Cabbage rolls

If something remembers me of my parent’s home, it is cabbage rolls. My mum does the best and she gave me her recipe years ago. I love mines, but they are nothing compares to my mother… I remember going to visit them and she would ask for what I wanted to eat and invariably, I would ask for cabbage rolls even in the midst of summer! I would have dinner and then, in the middle of the evening, get some more. I would literally eat like a pig.

So today, when I saw that the snow was not going to stop, I felt like a home dinner. Something wintery, something that brings good feelings; I made my mum cabbage rolls.



Cabbage rolls

- 1 pounds of lean ground beef
- ½ cup of rice (I used brown rice)
- Salt and pepper
- Onion powder to taste
- 1 egg
- 1 table spoon of milk
- 1 big cabbage
- 1 big can of tomatoes juice
- 1 can of tomatoes sauce
- 1 can of tomato paste

Pre-heat the oven at 350 degrees. In a large bowl, put the beef, rice, egg, milk salt and pepper and onion powder and mix thoroughly (I use my hands, like kneading bread, it mixes everything evenly). In another bowl, mix the tomatoes juice, sauce and paste until smooth. Put the cabbage in a large pot and fill with water. Bring to a boil and boil for 10 minutes. Carefully remove one cabbage leaf at the time and put aside. Once all the leaves are out, it’s time to get rolling!



Put a spoon or two of the meat mixture in each leaves and roll. Put in a large cover dish. Once all the rolls are in, pour the tomatoes mixture over it, cover and cook for 3 to 4 hours. Check through the coking to ensure there are still liquid, if there isn’t, add tomatoes juice.

It’s delicious with mashed potatoes and sliced beets on the side!

Honey glazed pork chop

When BBQ season was coming up, after we all cried for hot dog and burgers, the next thing we were asking my mum was for her delicious honey glazed pork chop. Pork is a rather cheap meat (depend on the cut) and contrary to the preconceived idea, pork should not be cook through and through. There was some history of disease, but the Canadian pork that is available everywhere right now doesn’t have a hint of disease so it is perfectly safe to eat it pink.

I am still struggling with cooking steaks on the grill. I love mine rare and the problem is: I always overcook it. I don’t know why, but I do not have this problem with pork. So the other night, when I had to cook (In exchange for my husband to put together my new bike) I decided to make my mum honey glazed pork. So simple, as usual, I’ve modified the recipe a little bit so that it has more garlic.



Honey glazed pork loin (changed the cut too)

- 4 pork chop (or loin)
- 1/3 cup liquid honey (used the organic one from the Calgary farmers market, has more of a “earthy flavor)
- 1/3 soy sauce
- 2 table spoon chili sauce
- 4 crushed garlic cloves

Mix everything together and brush the meat with the mixture until cooked and no mixture if left.



It truly has a great flavor. You could also marinate meat overnight in this. (but do not use to glaze)

My husband birthday dinner

I know, I know, I haven’t post much lately… I have reasons though, I went in Vacation where I did not touch my blackberry at all and did not touch the computer too. No, I wasn’t in vacation for a month; I just spend as much time as possible with my husband before July. He is gone East for the Canadian Nationals (he’s a cyclist) and then he’s gone to Kingston, Ontario for the remaining of his army course (AOC). Basically, I will get to spent half an evening with him on July 9th and won’t see him until the 28-29, so it’s long and I wanted to spend as much time as possible with him before.

Here is what I made for his birthday. Pretty simple, but quite tasty!

Starter: Grilled Halloumi cheese on lettuce with lemon drizzle.



So simple, cut the cheese into portions, lightly dust flour on them, pan fry in a little bit of olive oil. Put on the top of some thinly sliced lettuce, add some red and green onions and drizzle lemon juice over. Very yummy!

Main: honey glazed pork loin with grilled zucchinis

Zucchinis: slice in a half lengthwise, score, add a little bit of butter and grill on the BBQ.



Pork loins



Ingredients

• Pork loin
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 1/3 liquid honey
• 2 tablespoon chili sauce
• 2 garlic cloves

Method

Mix all the ingredients together. Put meat on BBQ, brush with the mixture several time through the cooking. Enjoy!

Dessert: light dark chocolate mousse martini with fruits.



Ingredients

• 1/2 cup boiling water
• 2 teaspoons powdered gelatine
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 4 eggs, separated
• 1/3 cup caster sugar

Method

1. Combine water and gelatine in a jug. Whisk with a fork until gelatine has completely dissolved. Stir in 1 1/2 tablespoons cocoa. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.
2. Using an electric mixer, beat egg whites in a large bowl until soft peaks form. Add sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating until meringue is thick and glossy. With mixer on high speed, add egg yolks, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.
3. Slowly pour gelatine mixture into egg mixture (make sure mixtures are both at the same temperature before you combine them), beating constantly until well combined. Spoon mixture into 6 serving cups. Refrigerate for 4 hours or until set and chilled. Dust with remaining 2 teaspoons cocoa. Serve.

Easy chicken dinner

It is one of those nights where I have tons to do, little time to cook and about to cave in and get take away.
My husband is an athlete, therefore nutrition is quite important for us and he loves his meat. I didn’t do the groceries shopping in a while and I was left with little in the fridge (all taken care of right now).
My mum use to throw pretty much everything she could find in a tin foil wrap and cook it. I decided to do same and as it turned out, this was pretty good!

