fionn maccool'sToday is St. Patrick's Day, and I want to talk about a really great dish that I have at Fionn MacCool's in Kitchener. They have a live band for St. Pat's and a great environment!
My favourite dish there is the Flatiron Steak Beet Salad. The salad is full of fresh mixed greens, grape tomatoes, onions, peppers. A little bit like a greek salad, but then it has two colours of cooked beets, an orange type and the traditional red-purple beets. It is topped with an oil and vinegar type dressing, and goat cheese feta. Who knew goat cheese was soooo delicious? Love it on so many things these days.
The salad is topped with strips of grilled flatiron steak, cooked medium rare, with spicy seasoning. Really fantastic!!!
We haven't tried this at home yet. Beets have never been cooked in this house, which is too bad, since I think they are really great. I will keep working on Chef Neil whenever I order this, and one day he might break down and cook it.
Sunday, 17 March 2013
Saturday, 16 March 2013
Johann's Roasted Potatoes
So glad our good friend Johann loves to cook too! We have had lots of fantastic meals at Johann and Denise's house. The guys like to try out different recipes, and the girls like to hang out and enjoy the great food. Today we had Flintstones steaks. Well really they were ENORMOUS t-bones grilled to perfection, but I swear I have never seen such a big steak since the Flintstones were on TV.
The steaks were served with Greek salad, roasted potatoes, grilled mushrooms and peppers. Today's recipe is for the roasted potatoes. Super easy, and taste so great Neil makes them regularly.
Select mini white potatoes. Put a generous splash of oil in a casserole dish. Roll the potatoes in the oil to lightly coat them. Sprinkle with seasoned salt and cilantro. Another great option is to use rosemary instead of the cilantro. Roast at 350 for about 40-45 min.
The steaks were served with Greek salad, roasted potatoes, grilled mushrooms and peppers. Today's recipe is for the roasted potatoes. Super easy, and taste so great Neil makes them regularly.
Select mini white potatoes. Put a generous splash of oil in a casserole dish. Roll the potatoes in the oil to lightly coat them. Sprinkle with seasoned salt and cilantro. Another great option is to use rosemary instead of the cilantro. Roast at 350 for about 40-45 min.
Wednesday, 13 March 2013
Spicy Mediterranean Thin Crust Pizza
I am a big fan of homemade pizza. There are so many options for toppings that there is something for everyone. This one is pretty spicy, not for those who don't love a bit of zing!
Neil buys fresh pizza dough at an Italian supermarket. It is available in a lot of local supermarkets that have instore bakeries, but is often sold frozen. Frozen dough is still workable, but needs to be bought ahead of time so that you have time to thaw it. Best bet is to place it in a bowl covered with a damp cloth, and allow it to rise before stretching out.
For the past several years, we have been using pizza stones from the Pampered Chef. For a thin crust pizza the stone is a definite advantage, as the surface keeps the dough from shrinking away from the edges before it is cooked. Stretch out the dough on the stone, and bake for 3-5 minutes maximum, just until the top has lightly dried. Remove from the oven, flip the dough over, and you will not only have the perfect crust to place your toppings on, you will never have a soggy bottomed pizza.
Pizza Recipe
Makes 2 pizzas for 4 hungry people.
Preheat oven to 375.
1 bag pizza dough
1 pkg fresh basil
Maestro Calabrese hot salami, THINLY sliced
1/4 medium green pepper
1/4 medium red pepper
8-9 sundried tomato slices in oil (cut in thin strips)
1 small plum tomato, very thinly sliced
6-8 mushrooms, thinly sliced
14-16 medium Kalamato black olives, halved lengthwise
grated mozzarella cheese, spread thinly
grated asiago cheese, spread thinly
Clubhouse Cajun spice
homemade tomato sauce - spread thin on both crusts
Apply flour lightly to 2 pizza stones. Divide pizza dough into 2 balls and flatten each, then roll directly onto stones. Add Cajun spice to tomato sauce in fry pan, and cook gently to reduce. Prep vegetables. Thinly spread tomato sauce on prebaked dough. Sprinkle basil and then spread mushroom slices over pizza, followed by salami slices, both peppers, and more basil. Spread a small amount of mozzarella, followed by sundried tomatoes, then more mozzarella. Add olives, and then asiago cheese. Bake at 375 for 5-10 minutes, the change temperature to 400 until crust is lightly browned.
Alternatives: We have used flatbread from the supermarket, and even Naan as a crust. The fresh pizza dough is best, but making pizza on the premade alternatives is quick and easy.
We use our homemade tomato sauce in all of our recipes, but store bought sauce will also work. Our sauce is thin, and contains only tomatoes, onions and garlic. Read the ingredients when selecting your sauce, and stick to the more natural ones for best results.
Neil buys fresh pizza dough at an Italian supermarket. It is available in a lot of local supermarkets that have instore bakeries, but is often sold frozen. Frozen dough is still workable, but needs to be bought ahead of time so that you have time to thaw it. Best bet is to place it in a bowl covered with a damp cloth, and allow it to rise before stretching out.
For the past several years, we have been using pizza stones from the Pampered Chef. For a thin crust pizza the stone is a definite advantage, as the surface keeps the dough from shrinking away from the edges before it is cooked. Stretch out the dough on the stone, and bake for 3-5 minutes maximum, just until the top has lightly dried. Remove from the oven, flip the dough over, and you will not only have the perfect crust to place your toppings on, you will never have a soggy bottomed pizza.
Pizza Recipe
Makes 2 pizzas for 4 hungry people.
Preheat oven to 375.
1 bag pizza dough
1 pkg fresh basil
Maestro Calabrese hot salami, THINLY sliced
1/4 medium green pepper
1/4 medium red pepper
8-9 sundried tomato slices in oil (cut in thin strips)
1 small plum tomato, very thinly sliced
6-8 mushrooms, thinly sliced
14-16 medium Kalamato black olives, halved lengthwise
grated mozzarella cheese, spread thinly
grated asiago cheese, spread thinly
Clubhouse Cajun spice
homemade tomato sauce - spread thin on both crusts
Apply flour lightly to 2 pizza stones. Divide pizza dough into 2 balls and flatten each, then roll directly onto stones. Add Cajun spice to tomato sauce in fry pan, and cook gently to reduce. Prep vegetables. Thinly spread tomato sauce on prebaked dough. Sprinkle basil and then spread mushroom slices over pizza, followed by salami slices, both peppers, and more basil. Spread a small amount of mozzarella, followed by sundried tomatoes, then more mozzarella. Add olives, and then asiago cheese. Bake at 375 for 5-10 minutes, the change temperature to 400 until crust is lightly browned.
Alternatives: We have used flatbread from the supermarket, and even Naan as a crust. The fresh pizza dough is best, but making pizza on the premade alternatives is quick and easy.
We use our homemade tomato sauce in all of our recipes, but store bought sauce will also work. Our sauce is thin, and contains only tomatoes, onions and garlic. Read the ingredients when selecting your sauce, and stick to the more natural ones for best results.
Tuesday, 12 March 2013
Proscuitto Wrapped Asparagus
We had a fantastic meal at Entertaining Elements in Kitchener, with my sister Lori, and Clarence. Dinner with a Chef features a meal cooked by a local chef. The 12 guests sit around the large cooking island, so we can all chat and watch the chef prepare our meal. Tonight's meal had mussels as the appetizer. Lori didn't think she was a fan, but bravely tried them, and enjoyed them. The key to mussels is truly the broth, and this one was excellent. The rest of the meal consisted of salad, Chateaubriand and asparagus wrapped in proscuitto.
I was not familiar with Chateaubriand, but knew it was beef tenderloin which is one of my favourites. Turns out it is a very thick cut of beef tenderloin, and it was amazing. This was not the item that Neil chose to try at home, but I will be suggesting that in the near future.
The item that was chosen from this meal to try at home was the asparagus wrapped in proscuitto. This is very easy, and very tasty.
When shopping for this dish, select the thinner stalks of asparagus. Group stalks of asparagus into bundles of about 8 pieces (serving for one). Wrap a piece of proscuitto around the center of the bundle. Place bundles on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Prosciutto will be crispy and asparagus will be tender but not overcooked.
Of course Neil did an adaptation to this recipe, by taking the remainder of the proscuitto and placing the strips across the lengths of asparagus sending all that flavour down into the asparagus as it cooked. The result is crispy proscuitto, tender asparagus, and superb flavour.
I was not familiar with Chateaubriand, but knew it was beef tenderloin which is one of my favourites. Turns out it is a very thick cut of beef tenderloin, and it was amazing. This was not the item that Neil chose to try at home, but I will be suggesting that in the near future.
The item that was chosen from this meal to try at home was the asparagus wrapped in proscuitto. This is very easy, and very tasty.
When shopping for this dish, select the thinner stalks of asparagus. Group stalks of asparagus into bundles of about 8 pieces (serving for one). Wrap a piece of proscuitto around the center of the bundle. Place bundles on a baking sheet and bake at 350 for 20 minutes. Prosciutto will be crispy and asparagus will be tender but not overcooked.
Of course Neil did an adaptation to this recipe, by taking the remainder of the proscuitto and placing the strips across the lengths of asparagus sending all that flavour down into the asparagus as it cooked. The result is crispy proscuitto, tender asparagus, and superb flavour.
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