Valentine’s Day Meal Ideas

A lot of people have been asking my opinion on what to cook for Valentine’s Day. My advice falls into a couple of different categories you’ll find below. But one thing is certain; it’s Valentine’s day- a good opportunity to do something special for your loved one. Any night of the year can be pizza and a movie night; I think you should do something special.

• Recreate a special meal. One our first date I cooked dinner for my Fiancé. It was a write-off, I substituted dried parsley for fresh and the pasta turned out to be a crunchy mess. I had been thinking for quite some time now that I need to re-create the meal (albeit with fresh parsley). This is a good Valentine’s Day idea because it will show your significant other that you remember important things about the relationship, hence that you care about the relationship. Important note, there is a risk factor here- if you mistakenly make the meal that you made for another girl it might not be good. I’m probably going to re-create the meal from the night I proposed. She has been craving Osso Bucco for a few weeks so I know she’ll love it.
• Finger food. There is something sensual about watching someone eat with their hands and lick their fingers. So try a menu that you can eat with your hands. Sushi might work well. Lots of appetizers like Phyllo Coureur des Bois, Bruschetta, cheese & pâté with crackers, dumplings, stuffed mushroom caps. Chicken wings aren’t very romantic but any guy would thank you. There’s also lots of finger licking going on with chicken wings, or ribs for that matter. Think about pairing it with a nice bottle of wine. For dessert I would suggest fresh strawberries. There are a few different things you could do with strawberries: you could dip them in nutella and serve them with Port, you could dip them in plain yogurt and then brown sugar or you could just dip them in chocolate for a classic Valentine’s Day treat.
• Take your time and make it a long night. Valentine’s Day is an occasion to take time with your loved one, a long time to really enjoy each other’s company. There are a number of long meals that really let you relax and enjoy. I suggest either a fondue or a raclette. Make sure to have more than 1 bottle of wine, because in my experience you’ll probably need them.

If you have other ideas feel free to share them in the comments. I’d love to hear what works for you. Whatever you do, make it special and tell those close to you how important they are and how much they mean to you. Happy Valentine’s Day.

Half-Point Chocolate Chip Cookies

I got this recipe from Weight Watchers since I'm on the plan. They are very satisfying and won't bust your point count for the day. If you're not on Weight Watchers, this means that they're low fat and low cal. That being said, you're not supposed to eat the whole entire batch.

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp butter, softened
2 tsp canola oil
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp table salt
1 large egg white(s)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
3 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips, about 1/2 cup
1/4 tsp baking soda

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
2. Cream together butter, oil and brown sugar. Add vanilla, salt and egg white, and mix together thoroughly.
3. Mix together flour and baking soda. Add chocolate chips and stir to distribute evenly.
4. Try not to eat all the batter before baking the cookies.
5. Drop rounded half-teaspoons of dough onto a nonstick baking sheet. Bake cookies for 4 to 6 minutes, then cool on a wire rack. They're so delicious that I doubt you'll be able to cool them for that long before diving in.

Yields 2 cookies per serving (yes, that's 1 point for two cookies! Yeah!!) .

My Romance with Smoked Meat

Its been a few days of hectic eating! I think I've gained 5 pounds or more. Yesterday I rekindled my romance with smoked meat when I had a Jumbo at Moe's. It was delightful. If you've never had real smoked meat before, you're missing out on one of life's great pleasures.

Chicken Cordon Bleu

Chicken Cordon Bleu

This is a classic recipe that I’m sure you’ve tried before. But if you’re like me its been years since you had it last. While the classic filling is ham and swiss cheese, this becomes even more interesting if you change the meat and cheese. For example last time we used grison and monterey jack. I would also suggest using the combination from Phyllo Coureur des Bois, gouda and prosciutto. You could give a little bit of an Italian twist by filling the chicken with provolone and capicollo.

