Bread and Butter Pickles

Back in the early Fall I canned a batch of Bread and Butter Pickles and just recently was finally able to crack open a jar. Well, colour me happy folks because they are fantastic. I didn't realize what a great crunch the pickles would ultimately have from soaking them in the salted water and in fact I was skeptical enough to only make a small batch. Big mistake. Big. These are the best bread and butter pickles I've ever had. And if you don't believe me than you'll just have to listen to the word of my friend who opened a jar, tasted the pickles and said he would have them finished in two days. I can relate, it took me about a day and half. Beat that boy!

However, now I'm kicking myself because I only made 6 jars of the bread and butter compared to the 20 of the dill pickles, (which by the way we are down to 5 jars so perhaps we have a pickle addiction) but here's what I learned in my first pickle attempt; you can never have enough. And as for the remaining 4 jars of the bread and butter pickles, sorry friends but cucumber season here in Canada is still pretty far away and I can't bear to give up any more of those jars. If we run out I'm afraid of the withdrawal effects we will have to suffer so next year I'll make more, enough to share I promise.

Recipe from The Royal Canadian Legion Ladies' Auxiliary Cook Book:
16 cups pickling cucumbers, scrubbed clean and sliced into thin rounds about 1/4" thick
8 white onions, thinly sliced
1/2 cup pickling salt

Directions:
1. Cover cucumbers, onions and salt with very cold water for 3 hours. Drain the water.

Brine:
5 cups white vinegar
5 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons mustard seed
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon celery seed
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Directions:
1. Bring the brine ingredients to a boil.
2. Pack the drained cucumbers and onions into sterilized jars.
3. Pour the hot liquid over the cucumbers leaving a 1/4 inch headspace.
4. Remove any air bubbles from the liquid. Wipe the jars clean, place the lids on the jars, lightly screw closed and process the jars in a hot water bath for 10 minutes. Store in a cool place for at least 6 weeks before opening. Once opened store the pickles in the refrigerator.

The Pioneer Woman's Steak Bites

If you are a regular food blog reader you are likely familiar with one of the sweetest accidental country girls around, The Pioneer Woman. If you are not familiar with her, allow me to introduce you. Her name is Ree Drummond and she is The Pioneer Woman. Ree writes about life on a ranch including (but not limited to) wild horses, cattle, raising kids on a ranch, being married to a cattle rancher aka Marlboro Man and the love story that brought them together, homeschooling, gardening, photography and of course cooking. I have made many of her recipes and have always been thrilled with the outcome so you can imagine my delight when I received her new cookbook over the holidays which is aptly titled, The Pioneer Woman Cooks.

The book is visually stunning and filled with an array of fabulous photos but it is also packed full of wonderful recipes. If you're looking for some good ol' downright feel good recipes, this book is for you. I've made quite a few of the recipes from the book with my favorites so far being her Meatloaf, Burgundy Mushrooms and should-be-illegal Cinnamon Rolls but those are just a few that come to mind right now, I've really loved them all but I couldn't talk about The Pioneer Woman without telling you about her Steak Bites.

Now, just a warning, a disclaimer if you will: if you are watching your waistline, vegetarian or have an aversion to beef or butter, this recipe is not for you. However, if you are looking for fantastically rich, guilt laden goodness, keep reading...

Steak Bites are not for the faint of heart and I mean that literally. We're talking about beef fried in butter. Oh ya, and salt too but I can't tell you how good these are. I mean, you won't want to make these every day, actually you will want to make them every day but that's an urge you will have to fight yourself. Trust me, I'd love to help but I have my own battles fighting against this one. They are so good and I loved the look on my husband's face when he first tried these. It was like he fell in love with me all over again and if you ask me, these are definitely worth any guilt for that look alone.

Recipe from The Pioneer Woman:
1 lb sirloin steak, trimmed of any large pieces of fat and cut into 1" bite sized pieces
2 tablespoons butter
salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Heat a large skillet to medium high heat. Melt the butter in the hot pan.
2. Season the steak pieces with salt and pepper.
3. You may have to work in batches to avoid overcrowding the pan while frying. Place the appropriate amount of steak bites into the pan. Fry on one side without disruption for 30-45 seconds. Flip the bites and fry another 30 seconds or until the beef is nicely browned but still pink in the middle. Don't overcook the meat. If working in batches, remove the steak bites from the pan, add more butter to the skillet and repeat the process.
4. Remove the meat from the pan to a serving platter and pour the browned butter from the pan over all of the steak bites.

