         
Archive for the ‘Main Dishes’ Category
Thursday, February 2nd, 2012
So… I have a functional kitchen now! The cabinets are built, the countertops installed, backsplash set, everything grouted, and the sink, dishwasher, and stove are all hooked up! *CANNOT* tell you how god it feels to have some culinary autonomy back.
We haven’t had the use of the dishwasher since May’s tornado – it’s been used to store the glassware ever since! We’ve been living off takeout. While my access to the kitchen has been sporadic at best, my brain hasn’t taken a break, so I’ve had this LONG list of ideas and theoretical recipes brewing, with no ability to do anything about it, short of write them down. I tell you, working through those ideas on paper, while being stuck with months crappy fast food? Torture.
One of the things I wanted to make this whole time was a proper tourtiere (“tortiere”, for some). It’s a French Canadian meat pie, and it’s soooo good when made properly. Also, as part of the planning process, I worked on a gluten free pastry crust that wouldn’t make me grieve for my inability to eat wheat.
| I did it!
Yesterday was my first day with the new kitchen, so I rolled out of bed and almost immediately went to buy groceries. With 3 items I wanted to make, Tourtiere was to be made in the afternoon, closer to suppertime. Couldn’t handle it, dug in to the preparation right away!
I tell ya, the filling, as it’s cooking, smells amazing on the best of days. All those fresh veggies, herbs… yum. To someone who’s eaten more Wendy’s takeout in the past few months than anyone should have to in a lifetime? Absolutely amazing. |
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The crust also turned out extremely well – you’d never peg it as being a gluten free crust. Very rich and flaky! Oh, so good. I just had some leftovers for breakfast – this recipe is definitely a winner!
Oh, and if you want to make a regular, non-gluten free version? Just swap out the crust for your favorite double-crust recipe, or premade dough.
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Posted in Canadian, Ethnic, Gluten Free, Main Dishes, Pies, Recipes | No Comments »
Wednesday, February 1st, 2012
Today’s post is a guest post from Katrina, one of my fellow Food Bloggers of Canada members.
While I’d originally planned to have a few guest bloggers while my kitchen was incapacitated (an idea that came FAR too late in the game, LOL!), consider me inspired – I’m going to try and make this guest bloggers thing a regular thing. As I find Wednesdays to be the BEST day of the week, I figured it’d be the most appropriate day to spread some awesome! 
| I figure that I should start off this post with an introduction.
Hi, I’m Katrina. I usually post over at Kitchen Trials.
That should pretty much cut it right? We are all here for the food after all. I’m going to help out Marie with a little guest post while she gets her fabulous kitchen finished. Lucky Marie!
I’m sharing my recipe for Roasted Butternut Squash Ravioli. Take a look at this baby! |
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Posted in Guest Posts, Main Dishes, Pasta, Recipes | 1 Comment »
Saturday, January 28th, 2012
This weekend – and the past few weeks – is/has been a big push to get out post-tornado kitchen reconstruction DONE. Well, not quite done-done … we won’t have the lumber for the cabinet faces and doors for a while, and those will take some serious time to make … but functional.
I haven’t had a functional kitchen since we bought this house, a year ago. The kitchen, as we bought it, was only barely functional – you may have seen the “before” pictures and description on twitter. Don’t worry, I’ll be posting the awful “befores” when I can finally post the “afters”!
This weekend is all about building the cabinetry to surround the slide-in oven, which has been free-standing since we moved in. By Monday, I should not only have the base cabinets, but tiled counter AND backsplash there, also. *CANNOT WAIT*. I’m not being facetious there, either. We’ve been discussing all of the great foods I haven’t been able to make in a long time, as well as the recipes I’ve been mentally designing ever since losing my kitchen. All of this takeout food… ugh.
| So, we went to the store to pick up groceries for the first couple of meals I’ll be able to make, and I used one of my new counters – and my freshly-installed sink area! – to make Cod au Gratin on Friday night. Aw yeah.
Cod au Gratin is a traditional Newfoundland dish, and one of my all time favorites. Generally speaking, it consists of cod, Béchamel sauce, and cheese / bread crumbs on top… but – of course – I started bastardizing it the first time I made it. Béchamel because a hearty cheese sauce, filled with tons of sharp cheddar. I’ve made this with dill, with asparagus, with bacon, and with other seafood involved. It’s just one of those recipes that I make by “feel”, and I’ve never written down measurements or anything as I’ve gone. Til now.
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Posted in Canadian, Ethnic, Gluten Free, Main Dishes, Recipes, Seafood | No Comments »
Tuesday, December 20th, 2011
| As I’ve mentioned a few times before, I’m a major gluten free snob. If it’s regularly something that requires regular flour, and that’s been replaced by “alternative” flours.. I usually find it revolting. So… I tend not to buy much prepare food that’s labeled “Gluten Free” in the grocery store.
A couple weeks ago, though, we were rifling through the gluten free freezer area, because I desperately wanted pizza, and was willing to make that compromise to get it. My husband saw a package of Amy’s “Salsa Verde Tamales”, and had to have it – even if it was labeled as a gluten free product. I’d never had a tamal before, so agreed to give it a shot – the photo DID look tasty! |
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Damn. Frozen, prepared food from a grocery store has NO business being THAT good.
Not sure if it was an accurate representation of a tamal or not, I started researching. Convenience food is great every once in awhile, but this was obviously something that I needed to learn to make. Aside from being inherently gluten free (as I soon found out)… my husband is also the biggest corn freak on the face of the planet, and the idea of wrapping his meal IN corn? As I said – quite obviously needed to learn to make it.
So created my own filling recipe. Then, I read a bunch about the dough and rolling, took bits and pieces of info that I liked from a few sources, and came up with my own recipe. Completely bastardized, I know – it’s probably nowhere close to authentic – but it IS super tasty. If you don’t want to include beer, substitute chicken broth.
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Posted in Budget Meals, Ethnic, Gluten Free, Guy Food, Kid Favorites, Main Dishes, Recipes | 2 Comments »
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