Author: Lynn

Sunshine Salad

~ Lynn ~ 9 Comments

It was pouring rain all day, by the time I was on my way home there were enormous puddles along the roads.  Puddles that went midway up the side of a car tire. Puddles with rushing water. I had to step through one of these puddles on my way home. The moment my foot touched the water my left flip-flop was swept off my foot. I was a little shocked and didn’t realize what had happened for a few moments. By the time I did catch on, the flip-flop had made its way into speeding traffic. I thought about chasing after it, but I’m pretty sure if I had I would have been run over. So instead I walked the three blocks home with one shoe. Fun.

So to bring some sunshine into my evening I made myself a nice salad with mango, avocado, and prosciutto wrapped shrimp. Something about a nice ripe mango makes me so happy, and this one was delicious.  The prosciutto also adds a really nice salty-ness to the shrimp.

Shrimp, Mango and Avocado Salad

  • shrimp
  • prosciutto slices
  • mango slices
  • avocado slices
  • spinach
  • olive oil
  • lime juice
  • basil leaves
  • salt and pepper
  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Wrap each shrimp in a small piece of prosciutto, the bake for 4 or 5 minutes.
  3. Mix olive oil, lime juice and basil leave and salt and pepper together.
  4. Toss mango, avocado, and spinach with dressing.
  5. Top with cooked shrimp.

And now I’m going to go eat some ice cream.

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I want S’more Pie!

~ Lynn ~ 10 Comments

Tuesday was my little brothers twenty-sixth birthday. Originally I was going to make him this cake , but then I started thinking about how we used to celebrate his birthday as kids.

Every summer my parents would rent a cottage in Vermont. My aunt and uncle also had a summer home right down the road, so our cousins were always around. My brother and our cousin Alex’s birthdays are less than a week apart, so one Saturday we would have a party for Alex and then the next we would have one for Richie. The formula was pretty much always the same, BBQ, followed by cake and hopefully some Ben & Jerry’s ice cream (it was Vermont after all). I have no recollection of what kind of cake we used to have at my brother’s birthday, but I decided instead of lemon ricotta cake he should have something cottage-y for his birthday. What came to mind immediately was s’mores. I’m pretty sure every time I’ve had a s’more was at the cottage with Richie, Alex and Janice (Janice and I also celebrate our birthdays within a couple of days of each other).

But s’mores on their own didn’t seem good enough. No, for my brother’s birthday there should be something more exciting than just a s’more; there should be s’mores in pie form. I didn’t even give him a choice.

I could have served this pie last Saturday when we actually had dinner with Alex and Janice, but I wasn’t thinking very clearly. So I waited till his actual birthday to serve the pie. I need to apologize to my cousins as this pie was soooo good. It was ooey gooey deliciousness. The marshmallows brought me right back to being a kid. Slicing the pie was a bit of an adventure, but s’mores are supposed to be messy and watching me struggle with it just added to the fun. There were marshmallow strings all over the place.

If you microwave any leftovers for 10 seconds the marshmallows get a little melty.

If you microwave them for 20 seconds they get a lot melty.

This recipe was adapted from Gourmet. Instead of making marshmallow fluff I just piled store-bought marshmallows on the pie.

S’more Pie

  • 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
  • 5 tbsp butter, melted
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 8 oz bittersweet chocolate, chopped
  • 1 cup cream
  • 1 egg
  • 1 bag large marshmallows
  1. In a bowl combine graham cracker crumbs, butter and salt.
  2. Press graham cracker mixture into a 9 inch pie plate. Bake at 350 for 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool completely.
  3. Once the crust is cooled, heat cream until just before boiling. Pour over chocolate and stir until the chocolate is completely melted. Whisk in the egg.
  4. Pour the chocolate mixture into the crust and bake at 350 for 45 minutes. Let cool completely.
  5. Just before serving, pile marshmallows on top of the pie and broil till the marshmallows are at your desired golden or burnt level (keep a close eye on them, they’ll burn fast).

Enjoy!

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My First Barbeque

~ Lynn ~ 6 Comments

The heat wave a few weeks ago prompted me to go out and buy two things; an air conditioner and a barbeque. A charcoal barbecue to be exact. I’ve barbecued on a gas grill many times, but a charcoal grill is very new to me.

