Tag: Vegetables

Spicy Anchovy Eggplant with Ground Pork

Spicy Eggplant with Ground Pork

Print Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Course Main Course
Servings 4 people

Ingredients
  

  • 2 eggplants (long eggplants, quartered length-wise and then cut in 5-7cm/2-3" pieces)
  • 450 g ground pork (~1 lb)
  • 1 Tbsp cornstarch
  • 6 Tbsp vegetable oil
  • 1 Tbsp sesame oil
  • 3 garlic cloves (peeled and minced)
  • 1 cm piece of ginger (peeled and julienned or shredded)
  • 1 Tbsp anchovy paste
  • 1 red bell pepper (cored and sliced thinly)
  • 1 tsp shaoxing wine
  • 1 tsp red wine vinegar
  • 2 tsp soy sauce
  • 1 Tbsp hot chili bean oil
  • 1/2 cup water
  • salt and white pepper (to taste)
  • 4 green onions

Instructions
 

  • Cut the eggplants into quarters length-wise, and then chop them into pieces, around 5-7cm/2-3" long. Core and slice the red pepper thinly. Peel and mince the garlic and ginger. Keep eggplant, pepper, and ginger and garlic separate.
  • Cut the whites of the green onions away from the greens. Chop the whites into small pieces. Cut the green into 2cm pieces. Keep the whites and greens separate.
  • In a medium bowl, mix the ground pork well with the cornstarch and a sprinkle of salt, and set aside.
  • In a small bowl, mix the water, wine, vinegar, soy sauce, and chilli bean oil.
  • Heat a wok or large frying pan on just below high heat and add 2 tablespoons of the of vegetable oil and 1/2 tablespoon of the sesame oil to the pan and heat until just smoking. Add half the eggplant, stirring constantly and cooking until some of the edges and sides have browned and the pieces have started to soften. Remove to a dish and repeat the process with the second half of the eggplant pieces and add the second set of eggplant pieces to the dish with the rest.
  • Reduce the temperature to medium-high heat. In the empty wok, add remaining 2 Tbsps vegetable oil. Add garlic, ginger and whites of onions and cook until fragrant. Next, add the pork, and stir constantly until pork is mostly cooked, about 5 minutes. Add red peppers and anchovies and cook, stirring, for 1 minute.
  • Add the liquid mixture and cook, stirring, until the liquid has fully coated everything and has started to thicken. Add the eggplant back into the wok with everything else and stir all together. Cook until eggplant is soft, but not falling apart. Add the greens of the onion and cook for another 30-60 seconds.
  • Serve immediately with rice.
Keyword Eggplant, Peppers, Pork, Soy Sauce

And now for the details…

Well hello friends. It has been a long time. Like… a really long time. I am so happy to be back with you and I apologize for the hiatus… but… life. *shrugs*

My return back on the scene comes with a dish that is a personal favourite. Delicate, velvety pieces of smoky eggplant, in a salty, umami-rich and slightly spicy sauce. Some strips of barely-cooked red pepper for sweetness and ground pork for both bite and to amp up the umami-ness? Heaven.

This dish is one of my favourites when we go for Peking duck as a side dish. Which is somewhat hilarious that we order it as a side, since it is quite hearty and is easily a meal all on its own. I did my best to recreate it at home with this recipe, but admittedly, it is not quite the same as the bubbling earthenware pot of deliciousness that comes to the table when we are out for dinner. However, when heading to the restaurant just isn’t a possibility, this is a great meal that comes together fairly quickly, and all it needs to wrap it all up is some steamed rice.

Let’s get to cooking, shall we? Now one of the biggest things for this that I found is that you really need to have everything ready BEFORE you start the actual cooking. The beauty of a wok is that things come together quite quickly, with the high temps and fast stir frying. But because of those high temps and the need to have almost constant attention on the food in the pan, there is little time to turn away from the stove and finish chopping that one last piece of veg, or grab that last ingredient from the pantry to mix into the sauce. That is my usual style in the kitchen… so I am definitely speaking from failed experience when I say that prepping and having everything ready first will mitigate burning, drying, or inconsistent cooking of the ingredients.

