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.

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.

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.  

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.

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.

Smoky Beef and Three-Bean Chili

Unless you are a vegetarian, I would suggest that everyone loves a rich, meaty, beefy chili. Now with that said there are many schools of thought on what constitutes 'chili'; I am mostly speaking to you Texan purists out there that will argue to the death that beans do not belong in chili.  As I am not one for traditionalism, in my chili anyway, in this recipe you will find beans.  If you cannot get beyond this then I suggest that you stop reading here and find a different recipe.  However, for you bean lovers, continue reading on to find a great big batch recipe perfect for game day, a large family dinner, or potluck event.  I like to make this chili the day before I want to eat it as I find the next day it has a richer, thicker consistency.

NOTE: You will require a very large gigantic pot or will need 2 large pots to simmer 2 batches seperately.  You could also half the recipe but this is challenging to do with canned ingredients. I suggest making a enitre batch and sharing it with friends then storing the remainder in individual tupperware and freezing it for quick weeknight dinners.

Makes enough to feed an army and then some!

3 lbs of ground beef
1 lb ground veal
1 tsp olive oil
2 sweet onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 green pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno, fine dice
2 bay leaves
4 cups tomato sauce
3 14oz cans diced tomatoes, with juice
1 6oz can tomato paste
1 16oz can red kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 16oz can white kidney beans, drained and rinsed
1 16oz can romano beans, drained and rinsed

Spice Blend
1 tbsp brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper
1/4 cinnamon
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
3 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp chipotle chili powder
1 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Garnishes (optional)
grated cheddar cheese
sliced green onions
sour cream
corn relish
fried tortilla strips

In a small bowl stir together all ingredients for spice blend.

Heat largest pot (or dutch oven) over medium high heat and saute onion for about 10 minutes until soft. Add garlic and cook an additional 2 minutes.  Remove onions and garlic from pan and set aside.  Return pot to heat and add beef and veal and cook until browned (drain off excess fat, leaving just 1-2 tbsp).  Add onion and garlic mixture into the beef and add green peppers, jalapeno and bay leaves.  Add spice blend and stir with meat mix until well combine.  Add tomato sauce, diced tomatoes and tomato paste.  Stir in beans.  Bring pot to a boil, then turn heat to low and simmer for 2-3 hours.  Serve with desired garnishes.

Osso Buco with Sun Dried Tomato and Carmelized Onion Risotto

This Saturday I was feeling a bit like the Toronto Maple Leafs ... in desperate need of a win.  After a series of unabashed kitchen failures I decided to turn to a meal creation process that usually pays off for me: pick an element that I know well and base everything else on that.  It's a bit like playing improv jazz (something I did quite a bit when I was younger); you pick a key, a riff and then expand on that theme so that everything you play sounds like a constructed song, even though you're making it up as you go along.  In this case, I chose the key of Italian and the riff was sun dried tomato.

We started with sun dried tomato risotto because it's FANTASTIC and I've been making risotto for over 20 years so I knew I could make that work.  Osso buco seemed like an ideal pairing because the creamy marrow and delicate meat would echo the creamy risotto.  It also had the benefit of being braised for only slightly over an hour so we could make the risotto while it cooked. The citrus punch from the gremolata topping goes well with the sun dried tomatoes in the risotto.

Most osso buco recipes call for braising in white or red wine, aromatic veggies and whole or diced tomatoes.  I decided to substitute sun dried tomatoes for the fresh or canned ones as I wanted to match the flavour from the risotto.  We then strained and reduced the sauce which allowed us to concentrate the sun dried tomato flavor even more and meant that we wouldn't drown the risotto in a lot of liquid.  The resulting dish isn't as colourful as the traditional version but I think it tastes more intense.

Osso buco:
4 osso buco (slices of veal shank)
2 carrots, diced
2 celery stalks, diced
1 onion, chopped
4 sun dried tomatoes, whole
3 cups white wine
2 cups veal or beef stock
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp rosemary

Gremolata:
Zest of one lemon
2 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 tbsp parsley, diced
1 tsp olive oil

Risotto:
3 onions, sliced
3 cloves garlic, diced
2 cups arborio rice (accept no substitutes)
1 cup sun dried tomatoes, diced
2 cups stock + 2 cups water
1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup grated parmesan

Preheat the oven to 350F.
I like to start caramelizing the onions first because I cook them in the oven, which takes longer but saves labour (you can do them on the stove in a frying pan if you prefer). In a large pot, toss the onions in oil. Cover and place in the oven for about 30-45 minutes. If you're out of time and there is still liquid in the pot or if they are not fully caramelized, remove from oven and transfer to the stove on medium heat to finish. Remove the lid and let cook until any remaining liquid has cooked off and the onions are the colour of caramel. While the onions are in the oven, make the gremolata so that it can spend some time ... gremolating.  Simply combine the ingredients in a small bowl or ramekin, cover and refrigerate.

Turn the oven up to 400F. Dust the shanks in flour and brown them on all sides over high heat in a high sided oven-proof pan that's large enough to hold them.  Remove them to a plate and saute the carrots and celery in the same pan.  When they begin to soften and become fragrant (2-3 minutes), add the onions, garlic, herbs and saute 2-3 minutes more.  Add the meat, stock and 2 cups of wine.  Bring to a boil, cover and place in the oven for 30 minutes, then reduce the heat to 325F for ~45 minutes. 

While the osso buco is cooking make the risotto.  Combine the water and stock in a small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low to keep the stock warm.  In a large pot, saute the garlic on medium high heat until fragrant, add the rice and stir to coat.  When the rice is coated in the oil, start to ladle in the warm stock while stirring.  As the stock is absorbed, ladle more in while stirring so the risotto is always wet but not drowning in stock (stirring is the key to creamy risotto and the reason why Italian grandmothers will always beat you at arm wrestling).  As it cooks, the starch starts to come out of the rice and the risotto takes on a creamy texture.  Stop when the rice still has some bite and is a little al dente, before it turns mushy.  Ideally the stock/water runs out when the dish is done but you may need slightly more or less depending on how the risotto gods feel that day.  Once cooked, thoroughly stir in the diced sun dried tomatoes, caramelized onions, and Parmesan and remove from heat.

If all goes well, the osso buco should finish around the time the risotto is done.  Remove the meat to a plate and cover.  Add the last cup of wine, bring to a boil then strain and discard the vegetables, reserving the tomatoes.  Reduce liquid and tomatoes until the sauce thickens.  You can add some butter but I found it was smooth enough on its own.

Layer a spoonful of risotto on a plate, top with meat and one of the tomatoes from the sauce.  Drizzle with sauce, sprinkle with gremolata and serve.  This pairs really well with Italian red wine like San Giovese or Chianti (we chose Chianti) as the wine won't overpower the food.

Squash, Blue Cheese, and Arugula Pizza with Figs

I love this pizza. I love everything about it - the sweetness of the figs, the tangy blue cheese, the crust that is crisp on the outside and tender inside. I love nutritious and tasty addition of squash and arugula that allows me to pretend that, even though it's pizza, it's really not that bad for me (silence, carb haters!). I love the way it makes just enough for a weeknight meal for two with leftovers for lunch the next day. I love the way it tastes fresh from the oven. I love the way it tastes when eaten cold, straight from the office fridge. I love how it brightens my day, even as I eat it hunched over my desk at work while trying, frantically, to meet a deadline. I love how it embodies everything I would have hated to eat as a child (moldy blue cheese, mushy squash, green stuff!) but now love because I've matured into a worldly, food-blogging sophisticate. My only issue with this pizza is that it's difficult to eat it while patting myself on the back for being a worldly, food-blogging sophisticate, it's really a two-hand or knife and fork pizza.

Makes 1 large pizza (about 6-8 slices)

Pizza Dough

1 cup warm water

1 package active yeast (about 2 1/2 teaspoons)
1 teaspoon sugar or honey

2 1/2 cups flour (plus extra for dusting work surface)
1/2 tablespoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

Pizza Toppings

1/2 butternut squash (about 1 lb)
1 teaspoon crushed chili flakes
olive oil

6 dried figs, roughly chopped (you can also use fresh if available)

2 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese (goat cheese is also great)

1/2 cup grated Parmesan

1 1/2 cups arugula

salt and pepper

Combine the yeast, sugar, and warm water in a bowl or large Pyrex measuring cup. Let stand for about 10 minutes until the mixture is frothy. Combine the flour, salt, yeast mixture, and olive oil in a large mixing blow and mix together until well combined. Using your hands, form the dough into a smooth ball, adding more flour as needed. Cover the bowl of dough with plastic wrap or a tea towel and let rise until doubled in bulk, about 30-40 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400F. Peel the butternut squash and remove all the seeds. Slice the squash cross-wise into 1/4" thick pieces (the shape isn't important as long as they are evenly and thinly sliced). Arrange the squash on a baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper, and chili flakes. Roast until the squash is tender, about 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside. Turn the oven up to 425F.

Punch down the pizza dough and transfer to a floured work surface. Gently spread the dough into whatever shape you like. I bake this on an oiled rectangular baking tray but you could also use a pizza stone.  Bake for 3-5 minutes, until the dough has stiffened and is slightly puffed up but not browned. Remove from the oven and drizzle with olive oil. Arrange the squash slices, figs, and cheeses on the pizza dough and return to the oven for another 8-10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and dough is golden brown. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with arugula and freshly ground pepper. I like to let the arugula wilt for a minute or two before slicing and serving.

Mediterranean Braised Chicken

This is one of my boyfriend's signature dishes.  He loves anything with rich, meaty flavour or that is saucy. Think Indian food, Bolognese and braised meats.  This dish falls into the braised meats category, where chicken thighs are slowly simmered with flavours from the Mediterranean to create a tangy, velvety sauce.  We always used to eat this served with broad flat noodles or rice, however, just recently discovered soft polenta which I think is the perfect side dish.  I can't wait to taste what he cooks up next!

Serves 4

1/4 cup all purpose flour

salt and pepper

8-10 chicken thighs, boneless, skinless

4 tbsp olive oil, divided

1 sprig rosemary

1 sweet onion, large slices
3 cloves garlic, sliced
4 Roma tomatoes, quartered and seeded
1 cup Kalamata olives, pitted
1 1/2 cups white wine


Combine flour, salt and pepper on a large plate.  Dredge chicken thighs in flour and shake off the excess.  In a large skillet with a lid, heat oil over medium high heat.  In two batches, sear chicken thighs about 3 minutes per side or until just browned.  Remove chicken from skillet and set aside.  Return the pan to medium heat and add rosemary and onions.  Cook for about 7-8 minutes then add garlic and cook an additional 2 minutes.  Add tomatoes and olives and return chicken to pan, once tomatoes have softened slightly (about 3 minutes) add wine to skillet and bring to a boil, once boiling turn heat to low and simmer chicken for about 20-30 minutes. Serve.

Gnocchi success at last!

 Gnocchi are a fabulous pasta.  When done right they're like delicious little down pillows.  When done wrong they're a bit like eating chunks of old gum.  I was always told that the key was not to add too much flour and not to work them too much.  In practice I found this a bit like taking advice from Wayne Gretzsky "Just go to where to puck is going to be!", great in theory but practically impossible.  

Gnocchi are our white whale ... or at least they used to be.  Some of our greatest kitchen disasters and best concrete substitutes have come from failed gnocchi attempts.  It actually got to the point where T-Moo wouldn't even try any more and the mere mention of gnocchi would cause her to lie on the floor and scream like a tired 3 year old in a grocery store.  So I was ecstatic when I took a cooking class on a recent business trip to London and finally learned how to make Gnocchi in a reliable way.  It turns out the key, like a fine cigar, is hand rolling!

Quantities are all per person:

1 baked russet potato

1 egg yolk, beaten

~1/3 cup flour

1/2 tsp salt

Scoop the inside of the potatoes into a bowl and mash with a fork until it's no longer chunky or use a potato ricer if you have one (I have two ... for some reason).  Add the eggs and mix thoroughly, slowly adding flour until it starts to form a dough ball.  It will start like a bowl of wall paper paste but should start to come together after adding a couple of tablespoons of flour per potato (the amount will depend on the size of the eggs and potatoes).


When the dough starts to come away from the side of the bowl pick up a chunk about the size of a baseball with your hands and roll it around in the flour to dust it all over (your hands will get very dirty).  Once dusted, pick up the dough ball and roll it around in your hands until it becomes wet again (the egg will seep through as you roll) and then re-dust and repeat rolling.  Repeat this rolling and dusting process until the egg stops seeping through the flour dust (usually 3-5 times).  The dough won't firm up much because there isn't any gluten in the potatoes and so you have to treat it gently.

Flour an area of your counter or cutting board to work the dough. Take the dough balls and roll them into long snakes about 2cm thick much like you used to do with PlayDough when you were a kid (you used to do that too right?).  You can now use a fork to gently press grooves into the snakes or leave them as is.  Cut the snakes into pieces about 2-3cm long.  The dough will still be very tacky inside and quite soft so the best way to do this is to chop down quickly and then flick the pieces to the side with your knife to prevent them from sticking to each other and to the knife.

Add the gnocchi to a large pot of boiling salted water.  They're done when they float.  Avoid over cooking them as they'll just disintegrate into the pasta water.

Turkish Stuffed Peppers

I first came across these in a market in Vienna.  I was walking around and just followed my nose across 3 aisles of other vendors to find a happy little turkish man dishing these out to a HUGE line of customers.  The line was 50 people and almost half an hour long but the smell kept me there and I am forever grateful that it did as this has become one of my favourite dishes.


You can stuff these with just about anything (Chorizo and rice is fantastic) but I'll always be partial to the original because nothing tastes as good as nostalgia.


Per person:
1 red pepper
1/4 pound ground lamb or beef (sometimes we combine with ground chicken ot turkey)
1/2 cooking onion diced
1 clove garlic diced
1/3 cup couscous
2/3 cup chicken stock
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp kofta spice
1 handful rough chopped cilantro
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 400F. Multiply the recipe by the number of servings (and peppers) you want to make.

Bring the stock to a boil, add couscous and turn down to a summer for 3-5 minutes until couscous has absorbed all the liquid.

Saute the onions in the oil over medium low heat until soft.  Add the spices and garlic and continue to cook until the garlic is fragrant. Add the meat and cook thoroughly, then add the couscous, mix thoroughly and remove from heat.

Cut the tops off the peppers and spoon out the seeds and pith as though you were going to make a tiny jack-o-lantern. Spoon the filling into the peppers.  Place the peppers in a casserole dish so that they prevent each other from falling over. Roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes until the pepper skin begins to blacken.  As the peppers cook they will release their juices and oil into the rice mixture which is really what makes this dish fantastic.

Serve with a salad or veggies on the side or all by itself.  You can also use very small peppers or divide them in half and serve these as the side dish. 

Tomato Baked Eggs with Chard

It's been an exciting and hectic week (as soon as I wrote that I realized it's only Thursday, jeez). I've been inundated by new projects at work, we are anxiously awaiting the birth of my first nephew, and Adam and I closed on our first home and are now fully immersed in planning and executing a substantial renovation. Needless to say, all of this hasn't left a lot of time for grocery shopping or cooking. My diet this week has consisted mainly of champagne (new house!), croissants (standard meeting fare at work), and leftover chicken tagine (stay tuned for that recipe). Wait...why am I complaining?

While I could certainly do a lot worse, tonight I needed to get back on track and wanted to make something fast, light, and healthy that I could throw together with pantry and fridge staples. This recipe would be great for breakfast or a light lunch as well. I've baked it in ramekins but if you don't have any, you could also use a baking dish. Pour the sauce into the baking dish and crack an egg into each corner, then spoon out individual portions.

Makes 4 servings

drizzle of olive oil
1 medium onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon crushed chili flakes
1 can diced tomatoes
1 cup strained tomato or tomato puree (I use Pomodoro tomatoes that come in a jar)
salt and pepper
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 small bunch of chard
4 eggs
2 tablespoons grated Parmesan
1 loaf of your favourite crusty bread

Preheat oven to 350F.
In a large pot, heat a drizzle of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion and let cook for 2 minutes. Add the garlic, stir, and let cook for 3-5 minutes until the onions and garlic are soft. Add the thyme, oregano, generous pinch of salt and pepper, and crushed chili flakes and stir. Let cook for 1 minute, then add the diced and strained tomatoes and balsamic vinegar. Cover and let cook for 10 minutes.

While the tomato sauce simmers, wash the chard and trim off and discard the ends. Chop into 1" pieces. Taste the sauce and season with salt and pepper as required. Add the chard to the sauce and stir to incorporate. Let cook for another 5 minutes.

Arrange four ramekins on a baking sheet. Ladle the sauce into each ramekin, leaving about an inch of space at the top. Crack an egg into each ramekin, on top of the sauce. Sprinkle with a small pinch of salt and pepper. Bake the eggs until the whites are set but the yolks are still soft, about 8-10 minutes. Top with grated Parmesan and serve with a slice of crusty bread for dipping.

Maple Whisky Glazed Hen with Wild Rice Stuffing

I have a tradition of buying a bottle of scotch from the duty free store every time I'm out of the country. Over time I've built up quite a collection of almost twenty scotches, however, we live in a condo and the amount of room we can allocate to booze storage is somewhat limited, so T-Moo has enacted a 1 in 1 out policy in our liquor cabinet.  Seeing as I have a hefty travel schedule coming up and not being one to break with tradition, I needed to find a way to up my scotch consumption. A Robbie Burns day meal seemed like the perfect fit!

We scoured around our favourite web hangouts for inspired whiskey recipes and came across Zen Chef's AWESOME sounding recipe for soy-whiskey glazed baby chicken with sticky rice stuffing.  It really was an ideal pairing as this weekend was also Chinese new year, however, we wanted to roll with a slightly more earthy flavour to complement the smoky whiskey so we substituted sticky rice with wild rice and brown rice and then swapped out soy with maple syrup to maintain the sweetness we lost by losing the sticky rice.  The results are a little bit Scottish, a little bit Canadian, inspired by a French chef's Asian hybrid creation and 100% delicious.

4 pheasants or Cornish game hens

2 cups duck or chicken stock

3/4 cup brown rice

1/4 cup wild rice

1/3 cup walnuts

1/3 cup dried cranberries

1 onion diced

1 cup rough chopped shitake mushrooms

2 cloves garlic diced

3 sprigs thyme

3/4 cup smooth whiskey (I used Dalwhinnie)

1/4 cup smoky whiskey (I used Ardbeg)

1/2 cup maple syrup

2 tbsp brown sugar

Brown the mushrooms in some oil or butter and set aside.  Saute the onions and garlic in a little oil until soft.  Add the stock, bring to a boil, add the wild rice and turn down to a simmer. Cover and simmer for 5 minutes then add the brown rice and simmer for 15 minutes more until rice is cooked.  Add in the nuts, cranberries, 1 oz of smoky whiskey, and thyme mix well and set aside to cool.

While the rice is cooking, make the whiskey glaze by combining the remaining whiskey and the maple syrup and simmering gently until reduced by half.  Clean and brine the birds (I had to do this as mine were frozen and my guests were arriving shortly).  When the rice is cool enough to handle, stuff the birds with the rice mixture and place in a roasting pan on a rack.  Place the remaining stuffing (if there is any) into a casserole dish or ramekin.

Cook the birds at 400F, basting with the glaze every 10 minutes until juices run clear or the meat registers 170F on an instant read thermometer.  Remove the birds to a platter and cover with foil  Add a half cup of water and any remaining glaze to the roasting pan and bring to a boil on the stove, stirring to scrape up any bits from the pan.  When sauce has reduced by half, strain it to a fat separator if needed or directly to a gravy boat.

We served half a bird per person by slicing the birds in half down through the breast (they're small so you shouldn't have trouble if your knife is sharp) and served each portion on top of a gratin of potato, tomato and zucchini.  

Seared Pork Chops with Blood Orange Glaze

I was reading CNN.com earlier today, catching up on the latest entertainment news (ok, it was people.com) when I came across an article about Uggie, the canine star of the Golden Globe winning film "The Artist". Apparently Uggie stole the show from George Clooney during Sunday's awards ceremony, giving Clooney a run for his money when it comes to making the fans gush. Now, you all know I love a good metaphor....well, here comes another. In this recipe, the role of Clooney is played by the pork chop. Normally, the drool-worthy star of any dish, here it takes a supporting role to an unexpected star: the delectably sweet, sour, and slightly spicy blood orange glaze.

This glaze is simple to make, provided you can get a hold of blood oranges, which happen to be available in abundance right now at our local grocery store. Be sure to use the blood orange variety as regular naval oranges wouldn't be as good or as delightfully fuschia. I paired this glaze with pork but it would also be delicious with veal chops, chicken, or even fish. Serve this dish with sauteed kale, asparagus, or any other green.

Makes 2 servings

1/2 cup blood orange juice

zest of 1 blood orange

2 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1 sprig rosemary

pinch of crushed chili 

pinch of salt

2 pork chops

drizzle of grape seed oil

salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400F. 

Combine the orange juice, zest, sugar, vinegar, rosemary, chili and salt in a pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and let cook until the sauce has reduced by half, about 10-15 minutes.  The sauce is done when it coats the back of a spoon (generally when the bubbles look like they do at right).

Sprinkle both sides of the pork chops with salt and pepper.  Heat a drizzle of grape seed oil in a cast iron or oven proof pan. When the pan is hot, add the pork chops. Sear for 3 minutes and then flip and sear for 1 minute on the other side. Transfer the pan to the oven and roast for 5-8 minutes or until the pork chops reach an internal temperature of 155F. Spoon the blood orange sauce over each pork chop. Garnish with orange slices and serve.