Savoury Tomato and Ham Pie with a Cheddar Cheese Pastry Crust

I don't typically plan our meals, as often Dan finds ingredients in the fridge and makes something for dinner. This pie is the product of our "meal planning" (i.e. how to use up a lot of leftover braised pork shoulder). When we thought of what to make with the leftover ham, comfort food came to mind and who doesn't love pie? There is no hard rule that says pies must be sweet and adding cheese to this pie dough not only makes it tasty but also keeps it flaky.

Ingredients

Pastry

• 2 1/2 Cups All Purpose Flour
• 3 Teaspoons baking powder
• 1 Teaspoon salt
• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 2 Tablespoons coconut oil
• 1/2 Cup of grated cheddar cheese (we used tillamook cheddar)
• 1/2 Cup of Milk

Filling

• 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 small onion chopped
• 1 can of plum tomatoes
• 3 Cloves of Garlic
• Approximately 1 cup of leftover roasted ham/pork shoulder chopped
• 2 Tablespoons All purpose Flour
• 2 Tablespoons grated parmesan cheese 
• Salt/Pepper to taste
• 1 egg white, beaten

Directions

1. In mixer, add flour, baking powder, salt, butter, coconut oil, and cheese. Beat until combined. Add milk to pull the ingredients together.
   
   
2. Remove the dough from the mixer, wrap it in saran wrap and place it in the fridge for 30-45 minutes. This will help solidify the dough to make it easier to roll out later. Try not to leave the dough in the fridge for too long as it will become very hard, on the other hand leaving the dough in the fridge for too short of a time will result in crumbly dough that doesn't come together.
   
   
3. Meanwhile assemble the ingredients for the filling.
   
   
4. In a medium sized pot, heat the butter. Once the butter has melted add the onions and garlic. Cook until the onion becomes semi-translucent; almost clear.
   
   
5. Add the canned tomatoes and peppers to the sauce. Then add the flour and toss well.
   
   
   
6. Remove the dough from fridge and split it into into halves.
   
   
7. Coat an 8-inch pie pan with butter. Taking half of the dough, roll it into a circle that is larger than the pie dish.
   
   
8. To transfer the dough to the pan, use the rolling pin.
   
   
   
   
9. Use your fingers to push the dough down into the dish.
   
   
   
   
10. Fill the pie with the tomato filling. Then, sprinkle the chopped hame into the tomato mixture.
    
    
    
11. Take the second half of the dough, roll it into a circle, then cut into strips.
    
    
12. Place the strips of dough on top of the pie.
    
    
13. Preheat the oven to 400F. Brush the pie with an egg-white wash.
    
    
14. Bake initially for 10 minutes at 400F, then reduce the heat to 375F and bake the pie for another 35-45 minutes. The pie should begin to bubble when it is ready to eat.
    
    
    
15. Serve warm.
    
    

 Ham, Tomato and Cheese is a classic combination that definitely cannot go wrong. This pie was a hit and a great way to use up leftover meat. We will definitely revisit this pie soon.

So Gouda! Artichoke Appetizers

Christmas 2014 is over, but the New Year is just around the corner! I made these filled artichoke hearts topped with gouda for Christmas Day appetizers and I am sure they will do well for upcoming New Year events and parties! 

For this post, I teamed up with my friend Michelle from The Tiffin Box and Dairy Farmers of Canada (DFC). The DFC provided me with the ingredients to try out one of their recipes from their Winter Warmth Collection titled "Exotic Artichokes with Gouda". 

I really liked the use of fresh herbs for the recipe. I am admittedly not a fan of parsley but with the combination of the fresh mint and dill, I barely noticed! 

In addition to the fresh herbs, the recipe calls for rice, chopped walnuts, seedless grapes, honey and shredded gouda for the topping. 

After all the ingredients are prepped, toss them together in a bowl. You can also place the filling into an air tight container in the fridge until you are ready to assemble the appetizer. I made these for Christmas dinner so I prepared all the ingredients mid afternoon and had the filling sitting in the fridge. Once guests arrived, I topped the artichoke hearts with the filling. I also added a few more gratings of gouda before serving. 

