1tspcapers, with brine, smashed into paste(if have omitted anchovy paste and Worcestershire)
salt and pepper(to taste)
2Tbspsparmesan cheese(for garnish)
Instructions
Slice the brussel sprouts thinly with a mandolin or sharp knife. Either in a blender, or a bowl with a whisk, mix the shredded garlic, anchovy paste, mustard, vinegar, Worcestershire, and lemon juice (and capers, if you're going vegetarian). Whisk/blend until fully mixed, then slowly add the olive oil, mixing well as you add. Finally, mix in the parmesan cheese, and salt and pepper, to taste. Toss the sprouts with the dressing and set aside for 5-15 minutes. On a grill set to 350ºF/175ºC, or on a pan set to medium heat, cook the prosciutto pieces for approximately 3 minutes on each side. Remove from heat, let cool, then cut into small pieces. Add the prosciutto to the salad and toss. Top with parmesan flakes and fresh ground pepper. Serve.
In my last post, we had a juicy burger… this post is the accompaniment to that burger. What goes really well with burgers? Coleslaw. But I didn’t feel like coleslaw at the time, and I had brussel sprouts that needed to be used, so instead, the brussel sprout Caesar was born!
The texture in this salad is more similar to coleslaw, but unfortunately, it doesn’t quite keep as one, as we unfortunately found out. The next day, the brussel sprouts had that limp, almost soggy texture that lettuce gets when it’s sat in salad dressing for too long. Not my favourite. So eat this salad on the same day to avoid that!
We start out with prepping the brussel sprouts. Mine were a little forlorn by the time I pulled them out of the fridge to use, so I needed to trim the ends and remove some of the exterior leaves that had gone a bit yellow. I used a sharp knife to get the brussels nice and thin. If you have one, you could use a mandolin. There’s always the option to use a food processor too, but I find the slice on those is much thicker, and not the texture I was going for.
Next we make the salad dressing. Mix the anchovy paste, mustard, vinegar, Worcestershire, lemon juice and garlic cloves. If you’re making this salad vegetarian, skip the anchovy paste and Worcestershire, and instead add 1 teaspoon of capers with some of the brine, mashed into a paste. Whisk all the ingredients together until fully mixed. Alternatively, you can add all the ingredients to a blender and blend them together.
Once the ingredients have been well mixed, start slowly adding the olive oil, whisking constantly, to allow the dressing to become a homogeneous mix. The mustard acts as an emulsifier here, so it will help to ensure that the oil doesn’t start separating from the rest of the ingredients once the dressing sits.
Finally, we add the shredded parmesan cheese. If you ware whisking, give this a pretty vigorous mix to help break apart the parmesan a bit to get a slightly creamier texture to the dressing.
Wait until you have mixed in the cheese to add your salt and pepper, since the cheese, anchovy paste, and Worcestershire (or capers) are quite salty, so we want to wait until now to do a taste test, then add salt and pepper to your taste preferences, mixing well. Then, we add the dressing to the brussel sprouts.
Mix thoroughly, then set aside for 5-15 minutes to give the brussels some “soak time” in the dressing. While we are waiting, we can cook the prosciutto (obviously you’re going to skip this step if you’re going vegetarian). I cooked the prosciutto on the grill at medium heat (~350ºF/175ºC), since it was already going to cook the burgers, but you can use a pan on the stove heated to medium heat, and cook the prosciutto for about 3 minutes per side. Remove from the heat, then let the pieces cool, and cut them into small, bite-sized pieces. Sprinkle them and the parmesan flakes over the salad.
Give the salad one last toss, top with some more fresh ground pepper, then serve.
1/2shallot(peeled and minced, can use 1/4 small onion)
1small potato(peeled and cubed)
4-5cupschicken or vegetable broth
2Tbspsbrandy
1/4cupwhite wine
1pinchdried tarragon
1/2cupsour cream
1/2cupshredded parmesan cheese
salt and pepper(to taste)
1/4cuptoasted hazelnuts(crushed into large pieces, for garnish)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350ºC/175ºF Set garlic bulbs in aluminum foil or dish with a cover, drizzle with the olive oil. Place in oven and cook for approximately 1 hour. Allow to cool until easily handled. Remove cloves from skin. Melt butter in pot. Add shallots and cook until just softened. Add the potato and garlic, stirring. Add the broth, brandy, wine and tarragon. Bring the soup to a light simmer for 20 minutes. Either blend in pot with a handheld blender, or blend in regular blender in batches, until smooth. Return to pot, add the sour cream and parmesan, stirring in completely. Add salt and pepper to taste. Place in bowls, sprinkle the hazelnuts on top and serve.
