1- 19oz can chickpeas, drained, rinsed and finely chopped
1 small cooking onion, finely minced
3 cloves garlic, finely mined
1/2 Tbsp ground cumin
1/2 Tbsp ground coriander
1 small egg
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1/2 Tbsp dried parsley
1 tsp paprika
6-8 Tbsp flour
extra flour for making patties
4-6 hamburger buns
Lettuce
Tomato slices
sweet onion slices
Tzatziki sauce
In a large food processor, add the drained and rinsed chick peas, onion (cut in half), 3 cloves garlic (whole), cumin, coriander, egg, salt, pepper, parsley and paprika to the food processor and chop it all up until it has become well mixed and has turned into a thick, somewhat chunky paste. (If you don't have a food processor, you'll have to do the best you can with imagination, a knife and a wooden spoon. Don't worry, I've been there and managed to make hummus!). Remove mixture into a mixing bowl. Add the flour (start with 6 Tbsp) to the chickpea mixture and blend well with a wooden spoon. If needed add the other 2 Tbsp flour and blend again. The mixture should not be too wet that you can't make some balls and then a burger patty out of it. It should also not be too dry and crumbly that your ball/patty won't stay together.
In large non-stick frying pan, heat about 2 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil and 1 Tbsp butter over medium to medium-high heat, until bubbling.
Have extra flour sifted onto a plate for coating the patties with. You will find that it helps to coat your hands with flour as well so that it won't stick to them so badly. Divide up the mixture into either 4, which will make large patties or 6, which will make small patties. Take each section and roll into a ball with your hands, then flatten into typical burger patty thickness (they don't tend to shrink like meat does when it's cooking, so they'll stay the size you make them). Lay them onto the plate with the flour and lightly coat both sides with flour, keeping them circular. As each patty is made carefully lay it in the frying pan. Keep and eye on the pan side of the patties and carefully flip them when they become golden brown in colour. Once both sides of the patty are golden brown they're ready!
Assemble them like you would a beef burger, although I would omit the usual condiments like ketchup, mustard and relish, and use Tzatziki sauce with fresh lettuce, tomato and sweet onion slices instead. I severed these great vegetarian falafel burgers with carrot, celery, and cucumber sticks and extra tzatziki for dipping.
Enjoy!
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Potato Leek Soup
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
3 large leeks, cut into 1cm rings (all of the white part and some of the green)
2 medium cooking onions, chopped
7 medium potatoes, quartered
salt and pepper, one large pinch of both
Add all ingredients to large pot and sweat the vegetables over medium or medium-high heat, stirring often for 5 minutes.
8 cups water
3 tbsp Bovril liquid chicken stock
Add water and chicken stock to pot, give it a stir and cover with a lid. Let it come to a boil over high heat, then reduce to medium heat or a slow boil for 30- 40 minutes, or until all the vegetables are soft. At this stage, before blending, I often add another tablespoon of both olive oil and butter, but this is optional. Turn off the burner and blend to a nice smooth and creamy consistency with a hand blender. Taste test the soup and decide if you think it could use more salt or not. Personally, I would rather add salt at the end, or let someone add it as they'd like, rather than making it to salty from the start. Remember, you can always add it, but you can't take it away!
I realize that this soup could have milk or cream in it, but being lactose intolerant I became used to cooking without either, but that's not to say you couldn't use it. I have in the past added either a drizzle of cream or milk to my bowl as a garnish. Or you could always go with the old faithful dab of butter in
the center of your bowl as my mother always insisted! Healthy or less healthy, that is the question!
Enjoy!
1 tbsp butter
3 large leeks, cut into 1cm rings (all of the white part and some of the green)
2 medium cooking onions, chopped
7 medium potatoes, quartered
salt and pepper, one large pinch of both
Add all ingredients to large pot and sweat the vegetables over medium or medium-high heat, stirring often for 5 minutes.
8 cups water
3 tbsp Bovril liquid chicken stock
Add water and chicken stock to pot, give it a stir and cover with a lid. Let it come to a boil over high heat, then reduce to medium heat or a slow boil for 30- 40 minutes, or until all the vegetables are soft. At this stage, before blending, I often add another tablespoon of both olive oil and butter, but this is optional. Turn off the burner and blend to a nice smooth and creamy consistency with a hand blender. Taste test the soup and decide if you think it could use more salt or not. Personally, I would rather add salt at the end, or let someone add it as they'd like, rather than making it to salty from the start. Remember, you can always add it, but you can't take it away!
