All things sweet!

So it's been a pretty sweet week. I have my first ever pair of Fluevogs - thank you very much!! could anything be any prettier than this, I ask you???



Reubens Baroque Fluevogs

 So seeing as how I'm feeling oh so sweet I'm giving you a sweet recipe!  My Tropical Bread Salad (Sweet Panzanella). I came up with this recipe for a United Way fundraising event where I work - we did an Iron Chef competition and our secret ingredient was pineapple. So this is what I invented!

Sweet Summer Bread Salad with mint cream

Ingredients

4 cups pound cake, cut into 1 inch cubes

1/3 cup white raisins

2 tablespoons sparkling wine

1/2 cup of fresh mango – cubed into ½ inch pieces

1/2 cup fresh pineapple - cubed into 1/2 inch pieces

1/4 cup fresh papaya

1/2 cup fresh strawberries – cut into slivers

1/4 cup flaked unsweetened coconut or fresh grated

2 tablespoons pineapple or apricot jam (sugar free if you can find it)

1 tablespoon sparkling wine

1/4 cup light coconut milk

1/4 cup fresh mint leaves, cut chiffonade

1 star fruit, sliced, for garnish (optional)

Intact Mint Leaves for garnish, if desired

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F;
2. Cut pound cake into ½ inch cubes; spread on baking sheet and  toast in the oven until lightly golden, keeping an eye on them (about 7 to 10 minutes depending on the oven);
3. While cake cubes are toasting combine the raisins and 2 tablespoons sparkling wine in a small bowl. Set aside and allow the raisins to plump for 10 to 15 minutes;
4. Remove the cake cubes from the oven and allow them to cool.
5. Cut fruit into bite sized pieces and gently toss together in a large bowl;
6. In another bowl whisk together the jam, 1 tablespoon of sparkling wine and ¼ cup of light coconut milk and set aside;
7. When ready to serve, add the cake cubes and raisins to the fruit. Toss together gently so as not to mash the fruit pieces. Sprinkle in the mint leaves and shredded coconut and dress with he apricot sauce. Toss to lightly coat;
8. Whip the cream, adding some of the chiffonade mint leaves to give it a minty taste;
9. Divide the salad among the individual plates, top with whipped cream and intact mint leaves and slice of star fruit, pineapple or mango, as desired.

Eat!

Enjoy!!

P.S.  Sorry - I don't have a picture to share but I have assurances that it was DELISH!!!!

Mmmmm...... Bread salad!!!

Otherwise known as panzanella. This is one of my FAVORITE summer salads. I make it a lot more than I should but it's easy, delicious and yummy, especially with some cold cuts and a ice cold beer (or a pitcher of sangria!)

The thing with panzanella is that there are a million different recipes out there. I got my basic ingredients from a lovely Italian lady who has been making it for decades. She told me simple is best...

And then I added more stuff. But I like it so that's what counts :D

Hey Kristen, I finally posted it!!!!!!

PANZANELLA

• FYI I have made this with gluten free bread and it works just as well. I used a rice bread and it was dense and yummy and chewy and delish!

SALAD

Ingredients

• 1 loaf fresh Ciabatta or Italian bread, cubed
• Olive oil
• Pinch or two of kosher salt
• Fresh cracked pepper to taste
• 2 tablespoons capers, drained
• 3 sweet bell peppers (I like to use red, orange and yellow to add colour to my salad
• 1 English cucumber, peeled, seeded and sliced
• 1 box cherry tomatoes halved or 2 beefsteak tomatoes, deseeded and cut into chunks
• 1/2 red onion sliced
• 6-10 Fresh basil leaves
• Pepperoncino rings (to taste)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Cut bread into 1 inch cubes and toss with olive oil to moisten. Spread the bread on a cookie sheet and season with kosher salt and cracked black pepper to taste. Lightly toast in the oven. Remove and set aside.
3. Chop peppers into a rustic chunk; cut onions in thin half moons; half cherry tomatoes or dice whole tomato;
4. To deseed an English cucumber first peel then slice in half. Take a small desert spoon and simply scrape out the seeds and then dice;
5. Place all chopped vegetables into a large bowl (the largest you have – this is a BIG salad);
6. Now add the toasted bread, pepperocino pepper rings and the capers, and toss gently ;
7. Rip the washed basil and incorporate;
8. Pour dressing  (recipe below) over salad and toss lightly. Taste and correct seasonings;
9. Serve and enjoy!

DRESSING

Ingredients

• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
• 1 to 4 cloves garlic, chopped (the smaller the clove the more you can add just go by how much or little garlic you like)
• 4 to 5 flat anchovy fillets or a healthy squidge of anchovy paste
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt

Directions:

1. Mash the garlic and anchovies to a pulp (if using whole anchovy fillets). First dice all the ingredients to a fine dice and then sprinkle just a pinch of kosher salt onto the mixture and, using the flat of a wide blade like a santoku or a cleaver, scrape the chopped ingredients together until they become a paste;
2. In a mason jar with an air tight lid pour the oil, vinegar and add the salt and pepper;
3. If you are using anchovy paste add a squidge into the mason jar;
4. Add the garlic anchovy blend or just the mashed garlic if using anchovy paste;
5. Put on lid and shake well until everything is incorporated. Or you can use a stick blender and puree.

