Spicy Mustard Cream Sauce

Recently on a friday night i had my friend Adam over for dinner in exchange for him helping me retrieve photos and files from my old laptop that had died. Since i think i've only cooked once or twice for him i was able to use some of my old favorites - caesar salad and bruschetta. I was going to be adventuresome, but i ended up making pasta, which is kinda comforting on a friday night.





I picked up a great baquette from The Junction Fromagarie - they stock Thuet bread and its right downstairs so its a great option when i want something fresh and amazing. I used the bread not only for the bruschetta, but also for the croutons- there is something about warm croutons in a caesar salad that i love!




For the veggies this was a little bit of a whatever was in the fridge kinda pasta dish - which i think is fine. This one had asparagus, cremini mushrooms, carrots, shallots and garlic.

I was talking to a friend from school who is from Guyana, and mentioning that i like hot peppers, so she brought me these ones to try. I thought that the pasta might be a great place - spicy cream sauces have a spot in my heart. Adam isn't the biggest fan of spice, so i had to add this as a subtle heat. Not sure what these little numbers are called, but they have some heat!

I did a mustard cream sauce - using some of the fancy Whiskey mustard that my parents brought back from England. It was grainy and had an excellent flavour. I also added some arugula and Parmesan that i had in the fridge, the arugula to add a little colour, and well Parmesan... it was a cream sauce!

Dancehall Revenge and Sunday Brunch

On saturday night (technically sunday) my neighbours decided that they were going to have an impromptu afterhours party, complete with a Pogues sing along and a thrash metal dance party. This all began at 3 am. When i finally got up on Sunday i wrote my neighbours a small note, and then realizing how hungover they must be - made myself a nice brunch, and had a little party of my own - featuring some dancehall....

I actually didn't really have the appropriate ingredients, but i managed to pull this off. I used the new PC bagel thins, which are great, but not really to support a sunday brunch. I also didn't have any spinach for eggs Florentine, so i used rapini!

Without a great deal of sleep, i wasn't really in the mood to make hollandaise, and for one it seems a little much - even when one is musically inducing a hangover. Instead i made this sauce which is a mix of sour cream, dijon and horseradish. This was actually a good choice considering the bitterness of the rapini.

Didn't really make up for the aborted sleep or the cans of PBR i found all over the hallway, but it did cheer me up a little - and the soundtrack didn't hurt either!

Thanksgiving a little late

Yeah, i'm a little late getting my thanksgiving pictures up - a few weeks in fact, but here they are. We had quite a mix of foods, an although my bother had sworn off doing turkey she broke down and got a little one. I didn't try any, but i think those who ate it enjoyed it. There were also three types of pies... guess everyone wanted to bring pie... (i didn't)


Since we are such a traditional family, not only did we have turkey and squash, we also had ribs. For some reason, with my family ribs are a tradition.

The little turkey

Cutting up the little turkey

potatoes, pie and squash in the oven

Sauce and stuffing (yum)

The Sides

Israeli Cous Cous

I was at the Bulk Barn one day, picking up some nuts when i wandered into the pasta isle. I often buy quinoa there, but as i was looking i noticed something called Israeli Couscous. It was bigger than the regular stuff, and i thought i would try it.

What also encouraged me was the fact that i could get just a little - in case i didn't like it, and it came with attached cooking instructions. The cooking itself was really easy, but i didn't really know what i wanted to add to it. I took a bunch of things from the fridge and got to work.

I had some leeks, so i thought if i sauteed them along with some spinach it would make this more than a simple salad. I also had tomatoes and yellow peppers which i left raw. (in retrospect i would cook the peppers, there is something i really don't like about raw peppers)

The couscous was interesting, but to be honest it was a little to "pasta like". It was kinda rich and creamy, which is not how i think of couscous, but it was kinda cool. Hey - i think i had a cup of it for less than a dollar and used up veggies.... I'm a student.

Tomatillo Soup

Apparently October is tomatillo season, i have made so many dishes with canned tomatillos, and suddenly there are everywhere. On the long weekend i was enjoying the sunshine walking through Kensington Market and thought i would pic up a few things - and right there were all these tomatillos (the green ones this time). I had to get some more since i didn't know the next time i would see them!

I wasn't going to make enchiladas again, and although that salsa is really good i wanted to find out what else was possible with them. I poked around on the internet and didn't find anything that i was especially impressed with. I had them a couple of days looking for some inspiration, when i thought about seeing tomatillo soup on a menu somewhere in the States, but it had chicken on it so i hadn't tried it. Tomatillo soup it would be.