At first, I did have a little trouble topping the artichoke hearts with the filling as very little could be placed into each one. Then, Dan's Dad came to the rescue and suggested slightly pushing the artichokes hearts in to form a deeper vessel for the filling. This seemed to help a lot! We also attempted to cut down the artichoke heart but this resulted in extra artichoke pieces left over and the vessel falling apart completely. 

Overall, all the ingredients worked well together. I would suggest using less honey as the grapes were already quite sweet. I also used a Korean short grain brown sticky rice since that was all we had in the pantry. I am also thinking that getting artichoke bottoms next time would make the assembling of the appetizer much easier. 

So, head on over to the Dairy Farmers of Canada website to download the recipe and explore other recipes with cheese.  

Then, click on Exotic Artichokes with Gouda for the ingredient list and directions. Come on back to ask me any questions if you need! 

Also, remember to check out Michelle's post on her take on the Mediterranean Ricotta Cheese Fritters.

Disclosure: While Michelle and I were provided with the ingredients for our recipes, we were not compensated monetarily for our posts. 

Kimchi Roasted Cauliflower

You have probably been reading about how cauliflower is the "new" vegetable to cook with. Or, maybe it is what all the food websites that Dan and I have been reading are telling us. So, of course we needed to try out a recipe to test this theory of how cauliflower is the 'it' vegetable. 

This recipe is inspired by a recipe from the Thug Kitchen Cookbook. There is no frying of any kind which makes this cauliflower dish truly healthy! By adding in the kimchi, it reminds me of a dish from an exciting restaurant in Edmonton called Tavern 1903 (which recently closed) called KFC - Cauliflower Fried Chicken.

Feel free to adjust the spice level to your preference. The kimchi we used in this recipe was one that we had made with friends about a month ago. 1 head of cauliflower is good for 3 to 4 people.

Ingredients

• 1 Head of Cauliflower
• 1/2 cup of Flour
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1/2 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 4 tablespoons of kimchi

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 375F. Cut up the cauliflower into finger-length chunks.
   
2. Start making the batter by mixing flour into the water as this helps to avoid clumps. Once flour is mixed in, add in the baking powder and salt.
   
3. Coat the cauliflower pieces with the batter.
   
4. Pour the coated cauliflower onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
   
5. Bake for 15 minutes at 375F.  Then, set the oven to broil and bake for another 5-10 minutes, until you have your preferred level of browning.
   
6. Take the tray out of the oven and gather the hot cauliflower into a pile. Then, slowly mix and fold the kimchi into the cauliflower pile.
   
7. Serve immediately. 

We also ended up grating some pecorino romano onto the dish afterwards and it worked perfectly! A friend of ours also thought sprinkling some furikake and toasted sesame onto the dish would work nicely too.

Let me know what you added to your dish in the comments below. 

SPUD Delivers in Edmonton & A Brown Sugar Glazed Carrot Recipe

When I was at the Food Bloggers of Canada Conference in Vancouver last month, I met one of the people from SPUD. SPUD is a grocery delivery service which focuses on sustainable and organic produce. When I talked to Julia, the Communications Manager for Vancouver, she mentioned that SPUD Edmonton had just launched so I was more than excited to try it out.

When you sign up for the SPUD service on their website you can pick and choose what types of produce, meats, snacks, dairy, fish and more that you want delivered in your box. Our box featured their Fresh Harvest Box. Once you order your box they let you know which day your box will be delivered. For us, we were told that our SPUD box would be delivered on a Tuesday between 3pm and 9pm. Granted, the time frame is very wide which makes it difficult for someone to be home during that time period. Thankfully, you are able to put in special instructions and/or indicate a safe place for them to deliver your box.

We were super excited to open our box when we received it. All of the produce including the veggies and fruits looked fantastic and fresh. Care was even taken to ensure that the tomatoes would not get crushed as they were placed into a paper bag. There is also a divider in the box to help keep produce in place.

If you want to try SPUD out they have a great discount where if you buy $60 or more you will get $40 off your first order before November 15, 2014! Just use my special code CREDM-ZZZLIL or click here.

