oneblondechef

Momma Knows Best Tip of the Week~ Layers of Lasagne…must be fresh!

Okay… I have a confession… my mum makes REALLY, REALLY great lasagne, but this tip actually came from my roomate Mike (@kickthegrind on twitter).

Mike tried my lasagne that I made using the leftovers from my Recipe to Riches Submission (scroll down for that video!).. and he really liked it, but didn’t really know why it was so different from the ones he has had before.

The next time I made lasagne at home, Mike was around to check out what I was doing… when he saw me making the noodles from scratch he was first of all rather shocked that we had a pasta roller in our house… and second of all intrigued.

That first bite was where the Tip Of the Week has come from:  always, and I repeat… ALWAYS use fresh pasta in your lasagne.  It truly only take a few extra moments, your always sure that pasta is cooked and you will thank yourself when you hear the remark “Fresh pasta makes all the difference” (Mike, 2011).

The easiest pasta recipe ever:

• 2 cups of flour - all purpose, do NOT use self-raising unless you want really fat dumpling like noodles… eek!
• 3 room temperature eggs
• 1 tbsp of salt
• 1/4 c olive oil in a drizzling container

To make:

1. Blend flour and salt together in a large mixing bowl and make a well in the middle.
2. add eggs.  Mix all together until the dough comes together.
3. WASH and DRY your hands.
4. Come back to the dough with clean hands (very important!)
5. Drizzle the outside of the dough with a little bit of olive oil… start with around 2 tbsp and work your way up if needed. 
6. Start rolling on the widest setting on the pasta maker, flouring the dough if it becomes too moist.

For lasagne noodles I usually use the 7/8 setting on my Atlas Pasta Machine.

Happy Rollin’!

Savour Your Experience!

Balsamic Brussels

Does anyone else remember being forced to eat these round oddly flavoured mini-cabbage like things as a child?  I sure do! 

Actually, I used to stand at my Fisher Price Mini-kitchen and peel them and make a mini salad as my mum was in the real kitchen making dinner… so cute:)

Now, I actually LOVE brussels and think that there are a million and a half possibilities.  This recipe is one of the easiest ways to spruce up this old classic side.

You need:

• fresh brussels - enough for about 4-6 servings (approximately 8 brussels per person).
• 1/4 cup great balsamic vinegar - for drizzling
• 1/4 cup great olive oil - for drizzling.
• freshly cracked black pepper
• kosher or sea salt - or I used a New Zealand Chili infused Salt that was quite delicious as well.

How to:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Start by cutting the brussels in half first, place them flat on the cutting board and then just trim a bit off the bottom.
3. Place onto a baking sheet - I used my Pampered Chef Stoneware with a slight lip on the side to ensure nice and even roasting.
4. Drizzle olive oil and balsamic and sprinkle the salt and pepper.  Give them a quick toss and get them in the oven. 
5. Make sure to flip or shake every 5-7 minutes for about 25-30 minutes total.  You are looking for some caramelization on the outside and you want the brussels to be totally cooked through without getting too soft.
6. Take out of the oven and serve immediately as a side.

Again, this is just a starting point (like most of my recipes).  Think about how you could switch this up, or even add something like say caramelized onions and pancetta… ahh yum!

Just because these may not have been a childhood favorite doesn’t mean that they can’t be an adult classic  Try some options today!

Savour Your Experience!

Saturday Morning Markets

So my friend Nick from North Bay happens to be residing in Toronto to finish his degree @ Ryerson.  You need to know that because Nick is a great amigo and even better at finding really cool places with a bucket load of history in pretty much any city.

On this particular Saturday morning we decided to check out the Wychwood markets located at St. Clair West and Bathurst in the b-e-a-utiful city of Toronto.

Nick told me all about how this used to be where the Street Cars would go for repairs etc. and how when the community (mainly his Aunt and Uncle) decided to change this useless and Vacant building into a community centre they did things like use two different colours of concrete to outline the original tracks.  Now this space is used for these markets, a community kitchen, artist houses and so much more.  There is even a “Grandmothers Garden” area in the summer where you have a garden for each background and typical things growing.  For example, the Italian Grandma would have cherry tomatoes and fresh basil, and the Jamaican Grandma would have scotch bonnets and fresh Thyme.

I was starving after my brief history lesson so we decided to get some grub and hustle it up for break that morning!  Check out what we had!

This was a delicious breakfast for champions with Fresh Bread, Cheesey Telaggio Scarmbled Eggs and smoked back bacon!  Yum!

It was really nice to have fresh and local produce all in one place.  Check out more places to purchase great produce here.

Savour Your Experience

Che-EASY Cake!

To me, cheese cake is pretty much the best dessert of all time!  It is the perfect creamy blend of savory and sweet and there are literally a million different variations which always keep this recipe interesting. 

As I was looking for a GREAT recipe the other day, I came across and shared this Philadelphia Cheesecake Customizer link, but I did think that I would make a blog about the recipe I ended up creating, modifying and using in the end.

For this really, really, really, really, really simple mostly no bake cheesecake you will need:

Crust

• 1 cup Honey Graham Crumbs
• 1/4 cup Melted Butter

Filling

• 2 packages of soften cream cheese (get the regular, not the light.. it’s okay… something that tastes this good has no calories! … right?!?!)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 1/2 cup cool whip (again, get the good stuff, not the light)

Putting it all together!

1.  Make the crust first.  The recipe originally made this all no bake and here’s where I make my own little variation.  You can simply mix the crumbs and butter together and press it along the inside of your pan.  I used an 8inch glass dish and had a really good amount of base. OR… my variation.  Make the crust the exact same way, but instead of chilling the crust while you pull together the batter, I say dry it out a little bit by popping it in a 350 degree oven for about 6-8 minutes.  Then take it and chill until the batter is ready to go.

2.  Making the batter - beat up your cream cheese and sugar until it is nice and smooth.  Add your vanilla and cool whip and beat again until nice and smooth.  Beat on low for about 2 minutes and that should do the trick!

3.  Reserve 1/2-1 cup of batter for the topping process.  Pour the rest of the cheese batter on the crust. 

With the reserve batter you can make a:

TOPPING

• Like shown below - you can simply just fold in some food colouring and change the colour of the cheesecake and add it to the top!

SWIRL

• use 1/2 cup of batter with 1/8 cup melted chocolate (dark, milk or white).  Just make sure the chocolate isn’t too hot before pouring it slowly through the batter.  Then once the chocolate and batter are combined, take about a table spoon and place all over the cake.  Then use a knife or a long skewer stick and mix in through the batter for the swirling effect.

Either way is going to be delicious and super easy!  And isn’t that the point?!?!  Really easy, delicious food that you can have on hand and ready to go whenever you are in the mood for something sweet!

Check out this picture of the basketball cheesecake I made for a friend!  I used white chocolate ganache with food colouring to make all of the lines on the foiled backboard.  I used dark chocolate ganache to make the lines of the basketball and to get the round shape I simply piled the batter a little higher in the middle!

Thanks to my staff Carina for allowing me to make this cake for her man’s birthday this year!  According to her it was a huge hit, and definitley a recipe that will take my cheesecakes into the future!

Savour Your experience!

Tea meets Tilapia- An Exotica Fish Dish

For me, cooking is simply and experiment.  It’s about knowing a few ingredients, taking a chance and sometimes coming up with the most delicious invention.

This recipe is officially the product of something gone really right!

As you all know I work at DAVIDsTEA and have used the tea with a few other recipes.  It seems to be a common pantry item for me, so this won’t be the last time you will see it in my blog.  This tea, Exotica, is super affordable ($13.00/100g = 50 cups) and upon first “whiff”, if you will, reminds me of Vietnamese food.  It contains everything from dried Pineapple to coconut to red peppercorns to cloves that have all been tied together with a classic base of lemongrass.  Yum right!?!?  Check out how beautiful this tea really is!

This tea instantly reminded me of a sizzling fish dish that I would get in Melbourne and that lead me to this delicious recipe.  Try it for yourself and tell me how you go!

For the Fish you will need:

• 10g DAVIDsTEA Exotica Tea
• 2 cups boiling water
• Infuser or strainer (essentially a tool to seperate the tea and the leaves)
• Fresh Tilapia Fish -any mild tasting White Fish could do here!
• 1 large red onion, finely sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic minced
• 2 tbsp soya sauce
• Juice from 1/2 lemon
• lots of fresh dill
• salt and pepper

How to make this dish:

1. In a small bowl or mug use your infuser to steep your tea for approximately 5 minutes.  If you are not using an infuser, just add the tea to the water and then after 5 minutes strain out all the tea.
2. In a large oven safe skillet heat up a small amount of olive oil, and add your onions.  Let the onion go slightly translucent in colour.  Now add your garlic and stir once.  When you can smell the garlic and onions add your fish first.  Then pour over your tea, your soya sauce and a pinch of salt and pepper.
3. Flip the fish once and then add your lemon juice.  Let it cook on the stove top for about another 2 minutes and then pop the fish in a 350 degree oven for approximately 15 minutes monitoring it about every 5 minutes.
4. Once the fish is fully cooked, but still bright white, light and fluffy take it out of the oven and add your chopped dill with another little pinch of pepper.

Serve with sauteed Bok Choy, green beans and Delicious Coconut Rice!

This dish is now a roomate favorite!  It’s simple, it’s cheap and it’s completely caffine-free!  You are getting all the benefits like awesome Antioxidants from things like the lemongrass and pineapple, but you are enjoying the flavour of a light and healthy dinner.

Try it yourself!  Check out some other teas too and try it in some of your own recipes.  Remember cooking is about trying new things and not being afraid of your ingredients!

And at the end of the day it really comes down to Savouring your experience!!!

Dad’s Sunday Morning Brunch!

Doesn’t this look delicious… let me tell you it was the perfect start to my Sunday morning at my parents house.

My mum, who is usually the ruler of the kitchen, mentioned that my dad has officially made it his duty to challenge himself to make something new each Sunday Brunch that they are home.  Today, I got to try dad’s take on french toast! 

I have to admit he did ask me for a little guidance in the spice department, but he’s freestyle approach to this classic French Toast made it sweet, fluffy and totally melt in your mouth.

For his recipe you need:

• 6 large eggs
• 2 tbsp condensed Milk
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1.5 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
• 6 pieces of nice wheat bread
• 1 pkg of your favorite strip bacon
• Fresh Fruit (we obviously used strawberries and banana’s but you could subsitute what you got)

To make it:

• The key is to start the bacon.  Dad generally cooks it low and slow (as he says).  We use a large griddle so some of the fat drips off, but the grill will still keep some of the juices.  This is a good thing, as you will find out..

Meanwhile…

• Use a larger shallow dish (so you can easily dunk the bread in the dish)
• Whisk together the eggs, condensed milk, and spices. \
• Remove the bacon but do not clean out the bacon pan (this is where the calorie counting stops, and the flavour takes over!)  If you do not have a griddle, make sure you drain the majority of the fat out, leaving only about 2 tbsp’s of grease.

Now…

• Dip the pieces of bread into the mixture one at a time and the pop that into the pan that you have just cooked the bacon.  Since you are using the grease from the bacon you do not need any additional butter.
• Cook until nice and golden brown, flip and do the same for the other side.
• While you wait for it to cool, chop up your fruit.

To serve…

• Pop it all on one plate with the bacon on the side, two piece of toast in the middle and then the freshly cut fruit on the top.  Just saying… it’s okay to cover the thing in Maple Syrup too!

Also, while you are creating this, put on a fresh pot of coffee.  When it’s time to eat use just about 2 tsp of your Condensed Milk in your coffee as both your sweetner and your milk!  Very yum with a hint of Vietnamese Culture too!:)

Mmmmmm……… brunch!

It’s really nice at the end of the day to look back and see my dad really Savouring his own experience in the Kitchen!  Way to go Dads!  I’m proud of ya!