Wednesday, June 29, 2011

Recipe #22: Cacio e Pepe

Our Pasta Craze continues! This next recipe is a classic and easy Italian dish with very few ingredients. When served at restaurants, the pecorino cheese and the olive oil make this a stand-out tasty dish, but when you look at the recipe, you realize that anyone can cook this at home. I recommend serving with a tossed green salad, garlic bread, and of course, a glass of red wine.

This dish could not be any simpler, and chances are, you already have most of these ingredients at home in your cupboard. All it calls for is cheese and pepper (cacio e pepe) and a dash of olive oil or butter, then drizzle atop your favourite pasta. Almost any type of pasta will do; just see what you have in the cupboard.

INGREDIENTS

6 ounces of pasta (such as egg tagliolini, bucatini, or spaghetti)
1 tbsp fresh ground pepper
3 tbsp olive oil or butter
1 ¼ cup freshly grated pecorino cheese


DIRECTIONS

BRING 3 quarts water to a boil in a 5 quart pot. Season with salt; add pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until about 2 minutes before tender. Drain, reserving 3/4 cups of the pasta cooking water.

M
EANWHILE, melt 2 tablespoons butter/olive oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add pepper and cook, swirling pan, until toasted, about 1 minute.

ADD 1/2 cup reserved pasta water to skillet and bring to a simmer. Add pasta and remaining butter. Remove pan from heat; add Pecorino, stirring and tossing until cheese melts, the sauce coats the pasta, and pasta is al dente. Add more pasta water if sauce seems dry.

Monday, June 27, 2011

To Make: Braided Knit Necklace

As the summer weather takes a turn for the better, with warm air breezes and sunny skies, my knitting needles have been unusually inactive. Where I once had three projects on the go, I have finished two of them and am slowly making my way through the last. All are warm weather sweaters, which will have to wait until fall to be worn, so the urgency isn’t quite there to finish them. (I will be posting about my finished two projects shortly, but I’m having issues with photos for those ones. I need to find just the right light and angle to show them off, but they are coming…eventually.)

In the meantime, I stumbled across this neat little knit necklace and think that this is going to be one of my summer projects. It was just the inspiration I needed to get back on track. I’ll be checking out my stash of yarns to see if I have something that will make this piece stunning…perhaps a grey or silver? Maybe even a two-toned one? These could even make nice Christmas gifts. I know THAT holiday is still a distance away, but crafty gifts take some planning!

And if I don't have any yarn at home, well, it doesn’t call for much, so why not splurge a little? It’s been weeks since I’ve picked out any new yarn….

Monday, June 20, 2011

Recipe #21: Bucatini All’Amatriciana

In the quest to eat less meat, pasta dishes are a great option. They are really easy to dress up with loads of vegetables and different sauces (and cheese), quick too cook up, and are very satisfying as a meal.  And if you’ve met me, you’ll know that I do enjoy my pasta. Sadly, not every occasion can be one for homemade pasta (although I have been thinking I need to make some again soon), but store-bought pasta works equally well, especially when you’re making your own sauce to go on top.

Ok, so this dish isn’t necessarily a meat-free dish, but it is one in a long line of pasta dishes that we have enjoyed lately. I’ve got plenty of recipes around the house, but Matt came across this one online and suggested we make it one Friday night. So, to cap off a busy week, we uncorked a bottle of red wine, settled in at the kitchen table, and enjoyed our Bucatini All’Amatriciana while we chatted about our day.

I couldn’t find guanciale to make this dish a true Amatriciana, but the pancetta works just fine as a substitution, and if you’re really stuck, the bacon would be great, too (bacon makes everything better). The simple sauce is made with just 5 ingredients, not including the salt and pepper, and the crushed red pepper flakes give it a really nice kick of heat. For a quick meal, this is a great recipe to keep on file.

INGREDIENTS

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 ounces thinly sliced guanciale, pancetta, or chopped unsmoked bacon
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3/4 cup minced onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 28 ounce can peeled tomatoes with juices, crushed by hand
Kosher salt
12 ounces dried bucatini or spaghetti
1/4 cup finely grated Pecorino (about 1 ounce)

DIRECTIONS

HEAT oil in a large heavy skillet over medium heat. Add guanciale and sauté until crisp and golden, about 4 minutes. Add pepper flakes and black pepper; stir for 10 seconds. Add onion and garlic; cook, stirring often, until soft, about 8 minutes. Add tomatoes, reduce heat to low, and cook, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens, 15-20 minutes.

MEANWHILE, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Season with salt; add the pasta and cook, stirring occasionally, until 2 minutes before al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup of pasta cooking water.

