Archive for ‘Courses’

« Older Entries  |   Newer Entries »
March 27, 2011

West Coast Salad

Sometimes an item on a restaurant’s menu can suddenly disappear because somehow, not enough people order that dish.  I can see why though because sometimes the ingredients just sound odd together… blueberries, strawberries, raspberries and feta?   In a salad?  With a citrus vinaigrette?  And shrimp?  The first inkling would be, ew, what a weird combination.

Oh, but it was so delicious, this salad that I had at Earls last summer.  Sadly, they removed it and it is not to be.

That won’t stop me though.  I made my own version of it and I just love the savoury, briny, shrimpy and peppery citrus taste.  In the spirit of March, and given that it’s still snowing where I live, here’s to Spring, a rare occasion, and to trying something new and adapting to new fresh and healthy flavours.

West Coast Salad
Yields 2 servings (or 4 small servings)

20 large shrimp, peeled and deveined
4 cups of mixed baby greens
½ cup of walnuts
½ cup of light feta, crumbled
¼ cup of blueberries, washed
¼ cup of raspberries, washed
¼ cup of strawberries, trimmed and sliced (optional)
1 tbsp sunflower oil (or any light cooking oil)

Grapefruit Vinaigrette
2 tbsp fresh grapefruit juice
1 tsp grapefruit zest
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper

In a large bowl, whisk together the ingredients for the vinaigrette until emulsified.  Taste and add more salt and pepper as desired.  Careful with adding salt since the feta will be salty as well.  Set aside.

Pat the shrimp dry with paper towel.  Heat a non-stick skillet with the sunflower
oil until the oil just starts to smoke.  Add the shrimp to the pan and spread them out without overcrowding.  Sprinkly salt and pepper over the shrimp and sear them until lightly browned on both sides.  Transfer the shrimp to a bowl to let cool.

Wipe the pan clean with a paper towel.  Heat the pan until hot.  Break up the walnuts into halves and add them to the pan.  Toast the walnuts until they start to brown.  Pour the walnuts into the vinaigrette.

Add the shrimp, greens, fruit and feta to the bowl.  Toss when ready to serve.

In my version I cheated and used a grapefruit infused olive oil instead of the homemade grapefruit vinaigrette.  Both methods yield a very tasty and robust salad that is both light and pleasing in all ways sweet and salty.   I learned a lot though through this one lovely salad and that while trying to stay healthy and in tip top shape, don’t knock new flavours that don’t seem all that normal at first.  For me, flavour has become an obsession after embarking on my lifestyle change.  This was a favourite for me while I was leaning up for the summer last year for my beach vacation.  I hope you enjoy it!

Posted in Appetizers, Dinner, Entrees, Fish, Fruit, Lunch, Salads | 2 Comments »

Tags: , , , ,
January 8, 2011

Soupe au Pistou

I hate canned vegetable soup.  It’s a strong statement, yes, but mushy vegetables in a bland soup base that suspiciously has a hint of chicken bouillon is not good vegetable soup.  Call me a snob, which I know I can be when it comes to food, but trust me when I say my feelings wouldn’t be marred if you thought me a snob.  Vegetable soup deserves more credence and should taste way better than the stuff in the can. 

Soupe au Pistou
Yields 8 servings 

Soup
2 medium onions, diced
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
3 large carrots, peeled and sliced into ¼ inch half rounds
1 sprig of fresh lemon thyme (or any thyme will do)
1 small potato, skin on, diced
1 ½ cups of frozen corn
3 cups swiss chard, trimmed, stems diced, leaves sliced into ½ inch strips
4 tbsp unsalted butter
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups chicken broth
4 cups water
2 tbsp sunflower oil
5 tbsp acini de pepe (or any other type of pasta)
Salt
Pepper 

Pistou
1/3 cup fresh sweet basil
¼ cup almonds, ground
1 clove of garlic
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt
Pepper

First, make the pistou by adding the basil, almonds and garlic to a food processor. Pulse until just blended. Turn the processor on and drizzle in the olive oil until the basil becomes smooth. Turn the processor off and season with salt and pepper.  Pulse the mixture a few more times and taste. Adjust the seasoning as needed.

