We’re having birthday month girl Pam and her new beau Don with Barb and Kevin for dinner tonight. I would have like to make a really supper fancy dinner, but work has been a bear this week (pulled a mid-nighter on Wednesday, which, I have to admit is not too bad – maybe one or two a year – but, I’m not 21 anymore! Really, I’m not. Oh, just stop it!!!!).
It’s exciting because tonight is Earth Hour between 8:30 and 9:30 where you make every effort to turn off ALL your lights. So we will be eating by candle light (thank goodness I have a gas stove!)
Here is the menu:

• Hors d’oeuvres: JT’s Artisan Pizza with Goats Cheese, Prosciutto and Baby Spinach
• Amuse Bouche: (my new favourite) Leek and Potato Cappuccino with Gruyere crème

• Salad: Boston Bib with Pears Poached in Spiced Balsamic Vinegar, Candied Spicy Walnuts and Crumbled Stilton with a Balsamic Raspberry Vinegrette

• Main: Mushroom and Chestnut Barley Risotto with Seared Giant Scallops and a Lemon Sage Butter Sauce
• Dessert: Birthday Normandy Apple Tart, complete with a candle.

Not sure if there will be new photos, but I will surely post new recipes shortly.

I was blog surfing a couple of weeks ago and came across this recipe from An Indian Kitchen in France. It is SOOOO good and not nearly as bad for you as the restaurant variety. I made the paneer exactly as Chandra’s recipe, but I admit I made a few modifications to the gravy recipe. Here is a link to Chandra’s version. Check out her blog, she is a very interesting woman.

Serves 4 (unless your husband loves it as much as mine did and then it serves only 3!)

For the Paneer:

• 1 liter of whole milk
• 125 g of whisked yoghurt (I used no fat)
  
• 3 tablespoons of lime juice

1. To make the paneer, boil the milk in a thick-bottomed pan. When it has come to a full boil, turn the heat down very low, add the yogurt and the lime juice, and stir these in thoroughly till the paneer begins to form.

2. Drain the paneer through a sieve that has been lined with a large, fine piece of cloth. Keep some of the whey by collecting it in a vessel placed under the sieve. You can use this later to add to the curry; some say it adds to the taste, and it is full of good things anyway.
3. Place the cloth with the paneer in it carefully on a large chopping board, and form it carefully in to a large square shape. Fold the cloth over this, and press the paneer down with a heavy weight (typically a large vessel full of water) that places uniform pressure on all parts of the paneer’s surface, for 20-30 minutes, so that all the excess water drains out and the paneer becomes firm. When the panner seems set, cut it in to 1/2 ” or 1″ squares. Mine turned out a bit loose, so I asked Chandra for some advice, and she elaborate so:
   “To drain the paneer well, I keep the block of paneer pressed under a heavy weight for about 20 minutes on a large chopping board (and wipe/mop away the whey as it drains out on to the board), then turn it over press the other side for another 10 minutes. Over 3-4 attempts, one figures out the balance between not pressing it for long enough, and pressing it too long such that the paneer tends to then go a bit dry.”

For the Gravy:

• 1 medium sweet onion such as vidalia or mayan chopped
• 1 cup of stewed plum tomatoes
• ½ a tsp, or a little more, of grated ginger
• 2 large cloves of garlic, grated
• ½ a tsp of ground cumin
  
• ½ a tsp or a little more, of coriander powder
• ½ a tsp of turmeric
• ½ a tsp of garam masala powder
• 2 tbsp of cashew paste (or tahini) (this is an optional ingredient)
• salt to taste
• 3-4 tbsp of sunflower oil

1. To make the curry, heat the oil in a frying pan, add the cumin , and when these start to release their aroma put the onions in. Fry these till they start to turn golden brown, then add the ginger and the garlic and fry for another minute.
2. Add the cashew nut paste and fry the mixture till the onions turn a darkish brown.
3. Add the tomato purée and cook till everything is well-blended and the puree starts to dry. Add the spices and fry for a further minute.
4. Now add a cup or a little more of the whey or boiled water, and pressure cook the curry for 5-7 minutes. Cool and refrigerate overnight (may be skipped).
   
