Moroccan Turkey Stew

My mother was having some friends over for dinner the day after Boxing Day. Now, in our house, the Christmas Day meal is breakfast. Yup, that's right. Bacon, Ham, eggs, clementines, french toast, pancakes and champagne and OJ. Sidebar, Christmas Day is my favorite day of the year -I can eat as much as I want, drink as much as I want, and never have to get out of my PJ's!

Anyhow, we made an amazing turkey dinner on Boxing Day, and my mother wanted to incorporate it into her meal for company. Thus was born my Moroccan Turkey Stew.

Moroccan Turkey Stew

3 cups of turkey meat
1 can of Chickpeas, drained
1 large can of stewed tomatoes
1 cup of fresh spinach
1 medium sized sweet potato, chunked
3 large carrots, chunked
1/4 cup of tomato paste
1 med. white onion, thinly sliced.
2 cups of spinach
1 1/2 tsp. each of cumin, coriander and turmeric
pinch of Cayenne pepper
Salt & Pepper to taste


Preheat oven to 450. Toss Sweet potato and carrots with olive oil, and 1 tsp. of cinnamon, cumin, coriander and S&P. Roast for 15-20 minutes, until tender.

Heat olive oil on med. heat. Saute onions until soft, add garlic. Add tomatoes, and saute until tender. Add sweet potato and carrots and tomato paste. Deglaze the pan with chicken stock. making sure to scrape all those lovely brown bits off the bottom. Add turkey, chickpeas and stewed tomatoes. Season with remaining spices, salt and pepper. Add spinach and cover until spinach wilts.

Serve over brown rice with Naan or pita bread. I also added a fruit chutney on the side.

Merry Christmas to all!

Few things say "Christmas" like fruitcake and an Eggnog Martini!

Wishing you and yours a holiday season full of my favorite things: food, fun and friends!

Happy Holidays!

Family Christmas Party

I grew up cooking, and subsequently eating my meals at the kitchen table surrounded by cookbooks. Eating, while reading about food is actually one of my favorite pastimes. Come to think about it, reading about food IS my favorite pastime. I've even been scolded by my friends at parties a few times for reading their cookbooks instead of socializing (Loser). Anyhow, I digress...

I grew up with Company's Coming, Jean Pare's institution of a cookbook series, and the one from which I drew the following recipe for Cream Puffs for my family Christmas Party.

Cream Puffs from Company's Coming Desserts, p. 103, adapted by moi.

1 cup Boiling Water
1/2 cup Butter
1/4 tsp. Salt

1 cup Flour
4 Eggs

500 ml. Whip Cream
1 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 tbsp. Icing Sugar

200 g Dark chocolate, melted

Method:

Combine water, butter and salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Add flour all at once and stir vigorously until in forms a ball and pulls away from the sides of the pan. Remove from heat.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating thoroughly after each is added. Drop by spoonfuls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake at 425 for 30 minutes. Cool on a cooling rack.


Whip cream, vanilla and icing sugar using an electric mixture until light and fluffy. Spoon into a pastry bag and pipe into the cream puffs.


Melt chocolate in a double boiler and dip the tops into chocolate.


Put cream puffs in the fridge to let the chocolate set, then assemble into a tower. Dust with powdered sugar and wait for the "oooo"s and "aaahhh"s!

Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookie

Every year I exchange Christmas presents with the most extreme chocoholic that I've ever met. Essentially, I put a good deal of thought into each year's offering in order to top the previous. Last year's delectable, chocolaty treat consisted of a chocolate cake enclosing a chocolate mousse layer, covered in chocolate ganache, chocolate curls and surrounded by chocolate praline wafers...RIGHT? Sadly, my only photo of that masterpiece was on my camera phone, so you'll never get to see the finished product.

Anyhow, this year was the ultimate chocolate chip cookie! It could easily be made with store-bought dough (no judgment!) but mine was from scratch.

So...chocolate chip cookie, topped with milk chocolate ganache, Kit Kat chunks, and multi-coloured sprinkles.

