Couscous Salad

I'm back with a brand new recipe! August has kept me super busy with commitments and work.

I was finally able to get down to posting a few recipes.

This recipe is so adaptable and is perfect for a well-rounded lunch, or dinner side dish. It contains vegetables, grains and protein. It is adaptable because you can pretty much throw any combination of vegetables  or beans into it.

My vegetable combination for this recipe is heirloom carrots, bought fresh from the Jean-Talon farmer's market in Montreal, radishes, red onions and red peppers. I used chickpeas for my recipe, but white or red kidney beans would be equally delicious. The only thing is that chickpeas can handle being tossed around in the salad, whereas I find that kidney beans are more prone to becoming mush.

I used Israeli couscous for my recipe because I love how big the granules are. Technically, Israeli couscous is a pasta, not a grain like regular pasta, but it is great for soaking up sauces, like the dressing to this salad.

This salad is best served at least room temperature, if not cold. The best way to do this in a hurry is to stick the couscous in the freezer and then do all your prep work for the vegetables, giving it time to cool off.

Here is my recipe for Couscous Salad.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup Israeli couscous
2/3 cup boiling water
1/2 cup chickpeas
1 medium red onion, diced and seperated into two halves
1 red bell pepper, diced
3 small heirloom carrots(regular ones are fine too), thinly sliced
5 radishes, thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
dash red chili flakes

Dressing Ingredients

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tsp pure maple sirop, nothing with an Aunt on it!
1 tsp Dijon mustard
dash freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

In a small pot, heat olive oil at medium-high and add half of the red onion and the chili flakes. Saute for a couple of minutes and then add the couscous. Coat the couscous with the olive oil and let toast until a medium brown. Add garlic, continually combining. Add boiling water, lower to low heat, and cover. Let cook for 10 minutes.

Once cooked put the couscous into the final large bowl and put into the freezer for a quick chill, or into the fridge.

Combine all of the diced vegetables, including the other half of the onion, into the bowl wih the couscous. Drain and rinse chickpeas and add them to the bowl.

Combine all the dressing ingredients and whisk until combined. Pour dressing over the salad and mix thoroughly.

This salad tastes better if it sits and the dressing is allowed to absorb into the couscous, so I suggest making it at least an hour ahead of time and letting it chill in the refridgerator.

Enjoy!

Caramelized Almond & Strawberry Salad

I'm back! My trip was great, it is always nice to get out of the usual daily routine and try something different for a few weeks. That being said I felt so at home that coming back has been pretty difficult.

Here are a couple of pictures from my trip.

 Beautiful waterfall while hiking in the Golan.

 The Kotel/Western Wall, Jerusalem.

 Laying by the beach at the Kinneret/Sea of Galilee.

To make things easier on myself, I decided to throw myself into a cooking project. Since being in Israel, I am finding myself always craving salad. Fresh and really good produce is always available there, and it is almost all locally grown.

The prices reflect the transportation costs, so it is much cheaper to buy fresh fruits and vegetables there. This also means that when eating out at restaurants, a salad doesn't consist of iceberg lettuce and two slices of tomato, like it does here.

This salad recipe was inspired by a salad a friend of mine made in Israel. I have changed it a little and made it my own, but it is a wonderful base idea. The tangy-ness of the dressing mixed with the sweet  strawberries and caramelized almonds on a backdrop of bitter and savoury greens gives this salad a well rounded flavour.

Adding grilled chicken or tofu is a great way to make this salad into more of a meal then a side dish.

Here is my recipe for Caramelized Almond & Strawberry Salad

Ingredients

1/2 cup roasted almonds
1 tbsp butter
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp brown sugar
1 bag of washed mixed baby greens/baby spinach/any combination of lettuces
1 package of fresh strawberries(approximately 12-15) washed and sliced

Salad Dressing Ingredients

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
4 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tsp honey
1 tsp Dijon mustard
salt & pepper

Directions

In a skillet over medium heat, melt butter. Add balsamic vinegar and let reduce for 1-2 minutes.