5. Blend until smooth using an emersion blender. Strain through a fine sieve.
6. Reheat the next day and cook the mixture until a desired consistency is achieved.
   When the cooker has cooled enough for you to be able to open it easily, add the paneer pieces and simmer the curry for a little while so that the gravy is not runny.

Serve with home made naan.

Adapted from Once Upon a Feast blog. This is the closest one to restaurant butter chicken, no doubt a lot healthier.

• Boneless chicken, cut up into 1-2” cubes
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• Water to make 1/2 cup when mixed with tomato paste
• 2 tsp grated  fresh ginger
• 150 mL Carnation Evaporated Milk
• 1 tsp garam masala
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 tbsp Splenda Brown Sugar
• 1 fresh green chili, seeded & finely chopped (optional)
• 1/8  tsp cayenne pepper
• 2 tsp lemon juice
• 1 tsp toasted cumin seeds, ground
• 50g unsalted butter or ghee (Indian clarified butter)
• 1/2 cup no fat yogurt with 1 tsp flour, mix well

1. In a large measuring cup, add tomato paste and add enough water to make 1/2 cup, mixing as you go. Add everything except the chicken and yogurt to blend the sauce well.
2. In a large sauté pan or skillet, melt the ghee/butter and add the sauce. Bring to a simmer and stir until butter is well incorporated in the sauce. Heat for one minute or so.
3. Add the chicken and stir until they chicken is cooked through.
4. Add the yogurt and stir well.
5. Serve with naan bread and basmati rice.

We are now officially addicted to Jim Lahey’s no knead recipes. JT is the executioner of all of these recipes. Of course I am jealous, he has taken away my role as chief cook in the relationship, now I am the executive chef, sometimes overseeing, mostly just on the board, giving advice when asked. We came across this recipe today, and even while I type this entry, the love of my life is downstairs making up our first batch of this dough. Supper was very tasty tonight.

As seen on Martha Stewart.

Directions

1. In a large bowl, combine flour, 1/8 teaspoon salt, yeast, and 1/2 cup water. Stir until blended; dough will be shaggy and rough. Let dough rest in a warm place (about 72 degrees) until doubled in volume, about 3 hours.
2. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and cover with a clean, damp kitchen towel. Let stand until doubled in size, 30 minutes to 1 hour.
3. Place a pizza stone (we use our trusty Chicago-land cast iron pizza pan) on the lowest rack of oven and preheat to 550 degrees for 25 minutes.
4. Flatten dough into a disk that is thicker in the center than at the edges. Using your fingers, gently pull on the edges of the dough to form a 6- to 8-inch circle; dough should still be thicker in the center. Drape dough over both hands, and using your knuckles, work dough out from the center into a 12-inch circle.
5. Carefully transfer dough to hot pizza stone. Working quickly, top dough with cheeses, pepper, garlic, and spinach; season with salt. Bake pizza until spinach is wilted and slightly browned, about 10 minutes.
6. Using a pizza peel, remove pizza from oven and drizzle over olive oil; serve immediately.

*Note that all nutritionl facts may not be accurate and are a guideline ONLY.

We’ve made this recipe many times, it’s one of our favourites! adapted from Epicurious.com we have, of course, modified it to our taste!

This is one of the tastiest salmon recipes I have done so far, and each time is a HUGE success! I generally buy a large salmon fillet and serve it family style, because it is so beautiful, but you can do individual portions or steaks. You will want to marinate the salmon in the brine overnight or at least 4 hours to get the full effect.