The day I brought the barbecue home, my brother came over for dinner and did all the actual grill work. He lit the coals and grilled the meat and veggies as I did all the prep and then watched.

When it came time for me to actually grill something on my own I was a little nervous. I got home, put some paper in the bottom of the grill, added the coals, covered the grill and then lit the paper. I walked away to prep everything. When I came back, the paper was a burnt, but the coals never caught fire.

Strange.

I added more paper, lit it and walked away again.

This time I came back a little sooner to check on the coals. Once again, the paper had burnt but the coals never lit. At this point I was tired, hungry, and very frustrated. I contemplated calling my brother for help. But I stopped myself. I am an independent woman, I own my home, pay my bills, kill my own bugs, I should be able to barbecue without a man!

So I tried one more time. This time I crumpled the paper into really tight balls so it would burn longer. I washed the dishes while keeping an eye on the barbecue. I watched the smoke pour out of the vents, then calm down slightly. My hopes faded a little as a kept washing. Then, as I was drying the dishes I saw it; the shimmer of heat around the barbecue. You know that scene in Cast Away where Tom Hanks pounds his chest and yells “I have made fire!”? That’s kinda what it felt like (except I had matches).

Unfortunately the meal was a bit of a flop. I didn’t let the grill get hot enough, so the fish stuck and then crumbled as I tried to flip it. And my potatoes were undercooked, so I had to finish them on the stove. Overall I’m going to count this as a success. Mastering the grill isn’t going to happen overnight, but I’ve got the first step down.

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mmm muffins

~ Lynn ~ 4 Comments

I have an addiction. Every morning when I get to work, I must have my fix. This addiction is damaging my waistline and putting a dent in my wallet. It started when a Starbucks opened in my office building. No, it’s not coffee; it’s the muffins. I don’t know what the Starbucks people are putting in these things to make them so yummy.

It has to stop. There must be like 500 calories in one of those things. Quitting cold turkey isn’t going to work for me though, so I’m going to start bringing my own my muffins to work.

Here’s the first batch, whole wheat plum and apricot muffins.

Whole Wheat Apricot and Plum Muffins

  • 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 3 tbsp butter, melted
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 tsp almond extract
  • 6 apricots, halved or six small plums halved.
  1. Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl.
  2. Whisk eggs together, then add butter, milk and extract to the eggs.
  3. Create a hole in the center of the dry ingredients, pour the wet ingredients in and then stir until well combined.
  4. Divide the batter into a lined 12 muffin tin. Top with apricot or plums.
  5. Bake at 400 for 25 to 30 minutes.

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Magazine Monday: Summer Vegetable Casserole

~ Lynn ~ 14 Comments

For me a great meal is all about the side dishes. A nice piece of meat is great, but how good are the potatoes on the side? I’ve constantly got my eye out for good side dish recipes, and this one from the August issue of  Food & Wine struck me as the perfect summer side dish. It’s packed with my favourite summer veggies; zucchini, tomatoes, peppers. And as a base, new potatoes!

I also got the chance to use some of the herbs I’ve got growing on the balcony. Everything has been going great, except for the parsley (weird, eh?). The recipe only called for thyme but I threw some oregano in as well, just for fun.

Summer Vegetable Casserole

  • New potatoes, sliced a 1/4 inch thick
  • Mushrooms
  • Plum tomatoes, sliced
  • Yellow peppers, sliced thinly
  • Zucchini
  • Red onion, sliced
  • Garlic
  • Fresh thyme and oregano
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • Parmesan, grated
  1. Toss all the ingredients together except for the parmesan.
  2. In a baking dish, layer the vegetables in the following order; potatoes, mushrooms, 2/3 of the onion and green peppers, tomatoes, zucchini, and finally the remaining onion and peppers.
  3. Top with grated parmesan.
  4. Bake covered in foil at 350 for 40 minutes. Increase the temperature to 400, remove the foil and bake for another 25 minutes.

This was pretty tasty. The recipe is simple enough to let the flavours of the fresh summer vegetables shine through. Next time I make this I think I’ll add some goat cheese to the mix, or maybe a layer of ricotta and spinach, just to make it a little more substantial.

