Cream of Leek, Potato and Smoked Red Pepper Soup

I was wanting to try making a nice cream soup of sorts today and while I was at the grocery store I saw some leeks. I figured, what the hell, i've never made cream of leek soup before maybe I will today. So a couple minutes before checking out, I thought, hmmm.... I bet you that if I add some potatoes for texture and smoked red peppers for a bit more flavour depth, that this could be a kick ass soup. So here's how I made it:

Ingredients:
1 900 ML box of chicken stock
15 baby golden potatoes
2 red bell peppers
2 leeks
1 small red onion
250 ml half and half cream
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
To plan your time properly, quarter and seed the peppers and rub in olive oil, then put on a grill with about 2 cups of any hardwood smoking chips right on the briquettes with the grill set to high on indirect heat. (heat opposite side of grill from the food side) Leave the peppers smoke and cook, skin down until the skins are black, then remove and cool.

Get the chicken stock to a soft boil on the stove in a 6 cup pot. Throw the potatoes in. While waiting for the potatoes to cook, put a sautee pan on medium high heat with some olive oil. Chop the leeks across the bias into 1/8" thick rings, then place in the sautee pan. Coarsely chop the red onion and add to the party.

Once the potatoes are soft, mash them gently with a potato smasher. Add the leaks and onions into the pot, then blend thoroughly with an immersion blender. Peel the skin off the red peppers and coarsely chop. Add the peppers to the pot along with the cream, then blend with the immersion blender. Add salt and pepper to taste and voila!

Thai Chicken Pizza

We've been on an Asian food kick lately and have been trying to create some fusion in our meals. This fusion combines the great base of a good pizza with the flavours of Thailand. This coconut red curried chicken pizza is spectacular!

Ingredients:
- 1 tbsp red curry paste
- 250ml coconut milk
- 3 tbsp white sugar
- 3 chicken breasts
- 1 tsp salt
- another 1 tbsp red curry paste
- 1 red or orange bell pepper
- pizza sauce (not too strong flavoured)
- mozzarella cheese
- pizza dough (see recipe in my blog)

Start by putting the coconut milk in a small pot on medium heat. Whisk in one tbsp of red curry paste and the white sugar. Allow to get to a rolling boil and then reduce heat, stirring every few mins.

In a large pot, fill halfway with water and add one tbsp of red curry paste and salt. Get water up to a boil, then put the chicken breasts in. Cook for approx 10 mins (ensure they are cooked through) then strain out water. On a cutting board or plate, use two forks to shred the chicken apart. Once all the chicken is shredded, place all the chicken in the coconut red curry sauce and remove from heat. Allow the chicken to marinade in the sauce for at least 20 mins.

Prepare the bell pepper by cutting the top and bottom off, then quarter lengthwise. Hold the pepper flat and with a good knife, cut the waxy pith from the inside of the pepper leaving as much of the flesh still intact. Julienne the pepper in 1/8" lengthwise strips.

Prepare the pizza dough as in my earlier blog post. Use a regular pizza sauce as your base. Don't use a heavily flavoured sauce as it may over power the chicken and trust me, you don't want that! Place the chicken in a strainer and get as much sauce off as you can. Spread the chicken all over the sauced pizza crust. Place the bell pepper sticks all over the pizza, then place a thin layer of mozzarella cheese.

Bake at 450F for 12-15 mins or until the crust is golden underneath an on the edges.

For an added Thai experience, add a pinch of chopped cilantro right before eating.

I had this pizza with a Wolf Blass Cabernet and it was bang on.

Cheers!

Frenchy

Grilled Chicken Ceasar Salad

I love the taste of a nicely grilled Caesar salad. If you've never had this before, you have to try it. In this variation, I add some protein by adding sliced chicken that has been rubbed and then grilled. Here's how the delicious dish is made.

