Pasta with Asparagus, and Anchovy/Caramelized Garlic Toss Up

This was inspired after seeing Melissa Clark of the New York Times caramelize garlic. I love garlic so much, so this finally quenched my desire for a quick pasta dish. It was exactly what I wanted. It is also a twist on the Bagna Cauda dressing, again by the excellent Melissa Clarke. The mellowing anchovies in oil are so versatile and now with caramelized garlic, how can you go wrong?

Quinoa and Spinach Bake

Seriously, what do you call this? A cake? A bake? A casserole? A throw-stuff-from-the-cabinets-and-fridge-together? You need pretty much 4 things to throw this together. I am sure you can vary the ingredients and quantities. I am sure you can make it vegan and omit the egg and make this on the stove top and forget about baking it… If you don’t have an egg, we’ll call it that you delibarately made it vegan! 🙂 On some days you just can’t bear a trip to the supermarket, sometimes you need to empty your cabinets, sometimes you want something new and something old and something healthy, but not too filling…. And sometimes you have all that come together. This is it.

Quinoa? Check. Spinach? Check. Egg? Check. Yoghurt? Check. On your marks… Ready, set, go! 

Chèvre Chaud au Vinaigre Balsamique Sucré

This is one of my favourite things to have when I go out to eat. And it always costs as much as a full meal, and you find it in the appetizer section of the menu. Maybe if N. America understood to not put 300% tax on French cheeses, maybe it won’t cost as much as a steak. On the other hand, I have my mother’s voice in my head, saying that ‘the human body is not a camel’, but I can’t help having these things while I still have access to, and then… well, that future looks, with regards to cheese, a bit deserted, so I try not to think about it. 

Coquilles St. Jacques à la Sauce Caramel Orange

Every day on the news they are talking about the crisis taking over Europe. They are talking about which sectors of the economy took a bigger or smaller hit than the same time last year, or the years previously. The one sector that sees an upswing is food. Cuisine. And most importantly, chocolate. Are we buying chocolate to make ourselves feel better? Well, it sure beats anti-depressants. But what is remarkable, and I a living proof of this, is that when people don’t have the means for other pleasures in life, they splurge on food. Think about it: you want to go on a holiday, but that will cost a lot of money. But a bag of truffles is not that destructive to your wallet. So you got for it. You go for the little things. And you take the time to enjoy them. Which, in itself is not a bad thing, because we need to step back, “stop” time and enjoy and savour every bit of it. Because, just like the small truffle, it’ll be gone in a flash. 

Spinach and Soft Boiled Egg Tartine

The other day I wondered what is new on the Smitten Kitchen and why wasn’t I getting the new posts in my Reader. I was before, wasn’t I? I think… So I typed in the address to go and check… Sure thing, there was a new post. And it was ideal! Not only did I have everything, well, all but 2 things, but we’ll get to that, but it’s a revisited recipe on another one I have for baked eggs with spinach and mushrooms. I have often thought of my baked egg recipe and have somehow put it off. I don’t know why, it is really easy to make…. But this one, just made it that much more easy! Gourmet lunch for one! Score!

Crisp Salted Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies

My life is currently in flux, and when we project that on to food, that means emptying the pantry and fridge. I hate seeing food go to waste, especially since said food was intended for certain things at some point. So, since it needs to be used sooner rather than later, sooner is now. 

Strawberry Rhubarb Compote with Aged Balsamic

There are strawberries in the markets and supermarkets. It is still not warm enough here for the strawberries to be local. So they come from warmer climates. But because they’re still in the affordable range, they are not your best strawberries. They are the ginaromous, flavourless steroid strawberry. You know, those as big as the palm of your hand. I hate those. The fact that you can buy a little gadget to help you hollow out the strawberries from the annoying white stem inside tells you that it is NOT a strawberry. 

Mousse au Chocolat

A couple of years I met a Belgian lady that makes the best chocolate mousse on the planet. She would always bring it in a large bowl to potlucks to the envy and pleasure of everyone! 🙂 Considering that she had not only a reputation to uphold, but out of respect to her heritage, this chocolate mousse was always made with the very best Belgian chocolate. Now you can imagine how good it is! 🙂 Needless to say, everyone wants(ed) the recipe. All I did was politely ask and I got it! Everyone else couldn’t believe it! Score!

Radish Leaf Pesto

Show of hands, how many of you have googled your own, what you think was, an unique idea, only to find out you are not the only one and definitely not the first one to think of this amazing new thing? Has google and the internet really made our world this incredibly small compact village? Have we always not really differed one from the other? I guess just like they find proof from ancient times that what people did in Asia, is the same with what people did in Europe or Africa and yet, those people had never before met… How alike are we exactly? It couldn’t hardly be globalization’s fault that due to our cultures, society and basically lives becoming similar, our thought patterns are starting to look alike and we therefore start thinking in the same way and come to the same conclusions… and therefore, have the same ideas…. When did originality become overrated? Since time immemorial?! Kind of sad, don’t you think?

Salted Caramelized White Chocolate

I used to like white chocolate, but only because it was forbidden to me as a child.  I can probably count on both hands how many times I had had it. I was raised to believe that it is not chocolate and that if I wanted chocolate, then I better eat the dark kind. (Nutella fell in the same category. That is why there is a picture of 2 year old me, hiding in a bookcase, with the hand in the jar and Nutella all over my face. I still put my hand in the jar, I just don’t fit on the shelf any more) Milk chocolate was where my parents drew the line. White chocolate was something that was pretty much forbidden in our house. I remember coveting the white chocolate bars of my friends, all of which in my mother’s opinion, didn’t eat well at home.