Winter Feasts and Good Eats, 2014 and 2015

Whoa! Look at the cobwebs around here.

I'm clearing them out with these photos. ENJOY les filles!

The only thing this picture is "suggestive" of is THE END of the semester!
I now have time to peel pomegranates!

Marché Adonis. Matt took this picture in awe of the sweets he CAN eat. 

I came home to my Montreal kitchen painted piss yellow. 

Minced pork for Matt from the Italian butcher in lieu of the elusive bulk sausage ppl in the midwest shape into patties and eat for breakfast. It just wasn't the same. I tried. 

Italian fluted, fried dough bows. My aunt Amira has connectionz. 

Orange and rosemary cornish hens for Christmas dinner--saved my Christmas

I was browning sausage for Christmas lunch (pizza)--the best sausage I've ever had. "THE BEST!" Amira exclaimed. It was from one of the boutique shops in St. Jovite. I attempted to buy some the next day--$19.99 for 4 links! uh no thanks.

Stuffed vine leaves--also saved Christmas 

More things/people that saved Christmas: Amy made my Grandma biscotti! Look at how incredible she is. Grandma was utterly impressed with the professional cookie packaging AND AMY'S ARABIC WRITING! "She does things. This girl. Amazing. I have no idea how she does them."--Grandma

My paternal uncle's wife, Jocelyn, is one of the most loving, generous, energetic, upbeat individuals I have ever known. I complimented her BBQ sauce. She lined up the ingredients to take a pic in lieu of writing the recipe (which I told her I'd lose). "Une cuillère à thé de tout!" she said.

Amira making a New Year feast for Matt

He'd been up since 4 am. Let's cut this sourpuss some slack.

Amira, wonderful and gorgeous as always

Matt's welcome feast at Grandma's house--he was charged with carving the roast (veal, of course.)

Grandma approving of the skillz

Posing with his dairy- and egg-free bounty

He wanted live Scottish music. The best we could do was Hurley's. Look at that cute face. :)

Amy made the BEST BURGERS I HAVE EVER TASTED EVER. IN MY LIFE.
PLEASE POST RECIPE. 

Fondu was also the best I've ever had and LOOK HOW FANCY!

My friend Nara's birthday at Le Pois Penché

Nara 

Matt ordered mussels. They were acceptable. 

Nara and I split pancakes and eggs benedict. The pancakes had flambé pineapples. I discover I am picky about pineapples. And pancakes.

The oyster monger at JTM. Next time, guys, next time. 

My classmates live off of PB&J and animal cookies. They ask me if animal cookies exist in Canada. I send them pictures demonstrating that our animal cookie culture is alive and well. 

VINE LEAVES DAY! 

Grandma mixy

THEY SEE ME ROLLIN. THEY HATIN.

proportions are key.

Grandma plants the leaves in her gardens, boils them, freezes them. I was speeding up the thawing process by laying them out on the edges of the tupperware. We made about 200. 

Amy made me surprise biscotti. LEMON AND CHOCOLATE. How does she know? 

just pure perfection.

I only had 2 glasses of wine. The flu had me on the floor. They joined me. 

The infamous wine. I must get more. 

I slept over that night, with NO hangover because Amy plied about a gallon of water in me before bed. SAINT.
Here are her incredible crepes. Here is a Dr. Who cup. 

There was no jam in the house. What's a girl to do? 

Dad and I made veal. of course.

And most delicious of all...this kid. 

Goat Cheese and Roasted Tomato Bruschetta

Mmmm bruschetta. Im a little confused as to the correct pronounciation of that word (broo-sketta, bru-shetta?) but its still tasty as anything! Its something that Jeff and I discovered toguether, I knew and sort of liked it before, but once Jeff got into it, we were adding some crazy variations that were sometimes so far from the original stuff that Im not sure it still qualified as bruschetta... but I called it that anyways and let anyone give me a better word for what it was and I will stand forever corrected LOL!

I made this particular recipe for Mother's Day, and although the picture probably doesnt look all that tasty, it was friggin delicious. I fell in love with these beautiful locally grown early tomatoes that were varied in sizes and colors (which I found at the Atwater market btw, but which I know that IGA has some in smaller packets) and decided to make a colored version of bruschetta with.

Goat Cheese and Roasted Tomato Bruschetta

• 1lbs of multi-colored cherry tomatoes
• 1 yellow pepper
• 1 large onion
• E.V.O.O. (extra virgin olive oil)
• 2-3 tsp of dried italian herbs
• 3 oz (more or less depending on your own taste) of crumbled goat cheese
• freshly ground pepper

1. Cut the tomatoes, onions, and pepper in bite size pieces. Alternatively, you can roast the tomatoes whole, just remember to make a slit in the tomato skin or your going to have a joyous mess of exploding tomatoes in your oven.
2. Put the pieces on a cooking sheet and mix maybe 2 tsp of E.V.O.O. on it. Using your hands or a fork, mix it toguether to make sure that the oil is evenly spread.
3. Roast in preheated oven (375C) for 10 minutes, keeping an eye on it to gauge the time to pull it out depending on your oven's strength. The smell and sight of the readyness of the tomatoes will be quite apparent.
4. Pull the pan out, sprinkle half the herbs, mix and flip, and sprinkle the other half. If your tomatoes are sticking, add another tsp of EVOO. Put back in the oven for another 10 mns or so.
5. After its done, just put in a pretty dish and crumble the goat cheese right on top. Grind some pepper right on the top of everything and voila! As an alternative to the oven, you could try pan frying the veggies as well, its a nice texture change.

And thats it! Spoon onto your vessel of choice, a nice grilled piece of flatbread, or even directly onto meat as well. Play around with it and discover all the different tomato varieties that are out there, they all have different tastes and textures and will completely alter the bruschetta. Try a different color pepper, or different onion as well. Ive added freshly shucked sweet corn for a delightful sweeter taste too!

Coconut-Eggplant Sauté

PSYCHE YOSELVES FOOS...

because I just invented a new comfort food. 

I've been craving a decent eggplant dish since I got here. Middle Eastern cusines is crammed with eggplant deliciousness--stuffed eggplant, grilled eggplant, pickled eggplant, fried eggplant, eggplant casserole, eggplant dip....c'est bon, ça!!


Eggplant is a delicate, yet versatile vegetable sure to please any picky eater, and I was so ready for my fix. Last week, I found a medium-small organic eggplant for $0.99 at my local hippie grocer--score! I had to pick it up!

But it's been lonely in my fridge, because I have zero idea how to make any of the aforementioned dishes...so, I improvised. And what resulted was, surprisingly, mind-blowingly amazing. I'm sure this recipe would also work well if you're trying to clean out your fridge! Feel free to add carrots, sliced peppers. etc. YUM!

What You'll Need

-1 small-medium eggplant, sliced

-1.5 cups minced beef

-1 cup light coconut milk

-1 large red onion, sliced lengthwise

-2 tbsp olive oil (or omit if your beef is fatty)

-10-15 cherry or grape tomatoes (or any sweet tomato will do), sliced lengthwise

-2 handfuls or more baby spinach, roughly chopped

-salt and pepper to taste

You're Ready Now To...

1) Slice eggplant into long fingers. Place on paper towels, and sprinkle with 1 tsp of salt. This reduces the typical bitter taste of eggplant.

2) Heat oil in a skillet and add sliced red onion on medium heat. Sauté for 5 min.

3) Add minced beef, cherry tomatoes, and eggplant, stirring until meat is almost entirely cooked.

4) Add coconut milk and stir. Reduce heat and cover.

5) Simmer until coconut milk thickens, eggplant is dark, and the cherry tomatoes creamy. Add the spinach, and turn off heat. Keep cover on for an additional 3-5 minutes.

6) Serve over rice or small shell pasta.

Feel free to add spices or fresh herbs--I didn't have any on hand, so I just added salt and pepper and it was still incredible. Matt was passing by and I served him a small cupful. He looked skeptical but obliged anyway...and ended up asking for MORE! I felt vain all day after that ;)

booyah.

hai der.

Yes.

A whole. Fish. Head, everything intact.

Sam's Club. (AKA Costco)

No, seriously.



*****

I was headed to a new members' meeting for the National Speech, Language, and Hearing Association yesterday. It was my first time going to the SLP building after hours at 7:30.

I go to open the door, and I find it locked. I swipe my student ID card. Not working despite my grad student status. I can see the students, TONS of undergrads (HOW did they get in?) pooled in the lobby about 20 feet away through glass front door. I bang on the door, ring the doorbell, wave, dance, and finally get it that I'm just not supposed to be at this meeting for some reason.

So I run errands instead. I head to the giant strip mall (lol) near my house, walk into Sam's Club, and find these babies.

God loves me. 

Rainbow trout. They came loosely wrapped in packets of twos, but they looked amazing. All for $5. I was swooning. My grandmother always told me to check for two things: bright eyes (never cloudy) tinged with red; and firm flesh. In hindsight, I should have tried to find an employee to bring me to the back so I could pick some out that they hadn't wrapped yet, touched them, and given them a sniff (I have weirded out many a teenaged employee stuck working at the fish counter at random grocery stores by asking if I can smell the fresh seafood to check for freshness lol), but dude, I was SO EXCITED I ran off to the cash and the man in front of me remarked with a chuckle "Hey, whaddaya know-she found REAL FISH, hehehehhe."

Within 15 minutes, these babies were rinsed, marinated in olive oil, salt, pepper, minced fresh ginger, the juice of 1 lime, sliced fresh garlic, and lots of green onions, and in my oven on broil.

Must devise a plan to get all the rest of the whole fish from Sam's Club before the Missourians do...

The fish were each about half a pound. I don't think my oven is as hot as it should be, because it took a good 10 minutes for the fish to be ready to be turned over to the other side (for a 1 pound fish, it should start to get charred and skin bubbly in 5 minutes, then you know it's ready to turn).

The fish turned out pretty nicely! I'm sure if I had marinated it for at least 2-4 hours, or even better, overnight, it would have turned out differently. I made more fish later in the week for Matt--this time, the fish was even JUICIER! Huzzah!

Greek = Better, Baby

         Today is Greek Independence Day!

         Απ’ τα κόκκαλα βγαλμένη

των Ελλήνων τα ιερά,

και σαν πρώτα ανδρειωμένη,

χαίρε, ω χαίρε, Ελευθεριά

We sing special songs in Church, light candles and pray in memory of those who fought for the right to call themselves free (I was struck, writing this, at how we are united across the world by this fight). And then there is a big parade downtown. Lots of flags, traditional music, and people dancing in the streets, its a joy to see!

my (second) cousins, dressed in traditional regalia

And one of the best things about being greek? Loukoumades. Greek honey balls, or doughnuts. Just saying the word makes me drool. Little balls of fried sweet dough drenched in honey, cinnamon, and sesame seeds = best dessert in the world. And from what I understand, they eat it every day as part of their breakfast over in the motherland. How awesome is that??? And because I love you guys so much, I will share this most secret recipe (that Im sure you can find hundreds of variation to online lol) and hope it puts you in the mood to shout OPA!

Ingredients
180 g all purpose flour
100 gr whole wheat flour
1 cup milk

2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon of dry yeast
Vegetable oil for frying
Honey
Cinnamon

Sesame Seeds


Directions

Heat the milk slightly, just to get it warm and dissolve sugar and salt in it. Add yeast and stir with a spoon. Slowly add the flour and continue stirring.

Preheat the oven just for a minute and turn it off. Cover the bowl with a towel and let it rise inside the oven for an hour.The dough will rise and draw bubbles on the surface.

Use a pan and heat the oil over medium heat. There must be plenty of oil because we are going to deep fry the donuts. When the oil is heated, we use a wet spoon to get some dough and we use another wet spoon to slide the dough into the oil. The secret for this recipe is that you have to turn around the donuts frequently and you must not fill the pot with too many donuts. Just few at a time. 

When they golden brown, remove them and let them drain on a paper towel. Transfer the donuts to a plate, shake some cinnamon, and drizzle with warm honey. Add some sesame seeds and serve (or eat the whole thing yourself)!