Creamy Pasta Primavera

I was having a really bad day on Monday. Not for any good reason, but you know.. a case of the Mondays? Gah. I really didn't want to be at work and though I managed to not take the photocopier out back and beat it with a baseball bat I did have to cook even though I got home late and it had to be true comfort food. Cream. Based. Pasta. Mmmm..

So, this couldn't be easier really. I literally prepped and cooked the sauce in the time it took for the water to boil and the pasta to cook. The tricks are adding the vegetables in the right order so they aren't too mushy and using a solid medium heat under the eggplant so it can brown.

So did it make me feel better? It did. J and I curled up in front of our massive TV screen, under a blanket with steaming bowls and watched the first two Sarah Connor Chronicles. So, I recommend this to anyone in need of a little comfort and submit it to this week's Presto Pasta night.

Creamy Pasta Primavera
(serves 4)

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 small red onion, finely diced
4 large mushrooms, medium diced
1 medium eggplant, medium diced
1 medium zucchine, medium diced
1 red pepper, medium diced
3 small tomato, seeded and diced (about 1C)
¾ cup cream
handful basil, julienned, at the last minute
salt and freshly ground black pepper


In a large skillet over medium heat saute the onion in the oil for a few minutes, add the eggplant and mushrooms and a healthy pinch of salt and grinds of pepper, stirring regularly until it starts to brown. Add the zucchini and peppers and cook for another few minutes. Stir in the cream and tomatoes and taste for seasoning. At the last minutes stir in the basil (reserving some for garnish) and remove from heat, toss with pasta and parmesan and serve.

Ideally you can start the water boiling for the pasta when you start prepping the veggies and the sauce should come together while the pasta cooks.

Tags: Comfort Food, Pasta, Vegetarian

Daring Bakers: Lemon Meringue Pie

The Daring Bakers strike again, this time challenging me with that darn pastry making. After the bostini I felt pretty confident in my egg white whipping abilities - or that of my kitchen aid at least- but pastry is altogether different. In the end though, it was the custard that was my undoing.


Never underestimate the custard. But lets start with what I thought would be the most challenging part - the homemade pie dough. The crust was actually quite successful, in fact I even impressed the boyfriend (a self declared pie expert). He made me promise to save it so I could recreate it for his upcoming birthday with a fruit pie


The custard however, was rather more liquidy then solid and though the flavour is right none of the pictures of it made it through the editing process. So sad! Next time less liquid or more gelatin I guess. It really was tasty though, one of the great things about cooking is that it can still be successful even if it doesn't look good. Great challenge this month, I am very much looking forward to next month. For the recipe check out this months challenger Jen the Canadian Baker.

Curried Carrot Soup

There are so many soups on the blogs this time of year, but I can't get enough of them so here is one more. I truly believe that soup can be a full meal, in this case I had some toasted bread with it but a salad would be good too. I find both the process of making it and of eating it to be soothing. Especially these winter soups that get better with time. Put it on to simmer then go do something, relax and eat it when you are ready.


I can't get over how fabulous simple soups can be, namely carrot soup. This is the second carrot based soup I have ever made and you can get such rich flavour out of simple ingredients. In this case this was inspired by a bag of baby carrots and some potatoes with my vegetable delivery. The addition of nuts, in this case almonds, really brings it all together.

Feel free to make this with any type of stock but if you are using store bought ease up on the salt a bit. I used a combination of leftover beef stock, water and home made chicken stock. This is a great use for those sad cooking carrots which are around this time of year.

Curried Carrot Soup
(serves 2-4)

1 small onion, finely diced
2 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 thumb-sized ginger, peeled and minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon curry powder
5 cups stock or water
2 medium baking potatoes, peeled and roughly chopped
¾ lb carrot, roughly chopped
¼ cup almonds
1 teaspoon salt
salt and pepper to taste
cilantro, for garnish

In a soup pot or large saucepan heat the oil over medium heat and saute the onion for 2 minutes, add the ginger and saute for another minute. Add garlic and curry powder and cook for another minute. Add remaining ingredients except cilantro. Cook for 30-45 minutes until carrots and potatoes are tender. Cool slightly and process through a blender. Heat through and adjust for seasoning. Serve garnished with cilantro.

