Over the Holidays

I hope you all had some much deserved time off. I had two whole weeks to sit on my a*s and watch tv, eat, talk with friends and family, and sleep. 2010 has been such a crazy year that I feel it deserved a moment (or two weeks) to reflect on. I graduated from my masters program, moved to a new city, made new friends, learned a new job, turned 30, moved to another city, started another new job, learned another position, rekindled my love for an old city, rekindled lovely friendships. I'm happy for this new year since I finally feel rooted, grounded, leveled-headed for the first time in many many years. I feel good about 2011.

SO! I feel like since my last post (NOVEMBER!) so many activities have happened. I forgot to post the dinner I had for my big brother's birthday. Meal design: In honesty I've been cooking for people for a very long time, but I haven't made many traditional meals that include meat and sometimes I feel my meals lack a little in tradition, warmth and heartiness. I also wanted my little brother to help me make some part of the meal. So I thought I'd make something of a hearty family meal. Spaghetti with meat sauce! It wasn't that exciting of a meal, but I was proud because it was my very first meat sauce. I used spicy sausage meat which added a little "flare" and satisfied my demanding pallet. I browned the meat and set it aside. I diced up some onions, mushrooms, yellow pepper, and sauteed it in olive oil until soft and threw in some oregano. Then I added a bit of balsamic to caramelize it a bit. Then I stirred it into the garlic (canned...I know I know...) tomato sauce. You'll see my little brother (the giant) preparing some stuffed mushrooms, a Bourgeois family favorite.

Take the stems out of large button mushrooms. Finely chop up a few of the stems and mix them with crushed garlic. Spoon a small amount of the garlic mixture into the mushrooms and sprinkle with parmesan cheese. Top with a bit of fresh ground pepper and bake for about 15 minutes or until the mushrooms have shrunk and the cheese melted. If you'd like, broil the top for a couple of minutes before taking them out.

Then there was a special person's birthday. I couldn't get a good picture of the handsome one since my camera strobed him into blindness. Meal design: my guest likes beer, meat, seems to appreciate colorful plates, and coconut cream pie. To start I made a delectable baked fig with boccaccini. For this, simply cut each fresh fig in quarters but not all the way through and then place a small boccaccini in the middle. Drizzle balsamic vinegar (next time, I will reduce the vinegar so that it coats the boccaccini) and bake at 350 until the cheese has melted but the fig is still intact.

I also made a beer-glazed cornish hen, with sauteed brussel sprouts, and a twice baked potato on sweet potato disks (boiled a skinned potato, whipped it into oblivion, scooped it onto three disks of sweet potato, then bake to a golden crisp. We also enjoyed Beaujolais salami, pickled onions and olive and cheese with crackers. mmmmmmmmmmm!!!

Lastly, I made Seattle's famous triple coconut cream pie which was unbelievable!!! I got the recipe from this site. Which I followed closely since I'd never made it before.





And of course there was Christmas dinner. I won't go into details since most of you probably had the exact same meal. We found a lovely turkey, stuffing, veggies and family! My dad and Jean-Yves skypped in from Ottawa to have a little chat! Sylvain carved the turkey, we ate and I had some liquor chocolates...mmmmmm liquor chocolates..... AH the holidays.

Wonton Ravioli and Turkish Manti

I'd like to make my own pasta but I don't have the room for a pasta maker.... Though I dream of one eventually. I also dream about having a gigantic serving and chopping butcher block, a double sink, spider burners, open shelves for all my beautiful grains, sliding drawers that open to exposed gorgeous spices...... Ah to dream of my perfect kitchen.....

Well, about the pasta, a friend of mine suggested I try Wonton wrappers to make ravioli since my homemade ones are always too thick despite my best efforts.

So here's a quick and easy blog post since I'm not feeling chatty tonight, but simply wanted to post pictures and a recipe for Wonton Sweet Potato Ravioli and Turkish Manti.

