Husband’s Choice: Pulao with Turkey

This week I experimented with two brand new recipe ideas for dinner. The first was a desperate act to use up the last of the turkey from Easter dinner (I am now referring to this dish as Turkey 4.0 as it was the fourth turkey dish in as many days) and the other was an attempt to get as far away from turkey as possible. Funnily enough, both dishes are Indian in flavour. Go figure.

Husband really loved the Indian pulao (basically a South Asian rice pilaf) to which I added diced leftover turkey (not authentic… don’t judge) and heaped into portobello mushroom caps and baked. My favourite was Indian spiced cauliflower and potatoes (which I will share with you shortly).

I know I just said that Indian pulao is basically Indian rice pilaf, but instead of plain rice I used a mixture of 11 different rices/grains/lentils that I buy at my local grocery store (T&T for anyone who is interested). It’s very healthy and tasty. I like to undercook it slightly so the grains keep some of their nice chewy texture. Your cooking time and amount of liquid may vary depending on what rice or grain you are using. My grains took about 30 minutes and I had to add another 1/2 cup of water. If you are using basmati rice, it should take less than 15 minutes to cook with no extra liquid.

You can easily make this recipe vegetarian by leaving out the turkey of course. If you still want to make a full meal of it, bake it in portobello mushroom caps like I did, or just serve it as a tasty side dish. I love recipes that are adaptable, don’t you?

2 cups of rice (basmati, wild, or a mix of grains, rice, and lentils), rinsed
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 TBS butter
3 TBS chopped almonds
3 TBS golden raisins
glug of oil (vegetable or peanut)
1 large onion, halved and finely sliced
1 cinnamon stick
5 green cardamom pods
1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp turmeric
1 TBS finely chopped fresh ginger
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup water to deglaze
1/2 cup coconut milk (optional, replace with water if not using)
2 cups of water
1 cup diced turkey or chicken (optional)
1/4 cup frozen peas, thawed
portobello mushroom caps, stem and gills removed (brushed with a mixture of oil and balsamic or soy sauce, optional)

Place a heavy-bottomed frying pan over medium heat and toast cumin seeds until fragrant (about a minute). Remove to side dish.
Add butter to same frying pan and fry almonds and raisins until starting to brown. Remove to separate side dish.
In the same pan, heat the vegetable or peanut oil and add the sliced onions and fry until dark golden brown (about 10 minutes), then remove to side dish with almonds and raisins.

Again, in the same pan (don’t you love that we’re only dirtying one pan?!) add toasted cumin seeds, cinnamon stick, cardamom pods, sugar, turmeric, ginger and salt. Toast, stirring constantly (a minute or so) until aromatic. Deglaze the pan by pouring in 1/2 cup of water and gently scrape up any brown bits stuck to the bottom.

Add the rice and/or grains, coconut milk (if using) and the rest of the water. Cover and gently simmer until the rice and/or grains are cooked to your liking and the water has evaporated. Check as you are cooking to ensure that the filling doesn’t dry out before it’s cooked… this will depend on what you have used for the rice and/or grains. If necessary, add more water a quarter cup at a time until done to your liking (about 15 minutes for white rice, 30 minutes or longer for whole grains/legumes). Add the peas and diced turkey if using. Stir in reserved almonds, raisins and onion. Heat through (2-3 minutes).

You can serve “as is” at this point or if you wish, brush portobello mushroom caps with a mixture of oil and balsamic or soy sauce to increase the flavour, roast cap-side up in a 400F oven for 15 minutes. Remove caps and turn over, spoon in filling, and return to oven for another 15 minutes or until mushroom is roasted and filling is heated through. Enjoy!

March 18, 2016

Cauliflower “Tabbouleh”… Not!

Today is penance day. You knew it had to come when you saw last week’s galette recipe, didn’t you? It was inevitable. However, in our home, penance day does not mean eating boring vegetables for dinner.

Hoooold it. Scratch that. Actually, yes it does! It DOES mean eating vegetables for dinner, but never boring. And today it means eating cauliflower for dinner! Not my favourite vegetable but this recipe lets it shine. And Husband is very happy to eat it which is a plus.

It does sort of bug me to call one food by the name of another (that’s not a hamburger folks, that’s a LENTIL patty) but it doesn’t stop me from trying these weird, healthy concoctions. I have made cauliflower “fried rice” a number of times and I’ve tried to love it, but I don’t. It’s ok, but it’s not fried rice. This recipe, for me, comes a bit closer to the real thing, in texture anyway. It does not have the earthiness of bulgar wheat which is usually the base of tabbouleh, but when you add so many other vibrant ingredients it doesn’t seem to matter as much. It’s not really tabbouleh, but it does have similar flavours with lots of zingy lemon, herby parsley and mint, crunchy cucumber, and summery tomato.

The addition of allspice in my cauliflower salad is an idea from Yotam Ottolenghi who uses it in his tabbouleh recipe. I use half as much as he recommends because I don’t want my salad to taste like allspice, but I do think it adds a more complex background note to the dish. I’ve also added crumbled feta because, cheese. Throw a few grilled prawns or squid on top and you have a healthy, tasty meal… truly.

All the measurements below are very approximate. Use what you have, add more of what you like, cut back or eliminate what you don’t. I have also been known to add in thinly sliced spring onion or chives if I have them around. It’s all good. :)

1 medium head of cauliflower
glug of olive oil
1 medium bunch of parsley, washed and leaves picked
1 small handful of mint leaves, washed and leaves picked
1/2-1 pint or so of cherry or grape tomatoes, quartered or 2-3 ripe whole tomatoes, chopped into 1 cm dice
1/4-1/3rd English cucumber, seeded and chopped into 1 cm dice
1 large juicy lemon, zested and juice added to zest (about 3-4 TBS)
3-4 TBS good fruity olive oil
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp salt
pepper to taste
shake of red pepper flakes
3 oz crumbled feta

Chop the cauliflower into medium flowerettes, with a good portion of the stem (once it goes through the food processor you won’t be able to tell the difference). In two or three batches, add the cauliflower to the food processor and pulse 10-15 times until the cauliflower is almost completely broken up into pieces about the size of rice or a bit smaller. Do not over-process, don’t worry if there are some bigger chunks in there, you won’t even notice them.

Warm a glug of olive oil in a pan over medium-high heat and saute the cauliflower, stirring constantly, for 2-3 minutes just to soften and sweeten. Do not overcook. Remove to bowl and let cool completely.

Combine the lemon zest, juice, allspice, salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes in a bowl. Whisk in olive oil. Set aside.

Chop parsley and mint leaves together and add to cauliflower.

Pour dressing over and mix thoroughly. Fold in tomatoes, cucumber and crumbled feta. Taste and and adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve at room temperature. We use this salad as a base for grilled prawns or squid for a complete, very healthy meal.

March 15, 2016

Spicy Sausage and Fennel Galette

Happy pie day a day late!!! Pie is good. Pie is usually sweet but can be savoury. Pie has a beautiful crust. Pie is… a bit straight-laced. And pie, well she can stress me out.

Don’t get me wrong! I do love a good fruit pie with a piece of cheese, or a tart and tangy shaker pie full of slices of lemon with a piece of cheese. Do you see a pattern here? Why not put cheese IN… THE… PIE?!?! And what if that pie was just a little more hippy-dippy than your usual pie? What if that pie was the sort of free form pie that wore gauzy shirts and long skirts and beaded twine bracelets? What if that pie was *GASP*, Galette?!?!

Whoa lady.

Galette is 78.3% easier than pie and every bit as impressive. The dough comes together in about 15 minutes, give it an hour or so in the fridge to get nice and cold, roll that puppy out into sort of a circle, scoop on your filling and fold up the edges. 40 minutes in the oven and she’s all yours. Ahhh Galette. J’taime.

Now that I’ve sold you on galette, let me sell you on something else you are going to love but you don’t know it yet… savoury galette. That’s right… saaaaaavoury. And not just savoury but spicy with delicious sausage balanced with the sweetness of fennel and topped with smoked cheese. Ya, you heard me.

The filling is inspired by this recipe. The dough is my usual recipe which you can find here but you can use any pie crust dough that you are comfortable with. You will need enough to make one round about 14-15 inches across and slightly thicker than 1/8th inch.

Use whatever sausage you like but make sure to taste the filling and adjust the seasoning before you spoon it onto the dough. Every sausage is different so yours might need a dash of salt, a touch of sugar, or a shake of worchestershire to give it some depth. It’s much easier to correct the seasoning at this point than after the pie is made.

Pie crust dough to make one round 14-15 inches across
1 pound spicy sausage meat (I used regular hot Italian but fennel would also be delicious)
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 medium fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1 tsp sugar
1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, soaked in oil, chopped
1 cup shredded smoked cheese (gouda or mozzarella)
2 TBS chopped fresh sage
2 TBS chopped fresh rosemary
1 egg, lightly beaten with a teaspoon water for egg wash
flake sea salt

Heat oven to 375F.

For the filling:

Sprinkle thinly sliced fennel with 1 tsp sugar and set aside.

Remove meat from casings if you have purchased it in sausage form and fry over medium high heat until the fat starts to melt and coat your pan. Add onion and fry for about 4 minutes. Add the thinly sliced fennel and continue to fry until everything is soft and lighlty browned, approximately another 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in sun-dried tomatoes, and chopped sage and rosemary. Taste and adjust seasoning. Set aside.

Assemble the galette:

Roll out dough on a clean, lightly floured piece of parchment about 14-15 inches across and slightly thicker than 1/8th inch. No worries if the dough goes over the edges as you will be folding it up over the galette shortly. Scoop filling onto the centre of the dough with a slotted spoon or tongs, leaving behind most of the fat in the pan. Ensure you have a good 2 inch border all around the dough. Sprinkle the top with shredded cheese and fold the border up over the filling, overlapping the dough where necessary and press down lightly to create the folds.

Brush the border with the egg wash and sprinkle with flake sea salt. Slide the parchment with the dough onto a cookie sheet and place in oven. Cook for 35-40 minutes until crust is golden.

Remove from oven and let sit 5 minutes before cutting. Serve alongside a salad with a zesty, fresh dressing to balance the richness of the pie.

January 27, 2016

(Pretty Healthy) Slow Cooker Creamy Chicken Curry

Remember this? https://auntieeats.ca/2015/01/lamb-popsicles-with-indian-curry-sauce/ One of my favourite dishes from one of my favourite restaurants. I own all of Vij’s cookbooks. Many of the recipes have become favourites and now you get to try another one… sort of. This recipe is based on Vij’s Family Curry but I have adapted it substantially to make it healthier (subbing in chickpeas for a large portion of the meat and cutting back on the fat), and easier (hello boneless skinless chicken thighs and sloooooooow-cooker). Don’t worry, it still has the same deliciousness as the original, but with much less hassle.

The original version of this recipe is a regular “birthday-dinner” request of my second-oldest Niece. I wish I still lived close enough to my “middle” nieces to cook for them on a regular basis but since I don’t, I’m hoping my take on one of their favourite meals is so much easier that they will someday make it for themselves (do teenagers cook for themselves? I’m not sure but maybe they’ll give it a try). This makes 4 servings (Husband and I for dinner with leftovers) and you can easily double the recipe if you wish.

glug of vegetable or canola oil
1 large onion, finely chopped
1 3-inch cinnamon stick
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 TBS fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 14-oz can good quality whole tomatoes (use 1 28-oz can if doubling)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 TBS cumin seeds, ground
1 TBS coriander seeds, ground
1 TBS garam masala
pinch cayenne pepper or a shake of chili pepper flakes
1 14-oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup chicken stock (can be made with good quality stock paste such as Better Than Bouillion)
1/2 pound (approximately 4) boneless, skinless chicken thighs
1/3 cup sour cream
chopped fresh cilantro to garnish

In a large pan heat oil on medium heat, add onions and cinnamon stick and sauté until the onions start to turn slightly golden (about 5 minutes). Add chopped garlic and saute another minute.

Add ginger, tomatoes, salt, turmeric, cumin, coriander, garam masala and cayenne or red pepper flakes. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring a couple times and breaking up the tomatoes with a spatula. Stir in the chickpeas and the chicken stock.

Nestle chicken thighs into the sauce. Cook for a more couple minutes, turn over thighs and cook for a couple more minutes. Your goal here is to warm the chickpeas and start heating the thighs to give the slow cooking a bit of a head start.

Add all the pan ingredients to your slow cooker and turn on low for 4 hours.

At the 3 1/2 hour mark (30 minutes before you plan to eat), put the sour cream into a small bowl or measuring cup, scoop a couple spoonfuls of the hot tomato-y sauce from the slow cooker into it and stir well (you’re tempering your sour cream so it won’t curdle when heated). Add the sour cream mixture into the slow cooker and stir.

Continue to cook for another 30 minutes. When you’re ready for dinner, pull the chicken apart in the curry with a couple of forks. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with naan or rice.

January 13, 2016

Pot Roast with Fresh Cranberries

Happy New Year! I hope you had a great one! Ours was pretty low-key as usual, except we did have my beautiful niece stay with us for a few days. We are used to being alone at Christmas but Niece is such a pleasant and positive person (which I’m not sure is true of all 22-year olds), that it was an absolute treat to have her around (and she didn’t even complain about having to watch the Lord of the Rings trilogy three nights in a row! How’s that for pleasant?! :) ).

As you would expect, we spent most of our time cooking, eating and drinking (luckily, Niece has inherited these important traits from Auntie). We made a pulled lamb shoulder with mint and peas served over pasta for Christmas Eve, and an AMAZING prime rib with AMAZING blue cheese “scalloped” potatoes for Christmas dinner (Niece spent quite a bit of time stacking those potato slices sideways so we got yummy crispy edges). I absolutely have to blog about those dishes one of these days.

Since then I have been trying to eat a bit healthier but yesterday I was craving braise-y meaty comfort food. Plus I had a bag of cranberries in the crisper so… pot roast with fresh cranberries.

Husband loved this dish and it was very good, but I was a bit disappointed how the cranberries disappeared right into the sauce, although they did give just the right amount of tang (dare I say a touch of freshness?) to the dish. Next time, I will try holding back a third of the cranberries and add them in the last hour for some texture and colour. We ate this with charred cauliflower sprinkled with my pangrattato.

3 pound beef chuck roast
salt + pepper
couple glugs of vegetable oil
1 onion, cut into sixths
3 large or 6 small carrots, chopped into 1-inch pieces
12 ounces baby potatoes
1 cup full-bodied red wine
2 cups chicken stock (feel free to add another cup if your roast is bigger or if you like it very saucy)
1 1/2 TBS worcestershire sauce
2 TBS balsamic vinegar
2 TBS honey
3 sprigs fresh thyme
1 sprig fresh rosemary
12 ounces (1 bag) fresh cranberries

Preheat the oven to 325F.

Season the pot roast with salt and pepper. Add a good glug of oil to a dutch oven or heavy-bottomed large pot and sear the roast over medium-high heat on all sides. You want lovely dark brown caramelization; don’t rush this part. Remove roast to a side plate. Add another glug of oil to the pot and add onion, carrots and potatoes until they start to show some colour; about 5 minutes.

Add the red wine to the pot and gently scrape up any brown bits stuck to the bottom. Let the wine reduce by half and add chicken stock, worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar, honey, thyme, rosemary, and cranberries. Nestle the meat in amongst the vegetables, cover the pot, and place in oven. After one hour, turn the heat down to 300F. Continue to braise for another 2 hours or until the meat is falling apart.

(Next time I make this, and there will be a next time, I will add 2/3rds of the cranberries at the beginning and add the rest in the last hour, just for some texture and colour).

Remove from oven. Pull the meat apart into large chunks with a fork. You could omit the potatoes from the recipe and serve over mashed potatoes or pasta. We were happy to eat it straight up with more veggies on the side.

December 10, 2015

Pseudo-Korean Grilled Flank Steak

Sometimes laziness is your friend.

Yesterday I did not want to leave the house. It was rainy and windy and yucky. But I hadn’t bought any groceries because we spent the entire weekend out socializing. I was pretty much stuck with what was in my pantry and freezer, and a few odd herbs. What to do… what to do. I have a ton of frozen flank steak (thanks Jay) so I knew I could make use of that, and of course rice in the pantry. I sort of started with the idea of Korean Bulgogi (Korean BBQ beef) which has pear in it, subbed in apple because I had no pear, and then sort of threw things in until the marinade tasted like what I was imagining. I don’t know what to call it so I’m calling it “pseudo-Korean”. I’m also calling it delicious.

November 11, 2015

Chicken Pot Pie

There are days when it’s rainy and blowy outside and you just want to hunker down with a blanket, slippers, and a good book. Fire crackling (in a fireplace or tuned in to that local “Christmas log” TV station that seems to show up over the holidays every year). Delicious smells wafting from the oven. I was feeling this last weekend when we received record amounts of rain over 2 days. To quote Eeyore, “The nicest thing about the rain is that it always stops. Eventually.” Another nice thing about rain is that it makes me think COMFORT FOOD, and I looooove comfort food, don’t you?!

This is purpose-made chicken pot pie and I’m going to be honest with you; this is not the weekday dinner pot pie you throw together when you have leftover meat, gravy, and potatoes. This is a rainy-day-Sunday-I’m-going-to-spend-3-hours-in-the-kitchen kind of pie. If you don’t have to stop to take pictures or re-measure ingredients every time you adjust the recipe, it may take you a bit less. But this is cooking for enjoyment, don’t fight it. Put on some good music and just go with the flow. You won’t regret it.

I based this recipe on one from Smitten Kitchen here http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2014/10/better-chicken-pot-pies/ but upped the measurements so it would feed us twice. I also cut back on the butter, added mushrooms, and amped up the flavour in the form of soy sauce, anchovy paste, pecorino cheese and of course, the obligatory shake of hot pepper. I can hear some of you now… “anchovy paste! Ewwwwwww!”. Will it add depth to the flavour of your filling? Yes. Will it make it taste fishy? No. Can you leave it out of the recipe? Yes. Do you want to be THAT person who is unwilling to try something new? No! :)

(For those of you who refuse, absolutely refuse, to try anchovy paste, I have a little trick for you. Marmite. You’re welcome.)

This recipe makes approximately 10 cups of filling and enough dough for 8 individual pies, depending on the size of your ramekins, of course. Use half the filling and dough today and freeze the other half for later. The frozen filling and dough will make an easy weeknight dinner if you remember to take it out of the freezer the night before.

Don’t overfill your ramekins! When the filling starts bubbling up it will soak the dough and make the crust soggy if the ramekins are too full. Although I must confess I am a chronic “over-filler” and it’s still delicious.

For the dough:

2 cups (250 grams) all- purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon fine sea or table salt
13 tablespoons (6 1/2 ounces) cold butter, diced
6 tablespoons sour cream or Greek-style yogurt
1 tablespoon cider vinegar
1/4 cup very cold water
1 egg, beaten, for egg wash

For the filling:

Salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 pounds bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
1 to 2 glugs olive oil

8 ounces mushrooms, cleaned and cut into bite-sized pieces

2 medium leeks, white and light green parts only, cut in half and then into 1/2-inch slices
1 large onion, diced small

1/2 cup white wine (optional)
3 cups chicken broth
1 cup milk (I used skim)
1 bay leaf
couple sprigs of fresh thyme

4 tablespoons of fat (schmaltz from your fried chicken or butter at room temperature)
7 tablespoons all-purpose flour

2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp anchovy paste (or Marmite)
1 cup frozen green peas
2 large carrots, diced small (about 1 1/2 cup carrots)
couple shakes of hot pepper flakes, to taste
1 1/2 ounces finely grated pecorino or parmesan cheese

To make the dough,

combine the flour and salt in a large bowl. Add the butter and using a pastry blender or your fingertips, cut them up into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal with some remaining butter chunks the size of small peas. In a small bowl, mix together the sour cream, vinegar, and water and add it to the butter/flour. Using a spatula, stir until a craggy dough forms. Use your hands to gather it into a ball. Don’t overwork the dough and if it starts to become warm, put it in the fridge for 10 minutes. You want those little chunks of butter to stay whole for a flaky crust. Form the dough into a disk and wrap it in plastic wrap. Chill it in the fridge for 1 hour or up to a couple days.

To make the filling,

season the chicken with salt and pepper. Heat a glug of olive oil over medium-high heat in the bottom of a Dutch oven or large heavy pot. Brown chicken thighs skin-side down until golden, flip and brown the other side. You will want to do this in two batches because crowding the chicken will steam it rather than fry it. Transfer to a plate and set aside.

