I decided the first recipe I’d try would be the Red Wine Risotto. I love risotto in the winter; it’s such a comfort food, and this particular recipe is vegetarian-friendly with only a small modification. I decided to add some cremini mushrooms to mine to make it more of a meal.

Verdict? Really tasty. Rich loved it so much that he wanted to take the leftovers for work the next day. I also wanted the leftovers for work. Next time I think I’ll make a double batch.

Red Wine Risotto with Peas – Original recipe from Giada’s Family Dinners, lightly modified by me

* 3 1/2 cups vegetable broth
* 3 tablespoons unsalted butter
* 1 cup finely chopped onion
* 2 garlic cloves, minced
* 1 cup arborio rice, or medium-grain white rice
* 1/2 cup dry red wine
* 1/3 cup frozen peas, defrosted
* 3/4 cup sliced cremini mushrooms
* 1/4 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley leaves
* 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, plus additional for garnish
* Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Bring the broth to a simmer over medium-high heat. Cover the broth and keep it warm over very low heat.

Melt the butter in a heavy large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until translucent, about 8 minutes. Stir in the garlic and saute for 30 seconds. Stir in the rice and cook for about 2 minutes until the rice is toasted. Add the wine and stir until it is absorbed, about 1 minute. Add 3/4 cup of hot broth; simmer over medium-low heat until the liquid is absorbed, stirring often, about 6 minutes. At this point, add in your mushrooms.

Continue adding 3/4 cup of hot broth 3 more times, stirring often, about 15 minutes. Add the remaining broth and simmer until the rice is just tender and the mixture is creamy, about 5 minutes longer. Stir in the peas and parsley. Add the 1/2 cup of Parmesan. Season, to taste, with salt and pepper. Spoon the risotto into bowls. Sprinkle additional cheese over and serve.

The original recipe is here, and my slight modifications are listed below.

Banana Brownies

The recipe called for ingredients that I really like: fennel, red peppers, feta, and squash, flavoured with lemon and sage and all put into a phyllo pastry crust. However, when put together, the recipe was just ok. Rich and I both enjoyed the flavours, but found the phyllo wasn’t sturdy enough to stand up to the filling; even served cold from the refrigerator, the vegetables all came tumbling out of the crust when served. We also found the recipe to be lacking in protein. It appears that the tart was intended to be served as the main course of a vegetarian dinner, but while the flavours were nice, it left us feeling hungry again soon after.

To modify the recipe, I would probably start with a healthy crust made from whole wheat flour, one that can stand up to the heavy vegetables inside the tart. Or, I would use the phyllo and make little individual bundles and bake until golden brown. Also, as we both found the dish to be a bit heavy on the fennel, I’d probably use only half of what the recipe asks for, and substitute in some other vegetable: some sweet onion would be good, or maybe some crunchy asparagus. I’d also serve it with a nice protein source next time. For vegetarians, grains, beans or tofu would all be easy choices and would pair nicely with the tart. For non-vegetarians, chicken would pair well with the sage flavours of the tart.

Here’s the unmodified recipe, if you’d like to try it for yourself:

Roasted Garlic Vegetable Tart

Yield: 6
INGREDIENTS:

1 head of garlic
1 cup canola oil (for making garlic oil. You don’t use all of it in the recipe.)
6 cups peeled and diced butternut squash
Salt and pepper
1 x red bell pepper, diced
1/2 heads sliced fennel
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh sage
Finely grated lemon zest
3 sheets phyllo pastry
4 ounces feta cheese

DIRECTIONS:

1. For roasted garlic oil, preheat oven to 375 F. Peel garlic cloves and place in a baking dish. Cover with oil, stir to coat, and cover dish. Bake until garlic cloves are golden, about 40 minutes. Let cool.
2. Toss squash with 3 tbsp garlic oil and season lightly. Bake squash, covered for 15 minutes at 375 F, then uncover and reduce temperature to 350 F, and bake until tender, about 20 more minutes.
3. Toss cooled squash with diced red pepper, sliced fennel, sage and lemon zest. Season to taste.
4. To assemble tart, increase oven temperature back to 375 F. Spread out 1 sheet of phyllo (keeping other sheets covered). Brush lightly with garlic oil and lay another sheet over. Continue layering remaining phyllo sheets, brushing with garlic oil between each layer. Fold phyllo in half lengthwise and gently lift and place in an non-greased rectangle (4-x- 10 inch) removable-bottom tart pan. Spoon squash filling into tart shell and crumble feta over. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until phyllo is a rich brown.
5. Serve tart warm or at room temperature.

Regardless of how light the recipe is, I do have to say it was tasty! I loved the flavours of the cake, and it was nice and moist. I’d probably make it again, although I might skip the glaze, since it mostly just dripped off the sides.

I changed the original recipe as follows: fat free vanilla yogurt instead of full fat, skipped the apple butter (I didn’t have any) and just used a little extra yogurt instead, and used a combination of spices in the glaze instead of ‘pumpkin pie spice’: cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, anise.

As well, I don’t have a bundt pan, so I just made a loaf out of it. In order to get the swirls looking so nice, I just layered the batters. Simply do a small layer of vanilla, then chocolate, then repeat until all the batter is gone.

The recipe is available over at the foodtv.ca blog.

I figured chocolate mousse would be at least slightly difficult to make. In reality it was actually pretty easy! You start with good quality chocolate (I opted for Poulain Noir, which has 76% cocoa) and melt it in a double boiler. Then you whip your egg whites to soft peaks, add in sugar, and then continue whipping to meringue consistency (stiff peaks). After that, take your egg yolks and whisk in your alcohol (I used Grand Marnier, the recipe recommended Cointreau), then add in the chocolate, and finally fold everything into the egg whites. It was actually that last step that was the most difficult; it was hard to get the chocolate folded in without it clumping. But I discovered it just takes a little patience and lots of gentle stirring!

A little whipped cream and shaved chocolate and this was ready for serving. If it were summer and fresh seasonal berries were available, I would have added those on top.

Recipe from the foodtv.ca blog.

Chocolate Mousse – makes 8 small or 4 larger servings

5 ounces dark chocolate
4 x egg whites
2 Tbsps sugar
2 x egg yolks
1 tsp orange zest
1 tbsp Cointreau

1. Melt the chocolate over a double boiler until smooth. Beat the egg whites to soft peaks, sprinkle the sugar, and continue beating until stiff peaks form.
2. Beat the yolks with the orange zest and Cointreau (or liqueur of your choice, I like Grand Marnier) in a bowl.
3. Whisk the chocolate into the yolks. Then, take a spoonful of the whites and fold it into the chocolate mixture. Pour that into the remaining whites and fold gently to combine evenly. Pour the mousse into a serving bowl. Wrap well in plastic and refrigerate for at least a few hours. Serve topped with whipped cream, chocolate shavings, and orange zest if you desire.

Anthony Sedlak’s Cottage Pie

Originally uploaded by nyxie.

This month’s recipe challenge was Anthony Sedlak’s Cottage Pie. For those wondering what a Cottage Pie might be, it is a Shepherd’s Pie made with beef instead of lamb. Still confused? Well, these days it is common for people to call any ground meat and potatoes pie a Shepherd’s Pie, but traditionally, only one made with lamb would have that name (Hence the Shepherd!). For more info, just read here.

Regardless of what you call this, Cottage Pie is either the ultimate in comfort food, or a childhood horror you’d rather forget. For me, who went vegetarian at the age of 13, it is more a comfort food thing; I didn’t eat much meat pie as a kid! For Rich, who had an English step mother for a few years, it is a bad childhood memory. He tells me his former step mother’s version contained unseasoned beef, bland potatoes, and corn. Doesn’t sound terribly appetizing, does it?

This version of the recipe is packed with flavour, unlike the recipes you might remember from childhood. I used vegetarian ‘ground round’ instead of meat for the main filling, and added in the vegetables as per the recipe. It was flavoured with thyme, bay, rosemary, tomato paste, vegetarian broth, and red wine. The potatoes were also well seasoned: garlic, milk, butter, Parmesan cheese, salt and pepper.

End result? Rich and I both really enjoyed it. It was the perfect meal after a long day of packing and sorting our apartment in preparation for moving day.

Seriously, make this.

This month’s cooking club recipe is for Nigella Lawson’s Chocolate Gingerbread Cake. Now, I love gingerbread and I love chocolate, so of course I was going to love this recipe, right?

The smell coming from the oven as the gingerbread baked was so heavenly. It made the whole house smell so nice. As some of you know, my husband and I are currently in the middle of moving to Toronto, and our apartment is being shown from time-to-time to prospective new tenants. If only they had shown the apartment while I was baking, it would have rented for sure.

