Simple Cream Sauce (without the cream!!)

I've been eating some quick recipes out of my repertoire these days or out of my freeze with my homemade leftovers as we work our way through Emily's chemo (see her blog, Her Lovely Lady Lumps )  At the moment she's doing great so I shook my pots and pans and made a little brunch. 

This is a simplified version of sauce I've made before.  It goes best on poached eggs, veggies or chicken.

Cream Sauce without the Cream. 
Serves 2

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup plain yogurt
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1/2 tbsp chopped chives

Instructions:

1. Mix all the ingredients together in a microwave safe bowl
2. Microwave for 30 minutes, whisk, repeat until the butter is melted and the sauce is warm

That's it.  I use the chive butter that I have in my freezer.  I have large patches of chives in my garden so I make lots of chive butter to have during the winter months.  It's also way easier to grab as I'm cooking then to run out to the yard in the middle of food prep!

Special Day Crepes

This past weekend I made a special meal to honour Valentine's day and got reminded how wonderful crepes are.  They are so easy to make and remind me of winters in France or Switzerland.  Not that I've spent winters in France or Switzerland, although I have spent time in Quebec and in Moncton which has a great french vibe... and an awesome crepe restaurant Cafe Archibald! 

You can make a bit batch of crepes, freeze them and then pull them out to stuff whatever you feel like for a quick but elegant meal. 

Crepes
Ingredients:

• 1 cup flour
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1/2 -3/4 cup water (add less first, you can always add more)
• 3 tbsp melted butter
• more butter for coating the pan

Instructions:

1. Blend it all in the blender! It makes it so easy, you can pour the batter right out from the blender into the pan.  The batter should be thinner than pancake batter.
2. Heat a non-stick pan over medium high heat.
3. Melt a little butter, about 1/4 tsp in the pan.
4. Pour enough to coat the bottom of the pan.  Don't worry, as Julia Child used to say 'when making crepes you throw the first one out' because that's your time to get the batter right and get used to handling the pan.
5. Swirl the pan to move the batter to completely cover the bottom of the pan.
6. If you need to add more water to the batter feel free. The batter should move pretty easily over the bottom of the pan before it cooks. 
7. Continue until you use all the batter, piling them up on a plate in the oven if you are going to use them right away to keep them warm or spread them out a bit on a cutting board if you are going to store them for later.

It might take a couple of tries but once you get your crepe making groove on it'll be easy peasy lemon squeezie!

Ready for the freezer for another meal later!  I only got 7 crepes out of this batch but usually I get 10 or more.  It depends on how big your pan is.  I used my largest pan and then remembered I usually use my smaller one.

I made a little sauce to pour over our filling.  It was soo good and sooo simple.  And there's leftovers of the sauce too.  I'm thinking spinach and shrimp crepes later.

Havarti Cheese Sauce
Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 tbsp butter
• 2 1/2 tbsp flour
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cup shredded Havarti cheese, Gruyere or Emmenthal would work too
• 1/2 cup light cream
• 1 tbsp butter
• 1 tbsp chopped chives (I have butter mixed with chives frozen in a log in my freezer, I just cut off a piece to finish off the sauce.  ps. the chives came from my garden!)

Instructions:

1. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium high heat
2. Add the flour and whisk, heat until just starting to turn brown, about 30 seconds to 1 minute
3. Slowly pour in the wine then the chicken broth, whisking continually. 
4. Blend until heated and bubbly. 
5. Add the cheese a bit at a time, whisk until melted, continue until you've got all the cheese in.
6. Whisk and let bubble for a minute.
7. Add in the cream, butter and chives, whisk until blended and heated through. 

I served this with some ham and asparagus.  They were so decadent!

Simple Sides

Wow, it's been over 2 months since I shared a recipe. Funny I haven't stopped cooking... I just made the Moroccan Chicken, Turnip and Carrot Tagine right off this very blog.  Mom actually picked up her plate and drank the remaining sauce.  It wasn't pretty but did prove how tasty this did was.  This reminded me of a dish Mom raved about over the holidays that I really must share.  Over the holidays we went to cottage in the woods, on a lake.  It was gorgeous and I wanted to spend my time relaxing, hanging with the dogs and not in the kitchen so I made simple dishes.  I cooked a ham, a pork tenderloin, roasted a prime rib, steamed some mussels but the sides, oh the sides did sing.  And I made them ahead!  Easy peasy.  This first one freezes beautifully.  It's a real treat to have veggie sides ready to go.  So here goes.

Sweet Potato Pancakes
Makes 8 - 10 pancakes

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup flour
• 2 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1 tsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cayenne powder
• salt and pepper to taste
• 2 large eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup milk
• 1 lb sweet potaotes, peeled and shredded
• 3 tbsp veg oil

Instructions:

1. Mix everything from flour to the salt and pepper. 
2. Stir in the eggs and enough of the milk to make it moist, toss in the sweet potatoes and add more milk if necessary to make a nice stiff batter.  Don't worry, you really can't screw it up. 
3. Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium-high until hot.
4. Drop 1/4 cup of the sweet potato mix and flatten with a spatula.  Repeat until the pan is full but NOT crowded.
5. Cook 5 - 8 minutes until golden, flip and repeat on the other side.
6. Place cooked pancakes on a paper towel lined plate and cook the rest of the mixture. 
7. Serve with yogurt or
8. Cool completely before freezing.
9. Reheat by placing on a single layer on a baking sheet in a preheated 325F oven for 10 minutes or until hot through.

**If you wish to bake these you can.  Do it on parchement paper and at 425 for 10 minutes, flip and cook another 5 - 10 minutes. 


Here's another make ahead that actually does freeze well.  I like to reheat it in the oven.

Mustard Tatties
Serves, well that depends on how many tatties you peel...

Ingredients:

• 2 potatoes per person plus 1 extra for the pot (seriously, this is how I learned to plan enough mashed potatoes)
• Mayo
• Mustard
• Sugar.
• Salt and Pepper to taste

Instructions:

1. Peel the potatoes and place in a pot.  Fill with an inch of water.  You want to steam the potatoes more than boil them.  You can use a steamer if you like.
2. Cook the potatoes until they are tender when poked with a fork.
3. Drain the potatoes and let cool a bit, about 10 minutes
4. Mash the potatoes
5. Add equal parts mustard and mayo to start.  I usually start with 1//4 cup of each if I'm making potatoes for 2.  Taste.  Add more mustard and/or mustard as you like.  Add a tsp or 2 of sugar to balance the mustard.  Taste.  Add salt and pepper if necessary.  Taste.  Are you getting my point?  It's all about your taste. 
6. Once you've got it to your liking you can serve it warm or cold (Newfoundlanders have this as part of a "Cold Plate" for all sort of functions all year long!)
7. You can also freeze this but if you do you really have to serve it warm after the it's defrosted.  Just heat it in a baking dish at 325F for about 30 minutes until heated through.  It's quite nice.

Harvest Autumn Chili

I've been holding on to this recipe from the September 2007 edition of Chatelaine.  It was the inspiration for this dish.  Seriously worth the wait.  Totally hit the spot on this chilly fall Saturday that was spent watching college football all day long (yup, I'm grinning from ear to ear - perfect day!!).

Harvest Autumn Chili
Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 1 lb pork sirloin, cut into 1 inch chunks (2cm)
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 tsp chipotle chili powder (add more if you like it spicy!)
• 1/2 tbsp chili powder (more or less depending on how spicy you like it)
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 cup diced can tomatoes
• 3 apples, peeled and diced
• 2 tsp chicken broth powder and 1 cup water or 1 cup chicken broth or stock
• 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1 inch/ 2cm chunks
• 1/2 red pepper, diced (I use jarred roasted red peppers but you can use fresh)
• 1 19 oz/540ml can of red kidney beans
• 3 tbsp chopped cilantro

Ingredients:

1. Heat a large saucepan over medium high heat with the vegetable oil drizzled in the pot.
2. Brown the pork and toss in the onions, cooking until soft.
3. Add the garlic, chipotle, chili, cumin and cinnamon, heat for 30 seconds.
4. Add in the tomatoes, apples and chicken broth.  Stir and reduce heat to medium low.
5. Simmer for 1 hour until the meat is tender.
6. Add in the sweet potatoes, red pepper and kidney beans. Increase heat to medium
7. Stir, bring back to a boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for 25 minutes.
8. Stir in the cilantro and serve.

Enjoy!

Coq au Vin

Holy moly I whipped up some lovely Coq au Vin this weekend.  Quite a while ago I made this dish in my crock pot and I was totally disappointed.  And I had to take the dish to a potluck.  I wasn't very 'gourmet goddessy' that day!  This version redeems me.  I had to refrain from licking the dish.  (I was having leftovers at work)

Be sure to use a red wine that you would drink.  Something light and fruity goes well here.

Coq au Vin
Serves 4 - 6

Ingredients:

• 2 Tbsp each, butter and olive Oil
• 2 slices of bacon, diced
• 5 chicken thighs and 2 breasts, bone in and skin on is best.  I remove any fat clumps I find just to lighten it up a bit.
• 1 large onion, diced
• 2 - 3 cups chopped cremini mushrooms
• 1 large clove of garlic, chopped
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme or 1 tsp dried
• 1/2 tbsp fresh sage or 1/2 tsp dried
• 1/4 tbsp fresh rosemary or 1/4 tsp dried
• 3 tbsp flour
• 2 cups red wine
• 1 1/2 cups chicken broth
• 1 tbsp tomato paste

Instructions:

1. Heat the butter and oil over medium high heat in an ovenproof shallow saucepan with a lid or dutch oven.
2. Add the bacon and saute until crispy. Remove from pan and set aside
3. Place the chicken in the pan and cook until brown on all sides. Remove from pan and set aside.
4. Add the onions to the pan and cook until softened and lightly brown.
5. Toss in the mushrooms and garlic, cook for 2 minutes.
6. Stir in the thyme, sage and rosemary and cook for 30 seconds
7. Add the flour and whisk until fully mixed in
8. Slowly pour in the wine, whisking to blend it with the flour mixture
9. Stir in the chicken broth and tomato paste.
10. Place the chicken and bacon back in the pan
11. Cover the pan and place in oven.
12. Bake (actually you are braising at this point) for 1 1/2 to 2 hours until the chicken starts falling apart. Serve with potatoes and something green like brussel sprouts or steamed broccoli.