!!PIZZA!!

The Pizza Potluck

You can use the tomato sauce recipe we posted last week, the dough from Calzones and whatever ingredients you want to make delicious home-made pizza! We love having pizza potlucks where the host makes the dough and sauce and a few people bring cheese and toppings... everyone can then assemble the pizzas together, see below for how to shape and assemble your pizzas

Shaping Pizza Dough

the dough recipe should make 2 medium sized pizzas, so divide the dough in half and roll into balls.

Take one of the balls of dough and flatten it with your hand. You can now either play pizza-chef and try tossing it in the air with a little spin (I like to have a friend there to catch it in case I drop it), or use a rolling pin or your hands to flatten it into an even circle (or square or heart or rectangle!)

Lightly spread corn meal or brush olive oil on your pan, place the pizza on it and then start topping! bake in a 375 degree oven for at least 20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown and the toppings heated.

Posted at 05:52AM on Apr 04, 2009

Homemade Tomato Sauce

Tomato Sauce from scratch!

1 onions (finely chopped)

2 cloves garlic

1 can tomato paste

1 can diced (or whole) tomatoes

tomato paste can of water

2 tsp basil

2 tsp oregano

2 tsp thyme

Salt and pepper to taste

Sauté onions and garlic until transparent. Sauté with spices for two minutes. Add remaining ingredients. Bring to boil and let simmer for 20-30 minutes. Voilà.

Posted at 12:23PM on Mar 19, 2009

Hamantaschen

Purim is on Monday!Here is a basic dough recipe!

Hamantaschen Dough

Ingredients

2 cups sugar

2 cups oil

1 tsp vanilla

6 eggs

1 tsp salt

4 tsp baking powder

7 cups flour

1/2 tsp lemon juice

Directions

Preheat oven to 350

In a bowl, mix the flour with the salt, sugar, and vanilla extract. Cut the butter in pieces and rub it into the flour. Mix the egg yoke and press into a soft ball. Work very briefly, adding a little milk if necessary to bind it. Wrap in plastic wrap and cool in the refrigerator.

Divide the dough into 4 for easier handling. Roll out each piece on a floured surface with a floured rolling pin until it is 1/8 inch (3 mm) thick. Cut into 3-inch (7 1/2 cm) rounds with a pastry cutter.

Take the scraps, roll out again, and cut into rounds. (Another way is to take a lump of dough a bit bigger than a walnut and to flatten the dough by pressing it in the palm of your hand.)

Put a heaping teaspoon of filling in the center of each round. Lift up the edges on three sides and fold over the filling to form a triangular pyramid, pinching the sides together to seal them but leaving the top open. Arrange on a greased tray and brush with beaten egg.

Bake in a preheated 375 degree F (190 degree C) oven for 15-20 minutes, or until golden. Do not try to remove the pastries from the tray while they are hot, or they will crumble. Let them cool and lift them very carefully off with a spatula, because they are fragile.

Variations

It is easier to cut the dough into 3-inch (7 1/2 cm) squares. Place a tablespoon of filling on each, a little closer to one corner, and fold the dough over into a triangle, sealing the edges. Though not as evocative as the other shape, this too can present a 3-cornered hat. For the prune filling: Blend 1/2 lb (250g) of most pitted prunes inn a food processor with 1/2 cup (90 ml) of orange juice or enough to make a thick paste. Add 2 tablespoons of honey and, if you like, a few chopped walnuts.

Filling Options

Any kind of jam

Chocolate

Melt chocolate, a couple tbsp of butter and add heavy cream as you melt on the stove.

Prune Filling

1 Medium seedless orange

1 Package pitted prunes, (12 ounces)

1 1/2 Cups raisins

2 Tablespoons sugar or jam (less sweet, more like Babi)

Steel Knife: Cut orange in quarters, but do not peel.

Process half the orange until fine, about 20 seconds. Add half the remaining ingredients. Process until fine, about 15 to 20 seconds. Empty processor bowl. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

May be prepared in advance and refrigerated or frozen.

Note: It is a good idea to feel the prunes with your fingertips to make sure that no pits have been overlooked before packaging. Otherwise, you could damage the Steel Knife.

