Plate to Palate

Lazy French Bread (using a food processor)

2020-03-27T00:20:00.000-07:00

With everyone staying indoors to reduce the rate of COVID-19's spread, I see a lot of friends on Facebook making bread. I read an article titled "People are baking bread like crazy, and now we’re running out of flour and yeast." I kept thinking , "I have some yeast sitting in the back of my fridge." So finally I made bread! I used this recipe because it sounded easy (food processor bread blade for kneading instead of my poor over-washed hands).

My modifications: reduced the salt by 1 tsp and substituted 1/2 cup spelt flour for 1/2 cup of the all purpose flour. My son helped me make it so we also added raisins and cinnamon to one of the loaves.

Turned out pretty tasty, but since I didn't let it rise enough it was quite dense! The kids loved it (of course).

Sad that in these pandemic times, I may have a hard time refilling my low yeast and flour reserves. (At least I can eat!) Maybe I can convert my remaining yeast packet into a sourdough starter, but I don't really like sourdough...

You can see that my airpockets are nothing like SimpleEverydayHome's.
So if you love that fluffy French bread, then Let It Rise!

Ingredients

4.5 cups flour and ~1 cup reserve
0.5 cup spelt flour
2.5 tsp salt
1 packet or four and a half tsp yeast
1 tbsp sugar

Equipment

food processor with dough blade
large glass bowl
microwavable measuring cup
oven

Shortly after adding to the oven. If you let yours rise, they'll be bigger than this.

Steps

Preheat oven to 200° F and move the top rack to its lowest position.
For crustier bread: put a metal pan at the bottom rack.
Use your plastic dough blade in the food processor.
Add 4.5 c flour, spelt flour, salt, sugar, yeast.
Pulse to combine a bit.
Heat 2 c of water in the microwave for 1 minute high -- enough to be hot but not burning (about 125° F).
Add 2 tbsp olive oil into heated water.
Turn on your blade while pouring the water-oil mixture through your pour hole.
Spin for a bit more to get things mixed. Don't overwork your food processor.
If the dough is still wet (likely it will be), add some reserved flour and spin some more. Repeat until you have a fairly smooth ball of dough.
Don't add more flour than necessary. My dough was still a bit sticky.
Add some olive oil to a large glass bowl.
Rub the oil around the bowl.
With your oily hand, transfer the dough from the food processor to the bowl.
Wiggle the dough around and flip it over to get it coated in oil.
Turn off the oven.
Cover the bowl with a light metal lid and place it in the oven.
Wait for 30 min or until doubled in size.
Grease a large baking sheet while you wait.
Once raised, punch down the dough and split into two pieces.
Floured your counter and flatten one piece of your dough.
Press it out to be 30 cm (a foot) wide, 1.5 cm (1/2") tall, and however long.
Roll it up along the length. As you roll, pinch the bread together to reduce the spiral lines in the finished loaf. This part took pretty long and next time I'll rub the top with a bit of water and skip the pinching.
Move the loaf onto your greased baking sheet and tuck the ends under for a squarer finish.
Repeat for second piece. (Or additionally, sprinkle some raisins and cinnamon on top before you roll for a tasty low-sugar raisin bread.)
With a sharp knife, cut diagonal slashes across the top of the loaves about 3 cm (1.2") apart.
Wait for 30 min for it to rise again.
Preheat oven to 375° F.
Your loaves should have doubled in size. If you're impatient (like me) with this rise step and don't let them double, then your loaf will be dense but still enjoyable.
For crustier bread: add 2 c water to the bottom rack metal pan.
Bake for 27 minutes.
Allow bread to cool 3 minutes before slicing.

Based on Simple Everyday Home's Homemade French Bread (food processor method).

Sweet and sour pork (not deep fried)

2014-02-09T17:37:00.001-08:00

When we eat at Manchu Wok we often get sweet and sour pork. However, at home, we rarely deep-fry anything, if at all. So when we have cravings for sweet and sour pork we go to this recipe adapted from Fuschia Dunlop's Land of Plenty.

Ingredients (Serves 2)

Sauce

3 tbsp white sugar
2 tbsp Chinkiang vinegar (chinese vinegar similar to balsamic, around $3 at T&T)
1 tsp light soy sauce
3 3/4 tsp cornstarch

Everything Else

3/4 lb pork loin boneless, cut into 1 inch cubes
five spice powder

1 onion, loosely chopped
3 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 thumb sized piece of ginger, minced

