Tag: Cooking Chronicles

The Cooking Chronicles: Warm Spinach and Mushroom Salad

Mack hates tofu. I love tofu. This tends to put our meal planning a little at odds, particularly when I am craving tofu.

While Mack has been amenable to the deep fried cubes of tofu typically included in an Asian hot pot spread, my personal favourite variety are the firm yet silky squares of fresh tofu. We have a wonderful local producer of tofu – Ying Fat in Chinatown (which Brulee Blog wrote a great post about), and really, any easy-to-prepare alternative to meat protein is always a welcome addition to my kitchen.

I earmarked two recipes to experiment with in order to test the tofu waters, so to speak, with Mack. The first was a warm spinach salad recipe from Company’s Coming Cooking at Home.

I tossed some Edgar Farms spinach with sautéed brown mushrooms, a light vinaigrette, and cubes of tofu that had been marinated in the same vinaigrette for an hour. I had thrown the tofu into the skillet containing the mushrooms to warm it gently just before serving, which suited the dish as a whole better, in my opinion.

Warm Spinach and Mushroom Salad

The marinade didn’t seem to penetrate the tofu at all however, and I could have done without that step. I really enjoyed the vinaigrette though (made with olive oil, red wine vinegar, grainy mustard, honey, garlic, salt and pepper), and can see myself using it as a base for other salads. Lastly, some freshly grated parmesan would have provided a needed savoury aspect. Mack’s opinion: after his hesitant first bite, he said the texture was still a bit off for him. He did finish his plate though!

A light summer meal, this salad has a quick turnaround time, but is hearty enough to satisfy warm-weather hunger pangs.

The Cooking Chronicles: Roasted Broccoli with Shrimp

A stir-fry with vegetables and chicken or shrimp is one of my weekday staples, for ease of fridge and freezer stocking. On a day when I thought I would again rely on that meal, I remembered a recipe I had seen on The Wednesday Chef for roasted broccoli with shrimp.

As directed, I tossed florets of broccoli with olive oil, cumin, coriander, chili powder, salt and pepper, then spread them on a baking sheet to roast in the oven. The shrimp came next, flavoured with olive oil, lemon zest, salt and pepper, and soon joined the broccoli in the oven. Finished with some fresh lemon juice and served with brown rice, it was an easy meal (we took Luisa’s suggestion and ate it straight out of the pan). I loved the crunch of the broccoli and cumin kick, though I was a little heavy-handed with the lemon juice.

Roasted Broccoli with Shrimp

An easy and tasty weekday meal, I will be making this again.

The Cooking Chronicles: Seared Pork Tenderloin with Cocoa-Spice Rub and Mushroom Risotto

Similar to our Mother’s Day dinner in May, I corralled my sisters into assisting with our Father’s Day dinner this past weekend by assigning them each a dish. Amanda helped out by making a salad, and Felicia cheated a little by providing a store-bought cake (albeit my Dad’s favourite – Black Forest).

For the main course I decided to make a Michael Chiarello recipe for a seared pork tenderloin with cocoa-spice rub. It seemed easy enough, as the majority of the work was simply creating the rub itself. Mack, my tireless sous chef, trimmed the tenderloin while I measured out the spice ingredients, and once the meat was in the oven, we were able to focus all of our attention on preparing the side.

I’d been a little afraid of attempting a risotto recipe, but Trish Magwood’s straightforward instructions in Dish Entertains calmed me somewhat. We didn’t make it to the market on Saturday, so ended up with mushroom instead of asparagus flavouring. The true secret (if there is one) really is to add the simmering stock in half-cup increments, allowing the rice to slowly absorb the liquid. The entire process us about 25 minutes (Mack, the official risotto stirrer, thinks it may have been longer), and resulted in plump and tender grains and a creaminess that could not be achieved in any other way. Of course, the finish with a generous amount of butter and parmesan couldn’t hurt either.

Mushroom Risotto

The fragrant rub turned out really well, and the pork was juicy and flavourful. My cold was frustrating my ability to taste the rub, but I was told it was quite good. The leftovers worked great as an addition to a pita sandwich!

Seared Pork Tenderloin with Cocoa-Spice Rub

It was a nice sit down meal with family – something we don’t take the time to do often enough.

The Cooking Chronicles: Chickpea Patties with Salad

I’m just about finished with Mark Bittman’s Food Matters, and I have to say, I’ve never been more inspired to cook with lentils and beans. Food Matters implores readers to reduce their overall meat intake, citing health benefits, the unacceptable conditions of industrial meat production, and the impossibility of the world to support the growing demand for meat. I respect Bittman’s philosophy primarily because he does not call for a radical shift – instead, he advocates for a gradual change, and a diet that can accommodate meat and other guilty pleasures – just in smaller and occasional quantities. It is an approachable method that doesn’t seek to alienate the public (or worse, be easily dismissed as “elitist”), and of course, it helps that the book contains both practical advice and actual recipes to follow.

I didn’t think I would be attracted to recipes without any photos, but I immediately bookmarked a handful of them, primarily the ones featuring chickpeas, which are my current ingredient-of-the-moment. Bittman’s recipes are also great because he lists dozens of substitutions – that knowledge is often assumed in cookbooks, and I appreciate that he spells it out for readers who need it like me.

I had printed off a recipe from Real Simple a few months ago, and didn’t get to it until this week. It coincidentally features, – you guessed it – chickpeas!

The chickpea patties were to be pureed in a food processor with garlic and seasonings, but as we are without a blender or a processor, we used Mack’s Magic Bullet instead. It worked all right, though for the consistency we were looking for, it was uneven (some too mushy, others left whole). We also ended up incorporating the additives by hand in a bowl, which seemed to work out fine. Our difficulty with the recipe, however, was actually forming the patties – they were on the dry side, and the flour dusting didn’t help. We imagined the patties would cook up crispy on the outside, pan-fried in olive oil, but the reality was that they were simply browned, and warmed through.

Chickpea patties with salad

Served with a fresh salad dressed in just olive oil and lemon, it was a light but filling supper. We are open to suggestions on how to improve the recipe though! Best of all, our supper also meant we were allowed to indulge in chocolate covered bacon without guilt, heh.

The Cooking Chronicles: Mother’s Day Barbeque

My Mum requested a barbeque for her Mother’s Day supper, so of course we complied. I decided to make apple cheddar turkey burgers (which I’ve made before) and a side of grilled fiesta stuffed peppers, with Mack’s help.

Fiesta Stuffed Peppers

It really was a family affair – my dad helped out on the grill, and I enlisted my sisters to round out the meal: Amanda contributed a salad (with a citrus vinaigrette made from scratch, a first for her) and Felicia and Jeff made dessert – strawberry chocolate crepes.

Full plate

Dessert

We probably should be pampering my Mum more often than once a year, because she does more for us than we often realize. Thanks Mum for everything!

The Cooking Chronicles: Spanish Paella

Or perhaps more accurate – non-paella paella. I caught an episode of Michael Smith’s Chef At Home recently where he prepared a paella recipe that even I would eat, free of many ingredients that are unappealing to me, but what I thought were central to paella as a dish. The proteins consisted of chicken, sausage and shrimp, with nary a shell in sight. Saffron, another additive frequently used, was also missing from the recipe, but I was willing to overlook that in favour of experimentation.

The best part about the dish was its one-pot nature – once we had browned the sausages and chicken, everything, from the proteins, rice, tomatoes, and chicken stock, were thrown into the saute pan to cook together. Half an hour later, we had a fragrant, hearty meal.

Spanish Paella with Chicken, Shrimp and Sausage

Tomato was the dominant flavour of the dish, and I would have preferred additional notes present. Also, the shrimp had become so waterlogged over the last half hour that the texture was closer to that of lobster. Next time, I would be sure to add them closer to the end.

Overall, I was happy with the paella, and would make it again with some adjustments. The large pot lasted us several meals (both lunches and dinners), which meant less cooking over the week – always a plus!

The Cooking Chronicles: Olive Oil Popcorn

To accompany a viewing of Slumdog Millionaire (good movie; I liked the flashback motif), Mack and I decided to make stove-top popcorn.

My coworkers had been telling me about some of the ills of microwave popcorn, and after seeing Michael Smith whip up a pan full fairly easily, it didn’t seem difficult at all. We used his recipe as a guide, lightly coating the bottom of a skillet with olive oil, and tossing the kernels on top. It turned out we should have chosen a deeper skillet, as the popped kernels quickly took up all available space underneath the lid.

Popcorn!

We tossed the popcorn with some olive oil, salt, and chilli powder. Whether it was my heavy hand, or an extra-hot version of powder, we didn’t know, but our end product was a lot spicier than we had intended. Still, it’s something we will make again, with different seasonings.

The Cooking Chronicles: Poached Salmon with White Wine Cream Sauce

I am currently reading Alisa Smith and J.B Mackinnon’s 100 Mile Diet. The novel chronicles the Vancouver-based couple over one year of eating only local products. It’s not bad so far, though my strongest criticism about halfway through is a lack of Canadian statistics – while I am certain such numbers would be more difficult to come by, one of the reasons why I was drawn to the book in the first place was in the hopes that it would supply me with a well-supported Canadian context.

At any rate, the recipe for poached salmon in white wine cream sauce intrigued me, even though some of the directions were decidedly vague. Of course, salmon within a 100-mile radius would be next to impossible to obtain, so we headed to Ocean Odyssey Inland (10027 167 Street NW, 780-930-1901), a local purveyor of wild seafood.

Ocean Odyssey has been at their west end location for about three and a half years, though they are also present at the City Centre Farmers’ Market. The storefront offers most types of fish you could think of, in addition to some shellfish (they had some of the largest lobster tails I have ever seen). I didn’t ask if all fish were obtained in this manner, but the salmon (all wild) are supplied by independent fishermen, and are flash frozen after being caught. Seafood is definitely an area where my knowledge about sustainable practices is lacking – it is something I need to learn more about.

Salmon cooler

Besides the great seafood, Ocean Odyssey also carries products from local producers, including Greens, Eggs and Ham (we had placed an order for duck eggs, which can be picked up on Friday or Saturday), Medicine Man Bison and Sunworks Organic Farm. Pat is knowledgeable about all of the products she sells as well, which definitely helps the consumer.

Mack shopping

We ended up with a package of cod cakes ($8) and two salmon filets, the latter of which were priced at about $7 each by weight, just $2 more than the fish I typically pick up at a grocery store. We pan-fried the cod cakes when we got home for a snack, but were disappointed with their soggy texture – we will likely just stick with the filets in the future.

Following the 100 Mile Diet recipe, I got to work reducing the sauce, which combined 2/3 cups of vegetable stock, 1/2 cup of white wine, 1 cup cream, and 3 tablespoons of dill. I resorted to using chicken stock, and excluded the buttermilk, but it didn’t seem to negatively alter the taste. Like most times when making sauce, I didn’t expect it to actually thicken, but I was very happy with the finished product.

As for the salmon, this was our first time poaching anything. We filled our pan with enough water to cover the filets, and set to work heating it up. Impatient, we attempted to multitask and set to preparing salads for lunch the next day, and forgot about the fish. The pot began to boil (something the recipe advised us to avoid), so we added a teaspoon of vinegar in an attempt to keep the filets together. They didn’t fall apart on us, so Shane’s trick worked.

Poached Salmon with White Wine Cream Sauce

Served with steamed broccoli and brown rice, it was a nice Sunday dinner. Mack noted that the fish seemed to have cooked through more evenly with the poaching technique than our usual roasting option. The sauce was a little on the rich side, but I liked the combination of cream and dill – the white wine was negligible.

While we’re still on the fence as to whether or not we’ll make this dish again, we both agreed that we will be back to see Pat at Ocean Odyssey.

The Cooking Chronicles: Danny Kaye’s Lemon Pasta

The recipe I had in mind for our fresh fettuccini noodles was one I had come across in Ruth Reichl’s memoir Comfort Me with Apples some moons ago. Like every aspiring cook, I had photocopied the recipe for “Danny Kaye’s Lemon Pasta” and tucked it away to be used on just such an occasion.

It wasn’t difficult  – the cream and lemon-based sauce with just a touch of pasta water was quick to pull together, though I questioned the amount of lemon zest and juice called for in the recipe. In the end, it was much too tart for my liking (I should have trusted my instincts), though we thought it would make a good side for a roast chicken or salmon main. We probably should have also added additional pasta water – the congealed cream as the dish cooled reminded us of the heavy carbonara we tried last year. Better luck next time!

Danny Kaye’s Lemon Pasta

The Cooking Chronicles: Thai Chicken Curry

After getting a positive result from the Pad Thai recipe in Trish Magwood’s Dish Entertains, my next marked page to try was the Thai Chicken Curry. I like that Magwood’s recipes are straightforward – Westernized, yes, but almost in a way that provide training wheels to facilitate eventually tackling a more authentic version.

This particular recipe called for six chicken breasts, which was way too much meat for the two of us even if both Mack and I intended on having the dish for lunch the next day. I cut down the quantity of chicken to four, and it worked out perfectly. I loved the smell of the simmering curry and coconut milk mixture; I’m sure coconut rice would have been a great pairing instead of the plain basmati that we had.

In the end, the teaspoon and a bit of curry paste wasn’t enough heat, and we could have done with a bit more onions, but those were our only complaints. This is a great one pot meal that is both quick and easy!

Thai Chicken Curry