Fava bean and tomato pasta

Fava beans generally get a bad rap.  I think it might have something to do with Anthony Hopkins or the fact that you have to peel them twice or that they can cause potentially fatal hemolytic anemia in people with hereditary glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency.  Whatever the reason, their poor reputation is ill deserved because their buttery texture, bright vegetal flavour and high protein content (26g/100g, more than steak or fish) really can't be beat.  Sure they take a lot of work and they might kill you ... or the people eating them might kill you ... but it's a small price to pay either way.

In addition to liver and a nice Chianti there are dozens of ways to enjoy the Fava bean, all of which are excellent.  I'm partial to this one because it's simple, fast, cheap and delicious.  It could be a base to a grilled pork chop or a stand alone meal as shown here.  You could replace the bacon with anchovies or capers if you were vegetarian or leave them out all together.

6 servings fresh or dried pasta
~15 pods fresh fava beans, shelled (50-100 beans)
1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1/2 pound smokey bacon chopped
1/2 shallot, diced
1 clove garlic, diced
1 cup white wine
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/2 tbsp olive oil
pasta of your choice (I used linguine)

Cook the bacon over low heat until crispy.  Remove to dry on paper towels.

Boil the beans in very salty water for ~5 minutes and then plunge them into ice water to that the skins loosen off the beans.  Peel the skin off the beans and set them aside in a bowl.

Saute the garlic and shallot in olive oil until soft and fragrant.  Add the tomatoes and cook until soft.  Add wine, reduce by half and set aside.

Cook the pasta in salted water until aldente and drain, reserving a cup of pasta water.  You can use dried pasta or our basic pasta dough if you've got the time and patience.


Toss the sauce, beans, bacon, Parmesan and pasta together in a serving bowl adding in the pasta water as necessary.

Curried Turkey Burgers

If you listen to the farmer's almanac and Izzy Sharp there are 4 seasons on our planet.  Their division of the year into quarters is founded in a certain celestial elegance with each season bookended by a solstice and equinox.  However, the starts and ends to the official seasons mean essentially nothing to me.  In fact, unless you're a Wiccan, chances are the last time an equinox meant anything to you was a 6th grade project on the motions of the planets.

When I look at the rhythms of my life I'm torn between seeing a year of many seasons or a year of very few.  The jackets in my closet indicate there are no fewer than 10 seasonal milestones: ski, pea, trench, leather, sports, life, sports, leather, trench, pea, ski (note the skis overlap).  My behaviour outside of work suggests there are only two seasons: ski season and patio season.

However you choose to carve up the calendar, it appears that patio/life jacket season has come early this year and that means it's burger time (I'm told you can cook burgers in ski season but I have yet to try).  These burgers are one of my favourite summer dishes.  They are quick to make, loaded with flavour, reasonably healthy and are just different enough that they can pass as fancier than a normal hamburger.  I top them with chutney, avocado, goat cheese, caramelized onions and arugula instead of "traditional" burger toppings.

There is a lot of debate flying around about what makes a perfect burger and it's only a matter of time before the Panko breadcrumb faction goes to war with the ground chuck purists.  When it comes to beef I'm not sure which, if either, of them is right but when making these burgers I strongly recommend adding the cheese and the egg.  The turkey is so lean that the extra fat (from the cheese) and protein (from the egg) are needed to keep them from getting too tough and crumbly.

Makes 6 dinner sized burgers:
2 lbs ground turkey
1 tbsp Patak's curry paste
1 tbsp goat cheese
1 egg
1 tbsp chopped onions

Mix the ingredients together in a large bowl and form into patties.  Don't make them too large as they won't shrink much on the grill due to their low fat content.  Place on a hot grill or pan until juice starts to bleed through the top of the burger (~5 minutes).  Flip and cook for the same amount of time on the other side.

Serve with chutney, goat cheese, caramelized onions and avocado.

Fried Polenta...for Breakfast or Dinner!

I admit I have been a little busy lately, and by "a little busy" I mean I have been spinning as fast as a whirling dervish; travelling throughout Western Canada (as my new job takes me from Manitoba to Vancouver Island). I have eaten 90 of my last 100 meals on the road.  So, that said, cooking complex, elaborate meals, or even any meals at all has not been made easy over the last month.  Also, with much travelling comes a fridge that is unstocked or chock full of half expired dairy products.  However, what usually awaits me upon my return are a carton of eggs and a full pantry.  This recipe allows me to skillfully use these items to my advantage to make a relatively balanced, home cooked meal, which is just what I am craving after all that restaurant food.  The great thing is that whether I take the early AM flight or the last 727 home, this is something that can be enjoyed for breakfast or dinner!

