When I'm not at Work

Sticky Tamari Chicken

I've been recently singing the praises of UK food magazines - loving them. I've gone through and put post-it's on all the recipes that I want to try. I'm trying this one for the first time and of course I've gone and changed it up. It's saying something about a recipe when a meat dish inspires me. The reality is that I have trouble just doing a meat dish by itself. I need to stick other stuff in there - veggies specifically. I can't just roast a chicken without stuffing it with veggies (onion and garlic and lemon) and putting more veggies underneath it (carrot and potato). This is why I love the concept of casseroles - it's all there in one tasty dish. No fussing with multiple pots and all that crap.

Anyway, this dish is easy - if I tell ya, EASY. Marinade for as long as you wish really. I left mine for about an hour and it came out beautifully but I'm guessing that an overnight wouldn't hurt at all.

Also, I didn't use chicken thighs as it calls for in the recipe. I'm thinking about how eating a whole chicken is just all around better than eating just parts of the chicken. I bought a beautiful organic chicken on the weekend and cut'r up. Wasn't that hard either. Once you know where the breast is, the leg, the thigh, the wing, you can pretty much get chopping and do not a half bad job. It was actually kinda cool having all the different parts to choose from when filling our plates. I love the idea of meat cooking on top of veggies and with this recipe you get the juice from the chicken and the flavour of the marinade soaked up. Yum.

The real deal breaker for this recipe is that it gave me another opportunity to use the FAB honey that I got on a trip to Hawkestone. This is the stuff that won 6th place in this year's Royal Winter Fair. It made the dish quite honestly. The kids loved this one - We ALL loved this one.

Sticky Tamari and honey chicken thighs (BBC Good Food magazine)

serves 4

8 skin on chicken thighs (I used one whole chicken in pieces)

2 tbsp clear honey (I didn't measure, truth be told)

For the marinade:

2 tsp veg. oil

2 tbsp tamari

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp Hoisin sauce

3 tbsp sherry or rice wine (I skipped this 'cause I didn't have)

5 tbsp stem ginger (I had to use ground ginger - about 2 tsp)

6 cloves garlic, crushed

1 - 2 red chillies, seeded and chopped (I just threw in a few red chili flakes)

In the dish:

3 med. carrots chopped large

2 small to med. potato, chopped large (I actually used celeriac)

1 1/2 rib of celery chopped large

1/2 a med. onion chopping in chunks

In a large bowl put together the marinade - check for taste. Place chicken in the marinade and let it sit, refrigerated for at least a few hours.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. In the bottom of a largish baking dish, place the chopped veggies. Place the marinaded chicken over the veggies and pour the marinade over the whole thing. Drizzle the honey over the top of the chicken (You may want to drizzle half the honey and then drizzle some more for the last 10 minutes of baking ;-). Bake for 45 - 50 min. or until the chicken is done.

Serve with wilted greens and rice or whatever you want... it's just that good!

Black Bottomed Cupcakes

I'm feeling good my Peeps. I was finally able to take a yoga class yesterday after about a month - I know! Seriously - absence. What a huge difference. I'm watching the garden veggies really start to take off. I'm at the end of the school year and I am finally feeling the knot in my stomach loosen just a little bit. I've been sleeping in the last couple of days (thanks G20 in Toronto! NOT!!!) and believe me 8 AM is lightyears away from 6 AM - No jokes. Time to dig in to something chocolatey.

As I said in a previous post, I've really just been skimming through by the skin of my teeth. Light little 'shop-as-needed' trips, baking and cooking fast to make sure there is stuff to eat but not necessarily being able to enjoy the experience (also, being thwarted by missing ingredients - my pet peeve). Well, that is going to end for a little while at least.

My first relaxed bake is these black bottomed cupcakes from the Magnolia Bakery Cookbook. They sound grand AND I don't have to make icing (Sweet). These sound familiar, like something I might have had as a kid, something my Mom might have made but I can't remember exactly - maybe she can clarify. Either way, who doesn't love cream cheese? Who doesn't love chocolate (ok, don't answer that one KT ;-)? Who doesn't love cupcakes?

Black Bottom Cupcakes

(The Complete Magnolia Bakery Cookbook)

1 1/2 doz cupcakes

Cream Cheese Filling

1 1/2 8 oz packages of cream cheese (not softened)

1/2 cup sugar

1 lg egg at room temp.

