Here's a quick post with another one of my go-to side-dishes to complete a meal. As is my usual goal, this offering has a medley of vegetables and bold flavour between the lemon and the cheese. It sounds like a strange combination, but I assure you that you will be pleasantly surprised and that you will want to make this all the time!
Roasted Lemon Vegetables Gratin
1/4 onion, roughly chopped
1/2 zucchini, sliced
one section red pepper, roughly chopped
one section green pepper, roughly chopped
6 cremini mushrooms, quartered
1 tbsp olive oil
juice of 1/2 lemon
salt, pepper, garlic powder
1/4 cup breadcrumbs
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
grated rind of 1/2 lemon
Preheat the oven to 400F. In a bowl, toss the vegetables with the oil, lemon juice, and seasonings until fully coated. Arrange the vegetables in a single layer on a flat roasting pan. Roast for 20 minutes in the oven, stirring after 10 minutes. While roasting, combine the breadcrumbs, cheese, and lemon rind in a small bowl.
Remove the pan from the oven after 20 minutes and give the vegetables another stir. Top vegetables with the breadcrumb mixture. Turn on the broiler and return the pan to the oven. Broil for 3-5 minutes until the cheese melts and the breadcrumbs brown. Serve immediately.
As you can see, my broiler is a tad uneven and my breadcrumbs got very brown on the one side. (You can also see how well-used my roasting pan is!) Keep an eye on the pan while it's in the broiler to ensure that you don't burn the crumb mixture. The result is savoury and satisfying. Who says vegetables can't steal the spotlight?
For my tunes, I was inspired by the heatwave we experienced at the end of last week. Saturday certainly was not the most opportune day to roast vegetables in a hot oven, but I had a craving for this concoction so I endured the Heat Wave (Martha & the Vandellas).
So I haven't posted any new recipes in the last month. It's been quite busy at work so I've been sticking to the staples and not taking the time to experiment and come up with something new. My creative juices were itching to get out this afternoon, and with it being a lazy Sunday, I had ample time to dream up a new dish. I started as I usually do: with a vague idea of what I want to create. Then I google and see what's already out in the world, and based on my own image of the dish and what others have created, I start my work. I'm calling this dish a chicken taco casserole, since it contains most of the ingredients in a taco but in casserole form. I wouldn't call it a Mexican dish, however, as I gave it my own spin. I'm personally not a fan of very spicy food, and my cupboard is much more full of herbs than it is of spices. My go-to spice for a little heat and smokiness is paprika, so that's what I layered into this dish to give it a slight kick. Chicken Taco Casserole
Preheat oven to 350oF.
In a large skillet, heat 1 tsp olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the onion,
garlic, peppers, and mushrooms. Season with salt, pepper, and 1 tsp paprika,
and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the spinach and stir until it wilts. Add the 1
tbsp of paprika paste and stir until the vegetables are thoroughly coated.
Transfer the vegetables to a bowl.
Add the remaining 1 tsp olive
oil to the pan. Add the chicken breasts and sauté 4 minutes each side. Remove
from pan, and cut into small pieces.
In a small bowl, mix the sour
cream, cream cheese, 1 tsp paprika paste, and 1 tsp parsley.
Spray a glass 12x12 baking
dish with cooking spray. Put ½ cup of the salsa in the bottom of the dish and
spread it to cover. Top with ½ of the ripped tortilla pieces. Then add all of
the cooked chicken. Spread the sour cream mixture on top of the chicken layer.
Top with the vegetables and the rest of the salsa. Sprinkle half of the cheese
on top. Layer on the rest of the tortilla pieces.
Cover with foil and bake for
20 minutes. Bake for 10 more minutes uncovered. Remove from oven and top with
remaining cheese and grape tomatoes. Bake for an additional 5 minutes. Garnish
with chopped green onion and serve.
I snapped a few different pictures of this dish. First, my ingredients ready to begin the layering process:
Starting from the bottom left, I have my two kinds of cheese (marble and medium cheddar), my ripped tortillas, salsa, seasoned cooked chicken cut into small pieces, sour cream mixture, and sautéed vegetables.
There's the finished product when I took it out of the oven after the entire cooking time. I also snapped a side-on view to catch a sneak-peak into the layers:
Finally it was time to plate the dish and see if my experimentation paid off:
I will admit - it really doesn't look too pretty. But in my defense it's a difficult dish to plate. I can assure you, however, that it was delicious and very filling. As always, I encourage you to make additions, deletions, and/or substitutions. Putting in some black beans or a layer of guacamole would add another dimension of flavour. Or using taco seasoning or lime juice on the vegetables and chicken instead of paprika. This is a versatile dish, and I'm sure that I'll make it in a different way the next time I try it.
Even though this is really not a Mexican or Latin dish, it still put me in the mood for Latin music. I took Latin dance lessons in university with some friends and we had a blast learning all the sensual steps. My favourite was always the salsa because of all the hip action. So my tunes for tonight come from Shakira - Hips Don't Lie.
This is a dish I'm pretty proud of. I made it up essentially on the spot with the ingredients that I had, and not to brag, but it was delicious. Working off the Mediterranean theme I crafted a simple, healthy dish packed with flavour. I'm beyond excited to eat these leftovers for lunch tomorrow!
Mediterranean Baked Turkey
2 turkey breasts, pounded out to 1/4 inch thickness, seasoned with salt, pepper, and garlic powder
2 cloves garlic, chopped roughly
1/4 onion, chopped roughly
8 cremini mushrooms, quartered
12 grape tomatoes, halved
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp honey
salt, pepper, herbs to taste
1/4 cup goat cheese, crumbled
Preheat oven to 375F. Lightly grease an oven-proof glass dish. Pound out the turkey breasts and season on both sides. Arrange in a single layer in the glass dish.
In a small bowl, toss the garlic, onion, mushroom, and tomato with the balsamic vinegar and the honey until thoroughly coated. Season the vegetable mixture with salt, pepper, and your favourite herb. To intensify the flavours, make ahead, seal with plastic wrap, and let sit in the fridge for 1 hour.
Pour the vegetable mix over top of the turkey breasts in the dish. Put in the oven and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove from the oven and add the goat cheese, sprinkling evenly over top. Return to oven and bake for 5-7 more minutes. Serve with a sidedish of your choosing (I did baked potatoes).
The finished meal! There was quite a bit of liquid in the bottom of the baking dish with the vinegar and the liquids released from the vegetables during cooking. You could serve the cooking liquid as an au jus with the turkey. I saved it and poured it into the tupperware container with my leftovers to keep them moist.
You could also personalize this dish more with your favourite vegetables, or toss in more Mediterranean staples like red peppers or olives. This is definitely a repeat meal to be filed with my simple, healthy dinners that come together in under 30 minutes for busy nights.
For my beats, I'm choosing a sweet, simple song to match this dish (that seems to be becoming the theme of this blog...). Here's Into the Mystic by Van Morrison.
I have been neglecting my postings recently. April has been an extremely busy month, and I haven't done much experimenting in the kitchen to produce new dishes to share. One glimmer from the last four weeks is the one sweet indulgence that I baked. Bars are so quick and simple to make when you have a hankering for something sweet. I threw these together with some basic ingredients that I always have on hand.
My Magic Cookie Bars
2 cups chocolate cookie crumbs
1/2 cup butter, melted
2 tsp granulated sugar
1 cup sweetened coconut flakes
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter chips
1/2 cup pecans
1 can sweetened condensed milk
Preheat oven to 350F. Mix the first three ingredients together in an ungreased 9x13 inch pan until incorporated and all crumbs are moist. Spread across bottom of pan and press evenly into the corners with fingers. Pre-bake for 5 minutes.
Remove the pan from the oven and let stand for 5 minutes. Sprinkle evenly over the crust the coconut, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips and pecans. Drizzle all over with the sweetened condensed milk. Return to oven and bake for 20 minutes or until set. Let cool thoroughly, and then cut into squares to serve.
Fresh out of the oven and so ooey-gooey! I plated one and took a side-on view so you can see the crust:
Very indulgent with many layers of flavour. I have been the envy of my colleagues at work bringing a square in every day as part of my lunch.
For my beats, I decided to turn to an indulgence from my youth. Since these bars are sweet, frivolous, and satisfying, I'm going with a good old Spice Girls tune. I have a very vivid memory of making a music video to this song with my friends and my little brother (wearing a Baby Spice blonde wig!), so this song never fails to make me smile and feel silly. Here's Stop by the Spice Girls.
I didn't go into my kitchen this evening with the intention of making meatloaf. I actually didn't have much of a plan at all. I had the idea of wanting to make some sort of casserole perhaps, and somehow that idea evolved into me creating my first-ever meatloaf. My recipe is a hybrid of my own general knowledge of what meatloaf is from watching endless cooking shows, and from quickly consulting a few of my cookbooks once I got hooked on the thought. Here's how it came together.
Cheese-Stuffed Meatloaf
1 tsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ red onion, minced
1/3 green pepper and 1/3 other
coloured sweet pepper, chopped
6 cremini mushrooms, sliced
½ package extra lean ground
beef (about 1 ½ cups)
1 egg
1 tbsp barbecue sauce
1 tsp mustard
2 tbsp tomato paste or thick
marinara sauce
½ cup sour cream
1 cup breadcrumbs
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp paprika
1 tsp parsley
1 tsp black pepper
½ cup sharp cheddar cheese,
grated
Heat the olive oil in a small
fry pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, onion, peppers, and mushrooms
and sauté until soft. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes.
Put ground beef into a large
bowl. Add the sautéed vegetables, egg, BBQ sauce, mustard, sour cream,
breadcrumbs, and herbs and spices. Bring together using the hands into a sticky
mixture. If it appears too wet, add more breadcrumbs.
Line a loaf pan with foil.
Spoon a little more than half of the meatloaf mixture into the pan and spread it
across the bottom and into all corners. Top with the cheese, mounding it in the
middle. Cover the cheese withthe rest of the meatloaf mixture and smooth the
top so the cheese is no longer visible. Bake in a 375oF oven for 35
minutes.
I had some potatoes on hand, so while the meatloaf was in the oven I whipped up a quick mash. Just to tie the whole dish together, I grated some more of the cheese that I stuffed in the centre of the meatloaf and mashed it in with the potatoes.
And there's the finished product! I got three healthy portions out of this meatloaf. (You could easily get four comfortable portions - I just make bigger portions since I'm the only one eating it). The meatloaf was moist and very flavourful with all of the various ingredients I added in. I kept my meatloaf pretty chunky with large vegetable pieces. If you're not as big on the veggies as I am, chop them up quite finely before sautéing them so they won't be as obvious in the finished loaf. I loved how the cheese oozed out of the meatloaf once I cut it into slices, and the bed of cheesy mashed potatoes brought it all together! Not bad for my very first foray into the world of meatloaf.
So yes, as you may have guessed, I'm going the obviously corny route with my tunes tonight. Since my dish is meatloaf, might as well throw up a Meatloaf tune, even though I'm really not that big of a fan. Just for kicks, here's I Would Do Anything for Love.
Don't worry - I'm not the one with a broken heart. I chose the title because I liked the alliteration and because these would be the perfect brownies to heal any love-life woes. This is another one of my almost homemade recipes, like my Butter Pecan Cupcakes. It takes a brownie mix and adds in some magic to make a delicious concoction that looks and tastes like it could be homemade. This recipe is also ideal for the broken-hearted because it's quick and easy. When your heart is hurting, you don't have the time or the energy to bake brownies up from scratch. These come together in no time using just one bowl and then throwing the mix in the oven. For very little work, you're rewarded with a delectable heart-healing treat.
Broken Heart Brownies
1 package brownie mix
ingredients to prepare brownies as stated on package
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1/2 cup pecans/walnuts
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (if the brownie mix doesn't contain chips/chunks already)
Preheat the oven to 350F. Grease the bottom of an 8 inch square pan. Add in the ingredients specified on the brownie mix package, but don't mix in right away. Add in the additional ingredients (vanilla, cinnamon, coconut, nuts, and chips) and then mix thoroughly until the batter comes together. Spread the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35 minutes.
All it takes is some stirring and spreading and voilà:
Moist, chewy brownies with lots of little suprises inside! The coconut flakes give the brownies a more chewy texture, and the cinnamon adds an exotic flavour that plays up the chocolate.
I ate my brownie plain, but for those truly in need of some heart mending, you could add a scoop of ice cream, some chocolate or caramel sauce, whipped cream, the list goes on. Bottom line is these brownies will have you back in your happy place in no time.
My beats match the broken heart theme. I was introduced to this band by my friend Courtney from university when we went on a road trip for March Break last year. She provided the tunes for the drive and put in an album by The Airborne Toxic Event. I fell in love with every track and still listen to them now. The song I chose is one of the best break-up songs I have ever heard. It's about running into an ex who you still have feelings for, and it captures the true raw emotion of that moment. Here is Sometime Around Midnight by the Airborne Toxic Event.
I've been on a kick lately where I'm experimenting with using espresso in baked goods. It helps that I own a Tassimo machine so I can quickly and easily brew as many espresso shots as I like, and I bought a package of espresso T-discs solely for the purpose of baking. This recipe is the one that turned out the best of all of my experiments. The dough itself was almost better than the baked cookies - I probably could have eaten the whole bowl! I can't even truly describe the flavour notes added by the espresso - it highlights the sweetness, but the espresso itself is somewhat bitter. Altogether it almost makes the cookie taste creamy and smooth (that sounds weird I know, describing a solid with the adjective "creamy" but it's all I can come up with right now). However you describe it, these cookies are delicious.
