Linda’s Mango-Cilantro Salad Dressing

Let’s talk family. I’ve got a big one. 5 younger siblings. I know, huge in modern-day standards right? As we are all getting older our family is getting larger.  The great thing is, just when you thought you’re fantastically large family couldn’t get any better one of your siblings brings in a new family member (I’m talking significant others here). This is where Linda comes in. He is my sister’s boyfriend. Ya, his name isn’t actually Linda. It’s Linn. But Linda has such a nicer ring to it doesn’t it?

Linda recently moved back out east (he hails from there). And on Friday my sister moved there too….sad. The good news is Linda still sends me recipes….and the even better news, the recipes are delicious (he has actually only sent me one – this one – Linda, get on it!).

This is fresh and the mango dressing is a really great alternative to the vinegar, oil and dijon salad dressing that I usually turn to!

Linda’s Salad

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 box of mixed greens

1 pint of cherry tomatoes, halved

2 shallots, sliced

1/2 cup walnuts, lightly toasted

1/3 cup dried cranberries

1/2 a red pepper, sliced

1/2 a green pepper, sliced

Feta for garnish

Mango-Cilantro Salad Dressing:

1 cup olive oil

1/4 cup white wine vinegar

1/4 cup honey

zest and juice of 1 lemon

zest and juice of 1 lime

1/2 cup fresh or frozen mango chunks

1/4 cup fresh cilantro

In a large bowl combine all the salad ingredients.

Linda’s exact wording for how to make the dressing: “throw all those dressing into a food processor and watch the mess turn into deliciousness.” He also very correctly informed me that this dressing made enough to feed a small army (however, I did discover it keeps beautifully in the fridge).

Dress and toss the salad. Sprinkle a little bit of feta over top and enjoy!

Linda says and I quote…..”as we say in the east coast, it’s “off the chainz””

Walnut Crusted Fish

Today’s theme is Fish.

I love fish, especially halibut, sea bass and black cod. This recipe can use any of them. It’s pretty versatile. Speaking of fish have I got something great for you guys! My good friend Meredith Shaw is a super talented singer/song writer. She has a fantastic CD out called Place Called Happy. On that CD happens to be a song about fish. While one of us cooks fish after crusting it with nuts, the other sings of all the fish swimming in the sea. One of us is clearly a little less dark than the other…..

Anywho, I was going somewhere with this. Today is the release of her music video for the song called Little Fishy. So in honour of this I am giving you walnut crusted fish (thank you Meredith!) and I am also giving you a link to said video. Watch and be amazed folks! Click here now. DO IT!

So walnut crusted fish…..

Walnut Crusted Fish

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lb of fish (what works best is halibut, sea bass or black cod)

3/4 cup walnuts

3/4 cup breadcrumbs*

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tbsp horseradish

1 1/2 tbsp whole grain dijon mustard

1/4 cup grated parmesan

*Just as a side note here, how I make breadcrumbs is super easy and it avoids all the additives you find in the ones on the shelves in the grocery store. I set my oven at 200 and place 2 slices of whatever bread I have going into the food processor and chop it until it is as finely chopped as it’s going to get. Then I lay it out on a cookie sheet and bake for about 45 minutes. Then put the breadcrumbs back in the food processor and chop until they are a fine consistency.

Now the real instructions: Preheat your oven to 425 degrees. Add the breadcrumbs and the walnuts to a food processor and chop until the walnuts are finely chopped. Transfer to a bowl and mix in the olive oil, horseradish, dijon and parmesan.

Make sure your fish is sliced into 4 pieces. Grease a baking dish and place the four pieces in skin side down. With your hands press the crust onto the top of each fish piece. Be generous and press the crust firmly.

Bake for approximately 15 minutes (I usually do 10 minutes for every inch of thickness, with this you want to air of the side of caution b/c you are broiling the fish after you bake it). Turn the oven onto high broil and broil for 1 to 2 minutes until the crust is a nice golden brown.

The trick to getting this dinner just right is to listen to Mere’s Little Fishy, while watching the video, while cooking the dinner. Got it? Good. Go.

Another side note, b/c I often get asked…..I will be blogging the salad next, it’s a tasty homemade mango dressing, I’d be excited if I were you. And, the side dish is just quinoa made with the zest and juice of lemons and some olive oil. Simple and fantastic.

To see more of Meredith check out her website. www.meredithshaw.com

Seafood Paella

So I hit a bit of a bloggers block. Somewhere between work, wedding, and…oh geeze I wish I had another word that starts with w…. I’m going to blame the heat wave – if you live in Toronto, or anywhere in central Canada or the U.S. you know what I’m talking about. Thankfully our home (that was built in 1888) has central air. Clearly I am living super authentically in my victorian home.

Anyways I am back with a mighty fine seafood dish. Seafood Paella to be exact. A year ago we took a trip to Spain. Specifically France, with a brief pass through of Spain, but more on that later. For now we’re talking about Spain. In Spain one evening we had dinner outdoors with some wonderful friends and we had paella.

We are having a nice summer here in Ontario, but it’s no Spain. So the other night we had our friends we were in Spain with over for an outdoor Spanish dining fiesta! OLE! (I don’t speak Spanish, can you tell?). We got spanish beer, they brought spanish wine, we started with smoked paprika shrimp (b/c if it’s got paprika on it then it’s Spanish right?), and we had this seafood paella.  I highly recommend you do the same. STAT!

Feel free to change any of the seafood, or add something that’s your favourite that I didn’t put in. I often leave out the mussels or the scallops, but I’m trying to give you guys the gold standard here (I hope this makes up for my absence).

Seafood Paella

Serves 4 to 6

Ingredients:

1 cup arborio rice

4 cups of seafood stock (recipe follows at the bottom – or buy seafood stock)

1 cup dry white wine (this is for going in the food, not your wine glass. Just a little hint for all you lushes out there – although I would be the best recipe creator EVER if I actually said you need a cup of wine in your glass for sipping while cooking to make the recipe work….I think I am onto something)

1 onion, diced

1/2 bulb of fennel, sliced

1 tbsp smoked paprika

a pinch of saffron threads soaked in 1 tablespoon of warm water

1 lb large shrimp (peeled – i usually leave the tails on b/c it looks nicer, but you could be more considerate and forgo aesthetics for your guests convenience of not having to pull off the tails. To each their own. I prefer to make people work harder if it looks nicer when I serve. I’m a bit of an asshole apparently). ***Save the shrimp shells if you are making the seafood stock from scratch.

1/2 lb of calamari (do not use the breaded kind that is served with cocktail sauce or I may personally come over and smack you. Get fresh or frozen straight-up calamari), sliced into rings with tentacles separated (I just mean don’t slice the tentacles, keep them intact, they look super cool when cooked)

1 lb mussels, rinsed

2 smoked chorizo sausages, sliced

1 pint of cherry tomatoes, halved

1 cup frozen green peas

lemon wedges and parsley for garnish

Sorry for the wordy ingredient list. I have missed you all dearly and just can’t stop rambling.

Toss the shrimp, calamari and scallops in some olive oil, and season with salt and pepper. Heat a BBQ or a grill pan to medium-high heat and grill for a few minutes on each side until cooked through. Set aside on a plate and cover with foil.

Heat a large pan to medium-high heat. Pour in a glug (yup, real measurement….I’m so scientific) of olive oil and saute the onions and fennel for a few minutes until slightly softened. Add the arborio rice, paprika and saffron threads with water and continue to saute for about 2 minutes. Add the cup of wine and stir until the wine has been fully absorbed by the rice. Add the seafood stock 1/2 cup at a time, stirring while it absorbs. Repeat when all the liquid has absorbed until you have used 3 cups of the stock (if chosing option 1) or 4 cups of stock if chosing option 2).

There are 2 ways of dealing with the mussels: (option 2 is fail-safe if you’re a first time mussel steamer)

Option 1: Place the mussels in the rice with the hinge (the part that will stay closed when they open) down and the top of the mussel (the part that opens) sticking straight up. Add in the remaining 1 cup of liquid, cover with a lid and allow to steam until the mussels open.

Option 2: You can get a large pot, pour in one cup of water with one cup of wine toss in the mussels, bring to a boil and cover and let steam until the mussels open. Then add them to the Paella at the very end just before serving.

Whatever you do, be sure to discard any mussels that do not open. They will make you very very sick.

Stir in the cherry tomatoes, peas, grilled seafood and chorizo. Combine and serve when all those delicious ingredients you just added are warmed through.

Serve with some lemon wedges on the side and sprinkle some parsley on top.

I recommend you consume this with copious amounts of sangria. It’s really just a suggestion though. I may not be the best influence when it comes to appropriate sangria consumption amounts.

Seafood Stock (this stock is all Ina Garten – that women is way too clever) – I use this stock in so many different dishes, it is so versatile and delicious!

makes 4 cups

ingredients:

the shells of 1 lb of large shrimp

2 yellow onions, roughly chopped

2 carrots, roughly chopped

3 stalks fo celery, roughly chopped

2 cloves of garlic, minced

6 cups of water

1/2 cup of dry white wine

1/3 cup tomato paste

1 tsp sea salt

10 grinds of black pepper

10 sprigs of fresh thyme.

Heat a stock pot to medium high heat and pour in a glug of olive oil. Toss in the shrimp shells, onion, carrot and celery and saute until slightly softened. Add the garlic and continue to saute for 2 minutes. Add the water, white wine, tomato paste, salt, pepper and thyme. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Allow to simmer for 1 hour. Strain through a sieve pressing the solids to get all the liquid. If you don’t have 4 cups of liquid simply make up the difference with water or wine (I would go with wine. Duh!)

