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Restaurant / Seafood / Vikram Vij — View Comments
7
May 10

Vij’s::Prawns in Coconut Masala

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I live in Toronto and while I’ve never been to Vij’s in Vancouver, I had heard a lot about it from my friends in Vancouver. It is consistently ranked as the top restaurant in Vancouver. So I decided that since I couldn’t easily go there myself, I could do the next best thing – bring Vij’s into my home by cooking his recipe. I chose the Prawns in Coconut Masala recipe because I love prawns, and the simplicity of the recipe. Here’s some words of advice from Vij via the Vancouver Sun: “This can be served as an appetizer or as part of a meal with naan or rice. You can substitute canola oil for ghee, but you’ll lose some of the flavour. The recipe follows a French style of cooking, where the prawns are cooked with the sauce.” I used canola oil instead of ghee because I didn’t have time, but I will definitely try ghee next time as the flavour was a bit subtle.

Summary

Preparation Time: 20 min
Cook Time: 10 min
Servings: 6 servings.
Meal type: Appetizer / Main

Recipe Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Ingredients

  • 30 prawns, shelled and deveined
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • 2 tablespoons ghee or canola oil

    • Chef’s Tip: You can substitute canola oil for ghee, but you’ll lose some of the flavour. I used canola oil. See below for the recipe for ghee.

  • ½ teaspoon cumin seeds
  • 2 large onions, chopped
  • 3 large ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
  • 2 tablespoons coconut milk, stirred
  • 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons chopped green chilies
  • 3 bunches green onions, white and green parts, chopped

Instructions

1. Place prawns in a colander and rinse under cold water. Allow excess water to drain. In a bowl, combine prawns and 1 teaspoon of the salt. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside in the refrigerator while you are making the coconut masala.
2. In a large frying pan, melt ghee on medium-high heat (or heat oil for 1 minute). Add cumin seeds and allow them to sizzle for 30 seconds.

3. Add onions and saute 5 to 8 minutes, or until dark brown but not burned.

4. Stir in tomatoes, coconut milk, vinegar, chilies and the remaining 1 teaspoon of salt. Cook for 5 minutes or until tomatoes are cooked through. Add green onions and stir well.
5. Add prawns, stirring constantly, until they become pinkish orange. This will take about 3 minutes. Immediately remove from heat.

6. To serve, place 5 prawns on each of six small shallow plates. Top each serving with one-sixth of the coconut masala. Alternatively, divide the coconut masala evenly among six small shallow plates, then top with 5 prawns per plate.

Recipe for Ghee (Clarified Butter)

Ingredients

  • 1 pound unsalted butter

Instructions
1. Melt butter in small, heavy pot on medium heat. Once melted, reduce the heat slightly and boil gently for 5 minutes.
2. Using a small sieve, scoop out the solids that are floating on top. Continue gently boiling butter and scooping the floating solids every 3 minutes. Scoop carefully so you remove only the solids and not the actual ghee that is forming. You will notice the butter changes slowly from a creamy light yellow to a clear golden liquid with fewer solids.
3. After 10 to 13 minutes, the ghee will start to foam. Using the sieve, scoop through the foam to make sure you have removed all of the solids. Once the foam reduces, you will have a clear golden liquid. This is ghee. Turn off the heat and allow ghee to cook for abut 20 minutes.
4. Pour ghee into a jar with a tight-fitting lid. Once it is completely cool, refrigerate. It will keep refrigerated in an air-tight container for 3 months (or longer).

Variations

I liked this a lot for shrimp, but I could see this working with other types of seafood too, such as white fish and scallops. I actually found this recipe similar to Caju’s Moqueca Stew.

Results


The Prawns in Coconut Masala was very good, but I found the flavours a bit too subtle when served with rice. I usually like very strong flavours in my stews and curries when pairing them with rice since rice is so bland. I think this would be better served as an appetizer on its own. I found the recipe really easy and simple. I think next time I make this to serve with rice I may add more spices to it but it’s great as an appetizer!

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Alex Rotherham / Chef / Vancouver Dine Out / Vegetarian — View Comments
27
Apr 10

Darby’s Cottage Salad by Chef Alex Rotherham

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Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast)

cottage salad
I went to visit Darby’s since it was one of the deals ($18) that stood out in the Vancouver Dine Out listing. Darby’s has always been the neighbourhood pub to go to to watch hockey games but I never heard anything about the food here. Darby’s has been undergoing major changes to their food menu, spear headed by Chef Alex Rotherham.

I met Chef Alex Rotherham and tried his Cottage Salad and Hangover Burger (both on the Dine Out menu!) and was thoroughly impressed by how all the sauces – vinaigrette, salsa, hot sauce – were made in house and how creative and passionate Chef Alex is about food!

Darbys Burger
The burgers have rectangular 100% beef chuck patties made in-house. Kudos to Chef Alex for coming up with the shape, both to fit in a ciabatta bun meant for sandwiches and to subtly show customers that the patty aren’t mass-produced. Stay tuned for how to make the Darby’s hangover burger in another post.

Alex Rotherham
It was great to hear from Chef Alex about his experiences at Macaroni Grill, opening his own restaurant, and frequent travels to London. Alex is really bright and creative and is using his skills to enhance restaurant menus by keeping things simple and fresh. His word of advice for new home chefs is to keep it simple. Use no more than 4 or 5 ingredients and don’t try making complicated things like soufflés until you’re ready.

I know it’s a little odd to be coming to the bar and ordering the Cottage Salad, but you must try this one – broccoli, chickpeas, cottage cheese, cranberries, and salsa prove to be a healthy and tasty combination. It might balance out that beer you’re drinking. Don’t take my word for it – try it as part of Dine Out…or try making it at home first because we got the recipe for you below! Combining the salad is the easy part – making the individual ingredients might take some time. Chef Alex makes the cottage cheese, salsa and herb vinaigrette from scratch and has been kind enough to show us how. In case it’s too time consuming, you can always buy these things at the grocery store. Just keep in mind how much sodium and preservatives are in the store-bought version versus making it at home with fresh ingredients!

