Canadian Dishes

Well we tried to celebrate Canada Day with some of our favourite foods from our trips over there. Some worked, some didn't quite match our hopes and some weren't even attempted!

We'd decided against the Beaver Tail thing. Perhaps another time. We did however make the crab and spinach dip, baked prawns, steak, caesar salad and Poutine.
The Crab dip was excellent, and the left overs were eaten as a spread on crackers the next day. The baked prawns were nice, but nothing like how I'd hoped. The steak was OK, the caesar salad good (bought dressing!), and the Poutine - well I think that was the success story of the evening.

Crab, Spinach and Cheese Dip (This recipe)

We followed the recipe(copied out below), but cut down the quantities by about 2 thirds, mainly because crab meat is expensive and the amount made would have been massive!  
1 lb.Crab Meat
1/2 lb. Parmesan cheese
1 lb. cream cheese
1 lb. sour cream
1/2 lb. Gouda cheese
10 oz. frozen chopped spinach
1 tsp. Seafood Seasoning

Method

Thaw spinach, drain well, chop into half-inch pieces and lightly saute to evaporate remaining liquid, set aside.

Place crab meat into a large bowl, handle gently, carefully examine for shell, set aside.

Place all cheeses, sour cream and spice (except for about 2 Tbsp. of Parmesan cheese) into saucepan.

Heat over medium until smooth; do not boil.
Fold spinach into hot cheese mixture.
Fold crab meat into mixture.
Remove from heat, place into lightly greased baking dish or bread boule.
Sprinkle remaining Parmesan cheese over top.

Bake in preheated 350F/180C oven for 10-15 minutes or until top is lightly browned.

Baked Prawns

(I have since found a recipe claiming to be the recipe from The Keg Steakhouse. Not sure if it would have worked for us though, as apparently you need an escargot dish and different cheeses. Below is my attempt without following a recipe)
Place a handful of prawns in a shallow gratin dish and top with a mixture of grated cheese (we used gouda) and crushed garlic.
Bake until cheese is bubbling.

Poutine
For those who don't know. Poutine is a dish of chips and cheese curds covered in a brown gravy-like savoury sauce. According to Wikipedia it originated in Quebec but can be found across Canada. We did find it in most places we ate (apart from the more specialist places e.g. Murphy's on the Water and The Keg)
It is rather calorific, and we did actually call it a heart attack on a plate once. Obviously, its not to be eaten every day. But Canada day is once a year!
After some research into poutine recipes and what the actual poutine essence is, we came up with something rather simple. I found a great deal of different options for the sauce, but the traditional sauce is a simple gravy. Obviously we had to make this from scratch as most pre-prepared gravy mixes, or takeaway versions will have wheat flour in. Looking at different option ideas, I added a chopped shallot for added savouriness.

Gravy
1 shallot finely chopped
1/2 pint beef stock
ground black pepper
salt
cornflour

Gently fry the shallot until soft.
Pour in the beef stock and keep on a high heat.
Add plently of pepper and then salt to taste.
Thicken to the desired consistency (think not quite as gloopy as KFC "gravy")

We used chips from the local kebab shop as these bore the resemblance to those served at Maxwell's and follwing the advice of one website we used chopped mozerella instead of the proper ingredient of cheese curds.

To assemble, place the chips in a heat-proof dish. Sprinkle with the cheese and pout over the gravy. We put the dish in the oven for a small amount of time to ensure that the cheese was melted.
Our take on Poutine. Yum!

South East Asian Delights

Cambodian Aubergine Curry and Stir Fried Spinach with Nuoc Cham

After last week's Fish Amok success we still had some Kroeung left so it was back to the recipe book for more inspiration. Also, since discovering the price of Aubergines in Lidl, we always seem to have at least one in, so it was with little surprise that the recipe for Cambodian Aubergine Curry leapt off the page.
As with a lot of these recipes the ingredient list was quite substantial, and some items require a flick to the glossary, or to the ingredients or condiments section to see what exactly it is.
We did have most ingredients in for the Aubergine curry, but did have to make a few adjustments (Morrisons doesn't sell Shrimp Paste, and haven't ventured into China town yet to investigate these type of crazy ingredients, and Cambodian Fish Sauce? Sorry, Thai will have to do).
We served it with a side of stir fried spinach with Nuoc Cham, again adapted slightly, as this was normal British spinach and not oriental Water Spinach, and also by accident, the proportions got slightly out.

Ingredients: (Aubergine Curry)

2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 small shallots, sliced
1 dried chilli
1 1/2 tbsp Kroeung
1/2 tbsp fish sauce
1/2 tbsp mollases
300ml coconut milk
175 ml chicken stock
1 large aubergine, cut into chunks
3 kaffir lime leaves
fresh basil

First of all, fry the garlic, shallots and whole chilli until things start to colour. Then add the Kroeung, fish sauce and mollases and stir fry until they start to colour.

Then stir in the coconut milk, stock and lime leaves.

Next add the aubergines and stir through.
partially cover the pan and simmer for 25-30 mins until the aubergines have cooked through and the sauce has thickened.






Ingredients: (Spinach)

Groundnut oil
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 green Thai chillis
500g spinach
3 tbsp Nuoc Cham - 4 garlic cloves, 2 Thai chillis, 1 tbsp sugar, juice of 1 lime, 4tbsp fish sauce
Salt and pepper

The spinach was more complicated, since we had to make the Nuoc Cham from scratch. This involved pounding the garlic, chillis and sugar with a pestle and mortar, then adding the lime juice and the fish sauce (which in the book is called Nuoc Mam (Vietnamese) - to confuse matters (not to be confused with Tuk Trey which is Cambodian.) Confused?)

