Beet Salad

Large bags of beets were on sale the other day at the grocery store so I decided to pick up a bag. In the early fall I pickle beets, in the winter I like a nice borscht and other times I'll just roast them but this time I decided to try something a little different so I started looking up some beet salad recipes. I found a couple different ones but ended up making my own. Check it out and let me know what you think!



Ingredients (Beets):
15 - Small to Medium Beets, Scrubbed and washed
1 - Tsp Salt
1/2 - Tsp Pepper
1 - Tbsp Olive Oil

Ingredients (Dressing):
1 - Tbsp Dijon Mustard (or regular mustard if you don't have Dijon)
1 - Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1/2 - Tbsp Olive Oil

Directions:
Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. Add beets to an oven safe dish, cover with olive oil, salt and pepper. Tightly cover with tin foil. Place in oven and cook for 60 -75 minutes or until a fork can easily pierce the beets.

Let the beets cool to room temperature or just put them in the fridge over night.

Cut off the bottoms and peel off as much skin as possible. Cut into small piece and put into a large bowl.

In a separate bowl add the mustard, balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Whisk together and pour over top of the beets. Mix until the beets are well coated. Top with some chives or green olives and serve as a side.

Bruschetta Bread

I was really surprised that I didn't already have this recipe posted as it's something that I make all the time. Bruschetta Bread is pretty quick appetizer and easy to make.



Ingredients:
3 - Large Tomatoes (Field Tomatoes are better because they aren't as juice)
3 - Tbsp of Balsamic Salad Dressing
1 - Tbsp of Olive Oil
2 - Green Onions (Just the greens)
2 - Cloves of Garlic
1 - Baguette



Directions:
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees. Score the three tomatoes on the bottom.

Put the tomatoes in a steamer, turn it on high and steam for 4 or 5 minutes until the skin starts to loosen. (You don't want to cook them).

While the tomatoes are steaming, cut the Baguette into 1" think pieces, brush olive oil onto one side and place face down on a backing sheet. Bake at 400 for about 6 - 8 minutes or until top start to get a little bit golden brown.

Take out a large bowl, add the balsamic, oil, green onion and garlic.

Mix it all together.

Once the tomatoes skins are starting to peel off, take the pot off the heat and pour cold water over it until cool.

Once the tomatoes have cooled, put them on a cutting board.

Chop them up.

Add the Tomatoes to the mixture and mix together.

At this point the baguettes should be ready. Pull them out and flip over.

Take a large spoonful of the mixture, place it on a baguette and serve. Make sure that you keep the bowl handy because you always need to load on some extra topping :)

Potato and Rice Paddy's with Cocktail Toppings

Continuing on with my LCBO Magazine cook off, I have made these Potato and Rice Paddy's with different Cocktail / Appetizer type toppings on them. It's something a little different instead of using baguette slices or various crackers.

Ingredients:
1 - Cup chicken broth
1/2 - Cup short-grain rice (I used Basmati rice since I didn't have any short-grain)
3 - Small Potatoes
1 - Egg
2 - Cloves of garlic
1/2 - Tsp Salt
1/2 - Tsp Paprika
1/4 - Tsp Pepper
2 - Green onions, chopped
1/2 - Cup of Peanut oil (or vegetable)

Toppings:
Goat Cheese
Fig Spread
Red Chill Spread
Olives
Roasted Garlic (See my tip for roasting Garlic)


Directions:
In a pot bring broth to boil; add rice. Cover and reduce to low heat and cook for 20 minutes. Once cooked, cool to room temperature.



Fill a large bowl (or pot) with water and coarsely grate potatoes directly into the water; set aside, still in water.

Beat egg with fork to combine. Stir in green onion, garlic, salt, paprika and pepper until mixed. (Garlic not shown but I remember to add it just in time!)

 You should have three pots/bowls of ingredients at this point.

Stir egg mixture into rice.

Drain potatoes; place on to a clean tea towel and roll up to further dry, Stir potatoes into rice mixture.

Heat 2 - 3 Tbsp of oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Drop in several heaps of the rice and potato mixture. Shape slightly if needed. Saute for 4 to 5 minutes per side.

Drain on Paper Towel. Keep warm in a 200 Degree oven until you are ready to top.

Get out your toppings and use your imagination!

(Goat Cheese, Green Olives and Roaster Garlic)

(Goat Cheese, Kamado Black Olives and Roaster Garlic)

(Goat Cheese, Red Chili Spread and Roasted Garlic)

(Goat Cheese, Fig Spread and Roasted Garlic)

Because of the timing of these apps, I ended up using them as a side dish for my Rack of Lamb Braised with Cinnamon and Honey

Breakfast Muffin

All my friends know that I look to cook and that I like to try new things. One of the guys I use to work with sent me a link showing this amazing looking Breakfast Muffin and challenge me to make it. Well Sat, this one is for you!



Ingredients:
2 - Tbsp Butter
2 - Slices of Bread
8 - Slices of Bacon
2 - Mushrooms Chopped
4 - Eggs
Salt + Pepper or a Garlic All Spice

Directions:
Cut two rounds out of each slice of bread. They should be just small enough to fit in the bottom of a muffin pan.

Butter a muffin pan and place the bread slices into the bottom of a muffin pan.

Cook up some bacon but not 100% done as it will still go into the oven to finish baking.

Put the bacon around the pan.

Split the mushroom between each muffin (you can add onions, peppers or whatever in here).

Crack an egg on top.

Sprinkle the Garlic All Spice (or salt and pepper) over top.

Put the pan in the oven at 400 Degrees for about 20 minutes.

When I pulled them out at 20 minutes I didn't thing they looked done on top but it was just the way that the egg look while being cooked in the oven.

Pop them out of the pan with a butter knife or fork and enjoy. Next time I would add  Cheese on top because I felt like it needed just a little more flavor.

Here is a side view of it.

White and Sweet Potatoes Anna, BBQ Chicken with Shallot Red Wine Reduction

I saw this picture in the LCBO magazine and I wanted to make this dish. I love the way the the tops of the potatoes are browned, the sweet potato layer in the middle and the way it's cut and spaced so nicely.

(Image taken from Autumn 2014 - LCBO Food and Drink Magazine)

But.... not all my recipes end up looking as good as in the magazines. As I mentioned before, I really wanted to make this dish but because the potatoes would take a good 50 minutes to cook, I had to wait for a weekend to make this one. The other thing I was repeatedly asked / told in the days leading up to making it was "What's so special about this dish? It's just potatoes." Now granted it is pretty much just potatoes but for whatever reason I kind of took offense to that comment but that's when I realized that it was just a side dish and I needed to make something with it. I went with the classic BBQ chicken but decided to make a sauce out of some Red Wine and extra Shallots.

Note: My directions differ a little bit from the original LCBO magazine do to lack of cookware.

Ingredients (Potatoes):
4 - Medium Potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
1 - Medium Sweet Potato, peeled and thinly sliced
1/2 - Cup Butter, melted
Salt and Pepper
4 - Cloves of Garlic, chopped
1/4 - Cup of chopped sage



Ingredients (Chicken Sauce):
4 - Small Shallots. peeled and sliced
2 - Cloves of Garlic, chopped
1 - Tsp of Rosemary
5 - Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
1 1/2 - Cups Red Wine
1 1/2 - Cups Beef or Chicken Stock
1 - Tbsp Butter

(I really like how this photo turned out)

Directions:
Since the potatoes are going to take the longest to cook, lets start with those. Using three or four medium potatoes, skin and then thinly slice them.

In the original recipe you are supposed to brush butter in an ovenproof skillet or cast iron pan with but I don't have one (Christmas present Idea!!!) so I used this "Stoneware" container thing but I think not having the cast iron pan ultimately lead to my my final product not looking as good as the magazine.

Back to the recipe. Brush butter all around your oven proof pan. Tightly later potatoes (do a better job than I did).

(Layer 1) 

After each layer, brush with melted butter.

(Layer 2)

(Layer 3)

After laying the third layer sprinkle with half the garlic and half the sage. Now lay the three sweet potato layers brushing butter after each layer.

After laying the three layers of sweet potatoes (only two layers shown in the pictures) sprinkle the remaining garlic and sage on top. Lay two more layers of white potato brushing butter after each layer. Sprinkle with some salt and pepper.

If you are using the cast iron pan, place the potatoes on the stove over medium heat until the butter begins to sizzle. Cover the top with a round of parchment paper roughly the same size as the pan (it should just loosely over the potatoes). Put into the oven at 425 for 45 - 50 minutes or until potatoes are soft and the bottom and edges are golden.

After the potatoes have been baking for about 30 minutes we can start on the sauce. Put the Shallots into a frying pan with some butter. Saute over medium heat for 6 - 8 minutes or until the start to turn translucent. Add in Garlic and Rosemary and cook for another minute.

Add in 5 Tbsp of Balsamic Vinegar. At this point you should probably start the Chicken.

The Balsamic will bubble and start to reduce.

Let it reduce until almost completely gone.

Add in Red Wine and Stock. Bring to a boil and then reduce to medium heat. The Sauce should reduce by about half at which point you can mix in some butter.

(I didn't let mine reduce enough)

Pull the Potatoes out of the oven and uncover.

Invert plate over pan and flip both pan and plate to turn out. Cut into Wedges (not as easy as it sounds...)

(As you can see, not exactly as the LCBO Magazine picture)

Plate the Potatoes with BBQ Chicken, top with the Wine Sauce.

As you can see, the potatoes didn't turn out as nicely as they did in the magazine and they were pretty much just potatoes.... If you think my sauce looks a little runny then you are right. I didn't let it thicken long enough or I should have added in some corn starch to help with the thickening. On a positive note the sauce tasted really good and went well with the chicken.