A Rather Pleasing Beef Stew

With everyone in this household battling runny noses and hacking coughs, we decided to make some heartwarming and tasty comfort food tonight. We've been making this stew for a few years now whenever the mood strikes and it is a winner. Read No Fail Recipe. Just chop it all up and throw it in a pot and let it simmer for a few hours until perfection and the beef is tender as can be. Perfect for a cold and wet January night. You may be alarmed when you see TWO and a half cups of red wine but don't hesitate or skimp on this....you can thank me later. PS. I did not actually drink that glass of vino in the above picture since I may have mentioned I'm with child but Kelly did so I thought I would add it to the pic. Just thought I'd mention that so you don't judge me.

Well, I've never been to Italy but I can just imagine eating this meal in some cute little hole in the wall mom and pop type place. Mmmmmmm.

Tuscan Beef Stew with Polenta
from Epicurious December 2007
Serves 6


3 Tablespoons olive oil
1 red onion, diced into small cubes
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
3 celery stalks, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
2 pounds stew beef, cut into 1 inch cubes
2 1/2 cups dry red wine
8 sprigs fresh thyme
3 medium tomatoes, halved
3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

In a large saucepan over moderately high heat, heat oil until hot but not smoking. Add onion, carrot, and celery and sauté, stirring occasionally, until light golden brown, about 10 minutes. Add beef and sauté, stirring occasionally, until brown on all sides, about 5 minutes. Add wine and thyme, stir well, and bring to boil. Add tomatoes, salt, and pepper, then lower heat to moderately low, cover, and simmer, stirring every 15 minutes, until beef is tender, about 2 hours.

Serve with *polenta or some crusty bread

* I like to buy a tube of polenta which can be easily sliced and then grilled or baked with a some olive oil and salt and pepper sprinkled on top.

                                                       Polenta sliced and ready to be baked

Just about ready!

Cheers to 2011! You treated me well and now for 2012....

Happy New Years Eve people!

It's New Year's Eve and so I'm going to keep this post short and sweet since my good friend Ashley from Calgary is due to visit any time. We've got a quiet night in planned of catching up, some drinks (non-alcoholic for me sadly what with being preggo) and making a meal from Quinoa 365 - The Everyday Superfood which she gave me as a Christmas present this year. Thanks Ashley! Anyway, I'm super excited to give the cashew chicken and broccoli on quinoa from my new cookbook a try tonight to get the new year off to a healthy start.  Post to follow....

On another note, I thought I'd share this yummy roasted chicken, chickpea and tomato dish which I've madeTWICE in the past few weeks since it's so quick and tastes like it came from a gourmet restaurant. So good. Enjoy!


Roast Chicken with Chickpeas, Tomatoes and Paprika (serves 4)
from Bon Appetit, May 2008 via Epicurious

Total cooking time: 35 minutes

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
4 garlic cloves, pressed
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/2 cup plain yoghurt
4 chicken breast halves
1 15 ounce can of drained chickpeas
 1 12 ounce contained cherry tomatoes
1 cup chopped fresh cilantro divided

Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Mix first 5 ingredients in a bowl. Pour one teaspoon of this mixture into a bowl and mix with yoghurt and set aside for sauce. Place chicken on a large baking tray and rub chicken with 2 tablespoons of the oil mixture.

Add beans, tomatoes and 1/2 cup cilantro to remaining spice/oil mix and toss to coat. Pour bean mixture around chicken and sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.

Roast until chicken is cooked through, about 20 minutes. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup cilantro and serve with yoghurt sauce.

A Fry To Remember....

I confess that I'm a fry junkie..what's more indulgent than a big ol' basket of hot, salty, greasy fries with a nice cold drink? Even better served with a juicy burger or a tasty sandwich of some sort. So when I stumbled upon this incredible recipe for chickpea fries from the Rouxbe Cooking School website, I knew I had to try them. The fact that they have chickpeas in them makes me think they must be pretty healthy...right?

We actually made these last saturday night as part of our saturday night feast that we decided to make since we had no other plans. We also made incredible Po'Boy sandwiches with deep fried breaded oysters, see picture below, which was also incredible but I'll save that to blog about another day. Needless to say it was an incredible meal to remember which also prompted me to head straight to a yoga class the next day. But oh SO worth it.

Chickpea Fries with Romesco Sauce

by Dawn T at Rouxbe Recipes

1 clove of garlic

zest of 1 lemon

2 Tbsp fresh italian parsley

1tsp fresh rosemary

1 1/4 cups chickpea flour

1/2 cup cornmeal

31/2 cups cold water

1 Tbsp kosher salt

olive oil for frying

parmesan (optional)

lemon wedges for serving (optional)

Romeso sauce for dipping (optional)

Line a 13" x 9" -inch baking tray with non-stick aluminium foil (or use a good non-stick tray) and set aside.

Next, finely grate the garlic and zest the lemon. Next, finely chop the parsley and rosemary and set aside for later.

In a large pot over high heat, combine the chickpea flour, cornmeal, water, garlic and salt. Whisk gently to prevent the ingredients from sticking to the bottom of the pot.

Once the mixture begins to thicken and bubble, reduce the heat to medium and switch to a rubber spatula. Stir constantly and scrape the bottom of the pot to prevent scorching. Next, add the parsley, rosemary and lemon zest and continue to cook for about 6-8 minutes.

Once done, pour the batter onto the prepared baking tray and quickly spread the mixture out evenly. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for about 4 hours or until completely chilled and set.

To prepare the fries, first gently flip the tray over onto a cutting board. Cut the mixture lengthwise into equal sections and then cut across into pieces approximately 3" -inches long.

Next, slowly heat approximately 1/2" -inch of olive oil in a large non-stick fry pan over medium heat. Once the oil reaches about 375˚F you are ready to start frying.

Fry the chickpea fries until they are golden brown on all sides, about 2 minutes each side. Once done, remove them from the oil and set onto a cooling rack lined with paper towel. Sprinkle with kosher salt and or/freshly grated parmesan cheese to taste.

The fries before they got fried

Frying the fries

Here is the Oyster Po' Boy sandwich we ate with the fries, recipe to come another time...

another shot of these lovely fries...

and even this guy liked the fries..Success!

Apple Butter Bonanza

So it's a long weekend and it's pissing rain...what a perfect weekend for some canning I say. Although I wouldn't normally say that since I've never canned before however I had the food network on in the background this morning and saw out of the corner of my eye on "Chuck's day off" that he was whipping up a batch of apple butter and I suddenly thought what a perfect rainy day project!

Unfortunately I did not actually catch how Chuck, if that is in fact his name was making the apple butter since I think I got distracted somewhere between a dog needing to go for a walk and a 1 year old boy spilling milk all over the place. But a quick google search came up with many recipes to choose from including basic how-to canning instructions for the canning illiterate.

So after comparing many online recipes and canning instructions I decided to base my apple butter on the recipe from Simply Recipes.

Apple butter makes a perfect spread for toast, grilled sandwiches or crackers. Or even better give as a gift next time you visit a relative or friend.

Apple Butter
adapted slightly from SimplyRecipes
(makes about 4 jars)

4 lbs of granny Smith Apples
2 cups sugar
2-3 cups apple cider vinegar
1 cup water
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground allspice
grated rind and juice of 1 lemon

1. Cut apples into quarters and place in pot with water and vinegar.

2. Boil for about 20 minutes or until soft.

3. Remove apples from vinegar/water solution and puree in a blender or food processor.

4. At this point I strained the puree to get ride of the remaining seeds and skin from the apples.

5. Place puree back in a pot and add spices, lemon juice and lemon rind. Boil, stirring frequently for 1-2 hours or until dark in colour.

Now the Canning begins!!

Proper canning instructions can be found here but basically what I did was place 4 jars without their lids in a 420 degree F oven for 20 minutes and I washed the lids with soapy water.

Next I placed the apple butter into the jars straight from the oven and I screwed the lids on tight.

Then I placed the 4 jars into a big pot of boiling water which was deep enough to cover the lids for about 10 minutes.

According to online resources I checked the lids were now sealed. And the lids were not "popping" and so I assumed they were officially canned properly.

Dad's Cheese Scones

One of my all time favourite breakfast foods is scones...soft and fluffy on the inside with a little crunch on the outside, hot from the oven with some melted butter and sweet jam slathered on. It's always a nice way to wake up, especially if someone else has made them of course.

My dad loves to cook up a full breakfast on the weekends and scones is one of his specialties. Whenever I go to my parents for a visit he always whips up a batch of muffins or scones for us and it's always fantastic. You can tell by the recipe below that it's a goody due to the discoloured and stained paper. 

So even though I'm a terrible baker I finally decided to borrow his recipe and give it a go. I shredded in some sharp white cheddar cheese to make them savoury but you could easily use the recommended currants that the recipe suggests. This recipe is pretty foolproof since they worked out well even for me. Enjoy!

Cheese Scones

from the archives of Richard Wey

1/3 cup butter or margarine

13/4 cup flour

3 Tbsp sugar

21/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup shredded cheddar (or currants)

4 to 6 Tbsp cream (I used homo milk)

1 egg

Using 2 knives and a medium size bowl, cut the butter into the bowl until crumbly. Add sugar, baking powder and salt. 

Stir in beaten eggs and currants (or cheese). Add cream gradually and mix in. 

Using a floured surface, knead about 12 times. Roll to 1/2 inch thickness.

Cut in shapes and put on a lightly buttered cookie sheet. Brush each with a beaten egg. 

Bake at 400 degrees F for 10-12 minutes.

Garlicky Roasted Squash

A few weeks ago while I was visiting my family on Vancouver Island for Thanksgiving, I brought over a bunch of squash to add to the feast, see pretty picture above. I'm trying to recall what type of squash these were but alas I was completely distracted by the dazzling array of colours of the bounty of produce at the Burnaby Farmer's Market and so I regret that I did not noticed their names. 

Anyway, after some discussion on how to prepare the squash we decided to roast them very simply but in a tasty way that cannot be beat. I was inspired by my sister Ashley's method of roasting butternut squash which I've drooled over on many an occasion. A big thanks to my other sister Melody for doing the grunt work of all the chopping! The most labour intensive part without a doubt. 

Roasted Squash (serves 6-8 people)

Cooking time: about 45 minutes

3 small squash cut up into 1 inch cubes

coat with olive oil

6 garlic cloves

salt and pepper to taste

Variations: add fresh thyme, sage or other fresh herbs. A bit of maple syrup to make it sweeter perhaps?

Combine squash, olive oil to coat and minced garlic in a large baking tray. Add salt and pepper to your preference. Cook at 375 for 45 minutes or until cooked all the way through. 

Fresh Pasta

Sorry for the delay in posts people...I've been run ragged these past few weeks with my return to work, really hoping I can get into the swing of things soon though. So unfortunately its been mostly take-out and quick as possible type meals during the weeknights lately but I'm sincerely hoping to change that soon with a little better planning. Any suggestions?

Anyway, we made this fantastic fresh pasta last weekend when we had some actual time, so I decided to take some pics and show the results. There's something very satisfying about making fresh pasta from scratch..it just tastes better somehow.

We have a really old fashioned pasta roller given to us once which requires two sets of hands since it cannot be bolted to a table..so one person to hold the pasta maker still and the other person to feed the pasta through. A little labour intensive I'll admit, but after some practice it can be done quickly. If you're lucky enough own a pasta roller that can be bolted to a table I suspect this job may be slightly easier.

I used Gwyneth Paltrow's fresh pasta recipe from My Father's Daughter which called for what I initially thought was an outrageous amount of eggs...TEN! I can feel my arteries already starting to clog! But I can say for sure the results were well worth the rise in blood cholesterol.

For a sauce we used this quick tomato sauce and then grilled some prawns on top and finished it off with with freshly graded parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. What could be better I ask? Add a glass of red wine and it's a feast.

Fresh Pasta
From Gwyneth Paltrow's My Fathers Daughter


2 organic large eggs
10 organic large egg yolks
2 1/2 cups 00 pasta flour
or 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour,
plus more for kneading and dusting

Whisk together whole eggs and yolks in a bowl. Put flour in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the center. With a fork slowly bring in flour and knead by hand until a nice dough forms. Add more flour if needed.

Next take you pasta machine. Cut dough into 8 pieces and roughly form rectangles and dust each rectangle with flour. Start on your widest setting and gradually go from widest to thinnest. Eventually put through the linguini setting or whatever side of noodle you prefer.

Place on a counter or wrap with plastic wrap. Cook soon after.