Hiya folks. Sorry for the huge delay between posting. I’ve ended up with a relapse of my concussion, and as a result have been trying to limit my screen time to reduce my symptoms. Since I do need to stare at a screen all day for my job, the blogging has taken a bit of a backseat of late. BUT! I think things are starting to turn, so I am going to be spending a bit more time putting together posts. I’ve had plenty of time to cook, so I’ve got a lot of content in backlog! I just need to get the stuff I have written down into posts!
With that, let’s talk about today’s recipe. A roasted garlic soup. This luscious, velvety bowl of deliciousness is so comforting and luxurious-feeling with ultimately fairly inexpensive ingredients (minus the booze and nuts). It plates really nicely too, so you can impress your dinner guests by serving this as a beautiful (and delicious) appetizer. Y’know… when we’re able to have dinner guests again (*silent tears*).
To get this recipe started.. we need to roast the garlic. This part is super simple, just place the garlic in some tin foil (or a covered oven-proof dish if you’re not wanting to use foil), drizzle it with the olive oil, seal the package up, and place it in a 350ºF/175ºC oven. If you want to make it easier to access the garlic later, you can cut tops off to expose the very top of the cloves before drizzling with the olive oil, but I don’t really find it all that easier. Bake the garlic for approximately an hour.
When the garlic is cooked, remove from the oven, open the package up and let the garlic cool until cool enough to handle. Then, remove those delicious little nuggets of roasted cloves from the skin and set them aside.
Next, melt the butter in a pot over medium heat, then add the shallot or onion, and stir until just softened. Add the potato, and stir until the potato is coated with the butter. Next, add the garlic, broth, brandy, wine and tarragon, stirring well. In the recipe I suggest adding a pinch of tarragon. For any cooking beginners, you may ask: how much is a pinch? Well, if you were to reach into your spice jar and pinch a small amount of the spice between your index finger and thumb? That’s about a pinch.
Bring the soup up to a light simmer, cover and cook for 20 minutes.
Next is how we get that nice, smooth texture. If you have one, you could use a hand blender to blend the soup right in the pot. I prefer to blend in a blender so the soup is soup-er smooth (yes I did that). If you have a smaller blender, you might have to do this in batches.
Once blended, return the soup to the pot, and add the sour cream and parmesan cheese until fully mixed. Can you use regular cream here? Absolutely. I just didn’t have any and going to get some just doesn’t seem like a necessary trip.
Finally, serve, topping with the hazelnut pieces, a drizzle of olive oil and some parmesan cheese, and serve.
Don't be scared by the list of ingredients, this is an easy, no-fuss dinner that spends most of it's time in the oven so you are free to do other things around the house!
10cmpiece of fresh ginger(4", peeled, cut in large chunks)
2Tbspsdried makrut lime leaves(optional)
1small onion(peeled, cut in large slices)
2Tbspsbutter(melted)
1Tbspkosher salt
1/2cupdry white wine(plus more if needed)
4medium carrots(peeled, cut in large pieces)
15baby potatoes(halved, tossed in olive oil)
1fennel bulb(cored and cut in 8)
1 + 1/2cupsasparagus pieces(tossed in olive oil)
2Tbspsflour
1/4cupchicken broth
salt and pepper(to taste)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425ºF/220ºC. Ensure bird's cavity is empty. Stuff cavity with garlic, ginger, and lime leaves. Place onion pieces on the bottom of the roasting pan. Place chicken on top of onions. Brush chicken with melted butter. Sprinkle with kosher salt and pepper. Pour white wine into base of pan. Place in oven for 15 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 350ºF/175ºC and place carrots, fennel, and baby potatoes. Lightly sprinkle veggies with salt. Cook the vegetables and chicken until the chicken breast meat registers at 165ºF/75ºC, about 20 minutes/lb. If the liquid evaporates off, add a bit more white wine.
10 minutes before the chicken is done, add the asparagus pieces.
Once done, removes chicken and veggies from the pan to a serving dish. Set the pan with the juices on the stovetop at medium-high heat (if minimal juices, top up slightly with more chicken broth). While waiting for the juices to start boiling, whisk together the flour and broth until smooth. Once the juices start to boil, slowly add the flour mixture, stirring continuously, until desired thickness for gravy is achieved. Remove from heat. Serve.
