Giant Scallop Pasta with White wine sauce

Recently, Kevin signed up for a costco membership. I love costco...I think it might be because of the free tastings. Most of the time, we don't end up buying a lot. We never really end up buying too much since we're just two people.

While walking through the frozen aisles, we discovered a bag of frozen "dry" giant scallops. Dry scallops mean they haven't been soaked in sodium tripolyphosphate (STP) to prolong their life. When soaked in STP, it causes the scallops to absorb water and get heavier. It means you are partly paying for water. However, does this still apply to frozen scallops?

So anyway, we bought a bag of these giant scallops. I originally wanted to bake them in a buttery white wine sauce with bread crumbs to soak up the sauce, but got too lazy to think of a side dish to go with it. So I made pasta with it.

1/2 cup chicken broth
1/4 cup white wine
1/2 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon minced shallot
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup butter
1 pound sea scallops
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup Heavy cream (optional) or milk
Spinach
Spaghetti pasta

1. Cook your choice of pasta al dente.
2. In a skillet over medium heat, mix the chicken broth, wine, lemon juice, shallot, butter, and garlic.
3. When the sauce is gently boiling, put scallops into the sauce to cook. About 1-2 minutes each side (depending on how cooked you like them). Usually I like them just opaque. Remove them when cooked to your preferred doneness.
4. Add heavy cream (if using) into the sauce and boil until slightly reduced.
5. Optional step (if using heavy cream): you can use cornstarch mixed with a little bit of water to thicken the sauce quickly.
6. Add spinach. Toss pasta in the sauce. Add peppers and salt to taste.
7. Enjoy pasta with scallop on top.

I tried a variation of this recipe. I made this recipe twice. The first time is as written, the second time I tried a "healthier" version. I substituted the heavy cream with milk, and used margarine instead of butter. I preferred using butter over margarine. But liked using milk instead of heavy cream. I'm usually not a big fan of tossed pastas. I like having sauce, but this was good. It would be even better if I had bread to sop up some of the sauce. This was a heavy but satisfying meal.

Dark Chocolate cup with Raspberries and White Chocolate cream

I can't remember how I discovered the food blog where i found this recipe. I found this recipe on Tasty Palettes. My favorite kind of chocolate is dark chocolate. And it certainly helps knowing that it is the healthier type of chocolate because of its antioxidant properties.

I haven't made dessert at home for a while. I haven't baked that much. Kevin is not really a big dessert fan, so I never really founda reason to make anything. But this recipe looked too yummy to pass. Kevin loves raspberries, and we had some in the fridge. So I decided to give it a try.

Dark chocolate
1/4 cup Whipping cream
White chocolate
Raspberries
Dark chocolate curls for garnish
Muffin liners

1. Line a muffin tin with muffin liners.
2. Melt the dark chocolate in microwave for a minute, stirring once in between. The chocolate should be uniformly melted with a sheen. With a pastry brush or back of a sppon, brush the insides of the muffin liners, coating thoroughly. Freeze for 30 minutes. Take cups out, and give a second coat with the remaining chocolate. Return back to the freezer and freeze for 2 hours or refrigerate overnight.
3. In a separate bowl, melt the white chocolate in the microwave for 30-40 seconds, stirring every 10 seconds. Whip the cream in another bowl until it forms hard peaks. To the melted white chocolate, add 1/3rd of the whipped cream. Gently fold the cream into the chocolate. The cream will deflate now, but will hold its shape during subsequent additions. Add the rest of the whipped cream to the chocolate mixture. Gently fold and do not mix vigorously. When it is combined, scoop the chocolate-cream mixture onto a pastry bag fitted with a nozzle of your choice, or onto a zip-top bag with a corner cut. Refrigerate this mixture for at least an hour.
4. When you are ready to serve, set the chocolate cups on the countertop for 5 minutes. This makes the peeling of the muffin liner easy. Once the liner is peeled, set on the serving plate. Fill the bottom with whipped cream-chocolate, top with raspberries, and finish off with another swirl of whipped cream-chocolate. Garnish with dark chocolate curls, if desired.

This recipe was a 2 day process for me, because i only started making the chocolate cups late at night. Byt the next day, I was rushed to make the dessert, because Kevin had eaten a lot of the raspberries. The qhite chocolate cream was the toughest step for me. I was impatient and it was a liquidy cream and would have never kept its shape. I also had to use nutriwhip because my grocery store ran out of whipping cream. At last, it was pretty good. It's an easy dessert to make, but just long because of all the waiting.

Quail

I usually have some trouble keeping our menu fresh. It's hard to have something new on the table all the time. One week, while grocery shopping, Kevin pointed out that quail was 50%. We like to buy our meat on sale and freeze them. We used to buy our meat only when we need it, but I find it more economical when I buy meat in bulk when on sale.

I have never made quail before, but my mom makes it and I love it. She usually marinates the quail and stir-fry it. Quails are small, plump terrestrial birds. They are seed eaters but will also take insects and similar small prey. They nest on the ground and are capable of short, rapid bursts of flight. I also love quail eggs in a fondue. For this dish, I didn't look up recipes online. I called my mom instead. Since my mom doesn't cook with measurements, my recipe will be equally vague. Please taste the marinade before making.



1 pack of quails (6 in a pack)
A dash of five spice powder
soy sauce (about 1/4 cup)
1 tbs oil
about 1/4 cup corn syrup (can be subbtituted with honey or about 3tbs sugar) garlic
ginger root
2-3 stalk of green onion, cut into 4 inches
dash of cayenne pepper
black pepper

1. Using poultry shears, cut quail into 4 pieces (cut body in half, then cut the legs).
2. In a bowl, mix five spice, soy sauce, corn syrup, oil, cayenne pepper, black pepper. Taste to see if it needs more salty or more sweet. If too salty, add more corn syrup or if too sweet, add more soy sauce.
3. Add Quail to the mixture and marinade for 20 mins or more. You may marinate overnight for extra flavor, but it is not necessary.
4. In a lasrge skillet, add a little bit of oil, and sliced garlic and ginger into the oil until it sizzles and is fragrant. Add quail and marinade to the pan.
5. Simmer the quail in the marinade until the sauce is reduced and becomes thick.
6. Do not let the quail burn. It is done when the quails looks glazed from the caramelized sauce.

Chinese Five Spice poultry

Five-spice powder is a mixture of five spices used in Chinese cuisine. One common recipe includes tunghing or "Chinese cinnamon" (also known as rougui, the ground bark of the cassia tree, a close relative of true cinnamon), powdered cassia buds, powdered star anise and anise seed, ginger root, and ground cloves. Another recipe for the powder consists of huajiao (Sichuan pepper), bajiao (star anise), rougui (cassia), cloves, and fennel seeds. It is used in most recipes for Cantonese roasted duck, as well as beef stew. Source: Wikipedia

I've seen several recipes requiring five spice, but never bothered to make those recipes because I didn't have five spice in my pantry. I finally decided to buy it when my friend, Amy, was raving about her friends five spice chicken recipe. We had recently bought a whole duck and I decided to try the recipe with duck instead of chicken. The aroma of the roasting duck was very good. It was my first time making a whole duck, so i wasn't quite prepared to carve it.

My carving skills are pathetic. I was hacking every knife we had in the kitchen into the duck. It was not pretty. The duck was alright, but i think because of the thick fatty skin, the flavors did not get into the meat, even though i poked the duck numerous times with a fork.

About a week later, I decided to give the recipe another shot with chicken drumsticks. Better!

