Archive for October, 2008
300!!
How can this be? And I haven’t even managed to sort all these recipes into an alphabetical and categorized database. (It’s getting to be a mighty large project, let me tell you. I have been working on it!)
Three hundred. Imagine what else I might have accomplished if I just committed myself to spend time every night on it, no matter how tired I was or what else I had going on. I guarantee there is nothing else I’ve done in my lifetime for 300 consecutive days, except maybe eat and breathe. And I suppose change diapers, but that wasn’t much of a challenge.
It was a celebratory day today too, which is sort of fitting. I wouldn’t have wanted to post grilled cheese and a double double on day 300, although that would have been fitting, too. It’s the week of the birthday trilogy: my sister, Mike and me. Mine is later this week, but we generally get the family together for dinner on the closest Sunday, which was today. It was at my sister’s house and a potluck. We made it Indian, hoping to trigger my other sister into labour (it might have worked), but mostly because I wanted an excuse to have butter chicken.
Once I made it I realized that it doesn’t really need to be half butter and cream (some recipes I found called for 3 cups of whipping cream and/or a cup of melted butter) and thus need not be relegated to multiple-birthday days. I further found you can do it in the slow cooker – at least until the adding of the cream. It wouldn’t have occurred to me, but I was cooking for 13 and needed it to be transportable and easily reheated, so I simmered the tomatoes, spices and chicken for a few hours this afternoon, took it over, plugged it in and stirred in some plain yogurt and the merest splash of cream while it was set on warm.
But my sister made these curried potatoes and cauliflower that were phenomenal; it was something she remembered seeing Jamie Oliver make on TV years ago, and she went ahead and winged it. This is how she relayed it to me:
Melt butter (as I was leaving she confessed that the quantity of butter likely had something to do with their awesomeness – 1/2 cup – it was a large batch, but still) and a bit of coconut milk (the last of the can, about 1/4 cup) and a big spoonful of curry paste (Jamie had made his own spice blend, of course) until it’s melted and the coconut cooks down to “sort of oily”; add diced potatoes and cauliflower florets and cook until they start to brown. Cover and keep on cooking. Add a half a pint of grape tomatoes and keep on cooking until everything is soft.
They cooked for quite awhile, and she used a large electric frying pan to free up the stovetop for the soup, rice and naan. Seriously, phenomenal. I feel as if I’m about to deliver quintuplets and still I can’t wait for leftovers tomorrow. Ironic that the veggies had more butter than the butter chicken, which actually had none, come to think of it.
Better Butter Chicken
This is also a great way to use up leftover roast chicken or turkey; chop and add it to the sauce instead of the chicken breasts.
canola or olive oil, for cooking
3-4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts or thighs
1 onion, finely chopped
1 Tbsp. grated ginger
3 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tsp. chili powder
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
1 19 oz. (540 mL) can diced tomatoes, undrained
1 can tomato paste
1-2 tsp. garam masala (optional)
1 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup(ish) half and half (or whipping cream)
salt and pepper
steamed basmati rice, for serving with
In a large skillet set over medium-high heat, cook the chicken breasts in a drizzle of oil until browned on both sides. Set aside, or transfer to a slow cooker.
Add a little more oil to the skillet and cook the onion until starting to brown. Add the ginger and garlic and cook for another minute, then add the chili powder, turmeric and cinnamon and cook for another minute. Slice the chicken on a slight diagonal; don’t worry if it’s not cooked through.
Add the tomatoes and tomato paste and bring to a simmer; pour over the chicken in the slow cooker and set on low for 5-6 hours or high for 2, or return the chicken to the skillet, cover and simmer for 20-30 minutes, or until the sauce is thickened and the chicken is cooked through.
Turn the heat down to low and stir in the garam masala, yogurt and cream, if you’re using it. Season with salt and pepper, if it needs it.
Serve immediately, with rice.
Serves 6
And cupcakes from Crave, just because we could. Back when we lived in Vancouver 5 years ago I TOLD Mike we should move back to Calgary and open a cupcake shop. He wouldn’t go for it. W could have been heir to our cupcake fortune. Seriously, $47 for a dozen cupcakes and a dozen minis? It seems I was on the right track when I opened the Kooky Cupcake Company (my mom had to explain why spelling it with three Ks was not a good idea) with a $20 loan for ingredients and the One Egg Cake recipe from The Joy of Cooking when I was about 8. (A lot of the profits were eaten up.)
