Saturday, March 20, 2010

Braised Red Wine Beef Short Ribs

Here is the recipe that I promised a couple of days ago. I wanted to send this off this morning as my computer is sick and needs to be taken in to Mac Station this afternoon. The problem has something to do with the hard disk failing (or something like that) and so I have no idea exactly how long I will be computer-less. The whole thing makes me a wee bit anxious, kind of the same way flying does. I am, sadly, going to really miss my time looking up blogs and researching recipes and writing posts and spending hours noodling around online. I feel a bit pathetic about the whole thing, missing a computer and all. Perhaps I need to repeat the Monday morning tea bag wisdom mantra of “to be calm is the highest achievement of the self”. Or perhaps I need to pry my fingers OFF the keyboard and get my sad, sorry ass outside and start working in my neglected garden…

Hopefully, I will be back soon. Wish us luck. Continue reading →

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Friday, March 19, 2010

Endive Salad with Citrus, Stilton and Toasted Pecans

I made this salad as part of our Wednesday night dinner (with Anneliese) to go with braised beef short ribs and buttered egg noodles. The crunchy bitterness of the endive and tang of the navel and blood oranges were a perfect foil for the richness of the braised short ribs. The few nuggets of stilton also worked well with the beef and the toasted pecans were tossed in just because I happen to like them in this salad. I love the way the orange segments look like little jewels and these may well be the last blood oranges of the season. Continue reading →

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Wednesday, March 17, 2010

Orecchiette with Spicy Turkey Sausage and Broccoli Rabe

I love that the days are getting longer and we are steadily heading toward spring. It has, however, been somewhat unpredictable on the weather front this week. Daylight savings came on Sunday morning which has helped me feel less light deprived but then it was so cold and rainy for the next days it felt a bit like “one step forward and two steps back”.

Yesterday was a bit better but still very much felt like a day stuck between two seasons. I wanted something warming and hearty for dinner but not too rich or complicated. This was perfect. It’s adapted from a recipe by Giada de Laurentiis and is based on the classic Italian pasta dish from Puglia. I like to use turkey sausage instead of the heavier pork sausage and add the zest of a lemon which really brightens the flavours. Continue reading →

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Sunday, March 14, 2010

Cioccolato Paradiso – Chocolate, Almond and Orange Biscotti

For the last few days we were up at our cabin on a small-ish island that is just 30 minutes by water taxi from West Vancouver. We bought the funny little Quonset hut at the end of last summer and have spent the last 8 months working very hard on making it habitable. Every trip has been filled with cleaning and painting and fixing and installing and on a few occasions hosting friends and family as well.

This past trip was the first time I didn’t have a list of things to do or guests to entertain. Max brought his friend Charlie along and so on Saturday after lunch with the two of them running around like maniacs outside I had some time to do whatever I wanted. I could bake! I could make chocolate chip cookies for the boys and some biscotti to go with an afternoon cup of tea. And I could do it without distraction. Continue reading →

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Friday, March 12, 2010

Zuni Roast Chicken

Have you ever cooked through a recipe with absolute anticipation only to find at the end that it didn’t yield anything close to the results that you had hoped for? That something, somehow was missing.

For years the humble roast chicken was a real source of frustration for me. It should be so simple:  a chicken (or two), some herbs, maybe an onion and/or a lemon, some salt and pepper and a roasting pan that was neither too large nor too small. Put all this in a preheated oven for an hour and a half or so and a delicious, juicy, flavourful chicken should emerge. Continue reading →

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Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Arugula salad for Kathy


My friend Kathy is leaving for a ski vacation on Thursday. She is going with her family of 5 and two other families with a bunch of kids that range in age from 2 to 16. On one of the evenings during their trip she needs to make a dinner for the entire brood. Or perhaps I should re-phrase that. Her husband needs to make a dinner for the entire brood. Yes, Kathy is blessed with a husband that loves to cook and from what I hear is very talented in the kitchen as well. But from all accounts Kathy does the legwork, doing the planning and making the lists and doing the shopping and much of the food prep. I think they make a good team.

We spent some time today talking about her/their menu and as they are leaning toward an Italian theme I’m thinking this salad might work perfectly.  Continue reading →

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Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Chocolate Caramel Tart with Fleur de Sel Caramel Ice Cream

Truth be told I am not really a huge fan of dessert. Whether I am cooking or eating my preference leans toward savory foods.  My theory is that a dinner party’s dessert course is best enjoyed the next morning with coffee.

However, I am a total sucker for salted caramels and so when I came across this recipe for a chocolate caramel tart with a fleur de sel caramel ice cream my interest was piqued. I was also planning a dinner party and wanted to end the meal with something that would not only be a crowd pleaser but decadent and special as well.  Continue reading →

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Friday, March 5, 2010

Lamb Chops with Dried Cherry, Pearl Onion Chutney and Gratin Dauphinois

For the past few months my mother-in-law Anneliese, my son Max and I have had a standing dinner date on Wednesday nights. One week we will go to Anneliese’s house and the next week she comes to us. It has worked out very well as the three of us (Glen is most often working late) get to spend some time together and catch up on events and my mother-in-law is a wonderful cook so it is great on the food front as well.

It was my turn to host dinner this past Wednesday and as we had missed Anneliese’s 75th birthday while we were away I wanted to make our weekly meal a bit more special. Next week the whole family, all 10 of us, will go out for a celebratory birthday evening but still I wanted to make a dinner that I thought she would especially enjoy. Continue reading →

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