Marinade:
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tbsp five-spice
1 tbsp oil
3 tbsp sugar
6 tbsp soy sauce

1. 1 hour before cook time or the night before, mix marinade together, be sure to stir until all the sugar is dissolved.
2. Put the marinade into the ziplock, or into a baking dish and put the chicken in with it. Toss around the chicken to coat it in marinade. Put the whole dish (or ziplock bag) into the fridge for 1 hour. Don't cut corners on the time.
3. 10 minutes before you are ready to cook, preheat oven to 375 degrees
4. Bake chicken until browned and juices run clear.

Puff Pastry Triangles

It was a lazy Sunday when I didn't know what to make for lunch. Kevin had some leftovers to eat and I didn't want to eat instant noodles again. I love instant noodles, but two days straight was a bit much. I'm not a student anymore. So I poked around the freezer and fridge and found a lot of leftovers; half a pack of puff pastry, leftover steak stir-fry, a few mushrooms, some cheese (cheddar, mozza, and feta). So I decided...why not have a meal of hors d'oeuvres. I've had more than my fair share of hors d'oeuvres at wedding cocktails before.

• Puff pastry (defrosted)
• cheese
• leftover steak or chicken cut into bite size strips
• mushroom

1. Preheat oven 400F
2. Cut puff pastry sheet into 9 squares, more if you want your hors d'oeuvres smaller.
3. Place meat, cheese, mushroom in the center
4. Fold the square diagonally and press on the edges. You can use an egg wash on the edge if you want to.
5. Bake until golden brown.

This is fool proof, unless you leave it in the oven and burn it to a crisp. You can mix up ingredients any way you want it. I actually had some chicken and dill as well. I ended up like the mushroom, mozza, and dill combo a lot. I also loved how crispy burned cheese that oozed out of the pastry. Yums!!! The options are endless.

Bourbon Chicken (without Bourbon)

Bourbon chicken is a flavorful chicken dish named after Bourbon Street in New Orleans, Louisiana and for the Bourbon whiskey ingredient.

In university, a classmate and I did a project on New Orleans culture, but we never ventured into the culinary side...but we so should have. Bourbon chicken is awesome. Although I have never had authentic Bourbon chicken, I fell in love with the dish when I visited my friend Jenn in Ottawa a couple of years ago. I have to admit, it was just a fast food counter that sells bourbon chicken, but it was dang good chicken! After that time, I craved it, but didn't have it for many years, until last month!

Kev and I were visiting his parents for a weekend and on our way to the in-laws, we had to stop by the mall and I was hungry. The counter was still there. So I went to buy, while Kev went to Tim Hortons for a very expensive mediocre chicken salad sandwich. I mean really...he should have just followed me. Follow me and you will find good food. I gave him a taste and he quickly regretted not buying it. He then proceeded to "help" me finish my plate.

I found a recipe for bourbon chicken and it sounded super easy, my only problem was I didn't have the essential ingredient for bourbon chicken; I didn't have bourbon whiskey. So, I had to sub with white wine, which didn't quite cut it. But here's the recipe if you want to try it.

4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves
1 teaspoon ground ginger
4 ounces soy sauce
2 tablespoons dried minced onion
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/8 cup bourbon
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1. Place chicken breasts in a 9x13 inch baking dish. In a small bowl combine the ginger, soy sauce, onion flakes, sugar, bourbon and garlic powder. Mix together and pour mixture over chicken. Cover dish and place in refrigerator. Marinate overnight.
2. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).
3. Remove dish from refrigerator and remove cover. Bake in the preheated oven, basting frequently, for 1 1/2 hours or until chicken is well browned and juices run clear.

Lahmajoun (Armenian Pizza)

Lahmacun or Lahmajoun is an Arabic dish consisting of a round, thin piece of dough topped with minced meat (most commonly beef and lamb). Lahmacun is often served sprinkled with lemon juice and wrapped around vegetables- including pickles, tomatoes, peppers, onions, lettuce, and parsley or cilantro.

I first heard about lahmajoun from Judy's blog. I didn't really think about it until I was browsing a recipe website and their featured recipe of the day was Lahmajoun (Armenian Pizza), so I decided to give it a try. This was my first time having a Lahmajoun (term used lightly, since I'm sure it's not authentic at all)

1 pound lean ground lamb
1 1/2 cups finely chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 (14.5 ounce) can peeled and diced tomatoes
1 (6 ounce) can tomato paste
1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
1 teaspoon chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon chopped fresh mint leaves
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 pinch cayenne pepper (optional)
4 pita breads, or fluffy tortillas

1. Place ground lamb in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook and break into small pieces until mostly browned. Drain any excess grease. Add the onion, green pepper, and garlic. Cook until onion is translucent. Stir in diced tomatoes and tomato paste, then season with parsley, basil, mint, cumin, and if using, cayenne. Simmer for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, cover, and refrigerate overnight to blend the flavors.
2. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Distribute the lamb mixture evenly over the tortillas, and spread out to the edges. Place the tortillas onto a baking sheet.
3. Bake for about 20 minutes in the preheated oven. These can be served hot or cold. Cut into small wedges.

I usually use ground beef, or pork if my grocery store doesn't have ground beef. Kevin really likes this and I've already made this 3 times. I like it too, however, it's not the best recipe to bring to lunch unless you're work has a toaster oven. Soggy pita is not yummy. This is best served the same night you make it. The pita is crispy and yummy.

Braised Rabbit

The only time I remember ever having rabbit was at Kevin's aunts place. We didn't know it was rabbit until she told us. It tastes like chicken but less meat, leaner, and bonier. And I discovered they are pretty pricey. We got it on sale and it still cost us a good $18 for a whole headless rabbit. I have to mention that I have never owned a pet rabbit, if I had, I don't think i would be able to eat it. Same goes for cow, chicken, pigs...

Rabbit meat is actually not that hard to prepare. You just need to make peace with the fact that it used to be a cute and cuddly animal. I treated it like any other raw meat that passes through my kitchen.

1 (2 1/2 pound) dressed rabbit, cut up
1/4 cup olive oil
1 large onion, halved and thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, minced
2 cups chicken broth
1 1/2 teaspoons dried thyme
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 bay leaf
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup lemon juice
5 tablespoons cold water

1. In a large skillet over medium heat, cook rabbit in oil until lightly browned; remove and keep warm. In the same skillet, saute onion and garlic until tender. Stir in the broth, thyme, pepper and bay leaf. Return rabbit to pan. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer for 30-45 minutes or until meat is tender and a meat thermometer reads 160 degrees F.
2. Remove rabbit to a serving platter. Discard bay leaf. Combine the flour, lemon juice and water until smooth; stir into pan juice. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Serve with rabbit.

This recipe is pretty good and I love that it was easy to prepare. Kevin grandmother in Toronto was impressed that I made rabbit. But really, it's so easy. I'm glad we tried this recipe, however, for the price and meat, I'd pick chicken any day.

Easy Cinnamon Buns

I love cinnamon buns. Most people prefer Cinnabon over St-Cinnamon, but I have many fond memories eating at St-Cinnamon during my student days. The buttery sweet taste with a nice cold carton of milk...what could be better. It was one of my edible splurges as a poor student. I still crave them from time to time, but I don't work downtown anymore. I've looked up how to make my own, but cinnamon buns seemed like such a hassle. I was super excited when I found an easier way from Stephanie .










5 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
3 tbs brown sugar
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, defrosted

For the filling:
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted and cooled
light brown sugar
teaspoons ground cinnamon

1. Preheat oven to 400. Cream the 5 tbs of butter with the 3 tbs of brown sugar. Put a small dollop into each muffin cup.
2. Unroll the puff pastry and give is a butter wash (or egg white for a healthier version). Sprinkle brown sugar and cinnamon...seriously, the more the better in my opinion.
3. Re-roll the puff pastry and cut into 12 pieces. Place pieces into the muffin trays, on top of the creamed butter.
4. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until browned.
5. Take out of the oven and let it sit for no more than 5 min, otherwise the caramelized sugar with solidify into the bottom of the muffin cup.
6. Scoop out with a spoon. Enjoy.

