Hey You! Go Roast an Egg Plant!

I've been really, really enjoying eggplant dip lately. I wouldn't call myself an eggplant lover, or even a fan, but I could eat a bowl of this perfect, smooth and creamy dip with a whole baguette...to myself.

I had this dip for the first time in the back yard of my friend Tom's house. His Dad's Romanian friend whipped this up one summer afternoon and equated it to his country's interpretation of guacamole. It's simple, dead easy to make, impressive at parties and impressive to yourself.

All you do is preheat the oven to 350 degrees, cut a large eggplant in half, drizzle it with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and roast until it's soft, about twenty minutes.

Let it sit for ten minutes before scooping out the soft flesh and putting it into a blender. Add 1/3 cup olive oil, two cloves of garlic, juice of one lime or lemon, and salt and pepper. Whiz up until smooth.

This dip is delicious with crusty bread, baguette, sourdough, chips, you name it. Make it fancy with a garnish of parsley and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and stud it with a couple of olives. Grill a piece of fish and make a simple tomato and red onion salad with oil and red wine vinegar dressing - serve the perfect dip on the side.

Let me know how you like it. Just please, make it. You'll be enchanted.

The Capricious Carnivore

I've been such an erratic meat eater lately. I go weeks and weeks without any meat at all and then all of a sudden I become this animal whose appetite is only satiated by copious amounts of flesh: meat sandwiches, chili con carne, roast chickens, sausages...and then BAM! it's kale salad with grated beets and carrots for the next week straight. Maybe it's the changing of the seasons, or perhaps it is all the anti-meat, pro-world literature I've been perusing (ie: Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer). I feel like I am putting off an inevitable vegetarian diet, so I might as well get my animal protein in before I'm totally wrapped up in my head and unable to bite into juicy burgers anymore.

So today, I offer you a dichotomy of my culinary adventures as of late: my meatiest, meat meals and my clean, kale-heavy delights that have been balancing me out.

In the Sandwich Realm: I really like steak sandwiches. I have a nostalgic memory of eating hot beef dips in the Nakiska ski lodge with my Dad when I was a kid. I've since come to realize that those sandwiches are not as good as my memory remembers them to be, and that I am more than capable of recreating this delicious, old-time favourite:

Marinate thinly sliced (I like Rouladen cut) beef in the juice of one lime, salt, pepper, two cloves of garlic, minced, and a drizzle of olive oil for about fifteen minutes.

While the steak is absorbing all those lovely flavours, fry thinly sliced red onion in a little butter and a little olive oil until golden and aromatic. Season with salt and pepper. Set aside.

Rinse and massage (rub it between your fingers to make it tender) three large leaves of green kale. Heat up a pan with a bit of oil and add a clove of minced garlic and fry until soft. Add the kale, a pinch of salt and a squeeze of lemon juice. Cook for a couple minutes until wilted and bright green. Finish with some cracked pepper.

Fry the beef in a hot pan until cooked through - should only take a couple of minutes.

Slather some toasted slices of good-quality bread with mayo and horseradish (if you so please), some fat slices of tomato, the meat, followed by the golden onions, and topped with the sauteed kale.

How could anyone be vegetarian with sandwiches like this in the world?

On a side note...If this steak sandwich hasn't satiated your meat craving, I'll let you in on my little chili secret: Saute one large onion, chopped, with three cloves of garlic in a little bit of oil in a large stock pot. Add one pound of lean ground beef and brown. Season with salt, pepper, a heaping teaspoon of garlic powder and a tablespoon (or more to taste) of chili powder. Add one can of each red kidney beans, black beans and/or navy beans, all rinsed and drained. Keep it on medium high heat until it bubbles and turn it down to medium low. Simmer for about half an hour and dig in! This is delicious as is, on brown rice, or in a bun, Sloppy Joe style!

For the Vegetables:

I've been really into broth lately. After I've meated myself out, I find myself reaching for dark, leafy greens like kale and chard and wanting to sip hot cups of clean broth. I like making veggie stock because it takes next to no time, it's rich and rewarding, and it is the starting point for countless other dishes.

