Spinach-stuffed portabello caps

This is modified slightly from the Cook's Country original. Why would you remove the gills? They're delicious!

Ingredients

• 8 large portabello mushroom caps
• 80mL olive oil
• salt and pepper
• 384mL panko breadcrumbs
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• ~3L baby spinach
• ~250g crumbled feta cheese
• 5mL grated lemon zest
• 64mL fresh mint leaves, torn

Procedure

1. Adjust oven racks to upper middle and lower middle positions; preheat to 475ºF.
2. Rub mushrooms with 45mL of oil and season with salt and pepper. Arrange gill side down on rimmed baking sheet and roast on lower rack until tender, ~15 minutes.
3. Combine panko, garlic, ~1mL each salt and pepper, and remaining oil in a large dutch oven.
4. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until panko lightly browned, ~2 minutes.
5. Stir in spinach and cook until wilted, ~5 minutes.
6. Remove from heat and stir in 250mL feta and the lemon zest.
7. Flip mushrooms gill side up and divide filling evenly among them. Top with remaining feta and bake on upper rack until feta starts to brown, ~8 minutes.
8. Garnish with extra oil and mint.

Baked Ricotta Chicken

Continuing the Cook's Country backlog, this is from the April/May 2017 issue.

Ingredients

• Breadcrumbs:
• 128mL panko breadcrumbs
• 15mL olive oil
• 1mL salt
• 1mL pepper
• Chicken:
• 250mL ricotta cheese
• ~200mL freshly grated parmesan
• 5mL dried oregano
• salt and pepper
• 64mL olive oil
• 4 (~250g) boneless skinless chicken breasts, trimmed and flattened to ~1cm thick
• 384mL premade pasta sauce
• 30mL coarsely chopped fresh basil

Procedure

1. Combine all breadcrumb ingredients in a bowl. Microwave until panko is light golden brown, 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally; set aside.
2. Adjust oven rack to upper middle position and preheat to 425ºF.
3. Process ricotta, parmesan, oregano, 1mL each salt and pepper in food processor until smooth, ~10 seconds.
4. With processor running, slowly add 48mL oil until incorporated. Transfer to bowl and set aside.
5. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Heat remaining 16mL oil in a large skillet over medium heat and cook chicken until browned on both sides, ~6 minutes.
6. Evenly spread half the sauce in the bottom of a 13x9" baking dish. Transfer chicken to dish, layering on top of sauce. Pour remaining sauce over chicken, then top each piece with a quarter of the ricotta mixture.
7. Bake until chicken registers 160ºF internally, ~15 minutes.
8. Sprinkle with basil and serve.

Cherry Brownies

I've had my eye on this recipe for TF for over a month now but only just got around to making it. He loves brownies and this recipe in particular looked like it would make the type of rich, dense brownies he especially likes. Plus, extra bonus cherries and almond extract! What's not to love?

Cherry Brownies
Cook's Country October/November 2015
1 1/2 c. dried cherries
1/4 c. + 1/3 c. water
1 tsp. almond extract
60g unsweetened chocolate, chopped
4 Tbsp. unsalted butter, cut in 4
6 Tbsp. oil
1/3 c. cocoa powder¹
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/4 c.sugar
3/4 tsp. salt
1 3/4 c. all-purpose flour²

1. Grease and flour 13x9" baking pan.
2. Combine cherries, 1/4 c. water, and almond extract in a small bowl.
3. Cover and microwave for 1 minute.
4. Set aside and let stand for at least 5 minutes.
5. In a separate bowl, microwave chocolate and butter until melted. (Should take 45 seconds or so.)
6. Whisk oil, cocoa, and 1/3 c. water into chocolate mixture. It may look a bit curdled once the water goes in. This is expected.
7. Whisk in eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla.
8. Whisk in sugar and salt.
9. Stir in flour until just combined.
10. Stir in cherries + any residual soaking liquid.
11. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth with a spatula.
12. Bake at 350F (~180C) for 25-30 minutes. (Skewer inserted in middle should come out with a few moist crumbs clinging to it, but should not be overly wet or dry.) For best results, rotate pan halfway through baking.
13. Let cool for at least 1 hour (and preferably 2) before cutting.

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¹ The recipe specifically calls for Dutched, but I just used regular cocoa. I'm sure it would be even better with the proper cocoa, but I was quite happy with the results regardless!
² All-purpose flour is made with fairly hard (high-gluten) wheat. It is much harder the "plain", "standard", or "soft" flours of places like the UK and NZ, but probably slightly softer than "bread", "high grade", or "hard" flours in those regions. That said, I think using hard/high grade/bread flour in lieu of all-purpose would be fine for the vast majority of recipes.

Moroccan Steak Tips and Couscous

I enjoyed the couscous for this, but the steak came out a bit tough and somewhat disappointing. Next time I might just make the couscous part and leave out the steak altogether.

Steak Tips and Couscous
Cook's Country October/November 2017
2 tsp. ground cumin
1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
salt and pepper
1 1/2 lbs. sirloin steak tips, trimmed and cut into 2" chunks
1 Tbsp. oil
1 1/4 c. water
1 (440mL) can chickpeas, rinsed
3/4 c. couscous
1/2 c. golden raisins
60g baby spinach (or more to taste)

1. Combine cumin, cinnamon, 1/4 tsp. pepper, and 2 tsp. salt.
2. Season steak w/ 1 Tbsp. spice mix.
3. Heat oil in pan until just smoking.
4. Add steak to pan and cook until browned on all sides.
5. Remove steak from pan and set aside.
6. Add water, chickpeas, couscous, raisins, and remaining spice mix to pan.
7. Bring to a boil, remove from heat, cover, and let stand for ~5 minutes.
8. Stir in spinach and serve with steak.

For a steak-less variation, I might try slowly cooking some onions in the pan first.

Warm Couscous Salad
1 Tbsp. oil
1 onion, chopped
1 tsp. ground cumin
3/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp. pepper
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. paprika
1 1/4 c. water
1 (440mL) can chickpeas, rinsed
3/4 c. couscous
1/2 c. golden raisins
120g baby spinach

1. Cook onions in oil over medium heat until light brown.
2. Add cumin, cinnamon, salt, pepper, and paprika to pan and cook until spices sizzle and become fragrant, 30-60 seconds.
3. Add water, chickpeas, couscous, and raisins.
4. Bring to a boil, then remove from heat, cover, and let stand for ~5 minutes.
5. Stir in the spinach and serve.

Pork and Ricotta Meatballs

This produces meatballs in a tomato sauce, suitable for use on pasta or in sandwiches, or just eaten straight.

Ingredients

• For the meatballs:
• 4 slices white sandwich bread
• 256mL ricotta cheese
• 1kg ground pork
• 128mL freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 128mL chopped fresh parsley
• 2 large eggs
• 2 shallots, minced
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 15mL salt
• 8mL pepper
• 5mL grated lemon zest
• For the sauce:
• 64mL olive oil
• 10 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
• 5mL red pepper flakes
• 2 (~800mL) tins of crushed tomatoes
• 30mL chopped fresh basil
• salt and pepper

The Meatballs

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and heat to 450ºF. Set wire rack in aluminium-foil-lined baking sheet.
2. Combine bread and ricotta in a large bowl and let sit, mashing occasionally with a fork, until they form a smooth paste, ~10 minutes.
3. Add pork, parmesan, parsley, eggs, shallots, garlic, salt, pepper, and lemon zest and mix with hands until combined.
4. Divide into ~24 portions of about 64mL each and place on platter. Roll each portion in your hands to form a meatball and place on wire rack.
5. Roast until browned, 30-35 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through roasting. Remove from oven, and reduce oven temperature to 300ºF.

The Sauce

1. While the meatballs are baking, combine oil and garlic in a dutch oven over low heat and cook until garli turns golden and softens, 12-14 minutes.
2. Add pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, ~30 seconds.
3. Add tomatoes and 5mL salt. Cover mostly and and bring to a simmer over medium-high heat.
4. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer until sauce has thickened slightly, ~30 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
5. Add meatballs to sauce, cover, and transfer pot to oven. Bake until meatballs and tender and sauce has thickened, ~30 minutes.
6. Transfer to serving dish and serve with basil and additional parmesan.

Linguine with Olives and Garlic

A quick and easy meal that came to the rescue while TF was away in the UK. Not exactly nutritionally complete, but as a one-off thing when you're crunched for time, it certainly makes for a tasty dinner, if not a healthy one.

Linguine with Olives and Garlic
Cook's Country October/November 2017
1 lb. linguine
salt and pepper
1/2 c. + 1 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 c. panko bread crumbs
6 garlic cloves, sliced
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 c. pitted green olives, halved
1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley
2 Tbsp. lemon juice

1. Add 1 Tbsp. salt to 4L water and bring to a boil.
2. Cook pasta in salted water until al dente.
3. Reserve 1/4 c. cooking water and drain pasta.
4. While the pasta is cooking, combine 1 Tbsp. oil, panko, and 1/4 tsp. salt and toast over medium heat for ~3 minutes.
5. Transfer panko to a bowl and set aside.
6. Add remaining 1/2 c. oil to pan along with garlic, pepper flakes, 1/2 tsp. salt, and 1/4 tsp. pepper.
7. Cook oil mixture over medium heat until garlic begins to brown.
8. Toss cooked pasta with olives, parsley, lemon juice, oil mixture, and reserved cooking water.
9. Sprinkle with toasted panko and serve.

Chocolate Ice Cream

The kidlet asked to make chocolate ice cream today, so we did! :)
Just used the basic recipe that came with the ice cream machine. Seems to have turned out pretty well. And very kid-friendly because you just stir everything together and dump it in; no cooking required!

Simple Chocolate Ice Cream
1/2 c. cocoa powder (preferably Dutched, but regular is also fine)
1/3 c. sugar
1/4 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. milk (any percentage should work fine, I used 1%)
1 1/2 c. + 2 Tbsp. heavy (35%) cream
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Combine cocoa powder and sugars.
2. Whisk in milk until blended and sugars dissolve. The recipe calls for using an electric mixer on low for 1 minute or so. I just whisked by hand until it looked smooth and homogeneous.
3. Mix in cream and vanilla.
4. Turn on ice cream machine and pour mixture in. (Yes, in that specific order.)
5. Churn for 30 minutes (+/- 5 minutes).
6. Serve immediately for a creamy, chocolate-y soft serve or scoop into a container and chill in the freezer for at least two hours for firmer ice cream.
7. If ice cream has been stored in the freezer, allow to soften at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving.

Paav Bhajee

This delicious recipe from 660 Curries claims to be an appetizer, but we made it as a main dish and it works excellently in that role. We deviated somewhat from the recipe in how it's served; as written you're meant to grill the buns and then place them on top of the curry (maybe slice them up as you eat it?), whereas we spread the curry on top of the buns and at them as open-faced sandwiches. Prepared thus, one batch makes enough for eight hamburger buns or so; plan accordingly. (The recipe says 10 so we may have been going heavier on the curry:bun ratio than expected.)

It takes quite a while to make, but most of the actual prep work is in chopping things; the cooking process mostly involves waiting and stirring.

We still have the other half of the cauliflower in the fridge and it's destined to be used in a second batch of this.

Ingredients

• 500g russet or yukon gold potatoes, diced
• 250g cauliflower, cut into florets
• 1 large green bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and coarsely chopped
• 128mL frozen green peas
• 1 large red onion, coarsely chopped
• 4 fresh green Thai, cayenne, or serrano chilis, stems removed
• 128mL salted butter for cooking, plus more for grilling the buns
• 1 (~450mL) tin of tomato sauce
• 15mL ginger paste
• 15mL garlic paste
• 15mL paav bhajee masala
• 5mL coarse salt
• 64mL tomato paste
• 128mL finely chopped fresh cilantro
• 8-10 white hamburger buns

Procedure

1. Combine the potatoes, cauliflower, bell pepper, peas, and 1L water in a medium-size saucepan, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
2. Cover and reduce heat to medium. Stew, covered, stirring occasionally, until tender, ~20 minutes.
3. While the vegetables are cooking, combine the onion and chiles in a blender or food processor. Keep away from eyes.
4. Heat a wok or large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 30mL of the butter and the onion-chili blend and cook, stirring, until the mixture browns, 5-8 minutes.
5. Add the tomato sauce, ginger, garlic, masala, and salt. Lower heat to medium and simmer, partially covered, stirring occasionally, until a thin film of oil forms on the surface, 8-10 minutes. Don't let it stick.
6. Meanwhile, reserve 1 cup of the cooking water and drain the vegetables in a colander. Transfer them to a medium-sized bowl, add the tomato sauce, and coarsely mash them.
7. Add the mashed vegetables, half the cilantro, and the reserved water to the sauce. The curry will bubble geyser-like as it heats. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, covered, stirring frequently, for 15 minutes.
8. Add 30mL of butter and stir it in. Cook, uncovered, for five minutes. Repeat twice more, using up the rest of the butter in the process.
9. Top with the rest of the cilantro.
10. Slice the hamburger buns, butter the inside faces, and grill, face down, in a skillet until they are browned and crispy and delicious.
11. Spread the buns with curry and eat open-faced.

Paav bhajee masala

A "vegetable spice mix" used for, well, paav bhajee. Like most of our curry-related things, this is from 660 Curries.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp whole coriander
• 1 tsp whole cumin
• ½ tsp each whole peppercorns, fenugreek, and anise
• ¼ tsp decorticated cardamom
• 6 whole cloves
• 2 tbsp cayenne
• 1 tbsp amchor
• 2 tsp coarse salt
• 1 tsp ground black salt
• ¼ ground nutmeg

Procedure

1. Combine the coriander, cumin, peppercorns, fenugreek, anise, cardamom, and cloves in a spice grinder; grind fine.
2. Add the cayenne, amchor, both salts, and the nutmeg. Mix.

Lemon Chicken & Orzo Soup

Ingredients

• 30mL unsalted butter
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2L chicken broth
• 2 sprigs fresh thyme
• salt and pepper
• 250mL orzo or similar tiny pasta
• 6 large egg yolks
• 90mL lemon juice (~2 lemons)
• 500mL shredded rotisserie chicken (or leftover grilled chicken)
• 30mL chopped fresh chives

Procedure

1. Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat.
2. Add onion and cook until softened, ~4 minutes.
3. Increase heat to medium-high; add broth, thyme sprigs, 5mL salt, and 2.5mL pepper.
4. Bring to a boil. Add orzo and cook until tender, ~12 minutes.
5. Remove from heat and discard thyme sprigs.
6. Whisk together egg yolks and lemon juice in a bowl. Whisking constantly. slowly pour into hot soup.
7. Stir in chicken, cover, and let sit for 10 minutes, until soup is thickened and chicken is warmed through.

Pecan-Crusted Trout with Lemon Garlic Sauce

Ingredients

• 128mL mayonnaise
• 15mL minced parsley
• 7.5mL grated lemon zest
• 10mL lemon juice
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 256mL pecans
• 64mL panko breadcrumbs
• salt and pepper
• 1mL cayenne pepper
• 1 large egg
• 5mL dijon mustard
• 3 (~250g) headless, boneless, butterflied whole trout
• 64mL vegetable oil

Procedure

1. Whisk together mayo, parsley, 2.5mL lemon zest, lemon juice, and garlic in a bowl. Chill until ready to serve.
2. Grind pecans and panko in a food processor until finely chopped. Transfer to shallow dish.
3. Stir in 2.5mL each salt and pepper, cayenne, and remaining lemon zest.
4. In a second dish, whisk together egg, mustard, and 1mL each salt and pepper.
5. Preheat oven to 200°F.
6. Bisect each trout to yield 2 filets per trout. Pat dry and season with salt and pepper.
7. Dredge flesh side of each filet in egg mix, allow excess to drip off, then dredge in pecan mixture and press gently to adhere. Buffer pecan side up.
8. Heat oil in a nonstick skillet. Cook filets pecan side down until browned and fragrant, 3-4 minutes. Carefully flip filets and continue cooking until skin is browned and flesh flakes easily, 2-3 minutes. (You may need to cook in multiple batches).
9. Serve with lemon-garlic sauce.

Switchel

A gingery cold drink.

Ingredients

• 6 C water
• 3/4 C cider vinegar
• 1/2 C maple syrup
• 1/4 C old-fashioned rolled oats
• 2 tbsp grated fresh ginger
• 1 tsp grated lemon zest
• 1/4 tsp salt

Bring all ingredients to simmer in large saucepan over medium-high heat. Immediately remove from heat and let cool. Strain through a fine mesh strainer and refrigerate. Serve over ice.

Tangier-Style Harira

Making this is a procedure. You need to start a day in advance, and actually making it requires two large pots (or one large pot and one large bowl) plus a big chunk of counter space. The results are so worth it, though! It's extremely delicious and makes a huge batch.

The original recipe uses dried chickpeas; we used tinned cooked chickpeas to slightly reduce the effort required. We also tweaked the proportions a bit, in particular adding more meat than called for (and I think it could have taken even more without issues).

Ingredients

• A whole lot of marrow bones
• ¼C pasta flour
• Juice of ½ lemon
• 1-2 lbs cubed boneless lamb, beef, or pork
• Olive oil
• ¾C chopped onion
• 1 large tin cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1½tsp La Kama spice mix (below)
• 1/16 tsp crushed saffron threads
• 3 qt chicken stock
• ⅓C finely chopped flat-leaf parsley
• ⅓C finely chopped celery leaves
• ⅓C finely chopped cilantro
• ¾C short-grain rice
• 1½C peeled and crushed tomatoes
• 1 tsp sugar

Procedure

1. The day before:
1. Cover the marrow bones in saltwater and put them in the fridge.
2. Combine the flour and lemon juice with ½C lukewarm water, partially cover, and leave in a warm place to ferment overnight.
2. Drain the marrow bones. Put them and the diced meat in a large pot, cover, and steam over medium heat, adding a few spoonfuls of water if needed, until the bones and meat no longer look raw, ~10 minutes.
3. Add the oil and onions and cook, stirring, for ~5 minutes.
4. Cover with 6C water and bring to a hard boil, then skim to remove impurities.
5. Add the chickpeas, spices, saffron, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring back to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to simmer for 1h.
6. Remove from the heat and fish out the marrow bones. Extract the marrow and pulp it with the back of a spoon; discard the bones.
7. Combine the marrow, chicken stock, more pepper, the parsley, celery leaves, rice, and half the cilantro in another pot (or in the same pot after buffering the contents of the first in a large bowl). Bring to a boil and cook for 20 minutes.
8. Add the tomatoes, sugar, and flour/lemon mixture and continue cooking, uncovered, for 10 minutes, stirring constantly.
9. Combine the contents of the two pots and garnish with the remaining cilantro.

La Kama Spice Mix

• 1 tsp each ground ginger, ground turmeric, and ground white pepper
• ½ tsp each ground cinnamon and, optionally, cubeb pepper
• a pinch of nutmeg

Pasta with spinach, sun-dried tomatoes, and feta

This was a staple when we were in university; it comes together quickly and easily, is inexpensive and delicious, and fridges well.

I think this originated as Hazan's Aglio e Olio recipe, and we just kept adding things to it over the years until we ended up with this.

All amounts are approximate; this recipe will tolerate a great deal of variation.

Ingredients

• 500g store-bought dried pasta (something compact, like fusilli, works well here)
• 4-6 garlic cloves, chopped
• a bunch of hot pepper flakes
• 125mL sundried tomatoes in oil, chopped
• (optional) thinly sliced chicken strips
• 300g frozen chopped spinach
• 250g feta cheese, chopped or crumbled
• fresh parmesan and/or romano to taste

Procedure

1. Boil the water for the pasta; cook al dente.
2. While the pasta is cooking, heat some oil in a deep skillet (or a shallow one, but then you'll need a separate bowl to toss the pasta in) -- the oil from the sundried tomatoes works well, if there's enough of it.
3. Add the garlic cloves, hot pepper flakes, and tomato and cook until fragrant, 30-60 seconds.
4. Add the chicken, if using, and cook until cooked through (or until thawed, if using frozen cooked chicken strips)
5. Add the spinach and cover until it has thawed, then uncover and stir until most of the liquid has cooked off.
6. Add the feta and any other cheeses you are using.
7. Toss with pasta.
8. Eat.

Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Seeds

Via wholefully, a recipe for sweet roasted pumpkin seeds. The recipe is written "per half cup of seeds", and I've reproduced it as such here, but in practice the pie pumpkins we were using yielded perhaps ¾C of seeds, so we just doubled the recipe; this worked out very well.

Ingredients

• ½C pumpkin seeds, cleaned and dried
• 1tsp olive oil
• ½tsp ground cinnamon
• 1tbsp brown sugar
• a pinch of salt

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 300°F.
2. Toss seeds with oil.
3. Combine dry ingredients, then toss seeds with those, too.
4. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lay out the seeds on it.
5. Bake for ~30 minutes, turning every 10 or so, until delicious.

Pumpkin pie is a fall favourite. Growing up, we usually made it from tinned pumpkin puree (i.e. not tinned pie filling, just pumpkin); last week we made one "actually from scratch" starting with a pie pumpkin. The results are indistinguishable; the former is easier, the latter gives you a bowl of pumpkin seeds you can roast as a side effect.

The recipe we worked from last week calls for a mix of white and brown sugar and (as is typical) evaporated milk; we used all brown sugar and, for lactose-friendliness, coconut milk.

We also had more pumpkin than it calls for, so we added an extra egg and an extra 100mL of coconut milk (neatly using up an entire tin), but the recipe is fairly tolerant of variation.

Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients

• 1 pie pumpkin or 1 ~500mL tin of pumpkin puree
• 1 large egg
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1 c. brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp. ground ginger
• 1/2 tsp. ground nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp. ground cloves
• 1/4 tsp. ground black pepper
• 300mL evaporated milk or coconut milk
• Pie crust

Directions

1. Roll out the crust and install it in the pie plate.
2. Add the weights (in parchment paper) and blind-bake at 400°F for 15 minutes. Remove the weights, brush all over with egg whites, and bake for another 5 minutes. Remove and let cool.
3. If using a pie pumpkin, prepare it: cut it in half and scoop out the seeds, brush with oil, and roast at 375°F until tender. Peel off the skin and lightly mash the flesh into a bowl.
   If using a tin of pumpkin puree, simply empty it into a bowl.
4. Add the egg, egg yolks, sugar, flour, salt, spices, and milk. Mix well.¹
5. Pour the filling into the pie crust. Bake at 325°F until just set, ~1 hour. Remove from the oven and let cool.
6. Eat plain or with whipped cream.

