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Spinach-Polenta Soup

admin — Thu, 29 Dec 2011 21:41:15 +0000

Absolutely delicious and very easy to make.

Prep: 15 minutes; Cook: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 medium onion, finely chopped (1/2 cup)

1 bag (2 packages) frozen chopping spinach

3 cans vegetable broth

1 tablespoon freshly grated Parmesan

1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley or 1 teaspoon parsley flakes

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/2 cup yellow cornmeal

Instructions:

Heat oil in 3-quart saucepan over medium heat. Cook garlic and onion in oil about 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until onion is tender.
Stir in frozen spinach and broth. Heat to boiling; reduce heat. Stir in remaining ingredients except cornmeal. Gradually stir in cornmeal.
Cover and simmer about 15 minutes, stirring frequently, until soup is slightly thickened.

Nuit Mange – Food, food and more food

admin — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 03:14:58 +0000

Mary from Toronto had asked me why I haven’t updated my blog for a while. I apologize for not given much attention to this site. I have mainly been Twitter (@productionteams) my food quest.

Updates: I did find some good eats in Toronto:

Good dessert place in Toronto: Sweet Tooth on 50B Danforth

Pain au chocolate: La Thobors Boulangerie on Mount Pleasant

Cheap eat: Student Eatery on Danforth at Greenwood

French bistro: Tati Bistro at 124 Harbord Street west of Spadina

Great, affordable dim sum place: Rol San 323 Spadina Ave

Fancy dim sum place: Pearl Harbourfront

Great Japanese food: Sushi Garden north of Yonge/St. Clair across from Xocava

My favourite Japanese restaurant: Sho Gun at 154 Cumberland St in Yorkville

Home style Italian lunch: Boccone @ 1378 Yonge St

Hungarian family style restaurant: Bacsi Restaurant on Yonge, north of Davisville

Best chocolate drink: Xacava at Yonge/St Clair and SOMA in Distillery

Best dumplings: Mother’s dumplings on Huron Street at Dundas

Best crepe, especially when it’s -20C outside: Crepiere a Go Go on Yorkville and Yonge

Best casual French chain: Pain de quotidien at Yorkville and Yonge

Meanwhile, I have come up with a few cool recipes:

Homemade Korean BBQ

1/4 bottle of Korean Shorts Ribs sauce (can get at TNT). Rinse ribs, massage sauce, roast @ 400F – 1 hour (flip at 30 mins)

Spinach and Smoked Salmon Pastry Balls

Various ways of pastry balls:

– Smoked Salmon, Feta Cheese, and Frozen Spinach

– Prosciutto, Feta Cheese, and mushroom

Merry asked me for the recipe:

Pastry: Frozen phyllo pastry / phyllo dough from your favourite grocer.
Fillings: A box of frozen spinach (thawed and dried), a few pieces of smoked salmon (I usually get it from the St. Lawrence Market (or Granville Island for those in Vancouver) and get the end bits), and feta cheese.
Thaw phyllo pastry. Layer 3 phyllo sheets and glue the sheets with egg whites. Cut into 3″ x 3″ squares. Brush melted butter to the base, then add a mush of spinach, smoked salmon, and a few clumps of feta, then take each side and glue them together with egg whites and twist top to make the package secured. Repeat.
(Can be substituted with phyllo dough, then grab a handful of dough and flatten the dough to fit it on your palm, then add the mush, and glue the package together with egg whites.)
Then baked them at 400F for 15 minutes.
Keep them at room temperature for 15 minutes before serving.

Let me know how did yours go?

Roasted Chicken Recipe (super juicy)

admin — Mon, 07 Nov 2005 09:25:04 +0000

Roasted Chicken Recipe

Instructions:
1) Marinate the chicken overnight
2) Preheat oven to 450F for 15 mins. Once chicken is in, lower temperature to 375F.
3) For the first 15 mins breast downwards, then turn the chicken over and bake for 1.5 hrs.

Preparation for chicken:
Clean the chicken, pat dry with kitchen paper towel. Take out the package from inside the cavity and set aside. Rub chicken with salt & pepper and brandy. Put it back into the fridge until ready for baking.

Mix 3 table spoons each of salt and pepper together.

Vegetables for roasting
2 carrots, 2 small onions, 4 stalks of celery, 4 cloves of garlic (crushed only, no need to chop!!!)
Chop all vegetables into small dice and place at the bottom of the baking pan. Put about 2 cups of water into the pan or enough to cover the vegetables.

During the baking period use melted butter to brush on the surface of the chicken (approximately every ½ hour).

For sauce
Drain all veggies & juice into a saucepan. Mix the “chicken sauce” (gravy) into the sauce pan, add red wine (approximate ¼ cup) and cook over low heat until the mixture is a little thick. Taste the sauce to see if you need to add more salt. Drain the sauce into a bowl and serve with chicken.
This recipe can be easily substituted with turkey.

Mark's Spaghetti with Brooklyn Clam Sauce

admin — Sun, 06 Nov 2005 01:28:18 +0000

This is a great recipe for pot-luck if you want to impress your friends and jazz it up with clam.

Serves 6 for appetizers or 4 for main course. To make Mark’s Spaghetti with Brooklyn White Clam Sauce, follow the same recipe, omitting the tomatoes.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon salt, plus more for seasoning
1 pound dried spaghetti or linguine
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, smashed and peeled
2 six-ounce cans chopped clams, with their juice
1/4 cup dry white wine
1 cup milled or crushed canned Italian plum tomatoes
1/4 teaspoon hot red-pepper flakes
Freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup freshly chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter

Instructions:

1. In a large covered pot, heat a gallon of water to a boil. When water boils, add 1 tablespoon salt and pasta, stir well, and cover until boiling. Uncover, and boil until just tender to the bite all the way through.

2. Meanwhile, make the sauce: In a skillet (with a lid) large enough to hold the pasta later on, heat oil over medium-low heat. Add garlic, and slowly cook, stirring, until golden, about 5 minutes. Add clams with their juice, wine, tomatoes, red-pepper flakes, and salt and pepper to taste, keeping in mind that the clams are quite salty. Stir, reduce the heat, and simmer until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.

3. Reserving 1/2 cup cooking water, drain pasta in a colander. Add the drained pasta, parsley, butter, and salt and pepper to taste to the sauce, and mix well, adding a few tablespoons of pasta cooking water if needed to coat the pasta evenly. Cover, and cook 1 minute. Serve immediately.

Reference. Martha Stewart Living