Coconut Rice

Last summer I had coconut rice for the first time while having lunch in Jasper with my Uncle & his family.  I had this amazing Thai dish that consisted of coconut rice topped with chicken and stir fried veggies with a sweet chilli sauce.   This rice tastes exactly like the rice in that dish!  It not only makes a great base for stir fry, it would also be great as a side dish.  I can't wait to try this paired with creamy curried chicken! 
Ingredients - 2 cups basmati rice - 1 can lite coconut milk (I like Thai Kitchen the best) - 1 1/4 cup water - dash of sea salt - 1-2 green onions, finely chopped Directions Place rice in a mesh strainer and since under lukewarm water.  This will help to remove any access starch so that the cooked rice doesn't become sticky.  In a medium saucepan combine rinsed rice, coconut milk, water, and a dash of sea salt.   Bring to a boil over medium high heat.  Once boiling, cover and reduce heat; cook rice for 15-20 minutes until all of the moisture has been absorbed.  Fluff rice with a fork and sprinkle with green onions. 
Enjoy!

French Onion Grilled Cheese

If you're craving a delicious bowl of homemade french onion soup, you're going to want to make this recipe.  If you're looking for a fun, creative spin on the classic dish, you've come to the right place!  Ingredients - 8 slices of french bread - 1 medium sweet onion, sliced into thin rings - 2-3 tbsp olive oil or butter,  - 3/4 cup mozzarella - 1/4 cup greyer - 2 tbsp beef broth - 1/8 tsp worcester sauce  - 1 tsp cooking sherry (optional) - salt & pepper to taste Directions Slice french bread and butter or oil the bottom side of each piece.  Saute onions in remaining butter or oil until lightly translucent.  Add beef broth, worcester sauce, cooking sherry, and salt and pepper.  Cook down until little moisture remains.  Assemble the sandwich in this order: light sprinkle of cheese, onions, cheese (this helps keep the bread in the middle from getting soggy).  Pre-heat a large frying pan over medium heat.  Cook the sandwiches 2-3 minutes per side, until lightly golden brown.  Serve with au jus or french onion soup for dipping! 
Enjoy!

Macaroni & Cheese

This recipe appeared in the November 1st edition of The Hinton Voice. 

[One of the great things about Hinton is the ever-changing seasons.  Though the calendar still tells us it’s fall, the fresh blanket of snow that covered our town last week suggests otherwise.   Needless to say, the chill in the air has got me craving comfort foods – and nothing says comfort food better than a steaming, creamy bowl of homemade macaroni and cheese.  A classic favorite for kids and adults alike (does anyone know anybody who doesn’t love macaroni and cheese?) this simple dish is always a crowd pleaser.

The key is to start with a good old-fashioned cream sauce.  Butter is melted in a saucepan, and then flour is stirred into it to make a paste (which is called a roux).  After the flour has cooked a few minutes, milk is whisked in.  The starch from the cooked flour expands in the milk, creating a creamy, thick sauce.  The starch binds the sauce together, ensuring that when the cheese is stirred in, the sauce remains smooth rather than stringy.

Another important step is to add a nice sharp cheddar.  I find that aged white cheddar gives the smoothest, cheesiest sauce.  Past experiences have taught me that yellow or processed cheddars  (or an accidental splash of water into the sauce) can give the sauce a grainy texture.

If you’re craving something fancier than the basics, throw in your favorite vegetable (we like broccoli) or if you’re craving something extra decadent, crab or lobster makes a wonderful addition.

So there you have it - a great classic dish that can be casual or fancy. Besides, there’s nothing more comforting on a chilly day than a hearty helping of good old macaroni and cheese.]

Ingredients

-        ½ lb (8 oz) dry macaroni (or your favorite pasta)

-        3 tbsp butter

-        4 tbsp all-purpose flour

-        2 ½ cups milk

-        1/2 tsp salt

-        1/8 tsp nutmeg

-        1/8 tsp black pepper

-        dash of cayenne pepper (optional)

-        1.5 cups (6 oz) grated sharp white cheddar (6 ounces)

-        ¾ cup (3 oz) grated gruyere or parmesan cheese

Topping:

-        ½ cup panko bread crumbs

-        1 ½ tbsp butter, melted

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Cook pasta as per package directions for al dente (firm) pasta.  Strain and rinse pasta with cold water to stop the cooking process and to remove any extra starch. While extra starch might sound like a good idea to thicken the sauce, in this case it can change the texture of the sauce. Strain noodles well and place them in a casserole dish.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan set to medium heat.  Add flour to form a roux and cook for about a minute or so.  Stir in spices. Whisk in milk and stir until well blended.  Simmer for 2-3 minutes until sauce has thickened.

Stir in cheese, and then pour cheese sauce over noodles.  Combine topping ingredients and sprinkle on top.

Cook in preheated oven for 30 minutes, until sauce is bubbling and the breadcrumbs have lightly browned.

Recipes makes 6 servings.

Enjoy!

- Nutritional Info (1/6 recipe) -

Calories - 467   Fat - 20   Carbs – 41     Protein - 21   Fiber – 2

Lobster Corn Chowder w/ Candied Salmon

This week I was picking up a few things at the grocery store and I saw some pre-cooked lobsters on sale (likely leftovers from a Father's Day special).  I don't usually buy lobster (it's so darn expensive here!) - but it was a price I just couldn't pass up.  Partially due to my inexperience with this type of shellfish, as well as my lack of proper tools (I used a nutcracker) getting the meat out of this guy was a challenge, but it was well worth the effort! 

I ended up adding the candied salmon to the soup as an afterthought.  Marc doesn't eat pork and sometimes I miss the smokiness that bacon can add to a dish.  The candied salmon was a nice addition to an already flavourful soup. 

If you're not a fan of seafood, omit the meat entirely for an awesome corn chowder!

Ingredients - 2 tbsp butter - 4 shallots, minced - 1 clove garlic, minced - 2 medium potatoes, diced - 2 ears of corn - 1 lobster, meat only - 1/2 cup candied salmon, chopped - 1/8 tsp basil  - sea salt, to taste - pepper, to taste - 1 L broth (I used chicken because that's all I had) - 1 cup half and half Directions Pre-heat a large saucepan over medium heat.  Melt butter and sauté shallots and garlic until half cooked.  Add diced vegetables and spices and continuing sautéing until veggies are slightly translucent. Add broth and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are cooked through.  Add half and half and bring back to a boil.  Toss in lobster and candied salmon and cook until heated through. 
Enjoy!

Coconut Shrimp w/ Sweet & Spicy Dipping Sauce

This marks my fourth recipe featured in the Hinton Voice.  I am really excited to share this recipe with you all - and I can't wait to make it for the seafood lovers in my life! 

[It was while dining in Jasper last summer that I first fell in love with coconut shrimp.  As a huge fan of coconut, I’ve always been intrigued whenever I see it on a menu, but never quite adventurous enough to try it.  For some reason I had it in my head that coconut shrimp would be overwhelmingly sweet, but that is not the case at all.  The buttery breadcrumbs paired with the delicate sweetness of the coconut and juicy shrimp creates a flavor combination like no other.

I knew immediately after trying this dish (and paying a ridiculous amount of money for it) that I would have to try re-creating at home… am I ever glad I did!  At less than $2 per serving, this recipe works out to be a mere fraction of what you pay in a restaurant or even in the frozen section of your grocery store. 

I was surprised at how easy it was to make from start to finish – and other than the shrimp, I already had all of the ingredients at home.  I used a basic chicken finger recipe substituting coconut in place of ½ the breadcrumbs.  I found that panko (a coarse, Japanese style breadcrumb) works best for this recipe.] 

Ingredients

- 12 raw shrimp, deveined (I used 30-41/lb)

- 1/4 cup panko

- 1/4 cup coconut, unsweetened

- 2 tbsp all purpose flour

- 1 egg, whisked

- 2 tbsp butter

- 2 tbsp olive oil

Dipping Sauce

- ½ cup apricot jam

- 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar

- 1/2 - 3/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes

Directions

Combine ingredients for dipping sauce and set aside.

Get three small bowls and line then up in a row.  Place flour in the first bowl, egg in the second bowl, and panko and coconut in the third bowl.

Peel the shrimp leaving the tail intact. This is surprisingly simple to do - I found it easier to lightly squeeze the base of the tail with one hand, while peeling the rest of the shrimp with the other.  This helps keep the tail securely in place.

Dip the shrimp in the flour, then in the egg, and then finally into the panko/coconut mixture.  Dipping the shrimp in flour first better enables the batter to stick to the shrimp.

Pre-heat a frying pan over medium heat – melt 1 tbsp butter and then add 1 tbsp olive oil.  Once the butter and oil is heated, place half the shrimp in the pan and cook 2-3 minutes on each side, until lightly golden brown.  It is important not place too many shrimp in the pan so you don’t overcrowd it – this will help ensure that all of the pieces cook evenly. 

Place cooked shrimp on a plate lined with paper-towel.  Take an additional piece of paper towel and wipe out your pan and start with fresh butter and oil.   Repeat this process until all of your shrimp are cooked.

Tip:  to save on calories and fat try baking the shrimp instead of frying.  Simply place shrimp on a lightly greased baking sheet and cook in a pre-heated 425-degree oven for 10-12 minutes (be sure to flip shrimp over halfway through).

Enjoy!

- Nutritional Info (6 shrimp - baked) -

Calories - 225  Fat - 12    Carbs – 17     Protein - 16   Fibre – 3

- Nutritional Info (6 shrimp - fried) -

Calories - 345  Fat - 26    Carbs - 17     Protein - 16   Fibre – 3

- Nutritional Info (1 tbsp sauce) -

Calories - 44  Fat - 0    Carbs - 12     Protein - 0   Fibre – 0

Guest Post: Sofia's Family Ravioli Recipe

This week we have a great guest poster!  Sofia, an old friend of mine (and extremely talented photographer) recently posted the above photo on her Facebook page. Since Ravioli is something I have always wanted to try making (and because it looks so delicious!) I knew immediately that I would have to ask her to post the recipe for you all.  Thankfully she agreed, so here it is: 

Hi guys! 

So Jacqueline, the very talented cook has asked me to write about my family's homemade ravioli recipe.  Please forgive me as I don't write recipes for a living but here is my best attempt at it!  Good luck! 

Ingredients
- 1 cup semolina flour
- 1 cup O type flour
- 2 eggs
- 2 dashes of salt
- 1 tsp olive oil (the good stuff)


Directions

Mix flours together in a bowl.  place half the mixture in a pile on a cutting board on your counter.  Make a well in the middle of the pile of flour and crack one egg into the well.  Add a dash of salt to the egg as well as half a tsp of olive oil.  Stir this mixture in the middle of the well with a fork slowly incorporating more and more flour.  You want to almost neat the eggs in the middle of the flour mixture before you start adding more flour from the edges.  Keep doing this till you have a nice consistency with the dough.  Repeat with the rest of the flour mixture and the other egg. 

Next you want to knead your dough for about 15 minutes. Great pasta requires love.

Rest dough which has been perfectly kneaded into a ball in the fridge. The dough needs to rest before you stretch it.

Our family uses a pasta machine to then stretch the dough out and then make raviolis. You can find a great pasta machine at any local Italian market. There is a great one near downtown Edmonton if you live near there. If you don’t have one then a rolling pin will do. You will have to keep an eye on the dough to have an even thickness at every end.

Stuffing the raviolis is quite easy. You line up little balls of your mixture and brush an egg yolk wash around the edges so that when you put a layer of dough on top it will stick together. Make sure your pockets of ravioli have NO openings because if you do, you’ll end up with fillings in your boiling water instead of in your raviolis.

Boil the raviolis. Toss in your favorite tomato or cheese sauce, in our family we roast our own tomato sauce which is SO worth it to do. We will leave that recipe for maybe another guest post! ;)

My family tips:

*The type of flour you use will help. Semolina is coarse so mixing it with a finer one makes a great combination. The type O or OO flour is great for pasta and pizza dough, this is our favorite flour to use with the semolina.

*Always mix the salt with the flour, if you mix it into the flour mixture you will not get even distribution. No one likes just one piece of super salty pasta… if you get my drift…

*Fillings – Ravioli is a GREAT way to get rid of left overs. We change up our fillings almost every time we make this. If we have leftover sautéed mushrooms from dinner last night, then mushrooms and some mascarpone and parmesan will be the filling the next night. We’ve done everything from left over crab to roasted acorn squash (Try that one with pine nuts… holy good)

*Always do equal parts flour to eggs for this recipe.

Enjoy!

Sofia Larocque.

Creamy Potato Soup

Ingredients
- 4 medium potatoes
- 1 medium carrot
- 1/2 small onion
- 1 tbsp butter
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 2 cups chicken broth
- 3 cups milk
- 1/2 cup frozen corn

Garnish (optional)
- sprinkle of cheddar cheese
- dollop of sour cream or greek yogurt
- green onion, chopped

Directions

Wash vegetables and peel (if desired).  Chop potatoes and carrot into bite size pieces and dice onion. 

Pre-heat a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add butter and olive oil.  Once butter has melted, add chopped vegetables.  Cook until potatoes and carrots are cooked about half through, approx. 15 minutes.

Add broth and bring to a boil.  Cook over medium until potatoes and carrots are tender, about 20 minutes. 

Add milk and bring back to a boil.  Add corn and simmer until soup thickens, about 15 minutes.

Add garnish (optional).

Enjoy!

Chicken Vegetable Soup

There have been plenty of colds going around our house lately so this soup has been a staple.  It takes a bit of time to make, but is well worth the effort!  This is another original recipe from my wonderful husband.  :) 

Side note: If you're not a hater of celery like myself,  I hear that a stalk or two, chopped and mixed in with the other vegetables, is quite a tasty addition to this recipe. ;) 

Ingredients

- Whole chicken

- 4 L of organic chicken broth
- 3-4 bay leafs
- 1 tbsp basil, + 1 pinch

- pepper, to taste

- 2 large onions

- 2-3 medium carrots 

- 4 medium potatoes

- 1 medium sweet potato

- 1 medium turnip

- 3-5 cloves garlic
- 2 cups fresh or frozen corn

Directions

Broth 

Clean and rinse chicken.  Poke holes in chicken with a small utility knife (this helps cook it faster, and allows for the juices to flow through). 

Put chicken in big stock pot, fill it with water, about 2-3 inches above the chicken.

Throw 2-3 bay leafs in the water with a pinch of basil, boil on high. 

Boil the water until water level reduces to the top of the chicken.  When it reaches that level, lower the heat to medium high and cover. Baste the chicken as the water level goes down. 

Prep

Peel, cut, and dice your vegetables (potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, onions, carrots), set aside in a big bowl).

Crush garlic, and add into the bowl of prepped vegetables. 

When the water has boiled down to less than half of the height of the chicken, remove the chicken from pot and place in a strainer within a bowl and let the chicken drain and cool enough to handle. 

Add chicken broth to the boiling base, get back to boiling temperature, and add chopped vegetables, corn, and 1 TBSP of Basil and pepper to taste. 

Now here's the fun part. Gently separate skin from chicken and discard.  Peel as much meat from the chicken as you can, removing bones, etc.  Put meat only back into the pot with the vegetables.  

Once the soup is back to a good boil, reduce the heat to medium/high until the vegetables are tender, soup has thickened, and the flavours have blended (up to an hour). 

Once the soup is ready it can be served immediately or it can be simmered on low. The longer it is simmered the more the flavours come alive.

Enjoy!

Carrot Soup

This is a great soup for fall.  It's has a rich, velvety texture you will be sure to enjoy.

Ingredients
- 1 tsp butter
- 1 tsp olive oil
- 4 large carrots, peeled and cut into disks
- 1 medium potato, peeled & diced
- 1/2 small sweet onion, minced
- 1 L of vegetable broth

Directions

Heat a frying pan over medium heat.  Melt butter and add olive oil into pan.  Add carrots, potato, and onion and cook about half through. Add vegetable broth and cook until carrots are soft.  Transfer soup into a blender and blend until smooth and creamy.

Serve with a swirl of cream and a sprig of fresh dill.

Enjoy!

- Nutritional Info (1/4 recipe) -

Calories - 130   Fat - 5     Carbs - 6     Protein - 1    Fibre - 1

Chicken Fried Rice

I've been making this recipe ever since I was a teenager.  I used to make large batches and freeze leftovers for a future meals. 

 Ingredients

• 1.5 cups of your favourite rice (dry)
• 4 small chicken breasts
• 1/2 medium sweet onion, diced
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup frozen peas
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 4 tbsp soya sauce
• 1 tsp worchesire sauce

Directions

Cook rice as per instructions.  Set aside.

Cut chicken into very small pieces.  

Fry in a large wok preheated over medium heat until chicken is cooked through. 

Add onions and 1 tbsp sesame oil, sautéing the onions until tender.  

Add peas and fry until warm.

Make a space in the centre of frying pan and scramble eggs, one at a time, incorporating into the rest of the mixture.

Add cooked rice and 1 more tbsp sesame oil and 4 tbsp soya sauce.  Turn heat to high and fry for 5 minutes.  Be sure to flip the rice often so not to burn the bottom.

Add more soya sauce/sesame oil to taste. 

Enjoy!

Greek Salad

In my husband's family we call this salad "The Uncle Frank Salad". Whenever you are invited for dinner at Uncle Frank's, you secretly hope that this salad is being served.  It's a bit expensive to make, but well worth every penny.  

Ingredients

• 1 zucchini
• 1 English cucumber
• 1 purple onion
• 1 each yellow, green, and red peppers
• 2 boxes of cherry tomatoes, or 2 large tomatoes
• 1 jar Kalamata olives
• 1-2 heads romaine lettuce (optional)

Dressing

• 2/3 cup olive oil
• 1/3 cup white wine vinegar
• 3-4 cloves garlic
• 1 tbsp oregano
• 1/4 tsp pepper

Directions

Cut all veggies into bite sized pieces.  

Toss veggies together (add romaine lettuce if you like). 

Crumble Feta and mix with veggies.

Blend dressing using a small hand blender (the Magic Bullet works great for this).

Pour dressing over salad and enjoy!