1.  Hello my lovlelies! The family is on our first vacation in almost two years and it's a covid friendly affair. Not ready for international travel, airports and sharing air for 8 hours, we threw our Segway Ninebot Max scooters on the roof of the car and headed east. We stopped in Montreal for the first night, thinking we would just get up early and continue on our way.
    HAH

    who is going to bitch about burrata and rose outdoors?
    Like that was going to happen. I booked us into the brand, spanking new Hotel St Thomas on Sherbrooke, we dropped all of our crap into the ginormous room and hit the road on the scooters. It was a Monday night, which means just about any restaurant I would want to visit is closed so we did the only thing you can do in on a Monday.... we went to Old Montreal and grabbed an outdoor table at Bevo Bar and had a lovely bottle of Rose, some pizza and apps, perfect after a long day of driving.

    Once we woke up, we all knew we wanted to stay another night so I took care of that and then we hit the road avec scooters again. A nice jaunt along the canal took us to the Atwater Market to peruse all of the perfectly stunning food, flowers and wine. A zig zag back to our hotel meant a stop on St Denis for a glass of rose and some more pizza and garlic snails, as you do. 


    Napoli Pizzeria on St Denis makes a mean snail

    Upon returning to the hotel, they moved us to another room (this one with a nice balcony) and there I sat, Negroni in hand, trying to make a dinner reservation on a Tuesday which proved to be just as impossible as the previous night. I finally ended up booking a spot on the patio at a Spanish restaurant, close to the hotel. Every, single place I wanted to try was closed until at least Thursday, which is fine because I am just happy to make the show and Montreal was only ever a stop on the way to the East Coast and we can return to Montreal anytime we want unless the world closes down again.




    the rooms (we got a double queen) have plenty of room for three grown ass adults and their large e scooters, if that matters to you

    The hotel has to iron out some bumps but they have only been opened about a month and it opened during a pandemic, so, God bless. They have handled the odd issue with grace and care and I can't wait to come back next year when, hopefully, the pandemic will be in the rear view mirror and we can experience all of the perks that this gorgeous hotel will be able to offer. Shout out to Xavier for going above and beyond. The rooms are huge - easily double the average room with two queens and the bathroom house a small family.

    We ended up having dinner at Ibericos Tavern for lovely tapas and cava before scooting up Mount Royal - Shack made it about 3/4 the way up before his scooter said "NO MAS EL GORDO"

    Today, we hit the road again, this time stopping overnight in Quebec City - so far only for one night but who knows? Let's see what Quebec City has up it's sleeve to entice us to stay an extra day.


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    Labels: canada canada travel hotel st thomas ninebotmax road trip roadtrip scooters segway travel
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  2. I am not trying to reinvent the wheel here, or anything, but a friend made Middle Eastern Lentil Soup and so I decided to get some going as well. This is a soup I cook all the time and it's one of my favourite comfort foods but today, it's humid and dark and rainy and I need something with a bit more kick to it.


    I made my regular recipe, more or less but swapped out the spices for my favourite Turkish chili flakes, added a drizzle of my Crispy Garlic Chili Oil because that always makes everything better and a mound of my crispy fried shallots or onions that I always have in the pantry. They are tasty and easy and cheap and you can get them in any type of Asian grocery store. Wow, that's a lot of crispy things going on.

    Both are available online if you aren't lucky enough to have a Turkish grocery shop nearbye. I put them in everything and go through an alarming amount of them. Thankfully, I buy big jars of them at the Turkish store so I never run out. These two spices with olive oil, garlic, a bit of salt on boneless, skinless chicken thighs in the airfryer??? Get out of town. Make the oil while the soup cooks.












    Spicy Red Lentil Soup with Crispy Garlic Oil

    serves 4-6

    Ingredients: 
    2 tbls olive oil 1 red onion, finely diced 
    1 carrot, finely diced 
    1 parsnip, finely diced 
    5 red baby potatoes, finely diced 
    1 cup red lentils, rinsed 
    1 clove garlic, chopped or smashed 
    1 tsp of Turkish Maras chili flake (or Aleppo will work)
    1.5 tsp of Turkish Urfa Biber chili flake (black chili) 
    1 tsp of cumin 
    7 cups of water 
    2 tsp sodium reduced BTB (Better Than Bouillon is my fave) chicken broth base
    1 tsp kosher salt
     juice of 1 lemon 
    to serve
    *Crispy Garlic Chili Oil and crispy fried shallots, chopped parsley and more lemon if desired

    *Crispy Garlic Chili Oil
    1/4 cup olive oil
    3 or 4 cloves of garlic sliced very thinly
    1 tbls Maras or Aleppo pepper
    1 tbls Urfa Biber Chili flake
    1/4 tsp kosher salt

    Heat the oil over medium heat in a small pan and cook the garlic slices until they are just turning golden. Pour the garlic and oil into a heatproof bowl to cool for a minute or two before stirring in the chili and salt. Set aside. Can be stored in the fridge for weeks.
     
