Heavenly Veg – Roasted Broccoli with Fennel & Garlic

Believe it or not, broccoli is one of the few vegetables that my children enjoy. Like most kids, they refer to it as “trees” and prefer it steamed with a generous amount of fresh lemon juice on top. I have also added cheese sauce to the repertoire as, unbeknownst to me until recently, this is de rigeur and I have been denying my children all of these years. Who knew?

Despite all of that, their favourite way to eat broccoli is roasted. For Christmas dinner this year, I jazzed up the dish a bit in honour of the festive occasion, but it remains simple to put together and ultimately delicious.

Roasted Broccoli with Fennel & Garlic

• 3 crowns of broccoli; washed, trimmed and separated into “trees”
• healthy glug of olive oil
• large pinch of coarse salt
• 1 tsp. fennel seeds
• 1 head of garlic, separated and peeled.
• 1 lemon

Unbelievably Good – Coconut Cake with Chocolate Chunks & Coconut Drizzle

OK…here is a New Year’s riddle for you. What do you get when you cross coconut and chocolate? Answer: one of the best cakes I have ever tasted! It was so moist and so tasty…I could go on and on and on. However, I think the ingredients and the pictures speak for themselves.

Coconut Cake with Chocolate Chunks and Coconut Drizzle
from Bon Apetit, January 2010

I should also note that I can take absolutely no credit for this beautiful creation…all props go to my lovely mother who came to visit us over the holidays. She is the master baker…not I.

Cake

• 1 3/4 c. all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt (I prefer fine sea salt)
• 1 c. unsweetened shredded coconut
• 3/4 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 2 tsp (packed) finely grated orange peel
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 c. canned unsweetened coconut milk
• 6 oz bittersweet chocolate bars (do not exceed 61% cacao), broken into small-ish chunks, divided
• 1/2 c. sweetened flaked coconut

Coconut Drizzle

• 3/4 c. powdered sugar
• 2 tbsp unsweetened coconut milk (you may need a bit more)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Thanksgiving Alternative – Potato Gratin with Olive Oil and Thyme

Potatoes are one of my favourite vegetables. At first blush, this may sound really boring but I believe the opposite. You can dress these fine tubers up in a hundred different ways….in a soup, roasted, steamed, mashed, baked…the list goes on and on.

Speaking of potatoes, I had decided that I would forgo the mashed potatoes for Thanksgiving this year and turn to something a little less traditional…potato gratin. Normally, I stuff as much creamy goodness into a gratin as I can but, as one of my guests is lactose intolerant, that just wasn’t going to work.

After a bit of research, I came across this recipe in an old issue of Fine Cooking (which you can find here). I dressed it up a bit with some caramelized onions and voila, a nice dish that wouldn’t make my guest ill for the rest of the night.

Potato, Thyme and Olive Oil Gratin with Caramelized Onions (For Aunt Jen)

• 6 Tbsp olive oil (divided)
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 3 lb yellow potatoes (I would recommend Yukon Gold)
• 1 large sweet onion
• coarse salt & ground pepper
• 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves (divided)
• 1/2 c. chicken stock

Cranberries with Port and Rosemary

Although Canadian Thanksgiving has come and gone, here is a recipe that my American cousins might find helpful. I like this sauce because it is a beautiful balance of sweet and tart. Like all cranberry sauces, it only takes a few minutes to prepare. I should also add that I found an excellent use for the left overs…use it as a spread in a Cambazola and Proscuitto sandwich (in fact, it’s worth making this sauce for that purpose alone).

Cranberries with Port and Rosemary

• 1 bag of fresh cranberries, washed
• 1/2 c. ruby port
• 1/4 c. sugar (you may add more if you feel your sauce is too tart)
• 2 Tbsp. fresh rosemary, leaves picked off the stem and coarsely chopped
• pinch of coarse salt

Brussel Sprouts with Pancetta, Pears and Walnuts

The truth of the matter is I don’t like brussel sprouts…at all. However, as an act of love and devotion I promised to make them for my husband who does like them….on one condition. If I was going to cook them I was determined to take these green devils as far from their cabbage-y roots as possible. Hence the pancetta, pear and walnuts. The addition of this triple threat (in combination with the fact that the sprouts came nowhere near a pot of boiling water) almost made me forget my antipathy towards this vegetable.

Brussel Sprouts with Pancetta, Pears and Walnuts
(or “6’s dressed up as 9’s)

• 1lb of brussel sprouts…it’s good to pick ones that are roughly the same size
• 1 tsp. butter
• glug of olive oil
• 1 pear
• 5 slices of pancetta…ask the deli counter person for a medium slice
• 1/2 c. walnuts

Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Proscuitto, Thyme and Fontina

This dish was inspired by lemons, of all things. I had a few beautiful lemons that I wanted to use so I went hunting for something unusual to do with them. I turned to my (husband…if you are reading this…skip the next line) giant collection of cooking magazines and found inspiration in the pages of an older issue of Saveur.  There was a beautiful photograph of stuffed chicken breasts surrounded by lemons that were caramelized in the most appealing of ways (you can find the original recipe and photo here).

I made a few alterations to the recipe based on need (couldn’t find any raclette) and desire (I have decided I don’t like tarragon).

Stuffed Chicken Breasts with Proscuitto, Thyme and Fontina
You will need to tie up the breasts with some kitchen twine…if you are unfamiliar with a good technique, improvise. It could be fun.

• 4 bone-in chicken breasts (larger is better)
• 3 cloves of garlic
• 1/2 tsp. coarse salt
• 1 tsp. fresh thyme
• 4 large slices of proscuitto TIP: Ask the deli not to slice these too thinly
• 4 slices of fontina
• large glug of olive oil
• 1/2 c. chicken stock
• 2 lemons, sliced in half

In Season – Creamed Corn

I remember eating something called “Creamed Corn” as a kid. I am not entirely convinced that there was a) cream or b) corn present in those cans. However, fear not… this recipe (if you can call it that) is so simple and so good and it actually contains what its name implies.

Creamed Corn
makes enough to serve 6 adults

• 8 cobs of corn, shucked and washed
• a knob of butter (I estimate about a tablespoon, maybe a bit more)
• 1/2 c. creme fraiche
• salt and pepper to taste

Must try – Braised Leeks

I have come to love leeks later in life and am now making up for lost time. This beautiful dish is an excellent compliment to any roasted meat or, now that I think about it, could be tossed with pasta and topped with a bit of freshly grated Parmesan. Regardless of how you serve it, you must give this dish a try…so easy but so good.

Braised Leeks
I found the original recipe at the delightful SmittenKitchen

• 6 large leeks
• 4 large shallots, peeled and thinly sliced
• 1/2 c. olive oil
• 6 sprigs of thyme
• 1/2 c. white wine or vermouth
• 1 1/2 – 2 c. of stock (I use chicken but you could just as easily use a vegetable stock)
• 1 Tbsp. dijon mustard

Elegant Side – Braised Potatoes with Herbs

This dish is a like a nicely tailored suit….versatile and easy, with a touch of elegance. I served this with Chicken Marsala with Gorgonzola but I have also used it as an accompaniment for roasts (lamb, beef and pork). I try to choose the herbs I use to compliment the main dish I am serving it with.

Braised Potatoes with Herbs

• 2 lb of potatoes…I prefer fingerlings for this dish, but you could use any type of waxy potatoes
• 2 Tbsp. butter, divided
• several springs of fresh herbs…(in this case, I used thyme to compliment the chicken, but you could use rosemary, parsley, oregano or a combination thereof) plus 1/2 tsp. of chopped herbs
• 2 c. chicken stock (approximately)
• juice of half a lemon (approximately 2 Tbsp.)

Easy but Impressive – Chicken Marsala with Gorgonzola

This is one of my “stand-by dishes” when having guests over. It is rich, flavourful and does give off an air of sophistication (not my usual state I know, but I do like to mix it up a bit). The best part of it, however is that it maintains all of those aforementioned qualities while only taking a minimal amount of time and effort to create.

Chicken Marsala with Gorgonzola
Adapted from Fine Cooking, Issue 63
Serves 4

• 4 chicken cutlets (if your butcher doesn’t have any, 4 chicken breast halves pounded thinly between sheets of wax paper will do just fine).
• 1/3 c. flour for dredging
• 2 glugs of olive oil
• 1 lb. cremini or white button mushrooms, cleaned and sliced thinly
• 2 – 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and minced or crushed
• 2 – 3 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 1/2 c. marsala
• 1/3. heavy cream (you can lighten this up and use half and half)
• 1/3 c. crumbled gorgonzola TIP: Pop this in the freezer about 20 minutes before you intend on crumbling…it will be much easier if it has had some time to “chill”
• 3 Tbsp. fresh parsley, chopped
• Salt and pepper to taste