Sunday Night Dinner - Boeuf Bourguignon

That's really just a fancy name for Beef Stew with red wine. But that's just too easy to say right? I've been wanting to try Boeuf Bourguignon for quite a while, but I never had the right pot. So along came my birthday and Brent got me a beautiful Le Creuset dutch oven. I was so excited I decided to make Boeuf Bourguignon the next day. I went through a few of my cookbooks and online and then settled on a mix of Julia Child and Ina Garten. In the Barefoot Contessa's recipe, it calles for 1 pound frozen small whole onions. Now I just couldn't find those, and I'd looked in a few grocery stores, including the fancy pants Yaletown Urban Fare. So I decided to prep my own pearl onions. It does take some time, but these were really good. You can either do this first or while the stew is cooking.

Pearl onions for Boeuf Bourguignon
I used 24 pearl onions. First you blanche them in boiling water for 1 minute. Drain and rinse in cold water. Slice the tips off onions, peel and score the root end with 1/4 inch cuts. Sautee onions in a single layer in a tbsp or two of butter until lightly browned. Add stock or water halfway up sides of onions, add a dash of sugar and some salt and pepper. Cover and simmer slowly for 25 minutes or until tender. If there is liquid remaining, drain and then set onions aside.

Boeuf Bourguignon (adapted from Barefoot in Paris)
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 8 ounces bacon, diced
- 2 1/2 lbs beef, cut into 1-inch cubes (the stuff I got was top sirloin cut into stewing beef)
- 1 lb carrots, sliced diagonally into 1-inch pieces
- 2 yellow onions, sliced
-2 cloves chopped garlic
- 1 (750ml) bottle good dry wine
- 2 cups beef broth (approximately)
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- 1 tsp fresh thyme leaves
- 4 tbsps unsalted butter, at room temperature, divided
- 3 tbsps flour
- 24 pearl onions, prepared (or 1 lb frozen)
- 1 lb mushrooms, stems discarded, caps thickly sliced

Preheat oven to 250 degrees.

Heat olive oil in large Dutch oven. Add bacon and cook over medium heat until lightly browned, about 8 minutes. Remove to a large plate with a slotted spoon.


Dry the beef cubes with paper towels and sprinkle with salt and pepper. In batches and in single layers, sear the beef all over for 3-5 minutes. Remove seared beef to plate with bacon.

Toss carrots, onions, salt and pepper into the pan and cook over medium heat until onions are lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Put the meat and bacon back into the pot with any juices that have collected. Add the wine plus enough beef broth to almost cover the beef. Add tomato paste and thyme. Bring to boil, cover pot and place in oven for 1 1/4 hours, or until meat and vegetables are very tender. Remove from oven and place on top of stove.

Combine 2 tbsps of butter and the flour with a fork and stir into the stew. Add the prepared onions. In a medium pan saute mushrooms in remaining 2 tbsps butter over medium heat about 10 minutes. Add to stew and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes.

I served mine over mashed potatoes with bread on the side. So good!!!

Chocolate Espresso Pudding

We had some friends over for an amazing night of food and drinks on the weekend. The company was fantastic, and while the girls made a chaotic mess in the kitchen, the boys were more than happy to clean it up...or at least they didn't complain! Knowing that dinner involved a lot of hands on cooking, I wanted to make sure to have dessert prepared in advance. This chocolate dessert was so easy to make, and so good!!!

Chocolate Espresso Pudding
- 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
- 3/4 cup 10% cream
- 3 tbsp hot espresso or very strong coffee
- 2 tbsp liquor (I used Kahlua) or coffee
- 3 eggs, lightly beaten
- whipping cream for garnish


In blender, finely chop chocolate and set aside.

In saucepan, bring cream to boil; remove from heat. Add hot espresso and liquor. With blender running, pour in hot cream mixture in thin stream until chocolate melts. Add eggs and whirl until smooth and well combined. Spoon into serving dishes. I used martini glasses. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours.

When ready to serve, whip up some whipping cream with a couple of tablespoons of maple syrup. Garnish dessert with whipped cream and chocolates or fruit. I used fortune cookies since our dinner night was Asian themed.