I realize that this soup could have milk or cream in it, but being lactose intolerant I became used to cooking without either, but that's not to say you couldn't use it. I have in the past added either a drizzle of cream or milk to my bowl as a garnish. Or you could always go with the old faithful dab of butter in
the center of your bowl as my mother always insisted! Healthy or less healthy, that is the question!
Enjoy!
Wednesday, November 17, 2010
Fratelli Restaurant, Riocan Drive, Barrhaven - GROSS!
Recently my husband and I went to Fratelli in Barrhaven. Phil was excited to go, as he's heard the restaurant hyped up in adverts by Lowell Green on 580 cfra for years, not that his is an opinion to follow.
To put it mildly, we were upset with our entire meal there. Restaurant reviews often begin with discussing the decor and service, which was all pleasant, but we went for the food, not the atmosphere.
To start out, Phil ordered the carpaccio as an antipasto. He had never seen it on a menu in Canada, and loved having it when staying with his Italian friends in Italy and France. He said it was supposed to be very simple, thinly sliced raw beef that is sort of 'cooked' by sitting out for 20 minutes or so in lemon juice. He was pretty shocked at what the waitress brought him. There was some type of mustard-mayonaise sauce covering most of it, which he tasted then scraped away as much as he could. There was also cheese shavings on the dish, but it was hardly recognisable to his palette which was full of the lemon marinade, lemon being the only part they got right. Lemon and cheese? Worst of all it was easy to tell that the beef had been laid out on the plate and then put aside in the freezer, because the slices in the center of the plate were still stone-frozen. So after scraping away all the nasty sauce and eating the tasteless cheese, he had basically a lump of frozen lemon-beef on his plate.
The only thing better about the main courses were that they were the appropriate temperature when they arrived. I had what the menu calls "homemade canneloni" and Phil had chicken tortellini in alfredo sauce. He always gets suspicious when he sees 'alfredo sauce' since it's unheard of in Italy, but he really wanted tortellini. Phil was sure that his was cooked from frozen, as the noodle part of the tortellini was tough like out of a freezer bag that you buy at the supermarket, not soft and supple like fresh pasta should be. The filling and sauce were equally bland at first taste, just like precooked supermarket pasta, and I could tell he was severly disappointed. The sauce had the bland taste and texture of supermarket bagged-powdered-sauce-stuff. When he asked the bus-girl to bring parmesan cheese so he could give the dish some flavor, she brought over a bowl of the crumbly Kraft 'parmesan' type, not real cheese, which only gave it a sandy texture, and maybe made the taste worse. This cost $17, and he was furious on the way home that a restaurant with an Italian name would serve this.
As for my dish, the 'homemade canneloni', I was almost as unimpressed. My sauce was also bland, it was supposed to have sundried tomatoes, but it was just a plain tomato sauce. I didn't let the bus-girl put the powdery 'parmesan' on my plate. Though the menu said my dish was to have ricotta and mozarella, there was only some melted cheese on top of the canneloni, and NONE inside them. It was basically rolled unseasoned ground meat, and dry to boot. Not a hint of green basil inside, no cheese, onion, garlic, nothing. At least the texture of the meat was good, but I could've got that from a hamburger. That's basically what it was, a plain hamburger rolled in pasta instead of in a bun, tossed into a bowl with tomato sauce. I think this cost us almost $20.
We were pretty appalled as we went over it again and again on the way home. Neither of our dishes had any typical Italian herbs, whether oregano, basil, rosemary, parsley or thyme. They were ultra bland and seemed thrown together from frozen and canned stuff you get at costco. The only part of my canneloni which was homemade seemed to be that they had stuffed the ground meat into the pasta themselves. We are sure it wasn't the cooks having an off night or anything, because we don't believe there are true cooks working there, just $15/hour kids warming ingredients up and putting them together. If that is how Fratelli operates, I'm sure it's no different at any of their other locations. We haven't been more let down by a restaurant in years, and we will NEVER go back!
To put it mildly, we were upset with our entire meal there. Restaurant reviews often begin with discussing the decor and service, which was all pleasant, but we went for the food, not the atmosphere.
