Friday April 20, 2012

Dinner for 2

Pork Wraps with Hoisin

 Crispy Basa & Lemongrass Slaw

 Pears Brie Cookie Bake

I love these Pork Wraps with Hoisin.  They are easy to make with sliced pork tenderloin cooked with a simple Hoisin sauce and then wrapped in a small wheat tortilla topped with some lettuce and bean sprouts.  They are excellent for crowds and a very tasty starter tonight.

  

Crispy Basa with lemongrass Slaw.  This was a tasty main of nicely breaded fish and a wonderful fresh slaw.  The slaw included snow peas, carrots, peppers and sprouts. Tasty!

This was one of my worst desserts every.  The idea came from something I read but I think the execution needed to be different.  The base was graham cracker crumbs and butter then the brie and thinly sliced pears went on top.  It was then baked in the over.  I am not sure if it was the oven temperature or the type pears but it ended up extremely dry.  Live and learn.  Good thing it wasn't for a large crowd.

 

Friday April 13, 2012

Dinner for 2

Wilted Spinach with Garlic and Lime Zest
Rosini Pasta with Lemon Pepper Shrimp
Apple Crisp with Sesame Ice Cream

A fairly simple dinner tonight but certainly full of wonderful flavours.

 I love wilted spinach so this dish was fantastic in my opinion.

Lemon Pepper Shrimp with the Rosini and added crunch of the snow peas and topped with the fresh sunflower sprouts, definitely a fantastic spring menu choice.

Then for dessert I through together a simple apple crisp and used up the leftover sesame ice cream made for a previous Friday night dinner dessert.  It was so yummy I forgot to get a picture first.

Friday April 6, 2012

Dinner for 2

 

Thai Fish Burgers with Salad

 

A quiet dinner for two tonight.  Sometimes they happen on a Friday night.  Made a beautiful Thai Fish Burger with Salad.  A nice change from the multi-course Friday nights of late but still wonderful food.  Of course sometimes it is lovely to have the company of just one.

 

  

Friday March 30, 2012

Dinner for 7

Fried Mozzarella

Brown Butter Fillet Mignon

Dukkah Fish

Sesame Spinach Salad

Rice Pilaf with Almonds & Apricots

Poached Pears

My parents were in town this weekend so they got to attend a Friday night dinner.  I love cooking for my folks but they have some food sensitivities that limit my menu choices.  I definitely can't go spicy with them.  My parents like frozen mozzarella sticks that you can heat and serve so I definitely knew my made from scratch ones would be a hit as the starter. These are super easy.

I decided on two main dishes to try and make sure everyone was satisfied.  You could cut and share if you wanted to try both which is what most people chose in the end.  The brown butter fillet mignon turned out to be one on the best steaks I have ever cooked in my opinion.  This is going to be added to my special treat dinners for sure.  So tasty and really quite easy to prepare.

Dukkah is an Egyptian spice and nut mix that I could simply by in Adelaide, South Australia but back here in Guelph, Ontario I have had to learn to make it myself.  Luckily it isn't that hard.  You can use dukkah in many ways.  One favourite is to slice a baguette, dip it in olive oil and then dip it in the dukkah served with cheese and such as a mid day meal.  Today though I used it as a coating before baking my white fish.  I simply dipped the fish in a little milk and then dipped it in the spice mixture with a little flour mixed in.  I baked it in a 180C oven until it was cooked.  This has been a favourite quick and tasty fish for along time.

The sides for the mains were chosen to blend with both 'meat' dishes.  Sesame spinach salad and rice pilaf with almonds and  apricots.

Dessert was poached pears which I have done a few times before, but never for my parents.  I love these pears (actually I really just love pears) and they turned out nicely.  Only thing I forgot to reduce some of the poaching liquid to use as a sauce on the pears.  Good thing no one but me noticed it's absence.

Friday March 23, 2012

Appetisers for 8

 Deep Fried Shrimp

Guacamole with Tortilla

Cheese Plate

So this was not your regular Friday night dinner.  Two weekends ago was my birthday and I actually spent the whole weekend in bed due to an allergic reaction to antibiotics.  At the time I had no idea what was wrong with me.  So as a birthday 'do-over' I invited a group of my favourite women to share some drinks and nibbles on my porch. They even surprised me with gifts.  XOXO Thanks! We have had a crazy mild spring this year and we could actually sit out on the porch quite comfortably until the wee hours of the morning.  I prepared a bit of food.  Unfortunately my camera was on vacation with my son so I only have one picture taken by my daughter of the deep fried shrimp.

These are green tiger shrimp in a rich batter. Mix two egg yolks and 100g of flour then add a little water to make a smooth but rather thick batter.  Dip in the shrimps then dip them in broken up thread bean noodles.  Deep fry until golden.  Serve with sweet chilli sauce.  

The guacamole and tortilla were from the same recipe as last week Friday March 9, 2012 .

The cheese plate was a selection from my favourite local shop Ouderkirk & Taylor along with some figs and my own beetroot chutney.

The ladies supplied some excellent brownies as well. 

Friday March 9, 2012

Dinner for 6

Hibiscus Margaritas

 Spicy Roasted Peanuts

Classic Guacamole and Guacamole with Tomatillo and Peach served with Tortilla Chips

Scallop Ceviche with Ruby Grapefruit

 Fish and Avocado Tacos

Chocolate Chilli Pots

Mexican food is not my favourite but my husband really likes it.  I chose dishes that felt I would like out of a couple of cookbooks my husband had given me.  While cooking this dinner I felt like absolute crap and none of the food seemed to be going right, because unknown to me I was having a sever allergic reaction to the antibiotics I was taking for the root canal I had done a day earlier.  The guest all loved the food and looking back on it now it was a fantastic evening and the food was truly fantastic.

Hibiscus margaritas were very yummy.  As you can see we started drinking them while I was still working on the food.  My sister, who is often at our dinners, usually comes over while I am still working on the food and today we enjoyed the spicy roasted peanuts (sorry no picture) and drinks between preparations.  Don't worry there was still plenty left for the other guests.

This is one of the two guacamoles I made to go with the tortilla chips.  This is the one with peach which was everyone's favourite.  I have made similar ones since for the family using cape gooseberries as the fruit and it was very nice too.  The tortilla chips which were cut up tortillas fried and tossed with salt and cumin were excellent.  I wish it was easier to get fresh corn tortillas here so I could make them more often.  

Yummy!!! Scallop ceviche with ruby grapefruit.  Loved it! My favourite dish of the night.

Fish and avocado tacos served with green chilli salsa and salsa rosa.  I am not a huge fan of tacos but I really liked them with fish.  The green chilli salsa and salsa rosa were both super spicy, like most of the food in Christine Manfield book Fire, but so tasty.  

Chocolate chilli pots were an excellent ending to the meal.  Easy to prepare.

Sources for the menu:  Hibiscus margaritas, Spicy Roasted Peanuts and the Guacamoles and Tortilla Chips were all out of the cookbook Antojitos Festive and Flavorful Mexican Small Plates by Barbara Sibley and Margaritte Malfy with Mary Goodbody . Scallop Ceviche and Fish and Avocado Tacos were out of the cookbook Fire: A World of Flavour by Christine Manfield . The Chocolate Chilli Pots were from Delicious magazine   

Friday March 2, 2012

Dinner for 5

Take Away Sushi

I was house bound with a sick child for the last 3 days.  So there was no Friday night dinner this week, prepared by me.  My Hubby was sweet enough to bring home sushi, which is always a hit in our house. Unfortunately I didn't even take a picture of it.  Oh well, back at it next week. 

Cheers