Just Ate

So I just ate, and I feel inclined to blog about my experience.

I like to cook and I believe I am a good cook and put out good quality meals - but there have only been a handful of times in my cooking life, where I have been shocked at how amazing a meal I made was. Tonight's supper (which my wife missed because she is at a birth) was one of those few meals.

My makeshift Chicken Souvilaki on a homemade Tortilla with Garlic mayo

Chicken:
I marinaded (for an hour or so) my chicken thighs (about 6 of them) in;
Lemon juice (1 1/2 lemons) add some of the zest too
5 Garlic cloves
Lots of pepper
a small bunch of fresh thyme

BBQ!

Tortillas:
2 c flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 Tb oil

Knead till smooth (5 minutes or less) then let rest for 20 minutes or so. Split into 6 and roll out (about 8 or so inches round - I do this 1 at a time and usually as the 1 before it is cooking). Get a non stick pan hot with no oil (about 7 or 8 on your dial) - and heat the tortilla for about 30 seconds on each side. You will know it's hot enough when you see some specks of brown and it puffs up a bit.

I am not a fan of Yogurt therefore I am kind of scared of Tzatziki - though I was tempted to make it today. Instead I used a garlic mayo and If I may add - I have started playing with mayo and so far I am quite pleased with the things you can do with it (my creole mayo and now garlic - whats next orange citrus mayo!)

Garlic Mayo:
A cup or so of mayo
a few cloves of garlic - minced
and lots of pepper

So I basically smeared the garlic on - added the chicken - added some cubed cucumber and a little bit of arugula. To finish I squeezed a bit of lemon juice and olive oil!

Simple but Awesome!

How about them Apples

Last week, I bought a 10 Kg bag of apples from Costco. That's a lot of apples for 2 people. That being said they must be used. I thought perhaps an apple loaf (to boring), or an apple pie (to much work), ah Apple Crisp.

I find most Apple Crisp recipes out there are quite similar. So for the last year or so I have been experimenting with putting different flavours in the fruit - for example; vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg, almond extract, citrus and nuts of course. So this morning when I came across the idea of putting some of the topping on the bottom as kind of a crust, I went for it

I should also say that 1 crisp turned into 3. I guess I got bored with the apples.


Topping:
1 c. flour
1 c. spelt flour
1 c. brown sugar
a pinch of salt
1 c. or so of butter
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp baking powder

Apple Cranberry (8x8 pan):
4 c. Apples
1/2 c. cranberries (dried, but I gave them a shot of hot water before hand).
a wee bit of sugar, just to coat the apples
and a pinch of lemon zest

Blueberry (loaf pan):
2 c. Blueberries
a pinch of lemon zest
and the same amount of grated ginger (I keep this frozen, cause it grates great)
a wee bit of sugar

Strawberry (loaf pan):
2 c. Strawberries
a wee bit of sugar

week 7 (good and bad news)

Good News:
My Sweet Million tomato's are turning red.

My Pepper are getting huge.

My thyme (not pictured) is doing fantastic.

Bad News:
My Mint is dead - the stems developed the rust and contaminated the whole plant. I did manage to get use out of the plant - but not nearly enough.
All the buds/flowers on my pepper plants have died (well 75%), My theory - The big peppers over the course of last weeks heat wave stole all the water.
Much the same thing is happening to my tomato plants, though the buds aren't dying and falling off. Perhaps they are just waiting to grow after the big ones have been picked - which I do think will be sooner then later.

Chai

Chai Tea:

4 c. Water
a thumb of ginger sliced
1/2 tsp peppercorn
6 cloves
10 cardamom pods (crushed)
3 'inch piece of cinnamon

Bring all of this to a boil - then reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes.

Strain and add 3 to 4 bags of orange pekoe tea and steep for 5 minutes or so.

Add some milk and sugar/honey to your desired taste. About 1 1/2 c. of milk and 3 Tb. Cane or Palm sugar per 4 c. of chai.

Serve hot - or cool, over ice!

Curry Burgers and an Avocado Seed

If you have been wondering what ever happened to my avocado seed - the answer is nothing. I kept it in the water for over a month and half and the seed basically split in half and produced no root or sprout. So today I have started my 3rd attempt - and hopefully it will work - though this time I am going to keep it inside on the window ledge that only gets indirect sun light.


A while back I came across an idea for Curry Meatloaf - and since then I have played with this idea and have made it my own. It started with meatloaf, moved to burgers and has even found its way into a smoked deer sausage (which if I do say so myself was exceptional). Here's the recipe try it - I also have a hunch it would work with any ground meat (turkey, lamb, etc.)

a pound of ground beef (or whatever)
3/4 c. oats
1 egg
1/2 c. Salsa
1/3 c. dried cranberries
2 Tb. Curry Powder
1 tsp Cin
1/2 tsp Salt

and just a new idea - perhaps a few pine nuts!

Enjoy

Week 6 (highlights)

This is my biggest pepper. It's doing so well - though I do have a hunch that it's stealing all the water therefore allowing none of the other peppers to grow. Good thing I have 3 more plants which seem to be producing at the same rate.

I haven't been noticing to much going on with my sweet million tomato's. I believe that most have reached there max size and are just waiting to turn red.

I have to correct myself, these tomato's aren't Golden boy's they are actually called Lemon Boy's. I don't know where I came up with "Golden", seeing as the tag doesn't even say that. These 2 tomatoes are probably 3 to 4 inches round, the little one being the size of a golf ball.


My mint has contracted a condition called Mint rust. Basically the leaves have rust colored spots on them, which can spread and kill a plant. So I have done my best to rid the plant of all the discolored leaves, and it looks pretty sad. I guess I will have to wait and see if it pulls through.

With temperatures soaring once again in Southern Ontario, I have placed some tea to soak in the sun in hopes of a ice cold tasty drink later this afternoon. This time instead of an orange I squeezed in a lemon - to make an iced tea lemon-aide.

Coconut Tapioca with a Mango blackberry salad

Recipe courtesy of Bobby Flay

I am happy to say that a few days ago I found my tapioca in a local Asian market (the same market I found my kaffir lime leaves - but that's another story). So now after a week or so of hovering over this recipe, it was time to get out the sauce pan.

Tapioca soaking in a water bath.

1/2 c. dried tapioca (soak for 1 hour in 2 c. water)
2 cans coconut milk (Unsweetened)
2 cinnamon sticks (I used a tsp of ground)
1 1-inch piece of ginger peeled and chopped (I grated them in)
1/2 a whole nutmeg crushed (I would recommend 1/4 whole nutmeg grated)
1/4 c. Sugar

1/3 c. Simple Syrup
1/3 c. creme fresh

1 Ripe Mango
1 c. Blackberries
1/4 c. sugar
1/2 a vanilla bean scraped (i used regular old vanilla - though it did make it runny)

Combine the first group of ingredients in a sauce pan and simmer for 20 to 25 minutes until it has reduced to about 3 cups (strain if not using ground spices). Once this is acheived cool a bit (I popped it into the freezer for a while) then return to the sauce pan with the strained tapioca and cook until the tapioca is clear and looks like little fish eyes (2 to 5 minutes). Then Take off heat and and once again allow to cool. Once cooled to your desired temperature (I like mine a little warm) add the simple syrup (equal parts water and sugar heated together until sugar is dissolved) and creme fresh.

Serve this with the Mango and Blackberry salad.

I am happy to say, that this was in fact as good as I thought it would be, and will be made again.