Tag Archives: comfort food

Presto Pesto Pizza, Cookies Revisited, and Chicken Soup for the Cold

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We got back from our trip two weeks ago and I haven’t gotten into the swing of cooking new recipes each week. I’ve been relying on comfort food, like my Super-Easy Pork Chops and Macaroni and Cheese. Yesterday was a comfort food day. I spent all afternoon in the kitchen.

My husband has a sore throat and a cold, so I wanted to make some chicken soup for him. When I was looking at the supermarket for produce for the soup, I saw fresh basil, so I decided to make pesto.

Pesto is a great base for pizza, and since we can’t get decent pizza, I make it. I still miss deep-dish Chicago pizza, but this is a good second best. Making the pesto is the most time consuming part of making this pizza. Now I’ve made it, so pizza, here I come! To make a yummy pizza, I put the pesto on the store-bought pizza crust, put on some chopped sun-dried tomatoes and some fresh Roma tomatoes, put on some cheese (mozzarella, shredded Parmesan, and crumbled goat cheese, which adds a nice flavor), and maybe some other toppings (dried figs, soaked in water, taste really yummy!). Put it in the oven for the allotted time given on the store-bought pizza crust, and presto! We have pesto pizza. See below for the pesto recipe.

Then I needed to make a treat for mother’s group today, so I made the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies in the world again. They turned out better than ever! So good, in fact, that I’m going to buy cookies to take to mother’s group and keep the homemade ones for myself and for my sick husband who insists they help him feel better. (We may not stay at mother’s group anyway since my throat already has a tickle and Paul keeps sneezing and moaning.)

(By the way, I have changed the metric equivalence on the recipe: it should be 225 g of butter instead of 250 g of butter. They were much “fluffier” and not as greasy with a little bit less butter. I assume that is still equal to 1 cup of butter, but if it’s not or if your cookies seem greasy, put in less than 1 cup of butter.)

I made chicken soup, too. I didn’t put in enough chicken, but overall, the broth ended up quite yummy. The recipe I (sort of) followed said to put the following in a cheesecloth sachet: thyme, celery, parsley, black peppercorn, and bay leaf. I couldn’t find cheesecloth, so I put those things in the broth and simmered for a little while before beginning the rest of the soup. After simmering for a while, I strained out the solids and set aside the broth. I sauteed some onions, garlic, carrots, and celery, added the broth again, then threw in some potatoes and some chopped chicken. The recipe called for 6 ounces (170 g) of chicken for that much broth (about 5 litres), but it was not nearly enough chicken. Next time I’ll put in twice as much. Oh well. At least the broth was tasty! Hopefully the leftovers will help my sore throat when I come down with a cold, too. I already feel a sniffle coming on.

Here’s the pesto recipe if you want to try making pesto pizza:

Pesto Sauce

Yield:1 cup

Ingredients

2 cups fresh basil leaves, stems removed, about 2 ounces (60 g)
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons pine nuts or walnuts
1 tablespoon peeled and coarsely chopped garlic, about 3 large cloves
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 tablespoon hot water

Directions

Rinse and pat dry the trimmed basil leaves.

Put the basil leaves in the container of a food processor or blender. Add the oil, pine nuts or walnuts, garlic, and salt and pepper. Blend to a fine texture but not a smooth puree, stopping the motor once to scrape down the sides of the blender container and to force the ingredients down to the blades.

Add the Parmesan cheese and water and blend just a few seconds more. Chill until served.

Serve with pasta, use as a pizza base, or spoon over broiled fish or chicken.

Super-Easy Pork Chops

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I had a Pork Chops with Mango Sauce recipe I was going to try the other day, until I realized that the limes I was going to use were completely moldy. Eww! I need to clean out the fridge more often (maybe before I go out of town). The mango sauce wouldn’t work so well without the lime juice and lime zest. (The only other ingredients in the sauce were chopped mint leaves, a cubbed mango, and half a red onion.)

I was feeling very uncreative in terms of what to do with the pork chops. We just wanted something quick to eat: that’s why I was going to fall back on the mango sauce. It looked so easy. I didn’t want to agonize over what to cook, but I find pork chops incredibly boring when they are just sauteed–they really need something on them. What could I do?

