Quesadillas

One of my favourite movies of all time is Napoleon Dynamite because it reminds me SO much of my own childhood, growing up in farm country. One of the great lines in that film is "make yourself a dang quesadilla!". So I'm always chuckling to myself whenever I make quesadillas and this time was no exception. Today I've made Nigella's quesadillas to take as my contribution to Christmas Eve dinner. I know, I know - nothing says Baby Jesus like Mexican food.
The ingredients are pancetta, cilantro, green onion, jalapeno and of course cheese. I nthe past I've always made my quesadilllas by broiling them in the oven but Nigella brushes hers with oil and then pan fries them in a grill pan. The end result tastes pretty much the same but Nigella's have MUCH better presentation. The only thing that went mildly wrong with that was my kitchen turned into a smoke house. Thankfully the fire alarm did not go off - not sure if that's actually good or bad - but we did have to open the door and air the place out. I tired one for a taste test and it was delicious - I'm feeling confident this will be a hit with everyone at Christmas Eve - except my nephew who does not like "spicy". Personally I would not say this dish is a spicy dish but the japaleno adds a nice kick.
Feliz Navidad!

Salmon with Watercress, Sugar-Snap Peas and Avocado

I'm not sure what it is with me and grocery stores but we seem to have a love/hate relationship.

When I went to pick up the ingredients for this today I didn't have any troubles getting items but this did happen.

Setting - Seafood Counter of Metro

Me: Hi there I'd like to get one salmon steak please. (I decided I'd get one piece and split it between Husband and myself as Husband HATES salmon)
Lady: No problem.
Me: I'd like that one there at the back please.
Lady: Sure thing. [ removes fish from display and weighs it for pricing]
Lady: Well that's a funny price.
Me: Pardon?
Lady: That piece of salmon costs six dollars and sixty-six cents. 666.
Me: Oh, I guess that is odd.

So it seems that my Metro is run by the devil. I wasn't sure what that would mean for my dinner.

However, either I'm the anti-christ or I've been blessed by God in unknown ways because this recipe was the best so far in my opinion. [ I've never been baptized though so draw your own conclusions] This meal is SUPER easy and super fast to make and it's a nice healthy, refreshing meal. This is great if you're looking for something fast and light for dinner or would make a great lunch if you had company. My only trouble with making this was when I was trying to half the piece of salmon steak - but that was of my own demise. Husband really liked the salad but remained predictably negative about the salmon - he barely ate any.

One thing I do recommed is in regards to the "wok oil". Nigella says you can really use any oil but I decided to use sesame oil - one of the ingredients in wok oil - and I highly recommed this as opposed to using olive or veg oil. It really gave great flavour to the salmon.

This recipe I give 2 thumbs up...or maybe 2 pitchforks up!

Anglo-Asian Lamb Salad

This recipe had me troubled from the start. I've literally spent the entire week fretting about this one. Not because I thought it would be hard to make but because of that 4 letter word L-A-M-B. If you want to know how I feel about eating lamb please watch this clip and skip to the 4 minute mark.

http://smotri.com/video/view/?id=v956076185f

Lisa Simpson's thoughts are a window into my own thought process. Husband's feelings on this subject are displayed by Bart Simpson. So after days and days of inner turmoil I concluded that I would make the salad for husband with beef and for myself meatless. Because I'm not so hot on eating beef either - but that is a tale for another time (involving childhood memories and what likely should have been a few trips to the therapist).
So finally I find myself in the grocery store - Longo's this time as Metro has come up 0 for 2 so far. My grocery list includes the beef for husband, red currant jelly, chili pepper, mint, green onion and garlic oil. The green onion, mint and chili pepper were a snap. But the garlic oil I could not find. No matter I'll skip to the jelly and come back to that I console myself. I DO NOT want to phone a friend this time. This shop will be all me. So I find the jelly section. Longos has TONS of jellies. And so many gourmet ones too - Obviously it will be here I'm thinking. So I'm looking and looking - and looking and looking. And STILL looking. There is no mother-effing red currant jelly in this godforsaken store. They have every kind of jelly you could dream of BUT red currant jelly. As a matter of fact they even have Black Currant Jelly. Now I know what you're thinking - that's a no brainer MrsK just get the Black Currant Jelly. But this decision is not so easy to make when you're the one whose dinner is on the line. And you just fed your husband that mess called Smoked Cod and Cannellini a few days ago. If Black Currant Jellies have a complete different flavour then reds I could totally eff up the whole damned thing. Just look at what happened with my NON Smoked Cod...Do you see where I'm coming from now? So I pocket my pride and phone a friend.

SIS: Hello?
ME: What kind of jelly can I use in place of red currant jelly?
SIS:[laughing] stop shopping at Metro.
ME: I'm at Longo's!!!
SIS: And they don't have red currant jelly?
ME: NO! Can I use Black Currant Jelly? They have that.
SIS: For the Lamb Salad?
ME: Yes.
SIS: Yeah that will be fine

So I go with the Black Currant Jelly and after some hurried instructions regarding garlic oil I [or rather we] decide that just using garlic and olive oil is fine. All I have left to do is pick up some beef for the man. While I'm perusing the different pieces of beef I look to my side and there's a freaking cow tongue in my face! It's hard for me not to vomit when I see this and all I can think about in the Longos meat section surrounded by tongues and pigs feet and various other body parts is aliens coming to earth, thinking we humans are quite tasty and I then in my mind replace the human grocery shoppers with Alien grocery shoppers and the animal tongues with human tongues and so on and so forth and you can now see why I always get SO freaked out by the Longo's meat section. So anyhow I start getting nervous and maybe a little panic-y inside so I grab a piece of beef that resembles no body part and has no bones and bolt out of there.

Back home I start cooking right away. The Anglo-Asian Lamb [or in this case Beef] Salad comes together very fast. Nigella Express indeed. I was longer in the grocery store than I was making dinner. I did try the salad with the beef for the sake of critiquing and it's really good the way the beef balances the tanginess and spiciness of the dressing. If you want to eat this meatless though I would suggest replacing the meat with a strong Goat's Cheese. And also if you go meatless I would reduce the amount of fish oil in the dressing. You didn't notice it with the beef but no meat and the flavour of the fish oil becomes a bit to powerful. I would say reduce the fish oil by almost half for the veggie version.

All in all I'd call this recipe a success - it was fast and husband liked it. But it's quickly becoming apparent that I either need to find a British grocer or trips to the merto/longos are not going to be quick. Hopefully my sister doesn't block my number!


Just one ammendment to this post - be sure you wash your hands after making this dish and wash them well. Especially if you wear contacts! Sticking your finger in your eye to remove your contacts with trace ammounts of red hot chili pepper oil on your fingers is not such a good feeling. Even if it is 2 hours after you were cooking!!!!

Banana Butterscotch Muffins

Well let me just say it straight out. This recipe went SO much better than the first. I kinda gave myself an easy one with this as I'm more a baker than a cook. If these muffins hadn't turned out I may well have cried and I would have had to resign from the work bake sale.
It's really a very easy and fast recipe. Mush up some banana, add your standard baking ingredients and your Butterscotch chips - or in my case your Metro is fast becoming a piece of shite and they don't carry butterscotch chips so I substituted chocolate chips - and toss them in the oven for 20 min.
I would say that I could have taken them out a bit before 20 min - I think 18 min would have been perfect. And I'm really not all that crazy about the chocolate in it. If I were to make them again I think I'd leave the chocolate out. The actual muffin part is quite good though with the chunks of banana - this muffin is definately breakfast worthy. It would go great with a nice cappuccino...mmmm now I want a cappuccino. So no crazy sorted tales for this one but I do recommend the recipe.

PS - I think my next post will be thursday

Smoked Cod and Cannellini

The cooking experience really begins at the grocery store. I made my list of required ingredients and at the ends of my day stopped at Metro to pick up what I needed to make dinner for recipe #1 of Nigella Express. I have to say I was really kinda looking forward to actually getting started on this project so I walked in feeling a little jovial and a little cocky.
First thing on my list..Smoked Cod. Well after cruising the seafood department Metro does not carry smoked cod. No biggie though right? I'll just get regular old fresh cod. Then I pick up the celery, chives, parsley and all that's left that I need to buy is cannellini beans - 2 cans.
First I look in the international section...no canellini beans. Then I check in the "regualr" bean section. No canellini beans. Well what the hell kind of bean is "cannellini" bean then? Luckily I always have the ability to phone a friend when I come to these dilemas in a grocery store because my sister is a certified chef so she always has the answers for me. Dial her I do.

SIS: Hello?
ME: What kind of bean is a cannellini bean?
SIS: It's an italian bean.
ME: Well what kind of italian bean?
SIS: Are you in the grocery store?

Now I should point out here that of all the times I have called my sister from teh gorcery store there is one time that I have never lived down. That would be the time I called her after I had searched HIGH and LOW in the store for "Cream of Tartar" I could not find that God Damned Cream of Tartar anywhere..So I used my phone a friend. When I called and asked my sister "What the hell is "cream of tarter" she said "it's a spice" to which I replied "CREAM of tartar is a spice"? yes she says..."So it's not in the dairy section?" says I...then began the laughing..I don;t need to tell you that I felt a fool - especially after she told everyone we commonly know. But I ask you with a name like CREAM of tartar is it not logical to look in the dairy section? but I digress...
So anyhow when she asks me "Are you in the grocery store?" I can hear the hint of a laugh in her voice and I KNOW she's remembering the cream of tartar incedent but I don't give the satisfaction of laughing at me and press on..

ME: yes I'm in the grocery store. What Bean can I buy for cannellini beans.
SIS: Well they're Italian white kidney beans so just buy white kidney beans
ME: okay thanks.


So haven't even STARTED the cooking yet and already things are not going as well as I had hoped. However I'm not fazed...I'm thinking cooking is all about making proper substitutions and not letting minor set backs get to you that's what seperates the cooks from the non-cooks..and I am definately a cook - I tell myself. I pick up 1 can of white kidney beans because I know I already have another can in the pantry at home and check out.

Once home and starting dinner I've got everything laid out that's called for. And Begin with step #1. Lay Cod in pan with parsley, bay leaves, pepper and celery stalk. Already I'm at my first dilema. Do I chop the celery? It seems wrong to put it in whole? Wouldn't you want to eat the celery? Shouldn't there be some sort of vegetable in this dish? I check the recipe 3 times no instructions of chopping celery. But I decide no one in their right mind would have a dish without some sort of vegetable in it. It must be like a soup where you use celery as part of the base and you don't even know there's celery in it..so I chop the celery.
So all these things go in the fry pan and then you add water and wine to poach it all in. I quickly scan the recipe. 375ml white wine 80ml water. So I pour in 2 cups of white wine that's been in my fridge for about 6 months because I drink red wine 98% of the time. But I figure this is for cooking not drinking it'll be fine. I look back at the recipe book to confirm the amount of water and realize 375ml was supposed to be how much WATER went in and it's supposed to be only 80ml of wine.
SHIT.
Well, roll with the punches I tell myself. I'll just add 80ml of water to keep the liquid at what it should be and really who doesn't like wine better than water. The more wine the better actually. This won't be a problem even if the wine is 6 months old. Alcohol is a presevative afterall.
Once the fish is poached I remove it and am tryingn to figure out what to do with the beans. The next step reads " tip out all but 60ml liquid form the pan" which I do but I can't find where in these directions I'm supposed to add the fish oil that I spent 20 minutes searching my panrty for to make this. I read the directions 3 times again but not mention of adding the fish oil. WTF I'm thinking at this point the ingredient list CLEARLY says 60ml fish-cooking liquid! WTF is going on?????? Then the light goes on...There is no fish oil..it's the shit I just saved from the poaching. And I feel like an idiot.
No matter, just press on. I add the beans to the liquid and "let them warm"
Now perhaps I should mention that once I got home with my one can of "White Kidney Beans" and went to the panrty to collect the other I discover that I did not infact have a can of white kidney beans at home. What I had was a can of "White PEA beans" but I decided to use them anyway.

So by now I've got my warmed beans and I'm added the fish back to it, the chives, parsely, olive oil and that's about it. I'm supposed to add salt and pepper to taste and serve. Which I do. Some for me, some for my husband and dinner is served in about 15-20 minutes.

I was felling nervous about how this would taste with my NON smoked cod. My chopped celery that was not after all supposed to be chopped. My 6 month old wine that I'd added 4 times more than I was supposed to and my white PEA beans. It wasn't bad but I wouldn't really say it was good either. Let's just say I went heavy on the salt and pepper. I ate a very small portion as it was very filling (protein the a side of protein) and when I asked Husband if he liked it he responded " I can't really taste it because of my cold." - I think he was being nice. The give a way there was that I couldn't finish my portion so I dumped what I couldn't eat into the green bin and he immediately did the same. Though I'm not sure he was full.
Anyhow this dish turned out just okay...hopefully I have a bit more luck with recipe #2 though.

Introducing...

So my concept is that of the Julie/Julia format. I'm reading the book by Julie Powell of how she cooked her way thru MtAoFC in one year. And it got me thinking. I have so many cookbooks but I only use a few recipies from each. What a waste. I should be trying all the recipies. So that is what I'm going to do.
The cookbook I've chosen is "Nigella Express" by Nigella Lawson. I know it's not MtAoFC but I'm starting with baby steps. I will do my very best to do 2 recipies a week but I must do at least one a week. Also I've decided that I'm giving myself the freedom to make substitutions. I'm sorry but I just cannot eat venison. And there's a lot of lamb in there too. I'm not sure I can eat the lamb either. Truth be known I'm not crazy about eating any meat but I do. Though, less and less it seems. I think I wouldn't eat any meat at all except my husband is near to a "meatetarian" so it makes for some interesting grocery shopping when we're together.
Anyhow...I think it will be an interesting and fun experiment and I'd actually like to cook my way thru all my cookbooks. But let's just start with step one shall we?

A note I should make is that I've absolutely no idea how to blog. I've actually no idea what I'm doing right now...I'm just doing it. According to the website it's easy and so far that's true but time will tell with that.

What I plan on doing here is detailing my experiences with each recipe I make and posting a few pix so you can see how they turn out. My thought is either:
A- I can help cure your boredom/insomia from time to time
B- Maybe you'll get some ideas for recipes too or find a recipe that appeals to you you might not have otherwise heard of.

So there it is ...I join the legions of people who are self-involved enough to blog and I take my first step on a culinary voyage.

Cheers