Where did it go?

Lately, I haven't been much of a chef or an eater. I seem to have lost my desire to enjoy the beauty of food. Life is rather confusing for me right now. I'm at the end of a fork in the road. The destination of either path is unknown. I'm not scared, I'm not angry, I'm just...I'm out of feelings. I'm indifferent. I have no preferences or desires. Hence, my penchant for cooking and great tasting things has disappeared. Fear not my friends, based on past experiences, this should be temporary.

My current diet consists of coffee and Kashi Go Lean cereal, minus the lactose free milk. I've been too preoccupied to even do groceries.

Do you tend to eat more when you're sad or happy? I eat more when I'm at peace with myself. I seldom lose my appetite, even when I'm sick, or I'm grieving over a death, I still eat and with gusto, mind you. Right now, I can't injest anything.

Excuse me while I make a cup of coffee.

Baked Potato Fries

Since I've been pretty busy with cleaning and redecorating my room, I haven't had much time to do anything else, ie. buying groceries. So without much to choose from in my fridge, I take out a few potatoes and stare at them for a minute. During that minute, I stare at the potatoes and they stare at me. Then finally, I hear: "Bake me like a fry!" Who am I to say no?


Ingredients:
4 potatoes (any kind will do)
1 clove of garlic
4 tablespoons of olive oil
3/4 cup of flour
sea salt
pepper
paprika
juice of 2 lemon slices
herbs, seasoning of your choice
nutmeg
I haven't included measurements for the spices because it is entirely up to the chef.

Directions:
1) Wash potatoes. Leave the skin on.
2) Slice potatoes into long rectangular slices (like a fry, duh).
3) In a bowl, add potato slices, sqeeze lemon juice, add olive oil, sea salt, pepper, paprika, nutmeg, other herbs and seasoning that you enjoy.
4) Mix well to ensure that each fry is coated in oil and spices.
5) Add flour to the fries, just enough to be "dusted."
6) Line baking tray with wax paper.
7) Put fries on the tray, and try not to let them overlap as much as possible.
8) Sprinkle on chopped garlic and if you'd like, more flour. The flour gives it a crispier and thicker texture.
9) Bake in oven for 30 minutes at 350C.
10)Let it cool for a few minutes before you devour them.

Pasta Amore

It would be a very long list if I had to list all the reasons why pasta was so good. We'll just leave it that pasta is so good. =) I woke up at 12:45pm with a hankering for something filling and warm. I looked in my pantry and found some rotini pasta calling my name. I happily obliged and cooked away.


Ingredients:
2 cups of rotini pasta
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 chicken breast fillet, sliced
6 grape tomatoes, cut in half
2 tablespoons of cream
1 cup of milk (I use skim)
3 tablespoons of broth (I use vegetable)
3 small chunks of blue cheese
3 small chunks of baby parmesan cheese (you don't need to grate it because it melts in the pan)
3 teaspoons of corn starch
1 teaspoon of chili flakes
a little bit of lemon zest
lots of black pepper, salt to taste

Directions:
1) Boil pasta. I'm not going to teach you how to do that. Just read the package instructions!
2) In a pan, heat up olive oil, then add garlic when oil is heated.
3) Add chicken, lemon zest, salt and pepper to taste.
4) Add tomatoes.
5) Add cream and broth. Stir vigorously.
6) In a cup, pour in milk and add corn starch. Stir and make sure there are no clumps. Add in pan.
7) Keep stiring everything in the pan. The sauce should be thickening at this point.
8) Add blue and parmesan cheese into the pan. Keep stirring.
9) Smell it and tell me you don't love it.
10) Add chili flakes, salt, pepper. This step is optional.
11) After rinsing the pasta in cold water and straining the water, add pasta into the pan.
12) Stir and make sure the pasta is coated in the sauce.


This serves 2-3 people.

A Quiche in 5 Bites

5 Bite Quiche, 2 if you're hungry.

I was invited to go to my friend's house for dinner, so I decided to make something that was people friendly and easy to eat. I was also really tired from buying new furniture and cleaning all day, so it had to be something easy to make.

Ingredients:
4 eggs
12 personal unsweetened pie shells (I get the no name kind)
2 basil leaves, chopped
1/2 cup of Balderson's strong cheddar cheese, grated
1/4 cup of Baby Paremesan cheese, grated
6 grape tomatoes cut in half
*1 chunk of proscuitto cut into many more tiny chunks

*I hate measurements.

Directions:
1) In a mixing bowl, crack all 4 eggs and whisk. Add salt and pepper to taste. Personally, I skip the salt because the proscuitto is very salty.
2) Add basil, proscuitto and both cheeses into the bowl. Whisk, whisk and whisk some more!
*I know most quiche recipes use Swiss cheese, but I'm not a fan, so yeah, cheddar it is.
3) Pre-heat the oven (I use a convection oven) for 10 minutes at 350C.
3) Pour the contents of the bowl into the pie shells. Don't let it get too full because the egg will rise when you bake it.
4) Top each quiche with a grape tomato half.
5) Bake for 25 minutes at 350C.


You know what? The funny thing is that I completely forgot to bring them with me to the dinner. I only realized this as I was pulling up to the house. *sigh*

My favourite fried rice

The golden rule for making fried rice is to use day old rice. This is so the rice is not mushy but instead dry and seperated. Sometimes we'll order Chinese food take out and it comes with 2 take out boxes full of rice. With so much white rice left over, there's only one thing to make!

What I love about fried rice is that you can eat it at any time. You can have it for lunch, dinner, Winter, Summer, pretty much whenever you want. This is another one of my soul foods. Some people have their grilled cheese, I have my fried rice.

Fried rice is as versatile as a sandwich. You can put anything in there and it will go (for the most part). Today's ingredients are my favourites when it comes to fried rice. Here they are:


Ingredients:
1 large bowl of day old white rice
2 tsp. of chicken broth
2 tsp. of soy sauce
1/4 cup of chopped red onions
1/4 cup of chopped green onions
1/4 pound of BBQ pork, chopped
1 egg
pepper to taste, again, I don't like to add salt because the soy sauce takes care of that

Directions:
Scramble an egg, then cook it in a pan under low heat. Use your spatula to cut up the egg into strips (no need to be neat here) directly on the pan.
Add in red onions and half of your green onions to the pan to saute.
Add in BBQ pork.
Add rice. Make sure you seperate the rice with your fingers and do not leave clumps.
Add chicken broth and soy sauce.
Add pepper, and perhaps salt to taste.
Top rice with remaining green onions.
Enjoy!

Pret a Manger

While we're on the topic of London...
There's a chain of cafe-like cafes called "Pret a Manger" which translates from French into "ready to eat." It's a place where you can grab n' go, or stay a while to enjoy the scenery (people watching to the max!). I would say that they appeal to the health concious yuppy, in a hurry to feed themselves so they can get on with making more money. I'm defintely in favour of their health concious ways even though I don't consider myself a yuppy by any means (that's a whole other battle).

Pret a Manger is home to fresh squeezed orange juice (my favourite!), flavoured fruit teas, gourmet sandwiches, soups, wraps, yogourt, salads, muffins, just to name a few.
I tried to eat at Pret as many times as I could because I knew that I wouldn't be able to find anything as good here in Toronto (Sorry, Hogtown). My favourite item by far was the "Hoisin Duck Wrap." This was a tortilla wrapped with slivers of Chinese BBQ duck meat (skin on) doused with hoisin (a thick and sweet Chinese sauce), red onions, cucumbers, leaf spinach. There was some mayonaise on it as well, but I wasn't such a fan of that. This is because I consider mayonaise to be my antithesis. You know how kryptonite is to Superman? Well, that's what mayonaise is to me.

Here is the link to this particular wrap: http://www.pret.com/menu/baguettes_wraps/1765.shtm

I've been reading up on their food philosophies and I can't agree more! If there was a Pret in Canada, I would eat there everyday.

For further knowledge on this wonderful establishment:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pret_a_Manger
http://www.pret.com/our_food/eat_with_your_head/

British food: Yay or Nay?

This is a picture taken at an Irish pub when I was in London last summer (July '06). All I've ever heard about British food was that it was bland and rather boring. Just how boring could it be? I had to give it a try to find out for myself.

In the picture, we've got steak and kidney pie to the left, Guiness beef stew in the far back, and good ol' fish n' chips to the right. Oh, and you can't forget the Mexican beer (Corona)!

The verdict: It tastes like how it looks. There are certainly no surprises here. I suppose it is decent and certainly edible, but I'd choose me some bibimbap or a hamburger any day. I just find British food to be rather heavy and fattening. If I were a full-time vegetarian, it would be hard to find something in a pub. I guess British food isn't really for the health concious. Goodness, they serve so much meat, even in the morning! So many things are made out of lard, but I have to admit, lard makes things taste so much better.

I think my favourite thing to eat in England are the pastries. I love the flaky dough of the Cornish pasties and sausage rolls. Pastries to England are like hotdogs to Toronto. The first thing I ate when I stepped off the plane was a Cornish pasty filled with something so good that I can't remember. If I lived in London, I would probably live off these things. So filling and cheap! I would probably also resemble Bridget Jones in the weight department too.


What are your thoughts on British food?

Did you know?:

In 1762, the sandwich was invented in England.
There is a town named Sandwich in the south of England. John Montagu, the Earl of Sandwich invented a small meal that could be eaten with one hand while he continued his nonstop gambling.

Diva's Spankopita

This is an old picture that I came across while browsing through my food photos. I made this in March of this year when I was visiting my friend Min in Seattle. We mostly ate out (to my dismay), but there was one night when we had and old friend and his wife come over for dinner. Although it was his kitchen, I was appointed head chef. I must say that he made an excellent sous chef, as he would help me chop and clean up everything while I cooked. I LOVE cooking without cleaning.

I have to admit that I felt a bit of pressure as he sprung this dinner thing on me at the last minute. He also told them that I was a good cook, so there was added pressure to maintain my reputation. Thankfully, my creative spirit pulled through and I was able to make a successful dinner.

Today, I plan to share the appetizer I made. I'm a huge fan of the Greek pastry; Spankopita. This is my own take on it, and I really had to make do with what I had, so it was rather improvised.

Ingredients:
Store bought flaky pie pastry (Oh the shame of it not coming from scratch)
1/2 a bag of spinach
1/2 red onion
1 container (500g) of feta cheese
1 dash of marsala wine
1 pinch of dried oregano
pepper to taste, no salt because the feta cheese is really salty

Directions for the pie shell:
Roll out dough. Put it in a round pan. Continue to knead with fingers (as opposed to toes). Pinch out ripples for the crust.

Directions for the filling:
Heat pan with olive oil and garlic. Saute onions, and spinach at a med-low heat. Add a dash of marsala wine, this is totally optional but I just couldn't help myself because it was a really nice bottle and I wanted to try it out. =) The adding of the marsala was indeed a huge risk because a little goes a long way with this extra sweet, dry, Italian sherry. Fortunately, it gave this dish a unique and unexpected flavour.
At a low heat, add 3/4 of the feta cheese into the pan. Cook for 2 minutes. You can add the pepper any time you want, or you can do what I do, and add some at the beginning and some at the end. Add oregano at any time as well. =)

Pour filling into the pie crust. Top with the remaining 1/4 container of feta cheese.

Directions for baking:
Preheat oven for 10 minutes at 350 C.
Bake for 25-30 minutes at 350 C or until crust is golden brown and the top looks crispy.

If anyone has a name suggestion for this dish, please let me know!

Leftover Lasagna

This is a four layer lasagna that I made from mainly leftovers. This recipe is neither inventive or gourmet by any means. This is a soulful, feel good meal to bring you out of any funk. Lasagna definitely makes it to the top ten of my soul food list. What's your soul food?

Ingredients:
6 boiled lasagna pasta sheets
1 pack of ground beef or last night's meat loaf
1 zucchini (because it's what I found in the fridge)
1/2 red onion chopped
2 roma tomatoes chopped
6 grape tomatoes chopped
1 cup of sliced mushrooms
2 large handfuls of rapini (Italian bitter green, kind of like Chinese greens)
1 container of ricotta cheese
1 cup of grated mozarella cheese
1/4 cup of grated parmesan cheese
1/2 can of tomato paste
Garlic, basil, salt, pepper to taste

The sauce:
Saute garlic, onions, tomatoes, mushrooms, basil and tomato paste. Add 1 cup of water. Cook under low-medium heat for 10 minutes, enjoy the beauty of simmering. =) Add salt and pepper to taste. You may even want to add red pepper flakes. I also like to add a drop of balsamic vinegar and 1/4 cup of red wine.

The filling:
Add Zuchini, ground beef, rapini to the sauce. Cook for another 7 minutes at medium heat. Turn off the stove and add ricotta cheese. We don't want the ricotta to melt completely, but just to be blended in nicely with the rest of the filling.

The layering:
In a long, deep pan, add a splash or two of olive oil. Place lasagna pasta sheets horizontally to cover the base of the entire pan. Spoon in sauce to cover the entire pan. Add mozarella cheese, but make sure you have enough to top the top with. Repeat layering instructions until you've reached the top. In general, lasagas are 4-6 layers high. Make sure you top the lasagna generously with mozarella and paremesan cheese.



Food to my soul.

Sky in a Pie (Summer Berry Pie)

With the insistance of my friend Shelley, we spent the afternoon making a pie. I'm not one for sweets, thus, I seldom make them. Also, baking requires precise measurements, and we all know that I'm not about that. Thankfully, Shelley is, thus, we created a picture perfect pie.

Pie Pastry:
We made the pastry dough from scratch. The recipe was found here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Pastry-for-Double-Pie-Crust/Detail.aspx
We added a tsp of sugar to it too.


I think the most fun part was cutting out stars (by hand) to top the pie with!

Now onto the filling:
We bought a container of President's Choice frozen berries. We let it unthaw as much as possible but without worry because the water will help add to the syrup that is needed. So we added 1/2 a cup of sugar and 3/4 tsp of starch.
*If we could change one thing, it would be to add 1 cup of sugar instead of half. The berries were rather tart. Let's call this a rookie mistake.



This is Shelley in a serious baking mood.


The Making of the Pie:

I feel silly for stating the obvious, but I suppose I must. First, you line the pan with dough, pinch the sides to make the "ripple." Then you pour in the filling and top the pie with more dough. Although the traditional lattice (criss cross) pattern is easier to make, we opted to use stars for esthetic reasons and because it was tons of fun!

Baking directions:
Preheat the oven for 20 minutes at 350 C.
Wrap pie crust with tin foil so it won't burn.
Bake for 20 minutes.
Remove tin foil from crust.
Bake for another 20 minutes or until pie is golden brown.
Let it cool for at least 20 minutes before enjoying. =)