• 1 quart water
• 1/4 cup (packed) brown sugar splenda
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 1/4 cup sea salt
• 1 2lb salmon fillet
• 3 cups (or more) Cedar smoke chips, soaked in water 30 minutes

Preparation

1. Stir first 4 ingredients in large bowl until sugars dissolve. Add salmon (skin side up), to brine, pressing to submerge. Cover and refrigerate overnight. Remove salmon from brine; discard brine. Rinse salmon under cold water. Place salmon, skin side down, on rack. Let stand until top is dry to touch (do not pat dry), about 1 hour. Prepare barbecue (medium-low heat). Using 2 layers of foil, make 12 x 10-inch foil rectangle with 1-inch-high sides. Place 3 cups smoke chips on foil rectangle. Set atop coals 5 minutes before grilling salmon allow to begin smoking. Make sure the heat is turned OFF below the salmon, you want indirect heat from the smoke to cook it. Position barbecue rack at least 6 inches above heat. Position vents on barbecue so that chips smoke and heat burn but do not flame.
2. Smoke until salmon is firm to touch and glaze forms over salmon, adding more smoke chips to barbecue if necessary, 30 minutes to 1 hour, depending on heat of grill.
3. Transfer salmon to platter; serve warm or at room temperature. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover; chill. Bring to room temperature before serving.)
4. Serve with a Horseradish Aoili

JT made this with the Naan for dinner last night. This is quite tasty but it’s not the ‘butter chicken’ I know. What’s different about it is that it has almonds and raisins in the recipe. It’s a lot of work, and not really worth it, so I won’t bother posting the recipe, but it looks pretty good, so here is the photo. Recipe came from Simply Indian by Tahera Rawji and Hamida Suleman, published 2003 by Whitecap books, page 51.

This is what we did differently than the recipe: substitute Carnation Evaporated Milk for the Cream and we also puréed the sauce so that it is more creamy and added about 1 tbsp of tomato purée and about 2 tbsp tandoori paste instead of 1 tbsp tandoori powder. In my opinion is that this is too sweet (too many raisins when puréed) and it needs about 1/2 cup to 1 cup plain yogurt for the tang.

• 7-8 larg e scallops (these were about 1 oz each!)
• 7-8 Prosciutto slices
• 3 cups Arugula
• 1 ripe tomato
• 10 cauliflower florets
• 1 tsp olive oil

1. Dry scallops well and wrap tightly with prosciutto and hold in place with a toothpick.
2. Preheat griddle to high, and place prosciutto wrapped scallops on. Cook until grill marks appear (about 1-2 minutes each side, depending on how large scallops are). Turn 45° to get the great grill marks shown in the photo! Note that wet scallops will not allow grill marks, scallops must be bone dry to get this to happen.
3. Plate 1 1/2 cups of arugula on each plate, arrange with sliced tomatoes, cauliflower florets, and 3-4 scallops.
4. Drizzle with Balsamic and olive oil.
5. Enjoy!

Serves 2

Check it out at Foodista!

We had Anna, André, Barb and Kevin for dinner Saturday night. It was a bit of a challenge because Anna is a vegetarian (no fish, but she does eat dairy and eggs). I love these types of challenges – it really tests my creative and cooking abilities.

Barb & Kevin

André

Menu

• H.D.: Roasted Red Peppers with Sheeps Milk Feta and Balsamic Reduction
• Amuse Bouche for the carnivores: Chicken Liver Paté on Chive Biscuits and a dalop of Fig Confit
• Amuse Bouche for Anna: Chesnut Paté on Chive Biscuits and a dalop of Fig Confit (this turned out great, I will post the recipe shortly)
• Appi: Boston Bibb, Poached Pears, Caramalized Walnuts and Stilton Salad with Balsamic Reduction dressing
• Main: Contemporary Chicken Cordon Bleu on a bed of navy bean risotto, drizzled with a taragon sauce (Anna will get roasted eggplant rolled with mozerella)
• Dessert: Anna is bringing a wonderful flourless chocolate cake. Anna makes amazing desserts! Recipe to come, photo below.

