Chicken Pot Pie

Conor requested we have chicken pot pie for dinner - he said we could even buy a store bought one. Obviously I wanted to try and make it instead! I googled a lot of recipes and a lot were very similar... and a little boring! I called my sister on the way to the grocery store to discuss what I found and how I couldn't believe they didn't have certain ingredients (read garlic, thyme) so she started poking around the web for recipes. She found a Jamie Oliver recipe that was definitely in the right direction so I adapted it. It was VERY good. Conor ate his first helping in about 2.5 seconds and then happily went for seconds. I will admit, it takes quite some time to make so it is definitely a Sunday meal or if you've got a lot of time!


Ingredients:
1 tbs olive oil
2 tbs butter
2 lbs boneless skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite size pieces
2 medium leeks, trimmed, washed and sliced its 1/2 inch pieces
2 carrots, peeled cut into half moons or quarters
3 sticks of celery, thinly sliced
1 clove of garlic, chopped
3-4 sprigs of fresh thyme, leaves removed from stem
2 1/2 tbs all purpose flour
3/4 cup dry white wine (i.e., pinot grigio)
3/4 cup chicken stock
1 1/4 cups milk
salt and pepper
2 pre-made pie crusts (tenderflakes brand was great)
1 egg

In a large pot over medium heat, add in olive oil and butter. Add chicken and cook for a minute or two getting it some color. Add leeks, carrots, celery, garlic and thyme. Cook slowly for 15 minutes. Turn up the heat to medium-high and add flour. Stir and cook for a minute. Add wine, chicken stock, and milk. Mix well. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and then cover with a tight fitting lid to simmer. Cook for 30 minutes stirring often (every few minutes or so) to avoid it sticking to the bottom of the pot. At the end of the 30 minutes, the sauce will be loose but relatively thick - if not, you can add more flour. Make sure to stir well to avoid clumps. I did not have to add any additional flour. Season with salt and pepper. When ready, remove from heat. Preheat the oven to 425.

When there is about 15 minutes left for the filling, remove both pie shells from the freezer. They take about 10-15 minutes to defrost. Put the first shell on a baking sheet and put in the oven for 5 minutes. Remove shell and add the filling. I piled more filling in the centre - be careful not to overflow. I did have a little bit of filling left over that I did not use. In a small bowl, whisk 1 egg. Using a cooking brush, brush around the edge of the pie. Remove the remaining pie crust gently from the aluminum container and cover the shell with the filling in it. Using a fork, gently press the edge of the dough together. Brush the egg wash again around the outside and a little over top. Using a knife, create 3 small slits on the top of the pie to allow for steam to escape. Bake for 35 minutes, until golden on top.

Enjoy!

Beef and Butternut Squash Stew

I found a few recipes for a beef and butternut squash stew so decided I would combine them and make my own. Turned out pretty delicious if you ask me! What I learned from making this on a whim is have everything chopped and ready to go. Steps move fast once you start adding things and there isn't necessarily enough time to chop in between. Next time, I might add some green beans to the stew - which is not mentioned below. It would add some color to the dish and a nice crunch. You would just need to add them to the stew in the last 10 minutes of cooking.


Ingredients: 
1 lb stewing beef
1 tbs all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 pepper
2 tbs olive oil, divided
1 small onion, diced
5 cremini mushrooms, thick cut bit sized pieces
3 garlic clove, small chop
2 cups butternut squash, bite sized cubes
1 1/2 tsp fresh rosemary
2 tsp fresh thyme
1/4 cup of dry white wine (i.e, pinot grigio)
1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes
2 1/2 cups of beef broth
1 tbs cornstarch

In a large zip lock bag, add the stewing beef (bite sized pieces - might have to cut some down depending on how big they come from the store), flour and salt and pepper. Close and shake the bag until the beef is well coated. Set aside.

Dice onion and set aside. Cut mushrooms and set aside. Chop garlic and set aside. Peel and cube butternut squash into bite sized pieces (or do what I did and get the pre-cut stuff from the grocery store because it is hard to peel butternut squash) and set aside. Finely dice the rosemary and thyme, set aside.

