Belated Happy Holidays!

 

Hope eveyone had a great holiday filled with good food and good company!

 

Mike & Katie

The Great Chicken Divide

Katie and I are of two different opinions on this recipe. I thought it was a nice change from the standard roast chicken and gave you a kind of funky sauce to go with everything. Katie found the sage too overpowering and the idea of the milk making a “cheese” in the presence of the lemon to be a bit off-putting. I will concede that I don’t think this recipe is for everyone, but in my opinion in produced one of the most moist roast chickens we have ever made.

Bubbling away in the oven

 

One thing to note is what pot you cook this in, as this created what I like to call an overnighter, where the splatter was stuck to the pot so much that it had to soak overnight.
 

Not the prettiest shot ever but it does the job

Recipe: Chicken in Milk

 

Corn-y Muffins

 

These little bad boys came out of left field and just floored me. Katie found this recipe in the Best Recipes Ever cookbook and made them to accompany some soup we were having. These muffins elevated the humble soup to a new level and throughout the meal I could not heap enough praise on Katie for this amazing discovery. Not dissimilar to having corn bread with chilli, these muffins have the subtle grittiness of the corn meal but also had bursts of corn kernels and the freshness of the green onion.

 

I was a little wary at first as the recipe included creamed corn and this was not something that we ate in our household. Not that we were above creamed corn, but I think it is something that my mom would attest to having ‘god darn picky eaters’ as sons. If we were going to have corn from a can then it was the whole kernel variety. I took a lot of stances like this as a child but fortunately my tastes have matured and I can now wholly recommend muffins with creamed corn in them.

Recipe: Corn Muffins with Green Onions

The Dim-Sum is Greater than its Parts

 

Dim-Sum always seemed like such an intimidating thing to me. Often talked about by more adventurous friends or those that, through heritage, had a natural foot in the door of this unique brunch like dining experience, the descriptions of soft buns, small plates and the presence of chicken feet just seemed overwhelming to an outsider. (An outsider, in this instance, being someone who stuck to relatively safe brunch fair such as fried eggs or waffles.)

 

It was through a work lunch that I got my first experience of Dim Sum, feeling relatively safe with 2 seasoned veterans who could point me towards safe fair or at least tell what something was if I thought to ask what the mystery meat was inside the small dumplings and noodle wrappers. I went in with a brave face and a determination to be open mind and strong of will, and stomach. This attitude was totally unnecessary as the steam plates came around and I was treated to steam buns with sweet pork, shrimp dumplings and other delicious little bites. The thing that stuck out most for me was the bao or steamed buns with bbq pork inside. So it was with this in mind that I set out to try and make my own steam buns.

 

I researched a fairly simple recipe for the steam buns in Ken Hom’s Complete Chinese Cookbook. With only 5 ingredients and nothing that I didn’t already have on hand I put together this basic recipe and made the steamed buns. The buns are very simple and lacking even salt have a very plain flavour. That is where the second recipe comes in.

 Recipe: Steamed Buns

 

The BBQ Pork packs a lot of flavour and transforms these simple buns into a delicious package with an explosively flavoured center. I have read through several recipes for BBQ Pork but most have included a multitude of ingredients I didn’t have and didn’t know where to source. It was in Mastering the Art of Chinese Cooking, that I found the recipe I would finally use and a method that utilized our home oven.

 

The one ingredient I went without was the ferment bean curd. The recipe says that this is where the pork gets it distinctive red colour. I for one could live without the distinctive red colour if it meant I didn’t have to brave the T&T Supermarket.

My biggest recommendation for this recipe is to go to the dollar store and get a foil liner for your baking this as you broil the meat in the salty sweet marinade and run the risk of creating a serious mess if left unattended.

Additionally the recipe just says to broil the meet 4 inches from the heat source. I used a lo broil setting so as not to burn the meat.

My last recommendation is to keep an eye on the pork and turn it often to make sure an even crust forms around the pork slices.

 

Recipe: BBQ Pork

I made 2 variation of the buns, the first just plain buns that I sliced open and put some bbq pork and fresh green onions into with a dollop of the reduced cooking sauce. The second I rolled out some dough and wrapped it around some of the pork before sealing and steaming creating the traditional bao.

Bringing the Steak Sandwich Home

Katie can usually guess what I am going to order at a restaurant for lunch. I may hum and haw over the menu, taking time to read all the descriptions, but in the end I always come back to the trusty steak sandwich. I am not sure what it is about this fairly simple meal but it rarely disappoints.

A while ago I decided to make my own mark on this venerable classic. Below is my recipe for a Melted Mozzarela and Mushroom Steak Sandwich:

Ingredients:

·        300g Sirloin Steak

·        1 small onion, sliced

·        1 handful button mushrooms, sliced

·        ½ cup mozzarella cheese, grated

·        1 tbsp bbq sauce

·        1 ciabatta bun

 

Method:

Season steak with salt and pepper and drizzle with oil, let steak come to room temperature. Heat a pan to medium high and fry steak for 3 minutes per side or until medium rare.

Meanwhile in a separate pan, add 1 tbsp oil and heat to medium high heat. Add onions, frying for 3-4 minutes until browned and then add mushrooms, cooking for another 4 minutes until softened.

 Assemble sandwich by slicing steak into strips and laying on bottom layer of bun. Add bbq sauce, onions & mushrooms. Sprinkle cheese over top and broil in oven until cheese melts. Squish top of bun on top to allow bread to soak up juices and serve with a side salad.

Lunch Pizza or Pizza for Lunch

 

 

Faced with a tomato that has been sitting on the kitchen counter staring me down for the last week, I took the initiative and tackled lunches for the next 2 days. We had an odd assortment of ingredients to work with, but unfortunately no meat. I had leftover shallots from a risotto I made the other week, a red pepper intended for a pizza last weekend, and some asparagus that is to accompany some pork tenderloin later this week. This motley crew of ingredients, though disparate, turned into a nice vegetable based sauce that will make a delicious lunch.

 

Dough:

2 ¼ cups flour

1 cup warm water

1 tsp yeast

½ tsp Salt

½ tsp Sugar

 Mix together dry ingredients. Add yeast to warm water and allow to activate for 10 minutes. Add water to dry ingredients. Blend until a dough forms. Knead for 5-8 minutes. Let rest for 1 hr. Knock down dough and cut into 4 pieces.

Sauce Like Topping:

1 Tomato, Chopped

1 Red Pepper, roasted and chopped

2 Shallots, Sliced

2 cloves Garlic, chopped

1 Celery Stalk, Finely diced

5 stalks asparagus, roasted and chopped

1 ½ tsp Italian Seasoning

3 Tbsp Tomato Puree

A sprinkle of parmesan cheese

Salt + Pepper to Taste

Fry shallots over medium heat for 1-2 minutes, add in Celery, continue cooking for 3-4 minutes. Stir in garlic, cook for 1 minute. Add tomatoes, red peppers, tomato puree, asparagus and Italian seasoning. Simmer for 10-15 minutes. Add parmesan cheese and stir to combine

 

Pizza

2 cups shredded Mozzarella

Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Take piece of dough and form into small disc. Top with ¼ of sauce. Sprinkle over mozzarella cheese. Repeat with remaining dough and sauce. Bake in oven for 15 minutes. Switch to broiler and brown top of pizzas. Remove, enjoy or pack your lunch for the next day!

Dredging Up Dinner

I can’t remember how many times pork schnitzel has been on our menu plan over the past few months without me actually having made it. This week the infamous dish finally made it onto the plate. This is a variation on a childhood classic that my mom used to make routinely. She took the flattened pork pieces, dredged them in seasoned flour and then pan fried them, often making a gravy to accompany the meat. I took the basic idea of this and transformed it into something a little fancier. One technique I utilized this week was seasoning each step of the breading process. This involved adding a little salt and pepper to the flour, then some for the egg wash, and finally some in the bread. This tip was mentioned by celebrity chef Bobby Flay on his show 3 Days to Open.

 

Pork Schnitzel w/ Apple Sage Sauce

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1 pork tenderloin

½ Cup Flour
2 Eggs
1 cup bread crumbs
1 ½ tsp Thyme
Salt + Pepper to Taste
2 Tbsp Oil
 
Sauce:

2 Tbsp Butter

2 Tbsp Flour
300 ml apple juice
2 Tbsp Fresh Sage, chopped
Salt + Pepper to Taste

Method :

Cut Pork tenderloin into 1 inch slices. Place medallions between two sheets of plastic wrap and use a mallet to flatten to ¼ thickness.

Place Flour, Eggs, bread crumbs in separate bowls. Lightly season each. Add thyme to bread crumbs and mix thoroughly.

Take flattened medallions and dredge in flour, then dunk in egg wash and finally coat in bread crumbs. Repeat for all pieces.

Heat a frying pan to medium heat. Add oil. Take 2-3 pieces of pork at a time and fry 2-3 minutes per side, until golden brown. Remove from pan and keep warm in oven (250 degrees F). Finish off remaining pork.

For Sauce:

Melt butter in small saucepan over medium heat. When completely melted add flour and stir until a loose dough form. Continue cooking until lightly browned. Slowly whisk in apple juice, making sure to break up dough. Whish until all lumps are removed. Add sage and season to taste.

To Serve place 2-3 medallions on each plate and drizzle with apple sage sauce. We served ours with steam broccoli and mashed potatoes.

The Vegetable Conundrum

What do you do when you want to make a vegetarian meal but you used up your trustworthy standby Eggplant Parmesan earlier in the week? This was the dilemma I was facing this week as we invited some friends over for dinner and wanted to serve a meatless main course. I looked back on some of our earlier posts such as Vegetarian Chili, but while this was a delicious recipe, it did not seem guest worthy. Luckily we saw this recipe for Risotto Cakes while watching the new show from Michael Smith on the Food Network. As you can see the recipe can be utilized using any variation of risotto you can concoct. I used a Curtis Stone recipe for Asparagus Risotto, making it the night before so that I could form and fry the cakes the next day. The Risotto Cakes turned out great, with a crunchy outside and gooey middle. The slight variations I made to the risotto were substituting vegetable stock for the chicken stock, I left out the mint and I left out the mascarpone cheese. We served these alongside a spinach salad and zuchinni gratin.

Weeknight Winner

 

 

Imagine a crisp, light cheesy crust with a golden hue; a soft springy slice of eggplant; a sweet tomato marinara sauce subtly poured on top. Add a fresh Caesar salad and you have one impressive dinner. Now imagine this dinner made in 30 minutes! This healthy meatless Eggplant Parmesan is the perfect weeknight dinner and a great way to infuse your week with a hit of vegetables. We cheat from the posted recipe and just use a jarred marinara sauce, further speeding up this recipe. Katie has made this dish twice now and both times it was delicious. Highly recommended for a quick, healthy weeknight dinner!

Baked Expectations



Baked Eggrolls and Stir Fried Vegetables

 

Having recently been reading up on Chinese cooking, I found it interesting that there was a small blurb written on egg rolls in one the cookbooks I borrowed from the library. The book declared egg rolls to be a bastardization of Chinese cuisine originating in North America. This seems like a harsh statement for something so akin to spring rolls and that are delicious in their own right.

Katie found this recipe for Baked Egg Rolls in the Best Recipes Ever cookbook the other week and she painstakingly rolled and assembled them and popped them in the oven. We both enjoyed the concept of these egg rolls but found them to be rather bland. We would suggest either adding some sort of sauce to the meat filling or using a pulled pork or Chinese BBQ pork as an alternative to the ground pork. They did have the desired crispiness that is offered from the traditional deep fried version and the water chestnuts gave the filling a nice crunch as well!

 

 

All layed out and ready to roll!

 

Such a nice looking dinner table!

 

The Famous Crispy Wontons

 

Last Christmas I made a variation of a Chuck Hughes recipe for Shrimp Dumplings for Katie’s family. The recipe was an instant hit, I have since been asked to make them on more than one occasion.  I am beginning to think that they believe I don't have any other recipes!

 

I made a few changes to the basic filling recipe by leaving out the pork, cilantro, lime, sesame oil and chilli flakes and adding a couple of tablespoons of hoisin sauce plus more shrimp to make up for the lack of pork.

 

This recipe is fairly labour intensive as you have to individually wrap each wonton and then steam and fry them. I was able to make them ahead of time though and just reheat in the oven just prior to serving. We served them with some plum sauce, but I am sure the sauces on the recipe page would work great too!

 

A Bread for All Seasons!

I tried making brioche a long time ago, before I properly grasped the fundamentals of bread baking. I adhered strictly to the recipe, following each step but without the understanding of what the dough should feel like I ended up with a flour laden dough that was just to dense to rise properly. This resulted in unsatisfying loaf of bread that I just didn’t understand what went wrong. Numerous, simpler loafs later, I have a better feeling of what a proper dough should feel like so that I don’t weigh down my bread with excess flour.

With the added experience I decide to tackle brioche once again and used this recipe for Bubble Top Brioche.

Below is the picture of the dough after sitting in the fridge overnight. Tacky but not sticky dough that has rested and is ready to be formed into the final product:

 

The end result, a dozen delicious muffins that tear apart to sop up jam, gravy or whatever else you can think of!

Chili, Hold the Meat

After what can only be described as a foodie holiday to Vermont, we came home to a nice light full turkey dinner with more side dishes than you could shake your fist at. Needless to say a bit of healthy eating was in store for us to readjust to our normal lives with normal portion sizes and balanced meals.

This recipe for Southwestern Black Bean & Corn Chili was the perfect meal to pack on the vegetables and have a healthy protein in black beans. I made one change to the recipe by adding a handful of chopped prunes that I learned from previous chilli cook offs is the perfect way to add a little sweetness to your chili.
We served the chili on top of rice, but Katie has suggested that serving it on top of mashed potatoes is a great option as well!

*Note to our avid readers: The bun in the top of the picture will be posted about at a later date.

For our #1 Fan… aka Mom

 I swear it hasn’t felt like 6 months since I last posted to this blog, but as I am reminded on our weekly calls with my parents, nothing new has been posted for quite some time. This hasn’t meant an end to new and interesting food in this house, just a seasonal reprieve due to sunny weather, weddings and a little bit of being lazy. Of late I have been utilizing the library as my main source of new recipe ideas and am often with at least 4 cookbooks out at any given time. This method is practical for the wallet and helps to avoid dud cookbooks with only 1 or 2 interesting recipes.

To kick things off again I am going to post about a calzone recipe I thought up the other week utilizing the leftovers from thanksgiving. The recipe is broken down into 3 parts. First is the Tomato Chutney I envisioned as the base, replacing the traditional pizza sauce. I found the recipe on Jamie Oliver’s website. My only qualm with this recipe is that it ended up being rather sweet, so I only added a tablespoon of the chutney to each calzone to avoid overpowering the other flavours.

 

Next I took 2 leeks and slowly sautéed them in 2 tbsp of buttter for 25 minutes until they were soft and creamy.

Last I made the pizza dough*, and assembled 2-3 tbsp of leek, 1 tbsp of chutney, a small handful of leftover thanksgiving turkey and a grating of emmental cheese and folded over the pizza dough. After baking for 15 min at 475 degrees the calzones were done and along with a side spinach salad dinner was served!

 

Note*: Dough recipe is enough to make 8 calzones. I froze half and made 4 for this recipe.

 

 

Whiskey for My Salmon, Beer for Me!

I know it has been a long time since the last post, but to be truthful we are still eating those darn veggie burgers! With our supply of frozen veggie burgers slowly whittling away though I thought it was about time to make another post to this blog and start up trying to post at least once a week again. I have a few recipes I have made over the past few weeks that I hope everyone will find them interesting and give them a try.

To start with I give you another recipe from the Whitewater Cooks, infusing their Whistler charm into a delicious salmon chowder.

The recipe called for smoked salmon but we just used salmon portions poached in vegetable stock and used the vegetable stock instead of the fish stock. I also left out the lobster base from the recipe because we aren't that fancy.

This a very good soup, and hearty, so don't overfill your bowl! The rich texture isn't overpowered by any of the ingredients and it melds together nicely. Additionally the whiskey is surprising refreshing in the soup and cuts through some of the richness from the cream.

Recipe: Whiskey Smoked Salmon Chowder

A Burger by Any Other Name...

The newspaper alerted me to an series of cookbooks that I recently got from the Library. The series is Whitewater Cooks, and is from the owner of a ski resort in B.C. The books have a good mix of burgers, soups, and sandwiches as well as some other delicious looking recipes. The recipes are all accompanied by nice photo's and very simple directions to follow. Flipping through the book I was caught by the picture of a delicious looking hamburger, but upon further inspection it turns out that the picture was actually for a veggie burger! Further adding to the intrigue was the caption at the top of the page proclaiming that upon eating that you will need to have some stored in the freezer for future cravings. Needless to say I was intrigued and went about procuring some of the ingredients we didn't have readily available. Overall I would say I enjoyed the burgers, but they will not be replacing ground beef. However, due to the fact that I was able to make 16 (!!!) burgers from this recipe we will be eating them as a go to meal for at least 8 more meals. Good for the freezer indeed. Katie found the texture to be a bit crunchy for her tastes, I blame this on the sunflower seeds and almonds. The food processor was a must for making this recipe and really made mincing all the various ingredients a breeze.

 

Whitewater Veggie Burgers

Ingredients

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

1 onion, diced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tbsp. cumin

1 1/2 tbsp. chili powder

1-19 oz can black beans, rinsed, drained and roughly pureed

1 tsp. oregano

1/4 cup parsley, chopped

2 tbsp. sesame oil

1/2 cup almonds, roasted and chopped

1 cup sunflower seeds, roasted and chopped

3 cups fine bread crumbs

1/2 cup soy sauce

5 eggs

2 cups carrots, grated

2 cups oats

flour for dredging

2 tbsp. vegetable oil

Method

In a large skillet, saute onions and garlic in oil. Place in a large mixing bowl and let it cool a little. Add remaining ingredients. Mix well and shape into patties. Dredge lightly in flour. Heat vegetable oil in a large pan to brown the burgers on both sides, you may need to do this in batches with more oil.

Serve on your favourite buns with your favourite toppings!

The Pizza is a Little Greece-y

Now where is that pizza cutter?

Saturday is fast becoming pizza day around here, as we look to break free of the weekday doldrum of cold cut sandwiches. Still utilizing the Jim Lahey pizza crust, we concocted this Greek inspired pizza using leftover ingredients from dinner the week before. The subtle addition of feta cheese with the mozzarella was quite tasty and the further addition of olives and tomatoes made this fresh, if salty, creation a delight.

Greek Pizza

Pizza Dough
150g pizza pepperoni
Green Pizza Olives
1 Plum Tomato, sliced
100g feta cheese
100g mozzarella cheese, or as much as you see fit
Pizza Sauce

Method:
Prepare dough as per instructions.
Preheat oven to 475 degrees.
Spread a thin layer of pizza sauce over the prepared dough. Add pepperoni, olives and tomatoe slices. Top with feta cheese and then layer over mozzarella. Place pizza in oven and bake for 20 minutes.

Drunken Irish Chili

I didn't remember to take any pictures of the cooking process while making this chili, so my words will have to paint a vivid picture. Come March Chili is in the air, the subtle hint of slow cook beef, beans and spicy chili flows in as the snow recedes. Therefore it is this time every year that our group of friends throws the annual chili cookoff. For the past 4 years I have put my sweat and tears into making unique chili's that I hoped would capture the crowds votes and provide me with that ever elusive first place prize. Sadly, year, after year, after year, after year, I am left hoping for redemption next year. This year I managed my best performance yet, but still came up second. Chili is a cruel dish indeed!

Since the chili cook-off was on St. Patricks Day I used this as inspiration to make a alcohol infused chili, incorporating whiskey, beer and wine. This is a fairly sweet chili, that starts off with a traditional beef stew base, but then throws in chili powder and cumin to bring that traditional chili flavour.

3 Swig Chili

1 kg Beef Brisket

BBQ Sauce:
1/2 Cup Whiskey
1/2 Cup Soy Sauce
1/2 Cup Ketchup
1 Cup Brown Sugar
1 Tsp Garlic Powder

Chili Base:
2 Tbsp Oil
2 Red Peppers, roasted and chopped*
2 medium onions, finely chopped**
1 Carrot, diced
1 2 stalks Celery, diced
1/2 head garlic, roasted
1 Can Chopped Tomatoes
1 Cup Red Wine
1 Cup Guiness Stout
1 Can mixed beans
2 Tbsp Chili Powder
1 Tsp Ground Cumin
1 Tsp Ground Coriander
1 Chili in Adobo Sauce, plus 1 Tbsp sauce
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:
Combine all ingredients for bbq sauce in medium sauce pan and heat on medium for 10 minutes. Place brisket in casserole dish and pour bbq sauce over top. Refrigerate overnight.
Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Take meat out of fridge 1/2 hr before cooking, cover with tin foil. Place brisket in oven and cook for 3 hrs, flipping meat over once every hour.

In a large stockpot cook onions, carrots and celery in oil over medium heat for 5 minutes. Add red peppers, cook for 1 minute. Add spices and cook for 1 minute. Add red wine and allow to reduce by half. Add tomatoes, guiness, chili, adobo sauce, beans and garlic. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer for 1 hr uncovered. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Remove brisket from oven, drain and discard bbq sauce. Shred brisket with forks and add to chili base. Let sit overnight. Reheat and serve!

*To roast peppers, cut in half, deseed and lay cut side down on a baking sheet. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 15-20 minutes. Allow to cool slightly and remove skin.
**To roast garlic, cut top off head of garlic, place on a tin foil sheet add a drizzle of oil, wrap up foil and bake in a 350 degree oven for 40 minutes. Allow to cool slightly and squeeze out garlic.

Time to Irish up the Ice Cream

A tiny bottle just right for the job!

In honour of Katie's Dads retirement we had him over for dinner this weekend and I racked my brain trying to think of  a good meal to serve him that incorporated some of his favourite things. I remembered back to the first Christmas I spent with Katie's family, and how to ingratiate myself to Katie's Dad I brought him a big bottle of Bailey's. No need to say the gift went over well and I enjoyed a glass of Bailey's on Ice with him that evening. With this memory as inspiration I searched the internet for a Bailey's themed dessert and came across this Nigella Lawson recipe for Baileys Ice Cream. This recipe takes a basic vanilla ice cream as a base and right at the end throws in the Baileys to tranform it into something unique and delicious.



The cream, milk and vanilla bean inparting their flavours.

Mixing the eggs and sugar until it resembles mayonaise in colour. Luckily the mixer did all the hard work.

Broke out the ice cream maker for the second time, and it worked wonders again.

No need to notice the tiny corner missing. We had to test it out to make sure it was good!

Recipe: Bailey's Ice Cream

A taste of the south for warmer weather

Watching shows like Man vs. Food, and Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, you see all sorts of delicious barbequed food. Having acquired some pork back ribs the other week I decided to make Cajun Spiced Ribs for dinner the other night. I have tried using a few cajun spice recipes before but always found the herb mix had fennel which imparted a licorice flavor that I did not care for that is why I gave this Cajun Spice Rub that was specifically lacking in fennel. I also took out most of the heat by omitting the cayenne pepper. The flavor is reminiscent of bbq flavoured potato chips and paired nicely with a store bought bbq sauce.

Cajun Spice Rub:
1/3 cup Smoked Paprika
1 Tbsp Kosher Salt
2 tsp Garlic Powder
2 tsp Onion Powder
2 tsp dried Oregano
2 tsp dried Basil
1 tsp dried Thyme
1 tsp ground black pepper

When making a spice rub, bulk barn is your friend

I utilized a recipe for the ribs that called to bake them in the oven for 1 hr at 350 degrees wrapped in tin foil and then baste in bbq sauce and bake for another 30 minutes. I found that this amount of time wasn't long enough to get that fall off the bone texture. I would recommend cooking for 2 1/2 hrs at 325 for the initial cooking.

Cajun Spiced Ribs

3 Tbsp Cajun Spice Rub
1 rack of Pork Back Ribs
1/2 cup BBQ Sauce to baste

Method:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Cover ribs in spice rub, ensuring to cover both sides. Cover ribs and let absorb flavour for 1 hr or overnight. Wrap in tin foil and bake in oven for 2 1/2 hrs. Remove from oven cover in bbq sauce and let marinate for 1 hr in fridge. Remove from fridge and bake on a foil lined baking sheet for 1/2 hr, brushing with bbq sauce half way through cooking time. Remove from oven, and serve.

Layered in cajun goodness!

All wrapped up and ready to slowly tenderize in the oven.

Lathered in BBQ Sauce, transforming the sauce into a glaze.

Ready to dig in! I hope you brought napkins.

The Sandwich: The Saga Continues

I must admit I have been slightly obsessed with a new restaurant that has opened up on the first floor of the building I work in. This establishment goes by the name "Green Rebel." Week in and week out for the past month my co-workers come traipsing into the lunch room with neatly packed sandwich's of such epic magnitude that I am left envious with only my cold cut sandwich or soup before me. The sandwiches are crafted from ciabatta type bread with a thick crust and airy center and the choice grilled meats are flavored with chutneys and aioli. Thinking I could best this establishment of fine dining I crafted a Chicken BLT for dinner the other night. I think the sandwich stood up to the challenge, and could only be built upon with a roast garlic aioli or other flavoured sauce.

A good sandwich must always start with bacon, right?

The ciabatta loaf and sliced tomato

Gratuitous shot of bacon cooking

Melty mozzarella cheese smothering the flattened chicken breasts.

The beast finally assembled.

Recipe: Chicken BLT

3 Slices of Bacon, cooked
Sliced Tomato
Lettuce, torn
Mozzarella
Chicken breast, flattened with frying pan
Ciabatta loaf
Salt & Pepper, to taste
Mustard & May, to taste

Method:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper and drizzle olive oil over top. Place chicken in casserole dish and bake for 20 minutes. Take chicken out of the oven with 5 minutes to spare, put mozzarella over each piece and finish baking.
Take sliced ciabatta loaf and spread mustard and mayo. Lay chicken breast as base and pile on bacon, tomato and lettuce. Squish top of bread down on sandwich to squeeze out some tomato juice and combine all the flavours. Enjoy!

Sandwich on the Mind

I have been scouring the internet lately trying to come up with ideas for interesting sandwiches. I often am drawn to the delicious looking pulled pork or slow cooked bbq meats sandwiches but am off put by the 12+ hour cooking process to get there. However, I think the start of my quest for a great sandwich is to find the perfect bread. This week I came across a recipe for Ciabatta bread from Anna Olsen on the food network. I haven't previously watched her shows on the Food Network or read up on any of her recipes, but I must say I was impressed with this recipe. The dough did not need to be adjusted with more water or flour and the video on the site was clear and concise. The resulting bread had a crisp thin crust and a light airy inside and would be a great with any sandwich!

Hidden under the towel for their final rising.

Let's take a peek to see how their doing!

Straight from the oven overlooking the cutting board, all those fruits and vegetables in the background making us look healthy!

Not quite the perfect rectangle but not bad for a first try.

This loaf had quite the air bubble in it.

I will now wax poetic and leave you with this sandwich haiku hinting at a recipe to follow later this week:
Warm soft crusty bread,
Chicken, bacon, lettuce, cheese,
Delectable treat.


Recipe: Ciabatta Bread