Roasted Red Peppers and Sheeps Milk Feta (check it out on Foodista)

• 4-5 Red Peppers (try to get some with heavier flesh)
• 250 g Sheeps Milk Feta
• Olive oil
• Toothpicks

1. Pre heat broiler to high.
2. Cut Peppers in half and rub generously with olive oil.
3. Place each pepper cut side down on a cookie sheet and place in oven in relatively close proximity to the burners. Watch carefully as you want the skins to darken but not catch on fire!
4. Broil until the skins are black. Remove from oven and place the peppers into a thick freezer style zip lock bag (or in a glass bowl and cover with cello) for about 1/2 hour.
5. Remove from bag or bowl and remove skins (they should easily peel away, if not, put them back and allow to sweat a bit more).
6. Slice roasted red peppers into about 1″ x 4+” slices. Cut feta into about 1/2″ x 1″ rectangles. Roll the feta in the red peppers and skewer with a toothpick. repeat until all the feta and or red pepper are used.
7. Display on a plate with the toothpick facing upward (for easy access) and lightly drizzle with balsamic and olive oil.
8. This may be made 1 to 2 days in advance and kept in an airtight container in the fridge.

Anna’s Flourless Chocolate Torte

• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/3 cup water
• 150 g dark chocolate
• 150g butter
• 1 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 125 g ground almonds
• 4 eggs separated
• 300 g raspberries
• 200g dark chocolate
• 2/3 cup whipping cream

1. Preheat oven to 325. Grease  22 cm round spring form pan.
2. Line base and side with parchment paper.
3. Blend cocoa and water in large bowl.
4. Melt butter with 150 g of chocolate in microwave.
5. Stir into cocoa mixture, along with sugar, ground almonds and egg yolks.
6. Beat egg whites in small bowl until soft peaks form.
7. Fold into chocolate mix in 2 batches.
8. Pour into prepared pan and cook @ 1 hour. Stand cake to cool for 15 minutes. Remove sides and cool completely on wire rack. When completely cool, remove all paper and transfer onto plate.
9. Place raspberries on top of cake.
10. Heat remaining 200 g of chocolate with cream until melted. Drizzle chocolate on top of raspberries. Leave the cake at room temperature until chocolate sets.

Serves 12

JT’s sister and her son (nephew Brian) were over for dinner on Saturday night. This pork loin roast is a fantastic recipe that we originally saw on Martha Stewart, when she had her Mom as a guest on the show. I’ve adapted the recipe, of course, but will link to the original in the title.

The Menu

Cocktails: Spanakopita

Appetizer: Lemongrass soup with shrimp

Main course:
Roast Loin of Pork with Pan Fried Apples and Apple Cider Gravy
Braised Red Cabbage
Garlic Mashed Cauliflower Potatoes (trying to keep the carbs down, but I have two yukon golds left over in the fridge that I want to use up!)

Dessert: Apple Strudel with Caramel Sauce

Lemongrass Soup (spicey Tom Yum) adapted from this website (this really is not as complicated as the list of ingredients, but don’t miss one, you will know it!)
Serves 4

• 3 cups water or chicken stock
• 1 lemongrass stalk, cut into 4″ pieces and smashed
• 4-6 whole (double) torn kaffir lime leaves
• 3 slices galangal (about 1/2 teaspoon
• 3-20 small thai chilies, to taste
• 2 cups mixed mushrooms (straw mushrooms, enoki mushrooms, black mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, wood ear mushrooms, etc.)
• 1 tomato, cut into 8 pieces lengthwise
• 2 tablespoons white soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon white sugar (or to taste)
• 3 tablespoons lime juice
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1-2 stems coriander, cleaned and roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
• 4 shrimp, cooked skinned, cleaned and tail off

1. Add the water/stock to a sauce pan. Crush the lemongrass and cilantro root in a stone mortar & pestle or with the butt of a knife, then add them to the water. Tear the lime leaves to release flavor, and throw them in too along with the galangal.
2. Turn on your heat to medium high, and bring to a boil. Boil your herbs for about 5 minutes or so, to release the flavors. The color of the water should be a light green when you’re finished.
3. Add the mushrooms, and chilies and boil for 2-3 more minutes, until mushrooms are soft.
4. Add the sliced tomato, and cook until soft, probably less than a minute.
5. Turn off the heat. Add your soy sauce, sugar, and at the very end the lime juice. Taste to make sure the flavor is right… It should be very sour & spicy. You may need to add more lime juice depending on how sour your limes are.
6. Transfer to a bowl and garnish with one shrimp and cilantro leaves.

