Mom’s Zucchini Pie

I remember my Mom made this dish a lot when I was younger and I always insisted I hated it, until upon trying it I’d clear my plate every time. I think my kid-brain just didn’t like the idea of eating a vegetable “pie”; pie was supposed to be sweet, with oozing fruity goodness inside!

Carrots, Zucchini, Onion

As I and my taste evolved I admitted how good this vegetable “pie” really was; fresh zucchini, onions, carrots, grated cheese, all baked to a crispy golden perfection. Last week in thanks of my Mom’s help with moving I helped her prepare this dish for supper. At this stage in her culinary life she’s great with improvising, and at the last-minute we realized we had no oregano or basil, but thyme worked great in fact I think I liked it even better.

I love zucchini, they are the reason I enjoy this dish, but you can add or omit most any vegetable to your liking.

Mom’s Zucchini Pie

3 eggs
1/8 cup oil
2 tbsp butter
1 cup flour
Oregano/basil/thyme to taste
1 onion
1 green pepper
1 big zucchini
2 carrots
grated cheese

Grated Cheddar with pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°.
Whisk together eggs and oil in a large bowl.
In a separate bowl mix flour, butter, seasoning, salt and pepper to taste. Mix until crumbly, then add to eggs and oil.
In a food processor chop vegetables. Grate desired amount of cheese, then combine vegetables and cheese with other ingredients. Stir well.
Cook 45 minutes – 1 hour at 350° in a well-greased casserole dish.

Moving out, Moving back in, and Roasted Garlic

So I’ve been MIA for the past week due to the hectic stress of moving. My cousin was fortunate enough to be offered a house sitting opportunity 10 months ago, which she extended to me and my sisters. This beautiful 1930′s home needed babysitting while the company that owned it searched for buyers. We had an amazing time living here, but unfortunately for us the property sold in March, and we were kicked to the curb.

Farewell sweet Poolhouse

The packing process was simple enough, after moving from Montreal to Vancouver in September I really didn’t have a lot of possessions other than clothes. However cleaning the house and throwing out what we didn’t want was time-consuming and physically draining. No time to blog or photograph all the interesting things I made in order to use up our food.

One thing I did get around to making before we left was roasted garlic. Several recipes I’ve been wanting to make have called for roasted garlic and I was eager to try it out. I used this to season fried rice, for stir fry and mashed potatoes, and a tomato salad. When you roast garlic the harsh garlicky bite is subdued, and you’re left with this flavourful, almost earthy taste. Next time I’ll make it with the elephant garlic.

Elephant Garlic

So Phil and Tyler have already gotten an apartment together (Bromance is a beautiful thing), while Em and I relocated back to our Mom’s house. Augh, to be living at home again…I never planned to move back into the family abode, and though the rent-free environment is something to be grateful for, that’s not the only reason I moved back home.

Come July, my family is packing up our home of 18 years and  moving to Nova Scotia, without me. Dramatics aside, the Moms have decided it’s time for change and a new adventure. Before settling in a currently undecided upon Nova Scotia town, they’ve planned an elaborate road trip across Canada, leaving me with just three months to soak up all the family time I can get.

 

Home Sweet Home

There was never any questions as to whether I would move back east with them; after living in Vancouver my whole life save 5 years spent in Montreal for school, I’m excited to be living here at this stage in my life. My education, career, and personal aspirations are just starting to gain traction, and I want to explore where they take me.

At times I’m overwhelmed by moving home  and surrendering my freedom, personal space, and independence. But as hectic as this accommodation can be, I don’t want to miss out on these last months of us all being together.

A while ago Phil’s Mom told me an old Chinese saying, “It’s not what’s on the table, it’s what’s on the chairs that matter”, the point of which is well suited for my current situation: It’s not about where you are, but who you’re with. Right now, I’m happy to be home with my family.

Roasted Garlic

1 garlic bulb

olive oil

Season the garlic as you please, or leave it plain and enjoy its natural flavours. I sprinkled mine with a little Rainbow Pepper and salt.

Preheat the oven to 350. Slice of the top of the garlic clove, revealing the individual cloves.

Place the garlic inside aluminum foil and drizzle with olive oil. Season to your liking.

