St. Patrick’s Day Corned Beef

 

I’ve never made corned beef from scratch before so I thought it was about time, plus my favourite butcher had a sale on them so I thought better late than never! The recipe itself is rather easy, it just requires a bit of preparation and lots of waiting. But the results are outstanding. If you try this recipe, I urge you to do it on a charcoal grill like The Big Green Egg. The Egg imparts an incredible smokiness that is not part of the gas grilling process, even if you do use wood chips. We chose a small piece of beef, only about 1 kg or 2 lbs because we had only three for dinner. The times may differ for a larger piece of meat.

A really tasty St. Patrick’s Day dinner. We could have finished the entire roast!

Makes enough meat for 3-4 adults.

For the original recipe, please click here.

Ingredients:

• 5 g black pepper
• 5 g paprika (not smoked)
• 2 g sea salt
• 5 g granulated garlic
• 5 g granulated onion
• 5 g ground coriander
• 2.5 g dill seeds (ground)
• 2 g Aleppo pepper flakes
• A good handful of smoking wood chips (we used apple)
• 250 mL Guinness beer
• 1 kg Brisket

Directions:

1. Remove the meat from the refrigerator and allow it to come to room temperature (1-2 hours).
2. Soak the wood chips for about an hour.
3. Add all of the spices into your spice grinder and grind until they are finely ground.
4. Dry off the meat with paper towels and rub the spice rub into the meat well, using it all up.
5. Prepare the BBQ with charcoal (not briquettes) and the smoking chips and finesse until the Egg is 250° F. The heat should be indirect.
6. Add the prepared meat over a drip tray filled with the Guinness beer and smoke the meat until the internal temperature reaches 165° F, ours took about 3 hours.
7. Once it has reached 165° F, remove the meat and wrap it entirely in heavy foil and, return the meat to the BBQ to continue cooking until the internal temperature is 200° F, ours took an additional 1.5 hours. Remove the meat from the heat and allow to rest for 2 hours wrapped in the foil. You may reheat in a warm oven about 30 minutes before serving.
8. Serve with cabbage, we choose a riff on Susur Lee’s 19-ingredient Slaw just to class it up a bit.

Notes:

• I use a Meater thermometer which is an amazing wireless thermometer with an app that tells you both internal and ambient temperatures and estimates when the item will reach the goal temperature.
• If your BBQ runs out fuel at step 6, you can achieve the same result by putting the foil-wrapped meat into a 250° F oven for the finishing. Because it is wrapped at this point, the smoke does not penetrate the foil, but don’t worry, there is plenty of smokey flavour in this roast.

 

 

 

Read Full Post »

Restaurant-Style Beef Bhuna

Our lockdown has been over for a couple of months now and we are in Step 3 which means businesses aren’t limited to a percentage of the allowable persons inside but must limit capacity to the number of people that can still maintain physical distancing of 2 metres. So, other than masks still having to be worn inside (other than if you’re eating and drinking or your own home) things are pretty much back to normal. We have been out for lunches and dinners but are still dining on patios…I’m not ready to go inside just yet. The latest variant of Covid is wreaking havoc on the unvaccinated or just single vaxed but we all in all, are doing well in Ontario where we have 63.62% double-vaxed of the total population (keeping in mind that we are still not vaccinating the under twelve-year-olds). Our borders are also now open to the US without the need of quarantine upon arrival but travellers must prove that they have been double vaccinated and show a negative COVID test within 72 hours of entering. There have already been several Americans arriving with forged vaccination papers and they have each been fined about $20,000 Canadian (about $2 US). It is really disturbing that people are forging vaccination papers, they are really jeopardizing the long-term success of eradicating this hideous virus. So, we are keeping to our ‘bubble’ and still continue to entertain outside. I feel for our Australian friends as they are just beginning the journey but hopefully, they will be better behaved than Ontarians were, keeping us in lockdown for the longest time in the world (over 360 days in total!)! Enough of my rant.

I made this delicious dish for an Indian night with Andy and Mark back in August. I’ve never made Beef Bhuna before and I won’t lie, this recipe is a lot of work, but you can divide the work over a day or two to make it more manageable. For example, make the Base Curry Sauce a day or two in advance and then make the Bhuna curry later. I found the recipe on The Curry Guy’s blog, Great Curry Recipes. I won’t repeat the recipe because I made it verbatim and it really was outstanding. The small-batch Base Curry Sauce made about 3 cups, two of which I used for the Beef Bhuna and one went into the freezer for a later date.

I highly recommend this dish, it will satisfy your craving for Indian food. The best naan recipe can be found here.

 

Read Full Post »

Stuffed Turkey Breast Porchetta Roll

Happy New Year! We, at Kitcheninspirations hope you and your family had a lovely Christmas and New Year. It’s been challenging to say the least, but we’ve made the best of it.

On Christmas Eve, we usually go to my brother’s for some Christmas Cheer and then we spend the evening with my Cousin and her family. This year, my brother escaped to the Cayman Islands because they have better control over the virus there (or maybe their citizens are better behaved) and we did virtual Christmas Eve, opening presents with my cousin’s family. It was absolutely lovely. I often find myself lost in the video and forget that we aren’t in the same room. Although, I do miss hugging them.

This is our virtual Christmas Eve 2020.

This year has pretty much sucked but in a stroke of luck, we awoke to a winter wonderland on Christmas Morning.

Needless to say, Christmas dinner was just JT and I but we still managed to make a decent spread and enjoy the evening. In recent years, I have taken to brining the turkey and it makes it incredibly moist and flavoursome, but the best part is that it seems to remove that gamey flavour that leftover turkey has. I know many of you love leftover turkey but sadly it’s never been JT nor my favourite; brining is a game changer! My dear friend Lorraine posted her recipe of Turkey Porchetta and Christmas dinner was immediately decided. I went a step further and brined the breast and then I stuffed it. This post is really just to remind me how good it was.

Stuffed Turkey Breast Porchetta Roll

Please click here for the original recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 kg turkey breast, skin and bones removed
• cold water to cover
• 72 g salt
• 50 g sugar
• Herbes de Provence
• Stuffing
• 6-8 slices of Proscuitto

Directions:

1. Combine the water, salt and sugar in a blender and blend until sugar and salt have dissolved. Add the Herbes de Provence and pour over the breast to cover. Allow to sit in the refrigerator for 5-7 hours.
2. Remove breast from brine and dry with paper towel. Set the breast on a cooling rack with a baking sheet below and refrigerate while you make your favourite stuffing. Cool the stuffing completely before adding to the breast.
3. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Prepare a roasting pan with non-stick cooking spray.
4. Butterfly the breast to an even layer, pounding to even out the thickness of the meat. Lay the stuffing in the centre and roll up, using a metal skewer to secure.
5. Lay the Proscuitto overlapping the roll and secure with kitchen string (I used three rows). Remove the metal skewer.
6. Bake the turkey roll covered for 1.5-2 hours (depending on how thick it is) or until the internal temperature of the meat is 165° F. I removed the lid at about 20 minutes left to allow the Proscuitto to crisp. Allow to rest for 10-15 minutes. Slice in 2 cm thick slices and serve with homemade gravy.

Read Full Post »

Chicken Waldorf Salad

When I was first dating JT, back in the eighties, his dear Mom would make a version of this salad for lunch. She wasn’t into cooking so this type of dish was perfect, few ingredients and easy to assemble. She would poach the chicken where I prefer to use leftover BBQ’d chicken because of the additional flavours the smoke of a charcoal BBQ adds, but leftover rotisserie chicken works wonderfully as well. The original recipe was heavy in mayonnaise, I like to lighten it up with a little yoghurt and a splash of lemon juice. The flavours and textures really hit the spot.

Waldorf Salad was created by Oscar Tschirky, in the Waldorf-Astoria in New York City in 1896. The original Waldorf was made with only apples, celery, and mayonnaise, it did not contain a protein or nuts. The latter two were additions made in the 20th century. I like to make this salad with chicken or canned tuna, both are equally satisfying.

Chicken Waldorf Salad

A KitchenInspirations Original Recipe

Makes 2 portions for lunch or a light dinner

Ingredients:

• 100 g BBQ’d or rotisserie chicken, cubed or 1 tin albacore chunk tuna in water or stock 
• 1/2 cup diced celery (dice all items similar size)
• 1/2 green onion finely chopped
• 1/2 apple, diced 
• 2 tbsp walnuts pieces, toasted
• squirt of lemon juice, more for taste 
• 15 mL mayo (I used full strength)
• 15 mL yoghurt (I used an Icelandic style)
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Drain the tuna and set aside, if using.
2. Add the apple to a small bowl and squirt a bit of lemon juice on it to prevent it from oxidizing.
3. Add the celery, green onion, walnuts and apple to a bowl and combine well.
4. Combine the mayo and yogurt with a squirt of lemon juice, salt and pepper and stir well. Add it to the vegetable fruit mix and coat evenly.
5. Add the cubed chicken or chunk tuna and stir until equally distributed.
6. Serve on a bed of salad greens, butter lettuce is particularly nice.

 

Read Full Post »

Empanadas de Pollo (Chicken Empanada)

During our first major grocery shopping when we arrived in Spain, JT bought some frozen ready-made Tuna Empanadas. I was excited because we love tuna and we love empanadas and we had never had tuna empanadas. Sadly, we were extremely disappointed, the quality just wasn’t there. The filling was mainly tomato sauce with nary a taste of tuna. But I got the taste of empanada in my head and I knew eventually, I would need to make some.

I made most of our meals during our time in Spain. And when I did, I made double or triple batches so that we could have a quick lunch or dinner after a tiring day of exploring. The European refrigerator in our flat has three good-size freeezer drawers to store home-made meals. At home in Toronto, I make these traditional Chilean empanada made with beef and pork; years ago a friend and neighbour kindly showed my Mom how to make and it’s been family favourite ever since. But in Spain, beef is not as common so I decided to use Chicken. I didn’t grind the chicken (no meat grinder) but I roughly chopped it into smallish chunks so that you can still get a chicken texture as you eat the empanada. Another option would be to roast it and shred it.

The winds on the Med had increased to about 45 km per hour, which made sitting outside nearly impossible. In fact, I was worried the wind would pick up the empanada and steal it away!

Makes 6 large empanadas

Ingredients:

• 30 mL olive oil
• 90 g onions, roughly chopped
• 12 g roasted puréed garlic
• 433 – 450 g skinless chicken breast, roughly chopped
• 12 black olives, pitted and roughly chopped
• 10 dates, pitted and roughly chopped
• 200 g frozen mixed vegetables, defrosted and drained
• 3 g cumin
• 1 g smoked paprika
• 3 sheets puff pastry, defrosted in the refrigerator
• 1 egg, whisked with 30 mL water

Directions:

1. Sauté the onions in the olive oil until translucent. 
2. Add the chicken and stir to cook evenly. Cook all the way through.
3. Add the roasted garlic, cumin and cook stirring until fragrant. Remove from heat and stir in the drained frozen vegetables, black olives and dates. Set aside in the refrigerator to cool completely.
4. On a lightly floured surface, roll out each puff pastry sheet to 20 cm x 40 cm and cut in half, then cut each half into a 20 cm circle, reserve pastry ends for the fancy finish.
5. Brush all around the edges with the egg wash. Fill one half of the round with 1/6th of the cooked, cooled chicken mixture leaving about 2 cm all the way around the edge and then fold half to create a crescent, pressing down the edges to seal.
6. Brush the top of the empanada with the egg wash. Finish edges into a fancy design (I used the left-over pastry and made it into a rope design). Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and refrigerate or freeze until ready to bake.
7. Continue with remaining ingredients until you have 6 meal-sized empanadas. 
8. Freeze for future use or bake at 400° F until pastry is golden.
9. Serve with a lightly dressed salad.

The vegetables are also unusual for empanadas, but we like veggies so I added them!

Notes:

• Traditional Chilean Empanadas are made with golden raisins but believe it or not, I was not able to find any type of raisins in our little village so I used dates. This is not a sweet dish, the dates or raisins just add a bit of sweetness so taste your dates or raisins and determine how many you will use depending on how sweet they are. The dates I used were not the same sweetness that the dates I buy in North America, so I used ten, but you may need to reduce it if you use the super sweet kind. 
• I used puff pastry because my little kitchen in Spain is ill-equipped and very small. You can use this recipe for pastry but I am unsure of how well-fitting the proportions of filling to pastry will be. You can always freeze extra pastry in a ziplock bag.

Read Full Post »

Low Carb Chicken Cutlets

We may have put on a few pounds during our holidays. It’s always so difficult to stay on track while on holiday, but the plus side is that we did walk a lot, the day we visited the Alhambra in Granada we walked 11 kilometres!

Now that we are back to reality, we wanted to get back into eating fewer carbs. This used to be one of JTs favourite meals but I was a little apprehensive in making chicken cutlets without breadcrumbs and this recipe definitely does not disappoint. The almond flour crisps up beautifully and provides a wonderfully flavoured coating. I served this cutlet with cauliflower purée and cucumber salad. JT loved it.

A tasty cutlet that doesn’t dry out.

Low Carb Chicken Cutlets

A KitchenInspirations Original Recipe

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 200 g chicken breast
• Pinch of dehydrated garlic powder
• Pinch of dehydrated onion powder
• 1 egg
• 5 g Parmesan cheese, finely grated
• 75 g almond flour
• Pinch of herbes en Provence
• Pinch of Salt
• 30 mL grapeseed oil for frying

Directions:

1. Portion two 100 g chicken breasts and pound thinly between sheets of plastic wrap.
2. Combine the Parmesan cheese and almond flour, set aside.
3. Lightly whisk the eggs with the herbs, onion, garlic and salt together and set aside.
4. Dip the chicken breast into the egg and coat it, allow excess to drip off. Then dip it into the almond flour mixture to coat both sides. Repeat with the second breast.
5. Heat the oil in a frying pan. Pan fry chicken both sides until the internal temperature is 171° C. Serve hot with lemon wedges.

Net carbs are only 2.8 g! Chicken Cutlets only, no sides.

Read Full Post »

Chicken “Schnitzel” with Roasted Garlic Cauliflower Mash

We just got back from a two-week holiday in Arizona. I apologize for not commenting as much as I usually do, but you know the drill on holidays.

Regarding Arizona, I would love to say it was perfect weather, and perhaps it was, for Toronto weather but it was cold, sometimes snowy and rainy. Our time with dear friends more than made up for the lousy weather. Although we did have a few gloriously sunny days before the ugly, rainy days we spent in Sedona. Fortunately, our time at the Grand Canyon was clear, albeit cold (read: two layers of leggings, three long-sleeved Ts and a light winter jacket with hat, mittens and scarf). Once I get our photos sorted, I’ll post a few good ones on the blog, in the meantime, I thought I’d share one of my favourite ‘diet’ dishes, chicken “schnitzel” with roasted garlic cauliflower mash!

A KitchenInspirations Original Recipe

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 460 g cauliflower
• 2-3 cloves garlic, roasted
• 1/4 cup water
• 165 g chicken breast, boneless, skinless
• 35 g egg white
• 2 Ryvita whole wheat snack bread
• 10 g whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup Herbes en Provence with granulated onion and garlic
• few sprays of non-stick spray
• chopped fresh dill for garnish

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 425° F.
2. Break down cauliflower into equal-sized florets and set on a baking sheet lightly sprayed with non-stick spray. Roast until softened. Add a bit of water at the end to steam to perfect tenderness for about 5 minutes.
3. Add the cauliflower florets into a glass bowl and add the roasted garlic cloves. Blitz with the hand blender until creamy and smooth, adding a bit of water if necessary (I just added the left-over steaming liquid from the roasting pan). Set aside.
4. Divide the chicken into two equal portions and butterfly each, cover the chicken with plastic and flatten it to about 0.5 cm or 1/4 inch with a kitchen mallet. Put them into the fridge.
5. Add Ryvita to a small zip lock bag and smash into smaller but coarser bits. Add the Herbes en Provence and mix well.
6. Add the egg whites into a large flat bowl and beat with a fork.
7. Remove one chicken cutlet from the fridge and lightly dust each side with the whole wheat flour. Then dip it into the egg whites to cover both sides. Sprinkle each side with the Ryvita mixture to coat evenly. Repeat with second cutlet.
8. Heat a non-stick frying pan. Spray each side of each cutlet and cook cutlets on both sides until nicely golden and the internal temperature is 185°F. Serve immediately with a slice of lemon and some fresh dill sprinkled onto it.

Notes:

• The diet I use allows for two 100 g servings of protein per day.
• If you don’t have roasted garlic on hand, simply put a few unpeeled cloves into a ramekin filled with a little water or stock and sprinkle with sea salt. Bake until softened.
• Even though the chicken is very thin, it is so tender, it will knock your socks off.

Read Full Post »

Bucket List: Chicken Mole Enchiladas

 

My Father in Law passed recently. He made his 92nd birthday two-weeks earlier. It was very sad to lose him but to be honest, the last few years have not been kind to him, he simply existed, partly by choice and partly by nature (use it or lose it). That’s all of our parents now and I must tell you that it feels weird being an orphan at my age, both JT and I were very close to each other’s parents. Since Dad lived in Toronto, we made arrangements close to home and our home was the hub, which proved to be a lovely distraction. Our dearest friends Paul and T drove up from Wisconsin to help us and console us. Paul had known JT’s Dad through business so there was a strong connection with him. My newly married nephew and his bride also stayed with us because they live about two and half hours from the city. The house was alive with action! My FIL would have LOVED it!

Everyone came to the city to be at his bedside—I know he would have loved that too, although he didn’t love attention, he loved the buzz of activity. He passed very peacefully during the early hours of the morning of May 28, he didn’t suffer long. That evening, everyone gathered at our home and we had a wonderful family dinner telling stories and being there for each other. We ate rotisserie chicken, a variety of store bought salads and some homemade cookies I had in the freezer (I didn’t have time to throw anything together). We had the visitation on June 2 and the service on the 3rd. At 12pm on the 2nd, I discovered that everyone was coming for dinner just prior to the service the very next day so I sprung into action and made a huge batch of chicken mole out of the leftover rotisserie chicken. Fortunately, I had tried this recipe before and got the thumbs up from JT, so it was an easy decision to make it again.

We had a couple of leftovers that JT and I had for dinner later that week.

The mole sauce can be made in a slow cooker but I did it stove-top this time—I found it therapeutic to be involved in the dish, chopping, stirring and cooking. Like any saucy dish, this definitely tastes better the next day. The rotisserie chicken is an easy addition to the mole, just shred it and stir it into the cooled mole sauce, fill the corn tortillas, refrigerate overnight so the flavours can meld. It was a huge success! Everyone loved it.

JT usually orders a mole when we dine at a Mexican restaurant and I’ve always wanted to try my hand at it. Although there are many recipes handed down generations that take two to three days to make, this one can be made in about an hour. It developes the depth of flavour as it sits overnight. I would not rush it, make it a day or two ahead.

Chicken Mole Enchiladas

Makes 24 Enchiladas (15 cm or 6 inch corn tortillas)

For the original recipe, please click here.

Ingredients:

• 750 mL (3 cups) sodium-free chicken stock (or vegetable stock)
• 500 mL (2 cups) freshly squeezed orange juice (about 3 good sized oranges)
• 30 mL (2 tbsp) EVOO
• 570 g (1 1/4 lb) sweet onions, sliced
• 55 g (about 1/2 cup) sliced almonds
• 6 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 8 g (4 tsp) cumin seeds
• 8 g (4 tsp) coriander seeds
• 4 g dried pasilla chiles, stemmed, seeded, torn into 1-inch pieces, rinsed*
• 4 g dried ancho chiles, stemmed, seeded, torn into 1-inch pieces, rinsed*
• 40 g (about 1/4 cup) raisins
• 4 8 cm x 1 cm (1/2-inch) strips orange peel (orange part only)
• 1.5 g (1 1/2 tsp) dried oregano
• 45 g semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
• 4 g ground cinnamon (omit if using Mexican chocolate)
• Chopped fresh cilantro or green onions
• 24 corn tortillas
• 1 rotisserie chicken (or 3 left over), shredded (replace with firm tofu or beans if vegetarian)
• 200 g (2 cups) Queso de Oaxaca or Mozzarella Cheese, grated
• Crème fraîche, sour cream or yogurt as garnish
• Sriracha sauce/or chipotle mayo as garnish

Directions:

1. Heat the EVOO (Extra Virgin Olive Oil) a large Dutch oven, add the sliced onions and sweat them out.
2. Add the almonds and toast slightly. Add the garlic and cook until they release aroma, then add the cumin, coriander, two types of chilies (*replace with 15 mL (1 tbsp) smoked paprika if you prefer less spicy food) and cook until you can smell the spices.
3. Add the raisins, orange peel, oregano, chicken stock and orange juice. Mix well. Simmer for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally. If using the dry chilis, remove them and discard.
4. Add the chocolate and cinnamon (or Mexican chocolate) and stir until chocolate has completely melted. Using an emersion blender, blitz the sauce until very smooth. Cool completely. Set aside 2 cups of sauce. Stir in the cold shredded rotisserie chicken.
5. Fill each corn tortilla with some chicken mole and a little cheese, tuck the rolls into an oven proof pan with the rolled end secured. Repeat until there is no more mole. Pour reserved sauce over the enchiladas, sprinkle with grated cheese. Cover with foil and refrigerate overnight.
6. 1 hour prior to sitting down to eat, preheat oven to 350° F (177° C). Bake enchiladas for 30-40 minutes or until totally heated through (inside temperature should be around 150° F (66° C) and cheese should be melted and bubbling.
7. To serve, drizzle with Crème fraîche, sour cream or yogurt and Sriracha sauce or chipotle mayo. Sprinkle with chopped cilantro and/or green onions. Serve over Coconut Cauliflower Rice (recipe to come).

We had these at the cottage a week or so ago. I added a little guacamole for fun. I don’t have many food style tools at the cottage so the garnish is quite rough.

Notes:

• The enchiladas freeze well. You may wish to slip a piece of parchment between each enchiladas so you can easily separate them.
• *If you are concerned about the dish being too spicy, omit the dried chilis and replace them with 15 mL (1 tbsp) smoked paprika.

Read Full Post »

Zucchini Lasagna (Gluten Free and Easy to Convert to Vegan!)

I’ve been thinking about zucchini noodles a lot lately. Both JT and I love them because they maintain a similar texture to traditional flour noodles, yet they are considerably lower in carbohydrates and that, my friends is something I am always on the lookout for! I’ve created this recipe lower in calories than traditional lasagna and it’s absolutely delicious if I do say so myself. I won’t kid you, it does take some planning and some playing in the kitchen but as far as I know, you guys are excellent at both so I urge you to give it a try. Double or triple the recipe and make a large casserole-size version, freeze for a few hours and cut into single serves and bag individually and presto, you have instant lunch or a quick casual dinner. I know I will try the vegetarian version over the summer because I am always on the lookout for interesting vegetarian recipes for our vegetarian friends when they come up to the cottage.

Allow this dish to sit for about 15 minutes so that the excess liquid can be reabsorbed. It would be much too hot to eat anyway!

Like most things, this is much tastier the second day, if you have any leftovers, that is!

Zucchini Lasagna (Gluten Free and Easy to Convert to Vegetarian or Vegan!)

A KitchenInspirations Original Recipe

Makes 1 cast iron enamel terrine 30 cm long x 11 cm wide x 8 cm high, 6 servings.

Ingredients for noodles and cheese:

• 2 zucchini, sliced to about 3 mm (1/8″) (leave the ends, first and last slice and any leftovers for your compost broth)
• 2 roasted red peppers, seeded and peeled, cut into 1 cm (1/2″ slices) (see notes)
• 180 g (1 cup) mozzarella cheese (omit for vegan)
• 300 mL ‘Béchamel’ (recipe below)
• 500 mL (2 cups) Meat Sauce (recipe below, for vegan see notes below)

Ingredients for the ‘Béchamel’:

Makes 300 mL or 1 1/3 cups ‘béchamel’

• 90 g (a heaping 1/3 cup) red lentils
• 250 mL (1 cup) vegetable stock or water, plus a bit more to loosen the cooled sauce
• 50 g (1/2 cup or so) gruyère cheese, shredded (omit for vegan, see notes below)
• 250 mL (1 cup) milk, plus a little to loosen if required (vegan use vegetable stock or rice milk, see notes below)
• Pinch of smoked paprika
• Pinch of sea salt (to taste)

Directions for the Béchamel:

1. Cook the lentils in water or stock until very soft. Remove from heat and purée until smooth. Add the liquid of choice slowly as you purée until it is extremely smooth and creamy. If you’re making this vegan, stir in the smoked paprika and salt, set aside.
2. Return to low heat and stir in the cheese all at once and whisk until melted, smooth and thickened (about 2-5 minutes, don’t worry, this WILL thicken as it cools). Remove from heat and stir in the smoked paprika and salt. If the sauce has become grainy (as lentils sometimes do), just blitz it again with the immersion blender. Set aside.

Ingredients for the ‘Meat’ Sauce:

Makes 500 mL (2 cups) Sauce

• 5 mL (1 tsp) olive oil
• 1 small yellow onion, finely diced
• 15 g (about 3 cloves) garlic, finely minced
• 300 g of lean ground pork (vegans, use your favourite cooked beans or ground tofu)
• 300 g fresh tomatoes, puréed (or 1 1/2 cups passata)
• Pinch of sea salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
• pinch of baking soda
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp basil
• pinch of nutmeg
• 1 piece of parmesan end (omit if vegan)

Directions for the Meat Sauce:

1. Blitz the fresh tomatoes with an immersion blender until you can no longer feel the seeds and skin (no need to pass through a fine sieve, once incorporated into the lasagna you will not feel any tomato seed or skin texture).
2. Heat the olive oil in a medium-sized Dutch oven and sauté the onions until soft. Add the minced garlic and stir until fragrant.
3. Add the ground pork (beans or ground tofu) stirring occasionally, breaking up the larger bits of meat. Add the tomato sauce, baking soda, oregano, basil, nutmeg and Parmesan end and simmer for 15-20 minutes until thickened and not overly liquid.
4. Remove the parmesan end (chef’s treat!) and transfer the ‘meat sauce’ to another bowl to cool.

Assembly:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350° F (177 ° C).
2. Lightly grease a cast iron enamel terrine pan 30 cm long x 11 cm wide x 8 cm high (12 in long x 4 1/2 in wide x 3 in high).
3. Lay strips of the thinly sliced zucchini on the bottom of the pan. Add 125 mL (~1/2 cup) of the meat sauce and spread out evenly. Lay strips of the red pepper on top of the meat. Spread 75 mL (~1/3 cup) of the ‘béchamel’ sauce evenly over the pepper layer (if ‘béchamel’ becomes too thick, loosen it by whisking in a little vegetable stock or ‘milk’). Sprinkle with 63 mL (1/4 cup) grated mozzarella cheese (omit if vegan), repeat until the pan is filled or you’ve used everything up. End with the béchamel sauce on top and sprinkle the top with the remainder of the shredded mozzarella (omit if vegan).
4. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and the zucchinis still have a bit of a bite to them (al dente). The internal temperature should be about 140° F. Broil the cheese version for about 10 minutes to caramelise the top.
5. Remove from the oven and allow to stand for 10 minutes. Cut into 6 portions and serve with a light salad.

Do NOT omit the roasted red peppers, they add incredible flavour.

Just before I popped it into the oven.

Notes to make this a Vegan Lasagna:

• Béchamel:
  • substitute vegetable stock or rice milk for the “milk” component.
  • leave out the “cheese” component altogether, the lentils make a delightfully flavoured béchamel even without cheese (plus I am skeptical about vegan cheese, what is that?)
• Almond milk and coconut milk are too strongly flavoured, that is why I didn’t recommend it. On top of everything, I would avoid coconut milk because we are making this an Italian flavoured dish.
• Want to omit the ‘béchamel’? Add slices of Chinese eggplant, it will add the creaminess mouthfeel we crave with lasagna.
• Meat Sauce: substitute your favourite cooked beans or ground tofu in similar measures for the ground meat.
• Want to add even more flavour? BBQ the veg for a few minutes before you assemble, the smokiness adds a lot of flavour.

Notes:

• I had pork from a previous meal that I ground up fresh for this recipe, use whatever meat or beans you wish.
• The lentil béchamel will thicken as it cools, just whisk in a bit more milk, rice milk or vegetable stock to loosen.
• I like the stringiness of mozzarella in lasagna but if you are lactose intolerant, feel free to substitute goats cheese, the tang will be incredible in this dish.
• Whenever I see beautiful red peppers, particularly if there is a sale, I buy a bunch, roast them on the BBQ and save the slices in the freezer for future pizza’s or in this case, lasagna (freeze on a parchment lined cookie sheet and when frozen, place in a plastic bag. Leave in whole pieces to give you more options in usage). Omitting the roasted red peppers is a mistake because they add incredible flavour and sweetness.

This is the nutritional facts for the meat version of my recipe above, based on 6 servings.

This is my vegan version using navy beans and omitted all cheese.

This is a Food Network recipe based on 6 servings.

Read Full Post »

Cinco de Mayo Inspired Slow Cooker Turkey Chili

The Japanese Sakura Cherry Blossoms in High Park

Our Cherry Blossom tree in the front yard

Cinco de Mayo Inspired Turkey Chili

A Kitcheninspirations Original Recipe

Serves 8-10

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dried red kidney beans, soaked overnight in water
• 250 g sweet onions, chopped
• 25 g garlic, finely chopped
• 300 mL tomato sauce
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 500 mL water and or chicken stock
• 900 g ground turkey breast
• 1 1/2 tbsp cumin
• 1 tbsp coriander
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• 1/2 tsp chili
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 5 g dried ancho chili (seeds and veins removed)
• 1 tbsp unsweetened cocoa
• 30 mL tequila (a nice smokey one)

Garnish:

• 1 ripe avocado, sliced thinly
• 10 tbsp Greek Yogurt (approx 150 mL)
• 10 tbsp mozzarella cheese
• handful of Cilantro, or to taste
• 3-4 Green onions, finely chopped
• 1 red chili pepper, finely sliced

Directions:

1. Pre-heat slow cooker on high. Rinse beans and add to the slow cooker along with the onions, garlic, tomato sauce, tomato paste and the water and/or stock and give it a good stir.
2. Brown the turkey meat in a very hot cast iron pan in batches. Add the browned turkey and juices into the slow cooker in batches. Once you have browned all of the turkey, remove the pan from the heat and deglaze the pan with the tequila, scraping off all the delicious turkey bits from the pan. Add this liquid into the slow cooker.
3. Give the chili a good stir. Cook on high for 4-5 hours or until the beans are fork tender. If the chili is too liquidy, then remove the lid for the final hour of cooking.
4. Serve hot garnished with sliced avocado, a tablespoon of yogurt or sour cream, cilantro, chopped green onion, shredded mozzarella cheese and finely sliced peppers.

Based on 10 Servings

It’s heavy on the points but high on flavour.

A delicious Mexican Flavoured Chili

Ladies Night May 2015

I should have set up the tri-pod for an all in shot.

 

Read Full Post »

Grilled Kalbi Rib Benny

Last Friday night we went out for dinner but finding a spot was a much more arduous task than usual because it was Winterlicious. Winterlicious/Summerlicious theme was originally developed by the City of Toronto to encourage residents to go out for meals after the unfortunate SARS breakout in 2002; it’s a participation event where restaurants offer prix fixe meals for standardized rates (Lunch: $18 • $23 • $28; Dinner: $25 • $35 • $45). This year there are over 200 participating restaurants! What’s really cool is that some really high end restaurants participate where you get a three course meal for $45 Canadian (in some of these places $45 is usually just the main course!). It’s a great way to sample some expense account restaurants. But don’t think the restaurants aren’t making money because as one restaurateur once told me that because people perceive they are getting a deal on their meals, they will splurge on the bottle of wine, or two (in Ontario our restaurant liquor is usually marked up 3 times)! Getting a reservation this time of year is no easy task, even in non-participating places, but participating places it’s next to impossible. One year, I was on the phone for over an hour trying to get connected to a highly demanded Summerlicious restaurant, it was like calling a radio station for a prize, you just keep calling and calling and calling until you were connected. One year I gave up after 45 minutes of re-dial!

These days, I just couldn’t be bothered trying to get into the popular places plus we’re still trying to cut back consumption so three courses just isn’t what we want to eat, no matter how good the price. So Friday night we went to the newest addition of the Playa Cabana restaurants on Bloor, Playa Cabana Barrio. It’s part of a small Mexican group in Toronto and we have found (at their three other restaurants) the food to be exceptional and reasonably priced. This one was in Little Korea and the menu read more Korean than Mexican. I usually preview the menu but I was busy and didn’t this time. I was really in the mood for Mexican. The narrow restaurant was very crowded (imagine the width just wide enough for one table on either side, one parallel to the wall and one perpendicular). The tables are very close together so it’s difficult not to say ‘Hi’ and chat with the table next to yours (impossible for JT, that is). We were very fortunate as we had two young women from each end of the country (Victoria, BC and St. John, Newfoundland) reuniting for a girls weekend and we hit it off, weaving short conversations between courses about places they should go to in Toronto and their lives at the polar opposites of Canada.

One of the courses they ordered was BBQ’d Kalbi Ribs which came out “Fred Flintstone” style, piled up on a plate. When I say piled, it must have been 20 cm (8 inches) high! And I’m not exaggerating! It was difficult not to comment (for JT, that is)! But here’s the most unusual part: they insisted we take the last mammoth rib home as they were staying in a hotel (it was served family style, so it wasn’t handled). So we DID! Is that not the best story EVER? How many times have you wanted to give your uneaten food away while on holiday? It’s really a shame to throw away perfectly good left-overs (as long as they weren’t handled)

This inspiration is the result of that donated doggy bag of “Fred Flintstone” proportion Korean BBQ’d beef short rib!

Although the yolk doesn’t look as runny, it really was!

BBQ’d Kalbi Benny

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1 left-over BBQ’d Kalbi Short Rib with kimchi
• 2 crêpes (recipe can be found here)
• Hollandaise sauce (make your fav, healthy or not)
• 2 poached eggs

Directions:

1. Reheat rib and once hot, shred with two forks.
2. Fold crêpe into fourths and spread the shredded rib meat in the centre.
3. Top rib meat with a little of the left-over kimchi, then the egg and pour hot hollandaise over.
4. Serve immediately.

Notes:

• This inspiration ‘recipe’ would work famously with any shredded left-over meat.
• If having ribs for dinner, set aside one or two so you can have this fabulous breakfast.
• Coleslaw may be substituted for the kimchi or omitted, but it was a tasty addition.
• English muffins or any type of bread, for that matter may be substituted for the crêpes, I just wanted a slightly less heavy carb.

Lighting is everything.

Read Full Post »

Cubanos

Recently we watched Chef on video. It was a bit long, but the happy ending made it totally worth it and we resulted with The Cuban sandwich for dinner, which is always a win/win for me! We had most of the fixin’s from the Parrillada Mixta we created for the progressive dinner and some ordinary staples like, French stick, dill pickles, cheese and onion confit. It made for a very tasty meal.

My baguette turned out rather thin but it still had that delicious chewy texture that French baguette should have.

Cubano (adapted from Chef, the movie)

Makes 4 small sandwiches (about 8-10 cm or 3-4″ long)

Ingredients:

• 4 smallish portions of baguette
• 4 tbsp yellow mustard
• 4 tbsp onion confit
• thinly sliced leftover steak, to cover one side of bread
• thinly sliced Argentine Chorizo, to cover one half of bread
• 8 thinly sliced pieces of cheese (we used sharp cheddar)
• 4-6 thinly sliced dill pickles (depending on the size of the pickle)
• Butter

Directions:

1. Preheat your double sided grill (like a panini) until smoking hot.
2. Slice each baguette in half and reserve the top half.
3. On the bottom half, spread 1 tbsp of onion confit on each slice.
4. Layer the thinly sliced meat, then sausage, then dill pickles and lastly the cheese.
5. On the top half, smear 1 tbsp yellow mustard on each slice.
6. Top the sandwich.
7. Grill the sandwich so that it’s heated all the way through and the cheese has melted. Eat immediately.

Perfectly grilled so that meat is hot, the cheese is melted and the bread is delicious.

Notes:

• For the baguette, I used this recipe. It was very labour and time intensive but the result of the texture was perfect!
• For the onion confit, I used this tried and true recipe.
• The meat is generally slow cooked with a variety of spices and the onion confit is not a usual component of a Cubano, so that’s why I called it ‘adapted’
• Even though the sandwiches were small, they were very filling and I would say one would have done us just fine. Yes, we’re pigs.

Read Full Post »

Argentine Chorizo

The long one’s are mild and the short one’s are hot!

Remember the group of neighbours with whom we share a progressive dinner from time to time? Well, we’ve had two such dinners since my last post about them, one was at the cottage of one of the neighbours and the other was just a couple of weeks ago back in the city. The one at the cottage had a European theme and because we had it at the cottage, we left it pretty loose for interpretation and it was fantastic! We were in charge of the hors d’œuvres and appetizers and because it was held dock-side we did an antipasto platter with lots of meat, cheese and roasted vegetables. We snacked on them for a few hours while the Bœuff Bourguignon simmered in the kitchen. For dessert, the other neighbour had the most incredible S’mores with belgian chocolate bars and decadent chocolate chip cookies (instead of graham crackers) by the fire pit. We slipped in dessert just before the skies opened and the rain poured and poured!

The most recent progressive dinner had Latin America as the theme and boy did it ROCK! We started with Cassava and cheese fritters, delicious empanadas and of course, nachos with guacamole and salsa. JT and I had the main and we went all out. I wanted Argentinian because I just love how they adore their meat! I made home-made Argentine Chorizo, we grilled steaks AND ribs! (OK, I confess, I just really wanted to make sausage and that’s why I picked this platter!) We also roasted small yellow potatoes (we were going to have Fried Papas Criollas but I just couldn’t bring myself to do it) and stir-fried a variety of coloured peppers; I even caramelized some onions in case someone wanted to eat Choripan (chorizo in french bread with caramelized onions and peppers) and of course we had Chimichurri sauce (both hot and not!). We had WAY too much food and now we’re enjoying variations of this feast for lunches, dinners and snacks! Dessert was a very tasty and refreshing lime ice cream.

The Argentine Chorizo sausage recipe is slightly different than other Latin American recipes in that it contains nutmeg; it’s not a lot but it does give it a slightly different flavour. I used this recipe with some minor alterations. What I didn’t skimp on was the garlic, it seems like a lot, but it’s not and it’s totally worth it! I made a sweet version and a hot version (sweet was longer and hot were the short ones) and I think both went over excellent. Even though I did use some pork belly, it was still a little dry but more than a couple of people said they preferred it to a greasy sausage. I know I will experiment with other flavours in the near future (like spinach, chicken and feta for example!)

We grilled steaks, ribs and home-made sausages!

It was a meat-lovers heaven.

Makes about 6 mild Chorizo (15 cm or 6″ long) and about 10 hot Chorizo (8 cm or 3″ long)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup red wine (we used this wine)
• 1 entire head of garlic
• 5 whole cloves, crushed
• hog casings
• 1 kg of pork
• 400 g of beef
• 150 g pork belly
• 6 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp salt
• 1 tbsp sweet paprika
• 1 tbsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp (heaping) nutmeg
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tbsp hot chilli pepper flakes (reserve for hot portion)

Directions:

1. On low heat, gently boil the wine with the whole head of garlic and crushed garlic for 15 to 20 minutes and allow to cool. Strain and reserve the liquid (discard the garlic) should be about 1/2-3/4 cup.
2. Cut the pork, beef and pork belly into small cubes and pass through the meat grinder set on coarse grind. Mix meat with hands until well blended.
3. Pour the cooled wine over meat mixture and mix thoroughly. Combine all of the spices together with the exception of the hot chilli pepper flakes and sprinkle over meat mixture. Add the finely chopped garlic and mix into meat well. Divide the meat into two equal portions and set one portion aside. Over the second portion, sprinkle the hot chilli pepper flakes and mix well with hands. Refrigerate both hot and mild sausage meats overnight to allow flavours to develope and mature.
4. Prepare your sausage casing by rinsing in cold water for at least 30 minutes. Any unused portions may be resalted with seasalt and frozen for future use.
5. Untangle a reasonable portion of the casing and feed it onto the sausage stuffer attachment, tie a knot at the end. Then in small portions, slowly feed the meat mixture through the sausage stuffer into the casing making sure that it’s relatively evenly filled (it should really fill on its own). Tie off the other end and twist into portion sizes. Poke a lot of small holes throughout the sausage to allow any air bubbles to dissipate (this step will also prevent the sausage from bursting open when grilling). Allow the sausage rest in the refrigerator uncovered for 2- 3 days before cooking or freezing. Once the casing has time to dry out, you should be able to cut the sausages into individual pieces without unravelling the casing.
6. Grill on a charcoal grill over indirect heat for 30 minutes or until internal temperature is 71° C or 160° F. Serve hot off the grill with french stick and mustard.

This is the natural casing. Someone on-line said it smelled really bad, but I couldn’t bring myself to smell it.

The meat fills into the casing relatively easily. In fact, you hardly need to help it.

This is a really long sausage.

This is the sausage twisted into portions. I made two sizes so I could easily tell which one was hot. As the sausage dries in the fridge, the twisted ends will also dry out and be strong enough to cut through without it unravelling..

Notes:

• Whenever I grind meat, I always prepare a medium-sized bowl which I submerged in an ice bath to ensure the meat remains cool as I work it through the grinder. My hands are always cold, so I don’t worry about mixing the meat but if your hands are hot, you may wish to use a wooden spoon.
• To gage how much casing you’ll need, just tell the butcher how much meat you have, I had about 2 kg (4.4 lb) and he portioned out the casings which ended up to be about 2X too much. He suggested I could salt it and freeze it for next time. Casing are not expensive.

Read Full Post »

Trinidadian Curried Chicken Rôti

Did you have pancakes on Tuesday? Pancakes are traditionally served on shrove Tuesday, not sure why but because we love the ‘cakes of pan’ we had these beauties for dinner Tuesday night. Thank you Sissi.

In early February, mid-February, late-February and now early March, we have been going through a bit of a deep chill which always makes us crave hearty, spicy foods. We invited my nephew, niece and her beau to dinner last month and I wanted to serve something new, for them and for me (I’ve never made this before!) so I turned to the hearty West Indian Rôti, always comforting with it’s warm flavours and great textures.

I chose Chef Marcus Samuelson’s Trinidadian Chicken Roti recipe, with some very minor alterations. I also used this recipe* for my Jamaican Curry powder; I actually liked the second one because I was able to make as much or as little as needed — I used 1 teaspoon as my single measure for the ratios which made more than enough for 4 tablespoons! You may also buy Jamaican Curry Spice ready made from the store.

There is absolutely nothing stopping you from omitting the chicken and using vegetable broth instead of chicken broth to make this entirely vegetarian, you can even add tofu but the chickpeas are likely filling enough.

Below is the calorie count for one of the Rôti’s served at our favourite takeout place.  After the success of this recipe, I suspect that rôti will not be bought take out ever again! For the record, I always cut my rôti in half and shared it with someone else!

Calories: 1,013 YIKES!
Fat: 43 grams DOUBLE YIKES!
Sodium: 1,617 milligrams OMG!
Carbohydrates: 106 grams
Protein: 51 grams

A perfectly seasoned and slightly spicy Chicken, chickpea and kale roti

Trinidadian Chicken Rôti

Makes 8 servings. Please see Chef Marcus Samuelson’s original recipe here. Make the curry a day in advance because it will taste better!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup dried sprouted chickpeas**, rehydrated over night (or low sodium can of cooked chickpeas)
• 3+ cups chicken stock
• Quick spray of non-stick spray
• 1 large red onion, finely sliced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 medium Chinese egg plant, cubed
• 2 generous cups kale, chopped
• 1 tbsp vinegar
• 4 tbsp Jamaican curry powder*
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• salt, to taste
• 800 g chicken breasts, no bone, no skin, cut into even chunks
• 1/4 cup white wine

Directions:

1. Add the sprouted chickpeas and stock to a slow cooker and set on high for 4 hours.
2. Spray a large dutch oven with non-stick spray and sweat the onions until translucent on medium heat.
3. Add the garlic, eggplant and kale and sauté for about 3 minutes. Add the Jamaican curry powder, cumin and salt and pepper and stir until fragrant. Add the vinegar and give it a good stir. Using a silicon spatula, scrap this mixture into the slow cooker and give it a good stir. Cook on high for 4-6 hours.
4. About 1 hour before serving, reheat the dutch oven and sear the chicken pieces in the spice laden dutch oven. Add the chicken to the curry in the Dutch oven. Deglaze the pan with the white wine and add to the curry.
5. Give the curry a good stir and reset the timer and heat to Low for 1 additional hour.
6. You may need to add a bit more more stock if the curry is too thick because you want a lot of gravy.
7. Serve with Roti bread.

Delicious!

** I tried sprouting my chickpeas for the first time on my friend Norma’s suggestion, not sure it made much of a difference the taste but it was fun to do.

Nutrional Facts for the Curry

Nutrional Facts for the Roti Bread

Read Full Post »

Italian Wedding Soup, my way

My nephew Brian came for dinner in late January and it was a bitterly cold day so I thought starting out with a soup would be welcome. I’ve always enjoyed Italian Wedding Soup but recently had a very bad version while shopping in Buffalo which has jaundiced me from ordering it again at a restaurant, surprisingly it was in an Italian restaurant, but it was a chain, so I should have known better.

I have updated the traditional recipe using some unusual ingredients, I hope you’ll give it a try and let me know what you think. I ground my own beef and pork but you can easily buy already ground meat (extra lean of course). You’ll be surprised that I used puffed quinoa in the meatballs because I didn’t want to use bread crumbs or panko! Pretty clever don’t you think? I also used kale instead of the traditional spinach because I like the way kale holds up in a soup. Israeli couscous was my clever substitution for the pasta, it’s still pasta but I really liked the look of the balls in the soup.

A flavourful broth with a variety of textures make this soup a welcome addition to my soup repertoire.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup sweet onions, finely chopped
• 1.5 g each of lean beef and pork
• 1/3 cup puffed quinoa
• 1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 tsp freshly chopped oregano
• 1/4 tsp each nutmeg, salt and freshly ground pepper (I use a mix of mainly white, s little black and a little red)
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup Israeli Couscous
• 1 1/2 L (about 1 1/2 qt) Home-made or Low Sodium Chicken stock
• 1/2  (about 1 1/2 cups) large sweet onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1/2 bunch kale (about 4 cups) finely chopped
• 2 medium carrots (about 2-2 1/2 cups), cubed
• 2 celery ribs (about 1 cup), cubed
• 3 tsp canola oil
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• water, if necessary
• 1 good size Parmesan rind

Directions:

1. In a large, chilled metal bowl, combine the onion, beef and pork, puffed quinoa, parmesan cheese, oregano, nutmeg, salt and pepper and the lightly beaten egg. Shape into smallish meatballs and set on a cookie sheet and refrigerate for 30 minutes to an hour.
2. Pre heat the oven to 177° C 350°F. Heat a skillet with 1 tsp canola oil and fry each meatball to brown all sides in two batches. Use the second tsp of canola oil for the second batch. Replace on cookie sheet lined with clean parchment and bake the meatballs until done (about 30 minutes).
3. Cook the Israeli Couscous as per package directions to al dente. Set aside.
4. Pre heat a large soup pot with 1 tsp canola oil, sauté the sweet onion until translucent, add the garlic and sauté until fragrant. Add the chopped kale, carrots and celery and stir for about 4 minutes.
5. Cover with chicken stock and top off with additional water if desired. Salt and pepper to taste. Add the Parmesan rind.
6. Bring to a boil and cook until vegetables have reached their desired consistency, I like a very slight crunch so that they are not mushy in the soup. Add the couscous and baked meatballs just before serving to heat through.
7. Remove theParmesan rind and eat.
8. Serve garnished with shaved Parmesan cheese.

The shaved Parmesan adds a delicate saltiness to this delicious soup.

Tips:

• If you are making this soup to freeze, I would recommend freezing the meatballs and the Israeli couscous in separate bags to the soup and adding to heat just at serving. I kept a batch in the fridge with the couscous and meatballs and they got mushy in two days.

Read Full Post »

French Onion Soup Pillows

Several years ago we dined in a lovely bistro in the heart of the financial district downtown Toronto called Forte Bistro and Lounge. JT had read about Chef Greg Argent in one of our foodie magazines and he knew right away we had to experience his cooking! Sadly, the restaurant is no longer around but the delicious memories of Chef Argent’s cuisine still lingers on.

A delightful combination of rich broth and caramelized onions in a perfectly bite-sized pillow.

One such dish was the unique French Onion Soup Dumplings ($11): a tender pasta dumpling filled with braised veal broth and gruyère cheese; what made this tasty dumpling so unusual was the surprise of the explosion of veal glacé that would fill you mouth with flavour after biting into the tender pasta, immediately reminding you of French Onion Soup! I have tried many times to recreate this wonderful dish without success and then Chef Argent revealed his ‘secret’ when I asked how he does it. Today I will share with you the secret of the tasty, unassuming little dumpling, but you must swear never to speak of it again! Although the recipe is laborious, I urge you to make a batch to serve as an amuse bouche or little hors d’œuvres at your next Super Bowl party (you may freeze uncooked dumplings on a parchment lined sheet lightly dusted with flour and then put them into a zip-lock bag), you will not only thank me for the wonderful compliments your lucky guests bestow upon you, you may even wish to send me gifts! 😉

Did you figure out the ‘secret’?

makes 60 single bite pillows

Ingredients for the broth:

• 0.5 kg (about 1 pound) Beef bones or oxtail bones
• 130 g (about 4.5 oz) sweet onion, thinly sliced
• 1 tsp merlot salt (from my friend Kristy at Eat, play, love; our family food adventures)
• 600 mL water, divided
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tbsp cooking sherry
• 3 g (a scant teaspoon) powdered gelatine (agar agar will not work here)
• 1 cup caramelized onions (please click here for a great recipe)
• Home made pasta dough or 60 square won ton wrappers (for a great pasta dough recipe, please check out Chicago John’s kitchen)
• Gruyère cheese to garnish

Directions for the broth:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F 177°C. Put a 11.5 cm x 21.5 cm (4 1/2″ x 8 1/2″) metal loaf pan into the freezer.
2. Sear the beef bones well on high heat. Remove from pan and set aside. Deglaze the pan with 1 tbsp cooking sherry or port. Add the onions to the pan and sauté for a minute or so on the residual heat from searing. Spread the onions out evenly on the bottom of the pan. Return the beef bones to the pan and nestle into the onions, add the merlot salt, bay leaf and 300 mL water. Cover with tin foil and roast in the oven for about 1 hour, checking occasionally to make sure the water hasn’t evaporated, top up as needed.
3. Remove pan from oven and remove tin foil. Add an additional 200 mL water and boil on the stove top until liquid is reduced to about 150 mL (about 5 oz). Strain through a fine sieve and press as much liquid out of the cooked onions as possible.
4. Set aside about 60 mL (1/4 cup) of the stock and cool. Keep the remainder stock on a soft boil.
5. Stir the gelatine into the cooled stock until melted. Add the boiling stock and stir well. Allow to cool to room temperature and pour into the super cooled loaf pan. Refrigerate until set.

You can develop a little assembly line to speed up the process!

An unexpected, rich, delicious broth explodes in your mouth when you bite into each pillow.

Directions for assembling the pillows:

1. Roll out the pasta dough to #4 thickness on the Kitchenaid Pasta roller (less than 1 mm or 0.125 inch). Using a 6-7cm (2.5″ -2.75″) oval cookie cutter, cut out the ovals to make both sides of the pillows.
2. Remove the jelled broth from the fridge and cut into 0.5-1cm (0.25″-0.5″) rectangles.
3. Onto each oval, more or less centred, add one jelled broth rectangle and about 1/4 tsp caramelized onion. Wet your finger and run a wet bead along the outer edge of the pasta oval. Turn up both sides of the oval and squeeze the edges together to bind — you don’t want these pillows to burst open when boiling.
4. Lightly flour a parchment lined baking sheet and add each finished pillow to it so as not to touch each other. Freeze and bag frozen pillows into a zip lock bag or container. Use as many as needed.
5. Bring an appropriate  amount of salted water to a boil. Add frozen pillows and boil until they float to the surface. Remove with a slotted spoon onto a clean dish cloth to drain off water. Present on a Chinese soup spoon and garnish with a small amount of finely grated gruyère cheese. Brûlée the cheese until it is golden and crispy. Serve immediately.

The Brûléed Gruyère cheese taste just like the burnt bits on a French Onion soup bowl.

Read Full Post »

Vadas Marhahus; Hungarian Wild Meat revisited

Last fall we had my lovely niece and her beaux for the weekend; Laura recently graduated from Western University with her degree in Law and she is articling in Toronto. I wanted to make a traditional Hungarian dinner because they had never had Hungarian food. I had intended to follow the recipe verbatim, but I just couldn’t help myself and did end up changing it a slight bit. The result was wonderful and JT thought I finally got it right, the way he remembered my dear Mom to make this tasty dish. The original recipe is from Ilona Horváth’s “The Traditional Hungarian Kitchen” cookbook, published originally in 1996.

Although this recipe takes 2-3 days to prepare, there is little kitchen time as most of it is in the marinade. The finishing is relatively easy. The original recipe was made entirely in a dutch oven but I’ve modified it to a slow cooker because I was not able to be at home the day we wanted to have it. The gravy is a tangy, creamy gravy balanced with the addition of caramelized sugar, but it is NOT SWEET. The julienned carrots and parsnips add texture and natural sweetness. The meat comes out fork tender and you really don’t even need a knife to eat it.

The tangy gravy goes perfectly with the sweet carrots and parsnips. Sorry the photo is so hot, it was night when I shot this.

Vadas Hus; Hungarian Wild Meat revisited

Serves 4-6. This recipe takes 2-3 days to prepare.

Ingredients:

• 800 g (1 3/4lb) eye of round or good stewing beef, whole
• 50 g  bacon (pancetta works)
• 2 tbsp canola oil (the Hungarians would use lard here)
• 2 tbsp all purpose flour
• 10 g (scant tablespoon) sugar
• 1 tsp white vinegar
• 2 tsp dijon mustard
• 3/4 Non-fat Greek yogurt (or sour cream)
• 100 g (about 1 cup) julienned carrots
• 100 g (about 1 cup) julienned parsnips
• 1-2 tbsp cold water

Ingredients for the marinade:

• 50 g (about 1/2 cup) grated carrots
• 50 g (about 1/2 cup) grated parsnips
• 1 small onion chopped roughly
• 1 L  (about 4 cups) water
• 5-6 black peppercorns
• 2 bay leaves
• salt to taste
• 2 tsp white vinegar

Directions:

1. Tidy up the meat by removing any excess fat and membranes. Allow to come to room temperature.
2. To prepare the marinade, cook the carrots, parsnips and onion in 1 L water with black pepper, bay leaves and salt until half cooked. Add the vinegar and cool to room temperature. Pour over the meat and refrigerate 2-3 days turning every so often. Remove the black peppercorns.
3. Remove the meat from the marinade and dry completely, bring to room temperature. In a large dutch oven, heat the canola oil and cook the bacon and reserve, add the meat  to the bacon oil and sear each side well.
4. In the meantime, pre heat the slow cooker on high and add the original marinade, reserved bacon and bay leaves. Once it is warm add the seared beef and cook until beef is tender (3-4 hours) turning often.
5. Remove the meat from the slow cooker and allow to rest. Discard the bay leaves. Strain the vegetables from the slow cooker (reserve the liquid) and add to the dutch oven, sprinkle with flour and fry to brown lightly. Slowly add the reserved marinade liquid and stir to thicken.
6. In a small sauce pan, melt the sugar until it is golden in colour (not dark) and then mix with a couple of tablespoons of cold water, pour into the thickened vegetables in the dutch oven. Simmer for 5 minutes and add the remaining 2 tsp vinegar and Dijon mustard. Purée the entire gravy adding the yogurt or sour cream with an immersion blender until very smooth. You can run this through a fine sieve for a very smooth gravy. Keep warm.
7. Boil the remaining julienned carrots and parsnips until cooked but there is still a slight bite to them. Strain and keep warm.
8. Slice the meat into 1 cm or 1/2″ slices and plate over the puréed gravy, top with the julienne parsnips and carrots. Garnish with flat leaf parsley.
9. Serve with Hungarian Bread Dumplings.

JT loves it when I pan sear the gombocz in butter and it becomes crispy and delicious!

Read Full Post »

Bacon Jam. Yes indeed, you read that correctly.

We’re knee-deep in that frenzied holiday season when there are parties, unscheduled drop-ins and quick festive glasses of vino. I never like to drink on an empty stomach so I like to stock the freezer with hors d’œuvres that can be made up in bulk and pulled out in a pinch. One of my favourites is the Devil on Horseback or bacon wrapped dates that I first came across from a Tapa’s cookbook from a friend about 8 years ago and finally blogged about it here. I needed to stock up so when I recently saw naturally smoked bacon (low sodium) on sale at my grocer, I asked JT to pick me up a couple of packs so I had them in the fridge ready to be made into the little devils. Fast forward to my second food styling assisting job, I assisted for a breakfast sandwich and there was a lot of bacon. Probably close to a hundred pounds? OK, I may be exaggerating but there was a lot of bacon left over and I was kindly given some of it! So now I needed to figure out what to do with so much bacon and then it hit me, I knew exactly what that was!

I first came across Bacon Jam at Lorraine’s lovely blog Not Quite Nigella in 2009 and it’s been sitting in my data bank since. I usually don’t have an excess of bacon lying around so the bacon I was given from the job was very welcomed indeed. JT was ecstatic, like most men, he adores bacon. So I made bacon jam. I didn’t have everything Lorraine’s recipe required plus I needed something that I could leave all day to cook on its own, so I found good old Martha Stewart’s Slow Cooker Bacon Jam.

Cooking down the bacon; the aromas enticed dogs and neighbourhood men to walk in zombie-like fashion towards the house!

There was an overwhelming aroma of bacon for days.

Thick, sweet and salty all at once. Who knew bacon could taste THAT good?

There are a few precautions one must take with bacon jam. Contrary to what you would think, it is highly susceptible to salmonella which is a very dangerous bacteria. You may have heard that this past summer our Canadian National Exhibition’s Cronut Burger (poor refrigeration) lead to the contamination by Staphylococcus aureus toxin poisoning of their bacon jam! Go figure. You would think that with ALL the preservatives in bacon it wouldn’t be an issue, but it was. In further reading it seems that garlic increases this issue even more. So, my words of caution is that you MUST refrigerate your bacon jam and not even keep it in a processed jar outside of refrigeration. I even went a step further and froze any extra I wasn’t able to eat in a short time frame.

Bacon Jam

Makes 4 small jars

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 pounds sliced bacon, cut crosswise into 1-inch pieces
• 2 medium yellow onions, diced small
• 3 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
• 1/2 cup cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
• 1/4 cup pure maple syrup
• 3/4 cup brewed coffee

Directions:

1. Cook bacon over medium-high, stirring occasionally, until fat is rendered and bacon is lightly browned, about 20 minutes.
2. Transfer the bacon to paper towels to drain. Reserve 1 tablespoon of fat from the bacon skillet, discard the remainder.
3. Add onions and garlic, and cook until onions are translucent, about 6 minutes. Add vinegar, brown sugar, maple syrup, and coffee and bring to a boil, stirring and scraping up browned bits from skillet with a wooden spoon, about 2 minutes. Add bacon and stir to combine.
4. Transfer mixture to a 6-quart slow cooker and cook on high, uncovered, until liquid is syrupy, 3 1/2 to 4 hours. Transfer to a food processor; pulse until coarsely chopped. Allow to cool slightly then refrigerate in airtight containers, up to 4 weeks (see caveat above).

I may have gotten carried away with the photos. But is it Bacon dog gamn it!

Last one, promise.

The jam is slightly sweet, tangy and a perfect accompaniment to cheese or pâté. Add it to your charcuterie platter for New Year’s Eve celebrations. I might have even added it to scrambled eggs once or even a sandwich. Be creative. Where would you add such a decadent jam?

Read Full Post »

Guinness Beef Stew with Butter Biscuits; Progressive Dinner #4, Beer

We celebrated our fourth Progressive dinner a few weeks ago with our lovely neighbours. During the last dinner the boys dreamed up our next theme: Beer! I was lucky enough to be next up for the main course so I was excited because I don’t often cook with beer and I don’t often make stew; I was thinking Guinness Stew!

We started at house one with a variety of beer cheeses and beer candied bacon (definitely on my list to make!), they also served a delicious Steam Whistle Butternut Squash Soup garnished with bits of the candied bacon and a splash of cream, very tasty indeed. Then of course it was our place and then at the third house we enjoyed dessert which was a fantastic Beer Brownie, it was definitely moist and flavourful. All of the dishes were wonderful and the company was great. We’ve even determined our next theme: Mad Men! We’re going to have fun with that as far as I could tell, all they did was eat cake and drink. Should be an interesting party!

Guinness is by far my favourite beer; thick, creamy, caramel tones and even a little liquorish flavours are a perfect pairing with the hearty, earthy beef. My friend Angela (of Titanic Anniversary, Truman Capote’s Black and White, James Bond 60th Anniversary dinner parties) served up this Beef and Guinness Stew for the Bond party and I knew it would be the recipe I wanted to make. Plus it has Guinness in it. Did I mention it has Guinness in it?

I made this stew the day before because stews always taste better the next day and I would urge you to do the same. JT confessed he likes this stew better than his Bœuff Bourguignon! Make sure you refrigerate overnight and then bring it to room temperature before you reheat. I also added carrots because one of our neighbours is not a mushroom eater so I wanted another vegetable in it and it tastes and looks amazing. I used eye of round which is a rather tough cut of beef, but I wanted to bake it longer at a lower temperature and I wanted a meat that would stand up; it was amazing, totally fork tender keeping its shape for serving. I also added a bit of beef stock when I reheated because the sauce thickened up a bit too much, use your own discretion on how thick or watery you want your sauce to be. Guinness’ website offers up a recipe that looks very watery but it’s entirely up to you.

The biscuits were perfect for this type of stew

Guinness Beef Stew

Serves 6-8 (it’s a filling meal, so you may even get 9 out of it!)

(original recipe is by Executive chef John Cordeaux of The Fairmont Royal York Hotel in Toronto as published in Canadian Living) I have altered the original recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 lb (907 g) eye of round beef roast, trimmed and cut into 5-8 cm (2-3″) cubes (I like bigger chunks of meat, serving size is 2-3 per person
• 2 tbsp (30 mL) vegetabIe oil
• 6 slices chopped bacon
• 2 tbsp (30 mL) butter
• 1 medium Vidalia onion, finely sliced
• 4 cups (1 L) small mushrooms, either halved (if large) or whole (if small)
• 2 cups carrots, sliced in 2-3 cm (1.5″) chunks
• 2 tbsp (30 mL) tomato paste
• 2 tbsp (30 mL) all purpose flour
• 1 can (440ml) Guinness draught beer
• 1 tbsp (15 mL) grainy mustard (I made my own here)
• 1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt
• 1/4 tsp (1 mL) white pepper
• 1 cup of beef stock (to be added when reheating the stew)
• Fresh Rosemary to garnish

Directions:

1. In ovenproof Dutch oven, heat oil over medium-high heat and brown the beef in batches, transferring to bowl using slotted spoon (don’t drain, you’ll want the liquid from the beef too).
2. Once the meat has been browned and removed, cook the bacon until crisp, 5 to 8 minutes; remove bacon with slotted spoon to a piece of paper towel to drain and then reserve.
3. Drain off the pan fat and melt the butter over medium head. Add the onions and sweat until translucent. Add the mushrooms and cook until all the liquid has evaporated. Reserve the mushrooms (I was concerned that they would over cook over the 3 hours in the oven).
4. Stir in the tomato paste and cook continually stirring for 2 minutes. Sprinkle with flour and cook stirring for another minute. Whisk in Guinness, grainy mustard, salt and pepper until smooth.
5. Return beef and bacon and juices to the pan, cover and bake at 250°F (121° C) until beef is tender, about 2.5-3 hours.
6. In the meantime, peel and cut carrots into chunks. Roast on a cookie sheet for about 1 hour (not 100% done).
7. When beef is cooked, add the carrots and mushrooms and allow to cool to room temperature. Refrigerate until day of serving.
8. Remove beef from the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature (2-3 hours).
9. Pre heat the oven to 200°F (93° C). On the stove top, warm beef slowly to boiling, adding beef stock as required. Fold instead of stirring to avoid breaking apart the meat.
10. Cover and put into the oven until ready to serve.
11. Serve with Cauliflower Celeriac “Mashed Potatoes” and a Butter Biscuit (recipe).

Thick, rich Guinness Stew, I know you want some!

Note: Don’t be concerned that the stew might be bitter, the long cooking process, sweet tomato paste and onions certainly round out what ever bitterness there may have been. Allowing to rest overnight also helps round out the flavours.

Read Full Post »

Lemony Chicken

My friend Barb made an incredible feast for Chinese New Year, she had so many delicious things it was really difficult to choose just one. But when I saw the Lemon Chicken plated out, I knew I had to try it because, believe it or not, I happen to adore the not so good for you version at Chinese fast food stalls! It turns out that lemon in savoury dishes is not one of JT’s favourite things, although he did say he didn’t hate it. Well, what he actually said was he prefers the taste of lemons in desserts! Go figure. I really enjoyed this recipe because I adore sour and sweet combos. And I have to admit, I reduced the sugar for our dinner and if I were to make it again, I would reduce it even more as I found it a little too sweet for my taste (I have adjusted the recipe below to reduce the sugar). I also baked the skinless, boneless Chicken breasts instead of pan frying to be a little healthier.

Original Recipe from House and Home

Serves 2, 100 g portions

Cutting the chicken into strips allows them to cook faster so that the crumbs become crispy but don’t burn.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tbsp sugar (I have reduced this from my pictured recipe already)
• 1 heaping tbsp grated ginger root
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 1 tsp lemon zest
• 1/2 tbsp cornstarch
• 200 g boneless, skinless chicken breast
• 3 tbsp flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 egg whites
• 1/2 tbsp cold water
• 1/2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 clove garlic, finely minced
• 1 cup panko-style bread crumbs
• 1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
• Mix of greens such as shredded romaine lettuce.

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Combine water, sugar and ginger in a small saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for a few minutes to infuse the water with the ginger.
3. Stir in the freshly squeezed lemon juice and zest and quickly return to a boil.
4. Dissolve the cornstarch in about 1 tbsp cold water and stir well into the lemon mixture. Cook on medium neat until thickened, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and set aside.
5. Remove all residual fat from the chicken. Place in a zip lock bag and pound so that the breasts are even thickness. Cut each breast into similar thickness stips.
6. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl, stir well. Set aside.
7. Whisk egg white, water, soy sauce and garlic in another bowl, set aside.
8. Pour Panko into a third bowl and mix in the sesame seeds.
9. Set up your breading stations so that the flour mixture is first, the egg whites second and the panko last.
10. Dredge the chicken strips in the flour mixture and shake off excess, then dip into the egg whites and lastly coat with panko/sesame mix. Repeat with all the chicken strips until all have been breaded.
11. Bake on a parchment lined baking sheet for about 12-15 minutes (turning about mid way) or until chicken has an internal temperature of 165°F or 74° C.
12. Reheat the sauce. Fill a bowl with mixed greens, place chicken strips over the greens and dress with the hot lemony sauce.
13. Enjoy!

Read Full Post »

My Easter Menu

I just noticed that WordPress is adding advertising into my content in links which are not mine. How to tell the difference is that my links have a dotted underline and the ad links are solid and dotted together. Not cool at all.

Last week I was blown-away flattered by my Hungarian friend Zsuzsa (Zsuzsa is in the kitchen) when she invited me to participate in a blogging event to post your Easter Menu! You can read about Zsuzsa’s Easter here; she grew up very close to where my Mom grew up in Budapest. It’s really just a round up of past post recipes and a little bit about your Easter memories. How could I say no?  Thank you Zsuzsa, I would be honoured. Zsuzsa is taking part with the following Hungarian ladies: The author of this event, Éva from Takarekos Konyha (this blog is in Hungarian) and Elizabeth from Food and Thrift.

Growing up, Easter was always about bunnies for me. Yes, we went to church and all that but let’s be honest, it was about the bunnies! At eight years old, my very first pet bunny was an albino Dutch whom we called Boom Boom (he was called Boom Boom because he stomped his hind feet loudly). Sadly good old Boom Boom only lasted 3 years, but he made such an impression on me that I’ve only ever had bunnies as pets! I cried so much when he died that my Dad swore he would never let me have another pet because losing them made me too sad and he just couldn’t bear it. I was sixteen before I was permitted to have Boon, another albino Dutch but smaller than Boom Boom (no, we weren’t very imaginative with the names!). But I digress, back to Easter.

Mom and Dad in Edmonton with the Chrysler Tour in 1960

You already know that my Dad was a Puppeteer (and if you don’t, you can read about it here) and we had a family business with the puppet shows. Easter was a big time for us, these holidays meant that the malls, schools (note that this link is NOT mine) and some companies needed entertainment for their events and what’s not to like about a puppet show? So many of our Easters were on the road with the show. In fact, Boom Boom was first adopted because my Dad needed a live bunny for the show (he was the star, don’t worry, it was all very humane).

Believe it or not, the Show was about Bunnies.

And there were singing Eggs too

But Easter also had a serious side: FOOD! Chocolates, coloured eggs and of course, ham. I don’t have many of the recipes that we had at Easter but I’ve gathered a bunch I am going to have this weekend when we have JTs family for Easter Sunday lunch. I hope you enjoy them.

My Mom only used Canada Grade A Large size eggs

Hors D’œuvres were usually Deviled Eggs (here and here) and French Salad (Francia Saláta). I don’t have a post about Francia Saláta, but you can see Zsuzsa’s recipe here (my Mom never put potatoes in her version). I may do a new hors d’œuvres recipe I saw on my friend Lorraine’s blog of her recent trip to Amman, Jordan. It involves cheese and phyllo pastry, that’s all I can give you!

A wonderful addition to any Easter table

We usually had an Easter kalács (Zsuzsa made a gorgeous one here) but I’m making John’s Easter Cheese Bread instead.

The most succulent tenderloin ever

We’ve decided to go nontraditional and have a beef tenderloin for lunch. This recipe is my favourite way to serve this special cut of meat.

The only place you’ll miss the potatoes is on your waist-line!

I’m going to serve it with my traditional Celeriac Cauliflower Mash. And a wonderful lemony Asparagus from my friend Greg’s Rufus’ Guide.

It’s a symphony of colours

And a little tangy German Purple Cabbage Slaw.

Now if you had any room for dessert, I’m going to make Charle’s Sweedish Apple Cake (from Five Euro Food), which totally looks like the perfect ending to a rich and heavy meal. It’s really just all apples and then there’s more apples. The only flour in this is the use of the breadcrumbs as the base, thickener and likely adds a little texture. I love that I can make it sugar free too, since I have a diabetic and a hypo-glycemic in the house — I like to make only one dessert that everyone can enjoy and not make the person feel odd that they have something else.

I may not be able to comment on your blogs for the next few days but I’ll definitely read up when I get back into civilization with internet. Thank you for reading my blog and leaving comments, you really, really make my day. Thank you to every one of the blogs I read, you provide me with the inspiration for my blog and it really wouldn’t be the same without you!

Happy Easter to All!

Read Full Post »

Naan Pizza with Goats Cheese, Prosciutto and Sun-dried Tomatoes and Spinach

I have a confession to make: I’m in love and it’s not JT. It’s really not as bad as it sounds, my love affair is with a certain Indian. OK. I’ll ‘fess up, it’s Naan. There. I’m in love with Naan. The bread, silly! I’m embarrassed to admit how many times I’ve made this recipe but suffice it to say it’s double digits! About the same time that Maria over at a-boleyn live journal made our delicious naan recipe into a gorgeous pizza, I had the same idea (yes, I blog well in advance!). So on the day the world should have ended (again) I made a naan pizza for dinner. What a way to go!

It’s basically whatever you have in the fridge, our ingredients were goats cheese infused with garlic and EVOO, torn prosciutto, sun-dried tomatoes in EVOO and chopped spinach topped with shaved parmesan cheese. What more can you want?

Why Naan? I usually like my pizza crust super thin and crispy, what the naan brought to the table (pardon the pun) is a bit more bite and a lot of chewiness. Delicious chewy goodness. Need. I. Say. More. ?.

A slightly chewy crust made delicious by garlic infused goats cheese

Read Full Post »

Indian Dinner Party: Beef Bhuna

We have an Indian restaurant just north of where we live in BWV called North of Bombay. It’s a lovely place, nicely decorated in a contemporary style, close enough to walk (about 20 minutes) and the food is very good and it’s never crowded and the service has been very good. But for some reason, we ALWAYS order takeout or delivery. Indian is like that for us. And they have a crappy wine list. But they have the most delicious Beef Bhuna that we’ve ever had so that is the recipe I was trying to replicate for our Indian themed dinner party. Their menu describes it as Eye of round cubes cooked with fresh onions,green pepper, ginger, coriander, tomatoes, herbs & spices. So when I was searching the net, those were the key ingredients I was looking for. The recipe below is loosely based on this recipe but I changed it to replicate the flavours of North of Bombay’s Beef Bhuna. I also changed up the technique because I wanted to cook it slow and low as per Bœuff Bourguignon.

Beef Bhuna

Tender beef cubes drenched in a mildly spicy, fragrant, flavourful gravy

Serves 4-6 as part of a bigger menu

Ingredients:

• 400 g eye of round beef, cut into 2.5 cm or 1 inch cubes
• 1 Green Pepper, cut into similar size squares as the beef
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 2 tsp of mild curry powder
• 1 tsp of Chilli Powder
• 1 tsp Garam Masala
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper (omit if you find this too hot)
• a pinch of ground cardamon
• 1/2 tsp coriander
• 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 2 tbsp fresh ginger, finely minced
• 1+ cup water
• 1/2 cup beef stock
• 1/4 cup cilantro leaves, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions

Directions:

1. Pre-heat oven to 300° F.
2. In an oven-proof pan (like Le Creuset’s dutch oven) sear the beef in about 1-2 tbsp high flash point oil (like peanut or canola). Remove from pan. De-glaze with a 1/2 cup of beef stock, pour over the meat.
3. Add finely chopped onions and cook well (I saw Madhur Jaffrey on Martha Stewart once and she said that Indian cooking doesn’t sweat the onions, but they cook the onions dark, but not burned).
4. Add the curry, chilli, cayenne, cardamon and coriander and cook JUST until you can smell it. Add the garlic, fresh ginger and garam masala give a quick stir. Now add the water and combine well. Return the beef to the pan and give it a good stir. Cover and bake in the 300° F oven for 2-3 hours or until beef is fork tender. Check frequently and add water as required; you don’t want it soupy, just a nice light gravy. About 30 minutes to serving, add the green pepper — you don’t want the green pepper soft and mushy.
5. Serve hot garnished with cilantro leaves and green onions with Basmati rice and Naan.

Read Full Post »

Pork Loin Stuffed with Fig Preserves and Goats Cheese

This here post is the reason I love blogging and I’m sure most of you will agree. Blogging provides friendship and advice, cooking and sometimes otherwise. Blogging provides support; I haven’t come across a nasty person yet (well, I would delete them anyway ;-)). And last but not least, blogging provides inspiration particularly when you are deathly sick of every recipe you’ve past blogged about and can’t for the life of you come up with an idea for tonight’s dinner.

I have my friend John, From the Bartolini Kitchens to thank for tonight’s dinner: Roasted Loin of Pork stuffed with Fig Preserves and Goats Cheese. Of course, John made his own fig preserves (which I will do next year) but I had to use a store bought version. I find these store bought preserves rather sweet and I certainly didn’t want dessert for dinner so I decided to add some goats cheese to my stuffing to help temper the sweetness. It worked. PLUS it made an incredible jus for the Celeriac Potato Mash I made with it. I only made a few minor changes to John’s incredible recipe. This was definitely a dinner for the recipe books. Thanks John, again, I might add.

Come on pork, it’s your turn to shine. Work it, work it.
(It’s that time of year when the light SUCKS big time. Sigh.)

 

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 400 g Pork Tenderloin, butterflied
• 100 g goats cheese
• Fig preserves (home made or store bought)
• 4-6 slices prosciutto
• butcher’s twine
• 2 tbsp high flash point oil, such as canola
• Sherry for deglazing (I used cooking Sherry, but feel free to use the real thing)

Directions:

1. Pre heat oven to 350° F.
2. Spread a thin layer throughout the butterflied pork tenderloin. Crumble the goats cheese evenly throughout.
3. Roll up the pork and wrap tightly with the prosciutto, wrap tightly with the butcher’s twine.
4. In an oven proof roasting pan, heat the canola oil until almost smoking. Add the pork and cook the prosciutto until crispy on all sides. Remove pork for a minute and deglaze pan with the Sherry. Return pork and bake in a hot oven for 15-20 minutes or until pork has reached a minimum of 145° F. Allow to rest before cutting into slices.
5. If the pan has juices from the fig preserves and bits of goats cheese you will want to heat on the stove and press through a fine sieve for serving. Serve with Celeriac Potato Mash.

Read Full Post »

Celeriac and Potato “Mash”

Happy Anniversary Mom and Dad
(today would have been their 52nd anniversary)

We don’t often buy potatoes; it’s not because I don’t like them, I do, but they are carbs and I would prefer to eat other vegetables with less carbs and a lower glycemic index. But I bought two medium sized potatoes two weeks ago and only used one for a recipe. I had that potato sitting on my counter for another week before I figured out what to do with it.

I also had a 1/2 celeriac (celery root) in the vegetable crisper just waiting to get brown and tossed so I decided to take my celeriac cauliflower “mash” and change it up a bit with the potato. Since I didn’t have a head of cauliflower either I just made Celeriac Potato Mash. Now I love roasting vegetables because it really brings out the sweetness, so I simply roasted the celeriac (and a few cloves of garlic), boiled the potatoes and presto; what a “mash” this turned out to be! LOVE it!

Celeriac has fewer calories and carbohydrates than a potato as well, it is lower on the glycemic index than a potato so keeping the celeriac ratio higher than the potato was the right decision for me. The potato adds creaminess that you expect from mashed potatoes. This is a bit more labourious than normal mashed potatoes, but I promise you it is worth it. I hope you enjoy it. To see a whole mess of mashed potatoes head on over to Greg’s blog, he has gone all out with this savoury dish.

The star of this photo is the mash, not the pork. The pork is a Primadonna!

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 medium yukon gold potato, peeled and diced
• 1 medium celeriac, peeled and diced
• 4 medium cloves of garlic, peeled to the outer skin
• 2-4 tbsp EVOO
• salt to taste
• chicken stock or milk or cream, depending on how healthy you wish to make it.

Directions:

1. Pre heat oven to 400° F. Spread the celeriac evenly on the pan and very lightly coat with olive oil and salt.
2. Put garlic cloves into a small ramekin and add about a finger’s depth of EVOO and salt.
3. Bake the celeriac and garlic until both are fork tender. About 30-40 minutes into the roasting, add about 1/2 cup of water to the celeriac roasting pan and give the celeriac a good stir. When the water evaporates, they should be fork tender (if not, then add another 1/2 cup of water and repeat until fork tender)
4. While the celeriac is baking, in a large stock pot add enough water to cover the potatoes entirely, salt generously. Cook until they are fork tender.
5. Drain potatoes and allow to sit for a minute so that all of the water evaporates. Either rice with a potato ricer or mash gently with a fork (you don’t want to develop the starches so for heavens sake, don’t blend this with an immersion blender). Don’t add any liquid as the celeriac mash will be a touch wetter than necessary and we’ll need the potato on the dryer side. Set aside
6. When the celeriac is fork tender, remove from the pan into the immersion blender container, squeeze out the roasted garlic, pour in the oil from roasting the garlic and blend. Blend until it is smooth, smooth, smooth, adding chicken stock, milk or cream to achieve a mashed potato consistency. Celeriac doesn’t have the same level of starch as the potato so this is the only way you will get it smooth. Push through a fine sieve and fold the mashed potatoes into the mix. Keep warm over a bain marie. Serve with the most amazing Fig Stuffed Pork Tenderloin ever (link won’t be active until Nov 21).

Read Full Post »

Capote’s favourite Basil Chicken Hash

In October we were invited to another theme dinner party: Truman Capote’s Black and White Masquerade Ball, the party of the century! We were asked to dress in black and white and wear with a mask, which worked out perfectly since Halloween was just around the corner!

Our lovely hostess made this beautiful little booklet for the evening. The menu was pulled from Capote’s favourites, Basil Chicken Hash and served similar to the style of the time. We all had a blast! Mind you, I think we lasted about 10 minutes wearing the masks! Sadly, I didn’t get any pics of JT and I. Nor did I shoot the hash…but rest assured, it was AMAZING. The basil infused the chicken and although there is nothing Thai about it, it had a slight Thai flavouring to me. This will definitely go into our steady repertoire, such a flavourful and easy dish.

My friend chose Ina Garten’s recipe which turns out to be healthier than the real deal, believe it or not; Ina uses an extra pot to sauté the peppers, but I wanted to make it much simpler and modified the recipe accordingly.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Our lovely hosts also gave us a bit of a teaser for the next themed dinner party in the Springtime…it will be Bond 007! What fun! Now, tell me which Bond girl should I be?

Basil Chicken Hash

Adapted from the Barefoot Contessa on Food Network

Serves 4, 100 g chicken per serving

Ingredients:

• 1 or 2 chicken breasts, bone-in, skin removed (400 g)
• 5 stalks of fresh basil leaves
• dash of EVOO
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 1 small boiling potato, peeled and large diced
• 1 red onion, chopped in large quarters
• 1 red bell pepper, large diced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, large diced
• 3 garlic cloves, finely minced
• 1 teaspoons dried thyme leaves
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 4 minced scallions, white and green parts
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh leaf parsley
• dash of vegetable or chicken stock
• Sea salt to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350° F.
2. Spray the baking sheet with non-stick spray and lay two stalks of the basil leaves down (I was lucky, I used what was left from the garden).
3. Place the chicken breasts on top of the basil, bone side down. Lightly rub each chicken piece with EVOO and sprinkle with salt. Put two more basil stalks on top of the chicken and bake for 35 to 40 minutes until cooked through. Set aside until cool enough to handle, then remove the meat from the bones and cut the chicken in large dice pieces and set aside.
4. Melt 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large sauté pan and add the potatoes and onions, salt and saute over medium heat for about 10 minutes, until evenly browned and cooked through. I added a dash of stock at this point. Add the peppers, garlic, thyme, paprika and tomato paste and mix well. Add the chicken and another dash of stock and place into the oven to finish for about 10-15 minutes.
5. Garnish with the remaining torn basil leaves, minced scallions and chopped fresh parsley, toss together and place on a serving platter. Serve over greens (I only had one smallish potato but if you use the recipe as is, you will not need a side with it).

Read Full Post »

A Healthier Pulled Pork, by Cooking with Corinna

I’ve been following a blog called Cooking with Corinna who has been doing the Ducan diet (you know, the French diet). Corinna has been very successful in losing weight following this diet and has decided to try and healthy up some of her favourites so that she doesn’t fall back into old bad habits and jeopardize her success. The first recipe she ‘healthed up’ was pulled pork. JT loves pulled pork but it’s not something I ever make at home, mainly because it is so unhealthy, or so I thought. Corinna’s method was relatively simple and frankly quite obvious but, for some reason I never thought of it myself. She simply chose a leaner and healthier cut of pork — pork tenderloin instead of pork shoulder. Genius! I was inspired to make this pulled pork for dinner the other night and boy was it a success! Corinna used a slow cooker, but I chose to get my roasting pan on the grill outside (it was so hot and humid that day, I couldn’t bear even the slow cooker!). The trick is low and slow; I cooked our 300g tenderloin for almost four hours on 121°C (250°F). I turned it a few times and made sure it was always covered in BBQ sauce. You can use a store bought BBQ sauce, or you can throw one together in minutes like I did. Soooo easy. You will be surprised that you won’t be able to tell the difference from the unhealthy version! And if you want to keep it even healthier, choose a BBQ sauce based with fruit instead of sugar.

Thanks Corinna, this one will be a keeper, that’s for sure!

A Healthier Pulled Pork

Serves 3, 100 g portions

BBQ Sauce Ingredients:

Original recipe can be found here.

• 1/2 cup ketchup
• 1/4 cup vinegar, preferably red wine vinegar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp prepared mustard
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• 1-2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 tbsp espresso coffee powder

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan, combine all of the ingredients and bring to a slow boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 5 minutes or until the flavours have blended well. Remove from heat and set aside.

Pulled Pork Ingredients:

Original recipe can be found here.