Pour off most of the fat (reserving it to use later in this recipe) leaving enough to coat the bottom of the pan . Add the mushrooms and fry until they release their liquid and start to brown, about 5-6 minutes. Set aside.

Use some of the fat you poured off the chicken or heat another glug of olive oil in the same pot. Add onions and leeks, season with salt and pepper, and saute them until softened, about 7 minutes. If using, pour in the wine and use it to scrape up any bits stuck to the bottom of the pan. Simmer until most of the wine has cooked off and then add milk, chicken broth, thyme and bay leaf and bring to a simmer. Nestle the browned chicken and any accumulated juices into the pot. Cover and GENTLY simmer to 30 minutes, after which the chicken should be fully cooked and tender.

Transfer the chicken to a cutting board to cool slightly. Discard the bay leaves and sprigs from the thyme (leaves should have fallen into the sauce by now). Allow the sauce to settle for a few minutes, then skim the fat from the surface using a wide spoon and set aside.

In a medium bowl, using a fork, mash 4 TBS of the chicken fat from frying the chicken (replace any or all of it with butter if you prefer) with the flour into a paste. Ladle some of the warm liquid over it, and stir until smooth. Add a second ladle and stir again. Return this flour mixture to the larger pot, stir to combine, and bring back to a simmer for 10 minutes. The sauce should thicken to a gravy-like consistency.

Add soy sauce, anchovy paste, carrots and peas to stew and simmer for a few minutes to soften the vegetables. Shred or dice the chicken, discarding the bones and skin and return the meat to the pot along with the reserved mushrooms. Stir in a shake of hot pepper flakes and the grated pecorino. Taste and adjust seasoning, adding more soy sauce, anchovy paste, salt and pepper, and/or hot pepper flakes to your liking.

This is where I divide my filling and dough, freezing half of each (wrap the dough in cling wrap and put in freezer bag) and continue making 4 pies with the other half.

Assemble and bake pies: Heat your oven to 375F.

Divide remaining chilled dough into quarters. Roll each portion into rounds that will cover your ramekin or baking dishes with a 1-inch overhang. Cut vents into rounds.

Ladle filling into four bowls, filling only to an inch or so below the rim to leave room for simmering (see what I did there? I didn’t leave enough room for simmering. Oh well, still delicious). Whisk egg with water to make an egg wash. Brush edges of bowls with egg wash and place a lid over each bowl, pressing gently to adhere it to the outer sides of the bowl. Brush the lids with egg wash. Place the ramekins on a cookie sheet and bake until crust is bronzed and filling is bubbling, 30 to 35 minutes.

Serve with a tangy salad.

November 1, 2015

Ghost Cookies

BOOOOO!

A day late and a dollar short. But I don’t think you’ll mind when you get a taste of these treats. My website is almost a year old (yay me) and this is the FIRST sweet recipe I have posted. I’m much more of a “cheese for dessert” kind of gal. Do you have cheese in your refrigerator? Invite me over… you’ll see.

(That’s a weird word, isn’t it? Refrigerator? Where did THAT come from? Does it come from the word “frigid”? What does the “re” mean… are you making something cold AGAIN? And why didn’t it stay cold in the first place?)

I also make a mean fruit galette, but I eat it with cheese. See?, now you know me. :)

Aaaaaanyway, I have been looking for an excuse to try these ever since I received the most recent issue of Food & Wine magazine in the mail and yesterday it hit me… ghost cookies! I mean, seriously, GHOST COOKIES! I just… I can’t even… holyfrightwhatcouldbemoreperfect?!?! And these cookies aren’t just for looks. While they are fluffy and pretty, they are also chock full of delicious dried sour cherries, luscious dark chocolate and toasty pecans.

Food & Wine actually calls these “forgotten cookies” and I can take absolutely no credit for this recipe. I didn’t even tweak it a bit because baking is science and I was never any good at science. That said, for Christmas I might try making them with dried cranberries and chopped walnuts. Hmmmm *imagination running away with me*… dried mango, toasted pumpkin seeds, lime zest, and the dashiest-dash of hot chili flakes? WHOA LADY! I think there may be a number of ghosts in my future.

