Tag Archive for 'Party'

Roast olives with kumquats and almonds

Published
by
marc
on May 26, 2008
in Appetizer and Party
. 6 Comments

Huge thanks to Michelle and Brian over at Thursday Night Smackdown for inviting us over to their Memorial Day smoke-a-thon. I think I must have eaten half my body weight in pork and the other half in beer. I don’t want to steal her thunder, so I’ll let you mosey on over there to read about it, but I will say that if you’re ever lucky enough to get invited over for smoked meat and beer (or anything else for that matter) it’s an experience not to be missed.

These are some olives I roasted to take with me to the bbq. They’re relatively simple to make and the roasting gives them a unique flavor and texture more closely resembling oil-cured olives. The real stars of this dish in my opinion are the almonds and kumquats which both take taste great roasted on their own, but even better when roasted with olives.

I used some brine-cured olives I made last fall, but you could use just about any variety of store bought seed-in olives. My olives had meyer lemons, serrano chiles, garlic and celery that had been pickling along-side the olives so I threw those in as well. The olives straight out of the jar were a bit garlicy for my taste, but the roasting toned down the garlic while intensifying the flavour of the olive itself.

a few pounds of seed-in olives
3/4 C blanched almonds (Marcona almonds work well)
1 C kumquats (large ones sliced in half)
couple sprigs of thyme
fresh ground black pepper
olive oil
honey for drizzling

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).

In a non-reactive baking sheet, spread an single layer of olives, then scatter the almonds and kumquats. Strip the sprigs of thyme of their leaves and sprinkle on top along with some black pepper. Cover with a good layer of olive oil (I used about half a cup). Then cover the pan loosely with foil.

Roast for 30 minutes then take the foil off and roast uncovered for another 30-40 minutes stirring with a spatula every 10-15 minutes. Drizzle honey over everything about 10 minutes before they’re done. You’ll know they’re finished when the kumquats are nice and caramelized, the almonds are golden brown and the skin on the olives is starting to blister.

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Vegetarian Gyoza (potstickers)

Published
by
marc
on April 12, 2008
in Appetizer, Asian, Japanese, Party and Vegetarian
. 11 Comments

As I was coming up with a title for this post, half of me wanted to omit the “v” word because as a meat eater, I often skip passed the flimsy vegetarian approximations of dishes that are supposed to contain meat. Why? I guess my experience has been that most veggie approximations are just that… less tasty approximations for people that have made the switch.

So why on earth would I take the porky goodness out of these dumplings? Well, those of you that have been reading along may have noticed that I have a new found obsession with Quinoa. I’ve used it in place of cous cous and suggested it has potential as a substitute for tobiko. Red quinoa even looks a bit like cooked ground meat… which got me thinking… could I possibly sub in quinoa for pork and trick other meat eaters into thinking they were eating pig? A worthy challenge indeed.

I started with my recipe for making regular gyoza, subbed in quinoa for the pork, added shitake mushrooms for a boost in flavor and an egg to help bind everything together. If you’re horribly opposed to a meatless dumpling you could always turn this back into a less animal friendly recipe, but I really do urge you to give this a try. Aside from the fact that Quinoa is cheaper, healthier, and greener, I actually like these better than their meat containing counterparts.

   

1 C cooked quinoa
1 C boiled cabbage squeezed and roughly minced
2 fresh shitake mushrooms minced
1 Tbs minced ginger
2 cloves garlic minced
2 green onions minced
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
2 tsp mirin (sweet japanese cooking wine)
1/4 tsp finely ground white pepper
salt to taste (usually add about 1/4 tsp but it’s up to you)

1 egg
1 pack gyoza wrappers (small round wonton wrappers)

dipping sauce
2 Tbs soy sauce
2 Tbs rice vinegar
1/4 tsp chili oil (optional)

make the dumplings

Cook the quinoa according to the package directions. Boil some cabbage for about 10 minutes, cool, then squeeze any excess liquid out before mincing.

Combine the first 10 ingredients in a bowl and mix, taste and add some more salt if you like. Add in the egg and mix well to combine.

This next part seems to intimidate a lot of people but after a bit of practice it goes really fast. Basically you want to take 1 wrapper in the palm of your hand left hand (if right handed) and spoon a small amount of filling in the center (it’s easier to pleat if you have less, you can always add more in the subsequent ones).

Dip a finger from your other hand in a bowl of water and get the outer 1/4″ of the wrapper wet all around.

Fold the wrapper in half like a taco then starting from the left edge, start sealing the wrapper placing a pleat about once every 1/4″. Don’t worry if your first few look bad, they’ll get better and as long as it’s well sealed, it shouldn’t effect the end result much.

fry the dumplings
Get a non-stick pan (that has a lid) hot over medium heat, then add about a teaspoon of oil. Place the dumplings in the pan with the flat-side down. Cook for about 1 minute or until the bottoms are just turning light brown.

With the lid ready to cover the pan, add about 2 Tbs of water then quickly put the lid down (be very careful as the pan will start spitting hot oil as soon as you put the water in). Turn down the heat and steam the dumplings for about 4 minutes.

Remove the lid, turn up the heat to medium high and let any remaining water evaporate so the dumplings get nice and crisp on the bottom (about another minute). Plate and serve immediately with dipping sauce.

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Grapefruit Guacamole

Published
by
marc
on February 20, 2008
in Appetizer, Mexican and Party
. 1 Comment

Grapefruit Guacamole

I’m a big fan of simple citrusy guac and grapefruit goes especially well with avocados. The tart sweetness along with the slight bitter edge offset the creamy smoothness of the avocados well. Pickling the onions first keep them from overpowering the citrus and the cilantro adds a freshness that rounds out the guac nicely.

1/4 small red onion thinly sliced (about 1 1/2 Tbs.)
1/2 tsp. salt
Juice of 1-2 segments of grapefruit

5 segments of grapefruit peeled
1 ripe avocado roughly chopped
1 Tbs. minced cilantro
Juice of half a lime

Combine the first 3 ingredients ahead of time and let the onions “pickle” for at least 10 minutes. Squeeze out the juice with your hands before using.

Crumble the grapefruit up into pieces with your fingers, add the avocados, pickled onions, cilantro and lime juice and stir to combine (the avocado’s should still be chunky). Salt to taste and serve with chips or on top of a grilled white meat fish like Halibut.

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