Home Cooking: Braised Chicken Thighs

For dinner I made braised chicken thighs with mushrooms, pancetta and shallots. The sauce that the chicken is braised in was then finished off with balsamic, and reduced. I served it with a piece of pancetta, and garlic, lemon steamed kale. Although simple, it was delicious! 

Home Cooking: MoMo's

I was invited over to a friend's house who had spent some time in Nepal, to learn how to make Momo's. Momo's are a Himalayan style dumpling, filled with meat (sometimes just vegetables) and steamed. They are a bite of heaven, and make me feel all cosy. The meat was mixed with ginger, garlic, onion and a fair amount of salt (although the end product doesnt taste salty). 

Step one involves mixing the meat and rolling the dumplings. It is a finger, thumb motion and by the time you are finished, it should look seamless. 

Step Two: Steam the dumplings.  

When the are finished, they look like below. When you eat them, provided everything has gone right, there will be a little burst of soupy flavour in your mouth. 

 We served them with some curried cabbage. Interestingly enough, very little curry powder is used, and again a substantial amount of salt is added. It tastes very balanced, with the salt bringing out different flavour notes.

We also had homemade hot sauce, made with chilis, tomatoes, and salt. It was just boiled down on the stove. And despite how it appears, man, it was spicy! 

 And voila, the complete, plated meal. I don't know how to say good eating in Nepalese, but man, it was good eating!

Home Cooking: Lasagna!

Tonight we made lasagna with zucchini, eggplant and ground turkey. I was surprised at how moist and how much depth of flavour came through with the turkey, using it instead of ground beef. But not only was it a healthier option, I truly think it is a yummier one too! 

Bistro Le Coq!

 I wanted this place to be good. It has the perfect daytime/ brunch vibe - bright and cheery. But the service was slow. The tiny tiny coffee was overpriced, although delicious. The menu was full of delightful options, perhaps a few too many. And when my food did come (finally) it was disappointing and cold. The one great part was that the hollandaise proportions were spot on. But the meat to egg ratio was dismal.
Below is the lobster egg benedicts, followed by the duck confit eggs benedict. We also ordered duck fat fries, topped with parmasaen cheese, which was a crowd pleaser, but again, I thought, meh.

Home Cooking: Indian Food

I LOVE Aloo Gobi, and can never make it right. So I attempted it (again) with success! We had Aloo Gobi, butter chicken and bharta (eggplant). 

 I bought mini-eggplants and roasted them in the oven with a spice mixture, onions and tomatoes.

Home Cooking: Iron Chef

Bored one night, my boyfriend and I decided to play Iron Chef at home with beef. It was difficult given that we were given cooking in one small kitchen, and so our timing was a bit off (sharing an oven didn't help either). So voila, our creations. And of course, given there were only two people, we couldn't decide on a winner. (Although, I think it was me...) 

 Above: Beef Wellington minis with a blueberry cream sauce.

 Above: Pita with cumin, chili, paprika, yogurt encrusted beef. Served with a stuffed pepper.

 Above: Rare tepanyaki style beef served with a wasabi sauce and avocado.

Above: Beef "soup" dumplings, with shitake mushrooms, peas, cilantro, ginger and siracha. 

 Above: Beef "slider" bruschetta served on olive bread, and brie cheese.

Above: Beef voltini with brie cheese, asparagus, rockette and balsamic reduction. Topped with charred spicy genoa salami. 

Home Cooking: Lobster DInner

When living in Halifax, how could we not eat lobster. I think I am a traditionalist, as I don't really like anything fancy, just fattening. I like to squeeze some lemon on it, and dip chunks in pure melted butter. We served it with asparagus and a chacuterie platter. 

 Our chacuterie platter had a mixed variety of olives, thinly sliced baguette, pate, brie cheese, blue cheese and craisons. It would've looked better if the pate was in one slab as opposed to chunks...

Home Cooking: Banh Mi

I made my own Banh Mi - and it was so good! Baguette, pate, siracha, hoison, tea infused chicken thighs, homemade pickeled cucumber, onion and carotts, topped with cilantro!  Easy and delicious!

Cabbage Roll's and Dad's Perogies from Halifax Seaport Farmer's Market

I never liked perogies - found them oppressive and too heavy. That was until I tried Dad's Perogies at the Halifax Seaport Farmers Market. They are all natural, and are available as bacon, cheddar and potato or potato, mushroom and onion. We served them with a paprika infused sour cream, bacon and green onion. 

I also delved into the world of Eastern European cooking, and made some cabbage rolls. I served them with a paprika smokey, but sweet tomato sauce. On the side we had a brussel spout slaw.