These...were...so...good! I was in heaven. These were so easy to make, and i liked that they were lighter than the yeasty kind. I'd make this again...but not too often. As Rachelle put it "These are dangerously easy to make!" Indeed...

Gyoza (Pork and Napa Cabbage dumplings)

One of the dishes I miss most from my mum is her dumplings. She makes the best dumplings, and I'm not saying this just because she's my mom. All my friends, and my siblings' friends, who have had them love them as well. When my brother would have my mom's dumplings for lunch, his ex-coworkers at IBM used to bully him and eat his lunch. lol I haven't inherited the recipe...yet. But to be honest, I don't think there is a recipe. I think my mum just puts whatever she has on hand. Unfortunately, I am not much of a cook without a base recipe.


One package of Gyoza wraps (they are round, not square)
ground pork
Napa cabbage, blanched and chopped
1 green onion, chopped
ginger, minced
1 garlic bulb, minced
soy sauce
white pepper
corn starch
sesame oil
pinch of sugar
water for sealing

1. Mix all ingredient together. Don't be a wimp, use your hands and fingers.
2. Set up work station: bowl of filling, wraps, small bowl of water for sealing, plate for uncooked dumplings.
3. Place some filling into the wrapper, be careful to not over stuff. Don't be greedy. Wet the edge of half the wrapper and fold. Scrunch it to make a nice-ish design...can't explain it any clearer. lol
4. Once all dumplings are wrapped. Put about 2 tsp of oil in a skillet. Place the dumplings on the skillet. Don't overcrowd. Pour about 1/2 cup of water into the skillet. Cover and cook on high heat on the stove top. The water will evaporate and make the bottom crispy. Careful not to burn the bottom.
5. Serve hot with dipping sauce.

Making dumplings is actually not very hard, just time consuming. Kevin likes my dumplings. I think they are okay, they can't compare to my mum's. I can't seem to make a good mix for a dipping sauce. So far, the best thing for these dumplings are just plain soy sauce. My mum's dumplings also sometimes have chicken pieces, scallops, or shrimp in it. I haven't tried adding those yet. Chinese chives are a very popular option as well. My parents grow them in their backyard...maybe I should visit soon.

Miso Pork Chops

I've always had trouble with pork chops. They always end up chewy and dry. My best pork chop was the ones braised in mushroom sauce...and even those weren't that great. They still had a bit of a chewy dryness to them. And don't get me started at how they are when i bring them for lunch the next day.

I was browsing the oriental aisle at the local Loblaws and found that they started selling tubs of miso paste. I remember reading about miso being amazing on meats and fish. So I bought a tub of red miso (akamiso), which is best for red meat. Use the lighter colored miso for fish.

Apparently the combination of miso paste, sake, and mirin is magic. I wasn't going to believe it until I had it. I didn't have sake so I subtituted with white wine. I also ran out of mirin, so I used sugar mixed in a bit of water.

Approximately 1 1/2 pounds of your choice meat
1/3 cup miso
1/4 cup mirin or 4 tbs sugar
3 tablespoons sake or white wine

1. Mix miso, mirin, and sake in a bowl until well blended and smooth. Rub the marinade on your meat and refrigerate for at least 5 hours.
2. Scrape off marinade from meat and pat dry with paper towel. Do not rinse the meat.
3. Prepare the meat the way you want to; pan fried, oven baked, grilled...

I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised by the texture of the meat. Even after nuking it for lunch, it was still amazingly tender. I really liked the taste as well...Kevin was not as enthusiastic about it though. If only Kevin liked it, i'd make it again. I just might anyway.

How to preserve coriander

I used to hate coriander. My mom would always make coriander soup when someone had a sore throat. She believed that coriander soothed the throat...i'm not too sure about that. Like dill pickles, I do not when and how I started liking it. I like using coriander in thai dishes and also salads, like my crab salad. But I always have a lot of trouble keeping my coriander. They usually last a few days and start to rot. I mentioned in an old post that the moisture make the coriander rot faster. It is true.

My friend Wynn told me to wrap my coriander in paper towels to keep the moisture out. I did that, but preferred the freezing method. This way I can add coriander to curry or soups, but not really for salads.

Wash and chop coriander leaves and stuff them into an ice cube tray, then fill it with enough water that the leaves are all submerged. Freeze.

♥

Cold Noodles with Snap Peas

Cooking is enjoyable only when it's not 35C degrees out. When it's hot, I just want to avoid turning on any kitchen appliance. I originally wanted to make cold soba noodles, but didn't have time to get soba noodles at an Asian market. So I decided to get some vermicelli at Loblaws. I got this recipe from a cookbook I have at home. The recipe in the book is the one with the smoked salmon, but I knew Kev would find this combination weird. So I made his with Shrimp instead.






1 pack of vermicelli, prepared as indicated

Sugar snap peas, blanched

Shrimp or Smoked Salmon

Sweet and Spicy Thai sauce (I used PC Memories of Thailand)

1. Cook everything, then rinse in cold water.


2. Mix all ingredients with the sauce.


3. Eat.

The combination of smoked salmon and Thai sauce was a strange mix of flavors. I didn't hate it, but it was definitely strange. The shrimp version was a bit better, but i think maybe a scallop version would be even better. I liked how easy it was to make, but I wouldn't recommend leftovers.

Thai Mango Salad

My summer fruit of the year is mango. As mentioned before, Kevin and I have been going crazy for mangoes. Sometimes I'll be too anxious and cut one to eat before it is ripe. Sour mango is bad, bad, bad.

Today I noticed one of the mangoes had bruises. Bruises that weren't there when I bought it. So I peeled it and discarded the bruised flesh. I've tasted worse mangoes, but this one was still too sour.

So I decided to look up a way to use up sour mangoes. I thought about making orange jello with mango pieces in it...too kid's party. Maybe coconut jello with mango pieces...I don't have coconut milk at home. Then I found a recipe for Thai mango salad. If I remember correctly, I believe Thai mango salad is made with green mango and not red mangoes, but decided to be a rebel and try it out anyway.

1 mango, peeled and shredded

1/2 red onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced and crushed

1 tbsp of fish sauce

1 tbsp sugar

1 red chili pepper, minced (can be subbed with cayenne pepper and/or red pepper flakes)

1/2 or 1 tbsp of lime juice

Cilantro leaves for garnish (optional)

Peanuts crushed for garnish (optional)

1. Mix everything in a glass bowl. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Serve over green lettuce leaves.

As can be seen from my picture, I was missing a lot of ingredients. I had the basics, but I think it could have been better with the cilantro and peanuts. The mango salad was spicy, and I couldn't detect the sourness from before...I'd make this again if I ever encounter another sour mango, but I'd peel a mango early just to be able to make this. I marinated it in the mixture for about a day and half. It was delicious!

Goat Cheese & Arugula Pizza

When I was younger, whenever my mom wasn't home to make dinner, we'd order pizza delivery at a local place. The pizza was always dripping in oil and full of cheese. I loved it, but then eventually got sick of it when I got older. When my sister lived in Toronto, I'd visit her every holiday I had from school and she'd always take me to the Pizza Pizza place close to her place. Back then, Pizza Pizza was not available in Quebec. Their pizza was delicious. I liked that they weren't dripping with cheese and oil.

But it was my trip to Quebec city with Kevin that made me fall in love with gourmet pizza. We went to this Italian restaurant right outside the walled city and it was the best pizza I have ever had.