We may have had one small amount of dessert left, and that disappeared before we made it out of the kitchen!

Sunday Night Dinner - Dad's Peameal Roast

My dad has been telling me about this great peameal roast he makes, but I've never been home to try it myself. Knowing how much Brent loves ham, I thought I would try my hand at it for dinner tonight. So I called my dad, and got him to talk me through his recipe. Oh, and really, this must be served with Scalloped Potatoes. I used Canadian Living's recipe, it's not posted online, so maybe I'll post it later this week.

Dad's Peameal Roast
- 1 peameal roast (found in the ham section of the grocery store)
- 2 tbsp dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp dried thyme
- 6-10 clovesPreheat oven to 350F. Line small pan with tin foil. Place roast on rack on pan. Mix mustard, maple syrup and thyme together. Drizzle over ham, brushing to distribute. Save leftover sauce to brush on halfway through cooking. Place several cloves in ham.


Roast for about 1.5 hours. You can put this in at the same time as the potatoes. Halfway through brush with more sauce. Roast is ready when thermometer reads 170F. Let rest covered with foil for 10 minutes. This was a great meal for ham lovers, when there are only 2 or 4 people.

Sunday Night Dinner - Tofu with Udon Noodles

I love vegetables and tofu stir fried with noodles, and I'm always trying different kinds of noodles to go with my stir fries. Last week someone at work was eating Udon Noodles, and I thought to myself, well, I need to try those out. They are really easy to cook, simply drop into boiling water for 2-3 minutes and then add to stir fry. You can also use them in a broth dish as well. Very tasty!

Tofu with Udon Noodles
- Extra hard tofu, rinsed, patted dry and sliced
- 1 or 2 packs Udon Noodles
- 1-2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/3 cup of tamari
- 2 tbsp sesame oil
- 2 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1-2 tsp cornstarch
- 1/2 cup vegetable stock
- veggies (snow peas, broccoli, zucchini, carrots, celery and red peppers)
- sesame seeds for garnish


Mix ginger, tamari, sesame oil and vinegar in a bowl. Add tofu and toss. Let marinate for 15-30 minutes while you chop and prep the rest of the veggies.

In a large saucepan heat 1-2 tbsp vegetable oil over medium-high heat. Add a little ground ginger, fry for about 1 minute and then add tofu, reserving remaining marinade. Fry until crispy on each side. Add vegetables that take a bit longer to cook (carrots, red peppers, celery), cover and steam for a few minutes. Add remaining vegetables and cook.



Meanwhile, cook Udon noodles according to package directions.

Add vegetable stock to remaining marinade, mix in cornstarch. Add this sauce to the pan, stirring to thicken. Add noodles and toss. Sprinkle sesame seeds on each serving.

Sunday Night Dinner - Shrimp with Rice and Kale

This weekend sadly marked the last weekend of the West End Farmer's Market. But not to fear, there are Winter Markets. For info go to www.eatlocal.org. It just won't be the same getting up on Saturday mornings and not having the Market to go to for our weekly grocery run. There are just so many good things you can find. Like last weekend, one of the fish vendors had some frozen cold water shrimp (which I didn't realize were pink when raw until I asked the vendor about it). So for dinner tonight I wanted to make something with our market finds from this week, using that shrimp from last weekend. Now I only wish I would have bought more of the shrimp when he was there. They were very tasty, slightly smaller than other shrimp, but with more of a salty ocean water taste. Maybe at the Winter Market...


Shrimp with Rice and Kale adapted from a Canadian Living recipe
- 1 small to medium leek, chopped
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced
- salt and pepper
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 1/3 cups long-grain rice
- 2 2/3 cups liquid (I only had 1 cup of veggie stock, used water for the rest)
- 1 tbsp lemon juice
- shrimp, peeled and deveined (about 2-3 cups)
- 2-3 cups chopped kale

In large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Fry leek, garlic and salt and pepper, stirring occasionally for about 5 minutes. Stir in rice and toss to coat. Add stock; bring to boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until liquid is almost absorbed, about 15 minutes.

Gently stir shrimp, kale and lemon juice into rice mixture; cover and cook until shrimp are cooked through and kale is wilted, about 5 minutes.

