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Canadians are notorious for being overly polite.
Last night, for example, I was standing on the train platform with a colleague. She was blocking a woman who was trying to walk by. The woman loudly cleared her throat and said 'excuse me'.
My colleague jumped out of the way.
I apologized . . . even though I was never in the way at all.
We Canadians apologize for EVERYTHING it seems.
The experience made me think of this cartoon.
I was thinking today about spending my 50th birthday in Italy back in 2014. These shots are from the week we relaxed at a wonderful vacation rental in Montisi.
I'll admit that we haven't been doing a ton of cooking lately. Life has just been too busy with our opposite work schedules.
Paul and I generally see one another two or three nights a week.When he or I are home in the evening alone we generally just grab something from the freezer to heat up . . . or - perish the thought - fast food. THAT is stopping!
Last Thursday our schedules aligned so we decided to have this salmon for dinner. We've made similar salmon recipes before but none have had the flavour of this recipe - I think it comes from cooking the salmon on the actual marinade.
Don't let the long ingredient list throw you off - this was wonderful!!!!
Sesame Ginger Salmon
1/4 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 tablespoon sesame seeds
4 green onions, thinly sliced
4 (5-ounce) salmon filets
For the Honey Ginger Glaze:
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon Sriracha, or more, to taste
1/2 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds
To make the glaze, whisk together honey, soy sauce, sesame oil, Sriracha, ginger and sesame seeds in a small bowl; set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together olive oil, soy sauce, rice vinegar, sesame oil, brown sugar, garlic, ginger, sesame seeds and green onions.
In a gallon size Ziploc bag or large bowl, combine ginger marinade and salmon filets; marinate for at least 30 minutes to overnight, turning the bag occasionally.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Lightly coat a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick spray.
Place salmon filets along with the marinade onto prepared baking dish and bake until the fish flakes easily with a fork, about 20 minutes.
Serve salmon immediately with honey ginger glaze.
The other day I realized I was hoarding English Muffins in the freezer. Don't ask. I have no idea why but I had 7 or 8 packages in there. As I searched the internet for recipes I might try which would use up some of the excess supply I came upon this one. It served a dual purpose as it used up 8 eggs . . . there were lots of eggs from our CSA deliveries needing to be used up as well.
It seemed as if the stars aligned.
I've made plenty of recipes like this before - you prepare the casserole the night before. Bake it the next morning and sit back and listen to people ohhhh and ahhhh thinking you've been busy in the kitchen for weeks. The one thing this version had going for it was the presentation - because of the layered English Muffins this version of the classic breakfast casserole looked fabulous.
Tasted amazing as well . . . in short, a hit.
English Muffin & Ham Breakfast Strata
Cooking Spray
English Muffins
1/2 lb. sliced ham, or Canadian bacon, cut into halves
8 eggs
2 egg whites
2 cups milk
1/2 cup sour cream
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, shredded
2 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
Prepare 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray; set aside. In dish, alternately arrange muffin halves and meat, overlapping slightly.
Sprinkle with cheddar and Parmesan cheeses. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, egg whites, milk, sour cream and pepper until combined. Pour over muffin, ham and cheese layers. Cover entire dish tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 2 hours and up to overnight.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bake strata, uncovered, until puffed and set in the center, approximately 60-80 minutes. If strata begins to brown before puffing up, cover loosely with foil to prevent burning. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting and serving.
A friend of ours is traveling to California later this week and staying in the area we visited last month. She was asking for recommendations of places to see and do. Naturally I'm heading to the central coast region of California for this week's travel Tuesday post.
I took Friday afternoon off of work to get everything ready. By 2:30 the food was all prepped, the table set, and so I lay down for a much needed nap.
Once our guests arrived for our annual St. Patrick's Day dinner we started off we started off with drinks and appetizers in the family room. Paul and I had a pear martini. For the apps we had mini double stuffed potatoes and Irish Blue Cheese Shortbread coins.
After nibbling, sipping, chatting, and lots of laughing we moved into the dining room for the main course.
Glazed corned beef, roasted carrots with honey and pistachios, colcannon.
After dinner it was back into the family room for dessert - an Irish Apple Tart with shortbread crust and crumble.
All in all a perfect evening - great food, drink, and company.
We are having our usual St. Patrick's Day feast this evening.
Our menu rarely changes from year to year although I do play with appetizers and dessert. Here is this year's feast:
If I have time I'll try to find an interesting sounding martini for the cocktail hour. :-)
Hope you have a great day.
It's pi day - the perfect day for math types. If you're not a math type pretend you're hearing pie day and eat a piece of your favourite pie!!!
We were walloped with a late spring snow (although not nearly as badly as was predicted). Since it is sort of a crappy day I've decided we need a pizza day at the office.
Pizza is close to pie . . . isn't it?
You'd never know it my my failure to proofread properly here but bad grammar really, really, really annoys me!
I have not been cooking much at all since we've come home from California. Work has been obnoxiously busy so there has not been a ton of time to putter in the kitchen. Of course this means a lot of meals grabbed on the fly - you know what that means . . . likely why I could not do up my pants last Friday. LOL
Anyway, I think I have digressed.
I made these stuffed shells a few weeks ago. They were amazing! Normally stuffed shells are made with a cheese stuffing - these ones will awake your inner caveman with the inclusion of sausage. Throw in some spinach and cheese and you have an amazing meal.
It is a simple recipe to follow - speaking of simple, did I say I found it on the Simply Recipe blog? My only caution - it makes a lot! We had a meal, a second meal, sent some home with friends, and then froze the rest. Not a problem when it tasted this great but if you weren't prepared to feed an army you might want to consider halving the recipe.
Sausage and Ricotta Stuffed Shells
1 12-ounce package jumbo pasta shells
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 cup finely chopped yellow onion
1 pound sweet Italian sausage, casings removed
1 Tbsp minced garlic
1 large egg<
16-ounces ricotta cheese
10-ounces chopped frozen spinach, thawed, squeezed dry, chopped further (or 10 ounces chopped fresh spinach)
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 Tbsp chopped fresh basil or 1 teaspoon dried basil
1/4 cup unseasoned bread crumbs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 28-ounce can tomatoes with herbs, including the liquid, tomatoes broken up (or your favorite tomato or pasta sauce)
Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil (1 teaspoon salt per quart of water). Cook the pasta shells according to the instructions on the package. Drain, rinse in cold water, and set aside.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet on medium high heat. Add the onions and cook until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the sausage to the pan, breaking up the sausage into smaller bits. Cook sausage until cooked through, and no pink remains, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds to a minute more. Remove pan from heat.
Beat the egg lightly in a large bowl. Mix in the ricotta, chopped spinach, 1/2 cup of the Parmesan cheese, basil, bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and sausage mixture. Fill each cooked pasta shell with some of the ricotta, spinach, sausage mixture.
Spread 1/2 cup chopped canned tomatoes over the bottom of each of the baking dishes. Arrange the stuffed pasta shells in the dishes. Spread the remaining tomatoes over the top of the pasta shells.
At this point you can make ahead, to freeze (up to four months) or refrigerate before cooking. (If freezing, cover with foil, then wrap with plastic wrap.)
Heat oven to 375°F. Cover the pans with foil and bake for 30 minutes, until hot and bubbling. Remove foil and sprinkle with remaining Parmesan cheese, bake uncovered for 10 more minutes.