Fresh basa fillet, veggies, and seasonings teamed up in my oven for one fabulous fish taco feast.
Oven roasted that basa with the usual suspects – salt, pepper, and lemon juice – along with some cumin, cayenne, garlic, parsley, tomatoes, and onions.
In the sweet mango salsa there are roma tomatoes, sweet red onion, cilantro, salt and pepper, and lemon juice.
AND THAT’S ALL SHE WROTE!
But not all she ate. She definitely had a second taco.
Can we just take a moment and drool over these photos? Excuse me while I toot my horn for a second.
Now that we’ve taken care of that, I made a yummy snack! I’m not reinventing the wheel here people, but if you haven’t tried roasted chickpeas you probably should. Especially if you’re prone to munching on chips and other less body-friendly treats, ahem, myself included. The salt and oil measurements can be adjusted to your personal taste, as can the seasoning, plus a can of chickpeas is like what, a dollar? Hey-o to that!
1 can chickpeas ( although I would highly recommend using two cans and doubling the recipe because we ate everything within 5 minutes)
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large garlic clove, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh rosemary, finely chopped
Sprinkling of sea salt, to taste
Red pepper flakes, optional, but why not spice it up a bit, right?
Preheat oven to 375.
In a medium bowl add chopped rosemary, minced garlic, and olive oil.
Drain and rinse chickpeas under lukewarm water and pat dry. If you’re patient, remove the skins. If you’re in a hurry, toss them in with the rosemary and oil mixture.
Toss chickpeas around in the bowl to fully coat. Add a pinch of salt.
Pour chickpeas out on a baking sheet and cook for 30-45 minutes,depending on how crunchy you like ‘em. After 15 minutes I shook the pan to rotate the chickpeas to ensure even baking.
Remove from heat, season with sea salt and red pepper flakes. They’ll be hot, so let them cool first. Enjoy!
If, like me, you’ve woken from a meat-induced Superbowl coma this morning feeling groggy and still a little bloated from the night before, Meatless Monday might just be something that appeals to you. Not that I didn’t love those pulled pork nachos yesterday… but todays a new day.
Now, for all those Veggie-Fearing Folk: taking out the meat does not mean taking out the flavour – that’s what we have cheese for. Here is a vegetable substituted recipe for pizza snacks - quick, delicious, and easy to prepare.
You will need:
1 large zucchini
Homemade tomato sauce, which I have conveniently provided you with a recipe for! The Store bought stuff works too
Parmesan cheese, or the grated cheese of your choice
Any other pizza toppings you might enjoy. I used a finely cut red onion for a little sweetness, and finely cut spinach.
What you do:
Preheat your oven to 400
Slice zucchini into finger-width rounds (Look at those rounds, I found the zucchini at the produce store for like 50 cents! IGA… eat your heart out)
Add a dollop of tomato sauce to each round.
Finely chop whatever pizza toppings you want to include, and scatter over rounds.
Top each round off with a sprinkling of parmesan cheese.
Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the parmesan is golden.
Let zucchini rounds cool for 5 minutes, serve and enjoy.
Alternatively, you can make a great non-pizza zucchini snack. Douse zucchini rounds in olive oil, season with salt and pepper, and top with parmesan cheese.
So it was my first time participating in Dine Out Vancouver (yay!) and my friends and I decided to check out Smoking Dog Bistro as none of us had eaten here before and the $28.00 menu was unique and appealing. Our waitress was helpful, friendly, and forthcoming about what her favourite dishes were and what we could expect. The whole process happened so fast, I would have liked to have sat, digested, and savoured the experience a little before the next dish was brought out.
I ordered the Smoked Salmon Terrine. I loved the red onion jam, as it really rounded out the saltines of the terrine. With the grilled baguette this was very satisfying for an appetizer.
Smoked Salmon Terrine with house made red onion jam, grilled french baguette and pickled golden beets
My friends ordered the Flank Steak with Ratatouille. The steak was tender and perfectly cooked, and I especially liked the slight char. The ratatouille was “flavoured perfectly”. The portion was really small however.
Thinly sliced Flank steak with ratatouille and red wine glace de viand
We debated which entrée to order, each option sounded delicious, however we craved something hearty and ended up all ordering the lamb shank. I did see the salmon leaving the kitchen and felt a pang of regret because it looked very good – however, I was not disappointed with the lamb.
Braised Lamb Shank with sun-dried tomato soft polenta and sautéed haricot verts
The meat fell off the bone it was so succulent, and I loved the creamy polenta/sun-dried tomato flavour combo – that sauce was so good it could have been it’s own dish, I wish there had been more of it! I ordered a glass of the Sandhill Cabernet-Franc, the suggested pairing, and thought it went very well together.
We ordered all three desserts and decided unanimously that the French lemon pie with raspberry coulis and hazelnut whipped cream was the best. It had a tart, fresh (you can almost taste the individual lemons) citrus flavour which was refreshing after the richness of the lamb shank.
I’ve never had bacon in a dessert, so the candied bacon chocolate fudge cake (an important distinction, since the online menu states that this is a fudge, not a cake) sounded like something I should try. The chocolate fudge and hazelnut cream were great. However, I felt the bacon cooked into the cake, although tasty, was underwhelming overall. The pieces were a little too big, so you’d be left chewing on chunks of bacon in the end.
The wild berry parfait with raspberry coulis and white chocolate whipped cream was mediocre, and as my friend pointed out it’s still “just a parfait”. It was a really small portion, despite probably being the cheapest to produce, and only had a scant scattering of berries. It didn’t help that they put such a small portion into such a large cup. At the level of their other fare, if you are going to serve a fruit and yoghurt dessert, it better be amazing.
All in all this was a very enjoyable meal. I will definitely return to The Smoking Dog Bistro as I was impressed with the ambiance and most of the food.
