Brie & Olive Pizza

This is what I had for dinner today:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Quick-Brie-and-Olive-Pizza-106398

Made my own dough, though:

Curried Black-Eyed Pea Soup

Soup is the best dinner on cold days. This one was simple and got rid of one more item that's been lurking in the back of my pantry:

Curried Black-Eyed Pea Soup

My only real comment is that I needed to pump up the flavour but that could be because I didn't use bacon and substituted veggie stock for the chicken stock. Ian liked it... but he eats anything that I claim to be good for him, so I'm not sure that he's a great judge. ;)

Cheater's Dinner

Still haven't gone grocery shopping and didn't have much time between work and rehearsal tonight so it was a non-dinner dinner night. I don't mean to suggest that I didn't HAVE dinner, but it consisted of tostadas, tinned crab and taco salsa. In a weird way it reminded me of the amazing lunch that of ceviche and tostadas that Ian and I had on a beach near La Paz, BCS last April. SIGH!

Ooohh Ahhh Stir Fried Chinese Greens

Tonight's dinner was trout baked in a shroud of grainy mustard and gomasio, leftover Israeli couscous, and some incredible stir fried baby bok choy. It might sound a bit ridiculous, but Jamie Oliver's recipe for stir fried greens is one of the best recipes in my repertoire. It's the kind of thing that makes me do a happy dance (and I actually exclaimed out loud, "wow! I made this!" at the dinner table tonight). And it's SO easy! I suspect that the par boiling and maybe even the walnut oil are key. The lime juice gives it a lovely brightness that is a bit different than you'd probably get in a real Chinese restaurant.


Stir Fried Chinese Greens with Ginger, Oyster and Soy Sauce
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Source: The Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver
Serving Size: 4 (or 2 Christine-sized)

Ingredients:

11-14 ounces chinese greens, bok choy, gai lam, baby spinach (whatever you like)
3 tablespoons walnut oil
1 tablespoon sesame oil
1/2 tablespoon ginger, thinly sliced
4 green onions, finely shredded
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1 tablespoon soy sauce
2 pinches sugar
1 lime, juiced
salt & freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

Remove any blemished outside stalks from the greens. Put the spinach (or the green ends of the bok choy) to one side so that you can add it to the wok or pan at the last minute, as it cooks very quickly. Prepare the rest of the greens; I normally cut the gailam into strips and the bok choy into quarters. Plunge the greens into boiling water for about 1 1/2 minutes until just tender and drain well.

Put the oil and the ginger into a very large, hot wok or other suitable pan and cook for about 30 seconds. Add the green onions and the rest of the ingredients aside from the s&p. Stir, then add the spinach/leafy greens and toss so that everything is coated in sauce. The vegetables will sizzle and stir-fry. The oyster and soy sauce will reduce, just coating the greens. At this point season to taste. Stir-fry for a further minute and serve immediately.

Salmon Cakes and Other Things from the Cupboard

It's been quite cold this weekend and the snow started flying when I woke up this morning. So, another day inside hybernating was fine by me.

I'm still working my way through the cupboards and it semed like a good day to make a soup and/or bring out the rice cooker.

I made a pot of pigeon pea soup and used the rice cooker to whip up some Israeli couscous for Ian's lunch. This is only the second time I've made Israeli couscous and I have to say, the rice cooker method was the superior (and easier) one.

Dinner was salmon cakes fashioned from leftovers from New Years Day dinner at mum's. Potato wedges tossed with rosemary and garlic and olive oil and roasted in a hot oven completed the modern version of fish and chips. My only regret is that I didn't get out to buy any greens so I've had a bit of a veggie poor day.

The fish cakes were a bit of this and a bit of that but they turned out really well so I'll try to recapture the ingredient list:

about 170g cooked salmon, flaked
6-8 large butter crackers, crushed
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 green onions, finely chopped
1.5 tbsp fresh dill, finely chopped
1/2 tsp Keene's mustard (powdered)
salt (to taste)

Mix well and form into patties (4 small/2 large). Cover with plastic wrap and cool in the refrigerator for about 1/2 hour until set somewhat. Once set, fry in olive oil on medium high heat until golden on both sides.

