Wasabi Lime Dressing

Whooooooaaaaa momma!!! Eat this if you have a cold. Ai-yai-ai! This will definitely add some kick to your salad. So easy to make, just like the other 2 dressings she's got. This makes about half the amount of dressing of the other 2 but that's because you need just a little. I'm the kind of person who likes a good healthy portion of dressing on my salad. But I had to keep a light hand with this. Right after I made it I dipped a slice of cucumber into the dressing for a taste test and my head nearly popped off my shoulders. It was from this experience I wisely chose to hold back on the dressing for the salad.

The whole time I ate my salad I'd get these infrequent nasal cleansing that were intense. But the flavour was good enough that I kept going back for more. If you can't handle spicy keep well back of this recipe but if you are looking for something a little different then make sure you try this!!!

Sake Sea Bass and Wilted Greens

This recipe I was excited about...then lost my excitement...but then when I ate it I was brought back to my original excitement. The whole thing started with a trip to the farmer's market. I went there this morning to get an organic fair trade cappuccino. But then that stand wasn't set up when I got there. So I decided to peruse the veggies. I had in the back of my mind that I would make this recipe next and I thought the farmer's market would be the perfect place to get me some greens to wilt. The swiss chard looked really good at one of the stands and I hadn't had swiss chard since I was young and I decide this might be a good time to try it again.

So that was how I decided to make this tonight. I had to pick up the fish on the way home too. Big surprise that Metro didn't sell fresh Sea Bass. I picked up a fillet of Snapper in it's place. Preparation of this meal is really simple. This recipe does make 4 servings and I was only cooking for one tonight so I didn't make a whole fish like Nigella suggests. I used a single serving fillet and therefore reduced the cooking time dramatically. For the whole fish it's 25 minutes. I cooked my piece for 10 minutes.

Then for the wilted greens I washed the chard and chopped it down to more manageable pieces and sauteed them in the anchovy and garlic oil. I also decided kinda last minute to toss in some marinated artichoke hearts too. The end result was some perfectly cooked and seasoned fish and I've become a fan of swiss chard. Which is great because it's soooo healthy for you. I'm feeling pretty good about this recipe because it is so fantastically healthy and delicious meal!

Warm Potato Salad

Potato salad is such a summer staple. When you think summer BBQ or summer picnic I bet potato salad is one of the first 5 foods you think of. I've gotta tell you I've never had a warm potato salad before so this was a nice change. The thing that I really liked about this one was that it's not a mayonnaise dressing. This salad has a vinegary-mustard dressing which i found very pleasing. I had a sous-chef help me make this tonight...my 1.5 year old niece. so I'm thinking that if she can make this you should be able to also.

I recommend this one. Give it a try at your next BBQ.

Chocolate Mint Cookies

Nigella may want to reconsider naming these Diabetic Coma Cookies. OMFG I felt a cavity forming when I bit in. These are WAY too chocolaty and WAY too sweet for me. Husband will have his work cut out for him eating these. I'm sure it's a task he's up to though...he is cookie monster afterall. He's been begging me to make these all night. I promised him yesterday that I would make him cookies tonight and I think he might have divorced me if I didn't come through. He seemed very nervous when after dinner I sat on the couch to relax a bit (I do work all day)but he looks nervously about and says "You're gonna make those cookies right???" I reassured him that I was going to make them...so there was no getting out of it. This man takes cookies more seriously than our wedding vows I think.

Amazingly enough though Husband is now in a canundrum of his own making. This man never eats lunch so he comes home famished then shovels food in his mouth (think cookie monster style) and 15 seconds after his orgy of eating looks at me and says "uggggg I'm soooo full" to which every night I say "So don't eat so much..or try eating lunch so you're not so starved". This is our daily routine. Now he's stuffed himself so full that when I say the cookies are ready he says to me "I can't eat a cookie. If I do I'll either puke or have a heart attack." Ah, well there's always tomorrow's binge for them to be had. But I won't be eating anymore that's for sure. Chocoholics may want to add this to their list of will do's. And I'm pretty sure that when cookie monster comes home from work tomorrow he'll suck back a few of these no problem.

