Round Two

So while my vanilla ice cream didn’t really turn out like I had expected I refused to give up. There was no question in my mind that I was going to try again the only problem was that if I wanted the ice cream to turn out somewhat more like actually ice cream then I would need something of an ice cream maker. I am kinda poor so I couldn’t afford a “real”, nice one but I was determined so I went on eBay and found myself something similar to an ice cream maker… another new toy!! I’m sure you have all heard of this thing, it’s called the Play and Freeze ice cream maker and I know it’s nothing fancy or anything but hey, it was cheap and its pretty fun to make ice cream with. Essentially all you have to do with this thing is put ice cubes and rock salt in one end and your ingredients in the other and shake, shake, shake it… shake it like a Polaroid picture! It is that easy and a bit of a workout to offset all the ice cream you will be eating for the next week.

I have been itching to make something with rhubarb for a long time and knowing that it is seasonal I was worried I would miss out on my chance to do so if I didn’t get to it. I love the pairing of strawberries and rhubarb, in fact one of my favorite desserts as a kid was strawberry rhubarb pies, so I knew without hesitation that this was the direction I was going to take. I scoured the internet to see if there were any recipes for this kind of thing since this was only my second time making ice cream and I had never cooked with rhubarb before. As fate would have it I stumbled upon a recipe on Superspark to use as a starting point (http://superspark.wordpress.com/2007/06/27/strawberry-rhubarb-ginger-ice-cream/). I am not really a huge fan of ginger so I knew I would be leaving that out and I felt like it needed another dimension thus my idea for adding dark chocolate chunks to the mix was born. Especially since my favorite way to eat a chocolate bar is frozen ha. So here goes the recipe that I used after the modifications that I made to the original recipe:

Strawberry Rhubarb Dark Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

Ingredients:
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup skim milk
3/4 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups strawberries, stemmed and coarsely chopped
3 stalks rhubarb, cut into small pieces (1/2 inch or so)
200 g of 70% dark chocolate, chopped into small pieces
3/4 cup water

Directions:
1. Put rhubarb and water in small pot and simmer over medium-low heat until it reaches a thick applesauce-like consistency. Using the back of a wooden spoon, push through a sieve and set aside.
2. In a bowl, combine the milk and cream. Add the sugar and salt and whisk until the sugar begins to dissolve. Stir in the vanilla. Set aside, stirring occasionally, about 15 minutes. Then cover and refrigerate the mixture for 3-8 hours. Once the rhubarb mixture has cooled, stir it into the milk mixture.
3. In a bowl, using a fork, mash half of the chopped strawberries. Add the remaining coarsely chopped strawberries to the bowl. Cover and refrigerate for about an hour.
4. Put the milk-rhubarb mixture into an ice-cream maker and freeze according to manufacturer’s instructions. When nearly frozen, like soft serve , add the chocolate and the strawberries. Churn or stir until just blended. Transfer to a freezer-safe container and freeze until firm, at least 3 hours.

Three words: OH MY GOD! This ice cream is sooooo good and highly addictive. I warn you that if you are going to try making this you will have a hard time keeping yourself from eating the whole thing in one sitting, I know I do. The tartness of the rhubarb and the sweetness of the strawberry go so well together and the dark chocolate compliments it, bringing out the flavors of the strawberry and rhubarb. This stuff is so tasty that I know I will be making this again .

Panda

Kouign Amann

I recently purchased a new camera. I'm excited! So, I decided to show off all the delicious food we make at my work. It's a small bakery on Mont-Royal that is quite popular. This place has existed for a long time and is named after the Breton cake made of dough, sugar and butter, which transforms into buttery layers of goodness covered by a crunchy caramel exterior. Good for the heart ;)



We also try making the best croissant possible. This is the most popular I would say, since on weekends, we barely have time to take them out of the oven. We sell them all before they're out. And we always give the freshest ones. Hot and crispy.



