À la Dankertier

This recipe is very close to my heart: I cooked it the first time many years ago and was amazed how simple and fast it is done. Once made, you won't forget it due to its simplicity. It came always in handy, no matter if I wanted to join a quick pot-luck with friends in Canada or serve a nice dinner for Sophie having some easy transportable left-overs for next day's lunch. As many recipes, I also adopted this one from Jamie Oliver, but I cut all the crap ;) All you need is some squash ( 1 medium size butternut goes well and is not too big), which needs to cook cut-open in the oven or microwave until it is soft (microwave is fastest, maybe 20-30min ). While it cooks, you can prepare 1 risotto base , preferably a bit on the dry site (before al dente). When the squash is soft enough, remove the hard skin and mix the pulp with the risotto. Re-heat everything, add salt, pepper, chili and cinnamon to taste and wait that the rice absorbs the remaining liquid - then add more water...

Any good risotto, if it's spinach, pumpkin or mushroom, can be made from the same base. This can be made even in advance and kept in the fridge or freezer until you want to cook up the final risotto for eating. Once you read the base recipe, you will most likely not forget it and you are able to whip up a quick risotto anytime anywhere. Prepare 1l of bouillon (vegetable or chicken) - I usually just fire up the kettle and use the boiling water to desolve some instant bouillon. In the meanwhile, fry up 1 big onion and some celery (leek or spring onions are a great alternative too) in a bit of oil or butter . When the onion and celery starts to get color, add 600g of risotto rice and fry everything together for a minute . Then, add a cup of  white wine and stir until the wine is absorbed and the alcohol boiled off. Similarly, continue to add the bouillon a ladle at a time and let the rice absorb it completely, before adding the next one. The risotto will start to get a  nic...

I love, love, love asiatic inspired meals. They are easy to prepare, easy to modify, loaded with vegetables and flavour they are awesome! This recipe is adapted from one recipe I found on the "SOSCuisine" website . For 4 people, heat 2 tablespoons of canola oil and a splash of sesame oil in a pan on medium-high heat. Add 400g of chicken (or tofu) and fry 5-6 minutes or until golden. Add 2-3 cloves of garlic , finely chopped and chopped vegetables . Here, you do what you want! I like: brocoli cut in small pieces, sliced pepper, zucchini, carrot, sweet peas, bean sprouts... If using vegetables with widely different cooking time, adjust the moment you are adding them to prevent over cooking*. Keep the heat high-ish so the vegetables will be fried and not poached. When they are al dente (after 5-7 minutes), add 2-3 green onions, finely chopped. While the vegetables are frying, prepare 250g of Chinese egg-noodles (or rice) according to the instructions on the package: do...

I know that it seems to be a bit late in the season for burger, but I think that there is just no wrong time for burger. After all, are we burger lovers or what!? This one was adapted from a Québec magazine ("Coup de pouce") and is good for 4 patties. Mix: 500g of finely chopped salmon (without skin and bones)* 1 small onion, grated 50ml of mayonnaise 2 tablespoons of bread crumbs  1 tablespoon of chopped parsley a big pinch of salt and pepper a big splash of lemon juice a splash of Tabasco Split in 4 and form the patties. Cook over medium heat, 5-7 minutes on each side. Enjoy with your choice of garnish. Here we had salad, blue cheese and tomato and it was sublime! * You can use a food processor for this, of course

A month ago, André and I started to watch How I Met Your Mother again and couldn't help but laugh when one of our friend asked us if we wanted to have a "wine and cheese tasting": we are soooo grown up! ;) It was a wonderful evening and not exactly what I expected. In Quebec, when one says "wine and cheese tasting", it means: choosing the wine, making sure the cheese are going to fit with said wine and there is a special order to drink and eat. Bottom line: it is complicated and very well organized. What we had was a very nice, simple evening with wine and cheese: and we love those! Then I thought about another wonderful recipe that my step mom made from time to time as an appetizer and would go great on a cheese plate: it has perfect blend of sweet and salty, like I love. Blend 375mL of old cheddar cheese , 125g of cream cheese* and 1 tablespoon of maple syrup . Shape into 15cm long log using clinging wrap and put in the freezer for 20-30 minutes. Finely c...

This recipe is the perfect +1 for  the sweet and tangy pork recipe , it has the perfect amount of salty and with some greens (broccoli or asparagus), makes a perfect meal. Heat your oven to 180°C (350F). Choose a container that goes in the oven and has a lid. Combine 260g of long grain rice with 2 tablespoons of finely chopped onions , 2 tablespoons of soya sauce , 700mL of boiling chicken bouillon (you can make it with dried powder, of course: just make sure you dissolve it completely in the hot water). Cover and put it in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove the lid and bake for another 15 minutes, or until the liquid has disappeared.