Warm Roasted Fennel and Potato Salad

I was struggling with vegetable guilt, you know the guilt you get when you know your organic delivery is coming and you still haven't eaten everything from the last one? Well I was originally thinking of making a puree or soup, but after seeing Peter's potato salad I thought my vegetables might work well in salad form too.

I am also focusing on fennel for this week's Weekend Herb Blogging hosted over at Anna's Cool Finds. This recipe uses fennel in all (I think?) of it's many forms: seeds, root and fronds. I am soo into fennel right now, especially the seeds!

Warm Roasted Fennel and Potato Salad
(serves 2-4)

Salad:
1 fennel bulb
4 baking potatoes
1T fennel rub mix (1T fennel seeds, 1t coriander seeds, 1/4t rock salt, 1/4t peppercorns, ground together.)
olive oil

Dressing:
1 splat of Dijon (about a T)
1 glug apple cider vinegar (maybe 2/3T?)
healthy salt and pepper
1t minced red onion
a couple glugs olive oil (maybe 3/4T)

Preheat the oven to 375. Wash the fennel and remove and reserve the fronds. Core and slice the fennel into about 1/3" pieces. Spread on half a cookie sheet. Peel the potatoes and cut into wedges. Spread the potatoes beside the fennel and sprinkle vegetables with the fennel rub. Drizzle both, generously, with olive oil and rub with your hands.

Bake for about 30 minutes, turning halfway. Remove from oven and allow to cool a bit. In the meanwhile whisk together the salad dressing and chop the fronds. Add 3/4's of the fronds to the dressing. Toss the potatoes and fennel in the dressing and toss with the remaining fronds. Serve warm.

Tags: Roast, Potato Salad, Salads, Fennel

Cornbread

I made this awhile ago and just never got the chance to post. It is a Jalapeno Cheddar cornbread recipe from Ina Garten available here. This is the first time I had ever made cornbread and it worked pretty well, the only concern was that it was a little crumbly compared to those I have had out. Any suggestions there?

Short Rib Ragu

The year is going well so far, I have made a few things on my todo list that I have been meaning to try - this is one of them, the short rib! I am embarrassed to admit that initially I thought they would be short, but they are actually really big. The reason I have been wanting to make them is they have a reputation for being really good braising food, and indeed they are. This recipe comes from Everyday Pasta by Giada de Laurentis which I took out from the library. I changed it a little, adding the pine nuts and etc, next time I would also add some parsley at the end I think. I found the original recipe available here.

Short Ribs with Taglietelle
(serves 4)

3 tablespoons olive oil
2 ounces chopped pancetta or bacon(about 1/2 cup)
2 ½ lbs. short ribs
Salt
Freshly ground black pepper
¼ cup all-purpose flour
1 medium onion, chopped
1 carrot, chopped
½ cup fresh parsley leaves
2 cloves garlic
1 can (14-ounce) tomatoes (whole or diced)
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary leaves
1 teaspoon dried thyme
½ teaspoon dried oregano
1 bay leaf
2 ½ cups beef broth
¾ cup red wine
1 lb. fresh or dried tagliatelle
4 to 6 teaspoons shaved bittersweet chocolate
1/4C pine nuts, toasted

Place the olive oil in a large heavy soup pot over medium heat. Cook the pancetta until golden and crisp, about 4 minutes. Meanwhile, season the short ribs with salt and pepper, and dredge in the flour. Using a slotted spoon, remove the pancetta from the pan and set aside. Add the short ribs to the pan and brown on all sides, about 7 minutes total.

Meanwhile, pulse the onion, carrot, parsley and garlic in a food processor until finely minced. Then add the tomatoes and tomato paste and pulse.

Once the short ribs are browned, add the mixture from the food processor to the pot along with the pancetta, rosemary, thyme, oregano, bay leaf, beef broth, and wine. Bring the mixture to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for an hour and 15 minutes. Remove the lid and simmer for another hour and a half, stirring occasionally. Remove the meat and bones from the pot. Discard the bones, shred the meat and return to the pot. Season with approximately 1/2t salt and 3/4t pepper, since it will vary with your stock taste as you go.

