Broccoli Salad

I find that a lot of broccoli salads are so sweet they taste more like a crunchy green dessert. This one has a hint of sweetness from the cranberries, apples and apricots, but the dressing itself is a bit tangy and not too heavy.

6 cups bite-sized broccoli pieces (Use the stems, too. Peel them, and cut them into one-inch chunks, then slice or chop them to bite-size)
1 apple, cored and diced
1 sweet red pepper, seeded and diced
1/4 cup diced red onion
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup diced dried apricots
1/4 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup roasted sunflower seeds

Combine the above ingredients in a large bowl.

Dressing
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 teaspoon honey
1 Tablespoon white wine vinegar
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Whisk together the dressing ingredients, then combine with the salad. This keeps for a few days in the fridge and I like it with a slice of fresh bread for lunch.

Chocolate Roll

Although this recipe has a triple hit of chocolate, it's still quite light and a good dessert to serve after a heavy dinner. (Or a light dinner, or as a snack). I made this recently for a weekend with our children. They all came up to visit at different times, some overlapped, and I wanted to have easy meals so I could just enjoy being with them.

Jelly rolls are kind of an old fashioned thing, but I think they are easy to make and delicious to eat. The ratio of cake to filling is evenly distributed and just about perfect! I've had people tell me that jelly rolls don't work for them, that they crack. The wonderful thing about them is that if they crack, it's usually at the inner part of the roll and that can easily be disguised and held together with filling. I like them because they can be made ahead and even frozen. So, without further ado, here's the recipe.

Chocolate Jelly Roll

3 large eggs
1 cup white sugar
1/3 cup water, room temperature
1 cup sifted flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon vanilla

Grease the bottom and sides of a rimmed baking sheet (about 10 x 15 inches). Line the bottom with waxed paper, and grease that, too. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Beat the eggs until thick and lemon coloured. Gradually beat in the sugar. Blend in the water and the vanilla. Sift together the flour, salt, baking powder and cocoa powder. Mix into the egg and sugar mixture, stirring only until blended. Pour into the prepared pan and spread out evenly. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until top springs back when lightly pressed.

While the jelly roll bakes, spread a clean tea towel onto the counter. Sprinkle with icing sugar, about 1/4 cup. I place the icing sugar into a sieve then tap it gently while moving it over the tea towel to spread it evenly.

As soon as the jelly roll has finished baking turn it upside down onto the tea towel. Remove the waxed paper and then roll it up together WITH the tea towel. Let cool. When the roll has cooled completely, gently unroll it, spread it with the filling and reroll it, WITHOUT the tea towel. Place seamside down on a pretty serving tray, or slice into 3/4 inch thick slices, top with sauce and enjoy.

Chocolate Butter Cream Filling

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup milk
1 oz (1 square) unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 oz (1 square) semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 Tablespoon rum (optional)

Combine the sugar and flour together, whisk in the milk. Cook until thickened, in a small saucepan, over medium heat. Mixture should bubble and boil. Stir constantly to avoid scorching. (note: a little sticking to the pan does not affect the taste - said from experience) Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate until melted. Cool completely.
In mixing bowl, beat butter until creamy. Add flour/milk mixture, the rum and vanilla, and beat well. As you beat it the mixture will become light and creamy. Spread onto jelly roll.

Chocolate Sauce

1/2 cup cream
1 cup chocolate chips

Place in a glass measuring cup and microwave about 1-2 minutes, or until the chips have melted. Stir together and voilà, the easiest sauce ever.

Fish Tostados

This is a combination of a couple of recipes I saw - beef tostados and fish tacos. I was looking for something a little different than just baked or pan-fried fish. This turned out okay, not great. I'd up the heat factor - maybe season the fish with a little chipotle powder or chili powder before frying. But, for what it's worth, this recipe is a start - one I think I'll be tweaking because we really enjoyed the concept and the mixture of flavours. Crunchy cabbage with a bit of heat, lightly sauteed onions, creamy avocado, a hint of tomato, and the creamy chipotle flavoured sauce combined quite nicely.

3-4 cups shredded white cabbage
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 jalapeno pepper, seeded, finely minced
2 Tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon minced chipotle pepper
1 pound of boneless white-fleshed fish fillets (I used basa)
3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
1 onion, cut into thin wedges
1 avocado, peeled and diced
1 tomato, diced
4 tortillas (I used wheat because that's what I had on hand, next time I'd plan on using corn tortillas)

Combine the sour cream, jalapeno pepper, lime juice and salt. Mix half of this mixture with the shredded cabbage. Set aside remaining sauce.

Heat 1 T of the oil, and saute the onion until tender crisp (you want some crunch left in it). Remove the onion and keep it warm.

Heat the remaining T of oil to medium high. Cut the fish fillets into strips, salt and pepper them, and quickly fry them. Don't let them touch in the pan, do them in batches if necessary. Remove and keep warm. I piled it on top of the onions.

Toast the tortilla under the broiler, or if you like, quickly fry it until crisp.

To assemble, layer on a plate--

Tortilla
Cabbage (3/4-1 cup)
tomato
fish and onion
avocado

Top it all with the remaining sauce and squeeze fresh lime juice over.

Chicken Avocado Salad with Roasted Tomato Vinaigrette

Now that spring is flirting with summer it's time for salad dinners. The real start of this salad is the roasted tomato and roasted garlic vinaigrette. It's thick and flavourful, more of a condiment than an actual dressing. And any leftovers are wonderful as a topping for crostini, or dipping pita bread, or any salad. It can be done ahead of time. I like it served at room temperature, so if you do make it ahead and store it in the refrigerator, take it out about 30 minutes before you want to serve it.

Roasted Tomato/Roasted Garlic Vinaigrette

3 Roma tomatoes, quartered (cut out the stems)
1/2 medium onion, coarsely chopped
2-3 T. Olive oil
salt and pepper
1 T. fresh thyme leaves (or 1 tsp dried)

Place the tomatoes and onions in a glass baking dish. Pour over the olive oil and generously salt and pepper it. Sprinkle on the thyme leaves. With your hands toss everything together gently.

1 head garlic
olive oil

Cut the top off the head of garlic to expose the tops of the cloves. Place on a small piece of aluminum foil. Drizzle 1-2 teaspoons of olive oil on top. Bring up the foil to enclose tightly.

Place the glass baking pan with the tomatoes and the sealed garlic head in a 400 degree oven for 45 - 60 minutes. The tomatoes and onions should be beginning to caramelize around the edges. This is good and makes for wonderful flavour.

Let cool.

Unwrap the garlic head and squeeze the cloves into a blender. They are sticky, but oh, so good. Add the tomatoes and all their juices, scraping the bits of caramelization from the pan into the blender. Add

3 Tablespoons red wine vinegar
1 Tablespoon olive oil

Blend until smooth. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.

Serve over a salad of lettuce, grilled chicken and sliced avocado. Yum!

Potato Splats

These delectable crunchy two-bite potatoes are positively addictive. Eating one is an impossibility. Besides their crispy, salty outside and slightly creamy inside deliciousness they have a couple of things going for them. One, they can be made ahead, mostly. Two, they go with just about anything - roast, steak, chicken, grilled meats, etc. Three, their flavour can be changed by whatever herb or spice your heart is craving.

The recipe is ridiculously easy. First, wash as many little potatoes as you think you'll need. Add another handful because a few will disappear in the kitchen before they even get to the table. You can use red or white potatoes - I've used Yukon Golds here.

Place the potatoes in a saucepan, add water to about half way up the pot, salt, and bring to a boil. Simmer covered, until just barely tender when poked with a knife.

Dump them into a colander, then onto a tea towel on your counter. While they are still hot, or at least very warm, fold up another tea towel and use it as a buffer for the heel of your hand to gently squash each potato. Feeling each potato give under the weight of your hand is very satisfying, but don't get too aggressive. Just break the skins and flatten them out a bit.

Cover a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper, then drizzle it liberally with olive oil. Gently place each potato splat on the oiled paper. Cover and chill up to 24 hours, or proceed immediately.

Preheat the oven to 420 degrees. Liberally drizzle the potatoes with olive oil. Sprinkle with coarse kosher salt and season as you like. Freshly ground black pepper, thyme, rosemary...be creative. Today I used smoked Spanish paprika. Slide the baking tray into the oven and bake for about 15 minutes, remove from oven, turn each potato and return to the oven. Bake for another 10 or 15 minutes, depending on how crispy you would like them to be. That's it.

This little plateful is what wouldn't fit on my baking sheet today. The rest of them are in the fridge, resting comfortably until tomorrow's lunch. I baked up these last 7 splats and ate them all, not even offering one to my husband. He was busy anyway. 

French Silk Pie

Although I'm not a fan of double crust fruit pies I do enjoy Lemon Meringue, Kentucky Derbe and this Chocolate Pie. I first discovered French Silk Pie in the late 70s, I think, and made it regularly, raw eggs and all, with no problems, even in Ecuador. But somewhere along the line it became incorrect to make things with raw eggs (although I continue to do so, and I eat cookie dough!), so someone came up with this recipe for "Today's French Silk Pie." It's rich, chocolatey and a small piece is enough. With a cup of tea, it's a perfect afternoon treat.

French Silk Pie - today's version

1 cup whipping cream

1 6-oz package semi sweet chocolate chips (or use Baker's squares)

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup sugar

2 beaten egg yolks

3 Tablespoons whipping cream

1 baked 8 or 9 inch pastry shell (or use a graham wafer crumb crust)

In heavy 2 quart saucepan combine the 1 cup of whipping cream, chocolate, butter and sugar. Cook over low heat, stirring until chocolate is melted (about 10 minutes). Remove from heat. Stir about half of mixture into the egg yolks. Return all to saucepan. Continue cooking over medium low heat until slightly thicken and nearly bubbly (3-5 minutes). Remove from heat. Mixture may appear to separate. Stir in the 3 Tablespoons of cream. 

Place pan in a bowl of ice water, stir occasionally until mixture stiffens and becomes hard to stir (20 minutes). Note: This always takes longer and I usually end up putting the pot in the refrigerator. It needs to be stiff enough to whip but not completely firm. 

Transfer mixture to a medium mixing bowl. Beat on high for 2 to 3 minutes or until light and fluffy (I usually beat it a bit longer). Spread in pie crust. Cover and chill about 5 hours or until firm. 

Garnish with whipping cream, chocolate curls and a drizzle of chocolate sauce. This is very rich, tiny pieces are wonderful!

Mango Strawberry Salsa

Why is it that fruit and fish go so well together? Tonight we're having grilled shrimp skewers and in the grocery store today I saw ripe mangoes and strawberries. I didn't think of making a salsa until after I got home, but I'm glad I did. It was fast and easy and dresses up plain fish or seafood. Of course, I had to taste the salsa first, which I did with some corn chips. Yum - equally good.

1 ripe mango, diced
4 ripe strawberries, finely diced
1/4 cup finely minced onion (I used yellow because that's what I had, but red might be better)
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and finely diced (or use 1/2 for less heat)
salt and pepper to taste
juice of 1 lime

Mix all together. Enjoy with seafood or cornchips!