One of the things I am proud of showing off is the brownies. Rich Chocolate with lots of pecans! In the pic It hasn't been cut into squares yet.



Raspberry Danish:



Pain au chocolat:



Pain au Lait with Chocolat:



Farz Breton 'Prunes n Rum' and 'Raspberry n Apple'



Sugar Tartlets with pecan and maple syrup. Not really a breton desert, but one of the bakers specialties. These are to die for!



Coconut Macaroons 'Rocher coco':



These are not the only desserts and pastries we have, we also have 'creme caramel' custard, apple turnovers, fresh lemon cakes...

We also sell some beautiful quiches, croque-monsieurs, panninis, pizzas and soups.



Et Voilà! I think that sums it up. :P
Come visit Au Kouign Amann if you're tempted by any of these.
322 avenue du Mont-Royal Est.
Make a reservation for our Kouign Amann 514-845-8813

Pizza

Ice Cream Disaster!

I haven't had much time to cook lately because of my terrible schedule at work and let me tell you it is really depressing. I think im going through withdrawal. Its gotten so bad that it is the only thing I think about. I been thinking about all the different things i can make and when i can make the time to actually make them. Unfortunately the making time part hasnt really been possible because I haven't even had the time to go shopping for the groceries i need to make them. :(

I've been thinking about making ice cream for a while now but there was only one problem, I don't have an ice cream maker... How hard can it be to make it without an ice cream maker? I thought. Haha I was definetly optimistic but as I said... withdrawal; blame it on that. I needed to make something. I was working late every night and staying up until four in the morning because of it. I wouldn't be tired when i got home and had nothing to do, so that was the last straw, I was gonna make ice cream. I found a recipe that seemed easy enough on allrecipes.com, had pizza get some ingredient for me and went for it making a couple of substitutions of course.

Vanilla Ice Cream-ish Stuff

1/2 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 can evaporated milk
1 vanilla bean,split lengthwise and seeds scraped
1 pinch of salt
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 cups whole milk

Directions:

1. Combine condensed milk, evaporated milk, salt, sugar and vanilla bean in a bowl. Heat somewhat in microwave to disolve sugar.
2. Pour into freezer safe container (I used plastic), add milk. Let cool.
3. Freeze for about 2 hours, mix with whisk or spatula to break up the ice crystals, return to freezer.
4. Check mixture periodically, every 30-45 mins, stirring while it freezes.

Wow... well all i can say is that this didn't turn out like I expected. Dont get me wrong, this stuff taste slendid but i SoOoOoOo NEED an ice cream maker. When I saw the recipe I switched out the white sugar for brown sugar because I like the flavor of it more and thought it would give the ice cream a richer, deeper flavor. I was right. I also decided that instead of vanilla extract I would use real vanilla bean so you could see those wonderfirous little black specks all throughout it. Another amazing choice on behalf of le me. When I took out the whole vanilla bean it made my entire apartment smell of heavenly vanilla. The experience was to die for. Its really too bad too that it didnt turn out but no matter how much i mixed (and believe me I did it alot... it took a long time to freeze) there was still a lot of ice crystals in it.

And that is why, even though Im dirt poor, I had to buy a cheapy little ice cream maker off eBay. I should be receiving it soon and believe you me, I will trying this again but with a more interesting flavour. I had to start off with something easy since it was my first time making ice cream. Ooo I can't wait to get it ^_^

