Raspberry Rose Pots De Crème: A Valentine Treat!...

As soon as I saw Giada De Laurentiis make this dish I knew it was the perfect dessert for the special Valentine day meal I am making my husband. I have been thinking about this recipe for months and am really excited to try it. I have already bought the pop rocks and today fortunately managed to find some lovely raspberries. Otherwise I would have had to use blackberries, and I really don’t know if they would have worked as well.

I will make the raspberry rose pots de crème today so they have plenty of time to set. The rest of my Valentine day menu includes a starter of Smoked Salmon with Prawns, Horseradish Cream and Lime Vinaigrette courtesy of Mary Cadogen. The main meal I am making is a classic French Canadian recipe for Tourtiere which is a meat pie. I haven’t had this dish in years and my husband has never even heard of it! I lived for many years in Quebec so thought it was about time I tried to make one of my favourite Canadian meals.

I better make my way into the kitchen to start cooking, but first I may open a bottle of wine!

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! I will let you know how the meal turns out! Please let me know what tasty treats you prepared for your loved ones.

White Bean and Turkey Chilli....

This is the perfect lunch for a lazy Sunday afternoon. The recipe comes from one of my favourite chefs, Giada De Laurentiis and is a real winter warmer.

Although I didn’t have all the ingredients on hand for her white bean and chicken chilli, I compromised and the results were just as good.

I halved the recipe as I was making this for two, but I still used one whole onion and 4 cloves of garlic.

Instead of chicken I used turkey and substituted savoy cabbage for the swiss chard.

This also gave me an opportunity to use cannellini beans which I have never used before. For my version of the recipe I only used 1 can.

I also made a few changes to the spices as I was missing both fennel seeds and chilli powder. Instead I used;

• 1 heaping Tablespoon of Cumin
• 1 Tablespoon of dried Oregano
• 3 teaspoons of Garam Masala

I added salt and pepper to taste and actually forgot to add the red pepper flakes towards the end of cooking, so it wasn’t as hot and spicy as it could have been.

Everything was in the pot and cooked within 20 minutes – then it just simmered away for another 45 minutes before I served it up with some freshly grated parmesan cheese.

I will definitely make this again!

Grilled and Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms with Gorg...

Tonight was a night for trying something new. A few weeks ago I saw one of my favourite chefs from the food network, Giada De Laurentiis, prepare a wonderful looking meal for her friends.

Mushrooms have always been one of my favourite foods and Giada’s recipe for Grilled and Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms with Gorgonzola looked too yummy to pass up. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to get all the ingredients so I did have to make a few compromises.

Instead of turkey or chicken sausages, I used plain pork ones. I also didn’t have any mascarpone cheese. The mixture did need some moisture to help blend everything together so I added just a touch of double cream.

I served the mushrooms with a simple watercress salad on the side. The peppery flavour of the watercress complemented the gorgonzola nicely. This was a huge hit and I will definitely be making it again.