latke

Seasoned Rice

2 cups of washed rice
One chopped celery stalk
One chopped tomato
One chopped red bell pepper
One chopped green bell pepper
One large chopped onion
Other chopped veggies of your choice (carrots, zucchini, whatever)
Fresh chopped herbs of your choice (I like basil or thyme)
A little bit of tumeric for colour
4 cups chicken stalk
a little more salt or vegeta if you like.

Place all the chopped veggies in a large pyrex baking pan.
Wash the rice and mix with the veggies.
Mix the tumeric with the chicken stalk and pour over the rice and veggies.
Mix well.

Cover with tin foil and bake in a 350F oven until all the liquid is absorbed.
Uncover for the last 10 minutes and stir.

I often add left over chicken, beef or shrimp as well.

It's an easy side that doesn't take a lot of work...if you have a small chopper.

Stawberry Pie

Filling:
About 2 pints of strawberries (hulled and cut in half)
1/2 cup of sugar
4 tbsp corn flour
1 tsp vanilla extract

Combine and set aside.

Pastry Crust



In a bowl combine: 2 1/2 cups of flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 3 tbsp sugar, about a tsp of baking power and mix well. Then add one cup of chilled butter and use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the dry mixture. When it's well mixed, meaning the butter is no longer in big chunks....


In a small bowl, beat 1 tsp of vanilla with one egg. Make a little well in the flour mixture adding sprinkles of water just until the dough holds together.



Take a little more than half for the bottom of the pie plate and roll out the dough on a well floured surface. Fill shell with fruit filling, and roll out the other half.
Use a knife to cut dough into strips for lattice pie top....or don't bother with it and just cut a hole in the top with a cookie cutter.

Place your pie on a baking sheet because mine has a tendency to bubble over on occasion when the fruit expands. I'd rather be safe than have to clean the drips after the fact.

Brush with egg yolk (I find it browns nicer than with milk or egg whites) and bake in the oven at 350F until golden brown. (about 50 minutes)

Saltfish and Bake

Bake (Makes about 5):
2 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 teaspoons baking powder
about 1 cup water
1 cup oil for deep frying

Instructions

Sift flour, salt, and baking powder. Add enough water to make a soft dough. Knead for about ten minutes then let rest for half an hour or more.

Cut in pieces and roll each piece 4 to 5 inches in diameter and ¼ inch thick.
Fry in hot oil, turn once, and fry until brown. Drain on paper towel.


Saltfish
1 pkg boned saltfish (unless you like picking out bones)
2 tablespoon olive oil
2 tomatoes (chopped)
1/2 red bell pepper (chopped)
juice of one lime
½ sliced large onion
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tsp Italian Seasoning
1 tsp chopped fresh thyme
1 tsp chopped fresh parsley
Black pepper to taste
1 chopped scotch bonnett (make sure you don't touch your eyes or any other sensitive parts afterwards. I used a chopper and made sure I spooned it out without touching it)

Instructions

Break 1 pkg of boned salted codfish in pieces and boil for ten to 15 minutes. Drain. This is to remove the salt: Don't skip this step or it'll be far too salty to eat.

Fry fish in hot oil for about 3 to 4 minutes. Add tomatoes, lime juice, onion, garlic, thyme, scotch bonnett pepper, and other ingredients; cook for ten minutes.

Serve warm with bake.
To eat the saltfish with the bake, open the bake as you would pita bread, fill it with saltfish, and enjoy.

Tarte Tatin

IT WORKED!!!

Chocolate Coconut Strawberry Cream Cheese Tart

For the crust:
2 c. all-purpose flour
3 T. sugar
1 egg
¼ t. salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 c. butter, cut into small pieces
¼ c. ice water

For the filling:
6 oz. dark chocolate
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
½ c. powdered sugar, sifted
1/2 cup coconut (optional)
½ t. vanilla extract
2 T. milk or cream
Fresh strawberries (approx. 2 pints), sliced


Preheat oven to 350°. In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour, sugar and salt. Rub in butter with fingertips (or mix with stand mixer/food processor) until mixture is crumbly and resembles wet sand. Stir in water, adding an additional tablespoon if necessary until dough starts to come together and clumps easily. Press dough into a disc and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Roll out dough on a well-floured surface and press into a 9- or 10-inch tart pan. Place the tart pan on a baking sheet and place a piece of aluminum foil over the pastry. Fill the foil with pie weights and bake for 12 minutes at 350°. Remove foil and weights and continue baking for 25-30 minutes, until golden brown. Cool completely before filling.
Melt 4 oz. dark chocolate in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring constantly. When melted, pour into the pastry crust and spread evenly to coat the bottom with a thin layer of chocolate. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or until cool and firm.