First first… if you are planning on having this with steamed rice… NOW is the time to get that rice in the cooker! The rest of the cooking process is going to be moving quick, so get the rice rinsed, in the cooker and hit the button now so it’s ready to go when the dish is done! (Am I speaking again from experience and needed to wait 20 minutes for the rice to be ready after the food was done? Maybe. *blushes slightly*)

So let’s prep. I like to get my aromatics prepped and set to the side first. Peel and mince your garlic, and set aside. You have a couple options for your ginger. You can either shred/mince it like you did the garlic, or you can julienne it into small pieces. The julienned ginger will introduce that occasional fruity, pungent hit of ginger in a bite of the finished product, while the shredded will meld more homogeneously throughout the dish, so chef’s choice depending on your taste preferences. For the green onions, you are going to separate the whites from the greens. The whites, you can chop finely and set aside with the ginger and garlic (those three will all be hitting the wok at the same time). The greens, you are going to cut into larger pieces, about 2-3 cm long.

For the eggplants, we are using a long eggplant, sometimes called a Chinese or Japanese eggplant, which is going to give us more surface area of the skin of the eggplant, and less seedy flesh. In a pinch, I have used a globe eggplant for this dish, and just cut it into chunks. It did work out, but had a slightly different result. To cut and prepare the long eggplants, I find it easiest to quarter them lengthwise down the centre into four long pieces, and then cut those into the long bits into smaller pieces about 5-7cm/2-3″ long.

The final step in our veg prep is the bell pepper. Core and quarter the pepper, then slice into long, thin-ish pieces. The pepper I used this time was fairly small, so if you have one of the giant monstrosities I have seen and purchased more recently in the grocery store, a half of a pepper is probably MORE than enough!

In a bowl, mix together the ground pork, cornstarch, and salt. This helps to preseason the meat slightly, and the cornstarch will help the pork crisp up slightly while cooking, and will also be a thickening agent for the sauce once it hits the pan.

Final step before heating up the wok and starting the fry up is to mix together the sauce. The shaoxing wine, red wine vinegar, soy sauce, chilli oil and water all get mixed into a small bowl and set aside. If you don’t have shaoxing wine in the pantry, cooking sherry is a decent replacement. But if you have a chance to pick up some shaoxing wine, I would highly encourage it. I hadn’t understood the missing element to so many Chinese recipes I would try until I came across a post about shaoxing wine on the Woks of Life. I hunted it down in my local asian grocery store and they were not kidding. The taste difference that it makes in those same recipes is mind blowing.

Let’s heat up that wok and get cooking! Heat up the wok to medium high heat. Add about 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil (canola, safflower, peanut, corn, or any vegetable oil with a high smoke point will all work here) and 1/2 tablespoon of sesame oil. Once the pan is heated up, and the oils are quite runny, add half the eggplant pieces to the pan. We want to cook them in batches, or else the pan will get crowded and we won’t get the right cook. Stir almost continuously, working to coat all the eggplant pieces with the oils, as well as to maintain a consistent cook through the pieces. Because the primary heat source is at the bottom of the wok, regularly stirring to give all the pieces a little love is important. The eggplant is ready to come out of the pan when it has softened slightly, and there is a light char on the edges of the vegetable. That little bit of char will give that slight smokiness we are looking for, and if we cook for too long, the eggplant will turn into a soggy mess. The flip side of that, though, is not cooking for long enough, which will result in chewy, slightly astringent piece of eggplant, so make sure they have softened, and are not still raw when you take them out. We will have a little more cooking time at the very end for the eggplant, so a slight undercook is better than way too soft. Set the cooked eggplant aside in a dish, then add another 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil and the last 1/2 tablespoon of sesame oil, and cook the second batch of eggplant. Once done, transfer into the same dish with the first batch of cooked eggplant.

Next, add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil into the pan, and add your aromatics (the ginger, garlic and whites of the green onion). We are going to cook these quick, only until you can catch a good whiff of them cooking, around 30-60 seconds. Add the pork in with the aromatics, and cooking, stirring constantly. You may need to break down pieces if needed as you go; we are trying to keep the ground pork from cooking into large chunks. Continue until the meat is fully cooked through, I find this takes around 5 minutes.

Next, add the anchovy paste, mixing well into the pork, and then the red pepper pieces. Because the red pepper is so long and thin, you will need to be gentle as you stir it in to cook, so you do not break up the pieces too much. We are only cooking the red pepper for about a minute before moving on to the sauce. For the anchovy paste, if you have actual anchovies, and want to cut them into small pieces and add, this will totally work too. The traditional version of this dish uses Chinese salted fish. If you can get your hands on some of that, and rinse, chop, and add that instead, nice work! I bet your dish will taste AMAZING. For me, I have found that the fillets of salted fish are pretty huge for what I can find, and I never manage to use it all within an appropriate amount of time, so I go with the anchovy paste for ease of use.

We are almost at the finish line! Add the pre-mixed sauce in with the meat and red pepper, stirring well. With the cornstarch already in the pork, and the high heat of the wok, this should start to thicken fairly quickly. Once it starts to thicken, add the eggplant back in the dish (and any liquid that may have collected with the eggplant in its dish), stirring well to coat the eggplant with the sauce. Continue stirring and cooking until the eggplant is at just the right level of doneness for your preference. Add the greens of the onion, and stir, cooking for another 30-60 seconds, then immediately transfer to a serving dish. Time to eat! Serve with the steamed rice, and enjoy!

Happy eating.

Easy, Rich Tomato Bisque with Boursin Cheese

Tomato Bisque with Boursin Cheese

Print Recipe
Prep Time 30 minutes
Course Main Course, Soup
Servings 10 cups

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cans Italian tomatoes (796ml, 28oz)
  • 1 zucchini chopped in medallions
  • 2 garlic cloves peeled and minced (or 1 Tbsp freeze-dried garlic)
  • 2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • 1 cup fresh basil loosely chopped
  • 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream
  • 3 Tbsps Garlic and Fine Herbs Boursin cheese (or preferred flavour cream cheese)

Instructions
 

  • Add all the ingredients except basil, cream and cheese into a large sauce pan over medium high heat. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover the pot and cook for 20-25 minutes, or until zucchini are fully cooked and very tender. Add basil and cook for another 5 minutes.
  • Remove the soup from heat, and blend until smooth either with an immersion blender in the pot, or by transferring to a blender in batches. Return the blended soup to the pot and place over low heat, stirring in the cream and cheese until the cheese has fully melted into the soup. Serve immediately.
Keyword Basil, Cheese, Soup, Tomatoes

And now for the details…

Tomato soup is one of my favourite lunches. Pair it up with a grilled cheese sandwich, and for a few moments, while eating, I am in heaven. In this recipe I have paired up the tangy, umami-ness of tomatoes with the freshness of basil, the richness of cream and the salty, creaminess of Boursin cheese. The use of the pre-seasoned garlic and herbs cheese adds its flavour, eliminating the need to add much else in the way of herbs or spices. If Boursin is not readily available, using a flavoured cream cheese like herb and garlic would do in a pinch, and if you could even just go with plain cream cheese or marscapone, as the basil and tomatoes do not need much seasoning, as they do so well just on their own! I have also added some zucchini to the soup to provide some added veg content and to “beef up” the soup, so to speak.

The best part of this soup is how quickly it comes together. We are using canned tomatoes, and only loosely chopping the zucchini and basil. No need for meticulous preparation (aka high knife skills) of the different ingredients, since we will just be blending it all together at the end anyhow. I even took the let’s-make-it-easy approach a step further and ended up using freeze-dried garlic pieces rather than peeling and chopping.

So to get this soup started, place all the ingredients except the basil, cream and cheese into a large saucepan and put it over medium-high heat. Make sure to add the tomatoes with their liquid!

We are not going to be cooking at this higher temperature the whole time, just until we heat the soup up enough that it starts to bubble. Then, turn the heat down to medium-low. Here is where the magic happens, since we are just going to cover it up and can leave it to cook to get all soft. After about 20-25 minutes, we will add the basil in. You can just tear the leaves off and toss them in, or even loosely chop the leaves and the stalks together and throw everything in, as long as the stalks are not too woody. Cook the soup for another 5 minutes, just until the basil has wilted and spread its lovely scent into the soup.

Now its time to go on a blender. Remove the pot from the heat. There are two options for blending. If you have an immersion blender, you can do this right in the pot, stirring it regularly to make sure we get all the bits so that the soup is smooth. The second option is to transfer the soup to a blender to get a smooth soup. If using a blender, you will also need a second container, since the soup will likely not all fit into the blender at once, and we will need to blend in parts. As discussed in other soup recipes that needed blending, be careful in this step, as the hot soup might burst from the blender container if you overfill it or go to high speed right away. Fill the blender no more that halfway and start on low speed before increasing. When done blending, transfer the soup back into the pot.

Put the pot with the smooth soup over low heat. Add the cream and cheese (breaking the cheese up into pieces/chunks to allow it to melt faster) and stir, heating until it is at your desired temperature and the cheese is fully melted and mixed into the soup.

Serve immediately. If there are leftovers, allow them to cool fully, then transfer to a freezable container. This soup keeps in the freezer for several months and reheats really well. A great meal to keep handy for a quick defrost and reheat!

Happy eating.

Lightly Spiced Butternut Squash Soup

Butternut Squash Soup

Print Recipe
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Course Soup
Servings 6 Servings

Ingredients
  

  • 1 medium onion peeled and diced
  • 2 garlic cloves peeled and minced
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 butternut squash peeled, cored and cut into chunks
  • 1 medium sweet potato (yam) peeled and cut into chunks
  • 1 large apple peeled, cored and cut into chunks
  • 1/2 cup white wine
  • 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
  • 1/2 Tbsp ground cumin
  • dash cayenne pepper
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp ground pepper
  • 1/2 cup half and half cream

Instructions
 

  • Put a large pot over medium-high heat and add oil, onions and garlic. Cook for 3-5 minutes, or until onions become translucent. Add the wine and cook down until reduced by half.
  • Add all the rest of the ingredients except the cream. Stir well, pushing the veggies and fruit to be mostly under the liquid. Reduce the heat to just below medium, cover the pot, and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the veggies are fully cooked and starting to fall apart.
  • Blend the soup, either using an immersion blender in the pot, or transferring the soup to a regular blender in batches. Transfer back to pot once all the soup is blended and smooth. Place pot on low heat, add the cream to the soup, stirring well and heat to desired temperature. Serve.
Keyword Apple, Butternut Squash, Soup, Yam

And now for the details…

Hi there friends! Here comes a new soup recipe your way, this time using butternut squash. Does anyone else call butternut squash “buttnut squash” for short, is that just me and some of my friends? And yes, we giggle like 11-year-olds after we say it. I may technically be an adult, but that does not mean I have matured, people.

I love this soup because it is so easy. Seriously. The most difficult part of making the soup is peeling and removing the guts from the squash. And being a teensy bit patient while waiting for it to cook.

This particular recipe is one that I have been making for years. It is actually roughly based off a recipe I found online a long time ago. I went a-hunting to find that recipe to credit it, but could not find it anywhere. So here is my version; I hope you enjoy!

Butternut squash is one of my favourites. It is a great vegetable that keeps extremely well, even at room temperature. While it is technically spring, here in Canada, we are not quite seeing the spring veg roll in, so using a winter squash like butternut is still in full force. Why are they considered winter squash? It is definitely not because they grow in the snow! Winter squash have that name because they get harvested in late fall, and last through the winter while they are stored away in a cool, dark place. Rich, sweet and satisfying, butternut squash is great cut in pieces and roasted in the oven or made up into a mash. In this particular recipe, though, we are going to add a few more ingredients and turn it into soup!

One element I like about this recipe is the addition of the sweet potato. It gives the soup that bright, orangey colour, as well as adding sweetness. The apple balances out the flavour by providing a little tartness. Finally, we are not going to be adding a sweet spice like cinnamon or nutmeg, oh no! We will be spicing lightly with some cumin to get a hint of earthiness to round this dish off, and a lil dash of cayenne to elevate the heat-from-inside feeling, perfect for a chilly, slushy spring day.

To start off, we peel and chop all the veg. Like I said earlier, prepping the butternut squash is the hardest part of this recipe. The squash, though very soft once cooked, is quite firm when raw, and its skin is thick and hard as well. There a quite a few different tips and tricks out there on how to peel the squash, find one that works for you! Don’t forget to scoop and toss the guts 🙂 Cut the different veg into large chunks, maybe about 2-3cm in size.

