Spaghetti Bolognese

Mmmmm one of my favorite meals EVER. I love Bolognese and eat it on pasta, gnocchi, baked potatoes, and sometimes even perogies. It's soooo good. And mine's awesome. I don't use a lot of secret ingredients, but it always turns out a treat. Plus I have a container of Ital 4 blend cheese from the Italian Centre which is AMAZING and whenever I have it, I tend to eat Italian a bit to use it up. It's sooo good.

Herb Butter

So I finally ran out of food "pellets" for my mixed herb crop in the AeroGarden, so it was time to chop it all down, clean out the machine, and start the 6 pods of Genovese Basil. I'm going to have so much fresh basil - finally I'll make Leslie that pesto I never gave her from the last time.

Simple Salad and Herb Bread

To celebrate making new herb butter (yay!) - well, herb margarine anyway, I made a salad as an excuse to make herb bread with some leftover baguette from a few days ago. Very basic salad. but delicious!

Craving Eggs

Simply scrambled with some grated cheddar, lots of pepper, and some multigrain toast with olive oil margarine.

Saturday Salad Lunch

Baby red romaine, cucumber, red onion, tomatoe, green pepper, some crispy onion, a few croutons, and a cheater dressing, which was some creamy bacon dressing from who knows when shaken with some white wine vinegar. And lots of pepper. Delicious lunch!

Homemade Pizzettas

Shelby came over and I had some bits and pieces of tons of stuff in my fridge. I had Italian bread and made 3 different crostoni... ajvar/chicken/peppers/olives/mozzarella/emmenthal, and tomato sauce/bacon/tomatoes/onions/brie, and bolognese/chunks of cut up leftover tortellini/pamesan....

they were to DIE for. Shelby ate them so fast I thought his lips were going to melt off. He couldn't get enough of these.

I'll definitely be making them again.

Posts Coming!

Kay I've been REALLY negligent. There's photos and descriptions and stuff coming tomorrow... Promise! I feel like a douche. Sorry!

Friday: Date Night.

Date #4 with this dude. He's super fun. Good name too - Wade. I'm going to make him dinner. Haven't decided what yet.

Grilled Cheese and Soup.

'Cause sometimes you have to.

Tuna Melts.

Fuggedaboudit.

Indian Eggs

I've been craving eggs lately, and when I do, this is what I usually have, if not a classic egg salad sandwich or an omelette of some kind.

Essentially, it's just tons of aromatics, like ginger, garlic, red chile, shallot - sauteed for a mo', and I usually add a bit of coriander powder, crushed cumin seed, and some chile powder, then tip in some beaten eggs. Season well, then when just about cooked, take off the heat, plate 'em, and top with a squeeze of lime juice and some fresh cilantro.

Scoop up with chapati. Delish! (this particular one had more veggies cause I chopped up some leftover stirfry and just tipped it in).

Prawn and Asparagus Black Pepper Stirfry

Prawns, Veggies, loadsa garlic/ginger/lemongrass, black pepper sauce, and crispy shallots over rice. What could be tastier?

Didn't cook much on the weekend.

Instead, went to JBar with this dude (Shelby) and had beers and artichoke dip and chili chicken. Super tasty.

Greek Awesome-ness

Shirley came over and brought spanikopita from the farmer's market. Literally, it was the best spanikopita I've ever had. No, I'm serious.

Had that warm with a quickie greek-ish salad of just cucumber, onion, red bell pepper and tomato with the usual dressing. Didn't put in olives or feta because of the Spanikopita.

Quick roasted a pork tenderloin and had that with a 5 second tzatziki of yogurt, lemon, cucumber, mint, and salt/pepper.

It was sooooo good. JUST what I wanted.

Craving for Escargot Mushroom Caps

I was hugely craving these for some reason. I make them here and there for guests to have with wine and cocktails sometimes, but for some reason I wanted a tray of them for dinner. They're actually pretty healthy and they taste soooooo good.

Essentially, hollow out mushrooms, chop fine, and saute with olive oil and garlic and lots of chopped shallot. Let that become delish, season very heavily (it will be seasoning the entire thing) and add some fresh herbs or in my case - a dollop of very herby butter that I found in the crisper!. Then, fold in some bread crumbs, and I used a bit of clam juice to soften it all up. Stuff the mushrooms, top with a couple escargot each, and then top with just a few shreds of parm.

Bake until you can't wait any longer. Yes, I ate all 16 of them.

Quickie Asianesque Salad

I made this spicy little number to go with some leftover pork tenderloin a little while ago. Super fast, but oh my god so good. Bean sprouts, grated carrot, scallion, crispy shallot, cucumber and I think some red chile with a nuoc nam dressing. Basically just fish sauce, sesame oil, some regular oil, lime juice, garlic, salt, sugar, and tada.

Tonight - Indian

Erica/Stefan and Curtis/Char and one of their friends are coming over for Indian tonight. This I AM making. Going to try a coconut based Indian VERY spicy chicken curry, plus a mushroom curry, dal, rice, and roti. I'm buying the roti, however. The Spice Centre on 34th in Little India has fantastic frozen roti. Just heat in the oven and serve. You literally can't tell the difference between those and ones fresh from a restaurant.

Looking forward to it! But I also have to make a potato salad for the Mom's day/bDay celebration tomorrow at Leslie's, so I better get my ass in gear and go to the market.

Later!

Last Night - Ethiopian

Before all of you get excited (like, 2 of you) that I made this myself - I didn't. Shelby and I had a music gig to go to, and before we went to Langano Skies, a FANTASTIC Ethiopian place here. I think I actually like Ethiopian more than Indian, but who can say. I haven't had quite the depth of variety in Ethiopian that I've had with Indian. And I certainly haven't tried to make it yet.

We had a beef dish, a spicy lamb dish (which I REALLY liked), some spiced lentils, a couple sambusas (which are essentially samosas) and of course Injeera bread. Or as Shelby calls it - soft tensor bandages.

It was awesome. Really enjoyed it.

Mac and Cheese Night

Erica, Stefan and Fawn came over last night. We tied into a bunch of wine and cocktails, and I made a giant casserole of baked Mac and Cheese, a biggie salad of wild greens/amish tomatoes/purple onion with my signature vinaigrette, and some broiled baguette with the awesome herb butter.

It was delicious. Plus I did my "cheater" mac and cheese, so it was super easy. We had a BLAST. Played American Idol on wii... everyone was singing their heads off.

Good times.

Supposed to go to a birthday party tonight. While I know I'll have fun if I go, part of me just wants to order in Chinese and rent a movie.

We'll see what happens.

Spicy Asian Soup

A couple nights ago I had an impromptu dinner with Shirley, and from my trip to Chinatown this week had all the stuff to make a really good soup. Used a satay soup base (lee kum kee, natch) and then cooked noodles and some baby bok choy in there, and ladled it in bowls with some diced bbq pork, slices of rotisserie chicken, and some sprouts/lime wedges/thai basil etc. It was awesome! Definitely my go-to Asian type soup. I should expand my repertoire a bit. That can be my project for next week! Asian soups ahoy!

So Neglectful.

Haven't been posting for ages! To be honest, I haven't been cooking a ton. My breakfasts have been some sort of smoothie almost every day, lunches are random but seldom interesting unless they're at a restaurant, and it seems I've been eating quite plain stuff for dinner lately.

However, I'll have to get a bit creative soon because I'm off beef for a while. And prawns. Not sure why about the prawns but they bore me lately. And beef because I went to Doan's yesterday for some vietnamese and got one of those pieces of beef where there was more fat in it than normal and it had that "rancid fat" taste to it. Yeah that was the end of the beef for me for a while.

I'm very much craving pasta lately as I haven't had it for months. I think I might make some tonight. I also took out a pork tenderloin from my freezer - we'll see what happens to that in the next day or so.

And I'll blog about it. I promise!!!

Friday Night Dinner

Shelby's coming by to play some guitar hero, have dinner, and hang out. I still have some of those little lobster tails that were so cheap at Safeway a while back. I think I'm gonna pick up a couple chicken breasts tomorrow, and do a bit of a brave take on a dish I haven't had for AGES, and never made - let alone adapted.

Oh yes, it's gonna be my stylie "Chicken/Lobster Kiev with Mushroom Sauteed Gnocchi".

I've got tons of REALLY fantastic herb butter (well, margarine actually as I don't like butter) in my freezer courtesy of the AeroGarden. The thing is still prolific as hell after I've really cut it back many many times. I'm quite impressed.

I've got a packet of gnocchi already. Tomorrow I'm just going to get a couple chicken breasts (which I loathe to use as they're utterly tasteless) and I'm going to also pick up some portabello caps.

I'll par off the lobster in chicken stock just to cook them lightly, then chop them up and let them cool. I'll stick the chunks with a couple knobs of herb butter, season the mix and roll that in chicken breast portions which I'll bash until thin between some parchment. I'll roll those "rolls" in seasoned flour, then the egg wash, and in panko (which I also have).

Then I think searing them in a pan and roasting them in the oven quickly will be enough cooking. In another pan, I'll quickly saute mushrooms and fold in the boiled gnocchi and maybe add some truffle oil and fresh herbs.

The Kievs should be somewhat cylindrical when done, so I hope I can slice them into rounds like a boudin, and serve that on the gnocchi.

Should be amazing. I've never tried it before but I can see it in my mind, and I think it'll work. Plus I have 80% of the ingredients on hand so I'm not lashing out on something weird. I just need some mushrooms and a couple chicken breasts.

I'll report back!

Quick but Tasty

I haven't posted FOREVER, by the way. Sorry for that.

Tonight I came back from the gym, and I was originally going to make a greek-ish type salad and have a shrimp cocktail with it. No, I'm serious. I had a bag of prawns lurking in the freezer and wanted to eat them before they got any trace of freezer burn on them.

Then the idea of a Vietnamese-y type rice bowl appealed to me, but I didn't want to go through the hassle of actually making the entire thing.

So instead, I looked in my tickle trunk and found some "Black Pepper Sauce for Chicken" single serve foil pack stir fry sauces. Yes bitches, the Lee Kum Kee ones. They're good, so sue me.

I sauteed a whole onion, some garlic, and added the prawns (which I loosely chopped into chunks), the sauce, and a fresh cut tomato at the end cause I felt guilty for not eating a tomato today as I was going to make salad. It was a great addition actually. I'm going to finish more "stir fry" kinds of meals with chunks of hot but raw tomato. Delish!

I spooned that over fluffy white rice (can't "get" brown yet) and topped with a tiny handful of crispy onions. I swear to god, I'm going to be putting them on oatmeal in the morning soon. I have a fairly serious obsession with them. I'm totally considering making that famous American green bean casserole topped with these things because really - how can it be anything but delicious?

Great quick little meal.

If It's Saturday......

.... then it's tenderloin beef dips my stylie with Shelby.

Seriously, he requests that every time we get together now. It's his favorite thing ever. Which is fine with me because godammit it they're awesome and it's always nice scoring extra points.

So tomorrow, it's off to the Italian Centre to buy the right bread for them. I have the steaks in my freezer from a week ago. That reminds me, gotta put 'em in the fridge.

With that, we'll likely have some Zinfandel I've got sitting about. And he'll bring gin - as always. Good Saturday planned!

Gnocchi!

Erica and Stefan are coming over... I haven't seen them in a while so I'm going to make something super simple, but delish.

I bought the gnocchi because let's face it, I'm not THAT dedicated to authenticity. But I DID buy them at the Italian Centre, so suck it.

I'm going to pitch together a super easy sauce of olive oil, carmelised onions, roasted tomatoes, bacon, herbs, chili flakes, and finish the dish with loadsa fresh herbs and some parmesano-reggiano.

With that I'm gonna pitch together some garlic herb bread - i already have the very herby butter, just need to add garlic and smear some on the birdseed baguette I picked up. WOW... gnocchi AND bread in one meal.... YAY!

Should be awesome. Not sure what we're drinking, as they're bringing wine, but I'm sure it'll be great. They choose good wine!

Just Because

Chicken Vegetable Soup

I had a random bunch of stuff to use in my fridge, so naturally I'm making soup. I had bought these pre-seasoned cooked strips of chicken breast, and they weren't quite as versatile as I'd hoped. They tasted alright but their texture was a bit to dry to throw in a wrap or a salad.

I basically made it thusly...

Sauteed some thin sliced carrot, chopped celery hearts and leaves, and a fine chopped onion. Seasoned and let the carrots get a bit soft. I added a finely chopped red pepper, hand squished 4 tomatoes, and then dumped in a knob of really herby mixed herb butter I made with the AeroGarden herbs... Then I pitched in a big handful of fine diced sweet potato, a handful of regular diced potato, and then tipped in the chopped chicken strips.

I added 3 tetra paks of chicken stock and then pitched in some fresh basil, fresh flatleaf parsley, a bit of cumin, and then a couple finely crushed dried thai bird's eye chiles.

It's cooking up still but it tastes awesome. Can't wait!

Update: Wow those chiles were fucking hot. WOW.

Saturday: Lobster Mac 'n' Cheese

I had plans for dinner with Shelby, but Noelle called me up and has tickets for a wine expo that's going on at the Shaw Conference Centre. She had two tickets, so we're gonna buy another and the three of us are going to meet up here for a glass of champagne, then go into the valley to the Shaw and take in the wine expo. Mucho free wine, nibblies, and gifts await!

Then it's back here, and I'm going to throw a Lobster Mac 'n' Cheese in the oven that I'll make in the afternoon and put in the fridge. I'm using Michelle's go-to recipe, probably sub cream of celery soup in for the mushroom, and add some of the lobster that's in my freezer. I've made it before and by using Michelle's "mother mac n cheese" recipe it'll be easy peasy.

Should be a fun night! I've got some ice cold Sauvignon Blanc to have with it. Should be spectac!

Friday: Shaun's Stag

Well, it's actually 5 of us going out for beers and a bite to eat to Original Joe's, a pretty solid pub/eatery in Glenora. It's actually a pretty cool place. I'm sick of the Hudsons/Brewsters blah kinda mass market pub.

There's a joint in my neighbourhood called "The Empress Ale House" which actually is AWESOME. They have barnyard skulls on the wall (how would I not love that) and dark recovered wood paneling and chandeliers. It's SUPER cool. They don't have food though. Although to satisfy the liquor code that says you MUST provide some kind of food - they'll nuke a Hungry Man TV dinner for you.

No, I'm serious. The place is THAT cool.

However we're not going there. We're going to Original Joe's.

Chicken Chili Sloppy Joes

Yeah, it's pretty much exactly what it sounds like. Some birdseed whole sprouted grain kinda bread with some hot chicken chili overtop.

Delish!

Haven't Really Been Cooking

Been super busy and lately I've just been bish bash bosh and chucking stuff together for dinner. Nothing exciting to report.

Tonight Matt is coming over with Vic (his lovely girlfriend) and we'll likely order something in. My day is CRAZY today so it might be pizza boys tonight. I'm kinda feeling pizza.

Tomorrow, Curt, Char, Shirley and Jay are coming over and I have a mellow day planned so I'll be cooking tomorrow night. I've got some cucumbers in the fridge because for some bizarre reason, long english cukes were 4 for $5 at Safeway this week. Oh right, those are the same cucumbers that nobody bought last week for $3.99 apiece. Fuckin' Safeway.

Anyway, I've also got a ton of fresh mint and those lobster tails. I'm half assed considering making vietnamese rice bowls with the lobster, but I'll likely buy some pork tenderloin and make those for tomorrow and fry up a giant pan of gyoza with some dipping sauce. Easy peasy, vietnameasy.

Shelby and I are getting together for dinner next week and I'll likely use those lobster tails for that. He lurrrves lobster. Then again, who doesn't?

Jambalaya? Meh.

It's okay. I did follow a recipe and put in too much thyme. This has happened to me before on a Ming Tsai recipe. But that one was a mistake.

This just has too much thyme for my taste. Oh well. I don't really care. When I go all out and work my ass off all day to have a party and cook and whatnot I typically don't even eat what I make. I know it'll be a big hit but I'm over it already and it's not even completely done. LOL

Oh well. Live and learn! Next time - no thyme.

Making Jambalaya

Last night I thawed my odds and sods of chicken, then just chopped them all up and sauteed in batches in a bit of peanut oil with a tiny bit of cajun seasoning. I never ever use the stuff but figured why not. I'm making Jambalaya so it'll probably work.

To be honest, I've never followed a recipe and made it. I've always just kinda pitched it all together and hoped for the best - to good results - but this time I'm going to do it more proper-ish. I think this is the recipe I'll use, but I'll adapt it to be a binary dish. I don't want the rice to cook in the jambalaya, I'm going to make it like a chili and let people scoop it over rice. That way if the rice fucks up - who cares. I'll put on some more.

Seasoning Mix (1/4 tsp Cayenne, 3/4 tsp White Pepper, 1 tsp Kosher Salt, 1/4 tsp Thyme, 1/2 tsp Rubbed Sage, 1/4 tsp Dried Basil, 1/2 tsp Black Pepper)

1 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
1/2 Cup Diced Andouille
1/2 Cup Diced Onion
1/2 Cup Diced Bell Pepper
1/2 Cup Diced Celery
1/2 Cup Diced Fresh Tomatoes
1/2 Cup Tomato Sauce
3/4 Cup Enriched Long Grain Rice
1 1/4 Cup Chicken Stock with a Shrimp shell infusion (see above)
1 Tbsp Homemade Worcestershire Sauce
2 Tbsp Minced Fresh Garlic
1/2 Cup Diced Chicken (Cooked or raw)
1 1/2 Cup Medium Shrimp (I use Louisiana)
1 Tbsp Finely Chopped Italian Parsley
3 Tbsp Finely Sliced Green Onions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Mix together the Holy Trinity (Onion, Celery, Bell Pepper).
In a Cast Iron Dutch Oven, melt the butter over medium heat, add the Andouille and cook until it just starts to brown. Add 1/2 of the Holy Trinity, cook until the vegetables are tender (nothing smells better than rendering Andouille with the Holy Trinity). Add the diced Tomatoes and cook for 1 minute. Add the Tomato Sauce and cook for another minute. Add the Rice and cook for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the Stock, the remaining Holy Trinity, Seasoning Mix, Worcestershire, and the Garlic. Taste the broth for seasoning, particularly salt. Add the Chicken, stir well and put the pot in the preheated oven. Bake uncovered for 25 minutes. After the twenty-five minutes stir in the raw Shrimp, Parsley, and Green Onions, place back in the oven for an additional 10 minutes, or until the Shrimp are cooked through. Serve with French Bread and your favorite Beer

I'm serving with a couple giant Italian pagnotta breads, a ginormous trough of "Hurricanes" and a biggie green salad. I have 3 different kinds of chicken skewers in the freezer which I'll set out as appies. I think there's some Indian ones, some satay ones, and some Hawaiian-esque ones with pineapple... In any case, I should have everything rolling by this afternoon, so literally I won't have to do ANYTHING but make the salad when my guests are here. That's the way I like it.

On another note, I've been feeling so amazing the last few weeks being back at the gym 5 days a week. This morning in bed I stretched a bit and fucked up my neck. Grrrrrrr. So I'll be enjoying my Hurricanes twice as much tonight as I'll also be on muscle relaxants. Woo hoo!

Happy Valentines!

Rediscovering Cinnamon Toast

Oh yeah. I'm serious.

Toast with margarine, sugar, and cinnamon.

Deal.

Saturday: Jambalaya

Sort of. At the fondue party at Scarlett's, I sort of committed to throwing a bit of a party for Valentines Day. That's cool, as I like the peeps who were there, so it'll be fun. I don't have Valentines plans anyway, so that's cool. Fun Saturday. Cool!

I've decided to do a sort of Jambalaya. Reason why, I emptied my freezer today, throwing out a few sketchy things and making room for the lobster tails. Ha!

Anyway, I have random odds and sods of chicken. Maybe 6 thighs, 2 medium breasts, 1 giant breast. Plus I have 2 ends of bags but still perfect prawns, and some smoked pork loin from farmers market in the summer, but it was cryovac'd so it's perfect. This is the base. Then I'll do the usual tomato base, with some tomato paste, tomato sauce, maybe a bit of both white and red wine *my recent discovery for depth in tomato sauces that aren't beef/red meat based* and the usual saute of onion, celery, peppers, and spices.. I'm thinking oregano, parsley, thyme, some worcestershire, chile, garlic, and of course a couple sausages rendered for the paprika flavored fat. Good times. I'll let that do it's thing and just add the prawns last minute... But it can cook in the dutch oven *from xmas* for a couple hours on saturday afternoon and get ridiculously flavorful...

I'll serve with mounds of fluffy jasmine rice from the rice cooker *no effort* and a gigantic fantastic salad my stylie. translation: lots of wild greens, rough choppy chop romaine hearts, some onion or shallot of some kind scrunched through lemon juice *thank you jamie oliver* and tomatoes, maybe some crispy onions or cornbread croutons and maybe some roasted pumpkin seeds with my vinaigrette....

That and a couple Italian Pagnotta's just chucked on the table so people can rip pieces off... and some chipotle butter or something...

I'm also going to make a giant trough of "hurricanes" which are these glorious rum and cirtus boozy filled cocktails... Should be awesome!

Will report back with review.

Lobster On Sale? WTF?

No, I'm serious. Our Safeway, for WHATEVER reason, had FROZEN lobster tails on HUGE sale! There are 4 medium sized ones in each pack. I got 2 packs. Not sure what I'm going to do with them, but I'm right chuffed that there's 8 lobster tails sitting in my freezer! YAY!

Climbing Shiraz

So, forgot to report back on the bottle of wine. It was really really good. We both enjoyed it a ton. I expected it to be a bit more of a fruitbomb, but it was a bit reserved - not typical of a new world Shiraz. But I looked at the region - and my suspicions were correct - it comes from a colder climate. That explains the fruit being a bit less explosive and the higher tannins. Surprisingly, I think this wine could age a bit. I'm going to pick up a couple more just to have around for impromptu nicer dinners that could use a biggie wine.

It was spectac with the beef dips. Ohhhhhhhh, those beef dips. My current obsession.

Shelby's too. So on Friday, he's making ME dinner! yay!

Beef Stroganoff Revelation

Okay, so I haven't had beef stroganoff since staying overnight at Laura and Ed's place when I was 14 years old and they took me to The X.... Probably because Mom and Dad guilted them into doing it for some reason. In any case, I got sick and threw it up all over their spare bedroom bed, rug, hallway, hallway rug, bathroom, and all fixtures in said bathroom. It was nasty. No, I'm serious.

Anyway, I feel that 22 years later, I'm finally ready to go down that road, but do it right. I made the beef stroganoff we ate on that fateful vomit fueled evening, but I think I'd choose to do my take on the classic again, instead of following that recipe that has long been blocked out for obvious reasons.

I'm going to revisit the stroganoff. I feel I'm ready. I'll report back when I take the plunge.

Comments with recipe suggestions welcome. Yes sisters, I'm talking to you.

Not cooking today.

Yeah not gonna happen. Lunch was a corned beef sandwich on birdseed bread and dinner will be some leftover stuffed pasta shells from a while ago that were in the freezer... Scarlett and Shaun and Shirley are coming over later to hang out but we're not doing dinner... I'll pick up some snacks to throw in the oven from M&M after the gym... *my dirty secret*

I actually like quite a few of their products.

This week may not be doing a ton of cooking as we're finalizing the flavour profiles for our sports nutrition drinks... Final tasting is next weekend then they go into manufacturing... yay! Finally after 3 years of conceptualizing and refining this project, our supplements are going to see the light of day....

Anyway, just doing laundry now and going to the gym later.

Saturday Afternoon

I got on a cleaning jag today. I totally emptied every cupboard and drawer in my kitchen, cleaned them out, sorted the contents, and threw out a bunch of junk I don't use. Over the years I've gotten some ridiculous kitchen gadgets but admittedly they rarely get used. I don't need a special tool for taking the eye out of a tomato. I use a paring knife. I probably chucked 15 gadgets I've never even used. I feel bad but at the same time - my kitchen is the size of a smart car. I really need to economize on space.

I also did the same to the bathroom, and also threw out a ton of crap. 1/3 full bottles of conditioner that have been under the sink for 2 years. Also, my head is shaved so I don't need that stuff.

Feels good to get rid of it. I'm also having a Brahma while I'm cleaning. Yay!

Beef Dips MY Stylie Again

Shelby's coming over later, and requested these sarnies. So we're having them again. I actually happened to find some tenderloin in the crisper! (Freezer, actually). Perfect. I was in the mood to have these again FO SHO. I can't tell you how delicious they are.

Sisters who may be reading this - I'll make these for you next time you're at my place for dinner. They really are sublime.

The lineup is the same as last time. Lightly garlicked and toasted baguette, layered slices of medium beef tenderloin, smear on carmelized onions, and a good whack of either just horseradish or smear on horseradish aioli.

Cut in half, and dip into hot bowls of au jus or demi loosened with red wine and stock/water.

TO. DIE. FOR.

No, I'm serious.

Oh, we're having this with a green salad. Gin and Tonics for cocktails, and a wicked looking Australian Shiraz named "Climbing". There's 8 VERY distinguished awards on the bottle, so I'm extremely excited to be trying it, as I've never even HEARD of it. It was $17something in the liquor store, so I'm really intrigued. I bought 2 bottles. Will definitely report back results.

Salad and Cheese Toast Redux

Thursday I did shopping but wasn't in the mood to make anything special. In my fridge was all the shtuff to make a greens and veg salad - including some of my vinaigrette, so salad was definitely going to make an appearance.

I had some frozen 145 grain baguette in my freezer, so I thawed it, sliced it in half, and smeared on some of the leftover toppings from homemade potato skins. Cheddar cheese, very finely diced red tiger's eye chile (so very, very hot - handle with extreme caution), chopped rotisserie chicken, bacon, scallion, and a bit of sour cream just to make the mixture sticky.

Broiled said bread and had with the salad. Okay, the bread was AWESOME. I'd prefer to make that for the bread itself and forego the potato skins.

Yum!

Chicken Chili

I'll admit, I kinda fell back into chili my stylie, but it ended up so bloody good that I'm gonna start following the Michelle route and experimenting with white chili, chili verde, etc.

I finely diced 3 huge chicken breasts, and sauteed them until slightly browned.

I then sauteed 1 onion finely diced, the insides of 2 celery hearts with all the good parts, and then added back the chicken, a can of black beans slightly drained, a can of kidney beans slightly drained, and a good couple 2 tbsp of chili powder and the same of crushed cumin seeds.

Then I added 3 cans of Aylmer Chili Tomatoes (they have like 5 kinds and this was my first foray into trying them)....They're AWESOME for chili. You get the deep flavour of a chili that's been simmering for hours - but in 20 mins max. They're killer. I'll use them all the time for the tradish style for sure.

Had that with some birdseed bread for dinner last night. Having it tonight as well. I'm really happy with this batch.

Superfast Soups

This link was off a CNN page or something if I'm not mistaken. I haven't looked through all of them yet, just the first 4 or so and they look great.

20/20: Superfast Soups

I'm gonna try some of these for sure.

Fondue Tonight

So I'm headed over to Scarlett and Shaun's for a fondue tonight. Should be 20 people or so there. Really looking forward to it as they have a friend named Nathan who's an absolute riot and pretty easy to look at too. He's super funny.

Oh, and Scarlett and Shaun are fun too. lol.

I'm bringing cheese fondue. Which I purchased. The Swiss Knight ones are so good (just buy them in a giant foil packet) and heat and eat. It tastes EXACTLY like Mom's, so quite honestly I think she's been lying all these years saying she made them. Ummmm riiiiiiiight.

Avocadoes, Avocadoes, Avocadoes

I think I've eaten 6 avocadoes in the last week. I'm on a kick. But i always tend to either eat them as guacamole (and mine RULES - mashed avocado, cilantro, lots of fresh squeezed lemon, chopped scallion and salt/pepper).... or I make it smashed with onions and tomatoes and salt/pepper and smear it on toast like Mom used to make me about 84 years ago.

Anyone have suggestions? Leave a comment. I have 2 more ripe ones in my fridge and I'm eating some chips and guac right now. I need to use the other two.

Chicken and Prawn Fried Rice

I had so much random odds and sods in my fridge that I needed to do something to get rid of them. I love making fried rice. Whenever I make rice for something, I almost always make extra so I can shove it in a ziploc overnight in the fridge. This rice was actually there for a week, but it was still perfect. The nose knows!

I make mine with ALWAYS the same base. Rice, Garlic, Ginger, Scallion, diced omelette, and Soy Sauce.

I also threw in some diced room temperature chicken (Shirley and my term for rotisserie chicken), some chopped cooked prawns, some fried mushrooms, and that might be it. Oh and a diced red chile.

Had this with a few vegetable pakoras I found in the crisper!

Deeeelish.

8/10

Beef Dips MY Stylie

Kay so Shelby and I did try the ULTIMATE beef dip. Picture it.

Slice an onion thin and carmelize in a pan. Season lightly. Set aside.

Season and sear/roast 2 beef tenderloin steaks. Let rest while you prepare everything else.

Make an aioli or VERY generously add grated or bottled horseradish to some prepared light mayo. Add a bit of lemon juice, season it, and set aside.

Fly to Edmonton and go to the Italian Centre and buy a couple of their SUPERB baguettes.

Slice open the baguettes, and very lightly spread with some garlic/herb butter. (oh, i know). Broil until browned.

Slice the beef quite thin, bistro style. Smear some horseradish aioli on the baguette, add the beef, top with carmelized onions, add some watercress, and press down with the other side of baguette.

Slice in half and dip in au jus. (I actually used store bought and other than it containing 4 days worth of sodium per serving - it's actually REALLY good).

This may have been my favorite sarny I've ever had. It was spectacular spectacular. Shelby could NOT STOP raving about it. I earned some serious points with this dinner.

11/10 simply because of the extra points earned. These were AMAZING.

Rotisserie Chicken and a Baked Potato

Yep. Bought a chicken, making a baked potato. Delish!

Green Salad and Avocado on Toast

Last night Scarlett came over. We had some wine and I made a really tasty simple vegetarian dinner. Actually I think I ate completely vegetarian yesterday. Oh wait, no there was a couple pieces of proscuitto on a piece of pizza I had. Oh well.

I made a GREAT green salad with baby romaine, mixed herb and baby greens, watercress, some sliced purple onion, cucumber, grape tomatoes, my go-to vinaigrette, and some crispy fried onions.

I also took a couple avocados, mashed 'em up, added lots of lemon juice, some chopped scallion, and some more of the grape tomatoes and salt/pepper and spread it thick on some toasted whole wheat/whole grain/birdseed baguette.

Delish! Especially delicious with Sauvignon Blanc.

Pork Tenderloin Tomato Pasta

Shirley's going away to Edson for a week, so I thought I'd send her off with at least a meal that was made by someone with a full set of teeth.

I had some pork tenderloin in the freezer, so i thawed one, sliced it in half lengthwise, then in small crescent moons. I then sauteed those off in a pan with some grapeseed oil, cracked black pepper and fleur de sel. Then I set them aside.