The basics of vegetable stock are simple: start with your aromatics - onion, celery and carrots. I used to be quite quick and rustic (aka leaving peels and skin on) with the preparation of my veggies for stock before getting schooled by my culinary wizard of a sister, Camilla: "Just because it is stock doesn't mean you can use scraps". So now, depending on the state of the onions, I usually leave some of the skin on for a bit of added colour, but only if it is in good shape. I peel the carrots and chop them into large pieces, quarter the onion and chop down the celery into similar size. I like to smash a couple cloves of garlic, skin on, with the side of my knife, too. Place all the ingredients in a large stock pot and fill with freshly drawn cold water, about three quarters full. I throw in a handful of black peppercorns, season with a bit of salt and a couple of bay leaves. All that's left to do is bring it to a boil, reduce and simmer for about half an hour, until it has developed a rich golden colour. Sometimes I finish it with a splash of soy sauce, salt does the trick too. Adjust the seasoning to taste and voila, perfect vegetable broth, ready to use for soups, sauces, risottos...

Now that I've shared the basics of this vegetable broth, I give you liberty to flavour it with whatever so pleases you. I've added a raw beet to the stock before and it gave it a beautiful red colour. The beet has quite a strong flavour when raw, so don't leave it in for longer than fifteen or twenty minutes. If you are doing an Asian-themed dish with the broth, you can add a chunk of ginger, some smashed lemongrass, a piece of star anise, or some green onions. The opportunities are endless. Experiment, find you favourites, and share them with me!

I've been eating boat loads of kale salad on my meat-free days. Red kale has been my preference as of late, but I am also partial to green and black. Kale's kale, after all. And I am definitely a kale-lover. I only just started eating kale this year. I'm sure I've eaten it before, but it's been within the last nine months that I am become one of those fanatical advocates for that beautiful, dark, leafy vegetable.

My favourite salad these days starts with a big bunch of kale, rinsed well, massaged and torn up into a big salad bowl. Next comes chopped cucumber, thinly sliced green onions,a couple grated carrots and a grated beet, a handful of minced cilantro and/or parsley, some minced shallots , if I am in the mood, and a big sprinkling of sunflower seeds.

Really though, in all honesty, I'm just in it for the dressing...

In a small mason jar, combine a spoonful of each miso (I like the Shiro kind) and tahini, a good splash of apple cider vinegar, a glug of olive oil, a clove of garlic, minced, a splash of soy sauce, a bit of grated ginger and a tablespoon of nutritional yeast. Shake it all up until smooth and creamy, season with salt and pepper if it needs it and adjust the seasonings to your taste. I love this sauce with pretty much anything - it is great on rice bowls with sauteed veggies and tofu, makes a lovely sauce for soba noodles with grilled portabello mushrooms, delicious sipped from the jar...

Pour this lovely sauce over your salad and dig in!

So there you have it, from this capricious carnivore to you, some contrasting recipes to please the meat and potatoes eater in your life all the way over to that vegan-eating friend of yours. Try it, Love it, Learn it and Share it.

xox

Wild Rice, Yam and Beet Soup (an excellent experiment)

I made this soup a few nights ago and was surprisingly delighted at how it turned out. It was one of those I-am-so-hungry-and-my-fridge-selection-is-limited kind of nights, so I acted on impulse and created this delicious soup.
You will need...

Olive oil
1/2 red, 1/2 yellow onion, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
1 medium sized yam, peeled and chopped into small cubes
1 beet, peeled and cubed
1-inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
2 chilies, minced
1 cup wild rice
8 cups chicken stock (or vegetable broth)
splash of apple cider vinegar
1 tbsp nutritional yeast

I like to keep all of the veggies in this soup chopped quite small.

Sauté the onions, garlic, ginger and chilies for three minutes. Add carrots, yam and beets, then season with salt and pepper. Add wild rice and cook, stirring, for another minute. Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat, cover it part way with a lid and simmer for about 45 minutes. Finish with a splash of apple cider vinegar and a tablespoon of nutritional yeast.

From me to you, a splendid and delightful soup!

Glorious Granola

My friend Oli recently asked me for a cereal recipe and I became immediately nostalgic for this muesli I used to make with my Mom. It's loaded with lots of raw nuts and seeds which makes it satisfying and full of energy. It gets roasted at a low temperature for an hour and comes out golden, crunchy, sweet and lovely. You can get creative with this granola and try out different assortments of nuts, seeds and fruit. I love golden or thompson raisins, dried apricots, and dried cranberries (amazing!!!)This version has wheat germ in it, but if you are intolerant to gluten you can substitute oatbran or ground flax seeds instead.