BBQ Chicken in foil

- Baby potatoes (any potatoes will do, I only had few baby potatoes left)
- Onions
- Chicken breast
- BBQ sauce (I used honey garlic)
- Salt and pepper



Thinly slice the potatoes and onions. Slice the chicken breast on small strips. On a sheet of foil, layer the potatoes and the onions. Put the chicken on top and add BBQ sauce. Neatly fold the foil so that there is no opening. Cook in the oven (or BBQ) for about 30-40 minutes at 350 degrees. Just be careful when you open the foil as a lot of steam will get out.

Cretons

For those of you that had the chance to live or visit Quebec, there is a thing we Frenchies love to put on our toasts. It’s call cretons. Don’t be thrown away by their look and what’s in it; it is truly delicious.

1 pound (450 g) of ground pork
1 cup of breadcrumbs
1 grated or puréed onions
Salt and pepper
I add a little bit of garlic salt (garlic one day, garlic everyday!)
2 ground cloves
A dash of cinnamon
1 cup of milk
1 cup of chicken broth

How to?



Put all the ingredients in a large pan. Let simmer for an hour or a little bit more a low heat. I like them very creamy so I process the mixture in my food processor so they have a creamy texture. (You can skip this step if you don’t mind the “Crumble”). Pour in a plate and let refrigerate.






Spread all over your toasts and yummy!

Spaghettis’ mania

I love pasta, I can have pasta as side every day; however, I don’t – because my ass would never forgive me. Pastas are an easy quick meal on week nights when you have a busy day. I am tired of buying pre-made food and I also would like to avoid the expense of buying something not so good for me.

I am not so much the tomatoes sauce and herbs pasta lady; I love my sauce to have some meat and vegetables. Once again, I browsed on my fairy book (my mum recipes) in order to find her spaghetti/lasagna sauce recipe. I had a good 8 big tubs of yogurt filled with the sauce, ready to be frozen for use on a busy night with no inspiration for cooking (if that ever happen).

Super simple meat spaghetti sauce

- 1 lbs of ground beef
- 1 lbs of ground pork
- 1 big onion (diced)
- 2-3 garlic cloves
- 1 small can of tomatoes paste
- 1 medium can of tomatoes sauce
- 1 big can of crushed tomatoes
- 1 or 2 cups of diced/sliced carrots
- 1 or 2 cups of diced celery
- 1 or 2 diced green pepper
- 2-3 pack of mushrooms (sliced – to add 30 minutes before the end)
- 1 bottle of chili sauce (Heinz the best!)
- 3-4 bay leaves
- Parsley
- Oregano
- Basil
- Italian spices
- 1 tea spoon of worcertshire sauce
- 4-5 table spoon of HP sauce
- 2-3 drop of Tabasco (more if you like it spicier)
- 1 tea spoon of sugar

Cook the meat in a big (I mean BIG) pot. Once it is cooked, drain the fat. Put back on the heat and add everything but the mushroom. Let simmer for 4 hours and at the 3:30 mark, add the mushrooms.

Don’t forget to stir regularly!

Sprinkle Parmesan on top and you're in heaven!

Hearty meatball stew with baby potatoes

It has been cold in Calgary lately and for me, cold mean: hearty soup and stews. What better idea than going back into my childhood memories again and pick a recipe from fairy mum? We were3 children and even though I’ve never lacked of anything; my mum always cooked for us using quality ingredients, but taking the time to watch for sales and buy big quantities. It is insane the saving one can do when cooking home meals instead of buying ready to eat. When you also take in consideration that by cooking, you are in charge of the fat/salt and sugar content, it’s a win-win situation.

Anyhow, with this in mind, this recipe yields about 4 reasonable portions for about $10 worth of ingredients.

Ingredients:

- 1 pack of ground pork meat (about 2 pounds)
- About 20 baby potatoes
- 2 pouches of “ragout” sauce (that is the tricky part, my mum send me some through the mail from Quebec- I am sure brown gravy would do just right – I’d avoid the beef stew as it is darker and saltier.)





It’s a pretty easy dinner to do. Make small meatball with the ground pork. Wash the baby potatoes, if they are too big, cut into two pieces. On a big pot, prepare the gravy, once its reach a boiling point; throw the raw meatball in it one by one (so they don’t stick together).




Bring to boil again and add the baby potatoes. Reduce the heat to medium-low and let it cook covered for 40 minutes. It is very important to stir every now and then as the gravy can form a “crust” and the meat ball can stick to the bottom of the pot.



Enjoy!

choco-banana heaven

I had a guest in my kitchen last week end. Miss N came over to bake. I taught her how to make banana bread a while ago and this time, we were making a family recipe: my mum galette aux bananes et chocolat. It looks like cookie or scone or and muffin or cake altogether. It isn’t we call this “galette” in French.



The smell of it while it baked reminded me of childhood memories where my mum use to make those on the week end.

- 1 ¼ cup of flour (I use whole wheat)
- ¾ cup of brown sugar (I use brown splenda)
- ½ tea spoon of salt
- 1 tea spoon of baking soda
- ½ cup of shortening
- 1 egg
- 2 mashed banana
- 1 tea spoon of vanilla
- 1 small package of dark chocolate chip



Bake at 375C for 10 to 12 minutes… enjoy!