a chicken (and rice) in every pot

A couple years ago, there were a bunch of one pot wonder dishes floating around on the food blogs that involved chicken cooked in with rice. I usually have pretty specific methods of cooking rice, so the concept of just throwing it in a pot with a bunch of other stuff seemed pretty far out to me.

How did the chicken cook properly!?

How did the rice not stick!?

How did it all not end up one gloppy mess!?

Then I came across everybody like sandwiches version, and I knew I had to give it a try anyways.

And… it was delicious. Not gloppy at all. And the chicken was roasty and toasty and perfectly cooked!

Then I forgot about it for the last two years…

But I brought home a beautiful bright red Staub cocotte from Paris, and suddenly one pot dishes were on my mind. As were the rich, rustic flavoured foods of North Africa, like the Tagine I had in a little Tunisian restaurant in the Latin Quarter.

And I was reminded of that one pot chicken and rice that was so delish. And perfect for a dreary November.

So here’s my take on the dish – with a little bit of North African flair – although to be fair, they’d probably use cous-cous instead of rice. But since Liam actually said he liked this better than the food we had in Paris (high praise indeed) I recommend sticking with rice. But you could easily make this vegan, just like Kickpleat suggests by substituting chick peas (a very North African choice, by the way).

One Pot Chicken and Rice – with North African Flavours

Rub:
• 1 tsp Paprika
• 1 tsp Siracha (or equivalent of cayenne/hot sauce)
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 clove Garlic (minced)
• 1/2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (important for that extra olivey flavour kick)

• 2 pounds bone in chicken pieces, skin removed
• 1 onion
• 1 red pepper
• 1/4 cup green olives (chopped)
• 1/4 cup crasins
• 1 1/2 cup long grained rice (I use scented or Jasmine)
• 2 cups water

1. Mix “rub” ingredients and massage into chicken, leaving to marinate for 1/2 – 1 hour
2. Brown chicken in heavy bottomed, large, pot (a cast iron Dutch oven is best).
3. Remove chicken, and sauté peppers and onions in pot til brown.
4. Add rice, olives and crasins. Sauté for 1 minute.
5. Add (well salted) water. Sink chicken back in pot, and cover with lid. Cook until rice is tender and chicken is cooked through (apx 20 minutes).
6. Serve with a wedge of lemon and hot sauce on the side. Feeds 2-4.

mexi market

We had a great long weekend. An especially nice day was had on Saturday, as we took a trip to Kensington Market and popped into my favorite little Mexican grocer to pick up some exotic, fun ingredients. This is part of my vow to make this summer the Summer of the Burrito, in this house.

I always get stuck in a rut come the hot months, cooking my house into a humid, hot mess (soup? in August? What was I thinking!) when I should be eating foods that require little to no cooking! So the Summer of the Burrito is my way of combating that. They can be stuffed with lots of fresh ingredients, grilled meats, and if I want to make rice and beans ahead of time in the cooler parts of the day, they’re pretty self contained in a pot, and they re-heat super easy! And all I need to have around to make it happen is lots of tortillas, which keep much longer than bread does (which is an an issue in house of only two people – you can never finish the whole loaf before it goes stale).

It’s a pretty ideal plan, actually.

What did I get in the market? Wonderful fresh tomatillos, a poblano pepper, 4 ridiculously cheap limes, a few delicious sodas (made with cane sugar!) and a bar of mexican hot chocolate – man is that stuff good! I’m actually wondering if it would taste good chilled over ice, but I also enjoy a little hot chocolate in the summer sometimes too. It reminds me of my grandparents, who used to let me run through the sprinkler in their backyard, but then would wrap me in towels and give me hot chocolate afterwards.

The tomatillios found their way into a salsa verde, of course. I’ve been making a lot of my own condiments recently because, well, I kinda have this thing for them. My fridge is crammed full of condiments. So I’ve vowed, rather than let the fridge burst at the seams I’m making more of my own. And salsa is a great place to start it’s so easy, and – with a little salt and citric acid to preserve it, it will last for a couple weeks (in the fridge of course). Best of all fresh homemade salsa is soooooooo much better than the bottled stuff!

Salsa Verde

• 1 pound tomatillos
• 1 onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1-3 dried chilis (or preferred hot sauce to taste)
• 1 tbsp lime juice (+ zest if you like!)
• 1 tbsp cilantro paste (or a small handful of the fresh stuff)
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp citric acid (available in the spice aisle)

1. Put everything into a blender or food processor and blend!
2. Done! Serve!

engagement party recipes (at long last)

I feel good today. Which is a change, because I have felt sick for the past week.

Which is probably only fair, as my life has been a little whirlwindy for the past month or so. Really, since we announced our engagement – things just haven’t stopped!

There have been Wedding Registries,
And operas about water nymphs,
And fancy birthday dinners at french restaurants,
And homey birthday dinners with the family,
And Engagement parties,
And Ben Kweller concerts,
And iPhones,
And Baseball games,
And Tweetups,
And various parties,
And assorted dinners out,
And sundry meetings…

Payback had to come sometime.

This is a roundabouts way of saying: I’m sorry. I promised Engagement Party recipes, and did not deliver. I hope this makes up for it:

With this menu, I was trying to save me and Liam as much work as possible during the party, so we could enjoy it to the utmost (since we were throwing it for ourselves). That meant things that could be largely pre-prepared, and as much finger food as possible. I knew that I wanted some kind of Chinese barbeque (or char siu) at my Chinese themed party but wasn’t sure how I would serve it to 30 (yes 30!) people.

