After a long absense.

Well Hello,

Its been quite a few years since I added anything thing to my blog and a LOT has happened since I did.  But my love of anything culinary hasn't changed much.  I have tried lots of new cuisines mostly successful,  and I have had lots of inspirations from all quarters.  Moroccan, Persian, Ethiopian for example.  I have also been very inspired and give thanks to my friends and acquaintances. There are also twists on the old staples like Oxtail soup.  Who would have thought that throwing in a  few spoons of marmalade to the broth could make such a difference.  Of course cooking with any type of alcohol is dependent on the day of cooking as to how much is actually added to the food or my wine glass.  A sharp knife and a glass of wine is not always a good combination.  It's all about the balance.  And for those who know me know it's a fine line.

My new pet peeve is looking at recipes on line from wanna be chefs who have no idea how to write out a recipe and who think they know what they are doing.  But hey who am I to judge, we are all on our own journeys.  I am just glad I know the difference and am able to sort the wheat from the chaff.

So on to todays recipe which was devoured by my nearest and dearest this evening.

Paella with a twist,  taking into consideration that not everyone can eat shellfish without dying a horrible death due to anaphylactic shock.  I managed to change it up to suit our needs.

PAELLA

I used a proper Paella dish for this but you can use any large heavy bottomed skillet.

You will need a herb blend which consists of
1 cup chopped parsley
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
4 large cloves of garlic (minced)
2 tablespoons olive oil

Set this aside for use later.

Then you will need
1 table spoon of saffron threads added to 1 cup of warm water, (don't chintz on the saffron)
Let these infuse until you need them

1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cups of finely chopped onion
1 cup finely chopped red pepper
4 cloves of minced garlic
1 cup frozen peas
2 table spoons finely sliced sun dried tomatoes
8 artichoke hearts ( jarred in olive oil or from a can)
1 cup chopped canned tomatoes
1 teaspoon paprika

2 large chicken breasts diced
1 chorizo sausage
1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cups Arborio rice
2 tetra packs of chicken broth

To finish add

1 tub mini Boccioni cheese
16 grape tomatoes
2 tablespoons freshly chopped parsley

Firstly sauté your chicken in olive oil and remove from the pan, then add the sausage to the pan and sauté then remove from the pan.

Add a little more olive oil and sauté the onion, pepper, garlic, peas, sun dried tomatoes, and artichoke hearts for a few minutes.

Add the chopped tomatoes, paprika and rice, stir well.

Add your chicken stock, saffron and sautéed meats.

Stir in your herb blend with some salt and pepper.

Stir occasionally till it comes to the boil and then turn the heat right down low.

let it simmer gently for about 20 minutes.  ( I covered my pan with foil before simmering) Give it another stir.  If some rice has stuck to the bottom and made a slight crust it's ok.  This is a good thing trust me.

To finish place your Boccioni cheese and tomatoes over the top.  Adjust the seasoning to your taste. 

My advice is to cover it up and let it stand for about 20 minutes on the stove with the heat turned off before serving.  These quantities give you a generous 8 portions

I had a very happy family tonight with not many left overs.

 

Gluten Free Apricot Crepes

JUST IN TIME FOR SHROVE TUESDAY

Apricot crepes 

This dessert turned out really well.  Like most of my posts it was inspired from another source and I adapted it for both my dietary needs and taste buds. So now it has got my copyright stamp on it.  I got a wow and a thumbs up from Julian so I knew I was on to something spectacular.  Note that I say "they are crepes" which are thin and lacy not those holy cow big suckers that most of us know as pancakes.

The recipe serves four but you can quadruple the quantities if you like and scarf back as many as you want.  It was difficult to stop at just one.

Basic gluten free crepe mix.

1 cup milk
1 rice flour
1 egg
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon oil

Whisk all the above ingredients up together and let it sit at room temperature for a while before cooking the crepes.  For which I used a well seasoned cast iron frying pan.  You will need an additional teaspoon of oil in the pan for each crepe.  Get the pan good and hot but not so hot that it is smoking.  This recipe will yield roughly 4 crepes.  You can of course by a package mix or some ready made crepes.

