Long Haul Catch Up

I cooked pretty decent meals all summer long. I took pictures. I did not blog. Super Mom I am not, though I do try. Here I go, trying to catch up on everything before September ends, with the faint hope that maybe in October I could get back to regular-ish blogging. Big breath. Might be achievable.

July 25th: Wonton Soup

From Crazy Plates: one I've wanted to try for years. Finally got around to it.

Obi Wonton Kenobi

Filling

8 oz (225 g) ground chicken or turkey (I used chicken thighs, minced finely)
1/4 cup minced green onions
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp each grated ginger root, sesame oil and cornstarch
1 egg white
1/4 tsp salt

30 wonton wrappers

Broth

6 cups chicken broth
1/4 cup chopped green onions
1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, cut in thin strips
1 tbsp soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp grated gingerroot

Combine all filling ingredients in a medium bowl. Mix well. Working one at a time, place 1 teaspoon of filling in centre of wonton wrapper. Fold one side over to enclose filling, making a triangle. Moisten edges and press down to seal. Bring the the two points of the base of the triangle around filling, overlap them, moisten and press together. Place filled wonton on a tray and cover with a damp kitchen towel. Repeat with remaining wontons.

To cook wontons, bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add wontons. Stir once or twice to prevent wontons from sticking together. Boil for 5 minutes. Remove wontons using a slotted spoon. Drain well.

To make soup, bring broth to a boil in a medium pot. Add onions, basil, soy sauce, sesame oil, and ginger root. Simmer, uncovered, for 2 minutes.

To serve soup, place 5 wontons in the bottom of each soup bowl. Ladle hot broth over wontons and serve immediately.

Makes 6 servings.

Cook wontons in big pot of boiling water

Cook broth in separate pot

Place strained wontons in bowl

Top with broth and they're ready to eat

The next day I pan-fried the leftover, cooked, wontons
and served with plum sauce for dipping.
Not as good as the soup, but a decent way to use up leftovers.

I see now, having typed out the recipe, that I missed a step in the folding. I made my wontons into triangles rather than little packages. Greg told me at the time he thought they should be shaped differently. I didn't listen.


August 20th: Parmesan Dutch Baby

A recipe from Karen Barnaby: a bit like a popover, a bit like a savoury pancake. Baked in the oven. I think it was supposed to puff up in the middle, but because of all the cheese sitting there, it puffed up around the edges instead. It was a sight to see, and pretty tasty to boot.

Parmesan Dutch Baby

3 large eggs, room temperature
2/3 cup (150 mL) milk at room temperature
2/3 cup (150 mL) flour
pinch salt
1/4 cup (50 mL) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 cup (125 mL) freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Before you start assembling the ingredients, place a 10-inch frypan on the middle rack of the oven and heat to 450 F.

Beat eggs with an electric mixer at high speed until pale and frothy. Beat in the milk, flour and salt and continue to beat until smooth, about 1 minute longer. The batter will be thin.

Remove the frypan from the oven and add butter, swirling to melt it. Immediately add the batter and sprinkle with cheese, then return to the oven.

Bake until puffed and golden brown, 18 to 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve immediately before it deflates.

Makes 2 to 4 servings.

August 21st: Breakfast for supper

From June 2011's Chatelaine, with no recipe online for me to link:

Tomato & Egg Pie

3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, thinly sliced
130-g log creamy goat cheese, crumbled
6 sheets frozen phyllo dough, defrosted
6 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
3 tbsp chopped chives
1/4 tsp salt
8 cherry tomatoes, halved
5 strips bacon, cooked

Position oven rack in bottom part of oven. Preheat to 325 F. Place 8 small ramekins on a baking sheet.

Heat frying pan over medium. Add 1 tsp oil, then onions. Cook until onions are soft, 5 to 7 minutes. Stir in goat cheese until melted. Set aside.

Lay 1 phyllo sheet on counter. Lightly brush with oil. Place a second sheet overtop. Brush with oil. Repeat with remaining sheets and oil. Cut phyllo stack in half. Then cut each half into 4 quarters. Line each ramekin with a stack of phyllo, gently pressing against sides. Divide cheese mixture among ramekins. Whisk eggs with milk, Dijon, chives and salt in a bowl. Divide among ramekins.

Bake on bottom rack 20 minutes. Remove from oven. Place tomatoes in ramekins and crumble bacon overtop. Return to oven; continue baking until eggs are set, 25 to 30 more minutes. Let stand 1o minutes.

Makes 4-8 servings.

To accompany the egg pies, I made peach-strawberry sundaes. Recipe? For another day...

September 25th: vegetable ranch dip, onion soup ribs and double-stuffed baked potatoes

For lunch: veggies and dip. Easy vegetable ranch dip from Epicurious, and it was delicious!

