Pasta with Ragù (Meat Sauce)

Pasta with Ragù (Meat Sauce)

Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 40 minutes
Course Main Course

Ingredients
  

  • 5 garlic cloves (peeled and chopped)
  • 1 small onion (peeled and chopped)
  • 2 Tbsps olive oil
  • 900 g ground meat (beef, pork, elk, bison, turkey or chicken)
  • 1/2 cup red wine
  • 150 ml tomato paste (5.5 oz)
  • 800 ml canned tomatoes (27 oz)
  • 1/2 cup beef broth
  • 1/2 cup whole milk
  • 1 cup grated parmesan cheese
  • 1 dash ground nutmeg
  • 1 dash dried oregano
  • 4 cups dried pasta
  • 1/2 cup reserved pasta water
  • salt and white pepper (to taste)

Instructions
 

  • Add the olive oil to a large heavy-bottomed pot and heat on medium high. Add onion and garlic, sautéing until onions have softened and garlic is fragrant. Add the meat to the pot, and sauté, breaking the meat apart as it cooks. Add wine, cook until the liquid is gone. Add tomato paste and stir, mixing completely. Add the dash of oregano and nutmeg. Add beef broth, milk, and tomatoes and stir well. Turn the heat down to medium and cook for about 30 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened. Add the parmesan cheese, stirring in until fully melted. Cook pasta in a pot of boiling water. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta water and add to the sauce, allow it to cook down further. Drain pasta. Mix the pasta with the sauce. Serve.
Keyword Beef, Meat, Pasta, Sauce, Tomatoes

And now for the details…

Hi-yo folks! Here we are in day 6 of 14; almost halfway through quarantine and still making use of our generous friend’s grocery drop-off from last Monday, as well as our, thankfully, well-stocked freezer and pantry. We are starting to run low on fresh produce, though, now that almost a week has gone by. Luckily for us, another couple friends of ours have already stepped up and offered to go out tomorrow to top us up for the rest of our isolation period! We are feeling incredibly blessed by the support team we have at home, whether it’s in surprise gift drop-offs on our doorstep (we got fresh bread and cheese dropped by a friend this weekend, and a gag gift from other friends of a Kraft pizza kit), the full-on grocery deliveries, or the regular check-ins via phone or social media (or even on this blog! Lookin’ at you auntie ;D), we have been so lucky to have such a kickass group of family and friends. Now for a small ask: if you know of someone who is lacking this support network and needs some help during these times, reach out (but don’t touch!) to see if you can help in any way. Maybe it’s picking up a few extra groceries when you are buying your own, providing a social connection (while maintaining physical distance!), or running an errand that they cannot do themselves. We’re all on Team People, let’s take care of each other.

Let’s get to cooking.

We start by chopping the onion and garlic. Heat a large pot to medium-high, and add the olive oil, then add the onion and garlic and cook, stirring regularly, until the onion is soft and the garlic is fragrant.

Next, you will add the meat to the pot. For this recipe, I had both ground beef and ground elk in the freezer. But you could use any mix and match of ground meat for your recipe, depending on your taste preferences, or what you have available. As the meat cooks, break it apart with a wooden spoon, so you end up with small pieces of meat. Once the meat has mostly cooked, add the red wine, and allow it to cook down until the liquid is almost completely gone.

Add the tomato paste, and just a dash of nutmeg and oregano (a small pinch of each). Stir to mix completely, cooking for about five minutes, allowing any liquid to be cooked off. Add the beef broth and tomatoes, and stir together. Then add the milk and stir completely.

Reduce the heat down medium, and allow the sauce to cook down, stirring occasionally to prevent any stickage (that’s a word, right?) to the bottom of the pot. Cook the sauce for around 20-30 minutes, or until the sauce has become very thick.

Cook the pasta in heavily salted water until al dente. For the batch that I made, I used Mafalda Corta, which is kinda like smaller lasagna noodles that have been cut into pieces. Feel free to use whatever pasta you have available. Fusilli, rigatoni, farfalle, pappardelle, you choose! The biggest thing to remember: save about 1/2 cup of the pasta water after it is done cooking, and add it to the sauce before you drain the pasta. This addition of starch from the water will help to thicken the sauce further as you cook it down, and will allow the sauce to better stick to your noodles.

Fun fact that has worked well for me since I discovered it: keep a wooden spoon in the pasta and water as it cooks to help prevent the water from boiling over.

Reduce the pasta sauce back down after the addition of pasta water and add the parmesan cheese. Salt and pepper the sauce to your taste. Avoid adding salt before this, as both the pasta water and the parmesan will add a certain amount of saltiness, and you may not want to add any more.

Finally, once everything has cooked and the pasta is drained, mixed the pasta and sauce together, and serve, maybe with a bit of additional parmesan on top.

Happy eating.