Daring Cooks February Challenge: Mezze

Probably one of my favorite challenges, hosted by Michele of Veggie Num Nums, this challenge is called Mezze which really means a whole bunch of side dishes with pita bread which is presented as a type of communal eating at one's leisure. Yes please. I love the idea of slowly eating a bunch of different items when you please. No pressure of people asking why you haven't finished your 8 ounce steak, mashed potatoes, garlic bread and broccoli. Well, ahem Mom, it's because I've been tasting these mashed potatoes for more time than I would like to consider, salting and whipping and buttering and mashing-tasting, tasting and re-tasting! Okay? Sorry. My friend Kassi put it perfectly at Thanksgiving when she saw my meager plate and called it the "cooks plate". Thanks Kassi for understanding :) She understood that as someone who cooks constantly you are also eating constantly. Trust me and just ask this extra 20 lbs I've grown to know. But that's not how we do things in North America. We are a people of large portions and don't get me wrong, I like to eat large portions. Just not all at one sitting.

But back to the challenge of the Mezze which is essentially a variety of snacks, where we were only required to make our own pita bread and hummus. Love it. Next, there was an option of any of our choices of side dishes and I chose a little ditty of baba ghanough and tzatziki.

While I loved this challenge for all of the reasons above, the pita bread was a total bust for me. The dough recipe itself was great but the cooking instructions proved to be less than favorable for me. The oven method that was recommended resulted in more of a pita chip than pita bread. I was looking for the bread so in a second attempt, rather than the oven method I used the stovetop with a cast iron skillet. This way you would follow all of the same instructions for the pita bread except after rolling the pita bread out into rounds, heat a skillet to medium high heat and place the rolled out pita onto the hot skillet. Fry in the dry skillet on one side about 30 seconds or until golden brown, flip the bread and fry another 20-30 seconds or again, until golden brown.
href="http://www.veggienumnums.com/2008/07/mezze.html">original Pita Bread and Hummus Recipes from Veggie Num Nums

Another of my favorite dips are Baba Ghanoush and my favorite Tzatziki from Kalyn's Kitchen

Valentine's Day Heart Beet

I love love. Truly I do. I'm a hopeless romantic and a girl who has always worn her heart on her sleeve. I'm not ashamed to admit it, sure I've had some heartbreaks but who hasn't? I've also been lucky to have found a great love and for that I will always be grateful. The first time I met my husband I knew I wanted to marry him. I was eighteen and had a mad crush on him. He was a rock star with a girlfriend and was touring the world. I was a girl with dreams of moving to the big city and working in the movies and was also in a relationship. So a couple of years passed, he travelled the world for the umpteenth time, I moved and started working in movie land but we always had mutual friends and would hang out every so often. And then, just like they always do when they're supposed to, things change and things end; my relationship had run its course and Mr music was a single man. I showed up for work one day and guess who else was working on the movie? That's right, my man crush who was single, finally. I was smitten all over again.

I tried my best to maintain my composure while I styled his hair and groomed his peachy complexion. In other words I tried to remain oh so cool. Looking back I guarantee I came off as a total geek. I usually do but thankfully some boys like that. You wanna know what else boys like? Six packs. And I'm talkin' six packs of beer. (I'm sure they like six pack abs too but I don't have those and you work with what you have.) Fast forward to the end of the work day when I was about to call a taxi to take me home. Can you guess who was going my way and offered me a ride? I think you can. So, the entire ride home I was thinking to myself, "stay calm, act cool, you've had a crush on this guy for five years! Breathe, STOP SWEATING!" Again pretending I was cool, we arrived at my house and I was about to get out when I blurted, "HEY, wanna get a six pack?" I can't believe I said that. After five years of preparing for this moment I actually said "wanna get a six pack"? But someone did wanna get a sixer. Fast forward again, seven years later and we have been happily married for one year and dated for six. I know seven years is not a whole lot in the real world but in movie land, it's a lifetime.

