I'm bringing this back.

Time to start this up again.

So Simple, it's Easy!

Today's recipe is an "Easy" Shrimp Stir Fry.

It's so easy, that, really, what do I need to say about it? A little oil, a few veggies, a load of fresh shrimp... Boom goes the dynamite. We supplemented the recipe which could be found in Martha Stewart's "Everyday Food" Issue 69, with some rice noodles instead of rice.

Total prep/active time to make: 15 minutes.

The key to the perfect stir fry is to get your pan ultra-hot (smoke that oil), have all your ingredients prepped and ready to go, and keep things moving. DO NOT OVERCOOK. It will suck, and I'll be disappointed in you.

Reb's off to London England for a few days for her Mom's 60th, so I'm on my own. Any suggestions? Usually I just revert back to bachelor status and eat toast over the sink.

Hoisin Glazed Salmon

In honour of Chinese New Year, here's a super-simple dish that totally rocks in the flavour department. Served with a side of sauteed bok choi, it's also a good way to get some greens. Both recipes from the Everyday Food cookbook.

The recipe calls for salmon steaks, but I hate those. I much prefer filets. The salmon gets broiled (my favourite way to cook salmon) and while the sauce is store-bought (the horror!) it gets augmented with orange juice and honey, which caramelizes nicely under the broiler. Fish can be hard to do, but the one surefire way to know it's done is to check for opacity through the middle. It doesn't need to cook for very long, that's for sure. 10 to 12 minutes tops.

The pot luck was a lot of fun, and there was a real diverse collection of aphrodisiac foods. From fudge to chicken wings, there were a lot of options. The highlights were the prosciutto-wrapped asparagus spears, freshly shucked oysters, prosciutto-wrapped figs and home-made fudge. Reb and I brought mushroom risotto balls stuffed with grated parmesan cheese. We're pretty sure they were a big hit, as we took home an empty bowl. Yeah!

Chicken Thigh & White Wine Stew

Combining two of my favourite things! Thighs and Wine!

A super easy recipe with the hardest part being the wait. It filled the house with the beautiful smell of simmering chicken and wine. Really delicious. Jaime Oliver (if he sticks with this "cooking" thing, he could become really successful...) had the bright idea of doing away with the browning of the meat step. Completely unnecessary, unless you really dig on the brown bits. Which you might. I'm just saying not a required step to make a hardy stew.

This was the quickest of the four possible recipes he provides, at 1.5 hours prep and cooking time. The other three all take longer than 2 hours, but they'll definitely make appearances here eventually (Beef and Ale sounds mighty awesome).

If you'd like the recipe, shoot me an email!

One of my friends at work today heard about the blog, and how we never plan to make the same dinner twice. She asked me what we do when we find a recipe we really love. And you know what, I guess I haven't really considered what would happen then. Maybe we could make it again if company came over - which is rare these days, but probably the best solution.

Bonus Round!


We're going to an Aphrodisiac-inspired potluck on Friday night (Penis Cake Anyone?!) and while we've got some good ideas, we're open to suggestions. I'd love to do some baked Oysters, but I'm afraid of Reb catching me mid-shuck. (Har har)

Grilled Steak & Chillies

Since we had a whole bunch of red chillies hanging around from an earlier recipe this week, Reb thought it would be best to use them up (novel idea). Hence the grilled chillies on this ridiculously good looking steak.



Kay, so nothing crazy here, but the chillies added so much heat that Reb put all of hers on my plate. I ended up trading her another piece of red pepper (also grilled). The sour cream did little for the heat. Okay though, because I like it spicy. I'll have to ask Reb what the sauce on the asparagus was... I think it was a dijon/lemon concoction. Nice compliment to the steak. Way to go, Jaime Oliver, you puckah limey bastard!

You'll notice that there are grill marks on everything. Yes, we live in a condo, no we're not allowed to have a BBQ. We have a Cuisinart "Griddler". It's an excellent alternative for indoor, downtown types that can't have a BBQ. It comes with extra grill plates so you can also use it like an open-faced pancake pan. We like it, and it gets used a whole bunch. In fact, Cuisinart owes me a kickback for all the good press.

BTW, we've got company over tonight, and Reb's making Tomato Soup from scratch. We're hoping for a favourable review, hopefully you'll see it in the comments (hint hint)!

Steak with Parsley Sauce and Grilled Polenta

Yum. This was a good one. We got this from Martha Stewart's Everyday Food Cookbook. We get the monthly magazine, but this book was a Christmas gift from Reb, and it's awesome.

While I generally trust what Martha tells me, she's always going on about letting steaks rest. For like, 10 minutes! I think that's total crap. It's just going to get cold, which can't be a "good thing". If I take it off the heat and let it sit for 30 seconds, then slice, it's perfect and ready to go. The parsley sauce is a mixture of parsley (duh), s+p, olive oil, and garlic. Yes, I chopped my garlic in my Slap Chop. Linguine, Fettucini, Martini, Bikini!

We're pretty new to preparing polenta. In fact, it was a search to find it in the grocery store. There was none of the "prepare-your-own" style, so I had to settle for a pre-made tube. It was okay, but not one of my favourite flavours. I usually love food in tube form, but this tasted, kinda, brine-y... Not awesome, but it broiled nicely. Note: Broiling is awesome.

The mushrooms look deceptively like plain old mushrooms. But no. They were sauteed in olive oil, then cooked in chicken broth and heavy cream. Totally worth the added calories!

If you'd like the recipe, give us a shout!

It's about time we update here!

Well, the wait is over. Time to start making some posts!

First up is:

Quick Salmon Tikka with Cucumber Yogurt


This was super easy, and really delicious. Our thanks to Jamie Oliver's "Jamie's Food Revolution" for the recipe. Follow the link to Chapters-Indigo to buy the book.

This was a really neat twist on the typical Indian dish and while spicy, the yogurt does a great job of cutting that heat a bit. Be sure that when you add the red chillies, that you remember to take most (if not all) of the seeds out, or you'll be in for a nasty surprise! For the record, these are our pictures of the finished dish, but man, if it doesn't look just like the pictures in the book. In your face food stylists!

If you're interested in getting the recipe, shoot us a comment and we'll get in touch!