk the eggs and then pour the chocolate mixture over them and whisk again very thoroughly to blend them together.

Then spoon about a ½ inch (1 cm) layer of the chocolate mixture into the base of the dish and arrange half the bread triangles over the chocolate in overlapping rows. Now, pour half the remaining chocolate mixture all over the bread as evenly as possible, then arrange the rest of the triangles over that, finishing off with a layer of chocolate. Use a fork to press the bread gently down so that it gets covered very evenly with the liquid as it cools.

Cover the dish with clingfilm and allow to stand at room temperature for 2 hours before transferring it to the fridge for a minimum of 24 (but preferably 48) hours before cooking. When you're ready to cook the pudding, pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4, 350°F (180°C). Remove the clingfilm and bake in the oven on a high shelf for 30-35 minutes, by which time the top will be crunchy and the inside soft and squidgy. Leave it to stand for 10 minutes before serving with well-chilled double cream poured over.

Kitchen Tip

2009-11-06T23:55:00.003-07:00

I'm sneaking in just before midnight with a tip. Traditional Oven is one of the most useful baking sites I've ever used, as it provides conversions for specific ingredients like butter, sugar, and flour. The butter converter gets the most use from me - for example, it's a lot easier to weigh 85g of butter than to try to get 6 tablespoons while it's still chilled for scones.

Bonfire Night!

2009-11-05T22:58:00.003-07:00

Wanting a trip to England in November may sound strange, but I love Bonfire Night so much that I would go every year if I could. It combines some of my favourite things: fireworks, food, and history. I'm linking back to an old post for this - while they may not seem like it, these little roast potatoes are the ultimate finger food. Just pop them in a little paper bag or newspaper cone and they are a great snack on a cold night.

Read More...

Baby not Food

2009-11-04T13:13:00.006-07:00

I just wanted to share with everyone my reason for not posting forever! We welcomed a new addition to our family. Once I am able to sleep a bit more through the night I hope to be back to posting like usual - but will probably be doing recipes that are a lot faster :-)

Vegetables Galore

2009-11-03T23:23:00.004-07:00

Just before the first snowfall, we pulled up the last of the garden (except for a few hibernating potatoes). This was my share of the harvest, and I spent a weekend preparing everything for storage and freezing. Most of the leeks and zucchini were put in the food processor and frozen for soups and baking, and the carrots were chopped, blanched, and frozen. Now I can look forward to garden veg all through the winter!

English Apple Cake

2009-11-02T22:26:00.002-07:00

With my bags of apples from Superstore I needed some simple recipes. Attempting to bake in the midst of messy home renos was trying, to say the least. Luckily, Nigel Slater did not fail me; I often find his simple, thrown-together meals are the tastiest.

I've now made this three times as it is so quick & easy. The apples don't need to be peeled, just cored & roughly chopped, and while it needs an hour of baking time it only takes 10 minutes of prep. It also adapts well to changes, which is not always true of baking. I changed the pan from an 8" square to an 8" round as that was what I had unpacked, and switched lemon juice for lime juice (which I now prefer).

Nigel Slater's English Apple Cake:
130g butter
130g sugar
3-4 medium apples
juice of half a lemon or lime
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 eggs
130g flour
1 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Line an 8" round springform pan by just pushing parchment paper inside so it comes up the sides of the pans. It doesn't matter if this isn't pretty, as this cake is pretty rustic anyway. There is no need to grease the pan, making for easier clean-up as well.

Core and chop the apples and put in a bowl with the lemon or lime juice. Toss with cinnamon & brown sugar and set aside while you cream the butter & sugar well, then beat in the eggs. Sift the flour and baking powder together and fold into the mixture. Scrape the batter into the pan and dump the apples on top with a little extra sugar. Bake 1 hour. You may be unsure about done-ness as it's difficult to tell with all the apples on top, but each time I've made this 1 hour has been perfect.

Spiced Applesauce

2009-11-01T22:16:00.004-07:00

We're back! After a month-long hiatus (and some pretty sporadic posting in September), I am hoping to get back into the swing of things by participating in National Blog Posting Month. We were pretty busy in October - me with home renovations and Court with her new baby girl - and with the holiday season coming up things will probably stay that way. Hopefully we'll be up for the challenge.

Discovering orchard bins of apples at Superstore has meant a glut of baking for me recently. Who can resist apples at $0.54/lb? They're a little banged up, but perfect for cakes, pies, and (obviously) apple sauce. I tweaked this a bit by using Lyle's Golden Syrup (which I could eat by the spoon) instead of sugar and cardamom instead of cinnamon. This was warm, fragrant, and delicious... and perfect for autumn.

Applesauce:
4 apples, peeled/cored/chopped
3/4 cup water
2-3 tbsp Lyle's golden syrup
cardamom, to taste

Add apples and water to a saucepan over medium heat and cook until soft. Bash up with a spoon over the heat and add the syrup and cardamom, both to taste.

Fall Salad

2009-09-29T09:41:00.004-06:00

I know frequently fall arrives and all thoughts turn away from fresh salads and towards pasta and roasts, but it is actually a great time to incorporate some of the last findings from your garden into a nice salad, and it can even be a warm one if you feel the need. I went for lunch at Earl's the other day with a friend, and they had an arugula, beet and pear salad on the menu, and I used that as an inspiration for this salad. For mine though I tried to crank up the iron (last three weeks of pregnancy!) and use up some of my second batch of spinach.

Fall Salad:
A good batch of spinach
Half a ripe pear
A sprinkling of pecans
One large beet, cut into chunks and boiled until soft
Half a steak, pan fried and sliced to top

Dress with a bit of lemon juice and oil, and goat cheese coulis (which I just made by microwaving a bit of goat cheese with a bit of milk so that it could be drizzled like a dressing).

With the beets and steak being served warm, as well as the goat cheese coulis, this made a really satisfying lunch on a chilly day. I will definitely be bringing it back as a lunch choice through the winter.

"English" Onion Soup

2009-09-22T14:40:00.002-06:00

Sometimes I have a good husband. He spends lots of time on the internet and watching TV instead of doing things I want him to like taking out the garbage on garbage day, but then every once in a while when I am super miserable, he does something like make me homemade onion soup with onions from our garden and then I like him again. Although he didn't follow the Jamie Oliver recipe to the letter, it was the base he used, and it turned out very well.

Jamie:"There's something so incredibly humble about onion soup. It's absolutely one of my favourites but unfortunately I only ever get to make it in the restaurant or for myself as the missus thinks she's allergic to onions. (She's not, because I whiz them up into loads of dishes without her knowing!)

"If you have the opportunity, get hold of as many different types of onion for this soup as you can - you need about 1kg in total. Sweat them gently and you'll be amazed at all the flavours going on"

(Serves 8)Ingredients:
A good knob of butter
Olive oil
A good handful of fresh sage leaves, 8 leaves reserved for serving (we used thyme)
6 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

5 red onions, peeled and sliced
3 large white onions, peeled and sliced
3 banana shallots, peeled and sliced
300g of leeks, trimmed, washed and sliced

Instead of all the above we used close to 1 kg of whatever onions we had (regular and dividers) from the garden.

