This was a combination of Chinese/Thai flavours.  Initially, the marinade was made with a typical Chinese style marinade.  But then, I decided to turn the meal into a more Thai flavour influence - and it turned out great.  Leftovers the next day were even better.

Marinade:

1 lb. sirloin strips

3 cloves garlic, sliced

3 Tblsp. Gluten Free Soy Sauce

3 Tblsp. water

few splashes sesame oil

1 Tblsp. Rice wine vinegar, or white vinegar

2 Tblsp. Avocado oil

Vegetables:

1/2 cups broccoli florets, 1/2 cup stems, chopped

3 crimini mushrooms sliced and cut in half

1/2 a green pepper, sliced into lengthwise strips, and cut in half

1 shallot, sliced

Thai Sauce:

4 Tblsp. Red Thai Curry Paste

3 Tblsp. peanut butter

1 cup vegetable of beef broth

2 Tblsp. corn starch - mix separately in a bowl with 2 Tblsp. Vegetable stock

chopped cilantro

Make up the marinade, and slice the sirloin rounds into strips.  Add to marinade and refrigerate 4-6 hours.

Add the Thai sauce ingredients to a bowl and whisk well and put aside until ready to use.  Don't worry if some of the peanut butter stays a bit clumpy - it will melt once added to the hot pan.

Heat up a cast iron pan or wok with the avocado oil, on medium high heat - on my electric stove I put it at 6.5 mark.  Remove the marinated  sirloin strips and add to the pan.  Continually stir the sirloin, it will only take about 3 minutes to cook, then remove to a bowl and set aside.

To the drippings add in the mushrooms, and shallot.  Turn the heat to medium and saute about 6-7 minutes.  Then add in the broccoli and green pepper, continue to saute another 5 minutes.

Pour in the vegetable broth, lid on and simmer until the broccoli is tender - 3-5 minutes.  Remove the lid and saute to reduce some of the liquid.  Then pour in the Thai sauce mixture stirring and add in the cornstarch mixture - it will thicken quickly.  If it gets too thick add a bit more vegetable stock to get to a nice consistency.  Return the cooked sirloin strips, and saute to lightly re heat through.

Serve with cooked rice, and top with fresh chopped cilantro.

 

 

 

I was not sure what to call this dish.  In fact, it was a recipe I put together using some Ukrainian methods, and ingredients, but would it be called Ukrainian?  I think not in it's entirety, but the influence is certainly there.  From what I have seen, their holy trinity is onion, carrots and potatoes - always.  Of course cabbage is a big one too.  With that in mind, this was how this recipe came about.

This was plenty for 3 people - but increase your amounts if feeding more people.

3 1/2 cups steamed sliced cabbage - on the thin side but not as thin as coleslaw

4 Tblsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

cubed ham - enough for 2-3 people, we used a rounded cup full

1/2 cup chopped onion

2 grated carrots - mine were good medium sized

1/4 tsp. dried dill, 1/2 tsp. diced fresh rosemary, 1/2 tsp. dried thyme, 1 tsp. garlic powder, 2 tsp. Hungarian paprika, salt and pepper to taste.

Cooked potatoes - which will be mashed.

Put the cabbage on to cook as well as the potatoes - enough to serve 2-3 people or however many mouths you will be feeding.  Heat up a large skillet with the EVOO and add in the chopped onion, grated carrots.

Saute about 8 minutes.  Add in the cubed ham and continue to saute.

Once the cabbage is tender, drain well and add to the ham, onion, carrot mixture.  Continue to saute and add in your seasonings.  Turn down to low to keep warm.

Once the potatoes are cooked take off the heat, but do not drain and mash until you have made the Bechamel sauce.

BECHAMEL SAUCE:

1 1/2 cups milk

2 Tblsp. butter

3 Tblsp. Sweet Rice Flour

2 Tblsp. diced shallot

fresh minced Italian flat leaf parsley

salt and pepper to taste

Heat up a pan on low medium heat with the butter and shallot - sauteing until the shallots are translucent.  Season with salt and pepper, then sprinkle in the sweet rice flour, stirring well.  Pour in the milk, whisking well, until nicely thickened.  Remove from the heat and sprinkle in the fresh minced parsley. Drain and mash the potatoes, then plate the mashed potatoes, add a good serving of Bechamel sauce over top, then top with the ham, onion cabbage mixture and an extra sprinkling of minced parsley.  Serve hot - a hearty nutritious meal.

 

Vegetables infused with Za'atar herbs is a delightful addition to any main dish.  It is such a versatile herb blend that can flavour and enhance any meat or fish as well.  Here we had vegetables infused with Za'atar and cooked with Italian Sausages.

4-5 Italian Sausages

2 Tblsp. Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1/2 cup cauliflower, cut small bite size pieces

2/3 cup chopped asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces

3 sliced crimini mushrooms

1/4 of a small red onion, sliced and then cut in half

1/4 sliced red and green pepper

1 tsp. Za'atar

salt and pepper to taste

4 Tblsp. vegetable stock

Heat up a skillet or cast iron pan on low medium heat.  Add the Evoo to the pan, once heated add in the Italian sausages.  Depending on their size, cook 15-20 minutes until nicely browned, and cooked through.  Transfer to an oven proof dish, and keep warm in the oven and 200 degrees.  Then add the mushrooms, onions, and peppers to the pan.  Saute about 5 minutes until onions are translucent.

Then add in the cauliflower, asparagus and za'atar and continue to saute another 5 minutes.  Add the vegetable stock, then lid on the pan and cook 8-10 minutes until the vegetables are nicely cooked through.

Plate with the cooked sausages, and serve alongside mashed potatoes, or your choice of side dish.

 

 

 

This is the first recipe I re created from Food Around The World - Ukrainian recipes.  We love cabbage rolls of any kind, and these were very interesting.

We are used to cabbage rolls smothered in some kind of tomato sauce.  These were steamed with water.

I was unsure of what seasonings to use, so used Hungarian Paprika, Garlic Powder, Dill, fresh Parsley and Salt and Pepper.  Next time I would increase the amounts of these seasonings, which I have done in the recipe below.  Feel free to adjust seasonings to suite your taste.

We usually have cooked rice in the mix for cabbage rolls.  In this particular recipe , soaked mashed red lentils were used.  How intriguing.  It was unclear how long the red lentils were soaked.  We did ours for 6 hours, next time I would do a minimum of 8-10 hours.

We enjoyed the simple sweet flavour of grated carrot in the mix - something we usually do not include.

All this said, these cabbage rolls were quite tasty, hearty and nutritious.  We loved it paired with bacon and onion creamy polenta - something we will make with cabbage rolls again.

1 medium to large head of green cabbage

1/2 cup red split lentils, rinse well (soak 8-10 hours)

3 medium sized carrots, grated

1/2 a large onion, chopped

3 minced garlic cloves

3 large crimini mushrooms chopped on the small side

2 Tblsp. Avocado oil

1 1/2 tsp. Hungarian Paprika

1 tsp. dried dill

1 tsp. dried garlic

salt and fresh cracked pepper

handful of fresh chopped flat leaf parsley

1 lb. lean ground beef

1 egg, whisked

Begin by boiling your head of cabbage in a large pot of water.  Turn down to a good simmer, and cook lid on 12-15 minutes.  Drain carefully into a colander and allow to cool.

Heat up a dutch oven with the Avocado oil low medium heat.  Add the grated carrots, onion, garlic and mushrooms.  Saute 6-8 minutes.

Add in the ground beef and seasonings except for the fresh parsley.  Cook another 3 minutes then remove from the heat.

Next, drain and rinse your lentils well.  Return them to a bowl and mash - be prepared for some muscle work lol.

Add the mashed lentils to the meat vegetable mixture, fresh chopped parsley and then add 1 whisked egg mixing well.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Once the stuffing is all mixed remove the leaves from the cabbage, stuff with the filling and fold the sides in and roll the cabbage roll.  Place on a wire rack that is inserted into a roasting pan. (I also added some extra wedges of cabbage around the pan to keep the cabbage rolls more stable)  Then add boiled water to the pan about half way up the pan.  Cook covered for 1 hr. 20 min.

Next onto the polenta:

1 cup polenta

2 cups water, 2 cups milk

generous amount of salt and pepper to taste

Parmesan cheese

1 Tblsp. butter

1/2 and onion, sliced

5 pieces chopped bacon

Place the bacon and onions into a frying pan, on medium heat.

Cook until nicely browned, and set aside to add on top of the polenta.

Heat up the milk and water with a good tsp. or more of salt.  Once simmering add the polenta, stirring on and off until thick - about 30 minutes.  Check for salt and pepper adding more if needed and add in the butter, stirring well.  Serve alongside the cabbage rolls, topping the polenta with Parmesan cheese and the cooked bacon and onions.

 

 

 

Recently I stumbled upon a youtube video made by Food Around The World.  The videos were of 3 different young women living alone in the mountains, or in small villages (in Ukraine) where they cook local food, are self sufficient in all manners of living.  Often they have a couple of cows, sheep, chickens, they make home made sausages, breads, render lard, make homemade cheese, churn butter, preserve food, forage wild mushrooms, grow gardens, chop wood for wood stove cooking, and carry water from wells.

I love their simple self sufficient lifestyle, and the food looks wonderful.  The videos show what foods/ingredients are being prepared, although there is no recipe.  I would have to guess at some of the seasonings.

There are a some interesting recipes I would like to recreate, so you will from time to time see a few of these national dishes in the coming weeks.  As there is no actual recipe given, I will have to take a guess at the amounts used in the recipes  Therefore, I will do my best to interpret a few of the recipes based on what ingredients we have and what we can get.  And of course, in this household it will all be gluten free.  Hopefully I can do justice to these incredibly strong, resilient, and self sufficient lovely women and their national recipes.  If you are interested in pursuing these stories/recipes further, check out You tube Food Around The World, Ukraine.

Their breads look amazing.  So with that thought in mind I started with Fermented Buckwheat Bread, the recipe can be found here.

Recipes to come....

Well now...this was a recipe where I was "winging it" and let me tell you it exceeded my expectations.  The flavours of garam masala in the meatballs, with the madras curry powder was a match made in heaven.  Add in the fresh vegetables, creaminess of the yogurt, it was delicious.

Meatballs:

1 lb. extra lean ground beef

1 egg, whisk well

2 Tblsp. finely chopped red onion

1/2 tsp. garam masala, salt and fresh cracked pepper

1 Tblsp. Sorghum flour or brown rice flour

To cook meatballs heat up your wok, pan on medium heat with 1 Tblsp. butter, 1 Tblsp. Avocado oil

Vegetables:

2 Tblsp. Avocado oil - use more if needed

3/4 lb. chopped potatoes, chopped in 1 inch pieces - yukon gold work nicely

1/4 red onion sliced into quarter pieces

1/4 red pepper, cut into 1 inch pieces

1/2 lb. cut up cauliflower - cut up not too small or large

good handful of baby fresh spinach

2 1/2 cups chicken stock

1/4 cup well rinsed basmati rice

3 Tblsp. yogurt

2 tsp. Madras curry spice

2 bay leaves

good handful of chopped green onion and cilantro

In a bowl mix up the ingredients for the meatballs and shape into balls.  Refrigerate 1-2 hours before cooking, and remove from fridge 1/2 an hr. before cooking

Heat up a wok, or large cast iron pan with the butter and Avocado oil on medium high heat.  Fry the meatballs in batches so the pan is not overcrowded, about 6 minutes each side.  Transfer to a bowl and put aside.

Add more Avocado oil the pan and add in the potatoes, onion, and red pepper.  Cook a good 12 minutes, sauteing.

Then add in the cauliflower, spinach, rice, chicken stock, madras curry spice, and 2 bay leaves. Mix well scraping up any brown bits in the pan.  Bring to a good simmer, lid on and then turn down low heat to simmer 12 minutes.

Remove lid and return the meatballs to the pan, stirring occasionally, add salt and pepper to taste continue to cook another 10 minutes.

Remove from heat and add in the yogurt stirring well to combine.

Serve with a good sprinkling of chopped cilantro and green onion.

 

 

 

Having a roast chicken dinner has to be one of the all time favourite comfort meals - it sure works for this household any day.

Here is the new addition to our kitchen:  An East Indian Kadhai - wok.

I am such a lover of cast iron - and this Kadhai is a great piece of cast iron cook ware.  It surrounded the chicken, potatoes, carrots with onions on the bottom to create a vessel with amazing heat capacity.

Any cast iron wok, or dutch oven can work nicely as long as there is adequate space without over crowding.

1 1/2 tsp. chopped fresh rosemary

2 tsp. lemon thyme

zest of 1 lemon

1/2 tsp. salt

fresh cracked pepper

Mix and reserve 1 Tblsp. for the chicken.

(then add 1 tsp. dried parsley to the remaining herb mix, mixing well)

2 Tblsp. Avocado oil

4lb. whole chicken - remove from fridge one hour before roasting

red and yellow gem potatoes - or Yukon gold works well

sliced carrots

3 sliced whole intact red onion slices, cut 1/4 inch thick

Mix up the herbs, salt and pepper in a large bowl.  Reserve 1 Tblsp. for the chicken.  Then add 1 tsp. dried parsley to the herb mix and mix well.

Slice up carrots and potatoes - enough to surround your chicken.  Add the Avocado oil to the herb mixture and blend well, then add in your carrots and potatoes tossing well to coat.

Rub some Avocado oil over the chicken, and add the reserved herb mixture, spreading well onto the chicken.  Place the 3 slices of red onion on the bottom of the wok or pot, then place in your chicken, legs trussed, wings folded under onto the red onion slices. Toss the potatoes and carrots around the chicken.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  After 1 hour baste your chicken, toss the vegetables.  Cook another 20 minutes until the chicken is nicely roasted and cooked through.

Remove chicken to a platter and let rest 15 minutes under loosely tented foil, and transfer the vegetables to the turned off oven to keep warm.

Slice your chicken and it is ready to serve with any other side dishes.

 

This was a nice change to have pork tenderloin instead of chicken or beef in this veggie stir fry.  I changed up the sauce ingredients to use a bit of organic sugar - which definitely came through in the taste and was a nice balance with the other flavours.  You could use honey as a sweetener also.  Plus the vegetables could be changed up to peas, cauliflower, turnip, bean sprouts, whatever you have on hand works.  And toasted Sesame Seeds - dang! I always forget toasted Sesame Seeds!

3/4-1 lb. pork tenderloin, cut into small pieces

Sprinkle of garlic powder, a lite sprinkle of Chinese five spice onto the cut pieces of pork tenderloin

2-3 Tblsp. Avocado oil

1 1/2 cups shredded cabbage - on the fine side

2 1/2 cups cut up broccoli florets, 3/4 cup chopped broccoli stem

1 medium carrot chopped into 1/4 inch or so pieces

1 celery stalk, sliced

1/2 cup sliced green pepper length wise then cut in half horizontally

1 1/2 inch piece of minced fresh ginger

1 small shallot diced

2 minced garlic cloves

1 cup chicken stock

handful of chopped cilantro

Sauce:

1 tsp. organic sugar

2 Tblsp. White Vinegar or Rice Wine Vinegar - mix with sugar to dissolve

3 Tblsp. Gluten Free Soy Sauce

14 drops sesame oil

1 1/2 Tblsp. water

2 finely minced garlic cloves

1 Tblsp. corn starch

Mix all the sauce ingredients together, and put aside until ready to use.

Heat up a large pan with the Avocado oil on medium high heat.  Add the seasoned pork tenderloin bits and saute until cooked - about 6 minutes, transfer to a bowl and set aside.

If needed add another Tblsp. Avocado oil to the pan.  Add in the vegetables and stir fry for 5-6 minutes.

Pour in the 1 cup of chicken bone broth, stir then lid on turn down to a low simmer.  Simmer 15-20 minutes until the vegetables are tender.

Pour in the sauce mixing well - it will thicken quickly.  Add in the cooked pork tenderloin and chopped cilantro, heat through about 3-4 minutes and serve hot over cooked rice. We used basmati rice cooked in chicken stock/bone broth 1 ratio rice, 2 ratio stock/broth.