The best zucchini I ever ate...

Granted, I have always nurtured a strong dislike for zucchini, so saying this recipe is "the best zucchini I ever ate" smacks of damning with faint praise. I promise you, this is REALLY good. I found the recipe on Epicurious, so in keeping with tradition, an *Epicurious Review is necessary....

"This recipe is really tasty. I added pine nuts and remove the green onion from the recipe. Also, I made my own ricotta recipe. And didn't use any of the measurements in the recipe."

In all seriousness, no recipe is required here. Slice zucchini super thin with a mandolin (I prefer the cheap Japanese Benriner).  Lay out the zucchini slices. Drizzle with olive oil and fresh lemon juice. Season with a little salt and pepper. Finely chiffonade some basil and sprinkle over top. I then popped it in the fridge and let it marinate for an hour. Finish with Pine nuts and ricotta scattered evenly over the top.

I do have a recipe for the ricotta. It is the one my coworker, a fabulous Greek lady, gave me.

Fresh Ricotta

1l milk
1 tbsp vinegar

Gently bring milk to a boil. Stir in vinegar, simmer for a couple minutes, then remove from heat. Strain through a cheesecloth.

Best served fresh out of the strainer!

 *An Epicurious Review is one that reviews the recipe, but has so many modifications that the original recipe is lost. Millions of examples of this can be found on Epicurious.com

Sometimes Simple Is Best

I'll admit to a certain amount of culinary fatigue. A couple years ago, I was excited to cook dinner every day. Now I'm excited to cook dinner once a week if I am lucky. I am not sure where the culinary mojo went, but I have learned to embrace the simple. Just because it is an easy meal doesn't mean it has to suck...

Roast chicken breast is one of those things I have perfected. No recipe, its easy to change up the flavours depending on your mood. I preheat the oven to 375F. Then I season my chicken breast well, adding my desired flavour profile. Tonight it was rosemary and garlic. A good sear for colour on the presentation side, I flip it over and slip it into the oven. I have found that they generally take 20 minutes. Of course, it all depends on the size of the breast and which way the wind is blowing from that day, so if you can't tell just by touching it whether it is done, use a thermometer. Do not over cook it. I usually take it to roughly 156F, then I rest it covered with foil for 10 minutes or so.
While it is resting, I through together a quick pan sauce. About a tablespoon of flour goes into the pan that I seared and roasted the chicken in and I cook it up in the pan juices. Splash in some white wine or beer, some chicken stock, simmer adjusting consistency as needed. Season. The sauce comes together in the time it takes to roast the chicken breast.
Tonight I served it with a simple sauteed kale seasoned with aleppo pepper and new potatoes.

Spicy Cauliflower and Peanut Soup

 

This isn't a recipe, it's the realisation of an idea.
When I worked at the Stock Market, one of my favourite soups was a spicy cauliflower and peanut with cilantro.
I found a huge(really, its the size of three heads) head of cauliflower in the 1$ bin on Granville Island, it was a cool fall day, so I decided to give it a shot.
I started by throwing 2 cloves of garlic and couple of cups of cauliflower florets in a pot with a tough of water. I steamed it until the cauliflower was tender, then threw it in the food processor with some milk, water, salt and pepper, peanut butter and sambal. Once the soup was smooth, I adjusted peanut butter and sambal levels, thinned it a little more and reheated it. Right at the end, I threw a generous handful of finely chopped cilantro.
The result? a huge success. Warm, rich, spicy and very satisfying.

Farmer's Market Bounty

I have been so lucky lately, having Thursdays off and getting to hit our Granville Island Farmers MArket. Two weeks ago, Rob and I went a little crazy on our Thursday night dinner, piling on the fresh produce.

 

Tomato Salad with fresh goats cheese and basil, Potato Salad made with 3 kinds of organic potatoes from Pemberton, Fresh Corn on the cob and fresh broad beans. Tastes like summer!!

Rob has been completely fixating on my potato salad, so I am going to try and write down the recipe next time I make it.

Happy New Year

 

Welcome to 2009; here's hoping it is a good one...
My first dinner of 2009 is in the oven after a long day of movie watching (complete with several trips to Videomatica to return a defective dvd). We took in Tropic Thunder and Burn After Reading and tried repeatedly to finish STardust. Unfortunately, every single copy the video store had was defective. Enough about today: the picture posted above is from our dinner two nights ago. I have discovered a very affordable seafood - squid! I prepared it very simply, slicing the tubes into thin strips and seasoning with salt and szechuan pepper. I tossed it in panko crumbs and quickly fried it until just cooked - any longer and you will have well seasoned rubber bands. After the squid was all cooked up, I tossed the remaining panko in the frying pan with ginger, lemongrass and red thai chilis. A quick browning and that was pured over the squid.
I served this on a bed of glass noodles with a crisp vegetable salad and fresh cilantro and thai basil. Refreshing, delicious and under 5$!

Congee Success

I admit it. I am obsessed with congee. Whenever I am at Hon's, I order it for lunch ~ there is something so comforting about the warm rice "porridge" loaded with fresh ginger and green onion. At the Hon's in Chinatown, they add tangerine peel as well. And I always get it with chicken added ~ I should really try branching out...
Anyway, I always suspected I was capable of making my own version of congee, but never sure where to start. I have been battling a cold and Nov 4th found me at home with a box of kleenex, the US election coverage and a vat of chicken congee ~ homemade.

 

I started the day before by removing the breast and thighs from my chicken and throwing the rest in a pot with dried mushroom, onion, garlic and ginger and water. I made a stock which I then used as the base for my congee; 8 cups of liquid to 1 cup of shortgrain rice. I also threw in julienned fresh ginger, dried chinese mushrooms and some dried orange rind.
After simmering for about an hour (it may have been more) my desired texture was reached. I added strips of raw chicken and simmered till they were cooked through.
The first bowl was pretty good that night but the best was saving for the next day and reheating it. The flavours had mellowed and developed and I ate nothing but congee that day. Well until the results poured in and I broke down and had a celebratory glass of wine.

Chilled Fennel Soup, Killer Fish Cakes

 

It was hot the other day ~ by Vancouver standards that is. I wanted to make a simple soup, with some seafood and salad. THis is what I came up with.

I didn't write a recipe for any of this as it was so off the cuff. THe Soup was a garlic clove, some mint, a handful of almonds, half a cucumber, a fennel bulb ( blanched) and some seasoning thrown in the food processor. I strained the resulting mixture, yeilding a silky broth. Just before serveing, a spoonful of yogurt was stirred in. The soup kicked ass. I was so happy with it that I am having a fennel oriented dinner tonight.

The fish cakes were also absurdly simple; I poached a small piece of cod, flaked it and mixed it with some diced smoked albacore tuna, mayonnaise, lemon juice and crushed stoned wheat thins. Formed patties, dipped them in more crushed crackers and pan fried. Yum. I will write a recipe for them next time as they were worth repeating.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

 

The highlight of this dish is the sweet potato gnocchi I made. It was inspired by a CL recipe, but I didn't have pre packaged gnocchi on hand, or many of the other ingredients, so a new dish evolved; Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Italian Sausage, Mushrooms and Asparagus.
I will share the recipe for the gnocchi; everything else is freeform...

Sweet Potato Gnocchi

1 large sweet potato
flour as needed
salt
1 egg

Roast sweet potato until soft. Peel and process with a ricer or foodmill. Add one egg, salt as desired and a cup of flour. Start mixing by hand. If mixture seems to wet, add more flour; you want a soft pliable dough. Be careful not to overwork or you will get tough little gnocchi. Divide dough and roll into logs roughly 3/4 of an inch in diameter. Cut and shape into little gnocchi ( I wish I had a better picture of the shape; basically, I press and roll, creating a little cupped shape.) Cook in boiling salted water until they rise to the top, then set them aside for your desired use.

In my case, I sauteed Italian sausage, then gnocchi, mushrooms, onions, and asparagus. Seasoned with a squeeze of lemon, ad sprinkling of fresh parsley and a dusting of freshly grated parmesan.

Shepherds Pie

 

I know have made shepherds pie before, but this one is different. The mash layer on top is made with cauliflower and parsnip, yielding a lighter smoother topping. Plus a bonus for anyone avoiding the carbs!
For the topping, simply steam a whole head of cauliflower plus two peeled and rough chopped parsnips. Once tender, transfer to food processor and season liberally with salt and pepper. Puree to smooth, add one egg and top your favourite sheperds pie filling. Once my pie was heated through, I browned it under the broiler. It was delicious, even Rob, my meat and potatoes guy, loved it!

Monkfish

 

It was really hard to get pretty picture of this seabeast in its finished state; it is almost as unattractive in living colour

I first tried monkfish last summer in Portland (unfortunately I was in a blogging slump, so never wrote up my fabulous evening at Fenouil). It played second fiddle to a killer lentil side, but was still tasty. As I wandered through the market the other day, I saw monkfish fillets on offer and just had to try them.
No recipe today, just another one of those "freeform" dinners. The monkfish was wrapped in serrano ham, seared and baked. i served it with a blood orange zest beurre blanc. Red lentils with sauteed fennel was one of the sides and a salad of blood orange, roasted beets and julienned fennel was the other, adding to the colourful plate.

Lasagna with Lamb, Spinach and feta

 

The same day that I made sushi, I made lasagna for dinner. It turned uot to be one of the best lasagnas ever!

Lasagna is admittedly a freeform dish for me (okay, most dishes are freeform in my world). I used a very simple recipe for the pasta dough, which I then took quite thin on my handy KitchenAid pasta roller.

Pasta Dough

2 cups all purpose flour
2 cups semolina flour
6 whole eggs
olive oil
salt

sift salt and flours together on the counter. Make a well; add your eggs and olive oil. Mix then knead until desired consistency is reached (this took me about 10 minutes from start to finish). Wrap and allow to rest for a couple hours.

Roll out sheets; use in lasagna

THe filling came out of that crazy head of mine. I sauteed 2lbs of ground lamb in olive oil, but before it was fully cooked, I added a whole can of crushed organic tomatoes, some oregano, salt and pepper and cinnamon. I let that simmer for a couple hours, adding the rest of my ingredients as they were ready. I sauteed 1 japanese eggplant with lots of garlic and salt, then simmered it in a half cup of red wine. Once the wine was absorbed/reduced, I added the eggplant to the lamb. I also thawed one package of frozen spinach and added that.

I wish I could write a recipe, because this lasagna was the perfect density; but so much of it was made up as we went. The layers included mozzarella, the lamb filling, sheep feta and a bechamel made from about 1l of milk. It was then baked for an hour and allowed to rest for 20 minutes...<