Tag: cooking

The Cooking Chronicles: Quesadillas

Guided in part by a recipe I picked up at Save-On Foods a long time ago, Mack and I made Quesadillas for supper yesterday.

We decided to try Maple Leaf’s Fully Cooked Chicken Breast Strips, though after opening the package, I wouldn’t recommend it. It was just enough for two quesadillas, and when an entire rotisserie chicken could be purchased for a few dollars more, even the ease of thirty-second preparation wasn’t worth the expense. In addition to the meat (salami was our other base), we added provolone and marble cheeses, tomatoes, green pepper, green onion, and (for Mack) sour cream. After a light brushing of olive oil and 15 minutes in a 400 degree oven, they were done.

Crispy, filling, and a great way to use up leftover meat and raw vegetables, the quesadillas are a quick lunch or supper idea that’s definitely worth a try.

Quesadilla (cool shot by Mack)

The Cooking Chronicles: Spinach Stuffed Tomatoes

As a practice run before my (fingers crossed) dinner party this month, I decided to make Giada’s Herb Stuffed Tomatoes for my Mum’s birthday potluck this weekend.

Guided by many user comments that indicated that parsely was too strong, I substituted the recommended spinach instead. But who knew spinach was so hard to wash? Besides that challenge, I found the task of hollowing out the tomatoes more time-consuming than anticipated, and likely ended up with less pulp simply due to my ill-experience.
The final product was all right – the dish was presentable, but I received mixed reviews on the amount of provolone I included. As well, the breadcrumbs made the filling a tad dry, so I’d be sure to pour in some of the excess tomato juice (seeds strained out, of course) next time.

Not a bad vegetable side dish, but one I’ll have to play around with a few more times to get right.

Spinach Stuffed Tomatoes

The Cooking Chronicles: Panna Cotta with Fresh Berries

Hands down my favorite back pocket, make-in-advance dessert, Giada De Laurentiis’ Panna Cotta with Fresh Berries is a saving grace when striving for easy elegance. I started experimenting with it last summer, and have been cooking up batches ever since.

Needing a red-and-white themed dish for a potluck at work in celebration of Anna’s new status as a Canadian citizen, I thought individual servings of panna cotta served with raspberries would be perfect. Using disposable plastic wine glasses purchased at a dollar store, I allowed the mixture to cool overnight in the fridge. Though transporting the glasses to work on the bus was a bit of a challenge, they remained thankfully in tact come lunch time.
Great with raspberries, blueberries, and even sliced strawberries or kiwi, this is a no-fail recipe that I will be making for years to come.
Panna Cotta with Raspberries

The Cooking Chronicles: Vanilla-Fudge Marble Cake

I had been craving cake for a while, and remembering a quote from Ricardo Larrivée that I read somewhere about how people should only eat the sweets they make themselves, decided to buck just heading to the store and bake myself a Vanilla-Fudge Marble Cake.

I really liked the use of chocolate syrup in the recipe – simplifying the chocolate additive by at least a step or two (instead of say, having to melt baking squares). The batter came out thicker than I expected, but it didn’t seem to affect the final product. As I couldn’t locate our fluted pan, I had to use a spring foam pan in its place. It wasn’t a bad choice for ease of removing it from the pan, but I would have preferred a decorative and not plain circular shape. In the end, it didn’t really matter – the cake was moist, sweet, and contained just the right amount of chocolate flavor. I can see it working quite well as a birthday cake.
I will be bookmarking the recipe for future reference.
Slice of Vanilla-Fudge Marble Cake

The Cooking Chronicles: Everyday Lighter Macaroni and Cheese

As I have mentioned previously, I am now leaning towards recipes that can be made with what I have available in my fridge and pantry on a day-to-day basis, and after catching a segment on America’s Test Kitchen this morning, I decided to duplicate their Everyday Lighter Macaroni and Cheese recipe for dinner tonight.

Annie stayed over for supper, so she helped me put it together. Substituting mozzarella for light cheddar, and omitting the dry mustard, it was a fairly easy recipe to follow. I only realized after the fact that I only added about half of the required cheese, and as I didn’t have enough corn starch on hand, should have looked for a starch alternative to thicken the sauce with. This resulted in a sauce with a water-like consistency, but besides that, was a decent modified béchamel.

While taking a little more effort than Kraft Dinner, this macaroni and cheese from scratch has more body than its instant cousin.

Everyday Lighter Macaroni and Cheese

The Cooking Chronicles: Pizzagna

Trying to make the most of leftover dried pasta and asiago cheese left over from our mac & cheese and focaccia pizza creations, respectively, I found a fairly simple recipe in Rachel Ray’s Pizzagna. Sounding appealing enough, it combined elements of pizza and lasagna in an easy assemble-and-bake style dish.

Though we omitted the onions (more because I forgot to get them at the supermarket than anything else), red pepper flakes, and parsley, and substituted asiago for parmesan, and button for crimini mushrooms, we followed the rest of the directions fairly closely. I’m finding I really like baked pastas and casseroles, as they do have a make-ahead option available.