3/4 cup of chicken stock

1 green pepper
1 red pepper
pineapple chunks

some cilantro
sesame oil

Steps

Cook rice
Combine sauce ingredients to a smooth consistency and set aside.
Cut the pork. Add thin layer of canola/vegetable oil to cover the pan, wait until it's hot and add chopped meat. Sprinkle some five spice powder on to the meat. Once the meat is seared, take out of the pan and set aside. (Don't overcrowd the pan, might have to do this in batches.)
Might have to add a little oil if pan is dry. Add onion, garlic, ginger into the pan. Cook until fragrant.
Add chicken stock. Wait until boiled.
Add sauce ingredients and stir quickly.
Add meat, peppers, and pineapple. Cook until meat is done.
Taste and add salt if needed.
Add chopped cilantro and some sesame oil.
Serve on rice

Chinese Dumplings

2011-07-12T20:57:00.000-07:00

Chinese dumplings or potstickers can in a big batch and frozen before cooking. There's a variety of options for filling. We've used pork and chives, but we've also swapped out the chives for cabbage and use minced shrimp or chicken for the meat. The dumplings have two parts: the filling and the wrapper.

Filling

1 lb ground pork
1 egg (can omit for fatty meat)
canola oil
sesame oil
salt and pepper
soya sauce
400 g chives (bunch should have 5 cm diameter)
1 thumb ginger
1 tsp Chinese cooking wine
2 fragrant mushrooms (shiitake)

Our mushrooms were dried, so we soaked them in water to rehydrate

Chop all filling ingredients finely and mix together.

The completed filling

Wrapper

5-6 cups flour
water

Add flour to a bowl.
Add 1 tbsp of water and mix. Keep adding water until fully moistened.
Knead.

Dough ready for kneading

On a floured work surface, roll out half of dough into a long cylinder.
Break in half lengthwise to make 2-3 cm thick.

Break off 2 cm pieces from each half.

Roll each piece into a ball.
On a heavily floured work surface, roll out each ball with a rolling pin. You can roll the pin back and forth with one hand and rotate the dough with the other hand. This technique will give your wraps thin edges to make it easier to seal your dumplings.

Hold a wrap on your fingers and add a scoop of filling.
Fold the wrap in half and pinch the edges to seal the dumpling. You can wrinkle the pinched edge and press it together to make a crescent shape.

Repeat until you've filled and sealed all of your wraps.

Now that you've made your dumplings, you can freeze them or cook them right away. You can either boil or fry your dumplings.

Boil

Fill a pot with enough water to submerge your dumplings.

Cover and bring to a boil on high heat.
When water boils, add 1 cup cold water and bring to a boil again.
Repeat this boil-add-water process until you've added 3 cups of water.

Once it boils again, remove from heat.
Remove dumplings with a slotted spoon and enjoy!

Fry

Heat a pan and add 1 tbsp oil.
Add your dumplings.
Cook until bottoms are browned.
Add enough water to cover the bottom of the pan.
Cover and cook until done.

Johnnycakes with Blueberry Sauce

2011-07-12T17:00:00.000-07:00

While flipping through Joy of Cooking for a pancake recipe, I found recipes for cornmeal pancakes and then wandered further and found johnnycakes. The cornmeal pancakes weren't much like pancakes and it seemed like we'd be better off making the savory version to accompany a pork roast. Johnnycakes are even less like pancakes, but we liked them more than the cornmeal pancakes. They're still not a replacement for the traditional pancake, but they're an interesting change of pace.

I heated some frozen blueberries in a bit of water with brown sugar and vanilla to make a sauce.

Butternut Squash and Sweet Potato Soup with Chicken

2011-07-12T16:42:00.000-07:00

This original pressure cooker recipe makes a simple but delicious butternut squash soup and also cooks some chicken to serve along side it. I used a Magic Bullet to do my blending, but an immersion blender, regular blender, or food processor should work great too. The final flavour of this soup is very strongly butternut squash with hints of the other vegetables, so beware of adding all of the squash to the soup unless you prefer a single flavour.

6 L pressure cooker -- 10 minutes and 4 minutes with 10 minute natural release.

Ingredients

1 tbsp oil
1/2 onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, crushed and chopped
2 zucchini, cut in half and sliced into 2cm-thick pieces
1 large sweet potato, cut in half and sliced into 1.5cm-thick pieces
8 chicken thighs (add as desired)
1 cup chicken broth
poultry seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
1 large butternut squash, peeled and quartered with seeds removed

Directions

Spread out your thighs and cut them to make flat pieces. The goal is to butterfly the thicker parts to make a single sheet of chicken of even thickness.
Pound chicken with the back of a knife or a meat mallet.
Lightly coat chicken with poultry seasoning.
Roll each thigh lengthwise.
Add oil to pressure cooker.
Set medium heat.
Add onions. Cook until browned.
Add garlic. Cook 1 minute.
Add rolled chicken on top of onions and garlic.
Add zucchini and sweet potato on top.
Add broth.
Add salt and pepper to taste. (1/2 tsp of salt is good.)
Cover and lock pressure cooker for high pressure.
Cook under pressure for 10 minutes. (Maybe too long?)
Remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes.
Quick release remaining pressure.
Your chicken will be cooked and your vegetables will be mush.
Remove vegetables to a large bowl and let cool.
Remove chicken to another bowl and cover.

