Rosettes

Traditional holiday recipe made  by Diane during the past Holiday.

  

Photos from the past holidays

Pot luck dinner at work

Pumpkin roll for New Years

New Year’s Day party

New Years day party

Anonymous

Salsa

Skip the store bought version , get creative with ingredients on hand.

   
 

En papillote

Cooking en papillote, or in parchment paper, is a classic technique for preparing delicious and healthy meals.
I guess I’m partial to cooking  utilizing the oven probably more often during the colder months. It’s also a set and forget method where you don’t have to constantly be at the stove top. 

Cooking with parchment has advantage of disposable clean up as paper is the cooking vessel. And for sure predates the plastic cooking bags that were popular a while back.

The contents of your paper container is limitless.

   
 
Bonus counter cam view

  

Is your diet right for you ?

Interesting article , is this why fad diets don’t work , don’t have the desired effect and lose popularity ?

Eat like your grandma
http://www.macleans.ca/society/health/eat-like-your-grandma-why-you-should-skip-the-kale-salad/

Toasted

One of the most underrated food items.  If I had a choice between a donut or toast…..

   
 

Roasted veggie risotto

Rice …. I could be a rice a holic ( only if my spell checker lets me!)

Just be satisfied with a bowl of rice?  .. Well not exactly..

I’ve made rice several ways and a risotto method can be quick and leaves some room for additions.

By eye about 1 and 1/2 cups of rice to about double the amount of broth.

Have the broth brought up to a boil and simmering before you get started.

  
  
Some dice roasted veggies , here onion, fennel, garlic and carrot , ready to go.

A bit of butter to the pan and toss the rice till coated and sauté for a couple of minutes.

Usually here you add finely  diced onion, but veggies will be added later.

Also you don’t have to use aborio rice to get decent results. I use usually what ever I have on the shelve.

  
Have the pan at medium high heat… And add the broth, be aware that it may steam up a spatter somewhat…

I add a bit less than half the broth.

  
The basic risotto lesson….STIR , that’s all…

  
I keep it a medium high heat , not to boil the hell out of it, you want the rice to absorb the water, not evaporate it.

  
When most of the broth is absorbed… Add more, you’ll want to divi up the remainder of the simmering broth when adding to the rice for about 2 or 3 additions. STIR…  repeat the process with the remaining broth.

  
Once all the broth has been added or your rice is close to the consistency you enjoy, add the veggies.

  
Stir and heat through, and now the final and best step , add grated cheese (again by eye) usually Romano or Parmesan OFF HEAT. ….and STIR….

  
Plate it up !

  
MMMMMM…… Work shirt approved!

X  

Oriental Beef Ribs

Why I decided  to go oriental style ?  Don’t know ,  possibly I read a recipe using 5 spice powder. Not having any 5 spice powder would require me to make some. 

Scavenging together the ingredients. Just approximated the ratio of ingredients from other recipes.

   
 
The more you look the more variations of 5 spice powder recipes you find. Since their was no fennel seed in the closet, I settled for dried fennel.

All into the fry pan in a slow oven to toast the herb and spices. 

Hand ground. 

   

 

 

Reserve enough for the ribs, any left overs to a spice bottle.
  

 

Ahhhhhhh… The aroma !

Now onto the ribs……

   

 A good massage with the 5 spice with an addition of salt and dried hot red pepper.

Over night to the fridge.Next day ready  for roasting,  a braver soul would have slow cooked them over charcoals out in the  cold.

Racked up to the oven.

  
Slow oven 250 to 275 for several hours gauging by the pull back of the meat from the bone.

  
Drain the fat and sauté onions,  deglaze with hard cider, add additional 5 spice powder and some hoisin sauce.

  
Plate it up over a bed of rice. Could have made some moo sho pancakes, (flour and water rolled dough) and wrapped the meat with fresh onion and sauce similar to a Peking duck. Another alternative would be rolled up in some big ass greens, bok choi etc. 

As it stands it didn’t take me long to be full, l suppose it’s beneficial that I’m more conscious  of my weight !

  
They were not, as it usually described, falling off the bone. There is enough chew and caveman teeth work to get the bones clean , the meat being tender with just enough fat and a bit of gristle to make it a authentic beefy rib, not something that has been trimmed of all fat and cartilage. Good Eats!

Pasta (gnocci ) and beans

A take on the classic pasta and beans, cooked the dry white beans last night and finished with the sauce and gnocci tonight. Some pork neck bones for the sauce , a can of tomatoes and finely ground carrot and onion. More  on the side of a veggie sauce. A chopped dried hot pepper and thinned with broth and mead. Simmered till reduced and thickened.

  
The gnocci complimented the beans better than pasta as they have a soft slightly chewy texture.