Saturday night dinner - crab cakes

This is a recipe my mom gave me. It is adapted from a recipe from Canadian Living magazine.

Crab cakes with chipolte mayo.

Sobeys sells a top-quality brand of crab removed from the shell, picked over etc. There is enough crab in the bag for 2 recipes of this, or 1 crab cake recipe and something else yummy.

CRAB CAKES
200 g crab, cleaned and picked
1/4 cup diced red pepper
1/4 cup diced yellow or orange pepper
1/4 cup chopped green or red onion
1 egg
2 tb bread crumbs, plus more for dredging
oil for frying

MAYO
1 or 2 canned chipolte peppers (depending on how spicy you want it) with adobo sauce
1/2 cup fat free mayo
dash worcestershire

To make mayo: finely dice chipoltes. Mix all ingrediants together.

To make crab cakes: Squeeze as much liquid as possible from crab. Add the peppers, onion, egg and bread crumbs. Add 3 tb of the chipolte mayo and mix together. Form into patties and lightly bread in the extra crumbs.

Fry over medium heat until golden brown on both sides. Serve with mayo and lemon.

Saturday night dinner - bread sticks with prosciutto

We had a big dinner. No pictures, but here are the recipes.

Bread sticks with prosciutto

Bread sticks
prosciutto

I saw this pictured in a newspaper. All it is is prosciutto wrapped around breadsticks. We couldn't find any breadsticks when we were shopping, and didn't have time to go to another grocery store, so what I did was buy a tube of pillsbury bread sticks and I cut each piece of dough in half length wise. I baked them for a little longer at a little higher heat to make sure they were crisp.

They were very good, but they should be put together immediately before you eat them. I wrapped the sticks about 20 minutes before I put them out, and the bread sticks had started to soften from the ham.

But they were tasty and popular.

Bad - Mac and cheese with bacon, truffle oil and orange essence. Good - Orzo with ham and goat cheese.

So lets say that you are out and about on Saturday and happen to stop in at The Cookbook Company, a store you love that sells great books, food and equipment. Let's say that they are selling frozen mac and cheese (in their packaging, they have made it) with bacon, truffle oil and orange essence. Your husband is so excited by the description and adds it to your basket.
We'll skip the part when you tried (unsuccessfully) to get baking instructions from the owner of the store. The mac and cheese goes home with you and Sunday night, very tired from a day of working in the yard, you throw it in the oven.
Wow. After a hard day's work, there is nothing like a big bowl of pasta that tastes like it has been soaked in orange juice.
This was beyond bad. This was inedible. The only thing you could taste was orange. The cheese (in the macaroni and cheese!) had no flavor. The bacon was made up of hard overcooked bits and fat. There was no hint of truffle. It was orange-flavored noodles.
Mmmmm...Sandwiches for dinner.
Next time you are in the mood for mac and cheese, try this recipe instead. It is quick and very tasty. AND you won't have wasted your precious gas to drive downtown to buy sludge!

From Gourmet magazine:

Orzo with Ham and Goat Cheese

1 lb orzo
1/2 lb ham, chopped (about 2 cups)
1/2 lb soft goat cheese crumbled
5 green onions

Cook orzo until al dente. Drain, reserving 3/4 cup of the water. Mix the orzo, ham, cheese, onions, salt and pepper to taste, and add the reserved water to your liking. Toss until the cheese is melted.

Serves 6.

** The magazine says to broil it until the top is golden, but we never do that.

Black Pearl Oyster Bar

We ate twice at the Black Pearl. It's a cute/cheesey place right across from the water in Penticton. I say it's cheesy because of stuff like this:



And this:



They also had a massive Johnny Depp-looking mural, but we completely forgot to take a picture of it. Mainly because we were drinking this:




It was so damn good, I have no idea what it was. It tasted like coconut and I giggled like an idiot all night.

Pictures we remembered to take:


Stone Crab Claws with mustard sauce.


Tuna Tartar


Tomatoes Boccancini.

Then no more pictures, the food was just too good. Highlights of this and the other meal: Beef Carpaccio (I was frightened of it at first, but it was good), oysters, fried asiago cheese, and the worlds hottest thai chicken and noodle dish. Medium spicy my ass.