I am extra cautious at this step of cutting the squash… A few years ago, I was cutting butternut squash and a piece fell on the ground. Our Scottie swooped in, grabbed the piece of veg, and raced off with his prize. I usually do not think twice when he does something like this. He eats raw veg all the time (fun fact: kale stalks are one of his favourite treats) and so when he ran off, I continued on with my cooking. Then, a few minutes later, I heard this soft, mournful croon from the other room that I had never heard him make before. When I went to check on him, he was lifting his little nose in the air, making the crooning sound, then would bring his head down and pant quickly, as if he could not breathe. I am not proud to say that I panicked. I was so worried he was allergic to the squash and his little airway was closing. Long story short… a bit of panic, a sleepover at the vets, and an expensive vet bill later, Moz got sent home in great spirits, with the unchewed piece of raw butternut squash that they had pulled out (it had lodged itself into his esophagus, just before his tummy). Thanks bud. CHEW YOUR FOOD.

Anyhow… back to the soup. Once the squash, sweet potato, and apple have been peeled and cut into chunks, it is time to start cooking. Start by adding the oil, onion and garlic to a large pot on medium-high heat. Cook until the onion has softened. Add the wine and cook until the wine has reduced by about half. Add all the rest of the ingredients except the cream, stirring to mix fully. Lower the heat to medium, cover the pot and cook for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, or until the veggies are cooked through and soft.

To finish this soup off, we will be blending it to get that nice, velvety texture. If you have one, you can blend the soup right in the pot using an immersion blender. If you do not have an immersion blender, you can blend in a regular blender as well. You will likely need to do the soup in batches if using a regular blender, as it is a lot of soup! Also, be careful when blending in a regular blender, starting off on a low speed and gearing up, or you and your kitchen may end up wearing more soup than you eat! (Speaking from experience? I don’t wanna talk about it…)

Once blended, add the soup back to the pot and put over medium-low heat. Add the cream, stirring in completely and bringing the soup back up to temperature. Serve immediately. I like garnishing using nuts of some kind, like walnuts, pecans or hazelnuts, and drizzling with sour cream or an infused olive oil.

Happy Eating.

“Borscht” Pasta (AKA Deconstructed Borscht with Beet Noodles)

5 Comments

Borscht “Pasta”

Print Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Course Main Course, Side Dish
Servings 4 people

Ingredients
  

  • 1 large beet (peeled and spiralized into noodles)
  • 2 garlic cloves (minced)
  • 3 Tbsps butter or olive oil
  • 1/4 cup broth (vegetable chicken)
  • 15 cherry tomatoes
  • 1 Tbsp fresh dill (chopped, or 1 tsp dried dill)
  • salt and pepper (to taste)
  • sour cream, for garnish (optional)

Instructions
 

  • Heat the butter or oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add the garlic and sauté until the garlic is fragrant and is starting to brown. Add the tomatoes, and stir, cooking until the tomato skins blister and split. Next, add the beet noodles, stirring to coat the noodles with the butter/oil. Add the broth and cover the pan to allow the noodles to steam for about 5-8 minutes or until they become tender. Uncover and cook, stirring regularly, until the liquid is almost completely gone. Add the dill and stir. Serve with a dollop of sour cream, if desired.
Keyword Beet Noodles, Beets, Borscht, Tomatoes

And now for the details…

Beet noodles. No, not beet-infused pasta, but actual noodles made out of beets. You’re probably already familiar with zucchini or carrot noodles by spiralizing the vegetables, but how about spiralizing beets? The inspiration for this dish came while I was grocery shopping. The grocery store had beet noodles already prepped for sale and my first thought was “what the heck would you do with beet noodles?”

Well… my brain wouldn’t let it go and I felt the need to figure out what I would do with beet noodles. The earthy flavour of beets is quite pungent, so just throwing them in with any old dish as a pasta replacement would heavily change the flavour of meal. Besides, that beety flavour is so tasty, was there a way to highlight it and make the beet noodles the star of the dish? And then it came to me: a borscht-inspired “pasta” dish.

In order to minimize the mess at home, since I’d never tried spiralizing beets, I chose to use a golden beet instead of a purple/red beet. I can only imagine what the kitchen would have looked like after trying to do this with the deeply coloured purple/red beet. Dark red stains everywhere, it would heavily resemble the scene of a murder. So let’s avoid that and go with the golden beet, shall we? Same great flavour. Less mess. *cheesy smile and thumbs up*

When choosing a beet, try to pick one that’s a little on the larger side, between the size of a tennis ball and softball. In order to spiralize, we need to peel the beet first. Don’t worry about peeling off the bottom of the beet, that’s going to be anchored into the end of our spiralizer. The mistake I made here was to spiralize the whole beet without cutting the noodles as I went. This resulted in looooooooooong Rapunzel-like strands of beet noodles that were a little challenging to work with. I would suggest giving them a little snip with food scissors every 8″-12″/20-30cm as you spiralize to form reasonable-length noodles.

Next, we start cooking! Heat the butter or oil in a large pan/skillet over medium heat. Add your minced garlic and stir until the garlic becomes fragrant (is there a smell much better than garlic cooking in butter?) and add the tomatoes. Cook the tomatoes, stirring regularly, until the skin on the tomatoes blisters and splits open.

Add the beet noodles into the pan. Stir them well so they become coated with the garlicky butter/oil. I found the easiest way to do this was to use some tongs to pick up the noodles and shift them around the pan. Add the broth to the pan, and cover the pan, allowing the beet noodles to cook and soften. This will take about 5-8 minutes.

Finally, uncover the pan, and sprinkle with the dill, stirring well. If there is still quite a bit of liquid in the pan, keep stirring and cooking until most of the liquid has been absorbed/cooked off. Finally, transfer to a serving dish and serve with sour cream!

Happy eating.

Radicchio-usly Easy Salad (with Bleu Cheese and Dijon Dressing)

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Radicchio-usly Easy Salad with Bleu Cheese and Dijon Dressing

Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Course Appetizer, Main Course, Salad, Side Dish

Ingredients
  

  • 1/2 head radicchio (core removed, cut into ribbons)
  • 1 Tbsp dijon mustard
  • 2 Tbsps olive oil
  • salt and pepper (to taste)
  • 2-3 oz creamy bleu cheese (e.g. Saint Agur)
  • 1/4 cup toasted walnuts (chopped)

Instructions
 

  • Place the dijon and vinegar in the bottom of the salad's serving bowl. Whisk with a fork until fully blended. Continue whisking as you pour the olive oil into the mix. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add radicchio to the bowl and toss with the dressing until coated. Pull the bleu cheese apart with finger into bite-sized pieced and sprinkle over salad. Sprinkle with walnuts. Serve.
Keyword Bleu Cheese, Dijon Mustard, Radicchio, Salad, Salad Dressing

And now for the details…

Oh MAN I love this salad. It comes together so quick and easy, I’m almost ashamed to share it. Almost. But it is also one of my favourite salads, so combine the ease of preparation with the satisfying tastiness of this salad, and it would be an absolute shame not to share it.

This salad was inspired by a similar salad we had in Paris at the Bouillon Chartier. Theirs uses endives, but… endives are expensive! The bitter flavour from the endives is mimicked here with the radicchio instead. Mix that bitterness with the salty, creaminess of the bleu cheese, the tang of the dijon dressing, and the crunch of the walnuts, and it is a match made in heaven.

Radicchio can be very bitter. It’s often roasted or grilled to soften the bitterness, or only added sparingly along with other greens for salads. In this case, though, we are embracing and celebrating that bitter flavour in it’s full glory, and pairing it with the other ingredients to provide nice contrasts of flavours and textures.

Without further ado, let’s make this salad! We are going to make everything in the same bowl out of which we will be serving/eating. This is the glorious part about this salad, it comes together so quickly and doesn’t dirty many dishes. It is one of my favourite lunches right now, since I can throw it together quickly, which is something important right now while I am working from home and need something in a hurry.

Start by placing the mustard and vinegar into the bowl, and whisking it with a fork (the same fork you plan on eating with? Why of course!) until the two are fully mixed together.

Next slowly pour the olive oil in with the vinegar and mustard, whisking as you pour, until the dressing is fully mixed and a homogeneous mix. Add salt and pepper to your preferred taste, and mix well.

Cut the core out of the radicchio and discard, then cut the radicchio into small bite-sized ribbons. Add the cut radicchio to the bowl, and toss with the dressing until the radicchio is evenly coated.

Tear the bleu cheese into bite-sized chunks and add them to the salad. This is not a place to be skimpy; use nice, big pieces, and make sure the salad is rife with cheese! Finally, loosely crumbled the toasted walnuts over the salad, and then it’s time to eat!

Happy eating.

