Category Archives: Food

Busy weekend

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A busy weekend at home. Al the painter guy finished the painting on Saturday so we started putting the house back in order.

Yesterday, we went shopping for a wall hanging for the hallway and came back with said wall hanging, plus three pillows, dishes for seven place-settings, socks, boxer shorts and a springform cake tin. Oh and a huge pile of groceries. Saving is for wimps.

I spent the rest of yesterday afternoon furkling about in the basement running wires under the TV room floor for the surround sound system. It’s now all hooked up except for the subwoofer wire, which turned out to be about 6 feet too short. Damnit. The good news is I managed to run a wire from the amp down to the computer in the basement that has all our music on it, so we have our music collection back.

Finally I had a big pack of mince (that’s hamburger for you silly North Americans) that needed to be cooked so I spent the evening making spaghetti sauce (bacon, onions, mushrooms, mince, tomatoes, tomato sauce, basil, oregano, salt, pepper, red wine) and cottage pie filling (onions, carrots, mushrooms, mince, cinnamon, parsley, mixed herbs, flour, beef stock, tomato puree). And I christened my new cake tin by making a bog standard sponge (equal parts flour, sugar, butter plus baking powder, 2 eggs and some vanilla essence, beat it all together, add a bit of water if necessary, stick it in the tin, stick it in the oven at 325F for about 30 minutes).

Thanksgiving Gastronomy

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We had a slightly unconventional Thanksgiving / anniversary celebration meal here yesterday. Elisabeth, Richard and Loula joined us for:

Curried carrot and peppery Broccoli soups: onion, carrots, chicken stock, curry powder, cooked and whizzed in the food processor; onion, broccoli, chicken stock, salt and lots of pepper, cooked and whizzed in the food processor. Both poured into bowls from opposite sides for an attractive green and orange presentation (very Irish sectarian as Elisabeth pointed out).

Roast stuffed pork loin: Half a pork loin (rib end) rubbed generously with a bashed up mixture of fennel seeds, rosemary and salt and stuffed with a mixture of sliced red onion, ripped sage, sliced garlic, pine-nuts and sourdough bread. Roasted for an hour or so.

Sweet potato cakes: Grated sweet potato, grated onion, egg, flour, salt and pepper, formed into cakes and sauteed.

Asparagus bundles: sandwich an anchovy fillet and a rosemary stalk between six asparagus spears, top with a halved baby tomato and tie together with a slice of pancetta. Drizzle with olive oil and roast in the oven for 5-10 minutes.

Lemony pudding: cream a 1/4 cup of butter with 1/3 cup of sugar and the grated rind of one lemon. Beat in 2 egg yolks and 7 tablespoons of self-raising flour. Mix in a cup of milk and the juice from the lemon. Beat the egg whites until stiff then fold in to the mixture. Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes or until spongy and golden on top (don’t let it burn like I did…)

Winey Weekend

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This past weekend we had some visitors from Toronto, Rob and Noelle. They arrived late on Friday night, and the first thing we did was open wine. This was a sign of things to come. A very pleasant weekend followed, involving much more wine, some good food, sparkling conversation and a bunch of silly categories games. Oh, and a trip to Eggspectations!

Recipe from the weekend, Chicken on a beer can: Heat up the bbq (you need one with a good high lid). Take a chicken and smother it with olive oil, salt and pepper. Take a tall can of beer and drink half of it. Stick a couple of garlic cloves into the can. Impale the chicken on the can so it’s sitting up like something out of Eraserhead. Stand the can on the bbq, close the lid, and leave it for an hour and a bit.

Busy Saturday

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The garage sale was a mediocre success. We didn’t make enough to retire on but we did get rid of some junk. Tara and Cyler got rid of their big stuff, much to their relief as they weren’t looking forward to schlepping it all home.

After the garage sale (yes I had to wait until it was over) I went to the marche de l’ouest to get what I needed for dinner. Last time I was there it was winter, and the place felt like a bit of a dive, but it’s transformed in the summer into a delightful open air farmer’s market. I picked up some very good corn, a big box of berries and salad stuff before venturing inside to pick up some parmesan and sausage-meat. Sadly nobody there had pine-nuts so I still had to stop at Metro on the way home.

The evening dinner went very well, so here are some recipes:

Avocado and tomato dip: diced avocados, diced seeded tomatoes, juice of a lime, tabasco and seasoning to taste. (probaby could’ve done with some red onion too but I forgot that part)

Fiery limey corn: Corn on the cob with husks. Remove silks and rub the inside with a wedge of lime, cover up with the husks again, throw on the bbq for about 10 minutes, remove husks, sprinkle on a mixture of 1 part cayenne pepper to 4 parts salt to taste.

Tastie taters: boil some spuds, toss them in a mix of mustard, honey, soy sauce and seasoning, thread onto skewers, cook on the bbq until crispy.

Mediterranean sausage burgers: sausage-meat, chopped parsley, chopped garlic, chopped sun-dried tomatoes, parmesan cheese, toasted pine-nuts. Mix all that together, season well, make into patties, throw onto the bbq for about 6 or 7 minutes per side until cooked through.

After dinner Tyler and I snuck off to play Magic for an hour or so. He’s picking the game up slowly, but he still has much to learn and I beat him resoundingly.

Thief!

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I set my wife up with a blog, and what does she do? Steals what I was going to blog about today, that’s what. I was going to write a nice little post about our tramp through the Morgan Arboretum but she beat me to it.

Oh well, time for a recipe then: Take a pork tenderloin and marinate it overnight in a mixture of soy sauce, oil, brown sugar, garlic and ginger. Chuck it on the BBQ at medium heat, turning and basting it in the marinade regularly until cooked (about 15 minutes, a bit longer if you’re paranoid about slightly pink pork). Let it rest for 10 minutes then slice it up and put it in rolls or sandwiches. Yummy.

Or if you’re a weightwatcher: marinate some chicken breast pieces (one 4 ounce piece per person) in 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar and 2 teaspoons of dijon mustard. Fry them in a teaspoon of oil until cooked then put aside in a warm place. In another teaspoon of oil fry up some mushrooms (some tasty ones, not those crappy button mushrooms). Add a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, a bit of thyme, and 1/3 cup of chicken stock (strained to get rid of some of the fat) and cook for a couple of minutes. Serve the chicken with the mushrooms draped artistically over the top.