April 20, 2010

I was really searching for inspiration for dinner tonight, and I'm quite lucky, because my lovely partner handed it to me on a silver platter. He decided to turn tonight's event into a movie night as well - because he's been giddy about hosting friends to watch Død Snø, a Norwegian horror flick about Nazi-Zombies. Yes, you heard me right. So now I've been inspired to cook something that was completely off my radar - Norwegian food!

I've recently found a website that is glorious for any kind of "ethnic" or "traditional" cooking you want. And I've found two recipes here that will suffice for tonight. One is Ristet Laks Eller Orret, or Norwegian Sauteed Salmon or Trout. Sounds quite delicious. I would also like to attempt the Eplekake, or Apple Cake, which looks positively delicious. It's a question of if I get time!

Now, once again I was a bad blogger and forgot to take photos. But you'll have to believe me when I say that this was one of the better combinations of food I have served. Ever. The trout was goldenand delicious - moist, a bit tangy, and delicious with the breaded outside. The Eplekake, however, was the most delicious cake I have ever had. I will be making this frequently. It will definitely get added to the "special breads" category of any menu I make. I made two alterations to the ingredients. I didn't have creme de cacao, so I added a quarter cup of rum and some milk. Also, I completely forgot to add the icing sugar, but trust me when I say it was plenty sweet without it. I also cooked it in a loaf pan, which I think added to its moistness. It is a bread I think everyone should try!

April 13, 2010

Living in Vancouver, one learns to love Indian food. Especially being a vegetarian in Vancouver, which I was for about 4 years. However, my attempts at actually making Indian food are few and not exactly complicated. One can easily buy, at any grocer with an "ethnic foods" section, blocks-o-curry that can be tossed in with a stir fry. Not that said blocks-o-curry aren't delicious, but I wanted to try a dish with a bit more complication, something other than curry, something more on the traditional foods spectrum.

When I think Indian, I think Naan. Now I know Naan is traditionally made in a tandoori oven, which obviously I don't have. But I figured it's like pizza - tastes better when cooked that way, but possible to bake otherwise. So I found a lovely Naan recipe from the BBC by Anjum Anand. Anjum hosts BBC's Indian Food Made Easy, and a glance through many other Naan recipes, she is definitely right in her show title. Most other recipes call for strange ingrdients. Nothing in this recipe that one wouldn't stock in an ordinary kitchen.

Recently, I worked in an office with a woman who brought in her Indian mother-in-law's amazing homemade pakoras. I am a huge fan of pakoras, so I decided to see about making those. Unfortunately, I no longer work in that office (the nature of temp work!), and so I had to search about on my own. I'm lucky, and I live several blocks from Vancouver's Punjabi Market, so finding a market that sold the specialized ingredients required in Manjula's Bread Pakoras was not a problem.

And because a curry MUST be part of any Indian dish, I charged Alex, my most-frequent diner, to make a curry his girlfriend had recently raved to me about. Nothing like sharing duties to make me a little less stressed about winging a dish!

First off, I was not 100% satisfied with this Naan recipe. I think in future, I'm going to attempt some of the more complicated recipes. This turned out a bit more like pita than Naan, which I attribute entirely to the fact that the bread never rose to twice its original size. I gave it two attempts, and left each for over an hour to sit. They rose nary an inch. And when looking at the actual recipe, it's hard to see what would make it rise. My bread-chemistry knowledge is low, but something didn't seem right.

Other than that, Alex's curry was delicious! We served it over a bit of saffron-rice. It was spicy and flavourful, and the chunks of yam were perfectly cooked. And the pakoras. Oh the pakoras. I think I will be making these again, though not often, because I think my arteries clogged from just looking at the amount of oil I was using! I'm not a fan of deep-frying, but these were definitely something that made me want to take it up!

April 6, 2010

I grew up in the United States, on the West Coast, which of course means I grew up eating tons of Mexican food. Or rather, I grew up eating "Tex-Mex", the delicious combination of rice, beans, tortillas, tomatoes, avocados, and meat that Americans like to pass off as "ethnic" food. And you'll get no apologies from me for that, because I love it. It's one of the things I miss most living in Canada - the serious lack of Mexican food up here.

I was inspired recently by Serious Eats' Eggplant-Almond Enchilada recipe. I love enchiladas, but a vegetarian alternative can be difficult to find, other than just bean and cheese, which is rather boring.

I also thought this other recipe for Mint-Chili Grilled Artichokes looked like it would compliment the enchiladas well. To beef up the "Mexican" theme, I threw on some box-Spanish-rice, and some canned refried beans, garnished with avocado, and we had a proper "Tex-Mex" feast, complete with WAY too much food!



Before I get to my review of the recipes, I have to mention our appetizer/drink of the evening. Garreth, a frequent diner, lived in Spain for awhile and brought over fixings for Calimocho, a mix of red wine and coke that's like the Basque version of iced tea or sangria. Let me tell you now, I am planning for this to be my drink of choice for the summer. It is positively delicious, and will be so perfect with some frozen citrus slices on a hot summer day.

Now, onto the reviews. The enchiladas were FANTASTIC. They were quite healthy and filling, if they weren't so damn tasty I gorged myself on them! They did take a significant amount of prep time. Making homemade enchilada sauce is not for the pressed-for-time. It takes about an hour or so, but it is well worth the effort. And the eggplant mix was a good substitute for meat, since it had a similar texture. I will definitely be making these again.

The artichokes, unfortunately, didn't turn out. Their flavour was fantastic, spicy and minty, all around good. But the recipe didn't really specify if it was intended for the artichokes whole or hearts. I think grilling up the hearts in the spices, and adding the mint and chilis a bit earlier would make for a better result. In the end they were too tough to eat, and not quite flavourful enough.