Keyword Chicken, Dinner, One Pan, Roasted, Vegetables
And now for the details…
Roasting a chicken was one of the first recipes I remember learning and being able to do on my own when I was younger. Roasted chicken is a surprisingly easy dinner to cook. And it displays nicely enough to look like it took a lot of effort to put together.
And you may ask, am I going to be a weirdo and name the bird like I did during Mo’s adventure? You know the answer. This little guy’s name is Fisher. He’s named after a recent song we did in RPM class, called “You Little Beauty”, and the artist’s name is Fisher. The moment I pulled the wee, three pound Fisher out of the fridge, I knew he was going to be a little beauty at the end, so the name only seemed right.
I am stuffing the chicken with some added flavour elements, but to be honest, you can do this recipe with nothing stuffed inside, and just some salt and pepper on the bird, and it turns out great! You may need to modify the cooking time a little bit, though, an unstuffed bird cooks in less time.
Let’s get to cooking, shall we?
Before we start prepping Fisher, preheat the oven to 425ºF/220ºC. We start at such a high heat to kinda sear Fisher’s outsides at the beginning to help lock in his juices.
Before stuffing, tie Fisher’s legs together so he can’t run away. Just kidding. Fisher is a dead chicken. He can’t run. But, we do want to tie his legs together to keep them in so they don’t splay out while he’s cooking and get all dried up. Unsure how to truss a chicken? This post provides a great step-by-step instruction to help you out!
Like I said earlier, you can get away with not stuffing Fisher, and just cooking him as is, with a little salt and pepper. But I like the added flavour Fisher will get from adding a few things into his cavity while he cooks. A lot of recipes will call for stuffing the bird with lemons or oranges… Citrus and chicken do go pretty well together. But to be honest, I’m not the hugest fan of the flavour of a roasted bird with lemon… Cooked lemon has a tendency to get bitter, and I don’t love the flavour it passes over to the poultry. I find it almost takes away some of the umami-ness of the meat. And so I’m going off-script with this one, and stuffing the bird with garlic, ginger, and lime leaves. No lime leaves? No worries. Omit them. I added them to play around and see what they added, and to be honest, the flavour addition was marginal…
Stuff Fisher with the chunks of ginger and garlic and leaves, alternating between them so they are spread out throughout the cavity. Before placing Fisher in the roasting pan, lay out the thick cut onion pieces on the bottom of the pan. We lay Fisher on top of the onions. These are going to lift Fisher up slightly so he doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan, or sit in his own juices while he cooks. Next, brush Fisher with the melted butter, making sure to get any exposed bits and pieces of him nicely covered. Sprinkle Fisher with kosher salt and pepper, then pour the white wine in the base of the pan.
Place Fisher in the oven and cook him for 15 minutes. While he is doing his first stint in the oven, get the veggies ready to go. Cut the stalks off the fennel, then quarter and core it, then slice the quarters in half. Peel the carrots, and cut into large pieces. Cut the baby potatoes in half, and toss them with a little bit of olive oil.
Remove Fisher from the oven, and turn the oven down to 350ºF/175ºC. We’ve got the original “sear” on Fisher and now we reduce the heat to roast him all the way through. The lower temp is also going to allow us to cook the veggies in the pan with Fisher, without burning or drying them out too much. Add the fennel and carrots first, stirring them a bit to coat them with whatever juices have collected in the bottom of the pan. Then we add the potatoes to the pan. I like separating the carrots/fennel from the potatoes to give the taters some space to crisp up a bit more. Sprinkle all the veggies with a little bit of salt.
If there was little to no juices in the bottom of the pan, add a little bit of white wine or chicken broth to the pan. Place the pan back in the oven. Now we simply wait. Fisher is going to cook for about 20 minutes/pound. The most important consideration is to make sure that the meat registers at 165ºF/75ºC when measured at the thickest part of the breast, not touching bone. If you do not have a meat thermometer, you can cut into a deep part of the thigh. If the juices run clear, then Fisher is done. If there is still some pink in the juices, Fisher needs a little more time in the oven.
Just before Fisher is done cooking, by about 10 minutes (when the meat is around 10ºF/5ºC under it’s final temperature), add the asparagus into the pan. Again, we are going to check the juices at the bottom. If they are low, top up with a bit of wine or broth.
