Tasty Tangents

Food, life and other morsels

February 14, 2010
by admin
Comments Off on Happy Valentine’s Day!

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Sinful delights courtesy Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory

Sinful delights courtesy Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory

To everybody out there today, I encourage you to go out and buy yourself, or someone else, something delicious.

I was happily surprised after a long day at work to come home and find some sinfully delicious treats waiting; chocolate covered strawberries (which are my absolute favourite), chocolate and nut clusters and a German chocolate cake caramel apple. The last one consists of a caramel apple covered in chocolate, pecans and other nuts, chocolate and coconut.

So a big thanks to my folks, who are also celebrating their 40th wedding anniversary.

I guess what I’m trying to say is buy something sweet for a friend, for your big sister, or your uncle. Or buy something savoury if that’s what they prefer.

Just show someone out there you’re thinking about them, and not just today, but every day.

February 11, 2010
by admin
Comments Off on Pastel de tres leches

Pastel de tres leches

Tres leches cake

Tres leches cake

Recently we celebrated my sister’s birthday and as a surprise we picked up a ‘cake of three milks’ from her favourite Mexican restaurant, La Taquizza. It is truly heaven on a plate.

Made with condensed milk, evaporated milk and whipping cream, hence the name, it is a moist wonder. It is unlike any other cake. The closest thing I could compare it to is a fantastic Jamaican rum cake, only it’s completely different. It’s on my list of things to bake when I’m much braver, but in the meantime I recommend you try it if you ever get the opportunity.

Is there anything you would travel miles for? Or something you could eat all of to the point where you feel you’ll never eat it again?

February 3, 2010
by admin
Comments Off on Celery Root Soup

Celery Root Soup

Celeriac aka Celery Root

Celeriac aka Celery Root

Celery root or celeriac is a really strange looking root vegetable at the grocery store that’s all gnarled and brown and ugly. But if you’ve never picked one up, don’t be afraid! I hadn’t tried one until this past Thanksgiving. It has a wonderful, mild celery flavour that makes a mean soup or puree, among other things.

To start, use a sharp knife to trim all the tough, dirty rind from the root. Make sure you get all the gnarled parts or it will be tough. You’ll end up with something that looks kind of like an extra large potato. Cut it into about 1 inch cubes.

Combine the celery root with about 2 2/3 cup of chicken broth in a saucepot. Bring it to a boil and then reduce it to a simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until the root is tender. Next, blend the soup and add 1/2 cup cream (or milk for a lighter soup) and salt and pepper to taste. Ensure the soup is heated through after you add the milk.

Serve with a sprinkle of nutmeg.

Celery Root Soup

Celery Root Soup

January 28, 2010
by admin
Comments Off on Pasta salad

Pasta salad

Pasta Salad

Pasta Salad

Pasta salad is the kind of dish where you can throw in everything but the kitchen sink. We did end up with a delicious salad, but made one mistake, too much pasta! We were trying to empty the cupboard of half-used bags of pasta, but we went a little overboard. We figure we needed half the pasta and twice the dressing. Overall though the flavours were a great combination and I will definitely try the recipe a second time.

Ingredients:

1 package (500g) small bowtie pasta (not the three half-packages we used!)
2 green onions, both light and dark sections, sliced
1 large tomato, diced
1/4 cup fresh parsley, chopped
3 hard boiled eggs (8 minutes in boiling water will do it), diced
1/2 cup sliced green olives, roughly chopped
2 tbsp capers, roughly chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
Juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

Boil the pasta in salted water as per package instructions. Meanwhile, chop or dice all ingredients and toss in a big bowl with olive oil and lemon juice. Add drained pasta and toss to coat. Add salt and pepper to taste and additional olive oil if pasta is too sticky. Keep covered (that keeps it moist) and let cool to room temperature before serving.

Feel free to add any ingredients you love. I think sundried tomato, a crumbly cheese or other fresh herbs would all be delicious additions. I’m having it for lunch the day after with some tuna added to make it a full meal. The key here is to experiment until you find a recipe you love, and I promise it will become a signature dish.

January 25, 2010
by admin
Comments Off on Pizza Party

Pizza Party

So owing to the fact that we were running a little late Saturday afternoon, we opted for frozen pizzas that night. We baked three pizzas (though I bought extra to stock up, so thanks for the suggestions!) with toppings that I tried to match to requests.

We made a Dr. Oetker Ristorante Thin Crust Vegetable (Peppers, onion, tomato and cheese), McCain International Thin Crust Parisian (Bechamel sauce, seasoned chicken, mushrooms, spinach and bacon) and a McCain Premiere Traditional Crust Deli Lovers (Pepperoni, seasoned beef, Italian sausage and bacon).

My personal favourite was probably the Dr. Oetker, the variety of peppers give it a really nice kick, while the McCain Parisian was also delicious. My top two choices may have been because I love thin crust pizza.

It may have also helped that it was the least number of calories per serving. Per 1/4 pizza, the Dr. Oetker was 190 calories, the Parisian was about 260 calories and the Deli Lovers was 320 calories. The Dr. Oetker also had the smallest serving size, but a slice is a slice.

Any way you slice it (ha, ha) our pizza dinner was a success, paired with some chips, pretzels, crudites and Caesar and ranch dippings sauces for the pizza crust.