Recent Posts

Green Onion Pancakes
May 28, 2023

Green Onion Pancakes

I modified the scallion pancake recipe from Simply Recipes but rather than rolling out individual pancake rounds, sprinkling on the green onion, rolling, coiling and re-rolling I used the technique shown by Chef Lau for his Scallion pancakes. Next time I might try out the …

Appetizers
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by Marni
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Lemon Olive Oil Cake
May 8, 2023

Lemon Olive Oil Cake

This lemon olive oil cake is adapted from Yumna Jawad’s (Feel Good Foodie) Olive Oil Cake. I used self-raising flour and added some ground almonds for texture and upped the lemon juice. Ingredients 1 ¼ cup self-raising flour ⅔ cup granulated sugar 1/4 cup ground …

Cake
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by Marni
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Halibut with caper, anchovy and miso sauce
April 10, 2023

Halibut with caper, anchovy and miso sauce

It’s halibut season (yay). This recipe is delicious and quick to prepare, just make sure you have all your ingredients ready to go. It’s based on the NYT recipe for Seared Halibut with Anchovies, Capers and Garlic with a hit of miso for an extra umami boost. We served it with a simple maroulosalata salad and roasted veggies with yogurt sumac sauce.

Ingredients

  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 2 Tbsp butter
  • 1½ to 2 pounds halibut (I recommend cutting the fish into individual portions)
  • Salt and pepper to taste
  • 4 anchovy fillets
  • 1 Tbsp minced garlic
  • 1 Tbsp drained capers
  • ½ cup white wine
  • 1 Tbsp lemon juice
  • 1-2 tsp white miso paste
  • Chopped fresh parsley for garnish

Method

  1. Heat oven to 400 degrees.
  2. Oil and ovenproof pan and line it with a couple think slices of onion to form a rack.
  3. Put a large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. Once heated, add oil and butter. Butter should sizzle. When butter foam subsides, add fish, and season it lightly with salt and pepper. Brown fish, basting with pan juices, then turn, and brown again. It will finish cooking in the oven.
  4. Put fish on top of the onions in the ovenproof pan, and put it in oven. Set a timer for 10 minutes so you don’t overcook the fish!
  5. Turn heat down to medium under the frying pan, and add anchovies and garlic. Cook, stirring occasionally, until anchovies break up, (1-2 minutes). Add capers and wine, and turn heat to high. Add the miso paste. Cook until wine is reduced by half. Remove the fish from the oven along with any juices to pan, and turn the fish in sauce once or twice. Fish should be cooked through by now. Total time is about 15 minutes, but test the fish (knife should meet little resistance).
  6.  Add lemon juice, and adjust the seasonings. Remove fish to serving plate, spoon sauce on top, and garnish with chopped fresh parsley.
Fish
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by Marni
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Peach Cobbler
April 9, 2023

Peach Cobbler

Nothing beats peaches in season but if you have a hankering for that peachy goodness during the winter, this recipe is for you. It’s easy and hits that sweet spot. Ingredients 1/2 C butter 2 cans sliced peaches in syrup 1 C peach syrup (from …

Dessert
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by Marni
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Broccoli and Zucchini Pasta
February 26, 2023

Broccoli and Zucchini Pasta

This is a variation on Cheesy Broccoli-Zucchini Pasta from Marley Spoon. My version was adjusted for what I had on hand and I added a bit of extra luxury by putting some Mascarpone cheese into the sauce. Next time I think I’ll add some chili …

Casserole, Pasta, Vegetarian
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by Marni
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Butternut Squash and Carrot Soup
February 26, 2023

Butternut Squash and Carrot Soup

This is a riff on the Butternut Squash soup from Love and Lemons, but without the pain in the butt of peeling and chopping the squash – it’s easier (and safer) to just to roast the thing whole in the oven like I did for my Butternut Squash Mashup. Or, you can cut it in half and roast it with cut sides down.

