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Shiitake Miso Ramen

DP — Mon, 17 Feb 2025 22:40:00 +0000

Shiitake Miso Ramen

All of the previous recipes I’ve done have followed fairly straightforward formula of ‘start here, work your way through the steps, top to bottom and by the the time you get to the bottom, you’re done’. Once you start going past basic instant noodles though, the number of add-ons, toppings and tweaks you can add up pretty fast.

Not to mention: the nature of recipe cards is that they are inherently ‘single-threaded’ — whereas, putting together this ramen becomes very multi-threaded in a hurry. I found that the best way to try and document this process was to pull the ‘supplemental’ steps out into it’s own set of recipe cards.

Recipe + (Supplemental)

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The recipe is sized to fit in a 4.3x6.3 lamination pouch, like this one — perfect to have on hand in the kitchen

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Peach Mousse

DP — Thu, 02 Jan 2025 10:45:00 +0000

Peach Mousse

A peach mousse dessert is a fun way to end a dinner event and the best part is that it can be prepared well in advance and you have a large degree of freedom in how you garnish it: it’s wonderful plain, but you can have a bit of fun with fruits, nuts, chocolate etc.

Recipe

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The recipe is sized to fit in a 4.3x6.3 lamination pouch, like this one — perfect to have on hand in the kitchen

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The ‘2024 Menu’ Recap

DP — Sun, 29 Dec 2024 21:25:00 +0000

APPETIZER(S) Toasted wonton cups Refreshing guacamole, topped with savory pork or shrimp, served on a lightly toasted wonton wrapper, this appetizer is your first clue that a good time is on the way. SOUP Cauliflower Chowder A rich and smooth soup that blends the subtle flavor of celery with the smoothness of cauliflower and a hint of heat. Topped with shredded cheese and bacon, this comforting dish delivers a delightful harmony of textures and flavors. The cheese melts into the soup, adding a depth of richness, while crispy bacon pieces introduce a satisfying crunch and a savory, smoky element. MAIN & SIDES Duck confit A modern take on a classic French dish, this culinary creation features duck legs that are skillfully slow-cooked to perfection. The result is a rich and savory masterpiece: combining a tender texture with irresistibly crispy skin that enhances the overall dining experience. Shiitake Risotto A creamy Italian dish made with Arborio rice and shiitake mushrooms. Slowly cooked in broth, the rice absorbs liquid and releases starch for a velvety texture. Sautéed shiitake mushrooms boost umami, complemented by garlic and onions. Finished with white wine and grated Parmesan mixed in. It can be a comforting main course or a rich side dish. Fondant potatoes Fondant potatoes are cylindrical potatoes browned in butter for a golden crust, then simmered in stock and butter for a tender, creamy texture. Often seasoned with thyme or rosemary, They are an elegant side dish known for their satisfying taste and unique texture. DESSERT(S) Lemon Posset An extremely simple, traditional, British dessert, the lemon posset is a creamy, velvety custard with a bright, tart citrus flavor. With a layer of caramelized sugar on top, this dessert provides a delightful end to a meal.

A deeper dive into each dish

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Toasted Wonton Cups

DP — Sun, 29 Dec 2024 11:40:00 +0000

Toasted Wonton Cups

Super easy to batch out and make, this is a fun little appetizer that is so low-key that you can make it while guests have already arrived! The contrast of colors, textures and flavors is sure to delight.

Recipe

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The recipe is sized to fit in a 4.3x6.3 lamination pouch, like this one — perfect to have on hand in the kitchen

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Lemon Posset

DP — Sat, 28 Dec 2024 19:10:00 +0000

Lemon Posset

This dessert has it all: super easy to make, can be done well in advance, a fan favorite and if you have the desire, you can dial the fancy/fun level up and serve it using the lemon itself as a ‘bowl’.

Recipe

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The recipe is sized to fit in a 4.3x6.3 lamination pouch, like this one — perfect to have on hand in the kitchen

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Duck Confit

DP — Sat, 28 Dec 2024 11:40:00 +0000

Duck Confit

This main is super tasty and fun to serve; and with a sous-vide setup, it’s also super low-effort to make. Truthfully, it’s more effort for me to procure duck legs than it is to make this. For me, the only reliable source of duck legs is via a butcher-shop.

Nearly any sous-vide immersion cooker will do the job (I have a very discontinued old Anova unit) and while you don’t need a vacuum sealer, having one makes your life a bit easier.

Recipe

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The recipe is sized to fit in a 4.3x6.3 lamination pouch, like this one — perfect to have on hand in the kitchen

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Shiitake Risotto

DP — Sat, 28 Dec 2024 00:35:00 +0000

Shiitake Risotto

Strictly speaking, this is easy to make, it is however, very hands on and there’s only a limited amount of preparation you can do in advance. To complicate things, the actual cook time can vary a bit based on the amount/rate of steam-off you have. Of course this means, that it’s a wonderful opportunity to make it a few times to figure things out.

Recipe

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The recipe is sized to fit in a 4.3x6.3 lamination pouch, like this one — perfect to have on hand in the kitchen

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Fondant Potatoes

DP — Fri, 27 Dec 2024 19:35:00 +0000

Fondant Potatoes

Fondant potatoes are a relatively low-stress side you can add to your dish — all the hands-on work is done up front and after that, it’s just a matter of tossing it in the oven and occasionally checking to make sure the liquid hasn’t entirely boiled off.

Recipe

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The recipe is sized to fit in a 4.3x6.3 lamination pouch, like this one — perfect to have on hand in the kitchen

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Cauliflower Chowder

DP — Tue, 03 Dec 2024 21:00:00 +0000

Cauliflower Chowder

Whenever we hear ‘chowder’, I think all of our minds collectively gravitate towards [Boston] clam chowder - so for ‘something different’, I like to make a cauliflower chowder.

This chowder takes heat (spice) well and can be largely prepared in advance, so the actual cook (and blend) time can be quite short.

Note: you will need an immersion blender (or alternatively, a high-heat capable food-processor/blender). This basic Kitchen Aid model is consistently priced at around $50 CAD all year round and can do the job.

Recipe

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The recipe is sized to fit in a 4.3x6.3 lamination pouch, like this one — perfect to have on hand in the kitchen

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Sourdough

DP — Tue, 25 Jul 2023 12:00:00 +0000

Sourdough Bread

During the pandemic, I think a lot of people gave sourdough a try. I friend of mine gave me a batch of starter and a beginner recipe to kick-start my attempts. After some initial success, I had a few struggles with my starter (mostly not feeding it nearly enough) and my loaves were just coming out flat.

I set some time aside to try and bring it back and with a strict daily feeding, I was able to revive that starter. With newfound hope, I branched out from the beginner recipe. While I’m still nowhere close to being a ‘bread guy’, I think I’ve reach a checkpoint: something that is wonderful but still somewhat approachable.

Note:
You will need starter for this recipe! If you don’t have a friend who can shortcut you, you can be adventurous and try making your own starter. If you want something more predictable, you can go with something like this.

Recipe

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The recipe is sized to fit in a 4.3x6.3 lamination pouch, like this one — perfect to have on hand in the kitchen

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Cheesy Ciabatta Buns

DP — Sun, 07 May 2023 19:25:03 +0000

Cheesy Ciabatta buns

Fantastic for making some awesome sandwiches, I found ciabatta to be fairly easy to make and keep on a rotation.

While this can be baked without any additional planning or fancy equipment, I found that making two changes greatly improved my results:

Using a pizza stone (like this one) versus a standard baking tray and
Steaming the bun while baking. This can be done by using a small cast-iron cocotte. If you don’t have a cocotte, or don’t have space in your oven for one (i.e., toaster-oven), you can spritz the dough with a bit of water just before putting it into the oven

Recipe

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The recipe is sized to fit in a 4.3x6.3 lamination pouch, like this one — perfect to have on hand in the kitchen

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Easy Pumpkin Soup

DP — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 12:20:00 +0000

Easy Pumpkin Soup

A recipe contribution from my wife, this is soup is surprisingly easy to do even on a busy weeknight. We’ve done it with both fresh pumpkin as well as canned (the type intended for easy pumpkin pie!) and both are fantastic.

Recipe

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The recipe is sized to fit in a 4.3x6.3 lamination pouch, like this one — perfect to have on hand in the kitchen

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Wicked Thai Soup

DP — Tue, 17 Jan 2023 11:40:00 +0000

Awesome winter time soup

I first tried a dish like this a few years ago during an ice-wine festival. Sadly (for the vineyard), I was far more interested in the Wicked-Thai pairing than the wine! I poked around and tried a few variants before settling on this.

Interesting quirk: specifically for this dish, I find that canned mushrooms work better than fresh (although you could also do the best of both worlds and do both!). I figure, this is already a soupy, soggy dish to start with ;).

Recipe

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The recipe is sized to fit in a 4.3x6.3 lamination pouch, like this one — perfect to have on hand in the kitchen

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Epic Triple-Cooked Fries

DP — Wed, 09 Nov 2022 04:45:39 +0000

A little bit more work but well worth it

These fries have been a total hit every time I’ve made them and although it looks like a lot of work, it’s really easy — you’re mostly babysitting a stove/deep-fryer so you can totally do this while watching your favorite show in the background!

There’s a lot of room to experiment with this recipe: by tinkering with the duration of the three cooking stages, you can tweak the texture of the resulting fries, from the initial crunch to the soft/chewy follow through. Also, there’s a lot of room to play with the type of oil/fat you’re frying the fries in: while peanut oil is fairly safe starting point, you can toy with something like rendered duck fat for that next-, next-level result.

What about using an air-fryer?
This recipe is definitely built around using a deep fryer. I use a T-Fal EZ Clean which is an affordable, basic unit.
Could this recipe be tweaked to work with an air-fryer? Maybe, but I doubt it - unless your air fryer lets you dial in specific temperatures.

Recipe

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The recipe is sized to fit in a 4.3x6.3 lamination pouch, like this one — perfect to have on hand in the kitchen

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Berry Flognarde

DP — Mon, 22 Nov 2021 21:52:53 +0000

Easy to make, loads of fun to serve

This recipe is both super easy to throw together and loads of fun to introduce to people — everyone does a double-take over the name. It can be made using a variety of berries (including frozen berries) and can be served warm or cold either by itself or with ice cream.

Recipe

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The recipe is sized to fit in a 4.3x6.3 lamination pouch, like this one — perfect to have on hand in the kitchen

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Pork Wellington

DP — Mon, 14 Jun 2021 04:31:49 +0000

Something about the golden crust…

If you’re looking for something to make for date-night or a potluck get-together, this will be a pleaser. There aren’t that many ingredients (and the ingredients aren’t all that expensive) and the process is fairly straightforward. Give it a try!

Recipe

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The recipe is sized to fit in a 4.3x6.3 lamination pouch, like this one — perfect to have on hand in the kitchen

Tonkotsu Ramen

DP — Mon, 31 May 2021 22:41:47 +0000

A dish spent mostly waiting around!

Tonkotsu ramen was always something I wanted to try - luckily it turns out that a good chunk of the process is just waiting for different steps of the recipe to complete. The best part of this dish was venting the pressure cooker — it filled the kitchen (and house) with the awesome aromas.

Note: Since I have the mid-sized Instant Pot (6qt), the first step (where I’m pressure-cooking the bones), I had to break into two separate passes (for a total of 4 hours). Take this into consideration if you have a larger (or smaller) pressure cooker.

Recipe

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The recipe is sized to fit in a 4.3x6.3 lamination pouch, like this one — perfect to have on hand in the kitchen

Mango Chicken Wings

DP — Wed, 05 May 2021 11:23:00 +0000

A step up from ‘included sauce packet’

Personally, I’m not a fan of the super-saucy wings, so this was a bit of trying something new. As posted, this isn’t too hot at all and has some sweetness to it. If you’re big on the heat, it’s not hard to crank the dial up!

Recipe

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The recipe is sized to fit in a 4.3x6.3 lamination pouch, like this one — perfect to have on hand in the kitchen

Lobster Bisque

DP — Fri, 09 Apr 2021 20:40:16 +0000

Tastes more like lobster than lobster…

Lobster sure is pricey but let me tell you a secret — this dish is primarily made with lobster shells - not lobster itself. Unlike lobster, lobster shells are (comparatively) cheap! I pay about $25-30 for a 10-lb box of lobster-shells, enough to make four batches of this soup! The trick is finding it — look for some of the more established seafood stores — especially ones that cater to restaurants and you can totally buy shells-only.

Recipe

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The recipe is sized to fit in a 4.3x6.3 lamination pouch, like this one — perfect to have on hand in the kitchen

Cheesy Beer Bread

DP — Mon, 15 Mar 2021 02:30:31 +0000

Winning Combination of Cheese & Butter

This is an easy bread to knock out in a short time-span and it’s deceptively delicious. There’s a lot of wiggle room to play with this recipe - you can change out the type of cheese or beer to give this a bit of a twist. You can even expand on this by adding nuts or jalapenos!

You can make large single loaves, but I find that using smaller more ‘bite-sized’ mini-baking tins makes these a great snack option!

Recipe

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The recipe is sized to fit in a 4.3x6.3 lamination pouch, like this one — perfect to have on hand in the kitchen