A quick internet search provided an easy recipe. I thought I’d share.

We had some blackberry jam in the fridge so I mixed two tablespoons of that with two tablespoons of Dijon mustard. After I browned both sides of the pork, I put a dollop of the mixture on the top of each piece of pork, covered the pan, and sauteed them until they were cooked through.

While the pork cooked, I heated some frozen vegetables and my husband made some potatoes. The whole meal was easy and super-tasty. I’ll add more mustard next time because it was incredibly subtle. But it was good as it was–you can barely taste it so if you don’t like mustard, it won’t overwhelm you.

  • Ingredients: 3 (pork, jam, mustard–plus butter for sauteeing and salt and pepper, but those don’t count)
  • Preparation: 1-2 minutes
  • Cooking time: 15-20 minutes

I cooked four of the seven chops that way. Yesterday, we cooked the other three chops. I bought limes and mixed together the mango sauce. (We omitted the red onion because apparently we didn’t have that.) My husband grilled the pork chops. Then we spooned the mango sauce over the pork.

Again, it was very tasty!

  • Ingredients: 4 (pork chops, mango, lime juice and zest, mint–plus vegetable oil for grilling and salt and pepper, but those don’t count)
  • Preparation: 10 minutes (it takes me a while to cut a mango; I’m sure my husband would have cut it faster)
  • Grilling time: 10 minutes, plus grill preparation

I love easy, tasty food!

Comfort Food

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Last week I felt very efficient. I cleaned the whole apartment from top to bottom and cooked dinner every night. Saturday night I made a turkey dinner and we entertained. I felt very good.

This week has been kind of blah. Monday was raining. Tuesday I felt unwell. Wednesday Paul got his first immunizations so he was very unhappy and sore. Thursday I spent the day filling out insurance paperwork. I haven’t been very good at cleaning, and since I didn’t do a big shopping trip on Saturday, I can only cook what I can buy and carry in the stroller, so I’ve done some easy things.

Last night I made Macaroni and Cheese. I think of it as a comfort food because it is so easy to make. I make sure I have a block of cheddar cheese and macaroni in the house so I can make it when I’m in a pinch for a yummy dinner.

I thought I’d share the recipe. (And yes, it is so much better than Kraft.)

Easy Macaroni and Cheese

Ingredients

    500 g (1 lb) macaroni, cooked
    1 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese
    1 cup bread crumbs
Cheese Sauce Ingredients
    4 Tbsp butter
    4 Tbsp flour
    2 1/2 cups milk, heated
    Salt
    Pepper
    Pinch of cayenne pepper
    1 cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese

Directions

    Prepare cheese sauce as follows: Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. Stir in the flour and cook, stirring constantly, until the paste cooks and bubbles a bit, but don’t let it brown, about 2 minutes. Add the hot milk, continuing to stir as the sauce thickens. Bring it to a boil. Add salt and pepper to taste, lower the heat, and cook, stirring for 2 to 3 minutes more. Stir in 1 cup grated Cheddar cheese during the last 2 minutes of cooking, along with a pinch of cayenne pepper. Remove from heat.

Here’s what I’ve learned in making this dish. First, if I accidentally add too much flour, I’ll have to start over. I’ve made this dish a few times so I guess I was feeling confident at my estimating. But I accidentally put in way too much and I could tell right away it would never blend together. I dumped it out and started again.

Second, if I don’t cook the roux long enough, the sauce will not thicken. I missed that the first time or two. I just had a milky cheese sauce. How do you know when the roux is cooked long enough? I’m still trying to figure it out. My husband says it smells “nutty.” I guess so, but how do you really define that? Last night, I thought I didn’t cook it long enough because the sauce wasn’t thickening. I was going to give it five more minutes and then start over with a new roux. But then it thickened up, so I didn’t have to.

Third, I should have used whole milk! We had some in the fridge, but I didn’t think of it until after I’d added skim milk. Oh well.

Fourth, I should make sure I put in salt and pepper! The first time I omitted them. I think I used to be afraid of putting them in, for any dish. But the more the better — to a certain extent…

    Preheat the oven to 375°F (190 C). Butter a casserole dish. Put the cooked macaroni into the casserole dish, pour the cheese sauce over it, and mix gently with a fork.

Somehow, I didn’t quite have enough sauce last night. If I’d have had time, I’d have made another batch of sauce. It’s good to have very creamy mac and cheese. Instead, we just poured milk over the top of our bowls when we served it.

    Sprinkle the grated cheese evenly over the top and spread the crumbs over the cheese. Bake, uncovered, until the top is golden and the sauce is bubbling, about 30 minutes.

I didn’t measure the cheese or the breadcrumbs. I just put on as much as looked tasty.

And it was tasty! (Yes, even the leftovers are gone already!)

Some Turkey

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Everybody knows some turkey and some mistletoe/ Will help to make the season bright. –The Christmas Song

I was feeling a bit left out of the Turkey Day celebrations (since, of course, there was no holiday here). I decided that it was time to do my own Thanksgiving dinner. I invited my friend Michelle and her family for a Saturday, 1 December, Thanksgiving dinner. There were 7 people total. A small gathering, but the largest number I’ve entertained.

I went to order a turkey from the Christmas Made Easy counter on Monday so I can prepare a lovely Turkey Dinner. They won’t provide ordered turkeys until 21 December. They don’t carry turkeys other times of the year.

I finally found a 3.2 kg (7 lb) frozen turkey breast at a supermarket. They seem few and far between. You’d think they’d have big signs advertising them. Is that how it is in the States? Aren’t turkeys just flying off the shelves already?

For those of you preparing to do your own Turkey Dinner this holiday season, here is what an amateur learned her first time around.

  • A turkey breast is a lot smaller and looks a lot easier to manage than an entire turkey. (And, while I never have done an entire turkey, it really was easy to do the turkey breast!)
  • When defrosting turkey in the fridge, don’t put the turkey on the top shelf.
  • When defrosting turkey in the fridge, make sure you put a pan underneath it.
  • If you don’t do the two preceding things, you’ll have to scrub the entire fridge and throw out the fresh fruit that is sitting on the bottom shelf.
  • Brining the turkey breast really isn’t hard.
  • When cooking a turkey in a small oven, make sure the oven shelf is as low as possible. Otherwise, the turkey will be just millimetres from the top broiler and will get all crusty on top.
  • When purchased, the turkey is wrapped with a foam pad. Throw out the foam pad before putting the turkey in the oven. Otherwise, at the end you won’t be able to separate the foam from the turkey drippings and it will be kind of nasty.
  • Make your husband carve the turkey.
  • Don’t have too many dishes: turkey, cranberry sauce and gravy, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and salad is plenty of food. There will be leftovers! (Hmmm, maybe it just wasn’t very good and that’s why it’s left over…)
  • When hurrying to put things away five minutes before company arrives, be careful not to bump the Pyrex liquid measuring cup from the top shelf of the cupboard. Otherwise, it will shatter and glass fragments will end up everywhere and you’ll be in even more of a panic. And you’ll get cuts on your hands.
  • If the pecan pie cooks too long, the crust will fly across the room when you try to cut into it.
  • If the pies don’t taste very good, just put more whipped cream on top. (Note to my family members who will be amazed at that comment: this is not Cool Whip or cream from the can, which I never have liked. This is real whipped cream, which is actually very tasty.)
  • If the pies don’t taste very good, everyone will still eat them because they have lots of sugar in them. Plus, there’s the whipped cream.

That’s what I learned. And, just to clarify, my husband (who is the true cook) had to work all day and didn’t get home until 5 p.m., when I was about to take the turkey out of the oven. (Company came at 6 p.m.) I did it all, except make the gravy and carve the turkey. Yes, I can cook a turkey dinner! Maybe I’m a cook too…

And now I feel like it’s the holidays! Happy Turkey Days to all of you!

Sup-Sup-Suppertime

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I was 32 when I started cooking; up until then, I just ate.—Julia Child

Non-cooks think it’s silly to invest two hours’ work in two minutes’ enjoyment; but if cooking is evanescent, so is the ballet. —Julia Child

Despite my mother’s best intentions, I never really liked or learned to cook while I was in her household.

In college, I avoided cooking and lived on Rice-a-Roni, sugar cookies, and Life cereal for four years. (My roommates can attest to that.) It helped that I often didn’t notice when I was hungry and forgot to eat. When I first got married, I would kind of cook, but not really — just so my stomach was full, I didn’t care what went in it. My husband loves to cook and he’d do the cooking on the weekends. But when he was out of town, I was lucky if I didn’t just get McDonalds. We moved to Australia and suddenly I was not working, I had time and no more excuses. I felt my husband deserved a home-cooked meal each night. I found recipes and began cooking; “at least three times a week” was my goal. It was tedious, but I could do it.

At that point, I felt that if I tried something challenging, I would mess up and it would be a disaster — so why try the hard things? Besides, food will be gone in a few moments. Why put in effort to create something spectacular? As a result, I made “boring” dishes that I didn’t feel too proud of. I felt I needed to apologize before serving it. (I never heard a word of complaint; rather, my husband always said my food was wonderful.)

Then Paul was born. I felt somewhat out of control for a few weeks and I didn’t cook at all. Then, one day (Paul was probably two weeks old), I sat down and found a recipe, I got the ingredients, and I made some yummy food. It was so much fun. Since then, I’ve found that I love cooking! Yes, sometimes I really don’t feel like cooking and we do something easy or my husband cooks. But on most days, I’ve found I love the hour I have every evening to create a feast for my husband. I’m getting pretty good at timing it so it’s ready just as he’s walking in the door. And I love it.

I’ve been cooking any recipe that looks tasty. What’s the result of cooking any recipe? Plenty of “oops” meals, and plenty of learning. Some recipes take a lot of effort. Some work well and others don’t. And the food is gone in minutes or days if we’re lucky (leftovers are a good thing). I know more about technique and flavor pairing than I ever did before. I can critique my finished product and determine what is missing or overpowering in it. I can tweak a recipe as I cook to make it better.

I actually look forward to trying five or six new recipes next week.

I don’t know what changed, but there’s something satisfying I didn’t feel before. It feels great to welcome my husband home from work with a complete feast on the table. Cooking is fun. Sup-sup-suppertime really is the very best time of the day!

The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies Ever

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The best chocolate chip cookie recipe ever discovered is the one from the back of the Western Family bag of chocolate chips. It amazes me that the discount brand of chocolate chips was the most successful at discovering the best combination of fat, sugar, and chocolate. And yet, it is this recipe that is truly delicious.

I have made this recipe on many occasions. It is truly the best out there. I believe good things should be shared. So here it is for your baking pleasure!

Western Family Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield: 36 cookies

Ingredients:

    2 1/4 c. flour
    1 t. baking soda
    1/2 t. salt
    1 c. butter/margarine (225 g)
    1/2 c. sugar
    3/4 c. brown sugar (packed)
    2 t. vanilla
    1 egg
    chocolate chips (I put in as many as I want!)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 F (190 C). In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars together until fluffy. Add vanilla and egg. Beat well. Mix together dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then add them to the creamed mixture. Add chocolate chips. Mix well. Drop by rounded tablespoons, 2″ apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Bake 10-15 minutes at 375 F (190 C).

The last time I made this recipe, the cookies were a dismal failure. It was a few weeks ago, right after we moved in to our new home. I didn’t have any of measuring spoons or measuring cups so I “estimated.” I didn’t know what the Celsius equivalent of 375 F was, so I guessed. I was wrong on that. I can’t remember if the oven was too hot or too cold, but it didn’t work out very well. I decided at the time that the oven just didn’t work. In the end, I had very crispy dough that just didn’t taste right.

Tonight I felt like eating my chocolate chip cookies. So I tried again. Now I have my measuring cups and spoons and I even checked to make sure that my oven temperature was the correct Celsius equivalent. I think my cookies turned out perfectly!

Try some yourself!