BBQ for one

Despite my love of cooking, I have never really used a BBQ. I find them intimidating and it doesn't help that the one we have access to is in the middle of the courtyard of our building, where everyone can watch me singe my eyebrows. This weekend Chris went away and I was craving a nice steak. I walked down to our butcher and after explaining that I didn't want something I'd have to marinate I left with a beautiful 1.5 lb piece of Flat Iron steak and the goal of finally tackling the BBQ.

Flat Iron steaks are great because they're not super expensive but they're extremely tender and don't require any marinating. In the past we've splurged on dry-aged rib-eye but at $40 or more for two steaks, it's not something we like to do often-- and it's really not necessary. All I did was season the steak with salt and pepper, grill it for 4 minutes on each side on med-high, and let it rest for 10 minutes and it turned out a perfect rare. Maybe a little closer to medium-rare, but pretty close. Make sure that when you cut your meat you always cut it against the grain. This is really important because the way you cut your meat will decide if you serve your guests chewy meat or a juicy and tender steak.

I made a delicious greek salad to go along with my steak and sweet potato fries. And for those of you who think I ate all the steak at once...I didn't. I had lots of leftovers and they were delicious even two days later.

Here is the greek salad recipe (from Cooks Illustrated):

Vinaigrette

3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice from 1 lemon
2 teaspoons minced fresh oregano leaves
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1/8 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 medium clove garlic, pressed through garlic press or minced (about 1 teaspoon)
6 tablespoons olive oil

Salad

1/2 medium red onion, sliced thin (about 3/4 cup)
1 medium cucumber, peeled, halved lengthwise, seeded, and cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices (about 2 cups)
2 hearts romaine lettuce, washed, dried thoroughly, and torn into 1 1/2-inch-pieces (about 8 cups)
2 large vine-ripened tomatoes (10 ounces total), each tomato cored, seeded, and cut into 12 wedges
1/4 cup loosely packed torn fresh parsley leaves
1/4 cup loosely packed torn fresh mint leaves
6 ounces jarred roasted red bell pepper, cut into 1/2 by 2-inch strips (about 1 cup)
20 large kalamata olives, each olive pitted and quartered lengthwise
5 ounces feta cheese, crumbled (1 cup)

INSTRUCTIONS:

1. Whisk vinaigrette ingredients in large bowl until combined. Add onion and cucumber and toss; let stand to blend flavors, about 20 minutes.2. Add romaine, tomatoes, parsley, mint, and peppers to bowl with onions and cucumbers; toss to coat with dressing.3. Transfer salad to wide, shallow serving bowl or platter; sprinkle olives and feta over salad. Serve immediately.

Some pics for your viewing pleasure:

Mayo

I called my mom this afternoon for one of our usual 3x weekly FaceTime conversations. They usually start-- and she can attest to this-- with me complaining about something, and then I ask her how she is and she says "fine", and then I rant about something else, we laugh, I force her to tell me I am her favourite, she refuses, and then she nags me about something to bring me back to reality. Lately the 'nagging' (if you could even call it that) is about the fact that I need to pick a logo for my business so that I can get this show on the road. Most of you know that I am having a really hard time doing this, and although I like to think of myself as someone who knows her likes and dislikes, it's hard for me to choose a favourite when I'm choosing between things that I love! Now I know how my mother feels... Anyway, today I was double-nagged because I haven't posted on my blog in a quite a while. The truth is: I am always cooking, I love it. But much of what I cook I can't publish because the recipes aren't mine, and unless I found them on the internet I don't feel right publishing them.

HOWEVER, as you can tell from the title of this post, I do have a recipe of sorts to share with you. I would like to take a minute to talk about how easy it is to make your own mayo and how we should all be doing it rather than buying that stuff in jars. I hesitated to write that last sentence because I'm sure I've now alienated my entire audience for one of 3 reasons. Either you...

1. Already make your own mayo and you're insulted that I assumed you didn't.
2. Don't make your own mayo because it doesn't seem easy and you're intimidated by it and you're insulted that I said it was easy.
3. Have made your own mayo but it wasn't easy and you think I was talking down to you.

I can somehow put myself in all three of those categories at one point or another in my life. I put off making mayo for a long time because it seemed hard and I was scared to waste an egg and (A LOT OF) oil. Then, the one time I did try it I used olive oil because I was trying to be healthy and it was awful because olive oil turns very bitter when you mix it so much, and my mayo 'broke' and turned into liquid. THEN, I turned to author-turned-chef Mark Ruhlman for the essential how-to of mayo and I am now a mayo convert. It was so easy. Trust me. The store-bought stuff is full of all sorts of strange ingredients and once you see how easy this is, you'll be a convert too.