Put the pan back in the oven and cook for the final 10 minutes, until the chicken reaches the correct temperature. Remove the pan from the oven when everything is done. Move the chicken and veggies from the pan onto a serving platter.
Place the pan, with the juices, onto the stovetop and set the burner to medium-high heat. You might need to tip the pan so the juices tilt to one end of the long pan. Let the juices heat up to start boiling. Yet again… if minimal juices, top up with a little bit of broth.
In a small bowl, place 1/4 cup of the broth, and whisk 2 tablespoons of bisquick (remember the leftover flour mixture we had from the Kraft box? Now’s the time to use some of it! Otherwise, plain flour works just fine) into the broth until smooth with no lumps are left. Once the meat juices start to boil, turn the temperate down to medium, and slowly add the flour liquid, a bit at a time, stirring continuously, until the gravy has thickened.
Remove the gravy to a gravy boat, and serve!
Happy eating.
And now… BONUS TIME!!!
My RPM members groan when I introduce a bonus, since it usually means a “surprise” extra 15-30 seconds of effort after everyone thought the heavy effort was over. Well… at least they used to groan when I was still teaching (waiting for COVID isolation to end so we can make it back to the gym!) Soon… *tapping fingers* soon…
In this case, the bonus is making chicken broth from the leftover carcass after you have devoured the meat of of Fisher’s body. I made the broth using my Instant Pot, but you can easily do this on a pot on the stove, you’ll just need to cook it for about double the time, topping up the liquid if it boils off.
After getting most of the meat off Fisher, remove the ginger, garlic, and lime leaves from inside his cavity. You can leave them there if you would like, but you will end up with a very gingery-flavoured broth. Place Fisher’s carcass into the pot, and fill it with water until the carcass is covered, or you’ve almost reached the “MAX” line on the Instant Pot. Add some onion, carrot, and celery to the pot.
Cover and seal the pot, cooking on the “soup/broth” setting for 1.5 hours. If you are cooking on the stove, heat the liquid up until it starts to simmer, then reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook for 3 hours. Once done, let the seal release if in the Instant Pot, then strain the solids out of the broth. I would suggest using a cheesecloth to getting the little uckies out of there and you’ll have a nice, clear broth. Place the broth into freezable containers and place in your freezer for future use! The broth should keep in your freezer for several months.
Whisk together 2 Tbsps olive oil, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, 1 tsp wasabi paste, 1 tsp rice wine vinegar, and 1 tsp shredded ginger. Dip the tuna piece into the olive oil mix, turning to coat on all sides, then coat with the sesame seeds. Set a dry pan on the stove to medium-high heat. Turn, searing on all sides. Remove tuna and slice.
Salad Assembly
Toss the lettuce with the dressing. Place the carrots over the lettuce. Place the tuna pieces over the salad. Mix the 1 tsp wasabi paste, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, and 1 tsp ginger. Drizzle the soy mixture over the tuna. Serve.
There is something so right about tuna, sesame, ginger and soy. These flavours just seemed to be made for each other. Add in the slightly spicy kick of wasabi, and it is a match made in heaven.
The best part of this recipe? It can come together fairly quickly, too, so a great option for a weekday evening.
Mix together the other 2 tablespoons of olive oil, 1 teaspoon wasabi paste, and 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar. Dip the tuna into the olive oil mix, coating the tuna on all sides.
Next we will be mixing together the salad dressing. We are going to whisk the 2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar, 1 tablespoon soy sauce, 1/2 tsp powdered chicken stock, 2 tablespoons olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon sesame oil, 1 teaspoon grated ginger, 1 grated garlic clove, and some fresh ground pepper. I added some sesame seeds to the dressing as well for added texture.
Sprinkle sesame seeds over all the sides of the tuna. Place the tuna on a pan heated to medium-high heat, and turn the piece of tuna every couple minutes, searing the tuna on all sides. Remove the tuna and slice the tuna into pieces.
Toss the lettuce with the salad dressing in a large serving platter. Place the carrots over the lettuce. Top with the tuna pieces.
Finally, whisk together the 1 teaspoon wasabi paste, 1 tablespoon soy sauce and 1 teaspoon grated ginger, and drizzle over the tuna. Serve immediately.
