Cafe World Challenge Week 18

I've been trying to eat a little better this week, so lots of steamed veggies and small pieces of meat or fish. So I figured I should choose a vegetarian Cafe World dish this week and I had some fun creating it.




Overstuffed Peppers

I've made stuffed peppers a number of times before. I've used couscous, rice and millet with various other yummy additions. The Cafe World version uses couscous, so couscous it'll be.

I was raiding my fridge and cupboards while I cooked, using up some of the stuff I had on hand. I planned to use up some fresh thyme in the fridge, but changed my mind and used parsley from my garden. The reason: It started raining while I was cooking, which under normal circumstances wouldn't be remarkable, but we've had a heat wave this last week, it's been hot and humid and I've usually been bathed in sweat in my kitchen, so I grabbed my scissors and ran outside in the rain to pick some parsley and cool down. People in my neighbourhood sit in their open garages on lawn chairs in the late afternoon/evening and I was witnessed by many and got a few laughs. I suppose I'll now be known as the crazy rain dancer or something.

So enough chit chat, on to my recipe. I noted the quantities I used, but my recipe is only enough to stuff about 3 peppers, so increase the amounts if needed. The couscous also makes a wonderful side dish on its own.


Recipe


2 tsp vegetable oil
1 small carrot diced
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
pinch each last and dried thyme
1 1/2 cups (2 handfuls) chopped mushroom
1/2 cup couscous
1 cup sodium reduced chicken stock
2 tbsp toasted pine nuts
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
3 medium sized peppers of any colour

Preheat oven to 375F (190C)
In a saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Cook carrot, onion, garlic, salt, thyme and mushrooms. Cook until carrot is softened. About 5 minutes.
Add the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Add couscous, remove from heat and cover until the liquid has been absorbed by the couscous.
Stir in the pine nuts and parsley.
Cut tops off peppers, and place in a baking dish. Stuff peppers with the couscous mixture and replace pepper tops. Bake uncovered until the peppers start to brown, about 25 minutes.



Cafe World Cookbook changes

The Raspberry Cheesecake has been removed, a pity, and there are now Super Sliders (mini burgers) and BBQ Chicken. It seems the Super Sliders are only temporary though.

Progress: 36/71

Next Up: I'm thinking Corned Beef, but I'll have to figure out how to make it first.

Disclaimer: Image owned by Zynga. This site is not owned by Zynga. This site is not the owner of the intellectual property

Cafe World Challenge Week 17

I had a more productive week, finishing 3 more dishes. I would have done four, but had a last minute visitor the night I wanted to do lobster, so I will try and do it this weekend.
I think I must give my hubbie some royal treatment with lobster, before he attends the Official Dinner with The Queen on Monday, he's among the group of servicemen (and women) being honoured for their service in Afghanistan. I'm very proud of my Navy man.

Happy Canada Day to all my Canadian readers...hope you all had a fun and relaxing day yesterday. To my friends south of the border, Happy Independence Day also.












Herbed Halibut

Lets start by saying that wow, Halibut is expensive. I haven't bought any in a while and forked out $31 for the two pieces. So this recipe would work with any fish. I actually used a similar technique in this previous post. I love making fish in a foil package in the oven. You're basically steaming the fish and you can add all sorts of lovely flavours. It's healthy too, as you're not frying or breading.

Recipe

2 large halibut or other fish fillets
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp white wine
3 tbsp chopped fresh herbs (I used parsley, chive and dill)
1 clove garlic, chopped
salt and pepper to taste
1 lemon, sliced

Preheat oven to 180C/ 350F
Brush fish with the olive oil.
Put the fish on a sheet of aluminum foil.
Cover fillets with remaining ingredients and surround with lemon slices.
Fold over foil and seal to form a parcel. Bake until fish is no longer glossy and flakes easily.



Falafel

For those who haven't had this before, it is a Middle Eastern fried ball made from ground chickpeas.

I've made them often, but found a dry "falafel mix" which you just add water to and fry, it was really easy. The falafels batter recipes I've used before are often too liquid and didn't work well. So I experimented a little and came up with a recipe that seems to work.

I like serving mine in a wholewheat pita bread with hummus or tahini and sometimes add tabbouleh. I mentioned my problems with salsa in my last post, well I have the same issue with hummus. I had 3 half used containers in my fridge and just loaded my pita with hummus and falafel, I know a chickpea overload, but a delicious one.