Wonton Sweet Potato Ravioli

One sweet potato
One small onion (any kind)
Splash balsamic vinegar
Splash of maple syrup
One green onion
Three cloves of garlic
Butter or olive oil for frying
Wonton wrappers (square)

Boil sweet potato until soft, mash into purée set aside. Slice onion in strips and fry until soft, splash balsamic vinegar and maple syrup and fry until caramelized set aside. Cut green onion and crush garlic and fry on low in pan until crisp. Mix green onion and garlic into sweet potato purée. place a dollop of the purée into the center of the Wonton wrappers and place a few onions on top, then place another Wonton wrapper on top. I used milk to seal the sides, but egg whites work a LOT better and will keep all that good stuff in there while boiling.

Once all assembled, drop gently in boiling water for only around 3 minutes. Take out immediately with a slotted spoon, and pour a little butter and balsamic vinegar on top. The ravioli should have plenty of flavor so don't worry about a complicated sauce. Even a little olive oil and sea salt would do the trick.

For the Manti which is a traditional Turkish dish. I wanted to make meatloaf for me and a friend and I didn't have bread crumbs and I only had beef meat, and I kind of panicked cause I'd never made meatloaf before and... and..... So I regrouped and just typed in "beef" into my favorite food blog where I literally just followed this simple recipe. I know. I'm lazy tonight. But I just needed a bit of comfort blogging.

mmmmmmeatmanti.......... I served it with a maple syrup and cayenne pepper quinoa, roasted acorn squash buttered with roasted garlic, and steamed asparagus. It was a little bit of an exotic looking meal, with pretty tasty colors and I think my friend liked it. Manti basically tasted like meatloaf wrapped in Wonton wrappers ;)

Carrot and Leek Soup + Lemon Tart

Two recipes, two different days, but both pretty perfect for the fall.

I made a leftover soup today with whatever I could find in my fridge. I hate wasting veggies but when they're not fresh there's nothing much you can do with them other than cook them with spices. I also eat a lot of beets. They're a super food I depend on a lot. Whenever I boil them I save the sweet broth to make a soup. I LOVE the purple color, I LOVE the taste, and I LOVE how it compliments other fall vegetables.

Carrot and Leek Fall soup

2 leeks cut the long way, wash and then chop
7 or 8 peeled and graded carrots
1 apple, peeled and sliced
4-5 cloves of garlic finely sliced
2 cups of beet broth
1 1/2 - 2 cups of water
1 cube of soup broth powder (I used chicken cause that's all I had)
1TSP of hazelnut oil, or another flavourful, rich oil
1 TBS of balsamic vinegar
cayenne pepper to taste
black pepper to taste
La Capitaine herbes and épices: or you could use any herb mix
Thyme to taste
sea salt to taste

Chop leeks and garlic. Throw half a leek and all the garlic into a pan with olive oil. Turn on medium heat. Once the leeks are soft, add balsamic vinegar and black pepper and leave on low heat until caramelized (browned).

Bring to boil beet broth, broth powder, and water. then add rest of leeks and boil until soft around 15 minutes. Lower heat to simmer and add graded carrots and sliced apple. When simmered for a few minutes, add all spices and oil and allow to simmer for another 10 minutes.

Turn heat off, then take out your handy dandy hand chopper and cream the soup until leeks are no longer in chunks. Add the sauteed leeks and garlic to the creamed soup, let sit for 5 minutes then eat. Next time, I'll try sprinkling a bit of parmesan cheese on top, I think that will taste LOVELY!

Now for the tart. My brother celebrated his 32nd birthday last week and though he doesn't have a sweet tooth, he loves lemon in desserts as a compromise. My friend Krystal lent me our mutual friend Hazel's mom recipe. I love recipe chains. It was made with real lemon juice (ok... from concentrate) which amplifies the deliciousness and genuine taste of lemon.


Lemon tart in Graham cracker crust

Crust:

1 1/4 cups of graham cracker crumbs
1/4 cups of melted butter.