Eat!

Enjoy!!! (preferably with a glass of some cold 'adult beverage' ::wink wink::

HAPPY FRIDAY!!!

Who You Gonna Call? RECIPES TO RICHES BABY!!!!

OMG OMG OMG!!! I can finally announce it to the world, scream it from the roof tops,  panic and freak out!!!

YES. I am a competitor on Canada's Recipes to Riches Season 2!!!

When there's something strange... in your neighbourhood....  It's my episode airing on Halloween. Hallo-frickin-Ween!!!! ::cue eerie brownie music, whatever eerie brownie music is supposed to sound like::

http://www.newswire.ca/en/story/1034587/recipe-to-riches-is-back-in-search-of-canada-s-next-250-000-recipe-and-grocery-store-sensation

Breathe Tracey.... everyone keeps telling you to breathe so do it!!!!

::deep breath::

Watch out Canada, my Salt kissed Dulce de Leche Brownies are going to be on your tv screens for the scariest night of the year!

BOO!!!

Tropical Fiesta Fish Tacos

Well it took me a while to get this posted so as a mea culpa I'm posting two recipes in one.

Please enjoy!

Tropical Fiesta Fish Tacos

Ingredients

½ cup pineapple juice

½ cup fresh lime juice

1 tablespoon smoked salt

1 tablespoon sea salt

4 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped

6 garlic cloves, chopped

1 teaspoon fresh ground pepper

2  pounds fresh marlin, salmon or other meaty fish like mahi mahi or tuna (the ‘steak’ fish – shark would work too)

6 (6-inch)  flour or corn tortillas, warm

½ a red onion, half mooned and sliced super thin

splash of hot sauce

Directions

1. Combine pineapple juice, lime juice, salt, 3 tablespoons cilantro, garlic, a splash of your favourite hot sauce and pepper. Mix well.
2. Pour this mixture over the fish and let marinate for up 24 hours (but if you can only do a couple of hours that works too – it just doesn’t penetrate as much to give that delicious flavour).
3. Remove the fish from the marinade and place on well oiled grill (skin side down in the case of salmon) and grill or sauté the fish until done (see times below).
4. Remove from heat, rest and then chop into 1 inch cubes.
5. Place the fish in the tortillas and garnish with cilantro, onion, some crunchy coleslaw and my pineapple avocado salsa with lime crema (recipe below).

MARLIN	Allow about 10 minutes of total cooking time for each inch of the steaks thickness, turning once during this time
SALMON	Allow 7-8 minutes per inch of thickness of the salmon fillet
TUNA	Allow about 4 minutes of total cooking time for each inch of the steaks thickness, turning once during this time for rare, and 10 minutes of total cooking time for medium.
MAHI MAHI	Allow about 12 minutes of total cooking time for each inch of the steaks thickness, turning once during this time
SHARK	Allow about 10 minutes of total cooking time for each inch of the steaks thickness, turning once during this time.

Lime Crema

Ingredients

½ cup sour cream
1 teaspoon grated lime zest
1 teaspoon lime juice
2 cloves garlic, minced
¼ teaspoon smoked salt
2 tablespoons finely chopped cilantro

Directions:

1. Whisk together everything but the smoked salt and cilantro.
2. Season with sea salt.
3. garnish with the cilantro

 Eat!

Enjoy!!

Overnight Meringue cookies

So it was a busy hectic weekend again. I watched a building 'blow up' - ahh the fun of Hollywood Theatrics. got to see a very bloody post-prom Carrie walk back and forth across the street and then see the gas station go boom.

And then I went home to my parents and cleaned and grocery shopped and did laundry for my dad. I made spaghetti sauce - not so exciting - but I didn't experiment. So in honour of being home I'm giving you one of my mom's recipes - overnight meringues! (Complete with mom instructions!)

(FYI - Ajay, you can eat these!!!))

Overnight Meringues

Ingredients

2 egg whites
pinch of salt
pinch of cream of tartar
2/3 cup sugar

optional: few drops of green food colouring: mini mint chocolate chips


Directions

1. Beat egg whites, salt and cream of tartar until stiff but not dry.
2. Gradually beat in sugar.
3. Mix in chocolate chips and food colouring (if using).
4. Drop on greased cookie sheets( I use parchment paper instead.... no cleanup)
5. Place in a pre-heated 350 degrees oven.
6. Turn off heat immediately, and let cookies remain in oven overnight.

ps: I used a tblsp. to drop the cookies so they wouldn't be too large.....depends what you want.

I also used up all my leftover egg whites from the Christmas baking so I had lots. I also prefer them plain but it is up to you.

Mom.

And there you have it - my mom's overnight meringue cookies! She made them for Christmas, obviously :D.

I've since made the recipe for a baby shower and color themed my meringues to the baby theme - a bright ducky yellow.

Eat!

Enjoy!!!