Maple Banana Flaxseed Bread

I'm trying to use up all of the stuff in my refrigerator, freezer and the fruit that is turning on my counter. Dinner tonight is pasta with edamame and scallops (sauteed with garlic in olive oil). Pretty simple.

While cleaning this afternoon, I also made Maple Banana Flaxseed Bread with the bananas that were rotting on my counter. God bless my bread machine. This one smelled divine while it was baking and would make some pretty wonderful french toast, I'm sure, as it's not overly sweet. Somehow the walnuts stood up to the kneading process intact. Note that it makes a short loaf, likely as a result of the whole wheat content.

Maple Banana Flaxseed Bread

1/3 cup water
1 cup mashed bananas
1/4 cup skim milk powder
1.5 tsp salt
2 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp shortening or vegetable oil
3/4 cup whole wheat flour (I used Red Fife)
1.5 cups all purpose flour or bread flour
1/4 cup flaxseed, cracked
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp bread machine yeast

1. Measure ingredients into the baking pan in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Insert pan into the oven chamber.

2. Select Whole Wheat Cycle.

Source: 250 Best Canadian Bread Machine Baking Recipes by Donna Washburn and Heather Butt

Starting as I Mean to Go On - Whole Wheat Oatmeal Pancakes

Shh! Don't tell anyone, but I'm at the point where I'm sick of eating. Once my birthday is over and done with next week, I'm taking a month and not ingesting anything white (flour, sugar, rice, etc) and probably cutting out caffeine. You may as well do it all at once! So, this morning I made pancakes that weren't "white" and, much to the delight of the food police in my life, they actually turned out pretty darned delicious!

I think you'll enjoy Whole-Wheat Oatmeal Pancakes, too.

Lentil Soup... of a sort

New Years Eve and I've left the cooking to Ian. He made lentil soup, mashed sweet potatoes with parsnip, and there's a turkey in the oven at his place. He seems to have forgotten that I don't eat meat... the chicken stock in the soup wasn't welcome (sorry, but it's true!) and I saved him by having a Gardein breast in the refrigerator. The mash is good - something from the healthy cooking course that he took at George Brown College.

Not sure if it was the recipe (from The Girl Can't Cook) or the chicken stock, but the lentil soup was super insipid so I dumped a bunch of dried herbs, salt and veggie boullion into it and it seems to be much better now.

Unless it's a veggie minded person doing the cooking, holidays are pretty boring for us non-meat eating types. Grumble, grumble, grumble... at least I brought some decent wine and Ian is the DD back to my place!

Mrs. Puopolo's Granola

We're out at a party tonight so there won't be a big meal for dinner. Instead, I've decided to post my breakfast - an indulgent bowl of Liberte's Mediterreane yoghurt topped with homemade granola. I got the recipe from my friend's mother, but don't know the original source of it. The best thing about it is that it's totally flexible to your own tastes. You can change up the nuts and dried fruit, add in hemp and raw cacao (after the cooking is done)... whatever you like. This time I forgot to buy coconut so I made the maple syrup/honey mixture with coconut oil instead.


Mrs Puopolo's Granola

Recipe By: Christine Puopolo
Serving Size: 24
Yield: 12 cups

Summary:

This is one of those recipes that is more of a guideline than anything. Make sure that you have about 6 cups of oats/kamut and the rest is optional/included to your own taste.

Ingredients:

4-5 cups large flake oats
1-2 cups kamut flakes
1 cup toasted almond slices , chopped
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup dried unsweetened coconut
1/2 cup or more sunflower seeds shelled
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds (pepitas) (the shell-free variety)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup honey
1 cup dried fruit chopped if large
1/2 cup flax

Directions:

1. Combine the oats through the cinnamon in a large bowl.

2. In a saucepan, combine oil, maple syrup and honey. Stir on medium heat until the honey dissolves.

3. In a large roasting pan lined with parchment, drizzle the hot liquid over the oat mixture and toss. Pack the mixture down tightly.