Wine and Cheese in the Park

Monday Pizza and I had nothing to do but we couldn't stay home, we had already spent all of Sunday doing just that, we needed to think of something to do. We thought about it for a while then Pizza suggested we go to Jean Talon Market and get a bunch of different cheeses and some baguette ( and browse, see if there was anything else of interest since it would be my first time going there), and then head down to Parc Lafontaine and sit by the water and sample the cheese. That was a good idea, I said, but throw in some wine and it would be perfect; little wine and cheese in the park. It sounded so relaxing and fun so we packed up a bag with a blanket, a small knife (for the cheese), couple of plastic cups and a bottle opener, hopped on the metro at berri and headed up to Jean-Talon.
Since Pizza had been there only once before, we had quite a special time trying to find the place. lol We felt pretty dumb cuz it's not right there when you get out of the metro, it's a couple of blocks away and south about a block.
I have to say though, once we actually found the place, we were thoroughly impressed with it and it's really too bad I didn't bring my camera because you have to see it. It's like an endless ocean of fruits and veg. So much selection and so fresh. I tell ya, I coulda lost myself in there. The tomatoes, sweet potatoes + asparagus were huge! You would never see this stuff at a chain grocery store. Even the cashews and macadamia nuts were bigger than I had ever seen at IGA before. It was like being a kid in a candy store. There was so much we wanted to buy but we were on wine and cheese'y mission and didn't want to carry too much so the next time we will ransack the place. They even had live lobsters for sale, huge motherf'ers, and it was so funny, two of them turned around at the same time and looked right at me and Pizza. I would love to cook me some lobster; It's on my list of culinary projects along with lots of other things!
So we browsed around for a while and got a nice fresh baguette )oh boy do I ever love the smell of fresh baguette). Then we headed over to a cheese place and picked out a few different kinds; we chose a strong brie, a medium Gouda and a smoked Gouda. Next we moved on to purchasing some wine... My favorite part. We chose a white wine (2006 Pacific Rim) and a rose (2008 Voga Italia); two new ones, didn't want to take the same ones we always take. After this was done we had one last little pit-stop (Pizza wanted to get some jam, she got strawberry) and we were off to the park.
We sampled all the cheeses with the baguette and with the jam. The brie was alright; it had a very mushroom'y taste, not necessarily one we would buy again, but the Goudas, now that's a different story. Both of them were very good, delicious, and the jam was really good with them. Hands down, the best out of the three was the smoked Gouda. It tastes like bacon and that paired with the jam was like eating candy hihi! So good! The wine was also agreeable; nice flavors.
It was such a nice day: mild, sunny weather and sitting in the shade next to the water sipping wine and sampling the cheeses was absolutely romantic. Even though drinking in public is not really kosher in Montreal as long as no one notices it's all good. It felt like we were celebrating our engagement.
Panda

Two Year Aniversary!

