Friendly Food Snobs

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crispy flattened chicken + moroccan spices

flattened chicken
Almost ten years ago I backpacked through Morocco with my best, Laura and this week I was craving something warming and exotic. This crispy chicken takes only 45 minutes to roast in the oven, thanks to being flattened. The spice rub is sweet and savory and reminds me of all the tagine meals we devoured with our twenty-something-wonder in North Africa. As I get ready to start feeding our baby boy something other than milk this winter, I get excited at the journey I will get to show him through food in the years to come. Um, perhaps I will start with some sweet potato or mashed avocado first! Enjoy this chicken dish, one of the best parts is the crispy skin. I love to pair it with a simple green salad or cous cous or quinoa with lots of tomatoes and cucumbers and mint. Preserved lemons on the side are lovely too, but not at all necessary.

crispy flattened chicken + moroccan spices

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken
1 heaping tsp each of the following:
cumin
garlic powder
paprika
cinnamon
brown sugar
In addition to:
pinch red pepper flakes
sea salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
generous drizzle olive oil

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Combine spices in a small bowl. Using kitchen scissors or a pointed serrated knife slice top of chicken (breasts) in half and flatten the chicken. This saves so much cooking time. Pat the chicken dry with paper towel. Using your hands rub the spices over both sides of the chicken and even under the skin if you can manage. Drizzle with olive oil and roast in a cast iron pan for 45 minutes or until crispy and brown. Let rest a few minutes before diving in. The skin is amazing and so crispy and chicken always moist from the quick cooking time. Enjoy!

tandoori inspired bbq chicken

tandhoori inspired bbq chicken

Hello summer. It’s been a month since my last post and one month into being a mama! Oscar joined our family in June and my heart feels like it will burst every morning he wakes and smiles at me. What I have learned so far…cooking with a newborn? Challenging. Blogging with a newborn the first few weeks? Nearly impossible! I’m thrilled to be back online and sharing this recipe. The yogurt and curry marinade makes for juicy and flavourful chicken. Been loving this with rice or a green salad. Recipe feeds four and makes so much marinade you could easily add extra chicken and feed six.

tandoori inspired bbq chicken

Ingredients:
6 chicken thighs + 2 chicken breasts (or any combination, I used boneless thighs and bone-in breasts)
5 tbsp full fat plain yogurt
2 tbsp curry powder
pinch red pepper flakes
salt and pepper
juice of half a lemon
2 cloves garlic roughly chopped
1 tbsp ketchup (for the sugar!)

Combine all ingredients. Marinate the chicken for a minimum of 4 hours. Heat BBQ and remove most of the marinade from the chicken. We love our Weber Q1200 for its cast iron grates and portability. Grill turning once until fully cooked. Enjoy!

no yeast pizza crust

 roasted red peppers

no yeast pizza crustno yeast pizza crust

Fresh basil and red peppers taste like summer and homemade pizza to me. Crisp and flavourful, this tastes more like a thin crust flatbread pizza than a heavy doughy version.

We devoured it sitting outside, eating it right out of the oven just on napkins and even skipped the plates. My recipe for roasted red pepper basil pizza is below, but use any topping ingredients you have on hand.

Recipe makes two 12 inch round pizzas and feeds four to six.

no yeast pizza crust topped with roasted red peppers and basil

Ingredients for no yeast pizza crust:
2 and 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp white sugar or honey
2 tsp salt
3 tbsp olive oil
3/4 cup water

Ingredients for roasted red peppers:
3 red peppers
Slice peppers in half and remove seeds and stem. Roast cut side down on a parchment paper lined baking sheet at 400 degrees for 25-30 mins. Skins should be slightly blackened. Let cool and remove skins and tear into long strips.

Ingredients for pizza toppings:
1 ball of good quality mozzarella (half for each pizza)
20 ripe cherry tomatoes sliced in half (10 for each pizza)
red peppers from recipe above
salt and pepper
drizzle olive oil
handful of fresh basil leaves to top pizza after cooking

Preheat oven to 425 degrees and place a baking sheet or pizza stone in oven. Combine all ingredients for the pizza crust and kneed for one minute. Easier to do if you coat your hands with a little olive oil! Form a ball with the dough and cover with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let rest on the counter for ten minutes or so while you prep the toppings.

After resting the dough, divide into two balls. Place first ball of dough on a large sheet of parchment paper on your counter,  sprinkle lightly with flour and roll out with rolling pin, gently forming dough into a circle as you go. Top pizza with a light drizzle of olive oil and then the tomatoes, peppers, salt and pepper to taste and cheese. Lift up parchment paper and carefully place on the hot baking sheet or pizza stone. Bake 15-17 minutes or until cheese is bubbly and bottom of crust brown. I baked each pizza individually.

Other topping combinations I love: roasted broccoli + pesto + feta, or red sauce + thinly sliced zucchini + mozzarella + chopped garlic. My husband also loves a white pizza with just olive oil, caramelized onions and some sauteed Italian sausage on top. Here’s my fool proof caramelized onion recipe. Enjoy!

sweet potato red lentil dhal

sweet potato dhalVegan, nutrient dense and as good as my favourite Indian take out, I serve this sweet potato dhal with a side of whole wheat roti or over basmati rice. I love it near the end of winter as a break from all the meat I crave during the colder months. To fancy it up a bit garnish with toasted sliced almonds, fresh cilantro, a dollop of plain balkan yogurt or a crumble of feta.  Like soup, every dhal is a little different and freezes amazingly well. I plan to stock my freezer with a batch before our little one arrives this spring. Enjoy!

sweet potato red lentil dhal

Ingredients:
olive oil to coat the bottom of a soup pot
1 onion chopped
3 cloves garlic chopped
2 carrots finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
pinch red pepper flakes
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp butter (use coconut oil if vegan)
5 cups water
1 large (or 2 medium) sweet potato peeled and roughly cubed
1 cup dried red lentils rinsed and drained
1 cup packed greens like spinach, swiss chard (optional if you have it handy)

Heat the oil in a heavy soup pot and saute the onion and carrots for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, curry, cumin, salt and pepper, red pepper flakes and butter and stir. Cook spices for a few minutes until fragrant. Pour in the water and sweet potato chunks. Simmer for 10 minutes on medium heat. Stir in the red lentils, reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes. Gently stir all the way to the bottom so the lentils don’t stick every 10 minutes or so. If you’re adding greens (and I only do if I have them hanging out in the fridge and needing to be used) toss them in to wilt in the last 3-5 minutes of cooking.

caramelized onion + date chutney grilled cheese

IMG_3198 IMG_3183 IMG_3222IMG_3257Can you tell I am embracing the end of winter and comfort food? Just a bit. I love how the addition of chutney and some regular cooking onions slowly caramelized takes this grilled cheese to a new level. It was a perfect easy Saturday night dinner. A few weeks ago the folks at McEwan’s approached me to have some fun with one of their date and raisin chutneys. I bopped up to the Don Mills location to have a grocery shop, one of my favourite past times. A fabulous store where I found the cheese, meat and fruit and veg to be outstanding. Since then this date and raisin chutney has proven itself a bit of a staple. Delicious on seared pork tenderloin as well as dipping samosas and Indian food. Back to the recipe, hope you like it as much as I did. Serves two.

caramelized onion + date chutney grilled cheese

Ingredients for caramelized onions:
3 tablespoons olive oil
2-3 cooking onions cut into half moons
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
fresh black pepper to taste
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
Heat oil to low-medium in a heavy bottom skillet. Saute onions 25 mins stirring occasionally. Low and slow. Can’t rush these guys. After about 10 mins add the black pepper. At 25 minutes stir in the small amount of brown sugar and take off the heat. Taste for salt and pepper.

Ingredients for the grilled cheeses:
4 slices light rye or sourdough bread
1 tablespoon butter
3/4 cup grated aged white cheddar
2 heaping teaspoons McEwan’s date and raisin chutney
2 heaping teaspoons of the caramelized onions (use the leftover chutney and onions in an omelette, stuffed in a chicken breast, crostini or on a cheese board)

Heat a cast iron or heavy bottom pan. Butter the outside of the bread. Top each slice of bread with a heaping teaspoon of chutney, cheese and then onions. Press together both pieces and cook for 5 minutes a side or until golden brown. You can visit McEwan’s at Shops at Don Mills, 38 Karl Fraser Rd, Toronto, ON (647) 557-4853.

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