4. Cook at 350F until golden, approximately 45 minutes.

5. Remove from oven and add dried fruit. Let cool.

6. Break into chunks.

7. Add flax. (Note: do not add flax until the granola is cool.)

Leftovers

Today's meals were entirely comprised of leftovers. For lunch, a seafood pasta dish whipped up on Sunday with the bottom of a container of sour cream and dill from the crisper drawer. For dinner, silky Moriccan spiced squash soup with lima beans from one of Gordon Ramsay's cookbooks. There was no reason to be lazy today, but it sure felt nice!

Cornmeal Muffins

I knew that I had to do something productive today so I pulled out the muffin cookbook that I had signed out from the library a few weeks ago and tried to find something that I could make from what was already in the cupboard. The Cornmeal Muffins turned out well, but a little sweet for my taste. I paired one with roasted sweet potatoes tossed with scotch bonnet sauce, baby bok choy and cormeal & sesame crusted ocean perch. The ocean perch was a bit on the sketchy side so I also doused it with the scotch bonnet sauce that I put on the sweet potato. The sweet of the muffin and potatoes and heat of the sauce went very well together. I'll have to wait until tomorrow to see if the perch was off or I just don't particularly like it. It was a new one for me.

The Year of Eating Courageously

I'm reading The Kitchen Diaries by Nigel Slater and have been inspired to keep track of my cooking and eating adventures. We'll see how it goes, but that's the plan for now.

Today I'm making chicken stock from the leftover carcasses that my sweetie has been storing in the freezer and my own very successful first foray into cooking a whole chicken. I'm using a Jamie Oliver recipe to start with, but chicken stock is fairly basic and there are a million good recipes, so I'm not going to share it here.

The whole thing is a bit bizarre for me since I haven't eaten meat myself for 12+ years. I find it very hard to cook without being able to taste the food, but I can remember that homemade chicken stock is far superior to the supermarket stuff you get and it's relatively low effort for the results.

Ian was surprised at the large quantity that I made (hey! 3 chickens make a lot of stock!) and the freezer which was formerly full of chicken skeletons is now full of stock. I'm curious what he'll make with it!

Marj's Village Kitchen - Alma Ontario

Ian and I do a lot of road trips - basically randomly wandering around in Ontario. It's often a challenge to find decent places to eat, especially if you're hankering for healthy eats.

We were directed to Marj's Village Kitchen by locals in Arthur. Tip #1 - always ask a local. Marj's is full-on home style cooking: comfort food, door stop bread, amazing looking baked goods, reasonable prices, and "kitsch-y" decor. Ian and I both had sandwiches (mine grilled pesto vegetables and his a turkey club)... and while they weren't exactly in the healthful vein, they were yummy and very filling, made with that home-made door stop bread. We should have ordered one small garden salad to share between the two of us as I barely touched mine.

As a bonus, there is a large antique store next to the restaurant, filled to the rafters with stuff heading to the local market. Wander around and you might find a little something to grab your fancy.

So, would I drive all the way to Alma (just outside of Elora) just to eat at Marj's? No, probably not, but if I was wandering around in that neck of the woods, I'd definitely plan my noon hour to be in that general direction. Maybe next time I'll even have room for pie.

Marj's Village Kitchen is located at 14 Elora Road in Alma, Ontario 519-846-0706

The "Fruit" of My Labour

It is noon on Saturday and I have just returned from the Toronto Brick Works Farmers' Market, loaded down with fresh produce. As usual, I've bought too much and am now trying to figure out how to use up everything while it's still at its peak.

I've also decided to finally get around to starting the Blog that Ian (my S.O.) and I have been planning for the past year - a place to share the interesting, unique and delicious food experiences that we encounter in and around Toronto.

Let's start with something simple: a photo of one of the jalapenos growing on my balcony. We're city dwellers; my balcony overlooks an alleyway that today is inhabited by two noisy little boys. I've crammed as much greenery as possible onto the little bit of outdoor space that I have and am thrilled that I've successfully grown some cherry tomatoes and jalapenos. I've also done some guerilla gardening at both my mum's and sister's homes... but that's a story (and photo) for another day.