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?