Author: Lynn

Tempura and Soba Salad

~ Lynn ~ 5 Comments

The February 2011 Daring Cooks’ challenge was hosted by Lisa of Blueberry Girl. She challenged Daring Cooks to make Hiyashi Soba and Tempura. She has various sources for her challenge including japanesefood.about.com, pinkbites.com, and itsybitsyfoodies.com

After missing last months Daring Cooks Challenge I was really excited to get to this one. I joined the Daring Cooks as a way to broaden my cooking horizons and push myself, and tempura is definitely new to me. In fact, I’ve never even tried it before. When I read the recipe I realized it’s basically just deep fried seafood and vegetables. My track record with deep frying is just so so, but I thought I could do this. I followed Lisa’s instructions to make the batter, then started heating the oil. Then the oil started to smoke well before the thermometer said the temperature was right. I started doubting the thermometer. That’s when the smoke detector went off. I turned off the heat, ran to the smoke detector and started waving a towel at it until it stopped. I took the battery out of the smoke detector then went back to work. My mistake in all this was that I didn’t check the temperature of the oil again after the smoke detector went off. I don’t think it was hot enough because both the shrimp and peppers were kind of soggy.

The moral of the story: take the battery out of the smoke detector before I start deep frying.

The second part of the challenge was to make a cold soba noodle salad. This part was less dramatic. I made the spicy dipping sauce to serve on the salad. I was a little disappointed with the sauce, I found it mostly tasted like soy sauce and sesame oil. Both are great flavours, bur I guess I was expecting something a little more complex.

Since I think I kind of failed at this challenge, I’m just going to paste the instructions exactly as written. My tips and changes are only useful if you like soggy deep fried foods.

Soba Noodles:

Ingredients
2 quarts (2 Liters) water + 1 cup cold water, separate
12 oz (340 g) dried soba (buckwheat) noodles (or any Asian thin noodle)

Directions:

Cooking the noodles:

  1. Heat 2 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot over high heat. Add the noodles a small bundle at a time, stirring gently to separate. When the water returns to a full boil, add 1 cup of cold water. Repeat this twice. When the water returns to a full boil, check the noodles for doneness. You want to cook them until they are firm-tender. Do not overcook them.
  2. Drain the noodles in a colander and rinse well under cold running water until the noodles are cool. This not only stops the cooking process, but also removes the starch from the noodles. This is an essential part of soba noodle making. Once the noodles are cool, drain them and cover them with a damp kitchen towel and set them aside allowing them to cool completely.

Spicy Dipping Sauce:

Ingredients
¾ cup 70gm/2½ oz spring onions/green onions/scallions, finely chopped
3 tablespoons (45 ml) soy sauce
2 tablespoons (30 ml) rice vinegar
½ teaspoon (2½ ml) (4 ⅔ gm) (0.16 oz) granulated sugar
¼ teaspoon (1¼ ml) (1/8 gm) (0.005 oz) English mustard powder
1 tablespoon (15 ml) grape-seed oil or vegetable oil
1 tablespoon (15 ml) sesame oil (if you can’t find this just omit from recipe.)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste – roughly 1/3 a teaspoon of each

Directions:

1. Shake all the ingredients together in a covered container. Once the salt has dissolved, add and shake in 2 tablespoons of water and season again if needed.

Tempura

Ingredients
1 egg yolk from a large egg
1 cup (240 ml) iced water
½ cup (120 ml) (70 gm) (2½ oz) plain (all purpose) flour, plus extra for dredging
½ cup (120 ml) (70 gm) (2½ oz) cornflour (also called cornstarch)
½ teaspoon (2½ ml) (2½ gm) (0.09 oz) baking powder
oil, for deep frying preferably vegetable
ice water bath, for the tempura batter (a larger bowl than what will be used for the tempura should be used. Fill the large bowl with ice and some water, set aside)

Directions:

  1. Place the iced water into a mixing bowl. Lightly beat the egg yolk and gradually pour into the iced water, stirring (preferably with chopsticks) and blending well. Add flours and baking powder all at once, stroke a few times with chopsticks until the ingredients are loosely combined. The batter should be runny and lumpy. Place the bowl of batter in an ice water bath to keep it cold while you are frying the tempura. The batter as well as the vegetables and seafood have to be very cold. The temperature shock between the hot oil and the cold veggies help create a crispy tempura.
  2. Heat the oil in a large pan or a wok. For vegetables, the oil should be 320°F/160°C; for seafood it should be 340°F/170°C. It is more difficult to maintain a steady temperature and produce consistent tempura if you don’t have a thermometer, but it can be done. You can test the oil by dropping a piece of batter into the hot oil. If it sinks a little bit and then immediately rises to the top, the oil is ready.
  3. Start with the vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, that won’t leave a strong odor in the oil. Dip them in a shallow bowl of flour to lightly coat them and then dip them into the batter. Slide them into the hot oil, deep frying only a couple of pieces at a time so that the temperature of the oil does not drop.
  4. Start with the vegetables, such as sweet potatoes, that won’t leave a strong odor in the oil. Dip them in a shallow bowl of flour to lightly coat them and then dip them into the batter. Slide them into the hot oil, deep frying only a couple of pieces at a time so that the temperature of the oil does not drop.
  5. Place finished tempura pieces on a wire rack so that excess oil can drip off. Continue frying the other items, frequently scooping out any bits of batter to keep the oil clean and prevent the oil (and the remaining tempura) from getting a burned flavor.
  6. Serve immediately for the best flavor, but they can also be eaten cold.

Enjoy!


Strawberries for Valentine’s Day

~ Lynn ~ 19 Comments

I’m generally not a big fan of Valentines Day. The hype that surrounds it makes it very difficult to live up to if you are in a relationship, and very depressing if you are not. Commanding people to feel lovey-dovey on a particular day is really kind of silly.

Instead of ignoring the day as I usually do, this year I’ve decided to treat like we did in elementary school. Everyone gets a Valentine! (Read that with an Oprah delivery, ie “You get a card, you get a card, EVERYONE GETS A CAAARD!!!!”) And you, my dear readers, are getting TWO strawberry recipes today.

You might notice that there is no refined sugar in these treats, that’s because I don’t think they need any. If you feel either of them needs a little more sweetness for your tastes feel free to add some.

The first strawberry treat I have for you is a smoothie. I love these for breakfast when I’m in a rush. Just pour them into a portable cup and drink on your way to work. If you want to up the healthiness factor, you can add flax or chia seeds, or even some protein powder. (Note, I’m not a huge powder fan but protein in the morning is great way to get energy for the day.) If you want to up the indulgent factor, add some cocoa powder and sugar or other sweetener.

The second is something I like to make myself when I’m craving a creamy dessert but feel like doing any work. It’s quick and easy to put together, and the drizzle of maple syrup is a perfect finishing touch.

Strawberry Banana Smoothie

(serves 1)

  • 1 Banana
  • 5-6 strawberries, cleaned and hulled
  • 1/3 cup plain yogurt (or vanilla)
  • 1 cup milk (soy or almond also work)
  • mint leaves
  1. Put all ingredients in a blender and puree till smooth. Serve!

Strawberry and Ricotta Cup

  • Ricotta
  • Cinnamon
  • Maple Syrup
  • Strawberries, cleaned and sliced
  1. In a small bowl, mix ricotta, cinnamon, and a couple of tablespoons maple syrup.
  2. Put ricotta mixture in serving bowls, top with strawberries. Drizzle some maple syrup on top.

Enjoy!

French Lentils with Feta

~ Lynn ~ 30 Comments

I had a bit of a bloggers dilemma while considering writing this post. This is one of my favourite meals, it’s easy to put together, it’s made entirely from pantry items, and it’s delicious. So why would I hesitate?

Well, it ain’t sexy. I stuck a parley sprig garnish on it because while I was taking the pictures all I could think was “man, that’s brown”. Brown food is a tough sell. What does sells in the food blogging world is dessert. If you need proof  have a look at the FoodBuzz Top 9 on any given day; it’s heavily slanted towards sweets, but honestly who can eat that much sugar and maintain any semblance of health?

Don’t get me wrong, I love dessert, but most of what I eat is more along the lines of this meal. Simple, healthy, and still delicious. So I decided to share my boring lentil recipe with you, even though it won’t spike my traffic, because it’s good, and I love it, and you should try it.

French Lentils with Feta

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 cup French Lentils
  • 3 cups vegetable broth
  • 1/2 tsp dried thyme
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • feta, crumbled
  • parsley to garnish
  • brown rice to serve with
  1. In a pot over medium high heat, heat the olive oil. Add the onion and cook until translucent. Add the garlic, cooking until fragrant.
  2. Add the lentils and vegetable broth. Season with salt, pepper and thyme.
  3. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat and simmer the lentils until cooked (about  to minutes)
  4. Serve over brown rice, topped with feta and parsley. Don’t skimp on the feta, it makes the meal.

Enjoy!

