Vermicelli Bowl

Since Nick and I are no longer a 3 minute walk away from a Vietnamese restaurant (it's now 15 minutes - Ha!), I've been working on making something comparable at home.

Vermicelli Bowl

I've provided the instructions within each section, with assembly at the bottom. I suggest while you are marinading the meat, prepare the Nouc Cham, "Toppings", and salad portion of your bowl. Cook the meat, vermicelli noodles and spring rolls at the same time. This recipe makes enough for 2 bowls.

Meat
8 oz flank steak, cut into strips then pounded thin (or 2 chicken breasts, cut into strips)
3 green onions, minced
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 Tbsp cilantro, minced
1 tsp sugar
1 Tbsp fish sauce
1 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp lime juice

Combine all ingredients in a bowl. Marinade for at minimum 30 minutes (1 hour is best). In a hot skillet, cook meat with the remaining marinade. Fry until cooked through.

Bowl
250g  (1/2 pkg) vermicelli noodles, cooked and drained
2 cups iceberg lettuce, shredded
1 cup cucumber, julienned
1 cup carrots, julienned
4 spring rolls, cooked and sliced into 1 inch segments

Prepare salad (lettuce, cucumber, carrots) and set aside.

Cook vermicelli noodles in boiling water for approximately 8 minutes, until soft. Drain.

Cook spring rolls as per the instructions they come with (or make your own...I think this recipe is labor intensive enough though that it's okay to cheat with good store bought rolls).  

Toppings
2 green onions, sliced
1 Tbsp cilantro, minced
2 Tbsp peanuts, chopped

Combine in a bowl, and set aside. 

Nouc Cham (Dipping Sauce)
3 Tbsp lime juice
2 Tbsp sugar
1/2 cup water
2 1/2 Tbsp fish sauce
1 garlic clove, minced
1 Thai chili, thinly sliced (or a generous pinch of red pepper flakes)


Mix together the lime juice, sugar and water. Adjust to taste, so that the sweet and sour are balance. Add fish sauce to taste (this will depend on the potency of your fish sauce and your preference for saltiness). Add garlic and chili. Let sit.


Assembly: Place vermicelli noodles in a large bowl or shallow plate. Place salad and spring rolls next to vermicelli. Place meat on top of vermicelli and top with your "toppings."

Pour nouc cham over entire bowl, to your preference. A set of chopsticks, and you're ready to dig in.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Decent chocolate chip recipes are a bit of a rarity. Chef Michael Smith's recipe came very close to my ideal cookie, but I found them to be a bit dry. A slight modification and finally a recipe I can come back to again and again. Can't go wrong with this classic.

This recipe is rather small, about 20 cookies.


Chocolate Chip Cookies


3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chip
Preheat your oven to 375°F.

Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth. Add the egg and vanilla and continue beating until well combined.

Scrape down the bowl and add the flour, baking powder, and salt.  Mix until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Using a spoon, scoop out a ball of the dough and drop it onto a parchment lined cookie tray. Slightly flatten the balls, but leave lots of room in between to allow the cookies room to expand.

Bake for 13 minutes.


BONUS INGREDIENT: 1/2 cup of pumpkin seeds (pepitas) mixed in when you add the chocolate chips. Adds a wonderful subtle nuttiness and crunch to the cookies - and it makes them healthy, right?

Saskatoon Berry-Lime Frozen Yogurt

I might be the only person to crave frozen treats while it's -20 outside. This frozen yogurt was extremely simple - sweet and tart. 

Saskatoon Berry-Lime Frozen Yogurt

4 cups saskatoon berries

1 lime (zest and juice)

1/3 cup of water

1 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

4 cups balkan style yogurt (I prefer to use 6% fat but it's up to you)

In a food processor, process the saskatoon berries. Using a fine sieve (or cheesecloth), separate the juice from the pulp. Discard the pulp and to the saskatoon berry juice add the water, juice and zest of the 1 lime, sugar and vanilla extract.

Mix the juice with the yogurt. Process the yogurt in your ice cream maker - I have a kitchen aid ice cream bowl attachment and it takes about 15 minutes for the yogurt to set. Place in a container and chill in the freezer for at least 3 hours, for it to set completely. Then eat it all!

Pumpkin Cider Loaf

This is a great fall treat that I'm still making well into November. Definitely top it with your favourite cream cheese frosting.

Pumpkin Cider Loaf

1/2 cup apple cider (apple juice is fine too)
1 cup pumpkin puree
2 eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup grated apple
2 cups all-pupose flour (I have made this using 1 3/4 cup whole wheat flour too!)
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
dash of cloves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a saucepan, boil the cider until it is reduced to about 1/4-1/2 cup. Remove from heat and let it cool.

In a bowl or mixer, whisk together pumpkin, eggs, oil, brown sugar, grated apple, and the reduced cider.

In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients slowly, and mix to incorporate.

Transfer batter to a well greased loaf pan. Bake for an hour, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Pickled Carrots

Nick and I got married. As wedding favours, I made the pickled carrots my grandma has been making us since we were little. This was my first time pickling anything, and luckily no one died of botulism and I even got a few requests for the recipe. So here it is.

Pickled Carrots
(ingredients are per 1 pint jar of carrots)

2 garlic cloves, chopped
fresh dill, 2 sprigs
1 Tbsp pickling salt
1 tsp pickling spice
small carrots (from the garden are best) - enough to fit in the jar snugly 
1/4 cup boiling white vinegar
boiling water

In jar, place garlic, dill, salt, and spice. Fit in carrots.

Place boiling vinegar over carrots. Top with boiling water, up until the neck of the jar. Place on the lid. Within 24 hours, as the jar cools, the lid should seal firmly (you'll likely hear the "pop" sound when it does). If not, you can just put it in the fridge and it should seal.

The carrots should sit in the jars for at least 6 weeks before you munch on them (and are best eaten within the year).

Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

 This soup hits all the right notes. Great depth of flavour, and a pleasing texture you just don't get with store bought soups.

Roasted Red Pepper and Tomato Soup

6 large tomatoes, stemmed and quartered
2 red peppers, seeded, roughly chopped

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided

1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 whole head of garlic, peeled
salt 

ground black pepper
1 yellow onion, chopped

1 large handful of fresh basil leaves
2 cups vegetable stock

1 cup smoked Gruyere cheese

1 baguette, sliced

 

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the chopped tomatoes, peppers, 1/4 cup of the oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, salt, and pepper, to taste. Spread the mixture out on a parchment lined baking sheet. Roast the tomatoes and peppers in the oven until they are very dark in spots, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove and allow to cool a bit.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, combine remaining 1/4 cup oil, the onions, and a pinch of salt. Cook until the onions are very soft, 8 to 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the basil leaves and saute with the onions for about 1 minute.

Add the roasted tomatoes and peppers and vegetable stock to the saucepan. Bring the mixture to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Puree the tomato mixture with immersion blender.

Reheat until boiling then serve. Best if topped with smoked Gruyere and served with a great crusty bread for dipping.

Focaccia

This recipe is great, and quick as far as yeast breads are concerned. It comes from my Williams Sonoma Home Cookbook.

Focaccia

1 Tbsp active dry yeast
1 Tbsp sugar
1 1/2 cups warm water (40-46 degrees C)
1/2 cup olive oil, plus extra
1 1/2 tsp salt
4-4 1/4 cups bread flour
Coarse sea salt  (for sprinkling)

Variations
For onion focaccia: 1/2 cup chopped yellow onion in the dough, 1/4 chopped on the dough
For garlic-rosemary focaccia - 6 garlic cloves chopped and 1 tbsp chooped fresh rosemary in the dough, 2 chopped garlic cloves and 1 tbsp rosemary leaves on the dough
For herb focaccia: 1 tsp each rosemary, sage, basil, oregano in the dough, 1/2 tsp each on the dough
For olive-sun dried tomato focaccia: 1/2 cup chopped pitted olives and 1/4 cup chopped oil-packed sun dried tomatoes in the dough, 1/4 cup olives plus 2 tbsp tomatoes on the dough
For cheese focaccia: 1 cup parmesan, or asiago in dough, 1/2 cup on the dough

In a bowl, sprinkle yeast and a pinch of sugar over 1/2 cup of warm water and stir to dissolve. Let stand at room temperature until foamy, about 10 minutes. Add the remaining water, sugar, 1/4 cup of olive oil, salt, and 1 cup of the flour. Mix until combined, about 1 minute (if using mixer, paddle attachment on medium speed). Add another cup of the flour and mix, about 2 minutes ( paddle attachment on medium-low speed). Add in variation ingredients and mix in. (If using mixer, switch to dough hook). Mix in remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time until a soft shaggy dough forms that starts to pull away from the bowl (dough hook on low speed). Knead until moist, soft and slightly sticky, adding 1 tbsp at a time if the dough sticks too much, about 6 minutes. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rest for 20 minutes.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and brush the paper with oil. Turn the dough out onto the baking sheet and with oiled fingers, press and flatten the dough into a long oval that is an inch thick. Cover loosely with oiled plastic wrap and let rise at room temperature until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.

With your fingers, make indentations 1 inch apart all over the surface of the dough, almost to the bottom of the pan. Drizzle with the remaining olive oil, coarse salt and remaining variation ingredients. Let rise at room temperature for another 30 minutes.

Place the baking sheet and break in a 425 degree F oven and bake until lightly browned, about 20 minutes.

Serve warm or room temperature, cut into squares or wedges.