I talk about food, you read it.
Archive for August, 2011
Baked Eggs
0I love eggs for breakfast but I am far too lazy during the week to make myself anything other than a bagel or oatmeal. On the weekends are when J and I go the extra mile and make each other the best breakfasts. Sometimes he makes waffles or pancakes. I often make poached eggs but I feel like I am running out of ideas. When I saw this recipe for baked eggs I immediate jumped on it. Everything about it I love. Eggs, tomatoes, basil and cheese. Seems to me that this could be perfect and I looked forward to dipping my toast into this little ramekin of eggs.
The recipe is pretty easy as well. Prep all the ingredients throw into a ramekin and bake!
Ingredients
- Eggs
- Chopped basil
- Sliced cherry or grape tomatoes
- Milk
- mozza
- Salt and pepper
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a small ramekin with cooking spray.
Place a couple of tomatoes, some mozzarella cheese, and basil into the ramekin. Crack an egg into the ramekin, being careful not to break the yolk. Add the milk, a few more tomatoes, a little more mozzarella, and basil to the top. Season with sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste.
Cook for 5 minutes and then on broiler setting for 5 minutes.
I don’t know if my imagination got the best of me and set the bar really high for this recipe but I wasn’t overly impressed. I feel like the eggs should have been put in a bain marie because it was not cooking properly as per instructions. I would try cooking at 350 for 20-30 min instead of 5 and broiling. I ended up standing around the oven making sure the outsides wouldn’t burn but the insides would cook and for all that pacing and peaking, it wasn’t really worth it. I would have preferred to just poach the egg. Don’t let my review stop you from trying this. I am a very grumpy/impatient person in the morning so perhaps it’s just me. Let me know how yours turns out.
Schlow Burger
08 months ago
.I used to think that burgers were my favourite food. They’re in my top 10 but there are so many foods that I couldn’t live without. My palate has definitely expanded since high school but I still love a classic burger and I am pretty sure burgers love me too. I treat them with the utmost respect by creating them with good quality lean beef, fresh buns that are soft and chewy, and top them with the most desirable toppings. I get J to assist me in bbqing them so they’re perfectly cooked, juicy on the inside with an oozing layer of melty cheese on top. I don’t think there are very many people out there that can resist the prefect burger.
I can’t remember how I stumbled upon this recipe but there is a Schlow Burger that must be made in every home across North America. A recipe for a burger you ask? Yes, I read it, changed it a bit, made it and loved it.
Michael Schlow invented the burger and happens to be a high profile chef in Boston. He is a genius for putting a horseradish mayo on a burger with sweet crispy onions. I almost slapped myself in the face for not coming up with it. Of course horseradish and onions on a beef burger would be excellent! Watch out for mmmms, untranslatable mumbles, talking with your mouth full, and sauce drippings that you will definitely be allowed to lick off your hands.
Ingredients (for the crispy onions)
- 1-2 cups vegetable oil (I used a lot less)
- Large yellow onion sliced thin. (I used a red onion)
Ingredients (for mayo)
- 1/4 cup Mayo
- Juice from1/2 a lemon
- 2 teaspoons prepared horseradish (pretty sure I used more)
Ingredients (for burgers)
- Lean ground beef (don’t use extra lean, you don’t want them to be dry)
- Salt and pepper
- Cheddar cheese
- Burger buns, the best, softest, chewiest burger buns you can find, brioche recommended
Make mayo first by adding all ingredients together and set aside until burger assembly.
To make onions pour oil into a heavy bottom pot or pan, add onion slices and bring to a boil over medium high heat. Reduce heat to medium low so onions are simmering in the oil Turn onions every 30 seconds or so (keep them moving) until golden brown (20-30min). I know, annoying but well worth it. Remove onions from oil and place them on paper towel. They’re not going to be crispy but as they cool they’ll harden and become crisp.
