zucchini pizza

Oh hi blog. It's been a long time. I'm not making any promises that I'll be posting on the regular (yet), but for now, here's my favourite recipe so far this summer! I spotted some awesome yellow zucchini at the farmer's market this week and threw together this pizza for a perfect mid-week dinner.

These days, my go-to pizza dough recipe is Jim Lahey's No-Knead dough. I half the recipe and add a tablespoon of honey to the dough. It's great because you mix the dough the night before and just let it sit until the next day.

For the toppings, use pesto for the base. Sprinkle with some grated parmigiano and a thin layer of mozzarella, and top with thinly sliced rounds of yellow zucchini, red onions and small dollops of goat cheese. Bake until golden brown. So good! 

100 days old

Over the weekend, Maxwell turned 100 days old. And because he's half Korean, we decided to throw him a baek-il party. You can read about this Korean tradition here, but basically it's a celebration of a baby surviving its first 100 days (back in the day a lot of babies didn't make it to 100 days, so it was a reason to celebrate). We weren't planning on marking this milestone, but then I thought about how great of a memory it would be for Maxwell, so we rushed around and got everything the day before. It was a sweet little party for three! 

The table included Korean Shingo pears and a baby watermelon (there's always fruit on a Korean celebration table), Asian snacks, sticky rice cakes, and the requisite baby photos.

The sweet Korean rice cakes (tteok)are a must. I like the really soft and chewy ones stuffed with red beans (the tan, white and brown ones). The shiny green, red and pink ones have a liquid honey centre. The cake-like multi-colour slices are much drier, not very sweet at all and even though they look mighty pretty, they're definitely my least favourite.

We also had a very non-traditional (but delicious) ice cream cake with two kinds of ice cream inside: cookies and cream and gold medal ribbon. 

The party continued the next day thanks to Maxwell's halmoni and halabujee (grandma and grandpa in Korean). They brought even more rice cakes, fruit, kimbap, and two cakes.

Halmoni made a traditional steamed rice cake that says "100 day celebration" in Korean lettering made out of dates.

We love you not-so-little Mundoo! You make us smile and laugh every day!

another year

Sometimes when Mundoo is crying, I say, “I understand. You’ve only been on this earth for two and a half months, everything must be terrifying! Can you believe I’ve been here for 33 years?” Well, let’s make that 34 now. Over the weekend, I celebrated a low-key birthday. I treated myself to a new iPhone (!!!) and spent the day with my two favourite boys. We capped off the evening with some cake and dirty Chinese food (you know, the deep-fried everything and red sauce-type of Chinese food). Sometimes it sooo hits the spot. 

super salad

Even though it's still winter (ugh), I've really been into salads lately. The last of my post-preggo baby weight (double ugh) that's been looming around might be part of the reason. Here's a recent favourite. Start with a gnarly celery root:

And a bulb of fennel:

Cut the celery root into thin matchsticks and slice the fennel thinly (reserve some of the fronds for the dressing). Add in some thin slices of red onion:

Whisk together a quick dressing of freshly-squeezed orange juice, chopped fennel fronds, olive oil, sugar, sea salt and cracked pepper (I did this all to taste):

Toss everything together and let sit for an hour or longer (it's even good the next day). Season again. Other great additions to this salad include: toasted hazelnuts, thinly sliced granny smith apple, and shavings of parmigiano-reggiano cheese.

roasted tomato soup

When Ontario tomatoes were in season, I made this roasted tomato soup on the regular. It's really easy to throw together, tastes even better on the second day, and is the best when paired with a gooey grilled cheese. 

5 large plum tomatoes or vine tomatoes, halved
1 package of grape tomatoes
5 cloves of garlic
2 medium sized onions, halved
4 C chicken stock
2 bay leaves
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp fennel seeds
salt & pepper
4-5 fresh basil leaves (optional)

1. Heat oven to 425 degrees. Place all the tomatoes, garlic and onions on a baking tray and toss with olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast for 30 minutes, or until everything starts to blister and caramelize.

2. Place all of the roasted vegetables into a pot and add chicken stock, bay leaves and fennel seeds. Bring to a boil, then lower heat to medium and cook until liquid reduces by a third. Remove bay leaves.

3. Add basil if using, then puree everything in a blender or by using an immersion blender, until smooth. Return soup to low heat and season to taste. If you find your soup to be too acidic, a tablespoon of honey will balance things out. If your soup is too thick, just add more chicken stock. If you want to get fancy and get rid of any seeds or skin, you can strain the soup through a sieve before serving.

pierogis + cabbage rolls

One of the benefits of having my mom around is being able to request some of my favourite meals. I was pretty pumped for this one: homemade pierogis and cabbage rolls. Not sure how and when my mom learned to make cabbage rolls (and I’m sure she doesn’t use a very authentic recipe—I saw a can of tomato soup get thrown in the mix), but they taste delicious and that’s all that matters to me. For the pierogis, we used Veselka's dough recipe and filled them with mashed potatoes mixed with caramelized onions and cheddar. 

filipino ensaymadas

My mom is visiting for the week which means I'll be getting lots of home cooking. So far one of the highlights was when she showed up with bags of homemade Filipino ensaymadas made by my 80-year old auntie. Sort of a cross between a brioche and Asian-style breads, ensaymadas are buttery, soft, slightly sweet buns. They can be eaten plain, topped with a smear of butter, then dipped in sugar, or topped with a smear of butter, dipped in sugar and sprinkled with shredded cheese (yes, cheese). Sounds weird, but tastes amazing. 

My auntie used to make these all the time when I was a kid (though we never got the cheese version) and me and my bro used to devour them. She’s passed the recipe onto me, but they’re pretty labour intensive to make and I’ve yet to tackle them. For now, my freezer’s stocked and I’m set for a little while.

just wingin' it

A mad craving for buffalo wings made this dinner happen. For some reason I feel like as long as everything is homemade, an indulgent pub-style meal is ok every once in a while—at least that's what I tell myself so that I don't feel so guilty.

For the buffalo wing sauce (enough for about 3 lbs of wings):

4 tbsp butter

1/2 C Frank's Red Hot sauce

2 tbsp hot sauce (I use Cholula)

1 tbsp brown sugar

2 tsp apple cider vinegar

1/2 tsp cayenne

Melt butter in a pot then whisk in remaining ingredients. Keep warm while you fry your wings (I deep fry my wings until crispy before dumping them in the sauce. I'm sure you could also bake your wings, but they probably won't be as crispy.)

For the  blue cheese dip (makes about a cup):

1/2 C crumbled blue cheese
3 tbsp buttermilk
6 tbsp sour cream
4 tbsp mayonnaise
1/4 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp red wine vinegar
salt & pepper to taste

Mix blue cheese and buttermilk until it resembles cottage cheese. Add in the rest of the ingredients and mix well. Let chill for half an hour.

say cheese

I haven't made a good cheese board in a while, so when a friend and fellow cheese-lover was visiting, I decided to whip up a little fromage selection to snack on.

Clockwise from top left: fig jam; Grey Owl, a tangy goat cheese with an ashy rind from Quebec; a triple cream brie-like cheese that I can't remember the name of, sorry; Bleu Bénédictin, a pungent blue from Quebec; Merlot BellaVitano, a sharp and rich cheese that's soaked in Merlot from Wisconsin.

The full spread included a variety of pickles and olives, some bacon-wrapped parmigiano-stuffed dates, crostinis, veggies, plus some of the amazing goods I picked up at Arz.

kimbap

The hot weather these days has got me wanting to be anywhere but in front of a hot oven. A staple dinner (and lunch) over here has been Korean kimbap. It requires minimal cooking and is filling enough to be a complete meal. Kimbap is sorta like sushi, except the rice isn't seasoned (usually) and there's no raw fish involved. Fillings include everything from cooked bulgogi (marinated Korean beef), crab stick and even canned tuna, plus sauteed spinach and carrots, fried egg and yellow pickled radish called danmuji. Here's my kimbap pre-roll:

Once rolled, it totally resembles a maki roll:

Some of my rolls had bulgogi and crab stick.