The chicken is not necessary to the dish, but it's easy to cook along with the vegetables

If there's less than a cup of water left in the pressure cooker, add water.
Add a trivet and steam basket to pressure cooker.
Add squash with the insides facing up.
Cover and lock pressure cooker for low pressure.
Cook under pressure for 4 minutes.
Remove from heat and let stand 10 minutes.
Quick release remaining pressure.
Your squash will be firm (too firm to mash, but not chewy). You may want to continue cooking if you like your squash softer.
Remove squash to a bowl.
Remove cooking liquid to a pourable container (ex: a measuring cup).
Blend half of squash.
Blend vegetables.
Add blended vegetables to pressure cooker.
Add reserved cooking liquid to reach desired soup consistency.
Serve with rolled chicken and pieces of remaining squash.

Pork Wellington

2011-07-12T16:22:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned before, I made pork Wellington in my cooking class at The Dirty Apron. I found the mustard seasoning and the mustard sauce made for too much mustard. I made it again at home and it was fantastic. This time I made a reduction out of guava and apple with a recipe I made up based on this Guava Reduction and this Guava Coulis.

Ingredients

pork tenderloin
puff pastry (I used 25 cm square sheets cut in half)
1 tsp mustard
1 tsp dried thyme
1 egg
canola oil
salt
pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 450 F.
Mix mustard and thyme in a bowl.
Cut pork into pieces that will fit your puff pastry. Ensure there is a lot of space at the ends of the pastry to make a seal. (If your pork is 3 cm thick, keep about 4 cm on each end of the pork.)
Dry pork with paper towel. (Extra moisture makes it harder to caramelize.)
Season pork with salt and pepper.
Heat a pan on high heat.
Add some oil.
Sear pork on all sides. (About 10 seconds per side.) Make sure the entire surface of the pork is seared.
Remove pork to mustard bowl and allow to cool.
Once cool, coat pork with mustard mixture.

In a small bowl, beat egg until smooth.
Place a sheet of pastry on a work surface.
Brush pastry with egg.
Place pork at bottom centre of pastry.
Roll the pastry to wrap the pork.
Press down on the ends to seal the pork. Fold the extra length for an additional seal. (Or pinch it for prettier presentation.)
Bake on parchment paper on a cooking sheet for 12-18 minutes (depending on the size of your pork pieces). Pastry should be golden brown and a meat thermometer should read 145 F.
Allow to rest 5 minutes.

Garnish with apple-guava reduction, apple slaw, or some green apple mustard. I julienned 1/3 of the apple left from the reduction for garnish.

Apple-Guava Reduction

Ingredients

2 ripe guava
2/3 apple
water

Directions

Peel 2 guava and cut them in half. Put them in a pot.
Add almost enough water to cover.
Boil for 8 minutes.
Let cool. Meanwhile, prepare apple.
Blend guava and water until smooth.
Remove seeds with a sieve.

While guava cools, peel apple.
Slice the rest into 0.5 cm thin pieces and into 1 or 2 cm squares. Put them in a pot.
Add almost enough water to cover.
Add one tablespoon of brown sugar and one tablespoon of balsamic vinegar.
Add guava puree.
Simmer until reduced to 1/2.

Here's another pork Wellington I made with a pepper apple slaw. The slaw has black pepper, green onion, lime juice, and julienned apple.

Cooking Class

2011-07-12T15:58:00.000-07:00

Recently, I attended a cooking class at The Dirty Apron. I took the "Meat Eaters Unite: The Meat Class." We cooked Olive Tapenade-crusted Lamb Chop, followed by a Pork Wellington with Black Pepper & Apple Slaw and Grainy Mustard Sauce, and finally a Rib-eye Steak. They also made us a creme-brulee and I got to burn my sugar.

The cooking area was great. The stations were large and there were two people to a station. Everyone had their own ingredients and just shared the oven and stove top.

The cooking classroom

The class was well-planned. Most of the grunt work (measuring, blending, some of the sauces) were done for us. The first dish, the lamb, was really easy to prepare (season, sear, spread with tapenade, sprinkle crust, and bake), and I think it was a great confidence booster that made the remaining dishes less daunting.

The lamb chops were piled high with greens

The pork Wellington was more complicated, but a lot of fun to make. Fortunately, the puff pastry was made for us.

Pork Wellington with lots of grainy mustard sauce, some apple chutney, and little puff pastry buttons

We actually started the rib-eye at the beginning by creating our maple-syrup-based marinade and then they were taken away to refrigerate until we were ready for them.