1/2 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

Cupcakes

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup Dutch process cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup veg. oil (preferably canola)

1 cup sugar

1 cup buttermilk

2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Line two 12 cup muffin tins with 18 cupcake papers.

Cream Cheese:

Beat the cream cheese and sugar in a med. sized bowl until smooth. Add the egg and beat well. Stir in the choc. chips. Set aside.

Cupcakes:

Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside. In a larger bowl, beat together the oil and sugar. Add the dry ingredients in two parts, alternating with the buttermilk and vanilla. Blend well after each addition.

Scoop cupcake batter into bottom 2/3's of each muffin cup. Drop a small scoop of the cream cheese filling on top of each cupcake. Bake for 30 - 35 min. or until a tester comes out clean.

Cool the cupcakes thoroughly before removing from the tins.

Garlic Scapes and Asparagus - Seasonal Food

Well honestly until about a month ago I had never heard of these things. Garlic scapes. Didn't have a clue what they were when I first saw the words in print. Turns out though that garlic works a bit like onions. There is more than one edible part to an onion and so, also, with garlic scapes. The stem of the garlic eventually starts to spiral as it grows but never gets nearly as pungent as the garlic bulb itself. There are tons of recipes out there (seriously... who knew?) using garlic scapes in pesto and that kind of thing.

So, my friend KT was at the Riverdale Market recently and picked up some of these garlic scapes. A grower from Belleville ON brought them in. She got so much of it that she (well, I should really correct that and say her hubby b/c he's the main cook in the fam) couldn't use them all up. I was lucky enough to be the recipient of the 'too much' part. What's more, she also couldn't use up all of the delish (seriously delish) goat cheese that she picked up at the market. So 'guess-who' got that too !!! Yeah! I love it when friends go to the market.

Now, what to do with these things. As I mentioned, I saw lots of 'pesto' recipes for garlic scapes, a garlic scapes and brie pizza, garlic scapes stir fry... nothing was hitting me. I also wanted to incorporate that gorgeous goat cheese. So I chopped the garlic scapes, threw in some asparagus that needed some assistance, a little onion, a little goat cheese and VOILA. We have pasta sauce!

Garlic Scapes and Asparagus Pasta

serves 4 - 6

2 - 3 tbsp oil

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

3 cups of chopped garlic scapes

2 cups of chopped asparagus

3 tbsp fresh herbs of choice (parsley, basil, oregano - nice choices)

salt to taste

1 cube of bouillion (I used organic vegetable)

1 cup goat cheese

1 cup milk or cream

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

2 cups of uncooked pasta (4 cups of cooked pasta if you are using leftover) - I used Penne

In a large pan, heat the oil and add the onion, frying it until it softens. Add in the garlic and fry together for a couple of minutes. Add in the garlic scapes and the asparagus. Saute until they begin to look a little limp (this could take about 7 - 10 min). Add in the herbs, a little salt and bouillion and mix in until it's like a paste.

At this point begin to boil some water for the pasta (if not using leftovers).

Once the paste forms add in the goat cheese and mix until melted in. Once melted in, add the milk or cream and the parmesan. Check for taste and adjust if necessary.

Drain the pasta and toss into the sauce.

Another Smoked Paprika recipe and a change of allegiance

As you all must know by now, I loved Gourmet magazine (well, most of the time) *sigh*, RIP. What you might not know is that I'm addicted to magazines. I have a serious addiction that I constantly have to contain. I could seriously spend unbelievable amounts of money on monthly magazines (this is both disturbing and embarrassing for me to admit due to both my commitment to better my environment and my 'tight-wad' tendencies - OK). Which is why I was so happy to discover that one of the teachers at my school runs a magazine drive each year for the students (prizes for magazine subscription sales - you get the picture) and teachers get a tidy discount on their subscriptions. Well, I'm like a kid in a candy shop, right! Where do I start. I did get two subscriptions to prominent Canadian magazines that have everything in them, including recipes. Now they aren't half bad, these magazines, but let me take you back with me to 2002 (Yes, another World Cup Year) when we went off to London (Yes, during the World Cup) to spend time with friends/family and generally be tourists. It was in the Sainsbury's near D's cousins house that I discovered magazine heaven and it was there that I discovered that Brit magazines blow the crap out of north american ones - yes... all popular north american ones. No jokes!

