Haddock and Shrimp Empanadas with Honeydew Salsa

Posted by CK in celery, cilantro, easy, haddock, honeydew, onion, parsley, recipe, salsa, shrimp

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Ever since amanda and I did our first wine tasting when we reviewed Unquenchable: A Tipsy Quest for the World's Best Bar Wines, we've been having monthly wine and food pairing evenings. The experience was so amazing that we had to recreate it again and again.

We've already looked at wines from the 4 corners of the world, including South Africa, Portugal, Australia, and Canada. Argentina was up next on the list and I was to bring a meal paired with white wine. I picked the Etchart Cafayete Torrentes (suggested by either the SAQ or LCBO quarterly magazines - honestly can't remember which one). The SAQ website suggested pairing this wine with the empanada recipe that I'm about to describe. With a few adjustments to make it healthier, as well as to use up ingredients I already had at home, the following is what delighted all guests:

Ingredients

• 1 cup chopped cooked shrimp
• 1.5 celery stalks, chopped
• 2 tbsp cilantro, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp red onion, finely chopped
• 1.5 cups cooked haddock, shredded
• 2 heaping tbsp greek yogurt
• 1/3 cup milk
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 lb pie dough

Salsa

• 2 cups chopped honeydew
• 2 tbsp each: red onion, parsley, cilantro - finely chopped
• 2 tsp lime juice (add more if you like it very tangy)
• pepper to taste

Method:

1. In a bowl, mix the first 5 ingredients and set aside
2. In a smaller bowl, mix the yogurt and 1/4 cup of milk until you get the consistency of cooking cream (add more milk or yogurt if necessary)
3. Mix in 3 tbsp of the yogurt mixture to the fish stuffing
4. Pre-heat your oven to 375 F
5. Roll out the pie dough and create 8 circles approximately 6 in. in diameter
6. Put fish stuffing on one side of the circle and fold the other half on top. Seal your dough using a fork. Use the same process for the remaining 7 circles and place on a parchment-paper lined cookie sheet.
7. Brush the empanadas with the remaining milk and bake for 20-30 minutes (until the crust becomes golden brown)
8. While your empanadas are baking, mix your salsa ingredients and place in the fridge until ready to serve.

This is an excellent recipe for left over white fish + it's great comfort food! I served these as an appetizer to our meal (1 empanada per person). You could also serve these as a main course (2 per person). Amanda had prepared a delicious pesto that she served with fettuccine, paired with a Pascual Toso Malbec.

Although I haven't tried, I bet these empanadas would be a great freezer meal. I'll keep you posted on how that goes :)

Enjoy!

- CK

Yogurt-Dill Salmon

Posted by CK in budget, dill, easy, healthy, parsley, recipe, salmon, vegetarian, yogurt

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Wowzers has it been a long time since we posted anything! We would like to apologize for this long delay. Amanda and I have both been very busy in the last few months and finally got around to cooking again! We both got great new kitchen appliances that we are just dying to try out! :)

As we are supposed to be eating fish twice a week, I try to make a conscious effort to include it in my diet. I usually end up eating a can of sardines (I know, probably not the best...) or salmon to bake. Salmon is probably my favourite fish and it's great for my cholesterol!

In light of this, I decided to thaw my salmon in the fridge yesterday while I was at work. I knew I only had about a half hour to prepare supper since I had an evening appointment and salmon recipes are usually quite quick to make.

Thanks to the wonderful Martha Stewart, I was able to adapt her simple, delicious and quick roasted salmon recipe with ingredients in my pantry.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup 2% natural yogurt
• 2 tbsp dijon mustard
• 1/2 teaspoon dry parsley
• 1 teaspoon dry dill
• Salmon filet

Prepare:

1. Pre-heat your oven to 450 degrees F
2. Mix the yogurt, mustard, parsley and dill in a bowl
3. Place your salmon filet, skin down, on a lined cookie sheet
4. Spread your yogurt mixture on top of your salmon
5. Bake for approximately 20 minutes, or until the salmon is cooked (it will be flaky)

That's it! I served it with boiled potatoes which take approximately the same time. Perfect and healthy dinner! :)

Enjoy!

-CK

Kafta Burger Patties

Posted by CK in bbq, beef, budget, burger, easy, onion, parsley, recipe

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BBQ season is upon us! For what has now become a traditional annual cottage week end, this Canada day week end will be spent eating and bathing at a friend's cottage. Unfortunately, cottage-time often means quick and easy meals, which often equals store-bought hot dogs and burgers, and whatever other fast food you can find.

Since both A and I are trying to watch what we eat, I inspired myself from last year's sweet and sour chicken skewers and amazing pasta salad, and decided to prepare everything ahead. That way, we'll make sure that we eat right and light. As I'm sure a whole bunch of other posts will follow post-cottage, I'll give you a pre-taste of the meals we'll be enjoying at the cottage. Let's start with burgers!

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This burger patty is a traditional Lebanese recipe (a.k.a Kafta) and is absolutely fantastic! These patties cost me around 7$ to make, if not less (for 10 regular size patties).

You'll need:

• 1 lb lean ground beef
• half an onion, diced
• half a bunch of parsley, cut up into the tiniest pieces possible
• 2 stalks green onion, chopped
• salt and pepper to taste

The steps are very simple: 

1. Mix all your ingredients in a bowl, making sure your veggies mesh well with the meat (think of it as kneading the meat)
2. Once everything is mixed well, form 10 balls, approximately the size of golf balls (maybe slightly bigger)
3. Take each ball and flatten it on the palm of your hand. Note: If the meat is sticking to your hand, don't hesitate to dab a little bit of cold water into the palm of your hand.

That's it. That's all. If you're not planning on eating them right away, freeze them!

If your boyfriend is anything like mine and likes the raw taste of meat, avoid buying the pre-made-fully-packed-with-fake-food burger patties, and simply add salt and pepper to a pound of lean ground beef and form patties. 

Enjoy BBQ season and stay tuned for our other cottage recipes! 

- CK

DIY Cheese Tortellini

Posted by CK in budget, cheese, easy, parsley, pasta, vegetarian

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How would you feel if I told you you could make your own cheese tortellini with 4 simple ingredients? With lent season starting today, and my choice on cutting on meat, I have no choice but to start looking for great vegetarian recipes again. This cheese tortellini is definitely going up on my list! The original recipe was for a lobster tortellini, which - you know - I'll HAVE to try out. But in the meantime, let's start small shall we? ;)

Now, I must warn you that this does take a while (i.e. approximately 2 hours) if you don't have a pasta maker (that's definitely on my next wish list!!). In the meantime, get ready to use those muscles, because you're in for a delicious ride! :)

Note: This is a great recipe if you're just starting with pasta making. It definitely put me in the mood to start making all my pasta from scratch!

Step 1. Make the pasta dough

All you need for this pasta dough recipe is flour and water. Yes. That's it. Trust me on this one. So, for about 5 good portions of tortellini, use:

•  3 cups of all-purpose flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour (feel free to play around with those, I would suggest keeping the ratio at max a half and half, but that's for you to experiment). To this, add 1/2 a cup of warm water and mix.
• Add warm water to this mix - one tbsp at a time - until all the dry flour has been absorbed. Knead this ball of dough for about 10 minutes (it should be stiff for you to knead), or until you get a nice smooth ball that's not too sticky, but not too dry either. You'll see what I mean as you do it. Don't be shy and give it a try :)
• Once that's done, wrap it in plastic and let it rest for at least 1 hour. That'll give time for the glutens to rest so you get a nice elastic dough.

Step 2. Make your cheese filling

• For the amount of dough you made, you'll need about half a box of ricotta cheese (I picked the traditional kind because I wanted to be on the safe side - I'm not a ricotta expert) and about a tablespoon of fresh cut parsley. C and I are not big fans of parsley's strong taste, but still wanted to add a little something to the cheese. Feel free to add more if you like :)
• Mix well in a bowl and let it rest in the fridge until your dough is ready.

Step 3. Make the tortellini - yay!

Oook. Now comes the fun part! First tip I'll give you: work with small portions of your dough - it'll be long, but it'll be much less work on your arms. Make sure you leave the rest of your dough wrapped in plastic so it doesn't dry out while you're working your dough.

Honestly, This is a faster - and funner - process if there's two of you: 1 person rolls the dough and 1 person rolls the tortellini, but that's up to you and how much time you have. 

A. Take a piece of your dough and roll it out on a flouered surface. Make sure it's as thin as possible so your pasta doesn't turn out too thick once cooked, making you miss out on the amazing filling.

B. Using a circular cookie cutter (not too big, not too small, depending on the size you want to make your tortellini), cut circles in your rolled out dough. Apologies for not having a picture for this step, but I think you get the gist of it. Make sure to use the scraps with new dough so that it doesn't crumble the next time you use it!

C. Lay out your cut circles and a little over a quarter of a teaspoon of your cheese-parsley mix to the center.

D. Dab the borders of your circle with water and fold in half. Make sure you press close to the cheese to remove the air in there.

E. Press the cheese up toward the border using your thumb.

F. Twist the two corners towards each other and secure. Place your finished product on a cookie sheet. Play around with the twist and see what they look like! Twisting in different directions will make them look different, but they all have the same delicious taste! :)

From this point on, you have two options:

1. Freeze them for later. If you're going to do that, make sure they're not touching each other on your cookie sheet and freeze them flat for about half an hour, then transfer them into a freezer bag and save for later. Once you're ready to eat, take them out of the freezer and boil for approximately 3-5 minutes, or until they float to the top - about a dozen at a time, depending on the size of your pot.
2. Make them fresh! How can you resist?? In this case, boil for approximately 2-3 minutes, or until they float to the top - about a dozen at a time, depending on the size of your pot.

We couldn't resist and had to try it out for supper! So we cooked them and made a simple rosé sauce! :) Quite impressed with ourselves I must say. Now, I have to spend a full day making those for the days we just won't feel like cooking!

Not only are they delicous, but they're also cheap to make! Enjoy it to the last bit and have fun with different fillings. Next stop, LOBSTER! :)

- CK

Light and Tangy Pasta Salad

Posted by amanda in budget, parsley, pasta salad, recipe, vegetarian, yogurt

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There are some things in my fridge that I never finish before they go bad: low fat plain yogurt, whole carrots, cucumbers, and parsley. It's really sad to see these things wilt or mold or do whatever yogurt does (ick) when they were perfectly delicious a few days ago. With that in mind (and with not wanting to venture outside into the -40 with-the-wind-chill out of doors, I set to a little pasta salad experiment. To be fair, this was also motivated by being a bit grossed out by how much mayonnaise we use to make things creamy (feeling a little guilty about my own mayonnaise habit I guess), so I wanted to do it without.



The results were pretty tasty actually, and this dressing would probably be good on roast potatoes or coleslaw.


In a bowl mix together:

½ cup plain yogurt (I used 1% astro brand that went a little watery on me - perfect for this!)

1.5 tbsp whole grain mustard

1.5 tbsp olive oil

3 tbsp minced fresh parsley

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tbsp white vinegar

1 clove minced garlic

1 tsp red pepper flakes

A high protein variation for my workweek! One can
of rinsed black beans, one can of tuna in water, 3 carrots,
6 cups of cooked penne, 3 stalks of celery, 1/2 cup chopped
parsley, and 1/2 cup dressing! Delicious :)

Add about 1.5 tbsp of this dressing to roughly:

3/4 cup cooked cold penne pasta (ideally whole wheat)

1 large carrot, sliced

1/4 cucumber, quartered

optional: 2 tbsp parley, minced (I had some left over from making the dressing, and love parsley...plus it offsets the raw garlic in the dressing, breath-wise)

Season your salad with salt and pepper to taste.

You could easily add any kind of bell pepper, celery, onion, black beans (I suspect this would be delicious), and/or black olives or anything else that's left in your fridge and needs eating. Any other suggestions are very welcome!

xox

-A

Taboule under 10 minutes

Posted by CK in parsley, recipe, salad, vegetarian

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This traditional Lebanese dish is so delicious and yet always seems to be take such a large amount of effort. Last night however, I decided to embrace my Lebanese roots and stop complaining about the effort it takes to make what I think is a trademark of the Lebanese tradition. That's when I came to realize it really only takes about 10 minutes to make taboule - at least to make 1-2 portions.

Note that this taboule is the real deal. The ones you find in stores with A LOT of bulgar are not good verisons of taboule ;)

Here's what you'll need:

• 1 bunch of parsley
• half a tomato - chopped into cubes
• 1/4 of an onion - chopped into cubes
• 1tbsp of bulgar (for lack of bulgur at my house, I used 2 pinches of cooked couscous because it doesn't really taste the same)
• 1/2 tbsp of olive oil
• 1/2 tbsp of lemon juice

*add olive oil or lemon juice to taste.

Preparation:

1. Chop the stems off the parsley bunch then chop the parsley into tiny little pieces
2. Add the chopped tomatoes, chopped onions, olive oil, lemon juice and bulgar
3. Mix well.

*If you're not going to serve right away, hold the olive oil and lemon juice. Add and mix right before serving only.

THAT'S IT!!!!

Enjoy!

-CK