Nutella Scones

~ Lynn ~ 25 Comments

February 5th is World Nutella Day. I may or may not have already mentioned this, but I looooove Nutella. I know it isn’t actually healthy, despite what the commercials say, but it is so delicious. Chocolate and hazelnut are just a match made in heaven.

I think my favourite way to eat Nutella is slathered in a thick layer on toasted white bread. I’ve only started baking with Nutella recently. My first attempt at it was my Chocolate Nutella Bites. That was followed quickly by Abby Dodge’s Nutella Fudge Brownies. To celebrate Nutella Day, I decided to try these Nutella Scones from Baked Explorations. I’ve been eying the book since it came out, and based on how well these guys came out I think I have no choice but to buy it. The scones are incredibly addictive, I love the layers of Nutella baked between chocolate scone. If you don’t have plans for Nutella Day, make these.

Or you could celebrate with a nice big spoonful.

Nutella Scones

  • 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup dark sweetened cocoa powder (like Valrhona)
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
  • 1 large egg
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream
  • 3/4 cup toasted hazelnuts,coarsely chopped
  • 1/2 cup Nutella
  1. Preheat oven to 375. Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silicon mat.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa*, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the butter* to the flour. Using your fingertips, rub the butter into the flour until the chunks of butter become pea sized and the flour holds together when squeezed.
  3. Whisk the cream and egg together. While mixing, slowly pour the cream mixture into the flour mixture until the dough just comes together. Stir in the hazelnuts*, then pour the dough onto a floured surface. Knead the dough into a 6 inch by 12 inch rectangle (doesn’t have to be exact).
  4. Spread 1/4 cup of the Nutella over the dough, then roll it into a cylinder. Flatten the cylinder into a disk, then slice it into wedges (6 or 8).
  5. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes.
  6. Once baked, place on a cooling rack. Warm the remaining 1/4 cup Nutella, then drizzle it over the cooling scones.

*Notes and tips

The recipe calls for sweetened cocoa, I used unsweetened and found them to be sweet enough.

For scones, cold butter is best. To get it into cubes, cut it while it’s slightly softened then put it in the freezer for a few minutes.

I omitted the hazelnuts because I didn’t have any on hand. They would probably add a really nice crunch, but I didn’t really miss them.

Enjoy!

Simple, Comforting, Delicious: Roast Chicken

~ Lynn ~ 14 Comments

It’s amazing how quickly stuff can accumulate. I’ve been in my current condo since 2006. It was my first place so all I had when I moved in were the basics. My budget was pretty tight in the beginning, so I stayed with the basics for awhile. As time went on and I got more comfortable, I started buying some of those “nice to have” things. Then I started buying the “don’t really need by it’s so darn cute” things. Now as I’m decluttering and simplifying for my next move, I’ve realized that I’m bursting at the seams with stuff.

I know most of it is unnecessary, but just putting things in a box is difficult. It’s easy to become attached to stuff. Memories and emotions get all mixed up with possessions. I know that by choosing to sacrifice square footage in order to be in a better location, I’ve also made the choice to simplify. I need to start embracing that.

Simplicity can be a very good thing, like this one pan meal of roast chicken and vegetables. Low on effort and dirty dishes but high in flavour, this is one of my favourite things to make when life gets a little too hectic. Just chop up some root vegetables, toss them with oil and pour them in a pan, put some seasoned chicken on top and roast. I used chicken legs, but if you’re feeding a crowd a whole chicken be used in the exact same way, just use a deeper pan.

Roast Chicken and Root Vegetables

  • Chicken Legs
  • Potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
  • Carrots, cut into chunks
  • Leeks, cleaned and sliced into large pieces
  • Olive Oil
  • Garlic Powder
  • Paprika
  • Salt and Pepper
  1. Preheat oven to 400
  2. Put the potatoes, carrots and leeks in a pan. Drizzle with some olive oil, then season with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Toss until the vegetables are evenly coated ( I used my hands)
  3. Season the chicken legs with garlic powder, salt and pepper. Coat with a small amount of oil, then sprinkle with paprika.
  4. Place in the oven and roast for about 40 minutes, until the vegetables are softened and the chicken is cooked through. (Test the chicken by piercing it with a knife and seeing if the juices run clear)

Enjoy!

Roasted White Vegetable Soup

~ Lynn ~ 18 Comments

I haven’t been able to find the time to write more than one blog post a week lately, for that I apologize. The biggest reason for this is that I’m about to put my condo up for sale and I’ve been running around taking care of last minute things to get the place showing ready. My real estate gave me a list of things to do, she said there wasn’t that much, yet it seems to be taking all my time. I can’t imagine what having a lot to do would be like.

