Hot and Honeyed Sweet Potato Soup with Lime

4 cups (2 L) water (Hey - I know that doesn't quite add up, but that's what the recipe says). I used 6 cups/1.5L water
2 lbs. (1 kg) sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed. I used Yams.
1 jalapeño pepper
juice and grated zest of 1 lime. I used 4 key limes.
1/4 cup (75ml) honey
1 teaspoon (5ml) curry powder
salt and pepper top taste (I know, it should be "to" not top - but that's what the recipe said. Poor editing on the Journal's part, that's for sure...). Actually, I forgot to add these!
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
sour cream, salsa, extra cilantro and lime wedges


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Do you want to turn this:

into this?

I bet you do. That's what I did tonight.

This recipe was obtained from the Edmonton Journal food/bistro section about 7.5 years ago. It was on page 2, and on page 1, there's an article on Emeril, Jamie Oliver and Nigella Lawson with their photos. Have you ever watched Nigella's shows? The camera guy always, always pans in to her chest. No, no, I'm not complaining, as she has a very nice chest. She's very chesty. In fact, I quite like it. What's not to like? But you have to know your audience, don't you? How many guys actually watch her show? Besides me?

Hmm. What was I writing about? Chesty soup? Is there such a thing? Don't tell him...

Coconut Ginger Chocolate Brownies

1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup cocoa powder, sifted
2 eggs
1 cup white sugar
3/4 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 chocolate chips
2 tablespoon diced crystallized ginger
1/2 cup dried, unsweetened shredded coconut

***

Wow. Have you ever been kicked in the mouth with pure delicious flavour before? Well, it tastes like these brownies. If you like chocolate and ginger, then this is right up your alley.

I cooked this up on Saturday afternoon, and had them warm and fresh from the oven. It indeed was chocolatey-ginger goodness. Unf*cking believable is what these were...

I bought a Thai cookbook about 6 or 7 years ago (Honestly, who doesn't love Thai??? Actually, I do know someone - I think my cousin's wife doesn't like Thai food). It's from an American chef - Nathan Hyam, and this recipe was contained therein. He tends to westernize some of the Thai recipes, but it's still a great resource. I have to admit, this cookbook is my favorite, and I've made a handful of desserts and a few main courses. All but two have worked out. I'll see if I can throw together something else from his book soon.

Even before I took my first bite, I think that maybe a suitable substitute for the ginger might be dried cranberries. (Seriously? Yes, Niki, SERIOUSLY). All my little sous-chefs know that I like cranberries, and you can see that I've cooked with them before. I do think the chocolate flavours would go along swimmingly with the cranberries. When I try it I'll let you know.

Lumberjack Superior Lager - Hudson's

Lumberjack Superior Lager - 1 pint for $5.95 CAD

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"It's our golden yellow, medium-bodied lager with a mild, sweet malty flavour and just a hint of hop."

I met up with an ex-coworker a couple of nights ago to pick up some Intermediate Financial Accounting texts (yawn!) I had lent to him a few months ago. Hopefully they'll help me out with all that CASB...

Anyway, the beer was pretty good. Not just because it was free, but it was flavourful. Cool, with just a little bit of sweetness. I'd recommend it to anyone....

French Lentil Soup

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
2 cups chopped onions
1 cup chopped celery stalks plus chopped celery leaves for garnish
1 cup chopped carrots
2 garlic cloves, chopped
4 cups (or more) vegetable broth
1 1/4 cups lentils, rinsed and drained
l 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes in juice
Balsamic vinegar

***

Like I've mentioned before, I wasn't really a soup kinda guy. Still not. But my friend's wife (yes, she's a redheaded vegetarian) made some lentil soup for us one evening a few years ago. I have to admit, it did tickle my fancy.

The recipe above calls for some blender/food processor action. Makes it smooth like Camel cigarettes...

It looks like split pea soup. I really hated that stuff when I was a young lad... It's probably split pea soup that turned me off soup for 20 years. Disgusting.

Insalate - Giuggiolosa

Mixed Greens
Cambozola
Roasted Red Peppers
Black Olives
Pinenuts
Honey
Extra-virgin Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar

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Well, I obtained this recipe from a restaurant in (mid-town?) Toronto a few years ago. I had located their menu online, printed it off and added it to my recipe/menu collection.

Unfortunately, menus don't always (actually, rarely) explain how they prepare their dishes in terms of proportions/measurements of their ingredients, so I just played around with it. You guys (my little 'sous chefs') will just have to experiment and find the right mix for yourselves.

Here's the photo:

The cambozola, pinenuts, olives all end up on the bottom, and the red peppers stuck together a little too much. Also, the olives were WAY too strong (Unico brand) - in fact, their taste was just too overpowering. I had to pull them out after my first serving of salad. I don't know if I picked the wrong olives or what - but it just didn't compare to the restaurant's dish. On the positive side of the ledger, I did manage to get my proportion of the dressing correct - honey, balsamic vinegar and olive oil - this left me pleased.