Here’s a video of Chef Alex making the Cottage Salad:

Summary

Preparation Time: 10 mins
Cook Time: 5 mins (blanching)
The times are assuming that the chick peas are cooked, and salsa, cottage cheese and herb vinaigrette are already made. See the sub-recipes for how long those take.
Servings: 1 large salad entree
Meal type: Side or Entree

Recipe Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Ingredients for Salad

  • 2 cups (~200g) broccoli
  • 1/4 cup cooked chickpeas
  • 1 Tbsp of sun dried cranberries
    Chef’s tip: Sun dried and dried/dehydrated cranberries are not the same – get sun dried if you can. You can blanch cranberries before serving too.
  • 1/2 cup cottage cheese*
  • 1 Tbsp of herb vinaigrette*
  • 1/2 cup salsa*

Instructions for Salad

1. Bring a pot of water to boil.
2. Put broccoli florets into water for 15 seconds.
3. Remove and soak in cold water immediately.
This is how to blanch the broccoli so that it’s cooked but still crunchy.
4. Put all ingredients in a salad bowl and mix evenly. Try not to overcoat the salad with the dressing.

Results

We have yet to make this recipe at home and regret that we don’t have pictures of each of the ingredients in the salad but wanted to share the recipe with you for the start of Dine Out. We did get to try the cottage salad at Darby’s after Chef Alex demonstrated it and it was really good. The broccoli, chick peas, salsa, cottage cheese, and vinaigrette give the salad a lot of different textures and flavours that all work together. We could see this becoming part of our weekly meals!

Below are recipes for each of the home made ingredients to the salad provided by Chef Alex Rotherham.

Home made Cottage Cheese

I didn’t realize how simple it is to make cottage cheese at home. Chef Alex informed me how much preservatives and salt is added to the cottage cheese you buy in the grocery store. He wanted to experiment with making cheese last year and created this salad to go with the cheese – these instructions look so easy! Make sure you get skim milk, not whole milk – whole milk has chemicals that specifically don’t allow it to separate. I haven’t tried this yet, but will soon.

This cheese will last 2 weeks if kept refrigerated.

Ingredients for Cottage Cheese

  • 4L of skimmed milk
    Chef’s tip: ONLY use skim milk
  • 1/2 cup lemon juice
  • 1/2 cup vinegar
  • 1 tsp of sea salt

Instructions for Cottage Cheese

1. Set up a mixing bowl over a pot of boiling water.
2. Put salt and milk into the mixing bowl.
3. Heat milk to 80°C. The milk must reach this temperature but be careful not to go any hotter than that because it will scorch.
4. When it reaches that temperature, slowly add lemon juice and vinegar.
5. Gently stir with a rubber spatula.
6. It will take a few seconds for the milk to separate and cheese to form a large mass, stop stirring and remove from heat.
Note: the liquid will all turn yellow. This is normal.
7. Allow curds to settle to the bottom of the pan (about 5 minutes)
8. Strain off the liquid. This can be used for cream soups and cream sauces.
9. Place curds into a fine strainer or several layers of cheese cloth.
10. Cool the cheese in the refrigerator for 25-30 minutes.
11. Once fully formed, turn out onto cutting board and cut into small cubes at 1oz per serving.

Fresh Herb Vinaigrette

Home-made vinaigrettes don’t last very long, but they are surely more flavourful, fresh and don’t have all the salt and preservatives like the ones that are store bought. If fresh herbs are in season, it is definitely cheaper to make this at home, not to mention more rewarding.

This makes a 500mL (16oz) bottle of dressing.

Ingredients for Vinaigrette

  • 2 cups of canola oil
  • 1 cup (40g) of basil
  • 1/2 cup (20g) of arugula
  • 1 1/2 cup (60g) of parsley
  • 2 tsp of honey
  • 1/6 tsp of cayenne pepper
  • 1/4 tsp of sea salt
  • 1/2 cup of vinegar

Instructions for Vinaigrette

1. Combine all ingredients, except for vinegar, in a blender.
2. Blend and slowly pour vinegar while blending.
3. Transfer into bottle and store in the fridge.

Fresh Salsa

This recipe from Darby’s also uses a home-made hot sauce recipe, which isn’t provided. I find that store bought salsa is either never hot enough or too hot for my taste so I do enjoy making my own salsa. You can also make it as chunky as you’d like.

This recipe will yield about 2.5 cups of salsa.

Ingredients for Salsa

  • 1 can (2 cups, 14.5oz) Diced tomatoes
  • 1 medium onion (1 cup) diced red onions
  • 6 tbsp chopped parsley
  • 2 tsp hot sauce
  • 1/4 tsp sea salt
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper

Instructions for Salsa

1. Combine all ingredients into a stainless steel mixing bowl.
2. Mix well and transfer into a container to refrigerate.

Darby's Pub on Urbanspoon

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Rating: 5.0/5 (1 vote cast)

Beef / Recipe / Side Dish / Vancouver Dine Out — View Comments
26
Apr 10

Thai House: Yum Nua

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Veggies

We found some recipes on the Thai House website. There are many restaurants in Vancouver under the Thai House family and many of them are participating in Vancouver Dine Out this week.

Many of the recipes call for getting curry from Thai House which is a major time saver! We decided to try one that didn’t require curry. Here’s a beef salad recipe that was quick and easy to make. Thai House, thanks so much for posting some great recipes on your website.

