Let's Betray Some Other Love

I love cooking. I think that's obvious. But I also love books. Other food blogs have been a great way for Katherine and I to swap recipes and find variations, and also to feel part of something bigger than our small kitchen (OH the feeling!).

But to be honest, there hasn't been a whole lot of swapping going on. And I was in the library today and came across the cooking section. Is it EVER a section! I was glad to see it left the fitness section in the dust in terms of size. Ha!

So to start out, I got Janny de Moor's big book on Dutch cooking. The Belgian book looked better, with recipes for mussels, waffles, and steak'n chips. But, thanks to my aunt Magda, those are a bit old hat. And anyway, I'm Dutch, not Belgian.

My grandfather was a baker and apparently I inherited both his knack for pastries and the tendency to sulk for an entire day after the custard curdles. Had we started this blog earlier, you would have seen a tremendous sulk in action after an eggnog mishap.

The POINT is, I'm refusing outside challenges for a while in order to explore my own culinary heritage. Do join me :)
--Sophia

At this point, I know, excuses can't save me from my unforgiveable absence from the blog. Nonetheless I shall plead my case in vain. For starters, working full time and being provided with food on a regular basis really puts a damper on my cooking life.

Have hope yet, dear followers, I have not abandoned the kitchen. While I may no longer be in the Quinn Street kitchen, I'm slowly venturing through culinary exploration in foreign kitchens. Here's just one of the cooking adventures that I've been up to over the course of my journeys. Awhile back I hosted a mini tapas night inspired by some choice leftover ingredients.

I fashioned a salmon dip out of a lovely cedar plank salmon from the night before. I cannot take credit for that beautiful entree but I can take some credit for this dip which was essentially the shredded salmon, cream cheese, dill, milk mixed together and seasoned with salt and pepper. It made for a scrumptious spread on toasted foccacia.



Next course up was a bruschetta recipe that I had had in mind for a while. I wanted to put a new spin on the basic ingredients to bruschetta so I added in some mushrooms and sauteed them with onions in garam masala, cumin, paprika, cayenne, coriander and turmeric.






















To bring the bruschetta together, I threw sliced mozzarella onto focaccia, piled on the sauteed mushrooms and tomatoes. After toasting in the oven, I topped it off with some shaved parmesan cheese.

This recipe is definitely going to be filed away to be used again and again. The results came out just how I had wished for, the spices gave the bruschetta a unique spicy flavor that paired superbly with the mushrooms and tomatoes.



The last thing served was a prime rib panini with gouda, roasted red peppers and mushrooms. I shredded the prime rib and topped it off with a little bbq sauce which made it finger lickin good and a bit messy.

The following day I started off with crepes sprinkled with sugar, lemon juice and filled with yogurt and berries. What a sweet start to my day.

Cake List!

Alright Katherine, you want cake? You'll have cake.
I've got three flavours to choose from, and a recipe for each. And, as an added bonus, I promise that I will make one of them too! I will pick from the two leftovers and the last one... well, we'll forget it ever existed.

So! If you're looking for something classic and, well, chocolate, I found this somewhat-maybe-not-so-simple-looking single pan cake here. Of course, you'd have to leave out the almonds, I think.

Looks a little something like this:
The next possibility would be perfect if summer is proving a tad too warm for a thick chocolate cake! Perhaps you want something fruity, but still heartwarming. Labels to which everything baked with apples can adhere! Something like this!

It looks really good too, but I love anything crumbly:

The last one looks ridiculous. But I'm on strawberry overload over here, and need to find a bunch of ways to use them up instead of just eating them over the sink, which I've been doing nearly every day. I have not found anyone to give me their rhubarb, so I will have to buy a bunch before I make my first pie of the season. Or it could just be a strawberry pie. But there never seem to be enough, no matter how many I buy. We'll see what happens once the pick-your-own starts. Can't wait.

Right! A picture! Don't laugh.



There you go. But just so you know I mean business, let me tell you that my quilting frame is assembled and my sewing machine is oiled. So there.

What? I've been busy! It was my birthday!

This is what leftovers look like in this house. Okay the tomatoes and asparagus were freshly bought (not from the super market! Herrle's is open at last). I didn't make any of this.

Nor did I make anything on this table. Or set it, even. Or take the picture. But it was MY birthday brunch, so I can take credit. Of course, if I really think about it, my mother can take credit for that, too.

In other news, we finally got our herbs and vegetables planted. I'm going to try and break the old record for biggest zucchini! There are no pictures, so the old record doesn't technically exist. I'll just tell you if I beat it or not.

I'm going to defer my excuses and leave a warning for Katherine that if she doesn't come back soon I'm taking over and turning this into a quilting blog. So there.

--Sophia

See That's More Like it!

Please ignore evidence of a prior candle accident.

Something new I learned making it this time around: When buying frozen shrimp, always look through the little window in the package. This was badly freezer burned WHEN I BOUGHT IT. Very frustrating, and not great for final flavour. I still ate it, of course. Mango relish is surprisingly spicy and very tasty!

--Sophia

Dinner for the Fams

This weekend I learned that French colonial cooking can also mean Thai food with wine and lots of butter! Even though my mango wasn't ripe and I couldn't make the colourful relish, there was some mango chutney in the fridge which we used instead. The final product was a little monochrome in appearance but DELICIOUS in flavour. So here we have curried shrimp on a bed of jasmine rice! As (not really) adapted from the Williams-Sonoma Simple Classics book. Oh, and just so you know, said book has THE tastiest and most comprehensive recipes I've encountered so far.

I found the recipe for this happy sunflower cake here and have been meaning to make it for some time. Other resources this kitchen offers are a functional zester and a citrus juicer! I'm rather proud of those lemon husks, to be honest.

Good cake, too.

--Sophia

It's SO Easy.

Greetings from fabulous Waterloo, my summer home! Added resources include an actual camera (I've been using my Blackberry), an herb garden (which sadly doesn't have basil yet), a working oven, and a car with which to bring home heavy objects. That last one in particular was key for this recipe, because of all the canned tomatoes it calls for. But if you live close to the grocery store, it's still worth it.

So what is it? A huge pot of marinara sauce! And why is that fantastic? It's very good for freezing, great for use in other recipes, easy to make, and it makes it easy to whip up a very quick homemade meal.

You need either five large cloves of garlic, or one medium onion. I chose garlic, because I couldn't see any reason not to. First, slice the garlic thinly, like so. I also measured out a half teaspoon of red pepper flakes. These go into the pot shortly after the garlic, so keep them together. If you do decide on onion, chop it finely.


Then, measure out your tomatoes. You want to get whole canned tomatoes, even though they are to be broken up first thing. I found that most canned tomatoes that weren't whole were heavily seasoned. You'll need about 6 1/2 pounds, but the measurement does not have to be exact. I was excited about having a scale, and so I used it, but you can see I didn't use the full amount. In fact, 6 1/2 pounds is about 3 1/2 28 fl.oz cans, so you might want to forget the pound measurement and just buy three cans. I plan on using a half can for something else today, which is why I wasn't too bothered by it.


Next, the fun part! Break the tomatoes up. If you have a food processor, you can chop the tomatoes a bit at a time thusly, but believe it or not, it involves a lot less cleaning to get your hands in there and squish them yourself. It's more fun too. Just don't get too excited, as they squirt quite a bit.

Next, heat some olive oil in a large pot over medium-heat. Throw in the garlic! Saute it until golden brown, about five minutes. If you used onion, this will take quite a bit longer, but the process is the same. Once that's done, throw in your 1/2 tsp pepper flakes, and stir for fifteen seconds or so. Then (carefully) add your tomatoes. Wait for it to come to a boil.

While you're waiting, prepare 1/4 cup of torn basil leaves, and 1/2 tablespoon salt. I used coarse Sicilian sea salt! For no other reason than that it was there. Stir constantly, please.

Once the tomatoes and garlic come to a boil, throw in the basil and salt, stir it up, and lower the heat to maintain a simmer. Set a timer for a half hour, and sit down. Come back, give'r a stir, and check the consistency. If it's saucy and a bit orange on top, it's done! If not, keep it simmering for another 10 to 15 minutes.

I'm the farthest thing from Italian, so this entry is probably a bit blasphemous. It really is good though! If you have a more authentic recipe, I'd love tips!

The main point is that this marinara can be used in many other recipes. I despise recipes that call for marinara sauce when I don't have any in the freezer. I feel so cheated, and as though I didn't really make the end product. NO MORE!

--Sophia