Caesar

Tonight's supper consisted of a very classic Chicken Caesar salad. BBQ'd Chicken (Lemon Pepper), Spring Mix (I prefer romaine), Flatbread cooked on the BBQ (it ended up being a cross between a pita and tortilla) and Lastly a homemade Caesar dressing.

I have made it my goal over the last few years not to buy salad dressings - seeing as they are quite easy to make. In saying this for some reason or another Caesar dressing (along with ranch) often finds it's way into my fridge. I have made Caesar dressing before, Some have been good but I have never been super impressed with any of them.

SO this afternoon I did a little online research and there seems to be quite a few recipes out there to choose from. Some people swear by anchovies, others think a clotted egg needs to be added (basically an egg put in boiling water for a minute), or red wine vinegar, mayo, sour cream - the list is quite extensive.

After considering a bunch of recipes, I have decided that I am going to make it my goal to find or come up with a really great Caesar dressing (perhaps a Travis's signature Caesar dressing). Now, I realize that this may take a while (perhaps a lifetime), so stay tuned for my findings.

Here's what I did tonight (the basic recipe is from Micheal Smith)

1/2 c. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/4 c. Lemon Juice

a tsp of Dijon Mustard

1/4 c. Parmesan Cheese

a TB of Garlic

Salt and Pepper

Blitz in a food processor.

I made a few changes to this one before I even tried it. To me and Teegan it didn't seem creamy enough - so I added a bit of mayo and sour cream. It turned out good - but like I said I am looking for more!

Please feel free to pass on your preferences or ideas!

Herbs and Pepper

It's been a few months and finally my Rosemary is growing enough to give it a little blog attention. This pic is of the Rosemary, Thyme and Mint (which are both doing exceedingly well). My Basil, which is hiding behind the mint, is still doing well, but needs some new regrowth, cause it's leaves are a little discoloured.

I should also point out that my Chili's are finally starting to go Red.

A Weeks Worth (recap)

Teegan and I took a trip down to Kitchener/Waterloo to see our friends David/Alexis and little Liam. We had a great time - we ate, we drank and were completely enthralled with little Liam. David keeping true to my week of making Asian food made us a great rice bowl with a sauce. I don't know exactly what to call this sauce - but it's great!

1 Garlic Clove - minced
2 - 3 Chili Peppers - seeded and minced (or use a chili hot sauce to your hearts content)
2/3 C. Water
1/4 C. Fish Sauce
1/4 C. Sugar
2 Tb. Lime Juice
2 Tb. Shredded Carrots

The longer this sits the better it will be. Keep it in the fridge for up to a month.

To recap my week:

Saturday - Satay Chicken with Garlic Peanut Noodles - My favourite of the week.
Sunday - Grilled Salmon Sushi Rice Bowl - Good, but the rice was to sweet and had to much vinegar.
Monday - Freestyle Spinach Salad - Good, but forgettable.
Tuesday - Meatballs and Rice - Good but lacking Asian flavour.
Wednesday - Asian Ribs - GREAT flavour but the ribs were super tough (recipe not posted).
Thursday - Red Coconut Chicken Curry - Good - though the flavour/spice needed a little tinkering.
Friday - Dave's Rice bowl - Good, though I would have preferred rice noodles (but that's me!).

So I will say that it was a successful week.

Peppernuts

This evening I had a desire to bake something. After quite a bit of time and searching online for ideas, I thought of Peppernuts! I looked up a few recipes but I wasn't quite convinced by any of them. Never having made them before, I was scared that I would have come up with something completely different then I was used to. I decided to call up my Mother (at the lake) for a recipe. She had to search a bit but she came up with the recipe that my Grandmother used to make - the exact ones I used to cram into my pockets before leaving, to tide me over on the ride home from Rosthern.

Here's the recipe (cut in half):
1 c sugar
1 c syrup (corn I imagine)
1 c Margarine
1/2 tsp star anise
1/2 tsp clove
1 tsp baking soda
1 eggs
¼ c. of sour milk
4 c flour
Mix the spices/sugar and margarine (hot microwaved). After it's cooled a bit add the egg and milk. Then mix the dry ingredients with the wet. My Grandmother used to make the dough into little snakes and cut little nickle size cookies. Then bake for 10 to 15 minutes at 350.

Here's what I did (with the same recipe):
1 c sugar (white)
1/2 c. Brown sugar
1/2 c. Honey
1 c Butter
1/2 tsp star anise
1/2 tsp clove
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 eggs
¼ c. of milk soured with some lemon juice
4 c flour
Instead of rolling snakes, I rolled the dough out in a big square and cut little square inch pieces. I then rolled them into balls and popped them onto a cooking sheet and pushed them down so they looked like crokino buttons.
For next time I would make them smaller - they are about the size of a toonie and what I want is a nickle to quarter.

After making the peppernuts - I soon realized that I had forgotten what they actually tasted like - but after my first bit, it all came rushing back to me. That made me happy!

On another note - I have continued my Asian adventure. Yesterday Ribs - and today I made a Red Thai Chicken Curry - it was nice!

Asian Meatballs

The meatballs were great - but I am sad to say didn't have much of an Asian flavour. 

The initial recipe for South-Eastern Meatballs called for Pork and pureed shimp - with the addition of some oyster sauce, 1 garlic clove minced, 1 T. green onions, 1 egg white and a T of cornstarch. Then they should have been steamed.  

I did not follow the recipe to exact specks - I used beef (cause Teegan and I aren't big pork or shrimp fans) and fried the meatballs because I don't have a steamer - plus I find that kind of weird (perhaps someday when I have a bamboo steamer I will try it).

Yep.

Freestyle

After a few days of tinkering, I have started to figure out basic Asian flavour profiles.

That being said -  I think It's kind of hard to go wrong with a mix of rice wine vinegar, soy sauce,  ginger, chili paste and sesame oil (as a sauce, a marinade or a dressing). Tonight I did just that - I marinaded some chicken and tossed a spinach salad - YUM.

After watching countless hours of food network - I have learned that when experimenting with Asian flavours its good to remember these things - Salty, Sweet, Sour and Spicy.

Grilled Salmon Sushi Rice Bowl

On tonight's menu was sushi rice bowl (Which became a plate)
Grilled Salmon and green beans (marinaded in)
a Ponzu sauce (lemon zest/juice, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce, green onion and sugar)

This is resting on a bed of Sushi Rice - basically this is normal rice (I used basmati) coated in rice wine vinegar, salt and sugar.

Covered in a wasabi/ponzu/ginger sauce.