The view:

Cherries

A conversation after dinner tonight

Scott: We ate hours ago, but I can feel the garlic coming out of my skin.
Me: I only put 2 cloves in the sauce.
Scott: Well, don't you think that's a lot?
Me: No, not really...

Greek Salad

Cucumber, sliced
Tomato, chopped
Red Pepper, chopped
Onion, chopped
Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped
Feta cheese, diced
Mix together. Add some oregano and a couple of splashes each of lemon juice and olive oil.

My Tomato Plant

We didn't get the garden in this year...hoping it will happen next year. BUT! See my pretty little tomato plant with 5 tomatos! Once they ripen up they'll go great with the basil on the front steps.

Gouda Tomato and Basil Pizza

A few weeks ago at Millarville Farmers Market we had a food sample from a stall that sells frozen pizza. It was pretty good, and Scott wanted to buy one for dinner. We decided on a Gouda cheese and basil pizza that had a whole wheat crust. It wasn't cheap, but it sounded good. When we cooked it that night we threw some chopped tomatoes on it, and it was a really good pizza.

Fast forward to Friday - pulled a whole wheat pizza shell out of the freezer. Topped it with sauce, basil, tomatoes and gouda. So good, and so much better tasting (and better for you!) than a pizza from a delivery place.

Tango Restaurant

Another really great meal we had that has no pictures was at Tango Restaurant in Kamloops, BC. It's a tapas restaurant in the industrial area of the city. We drove by it about 5 times in the days before we went there and I never noticed it. It's a dark narrow restaurant with an open kitchen so you can see all the action. They have 10 or so tables, a long bar with stools and a beautiful patio with tons of flowers and fountains.

There were four of us for dinner - our hosts had been there before. We decided to get 4 appetizers and then see how hungry we were. I chose the "Pollo ajo", pieces of chicken breast simmered in "a rich garlic sauce". This was definitely the poorest dish of the evening. I won't say it was bad; it wasn't. It just didn't live up to our expectations. When you see that something is simmered in garlic, you expect to taste the garlic, don't you? Enough said. We also had the "Satay Sampler" which was a skewer each of spicy mint chicken, bbq duck, teriyaki salmon and adobo pork, served with a citrus herb raita dip. This was pretty good, although the duck was my least favorite. We tried the "Tomato salad" of tomatos, bocconcini and basil. But my very favorite was the "Bruschetta" of chorizo, scallops and chimichurri sauce on bread topped with Parmesan. Words can not describe how good it was. Big slices of tender scallop, spicy chorizo. Wow.

You'd think that that would have been enough food, but no, we got some more. We shared the "Prawnology" which was a huge plate of prawns done 4 ways - some wrapped in prosciutto, some battered in tempura, some wrapped in a sweet potato dough, and some broiled with a lemon sauce. All were mighty fine. We also shared the "Asian Platter" that had sweet potato patties, sweet chili wings, tempura prawns, spring rolls, 5 spiced duck breast, and stir fried bok choy and pineapple.

It was a great dinner and also a very reasonable one - I didn't pay the bill, but all that food was only in the $80.00 range. I look forward to the next time I am in Kamloops - I will be right back at Tango as soon as I can.

Glazed New Potatoes by Rob Feenie

I was watching New Classics with Rob Feenie a couple of weeks ago, and he made this gorgeous potato dish - Glazed New Potatoes. That weekend I bought a bag of new potatoes from the Millarville Farmers Market.

Here's all the ingredients ready to go into the oven:

Here they are after about 45 minutes in the oven:

Ugly picture alert! Here they are again after I have reduced the liquid. I could have reduced it more, but we were getting hungry. They were very good - the highlight of the meal.

Hooded Merganser

See the pretty building on the pretty lake? That is the Hooded Merganser restaurant in Penticton. It's right next to the Penticton Lakeside Resort and is fairly new, I believe it opened in the Spring of 2005.

We walked by it a couple of days before deciding to go for dinner. It's a very nice looking restaurant, right on the water, with three walls made up of windows. We started at a table outside, but had to move inside when the wind picked up. I didn't take our camera out with us that night and it is really too bad. I could have taken some great pictures.

