Moqueca Baiana

Last night was great. My Brazilian crew (Fabiola, Lenicio, Lusimar & Andre) and the other international folks (Karine & Claudine) threw me a surprise birthday party. They also taught me how to make Moqueca Baiana. This was a BIG deal for me. I actually tried making moqueca last spring using salmon filets, but wasn't terribly impressed by my efforts, but I was SUPER impressed yesterday.
Lenicio explained that there are two different types of moqueca, the one from the Bahia state (which is where he is from) and Moqueca Capixaba, from the southeast. The big difference between the two is that the Moqueca Baiana uses palm oil (dendê) and the Moqueca Capixaba does not.

It's really not a hard dish to make, the most work to do involves chopping the veggies, other than that, you just put the lid on and let it cook.

PS Thanks again to Lenicio for all his tips on how to make a great moqueca and to Fabiola for chopping all the vegetables before I got there. It was a GREAT party guys and I'll try to get the recipes up for the Pirao de peixe and the great bday cake you made Karine!


So onto the essential ingredients for all moquecas

For 6 to 8 people

2.250 kg Fish steaks (bones in). We used whiting, but halibut, tuna, and other hearty
fish that can be stewed would work too.

3 limes, juiced

1 tablespoon of colorau de urucum (a natural colourant used in Brazilian
cuisine, similar to the use of paparika in Portuguese cuisine)

1 teaspoon palm oil

3 teaspoons olive oil

5 Bell peppers, roughly chopped (we used 2 yellow, 2 red and 1 orange)

3 Medium sized onions, roughly chopped

6 Medium sized tomatoes, roughly chopped

6 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

2 tablespoons tomatoe paste

3 pimento de cheiro (literally "the smelly pepper," they are very fragrant,
are yellow in colour and about the size of a grape. Available in Portuguese
or Brazilian food markets)

1 can coconut milk (NOT the one for baking)

1 bunch of fresh cilanto, finely chopped. Also chop a handful of the cilantro
stems and put aside


Tools --> A dutch oven, if you have one. We used a clay wok which also worked. You want to use something that will retain its heat so that you can simmer the stew at a lower temperature.

1. Marinade the fish steaks with salt, pepper, colorau de urucum and the juice from the lines. You can let the fish hang out while you chop the veggies. About 1- 2 hours (if you have the time)

2. Heat the pot on the stove top and then add the olive oil and palm oil. Add the chopped garlic and the handful of chopped cilantro stems. This is going to infuse the oil with all that flavour and your kitchen is going to smell AWESOME :)

3. Being careful not to let the garlic burn, layer about half the fish steaks on top of the frying garlic and then layer about half the chopped vegetable mixture on top of the fish, then another layer of the veggies. Keep in mind that the number of layers you have depends on the size of your pot. Lower the heat to medium.


4. Add the tomato paste, and pimento de cheiro on top of your last vegetable layer. Cover the pot and do let simmer for 35 to 40 minutes. Don't mix anything, just let the fish and veggies get to know one another, undisturbed :)

5. By this time, your house is going to smell like a sea side restaurant and your guests mouths are going to be watering. Carefully add the coconut milk and sprinkle the top of the dish with all that chopped cilantro. Remember to taste for salt before taking the pot to the table!

6. Serve with rice, more fresh cilantro and Pirao de Peixe (recipe yet to be written and posted)

The day I wish I knew how to make Kraft Dinner...

A few weeks ago, my brother David forwarded me an email about an event with Bob Blumer from FoodTV coming to UWO. Being a fan of his shows I emailed to sign up and received a reply saying that the event was full, but that there was a waiting list. With very little faith, I put my name on the waiting list and miraculously received a reply a few hours later saying that the event had been moved to a bigger room. I was pretty happy about that, but more happy of the fact that there was also a contest to be Bob Blumer's sous-chef for the event...so i put my name in the contest and sent every possible good vibe I could muster along with it...a few more weeks past, and I never heard from the organizers...until last Thursday when I got an email from the organizers saying i had won the contest!!! I had problems controlling myself and NOT doing a happy dance in my office...although i think i may have squealed...I'll have to double check with my office neighbours on that one, lol
So today was the big day...i was pretty psyched for the whole day and looking forward to meeting him...which i did.He was pretty down to earth and seemed, well, normal...
Anyways, he gave a talk about how he got from UWO (which is where he graduated from...I didn't know that until I got the original email) to Food TV (it was a non-direct route, but a good story...you can find out more about Bob here) He also talked about what he thought the equation for success was...some smarts + creativity + tenacity + hubris + adaptability + timing + luck...I think thats all of them...but you get the idea. So after he answered some questions from the audience, he introduced me and told me that I wasn't going to be his sous-chef but that i was going to be his competitor! It's all good I thought, i'm comfortable in the kitchen and in front of crowds...this will be fun....well that was until he pulled out a box of Kraft Dinner! He was trying to prove the point that making some garlic & chili powder infused sauce with pasta was quicker than Kraft dinner and cost about the same...the one problem was that I have never made Kraft Dinner!!! He was pretty surprised and I think most of the ppl in the audience were too, but it's the truth, I've tried the stuff twice in my life because other ppl had made it, and hated it both times....anyways, it was all good. We got one of the 300 other ppl who knew what they were doing to give me a crash course in Kraft dinner, and it ended up being that Bob's dish was faster and much tastier!
So the lesson of the day, cooking from scratch is preferred, but cooking out of a box can also come in handy...stay tuned for my next post....How to Make Kraft Dinner :p

