Chorizo Stuffed Dates with Bacon and Spicy Marinara

One of the things I miss most about pre-pandemic life is getting to see my work friends in Chicago. My team is based in Toronto, Chicago and Montreal, and normally we would see each other every few weeks in person. The past few years I would go to Chicago 3-4 times a year, and I absolutely adore the city and its food scene. Some of the best meals I’ve ever had were in Chicago. The Girl & the Goat (+ every Stephanie Izard restaurant), avec, Monteverde, Publican, Topolobampo, Au Cheval, the list goes on!

On one of my last trips there in 2019 I went to avec with my work friend for dinner. It now feels like a totally different world - narrow, crowded restaurant, bench style tables that you share with other parties basically nudging each other's elbows. When we arrived my friend said we had to get the stuffed dates to start. Reading the menu I was so intrigued. I’d had bacon wrapped dates before, I’d had bacon wrapped water chestnuts too, but the idea of dates with chorizo and bacon AND spicy marinara seemed so out of the box to me. These were not things I would think to combine. When I took my first bite my mind was blown and that food memory is forever etched in my mind. The chorizo and marinara bring a spicy heat, the dates become sticky sweet, and the bacon ties it all together with saltiness and smoke. 

This recipe is my rustic interpretation of that dish. If you look at avec’s Instagram you’ll see perfectly wrapped dates, glistening in sauce. These are a bit more home-y, but the flavour is all there. These would work as an appetizer or can hold up as a main. The recipe is flexible based on how many dates you have. 

A few tips:

• Chorizo sausage: you want to buy fresh sausages for this recipe, not dry-cured. Most grocery stores will have “Spanish-style chorizo” in the sausage section, but if you are able to go to your local butcher or sausage spot, I recommend getting them there!

• Medjool dates: although they are more expensive than regular dates, Medjool dates are key to get the sweet caramel flavour this recipe needs. They are a bit of a splurge but totally worth it for this recipe. You can get them at the grocery store, online, or at your local bulk store.

• Bacon: If there was ever a time to splurge on bacon, this is one of them (although I personally think you should always splurge on bacon!). If you can get your bacon from a local butcher, that’s best. You want the thicker cut, double smoked if possible. 

• Serving tips: I love this with crusty bread to dip into the sauce. As a main, serve it with a bright, acidic salad (even just arugula with lemon juice and olive oil works!).

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Chorizo Stuffed Dates with Bacon and Spicy Marinara

Serves 4-6 people as a main, 10-12 as an appetizer if you make them small!

15 min prep time, 60 mins cook time

Ingredients:

4 chorizo sausages (fresh - not cured)

12-20 Medjool dates

1 package good bacon (need 12-20 slices, or 6-10 cut in half)

Marinara sauce (notes below of how I make it from scratch if not using bottled)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375

2. Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.

3. Open your dates and remove the pit, flatten them by pressing with your thumbs and middle fingers, and set them aside

4. Remove sausage from casing and form into meatballs (same amount of meatballs as dates)

5. Place a meatball on each flattened date, wrapping the date around the meatball (depending on the size it might just cover half).

6. Wrap each “meatball date” in bacon, and place onto cookie sheet. If you have extra bacon leftover you can always put it onto the sheet to crisp up for a “chef snack” :)

7. Bake until meatballs are cooked through (165F internal temperature) - 45-60 mins depending on the size of the meatball.

8. Serve in marinara! I like to pour the pan drippings into the marinara sauce for extra flavour. Best served with crusty bread.