Then my mother had a brainstorm: Pulled pork can be made in large quantity early in the day, and kept warm in the oven ’til the party. I could make southern Barbecue style, slow cooked, pulled pork sandwiches – but with Chinese flavourings.

Fusion! Genius!

So I made Char Siu pulled pork, and served it with napa cabbage slaw in a creamy ginger-sesame dressing and bought a mountain of little Chinese bakery sweet buns (they look sorta like Pullman rolls, but taste more like eggy brioche – so nummy) with a side of fried rice.

To drink there were pitchers of Singapore slings, ice cold Tsing Taos on the deck.

There were also dumplings to start (frozen ones I got Liam to fry till crispy) and for desert: a mountain of teensy tiny little mandarin oranges, fortune cookies and a tower of cherry chip cupcakes (thank goodness for Betty Crocker) with homemade cream cheese icing, and a shiny chocolate cherry on top.

It was a huge spread, and other than the frying of the fried rice and dumplings, everything pretty much got done before the party! We were able to mostly just sit back and relax, as all our closest friends poured in. In other words: it was ideal, in more ways than one.

my version of char siu (Chinese barbeque)

• 2 tbsp five spice powder
• 2 tbsp apricot jam
• 2 tbsp soy sauce (a good Chinese soy sauce, preferably)
• 2 tbsp rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp sugar – or honey
• 1 tsp chili-garlic sauce
• 5 pounds trimmed, deboned pork shoulder or butt

1. Mix well, rub onto pork shoulder or butt (marinate overnight, if desired).
2. Bake in roasting pan at 250 for 5-8 hours – until meat starts to fall apart (flipping meat every hour or so).
3. Remove meat from marinade/juices/sauce and shred. Add sauce back in and serve (meat may be refrigerated and served the next day, or kept warm, covered, in the oven for an hour or two).

PS: if your cut of meat turns out to be particularly lean, and ends up a tad dry, you can make more of the marinade to serve as a sauce in liu of the juices from the pork. I would omit the five spice and add a little oil. This is especially good if your are making it ahead of time, and reheating it later.

slaw with ginger sesame dressing

• 3 tbsp rice vinegar
• 3 tbsp oil
• 1 tbsp tahini
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp toasted sesame oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 clove garlic
• 2 scallions (chopped)
• 1 head napa cabbage (chopped into slaw)

1. Blend all but scallions in a blender or food processor til’ thick and creamy.
2. Mix in scallions, and dress napa cabbage slaw. Serve on fluffy buns piled high with pulled pork!

fried rice

• 4 cups cooked, leftover rice
• 1 carrot (grated)
• 1 red pepper (diced)
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• 2 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
• 3 eggs
• 2 tbsp oil (vegetable)
• 2 scallions chopped

1. Pre-heat pot (or wok) with 1 tbsp oil.
2. Saute vegetables in frying pan with sesame oil, and garlic until peas are de-frosted.
3. Fry rice in hot oil in pot, until rice is warmed through – scraping bottom of pot continuously to keep it from sticking.
4. Add vegetables to rice, remove pot from heat.
5. Add remaining 1 tbsp oil to frying pan, add eggs and 1/2 tbsp soy sauce, and scramble.
6. Add scallions, soy sauce and scrambled egg to rice, and serve.

pink chocolate bark

I originally made this over Christmas for my family – but it’s so pretty, and pink, I think it’s equally appropriate for a Valentines day treat, if you’re so inclined.

And since I’m on my wedding kick, I should mention that I think it’s pretty and special enough that it could even make a wonderful wedding favour!

The secret ingredient here, that makes this really special is the pink peppercorns. If you’ve never had them before, they’re only very mildly peppery, and not really spicy at all. In fact, they have a sort of floral flavour. I think they’re so pretty, and lovely – I need to find more ways to integrate them into my cooking!

Of course, the addition of salt to a chocolate recipe is pretty special too, and adds a unexpected punch. If you wanted to make these even more special – and, more importantly, pink – you could hunt down some pink Himalayan salt. You should be able to find it at most health food stores.

I wouldn’t swap out the dark chocolate for pink or white chocolate though. While it would certainly look pretty, I think the strong flavours of this combination – nutty almonds, sweet and tangy crasins, peppery and floral peppercorns – work best with the rich, earthy flavour of dark chocolate.

pink chocolate bark

• 1 1/4 cups dark chocolate disks
• 3/4 cup crasins
• 3/4 cup almonds (toasted and chopped – I used raw almonds and did both myself)
• 1 tsp pink peppercorns
• 1/2 tsp sea (or pink) salt

1. Melt chocolate in double boiler. Line 9×13 pan with tin foil.
2. Pour chocolate into pan, spread with spatula, shake and gently tap to evenly distribute chocolate.
3. Mix almonds, crasins and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Sprinkle mix evenly over chocolate. Shake and tap again to evenly distribute nuts and fruit (you can press down any stray bits if necessary). Sprinkle with peppercorns and salt. Let cool at room temperature.
4. Break into bite size pieces, and enjoy!

Greek Orzo Bake

To be fair, this is only Greek in the sense that Frito pie is Mexican – not very. It’s a sort of fifties style ode to Grecian food that includes pretty much every ingredient associated with the cuisine.

I was actually inspired by something my University cafeteria used to serve, back in ancient history when I lived in a dorm. Not much there was edible, but I have fond memories of the days when they served this.

It’s warm, comforting and filling like a retro casserole – but unlike most cafeteria food, it’s low in fat and packed with veggies. So you get all of the fun of a guilty pleasure dish, with none of the actual guilt.

