Red Snapper

Hello Guys!! I know I have been away for a while, but I am back! Although it felt like an eternity, I am finally moved to my new place and I have to say I love my new kitchen, it has lots of natural light which will be amazing for my food pictures!! Yay! I wanted to share with you one of the other dishes I learnt to cook at Calphalon. This Seared Red Snapper recipe with olive & capers tapenade is just amazing!! You have to try this one!!

Red Snapper with Tapenade

Ingredients:

4 fillets of red snapper
1/2 cup black sun-dried olives, pitted and roughly chopped
2 tbs capers
4 tbsp. flat-leaf parsley, chopped
4 tbsp. basil leaves, chopped
2 tsp. finely grated lemon zest
4 tsp. lemon juice
1 tsp. black pepper
4 tbsp. olive oil

Directions:

Prepare a rustic chop of olives with caper berries, herbs , zest, lemon juice, and pepper. Add oil in stream until incorporated into a loose paste.
Heat a frying pan Over medium high heat. Season fish fillets with salt and pepper.
Add oil to the pan and add the fish (non skin side down), once the oil is hot. Sear on the one side until white protein bubbles appear on the side of the fillet and it begins to feel firm. Roll onto skin side and top with olive mixture.
Cook through – another 1-2 minutes and serve immediately.

Quick Tip:

In case you get the skinless red snapper the way to make it non stick is to coat it with flour before cooking it.

Enjoy it with glass of white wine!

Seafood!

I met with my best friend "D" at the corner of King and Spadina for a cooking class last Friday. As soon as we got there we quickly reserved our sits, front row and all, so we could really see everything that was happening in the kitchen. I really liked the class, it was all seafood! and we were able to taste every meal the chef prepared. He was very helpful, and answered all our questions. When "D" and I left the culinary centre we were so excited we quickly planned to cook the recipes the next day!.. and we did!!..

A couple of weeks later I cooked an "impress me welcome dinner" for my parent who are just visiting Toronto this week! They have been reading my blog for a while and were expecting to see her daughter perform in the kitchen. Luckily she nailed it!

The menu included

Fried Calamari

Ingredients:

2 lbs. of clean Squid (cut into thin strips)

the juice and zest of one lemon

salt & pepper

1 cup of flour

a pinch of paprika, cayenne pepper, parsley flakes, garlic powder, chili flakes (and every other herb our spice you would like to add to the flour base).

Directions:

Have your squid cleaned and cut. On a separate bowl add all dry ingredients plus the zest of one lemon. In another bowl, have your squid marinated with pepper and lemon juice for no more than 5 mins or so. For the deep frying, I always use a porcelain pot, it will help with the heating process. One other advice is to never never deep fry without a thermometer, believe me it will make your life a 1000 times easier and healthier. Heat the oil that you are going to use for your deep frying until it reaches 375F and keep it there. Mix the marinated squid with the flour mixture and start the deep frying!! I made a homemade mayonnaise to go with it!..

Enjoy!

Joining "Food Revolution Fridays"

Today, I decided it is time to start changing the way we eat!

I mean enough is enough. It started earlier this week, my best friend told me about this documentary "Food Inc" which I wanted to watch, but was just able to see the first 15 mins. Believe me, that was enough to start questioning what I put in my mouth. I have also watched "Food Revolution" which is an initiative Jamie Oliver started in England and has now brought to America. He is trying to make us realize how Junk Food and all those excessive ingredient lists are triggering all sort of diseases, from Obesity, to Cancer, to Cardiovascular disease, etc. It is time for us to take back the control and understand what our food is made of and where is it coming from.

Today while I was reading the news paper I bumped into an amazing piece of news about a Canadian blogger Mom who felt the same way I do and started doing something about it! "Food Revolution Fridays". Now I joined the cause and I am posting my first Food Revolution Recipe! Home Made Pizza! Yes you can bake it at home and the result will be way healthier and more delicious than any grease fast food pizzerias out there!!.. So next time you have a craving for something delicious but healthy!.. think of this!...

Home Made Pizza 2 flavours:

Pizza Dough

Ingredients:

1 cup of lukewarm water
2 1/4 tsp of instant yeast
1/4 cup of olive oil
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp salt
2 cups of flour (you can use whole wheat flour)

Directions:

Sprinkle the yeast and sugar over the cup of water and let it sit for around 10 mins for the yeast to start bubbling. Meanwhile on a separate bowl add half the flour, salt and olive oil. Mix to bring all ingredients together. Then, add the yeast mixture. Use your hands for the mixing. Keep adding the remaining flour as needed until getting the right texture. The right texture is flexible and not sticky. After kneading the though for about 10 mins. you have to let it rest for 45 mins. in order for it to double on size.

Tomatoes & 3 cheeses

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of ricotta cheese
chopped basil
1 cup of mozzarella cheese
1/3 cup of goat's cheese
cherry tomatoes
2 tbsp olive oil
1 minced garlic clove
salt & pepper
rosemary & 1 minced clove of garlic to mix with the pizza dough.

Directions:

When the dough is ready punch it down and stretch it out to fit on a pizza sheet. Mix the minced garlic with olive oil and spread it evenly on the pizza dough. On another bowl, mix the ricotta cheese with basil and again spread it evenly. Sprinkle the goat's cheese, tomatoes and mozzarella over the top. Finish it with a drizzle of olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Bake in the oven at 400F for 20-25 mins or until dough is crisp.

Veggies Pizza

Ingredients:

2 boiled potatoes

a bunch of asparagus (season them with salt, olive oil & pepper)

1 cup of mozzarella cheese

2 tbsp of olive oil

1 minced clove of garlic

Directions:

Spread the olive oil and garlic, then sprinkle almost all the cheese and save some for topping it in the end. Place the potatoes and asparagus on top and finish it with a sprinkle of olive oil, the remaining cheese, salt & pepper. Bake the pizza for 20-25 mins. at 400F.

Tempura 主な訳語

For whatever reason I got more attached to sushi and Japanese food when I arrived to Canada. Even though in Mexico we also have sushi, and it is pretty similar to what Canadians are used to, we don't have sushi restaurants in every corner as you will find here, specially in Toronto!.. Anyways, Now that I have become such a Japanese food lover, I had to learn how to cook Tempura!!.. It is so good and a great appetizer!

I don't have a deep fryer, so having a thermometer was a huge help to get the temperature I needed. I highly recommend it!.. Also I know there are a couple of recipes for tempura, some say to use half wheat flour and half rice flour, and there are a bunch of other combinations but I used for this one only wheat flour and it turned out OK. And it's easier to have regular flour on your pantry.

Tempura:

Ingredients:

1 cup flour

1 cup of sparkling water

A bunch of broccoli florets

1/2 onion

2 sweet potatoes

1lb shrimp

Directions:

Fill 1/3 of a pot over high heat with vegetable oil until it hits 375F.

When the temperature is almost ready, prepare the flour mix. Combine the flour with the sparkling water, but don't over mix it, it's supposed to be lumpy. Coat the vegetables and shrimps one by one and.... start deep frying!

Onion & Tomatoes Tart

When you need to cook something quick and easy to entertain or just because you need a quick but tasty snack or lunch, it gets tricky sometimes to find recipes that are good enough to fullfill all the check marks on your list. I bumped up into this recipe which I made for the first time and was very very good. I added my personal touch and it turned out pretty great.

Hope you enjoy it too!

Onion & Tomatoes Tart

Ingredients:

135g puff pastry

2 tomatoes

1 yellow onion finely chopped

fresh sage

fresh thyme

crumbled goat's cheese

1 tbsp olive oil

grated lemon rind

parmesan cheese

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400F. Roll out the pastry on a floured surface into a rectangular shape (3mm thick). Place the pastry on a tray. To make the filling heat the olive oil in a frying pan over medium heat. Heat the onions, herbs and lemond rind until the onions are soft and golden. Sprinkle goat's cheese on the tart leaving a 2cm border. Then spread the onions, place the tomatoes on top, sprinkle some parmesan cheese and drizzle some olive oil on top. Bake for 25-30 mins or until pastry is puffed and golden.

St. Lawrence Market

I know I've talked about the St. Lawrence Market before. The thing is I really do enjoy buying my ingredients there, you end up meeting all this amazing people that can offer you different products and sometimes even suggest how to cook and match different ingredients, which I think it's amazing!.. They are so nice and will always receive you with a big smile!

As you walk through the market you'll see all this fresh ingredients waiting to be picked! And sometimes is hard to resist not to take them home with you. Most of the things you'll find there come from local farmers, and I am totally in favour of supporting our people!..

The smell, different textures, noise and people will make you realize how full of life it is.

Every time I need a nice cut of beef I go to Upper Cut Meats, located on the main floor on the South Building.. It is always fresh and amazing!! .. They have also helped me find great options that accommodate my budget.

For Fruit and Vegetables I always go to Family Foods, it is always very fresh and they have a great variety. I was able to find Chiles Serranos there and believe me those are hard to find.

And for the best Cheese in town I always go to Alex Farms. The best mild Gouda I've ever tried. They have a huge selection of great quality cheeses! They are so delicious!!.. Every week I go there to buy 1 kilo of Gouda cheese.. YES! In my house we do eat lots and lots of cheese!!!..