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October 26 2008 | chicken & turkey and veg | 21 Comments »
It’s astounding how easy homemade chicken fingers are, and how much better they are than frozen chicken nuggets. Nigella has a recipe for ‘Ritzy Chicken’ that calls for crushed Ritz crackers to be used as a coating for chunks of chicken which are then shallow-fried in oil. I want them. Instead I used Panko (very crispy Japanese breadcrumbs) and a Ziploc bag of chicken strips I had frozen in buttermilk, which I took out and thawed in a bowl of warm water to pre-feed W before Mike and I went out for his birthday dinner. Being on an actual Saturday, we had to play the birthday card to secure a babysitter (Mom) and go out.
Marinating chicken in buttermilk tenderizes it, and the buttermilk can act as a vehicle for all sorts of spices if you want to go that route. Otherwise, pull it directly out of the buttermilk and dredge in crumbs, or beat an egg to dip plain chicken in before coating it. You don’t really need Panko either – crushed crackers or breadcrumbs work fine. I like to mix them with grated Parmesan or pecans.
So that was a sort of late lunch pre-dinner for W. As for us, as usual I planned this all far too late and every restaurant I called was booked up unless we wanted to eat before 5 or after 9. Many hosts/esses sounded irritated that I would bother them with a call on a Saturday afternoon in regards to the very same evening. I figured considering our current economic climate people might not be eating out as much. Wrong.
Then I remembered Antolini’s, a wee Italian place in the old Arden Diner run by a family from Toronto who moved to Calgary a couple years ago when their three sons wanted a change. Despite the fact that it’s rated one of the top in Calgary, as well as one of the most inexpensive (on UrbanSpoon), despite the fact that the family has run their restaurant (in Toronto before here) for almost 30 years, all their pastas are handmade, as is the ricotta and bocconcini and tiramisu, we were the only ones in the place save for one other couple who came in halfway through our dinner. The father served us and was welcoming, sincere, attentive, friendly, generous. They brought a plate of homemade tomato bruschetta while we perused the menu. The salads arrived in about 5 minutes (one of the best Caesars I’ve had), and the pastas (mine was something or other stuffed with spinach and fresh ricotta, Mike always has to have the carbonara if it’s available – this was fettucine) arrived about 5 minutes after the salad plates were whisked away. Everytime he placed plates of food before us, he’d quietly say “it’s delicious“, as if to subtly plant the idea in our minds before we started eating. It always was. I wish I could give them a few decor tips and suggest that they serve fresh butter with their bread basket rather than little plastic packets of Becel, but the food was fantastic. It made me sad that while down the street people were clamouring to spend their money at JaroBlue or Farm or Eight, this lovely family patiently waited for someone to come in to what seemed like an extension of their home.
(We did walk down the street and take a peek into Farm after – it’s the new charcuterie owned by Janice Beaton down by Cafe Beano, where you can order cheese and meat samplers served on wooden slabs with fresh bread and condiments – but that’s another story.) Dessert was a little box of treats from Brûlée Patisserie in lieu of a cake, which we ate on the couches at Eau Claire market before our movie (Burn After Reading – OK.)
Chicken Strips with Honey Mustard
If you prefer, these can be cooked in a hot skillet with a little oil instead of baking them in the oven.
3 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, cut into strips (about 1 lb.)
1/2 cup buttermilk or 1 large egg
1 – 2 cups Panko (Japanese breadcrumbs), corn flake crumbs, dry breadcrumbs or finely crushed crackers
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
Salt & pepper to taste
Honey & mustard, for dipping
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Break the egg into a shallow dish and beat it a little with a fork. If you are using buttermilk, pour it over the chicken and refrigerate for an hour. Combine crumbs, any additions you like, and salt and pepper in another shallow dish.
Dip chicken strips into egg (or remove from buttermilk) and roll in crumbs to coat well. Place about an inch apart on a greased baking sheet. If you want, lightly spray the strips with cooking spray.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden and cooked through. Mix equal amounts of honey and mustard for dipping.
Serves 4.
Per serving: 264 calories, 5.1 g total fat (2.1 g saturated fat, 1.5 g monounsaturated fat, 0.6 g polyunsaturated fat), 31.2 g protein, 20.9 g carbohydrate, 124.6 mg cholesterol, 0.6 g fiber. 18% calories from fat.
Curried Almond Chicken Fingers: coat chicken strips in a mixture of 1 1/2 cups crumbs, 1/2 cup finely chopped almonds, and 1 tsp. curry powder.