Ingredients
Boneless, skinless chicken breasts (1 per person)
Slices of swiss cheese or another cheese of your choice (enough slices to cover each chicken breast)
Slices of ham or another meat (enough to cover each chicken breast)
Flour
Paprika
Wine (optional)
Chicken stock (optional)
Cream (optional)

Required Equipment
Cutting board
Chef’s knife
Frying pan
Heat source (I would completely be impressed if you made this over an open fire, but I suggest using stove top and an oven)

Directions
Pour yourself a glass of wine and roll up your sleeves. I think this goes nicely with a chardonnay but if you’re using stronger cheese than Swiss and stronger meat than ham you might be able to get away with a light-bodied red wine. Although if you’re looking for an excuse to drink rosé, this would be it.

Remove filets from chicken (with a knife unless you just want to rip them off with your hands, this is why your sleeves are rolled up) and save them for another recipe. Consider making Buffalo chicken strips with them, or perhaps dumplings. Butterfly each chicken breast by placing the chicken on a cutting board and slicing horizontally away from you through the thickest part of the breast. You’ll be left with a large thin piece of chicken breast.
Lay a large slice of cheese on the breast and then put the ham (or other meat) on top. Roll the breast leaving the meat and cheese in the middle. Hold the breast closed with tooth picks. I suggest not using colored tooth picks, have you ever seen Bridget Jones Diary when she uses green kitchen twine to hold a bouquet garnis in her soup? Green toothpicks will bleed green coloring into your chicken- which I suppose is okay on St Patrick’s day.

Sprinkle flour and paprika on a plate or a piece of wax paper. Roll the chicken breast in the flour and paprika until coated. If you want to be more traditional, instead of coating in flour you can dip the chicken in some beaten egg and then cover with bread crumbs.


In a hot pan heat some oil and then add the chicken and brown on all sides. Remove from pan and bake in a 350 degree oven until cooked. Meanwhile you can deglaze the pan that the chicken was cooking in with ½ cup white wine (if you haven’t already finished the bottle) and some chicken stock to create a sauce. If you would like the sauce a little thicker, add some cream and then reduce to the desired consistency.

To serve you can either give each of your guests an entire breast, otherwise you can slice and give everyone a few medallions, which looks pretty attractive.

Winter Travel: Canadian Culinary Hot Spots

While surfing foodtv.ca earlier today I came across a great article titled Winter Travel: Canadian Culinary Hot Spots. The article lists some of the great cuisine that each province is known for. Indeed there are great things to eat from coast to coast.

The reason I am blogging about this article is that too often we don't appreciate what's around us. There are so many local ingredients and delicacies that we need to explore. I applaud the author for her attempt to educate us about our culinary surroundings. I challenge each and every one of you to try something from the lists that you haven't tried before.

Great weekend of cooking

It's Monday morning and I am refreshed because I had a fabulous cooking weekend. It all started off with a great meal on Friday night. B and I made classic Chicken Cordon Bleu and then made it with a twist by changing the ham for grison and the Swiss cheese for Monterey jack. Needless to say, it makes for an even more interesting meal. It’s also really easy to do so I suggest you try it.

Saturday night we were hosting B’s family for her Mom’s birthday dinner. We decided to make one of our new favorites roasted leg of lamb. It was a big hit! One person at the table commented that it was the best lamb he had ever had. We served the lamb with some roasted potatoes, steamed green beans and a simple green salad. We opted for a chocolate fondue instead of a birthday cake. If you haven’t had chocolate fondue you are missing one of life’s great pleasures. I’ll try to blog that one in the next few days as well.

The weekend finished off with tacos on Sunday night. Tacos are another one of our faves that is just so easy to do, has lots of veggies in it and helps clean out the fridge because almost anything can go into a taco and be delicious.

Phabulous Phyllo Gouda Appetizer

This was my greatest find of the Christmas season and I know you’ll love it as much as I do. Guests are always impressed by this appetizer and it is very easy to do. I got the inspiration for this recipe Phyllo Coureur des Bois from a book called A Taste of Quebec by Julian Armstrong. Although the recipe suggests a larger serving size I prefer as a bite-sized appetizer.

It is named after a cheese produced by the Fromagerie Bergeron called Coureur des Bois which is a gouda cheese infused with cumin. The recipe below uses regular gouda and cumin because I couldn’t find any of the cheese from Fromagerie Bergeron. Here's a picture of them just before I put them in the oven. Unfortunately there's no after picture because they never last long enough to take out the camera.