My how time flies when you are madly in love! I can hardly believe it y'all but as of this past friday Pizza and I have been together for two years. And living together for almost as long. Crazy! I know! As you may already know, we had been planning to go to Chuck Hughs' restaurant in the old port but when we called for a reservation it was already booked for the whole week so we had choose somewhere else to go. We chose to go to a Tapas restaurant up on Mont-Royal called Nuevo. This place was really nice. The inside is lit up with bright colorful lights around the bar. They had tables set up on the sidewalk so we sat outside because the weather was nice enough. We had never been to a tapas restaurant before so we weren't really sure how we should be ordering, but the waiter was really nice to us and explained we should order about 4-5 things to share between us. We took a couple of minutes to look at the menu and decided on 4 choices + an appetizer. We chose the artichoke dip with tortilla chips as the appetizer, the risotto of the day (which ended up being spinach and red pepper), the eggplant and tomato gratin, fried calamari with diablo sauce and the crab and smoked salmon croquettes with garlic saffron aïoli.
The artichoke dip was good. It had a very cheesy taste like Parmesan and cheddar mixed in and the tortilla chips were clearly "homemade", taking tortillas, cutting them into wedges and baking them which was a really nice touch. I approve!
The risotto unfortunately was not as good. It was not so much creamy... more like dry and gummy. Kinda like it had been sitting under a heat lamp for a while or microwaved when we ordered it. Sad really because it was also rather tasteless and we both agree we would not be ordering that again. (my risotto from a couple weeks ago was better hihi)
Sadly the eggplant and tomato gratin falls under the same criticism. The cheese was congealed like it had been sitting for a long time and taste-wise was not something to write home about.
Luckily they redeemed themselves with our last two choices. The fried calamari was great. They had seasoned the breading so even if you didn't take any sauce with it you still got a bit of spiciness. It was delicious alone as well as with the diablo sauce which was nice because it is not the usual tomato sauce you get at most restaurants. Now the piece de resistance, and definitely the best thing we ordered that night, the crab and smoked salmon croquettes. These were amazingly mouthwatering! I feel like going back there and ordering only these the whole night. They were perfectly cooked, just the right amount of crispy and not too oily and the sauce complimented it wonderfully. I'm still thinking about these things!
All in all the experience was great. The food was all shared between me and Pizza, with a bottle of white wine so it was really romantic. Also the portions were relatively small so it wasn't too heavy and we didn't feel ridiculously full; Perfect since we wanted to go for ice cream after. We both agreed that we would go back but try a few different options.
After the restaurant we walked down St-Denis to Sherbrooke and got some ice cream at Koco boule the continued walking a long down to foufs and decided to go for a drink on the terrace. We got a pitcher and Started talking. After talking for a while I leaned in close and looked her in the eye. I told her I had something to say but was unsure of how to say it. I stared her for a moment and simply decided to come out and say it. I eaned in a little closer and said. "Will you marry me?" She said "yes!", kissed me and smiled. I said "I don't have to get on one knee do I?". She said no and laughed and was like "OMG we're engaged!" lol. A great end to an amazing night. <3

Pizza's Turn to Cook

This one is a little late coming. I been a bit busy lately and by busy I mean lazy hihi! Don't worry though, because I been lazy I have quite a few things to post about.
This time it was Pizza's turn to cook for me and boy was I excited. It was Monday so I was working most of the day, but I would be home in time to watch her finish up the last bit of cooking. It was really nice to come home to babez cooking for me; very domestic like. It felt like something out of a 50's tv show: "honey, I'm home! What's for dinner?". So here is how the night went down. To start off, Pizza made a spicy sweet potato soup:

Serves 6
Spicy Sweet Potato Soup

¼ cup olive oil
2 large red onions, peeled and chopped
5 cups vegetable stock
2 large sweet potatoes, washed and grated
1 Tbs hot sliced peppers in oil
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp paprika
Salt, to taste

The Garnish
Smoked Gouda, thinly sliced
1 pinch paprika

Directions:
1. Heat the oil in a large soup pot over medium heat. Add onions and saute for about 5 min.
2. Add the vegetable stock and grated potatoes. Stir.
3. Reduce heat to med-low once it starts to simmer. Add sliced peppers, paprika, cinnamon and salt. Stir.
4. Let it simmer until potatoes have softened, about 5-10 min.
5. Puree with any blender until very smooth.
6. Adjust consistency by adding a little water, if necessary



Pizza: "This soup was adapted from Michael Smith's Chef at Home Recipe. It turned out great! Other that the fact that grating sweet potatoes is labor intensive, it still was pretty easy to make. Not too spicy with a hint of cinnamon, without overpowering the main ingredient: Yummy sweet potatoes. The texture was nice, but could have used a little more water, barely though. The scent this soup gives off is so stimulating! I will definitely make it again."

Panda: "Omg! This soup is so delicious! I could have eaten the whole 6 servings in one sitting and if it weren't for the fact that she had made a main course, I would have. Just the right amount of spiciness and sweetness (helps that I go crazy for spicy food and looooove sweet potatoes!). The smoked Gouda is the perfect garnish. We mixed it in to the hot soup and it melted just enough that every spoonful of soup had a bit of Gouda in it and it was divine. I totally want to have this again... SOON!!!"