Pecan Crusted Chicken Fingers: coat chicken strips in a mixture of 3/4 cup finely chopped pecans, 1/2 cup corn flake or Panko crumbs, 2 tbsp. flour, salt & pepper.
Spicy Chicken Fingers: add 1 tsp. chili powder to the crumb mixture, and a few drops of Tabasco sauce to the buttermilk.
Crunchy Buffalo Chicken Fingers: dip chicken strips in low fat creamy ranch dressing spiked with a teaspoon of bottled hot pepper sauce, then roll in crumbs to coat.
Crispy Sesame Chicken Fingers: roll chicken strips in a mixture of half crumbs, half sesame seeds. Serve with sweet & sour or sweet garlic dipping sauce.
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October 25 2008 | appetizers and chicken & turkey and snacks | 11 Comments »
My sister’s birthday today. I picked her kids up from school and we went home and made her some dinner before E’s soccer game. She has always loved spanikopita, so I made some in small packet form she could eat on the couch while we stirred the risotto - she has always been a fan of creamy, seafood-y things (her birthday dinner of choice years ago was the Seafood St. Jacques that came baked in a half shell at Mother Tucker’s) so I made seafood risotto, adding scallops and shrimp at the end rather than shrimp and spinach. Damn, I could have used the shrimp stock I had in the freezer! (Anytime I peel shrimp I pile up their shells in a saucepan, cover them with water and simmer for a few minutes, until I have a bright pink stock. There aren’t a whole lot of uses for shrimp stock though, except seafood chowder or a big noodle bowl… or shrimp risotto.)
Mom brought over one of those DQ cakes with chemically frosting but that awesome chocolate crunchy stuff inside that we ate after the game.
Spanakopita (Spinach & Feta) Triangles
1 pkg. phyllo pastry, thawed (you’ll need 12-16 sheets)
1/4 cup melted butter, canola or olive oil, or a combination
Filling:
1 tsp. canola oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 10 oz. pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
1 cup crumbled feta cheese (about 4 oz.)
1 large egg
Salt & pepper to taste
In a medium skillet set over medium heat, sauté onion and garlic in oil until soft. Add spinach and cook until moisture has evaporated. Transfer to a bowl and cool slightly. Stir in feta, egg, salt and pepper and some fresh dill or mint if you like.
Preheat oven to 375°F.
Take two sheets of phyllo and stack them on a clean work surface; cover the rest with a tea towel so it doesn’t dry out. Brush the phyllo very lightly with butter. (A trick I use to apply the butter sparingly is to dip the brush in warm water, then squeegee it out well with my fingers. That way when I dip it into the butter it only sits on the surface, rather than saturating the bristles with butter.)
Cut the sheet in half lengthwise and then again into quarters so you have 4 long strips. Place a spoonful of filling at one end of each strip and fold the corner over it diagonally. Continue folding the strip as if you were folding a flag, maintaining the triangle shape.
Repeat with the remaining phyllo and filling, placing the packets seam side down on a baking sheet. (They can be prepared up to this point and frozen in a single layer and then transferred to a plastic bag. Pop them out of the freezer and bake them frozen.)
If there is any butter left, use it to brush the tops of the triangles, or spray them with some nonstick spray. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden.
Makes 2-2 1/2 dozen triangles.
Per triangle (based on 2 dozen): 69 calories, 4 g total fat (2.1 g saturated fat, 1.1 g monounsaturated fat, 0.5 g polyunsaturated fat), 2.1 g protein, 6.5 g carbohydrate, 19 mg cholesterol, 0.5 g fiber. 51% calories from fat
Chicken, Spinach, Sun-Dried Tomato and Feta Triangles: add 1/2 cup chopped roasted chicken and 1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes (packed in oil or soaked in water) to the spinach mixture.
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October 25 2008 | appetizers and snacks and vegetarian | 80 Comments »
Check this out.
I was rummaging through the fridge, trying to identify the contents of the 7 or so yogurt containers in there. Some were yogurt. One was leftover lentil veg curry. It looked awful. And mushy. I wondered how to reheat it now that we don’t have a microwave (real estate in this kitchen is at its prime; the convection toaster oven won space with a view, close to all amenities). So on a whim, I put it in the food processor with a can of drained chick peas, a squirt of lemon juice and drizzle of olive oil and pureed it. It was perfect. I split and cut a few pitas, brushed the rough sides with a bit of oil and sprinkled them with Italian seasoning, and toasted them in the toaster oven to go with. (See? Microwaved pitas just wouldn’t have been the same.) And pulled out a bag of baby carrots from the market that didn’t even need peeling. This is the best kind of dinner when you’re eating at your desk.