In a large pot, heat 1 tbs of olive oil over medium heat.  Add the diced onions and cook for about 2 minutes until they begin to soften. Add the mushrooms, garlic, thyme and rosemary. Cook for another 2 minutes. Remove everything from the pot into a bowl on the side. Increase the heat to medium-high. Add 1 tbs of olive oil. Add half the meat. Cook until the meat is brown and golden. Set aside in the same bowl as the onions etc. Meat does not need to be fully cooked - just going for browning on the outside. If needed, add more olive oil and cook the rest of the meat. When the second batch of meat is done, add the onions and first batch back in.  Add the butternut squash and mix together. Deglaze the pan with wine wine. Scrape up any of the little brown bits that might have formed on the bottom of the pan. Add diced tomatoes and stir (continue scraping the bottom of the pan using the tomato liquid). Add 2 and a 1/2 cups of beef broth (Want to just cover everything in the pot) and give it a good stir. Bring to a boil, cover and reduce to low heat. Cook for 1 hour. After the hour, carefully give it a taste - you may want to add some salt and pepper - maybe a little more thyme or rosemary if you wish. To thicken it up at this point, in a small bowl ladle in one big spoonful of the stew broth. Add 1 tbs of cornstarch. Whisk until smooth and no lumps. Pour this back into the pot and stir. Allow a few minutes for it to boil and thicken.

Stews are great served with rice or above we served it with couscous which was quite good.

One Pot Chicken Pad Thai

Ordering a Pad Thai from a restaurant, I have never been a fan. Saw this recipe on tasty, my sister and I thought we'd try it. When we made it the first time, everyone was very impressed and thought it couldn't be the first time. It is a good recipe. I've made it myself 3 times and I know my sister has made it a few times as well. Can be ready in 30 minutes for a quick and delicious dinner! Has a little kick to it too from the sriracha! 

Pad Thai Sauce:
2 tbs fish sauce
2 tbs rice wine vinegar
2 tbs soy sauce
2 tbs brown sugar
2 tbs lime juice
2 tbs sriracha

Noodles:
8 oz package of Pad Thai Noodles 
2 tbs Sesame Oil2 Eggs, lightly beaten 1 Diced Chicken Breast1/2 tbs vegetable oil
1/4 cup of Shallots
1/2 red pepper, thinly sliced
1 cup Bean Sprouts1/2 cup Crushed Peanuts1/4 cup Green Onions1/4 cup Cilantro


Directions:

Combine all ingredients to make the sauce in a bowl. Set aside. Cook noodles according to package instructions. Strain and toss with 1 tbs. of sesame oil in a bowl and set aside. On medium heat, pour 1/2 Tbsp. of sesame oil into your pot and add two lightly beaten eggs. Stir eggs constantly and cook for approximately 1 minute (or until cooked). When the eggs are finished cooking, set aside in the bowl with the noodles. Pour another 1/2 tbs. of sesame oil into the pot and add 1 diced chicken breast. Add to bowl with noodles and eggs once chicken is fully cooked and slightly brown. Add 1/2 tbs of vegetable oil to the pot. Add shallots & red peppers to the pot and cook until the shallots lightly browned and fragrant. Because of the egg and chicken being in there before, it is likely that the pot will start to get some stuff sticking to the bottom. Try and scrape it up. Add 1/2 the pad thai sauce to deglaze the pot and get all the brown bits off the bottom. Then, add your noodles, eggs, and chicken back into the pot. Pour in the rest of the pad thai sauce. Mix everything to incorporate and then remove from heat. Top with bean sprouts, crushed peanuts, green onions, and cilantro, and stir until well blended. Dish up and garnish with extra peanuts, green onions, and cilantro. Enjoy!

Zoodles with Homemade Pesto, BBQ Grilled Tomatoes

Pasta will never be replaced in my life. I love it too much. However, when I'm feeling like I need to be a little healthier, tossing zoodles into the mix is a great way to get that pasta feel.

