Aloo Gosht (Lamb with Potatoes)

I had initially been thinking of doing a fenugreek and lamb curry. But that one calls for almost a full kilo of lamb. Which would've been fine. But I only had one kilo and I wanted to be able to get a couple recipes out of it, so I picked two others that each called for smaller quantities of lamb. I really liked the palak gosht that I made with the first bit of lamb, but I think I like this one even more!

Aloo Gosht

Slightly adapted from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. garlic paste
• 2 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 2 tsp. coriander seeds, ground
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 tsp. black cumin seeds, ground
• 1 tsp. fennel seeds, ground
• 1 tsp. ground kashmiri chilies
• 450g stewing lamb
• 225g russet (or other floury) potatoes, cubed
• 1/4 c. canola (or other neutral) oil, divided
• 1/4 c. fried onion paste
• 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 c. water
• 2 Tbsp. chopped fresh cilantro

Directions

1. Combine garlic paste, cumin, coriander, salt, black cumin, fennel, and kashmiri chilies.
2. Add lamb and stir to coat. Cover and chill for 1-24 hours.
3. Heat 2 Tbsp. of the oil over medium-high heat.
4. Add the potatoes, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, for ~10 minutes.
5. Remove potatoes from pan and set aside.
6. Add remaining 2 Tbsp. of oil to the pan.
7. Add the lamb along with its marinade and cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, for ~5 minutes.
8. Add the fried onion paste and the tomato paste and mix in, scraping the bottom of the pan.
9. Stir in the water and bring to a boil.
10. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until the lamb is tender (~25 minutes).
11. Add potatoes and cook, covered, for another 5-10 minutes.
12. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with rice and/or flatbreads.

I'll often just use a handful of fried onions in place of fried onion paste when it's called for in recipes. But I decided that I wanted to try actually making it this time. It's pretty simple. It just takes a while to cook. And uses up a buttload of onions!

Fried Onion Paste

From 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer

Ingredients

• 1/4 c. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 900g red onions, halved and sliced
• 1 c. water

Directions

1. Heat wok over medium heat.
2. Add the oil and swirl it around.
3. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until caramelized (~30 minutes).
4. Pour water into a blender.
5. Add the onions and purée.
6. Paste can be stored in the fridge for about a week or frozen for up to a few months.

Mashed Potato Cakes

TF made some absolutely delicious duck the other day. Which included frying potatoes in the duck fat (and a bit of schmaltz since we were short on duck fat). The duck, potatoes, and orange sauce that went with them were all absolutely delicious! However, she accidentally over-cooked the first batch of potatoes. They were relatively floury potatoes and lost too much structural integrity to be able to fry after boiling. At least, they weren't viable for frying in big chunks the way they recipe was calling for. I told TF to toss them in the fridge and I'd use them for mashed potatoes another day. And I really was intending to do that! I swear! But then I saw these potato cakes... And we had some scallions that desperately needed to be used... And I figured I give 'em a go.

Mashed Potato Cakes with Cheddar and Scallions

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country April/May 2016

Ingredients

• 450g russet (or other floury) potatoes, boiled until very tender
• 1/2 c. grated Cheddar cheese
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 2-3 Tbsp. scallions, chopped fine
• 1 egg, beaten, divided
• 1/2 c. panko breadcrumbs
• sour cream, to serve

Directions

1. Thoroughly mash the potatoes.
2. Use a fork to mix in the cheese, salt, pepper, scallions, and ~1 Tbsp. of the egg.
3. Place the remaining egg in a shallow dish.
4. Place the panko in a separate shallow dish.
5. Scoop up ~1/2 c. of the potato mixture and shape it into a ball.
6. Press the ball into a flat puck, then dip it in the beaten egg.
7. Carefully transfer the egg-coated puck to the panko dish and flip it over to coat both flat sides with panko.
8. Transfer to a plate and allow to rest while you repeat the process with the remaining potato mixture.
9. Pour ~1/2 c. of oil into a wok and heat over medium heat.
10. Once oil is hot, add one or two potato cakes to the wok.
11. Fry ~2 minutes per side, pressing down gently while discs cook, then transfer to a plate.
12. Repeat frying process with remaining discs. Add more oil to wok if necessary.
13. Serve with sour cream.

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Variations

Mashed Potato Cakes with Blue Cheese and Bacon

Ingredients

• 450g russet (or other floury) potatoes, boiled until very tender
• 6 Tbsp. crumbled blue cheese cheese
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 2-3 Tbsp. fresh chives, chopped fine
• 6 slices bacon, cooked and chopped/crumbled
• 1 egg, beaten, divided
• 1/2 c. panko breadcrumbs
• sour cream, to serve

Mashed Potato Cakes with Parmesan and Chives

Ingredients

• 450g russet (or other floury) potatoes, boiled until very tender
• 1/4 c. grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 2-3 Tbsp. fresh chives, chopped fine
• 1 egg, beaten, divided
• 1/2 c. panko breadcrumbs
• sour cream, to serve

Fruit Smoothies

We'd previously done write-ups for some of the smoothie flavours listed below, but it was a little helter-skelter and disorganized. I wanted to collect them all in one post.

I think, at this point, we've tried all but the kale-pineapple smoothie. I have to admit that I'm pretty wary of kale in a smoothie, but I'd be willing to at least try it at some point. I just haven't done so yet. (Honestly, I can think of many better uses for kale, but at this point, the completionist in me just kind of wants to be able to check off all the flavours in the magazine.)

Strawberry-Peach Smoothies

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country April/May 2016

Ingredients

• 1 ripe banana
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 c. frozen strawberries
• 1 c. frozen peaches
• 1 c. plain yogurt
• 1/4 c. orange juice or milk

Directions

1. Place banana, honey, and salt in blender and blend until combined.
2. Add strawberries, peaches, yogurt, and juice/milk and purée.
3. Pour into glasses and serve.

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Variations

Cherry-Almond Smoothies

Ingredients

• 1 ripe banana
• 1/4 c. almond butter
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 c. frozen cherries
• 1 c. plain yogurt
• 1/4 c. milk or almond milk

Mixed Berry Smoothies

Ingredients

• 1 ripe banana
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 c. frozen mixed berries
• 1 c. plain yogurt
• 1/4 c. orange juice or milk

Tropical Fruit Smoothies

Ingredients

• 1 ripe banana
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 c. frozen pineapple chunks
• 1 c. frozen mango chunks
• 1 c. coconut yogurt
• 1/4 c. pineapple juice or coconut water

Kale-Pineapple Smoothies

Ingredients

• 1 ripe banana
• 2 Tbsp. honey
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1 c. frozen pineapple chunks
• 1 c. frozen kale
• 1 c. plain yogurt
• 1/4 c. orange juice or pineapple juice

Mashed Sweet Potatoes in Five Variations

This very straightforward recipe from Cook's Country comes with five different variations, of which we made one (mashed sweet potatoes with maple and orange) for dinner with the family, to favourable reception.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

Cook's Country, Oct/Nov 2018, p. 26, by Ashley Moore

Ingredients

• 900g sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 5mm thick discs
• 90mL (6 tbsp) water
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper

Directions

1. Combine all ingredients in a pot.
2. Cover and cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until potatoes crumble easily when prodded, 25-30 minutes.
3. Mash thoroughly and season with additional salt and pepper to taste.

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Variations

With Maple and Orange

Ingredients

• 900g sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 5mm thick discs
• 90mL (6 tbsp) water
• 4 tbsp butter
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tsp fresh thyme, minced
• ½-1 tsp orange zest

Stir in maple syrup, thyme, and orange zest after mashing.

With Chipotle and Lime

Ingredients

• 900g sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 5mm thick discs
• 90mL (6 tbsp) water
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 2 tsp chipotles in adobo, minced
• 2 tbsp fresh chives, minced
• 1 tsp lime zest

Add chipotles at the start; stir in chives and lime zest after mashing.

With Curry and Golden Raisins

Ingredients

• 900g sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 5mm thick discs
• 90mL (6 tbsp) water
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 2 tsp curry powder
• ½ C golden raisins
• 2 tbsp fresh cilantro, minced

Add curry powder at the start; stir in raisins and cilantro after mashing.

With Jalapeño, Garlic, and Scallions

Ingredients

• 900g sweet potatoes, peeled and sliced into 5mm thick discs
• 90mL (6 tbsp) water
• 4 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp pepper
• 1 jalapeño chili, minced
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 2 green onions, thinly sliced

Add jalapeño and garlic at the start; stir in scallions after mashing.

Quick Chicken Jambalaya

I'm not sure whether I can honestly claim to have made this recipe or not. I made a lot of substitutions.

