La Gourmandesse

Sweet roasted root veggie perfection.

A few weeks ago, our CSA veggie box contained some particularly fat & sassy beets, and the first carrots of the year. I love roasted beets, and the carrots were crying out to join their purple cousins in tinfoil on the barbeque.

Peeled and ready for chopping.

Seasoned with S&P and garden herbs.

Simply chop the beets and carrots roughly, toss them in olive oil and chopped garlic, sprinkle with salt, pepper, fresh rosemary, oregano and thyme, and pop this all into a tinfoil package. It can go on the BBQ for 45 minutes over indirect heat (one burner on high, the other off, package over the off burner) or in the oven for 1 hr at 375F.

And there you have it- simple, healthy, tasty and local.  And this cooks up just beautifully while steaks occupy the other side of the grill!

The finished product- a different flavour in every bite.

This is a salad my mom likes to make for summer BBQs, and often gets asked for the recipe. We had a small dinner get together this week with friends who love different grains and interesting foods, so I thought Quinoa Salad would be a great addition to BBQ’d steak and roasted root veggies.

Quinoa has been getting a lot of good press lately. I tried it in the past in an attempt to go gluten-free (which only lasted about 2-3 weeks, I am weak) and didn’t enjoy the texture. But in this salad, you could almost mistake it for couscous, only way better for you, since it is touted as one of nature’s only complete plant proteins.

The salad starts with cooked and cooled quinoa, gets some feta, toasted pine nuts and dried cranberries added, followed by a drizzle of olive oil and lemon, a pinch of salt, and then a sprinkle of chopped fresh mint and flat leaf parsley.

Boil 1 cup quinoa in 2 cups water, then cool completely.	Toast 1/3 cup of pine nuts over medium heat for 5 minutes.
1/2 cup feta, crumbled.	1/3 cup dried cranberries.
2 tbsp. each fresh parsley and mint.	The quinoa meets the bowl.
In go the cranberries.	The feta joins the mix.
1/3 cup olive oil for dressing.	Adding the juice of 1 lemon.

This salad is summer in a bowl- and a different combo of flavour in each bite. The lemon and olive oil are light and fresh, the feta adds a bit of salt, the cranberries some sweet, the pine nuts some buttery crunch, and the mint and parsley round out the bunch with a refreshing finish.

As usual, this salad did not disappoint, got passed around for seconds, and the recipe requested. Take it to your next summer BBQ and let your friends marvel at this healthy bowl of freshness!

The masterpiece.

We are dedicated pizza lovers, with a penchant for last minute trips to Woodenheads. Inevitably, the place is packed and we end up sitting at the bar- which is more fun than a table anyways. Their cheerful bar staff makes great mojitos, and the informality makes the pizza even tastier.

Kevin’s pizza of choice (I don’t think I’ve ever seen him deviate in 2 years) is the Sicilia. It is a classic- just tomato sauce, spicy salami, mozzarella and some fresh basil. I tend to mix it up, but always end up stealing a bite or two of this work of art.

This weekend, we wanted to put the basil in our herb garden to work, and make some pizza of our own. And so, with the help of Pasta Genova, we created our own masterpiece. That lovely little Italian deli sells their own fresh pizza dough for a steal, and also has everything else you need- the salami, mozzarella and sauce.  I love one stop shopping and jostling with the other Pasta G lovers for a space at their tiny counter.

Our pizza ended up a bit oval shaped, with a lack of a real rolling pin and the dough’s elastic nature, fighting to make it match our baking sheet’s shape seemed futile. I understand why pizzas are round! The dough from Pasta G was perfect, very elastic, not sticky and fairly easy to flatten out.

Shaping the dough.	Slathering of pizza sauce.
Deli perfection a la Pasta Genova.	Mozzarella coverage.
Into a 350F oven.	Basil chiffonade in progress.

We baked the pizza for 30 minutes at 350F, as suggested by the Pasta G staff. The result was wonderful- crispy crust, piping hot toppings and melty cheese.

Kevin & I agree that this gave Woodenheads’ Sicilia a run for its money. I think this is one my proudest creations. So simple, quick and easy, with a seriously intense pay off in deliciousness.  Perhaps pizza is about to become my go-to dinner.

And so, while it probably won’t replace the fun of a visit to Woodenheads for a true Sicilia, I’m proud of what we recreated. Paired with a bottle of $10 Italian red, my wallet thanks me for creating a date night on the cheap.

Finished deliciousness waiting to be inhaled.

Spaghetti and meatballs perfection.

In light of some recent rather nasty dental work, soft foods have been on the menu. I’m not sure that the dentist meant that I should eat spaghetti and meatballs, but since “ground meat” was on my list of ok foods, why not make the leap?

I love pasta. I don’t actually eat it all that frequently, but I seem to like to write it love letters. Also, after discovering Catelli Smart, I don’t feel nearly as guilty when I eat it. This dish combines two of my great food loves: ground beef and spaghetti. I don’t know if my Alberta childhood contributed to my beef fetish, but I just love the smell of ground beef frying with onions.  Add some salt and I could probably eat the whole pan.

I have recently figured out the perfect meatball. Finely mince half an onion, add a minced garlic clove, mix all that up with some ground sirloin and an egg, some salt and pepper and a few shakes of italian breadcrumbs and you will have a tasty product.  I make the meatballs large enough to just fill my cupped hand when I squeeze it shut. Drop them into a hot pan of oil and mix them around as they fry so that all the sides get nice and brown.

For this dish, I tried a new version of spaghetti sauce. Although I find Giada De Laurentiis to be horribly annoying on tv (she even tops Rachael Ray for me), she does make fabulous Italian food. I used her Marinara Sauce, with the addition of some fresh rosemary and oregano, and the substitution of diced tomatoes (including the juice) instead of crushed. It made the sauce a little chunkier and richer.

To finish, I threw the meatballs in the sauce and tossed the cooked spaghetti in with it all. Could this get more comforting?

To go along with my recent Spring-friendly wine posts, I concocted an asparagus and roasted tomato pasta dish this weekend.  I love when asparagus starts to appear in the grocery store, it makes me feel like skirts and sandals are just around the corner.

I started by roasting 6 or 7 roma tomatoes. You just cut them in half, scoop out the seeds, toss them with olive oil and chopped garlic, and put them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake them at 350F for 30 minutes, then up the temp to 375F for about 15 minutes so they get roasty.

While those were finishing up in the oven and my penne was cooking on the stove, I fried a small amount of bacon with some chicken breast pieces (I cheated a bit by buying a rotisserie chicken and just tearing up the white meat for this dish). I think pancetta would have been tastier than bacon but I forgot to pick some up.  In another pan I sauteed chopped asparagus, diced onion and minced garlic in olive oil.

Then I just tossed it all together, added a bit more olive oil, and some salt and pepper. And there you have it! Fresh, delicious penne, with a different bit of flavour in each bite. We paired it with a bottle of white that was kicking around in the fridge. A very excellent, home made, restaurant worthy date night dinner.

Fresh from the oven

I love roast chicken. Chicken most other ways bores me, but there is nothing better than a roasted chicken (especially when you can be proud that the crispy skin and juicy meat is the result of your labours in the kitchen).

I bought this chicken from Old Farm Fine Foods. I don’t know if it’s local origin made it more tasty, but it certainly made it much more expensive. I was lured in by their “fresh local chicken” sign and was a bit stunned by the $18 price tag at the till….but too embarrassed to walk away! Being a “locavore” is a constant budget dilemma.

Kevin and I experimented with BBQ’d beer can chicken last summer and even bought a little stand that helps the cooking go smoothly. It’s a bit easier to do in the oven because the chicken is quite tall on the stand and the BBQ lid does not always want to close properly.

We don’t drink beer in cans, so we went to the odds and ends section of the LCBO and found a cheap random can of beer to use. You just pour half the beer out, sit the chicken on top of the can, and pop it in your oven (or onto your BBQ grill).

This time we rubbed the chicken with a mixture of equal parts of smoked paprika, ground cumin, chili powder, salt, and a double dose of brown sugar.

Roast the chicken at 375F for about 1.5 hours, or as long as it takes for the thigh meat to read around 180F on a meat thermometer. Let it rest 5-10 minutes before you carve it.

The upright cooking method makes sure the skin is crispy all the way around, and the beer can inside keeps the meat incredibly moist and juicy. Who wants a drumstick?

The chicken awaits its delicious fate

Spring salad with baked salmon fillet.

Today on my walk home from work I decided to pretend that I am a chic European housewife who grabs her delicious fresh food from the market daily. Unfortunately I don’t live anywhere chic and European, and it’s too early for the farmer’s market. So I took my chic and European self (I am a Dutch/British mutt, after all) to Metro and began to ponder dinner options.

My wandering took me past the salad ingredients and the fish counter. Soon my basket was piled with fresh arugula, green beans, new red potatoes, blackberries and salmon fillets.  I decided to concoct a version of a salad that my Oma used to make for my mom, and my mom has made for me. I’m not sure if it’s Dutch in origin, or just happened to be made by my Dutch Oma, but regardless of heritage it is fresh and tasty.

You start by boiling the green beans and potatoes until just tender, and then give them a bit of time to cool down. I keep it simple, a bed of arugula, some blackberries thrown in for a sweet-tart kick, place your green beans and potatoes artfully on top of that, and finish with a dijon vinaigrette.

The vinaigrette is a take off on my friend Chloe’s mother’s recipe. Gisele is from the south of France and makes the BEST vinaigrette ever (as I imagine all French women must).  It’s just 2 parts oil, 1 part vinegar, 1 part dijon, and a dash each of sugar, salt and pepper.

Tonight I baked some salmon fillets and placed them on top of my salad masterpiece. We paired it with a VQA Riesling (Trumpour’s Mill from the Grange), and I must say the combo of European flavours made me feel very ready for the open air markets that spring promises.  Now if only I had some travels to the Continent to muse about while I digest…

Lately I am in a porky mood. Perhaps it’s because the cost of chicken seems to have gone through the roof, and beef in Ontario never measures up to that of my native Alberta.  Passing through the meat department while grabbing some groceries this week, a package of 4 fat and sassy pork chops called my name.

As dinner time rolled around today, I thought to myself, “no more lazy mushroom soup concoctions.” It was time to branch out!  After searching the web for a satisfying main dish, I was still stumped. So I created a bit of a mix of several recipes I saw, and am quite happy with the zippy, saucy result.

Saucy Pork Chops

Right out of the oven

Ingredients

• 4 thick cut pork chops (bone in)
• 1/2 cup diced onion
• 1/4 cup diced red pepper
• 1/2 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1 medium can tomato sauce
• 2 tbsp. brown sugar
• 1 tbsp. red wine vinegar
• 1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes
• dash of Italian seasoning

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Brown pork chops in a very hot skillet. Remove from skillet and place in a baking dish.
3. Saute veggies in the same pan until softened. Spread over top of the pork chops.
4. Mix together remaining ingredients in a small bowl, then pour over the baking dish.
5. Bake for 30 minutes at 375F.

I paired this with rice as it’s nice to pour the extra sauce over top, and threw some broccoli on the side to up the veggie factor. There is no denying that this is one satisfyingly saucy meal.

Tuesday night deliciousness.

In honour of our new home (and dream kitchen), we’ve been engaging in some true Gourmandise these last few nights. On the weekend, Kevin made me a fabulous steak dinner, which I hoovered in too quickly to take a picture of it and share. So this will be my official welcome home post. We decided to BBQ, and what could be more appropriate on a Tuesday night than some ribs and a glass of wine?  The fact that I don’t have any children makes weekday indulgence only too easy!

I think we’ve finally found the perfect rib technique…boil them for 45 minutes, then grill them with tons of sauce for about 15 minutes.  They are tender, but still crispy and saucy. We’re lazy and just use Diana’s chicken and rib sauce, which is always delicious. We also perfected the baked potato this weekend. The key is to use russets and rub them with olive oil before popping them in a 375F oven uncovered for about 45 minutes.  Crusty skins with a buttery inside every time!

Words can’t express how happy I am to have a real kitchen, one that comes complete with a gas stove and oven, a vintage butcher block island and room for my huge new wine glasses (which make wine drinking even more fun, if that is possible).  Next…time to fire up the oven and bake something sweet.

I love mac & cheese.  Along with many other things, obviously.  Last year, my mom and I were watching Rachel Ray make a pan of it and decided we could do it better.  I never tasted Rachel Ray’s, but in my opinion our recipe kicks her recipe’s butt.  We used dry white wine and some extra old cheddar, and it gives the recipe a zip that contends with the rich cheesiness.

Zippy Mac & Cheese

Ingredients

• 1 medium onion, very finely chopped
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 box of macaroni (I prefer Catelli Smart, adds some fibre without changing the texture)
• 1 tbsp. flour
• 1/2 cup dry white wine (I like sauvignon blanc)
• 1 1/2 cups milk
• 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese (I use aged)
• 1/2 a tub of McClaren’s imperial aged cheddar
• 1/4 cup bread crumbs.

Directions

1. In a large pan, saute onions in oil until softened. Start cooking the macaroni in a separate pot.
2. Add flour to the onions and cook a minute to make a roux. Add the wine and cook to a thickened sauce.
3. Add milk and bring sauce to a boil. Melt 1/2 of the shredded cheddar into the sauce as well as the McClaren’s cheese.
4. Once sauce is uniformly thick, strain the cooked macaroni and add to the sauce pan.  Stir the sauce and macaroni well to combine.
5. Pour this mixture into a 9×12 baking dish. Cover the top with the remaining shredded cheddar and sprinkle with bread crumbs.
6. Bake at 375F for 30 minutes, or until cheese on top is bubbly and breadcrumbs are browned.

And then eat your mac & cheese accompanied by the remaining Sauvignon Blanc!!!  I recommend Kim Crawford’s from Marlborough, New Zealand (LCBO VINTAGES #35386, $19.95).