daring baker's challenge: pizza dough

For someone who likes to bake, yeast scares me. I never seem to have dough that has the right elasticity, texture and overall correct feel. With this month's Daring Baker's Challenge I was apprehensive. We love pizza, however I cheat, I get it at the bakery a block over. For $1.25 a pound, how could you go wrong?

I've attempted pizza dough before but it was always too ... heavy? This recipe recalled 5-7 minutes of kneading, and the overall recipe used a stand mixer with a dough hook. In the world's smallest kitchen there is no space for a stand mixer, so instead of kneading by hand, I decided to head out to my mom's for a visit, with the side benefit of using her's. I don't know if it was the recipe, the mixer or cooking in my mom's kitchen, the dough turned out! I loved the texture, finally, the dough felt right! And one day when I leave the tiny kitchens of downtown apartments, I too will make this dough again, when there is space for a kitchen mixer, or perhaps if I head out for another visit :).

The Pizza dough challenge, hosted by Rosa at Yummy Yum's was lots of fun. Not only were you to make the dough, but a sauce and demonstrate proficiency (eeerrhmm?) in tossing the dough. Dough - check. Sauce - check. Tossing - oops! I tried, I swear I did, but really it was a disaster waiting to happy. The dough was thick in spots, and thin others. I think I was more throwing it up than throwing and spinning around... for lots of delish looking pizzas and some expert tossers check out the Daring Baker's Blog Roll.

One thing I would do differently next time with this dough, is to cook it on our bbq rather than the pizza stone. The bbq gives it more of a smokey and crispy end result than the pizza stone which bakes it more... not sure if that makes sense! The pizza below is topped with a simple spicy tomato sauce, hot Italian sausage, caramelized onions and oyster mushrooms and sesame seeds.

Basic Pizza Dough Ingredients
Makes 4 large pizza crusts

4 1/2 cups all purpose flour, chilled
1 3/4 tsp salt
1 Tsp instant yeast
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups water, ice cold (40° F/4.5° C)
1 Tbsp sugar
Semolina/durum flour or cornmeal for dusting

Directions: Day One

1. Mix together the flour, salt and instant yeast in a big bowl (or in the bowl of your stand mixer).
2. Add the oil, sugar and cold water and mix well (with the help of a large wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment, on low speed) in order to form a sticky ball of dough.
   
3. On a clean surface, knead for about 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are homogeneously distributed. If it is too wet, add a little flour (not too much, though) and if it is too dry add 1 or 2 teaspoons extra water. (If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for the same amount of time.The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet, sprinkle in a little more flour, so that it clears the sides. If, on the contrary, it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a teaspoon or two of cold water.
4. The finished dough should be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50°-55° F/10°-13° C
5. Flour a work surface or counter. Line a jelly pan with baking paper/parchment. Lightly oil the paper.
6. With the help of a metal or plastic dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you want to make larger pizzas).
   Tip: To avoid the dough from sticking to the scraper, dip the scraper into water between cuts.
7. Sprinkle some flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Gently round each piece into a ball.
   Tip: If the dough sticks to your hands, then dip your hands into the flour again.
8. Transfer the dough balls to the lined jelly pan and mist them generously with spray oil. Slip the pan into plastic bag or enclose in plastic food wrap.
9. Put the pan into the refrigerator and let the dough rest overnight or for up to thee days.
   Tip:You can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag if you want to save some of the dough for any future baking. In that case, pour some oil(a few tablespoons only) in a medium bowl and dip each dough ball into the oil, so that it is completely covered in oil. Then put each ball into a separate bag. Store the bags in the freezer for no longer than 3 months. The day before you plan to make pizza, remember to transfer the dough balls from the freezer to the refrigerator.
   

Directions: Day Two

1. On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator.
   
2. Dust the counter with flour and spray lightly with oil. Place the dough balls on a floured surface and sprinkle them with flour.
   
3. Dust your hands with flour and delicately press the dough into disks about 1/2 inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter.
   
4. Sprinkle with flour and mist with oil. Loosely cover the dough rounds with plastic wrap and then allow to rest for 2 hours.
5. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone on the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven as hot as possible (500° F/260° C).
   Tip: If you do not have a baking stone, then use the back of a jelly pan. Do not preheat the pan.
   
