Salmon Fillet with Kale, Potatoes and Turnips

Today's post features a guest Chef ***Yervant Terzian**! He's been talking about his amazing kale and potatoes recipe for weeks now, so we finally got together for an afternoon of cooking.

I also made a side of rice noodles and thai curry featured in my first entry on this blog.

Here is what you'll need:

-4 salmon fillets

-Bag of Kale

-6 cloves of garlic

-Baby potatoes

-Turnips

-4 Limes

-1 large onion

-Zataar (if available)

This is us chopping the veggies. How cute.

You can halve the potatoes or just bake them whole, depending on size and your preference..

Then mix them all up with the turnips in a baking dish. Add salt and pepper.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. We're cooking these first since they take the longest to bake through..

Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with Zatar. Zatar is an Arabic spice, you can get it at certain grocery stores or if you want authentic Zatar go to a middle eastern supermarket or you can also order it online. It really ads a subtle zest to the veggies,

Now for Yervant's favourite part..

Cut out the stems from the Kale leaves, makes it a more tender dish, since the stems are thick and chewy.

Make sure you buy plenty of Kale because after cooking it diminishes in size like crazy!

Heat up olive oil in a big pan and add the chopped garlic in

Mmmmmmmm

Let it simmer on medium-low heat for a few minutes . Keep stirring and smelling the deliciousness..

Oh look! potatoes and parsnips are done.

Now for the salmon glaze, you will need these 3 key ingredients

-honey

-soy sauce

-Lime

Lay the salmon out in a baking pan, lined with tinfoil or wax paper

Lay out the salmon and drizzle with the glaze.

Add some chopped onions on top for flavour

And throw it in the oven for 15-20 minutes. If you prefer a softer, poached salmon, wrap it in tinfoil.

When finished baking, drizzle some more of the soy-honey lime sauce over the salmon.

We decided to put the salmon on top of the potatoes and turnips.

And this is my side-curry dish :)

Bon Appetit!

Sugar Cookies

I was at my favourite store the other day, HomeSense, helping a friend pick out a housewarming gift for someone...and of course instead of being helpful, I wandered off into the cooking isles and forgot all about her. I picked out a few cookbooks, Thai was one of them.. so expect a lot of curries and noodles in the near future! I also got a swiss cookie press... I just couldn't resist. Cookies and baking isn't really my thing, but this is one of the easiest cookie recipes there is and they taste amazing, especially with milk. They also make good Christmas gifts or Halloween treats when decorated.

All you need is :

-1 large egg

-2.5 cups of flour

-2 tsp. vanilla extract

-3 tbs. sugar

-1 tsp. salt

-2 sticks of unsalted butter

First, mix the butter and egg...

Add the vanilla, sugar, salt and beat until its nice and fluffy

Now load up the gunn!!!!!

The one on the left was the first try haha. Now the right one was much better..

Flowers, hearts and pumpkins were the stencils I used.. but it comes with 12 different ones

Yea.. some burned a bit...

\This is the brand if anyone is interested/

Roasted Citrus Chicken

So Sorry for being MIA for weeks! I haven't bee cooking much lately since it was usually just me, myself and for dinner and I would just make something quick or go out with friends. Now that my family is back from summer vacay, get ready for me bombarding your emails with new posts:)

Today I got a fresh chicken from a farm, which is probably what made this diner so delicious...but feel free to use any kind of chicken or even duck.

The recipe is very simple. 3 ingrediets: Chicken, Lemons & Garlic.

I used 3 lemons : 2 cut up in wedges, and the 3rd to rub into the chicken.

Place the chicken in a baking dish.

Butter the whole chicken and rub garlic all over. (inside too)

Drizzle with freshly squeezed lemon juice and olive oil . Then fill the inside cavity with lemon wedges for more flavour.

Preheat the oven to 350 F (175 c) and bake for 1 1/2 hrs. Baking time depends on the weight of the bird ( mine was 3 lbs). Don't forget to baste it with the juices occasionally.

And it's finally ready!

Strawberry & Mascarpone Cupcakes

CUPCAKES!!! What more could anyone want?

These are probably my favourite cupcake (well, second favourite-after Red Velvet cupcakes)

Cupcakes

-1 box of white vanilla cake mix

-8 ounces of mascarpone cheese

-2 egg whites

-1/2 cup vegetable oil

-1 cup water

Topping

- 2 cups strawberries (fresh of frozen)

-2 and half cups icing sugar

First, preheat the oven to 400 F.

To make the batter: mix oil, egg whites and cheese together until smooth.

Then gradually add the cake mix and water until the mixture is smooth again. Usually takes about 3-5 minutes depending on your mixer speed.

Pour the batter into the cups, and make sure you don't fill them to the top because they will rise and overflow when heated. Try to keep it at half or 3/4.

Once you fill the pan, they are ready to go in the oven for 18-20 minutes.

While they bake and cool off, you can make the strawberry icing.

Simply cut up the strawberries and blend them in a food processor.

Then mix the puree with icing sugar and whisk it till its thick. If it still looks runny, add a tablespoon of flour and leave it in the fridge for a few minutes to cool down.

Once the cupcakes are done baking and cool off, spread the strawberry icing on top and serve.

Tastes even better with some fresh cheese nd strawberry slices on top:)

Pork Roast Dinner

My blog is targeted towards those who are either beginners when it comes to cooking, or just do not have the time to cook extravagant meals every day... but do not be afraid of this one! It may take a couple of hours to cook but the prep time takes less than 10 minutes.

Many of us, even more experienced cooks, are hesitant when it comes to cooking large sizes of meat, worrying that it will under cook, overcook or just completely burn and you won't have anything to serve for dinner. In times like that I like to refer to cooking charts such as this one: http://recipes.howstuffworks.com/tools-and-techniques/how-to-roast-meat6.htm

It breaks down the cooking times by weight and type of meat you are preparing. Easy to follow and saves you all the worries.

For this roast you will need:

-Pork roast (any weight)

-1 cup olive oil

-2 onions

-1 whole garlic

-3-4 carrots

-Leeks ( or any other greens of your choice)

-Black Pepper & Salt

-Tinfoil

Prepare the surface by folding over 2 large sheets of foil as shown above^

Chop up the onions, leeks and carrots and spread evenly in the center of the foil

Rinse the roast and pat dry with a paper towel to get rid of any excess moisture.

Prepating the actual roast takes 10 seconds: rub pepper salt and shopped garlic into the meat, then cut 7-8 slits on top and stuff garlic cloves in them. Then drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with some ground pepper

.

Some more leek and onion on top so that the flavour can cook into the roast, wrap it up and into the oven. [refer to the time charts for temperatures and times]

Annnd... 2 hours later !

2 hours may seem like a long time in the oven, but at a low temperature the meat cooks evenly and therefore avoids undercooking. It also give you plenty of time to cook some mashed potatoes, vegetables and salads to serve with the roast.. maybe even some dessert.

Speaking of dessert.. tomorrow I am planning to make some mascarpone cheese cupcakes with strawberries. Stay tuned!