3 cups stock, chicken or vegetable

1 cup water

1 clove garlic, minced

1 cup cornmeal

1/4 cup Boursin cheese, cream cheese or light cream (whichever option is furthest from expiry!)

salt and pepper

Grease a 8"x8" baking pan and set aside.

In a medium pot heat broth, water and garlic until boiling.  Turn heat to medium and slowly whisk in cornmeal, ensuring there are no lumps.  Once cornmeal has been whisked in, turn heat to low and, with a wooden spoon, stir constantly for about 10 minutes until thick and creamy.  Remove from heat and stir in the Boursin, salt and pepper. 

Pour the soft polenta into the baking pan and spread to form an even layer.  Cover with plastic wrap and cool in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.  Remove the pan from the fridge and cut out slices of polenta.  Cover and return any unused polenta to the fridge, this will keep for 3-4 days and can be fried up as required.

Heat a non-stick frying pan on medium heat and coat with a drizzle of olive oil.  Place polenta slices into pan and fry on each side for 2-3 minutes until golden brown.

Serve with a sunny side up egg ... yum!

Leftover Chicken Wontons

According to science, eight substances (O, Mg, Si, Fe, Al, Ca, Ni, H) account for approximately 99% of the material on earth.  The remaining 1% is composed mostly of leftover chicken and a grab basket of trace elements like Cobalt and Scandium.  While the big eight substances all have obvious uses (O = scuba diving, Mg = old timey camera flashes, H = lighter than air transport disasters), leftover chicken has long perplexed science and industry alike in their inability to put this abundant substance to adequate use in service of mankind.  It was to this ambitious end that we set out last night in our latest creation: Chicken and bok choy wontons.

Makes ~ 30 wontons
1 package wonton wrappers
2 cups leftover chicken shredded
2 cups baby bok choy, diced
1/2 onion, diced
4 scalions, diced
2 cloves garlic, diced
1 tbsp ginger, grated
1 tsp 5 spice blend
1 cap full of Miren
1 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp rice wine vinegar
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sesame oil
1/2 cup sunflower or canola oil if pan frying, 2 cups if deep frying


Saute the onions and bok choy in a bit of sesame oil until wilted.  transfer to a mixing bowl with the rest of the ingredients and mix well.

Portion out ~1/2 a tablespoon of filling onto the middle of a wrapper, wet the edges and pinch together to seal.  If you make too many to eat at once, refrigerate or freeze the extras.

Heat the oil over medium high heat and drop in the wantons a few at a time.  Flip them with a fork and remove to dry on paper towels when golden and crispy on all sides. 

KITCHEN TIP: If you have an induction cook top, you can lay out paper towels between the element and the pan to avoid cleaning up the inevitable oil splatter.  WARNING: If you have a gas or regular electric cook top, this is a great way to meet the folks at your local fire department.

You can serve them with dipping sauce as appetizers or an excellent side dish for a stir fry.

Brussels Sprouts Salad in Prosciutto Cups

I have a dear friend, who shall remain nameless but who no doubt knows who he is, who despises most vegetables including brussels sprouts. This isn't surprising, given their status as one of the world's most hated foods, and yet I find it mildly appalling. As his friend I am of course concerned about his health and would hate for him to suffer the consequences of some kind of vitamin or nutritional deficiency (scurvy? night blindness!?). Worse yet, I'd hate for him to meet the woman of his dreams, fall in love, and then discover that "eats vegetables" is one of her relationship deal breakers. My concern for my friend (and not my maniacal need to prove that kale is delicious...) has prompted me to launch a campaign whereby I encourage him to try new recipes and ways of preparing the vegetables he swears he despises. For every new recipe he tries, I will treat him to a delicious bag of buttery popcorn (because let's face it, bribery works). Photographic evidence of vegetable consumption is required. Also, for every vegetable I convince him to love, I will reward myself with a scoop of impossibly creamy gelato from G is for Gelato (because let's face it, self congratulation works?). I know, I know, the vegetables are delicious and should be reward enough. You obviously haven't tried this gelato.