Ingredients

  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 1 large yellow onion, diced
  • 1 cup diced carrots
  • 1 small butternut squash, roasted (let it cool, peel, deseed and scoop out the flesh)
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 1” peeled and finely chopped fresh ginger
  • zest and juice of 1 orange
  • 2 cups chicken stock (use vegetable stock if you want)
  • a pinch of nutmeg
  • Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 35o F.
  2. Cut squash in half and scoop out seeds. Rub with olive oil and roast cut side down for about 50 minutes or until you can poke it with a knife easily.
  3. Remove squash from oven and let cool while you are prepping the rest of the ingredients.
  4. Scoop squash out of skin and set aside.
  5. Saute onions in olive oil over medium low heat until soft (3-5 minutes).
  6. Add the carrot, garlic and ginger and continue cooking for another couple minutes.
  7. Add stock, orange zest, and salt to taste (go easy on the salt if you are using boullion cubes).
  8. Simmer for 30 minutes.
  9. Add the squash and heat through (5 minutes)
  10. Add fresh orange juice to finish.
  11. Serve with fresh bread

Shout out to Spud.ca for the organic butternut squash and other ingredients in this recipe.

 

 

Soup
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by Marni
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Christmas Eve Tortière (Chatelaine Plus)
December 28, 2022

Christmas Eve Tortière (Chatelaine Plus)

This recipe is a rif on Chatelaine’s Holiday Tortière recipe. I couldn’t leave out the sage, cinnamon, and allspice (my Mom would have disowned me). Ingredients 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 tsp salt 3/4 cup cold lard , cubed 1/4 cup cold unsalted butter …

Holiday Food, Pie
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by Marni
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Pappa’s Healthy Oatmeal Porridge
December 28, 2022

Pappa’s Healthy Oatmeal Porridge

My Dad makes healthy (excellent) oatmeal porridge. For this recipe use 1 portion oats  to 2 portions of water. Ingredients To make four portions: 2 cups large flake oats (or steel cut oats) 4 cups water 1 tsp salt in water 1 cup frozen blueberries …

Breakfast
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by Marni
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Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins (no eggs)
November 20, 2022

Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins (no eggs)

These chocolate pumpkin muffins use aquafaba (the liquid from a can of chickpeas) instead of eggs and the are light and delicious. I had pumpkin left over from a loaf I baked up but no eggs. It got the base recipe from Cookiemadness.net (Easy Aquafaba Chocolate Pumpkin Muffins) and changed it a wee bit.

Ingredients

  • 1/4 c sunflower oil (or light tasting oil of your choice)
  • 1/2 c brown sugar (I’d use 1/4 next time, they were plenty sweet)
  • 1/4 c aquafaba liquid from 14 ounce can of chickpeas
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 3/4 c plain pumpkin puree
  • 3/4 c flour 100 grams
  • 2 Tpsp unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/2 tsp baking soda
  • 1/2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 chocolate chips

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 F.
  2. Line 6 muffin cups with silicon/paper liners or grease.
  3. In a large bowl, whisk up the aquafaba until starting to get light and foamy (it really does behave like egg whites).
  4. Stir in the oil, pumpkin, and vanilla.
  5. In a second bowl combine all the dry ingredients with a whisk until well blended.
  6. Add dry ingredients to the pumpkin mixture and stir until blended.
  7. Stir in the chocolate chips.
  8. Divide the batter among muffin tins. It’s thick enough so that you pile it up (don’t worry it bakes up light).
  9. Bake at 400 F for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 and bake for another 15-20 minutes (check at 15). I added extra pumpkin to the original recipe so had to up the baking time.
  10. Let the muffins cool before removing from pan.

Makes 6 (I haven’t tried doubling the recipe).

Delicious!

Baked treats, Muffins
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by Marni
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Porchetta, Porchettaaaaah for “Turkey Day”
November 12, 2022

Porchetta, Porchettaaaaah for “Turkey Day”

My kids and I rarely make turkey for Thanksgiving. We normally have meatloaf (recipe here if you are so inclined: ” We don’t need no stinkin’ turkey” meatloaf). This year I decided I’d do something a little different and thought I’d try my hand a …

Dinner, Holiday Food, Pork
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by Marni
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