For the filling you will need:

2 cans of apricot halves in light syrup
1/2 cup light cream cheese
zest of half a lemon
2 tablespoons of Grand Marnier (or a liquor of your choice)
2 tablespoon sugar

You will also need small quantities of:

Chocolate ganache This is made by slowly melting about 70% chocolate to 30% cream in a double boiler.  Blend well together and it's ready to go.  You can make it a bit thinner if you wish by adding a little more cream.  It depends on your tastes.
Apricot sauce   This is so simple.  All I did was drain half of the juice out of the can then blended the rest to make a nice sauce.

Spread each crepe with about a tablespoon of your chocolate ganache  (you could also use commercial chocolate sauce or Nutella.
Blend the cream cheese with the sugar, lemon zest, Grand Marnier and spread over the crepes.
Next thinly slice apricot halves and divide between the crepes.
Sprinkle a little additional booze over the crepes before rolling them up.
Heat them through in the stove or microwave them.
Decorate your plate with a little extra chocolate and apricot sauces.

Fabulous flavours, rich, tart and sweet all at the same time.

Sweet potato stew

Wow! I was looking at my last entry which was in 2011 when I was rubbing my pork.  Couldn't help my use of words.  I have a warped sense of humour what can I say.  Lately I have been busy creating all kinds of wonderful treasures and since joining Weight Watchers I have had to make my creations fit my points budget.  Those of you familiar with Weight Watchers will know what I mean.

Todays creation was a bit of a lets see what's in the fridge and make something with it day.  After a couple of Facebook likes and recipe requests I figured it was time to start blogging again.

So here it is:

sweet potato stew with shitake mushrooms and quinoa

500g  sweet potato cubed,
1 medium diced onion,
1 peeled and diced carrot,
1 rib of celery diced,
1 leek cleaned and sliced,
2 cups of baby spinach,
1 cup frozen okra,
1 tablespoon olive oil,
1 liter chicken stock,
3 cloves garlic,
1/2 cup cilantro,
hot pepper paste, salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a large heavy duty stew pot and sauté the potato, onion, carrot, leek and garlic until it starts to brown.  Pour in the chicken stock or if you are a veggie use veggie stock.  Let it simmer until the potato is tender.  Take off the heat and with a potato masher break up the stew a little.  (I like mine fairly chunky so I only mashed it about 6 times)  Add the spinach, okra, hot pepper paste and salt and pepper.  Let it simmer for another 10 minutes.  Serve with the cilantro.

quinoa and shitake mushrooms

1/2 cup quinoa cooked to the manufacturers instructions,
1/2 cup dried shitake mushrooms,
1/2 cup white mushrooms,
Salt and Pepper to taste

Soak the shitake mushrooms in enough boiling water to cover them until they are soft (approx. 10 mins) Then slice up the white mushrooms.  Sauté in a little oil with the drained shitakes until they are nicely browned and stir into the quinoa.

P.S I reserved my liquid from the shitakes and added it to the stew.  I also think the stew would be nice with some white beans in it for extra protein but I didn't have any on hand.

Rubbing the pork

Rubbing the pork

Here we are in the dog days of summer.  I must admit it's been wonderful.  We have a good friend staying with us from ole blighty, we have been getting into all kinds of daring capers and having lots of laughs. Including days of Salsa dancing, sailing and sausages. But I was getting short of ideas on what to make for dinner tonight. Although the pork chops looked quite good on their own.  Nothing beats a tasty rub on your meat.

Take 6 good size pork chops

In a bowl mix together 2 teaspoons of ground cumin,

2 teaspoons of oregano,

Juice of 2 limes,

2 tablespoons of olive oil,

A pinch of hot pepper flakes

Mix these together to make a paste and rub it into your meat.

Cover and marinade for several hours before barbecuing over hot coals.

As it was a super hot day and I didn't want to heat the house up I wrapped sliced potatoes, onions and garlic in foil wrap packages with a little s & p and then made another package up with corn, carrots, onions and green peppers.