Recipe

540 ml (19oz) can of chickpeas, drained
1 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/3 cup bread crumbs
1 egg beaten
2 tbsp fresh coriander
2 tbsp fresh parsley
1 pinch cumin
1/2 tsp baking powder
salt and pepper to taste.

Combine all ingredients in a blender.
Shape into small balls. Deep-fry for about 3 minutes or brush with olive oil and bake at 350F/180C for 15 minutes.

I used both cooking methods in my experiment, in the photo below you can see that the upper falafel were fried and the lower ones were baked. I'm not a fan of excess oiliness, so I preferred the baked version, but traditionally they are fried.








Chocolate Cream Pie

I admit, the above heading should be in air quotes. The version I made didn't have real cream or possibly even real chocolate (you never know). I completely buckled to consumerism and made Cool Whip Pudding Pie.
I re-organized my baking supplies and had a box of Oreo crumbs make its way to the front and this recipe is on the box staring at me every time I open the cupboard. So what the hell, its close isn't it? For now I'll count it, I might make a real version at another time and I'll post the pic. For what its worth, it was okay, but not as good as the real thing.



Up next: I'm hoping I can finally get my lobster done

Progress: 35/70, halfway, for now at least.

Disclaimer: Image owned by Zynga. This site is not owned by Zynga. This site is not the owner of the intellectual property

Cafe World Challenge Week 16

I totally forgot about posting this week. It's been one of those...my husband was away for most of it and of course my eldest gets strep throat and is miserable. It didn't help that this was his last week of school before summer holidays and he didn't get to see his friends, he's a sensitive little soul. He managed to get better for today, which was his pre-school's family picnic, so we had a blast outside with the kids, playing soccer, swimming and then treated the kids to ice cream at McDonald's. So we were all bombed from the sun, activity and sugar and had an extra long nap, correction I had a short nap and the rest of the family is still sleeping.

So I'll get to it. I only made one dish, an easy one for a crazy week.




Chips and Guacamole

I LOVE avocadoes and there are some good, ripe avos in the stores right now. I hate buying avos that aren't ready and then I invariably can't wait and open it and it's too hard to enjoy. I find the avos I buy here in North America though are rather tasteless compared to the beauties I was used to in South Africa. I think we have about three main growing areas there and the avos are ready at slightly different times, I suppose we were just closer to the trees and we got them fresher or something.
So since I love avos, obviously I love guacamole too, although I am picky about it, I have never liked guacamole bought from the store, you just can't taste the avo.
So this is my quick version, I use salsa instead of the fresh tomato, red onion and chillies I use when I have time. I always have half used jars of salsa in my fridge, as my hubbie usually impulsively buys tortilla chips, salsa and hot pepper hummus when I send him to the store, forgetting about the same stuff he already had in the fridge. I usually STRESS emphatically that he should stick to the list I give him, so he usually forgets at least one thing from the list and comes home with a ton of other stuff and suggests, "honey I thought we could have this for dinner". OMG what did he think the list was for!!!! I usually plan meals a week ahead, so I've taken stuff out the freezer and/or need to use up something.

Wow I totally went off-topic there, so sorry, but I'm sure some of you know that feeling ;) So on to the recipe:

Guacamole

2 ripe avocadoes, peeled and pitted
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
3/4 cup salsa
salt to taste
hot-pepper sauce to taste

Mash up the avos with a fork and combine with the other ingredients. Easy, Peasy.
Serve with tortilla chips.

Notes:
1. I like the "scoop" variety of tortilla chips as they don't have fragile corners that break off in the dip. This guacamole is nice and chunky and needs a sturdier chip to handle it and you get lots of dip in the scoop.
2. The lemon juice is to help the avos from going brown but I'd suggest storing in the fridge with plastic wrap spread on the surface of the dip to prevent contact with the air. Its best to serve this shortly after making it.



Cafe World Cookbook additions

Some yummy ones this time:
Chocolate Cream Pie, Raspberry Cheesecake and Lox Bagel


Progress: 32/70

Next up: I've actually planned, An easy version of one of the new desserts, Falafel and Herbed Halibut. Thinking about it now, I might just squeeze in some Lobster. I have to play "catch up".

* Disclaimer: Image owned by Zynga. This site is not owned by Zynga. This site is not the owner of the intellectual property.

Cafe World Challenge Week 13

This week I only completed one dish, a really simple stuffed mushroom recipe.

I was planning to make Lemon Butter lobster, but with the hot weather we're experiencing in my area I will only make that the day before garbage pickup. Seafood shells in garbage is not pleasant. So that leaves me Sundays, which is usually very busy for us, so I will wait till I have a relaxing Sunday available, which might be a while. Ugh!!!



Stuffed Mushroom

I wanted a nice light dinner and thought stuffed mushrooms and salad would work well. I looked through my fridge and feta cheese and sundried tomatoes caught my eye. But after some thought, I decided to get some goat cheese as my feta is rather strong tasting and thought it would be a bit much with the rich tasting sundried tomato.

Recipe

Large mushrooms, I used three Portabello.
Olive oil
salt and pepper
1 package goat cheese
sundried tomatoes, I used some in a jar with oil.

Remove mushroom stems, brush olive oil all over mushrooms, I used about 1 tsp per mushroom. Place rounded side down on baking sheet covered in foil. Season with salt and pepper.
Cover with foil and Bake at 350 F (180 C) for about 8 minutes or until tender.
Remove cover and place a slice of goat cheese and some sliced tomato on each mushroom. Return to oven for another 5 minutes or until cheese starts to melt.
Serve and enjoy.



Cafe World Cookbook additions

They seems to be adding a new theme every week and with that some cookbook additions. So it seems for every dish I make some more are added.
This week Falafel has been added for the Egyptian theme. I've made this many, many times, but usually from a prepared box of Falafel mix. My made from scratch version didn't turn out well. Time to find a new recipe.

Progress: 28/66
Up Next: Not sure...check in next Friday to see.

* Disclaimer: Image owned by Zynga. This site is not owned by Zynga. This site is not the owner of the intellectual property.

Minestrone Soup

With the weather turning cooler here in Canada, I thought some comfort cooking was in order.

This soup is hearty and stick-on-your-ribs good, without actually sticking on your ribs. The best part about this recipe is that my boys adore it. My eldest, James, actually stands near me while I prepare it so he can steal carrot and celery off the chopping board. Yes, I know shocker, he likes raw veg.

Minestrone Soup




1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 carrots, peeled & diced
2 sticks celery, sliced
2 potatoes, peeled & diced
1.5 litres vegetable stock (see note below)
1 can italian tomatoes
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tsp dried basil
4 zucchini, sliced
1 cup farfalle (bowties) pasta (or other)

1. Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the onion, garlic, carrot and celery. Stir over medium heat until the onion is soft.
2. Add the potatoes, stock, tomatoes, tomato paste and basil. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer gently for 30 minutes.
3. Bring to the boil again, then add the zucchini and pasta and boil until the pasta is cooked, about 12 minutes. Remove from heat and season to taste.

Note: I use my own homemade stocks, I make large batches and freeze them in smaller containers.

Eggplant Pizza with Pecorino

You're probably thinking eggplant on a pizza!!! But trust me it was delicious, although my 3 year old didn't agree, "I don't want the black things!!!!" I just went to the kitchen got another slice and pulled off the black things..ie. the eggplant and olives and told him this was his special pizza. Did the trick, disaster averted. My 16 month old was none the wiser and ate the whole thing.

The recipe came from Homemakers magazine Sept 2009 issue. Unfortunately the recipe is not online.


What's on it???

eggplant
tomato puree, I used strained Italian tomatoes
garlic, mmm.... what would a pizza be without it!!
Dried oregano & hot pepper flakes
black olives
Pecorino Romano cheese, this can be substituted with romano and mozzarella

Pizza dough from my local bakery



The Result

Half the fun of using this recipe was sourcing the ingredients. I love going to my local farmers market and picked up the eggplant and canned tomatoes there. I found pizza dough at my local bakery, which I had to order in advance and I found the cheese at an Italian deli. My grocery store didn't have all the ingredients, so I couldn't one-stop-shop.

The pizza was great, although next time I will cut back on the amount of cheese. The pecorino is pretty strong, but very flavourful.

I really like the eggplant, since it was salted, dried and then roasted in olive oil prior to contact with the pizza. Salting the eggplant draws out the moisture and helps prevent too much oil soaking into it and turning completely to mush.

Now the best discovery was this pizza dough, which was just perfect and so easy to work with. It came in balls sized for a medium pizza it stretched out easily to fit my pizza pan.

A few nights later I made up for the "black things" and made another pizza with my son's favourite topping, sausages. Now that I've discovered this awesome pizza dough, I will be experimenting with other toppings.