Conor and I bought a BBQ last weekend so I've been using it very often. Sausages on a BBQ are just so much better than pan fried. Also delicious on the BBQ? Tomatoes! Especially after they've marinated in balsamic vinegar.


Basil/Spinach Pesto

1 cup fresh basil
1 cup baby spinach
1/2 cup heaping freshly grated parmesan
1/2 cup EEVO
1/3 cup pine nuts
3 garlic cloves, chopped
1 tsp lemon juice
s & p

Place basil & spinach leaves and pine nuts in the food processor. Pulse several times. Scrape sides. Add garlic, lemon juice and parmesan.While the food processor is on, slowly drizzle in olive oil. Add salt and pepper to taste. Mix. Cover and refrigerate until ready to use.

BBQ Grilled Balsamic Tomatoes

24 cherry tomatoes (1 case)
1/4 cup EEVO
3 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon freshly chopped thyme
5 wooden skewers, soaked for 30 minutes
s & p

Whisk together oil, vinegar, garlic, and thyme. Add tomatoes, mix. Let it marinate for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Heat grill to medium.  Remove tomatoes from the marinade and add to skewers. Grill until golden brown and blistering. Remove from grill, brush with more marinade and cover until ready to eat.

Additional Ingredients

Package of Spicy Italian sausage
4 zucchinis
1 tsp EEVO


To put it all together...

Make the pesto as per above. Start the spicy Italian sausages on the grill before the tomatoes. After the sausages have been on the grill for about 20 minutes, add the tomatoes for the last 5-10 minutes. While the sausages are on the grill, create your zoodles. When everything is ready to go, heat up a tsp of olive oil in a pan over medium heat. Add the zoodles for 2-3 minutes until they're hot. In a bowl, add a scoop of pesto. Add the hot noodles and toss to cover the noodles in pesto. Add more pesto as needed. Add tomatoes and cut up sausage. Voila! Fresh and healthy summer dinner!

Thai Basil Beef Bowls

Well these were DELICIOUS. Nice flavour. Easy to make. Not much else to say here. Followed the recipe at every step. 

Thai Basil Beef Bowls 

Serves 4

• Ingredients:
  1 1/2 cups jasmine rice or long-grain white rice for serving

• 1 lb flank steak, sliced against the grain into thin strips

• 1 tsp cornstarch

• 2 Tbsp + 1 tsp vegetable oil

• 1 red bell pepper, cored and seeded, diced into 2-inch strips

• 1/2 large yellow onion, thinly sliced

• 1 1/2 Tbsp minced garlic

• 1 cup matchstick carrots

• 1 cup fresh basil leaves (roughly chop larger leaves), plus more for garnish
• 
  

Sauce:

• 3 Tbsp low-sodium soy sauce

• 1 1/2 tsp cornstarch

• 1/3 cup water

• 1 1/2 Tbsp fish sauce

• 1 Tbsp oyster sauce

• 2 Tbsp packed brown sugar

• 1 Tbsp fresh lime juice

• 1 Tbsp Sambal Oelek, or more to taste (optional)
• 
  Directions: 
• Cook rice according to directions listed on package.

• For the sauce: In a small mixing bowl whisk together soy sauce and cornstarch until smooth. Stir in water, fish sauce, oyster sauce, brown sugar, lime juice and Sambal Oelek, set aside.

• For the beef and veggies: Toss beef with 1 tsp oil and 1 tsp cornstarch. Heat 2 Tbsp oil in a large skillet or wok over moderately high heat. Add beef and cook until browned on both sides but still slightly under-cooked in the centre. Transfer beef to a plate while leaving oil in skillet. Reduce heat slightly, add bell pepper, onions and garlic and sauté until crisp tender, about 2 - 3 minutes (if needed you can add another 1 tsp of oil to the skillet). Add carrots, whisk sauce mixture once more then pour into skillet and allow to simmer, stirring frequently, until thickened, about 1 minute. Return beef to skillet along with basil leaves, toss until basil has just wilted. Serve immediately over cooked rice garnished with small basil leaves and sesame seeds if desired.

