baked sweet potato fries w. dipping sauce

One of my favourite things are baked sweet potato fries. While this has kept me interested for long enough, recently i have started to make my own dipping sauce based on the chili mayo.

start off by making the sweet potato fries. Follow the recipe on baked roots

slice up the potatoes, into wedges. (or fries or whatever shape you want)
put in bowl filled with ice cold water. (something to do with the starchs in potato.)
drain the water, pat dry.
coat potatoes in a little bit of in olive oil. (not that much is needed…so try it a few times and you can find out how much you want.)
lay potatoes on a baking tray.
put into oven at 420 F.
after 15 minutes, use spatula to make sure they are not stuck.
bake for another 20 minutes.
keep half an eye on the potatoes and make sure they don’t burn.
bake to the crispness that you want them.
season with salt and pepper.

Now for the sauce i simple mixed up

1 tbs of sour cream
1 tbs of mayonaise
1 tsp of chipotle powder
2 tsp of sweet chili sauce

try it out. im sure you will be making this all the time.

Chocolate Peanut Brittle

last week i was craving something sweet. instead of heading to the store i decided to make something. i found some raw peanuts in my cupboard, and had sugar and butter so this is what i made.

start by mixing

• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 cup of butter
  
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

in a pan at med-high heat. stir constantly. once it starts to bubble turn heat down a bit, but so its still bubbling lightly. once it gets to hard ball stage it is ready.

Now that the caramel is ready you want to layer a baking sheet with parchment paper. On the parchment paper spread out evenly.

• 1/2 cup of chocolate cracker crumbs (like oreo crumbs)
• 1 cup of peanuts (chopped up)

now poor the caramel on top of the crumbs and peanuts, trying to get it everywhere on the paper.

Now pop in the freezer for 15 minutes and enjoy

spicy shrimp and tofu

this recipe is for something that was really easy and was put on top of some delicious udon noodles. we had a bag of frozen shrimp, defrosted them in coldish water and finally cooked them up with some tofu.

Start off by

• putting 2 tbs of vegetable oil in a saucepan
  
• turning to med-high heat
• once oil is hot, adding a small handful of tofu
• frying them till slightly brown on all sides (few minutes)
  
• adding 1 stick of lemon grass, chopped up
• adding all the shrimp (large handful, drained)
• adding 1 tsp of chili garlic sauce (the asian one)
• constantly stir for a couple minutes (till all pink)
• try one to make sure it is cooked through.
• enjoy
  

serve on some udon noodles...that recipe will be posted on the futurists... so check it out.

roasted almonds

during our board game and vinyl music night we needed a tasty treat. i was brought some fresh almonds and we decided that the best hting to do would be to roast them.

i found this site which has some roasting recipes...so i tried one. this is what happened.

i started by

• turning oven to 350 F
• pouring almonds in a pan, 2 layers of almonds (not like recipe)
• drizzling 1 tbs of honey on almonds
• sprinkling about 2 tsp of salt on top
• mixing honey throughout almonds
• putting into oven for 15 minutes (once oven was hot)
  
• taking out and checking (let cool before you pop them into your mouth)
• adding a bit more salt to almonds
  
• serving them up

such a simple recipe. but delicious. so go out and make them yourself.

arugula lime parm pasta

This was an adaptation of a recipe i have made a few times. Its really tasty, simple and fresh. Perfect for summer, or in winter when you want something fresh.

• start off by cooking some pasta till al dente.
• drain pasta and put back in pot. at med temp.
  
• add some olive oil (1 tbs per person).
• add a clove of garlic (smashed and chopped)
  
• add some chopped up arugula.
• add juice of a lime. (try to keep pits out)
  
• stir in some grated parm. salt. pepper.
• enjoy with some friends.
  

portobello bagel burgers

With the amount of meat i eat, i really felt like i needed some more full vegetarian dishes. Especially as i want to make a vegetarian cookbook next year. So this is one delicious recipe for something veggie that is still grilled like a piece of meat.

I started by

• going to costco and got a lot of portobello mushrooms.
• rubbing off the dirt and taking the stems off
• seasoning with a bit of olive oil, Worcestershire sauce, salt and pepper
• putting on grill for a couple minutes, than flipping so lack of stem hole is facing up
• putting some goats cheese in the hole
  
• serving on a toasted bagel
  
• putting a side of diced cucumber dressed with olive oil and balsamic glaze
  

Mystery Lasagna

Okay. Im sorry but it has been so long since i have last blogged that I cant even remember what was in this lasagna. From closer inspection this was a meat lasagna made with a fresh bolognese sauce. This takes the most time, but it makes it a lot better if you make it yourself. Plus you can get good nice beef from a proper butcher instead of the crap that was made on the other side of the world. So here it goes...for the sauce.

http://dansgoodgrub.blogspot.com/2010/04/my-bolognese-sauce.html
But use 5-6 fresh tomatoes because its SUMMER!!!

I used a mario betaglia bechamel sauce made from:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/mario-batali/bechamel-sauce-recipe/index.html
but try your own. there are a lot online.

I used some of the lasagna pasta that did not need to be precooked.

I finally had 2 large handfuls of spinach to use with the bechamel sauce.

For cheese i had 2 balls of fresh mozzarrella sliced up, a large handful of grated mozzarrella and also some grated parm.

Now start from with

• Painting the bottom and sides of pan with olive oil
  
• a bottom with a layer of the lasagna pasta.
• Use half of meat sauce for a layer.
• than another layer of lasagna pasta.
• Use all the bechamel sauce and spinach for a layer.
• than another layer of lasgana pasta.
• Top with sliced mozzarrella than use the last bit of meat sauce.
• than another layer of lasagna pasta.
• Finally top with the grated mozzarrella cheese and parm.
• Put tinfoil on.

You can eat it right away, or store it for a bit.
Put oven to 350 F. Once hot add the lasagna. After 25 minutes take out. Take off tinfoil. Scrape cheese that sticks onto top of lasgana. Put back in oven for another 20-25 minutes. Use heat from top to give it a nice brown on top. Let it cool for a few minutes and than serve.

Enjoy guys and gals. Ill be back soon!
=

carrot raddish cucumber salad

This salad was made from scraps from the box of veggies. After looking at it right now, i think i might make it again very very soon. Its fresh and delicious.

Start off by slicing up

• a cucumber
• 3 carrots (peeling before)
• 5 small radishs

make a sauce out of

• 1 tbs of olive oil
• 2 tsp of white wine vinegar
• 1 green onion (chopped up)
• dash of salt/pepper

ENjoy!

baked things

These potatoes are made with a bit of onion and some delicious Spanish cured meat.

Turn oven to 400 F.

Slice the potatoes length ways. and put in a big bowl of very cold water.

Thickly Slice up an onion

Drain water from potatoes.

Add a decent amount of Olive oil, some salt and pepper.

Add some diced up Spanish cured meat.

Mix and put on baking tray.

Slide tray into oven. Bake for 40 minutes.

Make sure to flip every once in while.

Top off with some grated parmesan cheese.

Enjoy with fish, or as a nice snack.

baked artichokes

I am sorry that i havent posted that often but this opening for the installation on the upcoming sunday. I have been cooking a bit, but not enough. But while my mum was here i made these delicious stuffed/baked artichokes.

I started like i usually do, by cutting out the center, scooping out all the thistley middle stuff and putting in a big pot of salted boiling water. same preparation as the other ones i made seen here.

Once they are boiled, than i cut the bottoms off, and stuffed them with a mixture of

• olive oil
• lemon juice
• garlic
• salt/pepper
• touch of maple syrup
• the stem (peeled)

put into an oven at 375 F for 20 minutes and Enjoy with some friends.

sweet and hot baked salmon

in my quest to try and eat more fish i went to the fish store by my place yesterday and bought some salmon. I decided that i was going to eat the salmon with some sunchokes and make it all really simple because i was tired from a long day.

I started by

• turning oven to 350 F.
• lining baking pan with parchment paper
• putting salmon on paper skin side up
• adding a sauce that i made
• baking for 20 minutes or until skin was nice and crispy

the sauce was made by mixing together

• tsp of hot sauce
• tsp of maple syrup
• tsp of lemon juice
• pinch of salt and pepper
• 2 tsp of olive oil

now enjoy with a side of sun chokes (Jerusalem artichoke)...except without the salami

cherry tomato pesto pasta

i was starving for something hearty but easy so i decided to make a really basic pasta. In my box of veggies that i get every week i have been getting these cherry tomatoes, that i think are delicious..however i just dont like raw tomatoes.

i started by

• boiling enough pasta for two people
• in another pan adding 2 tsp of olive oil
  
• turning to med-high heat
• cutting in half 6 cherry tomatoes
• once hot adding cherry tomatoes to pan
• stirring around for a few minutes while the tomatoes fry
• adding 2 tbs of pesto to the fried tomatoes
• continuing to stir and than add to a large pot of pasta
• stirring about
  

than i enjoyed it with some wine.

bacon sunchoke soup

I have been pretty bad at posting these past few days...and im sorry for that, but i have been busy. Im working on an art show at urban outfitters, writing an essay about the identity of nordic food, doing scientific experiments on cider that i (and friends) have brewed and finally my mum is town. Its been great, but busy. Last week the weather was cold so i made soup. this was it...seems out of place right now, but at the time it was not. at all so so delicous.

I started by

• adding 5 slices of organic bacon to a soup pot
• turning to med heat and letting bacon start to cook
• cutting up an onion and adding to bacon once fat is starting to melt
• cooking and stirring everyone once in while for 5 minutes
  
• adding 3 large carrots (peeled and cut)
• adding a large handful of sunchoke (peeled and cut up)
• adding 2 cloves of garlic (smashed and diced)
• adding 2 tsp of hot sauce
• adding 3 tsp of curry powder
• adding half a juice of lemon
  
• stirring for a few more minutes
• adding water and turning up heat
• adding beef bouillon cube and put lid on top
• once boiling, turn down temp to a simmer
  
• let simmer for 30-40 minutes
• use a blender to blend it

top it off with some sour cream, chives but i had some more bacon that was put in oven till crisp and chopped up... enjoy

bread in muffin

I made some bread the other day.

the recipe for the dough goes as follows

Bread recipe is a simple bread recipe. Start with

• 2 (8 g) packages of rapid rise yeast
• 1 cup of warm water
• 2 tsp maple syrup
  

Let sit for 5 min, till a creamy foam

Fill a big bowl with 7 cups of flour, than add

Combine:

• 2 tb, olive oil
• 3/2 tsp salt
• 2 eggs
• yeast mixture
  

Knead for 7-10 min, till it has formed together. Than let sit and put in bowl with some olive oil and a damp rag on top. Let it sit till it doubles, around an hour. Punch down and let rise again.

I than divided it up into 2 tbs balls.

i added some of

• garlic (smashed, diced)
  
• maple syrup
• salt/pepper
• Parmesan cheese
• pesto

i than put them into the muffin cups, and baked in oven at 350 for 20ish minutes...till tops looked like this.

cucumber radish salad

When its cold outside i sometimes feel like i just need something fresh and tasty to get away from the weather.

So i started out by washing and slicing up a cucumber and a handful of radishes.

I made a sauce out of

• olive oil
• honey mustard
• white wine vinegar
• salt/pepper

got a bowl and added the cucumber, radish and sauce.

roasted....

At my work they are always making these 'home' fries with the burgers. They just smell delicious and as we cant eat them there i had to make some tastiers ones at home. This is all from that box of organic veggies that i get. I got these small potatoes and a couple big parsnips.

I started by

• washing a big handful of potatoes and peeling a parsnip.
• cutting up the roots into wedges.
• setting in bowl with ice water for 10 min.
• draining and turning oven to 400 F.
• smashing and chopping 2 cloves of garlic.
  
• adding a good dash of olive oil, salt, garlic to bowl with roots.
• mixing all up.
• putting on pan.
• putting in oven once it is HOT
• flipping after 15 min
• flipping again after another 15 min
• taking out when they are brown on outside
• enjoying with while watching the nucks game

mergez w. yam and eggplant

i dont usually use a fry pan with yams, but this time is an exception.

i start by

• turning a pan to med-high heat.
  
• adding a spicy mergez sausage to pan.
• peeling, dicing and adding a yam to pan.
• washing, dicing and adding an egg plant to pan.
  
• stirring for 5 min.
• adding touch of salt, pepper, olive oil and garlic.
  
• taking out sausage, slicing and re adding to pan.
• putting lid on.
  
• cooking for another 10 min. stirring every once in a while.

It worked out pretty great, and will definitely make it again with a few more spices and flavours.

root cakes

I made this the other day because i got a lot of vegetables from per. I had a bunch of root veggies and decided that i wanted to make a 'root cake' out of it.

I started by grating

• 1 decently large beetroot (peeled)
• 5 small potatoes (washed and scrubbed)
• 2 sweet potatoes (peeled)
• 1 parsnip (peeled)
  

and than a washed and finely sliced up a leek. Put it all in a bowl and it looked like this




now i added and mixed in

• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp of salt
• 2 tsp lius syrup
• 1 tsp of cayenne pepper
• 2 tbs of grated mozzarella
• 1 tbs of corn
• 1/2 cup of flower
  

once all mixted, stuff the mixture into muffin cups, as seen below




Put in oven at 350 for 40ish minutes. They will brown on the top and solidify. and be soo soo tasty. I ate it with some black beans that i made a few days ago.

mergez sausage pita

I went today to the butcher and got some mergez sausage. I dont know how to spell it, but its a spicy african sausage.

I started by

• frying up 2 sausages in a pan
• adding a eggplant, sliced up
• adding a red pepper, diced up

Let it all cook up for a few minutes. I added some maple syrup and a tsp of curry powder. I put the lid on and cooked it up for another 10 minutes...stirring occasionally. This is how it turned out.




I than added some of the mixture with a bit of

• creme fraiche
• mozzarrella cheese

and wrapped it up and put it on the fry pan to crisp it up a little.

frozen berry sauce

I was starving after a day of work yesterday and found out that i had basically no food, except some stuff in the freezer. I found a roll of pinwheel cookies so i decided to bake them up. With that i made a sauce out of some of the frozen berries i had. I had some mixed berries and some red currant berries in the freezer. Im not usually a fan of frozen stuff, but i was in dire need of it.

I started by adding

• large handful of frozen red currants
• handful of frozen mixed berries
• tbs of sugar
• 1 cup of water

to a pot and turn it to med heat. heat it till it starts to boil and simmer for a couple minutes till it thickens a bit.

Have them with some cookies... and Enjoy