6. Generously sprinkle the back of a jelly pan with semolina/durum flour or cornmeal.
   
7. Flour your hands (palms, backs and knuckles). Take 1 piece of dough by lifting it with a pastry scraper. Lay the dough across your fists in a very delicate way and carefully stretch it by bouncing it in a circular motion on your hands, and by giving it a little stretch with each bounce. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss.
   Tip: Make only one pizza at a time. During the tossing process, if the dough tends to stick to your hands, lay it down on the floured counter and reflour your hands, then continue the tossing and shaping. In case you would be having trouble tossing the dough or if the dough never wants to expand and always springs back, let it rest for approximately 5-20 minutes in order for the gluten to relax fully,then try again. You can also resort to using a rolling pin, although it isn’t as effective as the toss method.
8. When the dough has the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter - for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough), place it on the back of the jelly pan, making sure there is enough semolina/durum flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide and not stick to the pan. Slide the garnished pizza onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for abour 5-8 minutes.
9. After 2 minutes baking, take a peek. For an even baking, rotate 180°.
10. If the top gets done before the bottom, you will need to move the stone or jelly pane to a lower shelf before the next round. On the contrary, if the bottom crisps before the cheese caramelizes, then you will need to raise the stone or jelly.
11. Take the pizza out of the oven and transfer it to a cutting board or your plate. In order to allow the cheese to set a little, wait 3-5 minutes before slicing or serving.
    

Original recipe taken from The Bread Baker’s Apprentice by Peter Reinhart.

mushroom risotto

As part of our fall feast on Saturday night I made mushroom risotto. Two winters ago I was a great lover of risotto, easily I made it once a week. I think Pete was a little risotto'ed out! However when we saw the lovely lobster and oyster mushrooms at the farmer's market, I knew that it would be a risotto night! This is a basic risotto, nothing to spectacular about it, but so yummy and filling. Topped with asiago cheese instead of parmigiano reggiano, it is a slightly different flavour. My favourite thing about risotto is that you can be super creative with it. So get out there and get mix match and enjoy a hearty dinner!

Ingredients:
4 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp
3 cups assorted mushrooms roughly chopped
2 shallots, finely minced
2 cloves garlic
1 cup arborio rice
1/3 cup cooking sherry
4 cups veggie stock (approx)
1/3 cup grated asiago cheese
chopped garlic chives to top

Directions:

1. In a sauce pan, heat up veggie stock.
2. Heat half of the olive oil and butter in a non-stick skillet. Add chopped mushrooms and allow to cook the water out.
3. With a slotted spoon remove the mushrooms from the pan. Drain the "juices" to a bowl on the side.
4. Heat up remainder of olive oil and butter, over med heat sautee onions until translucent - 8-10 minutes. Add garlic.
5. Just before garlic and onion brown, add rice. Toast for about 90 seconds.
6. Add cooking sherry. Stir and allow to be absorbed.
7. Add mushroom juices that you had reserved, stir and allow to cook out for about 1-2 minutes.
8. Add 1/3 cup stock, stir, allow to absorb, stir occasionally - I don't find you need to stir risotto constantly if you are using a non-stick pan. Repeat this step until the risotto is al dente.
   
9. Remove from heat.
10. Take almost all of the sauteed mushrooms (reserve enough to top the plated risotto) and add to the pan. Stir in the grated cheese (again reserving some for topping), stir and cover. Let sit for 3 minutes.
11. Dish onto plates, top with reserved mushrooms, cheese and chives.
    
12. Optional - drizzle with a little olive oil.

Serves 2

chicken pot pie

A new food blog has emerged, cute name too: Small Kitchen, Big Ideas. The couple who write this blog, have the right idea...they love food, and they like to create together. In reading their first food post, I smiled at the entry: Chicken Pot Pie.

Chicken pot pie is a quintessential comfort food in my world. I have lots of memories of my mom and I making them together in our kitchen and freezing them for a quick meal from the freezer. We also had the ones out of the box, don't get me wrong, everything wasn't always home made (sorry mom!) but nothing was like homemade.

Given that it has been a stunningly beautiful autumn weekend I knew Sunday night dinner had to be flavours of fall. I gave Pete the choice, lentil soup or chicken pot pie, and considering the title of the post, it's not too hard to figure out what he chose already. Truthfully he chose the most sensible option in terms of what we had the kitchen. We still had half a rotisserie chicken left in the fridge that should be used, so while he was out at field hockey. Into the kitchen to chop and bake I went.

I used mainly things we had around, that is one of the great things about pot pies. I also like double crusted pot pies, so I made the top and the bottom. And while I usually prefer personal sized pies, I thought I would make a full size one for the two of us and use the leftovers for lunch.

This recipe has enough filling for two pies, so I made one. And took a few ramekins filled them and just topped with some of the left over dough, making 3 small personal pot pies. Next time I would just drop the left over into a Tupperware container and through into the freezer; easy filling for next time.

Ingredients for pastry dough
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/4 pound cold unsalted butter, diced
1/2 to 2/3 cup ice water
1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon water, for egg wash
Flaked sea salt and cracked black pepper

Ingredients for Filling
1 sweet yellow onion, diced
3 stalks celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 cup diced mushrooms
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 tbsp unsalted butter
2 small sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
4 cups chicken broth
1 cube bullion
1/2 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup cream
2 1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
1/2 cup frozen corn
1/3 cup frozen peas
half a leftover rotisserie chicken chopped up (about 3 cups)

Directions for dough

1. For the pastry, mix the flour, salt, and baking powder in a large bowl.
   
2. Add the shortening and butter and mix quickly with your fingers until each piece is coated with flour. Using a pastry knife or two butter knives, cut the butter and shortening into the flour until the fat is the size of peas.
   
3. Add the ice water; with a wooden spoon, mix only enough to moisten the dough and have it just come together.
   
4. Dump the dough out onto a floured board and knead quickly into a ball.
   
5. Wrap the dough in plastic and allow it to rest in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Directions for the filling:

1. In a large dutch oven heat up olive oil and butter over medium high heat.
2. Saute onions, and celery for 5-10 minutes. Stir every few minutes to ensure it doesn't stick to the bottom of your pot.
3. Heat up the chicken stock in a medium sized pot, add one cube of bullion.
4. Blanch the carrots and sweet potatoes in the stock for 3 minutes, remove and set aside.
   
5. Add the garlic. And mushrooms and cook for another 5-7 minutes.
6. Add the flour and cook out the starch for about 2 minutes. Stirring constantly, do not burn.
   
7. Add the hot chicken stock. Allow to come to a low simmer for a few minutes as you stir to thicken it.
   
8. After 2-3 minutes add the salt, pepper, Italian seasoning and cream, cook for 1 minute.
9. Add carrots, sweet potato, corn and peas. Stir until the filling comes to a low simmer. Remove from heat.

Directions for Assembly:

1. Assemble the pie by rolling out half the dough, filling pie and topping with dough.
   
2. Whisk egg, and brush lightly over pie top. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
   
3. Using aluminum foil protect edges of pie.
   
4. Bake for 45 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
   
5. Remove aluminum foil, return to oven for another 15 minutes. Once crust is golden remove from oven.
   
6. Allow to set for 15 minutes. Enjoy!

Adapted from Ina Garten's Chicken Pot Pie

thai chicken pizza

Pizza is a great quick and easy meal to make, especially on the BBQ. I will admit it, i am the one who cheats and buys ready made pizza dough from our bakery half a block away. For the $1.25 it costs per pound, how could you go wrong?

Things with yeast and I don't seem to work very well. Bread never is as light as it should be, same with homemade pizza dough... that being said, every once in a while I go back and revisit it and try again.

This is going to be a super quick post because I am leaving for Mexico in 3 hours! The only reason this is going up now is because I was trying to clean up my memory card to make lots of space available for pictures. In doing so, I came across this.

Ingredients
(enough for 1 medium sized pizza)
1/2 lb pizza dough
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp sesame seeds
1/3 cup peanut satay sauce
3 left over chicken satays cut up into chunks
3/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 cup bean sprouts rinsed and dried as much as possible
1 large carrot, grated

Directions:

1. Heat BBQ to med/high heat - 400F
   
2. Roll out pizza dough with rolling pin, or shape with your hands. I never really care about the shape, I often actually like the rustic square/round shape that results, I like to imagine it is more gourmet!
3. Brush olive oil onto one side of pizza dough. Place this side down over the hot grill. Cover and let cook for about 5 minutes, until there are light grill marks on one side. While this is happening, brush the top side with the remaining olive oil.
4. Flip pizza dough, have all ingredients on hand.
   
5. Apply peanut sauce, scatter the chicken chunks and top with mozza. Sprinkle the sesame seeds around the crust.
6. Close lid and let cook for about 6-7 min. This will fully cook the crust and melt the cheese.
7. Remove from heat, place on cutting board, allow to cool down slighly, this would allow for easier cutting.
8. Top with sprouts and grated carrots. Enjoy!

easy chicken satay

One of the student groups I advise had a potluck dinner on Monday night. I was assigned "any type of meat". I have been busy lately, really when I look around, who isn't? Anyhow, as a result I was trying to think of something really quick and easy that I could prep in the morning before work, and then cook when I got to the potluck. Insert: chicken satay.

The thing I liked about this recipe is that I made chicken satay a few weeks ago and thought it was gross. I had added peanut butter to the marinade, based on a recipe I found on the internet and it made the chicken taste muddy. I don't know what real satay is supposed to be marinaded in, and truly, I don't care. The night before I was going to make this, I was drifting off to sleep trying to decide what to put in it (based on what we had in the house) And below is the result. In honour of my friend Cate, I must say, "Tasty, Tasty".

Ingredients:
2 lbs, boneless + skinless chicken thighs
2 Tbsp fish sauce
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 Tbsp brown sugar
4 crushed garlic cloves
1 Tbsp sesame oil
3 Tbsp lime juice
1 Tbsp chili sambal sauce

Directions:

1. Combine all the ingredients into a large ziploc bag, massage so that all the ingredients combine.
2. Allow to marinate in the fridge for at least 4 hours, meanwhile soak skewers to prevent burning.
   
3. Heat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Thread chicken onto skewers, bake on a cookie sheet for about 10 minutes, turn and bake for another 5-7 minutes.
4. Serve with your favourite Peanut Sauce. Mine is Asian Family's Speacilaty Foods Satay Peanut Sauce

Alternatively you could cook these over your grill. This is a lot of chicken, so adjust as needed, this was enough for 10 people + extras for leftovers. (Thai chicken pizza to come)

Enjoy!

new zealand roast rack of lamb

To any vegetarian's or vegans I apologize. This post is for the carnivore...of which I am and with whom I live. One of our favourite meats is lamb. Truthfully it is something I had to develop a taste for and since really finding an appreciation for it, beef doesn't taste the same.

Pete's mom often made us a version of this. It is another one of those random pieces of paper on the bookshelf that I am cleaning out. Originally the recipe was for a leg of lamb. It requires a long marinating time (ahhhemmm...planning?) and is usually something we bbq over the grill. Tonight however we made it with a Frenched rack of lamb that I first seared and then roasted in the oven until it was a lovely medium-rare. I really liked the searing in melted butter in my cast iron pan. It adds a richness that the meat really benefited from.

I have no idea how to take any decent looking picture of meat, so here it is, in all it's glory on the cutting board.

Ingredients:
1 rack of lamb, Frenched (8 popsicles)
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon rosemary
2 cloves minced garlic
1 teaspoon salt
4 Tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
6 Tablespoons dry white wine

2 Tablespoons butter
1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

Directions:

1. The night before, in a Tupperware container or in a large freezer bag, combine Worcestershire and wine
2. Rub spices into meat.
3. Drop meat into container/bag, massage and refrigerate. Turn halfway through.
4. 1 hour before wanting to eat, take meat out of fridge and allow to come to room temp.
5. Heat oven to 450 degrees.
6. Place cast iron skillet in oven to heat up for 10 minutes.
7. Add butter and olive oil to skillet, ensure it doesn't burn. Over a burner at medium (it will still have a lot of residual heat from the oven) sear each side of the rack (2 minutes a side). Baste the rack that isn't being seared with the melted butter/oil combo.
8. One you have a nice sear on it that will keep the rack nice and rack, place skillet in the hot oven. For a total of 12 minutes (for medium rare), 6 minutes a side.
9. Remove and allow to rest covered for 5-10 minutes.
10. Slice and serve!
    

filo wrapped coho salmon

So the mussels (below) were the appetizers as part of our seafood extravaganza. And the filo wrapped salmon was the entrée. It was quite possibly one of the fastest proteins I have ever prepared...with the goat cheese it was pretty rich. Tasty but rich. Next time I think I would cream together the goat cheese with a little bit of honey dijon or something like that to cut the richness just a bit. What I did love was how beautifully the filo turned out. I am always apprehensive to work with it, for fear of drying out or tearing, but then whenever I do, always a happy surprise!

(Lighting in the picture is horrible!)

Ingredients
2 coho salmon fillets - personalize size, de-boned and skinned
3 Tbsp crumbled herb goat cheese
1 lemon 5-10 thin garlic chives
2 Tbsp melted butter
2 sheets filo paper
salt and pepper

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 400 F
2. Lay one sheet of filo out. Cover the other with a damp cloth/paper towel to ensure that it doesn't dry out.
3. Brush top half of the sheet with melted butter.
4. Flip bottom half of sheet up onto the top, brush with butter.
5. Pat salmon dry, season with salt and pepper.
   
6. Place de-boned and skinned fillet on with 3 inches from the end of the sheet.
7. Top salmon with half of the crumbled cheese, 1/4 of the chives - chopped up into small pieces, and some juice from half of the lemon.
8. Fold top, bottom and short side of the filo ont the salmon, and then fold the salmon along the long side of the filo.
9. Brush outer filo with butter.
10. Repeat for second fillet.
11. Place packs on a cookie sheet and bake until golden brown - approximately 20 minutes.
12. Garnish (if you would like to!) with the other half of the lemon and remaining chives
    

Best served with a fresh light garden salad!

Serves 2.

beer butt chicken

I know, I know that does not sound like an appetizing entré! A chicken with a beer stuffed up it's butt? I don't even really like beer, but I swear it is moist, delicious and very worth the odd name (and process).

I know many people have recipe's for beer butt chicken (or whatever they want to call it), but I am really happy with this one. The flavours were not planned. At first I thought of a somewhat traditional spicy rub; I did that, but then as I was about to sit down once placing it on the BBQ, that I had this thought to make a glaze of fresh lemon juice and honey...the result was savoury, sweet with a mild heat behind it - mmm! I love surprising endings.

A few things:

• Pete won't share the secret recipe of the rub - it is something he makes and puts in the cupboard. BUT, I think it easily be replicated with a basic Cajun seasoning (though he swears it is nothing like it - but hey, I'm the one writing the blog entry). Also I am sure any basic spicy rub would be just as tasty.
  
• I rubbed the chicken down with butter as per a few other recipes I had seen around, but the skin, while good, could have been crispier, maybe a veggie oil of some sort would have been better?
  

I thought this picture was hilarious, kind of like the chicken was a puppet dancing on the grill of the BBQ.

Ingredients:
1 3-5 lb roasting chicken
2 teaspoons butter or vegetable oil
2 tablespoons Cajun seasoning or spicy dry rub
juice from half a lemon
3-4 tablespoons honey
1 can of beer
half a potato or onion

Directions:

1. Preheat BBQ to med-low heat (our thermometer read 300 F).
2. Remove giblets and neck from chicken, clean, and trim off extra fat.
3. Rub chicken down with butter or oil,
4. Rub in rub, both inside and outside of bird.
5. Open beer can with can opener, poor out (or drink ;) 1/2 the beer.
6. Oil the outside of the can to ensure it will be easily remove.
   
7. Place beer can on counter and put the chicken on top of it, butt first!
8. To ensure the moisture doesn't escape, plug neck cavity with potato or onion.
9. Place bird onto the grill, over indirect med-low heat. Close lid and let roast.
10. After the bird has roasted for 20 minutes baste with half the honey lemon mixture, repeat 10 minutes later.
11. Allow to roast until the bird gets to over 180F in the thickest part of the bird (the juice also runs clear). For our 4 lb bird it took about an hour and 15 minutes.
    
12. Remove the bird from the grill carefully with tongs.
    
13. Get a parter while one holds the bird, the other carefully removes the can. Cover chicken with foil, allow to rest for 5 minutes.
    
14. To serve quarter bird.

Serves 4.

cedar plank grilled salmon

The husband of a good friend of mine loves to fish and loves salmon. I would say if there was one meal that is his specialty to make, it is grilled salmon. His wife (my friend) makes a tasty-tasty lemon dijon sauce to top it. She was kind enough to share her recipe, but of course I can never just leave well enough alone! So below are directions for our version of cedar plank grilled salmon based on the deliciousness of theirs!

Grilled Salmon Ingredients:
cedar plank (for grilling)
water to cover plank
1/3 cup coarse salt
1 & 1/2 lbs fillet of salmon (we like the skin on)
a drizzle of olive oil
1/3 yellow onion thinly sliced
1/2 lemon thinly sliced
1/3 cup fresh dill salt pepper

Lemon Dijon Sauce Ingredients
3 tablespoons butter
1 clove garlic, minced
2 tablespoons yellow onion, minced
1 & 1/2 lemons juiced
4 tablespoons honey
3 tablespoons dijon mustard
1 green onion thinly sliced
3-4 tablespoons chopped fresh dill

Directions

1. In a large roaster pan place cedar plank, cover with water, add coarse salt. Allow to soak for 3 hours.
2. Once cedar is fully soaked, prepare salmon.
3. Pre-heat grill (ours is gas) to indirect medium high (about 425 F)
   
4. Rinse off salmon (if it hasn't been done already, debone fillet)
5. Place salmon on board, drizzle with olive oil, flavour with salt and pepper. Place dill, onion and lemon across the top of it.
6. Place plank over indirect heat, allow to cook for about 20 minutes, or until it reaches an internal temp of 134 F.
7. While salmon is cooking, make Lemon Dijon sauce: heat butter and saute onions and garlic, don't brown.
   
8. Add Dijon mustard, lemon juice (sans seeds!) and honey. Whisk together and allow to thicken.
9. Once the sauce is brought to a gentle simmer add green onions and dill, allow to simmer for 2-3 min
10. Remove sauce from heat.
11. Once salmon is done, remove from heat, serve fish right on cedar plank. Serve Lemon Dijon sauce on the side.

We served this with wild rice and a fresh salad... a great summer meal! Serves 4.

thai lettuce wraps

I have been so delinquent at posting - yet, I have been taking lots of pictures and scribbling down food combos (I am not sure I could call them recipes!) These are a favourite on a night we wanting take out - but a homemade version. I love that this dish is so versatile, really you could put any veggies or ground meat/tofu into it.

Ingredients:
1/2 small onion
3 cloves garlic
2 Tbsp sesame oil
1/2 to 1 lb ground meat (this is beef, but chicken, turkey and pork have all been good)
2 carrots
2 celery stocks
1 red/yellow or green pepper
2-3 button mushrooms
1 handful chopped spinach
1-2 Tbsp sambal/chili sauce
3 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp hoison sauce
1-2 tsp honey *to taste*
2Tbsp Peanut Satay sauce (optional)

Half a bag of steam fried noodles
One head lettuce

Directions:
1. Wash and finely dice all veggies
2. In a wok or large fry pan heat up sesame oil over medium-high heat
3. Add onions and garlic, do not burn
4. Add meat and brown
5. Add all veggies, except for spinach and stir
6. Add sambal, soy, hoison, peanut satay sauces and honey
7. Allow veggies to cook for about 3-4 minutes
8. Add spinach and cook for another 30 seconds
9. Wash head lettuce and smack the base on the counter, this helps loosen all the leaves
10. Place a layer of the steamed noodles in your serving bowl, top with the hot meat/veggie combo.
11. Serve and Enjoy.

*in the past I have added small cubed firm tofu, it absorbs the sauce nicely*

sushi salad

I have a handful of recipes that I have planned to blog about for a while...but the month got away on me, there should be a few more coming after this one!

We love sushi! But sometimes we don't feel like going out, let alone taking the time to make it (even if everyone makes their own). This is all the goodness of sushi, with way less time. The best thing is that you can add whatever you like to it. If you LOVE spicy tuna, you could top the salad with spicy tuna sashimi - yum.

Ingredients:
salad:
1 cup uncooked sushi rice
1/8 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp white sugar
1 portobello mushroom
1 tsp sesame oil
1 handful snap peas chopped
1 carrot julienned
1 avocado diced
1 red pepper julienned
1/3 of an English cucumber julienned
1/2 cup edamame beans (about 2 cups pods, boiled in water for 6 minutes - cool and seperate beans and pods)
1 cup crab
1 sheet of nori crumbled to top
sesame seeds to top

vinaigrette:
1/3 cup rice wine vinegar
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp wasabi (or to taste)

Directions:

1. Cook rice according to package directions.
2. Combine first amount of rice wine vinegar and sugar in a microwaveable bowl and heat for about 20 seconds, enough to dissolve sugar.
3. Once rice is cooked, mix the sugar/vinegar in, and allow rice to come to room temperature.
4. Meanwhile, slice up portabello mushroom, fry up in first amount of sesame oil.
5. Once rice is cooled, add all the veggies and crab or any other protein you want to add.
   
6. Top with sesame seeds and crumbled nori.
   
7. Combine all the vinaigrette ingredients.

I personally thought this recipe was best when fresh - day of, I didn't love it the next day as a left over. We had it with chicken terriyaki and miso soup, an easy homemade sushi dinner.

cajun chicken

As I took the photo for this recipe I realized I seem to have only posted dishes that are orange/red or brown!! We do eat lots of veggies and greens, I just don't seem to ever post about them! This dish is very spicy, but served with a fresh and crisp green salad and some rice or angel hair pasta, this is a nice and easy to make meal.

Ingredients:
2 chicken breasts or the equivalent in chicken tenders
1 cup flour
canola oil
cracked pepper
salt

8 button mushrooms, sliced
10 cherry tomatoes, halfed
4 tablespoons cajun spice
1/2 tablespoon crushed chilies
1 tablespoon cracked black pepper
5 oz spicy tomato sauce
8 oz chicken or vegetable stock
1 tablespoon butter/margarine

Directions:
1. Tenderize chicken to a 1/4 inch thickness
2. Substantially sprinkle chicken with cracked black pepper
3. Season flour with a pinch of salt and about 1 teaspoon of cracked black pepper
4. Coat chicken in flour -- can be done in a plastic bag, ala shake and bake, or it could be done in a bowl and just dredged.
5. Heat about 5 tablespoons oil in fry pan over medium high heat (I know this is a lot of oil, but you will drain whatever doesn't get absorbed in the chicken)
6. Once oil is hot, add chicken and cook until about 90% cooked.
7. Drain excess oil.
8. Add mushroom slices, and cherry tomato halves, cajun spice, chilies, black pepper, tomato sauce and chicken stock.
9. Allow to simmer for 2-3 minutes.
10. Add 1 tablespoon of butter to thicken.

Serves 4.

coconut + prawn red thai curry sauce + barley risotto

Over the last few weeks of January, when the restaurants are quiet after the holiday rush, to get everyone back out spending money and hitting the town over 180 restaurants participate in Dine Out Vancouver. A three week smorgasboard of choice in restaurants ranging from the pizza joint down the road to high end restaurants like Lumiere (formerly owned and operated by Chef Rob Feenie) or Raincity Grill. Menus all include a 3 course dinner, and come at three level of prices $15, $25 and $35. This year we hit up four restaurants as part of the promotion. Every year we go to the Cannery (yum!) and then add a few restaurants that would not be part of our usual dining experiences.

At the Cannery this year we had a delicious dinner of sautéed Black Tiger Prawns, served over coconut barley risotto, with sweet basil and red Thai curry sauce. I love risotto on any day, so this was fun and unique twist. I tried to reproduce it to the best of my abilities at home, it turned out pretty well. Just be aware that barely has a totally different texture than regular arborio rice.

** picture to come (we ate it before we could take the picture!)

Barely Risotto Ingredients
* serves 2 or 3
2 cloves of minced garlic
2 minced shallots
2 Tbsp olive oil
3 handfuls of pearl barely*
1/3 cup cooking sherry
4-6 cups low sodium chicken stalk

Coconut + Prawn Red Thai Curry Sauce Ingredients
2 cloves of minced garlic
1 minced shallots
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 red pepper julienned
1 handful of snap or snow peas cut in half lengthwise
2 Tbsp Thai red curry paste **
6 oz coconut milk
12-15 prawns
juice from one lime

*sorry I never measure risotto, my rule of thumb is one handful per person when used as the main course)
** this may be too spicy for you, start with one and add more if you want more heat.

Directions:
Bring stock to low simmer. Heat up oil in fry pan. Sweat the onions and garlic on medium heat, carefully so as not to burn the garlic. Add the barely, essentially you are toasting the grains and opening it up to absorb the liquid. Once the barely has toasted for about one minute, add sherry. Once liquid has absorbed/evaporated, slowly add hot stock to pan half a ladle at a time. Stir the barely often (I didn't find it as finicky as arborio rice).

Once barely gets close to being done it will be soft, shouldn't be crunchy! (about 15-17 minutes of adding stock/stirring and repeat), in a second sauté pan, heat oil, add garlic and shallots, sweat for about 2 minutes, add the red peppers and sugar/snap peas. Just as peppers begin to soften, add the curry paste, coconut milk and stir to combine. Add prawns, cook until they turn pink (not too long or you over cook them and they get rubbery!) as you finish squeeze the juice of one lime into the pan to freshen up the flavours.

Serve by scooping barely risotto onto a plate and then a scoop of the coconut curry, veggies and prawns on top. Enjoy!