Ensalada de Pimientos Asados aka Roasted Red Pepper Salad

For a tapas party, or a summer barbecue, along with the ubiquitous green olives. This was colourful and very fresh-tasting, unlike jarred pimentos.

Ingredients:

• 3 thick-fleshed red bell peppers

• ½ onion, peeled 

• extra virgin olive oil, wine vinegar, and salt 

Methods: 
Roast the red peppers: wash and dry well, and poke once with a fork. Place in an oiled shallow baking dish and bake, uncovered, at medium high for an hour or so, until the peppers are very tender when pierced with a fork. This is best done early in the day or the day before.

When the peppers are cooked, seed and slice them. Then grate the onion and add it to the peppers. Dress them with a sprinkling of salt, olive oil, and vinegar (use approximately equal parts of oil and vinegar). Let the flavours develop for at least a few hours in the refrigerator.

Empress 1908 Gin

This is the most exciting find of the summer. A delicious purple-hued gin that makes the prettiest summer cocktails. It's Canadian.

From Woman's World Magazine - Mango and Chili Salad

I made this colourful salad to accompany a rather rusty-coloured Indian meal of butter chicken and curried chickpeas and potatoes.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium mango, peeled and diced
• 1 large or 2 small avocado, pitted, peeled and diced
• 2 Tbsp. freshly squeezed lime juice
• 2 tsp grated lime zest
• pinch of chili flakes
• 2 Tbsp chopped fresh mint
• 2 Tbsp chopped cilantro
• pinch of flaky sea salt

Methods: 
Mix the ingredients together and serve.

Pasta with Fried Lemons and Chiles - from the New York Times

This is a NewYork Times recipe. I thought it looked good. I love lemon. Of my diners, some liked it, some didn’t. Myself, I found the instructions unduly complicated for a so-called “ pantry pasta”.

I served it beside a heap of garlic scape pasta to give people options and because I liked the summer colour combo of green and yellow.

Ingredients:

• 4 lemons
• 1 pound linguine
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• Pinch of sugar
• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 3/4 teaspoon chile flakes
• 2/3 cup Parmesan cheese
• Black pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup chopped celery leaves ( optional)
• 1/3 cup chopped parsley ( optional)
• Sea salt for garnish

Methods:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Finely zest 2 lemons . Trim the tops and bottoms of the other two lemons, quarter them then very thinly slice the quarters into triangles. Blanch the lemon slices in the boiling water for 2 minutes, then remove them to dry.

Add the pasta to the boiling water and cook to al dente. Drain and keep a 1/2 cup of the Pasta water.

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a skillet and add the lemon pieces with a pinch of salt and sugar. Cook until the lemons are caramelized at the edges. Remove to a plate.

In the same large skillet, melt the butter with the remaining oil over medium heat. Add the Chile flakes and lemon zest. Cook until fragrant and then add the reserved pasta water.

Toss in the pasta, juice of one lemon, cheese, and pepper. Cook until the pasta is well- coated then add the caramelized lemons, parsley and celery leaves. Add more lemon juice, olive oil and salt to taste.

Sauteed Red Peppers and Steamed Green Beans on Savoury Couscous

This is less a recipe than it is a way to present vegetables that may be languishing in your fridge. In this case, I sautéed in olive oil, salt and pepper, a red pepper that was on its way out. Briefly steamed some beans that were similarly close to ending their stay in my fridge. And placed them on some couscous which I attempted to flavour with sautéed diced onions, some olive oil and salt and pepper. I may have put some butter on the green beans after steaming them.

Shaved Fennel Salad from Bon Appetit Magazine

Boring salad begone. This is perfect for those with a fennel fetish.

Ingredients: 

• 2 cups coarsely torn sourdough bread
• 1/2 cup walnuts , toasted
• 6 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling
• salt
• 3 Tbsp. sherry vinegar or red or white wine vinegar
• 1 garlic clove, finely grated
• 1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes
• 2 fennel bulbs with fronds
• 3/4 cup torn mint leaves
• 1/2 lemon
• 2 oz of shaved parmesan

Methods:

Toast the walnuts in a skillet on top of the stove. Toss the bread in 3 Tbsp. oil and season with salt. Toast in a 400 degree F. oven for 12-15 minutes until crisp.  