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 litres of good-quality hot beef, chicken or vegetable stock (we used beef)
8 slices of good-quality stale bread, 2cm thick (as you can see there was no skimping on this)
200g freshly grated cheddar cheese
Worcestershire sauce

1. Put the butter, 2 glugs of olive oil, the sage and garlic into a thick-bottomed, non-stick pan. Stir everything round and add the onions, shallots and leeks. Season with salt and pepper. Place a lid on the pan, leaving it slightly ajar, and cook slowly for 50 minutes, without colouring the vegetables too much. Remove the lid for the last 20 minutes - your onions will become soft and golden. Stir occasionally so that nothing catches on the bottom. Having the patience to cook the onions slowly, slowly, gives you an incredible sweetness and an awesome flavour, so don't be tempted to speed this bit up.

2. When your onions and leeks are lovely and silky, add the stock. Bring to the boil, turn the heat down and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes. You can skim any fat off the surface if you like, but I prefer to leave it because it adds good flavour.

3. Preheat the oven or grill to maximum. Toast your bread on both sides. Correct the seasoning of the soup. When it's perfect, ladle it into individual heatproof serving bowls and place them on a baking tray. Tear toasted bread over each bowl to fit it like a lid. Feel free to push and dunk the bread into the soup a bit. Sprinkle with some grated Cheddar and drizzle over a little Worcestershire sauce.

4. Dress your reserved sage leaves with some olive oil and place one on top of each slice of bread. Put the baking tray into the preheated oven or under the grill to melt the cheese until bubbling and golden. Keep an eye on it and make sure it doesn't burn! When the cheese is bubbling, very carefully lift out the tray and carry it to the table. Enjoy.

Ratatouille Tarte

2009-09-17T09:48:00.007-06:00

As mentioned last week, I took the Ratatouille I made, and used some of it in a tarte. Really, a tarte is pretty much the same as a quiche for all intents and purposes. In this case I threw some goat cheese in with it because who doesn't love goat cheese with roasted veggies? I served it up with a nice little spinach, bacon, pine nut and goat cheese salad for lunch when my mom came over. Isn't this such a girls lunch?

Ratatouille Tarte:

Buy or make a pie crust (I buy, I am crap at pastry)

Add your fillings (ratatouille and goat cheese) so that they cover a good deal of the bottom of the tarte, but don't pile up above the rim of the crust.

Mix up eggs and cream at a ratio of two eggs per quarter cup of cream so that you get a consistency that isn't quite the same as an omelet. Give it a good whip so that it comes out light and fluffy. The amount you need will depend on the size of crust you use - I made two at once (and froze one after baking), and used seven eggs in total.

Bake in a 400 F oven until it is set (about 40 minutes). I cover it in foil for the first half and then uncover it to brown for the second half.

Throwing an extra in the freezer after they are done baking is a great way to have a little snack on hand for when you get surprise lunch guests, and all you need to do when you are ready for it is throw it in the oven covered in foil at 350 until it is reheated.

Ratatouille Nicoise

2009-09-11T09:19:00.006-06:00

I swear that Monday morning after the long weekend I woke up and it was dark in the morning. I know it makes no sense that this would suddenly be the case, but it was like fall arrived that very day. This weekend is supposed to be warm enough to make it feel like summer still, but the cool nights will not allow us to be tricked like that. It is fall, winter is on the way, let the mourning begin. On the bright side, I have some fall "crops" that are performing well. As is always the case, all of a sudden I have a zillion zucchini. What to do? Of course I have shredded and frozen many baggies full (pre-measured) so that I can make zucchini bread through the winter, but when I say I have zillions, I mean I have zillions. Last year I spent a couple weeks of the summer in France (along the Basque coast), and while there I picked up a lovely little cookbook that appears to be the equivalent of the Betty Crocker one here. By that I mean it was the one everyone was given back in the 70s when they got married. It has a great recipe for Ratatouille Nicoise that I whipped up, and then used to make a ratatouille and chevre tarte (to be posted next week) based on one I ate there. It wasn't quite like being there, but it was the best I could do without the expensive plane ticket.

Ratatouille Nicoise (translated from French, probably badly):

3 onions
4 eggplants
4 zucchini
500g tomatoes
2 peppers (I used red)
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic
Bouquet garni (parsley, thyme, bay leaf)
salt and pepper

Peel onions and then cut all the veggies into strips. Heat the olive oil in a casserole dish - I can just see all the French ladies using their le cruesets - and then saute the onions for a minute. Add the other veggies, the salt and pepper and the bouquet garni and cover to simmer in the oven for 1 hour and 30 minutes. The recipe doesn't give a temperature, so I went with the ever popular 350 F. Don't forget to take out the bouquet before serving (or at least don't scoop it out into someone's bowl, they will be confused).

Nothing feels more french to me than using a bouquet garni. When I was staying there, the woman who was hosting us seemed to use a bouquet of fresh herbs in every dish she cooked and I swear it made everything seem twice as delicious. If I don't have string with which to tie the herbs up together I often use non flavoured dental floss.

Easiest Chocolate Mousse - Take 2

2009-09-09T13:02:00.001-06:00

It's hot out, I have six and a half weeks left until the baby finish line, and although I am madly craving sweets, I don't want to heat up my house any more or stand for any long periods of time. The other day I had run out of my freezer stash of baking, and I sunk to looking for chocolate chips to eat. Sadly, that wasn't far enough for me to go as I realized I was out of chocolate chips and I then resorted to eating squares of baking chocolate. This is what my life has come to. In honor of that, I am reposting my easy chocolate mousse recipe, which I made in white chocolate version this time (because I had white chocolate baking squares that I hadn't gobbled up in a fit of desperation). Topping it with fruit makes it healthy, I promise. The raspberries are part of the bounty I harvested off the bushes behind my garage all summer long.

If you have been reading us for a long time, you may recognize this as the first post we ever did :-)

Chocolate Mousse:
6 squares of bakers chocolate (any kind you like)
1 ½ cups whipping cream

Combine the chocolate squares with ¼ cup of the whipping cream and microwave for 1 minute on high. Give it a stir and then microwave it for 30 seconds to 1 minute more. If you chop up the chocolate it takes a bit less time. If it is not melted fully after the second minute, just stir it until it has melted. Let the melted chocolate sit for about 20 minutes or until close to room temperature.

Whip the remaining 1 ¼ cup of whipping cream and fold it into the cooled chocolate mixture. If the chocolate mixture is still quite warm, give it some extra time or the whole thing will curdle, and you will be very disappointed after smelling delicious melting chocolate to not get a nice mousse to eat in the end. Refrigerate for two hours.

Tesoro - very nice patio

2009-09-02T10:53:00.002-06:00

Oh summer time! Short, short season of patio eating in Edmonton. Just before all the kiddies were back off to school, I took a lunch hour to get together with one of my teacher buddies to enjoy lunching on a local patio and hearing all about how great it is to have the whole summer off - oh wait, I did not enjoy that second part, it filled me with jealous rage. The lunch part I did enjoy though for real! We went to Tesoro Mangiaria Caffe over in the Oliver Square area. It is tucked away back behind the Hudson's bar location, which makes it a bit tricky to find, but once you get there it is lovely that it is tucked away because if you are sitting out on the patio you aren't facing a huge parking lot.

We easily nabbed a table as Tesoro's was surprisingly not that busy for a lunch hour. I supposed being slightly out of the main downtown core hinders them in this respect. We checked out the daily specials (pasta and pizza) and made some choices. We shared a mortadella e funghi grilled panini (mortadella, smoked gruyere cheese and truffled mushrooms), and the pizza special of the day, which was topped with alfredo sauce, chicken, mushrooms and arugula.