1medium sized butternut squash(peeled, cored and cut into chunks)
2Tbspolive oil
1tspground cumin
1/4tspcinnamon
1tspcane sugar(can use regular sugar)
1/4tspsalt
1/8tspcayenne pepper
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425ºF/220ºC. Place the squash pieces into a bowl. Drizzle with olive oil. Sprinkle the spices over the squash. Toss the squash pieces to even cover the pieces with oil and spices. Lay out onto a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet in a single layer. Place in oven for 10 minutes. Take out of oven, flip the pieces and place back in the oven for another 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve.
Always wanted to try making butternut squash, but not sure what to do with it? There are a number different options for butternut squash, you can mash it, turn it into soup, stuff it into ravioli… but one of my favourite ways to eat this squash is just by simply oven roasting it with some spices.
I haven’t had butternut squash in the house for quite awhile… the last time I made it, I dropped one of the raw pieces on the ground before they made it into the oven. And our dog swooped in and grabbed it, and ran off. Pretty normal for him, he loves vegetables (kale stalks are his favourite). But he also normally CHEWS before he swallows. Not so this time. Which resulted in a a sleepover for him at the animal hospital, and a very expensive vet bill for us… Thankfully, everyone’s okay, and needless to say, I was extremely careful to make sure none of the pieces fell on the floor this time.
Preheat your oven to 425ºF/220ºC.
We start by cutting the squash in half and scooping the seeds and guts out. Next, peel the skin off the squash. I find it is easier to do this by cutting the squash into quarters. If you find it really difficult, you can throw the squash pieces into the microwave for a minute or two to start the cooking process, which will really soften the flesh and make it easier to peel the skin off. Oh man… I just spent the day binge watching Criminal Minds, and that last sentence creeped me out a little bit…
Once the squash is peeled, cut it into cubes, about 1″ in size. Place those cubes in a medium sized mixing bowl. Drizzle with the olive oil. Then sprinkle the squash pieces with the spices, salt, and sugar. Mix well until the pieces have been thoroughly coated with oil and spices.
Next, lay parchment paper down on a large cookie sheet. Then lay the squash pieces in a single layer on the sheet. Place the squash in the oven for 10 minutes.
Take the squash out of the oven and turn the pieces over, then place back in the oven for another 10 minutes, or until the squash is tender and has caramelized/browned slightly.
Set a pot of heavily salted water to boiling. Cook the ravioli according to instructions.
At the same time, place the butter in a large pan. Allow to melt and heat until it starts to foam. Add the garlic and cook until butter and garlic has started to brown. Add the broth and allow to cook down. Just before the ravioli is done cooking, add 1/2 cup of the pasta water to the pan, allow to reduce.
Using a slotted spoon, transfer the ravioli from the water to the pan. Cook until the liquid is completely reduced and the ravioli just starts to brown in the pan.
While the ravioli is cooking, place the broccoli in the pasta water and blanch until just cooked. Remove everything from the stove, sprinkle the toasted pecans and the parmesan cheese over the ravioli. Serve.
Keyword Broccoli, Butter, Dinner, Pasta
And now for the details…
Here we are at day 11 of 14 of the daily post during my personal quarantine challenge. Today’s post is fairly simple, and will rely heavily on another’s production. In this case… I am relying on the fabulous production of Let’s Pasta. It seemed only appropriate that I go with an Alberta producer. We are probably going to be relying heavily on items produced closer to home in the next little while, so I used pasta obtained from a local company, and paired it with a beer that is also locally obtained, from the Establishment. In this case, the pairing I chose was with the Sky Rocket, version V. It was the perfect pairing with this brown butter sauced Lobster, Shrimp & Lemon ravioli from Let’s Pasta. The richness and potency of flavour of the pasta and sauce paired beautifully with the citrusy, fresh, and slightly bitter flavour of the NEIPA.
Let’s get to cooking, shall we? I may or may not strongly suggest the influence of the beer while you are cooking *raised eyebrows*
We start everything off by boiling a pot of water. This water is going to be for your pasta. While that pot is starting to boil, heat the butter in a large pan.
Heat the butter until it starts to foam. What does this mean exactly? Hopefully the next photo will help bring some clarity to what the butter looks like as it foams.
Now I jumped the gun just a little bit here; I added by garlic a little early. Wait until your butter starts to foam, then add your garlic. Next, cook the garlic and butter until they brown. Add the dash of tarragon. As soon as the butter and garlic brown, add the broth, and 1/2 cup of the pasta water, and allow this liquid to boil down to at least half.
Next, add the pasta to the pan. Use a wire strainer to pull the ravioli out of the water and drain before placing in the pan. Then, stir the pasta into the sauce until coated well, and cook down until almost no liquid remains and the ravioli starts to brown slightly.