SPUD is also in other cities! So if you are in other cities in Canada such as Calgary, Vancouver & area or Victoria to Nanaimo, you too can take advantage of their services. They are also in San Francisco & Bay Area and Los Angeles & Orange County in the States. 

With the great produce that we got, I decided to use the carrots in a dish to highlight how fresh they were. 

Brown Sugar Glazed Carrots Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs of carrots
• 1 cup of water
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 1-2 tablespoons of brown sugar
• pinch of salt

Directions:

1. Wash and peel the carrots.
   
2. Cut the carrots with a sharp knife into even pieces. This will help them cook evenly.
   
3. In a large pot add 1 cup of water, butter, brown sugar, a pinch of salt and the cut carrots. Turn the temperature up to high. Once the water mixture begins to boil, stir the carrots and turn down the temperature to a simmer. Place the lid on the pot for 6-7 minutes.
   
4. Using a flat spatula gently stir the carrots around until they are soft enough to eat. Serve & enjoy!
   
   

It's Harvest BBQ Time - Corn on the Cob and Grilled Chicken

I recently received a review copy of The Kamado Smoker & Grill Cookbook by Chris Grove. Although I do not have a Kamado Grill, my husband and I thought we could still use some of the recipes from the book on our regular Barbecue.

As it is harvest season and there is now plenty of corn, I thought I would try out one of the corn recipes in the book.

In his book, he describes preparing corn three ways. This is one of the methods. First, using hot tap water soak the ears of corn with the husks on for 45 minutes. 

After 45 minutes, remove the corn from the water, shake off the excess water, and then place it on the grill. Cover and cook for 20-25 minutes. Turn the corn every 3-5 minutes.

Once the husks look charred, they are ready to take off the grill! 

Remove the husk and silks and serve the gorgeous corn on the cobs!

The corn tasted pretty good. It was moist and was not dry using this method. It is interesting that Chris Grove suggests soaking the corn for 45 minutes beforehand as this is likely a way to prevent the husks from catching on fire.

To accompany the corn, I grilled some chicken which was inspired by Chris' "Island-Style" marinade. Chris recommends that you butterfly a chicken breast for quicker and more even cooking.

In order to butterfly a chicken breast use a very sharp knife initially making a slow cut along the breast.

Continue cutting and as you cut peel back the half side of the breast until you reach the bone.

The above photo is the final result of a butterflied chicken breast. Chris' marinade involves using orange juice, lime juice, and other spices. The marinade we used had lemon juice, pepper, salt, bay leaf, oregano and garlic.

Let the chicken sit in the marinade for about 30 minutes (Chris suggests a few hours), then remove and patting them dry. We then sprinkled a bit of flour and grilled the chicken with the lid closed.

Flip the chicken after grilling each side for 5-7 minutes. Check that the internal temperature of the chicken is 160F to ensure that it is cooked fully.

The finished chicken breast with a roasted red pepper.

While butterflying a chicken is not a new method, the instructions in the book for preparing the chicken were very clear and easy to follow. The chicken itself was quite moist and tender, and definitely was not dry from over-cooking.

This is the first barbecue recipe book I've read in depth. While the book is targeted towards Kamado Smoker and Grill owners, all the recipes are compatible with a regular barbecue. We were not able to take advantage of the clear setup instructions for starting/lighting a Kamado Smoker nor temperature control; however I think it would be very useful for first time Kamado owners.

It is nice that every recipe is accompanied by pictures for most of the steps so the reader will know what they are trying to achieve. Chris also has lots of great recipe for rubs and various techniques to ensure that enough flavour imparts onto the meat that is being grilled. There are also some creative ideas for baking (e.g. baking fish, baking bread) as most people do not think of using their grill in that way. My husband is also looking forward to trying some of the other techniques in the book such as "reverse searing" and "hot tubbing".

I think that this book is worth checking out if you have a Kamado Smoker & Grill and want more ideas. This is also a good introductory book overall for anyone wanting more ideas on using their barbecue to its fullest.