Add melted butter to crumbs, mix, then pat down into tart pan. I baked the crust alone in the oven at 350 for 10 minutes just to crisp it up.

Filling:

2 eggs
3/4 cup of white sugar
juice and zest of 1 medium lemon (I will try this next time) or 3 TBS lemon juice
2 TBS of flour
1/4 TSP baking powder

Beat eggs and sugar until smooth and slightly thick. Add other ingredients and stir until blended. Pour over baked crust and bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes.

Wait until completely cooled before cutting. Dust with icing sugar right before serving.
Store at room temperature.

I tried sprinkling a bit of lavender buds on top with the icing sugar and it was also LOVELY.

Enjoy.

Toasted Kale and Sauteed Brussel Sprouts

Green Side Dishes




I recently moved to a new city where the climate is drastically different then my last place. I now live on the East coast of Canada where I get to see the ocean any time I want. However, my dehumidifier is pulling 20 pints of water from the air every day and a half, and I live in the second story of a house! Let's just say my baking has been affected. I hear of people baking french macaroons in tropical places.... But I seriously don't know how.

I've tried making my staple recipes, my breads, my crackers, even simple muffins are totally failing. Everything comes out... blah. I swear adapting to a new city never phases me that much since I've moved a lot, but it's the new kitchen that always makes or breaks my mood. I haven't updated in over two months!!! My kitchen isn't much less spacious then my last kitchen, but it's a square instead of a rectangular space, so it's a little harder to think about organizing a cooking experiment. I've had to build... UP.

I also haven't been inspired to cook and photograph since my camera doesn't do well in low light and so all my food pictures look pretty gross. (I plan of putting up pictures of my little kitchen soon for a post on kitchen organizational systems). I've decided to just stop feeling sorry for myself and update once and for all, flash pictures or not! I hope you enjoy.

I always thought I hated brussel sprouts. My mom tried making them a few times when I was a kid but used frozen and we all thought, including my mom, that brussel sprouts weren't for us. I had them this year at a dinner at a gorgeously fancy house with a private chef. The setting must have helped my food mood, but honestly, the sprouts were delicious so I've decided to have a try at it. For this recipe I decided to keep it simple, and it was really addictive, I made extra and wanted to gobble it all up right away:


Sweet and tangy brussel sprouts and mushroom side dish

A hand full of fresh brussel sprouts equal amount of mini cremini mushrooms
1 TBS of butter
1 TBS lime juice
2 TSP maple syrup
enough black pepper to give it a little kick salt to taste

Cut the end off the sprouts and peel all the leaves off gently. Cut mini mushrooms in half. Melt butter in pan over medium heat. When melted, throw sprouts and mushrooms in pan. Add all ingredients and gently fold in with soft spatula. I gather everything in the middle of the pan for a few minutes at a time, then stir, then scoop all of it in the middle again. I find it creates a nice little steam circle. Sautee until the sprouts have softened. And guess what? I made this again for my mom when she was visiting and she LOVED it! Success!

I also made beautiful kale chips tonight. My friend Lyz, who teaches cooking classes in Halifax and is also a certified chef and holistic nutritionist and cooks a Satisfaction Feast restaurant in Halifax taught me how to take my love of kale to a new level. I TOTALLY over-salted them however. I loved them still, but I'd never serve them to anyone. I'll hold back a bit next time.

Spicy Kale Chips

5 cups of kale leaves
Chili powder
Salt
2-3 TBS of Olive Oil


Wash the kale and cut stems off. Tear into bite size pieces and make sure all the water has dried off (I dabbed mine with a clean tea towel). Put kale in large bowl. I drizzled olive oil on top but don't put too much. Your kale should be coated but not drip! Sprinkled chili powder and salt to taste (honestly, don't put too much, the kale already has such great flavor!) mixed all over, make sure the kale is well coated. Spread on a cookie sheet evenly, don't stack the kale. Pop into a 375 degree oven and bake until the edges are brown. Keep an eye on them, it's easy to over bake/burn!

Enjoy instead of popcorn once in a while, or crumble over a salad, or eat them all straight from the oven.

Brussel Sprouts trivia: These little buds can help prevent colon cancer. Their cultivation has been dated back to ancient Rome and made an appearance in North America when French settlers brought them to Louisiana (Mais oui, le petit choux de brouxelle!), but the sprouts as they are eaten today date back to the 13th century in a place we now call Belgium! They are indeed named after the Belgian city of Brussels.

Girls night and food

Hi people!

I had a last girls night two days ago and had just the best time ever. I'm leaving in exactly 6 days to the maritimes and though I'm excited, I'll miss these lovely ladies. We ate, played Cranium and salad bowl, we had some drinks and laughed our asses off. The funny thing is that I cooked all day and tried my best to snap a random picture here and there, then when people arrived, I took bad, flashy pictures of the finished dishes, and then forgot to take pics of my friends..... So sad, I really have to get use to photographing the atmosphere of the room, not just the food...

ah well, I won't put all the recipes for all these dishes on here, it'd be a loooong post.

But if anything strikes your fancy, make a comment, and I'll send you the recipe.

So the recipe list from the first picture to the last: My dad's garlic and cheddar stuffed mushroom recipe (though he'd probably find some way to flambé it...), then we've got the good luck bowl of cheezies. In the arts, you always have a bowl of cheezies in the room for events. Even for the events that are fancy and catered, you'll most likely find the bowl of cheezies. It's like good luck, so I bring that tradition home too.I made turkey and artichoke tacos served with a yogurt cheese but there was too much food and I forgot to serve them! Below you'll see a salmon, coriander, curry paste and lime juice bruscetta topping with made from scratch herb crisps, then there was the soy puffs with a lovely spicy peanut sauce and my favorite, Jijimi, Koren pancakes with a rice vinegar and soy sauce. A great summer canape is slices of cucumber with pickled ginger and a sprinkle of sesame seeds (a recipe from my friend Shana). Of course there needs to be the roasted chickpeas, the cheese plate (Gorgonzola), mango, olives and artichokes. And lastly we've got the orzo salad (kalamata olives, tomatoes, fresh marjoram, feta, green onions...).






For the sweets we had delicious chocolate cupcakes (that I've been eating for breakfast since...) with a sweet, buttery, yogurt glaze.

I like to make little gesture parting gifts. It's small, simple and in a ziplock bag I realize, but I do what I can. I gave everyone some mini chocolate dipped Nova Scotia oatcakes, and homemade caramels.

In conclusion, we ate a lot, it was good.

Chickpeas are the new black

The chickpea (or garbanzo bean) is the first bean I was introduced to before becoming vegetarian. I was around 13 at the time and we were living with my aunt Pauline who suffers from many food sensitivities and who has an illness that forces her to "pay attention!" to all labels, all nutritional content, etc. was making végé-paté with chickpeas on the side. When she gave me a taste it ingrained in my mind as a wholly different taste and texture, it was one of those food defining moments. In french chickpea is "Pois Chiche" and it wasn't uncommon for me to ask her every now and then to make me that "chiche-bean thing" that I tasted that one time, etc. When I was recovering from my eating disorder the chickpea was the only food I could mentally handle, and so I made endless amounts of hummus with carrots which was my diet for a while until I could introduce other foods into my diet. I'm grateful for the chickpea, it's amazing source of protein, and zinc. In case you care as much as I do, it offers a very high level of dietary fiber, can lower cholesterol levels in the bloodstream, and is a source of calcium almost as high as a glass of milk or a serving of yogurt.

Its used to make falafels and hummus, and chickpea flour is used to make flatbread, or coat and batter veggies before frying, this magical bean can also be fermented into some kind of alcoholic drink AND is still grown in some parts of the world as a replacement for coffee beans! Coffee from chickpeas! Who knew? A yes, the chickpea. You my friend, are fabulous. For me, chickpeas go hand in hand with beautiful and colorful spices: paprika, turmeric, curry powder, garam masala, cinnamon, cumin, cayenne oh wow those colors!
So I made three chickpea recipes.