3 cups rolled oat flakes
2 cups wheat germ
1/2 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds, unsalted
1/2 cup each hazelnuts, cashews, almonds, pecans, roughly chopped
Scant cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup flax oil
1/3 cup maple syrup,
1 cup dried fruit
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

Combine all ingredients and mix well. Pour onto a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking sheet and bake for 1 hour at 225˚F. Gently stir it every 15 minutes. Let it cool and then stir in the dried fruit. Makes about 8 cups.

I love this in the morning with some vanilla yogurt, fresh fruit and a zest of lemon. Yummmmmm!!

Delicious Duck Salad Rolls

Salad rolls are one of my favourite things to make. They are always a hit with crowds of people, they make for a great group activity and the options for the fillings are endless! I ate my weight in salad rolls in South East Asia while I was traveling, developed a 'salad roll connoisseur' status and affirmed that most of them follow some kind of formula when it comes to their insides:

Some kind of noodle: generally rice vermicelli or cellophane noodles. Just submerge them under hot (just under boiling) water until they are soft and tender, about three minutes. If you over cook them they become gluey, so pay attention! Strain the noodles and drizzle with a bit of soy sauce and rice vinegar to keep them from sticking together.

Greens: When it comes to these fresh rolls, my motto is always the more greens the better. I like a mix of herbs; basil, cilantro and mint. I also sometimes include crispy shreds of romaine lettuce to give it some crunch appeal.

Veggies: I like julienned (cut into thin strips) cucumber, carrots and red peppers. When cutting up your vegetables, think about the size of your rolls and make your strips the same size. I like sliced up green onions too, but not in strips, just sprinkled over top before the rolling begins.

Protein: This portion of the rolls is one of the most creative components. Here you begin to develop your base flavour and add texture and body to the rolls. Shrimp are a great option (marinate them in soy sauce, ginger, garlic and chili for twenty minutes before quick frying them in a non-stick pan until pink), marinated tofu (hoisin, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, chili) fried until crispy, barbecued pork, chicken or beef (or pan fried/grilled) (marinate in lemongrass, garlic, ginger, chili, hoisin, lime juice, soy, rice vinegar and brown sugar overnight). If you really want to pull out the big guns though, go buy a barbecue duck.

I first became familiar with barbecue duck from T&T supermarket in Calgary, shopping with my eldest sister for one of her catering gigs. She was making green onion and sesame crepes, filled with barbecue duck and hoisin sauce. I must have eaten at least twenty. The meat is sweet and juicy, salty and crispy in all the right places. You can usually find them hanging in the windows at Chinese restaurants or deli's. I found cheap and delicious barbecue on Main street and West Broadway at Congee Noodle House. I paid $9.50 for half a duck. I always ask for an extra container of the incredible brown sauce that they throw in the box. It tastes like a sweeter, better hoisin sauce.
They generally just chop the bird up with a meat cleaver, bones and all, so make sure to pick the meat off the bones and shred it up with your fingers. Before I put the meat in the rolls I pour that tasty sweet sauce over the shredded meat and stir it to coat.

Rice paper wraps can be found at most grocery stores, and definitely at Asian supermarkets. The trick to getting your rolls to stick together is making sure the water that you soak the wraps in is not boiling hot. If the water is too hot, the wraps rip and don't stick to themselves. They take about a minute to soften in hot water.

If you are organized with your process, it is easy enough to get a good rhythm going when you are ready to roll. Every time you transfer a wrap from the hot water to the towel, put another one in so it's ready to go by the time the other is finished. I usually dunk my rolls into a big pot of water on low after it's boiled. Make sure all your fillings are laid out in separate bowls. Set a clean dish towel down on a cutting board and transfer your moist rice paper wrap to the station. Try and drip off most of the water before laying it down so you don't have to pat it dry with the towel. Put the fillings parallel to the counter, on the side closest to you (ie you will be rolling away from your body). Layer the greens, then the noodles, veggies, protein and then top with sliced onions. Remember not to over stuff and keep your fillings neat and tidy. Gently fold over the side closest to you, tucking all those tasty bits into the roll, roll once, fold the sides in and keep rolling. The first one is always a little ratty, don't get discouraged. Place the rolls onto a plate lined with a moist towel and keep covered until ready to serve.

You'll be amazed at the difference between your first and last roll, I can guarantee that. Serve these with the Asian-inspired table sauce or a mixture of hoisin, chili sauce, and a bit of peanut butter, stirred until smooth.

What's your favourite combination?? Let me know!!

Try it, Love it, Learn it and Share it.

Three of my Favourite Sauces

I like sauce. I mean, I really like sauce. I sometimes plan a whole meal around a sauce. I've decided to share my top three with all of you beautiful people.

The first one is an Asian-inspired table-sauce of sorts. It makes for a great addition to noodle dishes, rice bowls, stir fry or as a dipping sauce for dumplings, salad rolls or spring rolls.

One of my favourite cookbooks of all time, Hot Sour Salty Sweet, by Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid, beautifully illustrates the art in South East Asian cuisine of balancing those four integral elements. I use this theory a lot in my culinary endeavors, relying more on the balance of flavour than the exact measurement in a recipe. This holds especially true for the table sauce. How much of each ingredient you add is dependent upon your taste, the brand of ingredient you use, and how you feel that day! Trust your taste buds to let you know what you need to add more of. If it tastes perfect to you, it is.

My rough measurements can be used as a guide for this one, but I encourage you to trust yourself!

Mix 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup rice vinegar, juice of one lime, 2 generous tablespoons of fish sauce, minced chili pepper, dash of sesame oil, a bit of grated garlic and a teaspoon of palm, cane or brown sugar. Balance the flavours and accent with thinly sliced green onions, minced cilantro and thin strips of carrot (can use a vegetable peeler to get this effect).

Second sauce on the menu is a tried and true favourite from my lovely friend Kimi. This one is a creamy (dairy-free), delicious and completely versatile. It's so good sometimes I just want to eat it off the spoon. I have used it as a salad dressing to encourage 'non-salad-eaters' to try some greens and have had them licking the bowls clean. If you are not familiar with nutritional yeast, you should be. It's a deactivated yeast mixed with molasses and cane sugar and then dried out, and it comes as yellow flakes. It's a great source of vitamin B and is a complete protein too. It is incredible on popcorn, can make a great vegetarian gravy and boosts dressings and sauces with creamy, almost cheese-like presence. I like the Red Star brand and can usually find it in the bulk section in most health food stores. I like this sauce on brown rice bowls with steamed veggies, on kale salad, soba noodles with stir fried mushrooms...the list goes on and on. I like to put all the ingredients into a mason jar and just shake shake shake until it's smooth and creamy.

Combine a big spoonful of tahini (sesame paste), two crushed cloves of garlic, juice of 1/2 a lemon, 1/4 cup olive oil, some grated ginger, 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar, salt, a tablespoon or so of nutritional yeast, a splash of soy sauce and a bit of warm water. Adjust the components until it balances out - nothing should stand out on it's own. You can use any nut butter in place of the tahini - almond, peanut, cashew...you name it. Adjust the thickness of the sauce by adding more of the nut butter. I have also put a spoonful of light miso into this mix and it tasted divine. Just thinking about this is making me hungry...


Third and final sauce for the day is a Chilean-inspired condiment that is simultaneously tantalizing and incredible spicy, and so good that I can never stop eating it until it's all gone, even though my mouth is completely on fire. I use my blender for this because I like it really smooth, but you can chop the ingredients very finely and just combine in a bowl. I like this one with crusty bread, grilled fish, crispy chicken or on rice. It's hot, it's perfect and once you have it, you will crave it with an intensity that will only be satiated with more of this hot number.

Combine one bunch of fresh cilantro, most of the stems removed, two cloves of garlic, a splash of white vinegar, juice of one lime, salt (be generous) and about 1/2 cup siracha (pepper sauce with the green lid and the rooster on the bottle). Blend until smooth. Eat on everything.

Try these ones out! Let me know what you think!

Try it, Love it, Learn it and Share it.

A Food Revolution in Action (and Banana Bread)

I have been making moves with this whole idea of a food revolution lately and am enthusiastically delighted with the response it's provoking. My vision is to have people in cities across the country posting recipes all over, for everyone to see. I want to put the reality of simple food and the inspiration to make it tangibly available to people walking the streets, living the daily grind. I want to lift peoples' spirits by showing them that a whole meal can fit on one piece of paper and that they are capable of making it!

I blasted some blocks with a great banana bread recipe a couple days ago and some of you may found this blog from those posts. I already got feedback from one follower telling me that he saw it walking down 16th Avenue and made it! He added walnuts and said it turned out beautifully!

I have come to appreciate my ability to cook in a deep way since I moved away from home and became the Queen of my own kitchen. I grew up in a kitchen with minimal counter space, so the lack of space in my apartment in this new city didn't dampen my epicurious spirits. I have successfully produced magnificent meals out of this kitchen that can barely fit two people in it. I have roasted a mini-dinosaur-sized bird in my tiny oven and it might have just been the handsomest turkey anyone had ever laid eyes on. I will never use the excuse of lack of space to feed a crowd. Amazing things can be done with few ingredients, a little support and some fearlessness in the kitchen.

So for all of you people out there who want to learn how to cook, ameliorate your skills or just get some new ideas of delicious things to eat and inspire you, please follow my journey with me and become a part of this revolution.

Try It, Love it, Learn it and Share it.


The Best Banana Bread ever…really.

½ cup butter, 1 cup sugar, 2 eggs, 1 tsp vanilla, 3-4 ripe bananas, 1 ¾ cup flour, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp baking soda, ½ tsp salt.

Beat sugar and butter until smooth and fluffy. Add vanilla, eggs and bananas. Beat until smooth.

Mix dry in order.
Mix dry into wet.

Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake at 325˚ for 55 minutes.

Eat it with lots of butter smothered all over it.
It’ll bring tears to your eyes.

Baked Saucey Salmon, Mashed Spuds and Peaches'n'Cream Corn

Please, for the love, make this salmon marinade. Combine two tablespoons of each: Hoisin, soy sauce, horseradish, dijon mustard, chili sauce (siracha or sambal olek, use what you like) and stir until smooth. Slather a side of salmon with the sauce evenly, place in an oiled baking dish and cook in an oven at 350˚ until firm, juicy and glossy, about fifteen minutes, depending on the size of the fish.

I boiled a bunch of red nugget potatoes, scrubbed clean, skins on, in salted water until nice and soft and then strained them. While they were sitting in the sink, steaming away, I heated up some olive oil in the same pot and added three sliced green onions and a good pinch of salt, sauteing until soft and slightly golden. I poured the potatoes in, added a knob of butter, splash of milk, a crack of pepper and smashed 'em around with a wooden spoon until smooth.

I took an easy route tonight and just heated up some frozen peaches and cream corn in a small saucepan with a little drizzle of olive oil for five minutes, until they were hot and juicy.

The dinner turned out pretty fancy. It tasted divine. I was in the kitchen for less then fifteen minutes total.

I'd say that's pretty good for a Wednesday night.

Try it, Love it, Learn it, Share it.

Beef Lettuce Wraps for an Impressive, Delicious Meal

My friend Jolene recently asked me to make beef lettuce wraps, and I put the craving into action last night. I did some research and all of the recipes I saw had pretty similar components: beef or pork, mint, cilantro, dried shrimp, soy, sesame, chili, garlic, and ginger. I had never cooked with dried shrimp before, but enjoyed them immensely when they were offered as a condiment to street food in Thailand. So I headed to T&T market (http://www.tnt-supermarket.com/en/)and stocked up on ingredients.

These lettuce wraps are dead simple, and each component is prepared separately, so they are a great meal to make with friends or family, each person being responsible for a filling.

I took a head of ice berg lettuce and cut the core out (about two inches). I dunked this in a sink full of warm water and then plunged it into an ice bath. This trick I learned from Jolene, the defibrillator of the lettuce world. This process can resuscitate any wilted green. The warm water opens the pores in the vegetable and then the cold shocks it, crisping it back to life. I let the water drain off and then wrapped the head in a moist towel and put in the fridge until the fillings were ready.

For the beef: I melted some coconut oil (you could use any other vegetable oil, not olive) in a non-stick skillet on medium high and add minced garlic, ginger, fresh chili pepper, the stems from a bunch of cilantro, chopped finely, and those dried shrimp, all chopped up. They were quite hard, next time I might soak them in hot water before chopping them up. I cooked this down until the beef was crispy and aromatic and then seasoned it with about a tablespoon of soy sauce, a few good splashes of fish sauce, sesame oil and lime juice. I finished it with a good crack of black pepper.

I had separate bowls for minced cilantro, mint and green onion, and lots of each of them!

I chopped some dry-roasted peanuts and added them to a hot pan with a bit of oil, chopped garlic and shredded, unsweetened coconut.

For the sauce I combined a good amount, half a cup or so, of hoisin sauce, a quarter cup of soy sauce, the juice of one lime, grated one-inch piece of ginger, one chili pepper, minced, a handful of cilantro, minced, and one green onion, minced and a spoonful of sugar. Finished it with a couple splashes of fish sauce and a couple drops of sesame oil.

In a mortar and pestle, I combined about four red chili peppers, five cloves of garlic and a healthy pinch of salt. I smashed this around and added a small squeeze of lime juice to finish. This was dynamite, and added a lot of fire to the wraps, definitely needs to come with a disclaimer!!

The assembly was my favourite part. I took a piece of perfectly crisp lettuce, curved perfectly to cradle my tender toppings. I layered some bean sprouts on the base, spooned some beef in next and then added my greens: mint, cilantro and green onion. I drizzled the sauce over the fillings and topped with the crispy peanut and coconut. I wrapped it up into a tight parcel and mowed down.

They were surprisingly simple, but beautifully aromatic, with dynamic and delicious flavours. It's an impressive, interactive meal that brings people together. Go on, try it, I dare you.

Try it, Love it, Learn it, Share it.

Quick, Clean, Easy Meal

My stomach was feeling temperamental all day yesterday so I was keen on cooking a really gentle meal, with a bit of protein, that would have me feeling satiated without being overloaded.

I marinated a fillet of Basa fish (a mild, white fish that holds its texture well when it cooks) in soy sauce, a spoonful of brown sugar and a couple cloves of chopped garlic. I let it sit for about half an hour, while I got the rice pilaf started.

I finely chopped half a small yellow onion, two cloves of garlic and a tablespoon of flat-leaf parsley. I heated a bit of butter up in a small pot, added the onion and garlic, seasoned with a bit of salt and pepper and cooked for about three minutes, until the onions were soft and translucent. Then I added a cup of long grain wild rice, stirring to combine. I topped the pot up with two cups of water, brought the whole mixture to a boil, reduced to medium low and cooked for about 45 minutes, until the rice was tender. Wild rice isn't as picky with the seal of the pot needing to be closed the whole time, so feel free to stir it occasionally, to keep the rice from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

I have just recently begun cooking with wild rice. I am more likely to pick up a short grain brown or a Basmati, but I picked some of this great organic wild rice up from Capers the other day and I'm in love. It's toothsome - it has a chew to it and eating it feels like I am doing my body some good. It has the most delightful texture!

While the rice was cooking I prepped these beautiful artichokes I bought. They were nice fat ones, so I trimmed down the stems and put them in a steamer for about half an hour, until the hearts felt tender when poked with a knife.

As you may remember, I have this serious obsession with kale. I sometimes think of life in two parts: before I ate kale, and after I ate kale. I pretty much base meals around the damn green vegetable. So I got green (the really curly looking one) and black (the longer, skinnier leaves) kale, picked the leaves off the stems, and tore them into small pieces. I rinsed them well, as these leaves grip onto dirt and grit well and can be really sandy straight from the market.

With five minutes left on the rice, I heated up a non-stick skillet on medium high for the fish. I added a bit of butter and then arranged the Basa in the sizzling pan. I gave the fish a good crack of fresh pepper and let it cook on each side for about three minutes, until golden and crispy. The sugar in the glaze caramelized so wonderfully and created this lovely glossy glaze on the fish. I've done this fish in a stainless steel pan and I have to admit it doesn't have the same effect. The fish ends up sticking and the sauce is left behind on the pan. If you have teflon, use it!

I took the fish out of the pan and added the greens straight to it. There was a little bit of sauce left over from the fish, but if the pan is dry, add some oil or butter before the greens. I added a little splash of soy sauce and a squeeze of lemon and cooked for about two minutes, until the greens were soft and tender.

I served the artichokes with melted butter (with a bit of salt and a squeeze of lemon) and a bowl for scraped leaves, topped the glossy, crispy fish on the rice and garnished with a bit of chopped parsley and served the saucy greens on the side. Delightful! Deluxe! Delicious!

The Deluxe Pizza Pie (Vegetable Version 2.0)

I got home late from work the other night with the hugest craving for pizza pie. I was simultaneously fighting my constant craving for that gut scraping, miraculous, leafy green vegetable: kale.

Have I talked to you about my Kale relationship? It's become pretty serious over the last few months. I really got turned onto it by my friend Thea, who always came back from Capers sucking her lips over the kale salad with garlic dressing from the salad bar.

I tried it once and I was completely hooked. I eat it almost every day these days. I like it in all its forms: red, green, black, raw, steamed, stir-fried, baked until perfect crispy... It makes me a different person. There's an almost instantaneous jolt of energy that comes from eating super green foods. It's a clean feeling of satisfaction, without the lethargy or sluggishness that can sometimes accompany a meal.

Anyways...I got home from work and I was ravenous. I wanted the thickest slice of pizza I could imagine. So I went to the grocery store, picked up a frozen, whole wheat pizza crust and then closed my eyes and thought of all my favourite pizzas. The buttercup squash pizza from the bison mountain bistro with Sylvan Star Gouda cheese, chili peppers, and fresh chevre, definitely deserves mention. Same goes for the shrimp pizza that I used to order as a kid at the California Pizza Company. I was feeling inspired.

I bought a yam, a red onion, some portabello mushrooms, a green pepper and kale. I had some leftover bruschetta from the day before, so I just heated it up in a non-stick pan and let it reduce into pizza sauce consistency.

I sliced the yam into thin slices after peeling it, and then drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with salt, pepper and a bit of cumin. I roasted them in the oven for about 20 minutes until they were almost cooked through.

I sliced the red onion up nice and thin, and sautéed in a pan with a splash of olive oil and a small knob of butter on medium high heat for about five minutes, just to develop a bit of colour. Then I turned the heat down to medium, seasoned with salt and pepper and cooked them for about twenty minutes, stirring occasionally, until golden and caramelized. About halfway through the cooking, I added a generous spoonful of brown sugar and a splash of balsamic vinegar.

I gave the mushrooms a slice and tossed them into a hot, oiled pan, salted them, seasoned with a bit of crushed rosemary and cooked them down until they were soft and tender, about 8 minutes.

I chopped up some left over shrimp from the night before, crumbled some feta, sliced the green peppers, minced garlic, chopped olives and tore up my beloved kale.

The order of exquisite layers went as follows:

1. Crust
2. Sauce
3. Caramelized onions
4. Roasted yams
5. Portabello mushrooms
6. Chopped cooked shrimp
7. Fresh minced garlic
8. olives
9. Green peppers
10. A light dusting of red star nutritional yeast (weird, I know, but gives it a delicious cheesy taste without the dairy)
12. Lightly sautéed kale
13. Torn fresh basil
14. Crumbled Feta cheese.

I put it right on the oven rack at 375˚ for about fifteen minutes.

I know it sounds involved. It wasn't difficult, this I assure you. Trust me, the layers...the layers are worth it.

The best, guilt-free pizza. It was even good cold, for breakfast the next morning.
Now that's a 'za!

Perfect Puff Pastry Sausage Rolls (and poached pears later!)

I love that on this snowy, Wednesday night, I'm asking my beau to turn the beautiful D'Anjou pears over in the red wine simple syrup that they are poaching in, because I'm too excited to do anything else but tell all of you lovely people about these perfect puff pastry sausage rolls that I made this afternoon. They were...remarkable.
On days that I snooze into the morning, I often wake up with the most delightful ideas for beautiful, delicious meals. This is a gift that I take very seriously. I recognize its rarity and do my best to act upon the spontaneous bursts of culinary inspiration that hit me.
This morning I got an image of buttery, flaky puff pastry wrapped around some kind of a cooked egg, cheese and sausage. I had some fresh rosemary, flat leaf parsley and thyme in the fridge, a package of puff pastry and a dear man who offered to get me some ground chicken, cheddar cheese and eggs to help my creative dream come to life (and into his belly).
Working on instinct and a brief look at one of my favourite and most trusted books, Jamie's Dinners (www.jamiesdinners.com), I combined a pound of ground chicken, two eggs, three cloves of minced garlic, a handful of minced parsley, some chopped thyme and rosemary, a cup of grated cheddar cheese, a quarter cup of dried, chopped cranberries and 1/2 an onion, which had been fried in a non stick skillet with a bit of olive oil and salt until soft and lovely. I mixed all of this together, added a small handful of breadcrumbs and seasoned with salt and pepper.

I rolled out the puff pastry into two, 8-inch by 16-inch rectangles and then cut each of those in half. Then I spooned a quarter of the filling onto the long side of each pastry segment. I rolled each one of them tightly, pinching along the seam to seal and folding the ends of the roll in on themselves. I brushed them with whisked egg and then cut them into small, bite sized pieces, using a very sharp knife so as to not snag the dough. I egg washed them and sprinkled some coarse salt over top, and baked at a 375˚ for about twenty minutes. They came out golden crispy, smelling divine!! Upon first bite I was supremely surprised and delighted: the cheese was gooey and strong, the chicken moist, and the herbs bringing delicate flavour to the mix. The dried cranberries had slightly swelled from the moisture and provided a sublime sweetness and chew to these perfect parcels of heaven.

This will be on the menu again, that's for sure.

P.s...the pears? I poached one, halved, cored and peeled, in 1/4 cup red wine, 1/4 cup filtered water, 3 cloves, a cinnamon stick and 2 tablespoons of sugar. I let them simmer until soft but still holding its shape. I propped each half pear in a small bowl amid a spoonful of the hot syrup, then shook some cream with an ice cube and a bit of vanilla in a mason jar until it was frothy, pouring this mixture over top. Let's just say I wanted to lick the bowl clean..

Resplendent Roasted Salmon Rice Bowl

Got a beautiful piece of wild sockeye salmon today and made it into a crispy, fresh, flavourful rice bowl:

I pulled out the old family favourite and slathered the salmon in a tablespoon of each soy sauce, horseradish, dijon mustard and chili sauce, all mixed together. I marinated it for ten minutes before putting it into a 375˚ oven in a baking dish lined with tinfoil. Mine took about fifteen minutes to cook, then I let it sit for about ten before gently removing the skin and chopping it up.

I cooked two bundles of rice vermicelli noodles by pouring over boiling water and soaking until tender, but still firm. I rinsed them with cold water and seasoned with a splash of each soy sauce and rice vinegar, with a drizzle of roasted sesame oil.

I divided the noodles into two deep bowls (one for my hunny) and topped them with julienned carrots, cucumber and red cabbage with sliced mint, cilantro and basil leaves for fresh flavour.

I heated a non-stick skillet over medium high heat. I added some oil and three cloves of minced garlic and a minced, one-inch piece of peeled, fresh ginger. Then I tossed in four sliced brown mushrooms, a pinch of salt and fried until soft. Next came two handfuls of fresh, torn, green kale, a quarter cup of water and a tablespoon of soy sauce. I stir fried this mixture until the liquid had bubbled off. I piled the greens in the middle of the bowl and arranged the beautiful, coral-coloured salmon atop it's bed of glory. I served it with a mixture of soy, rice vinegar, lime juice, fish sauce and chili flakes (all to taste, about 1/4 cup total liquid) to pour over top the resplendent rice bowl.
Go ahead, try it.

Golden velvet of a squash kale pasta dinner

I had a buttercup squash and a hankering for pasta. A quick, somewhat effortless pasta, to be specific. I'm discovering the joys of being inspired on a whim, like when the real, very honest, image of smooth, velvety squash wrapped around toothsome pasta noodles flashes in front of my eyes.

Here's what I did about that little inspirational daydream:

First, I preheated the oven to 350˚. I cut a buttercup squash in half, scraped out the seeds, rubbed it down with olive oil and seasoned it with salt, pepper and a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg. I placed the squash halves cut-side down on a non-stick sheet tray and popped it into the oven for about 45 minutes. I took it out and let it cool down for about ten minutes before I scooped out the flesh and mashed it smooth with a fork.
I started the pot of water on the stove for the pasta to cook before working on the sauce.
In a large saucepan, I heated up a good glug of olive oil and fried three minced cloves of garlic, one sliced yellow onion, a small red chili, and seasoned with salt and pepper. I cooked this for about 5 minutes or so before adding a couple of chopped, ripe tomatoes. After this cooked for a couple of minutes, I splashed a bit of red wine into the pan to loosen the golden bits from the bottom, letting it bubble down for about 2 minutes. Then, I added my torn up kale, the squash and two cups of water. (Add more water if you need to, depending on the size of your squash. It should have the consistency of tomato sauce - too thick and it'll sit at the bottom of the bowl in lumps, too thin and it won't stick to the noodles).
I reduced the heat and cooked this mixture for about ten minutes, stirring it to make sure it wasn't sticking.
After the pasta was cooked to al dente (with a bite), I strained it and very quickly transferred it to the saucepan, allowing the hot water around the noodles to loosen the sauce a bit. I combined the noodles with the sauce and added a handful of chopped basil and flat leaf parsley.
I piled those golden noodles high in a bowl and topped with some crispy tamari fried almonds.
MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM!