Recipes

This is one heck of a cookie. It’s an intense chocolate, crisp exterior and when your teeth sink down into it, it turns into a rich fudge. Magical.

I made these during my true Nervous Chef days when I was setting off the smoke alarms. Somehow I didn’t screw these up. Surprising, as meringues have been failing me as of late.

You need good chocolate (aim for something you would eat on its own, quality matters here), sugar, pecans and egg whites. Everything comes together quickly, so when the oven is done preheating your cookies are ready to go in.

Most of my cookies look a little more rough than the ones I’ve seen on the web. I’m not sure the reason why. Maybe not enough mixing?

These are from Alice Medrich’s Bittersweet, but you can also find them in Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies.

Melting Chocolate Meringues (makes about 30 2-inch cookies) From Bittersweet

Ingredients:
4 1/2 ounces 70% chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 large egg whites (1/4 cup), room temperature
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 chopped nuts (walnuts, pecans, I think toasted hazelnuts would work well too)

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare cookie sheets with parchment paper.
2. Melt chocolate in a medium heatproof bowl. I make a make-shift double boiler by placing the bowl on top of a saucepan filled with simmering water. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar and vanilla. When soft peaks form, slowly add the sugar until you get stiff peaks. Be careful not to beat too long or they’ll be dry.
4. Mix up the chocolate and nuts into the egg whites and fold with a rubber spatula until the colour is uniform.
5. Drop tablespoons of batter 1 inch apart onto the cookie sheet.
6. Bake 8-10 minutes. Cookies should look dry and have a bit of give to them when pressed on. They’ll still be gooey inside. Cool completely.

For some strange reason I resisted getting The Art & Soul of Baking (do I really need another baking book?), but I’m glad I got a chance to use this book. It’s a great beginner book and for those more experienced. There’s a croissant recipe in there that I’d like to try one day.

I’ve made several of the recipes and most have turned out. The Lemon Mascarpone Cake didn’t turn out too well. The cake layers were thin and felt like frisbees. The recipe required a 9″ baking pan, but I have a feeling if I used an 8″ things would have worked out nicely. All the other recipes turned out fabulous.

Cheddar Cheese-Mustard loaf? This would make any plain chicken sandwich sing.

And you can’t go wrong with the caramelized onion and blue cheese pizza.

But the brownies…

These were decadent, fudgy, and so good. It’s the kind of thing I’d bake on a cool and crisp day. So comforting.

The Art & Soul of Baking is a book that’s not to be missed. I can think of at least 10 things off the top of my head that I’d like to try my hand at.

And the brownie recipe? You can get the low down on those (and the recipe) over at SweetHome.

Apparently it’s National Curried Chicken Day so here is an oldie but a goodie for me, this dish is simple and easy — perfect for a beginner.

This is from Clueless in the Kitchen, something I picked up almost 10 years ago and I’m pretty sure I only bought it because of the title. There aren’t any pictures, just a few diagrams, but the text is straightforward. This honey glazed curry chicken isn’t too spicy for the intrepid, it’s subtle and sweet. Considering how many meals I’ve only made once and never went back to, I do like making this on occasion.

Curry Glazed Chicken adapted from Clueless in the Kitchen
Serves 2

1 Tablespoon butter
1/4 Cup honey
3 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
2 Teaspoons curry powder
1/2 Teaspoon Salt
1 pound chicken*

*for me, this varies. I’ve used boneless skinless thighs and breasts. Sometimes whole, sometimes cut up into pieces so they get more sauce on it. The original calls for a 3 pound chicken cut up into pieces, but I like having extra sauce

Preheat oven to 375. Put butter into a 8 x 8 baking dish (9×13 if using the original 3 pound chicken) and pop it in the oven to melt. Once melted, stir in the honey, mustard, curry, and salt. Add the chicken and make sure they are well coated.

Bake for 45 minutes (this can vary depending on the chicken you’ve chosen, boneless chicken breasts that are cut up will cook up quicker, so check in on it a little earlier).

This is my third cookbook review despite my cookbook collection pushing the 50 item mark. I have to talk about this book because it gets used often for dinner. I have made several recipes and all the dishes have been winners and repeat worthy. Unfortunately because it’s a dinner cookbook not too many photos get posted because they end up looking like crap. And it’s hard to convince someone that something is good when the picture looks less than appetizing.

Gotta love my Lowel ego light! I have to say that this dinner picture turned out pretty well — the steam even got captured.

The recipes for this book are fairly straight forward. We love the Mustard-Soy Glazed Salmon with Brown Sugar and Ginger it’s a household favourite and I’ve even made it for his family as a somewhat fancy dish. There are many recipes in this book, but there aren’t many pictures. A problem if you like to know how your food should turn out. I haven’t minded the lack of pictures because everything I’ve made has turned out.

Also, even though it’s geared for weeknight cooking, this is not a 30 minute meal book, some recipes do take about an hour or a little longer.

This recipe is the Mexican Chicken with Beer Glaze and Sweet Potato Fries. I didn’t even make this dish, the husband did. He’s a cookbook-phobe but did just fine. One warning though: R has never de-seeded a jalapeno. So he just used his fingers to rip those suckers out. Then his fingers burned until the morning. So don’t do that. Here’s a helpful youtube video I found and the Pioneer Woman shows you how to de-seed with a spoon here. Just make sure you’re very careful about not touching your face or rubbing your eyes when you’re cutting them. And wash your hands thoroughly. I worry one day I’ll be cutting a jalapeno, rub my eyes, and try to start pouring milk on my eyeballs for some relief.

This book never would have been on my radar if I didn’t pass by it at Costco to look for my “Valentine’s Day present” (this year I told the husband to skip the flowers and get me a cookbook instead, totally worth it!). It’s definitely worth checking out.

Mexican Chicken with Beer Glaze and Sweet Potato Fries From Not Your Mother’s Weeknight Cooking by Beth Hensperger

Ingredients:

4 boneless skinless chicken breast cut into 1 inch strips
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 clove of garlic crushed
1/2 to 1 whole jalapeno de-seeded and minced (we used 1/3 because we’re wimps and thought the dish would be too hot when we tried a tiny bit raw. But you can use the 1/2 and it’ll give it a little kick. Use the whole for extra spicy and don’t de-seed if you want it fiery.)
1/2 to 3/4 cup light-coloured beer (we used a dark beer because that’s what we had in the fridge)

Spice rub:
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon dried crushed thyme
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon cayenne, chili powder, or ground chipotle chile
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

Sweet potato fries:
1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges or strips
1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
salt

Directions:
1. Combine spice mixture and rub on chicken. Let it rest for 10-20 minutes at room temperature.
2. Preheat oven to 450F with the baking sheet lined with foil in the oven. This is a tip I learned somewhere online so you get nice and crispy fries without flipping. Toss the potatoes with olive oil, sprinkle salt liberally on it and when the oven is done preheating, throw the fries on there and bake for about 15-20 mins.
3. While the fries are cooking, heat the oil and butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add half the chicken and saute until golden. No need to cook the chicken completely through as it gets cooked again in the glaze. When the chicken is golden, remove to a plate and do the other half.
4. When the other half is golden, return the other chicken that’s on the plate in the pan. Add the garlic, jalapeno and beer. Cover and reduce heat to low. Cook for 15 minutes and every 5 minutes make sure the chicken gets turned in the broth so all sides are coated. It’ll be all nice and glazed.
5. Serve hot with fries.

More recipes can be found on the website here

Coffee cake is somewhat of a misnomer. Most of the time it doesn’t actually contain coffee, it’s just a treat you can have with coffee. One thing is for sure, coffee cake is delicious. It’s got some substance to it and it can easily pass as something you can have for breakfast.

This recipe is a snap to make, but with all coffee cakes you are most likely spooning the batter out and not “pouring” it as many recipes state. It is such a thick batter that it needs a bit more help to come out of the bowl than just gravity. It’s also a pain in the butt to try and get the batter to go all the way to the edges of the pan. I’ve given up on this.

This is a Heavenly Cakes recipe from Rose Levy Beranbaum. It’s supposed to be baked in a small bundt pan. I only have the large size so that’s why it looks kind of squat in the picture. It’s still just as tasty! I think next time I make the recipe I’ll double it so it’ll fill the whole pan. The cake went pretty quick anyway.

Recipe here

R doesn’t eat anything with what he calls “expressive eyes”. To be more specific, he doesn’t eat mammals. So it’s rare for me to indulge in anything other than chicken for meals. Summer is an exception and he’ll even make me burgers. Usually when he’s gone I’ll plan on having a steak or something equally delicious. What usually happens is I have a bowl of cereal instead for dinner or a sandwich.

This time I decided to go big. Beef tenderloin wrapped in prosciutto topped with really good blue cheese. This dish takes minutes to prepare and is so unbelievably amazing. It’s also on the pricey side. While my dinner would cost much more at a restaurant, it’s worth the occasional splurge for an at home dinner. I almost always get my beef from The Healthy Butcher and it’s well worth the price.

Prosciutto-wrapped steaks with blue cheese (from Donna Hay’s No Time to Cook)
2 x 200g beef tenderloin (or really any good quality grilling steak)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
1 Tablespoon mustard (I used dijon)
4 slices of prosciutto
70g soft blue cheese
Pepper

Mix olive oil and balsamic vinegar together and brush all over the steaks on both sides. Then put freshly cracked black pepper on it. Be generous. Brush mustard on and wrap with prosciutto. Prosciutto is very thin so don’t worry about any tearing. Throw on the grill (I used my panini press on high) and cook until the way you like it. For me, I’d rather have it slightly underdone than slightly overdone. Put small wedge of cheese on top and let it get all melty.

This is it! I ended up burning my arm to make this (I had the hot pan on the stove and my arm grazed the handle), so I hope someone out there tries this recipe. It’s a fun thing to make for the long weekend.

Here is the recipe:

Vienesse Oven Pancakes (Kaiser Schmarrn) Adapted from New York Times Dessert Cookbook

Ingredients:

1 oz butter
1 tablespoon (14g) butter for the pan
1/2 cup + 2 Tablespoons milk
1/4 Cup + 2Tablespoons flour
2 eggs, separated
1 Tablespoon granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt
Confectioner’s sugar for garnish

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Melt the 1oz of butter and let cool.
2. Whisk milk, flour, and salt together. Beat yolks and add to batter. Add melted butter.
3. Beat egg whites with sugar (you can use a handmixer to save time). Fold into the batter.
4. Put the other tablespoon of butter in the pan and pop it in the oven for about 3 mins until bubbly. Then remove the pan and use a pastry brush to ensure the butter is coated on the bottom and sides of the pan.
5. Pour batter in pan and put it in the oven for about 20 minutes. It should be brown on top. Take the pan out and using two forks tear it into pieces. You can be more methodical and cut them into little squares if that’s more your style. I also like to flip the pieces that were on the bottom to be on top. But that’s a personal preference. Put it back in the oven for 5 more minutes.

Garnish with a dusting of confectioner’s sugar and whatever else you want to top it. I used blueberries and they were great. The original recipe calls for vanilla sugar and apricot preserves.

“Was I a good cook when you first met me?” I ask R.
“I wouldn’t say you were really a cook then baby, you ate chicken.”
“I make chicken now.”
“I mean just chicken.”
“I made a pork chop.” (Note singular. I had 2, but in the flipping process the other one fell to the floor.)

I’ve come a long way since then. After venturing out on my own and buying beginner cookbooks (something I still love doing now), I didn’t really get into cooking. I cooked to survive. Most of my staples back then involved a lot of canned soup and frozen foods.

I was really clueless in the kitchen. At one point I asked my friend how to cook canned soup.

I wanted to be able to make a dish. Something that didn’t involve cooking chicken on my George Foreman grill. My friend took pity on me and taught me how to make chicken parmesan, her family’s recipe. I was able to make this recipe without her help many times and it’s never turned out bad for me. I haven’t made it in years, but I had a craving for it so I decided to make it for dinner when the in-laws were over. I looked at the recipe and didn’t realize how vague the instructions were. Considering how measurement crazy I am now I’m surprised I always had tasty results when I made it back then. I’m certain you cannot go wrong no matter what you do with this recipe.

So here is my version of it (with measurements in case you’re nervous about winging it).

No Fail Chicken Parmesan (serves 4)

Ingredients:
Soaking solution
- 1 cup milk
- 3 eggs
- 4 chicken breasts
- pinch of salt
- pinch of pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder

Breadcrumb mix
- 1 1/2 cups breadcrumbs
- pinch of salt
- pinch of pepper
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 2 teaspoons onion powder

Sauce
- 1 can of crushed tomatoes
- 1 can of tomato paste
- water
- salt
- pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 teaspoon onion powder
- 1 Tablespoon sugar
- 3 cloves of garlic finely minced or with a garlic presser
- 1 yellow onion

Other ingredients:
- mozarella, grated (2 cups or so)
- parmesan

Directions
1. Combine ingredients for soaking mixture (except chicken) and mix together. Put chicken in mixture and let soak 4-6 hours in the refrigerator. Make sure mixture covers the chicken. (Note: I was once told that this may be a safety risk, but I haven’t died yet and can’t seem to find out if this is true through Googling. If it makes you feel uneasy, omit the eggs or just don’t soak it and immediately bread it and fry it.)

2. Make Sauce. On medium heat, put enough oil to just cover the bottom of the saucepan. Dice the onion and add to saucepan. Cook until onion is translucent. Add garlic and stir it around for about a minute before adding the crushed tomatoes and tomato paste. Add 1/2 can of water from the crushed tomatoes. Stir. Add onion and garlic powder and sugar. Stir and reduce heat. You want a nice thick sauce. Taste sauce and adjust seasonings to taste.

3. Preheat oven to 325F.

4. Bread chicken. Combine breadcrumb mixture and make sure chicken is well coated on both sides. In a frying pan over medium-high heat, add oil and fry chicken on both sides. You want a nice golden brown colour. The chicken doesn’t have to be completely cooked as it’ll be going in the oven.

5. In a baking pan or casserole dish (I used a 9×13 Pyrex), pour enough sauce to cover the bottom. Add the chicken pieces making sure they don’t overlap. Pour the rest of the sauce all over the chicken and grate parmesan all over the pieces.

6. Bake for 20-35 minutes. Sprinkle the grated mozarella on the chicken and bake for 10 minutes more.

Note:
- These seasonings can be played around with. I usually just put how much I think should go in.
- I didn’t have garlic or onion powder on hand so I used garlic granules and onion flakes. When I used to make this I used to give a few shakes of garlic powder and onion powder.
- Pre-foodie days I used to use the grated parmesan that came in a can. You can use that too, I won’t judge.

If you’ve been to my place, it’s obvious I have a lot of gadgets. A standmixer, waffle maker, panini press, various pans of all shapes and sizes, etc… I can’t control it. It goes in hand with my addiction to cookbooks and infomercials.

When kids were using their birthday money to buy a cool toy, I used mine to buy…a juicer. Seriously. Like most gadgets, it ends up being used a bit before it makes it’s way into storage. It wasn’t until I moved downtown that I would touch it again — and only to put it in its moving box. When my friend told me she wanted to buy a juicer, I told her to save her money and gave her mine as a permanent loan until I found the desire to use my juicer again. A year later I actually did want my juicer back. I blame Fresh and their book Refresh.

I made the ZenMatcha shake. Despite my juicer being ancient, it did a great job of juicing the pineapples. I hope to use the juicer more often, I forgot how yummy fresh pineapple juice is. The shake was really tasty, but it needed some ice cubes to make it cold. I’ll also reduce the amount of matcha because I found the caffeine made me a bit jittery (I’m very caffeine sensitive).

ZenMatch Power Shake (adapted from Refresh)

- 6 ounces of pineapple juice (an inch of pineapple cored if you’re juicing)
- 3oz filtered water
- 1 banana
- 6 oz soymilk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1.5 teaspoons matcha green tea powder (original recipe uses 1 Tablespoon)
- ice cubes

Directions:
Juice pineapple and add filtered water to the juicer to flush the pineapple juice through. Place all the other ingredients in a blender and blend. This makes a huge serving, so don’t be confused by the picture — I split this shake with R.

I love the restaurant Fresh. The smoothies are awesome and I’m in love with their wraps. I have a blender coming soon so I wanted to be able to reproduce some of their smoothies. In the mean time, I’ve been trying some of their other stuff.

I picked the Buddha Bowl recipe because it was relatively easy. The cookbook are split up into different chapters for the sauces and marinades so there is a bit of flipping back and forth. I find that the portions (just like in the restaurant) are big. The peanut sauce made a vat’s worth. You could get away with cutting the recipe in half.

I wasn’t completely thrilled with this recipe at first, but it grew on me and got better the next day. R LOVED this dish, probably for the same reason I didn’t like it. I found the lemon juice (I used fresh squeezed as I had it on hand) made the peanut sauce too tangy where he loved the tanginess of the sauce. What I loved the most is the tofu marinade.

I’ve used many different recipes for marinating tofu and I found this flavour to be the best. You also don’t need to press the tofu first like in other recipes. If you’re into tofu, definitely give this a try. I’m even going to give the recipe for this, that’s how much I like it.

Marinated Tofu Cubes (adapted from refresh cook book)
- 1 package of tofu (300g, about 1 pound), cut into small cubes
- 1/4 cup apple cider
- 1/4 cup + 2 Tablespoons tamari
- 1/8 cup filtered water
- 1 Tablespoon sunflower oil

Directions:
Combine all ingredients except tofu. Pour marinade over tofu cubes. Marinate for an hour. Keeps up to 5 days.