Posts Tagged: Recipe

Main / Recipe / Seafood / YouCook — View Comments
4
Apr 11

Turkish Grilled Fish Wrapped in Grape Leaves

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Fish grilled in grape leaves


We were inspired by a Binnur’s Turkish Cookbook to make Asma Yapraginda Sardalya. We found a jar of grape leaves at a local Persian supermarket and unfortunately couldn’t find fresh sardines so we opted for a fresh larger (mackerel sized) fish at the Korean supermarket. I’ve always been curious as to how to use grape leaf and have always loved Greek/Turkish/Persian dishes with grapeleaf so I was curious to see how it would do with seafood.

On further research, this dish is very popular in Greek cooking and called Psari Fournou me Ambelofia.

Summary


Preparation Time: 20 min
Cook Time: 20 min
Total Time: 40 min
Servings: 4 fish (serves 1-2)
Meal type: Main
Cost: $7.33

Ingredients


Fish on grape leaves

  • 4 sardines (or Whiting fish, in our case), $2
  • 8-10 pieces grape leaves, $5 for a jar 16oz jar; you’ll use about a tenth of the jar)
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • juice of 1 lemon, $0.33
  • to taste, salt
  • to taste, pepper

Instructions


Prepare the fish
1. Slice fish down the belly, reach in and discard guts from fish. If it has few scales on it, just run the knife over the skin to remove.
2. Pull out the backbone then wash with cold water and drain.
3. Rub the fish with olive oil and lemon juice, and season with salt and pepper.
The easy way to do this is the combine the olive oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a bowl first, then use a spoon or brush to spread it onto the fish.
Olive oil and lemon juice marinade in a bowl
4. Put the marinating fish in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes in a shallow plate.
Fish in the refridgerator
Wrapping the fish
5. Rinse the grape leaves and cut off the stems
6. Lay down enough grape leaves to cover the length of the fish, matte side up (shiny side down). The difference between the matte and shiny side is minute, but the matte side is the side that the veins of the leaf are slightly raised.
7. Place the fish on the grape leaves, then roll it up nice and tight.
Fish on matte side of the grape leaf
Rolling up the fish in grape leaves
Fish rolled up in grape leaf
It’s okay if the ends of the leaves don’t entirely stick to the wrapped package, but if there is one that is sticking up too much for your liking, you can take some of the stems you cut off and poke them through to hold the leaves down.
Fish rolled up in grape leaf with stems holding leaf shut
8. Brush some olive oil all over the grape leaf.
9. Preheat the grill or oven to medium-high, or about 375F.
Grilling
10. Place the fish on the rack and grill for about 5 minutes each side.
Because we used a slightly bigger fish, ours took about 8 minutes per side. Juices will flow from the wrapped fish; when they start to dry and the grape leaf starts to dry, it is probably done.
Fish on grill, almost done
Inside of wrapped fish

Results

Fish served with bread and salad
Served the Turkish way, the fish should be presented with lemon wedges, radishes, and an arugula or green salad. We served the fish with a fresh salad tossed in a light oil-based vinaigrette dressing, and some delicious bread, also from the Persian grocery store. It made a great light meal that felt fresh and healthy. As we ate, we wondered what else we could possibly wrap in grape leaf that could be as yummy as this dish. We think that other more dense white fish like halibut or cod (without the bones) might go well with grapeleaf. What do you wrap in grape leaf?

 

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Appetizer / Cookbook / Ingredient / Korean / Recipe — View Comments
3
Mar 11

Craving Kimbap

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Rating: 5.0/5 (2 votes cast)


Kimbap


This weekend we decided to go for a Korean-themed cooking day. We love all different kinds of Korean dishes and set off to Galleria Supermarket to satisfy our hunger and to grab ingredients. Kimbap is one of the most ubiquitous foods in Korea and super popular because it’s

  1. Cheap
  2. Easy to eat
  3. Easily found at any kimbap stores open 24/7 so you can pick it up anytime
  4. Healthy

It looked simple enough to make so we picked up all the ingredients for your basic kimbap as well as a jar of kimchi. Be sure you have a lot of hungry mouths to feed because what you’ll buy is enough food to feed a small village.