Okay, so I almost always use brown rice in place of white, so that one maybe doesn't count. And we cook it in the InstantPot because that's generally easier than whatever method the recipe uses by default. And I swapped out the olive oil for bacon grease because I had it on hand and I thought it'd be tasty. Okay, so that's all alright. But then we start straying farther from the path...

First there's the shredded rotisserie chicken in place of the skinless, boneless chicken thighs. Then, in the absence of the traditional andouille sausage, we opted for some sweet Chinese sausage instead. And because it needs to be cooked before eating, we tossed it in with the rice to cook rather than adding it to the skillet with the chicken. After that, we came to the bell pepper. Having used up our last bell pepper this morning, I decided to use this frozen "spaghetti" mix instead. It's a mix of chopped onion, carrot, celery, green bell pepper, and just a touch of red bell pepper. I figured that the addition of onion and celery along with the bell pepper would be at least "in the spirit" of the recipe since those are the three components of the Cajun/Creole "holy trinity". I guess, by also including carrot, it may have entered into some unholy union with mirepoix, but... oh well. We were already far enough off the rails at this point that I wasn't worried about a little bit of carrot messing things up!

We're almost finished with my deviations now, I promise. Last thing: since the "spaghetti mix" already included onions, we decided to just omit the green onions from the recipe. I'm not usually one to turn down more alliums, but they didn't really seem necessary with onion already in there doing its thing.

Okay, yeah, so I know that's a lot of changes. As I said, I'm not sure I can say that I actually made the dish described in the recipe. But I made something and it was tasty!

Quick Chicken Jambalaya (or something somewhat like it)

Adapted from Cook's Country June/July 2019

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c. long-grain brown rice
• 1 1/2 c. water
• 225-350g sliced Chinese sausages (or andouille sausages if you wanna be all authentic and accurate)
• 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 1 Tbsp. tomato paste
• 1 Tbsp. ketchup
• 2 tsp. Creole seasoning, divided
• 2 Tbsp. bacon grease or olive oil
• 1 1/2 c. frozen "spaghetti mix" or Creole "holy trinity"
• 300-400g shredded rotisserie chicken

Directions

1. Place the rice, water, and sausage in the InstantPot and pressure cook on "high" for 18 minutes with a 10-minute natural release.
2. Meanwhile, combine Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, ketchup, and 1/2 tsp. of the Creole seasoning. Mix well and set aside.
3. Melt bacon grease over medium heat.
4. Add spaghetti mix/holy trinity and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5-8 minutes.
5. Add chicken and remaining 1/2 Tbsp. of Creole seasoning and cook for another 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside until rice has finished cooking.
6. Once rice is ready, return pan with chicken to medium-low heat and add rice and sausages.
7. Stir in sauce and cook, stirring frequently, for ~5 minutes.

Sri Lankan Unroasted Curry Powder

This is the untoasted spice blend commonly used for vegetable curries in Sri Lanka. The rice and coconut get lightly toasted in a warm pan, but the rest of the spices do not. (Although the author notes that her mother always used to at least warm them a little "to release their flavours and make them easier to pound".) Iyer also includes a version of this untoasted blend in 660 Curries. I may transcribe that version as well at some point an add it below.

Sri Lankan Unroasted Curry Powder (for Vegetables)

Slightly adapted from Sri Lankan Flavours by Channa Dassanayaka

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. uncooked rice
• 1/4 c. unsweetened dried shredded coconut
• 10 fresh curry leaves¹
• 1/4 c. coriander seeds
• 2 Tbsp. cumin seeds
• 1/4 c. fennel seeds
• 1/2 Tbsp. fenugreek seeds
• 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
• 1 (5cm/2") piece of pandan/pandanus leaf/rampe (optional)
• 1 stalk of lemongrass, white part only (optional)
• 2 cloves of garlic (optional)
• 1 (3cm/1.25") piece of ginger, peeled and sliced (optional)

Directions

1. Toast the rice in a dry pan until just beginning to brown (~2 minutes).
2. Add coconut and toast for another 30 seconds or so.
3. Transfer rice and coconut to plate to cool.
4. If desired, lightly toast the curry leaves and pandan (if using) and then transfer to plate to cool.
5. Add all ingredients to a spice grinder and grind to a powder. If using "wet" ingredients (like garlic, ginger, or lemongrass), use a molcajete or food processor instead so that the moisture doesn't gum up your spice grinder.

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Variations

Raghavan Iyer's Untoasted Sri Lankan Curry Powder

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. coriander seeds
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds
• 1 tsp. fennel seeds
• 1 tsp. fenugreek seeds
• 1/2 tsp. cardamom seeds (from green pods)
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 2 (3") cinnamon sticks, broken into smaller pieces

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¹ Even if you elect not to toast/warm any of the other spices, I would recommend tossing the curry leaves in the pan for a few seconds, just until they seem a bit dry and brittle. Otherwise you'll likely have a difficult time grinding them. Likewise with the pandanus leaf if you choose to use it. ^Back

Another one of the Wholefully pumpkin seed recipes, this is the simplest; just a bit of salt and pepper. Tasty, though, and very simple.

Salt & Pepper Pumpkin Seeds

Wholefully

Ingredients

• ½ C pumpkin seeds, cleaned
• 1 tsp olive oil
• ½ tsp salt, ground
• ½ tsp black pepper, ground

Directions

1. Toss pumpkin seeds with oil, salt, and pepper.
2. Bake at 300°F for 30 minutes, stirring every 10.

Got this as an extra Hello Fresh inclusion and it was delicious, and also really quick and easy to put together. Based on personal experience I recommend doubling the recipe and making it in a larger pan because once made it goes fast.

Crunchy Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars

Hello Fresh

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp butter
• ½ C bittersweet chocolate
• 1 tbsp honey
• 3 tbsp smooth peanut butter
• ⅛ tsp salt
• 2 C cornflakes
• 4 tbsp chopped peanuts

Directions

1. Initialize a double boiler.
2. Add butter, chocolate chips, honey, peanut butter, and salt. Whisk together until chips melt and mixture is smooth.
3. Gently stir in cornflakes.
4. Line an 8" loaf pan with parchment paper. Pour in chocolate-cornflake mix.
5. Sprinkle peanuts overtop.
6. Refrigerate until set, ~2 hours.

This is a very quick and easy pasta dish that uses ingredients we almost always have on hand. The only exception is the oil-packed tuna, since we usually get water-packed; if all you have is water-packed I suspect you could make it work with that + another 2-3 tbsp of olive oil. The recipe relies on partially cooking the pasta ahead of time, then finishing it off in the liquid that gets absorbed to thicken and form the sauce.

The original recipe uses a single tin of tuna. We wanted it extra tuna-y and thus added a second.

Spaghetti with Tuna and Capers

Cook's Country, Feb/Mar 2021, by Bryan Roof (p. 16)

Ingredients

• 450g dried spaghetti
• 80mL (⅓ C) olive oil
• 8 garlic cloves, sliced thin
• 30mL (2 tbsp) capers
• ½ tsp red pepper flakes
• 1 140-200g tin of flaked tuna in oil, not drained
• 1 140-200g tin of flaked tuna in water, drained
• 120mL (½ C) freshly grated parmesan cheese, plus extra for serving
• 60mL (¼ C) freshly chopped parsley

Directions

1. Bring 3L of water to boil in a large pot.
2. Add pasta and cook until flexible but still hard in the center, ~5 minutes for most spaghettis.
3. Drain, reserving 3C of pasta water, and set aside.
4. Return the now-empty pot to medium-low heat. Add oil and garlic and cook until not quite browned, 2-3 minutes.
5. Add capers and pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, 30-60 seconds.
6. Add 2C reserved pasta water and the pasta. Cook, stirring constantly, until pasta is cooked al dente and water is nearly absorbed, ~5 minutes.
7. Stir in both tins of tuna (including oil), parmesan, parsley, and another ½C of pasta water.
8. Serve topped with additional parmesan and red pepper flakes to taste.

I've made Dutch babies before and I've always been really pleased with my results. Unfortunately, I've had less than stellar luck in the instances where I've tried to incorporate inclusions. So, when I saw this recipe for an apple-filled version, I knew I had to give it a try.

