Spicy Kale, Lentil, and Sausage Soup

I’ve hit a bit of a dry spell in local dining lately. Don’t get me wrong, there have been a number of new restaurants in Calgary that have been quite the buzz amongst foodies and restaurant critics alike (and I’ve been sampling them all) but I have found the food to be disappointing. Great concepts, fantastic restaurant atmosphere but unfortunately, really mediocre food. It’s been quite underwhelmed.

So, when this happens I find myself back into the comforts of my own kitchen. Some of my best meals happen when I throw together a bunch of ingredients together based on whatever I have on hand (and probably 90% of everything I make at home is an experiment). This time the feature ingredient on hand was kale. Because it was lunch and I didn’t want a heavy meal, I decided to make soup with it…a spicy, kale, lentil and sausage soup.

Basically, saute some chopped sausage with some coarsely chopped onion in a pot. Then add some coarsely chopped kale (about two cups) with a drizzle of olive oil and continued to sauteed until the leaves softened a little. Next, add half a can of lentils (be sure to wash and drain), some chopped tomatoes, 1.5 cups of vegetable/chicken stock, 1 cup of water, 1/2 tsp of cumin, tumeric, and dried coriander, and salt and pepper to taste. Simmer everything for 10-15 minutes until all the ingredients are nicely combined and the broth is rich and flavorful. I know these instructions aren’t very detailed but cooking a good soup can’t really be precise since everything should be done to taste. The type of chicken broth or sausage you use will affect the saltiness and flavor of your soup so you really have to adjust your ingredients accordingly.

This soup has a bit of a moroccan flair because of the spices used and the sausage really gives the soup a nice flavor. I find the kale works quite well if you want a really hearty soup, but next time I would probably opt for spinach or collard greens because I like greens with a softer and smoother texture in soups. Kale does not easily wilt or cook down to a softer texture like most other greens. Anyway, it was a great soup! A meal in itself.

Happy Valentines! Seafood with Thai Green Curry

In 7 years of dating plus almost 3 years of marriage, J has only cooked for me two times but this Valentines marks the third, and boy, third time’s the charm!

A picture speaks a thousand words:

Doesn’t it look delicious? Soooo flavorful and yummy! I loved the silky smooth texture of this curry, the fragrance of the lemon grass, and zing of the lime juice. It was a milder curry with some non-traditional ingredients such as white wine and a creamy roux  sauce so the final product was more of an asian fusion, but I actually enjoy asian fusion so I liked the twist on this curry. The recipe can be found here. The only variation J made was he added a tablespoon of peanut butter and a little bit of sugar to the sauce.

For those of you guys or (gals) who can’t cook very well or at all but would love to make a beautiful meal for your significant other that will totally blow them away, I can’t recommend enough, the Rouxbe Online Cooking School website (see my last post). The recipes are of excellent quality and the step-by-step video instructions make execution practically fool-proof.

Thanks for the wonderful, belated Valentines, hubby. Love you!

Rouxbe Online Cooking School

There’s this fantastic website that I visit almost every day that teaches budding home chefs cooking techniques you would typically only learn in culinary school. I love the high quality cooking videos and step-by-step instructions that range from simple to advanced. While you do have to pay to gain full access to all the instructional videos, you can still watch many of the videos for free with a basic account.

I find I learn a lot watching even basic videos on cooking techniques such as how to properly heat a pan or how to fry an egg (which is something I’ve been doing since I was 8 or 9 years old). I’m still very amateur but I find I can usually spot bad or good cooking even amongst television/celebrity chefs now that I have a better understanding of what proper food preparation and cooking should look like.

I’ve also tried some of their video recipes and they are fantastic… definitely restaurant quality, and way better than any other video recipe site I’ve tried. If you find television cooking shows too advanced or don’t know even know how to heat up a can of Campbell soup, or if you’re comfortable in the kitchen but would like to learn some helpful cooking techniques, there is definitely something for all skill levels at www.rouxbe.com

If you try any of the recipes or like the videos on the site, please leave me a comment and let me know what you think!

Fish Steamed with Couscous

This Jamie Oliver recipe is a 10/10 and fantastic for entertaining! It’s quick and easy to make and has great color and flavor. It’s basically a moroccan tajine, wonderfully fragrant and a feast for the eyes and sense. I love the kick you get from the red chilles and the lemon really awakens the taste buds. My favorite part about this dish? You cook everything in one pot so there’s not a lot of clean up. I also usually just serve it at the table in the pan it was made. How easy is that?