Beat cream cheese, powdered sugar, vanilla and milk and coconut in a large bowl until smooth. Pour into the cooled crust.


Top cream cheese layer with sliced strawberries.

Melt remaining dark chocolate and drizzle over berries. Refrigerate the tart for at least 30 minutes or until ready to serve.

Modified from this recipe

Jam Almond Drizzled Shortbread

(a variation of the Jam Filled Shortbreads from a couple of weeks ago)

INGREDIENTS

* 1 cup butter, softened
* 2/3 cup sugar
* 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1/3 cup jam (your choice)
GLAZE:
* 1 cup confectioners' sugar
* 3 teaspoons water
* 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

DIRECTIONS

1. In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Beat in extract; gradually add flour until dough forms a ball. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle. Roll into 1-in. balls. Place 1 in. apart on ungreased baking sheets.
Using your thumb, make an indentation in the center. Fill with jam.
2. Bake at 350F for 14-18 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool. Spoon additional jam into cookies if desired.

Combine glaze ingredients; drizzle over cookies.

Spiced Chicken Thighs

Very Flavourful dish.

Ingredients:

* 3/4 tsp (3 mL) olive oil
* Cooking spray
* 1 cup (250 mL) sliced onion
* 2 tsp (10 mL) garam masala
* 1/2 tsp (2 mL) salt
* 1/4 tsp (1 mL) curry powder
* 8 chicken thighs (about 2.2 lbs/kg total),skinned
* 1/4 cup (60 mL) dry red wine
* 2 tbsp (30 mL) red wine vinegar
* 1 cup (250 mL) chicken broth
* 3 tbsp (45 mL) chopped fresh parsley
* Hot Sauce (optional)



Clean chicken with lemon. Combine garam masala, salt and curry powder; sprinkle evenly over chicken.
Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet coated with cooking spray, over medium-high heat. Add onion; saute 3 minutes.



Remove onions from skillet. Set aside.



Add chicken to pan; cook over medium-high heat 4 minutes on each side or until browned.





Add wine and vinegar; cook 30 seconds, scraping pan to loosen browned bits.



Add onion and broth; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes or until chicken is done; add some hot sauce while it's cooking.
Sprinkle on parsley. Serve chicken thighs with rice, couscous or noodles.

Jam Filled Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients:

Butter: 1/2 cup (softened)
Sugar: 1/3 cup
Egg Yolks: 1
Vanilla: 1/3 tsp
All-purpose Flour: 1+1/3 cup
Fruit Jam: 2-3 tbsp (any flavour)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Sift the flour, set aside.

3. In a medium-size bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Mix in the egg and vanilla.

4. All the flour to the creamed mixture a little bit at a time and mix well until a soft dough forms. If the mixture is too soft, cover and refrigerate for about an hour.

5. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper. Roll dough into 1 inch balls. Place balls onto the baking sheet 1.5 inches part.

6. Make a well in the center of each cookie, using your finger or an instrument of similar size. Fill the whole with jam.

7. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until cookies are golden brown on the bottom. Remove to wire racks to cool.

(Make sure you watch them.
Because the cookies do not brown on top, they can burn rather quickly on the bottoms).

Melt in your Mouth Blueberry Cake

Ingredients:

* 2 eggs -- separated
* 1 cup sugar
* 1/2 cup margarine -- softened
* 1/4 teaspoon salt
* 1 teaspoon vanilla
* 1 1/2 cups flour -- sifted
* 1 tablespoon flour -- to coat berries
* 1 teaspoon baking powder
* 1/3 cup milk
* 1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries
* cinnamon sugar -- for topping




Preheat the oven to 350F.
Beat egg whites until stiff. Beat in 1/4 cup of sugar. In another bowl, cream margarine; add salt, vanilla, and remaining sugar gradually.


Add egg yolks and beat until creamy. Sift flour with baking powder. Add alternately to creamed mixture with milk.



Fold in beaten egg whites. Coat the blueberries with 1 tablespoon of flour and then fold into mixture.




Pour into a greased and floured into 8x8 inch pan. Sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top. Bake for about 35 minutes or until golden brown.