This weekend I removed all the caulking from my bathtub and redid it. Caulking is not as much fun as it sounds. Removing it is long and tedious work, and applying it is a lot harder than the youtube videos make it seem. Thankfully I had a nice bowl of soup waiting for me when I was done with the silicone-ey mess.

I had seen this recipe on Tartlette a year ago and it stayed in the back of my mind all this time. This weekend’s deep freeze seemed like the perfect setting for it. The soup is thick and creamy, even though there is no cream. Roasting the vegetables gives them a great almost caramelized flavour. It was a wonderfully soothing meal.

I also made the polenta croutons she recommends from Lisa’s Kitchen. I generally don’t like polenta, but a corn flavoured crunch really appealed to me. I followed the recipe and used cayenne, but I think these would also be great with rosemary or thyme. The croutons lost their crunchiness after a day, so if you make them, eat them all fast!

Roasted White Vegetable Soup

  • 1 Cauliflower, cut into florets
  • 1 celery root, peeled and cut into pieces
  • 1 medium onion, peeled and quartered
  • 4 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 2 potatoes, peeled and cut into pieces
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • salt, pepper to taste
  • 1 L low sodium vegetable stock
  1. Preheat oven to 400.
  2. Place the vegetables, onion and garlic on a baking sheet. Toss with olive oil, salt and pepper. Roast vegetables for 40 minutes.
  3. Transfer roasted vegetables to a large soup pot. Cover with stock. Bring to a boil then simmer for 20 minutes.
  4. Using an immersion blender puree soup, or allow to cool and pour into a regular blender to puree (may have to be done in batches)
  5. Serve with polenta croutons.

Enjoy!

Double Ginger Chocolate Cookies

~ Lynn ~ 29 Comments


Last week I went over to a friends house for coffee. As usually happens when two single women get together, the conversation eventually turned to men. You’d think at this point in our lives we could manage a conversation without talking about them, but no. Long story short, we don’t get them.

You go out on a date (well she does, I think 95% of the population is un-datable), things go really well, and then a week goes by and he hasn’t called for a second date. Why? What happened?

We pondered the possibilities while eating these Double Ginger and Chocolate Cookies. Serious injury was ruled out because she saw him at the gym. He smiled and waved, so it wasn’t amnesia. The men in Montreal tend to be short, and this guy is 6’2”. My theory is he knows all the women in the city are fighting over him and the other four tall guys, so he doesn’t want to commit.

After eating several cookies and drinking too much coffee, we came up with an action plan. Call him, ask how his weekend was, and see if he mentions date number two. She put the plan in place  Sunday night. They had a great conversation, but no second date

At least there were cookies.

I’ll be honest, these were a little too gingery for me. Next time I think I’ll just use the ground ginger. I also think they could use some chocolate chips. The recipe isn’t perfect, but I think with a few more tweaks it could be really good.

Double Ginger Chocolate Cookies

Adapted from the January 2011 issue of Bon Appetit

  • 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup butter
  • 1/4 cup mild-flavored (light) molasses
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 teaspoons minced peeled fresh ginger
  1. Preheat oven to 350
  2. In a bowl, mix together the flour, cocoa, baking  soda, salt, ground ginger, ground cinnamon.
  3. In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Mix in the molasses, egg and fresh ginger until well combined.
  4. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet.
  5. Using a tablespoon or small ice cream scoop, drop dough onto a cookie sheet about two inches apart.
  6. Bake for 13-15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Banana Muffins

~ Lynn ~ 29 Comments

I had an incredible headache Thursday morning when I woke up. The kind that makes me want to lie perfectly still because any movement feels like an explosion in my brain. I stayed home from work and just lay in my bed for a few hours. It hurt too much to sleep or read, and the light from my computer or TV just intensified the pain. I let my mind just wander, if I wasn’t in pain it would have been kind of fun.

Eventually the pain lessened so I got up and started to work from home. Unfortunately my remote access wasn’t working. All of the emails in my inbox were from 2009, nothing I sent went through, and I had no access to any of the network drives. Oh well, I tried.

So what’s a girl to do on a Thursday afternoon when the rest of the world is hard at work? Make muffins of course.

These chocolate banana muffins are an attempt at eating healthy. Sort of. They’ve got whole wheat flour and no refined sugar. I probably could have cut back a little on the butter, but I figured I’d go one step at time, you know?


Chocolate Banana Muffins

  • 3/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 3 very ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1 egg
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted
  • 1/4 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup cinnamon chips
  1. Preheat oven to 350. Line a muffin tin with liners.
  2. In a large bowl, stir together the flours, cocoa, baking powder and salt.
  3. In a separate bowl, mix the bananas, egg, butter, and milk together.
  4. Create a well in the dry ingredients, pour the wet into the well, then stir until just combined.
  5. Stir in the cinnamon chips.
  6. Pour batter into the lined muffin tin, about 3/4 full. Bake for 27-32 minutes until a tester comes out clean. Let cool for 5 minutes in pan, then move to a cooling rack to cool completely (if you can wait that long)

Enjoy!

Curried Carrot and Lentil Soup

~ Lynn ~ 20 Comments

I received a comment on my Roasted Tomato post that got me thinking. Tiffany of Como Water wrote that January is 1/12 of my life and I should find a way to enjoy it. I had never thought of it that way. To me winter has always been something I need to survive to get to the good stuff. I decided to try to figure out what it is about the winter that bothers me so much. Basically it comes down to two things; the dark and the cold. It’s pitch black when I wake up in the morning and its pitch black when I leave the office at night. The darkness is depressing and tiring. And then there’s the cold. Yuck. I’m one of those people who thinks a hot humid day is heavenly. The cold makes me, well, cold. And tense. Every time I step outside I can feel all of my muscles contracting, and they stay stuck that way all day.

So what can I do about this? My first solution is to spend some time outside and enjoy what little sunshine there is. I’m thinking walks at lunch could cover this. The second solution is to stay warm. If I’m going to enjoy my walks I need a good coat (can you say Canada Goose?).

And I need nice warm bowl of soup when I get home at night.

My first soup of the month is Curried Carrot and Lentil. It was kind of  an experiment as I had no recipe to follow, but I think for the first time a non baking experiment has worked for me. The carrots and red lentils are a great base to the soup, the curry and cayenne and some nice heat, and the coconut milk adds just the right amount of creaminess. I think it’s perfect to come home to on a cold January night.

Curried Carrot and Lentil Soup

  • coconut oil or olive oil for frying
  • 1 medium onion, diced
  • 3 carrots, sliced
  • 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
  • 1 tbsp curry powder
  • 1 tbsp fresh ginger, grated (can be substituted with powder)
  • 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
  • 3/4 cup lentils
  • 4 cups vegetable broth
  • 2 cups coconut milk
  • plain yogurt for serving
  1. In a large soup pot, sautee the onions and carrots for 3 – 4 minutes until the onions have softened.
  2. Add the mustard seeds, curry, and ginger. Cook, stirring to keep the onion from burning, until the mustard seeds start to pop.
  3. Add the cayenne and lentils, then add the broth and coconut milk. Bring to a boil then simmer for 20 minutes.
  4. Let cool, then puree with an immersion blender or blender until smooth.
  5. Serve topped with yogurt.

Enjoy!

A Night At Pullman

~ Lynn ~ 4 Comments

Friendships are a strange thing. I’ve always had the assumption that if people are friends with me, they should get along with each other too. I guess it’s a reverse of the “the enemy of my enemy is my friend” theory. I’ve been proven wrong many times, but I keep holding on to this idea.

This weekend I went to Pullman Wine Bar with some friends. Some of them had met before, others hadn’t, but they are all my friends so I assumed things would go well. In the end, I’d have to say that the group didn’t quite click. One person did most of the talking, and the conversation never really flowed. I guess these things happen.

We did enjoy some nice wines and delicious foods though. My friend Steph and I shared a bottle of white. Steph and I are not exactly wine connoisseurs, so I asked JB to pick a wine for us. We wanted something not too fruity, not to dry, something just right. He picked out a Amphibolite Nature, a Muscadet 2009  from France, that was very nice. We made our way through the bottle quite quickly.

Between the 6 of us we ordered at least half of the menu. My favourite items were the scallop and chorizo sticks with quince and apple, and the pork meatball ragout with mashed potato and beets. The cheddar and bacon gougeres were also very nice, I’ll have to try and make those at home one day. I took pictures of the food, but a point and shoot in a dark bar does not good pictures take.

For dessert I had the apple and honey semifredo. I was expecting a semifredo with both of those flavours, but it was actually a honey semifredo placed on a spoonful of apple sauce. Separately they were just ok, together they were better, but still not spectacular. JB had the red wine figs with almond graham and mascarpone and love it. It was so good he refused to share.

All in all I’d say it was a good night. I got a chance to see friends I rarely see and eat some good food. That’s the beauty of a good restaurant, even if there is nothing to say, you can always just enjoy the food.