The best part though, is that the orzo cooks right in the casserole, so this is truly a one pot dish – perfect for a weeknight supper – or maybe even a last minute pot luck. Omit the cheese, and it’s even vegan. Or make protein seekers happy by adding some ground lamb sausage (going along with the greek theme) or shredded chicken. It’s super versatile!

I’ve made this twice so far, and I loved it both times. It’s my new favourite go-to meal, actually. So go to it!

Greek Orzo Bake.

• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 2 cups fresh spinach (chopped) or 1 cup cooked or frozen (apx 1 package – defrosted, of course)
• 1 1/2 cups orzo (uncooked)
• 1 pepper (red or green – finely chopped)
• 1 red onion (finely chopped)
• 2 cups water or stock
• 1/2 cup black olives (chopped)
• 2 cloves garlic (finely diced)
• 1 tbsp oil
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta (tossed with 1 tsp olive oil)

1. Combine all ingredients (except for feta and oil) in large, lidded casserole dish, and bake for 20 minutes covered @ 450 f – or until pasta is tender and cooked.
2. Remove cover, stir and return to oven for 10 minutes, or until “sauce” is thick and creamy.
3. Add feta (season with cracked black pepper if desired) and broil for 5 minutes.

(serves 4-6)

pie!

I have developed a thing for pies.

I don’t, entirely, know where it came from, (and asking if it was flavoured by a certain favourite TV show, and a certain favourite movie both of which happen to be centred around pies, and pie diners is probably a chicken and egg kinda question for me, frankly).

The pies of my youth were not anything special. I do remember my grandmother’s raspberry rhubarb pie being particularly good (although that certainly had something to do with the raspberries and rhubarb freshly gathered from my grandparents back yard). My grandmother also had a little to do with my undying belief that apple pie is best accompanied by a slice of sharp cheddar cheese (making Chuck’s family on Pushing Daisies my kinda people).

But somewhere along the way, I got bogged down with the unnatural flavour and colour of commercial cherry pie filling, (not to mention it’s inevitable pits and stems), the occasional too-sour cranberry pie, and most of all soggy, torpid, unappealing crusts. I avoided pie, at all costs.

I think it was upon a visit to a pie diner in the outskirts of Seattle where my love for pies first emerged. I have no idea what the place was called, all I know is that they served a mean chicken noodle soup with homemade noodles, and a couple dozen delicious varieties of pie. I wish I could go back there, just to hear the pacific north-western waitress rhyme off the unending list of varieties of heaven-by-the-slice.

Things, recently having come to a head as they have, with visions of pies served in lieu of cake at my own wedding swimming in my head, I decided it was probably time to actually cook up my own pie (a seasonally appropriate butternut squash pie, to be specific).

So, I’m going to recommend if you want to do the same, to immediately go to Smitten Kitchen and read pie crust’s 101, 102 and 103 (but especially 102). Although my recipe veered away from her’s a little, in that I used pastry flour and salted butter in my crust – omitting the added salt. However, through the Smitten Kitchen’s intervention, I think I’ve realised that my problem with most pie crusts is solely related to their inclusion of things that aren’t butter.

Butter is better. End of story.

It makes your crust taste like the nummiest shortbread, crumble and flake like it should, and your kitchen smell like butterscotch. Shortening tastes like oil and chemicals. Lard tastes like pigs. Go for the butter, instead.

So. I make pie now.

It’s a brave new world.

Butternut Squash Pie

(This will probably make enough filling for 2 shallow pies, or 1 deep dish pie, or in my case 1 overfilled pie and a half dozen tartlets.)

• 1 butternut squash
• 1 teaspoon butter or oil

1. Cut squash in half, remove seeds, rub with butter (or oil) roast in oven on sheetpan (cut side down) at 400(f) for 45 minutes.
2. Remove from oven, remove skin and puree meat using blender, food processor, or (like me) your grandma’s awesome old potato ricer.

• 2 cups butternut squash (roasted and pureed)
• 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 2 teaspoons chai masala spice (or pumpkin spice)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350. Mix ingredients
2. Pour into pie crust (I used Smitten Kitchens pie 102) and bake for 40 minutes, or until filling is set.
3. Serve when cool, smothered in cinnamon whipped cream.

a taste of fall

We’ve been celebrating fall pretty hard-core around here. We even tried to go apple picking this weekend, but it turned out the harvest is over, so we went hiking instead. We also attended a squash sampling party (I liked the turban squash, and the butternut pie the best – yum!). For the party, we brought a little squash-based creation of my own – pumpkin pie squares.

The recipe came about from trying to perfect a recipe for pumpkin bread. The first recipe I tried was dry and flavourless. So I played around until I came up with this recipe – more of a dense, moist square then a bread really.

I also felt the dark chocolate most pumpkin based recipes (which seem to be very trendy these days) call for would be so overwhelming and heavy for the delicate, spicy pumpkin flavour. So I switched dark chocolate chips for white chocolate ones – which was really a genius move, if I do say so myself. The little gooey bits of creamy white chocolate tasted just like tiny bites of whipped cream, mixed into pumpkin pie.

It’s all the flavours of pumpkin pie, in a much more portable square form!

