Veggie Bagel Melts

I couldn't resist this one cause this is one of my all time favorite and indulgent snacks. If you don't have a toaster oven a normal broiler will do too.


Veggie Bagel Melt:
-1 bagel
-1/2 tomato, thinly sliced
-2-3 slice of red onion, thin
-1 avacado, sliced
-nice cream cheese
-4 slices of cheddar cheese
-generous salt and pepper.

1. Toast your bagel and cream cheese it.
2. Layer on the red onion and tomato and salt and pepper it.
3. Follow with the avacado and then cheddar.
4. Broil until the cheddar bubbles

Pancetta and Cabbage Risotto

The title doesn't grab you does it? It didn't really grab me either - at first. However, I am eager to try any Marcella recipe and I have soft spot for risotto so I gave it a shot.

This is actually the second time I have made it now. I really enjoy the smokey flavor of the pancetta (or bacon) contrasted with the Savoy Cabbage. Plus I always wondered what those funny looking cabbages would be good for. This is great, warming, stick to your bones food. If you haven't heard, Vancouver has been having some very strange weather the last few weeks. Firstly a massive rain storm that has overloaded the resevoirs making the water undrinkable without boiling. To top it off we were hit with a snowstorm - which Vancouver does not get many of. Because of that I am challenged to use vegetables which involve minimal washing (I ain't buying bottled water to wash lettuce!) and avoid things like pasta and rice. Hence the inspiration for this risotto.

This is another recipe from Marcella's Italian Kitchen - and it certainly won't be the last. Give yourself at least 20 minutes to get the cabbage caramelized.

Savoy Cabbage and Pancetta Risotto
-1 small onion, finely diced
-1/2C pancetta or bacon, cut into thin strips
-1T veg oil
-3T butter
-1 Savoy Cabbage, stalk removed, finely shredded.
-Meat broth, simmering
-1 1/2C arborio rice
-1/2C parmesan, grated
-salt and pepper

1. In a large dutch oven melt 2T of the butter with the oil over medium heat. Add the onion and the pancetta and cook until the onion is lightly browned, do not let burn.
2. Add the cabbage and turn the heat down to medium low. Turn a few times and cover. Cook until the cabbage becomes "colored a rich nut brown" stirring every few minutes to prevent burning.
3. Add the rice to the pot, turn the heat back up to medium and stir quickly, start adding ladlefuls of broth one at a time as they get absorbed. Stir continuously. Continue doing this until the rice is soft but still a little al dente.
4. Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining butter, parmesan and season to taste.

Roast Pork Tenderloin

Here is an easy and cheap dinner that can be passed off as more. It certainly stands up to a Sunday dinner, serve it with mashed potatoes or rice to sop up the sauce! I admit this is not my prettiest picture, and certainly does not qualify as food porn - however the dish itself was very well received.


Roast Pork Tenderloin:
-1/2C red wine
-1/2C soy sauce
-large thumb size piece of ginger, minced or grated
-3 cloves of garlic, minced.
-1t canola oil
-1 pork tenderloin, silver skin removed.

1. Mix together the wine, soy sauce garlic and ginger. Add the pork and allow to marinate for a few hours.
2. Preheat the oven to 350F.
3. Remove the pork from the marinade and sear on all sides in a skillet with the oil over medium heat.
4. Roast the pork until it reaches at least 150F (or however you like it.)
5. Meanwhile add the marinade to the skillet to deglaze the pan. (Scrap up all those brown flavorful bits!) When deglazed, transfer to a small sauce pan and allow to simmer while the pork cooks.
6. When the pork is done allow it to rest for 10 minutes.
7. Slice the pork thinly on a diagonal and serve drizzled with the sauce.

Caesar Salad

I have just re-discovered Caesar salad, it really is an oldie but a goodie. This is real Caesar salad and the recipe was adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything. I have been bothering to coddle the eggs, but it is really a personal choice. For the garlic I like it minced right up in the dressing but if you are garlic shy, try cutting it in half and just wiping your salad bowl down with the juices and discard the rest.

Caesar Salad Dressing:
-1 clove of garlic
-1 anchovy, minced
-1 egg, coddled
-1/2 lemon, juiced
-2t of olive oil
-dash of Worcestershire
-dash of Tabasco
-salt and pepper

1. To coddle the egg place it in boiling water for 2 minutes. Break the egg into a bowl and whisk.
2. Add lemon juice while continuously whisking.
3. Add garlic (minced if you want it in the dressing), anchovies, salt and pepper, Worcestershire and Tabasco.
4. Slowly add oil whisking continuously to emulsify.

Toss the dressing with romaine lettuce, grated Parmesan and homemade croutons.

Pecan Banana Bread

Everyone knows how great banana bread is for using up leftover bananas. In our house that usually means bananas that are blackened and have been sitting in the freezer for a few months. I had a great recipe from an old roommate that called for a cup of butter (yikes!) but unfortunately I lost a set of recipes in a move a few years ago. Since then I have tried a couple of different recipes, all of which have been sort of, meh.


This one isn't meh. It is extremely moist, and the only disclaimer is that it takes a long time, so don't start it at 10pm. I really like nuts in my banana bread, but chocolate chips would work too.


Pecan Banana Bread
-3 very ripe bananas
-1C sugar
-3t baking soda
-pinch of salt
-2 eggs
-1/4C oil
-1 1/2 C flour
-1/2C buttermilk or 1/2C milk+1t lemon juice
-1C pecans

1. Preheat oven to 275F.
2. In a food processor pulse the pecans for 10 seconds, remove from food processor and set aside.
3. Pulse the bananas until pureed, 20 seconds. Add sugar, baking soda and salt and process for another 30 seconds. Pour flour over and then add buttermilk. Process just until combined, 10 seconds. Stir in pecans.
4. Pour into a standard load pan and bake for about 2 - 2 1/2 hours.

Italian Lemon Parsley Chicken

This recipe comes from Marcella's Classic Italian Cookbook. The thing I really like about this is because of how you slice the chicken it is very hard to undercook, quick to cook and really stretches. Plus, I still occasionally regress back to childhood and like mini portions :)

I served this with some simple pasta (tossed with butter, parsley and lemon juice) and a salad. Oh, and this counts as a thirty minute meal. This recipe only calls for one chicken breast but it served two. Of course, if your household is full of rugby or football players you may want to double it.


Italian Lemon Parsley Chicken:
-1 chicken breast
-juice of 1 lemon
-handful of italian parsley chopped fine.
-2T butter
-1t olive oil

1. Slice the chicken into fillets approximately 1 cm thin. (About the size of the natural tender of the chicken breast.) I ended up with 5 pieces.
2. In a skillet over medium high add the oil and 1T of the butter. Saute the chicken until cooked and remove from the pan. Salt and pepper them.
3. Add the lemon juice and whisk the brown bits off the bottom of the skillet. You can add a bit of water if necessary. Add the parsley and the remaining butter and whisk together.
4. Add the chicken back to the pan and coat with the sauce. Serve with the remaining sauce on top.

How to Fix/Season a Cast Iron Pan

My boyfriend and I don't have a patio big enough for a BBQ in our current apartment so we are big fans of our cast iron grill pan. The only problem with this pan is that you have to treat it properly and through misuse we were ready to give up on ours today. I had taken it out of the cupboard a week ago to use it and found it covered with a weird sticky substance. I think it was likely congealed oil from a bad cleaning on previous use. I tried several things to fix it but could not remove the substance... Luckily we were saved by the lady at our local kitchen store and her suggestions. And let me tell you they worked like a charm.

To Clean it:
Beware that this will remove any food stuck on your pan but will also remove your seasoning. So don't do it unless absolutely necessary. Sprinkle all over with baking soda. Be generous. Add just enough water to form a paste (a spray bottle works well). Allow the paste to sit on the pan for 30 minutes and then scrub with a nylon scrubbie. Rinse and then Season!

