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.
A week ago Monday my brother-in-law helped us out when we catered the Christmas volunteer dinner for one of our cherished local charities. On that evening we all enjoyed our fill of turkey with all the trimmings and then we sent all our family who helped us with the dinner, home with left overs. We put our own left overs in the freezer so that we cold serve another special Christmas dinner to our “Young Families” group that we host at our home once a month. On Saturday we were on the way out to our little beach house because the weather was so balmy. We asked my brother-in-law and Sister #2 over to share the left overs of our leftovers.
Sister #2 suggested that we switch things up in a couple of ways: we go to their place instead – we affectionately have dubbed their place “Reshmajal” as it will be absolutely splendid when construction is complete. In the meanwhile their “unfinished” abode is far more splendid than ours. “Splendid” when compared to bare-bones simplicity means that the furnace was temperature programmed as opposed to us needing to continuously stoke the fire in our wood-stove and we got to use one of the two inside bathrooms instead of our outdoor biffy (even on a warm weekend that toilet seat was mighty chilly!)
In addition, she asked permission to repurpose the turkey into a long-loved family recipe: turkey croquettes. Sister #2 was lovingly instructed how to fashion this recipe by her Mother-in-law who was Italian and married to a gentleman (still ticking and over 90) of German descent. When I asked them both where the recipe originated, neither could say for sure but suspected that it was through the German influence. Wikipedia suggests though that the origin of croquettes is actually French.
As is often the case with family recipes passed along through generations, it is less of a “recipe” than a process or method. So, here’s what you do: take leftover turkey (or ham) and cut super finely to a minced texture. Prepare a thick béchamel sauce of butter, white flour (this took some effort as neither Sister #2 or I keep white flour in the house) and milk. Mix the béchamel paste with the turkey and then form the mixture into sausage-like tubes. Next the sausages are dipped into an egg wash and rolled in bread crumbs. Lastly, they are fried in olive until crispy and golden brown.
I love the recipes of generations past as they ensure that no food is ever wasted, a concern that I maintain on a daily basis. Besides, the results are so delicious! On Sunday evening we took a batch of Hamburger Soup and cheese buns over to Beep’s to share as a family, but the piece de resistance was the leftover turkey croquettes.
Kath’s quote: “Rational habits permit of discarding nothing left over, and the use to which leftovers (and their economic allies, the wild things of nature) are put is often at the heart of a cooking’s character.”-Richard Olney
I had the good fortune to travel to the Spanish island of Majorca many, many years ago. I still remember the people and the beaches. The clearest memory was of the seafood. We had been travelling through Europe that spring and had arrived back in England where we still had another week of vacation before we flew home. The time was May and although it had been warm and pleasant in Greece and Italy, Britain was suffering through a late and miserable spring. Instead of enduring the rain and gloomy skies, we decided to see if we could find an affordable warm spot to spent the dwindling days of our vacation. We went back to the travel agency that had booked our original tour and trusted them to point us in the right direction. Our spending money had dwindled as well and upon arrival, we decided that we would find a market and stock up on fruit, cheese and lunch fixings and only dine out once a day. On our second day we longingly watched people stream into the dining room and inquired about lunch details. Lo and behold, we were booked into an all-inclusive without even knowing it and were missing out on our three meals per day! That lunchtime, we were served a cold whole lobster salad and from that moment on, the seafood meals came in a continuous stream.
Friends for 40 years
The same friend that I traveled with that spring. now lives in Toronto and she told me about a paella party that she and her husband had attended. Supposedly a huge paella caldron was set up in the yard of their friends and they got to watch and participate in the preparation of this famous dish. It has been years since I’ve enjoyed paella in Winnipeg but understand that both Hermano’s and Bonfire Bistro include it on their menus.
This past weekend, we dined at the home of good, good friends. She is Italian and an amazing cook. I know that we would have loved anything that they put in front of us. To our delight, it was their favourite paella recipe. She showed me the Anne Lindsay Heartsmart cookbook that her recipe came from but unfortunately it was not one that I had in my Anne Lindsay collection. I have had the pleasure of meeting and being cooked for by Anne, a very long time ago (about the same time as this European adventure) and I remember the time (and the food) fondly.
I searched on line to try to find the recipe and could not come up with anything. I found instead this one that looks to be pretty close. It is from the Epicurious website and is credited to Claudia Roden-The Food of Spain.
2 garlic cloves, crushed to a paste or finely chopped
2 tomatoes, peeled and chopped
½ t sugar
salt
1 t sweet paprika
a good pinch saffron threads
4 cleaned small squid, bodies sliced into ¼-inch-wide rings, tentacles left whole
2 c medium-grain Spanish paella rice or risotto rice, such as Arborio or Carnaroli
3 c fish or chicken stock, plus more if needed
1 c dry white wine
12 jumbo shrimp in their shells
16 mussels, scrubbed and debearded
Instructions
Fry the onion in the oil in a 16-inch paella pan until soft, stirring often.
Stir in the garlic, and before it begins to colour, add the tomatoes.
Add the sugar, salt to taste, paprika and saffron, stir well, and cook until the tomatoes are reduced to a jammy sauce and the oil is sizzling.
Add the squid and cook, stirring, for a minute or so.
Add the rice and stir well until all the grains are coated.
(You can prepare the dish to this point up to an hour in advance).
Bring the stock and wine to a boil in a saucepan.
Pour over the rice, bring to a boil, and add salt to taste (even if the broth tastes a bit salty, it will not be salty when it is absorbed by the rice).
Stir well and spread the rice out evenly in the pan (do not stir again),
Cook the rice over low heat for 18 to 20 minutes, moving the pan around and rotating it so that the rice cooks evenly.
Lay the shrimp on top after 10 minutes and turn them when they have become pink on the first side.
Add a little more hot stock toward the end if the rice seems too dry and you hear crackling frying noises before it is done.
When the rice is done, turn off the heat and cover the pan with a large piece of foil.
Steam the mussels with a finger of water in a pan with a tight-fitting lid. As soon as they are open, they are cooked.
Throw away any that have not opened.
Arrange the mussels on top of the paella.
3.2.2802
Toni’s version did not include squid but did include Italian sausage, chicken and clams.
Kath’s quote: “Do not overcook this dish. Most seafoods…should be simply threatened with heat and then celebrated with joy.” –Jeff Smith
My husband and I just recently became empty-nesters. With this new season of our lives, I am taking a fresh look at our traditional family meals. French Fries have long been a part of my repertoire but I have come up against resistance in adorning them with anything more than salt and ketchup. Now that it is just the two of us, I have allowed myself to view julienned potatoes in a whole new light. This recipe is a spin on a Middle Eastern dish which originally called for roasted sweet potatoes and fresh figs.
I love using staples already in my cupboard and freezer and this modifrycation invites the shoestring potatoes to cradle sweet slivers of figs, sautéed green onions, red peppers and creamy chevre.
Middle Eastern Superfries
650 grams of McCain Shoestring Superfies
1 T canola oil
10 green onions cut into 1 ½ inch pieces
½ red pepper cut into thin strips
10 dried figs cut into strips
5 oz chevre cheese
Sea salt
Prepare McCain Shoestring Superfries according to package directions.
While these are baking, prepare the topping.
Heat canola oil in a medium saucepan over high heat and add green onions and red pepper slivers.
Sauté for a couple of minutes until wilted.
Spoon veggies over the fries which should now be out of the oven.
Dot with the fig strips and then spoonfuls of the chevre.
Sprinkle with freshly ground sea salt to your liking.
These make a great side dish if entertaining or a light dinner for my husband and I. Although the kids might have rejected the complex and robust flavours, this is precisely how we love to eat.
Mealtime is made better by the Superfries® everyone loves! Made from specially selected potatoes, canola oil and sea salt, Superfries® transforms any meal by adding an element of fun. Enjoy McCain® Superfries® on their own or as a substitute to your favourite side dish. Spice things up tonight and try our Black Pepper and Lime MODIFRY™! Check out www.mccain.ca for recipe ideas!
Disclosure: This post was brought to you by McCain Foods Canada via Mode Media Canada Inc. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of McCain Foods Canada.
I was first introduced to Frank’s Hot Sauce years ago when it was the hot sauce of choice used by The Keg (dubbed The Keg ‘n Cleaver in those days) on their Buffalo Chicken Wings. Since that time, we often grab it from the door of the fridge to add some extra “oomph” to a chili or jambalaya. One of my favourite dishes is J1 and J2’s low cal variation of cauliflower tossed in hot sauce that caramelizes when broiled-yum.
If you are interested in spicing things up in your kitchen in ways you never dreamed possible, you need to get yourself a copy of this recipe book. There are 65 imaginative recipes that turn up the heat with Frank’s: Honeyed Beer-Hot Sauce Ice Cream (J1-did you hear that?), Cinnamon Cayenne Buns, Smoky Hot Bacon Mac and Cheese and Tangy Pineapple Pulled Pork. The illustrations in the book are mouth-watering and best of all the font is big enough for me to see without my reading glasses!
I made up a batch of the Spiced Party Mix with excellent results. The recipes are well-tested and produce predictable results.
Kath’s quote: “I mixed business with pleasure, added some hot sauce, and ate it.”-unknown