ADD drained pasta to sauce in skillet and toss vigorously with tongs to coat. Add 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water and cook until sauce coats pasta and pasta is al dente, about 2 minutes. (Add a little pasta water if sauce is too dry.) Stir in cheese and transfer pasta to warmed bowls

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Recipe #20: Grilled Chickpea Burgers with Creamy Lemon Tahini Sauce


This recipe was my first foray into vegetarian cooking, if you don’t count meatless pastas or salads. Matt and I have been trying to make a conscious effort to eat less meat at home and instead opt for more nutritious vegetarian meals. Part of the reason is to try and eat healthier meals when we can, and part of it is also a feeling of social responsibility. A food critic I like, Mark Bittman, recently gave a talk: “What’s Wrong with what we Eat,” and it really made me think. If you have a few (or 20 minutes to spare, it might be worth a look.


On a similar note, there is a movie playing now called Forks Over Knives, which also delves into why we should eat less meat and more vegetables, and how out health is directly related to what we eat. I haven’t seen this one yet, but it is on my list.


But, back on topic now… the quest to eat more vegetarian meals has been both exciting and yet challenging. Finding recipes that we think we’d enjoy plus introducing new ingredients is our goal, along with trying to expand our taste buds (and no, I still will not eat mushrooms!). Chickpeas have never really entered our diet, so I thought this one would be a great one to start with.

I really love the excitement of a new recipe, be it for cooking or baking. I love finding all the ingredients, then putting them all together one by one. Sometimes I get over eager and forget to read the recipe thoroughly, but things usually work out in the end. I was careful to read this recipe, though, so no mistakes were made, and after putting everything together, grilling on our indoor griddle, these were really delicious! They were light and fresh and the tahini sauce mixed with lemon juice really added some nice flavour. And surprisingly, this dish was really inexpensive, since two cans of chickpeas cost like 3 dollars. That’s a whole lot cheaper than a chicken breast, for example, and this recipe ended up making 6 burgers, so we froze 4 and enjoyed them later. This one is in our repertoire for sure!

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil; more for brushing
4 medium cloves garlic, sliced
2 tsp. ground cumin
4 or 5 six-inch pitas
2 15.5-oz. cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
5 Tbs. tahini
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from 1 medium lemon)
1 large egg
Kosher salt
2 Tbs. chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
2 Tbs. chopped fresh cilantro
1/4 English cucumber, thinly sliced)
1 medium tomato, thinly sliced
Harissa (or other hot sauce; optional)

DIRECTIONS

PREPARE a high gas or charcoal grill fire or indoor griddle.

HEAT the oil, garlic, and cumin in a small saucepan over medium-low heat until the garlic is soft but not brown, about 3 minutes. Set aside off the heat.

TEAR one of the pitas in half and toast in a toaster until golden-brown and crisp. In a food processor, grind the pita into fine crumbs; transfer the crumbs to a small bowl and measure them—you’ll need 1/2 cup. If necessary, toast and grind a second pita.
PUREE 1 can of the chickpeas with the oil mixture, 2 Tbs. of the tahini, 1 Tbs. of the lemon juice, the egg, and 3/4 tsp. salt until smooth. Add the remaining chickpeas and the pita crumbs, parsley, and cilantro; pulse until the chickpeas are coarsely chopped and the mixture is well blended.

PUT the remaining 3 Tbs. tahini in a small bowl and gradually whisk in 2 Tbs. water and the remaining 3 Tbs. lemon juice (the tahini will thicken at first and then smooth out).
Shape the chickpea mixture into 6 patties, each about 3/4 inch thick. Brush both sides of each with oil. Grill, covered, until heated through and nicely marked on both sides, 2 to 3 minutes per side.

CUT the remaining 3 pitas in half and heat briefly on the grill. Layer the burgers in the pitas with the sliced cucumber and tomatoes, drizzle with the tahini sauce and harissa (if using), and serve.

Friday, June 10, 2011

Fat Friday - M:Brgr

Wow, this post is loooong overdue. How long you might ask? Well, we dined at this restaurant some time back in March, and since that time, this restaurant has already closed up shop! We were not really surprised by this news, as this review will highlight, but since Matt and I were on a burger binge for Fat Fridays, we thought we owed it to our research to give it a try.

And it’s been ages since I’ve written about a Fat Friday…


If you’re not familiar with M:Brgr, it originally started in Montreal and has hence opened (and closed) a Toronto location on King St West, not too far from out house. We walked past it during the renovation stage, and after reading a few reviews on the place, we decided to give it a try. Their ‘gimmick’ was the $100 burger - two Kobe beef patties with bacon, grilled pear, foie gras, brie, fig jam, asparagus, Piave cheese, garlic-roasted ham, porcini mushrooms, honey truffle aioli and truffles.  



