Butternut Squash Soup

As its gotten pretty cold again, i felt like something hearty and warm - and what better thing to make but soup. I had bought a butternut squash a few weeks ago, and those things never go bad so i knew i would eventually get to use it. This soup was a bit of a mish-mash as i just used some of the ingredients i had left over in the fridge; half a sweet potato, some shredded carrots and roasted a head of garlic. I thought i would make it a thai curry soup with some coconut milk and then part way through making it i realized that i wanted to add some peanut butter to it too. I generally don't use a recipe while making most soups unless its one i've never made before and is really specific.

Normally i would have roasted the vegetables, but after my oven-fire alarm incident yesterday i thought i would give my neighbours a break. I stared with sauteing the onions and carrots to soften them, adding the red thai curry paste cooking it till fragrant. I then added the squash and sweet potato, sauteing them a little while longer. I added the veggie stock (low sodium and organic of course) bringing it to a boil.

Once the veggies were soft i added the coconut milk. I actually use powdered coconut milk - i often find that the cans are not only high in fat its often too much and i end up wasting the rest of the can. I also added the roasted garlic and peanut butter a this point. When you're using peanut butter in a soup i have two hints - first use natural peanut butter, a lot of brands have icing sugar in them. Second mix the peanut butter with some of the coconut milk to make it easier to blend into the soup.

Then i used my immersion blender and blended the soup until smooth. You could also use a blender and do it in batches. I then heated it through again thoroughly.

Above:

Soup
Roasted garlic (yum)
Ingredients
Ingredients chopped
Cooking the veggies

Fritatas and Fire Alarms

On this freezing saturday morning i wasn't feeling very inspirational, and certainly had no intention of venturing out for ingredients so i made a fritata. I had some of the leftover panchetta from the Carbonara that eric made on monday, so i used that along with some tomatoes, red peppers, green onions, and jalapenos. I sauteed them until they were soft, and then i added the egg mixture. For the mixture i beat two eggs, a bit of water, salt and pepper, some cheddar cheese and chopped basil.

Once i added the egg mixture, i allowed the eggs to cook, occasionally loosening the sides. Once the eggs were almost cooked, i added some of the left over buffalo mozzarella, also from monday's meal, then put in the oven on broil to brown the top and melt the cheese. I have a great saute pan that i got from a restaurant i used to work at, but if you have one with a plastic handle, you can just wrap it in aluminum foil to protect it, or leave the door ajar with the handle out.

Unfortunately i must have spilled something in the oven, because when i went to open it there was some smoke which started off a symphony of firealarms all over my apartment. So while the fritata was under the broiler, i was running around with a broom trying to quiet them. I ended up opening windows and doors to no avail. I finally had just one still ringing, of course the one the furthest from the oven and i was about ready to snap. Finally i did the reasonable thing; i got out my ladder (thanks Vic) and disassembled the damn thing. So much for a restful saturday morning with the paper.

When i finally got the alarm situation settled, the fritata was ready, and i was sweating from running back and forth between the alarms waving a boom. I guess i'll just call it impromptu cardio!

Above:

The finished fritata
My less than relaxing breakfast
The ingredients ready for the pan
Egg mixture
Adding the eggs

Quinoa Taco Salad

I actually only discovered Quinoa a few years ago, and it is a wonderful versatile grain, very nutritious, high in fiber and a good source of iron. It can be used as a side, but i prefer to use it in a salad mixed with lots of veggies. It has a sort of nutty crunchy aspect to it that makes it a lot more interesting than couscous or rice, and it holds a vinaigrette well, without getting soggy.

Quinoa is quite easy to cook, easier in my opinion than rice. You simply boil water, add the Quinoa, boil again, reduce to medium and cover for 12 minutes. That said read the instructions on your package first! There are different kinds of Quinoa, the white/whole wheat, red and black. The black is pretty dramatic as a side as the colour is unexpected. This time i was just going to use plain quinoa, but i didn't have enough, so i mixed a little red in it too. I think it was visually nice.

