32. the better lemon party (lemon bars)

Dessert time? Try these delectable lemon bars:

The recipe, linked above from the Joy of Baking website, was perfect for me but I could see how they might be too tart for some. If you have a low threshold for sour things, either increase the sugar by 1/4 cup or do what I suspect is the better (and fattier) option: double the shortbread crust.

And don't brush your teeth right after... You'll slough the enamel right off!

31. Korean Caramelized Potatoes

Maybe it's the fact that many of my friends have taught English in Korea at this point, or maybe it's that I live in an area of Vancouver that is considered "K-Town," but I've found myself warming to Korean cuisine. I enjoyed my first stone bowl Bi Bim Bap this week, I've prepared these potatoes three or four times now, and I'm even trying too pitch a Korean-themed sitcom to NBC (Parks and Recreation).

But the potatoes: creamy inside, and sticky/sweet/spicy/savory outside. These potatoes are often one of the side dishes ("banchan") that come with your meal, along with kimchi, those boring blanched sprouts and others, and are the only one that I ever really want refilled. Okay, I like kimchi now too.

I got the recipe from here, but since I didn't want to buy specific ingredients I used what I had:


Enough baby potatoes for two, halved, or 2 medium potatoes, diced chunky
3 cloves garlic, finely minced
1 1/2 tsp chili powder
3 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
2 tbsp malt syrup (or replace with 1 tbsp sugar--I used golden syrup)
1/3 cup water
sesame seeds (toasted is tastiest)


Parcook potatoes by either steaming, boiling or microwaving (my preferred method) until mostly cooked but NOT mushy.

In a small bowl, mix remaining ingredients except for sesame seeds.

Add potatoes to a heated skillet on medium-low heat (you can add a little oil to it and swirl the potatoes if you'd like) and pour over the sauce, mixing gently to coat. Cook until potatoes are soft and sauce is thick and sticky. Set aside to cool for a while. Add sesame seeds to garnish.

Serve with (from right): chicken wings, papaya salad, tofu & greens and carrot and jicama sticks!

30. O hai (oven fries)

It has been a while! A while full of Seattle and sunning and children and reading and water and Science Worlding and aquariums and eating. And eating. And eating.

Today I wanted to pop in to tell you about a thing I tried, because I don't want to forget it. I wish I'd taken photos. See, here's the thing: French fries. They're the thing. And I hate frying, but how else to get that crispy outer shell? I've heard of a few techniques, but today I tried a simple way.

I tried to fit the potatoes on a rack, but some had to go directly onto the tray. I should have anticipated that the rack potatoes would take longer to brown, and they never really got crispy, so here's what I'd do next time:


Oven Fries


3 medium potatoes (I used yellow potatoes)
2-3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tsp salt
seasonings (optional-I used a teaspoon of cajun seasoning)


Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Cut potatoes. Thinner sticks mean crispier fries that take less time to cook. Wedges mean... wedges! Soak in a bowl of cold water until the oven is heated, changing water until clear. Dry them REALLY well -- I used a kitchen towel. Toss with the rest of the ingredients and turn onto a baking sheet. Bake 12 minutes (depending on thinness of fries) and flip. Bake another 10 minutes or until done.

EAT DAT.

29. Fish Right Meow (spaghetti with sardines)

First: an apology for lack of food photos. When we sat down to dinner tonight I was (a) hungry and (2) unimpressed with the aesthetic value of tonight's dish, but once I started eating, I realized that even though this pasta is just something I threw together with pantry ingredients, I'll probably make it again. It takes 10 minutes to make and is cheap as hell. 

I eat sardines rarely as a quick lunch with a schmear of hot mustard or hot sauce on crackers. I knew it was healthful to eat and a pretty responsible choice as far as fish consumption goes, but I didn't know just how nutritious: they contain B vitamins, tons of vitamin D and more omega-3 fat than salmon. They're also super low in mercury and other contaminants because of their low place on the food chain. So stick that on your cracker and eat it.

Better yet, eat THIS!


Spaghetti with Sardines

Enough spaghetti for 2
1 can of sardines packed in olive oil (I removed the center spiney bone from mine)
1 large garlic clove, finely chopped
1 dry chili pepper, crushed (sub with red chili flakes)
1 tsp capers
1 tbsp pine nuts
1/2 cup crushed tomatoes (Or diced, if you like tomato chunks)
lemon wedges

Boil spaghetti in salted water until al dente. To a pan on medium heat, add the olive oil from the can of sardines. Once heated, throw in garlic, pepper, pine nuts and capers. Stir until garlic and nuts are light brown. Stir in tomatoes and cook for a minute. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Add hot spaghetti and toss. Serve with lemon wedges (next time I might add some lemon zest to the sauce).