Rib-eye steak served over mashed potatoes, roasted mushrooms, and blanched green beans

Our teacher mentioned a few tidbits that I hadn't heard before:

Don't marinate with salt. It will dry out your meat. Season with salt right before cooking.
Let your meat rest after cooking. This will help to keep your meat juicy when you eat it instead of all the juices running out when you cut it.
Blanche green vegetables in salted water and then shock them in an ice bath.This helps keep them keep their green colour. Reheat them in hot water and saute in butter before serving.

Aerial view of the rib-eye

Overall, it was a great experience. We cooked with top quality ingredients (we used kurobuta pork in the Wellington) and got to eat everything we ate (more than enough for one meal). I had fun and learned something too.

Creamy Chicken Soup

2011-07-12T14:49:00.000-07:00

When I was living as a bachelor, I received a great book as a present: The Big Book of One Pot. It's a collection of recipes that only require a single pot to cook and many are simple but delicious. Here's one of the soups: Chicken & Potato Soup with Bacon from page 51.

The soup from this recipe is good, but the bacon isn't great when having it for left overs. I should have cooked the bacon crispier or cut it into tiny bits.

Ingredients

1 tbsp butter
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 onion, sliced
250 g cooked bacon, chopped
2 leeks, sliced
2 tbsp flour
4 cups chicken broth
800 g potatoes, roughly peeled and chopped
200 g skinless chicken breast, chopped
4 tbsp heavy cream
salt and pepper

Directions

Melt butter in pot.
Add onion and cook until softened (3 minutes).
Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
Add bacon and leeks and cook for 3 minutes.
In a bowl, mix flour with enough stock to make a smooth paste.
Stir paste into pan.
Cook while stirring for 2 minutes.
Add remaining stock.
Add potatoes and chicken.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Bring to a boil.
Lower heat and simmer for 25 minutes. Potatoes should be tender and chicken fully cooked.
Stir in cream and cook for another 2 minutes.
Remove from heat and serve immediately.
You can garnish with some cooked bacon or fresh parsley.

This post is based on a published recipe. Please be aware that we've bent the recipes to our will. If you'd like the original recipe, have a look at the cook book linked in the post.

Sweet Potato Pie

2011-07-12T14:33:00.000-07:00

Yanna and I both love pumpkin pie, but we've have never had sweet potato pie. I've always wanted to try it because I love sweet potatoes. We had some sweet potatoes and I had some spare time, so I decided to make Joy of Cooking's recipe on page 686.

The recipe just tells you to make pumpkin pie, but replace the pumpkin with pureed sweet potato. Unsurprisingly, when Yanna tried some (and without me telling her what it was), she assumed it was pumpkin pie. You can taste the potato, but the difference is subtle (especially when I over do the spices).

Ingredients

2 large sweet potatoes (peeled, halved, and cut into 2 cm thick slices)
1 cup water
1 pie crust (buy one or see page 665 of Joy of Cooking)
3 eggs
1 can (300 ml) of sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp salt

Directions

I cooked potatoes in pressure cooker. You could just boil them in a pot or cook them in the microwave.
low pressure.
Add water to pressure cooker.
Add steam basket.
Add potatoes.
(Optional) Sprinkle potatoes with extra spices (from ingredients list).
Lock lid and set to low pressure.
Cook under pressure for 6 minutes.
Quick release pressure.
Drain.
Mash.

Separate the yolk and whites for one egg into two bowls. Yolk in small bowl and whites in large bowl.
Beat yolk.
Glaze pie crust with yolk.
Bake at 475 F for 10 minutes. Check it after 5 to prevent over baking. It should be golden when done. (Note that Joy of Cooking recommends a lot more details that might improve your pie crust.)
Reduce oven to 375 F.
Add remaining two eggs to egg white and whisk.
Add remaining ingredients and mix.
If your filling isn't smooth, then puree until smooth (I transferred to our Magic Bullet).
Pour mix into pie crust (which should be still hot).
Bake at 375 F for 35 to 45 minutes.

This post is based on a published recipe. Please be aware that we've bent the recipes to our will. If you'd like the original recipe, have a look at the cook book linked in the post.

Aloo Gobhi

2011-07-12T14:12:00.000-07:00

I don't like cauliflower at all. I don't like it raw or cooked. But I do like aloo gobhi. Yanna made this one from Jamie's Food Revolution with some chicken spiced with curry paste.

It's actually pretty bland on its own (we omitted mustard seeds), so we added some spicy mango chutney and it was great.

Jamaican Rice and Peas in a Rice Cooker

2011-07-12T14:04:00.000-07:00

I love rice and peas, but I rarely use dried beans and I almost always cook rice in a rice cooker. So I've adapted Jamaica Travel and Culture's rice and peas recipe for my rice cooker. While I haven't perfected the timing and amount of liquid used in the recipe, in the end it was delicious.