Whisk together the vinegar, garlic, pepper flakes and another 3 Tbsp. oil in a small bowl. Set aside.

Remove the stalks and fronds from the fennel bulb. Coarsely chop the fronds and slice the stalks thinly. Using a mandoline or very sharp knife, thinly slice the fennel bulbs. 

At some point you have to mix the ingredients together. I mixed the walnuts, croutons, dressing, shaved fennel bulb and torn mint  together in a plastic freezer bag, then plated those ingredients. On top, I placed the sliced stalks, fronds and shaved cheese. I then drizzled the salad with lemon juice, more olive oil and sprinkled on some Maldon salt. But use whatever method you like for putting the salad together.

My Birthday Cake

Garlic Scapes and Pesto

I happened to have an epic fail trying to make pesto with these scapes, but only because I did not have the equipment to grind the woody beasts. Have food processor, will pesto. 

Ingredients:

• 1 cup finely chopped garlic scapes (good luck with chopping them) 
• 3⁄4 cup olive oil
• 1⁄2 cup finely grated parmesan
• 1⁄3 cup roasted, salted cashews
• lemon juice and zest to taste
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Methods: 

Place all the ingredients into a food processor and pulse until you have the consistency you prefer. Chunky or smooth. Presto pesto. 

La Fonda Pudding

Both my sister Sylvia and I think these squares sound like something our Aunt Dorothy would have made. Is it the graham crackers, the walnuts, the stiffly beaten egg whites, the cream? I think it's just because these are fancy squares that would have been a hit at a tea party that we think Aunt Dorothy would have liked them.

 

From the Railway Dining establishments of US, the very fancy sounding La Fonda Pudding!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup finely crushed graham crackers (12)
• 3 egg yolks, well beaten
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• ½ cup chopped walnuts
• ½ tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 3 egg whites, stiffly beaten

For the topping:

• 1 pint heavy cream, whipped
• ½ cup chopped walnuts

Methods:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Crush graham crackers fine using a rolling pin and set aside for later use. Butter bottom and sides of an 8” x 8” baking pan and set aside. Separate egg yolks from whites. In medium mixing bowl, beat egg yolks until thickened and of a lemon color. Continue beating constantly as you gradually add the sugar. Into the yolk/sugar mixture, fold the graham cracker crumbs, salt, chopped walnuts, vanilla and baking powder. Beat egg whites until light peaks form, then fold into mixture. Pour mixture into baking pan and bake for 45 minutes, until inserted knife comes out clean. Remove baking pan to wire rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Remove from pan and cut into 2-inch squares. Serve topped with whipped cream and a sprinkle of chopped walnuts.

Pandemic Pineapple Sangria

My friend Jenn introduced me to this Sangria recipe. http://wine.about.com/od/whitewinesangriarecipes/r/pineapplesangria.htm
I changed the recipe up a bit by substituting soda water for the ginger ale, and omitting the coconut rum. The drink was very fruity, light and refreshing. For a more sophisticated and less desperate look, serve it in a wine glass rather than a tumbler. Seems like someone was very thirsty.

Sangria....Size Large

Sweet and Spicy Roast Chicken from NYT Cooking

From Melissa Clark of the New York Times Cooking column. This is another one of those tasty trendy sheet pan dinners.

Ingredients: 

• 1 lemon, plus 3 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice
• 2 1/2 teaspoons of kosher salt
• 3 tablespoons orange juice
• 4 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of whole grain mustard
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• black pepper to taste
• 4-pound chicken, cut into 8 pieces
• 1 onion halved and sliced thinly
• 2/3 cup sliced dates
• 3 cups sliced carrots
• 1 tablespoon fresh thyme leaves
• 1/4 cup chopped parsley
• 2 scallions thinly sliced, for garnish
• 1/4 cup chopped toasted pistachios for garnish (I didn't have any)

Methods: 

Cut thin wedges of the lemon, removing the seeds as you go. Blanch them in a small pot of salted water for 2 minutes. Drain and reserve.

In a saucepan whisk together the lemon juice and orange juice, oil, mustard, honey, salt, bay leaf, red pepper flakes and black pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes, then allow the mixture to cool. Put the chicken in a bowl or large plastic freezer bag, add the marinade and coat the chicken.  Then add the carrots, onions, dates, thyme and lemon slices. Allow everything to marinate for at least 30 minutes at room temperature or longer in the refrigerator.

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Place all ingredients on a sheet pan with a rim. Roast until the chicken is browned, and both the meat and carrots are cooked through, perhaps up to 40 minutes. 

Spoon the carrots over the top of the chicken to serve and garnish with the parsley and scallions.

Who Doesn't Like Deviled Eggs?

What is the correct spelling of devilled? I prefer using two 'l's' , but I guess I'm incorrect. De-viled it is.

Deviled eggs are one of those things that you can make your own by mixing up the ingredients. For example, using a different type of mustard can vary the flavour of the eggs. There are some who garnish these eggs with chives, tarragon, or perhaps a caper, or slice of olive. I'll tell you what I used to make these beauties.

Ingredients:

• a bunch of large hard-boiled eggs (I used 9, which made 18 devilled halves)
• about 1 teaspoon of yellow mustard ( I used the type of mustard that you put on hotdogs)
• about 2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
• salt and pepper to taste
• sweet or smoked paprika for garnishing

Methods:  

Hard boil as many eggs as you want. Remember each egg will be cut in half to form a single two-bite portion. I boiled 9 eggs for this recipe and placed them in the fridge overnight, although they need not be refrigerated at this point, and can be used as soon as they are cool enough to handle. Crack the eggs and remove the shell. Carefully cut each egg lengthwise into two parts. Pop the yolks into a medium-sized bowl and mash them together with the mustard, mayo, salt and pepper. Place a spoonful of the mashed yolk mixture into the cavity in which it originated in the egg white. Perfectionists should feel free to pipe the yolks into the whites at this point. Arrange the eggs on a serving platter and sprinkle a small amount of paprika over each egg. Keep cool until you're ready to wow someone.

Seafood Chowder Made Easy

I had a bag of Atlantic shrimp in the freezer, a single trout fillet in the fridge and some cream that needed using....what to do?   Chowder was the obvious answer. This chowder was made even more 'seafoody' with the use of a store-bought broth by Campbell's. It was the first time I had used a pre-made seafood broth, and quite frankly, I think I prefer using chicken broth when making chowder. Either will do. It is important to be aware that most store-bought broths will be quite salty. Of course, there are purists who will only use homemade broth made with fish carcasses, shrimp tails and crab/lobster shells.  But then the recipe would not be 'easy', would it?

Ingredients:

• 1 onion diced
• 1 red pepper diced
• 1/2 fennel bulb diced
• 4 tablespoons of butter
• 1/4 cup of white wine
• 2 small potatoes diced
• grated rind of 1 lemon
• 900 ml package of seafood broth
• 340 gram package of cleaned, cooked shrimp
• 1 trout fillet cut into bite-sized pieces 
• salt and pepper to taste ( I used lots of pepper)
• 1/2 cup of 35% BF cream (AKA heavy cream or whipping cream)

Methods:

Saute the onion, red pepper and fennel in butter in the bottom of a heavy soup pot. When the vegetables have softened, add the white wine and stir until the wine has been cooked off. Add the broth and potatoes to the pot and simmer until the potatoes are cooked, 15 to 20 minutes. A few minutes before serving add the lemon rind and seafood, and simmer until the seafood has just cooked. This will take only a few minutes. Stir in the cream and add pepper and salt to taste. 

Ice Cream Sandwiches

An easier dessert is not to be found. Obviously you can use any kind of cookie and flavour of ice cream that you prefer. These just happen to be my favourites.  

Ingredients:

• Dad's oatmeal cookies (2 for each sandwich)
• Chapman's Butterscotch Ripple ice cream

Methods: 

Scoop out a couple of tablespoons of ice cream and mound it on the bottom half of a cookie. Squish the ice cream down with a second cookie. Place in the freezer util ready to serve.