Strawberry-Plum Crisp

This is what summer tastes like! Fresh fruit!!
Strawberries are in season and I bought a load of them a few days ago to make jam, but even after a big batch I had a lot of fruit left. And I also had a few black plums lying around that were a bit to tart to eat raw but were getting a bit too soft... So I made a fruit crisp, one of my favorite dessert to eat AND to make, also a good way to save fruit that are about to die... There's no recipe, per say, only instinct and common sense!

Ingredients:

For the fruit mix:
3 big black plums, thinly sliced (don't bother peeling them, the peel will get nice and soft)
About 3-4 cups strawberries (maybe 5,...it made 6 cups of fruit total), hulled and sliced in half if needed (I sliced the bigger ones in half, left small ones whole!=BIG strawberrry chunks!!)
1 cup sugar (more if you like it very sweet...)
3 TBSP cornstarch
1 TBSP lemon juice

For the topping:
2-3 cups quick oats
About 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup soft butter, unsalted
1 tsp chinese five spice
Pinch of salt

Mix all the topping's ingredient together until it clumps when you squeeze it. If it's to dry add more butter, if too wet add flour.
Mix all the fruit mix stuff, pour in a 8x8in. baking pan.
Spread the topping and press gently to make it even.
Bake at 350 on the middle rack for about 30 minutes, until it starts bubbling and the fruit is fully cooked (poke it with a fork, there shouldn't be any resistance!).

Grab a spoon and dig in!

p.s. starwberries are very juicy, so to prevent a mess in your oven put a sheet of foil on the bottom rack! This one didn't boil over but just in case... ;)

Curry Lamb and Lentil Stew

I really love cooking stews. Every 2 weeks or so, usually on friday, I make a stew of some sort. It's so comforting when it's -20 outside, like it is now, and it makes the house smell amazing. Most of the time it ends up being a beef stew, because beef is cheap, but this week at the grocery store there was some surprisingly cheap lamb cubes...oh joy. I rarely eat lamb because it's so pricy, so I jumped at that occasion. Now forgive me, I don't remember exactly how much there was, so I can't tell you the amount of meat in there, but it was around a pound. Maybe a bit more...
Anyway the exact amounts in dishes like this is not too important. The end result is what counts!



For this lamb stew I was gonna do it like I do a beef stew, with red wine and rosemary, and some potatoes and onions. But after browsing around some food blogs I got inspired by an indian cooking blog and decided to go for a curry stew. It's quite different in taste, but the procedure is exactly the same!
Here's what you'll need:

About 1 lbs lamb cubes, cut into 1 inch cubes
2-3 TBSP flour
1 big yellow onion, roughly chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 piece fresh ginger, about 1 cm. No need to chop it...
1 cup whole tomatoes, roughly chopped
1/3 cup tomato juice (from the can of whole tomatoes...)
1 TBSP brown sugar
1 cup vegetable broth
1 big carrot
1 branch celeri
1/3 cup red lentils
1 TBSP tomato paste
1 bay leaf

For the spices, I used a curry mix I got as present a while ago, it's called "Panch Phoran". It's got cumin, mustard, nigella, fennel and fenugreek seeds. And I added other spices I really like and that go great in a curry:

2 tsp Panch Phoran, or curry spice mix
1 tsp coriander seeds
1/2 tsp tumeric
1/2 tsp crushed chili
salt and pepper

Throw all the spices in a morter and pestle and grind away! The smell will be a-ma-zing!

So for the stew. Firt of all, toss the lamb in the flour with about 1 tsp of the spice mix.
In your favorite heavy bottom pot heat up (on medium high) 1-2 TBSP oil and brown the meat on both sides, in batches, until nice and brown. Remove and set aside.
Add a bit more oil and sautee the onion, garlic and ginger with salt and pepper, until the onion is semi-soft. Carefull not to burn the garlic! It might be a good idea to turn the heat to medium for this. Then return the lamb to the pot and mix well, add a bit more spices, about 1/2 tsp. Since these spices can be quite, uh, spicy, I add only a bit at a time and check later if it needs more. Too much is not good, but not enough can be corrected later!!
To deglaze, pour in the tomato juice, and scrub the bottom of the pan to lift those brown bits! Brown bits=flavor!!
Add the tomatoes, broth, sugar and a bit more spices. When it starts to bubble, turn the heat down to low, cover and let it go for about 1 hour.
After that hour as passed add the carrot, celeri and lentils, check and adjust the spice status, re-cover and let it go again until the veggies are soft and the lamb falls appart at the touch of a fork, about 2-3 hours. The longer it simmers the tender the meat! And the less the cover gets lifted the better, too! I know it's tempting to look every 15 minutes but let it have its heat! Patience is key.
When it's all nice and cooked, add the tomato paste. Wait 15-20 more minutes or so to let the tomato paste do its thickening job, and it's ready!