NOTE: I made my pistou a little saltier since it would enhance the seasoning in the soup later on. If you approach it this way, make sure not to over season your soup.

Transfer the pistou to a bowl and set aside.Heat oil and butter in a large crock pot over high heat.   Add the onions into the pot and cook until lightly caramelized.  Add the carrots and celery to the pot and cook until the carrots start to brown on the edges.  Add the potatoes and cook until the potato begins to break apart and sticks to the bottom of the pot.  Add the thyme and stir in with the vegetables for 1 – 2 minutes to allow the herb to become fragrant. Add the chard to the pot and cook until the chard begins to turn into a vibrant green.  Add both types of broth and the pasta to the pot and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to medium and simmer for 10 minutes.   Check the pasta for doneness.  When the pasta is done, add the corn and season the soup with salt and pepper to taste.  Let simmer for another 2 minutes and serve topped with a teaspoon of pistou and bread on the side.  Store remaining soup in Tupperware (it will taste even better the next day). 

Posted in Appetizers, Entrees, Lunch, Soups | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , ,
January 1, 2011

Egg & Tortilla Pannekoek (aka Lazy Pannekoek)

December is a month dedicated to celebration by way of eating and drinking.  After Boxing Day passed both Chris and I were feeling, er, gross.  There is no simple way to describe it other than using that word, “gross”. The only other equivalent is “icky” after 6 outings with family eating massive quantities that the 2 of us cannot seem to metabolize anymore.  Noticeably, it affected our bodies and made us long for protein shakes.  We have one more dinner to go and that’ll be the end of it.  We are bound to be back on a cleansing soon but in the meantime we are doing our best to keep things light until we can plan a stretch of clean eating. 

Starting with breakfast, I made something I hadn’t made in a long, long time.  Someone from my work told me about this nifty recipe a few years ago and just the other day, I decided it was time to revive it.  I call this my lazy version of a Dutch pancake because of the flat shape it is finished in.  It is the easiest thing to make and if you’re late rising birds after a night of merriness, this is great to counteract with some of that merry consumption in a lighter format.  If all else fails then I encourage you to consult with your local Denny’s.  

Egg Tortilla Pannekoek
Yields 2 servings 

2 large eggs
2 egg whites
3 scallions, finely chopped
1 oz of light cheddar, thinly sliced or shredded
2 large flour tortillas
Salt
2 tbsp light cooking oil
Tobasco sauce or Louisiana hot sauce

Heat a large non-stick skillet over high heat.  Crack one whole egg into a bowl and whisk together with one egg white.  Add a pinch of salt and whisk to mix.  Brush the pan with half the oil. When the oil is slightly smoking, sprinkle half the scallions into the pan. Do NOT toss.  Pour the egg mixture into the pan and tilt the pan on all sides to spread the egg throughout the bottom of the pan.  Turn the heat down to medium high.  Arrange half the cheese over top the egg while it is still cooking.  Press the tortilla on top of the egg and cheese and cook for 2 minutes.  When the bottom of the egg is golden brown, flip the pannekoek over to brown the tortilla for 2 minutes.  When the tortilla is crispy, remove the pan from the heat and slide the pannekoek onto a plate.  Repeat with the second egg and other half of the ingredients.  When finished, serve with Tobasco sauce, or Louisana hot sauce, and a good cup of black joe. 

Posted in Breakfast, Dinner, Egg, Entrees, Lunch | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , ,
October 4, 2010

Slow Cooker Test 1: Chicken Dijonnaise

All right, that’s enough.  I don’t know the exact count but it has definitely been over a month that I’ve posted anything here.  I know it’s over a month for sure and hesitantly less than 3 months.  When I’m hesitant with the upper limit I know that it’s coming close to the upper limit.

Terrible.

The summer is gone, for which I am sad.  To take my focus off such a sudden passing I’ve enlisted myself in some home improvement: painting my main bathroom.  Although it has had substantially less traffic than the one in our master bedroom, the beige colour is wearing on me and appears dingier every day.

Yuck. Note to self, don’t ever buy your house and have it painted beige all over again.  Any shade of white will inevitably last longer and stay looking fresh.