The garlic and chillis were then fried in a wok with the groundnut oil for about 1 minute, then the spinach was added. As it wilts, the Nuoc Cham is added. All of this went in. The measurements for the Nuoc Cham make more than is needed for the spinach stir fry, but hey ho, it didn't offend and meant there was a bit of liquid left over.

The Cambodian curry was lovely. The flavours of the Kroeung coming through, and not overpowering the aubergine. We'd used light coconut milk, but this didn't have an effect on the creaminess of the dish at all.

The spinach (Vietnamese) was lovely and refreshing with the lime juice of the Nuoc Cham coming through, also with a satisfying kick from those chillis. We do like spicy food, but perhaps these two were not best matched. The heat of the chillis in the spinach seemed to overpower the delicate flavours and fragrances of the curry. We will do both of these again, and again. But probably not together.

Frittata/Crustless Quiche

Frittata

In another attempt to break the routine of soups for lunch I thought about re-visiting what I used to make. Previously I would make a large homemade quiche, with various filling which would last me all week for lunch along with salad, but since I am now gluten free, this is not an option. Obviously I could go down the route of gluten free pastry, but since I invested in some silicone baking dishes, I don't actually need the added calories or saturated fat of pastry in order to cook a quiche type thing.

Some supermarkets I've noticed have got the odd "crustless quiche", but upon studying the pack closely, this just means there's no pastry up the sides. What I've attempted is really and truly crustless. Almost a Frittata. But not, as it is not purely eggs.

This Frittata type creation is another go at getting more iron, although really, I do love spinach anyway. So in this one my ingredients were onion, peppers, spinach and yummy goats cheese.
 

To start with I gently fried a chopped onion and half a red pepper.

Meanwhile I washed and wilting down a massive bag of spinach in batches (bought from Albion Farm Shop).

I then squeezed out as much water as possible, squeezed and squeezed. And left it to drain further.

I then put all the onion, pepper, spinach and chunks of the goats cheese into the silicone baking dish ready for the egg mixture.

 I referred to the fantastic Dairy Book of Home Cookery (1968 version!) for the quantities of milk and eggs for their Quiche Lorraine. This said 3 eggs to quarter pint of milk and quarter pint of cream. I have never made quiche with cream, as I've never felt the need. I like it without the need for the extra creaminess and added fat, so half a pint of milk it was.

I also added another egg, as they were of medium size and I thought that it would add to the setting and aid the holding together - since there is no crust and it is not actually a frittata! I added about a half teaspoon of nutmeg and some pepper to the egg mixture before pouring it all on.
This was then put in the oven at 180C for about 45 mins, or until the egg was set. The Quiche Lorriaine recipe had all sorts of temperatures and timings, but the pastry wasn't baked blind. So I just kept testing it til it was set.

The result was a tasty Fritatta type thing which I've eaten every day for lunch with salad. The base was a bit watery, but this could be from the spinach, maybe I'll use raw next time to see what happens. I will definitely be making this again, perhaps with different ingredients.

Spinach and Feta Pasta Bake

On Wednesday I was a little bit lacking in ideas for what to have for tea.  Following an email from Fran we decided that we would have pasta as it has been a while.  Fran is also still not eating gluten and we had a big jar of GF pasta.  Plus, she had recently heard that a gluten-free diet can sometimes be lacking in iron!  Now I have no way of substantiating such a claim but if this is a good enough reason to eat spinach than that is fine as I love spinach. 

So it was decided that tea would be a gluten- free pasta and spinach dish.... but I was still lacking in ideas.  Then I thought of asking some newly found friends on the UK Food Bloggers Association as I was sure they would know what to do.  Sure enough, following a new discussion on the forum, a short while later I got a reply from Rosie of the fabulous Greedy Rosie's Dinner Blog.  Rosie suggested a pasta bake with spinach, feta and Parmesan which sounded perfect for a Wednesday night tea.  We also got a suggestion from Lucia of the equally wonderful Simply Italian Food to stir-fry the spinach in garlic before adding to the pasta - so that's what we did.

Spinach and Feta Pasta Bake

We had it as a main course with a little salad as shown which was just right for a rich but not too filling dish.  Using mostly Rosie's suggestion and a bit of guess work on the quantities we came up with the following:

1 Tablespoon of Olive Oil

2 Cloves of Garlic

Gluten-Free Pasta (enough to cover the base of a lasagna dish) 

200g Spinach

100g Feta Cheese

Tub of Marscapone Cheese

(Some) Milk

Grated Mozzarella and Cheddar Mix

Salt & Pepper

Half Teaspoon Grated Nutmeg

How we did it:

First we covered a lasagna dish with a layer of the dry pasta.

Then we stir-fried the garlic in olive oil for 5 mins and added the spinach till wilted.

This was added to the dry pasta along with the feta cheese (in small cubes), mixed and spinkled with ground nutmeg.

Then we made a sauce.  We used Marscapone and milk (Rosie's suggestion) as it needed be gluten-free.  We used a whole tub of cheese and perhaps half a pint of milk -  but just add it till the consistency feels right.

This was then poured over the top of the pasta and covered with grated mozzarella and cheddar.

We then baked it for about 25 minutes at 200c.

As Gluten-Free pasta cooks very quickly we were worried it might be over done but it was fine.  The mix needed a little water before cooking to make sure the pasta was submerged and didn't burn but the consistency was ok when cooked.  The taste was great too, quite rich though so wouldn't have a massive portion.  We were also a bit conscious of the fat/calories content so had it with some leaves rather than more carbs!!  So thank you Rosie and Lucia for your inspiration.  It worked well and was very quick and easy - just right for a weekday meal.  It is definitely something we shall eat again.