• 300 g pork tenderloin with silver skin and excess fat removed. This is a great video on preparing pork tenderloin. I removed ALL of the fat to keep it healthier.
• 1-2 tbsp canola oil (or an oil with a high flash point)
• 1 cup BBQ sauce, home made or store bought.
• 1 cup water

Directions:

1. Preheat BBQ to 121°C (250°F).
2. Heat the roasting pan on the stove with the canola oil until almost smoking. Sear all sides of the tenderloin. Remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool for a minute or two. Add the BBQ sauce and make sure that the tenderloin is brushed evenly with it. Place the covered roasting pan on the BBQ and turn off the heat directly below it. You’ll have to watch your BBQ so that the temperature maintained for the 4 hours is around 121°C (250°F).
3. Turn the tenderloin 3-4 times making sure it is always covered well with the BBQ sauce. I kept about 1 cup of water near the BBQ and added water as the sauce became thicker and evaporated. Eventually around 3.5 hours, the meat will literally fall apart and you will be able to mix it well with the BBQ sauce and cook it for the last half hour.
4. Serve warm or cold, on a salad, on a bun, or even in a fajita shell. Garnish with chopped cilantro and finely chopped green onions.

Read Full Post »

Mediterranean Stuffed Loin of Pork

Beautiful tenderloin of pork was on sale at the butcher this past weekend, and it’s a favourite of ours because it is low in saturated fats (compared to other cuts of pork). I trim off all of the excess fat, to minimize the calories, but you can do as you wish.

Here is an interesting note for Canadians buying supermarket meat (not sure if the same is true in the U.S. or E.U.) that I learned through working for the design firm specializing in food packaging. If a piece of meat says that it is “seasoned” it does not mean that it has spices on it. It means that it has been ‘plumped’ with water, sodium phosphate and salt. They say they do this to retain moisture but in reality, if you cook the product properly, you should have a moist and delicious piece of meat. They do it to make the meat look bigger and plumper. You will also notice that the label, by law, will indicate the meat protein percentage. For example, a similar plumped loin of pork will say “minimum 18% meat protein”. In addition, if you’ve ever bought this type of product, you will notice that when you cook it, it shrinks incredibly, and that is because it is plumped and the liquid cooks out of it, leaving you with the 18% meat protein. It kinda grosses me out. Even when I didn’t know this fact, I usually stayed away from a “seasoned” product as I would usually want to season it myself with my own herbs and spices. Strange but true.

This is not seasoned pork

This recipe is really quite simple: meat, cheese, tomatoes, black olives, garlic, lemon thyme, lemon rind and butcher’s twine. Oh, OK, I’ll write it out for you.

Serves 4 (we used two portions for dinner and two for lunch the following day).

Ingredients:

• 400-600g pork loin (not seasoned)
• Handful of crumbled feta (I would have used John’s home made feta, if we lived close-by)
• Handful of black olives (I used a mix of Kalamata and sun dried olives)
• Handful of sun dried tomatoes (I used dried, but you can use the ones in olive oil)
• 1 tbsp lemon thyme
• 1 tsp lemon rind
• 2 cloves garlic, minced finely
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
2. Get the stuffing ingredients prepared first. Pit the olives and cut in half. Crumble the feta and gently mix in the lemon rind and lemon thyme. Slice the sun dried tomatoes into thin slices.
3. Now for the meat: remove all sinew and fat from pork. Cut down the centre but not all the way through; try to cut the pork so the thickness is relatively even.
4. Spread pork out flat and rub the garlic into it.
5. Add the sun dried tomatoes, olives and feta. Press the feta down to help it stick to the other ingredients. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.
6. Roll up the sides so that the stuffing stays put in the middle. Wrap butchers’ twine around it, nothing fancy, you just want to hold the sides in place so it cooks wrapped and keeps its shape when sliced.
7. Heat a cast iron pan on the stove with a little oil. Sear the pork on all sides. Place the pan and pork into the hot oven and bake for about 30 minutes. The inner temperature of the meat should be 150-160°F, depending on how well done you enjoy your pork.
8. Remove from oven and allow the pork to sit covered for 10 minutes. Slice into 2cm thick slices.
9. Serve on greens or with a starch. Enjoy.

Delicious creamy feta, sun dried tomatoes and black olives makes the filling special and ensures the pork will be tender and juicy

Read Full Post »

Pork Medallions in a Sweet Red Pepper and Caremalized Onion Coulis

Ann at Cooking Healthy for Me and Kelly at Inspired Edibles have proven time and time again, that you need not suffer eating healthy, just a few smart choices in the kitchen will take your recipe from high in fat, to low in fat and full of flavour. Today’s recipe chooses a pork loin over pork chops because the loin is far less fatty and the fat that it does have can be easily removed before cooking. It can also be easily measured for portion control (we are using 100g (3 ounces) for a portion size). Today we are using the vegetables as thickeners so that we need not add a roux, or cream or butter saving you oodles of fat intensive calories (you should actually try writing down everything you put in your mouth over one day, and you would be surprised! and then you’ll thank me for this recipe).

That's not butter chicken, it's Pork Medallions in a Sweet Red Pepper and Caramelized Onion Coulis

Pork Medallions in a Sweet Red Pepper and Caramalized Onion Coulis

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 400g loin of Pork, all fat removed, cut into medallions about 25g each
• 1 yellow pepper, roasted, skin removed (see notes and tips)
• 1 red pepper, roasted, skin removed (see notes and tips)
• 4 shallots, finely sliced
• 1/2 sweet onion, finely sliced
• 2 tbsp white vinegar
• 1/2 cup low sodium vegetable stock (I like to use Pacific)
• around 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard (or slightly more to taste)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• Non-stick cooking spray
• 1 green onion and jalopeño pepper finely diced as garnish.

Directions:

1. Lightly spray a medium sauce pan (large enough for the onions to be about 3 cm thick on the bottom). Add the onions and shallots and cook over medium heat until they are golden, add the white vinegar to deglaze the pan. Add the vegetable stock as required so that the onions and shallots don’t burn or stick to the bottom of the pan.
2. When the onions and shallots are caramelized, add the roasted peppers and heat through.
3. With an immersion blender, blend very well until silky smooth. Add the Dijon, salt and blend. If the consistency is too thick, add water until you have your desired consistency (should be the thickness of butter chicken sauce).
4. Pre heat the oven to 350°F.
5. In another pan lightly sprayed with non-stick cooking spray, sear the pork until you get a nice caramelization on the crust. Once done, add to the sauce and bake for about 10-12 minutes or until the desired done-ness of the pork (in Canada you can have pink pork as they have bread the salmonella out of it).
6. Serve over greens or rice or use a flat bread to scoop it up. We’re keeping this on the healthy side, so we’ve put it on greens.

Notes and Tips:

• If you were not able to peel your peppers, push the finished coulis through a fine sieve to remove the tough skin bits of the peppers.
• By adding a bit more stock or water, this would make a lovely soup, perhaps with a dollop of fat free Greek Yogurt.
• We roasted our peppers on the BBQ for a nice smokey flavour.
• I added smoked paprika to the sauce for my lunch the next day…YUM!
• As an alternative flavour, I think one tbsp of garam masala and one tsp of meat masala would be fantastic in this sauce.
• If you’re down right convinced this is not a good sauce, then add a 1/2 cup of cream or a 1/4 cup of butter and be done with it.

Read Full Post »

Chorizo with Tomatoes and Balsamic Vinegar

Happy Thursday everyone. By now I am sure you have read Barb (Profiteroles and Ponytails) had a Tapas dinner party on the weekend and we were kindly invited; we had such a variety of food and it was soooo good. I made Chgo John’s Cheese Bread again (how many times do I have to make this bread before EVERYONE sees that they MUST make it?) and some devil’s on horseback and the Chorizo with Tomatoes and Balsamic Vinegar. I had a few leftover red and yellow peppers and decided to add them to the recipe, so below is the updated recipe, with photos this time. It’s such an easy tapas to make, just add what you have on hand, and you can make it in advance, as I did and just reheat in the oven or you can do it all right away. I would suggest, however, not to make it in cast iron unless it has an enamel coating as the vinegar will remove any seasoning you have diligently worked so hard on. We just served the dish in these adorable cast pans.

The martini with more in it is mine.

Serves 4 if you’re having other tapas courses

Ingredients:

• 1 cup 1/4″ sliced and halved chorizo sausage
• 1/3 cup grape tomatoes, quartered
• 1/4 cup chopped onion (I prefer Mayan sweet onions or vidalia)
• 1 clove garlic finely chopped (I prefer to use my microplane)
• 1/2 cup mixed sliced yellow and red peppers
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Heat olive oil in a small pan, add chorizo and caramelize each side.
2. Add onions and garlic and sauté for a minute, add the peppers and sauté for another minute.
3. Add balsamic and allow balsamic to reduce slightly 3-4 minutes (this will thicken the balsamic a bit)
4. If you are making this in advance, I would add the tomatoes when you reheat so they maintain some shape. If you make this to eat now, add tomatoes and sauté for another minute.
5. Serve immediately or reheat (adding the quartered grape tomatoes) with that gorgeous Cheese Bread I cannot stop making and bragging about.

I wish you had smell-a-vision like I do.

I feel like Grover in the "near".... "far" episode

Read Full Post »

The Best Beef Tenderloin EVER, and I kid you NOT!

Happy Holidays Everyone! I do hope you are enjoying this lovely spring long weekend. I am very fortunate because we decided to close the studio on Friday AND Monday, so it’s extra lovely for me.

We’re just finishing off our Paul and T weekend and this is the last new recipe I’m posting of that series. I’d like to begin the way I’ve ALWAYS began my posts about the Paul and T weekends: We’ve survived another Paul and T weekend (see here or here or here or here to name a few). And I say it with a heart full of love and gratitude that they visit us…but there is only so much eating and drinking one can take. We’re dieting for the next three weeks ;-)!

I had never made beef tenderloin before I saw this recipe in Epicurious a few years ago; now it’s my ‘go to’ recipe for tenderloin. I was intrigued by the recipe because the first instruction was this: “Sprinkle entire surface of beef tenderloin with coarse kosher salt. Place beef on rack set over large rimmed baking sheet. Refrigerate uncovered at least 24 hours and up to 36 hours.” Really? Could that be true? It goes against everything I think the salt will do, like dry it out completely! If it wasn’t for the 173 comments, I probably would have passed right by, because I don’t know about your parts of the world, but beef tenderloin could cost as much as $60 to feed 6 people, and I’m not about to wreck a $60 piece of meat! But this recipe is A M A Z I N G! Really. And I think it would be even more amazing using some of the flavoured salts that Kristy (from Eat, Play, Love; our family food adventures) won in January during my first give away. Sadly I didn’t have any on hand but a quick trip to Longo’s this past weekend, I now have a lovely selection that I will definitely try the next time (the espresso salt or the Wild Porcini or the Black Truffle or the Aged Balsamic would be amazing for this recipe).

This was our first dinner together on Thursday night. We almost couldn’t stop eating it (that’s why the photo looks a little lame…I had to wait for the next day and this was all that was left!)

The port sauce is incredible and the meat was so tender you could cut it with a fork.

Roast Beef Tenderloin with Port Sauce

Beef Ingredients:

• 1 4- to 5-pound trimmed whole beef tenderloin, tail end tucked under, tied every 3 inches
• 2 teaspoons coarse kosher salt (or infused salt as above)

Sauce Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) chilled unsalted butter, divided
• 1/4 cup finely chopped shallots
• 3 tablespoons Cognac or brandy
• 1 fresh rosemary sprig
• 1 teaspoon coarsely cracked black pepper
• 1 cup ruby or tawny Port
• 1 cup Homemade Beef Stock or Low Sodium Beef Stock

Roasting Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoons black peppercorns, coarsely cracked in mortar with pestle or in resealable plastic bag with mallet

Directions for beef:

1. Sprinkle entire surface of beef tenderloin with coarse kosher salt.
2. Place beef on rack set over large rimmed baking sheet. and refrigerate uncovered at least 24 hours and up to 36 hours.

Directions for sauce:

1. Melt 2 tablespoons butter in large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add shallots; sauté until soft, 3 minutes.
2. Add Cognac, rosemary, and 1 teaspoon cracked pepper and cook until liquid evaporates, 1 minute.
3. Add Port; bring to simmer. Add all of beef stock. Boil until reduced to 1 1/2 cups, about 20 minutes.
4. Strain into medium saucepan, pressing on solids to extract as much liquid as possible. Discard solids in strainer.

Note: The sauce can be made 24 to 36 hours ahead. Cool slightly, then cover and chill.

Directions for roasting:

1. Let beef stand at room temperature 1 hour before roasting.
2. Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 425°F.
3. Rub beef all over with oil; sprinkle with 2 tablespoons cracked peppercorns, pressing to adhere. Return beef to rack on baking sheet and roast until instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of meat registers 125°F for medium-rare (135°F to 140°F in thinnest part), about 30 minutes.
4. Remove roast from oven and let rest 15 minutes.

Note: Several comments suggest that you sear the beef, but I did not do that and it was still incredibly succulent and tender.

Plating:

1. Bring sauce to boil; whisk in remaining 2 tablespoons butter. Season sauce to taste with salt and pepper.
2. Cut off string from roast. Cut roast crosswise into 1/2-inch-thick slices; arrange on platter. Serve with sauce and the celeriac and cauliflower mash.

I served it with the celeriac and cauliflower mash instead of potatoes. It was incredibly satisfying.

Read Full Post »

Oh Christmas Tree and Crock Pot Chili

Sunday we drove down to Niagara to chop down our Christmas tree. We started this tradition last year for something new to do; we found this family tree farm close to two restaurants we love and decided to make a day of it — tree chopping and lunch! We decided to go to Treadwells in Port Dalhousie, a lovely restaurant where the Dad is the Chef and the son is the Sommelier. We’ve been several times and we’re never disappointed; I had the French Onion Soup which I would highly recommend, JT had the lobster club — very decadent with the duck fat fried bread! My good fried Barb recommended the restaurant about 4-5 years ago — which is a perfect segway to the Crock Pot Chili we just made because it’s Barb’s recipe!

