Mini Meat Loaf

The benefit of working with a toaster oven is stretching one's imagination about how to cook. 

Craving meat loaf, I made my favourite somerville meat loaf (see August 22 entry - Somerville Meat Loaf for recipe). But to adjust for smaller oven, I baked it into three batches in small tin foil baking dishes. This way, each can be frozen on its own and be ready to serve whenever I crave it next.

And to build on the mini theme, dinner was served in a smaller size plate, with small steamed carrots and celery, fried kale and mashed potatoes.

The only drawback is eating multiple mini plates in one sitting.

Buy-Low Stir Fry

Buy-Low was featured earlier on the blog (see August 27 entry - Buy-Low Picnic) as my favourite grocery store in Vancouver. And on a busy weekday evening, Buy-Low came in very handy.

Specifically they had those pre-packaged, pre cut stir fry vegetables (carrots, onions, broccoli, green and red peppers, celery and Chinese broccoli).  

Add to that a package of noodles, a pack of pre cut stir fry chicken and beef and you have all you need to produce a tasty dinner in less than half an hour.
 

Marinate chicken and meat in soy sauce, vinegar, and corn starch. Stir fry in hot sesame oil and remove to the side. Stir fry the vegetables, add the cooked noodles and dinner is served.

Always a surprise at Buy-Low. Two locations in the city of Vancouver.

370 East Broadway (Kingsgate Mall)

6095 Fraser Street

Nouilles Au Poulet

When I was a kid, my aunts in Beirut used to always make Nouilles Au Poulet. So nostalgia hit today and I decided to recreate this dish entirely from memory and guessing. It turned out worth the three decades wait to taste this meal again.

1. Layer some ham slices in a baking dish.

2. Boil noodles and add on top of the ham.

3. Add cooked chicken (either boiled or roasted chicken) and mix into the noodles.

4. Prepare a white sauce that is a mix of 1/3 chicken broth and 2/3 milk. Add to the dish, along with shredded Swiss cheese.


Bake in a 450 oven until the sauce bubbles and the noodles start to burn. Delicious.

Contest Winner Cooking Live at somerville kitchen

Back in October (see October 8 entry -  And the Winner Is...) Empress was the winner of a one-week-menu contest. Her prize was to spend a Saturday cooking her favourite meals from the blog. And today was that Saturday where the Empress, along with the runner-up, joined me for a day at somerville kitchen. This is what was waiting for them:

The menu Empress chose included:
- Humus (see Lebanese Feast)
- Mehshi Warak (see Mehshi Warak)
- Rice and Chicken Cake (see Lebanese Feast) 
- Mom's vegan lentil soup (see Mom's Vegan Lentil Soup) 

The two ladies got busy very quickly squeezing lemons, chopping onions, cutting potatoes, preparing the meat, and rolling vine leaves. 

They were also taking notes, asking questions, drinking wine, munching on Empress's authentic Hungarian Kaposta Testa (see October 25 entry Moody Monday) and having fun.


Four hours later, and prior to them leaving with full meals to wrap up and serve at their own homes, we settled for tea and Anita's lemon and chocolate cupcakes. You now see why it is worth keeping an eye on somerville kitchen contests!

Thank you both for the fun and all you brought with you.

Lebanese Stews Series - Loubieh (Green Beans)

The first stew to be featured in this series is "Loubieh" (Green Beans). As per Lebanese Stews Series Posting, these stews are made in steps:

1. Cut green beans in half and boil in salted water until they start changing colour. Drain and leave aside.



2. Cook beef cubes in a pot with no oil, on very low heat, until all meat liquid is evaporated. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

3. Add cooked green beans, chopped tomatoes (fresh or canned), and 1 tsp of Alleyeh (see December 9 entry - Lebanese Stews Series), boil until tomatoes are cooked.

The stew is served over rice and vermicelli. 

Specifically, you start with cooking the chopped dried vermicelli in a pot over high heat (with no oil). This does not take long and it can burn easily, so watch it.

Once the vermicelli changes colour, add water and salt, boil and add rice, cooking it as usual.


Have you noticed that there is no oil or fat of any sort in the whole meal? Told you Lebanese stews are healthy and very tasty. Try it.

 

Lebanese Stews Series

There are endless varieties of Lebanese stews ("yakhneh") that are all healthy and very tasty. I will most likely be making many of them over the next few months and I will be sharing the recipes of each.

All Lebanese stews:
- Include one and only one vegetable or type of beans
- Are made with chicken, beef cubes or ground beef (or simply skip the meats for a vegetarian version)
- Have a tomato, lemon or yogurt base sauce
- Are made in steps where vegetables/beans and meats are cooked separately then added to the sauce
- Are eaten over rice
- Include one spice - garlic/cilantro/salt "Alleyeh"


Given the importance of "Alleyeh" as a base flavour of Lebanese stews, here is how to make it.

Chop a bunch of cilantro leaves very fine and crush 6 gloves of garlic. 

The wooden mortar and pestle is very common in Lebanon and is used exclusively for crushing garlic. Best to sprinkle garlic with salt prior to crushing.

Heat one Tbs of olive oil and fry the garlic for just under a minute. Add the chopped cilantro and continue frying until the cilantro welts, almost a minute.

And there you have it, the secret base for tasty Lebanese stews. You would only need a tsp of this for a pot of stew, so I usually freeze it and use what I need when I need it.


Keep an eye on actual stews recipes coming up.

Christmas Gifting Deutsche Style

European Specialty Importers is one of my favourite food shopping experiences in the city. Signed as "From Europe with Love since 1957", this store carries a huge variety of mainly German goodies. Whether you are a regular visitor or have never been there before, this is the best time to visit and discover the array of Christmas goodies that can make any gift basket unique and special. Here are some of my favourite finds on this trip...

- advent calendars from Germany
- beautiful Christmas cardboard platters that can serve as gift "baskets"
- Chriftftern, a beautiful looking bottle of de-alcoholized spiced wine
- Vanilla Kipfer (cookies)
- Geleo Annas-Sterno, a mixture of dried pineapples and chocolates
- Huge pre-packaged Christmas Stollen from Germany
- old fashioned chocolate Santa Clauses

European Specialty Importers

220 Prior Street

Vancouver, BC

604-688-9528

Monday - Friday 8:30 - 4:00

Saturday 9:00 - 1:00