I decided to make a sort of Tex-Mex Quinoa salad which was pretty simple considering i tend to have these ingredients in my pantry/fridge at all times. I began by sauteing the red onion until soft and translucent, once it was done i added cumin, red pepper flakes and cayenne pepper. Then i added garlic and cooked it for a little until it was also tender. I then added the canned, drained black beans, chopped tomatoes, red pepper and jalapeno. I stirred that until it was incorporated and added the cooked Quinoa and the juice of a lime.

I served this one a mix of chopped spinach and cilantro and topped it with shredded cheddar/mozzarella mix for a little extra protein and because i love cheese. This actually made quite a bit so i will probably get not only a dinner out of it, but also a couple lunches, which is okay with me.

Above:

Quinoa Taco Salad
Chopped ingredients
Ingredients
Cooked Quinoa
Raw Quinoa

Mustardy Mushroom Stroganoff

I got this great cookbook i've mentioned before in the tuna cakes entry called "easy everyday" there are lots of simple recipes and they are generally for one or two so i really like making them on weekdays. The ingredients are simple and convenient, but pretty healthy. One of my favorites is this mushroom recipe

Ingredients

1/2 small onion, sliced
2/3 cup of vegetable stock (i use organic low-sodium)
5 oz mixed mushrooms, chopped if large
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 tsp of whole grain mustard (Kozlik's is my fav, and i use more)
1/2 tsp of tomato paste
1 tbsp of sour cream (5%)
salt and pepper

Instructions

Cook the onion in a covered saucepan with 3 tbsp of the stock until evaporated (5 mins).

Stir in mushrooms, garlic, s&p, then add the rest of the stock, mustard and tomato paste

Cook covered for 2 mins, remove the lid and cook rapidly to reduce the liquid to a syrup.

Stir in sour cream, then serve.

I usually serve this with couscous and a salad. The whole meal, including the couscous takes about 15 minutes. This portion is supposed to serve one, but i usually have leftovers and it makes a good lunch.

Above

Ingredients (minus tomato paste)
Weekday dinner
Close up
easy everyday book

Carbonara - Eric Moe, Guest Chef

In honour of Robbie Burns Day, my guest chef Eric offered to make me one of his favorite meals - Carbonara. I had never had this dish, and now that i was happily on the pork train, i thought what better a time. Apparently there is some controversy about how to make this dish, some puritans dispute the use of cream and the techniques. I had utter faith in my chef's version of the recipe, pure or not! This dish is also refereed to as the "coal miner's spaghetti" or "dinner"- and it was amazing!!!

The preparation and ingredients of the meal were fascinating in themselves, in some ways its sort of a bacon and eggs pasta. (i'm sure the puritans are cringing right now). Eric fried up the panchetta with onions and garlic, and made a mixture of eggs, cream, Parmesan and black pepper that gave the pasta the richness. Once the pasta was cooked and drained, he added it to the pork and onions, tossed it, then added the egg mixture. I understand this is where the controversy comes from - some people the cream is a sin, but Eric knows i like rich food. The egg mixture cooks a little from the heat and coats the pasta. It is served with a heap of Parmesan. Yum!!!!

It was really nice having someone cook me dinner, though i might have irritated my guest chef by shoving my camera in the food constantly, it was a great meal. The pictures aren't great, in part because of the speed of the cooking, my newness with the camera and lighting issues, but i hope it represents what a good meal it was. I thought since the pasta was quite rich i would make a couple lighter sides to balance the meal out. I purchased some buffalo mozzarella and made a Caprese salad along with some brushcetta. Of course we had a wine - i chose one of my VQA favorites - East Dell Black Cab. Its a Pinot Noir Cab blend that offset the richness of the dish.


Above:

Caprese Salad
Carbonara
Chopping up the pork
The ingredients
Bruschetta

Peanut Tofu - Lunch idea

I know a lot of people fear tofu, and really there is a good reason - its essentially a blank canvas, which is daunting. I really like to incorporate tofu in my diet; it is very versatile, is low in fat, low in sodium, a source of omega-3 and most brands are fortified with calcium. The real key with tofu is knowing what kind to use with what type of recipe, and how to season it so that it doesn't make things too bland. I'm going to try and give you a few recipes with different types of tofu so that maybe you'll be inspired.

For this tofu peanut salad i decided to use medium tofu, you could easily use firm, but i'd recently had a peanut tofu salad at a Japanese restaurant that used medium (or softer) tofu, and i really enjoyed it. I wasn't trying to exactly re-create that recipe because it was really just a mid-meal pallet cleanser and i was looking for something a bit more substantial for a take to work lunch option. Tofu is a really good base for these types of dressing as they will absorb and compliment the taste with their texture. Its best to make this a day before so it incorporates.

You can go out and buy some bottled peanut dressing, and there is nothing wrong with that, but since i discovered how easy it was to make the dressing for the Lime Peanut Noodles i thought i would do a variation on that blender dressing. I essentially used many of the same ingredients, except i added a little sesame oil along with the hot water and took out the sugar.

Lime juice and zest
Peanut butter
Soy sauce
Sesame oil
Ginger
Rice wine vinegar
Scallion
Red pepper flakes
Hot water to thin

I diced the medium tofu into bite sized pieces and added shredded carrots to give it a little more texture. The tofu is fairly fragile, so when i dressed it, i did it gently. I topped the tofu with some chopped cilantro, sesame seeds and a few red pepper flakes. For lunch i will be serving this on a bed of spinach. The extra dressing in the tofu will be dress the spinach.

Above:

Close up of the tofu finished
The ingredients
Playing with the new camera (indulge me)
Tofu - as packed in water
Lunch is ready!

Nectarine & Lemon Shortcake

One of my favorite things about sundays in the fall/winter, is cooking while watching football. I have this open concept set up where i can watch football really easily while cheffing it up. So usually on sunday afternoons i enjoy a beer watching football while making lunches for the week. (talk about multi-tasking!) This week, in celebration of the playoffs i decided to do something a little different and bake a tart along with my usual lunch-making. I have this really good recipe for a buttery plum tart which i really enjoy making, but instead of making that i saw one for a Lemon Nectarine Shortcake, which is really shortbread.

The really funny thing is that i don't actually enjoy desserts, but fortunately i work with all guys, so if i'm in the mood to bake, i just bring whatever i made into the office, leave it out on the kitchen table and within half an hour it will be gone. All the fun of making desserts with none of the calories!!! (insert evil laugh) I enjoy recipes that are intricate to make, and this one, like the plum tart, involves artfully making concentric circles with the fruit.

This recipe also required me to dig out my flour sifter, which i think i only use every other year, but my mom always had one, and i have no idea where mine actually came from, but i have one, and i know how to use it. The crust was a simple one made of all those good things - butter, flour, sugar and lemon zest. After placing all the nectarines on the raw crust i topped it with brown sugar and cinnamon. It made my apartment smell amazing - I hope it tastes as good, but considering the ingredients - how could it not!

Above:

The final product
Ready for the oven
Another shot
My sifter
The ingredients

Saturday Morning's Baked Eggs

d
First i'm going to start off on a mini-rant.

To whomever steals my saturday paper: Coffee with the saturday paper is the highlight of my week.
I have it delivered so i can just
reach out my door in my jammies. You suck.

Sincerely,
me

Okay - on a brighter note, my awesome sister just gave me her old digital SLR, so i'll be able to take a lot better pictures for the blog. Pictures totally inspire me to cook, so i'm hoping that they will inspire everyone else. On top of that my food will look so much better!!!!

So today, sans paper i decided to use these silicone muffin cups that i got a while ago to do baked eggs. My egg poachers had inspired me as they are supposed to be good for baking, but since they are sort of round on the bottom i foresaw a mess. I had one of those weeks, and i really didn't have much food in the fridge. I used some right-on-the-edge of gross mushrooms, grape tomatoes, green onions and feta. I decided to put a little oil in the bottom of the cups in case they stuck. In hindsight this might not have been necessary as they just popped out.

My new camera's gadgets distracted me from the lack of paper, and i just played with it while the eggs baked. Add a piece of marble rye and i had a tasty saturday breckie. (which of course would have been better with the paper)

Looking at the pictures i took for this blog i realized that my new camera is going to force me to step up my food styling game, along with polishing my cutlery better!!! The macro setting really brings out EVERYTHING!

