I am in love with avocados. When it comes to guacamole, I prefer the texture of roughly mashed avocados, so I use an S-shaped potato masher. A fork works well too; or you could use a large mortar and pestle like Chef Bobby Flay. For a slight variation, serve this as an “avocado salsa” by Not mashing the avocado pieces and cutting the roma tomatoes into slightly larger pieces (or halve cherry tomatoes instead). Guacamole is pictured above.
I had some ricotta cheese leftover from making wild mushroom ravioli (recipe here) and lemon ricotta muffins (recipe here). But I didn’t really have enough to make anything else, so I made Ricotta and Tomato on Toast. This is a lovely and fresh summer snack. Toast any bread that you like (ie. crusty bread or rye). Spread the ricotta on the toast and top it with thin tomato slices, a pinch of coarse salt, freshly cracked black pepper, and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Infused olive oils are great for this, ie. garlic, herb, or lemon. Use your favourite variety of tomato.
After John’s housewarming party, I made ricotta and tomato crostini to use up a variety of our leftovers. Ricotta and tomato crostini are beautiful and easy to make for any party. Top toasted baguette slices (baked in a preheated 350 degrees F oven for about 7 minutes) with a thin layer of ricotta cheese, baby arugula or rocket, and halved cherry tomatoes (try combining red and yellow cherry tomatoes). Top with coarse sea salt, freshly cracked black pepper, a light drizzle of high quality extra virgin olive oil, and some fresh basil for garnish (if desired).
I love dessert crêpes (they’re on my top 3 favourite desserts list). They’re easy to make at home and you can use any combination of toppings and fillings that you like. There are several different ways to fold a crêpe, so I suggest doing a google search to choose a method you like. I usually copy my favourite dessert place, Demetre’s, Toronto, ON, by making large crêpes and folding them in half over ice cream and fresh fruit. I also love crêpes that have been filled with a layer of nutella and sliced bananas. And the next time I indulge, I’ll post a recipe for crêpes suzette. [The Tibos electric crêpe maker (made in Germany) is on my wish list.]
One of my favourite dim sum dishes is steamed rice noodle rolls with prawns (har cheong fun). We order this every time we go to yum cha (“drinking tea time”) which is a Chinese meal that can be enjoyed any time between really early in the morning and early afternoon. You could easily substitute the shrimp with Chinese BBQ pork or ground beef or stir fried snow pea shoots to make other popular dim sum cheong fun dishes. Personally, I’ve always preferred the texture of dim sum cheong fun to the cheong fun with dried shrimp and green onions (recipe here). For plain cheong fun and sweet sauce (teem cheong / timzheong) recipes, see here.
When I made mushroom ravioli (recipe here), I bought 2 containers of ricotta cheese but only used one. Not wanting to use it for the standard pasta dish, I searched the internet for new ideas and found lemon ricotta muffins. I tried two very highly rated recipes, tweaked my favourite of the two and made lemon curd to go with it. These muffins are light, lemony, and soft with just a hint of sweetness. They’re perfect for a summer picnic, bbq, or shower.
Carbonara is a very interesting pasta dish that incorporates separated raw eggs. When I had pancetta left over from making vinaigrette (recipe here), I decided to make carbonara for the first time. The sauce is creamy but not runny or overly thick. This is a simple dish and the flavour is subtle, and I love it. Despite many of the “carbonara” recipes out there, note that authentic carbonara does Not use cream.
Beef and broccoli comes to mind for many North Americans when they think of Chinese food. I have nothing against this dish, but my mom never made it when I was growing up. You’ll never see me order it from a restaurant, either. But since it’s so popular (and broccoli was on sale), I thought I’d make it because stir frying meat and vegetables is still in the spirit of Chinese cuisine.
A friend of mine gave me a subscription to Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food Magazine. This cornflake (that’s right, the cereal) crusted chicken was the first recipe that I tried from those magazines. Ed loves it and I made it regularly for 2 years. I made it for my parents once and my mom was surprised when I told her that the skin had been removed. It’s a Very healthy way to make crispy chicken.
Chinese rice noodle rolls (chee cheong fun) are steamed and can have various fillings. (For plain cheong fun and sweet sauce (teem cheong / timzheong) recipes, see here. For cheong fun with shrimp, see here.) My parents used to buy cheong fun with dried shrimp from the grocery stores quite often until they heard that they contain the harmful additive borax. Now that I know how easy they are to make from scratch, minus the additives, my parents can enjoy these again.
This is one of my (and Ed’s) favourite vinaigrette recipes. It’s very versatile. We love it on salad and for dipping bread served with shavings of parmesan cheese. Giada even suggests tossing it with pasta, so I used it to make a pasta salad recently. If you put it in a pretty glass container, it makes a great gift (it’ll look prettier if you throw a whole sprig or two of rosemary into the bottle). I’ve included this in gift baskets for various occasions before.
I needed to make a quick and easy snack for a weeknight because I was having some girls over for a clothing exchange party. I was already making hummus, deep fried ravioli and fudge brownies and decided that I was missing cheese. Instead of doing the standard cheese platter, I thought I’d try making a cheese ball, because I already had most of the ingredients that I needed. It’s a nice, flavourful cheese spread.
I love Chinese rice noodle rolls (chee cheong fun). These are steamed and can have various fillings such as shrimp, Chinese BBQ pork, ground beef, or dried shrimp and green onions. They are also delicious plain when served with the flavourful sweet sauce (teem cheong / timzheong) and sesame paste. We order this a lot in Hong Kong restaurants, so I was ecstatic when I learned how easy it is to make. I love making food from scratch to avoid the added preservatives and chemicals. I’ve heard that the cheong fun sold in grocery stores (and used by the restaurants) contain a particularly harmful additive – borax. (For cheong fun with shrimp, see here. For cheong fun with dried shrimp and green onions, see here.)
Cooking with Alison 