Basic Stir Fry

Tonight we had pork stir fry for dinner.  This one of my mother's favourite meals and a good one dish dinner.

I always start by chopping vegetables.  Tonight I used mushrooms, red pepper, carrots, onions, garlic, broccoli and baby bok choy.  You can really use what ever vegetables you like.   I usually use fresh ginger as well but didn't have any tonight.  I've used water chestnuts, bean sprouts, green beans, Savoy cabbage, canned baby cobs of corn, bamboo shoots, green onions, etc in the past.  The only rule is to stir fry the veg in order of longest cooking times - in this case, the carrots first.  I then slice up the meat I'm using.  Tonight I used one thick pork chop but I often use chicken, beef, or shrimp.  I'm not a tofu kinda gal but I have often just used veg.

I serve stir fries with rice or noodles.  If you are using rice, I would start it when you start chopping veg.  If you are using noodles, I would start to boil water at the same time you start cooking. When the water comes to a boil, cook noodles for a few minutes and drain. I pour 1 Tbsp of oil into a hot pan.  I then add a small handful of blanched almonds and start toasting them.  After tossing them for a few minutes, I add the meat and brown it.  Then I added the carrots, chunks of onion and broccoli.  If the pan starts to dry out, add a little water.

Stir over high heat for a few minutes and then add red peppers, mushrooms and garlic.  I would also add minced ginger at this point and a teaspoon of sesame oil.  Stir for a few minutes and add a 1/4 cup of soya sauce.

At this point, I would add my other seasonings - 1 Tbsp oyster sauce, 1 Tbsp of sweet chili sauce (which is actually a little hot!) and 1 Tbsp of honey.

Stir together and add the bok choy.  Cook a couple of minutes til it starts to wilt.

Then add your cooked noodles and toss to combine.  Start to finish, this recipe takes about 30 minutes and is a great standby to use up that last piece of meat from an "economy" package and the bits of veg left in the fridge.

Enjoy!

My Cookbook arrived this morning...

I had my food blog for 2011 made into a cookbook (actually my sister is paying for it - birthday present).  The picture I chose for the cover wasn't the best choice - a little blurry - but live and learn.  The rest of the book is beautiful and I'm so excited about it.

Lemon Berry Trifle

I had my girlfriends over for a spaghetti dinner tonight and some delicious, boozy trifle for dessert...

Start by making a lemon loaf and skip the glaze (the recipe is on my blog) and then slice it and arrange it around the bottom and sides of the trifle bowl, trimming as required. Then pour 1/2 cup of brandy and 1/2 cup of sherry over the cake. Cover with plastic wrap and let it soak up to 24 hours.


Wash a package of berries (I used blackberries) and place them over the cake.

I then made up 3 cups of instant lemon pudding mix (you can make homemade if you want) and spread it over the berries.

Top the pudding with washed raspberries...

Whip some cream (a couple of cups) with a tsp of vanilla and spread over the top...

Refrigerate for a couple of hours to firm up. You can do most of the work the day before and hours before your guests arrive. It is a really nice dessert and was enjoyed by all...

It's a little boozy so maybe not a good choice for kids but the girls sure enjoyed it...

Beef Stroganoff

Dinner tonight is Beef Stroganoff and sorry about the picture but honestly I was so hungry, I started to eat before I remembered to take a picture.  It may not be pretty but it was tasty.

Ingredients

2 lbs steak

oil

salt and pepper

1 Tbsp butter

thinly sliced sweet onion

pkg of mushrooms sliced (about a cup and a half)

2 tsp minced garlic

2 Tbsp flour

1 cup red wine

1 tsp paprika

pinch chili flakes

1/4 tsp grated nutmeg

1 Tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp grainy mustard

thyme
2 cups beef broth

1 c crushed tomatoes

2 c sour cream

fresh parsley

(Ignore the beer in the picture - that was just a libation for the chef - not part of the recipe)  In a Dutch oven, heat a couple of tsp oil and brown slices or chunks of steak.  Salt and pepper.  Add more oil as needed, brown in batches and remove to a plate.  Then melt a Tbsp of butter and add onions and mushrooms and saute for a few minutes til softened.  Add the garlic and saute.

Push the veg to the edge and sprinkle the flour in the middle of the pot and stir to brown.  Then pour in wine.  Add the seasonings, including Worcestershire sauce and mustard.  I like to use a fresh sprig of thyme but today I used dry, about a 1/4 tsp thyme.

Then add beef broth and tomatoes.  Add the steak back to the pot.  Bring to a boil and simmer for an hour or more until the beef is tender and the sauce thickens.

Right before serving, add the sour cream and stir to combine and heat through.  Serve over egg noodles with freshly chopped parsley on top.