Add he broccoli to the already simmering pasta water in order to blanch/steam the broccoli.
Sprinkle the chopped, toasted pecans over the pasta, as well as the shredded parmesan cheese.
Finally, plate the pasta and the broccoli, serve with the deliciously paired SRV 🙂
1large piece white fish(approximately 8 oz, mahi-mahi, cod, halibut, etc.)
4Tbspsolive oil
6shallots(peeled and sliced to 1 cm pieces)
4medium carrots(cut into large pieces)
1fennel bulb(trimmed and cut into eight)
1/4tspdried thyme
12baby potatoes(halved)
3garlic cloves(shredded)
2Tbspsmayonnaise
2tspsdijon mustard
1/2cuppecans(roasted and cut into small pieces)
salt and pepper(to taste)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425ºF/220ºC. Place parchment paper on a large cookie sheet. Place potatoes in one corner of cookie sheet, drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and sprinkle with salt. Place carrots and shallots in another corner of cookie sheet, drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, sprinkle with salt, pepper, and thyme. Place pan in oven for 5 minutes. Remove, stir, place back in oven for 5 minutes. Remove, stir (potatoes and vegetables separate), place back in oven for 5 minutes. Place fish on cookie sheet. Mix together mayonnaise, dijon, and garlic cloves. Spread over fish. Sprinkle nuts over the fish. Stir fennel in with shallots and carrots. Place back in oven for 5 minutes. Remove, stir (potatoes and vegetables separate), place back in oven for 5 minutes. Check that fish is cooked to 145ºF/65ºC.
Keyword Carrot, Dinner, Fish, Potatoes, Shallots
Now for the details…
Day 9 of 14. Today’s daily recipe was inspired by friends of ours, who actually were the patrons of our most recent batch of groceries (in other words, they went out and got us groceries and dropped them off for us on our doorstep. We waved at them through the window!) Well before all this whole isolation-stay-at-home-to-flatten-the-curve had started, we had been talking about doing a cooking class to go through some basics. The first “theme” that my friend Andrea had suggested was “stuff you roast in the oven and learn to do other stuff with the oven real good too”. Fair. Being a Zoolander fan, this theme truly spoke to me.
And so, for our first ever (though virtual, cause we need to social distance y’all!) cooking class today, we did a one pan meal of pecan-crusted fish, roasted potatoes, and vegetables.
Let’s get started, shall we?
We start by preheating the oven to 425ºF/220ºC. When the oven is preheated, place the pecans in a pan in the oven and cook for 3-5 minutes or until the pecans are toasted, but not burnt. Set aside and let the pecans cool.
Next, we move on to prepping our vegetables. We will keep our potatoes separate from the rest of the veggies. We do this in order to allow the potatoes to dry out slightly and get nice and brown and crispy. Cut the baby potatoes in half. Place them in one corner of a parchment-lined cookie sheet, then drizzle with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Stir a bit to coat all that potatoey-goodness with oil, then sprinkle with salt.
Next, peel your carrots and cut into large chunks, about 1 1/2″ or 3 cm. Peel the shallots and cut into large slices. In another corner of your cookie sheet, place the carrots and shallots. Drizzle with the other 2 tablespoons of olive oil, and stir. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and the dried thyme. Place the cookie sheet in the oven for 5 minutes.
This will get the cooking started. But after 5 minutes, take the cookie sheet out of the oven, and stir (potatoes and veggies separate!) then place back in the oven for another 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and stir again, then place back into the oven for another 5 minutes.
Remove from the oven, and stir the fennel into the veggies. Then place the fish onto an open space on the cookie sheet. I used mahi-mahi (again, we had some in the freezer that we bought out of the back of some dude’s truck), but any fillet of white fish should work.
We are going to dress our fish before placing back in the oven. Mix together the shredded garlic, mayo and mustard. Spread the sauce over the fish and smooth evenly over the fillets.
Next, chop the pecans and sprinkle them over the fish. Place the cookie sheet back into the oven and cook for 5 minutes. Remove one last time, stirring the potatoes, and the vegetables. If the vegetables seem a bit dry , drizzle a bit more olive oil over top. Place back in the oven for 5 more minutes, or until the fish registers at 145ºF/65ºC.
Slice the cucumber and shallots very thin. Place in a bowl, and mix in the parsley, shallots, and avocados. Add the orange juice, vinegar, and oil. Mix well, then stay and pepper to taste. Serve.
