Yogurt Pancakes

Looking for a slightly different and somewhat healthy pancake recipe I tried this one.

Ingredients:
2 cups flour all- purpose
2 tbl. sugar
2 teas. baking powder
1 teas. baking soda
2 or 3  eggs
2 cups (16) plain yogurt

 In a small bowl combine the dry ingredients
In another bowl whisk the 3 wet ingredients
Add to the dry ingredients just until moistened
If it looks to dry, add a bit of milk.

Cook up like regular pancakes

Banana Bran Muffins with Dates

I have always found most banana muffins too sweet but these are just right for my taste.


Ingredients


1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 bananas, mashed
1/4 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup wheat bran
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup dates cut into thirds

Directions
First preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a muffin pan, I really like those soft silicone ones.
 In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and brown sugar together until fluffy. Add bananas, milk, vanilla and eggs; mix well. Stir in flour, bran, baking powder, soda and salt; blend just until moistened. Stir in walnuts and dates. Pour batter into prepared muffin cups.
Bake at 375 degrees F   for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Cool in the cups for 5 minutes, then remove muffins and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

Salmon Filets with a Ginger Glaze

I was looking for something a bit different for some salmon filets the other night and came across this recipe which I thought was very tasty.

A great catch from north of Cambell River

Mix up the following

3 TBSP grated Ginger
3 TBSP honey
1/4 cup Hoisin sauce
2 TBSP Dijon mustard
2 TBSP lime juice
(don't add salt, there is more than enough in the hoisin sauce)

toasted Sesame seeds

Heat the oven to 450 degrees

Put the salmon filets in a baking dish, cover the top with a generous portion of the glaze and pop them in the oven

Cook them for about 8 minutes depending on thickness

Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and serve with some greens and rice

Olive Dip

Kalamata Olives

The last night we were in Vancouver we went to a Greek Restaurant just under the Dees Tunnel, then a bit north.

We went for the Mussels which were reported to be in the “to die for” category. 

They were out of mussels.

What we had instead was not memorable except for the olive dip. It was great. I savoured every bit trying to figure out how they made it.

I tried last night and I think I have it.

I was making Greek food for supper yesterday so I first made hummus. (For those who have my   We Love to Cook With Wine cookbook, it is on page 11) Then I took about ¾ of a cup of pitted kalamata olives,  1 Tbls of olive oil and ¼ cup of the hummus and pureed it all in a blender.

Serve with warm pita. If you like olives, you'll love it.

Tourtiere

I love this traditional Quebec recipe or, perhaps I should say my compilation of several old Quebec recipes. We serve it around Christmas.

Ingredients:

1 pat butter
1 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup celery leaves chopped
2 large onions finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 kilo of ground pork or mix other ground meat with the pork such as beef or perhaps a bit of chicken
1 cup water
1/2 cup parsley chopped
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
2 heaping tsp dried savory
Salt & pepper
Pastry for 2 or 3 double crusted 9 inch pies

In a large saucepan, saute the celery, onions and garlic with a good sized pat of butter. When the onion is transparent add the meat and the water and simmer until it begins to brown.
Add the salt, pepper cloves, cinnamon, savory, celery leaves and parsley, then stir.
Simmer for about half an hour adding a bit more water if needed.
Correct the seasoning at this point if necessary.
Pour off the fat and let the mixture cool.
Add the mixture to the pie shells and cover with pastry cutting a few slits into the top crust. I ofter cut in a Christmas tree design.
At this point you can either pop them into a 400 degree oven or freeze them.
If you decide to cook them now they will take about 30 to 40 minutes - a bit longer if they are frozen - in either case cook them until the pastry is browned.
Serve hot or cold.

Chicken with Rosemary, Sherry and Lemon

I tried a new chicken recipe the other day and although it was meant for a roast chicken, and I used a couple of chicken legs it was very good, if not what the original recipe intended.

Ingredients

2, 3 or 4 chicken legs with the backs removed
the juice on 1 lemon
1 lemon thinly sliced
1 medium onion thinly sliced

Marinade

3 Tbsp of Dijon mustard
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp cayenne pepper
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
1 Tbsp sherry or port
2 or 3 Tbsp fresh chopped rosemary (dried if you can't get fresh)

Sauce

1 1/2 ounces sherry or port
1/4 cup whipping cream

Cooking Instructions

In a small bowl combine all the ingredients for the paste (You could whip it all together with a hand held blender if you have one.)
Rub the marinade into the chicken legs gently pushing some under the skin where you can.
Put it all in a plastic bag and leave in the fridge for at least an hour

Preheat the oven to 350
Take a small roasting pan, put the onion and the lemon slices in the pan and place the chicken on top. Squeeze out any marinade left in the bag and make sure the chicken is evenly covered with it.
Pour the lemon juice over the chicken.
Put it in the oven.

Cook for about 45 minutes or until the chicken seems done.
Take the chicken out of the pan and keep warm.
While the chicken rests, place the roasting pan on the stove and heat the pan juices. add the sherry or port and bring to a boil. Scrape the pan bottom with a wooden spoon loosening the bits.
Turn the heat down and add the whipping cream. Stir until it thickens a bit.

Serve the chicken with some sauce poured over the top.

Yum!

Lamb Shanks with five Heads of Garlic

There already is a lamb shanks recipe here somewhere I think but I tried a new one yesterday and thought I'd share it. I like it because as a lazy cook I am always looking for shortcuts. You have to braise this lamb first, it braises in the oven really, which is fine with me.
The recipe is from the Aragon region of Spain.
If you are not a garlic fan, move on to something else. If you are, this smells great while it is cooking and tastes delicious.

3 or 4 lamb shanks
Coarse sea salt and freshly ground pepper
1 large or 2 medium onions cut into wedges
2 carrots peeled and cut into chunks
1 head of garlic separated into cloves and peeled, then lightly smashed
4 heads of garlic with the outer skin removed
Olive oil
3 large rosemary sprig
3/4 cup white wine
About 1 1/2 cups of chicken stock

Pre-heat the oven to 475 F

Brushs the lamb with olive oil then rub the lamb with salt and pepper.

Take out your heavy cast iron pot or dutch oven with a lid (If there is no lid tin foil will do in a pinch) and put the onions, carrots and garlic in the bottom of the pot. Pour in a bit of olive oil and stir them up until they are coated. Season with a bit of salt and pepper. Place the shanks on top of the vegtables then tuck in the heads of garlic and the rosemary between the shanks. Brush everything with a bit more olive oil then put the pot into the oven uncovered.

At the 25 minute point check to make sure the vegetables at the bottom of the pot are not starting to burn. If they are add a little water. Bake the shanks for about total of 45 minutes at 475 F.

After 45 minutes take out the pot and turn the heat down to 425. Add the wine and the stock until the cover the shanks and the heads of the garlic about half way. Cover the pot with a tight fitting lid and pop it all back into the oven.

Bake the lamb shanks for about 2 more hours turning them a couple of times during this period.

Move the shanks, vegetables, garlic heads and all onto a serving platter. The pan juices are ready to go and serve as a delicious gravy. It they are thinner than you like reduce them on the stove top.

Serve with a fresh vegetable and potatoes.