Spicy Marinara:

1/4 cup olive oil

1 white onion, finely diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 can tomatoes (794g) or bottle of crushed tomatoes (passata)

1. Heat oil in a saucepan over medium

2. Add onion and garlic, cook, until softened (5-7 mins)

3. Add crushed red pepper flakes and tomato paste, cook out for 2-3 mins

4. Add in tomatoes (if whole tomatoes, crush with your hands as you add-in)

5. Simmer on low, covered for 30 mins - 2 hours! Stir every once in a while to ensure it’s not burning on the bottom. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Nanny's Lemon Loaf

This past week I returned to Toronto after four months of staying in Nova Scotia with my parents, waiting out winter. I am really grateful to have been able to spend that much time with my family, in a year when many people have been separated from their loved ones for so long. Although I didn’t ever envision myself living with my parents for almost 6 months of my first year “living on my own” (I moved to my first solo apartment in February 2020), I had a lot of fun sharing many meals with them, many walks, and many evening chats. In my time home I also spent a lot of time reflecting and reminiscing on the meals and foods that formed the basis of my love for cooking. My grandmother was a huge part of those early food memories. She was an amazing baker; I used to call her the “pie queen”. She passed away in 2016 but we still have her recipe cards which my mom and I spent one recent Saturday afternoon exploring.

Most of my go-to baked goods are her recipes, and I hope to share more of them here to continue on her legacy. This lemon loaf was written on a few recipe cards throughout our findings, including Mom’s notebooks, so it is definitely an Avery family favourite. The original calls for shortening, which I’ve subbed below for butter. Like many of her recipes, there were limited instructions. I feel like my Nanny had such great instincts in the kitchen, as does my Mom, so those notes weren’t needed. I’ve tried to interpret the method below. I hope you try out this recipe and feel the love and warmth I do every time I bake it. 

Lemon loaf is a classic Nova Scotia treat, perfect with afternoon tea, morning coffee, or… sneaking as many slices as you can when no one is looking. It is fragrant, sweet, and the lemon glaze adds an extra tartness to the exterior that makes you want to come back for more. 

Here are a few tips for the recipe:

Do not overmix the batter

Like all cakes, you want to ensure that once you combine wet and dry ingredients that you don’t overmix, otherwise you will have a dense, chewy cake. The batter should just come together.

Pour the lemon glaze on right when it comes out of the oven

To get a crispy, sugary crust on the loaf, ensure you pour your glaze on right when it comes out of the oven. The glaze will run down the sides of the pan and soak into the loaf while it’s hot, almost hardening the sugar. If you pour it on when it’s cold it won’t soak in and it will be sticky.

Be patient and let it cool completely

Ok one of the recipe cards from my Nanny said to wait 24 HOURS BEFORE EATING. That is actually wild, I do not recommend. But I DO recommend maybe leaving the house for a few hours while it cools so you aren’t tempted to cut into it while it’s still warm! This is best served completely cooled and it will take a few hours to lose its temperature.

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Nanny's Lemon Loaf

15 min prep time, 60 min bake time, let cool for 4-6 hours

Ingredients

½ cup room temperature butter

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

Zest of 1 lemon 

1 ½ cup all purpose flour

½ tsp kosher salt

1 tsp baking powder

½ cup milk

Glaze

Juice of 1 lemon 

¼ cup white sugar

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F. Prepare a loaf pan by greasing or lining with parchment paper.

2. Using a hand mixer or stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. 2-3 minutes on high.

3. Add in the eggs and continue to beat until well mixed and fluffy. It will take some time for the liquid of the eggs to mix in fully to the butter mixture so be patient! It should look smooth and fluffy.

4. Add in lemon zest and combine well.

5. In a separate bowl whisk together flour, salt, baking powder.

6. Gently fold dry ingredients into egg mixture until craggly, it’s ok if there are some dry ingredient patches.

7. Pour in the milk and fold gently until well mixed but not overmixed. The batter should just come together, with no dry patches or milk patches.

8. Pour batter into loaf pan and place into 350F oven. Bake for 60 minutes until golden brown and cracked on top -  a cake tester should come out clean!

9. While the loaf is baking, whisk together your lemon juice and sugar until sugar is dissolved.

10. Immediately after the loaf is removed from the oven, pour the glaze over top. It’s critical that you pour when it’s piping hot to get the beautiful crust outside that isn’t sticky.

11. Allow the loaf to cool completely, ideally 4-6 hours before slicing and serving.

Paprika Chicken with Roasted, Stewed Potatoes and Chimichurri

In 2018 I went on a two week trip to Portugal with my dear friend Anna. We spent a few days in Lisbon, some magical days in Porto (one of my favourite cities I’ve ever been to!), a few days in Lagos and then returned back to Lisbon for a night. The whole trip was amazing - we ate so many pasteis de natas (top 3 favourite desserts!), drank so much delicious wine, and ate at some amazing restaurants.

One of my favourite restaurants we went to twice was an Argentinian restaurant (Cafe Buenos Aires) set on stairs up one of the hills in Lisbon, with a beautiful view of the city. We ate these fried broad beans with an unreal dipping sauce that I will never forget. We also shared a steak that was topped with a bright, acidic chimichurri and came with a side dish of beautiful dijon mustard - a perfect pairing of French and Argentinian flavours. The only picture I have of the plate is very blurry but I’ll never forget those flavours.

This recipe is inspired by the flavours of that chimichurri, the classic Portuguese peri-peri chicken, and my mom and grandmother’s roast chicken preparation with stewed potatoes cooking under the chicken. Method wise, I was inspired by Feasting at Home’s Portuguese Chicken and Crispy Potatoes, adapting to a more “stewed” approach.

A few notes:

Spatchcocking the chicken

Ok I know this looks scary but it’s actually way easier than it looks and it makes for the best roast chicken. It cuts down on your cooking time drastically and also helps the chicken cook more evenly. I prefer to use kitchen shears to cut out the spine but you can also do this with a sharp chef’s knife. Here’s a video on how to spatchcock a chicken (+ a British accent!).

Rub the marinade under the skin

This marinade I use for chicken all the time, works on any cut! It’s a riff on peri-peri chicken, adding in dijon mustard and swapping in smoked paprika. The key to imparting tons of flavour in a short period of time is to put the marinade *under* the skin of the chicken. You can just lift the skin by running your fingers underneath and then pushing in the marinade. A little messy but worth it!

Keep the peels on your potatoes and add some broth for extra moisture

These aren’t going to be crispy potatoes, but more stewed, fall apart tender potatoes, which is why I recommend keeping the peels on - it helps hold them together. The flavour of the chicken drippings and chicken fat bake into the potatoes, making them addictingly good. The chicken broth helps get them started. I like doing a combo of sweet potato and regular potato but either works!

Keep the stalks on your parsley!

Chimichurri is a herby, acidic condiment popular in South America, originating from Argentina. It pairs really well with grilled meats, but also brings a ton of brightness and flavour to a dish like this, that is stew-y, roasty, and a little spicy. A lot of chimichurri recipes also use oregano, but I kept this to one herb. Since you are whizzing the parsley in a food processor, I keep the stalks on. There is so much flavour in soft herb stalks, no need to waste them!

Use a Meat Thermometer

Whole chickens come in a range of sizes and the length of time to cook depends on size, and how cold the chicken is before you put it in the oven. If it’s fresh from the fridge, it’s going to take longer to come to temperature than one that’s been sitting at room temperature for 30 mins. The best way to know if your chicken is done is by using a meat thermometer. This is my favourite one, just $15 on Amazon. Another tell-tale sign is if the bones fall apart easily from each other - for example if you can pull off the leg without much effort.

For me, this is the perfect Sunday supper. Tons of flavour, easy to prepare, and plenty of food for however many people are around your Sunday table. I hope you enjoy it!

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Paprika Chicken with Roasted, Stewed Potatoes and Chimichurri

Ingredients:

Paprika Marinade

Whole chicken

3-4 medium sweet potatoes and/or white potatoes

¼ cup olive oil

½ cup chicken broth

Chimichurri 

2 cloves of garlic

1 shallot

1 tbsp red wine vinegar

Juice of 1 lemon

Big handful of parsley, about 1 cup

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp water

½ tsp kosher salt

Optional for serving: arugula or pea shoots.