M:Brgr is all about the options. Their menu is quite extensive; you begin by choosing what type of paddy as your base: veggie, tuna, Kobe beef, or AAA beef. Step two: choose a bun: regular, whole wheat, or lettuce wrap. Next, you can add any number of common and unique ingredients to place atop your burger: various cheeses, a selection of sauces/mayos/relishes, and numerous vegetable toppings. The final step, for those inclined, is to add the “crazy expensive” toppings, which include a couple different truffles and Foie Gras.

There are other things on the menu that you can have besides burgers: tacos, sandwiches, salads, hot dogs, even macaroni and cheese, but with a name like M:Brgr, you got to try the burger. Matt and I decided on just basic burgers, choosing the AAA beef paddy on a regular bun, and adding cheese and bacon. We also ordered a side of fries to share (no onion rings on the menu…ahem….only onion strings. What’s that about? A true test of a good burger joint, for me, anyway, is how their onion rings taste. They lost major points with me on that one…). And the burger: how was it, you might ask? Well, service was a bit slow, but when it finally arrived, the burger was cooked well and tasted pretty good, but really it nor the fries were anything special. We had definitely eaten better.

The location itself is very large and spacious, almost too large for a burger joint. Previously, the spot has housed a number of other restaurants that never seemed to last long (another reason we weren’t surprised by the closure; I think the space might be cursed…), but just generally, M:Brgr was just overpriced for what you got. We were not in a hurry to go back any time soon. Looks like we won’t have the opportunity to.

Keep posted for a few more burger places to report on, including my new found favourite… I'll get to them, I promise.

Monday, June 06, 2011

Crafty Find: Explaining the Kindle to Dickens

Do any of you have a Kindle or other such e-book reader? Matt and I received a joint Kindle for this past Christmas from my parents (although, you should ask Matt about how that’s working out next time you should see him…). I love it! Right now I’m in the process of acquiring all the old classics (mainly because they are free), and since the Kindle houses more than 500 titles, I’m not in any danger of running out of things to read.

I was really excited to get the Kindle: no more heavy books to lug on vacation or the subway and instant access to new books at my fingertips. I will say the one thing I was disappointed in was the fact that the Toronto Library does not currently support e-books for Kindle, and that is a major flaw, but I’m hoping they will rectify this in the near future.

When I saw this post, not only did it catch my eye because of the Kindle aspect, but because it was just so darn clever! The idea behind it was a class assignment for an Art & Design school: “Explain something modern/internet based to someone who lived and died before 1900” (you can read more here).

I think the creativity behind this is astounding! What a great way to explain to Dickens what the Kindle is. What a great to explain what a Kindle is to anyone, actually. Good work, creative student!

Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Recipe #19: Never the Same Way Twice Muffins


Courtesy of foodnetwork.ca

It’s been muffin madness in our kitchen lately! As you know, I like to make some tasty and healthy muffins for breakfast for Matt and me. I generally whip up a batch or two on the weekend and store them in the freezer. These are a total time saver in the morning  

This recipe is from Michael Smith, and the appeal of this one is that you can add any or all of the below ingredients and come out with different muffins each and every time. Plus, there is a lot of nutritional value in these, too. I especially liked this recipe because I’m all about the bran these days, and any baking recipe where you can through that in automatically makes it feel healthier.

For this first round, I found soy milk powder and doubled it instead of using soy flour and milk powder, and used the bran instead of the wheat germ. And instead of using 1 cup of vegetable oil, I replaced with 1 cup of yogurt, bringing the total to 2 cups. I find I use that substitution a lot when a recipe calls for oil. I also like that you can use honey in place of sugar.


INGREDIENTS

Dry Ingredients
1 cup flour, whole wheat, spelt or white
1 cup oats, ground in food processor
1 tablespoon baking powder
2 tablespoons soy flour
2 tablespoons milk powder
2 tablespoons wheat germ or bran
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Granola Flavour
1/2 cup oats
1/4 cup sunflower seeds or any other seed
1/4 cup slivered almonds or any other nut
1/4 cup raisins or any other dried fruit

Wet ingredients
4 eggs
1 cup yogurt, sour cream or milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup

DIRECTIONS

PREHEAT your oven to 350°. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add the granola ingredients and stir. Whisk together the wet ingredients in another bowl.

POUR the wet ingredients into the dry and stir a few times, just to combine. Try not to over mix or the muffins will toughen. Spoon the batter into a lightly oiled muffin pan. If you like you may line the pan with paper liners.

BAKE for 20 to 25 minutes, until you can insert a toothpick into a muffin and it comes out clean.

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