Zucchini

It seems you can take just about any lasagna-like recipe you love and subsitute the zucchini for the pasta for a lighter dish more suited to the hot weather.

The trick to avoiding tons of water coming from the zucchini is to slice and salt the zucchini, lay them on a greased cookie sheet and pop them under a high broiler for about 5 minutes before starting to layer them. Be careful when opening the oven door, the amount of steam is kinda crazy.

Two medium-sized zucchini (like the ones in the photo) made a 9″x13″ three-layer lasagna that served six generously. We made a traditional Italian lasagna/parmigiana-type recipe, layering the zucchini with meat sauce, shredded mozzarella, grated parmesan cheese, one beaten raw egg and diced pre-sliced mortadella. It needed about 45 minutes at 375F.

I’m definitely going to try some other layered dishes this way, and we’ll just have to see what happens!
]]> http://tastytangents.com/?feed=rss2&p=631 1 http://tastytangents.com/?p=625 http://tastytangents.com/?p=625#comments Tue, 13 Jul 2010 20:19:01 +0000 Amanda http://tastytangents.com/?p=625

Caramel Popcorn with Peanuts

I’m one of those people who gets cravings. I’m definitely not pregnant, but every now and then I get a hankering for something in particular. It can be salty or sweet, chocolate or ice cream, but I generally have to do something about it before it will go away.

This time it was some kind of Crunch ‘N Munch, Fiddle Faddle or Poppy Cock or some sweet and salty combination of popcorn, nuts and caramel that I was really hoping for.

So I was excited when I found this great, quick microwave recipe on AllRecipes.com that I adapted to what I had on hand. You may want to follow the recipe’s suggestion of using a big paper bag to coat the popcorn with the caramel, but I didn’t have any.

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unpopped or 4 quarts popped popcorn
1/2 cup salted peanuts
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup dark corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions:
In a large heat-proof bowl combine all ingredients except baking soda, peanuts and popcorn. Microwave for 3 minutes, remove and stir. Then return to microwave for another 1 1/2 minutes.

Here’s where you need to move quickly. Place the popcorn and peanuts in a large bowl greased with cooking spray. Remove the bowl of caramel from the microwave and add baking soda. Then pour over popcorn and toss to coat. Be careful, it’s hot!

Return the coated popcorn to the microwave for 1 minute and 10 seconds. Remove, stir again and microwave for another minute.

This is the part where you’re supposed to lay out the mixture on wax paper to cool, but mine didn’t make it that far, it was devoured very hot, and very quickly. Enjoy!

Dessert at Langdon Hall

As a gift, mom and all the kids got together to take dad out for Father’s Day to an award-winning chi-chi restaurant called Langdon Hall in Cambridge, Ont.

While the amuse bouche, appetizer and main course were delicious, they didn’t drive any of us wild with pleasure. The same cannot be said about the dessert.

We shared two desserts, one was Dark Chocolate Tortoni with Hazelnut Praline Ganache and Nougatine Caramel Sauce. The other was Black Cherry Mousse with Olive Oil Cake, Kirsch Orange Sorbet, White Chocolate and Verbena Zabaglione.

While the names and descriptions were impressive, even more memorable were the look and taste of both.

And all I can say is it truly reinforces for me the idea that you eat with your eyes first. Which means as delicious as your food may be, it must also look appetizing.

Anything from ugly china to bad lighting to burnt edges and runny sauces are liable to turn me off even the most delicious dish. Do you think the appearance of your food affects your appetite?

I’m wondering if they’ve ever done an experiment to see if people rate the same food differently based on how it was served? Does anyone know?

I used this great cookbook, which I’ve mentioned before:

Anna & Michael Olson Cook at Home

This recipe, except with onions instead of shallots:

Orange Honey Carrots

And here’s how it turned out in the end:

Orange Honey Carrots

It was simple, inexpensive and delicious, as are so many others in this great book, one I definitely recommend!

I’m not sure if or how soon our future cooktops will detect ingredients, instantly call up recipes, shape shift into pots and pans, cook our meals and then transform into a dinner table. I think I’ll keep trying to hone my cooking skills.

Regardless, any convenience that helps more quickly prepare a nutritious and tasty meal will be popular. You just have to look at the explosion of the microwave in our kitchens to see that.

Whatever happens, a girl can dream about a kitchen that will at least help clear the dishes, can’t she?

My little herb garden

One of the best things about the summer is getting to use fresh herbs without paying an arm and a leg at the grocery store.

I’ve finally got my little herb patch just about where I like it. It’s only a little 5 ft. by 4 ft. patch off the back patio, but I love it.

I’ve had my herbs in pots on apartment balconies in years past as well and they’ve still thrived, but it does seem easier to have them in the ground. It’s a little less watering, but a little more weeding.

There are a few I’ve kept in pots, rosemary and bay laurel so I can move them inside for the winter, and two kinds of mint so they don’t take over the entire garden.

The other herbs are flat-leaf parsley, basil, thyme, oregano, sage, garlic chives and lavender.

So far no issues with little critters nibbling at anything, but I’ll keep you posted.

If you have any wish for your own little herb garden, plants like thyme, oregano, chives and sage are super easy to grow, and not very picky about sun and water.

Many types of those will also come back each year or self-seed. Good luck if you give it a try!

I had a craving, which is what usually leads to me making far more complicated recipes than I would usually attempt.

The craving was for this cool corkscrew shaped pasta, which I thought would go perfectly with a cheesy baked pasta recipe.

So I went on the hunt for a classic Macaroni and Cheese recipe and found a great one from Martha Stewart, which you can find on the marthastewart.com website here.

I made some minor alterations, using orange instead of white cheddar, and a combination of asiago, mozzarella and parmeggiano instead of gruyere and pecorino romano. I also used ready-made breadcrumbs and melted butter instead of making my own.

Anyway, while this dish was absolutely delicious and garnered rave reviews, I have to say it was far more time-consuming to make than I expected. And there was a lot of stirring involved.

It’s a far cry from a box of KD, but I think it may become one of those dishes where it’ll be hard to go back to the orange powder.

Niagara Wine and Herb Tour

For Mother’s Day, the entire family took mom for a day of wine tasting in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.

As part of a special program, many wineries offer the tasting of a specific wine paired with an ‘amuse bouche’ made with a specific herb. You can find the entire list at wineriesofniagaraonthelake.com

We had a wonderful day, and the weather even cooperated by clearing up and warming up, at least a little.

I thought the best way to share the day was with a little photo tour.

So without further ado, starting from top left:

-2007 Cabernet Franc with a Goat Cheese Tart with Oregano Marinated Grape Tomato at Chateau des Charmes
-Spring Vegetable ‘Paella’ with Seared Shrimp and Saffron Aioli at Coyote’s Run Estate Winery
-The beautiful vineyards at Marynissen Estates Winery
-Ontario Buffalo Mozzarella and Basil Pizza at Reif Estate Winery
-A basil plant at Reif Estate Winery (many wineries had potted herbs to emphasize their wine and herb pairing)
-Tarragon Ricotta Croustade with Oven Dried Tomato at Inniskillin Wines
-The chef hard at work at Jackson-Triggs Niagara Estate Winery
-An Arugula Chevre Tart at Jackson-Triggs was paired with a 2007 Gewurstraminer ‘Grand Reserve’
-Peller Estates Winery served a 2008 Private Reserve Pinot Gris with killer Lemon Balm Sweet Cake
-I have never seen sage bushes like these magnificent ones at Lailey Vineyard
-We finished the day with some crazy-huge slices of cake at Kurtz Orchards and Country Market

It was a lovely day full of magnificent tastes and pairings that highlighted both the wines and the herbs. Delicious!

You can find the winners here, but the category that caught my eye was best food blog.

That award went to blogger Ed Levine’s seriouseats.com.

The website is actually an amalgamation of several sites, all of which I wish I’d thought of years ago.

Needless to say I will be a regular visitor to the site, and I’m sure I will come away inspired to make a new dish or visit a new restaurant every time.

Just a footnote, Food Network Canada host Laura Calder (a New Brunswick resident), of ‘French Food at Home’ fame, also picked up a nod for her show.

You can read more about it here, but the general idea is it might make high fat meals less appealing to kids.

It’s the latest attempt to curb the growing obesity epidemic among children in North America.

I can’t say that I’m convinced it will work though. On the rare occasion that I do go to McDonald’s I order a Happy Meal, since it has more acceptable calorie and fat levels than any of their adult meal options.

But if anything the toys are an annoyance to me. And I refuse to believe that kids aren’t more savvy than we’re giving them credit for here.

Has anyone out there bought a meal for the toy for themselves or their kids? I’m just wondering, does anybody thinks this type of ban will actually bring about results?