    Instructions:

    Heat the olive oil in a soup pot over medium high heat and sauté the onion, carrot, parsnip and potatoes for about 5 or 6 minutes, until the onions have softened, stirring occasionally. Add in both chili flake and cumin and cook another couple of minutes until fragrant.
    Throw in the rinsed lentils and garlic, stirring them until mixed in and then add the water, the BTB, salt and lemon juice.
    Bring to a boil and then turn down the heat and simmer lightly for about 30 minutes. Use an immersion blender to puree at least half of the soup - a bit of texture is nice.

    To serve, ladle into bowls, top with a good drizzle of the crispy chili oil (make sure everyone gets a few slices of crispy garlic, a small mound of crispy shallots and a scattering of parsely.
    Posted by
    Labels: crispy shallots lentil maras recipe red lentils soup spicy Turkish urfa biber
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  3. I enjoy the challenge of offering a vegetarian version of dishes I serve that are an equally delicious version of the meal that the carnivores are going to eat instead of completely different plate. I wanted to put Aguadito do Pollo on an upcoming menu and I knew I wanted to feed the vegetarians something that will have the same flavour profile and so I tried a few things. Aguadito de Pollo is a traditional Peruvian meal that is often served for breakfast after a big party aka for a hangover, making it a staple for New Year's Day or after a big wedding or party. Adding tofu was okay but not great and I also didn't feel like the Jackfruit worked - I wanted something that would really add some heartiness and also have the soft texture of the pulled chicken and neither of those options did that for me.


    Using a small white bean -either cannellini or navy beans- hit all the right notes. Other than no crispy chicken skin, I didn't feel like I was losing anything by replacing the chicken with white beans. 

    My recipe for Aguadito de Pollo needed a vegetarian cousin


    I make this in my electric pressure cooker but you could do it on the stove too. If you cook it on the stove, I might reduce the liquid by a cup and just keep an eye and add more broth if you need it. It should be too thick to be a soup but too thin to be a stew. I would also probably used canned beans if I cook on the stove as the cooking times for the beans and rice are so different. If you do use dry, beans on the stove, cook the beans until they are just about done and then add the rice and cook just long enough for the rice to soft.

    You can make the black rice if you want it look a bit fancy - it's a very, very green dish and I like the contrast but you can leave it out. Oh, and if you have leftovers, the rice will absorb the liquid so you will have to add more broth to when reheating.

    White Beans and Rice - Vegetarian Aguadito de Pollo

    Makes approx 2.5 litres/quarts or about 6 servings



    2 poblano chilis, seeded and roughly chopped
    3 scallions, roughly chopped
    2 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed
    1 to 2 tbls Aji Amarillo paste (a Peruvian pepper found in many South American stores or online)
    2 heaping cups of washed and roughly chopped cilantro
    approx 1/4 cup water

    *1 cup presoaked white beans
    2 tbls canola oil
    4 cups vegetable stock
    3 cups water
    2 tsp cumin
    3/4 cup  cup of basmati rice
    pinch kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
    I cup of frozen peas
    1 cup snap peas

    To serve:
    soup
    chopped cilantro
    lime wedges

    **cooked black rice - optional


    Throw the poblanos, scallions, garlic, cilantro and a bit of water in the blender and puree. Add just enough water to get it going - 1/4 cup should be about the maximum needed but don't worry if it's a bit more.

    You can either pre-soak your beans over night OR do a quick pre-soak in the Instant pot but you want to presoak 1 cup of dried beans and have them ready.



    *To Quick Soak the beans min the pressure cooker give them a quick rinse in a strainer, swooshing them around to clean.

    Put them in the pot with 4 cups of water and 1 tsp salt.

    Bring to a boil with the lid off using the sauté function and then quickly lock in the lid and pressure cook for 2 minutes at high pressure.

    When the time is up, do a gradual pressure release, letting off little spurts of steam. If foam

    starts coming out the valve, wait 30 seconds and start releasing the steam again until the pin

    drops and the pressure is released. Beans tend to foam so you need to be patient when

    releasing steam.

    Drain the beans under cold water and proceed to the recipe.