Sweet and Sour Cucumber Salad

This salad looked to me like it would be either really really good...or really really bad. Turns out for the positive! Husband ate left over ragu for dinner tonight and I got busy making this salad for myself (along with bbq artichoke). To make this recipe by the book you use 2 whole cucumbers and it serves 10-12 people according to Nigella. So I thought "I'll just make half a cucumber. Then half the ingredients for the dressing. Sure it's gonna be a bit much dressing but I'll cope." As it turns out I'm not sure who exactly these 10-12 anorexic people Nigella served but I ate half the damn cucumber and didn't really have much of a dent in my hunger situation. I moved onto the artichoke and was a little more satisfied but I had to make a veggie dog to really end the screams for food coming from my stomach. But back to the salad. It's delicious and tangy and you just kinda gobble it up..or at least I did. Perfect for a hot summer day like today was. I spent the entire day cooped up in my air conditioned office and wasn't really dressed for the summer. By the time I got home in my jeans and t-shirt i couldn't get the jeans off fast enough and actually thought about walking around pant-less for the night. Then I pictured my newly single neighbour on the one side and my older gentleman neighbour on the side happening to peak out the window while I bbq'd in my unds and thought better of it. So I put on a pair of short shorts and decided they were slightly more decent to be seen in while grilling in the back yard. Anyhow, eating this salad after being so hot was quenching really. It was like eating a glass of water after a big bike ride or something active like that.

It's dead easy to make and while Nigella says 10-12 I'm thinking those people sure aren't eating much...I'd say the whole thing, 2 cucumbers and all would serve 6-8. Or 2 people who LOVE cucumbers. Like me.

Rapid Ragu

There's a fly in my house and it's driving me bonkers!!! Zoom, zoom, zoom and I can't grab a hold of it. I hate having flies in my house. It makes me think of my old apartment I had long ago on the wrong side of the tracks. Things started out good there but then they went terribly awry. We used to have a piece of cardboard and a disco ball in the living room and we would have these amazing "dance partys" with 4 people at the most. We would have a dance off like you wouldn't believe on the cardboard. It was so much fun...that was when it was good. Lemme tell ya about when it got bad. First - my sister and I (who I lived with) went to Florida and we came home to find that the man that lived above us had spent the week creeping about our apartment. The Landlord came by to check the place for us and found him in our kitchen!!!!! How effing creepy is that??? What then was the straw that broke the camels back was shortly after that we found a bunch of maggots under our kitchen sink. Even now bile comes up my throat just thinking about it. That was a good 1o years ago and I'm still effected by it. This is why I'm freaking out about this one fly. Flies in my house give me the heebie-jeebies!

Despite the fly I managed to make Husband a meat laden dinner - which he loved. I thought this meal looked kinda gross - but Husband seemed to find it appealing. Perhaps I'm too far removed from the time of meat-eating but this had zero appeal to me. I don't know what to say about this really...mostly because it didn't look good to me..but sometimes taste and looks aren't related. Husband cleaned his bowl up and remarked that it was good. So it's a bit of a coin toss for me here. Obviously it must taste decent but the look just wasn't appealing. If you like chili con carne you may wanna try this but just remember I warned you it doesn't look a peach.

Now where did that fly go....

Clafoutis

Today I reached a milestone...I now have under 100 recipes to make...I feel like I'm on a big countdown. It's like I'm half way up Mount Olymus and I can actually see the peak at the top. I'm pretty freakin' pumped about this. I still haven't made 100 recipes..but having over 100 to make felt like a weight on my chest...this feels so much more managable. The truth is I have many ideas what to do with this blog once I'm finished this first project but I have to finish this before I start that..and so I'm beginning to feel as though the end is in sight.

Now the clafoutis, I was 100% set to make this recipe and was pulling ingredients left right and centre when I pulled the milk I discovered we had a pitiful amount left. Immediately I regretted my bowl of cheerios for breakfast, shoulda had the yogurt...No what was I to do without enough milk??? I'd put my PJs on as soon as I got home and didn't really wanna get dressed again...was too lazy to go to the store. But I did have some rice milk. So I wondered..can you replace dairy milk with rice milk when making a custard type dessert???? I googled it, and found enough confidence on line to give it a whirl.

The custard turned out pretty good. I wasn't sure how much I liked it when I ate my piece. So I decided, strictly for research, I'd have to have a second. After my second piece I still didn't know what to think. This clafoutis is perfectly enjoyable..but I can't really think the perfect occasion to serve it. To me this isn't really a show stopping dessert. hmmm I guess this is just the kind of treat to make for yourself. Something to make your Sunday cuppa a little more special perhaps. Or maybe something to serve for a very casual type of afternoon entertaining.

This recipe isn't glorious except in the fact that I'm that much closer to reaching my goal. But perhaps it can make a Sunday afternoon a little more glorious for you.

Crab and Avocado Salad with Japanese Dressing

I don't know if I recommend this or not....It's good. But it's not fantastic. Maybe it's because I used immitation crab and not the real deal. But it just didn't rock my tastebuds world. Don't get me wrong this is a good salad. But I've come to expect more from Nigella. I'd say make this if you have the stuff on hand but I'm not sure I'd go out of my way to make this.
It's nice and light and of course simple to prepare...it's a summer lunch kinda salad. Make this if you're truly tempted but if you want a truly amazing salad go for the Salad Nicoise.

Chicken, Mushroom and Bacon Pie

What do you make for dinner when you've been spoiled with amazing seafood for 5 days??? Answer: this. OMFG this is a good recipe. Pretty easy and soooo freakin' deliscious. I had to make this a little different because I don't eat chicken or bacon so here's how I dealt with that.

I don't keep bacon in the house so I planned to use those "real bacon" bacon bits in place for husband and then I also used the pre-cooked, pre-sliced chicked breasts for Husband's too. These 2 ingredients I added only after I'd made the filling and taken my share for my pie. So I sauteed the mushrooms in oil and garlic (more oil than listed to make up for there being no bacon greese in the pan) then I added the flour, vegetable stock (in place of chicken stock), wine and thyme. Let this boil and then took my share. To my share I added some brie cheese for a bit of excitement since I had 2 flavour pieces missing. Then I added Husbands bacon bits and chicken stirred it up again and portioned out his. Then I put on the pastry lids and let her cook in the oven like Nigella told me to.

When these came out of the oven I was visually pleased and excited to try this. I was not disappointed. Husband and I both loved this (though we had different versions - his the real mine the veggie) and I can tell you I will be making this again for sure!!!!

Chocolate Macaroons

When I was a kid my mom made us chocolate macaroons all the time...but they were nothing like this. Mom's had coconut and were made on the stove top as a drop cookie. I can't really say I like those cookies anymore, maybe I reached my limit as a kid...but these ones are pretty darn good. And they're gluten free so you can serve these to peeps with wheat allergies. Better than that they take about 5 min to prepare and then only 10 min to cook. You use ground almond in the place of flour which gives a nice nutty flavour. And the egg white gives the outside of the cookie a nice glazed look. Husband and I both enjoyed these..and that is saying something from me because I really don't like cookies for the most part.

Rouge Limonade

It's so hard to get yourself out of vacation mode. Today I had some hard hitting chores to do like vacuum, grocery shop, clean toilets, laundry the list goes on and on. What I managed to get done was grocery shop (we had no food), dusting the seats on the couch with my behind, watching some tv, watching a documentary and looking at pictures of my vacation. So as you can see I got a lot accomplished. I also managed to drink half a bottle of wine through the course of the afternoon. Mixed with a little lemonade of course. It's really a great little drink and couldn't be easier to make. It's a bit of a poor man's Sangria...and who isn't looking to save a few bucks...especially if you just got back from pissing your money away on lobster dinners....No I take that back - that money was well spent!

A Culinary Adventure on the Eastern Seaboard

Dear Readers, I've been a few places in my day..not a globe trotter but I have travelled a bit. I've spent the last 4 days in Halifax NS and surrounding area. I ate soooooooooooo much seafood. I can't even tell you...well actually I can..it went like this. Fish and chips (best fish and chips ever), shrimp, scallops, Eggs Benny with smoked salmon, lobster mac and cheese, mussels,boullabaise, shrimp deep fired in wanton, whole lobster, lobster raviloi....I think that may cover it. And the beer was fantastic too. I'm not even a beer drinker but it just felt right. You can't be on the Canadian East Coast and not drink beer!!! the best beer I had was Garrison's Jalapeno Beer. You read that correctly...Jalapeno beer. Ugh..my gawd. My stomach feels full just thinking about all this food again. We just flew home this morning so you can see why I haven't been cooking this week. I'll get back into the swing of things very shortly but man-oh-man. I had to write to you about this Lobster Ravioli. It was so mother-effing good. I'm not sure I can explain it. For our last full day Husband and I rented a car and drove along the coast from Halifax to Peggy's Cove (sooo beautiful and peaceful). If you go to Nova Scotia you have to go to Peggy's Cove. You can't not. We almost didn't and it would have been the biggest mistake of our lives, so I'm telling you now as a public service you MUST go there if you are in the vicinity. And while you're there I suggest you get a scoop of ice cream from Dee Dee's gourmet ice cream hut. All the ice cream is made on-site and my mint chocolate chip wasn't bright green from dye but a beautiful white with natural minty flavour. And what a view while you sit on her porch and enjoy the icy treat. (see inset photo)

Now once you're at Peggy's Cove, drive the 40 minutes along highway 3 and go to Lunenburg. You were probably going to go here anyways (big tourist sight) but I'm telling you to make sure you go. I'm also telling you to eat dinner at a restaurant called "Rumrunner Inn". Order the Lobster Ravioli. Husband and I entered this restaurant around 4pm having not eaten anything but a scoop of ice cream since 9am we were hungry. We picked this place out of thin air but also because it has a great view of the harbour. It was a little rainy and misty oustide (surprise, surprise). We were the only 2 in the place besides the server and the cook. Our server was really friendly made a great caesar for me (beer for Husband)and then Husband and I decided we both wanted a ceasar salad to start and lobster ravioli as our main. The server told us that she herself loves the ravioli (good sign)and, that absolutely everything in the restaurant is homemade "nothing sittin' in bins in this place" (another good sign).
She wasn't kidding. The salad was great. you could tell the dressing was homemade and this ALWAYS makes the salad better. Then she brought the ravioli. Homemade pasta is sooo yummy, and you know when you're eating homemade pasta. I don't mean store bought "made fresh" pasta. I mean this shit just got turned out this morning by Franny in the back. So you take that and then you fill it with fresh lobster meat...and then you drench in a thin creamy Pernod sauce... and you can die after you eat this meal. Seriously. Once I'd eaten all the pasta I took a spoon and ate the sauce like a soup...and husband did too. Then I took the bread on the table and sopped up what I couldn't get with the spoon. I don't want to build it up too much for you...but you might consider sneaking this as the next vacation just so you can have the same day I did...but you know what, I'd kick it up a notch and do the Puffin tour that Husband and I just missed (and we were very sad about). You will have the perfect day.

So that is what I've been up to lately..next time you hear from me I'll have done some cooking...promise :)

Potato Cakes with Smoked Salmon

Straight up..don't make this. Maybe I was prejudice from the start because of the involvement of instant mashed potatoes...I hate instant "food". Basically chemicals that they sell in grocery stores so they call it food. Lemme tell you something..just because you can eat it doesn't mean it's food. We could all go outside and get ourselves a nice bowl of dirt and eat that but that dirt still wouldn't be food. And neither is that bullshit they sell in grocery stores. When I brought the box of instant mashed home Husband nearly shit himself too, because I have banned such things from coming into our house. Once Husband brought home "Hamburger Helper" and I yelled at him for 3 days straight about bring bullshit food into my house. So when it was me bringing bullshit food home his eyeballs fell out of his head. I told him I was backed into a corner with this because of the blog and it being an ingredient in this recipe. And my stance on such foods had not changed one iota.

So perhaps this recipe never really stood a chance with me. Maybe you've had your taste buds burned off your tongue and you love the feeling of chemical concauctions giving you usclers. If that's your bag then sure give this a try. Otherwise find yourself a nice Potato Cakes recipe made with real food. Sorry Nigella but I was bound not to like them all. This ones a loser in my opinion and I have a feeling my disapproval of this recipe will be re-newed in about 24 hours if you know what I mean.....

Roquamole

Avocados are one of those foods that if you were on a dessert island and that was the only food available for you to eat, you'd be okay with it. Avocados can do no wrong. The are simply perfect. At least everyone I know feels this way about them. Why bother socializing with people who don't like avocados...they must be sociopathic.

Today is the start of my summer vacation!!!! Husband and I are going to Halifax...but not for a few days yet. To kick things off on the right foot though we attended a birthday party dinner at Milestones. I did have a stretch between the end of work and the start of the party though and I've had a hankering for some avocado lately so I decided this would make a good snack for Husband and I. Turns out I'm the smartest mofo this side of the city, because this was a DAMN good snack. Husband who doesn't like blue cheese says to me "This guacamole is sooo good!" to which I coyly replied, "Oh really?!?!?! Because this is loaded with blue cheese." (I know roqufort and blue cheese a slightly different but gimme a break it's splitting hairs) Husband showed some surprise at this news but he chose to give no repsonse other than shoveling more in his mouth.

I didn't make this perfect either (surprise!) I just picked up roquefort and avacados on the way home guessing that was all I'd need..turns out I was wrong. I was lacking sour cream. The way I dealt with this was to add a 3rd avacado and pretend like I made this recipe to the T. Worked for me. And just incidently we left Milestones after listening to a band called "Steel Panther"...I eventually had to just scrap my dignity up of hte ground and call it a night...song titles include "The Shocker", "Asian Prostitute" - with the great lyric smells like sushi, and "Community Property". Guys if you're looking for a touching song to send out to your girlfriend try the last one.

And since we're now discussing sub-culture exposure...my boss emailed me a video today that he said made him think of me...I am obsessed with winning the lottery. I'm convinced it's only a matter of time before this happens to Husband and I and I talk about it all the time. And about how if I do win I may come into work one last day and remove the self-censor and tell people what I really think of them. It's a bit of a dream I have...a fantasy really. One of my many..anyhow the video is SOOOO funny I thought I'd share it with you. My boss didn't specify which of the 3 people he thought most made him think of me..a co-worker told me #1 but I like to think I'd be a combo of all 3...

Enjoy http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZNrauOCqxQ

Buttermilk Roast Chicken

I stopped at Longo's on my way home from work to make this for Husband for dinner. I was pissed to find out that Longo's "was out" of buttermilk. So I had to drive over to Metro, if you can believe it, to get some. Once my $3 trip to the grocery store was over $15 later (because you never get only what you went for) I came home to make dinner. I had a nagging feeling though that there was a marinating time for this recipe and I wasn't sure when Husband would come home from work. First thing I did was check the recipe. It suggests overnight marinating but you can do as little as 30 min...So I called Husband to find out when he'd be home from work and found I had about 2 hours before he'd be home. With a 30 min cooking time this gave me 90 min to marinate. So I quickly put the marinade together and put it all in a metal bowl to incubate.

Once finished marinating I put the chicken in the oven to cook. The marinade smelled soooo good and the chicken smelled great while it was cooking. Husband came home to a hot dinner and he said the chicken was delsicious and moist. According to Husband the flavour wasn't very strong and he ended up dipping the drumsticks in BBQ sauce. Had I marinated this overnight I think he may have told a different tale about flavour strength.

So I recommend if you make this to marinate overnight, but if you're pressed for time you're still going to get a really nice moist chicken with a short marinating period too. Good Luck!!

Butterfly Cakes

So my co-worker is having a birthday tomorrow and I thought I'd make some Butterfly Cakes to help celebrate. These are easy enough to make but they don't make very much. The book says they make 12 but I was lucky to get 8. So if you need 12 I suggest you double the recipe. The butterflying I thought would be harder but it actually was really easy. Anyone can makes these!

One thing I did change was that I didn't head to the store to get some double cream as Nigella uses to make these (in stead of icing). I just went and made some icing as I already had the sugar in my cupboard. I haven't tasted these yet as there are so few and I'm saving them for the office but they look pretty tasty and I expect delsicious results!

Pomegranate Bellini

Who doesn't love a bellini??? Seriously if you know someone who doesn't like a bellini stop talking to them. Obviously they have problems identifying the finer things in life. Anything to do with champagne gets a stamp of approval and is immediately more exciting. Obviously we're not using TRUE champagne here (though that's just a lottery ticket away) we're using "Italian Champagne" or Italian sparkling wine AKA Proseco. I wasn't feeling in the mood to disect a pomegranate today so I just picked up some POM juice. In a matter of 30 seconds the visit to my parents went from 2 stars to 5 stars. Add a couple of stars to your afternoon with this fantastic drink!

Tarte Fine aux Pommes

Before I left to go to my parents for the long holiday weekend I thought I'd remind husband that I am perfect. The best way of doing this is by making him something deliscious to eat. I chose to make this recipe and I think I chose well. It turned out so well that I actually decided to bring half of it with me to the parents. So while I've manged to remind Husband of my perfection I've also reminded him of my selfishness...let's face it even perfection is flawed. This treat is gloriously easy to make and looks like something you'd only get at a bakery. Nigella has really mastered dishes that look like that took painstaking efforts but really are a breeze. When you make this after you've placed all your apples you drizzle a mixture of melted butter and sugar over this but I decided to use agave nectar instead of sugar and it turned out great. So if you're into using natural sugar substitutes the agave works great here. All in all, no matter how you make this, you and whom ever the lucky person(s) you're sharing this with are in for a real treat!