I know I’ve been promising chocolate panini for awhile. If you are at all a fan of the chocolate croissant, you should make this. (They are far lower in fat than a croissant, and far healthier if you use canola oil.) They are good for all occasions; they are perfect with coffee, or tea, or as dessert. They are perfect paired with wine. If you crank them out at a party, you’ll make everyone happy. (Come to think of it, these would make great warmish Halloween treats for grown-ups who wind up at your door.) My sister borrowed my panini grill one morning when it was her turn to bring breakfast to the staff room. I realize these classify more as dessert than breakfast, but if Krispy Kremes and Pop Tarts make the cut, why not a little wedge of bread and square of dark chocolate?
I just finished writing an enormous paragraph on how heat transforms two otherwise very utilitarian ingredients into something far more transcendent, and then accidentally erased it. And I don’t feel like writing it all over again. And I wonder already how I came up with so much to say on how to make something so simple.
So. You slice the bread fairly thinly on a slight diagonal (only because it’s easier to bite into a crust that isn’t straight up and down) – I like to slice once completely through, then once almost, keeping one edge of crust intact, and then another slice through, so that I end up with little bread books that I can tuck a piece of chocolate into, rather than worry about the two slices and chocolate sliding around on each other. Brush the outsides of the bread with a little canola oil, then grill in a hot panini press. If you don’t have a panini press, cook them in a hot skillet like you would a grilled cheese sandwich, with a second skillet set on top and weighed down with a large can or something heavy enough to squish it a little as it cooks.
(Once you’ve tried it the real-chocolate way, you can go ahead and make some with Nutella.)
October 23 2008 | appetizers and snacks and sweet stuff and vegetarian | 11 Comments »
Lou went for the Big Snip yesterday. Today he is slightly drugged, sporting a giant plastic cone around his head and a fresh Brazilian wax. A bull in a china shop has nothing on this guy. Every time he wants to come up the stairs (which is every time I want to go upstairs, or every time any one of us has to go to the loo) you sort of have to hold up his cone to prevent him from chopping himself in the throat as he rams it into the upcoming stair with every step. And every time he comes running up behind you, which is about every five minutes, you get knocked over at the knee and another half-moon plastic cone imprint on the back of your leg.
I figured he deserved some sort of treat. Plus we needed something to use for our cone-toss. (Just kidding. Kind of.) So I made leftovers cookies. These make use of whatever meat and veg (even mashed potatoes) you might have left over, with enough batter to bind it all together. So it’s a good recipe to have during turkey dinner season, because dogs never tire of turkey dinner. They are grateful for whatever they can get, even left over leftovers. (If you don’t have mashed potatoes, you could always microwave a small sweet potato and mash it with a fork. Or leave them out altogether. Hey you could even use meatloaf in these. But then you’d have one less sandwich.)
Am I being clear enough that these are intended for dogs? I mean, you could go ahead and have one if you really wanted to. They might be like those meal replacement bars you take to the gym.
Leftovers Cookies
1 cup mashed potatoes, cooled
½ – 1 cup chopped cooked chicken, turkey, beef or pork
½-1 cup cooked vegetables, such as carrots, peas or broccoli, chopped or mashed
½ cup chicken or beef stock or leftover gravy, or scrapings from the roasting pan, coaxed off with some water or stock
1 large egg
2 Tbsp. canola or olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 cups whole wheat flour
½ cup cornmeal
1 tsp. baking powder
Pinch salt
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a large bowl, combine mashed potatoes, chopped meat, vegetables, broth, egg, oil and garlic. Add flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt and stir just until blended.
Drop large spoonfuls of dough onto a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with nonstick spray, or use your fingers. Press each cookie down to flatten a little with your hand, or squish with a fork. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until springy to the touch. Cool on the pan or transfer to a wire rack.
Makes about 2 dozen cookies. Store extras in a tightly sealed container in the fridge, or freeze.
Oh right – dinner. Meatloaf sandwiches, of course. Everyone knows that the very best sandwich in the world is a meatloaf sandwich; reason enough to make meatloaf in the first place. I love/hate that you can slice a nice, clean, congealed slab off of a cold loaf.
On buttered bread, with ketchup.
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October 22 2008 | leftovers | 9 Comments »
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300!!