Make your patties with ground beef. Don’t add fillers, eggs, bread crumbs or anything else. Season with salt and pepper. Heat grill to high and cook for 2-3 min per side until no longer pink. Add cheese and melt. Remove from grill.
To make burgers you’re supposed to put mayo on both sides but I added ketchup to the bottom and a really healthy (or unhealthy since its mayo) dose to the top bun. Add crispy onions, burger patty and serve. I also added lettuce and tomato because in my opinion all burgers they seemed so naked. I liked the addition of the vegetables.
As you have already read, I love burgers but these burgers were so good that I needed to blog about them. They were messy, tangy, sweet and absolutely delicious. When I was finished my burger I was almost sad that the deliciousness was over even though I was rather full. J also loved these burgers so much that he had a second which doesn’t happen very often.
Thai Shrimp Curry
0Warning-pictures aren’t appetizing.
Warning-food is delicious.
I have been telling myself lately that I need to make a Thai red curry dish. This was mainly because I have a small jar of Thai red curry in my fridge and it was calling my name. The only problem was that I kept forgetting to buy coconut milk. Well, I finally got some coconut milk thanks to J and made I us a delicious meal of Prawn red curry on rice.
The recipe was Emeril Lagasse and one of his more basic recipes. It’s pretty easy, especially since you can buy the red curry instead of making it. The secret is prepping all the ingredients first because it’s pretty quick to cook.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons peanut oil (or vegetable oil)
- 1/2 cup chopped shallots
- 1 large red bell pepper, cut into strips ( I used yellow, since it was what I had)
- 2 medium carrots, trimmed and shredded
- 2 teaspoons minced garlic
- 3 tablespoons Thai Red Curry Paste, recipe follows
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2 teaspoons palm sugar or light brown sugar ( I left this out)
- 1 (14-ounce) can coconut milk
- 1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 3 tablespoons chopped Thai basil leaves
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- Cooked jasmine rice, accompaniment
- Sprigs fresh cilantro, garnish
Directions
In a large wok or sauté pan, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the shallots, bell peppers, carrots, and garlic, and stir-fry until soft, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the curry paste and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Stirring, add the fish sauce and sugar, then the coconut milk and bring to a boil. Simmer until thickened slightly, about 2 minutes. Add the shrimp and cook, stirring, until pink and just cooked through, about 2 minutes.
Chicken Saltimbocca
0A long time ago I came across a recipe for gnocchi with a brown butter sage sauce that looked so scrumptious that I started to look for other recipes that required a brown butter sage sauce and saw a butternut squash with a brown butter sage sauce. I was so impressed that I wanted to grow sage in my garden this year to make these recipes. I did end up growing sage and while watering it the other day I was saddened that I have yet to make these pasta dishes that originally made me so excited.
I plucked some leaves off my sage plant and told myself, as I walked back into the house, that it was going into my dinner. I had taken chicken out so I did a quick search and found a bunch of recipes for Chicken Saltimbocca. Since it required sage and sounded I gave it shot and was so surprised how easy it was and how yummy it was.
Ingredients
- 4 boneless chicken breast
- 16(ish) sage leaves
- 4-8 slices of prosciutto
- 3 tbsp Olive Oil
- ½ cup chicken stock
- ¼ cup dry white wine
- 1 lemon juiced, half zested
- 1 tsp corn starch
Place each breast between sheets of wax paper and pound to ¼ inch thick. Place 4-5 sage leaves on top of chicken breasts. Wrap each breast with 1-2 slices of prosciutto.
In a large skillet, heat oil over medium heat-high heat. Cook each breast for about 3 minutes per side until no longer pink. Remove from skillet.
Add stock and wine to skillet bring to a boil and de-glaze pan (scrape up the brown bits). Reduce by half. While stock is reducing mix lemon juice with corn starch and zest. Pour lemon juice into boiling stock whisking until thick. Cook for about 3-4 min. Add chicken back to skillet to re-heat and to sop up some of the lemon sauce for about 1 min. Serve with spoonfuls of lemon sauce.
