A Weeknight Dinner

When I first saw this recipe on Chubby Hubby's blog a year ago, I knew I had to try it.  The name alone was enticing enough.  I've made these ribs several times, both in the oven as well as using a crock pot.  It's simple and quick to assemble, the difficult part is waiting.  Chubby Hubby recommends waiting 1 to 3 days before devouring the ribs (good luck!).  This time I made them in the evening and reheated them the next day for dinner, serving it with some steamed broccoli and steamed rice w/ a little furikake mixed in.

Pork Riblets Braised in Vietnamese Caramel Sauce
adapted from Molly Stevens' All About Braising
Serves 2 as a meal or 4 as a starter

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1/3 cup fish sauce
• 1/3 cup sliced shallots
• 3 cloves chopped garlic
  
• 1 teaspoon cracked black pepper
• 1 slab baby back ribs (1.75 to 2 lbs) sawed lengthwise in half

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Spread the sugar in the bottom of a wide heavy-based skillet. Pour over 1/4 cup of the water and the lemon juice. Let it sit for a minute. Then heat over medium heat until the sugar begins to liquefy. Reduce the heat the medium low and let the caramel boil until it turns red.
• Remove it from the heat and slowly pour 1/4 cup water and the fish sauce into the caramel. Return to the heat and stir. Let boil for a few minutes, until the sauce is smooth and a bit thick. 
• Add the shallots, garlic and pepper and simmer for another 2 minutes. Remove from the heat.
• Separate the pork ribs into individual riblets by cutting down between the bones. Add them to the caramel sauce, stir to coat. 
• Cover and braise in oven, stirring every 15 minutes with tongs, for 2 - 21/2 hours. Don't let the caramel sauce boil. 
• The ribs are done when they have become tender enough to pull easily away from the bone and are a deep mahogany colour. 
• At this point, you can serve them or store them. If you want to store them, let them cool and then store in the fridge for 1 to 3 days. To reheat, pop them in an oven preheated to 180 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes.

Real Men Eat Quiche

Today we had an impromptu brunch with DH's best friend - a5lo.  DH needed help moving some drywall into the basement and I'm no help with stuff like that (those things are HEAVY).  So to thank him I decided to make lunch for the three of us.  I wanted to make something that was quick, relatively simple and somewhat healthy.  I also wanted to make dessert, since having guests over is my only excuse to bake.

Nothing says Sunday brunch like quiche!  I made 2 types of quiche (bacon & mushroom, spinach & onion), salad and an apple almond tart.  I normally like to make everything from scratch, but when I'm in a hurry I do take shortcuts.  Making homemade pie crusts and puff pastry tastes better but is also time consuming.  So for today's meal I used store bought pie crust and frozen puff pastry.  It's excellent - gives the homemade vibe but is super easy to use.

I served the apple almond tart with a scoop of caramelized white chocolate ice cream.  If I wanted to get fancy, I'd glaze the tart w/ some apple jelly or drizzle it w/ dulce de leche.  But this is brunch, its supposed to be easy.

a5lo - a bachelor who doesn't cook often - was very happy with the meal and even happier when I sent him home with leftovers.  It was great to see him and  I was happy I didn't have to lift any drywall :)

Bacon & Mushroom Quiche

Ingredients:

• 4 strips bacon, diced
• 3 shallots, minced
• 3C mixed mushrooms, sliced
  
• 1C shredded fontina cheese
• 1C milk
• 4 eggs
• 1 refrigerated pie crust, unrolled and thawed
  

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375 F degrees.
• Cook bacon in a pan over medium heat until crispy.  Drain on paper towels.
• Remove most of rendered fat from pan.  Saute shallots until translucent.
• Add mushrooms and cook until soft, add salt+pepper.  Cool slightly.
• Whisk together eggs and mlk.
  
• Press pie crust into pie plate - add cheese, mushroom mixture and bacon.  Fill with egg mixture.
• Bake in oven for 25-30min until set.  Let cool for 10-15min before serving.

Apple & Almond Tart

Ingredients:

• 2-3 tart apples (e.g. Gala)
• 1 1/2C ground almonds or almond flour
• 1/4C sugar
  
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• pinch of salt
• 1/4C heavy cream
• 10" x 10" puff pastry sheet
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg

Instructions:

• Whisk together almond flour and sugar in a medium bowl
• In another bowl, whisk egg, vanilla and salt.  Mix in half of almond mixture.  Mix in heavy cream and then remaining almond flour.  Cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2-3hrs.
• Preheat oven to 430F degreess
• Peel and slice apples thinly, set aside
  
• Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.  Roll out puff pastry sheet and score a 3/4" border around the edge.
• Spread almond mixture on puff pastry and cover with a layer apple slices.  Dust apples with nutmeg, cinnamon and a light sprinkling of raw sugar.
• Bake in the oven for 30min until lightly browned.  Allow to cool for 15min and serve with a dollop of whipped cream or ice cream.
  

Slow food Sundays

On Sundays, I like slow food. I usually spend Sundays doing chores around the house, catching up on some work and watching some trashy tv. That's why Sundays are the perfect time to make something special, something that takes a little longer to make but is well worth the wait. So today I started off with breakfast - a puffed apple pancake baked in the oven. I picked up some wild blueberries at the market yesterday so I sprinkled some on top before putting it on the oven. I think next time I'll try making it with pears - we have a pear tree in the backyard which means I have lots of pears on hand.
After breakfast, I started dinner. Cooking is easy, as long as you're prepared. Mise en place - get all your ingredients ready and prepped before you start. I know it sounds easy and I'm sure you've heard it before, but its the secret to cooking. Since I had extra Guinness on hand after yesterday's Chocolate Guinness cupcakes, I decided to make some stew. Braising is one of my favorite cooking methods - slow cook in a low oven until tender. And stew is so easy and versatile, you don't even need a recipe. DH loves veggies so I usually use 3x as much vegetables to protein. I served today's stew with mashed potatoes made with cream, chives, butter & garlic. A heart healthy meal this is not. But hey, I don't eat like this every day! This stew would be just as good made with lamb or veal shanks.

Beef stew
Feel free to substitute veggies or meat as you prefer. Can be served with mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, rice, or crusty bread.

Ingredients:

• 3lb short ribs (cut into 1 inch pieces)
• 2-3 chopped carrots
• 2-3 ribs of celery, chopped
• 2 red peppers, chopped
• 2-3 medium zucchini, chopped
• 1 large onion, diced
• 3-4 garlic cloves, minced
• 2C cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped
• 1/2C flour
  
• 2C red wine
• 2C stout (e.g. Guinness)
• 1C beef stock
• 1T grainy mustard
• 2 tsp dried rosemary & thyme
• 2 bay leaves
  
• a few splashes of Worcestershire sauce
  

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 325F
• In a plastic bag, mix flour & salt+pepper
• Add meat and shake to coat
• In a Dutch oven, add 3T oil and heat to medium high. Add a few pieces of meat and brown. Remove browned meat and set aside. Continue until all meat is properly browned.
• Once all meat is browned, lower heat to medium and add onions to the pot. Cook until translucent and add garlic and rest of vegetables.
  
• Add red wine and bring to a simmer. Add the meat back to the pot, along with the remaining ingredients. Bring to a simmer.
• Move pot into oven and braise until tender, 3-4 hrs.
  

Let them eat cake (and ice cream)

Its been a while since I've been inspired to cook. I think its because I haven't been entertaining much lately. Our house is in a constant state of flux - renovation madness. That coupled with the slew of house guests we've had, I've been burnt out.