Chocolate Chip Espresso
Cookies
½ cup butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 shot espresso, cooled
1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate
chips
Preheat
the oven to 375oF. Beat the butter and sugar together. Add the egg
and vanilla and beat until fluffy. Add the shot of espresso and mix well. In a
small bowl, mix together the dry ingredients (flour, soda, powder, salt). Add
to the wet ingredients in two additions, mixing well after each. Mix in the
chocolate chips. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a baking sheet and bake for 8-10
minutes. Makes 2 dozen. Cookies fresh out of the oven:
I found the espresso flavour was actually stronger in the raw dough than in the finished cookies. It mellowed out through the baking process but still highlighted the sweetness and smoothness of these cookies.
There's a gorgeous close-up for the texture of the cookies - very buttery and chewy. Now for the beats. Since I described the espresso as being bitter but also emphasizing the sweet in the cookies, my mind automatically jumped to one song: Bittersweet Symphony by The Verve.
Zucchini is one of my favourite vegetables to cook with because it's so versatile. I love discovering new ways to use it. I've fried it into zucchini fritters/pancakes, stuffed it with cheese and vegetables, sautéed it into pastas and stir-fries, roasted it for a side or for a sandwich, and now I've baked it. I kept this bake very simple, just letting the zucchini and cheese speak for themselves. You could add other vegetables (mushrooms always play nice with zucchini) or add a condensed soup mix to make into more of a casserole. No matter how you prepare it, this makes a simple and elegant side dish for any meal.
Cheesy Zucchini Bake
1 zucchini, sliced
¼ onion, sliced thinly
1/3 cup breadcrumbs
1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tsp olive oil
¼ cup grated cheddar cheese
Preheat the oven to 350oF.
Spray bottom of a glass oven-proof circular dish with cooking spray. Arrange
the zucchini slices in a circular pattern in the pan, overlapping slightly.
After the first layer, spread about ¾ of the onion slices on top. Add the rest
of the zucchini slices in a second circular layer, and then top with the
remaining onion. Sprinkle with the breadcrumbs and Parmesan, and drizzle the
top with olive oil. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and top
with the grated cheddar cheese. Bake for an additional 5 minutes so the cheese
melts.
Here's the zucchini bake just before I put it in the oven for the first time:
It looks quite pretty in the dish laid out in the circular pattern. Yes, this took a bit more time than just throwing the zucchini in there haphazardly, but it makes the presentation that much better!
Here's the finished product after adding the grated cheddar and letting it melt in the oven:
Super cheesy! If you are making this to serve more people and decide to double the recipe and use two zucchini, I would add about 10 minutes to the cooking time to make sure all the layers are fully cooked.
For the beats, I'm bending the title of this song slightly to make it fit my message. I think this dish could make anyone try and enjoy zucchini (mostly because of all the cheese), even if they're quite reluctant. In other words, it could cause you to make an exception to your dislike of this glorious vegetable. In honour of that idea (and because I recently ordered the sheet music to this song and can't stop playing it on my piano), here is The Only Exception by Paramore.
Growing up, mashed potatoes weren't among my (long) list of favoured dishes. I thought they were alright, and I would eat them, but they would never have been my first choice for a side dish. As an adult, I've had some fun exploring different options for mashed potatoes with more than the basic milk/cream/butter combination. This incarnation has just about everything but the kitchen sink thrown in, and I would gladly whip these up any night as a side to my meal.
Mashed Potatoes with Bacon, Mushrooms, and Sour Cream
2 yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cubed
2 slices bacon, cut into small pieces
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 onion, diced finely
3 cremini mushrooms, diced
3 tbsp milk
1/4 cup sour cream
1/8 cup cream cheese, softened
Add the cubed potatoes to a large pot of boiling water and cook for 15-20 minutes until fork tender. Meanwhile, heat a small pan over medium-high heat. Add the bacon and sauté until it begins to brown on both sides. Add the garlic, onion, and mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, and continue to sauté until soft, stirring often to ensure the garlic does not burn.
Add all the dairy ingredients in a serving dish ready for the potatoes. Once the potatoes are ready, drain them and add them to the serving dish. Mash thoroughly incorporating the milk and creams. Add the bacon and mushroom mixture and stir gently to distribute. Serve immediately.
The potatoes are pictured there in the background behind my Honey Mustard Glazed Chicken. They have a rustic look but such an amazing flavour with the combination of the bacon and the sour cream mashed right in. It's an unexpected treat - and one you'll want to savour.
For my beats, I'm throwing in another Mumford and Sons tune. I know I've already featured them in an earlier post, but Winter Winds seems to fit these potatoes. They are an ideal winter side dish full of warmth, comfort, and substance, and mashed potatoes are a staple in Great Britain. So once again for your enjoyment, here are Mumford and Sons, but this time with Winter Winds.
This one's just a quick post for an idea to make a regular, boring chicken breast wake up and pop with flavour. It only takes about fifteen minutes to prepare and tastes pretty wonderful.
Honey Mustard Glazed Chicken
2 chicken breasts, cut into strips
salt, pepper, garlic powder to season
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp white wine
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp honey
Heat a pan over medium-high heat and add the olive oil. Once the oil is glistening, add the seasoned chicken strips to the pan. Cook for 5 minutes on the first side, and then flip, cooking 5 minutes on the second side. Add the wine to the pan. While the alcohol is boiling off, remove the chicken strips to a plate. Turn the heat down to medium-low, add the mustard and the honey, and stir. Once the glaze comes together, put the chicken strips back in the pan and toss to coat on all sides with the glaze. Serve immediately.
Here are my chicken strips which I served with some amazing mashed potatoes (to come in the next post). I also garnished my chicken strips with a bit of parsley. In addition, if you're more into sauces than glazes, then you could add a few more tablespoons of wine, some chicken stock, and a little cream to fashion yourself a light honey mustard sauce to pour over the chicken breast strips. Honey and mustard is a great flavour combination, and you should adjust the ratio depending on if you prefer the sweet or the sour. I like the balance of both which is why I kept their amounts equal in my glaze.
My beats to go with this quick dinner option also represent a great combination, but this time of performers. It's a cute little song featured in a great flick, Juno, performed in this case by Ellen Page and Michael Cera, two fabulous Canadian actors. Here's Anyone Else But You.
Pasta is one of my top five all-time favourite ingredients. It's so versatile - there are truly limitless options for pasta dishes with the various types of pasta, protein additions, vegetables, sauces, and garnishes. When I feel like experimenting in the kitchen, I usually turn to pasta. I challenge myself to come up with a new variation that I haven't done before with whatever ingredients I have on hand. This past week, I went all out with two proteins, a multitude of vegetables, and a flavourful sauce. I think this will be a repeat recipe!
Creamy Tomato Bacon Dill Pasta
1 tbsp olive oil
2 chicken breasts, cut into
small strips, season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder
3 slices bacon, cut into small
pieces
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ onion diced
½ green pepper, chopped
4 cremini mushrooms, diced
¼ cup white wine
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 small Roma tomatoes, diced
1/3 cup dill-flavoured cream
cheese
1 ¼ cup whole wheat pasta of
your choice
1 tsp dill weed/fresh dill
Heat the oil over medium-high
heat. Add the chicken to the pan and cook on one side for 5 minutes. Flip the
chicken strips over and add the bacon to the pan and cook for 5 more minutes.
Continue browning the chicken and bacon for 3 more minutes, stirring each
minute.
Add the garlic, onion, green
pepper, and mushrooms to the pan. Season with salt and pepper. Stir and sauté
for 5 minutes or until soft and brown. Add the wine and the balsamic vinegar
and let come to a boil. Turn the heat down to medium and add the tomatoes. Toss
gently and let the sauce simmer for 3 minutes. Add the cream cheese and stir
gently until it melts and is incorporated.
Prepare
the pasta according to package directions; drain, and add to the sauce. Toss
together and garnish with the fresh dill.
The addition of the cream cheese was actually a game-time decision. My initial vision of this dish was for a wine/vinegar-based sauce with no creamy ingredient, but the combination of tomato and dill is one that I have always enjoyed but rarely exploit. I am very pleased with the end result. I used whole wheat rotini as my pasta, and with all the vegetables the dish is colourful and nutritious. The saltiness of the bacon plays off the sweetness of the tomato, and the creamy tang of the sauce with the cream cheese and the wine and vinegar balances out the spectrum of tastes.
The three servings I got from this recipe gave me great energy with the protein and whole wheat pasta. The flavours in the sauce are also inspiring and energizing, so I obviously need an upbeat tune to match this fabulous dish. My pick is Are You Gonna Be My Girl by Jet.