Summary

Preparation Time: 15 mins (cutting veggies)
Cook Time: 15 mins (preparing the sirloin steak)
Servings: 2 as a full meal, 4 if served as a side
Meal type: salad
Grocery Cost: $10.50

Recipe Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Ingredients

Veggies

  • 1 lb of top sirloin beef ($6.00; I bought slightly more than 1 lb)
  • 1/4 head of lettuce ($0.30)
  • 1/2 cucumber ($0.60)
  • 1/2 onion ($0.50)
  • 2 whole tomatoes ($1.40)
  • 1/2 shallot ($1.00)
  • 3 fresh red chilli peppers ($0.20)
  • 5 mint leaves ($0.10)
  • 1/4 cup fresh cilantro ($0.20)
  • 3 limes ($2.00)
  • 1 tbs white or palm sugar (I used brown sugar because that’s what I had in my cupboard)
  • 4 tbs fish sauce
  • 1 tsp light soy sauce

Instructions

1. Barbeque or grill the beef. The method I always use for making steaks is to pan-fry at high heat on a cast-iron skillet to get the outside browned and then stick the entire pan in the oven at 500F to cook the inside.

Pan-frying the steak

2. Cut the beef into thin almost bite-size pieces.
Slice the sirloin steak

3. Thinly slice the red chilli peppers. I remove most of the seeds, but you can leave them in if you want.
4. Wash all vegetables and then slice them into bite-size pieces.
5. Add all the vegetables into a mixing bowl along with the sliced steak.
6.In a separate small bowl, mix the fish sauce, soy sauce, and sugar. Add to the mixing bowl.
7.Cut the 3 limes in half and then hand squeeze the juice over the salad. I squeezed the juice in with the other sauce ingredients in the small bowl so I could taste it and adjust accordingly. It turns out that I only needed 1 decent-size lime and it was enough to balance out the saltiness of the fish sauce and soy sauce. I think 3 would have been too much for me, so you can experiment and see how much lime juice and sugar you need to balance everything out.
Making the dressing
8.Toss everything together and enjoy!
Combine

Results

Yum Nua

WOW, I was kind of surprised how easy it was to make this salad! I’ve ordered it before at two different thai restaurants in Victoria and Vancouver and enjoyed the combination of flavours. I think the mint and cilantro are really important in giving this dish it’s distinct taste. Although the recipe only asks for 5 mint leaves, I actually added more like 12 and it was good. I think 5 would have been too little for this much salad. I may have also added a bit more cilantro than called for! As a variation, I actually put half of the chopped red onion and shallot on the skillet for a bit as well to cut down on the sharp red onion and shallot flavour, which I find overpowering sometimes.

This salad is easy to make and a really good switch from your regular everyday salad. I would definitely make this again!

Thai House (Robson) on Urbanspoon

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Chef / Chicken / Dave Woolfall / Restaurant — View Comments
7
Apr 10

La Pommeraie Bistro: Scrumpy Chicken Pot Pie

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Scrumpy Chicken Pot Pie at La Pommeraie
Driving through the rolling hills of Cowichan Valley, we went in search of Merridale Estate Cidery in Cobble Hill. We arrived at our destination after making a few turns off Highway 1 and following the small Merridale apple signs. Merridale has been open since 1990 with a few recent additions which make it a culinary treat! A brick oven was built outside by the patio and is now used to make all their bakery goodies by their Master Baker Alain Bousseau and to make pizzas during the summer months. A major addition to Merridale was La Pommeraie Bistro, which was opened in 2005 to serve food that would highlight the already popular ciders being offered at the ciderhouse.

Chef Woolfall and the brick oven

We decided to enjoy our lunch out on the sunny enclosed patio where we could see rows and rows of apple trees. The menu is simple and they incorporate seasonal changes. We settled on three dishes to try: the Scrumpy Chicken Pot Pie and the Lamb Burger, and a special Seafood Pot Pie.

Of course, we couldn’t eat here without also ordering the cider flights.

Cider Flights

It was fun to try all the different ciders and to taste the flavour and textural differences. It was a collection of 6 ciders arranged in order from the very dry Cidre Normandie to the sweet Cyser. The Somerset cider really did taste like champagne and the Merri Berri, a cider mixed with unfermented berries and fruits, was a general favourite and can luckily be found in most liquor stores.

We were happy to get a chance to meet Chef Dave Woolfall, who came out to talk to us. We never expected to meet such a skilled chef of international fame right here on Vancouver Island. He has been cooking for 30 years in London, France, Israel before recently coming to White Rock and now Vancouver Island to be reunited with the love of his life from highschool. He has also ran restaurants with Michelin Stars and AA Rosettes in London!

He imparted some words of wisdom for home cooks like us:
When starting out, don’t copy Gordon Ramsey or famous chef recipes with 20 ingredients. Keep it simple. Those recipes are complicated on purpose – If everyone could make his food, he wouldn’t be so famous.

I like that because keeping it simple means less dishes in the kitchen for me to wash up and unknown ingredients to buy! He also gave us this other little tip:
Don’t try to make the food look like the pictures in cookbooks or magazines. Restaurants and chefs pay a lot of money to make food look good. Focus on the taste.

I can safely say that I’ve tried to copy recipes and came out at the end wondering why mine didn’t look as good as theirs! I’ll keep this excellent piece of advice in mind for next time.

Below is the recipe for Scrumpy Chicken Pot Pie that Chef Woolfall happily shared with us.