Beautiful Multicoloured Salmon and Tuna Poke Bowl

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Tuna and Salmon Poke Bowl

Print Recipe
Prep Time 25 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Course Main Course
Servings 2 people

Ingredients
  

Rice

  • 1 cup sushi rice (uncooked)
  • 1-2 Tbsps seasoned rice wine vinegar

Salmon

  • 60-110 g sushi grade salmon (cut into 1cm pieces)
  • 1/2 tsp chilli oil (can substitute with hot sauce, sambal olek, or sriracha)
  • 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice (approx 1/8 of a lemon)
  • 1/2 tsp seasoned rice wine vinegar

Tuna

  • 60-110 g sushi grade tuna (cut into 1cm pieces)
  • 1 tsp soy sauce
  • 1 tsp wasabi paste

Bowl

  • 3 mini english cucumbers (cut into bite-sized pieces)
  • 1/4 cup chopped savoy cabbage
  • 2 Tbsps fresh cilantro (chopped)
  • 1 Tbsp pickled ginger
  • 1/2 sheet roasted nori (cut into matchstick-sized pieces)
  • 1/2 cup edamame beans
  • salt (to taste)

Instructions
 

Rice

  • Cook the sushi rice according to package instructions. Once cooked, sprinkle 1-2 Tbsps rice wine vinegar, mixing in and fanning the rice to cool. Once cool, place in two serving bowls. 

Salmon

  • In a small mixing dish, mix 1/2 tsp chilli oil or hot sauce, 1/2 teaspoon vinegar and lemon juice, then toss the salmon in this mix, sprinkling with a pinch of salt. Place salmon on rice in bowls. (Stack over one part of the bowl, do not spread.)

Tuna

  • Mix wasabi and 1 teaspoon soy in a small mixing dish, then toss tuna pieces in this mix, spoon out into rice in bowls, next to the salmon, allowing excess soy to fall back into small dish. Discard excess soy.

Bowls

  • Arrange the rest of the ingredients around the fish on the rice: cabbage, cucumbers, ginger, nori, edamame, cilantro. Whisk together 2 tablespoons soy, 2 teaspoons vinegar, olive oil, sesame oil, and 1/2 tsp chilli oil or hot sauce. Drizzle the bowls with the dressing. Serve.
Keyword Poke Bowl, Salmon, Tuna

And now for the details…

When I’ve got a protein craving (yes, I get cravings for protein… I am a bit of a protein-aholic), the protein I want most is raw tuna. And so when I was shopping yesterday and walked past the sushi section and saw a dish of tuna and salmon sashimi, I grabbed it, drooling a little, thinking what a delicious treat it would be once I got home. I ended up getting home closer to dinner time, though, and decided to turn the sashimi into the full meal deal, and make a poke bowl.

Poke bowl restaurants exploded in the 2010’s, and you can often find them all over the place. But admittedly, the bowls we get there and what I have created here is not super accurate to its origins. Poke originates from Hawaii, where you can find it everywhere, from poke shops to grocery stores to gas stations. But you won’t usually see the big, colourful bowls, permeated with vegetables and avocados. More frequently, the poke is dished out on its own, or onto rice, in to-go containers and served up with minimal accoutrements. And to be honest, it doesn’t need the accoutrements. Most of the poke we had in Hawaii is so delicious in its own right, it doesn’t need a bunch of stuff to go with it. Knocking my own bowl a little bit? I guess so. The additions I’ve put in do complement the poke, but they are added more to create a balanced meal, rather than be true to origin.

With that, let’s make that bowl!

Start out by cooking the rice. I have used sushi rice, but you could use any rice that suits your fancy. I’ve seen poke restaurants use brown rice, quinoa, or even cauliflower rice. Whichever you are using, follow the package directions to cook the rice. If you are using sushi rice, once it is cooked, sprinkle the rice with 1-2 tablespoons of the rice wine vinegar, carefully stirring the vinegar in, being careful to not break the rice apart. Place the rice in two serving bowls, spreading it so it covers the bottom of the bowl.

Next, we prepare the fish. We are going to use different marinades for each fish, so keep them separate. Cut the fish into small pieces, about 1cm in size. Putting the fish into the freezer for a couple minutes will help make them easier to cut.

First, the tuna: whisk together the wasabi paste and 1 teaspoon soy sauce. Add the tuna pieces, and toss until the tuna pieces are covered. Transfer immediately onto the rice bowl.

