Honey Pepper Butter

It may look like mashed potatoes, but it is in fact a delicious, sweet butter! This condiment is super simple but really adds a special touch to any dinner. Perfect on freshly baked rolls or fresh bread from the bakery. The honey adds sweetness, the pepper adds heat, and the salt balances it out to make an additive spread for your next dinner party.

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Honey Pepper Butter

10 mins

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temp*
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly cracked black pepper
1 tbsp honey

Method:

Mix together until well combined! Serve room temperature.

If you have salted butter, just skip the salt!

Red Lentil Tomato Soup

The ultimate comfort food for me is tomato soup. When I’m upset or stressed, there is nothing better than a nostalgic tomato soup. There is a restaurant near my apartment that used to have an amazing tomato soup on their menu, and they always topped it with fresh ricotta. I took a page out of their book with mine this week, but a delicious grilled cheese would also go perfectly on the side. Added in red lentils to keep it hearty and a bit more filling than the classic!

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Red Lentil Tomato Soup

Serves 4, 30-45 mins cook time

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

2 carrots, diced

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1 x 28 oz can of whole, peeled tomatoes (ideally San Marzano)

1.5 cups water

Parmesan rind (optional)

1/2 cup red lentils

1 cup milk

1 tsp dried basil (or handful of fresh!)

Salt n pepper to taste

Method:

1. In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic and carrots and sautee until onions are softened (5-7 mins).

2. Add smoked paprika and let it cook out for 1-2 mins.

3. Add canned tomato, water and stir. Cover and simmer until carrots are tender. If you have a Parmesan rind in your freezer, add it now!

4. Once carrots have softened, add red lentils, stir and cover for another 15 mins or until lentils are soft.

5. Remove parm rind and transfer to a blender (or use a hand blender!). Add milk and basil and blend until smooth.

6. Taste and adjust seasoning.

7. Serve with fresh ricotta, olive oil or other topping of choice (perhaps, grilled cheese?!)

Zucchini & Grilled Chicken Quesadillas

I love quesadillas but always find my homemade attempts have led to inconsistent filling and structural issues (read: the filling falls out when I flip them). Inspired by Smitten Kitchen’s method, this veggie filling has the cheese folded in, which allows it all to stick together and create more even quesadillas. The cooked down zucchini makes these taste almost cheesier than they are because it takes on a jammy texture. Super filling with all that veg, but you would hardly know it’s there!

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Zucchini & Grilled Chicken Quesadillas

Makes 4 quesadillas, This recipe is inspired by Smitten Kitchen’s Zucchini Quesadillas

Ingredients/Method:

Chicken marinade:

• 2 chicken breasts

• 1/2 tsp ancho chilli powder (or any chilli powder)

• 1/2 tsp ground cumin

• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika

• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

• 1/2 tsp kosher salt

• 1.5 tbsp olive oil

Let the chicken marinate for 30 mins at room temp (or in the fridge for 30 mins - 4 hours). Grill on bbq until internal temp reaches 165F.

Quesadilla filling:

• 1/2 white onion, thinly sliced

• 1 red pepper, thinly sliced

• 2 medium zucchini, halved lengthwise and thinly sliced

• 1 clove garlic minced

• 1/2 cup - 3/4 cup shredded cheese (cheddar or havarti would work)

• Olive oil

• Salt n pepper

Sautée onions with olive oil over medium heat until soft. Add in garlic and red pepper, continue to cook until peppers are softened. Add in zucchini and 1/2 tsp kosher salt. Continue to cook 5-7 minutes over medium until zucchini is translucent and jammy. Remove from heat and fold in shredded cheese. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.

To assemble, scoop 1/4 of veggie/cheese mixture onto flour tortilla (I used whole wheat!). Add sliced chicken. Top with another flour tortilla. 

Bring a clean non-stick pan to medium heat, with a little bit of oil. Cook one side of the quesadilla until crispy, about 3 minutes. Flip with confidence! Cook the other side until crispy. Remove from pan and keep warm in the oven on a cookie sheet while you repeat with the others.

Serve with sour cream, salsa and top with shredded lettuce with lime juice and a pinch of salt!

Isolation Easter Dinner for 1!

Earlier this week I posted on Instagram about my plans for my Easter dinner for 1. Here is my rough schedule of activities and how I think through a dinner with multiple components aka how to prep it all!

Day before prep:

• Roast beets

• Make vinaigrette/marinade for beets

• Make pea condiment

Other things you could do the day before if you have the fridge space:

• Slice potatoes for scalloped potatoes and store them in the fridge covered in water

• Make pie crust dough and store in the fridge

Roast beets:

• Preheat oven to 425

• Wash beets and dry

• Trim off any odd bits or the ends if they look extra dirty

• Wrap each beet in tin foil with a little olive oil

• Place on a cookie sheet and roast under a cake tester inserts easily (time depends on the size of the beets - for small it could be 20-30 mins, for larger beets it could take an hour)

• Allow to cool completely before peeling

Pea condiment:

Inspired by this article: Bon Appetit Basically: Pea Pesto

• Steam 2 cups of frozen peas until bright green and tender, remove from heat and cool

• Place in a food processor with 2 garlic cloves, zest of 1 lemon, 3 tsp of apple cider vinegar, 2 tbsp olive oil, ½ tsp red pepper flakes, salt and pepper, and process on high until smooth. If you have any soft herbs like mint or parsley they would go great in here.

• Taste and adjust

• Store in a container in the fridge

Beet salad vinaigrette/marinade:

• ⅓ cup apple cider vinegar

• 1.5 tbsp honey

• ¼ cup olive oil

• Salt and pepper

• Shake in a mason jar until emulsified!

Once the beets are cool, peel and slice into ¾ cm slices. Put into a container and pour over half of the vinaigrette to store overnight so that the beets marinate. Store the remaining vinaigrette in the fridge.

Day of:

Morning:

• Prep white buns (I am going to halve this recipe: Fraiche Living Perfect White Buns

• Make pie (I am going to make a variation of this: Bon Appetit Lemon Meringue Pie, but will use different citrus fruits because I don’t have enough lemon. I’ll freeze the second pie crust for future use)

Afternoon:

Prepare and cook the lamb (I always start with the meat first to ensure there’s time for it to cook, and it can always rest while everything else cooks):

Lamb prep: take lamb out of fridge, season generously with salt and pepper and let it sit at room temperature for about 1 hour so it loses its chill

• Make crust for lamb

  • I’m going to do a riff on the crust from this recipe: Food & Wine Parmesan and Herb Crusted Beef Tenderloin

  • Instead of parmesan I think I will add lemon zest

• Assemble lamb:

  • I’m then going to rub dijon mustard over the lamb to give something for the crust to stick to. I will then apply the crust, drizzle some olive oil over it and roast it at 325 until I reach 140F internal temp for medium lamb. From my research it looks like it will take 1.5 hours or so for my 3lb lamb

  • Will let it rest at room temp before slicing

Scalloped Potato prep:

• While the lamb is roasting I’ll prep the scalloped potatoes. I am choosing to not make mine with cheese because I don’t think it will go with the lamb. I’m just going to do a simple milk, onion, butter combo. On the stove I’ll heat 2 cups of milk with 2 tbsp of butter, a bay leaf and some thyme. Heat on low, being careful to not scorch or curdle the milk. Season well with salt and pepper.

• Meanwhile I’ll slice my potatoes thinly, along with 1 white onion. I just have 2 potatoes. I’ll layer the potatoes and onions in a baking dish and pour over the milk mixture.

• Once the lamb is out of the oven, I’ll bake the scallop potatoes (covered) at 325F until fork tender (30-45 mins). I’ll take the tinfoil off for the last few mins and turn it onto broil to get a little colour on top. 

Roasted veg prep:

• While the scalloped potatoes are in, I’ll prep the roasted veg. I have cabbage, some brussel sprouts, turnip and swiss chard stems. I’ll chop everything up and spread it evenly onto a lined baking sheet. I will then drizzle olive oil and mix the veg with 2 tbsp of grainy mustard so everything is evenly coated. Season with salt and pepper. Roast at 400 until everything is tender and starting to deepen in colour. Once the veg is out of the oven I’ll drizzle some honey and add a squeeze of lemon juice.

Bake white buns - always leave these for last so they’re fresh out of the oven! When they come out of the oven you can add everything back in the oven to reheat.

Assemble salad:

• Layer the beets on the bottom of the plate

• Add orange segments

• Crumble goat cheese

• Sprinkle on some toasted nuts (pecans, walnuts, almonds, whatever you have)

• Top with greens if you have any, tossed in the remaining vinaigrette (arugula, mixed greens, pea shoots work!)

EDIT: It all worked out! Pictures added!

Nanny's Banana Bread

There are a million banana bread recipes on the internet. It’s hard to know which one to follow; which one will give the best result? All I can say is, in my eyes, this is the best banana bread out there because… it’s my Nanny’s recipe. This is the banana bread I ate my whole childhood - dark in colour and rich in flavour. I’ve tweaked it slightly to reduce the sugar and use whole grain flour (optional). But otherwise, it’s pretty much exactly how my darling grandmother made it.

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Nanny’s Banana Bread

NOTE: This bread will keep on the counter for 2-3 days if you top with a banana slice like pictured. Without the banana on top, 4-5 days. It also freezes very well - recommend slicing and putting parchment paper between each slice. Reheat individual slices at 350F until toasty!

ingredients

4 small or 3 large bananas, very ripe and browned (+ one additional for topping if you’d like)

½ cup unsalted butter, melted

½ cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 cup all-purpose flour

¾ cup whole grain flour (or you can do all AP if you do not have WG)

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

¾ tsp kosher salt

method:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare a loaf pan by greasing with butter or cooking spray and lining with a parchment paper “hammock” (parchment paper covers bottom and sides length wise).

2. In a large bowl, mash your ripened bananas. Add in melted butter, sugar and eggs, mixing until well combined.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.

4. Pour dry ingredients into the wet ingredient bowl and fold in, being careful to not overmix. No flour should be visible, but clumps are ok!

5. Pour into your prepared loaf pan. If you have an extra banana, slice in half lengthwise and place on top of the batter.

6. Bake for 60-75 mins, until deeply browned and a cake tester comes out clean. Allow to cool completely before slicing.