I liked the panini best, it was nice and cheesy and not too heavy, especially since it was served with a basic salad of mixed greens on the side. The pizza I found a bit on the heavy side by the end, despite the nice thin crust, but I think that was mostly due to the alfredo sauce. I should know by now that I am generally not a fan of replacing tomato sauce with alfredo sauce on a pizza, but the combo sounded so good! To finish we shared some gelato, and I would say it was excellent, but really doesn't all gelato taste excellent to two pregnant ladies in the middle of summer?

Overall I would say that Tesoro offers pretty tasty italian food, and I would definitely go back at a later date to try them out in the evening as a wine bar. Their pricing was a bit on the high end for a casual cafe style lunch. Paninis come in at $11.50, pizzas are not bad at $13, but I would skip the lunch pastas with are generally around $15.50, at least during the summer time. Really though I think the big draw is the location (close to downtown but with lots of parking), and the venue, which is nice and offers patio dining.

Garden Leeks

2009-09-01T07:36:00.008-06:00

The leeks are finally ready! I am pretty excited about these, as it was our first attempt at them and we started them indoors from seed. For a while it seemed they wouldn't make it, but it turns out they just take a long, long time to get established. We got lazy though, and didn't mound up enough dirt around them so only the very bottoms are white.

I made these this morning to put in my lunch - and while this looks like dinner it really only took about 10 minutes to make. I am in the process of moving house, so nearly all of my pantry is packed up and the only things left are salt, pepper, and whatever is left in the fridge/freezer. I boiled the leeks for 4 minutes in water with some japanese pickling liquid I happened to have in the fridge. Yes, that sounds strange to me too. Once done, I drained the liquid and in the same pot added some butter and salt & pepper to quickly brown them up. While I was working on the leeks I quickly fried a pork chop. This lunch was based on the fact that I had defrosted meat in the fridge that needed to be cooked, and not much else in the house at all.

Quiche with Beets & Chèvre

2009-08-26T22:36:00.004-06:00

For a recent pot luck lunch at work, I decided to make mini quiches as they're extremely easy to make and I already had all the ingredients at home. (Except pastry, and to save time I just bought pre-made shells.) I started off making Asparagus & Boursin Quiche, but when I ran out of boursin cheese I was forced to think on my feet. Our beet harvest came up last weekend, so with a fridge full of them it seemed like the easiest thing to use. Luckily, quiches are extremely forgiving and it's easy to simply toss things together.

Beetroot & Chèvre Quiche (makes 8-9 appetizer size):
2-3 medium beets, peeled & chopped
100g goat cheese
splash red wine
1 egg
salt & pepper
fresh sage, chopped

Put the peeled & chopped beets in a saucepan with water and a bit of red wine. Bring to the boil and let simmer around 20 minutes until cooked, then remove and blitz in the food processor. In a bowl, blend together the beet puree, cheese, egg, a splash of red wine, and add the seasonings to taste. Preheat the oven to 375F/190C. Prebake the pastry shells for 10 minutes to crisp them up, then add the filling and bake for another 15-20 minutes until the centres spring back. Before baking, I added garnishes of cooked carrot flowers - cute!

Not Your Grandma's Grilled Cheese

2009-08-24T15:47:00.002-06:00

I know, I can hear you all now "Court, why are you so obsessed with pairing brie, mango, onion and peppers?" I don't know, and I know it is a problem, but a delicious problem that I munch up and then it is gone. Does that even make sense?

Anyhow, this sandwich is the latest in a string of variations on these ingredients that have previously shown up as a flatbread and an appetizer in my previous posts. Where will they pop up next? I am pregnant, so "on peanut butter toast" or "as an ice cream topping" are distinct possibilities.

Bavarian Apple Torte

2009-08-18T11:21:00.004-06:00

Oh the baking we are doing! Last weekend my block had a block party, and someone with an apple tree brought apples to share with everyone. I love free produce! Of course, apple pies will be made, but this dessert is another I love to make with apples. It combines the goodness of apple pie with my weakness - cheesecake - and still manages to taste like a light summertime dessert. I am pretty sure this recipe exists with about a million minor variations, but here is the one I got from my mom years ago and have been using ever since.

Bavarian Apple Torte:

Crust:
1/2 cup margerine or butter
1/3 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Filling:
8-ounce package of cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Topping:
4 cups thinly sliced, peeled, tart apples
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Additional Topping:
1/4 cup sliced almonds

My version is probably a bit heavier on the apple topping, and a bit easier on the cream cheese filling than some. Yes, it does make me feel like I am making a "healthier" dessert despite all the sugar.

Combine the crust ingredients and press into a spring form pan to bake for 5 minutes at 350 F. Cool and then top with the cream cheese filling (combined) and then the apple topping (combined). Finally sprinkle the sliced almonds on the top and bake at 450 F for 10 minutes followed by 400 F for 25-30 minutes.

This dessert needs to sit in the fridge overnight if you want it to serve nicely. If you don't care if it slides around, you can serve it the day you make it. I will admit, I do that sometimes and just serve it in bowls. Not as pretty, but just as tasty.

Berry Picking Brings Pie

2009-08-17T06:19:00.001-06:00

Ever since winter, Court has been talking about visiting some U-Picks as neither of us had been before. Because we work on the west end, she chose South Windermere Gardens as our destination. We both expected that picking would take a couple hours, but in under 30 minutes we had an ice cream pail full of strawberries each, and another half hour got us each about 1/2 a pail of saskatoon berries. When I got home that night, I quickly cleaned and froze everything (except a couple days' worth of strawberries) as I had no immediate plans for anything.

This was several weeks ago, and I've been so busy lately I hadn't done anything with my pickings. With a move coming up next month, I figured I should try to consume most of my perishables just to avoid having to pack up frozen goods for transport. My freezer is packed full of fruit and vegetables from this year (and last years!) harvests, so it seemed like a good time to try making a berry pie for the first time.

Saskatoon Rhubarb Pie Filling (1 x 9" pie):
500g saskatoon berries
300g rhubarb, cut in 2cm lengths
1/4 c water
3/4 c sugar
3 tbsp cornflour
2 tbsp lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 425F/210C. Put the fruit and water in a large pot and simmer 10 minutes, then stir in the sugar, cornflour, and lemon juice. Pour the filling into a pastry lined pan, wet the edges with water, and seal the top pastry layer on. Bake 15 minutes at 425F, then reduce the heat to 350C/180C and bake for a further 35 minutes.

I got very lazy and bought a pie crust, which was a mistake. I am not that fond of flaky pastry crusts and much prefer a shortbread pie crust. However, I have yet to find a good recipe for one and am no longer in the UK where they can be found at the supermarket. I've learnt my lesson though - this filling was good but the crust had that not-so-delicious store-bought taste.

Zucchini Salad - From Ground to Plate

2009-08-14T09:43:00.004-06:00

There is something so satisfying about this time of year. I can have zero plans for dinner, and then go out and pick my own dinner straight from the garden and be eating 15 minutes later. This zucchini, basil and goat cheese salad is a great example of that!

I find that once zucchini plants start producing, you really go from famine to feast in the course of a few days. All of a sudden, you just can't make enough zucchini bread to keep up! Knowing that I was going to book club after dinner, and would be fed well again there, I wanted to just have a quick dinner that got a few extra greens into my tummy.

Zucchini Salad:
1 medium zucchini
3 basil leaves
Goat cheese - the more the better
1 cherry tomato as a garnish/to add color
oil and vinegar to dress
salt and pepper to taste

All I did was slice the zucchini lengthwise in widths as close to even as I could manage, brush them with oil oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and toss them on the BBQ for a couple of minutes a side. They cook quickly, and I find that nothing makes food look more appetizing than some pretty grill marks.

Once cooked, arrange on a plate and top with crumbled goat cheese, basil leaves and tomato garnish (I only had one little ripe one), and dress with oil and vinegar. So quick, easy and delicious and a great way to make sure you are using the zucchini that are popping up like crazy!

Raspberry Peach Crisp

2009-08-13T09:16:00.005-06:00

I know, I have been lax in my posting lately. It's been hard to avoid, we have been doing a lot of gardening (picking and preserving), and still trying to enjoy the little bit of summer we have been getting here on and off. To add to that, I'm now in trimester three of the pregnancy and am suddenly really starting to feel gigantic and immobile! Okay, enough with the excuses. In light of the fact that I bought a whole pile of peaches from the farmer's market in a fit of craving, and a few of them were getting dangerously close to the end of their lifespan, I ran out back and picked some raspberries and threw together a lovely raspberry peach crisp last night (no it wasn't my supper.... fine, it totally was my supper! I was dining solo and it fit the bill).

I know Brooke posted a rhubarb ginger crumble not too long ago, but crisps and crumbles really are such a great easy way to enjoy summer fruit in all its glory. I love that it is the type of baking that allows me to proceed the same way I do when I cook (throw things in rather than measuring). I did start with a recipe that I found on Tastespotting (and split in half):

Raspberry Peach Crisp

for the fruit:
6 ripe peaches- not overly ripe -sliced
1 pint raspberries
1 -2 T flour -depending how juicy the peaches are
1/3 cup sugar
1/2 t cinnamon

for the crisp:

3/4 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup white sugar
1 cup flour
1t cinnamon
1 cup oatmeal (not instant - Court: I totally used Quick Oats)

Preheat oven to 350

Toss the fruit in a bowl with the flour and sugar- try not to break up the berries.. Put it in an ovenproof about 9 x 13 baking dish- or individual oven proof bowls

Mix butter, sugars, 1 t cinnamon until well combined. Add the flour and oatmeal. Crisp topping should be fairly dry, but when pinched together it should stick together. Spread topping over the fruit with a light hand- don’t pat down- it should look crumbly.

Bake for about 25-35 minutes until juices are bubbly and topping is crisp. Serve warm with ice cream.

I made mine in a small round baking dish (that I threw in the freezer after making for post baby entertaining), and then had two servings that I made in little single serve dishes to enjoy last night and tonight.

I love pairing peaches and raspberries because the tartness of the raspberries go so well with the sweetness of the peaches in my opinion. Oh yeah, the creaminess of the melty ice cream doesn't hurt either :-)

Ice Cream 2 Ways

2009-08-11T20:50:00.006-06:00

Often when I'm entertaining the last thing I want to worry about is dessert. I kind of turn into a nightmare in the kitchen while I'm finishing off the final touches, so it's nice to have simple stand-bys to fall back on. Usually there is so much food that dessert is almost an afterthought anyway.

I usually have vanilla ice milk in my freezer (my favourite is Island Farms), and it's easy to make this a casual treat or a slightly fancier dessert. To class things up a bit, just put a scoop of ice cream in a pretty glass and pour over hot unsweetened espresso. The ice cream sweetens it as it melts, and it's a delicious substitute for after-dinner coffee. For lunch-time treats, serving the ice cream with fresh berries or fruit is always delicious. I've made this look a little cuter by lining a small tupperware container with cling film and using that to form the ice cream into little cakes. I like this best with fresh peaches, but this time I used what I had - ripe mangoes and blackberries.

Harvests, Finally

2009-08-07T07:07:00.003-06:00

Last weekend we had an amazing harvest, and I look forward to another this weekend. My mum's Sunday dinner was a traditional roast beef with veg and yorkshire pudding, with the potatoes, peas, broccoli and green onions all coming from the garden. Fresh picked flavour and free - my favourite combo.

The only downside is the constant harvesting. Allotment gardening is great for people like me with only a balcony, but it does mean a lot of extra driving. The peas really need to be picked every few days, so for the past couple of weeks I've been back and forth between St. Albert and home several times a week. It's all worth it though, as I now have a freezer full of goodness to help me through the winter.

Summer Roast Lamb

2009-08-06T15:53:00.006-06:00

Oh summer! So lovely! Hot weather, fresh produce, eating things prepared in the simplest way possible! Well, this week we have had a little dip in the temperature, and while I am disappointed to be robbed of any of our short summer, it did provide a little reprieve in which I could think about cooking and baking again without the consequence of turning my entire home into a giant oven. As I have mentioned in the past, my husband and I bought a lamb last fall, and have been having excellent adventures in learning to cook different cuts of meat. This time around, we wanted to do a bone in leg of lamb roast, and after sourcing a lot of advice on how to do it, we finally made it happen, and the results were sublime!

My first thought was to touch base with a fellow local food blogger that is often cooking up some sort of wild game. I figured Kevin Kossowan might have some experience with a leg of lamb (or anything else) and BBQing (this is when it was still hot out). He did, but only butterflied, and I was not at the point where I wanted to work on my butchering skills, so that was a no go. Many weeks later I succumbed to Googling "How to cook leg of lamb" and found a wonderful thread on Chowhound giving me all the info I needed.

Here is what I did:
1. Sliced little openings throughout the leg of lamb and stuffed the openings with rosemary and garlic.
2. Chopped up some oregano and thyme to rub on the outside of the roast with some coarse salt and pepper.
3. Put the lamb in a roaster at 450 F for 15 minutes.
4. Turn the oven down to 350 F and cook for a further two hours.

Easy peasy. The lamb was delish - excellent texture and nice and moist. When not pregnant I would maybe do it a little more rare, but my husband and I ate a really obscene amount of meat all in one sitting seeing as this roast was so nicely done. If only he would have let me take more time to actually get some decent photos instead of these blurry, poorly lit ones!

Risotto Already?

2009-08-05T20:25:00.005-06:00

I can't quite believe that a few degrees drop in temperature makes me want comfort food, a couch, and a cozy duvet, but all I could think about today was risotto. I'm also trying to clear out my fridge before I am tempted by any more fresh summer produce, as I seem to be stockpiling without any actual eating. The kabocha squash that's been sitting on my counter for a couple of weeks seemed to fit the bill. I really was not in the mood for making any dinner when I got home, but once I got started I remembered that risotto is really no work at all - and after a long day at work it was so relaxing to just stand and stir without having to think about anything.

Squash Risotto (serves 2-3):
500g pureed squash
3 tbsp butter
1 medium onion
fresh thyme
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
100g arborio rice
around 500ml chicken or vegetable stock
salt & pepper
50g chèvre
large handful spinach, chopped
chopped walnuts (optional)

Quarter the squash and roast for 40 minutes in a 350F/180C oven, or wrap in cling film and microwave for around 5 minutes until soft. Scoop out the flesh and puree using an immersion blender, then set aside. In a shallow pan over low heat, melt the butter and cook the onion, garlic, and thyme until softened. Add the rice and cook for a few minutes, then slowly begin adding the stock, stirring constantly for about 20-25 minutes. Add the pureed squash and then salt and pepper to taste. Cook for a further 5-10 minutes, adding more stock if needed. Finally, stir in the chèvre and spinach until the cheese is melted and the spinach softened.

Cactus Club for Lunch

2009-07-30T09:02:00.005-06:00

With the weather hitting lovely highs here in Edmonton, I have been eating out a lot more (my excuse is that my kitchen heats my house up too much). The other day my mom and I hit up the Cactus Club Cafe over by West Edmonton Mall. I guess it was about time. I work in the west end, so inevitably the time had to come where I would wander over to the somewhat newly opened Cactus Club Cafe to check it out. I must admit, I was a bit reluctant due to the fact that even though it is a Rob Feenie created restaurant, it still feels a bit like a chain in the vein of Earl's or Joey's, but a bit higher end. At the same time though, I was curious, and it seems like all the rest of the Edmonton food blogging world had been there (many opening night), so I figured I should give it a go.

True to previous reports, the interior was all hip and glossy (including the staff, I am not sure if they are still the staff brought in from Vancouver to start things off). It reminded me a lot of Kai Restaurant on Jasper and 109th that also opened fairly recently here in Edmonton. The menu was a lot different though, and did offer up some creative and intriguing options. Pricing was, as expected, similar to Earl's, but perhaps a bit more expensive for some of the more unusual items (i.e. a duck clubhouse will run you $17 for a sandwich!).

Mom and I took some time to make our decisions. I always have a tough time when faced with a big menu full of choices that are all new to me. Oh if only all restaurants had tasting menus of their signature dishes!!! Our server made some suggestions to us right off the bat, which I found unusual. Generally servers do not suggest specific items other then the "specials" unless asked. Either way, we went out on our own with our selections.

Mom went with the raincoast greens salad (grilled chicken, avocado, tomato, feta, egg, pecans, seasonal berries, lemon-thyme vinaigrette - $16) and I went with the short rib beef dip (caramelized onions, beef jus and emmental cheese on toasted sourdough - $15). I have to say, mom's salad was beautiful. The ingredients were nicely presented to show off the avocado, chicken and berries (on the side I didn't photograph). She was very pleased with it and said it was a tasty salad. My sandwich was good, but not quite what I had expected in that it didn't come with the jus on the side for dipping. The onions were subtle to the point of almost being unnoticeable, and the same goes for the cheese. The shredded short rib beef did not disappoint, it was tender and moist as is to be expected from a short rib. The start of my plate were the yam fries. They were sea-salted, which I expected to make no difference since I frequently use sea-salt myself, but they were so salty and delicious with the little spicy dill dip on the side that I gobbled them up.

Normally I don't go for dessert at lunch time, however being pregnant and out for lunch with my mom, it seemed like the thing to do, so we split the chocolate lava cake. I think the fact that we SPLIT it shows a lot of restraint on both of our parts. No surprise that this one was a hit with the two of us. The chocolate "lava" was gooey and delicious and tasted like cake batter licked from the bowl (in a good way).

I would say that the Cactus Club will likely do some good business out here seeing as the west end is filled with business men looking to lunch, and it will just end up competing with places like Chop, Earl's and Joey's. It does offer something a little different, and is worth checking out. I'm sure I will be back again to give the duck clubhouse a go since I am a duck fan, but I don't think it will be a regular spot for me seeing as I prefer quiet little places as opposed to big, loud, slick places when it comes to restaurant patronage. Still, it is a fun place if you want to go someplace a bit sceney, and with a nice patio, I suspect it gets pretty busy on Friday and Saturday nights with the pre-club crowd heading to west end locals after for drinks and dancing.

Preserve the Bounty!

2009-07-28T10:30:00.003-06:00

I finally have a good garden crop coming in! Not only do I have a bountiful amount of herbs, spinach and rhubarb so far, but my raspberries are finally turning red! To add to that, Brooke and I hit up a local u-pick to stock up on some fresh strawberries and saskatoons as well. What to do with all this wealth? Preserve!

I was surprised that my internet research indicated that a lot of items I was interested in could simply be preserved by freezing them. I have frozen berries this way before, and also dill, but was reluctant to do so for the rest of my produce. I remembered reading Duo Dishes blog back in December (when those Californians are still growing, but we Canadians are not) that they had done the same thing with Rosemary, so I went back and looked up their post. Armed with the confidence gleaned from knowing another blogger had done it with success, I made little frozen packs of all my herbs.

The steps are simple and work for herbs and berries alike:
1. Pick everything as fresh and close to peak seasonality as possible.
2. Some people say not to wash, but I like washing my pickings, even though they are grown organically, just to be safe about getting the bugs out. Just lay them out on a kitchen towel or paper towel and allow them to dry before freezing.
3. Lay everything in a flat layer on top of wax paper or parchment paper on a cookie sheet (this prevents everything from freezing together in a giant lump).
4. Freeze overnight.
5. Transfer frozen stuff into freezer bags or tupperware and label what they are and the picking season they are from (you should use them in the course of six months to a year or suffer the wrath of freezer burn).

I am hoping for a nice full freezer by the end of August that should take me well into the winter eating food with actual flavour as opposed to grocery store purchased herbs and berries, which are ridiculously expensive and sub-par in flavour. Seriously, how can someone charge $3 for a little pack of herbs when half of them are basically weeds they are so easy to grow (i.e. chives and dill). I have now tried and tested freezing: strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, blackberries, saskatoons, mango (got a box for mega cheap last year at Superstore and it kept all through the winter), chives - chopped, oregano, parsley, basil, thyme and rosemary (leaves pulled off the branch), and dill this way with good results. The only major difference is that the colour is a bit off, so they don't make good garnishes anymore, but most can come straight out of the freezer, be chopped and thrown into your meal as it is almost done cooking.

I also preserved some spinach this past weekend, but that I flash boil for one minute, drain and then pack in plastic bags. I am not sure freezing would work quite as well on it, and with the amount of space you save by flash boiling it (it shrinks to about 1/10th the size) it is worth doing it this way. Can't wait to use it all this fall making homemade spanikopita!

Culina Highlands for Fork Fest

2009-07-24T14:51:00.005-06:00

I don't know which is more exciting for me: summer or Original Fare's Fork Fest. I can safely say that when both occur at the same time, that is the best. I am going to a couple of other places next week, but wanted to get this review and these pics up ASAP so that those of you making decisions for next week will have the info. Wed evening Brooke and I headed out to the Highlands area (and we rarely go much east of downtown) to seek out Culina Highlands. It's a tiny little place clustered in with a couple of other stores and restaurants along 112 Avenue. With it being pretty hot out that night, I wish we had arrived a little earlier and got a spot on the tiny patio out back, but instead we were inside, and the venue is cute and cozy and manages to feel both homey and contemporary at the same time.

Online the appetizer was listed as Chorizo sausage with cornmeal and chickpea pakoras and roasted tomato sauce, which I was looking quite forward to. When we arrived however, the appetizer ended up being a spinach salad with cherry tomatoes, croutons and "beet chips" (not really chip like at all, more like shavings) with a creamy dill dressing. I would say that the dill was certainly the dominant flavor in the salad, to the point where if you weren't all that keen on dill, you would certainly find it a bit overwhelming. Luckily, I like dill quite a lot, still, I was disappointed in missing out on the pakoras.

The main was Braised Alberta bison short ribs with a molasses compound butter served with baby red potatoes and squash. The squash were also baby, so it all looked very cute and round together on the plate. I thought the molasses compound butter was a nice finish to the short ribs - something a little different as molasses is something we often think of as a cookie ingredient. I know some people are probably getting tired of the short rib trend at restaurants these days, but I am a fan. I like the meatiness of them, and how when slow cooked the meat just falls right off the bone. This was no exception.

For dessert, we were served a sweet crepe with cinnamon sugar, honey and fresh berries. It was a smallish portion, but given the heat of the day and that it was our third course, it was nice to have a light dessert. The crepe had a creamy lemon topping as well that was very nice. The lemon flavour was subtle, as was the flavour of the honey, so the dessert tasted nice and delicate overall. I also liked having the edible flower on top, seeing as I clearly have been using my violets as edible dessert decorations lately as well.

Those with large appetites may find this trio not quite filling enough (types like those should head over to Red Ox - always generous portions), but for me it was plenty to be full. It was a good experience, and having perused the regular menu while we were there, I would definitely be interested in trying it again.

Rhubarb Ginger Crumble

2009-07-23T07:06:00.002-06:00

Over the weekend we finally chopped down all of Court's rhubarb, and ended up with a harvest of just over 2 kilos. Result! This is one of my favourite recipes; it has been adapted from Delia Smith's Rhubarb and Almond Crumble - I have changed it to Rhubarb Ginger Crumble as the major change is that I've tripled the amount of ginger from the original recipe. So tasty that even Court said she may not hate rhubarb as much as she thought.

Rhubarb Ginger Crumble:
1 kg rhubarb
125 g sugar
1 rounded tbsp fresh grated ginger

125 g almonds (whole or chopped)
80 g chilled butter, cubed
180g self raising flour
2 tsp cinnamon
1-2 tsp ground ginger
125 g dark brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 400F/200C. Chop the rhubarb into 1 inch (2.5cm) lengths. Mix with the sugar and fresh ginger and set aside. In a food processor, add the almonds, butter, flour, cinnamon, ginger, and brown sugar and process until the almonds are mostly finely chopped.

In an 8"x11" baking dish, press the rhubarb mixture firmly in so it is spread evenly. Sprinkle the crumble mixture all over the rhubarb and press it down firmly all over; the more tightly it is packed together the crisper it will be. Finally, lightly run a fork all over the surface. Bake the crumble in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes. Leave it to rest for 10 minutes and then serve.

PB Chicken Marinade

2009-07-21T11:03:00.004-06:00

The rest of this week looks like it is going to be great weather for BBQing, so today I am posting my peanut butter chicken marinade recipe. It would be a bit blasphemous to call this a Thai peanut sauce, although that is what the recipe did evolve from. It's one of those things where there are a number of people in my life that are intimidated by "foreign" food, but if I westernize things enough and then just rename them something safe like peanut butter chicken, then they are a go.

I make this recipe different ways depending on the season. In winter, it becomes a frying pan meal, where I increase the amount of sauce and onions, and then serve it over rice. I can't even begin to describe how filling and satisfying it is in the winter to eat a meal that is so filled with carbs (rice) and protein (chicken AND peanut butter). Once I started making it this way I noticed that when the weather got very cold, my body actually craved it as a bulk up strategy.

Anyway, back to the summer preparation, using it as a marinade for chicken kabobs. I'm sure many of you will echo the sentiment that BBQ chicken runs a high risk of either being under cooked (pink and scary!) or so dried out that it becomes unappealing. I find these kabobs to be the solution to both issues. It is hard to undercook the chicken when it is cubed and kabobbed because unlike breasts, they are a uniform thickness, and have a nice hot metal skewer running through the middle. Drying them out also becomes less of an issue because the peanut butter marinate is nice and oily, and prevents the chicken from drying out.

PB Chicken Marinade (for two breasts worth, but can be adjusted up or down depending on how much flavouring you like - I also will cook some extra for dipping if people are into it):
1/4 onion, diced fine
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
2 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp milk (can use coconut milk)
1/2 tsp hot sauce (adjust to taste)

Cut your chicken into nice even sized cubes. Combine marinade ingredients in a tupperware container, and throw the chicken cubes in. Use your hands to rub the marinade all over the chicken (it still has close to peanut butter consistency, so really, it is just smeared on). Sit it in the fridge for a few hours or however long you have. Skewer the chicken cubes and smear any extra marinate all over the kabobs (or increase the liquid components and cook it on a side burner as a dipping sauce, but make sure it gets good and hot for a while since it has been in contact with raw chicken).

Cook the skewers on the BBQ at about 400 degrees for about 5 minutes a side. To be safe, cut into one of the cubes to verify that it is not longer pink in the middle. You will know a side is cooked when it gets easy to pull it off of the grill because cooked meat covered in peanut oils will come off easily, whereas raw meat will still stick.

In Search of Candied Violets

2009-07-20T12:18:00.004-06:00

Candied violets seem to be impossible to find in Edmonton. My own searches came up with nothing and a post on Chowhound also came back with some good ideas but no source. Instead of buying them online, I figured it would be just as easy to make some of my own - fortunately Court offered her help (and flowers) to do this. I imagine sourcing edible, pesticide-free flowers might have be a little difficult if she didn't have an abundance in her garden.

Candied Flowers:
1 egg white
water
caster (berry) sugar

These were simple enough to make, though tedious. Using a small paintbrush, paint the flower with the egg/water mixture, then dip it into a bowl of superfine sugar. Move to dry on a baking sheet with wax or parchment paper. See? Simple. It did take several hours though to finish our small bowl of flowers. The end result was worth it though - these really made a plain wedding cake stand out.

Camping Dinner #2

2009-07-19T17:54:00.003-06:00

Really, cooking on the road is a lot like cooking at home, it just takes a bit more advance planning. We decided that we wanted to take one of our favourite dinners (Apple Pork Chops), change it up a bit by breading the pork chops, serve it with a side of herb and mushroom pasta, and do it all over the campfire. No problem right? Well, for the most part no problem, you just need to work on timing everything to finish about the same time without knowing what kind of temperatures you are working with.

We figured the pork chops would take the longest to cook, so we did all our prep, put the chops on, and then worked everything else around that. Breading the pork chops in panko bread crumbs was easy, we just dipped them in an egg wash and then shook them around in the bag.

While we started the chops in the frying pan on the fire, we also started the water for the pasta going, and had a pot of mushrooms and onions sauteing. When the water was boiling, and the veggies were ready, we just moved them a bit off to the side to keep warm until it was go time. The pasta that Brooke picked up from the Italian Center was dry, but still had a cook time of only three minutes since it was extra skinny spaghetti.

Once the pork chops were finished cooking, we put them off to the side to rest, and sauteed the apples in the pan. At the same time, we popped the pasta in to cook, and threw some cream and chopped herbs from the garden in with the sauteed veggies to create a nice mushroom cream sauce.

Wild Flour (Banff)

2009-07-16T20:35:00.007-06:00

Last year I made a trip to Banff fully intending to visit the Wild Flour Bakery Café after reading raves about it on Chowhound. I didn't manage to get there on that trip, but I am certainly glad we stopped in this year as it is something not to be missed. I'm a tough nut to crack when it comes to bakeries, and normally when people are raving I end up underwhelmed. (Yes, I mean you, Cobs.) After travelling Europe, nothing seems to live up to those standards.

Norm & Court both chose chocolate croissants and I had a cranberry white chocolate scone. Now, there's nothing I hate more than a stick of hard chocolate inside a croissant, which is why I almost never buy them in Canada. These, however, were filled with melty goodness, as was my scone. The sweet white chocolate was nicely balanced by tart fresh cranberries. These were huge too. We missed out on trying any of their breads on this trip, but they looked fabulous and I hope to try them on my next visit. Some people had mentioned that the prices were high, but I found them no higher than local overpriced (yes, I mean you again, Cobs) bakeries. When you factor in size + deliciousness, that = a good deal.

Better Camping Lunches

2009-07-15T16:27:00.006-06:00

While camping, we made all portable lunches so that we could take them with us for the day and not have to return to the campsite and interrupt our hiking/walking day trips. This is somewhat limiting in that you need to have food that works well cold, and also doesn't bring with it the risk of melting. Brooke's trail mix made the cut, even with the risky smarties included, as did the usual assortment of raw fruit and veg. We went with sandwiches and wraps for the main portions of the meals, but shook things up a bit with our fillings.

For sandwich day, we decided to bring along some dried mango slices. Ham and/or poultry (we had some ham and some chicken) paired with the sweetness of the mangos nicely, and we kept the cheese on the subtle side - havarti - so that it didn't overwhelm the dried fruit flavour. Just to make sure things didn't get overly sweet, we had some whole grain mustard spread just lightly to give a bit of contrast. The mango really made the sandwich pop, and I looked forward to it a lot more than a plain old bag lunch.

On day two, wrap day, we decided to make use of some of our dinner leftovers. Herb spiced lamb from the lamb burgers got paired with sautéed mushrooms from evening two's pasta side dish, and were then topped up with spinach to fill out the wrap. Using up leftovers also helped us in that we packed a bit less, but used what we brought, even if it hadn't been packaged to the size we needed just for dinner. The only thing that might have made the wrap a bit better in my opinion would be some feta or goat cheese. Yum!

Happy Trails

2009-07-14T12:03:00.000-06:00

Trail mix is so awesome that I could eat an entire bowl of it. And we did this past weekend; so tasty, but possibly not the greatest idea to eat that much of it at once. This was the first time I'd made it myself, so it was a lot cheaper than store bought and had some more interesting ingredients. I bought the nuts in bulk at Superstore and then added whatever I found in my cupboards. We had a mix of salted and unsalted nuts, and then dried blueberries (because Court is weird and doesn't like raisins), pears, and chocolate for sweetness. The perfect (trail) mix.

Trail Mix:
1c raw peanuts, skin on, unsalted
1c sea salt almonds, skin on
1c salted cashews
1/2 cup smarties
1/2 cup dried blueberries
1/2 cup sunflower seeds, unsalted
1/4 cup dried pears

Cooking on the Road

2009-07-13T15:17:00.005-06:00

Brooke and I did our version of Chef at Large this weekend and packed up our kitchens for the great outdoors. Prior to leaving we planned out some meals we wanted to make, groceries were purchased, and we were very excited about the challenge this would be for us. Little did we know how much challenge though.... My husband volunteered to be in charge of packing for the trip, since it was his idea and Brooke and I had book club the night before leaving. Thinking that my husband is perfectly capable of ensuring everything on the list (yes, we even made him a LIST!) made it to Banff, I happily agreed.

Upon arriving in Banff, the discovery was made that all the non perishables and freezer ingredients had come with us, but that everything from the fridge had stayed in Edmonton - d'oh! To add to that, the additional realization was made that the connection from the camping stove to the mini propane tanks didn't match up, so we were going to have to cook 100% over the fire with zero temperature control. Needless to say, Brooke and I were annoyed after all of our planning, and my husband, in an effort to try and make it seem like a good thing said "it's like Iron Chef, but with the secret ingredient being fire! Oh, and missing a bunch of the ingredients you thought you had." Dinner on evening #1 was our first meal, and we made herbed lamb burgers (no cheese as planned), and sautéed potatoes (no roast veggies).

Ages ago we purchased a full lamb, and with it came a few pounds of ground lamb. We had been saving it for BBQ season, and there hasn't been a lot of that happening this year to date. It went into the cooler frozen, and didn't take that long to thaw once we arrived. I had brought rosemary, oregano and thyme from the garden and we chopped it up and combined the lamb with bread crumbs, an egg and the herbs and formed patties. We "fried" the patties until they were cooked through, and reserved some of the fat to use for later.

At the same time, we had chopped up some potatoes nice and thin so that we could boil them while the burgers were cooking. Once the burgers were done, we threw some garlic and the potatoes into the pan with the lamb fat, to give them some additional flavour and crisp up the outsides a bit.

Not bad considering what we had to work with!

Gardening Update

2009-07-09T11:25:00.023-06:00

Well, it has been raining here on and off for three days, so I thought I would post some pictures I took this past weekend to show what the gardens are looking like. Of course, since we have been in the middle of a "drought" and now we are getting load of rain, everything will probably twice the size by the end of this weekend if we get a little help from the sun. Above are my wild raspberries, that are well on their way to becoming jam (our first try will be documented!)

Spinach is already up as can be evidenced by the fact that Brooke and I have posted no less than three spinach salads in the past month. After taking the picture I pulled out all the mature stuff and got my third round of planting seeded. My family gets bags of spinach given to them fresh all summer!

I have a good bounty of herbs finally. The chives have been up since before the snow was even done, the oregano I bought at Superstore rather than growing it from seeds, both the basil and the parsley had bits come up from the first round of seeds, but I supplemented the planting a couple of weeks ago when I realized that a few really cold nights through the last month had killed off some of the first round. The rosemary was bought already started since our season isn't long enough for it to get like this, and the thyme was the same as the rest - needed some additional seeding. The dill grew like crazy (no surprise given that it is a "weed").

Onions grown from bulbs are all up and growing well:
I am glad I got some carrots seeded prior to the snow, they are decent sized now and should be good to eat later this summer. A second round followed, and depending on the weather, they may only get to baby carrot size before the season is done:
My zucchini is coming up gang busters! This is more than one plant. Maybe I will try doing something with the blossoms this year if I catch them in time. I find that they sneak up on you and all of a sudden you have a giant one foot long veggie!
The squash came up later than the zucchini, and aren't getting quite as much light, so they aren't getting quite as big. Their season is pretty long, so given how late they started, I may just get to enjoy their greenery as we might not make it long enough for actual squash.
Rhubarb is doing what rhubarb does: growing like mad where nothing else will. It's in a shady damp area and producing like crazy. I haven't posted any recipes with it because I don't like rhubarb, but I will push some on Brooke (yes, I am a rhubarb pusher), and she will make something one of these days.
Lettuce was really just thrown in a pot mostly as an after thought. I had some seeds from last year and an extra pot so in it went. I planted romain, and just pick it as baby greens or to throw on a sandwich when I want a break from spinach.
Here is the "big garden" at Brooke's parent's house. I have called dibs on some of the potatoes and peas, and had called beans, but surprisingly our beans didn't come up this year. Aren't they supposed to be an easy grow? Anyway, Brooke and my father in law put in lots of potatoes, radishes, peas, onions, leeks, spinach, and gave broccoli a go this year since there were some cheap seedlings at Superstore. I can see they are starting to produce a little floret, so maybe something will come of them. Also, there is what may be a cucumber or a zucchini coming up in a mound where both accidentally got planted. That will be a fun mystery surprise for later in the summer.
The first round of potatoes - looking good!!!
Peas, peas, so many peas:

Spice Up Your Spinach Salad

2009-07-08T20:58:00.005-06:00

My garden lettuce is still in miniature, but the spinach has been up for weeks and seems to be growing faster than I can eat it. After a weekend of overindulging I've been off desserts and dairy, so here's a rare salad that doesn't include cheese. Topping my spinach is a quick dressing of pureed mango with curry powder, fresh ginger, and a little olive oil. The remainder of the mango was sliced and added to the salad along with steamed chicken breast. For dessert, a handful of raw almonds... so healthy I'm feeling a little too angelic now.

Super Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

2009-07-06T21:15:00.006-06:00

All of the baking I've been doing lately is negating my healthy summer salads, I think. To stop myself from eating it all, I've been spreading the love around to my family, friends, and coworkers. These are my absolute favourite chocolate chip cookie. While I love a crisp biscuit, chocolate chip have got to be chewy. And they are so versatile as well: kid-friendly ice cream sandwiches above, or dainty afternoon-tea size below.

Chocolate Chip Cookies:
1 1/3 cups butter or block margarine
1 cup sugar
1 cup tightly packed dark brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups flour
5-6 ounces (1 pkg) chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 375F/190C. In a large bowl or stand mixer cream together the butter and sugars, then beat in eggs and vanilla. Stir in baking soda and salt, then mix in the flour until well combined. Add chocolate chips - I usually use less than the recipe calls for as I like the cookie better than the chocolate, but I seem to be in the minority. This dough will be quite stiff, so if you have a stand mixer use it! Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto a baking sheet. Bake for 8-9 minutes or until light brown (the centres will be soft), then remove to cool on newspaper. I like to think this soaks up anything unhealthy about these.

Ripe Strawberries

2009-07-02T10:30:00.004-06:00

The other day Superstore had strawberries on sale, and they actually smelled like strawberries, so I got a big container of them. I have since been enjoying them cut up on cereal, in yogurt, with spinach salad, and with cream and sugar, but I wanted to try another savory option. I know that strawberries and balsamic vinegar are a good pairing, but I threw in some goat cheese as well, just to shake things up a bit. It made for a delicious flavourful little afternoon snack that I will certainly try again in the future.

Pork Dumplings

2009-06-30T10:01:00.006-06:00

Although I have not yet had any cravings that seem to be consistent (other than for Glosette peanuts), like many pregnant ladies, I am very susceptible to food suggestions at the moment. Especially early on (before the sad nauseous bit), I craved meat like a mad woman. I decided I needed a meat based snack that I could nibble on when the cravings struck, and as I often do, I roped Brooke into coming over and helping me invent something. I had dumplings on the brain, and so we looked at a variety of recipes, and then put the computer down and forged ahead with a recipe of our own making based on what was around the house.

Pork Dumpling Filling:
one small tenderloin pork (these are surprisingly inexpensive right now thanks to the swine flu scare, even though you don't get swine flu from eating pork - take advantage of the deal and stock your freezer!)
8 large shrimp peeled and uncooked
1/2 cup green onions
1 tsp ginger
1 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp mirin

Wrap using wonton wrappers

We didn't bother with much chopping, and instead just tossed everything in the Kitchenaid food processor and whirred it around until it had an even consistency. It is very strange to do this with uncooked meat.

We took the meat mixture and sat in front of the TV watching mindless chick shows on Slice, as we dropped a small spoon of meat into the middle of the wonton wrappers, and tried to fashion them into pretty looking envelopes. There were a lot of imperfect parcels, but by the end we had made almost 100 and were getting the hang of it. I popped most of them in the freezer, but to prepare them, we pan fried them in oil to brown the outside (2-3 minutes per side), and then steamed them after for about 8 minutes. This was enough to cook the meat through, and give them a nice texture, although a few of the wrappers tore a bit, making them not look as nice. They tasted fantastic though, and that is what matters most right?

Basic Blueberry Muffins

2009-06-25T09:55:00.002-06:00

Okay, so the cravings have started to get a bit more random. The other day, I thought I saw something on the street when I was out for a walk that looked like a chunk of blueberry muffin. No, I did not pick it up, but it did get me thinking... "I must have blueberry muffins of my own!" So, come weekend time, I was up before the weather got hot, searching for a recipe that didn't require a trip to the store. Found one! It took a bit of alteration, and came out almost like a muffin/biscuit hybrid, but it hit the spot and was quick and easy.

Blueberry Muffins (makes 10-12 because that's all I can eat before they go bad):
1 1/2 cup flour (half should be whole wheat, but mine was all all-purpose)
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 large egg
1/2 cup skim milk
1 1/4 cup blueberries (mine were from frozen)
2 tbsp butter

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

In one bowl, mix the first four ingredients. In another bowl, soften the butter, and beat the egg in. Add the milk. Toss the blueberries in the dry mixture, and then add the wet mixture in mixing just to combine.

Either grease the muffin pan or use baking cups. Fill 3/4 full and bake for 20 minutes or until the tops start to brown. I have thrown raspberries and saskatoons into this recipe in the past if I have them to make them into random berry muffins. These are fast and easy enough to make for a weekend breakfast and eat straight out of the oven.

Kind of Food Related

2009-06-25T09:48:00.004-06:00

Every once in a while, it is nice to use the blog as a forum for pimping an event for a friend. I can't think of a better reason than this Garage Sale and BBQ being hosted this weekend in Skyview (13908 - 149 Ave). A couple of my former co-workers are raising money for the Walk to end Breast Cancer. The BBQ portion even means that it does actually relate to food :-) Pop by if you are in the area this weekend and support a good cause. If you click on the photo, it will enlarge so you can read it better.

Pasta with Smoked Salmon

2009-06-24T09:33:00.002-06:00

Another smoked salmon meal from last week. This was super tasty and was pretty light for a creamy pasta. I used Gnocchi no.85 noodles that I picked up on sale at the Italian Centre a couple of weeks ago, but anything goes with this. Quick, easy, and perfect with a glass of white wine.

Smoked Salmon Pasta (serves 2):
200g pasta
1/2 medium onion, chopped
2 tsp butter
2 cloves garlic
60g light cream cheese
white wine
2 large handfuls spinach, cooked & chopped
4 slices smoked wild salmon
salt & pepper

Bring a large pot of salted water to boil for the pasta. While that is heating, add the onion, garlic, and butter to a small pan and cook over med-low heat for 5-8 minutes. Once the water has come to the boil, plunge the spinach in for a minute and then scoop it out with a sieve and add the pasta to the boiling water to cook. Drain the spinach and chop. While the pasta is cooking, add the cream cheese and white wine and reduce until you reach your desired consistency for the sauce. Season with salt and pepper and stir in the chopped spinach to heat. When the pasta is ready, drain and add to the pan with the sauce. Finally, stir in the smoked salmon and serve.

Edmonton Food Bloggers are Cool People

2009-06-23T14:46:00.002-06:00

Yes, the first time we were all nervous, but it's nice to know that our local food blogging community is a group of really nice, surprisingly normal people! If you are one of us, come out at see at our second meet up event.

A Lunch Wrap

2009-06-23T09:51:00.004-06:00

In making the mushroom bruschetta for our 100 mile themed book club evening, it is almost impossible to judge how much of the mushroom mixture you will need to top the baguette slices. I always error on the side of having too much, knowing that I won't have any trouble using the mushroom mixture for lunch later (like with my creamy mushroom tarts where I spread the filling on toast - yum!). I used a number of the other ingredients I picked up to have a nice "local" lunch, and then I added in some not local at all avocado because I love it.

Wrap:
One large pita (I picked this one up at Elsalfi Bros. Mediteranian market - a fantastic independant grocery! and the pita is made in Edmonton at a restaurant on the South side)
One bunch of spinach picked from garden and washed
Fairwinds Farm goat cheese - as much as you can!
Half an avocado sliced (not local, but delicious)
Left over mushroom mixture

I threw the above all together and it made a great pita to eat on a sunny afternoon on my patio. It feels so much easier to eat healthy when the sun is shining doesn't it?