Mahi-Mahi with Orange Scented Beurre Blanc Sauce

Mahi-mahi with Orange Scented Beurre Blanc Sauce

Print Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Course Main Course
Servings 2 people

Ingredients
  

  • 2 pieces Mahi-Mahi (or other white fish)
  • 1/4 cup dry white wine
  • 2 Tbsps white wine vinegar
  • 1/2 shallots (peeled and chopped fined)
  • 1/2 cup butter (cold, cut into small pieces, plus 1/2 Tbsp to cook fish)
  • 1/4 cup fresh orange juice
  • 1/4 tsp orange blossom water
  • salt and pepper (to taste)

Instructions
 

Cooking fish in sous vide (30-60 minutes)

  • Set sous-vide machine to 53.5ºC/128ºF, cook fish in water for 30-60 minutes. Sear on either side in a hot pan with butter after removed from water.

OR

    Cooking fish in oven (approximately 15 minutes)

    • Cook fish in buttered pan at 400ºF/205ºC, flipping halfway through, until internal temperature of fish reaches desired level of doneness. 

    Sauce

    • Place shallots, wine, and vinegar in a pot and place over medium-high heat. Allow them to boil down until almost no liquid remains. Turn heat down to low. Start adding the cold butter in small increments, whisking constantly between adds. Just before the last few pieces of butter, remove from heat, add last pieces of butter and whisk until smooth. Add orange juice and orange blossom water. Salt and pepper to taste. Strain sauce.
    • Plate fish, top with sauce. Serve.
    Keyword Beurre Blanc, Fish, Mahi-Mahi, Orange, Sauce

    And now for the details…

    Day 5 of the 14 day quarantine challenge, and I’m going a bit “fancier” here with fish and a beurre blanc sauce. We have mahi-mahi in the freezer that we bought out of the back of some guy’s truck (no lie) a couple months ago and figured we should try to use it up! I have been wanting to try out my Christmas gift, a sous vide, on fish. But I knew that if I was going to do that, it would need some kind of sauce, or it would be pretty bland. I was thinking about sauces that I’ve tried in the past, but most are roux-based and are a little too thick/robust with a fish like mahi-mahi. Why not a beurre blanc?

    Beurre blanc directly translates to “white butter”, which is very appropriate, since the sauce is basically melted, emulsified butter with some flavour. Don’t be discouraged by the “medium-hard” rating I have given this recipe. It is not too hard to do, but you do need to be able to give the sauce your undivided attention while cooking it.

    For the sauce in this recipe, I decided to flavour it with some fresh orange juice, and I used some orange blossom water. Orange blossom water can be found in your grocery store where you would find other middle-eastern ingredients, or in some specialty stores. It had a glorious smell to it, and when you aren’t using it for sauce flavouring, it is a great flavour addition to sparkling water, desserts, or cocktails.

    I chose the orange ingredients as a hat tip to Spain. We evacuated very quickly from what we had thought would be the trip of a lifetime… and while we were sad to leave, and stressed to get home, we left behind a country that is still struggling to combat the outbreak, and is now the second largest outbreak in Europe, after Italy. For a country that I had read about being so gregarious, generous, and tactile, I cannot even begin to imagine how this would affect day-to-day life. A particular moment struck me as we were seeking to make it home. We were on our way to the airport and needed to take the train. We were walking through the abandoned streets to get to the train station, and that’s when the moment hit. When I had been planning our vacation, I was so hoping we would get to see and smell orange trees in bloom while we were vacationing. And there were the trees: planted just outside the train station. They were in full bloom, with some full grown, bright orange fruits sitting in the boughs. The smell was intoxicating. The moment was a calm, joyous moment amidst chaos for me, and reflecting on it, I am holding on to hope. Hope for this confusing, scary time to pass us by. Hope for the countries so heavily affected to be able to achieve the supports they need. Hope for life to return to to a level of normalcy.

    Sorry for the emotional divergence… and thanks for humouring my verboseness.

    Let’s move on to cooking, shall we?

    We start with the fish for this one. I used my sous vide for the fish, and if you are going to cook the fish this way, set your sous vide machine in the water and set the temperature to 53.5ºC/128ºF and let it heat up. Add the fish (in plastic) into the water and let it cook for 30-60 minutes. If you are able, salt and pepper the fish before adding to your bag, but ours was already vacuum sealed, so I actually just cooked the fish right in its package, no flavour added. If you are cooking the fish without a sous vide, we will wait until the sauce is mostly ready, and cook the fish just before serving.

    Next, we will get ready for our sauce. If you are sous vide’ing the fish, wait to start the sauce until just when the fish is done.

    Before we begin cooking the sauce, remove the butter from the fridge, and cut it into small chunks (~3/8″ or 1cm pieces), and place the butter back in the fridge to stay good and cold.

    Chop the shallots finely, and add them to a pot with the white wine and white wine vinegar. Put the pot over medium-high heat, and allow the mixture to heat up to a boil and reduce, about 8 minutes, until there is almost no liquid left in the pot.