For the main, Pizza made:

Pennoni (or Manicotti) stuffed with Tofu Spinach

Serves 3

18 Pennoni shells (or more commonly about 6 manicotti shells)
1 package silken extra-firm tofu, rinsed and drained
¼ cup water
2 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp soy sauce
2 cups chopped spinach
¼ cup Parmesan

Topping
1 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 small red onion, diced
1 cup mushrooms
½ zucchini
½ green pepper
½ acorn squash
300g tomato sauce
½ tsp dried basil
1/4 cup water

Directions:
1. Cook pasta shells in boiling water until half done, about 6 minutes. Drain and run under cold water in strainer.
2. Combine tofu, water, balsamic vinegar, soy sauce and spinach, use a blender until desired creaminess.
3. Stuff each shell with creamy spinach and place in a baking dish. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
4. For the sauce, heat oil in a medium skillet. Add onions, garlic and mushrooms, saute for 2 min. Add zucchini, peppers and acorn squash.
5. Stir in the tomato sauce, water and basil. Cover and let simmer for 10 mins.
6. Put the sauce over the pasta shells, cover the baking dish with foil and bake for 40 minutes.



Pizza: "This recipe is longer than it looks because of all the prepping, and is not worth the hard work. I had to use the tofu up since it was going to expire, but if I had to make this again I’d use ricotta instead and use different spices. I found it quite bland and wasn’t satisfied. I gotta say that it was a really healthy meal though! LoL"

Panda: "This main definitely was not my favorite. The veggies on top were delicious, but they would probably even be better alone. As pizza said, the rest of it was very very bland and if we were to make it again it would be seasoned differently. Not enough taste."

Lastly was the dessert. Pizza got Ice cream (Vanilla, half the fat, Hagen Daaz) and made a balsamic glaze mixed with strawberries to go with it:

Strawberries with Balsamic Vinegar
Ingredients:
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
3 pints strawberries, hulled and cut length-wise into 1/4 inch thick slices (small strawberries can be halved or quartered)
1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
Whole pecans

Instructions:
Bring the vinegar, granulated sugar, and lemon juice to a simmer in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Simmer until the syrup is reduced by half (to approximately 3 tablespoons) about 3 minutes. Transfer the vinegar syrup to a small bowl to cool completely.

With a spoon, lightly toss the berries and brown sugar in a large bowl. Let stand until the sugar dissolves and the berries exude some juice, 10 to 15 minutes.

Pour the vinegar syrup over the berries
Divide the strawberries among individual bowls or goblets and serve immediately. Sprinkle with pecans and serve with vanilla ice cream.

(Source: DianasDesserts.com)
Makes 6 servings.




Pizza: "Balsamic vinegar is my favorite type of vinegar and I’ve never used it in a dessert. Once again, I saw Michael Smith used it on top of ice cream and have wanted to try it so bad. This was the perfect time to do so and when I went to the grocery store, I got worried the strawberries would look bad but they were just right. It was just perfectly sweet! Loved every bite!"

Panda: "This was delicious as well. A great finish for this meal. The syrup had this amazingly tangy sweetness to it that is to die for, I wanted more after it was done. And the cold, light flavor of the ice cream paired with it very well. The strawberries were perfect; Not overpowered by syrup but rather complimented by it. And the pecans... well who doesn't love pecans? They go so well with ice cream."

:) Panda

New Toy!

Eeeeeeeeeeeeee! I got a new toy! Ok I know I get weirdly overly excited about these kinds of things but little things make me tickle. It wasn’t even anything expensive but… I got a micro planer!

I had wanted one for a long time. If I had my way, I would head to the closest store and spend my entire paycheck on baking and cooking tools but unfortunately I have something called rent that prevents my shopping spree. So once in a while I “splurge” a little and treat myself to something for my kitchen.

Thursday, when I was getting groceries for Pizza and my date night at the local IGA, I saw it. But I didn’t get it, even thought I really wanted it and it actually made me really sad to leave it behind. So Friday, I had to get an orange and some cream cheese for my cookies and I headed back to IGA. This time I couldn’t leave without it. Seriously. It climbed into my hand all by itself and it wouldn’t let me put it back down.