Roast Loin of Pork with Apple Cider Gravy

• 1 boneless pork loin (4 to 5 pounds), tied
• 8 cloves garlic, sliced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon ground marjoram
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large mayan onion, finely chopped
• 2 jonagold apples sliced about 1/4 inch thick
• 4 tbsp unsalted butter

1. Make incisions in the pork every 2 to 3 inches, and insert garlic slices. In a small bowl, combine salt, pepper, sugar, and marjoram, and coat the pork evenly with the mixture. Cover with plastic wrap, and let stand at room temperature for 1 hour.
2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Sprinkle flour over the pork to lightly coat. Shake to remove any excess flour. In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add pork, and brown on all sides. Transfer pork to a large roasting pan. Add the chopped onions over the pork. Add 1 1/2 cups water to roasting pan, and roast, covered, for 1 hour, basting occasionally.
3. Remove pork loin from roasting pan, and let rest for 10 minutes. Place roasting pan on stove, heat over medium-high heat, and cook pan juices until reduced and thickened enough to coat the back of a wooden spoon, set aside for the apple cider gravy (below).
   
4. In a frying pan, melt the butter, and pan fry the apple slices until slightly browned on both sides.
   
5. Slice pork, arrange on a serving platter with the apples, and serve with gravy (below).

Apple Cider Gravy (this is an adaption from President’s Choice first cookbook)

• 2 cups apple cider
• 1 tbsp dijon mustard
• 1 cup low fat evaporated milk (not condensed) or heavy cream
• Salt and Pepper to taste
  

1. In a saucepan, bring apple cider to a boil and reduce to about 1/2 cup (this does take some time).
2. Remove from heat and whisk in the dijon mustard and the cream.
3. Return to heat and simmer until reduced about 3/4.
   
4. Add the juices from the roasting pan. Mix well.
5. Season and keep warm until ready to serve.
   

Apple Cranberry Strudel

• 6 Jonagold apples, peeled cored and grated coarsely.
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp lemon juice
  
• 1 tsp cinnamon
  
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1 tsp grated lemon peel
• 1/2 cup ground walnuts or almonds
• 6 sheets of phyllo pastry
• 1/4 cup melt butter (unsalted)
• Sugar for dusting strudel top
  

1. Mix apples, brown sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, cranberries and lemon peel together and set aside.
2. Take 3 sheets of phyllo pastry and drizzle with melted butter in between each sheet.
3. Sprinkle with ground nuts.
4. At one end, add enough apple filling to form a roll about 3″ in diameter, all the way across the pastry.
5. Fold in edges and roll up.
6. Repeat with second set of three pastries.
7. Brush with melted butter.
8. Bake at 350°F until phyllo is golden.
9. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream, drizzled with caramel sauce, and yogurt (to cut some of the sweetness).

Caramel Sauce (adapted from Epicurious Bon Appétit | April 2006

Makes about 3/4 cup

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/8 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup carnation 2% evaporated milk (not condensed)

Last Saturday we had our good friends, Dave and Mi Mi over for dinner. The menu was:

Hors D’oeuvres: Home made chicken liver paté, korozot (hungarian goats cheese dip) and variety of olives.

Puréed Roasted Cauliflower Soup (recipe below), with slivered apples and gruyere cheese dallopped on the centre.