Back to the present, I discovered at my local Chapters that I can get BBC's Food magazine. Yes... I pay through the nose but damn, that thing is worth five of the other magazines that are half the price. I'm hooked again and I'm sorry to all my North American food magazines but I'm divorcing you and hooking up with a foreigner.

Here is just one of the recipes that converted me forever...

Patatas Bravas with chorizo (from BBC's Good Food magazine)

serves 4 (they say it's an appetizer but I like it as a meal)

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves (I used 3), sliced

1 red chili (didn't have, it didn't matter)

pinch cayenne pepper

pinch smoked paprika (I used about 2 tsp in total)

salt to taste

500 ml (approx.) of canned, chopped tomato

2 lb new potato halved or quartered (steamed for about 10 min. to soften)

250 g (I used about 2 - 2 1/2 cups) chorizo sausage chopped in large chunks

my addition:

4 cup of spinach

Heat a little oil in a med. to large pan and fry the onion, garlic and chili until the onion softens. Add the spices and stir. Add in the chorizo and let it sizzle a bit with the spices. Add in the tomato and spinach. Mix the spinach in so it's covered in liquid and begins to boil down.

Simmer the mixture for about 20 minutes to let the liquid escape and the flavours to get stronger. Once it's boiled down, add in the steamed potato and mix it all well. Check the taste and adjust as necessary. Put a lid on the pot and let it sit for a bit before serving.

Rice, Rice, Rice

Oh Man! I really hate it when I don't have the ingredients that I need. I haven't been doing a big grocery shop lately. I've been relying on the food box (I can get stuff other than just veggies and fruit - thank God!) and stopping in at the local 'Valu-Mart' on the way home from work. So far, it's worked fine... You know... a dozen eggs here, some milk on the way home, bread in the food box once a week. But you know things are really slipping when you run out of rice and forget to replace it! So, what happens is I get 3/4 of the way through this recipe and discover that I don't have rice.

I'm stunned.

I take a moment to regroup.

Okay, I can use pasta and turn this into a pasta sauce thing. Thinking...

No, I don't want to do that. I want rice.

Ok. Put a lid on the pot and keep it 'til tomorrow, at which point I will have bought rice and ... done.

That is precisely what I do. Come home from work the next day with a bag of rice in hand and get'r'done.

This dish is a great way to use up leftover rice - or veggies that you want to use up - and you could substitute any other interesting sausage in there too. I called this post 'Rice, Rice, Rice' because I truly don't know what to call this recipe. It's kind of a kitchen sink thing. Tomato, veggies, hot sausage, smoked paprika. I don't know... call it whatever you want but don't call it tasteless because that would be a lie!

Rice/Tomato/Sausage/Veggie Dish (shoulder shrug)

serves 6

1 onion, diced small

2 ribs celery, diced small

1 small to medium sized zucchini, sliced small

1 bunch spinach, washed and sliced

3 cloves of garlic, crushed

6 hot italian sausage, cooked and sliced thin

4 cups of rice (I cooked the rice until it was about 3/4 cooked and then added it to the dish)

6 - 7 dashes of Worcestershire Sauce

4 dashes of Bitters (optional)

1/4 cup fresh herbs (oregano, thyme, parsley works well)

1 tbsp smoked paprika

3 tsp salt (to taste)

dash of pepper sauce

1 large can of diced tomato

I used organic chicken bouillion cubes as well which will alter the amount of salt needed - so if you choose to use bouillion I would wait to add salt until after this so that you can adjust the taste.

(If you don't have leftover rice - In a medium sized pot, boil some water to get the rice started. Once boiling add 2 cups of rice and cook until about 3/4 cooked.) On another element, heat a large dutch oven. Once heated add some oil (about 2 - 3 tbsp or so) and begin to saute the vegetables. Once the onions have become limp and transparent add in the cooked, sliced sausages. Saute for a few minutes together. Begin to add the spices (holding off on the salt if necessary. Add in the worcestershire, bitters and pepper sauce. Add the canned tomato and then the rice. Allow everything to cook until the rice is done. Check the seasonings and adjust as necessary.

