May 29th: pasta al pomodoro (take 2)

This is a super quick mention as I'm busy getting ready for yet another trip. Edmonton for the next four days. Tonight I made, from Epicurious: Pasta Al Pomodoro for supper. G&O loved it. I thought it was pretty good too. Simple tomato sauce-coated pasta. Yummy. This definitely wins over my last attempt.

May 28th: upside down pineapple cake

Quick mention of this yummy cake I made for dessert, from smitten kitchen: Pineapple upside-down cake. It's supposed to be made in a 10-inch skillet, which I don't have, so I went bigger, about 12 inches. I had to reduce the cooking time a bit for this reason, but it turned out beautifully. As you'll see, my bigger pan made it so I didn't have enough pineapple to cover the bottom, but that's okay, as the pineapple bits are super sweet so it's alright to have bites here and there with no fruit. I might reduce the sugar next time around.

May 27th: steamed leeks in vinaigrette

I tried out a couple recipes this week that sounded so strange, I wondered if they must be good? One was; one wasn't. First, I tried, from 101 Cookbooks: Spiced Coconut Spinach. This, I did not like and I'm not recommending. Then, I tried, from in erika's kitchen: Steamed leeks in vinaigrette. What was odd about this one is that you top the leeks with boiled egg. Odd, I thought. Delicious, I discovered. Unfortunately, I was the only one who loved it. Olivia thought it was "picy" (it wasn't) and Greg found it oily (since when is olive oil a problem?). I made the vinaigrette as per the website, so I now have a large jar of it in the fridge. Apparently it needs more lemon juice to satisfy Greg; I thought it was okay as is. We'll try it again. I'll convince them yet.

Olivia hard at work making vinaigrette.

Shake, shake, shake.

Steamed leeks in vinaigrette, topped with a mashed boiled egg.
Who'da thunk?

May 25th: Herbed chicken with Mint-Pepper Salsa

This was one of those lovely surprises. I almost bypassed this recipe in May 2011's Chatelaine: Herbed chicken with Mint-Pepper Salsa, but I'm so glad I didn't. I loved, seriously loved, this recipe. Pan-fried chicken thighs topped with a simple red pepper and mint salsa. Chicken thighs are a bit of a pain with their excess of fat, but all that fat melts into deliciousness in the pan. The red pepper is sautéed briefly to soften it up, then combined with a simple vinaigrette and fresh mint. I went light on the mint and would recommend doing so unless you're a mint lover.

The recipe recommended serving this with fries, which I did. To round out the meal, I made a side dish from the motherland: fiddleheads! Olivia loved the fiddleheads and loved them even more in vinegar. So her mother's daughter. Earthy goodness.


I was happy Greg wasn't home for this meal because I got to eat his portion, then started regretting his absence because the food was so good I couldn't stop. I can't recommend this chicken any more than that.

May 23rd: Toad in the Hole (take 2)

Yay for success! I tried making Toad in the Hole 4 months ago but wasn't pleased with the results; tonight, I tried again and loved it! I wish I had read my old post beforehand; I made it tonight with the same tomatoes on the side, but didn't make those potatoes, which would have been a good idea. Too tired to do my research in advance.


Here's the winning recipe, pulled from the Ottawa Citizen in April:


Toad-in-the-Hole


1 1/4 cups (300 mL) milk
3 whole eggs, plus 1 egg white
1 cup (250 mL) all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp (1 mL) salt
1 tbsp (30 mL) vegetable oil
1 1/2 lbs (750 g) sausages


With a whisk, thoroughly mix the milk, eggs, flour and salt until smooth. Let rest for 30 minutes.


Preheat the oven to 400°F. Pour the oil into a 9 x 13-inch pan and place in the centre of the oven until it is smoking, about 10 minutes. Prick the sausages and place in the pan--the oil should be hot enough to make them sizzle--and let them sit for a minute, then flip the sausages, spread them out evenly in the pan, and pour the milk mixture overtop.