    Turn the temperature down to low, and take the butter out of the fridge. Now is where we will start adding the butter in small increments, which will form up your sauce.

    Using a large wire whisk, whisk constantly as you add in the butter pieces, a few at a time. Let the previous pieces almost fully mix/melt before adding the next few pieces.

    Continue this until you have only 3-4 pieces of butter left. Then, remove the pot from the heat, and whisk in the last few pieces of butter. Squeeze the 1/4 orange into the sauce, and the orange blossom water, whisking them both into the sauce.

    Strain the sauce to remove the shallot pieces, and set the sauce aside.

    Finally, the fish. If you are cooking in a pan, salt and pepper the fish on either side. Heat the 1/2 Tbsp of butter in a pan, and cook the fish on medium-high heat, flipping halfway, until the interior of your fish reaches your desires level of doneness. If you sous vide’ed your fish, do a quick flash-fry in the pan with butter on high heat to get a little brown sear on the fish pieces.

    Finally, plate your fish, drizzle the sauce on top, and garnish with some fresh parsley. Serve immediately.

    Happy eating.

    Sweet and Sticky Soy Pork Bites

    3 Comments

    Sweet and Sticky Soy Pork Bites

    Print Recipe
    Prep Time 5 minutes
    Cook Time 15 minutes
    Course Appetizer, Main Course

    Ingredients
      

    • 1 pork tenderloin (cut into 1" pieces)
    • 2 Tbsps olive oil
    • 1 tsp fresh ginger (peeled and shredded)
    • 2 garlic cloves (shredded)
    • 1/4 cup honey
    • 2 Tbsps soy sauce
    • 1 tsp sesame oil
    • 1 tsp chilli oil
    • 1 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
    • salt and pepper (to taste)

    Instructions
     

    • Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Salt and pepper the pork tenderloin pieces, and sauté until they have been browned. Set aside.
    • Whisk together the rest of the ingredients and add to the pan. Cook for approximately 4 minutes, allowing the sauce to reduce.
    • Add the pork back to the pan, and stir, allowing the sauce to reduce further and stick to the pork pieces. Cook for another 3-4 minutes, then remove from heat and serve.
    Keyword Honey, Pork, Soy Sauce

    And now for the details…

    Into day four of my 14 day quarantine challenge. And pretty much all the ingredients for this recipe came from my fridge/freezer and pantry, except the green onions I used on top for garnish.

    Something I have come to be very grateful about during this quarantine is that I had built up a decent stock of supplies in my pantry, fridge, and freezer, and have been able to make use these of during this time.

    As far was what are “necessities” and what to have readily available, it will depend so much on what you like to cook normally, how often you cook (i.e. how quickly the different items will be used up), and how much space you have available. There are plenty of articles out there the will give you plenty of ideas and inspiration on the essentials; I would say read through some of these and find what works for you. Keep track of what you tend to use over and over again, and make sure you stock up on those items!

    Let’s get to cooking..

    We start with cooking the pork tenderloin pieces. Dry them on some paper towels, and season with salt and pepper. Heat the oil in a large pan on medium-high heat.

    Cook the pork pieces until they have just browned . They will be slightly undercooked, and that’s a-ok, since we will be adding them back to the heat in a little while. For now, remove them to a plate or dish and set aside.

    Whisk together the other ingredients, and add them to the already hot pan. Allow the sauce to come to a boil and continue cooking for another four minutes or so, it will reduce and thicken.

    Next, add the pork pieces back into the sauce and stir so the pieces are fully coated with the sauce, continue to stir and cook for another 3-4 minutes, until the pork pieces are fully cooked and the sauce has reduced and is sticking to all pieces of pork.

    Transfer the meat and sauce to a serving dish. Sprinkle with some sesame seeds and green onions for garnish. Serve and enjoy!

    Happy eating.

    BSTH Sandwich (Bacon, Spinach, Tomato and Honey)

    2 Comments

    BSTH Sandwich

    Print Recipe
    Prep Time 5 minutes
    Cook Time 10 minutes
    Total Time 15 minutes
    Course Main Course
    Servings 2 people

    Ingredients
      

    • 4 slices bread
    • 8 slices bacon
    • 2 small tomatoes (or 8 cherry tomatoes)
    • 2 Tbsps mayonnaise
    • 8-12 leaves spinach
    • 2 Tbsps liquid honey
    • salt and pepper (to taste)

    Instructions
     

    • Cook bacon in a large pan to desired level of doneness. Set aside and drain most bacon fat.
    • Keep some fat in pan and toast the bread in the pan.
    • Put mayo on two of the slices. Place bacon, spinach and tomatoes. Drizzle with honey. Add salt and pepper to taste. Top with other slice of bread. Serve.
    Keyword Bacon, Honey, Sandwich, Spinach, Tomatoes

    And now for the details…

    Okay, so yes, this a pretty simple recipe. But… well… it was delicious. And… I have limited resources to work with 😛

    We’re into day four of quarantine, and day three of recipe challenge. Today’s recipe is nice and easy. Rather than a BLT, because… well… I had no lettuce… I decided instead to go off-script and go for a BST, since I did have spinach. And then I thought… can I do something even more different? And realized I had some liquid honey in the pantry that would be a great complement the tartness of the tomatoes and the saltiness of the bacon.

    And so, the BSTH was born!

    I don’t know that I would recommend urban dictionary-ing BSTH… it is not the “theme” I am going for here… *eep*

    Let’s get to cooking.

    To start out, we will be cooking out bacon. Cook in a large pan on medium-high heat, and transfer the bacon to a paper towel-lined plate.

    Drain most of the bacon fat from the pan, but leave some. This is what we are going to use to toast our bread. On medium high heat, smear the the bread pieces into the bacon fat so they soak up some of it up, then let them toast on both sides to a nice golden brown.

    Remove the bread pieces to plates. Spread the mayo on one piece of the bread. We will use the mayo as glue to stick the spinach in place. Place several of the leaves of spinach on the bread.

    Add the bacon, and then place the tomato pieces on top. I did not have regular tomatoes here. Again, quarantine mystery box was my source, and there were only cherry tomatoes available to me. There were a few bigger ones that I sliced to be able to fit the sandwich, and they worked really well, actually, but small to medium tomatoes would probably fit a little better.

    To finish this sandwich off, drizzle the liquid honey over your ingredients, and then top with the other slice of bread.

    I served this sandwich with some delicious chips that I’d procured from Urban Grub a few weeks ago, before we were travelling, that were delicious with this meal. The flavour I had purchased was “Mmmm, tastes like roast chicken” and they were indeed pretty “Mmmm”-worthy.

    Serve your sandwich with your side of choice, or on its own, and enjoy.

    Happy eating.

    Warm Kale Salad with Caramelized Shallots and Roasted Apples

    Warm Kale Salad with Shallots and Apples

    Print Recipe
    Prep Time 5 minutes
    Cook Time 15 minutes
    Total Time 20 minutes
    Course Main Course, Salad

    Ingredients
      

    • 3 shallots (sliced medium-thick)
    • 3 Tbsps (plus 2 Tbsps) olive oil
    • 2 Tbsps dried currants
    • 2 Tbsps red wine vinegar
    • 2 tsps dijon mustard
    • 1 Tbsp maple syrup
    • 1/8 tsp salt
    • 2 small apples (cored and sliced)
    • 3 celery ribs (sliced)
    • 8 leaves kale (small leaves, reduce if large leaves)
    • 1/2 cup walnut pieces (toasted)

    Instructions
     

    • 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.
    Keyword Apple, Kale, Salad, Salad Dressing, Shallots

    And now for the details…

    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.

    Finally, serve and enjoy.

    Happy eating.

    Rice Bowl with Fried Eggs, Bacon, and Kimchi Mayo

    1 Comment

    Rice Bowl with Eggs, Bacon and Kimchi Mayo

    A quick, easy and delicious dinner or breakfast!
    Print Recipe
    Prep Time 5 minutes
    Cook Time 15 minutes
    Total Time 20 minutes
    Course Breakfast, Main Course
    Servings 2 people

    Ingredients
      

    • 3/4 cups uncooked jasmine rice
    • water (to cook rice)
    • 4 eggs
    • 6 pieces bacon
    • 1/4 cup kimchi
    • 1/4 cup mayo
    • 2 cups fresh spinach (chopped)
    • 2 green onions (chopped)

    Instructions
     

    • Cook rice (don't forget to rinse the rice first!)
    • Blend together kimchi and mayo in blender or small food processor until mostly smooth.
    • In a large pan, cook bacon. Set aside, and drain any excess fat.
    • Cook eggs in remaining bacon fat until preferred level of doneness.
    • Add some of the kimchi mayo to the bottom of two bowls. Split rice between bowls, add eggs, bacon and spinach. Top with green onion and remainder of kimchi mayo. Serve.
    Keyword Bacon, Breakfast, Egg, Kimchi, Rice

    And now for the details…

    We just got back into Canada yesterday from Spain and are self-isolating for at least the next two weeks. It was pretty stressful getting home, as we tried to push our travel forward by a week and a half, with many of the flights getting booked up before we had a chance to secure our way back. We finally managed to book the flights, and we are super lucky to have an amazing support network here. A friend of ours dropped off groceries for us at the house before we got home so we are well stocked while we stay at home to eliminate any exposure to others. What to do while in quarantine for two weeks? Why not a 14 day challenge of one post every day using what we have in the freezer/pantry, plus the fresh veggies and fruits provided by our amazing friend!

