Week 29: Peaches, Peaches, Peaches...

So I am a huge fruit fan. I enjoy all kinds but my favorite by far is fresh peaches from the Okanagan. In the last post I talked about our trip but I did not mention that bought 40 lbs (20 for us and 20 for my parents. These were first pick of the season peaches so they needed some time to ripen but once they did they were amazing. This week I am going to go through 2 recipes because one I have made several time before but it is so good I thought I should bog about it. The other is a simple recipe but it was so yummy. I will start with the simple peach gelato recipe which is actually more of a sorbeto but who cares. You will need

4 cups of peeled peaches

1/2 cups of water

3/4 cups of sugar

1 egg white

Start by making a simple syrup from the sugar and water in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Once the sugar has dissolved remove from the heat and cool.  While the syrup is cooling peel and cut the peaches. Puree the peaches and if you want strain through a sieve. I did not do this because I like to have stuff in my gelato. Combine the peaches and syrup and let cool in the fridge for at least 2 hours. Pour mixture into your ice cream maker an 20-30 minutes later you are enjoying some summer freshness in a bowl.

The next recipe is for a peach pie I found in the Moosewood dessert cookbook several years ago that is a wonderful twist on a classic pie. It is a peach pie in a ginger bread crust. The ingredients are

Ginger bread

1 1/2 cups four

1/2 cups brown sugar

1 tsp ground ginger

1 to cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground allspice

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 cup chilled butter, cut into pieces

2 tbsp molasses

2 tbsp cold water

Pie filling

6 cups sliced peaches

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 tbsp grated ginger root

1 1/2 tsp cornstarch

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Preheat oven to 375'. In a medium bowl sift together flour, brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon, allspice, salt and baking powder. Cut the butter into mixture and then mix with you fingers until it is crumbly and resembles cornmeal. Drizzle the molasses and water over dough and mix until the crumbs of dough begin to cling together. 

Set aside 1/2 cup of the dough and knead the rest into a ball. Press evenly into the bottom and sides of a pan and bake for 10 to 15 minutes.

In a bowl, toss peaches with brown sugar and ginger root. Dissolve corn starch into lemon juice and sprinkle over peaches and mix. 

Pour the peach mixture into pie crust and crumble remaining dough over the peaches. Bake on upper rack for 40-55 minutes. Check after 30 minutes if crust is stating to brown cover with foil and continue to cook until peaches are tender.

Week 28: A trip to the Okanagan

So last week we got out of the city and took a little trip to the Okanagan. The weather was great and the wine and food was as tasty as always. I thought I would go over some of the highlights of the trip for this post. As we do every time in the Okanagan, we went to Quails Gate and since Luca was sleeping in the car at the time Jamie went and got the wine. Now there was nothing new about us going to Quails Gate to buy some of their Old Vines Foch but that wine is so good it just needs to be mentioned. If you have not tried it go get a bottle.

For the first time we went to Mission Hill and although I am not a fan of their wine the grounds alone are worth the visit. I did pay $10 to try the OCULUS which was well worth it. If you want a nice $80 bottle of wine I would highly recommend it;-)

We stayed at a nice B&B on the East side of the lake so we decided to try a couple of the wineries down there. We went to Cedar Creek which was really so-so and we also went to Summerhill which was an interesting surprise. Their regular wine was adequate but their sparking wine selection was surprising good. I am not a big sparkling wine fan but since it was nice and hot that day I gave it a try. The next time we are going to a party that requires a sparkling wine I will be buying some Summerhill. 

Finally, we went to a wonderful goat cheese farm called Carmelis. It was a bit of a drive but worth it in the end. They had some lovely cheese (the goatgonzola was very nice) and made their own goats milk gelato on site. We did the full tasting and had some tasty cookies and cream and caramel gelato.  

Week 27: Finally back to blogging

So at the beginning of July I started back to work Jamie started a new job and Luca started full time alternating at daycare and with the Grand parents. Apparently this was ended up being tougher than I thought. It has taken me several weeks but I have finally got around to writing something again. This entry includes a couple quick things I whipped up over the span of a week and a half. 

The first was a crispy goat cheese salad. Years ago when Jamie and I lived in Italy we did a weekend trip to the South of France with our friend Lucie. While there I was introduced to warm goat cheese salad and I loved it. I had not had one in years and then I was watching Food Network one day and this lady was making one that sounded super easy. I will just describe the making of the goat cheese because it would go with whatever favorite salad you might like to make. Here is what you will need

1 1/2 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup rosemary infused oil (I used plain olive oil and threw some rosemary into the bread crumbs)
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme (or some dried thyme)
1 package of goat cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

Mix bread crumbs and salt and pepper and add 2-3 tsp of oil to dampen the crumbs. Spread on baking sheet and toast in oven until golden brown. Allow to cool and then toss in thyme and rosemary.


Slice goat cheese into 1/2 inch disks. Brush with remaining oil then coat with bread crumb mixture. Bake in oven for 5-7 minutes and enjoy. 


The next recipe is for a yummy cherry sauce that I served over brownies. It is cherry season here so it only made sense to make a cherry sauce. The recipe called for


2 cups of pitted cherries
1/2 cup water
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp kirch (I used about 4 tsp of port instead)
2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp grated lemon zest

Stir everything into a medium sauce pan over medium heat until it boils and thickens (about 5 mins). That is it super easy ans super yummy. 

Week 26: A gift from Jamie

This week I am going to talk about a cooking class that Jamie gave me for being the best husband and father in the world! Actually since the gift was a cooking class she kind of gave the gift to herself;-) Jamie thought that i could use some inspiration since I am half way through the year and need to refocus my efforts for the next 6 months. She got me a cooking class at The Dirty Apron. There were so many options that i had a hard time choosing but in the end I settled on a seafood class. If you enjoy food and cooking I would highly recommend taking a class at The Dirty Apron. The Chef teaching us was excellent and very helpful and the rest of the staff were also great. The free flowing wine did not hurt either;-)

I am not going to go over the recipes here since I feel like that would be cheating or something like that. I will go over the menu and post the picture. We started the night by making Mussels Congolaise which are from Chambar (one of our fav restaurants in town). This dish has an excellent tomato coconut cream sauce that is perfect for dipping your bread.

For the second course we made maple seared scallops with a warm chorizo and kalamata olive ragout and a pea coulis. This dish surprised me because I do not like olives yet I ate all of the ragout. I am pretty sure it was because the chorizo was so delicious that it covered the yucky olives. I could have done with out the pea coulis it was too sweet and too pea-flavoured to be truly enjoyed. The maple seared scallops were amazing and so simple. Just let the scallops soak in a cm or so of maple syrup for 10 minutes and that is it. 

The final course we prepared was a pan roasted halibut on a bed of sauteed spinach and crushed fingerling potatoes with a charred tomato vinaigrette. There is really nothing more to say about this dish then it was superb!

The dessert course was prepared for us because we did not have the time to do it. It consisted of a cardamom, caramel poached pear with vanilla ice cream and a chocolate sauce. After they poached the pear they took out the core and seeds with a melon baller and piped the ice cream inside. In a word, divine.

Week 25: Garlic Scape Pesto

I have a quick confession to make about this week's post, I have tried to make garlic scape pesto before but have never had any success until now. Several years ago while Jamie and I were touring around the Okanagan we stopped by to see our friends Niki and Nick. While we were there they made some yummy garlic scape pesto. It was our first introduction to garlic scapes and since then we have bought them whenever they are at our local farmers market. The problem has been that every time I have tried to recreate the pesto it has flopped. The taste has usually been there but the texture is all wrong. So this past week I spent some time talking to the nice lady at the farmers market and she gave me some good advice on how to select the scapes, etc for pesto. 

Here is the recipe I used it is a garlic scape and almond pesto and it was delicious. 

10 garlic scapes, finely chopped

1/3 to 1/2 cup finely grated Parmesan (to taste and texture)

1/3 cup slivered almonds (I used whole almonds that I roughly chopped and toasted)

About 1/2 cup olive oil

Salt to taste

Prepare like any other pesto. Add everything to a processor and blend. 

Mark's thoughts: Finally! It tasted good and had the correct texture.

Jamie's thoughts: Delicious! Luca liked it too.

Before I go I want to give a quick shout out to Niki's farm Rootdown Organic they are in Pemberton and you can find them at the Farmers Market on Sundays in Kits.

Week 24: Tex-Mex potato salad

Last week the Vancouver Sun had several potato salad recipes that looked pretty good. Now for a lot of people potato salad is nothing new but I am personally NOT a fan of potato salad and I have never made one and have only eaten it on the odd occasion. The exception to this would be the super yummy octopus and potato salad we used to get in Italy which I hope to recreate this summer;-) 

So this week I made the Tex-Mex mixed mini potato salad. Here are the ingredients

1 1/2 pounds mixed mini potatoes
1/3 cup olive oil 
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons finely grated lime zest
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons orange juice
2 teaspoons Tabasco sauce (I used Frank's Hot Sauce)
Salt to taste
3/4 cup fresh corn kernels
1/2 cup diced celery (I left this out, I am not a fan of celery in a salad)
1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro 

Cut each potato lengthwise and quarter. Gently boil until just tender. Drain and cool to room temperature. 
Place the oil, cumin, garlic, chili powder, lime zest and juice, orange juice and hot sauce in a large bowl and whisk to combine. 
Add potatoes and the rest of the ingredients and toss to cover. 


Mark's thoughts: Not being a potato salad lover I was not sure about this but it turned out quite nice. Another good summer salad especially when my burlap sack potatoes are ready.


Jamie's thoughts: Nice change from regular potato.

I really enjoyed the colours in the salad and the freshly poured Black and Tan in the lower part of the image;-)

Week 23: Cioppino

The last few times I have been out to eat I have ordered soup. Now for most people this is a stupid statement but for me it is quite profound because I never order soup out. Actually I really do not eat a lot of soup so it is kind of surprising that I would order it. What I have found though is that I have been having some super yummy soups so I decided that I wanted to try recreating this cioppino I had in North Van. 

I found a nice recipe on the Food Network website and made a few changes along the way. 

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large fennel bulb, thinly sliced
1 onion, chopped
3 large shallots, chopped
2 teaspoons salt
4 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
3/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes, plus more to taste
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 (28-oz) can diced tomatoes in juice
1 1/2 cups dry white wine (I did not have any wine so I left it out)
5 cups fish stock (I used veggie stock and it was fine)
1 bay leaf

Here is what they suggested for seafood
1 pound manila clams, scrubbed
1 pound mussels, scrubbed, debearded
1 pound uncooked large shrimp peeled and deveined
1 1/2 pounds assorted firm-fleshed fish fillets such as halibut or salmon, cut into 2-inch chunks

I used
1 dungeness crab
1 lobster
1 lb of fresh BC spot prawns
1/2 lb of new potatoes


The nice thing about this recipe is that it was simple enough to make any night of the week. Start by sauteing the the onion, fennel and shallots in a heavy sauce pan for about 10 mins. Add the garlic and pepper flakes and continue sauteing for approx 2 mins. Now add tomato paste, diced tomatoes, wine, stock and bay leaf. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until flavours blend about 30 mins. Now I added the crab and lobster and let them cook for about 8 min. Finally I added the spot prawns for the last 2 mins.

Mark's thoughts: A very nice, hearty soup. I overcooked the lobster tail a little but but the rest was just right. Next time I will throw the lobster tail in a little later.


Jamie's thoughts: Messy but tasty.

 

Week 22: Done with hiatus

I have not updated the blog in a month or so and in a lame attempt to not look lazy I will blame any of the following

1) Vacation
2 Stanley Cup Finals
3) Last month before returning to work
4) Nice weather

The last one is a joke since anyone living in Vancouver knows the weather has been crappy. 

We did go a little vacation to Maui and this post is about that trip. We had some nice meals while we were there but I want to write about "The Fish".

So Jayson and I went for a little fishing trip and within the first 20 minutes of setting the lines we had a fish on. Jayson took that fish and lucky for him because for the next 5 1/2 hours we did nothing but soak the gear. Jayson pulled in a nice short-billed spearfish which is a fairly rare catch off of Maui.

Jayson and the fish.

Now I know this blog is about cooking new things but since I had never had short-billed spearfish I decided to include it. To cook the fish I took the fresh filet and seasoned it with salt and pepper and a little olive oil then I dropped it right on the grill and it was amazing. The fish had a nice mild flavour and a wonderful texture (almost like chicken).

The filets waiting to be brought home.

Week 21: Cornbread Waffles

So I am a little embarrassed about this week's post, not because of what I made, but because I have to admit that I have actually watched a reality TV show :-( For the past couple of months I have been indulging in the guilty pleasure of watching "America's Next Great Restaurant". I have to admit I really enjoy food based shows and this one had the added bonus of people with essentially no restaurant experience trying to convince investors to buy into their restaurant concept. I really thought the grilled cheese guy would go all the way. Anyway, the guy who won got to open three "soul food" restaurants in LA, Minny and NYC which is pretty cool for him. 

Now to the point I was flipping through my mom's People magazine, I only read it for the articles, and there was a recipe for cornbread waffles from the winning restaurant, Soul Daddy. I figured I have to try it not only because I watched the show but also because Jamie and I love waffles and cornbread. 


It is a simple recipe and a nice variation for Sunday breakfast. 
1 1/2 cups cornmeal
1 cup flour
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 Tsp salt
3 Tbsp sugar
2 1/2 cups buttermilk
1/4 cup oil

Whisk all of the dry ingredients and then add the wet and stir. Cook in a waffle iron and enjoy.


I did not have buttermilk so I used skim milk and added 1 Tsp lemon juice per cup. Also I made 1/2 the recipe but it was a little runny so I added about 1/4 cup of extra flour.


Mark's thoughts: Very yummy waffles a nice way to change up breakfast. Great with maple syrup or honey.


Jamie's thoughts: Liked the texture could have been fluffier.


Luca's thoughts: Since Luca is only 10 months old he could not really tell us what he thought but he did eat all the waffle bits we gave him so will say he liked them. Then again he eats everything we give him so????

Cornbread waffles and maple syrup. South meets north I guess...

Week 20: Red beans and rice???

So this week I had several things on the schedule one of them being red beans and rice. Now I thought that this would be a great meal for us it has everything a person could want but in the end it was not really our cup of tea. I found a veggie version of this Creole classic on The Bicycle Chef. Since none of us (even Luca) liked this dish I will leave it to you to follow the link and make it if you want. I should note that this is not a case of the dish tasting bad it was just a flavour profile that we did not like. Do you like how  dropped the "flavour profile" like I was some host on The Food Network;-)

This week was also my mother's birthday and since they were going to be in town for a visit I decided to make her a nice meal. I made a lovely rack of lamb on the BBQ with a herb rub and a balsamic reduction. Since this was not technically a "new" recipe I won't go into the details. What I will talk about is the dessert I made. Now anyone who knows my mother knows she loves chocolate almost as much as she loves her 2nd son. So I wanted to make her something super yummy and super chocolate-y. I found a recipe for chocolate raspberry cake and it did not disappoint.

Here is what you will need

Chocolate Cake

12 eggs, separated
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa (80 ml)

Raspberry Filling

1 cup raspberry jam
4 cups fresh raspberries

Chocolate Mousse

2 cups 35% cream
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate, chopped
1/4 cup soft butter
5 egg whites
1/4 cup sugar

This recipe was a little intimidating when I first looked at it but once I got going it was not so bad. To make the cake start by preheating the oven to 350'C and butter two 9 inch pans. I did not have 9 inch pans so I used a large pyrex pan. It also recommended lining the bottom of the pan with parchment. 
Beat egg yolks and sugar until thick and pale, then sift and fold in the cocoa with a spatula. 
Beat egg whites until firm peaks form and then slowly add it to the chocolate mixture in 3-4 batches.
Add the batter to the cake pan and bake in the middle of the oven for ~20 mins or until it springs back when touched. 

The raspberry filling was super easy, just melt the jam and then gently stir in the raspberries. Since it is not raspberry season I used frozen berries and then worked very well.

Finally the mousse, boil the cream in a saucepan then remove from heat. Add the chocolate and let stand for a couple minutes. Whisk the ganache until smooth then add butter and let cool to room temperature. 
Beat egg whites to soft peak. Add sugar and continue to firm peak stage. Slowly add this to the ganache and mix gently. Keep in the fridge for an hour. 

Assemble the cake by putting a layer of mousse on the first layer of cake. Top this with some raspberry sauce and then add the other layer of cake. Repeat and you are done. 

Here are a couple of notes, first these ingredients make a boat load of mousse so either cut it in half or use half of it and save half for a snack the next day;-). Second, my mousse was a little runny so I would leave it in the fridge a little longer. Finally, the cake was a little underdone in the middle (might have been the big pan) so I cooked it for another 10-12 mins after it was done. 

Mark's thoughts: In the end it did not look at good but it tasted yummy.

Jamie's thoughts: I think she thought it was yummy but that the mousse was not that great.

Looks can be deceiving, it was much tastier then you think...

 

Week 19: Nutella brownies and Mothers Day

I have a couple of recipes to talk about this week but I forgot to take some pics but I am sure you have seen brownies and frittata before. I will start with yummy Nutella Brownies I made. I found this recipe on www.BigOven.com which has a handy app for my iPhone. 

Here is what you will need. 
1/2 cup flour
1/4tsp salt
2 eggs
1 cup of Nutella (how could you go wrong with a cup of Nutella)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup of melted butter, cooled slightly


As you can see from the ingredients these are low fat brownies;-)

Preheat the oven to 325'C and either line a baking pan with parchment of coat with butter. 
Combine the salt and flour in a bowl. 
In another bowl beat the eggs, Nutella, sugar and vanilla until smooth.
Alternatively add flour mix and butter and continue to mix.
Scrape into pan and bake for approx 30-35 mins. A toothpick should come out with some crumbs.


We had our brownies with vanilla and chocolate swirl ice cream. To help us enjoy the brownies we had our friends from the Son, Sea and Stars blog over for dinner. Here is what everyone thought.


Mark's thoughts: With a cup of Nutella and 1/2 cup of butter there is no possible way this recipe would fail.


Jamie's thoughts: She enjoyed them but did not like to hear about the cup of Nutella and 1/2 cup of butter.


Son's thoughts: Really tasty.


Sea's thoughts: 85 thumbs up.


Star's thoughts: Well Star is not even 2 yet so it is hard for her to tell us what she thought but since she was climbing all over her mom to get at the bowl of brownie and ice cream I will take that as a good thing.


Yarmay's thoughts: 2 tongues up.


AJB's thoughts: Down home good.




This past week was also Jamie's first mothers day so I wanted to make something new for breakfast. I found a yummy looking mushroom and poblano pepper frittata on Epicurious and thought we would try it out. Here is what it called for

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
8 ounces assorted mushrooms (I used crimini shiitake), thinly sliced
1 large fresh poblano chile, stemmed, seeded, thinly sliced into strips
1 cup chopped scallions
1/2 cup chopped chives
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
6 large eggs
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/3 cup crumbled low-fat or fat-free feta

This was a pretty standard frittata, I pan fried the mushrooms, pepper and scallions and then added the egg mixture. The egg mixture included the eggs, cilantro and cumin. Once this was cooked on the one side I put it under the broiler to finish it off. I added the feta about half way through the cooking under the broiler to slightly melt it.


Mark's thoughts: I felt that 1/2 a tsp might have been too much cumin for a mild flavoured frittata otherwise it was a very nice dish.


Jamie's thoughts: She seemed to enjoy it although I did not ask for her thoughts directly so???

Week 18: Thai Dragon Bowl

This week I dug back into the Rebar cookbook (because we just had lunch there) and took a stab at a Dragon Bowl. I have had "Dragon Bowls" at a couple of restaurants and really enjoyed them so I was looking forward to trying it out at home. Here are the ingredients

8 cups veggie stock
3 lemongrass stalks
3 Tbsp minced ginger
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp red curry paste (I used 1 Tbsp but it is up to you)
1 oz palm sugar (I used 1 Tbsp of brown sugar)
3 Tbsp soy sauce
1/4 cup fish sauce
1 cup coconut milk
1 lime, juiced
1/3 lb rice noodles medium width (I used skinny noodles)
1/2 block firm tofu (I forgot to get tofu so left it out)
4 kaffir lime leaves, shredded
6 oz snow peas (these are not in season so I left them out)
1 bunch scallions, minced
4 tomatoes, diced
1/4 cup cilantro, minced
1/2 cup Thai basil leaves, torn 
sambal oelek, on the side


Heat the stock and add the lemongrass, ginger and garlic. Let this mixture simmer for 15 mins or so then strain to remove the chunks and add the stock back to the pot. 


Stir curry paste, sugar, soy and fish sauces into the stock and simmer for 5 mins. Add coconut milk and lime juice and continue to simmer. 


Add rice noodles, tofu and lime leaves. Cook until the noodles are tender. At this point you are supposed to add the snow peas and the rest of the ingredients. Serve in large bowls with whatever sides you would like.

In the cookbook they offer numerous suggestions for variations, etc for the dragon bowl. I decided to roast a sweet potato and pan fry some shitake mushrooms. For the sweet potato I made a simple sauce with the following
1/3 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp sesame oil
1 Tbsp honey
1 Tbsp ginger
1 garlic clove, minced


I cubed the sweet potato and tossed them in with all the ingredients. I roasted this in the oven until the sweet potatoes were cooked. 

For the mushrooms I sliced them and throw them into a frying pan with some olive oil. Once they were just abut cooked I added 1-2 Tbsp of soy sauce and that was it.

Mark's thoughts: I very nice meal which was quite easy to whip off. I think it will become a regular meal for us I will just change the toppings for time to time.

Jamie's thoughts: Excellent!

Week 17: Lunch at Rebar

This week was short for us with Easter and a trip to the island so I did not get a chance to cook something new but we did go to Rebar in Victoria and so I ordered something new. I ordered this very nice spicy, peanut soup with sweet potatoes. I almost never order soup at a restaurant for a couple reasons, first who wants to eat soup at a restaurant? and second they usually have yucky flavours like cauliflower and vomit and things like that. Anyway, the soup was great and the little cornbread muffin that came with it was a very nice addition. 

Lame post I know but what is a guy to do?

Week 16: Sourdough and yummy muffins

This week will be a quick post because Luca is napping and I have some cleaning to do. I decided to try one of the recipes from the Guilty Kitchen blog I found last week and it was excellent. I made the Brown butter whole wheat blueberry muffins and they were super yummy even though I forgot to add the sugar to the batter! It was not until the muffins were in the oven and I was putting stuff away that I realized I had not noticed the sugar sitting over there on the counter. The reason these muffins were still great was the little bit of crumble topping you put on them. With this added bit of delight you do not even need to sugar. I have included a link to the blog instead of rewriting it all here because of my lack of time. 