To start out, Phil ordered the carpaccio as an antipasto. He had never seen it on a menu in Canada, and loved having it when staying with his Italian friends in Italy and France. He said it was supposed to be very simple, thinly sliced raw beef that is sort of 'cooked' by sitting out for 20 minutes or so in lemon juice. He was pretty shocked at what the waitress brought him. There was some type of mustard-mayonaise sauce covering most of it, which he tasted then scraped away as much as he could. There was also cheese shavings on the dish, but it was hardly recognisable to his palette which was full of the lemon marinade, lemon being the only part they got right. Lemon and cheese? Worst of all it was easy to tell that the beef had been laid out on the plate and then put aside in the freezer, because the slices in the center of the plate were still stone-frozen. So after scraping away all the nasty sauce and eating the tasteless cheese, he had basically a lump of frozen lemon-beef on his plate.
The only thing better about the main courses were that they were the appropriate temperature when they arrived. I had what the menu calls "homemade canneloni" and Phil had chicken tortellini in alfredo sauce. He always gets suspicious when he sees 'alfredo sauce' since it's unheard of in Italy, but he really wanted tortellini. Phil was sure that his was cooked from frozen, as the noodle part of the tortellini was tough like out of a freezer bag that you buy at the supermarket, not soft and supple like fresh pasta should be. The filling and sauce were equally bland at first taste, just like precooked supermarket pasta, and I could tell he was severly disappointed. The sauce had the bland taste and texture of supermarket bagged-powdered-sauce-stuff. When he asked the bus-girl to bring parmesan cheese so he could give the dish some flavor, she brought over a bowl of the crumbly Kraft 'parmesan' type, not real cheese, which only gave it a sandy texture, and maybe made the taste worse. This cost $17, and he was furious on the way home that a restaurant with an Italian name would serve this.
As for my dish, the 'homemade canneloni', I was almost as unimpressed. My sauce was also bland, it was supposed to have sundried tomatoes, but it was just a plain tomato sauce. I didn't let the bus-girl put the powdery 'parmesan' on my plate. Though the menu said my dish was to have ricotta and mozarella, there was only some melted cheese on top of the canneloni, and NONE inside them. It was basically rolled unseasoned ground meat, and dry to boot. Not a hint of green basil inside, no cheese, onion, garlic, nothing. At least the texture of the meat was good, but I could've got that from a hamburger. That's basically what it was, a plain hamburger rolled in pasta instead of in a bun, tossed into a bowl with tomato sauce. I think this cost us almost $20.
We were pretty appalled as we went over it again and again on the way home. Neither of our dishes had any typical Italian herbs, whether oregano, basil, rosemary, parsley or thyme. They were ultra bland and seemed thrown together from frozen and canned stuff you get at costco. The only part of my canneloni which was homemade seemed to be that they had stuffed the ground meat into the pasta themselves. We are sure it wasn't the cooks having an off night or anything, because we don't believe there are true cooks working there, just $15/hour kids warming ingredients up and putting them together. If that is how Fratelli operates, I'm sure it's no different at any of their other locations. We haven't been more let down by a restaurant in years, and we will NEVER go back!
We Love Pho Thi!
Just a note about one of our favorite neighborhood restaurants...
My husband and I often go to Pho Thi on Merivale Road in Ottawa for a quick and cheap bowl of soup. It is always really tasty, and we usually simply share their largest size bowl of Chicken or Beef Broth, with whatever meat in it. The menu is kind of funny that way, there is every combo you can think of except the obvious ones... So if you want beef in beef broth, you have to ask them for beef in chicken broth, and substitute the chicken broth for beef ha ha, and oddly not the other way around. But whatever. The point is, it's really good, it fills both of us up for a while, and costs 11 bucks. We never get entrees, just the soup. If we're really hungry, have nothing at home, and want to eat really fast, we go there... the soup is on the table within 5 minutes of ordering!
My husband and I often go to Pho Thi on Merivale Road in Ottawa for a quick and cheap bowl of soup. It is always really tasty, and we usually simply share their largest size bowl of Chicken or Beef Broth, with whatever meat in it. The menu is kind of funny that way, there is every combo you can think of except the obvious ones... So if you want beef in beef broth, you have to ask them for beef in chicken broth, and substitute the chicken broth for beef ha ha, and oddly not the other way around. But whatever. The point is, it's really good, it fills both of us up for a while, and costs 11 bucks. We never get entrees, just the soup. If we're really hungry, have nothing at home, and want to eat really fast, we go there... the soup is on the table within 5 minutes of ordering!
Saturday, October 16, 2010
Best Banana Bread
Enjoy this perfectly moist family favorite!
