January 6th: Gourmet Grilled Cheese & Spinach Salad

This year, Monday night is dance night for Olivia and our busiest night of the week. She does two dance classes: 45 minutes of tap, 1 hour of ballet, with a 1 hour break in between. That's after a full day of school. Eep. Luckily, she is enjoying both. I try to plan simple meals for Monday nights that can be pulled together quickly in between chauffeuring Miss O around. Greg thinks my definition of simple meals might not be the same as others'.

Turns out tonight I could have done a more complicated meal, as Miss O has been running a fever for a few days and didn't go to school or dance today. However, I am not one to stray off my schedule, so I made our meal as planned, from January 2013's Chatelaine:

Gourmet Grilled Cheese & Spinach Salad

Instructions

Spread 1 tsp honey on a slice of multi-grain bread. Top with 1/4 cup grated aged Cheddar, thinly sliced red onion and thinly sliced apple. Top with another 1/4 cup grated Cheddar, then sandwich with another bread slice. Brush top and bottom with 1 tbsp melted butter. Repeat, making 4 sandwiches in total.

Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium. Arrange sandwiches in pan. Cook, flipping halfway through, until bread is golden brown and cheese is melted, 6 minutes.

Divide 4 cups baby spinach amongst 4 bowls. Top with 1/2 cup coarsely chopped toasted hazelnuts and 1 apple, thinly sliced. Whisk 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar with 4 tsps each canola oil and honey. Drizzle over individual servings of salad.

Serves 4.

The original recipe called for parsley where I have used spinach. I wasn't sure my family would go for a parsley salad, and besides, I had to buy spinach for another meal for this week, so subbed it in. I also increased the vinaigrette amounts.

The sandwiches were okay but not repeatable. The salads were better but that recipe will be tossed also. Ah well.

January 13th: Cucumber, Dill & Havarti Grilled Cheese and Laura Calder's Apple Chicken

Two yummies for today. First, for lunch: a slightly fancied up grilled cheese from Cooking with my Kid: Cucumber, Dill & Havarti Grilled Cheese. This came together quickly, which was great, as I was just coming in the door and starving, and Greg and Olivia were about to head out, and starving. It hit the spot, for all of us.

For supper, I made Laura Calder's Apple Chicken, which I pulled out of the Ottawa Citizen. Back in my maternity leave days, I watched a lot of Food Network, and French Food at Home was one I enjoyed. I was pleased with this recipe; it seemed on the plain side for the first few bites, but by the end I was licking up the sauce. I altered the sauce to make it non-alcoholic, for the toddler and the preggers mama. I replaced the apple brandy and hard cider with equal parts apple cider and chicken broth. Quite tasty, as noted. Olivia and I also enjoyed munching on the apples, both cooked and raw (I couldn't fit all the slices in the pan, so we ate some as supper was cooking).

Apple chicken from Laura Calder's Dinner Chez Moi

Laura Calder says this beautiful Norman dish is incredibly simple to make, but luxurious-tasting and elegant, the kind of thing that reminds you why French food really never goes out of style.

Makes: 4 servings.

For the chicken:

4 slices bacon, cut into lardons (widthwise strips)

1 tablespoon butter

4 small bone-in chicken breasts, with skin

salt and pepper

1/4 cup Calvados or other apple brandy*

1 cup hard cider*

1/2 cup creme fraiche**

a small handful of finely chopped fresh parsley

For the apples:

2 Granny Smith apples

1 tablespoon butter

1 teaspoon sugar

Fry the bacon in a saute pan until cooked but not crisp; remove and set aside. Add the butter for the chicken to the pan. Season the chicken with salt and pepper and brown the skin side, about 4 minutes. Turn the chicken. Pour off all but 1 to 2 tablespoons of fat. Deglaze the pan with the Calvados and boil to reduce. Put the bacon back in, pour over the cider, cover the pan, and cook over medium-low heat until the chicken is done, about 20 minutes, uncovering the pan for the last 5 minutes to reduce the liquid to about 1/2 cup. If longer time is required to reduce the liquid, remove the chicken and bacon.

While the chicken cooks, prepare the apples. Peel, core, and slice them into 1/4-inch rings. Melt the butter for the apples in a frying pan over medium-high heat and fry the apples on both sides until golden and tender, a matter of minutes. Sprinkle with the sugar and continue cooking, turning the apples once, for a minute or two until the sugar has melted and slightly caramelized.

Stir the creme fraiche into the chicken sauce and heat through. Place the chicken breasts in a warm serving dish. Taste the sauce and adjust the seasoning. Pour it over the chicken and arrange the apple pieces on top. Sprinkle with the parsley, and serve.

*I used 1/2 cup + 2 tbsps each apple cider and chicken broth
**The recipes suggests if you can't find creme fraiche, use half cream and half sour cream. That's what I did!

I made the full recipe for 2 chicken breasts.

Served with crisp roasted potatoes, which also tasted awesome dredged through the creamy apple sauce (not pictured). Note: the potatoes only took about 45 minutes to cook, not 60. I think I'll make them again, without the rosemary. Better all on their own.

June 18th: Garlic and Basil Chicken Sandwich/Berries with Ginger Cream

Chicken


I love this chicken sandwich, which, minus the mess factor, is perfect picnic food and in any case, perfect summer food. I make this at least once a year. It requires cooked chicken (a whole chicken for the full 4 servings, or, in our case, 2 breasts for 2 big servings). The sandwich is made on a baguette spread with a garlic-mayo mixture, topped with goat cheese, chicken, tomatoes, more goat cheese (!) and fresh basil. Simple but powerfully flavourful. I use the full amount of mayo on the half sandwich. From September 2005's Chatelaine: Bistro Chicken Sandwich.

Berries


This recipe has a slight pain-in-the-butt factor, but is so good I make it every year when local berries start popping up everywhere. We're just getting into strawberry season now, a little later than usual for Ottawa. This is essentially berries topped with cream, but in this case, the cream is drained yogurt (pain-in-the-butt factor: requires several hours sitting in the fridge) mixed with ginger juice (pain-in-the-butt factor: grating ginger root), sugar and cardamom. Cardamom may be my favourite scent in the world. I like to open my bottle of cardamom and inhale lightly when I am stressed out. TMI? Possibly.

I've modified this recipe from the original version, from June 2006's Chatelaine, which required phyllo pastry, one pain-in-the-butt factor too many. My version is healthier too. Here tis:


Berries with Ginger Cream

• 3 cups (750 mL) plain yogurt
• 2 tbsp (30 mL) finely grated fresh peeled ginger
• 1/2 tsp (2 mL) ground cardamom (optional)
• 1/4 cup (50 mL) granulated sugar
• 2 cups (500 mL) raspberries
• 1 cup (250 mL) each blackberries and blueberries
• 2 tbsp (30 mL) honey

To make ginger cream, line a sieve with a single layer of paper towel. Place over a medium-size bowl. Scrape in yogurt. Cover and refrigerate at least 3 hours or overnight. Discard liquid in bottom of bowl. Scrape thickened yogurt back into bowl. Place grated ginger in a sieve set over a small bowl. Using a spoon, firmly press on ginger to extract juice. Discard grated ginger. Juice should measure 2 to 3 tsp (10 to 15 mL). Stir into yogurt with cardamom and sugar. Mixture will keep, covered and refrigerated, up to 4 days.

To serve, place berries in a bowl. Drizzle with honey. Toss to coat. Divide into serving bowls and top with ginger cream.

Makes 6-8 servings.

Berry choices are to your own taste.
I just drizzle a bit of honey over each bowl of berries and then top with cream.
(I use more cream than pictured!)

March 30th: beef shawarma ... on baguette?

We had a virus awhile back that ate a number of the pictures on our laptop. We have a goodly number on the Mac, so we haven't lost everything, but we have lost some gems. My blogspot profile pic exists on blogspot only. One of the less important pics, but one I had been planning to use for some time, was a picture of me looking sheepish as I hold up a copy of Company's Coming Inviting Asian Flavours. In January, I slagged Lindsay for asking me to cook out of a book I don't have. She responded forthwith, sending me said cookbook in the mail. Ask and ye shall receive. Though my asking was on the passive aggressive side, which is not so attractive.

I have made two recipes out of this book since receiving it. One I didn't write about, as I decided to spare you the descriptions of meals that don't turn out (unless I have a spectacular disaster to share!) and also gain some sleep for myself, a useless pursuit in general.

Tonight, I made a steak with shawarma flavours. Let's start with the recipe:


2 tbsp pomegranate molasses (more on this later)
3 garlic cloves, minced
1/4 tsp each: ground allspice, curry powder, ground cinnamon, salt and pepper
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper
2 x 225 g beef strip loin steaks


baguette, hummus, tomato, cucumber, red onion


Combine molasses, garlic and all spices, pour over steak and allow to marinate 6 hours. Drain and discard marinade. BBQ steak as desired. Split and toast baguette, spread with hummus, slice steaks and arrange on baguette with veggies. Makes 4 sandwiches.

The baguette does make for nice presentation, but see my comments below.

Except!: Pomegranate molasses: As explained in the book, pomegranate molasses "promote[s] a dark exterior that has a caramelized flavour." If you don’t have pomegranate molasses (as I do not), you can make it yourself by boiling down pomegranate juice. Easy peasy, thought I, as I bought a small but expensive bottle of juice at the grocery store. I measured out my ¾ cup, put it on the stove and let it boil away for several minutes, every once in awhile picking up the pot, swirling it around and measuring with my eyes how much more liquid needed to disappear before I would have the requisite 2 tbsp. Then, I made a novice mistake. I left the room. When next I came back (4 minutes later!), I had a smoke-filled kitchen, a pot containing a thick layer of unrecognizable, black, burnt-on juice, and a stink to high heaven. On went the fan, open went the door, water into the pan! (The water in the scorching pan caused a loud pop as a hole burst through the burnt-on juice. Although I haven't found time to clean it yet, I think my ever-abused Paderno pot came through the experiment unscathed.)

As this occurred post-10 p.m. on a Tuesday night, I didn’t bother with a second attempt. I decided some undiluted pomegranate juice would have to suffice. I mixed my juice in with my spices and garlic and poured the combo into a jar for the overnight time period. Wednesday morning, before leaving home, I quickly set my steak in a glass dish, poured my juice mixture overtop, and covered to rest in the fridge for the day.

I found the steak super flavourful, with an authentic shawarma taste. Next time, I'll slice the steak as thin as I can possibly manage, load it into a pita spread with hummus, and top with the suggested tomato, cucumber and red onion. I do not recommend serving this steak on a toasted baguette as per the recipe. I find baguettes really hard to eat (as in, their ridges cut my gums). I think a traditional pita is the way to go. Next time I will use straight pomegranate juice again and save myself the trouble of a messy pot to clean.