Boo! & Brr

Wow, November has started out with a cold snap. It’s been quite fresh and crisp outside, which has been lovely. Right now I have been taking a mellow approach towards the holidays. I have been already looking at cookie recipes for Christmas, but I have also been enjoying the moment, i.e., no Christmas songs until December! It’s helped that I actually celebrated Halloween this year.

First, in celebration of October, I made these amazing pumpkin swirl cheesecake squares, which got rave comments. The crispy shortbread crust and the smooth cream cheese made one good bar. I used spreadable cream cheese instead of the brick cream cheese, since that was all I had. I was concerned that it wouldn’t turn out, but it was totally fine. I recommend you make these if you still have pumpkin hanging around!

The entrance to our current school abode before a Halloween party.

This year I decided to dress up for Halloween. I don’t think I’ve had an actual costume since grade 6. I didn’t have midterms so I had some time to put together a costume: I became a flamingo for the night. It was fun to dress up in pink feather boas, even though I shed everywhere. I made a no-sew tutu out of tulle and boas and I was pretty pleased with how it turned out. This was also my first time putting on fake eyelashes, but I tried them out anyway and they really made the costume.

Hope you all had a good Halloween, and that you enjoy this upcoming holiday season!

Nature/Math

You know how you’re not supposed to go grocery shopping on an empty stomach, because then you’re more likely to succumb to buying junk food? The same should be said for going to the farmer’s market, but at least you come out with healthy food instead of chips!

Last Saturday I woke up fairly early, so I decided to hit up the St. Lawrence Farmer’s Market before eating breakfast, and tried to avoid the crowd. Well, I came out with a lot of stuff before rushing home for breakfast.

My goods:

In terms of the more normal fruit & veg, I got some crispy tart/sweet Golden Delicious apples and some firm, sweet Bosc pears.  I picked up a cute acorn squash, because this fall, I planned on conquering my fear on cooking squash. I also bought a couple of huge bunches of kale.

And in terms of some more interesting finds, I got some apple cider, which was preservative-free and unsweetened. In the past, I often avoided apple cider since it was always sweet (though delicious), but I was very excited to find some that had no added sugar.

And what was that giant acid green mass in the front? It was Romanesco cauliflower. I had never even seen this before! I asked the vendor how to cook it and he told me to cook it like regular cauliflower. So I mustered some courage (yep, I am somewhat an apprehensive cook), and bought this huge bunch. I read up more on Romanesco cauliflowers when I got back. One cool fact I learned was that Romanesco cauliflowers was a natural approximation of a fractal. Nature can be so cool! I roasted the cauliflower with a splash of olive oil and red pepper flakes. Yum. It tasted like a mix of broccoli and cauliflower.

Fall Food

This week felt so long because I was looking forward to Thanksgiving this weekend! Finally it’s here, since I don’t have class Fridays. Lately I really embraced fall in my food for all meals of the day.

Breakfast:

Apple and cranberry oatmeal. After boiling a 2/3 cup of water, I threw in a finely chopped apple along with 1/3 cup oatmeal, half a banana, thinly sliced, and a good dash of cinnamon. I simmered that for about four minutes on medium. Then I stirred in some cranberries, frozen from last year (ahem), and cooked the oatmeal on low heat for several more minutes until a good thick consistency.

I had been meaning to bake with pumpkin for the last two weeks, but for whatever reason I hadn’t, so I got my pumpkin fix in quicker ways.

Pumpkin oatmeal! I followed the recipe here. This time I used 1/3 cup of milk, 1/3 cup of oatmeal, half a banana, thinly sliced, and a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg, and heated them, stirring continuously until it was just about bubbling. Then I stirred in a 1/4 cup of pumpkin puree. I turned down the heat and let it reach a thick consistency.

I also made some pumpkin smoothies. I soaked 1/3 cup of oatmeal in a cup of milk overnight to soften the oats. In the morning, I blended the oat mixture with some pumpkin puree, half a frozen banana and some cinnamon and nutmeg. This could have been sweeter, but it was still fun for breakfast.

For lunch one weekend I made pumpkin mac and “cheese” using Oh She Glows’ recipe. I say “cheese” because I used nutritional yeast. Nutritional yeast is a yeast that comes in flakes with a tangy “cheesy” flavour (and a very cheesy orange colour!) that vegans often use to substitute for cheese. I bought some a couple of years ago and I hadn’t used much of it. If you have any good recipes that calls for nutritional yeast, I am all ears! This pumpkin mac and cheese was pretty good–it was not quite the same as a regular mac and cheese, but the pumpkin gave it a thick and smooth texture.

I didn’t use pumpkin for dinner, but for the past month, each Saturday or Sunday I made a big pot of something and ate it throughout the week. It was not exciting, but it worked for my schedule since I had night class three to four times a week. I liked not thinking about what was next for dinner.

Chickpeas with cauliflower, tomato and homegrown basil.

Pork tenderloin roasted with grapes and red onion.

Meatloaf: I know this is not a flattering picture, but I swear this was very good and simple to make. It was a mixture of ground beef, bread crumbs, an egg, ketchup, cayenne pepper, onion and broccoli for some greens. Something about meatloaf screamed homey, even though I didn’t grow up with meatloaf.

A simple beef stew.

And finally, pot roast.

Unfortunately the meat in my beef stew and pot roast turned out slightly tough–not like my mom’s beef stew or pot roast at all. I suspected I didn’t cook them long enough, since I knew that the meat I used, beef chuck, was inherently tough. It was still edible and nutritious, especially with all those veggies, but it was disappointing.

I suppose this calls for more experimenting. Life of an aspiring home cook!

Chicken Four-Ways (Part 2)

I hope everyone had a good Labour Day weekend, and that you are settling into September.  I had what will likely be my last first day of school. Toronto had our first chillier day yesterday, so I know fall is in the air.

This is a continuation of my earlier cooking chicken adventures post. My kitchen bucket list had roasting a whole chicken for a very long time. I’m proud to say I can cross that off. Fryer chicken was on sale at the grocery store one week so I picked it up and set out to roast a chicken. Over the past couple years, I’ve read that it is actually not that difficult to roast a chicken, but it was still somewhat intimidating working with, well, an entire animal. Now I’m confident I know the anatomy of a chicken!

So what roast chicken recipe did I end up using? It’s called “Engagement Chicken”. The back story is  that several women served their boyfriends this chicken and later, the boyfriend asked the girlfriend to marry him. No, there is nobody I want to be engaged to right now. I borrowed 100 Recipes Every Woman Should Know from the library (I won’t go into the arguably sexist title here, but it is a surprisingly good recipe book), which contained the above recipe for roast chicken. It had an interesting story and seemed approachable, which was a plus.

The chicken turned out moist and flavourful from the lemon. I do need to keep working on that crispy browned skin. I also need to learn how to carve a chicken. Fortunately since I’m cooking for one, it really doesn’t matter how the chicken ends up looking on the plate.

I was so pleased with cooking a whole chicken that I decided to buy another chicken while it was still on sale. This time I spatchcocked it by cutting out the back bone with a pair of kitchen shears. Totally not hard at all with scissors. Heehee, I love the word “spatchcock”.

I followed the recipe for huli huli chicken in Aida Mollencamp’s Keys to the Kitchen. Huli huli is a Hawaiian sauce. I marinated the chicken in pineapple juice, ginger, garlic and soya sauce before roasting it the oven.

This is another good recipe to have on hand. You can’t go wrong with garlic. The sauce itself is dark so the chicken is not actually burnt. Although the recipe called to grill the chicken, since I don’t have a grill, I followed the instructions to roast it. This way I could also keep all the marinade in the roasting pan while in the oven.

I  saved the backbone for chicken stock — another food to-do list item, for sure! My other chicken to-do is to butcher a whole chicken into eight to ten parts (breast, thigh, drum, wing), and also learn how to butcher a chicken Chinese-style, which tends to serve cooked chicken cut up including the bones (e.g, the breast bone is part of the smaller breast pieces). I love learning new techniques in the kitchen.

Chicken Four Ways (Part 1)

One of the great things about summer as a student is having the time to experiment with new recipes. I am not a self-professed meat lover, and let’s face it, cooking grains or legumes is so much less pressure. That said I am happy to add these simple chicken recipes to my repertoire.

First I started with drumsticks. I made Shutterbean’s Honey Lime Drumsticks.  I marinated the chicken in a honey, lime and minced garlic for a couple hours. Next time I will marinate it for longer, at least overnight. I didn’t have a grill, so I roasted these in the oven at 400 F for about 45 minutes, until the chicken reached an internal temperature of 165F. Then I broiled them for a few minutes to get a grilled-look. These were quite tasty and the marinade was so easy to mix together. My goal for next summer is to learn how to grill (and become a grill master!).

A couple weeks later, I made these chili chicken thighs with creamy cilantro sauce. This was also an easy marinade of honey, chili powder, amber beer, apple cider vinegar and olive oil. I was so excited that I already had all the ingredients. Instead of the called for sour cream in the cilantro sauce, I used Greek yogurt. I used cilantro from my sister’s herb garden on the balcony, which I have been watering all summer. So refreshing. This recipe is a keeper, though I will also try to marinate the chicken for longer if possible.

Featured: a healthy bunch of lettuce leaves also from our balcony garden.

While I’ve made drumsticks and thighs before, I’ve never marinated meat and I can see its appeal because you can infuse great flavours. Also, I cleaned up before I actually set out to cook later on, and the actual cooking was a breeze. After these successful chicken adventures, I later set out to tackle two kitchen bucket list items: roasting a chicken and spatchcocking a chicken. To be continued…

Summer Fruit: Rhubarb

The moment I saw rhubarb at the St. Lawrence Market, I knew I had to buy some. It was the sign of the beginning of summer, after all. But I picked up a stalk apprehensively and asked the vendor, “The leaves are poisonous, right?”. He responded, “You haven’t made rhubarb before?”. He then went on to explain how to prepare the rhubarb and a couple other older men listened in and gave their opinions.

Source: Wikipedia

We finally reached a consensus on making rhubarb compote: Bring 3/4 to 1 lb chopped rhubarb, 1/2 cup of water and 4 tbsp of sugar to a boil then down to a simmer before the rhubarb breaks apart too much, and stir in some orange peel near the end.

Enjoy it on crepes!

With granola and yogurt in a Mason jar (jar optional)!

Since then I’ve made a few different kinds of dishes with rhubarb.

Rhubarb Crumb Cake

Rhubarb Spice Cake

and la pièce de résistance: Rhubarb Strawberry Crumb Pie by Joy the Baker

Pie crust used to stress me out, but I decided that I would no longer let it intimidate me. So what if it tears a bit or shrinks or if it’s not perfectly flaky? It’ll still taste good. Honestly, the thought of making apple pie for the first time is the only thing that is making autumn appealing to me right now. I’ll take summer forever, please, thanks.

Rhubarb is no longer in season, but I still have a few stalks in the freezer. Hmm, I wonder what I should make with it now.

Bonus: Out of focus strawberry rhubarb ice cream from Ed’s Real Scoop. Mmm.

in like a/out like a

Whoosh, March went by quickly.

There were a few green smoothies.

And maple olive oil banana bread made with Greek yogurt.

And school.

My parents came over last night for Easter dinner since the kitchen is undergoing renovations. My sister roasted us a leg of lamb, which was delish! I unfortunately did not contribute to this dinner since I’ve been busy with year-end stuff, like usual. I did help with clean up though. Secret: I’ve discovered the magic of the dishwasher. Apparently it can be just as water-efficient as dish washing by hand depending on how full you load the dishwasher. I still love getting through a sink of dishes though.

I had a sunny Easter morning with a hot cross bun my parents gave us. I used to dislike hot cross buns when I was younger, but this was lovely. It didn’t have those weird red or green “cherries”, though there were still some raisins and some dried peel as well as a good nutmeg kick. Still, I think hot crossed buns are an acquired taste.

I hope April isn’t too rainy.

chicken of the sea

On one of my busy days I got some sushi from a nearby surprisingly good take-out sushi place. This was a brown rice avocado and salmon roll. It was so delicious and they were really generous with the fish.

But luckily, I finally had the chance to make something in the kitchen again.

I had some ground chicken hanging around my freezer for way too long–I just had no idea what to do with it. I read about meatloaf muffins which used ground beef in my now go-to recipe book, Fast Flavours, and I decided to use my ground chicken instead. After browsing some other “chicken meatloaf muffin” recipes online, I chose the ingredients I liked in the different recipes and then really tried cooking “without a recipe” and without (too much) measuring. What an interesting change!

These chicken meatloaf muffins ended up including oats, one egg, two finely diced celery stocks, half a shredded carrot, a little Sriracha, a good tablespoon of Worcestershire sauce, and salt and pepper. I baked them for about half an hour. They tasted pretty good and I was quite happy with myself.

I also finally opened the immersion blender I got for Christmas. I made my first smoothie out of frozen blueberries, yogurt, oats and half a banana. Yum!

This weekend is Chinese New Year, so I’m back home. Tomorrow is Chinese New Year’s Eve, and my immediate family and I will have our “reunion” dinner. On Chinese New Year’s Day (Sunday), I have a fam jam with my extended family. It’s always a good time and I can’t wait.

life in food

Sometimes life feels like this.

I was so excited to try the new quinoa I got from Costco—got to love my mom’s membership—and I was equally excited to have it for breakfast. I must have gotten distracted though. Luckily, the burned bits were surprisingly easy to scrub off, and the quinoa was fine, just crunchy.

Life can look pretty good too, like this roasted sausage, fennel, and peppers dish I made, from a recipe Michael Smith’s Fast Flavours. I wish life were this easy sometimes.  Alrighty, this life analogy is on its last legs now.

I love fennel, amd this was my first time buying and making it. I saved the fronds, which smelled divine, in the freezer to put in a vegetable stock at some point. They may also just hang around the freezer until I have to throw it out. Don’t waste food, Bea!

New Year Soy Sauce Chicken

Happy new year! Oh dear, I am entering the “weird zone” of when it’s OK to wish someone a happy new year, whoops. I had a lovely new year’s eve with a good friend, friends of friends, as well my brother and sister — I think this the first time the three of us have been “out on the town”. We saw Sheezer, an all-lady Weezer cover band, as well as a bunch of other bands and musicians. It was a good night, indeed.

This week my mom taught me how to make Chinese soy sauce chicken, which has been a family recipe for three to four generations. It turns out it is really easy to make. Now I hope to share it with you too!

Soy Sauce Chicken

Ingredients

1 whole chicken

Marinade

1 tbsp cooking wine

2 tbsp soy sauce

Sauce/Braising Liquid

2 tbsp medium soy sauce

4 tbsp dark soy sauce

60 g of brown sugar (~ 1/3 cup, packed)

3 spring onions, chopped into thirds

3 slices of ginger (~ 15 g)

My mom and I actually used Chinese “layered sugar” which is essentially a pressed slab of brown sugar; regular brown sugar will be fine.

Instructions

Butterfly the chicken by cutting out the back rib.

Marinate the chicken in the wine and soy sauce for about half an hour. The idea is just to get some colour on it.

In a large non-stick sauce pan, add the soy sauce, sugar, spring onions, ginger, and the chicken. Cover and bring to a boil. Lower heat and reduce to a simmer. Cook covered.

After about ten minutes, flip the chicken over and cover again. Spoon sauce over chicken occasionally.

After about another ten minutes, turn the chicken over again, and cook for about ten more minutes until the chicken is done (total cooking time is approximately 30 minutes). You can test whether the chicken is cooked by cutting where the thigh meets the body and seeing if the juices run clear.

Serve the chicken with all the sauce on a large plate.

Makes delicious, moist, sweet and savoury chicken.