Vietnamese Fried Spring Rolls {Chả Giò}

June 30, 2017 By Korena in the Kitchen 6 Comments

There is a certain local Asian noodle bar that has built an entire business model on its take-out boxes of delicious noodle dishes, but what keeps me coming back are their spring rolls. Piping hot and crisp, full of savoury pork, carrots, bean thread noodles, and general umami-ness, they are served with crunchy green lettuce leaves and sprigs of fresh cilantro to wrap around them and salty-spicy-sweet nước chấm for dipping. They are insanely delicious and I could easily eat half a dozen in one sitting, but sadly each order only contains two rolls.

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Chinese BBQ Pork {Sourdough} Steamed Buns

January 21, 2015 By Korena in the Kitchen 13 Comments

Chinese BBQ Pork Sourdough Steamed Buns | Korena in the Kitchen

Despite the fact that I have a notification on my phone that pops up every Sunday at noon reminding me to “Feed sourdough!!!”, I still manage not to do it for weeks on end and that poor little culture of yeasts ends up grey and lifeless in the back of my fridge. Luckily for me, I realized this while I still had enough time to revive it to use in this month’s Sourdough Surprises project: Chinese steamed buns. Sourdough isn’t a traditional ingredient in steamed buns, but many recipes incorporate “old dough”, so sourdough fits right in.

Chinese BBQ Pork Sourdough Steamed Buns | Korena in the Kitchen

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Happy Canada Day!

July 1, 2014 By Korena in the Kitchen 3 Comments

Candied Salmon Salad Rolls | Korena in the Kitchen Canada turns 147 years old today! If you are looking for a way to celebrate, may I suggest you make these salad rolls with candied salmon, which I posted about over on the SeaChange Seafoods blog. They are perfect to take to a picnic or barbeque, and can stand as either an appetizer or a side dish or a full meal, which is how Nate and I usually eat them.

Candied Salmon Salad Rolls | Korena in the Kitchen

And while you’re here, may I also suggest that you make this cherry almond Dutch baby: it is TO DIE FOR. I made it for breakfast a few days ago and I’m still thinking about it. It tastes like a cross between a cherry clafoutis and a cherry-almond danish, ie: really, really amazing. The only changes I made were to add a bit of vanilla bean paste to the batter and to bake it in a slightly smaller (nine inch) cast iron skillet. So good!

Smitten Kitchen's Cherry Almond Dutch Baby | Korena in the Kitchen

How to Eat Popcorn Like a Salt Springer

March 10, 2014 By Korena in the Kitchen 33 Comments

The Salt Spring Island movie theatre opened when I was about ten – I remember because one of the first films shown was the digitally re-mastered, re-released Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which was probably only the third film I’d ever seen in a theatre. [Edit: Apparently my memory is faulty, because Nate remembers the movie theatre being open waaaaaay earlier, and unfortunately for me, it turns out he’s right. It changed hands in the early 1990s so I must be remembering the re-opening, because I swear I never saw any movies there when I was really young…! Anyway, back to the story.] Community hall by day and movie theatre by night, when I was twelve it was also the scene of my very first ever date with a boy (I wasn’t allowed to see Dangerous Minds so we watched Babe), where we sat on folding chairs because only the first few rows were proper theatre seats. Instead of the celebrity gossip and pop culture “entertainment” that precedes movies these days, they would show slide shows featuring community events, and more often than not you’d see yourself or someone you knew on the screen while you waited in line at the concession, which brings me to the best part of the Salt Spring movie theatre: the popcorn. Real popcorn with real butter instead of a coating of yellow “butter flavour”, it only cost a few dollars a bag rather than upwards of $15 for popcorn and a drink. And to season it, instead of dill pickle or cheese flavouring, there were big shakers of nutritional yeast – because on Salt Spring, we eat our popcorn yeasted. And it’s delicious.

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Humongous Sourdough Popovers

December 20, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 24 Comments

I interrupt the steady stream of sugary treats coming out of my kitchen to bring you these massive sourdough popovers. Seriously, LOOK AT HOW BIG THEY ARE.

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The Canadian Food Experience Project: The Christmas Eve Potluck

December 9, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 3 Comments

The Canadian Food Experience Project began June 7, 2013. As we share our collective stories through our regional food experiences, we hope to bring global clarity to our Canadian culinary identity. Visit Valerie’s blog, A Canadian Foodie, on the 15th for a round-up of this month’s posts.

This month on the Canadian Food Experience Project, we are talking Canadian Christmas traditions. If you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you’ll know that for me, Christmas means cookies, cookies, and more cookies. From a “Christmas tradition” stand-point, that topic has pretty much been covered… so I tried to think of something else to talk about. Christmas dinner? My Mum’s bacon-covered turkey and stuffing. Christmas dessert? Yule log. All already documented, and none particularly specific to the West Coast of BC or Salt Spring Island. I finally turned to Facebook and asked my friends: What food-related holiday/Christmas traditions do you celebrate with your family? Is there something specific to the West Coast/Salt Spring Island?

Predictably, I got a varied response – everything from the traditional Canadian fare of tourtiere and buttertarts to sushi to smoked salmon eggs benedict to stollen to a breakfast bake of bread, egg, bacon, sausage, and cheese called either “busy woman’s breakfast” or “wife saver” depending on which of my friends you ask – but one commonality was the number of people who mentioned a Christmas Eve gathering of family, friends, and food. Growing up on Salt Spring Island, potluck dinners were the preferred social gathering and were as abundant as gumboot-wearing hippie sheep farmers (ie, very abundant). As an only child with a fairly small extended family, our family Christmas on December 25 was (wonderful but) pretty quiet, whereas Christmas Eve was always a rockin’ potluck at our family friends’ house, with tons of food, kids, and Christmas carols. For the past five or more years, I’ve spent Christmas Eve at my friend Lynette’s family dinner, which includes several other families all contributing to the meal, resulting in some of the tastiest Christmas food ever – I still dream about the creamy, cheesy scalloped potatoes from a few years ago, and Ghislaine’s frozen chocolate orange mousse is to die for. My preferred potluck contribution is usually dessert, but one year I brought these bacon wrapped, almond stuffed apricots with balsamic syrup and Stilton as an appetizer, and they were pretty darn good – worth a spotlight on the blog, for sure. Plus, they are super easy to put together – no recipe needed – and they come on a stick, which makes them great finger food and perfect to take to your next holiday potluck.

To make, cut some slices of bacon in half and cook until not quite crispy – it still needs to be pliable. Stuff dried apricots with a whole almond (you should be able to find the opening in the apricot where the pit was removed), then wrap each in a half-slice of bacon and secure with a toothpick. Bake in a hot oven or broil a few inches away from the broiler element (watch the toothpicks so they don’t burn) until the bacon is crisp, turning them over once during cooking – this shouldn’t take more than 10 minutes. Put them on a plate, drizzle with crema di balsamico (make a homemade version by simmering some balsamic vinegar with a spoonful of honey until thickened), and sprinkle with crumbled Stilton or blue cheese. To eat, pile some Stilton on top, or spear some with the toothpick. These could easily be assembled ahead of time and then popped into the oven when guests arrive, or warmed up on site if you are taking them to a potluck.

What’s your favorite holiday potluck offering?

The Canadian Food Experience Project: BC Spot Prawn Cioppino

July 7, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 19 Comments

{A Regional Canadian Food from the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island}

The Canadian Food Experience Project began June 7 2013. As we share our collective stories across the vastness of our Canadian landscape through our regional food experiences, we hope to bring global clarity to our Canadian culinary identity through the cadence of our concerted Canadian voice. Please join us.

What comes to mind when you think of Canadian food? Maple syrup and poutine? Canadian bacon? (Known as back bacon here, but everyone I know eats regular bacon.) Tim Horton’s coffee and doughnuts? Patriotic beer? (Just for the record, decidedly NOT the best this land has to offer.) Of course there is much more to Canadian food than that, but it’s a tough one to answer. Canada is a HUGE place and it includes people of so many different cultural backgrounds. Other than First Nations people, we are all immigrants from somewhere (some more recent than others), so naturally the way we prepare and eat food is influenced by whatever culture we came from. Discovering what “Canadian food” is, exactly, is kind of exciting to a food geek like me, so I am thrilled to be participating in The Canadian Food Experience Project, which was started last month by Valerie Lujonga of A Canadian Foodie in an attempt to explore and help answer the question, “What is Canadian food?“

Poutine: the most Canadian food? (photo credit: Huffingtonpost.ca)

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The Creamiest Hummus

May 24, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 11 Comments

The Creamiest Hummus | Korena in the Kitchen Sometimes you just need a platter full of vegetables and some garlicky hummus to dip them in. It’s been ages since I last made hummus, and I’ve been wanting to try Smitten Kitchen’s secret to making “ethereally smooth hummus“. But I think I was also putting it off, because the thing is, the secret is kind of ridiculous and crazy-making: you have to peel the chickpeas, and that seems like a totally insane thing to do.

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Daring Bakers: Crisp Flatbreads and Crackers

February 27, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 26 Comments

Sarah from All Our Fingers in the Pie was our February 2013 Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to use our creativity in making our own Crisp Flatbreads and Crackers!

I had some trouble getting into this month’s challenge. I don’t eat a lot of crackers in the first place, so the desire to make them myself isn’t that strong, I guess. I kind of feel like I phoned this one in, which sucks because I also know how much work our host, Sarah, put into choosing, testing, and presenting the challenge recipes. So please don’t judge this challenge by my lack of enthusiasm. Instead, check out the amazing assortment of crispy, crunchy snacks the other Daring Bakers made this month.

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Ethiopian Injera

February 20, 2013 By Korena in the Kitchen 35 Comments

Ethiopian Injera A few years ago I had lunch with my Mum at an Ethiopian restaurant in Vancouver. Never having had Ethiopian food before, I had no idea what to expect, other than my Mum telling me that we would be eating “injera” made from “teff”, which really didn’t do much to clear things up.

What arrived at our table was a giant, crèpe-like flatbread covered in dollops of several kinds of thick, curry-like stew, to be shared between the two of us. Eating with our hands, we tore off pieces of the crèpe and used it to scoop up the stew, which was spicy and flavourful and incredibly delicious. The crèpe, as it turned out, was called injera, and it was made from a grain called teff (which happens to be gluten-free). It had a pleasant, almost spongy texture and slightly sour flavour, due to it being made with a sourdough starter of sorts. Along with being one of the most unusual eating experiences I have ever had (it’s not everyday in Canada that an edible part of your meal serves as both plate and eating utensil), that lunch was also one of the most memorable and delicious.

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