When I get lazy, I make "fancy" pizza at home, It's fast to make. I had a bunch of arugula leaves in my fridge and some tomatoes. I hate how vegetables go bad so quickly. So I went out and bought some goat cheese and voila...


1 large pita bread
Pesto
Roma tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic, minced
Arugula leaves
Goat Cheese
Olive oil
Pepper
lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
2. Spread pesto all over one side of the pita.
3. Cut medallions of goat cheese and place them on the Pita. Or crumble goat cheese.
4. Add sliced Roma tomatoes, sprinkle minced garlic
5. Bake for about 10 minutes or until pita is crispy.
6. Chop arugula and mix a bit of olive oil, pepper, and lemon juice in it.
7. Take pizza out of oven, spread arugula on top. Enjoy!

When I make a veggie gourmet pizza, I often make a regular pepperoni with cheese one for Kevin. He sometimes complain when there's no meat in our dinner. However, when he had this, he said he liked it better than the pepperoni pizza. Victory! My only complaint about this is that it's not great to bring to lunch...unless you bake it again in a toaster oven at work. The pita gets really soggy.

Crab Ceviche

I know, I have been lazy with the blog. After starting my new job, I'm just usually too tired to blog after work...and I'm too busy to blog at work. lol

A few weeks ago, my old friend Wynn invited us over for a BBQ get together at her place. I remember adding a recipe for crab ceviche in my favorites a while ago, but just never got a chance to make it at home. This was an easy recipe and fast recipe to prepare. It's great for the summer.

I couldn't quite make up my mind about whether it should be called crab salad or crab ceviche. Ceviche is basically marinating in a citrus-based mixture. The reason why it confuses me is that usually ceviche marinates raw foods...like scallop or fish, but I'm using imitation crab.

1 package of imitation meat, chopped or flaked.

tomatoes

red onion finely chopped

cilantro leaves, chopped

Lime juice

red bell peppers (yellow or orange works too)

Olive oil

salt and pepper

sugar

*Important: Use a glass bowl. Do not use metal or plastic.

1. Mix crab meat with olive oil until well coated. Add all the veggies. Add lime juice , salt and pepper, and a bit of sugar to balance the dish. Refrigerate at least 1 hour before serving.

These were gone in 5 minutes at the BBQ. I liked them a lot too and was planning on making them again with the leftover cilantro. But my cilantro went bad after only a few days. Why???

I actually did some research since I got so sick of my cilantro going bad. The bad guy here is the plastic bag and moisture/water. Cilantro can apparently be kept for 2 weeks if you store them correctly. For starters, ditch the plastic bag and dry the cilantro with a paper towel before storing them in the fridge. The water on the leaves makes them rot more quickly. So this is why my mom wraps some of her veggies in paper towels in the fridge. Another way to have cilantro is to freeze into ice cubes to be used in stew or curry, but not useful if you want to use it in a salad...

Chicken with Mango Salad

Kevin and I are going through a mango phase. I blame this on his uncle John in T.O. When we visited them over easter break, he gave us a couple fo mangoes. These mangoes were not ripe yet. The week after we visited them, we went on vacation in Punta Cana. When we got back, the mangoes were just perfect. And that got us hooked on mangoes. So we kept buying mangoes at the grocery store.

When they went on sale, I bought too many and they were going bad, so I had to look for a recipe to use it up. This recipe was originally for tilapia, but I used chicken.

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
1 clove garlic, minced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 chicken breasts butterflied.

1 large ripe mango, peeled, pitted and diced
1/2 red bell pepper, diced
2 tablespoons minced red onion
1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and minced
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste

1. Whisk together the extra-virgin olive oil, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, parsley, garlic, basil, 1 teaspoon pepper, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a bowl and pour into a resealable plastic bag. Add the tilapia fillets, coat with the marinade, squeeze out excess air, and seal the bag. Marinate in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
2. Prepare the mango salsa by combining the mango, red bell pepper, red onion, cilantro, and jalapeno pepper in a bowl. Add the lime juice and 1 tablespoon of lemon juice, and toss well. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and refrigerate until ready to serve.
3. On the grill: Preheat an outdoor grill for medium-high heat, and lightly oil grate.
   Remove the chicken from the marinade, and shake off excess. Discard the remaining marinade. Grill the chicken until cooked. Serve the chicken topped with mango salsa.
4. In the oven: Preheat to 400F. Bake until cooked, about 20-25 minutes depending on thickness. Serve with Mango Salsa.

The mango salsa is what makes this dish. I loved it so much that I made the salsa on its own a few days later. The chicken was not great, but kevin said that the blend of herbs tasted like pesto.

Singapore Noodles

One of my favorite noodle dish to have in a Chinese restaurant is Singapore Noodles. I'm usually someone who likes saucy dishes...but i guess the spicy curry in this dish made up for it. Kevin's not a huge curry fan. Most of the time he's just afraid to bring strong smelling food for lunch at work. Me...I don't care too much.

1 pound dry vermicelli pasta
2 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves - cut into strips
2 butterfly pork chops, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 onion, thinly sliced
2 carrots, thinly sliced
2 stalks celery, thinly sliced
1/2 (12 ounce) package frozen shrimp, thawed
1 cup bean sprouts
2 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons curry powder
1/4 cup water

sesame oil

fish sauce

cayenne pepper

1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add vermicelli and cook for 8 to 10 minutes or until al dente; drain.
2. In a deep skillet or fry pan, brown chicken, pork and garlic in the oil over medium-high heat.
3. Reduce heat to medium-low, and add the onion, carrots and water; cover and steam for 5 minutes. Stir in celery and shrimp. Cover and steam for 2 minutes.
4. Mix in the bean sprouts, curry powder and soy sauce; stir together until blended and hot, 4 to 5 minutes. Toss with noodles, and serve with the option of hot pepper sauce and soy sauce as condiments

Make sure you have a giant wok to make this, because my poor little one was over flowing with ingredients. I ended up with vermicelli pieces all over my stove. The measurements can be more or less depending on your taste. I used a bit more curry and soy sauce. Fish sauce and sesame oil was not in the original recipe, but i added it for the extra flavor. I also added some cayenne pepper for that extra spiciness. For the meat part of this recipe, I only used shrimp. I was too lazy and cheap to add pork and chicken too. But if you happen to have leftover pork and/or chicken that would work. For veggies, I used only green onions (shallots), onion, and red pepper. I couldn't justify buying a whole bag of carrots and a whole stalk of celery just for one recipe. We don't eat those veggies very often. The results ended up pretty good. It tastes better the next day when the dish has absorbed all the flavours. Kevin told me he liked it too. Although he took something else to work for lunch. My one complain was that the vermicelli I had was a bit too thin. I would have preferred a slightly thicker vermicelli.

Baingan Bharta (Eggplant Curry)

Eggplant. Never liked it, never though I would. Last year, Kevin's family came to visit and we had a big dinner with the whole extended family. We had a kids table and an adults table. They brought out this super stinky casserole dish to the adults table and if we could see stink lines, they'd be green. I will always remember this story of eggplants.

I disliked eggplants so much that it was the first thing i put on my "don't cook" list when I was living with Rachelle. We had a list of all the foods we didn't like or were allergic to on the fridge. So we knew not to make anything with it or to not share if made.

But then, a few weeks ago, Kevin and I invited Kev's little cousin, Benjamin, over to play video games. Because we promised him this when he watched our fish when we went on vacation. His mother invited us to stay over for dinner when we dropped him off. Her friend was over at their house and made this indian feast and my favorite dish was this veggie curry mash. I was very surprised when she told me it was eggplant. That's when I decided to look for a recipe and try my hand at making this classic Indian dish. I altered it by adding ground pork for my carnivore fiancé.

