Pots and Pans

Move over!

2012-01-09T10:40:00.002-05:00

I have decided that I still require a regular outlet for discussing my cooking experience and general views on food. I am interested in taking things to the next level, so from now on, I will be posting to a new blog called The Beech Tree, a reference to my conceptual pub that I am developing. Please go here and enjoy:

http://thebeechtreepub.blogspot.com/

Or go to the business web page (which admittedly doesn't have much going on it right now)

www.thebeechtreepub.ca

Weekend business

2009-07-20T15:39:00.001-04:00

This weekend was my daughter's third birthday. Although the party proper was held in the local park and had catered sandwiches, I did prepare a pretty good pre-birthday dinner for the grandmother's: roast chicken. I didn't take any pictures because I was so darn busy, but it was good. I used a Jamie Oliver trick wherein you par-boil your potatoes beforehand with a lemon or two floating around in the water. After about 15 minutes, you remove the lemons, stab them with forks and then insert them right into the cavity of the raw bird right before it goes in the oven. It gives the chicken a lemony taste and gets the middle of the bird hot right away. After 45 minutes in the oven, I took the par-boiled potatoes (dried off by this point), and dumped them right into the pan with the chicken, and tossed 'em around in the chicken fat. I roasted for a further 45 minutes. Yum.

Chicken and Chickpeas

2009-07-15T20:39:00.008-04:00

I've made variations of this dish quite a few times, and I keep coming back to it because it's easy and tastes yum. I tried it a little different this time. Here's what I did:

I took some skinless, boneless chicken thighs and tossed them around in some hot oil in a heavy bottom pan just until they started to show colour. I removed them and put them aside and then diced up a whole onion and started frizzling those in the same pan, to this I added a huge whack of chopped garlic. I deglazed the pan with the juices from a tin of tomatoes. I added a few of the tomatoes out of the can, and reserved the rest for another meal. I then added some paprika, chili powder and ground cumin and a couple of smoked cardamon pods. Once everything got going, I added in about a cup and a half of water and then put the chicken back in. I let this braise gently on the stove top (with pan covered) for about 20 minutes. Then I shoved all the chicken out of the way (while still in the pan) and poured in a can of drained and rinsed chickpeas. I allowed the chickpeas to warm in the liquid and then added a good amount of salt (remember, I'm not using stock anymore)--maybe three-quarters of a teaspoon. I let everything bubble away under the cover until I was satisfied with the doneness. Before serving, I removed and discarded the cardamon pods.

All in all, the meal was okay, but as note-to-self for the next time I do it: the chickpeas need to cook down longer...there was kind of can-tasting rawness to them, and I there was too much garlic. I'll stick to one clove next time.

Summer Bread Soup

2009-07-15T07:30:00.008-04:00

Tonight was the vegetarian night I try to do at least once a week. I love meat, don't get me wrong, but I think we eat too much of it these days, so it's good to take a break. It was a coolish summer day, so I thought I'd make some warming soup, but with summer ingredients. This is based loosely on some country Italian soup recipes I have from one of my favourite cook books. Here's what I did:

I got my big sized Crueset dutch oven going with some olive oil and heat. I threw in one whole onion (diced), one whole zucchini (diced) and some chopped up rosemary ( a few sprigs worth). I let it frizzle a bit and break down, added a clove or two of chopped garlic, and then I threw in a handful or so of halved grape tomatoes (skin on), followed by one can of drained and rinsed navy beans. I tossed it all around a bit, then added in at least six to eight cups of plain old water. (As a side note here, I have stopped using store-bought chicken stock. I've made an effort to monitor the amount of salt going into things. I love salt, and I do season my food aggressively, however, I don't like the salt creeping in through processed ingredients. Chicken stock is yummy, but I've found plain old salted water takes on the flavours of the ingredients just as well---and sometimes better---Also chicken stock would kind of mess up the whole 'vegetarian' thing!)

Anyway, along with the water I dropped in a few bay leaves, a good pinch of dried oregano, a good pinch of paprika (for colour) and I brought the works to the boil. I let it simmer for about 10 minutes, and then I took two slices of plain light rye, broke them up roughly and dropped it right in the soup. I've never really done this before, but I wanted to thicken the soup without flour or potatoes or whatever, and my Italian cook book talks about this, so I tried it. It worked great! I let the soup go until the vegetables were soft---but not mush--this is a summer soup after all, so I want to have some freshness in the finished product (maybe 15-20 minutes). During the last five minutes of simmering, I tossed in a some chopped spring onions for some green colour. I also added in a little glug of balsamic vinegar and adjusted for season with salt and pepper.

I served the soup by placing a few raw spinach leaves in the bottom of a bowl and ladelling the piping hot soup over them. I allowed them to wilt in there a bit and served it with a few basil leaves on top, a drizzle of olive oil and some cheesey bread to accompany. Delicious and nutritious!

Grilled Pork Chops with Sweet Pepper and Aubergine Pasta

2009-07-13T21:30:00.007-04:00

As I promised myself, I'm going to start this blog up again. With a busy job and two kids under three, it ain't easy. I manage to cook a fresh, from-scratch meal pretty much every night, but to have to write about it? That takes a bit more effort. Anyway, this is what I did tonight:

I started with three baby aubergines that were fast approaching their "best before" deadline. I started to cut them into thick slices for some grilling, but thought better of it, and just cubed them up. I took all that aubergine, and along with a diced up sweet bell pepper and a diced onion, frizzled them in some oil in a cast iron pan. I allowed some colour to form on the veggies and then I threw in a few whole fennel seeds, a pinch of dry chili flakes and salt/pepper. Once the vegetables started to break down, I poured in a quarter of a bottle of white wine and half a can of tinned whole tomatoes. I let this gently reduce for a further 15 minutes or so. Finally I tossed in a handfull of black olives and a drizzle of balsalmic vinagar. In the mean time I took three small boneless pork chops and seasoned them with some olive oil, paprika and salt and pepper. I gently grilled them till they were just slightly medium done. I took them off the grill, and nestled them into the sweet pepper/aubergine mix to allow them to finish cooking in there. Whilst this was happening I boiled some angel hair pasta in some salted water. I finished the meal by removing the chops and setting them aside, tossing the pasta with the veg, and then plating it all together with a bit of grated parm, a chiffonade of fresh basil and a drizzle of olive oil. I finished mine personally with a generous sprinkling of dried chile flakes. Yum.

I'm honestly going to start this up again

2009-07-13T14:15:00.004-04:00

Just spent a weekend cooking all sorts of aweome thing: arugula pesto, lamb kofta, chicken/sage leaf/yellow zuchini skewers (beautiful and delicious), homemade BBQ sauce and a whole bunch of other stuff. I think I will get this rolling again. Stay tuned!

Simple Chicken Leg Quarters with gravy and other fixin's

2008-03-13T18:36:00.003-04:00

I actually made a video for this but I can't figure out how to edit it. For now, here's the old style...

Anyway, what I did tonight was a reasonably quick dinner. I took two largish chicken leg quarters and seasoned them with salt and pepper and started searing them skin side down in a pan. After about five to ten minute of searing, I placed the pan in the oven and continued to cook 'upside down' this way for about half an hour in a 375 degree oven. Meanwhile I parboiled some quartered red skinned spuds in my steamer. Once soft, I threw them onto a well oiled, pre-heated baking sheet. I put them in the oven just long enough to start browning.

After the chicken was cooked (about 30 minutes), I continued them under the broiler a bit to crisp up more. Out of the oven, I removed the chicken from the pan and made a simple onion gravy by softening some onions in the chicken pan on the stove top. I added a bit of flour and poured in about a cup of chicken stock and a dollop of French mustard. Once reduced by about a quarter and thickened, I poured in a gravy dish. I served the works with some steamed haricots verts and carrots.

Mea culpa

2008-03-12T18:32:00.003-04:00

Wow. No entries since December 11 2007. Bad me. I have acquired a lap top and no longer need to descend to the depths of my home in a basement home office to write about cooking. Now I can actually blog from the kitchen. Maybe even make videos. Cool. So, I will start again. Unfortunately I am ordering pizza tonight because I'm too darn tired. To cook. Okay, we'll start tomorrow.

Oh yeah. It totally has a webcam

Sausages with Potato and Arugula

2007-12-11T21:42:00.002-05:00

This was one of those 'everthing in the same pan' meals. I actually was inspired by a dish that Jamie Oliver made on his TV show, but his involved tomatoes and mine did not. Anyway, here's what I did.

I took three large russet potatoes and peeled and chopped them into large bite-sized pieces. Then I 'parboiled' them in the microwave for about 4 minutes. Whilst the nuker was doing it's thing, I got an oven proof pan and added four whole cloves of garlic, one whole onion sliced, some fennel seeds, three whole sprigs of rosemary and four mild italian sausages. When the potatoes came out of the microwave, I threw them in the pan as well. I tossed the works in a generous amount of olive oil (the spuds are pretty hot at this point, so take care when tossing). I seasoned the works with salt and pepper and threw it under the broiler. After about 15 minutes, I tossed everything around and flipped the sausages and returned under the broiler for another 15 minutes (untill the sausages were cooked). Once out of the oven, I drizzled Balsalmic vinegar over everything and tossed in a good handful of fresh arugula. I served it rustic style.

Soup and Guinness

2007-12-11T21:38:00.000-05:00

I had just returned from a few days in Montreal on business. It is very snowy and cold there. After a busy day of meetings, I found a bit of time to wander the old city. It was a beautiful evening with a gentle snow falling. The old city was lit up with Christmas lights and the seasonaly tourists were crunching about in the snowy cobblestones. For some reason this gave me a huge craving for a bowl of hot soup and a pint of cold Guinness. Unfortunately the pub I had in mind had closed down and I never had a chance to indulge my craving. With that said, once home the first thing I did was buy some Guinness and make some soup. Here's what I did:

I started frizzling an entire onion (sliced up)in my dutch oven. To this I added a small handful of diced up pancetta and some diced carrots. Once the onions started to soften, I added in some chunky sliced russet potatoes (two or three of them) and a can of drained and rinsed navy beans. I tossed all the stuff together and then deglazed the pan with, you guessed it, some Guinness (a few splashes out of my glass). I then added in enough H2O to cover the works and seasoned generously with salt, pepper, sweet paprika and dried dill weed. I let this simmer until the carrots and potatoes were tender. I served it with some garlic bread and of course, a pint of frosty stout.

Portuguese Cod Stew

2007-12-05T10:23:00.000-05:00

I don't' think this dish is really Portuguese, but considering it has cod, potatoes, spinach, garlic and black olives in it, it certainly feels like it 'could' be Portuguese. In any event I was originally going to simply bake some cod fillets, but I was running out of time so everything ended up in one pot. Here's what I did:

I threw half a sliced red onion, and three potatoes chopped into bite-size pieces into some hot oil. Then I dropped in a handful of black olives, three or four WHOLE cloves of garlic (they'll mellow enough to eat whole once it's done) some whole fennel seeds, some lemon zest, a good pinch of paprika and a pinch of dried oregano (and of course salt/pepper). I let this frizzle for a bit then poured in half a cup of dry vermouth (If it was really Portuguese, white port would work here), followed by the juice of one whole lemon and a little water to get about an inch or two of liquid on the bottom. I mixed everything around until it started to resemble a stew. Then I dropped in a huge whack of julienned fresh spinach leaves. I nestled the fish fillets in amongst all this stuff and let them braise in the heat and liquid. When they were sufficiently cooked, I flaked the fish apart so it distributed throughout the stew. I garnished with more lemon. It was really good and the those whole cloves of garlic were a wonderful surprise to bite into. Tasty, but stinky---don't use this meal on a first date!

Broccoli and Cheddar Pasta

2007-12-03T22:15:00.000-05:00

Remember that soup I made last night? Well, there was a few cups left over, but I didn't want to eat the same darn thing again and I didn't want to waste it either. So I turned it into pasta. Damn, was it tasty. It was so painfully simple it's embarassing. Here's what I did:

I boiled a few servings worth of whole wheat Penne. Whilst this was boiling, I chopped about three cloves of garlic finely and threw them in a small sauce pan with some hot olive oil. Once I could start to smell the garlic, I poured in the left-over broccoli soup. I brought it to a very gentle simmer, then poured in a ladleful of the starchy pasta water. Then I added half a cup of grated cheddar and a quarter cup of grated parm. I julienned a small handful of raw baby spinach just to bring the green a little back to life. Then I dropped in a small knob of butter, stirred it all around and then drained the pasta. I poured the green broccoli and cheese sauce right in with the penne, mixed it all up, the threw it on a plate. Like I said yesterday, I don't even like broccoli, but I LOVED this! So did our little one. I don't even think she chewed it---just inhaled it. Talk about stretching the life of a half-rotten bit of organic broccoli!

Another Broccoli Soup

2007-12-03T22:08:00.002-05:00

I was rummaging around in the fridge and found that the organic broccoli I bought a week prior was not seeing much action. I didn't want to waste this expensive bit of green, but it was looking a little too sickly for straight-out steaming, so I opted to make another one of my famous neon-green soups. Here's what I did:

I chopped up a single onion, a peeled russet potato, and the entire head of broccoli (except for the really icky bits which I pitched). I wasn't too worried about the shape of my chopping as it was going to be pureed later, but cooking time had to match so the sizes were all similar. I frizzled these bits around in a pot with some oil and salt/pepper until at least the onions started to soften. Then I added several cups of store-bought vegetable stock and about a cup of plain water (enough to cover the contents in the pot). I threw in a bay leaf and then let the works simmer on low (GAS!) heat for about 25 minutes. When the broccoli was approaching 'doneness' (prick it with a fork to see if it is tender), the colour of the broth and the broccoli had turned to a roughly PUKE shade of green. So, I introduced a half a cup or so of frozen organic peas and a handful of raw baby spinach. This brought the green back into the appetizing spectrum. When the peas had softened and the spinach wilted, I brought out my 'boat motor' gadget and gave everything a rough puree. There was still a good amount of texture left over. Then I added in a huge whack of chopped coriander leaves and a handful of grated cheddar cheese. I served the soup with dollop of yogurt and a drizzle of olive oil. For the baby, I just crumbled a few soda crackers in it so it was thick enough for her to muck about with it. I actually really don't like broccoli, but I'll eat it like this, and indeed, it is an excellent way to save some dodgy looking broccoli as well as putting those woody stalks to good use. And damn, broccoli, spinach, peas....could I hope to get more veggies into my kid in one sitting?

Now we're cooking with gas!

2007-12-03T22:08:00.001-05:00

Our circa 1972 Eaton's Viking apartment-size electric coil stove finally bit the dust. Good riddance! We have replaced the old girl with a brand-spankin' new gas stove. Gas is certainly a different animal to tame but I love it. The first thing I made with it was the pork tenderloin seen in the picture. I made a dry rub of crushed fennel seeds, coriander seeds, lemon zest, paprika and rock salt and simply browned it a bit in oil and finished it in the (self-cleaning) oven. I'm finally cooking with accuracy!