Well folks, we are over halfway through the quarantine 14 day challenge, coming into day 8.
Today’s recipe is nice and simple. And since spring is attempting to be upon us, and warmer weather is around the corner, I figured it was appropriate to share a recipe that really could be likened to summer in a bowl. It’s nice and fresh, with a citrus kick from the orange juice, and richness provided from the avocado.
I use my Japanese knife for slicing the vegetables super thin. A quick sidebar for how much I love my Japanese knife… I really love this knife. And it’s not just because it was a gift from my grandma (a gift given with a coin, so as not to sever our relationship). Well maybe it’s partially because it was a gift from my grandma. But also… because the knife is beautiful. And works so well. I have only sharpened it once in the almost six years of owning it, and it is incredibly sharp (as the ends of fingers I have almost sliced off can attest). The knife is from a line called Kumo, for cloud, which is what the pattern on the knife seems to exhibit. Japanese knives have a different angle than traditional western blades, and are sharper than western blades, which makes them great for slicing things very thinly. It’s an awesome knife.
If you don’t have a super sharp Japanese blade? Well, a mandolin could also work. Or as sharp a knife as you may have. Maybe you just have better knife skills than I do. Possible. My knife skills could use work (as the ends of fingers I have almost sliced off can attest).
Cut the cucumber as thin as you can. Same with the shallot. Add them and the parsley to a bowl.
Toss the vegetables together, and add the avocado.
Squeeze the orange juice in, add the vinegar and oil, then add the salt and pepper to your flavour preference, and serve. It is that easy.
Heat oven to 200ºC/400ºF. Place shallot slices on large cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Drizzle with 3 tablespoons olive oil. Place in oven for 7 minutes. Remove and flip. Place back in oven for 5-7 minutes.
Remove and add celery and apples, mixing to coat all with oil. Place back in oven for 5 minutes.
Sprinkle kale over other fruit/vegetables, place back in oven for 3-8 minutes or until kale has softened, but not turned crispy.
Mix together currants, vinegar, syrup, mustard, 2 tablespoons of oil and salt.
Remove fruit/vegetables from sheet to serving dish. Drizzle with vinaigrette. Sprinkle with walnuts. Serve.
Back for day two of the 14-day-quarantine-recipe-posting-challenge.
Today’s recipe is a warm kale salad. This is a great recipe to throw together when you don’t want to have to spend a whole lot of time thinking about what you are putting together or spend time babysitting a recipe. Yes, there are many removals and adds back into the oven, but as long as you have cut and prepared everything in advance, you can move pretty quickly through each step and use the time in between to either prepare the other elements of your menu, or sip some wine. Or both? Wine not.
If you are normally not a fan of kale, this may be a good recipe to try. Fresh kale definitely has a bite to it that a lot of people find unappealing. To be honest, I really enjoy it, but my tastes in food might be questionable; I’m the one who hates pancakes and French toast, remember? Because we cook the kale for a short time in this recipe, it will soften the kale, as well as cut down the bitterness a little bit. If you have not enjoyed fresh kale salad recipes in the past, give this a try, you might be pleasantly surprised. But if this still is not the recipe for you, I can entirely understand. Kale isn’t for everyone.
For this recipe, I got a chance to use purple, or Redbor, kale. It is what was provided to me by that incredibly generous friend I mentioned in the last post who dropped off a slew of fresh produce for me to use! I viewed this as a sort of Mystery Box cooking challenge, where the ingredients she provided were my “basket”, and now I am finding recipes to use these ingredients for the rest of the week! If you can’t find Redbor kale, fret not. Green, curly kale or dinosaur kale will work just as well.
Let’s get to cooking.
Start out by heating the oven to 200ºC/400ºF. While the oven is heating, slice the shallots fairly thick, maybe ~5mm (3/8″). We want them fairly thick, because we will be turning them over halfway through, and thinly sliced shallots are just going to flop apart when you try to turn them over. Lay them flat on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, and then drizzle with 3 tablespoons of the olive oil, flipping or lifting the pieces if you need, to ensure they are well coated with the oil. Once the oven has heated up, place the sheet in oven and cook for 7 minutes.
While the shallots are cooking, prepare the rest of the ingredients. I usually start by putting the currants into the vinegar and syrup, since I like to give them a bit of soak time to soften and absorb the liquid.
Next, wash and slice the celery, and set aside.