Ok, so slow cooking has become a favourite for me.  I have 3 favourite cooking tools at home that I use 75% of the time:

1. The oven.
2. The rice cooker.
3. The slow cooker.

What do these 3 tools have in common?  They cook for me.  I just have to set it up.

I am a busy career woman.  More than I really should be for my own health and good.  About 90% of the time I insist on cooking for myself because I am convinced that restaurants don’t know what they’re doing half the time.  It doesn’t deter me from eating out but I really do prefer to cook for myself.  The only problem is tacking on the additional time and effort to my work days can be a bit of a chore.  The last thing I want to feel about something I love to do is that it’s a chore.  That means I need help and the 3 full time “staff” I have employed have served me very well.  If I were to personify them, I would kiss them all on the cheek and give them each a raise and bonus for making their boss’ life easier.

The employee of the month is the slow cooker.  I will give many thanks to my mother-in-law who bought us (me) this massive 10 quart slow cooker (Chris doesn’t touch this thing so it’s mine).  You know what?  You can’t do with anything less in my mind.  I might not fill it up with a full 10 quarts of stuff but I can sure use the room for 5 – 6 quarts of slow cooked goodness.  You always need room to stir stuff around and allow liquid to build.  Always. 

A couple months ago I bought a huge cookbook that’s about 2 inches thick with all slow cooker recipes. 

DSCN0458-1
DSCN0444-1
DSCN0466-1

DSCN0477-1
DSCN0446-1

Based on the title of the book it’s obviously a direct callout to me to challenge this behemoth book.  There are only a few slow cooker recipes I’ve ever enjoyed.  The major issues with slow cooker recipes are flavour and seasoning.  Do you ever notice that the food smells amazing when it’s cooking but when you taste it it’s so bland?  What an annoying trait to slow cooking. All that effort in browning, caramelizing and deglazing seems futile when the dish turns out so bland and oddly devoid of salt.  I decided to go on a bit of a mission.  Test out the recipes in the cookbook and see which one meets my fancy and then see if I can make it even better on my palette.   My first pick was Chicken Dijonnaise.  I read the recipe in the book.  It sounded like it would taste good and the last step of the process is to season the dish before serving.  That’s a good sign.

Here goes. 

Chicken Dijonnaise
Yields 4 servings

8 skinless chicken thighs, bone in
1 lb white button mushrooms, halved if large
3 medium yellow onions, halved and quartered
5 cloves of garlic, minced
2 cans of artichoke hearts, drained, rinsed and quartered
½ cup dry white wine
1 ½ cup low sodium chicken broth
2/3 cup Dijon mustard
4 tbsp sunflower oil
3 bay leaves
Salt
Pepper

Season both sides of the chicken with salt and pepper.  Heat a deep pot over high heat.  Add half of the oil and brown half the chicken on all sides.  Transfer the chicken to the slow cooker.  Repeat the browning with the remaining oil and chicken.  Transfer the second batch of chicken to the slow cooker.

Add the garlic and onions to the pot and cook for 4 minutes until soft.  Add the mushrooms to the pot and cook until all liquid has evaporated.  Add the vegetables to the slow cooker.

Pour the wine into the pot and deglaze the bottom, scraping up any brown bits.  Pour the glaze into the slow cooker.  Turn the heat off.

Add the bay leaves.

Whisk the mustard and chicken broth over the warm element until the mustard is dissolved.  Pour the mixture into the slow cooker. Gently mix the vegetables and chicken with the liquid. 

Cook the chicken on low for 4 hours.  Add the artichoke hearts 3 hours into cooking.  Cover and add 30 minutes to the remaining cooking time. 

Season with salt and pepper as needed before serving.  Serve over rice, potatoes or with bread to dip.

Now, this is my version, slightly modified.  The original recipe calls for cipollini onions but I used the modest yellow onion.  In addition, I added on more clove of garlic but I don’t think it did the dish any justice because at the end the dish smelled incredible but lacked a certain sharpness.  Nonetheless, the recipe has a ton of potential and is going to be a keeper.  On my next try I think I’ll add a pinch of thyme and extra garlic.

Slow cooker test 1, completed.  The result?  Pass. :)

Posted in Chicken, Dinner, Entrees, Slow Cooker Testing | Leave a Comment »

Tags: , , , ,
« Older Entries  |   Newer Entries »
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.