Chana masala

Serves 2, I pretty much followed the recipe I found here since it was my first time making it. I think next time I'll put less Cumin. Cumin has this weird effect on me, it numbs my tongue if I put too much in and I can't taste the other spices. It's not an allergic thing, I think it's more that it's one of those spices that should be savored, not in the forefront of the taste palette.

1 tablespoon olive oil for frying
1/2 red onion, chopped
1 garlic clove
1/2 tablespoon coriander rub
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1/2 teaspoon ground curry (I think I'll use Tumeric next time, I didn't have any but the original recipe called for it.)
1/2 pint chopped tomatoes (I used plum tomatoes for their sweet-taste)
1/2 cup water
13-ounce cooked chickpeas
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lime juice (I'll try adding a bit more of the lime juice next time. I enjoy a citrus in my spicy foods.)

In a pan, cook the onion until soft and a bit carmelized. Add the crushed garlic and cook for another minute or so. Stir in the coriander, cumin, turmeric and cayenne pepper. Cook briefly, for about half a minute. Add the tomatoes and cook for about five minutes or until tender. Then add the chickpeas and water, bring the mixture to a boil and lower the heat to a simmer. Add the paprika, garam masala, salt and lime juice and cook for about 10 minutes. Then eat it up!

Roasted and spiced crunchy chickpeas
I love my salt and I love crunchy snacks! So much that I've had to consciously limit my popcorn intake (even though I make it from kernel and use sea salt). So I'm always roasting grains and seeds and making little salty snacks like this one.

3 cups chickpeas (cooked)
2 tbs olive oil
1½ tsp garam masala
1 tsp curry powder (the recipe asked for turmeric but I didn't have any.)
1 tsp mustard seeds (I used a pickle mix of spices which had mustard seeds in it.)
1 tsp ground cinnamon
½- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp paprika (I will be trying Hungarian paprika next time for a smokier taste.)
½ tsp raw sugar
1-1½ tsp rock sea salt, coarsely ground

Mix spices well first (all except for salt), then add to chickpeas, then add oil, mix all of it well until chickpeas are coated in that gooey goodness. Spread evenly on a cookie sheet, bake at 350F for 30 to 40 minutes. I recommend tossing them every ten minutes or so so they don't burn, and push the baking until 40 minutes so that they get nice and cripsy (but not burnt!!!) There should still be some color on them when you take them out even if dark redish brown. toss the salt in the chickpeas in a bowl and let cool. They will get crispy once they cool completely. Then serve as a salty snack.


Chickpea patties
I saw a few burger recipes and just made this one up. When I do it again, I'd add a few more chili pepper flakes, and more lime and orange juice to increase the potency of the flavors.

1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas
1 cup of sprout combination (I used bean sprouts, and small navy bean sprouts, I'd add alfalfa sprouts next time)
zest and juice of 1 lime
zest and juice of 1/2 an orange
1 1/2tsp of paprika
1tsp of salt (add more if required) & pepper to season
3 eggs
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 masa flour
1 medium red onion
1 tsp chili flakes
Olive oil to fry patties

I made my own sprouts. Check out this link for details!

Fry onions until golden or caramelized. Blend chickpeas, paprika, lime and orange juice and zest together in a bowl. Add all ingredients to the chickpea paste except for the masa flour and the corn meal and mix well. In small bowl cover cornmeal with boiling water until it absorbs, then add to chickpeas. Slowly add in the masa flour until mixture becomes easy to handle into patties. Then fry (yes, I said fry, this takes a bit of olive oil to crisp up the patties. So it's not a uber healthy patty recipe ;) in a pan until golden on both sides: 3 minutes on each side.


I had mine on top of homemade pita bread, crisped and thinly spread with a little mayonnaise and Thai mayonnaise, lettuce, and the patty. Was delicious.