There are a lot of recipes out there and traditionally this recipe is made with veal and the addition of Marsala, an Italian wine, in the sauce. I guess if you have problem eating veal you could use pork as well if you wanted it to be more authentic. Chicken worked great and in my opinion was really fresh and light tasting. All the flavours of the dish really hit all parts of your taste buds. I really enjoyed this one!
Tomato Tart with Goat Cheese
3
One of my Dad’s favourite vegetables is a tomato. I am pretty sure he could eat them every single day for the rest of his life and never get sick of them. With all the different tomato varieties out there I can definitely see why he loves them so much. They can be sweet, tart, and tangy and even complement numerous dishes that would otherwise be rather boring.
My parents grow multiple tomato plants and by the end of summer my mom is scrambling to use them up or find recipes that require tomatoes so they don’t go bad. She does can a lot and makes different salsas or even gives a lot away. Well, mom, a tomato tart is definitely something you’re going to want to try. It’s delicious and uses up tomatoes in the most wonderful way!
Ingredients
- One chunk of phyllo dough
- 4-5 heirloom tomatoes or tomatoes of your choice
- ½ pint of grape tomatoes
- 1 once of goat cheese
- ½ cup shredded mozza
- Bunch of chopped basil
- Olive oil
- Salt and pepper
If you make phyllo dough, then make it. If you bought it, then roll out a chunk of thawed dough to fit a parchment lined baking sheet. Cook as per directions, I believe I just tossed mine in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes. Keep oven on.
The dough will puff up, so if you have pie weights then you could use those. I just pushed mine down with a cloth.
Slice tomatoes ¼ inch thick. Set aside. Top cooked dough with goat cheese and mozza and then arrange your tomatoes on top of the cheeses. Fill in the blanks with the small grape tomatoes and using a pastry brush, lightly coat tomatoes with olive oil and add salt and pepper. Cook for 15-20 min.
Keep an eye on the dough because the tomato juice will go under the dough and potentially can burn it. Pull it out of the oven and top with chopped basil. Cut and serve.
I don’t think my dad is a huge fan of goat cheese per say, but I know he would absolutely love this tomato tart. I enjoyed every last morsal of this and I know J loved it as well as our company who came for dinner. The tomatoes sweeten up even more when they’re baked liked that and over a flaky crust of cheese you really can’t go wrong. I can’t wait to make this again!
Roasted Broccoli
0One of my favourite vegetables is broccoli. I don’t really think I ever disliked it, unlike mushrooms, tomatoes, asparagus, zucchini, and pretty much most vegetables growing up. My mom invented the “try it, you’ll like it” club when we were really small so whatever was on our plates we at least had to try. Maybe that’s why I eventually learned to eat everything and appreciated it. Rumour has it that you need to taste something 25 times before you like it….or tolerate it. Now a days I think food is too yummy to neglect so I will try anything at least once! There are little kids in family and my mother has resurrected the club. The new members are my nieces and while they love grandma lots and lots, I am sure they’re less then thrilled about this club.
Niece “I don’t eat green”
Mom “yes you do”
Niece”no, I don’t”
Mom “Do you want to be in a club? It’s called the try it you’ll like it club. Auntie Heather is in the club”
Niece “ohhhkay” Queue the, I am about to gag face
Mom “do you like it?
Niece “nooo” spits it out.
Well, at least she tried it and that is what the club is about. Mission accomplished! If I had a photo of her cute little face eating green trees then I would post it. Last green food mishap was when she ate snap peas. She spat that out and when I asked her what she ate, she told me “A dirty pickle”.
We had some friends over for dinner on Friday and I was in charge of the side dishes while they brought over some delicious pork tenderloin chops from Costco. My initial thought was broccoli. Who doesn’t like broccoli, other than my niece? I made a super simple dish that tasted great even though I slightly over cooked it. Next time, I shall use a timer when I am gabbing with friends.