Wash and core the apples, then slice them into fairly thin slices, no more than 5mm thick.
When the shallots are done with the first 7 minutes, remove the sheet from the oven, and turn the shallots over to the other side. I find two forks seems to work best to do this. If the shallots fall apart while you do this, don’t worry too much, try to flip the majority as well as you can, then return them to the oven for another 5-7 minutes, or until they have caramelized.
Once done, remove the sheet again, and add the celery and apples, stirring everything together to coat all pieces with the excess olive oil. Place the sheet back in the oven for another 5 minutes.
Finally, place the kale above the other ingredients on the sheet and put back into the oven a final time for 3-8 minutes (will vary greatly on whether you have a convection oven or not). We want to cook them just until the kale has softened, but has not all turn dried and crispy. A few crispy edges are okay, and I find add to the texture of the salad, but I made the mistake when I moved to our new house with the convection oven of cooking for 5 minutes, and all the kale had turned essentially into kale chips… not what I was going for…
Finally, using a fork, whisk the mustard, salt and olive oil in with the currant, syrup and vinegar, and get ready to plate your salad.
Remove the veggies and fruits from the sheet to your serving dish. I usually like to remove the kale first and lay it as the base, then scoop the rest of the items on top. Drizzle with the currant vinaigrette, spooning any leftover currants onto the salad, and then top with the toasted walnuts, crumbling slightly.
I felt as though this salad could have used a cheese element of some kind, maybe some goat’s cheese or bleu cheese. But, well, quarantine. Feel free to add either of those if you want a salty, creamy element added to the salad.
2leeks(green ends trimmed, cut into 2.5cm or 1" slices)
1Tbspdijon mustard
1Tbspwhite wine vinegar
salt and pepper(to taste)
4cupsarugula
1/2cupwalnut halves(toasted)
Instructions
Heat the coconut milk and lime leaves in a large skillet over medium-low heat until it starts to simmer. Add the leeks, laying them flat. Cook for 12 minutes total, turning them halfway through. Remove leeks and set aside.
Whisk the dijon and vinegar into the remaining liquid, cooking until it just starts to simmer, remove from heat.
Place leeks on serving dish, top with arugula, drizzle dressing on top, finish with walnut pieces.
Infomercial style: “Tired of the same old salad?” *Person in black and white takes a bite of a pitiful looking salad and give the camera an exaggerated sad face* “Wondering if there’s something different out there to replace raw vegetables covered with oily dressing?” *Same person throws their hands in the air and rolls their eyes as if they cannot imagine there is anything in the world that can help* “Try this amazing poached leek salad with a creamy makrut lime dressing” *Person, now in colour, takes a bite of the salad and gives a beatific smile and thumbs up to the camera*
Okay, so I can’t help myself, I have scenes that play out in my head like this all the time. An overactive imagination… horrible if I’m home alone and hear a random sound somewhere in the house, but great for hours of self-entertainment. Onto the food…
The leeks in this salad add the savoury, umami character, while we are getting a rich creaminess in the dressing, plus a floral, citrusy hit thanks to the makrut lime leaves.
So let’s cook.
Start by cutting the leeks into about 1″ thick pieces. Stop a few inches below the green ends, and discard the ends. Heat the coconut milk in a pan on medium heat with the makrut lime leaves. If you do not have lime leaves, move forward with the recipe as is, and I will give you an alternative a little later. Once the milk is heated and bubbling slightly, add the leeks in a single layer in the milk. Turn down the heat slightly if the milk is really bubbling.
Cover the pan, and cook the leeks for 6 minutes, then turn them over, and cook for another 6 minutes. Keep an eye on the pan to make sure the milk does not boil over. Turn the heat down if you need to, or uncover them to allow the bubbling to come down.
The leeks should be done after about 12 minutes, test one with a fork, they should be tender, but not falling apart. Take the leeks out of the pan and transfer to a serving dish, spreading across the dish.
Add the mustard and vinegar to the pan, whisking into the liquid. Here is where our alternative is if you did not have lime leaves. From a fresh lime, shave off several pieces of its peel, trying to avoid the pith, and add the pieces to the liquid. Keep the pan on the heat, and whisk constantly until the sauce starts to simmer. If it is still very liquidy, simmer until it thickens slightly, whisking constantly.
Scatter the arugula over the leeks on the serving dish, then drizzle the dressing overtop. Crumble the walnut halves into pieces over the salad, and serve immediately.