You know how sometimes one little thing can put you in such a great mood? Well this was one of those times. I walked home with a smile on my face because of it. And I got to christen it when I got home; making the creamsicle cookies! PANDA

National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day

So Friday morning, I woke up, still super proud of my accomplishments from the night before, and went straight to my computer to check my Facebook. I am a “fan” of the Food Network on my Facebook and it often shows up in my news feed. That fateful day it said that it was national chocolate chip cookie day. I freaked out. All I could think was “I have to make something.” I was frantic; I had woken up quite late, like 2 p.m., but I knew I would have to make cookies.

As soon as I had seen this I already had an idea what I wanted to make. I am intrigued by the idea of the chocolate and orange flavor pairing. I don’t know why, but it just sort of seems to peak my interest. At the same time though I had wanted to make something with white chocolate chips for a long time. Weeks. It was actually really starting to bother me, that’s how badly I wanted to make something with white chocolate chips. I thought about it all the time: at work, on the metro, while reading my book… its scary!

I decided on orange chocolate chip cookies but with white chocolate instead of the more common dark or milk chocolate. Yea, that sounded good… but not perfect. It needed a twist. Something you wouldn’t expect (although I will admit, orange and white chocolate is not quite expected haha!) Epiphany! Cream cheese! I like the texture that cream cheese gives to cookies: a softer, lighter texture. It also adds a nice subtle flavor to the cookies that I believe enhances the taste of the cookies and though it’s quite a weird mix I was sure this was to be a success, so here it is:

Orange Cream Cheese White Chocolate Chip Cookies (Creamsicle Cookies)

½ cup Earth Balance

½ cup Cream Cheese

½ cup White Sugar

½ cup packed Brown Sugar

1 Egg

Zest from one large Navel Orange

2 ½ cups AP Flour

1 teaspoon Vanilla

¾ teaspoon Baking Soda

½ teaspoon Salt

1 2/3 cups White Chocolate Chips (one bag)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cream the earth balance, cream cheese, white sugar and brown sugar together until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in egg, vanilla and orange zest.
4. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt and baking soda.
5. Mix into the creamed mixture, one third at a time.
6. Stir in the white chocolate chips.
7. Drop tablespoonfuls onto a lightly grease baking sheet.
8. Bake for about 13 minutes, until golden brown around the edges.

This yielded 31 cookies for me.

These cookies are so tasty!! Omg I have to stop myself from eating them all. Even Pizza has admitted she wants to gobble them all up. I am definitely making these cookies again! I am so proud of them; I just want to share them with everyone I know. I am tempted to make a few more batches so I can pass then out to my family, friends, and at work…and of course so I can have more for me… oh and Pizza can have a couple too!

Panda

Shpadoinkle!

Uhh... Oh yeeeaahhh! So here we are, finally, popping our 'blog-cherry', and damn does it feel good. I couldn't have picked something better to write about either... Little bit of background: Pizza and I have been together for just under two years now and it was apparent early on that we both enjoyed cooking (We would make dinner together at night and during the daytime's I would be baking for roommates as well as coworkers... tastesting bitches LoL). Since we've been together so long, once in a while we need to have some time alone together (So I can stare into Pizza's big beautiful eyes and wax poetic to her all night about how great I am... I mean she is!); We can call these nights our date nights. We try to do these once a week to every two weeks. It helps keep things splendiforous between us and I suggest y'all try it! Anyways, we had been doing this for a while, mostly cooking for each other when it was either of our turns, sometimes trying out restaurants in our area that we have never been to. Btw we are planning to try out Chuck Hughes' restaurant in the old port (the guy from Chuck's day off) for our 2 year aniversary in about a week!! So excité. Maybe we will get to meet him AH! Long story short, these date nights also depended on if our schedules changed, completely different days off, then about two months ago our schedules get even worse. Conflicting days off and Pizza started working even earlier and I started working even later, meaning we hardly had time for... eh... talking. We recently decided we have to make time to have these special date nights. Not only does it give us time alone together, but its also fun and also a great way for us to practice and hone our mad skillz. This time (Thursday) it was my turn to cook and I had decided that I was going to go all out; which is out of character for me since Pizza is the better cook and I am more of a baker. Since I love baking I had already decided I wanted to do a desert, but what to do for the rest? I didn't want to do anything like I had ever done before so I decided on making a soup from scratch, some kind of fish fillet (was hoping for salmon, yum) and risotto! All that and a starter. Oh boy! I was kinda shitting myself. Did I bite off more then I could chew? I was afraid I was gonna crash an burn. Even though this was a pretty tall order, I decided to go ahead with it anyways and all in all it turned out pretty well, like an experiment, a couple things I would change the next time, others were perfect.