For supper, I made my easiest-to-prepare rib recipe, a favourite for many years now, from June 2005's Chatelaine: Barbecued onion soup ribs. The recipe produces a sweet and slightly spicy set of tender but crisp ribs: simmered in onion soup, barbecue sauce and Tabasco, then finished on the barbecue.

To accompany, I made green beans amandine and double-stuffed baked potatoes. The potato recipe I made up as I went along. It went something like this:


Double-stuffed baked potatoes


3 medium baking potatoes, scrubbed
1/4 cup unsalted butter
3 tbsps milk
125 g bacon, chopped, cooked, and drained
1-2 green onions, diced
1/2 cup shredded old Cheddar cheese
sour cream (to serve, optional)

Preheat oven to 400°F. Prick potatoes all over with a fork, and place directly on oven rack. Bake, turning once, until tender, about 45 minutes. Remove from oven (leave oven on), cut potatoes in half lengthwise, and slice up centre of potato flesh with a knife. Set aside until potatoes are just cool enough to handle.

Scrape potato flesh into a medium bowl, leaving skins intact, and add butter, milk, bacon and green onions to bowl. Mix well. Stir in cheese. Scoop potato mixture back into skins, filling to heaping. Place in a baking dish and return to hot oven. Cook just until cheese is melted and filling is piping hot, about 10 minutes.

Serve with sour cream, if desired.

Makes 3 generous servings.

January 1st: Winter herbed roasted salmon & Roasted potatoes with bacon and chives

I was torn between starting the new year off with a full-on detox, or easing into it. I opted for the latter. G & O are on a Christmas candy/chocolate/sweets & treats strike until O's birthday in 20 days. I'm not quite so die-hard, but I cut my sugar way back today. For supper I opted for salmon (heart healthy!) with potatoes and bacon (not so much). This is a pair of recipes I pulled out of the Citizen a year or more ago, so this was at least our second time trying them out. We decided on tossing the salmon recipe and keeping the potato, although both have their pluses and minuses. Here they are:


Winter herbed roasted salmon
2 garlic cloves (or more if you really dig garlic, as we do)
4 sprigs fresh sage (my sprigs were huge; I only used one)
4 sprigs fresh thyme (my sprigs were tiny; I used six)
4 tbsps olive oil (may be overkill)
2 boneless salmon fillets
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste


Preheat oven to 350°F.


Finely chop garlic, sage and thyme, then mix with olive oil.


Place salmon fillets on baking sheet and rub the oil mixture on top. Season with salt and pepper. Bake 10-15 minutes.


Serves 2 (or 2 and a little one!).


This recipe was good, just not knock-your-socks-off good.


Roasted potatoes with bacon and chives
3 potatoes (baking or otherwise)
4 slices bacon, diced
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
5 sprigs fresh chives chopped (I subbed in one green onion)


Preheat oven to 350°F. Cut potatoes into 1-inch cubes and place in a large pot. Cover with cold water and bring to a boil over high heat. Cook 2 minutes, then drain.


Meanwhile, lightly fry bacon over medium just until the fat starts to render and the bacon starts to darken. Transfer the bacon and fat to a large mixing bowl.


Once the potatoes are drained but still hot, add them to the bowl with the bacon. Season with salt and pepper and toss to coat the potatoes in fat. If there are not enough bacon drippings to coat, add some olive oil.


Place the potatoes on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for 45 minutes. When done and outside is crispy, place potatoes in serving dish and stir in the chopped chives.


Serves 2 generously.


The bacon gets super crispy (AKA overdone). I skipped eating it. It does keep the potatoes nicely oiled. I'm wondering about skipping the frying step, and maybe just laying whole slices of bacon over the potatoes on the baking sheet; it might serve the same purpose. Perhaps the next time around...

Not seen in photo: side dish: salad!

December 8th: Sausage, peppers and peas + Brussels sprouts and bacon

Crazy Chatelaine had this sausage recipe (from December 2010's Chatelaine: Sausage, peppers and peas) calling for one sausage, but making 4 servings. Granted, it was intended to be a side dish. I wanted it to be my main, so I upped the sausage number to 5 (a whole package), and added half a white onion. I didn't use chorizo, but rather German sausages, which meant the cooking time was a bit extended from what the recipe recommends. With no fat or flavouring other than what the sausages supplied, this was a delicious meal. To accompany, I made one from Epicurious: Roasted Brussels Sprouts with Lemon and Bacon. This was a re-try from some past time (can't remember) and I don't know that I loved it quite as much this time. I do love Brussels sprouts though, so can't say too much against it. I skipped the salt called for in the recipe, as I think the bacon supplies quite enough.

All three of us loved this meal. Is this a weird thing though? I felt unsatisfied by the fact that everything in the meal was pre-chopped. It seemed like toddler food, and I wanted to be a big girl and use a knife. Hmm.