28. Corn This Way (corn cakes)

Let's celebrate my 28th post with corn cakes! As much as I like pancakes with maple syrup and jam and cheesecake and sweetened condensed milk and chocolate and Mars bars, I usually prefer a savory breakfast. Now that I think about it, this explains my quickly taking to eating noodle soup, curries and brothy rice porridge for breakfast in Thailand. Lately, I've added a savory pancake to my repertoire.

I started with a basic pancake recipe and added corn kernels, cheese, bacon and green onions. You could experiment with these, using cornmeal for some of the flour, different cheeses and herbs, or even cutting out the bacon, cheese and onion and adding a little sugar for a simple, sweet pancake. 

1 fresh ear of corn

1/2 cup flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

pinch of cayenne

1 egg

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup cheddar cheese, grated

2 strips cooked bacon, chopped

1 green onion, sliced

1. Cut kernels off ear of corn (or use about 3/4 cup frozen kernels).

2. Mix the things together, and fold in the other things.

3. Make them like pancakes.

TIP: I cooked these at medium heat until they were brown and crispy on either side but probably still gooey in the middle, then held them in a 350 degree oven while I did the dishes. By the time I was done and had fried two eggs, they were perfect. 

Makes six pancakes if you fit 'em three at a time in the pan. 

We had them with salsa and sour cream, but I don't think butter and maple syrup would be too weird on them. They weren't bad with crushed sour cream and cheddar potato chips, either:

27. DOUBLE FEATURE!

Here's a bonus post cause it's Sunday. And on Sunday, He said, Apply Thine Leb Food to Thine Face. Check out the spread I made the other day:

Baked Kibbe, Hummus, Tabbouleh, pita (ok, I bought this)

You all know how to make hummus so I'll not go into detail. I will say that if you can't find good pita bread, this recipe that Geoff sent me makes the meal infinitely better.

I used a lemon and a lime in the tabbouleh and it was delicious! We both had seconds. Mami tip: no fresh mint? Open a mint teabag and keep it with the bulghur wheat on the bottom of the bowl while you chop and add everything else.

I feel pretty comfortable making hummus and tabbouleh, but kibbeh isn't something I've had a lot of experience with (in fact, this is only the second time I've made it myself). The first time I followed a recipe (that I can no longer locate) and it was perfect! This time I winged it and added a couple of unusual ingredients to the filling. I thought larger chunks of onion might add tasty hits of sweetness, which it did, but it came out almost too ugly to justify. Here's how I made a little dish of it (the same 2-quart baking dish that I used for the strawberry-rhubarb crisp). I'm thinking of trying it again, substituting ground turkey for the beef.

For filling:
1/2 cup pine nuts
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 lb ground beef
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 tsp each salt, pepper, cinnamon, cumin
1 tsp pomegranate molasses

For bulghur part:
1 lb ground beef
1 small onion, chopped to preferred consistency
fine bulghur wheat (same grind as tabbouleh)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp each pepper and dried mint

1 1/2 tsp butter


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease baking dish.
2. Brown pine nuts in a dry or olive oil-ed pan and remove. Heat olive oil and add onion and beef. Fry until brown. Add seasonings and taste to see if anything is needed.
3. Mix all other ingredients into a bowl until smooth, then add the wheat until it looks right. I don't remember how much I added -- maybe 3/4 cup?
4. Divide mixture in two, pressing one half smoothly into the greased baking dish, covering with the filling and then covering that with a thin layer of the rest of the bulghur mixture. Score the top in some kina triangley pattern, then dot with butter.
5. Bake for 25-30 minutes.

26. Schpring has schprung (rhubarb-strawberry crisp)

Sorry I lied about bringing dessert breakfast "tomorrow," but I think this will make up for it. It's a good combination, the strawberry and rhubarb, but often a little sweet for a lover of acidity like myself. So when I found rhubarb at the market, I looked up recipes for a crisp and fiddled with the strawberry:rhubarb ratio.

This was pretty good. 

Unfortunately, even in recipes that had more strawberries (which provide a sweet counterpart to the puckery rhubarb), I thought the sugar content was way too high and there wasn't enough oat topping. Here's my recipe:

Filling:

3 cups diced rhubarb

1 cup chopped strawberries

1 tbsp flour

1/3 cup white sugar

Topping:

1 cup oats

1/4 cup flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

pinch allspice

1/2 cup melted butter or oil (I did half and half)

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Chop fruit and add to a 2 quart baking dish. Mix in the sugar and flour.

2. In a bowl, mix together dry topping ingredients. Mix in fat fatty fat until the mixture is wet and evenly top fruit mixture with it. 

3. Bake 40-50 minutes, until fruit is bubbly and topping is golden brown. Smell the air. 

Serving suggestion: still warm, with a scoop of thick plain yogurt.

25. Who's--Havin' Sex--With the Chicken? (coq au vin)

You ever have people over for dinner and they bring a bottle of wine that tastes kinda like vinegar to you cause you have a narrow wine palate so you put it aside for cooking then forget about it then when you finally think of it again, it actually is vinegar but luckily vinegary red wine lends itself nicely to chicken braised with bacon, onions, carrots, mushrooms and herbs? That happened to me. This is the story.

The quintessential coq au vin recipe is Julia Child's. And while I'm sure the hours of prep are worth it, I also don't want to find myself eating dinner post-cannon. So I did my own thing:


1/4 lb sliced bacon
2 lbs chicken thighs and breasts, bone-in, skin-on
2 tbsp flour seasoned with a pinch of salt
1/2 lb button mushrooms, quartered
2 onions, quartered (mine were small)
3 garlic cloves, peeled and coarsely chopped
2 carrots, cut into chunks
1 teaspoon flour
1 teaspoon salty meat-paste (I used Better than Bouillon)
1 teaspoon tomato paste
red wine (I used most of a bottle of Malbec)
1 tsp dried thyme
parsley sprigs
3 tsp butter, divided
Salt, pepper, olive oil

1. Fry the bacon until crispy and all fat is rendered. Thick bacon would be best here. Remove to a plate.
2. Dredge each chicken piece in seasoned flour and place in the hot bacon fat, turning until brown. Remove to a plate when browned (but not cooked through).
3. Meanwhile, heat a large pot on medium-high with a teaspoon of butter and splash of oil. Add mushrooms and onions to the pot, careful not to crowd (or else they'll steam!) and brown. Add garlic and carrots and try to get some colour on them. Season with salt, thyme and parsley. Stir in flour, bouillon, tomato paste and bacon, and nestle in the chicken. Wine time! Pour it in and stir, then cover and simmer 25 minutes or more.
4. Stir in remaining 2 tsp of butter and salt more if needed. Serve with potatoes, bread or egg noodles. Or whatever. We had boiled baby potatoes and toasted french bread.

And here's the dinosaur portion:

It tastes even better the next day. Tomorrow I'll be back with dessert. Wait, I almost forgot!

24. The Mighty Garbanzo Bean (chickpea salad)

I'm here for a post equally as short as the time it takes to make this dish. It's a chickpea salad recipe I got from the celebrated blog Orangette, and one that I've enjoyed as a snack with pita chips and as a lunch side.

I also ate it with tomato-cheese toast, carrot sticks and black coffee for

breakfast one day.

The ingredients are so simple you probably have them on hand right now:

1 can of chickpeas (15 ounce; drained)

1/2 lemon, zested and juiced

2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil

a good grating of hard cheese

I booted the salt from the recipe as my can was salty enough, and upped the lemon quantity and added the zest. I used parmigiano-reggiano as suggested but I think it would be equally delicious with an asiago or hard goat cheese. 

Eat this up. It's good for you.

23. My Favourite Insulin Spike (chocolate cake)

I'm aware I've used the expression "cake day" incorrectly here.

What's your favourite insulin spike? I love a good pie or crumble or gelato (and believe me, I loved me a good gelato this weekend. . . pistachio, to be exact), but I just can't get past chocolate cake. Although I take issue with the precision and general fussiness of baking, a moist, luscious chocolate cake is worth it in the end, and pretty fun to decorate, too.

On Saturday, I thirded a well-reviewed recipe on AllRecipes.com, substituting strong brewed coffee for boiling water, and baked it in my (well greased!) 2.5 qt. glass mixing bowl (seen here). The depth of the bowl caused the baking time to nearly double, but the cake ended up the perfect size and shape. And because chocolate cake without strawberry filling is no chocolate cake worth eating (okay, that's a lie), I boiled a half-pound of sliced strawberries with a few spoons of sugar and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar (I would double this next time) until thickened and cooled it slightly before adding a little bit of my own version of a French Meringue Buttercream:

3 egg whites (I had a carton of pasteurized egg whites for meringue experimentation.)

pinch salt

2/3 cup white sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup butter, softened and cubed

Whisk whites with salt until very foamy. Add sugar gradually until the whites are at the stiff peaks stage. Add vanilla. Add butter gradually until incorporated. It will look a little barfy for a minute, but keep whipping and it will come together. 

The cake was crazy moist and chocolatey, the filling added just enough interest to break up the choconotony, and the icing was perfectly light. Next time: I might add even more coffee and balsamic, and I'd be just as happy with a classic 7-minute or whipped cream-based frosting.

I highly recommend celebrating nothing with chocolate cake on a rainy day. 

22. Bamboleo. . . (jambalaya: cabbage edition)

Let's be real here for a second: we're all getting fat. I mean, I'm not getting fat. I look great. But I mean, generally, you know, as a culture, and as we age, our arteries are getting fatter if not our waistlines. Okay I'm getting bored of this but what I'm trying to say is that we should all eat more cabbage. One, because it's full of vitamins and fiber. Two, because it's sweet and crunchy when it's raw, and sweet and soft when it's cooked. Three, because it can taste great in a lot of unexpected places. I mean, not THAT unexpected. Still in food.

A friend gave me the idea to use shredded cabbage instead of noodles for added nutrition in salad rolls, which tastes great although it facilitates rice wrapper breakage. I would recommend adding cabbage in its many forms--savoy, bok choy, napa--to stir-fries and fried noodle dishes like pad Thai, and to soups. But my favourite such addition is to jambalaya.

We know from eating cabbage rolls that rice, meat and tomatoes lend itself well to the vegetable, so when I came across this recipe I knew it'd be da shit. I did change the recipe based on my taste and what I had, but I think I improved it. Here's my version:


1 small chicken, cut into recognizable chicken parts (reserve back and neck and all that nastiness for stock)
2 hot italian sausages, chopped
2 onions, chopped
1 red pepper, diced
3 cloves coarsely chopped garlic
1 coffee mug raw brown rice
1 medium head cabbage, shredded
1 can (14 oz) tomatoes (I used diced fire-roasted, which really just means it has brown bits)
olive oil
water
lots of salt and cayenne

In a big pot, brown seasoned chicken parts in olive oil and remove to a plate. Add sausage to the pot, get it a little brown and add onions, pepper and garlic. Reach for the cajun spice but instead grab and pour in wayyyyyy too much cayenne. Stir in rice. When that stuff is brown and soft and whatever then add the cabbage. It will seem like a ton of cabbage but just do it. It will release cabbage juice and cook down; stir in canned tomatoes, then water according to your rice directions (I used long-grain brown rice so I needed a cup and a half of water), then lay the chicken on top and simmah until your rice is done. Mine took about 25 minutes.

Best part? You don't have to make side veg! You just ate all that cabbage! Live long and prosper, homeboy.

21. A Selection of Eats

Given that it's been like a cricket riding a tumbleweed (see: Between Two Ferns) around here the last couple of weeks, I thought it might be fair to post lengthily on a number of eats we've enjoyed but I haven't written about. In reality, 70% of my meal planning consists of me standing in the middle of the kitchen wondering what to do with half a can of beans and a few bendy carrots. The following dinners were inspired when I had an avocado going brown, corn tortillas going stale, tofu going rancid. . . just kidding. Is it?

First up is a meal I love: rounds of soft egg tofu coated in potato starch and fried until golden, topped with a sweet-and-sour pineapple sauce.

I made up a totally super authentic sweet-and-sour sauce made of the following:

1 can pineapple chunks or tidbits
1/4 cup each ketchup and white vinegar
1 tbsp potato starch (or cornstarch. . . or maybe even flour)
2 tsp soy sauce

and added it to a saucepan with 1/2 a sauteed, sliced onion, stirring until it looked good. I served it with brown rice and steamed broccoli.

Next we have a meal that I like to ghetto down or dress up depending on what I have: tacos! My favourite homemade filling is spicy black beans with corn and cumin, with mango salsa and avocado slices. I like to place each corn tortilla in a hot pan with a little oil, add the filling, fold and fry until crispy. It's a little messier and less healthy, but she worth it. Here was my chicken version a few weeks ago:

I was putting together the chicken filling while cooking up a pot of rice and beans for lunch the next day when I decided I wouldn't mind some of that rice and bean business inside the taco. I combined the pan's contents with the pot's and diced up a quick mango salsa (yeah, I love the mango), mixed chopped avocado with corn, lime juice and cilantro and grated a handful of sharp cheese. Tasty, and big bonus: we had enough for lunch. The red stuff in the glass was my first attempt at sorrel, which was drinkable but not grandma's. 

Finally, I can't go too long without a sweet, sticky chicken-on-the-bone dish and wings happened to be on sale:

All my chicken looks the same.

Sadly, I don't really remember what's in the sauce but I do remember how I made it. First, I chopped off and discarded the wing tips and separated the wings. I seasoned next, then placed them in a single layer to broil. While they were browning, I mixed up the sauce in a skillet on low. When the wings had little brown bits all over I pulled them out and added them to the sauce, stirring on medium until the sauce was thick and stuck to the wings. I made it this way because I favour a sticky chicken wing; if a crispy or slightly charred wing is your preference, I recommend marinating the chicken then cooking it in the oven as the sugar in the marinade will caramelize in high heat.

I know the sauce had honey in it, and garlic, and maybe mustard and possibly Worchestershire sauce.

Why won't you stop being sideways!

Boiled baby potatoes and steamed green beans with lemon on the side.

Eat these things. And other things. Then tell me about it. Peace.

20. What Do You Call a Pig's Best Karate Move? (pork chops)

My memories of eating pork growing up are restricted to thinly-sliced boneless chops cooked at least 10 minutes per side in garlic butter, rendered grey and black and brown and nearly indigestible. Eyes bleary with pan-smoke we chewed and chewed until our respective salivas rehydrated the once-vibrant pig*. Normally a more than capable cook when charged to create a meal with ground, sliced or diced meat, Ma sometimes erred on the side of leather when confronted with a slab. For years I assumed this meant I disliked pork in all non-cured incarnations, but as it turns out, a little brine and a little breading does much to supplement Ma's not-always-edible but always appreciated secret ingredient: love. 

With this recipe as a guide (have you noticed I like her?) I managed to whip up a moist-on-the-inside, crispy-on-the-outside set of chops with smashed** potatoes, onion-apple relish and salad in a half hour flat.  

Here's my quick method for the whole meal:

- Place pork chops in salted water. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Set a medium pot of water to boil. 

- Procure 1/2 cup of breadcrumbs (I pulsed a dinner roll in a food processor to panko consistency) and add salt, pepper and thyme to taste. Spread on a baking sheet and shove in the oven while it heats. 

- Slice one apple and 1/4 of an onion. 

- When breadcrumb mixture is toasted, remove pork from brine and dip into flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs. Place on baking sheet in oven for 18-20 minutes. Add baby potatoes (or 1-2 inch potato chunks) and two garlic cloves to now-boiling water. 

- Melt salted butter in a pan and add onion and apple. Get some colour on them if you can, then add 1/2 teaspoon of honey. Deglaze with water and simmer until it cooks down. 

- Whisk 1/2 lemon's worth of juice into a tablespoon of olive oil and whatever else you want in your salad. Flip pork chops. 

- Check potatoes for doneness. Drain then add butter and salt to taste, placing back on hot burner. Gently smash potatoes with back of spoon and roll around in the melted butter. 

- Remove pork, mix greens with vinaigrette, and plate with apples and potatoes. 

30 minute meal. Suck it, Rachael Ray***.

* Oink

** 

*** I don't actually have a problem with Rachael Ray except that her show is intolerable. 

19. Spring's No Time to Stand Over a Hot Stove (Granville Day!)

Last weekend we took advantage of the sun and hopped a bus to Granville Island. I hadn't been in years, and was looking forward to seeing peculiar art, live music and fresh farmer's market goods. I have to say it delivered, as these artsy communities always do.The only criticism I have is that it was way too packed to take pictures -- luckily, I snapped one of my purchases once I got home.

Peas are already out! And you won't be surprised to learn that I demolished them in my face about 20 seconds after this photo was taken. I picked up some tamarind concentrate from the ethnic store, which I use for pad Thai but I actually like it most in peanut sauce and meat marinades. From the same place I got amchur, or green mango powder, an Indian ingredient I've been curious about for some time. A pinch of it is supposed to kick up curries, roasted vegetables and meat but we'll see if I'm not adding it to smoothies by the end of the week. 

Rounding out the list is a par-baked baguette from one of my favourite bakeries, some local garlic and a duck-and-apricot pate, which certainly sounded right up my alley. 

Dinner that night, as you might expect, was a selection of a few of these items.

I preheated the oven to crisp the baguette and prepared some fruit, cheese and yam fries with garlic-lime mayo (I thought we might need something extra!). I also made a little dish of leftover bacon and chopped boiled egg so that we could make mini breakfast sandwiches. This convinced me that I'm not totally grown up.

I've spent the last few minutes staring at the cursor, trying to come up with a less food-douchey way to describe the pate than "unctuous," but it just fits. Please take down my blog immediately. Oh, and big announcement, guys -- I like cantaloupe. I really like it when it's wrapped in prosciutto, but I'll take it on its own, too. Gee, all of this cured meat talk has reminded me of a certain sketch on a certain sketch tv show. . .

18. Go Forth and Roll (summer rolls)

There's been much talk of favourites around here. I've shown you my favourite Lebanese dish, my preferred fish and the winner of my search for the perfect pound cake (which turned out not to be a pound cake at all). But what's my favourite, hands-down, desert island, last meal before I get strapped to the chair, #1 thing to eat? Summer rolls!

Known also as a Vietnamese salad roll or fresh spring roll ("roll" doesn't even look like a word to me anymore), they're typically stuffed with pork, prawns, lettuce, noodles and herbs and served with a fish sauce-based dipping sauce. I'm not a huge prawn fan and I find the usual fillings and sauce a little bland, so while they're tasty with just about anything you have on hand, here are some of my must-haves:

• Protein. I usually use pork (either roasted then sliced, or sliced and quickly pan-fried with hoisin), but I've had good results with marinated tofu strips, chicken and sauteed prawns.
• Basil and mint. Sometimes I only have one and I always miss the other. If you can only get one, pick basil.
• Crunchy (and preferably sweet) vegetables. This time I used carrot, daikon, green onion, romaine and red pepper, but I also like bean sprouts, cabbage, enoki mushrooms, cucumbers, sliced green beans and snap peas. 
• Vermicelli. Plain rice vermicelli does the trick, but for a little more nutrition and fewer calories check out bean thread or konjac noodles. These cushion the wrapper from the pointier ingredients.
• Of course, rice paper (banh trang). Check the sodium content of the package; I once bought a 900-times-the-daily-intake-of-sodium pack by mistake. They shouldn't taste salty. 
• MANGO! It's just not the same without it. 

Here's our setup. Shredded vegetables, meat, sauce, noodles and a rimmed plate for warm water to soften the wrappers as we go. The sauce on the far right really ties the whole thing together. In a saucepan (or usually just the same pan I cooked the pork in. . . mmm, porky), mix equal parts hoisin sauce and chunky peanut butter on low-medium until smooth. Add sriracha and sesame oil if desired. You'll probably need to thin it with a lot of water.

You can pack a lot of fresh vegetables into these little rolls.

After you dip the wrapper in warm water for 10-15 seconds, lay on the toppings. . . 

 And roll it up like a burrito. For extra points, wrap it so that the prettier ingredients (read: not pork) are visible on the outside.

Dip into hoisin-peanut sauce. Chomp. Lay another wrapper in the plate to soften. Built-in digestion time!

We end up having these every few weeks, which is absurd since they're fresh, delicious, can be made with just about anything and require so little prep since they're assembled at the table. When I'm hungry, it usually takes 8-10 rolls to fill me up. Bonus? When you're starving they don't even have to resemble rolls. Make up a tostada-looking affair and stick it in your face.

Dinner. Done.

17. A Petit Dejeuner (mini shortcut pain au chocolat)

I've always loved pain au chocolat: flaky croissant dough wrapped around bittersweet sticks of chocolate. It pairs brilliantly with espresso on a leisurely morning and since I'm a huge fan of leisurely mornings, I could probably list all the best places to purchase this treat. I like to make things myself, though, and I find the laminating process for the dough too time-intensive and intimidating to attempt, so I found myself a shortcut.

Using the recipe as a guide, I cut premade puff pastry into squares and topped each with a scant teaspoon of raspberry jam and a few dark chocolate chunks. . .

before rolling them up and brushing with an egg (beaten with vanilla), then sprinkling with cinnamon sugar. . . 

It goes into a 400 degree oven for 15-18 minutes (depending on size) and schwing!

Flaky, buttery little snacks almost as good as my beloved pain but not nearly as much work. As delightfully melty as they were warm, I liked them even better the next day when the chocolate re-solidified.

Is there anything puff pastry can't do?

16. Trout en Oui Papa

I've been seafood-crazy lately, and I like it every which way: raw, seared, grilled and everything in between. Though I'd never say no to a spicy tuna roll or a bagel with lox, my absolute favourite is steelhead trout. It's similar to a mild sockeye with a softer (and somehow more moist) texture. As I mentioned before, I prefer oily fish because you don't have to try so hard to coax flavour out of it. A quick steam and a squeeze of lemon, maybe parsley and a pat of butter and you have my ideal meal.

The other day I prepared just that: a fresh fillet of steelhead seasoned with nothing more than a touch of salt, lemon and a tiny pat of butter, wrapped up in parchment paper in a preparation known as en papillote. The parcel of fish came out perfectly steamed and I confirmed that I'm set in my ways when it comes to my favourite fish. 

To cook en papillote: pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Cut squares of parchment paper or foil. Lay on the fish, followed by whatever seasonings you like (lemon, pepper, lemon pepper) and a dab of butter. Fold parcel tightly and place in oven for about 10 minutes. My fillet was finished at the 15 minute mark, but it was a fat fillet and now I'm fat. 

I also loved one of the sides: couscous. I'm not always the biggest fan of the stuff since it's so bland and I always cook too much of it, but this time I added a hit of bouillon, diced zucchini and red pepper and a handful of corn niblets. 

The next day I topped the leftovers with grilled chicken and had one of the most enjoyable lunches in recent memory. 

Have a safe and happy weekend, and don't ever forget to Papa-Yo:

15. Feast of Burden: Seared Scallops, Twice-Baked Yams, Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken

Ham. We've all had it, except for vegetarians, Muslims and Jews. I bet even some of them have tasted a slice here and there. But when does ham become so much more than a fatty cut of meat that, when sliced thinly, has a buttery texture and will melt in the mouth? Some might argue that prosciutto, encircling a chunk of cantaloupe or fresh fig, represents the zenith of food pairings, and I'm inclined to agree. Still enjoyable, though, is Prosciutto-Wrapped Chicken: boneless breasts wrapped with another animal and stuffed with the coagulated secretions of yet another. How's that for food writing!

But first: let's talk scallops. I bought Nova Scotia sea scallops, which deserve only the simplest preparation. 

For the fruit salsa: dice half a mango (I only buy the Ataulfo/Champagne variety now), 1/2 cup of pineapple, 1/4 cup of red onion and a sprinkling of whatever chili you like. I used half a green serrano. Mix in lime juice, salt and chili powder to taste and let sit for a while so the flavours meld. 

Scallops: get a pan smoking hot (this was my downfall; I was impatient). Butter, a little oil. Add scallops, sprinkle with salt and cook for 1 1/2 minutes on each side. A sufficiently hot pan should result in a brown crust on either side of the scallop with a hint of translucence in the middle. 

I blended the other half of the mango with pineapple, coconut water and ice to make the above drink. A tasty alcoholic variation might be to add a shot or two of Malibu or Soho lychee liqueur. For the main:

Chicken: stuffed with Jarlsberg, wrapped in Canadian prosciutto and fried in a pan, 3 minutes each side. It is then transferred to a 375 degree oven for 15 minutes. As long as the oven's on, roast zucchini coins and red pepper strips (olive oil, salt, pepper, 25 minutes) and twice-bake your cooked yam. (Split, scoop, mash with butter, cinnamon and brown sugar, re-fill and bake for 20 minutes.) The yams are pure dessert. 

By the way, I ate less than half of my chicken breast. These things must be on major 'roids nowadays; I recommending splitting the breasts in half for more manageable portions. Jarlsberg pairs beautifully with the chicken and the ham keeps it nice and moist, if a little salty. This dinner made me feel sort of posh. 

But it doesn't mean I didn't play with my food. 

14. Just Add Bacon: Tarted-Up Chicken Soup

From my last post you probably gleaned that I (a) loathe celery, and (2) have bacon.

The other day, I roasted a whole chicken (standard, really, and not worth writing about) and made stock (and plenty of sandwiches) with the leftovers. I think of soup as an excuse to eat buttery grilled cheese sandwiches and try to make it often, but this week my challenge was to come up with a cohesive meal from ingredients I had on hand, lest I brave the outdoors and shopping carts and credit cards and people and all sorts of awful stuff. A terrible frozen green bean-canned red bean-broken spaghetti chicken soup floated around in my head until I remembered two complementary ingredients in my fridge: bacon and cabbage.

It's not the first time somebody decided to put the two together, the briny chew of bacon countering the sweet, yielding green cabbage. As these things go, I thought of an even better way to make the soup after I already ladled it out, but as a first attempt it was pretty damn good. Improved recipe below if you'd like to try.

My bastardized version of a mirepoix: onion, carrot and green onion. 

FIRST: Make chicken stock or buy it (unsalted!). I made about 1/3-1/2 of a large pot. I know this isn't helpful, but it's the only way I know how. Heat it to a simmer. If you want the soup to be more substantial, you can add something grainy. I used a fistful of brown rice.

THEN: Slice one onion, two carrots and whatever unshriveled green onion stalks are in the crisper. Garlic's good too. In another pot or pan, heat (butter and) olive oil on medium heat and add veggies. Cook with salt till it smells great and is lightly browned. Add it to the now-heating stock. 

AFTER THAT: Cut 3-4 strips of bacon into a small dice and add it to the empty pot you cooked the onions in. When the bacon's done to your liking (and who doesn't like crispy?), remove to a paper towel-lined receptacle. Discard most of the grease, but definitely leave a little. Add a half-head of shredded green cabbage to the same pot. I recommend cutting it into roughly 1cm X 3cm strips, or else it tends to want to get away from your spoon as you're eating it. Toss that for a while with some salt and whatever seasonings you like (I used cayenne) and add it to the stock. 

FINALLY:  Add about 1.5 cups of shredded chicken and stir to warm. Check for seasoning and make sure everything is done to your liking. Make some grilled cheese, ladle soup into a bowl, sprinkle with reserved bacon, and remember to bring utensils to the table or you will be sorely disappointed. This makes enough for six regular bowls or four big bowls or two absurdly large bowls or one gigantic bowl. 

Bring spoon to mouth. Chew. Swallow. Digest. Don't dip your grilled cheese in ketchup. Are you a child? Okay, I dipped mine in ketchup. 

13. Hold the Pasghetti: Turkey Meatball Sub

To compose a sandwich is a simple proposition; one needs only bread and a filling. With better ingredients--bread, condiments, meat, cheese, vegetables--comes a higher chance of sandwich satisfaction, though one of my humble favourites is salami on a buttered, soft white bun. In my experience, personal preferences come into play more so in the construction of a sandwich than in any other culinary endeavor, so tonight I will share mine:

• The bread should be crisp outside and soft inside, and spread with a light coating of butter or, failing that, a slight swipe of mayo. See above exception.
• It should be pressed or grilled, or the bread should be toasted.
• The condiments should be present, but not ooze out when you squish the sandwich.
• It should have a good filling-to-bread ratio, but shouldn't be so stuffed that you have to unhinge your jaw to take a bite.
• NO CELERY IN MY GODDAMN CHICKEN OR EGG SALAD. The distinct crunch of celery feels like someone sneaked an ice cube down my back. 
• I'M SERIOUS.
• Okay whatever, only assholes are that picky.

Moving on, in honour of the cutest cartoon character ever!:

I made chicken meatballs with a recipe from Gourmet. Of course, I never have pancetta on hand so I used a healthy amount of diced bacon and instead of Italian bread I used a French baguette. Oh yeah, and it's turkey. Verdict?

I know you can't really see the meatball itself under all that rich tomato sauce, sauteed onion and pepper jack cheese, but I assure you it's moist and tomatoey with sweet hints of garlic and salty bits of bacon. The best part is they only take about 35 minutes from start to finish, and that includes the time it takes to almost-caramelize half the onions and puree a few tomatoes into a quick sauce for the sandwich. I'd also like to recommend the meatballs for non-sandwich use, but I'll never know, as the bread blanket has proven to be minced turkey's ideal vehicle. 

Happy sandwiching!