Category: cooking

The Cooking Chronicles: Mushroom Soup and Little Stars with Butter and Parmesan

Comfort food was the name of the game on a cool Sunday, and I had two recipes on the backburner I’d been wanting to try for some time.

The first was a Ruth Reichl recipe for Mushroom Soup that I found in Comfort Me with Apples. It seemed easy enough on paper, with just a few more steps than it would take to simply open up a can of Campbells to heat, and I was glad to find out that it was fairly simple in practice.

We ended up not having any nutmeg on hand, so the flavour was perhaps not as rich as it could have been, but the half pound of cremini mushrooms resulted in a soup chock full of mushroom-y goodness. Mack also enjoyed the onions, as canned mushroom soup typically doesn’t include other vegetable varieties.

Mushroom Soup

As the soup probably wouldn’t have been filling enough, I opted to make an accompanying pasta dish, a four-ingredient gem by Giada de Laurentiis.  I was able to whip up her recipe for Little Stars with Butter and Parmesan while the soup was simmering. The only downside was the purchase of pre-shredded parmesan that had been grated too large to be easily melted into the hot pasta. While simple (Laurentiis described it as an “Italian mac and cheese”), it was satisfying, and would be a great dish for children.

Little Stars with Butter and Parmesan

Culinary Q & A with Bruce Clarke

bruceclarke Occupation: Photographer/Owner of Moments in Digital Ltd.  and Product Manager at Britec Computer Systems

What did you eat today?

Breaded chicken cutlets stuffed with turkey breast and mozzarella cheese, rice, & corn

What do you never eat?

Pickles, Olives and raw Tomatoes. Not sure if it’s a texture thing or just the taste I don’t like.

What is your personal specialty?

I love cooking with garlic but I’m known for my Spinach Dip

What is your favorite kitchen item?

While technically not found in the kitchen, I do consider the BBQ my favorite cooking item.

World ends tomorrow. Describe your last meal.

Bacon wrapped filet mignon with sautéed mushrooms, garlic mashed potatoes, and fresh corn on the cob. Carmel cheesecake for desert.

Where do you eat out most frequently?

For a quick lunch on the go I prefer Subway – it feels somehow like I’m eating healthier. For a night out, we go to the Mikado a lot for Japanese.

What’s the best place to eat in Edmonton?

That is a toss up between Bua Thai downtown, The Mikado downtown, New Asian Village, and OPM on the southside. We have several favourites depending upon what we are in the mood for.

If you weren’t limited by geography, where and what would you eat?

Green curry chicken in Thailand or Hakata style ramen in Fukuoka Japan.

The Cooking Chronicles: Fastest Cinnamon Buns

Second to flaky biscuit sandwiches, my favourite thing to wake up to are cinnamon buns, hot out of the oven. I’ve been meaning to try a recipe I cut out of the Journal a while back for no-yeast cinnamon buns, and I finally had the opportunity to make them over the weekend.

The only negative point about this recipe was the need to use a food processor to pulse the cottage cheese (resulting in more dishes to wash in the end), but besides that, everything was pretty straightforward. I eliminated the allspice and ground cloves for ease, and opted to nix the glaze as well – who needs unnecessary steps in the morning?

The final product was quite good, better than the Cinnamon Sticky Biscuits I had tried a while back. The texture was quite a bit different from yeast-made buns (they were more crunchy and similar to biscuit dough), but they were satisfying and great with a cup of coffee.

This recipe will go in the plus pile, though perhaps for afternoon tea or dessert. It seems I have less energy in the mornings to make something other than cereal or eggs for breakfast these days.

 

Fastest Cinnamon Buns

The Cooking Chronicles: Friendship Cookies

The cookbook I most remember from my childhood was a dog-eared, coil-bound Company’s Coming edition. I knew at some point I’d start my own collection of these seemingly indispensable books, and last year, I did. My first, Christmas Gifts from the Kitchen, supplied the recipe for Mack’s absolute favourite cookies, and on Wednesday, I turned to it again for an intriguing recipe for Friendship Cookies.