Ingredients

4 measures of rice (use your rice cooker's cup -- should be about 750 mL)
1 can of beans (or pidgeon peas)
1 can coconut milk
5 cloves garlic (trim the tips off)
3 green onions (keep the bulb, but trim the roots)
black pepper

Directions

Wash and drain the rice in the rice cooker pot.
Crush the green onions and add to rice.
Crush the garlic and add to rice.
Add coconut milk to rice.
Drain most liquid from beans and add beans to rice.
Add enough water to rice to fill above level 5. (Use the bean can to get some of that leftover bean liquid to give rice that purplish colour.)
Stir rice.
Grind some black pepper over the rice, to taste.
Close rice cooker and start cooking.
Rice will most likely not be done when the cooker finishes. Keep covered on the "keep warm" setting and stir rice every 5 minutes until cooked. If rice starts looking dry, add a splash of water.

Goes great with Jerk Chicken.

This post is based on a published recipe. Please be aware that we've bent the recipes to our will. If you'd like the original recipe, have a look at the website linked in the post.

Glico Curry

2011-07-12T12:28:00.000-07:00

We went to a local Japanese restaurant recently and Yanna really enjoyed their curry. To replicate it, we went the easy way and bought some Glico curry roux. Eventually, I want to try making my own roux and see if I can replicate the Glico taste without the preservatives.

It's great as comfort food. The curry is delicious, but not overly spicy.

Here's a more detailed photo blog of making Glico curry. I made mine thicker than hers.

Jerk Chicken

2011-07-03T19:05:00.000-07:00

I love Jamaican food and while I'm not big on super-spicy I love the flavours of jerk chicken (I just tone down the jalapeno peppers and control how much of the seeds are in the marinade). Yanna found a recipe on the Food Network and it produced some fantastic chicken. She also made some rice and peas and pan fried zucchini.

The result was fantastic. It reminds me more of eating in the open Jamaican air and really expresses the complex flavour mix that is jerk.

Quiche

2011-07-03T19:02:00.000-07:00

Since I had some pie crust from my Beef Pie, I decided to make a university-student favourite: Quiche. While many students might think Kraft dinner before a quiche dinner, it's really easy to make (if you already have a pie crust -- I used to buy Tenderflake). Essentially, you're mixing eggs, milk, and your filling: ham, spinach, tomato, broccoli, or even leftover chicken. Most of your cook time is baking.

Here's a simplified version based on Joy of Cooking on page 109.

Ingredients

1 cup milk or heavy cream
three eggs (may need more to fill your pie crust)
1/2 a small onion
1 1/2 cups cheese
1/4 tsp nutmeg
salt and pepper
Optional additions: zucchini, tomato, more cheese, mushrooms, spinach

Directions

Paint your pie crust with egg yolk to seal it from the moisture of your egg filling.
Mix 1 cup milk or heavy cream and three or more eggs (to fill).
Grate half a small onion and add to mixture.
Add 1 1/2 cups cheese.
Add 1/4 tsp nutmeg.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Mix together and pour into your pie shell.
Bake 375 degrees F for 30 to 40 minutes (center should puff out and an inserted knife should come out clean).

I added zucchini and tomato and topped with two kinds of cheese.

A few days later I finished off my pie crust dough and made a spinach and ham quiche.

While quiche is great for making enough food for leftovers, but it's so good that it won't last very long.

This post is based on a published recipe. Please be aware that we've bent the recipes to our will. If you'd like the original recipe, have a look at the cook book linked in the post.

Beef Pie

2011-07-03T18:54:00.000-07:00

I didn't find the pictures of British Beef and Onion Pie on page 177 in Jamie's Food Revolution very appetizing. Something about the look of the ground beef seems odd to me. But I gave it a go anyway.

I didn't have Marmite, so I think I used a mix of soy sauce and balsamic vinegar instead.

I used the Basic Pie or Pastry Dough on page 665 recipe from Joy of Cooking for my crust.

I like the pastry crust on this pie as opposed to the potato topping on cottage (or shepard's) pie.

"Indian" Chicken and Naan

2011-07-03T18:50:00.000-07:00

We bought a pizza stone a while ago and have been thinking about making our own naan bread ever since we saw Manjula making it on her Youtube channel. We decided to use our Biryani paste on some chicken and her naan recipe.

We just rubbed the chicken with the spice paste and stir-fried it with some vegetables. Very simple and turned out nicely (although not as good as making actual chicken biryani.

Our naan didn't turn out as nice as the naan we used in "Biryani" Fish. It wasn't very soft, but still pretty good. We'll definitely keep working on this recipe.

The finished product was pretty good!

Broccoli and Pesto Tagliatelle

2011-07-03T18:46:00.000-07:00

I don't often cook Broccoli -- I generally like it steamed with cheese or in stir fry -- but Broccoli and Pesto Tagliatelle on page 46 from Jamie's Food Revolution was a nice alternative.

My potatoes were a little undercooked, but overall it was still really nice. I even had some fresh basil to top it off with.