To Season it:
Choose an oil to season the pan with, it needs to be an unflavoured oil like safflower or canola. Preheat the oven to 450F and brush oil all over the pan. You do not want there to be drips, but rather just enough to make it shiny. (Sponge off excess with a papertowel.) Bake for an hour and the turn the oven off and allow the pan to cool slowly.

Maintenance:
To clean the pan allow it first to cool completely. Place it in the sink and run hot water over it for a few minutes to help dislodge any stuck on food. Scrub with water, avoid soap as it will remove the seasoning.

Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies

Oh Mama are these good. For years I was known for my oatmeal chocolate chip cookies... of course no one knew that the reason I made them was because I couldn't ever get regular chocolate chip cookies to work. They all seemed to turn out like hard little pancakes.

That was of course until I met the chocolate chip cookie recipe from the Food Processor Bible. To top it all off this recipe doesn't even require any elbow grease because the whole thing happens in the food processor! Great for the holidays. My other trick is to use parchment so you don't have to wash the cookie sheet ;)

I have made this a dozen times in the last year or two and I have never had a batch fail. If you have kids omit the pecans.. but I think they are mandatory!

Chocolate Chip Pecan Cookies:
-1C pecans
-1C butter (a modest cup), cut in chunks
-3/4C white sugar
-3/4 brown sugar, packed
-2 eggs
-1t vanilla extract
-2 1/4C flour
-1t baking soda
-1/2t salt
-2C choc chips

1. Preheat oven to 375F
2. Set up your food processor with the regular blade and pulse the pecans for 10 seconds. Remove pecans and set aside.
3. Put butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla in processor and process for 1 minute. Add flour, baking soda and salt
(See wasn't that easy?)
4. Drop spoonfuls onto a cookie sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes until lightly browned. Allow to cool on a rack.

WHB: White Bean and Basil Homous

Its been awhile since I have participated in Weekend Herb blogging, so I have decided to ease into it with something easy but rewarding. This homous features basil and was inspired by a rather expensive version I bought at the grocery store. What makes this dip a homous is that it is has a pureed bean and oil base - but other then that it is really quite different. It's a great dish because it can be fancied up or served casual, sort of like the perfect pair of shoes.



This week's Weekend Herb Blogging is being hosted by Nandita of the Saffron Trail. Her blog comes to us all the way from India - that has to be the greatest thing about the blogging community, it really brings the term small world to life. I can tell you know that after a quick perusal of her blog I have put her baba ganouj on my to try list.

Basil and White Bean Homous:
-1 can of white beans (kidney, or cannelini are nice)
- a handful of fresh basil
-1 clove of garlic
-1 package of goat cheese (~150g)
-olive oil
-salt and pepper

Put garlic in the food processor and pulse until minced. Add in basil, beans and goat cheese and Belinda until combined. With the food processor running stream in olive oil until it is the consistency of homous. Adjust seasoning. Garnish with fresh basil and serve with pita or veggies.

Loose Meat Chorizo Sandwichs

I can't take credit for this, cause I enjoyed this dinner from the couch. In fact I think it was even delivered to my lap by my fabulous boyfriend who was responsible. He got the idea from a loose meat sandwich he had for lunch years ago and this is his replication of that flavour.

This is unlike anything I had ever had - the spiciness of the chorizo is really complimented by the sweetness of the bbq sauce. Try this on sports night - or if you are us Lost night!

Chorizo Sandwiches:
(makes 4)
-6 chorizo sausages, casings removed
-6T of bbq sauce
-1C black olives, sliced
-1 tomato, thinly sliced
-3 pickles, thinly sliced
-1/2 red onion, thinly sliced
-1/2C of slice cheddar cheese
-Chewy sub bread - like a Safeway baguette

This is easy, brown the sausage in the pan until cooked through. Add the BBQ sauce and allow to cook for 3-4 minutes. To assemble the sandwiches take take the bread and layer with tomatoes, then pickles, onions and cheese. Add a good helping of meat and top it off with black olive. Yum!

I think next time on mine I might substitute banana peppers for the pickles for something else to try!