2012-01-31: Chicken Andre's

This was another offering from the Ontario Chicken Producers' Marketing Board.  Instead of spinach, I used the leaves from the golden beets used for the Chicken Pot au Feu recipe.  And instead of Sunflower Oil, I used Olive Oil.  And instead of a white onion, I used a yellow onion.  And instead of canned Mandarin Oranges, I used a fresh Naval Orange.  All of this, so that I could use the ingredients I had at hand, instead of buying more from the grocery store.  I'm more accustomed to this method, creatively finding ways to put random ingredients in the kitchen together.  Most of the time it works.  Sometimes, it doesn't.  But it gives a great deal more freedom than sticking slavishly to a recipe.

So today I compromised a little bit with the recipe.  I used it as the foundation and used alternate ingredients that were as close to the list as possible.  It tasted delicious with some rice on the side.

This marks the first month in the first of my floppy resolutions: to cook all of the recipes clipped and collected by my Mom for the past 20+ years.  I have grown to really appreciate this treasure which my Mom gave to me.  I have also grown to really appreciate the decades of dinners prepared by my Mom and Dad.  They made dinner every night, even when they were exhausted by a long and hard day at work.  I was sometimes a picky eater, and sometimes complained about the food.  And they still fed me, all the while telling me the story of how the rice farmers toiled in the rice paddies gathering all of the rice by hand.

So thanks, Mom and Dad, for all the food!

2012-01-30: Chicken Medallions with Mushrooms and Merlot Sauce

Sounds fancy, but it's really just chicken rolled up around some sauteed mushrooms with boiled wine on the side.  I didn't have Merlot, so just used regular red wine. It tasted *really* good.

2012-01-29: Chicken Pot au Feu

Today's Chicken Pot au Feu is also from The Ontario Chicken Producers' Marketing Board, "Chicken: Always in Flavour".  There are three recipes left in this flyer before I can move on.  The chicken pot au feu has a very nice, delicate flavour.  I could not find dried morel mushrooms, and substituted dried chanterelles instead. There have been a few ingredients in the past few recipes which were difficult to find; hunting for them is part of the adventure!

2012-01-28: Studio Cafe's Chicken Stir Fry

For some reason, my stir fry turned out soupier-looking than expected.
Whew! This post made it just under the wire at 11:50pm.
And my cat is still somehow ok, having survived the ingestion of some chicken bones (Someone is really watching over that cat, and he's really blessed).

2012-01-27: Fresh Herb Roasted Chicken

Today's Fresh Herb Roasted Chicken came from The Ontario Chicken Producers' Marketing Board, Chicken: Always in Flavour. It turned out really, really well, even though I couldn't find juniper berries.

While typing this out, I could hear one of my cats making a funny meowing that almost sounded like "ma ma", which was really cute, until I discovered that he had done something very naughty.  He fished some of the chicken bones out of the garbage and I am not happy with him at all!!  So here's a photo of the lovely tasting chicken with a blackcurrant sauce on the side and blackcurrants for garnish.  Now I have to figure out what to do with my cat.

2012-01-26: Apple Crostata

Apple Crostata
from the Toronto Star, 11 Jan 2006.
I used what I had in the kitchen, and not what was indicated in the recipe.
So it was 3 lbs of Spartan apples, instead of 2lb crisp apples and 1lb juicy, soft-textured apples.
I also cooked the apples on the stovetop a little longer than called for.
So there was more juice than expected.
The recipe called for the apple mixture to be cooled.
I was rushing to get it done. I poured it on the puff pastry hot.

I should have taken an approach similar to that taken with the sourdough series; use all of the right ingredients, take the proper care and give myself enough time.  Instead, I substituted ingredients and rushed. I could have done the apple mixture today, let it cool overnight, then finished it tomorrow, but I did not.  So the resulting Apple Crostata did not turn out as well as it could have.  At least it still tasted good.  (And yes, the areas around the crostata is the past-caramalized extra juice that oozed off the puff pastry).

~ Edit: 27 Jan 2012 ~

I re-did the Apple Crostata, using fewer apples, adding some cinammon and nutmeg and flour and letting it cool properly prior to adding it to the puff pastry. Then I baked it at 375 degrees celsius for about 30-40 minutes. It turned out better / not burnt.

2012-01-25: Warm Lentil Salad with Sausage

Warm Lentil Salad with Sausage 
tastes better than it looks.  I used Piller's Kolbasa Sausage and fresh thyme instead of dried.

I also found out a little bit about Kosher Salt.  After yesterday's disaster with the overly-salted Spicy Long Beans, I discovered that Kosher Salt grains are usually larger than Table Salt grains.  So 2 teaspoons of Table Salt is approximately equal to 4 teaspoons of Kosher Salt. Which means that I put twice the amount of salt called for in the recipe.  Lesson learned!

2012-01-24: Spicy Long Beans

Ack!

I haven't used that word in a while.

Ack!

Either I need to reduce the amount of salt by half in the Spicy Long Bean recipe or I need to use twice the amount of long beans.  Or I should not substitute regular table salt for kosher salt.  Actually, the long beans tasted really good before I put the sesame seed-salt mixture on top.  This could have been really good except for the amount of salt.

2012-01-23: Garam Masala-Crusted Chicken with Fig Jus

Today's recipe called for tamarind paste, which I was unable to find. I used a tamarind chutney instead, which was the closest that I could find.  I also used a cute little Kosher Chicken. Mmmm.

2012-01-22: Pork Chops Braised with Spiced Honey and Grapes

Today's recipe was courtesy of The Toronto Star from Wednesday, January 11, 2006, from the California Table Grape Commission.  I've noticed a small little something - braising the pork chops at 325 degrees Celsius turns them into juicy little morsels of loveliness. I was only able to taste a little bit of tonight's recipe, as I'm still working through the Turkey Chili with Beer and Lime paired with the Sourdough Silver Dollar Pancakes (strangely, it works well together).  It's too bad my photographs of the food don't do it justice, but I've not learned how to plate like a chef.  So it's simple home cooking with simple home-style presentation. On a side note ... I was unable to bring myself to finish the Papa Al Pomodoro and it has become a donation to the raccoons (do they eat tomatoes?).

2012-01-21: Sesame Broccoli

This is another one from Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers.  It was quite refreshing to have vegetables :)

On another note, while I'm enjoying this pursuit of a recipe-a-day, I didn't realize how restricted I would feel.  Instead of my previous cooking style of creatively putting together something according to what is in the fridge, I am now putting together meals according to what others have set out.  And I can't always find the ingredients!  Maybe I've squished my creativity out in order to learn how to cook according to recipes.

2012-01-20: Lemon Coconut Tapioca Pudding

Yum. This recipe was tested by the Toronto Star and came from Moosewood Restaurant Simple Suppers. It was super-easy, especially after the complicated sourdough recipe series.

2012-01-19: Turkey Chili with Beer and Lime

Today's recipe called for ground turkey, but I was unable to locate any at my local grocery store, so I substituted it with ground chicken.

2012-01-18 Sourdough Silver Dollar Pancakes

Yay! The sourdough batter was ready this morning for pancake-making.  I must humbly admit that I put the heat on a little higher than recommended, as the pancakes all got stuck ... and so did pieces of my plastic spatula.  When it came time to taking the pancakes off the pan, the centre tore out of a few of them.

Otherwise, the pancakes tasted really nice with a few blueberries (and no, I did not eat the melted plastic spatula bits).

2012-01-17: Sourdough Silver Dollar Pancakes

I got up earlier than I would have liked to proof the sourdough starter for the Sourdough Silver Dollar Pancakes recipe.  But I kept thinking to myself that it would be really nice to have some nice fresh pancakes for dinner.

Upon getting home and reading the rest of the recipe, I discovered that more water and flour needed to be added to the proofed starter, and that it needed to sit again overnight.  So I am mournfully pancake-less tonight.  If these pancakes were to be cooked tonight, I needed to proof the starter the evening of Jan 16th, mix the additional water and flour the morning of Jan 17th, then cook the pancakes the evening of Jan 17th.

I'm guessing that sourdough recipes, in general, need a 24 hour turnaround time to get into an edible state.  And as much as I've enjoyed the sourdough recipes, it will be a relief to move onto other, quicker recipes.

2012-01-16 Garlic-Rosemary Fingerling Potatoes

I sprouted something in my kitchen! Unfortunately, they were potatoes.  Today's recipe from Februrary 1, 2006, called for fingerling potatoes, but I figured it would be best if I used up the potatoes that were already in my kitchen.

Unfortunately, heavily sprouted potatoes taste ... different.  Also unfortunately, burnt potatoes and garlic also taste ... different.  I'm certain that this dish would taste lovely, except for the triple disaster of Sprouted Potatoes, Burnt Potatoes and Burnt Garlic. One day, this recipe will need to be tried again with proper ingredients and at a lower temperature.

2012-01-15: Ham and Cheese Toasts with Jalapeno Cream

This recipe called for some yesterday's sourdough bread, and it's pretty rich and salty. The jalapeno cream does not need any added salt, due to the saltiness of the prosciutto.

2012-01-14: Another Late Entry - Sourdough

Hmm ... I've done it again.  Another late entry, and there is no excuse.  I got enthralled by a series - Jericho - and totally forgot to blog.  However, I did put my proofed sourdough starter to use, and baked Fail-proof Sourdough bread. The recipe is also from the Toronto Star, Wednesday February 1, 2006, however I was not able to pull it up from the archive.

It was very tasty, especially with a little bit of butter.

2012-01-13: Proofing the Starter

Ok, it doesn't look very appetizing and not very different from the starter, other than that it is "soupier".  But I'm looking forward to tomorrow morning, since I can use the proofed starter to finally make sourdough bread!

2012-01-12: Oops ... forgot to post.

So I was drifting off to sleep last night when it dawned on me that I had forgotten to blog on Jan 12th.  And then I fell asleep.

January 12th was not that eventful - I simply fed the Mother Sourdough Starter in the morning and at night.

The starter is almost ready, and I found some people who expressed an interest in having some of the starter.  If it proofs ok, I can start giving some away.