And now you know how to rub your pork!

Enjoy.

Vegetarian dinner for six on the fly

A memory of beaches and a little flip flop art is always a good thing on a snowy day in March.

vegetarian dinner for six on the fly

We had been trying to get together with our vegetarian friend for sometime so when the date was actually set you would think that I would have been prepared.  Ha yeah right!.  It sent me into a bit of a spin actually.  Having been culinary challenged for a few weeks for new ideas and inspiration.  I was at a loss.  Julian had some good suggestions but they just weren't working for me............... So Monday morning I head for the grocery store with empty bags and the only thing on my list was wine.  Thinking if all else fails i'll just drink the wine before lunch and go back to bed  (My inner voice was telling me "you're gonna be in here a while Sal".  "Better go to the bathroom first".   It wasn't the first time that day I had to tell my inner voice to shut up.)

I wander from shelf to shelf gathering ideas.  Picking up unripened tomatoes and limp cucumbers, putting them back and sighing deeply, feeling disgusted that the romaine lettuce was $3.00, the lemons looked good and
gnarly.  Then I remembered it is March in Ontario and there is not much available. Then the inspiration began to channel it's way into my jaded head.  I started off with fresh basil and fresh thyme and worked from there.  Asparagus makes it way into my cart along with some rice gnocchi and I am starting to smile now cause it's starting to flow.  I cave in and purchase dried mushrooms from France and Mayan squash from Mexico.  I only feel a little bad that I am not supporting my local farmers.  The onions and the cauliflower in the bottom of my fridge is defiantly an Ontario product, just needs to be trimmed a little and the bottle of Chardonnay is another local product.  By the time I leave Bowmanville I am all set to create a master piece.

This is what I made.

Gnocchi with a wild mushroom, white wine cream sauce.  Baked with fresh thyme and asiago cheese.
Lentils with cauliflower and tomato stew, topped with cilantro.
Mayan squash with fresh basil and garlic.
Steamed asparagus with roasted pecans and onions with a squeeze of fresh lemon juice.

The salad was inspired from a friends offering at the gathering I went to last week.  She had made mini tomatoes and pearl boccocini on skewers with balsamic vinegar.  I tossed these ingredients in a bowl with some olives, fresh basil and a little extra virgin olive oil and voila!  Salad deluxe.

Dessert I totally cheated with.  I figured it was OK to do so.  Tuxedo cheese cake (One of Costco's finest desserts)

It was a true masterpiece of my outstanding genius yet again.  Ta da.  Well our guests liked it and Julian got to take the left overs to work the next day and no one complained so I figured it was all good.  If you want the recipe drop me a line.

I LOVE MEATLESS MONDAYS

Local treasures

Local Treasures

It's easy to over look what is on our doorsteps at times. We have become so wrapped up in ourselves and our own place in the world and having the world at our fingertips quite literally.  As we access far off places and paradises on line in our trackpants.  We forget that  just a short car ride can take us to the next big town which we have visited many times before but you never seem to find the time to explore it's changing faces.  We have been to Peterborough many, many times.  We usually stick to the same format.  Going to the climbing gym, Starbucks for coffee, the LCBO of course and then on to Costco to get the bi-weekly shopping.  However this past weekend we found ourselves in Peterborough with time on our hands to explore, a relaxing hotel room to stay in and no real agenda.  Marvelous!

We arrived around lunch time and were just thinking of grabbing a sandwich to keep us going till the evening meal.  We had spotted the sign for 'Elements' restaurant which is on the corner of King and Water st and decided to go inside.  It was quite charming and we were soon ordering a more substantial lunch than first anticipated. There is a selection of cold and hot tapas to choose from along with the appetizers, gourmet sandwiches, chefs specialties and the daily specials.  I was delighted with the fresh flower table decorations and proper linen clothes and napkins.  It has a light and bright airy feel to the atmosphere with a lovely indoor water feature which is soothing. ( Unless you happen to need the bathroom.)  