Cook for 20-30 minutes, until the batter is puffed up and a deep golden brown.


Makes 4 servings.

Not the most attractive dish to look at, but oh, so tasty.

Happy Victoria Day!

May 22nd: blondies

We headed over the Andrea and Andrew's tonight for a BBQ/bonfire. I brought along a pan of cinnamon blondies I came across on in erika's kitchen. These lived up to the promise: delicious, buttery, cinnamon goodness. And dead easy to throw together too. I cut them up small so they would last at the party, and by the end there was one left in the pan, which I happily finished off. I'll be making these again!

Hot from the oven

Bottom-side up

Ready to party

May 19th: fish stew

Finally, after a week of duds, I landed on a spectacular meal for tonight's supper. At least, I loved it and had seconds. Greg was iffy and O didn't eat much. Sometimes their views don't get reflected here. This was, I thought, a delicious and quick fish stew that I pulled out of the Ottawa Citizen in May 2010. It is surprisingly creamy given it is a broth-based soup. To accompany, I baked up some plain biscuits from the freezer. Not quite suitable for a beautiful 17°C evening, but the weather's been so wacky recently I can't properly plan meals around it. Here's the recipe:

Fish Stew

2 tbsps unsalted butter
1/2 small onion, diced small
1-3 garlic cloves, minced
1 small carrot, quartered lengthwise and diced small
3 tbsps all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp dried thyme leaves OR a few sprigs of fresh thyme*
2 3/4 cups chicken broth (plus more, if required)
2 medium potatoes, diced
454 g white fish (haddock, halibut), skinned and diced
10-12 asparagus spears, diced
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

*I wouldn't buy fresh thyme just for this recipe, but if you happen to have some on hand, it is a lovely upgrade.

Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed pot set over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic and carrot and cook until tender, about 3-4 minutes.

Mix in the flour and dried thyme, if using, and cook 1 minute more. While stirring, slowly mix in the broth. If using the fresh thyme, add it now, as well as the potatoes. Bring the mixture to a slow simmer, and simmer until the potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes.

Stir in the fish and asparagus and simmer until the fish is cooked through, about 5 minutes.

If you find the stew too thick, thin with a bit more chicken broth to desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Serves 4.

N.B.: the original recipe called for the potatoes, fish and asparagus to be cut into 1/2 inch and 1 inch cubes, which I did. Greg found them too large, which is why I'm suggesting diced above. However, if you're not into eating baby food, I say, go big.

Remove thyme sprigs prior to serving.

Eating outside. Ah...

May 15th: blueberry streusel muffins

Although I've been digging these make ahead muffins I've made recently, I couldn't resist trying out the blueberry streusel muffins featured in May 2011's Chatelaine. I'm sold on anything containing streusel. These were a hit with all three of us.

May 14th: carrot oatmeal ginger cookies

A rainy Saturday and Greg working means Olivia and I need to be making cookies! These are (slightly) healthier cookies, a recipe I've adapted from 101 Cookbooks:

Carrot Oatmeal Ginger Cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup rolled oats
2/3 cup chopped walnuts, pecans or macadamia nuts
1 cup shredded carrots

2/3 cup sweetened flaked coconut

1/4 cup finely diced candied ginger (optional)

1/2 cup real maple syrup, room temperature

1/2 cup canola oil

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

Preheat oven to 375°F degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a large bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and oats. Add the nuts, carrots, coconut and candied ginger, if using.

In a separate smaller bowl use a whisk to combine the maple syrup, oil and ground ginger. Add this to the flour mixture and stir until just combined.

Drop onto prepared baking sheets, one level tablespoonful at a time, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes or until the cookies are golden on top and bottom.

Makes 25-30 cookies.

May 9th: roasted sweet potato salad with red pepper vinaigrette

Modified slightly from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian:

Roasted sweet potato salad with red pepper vinaigrette

4 sweet potatoes
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup red wine vinegar or sherry vinegar
1 medium red bell pepper, cored, seeded and quartered
2 tsps ground cumin
1 tbsp grated orange zest
1/2 cup sliced green onions (about 2)
1/2 cup minced fresh mint or parsley leaves
1 or 2 fresh minced chiles (jalapenos, Thai, serrano, or habanero), or to taste (optional)
1/2 cup raisins

Preheat the oven to 400°F. Scrub or peel the sweet potatoes and cut them into bite-sized pieces. Put them on a baking sheet, drizzle with 2 tbsps of the oil, and toss to coat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast, stirring occasionally, until just tender inside, about 30 minutes. Remove and keep on the pan until ready to dress.

Make the dressing while the potatoes cook. Put the remaining 6 tbsps oil in a blender, along with the vinegar, bell pepper, cumin and zest. Sprinkle with a little salt and pepper. Purée until smooth.

Toss the warm potatoes with the green onions, mint, chiles and raisins. Add 1/2 cup of the dressing and toss to coat, adding more as necessary. Taste and adjust the seasoning. Serve immediately or at room temperature.

Makes 4 servings.

I skipped the chile pepper part of the recipe but otherwise thought it was great, and I might try it again with chiles in! This did not taste so great the next day for lunch, so I recommend same day eating!

Served with bread and oranges

May 8th: Banana-pecan make-ahead muffins

After successfully making lemon-poppy seed muffins last weekend, I was keen to try another version of Cook's Illustrated make-ahead muffins, this time opting for banana-pecan.

Banana-Pecan Muffins

3 cups (15 oz) all-purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

10 tbsps (1/2 cup + 2 tbsps) unsalted butter, softened

1 cup (7 oz) sugar

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups plain yogurt

1 1/2 cups finely diced banana

3/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.

Beat butter and sugar together at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Reduce mixer speed to medium-low and beat in half of flour mixture, followed by one-third of yogurt. Beat in half of remaining flour mixture, followed by half of remaining yogurt; repeat with remaining flour mixture and remaining yogurt. Stir in banana and pecans. Portion batter evenly into greased 12-cup muffin pan.

Refrigerate muffin pan, covered, up to 24 hours or freeze for up to 1 month. After muffin batter is completely frozen, about 6 hours, batter balls can be transferred to bag or container for freezer storage. Transfer batter balls back to prepared muffin pan before baking.

Heat oven to 375°F. Place frozen batter balls in muffin pan and bake until golden brown, 25-30 minutes if refrigerated or 35-40 minutes if  frozen. Let muffins cools in pan 5 minutes before serving.

Makes 12-15 delicious muffins.

Frozen batter

The fact this works just amazes me

May 7th: Mushroom risotto with peas and haddock

I've already blogged about a mushroom risotto I like, but I think I like this one a bit more. Less salty, which is a plus, and a bit easier to pull together. Still time-consuming, as a proper risotto must be, but not unduly laborious. This is a recipe I modified from one featured in the Ottawa Citizen in May 2010. It originally came from Chefs Duncan Ly and Laura Kennedy of the Raw Bar in Calgary. Yum yum:


Mushroom risotto with peas and haddock


2 tbsps olive oil, divided
1 small onion, diced
1 large portobello mushroom, diced
1/2 cup arborio rice
3 cups hot chicken stock, divided
1/2 cup peas
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
4 tbsps unsalted butter
1/4 bunch fresh chives, chopped
2-4 haddock fillets
salt and pepper


Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and sauté about 10-12 minutes, or until onions are tender and translucent. Reduce heat if onions start to brown. Add mushroom and sauté another 5 minutes. Add rice, stirring to coat with onion-mushroom mixture. Sauté 3 minutes.


Stir in 1/2 cup hot chicken stock. Cook and stir until stock is absorbed, maintaining the mixture at a gentle simmer. Add remaining chicken stock, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until stock is absorbed after each addition. This process will take about 25 minutes; the rice will be cooked but still firm in texture.


Stir in peas, Parmesan, butter and chives. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Set aside and keep warm.


Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F. Heat remaining 1 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Season haddock fillets with salt and pepper. Place haddock in the skillet and cook for about 4 or 5 minutes, or until bottom of each fillet is golden-brown. Using a spatula, flip haddock over and place pan in preheated oven for about 4 more minutes or until haddock is cooked.


Divide risotto between 2-4 plates. Top each risotto with haddock fillet.

Serves 2-4 (The recipe says it serves 4 but I could pretty much eat half of it myself)


The recipe called for halibut, but I used haddock. Although my husband told me a week ago, the last time I cooked haddock, that he doesn't like fish, tonight he said the fish was amazing. Say what now? Impossible. He didn't used to be so picky. Too many years of living with me, I think.

Though it's not readily apparent, we had a salad on the side.

May 6th: Cheddar mashed potatoes, Spinach with roasted peppers & goat cheese

Two delicious retries for supper tonight. From May 2010's Today's Parent: Cheddar Mashed Potatoes, and from May 2010's Chatelaine: Sautéed spinach with roasted peppers & goat cheese.

The cream-mashed potatoes are layered in a baking dish with Cheddar cheese and whole deal is baked so that you have a soft cheesy layer in the middle and a crusty cheese layer on top of piping-hot potatoes. Ridiculously good. I think the nutmeg adds a lovely flavour; if you're not a fan, definitely leave it out.

The brown bits poking through are potato skins.
The recipe said to peel the potatoes, but I rarely do.
I also used russets where it called for Yukon Gold potatoes.

I roasted the red peppers as per HtCEV. I then whipped up a quick spinach sauté with the peppers, garlic, lemon and goat cheese. Delicious.

Olivia's plate often goes into the freezer to cool off for a minute or two.
Supper, served with frozen edamame and corn on the side (or top).

May 4th: Lemon-Poppy Seed Muffins

Obviously I didn't make muffins for supper. I actually whipped up the batter on the weekend with the intention of giving some to Casey & Kelly since they are in newborn phase. They're remarkably well-adjusted though and don't appear to need help. They got muffins anyway.


I made a double batch of these muffins so we could have some too and I've been eating them for breakfast this week. These are amazing make-ahead muffins from Cook's Illustrated. You make the batter, freeze it in a muffin pan (I recommend silicone) and then pop the uncooked muffins into a bag or container and keep in the freezer. When you are ready to cook 1 or 12, put the muffin batter balls in the muffin pan again, and bake them from frozen. Genius. I plan to try the banana-pecan version this weekend. But for now:


Lemon-Poppy Seed Muffins


3 cups (15 oz) all-purpose flour
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tbsps poppy seeds
1 1/2 tbsps grated lemon zest
10 tbsps (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (7 oz) sugar
2 large eggs
1 1/2 cups plain yogurt


Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, poppy seeds and lemon zest together in a medium bowl; set aside.


Beat butter and sugar together at medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.


Reduce mixer speed to medium-low and beat in half of flour mixture, followed by one-third of yogurt. Beat in half of remaining flour mixture, followed by half of remaining yogurt; repeat with remaining flour mixture and remaining yogurt. Portion batter evenly into greased 12-cup muffin pan.


Refrigerate muffin pan, covered, up to 24 hours or freeze for up to 1 month. After muffin batter is completely frozen, about 6 hours, batter balls can be transferred to bag or container for freezer storage. Transfer batter balls back to prepared muffin pan before baking.


Heat oven to 375°F. Place frozen batter balls in muffin pan and bake until golden brown, 25-30 minutes if refrigerated or 35-40 minutes if  frozen. Let muffins cools in pan 5 minutes before serving.


Makes 12-15 muffins.

Pulled from the freezer/ready for baking

Ready for eating

May 3rd: roasted-potato, pepper and sausage hash

This is a yummy repeat from May 2010's Chatelaine: roasted-potato, pepper and sausage hash.  Roasted potatoes and pepper, fried sausage, all mixed up together, sprinkled with cheese and baked, then topped with green onions and fried eggs. This is meant to be a brunch dish but makes a pretty tasty supper too. Going into the keeper book!

May 1st: Salisbury Steak with Mushrooms

I’m going to give this one a quick mention because Greg loved it. I’m super tempted to toss the recipe, but instead I’m going to make some modifications and give it another go. From March 2011’s Chatelaine: Salisbury Steak with Mushrooms. This is essentially fancified fried hamburgers. The meat is super tender and flavourful. The modifications I am suggesting are to double up on the sauce recipe, that being the butter/mushroom/flour/beef broth combo. We loved the sauce and can never have too many mushrooms. Plus, if you are serving with egg noodles and green beans, as the recipe suggests, and as we did, the more sauce the better to pour over the noodles. This one came together fairly quickly and would be fine for a relaxed weeknight.

Easter week!: baked oatmeal, mushroom gratin, hazelnut cheesecake & Easter dinner

Wow, I appear to have dropped off the face of the planet. What actually happened is I have been blissfully on vacation: simply at home for 10 days with next to nothing going on. I did some cooking, but a lot of easy meals or meals I've already blogged about. Oh, and of course, Zach was here for 4 days. Let's get to the yummy food we've had this week:

April 26th: baked oatmeal, mixed mushroom gratin, hazelnut cheesecake

The Baked Oatmeal was a breakfast recipe from Heidi Swanson's super natural every day, via Martha Stewart Living: a banana, blueberry, almond, baked oatmeal. It takes a bit of time, so for breakfast it's not so great, but for brunch, fantastic. I thought it was great-tasting; the rest of my household was a little indifferent. If you eat it right away, it's loose and oatmeal-textured. If you let it sit, you can slice it into slightly stiffer squares. Top with maple syrup for decadence!

Bananas on the bottom
(For the non-banana fans, I'm thinking apples?)

Then blueberries (or other berries)

Oat mixture
Then pour over milk mixture and top with more berries and nuts (not pictured)

Post-baking

Slice and serve

I made the mixed mushroom gratin, which was featured in the Ottawa Citizen, for supper and served it with no-knead bread (this time I used a recipe from Steamy Kitchen). The baked mushroom-cream-Parmesan-panko crumb recipe said it served 4, but I had my doubts and doubled it. Good thing; I could have quadrupled it easily for the 4 of us! This was so delicious; we will definitely be making it again. The recipe comes from 3 Chefs: The Kitchen Men.

Mixed Mushroom Gratin

1 tbsp (15 mL) olive oil
1/2 cup (125 mL) thinly sliced shallots
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 cups (1 L) sliced mixed mushrooms
salt and pepper, to taste
1/4 cup (50 mL) 35% cream
1/4 cup (50 mL) grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup (50 mL) panko breadcrumbs
1/2 tsp (2 mL) chopped thyme leaves

Heat olive oil in a sauté pan over medium heat. Sauté shallots and garlic until light golden brown, about 5 minutes. Add mushrooms and increase heat to medium-high. Sauté quickly, seasoning with salt and pepper. Pour in cream and reduce by half.

Transfer mushrooms to an ovenproof serving dish. Combine Parmesan cheese, panko crumbs and thyme; sprinkle over mushrooms.

Place under preheated broiler until crust becomes light golden brown. Serve immediately.

Serves 2-4.