Ingredients
4-5 slices of prosciutto
6 ounces of gouda cheese
1 tsp ground cumin
8-10 sheets of phyllo pastry
2 tbsp melted butter

Directions
Follow directions provided on package for working with phyllo pastry (you can’t work with it when frozen). Don’t remove it from wrapping yet as it will dry out if left out too long.

Cut gouda into 1 inch square pieces.

Sprinkle cumin over gouda and toss to have even coverage.

Tear prosciutto into pieces and then wrap the pieces around the squares of gouda. Pieces of prosciutto should be just large enough to wrap around the cheese.

Once all the pieces of gouda have been wrapped with prosciutto you can start working with the phyllo pastry.

Cut the phyllo pastry sheets in 4 equal squares. Brush each square with melted butter. Place the prosciutto and gouda towards the bottom of the square of phyllo fold it over the gouda once then fold in the sides of the phyllo and then finish folding until you have a mini cigar. Brush the top with melted butter. Repeat with all the pieces of gouda.

At this point you can put these in the fridge until you are ready to bake them. They should be baked at 375 F for 7-10 minutes until the phyllo pastry packages are golden brown. Enjoy immediately!

Rachel Ray saves Turkeys everywhere!

Since many of us are about to make Turkey for Christmas dinner I figured this would be useful.
I was happened to be on YouTube when I saw a Turkey 911 video featuring Rachel Ray. She talks about ways to cut down the time it takes to cook a turkey. You can watch the video or you can save time by reading the tips below.

- If you need a 20lb bird, cook two 10-12 lb turkeys instead, the cooking time is less.
- If you have a 20lb Turkey but slept in and forgot to put it in the oven on time, cut the bird in pieces and it will cook in 90 minutes.
- If you burnt your pan drippings so can't make gravy with them just create a roux by combining flour and butter, then add turkey stock which you can buy at the grocery store.
- If you took the bird out too early and its not cooked enough, warm up some turkey stock on the stove, carve up the bird and put the pieces that aren't cooked enough in the stock and they will cook in minutes.
- If you took the bird out too late and its not as moist as it should be, (Turkey Stock to the Rescue!) warm up some turkey stock in a pan on the stove then carve up the bird and put the pieces that aren't moist into the stock and they will become moist again.

Drunken Pasta

Last week I was watching Food TV (as usual) and they had a very special edition of Iron Chef America. They had Giada De Laurentiis facing off against Rachel Ray. Which was already pretty cool. Then they "Kicked it up a notch" by pairing Giada with Bobby Flay and Rachel with Mario Batali. So this is clearly an episode of Iron Chef America that is not to be missed. At one point Rachel Ray pours an entire bottle of red wine into a pot. In my mind I'm saying, "Rachel, dear, it would be easier to drink it out of a glass." She turns on the pot and uses it to boil pasta. And at this point I'm blown away, I think this is pretty darn cool. She makes drunken pasta out of it. I'm pretty impressed by the whole thing.

But then I get time to reflect a little. If I'm at home and I'm making some pasta, I really think that there is no chance that I'm wasting a bottle of wine by boiling pasta in it. Its one thing to make Coq au Vin, which is a personal favourite, but that only takes a cup or two. Here's my thought, if you're at home and you don't have a cheap bottle of wine to waste boiling pasta, use less water and throw some wine in with it. You surely won't get the same level of flavour but it won't cost you a bottle of wine either. Otherwise if you are looking to get rid of a bottle of wine from the Dépanneur (corner store if you're outside Québec) fill your boots.

As a side note they are airing that episode again this week on Wednesday night at 9pm on Food Network Canada.

Brussel Sprouts

For those of you that already know my Mom, you know how wonderful she is. Many of you that haven’t already met my Mom, will have a mere glimpse into how kind and caring she is from the next statement. I had Brussel sprouts for the FIRST TIME in my life last Tuesday night. Yes, many of you can’t believe that I wasn’t subjected to them as a child, and yes, I know my Mom rocks for not having made me eat them as a kid.

At any rate, everyone complains about them soooo much that I figured I should try them. I was making a beer-can chicken in my oven and figured it would be nice to have some roasted veggies along side. I cut up some potatoes, parsnips, carrots and Brussel sprouts. I tossed the veggies in some olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary and cooked them in a pan beside the chicken for a little over an hour. I’ll admit that the smell leaves a little to be desired but Brussel sprouts really aren’t bad at all. All of you Brussel Sprout lovers feel free to leave a comment. Be proud of your love for the sprout!

New Kitchen Store in Pointe-Claire

Okay, so its not that new. But I had never been there before. Last Friday night I needed to get a flavour injector for someone for Christmas (it might be you) and I didn't have time to go to the place I was originally planning on so I stopped at the Pointe-Claire Shopping Centre. In the new section of the mall, along Donegani there is a store called The Pointe-Claire Kitchen Store they don't have a website but you can call them at 514-697-5855. They have great selection and great prices. When you visit you will find lots of cooking utensils, dutch ovens (le Creuset and others), cake pans, cookbooks and of course, 2 types of flavour injectors. When you drop in tell them Stu sent you.

Lunch at the Forest & Stream

Yesterday was our company’s Christmas lunch and once again we were spoiled. We went to the Forest & Stream Club for lunch. The club was founded in the late 1800s on a parcel of land on the water in Dorval, Quebec. The service is fabulous and the food is great and so I figured that I needed to make a post about it.

Christmas lunch is a festive occasion so I admit to having a dram of scotch before the meal while we were sitting by the fireplace in the living room. We were then seated in the Moose room. It is called the Moose room because there is a Moose’s head mounted on the wall. No, I’m not sure if they serve Moosehead in this room. I started off with 6 oysters which were extremely fresh.

For the soup course I somehow avoided the lobster bisque and opted for consommé. Many of you are now saying to yourselves, “Stu, what on earth were you thinking? Consommé? Stu, that’s ridiculous.” And while you might be right on certain levels, the consommé at the Forest & Stream Club is quite good, but really its about the presentation. They bring the consommé in a lovely F&S china cup and then they proceed to add sherry right in front of you. Needless to say, this is no ordinary consommé. At any rate, it is something of a classic for the Forest & Stream and I enjoyed it immensely.

At this point, they also pass around pieces of white toast with the crusts cut off, which is kind of cute, refined and at the same time feels indulgent because not since I was 2 years old did anyone cut the crusts off of bread for me.

I had the Club-style Lobster Salad for lunch and I don’t think words alone can explain how wonderful it was. It was sinful, sophisticated and sumptuous all at the same time. At this point I fall into some type of euphoric trance thinking about the meal. All I can think about is the wonderful lobster claws and tail on a beautiful bed of greens with dollops of sauces on the side in endive leaves.

How can this be topped of properly? Tough to say, but my Forest & Stream chocolate millefeuille was wonderful. It was actually quite different from a regular millefeuille in that it was round, and had chocolate mousse instead of vanilla custard and didn’t have icing on top. Keep your eyes on this blog for Stu’s adaptation. Believe me, it will be coming soon…

The gift of Great Taste

At this time of year lots of people are looking for gift ideas so I figured I would help out my readers by providing some of my thoughts about giving the gift of great taste.

People love food, eating and cooking. The proof is that I write about it on a regular basis for no benefit other than to have a good time. Much like giving knitting needles to someone who likes to knit or golf balls to someone who likes to golf, giving food related gifts is simply supporting a hobby- a delicious hobby.

Here are a few Food related gift ideas;
- Cookbook of your favourite recipes (this will be my third year giving out a recipe book)
- Recipe cards with a few fave recipes, perhaps include them in a recipe box
- Homemade BBQ sauce
- Homemade spice rub
- A jar containing all the necessary dried ingredients for a cookie recipe along with instructions on how to make the cookies
- Good olive oil & balsamic vinegar (kitchens aren’t complete without these)
- A herb garden
- Cooking utensils or appliances
- A batch of cookies or chocolates

You can get really creative with these gifts. I suggest creating a theme.

B and I have some family members that are real Foodies like us, and almost every year we exchange food related gifts. Since I haven’t identified them, and I don’t think they know about this blog yet, I can tell you what we’re giving them. We found a nicely decorated shoebox at and are filling it with some infused olive oil, good balsamic vinegar, a copy of our cookbook, homemade BBQ sauce, homemade spice rub and a flavour injector. We’ll wrap the whole thing in tissue and cellophane and top it with a bow. I know they’ll love it because they love good food and love to try new things.

A colleague of mine had a Christmas dinner theme and gave a roasting pan to one child, baking utensils to another, a gravy boat and fat separator to another and the 4th child got a carving set.
Another colleague is giving a sushi set to one of her family members. It includes bowls for rice, soya sauce dishes, plates, bamboo place mats, chopsticks, bamboo mats to roll sushi and a bamboo rice steamer.

If you have a baker in the family perhaps giving a rolling pin, cookie cutters, a silpat, oven mitts, a cookie sheet and some muffin tins would be nice. You could make a fabulous package of it all by placing it in a pastry bowl and wrapping it in cellophane.

So, go forth young Foodies and spread The Gift of Great Taste!

Tre Chic, my Chinese-Jamaican Inspiration

I was recently inspired by my good friend Tre Chic. She is of Chinese-Jamaican descent, loves to cook, loves to eat and has been a big supporter of my blog. She loved the dumpling post I did a few weeks ago. So I decided that I would make a Chinese-Jamaican meal in her honour. The menu included; jerk chicken dumplings, tostones (not Jamaican but certainly Caribbean) and then a salad which was pretty basic but none the less, its winter in Canada and you need to eat whatever fresh veggies you can get.

Below are a few pictures. But the recipe for the dumplings is very straight-forward. The filling of the dumplings is chicken breast, green onions and jerk seasoning. I was going to make my own jerk seasoning but once again I was screwed by a local grocery store that didn’t have scotch bonnet peppers. So I used some Bush Browne’s jerk seasoning which was quite good. I served the dumplings with some plum sauce which complemented the jerk seasoning quite nicely. Check out my previous post which goes into more detail about dumplings. All you need to do is replace the ginger and garlic from the dumpling filling with jerk seasoning and… *presto* you’ve got Chinese Jamaican jerk dumplings.

As for Tostones, they are double fried plantain cakes. They are easy to make and are a great and versatile side to a Caribbean dish. They look like bananas and I found they taste a lot like potatoes so would be great with a little something on top of them or beside jerk dumplings or jerk chicken. I got the recipe from a Puerto Rican site which looks to be quite good.

Ingredients
3 green plantains

oil for frying (I used a Teflon pan so used about 1 tbsp of oil)

garlic powder

salt

Directions
Slice the peeled plantains diagonally into 1" slices. Fry the slices over medium heat until they soften. Remove from oil and drain on paper towels. I folded some parchment paper, but the fried plantain in the parchment paper and then flattened with a plate to about a half an inch in thickness. The key is cooking the plantains enough so they are soft. Don’t rush this process. They should be nice and caramelized on both sides. It is best to press all the pieces first before going on the next step. Dip each piece in warm salted water and fry again until crispy. Remove from the oil and drain on paper towels. Salt them. You can then serve them with some salsa on the side or kethup or BBQ sauce. For some reason I could also see serving these with a nice artichoke dip.

Special Thanks to Tre for her inspiration for this meal and to my sister for leading me to the Tostones recipe. When they both visit Montreal next I promise to make them this meal.

If you only read 1 post from this blog....

Read this one!

"That which chiefly causes the failure of a dinner-party, is the running short- not of meat, nor yet of drink, but of conversation.”

This is a quote attributed to Lewis Carroll from Sylvie and Bruno Concluded. I came across it on page 103 of the November 2006 issue of REAL SIMPLE magazine in an article written by Genevieve Roth. Immediately upon reading this quote I was struck by a newfound context to my culinary adventure. We who love food, eating and entertaining still occasionally fall flat when it comes to dinner parties. The best meals we’ve ever had are a combination of food, drink and great conversation. But the conversation, more so than the other two components, is what makes or breaks the meal.