If you wish to add nuts, process about 1/4 cup walnuts for 4 to 5 seconds. Empty bowl and process remaining ingredients. Add nuts and process a few seconds longer.

Poppy Seed Filling (Mohn)

1 cup (150 g) poppy seeds

3/4 cup (175 ml) milk

2 tablespoons honey

4 tablespoons sugar

4 tablespoons raisins

Grated zest of 1 lemon

1 tablespoons lemon juice

1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter

For the filling, put the poppy seeds in a pan with the milk and simmer for about 15 minutes or until thick. Add the honey, sugar, raisins, and butter and cook 5 minutes more. Add the lemon zest and juice and the butter and mix well. Let it cool.

Posted at 08:56AM on Mar 07, 2009

Homemade Pesto

Pesto

Pesto isn't scientific. It relies heavily on you tasting as you go and adapting it to your own taste buds. This recipe should feed four

½ -1 clove garlic

A handful of fresh basil

A handful of pine nuts

3 tbsp grated or fresh parmesan cheese

¼ of a fresh lemon or a 2 tsp of lemon juice

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 tbsp water or white wine

If you have a food processor or hand blender just blend it all together. Otherwise crush garlic and grind it together with the basil, pine nuts and cheese. Gradually add the liquids to make the grinding process easier.

If you are just eating it with pasta then heat it up before serving. This isn’t necessary for the fish.

Posted at 03:52AM on Feb 15, 2009

Fish Soup Stock

Fish Soup Stock

(if you want to make chicken stock just substitute the fish heads for chicken carcasses)

2-4 onions peeled and cut into chunks (the size doesn’t matter)

3-5 cloves of garlic

min. 4 fish heads

6-10 cups water (depends on how many fish heads and how much stock)

Saute onions and garlic. Add fish heads and water. Bring to boil and simmer on low for 45 min. Drain out onions, garlic and fish heads. Voila home made stock!

Posted at 08:02AM on Feb 12, 2009

How to play with Chocolate

Tempering Chocolate

Tempering chocolate is just melting chocolate. The trick to this is not to burn it or get any water in it. You have one of two options. Either melt it in the microwave in thirty second intervals (stir inbetween!) or you can double boil it over water. This is ideal if you have a double boiler, or you can just stick a smaller pot inside a larger one. Make sure you don’t get any (and I repeat ANY) water in the chocolate. If you do than it will not only not melt properly, but won’t look as nice when it hardens.

Chocolate Strawberries

To dip your strawberries in chocolate you can either dip them whole or halve them. Gently submerge them in the melted chocolate and then remove them with a fork, shaking off the excess chocolate before placing on a wax-paper covered plate. Let cool and then enjoy.

Chocolate Bark

Melt at least one bag of semi sweet chocolate chips. Take a baking sheet and cover it in wax paper. Spread the melted chocolate over top. Melt milk and white chocolate to drizzle over that. Sprinkle any other fancy treats you like (shredded coconuts, sliced almonds, cranberries, etc). Place in the freezer for at least an hour (until the chocolate hardens) break into bite size pieces and enjoy. If you aren’t serving them right away place in a Tupperware in the fridge for when you are looking to impress. This one is not only ridiculously simple, but also nearly impossible to ruin. Whip them out on a rainy day and everyone will want to marry you (regardless of sexual orientation).

Posted at 08:00AM on Feb 12, 2009

(no headline)

Editor's note: Due to poor performance on the part of the Daily's web editor, Friends with Food's Superbowl blog is being posted late. Superbowl food is tasty year-round, so don't hesitate to try out these recipes, but don't go trying to have a Superbowl party this Sunday. It's already over - the Steelers won, the Cardinals lost, and the Boss was AWESOME.

With the superbowl on Sunday what's better than some hot cheesy dips? Here are two of our favorites. These recipes aren't rocket science, so don't worry about exact proportions. Really with these ingredients you can't go wrong, so instead go crazy and adapt them to your preferred taste buds. We hope that your team wins! Our team, team food, always wins on Superbowl Sunday.

Cheesy Spinach Dip

1 part cream cheese or labane (you can buy this at Segal's. It's a Mediterranean white cheese spread) 1 part sour cream or yoghurt 1 cup sliced spinach 1 cup of your preferred grated cheese (white cheddar, mozarrella, parmesan, gouda, you name it!)

Heat oven to 350

Mix all the ingredients together in an oven safe dish. Cook for 20 minutes until they are warm

Serve with crackers, pita, chips, carrots, anything really.

Seven Layer Bean Dip

1 can of refried pinto beans 3-5 soft avocados 1 tsp lemon juice 1 tsp dry garlic 1 tsp chili flakes 1 container of sour cream 1 small jar of salsa (you can also make your own!) 2 cups of grated orange cheddar 4 diced tomatoes 3 diced green onions black olives

Heat oven to 350

Time to make some guacamole. In a bowl cream together the avocados, half of one of the diced tomatoes, the lemon juice and a spoonful of cream cheese. Once they have become a smooth spread you can spice if you want with the garlic and chili flakes. Of course if you have any other spices that you like to go in your guacamole go ahead. Go crazy. Remember that this is going to be comibined with all the other ingredients so it doesn't have to be perfect.

In a recantuglar cassarole dish spread the refried beans evenly over the bottom.

The next layer should be the guacamole. Do the same as the beans.

Repeat with the sour cream and then the salsa. Sprinkle the cheese overtop. Then the tomatoes, onions and olives.

Cook for thirty minutes until the dip is warm all the way through.

Serve with tortilla chips.

You don't have to use any of the layers if you don't like them. For example I never use olives because I hate them.

You also don't have to cook it if you don't want it. But, warm melted cheese is always better.

Posted at 05:54AM on Feb 11, 2009

Mocha Icing

½ c chocolate chips at 30 sec intervals in microwave ½ c butter 2-3 c icing sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 tbs coffee – or more to taste

Cream together the chocolate chips and butter. Add in the icing sugar until you get the desired texture. Whisk in the 1 tsp vanilla extract and 1+ tbs coffee. Voila!

Posted at 07:57AM on Nov 21, 2008

Potato Latkes + Xmas Pudding

Potato Latkes

4 small potatoes

1/2 cup finely chopped onion

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 to 3/4 cup oil

Preparation

Preheat oven to 250°F.

Peel potatoes and coarsely grate by hand, transferring to a large bowl of cold water as grated. Soak potatoes 1 to 2 minutes after last batch is added to water, then drain well in a colander.

Spread grated potatoes and onion on a kitchen towel and roll up jelly-roll style. Twist towel tightly to wring out as much liquid as possible. Transfer potato mixture to a bowl and stir in egg and salt.

Heat 1/4 cup oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Working in batches of 4 latkes, spoon 2 tablespoons potato mixture per latke into skillet, spreading into 3-inch rounds with a fork. Reduce heat to moderate and cook until undersides are browned, about 5 minutes. Turn latkes over and cook until undersides are browned, about 5 minutes more. Transfer to paper towels to drain and season with salt. Add more oil to skillet as needed. Keep latkes warm on a wire rack set in a shallow baking pan in oven.

Eat with sour cream and applesauce. Yum yum.

Xmas Pudding

The recipe called for ingredients in grams and ounces. I tried to convert them using the world wide web, but it might not be the most accurate measurements because grams/ounces measure weight while cups and tablespoons measure volume.

8 ounces / 225 g sultanas (~ 1 c)

8 ounces / 225 g seedless raisins (~1 c)

8 ounces / 225 g currants (~1 c)

4 oz / 100 g prunes, stoned and chopped (~ 1/2c)

2 ox / 50 g mixed peel (3 ½ tbs)

1 apple, grated

Finely grated zest and juice of 1 orange

Finely grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

4 oz / 100 g soft dark brown sugar (2/3c)

1 tbsp / 15 ml black treacle or molasses

5 oz / 150 g fresh white breadcrumbs (~2/3 c)

4 oz of olive oil (~ ¼ c)

6 fl oz / cooking brandy (3/4 c)

1/2 tsp / 2.5 ml ground ginger

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp cloves

1/2 tsp / 2.5 ml ground allspice

3 oz / 75 g plain flour (~2/3c)

3 oz / 75 g ground almonds (~ 2/3 c)

4 eggs

Olive oil for greasing

Preparation

Wash the dried fruit, dusting it with a handful of flour before rinsing under cold water. Measure all the dried fruit into a large mixing bowl. Add all the remaining ingredients and stir well until they are thoroughly combined. Leave the mixture to stand overnight before filling the basins.

Lightly grease two 2 1/2 pint / 1.5 litre pudding basins with olive oil. (Butter is not suitable as it will tend to go rancid if the pudding is to be kept). Divide the mixture between the basins, allowing an inch or so for the puddings to rise. Lightly grease two circles of greaseproof paper to fit into the basins. There are several methods for covering the puddings; the most effective is to secure a large square of muslin with string and to tie the loose ends in a big granny knot. If you cannot find muslin, tin foil will do just as well, tucked securely round the rim of the basin.

Before the puddings are stored away they must be steamed for 5 –6 hours. Stand them side by side in a large casserole, or pot, and pour in boiling water to come halfway up the sides of the basins, cover the pot and steam them in the oven preheated to 150 C / 300 F for 6 hours, topping up with more boiling water as necessary. On Christmas Day the puddings will need a further 2 1/2 – 3 hours before serving.

To serve -

Stand the pudding in a large saucepan of boiling water, cover and simmer for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, topping up from time to time with more boiling water to prevent it boiling dry. The brandy custard can be made before serving and kept warm by standing over a saucepan of simmering water. Turn the pudding onto a plate, warm a ladleful of brandy and pour over the pudding. Ignite and serve in a darkened room with brandy butter, or brandy custard, and /or whipped cream.

Brandy Custard

1 pint/ 600 ml of milk (2 c)

2 tbsp / 30 ml corn flour

3 egg yolks

3 tbsp / 45 ml brandy

2 tbsp / 30 ml castor sugar

Preparation

Measure 3 tbsp / 45 ml of milk into a mixing bowl and stir in the corn flour, egg yolks, brandy and sugar until smooth. Bring the remaining milk to a boil and whisk into the corn flour mixture. Return the custard to the saucepan and simmer briefly to thicken. The corn flour in the recipe will prevent the custard from curdling.

Brandy Butter (Hard Sauce) - Traditional with Xmas pudding or Mince Pies

3 oz good unsalted butter (1/3 c)

3 oz fine castor sugar (1/3 c)

2 –3 tbsp brandy

Cream butter until white. Beat in sugar gradually; when thoroughly mixed add the brandy a few drops at a time, beating continuously. Add enough to flavour well, taking care towards the end that the mixture does not curdle. It should now look white and foamy. Pile up in a dish and leave to harden.

Posted at 05:51AM on Nov 21, 2008

Roasting squash seeds

You can do this with most kinds of squash seeds (although the big pumpkin holiday is over, you can always carve an "exam pumpkin" and use the seeds). Just separate the seeds from the gunk and rinse them off. Pour a few tablespoons of oil (olive or canola work great) over the drained seeds (try to get as much moisture off as possible) and mix around. Lay the clean, oiled seeds on a baking pan so that there is about one layer of seeds. Spread them around and salt. The salt should coat all of the seeds but how salt-crazy you go is up to you. bake in a 375 F oven for about 10 minutes. Toss and stir around, being careful to respread the seeds out evenly. Continue to mix at 10 minute increments until the seeds are lighly toasted to a nice golden brown colour. You can also flavour them with things besides salt. Try whatever you have in your spice rack (garlic powder? chili powder?). Have an adventure but don't blame us if they taste bad because of your spice concoction!

Posted at 03:50AM on Nov 07, 2008

More thanksgiving recipes! meat stuffing, roasted veggies, soup, pie fillings AND MORE!

Basic Stuffing: (if your turkey is less than 17 lbs then cut this recipe in half)

2 apples chopped 2 large onions chopped 4 tablespoons butter 1 teaspoon sage 1 teaspoon savory 1⁄2 teaspoon salt 1 loaf of bread cubed and lightly browned (cube and then toast on a cookie sheet in the oven at 350 until lightly browned)

Melt butter in large skillet, add onions and all spices. Cook until onions are soft and transparent. Put toasted bread cubes and apple in large bowl and pour onion mixture onto it. Toss until well blended. Stuff into turkey but don't pack in too tightly (i.e. don't force or compress it). Before you stuff the turkey you will have to cut the fat that ties the legs together and remove the insides (gizzards etc). You’ll want to do this over the sink or a plastic bag. Once the insides have been removed pour out the remaining blood. And you wonder why we are vegetarians (well, Laura isn’t). Now you can stuff the turkey with delicious.

You can use the same bread for both stuffings. Just toast it all and use the amount you need for the turkey and turn the rest into wild rice, mushroom vegetarian stuffing!

Roasted Veggies

Peel and chop in large chunks sweet potatoes or yams (2 large ones or 3 medium) Chop in large chunks 5 red potatoes Slice thickly 4-6 large carrots 3 medium sized onions cut into large chunks 6 shallots quartered (remove the peels, cut in half and cut in half again) ½ c Olive Oil 2 tsp rosemary

Place all the veggies in a oven-safe casserole dish (preferably glass). Pour in the olive oil and mix together until they are all coasted. You can add more olive oil if necessary. Then sprinkle with Rosemary and toss. If you have a lid for the baking dish then use it. The veggies will cook faster. Place in the oven at 400 for 45 minutes to an hour. When you take it out of the oven the veggies should be soft enough to easily skewer with a fork. You can cook these before the turkey and then heat them up in the microwave when it’s time to eat.

Pie Fillings

Apple 5-6 Apples (granny smith are solid, or buy whatever locally grown apples you can find. This is apple season) 3/4 cup brown sugar 1 tbsp of cinnamon

Core and cut the apples into bite size people. They don’t all to all be uniform, but should be relatively the same size (then they’ll cook evenly). In a bowl combine the apples, sugar and cinnamon. Place in pie dish. If you have a bottom crust (you can make it with only a top curst!) Then place the apples in the pan after the bottom crust is positioned. Cover with a top crust. Don’t forget to poke holes in the top crust.

Pumpkin We just followed the recipe on the can and it worked perfectly. Easy as pie.

Berry One small bag of frozen mixed berries ¾ c sugar ¼ c corn starch (this is really important because other wise the berries will be too liquidy

Mix together in the bowl. Place in pie pan overtop of the bottom crust (this time you need a bottom crust). Roll out the top crust and slice in 1 cm wide pieces. Place over the pie like a lattice.

You’ll probably have extra dough. Just stick it in the freezer. If you ever need something to bring to dinner put the dough in the fridge a day ahead of time. Once the crust is defrosted roll out and make little tartlets in a muffin tin. They are super amazing.

Mashed potatoes 7 small red potatoes cut into cubes with the gross spots removed 4 tbsp butter 3 cloves of minced or halved garlic (just make sure you mash it into the potatoes once it is softened) ¾ c of milk

Boil the potatoes until you can stab them with a fork. Sauté the garlic in a dash of canola oil or butter. Drain the potatoes. In a bowl combine all the ingredients. Mash together with a fork or a potato masher. Adding more milk and butter can’t hurt if they seem too dry.

Home-made Whipped Cream One ½ litre of whipped cream ¼ sugar

Beat together until the cream is whipped. Not as hard as you though – eh?

I Yam what I Yam Soup

2 Tbsp butter (or spray of oil) 2 medium onions, chopped 1 -2 cloves of garlic, minced 1/4 cup white wine (or sherry) (if you are cheap then just omit) 1 - 1 1/2 lbs peeled and diced yams (you can use sweet potatoes if you want) 1 med jalapeno pepper, seeded and chopped (optional)

4 cups of chicken broth (or vegetable) 1/4 tsp each - thyme, ginger, tarragon, rosemary, nutmeg salt and pepper to taste

Saute onions and garlic over med heat in butter or oil until soft Add the wine, yams, jalepenos, and cook 15 minute cooked

Add broth, herbs and spices. Bring to a boil Cover and simmer about 15 minutes or until yams are quite tender

Puree until smooth - salt and pepper to taste

Can garnish with a swirl of yoghurt, chopped parsley, chives or cilantro

Gravy from scratch: Pour the drippings from the bottom of the bottom of the turkey pan into a sauce pan. In a small bowl combine a large handful of flour and about ½ Cup of water, whisk together until there are no more chunks. Pour the flour, water mixture into the turkey drippings, boil at med-high while stirring until it thickens to the consistency you want. You can always make and add more flour, water mixture if you’re getting impatient. Add salt and pepper until it tastes good.

Posted at 02:02PM on Oct 10, 2008

Thanksgiving Feast! Save Money! Eat Leftovers!

How to save money on this feast :

a) Split the dishes between friends. Have one person make the turkey, another dessert, another the veggie dish etc. You could even divide the turkey between two people.

b) Buy a frozen turkey at least two days ahead of time. They don’t taste as good, but are much cheaper. Make sure you leave it in the fridge for two days so that it defrosts. Don’t buy a butterball – they are gross. You may want to buy your turkey anyhow, because the selection for frozen turkeys is greater and you don’t want to be stuck poultry free on thanksgiving night. The most expensive ingredient is the turkey. So saving there will save you tons.

c) Cook for fewer people. We made dinner for fourteen, but you don’t have to. The fewer people involved the less food you need.

d) You can buy a frozen pie crust. This cuts down prep time. Some people say you can’t taste the difference, but those people are drunk.

e) Pumpkin pie is definitely cheaper than fresh apple pie.

Leftover Madness :

a) leftover turkey makes great sandwiches for lunch

b) or you can make hot turkey sandwiches at home – put some turkey and gravy on bread and heat it up.

c) Have a second dinner party for different friends the next day. Two social events for the price of one!

d) Send everyone home with a small Tupperware of leftovers. Then you all have tomorrow’s lunch

e) Stuffing with melted cheese on top can be great.

Fun tid-bit: Canadian thanksgiving is six weeks earlier than our neighbours down south because when this harvest festival was established our vegetables were coming into season six weeks earlier than them!

Posted at 07:10AM on Oct 10, 2008

The Turkey Journal

1pm Arranged meeting time to do the grocery shopping.

1:35 TEXT MESSAGE. Olivia is almost there –five more minutes.

1:40 grocery store 1 out of 3 – metro.

Chaos in METRO! Do they even sell turkeys? The guy at the deli looks at our shopping cart and says “ohhh c’est pour thanksgiving.” No turkey here? Oh well the adventure continues. On to Lobo. Still no Turkey, not surprisingly.

220pm Drop off all groceries besides the turkey in Laura’s kitchen. After we break the news to her that Turkey’s are mysteriously missing from the shelves of the grocery store the week before thanksgiving, we head to Provigo. We find the frozen turkeys, but there is not time to defrost these fat birds before tonight. Head to the fresh meat section. There are two 5-7 kg turkeys left. Only two, and we need them both. Thanksgiving Dinner is saved! We feel like superheroes. Olivia insists on buying tortilla chips and salsa con queso. It helps the cooking process.

315pm Start the stuffing

4pm Laura cracks open the turkey. Guts are removed and vegetarians disgusted.

430 The turkey(s) go in the oven for three hours. With great difficulty we manage to not touch the oven door. It can’t be opened. Don’t open the door. Seriously, I know you want to peek, but don’t do, you won’t see anything. I mean it. Mom says no.

6:30 WE REALLY want to look at the turkey, it’s started to smell good and just want to check. But seriously, don’t open the door.

6:45pm “this rooms smells like love and that’s just what I need right now” –a friend who walks into the kitchen

7:00pm THE OVEN OPENS. Still can’t see the turkey, it’s covered in tin foil. Laura pokes holes so we don’t die from the steam. The turkey is revealed and it looks amazing. We put the turkey back in the oven to cook for another 30 minutes. I can’t wait to see the end result.

7:30 - Open the squeaky oven door and see the beautiful golden brown skin. The bird comes out and we are on our way! Laura grabs a spoon and a bowl and scoops out the stuffing. Then she waits about 10 minutes before the party starts.

7:40 - Laura uses a dishtowel (but you could use an oven mitt) and picks up the bird with her hand on the butt and on the back. She puts it on the cutting board and gets busy carving. Sorting the meat into a dark and light pile is always a nice touch, especially for those who prefer one or the other.

8:00pm – DINNER!

Posted at 05:17AM on Oct 10, 2008