German Apple Pancake

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country August/September 2020

Ingredients

• 1/2 c. sour cream
• 1/2 c. brown sugar, divided
• 105g all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 5 large eggs
• 1 c. whole (3.25%) milk
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/4 c. unsalted butter
• 575g Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, halved, and sliced
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• icing (confectioners'/powdered) sugar, to serve

Directions

1. Adjust oven rack to lowest position and preheat oven to 220°C (425°F).
2. Add 2 Tbsp. of the sugar to the sour cream and stir to combine. Set aside.
3. Combine flour, salt, and 2 Tbsp. of brown sugar in a bowl.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs with milk and vanilla.
5. Pour half the egg mixture into the flour mixture and whisk until combined.
6. Whisk in the remaining egg mixture and set aside.
7. Melt the butter over medium heat.
8. Add the apples, cinnamon, and remaining 1/4 c. of sugar and cook, stirring frequently, until softened and glazed (8-10 minutes).
9. Spread apples evenly across bottom of pan (making sure none are going up the sides).
10. Pour batter into the pan and transfer to the oven.
11. Bake at 220°C (425°F) for 18 minutes¹.
12. Cut into wedges, sprinkle with icing sugar, and serve topped with brown sugar sour cream.

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¹ I ended up reducing the oven temperature to 200°C (400°F) for the last 5 or 6 minutes of baking because I was starting to smell burnt sugar. I don't know how much of a difference this made, but I was happy with how my pancake came out so, I'm passon on the info here. ^Back

I have mixed feelings about this recipe. It was tasty and I enjoyed it, but I didn't really feel that it was optimally tasty. Also, the meatballs were very soft. I realize that they're probably supposed to be like that -- very tender and all -- but I didn't really care for the texture. I like my meatballs to have a bit more chew to them. And being so soft also made them very difficult to handle. I've reduced the amount of panade called for in the recipe below and added an egg. Hopefully that'll help make the meatballs a bit sturdier.

I've made some notes in the Creole seasoning post about what I'd do differently there next time. But a sub-optimal spice mix wasn't the only problem. TF and I both felt that there was somehting missing. I said that I thought it needed an acidic component. I actually tried stirring a teaspoon of balsamic vinegar into the leftovers after we'd all had our dinner tonight, and that did help some. But it still wasn't quite right.

Now that I'm looking at the recipe again, I see that we were meant to serve it with Louisiana-style hot sauce. That probably would have added that acidic component I was looking for! I am slightly annoyed that both white rice and hot sauce are called out as "important parts of the mix" in the preamble, but then only white rice is mentioned in the actual recipe. If it's so important, put it in the recipe! Oh well, now I know that, should I ever be making these meatballs again, they really need to be served with a highly acidic hot sauce to balance out all the flavours.

Cajun Meatball Fricassee

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country August/September 2020

Ingredients

Meatballs

• 40g saltines, crushed
• 1/2 c. milk
• 2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• 900g ground beef
• 1 large egg
• 1 c. grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 Tbsp. Creole seasoning
• 1/2 Tbsp. dried thyme
• 1 tsp. black peppercorns, ground

Stew

• 1/3 c. oil
• 1/3 c. flour
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 1-2 ribs celery, chopped
• 2 slices streaky bacon¹, cut into 1cm pieces
• 6 scallions (green onions), chopped, whites and greens separated
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 tsp. Creole seasoning
• 1L chicken stock
• 1 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce
• cooked rice, to serve
• Louisiana-style hot sauce, to serve

Directions

Meatballs

1. Preheat oven to 220°C (425°F) and set a wire rack in a baking sheet lined with foil or a silicone baking mat.
2. Grease the rack.
3. Combine saltines, milk, and Worcestershire sauce, mix, and let stand for 5 minutes.
4. Whisk saltine mixture until smooth.
5. Add beef, Parmesan, Creole seasoning, thyme, and pepper and mix with hands.
6. Make 24 meatballs (a scant 1/4 c. each) and place on prepared wire rack.
7. Roast at 220°C (425°F) for ~25 minutes.

Stew

1. In Dutch oven, heat oil over medium heat until just smoking.
2. Stir in flour with rubber spatula and cook, stirring constantly, until roux is peanut butter coloured².
3. Reduce heat to low and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until the roux is the colour of milk chocolate.
4. Add the onion, bell pepper, celery, and bacon and cook for another 10 minutes.
5. Add scallion whites, garlic, and Creole seasoning and cook for a minute longer.
6. Whisk in broth and Worcestershire sauce and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
7. Add meatballs.
8. Reduce heat to low and cook, covered, for 20 minutes.
9. Uncover, increase heat to medium-high and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened (10-12 minutes).
10. Serve over rice and top with scallion greens and hot sauce.

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¹ I didn't have any bacon, so I tossed in a bit of pancetta instead. ^Back
2 The recipe said that this should be done at medium-high heat and take 2-5 minutes. But my roux was already peanut butter coloured after barely a minute! The rest of the cooking was supposed to take a further 5-10 minutes, but mine only needed 2 to reach the milk chocolate stange. I've reduced the temperatures here to try to get the timing more in line with the recipe. (I wasn't even using induction for this, so I don't know why it went so much faster than the recip expected.) ^Back

So, I've been going through cookbooks trying to find a use for some excess egg yolks that I've been hanging on to in the fridge. I sa a recipe for an egg-yolk-only white chocolate mousse in an issue of Cook's Country. That put me on to the idea of mousse in general and I figured I'd check the plain chocolate mousse recipe (in a different issue of Cook's Country) as well as seeing what Edmonds had to say on the topic of chocolate mousse.

Well, it turns out that I'd already made the Edmonds chocolate mousse and just forgotten to write it up. (Looked familiar once I was actually reading it, just didn't remember before I got the book out.)

This recipe doesn't help me with my egg yolk dilemma as it uses whole eggs, but it should still be written up. I was happy with how it came out if I recall correctly, and it's a fairly easy dessert to make.

Chocolate Mousse

From Edmonds Cookery Book

Ingredients

• 100g dark chocolate
• 2 Tbsp. water or espresso
• 4 large eggs, separated
• 1 Tbsp. rum or cointreau
• whipped cream, to serve

Directions

1. Chop the chocolate and place it in a heatproof bowl with the water/espresso.
2. Set the bowl over a pot of boiling water and heat for 5 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and stir gently until combined.
4. Beat the egg yolks until fluffy.
5. Gradually stir in the wearm chocolate mixture.
6. Mix in the rum/cointreau.
7. Beat the egg whites to stiff peaks.
8. Add half of the egg whites to the chocolate mixture and stir to combine. (Don't worry about deflating them at this point. The goal is just to loosen the mixture a little bit.)
9. Add the remaining egg white and gently fold into the chocolate mixture until no longer streaky. (NOW you want to be careful not to deflate it too much.)
10. Spoon into 4 small or 1 large dish and chill¹ for 1-2 hours.
11. Served topped with whipped cream.

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¹ Edmonds recommends putting the mousse somewhere cool, but not cold to set. They note that if set in the fridge, the mousse may become too firm. I set mine in the fridge anyway and just checked it fairly frequently to see when it was set enough, but not too firm. Keeping it slightly warmer (probably somewhere in the 6-10°C range) would probably avoid the risk of overly hard mousse, but I'd also worry about food safety at those temperatures. Especially given the raw egg in this recipe. My preference would be to store it colder, get it to set up as quickly as possible, and eat it sooner. Less chance of any nasties having a chance to multiply and cause problems that way. ^Back

This was phenomenal! I mean, it was really, incredibly, unreasonably good. The chicken was delicious, but the veggies and the pan drippings really stole the show. And it used up a bunch of ingredients that really needed to be used. So... bonus!

I don't cook whole chickens very often. (Usually only when my parents have given us one.) And I've only cooked a spatchcocked chicken once. And I've never done the spatchcocking myself before today. It went pretty smoothly in the end. Although this has convinced me that I need some proper kitchen shears and not just the scissors that came with this knife set. I also couldn't get the wing tips to stay tucked under the breasts like I was supposed to. In the end, I decided to just cut them off and toss them in the InstantPot along with the spine and all the vegetable scraps. I figured if they weren't going to cooperate, they might as well enrich the stock.

I didn't have any fresh thyme, so I ended up tinkering with the spice rub a little bit. It's still pretty much the same. The main issue is that swapping out the fresh thyme for dried changes the proportions a bit since you only need ~1/3 as much dried thyme as fresh. It still worked out amazingly well though, so I'm okay with the altered proportions. (I also decided to use a mix of sweet and hot paprika since I didn't have any smoked. Follow your heart as to which paprika is best for you!)

Cast Iron Chicken and Vegetables

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country February/March 2021

Ingredients

Spice Rub

• 4 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 2 tsp. dried thyme
• 2 tsp. granulated garlic
• 2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 tsp. paprika (smoked, hot, sweet, or a mix)

Chicken and Vegetables

• 450g potatoes¹
• 1 large or 2 small fennel bulbs², trimmed and cut into wedges
• 1 red onion, peeled and cut into wedges
• 225g carrots, peeled and halved crosswise³
• 1 (1.4-1.8kg) chicken
• 2 Tbsp. oil, divided

Sauce

• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2 Tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 1 1/2 Tbsp. lemon juice
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tsp. spice rub

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 220°C (425°F).
2. Combine all the ingredients for the spice rub and set aside.
3. Prep all your veggies. Keep the potatoes separate and submerge them in cold water to stop them from oxidizing.
4. Place the chicken breast-side-down and cut along both sides of the spine with kitchen shears. (You can use the spine for making soup/stock.)
5. Flip the chicken over and press it flat.
6. Tuck the wing tips under the breast. Cut them off if they won't stay put.
7. Make a cut ~1cm deep between the leg and the thigh.
8. Flip the chicken breast-side-down, and sprikle with ~1 Tbsp. of the spice mixture.
9. Filp it back over and drizzle the skin side with 1 Tbsp. of the oil. Then sprinkle with ~5 tsp. of the spice mixture.
10. Heat a large (30cm/12") cast iron pan over medium heat for 5 minutes. (Less if using induction.)
11. Add the remaining 1 Tbsp. of oil to the pan.
12. Place the potatoes in the pan, cut-side-down.
13. Add the carrots, fennel, and onion to the pan, trying to get as much pan contact as possible.
14. Sprinkle ~1 tsp. of the spice rub over the veggies.
15. Place the chicken on top of the veggies.
16. Transfer the pan to the oven and roast at 220°C (425°F) until chicken is done (~1 hour).
17. Meanwhile, make the sauce by whisking all the sauce ingredients together. Set aside.
18. Remove the chicken from the pan and return the veggies to the oven for another 15 minutes.
19. Either carve the chicken, top with sauce, and serve with veggies or return the chicken to the pan and drizzle the sauce over it, then carve and serve.

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¹ The recipe calls for small Yukon Gold potatoes no more than 3 or 4cm in diameter which are then cut in half. I already had a bunch of potatoes that needed to be used up, so I wasn't about to go out and buy more. I used the large potatoes and just cut them into eighths instead of halves. This seemed to work out just fine. The potatoes were beyond delicious! ^Back
2 The recipe calls for a 450g bulb of fennel and mentions that you should be adding 250g of fennel wedges to the pan after trimming. ^2
3 If your carrots are very large, you will likely want to halve them lengthwise as well. ^Back

I wanted to make a nice breakfast for everybody this morning. We had all the ingredients for this hash (more-or-less) and it looked tasty, so that's what I made.

I meant to add a few shishito peppers and/or a bell pepper to the mix when making this, but I completely forgot! Might be something worth considering for next time if we have any kicking around.

Corned Beef Hash

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country February/March 2021

Ingredients

• 450g russet potatoes, cubed
• 340g cooked corned beef¹, cubed
• 3 c. shredded green cabbage
• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• 2-4 carrots, peeled and cubed
• 2 Tbsp. oil
• 2-3 cloves garlic, sliced
• 2 tsp. fresh thyme (or 3/4 tsp. dried)
• 2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/2 Tbsp. ground mustard
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/2 tsp. allspice berries, ground
• 1/4 c. unsalted butter, cut into 16 pieces

Directions

1. Combine potatoes, beef, cabbage, onion, carrot, oil, garlic, thyme, pepper, mustard, salt, and allspice in a large bowl and toss to coat.
2. Heat a large pan over medium heat and add hash mixture to pan.
3. Cover and cook on medium or medium-low for 20 minutes.
4. Remove from heat and mash with potato masher.
5. Spread mashed mixture evenly in bottom of pan.
6. Add butter pieces around the edge of the pan and return to medium or medium-low heat.
7. Cook, uncovered, without stirring, for 5-7 minutes.
8. Flip over. (Not all at once. Flip one spatula-sized section at a time.)
9. Cook 2 more minutes.
10. Flip once more and cook another 2 minutes.
11. Serve with fried eggs, buttered toast, and/or hot sauce.

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¹ This recipe calls for corned beef left over from a boiled dinner (or chopped up thick slices from the deli counter). I didn't have that, but I did have a 340g tin of corned beef, so I just used that. ^Back

I found myself with a surplus of egg whites after making my pumpkin pie cupcakes the other day. I've been hanging on to them in the fridge with the idea that maybe I could work out something to do with them. I tossed around a few ideas, but these days pavlova is my go-to for using up excess egg whites. Sure I could toss them into a quiche or make an angel food cake, white cake, or friands... but pavlova is just so easy to throw together. And there are so many different flavour combinations to try!

My first pavlova was just a plain vanilla meringue with stewed boysenberries and whipped cream. The next time around I got a little more adventerous; the meringue was still plain vanilla, but I topped it with chocolate mousse and macerated cherries for a black forest sort of vibe. One of my favourites so far has been the spiced cherry pavlova: vanilla meringue, plain Greek yogurt, passion fruit, and stewed spiced cherries. The ube pavlova was my first attempt at a adding different flavours to the meringue. That one consisted of an ube (purple yam) meringue topped with coconut-flavoured Greek yogurt and fresh mango. I think it would've benefitted from a bit of ube extract (in addition to the ube powder) in the meringue and some toasted coconut or coconut extract with the yogurt to help boost the coconut's presence, but it was pretty good over all.

This pavlova follows a similar theme of meringue + whipped cream + fruit. But the meringue gets a bit of dark chocolate swirled through it just before baking. The berries can be pretty much whatever you have on hand. The original recipe called for a combination of strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, and cherries. I ended up using mostly strawberries with a few blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries mixed in. The berries are "mulled" by steeping in a mixture of apple juice (or red wine), orange juice, cinnamon, star anise, and cloves. I was using frozen berries rather than fresh and found the resulting mixture a bit more soupy than I would have liked. I think I'd cut back on the apple juice next time to help alleviate this. And I'd also be inclined to add a few more spices to really lean into the "mulled" aspect: maybe a bit of allspice and some black pepper?

Overall though, this came out great. The chocolate marbling actually worked pretty well. The chocolate flavour came through nicely. And the mulled berries, malted cream, and bitter-sweet chocolate-y meringue all complemented each other nicely. I'd definitely make it again. That is... if there weren't so many other flavour combinations to try!

Dark Chocolate Marbled Pavlova with Malted Whipped Cream and Mulled Berries

Adapted from Taste.com.au

Ingredients

Meringue

• 4 large egg whites¹
• 1/2 tsp. cream of tartar (or white vinegar)
• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch (cornflour)
• 220g sugar
• 100g dark chocolate, melted

Berries

• 2-3 whole cloves
• 2 star anise
• 2-3 allspice berries
• 3-4 black peppercorns
• 1 orange
• 125mL apple juice (or red wine)²
• 1/4 c. brown sugar³
• 1 (7-8cm) cinnamon stick
• 450g frozen mixed berries⁴
• 1/2 Tbsp. cornstarch (cornflour)

Cream

• 300mL heavy (35%) cream
• 2 Tbsp. malted milk powder (eg. Ovaltine)
• 1 Tbsp. icing (powdered/confectioners') sugar
• 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 120°C (250°F).
2. Beat the egg whites on low speed for ~1 minute.
3. Add the cream of tartar, increase to medium speed, and beat for another minute or two.
4. Add the cornstarch and beat for another minute.
5. Increase speed to high and begin adding the sugar ~1 Tbsp. at a time.
6. Once meringue is thick, glossy, and forms stiff peaks, stop beating it.
7. Drizzle in the melted chocolate and fold it through a few times. Don't mix it too thoroughly or it won't be marbled!
8. Scoop the meringue onto a baking sheet and shape as desired. I like making a large meringue bowl/nest. You can pipe it onto the baking sheet if you want to be fancy, but I never bother.
9. Bake at 120°C (250°F) for 65-75 minutes.
10. Turn off oven and leave meringue inside to cool. (At least an hour, but as long as overnight.)
11. Meanwhile, place the cloves, star anise, allspice, and peppercorns into a muslin or cheesecloth pouch.
12. Zest and juice the orange.
13. Add the spice bag, orange zest, brown sugar, and cinnamon stick to the apple juice and bring to a boil over medium heat.
14. Boil the juice mixture for 7-8 minutes.
15. Add the berries and continue cooking until the mixture returns to a boil.
16. Boil for an additional 5 minutes.
17. Remove the spice bag.
18. Take a little juice out and mix it with the cornstarch. Pour this cornstarch mixture back into the pot and continue cooking for another minute or two.
19. Remove from heat and stir in orange juice.
20. Just before serving, combine the cream, malted milk powder, icing sugar, and vanilla extract.
21. Use an immersion blender⁵ to vigorously mix until the cream thickens and gets fairly stiff. If you stop whipping too soon, the cream will be runny. If you go too far, the cream will split into butter and buttermilk. If in doubt, err on the side of "runny".
22. Carefully transfer the cooled meringue to a serving platter.
23. Spoon the whipped cream onto it.
24. Spoon the mulled berries over the whole thing and serve immediately.

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¹ I ended up using 2 large and 3 small egg whites. Use your best judgement based on the size of your eggs. ^Back
2 The original recipe called for 250mL of apple juice or red wine, but it was also expecting fresh berries. I've reduced the amount of liquid and replace the fresh berries with frozen. Hopefully this should help make the final result a bit less soupy in the future. ^Back
3 The original recipe uses white (granulated) sugar. I used white sugar when I made this. I liked it just fine that way. But I think I might like it even better with brown sugar. I think it would give the mulling spices some extra depth. ^Back
4 The original recipe called for 150g each of strawberries and cherries + 125g each of blackberries and raspberries. All fresh. I used 550g of frozen mixed berries instead. This was fine, but I think it was a) too soupy and b) produced a bit too much topping relative to the meringue, so I've scaled back both the number of berries (slightly) and the amount of apple juice used to try to help with both of those issues. ^Back
5 You can use beaters (or even just a whisk) to make whipped cream. I advocate using a blender here because it produces a denser whipped cream that's more robust and resistant to deflating/melting than the lighter, airier whipped cream produced with a mixer/beaters/whisks. It'll be fine either way. This is just my preferred method. ^Back

Gamja Jorim (Spicy Braised Potatoes)

These potatoes are so good! I really love the spicy-sweet sauce.

Make sure to use vegetarian oyster sauce if you'd like this dish to be vegetarian. For a vegan dish, double-check to make sure the sugar you're using is vegan as well.

Gamja Jorim

Slightly adapted from Aaron & Claire

Ingredients

• 500g potatoes
• 1 Tbsp. light (regular) soy sauce
• 1/2 Tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. gochujang
• 1 Tbsp. gochugaru
• 1 Tbsp. oyster sauce
• 1 Tbsp. sugar
• 2 Tbsp. light corn syrup
• 1 Tbsp. sesame oil, divided
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 5 cloves garlic, halved
• 1 Tbsp. canola (or other neutral) oil
• 1 c. water
• 2 green onions, chopped
• 7 shishito peppers, halved and seeded
• 1 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds

Directions

1. Peel the potatoes, cut them into 1.5cm cubes, and submerge them in cold water.
2. Mix the light soy, dark soy, gochujang, gochugaru, oyster sauce, sugar, corn syrup, 1/2 Tbsp. of the sesame oil, and the pepper together and set aside.
3. Heat a wok over medium-high heat.
4. Drizzle the canola oil down the sides of the wok and swirl to coat.
5. Drain the potaotes and add them to the wok along with the garlic. If desired, reserve 1 c. of the potato soaking water for use later in the recipe.
6. Stir-fry the potatoes and garlic for ~5 minutes.
7. Reduce heat to medium and add the sauce. Stiry-fry for another 2 minutes.
8. Add the water. (You may use the reserved potato water here if you'd like.)
9. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5-10 minutes.
10. Add the green onions, shishito peppers, and remaining 1/2 Tbsp. of sesame oil.
11. Sprinkle with sesame seeds and serve!

Galbijjim (Braised Short Ribs)

I've been wanting to try this recipe for a while now. I was really surprised to see how much fruit it contained! You want me to make the sauce/gravy for my beef stew out of apples, pears, and kiwi? Really?! But it's great!

We'd already eaten this year's supply of beef ribs by the time I was making this, so I ended up cutting up a sirloin steak to go in the pot instead. I realize that this doesn't really give you the authentic galbijjim experience, but it's what I had available and I'm pretty happy with the results.

Galbijjim

Slightly adapted from Aaron & Claire

Ingredients

• 900g Korean (brown) or Asian (yellow) pear
• 250g sweet apple (such as fuji or ambrosia)
• 150g kiwi
• 1 yellow onion (1/2 if it's large)
• 6 green onions (scallions), divided
• 3 c. water, divided
• 1/2 c. light (regular) soy sauce
• 1 Tbsp. oyster sauce
• 1 Tbsp. dark soy sauce
• 1/2 Tbsp. dasida (Korean beef stock powder)
• 3 Tbsp. mirin
• 3 Tbsp. sugar
• 1 Tbsp. sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1.2kg bone-in beef short-ribs
• 300g daikon
• 200g carrot
• 125g fresh shiitake mushrooms
• 5 shishito peppers
• 1 red chile pepper, thinly sliced (optional)

Directions

1. Peel the pear, apple, kiwi, and onion and cut into large pieces.
2. Place pear, apple, kiwi, onion, and 2 of the green onions in a blender with 1 c. of the water.
3. Blend until smooth.
4. Add the light soy, oyster sauce, dark soy, dasida, mirin, sugar, sesame oil, and pepper to the blender and mix well.
5. Bring some water to a boil and blanch the ribs for 3-5 minutes.
6. Drain the ribs and return them to the pot.
7. Add the sauce from the blender.
8. Swish out the blender with the remaining 2 c. of water and add it to the pot with the ribs.
9. Bring to a boil.
10. Reduce heat to medium and cook, uncovered, for 50-60 minutes.
11. Meanwhile, peel the daikon and carrots and cut them crosswise into 2cm pieces. Bevel the edges of the pieces if you'd like to be extra fancy.
12. Clean and trim the shiitakes. Put some decorative cuts in the caps if you'd like.
13. Chop the remaining 4 green onions and halve and deseed the shishito peppers.
14. Once the beef has cooked for 50-60 minutes, add the daikon and cook for another 10-15 minutes.
15. Add the carrot and mushrooms and cook until sauce reaches desired consistency (15-20 minutes).
16. Add the green onions, shishito peppers, and red chile (if using).
17. Serve with rice.

Panettone

I didn't get around to making my Christmas cake this year. But I did have some surplus orange zest and juice to use up, so I decided to give this panettone a go.

Orange and Raisin Panettone

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country December/January 2018

Ingredients

• 3/4 c. golden raisins
• 2 Tbsp. orange juice
• 3/4 c. warm milk
• zest of 1 orange
• 1 large egg
• 2 large egg yolks
• 3 Tbsp. light corn syrup
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• 390g all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 tsp. instant yeast
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 8 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into 1-Tbsp. pieces, softened
• 85g candied orange peel
• 1 small egg
• 1/2 Tbsp. water

Ingredients

1. Combine raisins and orange juice and heat in microwave until steaming (~1 minute). Cover and set aside for at least 15 minutes.
2. Combine warm milk, orange zest, large egg, egg yolks, corn syrup, vanilla extract, and almond extract in a large measuring cup.
3. Combine flour, yeast, and salt in a bowl and stir to mix.
4. Make a well in the centre of the flour and pour in the milk mixutre.
5. Working from the centre outward, gradually mix the flour into the wet ingredients.
6. Once all the flour has been incorporated, cover and let rest for 5-10 minutes.
7. Knead in the bowl for a few minutes.
8. Begin adding butter, 1 Tbsp. at a time, while continuing to knead in the bowl.
9. Cover and let rest for 5-10 minutes.
10. Add the raisins and candied peel and knead in the bowl until the inclusions are fully incorporated.
11. Cover and let rise at room temperature for 1-2 hours. Dough is done rising when it no longer springs back when poked with a wet finger. Try to let it rise as fully as possible, but avoid letting it get to the point that it sighs and sinks back when poked.
12. Grease a 20cm (8") round cake pan.
13. Turn the dough out onto a well-floured surface and knead it for a few strokes.
14. Press it into a flat disc.
15. Shape the disc into a ball by folding each side in toward the centre, then flip it over and round it and tension the gluten across the top surface.
16. Place the ball, seam-side-down, in the greased pan.
17. Cover and let rise for another 1-2 hours. Dough should spring back only very slightly when poked with a wet finger.
18. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
19. Beat the small egg with the water and brush the top of the loaf with the egg wash. Try to avoid letting any of the wash dribble down the side of the loaf where it will stick to the pan.
20. Bake the loaf at 180°C (350°F) for 20 minutes.
21. Cover the top of the loaf with tin foil and bake for another 30-40 minutes. (Internal temperature should register 87°C/190°F.)
22. Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan for 15 minutes.
23. Remove the panettone from its pan and transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling¹.

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Variations

Chocolate Chip Panettone

Ingredients

• 3/4 c. warm milk
• zest of 1 orange (optional)
• 1 large egg
• 2 large egg yolks
• 3 Tbsp. light corn syrup
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• 390g all-purpose flour
• 2 1/4 tsp. instant yeast
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 8 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut into 1-Tbsp. pieces, softened
• 1 c. mini chocolate chips
• 85g candied orange peel
• 1 small egg
• 1/2 Tbsp. water

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¹ I remembered hearing that panettone normally needs to hang upside down to cool. The recipe didn't make any mention of this, but the loaf did seem very soft and delicate. I initially sat it right-way-up on the wire rack after turning it out of the pan, but I was slightly worried that it was going to collapse under its own weight. The top crust seemed a bit firmer and more substantial than the bottom or sides, so I fliped it over and let it sit on its head to finish cooling. After that, I put it back in the pan for transport. Maybe next time I can try to figure out a way to hang it and see if that makes a difference to the end result. ^Back

I've been in a breakfast rut lately. Usually dressing up some ramen with some extra veggies and protein is a good go-to breakfast for me when I don't know what else to have. But that hasn't been appealing to me lately. Yesterday I had some left over pork chop and brussels sprouts for brunch. Now we're all out of pork chops and I'm faced with the breakfast question again.

Initially I was thinking that maybe I'd just have some ramen anyway, even if it didn't appeal. But I figured it wouldn't hurt to take a few minutes staring at breakfast inspiration to see if anything sang to me. What this revealed was that I wanted a eggs and toast sort of breakfast. I thought about making a croque madame, but we didn't have either the gruyère or the ham. Then I stumbled across this salsa verde baked eggs recipe... I even had an unopened jar of salsa verde in the pantry! I'd gotten it just in case I my mole de olla ended up needing some extra tomatillos/sauce, but didn't end up needing it in the end.

This is an incredibly simple recipe: Just put some salsa verde in a pan and bake some eggs in it. Then top with cheese and veggies as you see fit and serve with a starch of your choice. I topped mine with Cheddar cheese and a sort of cabbage-carrot-radish salad that we had on hand and served it with toasted sourdough and it was delicious. I don't have salsa verde on hand that often, but I definitely want to keep this recipe in mind for when I do!

Salsa Verde Baked Eggs

Slightly adapted from The Modern Proper

Ingredients

• 1 tsp. butter, oil, bacon grease, or lard
• 1 c. salsa verde
• 4 large eggs

Toppings & Accompaniments

Choose as many or as few as you'd like.

• cheese: cotija, feta, Cheddar, and/or monterey jack
• veggies: sliced radish, shredded cabbage, grated carrot, sliced avocado, corn, and/or shredded radicchio
• other: lime wedges/lime juice and/or chopped fresh cilantro
• starches: toast, corn tortillas, and/or flour tortillas

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) and grease a 25cm (10") pan with a fat of your choice. (I like using pork fat here, but follow your heart.)
2. Pour the salsa verde into the greased pan.
3. Crack one egg into each quadrant of the pan. Season with a little salt and pepper if you like, but I didn't find mine really needed it.
4. Bake at 200°C (400°F) for 12-15 minutes¹.
5. While eggs are cooking, toast your bread and/or warm up some tortillas.
6. Serve eggs on (or alongside) toast and/or tortillas and topped with cheese(s) and veggies of your choice.

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¹ I baked mine for the full 15 minutes because TF and I really can't stand undercooked egg whites. This turned out to be a bit too much though and left the yolks cooked hard. I think next time I'd try cooking them for only 12 minutes. Or possibly separate the whites and yolks so that they can be cooked for different amounts of time. I might try putting a white in each quadrant, baking for 3-5 minutes, and then adding a yolk on top of each white and baking for another 8-10 minutes or something. Not sure what the best timing would be, but it may be worth experimenting with. ^Back

Mole de Olla (Mole Cooked in a Pot)

I picked up some pork neck bones on spec at the Asian grocery store a while back. If nothing else, they're great for making sisig. I didn't feel up to making sisig right away, so I dropped them in the freezer and forgot about them for a few months. Then I ran across this mole recipe in a Mexican cookbook that TM had lent me. It sounded interesting and not too difficult to put together, so I figured I'd give it a try.

It calls for ancho and pasilla chiles. I was all out of both, but ordered a few from a local kitchen store. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get them in time, so I ended up substituting poblano and Anaheim chiles respectively. Ancho chiles are just dried poblanos, but while poblanos are normally sold green here, ancho chiles are dried when the pepper reaches its red-ripe stage. So, between the drying process and the extra ripening, they do taste fairly different, but I was hoping it would still be close enough. Pasilla chiles are the dried form of the chilaca chile. I've never seen fresh ones for sale here, nor could I find any of the other dried chiles that I'd normally consider reasonable substitutes: California or guajillo. So I just tossed in a few Anaheim peppers and hoped for the best.

Sadly, I couldn't find the epazote for this dish either. I was especially disappointed by that since it's meant to be one of the key flavours. I added some cilantro and ground fennel seeds to make up for it, but everywhere I looked people kept reiterating that nothing tastes quite like epazote and you can't really replicate it with any of the substitutes. So, if you can find epazote where you live, definitely use it!

Mole de Olla

Slightly adapted from the Cuisines of Mexico by Diana Kennedy

Ingredients

• 1.25kg pork neck bones (or "boiling beef" with bone)
• 2L water
• 2 tsp. salt
• 4 ancho chiles¹
• 4 pasilla chiles²
• 1 c. chopped tomatillos (tomates verdes)³
• 1 onion, coarsely chopped
• 2-3 cloves garlic
• 1/8 tsp. cumin seeds
• 3 Tbsp. oil⁴
• 450g zucchini, cut into sticks
• 100g green beans, trimmed and halved crosswise
• 1 cob of corn⁵, cut into 6 pieces
• 250g chayote squash⁶, cored and cut into 5mm wedges
• 250g potatoes, cubed
• 3 sprigs epazote (Mexican tea)⁷

Directions

1. Have the butcher cut the meat and bones into serving pieces.
2. Place the meat and bones in a large pot and add the water and salt.
3. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, until tender (~50 minutes). If using beef, it may need an extra 20-30 minutes of cooking to become tender.
4. Meanwhile, heat a comal, tawa, or similar and toast the chilies well, turning frequently to avoid burning. (If using fresh chilies rather than dried see footnote 1 below.)
5. Allow the chilies to cool, then remove the seeds and veins. DO NOT SOAK.
6. Add the toasted chilies to the blender along with the tomatillos, onion, garlic, and cumin seeds and blend until smooth.
7. Heat the oil over medium heat.
8. Add the sauce from the blender and fry for ~5 minutes. (Longer if using fresh chilies.)
9. Add the sauce to the meat.
10. When the meat is tender, add the zucchini, beans, corn, chayote, and potatoes and cook slowly, uncovered, until vegetables are cooked through (~30 minutes).
11. Add the epazote in the last 5 minutes of cooking.
12. Adjust seasoning as desired and serve with warm tortillas, lime, and fresh minced onion.

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¹ I used poblanos in place of the anchos in my rendition. I halved and seeded them, then cooked them under the broiler until the flesh was soft and the skin was blistered, then tossed them in a plastic bag to rest/steam for ~15 minutes, then peeled the skins off and added flesh to the blender. ^Back
2 As I didn't have pasillas either, I swapped in some Anaheim chiles. I gave them the same treatment as the poblanos above. ^Back
3 The recipe calls for "1 cup tomates verdes, drained". To me this implies that the author is expecting you to bo using some sort of canned or preserved tomatillos. I ended up just getting a pint of fresh tomatillos and using those. If you can't find either fresh or canned tomatillos, I think that a jar of salsa verde would make a reasonable substitute. It'll have some spices and other things added to it, but I think it would be fine in this application. ^Back
4 The recipe calls for peanut or safflower oil. I think any neutral oil would work. I also think that lard or bacon fat would work well if doing the pork neck bone version of this recipe. I didn't get this recipe written up right away, so I can't remember which fat I ended up going with, but I think I probably went the bacon fat route since we have a bunch of that that we've been trying to use up. ^Back
5 It's best if you can use the corn on the cob, but if you don't have any on hand, a cup of frozen corn will do in a pinch. ^Back
6 Kholrabi makes a decent substitute for chayote if you can't find the squash. ^Back
7 Everyone seems to agree that there really is no substitute for epazote. Unfortunately, I couldn't find any, so I added ~1/2 c. of chopped fresh cilantro and 1/2 tsp. ground fennel seeds at the end of cooking to try to make up for it. I'm sure it wasn't the same, but it still tasted good. ^Back

There were a bunch of contenders for what to make with the chicken thighs I picked up the other day. This chicken provençal recipe wasn't one of the ones that initially caught my eye. But I already had the October/November 2019 Cook's Country out for the pork chops and I decided that I wanted to pick another recipe out of the same issue to make next. And, once I actually took a closer look at it, the recipe started to hold more appeal: it includes lots of flavours I like (anchovies, tomatoes, olives, etc), doesn't generate too many dirty dishes, and doesn't take too long to prepare.

We had our chicken over a bit of rice with some left over tebouleh on the side. It was good like that, but I think it would've been even better with potatoes (either baked or mashed) and a spinach salad to go with it. But we were working with what we had (and what we had the energy to prepare), so that's how the meal ended up. Just making a note in case I'm ever planning a similar meal again.

Chicken Provençal

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country October/November 2019

Ingredients

• 6 bone-in chicken thighs¹
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, ground, divided
• 1/2 c. flour
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 2-3 shallots (or 1 red onion), halved and sliced
• 3-4 cloves garlic, minced
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme (or 3/4 tsp. dried thyme)
• 2 oil-packed anchovies²
• 1/8-1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes
• 340g cherry tomatoes, halved
• 1/2 c. pitted kalamata olives, halved
• 1/2 c. dry white wine³
• 1/2 c. chopped flat-leaf parsley

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
2. Pat chicken dry and sprinkle with salt and 1/4 tsp. of the pepper.
3. Place flour in a shallow bowl and dredge the chicken, coating thoroughly. Reserve 1 tsp. of the dredging flour. (More if you're increasing the sauce ingredients.)
4. Heat a large oven-safe skillet or Dutch oven over medium-high heat and add the oil.
5. Add the chicken and cook for ~3 minutes on each side.
6. Transfer chicken to a plate and set aside.
7. Reduce heat to medium and add the shallots to the skillet. Cook for 2-4 minutes.
8. Add garlic, thyme, anchovies, pepper flakes, and reserved flour and cook for a minute or so.
9. Add tomatoes, olives, wine, and remaining 1/4 tsp. of pepper and deglaze the pan.
10. Return chicken to pan, skin-side-up, and bring to a boil.
11. Transfer to oven and cook, uncovered, at 200°C (400°F) until chicken is done (~25 minutes or until interior temperature reaches 80°C/175°F).
12. Sprinkle with parsley and serve.

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¹ The original recipe called for eight thighs, but we only had six. I really liked the chicken:sauce ratio that this gave us. I'd be seriously tempted to bump up the other ingredients in order to produce more sauce if making it with more than six thighs in the future. ^Back
2 The original recipe called for two anchovy fillets, but TF and I have found that we prefer using whole anchovies as they break down more easily, are cheaper per unit mass, and (at least in our opinion) are tastier too! ^Back
3 The folks at ATK said that after testing the recipe with both white wine and dry vermouth, they found that their tasters preferred the vermouth. I'm sure it would be lovely with vermouth, but that's not something we keep on hand. In fact, I don't think I've ever used vermouth in anything before. White wine, on the other hand, I use somewhat frequently and, thus, tend to keep a bottle in the pantry for occasional use. So, even though it was deemed sub-optimal, I chose to revert to the white wine option for the sauce. And, honestly, I can't really complain about the results. It was delicious! ^Back

Just a quick write-up because I'm tired, but I also don't want to forget. Again.

Barley-Rye Sourdough

Ingredients

• 100% flour: 80% hard whole wheat, 10% rye, 10% barley
• 65% water
• 20% active (ripe/fed) starter (100% hydration)
• 4% honey
• 2% salt

Directions

1. Feed your starter and make sure it's nice and active.
2. Combine whole wheat flour and water. Mix well, cover, and let stand for 1-12 hours.
3. Add the starter and honey and work them into the dough.
4. Add the salt and work it in as well.
5. Use the rye and barley flour to generously flour the work surface and turn the dough out onto it.
6. Knead in the remaining flour.
7. Once the flour has been worked in, wet your hands and try to work in a little more water if you can.
8. Place dough in covered bowl and set aside to ferment. Rising time will vary depending on room temperature and starter activity.
9. Knock dough back and shape as desired.
10. Cover and allow to rise again (either at room temperature or in the fridge).
11. Bake at 230°C (450°F) with steam for the first 15 minutes, then remove steam pan and reduce heat to 180°C (350°F) and bake until done (usually ~20 minutes for my standard sized loaves, but will vary depending on loaf shape and size and how well-proofed it was).

So, this is one of several slightly insane recipes that I originally saw on the Something Awful cake thread. I originally assumed that "pumpkin pie cupcakes" meant "pumpkin pie-flavoured" and was expecting pumpkin cupcakes with pumpkin pie spices in the batter. Or maybe even just the pumpkin pie spices without the pumpkin itself. That's not the way this recipe rolls though! They start out by having you make a bunch of tiny pumpkin pies. (I guess maybe that makes them pumpkin tarts? I'm not sure.) And then you make your cupcakes, carefully nestling a mini pie in the centre of each one. And top it all off with a cinnamon cream cheese frosting.

Like I said: insane. And fairly time-consuming and labour-intensive if you're making everything from scratch.
Tasty though.

The original recipe actually called for using store-bought pastry and canned pumpkin pie filling. But that's not the way I roll, so I started with a pie pumpkin and went from there. That said, if you'd like to save a little time, feel free to shave off a few steps with ready-made alternatives!

Pumpkin Pie Cupcakes

Slightly adapted from Bake It in a Cake via the Something Awful forums

Ingredients

Pumpkin Pies

• 250g flour
• 95g unsalted butter
• 75-90mL cold water
• 1 recipe pie filling from pumpkin pie

Cupcakes

• 3/4 c. unsalted butter, softened
• 250g cream cheese, softened
• 1 c. sugar¹
• 3 large eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 c. all-purpose flour, divided
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 1/3 c. milk², divided

Decoration

• 1 recipe icing from cayenne-pumpkin cupcakes³
• cinnamon-sugar roasted pumpkin seeds (optional)

Directions

Pumpkin Pies

1. If you're starting with a whole pumpkin, scoop the seeds and get it roasting first.
2. Cut the butter into the flour.
3. Mix the water in with a fork, adding 1 Tbsp. at a time.
4. Shape the pastry into a ball or disc, cover (or wrap in plastic wrap), and chill for at least an hour.
5. While the pastry is chilling, make your pumpkin pie filling: combine pumpkin, egg, egg yolks, sugar, coconut milk, and spices. Use an immersion blender to purée if using home-cooked/roasted pumpkin.
6. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
7. Divide the pastry into two roughly equal portions.
8. Working with one portion at a time, roll out fairly thin (maybe 2-3mm) and cut out 7.5cm (3") circles. Repeat with second portion of pastry. Then roll out scraps and continue until all pastry has been used (or nearly so).
9. Use the pastry circles to line the wells of a mini muffin pan (3-4cm diameter wells).
10. Place mini cupcake liners/papers inside each tart shell and place a few pie weights/beans inside each liner.
11. Bake at 190°C (375°F) for ~5 minutes.
12. Remove liners and pie weights and fill each tart shell with pumpkin pie filling.
13. Return to oven and bake for another 6-7 minutes.
14. Let pies cool in tin for 5-10 minutes, then use a spatula to carefully remove each one from the tin.⁴

Cupcakes

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F) and grease the wells of a muffin tin (5cm/2" diameter wells). Alternatively, you may line the wells with cupcake liners.
2. Cream butter and cream cheese with the sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs one at a time.
4. Beat in the vanilla.
5. Add 1 c. of flour, but don't mix it in yet!
6. Sift the baking powder and baking soda in on top of the flour.
7. Add the salt on top of the flour as well.
8. Now mix in the flour.
9. Add about half of the milk and mix it in.
10. Add another c. of flour and mix it in.
11. Mix in the remaining milk.
12. Add the last 1/2 c. of flour and mix it in.
13. Mix for an additional 30 seconds.
14. Add a generous Tbsp. of batter to each well in the muffin tin.
15. Place a mini pie into each well and press it down a bit so that the batter comes up the sides.
16. Place another Tbsp. or so of batter on top of each pie and spread it out to completely encase the pie.
17. Bake at 180°C (350°F) for 25 minutes.
18. Let cool in pan for ~5 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack to finish cooling.

Decoration

1. Make icing as directed: beat butter and cream cheese together, beat in icing sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla.
2. Chill icing until ready to use.
3. Once cupcakes are completely cooled, decorate with icing as desired.
4. If desired garnish with cinnamon-sugar roasted pumpkin seeds. (I'm kicking myself for not thinking of this until after I took the photo. The seeds were right there!)