    Preheat the Instant Pot (or the saute function on your brand of electric pressure cooker) and when it's hot, add the canola oil and scrape the green cilantro puree into the hot oil and cook that , stirring frequently, for about 4 or 5 minutes, until it turns a really deep green. Pour in the four cups of vegetable stock and then pour the 3 cups of water into the blender and give it a good shake so that you don't waste any of that green puree and add that into the pot, mix in the cumin. Put the soaked beans in the pot along with the basmati rice, lock the lid in (make sure the vent is closed) and program it for 10 minutes at High Pressure.

    When the time is up, do a quick release, open the lid, add the frozen peas and snap peas, put the lid back on so the peas can heat up in the hot soup for at least five minutes.

    To serve, if using the black rice, add a scoop to each bowl, cover with soup, sprinkle a bit more cilantro over the top and some sliced scallions and top each bowl with a couple of lime wedges on the side.

    **Cook 1 cup of black rice separately and set it aside. I do this in my rice cooker while the soup is cooking but you can do it before hand ,up to a day in advance. Cook it the same way you would cook basmati rice.

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    Labels: aguadito aji amarillo instant pot main dish mains Peruvian pressure cooker pressure cooking recipe rice soup spicy stew vegan vegetarian white beans
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  4.  



    More adventures in adopting a more heart healthy diet mean more vegetarian meals with less sodium, healthier fats and a soupçon of cheese to punch it up. We have been having a lot of braised beans like the braised romano beans on polenta that I did for Ontario Beans.

    braised romano beans with poached eggs
    these beans have become a weekly thing in our house

    I know that all kinds of beans are now approved so it was time to move onto lentils. My favourite lentils are either Beluga or Du Puy but I haven't been able to find those on any of my online ordering platforms and I have been using plain old green lentils and, rest assured, they work just fine. Just don't use the red lentils because they disintegrate into mush, which is delightful in other recipes, but not in this one.

    If you use low sodium broth, use less kosher salt. If you use a salt free broth, you will have to up your salt a bit but the roasted tomato/feta and chili oil add so much flavour and saltiness that you don't need as much as you might normally use in the actual lentil stew.

    If you don't like poached eggs, leave them out but don't skip on the tomato/feta and the crispy garlic chili oil. This makes more oil than you will use but it's delicious and you will want to put it on everything so I suggest even doubling the recipe- you will thank me later. Bottom line, my former big meat eater loved it and 

    Braided Lentils with Poached Egg, Roasted Tomato/Feta and Crispy Garlic/Chili Oil

    Serves 4 



    Roasted tomatoes
    1 pint grape tomatoes
    1 tbls olive oil
    2 tbls crumbled feta

    Put the tomatoes in a small roasting pan - the air fryer is perfect for this small amount. Drizzle with the oil and roast in a 400F oven until the tomatoes just start to wilt and blister. Scatter the feta over the tomatoes, return to the oven or air fryer and cook until the tomatoes start to get tiny brown spots and the cheese looks soft. Remove from the oven and set aside.

    Crispy Garlic Chili Oil
    1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
    3 garlic cloves, sliced very thinly
    1 tbls Maras or Aleppo Pepper
    1 tbls Urfa Biber (black turkish chili)
    1/4 tsp kosher salt

    Heat the oil over medium in a small pan and brown the garlic slices until they just start to turn golden. Pour the garlic and oil into a small, heatproof bowl and let cool for a minute before you stir in the two chili flakes and salt. Set aside

    Braised Lentils
    2 tbls olive oil
    1 small onion, chopped
    1 carrot, chopped
    1 parsnip, chopped
    1/2 head of fennel, chopped
    3 or 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
    1 tbls of tomato paste
    approx 1 tbls ras el hanout (depends on brand, how spicy it is - taste to adjust)
    1 1/4 cup french or beluga lentils - green lentils if you can't find either of those
    4-6 cups vegetable or chicken broth, low sodium
    1 tsp kosher salt (if you use sodium free broth, you can use 1 tsp kosher salt)
    4 cubes frozen spinach
    4 eggs

    Pulse the onion, carrot, parsnip and fennel in a food processor until it's finely chopped. Heat the oil in a wide, deep sauté pan or a pot over medium meat. Throw in the chopped vegetables and cook , stirring from time to time, for about ten minutes until soft. Add in the tomato paste and keep cooking for another ten minutes, until it starts to brown and almost melt into a puree. If it looks like it could burn, add in a splash of water from time to time. Add in the ras el hanout and cook for another minute or two, until fragrant before you add in the lentils and about 4 cups of broth. Let it come to a boil and then lower the heat and let it simmer for about 20 minutes. At that point, add in the frozen spinach cubes and cook for another ten minutes or so - keep checking and when your lentils are soft, it's finished - if you use the more common, green lentil, it might take a bit longer for them to get soft so checking on them after 20 minutes is important. If it starts to get too thick during the last bit, keep adding a bit more broth or water as you want it to be a bit soupy but think more thick stew than brothy soup.

