Perfect Baked Potato

I am not a big fan of potatoes-mashed/baked/fried.. they just seem so boring!

NOT THIS ONE!!!!!!!!

Best baked potato I've ever made actually. It even got compliments from other, more experienced, potato bakers and eaters.

I guess it could even be just a snack, instead of a side..it was a bit much with this dinner.

You can use any toppings you like: chives, bacon, cheese, olives, corn, beans and even tuna or shredded chicken.

I used what I had- chives, cheddar cheese and some sour cream to top it off.

I like it when the skin is crisp, and I think most people prefer it cooked that way too. In that case, NEVER wrap it in aluminium foil! Just stick it in the oven as is.

I used 3 medium-large potatoes and cooked them for 45 mins at 400 F on the middle oven rack.

Prepping them is easy:

-clean the potatoes

-rub salt and olive oil or butter on them

-poke holes all over it with a fork

Then after baking, take out the fluffy insides and mix them in a bowl with some cheese and chives and put everything back into the "shells". Top them off with more cheese and bake some more until it melts.

They are now ready to eat! garnish with extra chives and sour cream.

Better in Bacon

I was making some steaks for dinner the other day, and totally forgot to make a side- I usually make garlic mashed potatoes or sweet potato fries and a few veggies.

Luckily, I found some asparagus and pears in the fridge... well that wasn't enough for me so I decided to experiment a little and add some bacon to the mix.

I know this doesn't sound like a very healthy or vegetarian option- but was it ever delicious!

I ate so many bacon-wrapped pear slices that my dog had to finish half of my 12 dollar steak.

They can also be quick and simple appetizers- just leave the toothpicks in.

Here is what I used:

1 Bunch of asparagus

2 Pears

1 pack of Bacon

Brown sugar to taste

Salt and Pepper

Cut the Pear into medium slices

Now, start wrapping! To keep the bacon in tact- secure with a toothpick on each end.

season with salt and pepper and sprinkle some brown sugar before baking...the sweetness complements the saltiness of the bacon.

Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees.

Serve right away while the bacon is hot. These make for a great side as well!

Stuffed Winter Squash

This is a great starter or side which combines all the great savoury fall and winter ingredients. Perfect for a holiday dinner paired with a flavourful Zinfandel or a full bodied Shiraz.

Ingredients:

2 small acorn squashes

¼ cup bulgur

1 tbsp butter

½ cup pecan pieces

¼ cup chopped onion

2 tsp chopped garlic

6 oz white Swiss chard

1 cup chopped cremini mushrooms

½ cup chicken stock

½ cup grated Gruyère cheese

Salt and freshly ground pepper

The dish looks complicated but it is very easy to make. It can be a starter/side/vegetarian main.. whatever you want. Personally, I can't have a meal without meat or poultry so I added sweet n sour grilled chicken breast on a bed of the bulgur stuffing on the side.

1. Cut the 2 squash in half and bake at 375F on a baking sheet skin side up. Bake for about 40 minutes or until squash had browned.

2. While the squash is baking, place bulgur in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Set aside for 15 minutes until it absorbs all the water. On the side, roast the pecans in some butter on low heat.

3. In a frying pan, sautee the mushrooms, swiss chard and pecans with olive oil. Half way through add the bulgur and chicken stock. Wait until the stock evaporates and add the Triscuit and cheese.

4. Turn over the squash and scoop the bulgur-veggie mix into each half.

5. Bake for 20 more minutes and it is ready to serve.

Classy Cheese Balls

I am obsessed with Cheese!! There's so much you can do with it: eat it on crackers, make pasta sauces, grilled cheese sandwiches...

On my recent trip to Paris- I was served these cheesy puff pastries before dinner instead of bread. They were served hot with some light butter on the side.

So ofcourse I decided to recreate them.

[The 3 puffs on the plate]

For my recipe I used a personal favourite- Gruyère cheese!

This is what you will need:

6 Tablespoons Butter

1 Cup Water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 Cup flour

4 Eggs

1 Cup Gruyere Cheese (grated)

In a medium pot on high heat, combine water, butter and salt and bring to a boil.

Stir in the flour and keep stirring until the consistency looks like this:

Then transfer the dough in a mixing bowl and add the eggs mixing on low speed.

Leave the mixer on until the bowl feels cool to the touch (may take several minutes).

Finally, mix in the cheese..

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F

Transfer the mixure into a freezer bag or ziploc bag and cut off a corner so it acts like a pastry bag.

Line a baking sheet with wax paper to avoid making a mess and START SQUEEZING!

As you can see I'm not the greatest at making pretty puff pastries but they were still really delicious!

Bake until they look golden brown or for 25 mins.

This recipe made about 40 puffs, but I didn't make them very big- just bite sized.

Asian Salad

Some days when I don't feel like eating a large meal or just have no appetite (very rare), I opt for a fresh salad.

I'm not a fan of starchy salads like potato and pasta salad, and I always use fresh ingredients- usually whatever is in season.

This is one of my favourite ones and most of the ingredients grow in my garden so I don't even have to plan ahead.

This is what I used:

- Shredded carrots

-Bean sprouts

-Fresh Basil and Mint

-Red and Orange sweet pepper

- Onion

-Chili flakes

-Snow Peas

Dressing: Sesame oil +Rice Vinegar + Oyster Sauce + Garlic

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl.

Boil a packet or 2 of rice noodles and mix in with the salad when cooled down.

Pour the dressing, mix and enjoy!

The Big Apple

Candy apples are not just for kids! I was at a dinner party last week and one of the desserts being served was…a candy apple. The sweet candy coating complemented the tart crunchy granny smith apple so well. The next week I went to the farmers market and picked up a few varieties of apples from local farms and played around with the flavours. It all depends on personal taste and how much of a sweet tooth you have. Personally, I like a thick candy coating but a sour apple to balance it out. Here are some varieties that are commonly used for candy apples:

Braeburn: Golden-green to red skin, firm, sweetly tart

Fuji: Yellow-green skin, firm, sweet

Golden Delicious: golden skin, firm, sweet

Granny Smith: green skin, very firm, tart

Lady: Red to yellow skin, firm, sweetly tart

McIntosh: Reddish-green skin, firm, sweetly tart.

Simple Candy Apple Recipe

4 Apples

½ cup water

4 skewers

1 tsp vanilla extract

1/3 tsp cinnamon

Few drops of red food colouring

2 tbsp honey

2 ½ cups sugar

3 cloves

Candy thermometer

First of all prepare the apples: wash and dry them well, cut the stem off , then run a wooden stick through the center of each apple.

If you are using store bought apples, they might have a layer of wax on them. To remove, dip them in hot water and wipe off the wax.

Now pour ½ cup (100 ml) of lukewarm water, together with the sugar and the honey into a narrow, heavy small saucepan and melt everything well.

 Put a candy thermometer into the saucepan and when the temperature has reached 212°F  add the food dye , the cinnamon and the cloves.

Stir and let it boil on a medium flame until the temperature reaches 300°F (150°C), then remove the saucepan from the heat, remove the cloves, tilt it slightly and roll the apples to coat them with a thin layer . Place the coated apples on a tray covered with parchment paper, where you'll let them dry.

 As soon as the apples are cold, serve them immediately.

To add some variety, roll the just coated apples in coconut shavings or Skor bits. Adds texture, flavor and look great on a platter!

Steak Night avec Roquefort

Steak is probably the easiest and most "personalizable" dish you can make. Honestly, the hardest part was eating it, because it was huge.

Here are some good tips on how to make a perfect steak, by Jamie Oliver - whom I love more than he loves rosemary.

Personally, I like to buy steak from the butcher, as it is more fresh and you can ask for specific cuts and thickness. I find that pieces with lots of white marble parts on them cook the best because the melted fat makes them juicier- yum!

For seasoning I usually just use salt and pepper, but sometimes I like to use Montreal Steak spice and garlic.

I always grill some veggies if the BBQ is on for cooking the meat.

Slice some red peppers, onions and zuchini; drizzle them with olive oil and throw them on the grill. It's that simple.

You can also wrap the veggies in tinfoil and then cook them- for a less smoky taste.

After you take the meat off the grill-let it rest. Set it aside(covered or uncovered) so that the juices soak into the meat. If you start eating it right away, the steak might dry out really fast.

This time, I topped the steak off with some crumbled Roquefort cheese, which went really brought out the BBQ flavour; and paired with a Spanish Rioja wine...amazing!

What is YOUR favourite summer BBQ recipe?

Amazing Ambrosia Salad aka Food for the Gods!

OK, so if I ever wrote a book about simple dishes that look complicated, this would be the cover-page! It tastes DELICIOUS! Takes less than 2 minutes to prepare.. if you are fast at opening canned fruit.

I never heard of this salad before, until I saw it being served at work for brunch. I never knew what was in it exactly but ate bowls and bowls of it. I later investigated and found out it was only 5 ingredients: coconut shavings, sour cream, pineapple, marshmallows and mandarin oranges.

I then looked up where it originated and this is what I found:

"Ambrosia. The food of the gods in classical mythology. The term may mean food in the narrow sense of eatables, in which case it is the counterpart of nectar, the drink of the gods; or it may mean food in the wider sense of sustenance, when it embraces drink also. What the gods were actually supposed to eat is a matter of conjecture. In the English language any especially delicious food may be called ambrosia; but this usage has become uncommon."

---Oxford Companion to Food, Alan Davidson [Oxford University Press:Oxford] 1999 (p. 14)

No wonder they named it this. Its amazing.

Remember, its equal parts of each ingredient.

1 cup diced pineapple

1 cup canned mandarin oranges

1 cup sour cream

1 cup mini marshmallows

1 cup sweetened coconut shavings

Gently mix together equal parts of all the ingredients and... its ready!

Usually I decorate it with a round pineapple in the middle, oranges around it and cherries lining the bowl.. But I didn't have much fruit left today.

Hope you enjoy this salad, its perfect for the summer. Great dish to bring to a bbq as well!

Seafood Risotto in 20 minutes

So I received this over-advertised kitchen tool as a gift yesterday, and decided to try it out. I must say the infomercial with the infamous Sham wow guy whatever his name is, draws my attention everytime.. I just can't look away. Same withe that couple making a 5 course meal with their Magic Bullet. Well, it's not as great as it looks. Maybe I'm just not strong enough but my wrists are sore from punching that thing down! It did cut the onions pretty quick, but then I had to wash it for 10 minutes because they got stuck in the blades. I will probably use it to make fruit salad in the future, as its softer and I usually make a large portions of it so it does same time peeling and cutting fruit.

Anyway, on to the recipe!

What I used:

4 medium sized sweet onions

3 cups of fish stock

1/2 cup of grated parmesan cheese

2 cups Arborio rice

Olive oil

Assorted Seafood

In a saucepan, heat up olive oil and brown the chopped onions in it.

Once the onions are done, pour in the rice and let the olive oil coat each piece.

Let it simmer on medium heat for 2 minutes then slowly start adding the fish stock to the rice.

Add the stock half a cup at a time, and let the rice absorb it before pouring in more.

I turned the heat down a bit for this process, it may take longer but the risotto will be more flavourful and moist as the stock won't evaporate as quickly.

Add in the seafood and Parmesan after a cup of stock has been added. I usually pre cook the seafood a little, so it doesn't undercook.

Garnish and serve hot. I like to have it on its own, but you can also serve it as a side!

Mussel Mondays

I wonder if there is a disorder where people only eat foods beginning with the first letter of the day each day? Monday mussels in Muscat wine with Mezze penne and miso soup.. mousse for dessert:)

New Blog idea? Maybe.

Well, here's my take on what I would call a typical Parisian mussel dish served with a fresh baguette and a chilled bottle of wine.

You will need:

1 kg fresh mussels (1 bag would do for 2 hungry people)

2 -3 finely chopped onions

1 red pepper, diced

1 jalapeño pepper, finely chopped

1 clove garlic finely chopped

120 ml fresh cream

1 cup dry white wine

1 tablespoon butter

Start off with washing the mussels and de-bearding them. I just scrubbed them with one of those hardcore metal scrubber things. Discard of broken shells or those which are already open- they died.

Let the mussels sit in cold water while you chop the veggies.

Its pretty much up to you which veggies you use in the sauce, but onions and garlic are key. I used red pepper and a jalapeño pepper to spice things up.

Fry the veggies in butter , then add a glass (or more) of dry white wine. Let it simmer for 30 seconds and add a cup of cream.

Add the mussels and cook on med-hi heat for about 5 minutes until all the mussels have opened, which means they are cooked.

-Avoid overcooking as it makes the mussels tougher.

-Do not serve the shells that did not open!

I like my mussels in a bowl with lots of sauce, a crispy baguette and a glass of wine with it:)

Delicious no-skill required platters

Just a quick post of my two favourite SUPER EASY arrangements.

First one is a fruit arrangement. The first time I served it at a summer BBQ, a friend asked " is that from Edible Arrangements"? So I looked them up and here it is: http://www.ediblearrangements.ca/ Basically just fruit arrangements with delivery. It would cost you $234 for a party platter. Or you can just make it yourself and spend $30 on a variety of fruits!

In this one, I used half a melon as a base and just stuck the skewers in it until the whole area was covered. You could get super creative and make tiers and levels, you can also cut pineapple circles in shapes of flowers...just look through the edible arrangements website for ideas and save your money:)

The second one is a tomato-spinach-bocconcini toothpick skewers. Very easy to make and taste delicious. Easier to eat than a salad and looks great as well.