Wrap up the clove and bake it in your oven for 30-40 minutes. When its cooked the garlic cloves is easily squeezed out.

Use in any recipe, especially good in bruschetta and humus. Happy Eating

Garlic Parmesan Kale Chips

So the Kale Chip bandwagon rolled by I thought why not jump on it and see what this rides all about?  Apart from how photogenic kale and kale chips are, it is an immensely healthy vegetable chock-a-block full of antioxidant properties, vitamins K,A,C and manganese (just to name a few).

I was so excited to finally make these! However they received mixed reviews after coming out of the oven. Kale chips have an interesting taste and texture; many bloggers describe them tasting  ”just like potato chips!”. This is absurd and absolutely not true.

Consistency wise these were awesome, very light and flaky in your mouth and you don’t feel heavy after eating them. Though Kale absorbs the flavours you season it with, it does retain somewhat of a nutty earthy flavour, like raw broccoli. Even though I wasn’t %100 sold on them, they were like Lays Chips – I couldn’t eat just one.

Phil said he would try them again, but it was like eating “spicy potpourri”. Emilie liked them ( I think, it’s so hard to tell when she’s lying, ha!) but she made a good point that Kale “isn’t a particularly delicious vegetable” on its own. The seasoning was a unanimous success, and I will use it again for Pita chips and yam fries, but no one was ecstatic about the kale.

I made my first batch with just olive oil, sea salt, vinegar, and pepper. They smelt amazing but flavour was a bit blah. I decided to kick it up a few notches with the recipe below, since everyone in our house likes food with a little spice.

Even after making the second batch something didn’t meet my expectations. Perhaps I’m being too harsh because my expectations were too high. Perhaps I just don’t like baked kale! I’d never baked it before, so I didn’t know what to expect.

Since I can’t pin point exactly what I didn’t like about these chips, I’ll have to make them again at a later date just to be fair.

Sea Salt and Vinegar ingredients

Garlic and Parmesan Kale Chips

1 bunch of Kale
1 1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tbsp Frank’s Red Hot Sauce
Sea Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Parmesan cheese to garnish

Directions:

Garlic Parmesan Seasoning Ingredients

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Wash kale and thoroughly dry. Separate kale leaves from the stem, then using a bowl or seasoning bag toss kale leaves in olive oil, garlic, and Frank’s. 2 tbsp wasn’t enough to make them spicy, but the flavours were nice.

On an oven tray evenly distribute kale leafy side up. Bake for 10 minutes.

Remove from oven and season to taste with parmesan cheese ( I also sprinkled some paprika).

Return to oven and cook for 2 more minutes.

NOTE: Burnt kale tasted very bitter, so keep a watchful eye on your chips!!!

Beautiful. Don’t they look amazing? I’m so disappointed I didn’t fall head over heals for them… sigh.

Green Eggs and Ham

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!!

In honour of this glorious day I’m making a classic green meal: Green Eggs and Ham! I wanted to make this two weeks ago for Dr. Seuss’s birthday (March 2nd) however I was distracted with my own birthday celebrations. Granted this isn’t exactly an Irish dish but I felt that making something green is still in the spirit of St. Pats. I found this recipe on www.foodnetwork.com as “Emerald Eggs” but I’m renaming them in honor of Seuss. Also, I made only two hardboiled eggs and eyeballed the other ingredients because I didn’t want to waste food if no one else wanted to eat them. As it turns out they were a success and  next time I’ll make enough to share! Tarragon makes this AMAZING.

Green Eggs and Ham

6 hard-boiled eggs
1/4 mayo, adjust to your tastes
2 tbsp tarragon
2 tbsp scallions
Salt, pepper, cayenne to taste
6 slices of ham ( i used rosemary ham, it was divine)

Directions

Peel hard-boiled eggs, then slice in half lengthwise. Remove yolks into a separate bowl. Add mayo, scallions and tarragon, mixing well. You can also use a food magic bullet or processor. Season with salt and pepper.

In the hollowed whites arrange slices of ham. Place yolk mixture on top of the ham. I garnished mine with a tiny sprig of parsley, and later with cayenne pepper because I love spice.

Serve and enjoy!