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¹ If using a pie pumpkin, the mix will probably be somewhat stringy. Put it through a blender (or use an immersion blender) to fix this. If using tinned puree, simply mixing it with a spoon should be sufficient. ^Back

Pork Chops with Cherry Tomatoes and Balsamic Reduction

Ingredients

• 4 (~250g) bone-in rib pork chops, trimmed
• salt and pepper
• 30mL canola oil
• 1 shallot, sliced thin
• 375g cherry tomatoes, halved
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 100mL balsamic vinegar
• 30mL butter
• 64g blue cheese, crumbled
• 64mL chopped fresh basil

Procedure

1. Season pork chops with salt and pepper.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook pork until well browned and cooked through, ~4 minutes/side; remove to plate.
3. Add shallot to skillet and cook until soft, ~1 minute.
4. Add tomatoes and cook until they too start to soften, ~1 minute.
5. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, ~30 seconds.
6. Deglaze pan with vinegar and cook until it thickens and becomes syrupy, ~2 minutes.
7. Pour accumulated juices from plate back into skillet. Remove from heat.
8. Whisk in butter and season with salt and pepper to taste.
9. Pour over pork chops, top with blue cheese and basil, and serve.

Pasta Genovese/Beef and Onion Ragu

This is kind of a franken-recipe. Cook's Country adapted this stove top recipe for the slow cooker and then I moved it back to the stove top.

Pasta Genovese
Adapted from Cook's Country June/July 2016
1 lb. boneless beef chuck-eye roast, cut into 1 1/2" pieces¹
2 lbs. onions, sliced
150g pancetta or bacon, chopped²
100g salami, minced³
1 carrot, chopped
1 rib celery, chopped
1/3 - 2/3 c. dry white wine
1/3 c. water
1/4 c. olive oil
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 Tbsp. dried basil (or 2 Tbsp. fresh)
1 lb. pasta of choice
50g Pecorino Romano or Parmesan

1. Season beef with salt and pepper and set aside.
2. Fry pancetta and salami in 2 Tbsp. olive oil.
3. Add carrot and celery. (I just let them sizzle for a bit while I chopped the onions.)
4. Add the beef and onions.
5. Toss in 1/3 c. wine, 1/3 c. water, a bit more salt and pepper (maybe 3/4 tsp. coarse salt, I didn't measure), tomato paste, and basil.
6. Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer for a couple hours, stirring occasionally. Mine started to look a bit dry before I was ready to stop the simmer, so I tossed in another 1/3 c. wine.
7. Try to mash or shred the beef a bit if you can. (Mine wouldn't shred, so I just kept it as an extra-chunky sauce.)
8. Boil and drain your pasta.
9. Stir cheese and remaining olive oil into sauce. Toss with pasta and enjoy!

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¹ I substituted stewing beef, but was still pretty tough at the end of cooking. Next time I'd either do it in the slow cooker, pick a more tender cut, or both.
² This was supposed to be closer to 50g of pancetta,but I made an error when converting to metric and thought I needed 100g. And since I didn't want to keep the last 50g of pancetta from the 150g-pack hanging around in the fridge, I decided to just put it all in. It was delicious!
³ Same thing happened again here.

Gnocchi with Creamy Tomato Sauce

Ingredients

• 64mL olive oil
• 500g vacuum-packed gnocchi
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 4 garlic cloves, minced, or garlic paste
• 1 (~800mL) can crushed tomatoes
• 128mL water
• salt and pepper
• 128mL heavy cream
• 256mL freshly grated parmesan
• 128mL chopped fresh basil

Procedure

1. Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and preheat oven to 475°F.
2. Heat half the oil in a nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add gnocchi and cook until lightly browned, ~4 minutes; transfer to plate.
3. Add remaining oil and onion to skillet and cook until onion softens, ~3 minutes.
4. Stir in garlic and cook until fragrant, ~30 seconds.
5. Add tomatoes, water, ~2mL salt, and ~2mL pepper and cook until slightly thickened, ~5 minutes.
6. Add cream and gnocchi to pan. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until gnocchi are tender, 5-7 minutes.
7. Transfer to casserole dish. Sprinkle with parmesan and bake until cheese is well-browned, ~8 minutes.
8. Top with basil and serve.

Strip Steaks with Horseradish Butter

Ingredients

• 45mL unsalted butter, softened
• 30mL minced fresh chives
• 5mL prepared horseradish
• 5mL grated lemon zest
• 15mL lemon juice
• salt and pepper
• cayenne pepper
• 2 (500g) boneless strip or ribeye steaks, ~2cm thick, trimmed and halved crosswise
• canola oil

Procedure

1. Whisk together butter, chives, horseradish, lemon zest, juice, ~2mL each salt and pepper, and cayenne to taste in a bowl; set aside.
2. Season steaks with salt and pepper.
3. Oil a large skillet and bring to medium-high heat. Cook steaks until well browned, 3-5 minutes/side.
4. Transfer to plate, let rest for 10 minutes, and serve with butter.

Skillet Pork Chops with Apples and Maple-Sage Butter

Hey, it's a 30 minute recipe card that actually comes together in 30 minutes on the first try! Tasty, too.

Ingredients

• 60mL unsalted butter, softened
• 30mL unsalted butter
• 30mL maple syrup
• 15mL minced fresh sage
• salt and pepper
• 4 ~200g boneless pork chops
• 2 granny smith apples, cored and cut into wedges
• 1 onion, halved and sliced thin
• 15mL red wine vinegar

Procedure

1. Combine softened butter, 15mL of the maple syrup, and the sage in a small bowl. Set aside.
2. Melt 15mL of the remaining butter in a large skillet over medium high heat.
3. Season pork chops with salt and pepper. Cook in the skillet until cooked through and browned on both sides, ~5 minutes per side. Remove from the skillet.
4. Add butter as needed to get ~15mL of butter and/or pork fat in the skillet -- if your pork chops are particularly fatty you may need to drain some off instead, but ours were quite lean.
5. Add the apples, onion, and ~4mL salt and cook, covered, until softened, ~6 minutes.
6. Stir in the vinegar and remaining maple syrup and cook, uncovered, until the apples start to brown, 2-4 minutes.
7. Stir accumulated pork juices into the apple-onion mixture, remove from heat, and serve alongside the pork chops. Top the pork chops with the maple-sage butter.

Cuban Quesadillas

Ingredients

• 125mL dill pickles, sliced, patted dry, and chopped fine
• 64mL pickled banana pepper rings, patted dry and chopped fine
• 45mL yellow mustard
• 30mL mayo
• black pepper
• 4 25cm flour tortillas
• 250g thinly sliced deli ham
• 250g thinly sliced deli turkey
• 125g sliced swiss cheese
• canola oil

Procedure

1. Combine pickles, banana peppers, mustard, mayo, and pepper in bowl to form relish.
2. Set aside 30mL of relish; spread the rest over half of each tortilla.
3. Top the relished side of each tortilla with ham, turkey, and swiss cheese; fold tortilla shut.
4. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Cook quesadillas, two at a time, until golden brown and crispy, 1-2 minutes/side.
5. Slice into wedges and serve with remaining relish.

Pastrami Cheeseburgers

We have a backlog of Cook's Country 30-minute recipe cards to write up; I'll be trying to work through those over the next little while.

In my experience few of these are actually 30-minute, although a faster cook with a more organized kitchen who's better at multitasking may disagree.