Growing up my mother would make mayo from time to time. I never saw the process and to be honest the idea of a glob of oil and raw egg, however delicious, kind of grossed me out. We used to dip asparagus in it and I have fond memories of warm summer nights eating cold asparagus spears from the garden dipped in fresh mayo. The memories are more fond now though. At the time I really don't think I liked mayo. Also, did you know that it's rude to cut your asparagus and eat it with a knife and fork? Yes you heard it here first, eat asparagus with your fingers. My Uncle, Charlie told me that and he is really polite so he's probably right. So you pick up the whole spear with your fingers and (without dangling it over your mouth) you take a bite.

Back to mayo:

Aside from being delicious, I also like mayo because I am egg-white intolerant but not egg-yolk intolerant. This means that I can't have meringues (for the time being), but I can have lots of mayo. Lots and lots of it.

I recommend making your mayo with a hand blender if possible. You can use a whisk but it's more likely your mayo will break and its a lot more work (see alienation reasons #2 and #3). Don't use olive oil as it will get super bitter. I used grape seed oil and it worked wonderfully. You can also use canola oil but make sure it's organic (GMO's!!).

Ingredients:

1 t water
2 t lemon juice
1/2 t kosher salt (not iodized salt..)
1 large egg yolk
3/4 cup - 1 cup oil

Put the water, lemon juice, salt, and yolk in a glass 2-cup measure. Buzz it a few times to combine. Gradually pour the oil in a steady stream while you lift the blender up and down to ensure that it all blends. You'll know it's done when... it looks like mayo! It should hold its shape really well. You could probably turn over the measuring cup and it would still hold its shape. Once you're done you can use your mayo for all kinds of things. I added chipotle pepper to mine and used it as a dipping sauce for sweet potato fries. Chris used some on his burger. Just make sure that you immediately refrigerate any that you don't use. It's is raw egg after all.

Enjoy!

We Make-a Da Pasta

Last Thursday my cousin Andrea and I went to 'our' Nonna Luisa's house to learn how to make her famous lasagna. Technically Louisa isn't related to us, but I should point out that my cousin (who is 27) was devastated to find out only a few years ago that we aren't actually related to Luisa. She has been around our entire lives, at every family function, and we all assumed that in some capacity we were related. And we might as well be. To clarify, Luisa is actually the mother of our second cousin Serena's husband, Frank. Somehow I also find it hard to believe that she isn't some third grandmother that is blood related but the first clue should have been that she is Italian and we aren't... 

Luisa is so full of life, and joy. She grew up in Northern Italy, and after meeting her husband and marrying him at 18 years old (!!!) she moved to Canada where she lived in Montreal, and eventually moved to Toronto to be closer to her son and his wife and kids. Luisa is a sweet woman who only wants to soak up all the goodness that life has to offer. She told us she has no time for people who don't bring joy into her life ("we are so lucky we can choose our friends"), and fair enough because she brings so much joy into the life of others. She is about 5 feet tall and a ball of energy-- I loved watching her zip around the kitchen as she checked on the ragout and sipped on her lemon water.

We shared a lot of stories but one of my favourites was when she told us that for years she put off having children until one day she came home from the doctor, worried she would never be able to conceive. When she told her husband why she was upset he just looked at her and said "You want a baby? You should-a just ask! I give-a you a baby!" Luisa talked a lot about her husband who, according to her was a perfect gentleman. So perfect that she had to stop talking about him too much to her friends because they stopped believing her. Every time she talked about her husband her face lit up and it was so nice to see how much happiness he brought her, even in her memories. We looked at old pictures, drank wine, drank champagne ("Its-a your birthday tomorrow! I don't have-a champagne but I have-a spumante!!"), ate our lasagna, bread, cheese, fruit, cookies (including crostata), tea, espresso, salad.... more cookies... And don't even try to say no thank-you to a Nonna, they won't let it happen. Prepare yourself that when you go over you eat and drink. This is not a place to go to when you're trying to diet.

Luisa was the most gracious host, answering all our questions and even putting up with our constant iPhone photography. She had music playing and cookies set out for us upon arrival. When we left, she held our coats up for us so that we could put them on. It was such a special day and I had so much fun. Luisa says we're lucky because we get to choose our friends, so we should choose people who make us happy. I know we don't get to choose our family but if I could I would still choose my own anyway. I'm so glad Andrea and I were able to share this special day with Luisa, it is a day I will never forget.

grating a lot of parmesan

making ragout (butter, olive oil, beef, veal, pork, bacon, carrot, celery, garlic, onion)

stir stir stir

before adding tomatoes 

ohhh just tossing in a stick or two of melted butter...

Mooch learns how to roll out fresh pasta dough

Luisa shows us how to cut it before we put it through the press

After one round through the press. It goes through many times after.

cooking the noodles 5 at a time

The ragout is complete!

Building the layers. 

Adding milk to the roux for our béchamel sauce

Yes those are pats of butter on top of the béchamel sauce...

time to eat!!

For those of you looking for a recipe... Luisa doesn't cook with one, and didn't have measurements to give us, except for the noodles: for every 100grams of flour you need one egg. If you're making spinach pasta replace one egg with a fistful of cooked spinach from which you've squeezed all the excess liquid. Drier pasta is easier to work with than wet pasta so don't add water unless you absolutely have to. Use a mixture of about 2 lbs beef with 1lb veal and 1 lb pork..and add some bacon to that as well. You can never have too much butter. Add nutmeg to your béchamel. Drink a lot of wine and spumante. Enjoy your meal with loved ones, and make sure you're always having fun.

Mangia! 

What I've been up to...

Woah woah woah, where has time gone? Don't think that my absence from the blog means that I have also been absent from the kitchen. Au contraire mes amis, we've been cooking up a storm over here! Here are some of the things we've been cooking and eating lately (I have a couple recipes to post later this week):

Roast Chicken with sumac, za'atar, and lemon.

Same chicken but with the parsley garnish

Spicy Moroccan carrot salad

Rosemary, Urfa papper, and olive Focaccia

Roasted vegetables with caper vinaigrette

Marinated kale salad with shaved parmesan

Smashed warm potato salad with grainy mustard and caper dressing

Whole roasted branzino with lemon, thyme, and rosemary

More roasted veggies and vinegar braised chicken with onions (the chicken was way better than it appears)

So, that's some of what we've been up to around here. If you follow me in instagram some of these photos are repeats because I've been posting food on my personal account (@marciawickett), but hopefully soon I'll be making a 'food-only' account and when I do I hope you all follow it!

TACO NIGHT!

We had tacos on Friday. I haven't made tacos with ground beef in years. I don't know why but Taco Night feels so retro to me....

We had our tacos with home-made guacamole, lettuce, cheese, and store-bought salsa. We love the salsa by Mad Mexican. Their guac is amazing as well but I had all the ingredients for it at home so I made my own. The beef was really easy to make, and full of flavour. Here's the recette:

Beef Tacos

1 lb lean grass-fed ground beef
2 tsp olive or coconut oil
1 small onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tb ground chili
pinch ground chipotle chili
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 tsp. ground coriander
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 T cocoa powder
salt, to taste
black pepper, to taste
1/2 small can tomato paste
1/2 cup water
2 tsp. vinegar, either red wine or apple cider

8 taco shells  (we like the organic Alba Lisa brand)
shredded cheese
guacamole
salsa (we used Mad Mexican fresh salsa)
cilantro
shredded lettuce
sour cream, crema,  onions etc.

Heat oil on medium heat and add onions. Cook until translucent, then add garlic and spices, with a couple pinches of salt. Stir until spices are fragrant, about 1 minute. Add beef and gently break it up with a spoon. Try not to constantly stir it, you want it to properly brown (this is where you'll get a lot of nice flavour).  Once the meat is cooked stir in the water, vinegar and tomato paste. Gently simmer on low until the liquid has evaporated. Taste, and add salt and pepper as needed. Serve immediately!

The beef was great-- so many different flavours. We forgot to put the guacamole on first, so my only advice is to remember to put it on the bottom or you'll have to put it beside the meat and it will look ugly. Enjoy!

I went public

Just a quick post to say I made the blog public because so many people were having a hard time logging in and so I thought, why am I hidinggggg??

Chris Makes Dinner

In the 4+ years that we’ve been together, Chris has made me dinner about 3 times. It’s not that he refuses to cook, but since I enjoy cooking so much, he doesn’t usually find himself in the kitchen unless he's hovering over a pot of noodles and cheese (from a box). He isn’t a bad cook either— Chris has a few specialties: eggs cooked perfectly over easy….aaaannndd….I just asked him what his other specialties are and he said he doesn’t have any. 

I’ve mentioned before that I love to grocery shop. I try to leave Chris out of it because he doesn’t enjoy it as much as I do and frankly, bringing him along can ruin the experience for me. I like to stop, read the labels, compare brands, and this drives him crazy. Chris likes to get in and get out. HOWEVER, sometimes when I’m trying to teach him a lesson in responsibility (ha!) I make him come with me. Take this weekend for example. On Friday night we went out for pizza (delicious) and had a pretty low-key night. On Saturday my friend Emily took me out for dinner, and Chris went out with his friends. Emily and I were back at the apartment by 11:30, sweatpants on, drinking wine, hanging my new artwork, and dancing to Beyonce’s song, Drunk In Love (“we woke up in the kitchen saying how the hell did this S*** happen, oh baby…druuuunk in looovee!!!” seriously such a good song I love Beyonce). Meanwhile, on the other side of town Chris is doing ‘guy things’ such as beer pong, telling bad jokes, and sports stuff. Anyway, yadda yadda yadda I go to sleep, his night goes on and eventually it’s Sunday morning and he is not feeling so hot. I had planned on getting groceries anyway and wanted him to come along so we could have some QT (quality time). Chris was not into this idea in the slightest. I can’t say that I didn’t see this coming but to be honest the guy works so hard all week, and I don’t blame him for wanting to let loose. And I would be lying if there haven’t been times that I’ve texted him and said “OMGGG I’m having the BEST NIGHT EVER” and he rolls his eyes because he knows I’m going to regret it the next day. I think that’s one of the funnier parts of our relationship because we know each other well enough to predict how things are going to turn out for the other person before they realize it.

ANYWAY, Sunday was one of those days and he had to opt out of grocery shopping. Being the kind person that he is, he felt really bad for leaving me with our one chore of the weekend, so he promised to make me dinner on Monday night. I hesitated to say yes because I didn’t know how it would turn out and considering his first suggestion for dinner was a BBQ chicken grilled cheese that he saw on food gawker, I don’t think I should be blamed for not immediately jumping at the opportunity. After I talked him down from that ledge, we settled on a creamy pasta dish with mushrooms, and a caesar salad with home-made dressing. For the record it’s not that I wouldn’t want the grilled cheese but since this is time #4 that he’s making me dinner I need to take advantage and get something a little more luxurious out of it. 

As I head out the door I tell him to text me the ingredients so I can pick them up at the store. 10 minutes go by and I receive this text: 

Chris: For the pasta: shell pasta, button mushrooms, red bell pepper, onion, garlic, parsley, basil, flour. 

Me: I don’t know the amounts we need.

Chris: one pepper one onion. Pack of mushrooms. Pack of pasta.

Me: haha..the pack sizes vary. I’ll figure it out.

Chris: Haha sorry. I suck. For the salad: one head of romaine, red wine vinegar, Worcester sauce, parmesan. 

Hmm….just let that marinate for a bit. My favourite part of this exchange is that he acknowledges that he is giving me a terrible list of groceries but he doesn’t try to text me the actual amounts for the salad either. I had to laugh. Also, if you’ve ever made caesar salad before you’ll notice one glaring omission…ANCHOVIES!! He says he left them off the list because he doesn’t like them (except I know he does because he likes caesar salad), but anchovies are essential to a good caesar dressing, are they not?? Don’t be scared of the harmless little anchovy. They are so delicious and add such great flavour to dishes such as: caesar salad, puttanesca, and pizza. So without further ado, here is the dinner I was treated to! I have attached the recipes on the bottom with links. 

PS. we ended up going out to get Anchovies on Monday but since it was a holiday we really had to hunt them down. Chris and I drove up the street and I ran into stores to ask if they had them. When I finally found a jar, I ran out of the store with such excitement that I tripped on a loose brick and went flying across the sidewalk. It was one of those times when you know you're going to fall and there's nothing you can do about it so you just do your best to tuck and roll. When I got to the car Chris asked me if I fell because he said that one minute I was on one side of the sidewalk and the next I was all the way on the other side. Yikes. 


Chris cooking, with sardines in foreground:

Caesar Salad:

My contribution was some garlic bread:

The finished product all plated up:

The pasta was great but we made a few changes: we used rice pasta and doubled the amount of noodles. The recipe doesn't actually make that much and the directions kind of suck but the finished product was pretty good.

You can find the pasta recipe here
You can find the caesar salad recipe here
You can find the garlic bread recipe here

ENJOY!