Quinoa & Sausage Zucchini Boats

The flavour profile on these is not unlike a stuffed pepper I made 4 (?!?!) years ago that I really liked. I would link to that blog post, but my blogging was atrocious back then and I will have to update. These were really delicious. They've got a little kick to them because of the hot Italian sausage and were super easy to make. I was inspired for them by seeing another recipe for zuchinni boats that I had none of the ingredients for, but I had a bunch of stuff in my fridge I needed to use. Happy cooking!

Quinoa & Sausage Zucchini Boats
Serves 2-4

Ingredients:
2 zuchinni
1/2 cup (dry) quinoa
1 cup chicken broth
2 spicy Italian sausage
1/2 onion or 1 full small onion, diced small
1-2 tomatoes (depends on size), diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
s & p
1/2 cup freshly grated parmesan cheese (split)
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
olive oil

Preheat the oven to 425. Cut each zuchinni in half length wise. Using a spoon (easier with a grapefruit spoon that has the sharp edges, but will work with a regular spoon) scoop out the insides of the zucchini making sure not to go all the way to the bottom or sides. Put the insides of the zuchinni to the side and save for later. Put the zucchini boats in a baking dish, set aside.  Make quinoa as per package directions (mine were 1/2 cup dry quinoa into 1 cup of  boiling chicken broth - reduce heat to medium and cook for 12-15 minutes or until the broth has been evaporated). While the quinoa is cooking, in a pan over medium heat with a splash of olive oil begin to cook sausage. I removed it from its casing and as it cooked broke it down into small pieces. After the sausage has begin to brown, add in the diced onion. When the onions begin to soften and become translucent, add the tomato and zuchinni insides. The zucchini insides and the tomato may make it seem a little watery, so I cooked it for a while to soak up some of the liquid. Add in chopped garlic. Cook for another minute or two. Once the quinoa is done, add to the sausage-vegetable mixture and mix. Turn off heat. Add in 1/4 cup of parmesan. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper. Carefully add the mixture to the zuchinni boats. In a bowl, mix breadcrumbs and the remaining parmesan together. Sprinkle over the top of each zuchinni boat. Drizzle the top of each out lightly with olive oil. Cook for 20 minutes or until golden brown on the top.

Spinach and Chickpea Curry

Spinach and Chickpea Curry
Serves 4-6
Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1 large white or spanish onion, thinly sliced
1 one inch piece of ginger, minced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (or more or less to taste)
3/4-1 can of chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
28 oz of diced tomatoes or whole tomatoes crushed in your hands
pinch of sugar
1/2 package of fresh baby spinach
salt and pepper to taste
optional: fresh coriander to top, squeeze of lemon to top

Heat olive oil in a large lidded pan over medium heat. Add the onions and fry until translucent. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring frequently. Add the garam masala, cumin and cayenne pepper. Stir so that the onions have coating of the spice. Cook for a minute until the spices as a little toasted. Add the diced tomatoes or crush the whole tomatoes into the pan. Add pinch of sugar. Give it a good stir and cover. Simmer on low-medium heat for 20 minutes. Add the spinach in batches, stir until wilted. Serve on rice or with naan. Right before serving squeeze a little lemon juice on top.

This was very delicious and ready in 30 minutes! Super easy. I happened to have a left over baked chicken breast that I diced up and added at the point of adding the chickpeas just to use it. If you wanted to add chicken that wasn't left over, I would fry it up first with some salt and pepper in the olive oil, remove it from the pan and start from the beginning. Adding it in at the same point after you've added the chickpeas.

