March 30th - Mardi Gras - Cook: Patrick

I knew I was going to have a busy Tuesday as I had scheduled a beautification session with my hairdresser.   Not sure how it happened but I left with a full head of my natural hair color.  Due to the fact that I was going to be a little short on cooking time, I needed recipes that would be fairly quick to prepare but still very flavorful.  I decided upon a salad, pasta and dessert.

The Menu:

Protein Plus (Salad) 

Shrimp Fra Diavolo with Linguine

Frozen Raspberry Whip with Strawberries (This will link you to a historical blog that contains the recipe- This was delicious and very easy to make - so I had to repeat the recipe)

The salad recipe was from a cook book that Toffer purchased for me called Super Salads.  There are a bunch of salad recipes in here that have various benefits from healing to mood boosters.   

Protein Plus Salad:

Ingredients:

300g Cottage Cheese

Ground Pepper

1 Stalk of Celery - thinly chopped

1/2 Green Pepper - Cubed

10 Radishes - Quartered

100g of Walnut pieces

Directions:

Pour Cottage Cheese into a bowl.  Add pepper to taste, celery, green pepper, radishes.  Mix to combine.  Sprinkle with walnuts.

This salad was quite tasty and filling.

Shrimp Fra Diavolo with Linguine - From Cooks Illustrated:
If you don't have The New Best Recipe cookbook from Cooks Illustrated, you truly must get a copy.  None of these recipes have ever failed me.

Serves 4 to 6 - so you know I had to double the recipe. 

One teaspoon of red pepper flakes will give the sauce a little kick, but add more to suit your taste.

Ingredients

1 pound medium-large shrimp (preferably 31 to 35 count), peeled (and deveined, if desired), preferably Gulf or Mexican Whites

1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (or more, to taste)

6 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 1/2 tablespoons table salt

1/4 cup Cognac or brandy

4 tablespoons minced garlic (about 12 medium or 8 large cloves)

1/2 teaspoon granulated sugar

1 (28-ounce) can diced tomatoes, drained

1 cup medium-dry white wine, such as Sauvignon Blanc

1/4 cup minced fresh parsley leaves

1 pound linguine or spaghetti

Instructions

1. Bring 4 quarts water to rolling boil, covered, in large Dutch oven or stockpot.

2. While water is heating, heat 12-inch heavy-bottomed skillet over high heat for 4 minutes. Meanwhile, toss shrimp, half of red pepper flakes, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and 3/4 teaspoon salt in medium bowl. Add shrimp to skillet and quickly spread in single layer; cook, without stirring, until bottoms of shrimp turn spotty brown, about 30 seconds. Off heat, stir to turn shrimp, and add cognac; let stand off heat until cognac warms slightly, about 5 seconds, and return pan to high heat. Wave lit match over skillet until cognac ignites; shake skillet until flames subside, transfer shrimp to medium bowl, and set aside.

3. Off heat, cool now-empty skillet 2 minutes; return to burner and reduce heat to low. Add 3 tablespoons olive oil and 3 tablespoons garlic; cook, stirring constantly, until garlic foams and is sticky and straw-colored, 7 to 10 minutes. Add remaining red pepper flakes, 3/4 teaspoon salt, sugar, tomatoes, and wine; increase heat to medium-high, and simmer until thickened and fragrant, about 8 minutes. Stir in reserved shrimp and accumulated juices, remaining 1 tablespoon garlic, and parsley and simmer until shrimp have heated through, about 1 minute longer. Off heat, stir in remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil.

4. While sauce simmers, add linguine or spaghetti and remaining 1 tablespoon salt to boiling water, stir to separate pasta, cover, and cook until al dente; reserve 1/3 cup pasta cooking water and drain pasta. Transfer drained pasta back to now-empty Dutch oven or stockpot; add about 1/2 cup sauce (without shrimp) and 2 to 3 tablespoons reserved pasta cooking water; toss to coat. Divide pasta among warm serving bowls, top with a portion of sauce and shrimp, and serve immediately.