Enjoy!

Fish Cakes

Tonight's menu was fish cakes and spinach salad.  For these, I used salmon but any firm fish would work - cod, haddock and crab is especially nice.  I don't really have a recipe but I'll walk you through it.  Start by boiling a couple of potatoes.  I sliced up 2 green onions and about 4 Tbsp of fresh chopped parsley (if I have fresh dill, I'd use a couple of Tbsp of that as well).  These were mixed with the juice of half a lemon and a Tbsp of Old Bay seasoning plus salt and pepper.

When the potatoes are almost cooked, add the fish filet on top to poach.  This only takes 5 to 10 minutes.

Once cooked I like to remove any of the grey flesh (a treat for the cats).

Mash the potatoes, flake the fish and add to the bowl.  Form into patties and dip in beaten egg.  Then roll in bread crumbs and fry in a little oil.

Enjoy!

Veggie Cream Cheese

This morning I made my veggie cream cheese for bagels for our weekend breakfast.  They were yummy and easy to make.  They are also cheaper and healthier than the store bought version.  I buy larger quantities of cream cheese (like I did at Costco) or get it on sale at the grocery store.  This is one of those recipes I call "kitchen sink" recipes.  Basically you add everything but...

Look in the fridge - see what you have, what you like and what is fresh.  Those are your ingredients.

I scooped the cream cheese into a bowl after I have let it soften a bit (while I had my first coffee ;)  Then I prepared the veggies - I always add shredded carrot and some diced pepper.  This time, I had red pepper in the fridge.  I also grated a small clove of garlic and finely diced half a slice of onion.  Usually I like to slice green onions into the cheese instead of garlic and onion.  Sometimes I add finely diced cucumber or chopped spinach.  I like to add fresh herbs - usually dill and parsley.  This time I didn't have anything fresh so I used dried dill.  Nice but not as nice as fresh. 

Stir together, toast your bagel and voila breakfast is ready...

Enjoy!

Sour Cream Blueberry Muffins

I made muffins and tea biscuits today to take into the office tomorrow.  I have been off work sick and have received so much support (and presents :) from my friends at work that I wanted to say thank -you in a tangible way.  So tomorrow they will have some treats for their coffee break.

Ingredients

3/4 cup of butter or margarine

1 1/2 cups of sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup sour cream

1/4 cup milk

2 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

2 tsp  baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 pint of blueberries

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  This recipe makes about 15 or 16 muffins.  Use paper liners.

I used my Kitchenaid and creamed the butter and sugar.  I then added eggs, vanilla, sour cream and milk and mixed on low speed so it didn't splash.

I then added dry ingredients - flour, baking powder/soda and salt and mixed slowly so it was completely incorporated.  Using a spatula, I gently folded the blueberries into the batter by hand.  You can use fresh berries but I prefer to use frozen ones as they don't break down and turn the batter blue.  When the blueberries are on sale in the summer, I buy pints and freeze them in small bags for recipes like this.  This recipe is nice with other berries as well.  I have a bag of raspberries waiting in the freezer for the next time I make this.

I use my mother's old ice cream scoop the fill the liners and bake for about 25 minutes.  The tops should  be lightly browned and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Enjoy!

Frogs' Legs

I had frogs' legs for dinner tonight.  I haven't had these since I was young but I noticed some at Flannigan's butcher shop and had to pick them up.  This used to be a childhood treat that my sister brought from Oshawa when she would come for the weekend so I had to try them again.

I've never cooked frogs' legs before so of course I went to the internet to do some investigation.  I found lots of interesting recipes but I wanted to keep it simple.  I decided I would just dredge them in flour and pan fry them in butter.  One hint was to soak them in milk first so I did that...for about an hour.

Then I dredged them in flour and pan fried them in butter.  Don't they look cute ;)

I served the little legs with mushroom rice and green beans.  The entire dinner took about 30 minutes to make.  If you ever find frogs legs, give them a try! They were great and the cats thought so too...

Stuffed Peppers

We had stuffed peppers for dinner tonight - the perfect meal.  Not only simple to make but it has protein, vegetable and rice all in one dish!

I don't have a recipe for this.  I just make it but here are the ingredients I used today..

Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees.  Brown some ground beef - for two servings, I use about a cup.  I season with salt and pepper and cook it slowly in a frypan so you don't need to add fat.  When it is almost done, I add the vegetables.  Today I used onion, celery and one clove of garlic. Often I add mushrooms but use whatever you like or whatever you have leftover in the fridge.  The vegetables should equal about a cup.  I also add some dry seasoning at this stage.  I often use Italian herbs like oregano, basil, etc.  You can go Mexican with a fajita or taco seasoning mix.  Whatever flavours you like are perfectly fine.

Once the vegetables are softened, add about a cup of cooked rice.  I prefer brown rice but used white tonight.  Next step is to add about a cup of diced tomatoes.  Stir to mix well and then add about half a cup of mozzarella cheese.  Stir to melt and spoon into a pepper that has been halved and de-seeded.  I like to add about a Tbsp of liquid to the bottom of the dish before placing it in the oven,  Today I used tomato juice but water works just as well.  I sprinkle the top with some more grated mozzarella cheese - about 1/2 a cup.

The peppers need to bake about 30 minutes until they are softened.  I pierce them with a knife tip to make sure they are ready.  This is an easy and healthy dinner so enjoy!

Lemon Loaf

I have some friends dropping by for a visit tonight so I decided to make a lemon loaf.  I'm not a great baker.  I prefer to cook so I like to have some standby desserts that I can make up in a few minutes.

Ingredients

1/2 cup shortening

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

grated rind of one lemon

1/2 cup milk

1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

pinch of salt

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Cream shortening and sugar together.  It will be a nice lemony colour.   Beat in eggs, lemon zest and milk.  I use my Kitchenaid mixer to make this easy.

Mix in flour, salt and baking powder.  If you are a good baker, you will sift all these dry ingredients into your wet mixture.   However, if you are slapdash like me, you will dump it all in and turn the machine on ;).  I find it tastes the same.  Pour into a greased loaf pan and bake for one hour.   At the 45 minute mark, I start checking it because I find that it doesn't usually take a full hour.  Today it took 55 minutes for a toothpick to come out clean.

Make a glaze with a 1/4 cup of icing sugar and the enough of the lemon juice for a runny consistency.

While it is still warm, I poke holes in the top with a bamboo skewer and gently pour the glaze into the holes and over the top of the loaf.  Cool and slice.  I hope you enjoy this easy dessert.   Recently I used it as the base for a lemon and berry trifle.  It was soooo good.

Duck a L'Orange

Happy New Year!  Tonight I made duck to celebrate the start of a new year.  This is one of my favourites and was on sale at the local grocery store so it was an easy decision.  I love duck.  It is the dish I always used to order out at fine restaurants but I have found it is quite easy to make at home and soooo much cheaper.

Thaw the duck and place it in a large enough pot to cover with water.  Add a good tsp of sea salt and some pepper - today I used pink peppercorns.

Bring to a boil, then turn down to simmer, cover with a lid and simmer for 45 minutes.  I usually turn it about half way through to make sure it is well cooked.  This takes a little work with hot water and a slippery duck.  Don't use tongs because it will tear the skin - I like to use a couple of metal spatulas.  Your other option is to weigh down the duck with a heavy plate but that can get really messy too.  By boiling the duck first, you get rid of a lot of the fat.  After 45 minutes, take it out of the water and let it cool before cutting it up.

I like to make the orange sauce while it is cooling.

In a small saucepan, mix 1/2 cup OJ, 1/2 cup marmalade and 2 Tbsp of Grand Marnier.  Heat this up til the marmalade melts and it bubbles.  Now you can serve it like this or you can thicken it by mixing 1/2 Tbsp of cornstarch with a little cold water before stirring it into the sauce.  It can be reheated right before serving the duck.

Next step is to preheat your oven to 500 degrees.  Yes I said 500 degrees and yes, you will have to clean the oven after this but it is definitely worth the price.  You need to cut the duck in half, then quarters.  This can be pretty daunting if you have never done it before but I'll talk you through it...Start but turning the duck breast side down.  Run your knife along the back bone, gently cutting through the skin and the meat.  Then use kitchens shears (or plain old scissors) and cut on either side of the backbone.  Discard the back bone and turn the duck over.  Again cut through the skin and meat in the middle of the breast.  It is not as difficult to cut through as a chicken so be gentle.  Cut in half...

Now you are going to cut each half in quarters.  If you feel along the half, you can feel a diagonal depression which is the line to follow.  There are almost no bones to cut.  Put each quarter on a rack on a heavy rimmed baking sheet.

Bake at 500 for 20 to 30 minutes to crisp the skin.  It will spit and smoke and if you don't have a good oven like mine - you might want to take the battery out of  the smoke alarm while you are doing this.  Keep your eye on the duck while it is crisping.  You can work on the rest of your meal but stay in the kitchen.  We don't want any fires!

This what it looks like after 20 minutes.  Almost ready...then serve it with a little orange sauce.

Bon appetit and cheers...

Wow the picture taking is a little wonky, isn't it?  And that's before I polished off 3 glasses!