Hot Artichoke Dip

This dip is super easy, and is great for last minute entertaining. I've adapted from a Best of Bridge recipe to cut down on the mayo.

Hot Artichoke Dip
- 1 can artichoke hearts, drained and chopped
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup mayo
- about 1/2 cup of freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- 1 - 2 cloves garlic, minced
- splash of lemon juice

Mix all ingredients in oven proof dish. Bake in oven or toaster oven for 10 minutes at 350 F until hot and bubbly.

Serve with crackers or breadsticks.

Bowties with Artichokes and Parmesan

I was recently in Toronto visiting family for Thanksgiving, brr was it ever cold! While there we went to a couple of different restaurants. I didn't take any pictures, but Sidecar on College was great, I would recommend to anyone in Toronto. Whenever I visit new restaurants I like to try and remember what the menu items were that I wanted to try, and then use that as inspiration for a dinner at home. I ended up ordering the Mushroom Risotto (which was awesome), but there was a pasta dish with artichokes that looked very simple, but would have nice flavours. So for dinner tonight I decided to try a new dish with marinated artichoke hearts that I had in my pantry.


Bowties with Artichokes and Parmesan
- bowtie pasta, about 2 cups uncooked
- 1 jar marinated artichoke hearts, chopped
- 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
- juice of half a lemon

Cook pasta according to directions, reserving one cup of the pasta water. Drain and return to pot. Toss artichoke hearts and Parmesan cheese with pasta. Squeeze lemon over top.

This would be great with pancetta or prosciutto as well.

Sunday Night Dinner - Mussels

I know it's Monday, but since it's a long weekend, today feels like Sunday. This afternoon Brent and I went over to Granville Island and picked up some mussels from Salt Spring Island at The Lobsterman on Granville Island. This is the first time I've cooked mussels, but I've been craving them for a few weeks, and they are so easy to cook. A definite success!

Mussels with Wine, Tomatoes and Cilantro
- 3 lbs mussels
- 1 1/2 cups of white wine
- 1 shallot, finely minced
- 1 - 2 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 can diced tomatoes
- 2 - 3 tbsp unsalted butter
- a couple of handfuls of chopped cilantro

Before you start, pick through your mussels and discard any that have opened. If they are only slightly opened, tap on them, if they close, they are okay. Then remove beards and scrub them.

Place wine, shallot, garlic and tomatoes in large pot, bring to a simmer. Dump mussels in pot, cover and steam for 8 minutes or until they have opened up. With a slotted spoon remove mussels onto large serving dish, discarding any that are not opened. Whisk butter and cilantro into sauce, pour over mussels.

Serve with fresh bread.

Sunday Night Dinner - Stuffed Peppers

This weekend for our dinner on Sunday night I wanted to do something with all of the great stuff we got at the market this weekend. So I decided to try my hand at making stuffed peppers. I went online and started looking through different recipes, and came up with this one to use some of the stuff I got from the market.

Reebs' Stuffed Peppers
- 4 peppers, red, orange, yellow or green
- olive oil
- 1 lb ground beef
- half onion, chopped
- 2-3 carrots, chopped
- 1/3 cup chopped red pepper
- 1-2 tomatoes, chopped
- 2 cups cooked rice
- lemon juice from half a lemon
- cheese (I used this cheese from this farm)

Cut peppers in half lengthwise, remove seeds and stuff. Lay cut side up in a glass baking dish. Set aside.

Meanwhile, heat 1-2 tbsp olive oil in skillet over medium heat. Saute onions, carrots and chopped pepper about 5 minutes. Add ground beef, breaking up with spoon until meat is browned. Add tomatoes, season with salt and pepper and simmer 5 minutes. Add rice and mix together until heated through.Spoon into peppers. Pour 1-2 tbsp olive oil, 1/2 cup water and lemon juice around peppers. Cover with foil. Bake in 400 oven for 50 minutes. Uncover, sprinkle with grated cheese, and cook 15 minutes until cheese is browned and peppers are tender.

Quick Puff Pastry

Puff pastry is one of the most versatile ingredients to have on hand when cooking and baking. It is a great way to impress guests, and you can really do a lot of different things with puff pastry. I've always purchased the Tenderflake variety, which works really well. However, I wanted to know how hard it was to make my own. Let me tell you, it is actually one of the easiest things to make, using ingredients you probably have on hand. This recipe is from Canadian Living, and again, they don't disappoint.

Quick Puff Pastry
- 1 cup cold unsalted butter
- 1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup cold water




Cut butter into 1/2 inch cubes; set aside 3/4 cup in the refrigerator. In food processor, pulse flour with salt. Sprinkle remaining butter over top; pulse until indistinguishable, about 10 seconds. Sprinkle with reserved butter; pulse 4 - 5 times until pea-size pieces. Pour water evenly over mixture (not through tube). Pulse 6 to 8 times until mixture is loose and ragged, do not let form ball.

Transfer to floured waxed paper; gather and press into rectangle. Dust with flour; top with waxed paper and roll out into 15 x 12 inch rectangle. When you first transfer it to the floured waxed paper, fear not, although it looks like it won't come together, it definitely will!


Remove top paper. Starting at long edge and using bottom paper to lift pastry, fold over one-third. Fold opposite long edge over top, bringing flush with edge of first fold to make 15 x 4 inch rectangle. Starting from 1 short end, roll up firmly; flatten into 5 inch square. Cut in half; wrap and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.

This can also be refrigerated for 5 days or frozen in airtight container for up to 2 weeks. You'll never want to buy store bought puff pastry again!

I rolled this out and used it for my Chicken and Brie Turnovers and the result was amazing!

Back To School Cocktail Party

I've always loved the fall, pulling sweaters out of the closet and hearing leaves crunch under your feet. I also always loved going back to school. It was a time when you got to catch up with friends, and there was always a ton of parties. In high school it was dances and football games, in university it was keg parties and drinks after new classes. Why should that end the older we get? It doesn't have to. Every once in awhile Brent and I will host what I like to call a 'Back to School Party'. It's a great chance to catch up with people you've lost touch with over the summer and really, who needs an excuse to have a cocktail party?



You can keep things simple, or spend weeks prepping. I like to use parties like this as an opportunity to try out new recipes on my friends. To keep things safe, I usually serve a couple of staples, some dips and a great cheese platter. Here's a great recipe for a great veggie dip.

Roasted Red Pepper Dip
- 2 roasted red peppers ( on tinfoil lined sheet, broil peppers until charred, wrap tinfoil around peppers for 5-10 minutes, remove tin foil, peppers should peel easily)
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 1/2 cup cream cheese
- salt and pepper
- 1 clove garlic, minced

In food processor pulse together sour cream, cream cheese and mayonnaise until combined. Add rest of the ingredients, pulse to combine.

Orange Beef with Cilantro Rice

This recipe was really easy to make and great for last minute entertaining.

Orange Beef
- finely grated peel of 1 orange
- juice of 2 oranges
- 1 tbsp tamari (or soy sauce)
- 1 tbsp rice vinegar
- 1 pound stir fry steak ( or skirt steak, thinly sliced on the diagonal)
- 1 bunch scallions, white parts finely chopped, green parts cut into inch long pieces
- 1 tbsp brown sugar

Cilantro Rice
- long grain white rice
- fresh cilantro

Stir together orange peel, juice, olive oil, tamari and vinegar. Add steak and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook rice according to directions, on stove top or in rice cooker.

Heat 1 tbsp oil over high in large skillet. Using tongs, transfer beef to skillet. Cook, lightly tossing, for 5-7 minutes. Transfer meat to a plate.

Add scallions and cook over medium heat until wilted. Transfer to beef. Pour remaining marinade into skillet and bring to a boil, lower heat and reduce sauce. Whisk in sugar, return steak to skillet. Stir in cornstarch 1 tsp at a time if you're sauce isn't thickening.

Stir cilantro into rice and serve beef and rice together.

Prosciutto Wrapped Salmon

A great way to cook with two of my favourite ingredients, prosciutto and salmon. While on Granville Island last weekend Dussa's Ham and Cheese had an Italian Cheese and Meat festival, and they had samples of 12 month aged Prosciutto. It was so good I had to buy some. While snacking on it, and trying to think of what to do with the salmon I had in the freezer I remembered seeing a recipe somewhere with salmon wrapped in prosciutto. And that sounded absolutely delicious.

Prosciutto Wrapped Salmon
- Salmon fillet , cut into 2 pieces
- 2 tbsp dijon mustard
- 3-4 green onions, finely chopped
- pepper
- 2-4 slices prosciutto

I used 4 slices of prosicutto because it was so finely sliced, just the way I like it!


In a small bowl mix mustard, green onions and pepper. Spread over both sides of the salmon. Lay salmon skin side down onto 1-2 pieces of prosciutto. Fold prosciutto up over top. Bake on parchment lined bakign sheet in 400F oven for 10-15 minutes, until salmon flakes easily.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Mmm.... There isn't much in life that is quite as comforting as a homemade chocolate chip cookie. I know a lot of people have their different favorite recipes, but me, I'm pretty much happy with anything. And I also know there is a great debate over nuts and raisins in chocolate chip cookies. My thoughts on that, depends on the mood I'm in. Sometimes I love adding raisins to give the cookies an extra chewiness (and also, there's something that makes me feel like they're healthier with raisins!).

That being said, I don't know when the last time I bought a box of cookies was (other than Girl Guide cookies). It's so difficult to enjoy one of those hard crumbly store boxed cookies, after having homemade ones. And cookies are so easy to make, they rarely take more than 2 bowls, and you can clean up while they're in the oven!

Reebs' Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 1 cup butter, softened
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
- 2 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 1/4 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt (optional, but I use it because I use unsalted butter)
- 2 cups chocolate chips
- raisins or nuts if you're feeling saucy


In large bowl with electric mixer, beat butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla together until light and fluffy. In smaller bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt (if using). Add to wet mixture, beating until well mixed.


Stir in chocolate chips by hand. Spoon dough onto ungreased cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.
Bake for 8-12 minutes. The baking time will depend on your oven. Tonight I had been roasting a chicken, so my oven was already well heated, so the cookies didn't need as long as usual.

Don't forget the glass of milk!!!

Pita Bread

I love pita bread, really who doesn't? I remember in Montreal a friend of mine mentioned she was making her own and I was in awe. How does someone make pita bread? And does it really come out with the pocket that is so great for stuffing? I didn't really think much of it, partially because at the time my cooking repertoire was pretty much scrambled eggs and muffins. Fast forward about 4 years and I decided to try my hand at it. I found a recipe online and it is one of the easiest things to make. You probably have most of the ingredients on hand.

Pita Bread
- 3 cups flour (part whole wheat, part all-purpose)
- 2 1/4 tsp Active Dry Yeast
- 1 1/2 tsps salt
- 1 1/3 cup warm water
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil

In a food processor fitted with blade, process the flour, yeast and salt on high for 10 seconds. With processor on high, add just enough combined water and oil until dough forms a ball. Process 60 seconds more.
Remove dough, cover and let rest 15 minutes. Heat oven to 500 F with rack on bottom. Dust cookie sheets with cornmeal. Divide dough into 12 buns roll into 6-inch circles 1/4 inch thick. Place 2 to 3 pitas on each sheet; let rest 10 - 15 minutes. Bake 4 to 5 minutes. DO NOT OPEN oven until time is up - heat will be lost and pitas may not puff. Pitas will not brown so be careful not to over bake.Pita bread is awesome served with hummus. A really quick recipe is to drain a can of chickpeas (reserving some of the liquid), add to food processor or blender, along with 1 tbsp tahini, a couple of tbsp's of lemon juice, 1-2 cloves of minced garlic, salt, pepper and cumin to taste. Blend on high until smooth, adding some of the reserved liquid if necessary.

Sunday Night Dinner - Beef Tenderloin

I love the summer, and making dinner almost entirely from the market. It is something that makes me so happy!

After picking up a bounty of fresh fruit and vegetables from the West End Farmers Market yesterday, I wanted to make something simple for dinner to go along with it. So today I biked over to Granville Island and bought a couple of beef tenderloin steaks. Yes, they are a bit of a treat, but these steaks were so good, and there was enough for us to have sandwiches for lunch tomorrow.

Making the steaks is very simple, all I do is bring them to room temperature and sprinkle with either steak spice, or simply salt and pepper.

In a cast iron pan, melt a tbsp of butter, add some olive oil and heat. Sear steaks on all sides ~ 2-4 minutes a side ~ and then place pan in 350 oven and cook for about 10 -15 minutes, depending on the thickness of the steak and how you like it. Remove from oven, place steaks on cutting board and tent with foil.


Meanwhile, put cast iron pan on element on medium, add sliced mushrooms and onions, cooking slowly. Add a splash of wine and continue to cook, about 5 minutes. Serve over steak.


I served dinner with fresh potatoes, corn on the cob, and salad with a quick pomegranate juice, honey, olive oil, dijon mustard and vinegar dressing.

A 'Diamond' in the rough

This past Saturday Brent and I caught an early flick at Tinseltown. After gorging on popcorn, we weren't really hungry for a full dinner, but it was 7:30, we were a little peckish, and wanted to go for a drink. We biked around Gastown trying to figure out what it was we felt like eating. I remembered having read something somewhere about a restaurant that had opened up across from the Chill Winston, in a second floor location. Thus it was that we stumbled upon Diamond.

The restaurant is upstairs at #6 Powell Street, on the corner of Powell and Carrall. The space itself is very simple, with exposed brick and huge windows. We were lucky and able to score a window seat, overlooking Carrall street. The staff was really friendly, and helped me to pick out a cocktail. I wish I could remember the name, I do know it had champagne and ginger and basil, and something else.

For food, the menu is a selection of Asian inspired plates that are easily shared. When you order your food, it comes out as it is ready, which is really the best way to eat. We ordered the Japanese Pickled Egg and Beets, Edamame, Pork Gyoza's and the Lemongrass Broth with Glass Noodles. All of the food was fantastic, and the entire menu looked enticing.

Overall, a definite great new find. Not too hard on the wallet either. I can't wait to get back and try some of the other cocktails!

The Diamond
#6 Powell Street
Wednesday - Sunday 5:30 - midnight

Soft Chicken Tacos

We are sweltering here in Vancouver in the midst of a heat wave. And no one has air conditioning, and fans are hard to come by. So how do you beat the heat? Head down to the ocean for a quick dip after work, and then cook up some spicy Mexican food. Is it working? I don't know, but it sure tasted good!

Reebs Chicken Tacos
- 1 chicken breast, bone in skin on
- 1/2 cup salsa
- plum tomato, chopped
- juice from quarter of lime
- 4-5 pickeled, chopped jalapeno's (more or less depending on your tastes)
- 1 tsp cumin
- soft taco shellsFixings
- guacamole (2 avocado's, mashed, juice of quarter of lime, chopped tomato, 2-3 chopped jalapeno's, salt and pepper, all mixed together)
- salsa
- sour cream
- refried beans
- cheese

Preheat oven to 350, place chicken breast on baking sheet. Rub skin with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Roast for 40 minutes or until cooked through. Once chicken has cooled enough to handle, remove skin, and then shred meat. (You could also use a rotisserie chicken to save time).

Heat olive oil in a pan, add chicken, cumin, lime juice, jalapeno's, tomato and salsa. Stir and heat through.

Put everything out to make your own soft tacos.


If possible try and find authentic soft taco shells, it really makes a difference. I bought mine at this European Deli in my neighborhood, but I have seen them at Safeway as well.

Enjoy!!!
-

Twice Baked Potatoes

These potatoes are the bomb. I’m taking my time, I don’t want it to end.
- Rachel Cavanagh

I kid you not, this is what I heard the other night at the table. We were celebrating my parents 33rd wedding anniversary, and I had made dinner for everyone (although my dad took care of the roast). Seated around the table on the screened-in porch, enjoying a meal together, the 6 of us, at the cottage. The entire meal was fantastic, but I think the twice baked potatoes were the definitive hit.

Reebs’ Twice Baked Potatoes (adapted from a Canadian Living recipe)
-4 baking potatoes

-2 cups broccoli florets, chopped

-6 slices bacon

-1 cup finely chopped onion

-4 tsp flour

-1 cup milk

-salt and pepper

-½ cup old cheddar cheese (crumbled or shredded)

Scrub potatoes, prick all over with a fork. Bake in 400F oven for 1 hour or until tender.

Meanwhile, in skillet bring ½ cup water to boil. Add broccoli and cook 2 minutes, until tender and bright green. Drain and set aside. Add bacon to skillet, cook on medium for 5-6 minutes, or until bacon is crisp. Drain off fat, let bacon cool on paper-towel lined plate. Chop and set aside.

Add onion to pan, cook on medium-high for 2-3 minutes until softened. Stir in flour, cook for 30 seconds. Whisk in milk, salt and pepper, cook, stirring for 1 minute or until thickened. Remove from heat. Stir in cheese until melted. Add bacon and broccoli and mix well.

Cut potatoes lengthwise down centre. Scoop out flesh into bowl and mash. Stir sauce into mashed potatoes, until blended. Spoon into shells. Sprinkle with cheese and bake at 350F for 20 minutes.

Summer and Potato Salad

I'm writing this post from my parents cabin on Big Basswood Lake in Northern Ontario. It's so nice out here (even if it's raining and the lake is a bit colder than I'd like). This is a place that I plan to return to every summer for as long as I can. There are no agenda's, no schedules, while I'm here it's easy to forget about the hustle and bustle of life.

We had a big crew out for an afternoon of fishing, kayaking, hot tubing, boating and eating on the weekend, so I thought I'd do a quick post on the potato salad I made. Potato salad is a great side dish anytime of year, but especially in the summer. The great thing about it is that you can add whatever you would like, and there's no end to the possibilities.

Basswood Lake Potato Salad
- 20 - 30 little potatoes ( I used half white half red skinned)
- fresh peas
- 5-6 gherkins, chopped
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 1/4 dijon mustard
- 2 tbsp white wine vinegar
- salt, pepper, dill

*Note, I don't actually measure any of the ingredients for the dressing, these are my best approximations.

Cook potatoes until they are fork tender, but not mushy. Let cool and quarter.
In small bowl, mix mayo, mustard, vinegar, salt and pepper and dill. Add more of whatever you'd like to get the flavour you are looking for.

In large bowl add chopped gherkins, peas and potatoes. Pour dressing over potatoes and toss gently to coat. Cover and refrigerate at least an hour before serving. This salad is great the next day as well.

Mustard Dill Salmon

I never used to be much of a salmon fan, occasionally I would buy some of those frozen salmon fillets, and figured that was as good as it was going to get. Now living in Vancouver, there is such an abundance of good salmon to be found, that I'll sometimes find myself eating it once a week at least. And that's not counting the smoked salmon. During the summer months, the local farmer's markets are a great place to get salmon fillets. When buying salmon, you want to buy wild not farmed, and frozen not 'fresh'. I put 'fresh' in quotation marks because all salmon (unless you catch it yourself or buy it from a fisherman on a boat while he's fishing) is previously frozen. Much seafood is, and often times frozen at sea. So, while you may think the refrigerated salmon is fresher, it's most probably just been thawed, and if you do buy it, you better eat it that day. We try and buy our salmon at the Farmer's Market, right out of the freezer, and boy is it tasty. I love it bbq'd on skewers, just roasted, cooked and made into salmon cakes. The following recipe is so easy, there are barely any ingredients required.




Mustard Dill Salmon
- 1 piece of salmon
- Olive oil
- Dijon mustard
- salt and pepper
- chopped fresh dill





Place salmon on parchment lined baking sheet. Rub salmon with olive oil. Mix together in a small bowl as much mustard, salt, pepper and fresh dill as you need to cover the fish. Coat salmon. Cook in 375 oven for 12 - 15 minutes or until salmon flakes easily and is cooked through. Serve with rice or potatoes and a salad.

Sunday Night Dinner - Father's Day Lamb

This year my parents were in town for Father's Day. Rather than going out for dinner, Brent and I decided to make dinner for my parents at our place. One of my dad's favorite meals is lamb, and I boldly decided to try my hand at it. Needless to say, I was very nervous as I've never made lamb before, and have always heard that while it may not be difficult, if it is not cooked properly it can be less forgiving than other meats. While searching through my cookbooks I found a recipe for Herb-Roasted Lamb in Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa Family Style. The recipe looked fairly easy, roast the lamb on potatoes.

So off we headed to Granville Island (which also happens to be one of my dad's favorite places to visit while in Vancouver) to purchase what we needed for dinner.
One of the great things about Ina Garten's recipe is that she includes in it the instructions to give the butcher. So I just marched myself over to Tenderland Meats and told the guy at the counter: 'I need a 6-pound leg of lamb, remove the leg bone but leave the shank intact'. That's a bonus of talking to an actual butcher, they got my leg of lamb ready for me and I was ready to go.


As we were trying to decide what green veggie to get for dinner, I spotted some fiddleheads, and decided, why not try my hand at these. Luckily I was able to text a co-worker who is a bit of a fiddlehead aficionado, and he gave me the instructions:

Fiddleheads - Steam or boil for 20 minutes. Pan fry in a bit of butter, garlic and sea salt. Splash some lemon or vinegar on at the end. So good!

Back to the lamb, it was surprisingly easy to prepare, and another great thing about the recipe is that you roast the lamb on the potatoes, so once that's in the oven, half of your meal is complete. Pair with a nice salad to start, some greens, and there you go. For dessert we had some home made ice cream with fresh strawberries.

Herb-Roasted Lamb (from Ina Garten)
- 12 large unpeeled garlic cloves, divided
- 1 tbsp chopped fresh rosemary leaves (you need fresh rosemary!!!)
- Sea Salt and Pepper
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter, melted
- 1 6-lb boneless leg of lamb, trimmed and tied
- 4-5 lbs small unpeeled potatoes (16-20)
- 2 tbsp olive oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and place rack in the lower third of the oven.
Peel 6 of the cloves of garlic and place them in the bowl of a food processor with the steel blade. Add rosemary, 1 tbsp salt, 1 tsp pepper and butter. Process until garlic and rosemary are finely minced. Coat the top and sides of the lamb with rosemary mixture. Allow to sit at room temperature for 30 mins to an hour.

Toss the potatoes and remaining unpeeled garlic in a bowl with the olive oil. Sprinkle with salt. Place in the bottom of a large roasting pan. Place the lamb on top of the potatoes and roast for 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 hours, or until the internal temperature of the lamb is 135 degrees for rare, or 145 degrees for medium. Remove from oven and put lamb on a platter; cover tightly with aluminum foil, allow to rest for 20 minutes. Slice and serve with potatoes.

Sunday Night Dinner - Risotto with Green Veggies

This weekend we biked over to the Kitsilano Farmer's Market on Sunday, because we missed the West End one on Saturday. While at the market I found some english peas. I love these and could seriously just shell and eat them for a snack. I then saw some asparagus, and decided to make a risotto for dinner. When I got home I noticed the kale growing on the balcony was getting pretty bushy, so I grabbed some of that for the risotto as well.

Risotto with Asparagus, Peas and Kale
- 1 1/4 cups vegetable broth and 1 1/2 cups water, heated and kept warm

- 1 tbsp olive oil

- 1 onion, finely diced
- 10 asparagus spears, cut into 1/2 inch pieces
- 1 clove garlic, finely diced
- 1 cup arborio (short grain) rice
- 1/4 cup white wine (or vegetable broth if you're stuck)
- 1 cup shelled, fresh english peas
- 1 cup chopped kale
- 1/2 cup parmesan
- juice of 1/2 lemon

In a medium saucepan, saute onino and garlic in olive oil over medium-low heat. Add rice, stirring to coat. Pour in wine, cook stirring until no liquid remains, around 2 minutes.

Begin adding the broth mixture, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until most of the liquid is absorbed before adding more broth. This will use up about 2 1/2 cups of the broth. Once you have added the last half cup of broth, add asparagus. Continue stirring until most of the liquid is absorbed. This slow cooking process can take up to 20 minutes, so be patient, it is worth it.

Add peas, kale and the rest of the broth (about 1/4 cup). Cook stirring for about 3 minutes. Stir in lemon juice and about 3/4 of the cheese. Serve sprinkled with remaining cheese.