I’ll be sending this post to Cream Puffs in Venice for Magazine Monday. For those of you who don’t know, Magazine Monday is a chance to get through all those magazine recipes we all have earmarked to make and then share your creations. Head over to her site to check out what everyone else is up to!

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Berry Terrine

~ Lynn ~ 6 Comments

Have you ever had a recipe stuck in your head?

Ever since I saw Laura Calder make this recipe on the Food Network Canada I’ve been thinking about making it. Since  July 14th was Frances national holiday I decided this was a great time to make it. I know a lot of people have the impression that french food is complicated, and although it can be, in general it’s actually quite simple.

This terrine is basically just a fancy jello mold. I based my recipe on Laura Calder’s Pink Grapefruit and Orange Terrine, but since we are at the height of raspberry season here in Quebec I decided to make a berry version.

To make this you’ll need a 9 inch loaf pan and some plastic wrap.

Berry Terrine

  • 1 cup rosé or white wine ( I used C’est La Vie Rosé Syrah)
  • 1/2 cup pomegranate juice
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 packages gelatine
  • 1/2 cup blueberries
  • 1/2 cup raspberries
  • 1/2 cup strawberries (halved or quartered if they are too large)
  • greek yogurt and honey for topping
  1. In a saucepan heat wine, juice , and sugar until sugar has completely dissolved and mixture is simmering.
  2. Take a 1/4 cup of the hot liquid and dissolve the gelatine, then return that to wine mixture.
  3. Line loaf pan with plastic wrap, making sure there is a good overhang.
  4. Fill the loaf pan with the berries and the cover with the wine gelatine mixture.
  5. Cover with overhang from the plastic wrap and refrigerate at least four hours until set.

I was actually a little disappointed with the dessert. Maybe I cooked the wine too long, but there was no wine taste to the jelly at all. Next time I’ll change the wine to juice ratio, and maybe add some anise to it for more flavour. I will try again though, as I think this has a lot of potential.

A Bad Baking Week

~ Lynn ~ 11 Comments

I’m having a bad baking week, and it’s only Monday!

Yesterday I went to the market and bought some of season’s first Lac Saint Jean blueberries. I had too many to eat before they spoiled, so I decided to throw some into blueberry muffins (yesterday was also National Blueberry Muffin Day, for those of you who are interested).

I’ve made so many muffins in my life that I rarely even think about what I’m doing anymore. I threw the batter together, folded in the blueberries, and popped ’em in the oven.

Then I turned around and saw the baking powder container sitting on my counter.

Unopened.

I’m not one to clean as I go, so if the container was closed it meant I never opened it.

Disaster.

I let them bake even though I knew they wouldn’t rise. I thought maybe they would just be dense but edible. I was wrong. After 45 minutes in the oven a tester came out clean, but the muffins were still raw. I think they were just too dense to cook through.

So my Lac Saint Jean blueberries went to waste. Sadness.

Since I wouldn’t be having muffins for breakfast, tonight I decided to make some granola. I don’t have a long dramatic story to tell about the granola. All I can say is I burnt it. More sadness.

These back to back baking fails are making me reconsider my dream of quitting my day job and baking for a living. Or maybe this is just a sign that it’s still too hot to bake , and I should just take a break from the oven for a bit.

Don’t Put All Your Eggs In One Omelet

~ Lynn ~ 11 Comments

Every day is national something day. I got a list from Janice of what this weeks days are, and was very intrigued by Don’t Put All Your Eggs in One Omelet Day. (Strawberry Sundae Day was also pretty awesome, check out the sundae Janice made!)

Despite the heat I figured I could turn the stove on long enough to make an omelet and some filling for it. I had seen Ricardo make an omelet filled with bacon and fiddleheads that looked really good. It’s much too late for fiddleheads, but you can still find some pretty nice looking asparagus out there, so I subsituted some for the fiddleheads.

Since I made this for one, I won’t give out quantities but here is a list of ingredients and how I put it together. I will say that two eggs are more than enough for me.

Asparagus Bacon Omelet

  • Onion, diced
  • Aparagus, blanched then put in an ice water bath (an ice water bath actually sounds pretty good right now..)
  • Bacon, sliced
  • eggs
  • milk or water
  • salt and pepper to taste
  • cheddar cheese, grated
  • butter or oil for frying
  1. Cook bacon until almost done in a small pan over medium heat. Add diced onion and sauté until onions are softened and the bacon is cooked. Add asparagus and cook until just reheated. Set aside.
  2. Whisk eggs with milk/water and salt and pepper. Heat oil or butter in a nonstick pan. Pour egg mixture into pan. When the edges are done, pour the filling onto one half of the omelet and then cover that with cheese. Fold the other half of the omlete over using a spatula.
  3. Enjoy!

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Heat Wave

~ Lynn ~ 4 Comments

I haven’t posted in the last few days because the heat has made it impossible to cook anything. I’ve been living off salad and popsicles. I hope everyone out there is managing to keep cool! I think most communities have set up cooling centers, so if you’re melting please head to one!

(Picture from The Montreal Gazette. See the haze over the city?)

Tomorrow is National Don’t Put All Your Eggs In One Omelet Day, so I’ll try to muster up the strength to make one. It’s also National Sugar Cookie Day, so for those of you who can turn your ovens on it might be a good time to make some cookies! I think they would go great with some sorbet right about now.

American Pie

~ Lynn ~ 10 Comments

The celebration of American Cuisine is finally here. Casey of Eating, Gardening, & Living in Bulgaria has invited food bloggers to share what they think American Cuisine is. I thought long and hard about this one, I even asked other bloggers for their opinions. Some people seem to think American cuisine doesn’t exist. I disagree, but I think it suffers from multiple personality disorder. The regional differences in cuisine in the states makes it hard to pinpoint one thing that could be called American cuisine. I think what all of these regional cuisines have in common is that are all looking for ways to innovate an incorporate new techniques and ingredients. I guess that’s what makes them american.

So when it came time to choose something to make I went with I feel is a traditional American meal, Thanksgiving dinner. Since it’s the middle of the summer, and I’m just cooking for myself, I made this a little more low-key than your typical Thanksgiving meal. Instead of roasting a whole bird, I just roasted a turkey breast stuffed with caramalized onions, goat cheese and cranberries (what’s Thanksgiving without cranberries and stuffing?). On the side there was sweet potato hash and roasted carrots.

And of course there was pie. I decided to make a pie with seasonal fruit instead of apple or pumpkin, and after Smitten Kitchen’s description of cherry pie as “epic, iconic, and it even has a metal song dedicated to it“, my choice was clear.

I have to say this pie kicked my butt. My original plan was to use this recipe from the New York Times, which calls for a prebaked crust. I got to work making my favourite crust (all butter, of course). At this point I should specify that it was ridiculously hot the day I made the pie, and I never actually read the recipe instructions. It took forever to make the crust, because I kept having to put all the ingredients back in the fridge to cool (cold ingredients make the best pie crusts). I finally got in all done, chilled and rolled. I put it in the oven and got to work on the filling. After about 15 minutes I took a peak at the crust and realized it shrank, like, a lot. So I stopped the oven and started making more pie crust dough. This time I stuck with the traditional soggy bottomed fruit pie technique, and I have to say it was pretty darn tasty (except for the burnt bits). I actually kinda like the soggy bottom in a fruit pie. And because of the crust do-over it wasn’t ready on time to bring to my parents for dinner, so I had to eat the whole thing all by myself.

Cherry Pie

Crust

  • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3 to 5 tablespoons ice water
  1. Blend together flour, butter, and salt in a bowl with your fingertips or a pastry blender (or pulse in a food processor) just until most of mixture looks rough and crumbly.
  2. Sprinkle 3 Tbsp ice water evenly over mixture and gently stir with a fork (or pulse) until combined
  3. Press some of the dough together. If it doesn’t hold together add more water.
  4. Form a disk with the dough and chill for at least 4 hours.
  5. Roll out the dough and place in pie plate. Chill again for about 20 minutes.
  6. Save excess dough for topping pie.

Cherry Filling

  • 4 cups pitted cherries
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  1. Toss cherries with other ingredients, make sure cherries are well covered.
  2. Pour into chilled pastry dough.
  3. Cover filling with excess dough.
  4. Bake at 375 for 50 minutes to 1 hour, until cherry filling is bubbling.

All in all, I think my american cuisine meal was quite delicious. Thanks again to Casey for hosting the event. Check out her site on July 4th for the round up of what everyone made!

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