When I'm not at Work

Smoked Salmon... Pasta for Guests

We actually didn't have any guests but this dish would definitely be guest appropriate. Something I've discovered recently is that there just aren't a whole lot of recipes out there which include smoked salmon.

It's a strange thing, I think. I really like smoked salmon. It's delicate but can totally change a dish, which is really cool. I got a whole lot of it sitting in the frigo slowly dying - now that our Montreal Bagels are officially finished :-( So, I've gotta get some creative and think something up myself. This poses a problem however because I'm feeling totally UNcreative of late. Burnt out maybe. It's a complete drag though because I was really looking forward to cooking all kinds of crap over the summer. You know, no time restrictions, great weather, sleeping in therefore lots of energy and farmer's market bounty. And yet - here I am feeling dry, tired and thoughtless. Truth be told, I've been living on these Montreal bagels for the past week and a half (which ain't a half bad life, I won't lie) and avoiding the kitchen like nobody's business.

I guess that it's all gotta change though. Can't keep this listlessness in the kitchen up forever. We have to eat and I need to find some energy.

My food box helped just a little bit this week by bringing me a whole big batch of fresh basil. So, after a quick pesto was whipped up in the blender the rest of the dish took shape. Pasta, Cream Fraiche (sounds hard but it's easy and worth it), green beans, smoked salmon. Do what you like with the green beans. If they're not your thing then try fresh peas or just add more spinach. Totally tasty AND, after a nice plateful, I feel just a little bit more inspired.

Smoked Salmon and Creamy Pesto Pasta

Serves 6 - 8

Penne or Rotini Pasta, boiled in salted water to al dente

1 large bunch of basil (about 2 1/2 cups)

1 cup of walnuts or pine nuts

1/2 cup of parmesan

1/2 cup olive oil (I used half olive oil and half water though)

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/2 red onion sliced thin (green onion, leek or chive would work well too)

3 cups of green beans, cut in half

3 cups of spinach, cut up small

2 cups creme fraiche (literally mix 1 cup of heavy cream with 1 cup of sour cream and let it sit for a bit)

For the pesto:

Place the basil leaves, walnuts and olive oil in a blender and blend until pureed. Add the parmesan and salt and blend until mixed. Should make almost 2 cups or so.

In a large pot saute the onion and green beans just until soft and pliable. Add in the spinach and let it wilt. Turn the stove to low heat and add in the pesto. Mix well. Add in the creme fraiche little by little mixing well. That way you can decide how thick you want the sauce. Once it's at the thickness you like mix it in a large bowl with the cooked pasta and serve.

Chocolate Chip Again... with a twist.

Blah Blah... who wants to hear about yet another chocolate chip cookie right. Hear what. We're going on a road trip tomorrow. Please, I can't do these road trips where you stop at some fast food crap to do a 'chew and swallow'. Life is too short for no taste fast food. So, we've got fruit, corn chips (technically junk food... I know) and I'm making these cookies. We're on our way to Montreal so I don't want to fill up too much on the car stuff because we are going to be heading to our favouritest pizza joint in the whole world once we get settled into the hotel. Amelio's is our most favourite, bar none. So, if we eat too much then we won't have enough room for our pizza unless we make ourselves sick - which, believe me, is not out of the realm of possibility for us. It's also a weekend that will include consuming and bringing home copious amounts of Montreal Bagels.

Back to the cookies. I just jacked them up completely with some weird changes that blew my mind (not really but it sounded exciting there, didn't it?). I replaced some of the flour with some oats that I whizzed in the blender for a few minutes until it was like flour. That was cool. A little added texture without the whole big oatmeal cookie thing. I also used totally crazy amounts of chocolate and threw in some white chocolate too - I was feeling crazy today, what can I say. Chocolate stores are a bad place for me. Godiva had a special on recently and I got 3 3.5 oz bars of dark chocolate for $10. Not bad right? They came home with me. And then they went into the cookies.

Lastly I had some Macadamia nuts that were in the freezer and needed to be used up. Yup - they went in too. So, what started as plain old chocolate chip cookies ended up as dark chocolate chunk, white chocolate chunk, macadamia nut, oatmeal flour cookies. It was that kind of day.

Montreal road trip - here we come!

'Chunks of Chocolates' Cookies

makes about 3 1/2 doz. medium sized cookies

2 1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 cup oatmeal, whizzed until it's flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

1 cup butter, room temperature

1 1/2 cup sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

12 oz chocolate (I obviously used a mix ;-) feel free)

1/2 - 3/4 cup chopped Macadamia nuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a cookie sheet with parchment or a non-stick something.