Summary

Preparation Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 1 hour
Servings: 5 to 6
Meal Type: Lunch/Dinner
Total Cost: $44.30

Recipe Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Ingredients

  • 5 free-range chicken breasts, diced ($17.00; mine were not free-range)
  • 750mL Scrumpy cider from Merridale Ciderworks ($12.10)
  • 500mL concentrated chicken stock ($1.50; I used chicken broth)
    Cider and Stock
  • 3 large carrots, diced ($0.70)
  • 1/2 head celery, diced ($0.75)
  • 1 medium onion, diced ($1.30)
  • 1lb. crimini mushrooms, sliced ($4.50)
    Vegetables
  • 1/4 cup smooth Dijon mustard ($0.85)
  • 1/8 cup tarragon ($0.75)
  • 500mL heavy cream ($2.25)
  • flour/water mix to thicken the soup ($0.10; I used approximately 1/4 cup flour)
    tarragon, heavy cream, mustard, flour mix
  • puff pastry or pie crust ($2.50)

Procedure

1. Bring the stock and Merridale cider to a boil.
2. Add the diced chicken and cook until the meat is just firm. Remove and set meat aside. I let the chicken cook in the stock for about five minutes.
Chicken cooking in stock
3. Add the vegetables and mushrooms to the stock and cook until they just retain a bite. Remove and set aside. The vegetables took a little longer than the meat and I let it cook in the stock for about 15 minutes.
Vegetables cooking in stock
4. Add the tarragon, mustard and cream to the stock and bring to a full boil. I couldn’t find fresh tarragon anywhere… Not even sure if it’s available fresh anywhere, so I used dried tarragon.
Spiced stock
5. Mix some flour with water and whisk this into the stock to thicken it. Make sure the liquid is thick enough to support the ingredients inside the pie. It shouldn’t have a thin, soupy consistency. I happened to only have whole wheat flour at home, but I think it would have worked much better with white flour. I just made sure that the flour/water mix was quite thin, which allowed the bigger particles of whole wheat to fall to the bottom of my cup, which I then disposed of after carefully pouring in the liquid portion. Point? Use white flour!
6. Add the chicken and vegetables back to the pot. Simmer for 10 minutes to allow the flavours to mix.
Simmering chicken and vegetables in the pot
7. Divide between pie dishes. Make sure you are using oven-safe dishes!
8. Top with your favourite pastry. La Pommeraie uses puff pastry for their version, but you can use short crust, if you’d like!
9. Put the dish in the oven to bake the pastry and brown the crust. It took about 20 minutes at 400C for mine to turn out.
pie in oven

Results

Scrumpy Chicken Pot Pie

I was actually surprised that I didn’t have to add any salt to it at all, but it had so much flavour already. I found it to be a little too rich so I would add less whipping cream next time. Mine doesn’t look like La Pommeraie’s, but hey, it tastes good and that’s what matters for now! I put an estimated time of 1.5 hours to make this, but I’m fairly slow at chopping vegetables and cooking in general. Thank you so much to the staff at Merridale Estate Cidery and a big thank you to Chef Dave Woolfall for taking time during a busy afternoon lunchtime to chat with us and take us out to the brick oven patio. La Pommeraie is easily one of our top favourite restaurants on the Island and we’ll be back!

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Main / Recipe / Restaurant / Side Dish / Vikram Vij — View Comments
2
Apr 10

Vij’s Lamb Popsicles

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Rating: 3.0/5 (3 votes cast)

YouCook recently visited Vij’s in Vancouver and tried the legendary Vij’s Lamb Popsicles. We got the recipe for Vij’s Lamb Popsicles and cooked it in our Test Kitchen in Toronto. These lamb popsicles have been so popular that it continues to stay on the menu year after year. Below is the photo from one of multiple Lamb Popsicle dishes that we ordered during our visit. Tell us how you plate it!

I think I’ve invented the next big home cooking trend! Do you find yourself constantly rushed for time? Wish you could prepare a fresh meal after a long day of work but just don’t have the time? Need a new culinary challenge? Well now there’s…car cooking!!

Vij’s recipe calls for two to four hours of marinating the lamb but my schedule didn’t allow me to get home to marinate the meat in time for dinner. So I rushed to the grocery store on my way to the gym, picked up the lamb and marinade ingredients, combined the two (I can’t give you the details on when and how, as some traffic laws may or may not have been broken in the process) and let the meat chill out in the car while I worked up an appetite at the gym. After an hour of aerobics class plus driving time to get home, the meat was just about ready to be grilled on the bbq.

The end result was absolutely delicious. I love melt-in-your-mouth rack of lamb and the mustard goes great with the flavour of the lamb. The cream sauce is like nothing I’ve ever tasted before – I definitely see why this is a favourite dish at Vij’s, even if they aren’t using my car cooking method. Just keep in mind to reserve this new cooking trend for cool spring evenings instead of hot summer days. Unless you’re frying eggs, maybe?

Summary

Preparation Time: 10 mins hands on plus 2-4 hours sitting time
Cook Time: 10 mins
Servings: 6 mains, or more for appetizers
Meal type: Dinner
Grocery Cost: $76.30

Recipe Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Ingredients

  • 4 pounds French-cut racks of lamb, in chops ($60)
  • 1/2 cup sweet white wine ($4)
  • 1/4 cup grainy yellow mustard ($2.60)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper

Curry Sauce:

  • 4 cups whipping cream ($6.70)
  • 1 tablespoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon paprika
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
  • 1 tablespoon dried green fenugreek leaves ($2)
  • 1/4 cup lemon juice
  • 3 to 4 tablespoons canola oil
  • 3 tablespoons finely chopped garlic ($1)
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric

A couple of things to note with the ingredients:

  • In the interest of not spending $60 on lamb, I used 2 lbs and mixed lamb rack with loin chops. The lamb racks tasted better, but the loins were much cheaper (approx. $10 per lb). I fed 4 people with the 2 lbs of mixed lamb.
  • This was the first time I’ve used fenugreek to cook with. Both the seeds and leaves are used in Indian cooking, but have different flavours. I couldn’t find fenugreek in the large grocery chains, so I picked it up from a Pakistani store – they call it methi.


Directions

Lamb
Combine wine, mustard, salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add lamb and coat well with the marinade. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours.

Sauce
1. In a large bowl, combine cream, salt, paprika, cayenne, fenugreek leaves and lemon juice.
I used the whole tablespoon of salt and I found the sauce a bit salty. A teaspoon or so would be better – or salt to taste.
2. Heat 3 to 4 tablespoons oil in a medium pot on medium heat and saute garlic until golden.
3. Stir in turmeric and cook for 1 minute.

4. Stir in the cream mixture and cook on low to medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until it is gently boiling.

To finish off
Preheat a stove-top cast iron grill or barbecue to high heat. Place lamb on the grill and cook for 2 to 3 minutes per side.

Serving
Serve popsicles piping hot off the grill. Depending on their size, place 4 to 5 lamb popsicles on each plate. Pour the cream curry over the meat or ladle it into a small bowl and use it as a dipping sauce for the popsicles.
I enjoy putting rice into the cream curry sauce and mixing it up after the lamb popsicles are gone.

Results

Variations

I am used to thicker curry sauces so I asked a friend how Indian cream curries are usually made. He told me his mom uses thick yogurt, like Balkan style yogurt except hers is home made, to make thick creamy curries. Traditionally it’s a mix of cream and yogurt but to make it lower in fat his mom uses all yogurt. So expect this curry sauce to be runny but delicious!

Also as I mentioned I found the sauce a bit salty, especially because I reduced it a bit in an attempt to thicken it. Next time I would use less salt, especially since it can always be added at the end.

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Rating: 3.0/5 (3 votes cast)

Matt Rosen / Vegetarian / Winterlicious — View Comments
18
Mar 10

Four: Tofu and Bean Enchilada Recipe

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Rating: 0.0/5 (0 votes cast)

Enchilada
During Winterlicious, YouCook checked out Four for lunch and was pleasantly impressed with the Tofu Enchilada. I’ve had very authentic enchiladas in Mexico and San Diego and always thought that meat was an essential part of an enchilada – whether it be ground beef or chicken or pork. The other essential part of an enchilada is the cheese, guacamole, sour cream! Which resulted in me never ordering an enchilada if I was watching what I was eating. Well…that was the case until I tried Chef Matt Rosen’s Enchilada. Actually Melody ordered it and I stole a big piece.

The inside of this vegetarian enchilada include tofu, black beans, corn, tomatoes. The sauce was tomato based. It was served with a Tomatillo Pico de Gallo Salsa and Jalapeno Crema and some Pepperjack cheese. I modified it at home with the ingredients that I could find and it was still delicious. For example, I couldn’t find a Tomatillo anywhere so I used vine tomatoes nor did I have time to make the Jalapeno Crema (Here’s Bobby Flay’s version ) and decided to serve it with strawberry yogurt.

There are essentially 3 recipes in this post – the enchilada filling, sauce and salsa. If you follow the recipe like I did, you’ll find yourself with enough filling for 20 7″ enchiladas – enough to feed a family of 2 for 5 days. Right now the filling is in my fridge, but I’m tempted to roll all of them and freeze them since I don’t plan on eating 1 or 2 a day for the next 10 days. The problem with making less than this serving size is that you’ll end up using only some of your canned beans, tomatoes, chipotle, tofu, etc.

It took a few tries at several grocery stores to find everything that these recipes required. Putting everything together wasn’t as difficult as the grocery shopping experience. I am glad I spent the time to make it.

Summary

Preparation Time: 1 hour
Servings: 20 enchiladas
Meal type: Main

Recipe Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Ingredients for Enchilada Filling

Ingredients

  • ¼ cup + 1 ½ tsp Vegetable oil
    I used 1/4 cup of Olive oil
  • 0.454 kg Tofu, diced
    I used 1 piece in a standard package of medium firmness tofu
  • 2 ¼ cups Canned black beans
    I used the entire can of black beans
  • 1 ¾ tsp Ground cumin
  • 1 ¾ tsp Garlic powder
  • 1 ¾ cups diced red onions
  • ¾ tsp Mexican chili powder
    I used chili flakes since I didn’t have Mexican chili powder
  • 1 tbsp Minced garlic
    I used 3 cloves of garlic
  • ¾ cup Frozen corn kernels
    I used 1/3 can of corn kernels
  • Canned chipotle, pureed
    Unfortunately I couldn’t find canned chipotle and used 1 fresh chili pepper instead
  • 6 cups Canned tomatoes (whole or diced)
    I bought one large can of whole tomatoes
  • 1 ¾ tsp Onion powder
    I only had garlic powder and used this instead

Procedure for Enchilada Filling

1. Heat oil in pot.
2. Cook garlic until brown.
3. Add red onions and cook for 5 min or until lightly browned.
4. Add chipotle, cumin, garlic, chili and onion powders and cook for 2 min.
5. Add all remaining ingredients and cook for 10 min.
I unfortunately put in some liquid from the tomato can and black bean can. I had to drain this out. My advice is to drain the ingredients of the can beforehand
Add beans
6. Remove from pot and allow to cool.
Add everything

Ingredients for Enchilada Sauce

  • ½ cup Vegetable oil
  • 3 tbsp All-purpose flour
  • ¾ tsp Mexican chili powder
    I used chili flakes since I didn’t have Mexican chili powder
  • ½ tsp Ground cumin
  • ½ tsp Garlic powder
  • ½ tsp Onion powder
    I only had garlic powder and used this instead
  • 3 cups Water
  • 2 cups Tomato sauce
  • 1 tbsp + ½ tsp Salt

Procedure for Enchilada Sauce

Sauce
1. Heat oil in pot over medium heat.
2. Add spices and flour and cook for 2 min, stirring constantly.
3. Add water and tomato sauce, bring to a boil while stirring constantly.
4. Cook at a low heat and simmer for 5 min until sauce has thickened enough to coat the back of a spoon.
5. Remove from pot and allow to cool.