Calling for cake mix, water, oil, 1 egg, and white chocolate chips, it was the simplest chocolate cookie recipe I had ever come across. I was interested to see how the final product would turn out (and wondered how many experimental batches were made before the version made it to print).

I should have sifted the cake mix (it would have saved a lot of time trying to pound out the lumps), but other than that, it was a straightforward dump-and-combine recipe. I did only end up with about half of the four dozen that the recipe claims to make, but that was fine, as I couldn’t complain about having to put in much effort at all.

The cookies were soft out of the oven, and remained so the day after baking. The off-classic combination of dark cocoa with white chocolate was nice as well.

I just wonder about the name – one would assume that friends would be worth more trouble than a cleverly-developed secondary use of prepared cake mix.

Friendship Cookies

The Cooking Chronicles: Individual Chocolate Cakes

While my Mum was busy carving and plating a Greens, Eggs and Ham duck she had roasted, I started on a quick dessert I had caught on a segment of Martha Stewart Living for Individual Chocolate Cakes.

A run to the supermarket gave me all of the ingredients I would need, and though I probably should have included a Pyrex glass bowl on that list (I cracked yet another non heat-proof one), my second batch escaped similar oversights.

After I combined all of the ingredients, I poured the mixture into four ramekins and put them in the fridge for safe keeping until we finished with the main course. When the plates were cleared, I turned on the oven and baked the cakes for the recommended ten minutes.

While two of the cakes came out perfect, the other two were still a bit underdone in the centres, and oozed a thick (warm) chocolate batter as I inverted them onto plates. That was a good time to rework the word “lava” into the name of the cakes I presented to my family, and they didn’t know the difference. Done again, I would have left them in the oven a touch longer, though really, the cakes were fine moist, especially when served with vanilla ice cream.

This would be a great dessert for a girls night in or an evening in front of the fire – pulled out from the fridge and into the oven when indulgence is called for.

Individual Chocolate Cake

The Cooking Chronicles: Autumn Housewarming

While I love hosting parties, they seem to take a lot out of me. Mack (and Kim’s) housewarming party is a good example.

They moved into their new apartment in May. I offered to help Mack with the housewarming preparations (mainly around menu planning), and started thinking about summer-appropriate foods to serve. June soon gave way to July, then August, and finally September, when Mack at last chose a date for the belated celebration.

To befit the cooler weather and seasonal produce, I felt a menu overhaul was in order. As well, I wanted to incorporate dishes that Mack himself would serve, namely, share plates and comfort food. And for my twist (something wholly unnecessary, but really a pleasure for me to work out) – the inclusion of at least one ingredient obtained from a local producer or manufacturer in each dish.

With those parameters in place, the following menu was born:

Housewarming menu (“lamb” should read “turkey” – I had lamb on the brain for some reason)

Every dish could be made or assembled in advance to be heated up just prior to guests arriving. The only tricky item was the turkey sliders, which would be formed that afternoon, but pan-fried while guests were snacking on other things – an entertaining faux-pas, I’m sure, but we were pretty attached to serving the mini burgers.

We spent most of Friday evening (after the debate, of course) in the kitchen, baking up cupcakes, cookies, and pita chips.

The idea for Chocolate Chai Spice Cupcakes were inspired by a similar flavour offered at Whimsical Cupcakes to celebrate the season. I found a recipe online that appealed to me even with the added step of grinding the spice mixture myself. It was a pretty fragrant mix that I wasn’t sure would work with the chocolate, but it turned out to be an interesting combination, great paired with a cup of coffee. The tops of the ‘cakes ended up being much too dry and crumbly, but that could have been a result of leaving them in the oven a few minutes too long. This was also the only item on my menu that lacked a local component, though I was so tempted to head to Kerstin’s to pick up some dark chocolate.