Summary


Preparation Time: 45 min including cooking the rice.
Cook Time: 30 min , which can be done while waiting for the rice to cook.
Total Time: 60 min
Servings: 10 rolls (1 roll = 6 pieces) so 60 pieces
Meal type: Appetizer
Cost: $16

Ingredients


Ingredients

  • 3 cups short grain rice, $5.50 for a 5lb bag. ~$1.10
  • 1 package roasted seaweed, $3.99 for 20 sheets ~ $2
  • 1 carrot
  • 1 bunch of fresh spinach, $1.69
  • 1 package fish cake, $2.65 for 5 sheets
  • 4 large eggs, $0.65
  • 1 package surimi (imitation crab), $3.99 – used half – $2
  • 1 package seasoned burdock and pickled radish, $3.39 – used 2/3 ~ $2
  • 1 jar kimchi, $4.99 for 1L – used $2
  • 4 tablespoons rice vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons sesame oil
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
  • 1 rolling mat, $2

Instructions


1. You’ll want to start first thing on the rice because you can prep other ingredients while waiting for it to cook. It would be great to allow some time to let it cool as well since working with steaming hot rice for rolling just isn’t a good idea. We used a rice cooker, but feel free to cook rice however you’re most comfortable with. Just note that you want the rice to be ‘just’ cooked and not on the overcooked side or else it may become mushy when you mix it with the seasonings.
Short-grain rice
2. Wash the spinach to get rid of the sandy grit. An easy way to do this is in a sink half-full of water. Separate the spinach leaves off the stalk/root as well. Remove the leaves from the water and drain as much water as you can.
Wash the spinach in the sink
3. Next, peel and cut off the ends of the carrot. We need to get it finely sliced, which you could do with a knife, but using a mandolin will make it faster.
Peeled carrot
4. Crack the 4 eggs into a bowl and mix well.
Whisk the egg
Now we can move onto the stove, where we can quickly prep some of the ingredients.
5. Heat a bit of oil in a frying pan at medium heat and saute the spinach for 5-10 minutes until all of it is wilted.
Wilt the spinach
6. Add some more oil to the frying pan and now saute the carrots for about 5 minutes. We just want to make them less crunchy, but not super soft so don’t overcook them.
7.Next, take the sheets of fish cake and place single layer on the frying pan. They are already fried so this is just to brown and soften it up.
Pan-fry the fish cake
8. Lastly, take your bowl of whisked egg. After heating a bit of oil at medium heat, ladle some egg into your frying pan. The goal is to make a thin crepe so put enough to cover the entire pan.
Egg crepe
When the edges start to look done, you can take a quick peek underneath. When it looks slightly browned, flip the crepe to brown the other side.
Browned egg crepe
Now for the final prep of the ingredients, we just need a cutting board and knife.
9. Slice the sheets of fish cake and the egg crepes into one inch thick strips.
Slice the egg crepe
10. The surimi usually comes in short fat sticks so we cut them in half length-wise.
11. By now, the rice should be done cooking and ideally had time to cool off a bit. Scoop the rice into a large bowl to mix well with 4 tablespoons of rice vinegar, 2 tablespoons of sesame oil, and 1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar.
Ingredients to mix with the rice
Seasoned rice
You’re now finished prepping all the ingredients for the kimbap filling. On to the rolling!
Plate of filling ingredients
11. It’s not absolutely necessary, but covering your bamboo mat with saran wrap will make cleaning your mat a lot easier.
Cover the mat with saran wrap
12. Place a sheet of seaweed on the mat with a very thin layer of rice. Leave about an inch of seaweed uncovered along one edge.
Cover the seaweed sheet with rice
13. Start placing your filling ingredients along the edge of rice nearest the uncovered seaweed. You can add any mix of ingredients you want, but just remember that the more you put in, the harder it might be to roll later!
Place ingredients along one edge of the rice
14. Start rolling by folding the uncovered seaweed portion over the filling.
Fold the seaweed over the ingredients
15. Continue rolling, using the bamboo mat to help press down around the roll and make it nice and compact.
Half-rolled kimbap
Use the bamboo mat to help press the kimbap together
Rolled kimbap
16. All that’s left to do is cut it into bite-size pieces! Using a sharp knife and keeping the blade slightly wet will help to cleanly-cut it for presentation.
Cut the kimbap

Results

Kimbap on a plate
The fun of kimbap is that you can put any variety of filling inside! Some common popular Korean versions are tuna kimbap, kimchi kimbap, and bulgogi kimbap. If you want a vegetarian version, you can leave out the surimi and fish cake.
Making a kimchi kimbap
Preparing all the filling ingredients is the time-consuming part of this recipe. Once you have it all laid out in front of you though, you’ll have a dozen rolls up in no time. Making it with friends is great because everybody can customize what they want in it. We definitely had a lot of fun and it was hard to resist stealing bites while making it but we finally got a picture of a plate full of kimbap!
Kimchi kimbap