Julie is always such a sweetheart; she always calls to find out if the cook for the evening needs anything.  I'm usually quite diligent with my list but this time I happened to forget to purchase some fresh bread!  It cost a whole $2.00 but the loaf was a nice and needed touch to serve with dinner!  Carbs - Schmarbs!

We watched the Biggest Loser as always.  Darn it!  Red Girl is back!  Hate her!  Get rid of her!  However, I must give her credit were credit is due.  She's the only one there playing the game.  She had voted to get rid of Sam when they had the chance, all the other idiots voted off someone that would never have been a threat to winning the grand prize!  DUH!  Most o' dem Americans are sure smart!

Thank GOD for PVR's.  We managed to watch 2 hours of idol in about 30 minutes.  Fast forward through the crap singers that should never have even made the top 100 (Not a typo).  Heck, if Jude was a younger American woman and auditioned, they would have loved her unique voice and she'd probably be in the top 10. 

JULIE - YOU OWE US RECIPES!

Jude is making dinner next week!  I sure hope she takes Monday off and surprises us with something wonderful.

Have a Safe and Happy Easter Weekend!  Drive safely!

March 16th - Mardi Gras Taco Night - Shoppers Dan & Toffer

Well... sometimes things happen and you are so overwhelmingly busy, you end up not having time to plan for Mardi Gras Dinner!  Our poor chef Julie had to cater her mother's 40th (with 30 years experience) party this weekend and unfortunately this took up all her prep time for our group!

Julie sheepishsly sent out an email on Tuesday indicating she could make pasta or we could cancel with a heavy emphasis on the CANCEL! We all know how much Julie loves to plan, prep and cook  for the group and who are we to deprive her of one of her guilty pleasures.  She has more, but this is not an adult content blog, so we'll leave those out!  I read between the lines and made a recommendation that we have a TACO NIGHT and start the rotational schedule next week with Julie!  The overwhelming response was a yes, and Dan and Toff gathered up the required ingredients to make it happen.  Julie was happy with this as she will get to satisfy her urge to cook for us next week! Let's hope her 7 course meal is worth the wait!

Taco Night is so much fun! We each take turns prepping in the kitchen! I prepped the ground beef and the shells, Toffer prepped the cheese (He was a little gassy!) and salad, Julie prepped the lettuce, tomatoes and jalapeño peppers, Dan prepped the sour cream and the plates.

Once everything was laid out, the feeding frenzy began!  We were like Piranhas being presented an injured feeder goldfish! When we got a taste of our savoury tacos, we just kept on eating and eating!  Poor Toffer had to stop stuffing his face so he could catch his breath!  Julie added that eating Tacos is like eating Chinese food, you get filled up but moments later, you want more!  Julie also has a secret technique she uses to camouflage the number of tacos she actually eats in one sitting!  Combining a soft shelled taco and a hard shell taco, both with fillings in them does not make it only one Taco!  It has to count as at least 1.5 Tacos!  I think I ate about 5 Tacos, Dan must of had a similar number.  I would guesstimate Toff at 6 and Julie won the prize.  She ate 17 tacos!  Just kidding, she most likely hovered at 5 as well!  We had to stop ourselves from devouring the remainder of the soft shells as Jude was working late and she would have missed out on having any tacos! 

Upon Jude's arrival, she sat at the table, tablespoon in hand and just shovelled spoonful after spoonful of ground beef mixture into her mouth.... You would have thought she was on Survivor for 29 days and just won a reward challenge!  We were all in disbelief!  Thank god she was amongst friends and no one will ever find out about her table manners! I repeat NO ONE!

We watched The Biggest Loser!  Come on Black Team, a 5 pound advantage and you lose the weigh in!  Really!  You guys got way to cocky in the gym and did not put in the required effort to stay above the yellow line!  This even motivated the Blue team to work harder. This was clearly evident by the weight loss Blue team put up on the scale!  The blew the Black Team out of the water!  I sure hope we are approaching Make Over week soon!  Some of these contestants could really use one!

American Idol - All the guys suck with the exception of probably 2 of them!  The girls are way better and there are a few of us that have picked out favorites!  I'm thinking Shiobhan will go far in the contest!  Most likely final two with Crystal!  These two have talent and are unique!  Don't get it wrong this year America!

Till next week!

March 9th. Mardi Gras Cook - Dan the Man!

Hi Everyone - My apologies for the delays in updating the blog.  Some of the chefs are a little slow on sending in their recipes!  Not to point any fingers but Jude and Julie - You know who you are!  Yesterday was Dan's turn to cook.  I'm pretty sure he did not spend hours contemplating his menu selections like I usually do.  He most likely pondered what would be quick and delicious and decided upon a BBQ'd Steak Dinner.  The methodology behind his menu choices is that we just recently purchased a brand new puppy! 

He's a male Chinese Crested.  We named him Tico and he just turned 3 months old today.  What a great little addition to our home!  He's friendly and absolutely adorable! 

The Menu:
Rib Eye Steaks
Rice
Asparagus
Mushrooms
Cookies & Cream Cake
Vanilla Bean Ice Cream

No need to elaborate on any of the recipes!  Dan zipped out on Tuesday to Cumbrae's to purchase some fantastic Rib Eye Steaks and hit other local shops for the remainder of his items!  You should have seen the size of these slabs of meat!  The carnivores were out in full force at Mardi Gras!   Dan barbecued the steaks as the weather is finally becoming more like spring. All other menu items were simply prepared in the traditional manner.  It was rather quiet as we all gnawed away at the Rib Eyes.  Don't get me wrong here, the steaks were cooked to perfection - They were HUGE and one needed to take the time to savor every morsel! 

Tico was also a great source of entertainment as he just loved everyone and would bounce from person to person spreading love!

Can someone please explain why the Biggest Loser always has to be a 2 hour production!  Yesterday's episode was pathetically overdone!  Did we really need to spend that much time seeing the contestants going to work and was all that product placement a true necessity?  Enough with the filler already... this is almost just as bad as Dancing with the Stars and American Idol!  Let the contestants do what they need to do and go to the vote!

Next week is Julie's turn to cook!  She's going to be extremely busy this weekend with her mother and the family gathering so we are not 100% sure what Julie will conjure up as her menu.  It may simply be some comfort food!  Can you say Shepherd's pie......

February 23rd - Mardi Gras Cook - Crusty a la Toffer!

Regrettably, I missed another dinner!  The THBS (Bowling League) decided to have their annual General Membership Meeting on Tuesday, the 23rd and since I'm part of the executive, my presence was required at this meeting.  Toffer was nice enough to send me some details of his menu selection.

Homemade Soup
Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Veal (Veal Papiette)
Oven Roasted Veggies
Basmatie Rice with Sauteed Veggies and a Balsamic Sprinkle
Veggies and Dip
Fruits & Yogurt / Cream Cheese Dip

From what I can decipher simply from the above, sounds like you all ate like rabbits with all those darn vegetables! 

Soup Toffer Style

Chicken Stock
1 Leek Stem
3 large carrots
3 ribs of celery
1 large sweet potatoe
2 peeled and cubed Fuji apples
1 Butternut squash
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons curry

I wasn't left with directions but I would assume you will need to chop or slice everything into bite size pieces, throw everything into a pot, boil it until all vegetables are cooked and then puree it in a blender as this is how a Soup Toffer Style is traditionally served.

Veal Papiettes

Cheater!  Cheater!  These were store bought veal meatloafs wrapped with a slice of pork and slathered in a BBQ Sauce with onion, celery and breadcrumbs!  Heat in oven at 420 degrees for 25 minutes.

Oven Roasted Taters

Cut potatoes into chunks, drizzle with olive oil, season with cajun seasoning, jerk seasoning, garlic salt, paprika, basil, oregano, salt and pepper to taste.  Cook until tender & serve.

Roasted Veggies

Cooked with chicken (used to make the broth).  Cut celery, carrots, garlic and onions into chunks, add 1 can of beer.  Season with assorted herbs and roast in oven for over an hour.

Basmati Rice & Veggies:

Sautee zucchini, onions, red pepper and celery.  Mix into cooked rice & serve.

Fruit with Yogurt Creme Cheese Dip

When nobody is looking, steal the leftover fruit platter from the office party and serve to dinner guest.

With the Olympics being on TV, it would be safe to assume that the Biggest Loser was not on and that all the dinner guests promptly left after their tummies had been filled.

Check out the old pic below.  Jude's such a lady with her little pinky up in the air!

A Recipe from the Vaults.... Chicken a la Julie!

Toffer must be really bored at work today.  He's found one of Julie's famous recipes.  I may have mentioned it before in a previous entry along with the Blue Cheese Macaroni.  Well, by popular demand, below you will find the recipe for Chicken a la Julie! 

1 hazardous cab driver

2 burnt fingers

3 Bayden hairs - Bayden is my dog!

10 chicken breasts

cinnamon, allspice, garlic, salt and pepper

roasted almonds or pine nuts

saltana raisins to taste

top with plain yogourt

On a wide street, flag a cab after purchasing ingredients. Get in cab and make sure the driver is crazy. Rear-end unsuspecting Volvo and wait for argument to ensue. Walk away with groceries as you flip the bird and get hurled insults and contempt.

Arrive at destination in new cab, wash and spice chicken, turn burners on HIGH, put chicken in oven and put rice on to cook. Roast almonds or pine nuts, have one jump from hot pan into the well of the neighbouring element (ensure that said element was on HIGH only moments ago) Stick thumb directly on element to attempt to lift and retrieve said nut (pine or almond, not me). Swear in foreign language and continue to cook almonds. When chicken is ready, remove from sizzling heat, put on rubber gloves to remove chicken from bone. Ensure glove is thin at index finger tip. Dig thin fingered glove deep into the poitrine of a chicken until rubber sears and melts to finger. Swear in a foreign language and remove glove. Allow friend to finish the rest of the chicken.
Now, take platter of chicken to table, all ready to feast, with two burnt fingers and an unstable foil platter, and allow platter to collapse under the weight of the chicken just before reaching the table. All chicken
must land on floor or chair, or you must begin this step again.
Scoop chicken off floor, into strainer and rinse carefully and thoroughly under hot water. Add a few more of the original spices and serve to loving friends.

ENJOY

All in all, I remember this evening to be a very fun night, with all the mishaps, dinner was edible.  Only one person did not have chicken, and that was our germaphobe, Kevin.  Funny, he'll let his little dog, Sophie lick him all over his face even though she uses her tongue as toilet paper!

Tuesday, February 9, 2010Mardi Gras Cook - Patrick

Tonight's dinner was my turn again.  I had to bud ahead of Jen as I'll be on Vacation next week in Costa Rica... yeah, I'm rubbing it in.

Partied a little too much on Friday... Really did not feel like grocery shopping on Saturday. Drank some more on Saturday evening and got to bed late.  Had to go bowling on Sunday and truly did not feel like grocery shopping after that.  So yes, I did procrastinate but I finally completed my grocery shopping on Monday.  I hate the No Frills by our Loft.  It truly has a poor meat selection.  When I went shopping on Dec 5th for a Turkey, they did not have any in stock. Yesterday, lo and behold, I needed lamb racks and not a single rack of lamb could be found.  I had to drag my butt down to the Metro at College Park, and yes, they had Lamb Racks and lots of 'em and Saffron, another key ingredient I required for my meal.  My menu was thoughtfully planned out last week and I had prepared my shopping list accordingly.  All recipes were from the cookbook Toffer purchased for me for Christmas. It's called Zest by Michele Cranston. Fantastic book and let me tell you, these recipes were simple but very flavourful.  I made some slight variations either based on ingredient availability, my preferences or to serve more people.

The Menu:

Goat's Cheese Salad with Pears, Celery and Parsley

Chili Mint Lamb with Saffron Vegetables

Frozen Raspberry Whip with Strawberries

Goat's Cheese Salad with Pears, Celery and Parsley - Serves 8

2 Tablespoons White wine vinegar

6 Tablespoons Olive Oil

6 Celery Stalks finely sliced

6 Ya Pears cored and finely sliced

2 handfuls Italian Parsley leaves

150 grams Toasted sliced almonds

300 grams Goat Cheese

In a large bowl, add vinegar, olive oil, freshly ground sea salt and pepper to taste. Stir to combine. Add celery, pears, parsley and almonds.  Toss.  Crumble Goat cheese and sprinkle over top. Serve immediately.

Chili mint lamb with saffron vegetables - Serves 4 

(I doubled the vegetable portion but this was not required as I had way too many leftovers)

3 Tablespoons Olive Oil

2 table spoons harissa (I used Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce)

1 bunch of Mint - finely chopped

1/2 cup coriander (I used Parsley as Dan hates coriander) - finely chopped

4 French trimmed lamb racks (I used larger racks that contained 8 bones per rack)

3 onions, peeled and quartered (I used a large Spanish onion)

3 parsnips, peeled and cut into cubes

4 Waxy potatoes (I used small pre-washed golden potatoes)

600 grams pumpkin, peeled and cut into chunks (I used Butternut Squash)

1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon crushed fennel seeds

20 black olives, pitted

1 teaspoon ground cumin

10 saffron threads

3 tablespoons lemon juice

Preheat oven to 425F. Mix 2 tablespoons olive oil, harissa and herbs in a bowl then rub into the lamb racks.  Season with sea salt and freshly ground pepper.  Place the vegetables in a baking dish and toss with the remaining olive oil, sugar, fennel seeds, olives, cumin, saffron and lemon juice.  Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes.  Then turn the vegetables and return to the oven uncovered.  Sear the lamb in a frying pan over high heat then put on top of the vegetables. Bake for a further 20 minutes.  Rest the lamb for 2-3 minutes, slice and serve over the vegetables.

Frozen Raspberry whip with strawberries - serves 4 -6

150 grams raspberries

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 cup superfine sugar

1 egg white

500 grams strawberries

1 tablespoon icing sugar

Whip the raspberries, lemon juice, sugar and egg white with electric beaters for 10 minutes, or until the mixture is light and fluffy and has tripled in size. Spoon into a container and put in the freezer for several hours or overnight until it is frozen.  Just prior to serving, hull the strawberries, reserving some whole ones for serving.  Sprinkle the strawberries with icing sugar and lightly toss until they are well coated. Set aside for 5 minutes before serving with a scoop of the frozen raspberry whip. 

It seems to happen to me on occasion with new recipes, I thought I had everything timed right to have dinner served at 7:00pm.  All those darn vegetables doubled the cooking time!  Silly me! It was worth the wait though.  We started off with the salad as we patiently waited for the remainder of the meal to finish cooking.  It was a rather large bowl and we devoured it in its entirety, leaving a small sampling for Kitty, whom invited himself over on Saturday evening when he heard my menu selection.  We enjoy having guests on occasion.  Gives us someone new to pick on.... and we'll eventually convince them to cook for the remainder of us.  We always break them down eventually!

I rested the lamb much longer than the three minutes as I needed to finish cooking the vegetables, so I tented it with foil and eventually re-covered the roasting pan with foil and increased the temperature to expedite the cooking.  I think the vegetables were done by 8:00pm... I could be wrong, but I'll say that anyways.

Sliced the lamb and put the vegetables in a serving tray and off we went for round two.  The majority of the group all loved the lamb and indicated it was cooked to perfection.  Sure - I'm blushing just a little!  I was rather impressed myself.  

Dessert was very easy.  You can't go wrong with something pink, whipped and with strawberries in this group.  I highly recommend you try this recipe out and impress your friends with it.  Heck - I recommend you buy the book.  I've been perusing the recipes and there are tons of them I'm itching to try as they all look so mouthwatering.

Once again, we had a blast watching the Biggest Loser.  Mental note to self - Keep Jen and Julie separated to ensure nobody gets boiled with hot tea while they are both in a fit of laughter.  Don't talk about excessive man sweat in unhygienic areas as it makes Jen puke in her mouth just a little. 

Next week is Jen's turn!  She did bring Dan and me a little sampling of her dessert which I will try this evening. I do believe she has opted to make a Boeuf Bourguignon.  I'm sure it will be delicious.  Jen will also provide me with the notes for the blog on her dinner which I will update once I get back from Vacation!

Tuesday, February 2nd - Mardi Gras Cook: Julie

Happy Groundhog Day!  Those darn rodents decided to forecast another 6 weeks of Winter!  Time to start a new tradition and shoot Wiarton Willie prior to his exit from his hole in the ground.  If he doesn't see his shadow due to his imminent death, we'll always have an early spring!  Well enough about our lovely Canadian Winters and on to much more exciting things!  Julie's menu!   We are always in for a surprise when it's Julie's turn to cook as she never discloses what she plans on cooking until she arrives at my door step, food in hand, mostly prepped and ready to be finalized and served.

The Menu:

• French Loaf
• Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin stuffed with figs, spinach and roasted hazelnuts with an Apple Juice Reduction
• Fluffy Mashed Potatoes
• Beets in Orange Juice
• Bok Choy with Pickled Artichoke Hearts
• Caramilk Ice Cream

French Loaf:

Frantically call Toffer prior to his arrival and ask him to pick up some bread.  Slice and serve.

Fluffy Mashed Potatoes.

Use your favorite mashed potatoe recipe and simply add the word "Fluffy" in front of it. For all you cat lovers, no kitties were used in the making of this recipe! I find the best way to mash potatoes is to use a Potatoe Ricer available at any quality kitchen supply store.  I've yet to be disappointed with mashed potatoes prepped in this manner.

Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin stuffed with figs, spinach & roasted Hazelnuts served with an apple juice reduction.

Recipe pending

This is an original recipe a la Julie tradition!  One that was absolutely amazing.

Note: I recommend not to ask her for her Blue Cheese and Mac recipe.  This one is better left in the Julie vault of recipes not to repeat again!

Beets in Orange Juice

Recipe pending

Bok Choy with Pickled Artichoke Hearts

Recipe pending

Caramilk Ice Cream

While grocery shopping stop buy the freezer section and grab a 1 ltr tub of Caramilk Ice Cream.  After dinner, just prior to the beginning of the Biggest Loser, equally distribute the entire litre into 6 portions and serve.

OMG!  OMG!  Dinner was truly amazing.  I think I can declare that this was Julie's best menu to date.  The only left overs were the mashed potatoes as we all feasted on the pork tenderloin.  It had a fantastic blend of flavours and textures and cooked to perfection.  Quoting the famous Jen "Julie, this is better than my tenderloin" and we all know Jen can cook the heck out of Kraft Dinner!  

Topics of discussion for the evening:

• Jen's Budget Barbie article featuring Adam and Eve, a local chocolatier in the gay village.
• The Toyota Recall
• American Idol - Go Bikini Boy!  Go!
• The Biggest Loser!  Miggy (I cut you) - You go girl, even after surgery and being told she had approximately 8 pounds of saline in her abdomen; she still did not fall below the yellow line.  A big disappointment with Brown Team.  Really, you are over 420 lbs and only dropped 6 lbs in a week working out with Jillian and Bob.  Something does not add up!  Red Team - You are not fooling us with your game play!  Red Wife starts dropping magical numbers and husband is now losing minimal ones!  Uh Huh!  This was complete game play as you both knew Pink (sounds like Pig everytime Allison says it) Team had a 2 lb disadvantage at the weigh in.  You are lucky as it almost bit you in the cellulite butt!
• Jude's text message.  Some complete stranger named Nebullah (or something like that) inadvertently texted her with his/her new contact information and she somehow thought it was due to the fact that she has my contacts in her address book.  Ummm... No... If it was one of my contacts, he/she would have texted my phone number, not hers!

As Dan and I will be on vacation for my next scheduled turn, Jen has agreed to swap cooking weeks with me as I will be in Costa Rica.  I've been looking forward to Jen's first kick at the Table with the group and will have to wait until almost the end of March to be delighted with her prowess in the Kitchen. 

I've already planned my menu!  All new dishes from Zest - A cookbook Toffer bought me for Christmas.  As I like the element of surprise and told everyone last night that I was going to make a Goat Cheese, Celery and Pear salad for a starter from the Savour section, the remainder of the menu will be from various sections of the book such as Piquant (That's French for "Spicy" Toffer), Ambrosia and Fragrant!  I'm salivating already!