Sweet 'n' Salty Holiday Treats

The other night I had a salty sweet craving...Seeing as how I needed to make a treat to bring to a Holiday party, I decided to indulge my own desires and make my favorite snack; chocolate covered pretzels. These things are so easy, it's laughable...although it did take a while to strategically place the seasonal mini M&M's on the melted chocolate without them sliding off!


This simple method is as follows. The hard part is not eating them all yourself...

Melt Chocolate.
Dip pretzels in chocolate.
Top w/ Mini M&M's.
Set in the fridge until hardened.

Walk away!

MMMMMMMMM.....

Naughty Cookie Company

I met Dawn Emson, owner of the Naughty cookie company at a work function as I was painstakingly deciding which of her scrumptious samples of biscotti to choose. In the end, I sampled all four - are you surprised? My personal favorite was the Holiday Ginger Nut, combining my favorite type of nut with my favorite uh...root? The following is a list of yummy biscotti offered on her website.

Holiday Ginger Nut~This gingerbread Dunking Optional Biscotti is filled with heaps of Macadamia nuts and spices...biscottilicious with a cup of steamed milk or hot cocoa...

The Original Christmas Biscotti~Just in time for Christmas, this Dunking Optional Biscotti is filled with cherries, and more cherries (red and green of course) and slivered almonds...with the texture similar to shortbread...it reminds me of my grandmother's cookies she baked with love every Christmas...and trust me..one is not enough!

Canadian Maple Crunch~gives you just that…a crunch of pecans in a light maple biscotti (made with 100% pure Nova Scotia maple syrup)...you can't eat just one...

Double Double~For the real coffee lover... try this new addiction. Take espresso and add DOUBLE the chocolate, then to ‘top’ it off with DOUBLE roasted espresso beans and you have got Double Double…Enjoy!

Visit Dawn's website at www.thenaughtycookieco.com for details!

Feast with Friends

On Sunday night, I had the ultimate indulgence with my ultimately indulgent friends. There's nothing like good food, good wine and amazing people to share it with. I met my friend Joanne about three years ago. In one of out Tourism classes, she was doing a presentation on wine tourism, while mine was on culinary tourism. I immediately decided that we would be friends, and now, that friendship is indispensable.

Another friend of ours had a bottle of the now SOLD OUT Benjamin Bridge Nova 7, Nova Scotia's first and only sparkling wine, and was looking for an opportunity to crack it. The fact that this bottle even existed in his cellar made for an opportunity to celebrate, and so we did. Now, normally, when J and I get together for food, the day passes in a storm of phone calls where we "bounce culinary ideas off one another" as our friend so perfectly put it. We discuss the general menu, what our recent cravings are, and what wines to pair with what foods... you know, the usual. This Sunday was no different, and it made for an amazing smorgasbord (I LOVE THAT WORD) of flavour.

The spread...

I picked up a few essentials at the market on Sunday. J and her man live for That Dutchman's Dragon's Breath Blue, so clearly that was a must. I don't know what the appeal here is really, cause this is one strong, pungent and stinky cheese, but we're all drawn to it's incredible flavor.

I also felt the need to consume vast amounts of butter, so I picked up a loaf of fresh, springy, sweet and, well, buttery french brioche from La Boulangerie Vendienne.


As much as J desired the stinky, yet delicious blue, I was craving some sweet, creamy goat's cheese, which she mixed with cream cheese, and rolled in..wait for it...pistachios, and pink peppercorns. The former, enhancing the rich cheese's natural sweetness, while the later contrasted it with a touch of heat.


As soon as I learned of J's intention to include pistachios to the meal, I had the urge to incorporate sweet, buttery apricots to the mix. Admittedly, this recipe would best be served with fresh apricots, but since they aren't in season, I bit my tongue, went with dried and hoped for the best.


Apricot spread/salsa/jam/ whatever you want to call it:

1 cup of dried apricots
1 cup boiling water
1 tbsp honey
1 tsp. crushed coriander
1/2 tsp. cracked black pepper

Method:

Soak the apricots in the boiling water until soft, then roughly chop. Add the honey, coriander and pepper and mix.

The end result was pretty spectacular, especially when layered over pistachio studded goat cheese, which itself was smeared atop of slightly toasted, warm, buttery brioche.

Another phenomenal bite included the spicy pink peppercorn
goat cheese balanced by the luscious jewel-like raspberries

Baked Brie with Kahlua, Brown Sugar and Pecans

I'm not quite sure what measurements J used here, but I'm pretty sure that it was a game of chance. She cut the top off of the Brie before baking it though - That top is too annoying to deal with when you're trying to get to the ooey gooey underneath.

An amazing bite!

The Wines!

Fewer than 200 cases of Benjamin Bridge's 2007 Nova 7 were released in July 2008 and were sold out in weeks. This is a beauty; fresh and fruity. My friend Gabe managed to hold on to this one for a while.

You know the saying...

"A picture is worth a thousand words"

Ted Hutton Family Farms at the Halifax Farmer's Market

B-Day dinns at Baan Thai

Overlooking Dresden Row is one of Halifax's culinary treasures. Though the sign is displayed street side, I had never taken the initiative until my friend mentioned her craving for Thai food. Now, since it was her Birthday that we were celebrating, I left the choice of restaurants up to her...but not without emailing her the suggested menu!

Upon reading the menu, I knew that this would be my choice. It wasn't until I saw roasted duck curry on the menu that I knew she would be like putty in my hands...muahahaha.

Unfortunately, the driving force behind my desire to eat at Bann Thai, the shrimp chips were not available that night. After a little bit of sulking - after all, it wasn't my party, I couldn't cry if I wanted to - we went with the mango salad accompanied by another starter of fish cakes.

The B-day girl went with not one, but two curries! I've never seen anyone with such an enthusiasm for this type of dish. We chose the roasted duck curry, obviously(!), and the Green Jungle Curry, which was insanely hot. We also got an order of Jasmine rice to soak up all the yummy, spicy sauce.

Appys:

Fish Cakes

The fish cakes were delightful, with a crispy batter enclosing the tender fish. The dipping sauce was a sweet and salty soy based concoction that was the perfect pairing for the tasty, slightly greasy fishcakes. Gotta have a bit of grease every now and then...

Mango Salad

A sweet and refreshing mango salad accompanied the cakes. Tossed with peppers and crisp, almost spicy red onions, our choice of appy combos were in perfect balance.

Mains...

Roasted Duck Curry
w/ grape tomatoes, basil and pineapple

Thai Green Jungle Curry
w/ pork, eggplant, mushrooms and peppers

This was certainly a great night for a B-day celebration. At the end of the evening, no cake was to be had, as we were all in a food induced comatose state. However judging by the satisfied face of the B-day girl, no cake was needed!

1569 Dresdent Row
902.446.4301

Sweet Things to start the Holiday Season

There are a few things that are essential for my Christmas Holiday Season to be complete. Although some (crazy) people need snow, Christmas carols or the sent of pine trees, my necessities are, of course, of the edible variety. There are three things that I crave at Christmas time. To me, the season has not started until I have consumed them all.

Clementines - The quintessential Christmas citrus. This little guy has an almost apricot-like taste, you can eat eleven in one sitting and not feel guilty, and there is always the mindless challenge of peeling them in one piece.

Eggnog - The best thing since...milk? Sidebar, How come there isn't a "got nog" ad campaign? Hmmm, I should get on that one. My heart beats a little quicker when I see these festive cartons appear on the grocery store shelf. Clearly, my first thought goes to a little amber rum and eggnog, 2 ice cubes and a dash of cinnamon...but why stop there? Eggnog in coffee is delish, and I had quite a happy crowd when I recently made eggnog french toast.

Candy Cane Ice Cream - Also tres seasonal. Rich and minty...and a nice flavor change from the usual mint ice cream. Also, I may have mentioned in previous posts that since my wisdom teeth came out, I have a serious relationship with this cold and creamy treat.