 

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Restaurant / Seafood — View Comments
13
Jul 10

Hapa Izakaya’s Spot Prawn Sashimi

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Hapa Spot Prawn Sashimi
Last month in the midst of spot prawn season in Vancouver, I enjoyed the creativity of different chefs and how they used spot prawn in their cooking. In my humble opinion simple tastes best and Hapa blew me away with how simple and delicious their spot prawn sashimi dish was. I have always enjoyed amaebi (sweet shrimp) sashimi and was pleased to discover how juicy and sweet the spotted prawns were.

The next day, inspired by the dish, I went to the fishing boats at Granville Island and bought 1 lb of freshly caught spot prawns and brought it home for a feast with some friends from out of town.

We didn’t have all the fixings that came along with the Hapa dish (lemon, radish slices, dill) but we did have the main ingredient: fresh spot prawns. We were all smiles after our feast.

Anytime you have a chance to get fresh spotted prawns or even the side striped prawns, try eating it sashimi style – you won’t regret it.

Summary

Preparation Time: 5 min (cleaning, peeling)
Servings: 4
Cost: $12/lb
Meal type: Appetizer

Recipe Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Ingredients

  • 1 lb Fresh spotted prawns
  • Slices of radish
  • Slices of lemon
  • Sprigs of dill
  • Soy sauce and wasabi

Instructions

1. Wash prawns
Fresh Spot Sashimi
2. Peel prawns
Fresh Spot Sashimi
3. Serve with lemon, dill, radish
4. For the brave, the head is definitely edible. Many people like to pan fry or deep fry the head before eating.
5. Dip with soy sauce and wasabi.

Results

Hapa Spot Prawn Sashimi
I thoroughly enjoyed how delicious and fresh this dish was. Thanks to Hapa Izakaya for the inspiration.

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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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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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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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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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Dessert / Olympics / Special Event / Timothy Tejuco — View Comments
26
Feb 10

House of Switzerland National Chocolate Contest: Crispy Pecan Chocolate Bars

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“Basically what I love about chocolate is that it brings people together and is an immediate morale booster, whether it is a cup of hot chocolate on a cold night, or a pack of Lindt shared amongst friends. I love cooking with chocolate and I believe it is a versatile product whether in desserts or even in savory dishes.” That’s why Timothy Nathan Tejuco, the winner of the House of Switzerland Canada 2010 – National Chocolate Contest, loves chocolate. I love chocolate too so I was really eager to try Timothy’s award-winning recipe. It actually looked quite simple compared to the 2nd and 3rd place finishers in the contest – the simpler, the better!

However, I found his instructions deceptively simple – it assumes that you have knowledge on how to make “sabayons” and “ganaches” – which is understandable if you’re a chocolatier or baker, but not to me! I’ve modified the recipe in terms of portion size (his original one made A LOT and would’ve cost me about $40 in chocolate), and also have some comments on proportions. Unless Timothy has some secret trick to holding together rice krispies and crushed pecans with a tiny bit of chocolate, I really don’t see how his amount of chocolate for the base would work, so I’ve doubled the amount of chocolate in the base. I even tried both methods – his original proportions, and then with my doubling of the chocolate. His original proportions just didn’t hold the base together and ended up half the base flaking off. I’ve posted the original recipe in case you want to see his original.

This was a great learning experience for me, so I’ve shared my many tips (as a result of my mistakes) so I hope you find this educational and also have a great dessert in your arsenal of recipes! It turned out delicious, despite my trial and error!

Summary

Preparation Time: 30 min
Cook Time: 20 min
Servings: 30 servings (depends on how big you slice these bars)
Meal type: Dessert
Grocery Cost: $19.39 (~$0.65 per serving)

Recipe Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Ingredients


For the base:

  • 170g Pureed Toasted Pecans ~ $1.99
  • 100g Lindt Excellence Extra Creamy Milk Chocolate ~ $1.76
  • 100g Lindt White Chocolate ~ $1.76
  • 126g Crushed Rice Crispies ~ $1.77


For the top:

  • 80g Cream ~ $2.69
  • 210g Lindt Excellence 70% Cacao Dark Chocolate ~ $6.98
  • 80g Egg Yolks (about 3 large eggs) ~ $0.62
  • 60g Icing Sugar ~ $0.10
  • 50g Soft Butter ~ $1.71
  • 10g Water

Instructions

For the base:
1. Melt the chocolate, stir in the pecans and the rice crispies.