I sauteed half an onion, sliced fine, until somewhat carmelized then added two cloves of finely chopped garlic. Then a bottle of passata, and some finely chopped parsley, oregano, basil, and some dried chile flakes and some cracked pepper and fleur de sel.

I let that simmer for a while and added the pork. Then I put in a slash of red wine. I served this with some whole wheat spaghetti and some parmesan. Plus a couple wedges of whole wheat baguette broiled with some fresh herb and garlic butter.

Delish!

Last Night: Potato Skins

I know. How sad is that. The saddest part actually was I didn't even make them myself. I was in M&M meat shop with Shirley and I wanted to buy some of their chicken/spinach stuffed shells. Sorry, but they're fucking delicious. Sue me.

I was drawn in by these potato skins. They were already cooked and cryovac'd with melted cheese and bacon and the whole business just ready to heat up in the oven. Good times I thought, but I was wrong. They were disgusting. I don't even want to get into it. No, I'm serious.

I've Gotta Stop Eating Rice Bowls

But how can I? Once your fridge is full of basil, mint, cucumber, and a jar of that wicked Vietnamese dressing - there's no stopping.

Tonight I made it pretty much the same, but I used soy nuts instead of peanuts, and I used the leftover grilled steak from yesterday. I won't use the soy nuts in it again. I thought it was simply the crunch that I liked in the rice bowl, but it's the flavour of the peanuts too I've discovered.

I was full and didn't eat the whole bowl actually. However, this is the bowl I made it in.

Off to the Empress Ale House

Tonight it's pints and laughs at the Empress. Super chill place on Whyte Ave. Heading out with a bunch of other people, should be a laugh.

I wanted to eat something with some good starch in it to get ready and go have some beer. I went to the Italian Market this afternoon and got some baguettes. Tonight I was super lazy and took some leftover pork tenderloin from Shelby night, and just sliced it very thin and put in the baguette that had some butter, watercress, horseradish, and a few of those crispy onions that I'm absolutely OBSESSED over lately. This sandwich was SPECTACULAR. mmmm mmmm!

Tomorrow I'm doing the "sandwich as dinner" bit as well, but I have some steak to grill, some onions to carmelize, a horseradish aioli to make, and some au jus. Also some watercress stuffed in there too. Very much looking forward to trying THAT. That could be a keeper. Shelby would love that too.

New Rice Bowls

Shelby's coming over tonight so we're doing Rice Bowls again. This time I'm going to stir fry some thin sliced pork tenderloin and thin sliced onion with lemongrass, ginger, garlic, and some soy and use that for the meat portion. I'm using regular jasmine rice, that great dipping sauce/dressing, and the usual cucumber/mint/thai basil with the topping of peanuts/crispy onions/bean sprouts etc.... I'm also going to throw a couple pan fried gyoza on the top. He eats like a horse. Hahaha.

We'll also be playing guitar hero and drinking gin and tonics. mmmmmmmm. Gin.

Salad and Cheese Toast

Went grocery shopping in this disgusting weather we're having. Shirley tagged along and we went to Lucky97. Was going to go to the Big Fresh but it's shut down since Christmas. I got tons of great ingredients but too lazy to make anything of substance tonight.

Tonight is some mixed greens and some romaine with peppers and tomatoes and my go-to vinaigrette of late, which is essentially a very lazy caesar.

Juice of a lemon, some garlic, sometimes shallot, worcestershire, grainy mustard of some kind, capers, grapeseed oil, some interesting vinegar if i have it, and shake it up in a bottle and into the fridge. Oh, don't forget the salt and ground pepper.

I also picked up some baguette, so I'll find some cheese of some sort in the crisper and make some cheese toast.

I picked up some pork tenderloins, some sirloin, and still have frozen basa and perch so I'll be making some good stuff this week. I know I want to do pork tenderloin and scallions in a black pepper sauce. I also want to re-visit the steaming of seafood in banana leaves, but just go by instinct this time and see what happens.

The Pizza Fallout

Tony's Pizza was good. Just like Pizza Boys. Exactly the same, actually.

Stefan brought it over and I stuck it in the oven while we were having some, and predictably, it got a little hot in there for the box. It didn't light on fire, just started to smoke a little bit.

So i took them out, and turned off the auto-heat in my place and turned on the circulating fans. I forgot to turn that off, however, and woke up to a balmy 6 degrees C in my place this morning. I could see my breath. Soooo cold. Once i figured out what happened, I went back to bed and hid under the covers for half an hour until the temp was livable. It took about an hour to come back up to normal.

Dumb dumb dumb!

Off grocery shopping this afternoon. Will plan out some meals later.

Tonight is Tony's Pizza

Stefan is coming over and he's bringing what he calls the "absolute best" pizza in town. I've heard of this joint before. It's apparently great. So tonight will be pizza and likely a couple cocktails.

No cooking required today. For lunch I was in a total rush and had an embarassing can of chefboyardee ravioli. Breakfast was a MetRx protein shake.

Tomorrow I've gotta go grocery shopping again. I've been on a huge tuna kick lately again. Not sure why. After 3 years of eating it nonstop every day with Terry, i was off tuna big time for ages. Now I can't get enough of it again.

I'm also back on eggs after a hiatus for a while after an unfortunate episode at Humpty's. Then again, isn't EVERY encounter with Humpty's unfortunate?

More to report tomorrow when I actually cook something.

It's Rice Bowl Night Again

So Scarlett and Shawn are coming over to hang out for dinner and have some wine. I have leftover coconut rice from the Jamie Oliver fiasco, so I'm going to make rice bowls again. Scarlett really likes these kinds of bowls when we go out for Vietnamese, so I think she'll like it. And Shawn like trying new stuff.

I'm making another bottle of that SUPERB dipping sauce/dressing.

Today's rice bowls are going to have -

Chopped cucumber, tons 'o' fresh mint, the coconut rice, some quick seared thin sliced beef sirloin with some sesame oil and soy, bean sprouts, smashed peanuts, and scallion and crispy fried onion. And don't forget that awesome sauce. Mmmmmm.

I love this so much. I'm not kidding when I say I could eat this almost every day. I'd have no problem with that at all. By playing with the accoutrements and the type of protein in it - I'll never get sick of this.

Definitely in heavy rotation for the time being. Especially since I have a ton of Asian ingredients hanging around.

Thai-ish Beef Salad

Okay, this was fantastic. Sort of inspired by an episode I saw of Oliver's Twist. I improvised to my own taste, based on the rice bowl success, and this is how it turned out.

Take a decent piece of tenderloin beef, say a pound or so. Season it with salt and fairly aggressive pepper, and sear/then roast at 400 or 450 or so until it's medium/rare or medium. Remove and let stand for 15 mins or so.

Take some of the same thai/vietnamese dressing from the Vietnamese rice bowls and crack some whole coriander seeds into it... add a bit more lime juice and stir it around...

In a bowl, peel some cucumber into thin ribbons and place in a mound... add a small handful of chopped peanuts, a sprinkling of sesame seeds, and some chopped scallion... toss this a bit with your hands...

Top with some slices of the fresh sliced warm tenderloin, then top that with a handful of bean sprouts, a drizzle of sesame seed oil, and some fresh chopped mint and thai basil.

Top this with a drizzle of the coriander seed infused Thai dressing...

DELISH. I could eat this every day. No, I'm serious.

9/10. Would get 10/10 but you're hungry an hour after eating it.

Jamie Oliver Inspired Steamed Seafood Packets

This is a classic example of a recipe that looks fantastic, but that turns out to be seriously lackluster. I was flipping through one of my Jamie Oliver books and saw this great recipe for seafood steamed with Thai flavours in a banana leaf, which he suggested was served with steamed rice.

This is what I did. Pretty close to his recipe, but i even increased the flavours a bit.

On a big piece of banana leaf, do the following:

Oil it slightly with some peanut or corn oil
Place a tsp or so of finely chopped garlic
Place a tsp or so of finely chopped fresh lemongrass
Place about 2 tsp of finely julienned fresh ginger
Place about 1/2 a finely diced shallot
Place about 1/2 a finely diced small red chile
Place about a small handful of ripped fresh cilantro
Place about a 1/4 of a red pepper, finely sliced
Drizzle about 1/2 a tsp of sesame seed oil
Drizzle the juice of 1/2 a lime

Now put down your seafood... I used

4 oz of basa
4 oz of perch
about 12 clams

spoon over about 3 tbsp of coconut milk

Fold over into a packet and bake at 20 mins at 400 .

I should have known when the recipe didn't ask for any kind of salt... no soy, no fish sauce, no salt. It was going to be a bit bland. I trusted it thought because it was a Jamie Oliver recipe.

Big mistake. This was bland bland bland. Not even all those aromatics and cilantro and ginger and garlic could save it. This was bleah. The dude said it was good but he's very polite. I don't think he cared for it much either.

I wouldn't make this again. But I am going to experiment this week with more steaming in banana leaves. I'm all over the concept, but this recipe was so boring. I'm going to take this concept and make a pesto sort of thing out of it. Stand by.

3/10

Vietnamese Rice Bowls

Okay, I pretty much perfected the Vietnamese Rice Bowl.

Usually, it's a vermicelli bowl, but getting vermicelli cooked perfectly moist but dry and warm enough to work is a pain in the ass. Better to use a rice cooker, and then lay the cooked rice out on a sheet of foil to cool a bit so that it's not boiling hot when you put it down over the cucumber and herbs.

In a bowl, you're gonna layer the following.

Sliced or rough chopped cucumber

Top with chopped thai basil and mint

Top with room temp rice

Top that with slices of roasted pork tenderloin. I just rubbed it with black pepper and a bit of dark soy for colour. Seared and roasted at 400 until done. Rested for 15 minutes.

Top the pork with finely chopped green onion, smashed peanuts, a small handful of bean sprouts, a small handful of shredded green papaya/carrot (from the market) and some of those crispy onions that are sold in supermarkets for salad toppings.

Onto this amazing bowl, add a few tablespoons of this sauce.

5 tablespoons sugar
½ cup warm water

Juice of a big lime or 2
1/3 cup fish sauce

1 minced clove fresh garlic

1 minced tiger’s eye chile

1 finely minced shallot

(make in a bottle and shake to dissolve the sugar. Lasts 2 weeks in the fridge)

I can't tell you how good these were. They were RIDICULOUS.

That Thai Dressing is my go to Asian dressing and dipping sauce. I'm going to use it for EVERYTHING. I HIGHLY recommend trying this out and playing with the ingredients. So healthy and SO delicious. The Dude LOVED this.

10/10