Month: November 2019

Crispy Sweet and Salty Maple Bacon Brussel Sprouts

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Crispy Maple Bacon Brussel Sprouts

Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Side Dish

Ingredients
  

  • 454 g brussel sprouts (1 lb; trimmed and halved)
  • 4 slices bacon (cut into lardons)
  • 1 garlic clove (peeled and sliced)
  • 2 Tbsps butter
  • 2 Tbsps olive oil
  • 2 Tbsps maple syrup
  • 1/2 tsp salt (or to taste)
  • 1 tsp chilli oil (optional)

Instructions
 

  • Trim and halve the brussel sprouts.
  • In a large pan, cook the lardons over medium-high heat until browned and crispy. Strain and remove to plate lined with paper towels, set aside.
  • Put pan back on the heat, add the butter, oil, and garlic. Cook until butter is completely melted and garlic is slightly browned. Add sprouts and salt, toss to coat with butter/oil.
  • Cook until sprouts are cooked through and slightly browned. Add the syrup and cook until syrup starts to caramelize the Brussels sprouts. Add the chilli oil and bacon back into the pan. Cook for 60 seconds, stirring constantly. Serve.
Keyword Bacon, Brussel Sprouts, Maple Syrup, Vegetables

And now for the details…

This is one of my favourite side dishes. Crispy, sweet, and hot Brussel sprouts, that are rich and satisfying. This is saying a lot for me. I used to hate brussel sprouts. Remember my thoughts on cooked cabbage? (Reminder: smells like farts.) This extends to brussel sprouts. Especially if they have been steamed. Blech.

However, when I discovered pan fried brussel sprouts for the first time, I was shocked at the transformation of this veggie from a mushy, flatulent predicament, to a crispy, caramelized bundle of joy.

This recipe pulls together sweet, salty, spicy and rich. Is it still a vegetable dish? Oh sure. But are they just a vegetable when they’re browned, slightly crispy and oh so goooooood.

Let’s get started.

Prepare the brussel sprouts by washing them, trimming the ends, and cutting them in half. If any excess leaves come off when you trim the ends, dispose of those, especially if they are looking a little rough. Prepare the garlic by peeling it and cutting it into slices.

Before we start cooking the sprouts, we are going to cook the bacon. Cut the bacon into small slices, also known as lardons. Cook them on medium-high heat until they are browned and crispy. Set the bacon aside on a dish lined with paper towels. Drain off most of the bacon fat from the pan, but don’t worry about wiping it down.

Next, add the butter and oil to the pan, then add the garlic slices. Cook until the garlic has just started to brown, then add the brussel sprouts and season with salt to taste. Stir the sprouts regularly, allowing the sprouts to cook through and brown on the outsides.

Once the sprouts have cooked most of the way through, add the maple syrup and chilli oil to the pan. Stir, coating all the sprouts with the syrup, and allowing the syrup to start caramelizing and crisping up the sprouts.

Once the liquid has completely cooked down and the sprouts are your preferred level of brown and crispy, add the lardons back into the pan and cook for one more minute to heat everything through. Transfer to a dish and serve!

Happy eating.

Fennel and Kale Salad with Grainy Mustard Dressing

Fennel, Kale and Potato Salad with Grainy Mustard Dressing

Print Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes
Course Salad
Servings 2 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1/2 fennel bulb (cored and sliced thin)
  • 2 kale leaves (destalked and sliced thin)
  • 4 small potatoes
  • 1 Tbsp mayonnaise
  • 1 Tbsp grainy mustard
  • 1 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1/4 lemon (juiced)
  • 1 garlic clove (shredded)
  • 1/4 cup Emmentaller or Swiss cheese (shredded)
  • salt and pepper (to taste)

Instructions
 

  • Wrap the potatoes in aluminum foil and place on preheated bbq or oven for 10 minutes on medium high heat. Place the kale and fennel in a bowl. Mix the mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, juice, and shredded garlic. Add salt and pepper to taste. Once the potatoes have cooled enough to touch, cut into 3-4mm slices and add to the bowl. Toss the veggies with the dressing. Serve.
Keyword Kale, Potatoes, Salad Dressing

And now for the details…

Okay, so this dish was totally another one of those “what do I have in the fridge” moments to bring something together at the last minute. I was having a friend over for dinner, already had steak on the roster, but needed a veggie to go with it. The result? A garlicky, creamy salad that has a freshness hit from the fennel, the added bite of the potatoes and earthiness of Emmentaler cheese.

If you have no Emmentaler, fret not, readily available “Swiss cheese”, as we know it in North America, is actually based on Emmentaler cheese. Because, yep, you guessed it, Emmental is a region in Switzerland. (Fun fact: did you know that the holes in Swiss cheese are known as “eyes” and if the cheese has no eyes, it is considered “blind”?)

Let’s get to the cooking.

Before starting to assemble the salad, we need to cook the potatoes. I used the barbecue, since it was already on to cook the steaks for our meal. But you could always cook them in the oven, or even boil them, as alternatives. I cleaned the potatoes well, since I wanted to keep the skins on, and placed them in tin foil, then cooked them for about 10 minutes. They were just wee, so they didn’t need much time to cook through. Adjust your cooking time as you need, depending on what size of potatoes you are using.

