Korean Potato Banchan (Gamja Jorim)

To follow-up with the Korean recipes I've tried from Maangchi...This was the recipe who introduced me to the blog. I was craving the sweet and savory potato banchan they serve at Korean restaurants and googled it. I found maangchi's food blog. If you're ever uncertain about her recipes, you can see her cook them on a video. Very helpful!

2-3 medium sized potatoes
1/2 onion
2 cloves garlic
2tbsp soy sauce
1 tbs corn syrup
1 tbs sugar
half cup of water

1. Peel the potatoes, wash, and cut them into 1 inch dice
2. Rinse the potato using colander in running water to remove starch
3. Cut half onion into bite sized pieces
4. Heat the pan and add 1-2 tbs olive oil and pour the potato into the pan
5. Add 2 cloves of minced garlic and sauté it until the potato look a little translucent, then add the onion and keep stirring it
6. Add water into the pan, soy sauce, 1 tbs of sugar, 1 tbs of corn syrup and mix it and cover and simmer over medium heat for about 10 minutes until the liquid is evaporated. Stir occasionally to not burn the potatoes, if it needs more water, add some.
7. When the potato is cooked, turn off the stove and add sesame oil and sprinkle a pinch of sesame seeds.

I'm biased, because I love potatoes. Kevin is not a big fan of potatoes. In fact, he told me he was getting sick of potatoes. Breaks my heart. These would be great with Kalbi.

Dubu with Scallops

My love affair with Korean food started when my sister moved to Toronto. She took me to Korean BBQ and I was in love. The sweet and savory melt-in-your-mouth meat...When I learned that Montreal had opened a Korean restaurant, I tried it with a friend and discovered Bi Bim Kook Soo...it was so good. In the last couple of years, Korean cuisine has been popping up everywhere in Montreal.

I discovered Maangchi's food blog when i googled for the potato banchan. I can't say I've tried a whole lot of recipes from her blog, but a lot of them look delicious.

I was originally going to make Tofu Scallops that Kevin likes so much, but i find the recipe to be just OK. I remembered I had saved one of maangchi's recipes in my favorites. Dubu (dooboo) is a popular Korean dish of sliced and/or pan fried tofu served with kimchi or sliced pork. I decided to use the scallops I bought.

1 package of tofu, sliced into rectangles
Vegetable oil for pan frying

1 clove of garlic, minced
1 green onion, chopped
1 tsp garlic chili sauce (more if needed) can be subbed with pepper flakes
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil

1. Slice the tofu into bite size pieces (¼ inch thick rectangles). Blot each piece with a paper towel.
2. Heat a pan with vegetable oil. Add the tofu. Cook over medium heat for about 5-7 minutes or until tofu is golden. Flip the tofu and brown the other side.
3. Transfer the cooked tofu to a serving plate.
4. Make your sauce in a small bowl by mixing the rest of the ingredients.
5. If using scallops, stir-fry scallops with salt and pepper until opaque. Do not overcook.
6. Spoon the sauce evenly over the tofu, and sprinkle some roasted sesame seeds just before serving. Serve with rice.

This was a very simple dish. The tofu frying on the stove smells a little weird, but the dish is very good. Kevin said the sauce was strong, but gobbled up everything anyway. I had no idea the dish was so quick to make. I had dinner on the table in 25 min. We did not have leftovers.

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.

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.

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...

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...

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.

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.

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.

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/

Sweet Potato Poutine

Ahh Poutine! The ultimate comfort food. I've made poutine at home before, but I must admit that it wasn't from scratch. I used cubed mozza, frozen fries, and canned gravy. Sacrilege!!! I know. This is my very first time making everything from scratch...well...except the cheese curds. Those are store bought. lol

I got the idea to make poutine with sweet potato from Kevin at Closet Cooking. I get a lot of cooking ideas from him. He's very talented. For this recipe, I bought 2 huge sweet potatoes and I never knew how much sweet potatoes shrink when they cook... I also had a hard time cutting beautiful sweet potato wedges, so I had weird shapes. Wedges, strings, half moons...it was a circus of sweet potatoes. And sweet potatoes, especially the large variety, are extremely hard to cut. Kev saw how much trouble I was having and asked if i needed help. It didn't take him long to abandon me with the unfinished task.

Baked Sweet Potato Wedges

• sweet potatoes (cut into wedges lengthwise)
• olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven at 375F. Toss the sweet potato wedges in the oil, salt and pepper to coat.
2. Place the wedges on a baking sheet.
3. Bake until golden brown and tender, about 20-30 minutes.