Ingredients

• 90mL mayonnaise
• 45mL ketchup
• 30mL sweet pickle relish
• salt and pepper
• 4 kaiser rolls, split and toasted
• 500g lean ground beef
• 200g thinly sliced deli pastrami
• 375mL sauerkraut, drained and pressed dry
• 8 slices swiss cheese

Procedure

1. Whisk together mayo, ketchup, relish, and some pepper. Spread sauce evenly on inside faces of kaiser rolls. Set aside.
2. Shape beef into four patties. Season with salt and pepper (and garlic paste, hot chili flakes, whatever else you put in your burgers...)
3. Cook patties in a skillet. Remove to a plate.
4. Add pastrami to skillet and cook over medium-high heat until lightly browned, ~3 minutes.
5. Stir in sauerkraut and cook until heated through, ~2 minutes.
6. Divide pastrami mix into four piles. Top each pile with two slices of swiss cheese. Cover skillet until cheese melts.
7. Assemble burgers and pastrami mix into buns. Eat.

One-Pot Baked Ziti

Easy, tasty, true one-pot, and doesn't take too long to prepare. What's not to love? It even has some veg in it so you can pretend like it's a balanced meal!

One-Pot Baked Ziti
Slightly adapted from Cook's Country December/January 2016
450g Italian sausage meat
3 Tbsp. garlic paste (or minced garlic)
1 (680mL) can tomato sauce + 1 (200mL) can pizza sauce
1 (small) can diced tomatoes (I think it was 300-ish mL)
1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/2 tsp. sugar
1/4 tsp. red pepper flakes (I'd double this next time)
2 c. water
450g penne/ziti
6 Tbsp. fresh basil (or basil paste)
300g baby spinach
1 1/2 c. cubed mozzarella (1/4" cubes)
1 c. Parmesan cheese
1 c. ricotta

1. Brown the sausage over medium-high heat.
2. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds or so.
3. Add the tomato sauce(s), diced tomatoes, salt, oregano, sugar, and pepper flakes.
4. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low and simmer for ~10 minutes.
5. Add water, pasta, and 1/4 c. of basil. (I goofed and added all the basil here instead of saving some for the end, but it was still plenty tasty.)
6. Increase heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and cook, uncovered, stirring often until pasta is slightly softened, but not done.
7. While pasta is cooking, preheat broiler.
8. Once pasta is nearly done, remove from heat and stir in 3/4 c. mozzarella and 1/2 c. Parmesan.
9. Dot the top with ricotta and top with remaining mozzarella and Parmesan.
10. Broil until cheese starts to brown.
11. Transfer to wire rack to cool for 10-ish minutes.
12. Sprinkle with remaining basil and serve!

Migas

This recipe is listed as a breakfast (as scrambled egg dishes tend to be), and I think it would be fine as one, but it's also substantial enough to serve as lunch.

symbol's notes: half a cup of frozen corn added as the onions and peppers are cooking would be tasty. Also, 30mL jalapenos are not enough; it needs at least twice that.

Ingredients

• 8 large eggs
• salt and pepper
• canola oil
• 6 15cm corn tortillas, cut into 1x2cm strips
• 1 onion, chopped fine
• 1 red bell pepper, stemmed, seeded, and chopped fine
• 30mL minced jarred jalapeños
• ~100mL grated cheddar cheese
• ~15mL chopped fresh cilantro
• salsa for serving

Procedure

1. Whisk eggs, 1mL salt, and 1mL pepper together in a large bowl; set aside.
2. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add tortillas and 1mL salt and cook, stirring occasionally, until golden brown, 4-6 minutes.
3. Add onion, bell pepper, and jalapeños and cook, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are softened, 5-7 minutes.
4. Add eggs and, using heat-resistant spatula, constantly and firmly scrape along the bottom of the skillet until eggs begin to clump, 30-60 seconds.
5. Reduce heat to low and gently but constantly fold egg mixture until clumped and still slightly wet, 30-60 seconds.
6. Remove from heat and fold in cheese and cilantro.
7. Serve with salsa and extra cheese to taste.

(Not Actually) One-Pot Ramen

A Cook's Country recipe, this is "one-pot" in the sense that it wants you to cook most of the ingredients, empty out the pot, then cook the rest -- which is fine if you have enough people to empty the whole pot into serving bowls, but it makes 4-6 servings depending on how hungry people are, and if you have fewer people you're going to need to buffer it somewhere anyways. I worked around this by cooking everything in the one pot and using a skillet for the pork.

Ingredients

• 60mL hoisin sauce
• 45mL soy sauce
• 10mL cornstarch
• 1 ~350g pork tenderloin, halved lengthwise and then cut into 5mm slices
• 550mL chicken broth
• canola oil
• 125g cremini mushrooms, sliced
• 15mL ginger paste
• 30mL garlic paste
• 3 packages instant ramen noodles -- just the noodles, we won't use the seasoning packets
• 350g broccoli florets, cut into ~2cm pieces
• 3 scallions, sliced thinly

Procedure

1. Whisk together 15mL of hoisin sauce, 15mL of soy sauce, and the cornstarch in a bowl. Add the pork and toss to cover. Set aside.
2. Whisk together the broth and the remaining hoisin and soy sauces in another bowl. Set aside.
3. Heat oil in a pot or deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook until browned, ~5 minutes.
4. Add the ginger and garlic and cook until fragrant, ~30 seconds.
5. Add the broth mixture and bring to a boil. Add the noodle bricks in a single layer. Reduce heat to medium, cover, and cook until the bottoms of the bricks are softening and the tops are still hard, 1-2 minutes.
6. Using tongs, flip and break apart the noodles and stir them into the remaining broth. Add the broccoli overtop and cover again. Cook until noodles and broccoli are tender, ~3 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, in a small skillet, cook the pork over medium-high heat until it is browned and the marinade has cooked to it, 1-2 minutes.
8. Add the pork to the main pot, toss all contents together, and serve.

Vanilla Ice Cream

I bought myself an ice cream maker yesterday. It's very much a luxury item, but I'm really looking forward to experimenting with different flavours and recipes! And TF is excited at the prospect of actually having interesting flavours of lactose-free ice cream available. I just started with a basic vanilla ice cream to test the machine and get a feel for this whole ice cream making thing. I am very pleased with the results so far and am super excited to try some more complex recipes.

Basic Vanilla Ice Cream

3/4 c. milk (I used 2%)

1/2 c. sugar

1 1/2 c. heavy (35%) cream

2 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Combine milk and sugar and stir until dissolved.

2. Stir in cream and vanilla.

Mixture can be poured into ice cream maker at this point or chilled overnight. I chose to put mine in the fridge overnight since I was still waiting for the ice cream maker bowl to freeze anyway.

3. Turn on ice cream maker.

4. Pour mixture into ice cream maker bowl and allow it to churn for 25 minutes.

Ice cream will be extremely soft at this point. It's technically edible, but will liquefy almost immediately once served.

5. Quickly scoop the ice cream out of the ice cream maker and into another container and transfer to the freezer. Ice cream should firm up in an hour or two.

Maple-Dijon Glazed Ham with Brown Sugar Crust

(note: symbol wrote this, I'm just posting it)

Found a smoked ham in the freezer that had come out of its butcher's paper and was getting a bit freezer burned. Figured I might as well throw it on the grill with whatever veggies we had on hand and call it a dinner.
The link is to the recipe I used as a guide.

3-4 lb. smoked ham (didn't weigh it but giving it a heft, I'd put it at ~3 lbs.)
1/2 c. maple syrup
2 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. rum (would've used bourbon if we'd had any on hand)
1 Tbsp. mustard (I used some of my home-made Roman-style mustard)
1 whole clove, ground
3/4 c. brown sugar

1. Pre-heat your grill and set it up for indirect heat. Since my ham was pretty dried out, I also tossed a roast pan full of water on the direct heat side of the grill to add a little steam. If you've got a nice, fresh ham you probably don't need to bother with the water/steam. I started my grill out fairly hot (~500F) but dailed it down to 300F or so once the meat was actually on.
2. Combine the maple syrup, butter, rum, mustard, and ground cloves.
3. Once the meat's had a couple hours on the grill, heat up the glaze to melt the butter.
4. Brush the ham all over with the glaze. Cook for 10 minutes or so, then give it another coat, press on the brown sugar, and cook for another 20-30 minutes. Yum!

Black Garlic & Chorizo Carbonara

From the PC website, with some modifications. This is "carbonara" in the sense that it's pasta with meat and eggs, but the pancetta is replaced with chorizo and mascarpone and black garlic are added, leading to a very different flavour. It's still delicious.

Deviations from the recipe as written are using whole eggs instead of egg yolks, using "chorizo sausage" rather than actual chorizo because I'm a doofus and got the wrong thing from the grocery store, and adding a post-mixing cooking stage because without that it turned out pretty slimy.

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs
• 128mL mascarpone
• 256mL freshly grated parmesan
• 500g spicy pork "chorizo" sausages
• 1 bulb black garlic, thinly sliced
• 500g dried spaghetti
• salt and black pepper

Procedure

1. In a wok, whisk together the eggs, mascarpone, parmesan, some salt, and a generous amount of freshly grated black pepper.
2. Peel and break up the sausages. Cook in a saucepot or deep skillet over medium heat until cooked through.
3. Add the garlic. Cook, stirring, until fragrant, ~3 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, boil water and cook the spaghetti.
5. When cooked molto al dente or even a bit harder than that (say, 75% of the rated cooking time), drain, reserving >500mL of the cooking water.
6. Immediately add the pasta and 375mL of the water to the pot with the sausages and garlic. Toss together until the pasta is at the desired firmness and the water mostly absorbed.
7. Pour the whole thing into the wok with the eggs and cheese.
   At this point, if all went according to plan, the heat from the pasta and sausage will set the eggs until they are less of a sauce and more of a delicious coating clinging to the pasta and sausage.
   In practice, I find things don't usually go according to plan, leaving you with pasta swimming in slimy egg glop. Which is why we used a wok here.
8. Swap out the pot for the wok and cook, tossing and stirring, until the eggs set and the sauce reaches the desired consistency.
9. Eat.

Salmon Bowl

Ingredients

• 1kg salmon
• brown rice
• 1 cabbage
• 3 leeks
• 64mL maple syrup
• 64mL lemon juice
• 64mL canola or olive oil
• oil, salt, and pepper

Procedure

1. Start the rice cooking.
2. Brush the salmon with oil, season with salt and pepper, and bake at 400°F for 15-20 minutes.
3. Chop the leeks and cabbage, toss with oil, salt, and pepper, and pan-fry until soft and delicious.
4. Mix the maple syrup, lemon juice, and oil; whisk together.
5. When everything is cooked, dish up some bowls! Put in some rice, top with vegetables, then with a slice of salmon, and drizzle the vinegarette over it.

Slow cooker asian beef ribs

Via damndelicious.net (warning: plays sounds). I wasn't actually that happy with this recipe -- I think I wanted something with a more robust, curry-y flavour profile -- but I gave some to my friend Ash and they were extremely happy with it.

I made a few changes relative to the original recipe, mostly amping up the garlic dramatically so there would be a few slow-cooked cloves in among the beef.

Ingredients

• 128mL dark soy sauce
• 128mL beef broth
• 64mL brown sugar
• 8 cloves garlic, four minced, four whole
• 16mL ginger paste
• 5mL sesame oil
• 5mL red pepper flakes
• 2.5kg beef ribs or equivalent (I used one pack of beef ribs and then half the recipe weight of stewing beef, since we have a dramatic surplus of the latter)
• 32mL cornstarch
• 32mL parsley
• 16mL sesame seeds

Procedure

1. Mix together soy sauce, broth, sugar, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, and red pepper flakes.
2. Combine with meat in slow cooker.
3. Cook low for 6-8 hours or until tender.
4. Whisk together cornstarch with 64mL water. Stir into sauce.
5. Cook on high until desired thickness is reached, ~30 minutes.
6. Garnish with parsley and sesame seeds.

Cheater's Chicken Tikka Masala

This isn't authentic chicken tikka masala, but it comes together pretty easily; it takes a while, so it's not a good last-minute dish, but it has a tractable ingredient list and isn't particularly complicated. And it's really tasty.

Ingredients

• 20mL bin bhuna hua garam masala
• 2.5mL coarse salt
• 1.25mL turmeric
• 500g boneless skinless chicken breasts, sliced into strips
• flour
• 1 onion, diced
• 6 cloves garlic, minced
• 20mL ginger paste
• ~800mL tinned peeled tomatoes in juice
• 80mL heavy cream

Procedure

1. Season the chicken with 5mL of the spice blend.
2. Dredge in flour, then brown in a bit of oil. Remove.
3. Brown onion, garlic, and ginger in more oil.
4. Add remaining spice mix and sizzle for ~30 seconds.
5. Add tomatoes and cook until the sauce thickens slightly.
6. Add cream and chicken. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until the desired thickness is reached and the chicken is cooked through.
7. Add 125mL of freshly chopped cilantro and serve over brown rice.

Mushroom, Garlic, Mushroom, Arugula, and Mushroom Pizza

Ingredients

• 1 pizza crust
• olive oil
• At least 1L chopped assorted mushrooms
• 3 cloves garlic
• 128g mozzarella
• 16mL lemon oil
• 750mL arugula
• 1mL coarse salt

Procedure

1. Sautee mushrooms in a bit of olive oil until delicious
2. Roll out crust
3. Brush with olive oil
4. Slice garlic and scatter over crust
5. Tear or slice mozzarella and scatter over garlic
6. Top with half the mushrooms
7. Bake
8. While baking, toss arugula with lemon oil and salt
9. Top cooked pizza with arugula, then the rest of the mushrooms
10. Slice very carefully and eat.

Spinach-Stuffed Portobello Caps

TF is the one who actually made this one, but I have a few minutes free now, so I figured I'd take a moment to write it up.

Spinach-Stuffed Portobello Caps
From Cook's Country April/May 2017
8 large portobello mushroom caps (recipe calls for removing gills, we didn't bother)
5 Tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
1 1/2 c. panko bread crumbs
4 garlic cloves, minced
11 oz. (~300g) baby spinach
7 oz. (~200g) feta, crumbled
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
1/4 c. fresh mint leaves, torn

1. Rub mushrooms w/ 3 Tbsp. oil and season w/ salt and pepper.
2. Arrange mushrooms on baking sheet, gill side down, and roast at 475F for 10-15 minutes.
3. Combine panko, garlic, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/4 tsp. pepper, and 2 Tbsp. oil in large pot/Dutch oven.
4. Cook panko mixture over medium heat, stirring constantly, until lightly browned.
5. Stir in spinach, cover, and cook until wilted, stirring occasionally.
6. Off heat, stir in lemon zest and 1 c. feta.
7. Flip mushrooms over and top with filling.
8. Sprinkle remaining feta over top.
9. Bake at 475F for ~8 minutes or until feta starts to brown.
10. Drizzle with oil, sprinkle with mint, and serve. (We totally forgot this step! They were delicious anyway.)

Chana Paneer

Another 660 Curries recipe, this mixes fried paneer and spicy chickpeas. Iyer recommends serving it with a starch, and particularly commends the practice of making up some toast and dipping it in the curry.

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. (32mL) canola oil
• 1 tsp. (5mL) cumin seeds
• 1 finely chopped red onion
• 1-2 fresh green Thai, cayenne, or serrano chilis, stems removed
• 1 large tomato, cored and finely chopped
• 1/4 tsp. (1mL) coarse salt
• 1 tsp. (5mL) balti masala
• 1/2 tsp. (2.5mL) turmeric
• 1 c. (256mL) cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 c. (256mL) water
• 250g paneer, cut into 2cm cubes and pan-fried
• 1/4 c. (64mL) whipping (35%) cream
• finely chopped fresh cilantro for garnishing

Procedure

1. Heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the cumin seeds and cook until they turn reddish-brown and fragrant, ~10 seconds.
2. Add the onion and chilis and stir-fry until the onion is starting to brown, 2-3 minutes.
3. Stir in the tomato, salt, masala, and turmeric. Lower the heat to medium and cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the tomato softens, ~3 minutes.
4. Add the chickpeas and 1 c. (256mL) of water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until the sauce thickens, ~10 minutes.
5. Stir in the paneer and the cream, and continue simmering, uncovered, until the cheese is warmed through.
6. Top with cilantro and serve.

Pasta with Pancetta and Acorn Squash

From The Kitchn, the original recipe calls for half a pound of pasta and one acorn squash (and penne). I had two squashes, so I made a double batch (and used cavatappi, because I like it more than penne). It was delicious but, in retrospect, a bit too much pasta for one person.

The recipe presented here is the doubled version, since we're usually cooking with pasta in 500g increments. It also uses all of the garlic (the original calls for roasting an entire bulb but only using four cloves of it) -- if you are not as much of a garlic fan as I am, cut it back to one bulb and use only eight cloves from it.

Ingredients, for 500g dried, store-bought pasta

• 2 acorn squashes (1-1.5kg total mass)
• 2 small bulbs of garlic (or large bulbs if you're feeling frisky -- yes, that is entire bulbs, not cloves)
• olive oil
• 500g pancetta, sliced 5mm thick and then diced
• 256mL vegetable, chicken, or mushroom stock
• 10mL chopped fresh rosemary
• 128mL freshly grated parmesan

Procedure

1. Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F.
2. Bisect the squashes. Brush the exposed sides with oil and season with salt and pepper. Place face down on a baking sheet.
3. Slice the tops off the garlic bulbs so that the tops of the cloves are exposed. Brush with olive oil, wrap in tinfoil, and place on the baking sheet with the squash.
4. Bake until the squash is fork-tender and the garlic soft and spreadable, ~30 minutes.
5. Once the squash is cool enough to handle, peel it and cut it into chunks. You may also want to take the time now to peel and/or squeeze the garlic in advance.
6. Begin heating a pot of water to boil for the pasta.
7. While the water heats, in a deep, wide saucepan, sautee the pancetta over medium-high heat until it is well browned and just starting to crisp, 10-15 minutes.
8. At some point while you're doing this, the water will boil. Add the pasta and some salt to the pot and cook it al dente. Drain, reserving ~128mL of pasta water.
9. Deglaze the pan with the broth and add the garlic and rosemary. Stir until the garlic is fully mixed with the sauce, <1 minute.
10. Add the squash to the pan and mix well.
11. Add the pasta. Toss to coat. The squash is probably starting to break up into a gooey squash sauce. This is fine.
12. Stir in the cheese. Adjust consistency with the reserved pasta water, if desired. Eat.

Buffalo Chicken Spaghetti Squash

Not sure what to do with your spaghetti squash? Take it apart, then put it back together with chicken in. From Wanderlust and Wellness, this recipe results in two spaghetti squash skins stuffed with a delicious and mildly spicy chicken/squash mixture topped with gooey cheese.

Ingredients

• 1 medium-sized spaghetti squash
• olive oil
• 512mL cooked shredded chicken (a grocery store rotisserie chicken works well here)
• 256mL shredded mozarella cheese
• 84mL Frank's Hot Sauce
• 32mL melted ghee
• 84mL  coconut cream
• 1.25mL pink himalayan salt
• 1.25mL ground black pepper
• Shredded cheddar and/or monterey jack cheese
• more hot sauce to top with

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F.
2. Bisect the squash lengthwise. Remove the seeds.
3. Brush the exposed interior of the squash with olive oil. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
4. Place the squash face down on a baking sheet and cook for 40 minutes.
5. While the squash is baking, combine the shredded chicken, mozarella, hot sauce, coconut cream, salt, and pepper in a large bowl and mix thoroughly.
6. When the squash is finished, as soon as it is cool enough to handle, scrape out the flesh and mix it into the bowl.
7. Return the squash-chicken mix to the skins. Top with cheddar and monterey jack.
8. Place under the broiler until the cheese has melted and is just starting to brown.
9. Drizzle with additional hot sauce and serve.

Kheema Paav

Aka "Indian sloppy joes", a well spiced ground beef curry that exists to be served on buns. In my opinion, there's no point in making sloppy joes when kheema paav is on the menu.

Ingredients

• canola oil
• 5mL cumin seeds
• 256mL finely chopped red onion
• 2 large cloves garlic, finely chopped
• 2 slices of fresh ginger, finely chopped, or 32mL ginger paste
• 2 fresh green thai, cayenne, or serrano chilis, stems removed, finely chopped (do not remove the seeds)
• 32mL tomato paste
• 5mL Bin bhuna hua garam masala
• 5mL coarse salt
• 256g lean ground beef
• 32mL finely chopped fresh cilantro
• buns -- the book calls for fairly small slider-type buns, but you can make it with full size burger buns as well
• 128mL finely chopped scallions for garnish

Procedure

1. Heat the oil over medium heat. Add the cumin seeds and let them sizzle until they turn reddish-brown and fragrant, 10-15 seconds. Immediately add the onion, garlic, ginger, and chilis. Stir-fry until the onion starts to brown around the edges, ~5 minutes.
2. Add the tomato paste, garam masala, and salt. Reduce heat to medium low and simmer, partially covered, stirring occasionally, until the sauce develops an oily sheen, ~5 minutes.
3. Add the ground beef, breaking it up if needed. Cook, uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the meat is browning and partly cooked, 5-10 minutes.
4. Stir in 128mL water and continue simmering, covered, stirring occasionally, until the flavours have mingled and the beef is cooked through, ~8 minutes.
5. Brush the buns with butter or ghee and toast them on a griddle or in a toaster oven.
6. Fill buns with meat. Sprinkle with scallions. Insert into face.

Saag Paneer

Often described as a spinach and cheese curry, the version in 660 Curries uses both spinach and mustard greens; personally, I like mustard greens so much that I think it's even better if you omit the spinach entirely and double the amount of mustard greens.

Ingredients

• canola oil
• 1 medium-size red onion, bisected and thinly sliced
• 6 cloves of garlic, coarsely chopped
• 4 5x2cm slices of fresh ginger, coarsely chopped (or 64mL of ginger paste if you don't have fresh ginger on hand)
• 10mL Bin bhuna hua garam masala
• 2.5mL ground turmeric
• 32mL tomato paste
• 512g mixed spinach and mustard greens in any proportion you like, coarsely chopped
• 5mL coarse salt
• 550g paneer, sliced into 2cm cubes and fried
• 128mL whipping (35%) cream
• 2.5mL Punjabi garam masala

Procedure

1. Heat the oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and ginger, and stir-fry until the onion browns, ~10 minutes.
2. Remove the skillet from the heat and stir in the Bin bhuna hua garam masala; the residual heat will be enough to cook the spices without burning them.
3. Transfer the mixture to a blender jar. Add the tomato paste and 64mL water. Puree, scraping the inside of the jar as needed, to form a smooth paste. Return it to the skillet. Rinse out the blender jar with 192mL of water and add that to the skillet too.
4. Return the skillet to medium heat. Pile some greens into it and cover until they're wilted enough that you can stir them into the sauce and add more. Repeat until all the greens are in.
5. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the greens break down and merge with the sauce, turning it dark green, 10-15 minutes.
6. Stir in the salt, cream, paneer, and Punjabi garam masala. Simmer, covered, stirring occasionally, until the cheese is warmed through, 5-8 minutes.
7. Eat.

Chana Masala

660 Curries contains something like half a dozen chana masala variants. This is the one simply titled "Chickpeas in a Spicy Tomato Sauce (Chana Masala)".

Despite not having whole chilis in it, I find this more spicy than the vindaloo without the moderating influence of the vinegar.

Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp. (32mL) ghee or oil
• 1 tsp. (5mL) cumin seeds, whole
• 1 tsp. (5mL) cumin seeds, ground
• 2 Tbsp. (32mL) ginger paste
• 1 Tbsp. (16mL) garlic paste
• 2 Tbsp. (32mL) tomato paste
• 1 Tbsp. (16mL) coriander seeds, ground
• 1 Tbsp. (16mL) amchor (unripe mango powder) or lime juice
• 1 tsp. (5mL) cayenne
• 1/2 tsp. (2.5mL) turmeric
• 1L cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1/4 c. (64mL) chopped fresh cilantro
• 1 tsp. (5mL) coarse salt
• 1/2 c. (128mL) finely chopped red onion

Procedure

1. Heat the ghee in a large saucepan over medium high heat.
2. Sprinkle in the whole cumin seeds and cook until they sizzle and turn reddish-brown and fragrant, 10-15 seconds. Immediately lower the heat to medium and add the ginger and garlic pastes. Stir-fry until they start to brown, ~2 minutes.
3. Add 256mL water and the tomato paste, coriander, amchor, cayenne, turmeric, and ground cumin. Simmer, partially covered, stirring occasionally, until most of the water has cooked off, leaving you with a thick, reddish-orange sauce, 5-10 minutes.
4. Add 512mL water, the chickpeas, the salt, and half of the cilantro. Raise the heat back to medium-high and cook, stirring occasoinally, until the sauce thickens, 15-20 minutes.
5. Remove from the heat and top with the onions and remaining cilantro. Serve over rice or naan.

Beef Vindaloo

A favourite of mine, this curry -- despite its reputation in the UK as a melt-your-face-off death curry -- is more tart than hot, with the vinegar moderating the heat of the chilis. It's easy to make, as long as you start the day before (so it can marinate overnight) and allow an hour for it to simmer the day of. Don't forget to prepare a side dish as well; there's not much to this apart from the beef.

Ingredients

• 128mL malt vinegar
• 10mL cayenne
• 2.5mL turmeric
• 500g boneless stewing beef, cut into 2cm cubes
• canola oil
• 128g pearl onions, peeled and halved, or an equivalent amount of yellow or red onion, chopped coarsely
• 5 medium-size cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 6 dried red thai or cayenne chilis, stems removed
• 5mL coriander seeds, ground
• 5mL cumin seeds, ground
• 2.5mL coarse salt
• 32mL finely chopped fresh cilantro (for garnish)

Procedure

1. Combine the vinegar, cayenne, and turmeric in a medium sized metal or glass bowl. Add the beef and toss to coat. Refrigerate for at least an hour, but preferably overnight.
2. Heat ~32mL of oil in a large saucepan over medium high heat. Add the garlic, onions, and chilis. Cook, stirring, until the onions brown, ~5 minutes.
3. Add the beef and marinade. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the beef has absorbed the vinegar and started to sear and the oil has separated from the meat, ~15 minutes.
4. Stir in the coriander, cumin, and salt and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
5. Add 256mL water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium low, cover, and cook, stirring occasionally, until fork-tender, ~45 minutes.
6. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve.

Meatloaf

From foodnetwork.ca, a beef/pork meatloaf recipe for the slow cooker. We ended up not getting it into the slow cooker in time and baking it in the oven instead, but despite winging it this turned out delicious. The recipe here is for the baked version.

Ingredients

• Loaf:
• 450mL fresh breadcrumbs
• 128mL milk
• 2 yellow onions, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 5mL dried oregano
• 2 eggs
• 128mL chopped oil-packed sundried tomatoes
• 128mL chopped fresh parsley
• 128mL freshly grated parmesan cheese
• 2.5mL salt
• 2.5mL pepper
• 500g ground beef
• 500g ground pork
• Topping:
• 256mL grated provolone
• 32mL chopped fresh parsley
• 32mL chopped oil-packed sundried tomatoes

Procedure

1. Mix the breadcrumbs and milk in a bowl; set aside for ten minutes.
2. In a skillet, heat oil over medium heat; sautee the onions, garlic, and oregano until soft and golden brown, ~5 minutes.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, tomatoes, parsley, parmesan, salt, pepper, breadcrumb/milk mixture, and onion/garlic mixture. Add the veal and pork, mixing with a wooden spoon or, if necessary, your hands.
4. Pour into a large baking dish. Cover with tinfoil.
5. The baking is a lot of guesswork; I ended up doing something like:
   - 40 minutes, covered, at 350°F
   - 20 minutes, uncovered, at 375°F; drain off the fat
   - 20 minutes, uncovered, at 400°F; drain the fat again
   but it could probably be made faster than that. At any rate, you want it 160°F in the middle and nicely browned on top.
6. Top with the provolone, parsley, and tomatoes. Return to the oven until the provolone melts.
7. Eat.

Pork Vindaloo

Another recipe from 660 Curries, one of several pork vindaloo variations. This one has a long simmering stage, but relatively few ingredients, simple preparation, and no marinating phase, making it easier to put together on the fly than the beef vindaloo.

The recipe as written calls for boneless pork loin chops. We didn't have any and I made do with a pork picnic roast. It turned out fine, but if you can get leaner pork to make this with, definitely do.

Ingredients

• 128mL cider or malt vinegar
• 15mL garlic paste
• 10mL coriander seeds, ground
• 10mL cumin seeds, ground
• 5mL coarse salt
• 5mL cayenne
• 1mL ground turmeric
• 1 medium sized red onion (or two largish yellow onions), cut into 1cm cubes
• 64mL raw cashews
• 750g boneless lean pork, cut into 2cm cubes
• 128mL unsweetened coconut milk
• cilantro for garnishing

Procedure

1. Whisk together the vinegar, garlic paste, coriander, cumin, salt, cayenne, and turmeric.
2. Heat some canola oil in a pot or deep skillet over medium-high heat.
3. Add the onion and cashews and cook, stirring, until the onion starts to brown and the cashews are toasted, 5-8 minutes.
4. Stir the vinegar to mix it up and then add it to the pot. Cook, stirring frequently, until the vinegar has mostly evaporated and the spices are clinging to the onion chunks.
5. Add the pork and continue stirring until it's seared all over, about a minute.
6. Deglaze with 128mL water. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium low and simmer, covered, until the pork is cooked through and fork-tender, about 30 minutes.
7. Increase heat to medium and add the coconut milk. Cook until the sauce thickens, about 10 minutes.