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!