Note: If you can’t find crushed toasted pecans, you can buy whole pecans and roast and crush them yourself, which is what I did. This added a good 15 minutes to my prep time. To toast, I laid out my pecans in a single layer, brushed them with oil, and baked them in the oven at 350F for 4.5 minutes on both sides. Season with salt. See the following link for the method I used.

To crush them, place the roasted pecans in a ziplock bag and close it tightly. Use a rolling pin to roll over the pecans to crush them. If you don’t have a rolling pin, like me, you can use any round glass bottle (i.e.soy sauce bottle).

To melt the chocolate, use a double boiler. You can make-shift a double boiler like I did using a metal bowl over the top of a pot of boiling water.

2. Place this on the base of a non-stick sheet pan. Chill in fridge for 1 hour.

For the top (ganache):
3. Whisk the egg yolk and sugar in a double boiler over very low heat to create a sabayon.


Note: A sabayon is a dessert sauce usually made with whipping eggs with sugar and alcohol. In this case, we are only using egg yolk and icing sugar. See the following link on more details on the technique of how to make a sabayon.

4. Melt the chocolate and combine with cream to form a ganache.

Note:This was the hardest part of the recipe. A ganache is pretty complex – pay careful attention to the temperature of the ganache and how hard you’re beating it (don’t overbeat!). See my notes in the “Quick Notes” section below on more detailed steps on how to make a ganache and how to avoid my mistakes and how I fixed them.

5. Slowly add butter and water to the mixture until fully incorporated.

6. Place the mixture on top of the base and spread evenly.

7. Chill in fridge for about 4 hours.
8. Slice into 1 inch, by 2 cm bars and serve just under room temperature! Enjoy!

Quick Notes

My first attempt at ganache was an absolute mess. Every mistake you can make – I made it! My ganache turned grainy and it separated. Luckily, the fix for both is to add a teaspoon of cold cream and stir. This helped a bit but it was still grainy and a bit oily. In the end, I just gave up and scraping off the oil and spread my grainy ganache over the base. It actually turned out well, and no one seemed to notice my grainy, separated ganache. Imagine how much BETTER it would’ve tasted if I had made it properly! I will definitely try this recipe again to perfect my ganache.

I recommend reading up on ganache techniques before attempting to make this. Making a ganache is VERY precise because it is an emulsion. Emulsifying is the process of mixing 2 ingredients that typically do not combine (i.e. a liquid and a fat) into a stable homogenous mixture. The ingredients are forced together and held in suspension through the manual or mechanical action of beating, whisking, or mixing. In a chocolate emulsion, the cocoa butter is the fat and the cream is the liquid. Thus, they are very prone to separation. The 2 most common mistakes are: (a) the improper ratio of cocoa butter to cream or too much sugar; and (b) incorrect temperature. The temperature should be, at all times during the process, above 35C, ideally between 35C to 40C. Another suggestion I read is to use an immersion blender instead of mixing. Check out Elaine’s post on L’Ephemeres Chocolate aux Poires for her tips and simple method on making ganache.

As I bake more, I find a lot of recipes use weight. I do have a scale, but it’s not very accurate. If you plan on baking a lot, I would recommend investing in a good scale – it makes for much more consistent results. I had to estimate a lot, especially with the lighter ingredients, so that may have contributed to me having to adjust the proportions as I went along, or my mess with the ganache!

Variations

The recipe calls for Lindt chocolate because it was for a Lindt chocolate recipe. I found the cost of this recipe to be quite a lot, so to save on costs, you can use baking chocolate instead. Just remember to keep it to the same mix of dark, milk and white chocolate.

Results




Despite my many mistakes with the ganache, the Crispy Pecan Chocolate Bars turned out really well! I really love the mix of roasted pecans with the rice krispies. I brought these bars to work and they were a hit, with many coming back for seconds. I think that is a true sign of what’s good. I will definitely add this to my arsenal of desserts, and it is great for taking to a party. Enjoy and thanks to Timothy Nathan Tejuco and the House of Switzerland for providing this recipe!

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Anna Olsen / Cookbook / Dessert — View Comments
7
Feb 10

Anna Olson’s Blueberry Sticky Buns Recipe

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Over the weekend, I hosted our first YouCook Cooking Night at my place, and the featured dessert was Anna Olson’s Blueberry Sticky Buns. The recipe can be found in her newest cookbook, “Fresh”. They were warm and gooey, and soooooooooo satisfying!! I had never attempted to make anything that even resembled cinnamon rolls (NOT because I don’t love them!) because they look so complex. But I followed Anna’s instructions step-by-step and they turned out perfectly. And really, they’re not as difficult as they look. Try it for yourself! :)

Summary

Preparation Time: 30 min
Wait Time: 1.5 hours
Cook Time: 30 min
Servings: 12 Sticky Buns
Meal type: Dessert
Cost: $17.15 per batch, or $1.43 per sticky bun

Recipe Rating: ★★★★☆ 

Ingredients for Dough

  • 2 tsp instant dry yeast ~$1.00
  • 1 egg, at room temperature ~$0.30
  • 1/2 cup milk, at room temperature ~$0.35
  • 2 tbsp sugar
  • 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour ~$1.00
  • 1/2 tsp of salt
  • 1/2 tsp of ground nutmeg
  • 1/2 cup of unsalted butter, at room temperature ~$1.25
  • 1/2 cup of cream cheese, at room temperature ~$2.00

Ingredients for Sticky Bun Filling

  • 1 cup packed brown sugar ~$1.00
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature ~$1.25
  • 3 tbsp pure maple syrup ~$3.00
  • 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed ~$6

Instructions for the Sticky Bun Dough

1. Dissolve the yeast in 1/4 cup (60 mL) of warm water in the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with a dough hook (or with electric beaters fitted with dough hooks). Allow to sit for 5 minutes.

2. Add the egg, milk, and sugar and blend. (I used a whisk to blend these ingredients together by hand.)

3. Add the flour, salt, and nutmeg and mix for 1 minute, with stand mixer or electric beater, to combine.

4. Add the butter and cream cheese and knead for 5 minutes on medium speed.

5. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl; cover, and let rest for 1 hour.

This is how it looked after it rested:

Instructions for the Sticky Bun Filling

1. Combine the sugar, butter, maple syrup, and cinnamon.

Instructions for Assembling the Sticky Bun

1. Grease the cups of a 12-cup muffin tin.
2. Spoon a tablespoonful (15mL) of filling into the bottom of each cup of the prepared muffin tin.

3. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into a rectangle 1/2-inch (1 cm) thick.

4. Spread the remaining filling over the dough, sprinkle with blueberries, and roll the dough up lengthwise.

5. Slice it into 12 equal portions and arrange 1 portion in each muffin cup. Allow the dough to rise for half an hour, loosely covered by a clean tea towel.

6. Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 C).

7. Bake the buns for 30 minutes, and turn out onto a plate while still warm.

Anna Olson’s “Fresh Take”

Anna Olson’s tips for all of us bakers at home:

“That little bit of nutmeg is my secret to a great sticky bun dough—it adds that familiar “donut” element that takes these to the next level.”

“To make these for breakfast or brunch without waking at five a.m., make the dough and assemble the sticky buns, filled and in the pan, and pop the pan in the fridge the night before. In the morning, pull them out while you preheat the oven and get the coffee going, and before you know it, the buns are baking.”

Variations

Anna Olson also recommends using different fruits to produce different flavour combinations:

“Don’t limit the fruit filling to mere blueberries. Raspberries, sliced peaches, apples, or even fresh or frozen cranberries make these sticky buns seasonal and delectable.”

I took this recommendation to heart and used a combination of frozen wild blueberries and mangoes. Since thawing frozen fruits produces a lot of extra liquid, I made sure to drain the liquid prior to spreading the fruits onto my dough. Even then, it was a bit wetter than I would have liked. This didn’t affect the results at all though! :)

Results

I was very surprised at how great these Sticky Buns tasted. Not because I didn’t trust the recipe (it IS Anna Olson’s, after all), but because I didn’t trust myself in the execution of this particular dessert. This is no more complex than making your own apple pie, so I really recommend this one for everyone out there. You will LOVE the results!

These sticky buns are perfect served fresh out of the oven. Just give them a chance to cool a little bit. I burned my tongue in my excitement to try my new creation… I am definitely going to be making these again at my next brunch party! Thanks Anna!!

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