I find that kimbap is best served fresh, when the rice is still warm. Next day kimbap is ok, but the rice gets a bit hard and the seaweed goes soggy. I've heard a solution is a quick dip in some egg and a light fry in a pan, but that means more time in the kitchen.

chili con carne

I usually make a pretty wicked meatless chili with lentils, beans and veggies, but this time I unleashed my inner carnivore and made a true chili con carne (well, not really, because I'm pretty sure that authentic chili doesn't have beans). No ground beef here, just pure chuck beef...

...Simmered for hours and hours with three kinds of beans until oh-so-tender.

The best toppings? Shredded Monterey Jack cheese, green onions, sour cream, candied jalapenos and a handful of Fritos.

fish tacos

I've been craving fish tacos ever since I had Grand Electric's version way back in January. So after a quick trip to Kensington Market for fresh tortillas and fish, Joe and I collaborated to make these crispy fish tacos with red cabbage slaw.

For the fish, we chose grouper. It was dipped in a simple tempura batter and fried until crispy. All it needed was a squeeze of lime and some tangy slaw.

We also made shrimp tacos using the same tempura batter. I threw together a quick pineapple salsa and added a spoonful of salsa verde to each taco to finish them off.

The salsa verde is from La Tortilleria, where we get our tortillas. It's usually pretty mild, but this batch was really spicy—which made it that much more delicious. I cut up some of the tortillas into triangles and fried them for fresh chips.

fried rice, fried chicken

This recent night dinner started out sorta healthy enough: fried rice and Asian-style cucumber salad...

But then I decided to attempt making homemade Korean fried chicken. Second weekend in a row of fried chicken! 

I think it's time to go on a bit of a hiatus (even though I think it's obvious that I love fried chicken in all forms).

southern-style supper

Here's my attempt at a traditional Southern-themed dinner: fried chicken, mac & cheese and collard greens. A pretty great way to end the weekend if you ask me.

One of my favourite fried chicken recipes is Thomas Keller's (I divide the recipe by three to accommodate eight pieces of chicken). The collards were chopped and sauteed with onions, garlic and chicken stock until tender (about 30 minutes).

The mac & cheese was my favourite part of the meal. Gooey, but not too rich with a buttery-crisp top. 

fish & chips

There have been some major fish & chips cravings at my house, so Joe took matters into his own hands and made the most awesome meal: homemade fish & chips, coleslaw and tartar sauce.

He used fresh cod dipped in a simple batter of cold beer, flour and salt, which resulted in a light and crispy crust. The tartar sauce was a mixture of mayo, lemon juice, green onions, gherkins, capers and parsley. 

I'm not a big french fry person (I don't like potatoes that much in general), but these were nice and crunchy outside and fluffy inside. Must have been the double fry method that Joe learned about while watching Saturday morning PBS cooking shows. 

ham and cheese waffles

When I saw these ham and cheese waffles in the March issue of Bon Appetit, I knew that I had to try them out. 

Topped with maple syrup, these waffles were crunchy, salty and sweet all at once. The perfect breakfast for dinner meal. 

pizza! pizza!

This pizza dough recipe from Pizzeria Mozza is fantastic! No really, it's probably the best dough I've ever made. There are a couple unconventional ingredients (rye flour and wheat germ) and the dough takes a while to make since you need to make a starter and let the dough rise a few times, but the resulting crust was so worth it. Chewy, full of bubbles and mega-flavourful, I couldn't stop saying "How good is this pizza!?" Here's the final rise of the dough (I made four medium-sized pizzas). You can see the bubbles forming.

Toppings! A good way to clean out the fridge.

Check out that crust: 

The recipe calls for using a pizza stone, but mine cracked a few months back so I improvised: I turned a large baking sheet upside-down and heated it in a 500-degree oven just like you would a stone. I'm already planning next week's pizza night.