Roast Chicken with Fennel and White Beans

2007-11-26T06:54:00.001-05:00

Well, it was Sunday, so I thought I would make Sunday dinner. There was a sale on the so-called "naturally-raised" chickens at the grocery store. In other words, grain-fed and no anti-biotics. So I bought two birds. I cooked one for Sunday dinner. I accompanied it with roasted fennel and sort of rustic warm white bean salad. Here's what I did:

Roast Chicken

I took the whole chicken and gave it a wash in cold water. I patted it dry and then seasoned the inside of the cavity with salt and pepper. I quartered a lemon and stuffed the lemon inside. Then I got my pestle and mortar and bashed together some whole fennel seeds, whole peppercorns, a good pinch of rock salt, a good pinch of finely chopped fresh rosemary, the zest of one whole lemon and several generous glugs of olive oil. I worked this with the pestle and mortar until it resembled a paste. Then I got a basting brush and slathered the whole chicken in this paste. I put it in a roast dish with with some roughly chopped carrots, onions, a few whole cloves of garlic, a handful of small french-style olives and a another douse of olive oil. Lastly, I lightly dusted the top of the chicken with sweet paprika (I find this helps give the chicken a lovely colour). I roasted it for just under an hour and took it out and let it rest for ten minute before serving. In the pan, I removed the carrots, onions and olive and set them aside to serve with dinner. I squashed the garlic cloves down into the chicken juices and deglazed the pan with about half a cup of chicken stock. I added in a little bit of a flour slurry and then I had gravy.

Roast Fennel

I basically cleaned a quartered a whole fennel bulb and roasted it in the oven with some olive oil, salt and pepper until it was tender.

Rustic Warm Bean Salad

This side was really yummy and I'd like to try it again. It was also really easy to make. I basically got some hot oil going in a small saucepan. To this added a huge whack of chopped garlic and a palmful of chopped rosemary. I let this stuff start to sizzle (but don't burn the garlic), and then I poured in a can of rinsed and drained white beans, foll lowed by a handful of baby spinach and a cup of chicken stock. The spinach wilted down and beans got soft and the broth thickened up from all the starches. After about ten minutes, I stirred in a spoonful of Dijon mustard and dropped in a handful of grated parm. I drizzled olive oil on it at the end. Yum, yum, yum.

Another successful Sunday supper.

From Scratch Chicken Pot Pie

2007-11-26T06:53:00.000-05:00

I had the day off and decided to make something that required a little more time. It was the first snow fall of the season and comfort food was on the menu. I've never made a potpie before, so what the hell. I decided to make it from scratch. Okay, I lied, it's from scratch except for the pie crust. I bought a ready-made frozen pie top pastry. I'm not THAT good. Anyway, here's what I did:

I started by taking three boneless skinless chicken breasts and dicing them up into bite size pieces. Then I browned them in a batches in some hot oil and set it all aside. Then I added a tiny bit more oil to the pan and started sauteing one onion (diced), about three carrots (diced) and a single potato (peeled and diced). Meanwhile in another small pan I sauteed a package of sliced cremeni mushrooms in a bit of butter and dried thyme until they were soft yet not mush. I then introduced the mushrooms to the vegetables and poured in a bit of chicken stock to deglaze the works. To this I added a handful of frozen peas, which very quickly warmed through in the mixture. Then I poured all the chicken chunks in with the veggies and mushrooms. I added in a good pinch of freshly chopped rosemary and freshly chopped dill weed. I kept all that stuff warm on the back burner and quickly threw together a bechamel sauce. I melted some butter in the bottom of a saucepan and made a quick roux. To this, instead of adding all milk, I added half a cup of milk and half a cup of chicken stock. This created a sort of creamy chicken-flavoured sauce. I adjusted the season of the sauce and then poured it all in with the chicken and veggies. I stirred it all around and poured it into an oven proof pan. I let it cool a little bit and then draped the raw pie pastry over the top. I crimped the edges and cut in air holes. This went into a 375 degree oven for about 25 minutes or until the pastry was golden and the filling was bubbly. I served it with french bread and butter. For my first ever potpie, it was a real hit with the Mrs. and the little one.

Vegetarian Curry with Brown Rice

2007-11-26T06:51:00.000-05:00

Ignore the date stamp, I'm updating a bunch on one day. This is from last week.

I think everyone should have a vegetarian night at least a couple of times a week. We eat way too much meat in North America. With that in mind, this evening I created a vegetarian curry. Here's what I did:

I got some hot oil going in my dutch oven and threw in a whole onion diced, a couple of carrots (also diced) and a single potato (peeled and diced). I let that stuff frizzle around in the oil and then added a couple of cloves' worth of chopped garlic. As these things frizzled around, I tossed in a good pinch each of ground cumin, ground cinnamon, ground coriander, medium curry powder and of course salt and pepper. As soon as I could start to smell the spices I tossed in a single can of drained and rinsed chickpeas. I followed this with half a cup of store-bought vegetable stock (in the resealable carton) and a half cup or so of coconut milk. I then stirred in a half a can of tomato paste, tossed in a cinnamon stick and a cardamon pod and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. Once the potatoes and carrots were soft, it was good to go. I also added cauliflower, but after the fact, because I frankly don't like the stuff. I steamed it separately and stirred it in with the baby's and the Mrs' bowls. I also stirred in a bit of the hot and spicy curry paste for the grown-ups, but left it out of baby's. I served with brown rice and yogurt and fresh coriander leaves. Our little one loved it. What a great way to get the veggies into 'em!

Cod Chowder

2007-11-16T06:36:00.001-05:00

I've read about cod chowder but I've never eaten it, let alone cooked it. And yet, why not? I had some cod fillets in the freezer, so I defrosted them and this is what I did:

In a large pot I heated up some oil and started sauteeing one whole onion finely chopped. To this I added three large baking potatoes peeled and chopped up into large, bite-sized chunks. I stirred this around for a few moments and then poured in a quarter cup of beer to deglaze the bottom of the pan and then added a whack of chopped fresh dill. I poured in about two cups of chicken stock and then about two or three cups of plain water. I threw in a bay leaf and seasoned with salt and pepper and a let it simmer until the potatoes were soft and starting to break apart in the soup (about 20 minutes). At this point I introduced the cod. I chopped up four fillets into bite sized pieces and just threw them right in the broth to poach. After about five minutes I stirred in a few glugs of cream and whisked in a spoonful of Dijon mustard. I also threw in a handful of julienned baby spinach to wilt down (I do this with almost every soup and stew---it's pretty and it's very healthy). I garnished with fresh dill sprigs and served with french bread and butter.

This meal was another huge success for getting the baby to like fish. For her's I pulled out potatoes and fish with a slotted spoon and served in a bowl so she could muck about the food with her hands. In any event, she ate piles of it. I'm so impressed with her eating!

Another Fritatta

2007-11-14T21:41:00.001-05:00

Yeah, I made another fritatta, but they're so easy! And quick! Anyway, here's what I did:

I peeled and diced up one whole russet potato and nuked it till it was just about done. I then tossed the spuds in some hot oil along with half an onion diced. I let this frizzle for a bit then added in a clove of minced garlic, salt and pepper. After a few more minutes I threw in a handful of julienned baby spinach. Once the spinach had wilted down a bit, I poured in a mixture of four beaten eggs and a couple of tables spoons of milk. I evenly spread out the potatoes and stuff in the egg mixture, and then just let it cook for a few moments. After about 3 minutes, I covered the top with grated cheddar and a good pinch of paprika. The whole thing then went under the broiler till the top was bubbly and brown. I served it right at the table family style with a simple cucumber salad.

I kid you not, our baby ate half that thing herself. She's an eating machine!

Quick Tomato and Sausage Pasta

2007-11-13T22:00:00.000-05:00

Kids always love their 'pasgetti', and my little one is no exception. Here she is trying to feed mama (above pic). In any event, last night I made a really quick pasta that seems like it simmered all day. Here's what I did:

I took four mild Italian sausages and squeezed them out of their cases. I threw them and some onions into some hot oil in a pan and started frizzling them until the onions started to soften and the sausage started to brown. Then I introduced two cloves of finely chopped garlic, followed by some crushed fennel seeds. Then in went a can of diced tomatoes and a handful of julienned spinach along with a healthy pinch of oregano. Because I only had about half an hour to cook this it didn't have that thick 'all day' simmering texture, so I cheated. First I drizzled in about one and half tablespoons of balsamic vinegar. This slightly darkens and sweetens the sauce (as a lot of time might do). Then I stirred in a teaspoon of french mustard and finally I stirred in a little flour/water slurry. The mustard and the flour thickened the sauce considerably. Whether a real Italian mama would ever do such a thing, I don't know, but this cheat works. As always I adjusted the salt/pepper to taste after it had simmered for a while. I served it with grated parma and chopped parsley on whole wheat spaghetti. I added crushed chilies to my own plate to spice it up while baby enjoyed it the way it us.

Broccoli soup and Fish Cakes

2007-11-07T22:16:00.000-05:00

This dish heavily depended on pantry items. The only fresh things I had available were some slightly old stalks of broccoli and some baby spinach. From this (and a well stocked pantry) I was able to throw together an interesting meal. Here's what I did:

Broccoli soup:

I basically took three thick stalks from the bottom of some fresh broccoli along with one or two of the flowerettes. I chopped it all up roughly. Then I quartered a single white potato, diced half an onion and crushed two cloves of garlic. Along with some olive oil, this all went into a pot. I let the ingredients sautee until the onions had a chance to soften a bit. Then I added in a good pinch of herbs de provence and deglazed the pan with splash of beer. I poured in about two cups of chicken stock and the then poured in enough regular H2O to cover the ingredients. I got this simmering and then left it for about 25 minutes. At this point the broccoli had really lost it's green colour, so I added a handful of baby spinach and good bunch of fresh parsley. After another five minutes, I pureed the works with my boat motor gadget. At the last minute I drizzled in a few tablespoons of cream and adjusted the seasonings with salt and pepper.

Fish Cakes:

I basically combined in a bowl three small cans of drained Italian-style tuna, a few crushed crackers, a bit of mustard, some roughly chopped black olives, some lemon zest, salt, pepper, a few tablespoon's worth of grated parm, salt/pepper and one raw egg. I mixed this stuff up with my hands and formed small patties. Then I simply fried them off till the outsides were golden brown and the insides were warm. I served them over baby spinach topped with a little home-made marinara sauce which basically consisted of a quarter cup of canned tomato puree, a bit of cream, salt/pepper and a few grates of nutmeg. I simply warmed the tomato sauce through and drizzled over the cakes.

This dish looked like it could be served in a restaurant, but it actually only took me about an hour from scratch to make.

Baked Navy Beans and Sausage

2007-11-07T22:15:00.001-05:00

I haven't had a chance to update the blog in a while, so this was a favourite from last week. Given that the temperature has (finally) dropped outside, comfort food is back on the menu. This dish is the ultimate comfort food: sausage and beans. Here's what I did:

I browned a few mild Italian sausages (but not fully cooked) and then set them aside. Then I got some oil going in a pan and sauteed some onion and garlic and then poured in one can of drained and rinsed navy beans. To this I added half a can of stewed tomatoes (with the juice), a handful of raw and baby spinach and a handful of black wrinkly olives ( that I had de-pitted). I threw in a bay leaf, some dried oregano and then nestled the sausages in with the beans. I let this bubble away for about 25 minutes. Then I took the sausages out, halved them and filled some ramekins with the bean mixture. I nestled the halved sausages in the top, grated a whack of parm on the top and put it under the broiler till bubbly. Yum.

Cheese and Herb Omelette

2007-10-29T22:19:00.000-04:00

Since nothing had been defrosted and nothing fresh was purchased (save for a bunch of baby spinach), I went for the old standby, omelettes. For a busy parent with a toddler, eggs are always a godsend. They take minutes to cook, they're reasonably healthy (eaten in moderation), provide large amounts of protein (to keep baby's belly full longer) and you can pretty much stuff them or top them with anything. For baby I basically sauteed up some chopped garlic, julienned baby spinach and a few quartered grape tomatoes until everything started to turn soft and wilt. To this I added one whisked egg (with a tiny splash of milk), and simply scrambled it all together. To finish I tossed in a few pinches of grated old cheddar. For the grownups, I made actual omelettes. I started by adding garlic, a bit of salt/pepper and finely chopped fresh rosemary to some hot oil in the pan. As soon as I could smell the garlic, I poured in about two whisked eggs. I shake the pan around and muss the eggs for a few minutes until they start to become solid. I then topped it with two kinds of cheese: aged cheddar and fruliano (which was just what I had in the fridge) and folded it over and did the usual omelette thing. I had to do this twice though because I only have one small no-stick pan. Along with this I made a simple spinach salad that included some grape tomatoes and half a golden delicious apple chopped up. I dressed it with extra virgin oil, white wine vinegar and salt/pepper (apple cider vinegar would have been much nicer but alas, I'm out). I served the works with some toast, a few mixed olives and a pinch of chopped parsley. All in all, it took about 15-20 minutes in total to prepare. Ta da!

Roast Chicken and Lentils

2007-10-27T13:54:00.001-04:00

I had taken two bone-on Cumbrae Farms chicken breasts out of the freezer and needed to make something quick with them with the few remaining items in our larder. Here's what I did:

I threw the chicken in an oven-proof pan and slathered it with a combination lemon zest, olive oil, herbs-de-province, sweet paprika and salt/pepper. Around the chicken, in the same pan, I placed a handful of mixed Mediterranean olives and a few lemon wedges and a bit more olive oil. I threw this in a hot 400 degree oven. In the meantime, I snipped up a couple of strips of bacon into small pieces and started to frizzle them up in my small dutch oven. Once they were crispy, I removed them with a slotted spoon and put them aside. I poured off about half of rendered fat and in the remaining fat I started sauteing half an onion (diced) and two cloves of garlic (minced). As soon as I could start smelling the garlic, I dumped in a can of drained and rinsed lentils. I deglazed the pan with a quarter cup of store-bought chicken stock, added a couple of bay leaves and a few wedges of lemon and dropped it down to low and put a lid on. The chicken was done after about 25-30 minutes. I removed the chicken, tented it with foil and let it rest for a few moments. In that time, I had poured a quarter cup of chicken stock into the chicken pan and scrapped up the fonds, to this mixture I added a teaspoon of Dijon mustard and whisked everything together (the olives were still in there too). It created a lovely, lemony and golden jus. The lentils basically just had to soften and warm through so they were good to go by the time the chicken came out. I served the meal with a quickly prepared spinach salad. Considering it only took about 40 minutes in total (prep and cook time), I was impressed by just how flavourful this meal was. The chicken was lemony and olivey and tasted like sunshine. Bam!

Mustard and Rosemary Crusted Pork Roast

2007-10-25T10:22:00.000-04:00

Sometimes I amaze myself. I don't mean to be a braggart, but after a long day at the office I somehow managed to collect my one-year-old daughter from daycare, schlep her home on a crowded subway, clean her up, change her, feed her and settle her down with her toys AND make a from-scratch dinner for myself and the 'Mrs.'

