foodmamma

anniversary dinner at teatro

May 25, 2011 By Fareen 1 Comment

Hubby and I celebrated our five year wedding anniversary last month. We never got around to going out for dinner though. It had been a busy few weeks and weekends never seemed to be working out. We had planned this dinner so many times but something always came up.

Maybe not planning dinner in advance is the way to go. We decided in the afternoon that it would be the perfect evening for date night and our belated anniversary dinner. We had a voucher (yes, I love my deals) for Teatro and I had been itching to use it for a while. I had been to Teatro once before but it had been so long since I had been there, I was looking forward to going back.

Our wonderful server Mitch started our evening off with an amuse-bouche, tuna tartare. The tiny morsel tasted fresh and left us wanting more. We were also served little chewy focaccia buns that we devoured with olive oil and balsamic vinegar.

We chose to go with the Alberta Bison Tartare for our appetizer. Topped with a quail egg, this was served with a tiny crostini with triple creme brie as well as a small arugula salad. The flavours of the bison were incredible, especially paired with the arugula. Our only complaint was there wasn’t enough of the crostini to eat up all the tartare with. Mitch happily brought us some focaccia bread which was a great accompaniment.

Our next course was also a sharable – the Pappardelle. Noodles coated with a green curry mayo, tossed with avocado and topped with grilled lobster. This was an amazing dish but very spicy. Even hubby who can actually eat spice found it quite spicy. The taste was amazing though and it would be a dish I would have again.

By this point, we still had our main course to eat, but we were completely stuffed. For my main, I went with the Honey-Rosemary Seared Duck Magret. This was served with polenta verde, caramelized cippolini, and fig fricassée. There was also supposed to be some pancetta which they happily left out for me. This dish was so delicious! The duck was moist and the flavours were incredible. The pesto in the polenta went really well with the duck. I was very happy with my choice.

Hubby went with the Milk Fed Veal Striploin alla Milanese. This was served with creamy spaetzle, green olive, spicy rapini, and fried capers. The meat was moist and the tasted amazing. We found that this tasted even better the next day. Of course, there were leftovers!

Despite the fact that we were full, we couldn’t leave without having dessert. Tempted by the creme brulee, we decided on chocolate instead and shared the Chocolate Varieta. This dish had chocolate three ways with chocolate marquis, milk chocolate semifreddo, and a cocoa ginger madeleine. You have to love chocolate to enjoy this dish. It was a great way to end a fantastic meal!

meatless monday: red lentil curry

May 23, 2011 By Fareen Leave a Comment

Red lentil curry is one of our new favorite dishes. This hearty meal is perfect after a weekend filled with meat. I’m not sure if the best part is that it’s healthy or that it takes less than half an hour to make. It also passed the Q test. He ate this curry alongside some homemade yogurt and devoured it. Both my mom and aunt have made this dish so I snagged the recipe last week. A perfect dish for Meatless Monday.

Red Lentil Curry

1 cup red lentils
2 curry leaves
3 TB crushed tomatoes
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp turmeric
1/2 cup water
cilantro

Soak the lentils while you heat the pan. In a saucepan, heat some oil and add 2 curry leaves. Add the tomatoes, and spices and cook for a couple of minutes. Drain the lentils and add to the tomato mixture along with 1/2 cup water. Let cook until the lentils are cooked, approximately 20 minutes. Check the water level after ten minutes, and add more if it has evaporated. Sprinkle with cilantro and serve with warm chapati.

fried fish tacos

May 19, 2011 By Fareen 7 Comments

The best thing about this nice weather we’ve been having is cooking outside. The bbq has been on a lot lately and it’s been great! I felt like having Mexican food and the first thing that came to mind were fried fish tacos. As much as I love fried foods, I don’t like to fry in my house. I took advantage of the warm weather and set up a frying station on the side burner of the bbq. As the fish came out of the fryer, they were sprinkled with salt and squirted with fresh lime. The fish was crispy and tangy, the vegetables added were fresh and the combination was amazing. They reminded me of the tacos we had on the streets of Ensenada a few years ago. We rounded out the meal with nachos on the side. It was a great fiesta!

Fried Fish Tacos

Sole, cut into strips
1 cup + 1/4 cup flour
1.5 cups club soda
salt
pepper

Toppings: onions, tomatoes, avocado, salsa, sour cream, lettuce, cilantro, guacamole

Combine 1 cup flour, club soda, salt and pepper and let it rest for 5 minutes. Dredge the fish in the flour and then put into the wet batter. Once the batter turns golden, put on a paper towel and sprinkle with salt and squirt with fresh lime.

mother’s day and grilled veggie lasagna

May 10, 2011 By Fareen Leave a Comment

We had our mammas over for Mother’s Day dinner this year. We went totally simple this year with bbq’d burgers and fries. With a wedding coming up in the family in just under 3 months, we grilled up some veggies for those family members who felt like being healthy. Most went with the beef though so we had loads of roasted eggplant, zucchini, onions and red peppers left over.

What better way to use up those extra veggies than make veggie lasagna. I added the red peppers and onions to the sauce which was layered between the eggplant and zucchini and loads of cheese. It was filling and a great way to get in our day full of veggies. Q even finished off his plate which is always a good sign.

Mother’s Day dinner ended with nutella ice cream and sticky toffee pudding. My sticky toffee pudding is a recipe of my friends, who makes the best I’ve ever tasted. I promised I wouldn’t share the recipe though, so you’ll just have to take my word for it.

Hope all the mothers were spoiled!

an appetizer party for easter

April 27, 2011 By Fareen Leave a Comment

Our friends and I had such a great time with our Progressive Dinner a couple months ago, we were looking forward to our next dinner party. The theme for the party was appetizers. A whole meal of just appetizers! I could not wait. We took advantage of the long weekend and made a lunch of appetizers to celebrate Easter. Each couple were responsible for two appetizers, none of which were coordinated.

Salted steamed edamame as well as cocoa spiced pecans were placed on the table for munching.

Q helped me make these shrimp gyoza. These were stuffed with shrimp and loads of ginger, pan-fried and then steamed. This was served with my new favorite sauce – ponzu! How did I not know about this sauce earlier? Ponzu is a citrus-based soy sauce and is delicious! In the past week, I’ve had it with every possible food item, the bottle is almost done.

The boursin stuffed prawns wrapped in beef bacon were something I definitely wanted to share with our friends. Even those who weren’t really seafood fans enjoyed these.

Hubby made up some beef shortribs in three varieties – East African hot, Korean bbq and a fusion of the two. These are usually served up at any gathering we have and they were delicious! The fusion ones were my fave.

Our friends brought over two different kinds of flatbread – cheese and herb. These were served with bruschetta and a spicy hummus.

One of my favorite appetizers to order at a restaurant is the chili chicken. Our friends made this without the crispy coating and it was delicious.

Chicken kabob skewers with veggies were grilled up and they were oh so tasty.

Our friends also brought over Aloo Tikki. These are basically Indian patties made with mashed potatoes and herbs and spices. Served with various chutneys, it was a great addition to our meal.

We rounded out the meal with a bowl full of nutella almond ice cream. It really was the perfect meal – little bites with amazing friends. A meal of appetizers is something we’ll definitely be doing again.

beef bacon wrapped boursin filled prawns

April 19, 2011 By Fareen 4 Comments

Rob Rainford was on CityLine last week and he made these amazing looking stuffed prawns wrapped in bacon. These looked like the perfect item for our upcoming appetizer party. I made a few changes, using ingredients that I had in the house. Trying to stop the cheese from oozing out while wrapping the prawn with the bacon took some effort. After making only 8, I decided that these may be more work than they were worth. I was wrong! These tasty bites were so amazingly delish, I wish I had made more. The creamy garlic from the cheese, the sweetness from the soy, the grease from the bacon – they just made us wanting more.

Beef Bacon Wrapped Boursin Filled Prawns
(Adapted from Rob Rainford’s Stuff Jumbo Prawns with Goat Cheese Wrapped in Bacon)
8 jumbo prawns, peeled and deveined
8 tsp boursin cheese
4 strips beef bacon (or any bacon you wish to use)
4 TB sweet soy sauce

Butterfly each prawn and fill with boursin cheese. Take half a strip of bacon and wrap around the prawn, holding it together with tooth picks. BBQ until prawns turn pink, basting with the sweet soy sauce on both sides. Gently remove the tooth picks before serving.

fuji yama sushi

April 15, 2011 By Fareen Leave a Comment

My 2 year old loves sushi. So much so, that when any of the various websites featuring daily deals has a sushi deal, I grab a few. We all felt like sushi last weekend so I turned to the vouchers to help us decide where to go. We headed to Fuji Yama on 17th Avenue.

We were greeted with a familiar face – a sushi chef who used to work at Kinjo, one of our favorites! He started off our meal with an orange, segmented and turned into a great little creature. Q loved it!

Because there were four of us, we were able to use two of our vouchers ($40 for $80 worth of food…yay!). We started with shrimp tempura which was really good. The batter was light and crispy and it was a great way to begin our feast of sushi.

Some of the nigiri sushi that we sampled was the salmon, tuna, scallops and unagi. All were very fresh and tasted great. We also had many rolls – spicy salmon, california, dynamite and yam tempura. All of them were so delicious. We definitely got a lot for our money and Q had a lot of california rolls to take home for lunch the next day.

Service is huge for me and I was very pleased that it was amazing. Our server checked on us often and made sure we always had our drinks refilled.

We really enjoyed our meal at Fujiyama and look forward to our next visit.

nutella ice cream with almonds

April 11, 2011 By Fareen 3 Comments

As much as I enjoy chocolate, I can’t eat plain old chocolate ice cream. I need add-ins, like roasted nuts or coffee or chocolate chips. The combination of this chocolate ice cream with nutella (yum!) and roasted almonds is divine. This is an easy recipe, perfect for those nervous about making ice cream with eggs, like me. I am determined to try that one of these days, but for now, the simplicity of this creamy concoction will do just fine. This is the perfect dessert to end a meal, even my parents agree.

Nutella Ice Cream with Almonds

3 cups whipping cream
1 300 mL can sweetened condensed milk
4 TB cocoa
4 TB nutella
1 cup roasted almonds, coarsely chopped

Whip together the first four ingredients until everything is well incorporated. Place in the chilled canister and follow the directions of your ice cream machine. 5 minutes before your ice cream is ready, add in the roasted almonds. Chill for a couple of hours and enjoy every heavenly bite.

cocoa spiced pecans

April 5, 2011 By Fareen Leave a Comment

These nuts just came out of the oven and I can’t stop eating them! Not sure there will be any left by the time hubby gets home. I wanted a snack but was craving so many things – chocolate, sweet, salty – I just couldn’t decide what I felt like. I remembered a bag of pecans I had sitting in the pantry and figured it would be the perfect vehicle for all these flavours. This didn’t take long to make and the baked nuts made the house smell delicious. I figured I would post this right away so I don’t forget what I added. Next time I’ll definitely be making a bigger batch, I just can’t stop eating them. Enjoy!

Cocoa Spiced Pecans

1 cup pecans
1 TB butter, melted
2 TB brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp cocoa
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Place the pecans on a baking sheet and bake just until you smell the pecans. Combine all the other ingredients and toss with the baked nuts. Place the nuts back on the baking sheet and bake for another 10 minutes. Let the pecans cool for a few minutes before you devour them.

five guys burgers

April 2, 2011 By Fareen Leave a Comment

I had been hearing about Five Guys Burgers for a while now. People raved about how great these made-to-order burgers were, how big they were and all the toppings they had. I just had to go try it for myself. I stopped in a couple weeks ago and picked up some burgers to take home for dinner. I had expected a line but was happy to learn that I just missed the rush. Five Guys is located in Deerfoot Meadows, just across from Fat Burger.

The fresh burgers came in two sizes – small and regular. Luckily I did my research and avoided the regular sized hamburger which is made with two beef patties. The little hamburger was the perfect size, especially when all the toppings were added. The burgers were great and we will definitely be going back!

All toppings are free and there are many to choose from: mayo, relish, onions, lettuce, pickles, tomatoes, grilled onions, grilled mushrooms, ketchup, mustard, jalapeno peppers, green peppers, steak sauce, bbq sauce and hot sauce. I especially liked the grilled onions and mushrooms.

The fries came in regular or cajun and you can expect a lot! No matter what size you order, they toss another scoop of fries into the bag. You are left with lots to share.

The one thing that people should be aware of are the open boxes of peanuts around the restaurant. As much as I love nuts, growing up with family members with nut allergies makes me very uneasy having nuts so openly available.