    This is the meal we had yesterday evening when we got home. Jet lagged and trying to come down from the stress of essentially fleeing for home, we wanted something fairly simple and quick, but also comforting. we happened to have bacon in the freezer, kimchi in the fridge, and rice in the pantry. Along with the fresh veg and eggs our friend brought us, this seemed like a pretty quick and easy meal to throw together while chilling with some TV and a glass of red wine to take off the edge.

    Rice bowls seem to be trending right now, but my husband remembers eggs and rice being served to him for a quick meal frequently as a kid. So with what we had available to us, this recipe was born. After I made this dish, it was requested that this dish become our go-to for a quick meal going forward! In its creation, I may have been inspired by Empire Provision and would highly recommend you try out their “My Bowl’s Got Seoul” if you make it there for brunch.

    Okay, let’s start cooking.

    We start everything out, of course, with cooking the rice. I didn’t specify what kind of white rice here, but my personal preference is for jasmine rice. Completely up to you to take this extra step, but it has been ingrained into me by my husband: wash the rice!!! This means rinsing the rice in cold water until the water runs clear. This will avoid clumpy, gummy rice, and if you are a textural eater, it will enhance your eating experience 😉

    While the rice is cooking, put the kimchi and mayo into a blender or small food processor and blend until mostly smooth. If you are willing to put in the extra time and get it super smooth, all the power you. I was tired and hangry and just wanted to eat, so mine was still a little lumpy, more the texture of a pesto than a mayo.

    Next, take a large pan, and cook your bacon over medium-high heat. The flexibility of this dish is huge; the amounts and measurements in the recipe are completely guidelines and easy to modify. If you want more bacon, cook more bacon! If you want more eggs, cook more eggs! Feeding four people instead of two? Double the recipe!

    Once the bacon is done, set it aside in a dish lined with paper towels. Drain most of the bacon grease out of the pan (why not drain it into a container and use it as a cooking fat alternative for future meals?), and add your eggs. We did ours sunny-side up with soft yolks (a runny, bright orange yolk over the rice? YASSSSSSS), but this is totally up to your preferences. Do I need to learn how to cook my eggs so they look prettier and not floating all over the pan? Maybe. But again: hangry.

    While the bacon and eggs are cooking, loosely chop the spinach, and chop the green onions.

    We plate this meal by placing some of the kimchi mayo on the bottom of our bowls. Next, add your rice (still hot!), and spread it out to become the base of your bowl. Spreading the rice out is so that everything goes on top and the rice becomes the delicious vehicle that everything else soaks into. Top the rice with the spinach, then add the eggs and bacon on top. Finish it off with a large dollop of the kimchi mayo, and a sprinkling of green onions, and dig in immediately!

    Happy eating.

    Instant Pot Tonkotsu Ramen

    Instant Pot Tonkotsu Ramen

    Umami-rich Ramen Soup, including a broth from scratch, in way less time thanks to the use of the Instant Pot!
    Print Recipe
    Prep Time 15 minutes
    Cook Time 3 hours 45 minutes
    Total Time 4 hours
    Course Main Course, Soup

    Ingredients
      

    • 2 pork trotters (split)
    • 2 chicken backs
    • 2 leeks (green ends trimmed off, cut into chunks)
    • 2 shallots (peeled and cut into chunks)
    • 8 cm piece of ginger (peeled and cut into chunks)
    • 4 baby king oyster mushrooms (sliced, or 1 king oyster mushroom, sliced)
    • 600 g pork belly (rolled and tied tightly with kitchen twine)
    • 4 eggs (soft boiled)
    • 400 g fresh ramen noodles
    • 1 cup fresh or frozen corn kernels
    • 4 baby bok choy (leaves separated)
    • 3 green onions (chopped)
    • 2 Tbsps soy sauve
    • 2 Tbsps mirin

    Instructions
     

    • Place pig trotters and chicken backs in a pot on stove of boiling water, reduce temperature to simmer. Simmer for a minimum of 10 minutes, skimming off foam as it cooks. Remove trotters and backs, set aside, discard liquid. Pick out any dark or bloody bits from trotters and backs.
    • Place trotters, backs, leeks, shallots, ginger, mushrooms, and pot belly in instant pot. Close pot and cook on "soup/broth" setting for 2.5 hours.
    • Place soy sauce, mirin and 4 Tbsps water in ziplock bag, place eggs in bag, and place in refrigerator, turn occasionally (can be done night before).
    • After 2.5 hours, release pressure and open. Remove belly, wrap tightly in cling film wrap and place in refrigerator. Close Instant Pot back up, set for another 60 minutes on "soup/broth" setting.
    • Once done, release pressure, then strain broth and throw out solids.
    • In separate pot on stove, boil water. Using a small mesh strainer, cook ramen in water until done, remove and strain, and place in bowls. Using same mesh strainer, cook bok choy leaves in same pot of boiling water for 30-60 seconds, strain.
    • Take pork belly from refrigerator, remove cling film and slice thinly. Arrange pork belly, bok choy, corn and green onions in bowl over ramen noodles. Ladle hot broth over other ingredients, top with halved eggs and serve.
    Keyword Broth, Egg, Noodles, Pork, Pork Belly, Ramen, Soup, Tonkotsu

    And now for the details…

    Ramen. Delicious, delicious ramen. Until about a decade ago, I had no idea what real ramen was or could be. Before that, my brain associated the word ramen with Mr. Noodles or Ichiban, and I had no idea that there was so much more that ramen had to offer than instant noodles.