On alternating weeks the wife works the late shift and does not return till 7pm. Left to my own devices I am occasionally able to pull off some pretty decent cooking despite the major distractions of dealing with a toddler. Actually I cheat a bit. My secret is that our daughter is always a day behind on dinner. Last night she ate the aforementioned halibut. I always make an extra serving of dinner for the baby which I wrap up in the fridge and simply reheat it the next day. This allows more time to cook a proper dinner to be eaten at 7pm by the 'grown ups'. The baby couldn't wait that long for supper and her incessant bawling for food would prove most distracting. This way works best. Last night's dinner is wrapped up in the fridge waiting for the baby to eat today. Nice system. Anyway, last night I was very happy with the results. Here's what I did:

First I got a prep bowl and mixed a couple of tablespoons of Dijon mustard, a few dashes of balsamic vinegar, a crushed clove of garlic, a few sprig's worth of finely chopped fresh rosemary, a bit of olive oil, a few crushed fennel seeds and salt/pepper. I mixed it up and then slathered it all over a small boneless pork roast. I then put the roast in a 400 degree oven. I also got a fine squash going in the oven. About a half hour later I quartered a red onion and a white onion, tossed them in some oil, salt and pepper, and threw them on a cookie sheet and into the oven. The roast took about 50 minutes to reach satisfactory doneness. While the roast rested under a foil tent, I deglazed the pan with a bit of chicken stock. All the mustardy bits blended nicely with the stock and created an extremely flavourful jus. The onions roasted beautifully and served as a sort of salad to accompany the autumnal squash.

My wife has it good.

Baked Halibut

2007-10-24T09:24:00.000-04:00

Again, I admit our family simply isn't eating enough fish. Our local grocery store has a very disappointing fish counter, so I haven't really been inspired. This week however, having noticed a couple of times that the so-called 'fresh fish' in the grocery store appeared to have just defrosted, I figured actually buying frozen fish would probably be the better route. So I did, and I now have cod and halibut in the freezer. Last night I decided to cook the halibut. Here's what I did:

I simply placed four halibut fillets in an oiled pan and on top of the fillets, I spread out the following ingredients: half a red bell pepper finely diced, half a diced red onion, a spoonful of capers, a few black and wrinkly olives, lemon slices, a few pinches of dill, more olive oil and salt/pepper. I placed this in a 375 degree oven for about half an hour. The oil, lemon and other vegetables cooked together with the fish to create a beautiful Mediterranean flavour. I served the fish with some roast potatoes and a sort of cucumber and yogurt salad. I didn't take any pictures so use your imagination.

It was delicious. I think everyone should eat more fish.

1970's-style Green Soup

2007-10-22T20:08:00.001-04:00

I don't know what it is about this photo, but the soup looks like it's right out of a 1970's cook book. Maybe it's the black stoneware. The soup was actually delicious and quite current.

Honest.

Anyway, here's what I did:

I took a good bunch of asparagus, cleaned off the tough ends and then roughly quartered them. Then I got my pot going with some hot oil and threw in one whole red onion chopped finely. I let it frizzle for a few moments and then threw in the asparagus. I let this frizzle for a few moments and then added a single peeled and quartered white potato. I tossed everything so it was coated in the oil and then added a good teaspoon of ground coriander, a pinch of whole fennel seeds, a couple of bay leaves and salt/pepper. I gave everything about five minutes then added in a huge handfull of baby spinach. After the onions started to turn soft and transluscent and the spinach had wilted down, I deglazed the pan with a tiny bit of beer out of my glass and then added about three or four cups of chicken stock (I used low-sodium organic stuff). I reduced the heat to medium-low and put a lid on. I let the works simmer till everything was tender. Then I poured it into my food processor and pureed (after removing and chucking the bay leaves). I returned the pureed soup to the pan and added in a half-handful of chopped cilantro as well as adjusting the seasoning. I served (as you see in the picture) with a drizzle of yogurt and some whole cilantro leaves accompanied by some simple tomato-toast (with olive oil and salt). Yes, it looks very 70's but it was yum yum yum! The baby loved it too.

Let's put it this way: I don't even like asparagus, but I liked this.

Junior and Senior Chicken Curry

2007-10-17T21:31:00.000-04:00

I had hankering for some fiery curry, but I didn't want the baby to explode, so I opted to make two chicken curries simultaneously. It was actually quite a bit of fun. Given that I cheated and used store bought curry paste, there really wasn't much work to do. I basically did the baby's with smaller dices of potato, carrot, onion and asparagus. The spice blend for the baby curry included cinnamon, coriander, a few cloves, allspice, and a little bit of medium curry powder (I have to start getting her used to the spicy stuff, so I admittedly added some of the real deal to junior curry). I basically sauteed all the veggies, tossed some diced up chicken meat and the spices and let everything cook for a few moments then doused it in coconut milk. For the grown-up curry I did something similar except used onions, garlic, potatoes and red bell peppers. I used a combination of firey hot madras and tika masala curry pastes from Patack. I also doused the grown up version with a combination of beer and coconut milk. I served it over rice with nan bread and cilantro as a garnish. Man, was it good. And incredibly, even with a medium-spice curry powder in her curry, our little one gobbled it up and squealed for seconds. Who knew?

Salmon with Maple Chili Glaze

2007-10-15T13:41:00.000-04:00

Last night I finally got a chance to pick up some fresh fish and have a proper dinner. I started with some beautiful fillets of salmon. Cooking it was dead easy. I mixed up some maple syrup (the real stuff) with ground coriander, dried chili flakes, salt and pepper. I then slathered the glaze all over the salmon and put it in 375 degree oven. After ten minutes, I re-glazed the fish and did so a few more times in 10 minute intervals. In total, the fish cooked for about 30 minutes. The glaze had browned beautifully and the salmon was still tender. I served it with some steamed asparagus and some buttermilk mashed spuds. It tasted fantastic with the chili heat and the maple sweet mingling together in the glaze.

Also, I made a fillet for the baby girl but I left the chili flakes off of hers. She loves fish and gobbled it down. I hope she keeps her taste for fish because so many people I know aren't fond of fish. I can only guess why. The salmon was moist, tender and mild yet flavourful. Who wouldn't like that?

Really fast, from scratch Potato Soup

2007-10-12T10:27:00.000-04:00

Last night the baby was getting left-over pasta rags for dinner, but the Mrs. and I needed something different. On alternate weeks, I am home alone with the little one until mommy comes home around 7pm. That means I have to be pretty quick with preparing the meals. Anyway, I picked up a fresh baguette on my way home, so I decided to make soup. Here's what I did:

I took three slices of regular streaky bacon and diced them up. I threw them in the bottom of my soup pot and let them get crispy. Then I removed them with a slotted spoon and put them aside. Having added no oil originally, I left the bacon fat in the pan (and it tastes so good). To this I added a whole onion finely chopped, a pinch of caraway seeds and a pinch of dill. I let the onions soften and then added four, roughly chopped peeled white potatoes, followed by two bay leaves. I deglazed the pan with with about a quarter cup of the beer I was drinking and sloshed everything around in the pot, making sure to scrape up the yummy brown bits stuck to the bottom. Then I poured in enough boiling water to cover the works, seasoned generously with salt and let it simmer until the Mrs. got home from work (about half an hour, just enough time for the potatoes to get soft and flavour the water). I served it with the crumbled bacon on top with a small spinach salad and the baguette on the side. Perfect (and quick) comfort food!

Baked Pasta Rags with Chicken and Caramelized Onions

2007-10-12T10:04:00.001-04:00

Ignore the date stamp. I made this Wednesday night.

The name of this dish is pretty long winded, but it was actually an accident of timing that created it. Having worked from home, I had a little extra time to create dinner---more so than usual. The plan was to get it all ready to go, run out and pick up the baby at daycare, then come back and finish it off for when the Mrs. got home from work. So I decided to make something a little more substantial than usual, and given the ingredients available, opted for chicken lasagna. However, by the time I started to pull the dish together I had run out of time and had to pick up the baby, so I had to improvise fast. I didn't want to come home to half-prepared supper (and messy kitchen) with baby in tow, so I 'tweaked' the dish. Here's what I did:

I took two, bone-in, skin on chicken breasts, and seasoned them with some olive oil, salt and pepper, then put them in a 375 degree oven on a baking dish. After about half an hour, I pulled out the chicken and let it rest for a while. When it cooled sufficiently, I ripped off the skins (and ate them immediately) and proceeded to cut the chicken into a small dice and chucked the bones. Once done, I put that all aside. Then I got a pot of boiling water going and started cooking half a package of lasagna sheets. Then I got a pan going and threw in a whole red onion, finely chopped with some oil, salt and a tiny pinch of sugar (to aid in the caramelizing process). I let that cook slow and steady until the onion became very soft and sweet. Somewhere amongst all that cooking, I also threw together a bechamel sauce on the last remaining burner on my stove. When the pasta was cooked, I looked around the totally messy kitchen and realized that I had simply run out of time. To assemble an entire lasagna would mean getting to the daycare late and getting dinged with a late fee. So, instead I improvised. I tossed the diced chicken and bechamel sauce right in with the caramelized onions, added a bit of chicken stock to thin it out and then left it on low heat. Then I took the lasagna sheets and started slicing them into 'rags'. I would say these rags were roughly fettuccine width, although no two were alike. I then tossed the rags with the sauce and distributed it up amongst a bunch of deep ramekins. I grated a big pile of Parmesan cheese on top of each one, and then set them aside so I could run and get the kid. When I got back, I just threw the ramekins in the oven to heat through and melt the cheese. Done! It didn't look as pretty as a lasagna, but it tasted pretty good.

African inspired braised chicken thighs

2007-10-04T21:49:00.000-04:00

I found myself with four skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs tonight. This dish kind of developed organically in the sense that I totally made it up as I went along. I use the term 'African' because any time cinnamon, coriander and dried fruit end up in my stew it makes me think of a Moroccan tagine.

Here's what I did:

I first got my large dutch oven going on the heat with a bit of oil. I then browned off the chicken thighs (skin side down) until they were nice and crispy (but not cooked, just seared). I removed them from the pot and drained about half the oil/fat in the bottom. Then I threw in one whole diced onion and after a few more minutes two finely chopped cloves of garlic. I frizzled this about until the onions became soft. Then I poured in a one large can of tomatoes and one can of black beans. I thinned it out slightly with about a quarter cup of chicken stock. I then seasoned generously with salt, as well as ground coriander, a little curry powder and a cinnamon stick. Lastly I threw in a handful of jumbo raisins. Then I nestled the chicken thighs back into this liquid, put on the lid and and let it gently simmer for about 40 minutes. Towards the end I stirred in some fresh baby spinach and some chopped parsley. I served it over a simple couscous with some pita and left over humus on the side.

This dish was crying out for some hot chilies or spices but I didn't want to blow up the baby, so instead I finished the 'adults' dish at the end of with a healthy pinch of dried chili flakes. Yum. The whole family thoroughly enjoyed this one-pot supper. I think within the next month or two I will slowly start introducing some spicy stuff to my little one. I can't cook without hot spices and chilies!

Andouille Sausage and Fennel Pasta

2007-10-04T11:41:00.000-04:00

It feels good to be back to writing my blog. No pictures yet as I simply don't have the wherewithal to snap pictures of my dinner when I'm trying to feed a one-year-old rug rat. Either way, this was one of those meals that involved cleaning out the refrigerator and getting creative. Here's what I did:

I took a full bulb of fennel and very thinly sliced it. A mandolin would be handy here, but I just used a butcher knife. Then I thinly sliced up a whole onion and put that all aside. I got a pan going with some extra virgin olive oil and threw in a few whole fennel seeds. Following that I threw in a handful of chopped up andouille sausage. I let this frizzle away for a few moments. The sausage rendered a bit and combined with the fennel seeds created a nicely seasoned oil. Once cooked through and browned nicely, I removed the sausage with a slotted spoon and set it aside. To this nicely flavoured oil, I added the fennel and onion. I seasoned generously with salt and let the fennel and onion cook down until they were soft and starting to caramelize. Then I added in a couple of cloves of finely chopped garlic. Whilst that was happening I had a pot of boiling water going and threw in a few serving's worth of spaghetti. Then, I took a small saucepan and made a really quick bechamel sauce. This involves melting a table spoon of butter, dropping in about a table spoon of flour and creating a 'roux' by cooking out the flour. Then I added about a cup of milk and as it started to thicken, I dumped about a third of a cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese. Whilst the bechamel thickened, I julienned several leaves of baby spinach and introduced them to the fennel and onion where it very quickly started to wilt into the mix. Once the bechamel had thickened to my liking, I dumped it directly in with the fennel, onion and spinach mixture which was now cooked through and tender. To that I added a ladle or two of the starchy pasta water, allowed it to reduce a bit and then started adding the pasta directly to the fennel sauce. I tossed it all together and then remove a small portion for the baby, and to the remainder I added the lovely bits of andouille sausage for the Mrs. and I. I finished it with a drizzle of olive oil, freshly grated Parmesan and fresh cracked pepper.

The flavour was excellent. The sauce was creamy and had a lovely mellow flavour that reflected the anise quality of the fennel. The sausage put it over the top. Our daugther, being only 14 months old, is probably not quite ready for dry-cured spicy sausage, but she gobbled up her helping without missing a thing.

I'm baacckk!

2007-09-25T11:34:00.000-04:00

Well, the summer is pretty much done and it's time to get back to the blog. During my three month hiatus, cooking has become a little more complicated. The little one, now 14 months old, is eating everything that I'm cooking, so I have to go a little easy on the chilies and the hot sauce. I really am trying to avoid the 'jarred' baby food. So far there is nothing that my little one won't eat, and I'm quite shocked by her penchant for onions and garlic.

I am looking forward to the occasion of a good challenge and will enjoy the harvest season's culinary delights. Stay tuned.

Some time off

2007-05-24T11:50:00.000-04:00

Apologies.

I haven't written an entry for some time now. I'm taking a break from this to make room for many other endevours I am involved in. I will try to update periodically if I cook something really awesome.

Allons-y au Gabby's.

2007-05-08T22:50:00.000-04:00

I had a bad day and the kitchen was a mess when I got home and we need to go grocery shopping. So we threw the little one in her stroller and 'strolled' over to Gabby's up the street. It was nice to have someone cook for me...even though it was just pub food. A welcome diversion!

This and that

2007-05-06T21:42:00.000-04:00

Today I made a mish-mash of different things. Of note were a couple of 'dips' I made for nacho chips. One was a roast red pepper dip and the other was a spicy, Asian style eggplant dip. Here's what I did:

Red Pepper Dip

First I took a couple of red Bell peppers and roasted them in a 400 degree oven until they were all scorched and gnarly looking. Just before they were scorched (about 15 minutes before hand), I threw in a couple of halved tomatoes so they could scorch a little too. When everything was done, I took it out of the oven and threw the peppers in a tightly sealed bowl; this allows the skins to loosen. As for the tomatoes, the skins just kind of fell off. Once everything was 'skinless', it went into the food processor with a clove of garlic, some lime juice, fresh cilantro, dried chili flakes, a few glugs of olive oil and salt/pepper. I whizzed it up till smoothish. Lastly I stirred in a dollop of plain yogurt just to make it a little creamy.

Spicy Eggplant Dip

I took a large eggplant and a fresh jalapeno chili and threw them on the BBQ. Eventually the eggplant's skin blackened and started to fall off and the jalapeno started to scorch. The chili came off first and I peeled it and de-seeded it much like one would do with a bell pepper...except don't fuss with your contact lenses after handling these things---I speak from experience. Anyway, once the eggplant is all soggy and oozey and gross, it's done. I peeled off the remainder of the skin and scooped out as many seeds as I could. Then it went into the food processor with the roasted chili, a big handful of fresh cilantro, a couple of cloves of garlic, a glug of soy sauce and a glug of toasted sesame oil. I whizzed it all up until the cilantro had turned everything green.