In a medium bowl mix together the flours, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a larger bowl mix the butter and sugars together until fluffy and well mixed. Add the eggs in and continue to beat until even fluffier. Add in the vanilla and mix well. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and incorporate well but try not to over mix. Add in the chocolates and the nuts and make sure everything in mixed well.

Place in medium spoonfuls on a baking sheets (about 12 to a sheet). Bake for about 11 minutes but watch that the centre is still a little gooey (yum). Carefully remove to a cooling rack and eat once they are cool enough or you just can't resist any longer.

Leftovers and Shepherd's Pie

A beautiful evening breeze is blowing through the windows. D and Kid #1 are finishing up their epic read of 'The Lord of the Rings'. Kid #2 is in bed and asleep. All is peaceful and quiet. Believe me, the moment is not lost on me. I should by rights be outside enjoying the cool breeze on this summer night. But instead I am inside, writing this post. Because I love it, I guess. I love how doing this blog has inspired me to try new recipes. Things that I probably would not have considered previously or just wouldn't have given time or effort to. There's a real creativity to it - ya know. I enjoy and savour...

We had a nice BBQ the other day and D made his own burgers. It was a beautiful mix of meat and spices, done perfectly and served on my homemade buns. Yum. D BBQ'd a crazy amount though, which is good I guess because then we have leftovers. Boy, do we have leftovers. What do I do with all the leftovers? I ponder... chili, salisbury steak, stew... I can't decide.

However, I had potato in the cupboard and earlier in the day I had ridden off to one of the local Farmer's Markets and picked up a dozen ears of corn. This is just about perfect corn time and at our house it's sacred. We eat it for meals all by itself, boiled perfectly (just a few minutes in boiling, salted water) and with copious amounts of butter - is there any other way? I also cut some fresh off the cob and freeze bags of kernels for the winter months. Beautiful fresh corn in the middle of winter. That was it, I had to use some corn.

What ended up happening? I made a Shepherd's Pie of course! Once the ingredients were in front of me it all made sense.

Leftover Shepherd's Pie

serves 4 - 6

Meat mixture

1/2 an onion, diced small

1 rib of celery, diced

3 cups of mushrooms, sliced

1 cup green beans, cut in half

2 cups of spinach, diced

4 - 5 leftover, cooked burgers (1 1/2 lbs ground meat), chopped small

2 - 3 cups of beef broth

couple of pinches of salt

spices to taste (I added some cinnamon, parsley, nutmeg, rosemary)

3 tbsp sugar

1 tsp cayenne (optional)

1/3 cup cornstarch made into a paste

2 cobs of corn (kernels cut off the cob)

Potato mixture

5 medium sized potato's cut up for mashing

1 - 2 cloves garlic

1/3 cup butter

1/4 cup milk or cream

cheese for sprinkling

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large pot of water boil the potato's and garlic cloves until they are soft and mashable.

In another pot (preferably oven proof so that you don't have to dirty an extra pot) saute the vegetables in some oil until they are soft - about 5 minutes. Add in the chopped burgers. Season with the spices, salt and sugar. Add in the broth and let the mixture come to a simmer. Add in the corn starch paste, make sure to add just enough to notice that it's thickening up. Check the taste and adjust as necessary.

Drain the potato and add the butter and milk. Mash the potato. Place the corn kernels on top of the meat mixture. Spoon the potato over the corn. Smooth out the potato and sprinkle with cheese. Bake the mixture for about 25 minutes or until bubbly. Let it set for about 10 minutes once it's out of the oven. Serve.

A new Favourite.

I have raved in a previous post about my favourite chocolate cake. However, I think that I know have to admit that I've got a second favourite. Does that negate having a favourite altogether?

I don't think so. I have two favourite pairs of jeans (well, I actually only have two pair), I have two favourite kids (no need to explain) - I only have one favourite husband though ;-(

Anyway, whatever it is - it's my new, second favourite AND it's also chocolate. Let's just talk about this cake for a bit. Now, I like me a brownie. I'm no expert but I know myself well enough to know that I prefer mine gooey to cakey. Being a purist, I like it best plain - no chocolate chips, no white chocolate, no nuts (I know!). However, I won't say no to any of the above if offered. Here's the next thing. You know that flourless chocolate cake that every chain resto has been offering lately (and it tastes like packaged chocolate pudding crap - too sweet, too syrupy - pet peeve)? Well, this cake really felt like the real thing. A much improved version of the chain-resto version (I do have a 'proper' recipe from Rob Freenie that I'm itching to try too).

Ok, Ok - I actually didn't find this recipe in the BBC Good Food magazine (try to contain your shock). I bought the Aussie 'Delicious' magazine whilst in a hurry this past week. I was a little disappointed that I made the mistake but what the hell, this recipe was in there. It is such a gem of a recipe that it's worth the price of the mistake as far as I'm concerned.

This cake wasn't tough to put together. I actually screwed it up a bit (no surprise). It calls for toasting the nuts - I didn't. It called for processing the nuts and chocolate in a food processor - I don't have one and the blender didn't do the job well at all. I didn't know if it would turn out after all that but it did. It was great. The egg whites make a huge difference and this cake is all gooey and light at the same time. This is worth a try - I don't think that You'll be disappointed. None of us were.

Torta Caprese (Delicious magazine AU)

serves 8 - 10

1 1/2 cups pecans (I used walnuts and almonds mixed) toasted

180 g good quality dark chocolate chopped small

4 eggs serparated

1 cup sugar

220 unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1 1/2 tsp vanilla

cocoa, to dust

Preheat oven to 170 degrees C

Grease and flour a 24 cm springform pan.

Process the nuts and chocolate. Pulsing in short spurts - it's not supposed to be a paste, it should be almost a flour substitute. Set aside.

In a large bowl beat together the egg whites and sugar until it forms a thick foamy paste. Mix in the butter and vanilla and mix well. Add the nut mixture and combine well.

In another bowl, whip the egg whites until they are foamy and frothy. They shouldn't be too stiff. Whisk a quarter of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture, then fold in the rest until all incorporated.

Pour into the prepared pan. Jiggle slightly to get it to settle. Bake for about 50 min. I kept an eye on mine and made sure not to over bake it. That way the middle was still nice and gooey under the top crust - beautiful.

Cool for about 15 minutes before opening the springform. The cake will drop quite a bit after coming out of the oven.

Enjoy with a dusting of cocoa powder, whipped cream, vanilla ice cream... whatever... just enjoy it.

A little bit of heaven

We've just returned from a fantastic time in Montreal. We used to live there and it still remains one of my favourite cities (I'm lying actually - it is my favourite). Kid #1 and Kids #2 were fantastic. We were so proud of our kids this weekend. Well behaved and easy going... exactly what a parent needs when you take kids on a vacation.

We stayed in a couple of different places and saw a lot of people and they were great. They got some nice treats for their efforts though. I got some nice treats for my efforts too.

The best things about being in Montreal. Let's see... old friends, great clothes shopping, beautifully walkable city, GREAT FOOD...

Where to start: Bagels. The Best. Bar None. I don't even buy bagels in Toronto because they are, in a word, Gross! Either too gooey or too bready/cakey. Blech. Montreal has fab bagels. The best known bagel makers are at Fairmont or St Viateur and they've pretty much set the bar. Having a Montreal bagel with lox and cream cheese... well, there really is nothing better. It has something to do with the cooking/baking process. The bagel dough is first shaped and then boiled. After boiling they are dipped in the seed of choice (poppy seed or - my fav - sesame) and baked in a wood oven. Terrible places to work in the summer. Anyway, I'm convinced that it must have something to do with the dough itself though. It can't just be the baking. Either way, we came home with 2 dozen to put in our freezer and enjoy for a little while here in T.O.

We also visited our favourite pizza joint with our great friend Celine! We didn't get a shot of the pizza unfortunately because we ate it too fast. However, I highly recommend their 5 cheese pizza, the vegetarian and the hawaiian - you won't be disappointed, especially if you love gooey cheese pizza.

I finally managed to squeeze in a visit to my favourite bakery - patisserie- Duc de Lorraine where I could finally introduce the rest of my family to the infamous 'macaron'. We bought a box of assorted flavours and they were fantastic. My favourite was the Moka and the Citron (lemon).

We did some sight seeing,

went to a friends wedding (congrats you two!),

and saw some old friends and family (thanks so much) ... Generally we just had a great time!

Whole Wheat Buns

It's the wonderful, lazy days of summer. The breeze is slow and warm. The windows are all open and the night is lovely. This is a wonderful Toronto summer. This makes up for last years crapy,cool, rainy 'summer'. All but forgotten in my brain. This is the best stuff though. This is what we all suffer through that crappy winter for... to get to this. I know that for many it's still too hot to cook but I have to eat. Eating just cannot wholly be cold food for me. So today, not only am I cooking but I'm baking. Dinner rolls.

