A Life, Lived

Pan-Seared Artichokes with Sherry Vinegar and Thyme

The real hit of Easter dinner was these artichokes. I do not cook artichokes very often because I've never really learned how to cook them properly. After making these you can bet I shall be adding them to the menu more often.

One of the challenges with artichokes if knowing how to clean them. This video by Mark Bittman was helpful in this area! You might be tempted to not trim as aggressively as you should because that pile of castoff artichoke pieces keeps getting larger. Don't worry - if you DON'T trim agressively you'll leave on pieces that will be tough and thorny rendering the finished product inedible.

The folks ay Fine Cooking wrote that these artichokes are a versatile side dish for grilled, roasted, or braised chicken, lamb, or beef—or even duck breasts or veal chops. Yup, they were great with the lamb but I bet they'd be just fine on their own or as a part of a tapas plater!

Pan-Seared Artichokes with Sherry Vinegar and Thyme

6 large artichokes
4 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil 
3 Tbs. sherry vinegar
3 medium cloves garlic, peeled and cut in half lengthwise
1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest (from 1 medium lemon)
1/2 tsp. kosher salt; more as needed
1/8 tsp. freshly ground black pepper; more as needed
1 tsp. chopped fresh thyme

Prepare the artichoke hearts using my simple method.

Once the hearts have been prepared, cut each half into two wedges and toss them with 1 Tbs. olive oil in a large bowl. Combine the vinegar with 1/4 cup water in a small dish. Set aside.

Heat the remaining 3 Tbs. olive oil and garlic in a 10-inch straight-sided sauté pan over medium-high heat and cook, stirring, until the garlic just starts to turn golden, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove the garlic with a slotted spoon and discard. Add the artichokes to the pan (they may splatter at first) and arrange them with one cut side down. Cook until nicely browned, 3 to 5 minutes. Turn and cook the other cut side until nicely browned, about 3 minutes more. Turn the artichokes on their curved side. Scatter the lemon zest on the artichokes and season with the salt and pepper.

Reduce the heat to low, add the vinegar and water, cover, and simmer until the liquid has reduced to about 1 Tbs. and the artichokes are tender when pierced with a skewer, about 5 minutes. (If the artichokes are still a bit undercooked after the liquid has reduced, turn off the heat and let them sit, covered, for a few more minutes until they reach the desired doneness.)

Remove the pan from the heat, scatter the thyme on the artichokes and stir well. Season to taste with more salt and pepper. Serve immediately, or let rest, uncovered, and serve slightly warm.

Travel Tuesdays - Florence

It was a happy thing on Saturday - Paul went to the gym and I was able to do some trip planning. I've done very little and we leave in a month! ARGH

One of the things that I did was to book a walking tour of Florence. We had done a similar tour on our first visit to the city back in 2005 - here are some of those pics (the quality isn't great as I was using an old kodak point and shoot camera back then - can't wait to try some similar pics with my new equipment). . .

Easter Fun

Every year Paul and I exchange Easter cards -we also each get a card from the cats.

We laughed when we opened our cards this year ...

With the proliferation of cards out there I wonder what the odds of this are?

The Canton Cooler

It's funny how a new beverage can 'enter our lives'.

In this case I was chatting with a friend about a ginger liqueur that I wanted to buy for Paul for Easter. During the conversation I was reminded that I already had some ginger liqueur. When I got home I found the bottle at the back of the shelf of bottles and immediately started looking for a recipe to try.

We made this for Good Friday and loved it.

We mad it for our Easter Sunday Easter Basket Hunt and loved it even more.

 

The Canton Cooler

5 - 6 fresh raspberries
sprig fresh rosemary
1 1/2 oz Domaine de Canton
1/2 oz dark rum
1 oz fresh lime juice
1 oz simple syrup

Muddle raspberries and rosemary with simple syrup in a cocktail shaker. Add remaining ingredients. Fill shaker with ice. Shake and strain into a martini glass.

Photo Hunt - Ink

This week's Photo Hunt theme is 'ink'.

The 'book of the dead' in the Museo Egizio in Turin, Italy was made with an incredible array of colourful inks . . .

 

Dance, Love, Sing, Live

Have a great Friday!!!!

Easter Sunday Eats!

After the Good Friday food fest we took things easy on Saturday.

Thank goodness because Easter Sunday was OUT.OF.CONTROL.

We followed the same pattern as on Friday - a big breakfast, little for lunch, and a feast for dinner.

Fruit, hot cross buns, champagne and OJ, cranberry orange scones and for the main deal . . .

Eggs Benedict made with smoked turkey, steamed asparagus (green and white) and rosti potatoes.

Any wonder why we skipped lunch?

:-)

Our tradition on Easter Sunday is a hunt. We generally spend 30 minutes racing through the house . . . inside and outside . . . up and down . . . searching for the elusive clues that lead to a big basket of treats. This year 'someone' i.e. NOT me - found euro bills along with the clues.

With all of that exercise we needed food and drink!

I made the same drink as on Friday (we liked it THAT much). We nibbled on cheese and crackers, deviled eggs, Polish sausage, lamb 'lollipops' with tzatziki sauce, and mom's artichoke hummus.

The hunt was a blast . . .

The last clue for mom and Paul is always attached to the cats (well, their collar anyways). Unfortunately by the time Paul found Dante (asleep on my pillow) Dante had lost the clue.

Paul had to hunt through the house looking for the wee slip of paper telling him where the basket was. Happily he found it in the end.

A few hours later, after our hearts had recovered from the exercise, we were ready for dinner.

Lack of lamb with a citrus herb crust.

The best artichokes I have EVER made!

Potato gratin with gruyere cheese.

I also had roasted asparagus with lemon oil, mom made her famous carrot salad, and we had egg bread with the traditional butter lamb.

For dessert we figured we'd need something light so I made a lemon panna cotta withblueberry and lemon sauce.

Good Friday Eats!

This past weekend was more than a bit of a food fest!

It started with breakfast on Good Friday.

Champagne and OJ, hot cross buns, french toast (made from the last of the Christmas pannetone), bacon, and fruit.

We skipped lunch!

Mom was coming by for dinner. We planned a Polish feast in honour of Paul's heritage.

We started off with our new favourite cocktail - a ginger raspberry concoction.

Then we moved into the dining room for dinner:

We had three types of pierogies that we had bought at the Polish Market in Buffalo, salad, and Bigos - a Polish hunter's stew. I served warm rye bread with the stew. I know that Good Friday is supposed to be a non-meat day . . .opps. . . the stew had 6 types of pork in it.

MMMMMM

After dinner we sat in the family room for dessert. Mom had made a Polish cake. A buttery cake topped with cherries.

If this is what Polish food tastes like I think I need to book a trip to Poland!

Travel Tuesdays . . . Our Fall Vacation Spot

I just booked our hotel for our fall vacation. Guess where?

Yes, 5 nights in San Francisco (I bet that last pic tipped you off . . .) before we head to Sonoma for a week in the Russian River Valley.

Stuffed Cabbage Casserole

Our first few CSA shipments had a lot of cabbage! I decided to finish it off by making one of those cabbage roll casseroles that people too lazy to make real cabbage rolls make. It has all of the taste of cabbage rolls without the hours in the kitchen.

This version was on the Skinnytaste blog. She had modified the recipe from another of my favourite food blogs - Kalyn's Kitchen.

This is comfort food at its best! People will not believe you if you tell them they are only about 250 calories per serving. . . just keep that wee secret to yourself.

You'll have this in the oven in about 40 minutes - then be prepared for tantalizing scents wafting through the house while it bakes.

Stuffed cabbage doesn't normally feature cheese but in my world a casserole is not a casserole without a bubbly layer of cheese on the top! The only other change that I made was to use ground turket instead of ground beef.

Stuffed Cabbage Casserole

2 tsp olive oil, divided
1 lb. 95% lean ground beef
1 large onion, chopped fine
1 tbsp finely minced garlic
1/2 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp sweet Hungarian Paprika
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
1 1/2 heads green cabbage, coarsely chopped
1 can (14.5 oz.) petite dice tomatoes with juice
1 can (15 oz.) tomato sauce
1/4 cup water
2 cups cooked brown rice
2 cups low-fat mozzarella cheese (Sargento)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a large glass casserole dish with non-stick spray. (My dish was 13" x 10")

Heat a large frying pan on medium heat; add ground beef and cook until it's browned and cooked through, breaking it apart as it cooks. Remove ground beef and set aside.

In the same pan, add 1 tsp olive oil, chopped onion and cook over medium heat until the onion is translucent and starting to brown, about 5 minutes. Add the minced garlic, dried thyme, and paprika and cook about 2 minutes more. Then add the diced tomatoes with juice, tomato sauce, and ground beef. Add water to the pan. Simmer until it's hot and slightly thickened, about 15-20 minutes.

While it simmers, cut cabbage in half, cut out the core, and remove any wilted outer leaves; chop the cabbage coarsely into 1 inch pieces.

Heat remaining olive oil in a large frying pan or dutch oven; add the cabbage and cook over medium-high heat until the cabbage is wilted and about half cooked, turning it over several times so it all wilts and cooks. Season with salt and fresh-ground black pepper.

When the meat and tomato sauce mixture has cooked and thickened a bit, stir in the 2 cups of cooked rice and gently combine.

Spray casserole dish with non-stick spray and the layer half the cabbage, half the meat mixture, remaining cabbage, and remaining meat mixture. Cover tightly with foil and bake 40 minutes, or until the mixture is just starting to bubble on the edges.

Remove foil and sprinkle on cheese (if using.) Bake uncovered an additional 20 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and starting to slightly brown. Serve hot.