I cut up some potatoes, jalapenos and these spicier dark green peppers. First i sauteed the garlic and onion, then added the other ingredients. Once they were cooking, i added some veggie stock and brought it to a boil until everything was tender. I used my emersion blender to break it up, but i did leave quite a bit of texture.

Soup wasn't enough, and i still had some of the left over tortillas so i made some simple quesadillas with cheese, red onions, tomatoes, jalapenos and cilantro.

I also cut up some the extra tortillas into strips and baked them, using them as a crunchy topping.

Soup!

Haddock Enchiladas

I like fish, and i like mexican food, so at any opportunity i have i will combine them into a little something tasty - usually when i'm cooking for eric. I had been at the Orangeville famer's market the week before, and had purchased a few things along with purple tomatillos. I had never seen them, and to be honest i find it very hard to find tomatillos at any time let alone funky purple ones.

Unfortunately something is really weird about the pictures in this entry and i couldn't fix them, so i apologize how this doesn't flow - but the meal itself was really good and i think its worth trying... (if you can figure it out)

Above: Enchiladas ready for the oven

Four types of sauce for the enchiladas: guacamole, roasted tomatillo sauce, salsa and lime sour cream

Digging in!



The tomatillos - aren't they cute!


I mixed them with tomatoes, onions, garlic and jalapenos, tossing them with olive oil and cumin before roasting them on parchment paper. (easier clean up).

Once they came out they were nice an juicy, i just added them to the blender and pureed till mainly smooth

I had roasted the haddock in the oven, and made sure to undercook it as it woul finish in while the dish was heating and the cheese was melting. I warmed the torillas in my bamboo steamer because i like the texture. I cut up some tomatoes, grated some cheese and had a few jalapenos ready to assemble the dish.

Sauce, cheese veggies and a couple of springs of arugula I then added the fish. I rolled up about 6 and added them to the baking pan until it was full. I then added more of the tomatillo sauce and grated cheese. I covered it with aluminum foil, then heated it through, about 10 minutes, removing the foil and setting it to broil for the last two.

Once it was finished i topped it with some lightly dressed arugula and we were off!

Baked Tofu Dinner

As you've probably realized cooking for one isn't one of my favorite endeavours, but i do need to eat healthy, and now cheap food, so i have to make myself. This one was actually two lunches also, but was pretty good. The rice and the tofu took the longest, but i did manage to make rice without burning it. (full disclosure: it was a little hard). I served it with some toppings, cilanto, peanuts, green onions and sarachia sauce of course.

I sliced this block into two and marinated one with a spicy sesame soy mixture. I let this marinate for about half an hour, rotating as i went. I used the left over marinate as a sauce at the end. For the other half, i used another of my specialty mustards - this one a lemon mustard and baked them both.

For the rest of the meal i had my calcium rich staples - broccoli, bok choy along with garlic and onions.

Finished tofu.

Veggie Omlette

Due to my new budget there will be a lot of eggs featured in this blog. Eggs are cheap and easy, and you can do a number of things with them. This time i made a yellow pepper omlette.

I also had some tomatoes and mushroom.s

Ready to make the omlette.

Fried Egg

The life of a graduate student is full of excitement - well actually its pretty much all studies. I also am on a budget so i've been making a cheap and quick meals - fried egg sandwiches are a favorite.


My parents had come back from London and went to a fancy foodie shop and picked me up some gourmet mustard. So, although my meal was a kinda budget thing, the condiment was pretty fancy. There were three mustards, and for this one i chose the English Beer.

Three mustards

Fried Egg on bagel - with tomato, english beer mustard and greek salad.

Pho Dinner

I used to live in a Vietnamese area of Toronto, but luckily for me there is one Vietnamese restaurant in my neighbourhood - Pho Hung.

Spicy Leek Soup - Farm fresh

See those adorable carrots -my parents grew those in their garden. I was so proud of them. They also grew those little peppers, which were super spicy. I had to encorporate them into a soup. I also stopped by the Farmer's market in Orangeville in order to get a few more ingredients. This i guess was a leek soup, but i also threw in all the veggies in my fridge.

Lots of chopping

The peppers were so hot i had to pick up some cream to add to the soup. At the same time i also picked up some smoked cheddar and some really nice bread from The Fromagarie in my neighbourhood.

Cheese and bread - my favorite!

Soup with cheddar and bread