Cook and drain the pasta, transfer to serving bowls, top each bowl with 1t of chocolate shavings and pine nuts. Serve immediately.

Tags: Braise, Beef, Stews, Comfort Food

Cake Pan Conversions

Ever had a 9" springform when the recipe called for an 8" square? Check out this conversion chart from allrecipes, so helpful.

Disaster Strikes

I had a minor disaster yesterday, it was so very sad. I had just put together my very first real creation in the slow cooker - a curried lentil soup. It was simmering away nicely on the counter when I dropped a glass trying to unload the dishwasher, hit the ceramic rim of my slow cooker (chipping it) and breaking the glass everywhere. So I cleaned it up and went to work, frakking late, and then realized that there was glass on the slow cooker lid. Sure enough when I got home to a fabulous smell I saw tiny fragments of glass on the lid. Because of the shape of the lid there was no way to lift it and guarantee that I didn't push glass into the soup. No soup for me. Time to go out for greek food and a pitcher of beer. I guess I should take comfort that it was $4 worth of lentil soup and not $15 worth of lamb shanks or other meat. Am I the only one who does this sort of thing?

Slow Cooker Chicken Stock

This couldn't be easier, really it couldn't. I have done it twice now and both times ended up with the richest, clearest, easiest chicken stock I have ever made. With... wait for it now..... no skimming. I really do hate the skimming.

So here is how it works, put a bunch of chicken bits in your slow cooker. For example I used approximately 5C of necks and backs. Roughly chop a carrot, a stalk of celery and a small onion or part of one. Throw in a few peppercorns a bay leaf and a sprig of parsley - if you are feeling fancy go ahead and tie it up with cheesecloth. Cover the whole thing in leaving at least an inch of water at the top. (Total in my slow cooker was about 6Qt including the chicken and veggies.) Poke the chicken down if it floats, you want to make sure it is submerged. Now turn it on to low and walk away - for 10 to 12 hours. You now have chicken stock. Stick it in the fridge skim the fat off when it is solidified and use or freeze.

Tip: When you go to remove the stock from the pot use a ladle rather then draining it like pasta. Stirring up the stock can cloud it by stirring up all the impurities.


Tags: Slow Cooker, Crockpot, Stock, Soup

Slow Cooker Korean Ribs

We had the most civilized weeknight meal on monday Just for the record, in our house, it doesn't take much to make it civilized. First of all, dinner must occur before 8 and not in the 10pm region because of a culinary miscalculation. Secondly the meal should be fully balanced - or at least contain healthy portions of protein and vegetables. Lastly the television is off and we sit at the table (or the kitchen island, since we have no table) to eat.

We were so successful on Monday night that not only was dinner served within 20 minutes of me getting home (7:30)but that we had wine and dessert! For this, I thank not only my slow cooker but the slow cooker cookbook from which I am starting to learn ratios and techniques on how to use it. I forsee many more comforting stewy meals, it is so exciting knowing that you have good meal waiting for you at home.

Korean Style Ribs adapted from The Gourmet Slow Cooker: Volume II
(serves 4)

3 pounds pork or beef ribs, trimmed of excess fat and portioned
½C soy sauce
1C orange juice
2T rice vinegar
2T ginger, grated
2t hot chili flakes
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
2T toasted sesame oil
2T honey
3T toasted sesame seeds, for garnish
2 scallions, thinly sliced for garnish
2T corn starch, as needed.

The night before:
Place a large saute pan over medium heat add ribs and cook for 15-20 minutes until browned on all sides. Cool quickly and transfer to the fridge in a sealed container*.
In a Tupperware combine the soy sauce, juice, vinegar, ginger, garlic, chili, oil and honey and mix well. Refrigerate.

The next day:
Transfer ribs to slow cooker and pour sauce over top. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or until meat is very tender.
To serve arrange on a platter and pour sauce over top, garnish with scallion and sesame seeds.


If you have extra sauce, throw it in the fridge and use as the basis of stir fry sauce the next day. I marinated some chicken breast strips in a bit of this and a bit of chinese cooking wine, drained it and then tossed it in 1 part cornstarch, 1 part flour, 1 part sesame oil and 1 part peanut oil. Fry it up along with some veggies, add the sauce and a bit of water if necessary along with some noodles and poof fabulous stir fry. Toss with some cilantro, scallions, fresh ginger and toasted sesame seeds. A delcious way to stretch the leftovers.