Paella with Rustic Home Baked Bread

Molten Chocolate Cake with berries and Vanilla Ice Cream

Puréed Roasted Cauliflower Soup (8, 1/2 cup servings)

check out the recipe on Foodista

1 large head of cauliflower, chopped into even chunks
1 head garlic + 2-3 tbsp olive oil + sea salt
1 small yellow onion
2-3 tbsp olive oil
sea salt to taste
3-4 cups stock of your choice (I like miso, but chicken works well too…I wouldn’t try beef!)
1 golden delicious on Jonagold apple julienned into thin slivers
4 tbsp julienned Gruyeres cheese

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350F.
Prepare garlic to roast, remove loose skin.
Take a 10″ x 10″ piece of parchment and put garlic squarely in the middle. Drizzle with olive oil and sea salt.
Take a 10″ x 10″ piece of foil and place beneath parchment, now wrap the entire garlic up so that the olive oil does leak out. Set aside.
Quarter yellow onion.
Place onion and cauliflower on a 12″ x 17″ cookie sheet with 1-2″ sides, drizzle with olive oil and sea salt, coating evenly.
Place sheet in oven, place garlic package beside it and roast for about 40-45 minutes. You don’t want the cauliflower to brown, just roast nicely.
When cauliflower is soft, place into a glass blender. Remove garlic from package and drip the olive oil onto the cauliflower in the blender. Squeeze the garlic out into the blender…the whole thing.
Pour 2 cups of stock into the blender and blend to puré, adding additional stock to desired consistency.
Using a fine seive and the back of a laddle, press the puréed soup through so that all lumps are removed.
Reheat in microwave, garnish with cheese first then the apple on top, and enjoy.

Paella (serves 4 really hungry or 6 marginally hungry people)

This is a recipe I adapted a long time ago from Ken Kostik, but I can no longer find it on line!) I find this very easy because everything is cooked independantly and then assembled in the paella pan, and reheated for about 10-15 minutes.

• 4 chicken thighs cut into halves or thirds depending on how large they are (I like the dark meat for this recipe)
• 12 shelled and deveined shrimp
• 1 calamari tube, sliced in rings about 1 cm thick
• 12-16 mussels (this may be omitted), cleaned and checked that they are alive
• 1 Chorizo sausage sliced into 1 cm thick rounds then cut in half
• 5 oz white fish of your choice (we used cod because it stands up to cooking in the rice)
• 1 tsp saffron
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 cup long grain white rice
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika (I generally use spanish)
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cloves garlic minced finely
• 1/2 sweet onion
• 4 skinned and seeded chopped tomatoes
• 1 red pepper
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• 1 tbsp fresh basil chiffonade
• Lemon wedges to garnish
• 2 green onions finely sliced

Instructions

1. The day before marinate the chicken thighs in 2 tbsp olive oil, smoked paprika and salt and refrigerate.
2. 1 hour before cooking the rice, soak the saffron and garlic in the white wine for about 1 hour.
3. Prepare rice in a rice cooker, adding the saffron, garlic wine and about 1/2 of the cut Chorizo sausage and remaining water as per rice instructions.
4. Using a cast iron griddle, cook the chicken thighs thoroughly. Refrigerate.
5. In the paella pan, add 1 tbsp olive oil and sauté onions until translucent, add the remaining Chorizo sausage and brown the sausage. Set aside.
6. Preheat the oven to 350F.
7. Once the rice is cooked and you are about 10-15 minutes from serving, add the rice, fish, mussels, shrimp, calamari, tomatoes and chicken. Stir well (depending on how wet you like your paella, you may wish to add chicken stock to taste – I prefer a dryer version, don’t forget that the mussels will release some liquid as well). Bake in 350F oven for about 10 minutes until shrimp is pink, mussels have opened and calamari is done but no rubbery!
8. Add frozen peas and red pepper. Stir and bake an additional 2-5 minutes, until heated through. Garnish with green onions, lemon and basil.
9. Serve immediately with fresh home made bread, and lots of wine!