Ingredients for Tomatillo Pico de Gallo Salsa

  • 1 ¼ cup Tomatillo, diced
    I could not find tomatillo so I used 1 red vine tomato instead
  • 2 tbsp Green onion, sliced
  • 2 tsp Jalapeño-seeded, chopped
    I used half of a Jalapeño pepper
  • 1 ¼ tsp Coriander
  • ½ tsp Salt
  • 3 tbsp Lime juice
    I used the juice from half a lime
  • ½ tsp Sugar

Procedure for Tomatillo Pico de Gallo Salsa

1. Combine all ingredients in a bowl.
salsa
2. Store in fridge until ready to use.

Ingredients for Enchilada

Yield: 1 serving is 2 tortillas.

  • ¾ cup Enchilada filling
  • 2 pieces of 7” Flour tortilla
  • 2 tbsp + ¼ tsp Pepperjack cheese, grated
    I used Parmesan cheese because I had it at home. It worked well!
  • 1/3 cup + 2 ½ tsp Enchilada sauce
  • 1/3 cup + 2 ½ tsp Tomatillo Pico de Gallo salsa
  • ¼ pc Lime
  • 1 tbsp Cilantro
  • 2 tbsp Jalapeño crema
    I did not have sour cream at home but had some yogurt. I decided to use this instead and it did the trick of providing a creamy/milky taste

Procedure for Enchilada

1. Preheat oven at 450°F.
2. Using a ladle, lightly coat the bottom of a baking dish with sauce.
3. Lay tortillas on a flat surface and evenly distribute filling in each tortilla.
distribute
4. Roll tortilla so it is in cigar shape and the filling is evenly distributed.
5. Place rolled enchiladas in the baking dish on top of the sauce.
enchiladas
Chef’s Note: line multiple rolls in dish until full, layering sauce and cheese overtop accordingly.
6. Ladle a small amount of sauce over the middle section of the rolled enchilada and sprinkle cheese over mid-section.
7. Cover baking dish with foil and bake at 450°F for 12-15 min or until enchiladas are browned on the edges.
8. Place on plate, and garnish with the jalapeño crema and salsa.

Results

Finished
I really enjoyed making this dish. I’ve got to admit, it was a little intimidating for me to go get all the ingredients and not being able to find everything. Spending the hour on this dish meant that I had lunch for the entire week and more. I’ve eaten the enchilada with regular salsa and sour cream on another day. I pair it with a spinach salad. It’s a great dish and I’m so happy to know that for something so flavourful, theres are not that many calories in this dish!

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Cookbook / Main / Recipe / Vegetarian — View Comments
18
Mar 10

Quinoa 365: Quinoa and Lentil Stew Recipe

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I never realized just how great quinoa is until I was introduced to Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming’s incredibly healthy cookbook: Quinoa 365: The Everyday Superfood . Since quinoa can be found as seeds or grains, or as quinoa flour for baking, it is extremely versatile. Not only can you serve it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner; you can also serve it in your desserts.

I’m going to write a short blurb about its nutritional value just because I am so impressed with how much is packed into these little grains. Quinoa is high in protein and fiber, which is something we all know we need more of. They are high in amino acids and also in vitamins and minerals (such as riboflavin, calcium, vitamin E, iron, potassium, phosphorus, magnesium, folic acid, and beta carotene). If you search for “Quinoa” on the USDA website, you will find an extensive list of what it offers.

The Quinoa and Lentil Stew that I chose to make was both simple and flavourful. It’s perfect for those quick weeknight meals. And for the meat lovers out there, you really don’t miss the meat in this dish… Trust me. It’s just too tasty to think about anything else.

Summary

Preparation Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 20 min
Servings: 4 to 6
Meal type: Main
Cost: $7.58 or $1.90 per serving (based on a yield of 4 servings)

Recipe Rating: ★★★★☆ 

  • 1/2 cup Quinoa ~ $2.45
  • 1/2 cup Red Lentils ~ $0.75
  • 4 cups Vegetable or Chicken Stock ~ $1.00
  • 1 cup Water
  • 1 1/2 cups Sliced Carrots ~ $1.00
  • 1 cup Diced Red Onion (approximately 1) ~ 0.85
  • 2 tsp Minced Fresh Garlic ~ $0.18
  • 1 tsp Ground Cumin
  • 1 tsp Ground Coriander
  • 1/4 tsp Salt
  • 1 cup Diced Red Bell Pepper (approximately 1) ~ $1.35
  • 2 tbsp Finely Chopped Fresh Cilantro
1. Combine the quinoa, lentils, stock and water in a large saurcepan and bring to a boil.
When quinoa is cooked, it will triple in volume. Keep this in mind when you choose which pot to use.
2. Reduce to a simmer, cover and cook for 10 minutes.
3. Add the carrots, onion, garlic, cumin, coriander and salt and cook for 5 minutes.
Since I love thyme so much, and happened to have some in my fridge, I added about 4-5 sprigs of fresh thyme along with the other seasoning. I also skipped out on the salt since I used store-bought chicken stock, which already has a considerable amount of sodium.

4. Add the red pepper and cook for 5 more minutes.

5. Add the cilantro and adjust the seasoning if necessary. Serve immediately.
Since I added thyme to the stew, I decided to skip out on the cilantro. I found the flavour to be perfect for me, so I did not need to adjust.

Results

It was surprisingly tasty. I did not expect to enjoy it so much since it’s also very healthy. Patricia Green and Carolyn Hemming really make the healthy experience a yummy one too.

I made this again recently because I wasn’t feeling well, and it was so comforting. This time, it was a double batch! Although the recipe says that this dish needs to be served immediately, it also tastes great when you reheat it the next day.

