Food Musings

A Winnipeg blog about the joy of preparing food for loved ones and the shared joy that travel & dining brings to life.

Mexican Rice from Cocina Islena

February8

I was at an event this week and a person sitting opposite me wondered where she could find an authentic Mexican Rice recipe. I have made this one oodles of time and sent it off to her.

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The first meal I ever ate on Isla was decades ago at La Lomita. Where was yours?

We are off to the island in 14 sleeps and I am eagerly anticipating one of the many reasons we love the island so much and that is the food! When I come home I cook Mexican food to keep the memories and experiences vivid. It occurred to me than many persons on the Isla Mujeres’ Food page (that I moderate) would be interested in these recipes too, when they regretfully arrive home.

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So here we go:

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Mexican Rice from Cocina Islena
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Mexican
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6
 
This is the way the Islenas make their rice. You can cook it ahead, then heat it thoroughly but gently, in a tightly covered pot for about fifteen minutes. Leftover rice can be heated in the same way the next day and it freezes well. To reheat, make a foil package with the rice and place still frozen, in a 350 degree oven for about 30 minutes.
Ingredients
  • 1½ cups rice
  • ⅓ cup oil (I use canola)
  • I large tomato (1/2 pound) chopped
  • 1 glove of garlic chopped
  • 3½ cups chicken broth
Instructions
  1. Wash and clean rice, taking out any stones that may be in the bag.
  2. Drain in a colander.
  3. Heat the oil in a pan.
  4. Stir in the rice until all the grains are well covered, then fry until a light golden colour, stirring and turning the rice over so it will cook evenly and not get too dark.
  5. This should take about 10 minutes and should be done over a high flame.
  6. In a blender, blend the tomato, onion and garlic until smooth.
  7. Add the vegetables to the fried rice, then continuing to cook over a high flame, stir and scrape the bottom of the pan until the mixture is dry.
  8. Add the broth and add salt as necessary then stir well.
  9. Cook over a medium flame, uncovered until the liquid has been absorbed and small air holes appear in the rice.
  10. Remove from flame and cover tightly, so that no steam can escape, for about 20 minutes and the rice continues to cook in its own steam.

The cookbook was originally a fund-raiser so I ask that each time you print or cook a recipe, please make a donation to one of Isla’s many worthwhile charities. I will do the same. Here are a couple of our favourites:

http://littleyellowschoolhouse.org/

https://islakids.org/

http://islaanimals.org/

https://www.islascholarships.com/

Kath’s quote: “Education is the most powerful tool you can use to change the world”.-Nelson Mandela

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Love never fails.

 

posted under Cookbooks, Food & Travel, Isla Mujeres | No Comments »

Barley Mango Sweet Pepper Spring Rolls

June24

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At “Life is Good” our summer beach house, weekends are lovely and brimming with family. I love to make suppers from scratch and serve up some special treats of things that the kids might not have the time or the budget to make on their own. With the price of protein as high as it is right now, I love getting wind of a nutritious meal that stretches an item like shrimp into a full meal deal.

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Recently, the team at Go Barley sent me this recipe for Barley, Mango and Sweet pepper Spring Rolls with Dipping Sauce including delectable Shrimp. Having cooked often from their award-winning cookbook, I knew that the recipe would be packed with flavour, healthy & simple ingredients and affordable barley!

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I prepared the pearl barley earlier in the day, while I was taking care of the dishes from brunch. This way, we were able to spend the afternoon on the beach with the Wee One, arriving home just in time for me to swing into action.

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I got everything prepped in order to start making the rolls and was able to coax our 2 year old grandbaby to snack on the red pepper and mango to hold her over until supper time. The rolls were fun to put together and I even had a volunteer of our son-in-law to help me out. We have to be particularly resourceful when we are up at the lake because there are a couple of country stores but not one with a full complement of items. Therefore, when I ran out of large rice papers and had to resort to smaller ones, the process got a little bit more time consuming.

When another contingent of family arrived just in time for supper, everything was ready to go for a casual dinner. We knew that there would be snacks around the bonfire later that evening, so we were all content with the lighter fare.

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Barley Mango Sweet Pepper Spring Rolls
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Prep time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 10 rolls
 
Hint: I purchased round plastic screens from an Asian grocery many years ago to make working with rice paper a breeze. I use them often and strongly recommend them.
Ingredients
  • Dipping Sauce:
  • ⅓ c fresh lime juice
  • 2 T liquid honey
  • 2 T fish sauce
  • 2 t rice vinegar
  • 2 t finely minced ginger root
  • pinch red pepper flakes
  • Spring Rolls:
  • 2 T peanut butter or almond butter
  • 1½ c cooked pearl or pot barley
  • ⅓ c chopped fresh cilantro or parsley
  • 10 large rice paper wrappers
  • 1 small sweet red pepper, cut into strips
  • 10 large cooked shrimp, peeled and cut into half lengthwise (mine were smaller so I kept them whole)
  • 1 small mango, cut into thin strips
  • 2 c shredded cabbage or pre-cut cole slaw
Instructions
  1. To make dipping sauce:
  2. In a small saucepan, combine lime juice, honey, fish sauce, vinegar, ginger root, garlic and red pepper flakes.
  3. Heat gently, stirring, just until honey melts.
  4. Set aside.
  5. To make spring rolls:
  6. In a small bowl gradually add 1 to 2 T dipping sauce to peanut butter, whisking until blended, smooth and the consistency of a thick sauce.
  7. Stir peanut butter mixture and cilantro into barley.
  8. Set aside.
  9. Fill a pie plate with or shallow plate with warm water.
  10. Place a rice paper in water and soak for 5 seconds.
  11. Remove and place on work surface until soft and pliable, about 30 seconds.
  12. Across lower third of rice paper, layer approx. 1/10th of the red pepper and the barley mixture, a couple of shrimp pieces and 1/10th the mango and cabbage leaving 1 inch border at each end.
  13. Fold bottom of rice paper over filling, then fold sides towards the centre.
  14. Roll up into a cylinder (mine were more like "packets")
  15. Repeat soaking, filling and rolling with remaining rice paper and ingredients.
  16. To serve, cut each roll diagonally in half.
  17. Serve with Dipping Sauce.

I made a double batch. There were enough rolls for six of us that evening. I served them again as an appetizer previous to our Father’s Day dinner Sunday evening and then D took the remainder to work for lunch. In the mean time I mixed up extra pre-cooked barley, more of the peanut butter sauce, added cilantro and fresh mini cucumbers and enjoyed a tasty barley salad for my mid-day meal.

Kath’s quote: “The keynote to happiness within the four walls that make any home is plain, wholesome, well cooked food, attractively served.”-
Louis P. De Gouy

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Live simply, laugh often, love deeply.

 

 

 

 

 

posted under Beach House Recipes, Entrees, Food Products, Heart Smart Cooking | No Comments »

Sweet & Sour Cranberries & Pork Tenderloin

January12

Once a month I cook for a special gang. Plates are balanced on laps as the dining room is occupied by 8-9 toddlers, as well as D, me and Sister #3. I try to choose nutritious recipes that would appeal to both parents and their children. I will also admit, I try to use left overs or meat that has already been defrosted and perhaps used for another occasion. Such was the case after our recent New Year’s fondue.  I had three whole tenderloin in the fridge as well as homemade cranberry sauce that was left over from a Christmas together.  Put them together and voila-you get this twist on sweet and sour pork which is often served with pineapple chunks. I would have done the same but D had been taken pre-cut pineapple (also left over from our fondue dessert) with him for lunch so I had less to work with than I thought. That was when I discovered the cranberries.

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Sweet & Sour Cranberries & Pork Tenderloin
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 12+
 
I made a huge batch, you could probably divide the ingredients by ⅔rds for a meal to serve 4.
Ingredients
  • 1½ c cranberry sauce
  • 14 oz pineapple juice (apple would work too)
  • glugs of canola oil
  • 3 pork tenderloins, thinly sliced
  • 3 large onions, mined (in the food processor)
  • 6-9 cloves of garlic, minced as above
  • 1 small can of tomato paste
  • 3 large carrots, thinly sliced (food processor again)
  • 3 stalks of celery, thinly sliced as above
  • 1 red pepper, chopped
  • 1 yellow pepper, chopped
  • 1 orange pepper, chopped
  • ¾ brown sugar
  • ¾ c vegetable broth
  • ¾ c apple cider vinegar
  • 3 T soy sauce
  • 6 T cornstarch
  • 9 T cold water
Instructions
  1. Get out your biggest crockpot and turn onto low.
  2. In a wok, heat a glug of oil over high heat.
  3. Brown pork in batches.
  4. Using a slotted spoon, transfer to slow cooker.
  5. Add more oil as necessary and onion, garlic and tomato paste.
  6. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring regularly.
  7. Stir in pineapple juice, scraping up brown bits from the bottom of the pan.
  8. Pour over the pork.
  9. Stir in cranberry sauce, carrots, celery, peppers, brown sugar, broth, vinegar and soy sauce.
  10. Cover & cook on low for 6-8 hours.
  11. In a small bowl combine cornstarch and water.
  12. Stir into slow cooker.
  13. Cover and cook on high about 20 minutes.
  14. Serve with brown rice.

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Kath’s quote: “Things sweet to taste prove in digestion sour.”-William Shakespeare

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Live simply, laugh often, love deeply.

posted under Entrees | No Comments »

Give Thanks with a Grateful Heart

October16

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The view from the 17th floor where we assemble each year.

Thanksgiving this year was especially poignant for me.  Perhaps it is the upcoming family wedding, perhaps the delight of having my Goddaughter home from Australia to celebrate with us, perhaps that my Mom persevered through another move to be with us, perhaps a sweet combination of all of these things.  Of particular significance though was the gratitude of being carried through some of the tougher moments that the year had brought us since the previous celebration of the harvest.  Surrounded by my family, my friends near and far, my church family and my neighbourhood, I realized anew how wonderful my life is and can be, even though it sometimes feels that I am crushed by its stresses.  As my friend Claudia (who is here right now) says: “There is always a hair in the food!”.

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Our assembly this year was diverse with representatives not just from Australia but Japan (an international student living with a family member),

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from the Wee One who is the youngest (and her adorable second cousin)

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to our Mom and my bother-in-law’s Dad who is in his 90’s

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with various generations of cousins in between.

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When a family of over 40 gets together from all over the city, how does hot and tasty food make it to the table?  One of my sister-in-laws assigns the tasks and as we always say “Many hands make light work”-with different people assigned to prepare our standard favourites, designations to set up and take down and others to bring disposable plates and take out the garbage.

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There is always turkey, ham AND meatballs, potatoes made with and without cream cheese and a couple of casseroles of green bean bake.

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Over the years there have been many food “hits”, this year I may humbly put forward that my adaption of middle eastern sweet potatoes might have taken the most accolades.  The recipe is adapted from my new favourite cookbook:

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Roasted Sweet Potatoes with Figs
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Middle Eastern
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 4
 
Unfortunately fresh figs are out of season in October in central Canada so improvising was in order.
Ingredients
  • 4 sweet potatoes
  • olive oil
  • 3 T balsamic vinegar
  • 1½ T honey
  • 12 green onions, cut into ribbons
  • 1 red pepper, thinly sliced
  • 6 figs, cut into quarters
  • 5 oz. crumbed chevre (mine was rolled in berries)
  • ½ c pomegranate jewels
  • S&P
Instructions
  1. Wash & cut potatoes into uniform wedges.
  2. Place them, skin side down on a heavy, greased baking sheet.
  3. Drizzle more oil and salt and pepper over all.
  4. Roast for approx. 25 minutes at 475 degrees until soft but not mushy.
  5. Place balsamic vinegar and honey together in a small sauce pan.
  6. Bring to a boil and then decrease heat and simmer 2 to 4 minutes.
  7. Sauté onions and pepper in oil for 4 to 5 minutes.
  8. Assemble potatoes on platter, top with all ingredients, leaving the pomegranate for last and then drizzle with balsamic reduction.
  9. Can be served hot or at room temperature.

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The piece de resistance was Sister #3’s pumpkin pie.  Creamy and bursting with spices, she may make me a pumpkin pie lover after all these years.

Kath’s quote: “The king and high priest of all the festivals was the autumn Thanksgiving. When the apples were all gathered and the cider was all made, and the yellow pumpkins were rolled in from many a hill in billows of gold, and the corn was husked, and the labors of the season were done, and the warm, late days of Indian Summer came in, dreamy, and calm, and still, with just enough frost to crisp the ground of a morning, but with warm traces of benignant, sunny hours at noon, there came over the community a sort of genial repose of spirit – a sense of something accomplished.”-Harriet Beecher Stowe

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Love-that is all.

posted under Entrees, Food Celebrations | No Comments »

The Frenchman’s Home

July15

Have you watched any of the “Focker” movies?  When the in-laws of an engaged couple, come together for the sake of their children, it is the pretense for hilarity to ensue.

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Perhaps we are not as eccentric as the families in the movies, because our experience has been one of quiet chats and the opportunity to gaze into the inner workings of a loving family.  This past weekend I traveled with Reb and Seb to his hometown of Peterborough, ON.  We arrived early enough on Thursday for a light lunch and the Frenchman’s Mom began a weekend of loving us with food.

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If any dish embodies a Mom’s love of her family, it is risotto-a dish that I will be frank and tell you that I have never had the patience to make for my own family.  The Frenchman’s Mom on the other hand, is more than willing to spend a half hour or more, committed to the constant stirring and ladling that is required to perfect this dish.

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Every family members gets into the “act” of getting dinner on the big antique dining table.  More chairs are always welcome.

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The pea and basil risotto was accompanied by savoury chicken breasts and asparagus spears.

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Print
Pea and Basil Risotto
Author: 
Recipe type: Main
Cuisine: Italian
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 6-8
 
A classic made with love and patience.
Ingredients
  • 2 heaping T butter, separated
  • 1 T canola oil
  • 2 c Arborio rice
  • 8 c chicken or vegetable stock, heated and ready with a ladle
  • salt to taste
  • ½-3/4 c freshly grated parmesan (Romano)
  • 1 c fresh/thawed peas or other vegetable
  • ½ c fresh leafy herb such as basil
Instructions
  1. Melt 1 T butter and canola oil together.
  2. Turn up the heat add the rice and stir constantly for one minute until it begins to brown.
  3. Add first ladle of hot stock.
  4. Turn the heat down to a simmer.
  5. Keep stirring the rice as the first ladleful is absorbed.
  6. Continue to add the stock in this way until it is all used (will take between 15 -25 minutes).
  7. Taste the rice for doneness and salt-add time if necessary and adjust taste.
  8. When rice is cooked to your likeness, remove from heat and stir in butter and grated parmesan.
  9. Stir in peas or other veg.
  10. Stir in basil or other herb.
  11. Garnish and serve immediately.

 

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After dinner we were going to take a stroll and then find an ice cream place until the Frenchman’s Mom volunteered to make the ice cream herself.  It utilized fresh strawberries and then she made her own chocolate sauce to ladle over top for an extra helping of love.

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A full moon watched over us.

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The next morning she was at it again with homemade waffles, bacon and scrambled eggs.

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Later that evening, the family was hosting an engagement party for the happy couple.  Their spacious kitchen meant that when it was time to get dinner on the table, there was lots of room to maneuver.

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Mother of the groom and yours truly.  In-laws that love to cook together.  This marriage will definitely not fail.

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The Frenchman’s Mom made the Quinoa salad

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and I assembled this spinach, strawberry, almond and feta salad.

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She stuffed this pork roast with delicious results.

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My favourite was the chicken roasted in a tajine (I can’t wait to get one).  This clay casserole has a chimney-like cover which produces a chicken which is moist and tender.  They supposedly do a great job with lamb too.

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Love-on a plate.

Speaking of love-dessert was an amazingly refreshing and light lemon filled cake.  As pieces were being distributed to all the guests, we shared marriage and relationship tips with the bride and groom to be.

Kath’s quote: “Cooking is an art and patience a virtue… Careful shopping, fresh ingredients and an unhurried approach are nearly all you need. There is one more thing – love. Love for food and love for those you invite to your table. With a combination of these things you can be an artist – not perhaps in the representational style of a Dutch Master, but rather more like Gauguin, the naïve, or Van Gogh, the impressionist. Plates or pictures of sunshine taste of happiness and love.”-Keith Floyd

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Love-that s all.

 

 

posted under Food Celebrations, Heart Smart Cooking | No Comments »
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