Orange Cookies

Today I went with my daughter and the Eco-Club at my school to City Hall. We were staying there for lunch and visiting the new Green Roof that has just opened recently. We also got to meet with the Deputy Mayor - Joe Pantalone - who was instrumental in getting the green roof installed. We were also celebrating our schools success at getting 'Silver' Eco School Certification. We sat in the rooftop garden and ate our lunch (litterless, of course ;-). The weather was perfect. I was able to bring my daughter with me and we had a great time.

This all, fortunately, coincided with my baking day (usually either Sunday or Monday). So, I was able to share these fantastic cookies with some of my colleagues. We thoroughly enjoyed them. I'm not kidding when I tell you fantastic. I can't even tell you exactly what makes these cookies work but man, do they work! Do not skip the frosting (as I briefly considered) on these babies. It would be tragic.

Caroline over at 'Whipped' wrote that these cookies could change the world. Ah... if only it were so easy. However, I think that we could at least get a few minutes of world peace with these ones....

Orange Frosted Cookies

1 cup shortening (or butter - I used unsalted at room temperature)
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 - 3 tbsp fresh orange juice (about 1 orange)
1 tbsp orange zest
2 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

Frosting:

3 cups icing sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
2 - 3 tbsp fresh orange juice
1 -2 tbsp grated orange zest

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a bowl mix the flour, baking soda and salt together and set aside. In a larger bowl mix together the butter and sugar and mix/whip until fluffy. Add the egg and orange juice and mix well. Add in the orange zest until mixed in. Add in the flour, baking soda and salt and mix well. Place in smallish spoons on a lined cookie sheet and bake for about 10 - 12 minutes.
Allow them to cool completely.

In another bowl sift the icing sugar and then add the butter and about 1 or 2 tbsp of the orange juice. Mix well and add the last tbsp or so once it needs it (wait until things have gotten mixed a bit though). Once the mixture looks like it's the right consistency (ie. not too runny) add in the orange zest.
Spread about a tbsp full of icing onto the top of each completely cooled cookie.

Boring but delish comfort food

Up to now I have had a very small repertoire when it came to pasta sauce:

1. Something creamy

2. Something in a tomato sauce... which I had always referred to as Bolognese.

Recently though, I have discovered that Bolognese doesn't really involve tomato at all, at least not in the 'throw in a bottle of crushed tomato' kind of involvement. Also, Bolognese (so I'm told) can have butter in it - yeah... butter!

Well that revelation certainly peaked my interest. I'm all mixed up though because now I don't know what to call the tomato stuff (I'll do a post with that stuff though 'cause I like it - I've got it down to a science now), in the UK they call it 'bog' or 'bol'.

In any case, I was checking out this article in Saveur magazine a while ago and it's changed the way that I think about simple pasta sauces (we'll talk about Spaghetti alla Carbonara at some point) because this is just minced meat and some very simple additions. I love the milk/cream addition and now greatly appreciate how important good parmesan is to a recipe. I can't tell you how happy you will be if you spend a little extra on some good parmesan, generally of course, but especially here.

So, if like me, you have some short people bothering you constantly with 'Mommy... what's for dinner' and you are finding yourself in need of some easy, comforting food that you can make without serious effort or thought... you've found your recipe. Open a nice bottle of red and throw some green stuff on the side and you're good to go!

(Wanda's) Classic Bolognese

serves 4

1 lb of mince (beef or lamb would work nicely - both?)

good sized chunk of Pancetta (ok - definitely use a few slices of bacon in a pinch)

2 ribs celery, diced

1 small onion, sliced thin

1 small pepper, diced

4 cloves garlic, crushed

3 good dollops of butter

3 tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

1 tbsp dijon mustard

oregano, basil (fresh or dried) to taste

4 tbsp sugar

3 tsp salt

dash pepper sauce (should you so desire)

1/4 cup tomato paste

1/4 cup cream

1/2 cup milk

1/2 cup parmesan cheese

In a heated Dutch oven add the pancetta and the mince. Let it cook enough to release some of the fat. Once fat is in the pan add the veggies and cook together with the meat until the onions become limp and transparent (won't take too long - 4 min. maybe).

Add in the butter, Worcestershire and dijon. Cook together for a few minutes. Add in the herbs, sugar and salt. Cook together again for a few minutes. Add in the tomato paste and mix it into the liquid in the bottom of the pan. Once blended add in the cream, milk and parmesan. Cook at very low heat for about 30 hr.

Serve over pasta of choice - we like long ones for this recipe.