    Since then, I have sought out ramen wherever I may roam. My favourite that I have tried so far is from the chain Tenkaippin in Japan. We made return trips to the same restaurant in Kyoto, several years ago. The broth is super flavourful, thick and rich. I have dreams about it even still. This recipe… is not that soup unfortunately. But, it is a nice rich broth that is pretty tasty, if I do say so myself. Cooking for an extended period of time in the Instant Pot is allowing the collagen to release from trotters and chicken backs, providing a thick mouth feel.

    Let’s get started. We will start by “cleaning” the pig trotters and chicken backs. Bring a pot to a rolling boil and add the trotters and backs. Reduce to a simmer and cook for around 10 minutes, skimming off any gunky foam off the top. Once that’s done, dump the liquid. Using a fork, knife, or chopstick, we are going to pick at the trotters and back, removing any darkened bits or pieces that obviously have blood. We are doing this to clean out any bloody bits so we have a nice clear broth, rather than a skanky, cloudy, dark broth.

    That icky looking foam is what you skim off and dispose of…

    Once cleaned, place the trotters and backs in your instant pot. Stack in the leeks, shallots, ginger, and mushrooms. We are also going to roll the pork belly pieces and tie them tight with butchers twine, and place that in the pot with everything else.

    Fill the pot with water up to the “MAX” line, and then close the pot, ensuring it is in the “Sealing” position and set for 2.5 hours on the “Soup/Broth” setting.

    While the broth is cooking, we’ll set the eggs to marinating. We are making ajitsuke tamago, or seasoned eggs, to add to the ramen later. Mix the soy sauce, mirin, and 4 tablespoons of water in a ziplock bag, and then place your soft boiled eggs inside (need a refresher on how to soft boil an egg? Directions are included in this recipe). Close the ziplock up tight so as little air as possible is left inside, and then place in the fridge. Turn them around after an hour or two so they marinate evenly on all sides.

    After 2.5 hours of cooking, release the pressure from the pot, and open ‘er up. Remove the pork belly, then close the pot back up, including resetting to “Sealing” position and set the pot back to “Soup/Broth” setting and cook again for 60 minutes. Wrap the pork belly tightly in cling wrap, and place in the refrigerator. The pork belly is more than cooked by now, and chilling the belly will allow us to cut it nice and thin to place in the bowl later.

    Once the broth is done, strain it into a container, and discard any solids. I like using cheese cloth to help with the straining to get rid of any small, gritty bits.

    Time to get everything ready. Boil water in a pot, and place the ramen noodles in a wire mesh strainer. Dip the strainer into the pot to cook the noodles, and when done, drain the noodles and place in the bottom of a large bowl.

    Using the same strainer and boiling water, cook the bok choy until the leave just turn vibrant green. Place the boy choy, green onions, and corn into the bowl. Remove the pork belly from the fridge, and take out of the cling wrap. Slice the pork belly thinly and place in the ramen bowl.

    Finish the soup off by taking the eggs out of the marinating liquid, cutting in half, and placing in the bowl. Ladle the still-hot broth over the soup contents, and serve immediately. Enjoy immediately!

    Happy eating.

    Leeks Poached in Coconut Milk and Makrut Lime Scented Dressing

    Leek Salad with Coconut Milk Dressing

    A simple green salad with poached leeks and a makrut lime scented coconut milk dressing
    Print Recipe
    Prep Time 20 minutes
    Course Main Course, Side Dish

    Ingredients
      

    • 1 cup coconut milk
    • 4 makrut lime leaves
    • 2 leeks (green ends trimmed, cut into 2.5cm or 1" slices)
    • 1 Tbsp dijon mustard
    • 1 Tbsp white wine vinegar
    • salt and pepper (to taste)
    • 4 cups arugula
    • 1/2 cup walnut 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.
    Keyword Arugula, Coconut Milk, Leeks, Makrut Lime Leaves, Salad, Salad Dressing

    And now for the details…

    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.

    Happy eating.

    Rich and Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

    2 Comments

    Cheesy Scalloped Potatoes

    Rich, cheesy, gooey scalloped potatoes recipe
    Print Recipe
    Prep Time 20 minutes
    Cook Time 45 minutes
    Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
    Course Side Dish

    Ingredients
      

    • 1/4 cup butter
    • 1/4 cup flour
    • 2-3 cups whole milk
    • 1/4 cup aged cheddar (3 years aged or more, shredded)
    • salt and pepper (to taste)
    • 1 dash nutmeg
    • 3 cups old cheddar (320g, shredded)
    • 1 medium shallot (peeled and sliced)
    • 10-14 small-medium yellow potatoes

    Instructions
     

    • Melt butter in pot over medium heat and brown. Add flour and stir until nutty smelling. Whisk in milk, ~1/2 cup at a time until sauce forms. Cook until sauce starts to simmer and thickens slightly, adding salt and pepper to taste and dash of nutmeg. Remove from heat and stir in aged cheddar until melted into sauce.
    • Slice potatoes and shallots. Layer potates and sauce in 8"X11" oven-ready pan: sauce, potatoes, sauce, shredded cheese, shallots, potatoes, sauce, shredded cheese, shallots, potatoes, sauce, shredded cheese.
    • Bake in oven at 177ºC/350ºF for 40-50 minutes until the cheese is browned and the potatoes are cooked through. Serve.
    Keyword Cheese, Potatoes, Scalloped Potatoes

    And now for the details…

    Scalloped potatoes are, in my mind, one of the quintessential comfort foods. There is something about digging into a mass of hot, cheesy, creamy, perfectly cooked potatoey goodness that has a hard time being beat by any other comfort food.

    I’ve encountered a number of different recipes for these over the years. Some call for just sprinkling flour between the layers of potatoes, then pouring milk over top. Some call for a béchamel sauce, but no cheese. Some call for cheese, but no kinds of white sauce at all. After some trial and error to find my preference, I am inclined to all the things. Béchamel with some added cheese (would I truly be able to call it a Mornay if I’m not adding gruyère?), then more cheese on its own, and a thin layer of shallots to add additional flavour. And lo! This recipe was born.

    Let’s get to cooking.

    We are going to start with our sauce. Melt the butter in a pot at medium to medium-high heat. Continue to cook until the butter has just browned, then add you flour. Reduce the heat to medium. Mix the two together well (I find that a whisk is particularly good at this task) and continue to stir over the heat for another several minutes. We are cooking the flour to remove the “raw” taste of the flour, but at the same time, we do not want to cook it too long, as toasted flour starts to lose its ability to thicken the toastier is gets. It’s one of the reasons we browned the butter first, to get that very nutty and toasted flavour, but not needing to compromise the thickening super power of the flour (the Power of Flour! A potential new comic book or graphic novel? Maybe if I could draw…)

    Once we have cooked the flour, we are going to whisk the milk in about 1/2 cup at a time. We’re not adding it all at once, since that would like result in lumpy sauce, but you will also need to whisk constantly as you add, since this will thicken up FAST as you add the milk. I’ve given a pretty big range of milk to add here. A lot will depend on where you are, to be honest. Elevation seems to make a huge difference. Since moving to the foothills of the Rocky Mountains and finding myself over 1000m (3280ft) above sea level, I have needed to add more more liquid to my recipes than I did when at the near-sea level of the Canadian Prairies. Add your milk until the sauce has reached the thickness of syrup (think pancake or maple syrup). Next, we are going to bring the sauce to a simmer, stirring regularly, and cooking it until it thickens. When is thick enough? Stick a wooden spoon in the sauce. If the sauce does not coat the spoon, you’re not done yet. If it does coat the spoon, run your finger down the middle of the spoon. If a line forms without the sauce running back into where you drew your line, your sauce is done. While the sauce is cooking, you can season it with salt and pepper to taste, and I also like to add a tiny dash of nutmeg.

    As soon as you remove the sauce from the heat, add the shredded aged cheddar, and stir it into the sauce to melt. It may not seem like much cheese, but since we are adding even more cheese later, and using the aged (i.e. super flavourful) cheddar here, a little will go a fairly long way.

    Next we start assembly. The shallots can be sliced right away and set to the side. I would recommend slicing the potatoes as you go for a couple reasons. One being that potatoes like to start turning brown fairly quickly after they have been cut. But also because it’s hard to estimate how many potatoes will be enough. Cutting as you go will allow you to stop at just the right point and avoid needing to try and cram a bunch of taters in at the last row, or worse, needing to throw them out.

    We start the assembly with a thin spread of the sauce on the bottom of our 8″x11″ baking dish. The thin spread of sauce will avoid the potatoes from sticking to the bottom of the pan. Because let’s be honest, between the sauce and the cheese we are adding here, there is enough fat that greasing the pan is completely unnecessary.

    Next we place a layer of the potatoes. Lay them out so they overlap, and try to avoid leaving too many gaps. The layer after the potatoes will be more sauce, a little more generous than what was on the base, about a third of the sauce you have left. Spread the sauce as evenly as you can across the potatoes, and then lay a thin layer of the shallots, using about half of the shallots you have cut.

    And then? NO AND THEN! Just kidding. And then: CHEESE!!! Spread out just enough cheese to evenly cover the layer. We want to keep the bulk of the cheese for the last layer.

    We are going to rinse and repeat and the layers from here: potatoes, sauce, shallots, cheese, potatoes, sauce… and we use the bulk of the cheese for this top layer, really laying it on thick. This is what will form that gooey crust at the top of our potatoes. Y’know… the part that people “accidentally” scoop too much of when they are serving themselves, and “don’t realize” they left the rest of the potatoes underneath?

    We are baking this monster at 177ºC/350ºF for 40-50 minutes. Our end goal: a bubbling dish of cheesy potatoes that are cooked through and a slightly browned crust on top. If you find your cheese is browning too much, cover the dish with tin foil while it cooks.

    When its done, let it cool for about 5 minutes, then scoop in and serve.

    Happy eating.

    Tom Yum Kai Soup (Thai Chicken Spicy and Sour Soup)

    Tom Yum Kai Soup

    An easy-to-make, spicy, lemongrass flavoured chicken soup, great for a chilly day or when recovering from a cold!
    Print Recipe
    Prep Time 10 minutes
    Cook Time 10 minutes
    Course Soup
    Servings 2 people

    Ingredients
      

    • 1 chicken breast (boneless, skinless, cut into 5mm or 1/4" thick slices)
    • 4 cups chicken broth
    • 4 cups water
    • 2.5 cm piece of ginger or galangal (1" piece, peeled and sliced into thick pieces)
    • 2 stalks lemongrass (cut into 2cm or 3/4" pieces)
    • 2 makrut lime leaves (optional)
    • 1 garlic cloves (minced)
    • 1-2 Tbsps fish sauce
    • 2 Tbsps sambal olek
    • 1/2 Tbsp sugar (optional)
    • 8 button mushrooms (quartered)
    • 1 medium tomato (cut into wedges, or 10 cherry tomatoes, halved)
    • 1/2 lime (cut into wedges)

    Instructions
     

    • Place the stock and water in a heavy bottomed pot. Heat until it starts to simmer. Add ginger/galangal, lemongrass, and lime leaves, cooking for about 5 minutes. Add fish sauce, sambal olek, and sugar. Cook for 2-3 minutes. Add chicken and mushrooms. Cook for 3 minutes. Add tomatoes. Cook until chicken is cooked through. Serve immediately with lime wedges.
    Keyword Chicken, Ginger, Lemongrass, Spicy

    And now for the details…

    When I’m feeling under the weather, or feeling chilled and want something to stoke that internal fire to feel warmed up, this soup is immediately what I crave. It’s got the warm comfort of a chicken soup, with the spicy bite from the sambal olek and ginger, and a tart or sour note thanks to the lime juice, lemongrass and tomatoes.

    I have a few ingredients in here that I have noted as optional, as they do add to the flavour of the soup, but are not critical. Especially the makrut lime leaves, which can often be a challenge to find in some western markets. While the additional of the lime leaves adds a certain floral note and emphasizes the citrus notes, it is not hypercritical if you have a hard time tracking them down.

    Let’s get to cooking.

    Before we go anywhere, get all the ingredients ready to go. Wash, slice, cut and mince everything and have it next to you at the stove, because the time between additions to the soup are relatively short, which is great because it means we get to eating that much faster!

    A tip for the lemongrass: tap it up and down its length with the dull side of your knife. This will help to release some of the oils to make your soup that much more fragrant.

    A tip for the chicken: if cutting it thinly is a challenge, try placing the piece of chicken breast in the freezer for 5-10 minutes. It will not freeze completely, but will chill up enough that it is easier to handle while you are cutting. Because we are cutting it so thin, this extra chill to the chicken will not result in any extended cook time.

    We start everything off by adding the broth and water into a pot and setting them to medium-high heat on the stove. Heat until the liquid starts to simmer, then reduce to just above medium heat.

    Next, add the lemongrass, ginger and lime leaves. Before adding the lime leaves, give them a light squish between your hands; this will help release the oils and allow them to impart more flavour.

    Cover the pot and let this simmer for about 5 minutes. Add the fish sauce, sambal olek and sugar (if you are using the sugar). And allow everything to simmer for another 2-3 minutes.

    Next, we add the chicken and mushrooms. Yes, I know that the dishwasher will likely sanitize the cutting board and I do not need to be so anal retentive about using multiple boards, but I am just too cautious when it comes to cross contamination.

    Let the soup come back up to a simmer, and then cover and cook for about 3 minutes.

    Our final addition are the tomatoes. Whether you use a large tomatoes and cut it into wedges, or simply slice up some baby tomatoes, it is really about preference and what you have on hand. Add the tomatoes and stir them in, then simmer everything for another 2-3 minutes, or until the chicken is fully cooked and the tomatoes have softened slightly.

    Serve immediately with chopped cilantro and green onions and enjoy that heart-warming deliciousness!

    Happy eating.