Weekend Cooking - Roasted Fennel

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I haven't posted to Weekend Cooking in ages. However, when I tried this recipe last week (twice!! because it was so good), I just knew I wanted to share it. This recipe came on a tag with the fennel. It's so simple with only three ingredients.

Roasted Fennel with Parmesan

4 bulbs fennel
1/4 cup olive oil
1/3 cup shredded or shaved Parmesan

Preheat oven to 475ºF. Rinse fennel in cold running water. Trim tops and cut off base off bulbs. Cut crosswise into 1/2-inch slices. Arrange in even layer over bottom of 9x13-inch pan or roasting pan. Drizzle with oil and toss to coat fennel. Roast, stirring occasionally, until fennel is just beginning to get tender, about 30 minutes. Scatter cheese over fennel and return to oven for another 10 minutes. Makes 4-6 servings.

Until now, I thought fennel was just ok. Now, I think it might be one of my favourite vegetables. With such a high oven temperature, it gets all caramelized and yummy. The cheese definitely makes the dish. I used a jellyroll pan (or as I call it a cookie sheet with sides) instead of the roasting pan as the recipe suggests.

Enjoy!

Have you tried fennel/anise before? If yes, what's your favourite way to cook it?

Weekend Cooking - Potato Pancakes

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I love potato pancakes. This recipe uses leftover mashed potatoes instead of shredded potatoes (as in latkes). I adapted it from "Potato Bacon Scones" in "Simply Scones" by Leslie Weiner and Barbara Albright. My version contains more good fat (olive oil) and less bad fat (bacon and bacon drippings) than the original recipe. It's just as yummy!

Potato Pancakes

1 cup leftover mashed potatoes
1/4-1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1 large egg, beaten
1/4 cup flour
2 tbsps olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper

Mix the all of the above together. Preheat skillet. Add 1 tbsp oil olive to the pan. Using 1/3 cup measuring cup, drop mixture onto hot skillet, flattening the pancake slightly with a spatula. Cook 4-5 minutes on each side over medium/medium-high heat until pancakes are golden brown. Serve warm.

Yield: 4 pancakes

Another variation: For Sweet Potatoes Pancakes, use mashed sweet potatoes in place of the regular mashed potatoes; omit the cheddar; add a dash of nutmeg; all other ingredients the same. We like these even better than the cheese ones.

To make the original recipe: Omit cheddar cheese and olive oil. Cook 5 strips of bacon. Reserve drippings. Chop cooked bacon. Mix bacon and 2 tbsps of drippings in with other ingredients. Use 1 tbsp drippings for cooking pancakes, adding more if needed. Use 1/4 cup measuring cup for making pancakes. Makes 7.

Enjoy!

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Weekend Cooking - Kiss-the-Colonel-Goodbye Chicken

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Kiss-the-Colonel-Goodbye Chicken
Recipe By Geraldine Duncann

I really like this coating for chicken, but for me it'll never replace KFC chicken. They are just too different for one to replace the other. This one is still very tasty. Because of the chili powder, paprika and cinnamon, this coating is quite dark, especially after it's cooked.

I always make oven-fried chicken so I haven't actually used the recipe past "Shake off excess flour". I usually just put it in a 375ºF oven for 45-50 minutes (less for wings and boneless breasts) or until it's done.

My ingredient substitutions:
- instead of the minced garlic, I use 1 tsp of dried garlic powder. I like to make this ahead of time and store it until it's needed. I'm not sure how long fresh garlic would keep in this mixture.
- I hate cilantro, so I use 1 tsp dried parsley instead. Again, fresh parsley wouldn't last long.

I'm pretty sure I got this recipe from the Winnipeg Free Press. Anyway, here's the original recipe.

1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup fine bread crumbs
2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon cayenne -- or less, if desired
1/2 teaspoon coarsely ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 tablespoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon finely minced cilantro
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger -- scant
1 teaspoon dry mustard -- scant
1 tablespoon finely minced garlic
Salt to taste
1 frying chicken -- cut into serving pieces
Vegetable oil for Frying

In small paper bag, combine all ingredients except chicken and oil. Shake, add chicken pieces and shake to coat evenly. Shake off excess flour.

In large skillet over high heat, heat the oil but do not let it smoke. Add chicken pieces and fry until thoroughly browned on both sides, 5 or 6 minutes. Reduce heat to medium and continue cooking, turning occasionally for 12 to 15 minutes or until cooked through.

If you want the skin crisp, fry uncovered. If you want it soft, cover during cooking.

Drain chicken on paper towels and serve at once.



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Enjoy!

Weekend Cooking - Banana Muffins

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I've been making these muffins on and off for over 20 years and I'm still not tired of them. It's my standard recipe when I want muffins.
















Banana Muffins
3 bananas - very ripe
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup margarine - softened
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup water (1/4 - 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup walnuts

Topping:
1 tbsp white sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Prepare muffin tin.

Mash bananas. Add sugar, margarine, egg and vanilla. Beat well.

Combine flour, baking powder and baking soda. Add the banana mixture to dry ingredients and mix lightly.

Add enough water to make mixture moist. Fold in nuts. Fill muffin tins 2/3 full for small muffins (makes 12) or full for larger muffins (makes 9).

Mix white sugar and cinnamon together. Sprinkle on top of muffins.

Bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick stuck into the centre of a muffin comes out clean.

Variation: For a slightly different taste, add 1/3 cup unsweetened coconut (the baking kind) to the dry ingredients. Yum!

Enjoy!

Weekend Cooking - Lemon-Ginger Refrigerator Roll

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I love to bake so I don't usually go for these types of desserts that call for prepackaged items. However, my sister-in-law served this one to us over the holidays and we really enjoyed it. Since we are still painting/renovating our kitchen it's either a really easy dessert or no dessert. While my hips could go with no dessert, my sweet tooth isn't so sure. This recipe comes from the Kraft Kitchens hence it calls for their Kraft products. I used what I could find.

I've made this recipe twice now and noticed that I didn't have enough topping to frost the entire roll after assembling the cookie part. I must be putting more of the mixture between the cookies than is called for. My solution was to mix in more Cool Whip (at least another cup) before frosting the roll. Also, I didn't have a platter long enough to accomodate this so I made two logs, placed them side by side with a little of the topping inbetween them and then frosted the whole thing. The photo below doesn't do it justice. It tastes better than it looks.
















Lemon-Ginger Refrigerator Roll

1 pkg. (4-serving size) Jell-O Lemon Instant Pudding
1 cup cold skim milk
1-1/2 cups thawed Cool Whip Light Whipped Topping
30 Mr. Christie's Ginger Snaps Biscuits

Make It
BEAT pudding mix and milk in medium bowl with whisk 2 min. Stir in Cool Whip.
SPREAD about 1-1/2 tsp. pudding mixture onto each cookie. Stack cookies, standing on edge on platter to make log. Frost with remaining pudding mixture.
REFRIGERATE 8 hours. Cut diagonally into 12 slices to serve.

Kraft Kitchens Tips
Dessert needs to be refrigerated at least 8 hours before serving to allow the cookies to soften to the desired cake-like texture. If desired, dessert can be stored in refrigerator up to 24 hours before serving.

Enjoy!

Marie's "Not-So-Benedict" Eggs

I like Eggs Benedict, but I wanted to put something on the bottom besides bread. Also, I didn't want to go through the trouble of making my own hollandaise sauce. This recipe was adapted from a few different places.

Sauce
1/3 cup mayonnaise
1/3 cup sour cream
2 tsps Dijon mustard
1 tbsp lemon juice
dash cayenne pepper, salt and pepper
1 tbsp hot water

Mix all of the above in the top of a double boiler. Heat for about 8 minutes over simmering water, stirring occasionally. The sauce will thin out as it warms up. Thin with more hot water if necessary.

Polenta
2 cups water
1/2 cup cornmeal
1/2 tsp dried oregano (or your favourite herb. Tarragon goes great with eggs.)

Boil water. Whisk in cornmeal. Mix in oregano. Turn down heat and cook until done, whisking occasionally. About 5-8 minutes.

Other ingredients
Eggs (2 per person, poached)
Bacon (Canadian or side), cooked
Cheddar cheese, sliced

Assembly
Spoon out cooked polenta onto plates.
Top with slices of cheddar cheese, slices of bacon and finally the eggs.
Spoon sauce over eggs.

Enjoy!

I've made many variations of the above. Once I made a pizza version using turkey pepperoni and mozzarella cheese instead of the bacon and cheddar. It was yummy. I've also been thinking of using cooked spinach in place of the meat.

Weekend Cooking - Oven-Baked French Fillets

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I should be posting a recipe that's fit for Bloggiesta, but I already had this one typed in and formatted. I won't post a photo this time, because it's doesn't photograph well. After you read the recipe you'll see that it's white fish with a whiteish sauce and a whiteish topping. To top it off, I usually serve fish with rice, which is white. That is, unless I remember to put brown rice on an hour before I want supper ready, then it's beige...close to white. And for some reason that I have yet to discover, I've made cauliflower (more white) with this dish more often than not. I usually realize my "error" when we serve and everything on the plate is white. Since cauliflower is considered a green leafy vegetable and really, really good for you, I try not to stress about it too much. Anyway, here's the recipe:

Oven-Baked French Fillets (adapted from recipe sheet from my local fish store)
1 pound fish fillets (I use tilapia or basa)
1/2 cup light sour cream
2 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon dried tarragon
1/4-1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, grated or shredded

Place fish in a large oven dish. Loosely cover with foil.

Bake at 450ºF for 7 minutes (12 minutes if fish is frozen). It should be somewhat cooked, but not completely. Some translucency in the middle is good. I usually check after 5 minutes, then at 2 minutes intervals until it's done.

Drain off liquid.

Mix sour cream, mustard and tarragon together. Spread over fish and sprinkle with cheese.

Bake, uncovered, until cooked through and golden. About 8-10 minutes.

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Enjoy!

Weekend Cooking - Sunburgers

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For more information, see the
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This is my first entry for Weekend Cooking. I haven't made these in awhile, but they are one of our favourites.
















Sunburgers (adapted from Winnipeg Free Press 1/23/2008)

Patties:
1 1/2 cups TVP (textured vegetable protein)
1 1/4 cups boiling water
1 cup sunflower seeds (hulled)
1 cup sesame seeds
3/4 cup grated cheddar cheese
4-5 tbsp finely diced and sautéed sweet pepper (red, yellow or green)
1/4 cup oil
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup flour
Salt and pepper
Warm water (about 1 cup)

Lime dill garlic sauce:
1 cup mayonnaise
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tsp dill - dried (or 1 tbsp fresh)
1 tsp garlic - minced

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Prepare pan (cookie sheet) with either oil or baking spray.

Mix TVP with boiling water in a bowl. Let sit for 5-10 minutes. Meanwhile prepare the rest of the ingredients. After the allotted time give the TVP a quick stir, then mix in the remaining patty ingredients, gradually adding warm water at the end until the mixture is sticky enough to form solid patties. The mixture will be quite messy. Using a 1/2 cup measure, scoop the mixture onto a prepared pan. Use the back of the measuring cup to slightly flatten. The patties should be 3-4 inches wide. Bake for 10-15 minutes. Flip and bake for 10-15 more minutes. The longer bake time will result in firmer/crispier burgers.

To make the lime dill garlic sauce: mix the ingredients together adjusting the amounts to taste.

Serve the patties on toasted bagels spread with the sauce and your choice of accompaniments. In the photo, I used fresh spinach, cucumber slices, avocado, mozzarella cheese, and a cheddar-jalapeno bagel.

The above recipe will make 8-10 patties. They freeze well. To use after freezing: thaw burgers then lightly sauté until heated through. Serve as above.

Enjoy!

The Illustrated Cook's Book of Ingredients by DK Publishing

The Illustrated Cook's Book of Ingredients features information on over 2500 ingredients from meat and fish to vegetables and flavourings. It offers advice on how to buy, store, prepare and cook each of them for optimum results. The book also includes 200 classic recipes.

I really love this book. The variety of ingredients is outstanding. I love seeing the familiar and unfamiliar ingredients and love learning about their uses. I cook a lot, but I still found there were whole pages where all of the items were unfamiliar, such as the fish and sausages section; two ingredients that I have limited experience with. I even learned some new things about ingredients I use all of the time. For instance, did you know that you can eat rutabaga raw? I didn't.

The photographs in this book are large, stunning, plentiful, well labelled and annotated. This not only allows the reader to really get a good look at the ingredient, but it also gives them vital information about it. I found this particularly important. It will really come in handy if I have to hunt down a new ingredient at the grocery or speciality store.

I haven't made any of the recipes yet. I've been too busy learning about the new ingredients I've encountered. When I do make one, I'll likely start with one of the following: borscht (p. 215), baba ganoush (p. 261), riata (p. 239) or moussaka (p. 118).

The table of contents is a bit sparse and only lists the major section headings. The extensive index, though, more than makes up for it. I love that the recipe names are in italics. This makes them very easy to find. I also love that you can look up the recipes from the main ingredient or by the name of the recipe itself.

Highly Recommended. The next time I come across an unfamiliar ingredient (or a reference to it), this will be the first book I consult.

For more information about this book or to browse inside, please visit the DK Publishers website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at DK Canada for this review copy.

The Illustrated Cook's Book of Ingredients by DK Publishing, Dorling Kindersley (DK Publishers), ©2010. ISBN 9780756667306(format), 544p.

The Recipe Club by Andrea Israel & Nancy Garfinkel

In The Recipe Club: A Tale of Food and Friendship, Val and Lilly have been close friends for a long time. The two of them have shared many recipes over the years as the only two members of "The Recipe Club". However, a misunderstanding has left them estranged. As they try to reconnect, a long kept secret is finally revealed and once again their friendship is threatened.

I loved so many things about this book. First, the format. It's a little quirky as most of the story is told through letters going back and forth between Lilly and Val. I thought the style and the story were a good fit. Second, the recipes. I love to cook and am always pleased to find new recipes. This is especially nice when I find recipes in unexpected places, like in a novel. Third, the story. Val and Lilly had a falling out and openly shared their thoughts about that. I loved that it wasn't just a big love fest. I also loved that the story was unique and unpredictable. I had no clue where the story was going or where it was going to end up.

Having said all that, I didn't think the recipes went that well with the story. Mostly the recipes were mentioned as an aside or after thought in the letters. Although one of the characters was a caterer, she didn't do a lot of that in the story, so there was little or no connection there. In addition, some of the recipes were a little exotic for girls of that age. For example, Lilly sent Val a recipe for "Wild Duck with Cherry Orchard Sauce" (page 81). This was when they were thirteen-year-olds. This recipe would not at all have appealed to me when I was that age. Perhaps they were more sophisticated. Also, the "Turkish 'Cigarettes'" (page 67) calls for phyllo dough. Was that readily available in 1965? I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have been able to find it in our area.

I haven't made any of the recipes in the book, but I plan to. The "Cheerful Salmon Croquettes" (page 145) look promising. Also, the Turkish "Cigarettes" (with the above mentioned phyllo dough) sound wonderful.

Recommended.

For more information about this book or to browse inside, please visit the HarperCollins website or The Recipe Club website.

I'd like to thank those nice people at HarperCollins for this review copy.

The Recipe Club by Andrea Israel & Nancy Garfinkel, HarperCollins, ©2009. ISBN 9780061992193(Hardcover), 363p.

French Women For All Seasons by Mireille Guiliano

French Women For All Seaons: A Year of Secrets, Recipes & Pleasure is the follow-up book to the hugely popular French Women Don't Get Fat. While the first book focused on the basics for a more holistic approach to living and weight loss, this second books deals with refining the ideas and digging a little deeper into them. The material is presented by season and not only features recipes and menus, but also has advice in fashion, skin care, exercise, flower selection and much more. There are also a few standalone sections at the back: wine selection, entertaining, and French terms. Guiliiano combines all of the information with childhood memories and tons of "food for thought".

There are so many great things to love about this book. With a serene and Zen-like presentation, Guiliano takes the time to explains some of the basics from the first book for those of us who missed that one. That would include me, but more about that later. I especially loved her explanation of the 50% solution. Basically the idea is to only eat half of what's on your plate, then stop and reflect. If you aren't satisfied, eat half of what's left, and again stopping to check your level of satisfaction. I also loved that she stressed the importance of drinking water. I think I would die if I couldn't drink water and had to rely on other beverages. I *love* water. In case water doesn't thrill you, Mireille's also an advocate for drinking red wine daily (without skipping the water). I *love* Mireille.

Next up are the recipes all of which look quite easy to prepare. There are a few more complicated ones, but most of them are simple and nourishing. Sure there are a few more decadent looking ones, but that's where portion control or the 50% solution comes in. In addition, Mireille explains that when a French woman indulges, she compensates for it by eating lighter before or after her "treat". For the purposes of this review, I tried the Salmon with Fennel En Papillote on page 72. It was easy and delicious. Definitely something I'd make again. I loved the combination of ginger and lemon juice on the salmon and on the fennel. Even my husband commented on how good it was. The hard part is deciding which recipe to try next.

Along with the recipes, the author includes menus for a whole week for each season giving the reader ideas on how to put the recipes together with other foods for balanced eating. All of them looked delicious; I loved these.

I also loved all of the scarf ideas. From the sounds of it, the scarf is a major accessory for a French woman. She wouldn't be caught without one and would most likely own several. All of the ideas sounded fun and mostly easy to do. I had trouble following a few of them, but I think with practice and the correct scarf, I think I should be able to figure it out. I think I might try to incorporate a few of these ideas into my wardrobe.

All three chapters near the end of the book were fabulous. Here Guiliano explains wine and makes suggestions on pairings with different foods; includes recipes and ideas for entertaining; and gives the reader a French lesson explaining some of the terms she used in the book. Awesome!

Lastly there's an index at the back of the book which is extremely important to find all of those wonderful recipes as well as other information on living holistically.

I admit I haven't read the first book. The author suggests that you start with that one to "in order to achieve your point of stable equilibrium" and then progress to this second book. I love reading books in order, but in this case I decided to read this one first. Now, I'm really looking forward to obtaining and reading a copy of French Women Don't Get Fat. I can already tell I'm going to love it.

For more information about this book, please visit the Random House website. For more information about the author, her other book and plenty of other wonderful things including recipes, please visit Mireille Guiliano's website.

Highly recommended.

Update: This review can also be found on Edwards Magazine Bookclub.