So when we decided to have a gal's day yesterday, I was excited to get in the kitchen! Mo_par & Blarkness both have a sweet tooth, which gave me the perfect excuse to put my ice cream maker and oven to work. I've been meaning to make David Lebovitz's caramelized white chocolate so this was a perfect opportunity. For some reason, it took almost 3hrs for the white chocolate to caramelize (I blame it on my oven). I'm not a huge white chocolate fan but caramelizing it definitely punched up the flavor very similar to dulce de leche. Yummy! I ended up making it into Caramelized White Chocolate ice cream. I also made some Mint Chocolate ice cream, since this is DH's favorite flavor. To go along with the ice creams, I made some cupcakes - Chocolate Guinness cupcakes w/ Whipped Cream Cheese Frosting.




Mo_par & Blarkness have never been to St. Lawrence Market. So we decided to start our day with a trip to the market. I [heart] St. Lawrence Market - its very easy to find inspiration when you're surrounded by pints of wild blueberries, purple peppers, patty pan squash and slabs of smoked bacon [sadly, no zucchini flowers for sale...the search continues]. We started off with chicken & eggplant sandwiches from Mustachios [I prefer these to any sandwich from Calfornia Sandwiches...I really don't understand what the hype is all about], then walked around the market buying ingredients for Sunday dinner.

Afterwards they came to back to my place and watched an FNL marathon while playing video games and eating ice cream & cupcakes. Glad they came over, can't wait for the next gals day!

Where's the beef?

I go through phases when I cook. I can spend a week making Indian dishes every night and then the following week its all about pasta. Sometimes Southern, sometimes Polish, maybe Korean. Who knows where my mood will take me. I like variety. This is evident if you look into my fridge - I have everything from Korean fermented soy bean paste to mint sauce. And believe it or not, I do use it all!

More often than not, I go back to my childhood and cook the dishes I ate growing up. Chicken adobo, pancit canton, longanisa, mechado, corned beef, the list goes on. When I get the urge to cook these things, I do the logical thing and pick up the phone to call my mother. Like most mothers, her recipes include "a little bit of this", "some of that". Everything is "to taste". So its up to me to guess at measurements.

Today I decided to make bistek - marinated beef slow cooked with onions. My mother made this often during the week, when she was short on time. (honestly, how she managed to work every day and get dinner on the table every night at 6pm is beyond me!) Enjoy!

Note: Quantities are approximate and "to taste"



Filipino Bistek
serves 4

Ingredients:

• 1 lb thin sliced eye of round, cut into portions
  
• 1/2C dark mushroom soy sauce
• 2T calimansi juice (can substitute lemon and/or lime)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
  
• 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2C water
• 2 medium onions, thickly sliced
• 3T oil
  

Instructions:

• In a bowl, add beef, soy sauce, calamansi juice, garlic, salt + pepper. Marinate in the fridge, up to 4hrs.
• In a saute pan on medium high heat, add oil.
• Quickly brown slices of beef on each side, set aside.
• When all beef slices have been browned, add it back to the pan along with leftover marinade and water.
• Simmer on medium low until beef is tender. If it happens the sauce has reduced too quickly and the beef is still tough, add a little more water and continue to simmer.
  
• Once the beef is tender, add the sliced onions and cook until they're just translucent
• Serve with rice

Indulge Fridays

I love baking, I find it relaxing. So I often look for reasons to bake - birthdays, holidays, TGIF, etc. So I was pretty stoked that we were heading to a friend's place for dinner. Gave me a perfect excuse to make a dessert. I didn't want to go to the grocery store so decided to make something using stuff I already had in my pantry.


End result - Chocolate Raspberry Cream torte. Its not the prettiest cake but its perfectly light and not too sweet. The cake itself contains no flour so you can argue that its low carb [kindasortanotreally]. For my mom's 60th birthday a couple years ago, I made a triple sized version of this cake and iced it with a whipped chocolate ganache.



If you're interested in the recipe, let me know...

Note: Dinner w/ friends ended up being canceled. Oh well, more cake for me!

Say cheese!

As I mentioned in my last post, I can be pretty determined. This past Tuesday, I was determined to go to my favorite shop - the Cheese Boutique [check out my review on Yelp]. So after work I went and shopped till my wallet groaned in protest.

I was excited to see that Cheese Boutique now carries two type of burrata - one made locally and one flown in from Italy. I think the one from Italy flew in on a first class seat because it was PRICEY! 1.5x more expensive than the local variety. As much as I wanted to try it, I was good and bought the less expensive one. I'll get the Italian one next time. ha! With much restraint, I walked out with an assortment of cheese, cured meats, a double thick tenderloin steak, cookies and this sauce:

The ingredients include chili peppers, olive oil, eggplant, garlic and some other stuff. I couldn't wait to try it on crackers, mixed into pasta or perhaps used in a marinade.

I don't eat pasta very often but when I do, my favorite version is al olio - a simple toss of pasta, garlic, olive oil, chili pepper flakes, parsley and parmesan cheese. Lately I've also been sneaking in some chopped anchovies [shhh....DH doesn't know]. I know most of you are cringing as you read "anchovies". But seriously, chopped up and sauteed with garlic - it literally disappears. DH has eaten this dish several times and he can't detect any fishiness [he's also commented how yummy it tastes teehee] Trust me - try it once and you'll be converted.

At lunch the next day, I decided to make pasta using this new sauce. I forgot to buy more parsley so I made it without. I like spicy food and this pasta was flavorful. I can see this being served with some grilled fish or shrimps and some steamed vegetables. Definitely a good purchase!


Pasta al olio

4 anchovies, chopped
3 garlic cloves, finely minced
pinch of chili pepper flakes
juice of 1 lemon
1/4 C olive oil
2 T spicy eggplant sauce
handful of pasta (preferably spaghetti, spaghettini, or capellini)
1/4 C chopped parsley

grated parmesan cheese, to taste

1. Cook pasta in boiling salted water until al dente
   
2. In a saute pan, saute anchovies, garlic, chili pepper, eggplant sauce and olive oil until anchovies have melted down, 5 min then turn off heat. Season with salt/pepper.
   
3. Drain pasta and add to saute pan with 1/2 C of pasta water
4. Add lemon juice and parsley, then toss. Serve with grated cheese.
   

He's her lobster!

Something you should learn about me right off the bat - I crave food. I can crave anything from Kozy Shack rice pudding to Wagyu garlic and green onion beef rolls. My stomach knows no bounds. If I want cream puffs - I want cream puffs from La Sem bakery and my craving will not be satisfied until I get exactly what I want [sadly, La Sem closed years ago so that ship has sailed :|] You can imagine how difficult or annoying it could be for those around me, who have to search high and low for what I want. But that's what makes life fun, right?!

So this leads me to today's post. Lobster. It all started Thursday morning when a co-worker described a dinner he made the night before that involved lobster. With the seed planted firmly in my head, I planned on having lobster sometime this weekend. Some would ask, did you go to Red Lobster? [this is where I would smack you] Fine, there is a time and place for Red Lobster. I've been known to go now and then, but not for lobster - they charge a fortune for substandard fare. DH loves shrimp so we go once a year so he can stuff himself.

No friends, when I want lobster, I usually want it freshly steamed with lemon and butter for dipping. Today I thought I'd try something a little different. I've had this recipe in my mental Rolodex for years. Ta da!


Turned out perfectly and was very simple to make. The hardest part was cutting the lobster in half. I bought a 2 1/2 lb lobster so it easily served two people. The original plan was to serve it with a baked potato and sauteed pea shoots. Unfotunately I fogot to buy potatoes. Oops.

Chef's treat: Original recipe said to throw out the tomalley. How wasteful! So instead I put the tomalley in a ramekin with a little bit of the topping. I cooked it in the oven along with the lobster. Tasty treat for me :)

Hello World!

Since most of my waking life is spent thinking of, dreaming about, eating, and cooking food I figured its about time I start blogging about it. Enjoy!