"Biryani" Fish

2011-07-03T18:45:00.000-07:00

One of the treasures of Jamie's Food Revolution is the notion of using Indian spice pastes as a quick rub for your fish (Quick Salmon Tikka with Cucumber Yogurt page 28). It takes so little time and it's so easy to do. Make sure you use spice paste and not sauce (I used Patak's Biryani paste). Scoop some into a bowl and use a basting brush to paint your fish (I've used salmon and steelhead trout). Then fry until cooked (takes about 1.5 minutes per side).

Biryani is a rice dish, but the spice blend still tastes great on fish with no rice in sight.

You can serve your fish on naan or pita bread with raita. The raita is as simple as cucumber, tomato, red onion, and yogurt. Add some dill, garam masala, or cilantro if you like.

Surprising Sweet and Sour Pork

2011-07-03T18:42:00.000-07:00

I like sweet and sour pork, but the breading and sugary sauce is unhealthy. I was impressed by "My Sweet and Sour Pork" (p65) in Jamie's Food Revolution. While it doesn't look like fast-food-style sweet and sour, the taste is spot on.

My pork didn't turn out nearly as dark as in Jamie's pictures, because I replaced the balsamic vinegar with white vinegar.

Pea and Mint Soup

2011-04-04T19:27:00.000-07:00

I haven't made a lot of soups and we had ham from mushrooms and ham cream sauce, so I found Pea and Mint Soup on page 132 in Jamie's Food Revolution. The soup was great, but I didn't make mine as smooth as Jamie -- partly because we don't have an immersion blender (I used a Magic Bullet instead).

Broth added

It's a pretty simple soup: carrots celery, onion, garlic, broth, peas, mint, salt, and pepper. Chop and fry, add broth and peas, and simmer for 10 minutes. Then add your seasoning, blend, and add the ham before you serve.

Boiled and added mint

The most difficult part was the blending. Our Magic Bullet is small, so we had to do several batches. Also, the hot soup makes the air in the bullet expand, so you need to release the pressure regularly while blending. It helps if you let the soup cool a bit before starting on the blend. The soup is great reheated, so I made a big batch and stuffed it in the fridge for later.

First batch of blending completed

This post is based on a published recipe. Please be aware that we've bent the recipes to our will. If you'd like the original recipe, have a look at the cook book linked in the post.

Tilapia with Mushrooms and Ham Cream sauce

2011-04-04T19:04:00.000-07:00

We often cook tilapia marinated with a simple vinaigrette or with an assortment of spices, but I wanted to do something more interesting. I grabbed Jamie's Food Revolutionand found "Bacon and Mushroom Cream Sauce" on page 270.

I'm not a big bacon fan, so I've used ham in this recipe. However, it's one of our less successful results. The ham felt too bulky and its fried crunch was a strange contrast to the soft mushrooms. Next time, I'll either skip the ham or just fry it less to prevent any crispiness.

Additionally, my cream sauce looks wildly different from the version in Jamie's book. I made several substitutions, but I think replacing crème fraîche with whipping cream didn't give the expected result: Jamie's looked more like soup in the book and mine was more like a stew. Regardless, it worked well served on top of fish and rice.

Main

2 tilapia fillets
vinaigrette -- any kind, I prefer store-bought citrus-base vinaigrette
cooked rice

Sauce

olive oil
4 slices ham, julienne
1/2 lb of a variety of mushrooms, roughly chopped -- I used button, oyster, and enoki
4 sprigs thyme
1/2 small red chile, seeded and sliced
salt and pepper
1/3 cup whipping cream -- or heavy cream

Four slices of ham sliced into thin strips

It's mushrooms-chile-thyme

I ground peppercorns in my mortar to get coarser pepper

Directions

Put the tilapia in a dish and cover with vinaigrette. Marinate overnight if desired.
Add some oil to a pan on medium heat.
Add fish and fry until cooked through.

Meanwhile, prepare the sauce.
Pick leaves from thyme and discard stalks.
Add oil to pan on medium heat.
Add ham to pan and fry until it crisps a bit.
Add mushrooms, chile, and thyme to the ham. Fry for a few minutes.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Add whipping cream. Bring to a boil and then simmer for a minute.

Serve tilapia with rice and cover with sauce.

This post is based on a published recipe. Please be aware that we've bent the recipes to our will. If you'd like the original recipe, have a look at the cook book linked in the post.

Comments on Cook Books

2011-02-10T16:09:00.000-08:00

Occasionally, we mention recipes from cook books on our site. We'll try to keep this post updated with our thoughts on those books.

Pressure Perfect

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The introduction is like a workbook, where you can fill in information about your pressure cooker to make it easier to refer to later. There are lots of general tips about using and caring for your pressure cooker. The recipes are tasty and result in good presentation, although the book has no pictures for you to know that in advance. Each recipe comes with small variations to change it up and they also have "transformations" which significantly change the resulting dish. Transformations include from adding pasta, changing the meat, different barbecue sauces, and swapping many ingredients to give the dish a different ethnic spin.

