Dejah

Beautiful fresh pickerel from our local Sobeys: light dusting of fine panko crumbs seasoned with Old Bay. Pan seared with a tbsp of olive oil. Eatened with boiled purple top turnip quickly tossed in a hot pan with Montreal Steak Spice. LOVE pickerel! Made Kung Pow Gai Ding and pan-fried tofu. I don't usually use firm tofu, but I thought I'd try it as I wouldn't have to "squeeze out" as much liquid. Blah...Give me back the creamy insides of pan-fried soft tofu!

Great to have that "LIKE" function; otherwise, I'd be typing forever with comments on every post! Shelby: I'll ask my s-i-l next time he's out for information on his venison sausages. Yours, I am sure, would be better with your experience. Our Ryan is, ummm, pretty impulsive when it comes to cooking, but I think he does have some basic rules that he follows with spices, etc. As for Chinese New Year dishes, I'll leave that up to Prawncrackers! Now that my Mom is no longer with us, and the kids can't come home due to work, I don't do much on special dishes. But, I will be making 4 or 5 dishes for the local casino's CNY buffet - nothing too authentic, just what local prairie folks are used to. The last few days, been just throwing stuff together for supper. My lower level international students are REALLY low, so I am exhausted by the end of the day, and that's only a 4 hour day of teaching English! Last night, I made meatballs with a package of lean ground chuck. Mixed the meat up with an egg, a handful of Panko, and some grated Parmesan cheese, browned then simmered in a mushroom gravy. Eaten with carrot fries and quick pickle. Sides were so pretty...just HAVE to post their pictures... Tonight, I seared chicken breasts sprinkled with cajun spices - finished off in the oven. Sides were steamed carrots and cauliflower fried rice. I was happy to see Baselerd's post on roasted cauliflower with herb-yogurt. I was in need of a new way to enjoy cauliflower!

It's been in the -25 - 30 Celcius here with high winds = windchill of - 40s. When it's a west wind, we make sure all sink cabinets doors are open, heat tapes on any pipes that are questionable in terms of insulation...Oh to live on the prairies... Been invited to our local casino to guest chef on Chinese New Year. Request was for 4 dishes most requested from when we had the family restaurant. So I made sesame chicken tonight to see if I still "got it". It's all chicken breast strips, tender, crunchy coating, sweet, sour, spicy, smokey with sesame oil, fragrant with 5-spice powder. Gai lan was blanched, and drizzled with hot oil and ginger.

Not the healthiest meal but I REALLY wanted this: Fish and chips with 3 dipping sauces: curry mayo, malt vinegar, spicy ketsup. I didn't follow a specific recipe, just the ingredients that I thought would work: AP flour, rice flour, baking powder, carbonated water, salt. Turned out light and crispy for the cod AND onion rings. All fried in rendered beef fat! Really happy with double-fried chips...wishing I had mushy peas...

Shelby: My s-i-l would gobble up that "very very rare" venison you presented! He makes a lot of jerky and cured sausages with the deer he hunts. THAT was what he brought out for treats for Xmas. Our Xmas lights outside still come on at 6 pm. The tree will be up until Monday - after hubby's birthday. We'll have a tree-lite supper that evening as tradition dictates. Prawncrackers: That meal is AMAZING! Had a big package of chicken thighs but couldn't decide on which of two ways, so I did BOTH! Stove-top Butter Chicken with Nana's bottled base - a brand available from Safeway, and baked ginger marmalade whole grain mustard chicken. They worked well together with Jasmine rice and steamed mixed vegetables. Wishing we had naan, but -40C is a tad too cold to be outside making naan in the Big Easy. Broke my pizza stone so that was not an option.

Nice job on the cauliflower friend rice, Franci! Need to get it back on my menu planning. After seeing Ann's Arctic Char and Franci's mackerel, I am going to try these two new kinds of fish for me. Reading posts here always inspires me to try something new! Super the last 2 nights: Cheung Fun with yu choy and homemade char siu: And steamed pork ribs with black bean garlic ginger. Love this with just rice...

After helping out for two days and nights with a 2.5 year old granddaughter-diva and her 3-week old sister while daddy's away on a course, I finally had time to cook and enjoy our first meal for 2015 at home. Pan-seared a single rib Sterling Silver prime roast, served with green peppercorn gravy (McCormick International), carrots and rice. Pure bliss as I will also be getting more than 4 hours of sleep tonight! This was a great end to my Xmas holidays. Back to teaching tomorrow!

Shelby: I must show my s-i-l your roast goose and noodle soup next time he shows up with a wild goose. Usually he's in such a hurry to cook and eat it, that's about all he does with it! New Years Eve: put together a paella for the two of us. No clams to be had so it was mussels, scallops, shrimp, baby octopus, chicken, and chorizo. Had a half bottle of Martini Asti - a walk down memory lane with this wine. I don't drink because any amount of alcohol makes me turn beet red and sleepy, but I really like this...?! Ate while watching Elvis on Tour and Hard Day's Night on the telly, followed by New Years Eve in New York and at Niagara Falls.

This year, our Christmas Day featured prime rib, which used to be for Xmas eve when all the families were home. The 7-rib roast was trimmed down to a 5-rib one, with the remainder for the big family meal on the 28th, along with crab legs... The Yorkies were perfect. Eaten with baby tater, brussel sprouts, and carrots.

Our traditional whole family is a bit fractured this year... Dec. 24, only our daughter and s-i-l for supper, so we had a hunk of boneless lamb. It was really tender and juicy, very important as I had some dental surgery on the 22nd. But, everyone knows a few sutures ain't going to stop me from eating! As it turned out, my periodontist does fabulous work and I had no post-surgery pain and can chew easily on one side! The lamb, coated with whole grain mustard, pepper and "stuffed with rosemary. Roasted at 350F to 120F, tented and rested for 30 minutes. Eaten with minted baby taters, peas, and fresh mint sa Dessert was a fabulous assortment of baking from my niece, the family dentist Tonight, our older son and three little ones will join us for prime rib, yorkies, etc. The 28th will be the whole family when our younger son and two little ones will join us for a crab feast and our traditional trifle!

Just finished making my traditional "nibbles": Moroccan Spiced Cigars and Curry Chicken in Puff pastry. These are now added to the "outside larder", along with 12 doz handrolled shortbread cookies (gave out 12 doz), and 3 9x11 trays of Birdseed Bars. Now onto mince meat pies and butter tarts...

Char Siu Pi-Gwut: Pork ribs marinated in Hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, 5-spice powder, etc - same as the char siu pork butt I made earlier in the week. Eaten with mung bean noodles ( fun see) with fuzzy melon and slivers of char siu. Would have preferred ha mai (dried shrimp) but forgot to put it to soak earlier. Still a favourite.

Hoping the warmer temps will return so I can get out to try making naan again in the Big Easy...Miss my naan..................

Thus the pork butt... Love the fatty parts AND the grisly bits...

I usually hang the chunks of pork in the oven to roast, but this week, the oven was strictly for Xmas baking. It was a large boneless pork butt cut into thick chunks and pricked with a fork to allow the marinade to get into the meat.. The marinade is hoisin sauce, oyster sauce, Chinese rice wine, red food colouring, honey, 5-spice powder. The pieces were marinated for 2 days, turning over a few times then cooked in the BBQ at 300F...got some nice char pieces.

This is about as traditional Toisanese comfort food as it gets! Fermented wind-dried salted fish (ham yeu), steamed with ground pork and loads of ginger. Finished off just before serving with smoking hot oil.

Found some lovely thick pieces of cod today, so we had fish 'n' "chips", which were cut up pieces of baby taters. Batter was just flour, rice flour, 1/2 tbsp baking powder, 1 tbsp vinegar, and enough soda water to make a smooth batter. Did up some Chinese Char Siu on the BBQ today to make baos for when kids all come home for the holidays.

Have never tried freezing as we usually finish it all! Recipe is from Jeanne Kelley from Fine Cooking Issue 115 The recipe is set for 2 four-lb chickens, but I just used drumsticks this time. 4 large lemons 2 large oranges 8 medium cloves garlic, chopped 3 Tbs. chopped fresh oregano (or 1 Tbs. dried, crumbled) 3 Tbs. soy sauce 1 Tbs. honey 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper Oil a roasting dish with 1/4 cup olive oil. The marinade is : 2 /3 cup lemon juice and zest of one lemon. Tuck some wedges of lemon around the chicken pieces. 1/2 cup OJ, and zest of one orange. Tuck some wedges of orange around the chicken. Mix the above with the rest of the ingredients. Pour over the chicken, cover and let sit in the fridge 6 - 12 hours. I pieced the chicken pieces. Pre-heat oven to 425F Turn the chicken so all the pieces are skin side up. Sprinkle with 1 tsp. salt and 1/2 tsp. pepper. Roast for 20 minutes, and then reduce the heat to 375°F and continue to roast until the chicken is golden-brown and cooked through, about 30 minutes. I have cooked the two chickens, and the leftovers are just as delicious. The other quick recipe I use is coat drumsticks with 6 tbsp marmalade mixed with 3 tbsp whole grain mustard. Roast at 375F, spooning the marinade back onto the legs about half way (20 min) and roast for another 20 minutes. I score the thickest part of the legs to help the marinade stay on better.

Taught my last Drums Alive exercise class this afternoon, and again, I was happy I had chicken prepared...just put the whole thing into the oven, cooked some green beans and jasmine rice, and had a nap before supper!

Quick meals...don't know WHY I am so busy! Mac & Cheese moat with creamed salmon & mushrooms And Marmalade and Whole Grain Mustard roast chicken legs and sweet potato medallions (sprinkled with chili lime flakes)

Lunch was wonton soup with shrimp and char siu: Supper: Steamed beef with preserved vegetables: zai choy and mui choy with chopped fresh jalapenos for heat, stir-fried Shanghai Bok Choy, Jasmine rice.

Liuzhou: Love bitter melon this way, especially on top of a plate of ho fun (rice noodles)! Didn't have any tofu sheets, so I wrapped ground pork, shrimp, waterchestnut in wilted siu choy. Eaten with green beans stir-fried with fuyu.

I think huiray would be the only one who would consider those dishes as ONE meal...

Good grief No! Meals from the weekend and this week. And the fried rice was collation of several meals, to use up leftovers so I can "fresh"...

School's out...school is OUT until Jan.5th A couple of meals: mainly throw together using up bits and pieces in the fridge: Marmalade Whole Grain Mustard Roast Chicken - 45 minute meal Jumbo Shrimp in Sweet Chili Sauce, Rice Noodles Everything Fried Rice: Leftovers: peas, corn, chicken and Chinese mushrooms (from a sandpot meal), egg, char siu, and fresh beansprouts.