This is my go-to conversion recipe for brussels sprouts haters.  Here's what will happen: first, you'll be drawn in by the promise of a crispy, salty, prosciutto cup. Then you'll taste the dressing and your mind will be tricked into thinking you're enjoying a caesar salad. Finally, you'll enjoy the crunch of the salad and complete lack of the brussels sprouts bitterness you've expected. And then I will have won...

It's best if you let it sit for a little while before serving to let the flavours combine and it's even better the next day. Feel free to omit the prosciutto if you're a vegetarian or you could try serving it in baked parmesan cheese cups instead.

Makes 4-6 servings

2 lbs brussels sprouts

12 slices Prosciutto

1 small garlic clove, finely minced

1 ounce blue cheese (about the size of your thumb)

2 teaspoons dijon mustard

small pinch of salt and pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon red or white wine vinegar
juice of 1 lemon

Preheat the oven to 400F.  I use a mini muffin tin to make prosciutto cups but you could also make regular size versions. Slice each piece of prosciutto in half and arrange in each cup, making sure to cover the bottom. Bake for about 5-7 minutes until crisp. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

In a the bottom of a shallow bowl, combine the garlic, blue cheese, mustard and a small pinch of salt and pepper. Using a fork, mash the ingredients together until they make a paste. Add the lemon juice and vinegar and whisk together. Slowly add the olive oil while whisking until the dressing is combined and emulsified. Taste and adjust the seasonings as required (I like it quite tart with lots of bite).

Wash the brussels sprouts and remove any leaves that are damaged. Using a knife, trim the stem ends off of each sprout. You want to remove all of the stem because this portion is very tough and doesn't make for a delicious salad. Thinly slice the sprouts using a food processor with a slicing blade. If you don't have you one you could also try a mandoline or finely slicing the sprouts with a sharp knife (just watch your fingers!). The result should look sort of like coleslaw.

Combine the dressing and sprouts in a bowl and let sit for a few minutes. When you're ready to serve, spoon a little of the salad mixture into each of the prosciutto cups and arrange 2 or 3 together on a plate.

Grilled venison with blueberry glaze, candy beets and sauteed ramps

Last Saturday was the 100th anniversary of the Titanic's sinking, the 147th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln's assassination and the 42nd anniversary of the Apollo 13 disaster.  All the signs point to April 14th being an ill fated day, however, the news wasn't all bad because it was also the 29th anniversary of something much more monumental; the birth of T-Moo!  

We wanted to make a special dinner but couldn't decide what to cook and resorted to wandering wandering around the St. Lawrence market looking for inspiration.  The market is usually a rich source of inspiration (I like to eavesdrop on my fellow shoppers and then steal their ideas) but Saturday the well was running dry.  We were on the verge of giving up and eating Tim Horton's doughnuts for dinner when T-Moo stumbled across a big bushel of wild leeks (aka ramps) and we had a starting point.  They're local and wild so we decided to cook a meal of quintessentially Canadian ingredients to celebrate.  After some quick market foraging we settled on venison with a wild berry sauce on top of wild rice salad with sauteed ramps and roast candy beets.  Short of a 2-4 of Labatt and a bowl of poutine, there may be no more Canadian meal.

2 venison chops (you may only need one for two people if the deer was big)

4-6 small candy or rainbow beets

1 bunch ramps, cleaned

2 cups light to medium stock (duck and chicken work well)

1/2 pint blueberries

1/4 pint blackberries

3 dried balck mission figs, chopped

2 shallots, diced

1 clove garlic, diced

2 tbsp butter

1 tsp honey
1 tsp balsamic vinegar
Wild rice salad ingredients

The beets and wild rice salad take by far the longest to cook so start with them (either or both can be made the day before).  For the beets, chop off the greens (you can reserve them for a salad), wrap in foil and roast in a 350F oven for 30-40 minutes until fork tender.  Remove from oven and let cool, loosely covered.  When cool, the skin of the beets should simply slough off in your fingers.  See here for wild rice salad instructions.

In a large sauce pan, saute the shallots and garlic in 1/2 tbsp of butter until soft and fragrant.  Add the figs and berries and continue to cook until they start to burst.  Add the stock and simmer, covered for 20-30 minutes to allow the berries to stew and flavours to meld.  Strain the sauce, add honey and balsamic and reduce until sauce thickens.

There isn't much you can do to improve on venison so I don't try.  Rub each side with salt and pepper, grill in a hot pan for 2-4 minutes a side until the internal temperature reads 135F then remove and cover with foil to rest for 5 minutes.  If your steaks are particularly dense or thick, you can finish them in a 400F oven for 5-10 minutes until they reach temperature. If you're a hunter or have friends who are and can get wild venison then it will be gamier and denser than the farmed version but either way, it's delicious very high in protein and extremely lean.  Because of the variability in density it's hard to test venison for doneness by touch so I would recommend using a meat thermometer. 

The ramps take no time at all to cook. Saute them in a tablespoon of butter until soft, sprinkle with salt and serve along side the venison.

Wild Rice Salad

According to Hollywood, grocery stores are among the most popular locations for attractive strangers to strike up random conversations and comedic romances to begin.  I'm not sure where the writers get this idea as, in my experience, it's exceedingly rare to see anyone engage in a polysyllabic conversation while wheeling their frozen peas and screaming 3 year olds through the isles.  In fact, the aforementioned children are often the only audible sound aside from the easy listening muzak pumped over the PA system in what I always assumed was an effort to subliminally condition us to associate Kenny G with concentrated orange juice and baby carrots.

Farmers' markets, on the other hand, are a completely different story.  Perhaps it's the patron's shared interests, that the vendors all have skin in the game or the prevalence of over-caffeinated yuppie scum but most farmers markets are chattier than a nail salon in a Queen Latifah movie.  Just this weekend while shopping in the St. Lawrence Market, I got to talking about wild rice with the guy manning Rube's Rice stand and he recommended this truly AWESOME recipe for wild rice salad.  He didn't remember where it originally came from so I'm going to give the credit entirely to him; Rube's friendly employee with the vaguely American accent.

Corporate grocers take note:  I went in to get a staple grain and left with an awesome recipe, at least twice the ingredients I originally intended and am now telling perhaps as many as nine people (two or three of which might actually live in Toronto) about his store by writing this post.  Repeat this scene at most big grocery stores and the best advice I'd likely get is that the Wild Rice is in aisle 4 next to the Extreme Fajita shells.

1 cup wild rice

5-6 cups light stock (veggie, chicken, duck or veal)

1 cup pecans, shelled and halved

1 cup cranberries

1 orange, juiced and zested

1/4 cup mint leaves, minced

3 small shallots, finely minced

1/4 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon salt

black pepper to taste

Rinse the rice and bring to a boil in the stock.  Simmer, uncovered, for 30-40 minutes until done (it should still have some bite to it), drain and let cool.  Mix remaining ingredients with the rice in a large bowl and set aside for at least a couple of hours to let the flavours meld.

Lobster Rolls

When it comes to romantic gestures, I've never been a big flowers and chocolates kind of girl. Don't get me wrong, I'd bathe in chocolate if I could and I love the surprise flowers that occasionally show up at my office on my birthday. However, in terms of showing affection, nothing is more flattering than a man who knows you well and thinks a little outside the box. More specifically, a man who packs a live lobster in a box and carries it home on a flight from Halifax just because he thinks it will make you smile. Did I mention he has a seafood allergy? He can't even partake in the eating of the lobster!  If I were a cartoon character there would be little cartoon swooning hearts floating above my head right now...

I decided to use my lobster surprise to make lobster rolls, but as I researched recipes I quickly learned that there is a long-standing feud within the lobster roll community. Proponents of the "Maine style" roll believe it should include mayo while fans of the "Connecticut style" version are adamant that butter is best. Within these two groups there are varying opinions on which other ingredients are acceptable, whether the bun should be plain or lightly toasted, and the best way to serve the lobster meat itself (apparently some feel claw meat should be kept whole).

With the awareness that I may be entering a culinary minefield, I have opted to create a version that appeals to my tastes and bridges the Maine-Connecticut divide: lightly toasted bun, minimal ingredients, a little butter AND...wait for it...a little mayo (cue gasps of shock and horror across the east cost). All I know is that it tastes delicious.

Makes 1 large serving

1 cooked lobster (about 1 1/2 lbs)

1/2 tablespoon melted butter

1/2 tablespoon mayo

1 celery stalk, finely diced

1 green onion (green parts only), finely diced

juice of 1/2 lemon

salt and pepper

1 large hot dog bun

Cook your lobster using whatever method you prefer - boiled, steamed, or even grilled. I chose to boil mine in lots of salty water. Once cooked, let the lobster cool slightly so it's easier to handle. Shell the lobster and remove all the meat (tip: you can save the shells to make fish stock if you like). Roughly chop the meat and transfer to a mixing bowl. Add the butter, mayo, celery, onion, lemon juice, and salt and pepper. Stir to combine.

Toast the bread roll if desired. Fill the roll with the lobster mixture and serve.

Pea pesto pasta

There are a lot of reasons to love summer and fresh peas are definitely somewhere on that list.  They might not be at the top (my guess is somewhere between miniature golf and garage sales) but it definitely wouldn't be summer without them.  Here in Ontario you can buy them fresh from the field at roadside stands through July and August.  They generally come in big baskets containing at least a million peas each (perhaps a slight underestimate but I've never actually counted). This is great if you're feeding a visiting basketball team, however, if you're just two people it leaves you with at least a couple hundred thousand spare peas to address.

The traditional use for surplus peas is, of course, the pea shooter: a straw or hollow tube through which you blow in order to force peas, previously jammed into the other end, to fly into the faces of your younger siblings.  If you don't have any younger siblings or if you can't find a tubular object of suitable diameter and feel that simply throwing the peas is beneath you then this recipe is another great way to address your glut of peas.  It's simple, fast, delicious, keeps well and is very healthy.

Here we use it as a pasta sauce but it's also great on crostini, as ravioli filling or eaten out of a Tupperware container with a spoon.

2 cups shelled sweet peas

1 cup grated Parmesan

3 cloves garlic

2 mint leaves

1/2 cup walnuts

2.5 tbsp olive oil

salt to taste

To make the pea pesto, place the walnuts in a food processor and pulse until well ground.  Add the peas, garlic, cheese and mint and puree while slowly adding in the olive oil until the peas are all broken up but not liquefied.  Season with salt to your preference.

Serve over fresh pasta, reserving a bit of pasta water to mix in as well.  You can use any pasta you like but I really like fresh spaghetti made from our basic pasta dough recipe.  

Artichoke and roasted garlic soup with garlic chips

  In the words of Colonel John "Hannibal" Smith: "I love it when a plan comes together!"  As a kid I was heavily influenced by the George Peppard character from the A-Team.  He was everything I aspired to be: a brilliant tactician, unflappable in the face of danger, a leader of men, a master of disguise, altruistic, witty, a soldier of fortune, a fugitive from military justice and a close personal friend of Mr. T.  While the man I grew up to be may not quite measure up to Hannibal's standards (I never entered the military, am only a fugitive from the fashion police and the closest I've come to befriending Mr. T was to get his autograph at a jewelry store), occasionally my kitchen plans do come together nicely.

This soup is the result of two long standing projects: number one, to master the making of Thomas Keller's garlic chips and number two, to recreate an amazing artichoke soup I had while on a business trip.  While making batches of garlic chips it struck me as criminal to throw out the rich garlic-infused milk but without a ready use, I either dumped it out or let it go bad in the fridge and then dumped it out.  Simultaneously, I had been looking for a way to add depth and interest to my version of artichoke soup.  Then in a flash of inspired brilliance much akin to what Einstein must have felt when he perfected soup recipes, I decided to combine them.  The milk would become the creamy base to the soup and the chips would become the garnish.

4 large artichokes
2 heads of garlic (1 for roasting, 1 for chips)
2 white potatoes, peeled
1 leek, chopped
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
2 cups milk
2 cups canola oil
1/2 tbsp butter
1 tbsp vinegar

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the vinegar and artichokes.  Test them by using tongs to pick up a choke by a single leaf.  They're done when the leaf pulls off simply from the weight of the choke.  Drain the artichokes and leave to cool.  Once cool, remove the leaves and chokes from the hearts and set them aside.  Reserve some of the leaves to serve as an appetiser (eat the rest in the kitchen without telling anyone).
To make the chips, slice the garlic cloves very thinly using a sharp knife or mandolin.  Cover them in 1/2 a cup of milk and bring to a simmer.  Drain and reserve the milk for the soup.  Rinse the garlic and repeat 3 more times until you've used all the milk.  Pat the garlic slices dry and fry in small batches in hot oil, leaving them to dry on paper towels.  You want to take them out before they go brown to prevent them from becoming bitter.  I use elephant garlic because it's milder in flavour and makes bigger chips but you can use any garlic.  If you do use elephant garlic then one clove will be more than sufficient as they're almost the size of cooking onions as seen at right.

To roast the garlic, cut 1cm off the top of the head, drizzle with oil and wrap in foil.  Roast the garlic at 300F until soft.

In a soup pot, saute the leeks in the butter until soft. Add the artichoke hearts, potatoes, roasted garlic and chicken stock and simmer until the potatoes are soft.  Blend the soup and add the garlic milk.  Return to simmer for 10 minutes to let the flavours combine.

Serve, garnished with garlic chips.

Harissa Roast Chicken

I think roast chicken was the first meal that I learned how to cook after having mastered toaster waffles and instant oatmeal.  Once my siblings and I got old enough to be trusted with the oven, my mom would leave a roasting chicken at home for us to cook so that we could have a family dinner ready when she and my dad got home from work.  This was possible because a basic roast chicken recipe has only 2 essential steps (#1 sprinkle with salt and pepper, #2 Insert into 450F oven until done) and that's the kind of process with which 11 year olds can be trusted.

Unfortunately, what's simple enough for a 4th grader has proved too much for a hard working 31 year old and so this particular roast chicken recipe was developed by accident.  We had friends coming to dinner and due to a complex series of events of which I have little recollection and will vehemently deny if questioned, our chicken was frozen.  Standing in the kitchen, staring at a bird more suited to military ballistics than culinary delight I decided to fall back on a technique I usually reserve for turkeys; brining!  My hope was that by immersing the chicken in salted water it would both thaw and season it in one quick and handy step and it worked.  The turmeric and cumin added flavour and a wild colour to the chicken and the harissa gave it some great punch.

Chicken:
1 roasting chicken (if there is any secret to good roast chicken it's to buy a very good one.  We get organic chickens from Rowe Farms and they're always delicious)
2 cloves garlic finely diced
1/2 lemon
Zest from your lemon half
1/2 cooking onion
1 tbsp harissa spice blend

Brine:
1/2 tbsp turmeric
1/2 tbsp cumin
2 tbsp salt
water to cover

Mix the brine ingredients together, stirring well.  Add in the chicken and brine for 1 hour to over night or until thawed if you're a fool like me. It should come out a wild yellow colour.

Mix the harissa, lemon zest, salt and pepper in a small bowl and divide in half.  Combine one half with the diced garlic and the olive oil and set the other half aside.

Loosen the skin of the chicken breast by vigorously rubbing back and forth like you were giving it a deep tissue massage ... which I suppose you are.  Starting at the neck, insert a boning knife under the massaged skin and use it to create a cavity between the skin and the breasts.  Use your fingers to stuff the un-oiled harissa mixture under the skin and massage it around to spread it evenly.

Take the onion and lemon and insert them into the body cavity of the chicken.  As it cooks these will release moisture and acid and will result in a more moist chicken.

Rub the oiled harissa mix all over the outside of the chicken and insert in a 450F oven for until juices run clear or a meat thermometer reads 180F (usually ~1.3 hours).  The high roasting temperature is important to keeping the chicken moist.  Roast it too low and long and the result will be like the Sahara.

Serve with roast veggies, olives and cous cous.

Melissa Clark's Chocolate Pistachio Pots de Creme

Oh New York Times, how I love you. I adore your up to the minute news coverage, your style section, and your crosswords. I love Nicholas D. Kristof, the Critical Shopper, and of course Mark Bitman. And now I love Melissa Clark, for bringing this recipe for silky, rich, decadently fabulous, chocolatey heaven on a spoon into my life. Ohhh heavenly heaven. To my loved ones, take note: if you ever have to deliver bad news to me, this is a magical blow-softening elixir. It's impossible to be sad or angry while devouring this dessert, it's just too lovely and wonderful.

I made a few tweaks here and there to suit my tastes and what I had on hand. I didn't have any foil  so I baked these uncovered and they were totally fine. I cut down on the amount of sugar ever so slightly as I like my chocolate desserts to be really chocolatey but not agonizingly sweet. I also found they didn't need quite as much time in my oven (only about 30 minutes).

Makes 6 servings (or 2 servings that you can savour over three days!)

1 cup pistachios (shelled and unsalted)
pinch of salt
1/3 cup icing sugar
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 1/2 cups 1% milk
2/3 cup dark chocolate, chopped (I used a mixture of 60% and 90% dark chocolate)
4 egg yolks
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar plus 1/2 tablespoon for the whipped cream
1 cup whipping cream

Preheat the oven to 325F. In a medium frying pan, toast the pistachios over medium heat for 3-5 minutes. Set aside to cool. Once cooled, transfer the nuts to a food processor along with the icing sugar and salt. Pulse until the mixture is fine but still grainy (the NY Times suggests "damp sand" as a reference). Scoop out about 1/4 cup of the sugar and pistachio mixture and set aside as a garnish.

In a medium pot over medium-high heat, bring the milk, cream, and pistachio mixture to simmer. The NY Times calls for letting the mixture simmer for 5 minutes and sit for 20. I was too eager to get to the tasting part of the recipe so I split the difference and simmered it over low heat for about 12 minutes.

Place the chopped chocolate in a large bowl. Strain the milk and pistachio mixture over the chocolate, using a spatula to smush the pistachio mixture into the sieve and extract as much flavour and liquid as possible. Whisk the chocolate and milk until all the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Resist the temptation to bathe in this silky, chocolatey concoction.

In a separate bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, 1 tablespoon of sugar, and a pinch of salt. While whisking, pour the chocolate mixture into the egg yolks and whisk until combined. Boil a kettle of water and arrange 6 ramekins in a baking dish. Divide the chocolate mixture among the ramekins and fill the baking dish with hot water so that the water comes about halfway up the side of the ramekins. Bake until set but still slightly jiggly, about 30 minutes.

Remove from the oven and let cool. Cover with plastic and refrigerate until firm (or until you can no longer wait for a taste). To serve, combine the whipping cream with 1/2 tablespoon of sugar and beat until soft. Top each ramekin with a dollop of cream and dust with the reserved ground pistachios.

Shrimp Ceviche

Adam and I recently travelled to Colombia where we spent some time in the coastal city of Cartagena. The city is known for its colonial architecture, abundance of emeralds and role in the 80’s classic Romancing the Stone starring Kathleen Turner and Michael Douglas. It’s also a great place to enjoy seafood and sample ceviche (unless you’ve got a seafood allergy, like Adam, in which case it’s a great place to avoid 90% of all menu items and consume mostly mojitos and ice cream for a week).


Ceviche is typically made with raw fish that is marinated in citrus juice and other tasty ingredients.  I cobbled this recipe together from a few different versions I had in Cartagena. There are an infinite number of variations on this dish and you can easily adjust it to suit your own tastes or whatever you have in your fridge. Shrimp is delicious but it's also great with cod, snapper, haddock, scallops, and squid. The key is really, really, really fresh fish. The citrus will give the fish a “cooked” texture but it doesn’t kill any bacteria that may exist. This isn’t an issue with most high quality fresh fish (think sushi) but I’m personally a bit more cautious when it comes to shellfish as it tends to be more prone to bacterial issues. I opted to lightly cook the shrimp before marinating it, just to be safe.

If you’re ever in Cartagena, I highly recommend the ceviche at the bar in the Santa Clara hotel. Not only is the seafood delicious but the hotel is stunning and it’s a great spot to hang out and escape the blazing Caribbean heat for a couple of hours.

Serves 4-6 as an appetizer

1 lb raw shrimp, shelled and deveined
1 jalapeno pepper, seeds removed, minced
4-5 green onions, chopped
2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
1/2 cucumber, peeled, seeded, and finely diced
1 avocado, diced
2 tablespoons ketchup (I know it's weird but don't skip this!)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 cup lime juice
zest of 1 lime
generous pinch of salt and pepper

Garnish
zest of 1 lime
1 tablespoon chopped cilantro
Pita, plantain, or tortilla chips

Combine all ingredients, except for the shrimp and garnish, in a bowl and set aside.
Bring a medium-sized pot of salted water to a boil. Add the shrimp, cover with a lid, and turn off the heat. Let the shrimp cook in the hot water for 1-2 minutes (if you're using frozen shrimp you may want to cook them a minute or two longer). Drain the shrimp in a colander and rinse with cool water.

Dice the shrimp into 1/4" pieces and add to the bowl with the remaining ingredients. Refrigerate for one hour. Serve in a martini glass or highball glass with chips alongside. Garnish with the additional chopped cilantro and lime zest.

Sweet Potato Chip Crusted Fish Sticks

I love themed eating events.  Recently our bookclub meetings have been themed brunches centred around the plot or setting of the novel, and note that when I say 'novel' I use the term loosely, as we just devoured the Hunger Game Trilogy.  However, everyone has been going 'full out' and we have seen cornucopias weaved from bread dough and full scaled Indian and French inspired events for other books.  Everyone really gets into these themes and I just love it.  So, to my delight when a friend wanted to get out of her dinner rut and have a tropical themed dinner party, T-Moo and I jumped all over it.  The tropical themed dinner included blood orange margaritas, shrimp ceviche, mango coconut crisp, and this fun spin on fish sticks!

Serves 4

Fish Sticks

1 lb of fresh white fish, Talapia, Cod, etc.

2 eggs, beaten

1 large bag sweet potato chips, crushed (plantain chips work well too)

1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

salt and pepper

Dipping Sauce

1/4 cup plain Greek style yogurt

2 tbsp mayonnaise

1 shallot grated with microplane, or chopped very finely

1 tbsp capers, chopped

1 tbsp chopped parsley

1 tbsp lime juice

lime zest

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375F and line a baking tray with parchment. 

In a large, shallow dish, beat eggs and season with salt and pepper.  In another shallow dish, mix crushed chips and panko together.  Rinse fish with cold water, pat dry with a paper towel, and slice into 1" thick 'fingers'.  

Coat each fish finger with egg, then coat in the chip/and panko mixture, pressing chips to adhere.

Place fish on baking sheet and bake for 12 minutes turning once half way through baking.

While fish is baking, prepare dipping sauce by combining all ingredients and stirring to combine.

Chicken Tajine with Honey Lime Yogurt

Generally I'm not a fan of kitchen gadgetry.  You won't find any slap chops or flavourwave ovens in my cupboard.  There are, however, some exceptions and the tajine is one (onion goggles are obviously another).  A tajine is a large, conical, ceramic dish that comes from the Berber areas of North Africa (Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria) .  It's used to cook a kind of stew with extremely tender meat and a very rich broth with various vegetables and aromatic fruits.  You can use just about any meat that braises well.  My favorite tajine actually uses lamb shoulder but T-Moo isn't a huge lamb fan and I generally only eat it in spring so chicken ends up being our go-to protein.

I'm told the secret to the dish's flavour is the conical shape of the tajine itself.  The idea is that the meat sits on top of the veggies so it gets steamed instead of stewed. The result is tender meat, rich broth and wild punches of flavour from the olives and fruits.  That being said, one of the best tajines I ever had was cooked in a dutch oven, which is a great alternative if you don't have the real thing.

I've been working on making better tajine for a couple of years now and have made good progress and only a few small fires (true story).  To avoid the aforementioned fires, I've learned not to overfill the tajine and to use less initial liquid since so much comes out of the vegetables.

Tajine:
6-10 chicken drumsticks
1 onion diced
1 can diced tomatoes, strained
2 carrots, diced
1/2 of a small eggplant, diced (sweat it first if you can)
1/2 squash, cut into 1 cm cubes
2 cloves garlic, diced
1/4 cup pitted olives, roughly chopped
1/4 cup pitted dates, roughly chopped
2 tbsp shelled, unsalted pistachios
~5 pitted apricots, quartered
Peel of 1 preserved lemon, diced
1/2 cup chicken stock

Spices:
1 tsp turmurec
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp corriander seed
1/2 tsp ground chili flakes
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cinnamon
OR
1 tbsp harissa spice

Couscous:
1 cup whole wheat couscous
1 cup chicken stock
2 tsp olive oil
1/4 cup roughly chopped cilantro

Yogurt:
1/2 cup plain Greek yogurt
1 tbsp honey
zest of one lime
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tbsp diced mint leaves

If you have the time, it's best to spice the meat and make the yogurt ahead of time so that the flavours combine nicely.  To make the yogurt, simply combine all ingredients, cover and refrigerate.  To spice the meat, first grind the spiced and then toast them in a dry frying pan over medium heat for a few minutes until they become fragrant.  Transfer to a large bowl and add the drumsticks, toss to coat and set aside for at least an hour (overnight is best).

Pre-heat your oven to 350F.  Combine the vegetables in the bottom of the tajine and add arrange the drumsticks on top, cover and put into the oven for ~1.5 hours.

While the tajine is cooking, make the couscous.  Bring the stock to a boil in a small pot, add the couscous, stir and remove from heat and stir in the olive oil and cilantro.

Serve the tajine over a bed of couscous and top with a spoonful of yogurt.