This dish also works very well with basa/tilapia/sole. If you decide add clams (which is an excellent idea because the brine really does great things for the couscous), choose smaller/thinner clams and add those to the couscous a couple minutes before the fish as they take a little longer to cook.  For the couscous, I also prefer to soak it in chicken stock with a pinch of saffron (in lieu of water) before using for more flavor.

You can find the recipe at:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/jamie-oliver/fish-steamed-with-couscous-recipe/index.html

Coconut Banana Bread

I had some extra, super ripe bananas lying around yesterday so of course, the first thing that come to mind when one thinks of what to do with way-too-mush-to-eat bananas is MAKE BANANA BREAD!

Usually I’m not much of a baker but somehow, I came up with a rendition of a classic banana bread recipe that I think works very well. I’m pretty sure it’s a good recipe because my co-workers polished off the entire loaf in two hours, and when I did the math I knew there was at least one person going back for seconds….muwahahahaha! My not-so-secret ingredient? Coconut Flakes.

Coconut Banana Bread

Ingredients:
7/8 cup granulated sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs
3 ripe bananas
1 tablespoon milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup coconut flakes
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly butter a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf pan.
2. With a beater, cream sugar and butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat well after each addition.
3. In a small bowl, mash the bananas with the milk and cinnamon.
4. Add the vanilla extract and banana mixture to the creamed mixture. Stir to combine. Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined (flour disappears)
5. Pour batter into the pan and bake for 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Set aside to cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Remove bread from pan, invert onto rack and cool completely before slicing.
6. Serve slices slightly warm or at room temperature with a light drizzle of honey. Soooooo good with honey….

Restaurant Review: Vero Italian Bistro

I haven’t been this impressed with a restaurant since I tried Blink about a year ago. I stumbled upon Vero when I was googling “Italian Lunch Calgary” on my iphone and I am so glad I gave it a try as I probably had the best lunch dining experience of my life!  Vero is located in Kensington (very close to Osteria de Medici) in a little strip mall. It’s a small restaurant, tastefully decorated with modern decor and has a nice wine bar feel. The chef is asian and the dishes have an asian fusion flare and it works very very well.

For appetizer we tried the Hand Rolled Gnocchi ($12), which is unlike any gnocchi dish I have ever tried and is totally out of this world! It’s made with sweet potato, has a lovely chewy texture, and great flavor. I also liked the candy-coated pecans mixed in with the gnocchi. J generally doesn’t like gnocchi, but he loved this dish. I have always been a gnocchi lover and was thoroughly impressed.

For appy, we also sampled the Mussels in a Thai Red Curry ($14). Another amazing dish. The sauce was wonderfully smooth and flavorful (you can practically drink it like a soup it’s so yummy) and the mussels were so plump and fresh.

For main dish, I had the Shrimp Burger with Frites ($16) which was flavorful, firm yet juicy, shrimpy, and had great texture. It came with a side of melt-in-your-mouth yam fries which I also loved.  I highly recommend this dish (even if you’re not a burger person and I am not).

Another cool thing about Vero is Tuesday thru Sunday they serve a 3-Course Lunch Special for $15 which changes every couple of days. The Saturday we were there the 3-Course Lunch featured Crab Cake (course 1), Shrimp Pasta with White Beans (course 2), and a Fresh Mango Sorbet (course 3), which I think is a fantastic deal given the variety and quality of the food at Vero. Unfortunately we were too full to order anymore food so we knew we had to come back soon to give it a try.

We were so impressed with Vero that we returned the next day and brought our whole family out for lunch. How’s that for soon? Again, very solid, tasty food, carefully prepared and packed full of flavorful. The Seafood Bouillabaisse/Stew ($22) had a nice, light tomato broth and a good variety of seafood (however, I would opt for the Mussels in Red Curry as the flavors are more intriguing), the New York Steak ($19) was tender, featured a thick, high quality cut of meat, and was served with a dark, rich sauce. We also tried a pasta dish (as part of their 3-Course Lunch) and it was also great– pasta was cooked to a perfect al dente. We finished off the meal with a few desserts (Tiramisu, Lemon Creme Brulee, and Fruit Sorbet), all of which were good (but not as ‘wow’ as the appys/mains).

If you do only try on restaurant on this blog, I highly suggest giving Vero a try. Where else can you get fine dining for lunch starting at $15? I can’t wait to return for dinner some time!

Overall Rating: 9.5/10 (based on lunch experience only)

Location: 209 10 Street Northwest, (403) 283-8988 (Open for lunch and dinner Tuesday thru Sunday)

Restaurant Review: Kefi Greekhouse and Ouzo Bar

Updated Feb 3, 2010

I’ve been a bit behind in updating lately but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been eating lots of great food!

A new restaurant I tried a couple weeks ago was Kefi. This was a recent John Gilchrist recommendation and a great addition to the Calgary dining scene. I think it’s probably the nicest looking Greek restaurant in Calgary and the food is tasty too. The interior is painted your classic greek colors– blue and white, but the restaurant overall has a nice contempo feel. You just feel good the instant you walk in and set eyes on the big open room, hanging chandeliers, cushioned seating area, comfortable booth seating, and catch a glimps of the lamb roasting on a spit behind a glass window.

Now, how about the food? It’s tasty good! We started with the breaded calamari which was light battered and tender (but could have used a touch more salt). I also sampled the grilled squid which was more interesting and flavorful, but you do need to cut up the tentacles yourself.

For main, I had the Kleftico (lamb chunks stewed in a parchment bag with veggies and served with a side of rice). This dish has some really nice herbs and flavors and is very very filling. I don’t have a small appetite but I barely made a dent in this dish before having to pack the rest for home. J tried the roast lamb on a spit which came in lemony and oh-so-flavorfully good chunks (bones and all). I highly recommend the lamb on a spit if you go on the weekend (they only have it on Fridays and Saturdays). You do get quite a bit of meat and you can just taste the mediterranean in your mouth. I especially delight in chewing on the flavorful boney pieces!  You can order by the pound ($39) of half pound ($20).

My favorite side dish is the lemon potatoes (yum!) but if this meal is already sounding too heavy on meats and carbs, you can opt for a side dish of Green Kale which my server advised is a nice, lighter option if you don’t want carbs but feel like having something other than salad (and she was right).

Friday/Saturday evenings are the best days to go because you’ll catch some greek dancing and plate smashing as Kefi has cordoned off a small dance stage in the middle of the room for that very purpose. What fun!!!

Entrees are on the pricey side ($20+) as you would expect for greek food, but the portions are quite generous. The only complaint I have is sometimes they are a little inconsistent with their portions for the lamb. The second time we ordered the lamb on a spit we got double the portion of our first visit (both times we ordered half a pound). At $20 per half pound, I think they really should be a little more precise.

All in all, I think the food at Kefi is authentic and tasty and the environment is lively and fun– a great place to dine with a couple friends. In fact, I can’t think of a better way to kick off the weekend then to start your TGI-Friday at Kefi.

Overall Rating: 8/10

Location: 11-9250 MacLeod Trail Southeast, (403) 452-5334 Reservations Recommended on the Weekends.

Malaysian Chicken Curry Noodle Soup

This dish I made tasted great but smelled a little funky. I think it was because I used Indian curry rather than Thai curry so it had an East Indian scent.  That’s what happens when I do things the lazy way and make do with what I have in my pantry rather than going out to shop for proper ingredients ;o) 

Note that all of these specialty items can be found at a chinese/vietnamese grocery store.

For the chicken: Bring a pot of water to a boil with lime leaves, galanga (dried ginger), and fresh lemon grass stalks. When the water is boiling add some raw chicken and simmer on low heat until just cooked. When the chicken is cooked (juices run clear), remove from the liquid and let cool. Peel chicken into strips with your fingers and set aside. Reserve the chicken stock for the soup.

For the soup: In another pot, heat some sesame oil and peanut oil. Fry some chopped lemon grass, lime leaves, and minced garlic in the oil for about 3 minutes (the smell of this is amazing!).  Add some shrimp paste and Thai curry paste (this is where I messed up and used powdered indian curry because I didn’t have any paste), and some tamarind paste if you have it, and fry for about 5-8 minutes. Next, add the chicken broth you cooked the chicken in, a can of coconut milk or coconut cream (I like the AROY-D brand with the green label, it’s creamier and thicker), and some milk. At this point, I also added a can of quail eggs because I had some in my pantry (I’m not sure if that’s authentic, though).  Next, dice some onions and add that to the soup. Let the whole thing simmer for about 10 minutes. Season to taste (I like to use salt, fish sauce, and some palm sugar). If you don’t have palm sugar, use brown sugar. When the soup is ready and to your liking, remove the unedible stuff (like lemon grass stalks and galanga).

In a large soup bowl, add some cooked rice noodles, the shredded chicken, and hot soup. Top with some finely chopped cilantro and green onion, a squeeze of lemon, and crispy fried shallots (also found at the asian grocery store). It is tasty!!

Restaurant Review: Brunch at the Banff Springs Hotel

If you’ve live in Calgary and area for some time, there’s a good chance you’ve already been to the lovely brunch at the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel.

I visited the famed brunch with my family over the holidays and it certainly exceeded my expections for food variety and quality. You can choose from breakfast items including eggs benedicts, fresh omelets, and waffles, or feast on lamb chops, roast beef, bison, lamb chops, different poultry, fish, and seafood (sorry, no crab legs or lobster… the closest you can get to that is a chunky Lobster Bisque Soup packed full of scallops and shrimp… yum), and then finish your meal off with some delicious cakes and custards for dessert.

Food was flavorful, abundant, and well-prepared (with red meats served medium-rare just the way I like it). Service was professional and attentive, and the environment is pretty grand and upscale for a buffet. We got a great booth facing large windows with a majestic view of snow-capped mountains backing sunny blue skies which further enhanced our dining experience.

Cost is approx. $42 for adults and $21 for children ages 12 and under which I think is reasonable for the food quality, service and ambiance. It’s not quite as impressive as a Vegas buffet but it’s certainly classier and probably the closest you can get to a Vegas buffet this neck of the woods.

The brunch is available on Saturdays from 11:30 – 1:30am and on Sundays from 11:00 – 2:00pm. Reservations are highly recommended and can be made at their website.

I didn’t take a picture of the buffet because frankly, no one wants to look at messy buffet plate piled high with a mish-mash of random food. Instead, here’s a neat picture of a massive gingerbread model of the Banff Springs Hotel I took just outside the buffet.

If you’ve been wanting to do something different/special for your significant other or with a couple close girlfriends, but don’t have a lot of time or money to splurge, consider heading out to the brunch at the Banff Springs.

Overall Rating: 8.5/10

Location: Banff Springs Hotel (403 Spray Ave, Banff, Canada) 403-762-2211

Restaurant Review: Shibuya Izakaya

Shibuya revamped their menu and now includes more sushi options than when I first visited the restaurant a little over a year ago. Everything I tasted with my friends on Sunday was delish! If you drop by, don’t just order the usual sushi, sashimi, and tempura because it’s the specialty items and rolls that really shine here. 

Aren’t the dishes just a feast for the eyes and taste buds?

(click on above image to enlarge)

We started off with the Tako Wasabi (octopus) which has bite! I’m usually not fond of the sweet, goopy and buttery texture of raw shrimp, scallops, or octopus when eaten straight up, but I thought this dish was fantastic. The small morsels coated in a savory and spicy wasabi sauce really offset the strong flavor of the octopus awakening the taste buds and whetting your appetite for more.

Along with the Tako Wasabi we also had my favorite appetizer, the Grilled Miso Cod. I cannot emphasis enough how good this fish is. It looks totally unassuming and ordinary when it reaches the table but once the tender flakes of fish touch you tongue….WHAM…. a sweet symphony of flavor that will convert any non-fish eater into a fish lover (or at least a Shibuya Cod Fish lover).

Next we tried a number of specialty rolls including the Sashimi Salad Roll which is sashimi wrapped in vietnamese rice paper, the Unagi Roll which features eel and a crunchy tempura center, but most impressive of all was the Kiwi Roll which contains imitation crab meat, salmon, fish roe, and slices of kiwi served with a sweet kiwi sauce.  It’s just a gorgeous looking roll and tastes just as lovely as it looks.

Shibuya is good place for lunch/dinner as well as a great late night spot for snacks and japanese tapas. They open until 2am on Friday and Saturday and until 11pm on weeknights. The decor is clean and modern, and the food is high quality and moderately priced.

I will be adding Shibuya to my cycle of frequented japanese restaurants. Thanks to T for suggesting this spot!

 

Overall Rating: 8.5 / 10

Must Try Dishes: Taco Wasabi, Grilled Miso Cod, and Kiwi Roll

Location: 453 16 Avenue Northeast, 403-277-8823