Steak Slice with Lemon and Thyme

Steak...my nemisis of foods. But i said I'd make 'em all and make 'em all I will. So this was a dinner just for Husband. I've mentioned before that I have never really liked or been a steak person so I didn't dare buy the steak myself. Husband picked the meat and I just cooked it. This recipe is really good to do if say you're hosting a last minute dinner party because you actually marinate the steak AFTER you've cooked it. Nigella instructs that this be cooked in a grill pan which is great if you want to make steak on a cold snowy winter day but after making this I can see no reason why you couldn't BBQ this for summer. This is easy-peasy to make, takes about 15 minutes and Husband says it's a decent steak. I served it with homefries and garlic aoili which he said was the perfect pairing and he really liked the entire meal. So if you like steak you may want ot try this.

New Feature: Reactions

Sometimes I wonder if anyone is ever reading these things?!?!?!? So I added a new feature to the blog and that is "Reactions". At the end of the blog you can you can pick "funny", "interesting" or "yummy" by clicking the little box beside each word. I would to have the feedback! :-)

Cheddar Cheese Risotto and Chef's Salad

I realized the other day that with still having around 150 recipes to make and considering that I've been doing this for 6 months alreadyand made only around 50 recipes. That means another year and half before I'm thru this book if I maintain current pace...so Ive decided to step it up. So tonight I made 2 recipes for dinner risotto and salad. Too bad Husband wasn't home to enjoy it with me because tonights dinner was deliscious!

I came home from work and decided my approach to this would be to get the risotto started and while that cooked I would make the salad. This nearly worked. I pulled all my ingredients for both recipes and then started to chop and prep. First I started the chopping of the leeks for the risotto and weighing the cheese etc. Immediately there's a problem because Nigella says 2 baby leeks..I have regular leeks. I decided that 1 regular leek equals 2 baby leeks and proceeded from there. I'm melting my butter and oil while I do this and it's starting to sizzle so I add the leeks quickly..then as I'm chopping and weighing the cheese I read that I'm actually supposed to be stirring the leeks while they saute..so I turn to do that. Then I turn back to finish my cheese and realize it's time for the risotto to go in but I haven't measured that out yet. So I clear the scale, get a bowl and measure it out while giving the leeks another stir and dump the risotto in the fry pan. I think 'I better do something for the salad'. So I flip to the salad recipe and see I need the full head of lettuce. I try to get that out of the package but the packaging is being a real bugger to open. Meanwhile my risotto is sizzling away so I turn to stir it and realize I have to get the mustard and the wine in. Neither of which are measured out. So I quickly do that portioning and add them to the fry pan and turn back to the lettuce...The scene continues like this for the entire time I'm making dinner. If Husband had been home he'd have seen my hair start to frizz I'm sure. Eventully though I did get everything together and then decided that after all my hard work I deserved a drink. So I made myself a Lemonade and Limoncello...Which I think I'll call an LL after my crazy aunt. (The one that carpeted her drive way to keep the weeds down..see a little crazy but no one gets hurt - right Aunt LL!?!?!?!) So I pull out the blender toss in a lemon, soda water, some organicn free trade sugar and my limoncello and boom...no literally boom! My drink is made and my dinner is made but looking around my kitchen it looks like a bomb went off and sent food and dirty dishes and recycling and compost EVERYWHERE. I can't stand this kind of mess.

I decide I need to do a little cleaning before I eat my nice meal - otherwise I just won't enjoy it knowing the kitchen is a disaster. So I do a little cleaning here and there and put the extra risotto in tupperware for lunch tomorrow and decide I'll give it a little taste test with what's left on the wooden spoon. It was soooooo good. I couldn't stop myself I sucked every morsel of food off that wooden spoon and then turned to the ladel which also had risotto residue on it and licked that clean too. This is completely ridiculous of me as I had a bowl sitting waiting for me to eat but it was like licking the beaters after your mom makes a chocolate cake mix....soooo yummy!

Anyhow, after that poor display of judgement and self control I decided maybe it was time to start eating dinner for real.

I sat down and took a taste of the risotto...which I'd already shamefully had some of...just as good from the bowl. I should maybe tell you I think the quality of the cheese will have massive impact on your recipe. I used 8 year old cheddar - soooooo yummy. I then tasted the Chef's Salad. This was great too. I even liked the canned corn in the salad - this is saying some thing because I HATE canned veg. I wasn't going to buy it but I decided I would give it a shot and it paid off. I didn't add the ham that's called for in the salad and I didn't do a replacement for it. Just left it out completely. Deliscious. I recommed both these recipes but if you make them together perhaps don't make them at exactly the same time.

Rhubarb and Custard Gelato

Dear Readers...I am now 31 years old. It's true...Is this old? Is this young? Depends on your perspective. Some people hate birthdays..not me I LOVE birthdays. And I don't care if the entire world knows how old I am. When I think my birthday I think WWWWWWHHHOOOOOOO HHHHHHHOOOOOOOOO! Prezzies, fun drinks, hanging out with your friends and excuses to eat treats. Where in there are the bad things? I can never understand why someone would not LOVE a day that involves all that. Anywho, my birthday this year was spent driving home from the cottage. It's a 5-6 hour drive from the cottage in holiday traffic so you might think that this would make my birthday suck but not even that could ruin my day. The weather was perfect with sunny blue skies and and beautiful puffy white clouds. Driving thru the country side with the window down and just enjoying the view. It was totally relaxing..I guess because I wasn't driving. I put on some Bob Marley for a while and when we did get home I got to open prezzies!!! Husband bought me 2 great things. 1-The Alice in Wonderland White Rabbit Pendant from Swarovski and 2 - the gift of shopping, a gift card to Jacob clothing store. I love shopping for clothes.

So I had told husband that I didn't want a cake and what I did for a birthday dessert was make Rhubarb and Custard Gelato with some fresh rhubarb we brought back from the cottage. This was real simple - boil rhubarb, sugar and vanilla then let simmer and reduce. I used the fair trade organic sugar for this recipe again and I'm loving this stuff. But anyhow, the taste of this is delightful. The dish may look a little messy but the taste is devine I tell you. Looking for a new sauce for your ice cream? You just found it.

Sausages with Sauerkraut

Husband and I went to the cottage for the long holiday weekend. We were joined by my mother, father, father-in-law and brother-in-law. We always divy up the meals between everyone and this year I had to do a lunch and a dinner. So for my dinner I decided to make Nigella's Sausages with Sauerkraut. It was the perfect opportunity for me to knock off a big meat dish because as you all know by now I'm not eating meat. (and I feel 1 million times better FYI)

I had to do the grocery shop in a tiny little town close to the cottage and there is no internet at the cottage so I had to get all my research done before leaving. Easier said than done because work was very busy and I came down with a cold - so taking the time and engery to do this in amongst all the other preperations required for going to the cottage was a bit of a chore. However I did eventually read the recipe and came up with one major question - what are juniper berries? Which I googled and basically found that rosemary can serve as a decent replacements for them (turns out they make gin). Well, I did have rosemary in the cupboard so that's what I decided to use.

At the cottage I picked up the wine and sausages and a disposable tin pan to use in place of a roasting pan. I cut up the smoked sausages lined the pan with sauerkraut added the spices and sausage pieces then poured 1 bottle of German Rieseling wine over the whole she-bang. The wine I used was Piesporter Michelsberg 2008 Riesling. Your supposed to bring to a boil on the "hob" and then bake in the oven for 30 min. I did bring it to a boil on the hob..but then I baked this BBQ styles. It turned out pretty good. The rosemary made it smell really good and everyone really enjoyed it. I served this with creamy dijon mustard too. Obviously I didn't try the meat but I did try the sauerkraut. One thing I can tell you is Sauerkraut baked in wine and rosemary is pretty good. Maybe try making this for an Oktoberfest party or if you're feeling particularly german one day.

Flourless Chocolate Brownies

I don't know what to say about this recipe. Perhaps I can best describe this experience as a little Manic Depressive. The highs were high and the lows were low. I was super pumped about making this because A) I have never made flourless brownies before B) husband LOVES brownies C) I love baking. However yesterday I awoke with a sore throat and a depleated energy level. Not cool. I decided to go ahead with making this recipe anyhow though. Putting the ingredients together was not a problem and I was feeling really good about this because the mix gives you that feeling of anticipation that only choclate can give you. I was also excited because I had found some fair trade organic sugar to use for baking. I'm going thru a food revolution on a personal level and educating myself about the foods I eat. Did you know that refined sugar (the "normal" sugar) is filtered thru animal bones? Kinda gross...But this sugar I found is herbicide free, chemical free, bleach free not filtered thru animal by-products and is Fair Trade (guaranteeing that the farmer is directly paid a fair price for his/her product). So I was very excited about using this sugar to say the least.

Anyhow, I put the batter in the oven and set my timer for 25 minutes. Nigella tells me that when I pull the brownies out "the top will be set but the mixture will still be gooey". So at 25 min the top is set but I still thought it should stay in a bit longer. So I give it an extra 5 minutes as Nigella also says it may take 25-30 minutes. After 30 minutes total, I take the brownies out. The top is nicely set but when I do the toothpick test I'm thinking it's really quite "gooey". However, I decide to trust Nigella and let this cool to set. After about 30 minutes husband comes sniffing around looking for a brownie. I'm thinking this should be set by now so I tell him to go ahead. When he cuts in it's like a thick chocolate soup in the middle....Not set. He says "Uh..is this supposed to be like this?" I say "Well, it is supposed to be 'gooey'. " So he eats it.

I really don't know how he ate this because it was a mess..but he did. About an hour after this I check the brownies again..they're not anymore set. So I put them back in the oven and set the timer for 5 minutes and go watch some TV. I'm watching some show - I can't even remember what but after about 15 minutes I suddenly smell the most glorious smell and think to myself. 'Yum! something smells good!' after which I immediately think 'SHIT'. I'd forgotten about my brownies and not heard the timer go off. I jumped off the couch which was really saying something because like I said before I wasn't feeling my best. But I rush into the kitchen and pull out the brownies. Luckily they weren't burnt - they actually looked pretty perfect. So I set them out to cool and then today I finally tried one.

Now don't hate - but I'm really not much of a brownie person. I've told you before that I'm not crazy about desserts. Brownies are really Husband's thing. Nigella says to serve this with ice cream and chocolate sauce but the thought of all that richness just makes me feel ill. I decided to eat this with Strawberries and Bananas. This was a genius idea. I really can't take the chocolately richness of a brownie but the fruit cut that richness and really complemented the chocolate and nut flavours of the brownie. If you love brownies you will really like this recipe. Just make sure you cook it long enough.

Mexican Chicken Salad with Tomato and Black Bean Salsa (SANS chicken!)

Can you feel the tension in the air????? Game 7 Montreal v Pittsburgh. It's first period Montreal leads but can they hold on????? I'd be more nervous if I wan't so full!

So last night I babysat my sweet little niece..Doodlebug. -That's not her name, just what I call her. I got home around 11pm last night exhausted and go straight to bed. Today at work I have a semi-frustraighting day and also have a 2 hour afternoon training session learning new closed captioning software. After which I rush to get the rest of my work done but still get home late. As you can imagine I don't really feel too much like cooking when I get home and lucky for me this recipe requires no cooking!! Just assembling really. The closest you get to cooking in using a blender to make your dresssing.

Before I get to all that though let me tell you about the Jicama. What the Eff is a jicama??? Answer....I've still no idea. Here's what wisegeeks.com has to say:

Jicama is a crisp, sweet, edible root that resembles a turnip.

Other website refer to this as a yam type of food. So at my Metro I looked near the yams. I picked out something that was not listed as a jicama but looked like the pictures I saw online. In the end I have absolutely no idea what ingredient I used in place of a jicama but it reminded me of a coconut apple almost. Coconut type texture but the soft flavour of a type of apple. Actually maybe an asian pear....Maybe it was a jicama...I've no effing idea.

It wasn't until afer I'd purchased the mystery root that I read Nigella's blurb regarding this recipe where she clearly states if you can't get a hold of a jicama use an asian or nashi pear, or water chestnut or even granny smith apple....too little to late for me.

Anyhow, I was ill prepared for other parts of this recipe too but didn't realize it until I was in the middle of preperation...The first thing I did was make the dressing. The dressing has a real tangy zip to it. The garlic and the lime juice are what make it. Next I made the "salad" part. Nigella lists COS lettuce. Which is just another way of saying Romaine lettuce.

Then I moved onto making the salsa. Turns out I only had one tomato instead of the 2 required. Which is something I can still hardly believe because Husband buys tomatoes like they're gold. We always have no less than 5 tomatoes around and I'm throwing out rotten tomatoes every other day it seems. So I couldn't believe we only had 1 tomato. Nonetheless I chose to ignore this fact and proceeded with my one tomato. Only to realize that I had just used all my limes for the lime juice in the dressing. What's to do when you've no lime juice? Why lemon juice of course. So lemon juice it was. Just a touch - lemons and limes for all their similarities really aren't that much alike. So I used just a bit to add a little sourness to the salsa.

To assemble, coat your salad in the dresssing, top with salsa. I used some of the left over dressing that I had to put a dollop on top to make it all look pretty. The end result is pretty eff-ing delicious. This salad is sooooo perfect for a lazy, hazy summer day.

Juicy Beef Skewers with Horseradish Dip

Okay - so we've reached the point in my blog where I will explain to you the history of me and beef. I have never, ever , ever actually liked beef. When I was a kid I would bawl my eyes out on steak night, or meatloaf night or the worst dinner nights of my entire life were "meat-eater gravy night". What's meat-eater gravy you're thinking. To me it's what I would be served in hell. To my Dad, it's what he would be served in heaven. Meat-eater gravy is ground beef in a sort of sauce with onions and I don't know what else. My mom always served it over mashed potatoes. Any of these nights were THE WORST nights. I have many, many memories of tears pouring down my face and dread in the pit of my stomach begging, just begging not to have to eat the steak or what have you. My mom, after about 2 years of this behaviour, would let me make myself a peanut butter sandwich - which I would gladly do. So why do I hate beef so much? Well, it may just be the taste but it may also be a deep rooted psychological reaction to the fact that I had a "pet" cow when I was a toddler. Until I was 3 years old we lived on a farm. On the farm we had Beef Cattle. One of these cattle I made my "pet" and I would ride around on her back like one would ride a horse. My cows name was Suzy-Q. Suzie was the bestest and I loved her very much. So do you think this is a contributing factor to me not liking beef? I've got no idea...it seems like it may have but who really knows...anywho, that's where me and beef stand.

Soooo, I made these beef skewers but I did not eat any. I made them to take to my mother in-laws for Mother's Day. Everyone really, really liked them. You marinate the meat overnight in vinegar, worstchershire, thyme, horseradish and port - but I used red wine instead of port. It's a good idea to make this on a Friday or Saturday night because if you're like me you'll open the bottle of wine for the 2 tablespoons for marinade, then drink the rest of the bottle. Because hey, you just opened a bottle of red wine...2 tablespoons for you recipe, 3 glasses for me. It's a good system. This afternoon I made the dip. The dip I tried. It tasted really good. I actually think this dip would be good for cucumbers too - but I didn't go the extra mile to try the cucumber theory. I cooked the beef in a grill pan - not really thoroughly though because I would then have to re-heat this at my in-laws. At my in-laws I re-heated the skewers in the toaster oven, plated them and served. To rave reviews I might add. Everyone really liked these. If you didn't have a pet cow when you were 3 you may want to try this.

Broccoli and Stilton Soup

I have a story for you that is completely unrelated to my recipe but it's funny and alarming so I want to share it. I take a commuter train to and from work everyday. Today on my train ride home I was nearly at my stop when a man came walking down the aisle. At first this seemed perfectly normal but for some reason he registered as strange to me...then I realized why he seemd strange. He was walking thru the train with his zipper WIDE open and the beef out of the barn. I couldn't believe my eyes! His bits were covered with his boxer shorts but it was out and about and getting some air. How did he not realize this? All this happened in the amount of time it takes to walk by someone. And truthfully it took some time after he'd breezed by for it all to sink in. Once it did though and I decided it wasn't a figment of my imagination I had to try really hard not to laugh out loud and look like a lunatic on public transit. - So that's my story of the day. Now on to the recipe.

I made just a half portion of this as my piece of stilton was just slightly over 100g and the recipe requires 200g of stilton. It actually worked out nicely because the organic frozen broccoli was sold in 500g bags - I'm trying to buy organic as much as possible. So this all worked well for a halvsie. Making it was a cinch too. A quick chop of onions, saute, and broccoli let cook bit, add broth and cheese, bring to a boil, puree in blender - dinner is served. How easy is that? The taste? If you like blue cheese you'll like this. It's broccoli and cheese for crying out loud - who doesn't like that?

Prawns with Maryam Zaira Sauce

The only thing this recipe has going for it is that it's easy... in my humble opinion. I can't say my tastebuds were tweaked by this one. Too much mayonaise for my palette. I felt like I was eating gobs of mayonaise...yulch! Husband quite liked it though...or so he said. He's such a shrimp fan though that I think he'd of loved it no matter what. But in my opinion don't waste your efforts.

I do have to say that I wasn't able to find any harissa (do you know what that is because I didn't). I wasn't surprised that my metro didn't carry it. As a matter of fact I'd have fallen over in the aisle had it been of the shelf. When I googled harissa I found this is a paste of sorts, like that of a curry, used in north african cooking. As if they were going to sell that in the middle of my middle-class uber-caucasian supermarket. Taking the super out of supermarket is all that's doing.

Like I said I was fully expecting this problem, so I out witted Metro this time I did. I found a recipe how to make your own harissa online and that is how I was able to make this recipe. Let me be the first to admit that I won't be starting an underground movement in north african spices with the harissa I made. But still - even for my mediocre harissa I was expecting more bang for my buck with this recipe.

If your able to get your hands on some shop bought harissa though and, like Husband, are a shrimp fanatic and just HAVE to try a new dip for your cocktail shrimp then by all means try this. And please let me know how you faired. I'm definitley interested in a third opinion. But as for now I think I'll stick to the old Seafood Sauce for the time being....