Brown butter whole wheat blueberry muffins

Blueberry and buttery goodness.

Also this week I made some sourdough. After living with the starter in our bedroom for a week it was time to see how it turned out. First I made some yummy sourdough pancakes. These had a very nice texture and just a hint of the "sour" flavour. Later that day I made some bread. The bread itself was very yummy although we could not taste the "sour" we would expect from sourdough bread. I was using a red fife flour that has a strong, distinct flavour so that might be the reason. It is curious because the starter itself had a very sour smell to it so??? I have decided that I will try it again in a month or so when it has warmed up a little and see if that helps.

Whole wheat sourdough pancakes with maple syrup.

Sourdough in the works...

Just a quick post to say that the sourdough starter has been put together and is now sitting in our bedroom beside the baseboard heater. It will still be a few more days before I will know how well it worked but we are getting excited, especially since the Youtube video I watched for the directions talked about sourdough pancakes!!! Here is a pic of what it looked like on Day 1. The nice lady on the video said it would be ready to go in a week so I am hoping that I will be baking some bread Sunday.

Week 15: Sicilian Scallop Salad

I thought I should provide some more background as to why this challenge is important to me. As I said before I found that I was not loving cooking any more and that is a shame especially when I love food and when we have more cookbooks then your local Chapters and I always want to buy more. 

This is our stack of cookbooks. Amazing that we sometimes can't come up with something to cook for dinner.

So far I have found that I am starting to love being in the kitchen again and most of my "free" time is spent surfing the net for new recipes, ideas and watching food network shows on Youtube;-) During my travels this week I happened across the following blog http://guiltykitchen.com/ The first thing I realized is that my blog is super lame compared to this one. She has made family and food into an art form, very inspiring. I also realized that I had found yet another resource for great recipes. I will be trying some of these out in short order. Now on to this week's dish.

One of the cookbooks that we have owned for years is from the Moosewood restaurant. This week I took a crack at the Sicilian Scallop Salad. It was a simple, yet yummy salad that would be perfect for a warm summer evening but also worked for a cool, cloudy spring night. Here is what you will need

Salad
8 garlic cloves, minced
1 cup of dry white wine (I used a Chardonnay)
1 lb of sea scallops, large ones, cut crosswise
Mixed greens
1 red pepper, cut into rings (I cut it into lengths)
2 oranges, peeled and sectioned (I used blood oranges)

Dressing
1 cup of fresh orange juice (again I used blood oranges)
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Chopped basil for garnish (chiffonade worked well)

Start by adding the wine and garlic to a saucepan and bringing it to a boil. Drop in the scallops and cook for about 5 mins. When the scallops are done remove them and reduce the sauce by simmering for about 10 mins. You want about a 1/4 cup left over. Set aside and cool the reduction.

Place the greens on a plate. Artfully arrange the peppers and the pieces of oranges. In a small bowl mix the orange and lemon juice with the oil. Add the reduced liquid and salt and pepper. Toss the scallops into the mixture and mix well. Ladle the scallops onto the greens and drizzle some of the dressing over the salad. Top with the basil and enjoy.

Mark's thoughts: Very nice salad. The blood oranges added a nice sweet quality which might not be for every one. I was amazed at how well the oranges and the basil went together. 

Jamie's thoughts: Liked it, wasn't super filling. Totally agree with Mark's comment about the oranges and basil going together. We will be eating this all summer;-)

Scallops and blood oranges how can you go wrong with that?

Weel 14: The "real" week 14 post

So after consulting the calendar I realized that I had got a week ahead of myself with my postings so this week is actually week 14. Not that is really matters, I guess, but might as well stay on track. This week I made a yummy Kabocha Squash Cake with Brown Sugar Cream once again from Epicurious. Here is what I did

Brown sugar cream

1 tablespoon water

1/2 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
3 large egg whites

I did not have enough whipping cream so I fudged it with the help of my super handy Merillat app on my iPhone which gives you all these substitutions, etc for cooking. I basically added some butter to some milk.

Dissolve the gelatin in 1Tbsp of water and let it sit for 10 mins. While the gelatin is sitting around stir the cream and sugar in a pot over medium heat until the sugar is all dissolved. Add egg whites and whisk until the mixture thickens. They say about 12 mins I whisked for about 10 and was feed up so I quit. Add gelatin and whisk some more. Pour mixture into a bowl and chill overnight. 

Now for the cake. 

2 cups 3/4-inch cubes peeled seeded kabocha squash (from one 3-pound squash)
1 cup whole milk
1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise
2/3 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
6 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup lager (mild-flavored beer)
1 large egg
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt

Add the squash, milk, vanilla bean and vanilla bean seeds to a pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Partially cover and reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer until squash is very tender (20 mins). Drain and puree squash. This makes a lot of puree, so freeze the extra for another day.


Place 1/2 cup of the puree into a bowl. Add sugar, beer and egg and blend. Add flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt and beat to blend. Evenly distribute mixture among six 3/4 cup greased ramekins and cook at 375'C for 18-20 mins. 


I doubled this up and used larger ramekins and it still worked well. I also popped the cream sauce in the microwave just before we ate the cakes to heat is up a little.


Mark's thoughts: A nice surprising light dessert. The cream was excellent although I would even eat the cake without it. 


Jamie's thoughts: She liked the cake and cream but thought that it could use some more cinnamon.


Sherry's thoughts: Yummy, loved the cream sauce.


Josh's thoughts: Delicious, he could not even tell it was made with squash;-)

Cakes just out of the oven waiting to be eaten.

Weeks 12, 13 & 14: Making up for lost time

So I have been a little delinquent with my blogging and with my cooking but in one meal I feel like I made up for a bit of that. For this meal I made my own mozzarella cheese and made a so-so salad and I super yummy orzo dish. I will start with the cheese;-)

After watching some food show on Youtube and seeing someone make their own mozzarella cheese I thought "I can do that!" When I did a little search with the old Google machine I found out that not only can I do it but I must be an idiot for waiting 36 years to try it. There are countless recipes, etc out there but I decided to follow the one I found on Youtube. It starts with cheese curds and is so simple it should be illegal. I bought my curds from Little Qualicum Cheeseworks (http://www.cheeseworks.ca/) at our local farmers market. Little Qualicum makes awesome cheese so it stands to reason their curds would be good too. 

Yummy cheese curds. Where is the poutine?

To start I heated up some salted water to somewhere between 75-80'C. It is best to do this in a big pot and heat up more water then you think you will need. In a mixing bowl place several cups of the heated water and drop in your curds. After they have been sitting in the water for a few minutes they will get nice and soft so you can start mixing them together.You want to keep your water nice and warm so add more water as needed from the extra you heated up earlier. The guy on Youtube used his hands and covered them with several layers of plastic gloves I was smartass and used a wooden spoon and it worked just fine. Once you have got all your curds into one nice clump you can take it out of the water and form it into a nice round ball or multiple balls. When you are happy with the size and shape of your mozzarella drop it into a bowl of cold water to give it a firm exterior. You are now ready to enjoy your cheese.

Mozzarella hanging out in cold water bath (left) and about to be eaten (right).

Now on to the Sugar Snap Pea and Cucumber Salad I found on Epicurious. This salad seemed like it would be good and maybe it would if all the ingredients were in season and not from Mexico and China! Here is the recipe

1 pound sugar snap peas, trimmed
2 tablespoons chopped walnuts, toasted
1 tablespoon fat-free chicken broth or water
1 tablespoon walnut oil (who has walnut oil? I used olive)
1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
1/8 teaspoon cayenne
1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
1 English cucumber, halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices

For the sauce you mash the walnuts with a mortar and pestle then add to a bowl and whisk in the lemon juice, oil, broth, cayenne and dill and add some salt and pepper to taste. 


They wanted me to quickly boil the snap peas, for 2 mins, and then shock them in some ice cold water. I did this because the snap peas were from China and clearly not fresh but I think in the summer I would just use them as is. Now throw everything into a bowl, toss and serve. 


Mark's thoughts: Not the biggest dill fan so I would leave it out next time. Overall not that good although would be willing to give it another shot in the summer with fresh veggies.


Jamie's thoughts: Looks good but the taste was disappointing. Tasted oil probably needed more nuts.

Now that I look at the picture it looks like puke on veggies.

Now on to the main course, Orzo with Grilled Shrimp, Summer Vegetables, and Pesto Vinaigrette which I also got off of Epicurious. I should really try to find another recipe resource;-) This dish was money and really how could it not be with these ingredients


8 ounces orzo (about 1 1/3 cups)
6 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
4 tablespoons red wine vinegar, divided
2 medium zucchini or summer squash (about 9 ounces total), cut lengthwise into 1/4-inch-thick slices
1 red or yellow bell pepper, quartered
3 tablespoons pesto (store bought or homemade what ever you have will work)
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 pound uncooked large prawns, peeled, deveined
2 heirloom tomatoes (8 to 10 ounces total), cored, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (about 2 cups)
1/2 cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves plus sprigs for garnish
1 8-ounce ball fresh mozzarella cheese, cut into 1/2-inch cubes (made by me!)