You can enjoy this with rice, coucous, pasta, or by itself with some nice bread.



Awesome.

Seafood and Salmon Casserole

I had no idea what to do for diner tonight. There was a little piece of salmon leftover from a few nights ago, half a zucchini and a few mushrooms about to turn, and a nice chunck of Fontina cheese begging for mercy. This called for some freestyle cooking! I didn't want to just warm up the salmon, cook some rice on the side and fry up the zucch's and shrooms. Bo-ring...So here's what I did:



I started by cooking some rice, in a bit more water than usual so there'd be some liquid to moistened everything else later! Then I sauteed some onions, garlic, zucchinis and mushrooms in a bit of oil and butter until soft, with some salt, pepper, paprika and thyme. Meanwhile I defrosted a bit of seafood mix. Yes, a frozen seafood mix. It comes in very handy when it's winter time and fresh seafood is not really available...
When the veggies got soft I added the seafood and cooked them for a few minutes, until semi-done. Then I added the rice and the little bit of water left at the bottom of the the pot, along with the already cooked salmon and a bit of milk to tie everything together*. And a bit more salt and pepper.
*I originally thought of making a bechamel sauce but I decided to keep it semi-healthy...
All of this wonderful stuff went in to a baking dish, dotted with a few knobs of butter and got covered in Fontina and some Parmesan.





In a 450 oven it went, for about 5 minutes, then on broil until it got nice and golden.



Easy and delicious. Can't really beat that.

Blueberry Muffins with Quinoa and Flax

Blueberry muffins are pretty much a classic. In any good bakery you can find a berry muffin, most of the time it's blueberry. I know when I worked at Moguls in Whistler the blueberry muffin was our biggest seller. I'd make at least 2 batches of 24 every morning and by noon they were almost gone. It's quite a good breakfast, especially on the way up the ski hill!



There's no more ski hills in my life now, but I still love my blueberry muffins! The basic of this recipe is my go-to muffin recipe, easily adaptable, and it's low fat and packed with protein. It's from the "Healthy Oven" baking book, by Sarah Philips.
Here's what you'll need:

1 1/2 cup whole wheat PASTRY flour, or all-purpose.
3/4 cup quinoa flakes
1/3 cup ground flax sseds
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 egg
1 1/2 TBSP canola oil
1 tsp vanilla extract

3/4 cup frozen blueberries

Set your oven at 350F and set the rack in the middle. Spray a muffin pan with canola oil.
In a large bowl, mix all the dry ingredients and set aside.
In another bowl, mix all the wet ingredients and whisk until frothy, about 2 minutes.
Make a well in the dry mix, add the wet and stri until just combined. Add the blueberries and mix lightly. Carefull not to overmix otherwise your muffins will be a bit tough.
Bake fo 22-25 minutes, until a kinfe inserted in the middle comes out clean.
*My oven is a bit "difficult", it doesn't brown things easily, so for the last 2 minutes I turned on the broiler. But if you do this DON'T WALK AWAY!!
Cool for 10 minutes in the pan, unmold and cool completely on a rack.



Have a great day!

Leek and Potato Soup

When I decided to make some touriere last week I had to buy some leeks. And of course it's cheaper to get a bunch of them rather than only 2 or 3. And as it happened they were on special, big bunches of 6 big leeks for under 5 bucks. Yippy! I immediately thought of making this soup. It's one of my favorite soups ever. Tastes really smooth for a bunch of onions! And when it's cold outside and you feel like having something velvety and comforting, especially after eating so much on Christmas, this soup is amazing. Sometimes I add chick peas to this for extra protein but not this time. I really wanted only the vegetables and that nice leek flavor.

So here's how simple this is to make. You'll need:

3-4 leeks, chopped (i only used 3 'cause they were pretty big, and also keep in mind they will wilt down when they cook!!).
3-4 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped.
1 medium yellow onion
2-3 cloves garlic
4-5 cups chicken broth
Salt, pepper, dried thyme, to taste.
1 TBSP each of butter and oil

Saute the leeks, onion and garlic in the butter and oil, on medium heat until it startes to soften. Add the potatoes, season, stir and add the broth.
Bring to simmer than turn down to med-low, semi-cover and cook until everything is soft.
In batches, puree in the blender, until it's all nice and smooth. Return to the pot, on low heat, check the seasonnings, add a bit of milk or cream if you feel like it ( I added about 1/3 cup 2% milk) and you good to go.



The perfect dunking item for this is a nice toasted bread with melted gruyere. Potato and gruyere and really good friends.



Bon appetit!

Chocolate Walnut Fudge

What can I say about chocolate fudge?? Well, not much, really, except whoever discovered chocolate and the fudge principle is genius. Seriously.

I rarely make it because I don't want to gain 400 pounds, but it's Christmas, so I made a batch and will give most of it to my brother and his family. But of course I kept some, they didn't all fit in the box....Oh, too bad...
I got the recipe in the same magazine as the cherry balls. It's so simple, it's a charm to make, not too messy, and it's also easy to cut. Big plus when it comes to treats like that!
So without further ado, I give you the best fuedge in the world, and wishing you all a very Happy Christmas filled with good food and family.
Cheers!



1 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips
1 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate vhips
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup icing sugar
1/2 TBSP almond extract
1/2 TBSP vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts.

Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie (fancy word for "stainless steel bowl over a pot of boiling water) or in a micro-wave if you a have a big enough bowl (it's A LOT of chocolate!!).
While that's going on, line a 8x8in square pan with foil and brush with butter, or margarine.
When the chocolate is all nice and smooth let it cool a bit and add the condensed milk, sugar, both extracts and a pinch of salt. Stir it until all smooth, incorporate 2/3 cup of walnuts and pour into the prepared pan.
Smoothe the top, sprinkle the rest of the walnuts, pushing them down a bit so they stick, and send it to the fridge for at least 2 hours.
Then all you need to do is lift the foil out, the fudge will come out with it, and cut into cubes with a sharp knife.
Who wouldn't love this as a gift??



The kids are gonna go crazy...(and the big kids too!!)

Fruity Date Squares

A few weeks ago I went a little crazy at the grocery store and somehow thought I might "need" a big box of dates. Huh. Well it's all good dates are good in oatmeal. But I think deep down I had a craving for date squares. I love those. Plus you don't even need a recipe just some simple guidelines. I remember making them a lot when I was baking at that coffee shop in Whistler. It's super easy!
For these ones though I decided to make them a little more Christmas-sy and add candied fruit and apricots. And it worked really good!

Check this out.
First off, cook the fruit:

2 cups dates
1/2 cup dried apricots, roughly chopped
1/2 cup candied fruit mix
1/2 cup raisins

Put them all in a sauce pan and cover 3/4 with orange juice, add a teaspoon or 2 of brown sugar if you like really sweet things...:



Let them turn into this:



Meanwhile do the "crust":

2 cups oats
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup flour (all-purpose or whole wheat pastry flour...)
Spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, cloves, about 1/2 tsp each.
1/2 cup butter, melted and slightly cooled
*you may need more butter, melt a little extra just in case...

For this part, just mix all the ingredients, butter last, and stir until it clumps together when you squeeze it:



If you feel like you need more butter or oats, adjust necessarily.
Oh and by the way, that mix can be used for fruit crumbles...so too much is no biggie..!
Oil-spray or butter a 8inch square pan and evenly press 2/3 of the crumb mix at the bottom. Spread the date mix (that has cooled a bit; really it takes about 10-15 minutes...watch it carefully though you don't want that sticky mess!!), evenly, and sprinkle the rest of the crumb mixture on top.

Bake at 350F for 25-30 minutes, until golden, and if need be turn on the broiler for a few minutes for extra crisp!



Let it cool completely on a rack, cut and enjoy!



p.s. don't be impatient like I was and eat a piece 5 minutes after it was out of the oven.....holy burn...

Veggie-Lentil Soup with Ginger

This is a soup I've been making very often, for the past 5-6 years. It's like a cross between minestrone and curry lentil soup. Sometimes I put italian spices in it but this week I had a bit of fresh ginger left, and since I felt a little cold coming, it was gonna be a gingered soup! By the way, the cold didn't make it!! Killed it right in the bud with this wonderful natural medecine. Seriously, the chinese have it right. Ginger heals. Every time I feel a cold coming, I drink ginger tea or use it generously in a soup, like this one, and done the cold is. Miraculous!
Anyway. Other than that I also had a few vegetables that were getting a little soft in the crisper, and soup is the best for rescuing those rather hopeless veggies...



Like any other soup or stew, start by chopping (and peeling those that require peeling)all the vegetables:

1 carrot
1 celeri
1 onion
1 parsnip
1/2 zucchini(or a whole one, but that's what was left in the bag...)
5-6 asparagus
1/2 yellow pepper
2 cloves garlic
1 big chunk fresh ginger

In 1-2 tablespoons of oil, sautee on medium-high heat, first the carrot, celeri, onion, parsnip and ginger. Those are the ones that take longer so I throw them in first. Don't forget the salt and pepper...
After a few minutes add the rest of the vegetables, salt and pepper again, and stir.



Then add:

1 cup canned tomatoes (or if you like throw in the whole can, but again, I only had that leftover from a few days ago when I made a pasta sauce and didn't use the whole thing...)
1/2 cup lentils (I used brown lentils for this one)
1-2 tsp curry powder
1-2 tsp cumin powder
1-2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp crushed chili

Then add about 4 cups of vegetable broth and when it starts to bubble turn the heat to medium-low, semi-cover and let it simmer until all the veggies are soft and the lentils are cooked. Should be about 20-30 minutes.


Adjust the seasonning and enjoy!

Asparagus and Gruyere Omelette

Yesterday I was at a swim meet ALL day, swam over 3000 meters in races, warm-ups and cool-downs, ate little things all through the day: walnuts, protein bars, 1/2 a cheese sandwich, soy milk, energizer juices, banana, apricots...and then in the evening had the usual after-meet beer, chips and take-out. Today I'm a little sore and my body needed a good proper meal. And what's one of the athlete's favorite breakfast? EGGS. It's hands down the best energizer. Some people will say that the cholesterol content in eggs is rather high and we shouldn't eat too many...blabla. Active people eat eggs. It's high in protein, easy to digest, and fills you up for a while. Honestly I don't really care about the "high-ish" cholesterol, they have so many other good stuff in them this small negative aspect gets lost in all the other nutritonal goodness.
When I make omelettes I use more eggwhites though. One whole egg, two egg whites for one omelette. I find it makes the omelette taste lighter and the other ingredients come out a lot more, since egg whites don't really have flavor. But it's necessary to have that one yolk in it, for fat content and that nice egg taste.
SO here's another variation of this swimmers' favorite breakfast:

1 large egg
2 egg whites
Splash of milk(2% is good.)
5-6 asparagus
2-3 TBSP grated gruyere cheese
1-2 green onions
Salt and pepper (and other herbs if you like...)

Start by grilling the asparagus in a bit of oil, on medium heat, until they're al dente.
(At the same time get your potatoes going, cubed, salted, peppered, and rosemaried.)



Whisk the egg and whites, add the milk, onions and seasonings.
When the asparagus are done(3-5 minutes) get them out of the pan, and pour in the egg mixture.
*On the next picture you can see the floors in my appartment are not quite straight...it helps in keeping the eggs on one side and the potatoes on the other. But if you have nice even floors I guess it'd be better to do the potatoes first and keep them warm somewhere, unless you want potatoes in your omelette, which wouldn't be all that bad anyway...)
When the eggs start to cook lightly on the outside line in the asparagus and the cheese:



Then fold once:



Twice:



And then flip:



After flipping it once, leave it a few minutes, flip it again and turn the heat off.
This should do it. And by then you're potatoes are done too.



Yep. Breakfast of Champions!

Beef Stew with Rosemary

It seems there's been a lot of desserts on here lately...so here's something salty and meaty to balance it all.
I made this stew almost a week ago, on a cold rainy day. I originaly wanted to use lamb but the lamb I found at the grocery store was a bit pricy, so I got beef. Always cheap good ol' canadian beef!
Now, when I make stews I never EVER follow a recipe. Kinda like soups. There are certain methods that need to be followed but the ingredients and amounts of them and the herbs used are totally interchangeable. I don't think I've even made 2 stews that tasted the same. I love that.

SO here's how it goes:

First and foremost, cut all your vegetables so it's all ready to go. What you use is up to you. In this one I used:

1 medium yellow onions,
2 carrots
2 branches celeri
2 parsnips,
handfull pearl onions
3-4 cloves garlic
7-8 new potatoes(I added them only later on, since they cook kinda fast...)

Sautee all veggies BUT the potatoes in a bit of canola oil on medium-high heat until semi-soft, with salt and pepper. When done set aside on a plate while you do the meat.(...)



Pat the meat dry and throw in a ziploc bag with a few tablespoons of flour, shake it to cover all sides of the cubes. This will help brown the meat and will thicken the stew. Plus because the flour will be cooked ON the meat you won't taste the flour at all. Thanx Food Network as always for that tidbit of info...What would I do without that channel I don't know...
Then take the meat out of the bag, shake off any excess flour and in a heavy bottom pot(some call it "dutch-oven"), brown in oil, in batches, on all sides.



When they're all done return them to the pot along with all the veggies and some of your favorite herbs. I used 1 sprig fresh rosemary (THE #1 herb for stews if you ask me! and the fresh stuff is much more mellow than the dry...), 2 sprigs of fresh thyme and a bay leaf. Toss it all together for a few minutes and pour in 1/2 a bottle of red wine and about 1-2 cups beef broth, just up to the surface, not completely covering everything but enough so that everything has some contact with liquid.



As soon as you see a few tiny bubbles appear on the surface, turn the heat down to low, cover tightly and let it go for 3-4-5 hours.
*About one hour after the stew has started simmering, add the new potatoes and check the seasonning. I added more rosemary and some black pepper...
The longer it simmers the better, acutally because stew meat is tougher and it takes time to break down the tissue. I had this one on the stove from 3:30pm to almost 8pm (I got sucked in a movie called "The lovely bones"...).
But what you get in the end is melt in your mouth tender meat:



The final product is pretty darn good, the night of, yes, especially after crying my eyes out from a sappy movie,...:



But it's even better the next day, on some fusili pasta for example:

Homemade applesauce

Applesauce is so easy to make, and yet I always somehow buy it in jars at the store. Kinda dumb, since I use a lot of it in baked goods and I eat it often before or after working out, or simply as dessert. I figured it would be a good idea to start making my own, especially since apples are still cheap! I don't know why I haven't done that sooner. Laziness I guess...
Anyway, so I got a 5 lbs bag of Cortlands for very cheap, and as much as I love biting into an apple and just eat it raw, 5 lbs is a lot for a single person. Originally I wanted to make muffins but realized I was out of baking powder and didn't have time to get to the store. So I opted for this. I'm glad I did. AND...I still have a lot of apples so I'll make muffins on sunday.
Here's what you'll need for about 2 cups of applesauce:

5-6 apples, peeled, cored and chopped
Juice of 1 lemon
2 TBSP water
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cloves

Put all the ingredients in a sauce pan and simmer on medium heat until the apples are soft.
Turn the heat off and let cool a bit.

Before:


After:


Mash with a potato masher, or blend with a hand blender if you like it smooth.
(I chose to mash it so that it's still a little chunky)



So simple...

Sweet Chili Chicken Fried Rice.

This is what I usually do with leftover cooked chicken. It's easy, fast, comforting and of course very tasty!
I think the first time I made this was when I lived in Whistler, one of my roomates had a bottle of sweet thai chili sauce in the fridge and I tried it in a stir fry, to make a change (because when I lived out west I used to eat A LOT of stir fry...), and I became hooked. That sauce makes this dish! Without it it's just another chicken fried rice. So next time you're in the asian food aisle at the grocery store, pick up a bottle you wont regret it! It's really good on shrimp too, or as a dipping sauce for spring rolls.
So here's one of my favorite chicken stir fry E-V-E-R:



Start by cooking a pot of rice. Then sautee some onions, garlic and celeri in a little bit of olive oil until they get soft. Season with a bit of salt and pepper.
Add the cooked shredded chicken and a good squeeze of sweet thai chili sauce. Then add the rice and a bit of soy sauce and mix it and sautee until all the ingredients are well aquainted. Then at the end, if you wish, throw in some fresh basil or oregano, or even tarragon would be nice. This time it was basil.



As it happens, this is the last dish I made with my fresh basil....the plant is dead...the sun is not strong enough anymore to help it stay alive, so no more fresh basil...'til next spring...

Rice and Zucchini "Lasagna"

This is what happens when I have NO idea what to make for diner because of too many options...
It's totally freestyle cooking at its best, it kinda came together I don't know how, I just got inspired as I cooked. Love that! It also used up a lot of letfovers...the spaghetti sauce was about a week old and needed to be used for something, the zucchinis were getting a little soft and the rice...well ok, I cooked that fresh but it was the bottom of the bag. Not too shabby, still, huh?



First I started by cooking some basmati rice, I think it was 1/2 cup DRY.
Meanwhile, I sauteed 2 medium sliced zucchinis in olive oil with salt, pepper, paprika and oregano.



Then I started with the layering, in a 8x4 loaf pan, or if you have a big family use your favorite casserole dish. (This one here feeds 2-3 people)
At the bottom of the pan a bit of spaghetti sauce, then a layer of zucchinis, some parmesan cheese, rice, spaghetti sauce, zucchinis, parmesan, rice, etc...up to the top, then finish with a layer of shredded cheese (here it's cheddar).



Then in a 400F oven until it starts to bubble (LOVE the glass pan!!) and under the broil for 2 minutes or so.

Pretty darn good for a week night...