It's crazy, I know that. When else am I going to have time to do this stuff though? I love it. Plus, each time I do something with yeast AND it's successful, it will boost my confidence - right. I do have a small yeast phobia that needs to get sorted. So, we are going to be serving burgers tomorrow - recipe to follow - and I decided that I was going to try some homemade buns. Now I need to discuss burger buns here for a moment.

I think that most store bought burger buns are way too cakey, tasteless and way too big. If I must eat something that is tasteless and joyless then I want to minimize the thing as much as possible. I'm hoping that this recipe succeeds for me. Not just so that I have a reasonably sized and well risen (fingers crossed) bun but also so that it's tasty. If you see my burger post without the homemade buns then you'll know that they sucked.

Whole Wheat Buns

makes 1 doz. (approx)

Scald 1 cup of milk

Add in

1/3 cup shortening

1/3 cup brown sugar

3 tsp salt

Let it cool to lukewarm

Mix 1 cup of lukewarm water with

1 package of yeast

1 tsp sugar

set aside for 10 min.

After 10 min. the yeast mixture should be foamy. Mix the lukewarm milk with the yeast mixture. In another bowl mix 2 cups of whole wheat flour and 2 cup of all purpose flour.

Mix 1/2 the flour into the liquid and mix well. Add the rest of the flour into the mixture and incorporate it well.

Place on a lightly floured surface and knead until elastic and smooth. Place the dough in a greased bowl and cover with a towel. Let it rise in a warm, dry place for 80 min.

The dough should have doubled in size. Punch it down and divide into two halves. Break each half into 6 pieces and shape as desired. Place the buns in a greased baking dish, allowing room for each to spread and rise.

Cover and let it rise again for another hour.

Bake at 400 degrees F for about 20 - 25 min.

Result: The buns were tasty (despite me forgetting the salt! ugh). They weren't big and puffy which is exactly what I wanted. However, in future (yea - that's a good sign eh? I'm actually entertaining the possibility of future attempts) I would actually make them a touch puffier. All in all, not a terrible amount of effort for a good result - 7.5/10 (I want to try a white bread recipe next time too)

Another Stir Fry

I use the word 'love' too much I think. My first boyfriend once told me that he loved me. I was shocked, we hadn't been dating long and it seemed ridiculous that someone could say that so quickly. I asked him to explain and he told me 'I love chocolate chip cookies. I love football. How can I just say that I 'like' you?' Well, he explained it but it wasn't exactly a satisfying answer, let's just say, we didn't end up together. Beautifully illustrates my point though. I told you all that I loved risotto. I love chocolate cake. I love ice cream... whatever. I really 'like' stir-fry.

Perhaps its a summer thing. Lighter fare. Not long on the stove. Nutritious, seasonal ingredients... and maybe I'm just going through a phase. My fam isn't having trouble indulging my phase though. Let's face it, spicy peanut sauce or (in this case) black bean sauce are both hard to resist.

It's been a great day so far. Weather is perfect summer fare for toronto. Sunny skies, lovely breeze 27 degrees. Perfect. I went for a run this morning and kid #1 rode her bike with me while I ran. I came back ready to eat and threw this together for a hearty, healthy lunch. I won't tell you how much I ate but it was entirely and thoroughly satisfying and I was totally content.

Black Bean sauce has a nice bit but it's by no means spicy. Something just tasty and warm about it. You don't have to do a lot fooling around with adding other stuff when you use this sauce. I can find it easily at a larger grocery store. If you are lucky enough to find yourself in an asian market you'll be tripping over it. Once again, this was inspired by a recipe in BBC's Good Food magazine. It's my new Gourmet *sigh* I think. My husbands cousin is due to make her annual and much anticipated trip to Toronto from London (with her two lovely kiddies) and I'm going to ask her to pick some mag's up at the airport for me on the way. I can't wait!!!

Black Bean Sauce Stir Fry (adapted from BBC Good Food Magazine)

serves 4

6 cups of sliced vegetables (keep the sizes approx. same. I used bok choy, onion, green bean, peppers, carrots and zucchini)

3 garlic cloves, crushed

1 lb thinly sliced beef (optional)

sesame oil/olive oil combo

2 tbsp hoisin sauce

3 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 cup black bean sauce

In a heated wok add the oil and coat the wok. Throw in the veggies and toss for about 4 minutes. Add in the beef and garlic and continue to toss another 5 minutes. Add in the hoisin, soy and black bean sauce. Mix well. Check the tastes and let the flavours cook together for a few minutes.

Serve over rice and sprinkle with chili flakes if you so desire.