This is essentially a pasta salad where you could change any number of the ingredients and still have a winner. The sauce is excellent and would go well with any type of summer dish. 


To start cook the orzo then cool it down with cold water, toss with some oil and set aside. Next you are going to grill your veggies, whisk some oil and vinegar together and brush onto you veggies. Drop them onto your BBQ and grill away. The length of time needed will depend on the veggie. Once they are done chop into bite size pieces. In another bowl, whisk pesto, lime juice and remaining oil and vinegar to create your vinaigrette. In yet another bowl, toss your prawns and a couple of Tbsp of the vinaigrette. Grill your prawns quickly and throw into the bowl of orzo. Add all the rest of the ingredients and toss in the remaining vinaigrette. Serve and enjoy.


Mark's thoughts: Excellent summer dish that has endless variations.


Jamie's thoughts: Really yummy!

Delicious! Note the nice big chunk of fresh mozzarella in the upper left.

Ongoing projects: Another idea

While I was wasting some of my day on Youtube today I was inspired by yet another potential ongoing project. I watched a lady make some fresh mozzarella and thought "I can totally do that". So this weekend I will be on the hunt for some cheese curds and will see what I can do. I will keep you posted.

Ongoing projects: Update

The other day I went shopping with the L-Train and as we were going through Famous Foods I took a look in their spice aisle and surprisingly found the crazy roots and barks needed to make root beer! So I bought them and have added root beer to my ongoing projects. I still have a few things to get sorted but hopefully in a week or so I will have an update about my root beer. I am hoping its "got bite";-)

Week 11: Coffee cake and yummy curry

Jamie thought the title was a little strange because these are two items you would not generally eat together. She makes a good point, especially since we did not eat them together but I did make both of them so I wanted to include them both. For your reference both of these can be found on Epicurious.com

First, the coffee cake. I made this because I was getting together with my "moms group" which includes two dads and wanted to make a yummy dessert. I chose a toffee bar coffee cake. Here is what you need


2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup (packed) dark brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 teaspoon salt
4 1.4-ounce chocolate-covered English toffee bars (I used a bag of Skor bits)
1 cup chopped pecans (I used slivered almonds)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Beat the first 5 ingredients until it resembles a coarse meal. 
Transfer 1/2 a cup of this to a bowl and mix the nuts and toffee bits. I would cut this back a bit next time maybe 1/3 or 1/4 cup.
Stir in the baking soda.
Add buttermilk, egg and vanilla until just combined.
Transfer to greased 13x9 pan.
Sprinkle the toffee/nut mixture over the top.
Bake at 350'F for 30 mins or so. Check with a toothpick.

Mark's thoughts: Super easy and very yummy. Would make again right now if I had more Skor bits.


Jamie's thoughts: Yummy.

Toffee bar coffee cake, enough said.

Now the curry, I made a a very nice Lentil with butternut squash and almond curry. The recipe called for walnuts which I had originally planned to replace with pecans but we had run out so, in a pinch, I used almonds and it was still yummy.

1 small butternut squash (about 1 pound)

1 large shallot
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons curry powder (or curry paste)
1/2 cup walnuts (see above for details)
1/3 cup lentils
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro sprigs
fresh lime juice to taste (optional)

This recipe is pretty easy and does not take that long to prepare it just takes a while to roast the squash and cook the lentils. 

Cut the squash into little cubes (about 1/2 inch).
Finely chop the shallots. 
Place shallots, squash, oil and curry powder in a baking dish. A couple of notes here, I used curry paste so I took about 2 Tbsp of curry paste and cut it with 2 Tbsp of water. This is where you will have to eyeball things. The recipe also called with salt and pepper to taste which seemed strange to me since you would taste it after it was cooked. I added some fresh cracked pepper and that was it. 
Bake all this at 425'F for 15 mins then add the nuts and stir and continue cooking until the squash is nice and tender, another 10-15 mins depending on how big you cut it. 

While this is going on cook the lentils. I used French green lentils but use what ever you have a around. You could also use canned lentils I would just heat them up first. I cooked them in a little veggie broth but that was probably not necessary.


Then add the squash, lentils, cilantro, lime juice and salt and pepper to a bowl and mix. Serve over whatever, salad, rice, I had some left over quinoa and it worked too.


Mark's thought: Great meal that was pretty easy and very adaptable. I could see myself adding some halibut or prawns or just leaving it as is. I will make this again very soon.


Jamie's thoughts: Excellent, just as good for leftovers two days later.

Yummy curry with qunioa.