Chocolate Chai Spice Cupcakes

The unusual Coffee Shortbread recipe came to me by way of Flickr, which I followed to a blog. A modified Martha Stewart recipe, we used freshly-ground Transcend-roasted coffee in our cookies. The only instruction we neglected was “properly” chilling the shortbread before baking. I found the shortbread a little on the bland side, unfortunately, though Mack disagreed with me and gobbled up the leftovers once the guests departed.

Coffee Shortbread

We were up early on Saturday morning to head to the City Centre Market and ensure we had the pick of produce and meat. It was a lovely way to start a fall day, as though it was cool enough to remind us that cooler weather was ahead, the sun was bright and full of optimism for the weekend.

Back at the apartment, while Mack cleaned and tidied up, I continued with the food prep. Giada de Laurentiis’ Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables was the easiest to start with. I wasn’t sure the bowl we had on hand was big enough to combine everything, but it turned out all right. Once this dish was assembled, I put it in the fridge, and would start heating it only after the nachos were out of the oven. I think this would be a great recipe to pull out for an autumn potluck – great texture, color, and a cinch to make. Leftovers also heat well in the microwave for a nice lunch the next day.

Colorful vegetables (Kuhmann’s squash made up the local ingredient)

Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables

By the time I was done with the pasta, the ground bison meat we had picked up from Medicine Man Bison that morning had defrosted. The chili recipe I chose was something between the Medicine Man’s and another I had seen in Food for Thought magazine, primarily because I could not find the “Louisiana dip mix” called for in the former recipe. I had never made chili before, but after this experience, I will definitely make it again – the result was a delicious payoff for something so easy. The ground bison was notable – virtually no fat appeared when I browned it in the skillet, and at $12.50 for 2lbs, it was a decent price to pay for good quality meat. After I incorporated all the ingredients, we transferred the chili into my Mum’s borrowed slow cooker and let it simmer until the party started. It was a great dish to have on hand, as for those dropping by later in the evening, we could guarantee them something hot to eat. 

Hearty Bison Chili

Next were Rachel Ray’s Apple-Cheddar Turkey Burgers, something Mack and I had experimented with two weeks before. This time however, mini versions were on tap, built with Italian Bakery baby buns we picked up at the Italian Centre, and Greenvalley lettuce we bought at the Market. Though the turkey itself turned out to be resilient to over-cooking, done again, I’m not sure I would make them again for a large, informal group gathering. Trying to balance conversation/hosting duties while cooking the slider patties was too difficult a task.

Getting the buns ready (yes, I realized the burgers were missing apple slices…after Mack pointed it out)

Apple-Cheddar Turkey Sliders

Last but not least was assembling Mack’s Slammin’ Cheese Nachos – an item Mack would probably make and serve if he were to host the party on his own. We layered Don Antonio’s tortilla chips with mozzarella and cheddar cheese with diced olives, jalapenos, and roma tomatoes from Gull Valley Greenhouses. Kim suggested that we use glass pie dishes for the nachos which was a great idea – it meant we could bake and serve the nachos in the same container.

Mack’s Slammin’ Cheese Nachos

Once everything was in the fridge and ready to go, we were able to start setting up the table and the apartment itself.

Buffet-style

Drink bucket (the only true “relic” from my summer party plans, and one I wasn’t willing to give up)

Though there seemed to be some issues with the door buzzer (and people not being able to find the apartment just behind the fire doors), everyone made it all right. We had suggested that guests eat something prior to arriving, as I didn’t think we would be able to make enough to feed fifteen hungry mouths, but perhaps it was the wrong strategy to take, as many of our friends arrived with full stomachs.

Between nibbling, chatting, fun with fortune cookies and Transformers, it was a good night overall. And with the house broken in, it’s only a matter of time before the apartment will play host to another gathering of friends.

In the living room

Thanks to everyone for coming (and to my Mum for helping us out)! Mack’s photo set is here.

EDIT: I neglected to thank Jane in my post for bringing the hummus to go with the pita chips. Thanks again, Jane!