1 large eggplant
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 medium onion, thinly sliced
1 tablespoon ginger garlic paste or minced ginger/minced garlic
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 tomato, diced
1/2 cup plain yogurt (optional)
1 fresh jalapeno chile pepper, finely chopped (subbed with a few dashes of cayenne)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 bunch cilantro, finely chopped

Ground pork

1 1/2 Tbsp corn starch

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C).
2. Place eggplant on a medium baking sheet. Bake 20 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until tender. Remove from heat, cool, peel, and chop.
3. Meat option: Mix corn starch into the ground pork and mix in pepper and salt for taste.
4. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook pork. Mix in cumin seeds and onion. Cook and stir until onion is tender.
5. Mix ginger garlic paste, curry powder, and tomato into the saucepan, and cook about 1 minute. Stir in yogurt. Mix in eggplant and jalapeno pepper, and season with salt.
6. Cover, and cook 10 minutes over high heat.
7. Remove cover, reduce heat to low, and continue cooking about 5 minutes. Garnish with cilantro to serve.

I'm not sure how it would taste like with the yogurt, but the way i made it with the substitutes, it was yummy. I'd make this again. I think the yogurt would give it a more bland taste, which wouldn't be a bad thing. Without it, it had a much stronger curry flavor.

Cinnamon Walnut Pastries

You know, cooking doesn't require that much effort. I don't make it a secret when I shortcut some of my recipes. Real cooks would be ashamed of my kitchen practices. I use frosen vegetables, minute rice... If you look at the pictures i take, they look complicated to make, but in reality, i always pick recipes that are easy. I like cooking, but I get tired from work like everybody else. "Anyone can cook" (quote from Ratatouille)

At my old employment, I had a little baking group thing with a few co-workers. Once a month, we'd bring in baked goods to share with each other. Bakin is something I like doing, but it's even more time consuming than cooking a meal I find. I have great respect for pastry chefs. That weekend, I didn't have time to make something from scratch for our baking meet. So I bought prepared puff pastry.

1 package of frozen butter puff pastry

Cinnamon

White sugar

Walnuts

1 egg white

1. Defrost puff pastry as indicated on the package.
2. Preheat oven to 400F. Unfold pastry and brush egg whites all over one side.
3. Sprinkle white sugar and cinnamon. The more the better!
4. Sprinkle walnuts.
5. Start rolling the pastry from one end to the other and brush egg white at the end so it doesn't unroll.
6. Bake for 12-15 minutes, until browned.

For the bake meet, instead of rolling them I put the second sheet on top of the first one after step 4. Then cut them into little strands and twisted them. So when they baked, they look like twirl sticks.

These look great after they're baked. My dad, who doesn't really eat desserts, liked these a lot.

Curried Honey Dijon Wings

This is a recycled recipe. So i'm cheating on having this "new" blog post. I made curried honey dijon chicken drumsticks back in december 2008. I remember enjoying this recipe quite a bit and have wanted to use the same recipe on chicken wings. I finally got around to doing it. And I figured that a marinade this good deserves a double post.

1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 tablespoons soy sauce
cayenne pepper to taste (or some other form of heat)
pepper to taste
Chicken wings


1. Mix everything but the chicken in a bowl.
2. Add the chicken, cover and marinate in the fridge for at least an hour. (I did it for nearly 6 hours)
3. Place the chicken in a baking dish (reserving the marinade)
4. Bake uncovered in a 375F oven for 20 minutes.
5. Brush on some of the marinade.
6. Bake uncovered until the juices run clear, about 20-30 minutes, brushing with the marinade periodically.

(This would also be great cooked on the grill, but watch it carefully as the honey will make it burn much faster.)

Chicken Piccata

I love chicken, but I always found chicken breasts to be difficult to work with because it get dry. While surfing several food blogs for chicken recipes, i found a couple of them had featured Chicken Piccata. I've never heard of this dish before. Chicken Piccata is a classic Italian dish that is supposed to be nearly foolproof. The chicken breast are sliced (butterflied) and flattened for faster cooking. This prevents from under cooking, as well as over cooking, because once the chicken is browned, it's done. My problem, this time, wasn't with the chicken, but with the sauce. I found it to be too sour. I started adding some sugar to the sauce, but a huge clumps fell out and i had to scoop the sugar out of the sauce. It was a bit of a disaster, but in the end, Kevin said he liked the sauce and I wasn't too impressed with it.

2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breast halves (1 1/2 pound total)
2 Tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup flour
Salt and pepper
4 Tbsp olive oil
4 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup chicken stock or dry white wine
3 Tbsp lemon juice
1/4 cup brined capers
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley

1. Cut the chicken breast halves horizontally, butterflying them open. If the breast pieces you are working with are large, you may want to cut them each into two pieces. If the pieces are still thick after butterflying, put them between two pieces of plastic wrap and pound them with a meat hammer to 1/4-inch thickness.
2. Mix together the flour, salt, pepper, and grated Parmesan. Rinse the chicken pieces in water. Dredge them thoroughly in the flour mixture, until well coated.
3. Heat olive oil and 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large skillet on medium high heat. Add half of the chicken pieces, do not crowd the pan. Brown well on each side, about 3 minutes per side. Remove the chicken from the pan and reserve to a plate. Cook the other breasts in the same manner, remove from pan. Cover with aluminum foil and keep warm in the oven while you prepare the sauce.
4. Add the chicken stock (or white wine), lemon juice, and capers to the pan. Use a spatula to scrape up the browned bits. Reduce the sauce by half. Whisk in the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter. Plate the chicken and serve with the sauce poured over the chicken. Sprinkle with parsley.
   

Sweet and Spicy Thai Shrimp with Coconut Rice

Over the winter time, Kevin and I went to visit his family in Ottawa. We often try to visit his family once every 2 or so months. That time, his dad made him honey water...which is basically honey mixed with boiled water. I was never a big fan of honey...especially the natural smell of it...I remember when my uncle suggested I sweeten my coffee with honey. He told me that it was the trend in Vancouver...i'm not too sure it was, but I did it anyway. I ended up chucking my coffee in the nearest trash.

What I didn't know was that I love cooking with honey. So when Kevin's parents gave us a bag of shrimps, I looked up for a recipe and found this. I added coriander to the recipe, just because I thought it sounded like it needed it. I also had leftover coconut milk in my fridge, so I made coconut rice to go with it, and loosely called my dish Thai.

Sweet and Spicy Shrimp

1 pound of shrimp, deveined and deshelled
1 1/2 tsp red chili flakes
1 tsp garlic, minced
2 tsp ginger
1 cup coriander, chopped
2-3 Tbsp honey
2 Tbsp oil
pepper and salt to taste
dash of lime juice

1. Heat the olive oil and red pepper flakes in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic, ginger and honey; cook and stir until fragrant. Add the shrimp, and cook for 5 minutes, stirring as needed, until shrimp are pink and opaque. Serve immediately over coconut rice.

Coconut Rice (2 servings)

2 cups Minute Rice, long grain (I know...my ancestors are turning in their grave)

1/2 cup coconut milk

1 cup chicken broth

1/2 water

crushed peanuts

chopped coriander

1. Mix rice and all liquids in a pot and cook/ simmer for 15-20 minutes until liquid is almost gone.
2. Once done, mix crushed peanuts and chopped coriander into the rice. Serve hot.

I was a big fan of this. I loved that the sweetness of the coconut milk made the underside burn just a little bit and gave the rice a nice aroma. Kevin called my coconut rice weird, and didn't like it. He's also not a huge fan of coriander and picked them out. Other than that, he ate quietly and finished his plate. Good boy!

