i like good smells: fragrant jasmine rice & jerk-spiced tofu

I love stuff that smells good. This soapis one of my favorites and after washing up, it's hard not to stop sniffing my hands. And a little while ago, I bought this candleand while I haven't even lit it yet, whenever I catch it's scent in our apartment, I swoon. What can I say, I've got quite the nose. Last week, I made 2 dishes that were super fragrant and made the whole apartment smell amazing. The jerk-spiced tofu was good, but it's this rice that I plan on making again and again.

For the rice, I would definitely seek out the lemongrass as I think it made the rice dish seem very authentic and uber-scented. However, if you don't have it or can't find it, add in the zest of one lemon instead. Both recipes are adapted from a cookbook that I don't use that often, Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites, but after these 2 very successful adaptations, I'll definitely be cracking it open on a regular basis. These are very simple recipes that don't take a lot of time to make, despite the exotic ingredients.

fragrant jasmine rice
(adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites)
2 c jasmine rice
1 t canola oil
2 T minced lemongrass (stiff outer leaves removed)
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 shallots, minced
1 small green chili, seeds removed, diced
1/2 t salt
1 c crushed pineapple, undrained
1 T fresh basil, chopped
2 1/2 c boiling water

Rinse rice and set aside to drain. In a medium saucepan, heat the oil and add in the lemongrass, garlic, shallots, chili and salt. Cook over medium heat until fragrant and soft, about 3 minutes. Add in the remaining ingredients. Cover and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes until most of the liquid has been absorbed. Remove from heat and let sit covered for 5 minutes before serving.

jerk-spiced tofu
(adapted from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites)
1 onion, diced
3 green chilis, seeded and diced
3 T soy sauce
1/4 c cider vinegar
2 T brown sugar
1 T fresh ginger, grated
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 T fresh thyme, minced
1 t ground cloves
1 t ground cinnamon
1/2 t black pepper
1 block of tofu, pressed

1. Press the tofu by placing between 2 plates and weighting the top with a couple of cans. Let stand for 30 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 400F. Meanwhile combine the remaining ingredients in a blender and puree until smooth. Set aside.

3. Drain the tofu and slice lengthwise into 3 slices. Place layers on top of each other and slice on the diagonal to cut into triangles. Cut again into the opposite corners so that you are left with 12 tofu triangles. Place in 8x12 baking dish and pour jerk sauce over top, making sure all sides of the tofu are covered. Bake for 1 hour, turning pieces frequently. Serve with rice.

it's not delivery: deep dish skillet pizza

When I told my husband that we'd be having pizza for dinner, he assumed we'd be ordering in some delivery. Nope, this was going to be the real deal with homemade crust and all. While I've made homemade pizza in the past, my dough usually comes from a bakery that does all the labour for me....I just need to let it rise, punch it down and stretch it out. Not too much hassle. But now that I've primed my yeast-baking skills, I figured it was time for me to branch out and bake a real pizza with real dough made from my 2 hands. Exciting times in this household!


I always thought making dough would be tough but really it's pretty simple. Just a few repetitive steps: stir, knead, rise, punch, knead...ta-da!! I had spotted a recipe for a deep dish sausage pizza in the Gourmet Cookbook (my go-to cookbook edited by my muse, Ruth Reichl), and decided that I'd create my own sauce and toppings but definitely follow the dough recipe step by step. While I followed the directions carefully, this dough was unlike any of the bakery dough that I had used in the past. While it was much easier to work with, it certainly wasn't as elastic and stretchy so that made me slightly fearful that I had somehow screwed up this pizza attempt. Luckily, the crust was perfect and even tastier than its bakery counterpart!


As for the toppings, I just went with what I had in the fridge. I love pineapple on pizza, but you could certainly substitute your favorite toppings to make the pizza of your dreams. Instead of mozzarella cheese, I used a farmer's cheese recommended to me by the proprietor of my favorite local Italian deli. He not only sold me some lean pancetta, but told me that the farmer's cheese would go great on pizza. It was perfect!

deep dish tomato, pancetta & pineapple skillet pizza
dough:
1/4 t sugar
1/2 c warm water (105° - 115°F)
1 pkg active dry yeast
1 1/2 c flour, plus additional for dusting
1/4 c cornmeal
1/2 t salt
1 T olive oil

topping:
1 T olive oil
1/4 c chopped pancetta (or bacon)
1 small onion, sliced thinly
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 small can of diced tomatoes
1 t dried oregano
1 t dried basil
salt & pepper to taste
1 c fresh pineapple, diced
1 small green pepper, diced
1½ - 2 c grated farmer's or mozzarella cheese

1. Make the dough by stirring together the sugar, warm water and yeast in a large bowl. Let stand for about 5 minutes or until the surface appears creamy. Add flour, cornmeal, salt and oil and stir until dough forms. Knead dough on a floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes. Dust occasionally with flour to prevent sticking.