We decided to start with an appetizer and wait to order our dinner to see how hungry we were after that.

We chose the Three Tapas served with fresh bread. You pick 3 tapas from a list - one each from dips, salads and finger food. We chose Sun dried tomato and olive tapenade from the dips, White bean and Chorizo salad from the salads, and Candied Walnuts and Prosciutto from the finger foods. When it came to the table I moaned some more about forgetting the camera. 3 square bowls on a plate with bread. It was gorgeous. And tasty. The tapenade was nice and salty. The salad was the best looking and tasting. Beautiful white beans drizzled in olive oil, some a little pinky-orange from the diced chorizo that was tossed in. So good.

It was a pretty large appetizer, especially with the bread, so we both decided just to have a sandwich. Scott had the Seafood Club - tiger prawns, crab and salmon with bacon lettuce and tomato. Really nice, but huge. He could only get through half even with my help. I wanted the pulled pork bun, but they were out. Doesn't it drive you crazy when your waiter doesn't tell you what they are out of? I had the Grilled Gouda and Mango Salad sandwich instead. It was really nice; my only complaint was the mango salad was a bit too juicy and made the sandwich soggy quickly. This is something I would make at home for sure.

All in all, a very good meal, even without pictures. Time didn't permit us to go back again, but on another trip I definitely would.

Recipe Archive

I have pinched a great idea from the likes of Nic at Baking Sheet and Molly at Orangette and others I'm sure.

I have made a recipe archive, listing all the recipes I have posted here. Check it out, on the right hand side, under "some stuff".

Or click here.

Funny

Scroll down to the third entry. The folks at Tvgasm are making fun of Giada from Everyday Italian on the Food channel.

Hands-free Raspberry Jam Part 2

For Ana-

250 g raspberries
250 g sugar

Heat over to 180'C

Put berries and sugar in 2 separate oven proof dishes (I used pie plates)
Cook for 20-25 minutes
Add sugar to raspberries, stir and spoon into a jar.
Store in fridge.


From "How to be a Domestic Goddess" by Nigella Lawson.

Hands-free Raspberry Jam

On my recent vacation, I was lucky enough to come across Nigella Lawson's How To Be a Domestic Goddess for a low, low price. While flipping through it the other night, I read her recipe for jam. It is ridiculously simple - sugar and berries and no boiling- but is so good.



Equal parts sugar and raspberries. Into the oven they go!




Out of the oven after 25 minutes. The house smelled so good.




Mix the sugar into the berries. It bubbles and hisses, and becomes...



jam.

Embarrassing food stories

Everyone has at least one whether you want to admit it or not. To be honest, I can't think of a ton, I'm sure I've just blocked them out though.
I remember trying a yogurt marinated chicken dish once that was thrown out after one bite.
I remember making spring rolls for a friend and her boyfriend and accidentally using rice wrappers instead of wonton wrappers and having them explode in the oil.
Lots of overcooking/undercooking things like hams, roasts and chicken.
And of course I have subjected poor Scott to all kinds of recipes pulled from magazines, books and websites that weren't so great.

A girl I knew told me a story about making a chicken dish to impress a boy, but the chicken was still raw (and cold!) when she served it.

A friend of mine tried to make caramel bowls for a dessert for her boyfriends parents, but instead of making caramel from water and sugar, melted Kraft caramels and poured them over inverted bowls, and stood in the kitchen waiting for them to harden.

But this is my most embarrassing food story. And really, it isn't even embarrassing to me! I had a boyfriend who lived with his parents, and I spent a lot of time there. One time I asked if I could make them dinner. It was summer, and where I lived had very hot summers. So I decided to do a light soup and a salad. I made a garden salad and a corn soup. I made the dinner, we all sat down, and took a spoonful of soup. To me it was GREAT. My boyfriend, who had had it before, liked it too. His parent's didn't. They took one bite and pushed it away. They would not even touch the salad. I was so embarrassed.
All they did was complain - why would I make soup? Why would I have salad? Where was the meat? The bread? The soup was all vegetables, why was that? They got up from the table, and the mom said - We are going to A&W for hamburgers - do you two want to come?
God, I was so offended. I NEVER cooked for them again. Even when their son and I moved to a different city together. When they came to visit, I made my boyfriend take care of the food. And believe me, he wasn't much better. Their eating habits were atrocious. One of his mothers special dinners was ground beef mixed with ketchup served over boiled potatos. White bread on the side. EW!

Corn Soup, origin unknown.

1 Tb margerine or butter
1 small onion, chopped
Frozen corn, or fresh off the cob
1 potato, peeled, diced and parboiled until tender
Pinch hot pepper flakes
1/2 cup half and half or milk
1 cup chicken broth
1/4 tsp salt
1/8/ tsp pepper
parsley for garnish

Saute the onion in the margerine or butter until tender but not brown. Add the rest of the ingredients (I know there is no amount for corn, just put some in until it looks good to you) and simmer gently for 15 minutes.

Now you tell me, who could turn their noses up at that?!?!?!

Smackdown on my pantry

That is a pretty messy cupboard. Things fall off the shelves all the time and you can never find what you are looking for. But no longer.



All the candy and junk food (or most of it) is gone. Also gone, all the expired food, the packages that have been opened and sitting around for ages, and the stuff I just knew we'd never eat. I get a clean pantry where no one will be injured by falling food, and the food bank gets 2 boxes of food.

Next up - THE DREADED SPICE CUPBOARD!

PS - How did we accumulate so many bottles of olive oil and also balsamic vinegar? I think there must not be any left in Calgary.

Beer Can Chicken

Beer Can Chicken Spring 2004.
Here is a similar recipe by The Surreal Gourmet.

Ours - we made our own rub (brown sugar, salt, crushed dried chiles, etc), rubbed the chicken inside and out, slathered with bbq sauce, sat it on a 3/4 full open beer can, and cooked on the bbq, over indirect heat rotating every 15 or 20 minutes for 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

The Cook Next Door Meme

Thank you to Ana for tagging me for my first meme.

What is your first memory of baking/cooking on your own?
When I was about 6 or 7, my cousins came from England to visit. My male cousin who was a year or two older than me and I decided to make breakfast one morning. We found a recipe for pancakes in my Disneyland cookbook (I miss that cookbook) and made them. Unfortunately we did not read the recipe all the way through. The recipe called for 10 TB of butter to cook the pancakes in. You were supposed to melt 1 TB, cook some pancakes, and then melt another TB, etc. We melted the whole amount of butter and basically deep fried the pancakes. They were gross.



Who had the most influence on your cooking?
My mom did, and then when I discovered cooking shows on PBS, it was Julia Child and the Frugal Gourmet.


Do you have an old photo as "evidence" of an early exposure to the culinary world?
Does a picture of me covered in chocolate pudding count?


Mageiricophobia - do you suffer from any cooking phobia, a dish that makes your palms sweat?
Turkey, because it is something you normally make on special occasions for lots of people. I am always terrified I will undercook it and that I won't notice until we are sitting at the table eating.


What are your most valued or used kitchen gadgets and/or what was the biggest letdown?
My most valued is probably my Kitchen Aid mixer. I don't use it as much as I thought I would, but it is just so pretty. Most used is probably my tongs and my food processor. I just recently got my processor, and it is surprising just how many uses it has. Most disappointing - my waffle maker. I have had it for years and very rarely does it work as a fairly expensive waffle iron should.


Name some funny or weird food combinations/dishes you really like - and probably no one else does.
This is tough. I like bread with butter and HP sauce. I like teriaki sauce on baked potatos. I like ham sandwiches with potatos chips inside. When I was little, I liked to eat gristle, but thankfully I've outgrown that.


What are three edibles or dishes your simply don't want to live without?
Potatos, milk and tomatos.


Your favorite ice cream?
Vanilla Bean with cherries from Marble Slab.


You will definitely never eat...
Organ meat.


Your own signature dish...
All sorts of pastas.


That was fun! Even though this was sent to me 2 weeks ago (I went on holiday), I will tag Emily at Baking Beast to see if she is still around. Jennifer at Taste Everything Once because her site is so great. I'm sure Kitchen Hand at What I Cooked Last Night is too busy being a new dad, but you never know.