Cedar Planked Teriyaki Chicken

November 22, 2012 By Korena in the Kitchen 6 Comments

Contrary to the image that might pop into your head when you think “Canadian winter“, on the West coast of Canada it doesn’t actually get super snowy and impossibly cold – it mostly just gets super rainy and only rather cold. This means that, among other things, it is still totally possible to grill or barbeque outside through the winter. Which explains how I found myself cooking cedar planked teriyaki chicken on the barbeque on a drizzly November day. Read the rest of this post at the SeaChange blog! 🙂

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you in celebrating today in the US (or elsewhere, for that matter!) 🙂

One for You, One for Me

November 16, 2012 By Korena in the Kitchen 8 Comments

Last weekend I made two chicken, leek and mushroom pies: one for me and Nate, and one to give to some good friends who just recently had a sweet baby boy (I also made them some Perfect Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies). They appreciated it very much, but so did I – because, while I obviously love to cook and bake, what I really love is sharing what I’ve made with people and seeing them enjoy it (or in this case, hearing about it). It’s pretty fulfilling to create something that makes other people happy, be it a piece of art, some words on a page, or a slice of chicken pie and a peanut butter cookie.

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Daring Bakers: Empanada

September 27, 2012 By Korena in the Kitchen 39 Comments

Patri of the blog, Asi Son Los Cosas, was our September 2012 Daring Bakers’ hostess and she decided to tempt us with one of her family’s favorite recipes for Empanadas! We were given two dough recipes to choose from and encouraged to fill our Empanadas as creatively as we wished!

It took me a little while to get into this challenge, but once I did, it was pretty fun and SUPER tasty. The empanada that we are talking about here is a Spanish dish – essentially a savoury pie (although there were some sweet versions made this month too) made with a yeasted dough. As far as I can tell, an empanada can be filled with almost anything (Patri shared her grandmother’s recipe for a traditional salted cod filling), so I took some liberties with this one.

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Black Bean Burritos

September 15, 2012 By Korena in the Kitchen 23 Comments

Remember my resolution to use my cookbooks more? Yeah, it hasn’t been going so well (maybe that’s why I usually avoid making resolutions), unless you count the fact that I’ve been making these black bean burritos pretty much on a weekly basis since I got the Dinner: A Love Story cookbook. (And yes, I needed another cookbook like I need a hole in the head. It’s a ~~problem~~ hobby!)…

Sourdough Pasta (with a Pasta Machine)

July 24, 2012 By Korena in the Kitchen 45 Comments

Recently I was lucky enough to receive a pasta machine from a relative (thanks Cecilia!), and I’ve been giving it a pretty good workout lately – it definitely makes homemade pasta easier to churn out than rolling it by hand. This particular pasta machine was made in Italy but comes under the name “NUDELMASCHINE”, which sounds more German than Italian and prompts me and Nate to put on our best/worst German accents whenever it comes out of the cupboard for a pasta-making session.

A little while ago I came across a recipe for sourdough pasta on The Gingered Whisk (one of my Sourdough Surprises buddies), and as recipes for using up excess sourdough starter are always useful, I gave it a whirl. …

Shaping and Baking a Neapolitan-style Pizza

July 21, 2012 By Korena in the Kitchen 19 Comments

Now that we’ve covered making the dough, it’s time to turn it into a pizza! This is the fun part. 🙂 (And if you haven’t already, you should read my previous post on Neapolitan-style pizza dough.)…

Cedar Planked Salmon with Rosemary Smoke

June 21, 2012 By Korena in the Kitchen 2 Comments

I have another guest post up at the SeaChange blog: Cedar Planked Salmon with Rosemary Smoke. This is a perfect summer grilling recipe and a very exciting cooking method!

Blue Hawaiian Pizza

June 16, 2012 By Korena in the Kitchen 13 Comments

We’re moving in almost exactly two weeks and so far I have managed to do very little in the way of packing. I have also managed to neglect this blog, so I wanted to quickly share this “Blue Hawaiian” pizza I made for dinner last night. No recipe needed – just make your traditional Hawaiian pizza with sauce, ham, and pineapple, plus the secret ingredient: crumbled blue cheese.

(Don’t forget the mozzarella.)

Nate and I both love this combination – definitely a grown-up twist on a kid favorite, especially if you like blue cheese.

I’ve discovered a really awesome pizza crust recipe and baking method which I will share here eventually… in the meantime, try this on your next pizza!

Roast Chicken with Black Bean Gravy

June 2, 2012 By Korena in the Kitchen 8 Comments

When I was a kid, roast chicken and gravy was my family’s favorite comfort food (I think it’s safe to say it still is) and it was always up to me to make the gravy. I don’t know how or where he got the idea, but on one occasion my Dad convinced me to put a handful of cured, salted Chinese black beans in the gravy. This was another case of a strange flavour combination working out much better than expected, because surprisingly, the gravy didn’t taste like Chinese take-out – it tasted like delicious chicken gravy with a good dose of salty umani flavour thanks to the black beans. After that successful case, almost any kind of gravy was subject to the addition of black beans, including Christmas turkey gravy (although my Mum was somewhat less enthusiastic about this than my Dad and I)….

Tortellini with Mushrooms, Spinach and Italian Sausage

May 12, 2012 By Korena in the Kitchen 14 Comments

I have a new blog crush… which is kind of an old blog crush, actually. I discovered Dinner with Julie when I first started this blog (the recipe for Rosemary Raisin Pecan Crisps, one of my very first posts, came from there) but somehow lost track of it in the onslaught of new food blog discoveries that followed. I’m happy to report that I rediscovered Julie’s blog and I want to make everything on it. I also want to host a pierogy bee (who’s in?)….