So I woke up Thursday morning, to find the kitties sleeping together and ransacked my kitchen to check what I had and to compile a shopping list. Then it was off to the local grocery store to stock up for one crazy night. Pizza met me at the store after work and helped me carry it all home and so started the insanity.

Pizza is a really big fan of cheese and has been slowly introducing, and passing on this love to me. So for our appetizer, (since cooking was likely going to take a really long time) I chose to make a plate of brie and baguette for us to wet our palette. With this we had a glass of wine since I had purchased extra for the risotto.















Brie by the way is absolutely wonderfully creamy and I love it. I could eat this stuff everyday but then we all know that I wouldn't be able to afford to eat anything else if that were the case lol.

Pizza had been bugging me all week to eat up the broccoli that we had so for the starter I decided we would do just that. I made cream of broccoli soup.






























Cream of Broccoli Soup

2 cups of chopped broccoli, steamed
1 clove of garlic, minced
2/3 cup vegetable broth (next time I'll use 1 cup)
1 tbs Earth Balance soy butter
2 tbs AP flour
1 1/2 cups Skim milk (next time 2 cups)
1/8 of a red onion, chopped
1 tsp thyme (next time 1/2 tsp)
1/2 tsp cayenne (next time 1/4 tsp)
salt + pepper to taste
cheddar, grated, for garnish


1. Chop up the Broccoli and steam in Steamer
2. In a small frying pan, saute onion + garlic
3. Once Broccoli is soft ( and onions are transparent) put them both into a food processor with 1/3 of the vegetable broth and puree
4.In a saucepan, on medium heat, melt the earth balance and the flour. Stir until mixture thickens + starts to brown.
5. Slowly add remaining veg. broth and milk, stirring often. Allow to thicken for about 5 mins.
6. Add puree and allow to thicken for about 5 mins. Season with thyme + cayenne + salt + pepper to taste.
7.Portion into bowls and garnish with grated cheddar

Now this soup was okay, but as this whole night was gonna somewhat turn my kitchen into a science lab as I had never tried this before. Next time I would add more liquid to the soup as it was a bit too thick and I would scale back the amount of seasoning I used as it was a bit over powering. This kind of soup doesn't really require a lot of seasoning because broccoli has a great mild flavor and you want to be able to still taste it.
So moving on to the main course. When we got to the grocery store I was really hoping to get two nice, juicy pieces of fresh salmon, but my big panda heart was crushed as they didn't have salmon. All they had was "truite saumoner". The guy swore it was so salmon-y that you could barely tell the difference, so we took the two pieces. I decided on a nice balsamic glaze for the fish.

Balsamic-Glazed Fish

2 fillets "salmon"

2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tsp white whine
2 tsp honey
2 tbs balsamic vinegar
2 tsp Dijon mustard
Salt + pepper to taste
Feta crumbled.

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick cooking spray.
2. Coat a small pan with non-stick cooking spray and, over medium heat, cook the garlic until soft.
3. Mix in white wine, honey, balsamic, mustard and salt+ pepper and simmer, uncovered, until slightly thickened.
4. Put the fish fillets on the foil lined baking sheet, brush with the balsamic glaze and sprinkle with the crumbled feta
5. Bake for 10-14 mins. Brush the fillets with any remaining glaze and serve.

















Interlude: While I was labouring away in the kitchen, Pizza was taking it easy with Smatchimo who curled up beside her to take a nap. Isn't she sweet. She's my bab-ay!














Carrying on... The fish was good, it had nice tangy sweetness to it that went really well with the more subtle creamy taste of the risotto, but it definetly was not salmon. The taste difference was very noticeable and I will not be buying that again. Next time I would probly crumble more feta on it then I did this time. I didn't find there was enough... but then I love feta!

Now the notorious risotto. This single aspect of the meal that I had decided to cook scared me the most. I was afraid, that since I had never made a risotto before that it would turn out to be quite the disgusting mess. Luckily (*phew*) that was not the case. It actually turned out quite well, which surprised me so much that I told Pizza to tell everyone she knew how good it was.
















Creamy Mushroom Risotto

2 tbs Olive oil
1/4 Red onions, chopped
4 ounces Shiitake mushrooms, caps sliced
3 ounces cremini mushrooms, caps sliced
3 ounces white mushrooms, caps sliced
2 tbs earth balance soy butter
1 cup arborio rice
1 cup dry white wine
3 cups vegetable stock
salt, pepper, thyme + garlic powder to taste
2 tbs finely chopped chives



1. Heat olive oil in large saucepan over med-high heat. Stir in onions and cook for about 30 secs.
2. Add mushrooms and cook until brown.
3. Stir in 1 tbs of butter and the arborio rice until rice is well coated in oil. Reduce heat to medium and cook until onions and mushrooms have turned golden brown.
4. Pour in white wine and simmer until evaporated, stirring constantly. Season with salt, pepper, thyme and garlic powder.
5. Reduce heat to med-low and pour in 1 cup of vegetale stock. Cook until evaporated, stirring constantly.
6. Repeat with the rest of the stock, one cup at a time, stirring constantly until evaporated and rice is tender and creamy.
7. Stir in remaining tablespoon of butter, parmesan and chives and serve.

This risotto was absolutely perfect deliciousness. I can't believ how easy this was too! Didn't even take as long as I thought it would. I could eat mushrooms seven days a week so this dish is a great excuse to overload on the mushrooms. The shitakes especially give it some great texture.

Lastly was desert!! Dessert is my favorite part! Makes me giddy :) For dessert I made one of pizza's favorites... mini Pecan Pies!! That's right folks, pecan pies.




























































Ramekin Pecan Pies

Crust:
1/3 cup AP flour
1/8 tsp salt
2 tbs cold Earth balance soy butter
3 tsp cold water

Filling:
1/4 cup (heaping) chopped pecans (devided)
2 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs AP four
1 egg beaten
1/4 cup corn syrup
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

1. In a bowl, combine flour + salt, cut in the butter until crumbly. Add water, one teaspoon at a time, until a ball forms.
2. Divide the dough in two and roll out. Press into the bottom and up the sides of two ramekins
3. Fill the pie shells with the pecans
4. Combine the filling ingredients, mix well.
5. Pour into pie shells, on top of pecans.
6. Bake at 375 degrees F for 35-40 mins.


These were so tasty. The only change I would make is that I left them in for the full 40 mins and they eneded up a little well done. Next time I'll only leave them in for 35 mins. Even so though, when I was done mine, totally wanted more!


All in all, I would say the whole night was a success. I would have to say, even though I'm Ca-razy about desserts, my favorite part was the risotto. Well I know this was insanely long but there is our first post Hope you foodies liked it! Be seeing you soon!


Panda