Yield: 2 Adults (one pregnant and one not) and one almost 2 year old

Ingredients:
1 head Romaine Lettuce
Ceasar Dressing (golden is best, I only had creamy)
Shredded Parmesan Cheese
1 baguette of your choice of bread
olive oil
coarse salt
cracked pepper
your favorite chicken rub (I used Club House Chicken Rub)
2 chicken breasts boneless and skinless

Start by rubbing down the chicken breasts with the rub. I spray them lightly with olive oil afterwards to help the browning of the meat. Grill at medium high heat if you want a nice dark outer finish on the chicken.

While the chicken is grilling, cut roughly 20 cubes about 1/2" square in size from your baguette. Place them in a deep bowl and drizzle the bread with olive oil. Sprinkle black pepper and coarse salt and toss the bread cubes in the bowl. Place in the oven at 400 degrees until brown. Homemade croutons made simple!

Rinse the lettuce and then cut the head lengthwise and do not cut off the stem. The stem keeps the head together and makes grilling much easier. Drizzle the inside cut portion of the romaine lettuce with olive oil and sprinkle pepper and salt over each half.

When your chicken is almost read (5 mins or so from done) place the romaine halves face down on the hot grill. Grill until the lettuce looks lightly brown, but not limp.

Remove the chicken and let rest for 5-10 mins. Once the chicken has rested, slice each breast into slices approx. 1/8" thick and lay across each romaine half until the romaine half is well covered (about 5 slices). Drizzle Ceasar dressing over the chicken, then sprinkle some grated parmesan cheese all over the chicken and lettuce. Finish by placing croutons on and around the dish.

I know the idea of grilled salad sounds crazy, but you will love this salad more and more each time you eat it.

For a salty spin, sprinkle capers on the salad as well.



Bon appetit!

Roasted Red Pepper and Cilantro Hummus

I recently was hospitalized with an intestinal condition called diverticulitis. Long story short, a change of diet was sprung onto me and so I figured I better start eating healthier.

Normally at work if i'm hungry i'd rip into a bag of chips and have a sports drink or pop of some sort. Now that i'm taking a healthier turn, I decided to make a snack that has more nutrition (in my mind) and that is made from aromatic ingredients. I decided that i'll take take some Triscuits and hummus as a afternoon snack. Here's the hummus recipe:

1 can Chickpeas
3 cloves garlic
8-10 springs of fresh cilantro
juice of 1 whole lime (or 4 key limes)
1 red pepper
olive oil
cracked pepper

Start by quartering the red pepper and tossing in olive oil, then grind some fresh black pepper into the mix. Grill the red pepper on the BBQ until the red pepper skin is looking shriveled. Remove from heat and take the skin off the pepper. I find that holding one side of the pepper section and scraping with a knife in the opposite direction works best. Once done, place the peppers in your food processor.

Drain and rinse the chickpeas. For a smoother dip, you can peel the chick peas. To do this, I put them all in a large colander and rubbed the chick peas between my hands numerous times. This peeled them quite fast. Discard the peels and put the chick peas in your food processor.

Peel 3 cloves of garlic and place in food processor. Cut the lime(s) and squeeze your lime juice directly into the food processor, then grind some more black pepper into the mixture.

Coarsely chop your cilantro and place in the food processor.

Pulse the food processor until the mixture becomes a nice paste. You may have to stop and scrape the sides and pulse some more to ensure the consistency is to your liking.

Serve chilled or at room temperature with your choice of cracker. I prefer and recommend a whole grain cracker as the theme is to eat healthy!

Bon appetit!

Bitchin' Tomato Sammich

Inspired by a favorite cooking show of mine on Fude Netwerk, I decided today to make a tomato sandwich that is packed with multiple flavour dimensions and like the title suggests, bitchin.

I started by cutting thin slices of side bacon (from a whole unsliced side) and frying in a pan over medium - high heat. While cooking the bacon, I sliced up some fresh firm yet ripe tomatoes from my garden.

I used whole wheat bread as I've finally grown to have a taste for it.... and put in in the toaster. Once the bread is toasted, butter it up good with either margarine (w00t) or butter. Place the tomato slices on the bread as thick as you want to go. Salt and pepper (fresh cracked pepper) to taste.

Once your bacon is to your liking (I like soft, Amy likes crispy) place the bacon strips along the sandwich.

I know what you're thinking, this is a tomato sandwich with bacon... well the final touch is to slap a dollop of sour cream on top of the tomatoes and bacon. BANG!

I guarantee that this will blow your mind. Add some fresh chopped chives if you dare!

Eat up.

Wicked Chicken Sandwich

First off I'm not a huge chicken fan, so the fact that I'm posting a chicken recipe of sorts is a miracle in itself. Yesterday I went to a great restaurant in Winnipeg that has a awesome menu of diverse selections and the decor was all about my other favorite past time, music.

I decided to have the special of the day. This is a simple sandwich that anyone can make that is easy and absolutely delicious. The sandwich from what I could tell, was a lightly breaded chicken breast on a ciabatta bun topped with honey dill sauce, lettuce and tomatoes. What really set this sandwich apart from a regular chicken breast on a bun was the slices of brie cheese and a thin slice of crisped prosciutto. I'm not sure how they got the prosciutto crispy, but I'm guessing it was just by a quick flash fry in a deep fryer or maybe a quick heating in a hot oven on a sheet of some sort.

This was a sandwich with many dimensions of flavour. I think if I were to make this sandwich in my own way, I'd likely change the brie with Buffalo Mozzarella, to compliment the lettuce, add a couple basil leaves and lastly, I'd make a spicy mayo to put on. For this application, I think a chipotle chili mayo would be best. I'll try this out and re-post on how it turns out. Until then, if anyone else happens to give this a try before I do, please post the result!

Cheers!

Give your zucchini some flavor...

Tonight, we decided to look to our garden for some inspiration. We knew that spaghetti w/tomato sauce and Italian sausage was on the menu, but we wanted to incorporate some good veggies from the garden since it's getting close to veggie harvest time in Manitoba, even if it's late this year from all the rain and lack of sun.

We seemed to have a plethora of zucchini, but not much else that was ready. There was one pathetic tomato that was dying to be picked out of the depressing looking tomato plant where it hung, so we grabbed it up. We picked all the zucchini that was getting big and on the way back to the house, I snagged some basil.

While cooking the Italian sausage on the barbecue, an idea lit up. Since I've personally never seen this done, I'm gonna name this "Frenchy's Grilled Zucchini". Yes it's a lame ass name, but I'll leave it up to readers to determine the real name. And I write:

Ingredients:
1 large zucchini (3" or more circumference)
ball mozzarella cheese
shredded parmesan cheese
olive oil
kosher or coarse salt
cracked pepper
firm tomato
fresh basil leaves

Directions:
Slice the zucchini approximately 3/4 - 1 inch thick in rounds. Set the larger rounds on a plate, then brush will olive oil and season to taste with salt and pepper. Place on a hot BBQ grill (cast iron pan would also work). Pay close attention to how the zucchini is cooking on the grill. you don't want them to get soggy. A good way to check is use tongs to flip them cause you can gauge the firmness of the zucchini by squeezing the zucchini. You want them to feel moderately soft.

If you have a low heat BBQ like me, you can take some time while the zucchini is grilling to prep the remainder of the ingredients. Slice your tomato in half, then slice thin slices (these would be quartered slices) and set aside. Trim the stems off the basil leaves and then also set aside. Slice the ball mozzarella into 1/8" slices that will fit on the zucchini (see where i'm going? :) ). Shred some Parmesan cheese unless you have some pre-shredded and save yourself some work.

Head the to grill and flip the zucchini (if you haven't already). Place a slice of mozza on each zucchini round and then sprinkle some parmesan cheese on top of each mozza slice. Allow to stay on the grill to melt the cheese. At this point it would be good to switch off the heat under the zucchini and change to the opposite side burner and use indirect heat.

Once the cheese is melted, remove the zucchini using a grill spatula and place on a plate. To finish off this zucchini, place a slice or two of tomato on the zucchini then put 2 leaves of basil on the tomato. Finally, crack some more pepper on top and then finish with a sprinkle of coarse or kosher salt. This has a ton of flavour and is a great way to use garden fresh zucchini.

Cheers!