20-Minute Salmon and Salad

Free from dairy, nuts, peanuts, oats, mustard, egg, soy, wheat.

In the heat of summer the thought of being behind a hot stove is the last thing you want to do. But who wants to compromise on eating good food? Here's my recipe for crispy Atlantic salmon with a cucumber salad and avocado mayo. My brother and I are eating it right now! And I made it in under 20 minutes. Here's how...

Salmon

You'll need 1 portion of salmon (about the size of your fist) per person. Pat both sides of the fish dry with a paper towel and then season generously with salt and pepper. Heat up 1 tbsp. of good olive oil in a non-stick pan and place the salmon fillet in skin-size down. Cover with a splash guard if you have one because it will sizzle! Sear for about 5 minutes, or until crispy, then flip over and sear on the flesh side for another 7 minutes on medium-high heat.

Salad

Full disclosure here, I didn't come up with this recipe, I got it from Bran's mom. You can prep the salad while the salmon is cooking. Slice up 1 cucumber, mince one clove of garlic, and chop up about 1 tbsp. of dill. Add them all to a bowl and toss with salt, a drizzle of olive oil, and a drizzle of red wine vinegar. Mix well and set aside.

Avocado Mayo

Add 1 avocado, the juice of 1 lime, and some more chopped dill (about 1 tsp) to a blender or Magic Bullet and blend until creamy and smooth.

Serve 1 fillet of salmon, a scoop of salad, and a dollop of the mayo per person. Enjoy with a glass of white wine or lemonade. Yum!

Mands.

Behind the Scenes of a Food Photo Shoot {video}

Ever wonder how your favorite food photos are created? In this case it was with the use of an old grocery bag and a freshly prepared sandwich on homemade bread. See the full video below.

Pomegranate Salad with Saffron Dressing

Would you believe that this colorful, fresh salad was the product of a fridge clean-out? Sometimes letting fruit come to its full ripeness on your counter or sitting in the crisper can yield tasty results. See the recipe for this high-fibre side dish below.

Allergen Info
This recipe does not call for any dairy, nuts, peanuts, soy, or shellfish. It can be made gluten-free by excluding the mustard

Ingredients
1 large blood orange (any type of orange will work)
Seeds from 1 pomegranate
A few good handfuls of spring mix or your favorite baby lettuce
1 pinch of saffron
1/3 cup good extra virgin olive oil
the juice of one lemon
the juice of half a lime
1 dollop of organic honey
freshly ground black pepper
good sprinkling of sea salt to taste
1 tsp Dijon mustard (optional)

Method
1. Remove the seeds from the pomegranate by scoring the top of the skin with a paring knife and then ripping the fruit into 4 chunks. Fill a bowl with cold water and plunge the fruit, and your hands, into it. Proceed to remove the seeds underwater and then drain and dry.
2. Peel the orange and cut into segments. You can cut the chunks as large or small as you like.
3. Arrange the lettuce, orange, and seeds on a platter and set aside. Dress right before serving.
4. You will need a small mixing bowl for the dressing. Pinch the saffron in your finger tips to break up the strands or grind them down using a mortar and pestle. Add to the bowl along with the salt, pepper, lemon juice, lime juice, olive oil, and honey. Beat well. For a thicker dressing you can add some Dijon mustard but it’s not a necessity.

Serves 4

Green Fiend

I'm a fiend for greens.

Yesterday my green-cravings were so intense that I just had to run out and buy as many interesting greens as I could find. The grocery store was closing and they were out of asparagus, the number one veggie I set out to buy. But it was for the best, because instead of throwing together a typical pasta dish I wound up assembling the beautiful soup pictured below.

Crispy pork tenderloin with spinach soup

What did I buy?
1 Bag of  Fresh Spinach
1 Bag of Radishes
20 Green Beans
1 Head of Endive
1 Lime
1 Green Finger Pepper
4 Medium-sized Yukon Gold Potatoes
1 Carton of Rice Dream (Original Enriched)
Pork Tenderloin (pack of 4 slices, not a whole tenderloin)
All of this came to $14 and made enough food to serve 3 people
*I had some fennel in my fridge which I used for adornment but it can easily be left out. I also used The Keg Steak Spice which I already had at home. You can use any steak spice you may have on hand.

How can you recreate this dish?
1. Cut the potatoes into big chunks and boil until fork tender. I like to peel the skins off after they've finished boiling. Once they're boiled drain the water and set aside. Some will be used for the soup and some will be fried.
2. In a nonstick pan heat up 2 tbsp of olive oil. Add the pork all at once and fry until crispy. Then remove and cut into chunks. Take about 3/4 of the potatoes and cut into chunks. Toss both the pork and the potatoes back into the still-hot pan and allow them to crisp up together. At this point I like to add steak spice to taste, but this can be substituted for salt and pepper.
3. While that's frying you can assemble the soup. I say 'assemble' because it's a raw soup so no heat is required. Thoroughly wash about 5 huge handfuls of spinach and toss into a blender. Add a good helping of salt, 2 tbsp olive oil, the remaining potatoes (peeled) and the juice of 1 lime. Add about 1 cup of Rice Dream. Make sure it's the original flavor and not vanilla. I like to use the calcium enriched one. Blend until smooth. You can play with the texture of the soup to suit your liking. If you want a thicker soup add more potato and spinach. To thin it out add more rice milk. If you prefer your soup hot it can easily be heated up in a sauce pan. Your call.
4. Now for assembly. Spoon some soup into a large bowl and then dole out a good helping of pork and potatoes in the centre. Garnish with chunks of green beans, diced finger peppers, slices of radishes, leaves of endive, and a squeeze of lime juice.
5. Watch your guests faces as they transition from hunger to amazement.

It’s All Easy (and delicious)

This weekend I invited one of my closest friends, Joella, into my kitchen to test out Gwyneth Paltrow’s new cookbook, It’s All Easy. The book is a collection of simple recipes that will feed a family and can be made quickly on a weeknight. Imagine a book for home cooks who are also busy parents and have a million tasks to accomplish after work.

I’m a fan of Gwyneth so before we dive in I’ll admit I’m biased. I loved The Royal Tenenbaums and Shallow Hal, I scroll through Goop from time to time, and I think conscious uncoupling is the most rational way to handle a split.

…And I envy her friendship with Mario Batali who I used to watch on TV all the time as a kid.

Upon opening the book there were some recipes that jumped out at me immediately. The chicken piccata, which we did make, looked stunning. The photographs in this book are top notch and create a whole atmosphere for the reader. I love that she included shots not only of the food but of her home, her interactions – her lifestyle.

I strongly agree with her statement that food doesn’t need to be complicated to be good. Several of her recipes are ones my nonna always makes, or ones I gravitate towards on weeknights. I pretty much never eat out unless I’m so exhausted Bran feels I’m at risk of fainting. And that is a very rare occurrence. I just love to cook, it’s what I do. I look forward to it at the end of the day, I often plan what I’m going to cook the night before, and I feel very satisfied when I hear murmurs of approval when others eat my food. Joella also cooks at home all the time, especially since she’s striving to incorporate more protein into her diet.

So let’s jump right in. We made three recipes from the book: Jessica’s coconut latte, lemon and herb pasta with cherry tomatoes, and chicken piccata.

Coconut Latte
We began with this recipe because we needed a little pick-me-up after work and before we poured the wine. How delicious does a coconut latte sound? I love that this recipe didn’t have to be altered to suit my allergies in any way. Very simply coconut oil, sugar, and espresso, all ingredients I already had on hand. We both loved the rich flavor of this drink and I actually went on to make Bran and myself one on Saturday and Sunday morning.

Once we were woken up we poured some wine and got ready to start cooking. Joella chose the soundtrack for the evening. We listened first to Koop Island and then some early Norah Jones (a favorite of both of ours). Our strategy was to begin the chicken and pasta in unison and hope they also finished cooking at the same time.

Chicken Piccata

Look at your food lovingly

Chicken in a delicate lemon and herb sauce with capers and lemon slices. I’ve had this dish many times before or variations of it using white wine or some broth. We sauteed the chicken breasts after dredging in flour, then added lemon slices and juice, capers, and Earth Balance vegan spread instead of butter. Again it was super easy to use substitutes for allergens, the only allergen being butter. The chicken was tender and saucy and we ate the entire plate. I could easily see myself recreating this meal some other time or especially if I had a group to feed. We served it on a bed of arugula.

Lemon and Herb Pasta with Cherry Tomatoes
Once again, this recipe was conducive to eating allergen-free. We just left out the parmesan but stuck to the recipe otherwise. It was a lot of food. You could easily serve a whole family with this dish and then have some leftover for lunches. It’s Sunday night and I still have a container full in my fridge. My only negative comment is that I felt like I needed a paella pan to simmer the pasta and tomatoes together. Joella also had a point of criticism as she thought it could have been more flavorful. It’s likely that the parmesan would have made up for that. In future I’ll add more garlic and some lemon.

We created a warm, cosy atmosphere to suit the book and meal. Then Jo got very tired of waiting for me to finish taking photos and we finally sat down to eat.

And we then we dug in! In a big way. It was somehow already 11:30 and we were starving, although we have a habit of talking so much when we’re together that we always lose track of time. Clearly this night was no exception. After scarfing down a huge helping each we settled in to watch the new season of Kimmy Schmidt on Netflix.

What we loved
This book really is great for anyone living with food allergies like myself.
There were tons of beautiful photographs that inspired me to cook.
Gwyneth gave us a window into her life which made the book feel very personal.
The recipes really were easy and used accessible ingredients.
Portion sizes were ideal for serving a family.
There are a ton of recipes in this book. A ton!

Our ratings
Accessibility of ingredients: 10/10
Flavor level: 8/10
Stunning photographs: 10/10
Covetable lifestyle and killer interior design skills: 15/10
Jessica Seinfeld’s coconut latte: priceless.

It’s All Easy sells for CAD $42.00. It’s hardcover bound with dust jacket and is available at Indigo in store or Indigo.ca

Love & Lemons & Peonies & Purple

Love and Lemons (not to be confused with the lingerie brand) is not only a popular food blog but is now a gorgeous hardcover cookbook. I recently met Jeanine, the creator of the blog and book, at an event at Indigo's home office in Toronto. She made a couple quick recipes for us to sample and I was impressed by how fresh and bright everything was. I got a copy of the book (yay!) which she kindly signed for me.

Skimming through the recipes I was looking for something allergy-friendly of course, but also something I could make using ingredients I already had in my fridge and pantry. Karrie, star of Guy & Girl Nerd Duo and writer of the lifestyle site Karrie Kwong (above) is a very beginner cook so I made sure to select recipes that were foolproof and fast. Cooking outside your comfort zone is a great way to expand your knowledge, but in this case we were just looking to have fun and enjoy a delicious meal together. I chose two recipes; Coconut Rice with Brussel Sprouts, and Veggie Ceviche.

Coconut Rice with Brussel Sprouts

I love how green this recipe is. So healthy, quick, and easy. In case you haven't heard, plates are out and bowls are in. Vegan bowls, smoothie bowls, rice bowls; they're trending. I highly suggest you buy a small cat bowl like the one pictured above, because it's just so damn cute.

Karrie chopped up the green onion, basil, chili, and avocado, then peeled the Brussel sprouts and cut them in half. She fried them lightly in coconut oil until the sides were golden brown, then whipped up the tangy dressing. The rice was cooked in coconut milk which not only means you get the health benefits of coconut but the taste and richness too. She piled a couple spoons of rice into a deep bowl and then added all the veggies. Jeanine suggests adding other veggies such as asparagus to the bowl. I would definitely do that next time as I felt like I was left wanting for more green and more crunch, despite the recipe being quite satisfying. I think adding more variety would also bulk it up a bit and make it more filling for dinner.

Veggie Ceviche
This is a nice salad to accompany a main course. We served it with the rice bowl above, but I think it would go great with grilled beef or chicken. Love & Lemons is not a vegetarian or vegan book but the recipes are organized by vegetable and so it lends itself to being a generally plant-based cookbook. At her home office appearance Jeanine explained that although she does prefer to eat veggie meals at home, she isn't necessarily a vegetarian 100% of the time. I can definitely relate to that, as I tend not to eat meat at home if I'm cooking for myself, and only really eat it if I'm cooking for friends, family, my boyfriend, or dining out.

Joella, social media manager and the person who keeps my head on straight, caught in the background working the Snap Chat

This salad consisted of several vegetables and an apple roughly diced, then tossed in a lime and herb dressing. I notice that her style of cooking is light on oil which is such a change from my usual inclinations. I'm all about the olive oil, all the time.

Things we Loved
The book is really easy to navigate as it is organized by fruit/vegetable. You can easily see what you have in your fridge, look it up in the book, and plan a meal around it. In that sense it's very practical.

The recipes are all easy. Even Karrie, who is definitely a beginner and, when handed a sharp knife audibly whined and said "BUT GUYS I DON'T KNOW HOW TO COOK", managed to make this meal in an hour without the loss of any fingers or eyelashes.

Health is front and centre. This is not a diet book by any means but it is definitely an aspirational way to eat.

The photography is stunning and will make you crave all the fruits and veggies! And Jeanine did it all herself. So how do ya like them apples?

Allergy Rating

I can't honestly say that the recipes are super friendly towards allergies, specifically the top 8 allergens. There are a lot of legumes, nuts, cheese, and eggs throughout the book. However I did find that ingredients were simple enough to substitute so it was not limiting. If you know your typical ingredients to sub in, you should be fine.

You can pick up your copy of the book here

Happy cooking!

Sniffle-Healing Chicken Soup

Something dark was lurking on Saturday morning... I woke up stuffed up, hot, shivering, and sniffling. A cold was on the horizon and I was very unhappy about it. So naturally I got a lot of rest and made a big pot of nutrient-rich chicken soup. No boxed stock here, this was all natural. And here's how I did it...

This recipe is free from dairy, nuts, peanuts, egg, soy, fish, shellfish

Ingredients
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 bag baby carrots, chopped
3 stems of celery (leaves on)
1 red onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, smashed
2 zucchini, diced
3 yukon gold potatoes, diced
10 button mushrooms, sliced
1 red bell pepper, diced
a handful of flat leaf parsley, chopped
2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts
salt and pepper to taste
a handful of pastina made from 100$ durum wheat semolina (small cut pasta such as bow ties or straight noodles)

Method
Saute the onion and garlic in olive oil until it becomes fragrant. Season well with salt and pepper. Then add in the carrots, celery, and red pepper and continue to cook until they become translucent and browned. Season again.

Add the potatoes, zucchini, mushrooms, and parsley and mix well. Drop the chicken breasts (whole) on top. Fill the pot with water until there are about 3 inches of liquid above the chicken, then bring to a boil on high heat.

Reduce to medium heat and let simmer with the lid askew for an hour. Remove the lid and let simmer on medium-low heat for at least another hour. It should have reduced quite a bit. Stir often.

About 20 minutes before serving remove the chicken and shred using 2 forks. Add it back to the pot along with the pastina. Stir well.

Serve as soon as pasta is cooked. It should yield 6 - 8 hearty bowls

3-Ingredient Kale Chips

Lately I'm on a kick of cooking foods that require minimal ingredients and just letting the star flavors shine. Kale chips are a perfect example of this. All you need is a head of kale, a couple tbsp of olive or sunflower seed oil, and a good sprinkle of sea salt. They're suitable for vegans, celiacs, and are free from dairy, nuts, peanuts, citrus, soy, shellfish, and egg. I also love how healthy they are!

Ingredients
1 head of kale
2 tbsp olive or sunflower oil
sea salt to taste

Method
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set the oven to 400F. Wash the kale and separate the leafy bits from the hard stems. The stems will stay pretty fibrous and woody after roasting which will compromise the light texture of the crisps. Break the leaves into smaller pieces and lay them out evenly on the tray. It's fine if they overlap but avoid whole chunks being covered as they'll steam under there. Drizzle the oil over the kale and then sprinkle with salt. Place the tray on the middle rack of the oven and set the timer for 15 minutes. The leaves should be crispy and browned. Add more salt to taste and then serve immediately.

Egg Muffins

Perfect for any meal of the day, these egg muffins are light, fluffy, healthy, and packed with protein and flavor.

Free from dairy, nuts, peanuts, shellfish, citrus, legumes, soy

Ingredients
6 large eggs (I use omega-3 eggs)
1 zucchini
a handful of button mushrooms
1 clove of garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 cup cooked, chilled quinoa
salt and pepper to taste

Method
1. Give the zucchini, mushrooms, and garlic a rough fine chop and set aside.
2. Heat the olive oil in a non-stick pan and add the garlic. Let it brown on medium heat for a minute, then add the zucchini and mushroom and allow to brown on medium-high heat. Season with salt and pepper. When the veggies are browned transfer to a large mixing bowl.
3. Add the quinoa and eggs to the mixing bowl all at once and season with salt and pepper. Mix well.
4. Preheat oven to 375F and line a muffin tray with parchment paper muffin cups (9 cups). The parchment cups will not stick to the batter and will give the muffins a nice scalloped edge.
5. Spoon the batter into the cups equally. Bake for 20 - 25 minutes. You'll know they're done when they've risen slightly and are nicely browned. When you jiggle the pan the batter should remain firm.

Serve warm. Makes 9 muffins

Whole 30 Weeknight Dinner Challenge

This week a new special guest accompanied Joella and myself in the kitchen. Sara values healthy living, being active, and eating clean food. I thought it was fitting for us to review the Whole 30 cookbook, a book that was lent to me by my friend over atChef Sous Chef.

We tested out 4 recipes from the book: braised pork chops with apple sauce, chimichurri, cauliflower puree, and roasted sweet potatoes. The test was to see if this was a meal that could easily be made on a weeknight using ingredients already available in my fridge and pantry. The challenge was that there was one ingredient missing from each recipe. The guest chefs had no idea what they were cooking ahead of time and I told them about the surprise missing ingredients as they read through the recipes.

Joella poured the Beaujolais and and I put Gallant on Spotify and we were ready to go!

First up, roasted sweet potatoes
It goes without saying that this recipe was extremely easy and any person who is or is not skilled in the kitchen can make it. You literally just wrap up sweet potatoes with some oil, put them in the oven, and forget about them for an hour. How easy is that? Definitely a side dish you can add to any weeknight meal. The challenge was to make them without aluminum foil so Sara cleverly wrapped them up in parchment paper instead, twisting off the ends to seal in the steam while they baked.

Cauliflower Puree
The other simple side we made was the cauliflower puree. The challenge; we didn’t have any chicken stock. Sara used more coconut milk to make up for the lack of stock and added extra salt to amp up the flavor. The texture of the dish was cloud-like and smooth, almost like soup. We felt it could have had a richer flavor and we all agreed we would have roasted it before blending. So not disappointing and not amazing, just a good simple side dish.

Next, the braised pork chops with apple sauce
This dish had a few phases of preparation.

Joella seared the pork chops while Sara prepped the apples and onion for the sauce. Once the pork chops were brown and crispy on each side Jo transferred them to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and put them in the oven to cook through the centre. The apples were then added to the frying pan along with spices and orange juice (in place of cider, the missing ingredient).

The apple sauce was so rich and flavorful and the pork was tender inside with a caramelized crust. We presented the pork on a bed of watercress since it’s the new superfood on the rise and adds a spicy fresh taste to the dish as well as a pop of color.
 

Finally we whipped up a quick chimichurri
I thought we should add a sauce to the menu to drizzle over the potatoes and cauliflower and I’m so glad we did. It was light and fresh and oozed a delicious aroma. We all loved it!  If you’re not familiar with chimichurri, it’s a Mexican sauce made from olive oil, lime juice, herbs, and vinegar. It’s tangy and green, a great pop of flavor.

Pro tip: when your cut flowers start to wilt just snip the buds and flowers off and use as real “confetti”. My daisies lasted 3 days on the table after snipping off the musty stems

The meal only took about an hour and a half to actually cook, including time for photos, setup, and presentation. So really you could make it way faster if you didn’t have me hovering around in the background adjusting hair and re-jigging the lighting.I loved that the only allergy-related adjustments I had to make to the recipes were to use olive oil as a substitute for ghee on a couple occassions.

Myself, right, stopping to direct the shoot

Jo’s pro tip: if you don’t own an apron just tie the corners of a tea towel around your neck and secure with an elastic band. Protect your clothes from oil splatters!

Our ratings
Unintimidating presentation and concepts 10/10
Desire to eat everything in the book 9/10
Availability of ingredients 10/10
Healthy ingredients 10/10
Fast enough to make on a weeknight 9/10
Likelihood that the 3 of us will recreate this meal on a weeknight 10/10

The Whole 30 Cookbook is available here and costs $34, hardcover POB format. It released April 21, 2015.

Hot Thai Kitchen: Flavor Galore

This past weekend Rya and I tested out a new cookbook called Hot Thai Kitchen, written by Pailin “Pai” Chongchitnant, a blogger, Youtuber, and TV personality whose brand goes by the same name.

The book is both recipes and cultural study, teaching readers how to eat like the Thai, what to drink, what utensils to use, what types of dishes a meal is composed of. She lays out the categories: stir fry, soups, curries, salads, vegetarian and vegan, dips and sauces, and desserts. Rya and I were both struck by how different Thai desserts are from North American ones. Soup for dessert? Sounds unusual but looks delicious. We did feel that the recipe portion started a little late into the book. We would have liked more recipes plus all the information to start with. Pai includes a great section on allergies and Thai food. Most North American Thai restaurants are known for serving pad Thai and using an abundance of peanuts. She points out that this isn't "true" Thai cooking and not all dishes contain nuts. She also lists substitutes, for example, using sesame or sunflower seeds in place of peanuts when cooking at home. We both liked how she suggested the reader seek out a replacement. Think about what function the ingredient serves in the dish and then brainstorm an ingredient with similar properties (is it crunchy, liquid, sweet, etc.). Giving mention to a current, growing, dietary restriction made the book feel more modern and accommodating to those of us who have always felt they had to steer clear of this cuisine.

There were quite a few interesting spices, herbs, and flavorings used in many of the recipes, especially the curries. For example, galangal, finger root, and tamarind juice. These aren't flavors either of us use in our everyday cooking. Pai includes a chart to organize the category and function of each main ingredient. The dishes we chose used green onion, cilantro, mint, and lemongrass as main flavorings.

I have to thank Pai for introducing me to toasted rice powder. I cannot believe I had never made it before. We wanted to put it on everything! The taste and texture add so much to a dish. I'm already imagining how I can incorporate it into a chocolate dessert, or how I can blend it with coconut milk to make "ice cream" and then sprinkle more on top. You really must try it. I made about 6 tbsp of it and it was nearly finished by the end of the meal. Considering it was supposed to be a garnish I would say that's pretty impressive.

(From left to right: uncooked sticky rice, toasted rice, toasted rice powder, cooked sticky rice)

We soundtracked the night with some deep house music...

And then we got to cooking.

The recipes were selected based on our dietary restrictions (no dairy, nuts, peanuts, legumes, shellfish, sugar, or caffeine), the ingredients that were readily available, and what looked most amazing in the photos (because everything looked pretty kickass to us). We didn't make one item from each of the categories she talked about in the introduction, but we did choose a salad and a stir fry and served with sticky rice.

Grilled Beef "Waterfall" Salad

We made a couple amendments to the recipe, using honey instead of sugar, eliminating white pepper and black soy sauce which I strangely couldn't find in store, and leaving out the fish sauce to suit our allergies. I have a charcoal BBQ so we were able to get a great sear on the outside of the beef with that rich charcoal flavor.

This recipe was very simple to make and the beef could easily be marinated the day prior to enhance its flavor and save time before dinner. The dish was full of mint and cilantro, and crunchy from the shallots and rice powder. It was richly flavorful and abundant in portion. My boyfriend joined us for dinner (and did the barbecuing) and we still had a lot leftover.

Mixed Mushroom and Mint Salad

It was around the time that we finished chopping the herbs for the second dish that we realized we had chosen 2 recipes that were nearly identical in composition and flavor base, except one was made with mushrooms and one with beef. Oh well, we love mint and cilantro! And we sure ate a lot of it.

The flavors of lime and lemongrass came through more clearly in the mushroom dish, and the textures complimented each other well to make each bite meaty and crunchy. Beef and mushroom go really well together and these two dishes surely did as well.

Our bountiful meal, ready to consume with a cold beer in hand.

The next recipe from this book that I'm keen to try is the holy basil chicken fried rice with fried egg, and the fried plantains for dessert.

Rya and I felt that this book is ideal for anyone who is planning a trip to Thailand, interested in Thai culture, or wants to learn Thai cuisine. As a number of the ingredients were unfortunately difficult for us to find I would say it's maybe not ideal for everyday cooking unless you have a good Asian grocery store near you. The recipes require a moderate level of culinary skill so we would recommend it to the more seasoned home cook over a beginner.

The photos are tantalizing and rich in color and texture. Every dish looked delicious and the food in real life actually looks like it does in the photos. Shots of Thai markets, spice baskets, and closeups of chili's and other ingredients will make you fall in love with this cuisine. The tribute to her family in the intro made me feel a sense of homeliness about the food and enforced the feeling of food being deeply rooted in her culture and upbringing.

Our overall rating is 7 stars. Go buy your copy today

Another cookbook test success! 

Sugar-Free Baking With Rya

Over the weekend I invited my good pal Rya into my kitchen to bake some sugar and allergen-free sweets. We flipped through the books above and selected a couple recipes that sounded delicious.

I Quit Sugar, by Sarah Wilson
The Joy of Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Baking, by Reinhart and Wallace

They're really beautiful books

We used a few specialty products that can be found at any Whole Foods, specialty/health food store, and even at some run of the mill grocery stores
- Enjoy Life flour blend
- Date Lady pure date syrup
- Let's Do Organic coconut flakes
- Earth Balance Organic Whipped Buttery Spread

We began with a very simple recipe from I Quit Sugar.

Coconut Chips: free from dairy, nuts, peanuts, soy, egg, sugar, gluten
First we toasted a good helping (about 1.5 cups) of coconut flakes for around 5 minutes on medium heat and seasoned with a sprinkle of salt and cinnamon.

Then we put them in a bowl...

...and ate them. How wonderfully easy? They were an awesome finger food that went well with the cinnamon pumpkin seeds I had out as well

There are so many recipes in this book that we wanted to make, especially a coconut cream that I know Rya is eager to try out. We really liked that the author used a lot of crossover ingredients so that you won't be stuck with a specialty ingredient that you'll never use again.

Next we moved on to The Joy of Gluten-Free, Sugar-Free Baking. From this book we made a batch of jam thumbprint cookies and substituted the flour mix the recipe called for with Enjoy Life gluten and allergen-free flour. We also made our own jam and used The Date Lady pure date syrup instead of sugar. 10 points for us!

These cookies are free from: gluten, dairy, nuts, peanuts, and sugar

Rya cracked a few eggs into a large mixing bowl

Then she added melted Earth Balance and whisked well

After mixing in the dry ingredients she picked up 1 tbsp dollops of dough and rolled each one into a ball

Then she laid them out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and punched a well in the centre with her finger

We had prepared some jam ahead of time by simmering 2 peeled, cored, and diced pears with about 1/2 cup of frozen blueberries and 1 tbsp of date syrup for 40 minutes. Then we blended it in my handy Magic Bullet before spooning into the dough wells

After placing for the trays in a preheated 350F oven for 8 minutes, then changing racks and baking for another 8 minutes....

We had these amazing cookies! They would go really well with a cup of herbal tea or decaf coffee (Rya has been caffeine-free for some time now).

I highly recommend you pick up one or both of these books! If you have cookbook suggestions or recipes you'd like me to review, please let me know in the comments section or by email or social media.

A Sirocco Blows Through Toronto

Upon opening Sabrina Ghayour’s cookbook, I learned a few things. First, she cleared up what the title means (thank god, I hadn’t a clue). She defines a sirocco as a “hot, dry wind blowing from East to West, often carrying with it flavors of the Mediterranean.” Next I learned that although I couldn’t find some of the key flavors commonly found in the book, it would be okay because she designed the recipes to not be reliant on one main ingredient. Admittedly I was concerned when I did my initial flip-through because I knew I would have trouble finding sumac and other spices at my closest Loblaws. Knowing that we could carry on without them allowed me to keep my options open when selecting recipes.

I welcomed two of my close friends, Joella and Cailen, into my kitchen to prepare three recipes and share a meal together. Joella’s a pro now, this being her third book review on my site! And Cailen is pretty skilled in the kitchen as I came to learn.

We agreed that the aesthetic of the book is very “Instagram-y”, especially with the table of contents arranged like a grid and the photos altered with a hazy filter making them super grammable.

Lamb Lettuce Wraps

So we made a major substitution here and used beef tenderloin instead of lamb because Loblaws had a great sale and I couldn’t resist. The marinade tasted amazing and I know it would also have been fab on lamb. It consisted of soy sauce, honey, cumin, garlic, and a ton of cinnamon. We let the meat marinate while we put together the kale salad (below). Just before serving we made the peanut sauce, using sunflower seed butter instead of peanut butter. There was a lot of sauce left over so I think in future I would maybe make half the recommended amount. The beef was so rich and juicy, and the cinnamon added the most amazing depth of flavor. We grilled it using a Persian style of metal kebab stick, although you could fry the meat as per the recipe. The lettuce cups and “peanut” sauce helped to round out and freshen up the aromatic marinade. This was such a wonderful dish and I would definitely make it again. It’s perfect for entertaining.

Marinated Kale Salad

The kale salad also had to sit and marinate so we worked on that right after dressing the raw beef. Kale is such a thick, tough green that absorbs dressing really well. After a few hours in the fridge it had soaked up the apple-based pureed vinaigrette while still having great texture and color. We all agreed that it wasn’t the right salad to accompany the beef, so that was poor menu curation on my part. But I would definitely make it again and serve with a simpler protein like grilled chicken or shrimp. 

Caramelized Fennel

Being Italian, I’m no stranger to cooking with fennel or snacking on it raw, though I’ve never had it prepared like this. Jo coated the chunks of fennel in powdered sugar and then Cailen gave them a light fry in olive oil. Something went a little wrong with the herb sauce; it smelled great but it was a lot thicker than we figured it was supposed to be. It was about 10pm by the time we got around to the end of the meal prep and we decided to sacrifice the sauce so we could sit down and eat. The fennel was a close contender for best dish, really yummy and caramelized. The sugar wasn’t overpoweringly sweet like I thought it would be and actually gave it a nice creamy texture. 

The next recipes I can’t wait to make
Marinated Scallops (pg. 100) – HUGE cravings for this one
Eastern-Style Salmon Tartare (pg. 103)
Nectarine Pavlova (pg. 222)

How it rated for allergy-friendliness
I’ll be honest and say this book has a lotta nuts, legumes, and dairy (mainly yoghurt). Every recipe had to be altered but as I’ve mentioned in the past that’s totally cool with me. Recipes are for inspiration, not following the steps with precision. The goal is to make wonderful  food that you’ll enjoy and by using Ghayour’s recipes as a base I was able to make substitutions to suit my needs and everything turned out well.

You can pick up a copy of Sirocco at Indigo online or in store for $39.95 CAD

What a beautiful table (if I do say so myself)

And it looks much better with friends sitting around it!

Per La Famiglia: Colourful, Hearty, Delicious

I had a new pair of guests in my kitchen this week to test out the latest cookbook byEmily Richards, Per La Famiglia. Emily is a southern Italian cook and blogger who put together a wonderful collection of recipes that she grew up with. Food is always best when it’s made with passion and that is what really stands out with this book. My dad was born in Abruzzo which is kind of central Italy, I guess, but I found a lot of the recipes in this book are ones that my nonna makes all the time. Specifically the Ugly Cookies. And I love that Emily calls them ugly cookies because that is the best way to describe them. I’ve also eaten a ton of Pizzelle in my time and am somewhat of an aficionado when it comes to sauce-making. So basically what I’m getting at is that I was pretty excited to cook from this book!

Above we have Karan and Misha, my lovely guests. Misha does freelance makeup artistry so if you want to get her flawless glow here’s where to go. Karan is on his way to becoming a doctor… sorry, no link for that Misha described her skill level as comfortable in the kitchen while Karan prefaced the evening by telling me he was unskilled and to set low expectations haha. But alas, when a recipe is well-written, anyone can be a great chef for the night. We prepared several dishes from the book, including Pasta with Pesto, Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce, Antipasto platter, Tomato and Cucumber salad, and a basic green salad. You may be thinking – these are so basic and easy! Yes they are, but that’s what’s so wonderful about them especially when working with beginners.

Setting the tone
I set the tone for the evening by putting out a very basic antipasto platter of olives and prosciutto. This is standard fare in an Italian house. Usually I would include my dad’s homemade pickled eggplant and green tomatoes but unfortunately I was out of stock. Misha and Karan brought the Chianti, a classic type of Italian wine and one of my favorite varieties. I set the table with richly coloured flowers and bright blue and white accessories, colours that remind me of the Mediterranean. After a glass of wine everyone was ready to start cooking.

The Salad
We started off with the most simple dish, the Tomato and Cucumber Salad. In my opinion the flavors get better as it sits so you can easily prepare it ahead of time. Misha chopped tomatoes and cucumber while Karan cut up the garlic and onions.The veggies were tossed with good olive oil, vinegar, and herbs.

Pasta with Pesto
I was so excited for this dish because 1. I love pesto and 2. I was eager to test how pumpkin seeds would taste in place of pine nuts. The recipe also calls for cheese but we left it out to keep it dairy-free. Misha blended basil, garlic, Super Seedz pumpkin seeds (we all like how they were called Somewhat Spicy, and it was true), olive oil, salt, and pepper. And that was it, the sauce was done! Once the spaghetti was cooked we tossed it all together so each noodle was coated. The seeds add that hint of nutty flavor that the pine nuts would have provided while being allergen-free.

Pasta with Fresh Tomato Sauce
Pasta with tomato sauce is my number 1 favorite thing to eat, hands down. It’s the ultimate comfort food that feels like home to me and so I decided we just had to make one of the sauce recipes from Per La Famiglia. Karan managed this recipe, chopping up the onions, garlic, herbs, and plum (or Roma) tomatoes. He sauteed the garlic, onion, and herbs in some olive oil, salt, and pepper until they became softened and aromatic. Then he added the tomatoes and let simmer, stirring from time to time. We tossed with penne and garnished with a bit more fresh herbs.

The feast

Things we loved
The food tasted delicious and each recipe was so simple to make.
This book oozed passion, from her family photographs to the recipes her nonna used to make. You can tell that she was very invested in it emotionally.
There are so many recipes I want to go back and make now! In particular the homemade gnocchi and a number of the desserts.

You can pick up your copy of the book here

Ciao!