Easy Baked Haddock

Fish is something I learned to love. My Chinese mother only makes fish the Asian way; steamed with ginger and green onions. Although a classic recipe that I still like, I think trying out different fish recipes from the internet has helped me discover my love for cooked fish.

I went through this crazy salmon phase. It was the only fresh fish i'd buy since moving out. Sometimes i'd mistakenly take salmon trout, but that was it. I started looking at easy fish recipes to make during weekdays and found a baked haddock recipe. It required very little ingredients and it was quick to have on the table. My store didn't have fresh haddock, so I had to subtitute with the frozen kind.

3/4 cup of milk

2tsp salt

3/4 cup breadcrumbs

1/4 cup of parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp dried thyme

4 haddock fillets

1/4 cup butter, melted

1. Preheat oven to 500F.
2. In a small bowl, combine milk and salt. In a seperate bowl, mix breadcrumbs, parmesan cheese and thyme. Dip haddock in the milk and then press into crumbs to coat. Place haddock in a glass baking dish, and drizzle with melted butter.
3. Bake on top rack for about 15min, or until it flakes with a fork.

This was a good fish recipe. I love everything in the recipe. The buttery taste and the parm cheese...I'd make this again. Online reviews complained about the soggy bottoms and some suggested putting the fish on wire rack. I decided against it because I wanted the fish to absorb the sauce. It gives the fish more flavor. The bottom was a tad soggy, but the top was perfectly crispy.

Jessica's Grilled Pineapple

I know I haven't been updating my blog in a long time, but I do have good reasons...well first I went on vacation and got engaged there. Got back home and got sick with a cold. But it wasn't swine flu...sorry, I mean H1N1. Then I got laid off at work. Got sick again. Found another job. I just finished my second week at the new job and I am usually too tired to blog...either that or i'm just busy playing video games.

Since summer is coming, i'll post about grilled pineapple. My friend Jessica made this for us a while ago. At the time, we couldn't use the bbq yet. So we just made it on the stovetop.


1 whole pineapple, peeled and sliced.
1 cup maple syrup or corn syrup
1 tsp of cinnamon

whole walnuts

1. Marinate pineapple slices in syrup and cinnamon for 1 hour to 24 hours.
2. mix walnuts and some corn syrup on the stove until well glazed. Set aside to cool.
3. On stovetop: Medium heat and cook until golden brown.
4. Serve with vanilla ice cream and garnish with glazed walnuts.

Simple and yummy!

Inarizushi

Whenever we go to the Sushi Shop for lunch in our building at work, Rach would often get an order of inarizushi. When it comes to sushi, I rarely eat the ones that don't have fish in them. One night, we went for all-you-can-eat sushi at Kanda, and I tried a piece of inarizushi. Yum! I liked it!

On a recent trip to the Korean market, we found canned abura-age (thin deep fried tofu). It was ready to eat right out of the can, all you needed was to make the sushi rice. So why not? They don't come cheap though...about $6 for 15 slices.




1 can of aburaage
1 Tbsp minced garlic
5 slices fresh ginger
3 Tbs mirin (sweet cooking wine) or 1 Tbsp honey thinned with water
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sugar
1/2 cup water

For Sushi Rice:

1 cup sushi rice
1.5 cups of water5 Tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp mirin
3 Tbs sugar
1 tsp salt
toasted sesame seeds and finely crushed nori


To prepare aburaage:

1. Open can and boil the aburaage to rinse off the oily marinade.
2. Mix all ingredients to make the marinade.
3. Soak abuura-age in the marinade overnight in the fridge.

To make sushi rice:

1. Soak rice in water for 10-15 minutes.
2. Mix rice vinegar, with sugar, salt, mirin. Heat gently while mixing so salt and sugar can dissolve. Let it cool. Put aside.
3. Wash rice two or three time in running water, drain well and transfer into deep cooking pot with water. (for every cup of rice, use 1.5 cups water)
4. Bring to boil, reduce heat and cook covered for 15 min.
5. Take pot off of heat source, and pour rice over an aluminium covered baking pan to cool. At this point, the rice should be soggy. Drizzle the vinegar mixture over the rice. Do not mix, the rice is delicate. Let it sit for 15 min to cool and soak up the rest of the water. It can be used when you can grab it with your hands or when they begin to look hard and clunpy.

To assemble:

1. Carefully open the abura-age pockets and fill them with cooled sushi rice.
2. Sprinkle toaste sesame and crushed nori on top. Serve.
   

This was pretty easy to make, however, I used a bit more mirin and sugar that what was in the recipe and it ended up a bit sweeter. Other than that, it was good. I would make this again. Kev didn't have any, and he didn't seem too interested either.

Shrimp Jambalaya

Jambalaya is a Louisiana Creole dish of Spanish and French influence. The dish is a New World version of the Old World dish paella. A Cajun version, loosely related to paella, was adopted after absorption of white French Creoles into the Cajun population following their fall from power in New Orleans after the Civil War. (Source: Wikipedia)

Every time I read the word Jambalaya, I hear Newman from Seinfeld in my head. I haven't had jambalaya anything in a really long time. I was looking in my recipe book for a shrimp recipe and found this. I used to love spicy foods, but have had a bland palate lately. Maybe it comes with age.


3 Tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups of onions, chopped
2 cups diced bell peppers, preferrably red or yellow
Salt and pepper
4 cups chicken, beef, vegetable, or shrimp stock, or water
2 Tbsp minced garlic
1/2 tsp cayenne or to taste
2 tsp fresh thyme leaves or 1 tsp dried thyme
2 cups peeled, seeded, and chopped tomatoes, or a can of diced tomatoes, drained.
2 cups long grain rice
2 pounds shrimp
minced fresh parsley or cilantro leaves for garnish

1. Place oil in a large skillet and turn the heat to med-high. Add onions, bell peppers, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cook until onions soften and begin to brwon, about 10 min. Warm stock in a small saucepan over med heat.
2. Stir garlic, cayenne, and thyme to the vegetables. Add tomatoes and turn heat to med-high. Cook for a few minutes.
3. Add rice and hot stock and bring to boil. Once boiling, lower to med heat. Cook uncovered, stirring occasionally, untilt he rice is tender and the liquid is just absorbed, about 20-30 minutes. Add shrimp and stir. Cook 2 or 3 minutes, then raise heat if necessary to cook off the remaining liquid. Garnish and serve.

I really like these one-pot dishes. I don't need to make the rice seperate or make a veggie sidedish. Everything just goes in. The shrimp jambalaya was good, but a tad spicy. I might consider reducing the cayenne next time. Other than that, it was a tasty meal. I think there's something about canned tomatoes that we're kind of sick of...when Kev and I started dating, we liked making this crockpot sausage dish that required canned diced tomatoes. And we made i t quite often. So now, everytime I make a recipe with canned tomatoes, it just doesn't taste as great for us. Perhaps next time, I will make this with fresh tomatoes instead.

Japanese Style Simmered Mackerel

My first attempt at making mackerel didn't turn out the way I thought it would. I had made Mackerel with Sweet Soy a few months ago and it ended up being way too salty. So i continued to look in the recipe book and found a Japanese style simmered fish recipe. So I decided to try it.

6 medium-small mackerel fillets

2 Tbsp oil

1 Tbsp minced garlic

5 slices fresh ginger

2 Tbs mirin (sweet cooking wine) or 1 Tbsp honey thinned with water

1/4 tsp cayenne

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp sugar

1/2 cup water

1. Heat a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Add oil to the skillet, when hot, add garlic. Stir once or twice and add fillets. Raise the heat to high and sear about a minute each side.
2. Add the remaining ingredients and stir. Turn the fish once or twice in the liquid, cover, and reduce the heat to low. Cook until done, about 6 minutes.
3. Serve on white rice and drizzle remaining sauce on top.

This turned out really well. Much better than the sweet soy sauce from the other mackerel dish I made. The sauce in this one is sweet and savory. I drizzled some of the sauce on my rice as well. It was delicious. My only complaint for this is that I didn't make enough. Kevin liked this a lot and has requested I make it again. :) I added a some chopped green onions to the sauce and a sprinkle of sesame seeds to garnish.

Char Siu

Char siu (also spelled chashao, cha siu and char siew), otherwise known as barbecued pork in China or Chinese barbecued/roast pork outside China, is a popular way to prepare pork in Cantonese cuisine. "Char siu" literally means "fork burn/roast" after the traditional cooking method for the dish: long strips of seasoned boneless pork are skewered with long forks and placed in a covered oven or over a fire. (Source: wikipedia.com)

The best char siu i've ever had was quite possibly on my last visit to Vancouver. My uncle Stephen took us to this popular Chinese restaurant and specifically ordered the char siu because "it's the best char siu", and he was quite right. It was moist, perfectly glazed, and the perfect amount of lean meat to fat.

Kev loves char siu...that's probably an understatement. We always buy char siu when we're near chinatown. And when we visit Kev's parents in Ottawa, char siu is often waiting for our arrival. And there is often leftovers the next day or Kev will bring some home. I remember when I was younger, my mom would also buy char siu a lot because my sister likes char siu. Now, I'm kind sick of it.

A while ago, Kev picked up a pack of pork loin strips from Loblaws that was on sale. So I asked how he wants me to prepare it and he said "I don't know...char siu?". So I said fine, and found a char siu recipe for it.

2-3 pounds Pork butt, boneless, medium fat

3/4 cup Hoisin sauce
1/2 cup Soy sauce
1/2 cup Rice wine or dry sherry
1/3 cup Honey
1 Tbsp Sugar

1. Slice pork butt into strips about 2 inches wide and 5 inches long.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the hoisin, soy sauce, rice wine or sherry, honey and sugar. Add the pork strips and marinate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight.
3. Preheat oven to 425°F. Add a rack to a roasting pan and fill the pan with water to come just below the rack. Wipe any excess marinade from the pork and line the strips up neatly in the roasting pan.
4. Place the pan in the oven and roast for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 325°F and roast for another 30-40 minutes, turning and basting frequently with the remaining marinade or with peanut or sesame oil.
5. Cut into bite-sized pieces and serve.

My knowledge of different meat cuts is zero. I have no idea about the different textures and quality. I only know filet mignon is a good cut meat, because of its price on menus. lol Although I don't know my meats, I do know that the pork loin that was chosen was way too lean to be good char siu. But I made it anyway, only to hear Kev complain about how dry it was. I marinaded the pork overnight, but was not really bursting with flavor. I also drizzled a bit of honey on it to give it a glazed look, corn syrup will work too. For the left overs, we used the char siu in soup noodles and it was less dry. The recipe/marinade itself was ok, perhaps a different and fattier piece of pork would have made the difference.

Adobo Chicken

In Filipino cuisine, adobo refers to a common and very popular cooking process indigenous to the Philippines. When Spanish colonizers first took administration over the Philippines in the late 1500s and early 1600s, they encountered an indigenous cooking process which involved stewing with vinegar, which they then referred to as "adobo," which is the Spanish word for seasoning or marinade. Dishes prepared in this manner eventually came to be known by this name, with the original term for the dish now lost to history. Typically, pork or chicken, or a combination of both, is slowly cooked in soy sauce, vinegar, crushed garlic, bay leaf, and black peppercorns, and often browned in the oven or pan-fried afterward to get the desirable crisped edges. This dish originates from the northern region of the Philippines. It is commonly packed for Filipino mountaineers and travelers. Its relatively long shelf-life is due to one of its primary ingredients, vinegar, which inhibits the growth of bacteria. The standard accompaniment to adobo is white rice. (source: wikipedia.com)


I first learned about Adobo Chicken through my friend Amy. For my first Vday with Kev, we decided to eat at home since it was a wednesday night (Lost night). I was looking for something new to make. Back then, I hadn't discovered my love for cooking. I talked to Amy and she suggested Adobo chicken and I decided to try it. I remember thinking that the adobo chicken was too salty and didn't like it that much. Perhaps it's the brand of soy sauce I used. I had kikkoman...


Now, 2 years later, I decided to revisit the recipe. I found an adobo chicken recipe in one of the my giant recipe books. It was slightly different from Amy's recipe, but I decided to combine the two recipes. Amy's recipe had more spices, while the recipe in the book had a milder sauce because they diluted the soy sauce with water.




8 chicken drumsticks
1 cup soy sauce
1/2 cup white or rice vinegar
1 cup water
1 Tbs chopped garlic
3 bay leaves
1/2 tsp crushed peppercorn, or ground black pepper

1. Combine everything, except chicken in a large pot (large enough to hold the chicken in one layer). Bring to boil over high heat. Add chicken; reduce heat to medium-low and cook covered for 30 min, turning once or twice.
2. Boil uncovered for another 15 minutes. Serve with white rice.

Source: How to Cook Everything by Mark Bittman

The end result was still a tad salty for my liking. I even added sugar to balance out the taste, but just couldn't fix it anymore. I guess I will accept this defeat and just accept that adobo chicken is just not for us. I tried. In Mark Bittman's recipe, after step one, he dried off the chicken and grilled them on the barbecue. We did not do this. Perhaps this was how it was supposed to be served.

La Banquise

I heard about La Banquise a few years ago. I'll guess and say 2-3 years. It's basically what people in Montreal call the best poutine in town. I don't really know about that. I love poutine and it's the ultimate comfort food for me. I usually like the poutine at La Belle Province, specifically the one on Peel st.


La Banquise is a 24hr place that you can go for the classic poutine or special poutine. Sounds great doesn't it? So as I was saying, when I first heard about it, I wanted to go. But it was a bit out of the way and when I meet friends for dinner, poutine is not always our first choice. La Banquise is noisy and more of a fast food joint. People don't really stay and talk for 2 hours after the meal.


When my friend Christina was visiting from TO, I saw this as an opportunity to go. I mean, we gotta show outsiders what real poutine is. :)

For my first Banquise experience, I decided to try one of their special poutines. I chose the B.O.M. poutine. It's the classic poutine with bacon, sautéed onions, and mergues sausage. It was delicious! Christina has the Matty Poutine; classic poutine with bacon, peppers, mushrooms and sauteed onions. Rachelle had the Poutine Chouxxx; classic poutine with coleslaw. We were all pretty satisfied with our choices.

They also have burgers and stuff like that, but we didn't pay any attention to them. The poutines come in 2 sizes. We all ordered the small size and it was a pretty good sized plate. We saw some people with the large size and it's a giant bowl. Potato coma! I'd definitely go again if i'm in the area, but wouldn't make a special trip there. I'm equally satisfied with greasy Belle Province poutine near my work.

La Banquise / 994 Rachel East, corner of Lafontaine Park in Montreal / 514.525.2415

http://www.restolabanquise.com/

Thai Green Curry Salmon

Salmon is possibly my favorite fish to eat...with Mackerel a close second. I used to only like eating salmon raw; sashimi. I usually don't like cooked salmon because I don't like the texture...I know...usually people don't like the texture of raw fish. lol Cooked salmon is often overcooked in restaurants and I hate that, especially when it's grilled.

New Years Eve 2007, Kev and I were invited to a dinner/ count down party at a friend's place. They served salmon and it was delicious!!! I couldn't believe it. The salmon was baked in this mavrelous Thai green curry sauce. It was a bit spicy. We emailed our hosts the nest day and also to ask for the recipe. I'm always looking for shortcuts and we found canned Thai green curry, instead of buying everything seperately. This also ended up being cheaper. I will also post my shortcut version of the recipe.

1 Salmon, filletted
3 Cans coconut milk
1 Tin green thai curry paste
1/4 cup clear maple syrup
pinch salt

1. Heat coconut milk, fold in green paste, maple syrup and salt. Cool sauce in fridge for 30 minutes or until cold.
2. Cut fillets into person-sized pieces and marinate in sauce for 9 hrs in fridge or 3 on table.
3. Preheat oven to 450 F.
4. When ready to cook, drain off sauce into saucepan, bring to a boil and reduce for 30 minutes on medium heat.
5. Place filet strips on cookie sheets, sprinkle with sugar. Bake for 20 minutes approx. Serve with sauce on the side.

Shortcut Version

1 can of Thai green curry (make sure it is green curry and contains coconut milk/cream in it)

Salmon filets

1. Cut Salmon into individual portions. Rinse with cold water and pat dry with a napkin.
2. Preheat oven to 450F. Place fish in a baking dish. Open the can of green curry and pour on top. Bake for 20 minutes or until done.

The canned green curry we buy had bamboo pieces and basil leaf in it. We used to buy another brand that did not have bamboo pieces and basil, it was good, but I think the extra stuff is better. You can always buy your own and add it if you want. I usually serve this with boiled vegetables and white rice to soak up the sauce.

Easy Honey Garlic Ribs

When Kev and I started going out, he told me his parents gave him a crockpot. One of the first things we cooked with it was crockpot ribs...we used BBQ sauce and we also tried honey garlic sauce, which was delicious...the ribs were fall off the bones, but we didn't like the texture of slowcooked meat. So Kev decided to try the recipe on the bottle and we've been making ribs this way ever since. I have to admit that this dish is really easy because we used prepared sauce rather making it from scratch. This is a "I have time but am too lazy to cook" recipe, because it's super easy to make, just takes a while to have on the table.




Rach of ribs, cut into indivual ribs
1 Jar of VH Honey Garlic

1. Put ribs in a big pot and cover with water. Bring to boil and turn down to a simmer. Simmer for 40-60 min, depending on how many ribs you have.
2. Drain and set aside. Boil jar of sauce in the pot you used. Add cooked ribs and simmer for 10-15 minutes. Turn constantly to cover ribs with sauce. If you have a lot of ribs, you use 2 jars.

Kev and I love these ribs. They are even better the next day when the sauce marinates the meat. I usually serve these with homemade potato wedges or mashed potatoes.

Simple Frog Legs

My co-worker/supervisor calls me an "adventurous" eater. Meanwhile, he has a slab of moose meat in his fridge. I'm not much of a game meat person. I remember the first time I had frog legs. It was actually at a buffet, probably a Chinese buffet. lol I have never had frog legs at a French restaurant before, but would love to try it some day. While grocery shopping, I went to grab a pack of frozen mackerel and right next to it was a pack of frozen frog legs. They weren't too expensive, so i decided to buy it. It sat in our freezer for a few weeks before I remembered I had them. So I checked online for a recipe. A lot of recipes require frying...which is something I don't like to do too often. So I found a simple pan fried recipe.





frog's leg(large or small)
milk (as needed)
salt and pepper
flour (as needed)
5-6 tablespoons butter

1. Soak frog legs in milk for 1 hour, turning every 15 minutes. I believe this removes the "river" taste?
2. Remove from milk and salt and pepper them lightly, and coat them in flour.
3. In a skillet bring the butter to a sizzle and add frog legs.
4. Sauté legs uncovered until they're golden brown on both sides (turning as needed).

These cooked up really fast...if you don't think about what you're eating, it kind of tastes like chicken. This cooking method was easy and actually quite tasty. However, I think I would prefer frog legs as an appetizer rather than a meal. I'd rather have 2 frog legs than 8 of them, one after the other...urp.

Foie Gras Poutine

I think i can credit my brother for many of my food knowledge. The only foie gras I knew was the foie gras pâté I would see at the grocery store, which is the lowest grade of foie gras you can find. My brother is a food connaisseur in my eyes. My first time enjoying foie gras the way it was intended, was at Au Pied de Cochon. It's a popular eatery in Montreal, and best known for their duck-in-a-can, which I have blogged about. People say you have to reserve weeks ahead for a table. I have been to PDC twice and had the Duck in a Can both times. I kind of regret not trying the foie gras poutine.

I was at the grocery store when I picked up a package of foie gras...certainly not the same quality as I could get at PDC I'm sure, but it was half the cost. So I bought it and found the recipe for PDC foie gras poutine online.

For the Foie Gras Sauce:

• 200 g (7 oz) fresh foie gras
• 6 x egg yolks
• 600 ml (2 ½ cups) PDC poutine sauce (available at the restaurant, or use store-bought poutine sauce)
• 50 ml (¼ cup) 35% m.f. cream

For the Foie Gras and Presentation of the Poutine:

• 4 slices slices fresh foie gras, 100 g (3 1/2 oz) each, 2 ½ cm (1 in) thick
• 400 g (14 oz) cheese curds
• 4 x white-fleshed potatoes (cut into French fries)
• Oil for frying (2/3 tallow and 1/3 peanut oil)

1. For the Foie Gras Sauce: Set aside 100 ml (½ cup of sauce for final presentation of the poutine. In a saucepan, bring the PDC poutine sauce to a boil.
2. Mix the egg yolks, foie gras and cream in a food processor at high speed.
3. Slowly add the 500 ml (2 cups) of hot poutine sauce to the mixture.
4. Pour into a saucepan and heat gently, stirring constantly, until the sauce reaches 80°C (175 °F).
5. Remove the sauce from the heat. Stir for 30 seconds more. Keep warm.
6. For the Foie Gras and Presentation of the Poutine: Preheat the oven to 230°C (450°F). In a very hot pan, sear the foie gras slices until they are golden brown. Transfer the slices to a baking sheet and finish cooking in the oven for 4 to 5 minutes.
7. Cook the fries in the oil until crisp and place them on top of a mound of cheese curds in the middle of the plate.
8. Place a slice of seared foie gras on the fries and smother in the foie gras sauce.
9. Decorate with a few dabs of regular poutine sauce and serve immediately.
   

The dish was surprisingly easy to make. I have never handled foie gras before and I was honestly a little bit grossed out by how greasy and fattening it was. The piece I bought was small and I only had enough for one portion, which was actually perfect because Kevin was not home for this. So I estimated how much to use for the sauce and how much to sear to put on top of the poutine. I used about 2/3 of the piece for the sauce. My seared pieces were pretty small so I didn't need to cook them in the oven (step 6). And since I cut down on the ingredients on the recipe, it probably wasn't exactly the way it should be. I was simmering the sauce and trying to get it to reach 175 F, I stopped at 160F because the foie gras sauce was getting grainy from being overcooked. It lost its creamy texture. The poutine was still quite good, and would love to try the real PDC version. In the meantime, my $10 foie gras poutine was good enough. My favorite thing about the foie gras poutine was actually the seared foie gras on top. They were perfectly cooked and browned and absolutely delicious!

Au Pied de Cochon/536 East Duluth, Montreal/ 514.281.1114

http://www.restaurantaupieddecochon.ca/

More recipes from Martin Picard: http://www.foodtv.ca/ontv/titledetails.aspx?titleid=111324