The waiter (whom I suspect was actually the owner) was very well versed and knowledgeable with items on the menu and had good suggestions.  He was attentive without being overly so. Showing up at just the right time and being scarce to perfection. So we could hold hands and be romantic in private. (Oh la la)

We both ordered the daily lunch specials.  Julian opting for freshly made pasta with chicken and alfrado sauce, which was accompanied with garlic bread.  I went for the Corvina fish (see foot note if you are unsure what I am talking about) which was creole spiced and pan seared, it was accompanied with a peach and red pepper chutney, served with rice and rainbow carrots.  I choose a glass of pinot grigio with my meal.  Whilst Julian picked the Reisling.  Delicious!  The plating was excellent and the portions were perfectly sized that I managed to fit in the Bourbon and banana creme brulee. I devoured this whilst Julian sipped on his fancy coffee OMG!!!

The restaurant doesn't have a website right now but if you look up Peterborough restaurants you will find some information there.  I managed to come away with my own menu so if you want to see it just ask.  The Sunday Brunch menus look amazing too.

http://www.chefs-resources.com/Corvina-Fish-Corvina-Culinary-Information

The rest of the afternoon we spent browsing the shops and boutiques before retiring for a nap.  There was no desire to eat an evening meal. That night we headed to The Pigs Ear to listen to Bradley Boy play and connect with friends, swill beer and snack on hot salty nuts.  Awesome!  My dancing shoes are still warm to the touch.

Costa Rica

COSTA RICAN FOOD 

On our recent trip to Costa Rica we found many delightful places to eat.  Some very basic and some more up market but all using local ingredients and always very fresh, simply prepared and tasty.  I talked to other travelers who didn't always appreciate this style of cuisine, calling it bland and unimaginative.  But you can't argue with the concept of food that hasn't been messed with and genetically modified.  It's always good to be able to actually taste the food you are eating, food that isn't masked with sodiums, chemicals and who knows what else.  Who can argue that a banana or pineapple that has just been picked off the bush or tree isn't going to be wonderful.  The fruit that gets shipped to us is lacking in many ways.  The fruits that are allowed to ripen on the tree taste way better than the unripened fruits that get shipped to us.  Something happens to the sugars in the fruit and it noticeably alters the taste. It's like comparing a bright sunny day to an overcast one.  It just doesn't feel the same.

The typical Costa Rican dish is called a casado.  You get a wide variety of flavours on the same plate.  Consisting of a protein of either, fish, chicken, pork or beef and with that rice and beans (which is known as gallo pinto), quite often you will get a potato and a pasta as well, (not for the carb watchers amongst you) Then if that is not enough to fill your tummy there is fried plantain, a small salad and if you request it the local fried white cheese which squeaks wonderfully on the teeth.  It all comes on a huge platter and is quite lovely chased down with an ice cold Imperial beer.  Most restaurants we visited had their own version of rice and beans.  It is also a staple on the breakfast plate and comes with a choice of eggs, ham, cheese.

I think I can quite safely say that the best fish I had was at a restaurant in Montezuma at a restaurant called Puggos chef restaurant.  The food was very creatively prepared, looked great on the plate with robust flavours which were greatly enhanced with their specialty cocktail of mint leaves, lemon juice blended with ice and a healthy slug of vodka.  I had a whole bass which was baked in the oven with whole garlic cloves and sea salt. I think the head with staring eye ball put Julian off a bit but it didn't stop him from enjoying his beef tenderloin with a lemon, basil and mustard grain sauce.  The mushroom risotto was out of this world as was the freshly baked foccacia bread.  Yummy.

A lot of the more popular tourist towns accommodate the non Spanish speaking vacationer.  The menu is usually printed in both languages and has a variety of American style choices which I think is a real shame.  Most waiters speak some English which can be helpful but it kind of spoils the fun of trying to communicate and makes you lazy.  We found in the more rural out of the way places you have no choice but to try and speak the language.  But that is what a dictionary and a phrase book is for.  Isn't it?  Why bother travelling at all if you want every thing the same as it is at home.  These countries have far more to offer than just some winter sunshine.