Summer Market Pasta

In the full swing of summer the carp farmers market truly has the most to offer. It is also a great indicator of what is in season. This Saturday we swung by Alice's village cafe for a nice breakfast and hit up the farmers market after. While there I picked up a large bunch of Swiss chard and a thyme plant. These were the inspiration for the following pasta recipe.

Summer Carbonara

2 zucchini, one yellow and one green, sliced lengthwise and cut into 1/4 inch pieces
6 sun dried tomatoes sliced
1 cup sliced Swiss chard
3 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves removed
7 tbsp cream
1 egg
Bowtie pasta, 1 lb
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

Bring pot of salted water to boil and cook pasta according to packaging.
Meanwhile heat a tbsp of olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add zucchini and fry for 4 minutes, reduce heat and add tomatoes a chard. Cook for 4 min. Remove from heat. Stir through fresh thyme.
Combine cream and egg, whisk until combined.
Drain pasta and add to skillet. Pour over cream mixture and add cheese. Stir to combine.
Serve and enjoy.

Time Travel Tarts

I am going way back to December for this recipe, so imagine snow on the ground, Christmas jingles everywhere you turn and a family Christmas being hosted at your house. The inspiration for this recipe was for a 21" inch tart that had large chunks of vegetable and prosciuto throughout. I was well  prepared to make this tart when Katie suggested that bite sized tarts might be a better option for our appetizer themed party. As always Katie's idea was a hit, the mini tarts being perfectly sized one bite appetizers.

Vegetable & Basil Mini Tarts w/ Prosciutto

 

Ingredients:

3 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

½ eggplant, finely chopped

1 zucchini, finely chopped

2 sheets puff pastry

8-10 cherry or grape tomatoes, sliced

4-5 slices prosciuto, finely sliced

10-12 leaves fresh basil

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in deep side pan over medium low heat, stirring occasionally for 10 to 15 minutes, until soft but not coloured.

In a separate pan, heat 2 tbsp olive oil add zucchini + eggplant and cook 5 minutes until tender.

Roll out dough and using a circular cookie cutter, make small disks. Places disks in greased muffin tin.

Mix together onions, eggplant, zucchini. Slice cherry tomatoes. Put 1 heaped tsp of vegetable mixture into pastry lined muffin tins. Add 1 slice cherry tomato to each tart and a pinch of sliced prosciuto. Drizzle with olive oil. Bake for 30 minutes.

Remove tarts from oven and sprinkle over basil.

Serve and enjoy!

Pie for Dinner

For a post about alcohol alternatives, I do realize the beer in the background is hypocritical.

 

I have been trying to cut out alcohol from recipes as of late. This has lead to some interesting discoveries, like reduced pomegranate juice as a sauce for steak. The inspiration for this recipe is for a steak and guiness pie, but was alter to accommodate the alcohol and the fact we did not have any steak in the freezer, just a pork tenderloin. I do realize a different cut of pork would have been better suited for the long cooking time and that is what I recommend for the recipe below. I suggest pork shoulder or a pork roast cut up.

 

Pork Pot Pie

 

Ingredients:

 

1 ½ lb pork, diced

2 tbsp Flour

Olive oil

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, peeled & chopped

4 sticks celery, chopped

½ sweet potato, diced

1 tsp dried thyme

½ tsp dried rosemary

1 bay leaf

2 ½ cups chicken stock

28 oz can tomatoes

1 sheet of puff pastry

1 egg, beaten

 

Method:

Season pork, and toss with flour. Heat olive oil over medium heat, brown meat in batches, set aside. Add onion, frying for 1 minute, add carrot, celery, sweet potato and spices. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes. Add stock and tomatoes, bring to boil, stir and simmer for 2 hours. Season to taste.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Transfer stew to ceramic pot or mini ramekins. Roll out pastry, cut into circles to fit dish. Brush rim of pot with beaten egg, then place pastry over top, crimping at edges. Score top, or try for a design if feeling artsy. Bake in oven for 45 minutes.

Great with a side salad.

Go To Cookies

This versatile cookie has become my go to dessert for work functions and for a quick dessert when you don’t want to leave the house in search of more ingredients.

 

Assembled with cupboard staples, these cookies adapt well to the addition of nuts or other items that could spruce them up a bit. Out last batch had chocolate chips and pecans.

 

A word of warning though, the recipe calls for 2 cups chocolate chips, and unless Martha has some secret I don't know of, I don't think 2 cups of chocolate chips would even fit in the dough!

 

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookies

Pizza Pi

 

 

I have been testing out a new pizza dough recipe lately that instead of adhering to cup measurements just follows 1 rule. For every part flour, you have 65% water dependent on weight. A simple example below:

230g Flour

150g Warm Water

1 tsp yeast

 

1 tsp olive oil

½ tsp salt

½ tsp sugar

This will yield one medium sized pizza. Activate yeast in water. Mix ingredients, knead for 5 - 10 minutes and let rise for about 1 hr. Pre-heat oven to 485 F. Bake on pizza stone for 10 minutes and then switch on broiler and brown the top.

I have reduced my overall cooking time in favour of finishing off the pizza with the broiler. This allows for a softer crust, but you still get the nicely browned cheese.

Pizza Π = J

In the end the math always works out!

 

Pierogi Party

Dinner is served!

My beautiful wife has been craving Pierogis for several weeks now, she even threatened to buy cheap freezer ones from the grocery store. In order to satiate her craving I turned to my street food cookbook and made two variations on classic Pierogis. For option one I added bacon and substituted cheddar for the traditional twarog cheese. Option number two had mushrooms, herb de province and cheddar. Both tasted great but the bacon option one out as the superior pierogi. Katie really enjoyed them and said she was glad she held out and did not buy the grocery store ones!

Bacon Cheddar Pierogi

2 Slices cooked bacon, chopped

70 g Cheddar Cheese

1 Medium Baking potato, cooked and mashed

½ onion, chopped and cooked in oil

 

Mix together all ingredients in bowl and reserve.

 

Mushroom Cheddar Pierogi

2 Medium porcini mushrooms, chopped

1 clove Garlic, minced

¼ tsp Herb de Provence

70 g Cheddar Cheese

1 Medium Baking potato, cooked and mashed

½ onion, chopped and cooked in oil

 

Mix together all ingredients in bowl and reserve.

 

The 2 fillings ready to be transformed into pierogis!

 

Dough

4 cups flour

1 tsp salt

1 egg

1 cup water

2 tbsp olive oil

 

All wrapped up and resting

 

Mix together all ingredients and knead for approximately 10 minutes. Add more water as needed until you have a smooth, elastic dough. Wrap in plastic wrap and let rest at room temp for 30 min.

Roll out dough until 2-3 mm thick. Use a cookie cutter to cut out 3-4 cm circles. Spoon in 1 tsp of filling, fold over and seal by pressing together sides with fingers.

To cook, place pierogi in simmering water for 3-4 minutes. They are done when they float to the top.

Fry in oil on medium heat for 3-4 minutes until brown on both sides.

To serve, plate pierogi with a dallop of sour cream and a side salad.

Angle Change

 

 

Cuisine of the Far East…of Canada

A few months ago we were planning to have Katie’s Dad over for lunch and I was trying to think of something interesting to serve. I definitely wasn’t feeling brunch options or anything that would require the full effort of a dinner. Perusing my go to recipe index, otherwise known as Michael Smith’s website, I came across his recipe for Clam Chowder. This hearty soup was just what I was looking to make for lunch, a nice filling soup that would pair well with the fresh bread I had previously made.

 

 

 

 

Recipe: Maritime Clam Chowder