Now prepare the rest of your veggies. Slice the fennel thinly, and chop the kale into bite-sized pieces. Allow the potatoes to cool after they have been cooked; if you add them hot to the salad, they will melt or cook the other ingredients and the results will be quite different.

Slice the potatoes into little medallions, and add all the veggies to your salad bowl.

Whisk together the mayonnaise, mustard, vinegar, lemon juice, and garlic. Add salt and pepper to taste. I used my handy-dandy garlic grating plate to get a nice garlic paste going. If you do not have a garlic plate, grate the garlic with a fine grater right into the dressing bowl, trying to allow any garlic “juice” to make its way into the dressing. Next, grate the cheese, adding it to the bowl with the salad dressing.

Toss everything together gently, trying to avoid breaking the potatoes up into little pieces. Serve, and enjoy!

Happy eating.

Linguine with White Wine Cream and Clams

4 Comments

Linguine with White Wine Cream Sauce and Clams

Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 30 minutes
Course Main Course
Servings 4 servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1 shallot (minced)
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 cup white wine
  • 1+1/2 cups chicken broth (or seafood broth)
  • 284 ml canned baby clams (usually 2 cans, 142ml/4.8oz each)
  • 1/4 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 dash hot sauce
  • 1/2 cup cream cheese
  • salt and pepper (to taste)
  • 2 Tbsps parmesan cheese (grated)

Instructions
 

  • Sauté the shallots on medium high heat in the olive oil until soft.
  • Add the white wine, and cook down until reduced by over half.
  • Add chicken broth and clams, stir. Add oregano and hot sauce, stir.
  • Cut the cream cheese into smaller pieces, then add to the sauce. Allow to melt and stir into the sauce.
  • Cook the linguine. Add 1/2 cup of the pasta water to the sauce.
  • Cook until sauce coats the back of a wooden spoon. Add salt and pepper to taste.
  • Drain the pasta, add to the sauce, and toss to mix.
  • Top with parmesan cheese and fresh ground pepper, serve.
Keyword Clams, Cream Cheese, Linguine, Pasta, Wine

And now for the details…

This dish was a family favourite. We were introduced to it by a family friend when I was young, and it quickly became a special dish in our household. We had it often enough, that after a bit of time my mom would not even bother pulling the recipe card out when making it, she had made it so often. We had a tradition in our household that on our birthdays, we would get to choose what we wanted for dinner. The amount of times that I would choose this dish as my birthday dinner are innumerable. Not… because of my age… but because… I liked it so much… I can’t remember how many times… Okay, I’m getting old. Regardless, this is a special dish in my heart, and any time I’m feeling homesick or want some comfort food, this is the dish I turn to.

It’s also a fairly quick and easy meal to come together. So even though it was a special dish, it was still something that could come together on a school/work night in a fairly short amount of time. Pair it up with a simple green salad, and you’ve got yourself a great meal!

Start everything off by mincing the shallot and sautéing it in a large pan on medium high heat with the olive oil just until the shallot has started to soften and turned translucent. Add the white wine to the pan, stirring to mix.

We are going to let the white wine reduce until the liquid has almost completely boiled off. Just a small amount of liquid should be left in the pan.

Next, add your chicken broth and clams. Yes, I am suggesting to drain the clams, and yes, this is an opportunity to use the clam juice to increase the “clamminess” of your dish. But to be honest, I actually find the clam juice a bit too salty (I know, it’s shocking, I’m calling something too salty, call the press) and not as rich in umami flavour as using chicken broth as your liquid source. It’s also important to use baby clams in this dish. I made the mistake once of not paying attention when buying the canned clams and ended up with whole clam pieces. The texture is just not the same as the small, juicy bites of baby clams.

Stir, bringing the sauce back up to a simmer, then add the oregano and hot sauce. Just a few dashes of the hot sauce, we are not trying to burn our faces off (I mean, unless that’s what you are looking for, then have at ‘er), just adding an extra layer of flavour to the dish. Now is also a good time to start cooking your pasta so it is ready around the time as your sauce.

Cut the cream cheese into smaller pieces. This will allow the cream cheese to melt faster, and meld into the sauce a bit faster. A quick note on cream cheese: you can use low fat cream cheese, but I would recommend the full fat. The low fat cream cheese does not melt as quickly, and it takes quite awhile before your sauce looks homogenous without a whole bunch of white chunks floating around.

Let the sauce simmer for a bit as you stir the melting cream cheese in. At this point, your pasta should be fairly close to being done as well. Before draining the pasta, add about 1/2 cup of the pasta water to the sauce and allow it to continue to simmer until the sauce coats the back of a wooden spoon. The addition of the pasta water helps the sauce to thicken, and will help it adhere to the pasta. Give the sauce a final taste test and add salt and pepper to suit your tastes.

Once the sauce is ready, add the drained pasta to the pan, and stir to mix the sauce into the pasta. Transfer to a wide serving platter, and top with the parmesan and fresh ground pepper, then serve!

Happy eating.