Portuguese Surf & Turf (Carne Porco à Alentejana)

So 'Portuguese Surf & Turf' isn't the literal translation, but it gives you an idea of what this dish is about. Again, it's a dish from the southern Alentejo province, where much of the more creative of Portuguese cuisine comes from. A few notes about this one, small clams are better since they cook faster and usually taste better...just make sure they are fresh. I've used shrimp when I can't find clams in land-locked Ontario, not the same, but better than nothing.
Let me know what you think of the video!

Ingredients

2 ½ lbs. boneless pork loin, cut into 1 inch cubes
6 to 8 potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
2 tbsp. Portuguese pimento sauce*
1 cup dry white wine
2 large bay leaves, crumbled
2 large garlic cloves, minced
2 tbsp virgin olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
2 tbsp tomato paste
15- 20 clams in the shell, scrubbed and purged of grit
Salt and pepper to taste

*If you don’t have pimento sauce, you can substitute it with your own homemade version using 1 crushed garlic clove, 1 tsp salt, 1 tbsp. sweet paprika, 1 tbsp olive oil

1. Marinade the pork with the pimento sauce, wine, bay leaves, and garlic in a non-metallic bowl, overnight if possible.

2. Bake potatoes in one layer with a good drizzle of olive oil, and salt and pepper @ 425 C for about 30 minutes or until they look lightly brown and toasty. Alternatively, the potatoes can be deep fried; you’re choice.

3. In a large sauce pan, heat olive oil and add marinated pork and brown on all sides.

4. Remove pork from pan, and set aside. Add chopped onion and leftover marinade to the saucepan and sauté until onions are translucent. Add tomato paste.

5. Put the browned pork back in the saucepan and incorporate the onion/tomato mixture. Lower the heat and let the contents simmer.

6.Add the clams on top of the pork, distributing them as evenly as possible and cook about 20 minutes or until they open.

7. Arrange the baked (or fried) potatoes on a serving platter and pour the pork/clam mixture on top.

8. Garnish with sliced orange and lemon slices and freshly chopped cilantro.

Cheese Demonstration

As promised, my cheese demo from the Western Fair a few weeks ago...I was pretty busy that weekend with my parents grape festival and wasn't as energetic as I wish I was, but I'm happy with it...especially the comments from the tasters :)

PS Big Thanks goes out to my 'fan club' who came out to support me...it made it all the better :)

Bread Soup of Egg, Garlic and Cilantro (Açorda à Alentejana)

Before I sat down to write this post, the first thing I did was try to find an english translation for açorda. Obviously, I came up empty handed and 'bread-soup' was the closest thing I could come up with. I call it bread soup because as far as I know, all açordas use day-old bread to thicken it. This soup is very typical of the southern Alentejo province of Portugal where açordas are also made using codfish (bacalhau) or seafood (marisco).

This is a very regional dish, and it's rare to see it served outside of the Alentejo province. My Mom fell in love with the dish when we happened on a 'hole in the wall' type of restaurant somewhere in the middle of the province on a very hot day. To this day, my Mom still talks about that meal.

Having never attempted to make this dish before, I had my doubts it would turn out, but it was dead easy to make and tasted SO good. It may take you a few minutes to get used to the texture of the soggy bread, but hopefully the flavour of the cilantro and garlic will make you think of açorda like a Portuguese version of French onion soup (minus the cheese)

Ingredients

4 garlic cloves, peeled and chopped
1 bunch of cilantro, washed and roughly chopped
2 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup of olive oil
6 medium eggs
7 cups boiling water
6 cups (a good size loaf) day old Portuguese, French or Italian crusty bread, cut into 1 1/2 inch chunks
1/2 tsp ground pepper

1. In a large pot, get the water boiling and add the salt

2. Using a mortar and pestle, pulverize the garlic and cilantro together until it forms a thickish paste. Transfer to the bottom of a heat-proof bowl or casserole dish and drizzle with the olive oil.

3. Once the water is boiling, poach the eggs. The whites will spread everywhere, just be careful that he yolks don't stick to the bottom of the pot. Gently boil until eggs are cooked through (about 2 or 3 minutes)

4. Add the bread to the bowl and coat all the pieces with the cilantro-garlic-olive oil mixture. Sprinkle with the ground pepper.

5. Pour the boiling egg water mixture into the heat proof bowl and arrange the poached eggs on top. Sprinkle the top with fresh cut cilantro.

6. Serve at the table with a ladle being sure to give place an egg in each person's bowl.

Beat Up Potatoes (Batatas à Murro)

I think this dish embodies many things that are uniquely Mediterranean...it marries garlic and olive oil with a baked potato, replacing the usual sour cream and chives. And instead of gently cutting open the potato, these ones are literally beat up ('à muro') in the true hot blooded fashion that is being Mediterranean.
I've never really liked potatoes, but this, along with my grandma's taters, are by far my favourite ways of eating potatoes. I don't think I'm the only one, since most people that try them, usually ask for seconds.
As a bonus, it's a really easy recipe and goes well with anything, but we usually serve it will grilled fish.

Ingredients

20 to 30 small white baby potatoes, washed
olive oil
2 or 3 cloves of garlic, chopped
salt and pepper

1. Put the whole potatoes on a baking sheet or shallow baking pan and bake at 450 F for about 30 minutes, or until the potatoes begin to very lightly brown.

2. Using an oven mitt or clean linen cloth, pick up one potato at a time and squeeze it until it pops open (This is the beating up part!). Transfer to a deep heat-proof bowl.

3. Drizzle potatoes with olive oil until evenly coated, add the garlic and salt and pepper to taste. Serve immediately.

ALTERNATIVE METHOD
My cousin Jorge, lives in Portugal, and is a great cousin because not only does he read my blog, he suggests recipes and ways to make it better. This recipe is one of them.
He emailed me shortly after I posted this recipe to tell me his quick way of baking the potatoes....in the microwave. I've never tried it with this recipe, but I have 'baked' potatoes in the microwave before, and they have turned out just fine. Jorge suggested 8 to 9 minutes at the maximum setting, but use your best judgement.

15 minutes of fame :)

So, my parents own a wine business and last weekend they celebrated their 25th year in business with a grape harvest festival...there were grilled sardines, fresh cheese, grape stomping (it's harder than it looks, I can attest to that) and a local fellow food blogger (and customer) Lisa of Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen.
Lisa, along with her trusty photographer, Dave, came to our event and wrote a blurb about it on Foodtv.ca (Lisa is a guest blogger for the website) Lisa also graciously included a link to the Curly Cook and my post on how to make the fresh cheese. Needless to say, I had quite the fit when I found out my link would be on Foodtv.ca
Well the post went up last weekend and I thought I would share it with you.
I thought I'd have some photos to show you, but I don't have them with me...but when I do, I'll get them up! For now, enjoy the links (which all have pictures)

Figs!

I grew up eating dry figs, and always liked them, and naively thought that that was just the way figs came; dry. It was on a family vacation to Portugal when I was a teenager that I first tasted a fresh fig. It was late August, and we were driving in the southern region of the country when my Dad suddenly stopped the car at the side of the road. He clambered up a bit of a hill and exclaimed that it was a fig tree full of fruit. Never being one to say no to food, I got out of the car and joined him on the fill where he handed me my first fresh fig. Since then, I have always associated figs with warm weather and warm climate, that is until last fall.
It was the beginning of September and I went to pay rent to my Sicilian landlord. He and his wife were both outside and showed me their garden which included a massive fig tree! I was completely blown away. He was equally blown away by the fact that I recognized a fig tree and liked fresh figs. His wife then picked me a basket of them and when I arrived at my parents that afternoon with them , my Dad had a fit...in a good way.
Last week, my land lady knocked on my door asking when I wanted to come and pick up my figs...I guess living in a small town does have it's benefits :)

Salade Nicoise

I always thought that it would be really cool to have a Salade Nicoise in Nice, alas, I've never been to Nice, but I have been to Paris and was so happy to see this on the menu at a small cafe at the foot of Sacre Coeur. We had just got off one subway stop BEFORE Sacre Coeur and ended up in a part of Paris that we couldn't seem to make out from the tourist map. Apparently, no one we asked had heard of Sacre Coeur either. We just kept walking until we came across a sign pointing to a very long and steep set of stairs, and decided to stop for something to eat before making the trek. And that is my Salade Nicoise story.
Here's the 'official' definition of what should and shouldn't be in this salad...it appears that I may have broken some of the rules, well with my boiled potatoes and steamed green beans...alas, my dreams of success in french cusine have been dashed ;)

Ingredients

2 or 3 potatoes (I like Yukon Gold), cut into small cubes and boiled
2 eggs, boiled and sliced
a few good handfuls of green and/or yellow string beans, ends removed and steamed
half of a cucumber, sliced into longish skinny pieces
a handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
6 to 8 leaves of lettuce ( I used the red leaved)
1 can of tuna (packed in oil-- I know, it's not as good for you as the one packed in water, but hey, it's still tuna, not steak...live on the edge)
a handful of olives
whatever else you think may taste good with the aforementioned ingredients

Dressing

In a mason jar or cup, add 1 part olive oil to 2 parts vinegar, some salt and pepper to taste
(and some garlic powder too)
If you have fresh herbs like oregano, thyme, dill, basil, parsley...mince some and add them to the mix.

Place the lettuce at the bottom of a serving platter and arrange the rest of the ingredients 'nicely' around the platter.
Drizzle with the dressing right before serving.

Fresh Cheese (Queijo Fresco)

As a child, fresh cheese was something I wouldn’t eat very often, since it wasn’t always available at the local Portuguese grocery store. I remember spending an afternoon at my cousin’s house and having sandwiches of fresh cheese that my aunt had just made. I was always amazed by the fact that she had actually made the cheese right there, while we played during the afternoon.

Years later, during dinner at my godmother Carmen’s house, one of her guests had brought fresh cheese that she had made. I immediately ambushed Rosaria for the recipe and was amazed by how easy it really was to make. I proved it this weekend during a few cooking demonstrations I hosted at the Western Fair. A video of that demonstration will be posted in about a month, once my trusty film/tv guy Marco has a chance to edit the footage.
What follows are some of the pictures I took backstage before the demonstration as well as the instructions on how to make your own fresh cheese.

Ingredients

1 bag of 2 % cows milk (approximately 1.3 L)

1 capful of powdered coagulant (combination of bacterial culture & rennet)

1 tsp. Sea Salt or ¼ tsp. iodized salt

Tools

Cheese mold

Big Bowl

Slotted spoon

Clean cutting board

Note: If you're looking to buy a cheese mold and the coagulating agent, LetsMakeFoodandWine.com sells both as a kit.

Step 1: Warm the milk to 32°C to 35°C using a water bath (if possible)

Step 2: Add the coagulant and the sea salt to the bowl, then slowly pour in the warm milk. Stir gently until the coagulant and salt are incorporated into the milk.

Step 3: Cover the bowl and wait about an hour or until you can see the milk starting to ‘set.’ It will look like kind of like plain yogurt.

Step 4: Place the cutting board at the edge of your sink and place something under the end on the counter to create a slant. I usually use the rim of a mason jar lid, or a saucer. The cutting board needs to be on a slant so that the liquid from the cheese will be able to drain away from the cheese and into the sink.

Step 5: Place the cheese mold on the slanted cutting board. With one hand, securely hold the cheese mold and while using a slotted spoon, transfer the contents of the bowl carefully into the cheese mold.

All the contents of the bowl won’t fit in the mold right away. You’ll need to wait for the liquid (whey) to drain out of the cheese. You can speed up the process by using a shallow spoon to scoop out more of the liquid and make space for the remaining contents of the bowl.

Step 6: Keep adding the contents of the bowl into the mold until the bowl is empty. Make sure the cheese mold is secure on the cutting board and will stay put once you let it go. Now all you need to do is wait until most of the whey drains and the fresh cheese is left. If you leave it overnight, it will definitely be ready by the next morning.

Step 7: Carefully remove the mold from the finished cheese and transfer to a serving dish. You can keep the cheese refrigerated for 2 or 3 days (if it stays in your fridge that long!) It will lose more liquid and become denser with time, and you’ll likely need to drain the excess whey from the container that you store it in.

Serve with fresh cracked pepper, red pepper dip or anything else you can think of!

Kale Soup (Caldo Verde)

Here's the recipe for Kale Soup (Caldo Verde) and the video demonstration to go along with it. This really the most traditional Portuguese soup, and is usually served at similarly traditional events like weddings or cultural events. Like most Portuguese soup, a potato puree is used to give a creamy consistency, no milk or cream is added, and the finely sliced kale gives the soup its distinctive green (verde) colour. Hopefully with this recipe and the video, it'll feel like I'm in your kitchen helping you along with some homecooking, Portuguese style!

Ingredients

8 cups of water

6 medium sized potatoes, peeled & cut into small pieces

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 chouriço (Portuguese sausage)

8-10 leaves kale or collards, finely sliced

1 tbsp. virgin olive oil

Salt & pepper to taste

1. In a large pot, bring the water to a boil and add the potatoes, chopped onion, garlic and sausage. Let boil until the potatoes are cooked through (approximately 15 minutes)
2. Remove the sausage from the pot and cut into slices. Set aside.
3. Remove the pot from heat, and using an electric hand blender (a potato masher or countertop blender works too) puree the potatoes until you have a smooth, consistent soup
4. Put the pot back on the heat, and bring back to a boil
5. Add the sliced kale to the pureed potatoes and boil, uncovered for another 5 minutes or until the kale is cooked.
6. Add the olive oil and sliced the chouriço before serving

Back to Blogging

Hi all,

So I've taken a bit of an hiatus during the summer months. It wasn't really planned, but as the weather became warmer, so did my apartment, and cooking in a hot apartment is, well, very hot. In any case, it's not that I've stopped thinking about the blog, or food for that matter, in fact I would say that I've been doing a lot of food related things, but just not posting.
I've been keeping busy with other food related things....I taped a cooking demo. You can check it out on YouTube I have to give props to my friend Marco Raffa, an aspiring filmaker/producer/tv guy, who found me a place to shoot the (3) part demo as well as edit the whole thing....THANKS MARCO! You can check out his portofolio of videos through the link above...happy viewing :)
I've also been traveling a bit...Toronto (Summerlicious @ Bymark....VERY good), Stratford (Theatre, Dining and picnics by the river), Simcoe (Cherry Picking), British Columbia (Sushi!!!) and of course in and around my neck of the woods for the usual sort of thing.
I've kept taking photos of good meals I've had or things that have struck my fancy with the intent of posting them all eventually. Well I guess all it took was the endless 'Back to School' commercials to get me off my duff and back to blogging....so I am officially back and will try to keep up with as best I can.
Come back soon and be sure to leave your comments and questions.
Oh and I've added a few photos below to prove that the 'Curly Cook' never stops thinking about food and blogging :)
Seared Ahi-Tuna at Bymark (by Mark McEwan) during Summerlicious in Toronto

View of the Avon River from our picnic table at Stratford on Father's Day.


Posing with a very full sour cherry tree on Tio Tony's Farm in Simcoe
Sushi House Takeout, Vancouver, B.C.

Leftover Shepherds Pie (Empadão)

Remember how I mentioned that my brother had 2 favourite dishes? Bife a Cavalo and Shepherds Pie or Empadão, in Portuguese. I’ll have to admit this was one, and still is one of my favourite comfort foods. I can still remember distinct times when my Mom would ask us what we wanted to eat and we’d say “empadão!” 95% of the time. She wouldn’t make it all the time, and I understand why. It’s generally a long process; making the meat mixture on the stovetop, cooking and mashing the potatoes and then baking the whole thing. Well, I decided to cut out a step and used leftover chili and roasted vegetables from lunch time as the filling which left me only having to boil and mash the potatoes. Overall the results were pretty good. My family was happy with the fact that food was ready quickly and that it wasn’t just warmed up chili from lunch. My brother had his beloved empadão and no food went to waste.

Ingredients

• Leftover meat, could be BBQ, chili, stew, whatever, be as creative as you like
• Cooked vegetables, I used roasted peppers and asparagus, but you could use canned or frozen mixed vegetables too.
• Potatoes for mashing, here’s where you’ll have to eyeball it. I used about 8 medium sized potatoes which made enough mashed potatoes for a 9” square baking pan. It depends on how much filling you have. However, it’s better to make more mashed potatoes, you can use the extra as another layer in your empadão, or keep it to make some soup tomorrow
• Butter, a few tablespoons
• Milk, about a ¼ of a cup
• 1 or 2 eggs

1. Preheat your oven to 375 F.

2. Bring a pot with water to a boil and add the potatoes and some salt. Cook for 10 minutes or so, or until you can easily pierce the potatoes with a fork

3. Drain water from the potatoes and begin mashing with a potato masher. Add a tablespoon of butter and a little milk and keep mashing. Check the consistency of the mashed potatoes and taste them to see if they need more salt. Add more butter and/or milk if they’re not smooth or creamy enough for you.

4. Once the potatoes are mashed to your liking, get an appropriately sized baking pan and layer the meat mixture and vegetables on the bottom. Then smooth over the mashed potatoes.

5. Beat the eggs and apply as an egg wash on top of the potatoes before putting it in the oven.

Layering the mashed potatoes over the leftover meat and roasted veggies

The Shepherd's Pie baking in the oven...the egg wash makes it brown to a pretty colour :)

First BBQ of the Season

The one BIG thing I’m missing at my place is a BBQ. I live on the third floor of a house and don’t have a balcony so BBQ related food doesn’t happen during the week for me. As a big lover of all things grilled, this makes me sad, but on the up side, it means that I usually have BBQ all weekend when I go to visit my parents.

My parents are also big BBQ fans, although my Dad is adamant that charcoal or wood is the only ‘real’ way to grill food. My Mom is a bit more of a realist and places the need for food on the table quickly above most other things. They usually meet halfway by grilling on the propane grill during the week when things tend to be more rushed, and opting for the slow grill on the weekends.

Since my parents are such fans of grilling we, (my brother, uncle, grandparents and I) decided to buy them a really nice BBQ for Christmas. I naively thought that lots of other people must want to buy people BBQ’s for Christmas, but I soon found out otherwise. There was only one place I found that had a decent BBQ for sale, and since the plan had already been made, we stuck with it. All in all, it turned out pretty well. They loved the BBQ and it works and looks good.

My Mom started cooking on it once the snow melted, but it wasn’t until about 3 weeks ago that it really started getting warm enough to actually stand outside beside the BBQ as you cooked. That’s when I took these pictures. My good friend Milana came over too and the three of us, Mom, Milana and I, chatted and sampled as we grilled. My Mom chose the prepackaged kabobs, which is rare of her to do, but we were all tired and just wanted to eat. We cut up some peppers and mushrooms and I made some tzatziki to go with all of it. I think it’s this sort of thing that makes me love food and cooking. There are few things that make me happier than cooking while you have good people around you and just sort let time pass you by. I find it calming and settling, and when I look at these pictures again, I get a smile on my face because that’s the feeling I remember.

Do you love to BBQ? Have any ‘must haves’ at every BBQ? I’d love to hear your stories.

The road to Pad Thai…sort of

Right, have I mentioned that I am currently working in a very small town in SW Ontario? Well if I haven’t now you know. Well anything that doesn’t consist of meat and/or potatoes is hard to find here. Not that there is anything wrong with meat and potatoes, but sometimes I feel like something else. I suppose if I were to look at this in a positive light, the fact that I can’t find things like pad thai or sushi here has driven me to learn how to make them…case in point. (Stay tuned for a sushi lesson in the near future)

This is my 2nd attempt at pad thai, which was better than the first, but it’s still a work in progress. I’m not sure what’s missing, but I think I’m getting closer. What I’m trying to get at, is that this recipe isn’t exactly 100%, but I haven’t posted anything all week and really wanted to. So think of this as a base from which to begin your personal homemade pad thai experience. When I try it again, I will post a picture (I had eaten it all by the time I realized that I hadn’t taken a picture…oops!) So without further a due, the beginnings of a great pad thai recipe (one day!)

Here are the sites I went to for inspiration.

http://www.thaitable.com/Thai/recipes/Pad_Thai.htm

http://www.thaifoodandtravel.com/recipes/padthai.html

Ingredients: (Enough for (2) people or (1) very hungry person

1/2 package pad thai noodles

1/2 package firm tofu, cut into 1 cm strips

3 or 4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1 handful of bean sprouts

1 egg

3 or 4 tbsp. fish sauce

juice from 1/2 lime

pinch of sugar

chili powder and/or chili sauce to taste

cilantro, chopped

1. Get your noodles into a bowl of hot water from the tap. Make sure they are all nice and covered up in their bath and then leave them there for a bit.

2. If you have a wok, here’s it’s time to shine. If you’re in the same boat as me and wok-less, a big pot works too. So, heat up some oil and add the onions and garlic being sure to stir things around so nothing burns.

3. Next add the tofu. It tastes better when it’s a little crispy on all sides. Be careful when you’re mixing the tofu because it’ll break apart. So just sort of flip it on all of its sides until things are looking golden and pretty

4. Now take the noodles from their warm bath, drain them and add them to the pot. Stir things up quick to avoid the noodles from sticking to the bottom.

5. Add the fish sauce, chili powder and/or sauce, sugar and lime juice and keep things stirred

6. Here’s the tricky part. Slide all the stuff in the pot to one side so you have an empty space at the bottom of the pan. That’s where the egg is going to go and be fried. The first time I tried this, the egg jsut sort of stuck to the bottom of the pan and kind of burnt. This time, I added a little more oil and then added the egg. If you have a non-stick wok, you won’t have this problem, but I just thought I’d warn you about my experience.

So fry up the egg, and once you see the yok is pretty much cooked, gently fold in the rest of the noodles/tofu/onions/ garlic mix so that everything is well distributed

7. Add the bean sprouts and some chopped cilantro and turn off the heat.

8. Garnish with more cilantro, and some lime.

Portuguese Style Rice Pudding (Arroz Doce)

It was my grandfather’s birthday last weekend so the whole family got together at my
grandparents house on Sunday afternoon for a big meal. When I say big, I mean we had trouble fitting all of the dishes on the table. But that’s my grandma when it comes to food, ‘go big, or go home.’ Everything she made was really good, as usual, but she is known for a few dishes and makes them every time the family is together. Arroz Doce, Portuguese style rice pudding is one of them. I thought I would try my hand at making some myself and bring it to lunch for an informal taste test. So after everyone was done their main course, dessert plates were brought out and the tasting began. I should mention that this wasn’t a controlled tasting by any means. Everyone knew which version was mine and which dish was my grandma’s, and did I mention that we were in my grandparent’s house? Needless to say that I didn’t stand a chance, but I still received some accolades for my interpretation of arroz doce; better than ‘boos.’ Here’s the recipe I used and below you’ll see some key tips to making your arroz doce a success.

Ingredients:

4 cups of water
1/2 tsp. of salt
2 cups of short grain rice (like the kind for risotto)
4 cups of milk
1 cup white sugar
1 tbsp. butter
1 or 2 cinnamon sticks
zest from one lemon
cinnamon (to decorate)

1. In a large pot, add the water, lemon zest and cinnamon sticks and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Let the lemon and cinnamon infuse the water for about 10 min.

2. Meanwhile, in another pot, add the milk and warm it up so that it’s ’scalded’ not boiled.

3. Remove the cinnamon sticks from the water and bring the liquid to a rolling boil and add the rice and salt. Be sure to mix it a big so that it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the
pot.

4. Cook the rice for about 15 minutes, or until it looks like most of the water is absorbed,
then add a few ladles of the scalded milk. Stir occasionally to incorporate the milk.

5. Once it looks like the rice has absorbed the milk add another few ladles of milk and
repeat until you’re left with your last few ladles of milk.

6. Before you add the last bit of milk to the rice, add the sugar to the pot.

7. Finally add the last of the milk. The rice should look very creamy and thick.

8. Pour the dessert either into a large serving platter, or you can use individual ramekins.
Decorate with cinnamon either with designs or just sprinkled on top. Let it set at room
temperature or in the fridge.

Important things to remember:

I think there are a few key things you have to remember when making this dish. One, although most recipes I found call for 1 cup of sugar or less, it tastes better if you add closer to 1 1/2 cups. I think this has to do with the fact that one usually serves this dish at room temperature or slightly chilled which tends to make it taste less sweet than when it’s on the stovetop. Two, make sure the rice is cooked all the way through or the milk and sugar won’t penetrate the the rice. Lastly, avoid stirring the pot too much or you’ll end up with a gooey mushy dessert. Low heat and occasional stirring in the key.

Grandma's Potatoes

In my last post, I mentioned how my grandma has two signature dishes she makes at every family function arroz doce, and these roated potatoes. There are very rarely leftovers when she makes them, since everyone usually takes seconds. This is a guideline to make these amazing pototoes, since like most seasoned cooks, my grandma doesn’t use any concrete measurements.

Ingredients:

6 to 8 medium yukon gold potatoes (my grandma insists on them), cut into bit size pieces

1 medium onion, chopped

2 or 3 cloves of garlic, cut into quarters

1 tsp. sweet paparika (approximately)

1 or 2 dry bay leaves

2 tbsp. olive oil (approximately)

salt and pepper to taste

1. Heat the oven to 400 F.

2. Place the cut up potatoes in a flat baking pan (i.e. like those rectangular Pyrex ones) and add all of the other ingredients. Mix well so that everything is evenly distributed and the potatoes are coated with olive oil.

3. Cover with tin foil and bake until done (20-30 minutes). Put the broiler on for the last 5 to 10 min so that the top of the potatoes become toasty

4. Tastes great with any kind of roast, or BBQ

Sushi Lesson, as promised

So I promised a sushi post, and here it is. It was actually a lot easier than I thought it would be, but that is probably because I had a good teacher (Thanks Clarence!). I made a night out of it, and invited some people from work too. It ended up being A LOT of fun and great way to spend a Sunday afternoon in the middle of winter. I should probably mention that we only made California Rolls, using veggies and cooked fish since I didn’t want to be blamed for a half a dozen cases of possible food poisoning. It was still yummy, especially since we all made it, and besides it’s better than what you can buy here, which is no sushi at all.

So onto the sushi lesson…Clarence, being the organized person he is, gave me a list of equipment and food I would need to make my inaugural sushi night a success. Here’s what you should have before you start:

Equipment:

- rice cooker

-bamboo mats (to roll the sushi)

- sharp knives

- cutting board

- big bowl

- wooden spoon and/or spatula

Food Stuff:

- short grain calarose rice

- nori (dried and roasted seeweed paper)

- rice vinegar

- sugar

- avocado

- large carrot

- English cucumber

- cooked jumbo shrimp (tails removed)

- crab meat (or imitation crap meat)

- other cooked fish (i.e. smoked salmon, canned salmon…be creative!)

- pickled ginger

- tube of wasabi

- block of cream cheese (goes really well with the smoked salmon)

Optional: sesame seeds, sesame oil, mayo.

Instructions:

First things first, rinse your rice a few times and get it in your rice cooker. You’ll need about 2 cups of rice to make about 4 sushi rolls, which, depending on how thick you cut, will work out to approximately 6 pieces of sushi per roll (~ 24 pieces of sushi in total)

In the meantime, you can start julienning all the vegtables. For the cucumbers that means, cut them in half (long wise), then cut them longwise again (into quarters) and then cut longwise a third time (into eighths). It’s the same idea with the advocado; cut it longwise and carefully remove the stone and skin. Then cut it longwise into eighths or sixteenths if you can. The carrots are the most work since you want to end up with carrot pieces the thickness of matchsticks. Just make sure you have a very sharp knife and no where to go in a hurry! Here’s a link with an animated tutorial http://makemysushi.com/carrot.html

Next, in a large bowl mix a tbsp. of rice vinegar, a few splashes of sesame oil and a few pinches of sugar. Once the sugar is dissolved, add abuot 1/3 of the cooked rice and mix well. You want to coat the rice with the mixture and then spread the rice onto the sides of bowl (using your wooden spoon) so that it cools.

Next take once bamboo roll and place one sheet of nori in the middle of it. Now take a heaping spoonful of the rice and place it in the middle of the nori and spread it evenly.

Now you add whatever you want in the roll on top of your rice. In this case, it looks like cucumber, advocado, carrots, strips of cream cheese and smoked salmon.

Now for the rolling. Take the bamboo roll, while holding the stuff on top of the rice, roll the whole thing into a long tube, being sure to tuck one end of the roll under the other. Once you have a roll, start compressing the roll so that the ‘insides’ stay inside. The trick is to be as uniform as possible when applying pressure. Be patient, it does take practice!

Now its just a matter of cutting the roll and dipping it in some good soy sauce and wasabi.

Here’s another link that will show you an animation of how to roll http://makemysushi.com/how_to_make_sushi.html

Saffron Scallop Rice with Asparagus Wrapped in Presunto

I was probably 16 or 17 years old when I first tried scallops. One of my friends ordered scallops wrapped in bacon when we went out for dinner, and after taking a few bites I fell in love with yet another type of seafood. When I went home that night, I remember asking my Mom if she had ever tried scallops and she said she had, but never really liked them. I was slightly annoyed at having been kept in the dark about scallops, just because my Mom, the everyday cook at our house, didn’t like them, and so, didn’t bother buying them. In hindsight, (brought on by my years of wisdom of course ;) I realize that Mom probably didn’t and still doesn’t like scallops because she didn’t grow up eating them. This may sound like a weak argument, especially when you consider that I didn’t grow up eating sushi, Indian, Thai, or lots of other things that I eat, but the difference is that I truly adore food, and my Mom, not so much. In any case, I’m pretty sure she would like this, especially if it meant that she didn’t have to cook

So that was my scallop history, now onto why this recipe. The Liquor Stores in Ontario have this AMAZING magazine that is published quarterly (I think) and always have really cool recipes for food and drink. I think that’s what the magazine is called, how original Anyways, I picked up the latest issue, along with a small bottle of Bailey’s that is now gone and saw this beautiful photograph of pan seared scallops on a bed of something yummy. All day at work, I kept thinking about scallops and trying to remember what the recipe called for (besides scallops) but couldn’t. So then I googled ‘food & wine’ which brought me to a similar magazine based out of Australia (if you’re interested) but alas, no scallop recipe. I finally threw my hands in the air (well in my head, not literally, because I’d look funny doing that at work) and visited my trusty food tv website. I typed in ’scallops’ and came up with a few pages of hits….scroll, scroll…’what’s a reduction?’, ‘edame…I don’t think I can get those in this town’, ‘ Scallops, Tapas style’, BINGO! The original recipe didn’t call for rice, just the scallops in the saffron white wine sauce. It didn’t say to add red pepper or garlic either. And the asparagus wrapped in presunto (Portuguese version of proscuitto), well I needed to get my greens in somewhere

Ingredients (Yield for 2)

For the Saffron Scallop Rice

1/2 onion, chopped

1 or 2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1/2 red pepper, julienned (fancy word for cut in thin strips)

8 scallops (the bigger ones)

1/4 cup white wine

a few threads of saffron

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 cup of long grained parboiled rice

Ingredients for Asparagus Wrapped Presunto

6 stalks of asparagus, washed and stems removed

6 thinly sliced strips of presunto (cured ham)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F to prep it for the asparagus

2. Get a small pot with water for boiling the rice. Follow the instructions on the bag.

3. Heat some oil in a medium sized sauce pan and saute the onions and garlic for a minute or so. Add the red peppers.

4. Push the veggies to one side of the pot, add a little more oil to the empyu side of the pot and add the scallops. They’ll start releasing their juices, so let them do their thing for another minute or so

5. You want the scallops to get a pretty brown caramel colour, so start mixing the veggies (which are probably carmalizing a bit) with the scallops so that all the juices mix and the scallops start to gain some colour. Remember to turn the scallops so that they cook evenly.

6. There should be a little sauce being created at the bottom of your pot. Now add a pinch of saffron and season with salt and pepper.

7. Get a baking sheet and your asparagus wrapped in the presunto. Add a little oil to the baking sheet, arrange the asparagus so there is space between them and put them in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until the asparagus is soft and the presunto sizzling.

8. Once the scallops look cooked (about 5 minutes or so) turn up the heat and add the wine.

9. After a minute or so, add the cooked rice (it should be done by now or just about) and carefully incorporate the scallop mixture.

10. Cook a few more minutes and serve with the asparagus

Sole in garlic dill sauce served with roasted vegetables and chive yogurt sauce

I really felt like having two things yesterday, a baked potatoe, you know with all of the fixings…sour cream, bacon, chives, and deep fried battered fish. The thing is that I’m also trying to stay in shape, so I opted for a compromise of sorts.

When I went grocery shopping on Monday, there was a deal to get 3 packages of herbs for $5. Since I don’t have a herb garden (I should get one though…anyone have any advice on how to start one in an apartment??) and I like using fresh herbs I bought a package of basil, bay leaves and a ‘herb medley for fish.’ The ‘medley’ included chives, dill and lemongrass. So I figured I could use dill for the fish, in this case sole, and chives for my ‘baked’ potato craving. I’ll admit, I kind of improvised with this one. I knew I wanted to use the herbs, and I knew that herbs get along well with fish which can sometimes smell and taste too much like fish. I also didn’t have any sour cream, but I did have some Balkan Style yogurt to work with. Anyways, here’s what I did.

Ingredients (Yield for 2)

Fish

2 filets of sole

2 cloves of garlic, cut in quarters

3 or 4 sprigs of fresh dill, roughly chopped

splash of white wine

salt and pepper to taste

Roasted Vegetables

2 medium sized new potatoes but into small pieces

6 sprigs of asparagus, rough stems removed and cut into thirds

a handful of baby carrots

1/4 tsp garlic powder

salt & pepper

Chive Yogurt Sauce

1/4 cup of good yogurt (i.e. NOT fat free) I used 6 % Balkan Style

juice from half of lemon

a dozen sprigs of chives, chopped

1. Preheat your oven to 400 F

2. Get some water boiling for the potatoes, and boil them for about 5 minutes. Drain, and mix with the asparagus, carrots and some oil on a baking sheet. Sprinkle with the garlic powder, salt and pepper. Bake for about 15 minutes or until potatoes are baked through.

3. Oil a non-stick skillet and add the garlic and dill when hot to infuse the oil. Next add the sole filets, being careful to keep them whole. Flip to other side after a minute or two, turn the heat down and put the lid on the pan.

4. Meanwhile, mix up the yogurt, lemon juice and chives.