Cooking with Alison

Posts Tagged ‘food’

, , ,

Macaroni and Cheese Bites (or a Delicious Baked Macaroni and Cheese)

In Appetizers, Hors D'oeuvres, Snacks, Sides and Sauces on November 20, 2013 at am

IMG_2627

I love macaroni and cheese and these mini macaroni and cheese bites turn a comforting pasta dish into finger food fit for any party.  These can also be made gluten free!  I used grown-up cheese and made two versions of macaroni and cheese bites for John’s housewarming party.  If you only own one mini muffin pan, which I do, these can be tedious and time-consuming to make.  But they can be made hours in advance and then reheated in the oven prior to serving.  You could also bake these in a standard muffin pan and serve them as a side dish for a sit down meal.  This recipe also happens to make the best baked macaroni and cheese dish I’ve ever had, especially cheese mixture #2.  I used the leftover ingredients to make individual baked macaroni and cheese dishes as shown in the photo below.

Read the rest of this entry »

, ,

Caramelized Onion and Gorgonzola Tart Recipe

In Appetizers, Hors D'oeuvres, Snacks on November 15, 2013 at am

I made caramelized onion and gorgonzola puff pastry tarts for John’s housewarming party.  They were definitely one of the party favourites.  They were also easy to prepare in advance.  I cut them into small squares for finger food, but this tart would make a great first course, too.  If you have the time and patience, you could turn these into round hors d’oeuvres instead.  These would be cute and elegant for any event.  Simply use a small, round cookie cutter to cut out rounds of the rolled out dough, follow the recipe as written, and place the filling onto each round of dough before baking.

IMG_2608

Read the rest of this entry »

, ,

How to Make Puff Pastry From Scratch, The Quick and Easy Way

In Appetizers, Hors D'oeuvres, Snacks, How-To, Main Course, Other Desserts, Pies & Tarts on November 10, 2013 at am

IMG_2303

In the past, I often used store bought, frozen puff pastry for special occasions and parties.  Although I had been planning to attempt making puff pastry from scratch for years, I put it off, because the process requires many steps and resting times.  So imagine how excited I was when I found a time-saving technique for puff pastry in The Modern Baker.  Not only is this puff pastry easy and relatively quick to make, it is freezer friendly, too.  So you can make several batches in half a day, freeze them, and have your own instant puff pastry for future uses.  This puff pastry bakes up beautifully flaky, buttery, and crisp.  I’ll probably never use store-bought puff pastry again.  When I used this dough to make cheese danishes, my dad said that they were better than the ones that he buys from a bakery. I’ve also used this successfully for savoury tarts (see recipes here and here) and beef wellington. Here are a few other recipes that use puff pastry: Hong Kong egg tarts (see recipe here), apple turnovers (see recipe here), chicken or turkey pot pie (see recipe here), and vol au vents.

Read the rest of this entry »

, , , , , , ,

Pickled Daikon Radish and Carrot Recipe

In Asian, Other Asian Foods, Sides and Sauces on November 3, 2013 at am

One of the reasons why I love love love Vietnamese sandwiches (banh mi), is that they contain pickled daikon radishes and carrots.  These pickled daikon radishes and carrots are very easy to make and are a great side dish to almost any meal.  Enjoy them with a bowl of Vietnamese beef noodle soup (pho tai) (see recipe here), or a dish of meat and rice, or add them to your rice paper rolls (see recipe here).  These are also a great accompaniment to Korean food (see my beef short ribs (kalbi) recipe here).  I love making my own pickled vegetables, because I can control the salt and sugar content.  If you are not sure what to do with your leftover daikon radishes, you will find a list of different recipes that use this radish here.

IMG_0210

Read the rest of this entry »

, , ,

White Daikon Radish Soup Recipe

In Asian, Soups, Soups and Salads on October 29, 2013 at am

When white daikon radish went on sale for only 9 cents per pound, I made soup, among several other dishes (see a list of daikon radish recipes here).  My family, John, and John’s mom really liked this soup.  This soup is mild, light, and very versatile.  I’ve included a few variations of the recipe below.  I made this broth using pork bones.