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¹ The original recipe called for 1 1/2 c. of sugar, but that seemed like a lot, so I scaled it back a bit. I think the final cupcakes taste plenty sweet enough with only 1 c. of sugar. Especially since they end up getting iced as well. ^Back
2 Whoops! Just realized that the recipe says 1 1/3 c. milk, not 1 1/2. Oh well, it still seemed to turn out fine with 1 1/2 c. ^Back
3 The original recipe came with its own icing recipe but, as far as I can tell, it was pretty similar. The base was the same combination of cream cheese, butter, and icing sugar. The main difference seems to be that it also called for melting "cinnamon chips" and mixing them into the icing. I have never heard of cinnamon chips before. I assume they're some sort of cinnamon-flavoured white chocolate baking chip? Anyway, I had some icing left over from making the cayenne-pumpkin cupcakes the previous week, so I just used it here and was quite happy with the results. I figured it's still a cinnamon-y, cream cheese-y icing, so it amounts to just about the same thing. ^{Back 4} Full disclosure, I don't have a mini muffin pan, but I do have a Babycakes Cupcake Maker so I just used that to make my pies. This worked alright, but the crusts did end up a bit underbaked since you can't really blind bake them that way and the filling cooked faster than the pastry. I've written out the instructions to do them in the oven here both because I don't expect everyone to have a cupcake maker and because I think that blind baking the crusts will likely provide better results. (And I have used the pie weights inside a cupcake liner approach for making tart shells before. It works quite well. Although I usually use liners one size smaller than the wells on the muffin tin, so I'm not sure how that works when you're already using a mini muffin tin. If you can find "extra mini" liners, that would be idea. Otherwise I think slightly crumpling the liners so that they're a little more flexible and willing to conform to the smaller shape would probably work reasonably well. It may take some experimentation, but I'm sure it can be done! ^Back

Spice-Roasted Butternut Squash

We've had a butternut squash languishing on the counter for a couple weeks now. I keep telling myself that tommorrow will be the day that I finally manage to do something with it. But then it just never quite happens.

I had been vaguely thinking of making the squash salad out of that vegetable a day cookbook I'd been flipping through a while back, but I just wasn't feeling it today, so I turned to Cook's Country instead.

The squash was pretty nice. But I found it a bit greasy. I think that 3 Tbsp. of oil + 2 Tbsp. of butter is way too much fat for one squash. I'd probably try cutting the oil and butter each by a Tbsp. next time.

I was also a little confused by the flavour combinations. The lemon version involved cumin, cinnamon, and thyme. With the lime, they had cumin, allspice, and chives. And with the orange, they had cumin, coriander, and oregano. Now, I followed the recipe this time, and it was tasty but, personally, I would've been much more inclined to put the lime with the cumin and coriander and then double up on the Coriandrum with a bit of cilantro (coriander leaves) in the butter. I've included the original recipes below, but below that I've also included my take on what flavour combinations I think would be good.

Spice-Roasted Butternut Squash with Honey-Lemon Butter

From Cook's Country December/January 2018

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 1/4 tsp. salt, divided
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. ground cayenne
• 1.25kg butternut squash, cubed
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 Tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme
• 1 tsp. lemon juice

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 220°C (425°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. Whisk together oil, 1 tsp. salt, cumin, cinnamon, and cayenne.
3. Toss squash with oil mixture.
4. Dump squash into prepared baking sheet and spread to form an even layer.
5. Roast at 220°C (425°F) for 30 minutes.
6. Combine butter and honey and heat until butter is completely melted.
7. Stir in remaining 1/4 tsp. of salt, thyme, and lemon juice.
8. Drizzle squash with butter mixture and serve.

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Variations

Spice-Roasted Butternut Squash with Honey-Lime Butter

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 1/4 tsp. salt, divided
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. ground allspice
• 1/8 tsp. ground cayenne
• 1.25kg butternut squash, cubed
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 Tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. chopped fresh chives
• 1 tsp. lime juice

Spice-Roasted Butternut Squash with Honey-Orange Butter

Ingredients

• 3 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1 1/4 tsp. salt, divided
• 1 tsp. ground cumin
• 1 tsp. ground coriander
• 1/8 tsp. ground cayenne
• 1.25kg butternut squash, cubed
• 2 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 Tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. chopped fresh oregano
• 1 tsp. orange juice

Better Butternut Squash: Lemon

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ajwain seeds, ground
• 1/8 tsp. ground Kashmiri chilies
• 1.25kg butternut squash, cubed
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 Tbsp. honey
• 2 tsp. lemon juice

Better Butternut Squash: Lime

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 tsp. cumin seeds, ground
• 1 tsp. coriander seeds, ground
• 1/8 tsp. ground cayenne
• 1.25kg butternut squash, cubed
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 Tbsp. honey
• 2 tsp. chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tsp. lime juice

Better Butternut Squash: Orange

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1 tsp. allspice berries, ground
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1.25kg butternut squash, cubed
• 1 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 1 Tbsp. honey
• 1 tsp. grated ginger
• 1 Tbsp. chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 2 tsp. orange juice

I ended up with a surprise pomegranate in one of my recent produce baskets, so I picked out this meal to use it up since I also had some pork chops in the freezer that I was hoping to find a use for. The pork chops and brussels sprouts were both quite good, and a few accordion potatoes rounded out the meal.

I appreciate how quickly and easily this meal came together and that it only requires the use of a single pan. I ended up having to substitute pine nuts for the pistachios. I normally keep a bag of pistachios on hand in the freezer, but I must've used them all up at some point and forgot to get more. I think the pine nuts worked well, but pistachios would've been even better.

Sadly, the Kidlet wasn't a big fan of the brussels sprouts -- which actually ended up being a combination of brussels sprouts and cabbage for us because I didn't have as many sprouts as the recipe called for -- but she was a fan of the pork.

The original recipe calls for cooking the pork chops in oil, but I had a jar of bacon grease in the fridge, so I ended up using that instead. I highly recommend this approach if you have any bacon fat kicking around. And I bet lard would also work great. If you don't have either of those, then I'm sure any neutral oil will do just fine.

One-Pan Pork Chops and Brussels Sprouts

Slightly adapted from Cook's Country October/November 2019

Ingredients

• 3/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, divided
• 1/2 tsp. black peppercorns, divided
• 1/4-1/2 tsp. ground cayenne or Kashmiri chilies
• 4 bone-in pork chops (~250g each)
• 2 Tbsp. bacon fat
• 680g brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
• 1/4 c. water
• 2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar¹
• 2 tsp. lemon juice
• 2 Tbsp. fresh pomegranate arils/seeds
• 2 Tbsp. pistachios, toasted and chopped

directions

1. Grind 3/8 tsp. of the salt with 1/4 tsp. of the peppercorns and mix in the ground chilies.²
2. Pat the pork chops dry and sprinkle them with the salt mixture on both sides.
3. Melt the bacon fat in a large pan over medium-high heat.
4. Add the pork chops (cook in batches if necessary) and cook until nicely browned on both sides and cooked all the way through (10-12 minutes), flipping every 2 minutes. Internal temperature should register 60°C (140°F).
5. Remove chops from pan and set aside. (Optionally tent with aluminum foil to help hold the heat.)
6. Pour off all but 2 Tbsp. of fat from the pan.³
7. Place the brussels sprouts in the pan cut side down.
8. Add the water and remaining 3/8 tsp. of salt.
9. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook for 4 minutes.
10. Uncover and cook for another 5 minutes.
11. Give sprouts a good stir and cook for 1-2 minutes longer.
12. Remove from heat and stir in vinegar, remaining 1/4 tsp. of pepper, pomegranate, and pistachios.
13. Serve sprouts and chops together along with your favourite starch (rice, potatoes, etc.).

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¹ Whoops! I just realized that I totally misread this line of the recipe and only put 2 teaspoons of vinegar rather than 2 tablespoons! Oh well... it was still tasty. ^Back
2 The pork chops were great with just the little bit of salt, pepper, and cayenne called for in the recipe, but it occurred to me while doing this write-up that it might be fun to experiemnt with a more complex spice rub like the one I used for my barbecued chicken a while back. I believe that rub was concoted with pork in mind, in fact. I'm not sure how it'd do in a pan on quick-cooking chops as opposed to on the grill on slow-cooked ribs, but I'd be interested to find out! I think my main concern would be burning the sugar. But I'm sure that the right pan at the right temperature could help avoid that. ^Back
3 If you're not confident eyeballing the amount of fat left in the pan, you can always pour off all the fat and then measure out 2 Tbsp. to add back in. ^Back