For the Gravy:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 2 cups beef broth
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce (optional)
• 1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Melt the butter in a small sauce pan.
2. Mix in the flour to make a roux.
3. Mix in the beef broth and simmer until thick and smooth.
4. Mix in the soy sauce and Worcestershire sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste.
   

Assemble: Place the sweet potato wedges in a bowl and top with the cheese curd, add gravy on top to melt cheese a bit.

Kev wasn't a huge fan of this because he's not a big fan of sweet potato. I love it. I kept tasting the gravy while it was simmering and I just kept adding pepper into it. The sauce ended up being spicy, which is a not a bad thing. The simple gravy recipe is also good with roast chicken.

Potato, Spinach, and Salmon Patties with Garlic Dill Cream

I can't remember who sent me the recipe for this, but it was a recipe in the NY Times. I've never made any type of patties before, but the potato, salmon, and spinach mixture sounded great and the sauce sounded even better. I love dill! So when Rachelle came over to our place for dinner, I decided to try it. The last couple of times she came over I made salmon fillets, since she doesn't eat red meat. I wanted to make somethign different. I had to alter the original recipe because I didn't like having to fry it in oil. I wanted to bake it for a healthier version. So here's the recipe and the changes I made.






FOR THE POTATO SALMON PATTIES:
10 ounces frozen chopped spinach, thawed
2 cups mashed potatoes, chilled
8 ounces cooked salmon fillet, flaked To save time, I used canned salmon
2 1/2 cups 1 cup panko or bread crumbs to put in patties, and more for coating
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup all-purpose flour

Note: For the first 3 ingredients, you don't have to use the amounts exactly. You can use whatever amounts you like.

FOR THE GARLICKY DILL CREAM:
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt, more to taste
1 cup sour cream or Greek yogurt
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Olive or vegetable oil for frying.

1. Preheat oven to 350. Squeeze as much water from spinach as possible. Place in a bowl and add potatoes, salmon, 1 cup panko, 2 eggs, salt and pepper; mix well to combine.
2. Place remaining bread crumbs in a wide, shallow bowl. Place remaining eggs in a second bowl and beat lightly. Place flour in a third bowl.
3. Form spinach mixture into 3-inch patties, about 3/4-inch thick. Dip each patty into flour, tapping off excess, then the egg, letting excess drip into bowl. Coat evenly with panko crumbs. Transfer patties to a large baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes and up to 4 hours. Bake in oven for 15 min or until browned.
4. Meanwhile, make dill cream: In a mortar and pestle or with the back of a knife, mash garlic and salt together to make a paste. Stir it into the sour cream or yogurt. Add dill and pepper. Taste and adjust seasonings, if necessary. Chill until ready to serve.
5. Heat 1/4-inch oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; if using olive oil, you don’t need to use good extra virgin oil. Cook patties in batches, turning once halfway through, until golden and cooked through, about 3 minutes a side. Transfer to a paper towel-lined plate to drain. Serve hot, with a dollop of dill cream.

Rachelle and I enjoyed this a lot. The recipe made about 18 patties. Kev was a bit indifferent about it since he's not crazy about dill. These patties may be small, but they sure are filling. I froze half of it because I didn't want them to go bad and it was just too much. I think a person can eat maybe 3 patties + a sidedish. 4 patties if eaten alone. When I made the frozen leftovers, the defrosted patties were a mess. They tasted fine, but were much harder to handle. I'd suggest making these as appetizers if you're having a lot of guests.

Mackerel with Sweet Soy

I've been learning to cook and bake a lot more things in the last couple of months. I'm still a beginner cook and I still panick a bit when i'm trying something new. During this time, Kevin is also learning to take risks and be my guinea pig. I'm sure my friends now know that I like to cook, because I received 2 dictionnary-sized cookbooks for X'mas/birthday. I've already mentioned the one I received from Rachelle for X'mas. The second one I received was from Anh Thu for my Birthday; How to cook Everything by Mark Bittman. I usually like my cookbooks with food porn, but after studying the book a little, this is a pretty impressive cookbook. One fo the things I like is how they give you a recipe and then follow it with variations of the same recipe. This mackerel recipe is an Asian twist to a basic grilled mackerel in the book.


4 Mackerel Fillet or any fish Fillet
1 tsp Sesame Oil
1/4 soy sauce
1 tbs minced garlic
1/4 scallion, minced
1 tsp garlic, minced
1 tbs white wine or water
1 tbs honey or sugar

1. Mix all ingrdients, except fish. Marinate the fish for 5 minutes or more.
2. Cook in a skillet for 5-10 minutes on medium-high heat or until fish is cooked. The sauce will reduce and caramelize.
3. Serve with white rice.
   

I think the brand of soy sauce i have is way too salty for the measurements given in this recipe. My mackerel dish ended up being too salty, but I could really see the potential of the recipe if only I had tasted my sauce before reducing it to a glaze, which probably enhanced the saltiness. Next time i'll cut the soy sauce in half and dilute with water and/or add more sugar/honey. I love mackerel, so i'd definitely try this recipe again. This took no time to cook. When I was done with the fish, my rice cooker was still working hard at cooking our rice.

Part III: Rainbow Trout with Coconut Curry Beurre Blanc

The star of our Indian-inspired dinner was the main course. With Rachelle as my guest, I couldn't cook meat, she's a vegetarian who eats fish. So I searched for an Indian-inspired fish recipe. I have been in love with cooked salmon/fish ever since I had the fish dish my friends served at their New Year's Eve dinner party in 2007. They served Maple-Green-Curry Salmon. So I knew curry would taste yum on fish.



3/4 cup dry white wine
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/3 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons curry powder
1 cup cold, unsalted butter, cut into pieces
kosher salt to taste
1/4 cup vegetable oil
8 (6 ounce) fillets Alaskan king salmon (we used Rainbow trout)
2 tablespoons garam masala
kosher salt to taste

1. Pour white wine, cream, and coconut milk into a saucepan; season with curry powder. Bring to a light boil over medium-high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer until the liquid has reduced to 1/2 cup, about 10-20 minutes.
2. When the liquid has reduced, turn heat to low, and whisk in the butter, a few cubes at a time, until all of the butter has incorporated. Do not allow the mixture to boil or else it will separate. When the butter has incorporated, season to taste with salt and set aside to keep warm.
3. Heat the oil in a saute pan over medium-high heat until it begins to smoke. While the oil is heating, lightly season both sides of the salmon with garam masala and salt.
4. Sear the salmon in the hot oil for 3 to 4 minutes on one side, then turn over, and continue cooking for 2 to 3 minutes until done. Briefly drain on paper towels to absorb excess oil, then serve immediately with the curry butter sauce.
   

I actually forgot to season my fish before cooking. We also skipped searing the fish with oil...I always prefer baking my fish...less oily. Once baked, I poured some of the sauce on top of the fish. I also did not have unsalted butter. I had semi-salted. I had to add some sugar in the sauce to balance the taste. The sauce took a long time to prepare, but it was absolutely sinful, and worth the prep time.

Rachelle tip: The leftover sauce seperates. When heated, discard the oily film on top and you're left with yummy thick sauce that you can have on fish, meat, vegetables, or with bread.

Part I: Sweet Potato Samosa

For our Indian feast, I looked online for some fusion indian food...during my search on naan bread, i found a recipe for Sweet Potato Samosa...it's absolutely not authentic, but it sounded interesting. So I printed it out.

1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 teaspoon butter
1 tablespoon milk
1 tablespoon dry onion soup mix
ground cumin to taste
curry powder to taste
20 wonton wrappers
sesame oil for brushing

1. Simmer sweet potatoes with a little water until very soft. Drain, and mash with butter, milk, onion soup mix, cumin, and curry powder.


2. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).


3. Place about 3/4 of a teaspoon of the sweet potato mixture into the center of each wonton wrapper. Brush the edges with sesame oil, fold into a triangle, and press the edges to seal. Place the samosas on a baking sheet.


4. Bake in preheated oven for 10 minutes, then turn over, and bake for 5 minutes more.
   

At the grocery store, it just so happened that they ran out of wonton wrappers...so we ended up buying egg roll wrappers, which are thicker and bigger. We doubled the filling recipe and it smelled so yum. We pop it in the oven for the time indicated on the recipe...and they came out sort of baked, but they still had the powder film on top...we tried one and...yep, they're not done. The wrappers were chewy and tasted like dough. We finally decided that since we were frying papadums, we'd just fry the samosas. They fried up nicely, but probably tripled the fat intake. Despite the oiliness, even though we placed them on paper towels, they were pretty good. Even Kev liked them. I'd make this again when I find wonton wrappers and try the baked kind.