*Note: There are potential food safety issues with partly cooking meat and then finishing the cooking later, while I do it and I have found books which advocate it and others which don't I think you are safe as long as you minimize the amount of time the food is in the danger zone. After searing it bring it down to temperature as soon as possible so it can be put in the fridge.

Tags: Slow Cooker, Crockpot, Stews, Leftovers

Blue Cheese Macaroni and Cheese

Everything outside is grey and almost always drizzling and I don’t care if everyone is on diets this time of year I just want comfort food. In fact last week I even had good intentions. I wanted to cook but I thought I might make a big dinner salad with chicken so I ran this by J over msn. He said that would be fine – then I said “or maybe mac and cheese?” and his reaction was much, much better.Nothing like some gooey cheesey goodness to make a bad grey day fade away.So I adapted this recipe and made a big batch which was very successful and made great work leftovers for the next day. Oh, and if you serve it with a salad I believe it becomes a healthy meal ;)

I am so into blue cheese right now too. We went to the Salt Tasting Room the other night, this cool Vancouver place that has no kitchen but serves meats and cheeses and does wine pairing. They served us this fabulous blue cheese with honeycomb and I could've died it was so good. I know lots of people don't like it but they are missing out I'm sorry.

Blue Cheese Macaroni and Cheese
(serves 4-6)

2 1/2C milk
2 bay leaves
450g macaroni
4T (1/2 stick) butter
3T flour
1C medium cheddar
3T Parmesan grated
1C blue cheese, crumbled
1/2C bread crumbs, preferably fresh

1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Bring a large salted pot of water to a boil.
2. In a small saucepan heat the milk with the bay leaves over medium-low heat. When small bubbles appear along the sides, turn off the heat.
3. Under cook the pasta by two minutes. Drain it, rinse it quickly to stop the cooking, and put it in a large bowl.
4. In a saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter; once it starts to foam add the flour and cook, whisking until the mixture starts to brown. Remove the bay leaves from the milk, and add about 1/4 cup of the milk to the hot flour mixture, whisking continuously. Once it is smooth add a bit more milk and continue until all milk is combined. Stir in cheddar. Taste for seasoning, remember.
5. Add the sauce to the noodles, stir in the Parmesan and adjust for seasoning. Fold the blue cheese in. turn the pasta into a casserole dish to with breadcrumbs and bake until bubbling and the crumbs turn brown, about 15 minutes. You can broil it at the end if the crumbs aren't browning.

Coconut Macaroons

Fourth day in a row posting after nothing for a month, yeay! I think I am getting back in the swing of things finally. Unfortunately I seem to be coming down with some sort of bug which is hindering me, plus I managed to forget my Dad's birthday yesterday - so an extra happy birthday to him!

I threw together Ina Garten's coconut macaroons the other day. As far as cookies go these are pretty low fat if you care about such things - and I know this time of year a lot of us do. I really liked the way they turned out. However they were a little sweet for me, so since it took two packages of coconut I thought next time I would use one sweetened and one unsweetened. Also the 14oz of condensed milk I found equal to a 300ml can.


Coconut Macaroons
(makes 2 dozen)

14 ounces sweetened shredded coconut
300ml sweetened condensed milk
1t pure vanilla extract
2 extra-large egg whites, at room temperature
1/4t salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Combine the coconut, condensed milk, and vanilla in a large bowl. Whip the egg whites and salt on high speed in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until they make medium-firm peaks. Carefully fold the egg whites into the coconut mixture.

Drop the batter onto sheet pans lined with parchment paper in approximately 2 teaspoon sized. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until golden brown. Cool and serve.

Tags: Cookies, Desserts

Slow Cooker White Bean Chili

One of the cookbooks I got for Christmas was the The Gourmet Slow Cooker: Volume II. I made the White Bean Chili from it yesterday and was quite impressed. I stuck to the recipe pretty closely except for the liquid, I had less white wine and chicken stock then required so I made up the extra with water and added extra basil at the end. It was a big hit, I served it with some homemade cornbread. I also left this on all day - like 10 hours and the beans were still in good shape at the end. (Maybe cause my cupboard contained the worlds oldest cannelini beans). I am quite excited to try more recipes from this book - in fact if you check it out the ribs on the cover look really really good.