125 Best Pressure Cooker Recipes

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Like Pressure Perfect, this book includes some tips on pressure cooking, but isn't as exhaustive as Pressure Perfect. I've had some recipes not turn out, but I blame that on not using the alcohol specified in the recipe. Regardless, it's turned me off of 125 Best Pressure Cooker Recipes. Has a few pictures, but I've yet to make anything with a picture, so I don't know how they compare to actual results.

Jamie's Food Revolution

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This book clearly wants to teach you more about cooking and how to make cooking more enjoyable. Jamie Oliver is one of my favourite TV chefs because he makes cooking seem more fun, and less rote following directions. The book is full of beautiful pictures that illustrate the meal in various stages of preparation. It also includes pictures of normal people with motivational quotes. Jamie's Food Revolution demonstrates some basic technique and pictures several major ingredients. I think the book's pictures are realistic and haven't been disappointed that my meals don't look as good as the pictures in the book.

If you're just starting cooking, like simple recipes (most are one page text and one page pictures), or just love cook books with pictures, this book is highly recommended.

The Joy of Cooking

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The Joy of Cooking is a classic cooking text that is filled with useful information on a wide range of culinary technique. It comments on ingredients and recipes with general advice for most recipe categories. While there are no pictures, there are frequently illustrations to demonstrate technique or to clarify the instructions.

If you're using the page numbers from Plate to Palate, I'm using "Joy of Cooking: 75th Anniversary Edition - 2006."

Pressure Cooker Meatloaf and Mashed Potatoes

2011-02-10T15:24:00.000-08:00

This post is part of our update of meals from the past few months using recipes based on published recipes. Please be aware that we've bent the recipes to our will. If you'd like the original recipe, have a look at the cook book linked in the post.

One of my favourite meals is meatloaf, but I rarely have much success cooking it. Generally, it's not finished in the time specified in my recipes. While I ran into that same problem again (probably due to using too much meat -- I love meatloaf leftovers), my pressure-cooked meatloaf was fantastic. I found Meatloaf with Cheddar-Smashed Potatoes (p133) in Lorna Sass' Pressure Perfect. Next time, I'll try replacing half of the ground beef with another ground meat like pork, chicken, or turkey.

6L Pressure Cooker -- 12 minutes and quick release.

Meatloaf

2 large eggs
1 medium onion -- finely chopped
1 bell pepper -- finely chopped
1/2 cup parsley -- I used that stuff from a tube
3/4 cup rolled oats (or dry bread crumbs)
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/3 cup oil-packed dried tomatoes
1 cup Parmesan/Romano cheese
1.5 tsp Italian herbs (store bought blend, or 1/2 teaspoon each of oregano, basil, rosemary -- preferably ground together in a mortar and pestle)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp garlic powder
5-10 peppercorns -- coarsely ground with mortar and pestle
4 thin slices of prosciutto
1.5 lbs of normal or lean ground beef (not very lean or loaf will be dry)
ketchup
mustard

Potatoes

3 lbs russet (baking) potatoes -- peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks
2 cups of water (or 1 cup water, 1 cup broth)
1.5 cups cheddar cheese -- shredded
1/2 cup milk
salt and pepper

Directions

Coat the bottom and sides of steaming basket with oil from dried tomatoes. (Note: basket must have holes in the bottom.)
Beat eggs in large bowl.
Add onions, bell pepper, parsley, oats, tomato sauce, tomatoes, salt, garlic, peppercorns, cheese.
Stir.
Add meat and mix with your hands until blended.
Place meat in a ball in steaming basket and flatten. Be sure to fill basket evenly.
Spread thin layer of ketchup over top of meatloaf.
Place prosciutto over top of meatloaf, and tuck in edges so they don't hang over the edge of the basket.
Spread thin layer of ketchup over top of prosciutto.
Squeeze drops of mustard on top of ketchup.
Pour water into pressure cooker.
Place potatoes into water.
Place steaming basket with meatloaf on potatoes.
Lock lid and bring to high heat.
When high pressure is reached, cook 12 minutes.
Turn off heat.
Quick release pressure.
Remove potatoes and place in a large bowl.
Make sure the meat is cooked. A thermometer should read 155 F, or cut into the centre of the loaf and make sure it looks cooked (meat shouldn't look shiny). I used about 2 lbs of meat and needed 10-15 minutes more cook time.
If not cooked, lock lid and bring back to high heat. Cook under high pressure in 5 minute batches until cooked. (In my case it was very uncooked, and I could have done 10 minutes right away.)
When done, rest in basket for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, coarsely mash potatoes.
Add milk and cheese (or add cooking liquid instead of milk).
Mash to desired smoothness.
Add salt and pepper to taste.
Serve slices of meatloaf with ketchup and potatoes.

