Closet Cooking

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Maple Roasted Acorn Squash

Acorn squash are still really cheap and after the success of the roasted acorn squash with green tomato and jalapeno jam I just had to try roasting some more of them. This time I wanted to try a sweet filling rather than a savoury one and since I already had maple in my meal, continuing the theme with a maple filling sounded perfect. This recipe is deceptively simple for how good the end results are. I filled the acorn squash halves with some maple syrup and a touch of butter and then I let the slow roasting in the oven do the rest of the work. The maple flavour went so well with the sweet roasted acorn squash and if you are a fan of maple syrup like me then these will disappear quickly! I served the maple roasted acorn squash with the bacon wrapped maple roast pork and they went really well together. Though I served them sliced with the meal the first night, I scooped all of the remaining squash and maple filling from the leftovers and turned them into maple mashed acorn squash. The maple mashed squash leftovers were even better the next day!

Maple Roasted Acorn Squash

(makes 4+ servings)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
2 acorn squash (cut in half and scooped clean)
4 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons butter

Directions:
1. Place the acorn squash halves in a baking pan with the cut sides up.
2. Place 1 tablespoon of maple syrup and 1/2 tablespoon butter into each acorn squash half.
3. Cover with aluminum foil and roast in a reheated 400F oven for 30 minutes.
4. Remove the foil and roast until tender, about 30-45 minutes.

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Bacon Wrapped Roast Pork with Apple Chutney

Bacon Wrapped Pork Loin with Apple Chutney

Ever since I first heard about wrapping a pork loin in bacon before roasting it I have been wanting to try it! Now that the cooler weather is here it is time for more comfort food and the bacon wrapped pork loin quickly made it to my meal plan. I was thinking that I would keep the roast pork loin nice and simple and just go with a rub of some Montreal steak spice but when I was at he grocery store picking up the bacon they had maple bacon on sale and I could not pass up on adding a maple theme to the roast. So I covered the pork loin in maple syrup followed by the spice rub and then I wrapped it all in the maple bacon. After the pork roast was almost done cooking I glazed it in some more maple syrup. The bacon wrapped maple roast pork turned out so amazingly well! The bacon wrapping helped keep the pork loin nice and moist and juicy and good. The sweet and salty bacon went so well with the spice rub and the maple flavour! I found myself going back for seconds and thirds of the roast pork before I knew it. I had planned on making the bacon wrapped roast pork at the same time as the apple chutney as apples and pork are always a nice combo and I thought that the spicy apple chutney would go well with the bacony pork. I also served the roast pork with some maple roasted acorn squash and some brussels sprouts and bacon covered in gorgonzola.

Bacon Wrapped Roast Pork

(makes 6+ servings)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 pork loin (3-5 pounds)
1 tablespoon maple syrup
2 tablespoons steak seasoning ( I used Montreal steak seasoning)
1/2 to 1 pound bacon (I used maple bacon)
2 tablespoons maple syrup

Directions:
1. Brush the maple syrup onto the pork and rub the steak seasoning into it.
2. Wrap the pork loin in the bacon and place in a baking dish.
3. Roast in a preheated 350F oven until a meat thermometer reads 140F, about an hour.
4. Brush the maple syrup onto the bacon.
5. Roast until the meat thermometer reaches 150F, about 10 minutes, and remove from oven.
6. Let rest for 20 minutes.

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Curried Chicken Salad Sandwich with Apple Chutney

Now that I had my apple chutney I knew exactly what I wanted to do with it but first I wanted to take a quick detour. I had recently made and really enjoyed a turkey salad sandwich where I included some apple and I thought that using apple chutney in a turkey, or in this case, a chicken salad sandwich would be even better. I also remembered making a mango chicken salad sandwich a while ago that was so good! There is just something magical about the fruity chutney and tangy mayo flavour combination! This sandwich is pretty much just a basic chicken salad sandwich with the addition of some curry powder, the apple chutney and some dried cranberries and toasted pecans to give the sandwich a holiday feel to it. The curried chicken salad sandwich with apple chutney was so good! The chutney and mayo combination was amazing and it worked just as well in apple form as it did in mango form. I have a feeling that I will be enjoying a few more of these sandwiches over the next little while.

Curried Chicken Salad Sandwich with Apple Chutney

(makes 1 sandwich)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 cup cooked chicken (or turkey)
1 stalk celery (sliced)
1 green onion (sliced)
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 tablespoons apple chutney
1 tablespoon dried cranberries
1 tablespoon pecans (toasted and chopped)
salt and pepper to taste
2 slices of bread (optionally toasted)

Directions:
1. Mix everything but the bread in a bowl.
2. Assemble sandwich.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Apple Chutney

The farmers market has been bursting with apples over the last few weeks and it was time that I got around to doing something with them other than just snacking on them. I have been getting into chutneys lately and I was thinking that a spicy apple chutney would be a great idea. After searching the web for apple chutney recipes I decided to just go with a variation of the recipe that I have been using for chutneys. One thing that I did notice about the recipes that I did find was that most of them called for the use of tart green apples. I thought it would be a shame to not use some of those amazing varieties of apples available at the farmers market and so I used a mixture of a few of them. From there I added some onion, garlic, ginger and a jalapeno for a bit of heat. Cider vinegar was the obvious choice for the vinegar component and I went with brown sugar for the sweet component. With this being an apple chutney I could not pass up on adding raisins and a few spices that I remind me of apples. The chutney was as simple to make as throwing everything into a pot simmering it on the stove until it thickened. My apartment was filled with an amazing aroma of apples and spice while it simmered. The apple chutney turned out great! It was sweet and savoury at the same time with a nice blend of spices and a touch of heat. I am now looking forward to using the apple chutney in other dishes.

Apple Chutney

(makes 4 cups)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 pound apples (peeled, cored, cut into 1/2-inch pieces)
1 small onion (diced)
1 jalapeno pepper(diced)
1 tablespoon garlic (chopped)
1 tablespoon ginger (chopped)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup apple cider vinegar
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon cayenne

Directions:
1. Bring everything to a boil in a large sauce pan, reduce the heat and simmer until it thickens, about 45-60 minutes.

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Pumpkin Pie White Hot Chocolate

I certainly have been enjoying a lot of pumpkin lately and in particular I have been enjoying transforming the pumpkin pie flavours into different dishes. When I came across the idea of a pumpkin pie white hot chocolate recently on The Luna Cafe I knew immediatly what my next pumpkin pie experiment was going to be. Not too long ago I had tried a pumpkin pie milkshake and a hot version of a pumpkin pie drink sounded perfect for the chilly weather that we have been having. This drink is pretty much as simple as making some white hot chocolate and adding the pumpkin puree and pumpkin spices and it is so worth making! The pumpkin pie white hot chocolate was excellent! It was nice and hot and the white chocolate added the perfect amount of sweetness that went really well with the pumpkin pie flavours. Lesson learned: Don't try to top a hot drink with whipped cream before photographing it as it melts pretty much right away.

Pumpkin Pie White Hot Chocolate

(makes 4 servings)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
3 cups whole milk
1 cup canned pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/8 teaspoon cloves
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 ounces white chocolate (roughly chopped)
pinch salt

Directions:
1. Heat the milk, pumpkin puree, and spices in a sauce pan until it just starts to simmer and remove form heat.
2. Add the chocolate and stir until it has melted.
3. Pour into mugs and top with whipped cream and garnish with cinnamon.

Saturday, November 7, 2009

Roast Beef Quesadillas

While I was enjoying some of the leftover roast beef in the grilled roast beef and cheese sandwich I thought that all of the ingredients in the sandwich would make for a great quesadilla and I just had to try it. You can't really go wrong when you start with nice and tender roast beef and I often use sauteed peppers and onions as quesadilla fillings so it was perfect match. In my opinion quesadillas need to incorporate some kind of heat and with horseradish going well with the beef it wasn't even a decision to use it. Of course the glue that holds a quesadilla together is the cheese and I went with some swiss that I had leftover from the sandwich and since I also had some of the coffee gravy from the roast beef leftover I added a tablespoon of that to the quesadilla as well. The roast beef quesadilla turned out great! The tortillas were grilled until lightly golden brown and slightly crispy and good! The cheese melted nicely and went well with the roast beef, peppers, onions, horseradish and gravy flavour combo. I served the roast beef quesadillas with some coffee gravy for dipping.

Roast Beef Quesadillas

(makes 1 quesadilla)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 tablespoon oil
1/2 onion (sliced)
1/4 green pepper (sliced)
1/4 cup roast beef (shredded)
1 tablespoon horseradish
1 tablespoon gravy
2 tortillas
1 handful cheese (grated, swiss or provolone)

Directions:
1. Heat the oil in a pan.
2. Add the onion and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes.
3. Add the green pepper and saute until tender, about 5 minutes.
4. Melt a touch of butter in a pan.
5. Place a tortilla into the pan, swirl it around in the butter and repeat with the second tortilla.
6. Sprinkle some cheese on the tortilla followed by the beef, onions, pepper, horseradish and gravy and top with more cheese and finally the other tortilla.
7. Cook until the quesadilla is golden brown on both sides and the cheese is melted. (I placed a plate onto the quesadilla and flipped it from the pan to the plate and then slid it back into the pan.)

Friday, November 6, 2009

BBQ Roast Beef and Cheddar Sandwich

While I was enjoying my grilled roast beef and cheese sandwich I could not help but think of other roast beef sandwiches. Although I have not been to Arby's in a long time I still remember their roast beef sandwiches all covered in melted cheese and very often with a tangy barbecue sauce. With this idea I knew exactly what I wanted to do for my next leftover roast beef meal, a tangy bbq roast beef sandwich smothered in melted cheese.

I had been wanting to try making my own bbq sauce for a while and now was the perfect chance. As it turns out, making your own bbq is pretty easy and you probably have all of the ingredients that you need already. Bbq sauce starts with a tomato base such as ketchup and adds some sugar for some sweetness, some vinegar for some tang and some kind of heat. You can play around with the basic ingredients and you can add other ingredients to come up with whatever flavours that you want. I stuck with a pretty simple bbq sauce for my first attempt and it turned out pretty good! It was a nice blend of tangy, sweet and spicy and it was full of flavour. Feel free to toss in a touch of that leftover coffee gravy from the roast beef dinner while you're at it.

For the sandwich I warmed up and shredded some of my leftover roast beef and mixed it in with the bbq sauce and placed it on the bottom of the bun. Next came the cheese followed by a few minutes under the broiler to melt the cheese and it was done and ready to be eaten. This bbq roast beef sandwich was so good! How can you go wrong with moist, falling apart tender roast beef drenched in a tasty bbq sauce and covered in melted cheese?

BBQ Roast Beef and Cheddar Sandwich

(makes 1 sandwich)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup cooked roast beef (shredded and warmed up)
1/4 BBQ sauce (see below)
1 bun
1/4 cheddar cheese

Directions:
1. Mix the shredded beef and bbq sauce.
2. Place the roast beef n your bun and top with the cheese.
3. Place the open faced sandwich under the broiler until the cheese melts. (Watch this as it can burn easily.)

BBQ Sauce

(makes 1 cup)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 small onion (grated)
2 cloves garlic (grated)
1 cup ketchup
2 tablespoons dijon mustard
2 tablespoons brown sugar
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon chipotle chili powder
1/2 teaspoon paprika
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Mix everything.