Oscar winning Tuna Salad

Every weekend is another reason to eat well and to celebrate something or other. If there is nothing to celebrate we enjoy an easy and relaxing but festive weekend at home with our puppy. Last weekend I wanted to make something special.... hmm... I was lost for ideas. I asked Lawrence if he had any special cravings. He had a simple one word dinner idea. TUNA.

Tuna sounds perfect. I bought two beautiful tuna steaks and instead of making our favorite sushi I made delicious tuna steaks. I will post the recipe for that tuna steak dish at a later date. However the most remarkable culinary invention was the reinvention of the left over tuna into an Oscar-winning Tuna Salad. I know, I know, who can believe that we didn't finish our steaks but they were very big and in reality it was me who didn't finish. What can I say, I was full.

The next day the leftover tuna became transformed into an amazing tuna salad with a delicious Asian flair. One of my best concoctions Lawrence declared. I'm not sure how accurate his review is since he loves everything I make but in his defence it was delicious, light yet filling. A perfect dinner salad.

As we sat watching the Oscars, eating this delicious salad and sipping our Champagne we couldn't imagine the stars having a better time and better food.

To see the full recipe click here.

Cool Cucumber Salad

A few days ago I was inspired to make a salad that was light, refreshing, and would remind me of hot summer days. Winter in Canada always seems long and harsh. By the end of February I long for those hot summer days...

All this day dreaming took me back to the innocent days of my childhood. All the kids at our families cottage running around freely, our mom's calling us for dinner and at the table waiting for us was "Mizerja" salad. Yummy, creamy, refreshing and of course delicious. There never seemed to be enough, we engulfed it, literally. The word Mizerja translated to a cucumber salad that is made with fresh cucumbers cut into thin slices, seasoned with a dash of salt and freshly ground pepper plus a generous amount of sour cream or whipping cream and often garnished with dill.

I was craving Polish Cucumber Salad, but without all all that extra fat and calories from sour cream or whipping cream. Yoghurt? Why not! I love yoghurt, especially natural Balkan style yogurt, it has a little bit of fat, but it tastes delicious and typically it is a good quality product. Plus it has much less fat and than sour cream or 30% whipping cream. Changing a recipe with a lot of fat to a small amount of fat and still keeping all that creamy texture, in this recipe really worked out well, a moment of brilliance. On an aside, I'm sure this dish would be similarly tasty using 1% or 0% yoghurt.

The brilliance of this recipes is straining the whey through which we eliminate a lot of excess water and sourness. The final result is a more creamy flavoured and thick textured yoghurt. To the yoghurt add thinly sliced cucumber, salt and pepper, and for a modern twist instead of dill add sliced mint leaves. Voila!! Easy and delicious.

Yes, this salad was perfect, a perfect salad for a hot summer day... now those hot summer days need to arrive. However I can only do so much.

For a full recipe click here.

Dark Winter Days with White Hot Chocolate

It's mid February and it seems that winter has been around for too long. How is it where you are? Here in London, Ontario it has been frigid cold, and the wind has been as sharp as a blade. But I know it can be worse. Everyday I turn the Weather Network on and I find that our friends to the south, in the Northern states have more and more snow. You can't even see outside the window and snow is piling up high to the roof tops. Wow... I'm glad that I don't have to shovel that.

Nevertheless, I'm still complaing about this harsh winter. I can't imagine what to expect next season when we'll move to Calgary, Alberta. I don't want to go out now, next winter its going to be even colder. It's hard to be stylish with all those layers.

It may seem that I'm a wimp when it comes to frigid weather but I still muster the strength to go outside, if not for myself then for my puppy. She is now a big puppy, 8 months, but still a bundle of joy, for those of us who don't have kids. She can be very demanding when it comes to her time outside. When the sun is shining we skillfully get dressed very warmly, 4 layers of shirts and fleeces and 2 pairs of pants and we run and play, jump through big piles of snow, chase squirrels and spend least 30-45 minutes outside. For a warm person like myself I'm very proud of my outings. I may look like a Michelin tire but I'm warm. To me, delicious living includes staying warm ....

When we get back inside my favorite thing to do is to make some delicious hot chocolate. These days I'm in love with White Hot Chocolate. Unfortunately I can't say that I actually go home and make it from scratch. I would love to do that but when my fingers are frozen and can barely hold a cup I reach out for a quick fix: powder mix. My favorite can be purchased from Second Cup. Oh, its so delicious and creamy. Melt in my mouth fabulous!!! I always make it with milk not water, I microwave it until it almost boils. (This takes some skillful trial and error with your microwave to know how many minutes it will take for milk to reach this temperature). In my microwave it takes 3 minutes. Perfection!! But if its not as hot it's better than over cooked and spoiled all over the inside of the microwave. Unscheduled cleaning when not called for is never a good thing especially when you are itching for that delicious hot and creamy winter drink in your mouth. I love it and Lawrence and I enjoy it all the time in the winter. After all most days I spend 1.5 hours outside jumping through the snow, in my mind I definitely deserve it.

I hope wherever you are you are keeping warm unless you are one of the vistors from West Africa or other warm places then I hope you are keeping cool.

Valentine's Day

These days there is a lot of hoopla that surrounds Valentine's Day.

I keep hearing people's discontent about commercialization of this day especially by Hallmark, the absolute need to buy cards. Television News broadcasts are filled with statistics on how much a man spends on their girlfriend and how much less a husband spends on their wife. Not to mention how much price of roses drops one day after Valentine's day.. blah blah blah....

I must be a romantic at heart because I love Valentine's Day. I don't love it because of the chocolates or cards, although they are nice. I like Valentine's Day for its purity at the heart of the holiday. The idea of an international day to celebrate people's love for family, friends and significant others. Its almost like Christmas but without all the religious divisions to mess things up.

I agree it can become too much when people take elaborate initiatives to show their significant other how they feel about them and have a need to top it from year to year. What's more socially jaded is when they feel they need to spend exuberant amounts of money.

In my opinion this is a day to spend time together, call family and friends. I think human contact can be more enriching than elaborate gift. Having said that I do love jewelery. :-)

Going back to commercialization of Valentine's Day by Hallmark I refuse to buy cards and I send my family and friends free Hallmark e-cards. I think I'm not the only one because their server is really-really slow today. :-)

To contradict myself now, I will say that my husband and I are going out to a special Valentine's Day dinner. I'm very excited and I can't wait. It's a new French bistro restaurant right here in London, Ontario called Auberge du Petit Prince. Its been noted that French people know how to love ;-). I'm very delighted that he made the reservations and we will have a wonderful night away from home savoring delicious French cuisine.

Happy Valentine's Day to Everyone!!


xoxo

Monika

Valentine's Day Pink Risotto

I love the idea of making dinner together, especially at Valentine's Day. My husband and I often do that, and it's really relaxing and soulful. I ask him to help stir and he always feels important and delighted to help.

It a great way to spend time in the kitchen together because the process of making risotto is just so easy, no room for fights :-). Especially as its slow-paced and leaves a lot of time for talking and stirring. I always put some slow and sexy music in the background, light candles and open a bottle of bubbly or our favorite wine of the moment. It doesn't have to be an expensive bottle, it just should be something that you enjoy.

Before making risotto, cheer to your happiness and many years of love to come. Then stir and chat and have a sip of champagne or wine while making your meal. The final result is not only delectable but your combined labour of love. A delicious and wonderful way to celebrate Valentine's day and any other day. Visit my site to read this recipe.

Delicious Labour of Love - Valentine's Day Dish

A long, long time ago I had a delicious dinner in a Thai restaurant. It was Coconut Shrimp Curry. I fell in love with that recipe and since then I have been trying to re-create it. I think I finally found the perfect combination of ingredients, it might be even better than the original Coconut Shrimp Curry that I had back in high school. As you can tell I always had love for food.

There are a few steps that need to be made. 1)making of coconut curry sauce 2)sauteing shrimp 3)cooking rice 4)steaming bok choy. Don't give up on making this recipe just yet. Regardless of all the steps the time to make everything from start to finish is less than 1 hour and to help with managing your pre-dinner time, most of them can be made a head of time. Belive me when I say this dish is delicious and is wonderful for a special occasion such as a Valentine's Day.

I have made it many times and always it has been received with applause and eagerness for seconds. So make a lot! To reduce the fat content use a 'coconut milk light'.

I often experiment with different ingredients and I suggest you do the same. If you don't like bok choy or it's not available in your market use broccoli. Instead of shrimp use chicken breast or turkey breast.

Here is a link to the recipe.

http://www.monikakorngut.com/coconut_shrimp_curry.htm

Try it and savour all the delicious flavours. :-)

Dinner in North Bay's Canadore College Culinary School

Last week while visiting our family in North Bay we were lucky to have lunch at the North Bay Canadore College Culinary School. I say that we were lucky because there appears to be an air of exclusivity to dine there. There is a substantial waiting list, and the school does not publicly advertise however somehow everyone knows about it and people wait months to have lunch or dinner at the school.

Apple Fritters. They may not be in the category of 'diet foods' however they are delicious. A pure perfection. The best I ever had.

Lawrence and I were were looking forward to this lunch for months, very exciting. How often do you get a chance to dine at a culinary school?

Spring Rolls. Delicious spring rolls wrapped in philo pastry. Yummy and sizable appetizer. One of my favorites.

The best thing about this experience is that you participate along with students in their learning, while they train in the many aspects of hospitality industry. It is great to see how professional they are while serving water, how masterfully the table is set, and its wonderful to reassure them when they get a little nervous that they are doing a good job.

Mulligatawny Soup. With a touch of curry and apples a magnificent concoction.

The lunch menu had a choice of 3 appetizers, 4 main courses and 3 desserts. Between my husband and I and his parents we tasted almost everything. Collectively everything was delectable and service flawless. As far as I know the menu changes each semester. It really adds to a dinning experience and the students learn to make different things.

Salad Algonquin.

I would recommend that you look into contacting a culinary college in your community and see if they serve lunch or dinner. This really was a wonderful and unique experience partially due to the educational aspect but also to the wonderful menu slections that were representative of the local Northern Ontario region. At the end of the day the food may not be as perfect as in a high-end professional restaurant but to me it was a heart warming experience to participate in a learning adventure for those students. Plus it can be surprising how good the entire ambiance, food and experience can be, much better than in some 'established restaurants'.

Beef Provencal.

Jamaican Vegetable Turn-Over.

Raspberry Mousse Mirror Cake.

Coupe Pomegranate.

We had a wonderful, interesting and most importantly delicious experience. Hopefully next time will try dinner! :-)