Tuesday, July 26, 2011

The Greatest Sandwich in the World - Recipe



This is inspired by a meal I had last summer, when I was with my friends in Montreal. We were invited over to a friend-of-a-friend's farm in St. Jean sur Richelieu, a suburb of Montreal with lots of fields. Her family ran a cheese and bread farm, so we were in for a real treat. She made us this truly delectable sandwiches for dinner, that I still remember to this day. They had the creamiest Brie I had ever consumed, my mouth waters at the very thought of the texture of the bread, cheese, honey, and walnuts. I have since attempted to re-create this sandwich, not with complete success, but this is as close as I have gotten. Nothing compares to the cheese straight from the farm or the fresh bread, but we do what we can!

Take a baguette, slice it so the two faces are exposed
Cut a few hunks of Brie cheese and place them strategically upon the bread, but only on one slice
On the other face, drizzle some honey and break some walnuts upon it
Toast both sides in a toaster oven for a min or so (or for 8 secs in a microwave)
Place some arugula atop the Brie
Bring both slices into each other to create a sandwich
Bite, drool, delve, reflect, fall in love with The Greatest Sandwich in the World

Tahini Miso Quinoa Salad Extravaganza - Recipe


Since returning to Vancouver, I have resumed my addiction to shopping at Caper's Market. They have everything and more that I dream of, food-wise. It's a healthy addiction, however my wallet is not so pleased. They have this amazing salad bar, with an assortment of lovely dressings and toppings. The dressing for this salad was inspired greatly by Caper's Tahini Miso Dressing, and this is a sort of homage, if you will. Enjoy the deliciousness that is Quinoa and tasty sauce with some serious veggie action!

Firstly, gotta cook that quinoa. Boil 1 1/4 cup of water in a pot then pour in 1 cup of quinoa (This yields enough to save a bunch of quinoa for later). Turn down the heat a bit, and leave that business, covered, for 12 mins. Afterwards, you will take the pot off the heat and stir it a bit then put the lid back on to let it sit for about 5 mins.
Meanwhile, chop up some...
Red Pepper (or whatever colours you so please)
Red Onion
Various vegetables of your choice
Tofu
...and put those into a frypan with a drizzle of olive oil and throw down some oregano and pepper on there if you wish

Once those ingredients are ready, turn the heat way down and drizzle some of the dressing from the bottom of this recipe into the frypan, so the tofu is super flavourful

Put the frypan ingredients onto a bed of lettuce/mixed herbs in a bowl. Then you can put some additional toppings onto your salad!...
You could throw down some thawed, shelled edamame beans
Apple chunks are always a nice addition, I like to use Granny Smith
Raisins are cool, too
Feta cheese rocks my salad usually
Then, add your cooked quinoa and stir it all up real nice!


For the dressing, put the following ingredients into a food processor...
1/3 cup Tahini, or Sesame paste
juice of half a lemon
a small handful of cashews (optional, for thickness and yumminess)
a solid tablespoon of White Miso

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Lemon Dill Tofu with Feta & Veggies - Recipe

Soo I haven't posted in a while, the reason being I was moving from Banff back to Vancouver. Since the return to the West coast, I have been spending lots of time dining around town at restaurants and breakfast joints and haven't been cooking a whole lot. Tonight, I decided to whip up a little dinner with the few groceries I have purchased. What to do with some tofu, serious veg, herbs, and feta cheese? Get funky and figure somethin' out, I say...

Chop as much firm tofu as you please into lil' cubes
Marinade with a solid squeeze of honey for an hour or more
Pour the honey-glazed tofu into a hot pan where 1/2 a tbsp of olive oil is already heated
Let those suckers crisp a bit and add chopped...
Red pepper
Red onion
Cucumber (I know, riiiight!)

aand last but not least
a smidgeon of grated ginger, for something fun
...throw in a hefty dash of dill too, and squeeze the juice from half a lemon into the mix as well

Once all the ingredients in the pan are cooked up and mixed well, pour that business into a bowl
Top it off with crumbled feta and enjoy hot or cold. Tastyyy!