The prosciutto turned out great: it was a little bit crispy and not chewy.

The rest of the meatloaf in the steaming basket.

Basic Pressure-Cooked Stew with Dumplings

2011-02-10T15:18:00.000-08:00

This post is part of our update of meals from the past few months using recipes based on published recipes. Please be aware that we've bent the recipes to our will. If you'd like the original recipe, have a look at the cook book linked in the post.

You don't always feel like following recipes, but I'm not that familiar with pressure cooking. Not being able to see and test your food while it's cooking can be quite intimidating. However, it's nice to be create a simple stew with your pressure cooker -- that's one of the prime reasons for having it! I found a good generic stew recipe in from Chinda Chavich's 125 Best Pressure Cooker Recipes. I use the Chicken Stew with New Potatoes and Baby Carrots and just vary the ingredients to equivalents according to the type of stew I want to make. I like to serve with simple dumplings you dropped into the stew to steam. I use the Joy of Cooking's Dumplings (p334) recipe.

6L Pressure Cooker -- 12 minutes and quick release.

Stew

3 lbs meat
1 tbsp oil
1 large onion -- minced
2 cloves garlic -- minced
1 tbsp flour
8 potatoes -- halved or quartered into 1.5 inch chunks
3 stalks celery -- diced
2 root vegetables (carrot, parsnip, turnip)
3 carrots -- chopped
1 cup stock
1/2 cup wine
1 bay leaf
2 tbsp parsley -- chopped
1 tsp dried herbs (thyme and sage for chicken, oregano and basil for beef, oregano and rosemary for pork -- vary as you desire)
salt and pepper

Dumplings

1 cup flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
herbs or onion (optional)

Stew

Heat oil over medium heat.
Brown meat in batches.
Set meat aside.
Drain all but 1 tbsp of fat.
Saute onion and garlic for 2 minutes.
Stir in flour, potatoes, celery, carrot, root vegetables.
Gradually stir in stock and wine.
Add bay leaf.
Bring to a boil and return meat and its juices to cooker.
Lock lid and bring to high heat.
Once high pressure is reached, cook for 12 minutes.
Prepare dumplings (see below).
Turn off heat.
Quick release pressure.
Discard bay leaf.
Stir in herbs.
Season with salt and pepper.
Drop dumplings into stew from a spoon so they are barely touching.
(Tip: dip spoon in stew before dipping in dumplings batter so batter easily slides off spoon.)
Simmer 10 minutes.
Serve at once.

Dumplings

Beat egg.
Add half of milk.
Separately, whisk together dry ingredients.
Stir liquid into dry ingredients.
Stirring, add remaining milk until mixture is stiff, but pourable.
Add the herbs or onion.

Chicken Biryani

2011-02-10T15:14:00.000-08:00

This post is part of our update of meals from the past few months using recipes based on published recipes. Please be aware that we've bent the recipes to our will. If you'd like the original recipe, have a look at the cook book linked in the post.

An Indian friend of ours has a pressure cooker and she generally just cooks rice and lentils in it. I thought it would be interesting to see how other Indian dishes work. I found a recipe in Lorna Sass' Pressure Perfect for Chicken Biryani (p192). Usually we make our rice in a pressure cooker, and while this recipe had great results, cleaning scorched rice off the pressure cooker is no fun. The Biryani was good, but not spicy at all. I served it with store-bought naan (but I need to try Manjula's naan recipe), and I served with yoghurt on top (I used peach yoghurt and enjoyed it, but no one else was interested).

6L Pressure Cooker -- 3 minutes and natural release

Ingredients

1 tbsp butter
1 large onion -- chopped
2 tsp anise seeds (I substituted PC Chinese Five Spice blend)
2 tsp cumin seeds
2 tbsp tomato sauce
2 cups chicken broth
1 cup water
3 small bay leaves
1.5 tsp salt (reduce if using salty broth)
4 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
pinch of cayenne (optional, but recommended)
1.5 lbs boneless, skinned chicken -- cut into 1 inch chunks
2 cups dry rice
1/3 cup raisins
1 cup frozen peas
1/2 cup almonds and/or cashews

Directions

Heat butter in pressure cooker.
Add onions, anise, and cumin.
Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, about 2 minutes.
Add tomato sauce and cook for 20 seconds.
Stir in broth, water, bay leaves, salt, curry, cinnamon, and cayenne.
Add more curry powder to taste. Flavour should be strong.
Stir in chicken, rice, and raisins.
Lock lid and bring to high heat.
Once high pressure is reached, cook 3 minutes.
Turn off heat.
Allow pressure to release naturally for 7 minutes.
Quick release remaining pressure.
Stir in peas and almonds.
Replace cover and steam 2 minutes in residual heat to defrost peas.
Remove bay leaves.
Stir well before serving.