Once a month D, Sister #3 and I host an evening at our house where the Moms and Dads of babies, toddlers and young kids get to have a break and spend the evening with adults. They often look a bit harried as they arrive at our place with kids in tow. The number of kids range from two to four per family and when we have a full house there are ten adults and fourteen kids. We hustle the small fry into the dining room and we put down a quick supper. I say quick because the kids are always raring to get downstairs for a play with their buddies. In the mean time the adults fix a plate and head to the living room and tuck in at a more leisurely pace.
I try my best to fix a meal which will be pleasing to both children and adults and sometimes one group takes precedent over the other. But tonight I think that I may have a winner: Texan Pulled Pork with broccoli & kale slaw, ciabatta buns and one bite brownies for dessert.
I posted this picture on Instagram and have had a couple of requests for the recipe so here goes:
Even though D and I are empty-nesters, I still remember a time when this last week of summer holidays was so stressful. Not only were we running around purchasing jeans, sneakers and ballet tights, but I was dreading lunch making, let alone nutritious dinners. I would have loved a guide like the one the Wal-Mart has put out. The link is here.
Earlier this week, I had the pleasure of shopping, prepping and food styling for Katie the editor of Living Well magazine and the spokesperson for Wal-Mart when she touched-down in Winnipeg for appearances at both Global and CTV.
In both of these cases lunch and dinner can be prepped at the same time: deconstructed nachos & baked enchiladas and bacon salad & bacon & tomato wraps.
With the third recipe you get three meals-Hawaiian pizza, lunch kebabs and pineapple & granola yoghurt. There are even more recipes at the link above.
I truly wish that time did not march by so quickly. Next week the Wee One starts nursery school!
Kath’s quote: “Fussing over food was important. It gave a shape to the day: breakfast, lunch, dinner; beginning, middle, end.” ― Robert Hellenga
Each year at approximately the same time, we join good friends from Toronto at the lake house that they retain at Willard lake. Designating a theme for each weekend we are together, happened quite by accident but has been one of the highlights of our time together. We were lucky this time as BIL David had gifted me with a real kimono when he traveled around the world a number of years back. D was able to find a judo uniform at Value Village so we were all set.
Saki Mojito Cocktails were served as we were perched on the floor.
This was after the entrance of another guest (check out the beard!)
We were assigned to the appetizer and dessert and D had done a dry run the weekend before so we would have a sense of timing and recipe difficulty. The recipe for Korean shrimp and green onion pancakes was suggested by Sister #3 who had a Korean student live with her for a year (recipe below).
Dinner stretched into the evening with prepping together and visiting our host as he barbequed double-boned pork chops that had been marinating all day.
We served a whole pancake to each person which was really too much for an appetizer portion. We intend to have them again for dinner this week.
Ingredients
Pancakes:
2 eggs
1½ c cold water
½ t salt
½ t gochu garu (Korean red pepper powder-we found it an Asian specialty market). If you are unsuccessful you can substitute a ⅛ t cayenne pepper or a quick glug of sirachi sauce.
¼ t pepper
1½ c flour'1/2 lb. uncooked shrimp, peeked deveined, cut into ⅓ in pieces
1 medium onion, halved, very thinly sliced
8 green onions cut into 3-4 inch matchstick size strips
1 carrot, peeled and cut as green onions
Sauce:
½ c soy sauce
2 T water
2 T fresh lemon juice
2 t sesame oil
1 t gohu garu
Pan preparation:
4 T canola oil
Instructions
Pancakes:
Whisk eggs in medium bowl to blend. Whisk in 1½ c cold water, ½ t salt, gochu garu and pepper.
Add flour and whisk until smooth.
Mix in shrimp all onions and carrot.
Let batter stand 1 hour at room temperature.
Sauce:
Mix all sauce ingredients and divide into small dipping bowls.
Heat 1 T of oil into each 10" non-stick skillet that you have.
Add 1 c pancake batter to each, spreading to the edge of the skillet.
Cook until edges are firm and bottom is golden brown about 4 mins.
Using a couple of spatulas or egg lifters, turn pancakes over.
Cook until second side is golden brown and shrimp is cooked through, about 4 mins. more (centre will still be soft).
Cook until underside is deep brown, approximately 1 min. more per side.
Slide pancakes onto a cutting board.
Repeat with remaining oil and batter, forming to more pancakes.
Cut pancakes into wedges.
Serve warm or at room temperature with dipping sauce.
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The pancakes were a novelty and a big hit.
Next up was a simple salad of cellophane noodles and slivers or cucumber.
Our entree was the hearty pork chops, caramelized onions and roasted sweet potato halves.
We let ourselves rest a bit before we were in the kitchen again on dessert duty, preparing a Vietnamese dessert of battered and fried bananas with a sweet coconut milk dipping sauce and a sprinkling of sesame seeds.
The evening and rest of the weekend was picture perfect. We recounted our joys and sorrows of the year since we had last been together. Then we toasted the time together, the time past and the time ahead.
Kath’s quote: “They talked in the shorthand of old friends and shared memories.”
― Dee Henderson, Before I Wake
As we opened fortune cookies over the weekend, they were taped to these antlers to be a permanent record of our time together.
Pollo al Mattone is a method for grilling chicken under a brick to keep it juicy and crisp. Both the Tuscans and the Romans claim to have invented the method. The weight of the brick presses the meat into the grill for faster, more even cooking. It also works as a cover for the meat, keeping it moist. In Italy, pollo al mattone is often cooked over a wood fire.
fresh herbs like basil, oregano, flat-leafed parsley, to taste
4 garlic cloves, smashed
salt and pepper
Instructions
wash & dry two bricks
wrap bricks in aluminum foil
using a butcher's knife or large kitchen shears, cut the chicken along one side of the backbone
remove the back bone entirely if desired (we left intact)
open the chicken and lay it flat like a book
lift the skin away for the flesh or make small cuts on breast & thighs
push the garlic and fresh herbs under the skin to look like photo above
liberally salt & pepper chicken
preheat barbeque to approx. medium
heat the bricks in a closed barbeque
place chicken skin side down onto grill
using hand protection, place hot bricks over chicken covering as much surface as possible
close lid and let chicken cook 22 -25 minutes without disturbing
remove bricks
using hand protection, grab legs and flip the chicken so the skin side is up
place the bricks on top again
close lid
cook again for 12-15 minutes without disturbing until exposed skin is starting to brown
repeat above action and flip one last time
cook another 5-10 minutes until skin is starting to crisp and internal thigh temperature is 175 degrees
transfer chicken to platter and let rest 10 minutes before serving
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I enjoyed this dish twice in one week. The first was the evening of my Mom’s Celebration of Life. I had driven back out to the lake from the city. Girlfriends of 35 years were staying with me that week. Nance handed me a glass of wine and Mary pulled the chicken off the grill to sit. What would I do without my friends?
Later that same week with Beep, Boo and the Frenchman joining us on the weekend, D tried his hand at the same recipe.
We had assembled in the gazebo as it looked as if it might rain. When the sky darkened we had to light candles to illuminate our meal. We didn’t mind a bit.
This was the finished product: chicken and ribs, new potatoes, squash and zucchini. Delicious food, cozy spot, good wine and family. Life is good.
Kath’s quote: “You know when you come across one of those empty shell people, and you think “What the hell happened to you?” Well there came a time in each one of those lives where they are standing at a crossroads… someplace where they had to decide whether to turn left or right. This is no time to be a chicken-shit, Frances“. -Frances Mayes, Under the Tuscan Sun
Veg -centric dishes are often my choice when we dine at Winnipeg’s trendiest restaurants-Pizzeria Gusto, The Merchant Kitchen, Deer + Almond, Segovia and Enoteca. These are dishes that focus on flavour. Being meatless is secondary. Proteins are still included, but they’re more of a flavour enhancer. We spotted many such dishes on Scott Bagshaw’s Enoteca menu and finally decided upon the Roasted Cauliflower utilizing “cave aged” gruyere to intensify the taste. Panade added moisture, rough cut almonds provided crunch, orange segments the acidity and capers the saltiness.
We’ve included more veg-centric dishes in our own repertoire at home so recently when Carly Peters the editor of Local Fare Magazine (published on behalf of the Manitoba Restaurant Association) contacted me to see if I had any cauliflower recipes in my repertoire, the answer was an immediate “yes”.
Our son and his wife (known as J1 and J2 in this space), were the first to introduce us to Buffalo Florets. We were all up at the beach house and they were on dinner duty. They served roasted cauliflower that had been tossed in Frank’s Hot Sauce and then roasted again, as an appetizer course. Loving Buffalo wings but not the calories and fat, we got a kick out of this alternate. When Carly and her photographer arrived to photograph this dish, I had prepared carrots and celery sticks to dip into blue cheese dressing to offset the fieriness of the hot sauce.
Curried Cauliflower is a take off on one of our families’ favourite casseroles-The Best of Bridge’s Classy Chicken. A mixture of mayonnaise, lemon juice, cheese and curry powder smothers a crown of cauliflower and then buttered panko flakes add some crunch.
Cauliflower Steaks were reminiscent of a classic Sicilian dish that we enjoyed while visiting friends in Castellammare del Golfo, near Palermo.
These recipes will be published in an upcoming edition, but if you would like a sneak peak at them, leave a comment here.
Kath’s quote: “Cauliflower is nothing but a cabbage with a college education.”-Mark Twain