Every time we make this recipe and rewarm it at work, we have to share a bite with our friends because it smells C good. Well, it tastes amazing too! This recipe (as well as many other wonderful recipes) comes from the cookbook of my stepmom's cookbook. We discovered one of the times we went back to Québec and we fell in love with it. Of course, there is maple syrup involved: how do you think I was going through 1 gallon (yes, 4 L) of maple syrup a year!?!?! If you can't find it, use honey or pancake syrup (but it won't taste the same... ;) The recipe is good for 4 people. Mix together: - 80ml of maple syrup - 2tbsp of soy sauce - 2tbsp of ketchup - 1tbsp of strong mustard - 1tbsp of orange juice - 1tsp of curry powder - 1tsp of grounded coriander - 2 cloves of pressed garlic (or half a teaspoon of garlic powder) - 1tsp of Worcestershire sauce Put in a big watertight freezer bag and add a pork filé (500-600g) Let the pork marinate for at least a couple of h...

This is an all time favorite. I have made this cake many, many times and it was always appreciated. Also, one can easily replace the flour with gluten free flour and it will be just as good! This recipe is actually a family recipe. I remember the first time I tasted it, I was 8 or 9, my step mom made if for either my birthday or my sister's birthday. That time, she had some plastic figurines on top. She made this every year and was always putting money (coins) in the cake: she knew where she put the bigger coins and always manage that the "birthday girl" would have the coin with the most value in her piece of cake... Bref, a good cake: a perfect cake!  Initially, the cake is meant to be prepared in a torus/donut form but I also prepared it in a regular spring form, cut it and iced in between the 2 pieces. For André's dissertation, I prepared it in a 38cm x 34cm pan. It was not extremely thick, so you might want to prepare it in a smaller pan, but then you will have ...

Last week was André's thesis defence. It (of course!) went very well and we celebrated afterwards by cooking for 45 people. Of course, we bought waaaaaay to much food and now we eat "Sauerkraut" every other day, but who cares! It happened, and it went well. I was on desert duty, I made 2 different things, one of which is this one that I found on the internet. I was looking for a brownie recipe, that I found here , and I also use this icing recipe . The original recipe for the brownies is calling for a 9in x 9in form. Since it was "cake central", I triple the recipe and put it in a form that was 38cm x 34cm, which is more or less 2.5 times the surface. I have to say that the brownie was maybe not as thick as I would have liked. I think one could put the following the recipe in a 9in x 9in (25cm x 25cm) form and it would be perfect. Keep in mind that it will be very sweet so you will want to cut the pieces small! I also modified the recipe so the sugar in the ba...

Second post in that "comfort food" series of post! This is a real sunshine in this dark grey January. It is actually the first recipe André shared with me, our very first exchange on Facebook message was about this. I was reminded of it recently when I eat a similar soup while in Bergen, where it was also grey and humid! The recipe is for 4 peoples. Heat a pot or big pan (I use a big pan) to medium-high heat and add a dash of olive oil . Slice up 1-2 garlic cloves , an onion (or a third of a leek),    a pepper bell (mix of green and red) , add to the pot as well as 500-600g of mixed sea creatures , cut in bite size pieces if necessary. In our case, we had 200g of salmon, 200g of cod and 150g of mixed seashells. Fry everything until golden. Deglaze with roughly 200ml of wine or saké . Add 2-3 diced tomatoes and a bunch of chopped fresh basil . Add salt and pepper to taste and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the water is reduced: it's more of a stew than a soup mayb...

This is not the first time I am trying this Swedish classic at home but somehow, the sauce was never right. I took this in a couple of restaurants in town and always enjoyed it so much that I had, at some point, to find THE  recipe. I think this is it! It will need some small adjustments, but it's almost perfect!! The recipe should give you 4 good portions and is adapted from this recipe . I made the dish in one of our nice "ultra", the baking dish we have from Tupperware that we can put in the oven/fridge (very nice to have!). Also, stuff does not really stick to it so its nice. If you do not have it at home, butter a baking dish (size roughly 1.5-2 L, or 20x27 cm). Peel and cut roughly 700 g potatoes . Cook with your preferred method. In my case, I boiled them because there was just to much! In the recipe, they put quite a bit of butter and mash the potatoes, but instead I used 50g of butter (instead of the 200 g recommended in the original) and some of the deli...