Lazy Lunch

There is something really comforting about Campbell's tomato soup. I haven't had it in a while because its not very good for you, but recently i was at Walmart (judge me if you may- i'm a poor student now) and they had a lower-sodium one on sale. I couldn't resist, so i grabbed a few for one day where i really didn't feel like making something.

I of course kinda jack mine up with a few added ingredients. I always add some spice, this time i used chipotle and a vache qui rire for a little richness.

I always whisk it because i like a really good consistency

Ahhhh, something so satisfying about this.

New Years Day Part Three

I had picked up a Williams and Senoma cook book from the library. There were so many interesting recipes, and i had a nice bag of shrimp in the freezer, so i thought i would be a fun occasion to try one out.



So for this one i was missing, two of the herbs (mint and oregano). It actually called for parsley too, but i stand by my utter disgust with parsley - it will not enter my kitchen. Okay, fine - i can improvise.




The rest of the recipe was shallots and garlic which i sauteed the shallots for a few minutes, then added the garlic. After that i was supposed to add some vermouth- which for some reason i had used up. I did have sake - and some white wine... that's almost vermouth right?

I added the chopped plum tomatoes (which to be honest couldn't have been a lot riper) This basically made a nice sauce, i added the shrimp and cooked them until they were pink, added the feta and let it heat. This dish was actually quite good, the sauce was awesome, and i had an extra baguette for dipping.

Chowing Down

New Years Brunch Part Two

My plan was to serve a nice simple nicoise salad. I was going to use the President Choice frozen tuna, grilling it for the salad. I should have realized that something was wrong when i couldn't find frozen tuna. I contemplated tinned tuna, and i really love it, but since it was new years brunch i thought it wouldn't be fancy enough.



I paced the frozen fish aisle, as my No Frills doesn't really have fresh fish - well they do, but i'm kinda hesitant, plus its usually just talapia. I finally decided on cod- not that it was suitable, its a little to mild, but i had cooked it before and knew what kind of quality i was getting.



This should have been a sign....



I wanted to enjoy my new years, and instead of doing a lot of prep, i cleaned and then just relaxed. I then figured i could at least hard boil the eggs for the nicoise. Well i was folding napkins, totally lost track of time and forgot about the eggs. I took them off and chilled them and hoped for the best.



Guess what happened: they were woefully undercooked and i had to redo them! The problem with that was, i had intended on doing an egg dish and i was running out. Fine, no egg dish.

Blanched green beans, tomatoes and potatoes




Cod

(and ingredients for the final dish)

I was kinda flustered, so i didn't take a close up of this one. It was actually very pretty. I was kinda obsessed with the symmetry. You can kinda see it in the top right corner.

New Years Brunch - Part One

This was one of those meals, where all though the final product was pretty good, it seemed like everything went wrong. My family confirmed kinda at the last minute, so i was designing a menu on new years eve and getting all the shopping done. Unfortunately there was no way i could pick up things if i forgot anything, but i tried.



I am breaking this one up into three posts - the first was my attempt to make greek salad skewers which i saw in some magazine and thought looked amazing. They were stood up in a plate with olive oil and spices. Very simple and attractive - should be easy right???

Simple fres ingredients



Here i cut everything up into similar sizes and was prepared to assemble the skewers

Well, i don't know how they did it in the magazine, perhaps it was because i used light feta, but they cheese just kept breaking into pieces. I make a few attempts at it - i was even very gentle and patient - but eventually i realized that there was no way i was going to execute this one.

Traditional salad it was.

This should have been a hint of some of the many problems i would encounter!

New Years Eve Dinner

I decided that i didn't want to go out for new years this year, so instead of rushing about i spent the evening at home with my cat watching film noir and drinking a lovely Amarone! Of course i needed to have something to eat, and i was contemplating just eating cheese and bread that i bought at the Junction Fromagarie - but thought maybe i could make something a little different.

Pretty simple ingredients

I sauteed the mushrooms in butter and garlic, adding lemon juice and red wine vinegar to create a little sauce. I then toasted a couple of slices of the baguette and poached an egg. I put the warm mushrooms and sauce over the toasted baguette, then topped it with the poached egg. On the side i had a few slices of cheese, some more bread and olives.

Not a bad way to start 2011

Dinner at Victors

I brought my chocolate bacon and potato salad over to Victors, and let me tell you there were in great company. There was a ton of food there - and actually Victor had emailed me the menu before hand - that is how organized he is!

Look at all those tasty items - salad, cous cous (with blue cheese) guac, grilled veggies, shrimp coctail!

This was the grilled pineapple that went with the ham

Carrots

Everyone picking at the duck carcas

Duck

(i didn't try it- i was too chicken)

Triple Bacon Threat

Often when i am cooking i am actually making a few things at once - for some reason i find this more challenging, but it involves me having an event! I was heading over to my friend Victor's for his annual post-christmas dinner, and he had heard about my chocolate covered bacon and requested i bring some. I had been planning on making potato salad, so i figured i would do both.

Of course i was hungry, so i thought while i was making the chocolate covered bacon and the potato salad, i would make myself a BLT with avocado. You know, just to tide me over until the meal. (and to keep me from eating all the bacon)

Here you can see the assembly. From left to right (chopped potatoes, bacon, cooking bacon, blt ingredients)

I thought since i was making the bacon anyway i would add some to my potato salad. I also used a little of the grease to give it a bit more flavour.

Chocolate Covered Bacon

Happy new year everyone - and what i great way to start off the new year, but with something absolutely amazing and terrifying. Almost as gross as the seven hour Man v. Food marathon i watched last night!

I am going to have to credit my friend Kristy for this one - she mentioned on facebook about eating some chocolate covered bacon, i had heard of it before, i think at the Royal Winter Fair, and i admit to be intrigued. The next time i saw her we were talking about how easy it would be to make. I needed of course an occasion.




I can't have bacon in my house - my obsession is so strong, so when i was invited to a christmas party i figured i could make the chocolate covered bacon and take it all there. I also made a cheese ball - you can see the ingredients in the back. (might blog it later)

Now look at this glorious sight - almost every burner/pan in use.

This is also a delightful sight. I made sure to cook the bacon flat and slowly this made them pretty uniform and a little caramelized. (maple bacon)

In double boiler i melted the chocolate chips


Once melted i dipped the bacon. I found it hard to control whole pieces, so i broke them in half


I didn't know whether to coat the whole piece or half in the chocolate. I did a mix of both and i think from both an aesthetic and taste perspective, the half coated were better.



Ready to party