Next, the salmon: whisk 1/2 teaspoon chilli oil or hot sauce, 1/2 teaspoon rice wine vinegar, and the lemon juice. Add the salmon pieces and toss to coat. Add a dash of salt to taste, then place the salmon next to the tuna on the rice bowl.

Place the cucumber, cabbage and cilantro around the fish.

Next, whisk the 2 tablespoons soy sauce, 2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar, olive oil, sesame oil, and 1/2 tsp chilli oil or hot sauce with a fork until well blended. Sprinkle the dressing over the bowls, getting it over the veggies and rice. Finally, place the edamame, ginger and nori, then serve!

(No pickled ginger in the house? No problem, neither did I! This recipe from the New York Times is a super fast, super easy way to put pickled ginger together, with only an hour resting time!)

Happy eating.

One Pan Wonder: Roast Chicken with Veggies, Potatoes and Gravy

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Roast Chicken with Veggies, Potatoes and Gravy

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!
Print Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 20 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Course Main Course
Servings 4 people

Ingredients
  

  • 1-2 kg whole chicken (2-4.5 lbs)
  • 3-5 garlic cloves (peeled, cut in half)
  • 10 cm piece of fresh ginger (4", peeled, cut in large chunks)
  • 2 Tbsps dried makrut lime leaves (optional)
  • 1 small onion (peeled, cut in large slices)
  • 2 Tbsps butter (melted)
  • 1 Tbsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 cup dry white wine (plus more if needed)
  • 4 medium carrots (peeled, cut in large pieces)
  • 15 baby potatoes (halved, tossed in olive oil)
  • 1 fennel bulb (cored and cut in 8)
  • 1 + 1/2 cups asparagus pieces (tossed in olive oil)
  • 2 Tbsps flour
  • 1/4 cup chicken 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.

Sesame Crusted Tuna Salad with Ginger-Soy Dressing

Sesame Crusted Tuna Salad with Ginger-Soy Dressing

Print Recipe
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Course Main Course, Side Dish

Ingredients
  

Dressing

  • 2 Tbsp rice wine vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 1/2 tsp chicken stock powder (e.g. OXO brand)
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp wasabi paste
  • 1/2 tsp sesame oil
  • 1 tsp fresh ginger (peeled and shredded)

Tuna

  • 450 g ahi tuna (1 lb, sushi grade)
  • 1 tsp rice wine vinegar
  • 1 Tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp wasabi paste
  • 1 tsp fresh ginger (peeled and shredded)
  • 1/4 cup sesame seeds

Salad

  • 2 large carrots (peeled and shredded)
  • 8 cup romaine lettuce (torn to bite-sized pieces, can use any lettuce)

Instructions
 

Dressing

  • Whisk together 2 Tbsps rice wine vinegar, 1 Tbsp soy sauce, chicken stock powder, 2 Tbsps olive oil, sesame oil, 1 tsp ginger and garlic.

Tuna

  • 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.
Keyword Ginger, Salad, Salad Dressing, Sesame, Soy Sauce, Tuna

And now for the details…

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.

Happy eating.

Super Simple Side of Roasted Butternut Squash

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Roasted Butternut Squash

Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 20 minutes
Total Time 25 minutes
Course Main Course, Side Dish

Ingredients
  

  • 1 medium sized butternut squash (peeled, cored and cut into chunks)
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/4 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp cane sugar (can use regular sugar)
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/8 tsp cayenne 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.
Keyword Baked, Butternut Squash, Vegetables, Vegetarian

And now for the details…

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.

Remove from the oven and serve immediately.

Happy eating.

Browned Butter Ravioli with Blanched Broccoli

Browned Butter Ravioli with Broccoli

A complete and easy dinner that comes together quickly!
Print Recipe
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 15 minutes
Course Main Course
Servings 2 people

Ingredients
  

  • 500 g ravioli
  • 2 garlic cloves (peeled and minced)
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 dash tarragon
  • salt and pepper (to taste)
  • 1/4 cup chicken broth
  • 1/2 cup pasta water
  • 1/4 cup pecan pieces (toasted)
  • 2 Tbsps parmesan cheese (grated)
  • 3 cups broccoli florets

Instructions
 

  • 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 🙂

Happy eating.