Food that makes you dream about going on vacation!

ok...so who's tired of this winter. It's the worst winter that I remember in a long time. And believe me...I am not a winter person anyway so this ones killing me!

So, what can I do to get myself out of these doldrums?.....I COOK! and I dream about going away.

If you can't go on vacation. Just cook like you are on vacation. What does that mean for me. Well I think of shrimp and seafood, ribs, beans & rice, paella & plantains. Even a nice BBQ. It could be as easy as fresh homemade hamburgs on the BBQ.....doesn't matter. And if you have a charcoal BBQ...even better! Smells wonderful.

So what's for supper tonight? Shrimp.

I'm going to BBQ shrimp on skewers. I'm going to marinate them with ginger & garlic, salt & pepper, and some Chinese sweet chili sauce (the kind you use for spring rolls). I'm also going to add some Chinese chili & garlic paste. MMMMM gonna be good. Before I put my shrimps in I will reserve some sauce for a mango salsa using some mango, & green onions. Then I will serve this all on top of a plain rice with a nice side salad with a fruity vinaigrette. Here's my chance to use my raspberry balsamic vinegar!!

Yes...now I feel better! No more winter in my house! The sun is shining and I am thinking of my palms, sand & warm ocean breezes......now if I could only take my long johns off!

Baby It's cold outside....what shall I cook?

Hi, 

My God it's cold out there....!!!

Whenever it's cold out, I start thinking about cooking soups or stews or pot roasts. Really hardy meals. Meals that will warm you up from the inside out.

Today, I'm going to make a minestrone. This is going to be easy!

Step 1....let's clean out the fridge.

Ingredients: Any combination of these veggies will do...whatever you have on hand. Got other veggies in there?....go ahead add in. This is not rocket science. Add away. I usually stay away from peppers though....I'm not fond of them in the soup.

Onions,

celery,

carrots,

spinach,

potatoes,

sweet potatoes,

zuchinni

cabbage

leeks

kale

any greens

string beans

 

Ok, now what I do is I cut everything up into bite size pieces. I put everything into a pot and I add a good soup stock (store bought will do) or if I don't have any stock available, I add a couple of great big heaping tablespoons of Knorr's Chicken instant stock mix (to taste). Add a can of chopped tomatoes. Now set it on the stove and let it boil. You will know when its done because your veggies will be fork tender. At this point I put in a can of Romano beans or canellini beans (I like the white variety) but you put in what you have on hand. How will you know how much instant soup stock mix to add? Add in a couple of tablespoons, boil away and taste, keep adding and tasting till you feel it's flavoured to your liking!

In my house, we like our minestrone "blended", so I use the hand blender to blend till smooth. If it's a really big pot, you can blend in batches in your blender. 

I put it back on the stove and I add in the rind end of a piece of parmigianno regianno or grana padana cheese. This gives the soup a delicious silky backdrop of cheesy goodness. Just let that rind cook away in the pot...it gets nice and gooey! We also add in uncooked rice or barley. I'm not particularly fond of pasta in my soup. In my house we usually add the rice or barley. Cook away on a low simmer, stirring occasionally until the rice or barley is cooked.

To serve, grate in a nice amount of regianno or grana and add in pepper to taste. I feel the more cheese you add...the better it tastes.  I like a lot of pepper so I put a nice amount in...but you put in what you like.

This is a hearty soup. If you are serving it as a primo, or 1st course, a small bowl will do. If you are serving it as a main, serve a nice big bowl and serve it with some nice crusty warm Italian bread.

Mmmmmm that will warm up your bones. Enjoy!

How to cook Quails

Hi all!

The other day on Jan 10th I posted a picture of some nice quails that I made for my husband's birthday. Here is the recipe:

MY SAVORY QUAILS

Before I begin, I usually portion 2 quails per person. In my area, you usually buy quails 6 to a package. I cooked 2 packages (12 quails). These portions are for 12 quails.

12 quails
1/2 package of bacon sliced very thin
salt
pepper
full bulb of garlic
fresh sage
fresh rosemary
white wine
chicken stock

Take each quail and salt and pepper inside & all around the outside. Don't be afraid of salt and pepper....they are your friends! Place in oven ready pan, legs facing in. (they will cook too much or burn if you face the legs to the outside).

Take 1 entire bulb of garlic, remove the thick outer peels (don't worry about the soft peels inside, they will melt into the dish). Cut bulb in half and break apart & spread all around quails.

Take thinly sliced bacon and spread all around the quails.

Take two  4 " sprigs of rosemary, strip off the stem and sprinkle around.

Take about 8-10 or so nice sage leaves and sprinkle around the quails.

Drizzle with a little mild olive oil or canolla oil. And also drizzle in about 1 cup of white wine.

Cook about 1 hour in a 350 deg oven turning often from front to back giving special care to keep the breasts moist. if you see that you need a bit more moisture (too much evaporation) pour in a 1/2 cup or less of chicken stock just to keep moist. (The quails should not be swimming in liquid. This liquid serves to keep the birds moist). During the last 15 minutes, turn temperature up to 425 deg to brown up the quails nicely (don't burn them just a nice brown). Always keeping an eye on the moisture level and turn turn turn the quails.

At this point, your bacon will be nice & crispy. Serve the birds on a platter and sprinkle all the nice jus with bacon all around. Make sure you have some nice crusty bread as you will want to soak up all those good juices with bits of bacon, sage & rosemary.....that's gold there baby!!!

By the way, you can use this same recipe to cook chicken, or other poultry like cornish hens too!

EAT & ENJOY!!!

Lahore Tikki house in Toronto!! Best Indian Food ever!

Fantastic Red!

Basement parties

Hi Again!

Today it's rainy and yucky out. I'd rather rain than snow any day though that's for sure. Just starting my day and thinking about food again.

This new blog has taken me back. I've been remembering many childhood memories. A lot of the memories I remember growing up in an Italian family in Toronto take place in basements! ha ha...yes I said basements. Cement block basements! They were usually cool and you got to wear your shoes!! Can any of you remember doing the same? When we were younger, my parents and their family and friends had many parties.....and by parties, you know that meant FOOD!

My parents and family and friends always loved getting together to maintain their sense of family. That meant calling people over to your house on a Saturday night and having wonderful parties. The ladies cooked all day! Friends would come over and we would set up banquet tables in the basement...hey the basements were all unfinished and there was plenty of space...don't laugh! 

These were the days of multiple courses too. There was always an antipasto that consisted of slices of salami, or capicolo, (usually made by your dad or one of your uncles or friends), cheese (come on...we all had wheels of cheese from Gos & Gris in our cantina's) and olives, or "antipasto" (in my house "antipasto" was a jarred delicious medley of canned carrots, celery, olives, tuna & oil, and other goodies that my mom would make & can every autumn...mmm). Then we would have a pasta dish or soup if it was cold out...brodo with a nice fine pastina of sorts, either little balls or little pastina that looked like rice with a big sprinkling of grated grana. Then the meat dishes would start coming out. Roasted chicken, duck or goose for sure and usually a roasted beef of sorts. These were always accompanied by various veggies (never corn...that was for pigs) and salads of tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers all grown in our backyards, or radicchio...again from our backyards. All this washed down with great big bottles of wine. My dad and his friends liked keeping their wine in the big washed out glass bleach gallons (remember those?). The kids had pop from the pop shoppe of course! Oranciatta or brio....those were our favorites. And the ladies had ginger ale with their wine...they were too refined to drink the wine straight up! Soon after, the coffee served with brandy or grappa (home made) served in it came out. Espresso coffee was served but we also had "Canadian coffee" too. Our favorite desserts were the venetian cream horns! And of course we also had homemade Italian cookies too...."fritulis", or "crostolli" were also crowd favorites! And did I say wine....wine flowed ALL NIGHT!

I remember many fun evenings spent around eating a ton of food! Don't forget this was the 60's...they also drank & smoked cigarettes...yes in the house....yes with the kids around. We all survived! And then ultimately, someone would take out the accordion and then the party would really start rocking!

Ah the memories!...I'm sure I have a picture of a basement party somewhere...let me go look. I'll post if I find it....

Till next time......

Happy Birthday honey! Hope you enjoy my quails!