Sweet Irish Soda Bread

A couple of days ago my roommates and I decided to give something up for Lent. None of us are actually practice a religion, but we thought this would be the perfect opportunity to stick to a “diet” of sorts. Emilie said no more cabs, Tyler said no more energy drinks, I said no more bread, and Phil laughed at all of us, claiming we wouldn’t last a week.

Later that afternoon Em was late for work and had to take a cab, the transportation diet would just start tomorrow. The next day, Tyler came home from work and consumed an energy drink in what seemed like 60 seconds. But worst of all, a few days later Phil brought home a Modern Burger for me to try. I swear his intentions were to see me break (he knows I can’t resist food!) and half way through the burger I realized that hamburger buns do count as bread. I guess Lent is not for us.

So without guilt I continue the Irish cooking theme this week with a Sweet Irish Soda Bread. As I write this post my bread bakes away in the oven, it’s only been in 15 minutes but  it smells amazing. I’ve never made bread before (yay me!)  I should probably save my congratulations until after it comes out, with my baking luck it will implode in the oven…but lets stay positive until than!

The recipe I used is the perfect tea time bread: the raisins make it sweet, the caraway seeds are savoury, equalling the perfect combination. I searched the internet for recipes, this one is called “Irish Rosie’s Irish Soda bread”,  found on www.food.com. Many recipes called for buttermilk, however this one called for sour cream and so I thought I’d go with that. I bought the fat-free stuff because you can’t tell the difference.

Soda bread is great with stews and soups. There are many variants of this bread, it’s not hard to find a recipe that suits you’re tastes, be it sweet or traditional. If you’re looking for more of a dinner bread omit the raisins and caraway seeds, and reduce sugar to 2 tbsp. I found that 1/2 cup sugar coupled with the natural sweetness of the raisins was a little too sweet; next time I make this recipe I’ll use 1/4 cup if not 2 tbsp sugar.

Irish Rosie’s Irish Soda Bread

3 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
500 ml sour cream
2 eggs
3/4 cup raisins
2 tbsp caraway seeds

Directions

Preheat oven to 350° F. In a large bowl combine dry ingredients, stir, set aside.

In a small bowl beat eggs, stir in sour cream. Add the egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir with a wooden spoon.

Next, add the raisins and caraway seeds. Stir well.

Grease a 9 inch springform pan. Add dough to greased pan, then dust generously with flour so the dough doesn’t stick to your hands when you pat it evenly around the pan.

With a knife, make a shallow criss-cross on the top of the dough. Bake for 50 minutes.

Don’t even let it cool, this was amazing right out of the oven. Remember, food tastes best when enjoyed with friends, so Happy Eating Everyone!

Shepherd’s Pie

Mmm, mmm, comfort food. I made Shepherd’s pie not only because it’s Phil’s fave, but because it is so yummy to come home to after a long day of work and public transportation. Make it on a Sunday afternoon and have the leftovers throughout the week. I followed two recipes, here’s my hybrid recipe:

Shepherd’s Pie

Topping:
4 large potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 cup sharp cheddar, grated
1/2 cup cream or buttermilk
1 tbsp butter
Fresh ground pepper
salt

Meat Filling:
1 pound lean ground beef
1 garlic clove
1 cup chopped carrots
1 cup peas
1 cup corn
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 tsp fresh thyme
1 tbsp ketchup
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 package beef gravy, or 1 cup beef broth

Directions:

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a large pot of salted water cook potatoes until tender. Drain and add butter, cream, salt and pepper. Mash. Stir in sharp cheddar cheese, and set aside. I added chopped green onion to mine as well.

Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large skillet. Add onions and cook until soft. Add garlic and cook another 3 minutes. Add beef, cooking until it is evenly browned. Next add celery, carrots, corn, peas and thyme. Season with salt and pepper, and continue to cook over medium/high heat until carrots and celery are tender.

Prepare gravy mix or beef broth; add liquid to meat mixture along with ketchup and Worcestershire sauce. Bring to a boil and reduce to low heat and simmer.

Pour meat mixture into a large baking dish, then cover with mashed potatoes. Top with an extra layer of cheese, if you wish, and cook for 30 minutes, or when top is golden brown and the insides are bubbly. Let the pie cool before enjoying, it can be very hot!