    You can make it ahead of time and reheat it if you like. When it's time to eat, make sure the lentil braise is simmering and crack four eggs into the lentils, cover the pan and lower the heat and bit and let the eggs poach for about 6 minutes or so. You want the egg yolk to remain creamy so keep an eye on it so the eggs don't overcook.

    To Serve:
    carefully -  using a large serving spoon and avoiding the eggs, spoon some lentils into each of four shallow bowls. Then, using the spoon, scoop up an egg and lay on top of the lentils in each bowl. Spoon 1/4 of the tomatoes and feta on the top and then drizzle a bit of the crispy garlic chili oil (stir well before spooning it out), making sure that you get some slices of the crispy garlic. If you thought to keep the fronds from the fennel, add some of those for colour.








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    Labels: beluga lentils braise feta heart healthy lentils Love Your Lentils low sodium main main course main dish mains poached egg tomatoes vegetarian
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  5. One of my husband's favourite things to eat is pasta with bolognese. Normally, I make it with Italian sausage, ground beef, tons of kosher salt and olive oil. Clearly, my much loved version would not, in any universe, by considered "heart healthy" even with a bag of magic beans but a life without bolognese is not a life worth living. 

    We have not had any beef or real pasta in a month so I decided it was time to healthify our sauce and because every whole wheat pasta I have bought has been soundly PooPooed, I cut the difference with fibre enriched white pasta and we will just eat smaller portions, less often. 

    This was my first try and I don't think I am going to change anything, to be honest. I added in a bit of carrot and fennel to make up for the lack of fennel seed etc in the sausage and give it a bit more flavour and pretty much replaced half the ground beef with ground mushrooms a la my usual Blend and Extend mushroom magic . You can cut the fat in this recipe even more if you can find extra lean beef but this was the leanest meat I could get my hands on. 


    Here is my basic sauce that uses only Italian Sausage and although I only ever say "salt to taste", trust me, I salt to taste. You can just FEEL the fat from the sausages in this picture


    The finished healthified sauce feels just as meaty - thank you ground mushrooms- and, because I decided not to skimp on the olive oil, it was still rich and thick. A bit of red wine and no sodium chicken broth also helped bump up the jam and if you want to leave out the MSG, leave it out but you will probably have to add quite a bit more salt to achieve the same results.

    Okay, regarding the MSG. There is no documented proof that MSG is any more harmful than salt is. Here is a quick explanation of what MSG is about, good and bad and the bottom line, is that it is condidered safe in moderate amounts, like salt. When used in tomato based dishes (tomatoes are a natural source of glutamate, as are mushrooms and parmesan - see a common thread in this dish?), it allows you to use less salt without sacrificing flavour. If you skip it, you will probably have to use more salt.

    "MSG is the sodium salt of glutamic acid, an amino acid found in your body and most foods."

    I could go on for an hour about the racist undertones of the anti MSG rhetoric but you can google and read for yourself. Better yet, watch David Chang's Ugly Delicious, season 1, episode 7 where he explores racism and Asian food and makes a room full of white people face their MSG predjudices. 



    Healthier Bolognese

    Makes about 10 cups of sauce


    1/4 cup olive oil

    1 onion, small dice

    1/4 cup fine dice fennel

    1/2 large carrot, fine dice

    3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

    227 g mushrooms, pulsed in food processor

    250 g lean ground beef

    1 tbls tomato paste

    3/4 tsp kosher salt (I always use kosher salt, but a good salt is good too. Keep in mind that the finer the actual salt, the less volume you will use - if you are using table salt, just stop that right now)

    1/2 cup red wine

    1/2 cup no sodium chicken broth

    5 cups no salt added passata

    1 can whole san marzano tomatoes

    1/2 tsp msg

    *entire recipe has approx 1840mg of sodium, the beef had about 42g fat and 54 g fat in the olive oil

    the recipe makes enough for at least 10 generous servings - what a serving size looks like is up to you


    Heat a large pot over med-high heat (medium if you are using enamaled cast iron like Le Crueset) and when it's hot, add the olive oil and sauted the onion, fennel and carrot until softened, about 4 or 5 minutes. Throw in the ground mushrooms and salt and continue to cook a few more minutes until the mushrooms start releasing water. When the water is pretty much evaporated, add in the beef and keep cooking until the meat is no longer pink. Push all the solids to the side and add in the tomato paste and fry it for a couple of minutes until it starts to deepen in colour and when that happens, stir it into the mushroom/meat mixture.

    Pour in the red wine, let is cook off for a minute before you add in the tomatoes and the chicken broth.
    You can either squish the whole tomatoes through your fingers or, if you want a smooth sauce, use an immersion blender or the food processor to puree the canned tomatoes roughly.

    Let the whole thing simmer gently for at least 45 minutes but an hour is even better. Serve over your favourite pasta.

    Keep in mind that if you add freshly grated parmesan, you are adding more sodium - approx 77mg sodium per tbls of grated cheese, so keep that in mind.




    Posted by
    Labels: beef blend and extend bolognese ground beef healthier healthy heart healthy low sodium meat sauce mushrooms spaghetti sauce
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  6.  


    I have been taxed with the task of making our food more heart healthy and although I have always assumed that we already eat very well, thank you very much, I have been shocked by how much sodium we consume. SHOCKED, I say.


    One of our favourite things to eat is ramen and when I did some digging, I realized that each bowl of delicious spicy miso ramen had over 3000mg of sodium and that isn't even accounting for some of the add ins.


    This will not do. I have spent weeks working on my favourite recipe and I have managed to get it down to under 700mg of sodium per bowl, which is still a bit high but nothing close to what we were used to. There is also some disagreement about how we process the sodium in miso and although it is significant, a traditional Japanese diet which is high is miso and soy sauce does not result in any sort of widespread heart disease and, in fact, may actually be considered part of a heart healthy diet. I am trying to cut the difference and not worry too much about the extra sodium while I actively try to use less, overall.


    My usual recipe comes from Lady and Pups, probably my very favourite food blogger and even though it is so delicious it will make your toes curl, it is also a fat/sodium bomb and can't happen in our house anymore. After weeks of tinkering, the only thing I didn't have to change was the addition of plain, unsweetened soy milk to the soup broth to give it a creamy, porky feeling and makes up for the lack of greasy, delicious ground pork. 

    I use a Sichuan hot pepper paste but if you can't find it, you can subsitute Gochujang (lower in sodium at about 150mg/tbls). It will change the flavour profile but it will still be delicious and if you haven't tried with the Sichuan hot pepper paste, you will never know the difference, right?


    Also, a word about the noodles - we have been using NuPasta that has 35 calories, almost no fat, no sodium - the fettucine style noodles mimic rice noodles but are like eating air. 


    Finally, this recipe is for a basic noodle bowl and the additions are up to you. Cooked spinach, leftover roasted veggies, leftover sliced chicken or steak or pork is great - once you have the broth, you can add whatever you like. This makes enough miso paste to make at least 12 servings of soup, depending on the serving sizes but it stays good in the fridge for months. Once you have the miso paste made, which is really the only labour intensive part of this, you can whip up a hearty bowl of soup using whatever protien/veggies you have on hand.






    Low Sodium Spicy Miso Noodle Bowl


    serves 4




    SPICY MISO PASTE


    3 tbls Sichuan paste (Broad Bean Paste) - 1080 mg sodium/tbls or 3240 in total batch

    1/2 cup miso.            - 890mg sodium/tbls or 7120 in total batch

    1/2 small onion, chopped

    1.5 tbls mirin

    1 tbls minced garlic

    1 tbls minced ginger

    1 tbls veg oil

    1 tbls sesame oil

    1 tsp dashi powder 478 sodium

    1 tsp tahini 1 tbls  approx 5mg sodium



    *Final Spicy Miso Paste has approx 677 mg sodium per tbls


    SOUP

    1 tbls sesame oil

    1/4 tsp black pepper

    3 or 4 dried shiitake mushrooms

    3 cups no sodium chicken broth

    1 cup unsweetened unflavoured soy milk

    4 tbls spicy miso paste

    4 servings noodles - Nupasta if you really want no sodium at all or next healthiest choice are buckwheat soba

    4 tbls sliced scallions

    sesame seeds



    *1 cooked chicken breast, a handful of poached shrimp, sliced on the diagonal, tofu, sliced pork, jammy eggs (eggs simmered for 6 1/2 minutes, cooled, peeled and halved) or any other protein of your choice

    ** you can also throw in whatever vegetable you like - matchstick carrot, leftover cooked veg, a handful of sliced spinach or other green


    Garlic Togarashi Oil

    2 small shallots, minced

    2 cloves garlic, thinly sliced

    1/2 tsp sesame seed

    1/4 cup vegetable oil

    1.5 tbls Togarashi (Farm Boy brand has 10mg sodium/tbls)


    Combine the shallots, garlic, sesame seeds, and veg oil in a small pot over low heat. Cook and stir until the garlic is crispy and light brown, about 5 or 6 minutes. Turn off the heat and add the togarashi and let sit for at least an hour before using it.