Above:

Saturday breakfast
Silicone muffin cups
Ready for the oven
Fresh baked eggs

Non-meat meals for meatlovers

Growing up eating little or no meat, i've never really had the idea that meat makes a meal, but i forget for some people it is the focus on the meal, and everything else is just window dressing. Cooking for a crowd can present this challenge, especially when you have people (okay men) who don't think they could possibly get full from a non-meat meal. I have converted an number of people and made them believers, and Mike is one of my success stories.

On day two of our winter visit to Mike's cottage and after our massive surf & turf meal i thought it would be nice to lighten up the menu a little. We were so preoccupied with the first meal, we had to run out to pick up some more groceries for the second meal. I was wheeling the buggy to the checkout when two of our party realized that there was no meat, they were worried, but i had my secret weapons - pasta and eggplant.

A lot of people claim to dislike eggplant, and i think that's just because they haven't had it made well. I actually didn't really have a plan to make everyone who was skeptical about a meatless meal happy, and Mike was offering to cook up some sausages on the side, but i prevailed.

I think one of the fundamental problems people have with eggplant is the texture. One of the things i've learned to do in order to make people more receptive to them, is either to use the small asian eggplants, or salt the eggplants. After cutting the eggplant into discs i place them in a colander, coat with salt and allow the eggplant to sweat for ten minutes or so. This tends to take the bitterness out of them. you simply wash them off afterwards and pat them dry.

I decided to make mini deconstructed eggplant Parmesan to go with the meal. I lightly covered the eggplant with with a breadcrumb and Parmesan breading, and baked them till golden and topped with with a oven roasted cherry tomato sauce i made and a bit of Parmesan.With the veggie pasta in a rose sauce and a salad even Mikey was happy and there were no sausages necessary!!!

Above:

My eggplants

Fresh out of the oven.

Tuna melts - little bundles of joy

A lot of people have a very negative opinion about the tuna melt, this mainly stems from having really poorly made ones with too much mayo, little spice, hot dog buns for bread and plastic cheese. Some people on the other hand believe that cheese and fish do not go together - i would first of all like to challenge these people to a thumb war, then victorious i would make them my version of the tuna melt and accept their humble apologies.

When tuna melts are made well they are a great light lunch to make for a cottage crowd. People can simply help themselves to however many they want and even snack on them when they are cold. I like to use a good bread - this is essential to the tuna melt - i think that english muffins are great, and not too bready, but i also like Ace rosemary focatia triangles or their baguettes. Toast them a bit before you put the tuna and cheese on and back in the oven, this keeps them from getting soggy. (but not too much to make them break)

I tend to varry the main veggies/condiments, but i think that adding a lot of them takes away from the overwealming tuna and mayo content that some people don't enjoy. I always start with a base of low sodium high quality water packed tuna. My usual additions are:

Green onion or red onion
Granny smith apples (trust me on this one - diced, so crisp)
Diced carrots
Olives or sundried tomatoes (both make it too salty)
Pepper, hot sauce

The dressing varries on the moisture of the ingredients, but it is usally a mixture of mayo, dijon mustard and a little olive oil if necessary. Also i add a little of the cheese into the mix, which i think is a great addition.

Top the toasted bread with the tuna topping, add a slice of swiss and toast until golden and melted. The swiss doesn't tend to make a mess, and also keeps the tuna in place.

Above:

Tuna mixture
Ready for the oven
Tuna melts
A nice light meal (salad with humus and carrots)

Jarred Mandel - Guest Chef

When i'm out of town, i cannot possibly cook everything every time, and sometimes it is nice to get another person who loves to cook a chance. On day three of the cottage i was quite happy to let Jarred get in on the act and make us our final meal, a breakfast that used up the left-over steak and veggies. He put together a great frittata chock full of veggies, and also heated up some sliced steak left over from the surf & turf and peameal bacon.

I think frittatas are one of the most versatile breakfast/brunch items. You can essentially add whatever ends of vegetables you have in the fridge and cook up a really nice one pot egg dish that everyone will enjoy. The other great thing about frittatas is that they are good the next day, cold or in a pinch you can use them like a western in a sandwich.

Above:

Jarred's fabulous frittata
Slicing the left-over steaks
Eggs - a whole dozen!!!
Package of bacon
My breakfast - first time having HP sauce. (not sold)