my favorite breakfast

Well, it might be one of my favorite breakfasts. I would never say no to a breakfast cooked by someone else, particularly my brother's pancakes. But this is the one I go to most weekends, usually eaten as I mix, stir or otherwise work on a recipe of two, while sipping a cooling cup of tea. There are a few variations. But the basics are a tortilla or a piece of toast, an egg (boiled, poached, fried), avocado if there are any, bacon (sometimes) and sometimes, cheese. A slick of mayonaise or mustard, some salt and pepper and there you are. Breakfast.

Served on pretty French plates with a big mug of your favorite tea!

leftover cornbread casserole

Last night I put this together,

mainly to use up some leftover cornbread. We usually have the cornbread with chili, but we'd eaten our way through a vat of chili already so I was looking for something a bit different. I had some ground turkey and brocoli in the fridge so I went from there. Using the idea of a tamale pie as my inspiration, I cut the cornbread and layered it into the bottom of a 8x11 dish to cover the bottom. I sprinkled some grated gruyere cheese over the top.

 I prepared a meat and veg mixture and poured that over the cornbread

 and covered it all with a cheese sauce and baked it.

Leftover Cornbread casserole
1/2 recipe of cornbread (from here)
1/4 c grated gruyere cheese

Meat Mixture
1 tsp olive oil
1/2 lb ground turkey
8 mushrooms, sliced
2 brocoli crowns, florets separated
1/3 c frozen corn kernels
1 garlic clove, minced
1/4 tsp mustard powder
salt and pepper

Sauce
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
420 mL milk
grated nutmeg
1/3 c grated gruyere cheese
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 deg F. Form the bottom layer of the casserole by fitting the cornbread pieces to cover the bottom of a 8x11 casserole dish. Cover with the grated cheese.

In a saute pan, add the oil and heat. Add the ground turkey and mushrooms and stir until the pink is gone from the meat. Add in the garlic and mustard along with the brocoli florets and corn. Cover and let cook about 5 minutes. Spread the mixture somewhat evenly over the cornbread layer.

In a saucepan, melt the butter. Then whisk in the flour and milk until well mixed. Heat for 5 minutes until the sauce is bubbly and thickened. Add the cheese and stir until mixed. Add the seasoning. Pour the sauce evenly over the meat mixture.

Bake the casserole for 20-30 minutes, until slightly browned and bubbly.

stuffed eggplant

A couple of weeks ago, on a chilly, rainy Sunday afternoon, I was perusing some of my cookbooks, looking for some inspiration. I wanted to get the jump on some dinners and go outside our current dinner rut. I came across a recipe for stuffed tomatoes in La Tartine Gourmande which gave me the idea of stuffing eggplant. To prepare the eggplant, I cut them in half lengthwise and roasted them until they were soft and toasty brown. I scraped out the pulp inside to leave the shells to stuff and incorporated it into some leftover meat and spinach mixture from some Canneloni crepes I had made. I piled the meat and veg mixture into the eggplant shells, dolloped some jarred marinara sauce over the top and then topped that with some parmesan crumbles before popping the dish into the oven.

It made a lovely supper and was a nice change from our usual dinner rotation.

Pork and Spinach Mixture for stuffing vegetables or crepes
1 medium onion, sliced
1 lb ground pork
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp dried sage
6 mushrooms, sliced
1 bag of spinach
1/2 c frozen peas
1/2 c frozen corn kernels
grated nutmeg, salt and pepper

In a saute pan, brown the onion and pork together, stirring to keep from sticking. Once the meat has lost it's pink colour, add the garlic and sage and mushrooms. Keep the mixture moving, until the mushrooms have given off their liquid, then add the spinach. Once the spinach is wilted, add in the peas and corn and season with the nutmeg, salt and pepper.

This mixture will fill 12 crepes or 6 medium eggplants - I did 8 crepes for one supper and 2 eggplants for antoher supper.

english easter treats

We spent Easter Sunday at my brother's house in England. Our boy was a bit worried that the Easter bunny would have trouble finding him but all turned out well. The bunny delivered chocolate to our boy's borrowed bedside and there was a lot of other chocolate during the day, including an easter egg (chick, bunny pop, etc) hunt outside in the garden and a couple of easter desserts or puddings as they are called in England to celebrate the day. Both were the brain child of my lovely sister-in-law.

These are chocolate nests filled with mini eggs and smarties - the nests were made from a mixture of light syrup and chocolate mixed with shredded cereal (Weetabix, cornflakes and oatmeal). I would use my chocolate haystack cookie recipe to make these again.

This is a pavlova decorated with halved Kinder eggs, mini eggs and smarties. Cute!

I hope you all had a lovely chocolatey Easter.

Delia's shepherd's pie with cheesy leeks

I've made this a few times and we love it every time. It's a lovely, stick-to-your ribs supper and can be made in stages through the day or altogether, which is useful in a recipe. This time I didn't have the called for turnip or rutabaga (Canadian for swede) but used mushrooms and a red bell pepper instead.

Delia's shepherd's pie with cheesy leeks (adapted slightly from Delia on line)
1 lb ground lamb
1 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 medium carrots, finely chopped
a handful of mushrooms, chopped
1 red pepper, finely chopped
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp dried thyme
275 mL vegetable stock
1 tbsp tomato paste
salt and pepper
2 oz sharp cheddar, grated
2 medium leeks, cleaned and cut into half moon slices
2 lbs potatoes
1 tbsp butter
a couple of spoonfuls of greek yogurt, plain
salt and pepper

Gently heat the olive oil in a large saute pan. Add the onions and fry for about 5 minutes until slightly brown. Add the rest of the vegetables and cook for another 5 minutes. Move the vegetables to the side of the pan and add the lamb, cooking it until it is all browned, separating it with a spoon. Season with salt and pepper and mix in with the vegetables. Add the stock and the tomato paste and mix into the mixture. Turn the heat down, cover the pan and let simmer gently for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, cook the potatoes until fork tender. Drain the potatoes and let them steam for about 5 minutes. Mash the potatoes with the butter and yogurt, and season with salt and pepper.

Spoon the meat into a baking dish and smooth it out into an even layer. Spread the potatoes over the meat evenly. Sprinkle the leeks over the top as evenly as you can and then top with the grated cheese.

Bake at 400 deg F for about 25 minutes until the cheese is melted and the potatoes are slightly browned.

slow cooker pulled pork

How I came to cook this is a bit of a tale. I had invited some friends for supper but they had to cancel and the pork butt I bought to make this was sitting in the fridge. It seemed too fancy to cook that recipe for just us, and I remembered SBS talking about this recipe on one of her Another Mother Runner podcasts so I looked up the recipe and away I went. First thing is that this is easy. Second, your kitchen will smell divine while this cooks away. And it makes lots. My pork was twice the size that the recipe called for so I doubled everything and still have packets of meat left in my freezer for those nights when dinner needs to be quick. We've had the leftovers twice in pulled pork tacos but the first night, I served it as per the recipe with our version of spicy broccoli slaw.

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork (from Real Simple)
1 1/2  medium yellow onions, chopped
1/2 c tomato paste
1/2 c packed light brown sugar
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
2 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp smoked paprika
4 tbsp apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper
3 lbs pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into 6 pieces

In a large slow cooker, mix together the yellow onion, tomato paste, sugar, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, paprika, vinegar, salt, and pepper. Add the pork and turn to coat. Cover and cook until the pork is very tender, on low for 7 to 8 hours. Using 2 forks, shred the pork and mix it into the cooking liquid. Serve the pork and onions on toast with broccoli slaw.

eggplant for dinner

I was inspired by evening reading of the lovely Jerusalem to toss a couple of eggplants in my grocery cart during my last food shop. I had grandiose ideas of making a lovely burnt eggplant something, but when push came to shove, I ended up going with something more familiar to me. A tomato less moussaka inspired cassserole. Again. But this version was delicious.

I cut the eggplant lengthwise and roasted them in the oven. The potatoes were also roasted. The zucchini didn't fit on the roasting trays as they were full of eggplant and potato slices so I decided to cook them with the ground lamb and it worked well. I hemmed and hawed quite a bit over the sauce due to my husband's recent stomach issues and in the end went with a regular white sauce beefed up with some feta and parmesan. Melded together in a casserole dish and broiled in the oven, it turned out so delicious, we tussled over who got to have the leftovers for lunch.

Lamb and Eggplant Casserole (inspired by moussaka)
2 large eggplant, sliced lengthwise (1/2" slices)
6 medium potatoes, sliced
1/2 large onion, sliced thinly
1/2 lb ground lamb
2 medium zucchini, sliced in half lengthwise and then sliced into half moons
grated fresh nutmeg, salt and pepper
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
350 ml milk
40 g feta, crumbled
30 g grated parmesan plus extra for topping

Roast the eggplant and potato on oiled baking sheets in single layers, in a hot 425 deg F oven until browned.

Meanwhile, saute the onions and ground lamb until the onions are tender. Add in the zucchini and cook until the lamb is browned, the onions are cooked and the zucchini are starting to brown.

In another saucepan, melt the butter, stir in the flour and then whisk in the milk. Stir until smooth and let cook over medium high heat for about 5 minutes until the sauce is thickened. Add in the cheeses and stir until well mixed.

In a 9x13 casserole dish, layer the eggplant slices over the bottom of the dish. Evenly layer the meat/zucchini mixture over the top. Layer the potato slices evenly over the meat. Pour the sauce over the top as evenly as possible. Top with grated parmesan. Bake in an oven, on the middle shelf, where the broiler has been turned on. Bake for about 8-10 minutes until the top is browned and serve.