    To make Spicy Miso Paste

    Put all the Spicy Miso Paste in gradients in a blender or mini food processor and blend until smooth. Scrape into a pot and set over medium heat. Bring to a low simmer and cook and stir for 5 minutes. Let it cool completely and store in airtight container in the fridge.



    To make the broth and final soup


    Rinse the shiitakes, cover with boiling water and let steep while you get the other things together, then remove them and slice them, setting aside.


    Heat 1 tbls of sesame oil in soup pot and add 4 tbls of spicy miso paste and cook for a minute until fragrant. Add the mushrooms, broth and soy milk and bring to a simmer.


    compose your ingredients on top of the noodles before you pourin the hot soup

    Prepare your chosen noodles according to directions. If using Nupasta noodles, drain, give a really good rinse in a strainer under hot running water, shake well to get rid of excess water and add to the soup bowls. Lay your additions on top of the noodles, so add any protien you are using, the vegetables you are using to the bowl. Ladle 1/4 of the soup into each bowl, over the noodles. For each serving add 2 tbls of scallion and a tsp or two of spicy togarashi oil and sesame seeds.

    *amazon links are affiliate links, just so's you know

    Posted by
    Labels: healthy heart healthy low sodium main main dish miso noodle bowl noodles NuPasta ramen recipe soup
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  7. Lamb chops, bit of olive oil, kosher salt, black pepper 145F for medium rare
    preheat for a couple minutes at 390F cook for about 8-10 minutes



    I had an air fryer once before. It was the size of a small spaceship so, even though it worked just fine, I had where to put it, it didn’t fit in any of my cupboards and I had to keep it in the garage. That means I never used it and to be honest, at that time, I thought they were only good for fries and chicken wings. 

    Gadget maven that I am, I also have a CrispLid for my Instant Pot and I love it too, although when I need to make, say, enough chicken wings for the three of us, I have to cook them in a couple of batches but for doing veggies, browning something I just pressure cooked (like a bread pudding or a whole chicken) and when it’s just one or two of us, the CrispLid is perfect. I didn’t even know I would want a larger capacity air fryer until I was offered a Ninja Air Fryer. I love my Ninja blender with a fierce, burning love and because of that, I said yes to their air fryer, thinking I might use it a few times, the novelty would wear off, it would be huge and it would end up in the garage, next to my other one. Much like how the Instant Pot is really just an electric pressure cooker with a couple handy extra features, air fryers are basically a portable convection oven with good marketing. It doesn't mean they aren't both great kitchen appliances but they aren't magical either so I wasn't sure how this would pan out.

    salmon on a bed of roasted chickpeas, tomato, greens, shallots, lemon and capers
    cook the salmon for 12 minutes at 400F and after drying canned chickpeas, tossed
    them with a bit of olive oil and garlic salt and cooked about 13 minutes at 390F



    I have been waiting to make absolutely sure that this was not going to wear off and that I would continue to love my air fryer before I recommended it and it has not worn off, i continue to use it all the time and I do love it.

     


    The Ninja is taller and has less girth than other air fryers, the basket is bigger than my CrispLid in circumference and it’s deep enough that I can cook food in two layers, using one of my pressure cooker trivets. The Ninja also allows you to use the roast setting if you want to cook in a manner that is closer to your oven, it dehydrates (I haven’t tried that yet) and it has a reheat function, which I do use all the time. I found a nice spot for it on my counter, tucked under a cupboard, beside my toaster and I am happy to report that I have only had to turn my actual oven on once since it got here. Since Toronto seemed to have experienced a perpetual heat wave this summer, that has been a very, very good thing. Its also very easy to clean - dishwasher safe but why bother when you can just give the basket and rack a quick, sudsy rinse in hot water under the tap.


    Just in the last week I have used it to: heat up buttered, garlic pita, made smashed baby potatoes, made home fried potatoes for breakfast while I make scrambled eggs and got coffee ready, roast a handful of cauliflower that I would have otherwise thrown out and heated up leftovers.


    From cooking burgers for 10 minutes at 360F to making meatloaf in an 8" steel pie plate that that I use in my Instant Pot or using a low trivet to layer chicken wings or baby potatoes on top of chicken thighs at the same time, I use the hell out of my Ninja Air Fryer. The only con is that, despite being compact in comparison to other brands, it is still a bit of a beast and if you have a tiny city kitchen like me, you may find it difficult to store. It certainly takes up a chunk of my counter space but I moved other things to the basement to make room for it.



    There are a million amazing bloggers out there who share fabulous air fryer recipes and ideas and so I am not going to go that route and add my own. I am just going to tell you that if you are like me, you are often cooking for just one or two people, maybe three, this thing will be a godsend. 

    Instead, I am going to share some of my favourite air frying links with you and spread the love amongst my peers:







    * I was gifted the Ninja Air Fryer to try out and review if I chose to and, as always, my opinions are unapologetically my own. The Amazon links are affiliate links so I do earn a small commission from any sales 
    Posted by
    Labels: air fryer ninja ninja air fryer product review review
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  8.  


    I tried to make shakshuka for five days. 

    Day 1: ordered all the ingredients I needed online for delivery. Shit, can't get it til tomorrow. No problem, we will eat something else tonight but super excited for tomorrow's dinner

    Day 2: groceries come! Time to start.....oh, wait, what? You feel like ordering Thai? But I was...okay, Thai does sound like it would hit the spot. Shakshuka tomorrow, FOR SURE

    Day 3: make the shakshuka tomato/red pepper sauce in anticipation of tonight's shakshuka. Sit outside with my neighbours for a glass of wine and the next thing I know, we grab The Kid and venture on down to sit on the patio at The Pub. It's the only place that will let us take a table for 8 so we can sit at opposite ends of the table and their salt and pepper wings are really delicious.....

    Day 4: TODAY IS THE DAY. WE are making this damned shakshuka if it kills me, but first, a visit to drop off something to friends we haven't seen since January. Go to drop it off on the porch and she texts that they are out in the backyard and to come back and say hi. We have a lovely visit - WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO WHEN WE CAN NO LONGER SIT OUTSIDE FOR SOCIALLY DISTANCED VISITS DUE TO THE SNOW AND THE COLD?
    We decide to walk home along Queen St in the Beach instead of back the way we came and we pass by the new PBJ - the new Punjabi restaurant that I have heard raves about. The patio is completely empty and secluded on the side street and basically meets all the criteria for us to feel okay patio dining. OKAY, but just a quick taste as we are going home to eat shakshuka. One chicken biryani, one goat curry, one butter chicken mac & cheese, a giant basket of garlic naan, a mango lassi and then galub jamau later, we pack up the leftovers and waddle off towards home, never to be hungry again.

    Day 5: SHAKSHUKA

    *a note: this is something between shakshuka and the Turkish dish, Menemen, a staple of Anatolian cuisine. Menemen typically uses fresh green peppers and is more like a thick ratatouille and often contains some ground lamb or sausage.


    Turkishish Shakshuka

    serves 3-4




    2 tbls olive oil

    1 small onion, thinly sliced

    2 gloves garlic, minced

    2 tsp cumin

    1 tsp paprika

    1 large roasted red pepper, sliced into 2" strips

    2 tbls Turkish red pepper paste (biber salcasi) in either hot or mild

    2 cups of passata or tomato puree

    6-8 eggs

    *1 tsp Turkish black Urfa chili flakes (cocoa like smokey flavour, mildly spicy)

    *1 tsp Maras or Marash chili (fruity undertones, medium heat)

    1/2 cup crumbled feta

    big handful of washed, dried and chopped cilantro

    serve with warm, buttered pita or other good bread

    * if you can't find these spices, just leave them out. I have never found a good substitute and it will still be delicious without them, just different.


    Heat the olive oil in a deep sauté pan and sauté the onion until soft, just a few minutes. Add in the garlic and cook for another minute before you add the, cumin, paprika, stir til fragrant, around 30 seconds before you throw in the red pepper and biber salcasi, cook for another minute and then, finally, add the tomato puree. Let simmer lightly for about 10 minutes.

    Crack each egg, one by one, into a small bowl. Create a shallow well in the sauce and gently tip the egg into the well, repeating with the remaining eggs and scatter the Urfa and the Maras chili over the top (if you are using those). Simmer gently until your eggs are set to your liking (8-10 minutes for me) OR throw in a preheated 325F oven for about 20 to 25 minutes OR lovingly and gently baste the egg whites with the sauce so that they cook faster and you can achieve a cooked white with a still soft, runny yolk. It depends on your level of commitment. I simmer gently until the eggs are set and the yolks are soft and creamy.

    Garnish with crumbled feta and cilantro


    serve with warm, buttered pita or any other hearty bread









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    Labels: breakfast breakfast for dinner brunch eggs feta main main course main dish recipe recipes red pepper paste roasted red peppers shakshuka Turkish
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  9. Hello, fellow home sheltering peeps. It's been a looooong couple months, hasn't it? Where are we now, anyway? Is sourdough over? Have we started canning and panic buying all the Bell jars and pectin yet? I know that finding vegetable plants for me wee, city garden is probably going to be a hellscape, but hey, what can you do when you live in a shoe? 

    Aaaanyway, I have a few processed foods that I unabashedly love. I LOVE good instant ramen. I love to soup it up with poached egg, chili sauce, vegetables, leftover meat or seafood. Love it.

    I also love Campbells Everyday Gourmet Sweet Potato Tomatillo Soup. A big bowl of that with a grilled cheese to dip into it...ahhh. For some reason, and this precedes the pandemic so I know it's not soup panic hoarding, I haven't been able to find it for months. I had thrown some canned tomatillos in the freezer a few weeks ago and decided to try to recreate it at home. It's very weird for me to want to create a Campbells soup but it's really, really good. Anyway, I tried a few variations, with lime - too acidic, with more potato - too thick but this one is juuuuust right.

    It needs a bit of heat so use whatever you have and use it to suit your tastes - chili flakes will do if you have no hot chilis of any kind because I don't want you busting out a mask and braving the grocery store just for a chili pepper. If you do buy some chili peppers, make sure to half them, seed them and then you can freeze them for later. I always have jalapenos and scotch bonnet's in the freezer.

    I made this in my Instant Pot but if you want to do it on the stove in a soup pot over med heat, follow the instructions right up to the point where you would pressure cook it, reducing the broth by about 1.5 cups. Let the soup barely simmer for about 15 minutes or until the potatoes and sweet potatoes are nice and soft. Puree with the cream or evaporated milk. It isn't faster to pressure cooker, I just like to be able to walk away and watch tv and not think about what's going on in the kitchen.


    Sweet Potato Tomatillo Soup



    makes about 2 litres and serves 6-8 


    1 tbls grapeseed oil or other flavourless oil
    1 onion, roughly chopped
    2 cloves garlic
    some sort of hot chili - a thai chili, a seeded japlapeno, 1/2 a scotch bonnet, chili flake - use what you have
    2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
    1 large Yukon Gold or other yellow fleshed potato, peeled and cut into big chunks
    about 6 tomatillos ( I used canned so drain them if you use canned)
    the stems from half a bunch of cilantro, cleaned, rough chop
    6 cups of chicken broth
    2 tsp cumin
    kosher salt to taste and freshly ground black pepper

    1/2 cup evaporated milk or cream

    yogurt or sour cream and fresh cilantro for garnish

    Set the Sauté button on the pressure cooker and when it says "HOT" pour in the oil and cook the onion for a few minutes until softened before you throw in the garlic cloves and the chili, sauté for about 30 more seconds. Hit cancel and add the sweet potato, potato, tomatillos, cilantro stems, broth, cumin and salt and pepper. Program the pressure cooker for manual or pressure cook (depending on your model) for 7 minutes at high pressure.
    When the time is up, you can either let it NPR for ten minutes before releasing the rest of the pressure or just walk away. Go watch something on Netflix and by the time it's over, all of the pressure will be gone and you can puree your soup.

    You can use an immersion blender or remove the inner pot and let the soup cool down a bit before pureeing it in a blender. You want it quite smooth. Either way, pour in your evaporated milk or cream and blend away.

    To serve, chop a big handful of cilantro leaves and swirl some yogurt or sour cream into each bowl and finish with a good hit of cilantro.

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    Labels: instant pot lunch ideas pressure cooker recipe recipes soup sweet potato tomatillos
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  10. I know that this week is going to be cold thanks to some polar vortex that we can add to our global pandemic and the hot, new Murder Hornet situation, but go and check out the latest issue of Vitalize Magazine where you can find my recipe for this Canadianized homage to one of my favourite restaurants, Mexico City staple, Contramar  (recipe starts on page 74). This herby, Salmon A La Talla with an easy salsa and yummy salad will put a spring in your step whether we are stuck in our apartment or lucky enough to have an outside space to enjoy a summery meal. Make yourself a big, icy gin and tonic with a slice or two of cucumber and put on some Grupo Firme (download anything you can find on Itunes or Spotify and thank me later).


    Little did I know that my last Contramar meal this past Christmas would be my last for what will most likely be a long time. It looks like I am going to have to start replicating lots of my favourite dishes here at home so keep an eye out for that in the coming weeks. And months. Years? ACCCKK


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    Labels: magazine mexican mexican food recipe vitalize
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