When the mixture is simmering, add brown sugar and let melt for 2 minutes, stirring gently to ensure that all the sugar is combined evenly.

Once mixture is bubbling, add the almonds, making sure to turn them around in the caramel so that each side is coated well. Let cook for 5 minutes.

Prepare a sheet of parchement paper and pour almond mixture over top, making sure that the almonds are not touching each other. You can also seperate them a little with a spoon, but it must be done before they cool. Set aside and let cool for at least 20 minutes.

In a jar, add all the salad dressing ingredients and shake well to combine. It should be quite vinegar-y, but that is ok, since the almonds will be very sweet.

In a large salad bowl combine the lettuce/greens and sliced strawberries.

Pour dressing over top, and finally add the caramelized almonds.

Toss salad and serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Potato, Kale & Spinach Galette

Ok I know I said that I would not be posting anymore recipes until I got back from my trip, however I ended up experimenting with the hottest food of the moment, kale.

Kale is packed with nutrients and all kinds of good stuff and it is making appearances all over the media as the next big superfood.

I bought a bunch of kale a week ago and tried to make kale chips with it. They turned out well, and they are definitely a novelty, but without copious amounts of salt and oil, they don't taste as great as they've been made out to be.

I decided to go a different route and introduce kale into a recipe where I generally use spinach. I did have only half a head of kale though, so suplemented with some spinach.

The recipe turned out nicely and it is a pretty presentation for guests.

Here is my recipe for Potato, Kale & Spinach Galette

Ingredients

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large onion sliced
2 large cloves of garlic
1 tbsp of grated fresh ginger
1tsp cumin
1tsp garam masala
1/2 tsp tumeric
pinch salt
pinch cayenne pepper
1 whole kale/bag of spinach/frozen box of spinach or any combination of the both
(In all honesty amounts of the leafy greens don't matter that much, they all wilt into nothingness anyway!)
3 potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
3 tbsp melted butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 425F

Heat oil in medium-large ovenproof skillet on medium-high heat (you can ovenproof any skillet by wrapping a few layers of tinfoil around the handle).

Add onions, spices and garlic and let cook until tender.

Add leafy greens and stir until wilted.

Transfer mixture to a bowl, but keep the skillet on the heat.

Layer half of the slices of potato one on top of the other in a circular way to cover the entire bottom of the skillet. Add back the kale mixture and spread it around, over the potatoes. Use the remaining potatoes to complete a top layer over the entire galette.

Pour the butter over top.

Bake in the centre rack of the oven for 50 minutes, until potatoes are tender.

Let sit for about 30 minutes before serving.

Enjoy!

Off On an Adventure!

I won't be blogging for a few weeks because I will be off on a trip to Israel for almost a month. Don't miss me too much and I promise to be back with pictures and good recipe ideas from the Middle East.

Ciao for now!

Okonomiyaki

I travelled to Japan in February 2010 on an amazing trip that took me through many gorgeous parts of the country. The trip began in Tokyo (which I mostly missed due to air plane issues!) and was followed by stops in Nagano, Matsumoto, Hiroshima, Kyoto, Yokohama and many small places in between.

Japan was my dream trip, I had been wanting to travel there for years. It did not dispoint. It was exactly the adventure I was looking for. A place so different from North America with new things to see and discover. With our world feeling so small these days thanks to television and the internet, seeing new things has really become a luxury.

One of my favorite meals in Japan was on my very first night, in Tokyo. We went to eat okonomiyaki, which in Japanese means "as you like it". This is such a fun and interactive dish. Basically you start off with the base batter, and just about anything can be mixed in. The end result is kind of like a savoury pancake/fritata type thing. Here are some pictures of my first okonomiyaki experience.

*please note that I look TERRIBLE in these pictures...RE: plane issues and arrivng to Tokyo late.

Flipping through my trusty Chatelaine magazine, I stumbled upon a make-at-home okonomiyaki recipe. I was super excited to give it a go. While I don't have all the set up of an okonomiyaki restaurant, it was rather simple to give this a try. I did make some changes of course.

Here is my version of okonomiyaki with help from Chatelaine (December 2010)

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1tsp baking powder
1tsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp salt
6 eggs
1 head of Napa cabbage shredded
3 green onions chopped
3 carrots, grated or sliced into strips with a vegetable peeler
You can add most any other vegetable to this mix, I would try leeks, thinly sliced potatoes or sweet potatoes.
1 tsp butter
6 tbsp ketchup
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tsp soy sauce

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F

Stir together flour, baking powder, sugar and salt.

Whisk eggs with 2 tbsp water in a large bowl. Whisk in flour mixture until just combined, then stir in the vegetables.

Heat a large ovenproof frying pan (you can ovenproof a frying pan with a plastic handle by wrapping it in tinfoil tightly about three times) over medium-high and melt butter.

Pour the batter into the frying pan, making sure to "juge" the pan a little to make it flat on top. Let this cook for five minutes to get golden on the bottom.

Whisk together ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and soy sauce.

Drizzle half of the sauce mixture around the top of the pancake and spread it around with a spatula.

Insert the the frying pan into the oven on the centre rack. Bake until egg mixture is set, or around 35-40 minutes. The edges should be golden brown.

Flip the okomiyaki onto a plate and brush the remainder of the sauce on top giving it a golden-y colour. I used some awesome Japanese seven spice to sprinkle on top, but if you don't have that, you can use freshly ground black pepper and a little cayenne. The restaurant in Japan had dry fish flakes to sprinkle on top, and they danced in the heat.

Slice and serve.

Velvety Chocolate-Beet Cupcakes with Raspberry Icing

Yum Yum Yum! I can't get over how beautiful these cupcakes turned out! I read a Chatelaine magazine a while back with a gorgeous picture of a chocolate cupcake and bright pink frosting on the cover. Ever since I have been wanting to give these cupcakes a try. The twist, there are beets in the cupcakes! I figured they can only make them more moist and delicious, and I was right. You don't taste the beets at all in this recipe, they are just hidden in the cupcake itself.

I served these cupcakes at a get-together with some friends. They delighted in how cute they looked, and how good they tasted. I then proceeded to say "You'll never guess what the secret ingredient is!" It got them a little nervous as they had already started nibbling away. They were all very surprised to learn that there were beets inside. It's safe to say that if you would like to sneak some nutrition into a cupcake, this would be the way to do it. One of my friends who actually was unsure about even trying the cupcakes because she isn't a fan of chocolate cake, proceeded to eat the whole thing! These were a definite success.

I did alter this recipe a little bit, I am not a fan of cream cheese frosting, and the original recipe did call for it. I decided instead to use conventional whipped vanilla frosting, as I did not have time to whip together a buttercream. I didn't read the recipe thoroughly enough either, and I actually used the entire can of beets instead of just half like the original recipe called for. I also found that the proportions for this recipe really only made enough for 11 cupcakes filled 3/4 of the way up the muffin tin, so when making these again, I will pour 2/3 of the way.

Here is my recipe for Velvety Chocolate-Beet Cupcakes with Raspberry Icing
(with help from Chatelaine, January 2011, p.164)

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 398ml can of beets, rinsed, drained and patted dry
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil(original recipe calls for safflower oil, but I didn't have any)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk

Frosting
1/2 can of whipped vanilla frosting (you can probably use regular vanilla as well)
1/4 cup frozen raspberries, defrosted with liquid
24 fresh raspberries, blackberries or blueberries for garnish

Directions
Leave frozen raspberries out to be completely defrosted in their own liquid

Preheat oven to 350F, with a rack in the middle of the oven.

Prepare your 12-cup muffin tin, either line with paper cups or spray with non-stick cooking oil. I recommend using a silicon mold though. I went to 3 different stores looking for one and finally found it. It is very worthwhile, as they come out so perfect and it is so easy to clean. Plus I just used a tiny bit of non-stick cooking spray, but I probably didn't need to.

Sift flour, cocoa, baking powder and baking soda in a large bowl. Stir in salt.

In a food processor or blender, puree the beets. Make sure you have properly drained and dried them before you do this so there is no excess liquid. The canned beets that I found were generally sliced, so some of the pieces were alluding my food processor's blades. The beets are so soft though that you can just chop this bits down with the spatula you use to scrape down the sides.

In a mixer, beat the sugar and oil until combined, takes about a minute or so. Beat in egg, beets and vanilla.

Gradually beat in one-third of the dry ingedients just until blended, then half of the buttermilk. Alternate between dry ingredients and buttermilk, making sure to end with the dry ingredients.

Pour batter into a measuring cup for easy pouring. Divide the batter among the muffin cups filling each one to about 2/3 full.

Bake cupcakes in the centre of the oven for about 20-25 minutes depending on the oven. I baked mine for 22 minutes, and they weren't ready yet, so added 2 1/2 more minutes and they came out perfect. To be sure, stick a toothpick into the centre of one of them. If it comes out clean, it means it's cupcake time!

Cool in the muffin pan on a rack for at least 15 minutes, mine needed about 20 minutes. Once you can handle them, remove the cupcakes to a cooling rack to cool completely before icing.

To prepare the icing, prepare a medium-size bowl and a fine mesh sieve. Place the raspberries in the sieve and push them through with the back of a spoon. The juices should run into the bowl, as well as some pulp scraped from the bottom of the sieve. Discard the seeds. Add the icing to the bowl and mix until the icing becomes a consistant pink. The more raspberries the redder and thinner your icing becomes.

I frosted my cupcakes right as I was serving them because my icing was a little thin, I am not sure if that was because it was whipped and not regular vanilla icing, or if it was because I had too much raspberry juice. I just used a regular table knife to frost, as I don't have professional baking equipment YET. Here's hoping! I added some fresh berries to the tops of the cupcakes, which just gave them an even better cute factor.

I loved how these turned out, and I hope you have fun making them!

Matza Balls!

One of my favorite favorite favorite Passover foods has got to be Matza Balls. I was actually thinking the other day, how do we eat soup the other 357 days of the year without Matza Balls? They are a delicious and special addition to any dinner, and sometimes I like to make them randomly throughout the year.

There are a million and four different ways to make matza balls, and everyone and their grandmother has their own twist on this traditional dish. Even with all of the different ways to prepare matza balls, they generally fall into two distinctive camps: hard vs. soft. I am a strong advocate for hard matza balls. I feel like you need to work to get to that delicious ball of goodness, therefore your spoon must strain to break it open. The fear that the hard matza ball might actually bounce out of the soup bowl is part of my recipe.
Here is my recipe for amazingly delicious(and hard) Matza Balls.

Ingredients
 
1 cup and 1 tbsp of matza meal or ground up matza(you get a finer texture if you buy pre-ground matza meal-you can also use whole wheat or white matza)
1 cup of club soda
2 eggs, beaten
1 tbsp of vegetable/canola oil
approximately 1 teaspoon of freshly ground ginger
salt and black pepper to taste

Instructions

- In a bowl, combing the matza meal, eggs, oil and club soda, mix well
- Add the ginger, salt and pepper, combine until it is a stiff wet paste like texture. If it is too wet or dry balance out with matza meal and club soda until you get the desired consistency
- Cover bowl and let the mixture sit in the fridge for at least 1/2 an hour
- Boil soup or cooking liquid, just remember that these absorb lots of liquid so make sure you have enough. I reccommend using a a pot that has a very large opening so as to have as much surface area for the matza balls to float while they are cooking
- Take the mixture out of the fridge and set up a plate or piece of parchment paper. Wetting your hands with water every few balls, roll out ping-pong sized balls from the mixture and place them on the plate. Make sure that they are all approximately the same size, so that they will cook evenly
- Bring the cooking liquid down to a simmer and gently add the matza balls to it, making sure not to splash
-Let the matza balls simmer in the liquid for 1/2 an hour, turning them around a little bit in the middle of the process so the tops don't dry out
- Serve matza balls in any kind of soup, but the traditional way would be in chicken broth or vegetable broth
-For storage, make sure you take the matza balls out of the soup so that they don't absorb too much liquid and get soggy

Enjoy!