I served these dips and nachos as sides to some store-bought pre-marinaded chicken breasts(Spicy Thai coconut chicken from Cumbrae farms--the best!) and a simple spinach salad. I was a sort of 'around the world' type meal, but those are the best!

Tuna Ceasar Salad

2007-05-02T23:05:00.000-04:00

To celebrate the end of the Raccoons I made salad. Okay, it's not much of a celebration, but nonetheless it was a quick light meal. Here's what I did:

I got my big wooden salad bowl and added to the bottom of it one crushed clove of garlic, a dollop of Dijon mustard, juice and zest of one half lemon, one squeeze from a tube of anchovy paste, a sprinkle of white wine vinegar, a few dashes of Worcestershire sauce, a couple of tablespoons of grated Parmesan and salt/pepper. I grabbed a whisk and slowly started drizzling in olive oil whilst whisking everything. The mustard worked as an emulsifier (traditionally an egg yolk would do the trick). A lot of good beating eventually resulted in a nice creamy dressing. To this I threw in a few capers, and then added broken up romaine lettuce leaves. I dumped another quarter cup or so of grated Parmesan and tossed the works until the dressing was well incorporated. Then I just opened a can of tuna, drained it, and plunked it on top. No worries. I served it with lemon wedges and bread and butter. Yum.

Feeling Fine and Racoon-Free

2007-05-02T12:10:00.000-04:00

Success! I got a call from the animal dude, and after a second night of his trap failing, he came by this morning and was actually able to reach under the deck and manually pluck the three fuzzy little babies right out. He used the babies as 'bait' in the trap and within a few minutes, the mother was in there. He is going to haul them out of there and deposit them in some pretty little valley somewhere---or whatever. I really wish I was there to snap pics. I really do. It would have been momentous to have pictures of the varmints. But alas, I was not there. I was with the Mrs. checking out a potential daycare option. Poo. At least I don't have to tear my deck up to get the buggers out. Although, it did cost me a cool three hundred bucks.

I should have just killed 'em and ate 'em.

Be vewy vewy quiet. I'm hunting racoons

2007-04-30T21:36:00.000-04:00

So this is what it's come to. I couldn't just tear in there and kill the thing with my bare hands...like I wanted to. I called a 'humane' animal removal service. Which means they don't eliminate the varmint with extreme prejudice; instead they try to catch it and set it free in some sun dappled meadow somewhere. The trap has sat silently these past few hours, and so far no dice. No matter. I have patience. I will wait it out. Minute by minute by min...

Despite having the ugly trap withing sight, I still managed to BBQ up a mess of yummy south-western flavoured wings. I simply marinaded them in President's Choice 'Memories of Santa Fe' sauce over night and threw 'em right on the cue. I accompanied this with a quick green salad and a homemade southwest bean dip that was simply delish. To make it, I threw a bunch of white navy beans into the food processor with some cumin, cayenne, two cloves of garlic, a few glugs of olive oil, a quarter-cup of grated Jalapeno-laced Jack cheese and salt/pepper. I whizzed it till it was smooth and then nuked it for about thirty seconds to get it all nice and warm. I served the dip with some store-bought crustines. Yum.

As for the racoon. I guess I could contact the 'Nuge' as a last resort.

Varmints the Sequel: So much worse than I thought

2007-04-29T22:08:00.000-04:00

After several nights of listening to an unholy racket eminating from under my deck, I decided it was time to act. My deck actually descends underneath a 'floating' addition on my home. This is basically a tiny back room that has no foundation to rest on, but is sitting on pillars much like the deck. So basically, when this raccoon got under my deck, it also got under a portion of my home. I wanted to get a handle on how bad the situation was and I couldn't wait any longer. The picture below details the part of my deck where I have removed a few boards. This seemed to be the easiest way to access the apparent 'den'. The powder you see at the opening is a little dusting of flour. It's an old trick to determine if the varmint has left his hidey hole when I wasn't looking.

Well, I got myself a pretty powerful light and was fairly disturbed by what I found. See the picture below.

What you're looking it chewed up fibreglass insulation and little splinters of chewed up floor boards. MY FLOORBOARDS! This varmint came with inches of tunneling right into my kitchen! When I aimed the light in there the first time, the little bugger was right there. He just looked at me with an annoyed expression and continued destroying the underside of my home. Eventually the bright light and the angry human watching him seemed to distract him from his task and he has since crawled up into some hard to reach area. After he disappeared from sight, I heard a new sound coming from the deck. A sound that, if my suspicions are correct, will make the situation a whole lot more complicated. If I listened really carefully, I could hear the tell-tale vibrato racoon mewling...except...a little weaker..and TIMES SIX! I think this 'he' is a 'she'. I think there's a whole whack of baby varmints hiding in all that insulation somewhere.

Anyone know any good animal removal services? This just got real.

More Mediterranean Cooking

2007-04-29T21:59:00.000-04:00

To build on the last meal, my mother-in-law came a-visiting for the evening and I offered to BBQ. She provided us with two beautful T-bone steaks. I decided to go with the simple, family-style grilled menu. For the steaks, I simply massaged some olive oil into them and then dusted them with salt, pepper and a tiny paprika for colour. I also prepped some veggies for grilling in much the same way as the previous blog with olive oil, lemon zest, fresh oregano and salt/pepper. For this meal I grilled eggplant, quartered red onions (which are really yum on the BBQ) and red bell peppers. I also filled a foil sachet with a bunch of sliced cremeni mushrooms, a sprig of thyme and a knob of butter. The veggies, and mushrom sachet went on the heat first. Then I tossed the steaks on. I also threw a handful of aspargus on there two. Why not? When everything was done, I tossed the grilled veggies with some fresh baby spinach, crumbled feta and a bit of basalmic vinegar (except for the aspargus which stood on its own). I sliced the steak up and fanned it out on the platter. I served the mushrooms in a small side dish and made another one of those little diced tomato salsas like I made before, except this time I grilled a little french bread on the BBQ in order to turn it into bruschetta. The Mrs. and the Mrs.-in-law approved.

Italian Sausage with Grilled Vegetable Salad

2007-04-29T21:50:00.000-04:00

I've still been sick the last few days, so here's the first of several updates. First of all, this was a dinner a couple of days ago. I basically grilled a couple of Italian sausages along with some sliced baby eggplant, sliced zucchini and a quartered red onion. Before hitting the grill, I tossed the veggies in olive oil, lemon zest, fresh oregano leaves, salt and pepper and let them drink it in for about ten minutes. Then I grilled everying all at once whilst enjoying a cold beverage (good bye winter!) When everything was done, I tossed the grilled veggies with some arugula leaves, a couple of fresh grape tomatoes, kalamata olives, balsamic vinegar and some crumbled feta. I topped this salad with some slices of the sausage and a really quickly assembled diced tomato salsa (diced tomato, chopped parsley, olive oil, salt and pepper. This type of meal is the start of the summer for me. I really start to lean toward the Mediterranean style cooking when the weather warms up. Who wouldn't? It's all about fresh produce and grilled meat.

Varmints!

2007-04-26T21:21:00.000-04:00

Okay, I'm even sicker today than I was before. I have literally lost my voice. To add insult to injury, that lousy raccoon was stirring up quite the fuss under my deck, chili powder be damned. However, I can't figure out how it got in because there are no obvious points of entry. There is the possibility that it has been in the there the whole time and I have trapped it. I think it's almost time to call in the professionals. Sigh.

Here's a pic I took the other day of the little bugger trying to creep into the alley were I keep my garbage bins. Damn varmint!

Too Long

2007-04-26T09:41:00.001-04:00

It's been too long since I've updated this thing. After dinner, I just don't have the energy to write something. I've also been thinking that I will broaden the scope of this blog and start commenting on general things; some of which will not be food and cooking related. For example, I was sick yesterday and stayed home. I made my lemon/ginger chicken soup that I blogged about a few months back. It has a temporary effect on my cold that was astounding, but not being real medicine, I certainly wasn't cured. I'm better enough to go back to work however.

On another front, I believe there is a raccoon living under my back deck. I have done some research on this and have come up with a strategy. First of all I located it's entrance way ( a gap where the deck meets my house), then I lured him out with some strategically placed soba noodles (everyone knows that raccoons love soba noodles!), and I shooed him away when he was well clear of the deck. At this point I covered up his entrance with various bits of wood I found lying around my backyard. The next day however, I discovered that he had found an alternative entrance and had simply dug under the front of the deck. Again, I waited till I was pretty sure he was out (the Mrs. alerted me to this fact whilst she was doing dishes and looking out the window). Then I hustled to where he had dug the hole, filled it in, placed some large flag stones over the dirt and then (the interesting part), I doused the area in chili powder. I read somewhere on the 'net that the raccoons don't dig the spicy stuff. It certainly is a better alternative to covering the place in poison. I will know hopefully by tonight if the chili powder did the trick. Wish me luck.

Lettuce Wraps

2007-04-18T22:37:00.000-04:00

For some reason, I can't upload pictures tonight. So, text only!

Tonight was a pretty quick and easy meal. I kind of borrowed this idea from bar and grill type menus that all seem to have some kind of 'Asian lettuce wrap'. Whether such a dish actually exists in Asia seems unlikely. Either way, it's super easy to make and it's a fresh light alternative to 'meat n' potatoes'. Here's what I did:

I took a couple of skinless, boneless chicken thighs and frizzled 'em up in a pan with a bit of sesame oil, soy sauce and freshly chopped ginger. Whilst that cooked up, I got a pot of soba noodles going. While the noodles and the chicken were cooking I thinly sliced some cucumber, carrot, avocado (to which I squeezed on lemon to keep it green), and tomato. Once the noodles were done I rinsed them and tossed them with some more ginger, sesame oil and soy sauce. When the chicken was cooked through, I broke it up into bite sized pieces. Then I assembled everything in a merry kind of way and finally pulled off a bunch of leaves from a head of ice burg lettuce. To eat, we simply spoon in chicken, noodles and veggies on to a leaf, roll it up and 'crunch', yum.

Braised Chicken Drumsticks with Garlic Lemon Mashed Potatoes

2007-04-17T20:54:00.000-04:00

I had some chicken drumsticks defrosted for tonight. Here's what I did with them: I tossed the drumsticks with a bit of olive oil, some whole garlic cloves, some chili flakes, fennel seeds, oregano and salt and pepper. I threw them under the broiler to brown up a bit. When the skin had started to get crisp, I drowned them in pureed tomato sauce. I tossed in a few olives and let them braise with the garlic, olive and tomato sauce. Whilst that cooked, I made up some mashed spuds. I zested a lemon and threw in some minced garlic, olive oil and a bit of cream into the potatoes when I was mashing them. I served it simply by placing a couple of drumsticks over bed of potatoes followed by a ladlefull of sauce. I threw together a quick arugula salad to accompany.

I never used to be one that liked mixing any kind of 'red' sauce (i.e. tomato based) with potatoes, mashed or otherwise. Despite having names that rhyme, potatoes and tomatoes always seemed diametrically opposed to me. It must be the acid and the starch thing. Yet, I have started discovering that they go together quite well and this meal was a great example.

Noodle Bowl

2007-04-16T21:19:00.000-04:00

I had a really late lunch at work today (leftovers from the BBQ fiesta), and wasn't particularly hungry when I got home. The little one was very cranky and appears to be getting another tooth. The wife and I took turns trying to cheer up the little rugrat, but to no avail. By the time she was finally shipped off to bed it was near on 8pm. Dinner was going to be no nonsense. Here's what I did:

First I cooked a package of soba noodles according to the directions. Once they were tender, I rinsed them, and then threw them back in the pot with some grated ginger, sesame oil, soy sauce and a few cups of store-bought chicken stock. I brought that to a simmer and then stirred in a handful of whole cilantro leaves, whole baby spinach leaves and a few cherry tomatoes. I let the greens wilt and the tomatoes soften, then served it with a wedge of lime. Pure simplicity...and tasty too.

Toronto Marlies

2007-04-15T22:49:00.000-04:00

I went to see my first Toronto Marlies game today. What a blast! I will definitely be catching up with these guys next season. I am however feeling pretty sick after eating 'cheesey' fries and natchos with 'cheese' (the word 'cheese' in very empaphatic quote marks). I also had caramel corn and drank beer out of a plastic cup with a straw. I think I need a detox.

Go Marlies Go!

BBQ Fiesta!

2007-04-15T11:58:00.000-04:00

Saturday night the Mrs. and I decided to have a few people over for some 'south of the border' style feasting. The ever mysterious "Mr. M" also contributed to the effort. The basic theme of the meal was tacos, both crunchy and soft style. All the cooking and preparing went toward the filling of said tacos. Here's what we had:

Southwest BBQed Chicken

I first create a marinade. For this I used my handy-dandy food processor. Into the machine when a huge bunch of cilantro leaves, four cloves of garlic, half an onion, a good drizzle of olive oil, the zest and juice of one lime, a quarter cup of orange juice, a few glugs of pureed tomato, two jalapeno peppers, a couple of table spoons of cumin, a tbsp of cayenne, a tbs of whole peppercorns and a good pinch of salt. I whizzed this up in the machine and than I took six bone-in skinless chicken breast in a pan and poured the marinade all over them. I let that sit over night. The next day we BBQed the chicken and shredded it for the tacos.

Mojo Marinated BBQ Beef
You'll have to ask Mr. M. I'll say this much, it was yum.

Fresh Tomato Salsa
For this I simply deseeded and roughly chopped about four or five tomatoes. To this I added a few glugs of jarred tomato puree, as well as a tablespoon of tomato paste. I squished all that stuff together with my hand. Then I added quarter of an onion finely chopped, some cumin, chili powder, cayenne powder, a diced jalapeno pepper, a handful of chopped cilantro, salt and pepper. Once combined, I let it rest for a good two hours before serving. Yum.

Homemade Guacamole
Dead easy. Take four ripe avocados, a single clove of garlic minced, the zest and juice of a lime and a healthy pinch of salt and put it all in a mortar and pestle and bash the hell out of it. Done.

Tex Mex rice
I bought a product from Loblaws called Texmati rice. It's a combination of basmati, brown, wild and red rice. It's quite exotic looking. I basically cooked it according to the directions and once done drizzled in some olive oil, a few glugs of pureed tomato and chili powder. Ole, I had texican rice.

Smoke roasted corn
This one was kind of a fluke. I simply filled a foil sachet with a couple of cups of frozen corn niblets. To this I added a glug or two of olive oil, half an onion, finely chopped, a bit of finely chopped garlic, a jalapeno chile (diced), chile powder and salt/pepper. I threw the sachet on the BBQ whilst I was cooking everything else. When it was sizzling and smoking I dumped it all in a bowl for taco fillin'. Was it ever good!

All in all, the meals were hardly authentic Mexican or south west type foods, but it certainly was better than ChiChi's.

Grilled Sausage on a Pita with Roasted Fennel Slaw

2007-04-12T21:47:00.000-04:00

I had a hell of a day, and I came home to an empty house. The Mrs. and the little one were at the mother-in-laws for the early evening. I was so bone tired, I lounged about for an hour with no inkling of what to create for dinner. I eventually opted to pull one of those low fat (though very delicious) PC sausages out of the freezer. I defrosted it in the microwave and tossed it on the BBQ along with a foil sachet which contained thinly sliced fennel, sliced onion , a little oil, a pinch of oregano and salt/pepper. I let everything cook until the sausage was nice and brown and the fennel had softened to almost resemble sauerkraut. I served it by lightly grilling a Greek style pita, slathering it with the fennel/onion mixture, laying the sausage (sliced) on top as well as adding a good handful of whole parsley leaves. I also made a funky and very tasty little sauce to go along with it. I mixed about two parts plain yogurt with one part Dijon mustard. To this I added one minced clove of garlic, a pinch of dried dill and some salt and pepper. I drizzled this concoction on top of everything and then rolled up the pita. Man, I should sell these badboys on the streets. It was deelish.

Wow, sausage two days in a row. And I thought I was trying to eat 'light'. Damn.

Chorizo Sausage and Potato Frittata

2007-04-11T21:29:00.000-04:00

The batteries are dead in the camera, so no pictures. It's a real shame because tonight was a pretty one. I stole this idea pretty much wholesale from Jamie Oliver's new show (which is really great). There were a couple of circumstance out of my control whilst trying to prepare this meal. For one, a very fussy baby resulted in abandoning the meal preparation at a criticial juncture to help the Mrs. give said infant a bath and ship her off to bed. This meant it wasn't as fresh as I'd like, but it actually survived the wait quite well. I digress, here's what I did:

I got a large oven proof saute pan going with a bit of olive oil. Once hot, I threw in half a finely chopped red onion. After a few moments, I threw in a a good handful of beautiful chirozo sausage, chopped into manly bite sized pieces. Whilst this frizzled and the fat started to render out of the sausage, I peeled and chopped a couple of yellow potatoes into a half-inch slice. I threw them on a plate and 'parboiled' them for about two minutes in the microwave (scandal!). When the potatoes were half way to being done, I tossed them in the pan with the sausage and onions. To this I added half a sprig of fresh rosemary, thrown in whole, rustic-like. After a few minutes everything was smelling really good, but the bottom of the pan was starting to get sticky and brown. I didn't want to add anymore oil, but I was going to be adding egg momentarily. What to do? I decided to pour some of the beer I was drinking right in there. Bam. Wow, what a smell; the rosemary, sausage and yeasty beer all steaming up was beautiful. I scraped up the bits on the bottom as if deglazing. I decided to go for broke, and despite the lack of additional oil, and not being teflon, I cracked and dumped in four eggs anyway. I rattled the pan around so that the eggy mixture was evenly distributed and then I put it under the broiler for about ten minutes. While it was in the broiler I got a handful of fresh baby spinach, a handful of fresh parsley leaves (left whole) and a little bit of finely sliced red onion and tossed it in a prep bowl with a bit of olive oil, some white wine vinegar and some salt and pepper. Then I pulled out the frittata and revelled in the beauty of it---and then promptly returned it to the oven with a foil cover and set it low so I could go deal with the bawling infant. I returned to the food about 20 minutes later to find it had held up well without drying out. Despite the fact that I had poured the liquid egg on to ingredients sizzling in beer and didn't add any additional oil, the blessed thing slid out like a new born baby. I guess the heat was high enough to 'lift' the stuff off of the stainless steel. Go figure.

I served the frittata with the parsley salad sprinkled right over the top.Damn it was good. I'm definitely doing this one again (plus I have a link and half of chorizo to rationalize in the next week or two).

Wild Mushroom Risotto

2007-04-10T21:19:00.000-04:00

Hmm...risotta just doesn't photograph well. As vile as that looks, it did taste good.

When I got home from work, there was no meat to speak of in the fridge, so I made one of those 'everything from the pantry' type meals. A while back, the mother-in-law gave me a bag of dried wild mushrooms that her sister had picked in the mountains of Poland and subsequently smuggled into the Canada (how scandalous!). I decided to employ these illicit little imports with some nice arborio rice I had sitting in a mason jar in the pantry.

I'm no expert at risotto. On television it seems to cook up so much quicker and the instructions tend to call for a slow introduction of broth in a ratio of 2 parts broth, one part rice. The instructions as well as most recipes I've seen call for about 20 minutes of stirring. I don't know if I'm doing something wrong, but every time I've ever made risotto, it takes a four to one ratio of liquid to rice and it always takes me at least 35-40 minutes of stirring. Maybe I have the heat on too high? Wrong cookware? If anyone knows what I'm doing wrong, please enlighten me. In the end it always works out, but damn, that's a lot of stirring. Either way, here's what I did:

First I got a handful of those dried wild mushrooms and put them in a bowl with a cup or so of boiling water. I let this sit for about 10-15 minutes, then I got a small saucepan going with two cups of chicken broth and one cup of of plain H2O. I got the dutch oven going with some olive oil, and started frizzling up finely choppped onion and a few cloves of chopped garlic. Then before doing anything else, I dumped the mushrooms and the water into the saucepan with my broth---this was going to be the four cups of liquid I would need. I dropped a cup of arborio rice into the dutch oven with the onions and garlic and stirred it about until the rice was coated in the oil. I let this sizzle away until the rice started to turn a little translucent. At this point I ladled in my first bit of stock on to the rice and started the slow process of stir, stir, pour stock, stir stir, pour stock. I did this till I was out of stock. Then I removed the mushrooms that were floating around in there and chopped them up finely and threw them right into the risotto. The rice was pretty tender at this point, so I stirred in about half a cup of grated Parmesan and a handful of roughly chopped parsley. I then covered it and let it rest (I read somewhere that you should always let your risotto rest for a few moments off the heat before serving). I served it with a drizzle of olive oil, more parm and more parsley. We enjoyed it with a spinach salad on the side. Like I said, I'm no expert at risotto, but it certainly tasted good when all was said and done.

And no, I didn't add any butter, and I'll be darned if I even noticed it missing...just watching the old wasitline.

A most hearty soup

2007-04-08T11:55:00.000-04:00

I took the challenge today of working with pork hocks---something I've never done. Here's the long sordid story:

I first took the two hocks (terrifying looking things), and threw them in some water and brought it to a boil. I let it boil for about five minutes, removed the hocks and dumped the water. I read somewhere that this is important to remove some of the surface 'impurities' on the hocks. Then I got my dutch oven going with a bit of oil. I threw in a roughly chopped onion followed by the hocks (which I had dried with paper towel). I let that stuff frizzle for a bit, and then I added a chopped clove or two of garlic. A few more minutes of frizzling and then I degalzed the pan with two big shots of brandy. At this point, I threw in several quartered new potatoes. Then I poured in a can of strained and rinsed navy beans. I poured in about a cup of chicken stock, followed by enough boiling water to just cover the hocks. Into the water went several bay leaves, two sprigs of fresh rosemary, several generous pinches of salt and a few grinds of pepper. I put a lid on the pot and placed it in a 350 degree oven. I let it gently bubble away for about two hours. I figured hocks take longer to cook, but I couldn't wait any longer. I took out the pot and removed the hocks with some tongs. They looked pretty gross. The skin took on the pallor of a drowning victim and the bones were oozing collagen. I braved the situation and deftly picked away all the skin and fat and once the bones were picked clean I was left with barely a cup's worth of shredded pork meat--beautifully delicious pork meat. I tossed the shredded meat back into the pot and the other icky bits into my green bin. I stirred in a huge whack of roughly chopped parsley before serving. The Mrs. approved.

As scary as the pork hocks were, they actually imparted a huge amount of flavour for very little money (I think they cost four bucks). I always thought pork hocks referred to the actual feet, but these were more like the shin portion of the leg. I think pigs 'feet' are called trotters. Either way, I digress. The moral of the story: don't be afraid of the hocks.

Baked Halibut

2007-04-08T11:24:00.000-04:00

(Apologies for the tiny cell-phone camera shot)

For Good Friday it is traditional for the Mrs. and her family to eat fish. I guess it's a catholic thing. My mother-in-law purchased some beautiful halibut steaks. When I asked her how she was going to cook them, she said, "I'm not going to cook them, YOU are."

Well, Here's what I did:

I took a square oven proof baking dish and oiled the bottom with some olive oil. Then I took a pint of cherry tomatoes and thinly sliced them. I covered the entire bottom of the ban with a layer of tomato. Then I sprinkled capers all over that, followed by chopped parsley, lemon zest, salt/pepper and a very generous drizzle of olive oil. Then I lovingly laid the halibut steaks on top of everything. I sprinkled more lemon zest and salt/pepper on top of the fish. I finished by drizzling a bit more oil on the fish. I baked it in the oven for about 15 minutes at 400. I switched to broil at that point and browned the top of the fish a bit. To serve, I brought the whole dish to the table "family style' and we simply served out the fish and spooned the bright tasting tomato liquid over the top. We accompanied the fish with polenta (which the mother-in-law prepared) and a large garden salad. I'd be hard pressed to find a better fish meal. It was absolutely excellent. The fish was like butter!

Coq au Vin

2007-04-06T09:32:00.000-04:00

Ha ha, just kidding. I didn't feel like cooking at all. I got wings from the Loblaws deli and a bottle of wine. Happy Thursday.

The boringest dinner ever

2007-04-04T20:48:00.000-04:00

Myself and the Mrs. both had late lunches today. I was quite busy in the office and didn't manage to get out to the local 'Subway' until about 1:30pm, and didn't really eat till about 2pm (Subway Melt with everything except onions and mayo). The wife was out-and-about with the little one and the mother-in-law. She ate a stuffed pepper (of all things) late in the afternoon. We both returned home at about the same time, and neither of us were hungry. At about 7pm, I got hungry and made a bagel with some Dijon mustard and a little sliced pork tenderloin that was so graciously provided by the mother-in-law. It was excellent but involved no cooking. I also had a beer. That's it. There's nothing on television tonight and I almost wished I had something great to blog about. Instead I will get caught up on some paperwork.

Chicken Noodle Soup....sort of

2007-04-03T21:11:00.000-04:00

Remember that chicken and cherry tomato pasta I made last night? Tonight I threw the leftovers in a pot and poured in about four cups of chicken stock. I brought it to a simmer and dinner was done. We enjoyed it with some homemade guacamole and nacho chips.

I sure eat a lot of chicken

2007-04-03T10:02:00.000-04:00

I was just going over the posts. Wow. I like my chicken.

Spaghetti with Chicken and Cherry Tomatoes

2007-04-03T09:53:00.000-04:00

I had my mother over last night, so I wanted something that didn't keep me in the kitchen all evening. I decided to make a quick pasta. I had a couple of boneless, skinless chicken thighs in the fridge again, so I chopped 'em up into bite sized pieces and started frizzling them in the pan. Once a bit of the chicken juices started to render out, I added a chopped onion, a couple of chopped cloves of garlic, a few chopped up Sicilian olives, some fennel seeds, some oregano, lemon zest and salt and pepper. I let the works sizzle away for a while then I added about half a cup of chicken stock, a big dollop of Dijon mustard and a squeeze from a lemon. I tossed in a pint of cherry tomatoes and then put on a lid. After the tomatoes softened a bit, I removed the lid and let the sauce reduce a bit then introduced a quarter cup or so of grated Parmesan regiano and a good handful of roughly chopped parsley. I stirred it all up and then drizzled in a goodly amount of extra virgin olive oil. In the mean time I had a pot of boiling spaghetti going. I ladled a little bit of the pasta water into the sauce, then strained the pasta and returned it to the pot. I poured the sauce into the pasta pot and tossed it everything together. I served with another drizzle of olive oil, more grated parm and parsley. The parental unit approved.

Sorry no pictures...I couldn't be bothered to get the camera.

Roast Chicken

2007-04-01T22:14:00.000-04:00

It was cold and rainy day, so I decided to fill the house with aromas of home cooking; so I roasted a chicken. I don't really do anything fancy with my roast chicken. I simply stuffed it with a quartered lemon and rubbed oil, lemon zest and salt/pepper all over the outside. I threw it in my dutch oven with a few whole shallots and a quartered spuds. I put the works in the oven for about two hours. I find with my oven I actually had to do a little broiling action to get a good brown skin. When the chicken was done, I pulled everything out of the pan except for the roasted shallots. I poured in a half cup of chicken stock and got the drippings going on the stove top. I also threw in a bit of Dijon mustard and a squeeze of lemon. I let this reduce by about half and then strained out all the solids. I served the chicken and potatoes with some steamed veg and the hot jus ladled over the top. Simple and yum. It especially useful because it offers many leftovers for lunch.

Grilled Steak

2007-04-01T21:00:00.000-04:00

I love a good steak. It's just one of those classic things that always works. I don't mess with the meat. I don't use marinades or brines. I don't fuss with dry rubs and I'd never even open a bottle of BBQ sauce in the same room as a good steak. If I'm spending ten bucks on a single piece of meat, I want the meat to do all the talking. All I add is a tiny olive oil and salt and pepper--lots of salt and pepper, and that's it. I've never been disappointed. Tonight I brought home a couple of New York strip steaks (also called shell steaks). I like this cut for it's ease of cooking and I find they tend to be thicker cut than the other steaks on offer at the grocery store. I accompanied the steak with a grilled eggplant salad and some mashed spuds. The eggplant salad was pretty easy. I simply grilled thick slices of eggplant and tossed them with tomato, spinach, oil, vinegar and crumbled feta. However, despite the health benefits of high fibre, I will remove the eggplant skins before tossing in the salad next time.

Braised Chicken Thighs with Tomato and Chickpeas

2007-03-30T23:02:00.000-04:00

Tonight we had a pile of errands to run after I returned from work and by the time we got home and the little one was fed and put to bed, it was 8pm and no dinner was made. Short of ordering pizza, we needed a quick meal. There was a container in the fridge containing chickpeas and (canned) tomatoes. These items were leftovers from a baby food making operation. I decided to put these infantile remnants to work. Wow, was I ever impressed with the results. Here's what I did:

I threw the chickpeas and tomato mixture in a pot and put it on the heat. Because this was originally the base for some homemade baby food, there was absolutely no seasoning in it. The first thing I did as it came up to a simmer was add two cloves of chopped garlic, a pinch of dried oregano, a teaspoon or so of paprika, a bunch of dried chili flakes, a few bay leaves, some whole fennel seeds and salt/pepper. Then I grabbed a few chicken thighs I had in the fridge and browned them under the broiler for about ten minutes. Then I threw the thighs right into the chickpea tomato mixture. I let it gently simmer until the chicken was cooked. I served it by mixing in a bit of baby spinach and some fresh chopped parsley at the last minute.

I loved this meal. The absolute simplicity of it as well as the bright, spicy flavour it imparted was a bonus for so little effort. I wouldn't typically put chickpeas into something with tomato, but it absolutely worked.

BBQed Chops and Soba Noodle

2007-03-28T07:23:00.000-04:00

The Mrs. and I were quite busy yesterday and dinner had to be an easy affair. The weather was gorgeous, therefore it was imperative that I BBQ. I grabbed some pork chops form the grocery store on the way home and got to cooking. Here's what I did:

Pork Chops
I rubbed olive oil all over the chops and then simply rubbed on a combination of cayenne, sweet paprika, crushed fennel seeds, allspice, salt and pepper. I let this rub sit on the meat for a good half hour and the 'qued them.

Soba Noodles
I cooked the soba noodles according to the directions and then simply tossed them with some caramelized onions that I had made and put aside, some fresh ginger, a few glugs of soy sauce, a few glugs of sesame oil and a handful of chopped cilantro.

Dinner was served with a simple spinach salad, and the Mrs. upped her veg intake with some steamed carrots and green beans. Easy peasy.

Guest Blog: Indian Pot Luck

2007-03-27T23:42:00.000-04:00

The other dishes I mentioned at the recent Indian potluck were created by my friend and partner in gastronomic adventures, Mr. 'M'. He has grasciously provided recipes and commentary for the Pots and Pans blog. See below. Enjoy!---RS Maxwell

Tandoori Chicken
I kind of cheated on this one but hey nobody’s perfect. Here’s what I did. I took a mess of chicken (thighs and breasts) and slathered it with Patak’s Tandoori Paste. (It is important to note that the directions on the Patak’s suggest adding yogurt and oil to create a sauce like marinade. I however, prefer a nice sludge.) I then placed the chicken on a bed of fresh coriander and set it in the fridge to marinate for 48 hours. Now, in the eastern world, Tandoori chicken is often referred to as “India’s barbecue chicken.” So guess what I did. You got it babe … I fired up the ‘barbie,’ grabbed a Kingfisher (Indian beer,) tongs and headed outside with the boys. We grilled the chicken over high, high heat, searing in the juices and a cornucopia of flavours.

Chana Masala
Now, this particular recipe was introduced to me by a colleague at work. She brought it for a potluck lunch one day and I fell in with love it instantly. Thankfully, it is a very simple dish to make, but it does take me a bit of time. Perhaps it is because I am not old school. Anyway, it is one of my favourite Indian dishes, and regardless of the effort involved I definitely enjoy eating it. It is also a good natural cleanse … lol.

Here’s what I did. I took a dried package (about 3 cups) of chana (chick peas) and let them sit in a bowl of water overnight to re-hydrate. (If you are trying this for your first time, you should know that re-hydrated chick peas are much firmer that canned chick peas.) Anyway, the following afternoon, the chana were much bigger and ready to be cooked. I took two large tomatoes and one large red onion and finely grated them with my handy dandy IKEA cheese grater. (The lady who gave me the recipe insists on the onion and tomato being grated, as this is what helps to create a gravy-like consistency.)

While I was doing this I heated a sauce pan with about three or four swishes of olive oil. Once the oil was nice and hot, I then fried the red onion until golden brownish, at which point I added the tomatoes, two cloves of garlic, a few generous pinches of cayenne (adjust based on the amount of heat you are looking for,) a ½ tsp of turmeric, ½ tsp of cumin, salt, pepper, a package of dried pomegranate (available at the Indian grocer store) some traditional masala powder (not be confused with garam masala) some coriander, half a minced red pepper, about 3 cups of water and the chana. I then mixed everything together while bringing to a boil. Once nice and bubbly I reduced the heat to minimum, placed a lid on my masterpiece, cracked open a Guinness and let the chana cook for 40 minutes. Voila. Nice and easy. Serve with fresh coriander.

Posted by Mr. M, March 27, 2006.

20 minute Pasta e Fagioli

2007-03-26T08:03:00.000-04:00

Sunday afternoon was spent at my dad's place out in Acton. It was a long drive home and we didn't get back till around 6:30pm. With having to feed, bath and put a baby to sleep, this left little time left to cook. I decided to hell with ordering pizza, we're eating home cooking...sort of. We had a couple of left over samosas from the previous evening, so I thought a simple soup would be good accompaniment. Soups traditionally require time to cook, but not this one. Pasta e fagioli basically means 'pasta and beans'. Here's what I did:

I frizzled half an onion in the bottom of my small dutch oven. Then I poured in about a cup of canned tomatoes, a full can of drained and rinsed navy beans, two or three cups of store-bought chicken stock, a bay leaf and some oregano. After this came up to a pretty heavy simmer, I dropped in a handful of macaroni. About ten minutes later, I stirred in a huge whack of fresh spinach and adjusted for seasoning. I actually like a few drops of balsamic vinegar in any Italian style soup. By the time the soup was in the bowl and on the table, the spinach had wilted nicely. We warmed the samosas and ate them with the soup. Pure simplicity.

Indian Potluck

2007-03-26T07:42:00.000-04:00

Sorry----forgot to take pictures

Saturday night the Mrs. and I trekked north to a friend's house for a much-anticipated Indian-themed pot luck dinner. The food was excellent and fiery hot. We enjoyed a variety of dishes including Chana Masala (curried chickpeas), Tandoori Chicken (BBQed), Potato and Pea Curry, Curry Beef, yogurt Raita, Samosa (purchased fresh from a bakery in little India) and the Indian flat bread Nan. I cooked the beef curry and made the raita. For recipes on the other items, my friend will have to guest blog. Hint hint.

For the beef curry, here's what I did:

This dish was similar to a beef curry I made a few weeks back but I wanted to improve it. I started with the stewing beef cut into bite sized pieces. I seared them a little in the pan and followed that with what they call the Trinity in Creole cooking, diced onion, carrot and green bell pepper. I let everything frizzle for a while then threw in the first few pinches of medium curry powder. Then I added some chopped garlic and after a few moments, degalzed the pan with pureed canned tomatoes. As this came up to the simmer, I threw in three cardamon pods, a Cinnamon stick, six or seven whole cloves and a good dash of cayenne, along with more curry powder. I let this simmer for about 15 minutes, and then I added about a third of a cup of canned coconut milk. I put on a lid and let it gently simmer for a further 45 minutes. At this point I found the the dish had no 'front end'. By that I mean, when you first put it in your mouth, there isn't that initial blast of flavour that one usually finds in Indian cooking. After a few moments, the spices all start to develop on the palate and it had very complex finish. I didn't know how to up the 'front end', so I added some more salt, stirred in a handful of chopped cilantro and squeezed half a lemon into it. At that point, it was the best I was going to do, so I threw it in some Tupperware, grabbed the family and we hit the road for the potluck. There must have been some kind of chemical reaction as the curry cooled in the Tupperware with the lemon, because when it was re-heated about two hours later, the 'front end' had emerged. It was a delicious revelation.

The Raita, as per a past recipe, is simply, yogurt, cucumber, fresh cilantro and a garlic.

Roast Leg of Lamb

2007-03-22T21:17:00.000-04:00

Since I'm not at work these past few days, it's allowed me to cook at a more leisurely pace. Tonight I made a simple lamb dinner, but had fun with some of the side dishes. Here's what I did:

Lamb
I took a portion of a leg of lamb (about a third of the whole leg with the bone still in), and simply rubbed olive oil all over it, then seasoned it generously with salt and pepper, zested a lemon all over it and sprinkled a few whole fennel seeds on it. It went into the oven to roast. That's it. I have to admit however, the electronic meat thermometer I have errs on the side of caution. What it calls 'medium rare' is actually medium well. So, I overcooked it a bit--the Mrs. didn't mind.

Homemade Hummus
This is another simple one. I pulled out my trusty food processor and tossed in a can of strained, rinsed chickpeas. I whizzed it up in the machine and whilst it was being pulverized, I drizzled in a goodly amount of olive oil, then chucked in a couple of cloves of garlic, salt, pepper, zest of one whole lemon and the juice of half a lemon, some paprika and some fresh parsley. When it was done, I ladled it in to a bowl and dressed with another drizzle of olive oil and a couple of kalamata olives.

Greek salsa
I call this a 'salsa', because it's chopped up smaller than a salad and is treated more as a 'topping' than a salad. Anyway, it has a half an English cucumber finely diced, a finely diced tomato (de-seeded), a couple of bashed up cloves of garlic, a table spoon of plain yogurt, a pinch of oregano, three tablespoons or so of crumbled feta, a drizzle of the feta brine, a few glugs of olive oil, salt, pepper, lemon zest, and some chopped parsley. I served it with a few kalamata olives thrown in. Man, was it good.

Potatoes
I also roasted a few potatoes. I used a different approach this time. Usually when I roast potatoes, I quarter them with the skins on, then toss them in olive oil, salt, pepper and what ever flavour enhancer that I wish, and bake. What I have found (and this may be the type of potato), is that the potatoes will brown beautifully in the oven, but instead being crispy like fried potatoes, the browned bit are more 'chewy'. It's hard to describe. In any event, I wanted soft, buttery roasted potatoes of the type served in Greek restaurants. I have no idea what the Greeks do, so I improvised. I took a couple of russet potatoes, peeled them , halved them, then put them in a lidded corning ware dish with olive oil, a bit of chicken stock, some chopped garlic and salt/pepper. I then tightly covered them in foil before putting the lid of the dish on. I baked it in the oven this way. My hope was that the seal would create a situation where the potatoes actually steamed and the oil etc would infuse into the potato. What I ended up with was still browned somewhat, but not so much the chewy texture as I described before. They weren't really like those Greek potatoes, but they were pretty darn good.

The meal was great in the sense, that we just dolloped gobs of hummus and the Greek salsa all over the lamb and potatoes and the flavours all blended beautifully. I also steamed some asparagus to go along with the meal. Other than the slightly overcooked lamb, it was all good stuff.

Swiss Chalet Okay

2007-03-21T22:17:00.000-04:00

I'm out of the office for the next few days continuing the effort to 'spruce the place up' as it were. In any event, the little one is staying at Grandma's house during the day whilst we work about the house. It is definitely an odd sensation not having her here.

There was no cooking today, instead, after finishing our work about the house, we took the baby and grandma to the local Swiss Chalet. What's with this place? It was a Wednesday night, for crying out loud, and the restaurant was packed! We really did 'wait' to be seated. We finally managed to get a table and I tried out the spicy chicken. It wasn't bad. As far as fast food goes, I like Swiss Chalet because the animal you're consuming still retains a modicum of its original shape; no mechanical de-boning process here. Then again, fast food is fast food. I'd rather be cooking.

Beer Braised Beef - Shoulda' used Guinness!

2007-03-20T21:12:00.000-04:00

Tonight I decided to make use of some of the stewing beef I had. I wanted to build on the Belgian Beef Stew that I made a few weeks back. The results were mixed. Here's what I did:

I dusted the stewing beef in a bit of flour, salt and pepper and seared it in batches in the dutch oven. Then I removed all the beef and set it aside. I added a tiny bit more oil and then proceeded to saute an entire onion (roughly chopped), followed by some garlic. I deglazed the pan with a good glug of cognac. Then I added two potatoes (roughly chopped) and two carrots (also chopped). Then I poured in an entire bottle of beer. A note on this: last time I used actual canned Guinness stout. This time, in a half-assed attempt to save money, I bought something called Waterloo Dark Ale. This beer is one of collection of brands from a Canadian micro brew called Brick Breweries. I was drinking this beer whilst I was cooking and I immediately recognized the inferiority of it. It had no finish, no 'nose', and for all the dark colour, I didn't pick up single note of coffee, toasted hops or the chocolate notes so typical in a dark beer. I was definitely disappointed---regardless, I drank a few of them because I didn't want to see them go to waste.

Anyway, I tossed in a bay leaf or two and topped up the liquid with a bit of stock. I let that works simmer away for a good hour and fifteen minutes. Because I felt the beer base was sub-par, I dressed the stew up with fresh arugula and shaved Parmesan cheese. Admittedly, these last minute garnishing frills certainly upped the flavour. Oh yeah, I also poured in a good quarter cup of port toward the end---I had to salvage the lost high notes somehow.

In the end the meat was tender, the vegetables delicious, but the lack of Guinness stout was absolutely palpable. What a difference a beer makes. The Mrs. didn't seem to notice the difference, but I certainly did. A hard lesson learned.

Spaghetti Porto with Arugula

2007-03-19T21:12:00.000-04:00

The name of this dish makes it sound a heck of lot fancier than it actually is. Either way, it was a simple and delicious dinner. Here's what I did:

I took two Italian sausages and squeezed them out of their casings. Then I got some oil in pan going and firstly infused the oil a bit with some whole fennel seeds and whole chili flakes. Then in went the sausage and a whole onion, chopped finely. After a few moments, I tossed in two cloves of garlic, also finely chopped. Once the sausage started to brown slightly, I deglazed the pan with a about a quarter cup of port. I let this cook down ever so slightly, then poured in a can of organic tomatoes. I threw in a couple of bay leaves, a good pinch of oregano, a good table spoon of sugar and salt/pepper. I brought the sauce down to a gentle simmer and allowed it to reduce. While this was going on, I had a pot of whole wheat spaghetti cooking away. When the pasta was almost done, I stirred in a good amount of freshly grated Parmesano Regiano, followed by a huge handful of fresh organic arugula into the sauce. By the time I got the pasta strained and sorted out, the arugula had wilted beautifully in the sauce. I served it with some shaved parm. and fresh arugula leaves on top. Despite having sausage, this pasta seemed remarkably light.

I like pasta sauces like this where they haven't cooked long enough to lose the bright, almost acid flavour of the tomatoes. I find when sauce is cooked forever (like the traditional Italian 'Sunday gravy'), it starts to get a bit muddy and lose all its high notes. My favourite pasta sauces are the ones that take no more than twenty minutes to cook. Another quick note: I've never added sugar to a pasta sauce, but I saw I guy doing it in one of the Italian restaurants near my office. He poured in a whole cup of sugar into this bubbling red sauce! I tried it tonight, and BLAMMO, what a difference. You get all the high notes of the tomato, with the slight sweetness of the sugar just knocking it up to the next level. Yum.

Indian-flavoured drumsticks and slaw

2007-03-19T10:41:00.000-04:00

Tonight was another one of those 'nothing special' dinners. I was also late updating the blog. I've been busy, what can I say? Anyway, this dinner looked a lot like the one from a couple of days ago; but to mix it up a bit, I found some nice organic cabbage and made a slaw. Here's what I did:

First of all, I took some drumsticks and tossed them in a ziptop bag with a good dusting of medium heat curry powder, some rock salt and some olive oil. I distributed the ingredients, and then set that aside.

For the 'Asian' style slaw, I simply chopped up half a cabbage finely. Then I grated in about a carrot or two. The dressing (what makes it Asian) was a liberal sprinkling of rice vinegar, sesame oil, and a little bit of soy sauce. Then I added chopped cilantro, salt, granulated sugar and some salt (but not much because I already have soy sauce in there). I set that aside so the flavours could get to know each other.

In the mean time I put on some brown rice and lentils. The rice and lentils were such a hit last time, that I decided to make it again, except that I didn't add anything to the water while it cooked. The wife is making baby food for the little one, so it was a good opportunity to make some homemade 'mush'---any seasoning would have to wait till afterwards; babies don't dig the spices! Half of the rice went into the food processor for baby mush and the other half was seasoned after it was cooked with some baby spinach, soy sauce, cilantro and a little ground coriander. The chicken was simply grilled on the 'que. It wasn't the Ritz, but it tasted good and was actually pretty darn healthy. The Mrs. and I are actually both losing some weight because of all these 'healthy' meals I keep making. Giddy up!

Boring dinner

2007-03-15T20:27:00.000-04:00

Tonight's dinner was pretty boring. I stayed a little late at the office and just didn't have a very good day. Nothing was defrosted and I frankly didn't feel particularly inspired. I pulled out one of those frozen 'Blue Menu' chicken cutlets from the freezer and started cutting potatoes. Basically dinner was roasted potato wedges, sweet potato, breaded chicken cutlet and peas. The peas were pretty good. I employed the same method I used in a past blog: adding Dijon mustard, fresh cilantro leaves and diced avocado. It wasn't anything special, and as tasty as the chicken cutlet was, it certainly didn't look pretty.

I'll try for something more ambitious on the weekend.

BBQ Chicken with rice and lentils

2007-03-14T22:12:00.000-04:00

The weather has been positively balmy for mid-March. You know what they say about Spring: it's the time in which a young man's fancy turns to thoughts of BBQing. Anyway, I had some chicken thighs defrosted, so what the hell. Here's what I did:

Before getting the barbie going, I put half a cup of brown rice, half a cup of dry green lentils, two cups of H2O, a drizzle of oil and a pinch of salt in a covered sauce pan. I brought the water to a boil and then brought it down to a simmer. After about 40 minutes I had a yummy and healthy rice and lentil mixture. It's not fluffy in the way that white rice gets, but is more risotto like. In any event, just before it was done, I stirred in a diced tomato, some baby spinach, a good glug or two of soy sauce and a glug of toasted sesame oil. This was our starch component for the meal. Man was it good.

For the rest: I cracked out that same Pot latch seasoning I used earlier in the week on a roast chicken. I generously rubbed it all over the chicken thighs. I then prepped some zucchini by simply chopping it into reasonably thick slices and coating them in oil and a bit of salt and pepper. Then I just go to grilling. Chicken thighs, especially when they have the skin on like these, are a real challenge to grill. You turn your back for thirty seconds and you have a five-alarm grease fire on your hands. That's why I got a beer and threw on my sweater and camped out by the fire to keep a close eye on those greasy little suckers. With careful coaxing I was able to BBQ them slowly and methodically so that the chicken fat dripped out slowly and the meat browned beautifully. It took about three or four chicken thigh disasters before I finally figured this fact out.

All in all, it was a simple and tasty meal. As boring and healthy-sounding as brown rice and lentils are, when given the right flavour enhancements, they can become a very satisfying and hearty addition to any meal. Before tonight I had never cooked raw, dry lentils with rice before, but it worked out great. I will definitely return to this combo.

Secret Ingredient: Carrots

2007-03-13T20:56:00.000-04:00

I was challenged by a reader to come up with at least two dinner courses using the 'secret ingredient' of his determination. I took the challenge, and what a challenge it was: carrots. How do you make a whole meal out of carrots? Well, I think I rose to the occasion. The menu:

Carrot and coriander soup
Simple salad of greens
Carrot infused Adai (Savoury pancakes)
Raita (yogurt sauce)

Carrot and coriander Soup

I got my big pot going first with some olive oil (a few glugs). As the olive oil was warming up, I dropped in a few whole fennel seeds, a few whole caraway seeds, some ground coriander and a little cayenne. Once the spices had infused into the oil, I dropped in a finely chopped onion, followed a few moments later by a couple of finely chopped garlic cloves. After a few more moments, I tossed in a good tbsp or so of chopped ginger. I deglazed the pan with a combination of rum and Caribbean bitters. Then I tossed in four roughly chopped carrots and two roughly chopped potatoes. I added some more ground coriander and a good pinch of hot curry powder. I tossed everything around for a few minutes and then poured enough boiling water from the kettle to cover everything by about an inch. I tossed in a bay leave, lowered it to a simmer and put the lid on. After about 25 minutes, everything was soft and tender. I pureed the soup in batches in my blender and stirred in some fresh cilantro leaves. I finally adjusted for seasoning (it definitely needed salt) and served it in a dainty little cup with a drizzle of olive oil and garnished with cilantro leaves.

Carrot infused Adai

I was really stumped about what to accompany the soup with. I wanted the meal to be completely vegetarian (which it turned out to be). I dithered about with the idea for a savoury carrot cake, but given time constraints (and lack of baking talent), I opted for the next best thing, savoury pancakes, or as they are called in India, Adai. These were dead easy to make. I simply took some store bought pancake batter and followed the directions, but I reduced the milk by about 25% and added regular flour and more salt to off-set the typical sweetness of pancake batter. The reason I reduced the liquid was because I added about half a cup of grated carrots. This upped the liquid in the batter and I didn't want it to soupy. There was a little adjusting here and there to get the consistency, but once it looked right, I added cayenne, curry powder, a dab of mustard and a few grates of whole nutmeg. From there, I just fried 'em up like pancakes. Instead of syrup, I used a garlicky raita which is simply plain yogurt, diced cucumber, a little garlic, lemon juice and chopped cilantro. I served them piled up like hot cakes. On the side I had a simple spinach salad so I could get my greens.

All in all, I really liked this meal. The pancakes packed quite a fiery punch, but the raita balanced that nicely. The soup was thick and hearty and tasted of exotic spices, yet the main ingredient, carrots, shined through.

The wife has a cold, but from what she could taste, she liked. This was a great cooking experience as it really challenged my creativity, and it was a hell of a lot of fun.

Nothing Special

2007-03-12T22:12:00.000-04:00

I had a heck of a day and a heck of headache by the time I got home, so I promptly popped an Advil and took a power nap. Once awaken and feeling a little refreshed, the wife and I got busy bagging a bunch of old clothes for a scheduled recycling pick up tomorrow. Where does that leave us for dinner? Well, that roasted chicken you see about two posts down made a heck of a chicken salad: shredded chicken, mayo, Dijon mustard, a little bit of minced onion, a few capers and salt and pepper. We threw it on some toast with cucumber and spinach and washed it down with a couple of cups of steaming chicken bouillon. A glass of red wine accompanied.

Sorry, no photos. Come on, it was just a sandwich!

Well alright, here's a picture of the little one with a cowboy hat instead.

Family dinner

2007-03-11T22:15:00.000-04:00

This evening we all went to my brother's house for our monthly 'family dinner'. It was a potluck kind of thing, so I brought a simple pasta salad. I boiled some penne, and dressed it with some shrimp, olive oil, garlic, oregano, kalamatta olives, lemon zest, lemon juice, feta cheese and a whole bunch of other stuff. It was pretty darn good.

I also got to jam with my bro. He has a full drum kit in the basement, and there happened to be a Gibson Les Paul and a Marshal combo lying around, so after dinner, some rock and roll was created. Good times.

English Pub food

2007-03-11T22:07:00.000-04:00

I was supposed to roast a chicken this evening, but we got so busy that by the time I got home, we would have been eating dinner at 10pm. So, instead I opted to roast the chicken for future use, and make a quick meal in the meantime because the wife and I were hungry. What I created was basic pub fare: sausage, beans and mashed spuds. There's no recipe here; I simply 'qued the sausages, dropped a tin of beans in a pot and made the usual mashed potatoes. It was quick and yum. By the way, the PC 'light' Italian sausages are only 160 calories each (about half the typical), and they actually taste good. Anyway, it was as good as it could be.

For the chicken, I simply slathered it in 'pot latch' seasoning and olive oil. Pot latch seasoning is inspired by west coast BBQ and was actually given to us as a gift. It includes cayenne, chili flakes, dried onions, garlic, dried thyme and a bunch of other spices. I roasted the chicken until done (about an hour) and although I didn't have it for dinner (saving it for the week), I did sample it. Yum.

BBQ Pork Chops and Haricots Verts

2007-03-08T21:00:00.000-05:00

Tonight was another one of those 'quick and easy' meals...if you ignore the fact I was barbecuing in knee-deep snow. Anyway, here's what I did:

I had a couple of bone-in pork chops and in order to avoid making too many dishes, I decides to go the BBQ route. For the chops, I simply rubbed a bit of oil on to them and dusted them with cayenne powder, allspice, a bit of paprika and salt and pepper. In the mean time, I had some haricots verts or as they're called at Loblaws, 'French' green beans. They're smaller and more delicate than typical green beans. I threw them in a foil sachet with a bit of garlic, Dijon mustard, finely chopped rosemary, salt, pepper and a glug of olive oil. The chops and the beans went on the grill together. I also had boiled some potatoes and mashed them up with a little cream and olive oil. The chops only took about 3-4 minutes per side, and the beans took a little longer to soften up. That's it. Another easy one. However, next time I'll cook the green beans a little longer---they were a tiny bit tough, albeit tasty.

Appeasement

2007-03-07T23:05:00.000-05:00

Okay, I am finally changing my profile picture. Apparently I look like a pervert or something. I don't know what the fuss is about, but a critical mass of 'friendly' suggestions has lead to reconsideration on my part. The new profile pic was taken from a wholesome family outing to Bracebridge last fall. A fine memory, and a fine picture for my profile (if not a little cropped for brevity).

So let us dispense with dissecting the minutiae of my profile and let us go back to more important things...like dinner.

Paprika Chicken and Roast Potatoes

2007-03-07T21:43:00.000-05:00

Here was one of those dead simple meals. I cooked most of it with a child attached to my hip. Here's what I did:

I peeled and chopped two Yukon gold potatoes into bite sized pieces. Then I put them in an oven-proof pan and tossed them with a few glugs of olive oil, some dried thyme,a few fennel seeds, salt and pepper. I shoved the spuds to one side of the pan and in the other side placed two bone-in/skin-on chicken breast with skin side up. I rubbed a tiny bit of oil on to the chicken skins and then dusted them with paprika, rock salt and pepper. I sprinkled a dash of cayenne powder just to kick it up a bit. I also decided to toss four or five whole cloves of garlic in with the potatoes for fun. I then put the works into a 350 degree oven for about forty minutes. I made a quick arugula salad, and served the chicken with the pan juices drizzle over top with a wedge of lemon on the side. There's dinner. Super easy. The garlic roasted in with the potatoes worked great (as it always does). The sticky sweet garlic incorporates itself throughout the potatoes and every once in a while you bite down on a whole clove. It's like the prize in the cracker jack box. Yum.

However, next time I will take the chicken out of the pan about ten minutes sooner---I found it just a smidgen over cooked.

Chicken Noodle Soup with Lemon and Ginger..for the soul

2007-03-06T22:26:00.000-05:00

Sorry, the batteries were dead, so I'm using the cell phone for pictures. Trust me, the colours didn't really look that bad.

The winter still has an iron grip on this town. The wife and the daughter are both sniffling, coughing and blowing there noses a lot tonight. I decided to treat the Mrs. with my special, all-cure tonic. This chicken noodle soup is not for the faint of heart. It has an extremely bright, almost antiseptic taste to it due to copious amounts of ginger and lemon. I frankly like the sharp taste and the 'nasal-clearing' level of ginger. It's definitely an acquired taste, but guaranteed to put you on the mend. Here's what I did:

I cut up a single chicken breast into small bite sized pieces. Then in my usual dutch oven, I drizzled in a bit of oil and tossed in half an onion in a very fine dice. Then I added a huge whack of finely chopped ginger; maybe three heaping tablespoons worth. After the onions started to go a little translucent, I tossed in the chicken. I frizzled everything together for a bit and deglazed the pan with a shot of vodka (remember, we're trying to make the Mrs. feel better). After that, I poured in a a couple of cups of simple, store-bought chicken stock and a cup and a half or so of plain water. I sliced up an entire lemon and threw all the slices into the broth. Then I tossed in a couple of bay leaves and a few pinches of dried dill. I put on a lid and walked away. The soup simmered like such for about 25 minutes, at which point I removed and discarded the lemon slices and the bay leaves. Then I took a handful of whole-wheat spaghetti and broke it all up into little bits and sprinkled it directly into the soup. After about eight minutes when the noodles were soft I stirred in a few baby spinach leaves for colour and nutrition.

This soup would probably not appeal to all people. The wife cannot smell or taste much in her present state yet she could taste this stuff! I figure the vitamin C from the lemons and the overall curative effect of ginger will make her feel better (which it absolutely did). I happen to love this soup. The heady aroma of ginger, lemon and bay leaf together combined with the typical, 'chicken soup is good for the soul' notion makes for an all around warming and cleansing experience. It's almost a religious thing. Try it sometime.

PS. On the topic of religion, I watched that Jesus Tomb special tonight. It was very compelling and interesting. However, I found myself distracted by the dude's hat. Why does he wear that thing? Does it have some religious purpose?

Tommy can you hear me?

2007-03-05T22:26:00.000-05:00

Both the wife and the little one are miserable with the sniffles. Outside it is windy and very cold. I didn't feel like cooking. In situations like this, a solution can be summed up in three words:

Ho,
Lee,
Chow.

I got an order of Spicy Szechuan beef, vegetables with BBQ pork and chicken fried rice.

Whilst eating this culinary delight, the wife and I watched The Who's Tommy, which happened to be on the tube tonight. I really like The Who, and I've never seen this movie. Let's just say that's two hours of my life I'm never getting back. I like to think I'm open minded, but Tommy was a turkey. Anyway, the Chinese food was as good as delivery can be. Back to cooking tomorrow.

Montreal Business Trip Update

2007-03-05T14:55:00.000-05:00

I'm slowly turning this 'food' blog into a 'me' blog, but hell, it's fun.

In any event, a co-worker sent me a few quality photos from my trip to Montreal last week. I just thought I'd post 'em up here for fun considering that my camera phone pictures were pretty sad.

Here is the front door of the hotel I stayed at.

And here are couple of shots of me in the museum underground: including an 18th century sewer with a cheesy back-lit mural.

Update: Beef Tikka Masala

2007-03-05T10:27:00.000-05:00

There appears to be some debate about my choice of Indian terminology for this dish. As I stated in the original blog, I believed that masala was a tomato/coconut sauce as in tikka masala. My research originaly led me to the origins of tikka masala as a dish derived in the UK and consisting of chicken tikka and a tomato-coconut sauce (an interesting history in of itself). I made the leap of logic that masala was the term for this sauce, but I was enlightened by a cooking colleague to the fact that masala is actually a generic term simply meaning 'sauce', as in garam masala. However, I have done even more research to learn the masala simply means 'mixture'.

Here is a particularly good definition.

masala
[mah-SAH-lah] A word used throughout India for a spice blend with myriad variations. It can refer to a simple combination of two or three spices (such as cardamom, coriander and mace) or a complex blend of 10 or more ingredients. The principal masala blend used in India is garam masala the variations of which are countless, depending on the cook and the dish being seasoned.

So there you have it; beautiful, spicy food with exotic sounding names, handily mangled by your humble blogger. Remember, I'm still learning.

Poached Chicken and Shrimp Pasta

2007-03-04T09:56:00.000-05:00

Tonight I had a single chicken breast and half a bag of raw frozen shrimp kicking around. I wanted to make pasta, but I wanted something really light and low cal. However, I wanted to use a goodly amount of olive oil. With this in mind, instead of sauteing chicken and shrimp in oil, I decided to poach them and somehow incorporate them in with the pasta. This way I could drizzle a good amount of oil as a finish instead of simply employing it as a cooking tool. I totally made this up as I went along, but it wasn't bad at all. Here's what I did:

I put some whole wheat rotini on to boil in some salted water. Then I took another pan and poured in enough cold water to fill it up about two inches deep. I then added in a quartered lemon (skins and all), a few peppercorns, a few fennel seeds, a generous pinch of kosher salt and a few bay leaves I brought this poaching liquid to a boil, then dropped it back down to a simmer. I first placed the chicken breast (cut up into bite sized pieces) into the simmering liquid. After about two minutes, I dropped in the shrimp. This literally took about six to seven minutes in total to cook. I then removed the chicken and shrimp from the liquid and placed it in a covered container to stay warm. I brought up the heat a bit and allowed the poaching liquid to reduce by about a third. When the pasta was el dente, I strained it and returned it to the pot. To this I added a couple of ladles of the lemony poaching liquid and two cloves of finely chopped garlic. I returned the chicken and shrimp to the pasta, dropped in a diced up tomato, a handful of baby spinach and about a quarter cup of grated parmigiana regiano. Then I drizzled in a good amount of my best olive oil. I tossed it all together to just to soften the cheese, incorporate the oil and wilt the spinach. I finished it with rock salt, pepper and a wedge of lemon.