Our New Christmas Tree

Barb  just started blogging and her latest blog post was of the Crock Pot Chili; what a perfect meal  — the wonderful aroma wafting through the house, welcoming us upon our return with our tree! Please check out Barb’s blog Profiteroles and Ponytails. I’ve know barb for almost 20 years now, we met at my very first job, KPMG in their National Marketing department. Barb was a writer and I was the Senior Manager in the Design Department. We’ve not worked for KPMG for many years now, but we’ve been good friends ever since. Barb has always loved cooking and this blog is the perfect succession to her passion. Please do pay her a visit, she knows all about my blogging ‘friends’ and is excited to hopefully meet you!

The chili is pretty much to Barb’s recipe, with a few minor alterations as I didn’t have some of the ingredients on hand. I only had 300g of ground beef and turkey, so I added chopped Chorizo so that we could get 4-6 meals out of it (I’ll freeze it in batches of single servings so we can have a quick lunch on the weekends we’re too busy to cook). I also didn’t have canned beans, so I used 1 cup of dried Navy Beans; and because they had to reconstitute while cooking, I added 2 additional cups of stock to the pot. I also used home made tomato sauce, made with the tomatoes from our generous neighbours to the north. I added some mushrooms because I had them and they needed to be used up. The chili turned out quite delicious, richly flavoured with all spice, cocoa and chili powder. We served them in our little single serve Le Creuset casserole pans, topped with the delicious cornbread topping. I dolloped some non-fat Greek Yogurt with the chopped green onions on top. YUM! Thanks Barbie!

Barb's delicoius Crock Pot Chili

Read Full Post »

Beef Tajine with Almonds and Prunes

You may recall at Maison MK we made Lamb Tajine, our guests Kevin and Barb with whom we are traveling down memory lane don’t care for Lamb; fortunately, the recipe deck from Maison MK included the same Tajine except using beef! Perfect. We decided to cook the dish the same way that we did at Maison MK, in a pressure cooker and only present in the Tajine.

Beef Tajine

Ingredients:

• 1 kg stewing beef in large cubes
• 50 g almonds with skins on.
• 50 g prunes
• 1 tbsp honey
• pinch of cinnamon
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1/2 cup cilantro, finely chopped
• 1/2 cup parsley, finely chopped
• 1 tsp 5 spices (a Moroccan blend our Chef gave us as a gift)
• 1 tsp ginger
• 1 large pinch saffron
• 1 tsp turmeric (for colour)
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1-2 tbsp oil
• 2-4 cups of water

Directions:

1. Add the pitted prunes to a small saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil and cook for about 8-10 minutes (this is to soften the prunes and not disintegrate them!)
2. Strain the prunes and return to heat, add the honey and cook until the prunes are glazed and all of the water has evaporated. Set aside.
3. Add the almonds to a small saucepan and cover with water. Boil for 3 minutes. Strain and cool immediately with cold water. Remove skins; the skins should come off very easily.  Our Chef deep fried the almonds but we roasted them in a 375°F oven for 5-10 minutes.
4. In a very hot pressure cooker with a bit of oil, brown the meat on all sides, set aside.
5. Add a bit more of the oil and cook the onions until a little brown. Turn down the heat and add the garlic and stir until you can smell it. Return the beef to the pan.
6. Add the ginger, saffron and turmeric and 1 cup of water. Stir well. Put the pressure cooker lid on and cook on a medium level flame for 10 minutes.
7. Give the meat a stir and add 1-2 cups of water and cook with the pressure cooker lid on for another 40 minutes. Check to see how the meat is, after about 40 minutes it should be tender enough that you don’t need a knife to cut it. There should be enough ‘gravy’ to serve with the meat.
8. Add salt and cinnamon and stir well. Stir in the cilantro and parsley. Serve in a tajine with couscous.

The beef turned out incredibly well, falling apart, no need for a knife! How do you like the tip of the hat to the 1970’s propping? What is that in the background? A bedspread? or is it curtains? Not sure either — I was just having a little fun!

Beef Tajine with Prunes and Almonds

This is the tajine that Hayat gave us as a gift!

Our new tajine

Read Full Post »

Toronto the multi-cultural city and Phô Vietnamese Comfort Food

Toronto has a diverse cultural population and we love it. For example, did you know that Toronto has the largest Italian population next to Rome? We have Little Italy, Little India, Greektown, Korea Town, Chinatown, well you get my drift. When you enter these small areas (sometimes only one street, or two or three blocks) you are transformed from being in big city Toronto to being in Italy or even India! We are indeed very fortunate to be able to live safely, peacefully and embrace our diverse cultures. We LOVE this, particularly the FOOD!

Very close to where I work, there are a couple of Vietnamese restaurants; we sometimes go to a place called Asia 21. It’s not pretty, but the food is fresh and good and family run; the only bad side is that they only take cash, and they are not licensed (somehow this type of food does not pair well with wine anyway, but I still love it!) I am addicted to Phô, a clear beef broth with very thinly sliced rare beef, rice noodles and herbs; it’s ‘Happy food’ or Vietnamese comfort food. I totally get it, I can eat this for every meal, every day! Sadly, there is so MUCH salt in the restaurant versions that I swell up like a dirigible on Superbowl Sunday — not a pretty site! We’ve started making our own so we can control the salt. I must say, I like it even better. The temperatures in Toronto couldn’t be less like soup weather…but I have to say, I have missed my Phô! It’s humid and unseasonably warm, NOT complaining! JT made an excellent Phô last night, and I had it for lunch today (did I mention that I can eat this EVERY DAY?). We’ve adapted Canadian Living’s Beef Phô (click for original recipe) A delicately fragrant beef broth, with ginger, cinnamon, cloves, star anise. It’s really a flavour explosion in your mouth. We season it with fresh mint, cilantro and thai basil. I also add hoisin sauce (sweet) and Sriracha Sauce (hot, they call it Asian Catsup). My mouth is watering as I type this on my iPad (sitting at the island in the kitchen while JT cooks up another specialty, Israeli Couscous and Grilled Shrimp). YUM! I am a very fortunate woman.

Phô

Read Full Post »

Huevos Rancheros @ the cottage

Please excuse the roughness of this post, I’m typing it in on my lowly little iPhone 3Gs, sitting on the deck, at the cottage! Gotta LOVE technology!
It’s cottage closing weekend. This time of year is always so sad, marking the end of yet another summer. This year was not a good year for cottaging for me; counting this weekend, it’s only my second time up! I never like to be one of ‘those’ people who turn down city invitations because, ‘sorry, we’re going to the cottage!’ On the other hand, it was a very sociable summer!
I left work early so we could have cocktails at the cottage, HAH! The drive up was a joke! The ridiculous drive that usually takes three and a quarter hours took FIVE! FIVE EFFIN HOURS! Can you feel my frustration???? It was pouring rain the entire way up, which made it even worse. Did you ever notice that people are TOTAL IDIOTS on the road? Breathe, breathe, breathe! That martini sure tasted good!
The cottage is on a smallish spring-fed lake called Limerick Lake (spring-fed=bone chilling cold!). JTs grandfather bought the land in the early 1900’s; it took them 24 hours to come up: 1)Two trains, 2)Stage coach 3)row boat. The grandfather had a log cabin built on it. Back in those days Canadian Indians canoed across the lake. How cool is that? The grandfather then sold the cottage and the land in the early 1920’s and bought it back in the late 1940’s! JTs Dad and Dad’s sister shared it until the late 1960’s at which point, JTs Dad built his own Panabode cottage (http://www.panabodeloghomes.com) about a kilometer away as two families in an old log cabin was getting too cozy (the family owns about a hundred acres!). We had electricity put in about 20 years ago, prior to that we used a gas generator, a propane fridge and stove. It was pretty rustic. In the late-1960’s JTs dad built a boathouse with three slips and a two bedroom cabin above it that they used to use in the winter (no running water, chemical toilet, basic and ugly). 20 years ago, JTs dad had a road put in; before that we would keep a boat at the marina and boat in the 20 minute ride! It does sound romantic, but shlepping groceries and necessities from the car to the boat, then from the boat to the cottage was no fun!
About 15 years ago JT and I took over the boathouse; we put in a composting toilet, a small shower and a decent kitchen (it’s not legal to have septic over water). We call the boathouse The Upper Deck – I have some pics at this link if you’re interested. We tried renting it to friends a few years ago, and discovered we’re not renting types. We like our stuff just so. http://evaandjohntaylor.shutterfly.com/2383. Please don’t think it’s fancy, far from it! But I know for sure that we are fortunate to have access to it. JT and I own land across the bay from the family ‘compound’ and had thought about some day building our dream cottage on it, but the five and a half hour drive (and so many others like it) convinced us otherwise! Anyone interested in 33 gorgeous Canadian acres, 1300 feet of shoreline? No road access, yet!
Our lake is still remote; the closest store is about a 20 minute drive on a dirt road and it doesn’t really have things that I would want anyway (mostly canned goods!). You really have to plan your weekend, food, libations, etc. Once, I forgot cream cheese for our bagel and lox breakfast and the only thing we could get was sour cream and onion chip dip! It was ghastly!
JTs sister used to use the log cabin, but now that their 87 year old Dad no longer comes up, she’s taken over his cottage too. Her two adult kids use both the log cabin and the Panabode.
There are so many things that I like about our cozy little cabin, it’s hard to list them all; but my most favorite thing has to be that we are right on the water! And that it’s small enough to clean it from top to bottom in less than an hour.
Back to the matter at hand, Huevos rancheros: a recipe I developed after a similarly called dish at our local restaurant, Dr. Generosity (stupid name but good food).

A delicious combination of flavours

Huevos Rancheros (updated September 2014)

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup cooked navy beans (I like navy beans because they are so creamy)
• 1/2 cup ground meat (we used turkey because it’s lowest in fat)
• 1/4 cup chopped sweet onion (we like Vidalia)
• 1/4 cup sweet corn
• 2 cloves garlic, finely minced
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp coriander
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• Pinch of cayenne
• 2 soft poached eggs
• Sour cream (we used fat free yogurt)
• Hot sauce
• 2 small ancient grain fajita shells warmed
• Chopped cilantro and green onions for garnish.
• 1 avocado, sliced

Directions:

1. In a splash of olive oil, fry the onions and garlic until translucent, add the ground meat and cook thoroughly.
2. Add the spices and garlic and mix until evenly distributed.
3. Add the beans and corn and mix well, heat the beans through.
4. Serve 1/2 the bean meat mix on one warmed fajita shell, with a poach egg on top. Garnish with chopped cilantro, sliced avocado and green onions.
5. Serve with a dollop of sour cream and hot sauce.

Read Full Post »

Herbes en Provence Chicken Wings

I blogged about this a couple of years ago for a Super bowl Party, but inadvertantly forgot to post the recipe, so here it is. Better late than never. The herbes en provence gave the wings a delicious flavour which paired very well with the blue cheese dip I previously made.

Herbes en Provence Chicken Wings

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup Herbs en Province
• 3 tablespoons granulated garlic (this is so the mix remains a dry rub)
• 2 teaspoons sea salt
• 1 cup Panko (Japanese bread crumbs)
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 12 chicken wings

Directions:

1. Pre heat oven to 375°F
2. Prepare a large cookie sheet by lining with parchment paper (fold down the raw ends so they don’t burn).
3. Clean up chicken wings, removing the wing tip (discard), cutting the wing into two pieces.
4. Rub olive oil all over each wing piece.
5. Mix the Herbs en Province, granulated garlic, sea salt and Panko in a clean zip lock bag.
6. Placing 4-6 wings into the baggy and shake until each wing is well coated.
7. Continue until all the wings are coated. Lay each wing individually on the prepared cookie sheet so they don’t touch.
8. Bake in a hot oven for 60 minutes or until wings are 165° F Internal temperature. Turn each wing so each side is crispy!

Read Full Post »

Ted Reader’s Brown Sugar Bourbon Ribs

We decided to make a typical BBQ picnic style dinner for our good friends Rae and Mon. What is more typical than BBQ ribs? Now, I have made ribs several times but the recipes are all so labour intensive; marinate, boil, bake and finally BBQ, so it’s not something I like to do a lot. Last year I found a recipe on Bon Appétit, July 2005, by Ted Reader a famous Canadian Chef (never trust a skinny chef — this dude is totally trustworthy!) Chef Reader’s Brown Sugar and Bourbon Ribs totally rocked and were not that much work; tender, sweet, smokey, just plain damn good. I’ve adjusted the recipe by very little due to unavailable ingredients (just too lazy to get them!), but you can click here for the original recipe.

Basting Sauce:

• 1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 1/2 cup apple butter (I took one delicious apple, cored it and cooked it in about 1/4 cup water until soft. Add a pinch of cinnamon and blend with an immersion blender, strain through a fine seive. Presto: apple butter)
• 1/4 cup bourbon whiskey
• 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
• 3 tablespoons apple cider (didn’t have this ingredient)
• 2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

Ribs:

• 1 tablespoon coarse kosher salt
• 1 tablespoon (packed) golden brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard
• 1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (I just used a pinch as our guests are not ‘spicy hot’ food lovers)
• 2 2- to 2 1/4-pound racks baby back pork ribs

• 1 large onion, sliced thinly
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
• 6 thin rounds peeled fresh ginger
• 1 1/4 cups apple cider (I used organic apple juice, as there wasn’t any cider this time of year!)

Preparation

For basting sauce:

1. Whisk all ingredients in medium bowl to blend.
2. Set aside in refrigerator overnight.

For ribs:

1. Mix first 7 ingredients in small bowl. Using small sharp knife, loosen membrane from underside of each rib rack and pull off (or score membrane). Rub the seasoning mix into each side of each rib rack. Place ribs in large roasting pan. Cover and chill at least 6 hours and up to 1 day.
2. Preheat oven to 325°F. Lift ribs from pan. Scatter onion, cinnamon stick, and ginger in pan. Pour in cider (apple juice). Return ribs, meat side down, to pan; cover pan with foil. Roast ribs until meat is tender and begins to pull away from bones, about 2 hours. Uncover; cool at least 30 minutes and up to 2 hours.
3. Prepare barbecue (medium-high heat). Grill ribs until heated through and slightly charred, about 5 minutes per side. Brush generously on all sides with basting sauce. Grill until sauce becomes sticky glaze, about 3 minutes longer per side. Transfer rib racks to cutting board. Cut racks between bones into individual ribs. Arrange on platter and serve, passing remaining sauce separately.

These are the preliminary photos, final photos will be posted tomorrow. Oops, the camera never made it to the table!

Dry rub marinated ribs ready for the oven

Into the grill they go

Read Full Post »