This freezes beautifully. I often make it if I am making a shrimp dish. I hate throwing out perfectly good shrimp shells when I have this recipe in my repertoire!

There you have it. Spain at home. If you are thinking, um, Katie, you just made risotto, not paella, well I have two things to say 1) stop blocking my creativity, and 2) this is cabbagetown people, not Spain. I have made it the way you are supposed to in the past. This way is better. Go with it.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches

I know. What. You are. Thinking.  “Help Me! How will I ever have self-control again?” You won’t. That’s alright. It’ll be worth it.

I have mentioned previously that since getting a kitchen aid stand mixer I have been baking. Well, trying to bake. I think I’ve got it figured out.

It was a no cloud in the sky kind of Sunday. It was 27 degrees out. We had just set up all our garden furniture and I had been planting flowers. Friends were coming for dinner to BBQ. I needed a good end to the meal. Naturally I went over to Jessica’s blog b/c no one does baking like that girl! Saw this recipe and thought PERFECT!

Then I realized, on this perfect and hot day, cookies seem a bit odd of a choice. We should have something cool.
EUREKA!!!!! take the cookies, sandwich ice cream in between them. Perfection!!!!!!!!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookie Ice Cream Sandwiches (cookie recipe changed only slightly from How Sweet it is)

Makes about 8 Ice cream sandwiches

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of butter at room temperature

1 egg

1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract

1 cup flour

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup smooth peanut butter

1/3 cup dark chocolate chips

1/3 cup milk chocolate chips

1 tub vanilla (or whatever flavour you’d like) ice cream

Cream the butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until fluffy. Add the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and mix until combined.

Fold in the peanut butter and chocolate chips and refrigerate dough for 1 to 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll the dough into balls and place on the sheet.

Bake for 8 to 10 minutes (you’ll have to do 2 to 3 batches). Allow to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack to continue to cool entirely. Try not to eat them while they are still hot before you can make them into ice cream sandwiches. This will be the most challenging step.

Take your ice cream out of the fridge and allow it to soften for 10 minutes so that it is easier to handle. Place a spoonful of ice cream onto the bottom of one cookie. Place another cookie on top and gently pinch together. Wrap in a piece of wax paper. Do it the same way salt water taffy is wrapped. Place back in the freezer.

Each will be parceled as its own personal sandwich. Allow your guests to unwrap their own and enjoy.

Big praise around here for these. Mark ate them all week-long. Chocolate + Peanut Butter + Ice Cream = SUCCESS!

Ahi Tuna Nicoise Salad

A little late….but Happy Birthday Canada and Happy Pride Toronto!!! What a great country we live in, and this city, providing equal rights to all! What a weekend to celebrate! And celebrate we did!!!!!

Looking for something light and refreshing after a long weekend of over-indulging? I’ve got the ticket.

A fresh new take on Salad Nicoise that is elegant enough to serve to company as the main event! Who knew?

By swapping out canned tuna for ahi tuna and adding a few extra “touches” this dish will get you some fans.

Ahi Tuna Nicoise Salad

(serves 4)

Ingredients:

1 large ahi tuna steak (be sure to buy sushi grade)

1 recipe of mayonnaise free potato salad (however, make twice the dressing and set the additional amount aside)

2 cups of green beans (ignore my photos – the stupid food store only had yellow beans – I am starting to think I shop at the wrong store as this sort of thing is beginning to become a theme)

1 cup of black olives (whatever kind you like best)

4 hard boiled eggs, quartered*(see below for a tip to boil the perfect egg. read: no weird green around the yolk)

4 perfectly ripe tomatoes, quartered

1 box of baby arugula

Season your ahi tuna with olive oil and black pepper. Heat a grill pan on high heat. Sear the tuna for 30 seconds to 1 minute per side. The idea here is to have a very rare centre (this is sushi grade fish so raw centre is perfectly acceptable – just be sure to buy sushi grade). Move to a cutting board and thinly slice into strips.

Trim the green beans and steam them for 3 minutes – rinse under cold water to ensure that nice green colour and crispness.

The glory of this meal is in the presentation. You can either do this on a large platter and let guests help themselves or arrange each plate. I usually do a platter.

Cover the platter with a layer of arugula. Then place the green beans in one area, the potato salad in another, the tomatoes in another, the egg in another, the olives in another and the slices tuna in another.

Drizzle the entire thing with your remaining dressing.

I made this for father’s day (as it is a real favourite of my dad’s). Always a hit. And always a nice light alternative dinner following a weekend full of Canada pride and gay pride!!!!!!