Author: Hilary

“Happy Chinese New Years!” Potstickers

~ Hilary ~ 6 Comments

INSOMNIA.

This is my current condition.  Which is strange, since you think I’d be tired considering I just got home from school after spending what seemed like an eternity editing a television assignment.  I’m really just being whiny, I actually really like all my journalism classes and know that I won’t get anywhere without a few (several) late (attached to my iPhone) nights.  But if I’m going to waste away in an editing suite, I must reward myself by blogging.  So here we are.  Welcome to my online nest of sleep deprivation.

I know I’m a little late off the mark for the whole Chinese New Years thing, but I simply don’t have time to post things in time for actual holidays.  What this means is that my Valentine’s Day posts are very likely going to come popping up sometime around February 17.  You have been warned.

I made these potstickers/Chinese dumplings/whatever you want to call them with my friend Gord (author of the Savoury Starving Student, check it!) this past Sunday.  It turned out to be quite the afternoon adventure, and we trekked through the streets of Chinatown just as the Chinese New Years parade was underway.  It was super cool and I thoroughly enjoyed embracing my half-heritage for a change.  Finding the perfect little Chinese grocers, I was pleasantly pleased to find several boxes of these special chocolate-filled panda cookies that I really like.  I haven’t had them in years, so bought four boxes to compensate (which I am balancing with lots of fruits and vegetables, don’t worry mom).  Very yummy.

Back at Gord’s house, we prepared the filling for the dumplings, which was a combination of ground pork, ginger (SO GOOD), green onion, cabbage, etc. etc.  Gord got the recipe from the blog Use Real Butter, and I was pleased to see that there were detailed photos to guide us along every step of the way.  These detailed photos were especially helpful when it came to shaping the dumplings themselves.  It took Gord and I awhile to get the hang of the technique, and I made several dumplings that looked like that little hat the pope wears (I’m really sorry I don’t know the proper name for it, sorry if I offended anyone!) before finally making something that resembled a dumpling shape.

Now, you will notice by looking at the photos on the original blog that the dumplings in my pictures look kind of different.  This is because I took these pictures two days after we actually made them, and the poor little things did not bode well sitting uncooked in the fridge.  By the time I tried to take them out of their ziplock bag home, the dumpling skin had moulded together and become one mushy tangled membrane.  I tried my best to coax each one out in one piece, cooing at them in a ridiculous way as I tried my hardest to unstick them from each other.  Talk about siamese dumplings.  Anyways, you should know that these looked nicer the day that we made them and that, because of a series of bad food blogger mistakes, I managed to make them look like clumps.  You get the point though, right?

No matter how strange and tumor-like these potstickers looked, they were just as delicious as leftovers.  They tasted exactly like the dumplings my mom used to buy at the local farmer’s market when I was young.  Flashes from the past in food form are the best.

Also, yes, the soya sauce is in a shot glass.  I’m a student, cut me some slack.

PS: okay also just realized that these definitely look like little dumpling turds.  The bottoms are a bit brown, but again I must reassure that they tasted awesome.  Don’t judge a dumpling by its…strange outer shell?

Chalet Chicken Soup

~ Hilary ~ 5 Comments

Yes, the name of this post is swiped straight from the Swiss Chalet menu.  If no one has ever had the amazing soup from this beloved restaurant of my childhood (there was one so close to my house!), then I suggest you drop what you’re doing and shimmy on down to the nearest location.  Especially if you’re in Ottawa and it’s a frigid day like today.

OR you could just read this post in warm comforts of your home.  Writing this post, I’m tempted to brush aside all the work that I have to do today in favour of an afternoon cuddled up with my Snuggie and tea.  There’s a very good chance that this may happen…

I was so excited last week when I got the March edition of Canadian Living in my mailbox.  I was extremely pleased to find the recipe for this cosy chicken and rice soup.  Before I continue, since when does cosy have an “s?”  Does that just not look like some weird attempt at parseltongue?  Nope, I refuse to be anything but co-zeeeee.  Apologies.

Now, you all know how obsessed I am with soup, so when I find a delicious looking recipe for my favourite soup of all, I really have no choice but to make it.  Unlike the traditional chicken noodle soup, this one had rice in it, meaning that it was a tad cheaper (which is always welcome).  Also, even though I really need to try leeks, I didn’t buy them for this recipe, since I feel absolutely awful when I have leftover veggies that I forget about and don’t use.  Must minimize waste.

Mmmm, and chicken thighs, you have changed my life.

PS: these pictures were taken on my friend Gord’s window sill using a bowl that I bought this weekend in Chinatown.  I am super jealous of his rustic window settings.  Also, speaking of Gord (who, if you recall, is the author of another fantastic student-friendly food blog), we cooked up something special this weekend.  Stay tuned to find out more…

PPS: see recipe after the jump.

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Pasta Experiment v.1.0

~ Hilary ~ 4 Comments

Lately, all I’ve been eating is soup and cupcakes.  Now a girl can only live off these two things for so long (luckily it takes far longer to get sick of the latter) before she needs to climb out of her winter-induced food rut.  In the end, both these foods failed to satisfy my number one craving… my insane desire for CARBS.  Hence the creation of this pasta dish.

UPDATE: This is a screenshot of the hilarious/devastatingly upsetting email I got from my mom shortly after she read this post.  My mom is a dietician and doesn’t 100 per cent approve of the cupcake quest aforementioned in this entry.

And yes, I said creation.  Alright, so maybe I was partially inspired by a Canadian Living recipe, but the only thing that was similar about the two recipes were the caramelized red onions and the walnuts.  Nonetheless, here is a 1/10 credit to them for this veggie loaded dish.

But I do feel like I should start making more of my own dishes.  I’ve apparently garnered some sort of reputation for being a foodie, and to live up to this title I need to start experimenting around more with my meals.  Through the creation of different dishes, I’ve discovered that I’m atrociously bad at naming said meals.  As a journalism student, I can’t write headlines, and as a foodie, I can’t name recipes.  Shame on me.  So for lack of any sort of naming talent, I decided to call this one Pasta Experiment v.1.0, in hopes that I can one day change the title to something that vaguely resembles a proper recipe name.

Now that I’m having a petite pity party, I also feel bad about the pictures.  As most of you are aware, the winter has made the days dreadfully short.  This, combined with the fact that I often cook these meals at 9 p.m. when I finally get home from school, all contribute to the re-heated wonder that occurs for almost all my photos.  What this means is that the day after I make this meal, I yank my leftovers out of the fridge and slop them down on a pretty plate during the bright morning hours.  I then photograph this delicious looking meal while drinking my orange pekoe tea, and send my stomach into a series of unhappy gurgling fits until it gets fed a proper lunch.  Such a first-world problem, I apologize.

But enough with my ranting, here are the pictures…

Also, you can find my recipe after this short photographic interlude.

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Homemade Baked Chips

~ Hilary ~ 7 Comments

Alright, so I know this blog has primarily been dedicated to me showing off (a) all the fancy schmancy dinners I make and (b) the delicious desserts I make to feed my erratical sugar cravings.  But here is something different.  Here, is a Hilary Makes snack.

I had two beets leftover from the borscht I made last month.  Although I was tempted to get artsy and juice them to somehow dye fabric, I decided to do something a little less weird and a tad easier.  The answer?  Make beet chips!  Of course, if I was going to make these, I needed to go all out.  This all or nothing attitude got me a pan full of beet, sweet potato, potato and zucchini chips, all which turned a slight shade of pink after the beet(lejuice) took over the pan.  I shamelessly admit that I give myself a mixed review for these.  The baked sweet potato and potato chips were awesome and crispy.  The beet chips, however, were kind of floppy and chewy and were missing the crunch that I was going for.  I seriously blame my lack of this fantastic slicing tool:

This little kitchen device is called a mandoline (no, this is not the incorrect spelling of a musical instrument, that’s actually what it’s called, I swear!).  I think it just kind of resembles one of those meat slicers that they have at the deli counter in the grocery store.  But apparently it works better than my slicing attempts, and probably could have helped crisp-ify my beets.  I may have to take a trip to my favourite kitchen store and invest in one…

Also, I am totally embarrassed to admit that my attempt at creating zucchini chips also failed, and my dear favourite vegetable was just too watery to be baked.

BUT since the baked potato chips worked out, I figured I would post the pictures and instructions for them, since I very much plan on making them again.

The instructions are pretty complicated, are you ready?

STEP 1: Slice potatoes thinly.
STEP 2: Toss ’em around in a big bowl with some olive oil.
STEP 3: Spread your oiled vegetables out on a parchment paper lined pan and bake at 350 degrees until they start to dry out, about 20 minutes.
STEP 4: Pop your newly baked chips down on a cooling rack and give them a few hours to crisp.

And voila, there you have it.  A quick mid-class snack.

One day I will conquer the beet chips…

Two-tiered Chocolate Zucchini Yogurt Cake with Raspberry Yogurt Icing

~ Hilary ~ 9 Comments

Let me start off by saying I am very proud of this cake and its very long name.  This dessert represents a culmination of practicality and taste, the first because I got to use up so much stuff from my fridge, and the second because of the amazing deliciousness of combined raspberry and chocolate flavours.

The idea for this cake was born on Sunday night when I was bored at home.  I was feeling guilty for having so much stuff in the mini fridge that my roommate Britt and I share, and was in one of my inexplicable baking moods (normally these happen at around 9:15 p.m. on a school night).  In the fridge, I had a tub of plain yogurt that was very near expiration date, so I knew I had to use that up.  Since zucchini has become my favourite vegetable, I decided I might as well go all out and make a zucchini cake.  Google is the most wonderful tool for finding strange recipes.  This recipe came from the site Cooper’s Kitchen (this dude Cooper apparently has his own show) and was absolutely perfect for what I wanted to do.

Once my cake came out of the oven, it struck me that I needed to whip up some icing.  Since I also had a large amount of raspberry yogurt left, I trolled the Internet some more before setting on the raspberry yogurt icing recipe that I adapted for this cake.  I had a mini Hilary baking freak out after the icing was done since it was kind of liquidy still, but this was quickly fixed by a morning of refrigerated glory.  I didn’t have fresh raspberries to put on my cake, so I decided to pipe dollops of raspberry jam on top of it.  Way to use my problem solving skills, right?

When I was at my part-time job on Monday, I was talking to my co-worker Natalie about this most recent baking adventure.  I quickly rhymed off the name of the cake, and watched in horror as she crinkled her nose in disgust.

Apparently she thinks that yogurt and zucchini do not go together in a cake.

With the desire to quash Natalie’s uncertainly, I brought in a huge chunk of cake the next day to share with everyone in the office.  As I carried my tupperware container of cake across campus, I fumbled while putting on my mittens, dropping the tupperware and allowing the cake to somersault away from me.  By the time I made it to the office, the cake was a mess, and I had to carefully scrape icing off the lid and reapply it to the cake.  As I presented each of my co-workers with a piece of cake, I also showed them pictures of what my cake looked like pre-drop.  They needed to know that I wasn’t a completely incompetent cake decorator.

In the end, the cake turned out awesome.  The raspberry icing was the perfect contrast for the chocolate cake which, although a tad dry, was still tasty.  Since both contained lots of yogurt and zucchini, I’m going to write this cake one off as a “healthy meal” in hopes of justifying the fact that I ate it for breakfast two days in a row.

Recipe: Two-tiered chocolate zucchini yogurt cake with a raspberry yogurt icing
Cake
See recipe on Cooper’s Kitchen.

Raspberry yogurt icing
– 1/2 cup butter, room temperature
– 4 cups icing sugar
– 1/2 cup raspberry yogurt
– 1 tsp. vanilla extract
– 1/4 cup raspberry jam

Using a hand mixer, cream together butter and sugar.  Add yogurt and vanilla and blend until smooth.  Using a piping bag (or a Ziplock bag) pipe small dollops of jam onto the cake.