So portable, you could take these squares on a picnic (like we did on our hike), or pack them with your lunch. Just try doing that with a slice of pie!

pumpkin pie squares

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons baking powder
• 1 tbsp masala chai spice, or pumpkin pie spice
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 3 cups canned pumpkin (puree – apx 1 large can)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter (melted)
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup white chocolate chips

1. Mix dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, spices, salt).
2. Add wet (pumpkin, sugars, butter, eggs, vanilla) to dry, then add chocolate chips.
3. Bake for 40 minutes – 1 hour @ 350 in large, greased pan (9×13 pan would be a good choice).

tomato candy

So, it some patience and some waiting, but my heirloom tomato ship finally came in. We’ve been enjoying these babies pretty thoroughly the last few weeks. They’re just so gorgeous, they make every meal a little more special – sliced up with some olive oil and sea salt – or chopped into a spinach curry – or gently sauteed and tumbled over pasta.

Every few days when I have a new pileup of them on the counter I slice ‘em up and stick them into the oven (at a really low temp – like 100-200 degrees F). Half a day later, I have my very own oven dried heirloom tomatoes to use all year long!

Yeah, these babies are pretty much as hardcore as food porn gets.

matrilineal shortbread

My grandmother on my moms side was Scottish. So I feel some sort of kinship with my matrilineage whenever I make shortbread – which is probably one of the reasons (however subconscious) I made shortbread for my Indian themed, Mother’s Day tea last month.

In fact, my grandmother could be said to have been one of the biggest reasons I enjoy tea parties so much – I inherited her fancy dishes including a 20 piece tea service (including the cup and saucer I used in this picture).

My recipe is usually pretty plain and traditional, but a little touch of spice never hurt anybody, and the same could be said of shortbread. The little decoration of brightly hued fennel candy (which might be a bit hard to find, but check your nearest Little India) is what really makes it special though.

chai shortbread

• 1 cup soft butter
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 cup rice flour
• 2 tbsp chai spice mix
• 2 tbsp candied fennel

1. Cream butter, sugar and vanilla.
2. Mix flours and spice mix in a separate bowl.
3. Combine butter mix and flour mix and knead with hands until it comes together into a crumbly dough.
4. Refrigerate for at least half an hour.
5. Roll to 1/2 cm thick and cut into desired shapes (I used a small juice glass to get rounds).
6. Sprinkle each cookie round with a few candied anise seeds and bake @ 300 F for 15 minutes.

chai spice mix

• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp fennel seed
• 1/2 tsp coriander seed
• 1/2 tsp dry ginger
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
• 1 cardamom pod
• 4 peppercorns

1. Put all ingredients in a spice grinder, (clean) coffee grinder or mortar and pestle and grind ’til fragrant and powdery.

indian tea party

The week of Mother’s day, I was pretty busy. I threw two dinner parties – one for some vegan friends, the other a Mother’s day bash for my mother of course! So as you could imagine, I spent a lot of time baking, and cleaning, and cooking, and doing dishes… and then I did it all over again!

I was so busy, I didn’t get the chance to post the recipes and pictures of the food from my Mother’s day party – and I came up with a big themed menu from scratch.

I wanted to have a tea party as a bit of a tribute to my mom for bringing us along to England for a family wedding last year. While there, we had tea in a little, ridiculously-named tea-house tucked into the beautiful, cobblestone lane-ways of Canterbury. I thought it’d be nice to recreate something similar.

But, of course, I live in Little India, not England. And there is (of course) a cultural connection between the two. So why not, I thought, do a little bit of fusion? So we had an Indian inspired, afternoon tea.

The menu consisted of the following

Sandwiches:

• Tandoori pork tenderloin with mango chutney
• Curried egg salad with corriander and crasins
• Cucumber with green chutney
• Iced chocolate chai tea

Desert:

• Coconut-banana scones w/ double cream and preseves
• Chai spiced shortbread
• Fruit salad (with mangos, dragon-fruit, pineapple and watermelon)
• Lady Grey tea

The big star of the evening was, I think, the cucumber sandwiches. People always underestimate a good cucumber sandwich. It seems so simple – cucumber, butter, white bread. But there’s something about it that’s heavenly.

These cucumber sandwiches in particular were made even more heavenly by the addition of a Indian condiment – green chutney: a tart, verdant, cilantro-based, fresh sauce (apparently the traditional topping for a cucumber sandwich at Indian cricket matches). It definitely added a kick to the classic canape – and to everything else we ate that week – rice, noodles, other less cucumbery sandwiches. It’s become something I love to have around. It makes a large quantity, but since there’s salt, sugar and acid in it, it’s stay fresh for a while (and it’s a great way to use up the rest of those huuuuuuuge bunches of cilantro they sell in the markets).

Green Chutney

• 2 cups cilantro (chopped)
• 1 onion (chopped)
• 3 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup flaked coconut
• 1 lemon (juice and zest)
• 1 tsp dry ginger
• 1 tsp siracha (hot sauce)
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar

1. Put everything in a blender or food processor and blend.
2. Store in air-tight container in fridge.
3. If using for cucumber sandwiches: drop a spoonful of chutney on slices of buttered, white bread; cover with a couple even layers of lightly-salted, thinly-sliced cucumber; top with another slice of buttered bread; cut off crusts, and into four triangles.

the adding to dough of cheese and tomatoes

Yesterday made up for all the crappy stuff that’s happened in the last couple of weeks (including – but not limited to – the top coat on my coral-coloured, venetian-plaster peeling right of my walls – I WARN YOU ALL EXPLICITLY: NEVER EVER BUY DEBBIE TRAVIS PRODUCTS THEY ARE CRAP).

But then I was in the grocery store and they had ripe tomatoes. That is all it requires for me to be happy. Jewel bright, yielding, soft, fragrant tomatoes fresh from a local hothouse. Not just red ones – no, orange and yellow too. So we celebrated with the adding to dough of cheese and tomatoes: Pizza!