The Cooking Chronicles: Chicken Pesto Pot Pies

I had made pesto with some leftover fresh basil I bought at the farmer’s market a few weeks ago, intent on using it for a recipe for Chicken Pesto Pot Pies I saw in the fall issue of Our Compliments magazine. I finally had the chance this weekend.

We cheated with the potatoes, and used the store-bought powdered variety as directed in the recipe, but as we were using made-from-scratch pesto and cooking the chicken ourselves, I figured it was a fair trade off. We bought individual aluminum pie plates, and once we tossed the filling together, we divided the coated vegetables and chicken between the containers and topped them with scoops of mashed potatoes. We baked them for just under half an hour, and they were done, sizzling with some of the excess olive oil in the pesto and smelling wonderful.

Though the surface of the pies didn’t get as brown as they did in the magazine photo, the top of the potato round was somewhat crusty. The pies were essentially a shepherd’s pie made with pesto instead of gravy, but while I can’t say that the pesto flavour was distinct, these pies tasted lighter because of the gravy substitution – and had the benefit of a vibrant green color instead of a drab brown tinge.

We had a few leftover pies for supper the next night too, and as indicated in the recipe, these are great to make in advance and freeze for emergencies. I will be making them again.

Chicken Pesto Pot Pie

The Cooking Chronicles: Apple-Cheddar Turkey Burgers and Sweet Potato Fries

My inner control freak always has me conducting a run through of dishes I plan on making for a party prior to the event, in order to catch anything that might make it difficult the day of. For Mack’s upcoming housewarming, this meant trying recipes for Sweet Potato Fries and Apple-Cheddar Turkey Burgers this weekend.

We tweaked the sweet potato fries to include what we had on hand, which resulted in a coating of olive oil, brown sugar, garlic salt and taco seasoning. They turned out quite nice in the end, with a  sweet coating and a nice crunch. We still need to try another batch using the more recognizable orange yam.

Sweet Potato Fries

We halved the recipe for turkey burgers, as it was just the two of us, and substituted something labeled “Montreal Seasoning” in place of the Grill Seasoning, as it was all we could find in the bulk spice section of Save-On Foods. The patties cooked for six minutes on each side, as noted in the instructions, but the tenting didn’t quite work so well. Instead, I stuck the cheese-topped patties in the warm oven for a few minutes. Placed on a kaiser roll with a slice of granny smith apple, it made for a satisfying supper – the Montreal spice, in the words of Guy Fieri, was “money.” We are planning on making mini versions of this burger for the party.

Apple-Cheddar Turkey Burger (with a Bacardi Breezer product placement in the background)

The Cooking Chronicles: Ham, Egg and Cheese Bake

I’m not sure how casseroles became my weeknight dinner standby, especially because I certainly didn’t grow up eating them. At any rate, my plan of turkey burgers dashed, I resorted to a Rachael Ray recipe I had come across in the latest issue of her magazine for a Ham, Egg and Cheese Bake.

It was a simple recipe, but because I was missing half of the eggs it required, it ended up being much more soggy than it should have been, as we added a little more milk to try and compensate for the lack of liquid in the dish. So though the top half of the casserole (comprised of cheese, parsley and tomato) was quite good, I could have done without the layer of soaked bread at the bottom.

Ham, Egg and Cheese Bake

I would make it again, but only with the right ingredients on hand.

The Cooking Chronicles: Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries

While at Save-On Foods after work today picking up groceries for dinner, I noticed that two pints of strawberries were on sale for just $1.98. Much too cheap to resist, I picked up a box and some bulk dark chocolate melting wafers to try my hand at making Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries.

It turned out to be the perfect dessert to make while I let the butter chicken simmer away on the stove. On another burner, I melted the chocolate, dipped the washed fruit, and placed them on wax paper to allow the coating time to harden. I was finished this exercise by the time the rice was ready, and the strawberries themselves were ready to be consumed when we had had our fill of dinner.

A nice weeknight treat, the chocolate-dipped berries were easy and elegant to pull together – always a plus in my recipe book!

Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries