          
Archive for the ‘Main Dishes’ Category
Wednesday, March 14th, 2012
Whoa! I’ve really neglected the blog recently… sorry about that! Racing to get the main areas of the house organized and cleaned up. No small task, considering that the dining room was still being used as temporary storage for everything that belonged in the kitchen. As we have enough of the shelves done to move forward, I’m re-populating them with everything that’s been in the dining room. It may not sound like much, but it’s a lot of fussy decision making, as much as anything. The new cabinetry layout is completely different from the old one, so I need to figure out where I want everything to be.
Anyway, the big cleaning rush is on account of our “St Pi-trick’s Day” party this weekend. Just finished the menu up last night – it’s going to be GOOD! For the uninitiated: My husband’s favorite “holiday” is Pi Day (He’s a major math nerd), while my favorite is St Patrick’s Day (Irish Canadian, here!). Usually, we celebrate the two together, ON Pi day. Loads of pi trivia, round foods, etc… with a heavy Irish theme running on top of it. Just finished our menu last night – it’ll be awesome!
| If you’re looking for something unique to serve for your own celebrations this time of year – I’ve got the recipe for you! Behold: St Patrick’s Day Pizza!
I created this recipe for our pi day celebrations a few years ago, and it’s been a March staple for us ever since. It’s basically the result of wondering “What’s the best way to combine the two themes, in one epic main dish?”. Well… now you know!
This recipe starts with a flavorful, tender beer based rye crust, and continues with (Canadian style) colcannon, one of our favorite things ever. Top with some corned beef, cabbage, and Irish cheddar… there you have it. St Pi-trick’s Day perfection!
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Enjoy! (more…)
Posted in Ethnic, Guy Food, Irish, Main Dishes, Recipes | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, February 29th, 2012
Extra special guest post today – not only is it our first celebrity guest post.. but the guest poster is one of my favorite foodie tweeps.
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We bonded over our mutual affection for a fictional character – Jean Valjean – and our excitement over an upcoming movie featuring Hugh Jackman (yum) playing him. We’ve since found out that we have the same knives. Small world! I digress.. Mairlyn Smith is pretty awesome.
She’s also hilarious – the only professional home economist who’s also an alumnus of the Second City Comedy Troupe. As a cookbook author, and is well known for her warm personality and the wit she brings to her many TV appearances in Canada. Also? She’s adorable! |
Mairlyn’s email signature – “Peace, Love, and Fibre” – hints at her culinary passion: healthy eating. Her latest cookbook, “Healthy Eating Starts Here!” is a masterpiece. Huge, beautifully photographed book featuring 140 recipes that are not only healthy, but delicious and accessible.
Today’s blog post marks another first – the first time in my life that I’ve ever followed a recipe to the letter! No adding/subtracting ingredients, or otherwise screwing with it! I’m not sure if I should be proud of that newfound ability, or mourn the loss of the claim.
Let’s go with “proud”. The recipe – from “Healthy Starts Here!” – was fabulous, and didn’t need to be messed with at all. By the time I had the ingredients simmering, my husband was circling the kitchen like an impatient shark, repeatedly declaring how awesome it all smelled, and how hungry he was. The final product did NOT disappoint! Tons of flavor, great texture, and very satisfying!
Anyway, enough of my swooning, let me turn this all over to Mairlyn! (more…)
Posted in Guest Posts, Healthy, Main Dishes, Recipes, Side Dishes, Vegetarian | 1 Comment »
Wednesday, February 15th, 2012
It’s Wednesday! Time for a guest post! Today’s recipe is courtesy of Lisa, one of my fellow Food Bloggers of Canada members.
Lisa writes One Cook, Two Kitchens blog, detailing her kitchen adventures between two different kitchens: a condo in downtown Toronto (She’s near the St Lawrence Market. I’m super jealous!), and her Lake House. She can also be found on twitter, at @onecook2kitchns, or on Facebook here.
A friend of mine, who loves to cook as much as I do, recently confided that she has never made mussels because she finds the idea of making them somewhat intimidating.
I get it. There is an elegant mystique about mussels to the uninitiated, particularly if you are from a part of the continent where shellfish is not readily available. Also, if you’ve ever had fishy tasting/smelling mussels, or tough, chewy mussels, you may be concerned that they are too easy to ruin.
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The reality is that mussels are one of easiest dishes going. Once they are cleaned, you can have them cooked in minutes. There are infinite ways to prepare them. You can have them in a marinara or cream sauce, in a Thai curry coconut broth, or done very simply with beer or wine.
Today, I’m showing you how to make them with beer and bacon. The combination of the hops from the beer, with the sweetness of the onion, creates and irresistible broth. The next day, cold leftover meat pulled from the shells makes a delectable salad when combined with a lightly dressed salad. There will still be the faintest hint of the beer.
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Posted in Budget Meals, Main Dishes, Recipes, Seafood, Spirited Baking | 1 Comment »
Monday, February 13th, 2012
Another weekend, another few steps towards a normal house/life!
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I’ll get more into what post tornado progress we made, after the recipe… but one thing we did this weekend was clear everything out from the fridge, completely wash it out, and then re-organize everything back into it. In doing so, I came across some veggies that were getting to the end of their life span… so I decided to cobble together a dish to use them up.
Of particular concern was a very old bag of radishes, a bag of baby carrots that had obviously seen better days, and some kale. I’d heard about roasting radishes fairly recently, but hadn’t gotten around to trying it. I decided to sort of base the dish around a salad I’d had at a food blogger event a couple months ago… but rough composition and kale are really the only common threads. Completely different veggies, nuts, and dressing.
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This turned out amazing. It all worked so well together, and it was really pretty as well!
Roasting radishes gets rid of all of the bite, leaving a tender, almost sweet vegetable. It worked really well with the sweetness of the carrots, earthiness of the squash, and heft of the kale. The toasted walnuts brought some crunch to the party, and the dressing ended up perfect. I’ve never come across a vinaigrette that I REALLY liked- so I wrote my own.
I swear, my husband was grinning and *glowing* as he ate this. It was sort of a funny scene, we were both in our grubbies, exhausted after a whole weekend of repair/rebuild/cleanup, feeling totally beat up. This meal felt really “fancypants”, so we had to laugh at the contrast. (more…)
Posted in Condiments, Farmer's Market, Gluten Free, Healthy, Main Dishes, Recipes, Side Dishes | 1 Comment »
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