Now, I’m going to be honest here. I was lazy. I didn’t pick up any parchment paper when I was at the store because I figured I could get by without it. If I spray the pan very well, surely the cake won’t stick, right?

Oh how wrong I was. As you can see from the photographic evidence, the cake stuck quite badly, causing it to fall out in big chunks. Luckily I managed to piece it back together somewhat decently so I could add the icing. I should know better by now that my pans are old and tend to make things stick, and also that if a recipe recommends using parchment paper, you should follow the instructions.

In spite of this mini disaster, I must say the cake is so delicious. I kept coming back to the pan for more bits and pieces of the broken stuff. The calories don’t count if it’s just from the broken bits, right?

In all seriousness, try the recipe. The ginger and chocolate combination is really satisfying and goes extremely well together. The icing seems strange at first, with ginger ale as an ingredient, but it really is the perfect topping for this cake.

Happy Holidays, everyone!

You might be wondering why I didn’t jump right in and make these as soon as the recipe was announced. Well, earlier this month I had some dental work, and I haven’t been able to chew much with my back teeth for several weeks — an unfortunate but expected side effect. However, my mouth has been doing better over the last few days, and there was no way I was going to skip baking one of my favourite treats!

I’ve actually used this recipe in the past, but couldn’t remember if I’d liked it or if it needed some modifications. I had originally planned to put something other than chocolate chips in the batter for some variety, but then life got in the way and I didn’t really have time for that. Instead, I made these the traditional way, with chocolate chips, and followed the recipe as written.

Verdict? Delicious! However, both Rich and I prefer a slightly more crisp and chewy cookie instead of a cakey one. This recipe makes a more cakey cookie, thanks to the addition of corn starch to the batter. As Anna Olson points out, if you like crispy cookies, just omit the corn starch and use baking powder instead of baking soda. If I use this recipe again, that’s exactly what I will do.

Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe from Anna Olson

But this month’s is different. Those who know me know that I was a vegetarian (lacto ovo) for eleven years, and only added fish back into my diet four years ago. However, I’ve recently found that I was lacking in the protein department, so I’ve added chicken to my diet as well, as of a month or two ago. That’s all fine and good; it was a personal decision and I only eat chicken once a week or every two weeks anyhow. It was more an issue of not knowing exactly how to prepare it properly, having not cooked it in so long! But I figured that now is as good a time as any to practice, and besides, that recipe looked very good.

Once at my local grocery store, I had trouble finding the ingredients for the recipe as written. Chicken was fine, as were blue cheese, shallots and arugula. But I was not able to find figs, fresh tarragon, or sherry vinegar. Not one to shy away from a culinary challenge, I decided to substitute peaches for the figs (as recommended on the foodtv.ca blog), fresh thyme for the tarragon, and balsamic vinegar for the sherry vinegar. Additionally, I don’t eat pork, so while I put some crispy pancetta on Rich’s version of the dish, I had to put something different on my own. I decided lightly toasted walnuts would complement the peaches and blue cheese nicely, and blend well with the dressing.

The verdict? This was very delicious and I’d be happy to make it again sometime. The dressing had a nice tang to it and really went well with the strong blue cheese, crunchy walnut pieces, peppery arugula and sweet peach slices. It was also surprisingly filling! You don’t tend to think of salad as being an entire meal, but this dish really was.

Until next month!

Batter Be Good To Me

Originally uploaded by nyxie.

So as you may recall, last month I made a grilled salmon and strawberry dish for the foodtv.ca cooking club. This month’s recipe is a bit less adventurous: pancakes. We already have a good pancake recipe in our household, but I decided to give these a try anyway. Besides, they’re from the book Eat, Shrink and Be Merry, which I’d heard about for ages as a good resource for delicious, healthy recipes.

The recipe had two components: the pancakes themselves, which contained fresh blueberries, and a strawberry-orange sauce. We picked up local blueberries and strawberries from a vendor in the Byward Market on Saturday, just so we could make these pancakes.

The verdict? The pancakes were very good. They took almost no time to make and had a fluffy texture with just the right amount of blueberries. They were also good and ‘hearty’ so you aren’t left feeling hungry after eating a few of them. The strawberry sauce, however, wasn’t as good as I’d hoped. I found it had too much orange flavour, which overpowered the light and sweet strawberries.

I’d probably make these again, but only if I’m craving blueberry pancakes. Otherwise I’ll stick to our tried and true standard recipe.

Recipe from foodtv.ca