January 12, 2010

I had planned to do another, simpler, less gourmet meal tonight, in keeping with trying to have mostly "realistic" food. But then my boyfriend's co-worker gave us 2 free lobsters from PEI. And when you get free lobster, you don't really pass up the opportunity to let it shine!

Unfortunately, I found myself facing a conundrum. I have never cooked lobster. The answer to that should be simple enough, since there are a million guides out there to cooking and preparing various meats - I learned this when I tried to cook duck awhile ago and was confused with side of the duck was the "skin" and which was the "meat". I found this handy YouTube video that cleared everything up for me! But, alas, they have no tips on lobster. That would be too easy.

Second, the lobsters were pre-cooked. Which made me fear turning them into rubber lobsters! Luckily, consulting with our lobster-purveyor made short work of my worries. 2-3 minutes in boiling water is all they need, plus some butter and lemon on the side, and you get all the deliciousness expected of lobster!

Third problem being my tiny-apartment-lack-of-cookwear. I was pretty sure I had a pot that would hold the lobsters. But then they tried to escape:

Just kidding. They fit in there just fine, but, as with most relationships, there was definitely not room for a third!

To keep the lobster in focus, the rest of the meal was to be quite simple. I did these Parmesean and Pesto Potatoes (except I was bad and used pre-made pesto), and minted steamed broccoli for sides.

All in all, again, the meal turned out tasty. Lobster is definitely perfect with just lemon and butter, since the oiliness and richness of the butter is perfectly cut and complimented by the dryness and lightness of the lemon. The potatoes were tasty, although I don't think I would use the purple yams again, at least not with this flavouring. And my broccoli didn't really have time to absorb the mint flavour, even though I sauteed them in it. Perhaps some retooling of that recipe is in order.

January 19, 2010

I recently read a post on The Traveler's Lunchbox in defense of beets. The author wrote that she could never understand why people have such vitriol for beets, and that they are a rather tasty and extremely healthy vegetable option. Her post inspired me to think about other foods that people typically hate. And thus I decided to try and create a menu out of some of the most reviled foods I could come up with.

This actually proved to be more of a challenge than I anticipated. My "hated foods" mostly include cow-meats. Liver, tongue, steak, ground beef, etc, all on the list of things I will not eat (yes, I know, steak). Fortunately for me, I won't be having to eat those, since I generally cook for vegetarians or eco-vegetarians, and serving liver would not be in keeping with that. So I turned to vegetables and fishes instead.

The fish category was easy, and I found this wonderful recipe at in praise of sardines for anchovies that also includes cauliflower - another much loathed veggie. Personally, I have never had sardines, although I've had anchovy paste and fish sauce and love them. And the crispiness of this dish looks delicious!

For veggies, I decided to go with my original inspiration, the beet and walnut dish from Traveler's Lunchbox. I have also never had beets, but if they are anything like my first experience with brussel sprouts (19, first "Canadian" Thanksgiving, and loved 'em!) then I'm sure I will be pleasantly surprised. I was going to include a side of brussel sprouts, but I have been expressly forbidden from ever cooking, or ever thinking about cooking, those delightful mini-cabbages by my wonderful boyfriend. So I had to put my thinking cap on once again, and come up with another vegetarian option.

That's when the BBC came to my rescue. Turns out, on a survey of Brits, #4 in the Top 20 Most Hated Foods was...black pudding. Sounds disgusting enough. But when I searched, it turned out it was pig-based. There is also Black rice pudding, which looks just as disgusting, and yet seems like it might just be a wonderful lightly-sweet dessert. Black rice pudding is a Southasian dish, specifically Thai, and Epicurious had a wonderfully reviewed recipe at hand.

So thus, the menu was finalized as:
Slow-Roasted Cauliflower with Pounded Anchovies
Roasted Beat Salad with Feta and Walnuts
Thai Black Rice Pudding

Yuck!!

Fortunately, the results proved much more tasty than the dishes sounded. I had a few snafus with ingredients - namely, the only grocer I had time to visit on the way to my friend's house (where the meal this week was to be held) had neither black sticky rice nor actual sardines. Thus I ended up with canned salted anchovies. I adjusted the level of salt in the cauliflower dish, and decided to use brown rice instead of black sticky rice, and both dishes turned out like I'd wanted - strange but strangely pleasant.

The beets unfortunately proved impossible to cook all the way through, and ended up being a little crisp for my liking. My friend who is a beet-o-phile said they were still delicious, but the rest of us weren't quite convinced. My other diner-friend also contributed a delicious "everything" salad with crutons, garden veggies, spinach, craisins, and sesame that was very fresh, so I included a photo of that as well.

February 9, 2010

The Olympics are coming to Vancouver, and, as I'm going to be working evening shifts the entirity of the Games, I will inevitably have to take a hiatus from Tuesday night dinners. So for my final meal before said hiatus, I felt like I had to go all out with cuisine. This was going to need to expand beyond my tiny closet-kitchen. So I enlisted the help of one of my regular diners, who offered to host (his kitchen is a respectable size!).

For theme, I scoured the internet for holidays, celebrations, etc. I figured the meal would be kind of a good way to kick off what was sure to be two weeks of massive partying during the Olympics. I was in luck, because Tet is February 14, certainly close enough to justify cooking some classic Vietnamese cuisine. And nothing screams Vietnamese like Pho!

I've been meaning to go out for Pho since my aforementioned foodie former-roomate raved about it years ago. Unfortunately, most Pho is made with beef stock, and since I'm quite anti-beef, I hadn't made my way to finding a veggie - or at least chicken-based option. Luckily, I found a recipe for Vegetarian Pho. Lemongrass is also a key componant to Vietnamese cooking, and I found this delicious-sounding Lemongrass Tofu with Mushrooms. Then I figured I needed a spicy tropical salad, so I added a Cucumber Tomato and Pineapple Salad.



The Pho turned out fairly well. The broth, considering the lack of meat, was a very tasty flavour. The noodles I chose, unfortunately, never softened quite right, and ended up fairly doughy. I would make sure next time to use rice noodles. Also, this is definitely a time-consuming venture, and only to be attempted on days when you have more time! The Lemongrass Tofu was, on the otherhand, fairly easy to make and clean up. I think the recipe skimped on the lemongrass flavour, and I would modify it to try and infuse the tofu with that woody-citrus more. The salada was fantastic - very very spicy! In fact, the part that sang in this meal was the pineapple. For a great appetizer, you could just put the dressing on the pineapple and serve it in rings. It was the perfect blend of sweet, tangy and spicy!

It was definitely a treat to finally try Pho, and the motivation is on to find a vegetarian or chicken option, to try someone else's recipe. It was also a treat to cook in a real sized kitchen, and to have assistants for some of the lengthy prep for this meal!

January 5, 2010

A new development: my boyfriend got me a banjo for Christmas, so I will be participating in the band nights I used to just cook for. Thus, unless I happen to not be working on Tuesdays, meals will also be simple, ideally less-than-60-minute concoctions. Onto the original post!

It's the Kick-off Meal for my new blog! And since it's so soon after making New Years Resolutions, I thought I'd start with something quite healthy.

I'm a lurker on Epicurious, and I find their recipes are generally tasty and flavourful, but usually super rich and decadent. So I was really happy the other day when I saw this post about The Great American Detox Diet.

Now, I'm not a huge fan of extreme dieting, and I abhor the idea of the "Master Cleanse". But after the holidays, I can somewhat understand wanting to press the reset button on your body. And Alex Jamieson, Morgan Spurlocks likely-long-suffering wife (I would suffer if I had to put up with him on a regular basis!), focuses on vegan cooking, which always interests me as an eco-vegetarian with a lactose-intolerant boyfriend! So vegan food that doesn't taste like sauteed cardboard is always welcome (p.s., for more non-cardboard vegan recipes, check out this blog, by a friend of mine and long-time vegan).

So tonight I'm cooking a few recipes from Alex's website: her Fall Chili, and her Vegan Cornbread Muffins. Because who says you can't have healthy food and comfort food at the same time! When I was a vegan (an ill-advised year as a teenager, because I am simply not organized enough to keep up with nutrition!), and for years as a vegetarian, I relied on Nalley Vegetarian Chili for a cheap, filling, super quick meal. My old roommate also used to make a super tasty vegetarian chili from a box by [?]. And I've never tried cornbread, although I'm good at quickbreads in general (banana bread is in my arsenal of sweets that impress!). So here's how they turned out:


Overall, I totally plan on making this recipe again. The whole meal took maybe an hour from start to finish, and that's because I was dawdling. I will definitely make the cornbread again, as it was probably the easiest set of muffins short of using a box! I used a minimuffin pan, and cooked them for only 10 minutes, and they turned out perfect. A word to the wise, by flaxseed meal instead of flax seed, because it would probably be easier than trying to crush your own.

As for the chili, it makes a pretty good portion - we comfortably fed 4 people, since the meal with the corn bread is pretty filling. I substituted hot sauce for chili, added paprika, and used cayenne pepper instead of red pepper flakes. Also, I about doubled the amount of cumin, cayenne, and salt. But I always expect to have to double the seasoning if I'm cooking a "health food" recipe!