Boyfriendly rating: 5/5 “Really good, even without meat”

I’ve had this recipe bookmarked from Simply Recipes for a long time and finally made it over the weekend. My only regret? Not making it sooner. This recipe is a.maz.ing.  You probably have all of the ingredients just hanging out in your fridge and cupboard: milk, eggs, rice, sugar.  Just add a bit of elbow grease for stirring the rice and you’re set.

I omitted the raisins because well…  I hate raisins in desserts.

This is a keeper recipe for us.  Sometimes it seems the easier the recipe, the better it tastes!

Boyfriendly rating: 5/5

The Boyfriendly Cooking hiatus is over! Hurrah!

The boyfriendly household is expecting a long-term dinner (breakfast and lunch) guest arriving in September. That’s right, we’re cooking for three (and a hungry orange tabby). Suffice to say, foodblogging fell a bit to the wayside for several months, but now I’m back and hungry!

To get back into the swing of things and celebrate the start of spring and chilled soups (mmm!) I decided to make Gordon Ramsay’s avocado and cucumber soup that was featured on Canada AM last week. A previous attempt at avocado soup did not have great results, but I was willing to give Gordon’s recipe a shot. It was much more refreshing than the Ace Bakery version I had previously made.

Boyfriendly rating: 5/5

Gordon Ramsay’s avocado and cucumber soup
Ingredients

• 2 large cucumbers, abut 14 oz each, chilled
• Juice of 1 lemon
• 2 ripe avocados
• 2 tbsp strained plain yogurt
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• Sea salt & black pepper
• ½ red onion minced
• 1 plum tomato, seeded & minced
• 1 tbsp olive oil, plus extra to drizzle
• 3-4 basil leaves, finely shredded

Directions

Peel the cucumbers, quarter lengthwise, and remove the seeds. Dice a quarter and set aside for the garnish. Roughly chop the rest, place in a blender with half the lemon juice, and whiz until smooth.

Halve, pit, and peel the avocados. Mince one avocado half to use for the garnish. Squeeze over a little lemon juice and set aside with the diced cucumber. Tip the rest of the avocados into the blender.

Blend the avocados with the pureed cucumber, strained plain yogurt, and Worcestershire sauce until very smooth. Season generously with salt and pepper, and add lemon juice to taste. Chill until ready to serve.

For the garnish, combine the diced cucumber and avocado with the red onion and tomato. Toss with the olive oil and shredded basil.

Taste the chilled soup for seasoning and add a splash of cold water if it is too thick. Pour into four chilled bowls and spoon the garnish into the center. Add a drizzle of olive oil and grind over a little pepper to serve.

I’m also starting to like his recipe style  too - no calorie counts or breakdowns, just quality ingredients.  He lets you decide if you should splurge on that apple crumble or not.

And the photos.  Swoon.  The whole book is printed on this lovely matte paper which gives the whole book a sort of wholesome feel.  (Much like Super Natural Cooking.)  The cover too is oddly reminiscent of a cookbook your grandmother probably had.  The whole thing is just lovely from cover to cover.   Now, to start cooking…

It’s like having a Starbucks… in your kitchen.  And you can wear pajamas if you want to.

Hot off the presses- you can buy a copy online or in stores today!  Valentines gift you say?

Here’s a peak of my profile - to read my recommendations just pick up a copy.  It’s a bargain!

I’m having a bit of a food freak-out since reading some information about the chemicals in plastics.  Did you know that Bisphenol A is even in the linings of many canned foods?  Like canned tomatoes??  We eat a lot of canned tomatoes.

If I knew how to can food, I’d probably start.  Well…  in the summer.  Hmm, maybe it’s time to learn.

Our third challenger for top crème brulée comes from the Chateau Laurier.  Ooh la la.  After sitting through a rather ho-hum viewing of 27 Dresses, we decided to pick our spirits up with a stop at the Chateau Laurier’s restaurant, Wilfrid’s.  We were pleased to see that the crème brulée offering hadn’t changed since our last visit over a year ago.

They take crème brulée to the next level.  You get a sampler of three crème brulées: maple, whiskey and cherry.  Each is served in an individual espresso cup and presented with a maple cookie, fruit and a dark chocolate “stir stick”.  The maple?   Hands down, it is my favourite.   Each little pot is extremely thick and rich and I could barely finish all three.  But I did.  No crème brulée left behind.

A delicious pick-me-up to start the week.  Try going for dessert after the dinner service around 9pm.   We had a nice table overlooking a snowy Parliament Hill.   Not sure if anything else in town can top this ….

Turns out my “pizza perfect pesto” recipe also does a great job in bread. I was making some soup and thought a savoury bread would be a nice side. That sounds a lot better than “I bought basil at the grocery store and couldn’t recall what I needed it for”.

I used this recipe as a guide, but simplified it even more. They recommend adding flour to your pesto and adding pine nuts separately. Frankly, too fussy. Instead I just dumped a generous 1/3 cup of my pesto into the machine at the second kneading cycle. So.much.easier.

It comes out of the bread machine with a pretty green swirl in the middle.  I think this would make a great summer bread when you’ve got tons of fresh basil.  Ah… summer.

Easy Pesto Bread

• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons warm water
• 3 cups unbleached white flour
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
• generous 1/3 cup of pesto
  

1. Measure all ingredients into the bread machine (except for the pesto).
2. Select white bread cycle and light crust
3. Add pesto at the nut/raisin signal or the second kneading cycle.