I like the idea of this pasta in that the olive oil is front and centre and does not 'disappear' with an initial saute. It was very light, and even summery tasting. I think I'm going to re-visit this one in the future.

A Wintery Night and Beef Tikka Masala

2007-03-01T21:22:00.000-05:00

There was a humdinger of a winter storm blowing outside, so I needed something to warm the soul. A good fiery curry would hit the spot. I had a package of stewing beef handy and decided to go the beef masala route. As far as I know, masala simply is a curry dish that contains a sort of tomato and coconut sauce. I didn't have any coconut, but I certainly had a can of tomatoes. I also opted to pound out my own spices in the mortar and pestle. I have a lot to learn about Indian spices, as I was disappointingly underwhelmed with the results of my curry spice mixture, but the tenderness of the beef made up for it. Here's what I did:

I first pounded into a paste the following ingredients: two cloves of garlic, a tbsp each of whole coriander seeds, whole fennugreek, ground cayenne, ground coriander, sweet paprika, ground cinnamon, whole fennel seeds, as well as a few cloves and two whole cardamon pods. I poured in a tiny bit of oil, seasoned generously with salt and bashed the works until it resembled a paste. I put that aside and then browned the beef in a dutch oven, added a whole onion (finely chopped) and a diced carrot. I frizzled that for a few minutes then added in the spice mixture. I let the spices toast a bit in the pan then poured in the can of tomatoes. The liquid just covered everything. I put on a lid and walked a way. After thirty minutes, I threw in two yellow potatoes, (in a medium dice) and a can of drained and rinsed chick peas. I let that cook until the potatoes were tender. Lastly I wilted in some fresh baby spinach. I garnished the dish with a hastily prepared cucumber yogurt raita (diced cucumbers, plain yogurt, a bit of garlic, chopped cilantro and salt and pepper).

All in all, the curry was okay, but I can't seem to come any where near to the flavour of the jarred stuff. Also I think I'd like to get a proper coffee grinder to grind the spices. I had a heck of a time trying to bash the fennugreek into a powder. It's like little yellow stones! Also there was a bit of bitter finish to the curry. It need brown sugar or something. I'll keep trying.

Soup and Sandwich

2007-02-28T20:20:00.000-05:00

There are some meals that are either ordered in (i.e. pizza), or simply something boring thrown together on an otherwise busy night. I don't usually blog these meals but figured I might as well be as up-to-date as possible. So here it is:

I had a french stick in the freezer and my wife had some left over capon from her mother's house. We combined that with some very ripe avocado, pickles, baby spinach, chevre and a few condiments to make a pretty yummy sandwich. I threw a can of PC spicy black bean soup in a pot, heated it up, and there's dinner. Nothing special, but a little sense of an 'everyday' quick meal.

Business Trip to Montreal

2007-02-28T11:08:00.000-05:00

I just returned from a business trip to Montreal. I travelled by train on 'VIA 1' class. This meant a meal was served en route. On the way there I had the Osso Bucco and Boccinchini salad. The food was exceptional considering it was on a train. There's nothing like tucking into a warm meal, with all the wine you can drink, and watching the snowy countryside slide by. Train travel is indeed the most civilized way to go. On the way back I had the grilled beef--basically a mini-steak.

While in Montreal, I mostly ate catered food at meetings, but we did have one dinner out for which I had a most beautiful salmon tartar with avocado. It was like butter! For my main I had a beautifully grilled Bison steak. I was not disappointed.

The facility in which my meetings were held was the History Pointe-à-Callière museum in old Montreal. This is a museum that is built atop one of the oldest parts of the city. There are several strata of history going down into the ground and instead of digging out the stuff and moving it to a museum, they brought the museum to the site. .

After descending steps under the building you are presented with a dimly lit labyrinth of old fortifications, foundations, aqueducts, sewers and even a 17th century grave yard. Coloured spot lights indicate the age of each 'strata'.

So cool...

In any event, I'm back and will have to start cooking my own meals again!

Photo Feedback

2007-02-28T11:02:00.000-05:00

Okay, I got some feedback about my new profile picture. I won't go into detail about the comments, but needless to say, the photo was not loved by all. I think it makes me look whimsical. I am opting to keep it till another photo I prefer comes along.

It could be worse, you know.

Quick Asian Noodles

2007-02-22T21:55:00.000-05:00

I really hate my counter tops. Look how '80s' they look in this picture. Uck.

Anyway...

It's been a busy week and I have to admit I've ordered pizza and made a few other 'convenience' meals these past few days. However tonight I managed a tasty, and extremely quick meal. Rachel Ray would be proud. Here's what I did:

I boiled some soba noodles according to the instructions. When done, I tossed them in a large prep bowl with some sesame seed oil and soy sauce. Then I coated a few raw tiger shrimp in some salt, pepper and cayenne powder. I threw them in a skillet with some hot oil and a huge whack of freshly chopped ginger. After about four or five minutes, I dumped the works into the bowl with the noodles. Then I put the same pan back on the heat, added a few more drops of oil and then tossed in a handful of baby bok choy and some very thinly sliced carrots. After about three minutes I sprinkled in a bit of white vinegar, a splash of water and a handful of baby spinach. I put a lid on a waited about two minutes. Then I tossed those contents into the bowl with the other stuff. I tossed it all together and put it in a serving bowl with some chopped scallions and a drizzle of sesame oil over the top. I even impressed myself with how quick and simple it was.

In fact, it was so simple, I also made a mushroom soup at the same time to take to work with me.

Belgian Beer Stew with Biscuits

2007-02-18T21:42:00.000-05:00

I saw a similar dish prepared on a cooking show, and they called it Belgian Beef Stew. I loved the simplicity of this dish. There are few ingredients, simply beef, onions, beer, beef stock and bay leaf. I decided to add a biscuit componant. Here's what I did:

I took about two pounds of cheap stewing beef and made sure it was all in bite sized pieces. I coated them in a bit of flour, salt and pepper, and in my dutch oven, started searing them in batches. Once all the meat was browned (not cooked, just brown), I set them aside. Then I threw in two whole sliced onions. I let the onions carmellized gently in the beef fat and then added some garlic (about two cloves chopped). I let it frizzle for a few more minutes, then I poured in a full can of Guiness stout. The beef went back in (with all the juice on the plate that had formed while waiting). I then topped up the liquid with beef stock just so everything was covered. Then, to thicken without flour, I employed a trick I learned from Michael Smith on the Food Network: I grated a single potato into the broth. This potato will actualy melt down into nothing and thicken everything up. Finally, I tossed in a few bay leaves and then put the whole pot, covered, in a 325 degree oven. I let it slowly braise for a good hour-hour and a half.

Once the meat was tender like butter, I transfered the works to an oblong pan and topped the whole thing off with store-bought biscuit dough. (I know I should make myself, but I have to cut corners somewhere---thanks Pilsbury). I put the pan back in the oven and baked according to the directions.

All in all, this was a very yummy meal, but it was quite rich. The onions, although mellowed by the braising, still were a little overpowering. I wanted this attempt to capture the spirit of the Belgian stew which is just beef and onions, but next time I will add the standard mirapois (celery, onions and carrots) and probably some potatoes, and maybe even some green peas. This would have been awesome winter camping food....

Jumping Baby

2007-02-16T09:26:00.000-05:00

I just thought I'd try out a video on my blog. What fun. My daughter loves this thing so much she can hardly contain herself.

Frittata with Zucchinni

2007-02-15T07:21:00.001-05:00

Wow. Lots of snow today. I can't remember that last time I actually had to shovel the stuff. Either way, dinner was going to be simple, as I was in no mood to cook anything complicated. So I made a frittata. Here's what I did:

I diced up a good handful of panchetta, half a red onion few cloves of garlic and a whole zucchini. I tossed the works into a pan with a glug of oil. I let it frizzle a bit, then added a bit of salt and lots of fresh ground pepper. Lastly I tossed just a few spinach leaves and allowed them to wilt a bit in the pan.

While that sizzled away, I cracked four eggs into a cup and whisked 'em up. Then I poured the eggy mixture all over everything in the pan. I banged it around a bit to even distribute the eggs, then I chucked the pan in the oven. I let that bake for about ten or 15 minutes, and then turned on the broiler to brown the top. Once done, I removed from the oven, and topped it with crumbled goats cheese, chopped fresh parsley and a diced tomato. I brought the whole pan to the table family style. I also threw together a really quick spinach salad to accompany. Quick, easy and yum.

Jambalaya Risotto Kind of Thing

2007-02-12T22:32:00.000-05:00

Frozen shrimp went on sale this week, so I bought a bag of raw zipperbacks. I decided to use them tonight. However, I wasn't sure what to make. I had a couple of chicken breasts, the shrimp, some bell peppers that needed to be used yesterday and my usual pantry items. After some dithering I opted to make a paella-jambalaya-risotto type dish. I'm not a master of rice cooking so I had no idea how it would turn out. In the end, it wasn't bad. Here's what I did:

I chopped up two chicken breast in to bite sized pieces. Then I got some oil going in a pan with some chili flakes and some fennel seeds. I tossed the chicken in and let it saute for a bit. After a few minutes I shoved all the chicken up to one side of the pan and dumped the bell peppers (two small ones) and half a red onion all in a fine dice. After about two minutes I tossed in two cloves of garlic finely minced. After a few moments I mixed up the two halves of the pan (chicken and veggies), then deglazed the pan with a glug of vermouth. Then I dumped in a huge amount of sweet paprika, and seasoned with salt and pepper. Once the liquids settled down, I dumped in a cup of short grain rice. I toasted the rice for a few moments and then poured in a cup of chicken stock and a can of stewed tomatoes. I mixed it all up and then put on a lid, lowered it to a simmer and walked away for twenty minutes. I wasn't sure if I was going to get fluffy rice with meat veggies in it, or a soup like consistency or a risotto type consistency. My ignorance of rice and starch etc made for a real mystery. In the end, it ended up closer to risotto then anything else. Just as the rice was about done, I popped the aforementioned shrimp in. They cooked for about two minutes.

To finish, I stirred in some freshly chopped parsley and garnished with a lemon. It wasn't bad at all. However I think saffron would have been a nice addition.

Petits Pois and Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

2007-02-09T09:18:00.000-05:00

Last night I baked some chicken drumsticks---nothing special, however I decided to cook up some simple peas as a side dish. I grew up with my mom putting green peas into everything (very Anglo-Saxon), and I eventually learned to loathe them. However, the wife likes the green peas so I decided to try and jazz them up a bit. Here's what I did:

I put a cup and half of good quality frozen petits pois in the steamer. While they were steaming, I frizzled up two whole shallots and three finely diced cloves of garlic in a generous amount of olive oil. Once the shallots were soft, I took that off the heat. I poured the now full fully-cooked peas into the pan with the shallot/garlic mixture, and tossed them together over low heat. Then I drizzled a bit more olive oil, added a small pat of butter, a tiny dollop of Dijon mustard and a generous pinch of salt and fresh cracked pepper. I turned the heat off completely and lastly added a cubed avocado, and a handful of chopped cilantro. I finally squeezed half a lemon on the works.

The peas were a big hit with the wife and basically stole the show. The drumsticks were okay, but nothing special. I also roasted a pint of cherry tomatoes to go with the meal. The combination of the tomatoes acidic high note and the starchy, buttery low notes of the peas made for a really yummy finish!

Potato Beer Soup with Old Cheddar

2007-02-07T21:41:00.000-05:00

It was a really cold day and when I got home I had an uncharacteristic chill running through my bones. That meant only one thing: soup.

I took four russet potatoes, peeled and diced them and set them aside. Then I diced up a whole onion and the last bit of pancetta I had kicking around (maybe a quarter cup's worth). The bacon went into the bottom of my pan with a bit of olive oil. I let that frizzle until the onions were soft and then I poured in an entire bottle of beer (Domestic Lager). Then I dropped in a healthy pinch of dried dill and a big pinch of caraway seeds. After that the potatoes went in along with a couple of bay leaves and half a sprig of fresh rosemary (finely chopped). Lastly I poured in about two cups of store-bought chicken stock. I adjusted the season slightly and then put a lid on it and walked away for half an hour. It simmered gently until the potatoes were soft. At this point, I took the left over mashed potatoes from the weekend out of the fridge and stirred them in to thicken the broth. I served it with big healthy handful of cheddar dropped in and a little more dried dill and sweet paprika.

Hands down it was awesome. The beer added a yeasty, bready taste and went so well with the cheddar and baconny taste of the soup. This would go great with a big buttered piece of crusty bread and a frosted Guinness. The only thing I would change is that I would use realy bacon (pancetta is salt cured, traditional bacon is smoke cured), to get a smokier taste and I would use a little pit of celery for some green colour.

Black Bean Chili

2007-02-07T21:40:00.000-05:00

I had half a roast beef left over from the weekend (I didn't blog it, nothing special). Anyway I diced up the left over beef, then set it aside. I took my dutch oven and sauteed some onions and garlic. Then I threw in a roughly chopped orange bell pepper. I happened to have a can of pickled jalapeno peppers kicking around, so took a few of those, chopped 'em up and threw them in. I put a healthy tablespoon or so of chili powder and a can of tomotoes next, and then finally threw in a can of drained and rinsed canned black beans. After that had bubbled for a bit, I dropped in the left over cubed beef and let the works simmer on low for about a half an hour.

In the end the 'twice-cooked' beef was quite tender and the chili on a whole was quite yum. I served it with some brown rice, and fresh cilantro. The wife threw a bit of yogurt on her's just for kicks.

Chicken tortillas

2007-02-01T20:06:00.000-05:00

Tonight I stopped by the store on the way home to pick up something for dinner. I knew we had a very ripe avocado sitting at home, so I thought I'd make something vaguely Mexican in nature. I bought fresh cilantro, blue corn nacho chips, a couple of tomatoes, a red onion and some boneless, skinless chicken breasts. I paid at the automatic cashier thingy and was just getting home from the fifteen minute walk when I realized I had left the chicken at the grocery store. D'oh! Anyway, the wife had to drive up and seek out the errant chicken.

When I finally got all the ingredients together it was simply a matter of pounding out the avocado into guacamole (bash it up with lime juice, salt and cilantro), and cook the chicken. For the chicken I simply took two breasts, sliced them up into bite sized pieces and sauteed them with some chopped tomatoes, tons of chili powder, a bit of onion, and some habanero hot sauce. As I usually do, I tossed in some raw spinach to wilt down. Yeah, I know it's not particularly Mexican, but it's nutritious and adds colour. Then I just grated some cheddar, diced up a tomato, pulled out some olives and set up a make-your-own tortilla station for the wife and I. As for the tortillas, I simply bought the PC whole wheat version. Nothing special. Everything was fresh and yum.

I love winter

2007-01-31T21:55:00.000-05:00

I just got a say. I'm loving the cold and snow. It felt like it took forever to come and it's finally here. I love it. People hate me for it but it's true!