2. Place dough in a large oiled bowl and turn dough to coat with oil. Let rise, covered with plastic wrap, in a warm location until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. While dough is rising, start making the sauce.

3. In a large skillet, heat oil and fry up pancetta. If you use a fatty pancetta or bacon, you may not need oil at all. Add in onion and turn down heat slightly, letting the onions get soft and slightly caramelized. Add in garlic, tomatoes, spices and salt and pepper and simmer for 30 minutes.

4. Preheat oven to 500°. Oil up a cast iron skillet. Punch down dough and knead 4 times. Press dough into oiled skillet with oiled fingers until it comes 2 inches up the sides and is an even thickness on the bottom. Let dough rise in a warm place for 15 minutes, covered loosely in plastic wrap.

5. Sprinkle dough with half of the cheese then top with tomato sauce. Evenly sprinkle pineapple and green pepper on top and then cover with remaining cheese. Bake for 12 minutes and then lower oven temperature to 400° and bake for 8 minutes more or until edges of crust are golden. Remove from oven and let sit for at least 5 minutes before cutting.

summer licks

First off, may I direct you to the mp3 blog, Shake Your Fist, where I was asked by the lovely Amy to write a guest post about music. I LOVE music but haven't written about it in ages, so it was a bit nerve-wracking and I was sure the moment that I finished the post I'd be hit with regret for not including this song or that song. But it was a fun post to write and thank you to Amy for asking!

iced coffee
It's summertime and the living is easy. I may drink my coffee hot in the morning, but by the afternoon, I take any leftover coffee out of the fridge and serve it up right. A little simple syrup (which is just equal parts water & sugar that have been boiled together), some milk and lots of ice and I've got a drink that Mr. Brown would be proud of.

strawberry-pineapple popsicles
Another thing I can't get enough of are popsicles. At all times, our fridge is stocked up with these homemade icy treats. I wrote about these last summer and I feel it's time again for a refresher, because they are beyond simple to make and so refreshing. Last time I added some vanilla yogurt for creaminess, this time I just blended up some frozen strawberries, pineapple juice and fresh lime juice, poured the mix into molds and into the freezer they went. Yum.

an angel peed on my tongue

I don't quite understand the Dutch. Cornelius is part Dutch and take it from me, they're a bit wacky. They wear wooden shoes, their national food is the Indonesian rice dish Nasi Goering and then they exclaim a Dutch phrase that when translated means "an angel peed on my tongue". This Dutch phrase is uttered after eating something so wonderful that it verges on heavenly. This is what Cornelius said to me after last nights dinner. No doubt, we both laughed hard.

This recipe for jerk chicken isn't exactly traditional as I didn't have any scotch bonnet peppers laying around, but it did pack quite a punch in the spice department. It was so tasty and pretty and colourful that I'm sure all the angels everywhere let out a communal sigh of relief.

We used boneless skinless chicken thighs, but breasts would work too. We also grilled these using our cast iron grill pan, but on an outdoor grill these would be amazing. We served these over rice and a side of asparagus. Yum!

jerk chicken pineapple skewers
marinade:
1 t cayenne powder
1 T fresh ginger, crushed
4 cloves garlic, crushed
1 t thyme
1 t sage
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t ground cloves
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 c soy sauce
1 T oil
1/4 c orange juice
1 lemon, juiced
1 T brown sugar

6 skinless chicken thighs, cut into managable peices
1 red pepper, large dice
1 green pepper, large dice
1 yellow pepper, large dice
1/2 red onion, quartered
1 pineapple, large dice

1. Mix together the marinade ingredients and pour most of it over the chicken. Put the chicken in the fridge for at least an hour to marinate. Pour the remaining mixture over the chopped vegetables and toss.