White Bean Chili (serves 4-6)

2 cups dried white beans, rinsed (I used cannelini)
6 cups chicken stock or water
1 cup white wine
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1 can diced roasted green chilies, 4oz
1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
½ cup half and half
a handful of basil leaves, coarsely chopped
½ cup cilantro, coarsely chopped

The night before:

Saute the onion in the oil over medium heat for 10 minutes until lightly browned. Add the garlic and saute for another 5 minutes without letting burn. In a coffee mill or using a mortar and pestle crush the cumin and coriander seeds and add them to the pan. Stir well. Allow to cool and refrigerate.

The morning of:

Combine the beans, water, wine, chiles and onion mixture in the slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 6 to 10 hours on low until the beans are tender. About 30 minutes before serving stir in oregano, half and half and basil. Season to taste with salt. Serve hot with extra basil.

Tags: Slow Cooker, Crockpot, Stews, Soup

Hot Chocolate

How about something to warm your insides? If you are like me and this is your first *real* day back at work in awhile you may be dreaming of your vacation and all those comforting cups of hot chocolate you drank while watching movies and reading books. Sigh. Here is my version of a classic, that I made almost daily the last week.

Hot Chocolate
(serves 2)

1 tablespoon cocoa, heaping tablespoon
1 tablespoon sugar
a pinch salt
a pinch cayenne
⅛ teaspoon vanilla
2 cups milk
1 shot Brandy
a pinch nutmeg, grated

Over medium low heat whisk together cocoa, sugar, salt, cayenne, vanilla and milk. Bring to a simmer. Put 1/2 shot of brandy in each mug and top with the cocoa. Grate nutmeg on top and serve.

Tags: Beverages, Drinks

Meatballs in Tomato Chipotle Sauce

A Mexican cookbook has been on my list for a long time and after my recent trip to Mexico I was inspired enough top make it happen. Thanks to my brother who gave me a book I already had for Xmas I traded it in for Diana Kennedy's The Essential Cuisines of Mexico as I have heard that it is a great reference guide. So far so good, I have made two dishes from the book, one a Chicken in Peanut Sauce and the other these Meatballs in Tomato and Chipotle Sauce. While I really liked both I found one thing across both recipes. As they both have tomato based sauces I would definitely recommend at this time of the year to use good quality canned tomatoes rather then the fresh as I found the flavor to be watery and lacking. If you do use the fresh tomatoes think about omitting the stock from this recipe as the zucchini and the meatballs omit quite a lot of liquid.

That said I was operating without the best ingredients, here at the cabin our grocery store had no cumin seeds or tortillas. Sometimes one must make do. Instead I served the meatballs on egg noodles and it was wonderful, I am sure rice would also be really good. I also turned the leftovers into something more tex mex with good success, broke up the pieces of meatball, added zucchini, scallion, cilantro and cheddar and it was great.

Meatballs in a Tomato Chipotle Sauce
(serves 3-4)

350 grams ground beef and pork
90 grams zucchini
1 large egg
½ teaspoon dried oregano, or 1/8t dried mexican oregano
4 peppercorns
½ teaspoon dried cumin, or 1/8t cumin seeds
¼ onion, finely chopped
1 lb tomatoes
2 chiles in adobo
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
¼ cup chicken stock
salt to taste

1. Blend the egg, oregano, cumin, pepper, onion and a healthy teaspoon of salt together. Grate the zucchini and add it as well as the meat. Using your hands blend the ingredients together and form 4cm meatballs. Should make 12-16.
2. Either boil the tomatoes for 5 minutes, or broil them until the skin cracks (or use good quality canned) and blend with the chipotle peppers until smooth.
3. Over medium low heat heat the oil and add the sauce. Simmer for 5 minutes. Add the stock if using (see notes) and bring to a simmer. Place in meatballs and bring back to a simmer. Cover and cook for about 50 minutes or until the meatballs register at least 160F on a thermometer. Taste and adjust for salt.

Tags: Main Dish, Mexican Food, Tomatoes, Chipotles