29 Friday Aug 2014
Posted in Must Try
Wow. I honestly loved every minute of it. What an amazing group of people
@ Daytime Ottawa.
Here is my video. It is the best I can do, I had to record it off the TV.
Enjoy!
27 Wednesday Aug 2014
Posted in Food
Wow what an amazing experience! I was thrilled to be asked to go on Daytime Ottawa Rogers 22 to do a cooking demo. It was incredible! The hosts were so welcoming! When I have the link I will post. Until then here are a few pictures. 🙂 Can you tell I am excited .
I can’t wait to do it again!
Recipe: Sambuca Shrimp Pasta
Takes 15 minutes to make
1 pound large shrimp, peeled and deveined, remove the tails
1 tsp each of onion and garlic powder
2 tsp old bay seasoning
½ tsp to 1 tsp of chipotle powder (depends on how spicy you would like it)
1 tablespoons butter and 1 tbs oil (olive, canola, corn whatever you have)
1 onion thinly sliced
1 pepper thinly sliced (yellow, orange or red)
2 Portobello mushroom caps –gills removed and thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic finely minced
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 ½ OZ Sambuca (licorice-flavored liqueur)
½ cup of fresh grated Parmesan Reggiano cheese
Handful of freshly torn basil
Salt and pepper
Fresh spaghetti pasta
What To Do:
1. Season the shrimp with onion and garlic powder, chipotle powder and old bay and set aside.
2. Slice onions and peppers and mushrooms and finely mince garlic and set aside.
3. Get a pot of water on the stove and salt it generously for the pasta
4. In a large skillet, melt ½ the butter and ½ the oil over medium heat and cook the seasoned shrimp, just until pink. Cook in batches if your pan is small. You don’t want the shrimp to boil, you want them to sauté. Should take just a few minutes, once the shrimp turns pink remove to bowl and set aside.
5. Add the remaining butter and oil over medium/high heat and sauté the mushrooms for 3-4 minutes until they start to brown. Remove and place in a bowl. Continue to sauté the rest of the vegetables, onions, peppers and garlic. Cook for 3-4 minutes until tender. Remove the pan from the heat and add your Sambuca, place the pan back on heat and reduce for a minute. Reduce heat to medium/low and add in cream and reduce again until you see the sauce thicken up. (The sauce should coat the back of a spoon, if it is too thick and it was reduced too much just ad a splash of cream or water. Taste your sauce. If it needs salt, add salt. If you want to add pepper or extra chipotle do it at this stage.) You should always taste your food for seasoning.
6. Drop your pasta. Fresh pasta takes 1-2 minutes to cook. Add your cooked shrimp back into the pan with the sauce to reheat it but not overcook it.
7. Once pasta is cooked drain it and put it the drained pasta into the pan with the sauce. Proceed to toss and coat the pasta for a minute.
8. Last step toss in torn basil and ½ grated parmesan cheese
9. Serve family style or in 4 pasta bowls and top with remaining parmesan cheese.
Enjoy!!
22 Friday Aug 2014
Tags
baking with kids, banana, banana bread, chocolate, comfort food, easy baking, easy cooking, one bowl cooking, simple baking
I have been making this banana bread for years and years now. It can also be made with egg replacer or apple sauce instead of the egg for those with egg allergies (mainly my 2 daughters).
No need to use a mixer for this recipe. It is so easy your kids could make it! Clean-up is easy too, if you want, you can mix everything in one bowl.
The best bananas to use for banana bread are those that are over-ripe. I typically have 10 to 20 frozen bananas in my freezer at one time (it annoys my husband to no end) but they make the best banana bread! If you are using non frozen bananas, make sure the yellow peels are half browned, and the bananas inside are squishy and browning.
Delicious Banana Bread
Step by Step Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F, and grab a 4×8-inch loaf pan. Line it with parchment paper with overhanging sides.
In a mixing bowl, mash the ripe bananas with a fork until smooth. Add sugar and stir. Stir in the melted butter into the mashed bananas and sugar. Add vanilla.
Thawed frozen bananas, just squeeze them into the bowl
2/3 cup of vanilla sugar (you can see the vanilla bean specks)
Add in 1 egg
1/3 cup melted butter
1 tsp baking soda
11/2 cups of flour
1/2 cup of semi sweet chocolate chips
Into the oven
50 minutes later
Slice and serve
I am a girl who loves food. I grew up with a Mom who was an excellent cook. She wrote a cookbook when I was a child, and as they say, the rest is history. Started a catering business in 2005 and haven’t looked back. I am a mom to 2 beautiful girls and I want them to love food as much as I do. In the meantime, I love life and love my job @ http://www.monicaskitchen.com
15 Friday Aug 2014
Nothing beats a fresh homemade salsa served with hot and salty tortilla chips.
But did you know that you could make a fresh salsa in about 90 seconds?
Here is how:
You need approx 8-10 smaller tomatoes (I used Campari tomatoes)
1 jalapeño pepper deserved
1 red onion
1 garlic clove
Handful of cilantro
Pinch of salt
Half or quarter your tomatoes, quarter your onion, slice your pepper and garlic. In two batches toss your tomatoes into your food processor and pulse. You want to break them down but you don’t want them to be purĂ©ed. Pour into a bowl.
Next batch put in your garlic, onions, jalapeño, and cilantro and pulse until finely chopped. Put that into a bowl and mix together. Season with salt and taste.
Done and done! Enjoy your fresh salsa.
12 Tuesday Aug 2014
One of the fondest memories I have of my grandma was when she used to visit with us and make us breakfast in the mornings. Her specialty was boiled eggs and toast soldiers. Just thinking about it makes me smile. I am sure most people share similar memories.
I felt so special getting this “fancy” breakfast.
Toast and Eggs
I have a take on this breakfast that is great for kids and adults. It is super easy to make. If you include boiling the water the entire recipe takes 9 minutes to make. Perfect for before school or on the weekend.
Grown up Eggs and Soldiers
Take a pot of water and boil it. Add the egg to the water for 6 minutes. Toast your favorite bread and butter it. Dice it up into cubes and put into a bowl. Remove egg, run it quickly under cold water and peel. Place the peeled egg on the toast cubes and slice it open. Season with salt and pepper and enjoy!
Just like grandma used to make only more grown up.
Boil the egg for 6 minutes
Toast and butter your bread. Dice is put it in a bowl.
Run the 6 minute egg under cold water for 30 seconds
Place peeled egg onto of toast cubes and season with S & P.
Slice and eat!
I am a girl who loves food. I grew up with a Mom who was an excellent cook. She wrote a cookbook when I was a child, and as they say, the rest is history. Started a catering business in 2005 and haven’t looked back. I am a mom to 2 beautiful girls and I want them to love food as much as I do. In the meantime, I love life and love my job @ http://www.monicaskitchen.com
01 Friday Aug 2014
Posted in Food, Food Reviews, Must Try
Tags
beer, brauhaus, burger, Central Bierhaus, food, kanata restaurant, ottawa, oysters, restaurant review
Joel and I popped into Central Bierhaus last night for a bite to eat. What a transformation from the old O’Connors! I love it. Maybe that’s the German in me, but it reminds me of German Brauhaus. The only thing missing is the girls in dirndls.
Menu
They have been open 3 weeks now and are still having a few growing pains in the kitchen but otherwise it was a smooth experience.
When you sit down they greet you with “Das Bier Buch” (English translation The Beer Book). They have so many beers to choose from it is unreal. I ordered a Stiegl Radler (my new favorite summer beer) and Joel got a Stiegl.
We started off with raw oysters and they were delish! They have a number of different east coast varieties (King Kong, Raspberry Points, Malpeques, and many more) It is nice to have a place in the west end of Ottawa that servers oysters. Another recommendation for you, around the bar they have smoked Hungarian sausages in containers that are 4$ a piece. I highly recommend getting a smoked sausage with your beer. They are salty and smoky and pair perfectly with it.
Raw Oysters
For dinner we order the Augus Burger which was recommended by our server and some mussels. The mussels were ok. I wouldn’t order them again. They were missing flavor and they were over cooked. The burger was amazing. I haven’t had a burger this good since I visit Umami Burger in NYC last fall. The Angus Burger is served on a brioche bun and topped with smoked cheddar, applewood bacon, caramelized onion aioli and your standard lettuce, tomato, pickle. It was so juicy. It comes with a small salad and french fries. I will 100% order it again and I invite all of you to order it as well.
Angus Burger assembly
For 4 beers, a smoked sausage, a burger, mussels and oysters the bill was 124$ with tip. I can’t wait to go back.
I am a girl who loves food. I grew up with a Mom who was an excellent cook. She wrote a cookbook when I was a child, and as they say, the rest is history. Started a catering business in 2005 and haven’t looked back. I am a mom to 2 beautiful girls and I want them to love food as much as I do. In the meantime, I love life and love my job @ http://www.monicaskitchen.com