2 large egg whites
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
3/4 cut of sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste (I made my own using vanilla bean pods but you can use vanilla extract)
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
3/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips (I chopped up a large 85% cocoa dark chocolate bar)
3/4 cup chopped toasted pecans
1/4 cup dried cherries (I was very generous with the amount here and also used sour cherries!)
coarse sea salt

Preheat oven to 350F. In a stand mixer fitted with a whisk, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar at medium speed until soft peaks form, 1 to 2 minutes. With the machine on, gradually add the sugar. Add the vanilla bean paste and the cardamom and beat at high speed until stiff peaks form, about 3 minutes. Using a spatula, scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl and fold in the chocolate chips, pecans and cherries.

Drop spoonfuls of the meringue mixture (approximately 2 inch balls) onto a large foil-lined baking sheet. Sprinkle the cookies sparingly with sea salt and bake for 5 minutes. Turn the oven off and without opening the oven door, leave the cookies in for at least 8 hours or overnight before serving.

You’re welcome. :)

October 22, 2015

Unholy Mess

OMG, HAHAHAHAHA! Lest you think trying to create new recipes is easy, you should have been at my house last night. Lordy. It was a COMPLETE disaster. Ok, COMPLETE may be be a bit of an exaggeration. The flavour was quite tasty, but that’s about the nicest thing I can say about it. I wrapped small pieces of fish (fingers) with cilantro and ginger in rice paper wraps and then tried frying those little packets until crispy. Sheesh. I think the biggest problem is I don’t own a non-stick frying pan. Helluuu? I guess I need to buy a non-stick frying pan. The idea holds promise but the plate appeal on my first try?… an unholy mess.

I wish I had taken a picture to show you but then again, perhaps it’s best I didn’t! Instead I give you the 1950’s jello salad, and let you be thankful those days are over.

I want you to know that I am not a great cook… I am a cook who loves food so I try hard and repeat things until I get them right. Anyone can do it. :)

Stay tuned. Hopefully I’ll have a lovely little crispy Asian fish packet recipe for you one of these days. And in the meantime, keep cooking!

October 8, 2015

Stir-Fry Fairy Cabbages (or shredded brussels sprouts with apple and pancetta)

Fall has arrived, but not in a bad way! The weather is cooler but it has managed to get up to about +20C in one corner of our backyard the past couple of afternoons. Naturally, I am dragging my chair over and soaking in the sun every moment I can because I know this won’t last. Soon the ground will be covered with leaves and my mind will turn to pumpkin carving. But for now (anyone who knows me will guess what’s coming)… it’s OCTOBER-FEST. And you know what that means… BEER!!!

Actually, it means more than BEER! It means warm, comforty German fare; sausages and braised cabbage, schnitzel, beer and cheddar soup, sauerkraut, crispy fried potatoes with onions. Mmmmmmm. I was in a sausage and braised cabbage kind of mood last weekend but, alas, had no cabbage. I did, however, have a bag of “fairy cabbages” (those are brussels sprouts to anyone who didn’t grow up in Husband’s odd fantasy world) from my local farmers market. Winner, winner, ummm, brussels sprouts dinner?

Don’t knock it ’til you fry it. ;)… Ugh… sorry! I don’t think my sense of humour is quite as bad in real life… this blog does something to me.

1 lb brussels sprouts, cleaned and trimmed, thinly sliced (about 1/8th inch) lengthwise (using a mandolin will cut down on your work tremendously, but watch those fingers!)
1 crisp apple, cored and diced
1 large shallot, halved and thinly sliced
4-6 oz pancetta (or bacon), sliced into batons
glug of olive oil
salt
pepper
1 TBS maple syrup

Place large frying pan over medium-high heat and cook pancetta until just starting to crisp. Add shallots and continue to fry until pancetta is crisp and shallots are browned.

Add shredded brussels sprouts and apple to the pan, along with a glug of olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Toss everything together and turn down heat to medium. Cover the pan and continue to cook, removing cover to stir every minute or so, until the brussels sprouts are tender-crisp, about 5-6 minutes.

Remove cover and drizzle with maple syrup. Toss for another minute. Taste and re-season if necessary. We enjoyed this alongside pork and apple sausages and some tiny new potatoes, roasted until crispy with garlic and rosemary. And of course a beer.