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Matt Rosen / Restaurant / Seafood — View Comments
14
Mar 10

Four: Grilled Salmon with Quinoa Tabbouleh

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I love eating out at restaurants, but I always feel guilty about the calories I consumed afterwards. After all, you can only *guess* at what they put in there to make it taste so delicious! So when I heard about Four and their concept of low calorie dishes (all their dishes are under 650 calories), I thought it was great! It was even better when I tried it and found it tasty and filling! They are also conveniently located in the Finance District underneath Far Niente on the corner of Wellington St and Bay St, and is reachable underground on the PATH, which is a definite bonus when I am looking for a lunch spot or after work drinks on a chilly day.

YouCook had a great time visiting Chef Matt Rosen in the kitchen. He spent so much time chatting with us and sharing his tips for coming up with low calorie dishes while still making them delicious and filling. Read on for his recipe for Grilled Salmon with Farm Tomatoes and Quinoa Tabbouleh. It’s a simple and very popular dish at the restaurant – Matt remarked that he would have a revolt on his hands if he ever took it off the menu! After trying it, I could see why! And the best thing? This whole meal is only 464 calories per serving!

Summary

Preparation Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 10 min
Servings: 4 servings.
Meal type: Main

Recipe Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Ingredients

  • 1 tbsp Shallots, diced
  • ½ cup Parsley, chopped
  • 1 tbsp Sugar
  • 1 tbsp Garlic, pureed
  • 1 tbsp lemon zest
  • 3 tbsp Extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbsp Lemon juice
  • ½ cup Water
  • 1-cup Cooked quinoa (follow package directions)
  • To taste Salt
  • 4, 5 oz. pcs Salmon
  • 4 Vine ripe tomatoes, sliced thick, core removed
  • 2 cups Green beans

Instructions

To make the Quinoa Tabbouleh:
1. Place shallots in a bowl. Add sugar and salt to taste.
2. Add pureed garlic, lemon zest, and a tablespoon of parsley. Set aside for 5 – 10 minutes to allow juices to be released.
Chef’s Tip:If you don’t want to get out the food processor to puree the garlic, first finely chop the garlic and then use the blade of the knife to smush it against the chopping board to turn it into a paste (use a pulling motion). See picture below.


3. The mixture should now look moist. The sugar and salt should bring out about 2 tablespoons of water. Add water, lemon juice, and olive oil. Blend with a hand blender until it achieves an “emulsified” look.

Chef’s Tip: This dressing can be made in advance and stored in the fridge for up to a week.
4. Five minutes before serving stir in the remaining parsley and quinoa.

To assemble the final dish:
5. Top and tail the beans (snip the ends). Cook in boiling water, and then refresh by placing them immediately in an ice bath. Reserve.
6. Grill the salmon to desire doneness.

7. Place one tomato of slices, or 4 or 5 slices, enough to cover the bottom of the plate.

8. Lay out green beans over the tomato, and place the salmon on top.
9. Take the quinoa tabbouleh and place a tablespoon of it on the salmon.
10. Scatter some of the quinoa on the other tomatoes on the plate.

Quick Notes

Quinoa is a grain that is eaten in South America. You can find it in the health foods section of larger grocery stores. There are also some rice / grain shops in the lower level of St Lawrence Market that would sell these.

Chef Matt Rosen had a number of insights and tips for us throughout making this dish, especially on how he creates a sub-650 calorie menu. Look for another post on our interview and insights from him coming shortly!

Nutritional Information

Here’s the caloric breakdown of the Grilled Atlantic Salmon with Farm Tomatoes and Quinoa Tabbouleh for 1 serving size:
Calories – 464
Total fat (g) – 24
Saturated Fat (g) – 5
Trans fat (g) – 0.5
Cholesterol (mg) – 83
Sodium (mg) – 660
Carbohydrate (g) – 30
Fibre (g) – 4
Sugars (g) – 16
Portein (g) – 35
Vitamin A %DV – 4
Vitamin C %DV – 28
Calcium %DV – 6
Iron %DV – 18

Results

YouCook had the chance to try the final result, and we all agreed – it was delicious! In fact, I couldn’t help but keep on eating away at it while we were chatting afterwards. The flavour of the salmon with the dressing, and the heartiness of the quinoa was a great combination. Quinoa is a complete protein, so it really adds to the heartiness of this otherwise light dish.

Thanks Chef Rosen for sharing this recipe and cooking this dish for us!

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Main / Olympics — View Comments
18
Feb 10

German Fan Fest: Recipe for Thüringer Rostbrätl

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cooking
We got a taste of Thuringian cuisine at the German Fan Fest Tent. You can visit the venue located by Steamworks and Waterfront Station during the Olympics. They do charge cover at night and of course, expect a long long lineup. Inside the tent, you’ll find a nice big screen and plenty of beer to drink.
venue
You can also find an autographed car with a beer tap in the trunk to be auctioned off at the end of the olympics!
venue
Here at the German Fan Fest, I tasted the BEST bratwurst I’ve had in my life. Thurignian bratwurst is one of the best in the world and very famous in Germany and I fully understand why.
Bratwurst
I learned that each region in Germany has their own set of spices for sausages and it’s a SECRET. The friendly people at the German Fan Fest as well as the Saxony house refuse to reveal the secret because even they themselves don’t know what the spices are. The sausages for the German Fan Fest are made at local German butcher shops but the spices are sent over from Thuringer so nobody actually knows what the combination is. I did get it out of them that there is salt, pepper, marjoram, mustard seed, cumin and garlic. At least 51% of the ingredients must come from the state of Thuringia. Also there are high standards in cooking the sausages – the fire shouldn’t be so hot such that the skin will break. German Minced Meat Law states that raw sausages must be sold the day of creation or until the closing time of a late night establishment. How cool is that, you always know how fresh your sausage is.

The texture of the sausage is so very smooth and tender. The spices are nicely scattered throughout making it the best $7 sausage I’ve ever eaten in my life (well..until I went to Saxony house…but more on that later). I was told by the chef that it’s a major faux-pas to eat the bratwurst with sauerkraut AND mustard and ketchup. You have to choose – eat it with sauerkraut and potatoes, or eat it with mustard (and ketchup). Don’t mix it like in my picture:
Bratwurst

The chefs at the Fan Fest were so nice!!! Thank you so much! Here’s us enjoying some Bratwurst!
Sausage

Alright so I wasn’t getting anywhere in learning how to make Thüringer Bratwurst for YouCook readers so I moved onto the next menu item: Thüringer Rostbrätl. This is a mustard pork chop which is so tender and delicious. This one was less complicated and not a closely guarded secret in the region of Thuringia so here it is:

Pork Chop

Summary

Preparation Time: 15 min prep (2-24 hour marinade)
Cook Time: 15 min
Servings: Not sure
Meal type: Main

Recipe Rating: ★★★☆☆ 

Ingredients

Unfortunately I didn’t get the proper proportions for this marinade. Should be equal portions mustard and beer.

  • Pork neck cutlets (with or without the bone)
  • White Onion
  • Mustard – preferably Thuringer Mustard, spicy mustard
  • German Pilsner beer
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • Marjoram

Instructions

1. Tenderize the pork and put salt and pepper and spices to taste.
2. Fill a container with the pork cutlet, a layer of chopped onions, a layer of mustard.
Mixture
3. Pour in beer to fill the rest of the container.
4. Let this marinade sit for at least 2 hours.
5. Make sure the charcoal grill is not heated too strongly.
Pork Chop
6. Cook over light to medium heat, spraying in beer to regulate the temperature.
7. Grill until cooked.

Results

The recipe is so simple if you have the right German mustard and German Beer! They served it in a bun and it was deeeelicious. The pork is so tender and the marinade soaked through evenly making every bite tender and tasty. It’s a steep $9 at the German Fan Fest but you will NOT be disappointed. I’m set on having a YouCook German BBQ this summer!!
Pork Chop

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Main / Olympics / Taryn Wu — View Comments
16
Feb 10

Northern House – Bison Sliders Recipe from Northwest Territories

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I had the pleasure of going to the The Northern House to learn more about the Northwest Territories showcase that was happening that night, and of course the food. Just a note, the Northern house does not offer a food menu on a regular basis and just for special events (in case you go wandering in there looking for this delicious bison burger I’m about to write about). Savoury Chef were the caterers for it and they have definitely done their research to make dishes that represent the food from Northwest Territories. Kyle and his team were also nice enough to let me sample all the food and answer all the questions I had. Chef Taryn has been very helpful too with all my questions afterwards. I can’t wait to go to any more events catered by Savoury Chef! It was indeed a great night.


I’ve got to say, this is one of the most beautiful tourism venues I’ve seen here at the olympics. I ended the night making a mental note that I need to visit Canada’s North (Northwest Territories, Yukon and Nunavut) one of these days. The northern lights look beautiful and some of mountain, ice, lake landscapes look breath taking. If you get a chance, do visit the Northern House during the olympics, its just a block away from Waterfront station.
Mikey Ice Pilot
I also met Mikey McBryan from Ice Pilots who informed me that Ice Pilots in Northwest Territories LOVE chicken wings.

Now onwards to the food. On the menu was bison burgers with lotus chips, arctic char graviax, seared cariboo, braised buffalo, and duck terrine. Smoked meats included bison bresaola, muskoxen mipkuzola, venison salami, and house smoked muscovy duck breast. I’m not sure if I was the only one who thought that Northern food meant Bannock over fire but I never did imagine that I’d try all these animals and how good it looked and tasted.

Savoury Chef was kind enough to provide some recipes for us! Here was my favourite dish of the night, Bison Burger with Lotus root chips. I was pleasantly surprised at how good Lotus root makes as chips!


Summary

Preparation Time: 15 min
Cook Time: 15 min
Servings: 25 mini burgers
Meal type: Main

Recipe Rating: ★★★★★ 

Ingredients For Bison Burgers

  • 625g Ground Bison
  • 1 egg
  • 5g chopped parsley
  • 1g chopped thyme
  • 75g chopped onion
  • 5g chopped garlic
  • salt and pepper to taste

Ingredients For Lotus Root Chips

  • 1lb of lotus roots
  • pinch of five spice powder
  • salt
  • Canola oil for deep frying

Instructions for Bison Burgers

1. Mix all ingredients for bison burger together.
2. Form 25 balls to make bite sized burgers.
3. Flatten to make patties.
4. Grill until cooked through.

Toppings for Bison Burgers

1. Mix caramelized onions and Lemon tomato Brio together.
2. Top burgers with cheese and heat in the oven until cheese is melted through.
3. Put a dollop of the onion and tomato jam on top.
4. Put patties inside mini burger buns.

Instructions for Lotus root chips

1. Heat oil in a pot to 325 degrees F
2. Slice lotus root into 1mm slices using a mandoline.
3. Fry lotus root just until golden
4. Drain on paper towel and season with salt and five spice powder while chips are still hot.

Variations

Any toppings that go well on a beef burger goes just as well with bison. For those of you that have not tried bison burgers, you won’t get a chance at the Northern House but the Saskatchewan Pavilion has $8 Bison burgers for the olympics. It’s leaner than beef and not game-meat tasting at all. It is my new favourite red meat!

This recipe will work just as well with beef if you can’t find bison.

Results

The bison burgers were a hit during the reception at the Northern House. Empty plates came back to the kitchen within a few minutes of serving. I really really enjoyed the pairing with the lotus root chips and would recommend this over fries or anything else. If you are able to get Chef Taryn’s Lemon Tomato Brio (Jam), you won’t regret it. Let us know when you cook this!! I’m sure this is going to be on my summer BBQ menu!! Considering how nice and sunny it has been in Vancouver, a summer BBQ might happen very soon!

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