Ingredients
- 2 crowns of broccoli
- Olive oil
- Slivered almonds
- Salt and pepper
So very simple!
Preheat oven to 400. Chop broccoli into bite sized pieces and drizzle with some oil. Roast for about 15 min or until soft and nicely roasted. Not “I think I smell something burning”. Drizzle with salt and pepper and bit more olive oil and slivered almonds.
The broccoli was still tasty, in my opinion, but it could have been cooked a little less in my kitchen. The broccoli actually gets a little sweeter and caramelizes which makes me a happy girl. If you have kids that won’t eat green…top it with yellow (cheese) and see them gobble it up.
BBQ corn on the cob
0When our parents came over for dinner last weekend they brought a bag of Chilliwack corn. A backers dozen to be exact and I couldn’t be happier. There are so many ways to prepare these cute little kernels of deliciousness. My dad wanted to show me how to bbq it without the husk. He has definitely got some bbq skills! The kernels almost caramelize and become oh so sweet. I couldn’t stop thinking about it and decided to do it all over again a few days later.
I normally don’t like to do repeats of food too often, especially within the same week but this couldn’t wait. I wasn’t about to let the corn spoil and it’s so much more fun to eat right off the cob. This time I mixed it up Mexican style!
Ingredients
- Corn on the cob, husked
- 2 tbsp butter
- ½ lime juiced
- 1 tsp chilli powder
Melt butter in microwave and add lime juice. Mix and set aside.
Smother corn with either vegetable oil or butter (butter is oh so good) and put on a preheated bbq. The bbq should be set to low, but depending on how hot your bbq gets you might need to up it to med low.
Cook and rotate every 3-5 min for about 20 min. The corn should be cooked and slightly browned. Smother corn with your lime butter and sprinkle chilli powder on top. You could add the chilli powder before or after cooking. I added it after because I didn’t really know what I was going to do with the corn until it was done.
I am such a sucker for chilli lime anything. I think the flavours taste sooo good together and it’s almost impossible to screw up!
Stromboli
0Do you want to know a secret? I used to be a server at Boston Pizza. Okay, not a very good secret, but a tid bit of information that only a few people know. It was fun, I ate lots of pizza and made a few friends. Since leaving I don’t often find myself going there, not because of the food but because I prefer pubs or places where I don’t have to worry about stepping on crayons. When I have kids I am sure I will be back. The one item I couldn’t get enough of was the Stromboli. Basically it’s an individual pizza folded over, baked and served piping hot. I loved cutting into the crunchy exterior and seeing the steam rise out and the cheese ooze over the plate.
I was having a cooking block (I made that up), consider it writers block but for cooking. I had made some ordinary meatballs but I wasn’t really in the mood for meatballs or spaghetti or anything really. Here I was, trying to think of what I could do with these things other then just put them on a plate and eat them plain. I was thinking about how all I wanted was a pizza and then started craving a Stromboli. It then struck me that I have never actually made a Stromboli before. Problem solved, I will make meatball Stromboli’s. Next time I will add some mushrooms and green peppers but for my first Stromboli I was pretty happy. J also loved them.
Ingredients
Pizza dough (premade or homemade)
Pizza sauce
Mozza cheese
Whatever filling your little heart desires.
You know you want it!!
Easy Potato Salad
0Last weekend J and I invited the parental units over for dinner, drinks and a wonderful visit. It’s so amazing that both of us have such cool people in our lives. We often hear horror stories of the evil in-laws and I am pretty happy that we don’t need to tell those stories.
Since the sun was shining I made food that wouldn’t have to keep me cooped up in kitchen or heat up the house. Pulled pork in the slow cooker with coleslaw, potato salad and bbq’d corn on the cob. I made the potato salad the night before so it would be ready any time we wanted to chow down. Unfortunately my fridge froze it and after thawing it in the microwave the dressing became runny and it lost some of its creaminess which really makes the potato salad. We have since gotten a new fridge, thank God for warranties.
Ingredients
- 5 red potatoes
- 3 eggs
- 1 lemon, juiced
- 1 bunch fresh parsley
- ½ small yellow onion, finely diced
- 1 tbsp mayo
- ½ cup Greek yogurt (you could sour cream, but reduce the amount and add more mayo)
- 1 tbsp dried dill
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- Salt and pepper
Juice the lemon; add onion, mayo, yogurt, and dill, set aside. Hard boil eggs, put them in an ice bath to cool faster and reduce yolk from turning grey.
Cube potatoes and boil until just cooked, about 8-10 minutes depending on size. Set aside to cool.
Peel hard boiled eggs, cut into half and remove yolk. Slice egg white and set aside. Take you egg yolks, add olive oil and create a paste. Add paste to lemon juice mixture. ( I completely forgot about the egg yolk paste and they were diced up with the whites)
When potatoes have cooled, add egg white slices, sauce and chopped parsley. Mix together and keep in fridge until serving.
Fried Oyster Po Boy
1J and I just booked a trip to Vegas and Visa quickly squashed any hope of cashing in points to use to lower the cost of the flight. Apparently you’re not allowed to go online to book yourself, Visa has to book everything, and it’s only for a flight, not a flight/hotel booking. Who knew that a no-hassle visa rewards card would be such a hassle. This frustrating tid bit of information then hunted us when we started talking about booking an all inclusive honeymoon. Yes, we could book the flight separate to use the points but then the entire package will be more expensive so we’re really not much further ahead. I suggested we just use the points next year on a flight to San Francisco or New Orleans. Then we can book everything separately and use the points.
Once we got on the topic of New Orleans I started to think about all the food I could be eating down there. One thing on my list to eat is an original po boy sandwich. A po boy sandwich is basically a submarine sandwich originally started in New Orleans and specialized in fried seafood. Using a baguette, soft in the middle, crunch on the outside, with fried seafood, lettuce, tomato and mayo makes a po boy. With my mind completely off the topic of travel, I decided we were having fried oyster po boys for dinner.
Ingredients
- 18 shucked raw Oysters (I bought a container at the deli)
- ½ milk ( I ran out of milk and used cream)
- ½ cup corn flour ( or half flour and half cornmeal)
- 1 tsp cayenne
- Salt and pepper
- 1 egg
- Vegetable oil for frying
- Soft Italian baguette or French bread (I used Kaiser buns, since it was all I had)
- Shredded iceberg lettuce
- Tomato slices
- Mayo (I made roasted garlic mayo)
Wisk together egg and milk, put all your oysters in the milk mixture, put in fridge for 20 minutes. In a shallow dish combine flour, cayenne, salt and pepper and set aside. Take your oysters and one by one remove from milk, dredge in corn flour mixture and set aside.
Heat a large frying pan with about one inch of oil. Do not use olive oil, its smoking point is too low and it won’t taste good. Temperature should be around 375 degrees; I don’t have an oil thermometer so I heated it on high. Cook oysters for about 2 min per side.
Drain on paper towels. While oysters are draining assemble sandwich with mayo on both sides of the bread, lettuce and tomato. Pile on oysters and serve.
I also ended up adding a wee bit of finely diced jalapenos to my garlic mayo. I don’t think J noticed too much but it added some extra zing. I wasn’t really following the traditional Po Boy recipe with my Kaiser bun and garlic mayo so why not? I think that instead of jalapenos a few dashes of franks red hot on the oysters would also be wonderful. Whenever I make it to New Orleans I will definitely report back to you how the true po boy compares!
J has never had oysters cooked before so he was a little unsure about the sandwich at first but I think after a few bites he was sold. If you like oysters I don’t think you can go wrong with an oyster sandwich. Adding some shrimp would also be amazing!