Scallops and Chorizo

It has been exactly one year since I made my first recipe for this blog. It feels like I've been doing this forever. I still have around 40 recipes to make so it's going to be a while yet. But crickey I've made a lot of food so far. I was hoping to be done within a year but it wasn't too long before I realized that wasn't going to happen. I have to say though that I've come a long way since that first disastrous recipe. I definitely have a greater understanding of "Nigella Talk". Perhaps it's just the difference between North American and Proper English but I've got a much better idea what Nigella means these days in regards to instructions. This Scallops and Chorizo recipe though is so straight forward that it won't matter whether you've spent the last year decoding the Brits or not. Fry sausage, remove from pan. Fry Scallops - return sausage to pan add lemon juice, let bubble, plate and garnish. Ta-dah! You've just made dinner. I bought fresh scallops as opposed to frozen and the lemon juice and parsley really compliment the natural flavour of the scallops. I'm going to pat myself on the back and say I cooked the scallops perfectly too. They were sooo good. Husband had the sausage with the scallops and when I looked over his plate was clean so I think it's safe to say he loved it. I highly recommend this to you it's a little more expensive a meal - if you're a main lander like myself - but well worth the extra pennies. Mmmmmmm yummy!

Cherry Cheesecake

I know my last few blogs have been hurried and brief. That's because I have been so busy lately. Cooking is not my only talent - I've been sewing a dress the past week or so and also preparing for a bake sale. The dress is for a Christmas party this weekend and the bake sale is the brainchild of my girlfriends at work and myself who wanted to do something to give back and have a reason to bake, all at the same time. We started 6 years ago with a wee little table or two in our work area with proceeds from the bake sale going to the Children's Hospital in Toronto. Now, 6 years later, our bake sale is the stuff of legends and there are legions of people lined up. It's about 7x six foot tables jam packed full of home baked goods. The bake sale has taken on a life of it's own. It is at this point it's own entity. The truly amazing thing is that over the past 6 years we have managed to donate over $12,000 to the Hospital. Can you believe that??? Through the power of a cookie we are literally helping to save lives. It really blows my mind when I think about it. And it also goes to show you that you can make a difference just by doing the smallest of things.

Anyhow, I made this cheesecake for our bake sale and I had numerous reports back that it was amazing, so I'm quite pleased about that. It really was pretty simple to make. I was making fudge and squares and this cake the night before the sale (the cookies I made ahead of time and froze them). So it was great that this recipe was so straight forward. First I made the crust which is digestive biscuits and butter. Then I made the cheese part - whip cream, vanilla, icing sugar and cream cheese. Oh, and lemon juice. I thought I'd be the hero and hand whip everything. That lasted about 2 minutes before I went downstairs and got my kitchen aid mixer. It was this moment in life I realized a) what a good investment those mixers really are, and b) how much respect I have to people who lived in the age when such items either did not exist or were unattainable by the middle class. Those were some strong women making cheesecakes. Definitely not someone I'd talk back to. Actually maybe that's what's wrong with the stories of off these sassy teenagers and children these days. You see your mom making her cheesecake with a sissy mixer and you think - God that woman can't even whip cheese. But if your mom's standing in the kitchen whipping cheese around a bowl like it ain't no thang then you think to yourself 'I'd better do what this woman says or else she could take that massive forearm muscle and back-hand me across the face which would hurt like a bugger but not leave a mark...' . I don't know, maybe I'm on to something, maybe I'm not. But either way I'm just an Aunt so I can use a stand mixer all I want.

Also either way, parent or not, mixer or not, I suggest you try this cheesecake. It's light, creamy and a no bake dream.

Goujons of Sole with Dill Mayonaise

Now here is a recipe!!! I don't think I'll ever buy frozen battered fish ever again. This is the ticket. Now I know, I know, battering fish isn't the stuff they're doing over at NASA but if you're like me you just never thought to do it yourself before. But this was soooo easy and it really was delicious. And Nigella even tells you the spot at which you can freeze these and then have your own homemade fish sticks. That is what I think I'll do. There is one thing that I will do different though. That is in the future I think I will bake the fish as opposed to frying it. But the frying was fairly easy..it's just the health reasons that I'll be baking...not the taste reasons.

The Dill mayonnaise is uber simple to make is a fabulous with the fish too. I actually even dipped my chips in the dilly mayo too.

All in all I give this an A+. I really liked it, it's easy and I like the freezing option too.

Roly Poly Pudding

I made this along time ago and thought I posted it already!!!! Sorry! I guess I've just been too busy to keep track. Well, this is easy to make but it's not the greatest. I'm not really much of a fan of the store bought pie crust..maybe that 's why??? I' don't know. It didn't really look good to me on the page in the book. I am a pastry girl but this just wasn't my thing. If you're into sweetened lard then give this a try otherwise, flip the page to find yourself another dessert.

Seared Salmon with Singapore Noodles

Well I'd been himming and hawing over this recipe for a while. I wasn't sure what to think about it. But I'm getting down to the nitty gritty and having to make the recipes I've been flipping past for one reason or another. This recipe just didn't really jump out a me but it was much better than expected. The singapore noodles I'd say are just okay - not fabulous. But the seared salmon is AMAZING!!! I loved it. Curry crusted and and seared to perfection. You really get a nice hard crust on the fish and it's so tender inside. Also, Husband hates salmon but he loves pork chops so I dredged a pork chop in the curry mixture and baked it in the oven for him. Something of a curry shake and bake. Husband loved it. So if you don't like salmon either or your just looking for a new way to have your pork chops this is something to try.

There are a lot of ingredients for this recipe which was a bit much to handle so I'm going to recommend to you that if you do make this be sure to prep everything ahead of time - don't be chopping as you're cooking. Chop and measure everything a head of time so you can just toss things together as you go. It will make life a lot easier. Next time you're thinking shake and bake make this instead.

Lazy Loaf

Right away you know you can make this because it has the word LAZY in the title. That's enough to sell me right there. Because I like being lazy a lot of the time. It's great when some one says "So what'd you do today?" and you say "Oh, not much - I made a loaf of bread." and they're thinking 'making a loaf of bread is not much???' but with this recipe it's the truth. Add wet to dry and toss it in the oven.

What's most important is getting a good museli. I picked one from the organic section and made sure it had ingredients that would be good in a loaf - ie no tropical fruits. Other than that you just need to stir and set your oven at the proper temp. This makes a really dense loaf and it has a pretty hard crust. But that also made it good for taking out of the loaf pan - it just slide right out no muss no fuss. I'm really enjoying this loaf and I think you will too.

Mouclade and Cheese Fondue

Well the world's greatest wife made the world's greatest Friday night dinner today. I have wanted to make both these recipes for a while but fear and budgeting held me back. I'll start with the Mouclade.

First let me say I hate mussels as a general rule. It's not so much the taste of them. It's much, much more the look of them. I cannot help but notice the strong similarities between and cooked mussel and the female sex organs. And I've gotta tell ya..I just feel weird about eating something that makes me think of that. I feel so much more relaxed with a nice tofurky sausage. It just feels more natural. I guess if nothing else this is confirmation for me that I have joined the proper team by marrying a man. All my life people have been telling me "But mussels are so good how can you not want to eat them?" and I just squirm in my chair and say, no-no it's okay really. But this past summer while on holiday in Nova Scotia I was feeling a little adventurous or experimental shall we say and decided the time was ripe for me to try mussels. If you're going to have mussels the East Coast is the place to try them right? So we ordered mussels and I really, really liked them. Who knew?

Well, that experience got me over my initial fear so making the Mouclade wasn't quite as terrible as it would have been pre-holiday. If I could make these you could make these. It takes no time at all and even with me not being a big fan of the curry - I still liked these. (must be the 500ml of wine) And yes if you do think like I do regarding mussels and have some nerves, the wine will help loosen you up to help you take the plunge. However, I think I'm still gonna stick with the tofurky, sorry mussels but I'm just too straight for you.

Now the cheese fondue, this is the ultimate for me. Me and cheese are like peas and carrots, we just go together. I watched a little video of Nigella making this on-line today but to be honest I didn't have much time so I speed thru it pretty quick as in I watched the first 20 seconds and then skipped to the last 20 seconds. There were a bunch of reviews of the recipe on line too and it was about half and half with good/bad.That made me a little nervous. I omitted the kirsh because I read about how expensive it is and most people seemed of the opinion you can have a perfectly good fondue without the kirsh - so I trusted the word of strangers. This was incredibly simple to make - you just have to keep an eye on the melting cheese and give it a good stir every once in a while. This recipe also makes a TON. But I'm glad for that because now I have left overs that I can enjoy tomorrow. We dipped apples, bread and artichoke in the fondue and my god, it is heavenly. The people giving this a bad review have obviously no and I mean NO cooking skill. Or maybe they're illiterate and can't read the instructions ( not that I haven't done that before!) but you can't blame the recipe when you're the one whose the spaz.

Anyhow, making these 2 recipes together made for a perfect Friday night meal. Husband and I cozied up in front of the TV where we watched TMZ and laughed at people who are richer than us. This really was a perfect casual, but out of the ordinary meal and I highly recommend both these recipes to you whether together or separate. And whatever your sexual orientation.