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 425F. You’ll need an oven safe baking dish, ideally 13x9 with deep sides.

2. Mix together your marinade and set aside.

3. Slice your potatoes into ¾ cm slices - I like to keep the peel on. Place in your baking dish and toss in 2 tbsp of olive oil and a good seasoning of salt and pepper. Shingle along the bottom of the baking dish, not overlapping too much so they cook evenly.

4. Prepare your chicken. Turn it breast side down onto your cutting board and use kitchen shears or a very sharp chef's knife to remove the spin, by cutting down on either side of the spine. I prefer to use kitchen shears. Turn back over and press down to flatten. This video here shows how to do this (first 1 minute)!

5. Rub the marinade all over the chicken, lifting the skin and getting the marinade under the skin. Once it’s coated and all of your marinade has been used, place the chicken on top of the prepared potatoes in the dish. 

6. Drizzle the remaining 2 tbsp of olive oil on top of the chicken.

7. Add ½ cup of chicken broth to the pan, drizzling over the potatoes.

8. Place into the preheated oven and cook uncovered for 45 mins. 

9. While the chicken is cooking, prep your chimichurri! Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until a fine “salsa” appearance. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed!

10. Once your 45 mins pass, check the internal temperature of the chicken using a meat thermometer, it should be 165F at the thickest part (I like to check both the breast meat and leg meat). If it’s not ready, continue to cook for 15-30 mins longer (timing will depend on how big your chicken is and how cold it was before putting it in the oven!).

11. Once the chicken reaches temperature, remove it from the oven and allow to sit for 10-15 minutes so the chicken juices to set within. Serve with chimichurri sauce and a handful of arugula or pea shoots!

Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese

Growing up, homemade mac and cheese was a special treat and my mom always topped it with Ritz crackers. I loved the baked pasta effect, almost too cooked, with creamy sauce and crunchy, salty topping. When I went to grad school, a classmate shared Chef John’s Mac and Cheese recipe which is the basis of every mac and cheese I’ve made since. I love his combo of spices and flavourings to the bechamel, pre-cheese. I don’t always have all of his spices on hand, so I’ve simplified it down to the main flavourings that I think make a difference to a great base sauce. 

I love how butternut squash adds a gentle sweetness to the sauce which gets balanced by the nuttiness of the cheese, the savoury of the dijon, and the spice from the hot sauce. It’s creamy, saucy, warm, comforting - everything you need for a pandemic baked pasta. I don’t have kids but I have been cooking for my father for the last three months, who has a very similar aversion to vegetables that TV shows make it seem like 4-year-olds have, and let me tell you - he didn’t even know there was butternut squash in there! It’s sneakily the same colour as cheddar cheese so it just makes it seem extra cheesy while adding in all those extra nutrients for the children (and adults) in your life.

During the pandemic, I have really been seeking comfort food, which this past year has been the form of pasta. I pretty much make a pasta dish at minimum once a week, and this baked butternut squash mac and cheese has been a go-to. You can halve the recipe if cooking for a smaller household, or freeze half (before baking) in an 8x8 tin foil pan for an easy weekday meal for future you.

Tips for this recipe:

Cook out the flour

The sauce starts by cooking out the flour with your butter. It’s ok if it seizes up a bit when you add in the spices, I’ve never had an issue with my roux breaking down smoothly into the milk later on, no matter how crumbly it gets. I like to let my flour/butter mixture deepen in colour so I know the flour is really cooked out - there’s nothing worse than a raw flour flavour!

Add your spices and flavourings to your roux before the milk

Once my butter/flour looks toasty, I add the dried spices, mustard and Worcestershire sauce to the roux. Allowing spices to toast in fat brings out more flavour - adding them now vs once there’s milk will deepen their flavour!

Whisk well when you add in the milk

When you add in your milk, whisk really, really well to ensure the roux breaks down smoothly into the liquid. If your milk is cold it will take some time for it to heat through. Once it does, continue to whisk until thickened.

Don’t overcook your macaroni!

Since you are going to mix your noodles with the sauce and bake in the oven, the noodles will continue to cook. It’s really critical to cook your macaroni a little under so you don’t end up with noodle mush after it bakes. I usually shave off 1 minute from the package's recommended time. Use a timer!

Butternut squash vs other squashes

You can sub in any squash into this recipe - I’ve made it before with acorn squash and it was delicious. Every squash has a slightly different flavour profile and water content, but this recipe flexes to work with them all.

Roast your squash early in the day

Roasting your squash is pretty hands-off, so popping it in the oven early in the day makes the rest of the prep feel less overwhelming. You can store the squash in the fridge until ready to use!

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Butternut Squash Mac and Cheese

1 hour for roasting squash, 50 mins for the rest of the recipe!

Ingredients

500 g macaroni noodles, cooked according to package instructions less 1 minute

3 tbsp butter

3 tbsp flour

1 tbsp dijon mustard

½ tsp onion powder

½ tsp garlic powder

½ tsp dried thyme

½ - 1 tsp Tabasco hot sauce (or other vinegar-based hot sauce)

1 tsp Worcestershire sauce

3 cups of milk (1% or above)

1 cup roasted squash, mashed until smooth (instructions below)

1 ½ cup grated old cheddar cheese

1 cup of Ritz crackers, crumbled (20-ish crackers)

Freshly cracked black pepper

A drizzle of olive oil

Method:

Prep your squash: This step can be done up to 2 days before, with mashed squash stored in an airtight container in the fridge.

Cut the squash in half lengthwise, removing the seeds with a spoon. Place face down on a parchment/silicone mat lined cookie sheet and roast at 400F for 40-60 mins (depends on the size of the squash) until fork tender. Other ways to tell if it’s done: skin is lifting from the flesh and some caramel appears on the cookie sheet. Set aside to cool before mashing. 

1. When you’re ready to start prepping your meal, start by getting your noodles ready and continue the other steps at the same time: Bring a large pot of water to a boil and season well with salt. Cook pasta according to the package, minus 1 minute, as your pasta will continue to cook in the oven. Drain (do not rinse!). 

2. In a medium pot add your flour and butter and heat over medium heat. Once the butter melts whisk together to form a thin paste and allow it to cook for 3-5 minutes until it deepens in colour and the butter is visibly sizzling.

3. Add in your seasonings: dijon mustard, onion powder, garlic powder, dried thyme, tabasco, Worcestershire sauce and whisk/stir into your flour/butter mixture. Continue cooking for 2 mins.

4. Pour in your milk and whisk well until roux breaks down fully into the milk and it appears smooth. Continue to heat over medium heat, whisking periodically. Once the milk reaches full temperature the sauce will begin to thicken. Continue to whisk until you feel a pull in the sauce while you whisk, or until it coats the back of a spoon.

5. Taste the sauce - does it taste good? Does it need some salt to bring out the flavours? You are about to add in some unseasoned squash so you want the sauce before cheese and squash to taste really good! Season with salt and pepper to taste.

6. Remove sauce from heat and stir in grated cheese + mashed squash. Continue to stir until smooth - it may look a little streaky from the squash (there’s water content in the squash so it can make your sauce appear slightly split but it will be ok!).

7. Combine your cheese sauce with your prepared noodles in an oven-safe baking dish (casserole dish - my 2.8L casserole dish works perfectly). Top with your crushed ritz crackers, a good amount of freshly cracked black pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil.

8. Bake at 350F for 25 minutes until the top is browned and the sauce is bubbling! Allow to sit for 10-15 minutes before serving to allow the sauce to set. Enjoy!

Baked Salmon with Mango Salsa

This is a meal that is in my weekly rotation, and I’ve been meaning to share it on here for a long time. I went back through my phone to upload the photos for this post, as I remember shooting this dish and drafting the recipe last year. Weirdly enough, these photos are from March 1, 2020. It’s funny to think about what life was like then - I had just moved into my own apartment and I remember being really busy with work because we had a big campaign launching later that week. I ran out of time to finish typing up the recipe on the weekend, and then the next two weeks were a bit of a blur. Between work and the changing world around us, I remember feeling overwhelmed by everything. I definitely had a lot of time in those first few weeks of lockdown to finish this recipe, but I did not have the motivation to work on anything long-form. So here we are, almost a year later, with the recipe ready to share and a bizarre feeling thinking about how different life was before the pandemic.

This dish was a go-to meal growing up, we probably ate it once a week in the summer. The mango salsa is so fresh, it pairs perfectly with the fatty salmon. Sometimes in the summer, we would do the fish on the BBQ in tin foil packets, with salt and pepper, lemon slices on top. Although it’s a summer dish, I enjoy this year-round to bring some brightness to my week.

Salmon is a great fish for carrying a lot of flavour, and it doesn’t taste too “fishy”. The salsa is so colourful, and since it’s packed with flavour you don’t need to do much to the salmon (just salt and pep!). I sometimes double the salsa recipe so that I have leftovers, which are great to top tacos or use as a dip with tortilla chips. The salsa will hold up well in the fridge for multiple days (3-5). You could add in some diced avocado as well to add in some creaminess if having it as a dip.

Here are a few tips and alternatives for the recipe:

Salmon:

If you can, try to source local and Oceanwise labelled fish. The recipe also works great with other pink-fleshed fish like trout if you live far from the ocean. 

Mango: 

If you aren’t able to source a ripe mango, you could also swap in pineapple. I would say half a fresh pineapple would yield roughly the same amount as a mango.

• To slice a mango, I follow this method here: slice straight on each side of the pit, then run the knife into a grid in the flesh (without piercing the skin) and scoop out from the skin.

Red pepper:

Adds a gentle spice to the salsa, a bit of bite to cut through the sweetness of the mango. You could swap in another coloured pepper, like orange or yellow. I would avoid green since it will add a really different flavour.

Red onion:

If you don’t have a red onion on hand, a shallot would work great. I have also made this salsa using green onion, just ensure you use the whole thing (including the white part) to get that sharp onion flavour.

Cilantro:

If you are cilantro-adverse, you could fully omit or you could switch in another soft herb like parsley or mint. 

How to serve:

I love this with steamed rice, and a roasted green veggie, like broccoli or asparagus. I like to fluff my rice with a little bit of coconut oil and salt and pepper for a gentle coconut flavour with the fish. 

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Baked Salmon with Mango Salsa

Serves 4, 30 mins

Ingredients:

4 fresh Atlantic salmon portions (or other pink fish of your choice - trout works great too!)

1 mango, diced

½ a red pepper, diced

¼ a red onion, finely diced

¼ cup of fresh cilantro (optional), finely chopped

Juice of 1 lime (roughly 2 tbsp lime juice)

¼ tsp kosher salt

Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 375F. 

2. Place fish fillets on a parchment-lined cookie sheet or another oven safe dish. Lightly season with salt and pepper right before putting in the oven (do not do this too early or your fish will break down)

3. Meanwhile, mix together all of the salsa ingredients in a medium bowl. Taste and adjust your seasoning - if it tastes too sweet add a little more salt until the savouriness of the pepper and onion comes through.

4. Cook the salmon until opaque and flaky, about 15-20 minutes depending on how thick the salmon is. I like to test my salmon with a cake tester to see how easily it flakes. It should flake without much pressure.

5. Remove salmon from the oven and serve with rice, topped with mango salsa. I prefer the salsa room temperature or cool from the fridge.