No need to worry - I didn't let the salad sit in the dressing while I prepared the other dish (risotto - see below). I added the dressing just before dinner. No soggy salad for my team. Without a doubt, this was the TSN turning point of the meal...


Final Score:
Chef Jeremiah 1
Soggy Salad 0

Risotto with Mozzarella and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

5 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1/3 cup oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 cups Arborio rice
1 cup shredded fresh mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup finely chopped fresh basil, plus whole leaves for garnish
Salt and freshly ground pepper

***

I found this recipe in one of my mom's cookbooks that I was looking through yesterday, trying to figure out how to cook the acorn squash. I haven't had risotto for quite some time - probably over a year, so it was about time to give it another chance.

This dish was pretty good, although I should have chopped the basil a little more than I had. It was fairly tasty with the sun-dried tomatoes and all that cheese.

Here it is in the pan:

It certainly doesn't look very beautiful, does it? Maybe I should work a little more on the food's presentation?

Acorn Squash & Apple Soup

2 medium acorn squash, seeded & halved
3 cups degreased chicken stock or canned
2 tart green apples, cored, seeded & chopped (I used Granny Smith)
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 cup unsweetened apple juice
2 teaspoon fresh ginger root, peeled & grated
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
pepper

***

I have Chef Martin from Regina to thank for this recipe, bless his little french heart. Now, his recipes weren't always the best - often the directions would omit how to cook a certain ingredient, or even leaving out when to add a certain ingredient (both problems arose here), but he did have some pretty good ideas.

Now, I'm not much of a soup guy either. I've met tons of people who just love soups, but it's never been my thing. A few close friends just rave and rave about soups, so I decided to see what I've been missing out on....

Now this soup is nothing special. in fact, it was probably ready in about 1.5 hours total (YES, YES - I know the soup will be better tomorrow). Pretty simple and quick - with Mum's food processor that is. I'd hate to use a blender to get all this pureed. Taste was pretty tame (I added in some sour cream after a few spoonfuls), nothing fancy. The texture was, ummm... interesting. It was indeed like apple sauce. Not that I have a problem with apple sauce, but that's strictly reserved for pork chop night, at least in my world...

Net result? A little too thick for my liking. I'd rate it below the sweet potato soup that I sometimes make (another pureed soup).

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Chef Jeremiah must send his props to both his Momma and MJC for their helpful guidance today.

(Chef's Update: I had the soup for lunch on Saturday, just about 24 hours after I had originally cooked the soup. Wow. Much, much more flavourful than I had expected. I think that ginger and lemon juice finally made an appearance. Very tasty, but still pretty thick.)

Instant Espresso - Nescafé

"American Style Espresso"
1.5 teaspoon of Instant Espresso
175 ml hot water

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Some people may think that instant coffee certainly isn't worth writing (or blogging) about, but I disagree. I have to admit, though, that this stuff should be left in the cupboard for one of those cold, windy days where you just don't want to venture outside to obtain your caffeine fix.

My espresso wasn't bad.... would have been better if there was any biscotti left over!

Cranberry Pistachio Biscotti

1 1/3 cup dried cranberries
2 1/2 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup shelled salted natural pistachios (not dyed red)
1 large egg beaten with 1 teaspoon water, for egg wash

***

Well, this isn't the first time I've baked biscotti. No, it doesn't mean "San Diego" in Italian, it means "to cook twice". (If I figured out how to write commentary for photos, I would have before, after 1st bake, and final photos of the biscotti). I've baked biscotti about 3 or 4 times previous to this attempt (the other sample being "Double Chocolate-Walnut Biscotti").

But I have to admit, that this time was a bit different. The dough was much more wet than it had been in the past. This is most like cause by the cranberries, as you soak them in boiling water and dry them off before adding them to the dough. Unfortunately, I had soaked the cranberries for longer than recommended, and did not dry them off as required. Thus I had some pretty sticky dough. I took some motherly advice and added some more flour, but it still didn't have the same "feel" to it. Darn it!

I kneaded the dough and made the two loaves as required. Added egg wash and baked, cut and baked them again. Here you can see the results:

Tasty! It turns out my worry for the wet dough was unfounded. The biscotti was a success!!

Cuban Sandwich

8 teaspoons mayonnaise
4 Portuguese rolls ( I think I used Italian rolls - tough to find Portuguese rolls)
4 teaspoons yellow ballpark mustard
1/4 pound Black Forest ham
1/2 pound cold Roast Pork Loin (I used Cuban Roast Pork Tenderloin, cooked earlier)
12 thin lengthwise slices dill pickles
6 oz thinly sliced Swiss cheese
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

Well, that's for the sandwiches themselves. I had cooked the pork tenderloin earlier (rubbed with garlic, salt and oregano and marinated in orange juice, lime juice and olive oil for 2 hours).

Here is some photographic evidence: