Mediterranean Chicken with Roasted Red Peppers

Written by Ian McKenzie on February 12th, 2008 with no comments.
Read more articles on Mediterranean and Poultry.

Food Bites - February 16

• Arroz Con Pollo Recipe – the classic Spanish chicken and rice dish.
• Chocolate-covered cars – a waste of good chocolate.
• No-Knead Bread – A bread recipe that requires no kneading, but takes plenty of time.
• Love is a big rare roast – Lynette creates one of her great sounding meals for Valentine’s Day. Lucky Cakes!
• The Fundamentals Of Running A Restaurant - A Forbes.com article on what is involved in running a restaurant. (Hint, it’s not all Food Network glamour.)
• Roasted Garlic - Getting Back to Basics – Just thinking about roasted garlic gets me salivating in a Homer Simpson kind of way.
• Breville 800ESXL – on my wish list.
• Pork. Chop. Noodles. – Who needs to eat out when you’re preparing food like this.
• Yogurt Panna Cotta with Raspberries – A simple, elegant, light dessert.
• Spicy Beef Curry Stew for the Slow Cooker

Written by Ian McKenzie on February 16th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on European and Main Dish and Mediterranean and Tools and Equipment and Indian and Poultry and Holiday Recipes and Pasta and Pork and Bread and Coffee and Dessert and One Pot Meals and How To and Oriental and Slow Cooker.

Rice-Cooker Spanish Rice

Use your rice cooker to prepare more than just plain rice.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• jalapeños, seeded and diced fine
• 1 small red onion, chopped
• 1 green pepper, cored, seeded and diced
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
• 1 small yellow summer squash, diced
• 1 red pepper, cored, seeded and diced
• 1 1/2 cups Arborio rice (short grain)
• 1 3/4 cups chicken broth
• 1/4 teaspoon saffron dissolved in 1 tablespoon milk
• 1/2 cup frozen peas
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 12 ounces canned plum tomatoes, juiced strained and chopped

Directions:

1. Sauté onion and jalapeños in olive oil until softened, about 10 minutes on COOK mode of Rice Cooker.
2. Stir in garlic, herbs, yellow squash, red pepper and tomatoes and cook with lid on for 10 minutes. Add rice, broth and saffron milk and stir to combine.
3. Place lid on unit and cook until cycle is complete. Stir in peas, salt and pepper and leave on KEEP-WARM mode until peas are warmed through.

Written by Ian McKenzie on January 29th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Mediterranean and Tools and Equipment and One Pot Meals and Side Dish.

Which Olive Oil to Choose

I’m always looking for recommended olive oils available in Canada. I’ll have to check these out and see what I think.

My personal favourites include Horia Extra-Virgin olive oil from Greece, which I get at the Bulk Cheese Warehouse in Saskatoon; Umberto’s Villa Delia Extra-Virgin olive oil from Italy, which I buy at Il Giarindo in Vancouver, Canada; the bulk Extra-Virgin olive oil available at Mercato Foods in Calgary; and Sindyanna Extra Virgin olive oil from Israel, which I get from Ten Thousand Villages, which is operated by the Mennonite Central Committee.

KitchenSavvy: Which Olive Oil to Choose.

Written by Ian McKenzie on January 15th, 2007 with no comments.
Read more articles on Greek and Mediterranean and Tips and Italian.

Spaghetti al Caffe

Ingredients:

• 4 medium onions, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 2 tablespoons. olive oil
• 2 lbs. lean ground beef
• 1 can tomato sauce
• 12 oz. chopped mushrooms
• 1 can whole peeled tomatoes, chopped
• 3/4  cup strong coffee
• pinch of sugar (optional)
• salt, pepper, oregano, and basil to taste.

Directions:

1. Heat large pot to medium high.
2. Put the oil in the pot, then add onions and garlic. Brown until golden.
3. Add the ground beef, tomato sauce, mushrooms and coffee. Simmer for 30 minutes, adding water if necessary.
4. Add seasonings to taste and simmer another 5 minutes.
5. Serve over cooked spaghetti

Written by Ian McKenzie on December 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Beef and Main Dish and Mediterranean and Italian and Pasta.

Sausage and Potato Stew

Ingredients:

• 1 slice Canadian bacon
• 1 Carrot — finely chopped
• 1 Celery stalk — finely chopped
• 1 Onion — finely chopped
• 1 Garlic clove — minced
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 28 ounce can Plum Tomatoes6 Potatoes — cubed
• 1 ound Italian sausage — (cut into 2″ pieces)


• Salt and pepper to taste


• fresh parsley or basil for garnish

Directions:

1. Fry bacon in a large non-stick saucepan until crisp.


2. Add carrot, celery, onion, garlic and basil.


3. Saute in pan drippings until onion is lightly browned.


4. Add tomatoes, potatoes and sausage. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to low.


5. Simmer for 1 hour, stirring occasionally,  adding water for desired consistency. Season with salt and pepper to taste.


6. Optional: add cubed zucchini, yellow squash.


7. Serve garnished with chopped fresh parsley or basil.

For Crockpot: After browning step, put in crockpot with remaining ingredients and cook for 8  or 9 hours. Serve with crusty bread.

Written by Ian McKenzie on December 5th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Main Dish and Mediterranean and Pork and One Pot Meals and Stew.

Hummus Dip

Makes 2 cups

Ingredients:

• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 19-ounce can chick peas (garbanzo beans)
• 3 tablespoons tahini
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice
• 1/4 cup yogurt
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• olive oil
• chopped fresh parsley

Directions:

1. Place garlic in a food processor and chop finely.
2. Drain beans, add to the food processor along with tahini, lemon juice, yogurt, cumin, paprika and salt. Process until very smooth: about two minutes.
3. The mixture should be moist and spreadable. If it is too dry, turn on the processor and slowly add olive oil until the desired consistency is acheived.
4. Place in bowl, drizzle olive oil and sprinkle parsley over top. Serve with pita, crudites or crackers.

Technorati Tags: Cooking, Recipes, Hummus, Appetizer, Dips, Middle Eastern, Mediterranean

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Written by Ian McKenzie on August 3rd, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Mediterranean and Appetizers and Middle Eastern and Vegetable.

Pita Bread

Pita Bread
Recipe courtesy Tyler Florence and JoAnn Cianciulli

1 package active dry yeast
1 teaspoon sugar
11/2 cups warm water
1 teaspoon salt
31/2 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting
1 teaspoon olive oil

In the bowl of a heavy-duty electric mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the yeast, sugar, and warm water; stir to blend. Let the yeast stand until foamy, about 5 to 10 minutes.

Stir in the salt. Add the flour, a little at a time, mixing at the lowest speed until all the flour has been incorporated and the dough gathers into a ball; this should take about 4 minutes.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until it’s smooth and elastic. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, turn it over to coat, and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise until double in size, about 1 1/2 hours.

Place a large pizza stone on the lower oven rack, pre-heat the oven (and stone) to 500 degrees F.

Punch the dough down, divide it into 8 pieces, and gather each piece into a ball; keeping all of them lightly floured and covered while you work. Allow the balls of dough to rest, covered, for 15 minutes so they will be easier to roll out.

Using a rolling pin, roll each dough ball into a circle that is about 8-inches in diameter and 1/4-inch thick. Make sure the circle is totally smooth, with no creases or seams in the dough, which can prevent the pitas from puffing up properly. Cover the disks as you roll them out, but do not stack them up. Put 2 pita rounds at a time on the hot pizza stone and bake for 3 to 4 minutes, or until the bread puffs up like a balloon and is pale golden. Watch closely; they bake fast. Remove the bread from the oven and place on a rack to cool for 5 minutes; they will naturally deflate, leaving a pocket in the centre. Wrap the pitas in a large kitchen towel to keep them soft.

Food Network: Pita Bread

Written by tubaism on May 27th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Baking and Greek and Mediterranean and Middle Eastern and Bread.

Risotto with Parmesan

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, finely chopped
• 1 pound arborio rice
• 6 cups chicken stock, hot
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 3 ounces Parmesan cheese, coarsely grated

Directions:

1. Heat the butter and oil in a large, straight−sided saute pan or saucepan.
2. Add the onion, and saute until soft, without browning.
3. Add the rice, and saute for 2 minutes until the rice is well−coated.
4. Ladle 1/2 cup of stock into the rice, stirring constantly, until all the liquid is absorbed and the rice is almost dry.
5. Add more stock, 1/2 cup at a time, until it’s all absorbed by the rice and the rice is al dente.
6. The rice should be very moist and creamy, but not runny; firm but tender, not crunchy.
7. Remove from heat, and stir in butter and Parmesan cheese.
8. Salt to taste, and serve immediately.

Tags: Cooking, Recipes, Rice, Risotto, Italian

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Written by tubaism on April 24th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Mediterranean and Italian and Side Dish.

Tzatziki

Ingredients:
3 cups of plain, unsweetened yogurt
2 medium-sized cucumbers
4 cloves of garlic
2 tbsps of olive oil
dill (fresh is great, as is a bit of cilantro, but dried dill or basil - in small quantities - will both taste good)
salt to taste

Directions:
1. Drain yogurt completely.
2. Clean and grate cucumber, then drain (in a cheesecloth or clean tea towel).
3. Crush garlic.
4. Put yogurt in a large bowl, add cucumber, garlic, dill, olive oil and salt.
5. Mix together gently.
6.Refrigerate for half an hour before serving.

Technorati Tags: Cooking, Recipes, Greek, Side Dish, Cucumber

Written by tubaism on March 20th, 2006 with no comments.
Read more articles on Greek and Mediterranean.

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