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (about 2 bananas), or thawed frozen bananas
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (light tasting), or vegetable oil
1/2 cup plain yogurt (sour cream or milk with 1 tbsp white vinegar added)
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, sifted (unbleached)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
Optional:
3/4 cup chocolate chips or
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
In large bowl, combine bananas, sugar, oil, yogurt, and eggs. Mix well. In separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Add dry ingredients bit by bit to banana mixture, stirring until combined. Then mix in your berries or chocolate chips if using.
Pour into greased 9x5 inch (2 L) loaf pan. Bake for 1 1/4 hours or until toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before turning onto rack to cool completely. I just leave mine in the loaf pan and remove slices as I like. Slice to serve.
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (about 2 bananas), or thawed frozen bananas
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (light tasting), or vegetable oil
1/2 cup plain yogurt (sour cream or milk with 1 tbsp white vinegar added)
2 eggs, beaten
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, sifted (unbleached)
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp sea salt
Optional:
3/4 cup chocolate chips or
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries
1 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
In large bowl, combine bananas, sugar, oil, yogurt, and eggs. Mix well. In separate bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Add dry ingredients bit by bit to banana mixture, stirring until combined. Then mix in your berries or chocolate chips if using.
Pour into greased 9x5 inch (2 L) loaf pan. Bake for 1 1/4 hours or until toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool for 5 minutes before turning onto rack to cool completely. I just leave mine in the loaf pan and remove slices as I like. Slice to serve.
Monday, October 11, 2010
Chicken Korma
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 large pinches ground cloves
1-2 large pinches ground cardamom
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 (6 oz, or more) skinless, boneless chicken breast 1.5" cubes
1/2 tsp salt, to taste
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garam masala (not spicy)
1 large tomato, diced
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup ground almonds (could use cashews)
1/2 tsp tumeric
3 small fresh bay leaves
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2-2 cups plain 2% yogurt
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
Marinade chicken in yogurt, ginger, 1 clove garlic and paprika for an hour or 2. In a large frying pan heat oil, butter, onion, and 2 cloves garlic. Cook until onions are clear then add all spices and cook for few minutes while stirring. Add the tomato and cook for a bit longer. Then add all marinated chicken and yogurt to pan and give it a good stir. Continue to cook, stirring regularly over medium-high heat. Once chicken appears to be cooked, or firm add the coconut milk or cream. Continue to cook for 30 or more minutes until the sauce has thickened a bit. The sauce, because of the yogurt tends to be a bit watery compared to a butter chicken or paneer dish. That said, don't keep cooking it waiting for it to thicken, just enjoy this dish over basmati rice. Add some salt to taste if needed.
Very good, but as usual it lacks a certain depth and richness to the flavour, which always seems to happen to me when I make Indian food.
Since making this dish I have spoken to some Indian friends and they all said that the depth comes with the use of a lot of butter and cream instead of the 2 full cups of yogurt I used. The used of yogurt and oil without all the butter and cream tends to be how most Indian families eat these dishes, because it is just too rich to have often, not to mention a bit high in calories!
Next time, to try and achieve the depth of flavour which I crave (I don't cook these dishes often, so that's how I'm justifying this...), I will use a lot more butter, slightly less yogurt, instead I'll use cream to make up the difference of using less yogurt. I also would like to use ground cashew nuts next time instead of almonds.
I was also told to try tempering the yogurt by either watering it down a bit or using milk or cream mixed in the yogurt to try and avoid the fine curdling that happens when you use straight yogurt.
1 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 large pinches ground cloves
1-2 large pinches ground cardamom
1 large onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
2 (6 oz, or more) skinless, boneless chicken breast 1.5" cubes
1/2 tsp salt, to taste
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp garam masala (not spicy)
1 large tomato, diced
1/2 cup coconut milk
1/4 cup ground almonds (could use cashews)
1/2 tsp tumeric
3 small fresh bay leaves
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2-2 cups plain 2% yogurt
1 tbsp grated fresh ginger
Marinade chicken in yogurt, ginger, 1 clove garlic and paprika for an hour or 2. In a large frying pan heat oil, butter, onion, and 2 cloves garlic. Cook until onions are clear then add all spices and cook for few minutes while stirring. Add the tomato and cook for a bit longer. Then add all marinated chicken and yogurt to pan and give it a good stir. Continue to cook, stirring regularly over medium-high heat. Once chicken appears to be cooked, or firm add the coconut milk or cream. Continue to cook for 30 or more minutes until the sauce has thickened a bit. The sauce, because of the yogurt tends to be a bit watery compared to a butter chicken or paneer dish. That said, don't keep cooking it waiting for it to thicken, just enjoy this dish over basmati rice. Add some salt to taste if needed.