I’m not going even going to bother with a real recipe, because it was too easy to make:

We marinated the sliced tomatoes in flavored oil (garlic and chili) with a generous sprinkling of oregano, basil and salt. Then we spread out (store-bought) pizza dough on a cornmeal covered pizza stone, brushed it with a little more oil, piled on the tomatoes and shredded mozza and baked it at 400 for 20 minutes. Perfection!

After a long Sunday filled with hanging laundry on the line and digging and planting (the garden is officially dug in by the way) we relaxed on our deck and watched the stars begin to twinkle, and the CN tower begin it’s LED rainbow show, accompanied by our little pizza margherita and two cold glasses of limoncello and soda.

Meanwhile, all three kitties gathered by the window and stared at us, jealously. I don’t blame them.

pain d’epice french bread

Liam had a day off he had to use up this month so he took monday off. We spent the day at Humber nurseries scaring up a few last plant purchases – yellow strawberries, chocolate mint (yay!) and pink champagne geraniums – they have pretty hot pink flowers and give off a citrusy perfume – very much like pink champagne! It is the girliest flower of all time, and I am in love with it.

To start the day off right, I made a fancy breakfast – not something I do very often. I do dinner, but I don’t really do breakfast. We usually grab some toast or cereal and that’s about it.

But I had come across some dutch “pain d’epice” in the grocery store tucked in a shelf between the cookie and the cracker section. Pain d’epice is normally a french – and specifically alsacean food – it’s a spice laden honey cake. It smelled really good – like rich gingerbread, so I decided to give it a try.

When we got it home we realized it was a little dry and lacking on it’s own – but I had a brainstorm. I had recently seen Nigella whip up a donut french bread.

Hrmmm…

What could be better than spicy donut french bread?

And instead of strawberry sauce, how ’bout some spicy apples, since we got some nice organic ones in our food box?

Well, it seems my instincts were good that day, because Liam has proclaimed it the best thing I have ever made, and that he would like it every day, at each and every meal (which is not gonna happen unless we want to weight 300 pounds each!).

Pan D’Epice French Toast

• 1/2 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 8 1 cm thick slices of pain d’epice or other spice loaf or cake
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon oil
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar mixed with 1 tablespoon icing sugar mixed with a pinch of cinnamon (garnish)

1. whisk the milk eggs and vanilla in a small shallow dish
2. dredge the bread/cake in the eggy mixture
3. heat the butter and the oil on a medium heat in a frying pan until they are gently sizzling
4. fry up the eggy bread in the frying pan until it is cooked and crispy
5. garnish with the sugar mixture sprinkled on top, and a dollop of spicy apples

Quick and Spicy Apple Sauce

• 2 apples (peeled and chopped into 1 inch chunks)
• 1 teaspoon butter
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon cornstarch mixed into 1/2 cup of water
• more sugar and cinnamon to taste

1. heat the butter in a small sauce pan until it is melted and gently sizzling
2. add the apples and sugar to the pot and saute until the sugar melts and the apples start to soften
3. add the cinnamon and the cornstarch slurry and continue to cook until the apples are softened and the sauce has thickened
4. add more sugar and cinnamon if you feel like it needs to be sweeter and/or spicier

yummy week

I’ve been having a good food week. Right now I am sitting here with a (natural) peanut-butter and (concord) grape jelly sandwich and a big, tall glass of chocolate milk. I don’t think it gets more nostalgic than that (*sigh*…grade two… bag lunch… twenty five cents for a carton of the good stuff *sigh*). I bet it’s a meal that people across North America remember and cherish in the same way I remember and cherish it, and that’s sort of neat.

I’ve also been exploring exotic, not so familiar, tastes.

We finally ventured out to little India last week (also known as one block down the street) and bought some spices, paneer (fresh cheese), jellabi (basically funnel cake soaked in syrup), daal (spiced lentils) and the most yummy, fresh, delicious naan (spicy flat bread) and had ourselves an authentic Indian feast!

One of the stores down the street sells samosas at three for a dollar, so I think I’m pretty much sunk. I could eat a bucket of them, and actually I have.

Last night I made a cottage pie, which is something I had in England. It’s basically what we know as Shepard’s pie, but in England a pie with lamb is a Shepard’s pie, and a pie with ground beef is a cottage pie (and it comes smothered in cheddar!). I don’t know what it was about the “Shepard’s” pie I had growing up, but it was not as flavorful as the one I had in England. So I attempted to re-create it.

I cheated and used a lot of “Montreal style” steak spice to season the meat (which is basically just sea salt and cracked black pepper with some cayenne, corriander, dill, garlic, and onion), and it seemed to do the trick in the flavor department. I ran out of corn starch to thicken up the gravy for my stew, so I had to improvise. I thought about what a peasant living in a small cottage might do in my situation. I decided to toss in a few cubed up slices of stale, oatmeal-honey bread into the pot to soak up the stock and it worked like a charm! It thickened my sauce, gave it a richer flavour than starch or flour would have, and bulked it up enough that it could stand up to being covered with mashed potatoes.

For the stew:

• 1 pound ground beef (whatever cut you prefer – nothing too lean though)
• 1 tbsp “Montreal style” steak seasoning (or an equal amt. of a mix of salt, pepper, and your favourite herbs and spices for beef – thyme, rosemary, dill, and coriander being quite good here).
• 2 carrots (diced)
• 2 sticks of celery (diced)
• 1 onion (diced)
• 1 clove garlic (diced)
• 1 cup beef stock
• 3 slices whole wheat bread (chopped into 1 cm cubes)
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

For the mash:

• 2 pounds of potatoes (chopped into 1 inch cubes, un-peeled – potato skin is flavourful and nutrient rich, and you don’t even notice it when it’s mashed)
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/2 cup milk
• salt and pepper

Topping:

• 1/4 cup old/aged cheddar cheese (grated)

1. Steam or boil the potatoes.
2. Saute the meat with the spices and garlic until it is browned. Add in the vegetables and continue to sauté until they soften.
3. Add the sauces, stock and bread to the meat mixture, stirring to make sure the bread absorbs all the liquid and begins to break down and thicken the stock.
4. When the potatoes are fork-soft, drain them, and mash them with the butter and milk, seasoning well with salt and pepper.
5. Layer the meat stew into the bottom of a casserole dish, and then cover evenly with the mashed potatoes. Give the top of the potatoes some texture by using a fork to draw a pattern into the mash (I like a big spiral). Sprinkle the top evenly with the grated cheese.
6. Broil at 400 for 5-10 minutes, or until the cheese has melted.

In the end, my pie came out of the oven golden and crispy on top, and rich and comforting in the middle. It was quite perfect. You should try it! It makes a lot – at least enough to stuff 6 people – or two people 3 times, as the case may be.

There was one blight this week though. The less said about my fish-ball pad-Thai the better alright?

sizzling shrimp

My little brother and sister came over to visit last night – one last time in the old ‘hood before we move. I was going to make them dinner, but I was at a loss as to what I would make.

Then we started discussing how the other night we had been watching one of our new favourite shows of the fall: Chuck, and this weeks episode centred around a Chinese restaurant entree called “sizzling shrimp.”

We were intrigued. But alas, we had never eaten such a dish.

So I decided I would do my best and improvise, based on nothing more than a name.

What follows is that improvisation. It is probably nothing like what real sizzling shrimp is like, but it is delicious, it is spicy, it sizzles and it’s tastes vaguely like something you might get at a really good little restaurant in Chinatown.

Sizzling Shrimp

• 1 pound shrimp (raw but peeled or zipper-back)
• 1 tbsp butter (melted)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 teaspoon chilli-garlic sauce
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1 lime (zest and juice)
• 2 green onions (chopped)
• salt to taste

1. Toss the shrimp with the butter, oil, chilli-garlic sauce, soy and lime zest. Let the shrimp hang out and and marinate for 10-30 minutes while you pre-heat oven to 400.
2. Place the saucy shrimp in a single layer on a baking sheet (you can skewer them – 3-4 per skewer if that makes them easier to handle). Broil for 10-20 minutes, or until the shells of the shrimp are lightly browned, flipping once at the halfway mark.
3. As soon as the shrimp are browned evenly on both sides remove them from the oven and sprinkle a little bit of salt on top, then the green onions on top so they absorb the heat and wilt slightly and then squeeze the juice from the lime onto them.
4. Serve while hot, preferably with retro, classic, Chinese-restaurant-style accompaniments – like fried rice and egg-rolls.

spring is coming

A week or two ago, my sister came down for a visit with my little brother and we all went out to dinner together. I think I’ve mentioned my brothers strange aversion to all food that isn’t somehow Mexican/Tex-Mex/Central American in origin?

So we went to this little restaurant way down Queen street that I’ve had my eye on for quite some time: Johny Banana. And yes, Johny Banana is a monkey.

What immediately attracted me was the gigantic Mexican wrestler mural on the back wall the quotes from Shakira on the chalkboard, and bossa nova on the speakers. The menu was impressive too – a very wide selection of light fusion cuisine and for desert? Churros accompanied by spicy Aztec hot chocolate. Awesome, right?

To top it all off they also had an extensive (by which I mean HUGE) beverage menu (alcoholic and non), with a bunch of really wacky and intriguing smoothies – like avocado shakes. Liam had this one that had banana, guava and mint in it – SOOOOO good – refreshing and totally unexpected.

I decided we had to recreate it at home right away. But maybe without the guava (too sweet).

Last night I whipped this baby up with some orange juice replacing the guava and I was so impressed with myself. Not only did it taste delightful – but it looked like spring. Pale, pale chartreuse with little flecks of deep green. I’m calling it my “spring is coming” smoothie, because around here the snow is almost gone, and the earth is warming. It’s almost spring!

spring is coming smoothie

• 2 cups orange juice
• 1 banana
• half a cup of vanilla yogurt
• 2 sprigs of fresh mint (make sure to remove the stems!)
• 4 or so cubes of ice

Toss the orange juice, banana, vanilla yogurt into a blender and blend until the mint is barely visable (no more than tiny flecks). Add in the ice, blend once more, and serve garnished with a single mint leaf in each glass.
(makes two big glasses).

sweater & soup weather

I think one of my favourite kinds of weather could best be described as sweater – and soup – weather.

Since the weather outside could indeed be described as such (and Liam was generous enough to share his cold with me) we needed something warm and reviving around here. So I made a huge batch of tortellini minestrone.

Minestrone was pretty much my go-to winter meal when I was in my first few years of university. I lived in a big old house with a bunch of hungry people (including my soon-to be boyfriend), and for not very much money I could whip up LITRES AND LITRES of the stuff.

Pretty much all of the ingredients are things I like to have on hand in my fridge and pantry at all times. I don’t have to make any special shopping trips. Not to mention, this soup lasts for days in the fridge – and for weeks in the freezer – it is one of those rare foods that gets better on the second day. If you know you’re going to have a busy week, it’s the perfect solution. One hour of work, and you’re pretty much fed for the week.

Basically, what I’m saying is, minestrone is something I’ve perfected at this point. It’s sooo easy. And sooo good.

tortellini minestrone

• 1 large can of tomatoes (diced or whole)
• 1 small tin of tomato paste
• 1 onion
• 2 carrots
• 2 celery stalks
• 1 red pepper
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1 package of frozen spinach (apx. 300 grams – 1 cup)
• 1 package of tortellini (apx. 350 grams – 2 cups – of whichever variety you prefer)
• 1 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 tsp of fennel seeds (crushed, or ground)
• 1 small chilli pepper (fresh or dried)
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 2 cups of stock (chicken OR vegetable OR beef – whichever you prefer)
• pepper
• salt

1. Dice the onions, carrots, celery, and red pepper and drain the tomatoes – reserving the juice.
2. In a very large pot, sauté the onions in the olive oil, then add the carrots, then the celery, then the red pepper, then the drained tomatoes, and finally the tomato paste (in that order) . What you want, is for the tomatoes to deepen and darken in colour – from a light orangey red – to a deep burgundy. That means the sugars in the tomatoes have caramelized. Yum!
3. Quickly, before the vegetables start to burn to the bottom of the pot, add in the reserved tomato juice, 2 cups of stock, the frozen spinach, and all the flavourings (bay, fennel, chilli, garlic, salt, pepper) and 2-4 cups of water (depending on how thick you like your soup to be -). Now comes the easy part: turn the heat waaaaay down to low and simmer for 30 min-hour with the lid on. Check it every once and a while and stir it (to make sure the vegetables aren’t sticking on the bottom).
4. 5-10 minutes before serving turn the heat up to medium or so and dump the tortellini and the frozen peas in (add extra water if necessary – the tortellini’s going to soak up a lot of it) – stick around and stir the pot every couple of minutes so the pasta doesn’t stick.
5. Fish out the bay leaf (if you can find it) and serve in big steaming bowls with sprinklings of parmesan and a side of garlic toast.

P.S. Minestrone isn’t really meant to be a set down in stone kinda recipe – What makes it really, authentic Italian is to use up whatever you’ve got lying around. So feel free to throw in any leftover vegetables (sun dried tomatoes, parsnips, fennel, rapini, cauliflower, Italian parsley, whatever!) and even any leftover meats (especially any pork – like bacon, prosciutto, ham or sausage) – even though I kept my version vegetarian.

suggestion

If you decide to make that brisket I gave the recipe for yesterday (or have already made it – and good on you for that) here is what you should do if there are any leftovers:

1. Warm up any leftover gravy and add in any leftover meat.
2. Make some fries (my oven roasted potatoes sliced into shoestrings will do).
3. Crumble up a couple hundred grams of fontina cheese.
4. Indulge in some of the best poutine of your life.

My theory is: Calories don’t count in February. Especially not when your boyfriend is sick and snuffly and grumpy and pathetic and has to head to work on a cold night.

love beef

It was probably wandering past all the restaurants serving up fillet minion in a red wine reduction on Valentines day, but for some reason I wanted something red, beefy, winey and onion studded for dinner that night.

But, being the kind of person that can’t leave well enough alone, I didn’t want to blow 30 bucks on some boring tenderloin or other schmancy cut of meat. In the grocery store, at the butchers counter, I had an epiphany, “Ooooh… a combo the best of the two finest beef dishes known to man: brisket and bourguignon! That’s it!”

This recipe is not for the faint of heart. Or faint of meat.

A brisket is the ideal meal when you’ve got some extra patience and time on your hands – it doesn’t require too much active participation, but does some require some time (3-4 hours) to gently braise. The other night Liam was working at a local theatre, so I knew he wouldn’t get home ’til late. Perfect opportunity for some braising.

We got some great Argentinean merlot for this. You don’t need to get anything fancy, but it has to be a pretty butch red wine to stand up to the red meat. Of course, a Burgundy would be most authentic – but this is not meant to be authentic boeuf bourguignon, it is merely an interpretation of it’s flavours. So really, anything goes, and I decided to keep things relatively simple – a good cut of beef doesn’t need too much mucking around with.

This serves two with leftovers. Which you will most definitely want.

bourguignon brisket with roasted potatoes

• 1 small beef brisket (apx 1 pound of meat)
• 1 cup of red wine
• 1 cup of good vegetable stock (home made would be ideal)
• 1/2 pound of small shallots (or apx. 1 dozen , or a good handful)
• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp thyme
• 2 tablespoons of cold butter
• 1 pound of potatoes
• 1 tsp of olive oil
• Cracked black pepper corns
• Course sea salt

1. Peel the shallots, but leave them whole. Dice the garlic. Season the meat with the salt, pepper and diced garlic – vigourously massaging it it into the meat.
2. Put the meat into a small casserole dish with a lid. The brisket should have a bit of fat on one side. Put that side up. If it does not have much fat on the top (and believe me, fat is very necessary to keep the meat from drying out), put the butter right on top of the meat.
   Pour the wine, herbs and shallots in (reserving one shallot). There should be enough liquid to almost cover the meat.
3. Put it in the oven (preheated to 300 F) covered and leave it there for 3-4 hours – checking occasionally (every 30-60 minutes) to make sure it does not dry out.
   The liquid should slowly evaporate and thicken (leaving you with a delicious sauce) but if it is evaporating too quickly, feel free to top up with stock and baste as neeed.
4. Now for the potatoes: 1 hour before you expect the brisket to be done, chop up the potatoes and place them on a baking sheet with 1 tsp of olive oil, and a good coating of salt and pepper, and the reserved shallot (diced). Take the brisket out of the oven, and “borrow” a teaspoon or so of it’s roasting juices to add in with the potatoes. Toss well. Return both the meat, and the potatoes to the oven.
5. The brisket is done when it falls apart at the mere sight of a utensil… Ok, not quite, but when it should shred really easily with a fork. Remove the meat from the oven and it’s pan and wrap it in tin foil, letting it rest for 15 minutes to a half hour.
   Remove the bay leaf from the juices and if you have not yet used the butter, add it to the sauce now (it may be kept warm in the oven until the meat is ready to serve).
6. After the designated waiting period, you should shred the meat with a fork into manageable pieces and give it a light coating of the sauce. The potatoes should also be done around now – they should be evenly gold, crispy and roasted on the outside, and soft on the inside.
7. Serve the roasted potates and shredded, saucy brisket accompanied by freshly steamed and salted green vegetables (we had rapini, which was excellent) and a vessel of the rich, juicy, shallot-studded sauce.

estas no son enchiladas

The other night I was at my parents house and they somehow roped me into making dinner. I’m not quite sure how it happened, but it had something to do with my little brothers love of Mexican food, the general lack of said Mexican food up there in sunny north Toronto and there being a unappetizing frozen lasagna in the deep freeze.

I think at some point I mentioned that I could make a mean enchilada, and how they are the (muchos easier) Mexican equivalent to lasagna…

And suddenly I was making them dinner in their own house.

Seriously though. Enchiladas are muchos easier to make than lasagna. Especially my recipe which relies on a few grocery store helpers (like those rotisserie chickens and a bottle of tomatillo salsa).
But if you want to spend a couple hours roasting a chicken, make your own tortillas from scratch and hunt down tomatilos in the dead of winter, then be my guest (actually, having fresh tomatilos might be worth it – they are super yummy and sweet).

My family devoured my enchilada, so I’ve decided to publish it here so they (and you) can make it themselves next time.

chicken, chorizo and black bean enchiladas

You will need:

• 1 whole rotisserie chicken
• 1 package of flour tortillas (10 small OR 6 large)
• 1 jar of salsa verde (green tomatillo salsa)
• 1 cup of shredded monterey jack cheese (or cheddar, or mozzarella, or whatever you like, or have got on hand)
• 1 chorizo sausage
• 1 small can of black beans
• 1 small can of diced tomatoes
• 1 green bell pepper
• 1 small onion
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 chilli pepper or dash of hot sauce
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp chilli powder
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh cilantro (optional)

1. First, remove the meat from the bones of the chicken and shred it into small pieces with a fork. Then, chop the chorizo and pepper into bite size pieces and dice the onion and clove of garlic.
2. Now, sauté the chorizo for a few minutes. You should not need to add any oil as the chorizo’s fat will melt and release it’s oil into the pan. Add the onion, pepper and garlic and continue sautéing until the onion is soft. Add the shredded chicken, beans, tomatoes, cilantro and spices and simmer on medium for 10 – 20 minutes, or until the flavours meld.
3. All right, now for the messy bit: One at a time, gently fold the tortillas (so they curve into a U shape, like tacos) and fit them upright into a casserole dish so that they are all evenly spaced and fit nicely. This will make filling easy. Then, take your filling and spoon it into each tortilla. When each and every tortilla is evenly filled, carefully tuck the flaps of each tortilla down and around so that instead of a U you now have a tube.
4. Don’t worry if some of the flaps still stick up. You’re just going to dump sauce and cheese on the top, and that will weigh them down. So go ahead. Spread the salsa on top (you’ll probably only need about 2/3 of the jar), and then sprinkle the cheese evenly over that.
5. Then stick it in the oven and broil the heck out of it – in other words, until the cheese on top is golden and bubbly (probably not more than 10 minutes). You’re done! Yummy!

P.S. You could make this vegetarian really easily by omitting the chorizo and chicken and replacing it with a dash of olive oil (for sauteing the veggies) and couple cups of cooked rice. It’s already got black beans, so your protein is covered. You could probably even take it up to eleven/vegan if you hunted down some veggie cheese.

ye olde timey elixirs and potions

Here, as promised, are the recipes for my Fast Food project.

They are super-mega-healthy fruit smoothies for kids, that look kind of disgusting, but actually taste pretty good. The lime and the ginger in the Pirate Grog even cure scurvy and seasickness, respectively.

I think they would also work really well for themed kids parties (like a pirate party, or a Monsters Inc. party, or maybe even a Halloween party).

Or add some booze to them, and have them at themed non-kid parties (the grog is just asking to be turned into a rummy daiquiri).

Pirate Grog
500 ml vanilla almond milk
250 ml pureed fresh kiwis
250 ml pear juice
zest and juice of one lime
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp spirulina

Put everything in a blender and blend!
Serve chilled. Makes apx. 1 litre juice.

Monster Goo
500 ml vanilla almond milk
250 ml pureed fresh or frozen blueberries
250 ml pear juice
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp spirulina

Put everything in a blender and blend!
Serve chilled. Makes apx. 1 litre juice.

Warning: If you add in the Spirulina, it will significantly boost the health quotient of these beverages BUT it is very expensive and will turn these from bright fun colours (lime green and purple) into dark foreboding ones (slime green and black). That’s kinda the look we were going for (stomach turning actually – although the ginger acts as a natural and highly effective anti-nauseant) as we were capitalizing on the current, incredibly successful, trend in gross-out marketing for kids (bloody zit slushie anyone?). But if you want to save a bit of money, and your stomach, you may want to skip it.