IMG_0189

Read the rest of this entry »

, , , , ,

What to Cook When Daikon Radish Goes on Sale for 9 Cents per Pound

In Appetizers, Hors D'oeuvres, Snacks, Asian, Dim Sum, How-To, Meat and Eggs, Other Asian Foods, Rice and Noodle Dishes, Soups on October 26, 2013 at am

When white daikon radish went on sale for only 9 cents per pound, I did what I had to do – I bought pounds and pounds and pounds of it, found different ways to cook it, and ate nothing but daikon radish for two weeks.  It was awesome!  🙂  So here is a list of dishes that you can make using white daikon radish.  Let me know if you can think of more items!

  • braised beef dishes (see recipes here and here)
  • Vietnamese beef noodle soup (pho tai) (see recipe here)
  • steamed cake (lo bak go) (see recipe here)
  • pickled condiment (see recipe here)
  • soup (see recipe here)
  • pan fried dish with beef

If you’ve never cooked daikon radish before, I should warn you that the cooking process releases an unpleasant odour.  But once the radish is fully cooked, the smell goes away, and the radish has a mild flavour.

,

Brownie Cookies Recipe

In Cookies on October 19, 2013 at am

IMG_6996

I’ve made these brownie cookies a few times, now, and they are always a big hit.  They are chocolatey, rich, and dense.  I love that they resemble brownies that come in a cookie form.

Read the rest of this entry »

, , ,

Chinese Hairy Gourd Soup Recipe

In Asian, Soups, Soups and Salads on October 15, 2013 at am

Cooking with Alison’s Mom (Part 2)

Hairy gourd is a Chinese vegetable that resembles a cucumber with fine, white fuzz on the skin.  This hairy gourd soup is light and simple and, like most Chinese soups, it allows the subtle flavour of the vegetable to come through.  We make this soup all year round, because my mother grows the hairy gourd in her garden.  This soup is normally made with a Chinese salted egg, but we recently discovered that this soup is even better when you use drippings from steamed lobster instead.  Both variations have been provided in the recipe below.  [On a side note, according to the teachings of Chinese medicine, this is a neutral vegetable (neither a ‘hot’ food nor a ‘cold’ food), so it is suitable for everyone.]

Chinese hairy gourd vegetable

Chinese hairy gourd vegetable

Read the rest of this entry »

,

Best Cornbread Recipe

In Appetizers, Hors D'oeuvres, Snacks, Breads, Breakfast, Sides and Sauces on October 9, 2013 at am

IMG_0308

When I set out to find the best cornbread recipe, I learned that there are people that prefer sweet cornbread, and there are people that prefer savoury cornbread.  Personally, I prefer cornbread that is savoury and plain.  I tried a few cornbread recipes that were, in my opinion, far from appetizing and had almost decided to give up on cornbread.  But when I saw a cornbread recipe in The Modern Baker (a cookbook that I received from an old neighbour), I thought, let’s try one more.  I am so glad that I did, because this cornbread recipe put all others to shame.  This was very flavourful, and the texture was the perfect balance of crumbly and moist.  I finally understand why so many people love this stuff.  John, who is much more familiar with southern food than I am, said it was the best cornbread he’s ever had, and my dad couldn’t get enough of it.  According to Nick Malgieri, this recipe is a Southwestern American version of cornbread.  Another great thing about this recipe is that it works well with added ingredients, such as chedder cheese and jalapenos.

More recently, I turned this recipe into finger food for John’s housewarming party, by baking it in a 9 inch x 13 inch pan and cutting it into 36 mini wedges.  I recommend freezing the cornbread first, as it was much easier to cut while it was still semi frozen.  I had a lot of cornbread leftover after the party and people were very happy to take extras home with them.

IMG_2629

Read the rest of this entry »

, ,

Herb and Pistachio Crusted Rack of Lamb Recipe

In Red Meat and Eggs on October 4, 2013 at pm

IMG_7603

I love rack of lamb, but the idea of cooking it myself was intimidating, because I was worried that I would undercook or overcook it and waste an expensive cut of meat.  Although I prefer my beef steak blue rare, I find that lamb is best enjoyed medium or medium rare.  I decided to take on this challenge for Mother’s Day and, luckily, it turned out beautifully.  I used the touch method (also known as the finger test) to check the doneness of the meat every 5 to 10 minutes to ensure that I didn’t overcook it.  Since I kept letting the heat out of the oven, it took about 40 minutes for my roast to reach medium doneness (20 minutes longer than expected), but it was delicious.

Note:  I personally don’t like the flavour of mint, but since mint is a common accompaniment for lamb, you could add a couple of fresh mint leaves to the other fresh herbs in this recipe.  I’d also like to note that using nuts instead of the typical bread crumbs for the crust happens to make this entree gluten free.

Read the rest of this entry »

, , ,

How to Determine the Doneness of Meat Using Touch Test

In How-To, Red Meat and Eggs on October 1, 2013 at am

Regardless of what type of meat you’re cooking or how you’re cooking the meat, the biggest mistake you can make is overcooking it.  Unfortunately, the required cooking time for each cut or piece of meat can vary greatly depending on the equipment used to cook it, the size of the meat, the starting temperature of the meat, and the ratio of meat to bone, etc.  Therefore, it is very important to rely more heavily on the touch test or meat thermometers than general cooking time guidelines.  Determining the doneness of meat is the most difficult part of any recipe, but luckily, it gets easier with practice.  

Over time, you will be able to tell whether or not the meat is cooked through simply by smelling and looking at the meat.  (Hint:  The meat will be opaque in colour and it will have shriveled away from the bones.)  Until then, you have the touch test and meat thermometers.

Although using a meat thermometer will give you precision (as long as it has been calibrated properly), you end up losing some of the meat juices when you poke it into the meat.  You also end up with unsightly holes or tears in your meat.  So I prefer to use the touch test.  Below, I’ve shared three different variations of the touch test for checking the doneness of meat.  Note that I have also heard this being called the “finger test”.  Let me know if you know of any other touch methods.

Read the rest of this entry »

,

DIY Cake or Mini Cupcake Stands (Plus Tips for Spray Painting)

In Desserts, DIY and Crafts on September 27, 2013 at am

I just love do-it-yourself (DIY) projects, but I haven’t taken on very many (see my DIY stocking advent calendar here and DIY paw print keepsakes here), because they usually require a lot of basic tools and/or materials that I don’t have the spare cash or storage space for.  So when I learned how easy it is and how few supplies you need to make your own cake stands, I just knew that it was just a matter of time before I’d get started on making these.  You see, I love cake stands.  I covet and I covet and I covet, but I haven’t purchased one yet, because all of the cake stands that I’ve seen and liked cost at least $80 each, and I just can’t justify spending that kind of money on things that I don’t actually need, that I don’t use often, and that take up significant cupboard space.  But after sitting on this idea for over two years, I decided that my sister’s surprise 28th birthday party was the perfect occasion to justify owning and making some cake stands.  I used them to display chocolate cupcakes with nutella frosting (recipe here).  For contrasting height, I also served a two-layer strawberry and vanilla cake (recipe here) on a basic cake board.

Photos below:  You can see the before and after photos below.  I was lucky enough to find this cute and unique white plate that was quite flat and in like new condition.  It cost only $1 and I didn’t have to spray paint it, which also means that it’s completely food safe.  I paired it with an interesting thick and heavy wine glass that I turned upside down.  The wine glass cost $1 and I decided to spray paint it yellow for a fun and bright contrast.  

IMG_2189

IMG_2214

Read the rest of this entry »