Classic combination!

Broccoli with Cheese Sauce

Slightly adapted from Vegetable of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 3 heads broccoli
• 3 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 3 Tbsp. flour
• 2 c. milk
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1/8 tsp. ground cayenne or Kashmiri chilies
• 90g sharp Cheddar cheese, grated

Directions

1. Cut the broccoli heads into halves or thirds and steam until tender (5-7 minutes). Set aside and keep warm.
2. Melt the butter over medium-high heat.
3. Whisk in the flour and cook, stirring frequently, for 2-3 minutes.
4. Gradually whisk in the milk and bring to a boil.
5. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until sauce thickens slightly (7-10 minutes).
6. Stir in the salt, pepper, and cayenne and continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (~10 minutes longer).
7. Stir in the cheese and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
8. Pour the cheese sauce over the broccoli and serve.

I made this as a side dish to go with... something. I no longer remember what. (This is what I get for not posting my recipe write-ups promptly.)

It was good, but not outstanding. I found the glazing while grilling to be a bit fiddly. I think I would have preferred something that I could have grilled without the glaze or vice versa. So, fine overall, but probably not something I'll do again.

Miso-Glazed Grilled Eggplant

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 6mm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
• 1-2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1/4 c. white miso
• 1/2 tsp. Sriracha
• 2 Tbsp. rice vinegar
• 1 Tbsp. mirin
• 1-2 Tbsp. water
• 4 Asian eggplants, halved lengthwise
• salt and pepper, to taste
• canola or peanut oil
• 3 green onions, sliced

Directions

1. Prepare gas or charcoal grill for direct heat grilling over medium-high heat.
2. Combine ginger, garlic, miso, Sriracha, vinegar, mirin, and water and purée until smooth.
3. Sprinkle eggplant halves with salt and pepper and brush with oil.
4. Arrange eggplant pieces, cut-side-down, on the grill, cover, and cook until they being to soften and become slightly charred (6-8 minutes).
5. Flip and cook, covered, for another 3-4 minutes.
6. Brush with glaze, cover, and cook until eggplant is fully tender (3-4 minutes longer).
7. Transfer to platter, sprinkle with green onions, and serve.

This frittata is meant to use slender fingerling potatoes. The potatoes are halved and browned in bacon fat before the rest of the ingredients are added to finish off the frittata. I didn't have any fingerling potatoes, but I did have some waxy red potatoes. I cut them into long pieces to approximate the shape and size of halved fingerling potatoes. Not a perfect solution, to be sure, but it worked well enough. And it did make for a nice, satisfying breakfast.

Bacon and Potato Frittata

Slightly adapted from The Breakfast Bible by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 4 slices bacon
• 250g fingerling potatoes, halved
• 1/2 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 3 green onions, sliced
• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbsp. fresh rosemary, chopped
• 3-4 Tbsp. grated Parmesan
• 10 large eggs
• 2 Tbsp. milk

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F).
2. Cook the bacon until crisp. Set aside.
3. If there is more than 2 Tbsp. of fat in the pan, drain the excess. If there's less, add olive oil to bring it up to 2 Tbsp.
4. Add the potatoes, season with 1/4 tsp. salt and 1/8 tsp. pepper, and cook until golden and tender (8-10 minutes).
5. Chop bacon and add it to the pan with the green onions, garlic, and rosemary and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
6. Beat eggs with Parmesan, milk, remaining 1/4 tsp. salt, and 1/8 tsp. pepper.
7. Spread the potato mixture into an even layer and pour the eggs over. Cook for 2 minutes.
8. Transfer to oven and bake until eggs are set (10-12 minutes).

Unfortunately, I have no recollection of making this recipe. I know I made it because I wrote it down, along with the title and page number of the book it appeared in, in my notes. And TF says she thinks it sounds familiar. But I don't remember it at all!

I suspect that I probably swapped out the fresh wax (yellow) beans for frozen green beans because I often have the later on hand and never the former. But I can't say for sure. It's possible that I went out and got some fresh yellow beans especially for this recipe. But I doubt it.

I may have even swapped out the cherry tomatoes for tinned diced tomatoes. But, again, I can't say for sure. But it's the kind of thing that I could see myself doing for a recipe like this. Especially if I was in a bind over what to have for dinner and trying to cobble something together last-minute.

One change that I'm almost certain I would have made is to the chicken. Recipe as written, it calls for chicken thighs and drumsticks. I suspect that I probably just got a whole chicken and broke it down (breasts, wings, durmsticks, thighs) and used that rather than going for the all dark meat approach. I've written up the recipe to reflect this change, but left everything else as it was in the original recipe since I can't remember exactly what I did. Possibly not the most accurate accont. But, since it wasn't a stand-out in my mind anyway, I doubt we'll be revisiting it, so the details become far less important at that point.

Braised Chicken with Wax Beans and Tomatoes

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 Tbsp. olive oil¹
• 1 whole chicken (~1kg), broken down into pieces (legs, thighs, breasts, wings)
• 1 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 tsp. black peppercorns, ground
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 carrot, chopped
• 6-8 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/4 c. dry white wine
• 3 c. chicken stock
• 3 sprigs fresh thyme²
• 1/4 c. heavy (35%) cream
• 3 Tbsp. Dijon mustard³
• 1 c. cherry tomatoes
• 125g yellow wax beans
• 90g arugula (rocket/roquette)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. Warm oil over medium-high heat.
3. Season chicken with salt and pepper.
4. Sear chicken, turning as needed and working in batches if necessary, until golden-brown (8-10 minutes). Set aside.
5. Add onion, carrot, and garlic to the pot, season to taste with additional salt and pepper, and sauté until softened (~5 minutes).
6. Add wine, bring to a simmer, and cook until reduced by half (~5 minutes).
7. Add chicken stock and bring to a boil.
8. Return chicken to pot and add thyme.
9. Cover, transfer to oven, and braise at 180°C (350°F) until chicken is cooked through (50-60 minutes).
10. Transfer chicken to a plate.
11. Strain the braising liquid and return to pot.
12. Bring to a boil and cook until reduced by half (8-10 minutes).
13. Reduce heat to medium, stir in cream and mustard, and cook until thickened slightly (~5 minutes).
14. Adjust seasoning to taste.
15. Return chicken to pot, cover, and cook for another 15 minutes.
16. Add tomatoes and beans and cook, covered, until softened (~5 minutes).
17. Uncover, stir in the arugula, and cook until wilted (1-2 minutes).

---

¹ I know I said that I was going to leave everything but the chicken the same, but I realized that this was one other area where I also almost certainly made some adjustments. The original recipe calls for 2 Tbsp. of oil. But it also calls for skin-on chicken. And I always find that a lot of fat renders out of the skin. So I would be reluctant to add that much oil to the pan unless I was going to use skinless chicken pieces. Honestly, with skin-on chicken, I'm not sure you really need any added fat at all! But I decided to write it up with half the amount since, as noted, I can't remember exactly what I did for this. ^Back
2 I basically never have fresh thyme on hand and I doubt that I would have gone out and gotten any for this. I suspect that I substituted dried thyme. I would guess ~1 tsp. or so. But, as with the other details, I can't say for sure. (This is why it's important to write up your notes promptly! Oh well...) ^Back
3 I definitely would have used Roman mustard for this. I'm just not sure how much. Sometimes I cut back on the quantity called for somewhat because the Roman mustard is so strong. I probably would have started with ~2 Tbsp. and adjusted from there. ^Back

We made this for dinner recently and, while not a favourite, it was tasty. The Kidlet even ate the squash, which she has been averse to lately. It may have helped that we had a surplus of chicken and made it with 750g instead of the 500g called for, so the chicken-to-squash ratio was enhanced.

Thai Pumpkin & Chicken Curry

Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan (p. 270)

Ingredients

• one 750g baking pumpkin or butternut squash, halved, seeded, peeled, and cut into 2cm cubes
• 2 shallots
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 400mL coconut milk
• 1 tbsp red Thai curry paste
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• juice of one lime
• 2 tsp firmly packed brown sugar
• 2+1 tbsp oil, divided
• 500g boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs, cut into 2cm cubes
• 2 tbsp sliced fresh thai basil (or 1 tbsp lightly dried basil)

Directions

1. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add the pumpkin and cook until just tender, 6-7 minutes. Drain.
2. Combine shallots, garlic, curry paste, and 2 tbsp of water in a blender, and process until smooth.
3. Whisk together coconut milk, fish sauce, lime, and brown sugar in a bowl.
4. In a large, steep-sided skillet, heat 2 tbsp of oil over medium-high heat.
5. Add chicken and sear until browned on all sides. Remove with a slotted spoon and buffer.
6. Reduce heat to medium and add remaining oil.
7. Add the curry paste mixture and cook, stirring, until fragrant, 10-20 seconds.
8. Stir in the coconut milk mixture and bring to a boil.
9. Add chicken and pumpkin, reduce heat, and simmer until the chicken is cooked through and the pumpkin is tender.
10. Top with basil and serve over rice.

Gingered Rhubarb Crisp

I don't tend to do a lot with rhubarb. I enjoy the odd strawberry-rhubarb pie. But I don't think I've ever made one myself. I usually just get them ready-made from shops and restaurants. And, other than that, my rhubarb experience is very limited. But I know that TF enjoys various rhubarb-based confections as an occasional treat. And I do now have a bunch of recipes that call for it. And she also loves ginger. So, when rhubarb came into season this spring, I decided to give it a try. (I then failed to write it up for half a year, but that's beside the point.)

Gingered Rhubarb Crsip

Slightly adapted from Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 680g rhubarb, cut into 1cm pieces
• 1 large orange
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 2.5cm (1") piece fresh ginger, peeled and grated
• 3/4 c. flour
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/3 c. rolled oats
• 1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp. coarse sea salt
• 1/4 c. unsalted butter, melted
• vanilla ice cream, to serve (optional)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 190°C (375°F).
2. Combine rhubarb with 1 tsp. orange zest, 1/3 c. orange juice, and the (granulated) sugar in a 23cm (9") square baking tin.
3. In a bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, oats, cinnamon, and salt and mix well.
4. Add the butter and stir until evenly mixed.
5. Sprinkle the oat mixture over the rhubarb.
6. Bake at 190°C (375°F) until topping is golden and juices are thick (30-40 minutes).
7. Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.
8. Serve as-is or with vanilla ice cream.

My apologies for yet another write-up where I have become very hazy on the actual details and results of the recipe. I checked this one off in my notbook and TF says that it sounds familiar, but I don't actually remember making it. So this write-up is pretty much just a copy of what's in the book since I can't speak to the results or any modifications that we made. I just want to include it here for the sake of completeness.

Spring Vegetable Tart

From Dish of the Day by Kate McMillan

Ingredients

• 1 sheet (~250g) frozen puff pastry, thawed
• 125g fontina cheese, shredded
• 15-20 thin asparagus spears, trimmed
• 1 small leek, halved and thinly sliced (white part only)
• 2 large eggs
• 1/4 c. milk
• 1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt, ground
• 1/8 tsp. black peppercorns, ground

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 200°C (400°F) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
2. Lay the pastry out on the prepared baking sheet and fold over edges by ~2cm to make a lip (doubling up at the corners). Press lightly to adhere and then prick the centre of the pastry with a fork in several places.
3. Sprinkle half of the cheese over the bottom of the pastry.
4. Place the asparagus spears on top and then sprinkle with leeks.
5. Bake at 190°C (400°F) for 15 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, beat the eggs with the milk, salt, and pepper.
7. Once the pastry has been in the oven for 15 minutes, pour the egg mixture over the asparagus and leeks and top with the remaining cheese.
8. Bake until eggs are just set and pastry is puffed and golden (10-15 minutes longer).
9. Remove from oven and let stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.