The article categorizes the 8 different types of people you might have at a dinner party and who to sit with who. Trying to put people into a box described in 1 paragraph is futile at the best of times, but if you need a guideline it's better than nothing. They also answer a few questions about assigning seats, place cards, kids tables, etc. It’s a good article so feel free to read it the next time you’re at the dentist or the hairdresser.

The important message was the one I got from the article was in Carroll’s quote; the right type of curry powder, Devonshire cream, or $50 Chardonnay won’t make or break your dinner party.

Some of my tips:

• Make something that won’t require you to be in your kitchen all night instead of with your guests.
• Leave your dishes in the sink while you enjoy a drink after dinner, they can still be cleaned the next morning.
• Don’t have a crowd so big that you can’t spend some time with everyone because as much as people appreciate the free food, they come to dinner to be with a friend.

Au Pied du Cochon- Venison Champvallon

In the December edition of Report on Business Magazine (sorry, you have to be a subscriber to the insider to read the article online) Sasha Chapman interviews Martin Picard of Au Pied du Cochon, one of Montreal’s most interesting restaurants. For instance, Picard created the foie gras poutine. If you are unaware, Poutine is a classic Quebecois delicacy comprised of French fries, cheese curds and gravy. This was created and is served at the best casse-croutes (snack bars) and many decent restaurants in the province. Adding foie gras is extremely unconventional but definitely interesting.

The article presents a recipe called Venison Champvallon (recipe below) which Chapman describes as “a lusty dish inspired by the one that Madame de Champvallon is said to have created for Louis XIV, a man whose monstrous appetite was equaled only by his libido.” He sounds like my type of guy so I’m sure I’ll like the dish.


Venison Champvallon
2 tbsp butter
5 large cooking onions
3 garlic cloves minced
4 thyme sprigs
1 boneless venison shoulder
1 pork shank
5 Yukon gold potatoes
2 cups venison or beef stock
salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 450 F
   
2. In a large pot, melt 1 tbsp butter over medium heat. Sauté onions, half the garlic and two sprigs of thyme, seasoning with salt and pepper. Cook onions, stirring until caramelized. Transfer to a plate, reserving butter in pot.
   
3. Cut venison and pork into 1 inch cubes. Brown meat on all sides and add the remaining garlic and thyme. Season with salt and pepper and remove to a bowl. Deglaze the bottom of the pot with 1 cup of water. Reserve the liquid.
   
4. Using a mandoline, slice potatoes thinly. Scatter half the slices across the bottom of a large roasting pan or casserole dish with a tight-fitting lid. Add half the onion mixture, then the meat. Top with remaining onion mixture and potato slices. Pour stock over top and add enough reserved deglazing liquid to cover.
   
5. Roast, covered for 1 hour. Lower heat to 350 F and roast 3 more hours. Have a nap, watch a movie, go cross-country skiing, or cuddle with your loved one for warmth.
   
6. Spread 1 tablespoon butter over potatoes and roast, uncovered until golden.
   

Great Appetizer- Chicken Samosas

I was going through one of the Weight Watchers cookbooks; 50 Great Meals for 5 Points Value or Less and came across Chicken Samosas (1 point each if you were wondering) and immediately had to make them.

I must admit that I have eaten many a samosas in my time, but have never made any before, nor have I cooked Indian food before in my life. So I started off by looking for ingredients. I was able to pick up everything pretty easily except for garam masala. I had been to two grocery stores without luck when it struck me to call one of my Pakistani friends. Garam masala is a mix of spices and while my friend couldn’t tell me what spices are needed, she confirmed that her Mom would be able to tell me without any delay. So in garam masala you need black pepper, cardamom, cinnamon, ground cloves and cumin. I was told not to use too much ground cloves because it can overpower everything else. Otherwise she uses about the same amount of each but I suggest you play with a blend that you like. That being said, I'm sure that each household has their own mix to make garam masala so this is certainly not the definitive recipe so don't feel that mine is the final word on the subject. If you would like to share your recipe for garam masala please feel free to post it in the comments.

Ingredients:
2 tbsp Canola Oil
1 small onion finely chopped
1 jalapeno pepper finely chopped (wear gloves if you’ve got ‘em otherwise be careful)
2 garlic cloves minced
1 tsp Garam masala
¾ tsp curry powder
¼ tsp ground turmeric
1 lb ground skinless chicken breast (or you can just dice a chicken breast)
salt
3 tbsp fresh cilantro chopped
1 tbsp fresh lime juice
34 3” square wonton wrappers

Directions:

• Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, jalapeno and garlic and sauté until the onion softens, 3-4 minutes. Stir in the garam masala, curry powder, and turmeric; cook 30 seconds (your kitchen now smells amazing so take a second to enjoy it). Add the chicken and salt; with a wooden spoon break up the chicken and cook until it is no longer pink (5-7 minutes). Remove from the heat and stir in the cilantro and lime juice. Then let the mixture cool so you can handle it without burning yourself.
  
• Preheat the over to 425 F. Spray a baking sheet with nonstick spray.
  Arrange 6 wonton wrappers on a work surface (only 6 at a time because you don’t want the wrappers to dry out). Get yourself a finger bowl filled with water. Dip your finger in the bowl then moisten the edges of the wrapper. You could make these into simple triangles or you could get a little fancy. If you are making simple triangles place a tbsp of the chicken mixture in the middle and then fold the wrapper diagonally to form a triangle.
• If you want to get a little fancy, check out the pictures but essentially you create a cone by joining two sides of the same right angle, then stuff with filling with the chicken mixture and folding the top over to close the samosa. Press edges firmly to seal. Use a little more water if you need it but you probably won’t.

Spray the samosas lightly with nonstick spray. Bake, turning once, until crisp and golden, about 12 minutes.

I like to enjoy this with a little mango chutney but you could also use plum sauce in a pinch.

Lamb- The Other Red Meat

Last weekend I was hosting some good friends of my parents. I had been meaning to have them over for dinner for quite some time as they had been generous enough to give me tennis tickets. Needless to say, I had to come up with something good because you don’t say thank you with a sandwich and chips.

B and I were completely lacking inspiration. We were going to go with our old standard, Coq au Vin, but thankfully B had remembered that we served that the last time they were over. There’s nothing worse than appearing to be a one trick pony. So we went down to the grocery store and were determined to find some inspiration.

As it turns out, the cooking gods were on our side. (I don’t know who the cooking gods are, but its probably a panel of individuals including but not necessary limited to; Julie Childs, Fanny Farmer, Jehanne Benoit and John Candy.) While strolling through the butcher’s department we found inspiration in spades. Finally we decided on a leg of lamb. No, we had never done a leg of lamb before but my buddy Peter does it all the time so we weren’t deterred. The great thing about lamb at a dinner party which included my parents is 1) roasts are a traditional North American meal and 2) for some reason they impress people because they seem difficult, 3) lamb isn’t your everyday roast, its pretty special. In addition, this wasn’t just any lamb, but Australian lamb. This worked out well because I have family roots in Aus, the friends that were coming over had been to Aus and B and I are going there for our honeymoon next year.

We found a 2.5kg leg of lamb (about 5 pounds) that was luckily butterflied (de-boned)- once again proving that the cooking gods are on our side. However, I realized that we didn’t have any kitchen twine at home (must remember to add that to the grocery list). In another tour de force for the cooking gods, the lamb came in some sort of stretchy woven stocking that you could take off and put back on! Wonderful!

So here’s what you need;

- 2 tablespoons of Dijon
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 6 cloves of garlic
- 1 healthy teaspoon of rosemary
- 1 teaspoon of Herbes de province
- Salt and pepper
- 1 leg of lamb, boneless. (its much better if you can get the butcher to do this for you)


How to:
- First off you mix the Dijon with the rosemary and the Herbes de Provence and 1 tablespoon of the olive oil.
- Remove the leg of lamb from the stocking so that you can get access to the middle of the roast.
- Salt and pepper liberally the inside of the roast. Smash a few cloves of garlic and toss them in the middle of the roast. If you have some rosemary left over feel free to toss some in there as well.
- Roll up the leg of lamb and put it back inside the stocking.
- Slice sum garlic and then puncture a few holes spread throughout the outside of the roast and put a slice of garlic in each hole. Rub the other tablespoon of oil over the outside of the roast then salt and pepper the roast.
- Coat the outside of the roast with the Dijon mixture.
- Place the roast in a roasting pan and put in a pre-heated 350 degree oven for 15 minutes every 0.5kg (about 15 minutes a pound). This should give you approximately medium rare.

As you can see from above, my presentation won’t win me any gold ribbons because I seem to have left a big hole in the middle of the plate. Almost like I had made the plate for a kid that doesn’t like to have any food touching other food items, but I’m sure you can do a better job.

Serving suggestions
I like lamb with some nice roasted rosemary potatoes and always some green vegetables and/or a salad. I also think red wine is a must, ask a sommelier or someone at your local liquor store for a suggestion. My mother insists on mint jelly with lamb, but this certainly didn’t need it. Some times I think my Mom likes to eat lamb just so that she has an excuse to eat mint jelly so I won’t judge her.

Demystifying Bruschetta

I don’t know whether it’s the pronunciation or some other reason, but Bruschetta seems to impress and mystify people. And because it’s so easy, it’s a great recipe to have in your back pocket so that you can pull it out at any moment.

If you go to wikipedia you will find the following;
“Bruschetta is a food originating in central Italy. It consists of grilled bread rubbed with garlic and topped with extra-virgin olive oil, salt and pepper. Variations may include toppings of spicy red pepper, tomato, vegetables and/or cheese. Bruschetta is usually served as a snack or appetizer. In Tuscany, bruschetta is called fettunta, meaning "oiled slice".”

It is worth noting that in Italian, bruschetta is pronounced brus’ket.ta, so you can sound sophisticated an worldly if you pronounce it that way.

Wikipedia continues with, “The noun "bruschetta" is from the verb in the Roman dialect "bruscare," meaning "to roast over coals." Following a process in historical linguistics known as semantic shift, the meaning of the word has changed, so that now some North Americans typically use the word "bruschetta" to refer to the topping itself, not the dish. Some grocery store chains sell bottled "bruschetta," which is simply tomatoes, onion, garlic, and other herbs.”

Here’s what you need to make some basic Bruschetta;

• Tomatoes (I prefer italian plum tomatores so that its more authentic)


• A few cloves of garlic


• Some olive oil


• Basil (I prefer fresh although will use some dried in a pinch. Its important to note that if you are using dried, use less than if you were using fresh.


• Something to serve it on like crackers or baguette.


• Grated cheese, perhaps fresh parmesan (optional)
  

Directions:

• Give the tomatoes a fine dice. (If anyone out there was thinking of using a can of diced tomatoes please spank yourself quite hard. The key to this dish is freshness so canned tomotoes won’t do it.)


• Mince some garlic and throw it in with the tomotoes. Do the same with the basil and then a few good splashes of olive oil. If you’re using some fresh grated parmesan I suggest waiting until you are about to serve to add it to the mixture.


• Bruschetta needs to sit for a little while for the flavours to blend. If you want to make this in the morning for your noon picnic that’s a good idea. You could also make it in the morning for your evening dinner party.


• If you are using a baguette I suggest grilling it on an open flame, wood or charcoal fire not gas. But if you’re like me that option isn’t really feasible because I live in an apartment with no balcony so don’t often have access to a grill. Alternatively I suggest grilling the bread on an indoor grill or grill pan or tossing the slices of baguette into a toaster.


• You may want to rub the slices of baguette with a cut clove of garlic to impart some nice flavour. Others have also drizzled a little olive oil on the toasted baguette.
  Bruschetta is great for a picnic but is great in many situations. I served it at a dinner party on the weekend and I couldn’t serve it fast enough.
  

Free Cookbook

Thanks to Cooking With Amy I got a link to a free cookbook. I'm not sure if they'll send it outside the US and I'll let you know when Richard Perry gets back to me. But for more info on the cookbook just go to http://www.goodhomecookbook.com/wordpress/ . The cookbook promises to have some classic honest to goodness recipes. I will keep you posted on how this works out.