Sunday Tradition - Yorkshire Pudding & Roast Beef Dinner

I posted this recipe probably about 4 years ago, but it is by far my favourite meal ever and my blog posts before weren't quite as helpful for cooking, so I am re-posting it! We used to eat it every Sunday for as long as I could remember until my mom moved to California. Apparently when I was a child, I asked for a Yorkshire pudding and roast beef dinner for my 10th (?) birthday instead of pizza like all other normal children. It seems like a big fancy dinner, but it is actually fairly simple to make. I quite often make it on Sundays  just because why not? TREAT yourself.

Serve it also with your favourite sides: mashed potatoes, green beans, broccoli, carrots, Brussel sprouts. You name it!

Below I will share two of my favourite Roast beef marinades. One is my grandma's recipe which used to be what we'd always use while I was growing up and it is still a favourite! It gives the roast a really great flavour, but it is not over powering in anyway. The other with horseradish my family has discovered in the last couple of years and we like to toss in sometimes to switch it up. Only suggested if you like horseradish!












Seeing as the amount of marinade for a roast depends on the size of the roast, use below as a general guide.

For the Roast a little over a pound (approximately 4 people): 

Option 1:
- 2 tbs Keene's dry hot mustard
- 3/4 cup margarine
- 2 garlic, chopped

Option 2:
- 2/3 cup dijon mustard
- 1 - 1 1/2 tbs horseradish
- 2 garlic, chopped
- 1/2 tbs fresh rosemary, chopped
- salt and pepper

For the Yorkshires (makes 12):
7/8 cup of flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs (room temperature)
1/2 cup milk (room temperature)
1/2 water (tepid temperature)

Muffin tin
Canola Oil

For the gravy: 
- roast drippings
- couple of tbs flour
- 1/4 cup red wine
- 1 cup beef broth
- salt and pepper to taste
- herbs to taste(can be dried - such as thyme and rosemary)

Whichever marinade you choose, mix the ingredients together. Slather the roast top, bottom, and sides with marinade. Put into the roast into a baking tin fast side down (note: if there are strings on the roast, leave them on while roasting). Set roast aside. You want it to marinate for at least 1 hour on the counter, up to 4 hours.

Set up the eggs and milk ahead of time to allow to come to room temperature.

Put flour and salt into a large bowl. Mix. Push flour to the sides and create a "hole" in the middle of the bowl. In a separate bowl, beat eggs. Add the eggs and milk to the middle of the hole and mix all together. Once it is all mixed, add the water and mix until smooth (tip: put the water into the bowl where the eggs were in order to get any egg that was missed). Cover bowl with a cloth and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350 for the roast. To calculate roast cooking time (for rare to medium rare): KG weight x 2.2 x 20. When the oven is preheated, insert roast. While the roast is in the oven, fill each slot in your muffin tin with a splash of canola oil - you want it so it is just covering the bottom of the muffin slot (warning: be careful not to put too much oil in - when the Yorkshires puff up, if there is too much oil it could spill out, land at the bottom of  your oven and start a fire... just ask my brother!).

When the roast is about done, put the trays (with oil) into the oven to allow the oil to heat up. Once the roast if finished, remove and set on a cutting board. Cover with tin foil. Keep roasting pan for the roast drippings for the gravy. Adjust the temperature of the oven to 400 for the Yorkshires.

Carefully remove the trays once the oven reaches 400.  Fill with the Yorkshire mixture (tip: you can tell when the oil is hot enough when you start to pour the mixture in it will sizzle). You want to fill the tins about half way. Pop back in the oven. The Yorkshires will bake for 18-24 minutes, or until they're nice and golden brown.

While the Yorkshires are in the oven, it is time to make the gravy. If the roasting pan can be put directly on the stove, make the gravy in that. Otherwise transfer some of the dripping into a pot. Depending on how much drippings there were (i.e., if you do the margarine marinade there will probably be a lot from it melting), you may not want to use all. You want it to lightly coat the bottom of the pan/pot. Using a whisk, stir in flour. The flour and the drippings will mix together and start to thicken. This is your roux (if you're unfamiliar with a roux, check out this video).  Once your roux is complete, add some wine and stir. When that is mixed together, add your beef broth. Mix together. Add herbs for taste.