Mushrooms and shallots cooked and ready to go

Topped with panko crumbs, Parmesan & thyme

Broiled and ready for eating

As mentioned, Zach was here, and offered in advance of his visit to make cheesecake, an offer I gladly accepted. And so he arrived, frangelico in hand, to whip up a chocolate hazelnut cheesecake. In turn, I offered him the opportunity to guest blog, and so ... here goes:




Verdict:

Hazelnut-chocolate cheesecake - a keeper

Easter dinner - Fo Sho's the same [see more below]

I was just hanging around in Upper Canada this week, and happened to stop in to Ottawa - Kirsten was all like, "Write me a guest blog?" and here we are. It's been a good time - O remains an excellent kid (although with a tempestuous demeanour occasionally [she still needs her naps {as does her mother, geez! DETAILS CENSORED BY KIRSTEN}]). It was a relaxing trip, spent mostly in the house, doing nothing - a perfect vacation. O and I got to stand next to a window one night, and listen/watch a thunder, lightning and rainstorm. Memorable quotes:

"Will there be more flunder and lighting?"

"Why it raining in the house?"

"Aye aye, ma'am!"

I was giving her naval substitutes for words; this last was "yes mommy". She had more trouble with bulkhead and porthole; she remained convinced they were walls and windows. Stubborn girl. Like her mother. And her grandfather. And her aunt. All on the Sellers side.

Both of the meals/foods I helped prepare were old(ish) favourites. The first was brought to the table, if you will, by myself; the second by Kirsten.

My Heavenly Chipped Chocolate and Hazelnut Cheesecake recipe was from allrecipes.com. If you want to try it for yourself, I recommend also following their general tips for cheesecake baking. I don't know if I followed all of those steps exactly, but the water bath is important.

This was the third time I'd made this cheesecake - unfortunately, it was also the worst of the three; things just didn't go well. I decided to try, at Natascia's suggestion (from the second time I'd made it) not to put the chocolate chips into the actual cheesecake batter. It was fine. I prefer with the chocolate chips, but both are acceptable. What went wrong was a leaky water bath. The whole bottom half of the cake appeared to get soaked. It wasn't really noticeable after it had drip-dried, cooled, been garnished and then eaten. However, the knowledge that it had happened kind of put me off the whole thing. Be warned: make sure that tinfoil is waterproof.

Zach/cheesecake

April 27th: Easter dinner

And so we come to the main event of the week: Easter dinner! Usually I make Easter dinner for my family of three (and previously, two) on Easter weekend, but what with taking the week off work and having Zach arriving on Easter Monday, I decided to postpone my fancy dinner till Zach's last night here, that being Wednesday. And since I also offered to sub a class on Wednesday afternoon, I had to request my unwitting guest take over the cooking in my absence. And so we prepared:

Lemon and pepper roast pork
Herbed goat cheese soufflés
Tangy tomato salsa
Collard greens
Whipping cream-smashed potatoes

For the roast pork, I highly recommend making the lemon pepper rub from scratch. I've made the roast with both homemade and store-bought rub, and homemade is infinitely better. Whichever way you make it, I recommend omitting or reducing the salt in the main recipe. Minus the collard greens, which were a stand-in for my usual steamed yellow and green beans, this is the same Easter dinner menu, from April 2004's Chatelaine, that I've been making yearly since 2004. Every year we declare it delicious and agree to repeat the following year. This year we added a new voice to our accord.

More from Zach:

The second meal was truly Agent K's - I just helped her out with a few parts of it. It was delicious. Everything about it was tasty. The soufflés didn't come out of their dishes very well, and appeared a bit raw, but still tasted good. K-dot suggested the pork was slightly overcooked - I think that's just a fascination of Sellerian women: always they find a way to complain about the cooking of a fancy meal's meat dish. Always. It's like a fun pass time or something. I've always found them all delicious, and this was no exception. However, if anyone's looking for advice? I recommend more lamb. 

In the end, I rubbed down and cooked the pork, made the salsa, and dealt with the final stages of the soufflé. It all went off without a hitch, and Kirsten found herself more able to enjoy the meal, with the reduction in cooking stress. I really enjoyed the salsa, especially after having just made it, before it sat and the flavours melded. Definitely a recipe I'll take up.

Here are some Pictures! Yay food!

Homemade lemon pepper rub

Roast pork

The complete dinner, along with candle ("fancy supper" for Olivia)
and a daffodil Olivia kindly picked from the garden