dinner Archives • Page 3 of 5 • Ant & Anise

My Famous Aunt, and Broiled Salmon Misonese

When I was growing up I had a famous aunt.

That’s what it felt like to me. Eve wrote for the Vancouver Sun newspaper for years, before the days when anyone with a computer could publish to the world. When there were more filters on what made it to print. Manual ones, like editors.

We subscribed to the daily paper, and I never tired of seeing her byline. My aunt, the author. Cool!

Occasionally, Eve would weave personal vignettes into her articles and refer to her sister or parents. When I’d read these I would always feel a rush of excitement, as if anyone reading the article would naturally realize the family connection to know it was my mom or my grandparents she was talking about. It made me feel a little famous, by extension….

Five-Spice Sweet Potato Purée

It’s Thanksgiving weekend here, and I’m thinking of turkey. More specifically, since Bob is in charge of roasting the turkey, I’m thinking about all the dishes that round out the dinner.

Like what to have as a before-dinner snack that won’t be too filling? Shall I stick with my tried-and-true Brussels sprouts with garlic and lemon or try something different? And oh yes, I need to get on with the cranberry relish today so tomorrow will be a little less hectic. Oh the things I daydream about.

Also, the gorgeous weather outside is making me want to go out and do something other than putter around in the kitchen. We won’t have many dry, sunny days left in the year, I know. It’s a great afternoon for a slow walk down South Granville street, with a stop for a cappuccino.

Okay, let’s cut to the chase then….

Oven Roasted Chicken with Maple Mustard Pan Sauce

I’m back from Montreal where we welcomed and celebrated the newest member of our family, Thomas Christopher, who is just over 8 weeks old.

It was an action-packed week: Catching up with family, walks to the markets and shops (while Thomas slept peacefully in his stroller, an astounding feat given all the bumps on the uneven sidewalks) and, of course, taking turns holding and rocking Thomas in our arms.

Aside from gazing into Thomas’s eyes, one of my favorite parts of Montreal was exploring the food. (No surprise there, really.) I soaked it all in, from the huge variety of locally grown apples and other produce at the Marché Jean-Talon, to the elegant display of, well, everything really but especially the breads, fresh meats and wild mushrooms at Les 5 Saisons. We even found our namesake wine in the SAQ — a pinot noir from California. Is that cool or what?…

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Pico de gallo

If you can handle a little chopping you can make one of the freshest tasting summer sauces ever, and one of my favorites: Pico de gallo.

I bought some prepared pico de gallo in July at Whole Foods. I was scurrying around getting groceries because I had house guests arriving and was running short on time.

Vacuuming up cat hair tumbleweeds trumped spending some time in the kitchen.

You would think with a dark brown/black cat, his clumps of light-as-air fur would blend right into the dark wood floor. But they don’t. It’s a disappointingly unforgiving surface that shows everything. (And while I am the family neat-freak I don’t follow the Unclutterer’s advice on taming fur tumbleweeds. I usually just try to ignore them for as long as possible. 4-5 days is as good as it gets before I’m yanking the vacuum out.)…

Chimichurri sauce

¡Olé!

With this gorgeous summer weather the last few weeks (can you believe it?) my tastes have turned to south of the border flavors. Specifically, chimichurri sauce.

I’ve seen chimichurri pop up on several menus lately and it’s a taste I love, tangy and vinaigrette-y.

Okay yes, it’s true, I do like some creamy sauces. In fact, Béarnaise is probably my most favorite sauce in the world, ever. If I get a chance to order it out, I do. (I’m also very lucky that Bob makes a great Béarnaise sauce too.)

But mostly, when it comes to sauces and dressings, I’m a vinaigrette kind of girl. And that’s vinaigrette on the side, too. Yup.

Chimichurri is one amazingly tangy fresh herb explosion. I’ve been thinking of it as pesto’s bad-ass cousin that goes great with a simple grilled steak (no surprise) but it really shines when the whole meal has a Latin twist, like with steak tacos.

I could be saying this because I’m on a bit of a taco kick right now. Bob and I recently got around to trying La Taqueria on Cambie, and we’re officially hooked. Also, lately we’ve also been catching up on a lot of episodes of Breaking Bad, which is filmed in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

These tacos are far different from the ones I remember having as a kid. Mom would get a package of Old El Paso taco shells and we’d fill them with ground beef (probably seasoned with Old El Paso spice mix), tomato slices, shredded cheddar cheese and shredded lettuce.

And then, one or maybe two bites into it, the hard taco shell would explode into shards. The tomatoes would slide out the top and the ground beef would drip out the bottom, until all you were holding was a remnant of taco shell and a few shreds of cheese and lettuce. It was fun though. I mean come on, eating with your hands is always fun, right?

No, these are quite different tacos: Fresh, soft tortillas that don’t crumble. Steak instead of ground beef. And oh-so-tangy chimichurri sauce. They still are super messy, and leave us licking our fingers after every bite. A perfect summer dinner.

Aside from steak tacos, there are a lot of ways to use chimichurri sauce. Here are some ideas:

sauce for grilled meat, chicken or fish
sauce for grilled vegetables
dipping sauce for bread
spread for sandwiches, on its own or combined with mayo
sauce for pasta: reserve some cooking liquid from the pasta to thin it out a little

Chimichurri Sauce

Yield: 3/4 cup

There are a ton of variations on chimichurri sauce out there, but this is one I put together that we particularly liked. The cilantro and lime juice are less traditional, but go well with a Latin-themed meal. Feel free to substitute all parsley for the cilantro and use red wine vinegar for a more traditional chimichurri -- either way it still packs a punch!

Ingredients

1 cup lightly packed fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
1 cup lightly packed fresh cilantro leaves
1/4 cup lightly packed fresh oregano leaves
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, minced
1/2 teaspoon red chili pepper flakes
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
3-4 tablespoons red wine vinegar or fresh lime juice
kosher salt to taste

Instructions

In a food processor with the blade attachment, place the parsley, cilantro, oregano, garlic, shallot and chili pepper flakes and process until combined.
Scrape down the sides of the processor with a spatula, then add 3 tablespoons of olive oil and 3 tablespoons of vinegar/lime juice Process until combined.
Add a little salt and taste for seasoning. If you want a little more tang, add the other tablespoon of vinegar/lime juice. If you want a runnier sauce, add the other tablespoon of olive oil.
Pour sauce into a serving dish.

Notes

You can make this the day you're serving it, but it also keeps well in the fridge for about a week. We found the garlic flavor intensified after a few days.

Roasted salmon with ginger lime glaze

Summer is almost here.

I want to say it’s here! it’s here! because I love sunshine, warmer weather, and the more relaxed pace that comes around this time of year. I always say, any day that it’s warm enough to not wear socks is a good day.

But this morning it rained, and the air is still stubbornly chilly once the sun disappears behind a cloud. (I’m still wearing shorts, but I had to bundle up with a heavy jacket to tame the goosebumps on my arms.)

With summer coming on I’ve been trying to work more seafood into meals. I typically fire up the barbie when I want to cook any kind of fish, because I hate the lingering smells that come from cooking fish in the kitchen. But a good way around this — especially when it’s a drizzly June day, and the last thing I want to do is hover over the barbecue in the rain — is to roast salmon in a hot oven. …