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.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Kabocha, Spinach & Goat Cheese Pie
Friday, April 1, 2011
Cream Cheese + Skor = Better Than It Sounds
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.
Monday, July 12, 2010
Simple Pork Wrap
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).
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Asparagus Tart
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!
Wednesday, April 28, 2010
Prawn Sandwich
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!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Savoury Stuffed Zucchini
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.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Cheese Scones
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.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
"English" Onion Soup
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.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009
Quiche with Beets & Chèvre
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!
Monday, August 24, 2009
Not Your Grandma's Grilled Cheese
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.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
Ripe Strawberries
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.
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
Pasta with Smoked Salmon
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.
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
A Lunch Wrap
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?
Friday, June 19, 2009
Mushroom Bruschetta
This is another dish from my local snacks book club menu. I discovered that Prairie Mushrooms grows mushrooms in Sherwood Park, a suburb of the city, so I felt like I had to take advantage of this and include a mushroom themed dish. Mushrooms are one of the few vegetables that you just don't see often at farmer's markets, and I had assumed that a local 100 mile diet would mean doing without. Not the case! For this recipe I chose to go with portabella and crimini mushrooms because I love the former, and have never cooked with the latter. They were easy to find at the Italian Center Shop , and I have been told they are also at Costco, some Sobey's and I saw them at Elsalfi Brothers as well.
Mushroom Bruschetta:
One Baguette (mine was from the Treestone Bakery on 99 st. that makes bread with local ingredients)
A small knob of butter (I used Dairyland, since they use Alberta milk to create their dairy products)
One portabella mushroom
One small container crimini mushrooms
A tsp. each of chopped parsley and chives (from my garden)
One small container of goat cheese
Cut the baguette into rounds and lay flat on a baking sheet. Spread each round with a generous pat of goat cheese, and set aside.
Chop up the mushrooms a little larger than the size you want them to be in the end, so that you allow for shrinkage in cooking. Saute the mushrooms in the butter until they brown, and throw in the herb about 30 seconds before finishing.
Scoop the mushroom mixture on top of the baguette slices and pop in the oven at 350 F until they are warm (10 minutes). Serve warm so that the cheese is nice and gooey.
It is worth mentioning that the goat cheese I used was from Fairwinds Farms out of Fort Macleod, AB. That is totally not within 100 miles of Edmonton, but that factored into our discussion of why "local" in the book was defined by a 100 mile radius (extra strange since in Canada we usually refer to distances in kilometers).
Thursday, June 18, 2009
Smoked Salmon Flatbread
I've been eating smoked salmon all week. It's the downside to being single, I suppose - most things are sold in packages too large for 1-2 meals. Though, really, how much of a hardship can delicious wild salmon be? What I was tired of was cream cheese; I rarely eat it, so after a couple of days it started to seem a bit sickly sweet. I decided to switch it up with some goat cheese, with added wasabi to give it a little kick. This was a great 5 minute dinner, and a cold flatbread is perfect for hot summer nights.
Smoked Salmon Flatbread for 1:
1 greek-style pita or panini
2-3 slices smoked wild salmon, torn
2-3 tbsp goat cheese
wasabi paste, to taste
red onion
capers
pepper
Put the pita in the oven to crisp it up, then mix a little wasabi paste into the goat cheese. Once the pita is crisp and then cooled, add the toppings and enjoy.
Monday, June 15, 2009
Another Spinach Salad!
Apparently Brooke and I are eating similarly this week! Both of us jumping on the salad train, and mixing in some fruit and cheese. My spinach is the first of my garden crops to be ready. I love that about it, you can plant it two to three times in a season as short as ours, and see it come up plentifully over and over again. In honor of my favorite salad green, I present the following easy peasy salad recipe.
Baby spinach greens (one bowl full, washed)
A hand full of dried cranberries
A couple tbsp of toasted pine nuts
Feta to your taste (I like tons!)
Top with simple extra virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar (or your fav.)
This is so quick and easy it frequently appears on my lunch table when I come home for lunch during a work day. The toasted nuts, salty feta and sweet cranberries are lovely in contrast to one another as a topping, and spinach tastes fantastic when eaten pulled fresh from the garden.
Monday, June 8, 2009
Creamy Courgette and Brie Soup
With the horrible weather over the weekend, and the fact that my apartment was freeeezing, I decided to make soup for lunch. We have mentioned the Fresh Food Fast cookbook before, and this is another recipe from that book. This was my first go at making it after hearing Court rave about it a couple of years ago, and it definitely lived up to the hype. The creaminess comes from delicious melted brie - so I'm pretty happy I made a full pot and have the leftovers all to myself.
Courgette & Brie Soup (serves 4-5):
2 knobs/25g butter
1 medium/250g onion
3 smallish/200g potatoes
1 garlic clove
1/8-1/4 cup white wine
300ml vegetable stock
2 medium/500g zucchini
200ml milk or cream
125-200g brie
1 tbsp fresh basil, or to taste
salt & pepper
Melt the butter and then add the finely chopped onion. Soften for 5-7 minutes, then add the cubed potato, minced garlic, and wine and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the stock and zucchini and bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer until the potato is cooked (around 25 minutes). Add in the milk and brie and heat until the cheese has melted, then add the basil and heat through.
If you want to reduce the calories, this was actually quite good even without the milk and brie - just as a broth with vegetables.
Friday, June 5, 2009
White Chocolate Kahlua Cheesecake
I don't think it is a secret that Brooke and I really really like cheesecake (don't act like you are too good for it!). I'm sure I have mentioned the past shame of eating 3/4 of a full cake by myself in the course of a couple of days before taking the last quarter to a party and begging my girlfriends to take it away from me before I did myself in. This is that cake! Well, it's not that particular cake, which was long ago in my belly, but one I made again using the same recipe, this time knowing I would have guests to help with the eating. Even though it is made with a good amount of white chocolate, it doesn't have that overly sweet taste some people don't like about white chocolate. It is just subtle and perfectly delish. It's also flexible in that it is flavor that goes well with a lot of different fruit toppings if you decide you want to try to make your cheesecake seem "healthier."
White Chocolate Kahlua Cheesecake:
Crust
3/4 cup hazelnuts (optional)
12 whole graham crackers, broken (I up this to 15-18 if not using the nuts)
1/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) butter, melted
Filling
3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
3/4 cups sugar
3 eggs
3 ounces imported white chocolate (such as Lindt), finely chopped
3 tablespoons liqueur (I used Kahlua, but if I have Bailey's or Tia Maria I use what I have that tastes like coffee or chocolate or both)
Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 325°F. Grease 9-inch-diameter springform pan. Wrap aluminum foil around outside of pan. Place hazelnuts in pie pan and roast until brown, about 15 minutes. Transfer to kitchen towel, cover and let stand 5 minutes. Rub hazelnuts with towel to remove husks. Chop coarsely in food processor. Add graham crackers and sugar and process until fine crumbs form. Add melted butter and process until crumbs begin to stick together. Press crumbs into bottom and 1 inch up sides of prepared pan. Bake 10 minutes. Cool crust on rack.
Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese in large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in sugar. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in white chocolate and hazelnut liqueur. Pour filling into crust, covering completely.
Bake cake until edges are set and center moves only slightly when pan is shaken, a little over an hour. Cool completely in pan on rack. Cover and refrigerate at least 24 hours. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead.) Run small sharp knife around pan sides to loosen. Release pan sides. Transfer cheesecake to platter. Cut into wedges and serve. You can cook it in a bain marie (on a tray filled with water) if you feel that helps avoid cracking. I feel like cracking is pretty inevitable with a nice cream colored cheesecake, and instead of fretting about it, I just put something pretty on top like chocolate shavings, fruit, whipped cream or all of those. I mean really, who looks at a cheesecake for more than a few seconds before it is gone!
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Saving a Baking Disaster
I'm sure we've all had this happen occasionally when trying out a new recipe or making one of your own. Sometimes the taste is good but it doesn't rise, or, as happened this time, they had a perfect moist texture but lacked flavour. With these fruit muffins...well, I'm not sure I would exactly call it a disaster but they were certainly too bland to eat on their own and only the masses of fruit I put in gave them any flavour at all. There was no way I was throwing these out though (waste not, want not), so I put them in the freezer and thought of things I could use them for.
I finally decided that these could make a quite good base for some kind of cake, and when Mother's Day rolled around I decided on Brown Sugar Cheesecake. The base was made by just cutting the muffins in half and squishing them down into 4 ramekins, then I poured 
the batter in and baked at 350F/180C for 40-45 minutes. I made these several days in advance and put them in the freezer, then moved them to the fridge the day before so they'd be ready to go.
Brown Sugar Cheesecake (serves 4):
1 package cream cheese
1/3 cup tightly packed brown sugar
1 large egg
75g sour cream
1 tsp vanilla
I served these with the fruit topping I use on my Quickest Cake Ever, just pushed through a sieve. It was drizzled this on the plate (artistically, of course) and the cake base soaked up the syrup for extra flavour.
I also tried making mini ice cream cakes with the muffins for the base, vanilla ice cream, and the same fruit topping - delicious! In the past I've used up unrisen cake (tasty but much too dense) in a trifle as well. Just remember: cakes freeze extremely well, and if 
all else fails a bowlful of cake pieces and custard (or cream) and fruit can't go too far wrong.
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Crust-less Ricotta, Tomato & Basil Torte
Recently I've been looking for recipes that will make good picnic food - i.e. they taste good unheated and travel well. I found this recipe on Taste.com.au and the picture looked so good that I had to try it. This was very tasty, but not exactly what I was looking for. Because it has no crust (gluten free!), it seemed like not the easiest thing to be packing around though it was good even cold. I would definitely make this again though! Using the food processor made it super easy to make, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with a tart basically made entirely of cheese.
Ricotta, Tomato & Basil Torte:
500g low-fat ricotta
100g feta, crumbled
3 eggs
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 bunch fresh basil, chopped
350g grape tomatoes, halved
Add the ricotta, feta, eggs, garlic and basil to your food processor and whizz together until smooth. Pour into a 22cm/9" pan that has been greased with olive oil (or lined with parchment paper) and cook in a 375F/180C oven for 1 hour.
I didn't mess with the recipe at all this first time, but reduced it by 1/3 as my pan was smaller. I got lazy and only did one layer of tomatoes (about half what the recipe called for), but it would be very easy to tuck a second layer underneath first before adding the top layer. This was very, very cheese-y, so adding all the tomatoes would cut through the richness of the cheese.