2. Skewer the chicken and vegetables using bamboo skewers making a pretty colour-coordinated mixture of vegetables, pineapple and chicken. If using an outdoor grill, soak skewers in water for at least 1 hr. Add skewers to lightly oiled grill and cook for about 4-6 minutes per side.

3. Boil up the left over marinade until it has reduced by half. Plate the skewers over rice and pour the jerk sauce over the skewers. Let the angels do their thing.

stir fry it up

Oh Blogger you can be such a bitch sometimes. Today is the first day in ages that I've been able to post and Blogger's buggy nature is making me want to tackle Wordpress. Early in the week it was hot and sunny and we had the fans turned on high. I decided that I would start a "Leisure Club" for me & my friends with tennis being the first thing on the agenda. So I drew a flyer, sent it out and now the Strathcona Leisure Club is more than just a blip in my brain. Of course, I can't even play tennis, but that won't stop the fun times ahead. Tennis + friends + beer = good summer fun!

It's back to cold and rainy weather again, but the hot weather didn't stop me from thinking about curry. I made this the same day I made the tennis poster and a little hot weather certainly won't be a stop to my cravings for curry. The key of course to this curry is pineapple. Really, don't try making it without it....I mean, it will still be good n' all, but it won't reach the level of greatness that is pineapple perfection. The vegetables, however, can be substituted to whatever you've got on hand and chicken or tofu can most certainly be added. Just don't skip the pineapple!

pineapple - coconut vegetable curry
1/2 large head of cauliflower, torn into florets
1 head of broccoli, torn into florets
1 red onion, chopped into large peices
1 red pepper, roughly chopped
1 green pepper, roughly chopped
1 carrot, sliced on the diagonal
1 T oil
1 t soy sauce
1/2 t crushed red chilis
1 small can of coconut milk (5.6 fl. oz.)
3 T curry paste (I used Patak's Korma curry paste)
1 c fresh pineapple chunks

1. Heat the oil in a large pan or wok. Add the vegetables and quickly stirfy on high. Add the soy sauce and chilis and continue stirring. Turn down heat.

2. In a small sauce pan, heat up the curry paste (if your paste has no oil, add a small amount into the pan) and add the coconut milk. Stir to blend.

3. Add the coconut/curry mixture to the vegetables, stirring to make sure all the vegetables are coated. Add the pineapple and continue cooking until the pineapple has cooked through, about 3 minutes.

4. Serve over rice or noodles.

ginger pineapple chicken -- the speedy way

Last night I told Cornelius I would have dinner ready by the time he returned from doing laundry. Time wise, I didn't hold up my end of the bargin, but it wasn't for lack of trying. He left with 2 loads to take over to our friendly (but slightly scary) neighbourhood laundromat and I searched the cupboard and fridge for ideas.

I had frozen chicken thighs, a can of pineapple, an onion, some celery, a large knob of fresh ginger and a few assorted items to make a nice sauce. Ah, some kind of sweet/sour sauced chicken, I thought! So that is what I set out to do.

I nuked the frozen chicken for a few minutes on a low setting. Still half frozen, I stirfried them with some garlic and ginger. I'm sure I was breaking some kind of rule by using still frozen chicken, but I was running out of time and I had a growling stomach to prove it. I dumped in a bit of vegetable broth once everything was nice and golden brown, threw in some red chilis, and put on a lid hoping that all the simmering would do the trick in fully cooking the chicken.

While things were gently bubbling away on the stove, I added some brown sugar, juice from the can of pineapple tidbits, soy sauce, white vinegar, more ginger & garlic and some sesame oil to the the remaining vegetable broth that I had left in a measuring cup. In another bowl, I made a slurry with a few tablespoons of the above mixture and some cornstarch.

It was around this part of the story when Cornelius did return with the loads of clean laundry and I didn't have things ready. No worries, as he quickly opened the cookie tin and started snacking on a couple of peanut butter cookies.

When I poked around the simmering chicken and noticed that things were indeed going as planned, i added some chopped celery and onions and the pineapple tidbits to the mix and then dumped in the sauce and some of the slurry to thicken everything up. I let the mixture bubble away for about another 10 minutes or so and then I served our meal up over some sticky rice.

Dinner went surprisingly well. We had clean clothes and our bellies were full. Not bad for a Sunday evening.