Very good, but as usual it lacks a certain depth and richness to the flavour, which always seems to happen to me when I make Indian food.
Since making this dish I have spoken to some Indian friends and they all said that the depth comes with the use of a lot of butter and cream instead of the 2 full cups of yogurt I used. The used of yogurt and oil without all the butter and cream tends to be how most Indian families eat these dishes, because it is just too rich to have often, not to mention a bit high in calories!
Next time, to try and achieve the depth of flavour which I crave (I don't cook these dishes often, so that's how I'm justifying this...), I will use a lot more butter, slightly less yogurt, instead I'll use cream to make up the difference of using less yogurt. I also would like to use ground cashew nuts next time instead of almonds.
I was also told to try tempering the yogurt by either watering it down a bit or using milk or cream mixed in the yogurt to try and avoid the fine curdling that happens when you use straight yogurt.
Saturday, October 9, 2010
Easy Hearty Chilli
I know this recipe may seem daunting due to the seemingly large list of ingredients, but these are items we should always keep on hand because they are the basis for almost anything you want to cook. So, don't be scared if your a beginner, this is more of a "throw-it-in-a-pot" and forget about it recipe!
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 carrots, chopped
2 large celery sticks, chopped
3 bay leaves
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
6 tsp chili powder (or to taste)
28 oz can diced tomatoes
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
28 oz can red kidney beans, rinsed
19 oz can chick peas, rinsed
1 Aurora beef bouillon cube, crumbled
1 tsp salt, or to taste
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
In large pot brown ground beef with onion, garlic and oil over medium high heat. Break up large beef chunks. Add carrots, celery, bay leaves and spices to pot, allow to cook for a few minutes stirring regularly. Then add the kidney beans, chickpeas, and both cans of tomatoes as well as the salt, pepper and bouillon cube. Give this a good stir cover and let cook at a gentle boil over medium heat (or lower) stirring regularly for an hour. After an hour or so remove lid and continue cooking just above simmer for another half hour to allow it to thicken a bit. Stir a few times during this period. Serve with rice and enjoy a comforting fall meal.
2 cups basmati rice, rinsed
4 cups water
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp Bovril liquid chicken stock
Bring water to a boil, add rice, butter and chicken stock. Reduce heat to just above simmer and allow to cook for about 12 minutes. You can stir it once during the cooking time. Once cooked, fluff with fork and voila, perfect rice every time!
We ate this with some cheese we had on hand which was baby Fruillino, a so called Italian cheese (mild tasting, similar to mozzarella) which we have since decided is perfect melting cheese. Needless to say we allowed some slices of cheese to melt atop the chili on our plates and it brought my chili to another level!
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 1/2 lbs lean ground beef
1 large onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 carrots, chopped
2 large celery sticks, chopped
3 bay leaves
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
6 tsp chili powder (or to taste)
28 oz can diced tomatoes
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
28 oz can red kidney beans, rinsed
19 oz can chick peas, rinsed
1 Aurora beef bouillon cube, crumbled
1 tsp salt, or to taste
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
In large pot brown ground beef with onion, garlic and oil over medium high heat. Break up large beef chunks. Add carrots, celery, bay leaves and spices to pot, allow to cook for a few minutes stirring regularly. Then add the kidney beans, chickpeas, and both cans of tomatoes as well as the salt, pepper and bouillon cube. Give this a good stir cover and let cook at a gentle boil over medium heat (or lower) stirring regularly for an hour. After an hour or so remove lid and continue cooking just above simmer for another half hour to allow it to thicken a bit. Stir a few times during this period. Serve with rice and enjoy a comforting fall meal.
2 cups basmati rice, rinsed
4 cups water
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp Bovril liquid chicken stock
Bring water to a boil, add rice, butter and chicken stock. Reduce heat to just above simmer and allow to cook for about 12 minutes. You can stir it once during the cooking time. Once cooked, fluff with fork and voila, perfect rice every time!
We ate this with some cheese we had on hand which was baby Fruillino, a so called Italian cheese (mild tasting, similar to mozzarella) which we have since decided is perfect melting cheese. Needless to say we allowed some slices of cheese to melt atop the chili on our plates and it brought my chili to another level!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)