The final product was delicious – the ricotta and pepperoni really made the dish unique. Next time, I’d probably try to include more vegetables – zucchini and tomatoes would complement the sauce nicely.

Pizzagna: definitely a keeper!

Pizzagna

The Cooking Chronicles: Strawberry Tarts with Vanilla Buttermilk Pastry Cream

For a Hawaiian-themed spring potluck we were having at work, I decided to make Strawberry Tarts with Vanilla Buttermilk Pastry Cream.

I figured it would be an easy recipe to pull together on a weeknight, as I was using frozen tart shells to begin with. After baking the shells and allowing them to cool, I combined the listed ingredients as directed on the stovetop. Surprisingly, it thickened at the four minute mark as indicated in the recipe, and with the use of an ice bath, reached the perfect consistency. A dollop in each of the shells, then topped with a strawberry, and I was done.

If you’re looking for an easy, yet elegant dessert for a dinner party, look no further!

Strawberry Tarts

The Cooking Chronicles: Frittata with Fontina, Green Pepper, Mushroom, Tomato, and Sausage

To befit the end of Gilmore Girls, I planned on making a diner-style dinner to precede the viewing of the finale. My original intention was to recreate Ina Garten’s Turkey Meatloaf, but after being confronted with the very uneconomical pricing of ground turkey breast, I decided on the more wallet-friendly Frittata.

Dickson and I decided to substitute and add several ingredients to the recipe – green peppers for asparagus, and for a more hearty base, mushrooms and cooked sausage. The instructions really aren’t that difficult, except perhaps making sure there is enough oil and butter present to prevent the egg from sticking to the skillet (we initially had excess grease from the fried sausage, so discarded some, but likely should have kept more in the pan). After dotting the diced fontina on top, then broiling the frittata for a few minutes, the dish was done.
Served with a salad, the frittata was not only satisfying, but made for a wonderfully plated meal(the green peppers and cherry tomatoes peeking out provided fabulous color). Super-easy, fast, and delicious, this versatile recipe would work for a filling brunch, lunch, or dinner course.
In the frying pan
Plated

The Cooking Chronicles: Green Onion Cakes

After many trips to the supermarket shopping for recipe ingredients not readily found in my house, I am beginning to appreciate instructions that don’t call for anything unavailable in my pantry and fridge on a typical day. So on a lazy Sunday, I decided to duplicate Martin Yan’s Green Onion Cakes.

Yan, a popular Asian American chef whose show airs sporadically on PBS, can be considered the Chinese equivalent of Emeril Lagasse. Entertaining, enthusiastic, and always energetic, Yan has unquestionable knowledge about Chinese cuisine. Though I admit to rolling my eyes when I watched him growing up, with the new perspective garnered from the experiences I’ve had in the kitchen thus far, I have to say he does know what he’s talking about (my Mum has commented that Yan’s cooking does pander somewhat to the greater Western audience he serves now, however).

This wasn’t my first try at creating these appetizers – I’d made them with May quite a while ago, albeit with a different recipe. Nothing against Yan, but his method didn’t allow for as many layers as the previous recipe encouraged, and thus, my cakes lacked the desired flakiness. On the other hand, it was my mistake in adding too much pepper but not enough salt, and not rolling each cake thin enough (resulting in half-cooked, but nearly burnt products). Still, I’ll have to figure out why the individual cakes didn’t fry evenly – I’m sure it has something to do with the oil.

The cakes were edible at the end of the day, but I will be hunting down the first recipe for a second go.

Green Onion Cakes

The Cooking Chronicles: Lemon Yogurt Cake

Though my time would have been better spent testing out recipes for my upcoming dinner party, I couldn’t resist testing out Barefoot Contessa‘s recipe for Lemon Yogurt Cake. The seminar I’ve been attending this weekend has been serviced by a fabulous caterer, who makes the most delectable citrus pound cake. Needless to say, I was looking to have more of such treats at home.

I used our fancy new Cuisipro Accutec grater I recently bought my Mum to zest a few lemons. With my usual tendency to be careless, I made sure to watch my fingers! I ended up doubling the recipe – baking one batch of mini loaves and one large loaf. The latter took forever to set, after over an hour ten in the oven total (though in fairness, I jumped the gun and took it out much too early). After this experience, I have been reminded of the necessity to conduct the clean toothpick test clear down the middle – at an angle just won’t cut it.

The recipe called for an odd post-baking infusion of sweetened lemon juice. It really only worked for the large loaf, as the smaller portions didn’t burst at the top to allow for absorption of the liquid. I’m not sure if this step is entirely needed, as I found the zest added quite a bit of flavor on its own.

I did like the overall taste, however – the yogurt really contributed to the light and fluffy nature of the cake, especially when compared with its butter-based counterparts. Combined with the freshness of lemon in general, this would be the perfect treat to have on the patio on a warm summer’s night, or out on the grass packed in a picnic lunch. Ina Garten has another winner!

Lemon Yogurt Cake (I really should have taken a picture of the slices…)