Here are just a few of our favorites from the archives and perfect for a romantic Valentine's Day Dinner:
Beet Salad with Goat Cheese and a Poached Egg
Ribeye with Onion Blue Cheese Sauce
Chai Tea Truffles

Buffalo Blue Cheese Oysters Rockefeller

It's game day! That's right, Super Bowl Sunday is one of my favorite eating events. I love game day fare and while we are certainly going to be enjoying my regular favorites, I wanted something new this year. Guess who came to my recipe rescue again...none other than "The Genius". I told you that last post would come back to haunt me. We now refer to my husband as "The Genius". Well I don't but he can call himself whatever he wants, after all I'm the one who started it. Anyway, he suggested a take on Oysters Rockefeller. I gladly agreed.

After some thought and keeping with my belief that everything tastes better with cheese we decided on a buffalo blue cheese Oysters Rockefeller. Take a deep breath. Breathe! I know, it sounds overwhelming and it should because these little gems are heaven right here on earth. I kid you not. heaven. These will definitely be a part of my regular game day repertoire. Thank goodness there are still hockey game days left. I can't believe I just said that.

Recipe:
12 fresh oysters, shucked
1/2 cup breadcrumbs (I used corn flake breadcrumbs and highly recommend them if you can find them)
1 tablespoon parsley, minced
1 tablespoon celery leaves, minced
1 teaspoon green onions, minced
1/4 teaspoon garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon butter, melted
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon salt
blue cheese

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 500 degrees.
2. Shuck the oysters and save as much of the liquid as possible. Keep oysters on the largest of the half shells.
3. Place all of the ingredients except the oysters and blue cheese in a bowl and mix thoroughly.
4. Cover the oysters equally with the breadcrumb mixture.
5. Crumble about 1 teaspoon of blue cheese over the breadcrumbs of each oyster.
6. Place the oysters on a baking sheet trying to make sure that they stand upright.
7. Place the oysters in the oven and bake for 6-8 minutes, depending on your oven until the breadcrumbs are golden brown and the cheese has melted.
8. Serve with buffalo hot sauce and lemon wedges.

Gnocchi Perogy

My husband is a sheer genius. But please, whatever you do don't tell him I said that. It's important to have some pull in any marriage and making such claims is not good for the cred. And while I know my dear husband doesn't read this on a regular basis, just watch, this will be the first post he's read in months and he'll never let me live this one down. I can see it now, "Remember when you said I was a genius? Geniuses do not take out the trash or do dishes, or pick up things from the grocery store. They simply don't. We are GENIUS-es." So let me retract before it's too late and here it goes, sometimes my husband comes up with really good ideas. Sometimes. Case in point, this gnocchi perogy.

The other night I was scraping for dinner ideas. I had a bunch of things on hand but a craving for none of them. What I wanted was perogies but my lazy a** and crampy hands haven't made any in a while and and with none in the freezer and no desire to make any, I was out of luck. Until...the "genius" piped up with a suggestion of an inside out perogy, of sorts. You see, I did have potato gnocchi in the freezer, I did have onions, bacon and sour cream. In other words, I did have the makings of a perogy and throwing all of these things together I did have one of the best meals ever. Seriously, I wanted to eat this for days and thought about it constantly. It was so good! So what became one of the smartest things my husband has ever come up with, also became one of my new favorite meals. And I still don't have to make perogies. Genius.

There's no real recipe here so here's what I did:
1. Crisp up a couple of pieces of bacon. Drain, allow to cool, crumble and set aside.
2. Slice 1 small onion thinly and saute in a skillet with a little butter over medium heat for about 10-15 minutes or until the onions are nicely golden brown. Meanwhile heat a large pot of boiling water.
3. Once the water is boiling add the gnocchi. Boil the gnocchi about 4-5 minutes or just until the gnocchi comes to the surface of the water. Remove immediately and strain.
4. Heat about 2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet to medium heat. Add the cooked gnocchi to the butter and saute the gnocchi until it's golden brown on both sides.
5. Serve the dish as followed: crispy golden gnocchi, sour cream, bacon and caramelized onions on top of the gnocchi.

Oven Baked Baby Back Ribs

I am a big fan of ribs. Baby back ribs, short ribs, side ribs, upside down ribs it doesn't matter to me, I like them all. A lot. So one of the things I miss most in the winter months is my husband's wicked BBQ smoked ribs. Don't get me wrong, the man will grill in below 0 temperatures I have seen him do it, freezing and all but it wouldn't be very nice of me to expect him to tend to a slow smoked rack of ribs for hours at a time, would it? I have thought about asking but ya know, we are still technically newlyweds so I'll give it a few more years before I become unreasonable. So, with a fierce craving for ribs I had to turn to the oven and believe me, I was skeptical.

Perhaps it's the fact that my husband's BBQ ribs are so good that had me spoiled but I just thought I might be a little disappointed with the oven so you can imagine my surprise when they came out super tender and really delicious. I followed the advice of my friend Jo, who makes great oven baked ribs and went with the pre boiling method. I like this approach for two reasons; it makes the ribs tender and it cuts down on the cooking time. I'm thrilled with the outcome of the ribs, they totally hit the spot. While I certainly can't wait for warmer temperatures and the smell of BBQ wafting in the air, at least now I don't have to go for months on end without my beloved ribs.

Recipe:
2 lbs pork ribs (either baby back ribs or side rack)
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon black pepper
2 cups of your favorite BBQ sauce or homemade BBQ sauce (see recipe below)

Directions:
1.Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Fill a large pot with enough water to cover the ribs. Add the garlic powder, salt and pepper to the water as well as the ribs and bring to a boil.
2. Boil the ribs for 45 minutes skimming off any foam that comes to the surface of the water. You may have to add more water during this time to ensure the ribs are covered with water.
3. Carefully remove the ribs from the water and place in a casserole dish. You may want to line the dish with foil to make for an easier cleanup as the sauce from the ribs make it difficult to clean after baking.
4. Pour 1 cup of the BBQ sauce over the ribs, coating the back and front sides of the ribs with sauce.
5. Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake the ribs for 45 minutes.
6. Remove the ribs from the oven and increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees. Remove the foil, cover the ribs with the remaining sauce and bake, uncovered another 30 minutes.

Homemade BBQ Sauce Recipe:
1 medium onion, diced
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups ketchup
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar or white vinegar
3 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
3 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons molasses
1/4 teaspoon anchovy paste
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon dry mustard
1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, adjust to taste
pinch of cinnamon
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Mix all of the ingredients in a saucepan along with the onions and water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook the sauce for about 30 minutes or until it has reduced to 2 cups, stirring occasionally. Remove from stove and set aside.

Chicken Wings with Momofuku Octo Vinaigrette

Dear Chef David Chang,

You rock my world.

Sincerely,
Satisfied

Not familiar with my new chef crush? David Chang is the genius behind Momofuku Restaurants as well as a cookbook author co-written with Peter Meehan also called Momofuku. Check it out, for real. But until you can get your hands on him, I mean it, go ahead and rock your world with this...Okay, brace yourselves, for what I'm about to tell you just may be the best news you've heard all day. I have come upon a flavor so good it's almost hard for me to explain. A taste so great that perhaps there are no words to do it justice. Or you could simply call it the most delicious freaking sauce you've ever had. I prefer the latter. It smells amazing, It tastes amazing and oh ya, It is amazing.

Obviously what you see here are chicken wings tossed in the golden sauce. A recipe I acquired from Jaden of Steamy Kitchen and easily some of the best wings I've ever had but what you don't see is that I could eat this sauce all by itself by the gallons. It is that good and I imagine is good over so many things. Like I said, Eat. By. Itself. Don't dare me, I'll totally do it, please don't even give me an excuse. I'm talking finger licken', smackin' good. Literally, I can hear my husband in the background licking his fingers. I mean, I want to run into the street and shout my love for 'this kind of good'. I can't wait to make this sauce with fried rice, a stirfry, noodles or served over cardboard. Did I mention it's amazing?

Recipe:
3 lbs chicken wings
salt and pepper

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
2. Season wings with a little salt and pepper and toss to coat.
3. Place the wings on a parchment lined baking sheet in a single layer and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, turning half way through. Remove the wings from the oven and toss to coat in the Octo Vinaigrette. Recipe below.

Octo Vinaigrette Recipe:
2 tablespoons finely chopped garlic
2 tablespoons chopped peeled fresh ginger
1/4 teaspoon finely chopped fresh chili pepper
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
1/4 cup light soy sauce
2 tablespoons canola, vegetable or grapeseed oil
1/4 teaspoon Asian sesame oil
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
freshly ground black pepper

Directions:
1. Mix all ingredients together in a large enough bowl to accommodate tossing all of the chicken wings.

Osso Bucco

Osso Bucco or "Awesome Bucco," as my husband calls it (he is such a geek and is going to kill me!) is just that, truly awesome for a few reasons; it's painlessly easy to make, it calls for an inexpensive cut of meat and it is so, so delicious. Osso bucco is an Italian dish that is made in the same manner as a stew. Meaning you brown the meat, throw in a little liquid like wine and stock and braise the meat until it falls apart. The only thing you really need to make osso bucco is time. The prep is minimal and the cooking process is low maintenance but it's the cooking time that brings out the flavours of this dish with the marrow of the bone being responsible for much of the fantastic flavour. And of course, like all braised dishes, it's even better the next day so make lots because you'll want to eat it for days.

Recipe from Giada De Laurentiis:
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 dry bay leaf
2 whole cloves
Cheesecloth
Kitchen twine, for bouquet garni and tying the veal shanks
3 whole veal shanks (about 1 pound per shank), trimmed (can use beef shanks in lieu of veal shanks)
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
All purpose flour, for dredging
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 small onion, diced into 1/2-inch cubes
1 small carrot, diced into 1/2-inch cubes
1 stalk celery, diced into 1/2 inch cubes
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 cup dry white wine
3 cups chicken stock
3 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf Italian parsley, chopped
1 tablespoon lemon zest

Directions:

1. Place the rosemary, thyme, bay leaf and cloves into cheesecloth and secure with twine. This will be your bouquet garni.
2. For the veal shanks, pat dry with paper towels to remove any excess moisture. Veal shanks will brown better when they are dry. Secure the meat to the bone with the kitchen twine. Season each shank with salt and freshly ground pepper. Dredge the shanks in flour, shaking off excess.
3. In a large Dutch oven pot, heat vegetable oil until smoking. Add tied veal shanks to the hot pan and brown all sides, about 3 minutes per side. Remove browned shanks and reserve.
4. In the same pot, add the onion, carrot and celery. Season with salt at this point to help draw out the moisture from the vegetables. Saute until soft and translucent, about 8 minutes. Add the tomato paste and mix well. Return browned shanks to the pan and add the white wine and reduce liquid by half, about 5 minutes. Add the bouquet garni and 2 cups of the chicken stock and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover pan and simmer for about 1 1/2 hours or until the meat is falling off the bone. Check every 15 minutes, turning shanks and adding more chicken stock as necessary. The level of cooking liquid should always be about 3/4 the way up the shank.
5. Carefully remove the cooked shanks from the pot and place in decorative serving platter. Cut off the kitchen twine and discard.
6. Remove and discard bouquet garni from the pot.
7. Pour all the juices and sauce from the pot over the shanks. Garnish with chopped parsley and lemon zest.

The Daring Cooks January Challenge-Satay

Alright, I confess. I wasn't really looking forward to this challenge. I don't want to sound like a total a@# but I've made satay many times before and it's safe to say I wasn't feeling really "challenged" with this one. And that's the beauty of thinking you're so right, you are most often proven wrong, at least in my experience.

I know, I have to kick myself because there were a couple of things that I discovered during this challenge; One is that you don't need an outdoor grill to achieve a super delicious skewer, which grilling was the only way I had tried satay, and second, this is perhaps the best peanut dipping sauce I've ever had. My husband totally agreed on that one. So there you have it, I was completely reluctant about this challenge and it turned out to be a flavour revelation. Go figure. Thanks Cuppy of Cuppylicious.

Click here for the recipe of the original Satay and Peanut Sauce from Cuppylicious: