Meals for a Week

I have a friend who has a crazy work schedule and doesn't have time to cook a healthy meal each day.  He regularly eats my food when he comes over and always raves about it.  As a joke, I offered to cook his meals for a week.  He took me up on the offer and here's a look at what I delivered:  rice and peas, baked jerk chicken, grilled peppers and broccoli, and a beef roast.  He loved the food and now for a small fee, I deliver a variety of trays of food each week. 

The food can be portioned and frozen to make it last longer.  He found it was just enough for 2 meals a day for a week. 

Spinach Cove

Spinach Cove

I don't like spinach dips I've tried because I find the flavours are usually off.  I decided to make my own spinach dip with a bit of a twist that gave it a better texture.  I got rave reviews from my friends. Then I had this idea of putting it inside a pastry shell since I love puff pastry so much. This created what you see here:  the spinach cove.  

It's a soft flaky exterior with the warm, creamy goodness of spinach.

Dinner Party for 6

Last Saturday I had the honour of catering a private dinner party for a group of six people.  This dinner was the result of a gift donation I made to support charity fundraiser that one of my friends organized.  I decided to help in the best way possible:  offer my services. 

Mango cranberry salad was served as the appetizer.  The main course was glazed short beef ribs on a bed of wild rice with grilled zucchini and carrots on the side. Finally the meal was finished off with my apple turnover pie. 

The dinner received rave reviews.

Mango Salad

Beef short ribs on a bed of rice

Apple turnover pie with ice cream

Golden Accra



Accra ( Fish Cake)

Every Carribean household near and far knows about these light, spicy, and flavourful fried puffs of dough.  There are many names for them: some call them

fish cakes, saltfish fritters.  In my Trinidadian house, we call them accra.

Accra is basically salted cod fish mixed with chopped vegetables and heavily seasoned with spices and pepper.  They take minutes to make and are full of nutrients.  You can vary the ingredients to give it different flavours and textures. Most recently, I had one that was made with curry and celery - different, but tasty.

Give my simple recipe a try and let me know what you think.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of salted cod fish boiled out 3 times and broken into small pieces
• 1/4 cup of flour
• 1/4 cup of water
• 1/2 onion finely chopped
• 1green onion finely chopped
• 1/2 a red pepper diced
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp fresh thyme
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 tsp finely grated scotch bonnet pepper

Steps:

1. In a bowl, mix all the ingredients together until you get a thick paste.  
2. Pre-heat a frying pan with 1/4 cup of cooking oil.
3. Using a tablespoon, scoop some of the mixture into the pan.  Fit as many scoops as the pan allows.
4. When the side is golden brown, flip the cake.  Brown the other side and remove from pan.  
5. Cool in a bowl lined with paper towels to soak up the excess oil.   

Enjoy!

Steak Dinner at Home

Steak with seasoned potatoes and vegetables

For our date night I decided to do a steak dinner at home.  It's pretty easy to make a great steak diner at home in under 30 minutes.  Here's all I did.

The steak: The night before I marinated the steak  in a roasted red pepper, sea salt, black pepper, and garlic marinade.  When it was time to cook it, I broke out the stove top grill pan and heated it up with a little olive oil to increase the flavour.   Once the pan was extremely hot, I placed the steak in the pan and grilled it until the juices from the steak started to come from the top.  Then I did a quarter turn to give the grill marks, waited 5 minutes and then flipped it.  I repeated the process on the  other side.  To cook to well done, it only took 20 minutes. Once it was done but still on the grill, I topped it with a teaspoon of butter to help moisten the steak and reanimate the flavour.

The sides: I simply sautéed some vegetables and baked some seasoned potatoes.  For the seasoned potatoes:  cut potatoes into cubes and season with a mix of garlic powder, salt, parsley, thyme.  Put the potatoes in a baking dish with a quarter cup of water and a teaspoon of butter. Bake covered for 20 minutes.  Start the seasoned potatoes before you put the steak on the grill.

Mashed Potato Balls

Mashed potato balls with hot sauce

One night I was laying in bed and wondered how I could make the mashed potatoes into an appetizer.  I love mashed potatoes and cheese so, I thought I'd fuse them into a tasty ball.  I roll the balls in seasoned bread crumbs and then bake them the balls a give a nice firm shell. Once baked I serve them with a spicy sauce to kick them up a bit.

Zucchini Bites

Vegetables don't have to be boring.  These zucchini pieces are spiced up with my garden blend and topped with cheese to give them a rich flavour that even my teenage niece liked.

These make a great appetizer for any event and are fast and easy to make.

Salad Cups

When serving appetizers, salad can be a challenge.  I found serving them in these tasting cups make salad servings easy for people to grab and go.

The salad featured in the picture is a signature garden salad topped with feta cheese.  It features a   blend of vegetables, and a hint of sweetness to balance out the savoury flavours.

Butternut Squash Soup

With the fall season comes a blast of new flavours that are readily available from your local grocery store.  Pumpkins, squash, and other root vegetables are a plenty this time of year in Canada.

To welcome the new season, I decided to make a simple squash soup.  The ingredients are simple (shown below).  Instead of heavy cream, I chose to use coconut milk to accomodate my wife who is lactose intolerant.

Ingredients:  coconut milk, squash, cinnamon, thyme, ginger, brown sugar, bay leaves

Once all the ingredients are cooks, the soup is pureed in a blender to give it the smooth, creamy texture.   Serve it as an appetizer or as a main meal with a side of bread or crackers.

Ready to serve butternut squash soup

Chicken Stir Fry

This stir fry takes minutes to make and tastes great.  You don't need any special sauce, just the right blend of spices brings the chicken and vegetables to life.  Serve it with rice or noodles.

Chicken Stir Fry Recipe (coming soon)

Tasty Beets

I love beets.  My mother made them often so I grew up knowing them as part of my regular meal.  They're healthy too - a great source of phytonutrients called betalains.  To cook beets, I use a simple recipe that adds a flavour that anyone would love.

Cooked Beets

Cooked Beets Recipe

• Peel skin off 3 regular-sized beets and wash them thoroughly
• Place beets in pot with enough water to cover the beets
• Add a 1/4 teaspoon of vinegar
• Add a teaspoon of brown sugar
• Add 1 stick of cinnamon and 4 cloves
• Boil for 5 minutes then turn off stove.  Let the pot sit on the stove for 5 more minutes.  
• Serve warm or chilled.  

Garden Delight Marinade

This year I planted a vegetable garden to allow me to experiment with fresh foods on the fly.  It has been a great experience.  I think everyone should grow at least herbs - nothing beats fresh herbs.

Garden fresh from my own backyard

I use vegetables and herbs from my garden to create a flavourful marinade that can be used a dip or to flavour meat.  I make a batch once a week and we use it with almost anything.  We eat it with chips, in stir-frys, and to quickly flavour chicken breasts and beef.

Alan's Garden Marinade

Baked Chicken Breast Recipe
Prepare chicken breasts and place in an over-safe pan.  Add 1/4 cup water to avoid sticking.  Pour the marinade over the chicken breasts, flip the chicken and pour some more marinade.  Cover the pan with foil and put it in the oven for 25 minutes.  Serve with vegetables or your favourite starch.

Get your free sample and try it! 
I'm offering free samples of this marinade so people can try it.  So far the feedback has been great and I want to share it with as many people as possible.  To get your sample, send me an email, give me a call, or leave a comment.

Battered Mushrooms

Mushrooms are one of those foods that people either love or hate.  My wife hates them because of their texture and that has prevented her from eating them for years.  This was an experiment in an attempt to overcome the texture issue.  It worked!

I used the familiar button mushrooms to create this appetizer.  I added some spice to the mushroom to give it a bit of a kick and then dipped them in a seasoned batter.  The result is a fluffy ball that masks the texture of the mushroom.