Appetizer

Kimchi & lobster pancakes

August 2, 2019 by Ariel Leave a Comment

Every time I get the chance to eat at ChezBong in Chinatown, the Korean green onion pancakes is something I almost always order. What’s being presented to you, today, isn’t an authentic Korean recipe but it’s been inspired by the savoury pancakes recipe you can find in Maangchi‘s cookbook. It’s been said on Twitch already but, thank you so much again to the sweet reader who bought me this book, so much deliciousness in there from such an incredible lady.

So here it is… my twist on the beloved Korean green onion pancakes made with homemade kimchi, lobster, grilled corn and the obvious: green onions.

Bon appétit!

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Crispy Cheesy Polenta Stuffed Poblano Rings

June 21, 2017 by Ariel 1 Comment

SoCal is a great place to find premium Mexican products and I couldn’t helped myself to stock up on delicious poblano peppers. I used to grow them in my garden (back in the days where I didn’t travel so much because pepper plants are by far my favourite plants to grow) but they never came out as big and spicy as the one you find in California. Apparently, the more sun engorged the pepper plant is, the spicier it’s pepper will be. I learned this, the hard way, the first time buying some, when we briefly lived in San Diego.

Clearly, they aren’t even near as spicy at other peppers like the jalapeños or habaneros but they still got a nice mild kick to them. When ripen to their fullest, they turn to a nice bright red and called Ancho peppers, often ground in to powder.

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Marinated Cauliflowers & Tomatoes Appetizers

March 31, 2015 by Ariel 1 Comment

It’s one of those recipes that will make you look like you actually took time to think about your “concept” when it fact it was the easiest and…let’s say it… laziest recipe ever 😛 lol!

If I may suggest, serve the whole thing right on the baking sheet, for a rustic look, and add some chopped cilantro or basil as a little happy green colour to your presentation.

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Classic Napa Cabbage & Daikon Kimchi

March 21, 2015 by Ariel 3 Comments

Ohhh Kimchi *^_^*

There isn’t enough words in the dictionary to describe my love for kimchi…

What’s so awesome about it? you can basically use it on/with everything! Eat it just like that as an appetizer, use it in all your stir fries, sandwiches, make a soup or a sauce with it, be creative and enjoy experimenting with kimchi because it will jazz up any dishes you create and feed your tummy a ton of probiotic bacterias that are extremely good for your digestive system and overall health.

Like all ferments, it shouldn’t be heated too much (think miso) to make sure not to kill the beneficial bacterias. Eating it straight up is officially the best way to appreciate and absorb all the benefice and flavours of the kimchi but it is totally ok to warm it up and add it to your favourite recipe 🙂

How long can you keep your kimchi?

At this point, it’s a question of personal taste. Some people will tell you to trash it after a few months and others will tell you that it never really go bad. I’m on the “never goes bad” team. The worst that can happen is that after a certain amount of time, some white mold might develop at the top of the jar. What do you do? Scoop it out and eat what’s under!

As the fermentation will happen, the colour and taste of your kimchi will evolve. My favourite kimchi is when it has been fermenting for a good month or two. You start it off by leaving it on the counter for a good week, making sure to press on it’s head every day to drown all the ingredients under the brine (tart temper wrapped in plastic wrap is the best tool for the job), then transfer your jars in the fridge and wait for a month. It’s obviously ready before and every day you can taste your kimchi to discover what level of fermentation you prefer.

This is my twist on the basic napa cabbage & daikon kimchi but you can be more creative and add green apple sliced, carrots for example.

Hope you get to try this recipe, kimchi away and happy!

*^_^*

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Marinated Cauliflower with Graines a Roussir & Preserved Lemon

June 8, 2014 by Ariel 1 Comment

Marinated Cauliflower with Graines a Roussir & Preserved Lemon

Prep time

1 hour 15 mins

Total time

1 hour 15 mins

Author: ZestyAndSpicy.com

Recipe type: Appetizer

Ingredients

3 cups of small cauliflower florets
¼ cup of green olives (about 10), finely chopped
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar
1 preserved lemon, chopped
1 tablespoon of chopped fresh coriander leaves
½ teaspoon of powdered graines a roussir
Salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

- Prep the cauliflower and keep only the florets. Measure about 3 cups of florets, steam them for 10 minutes.
- Mix all the other ingredients in a big salad bowl and then mix in your steamed cauliflower.
- Leave in the fridge to marinate for at least 1 hour before serving.

Sausage & Shrimp Puff Pastry Rolls

May 20, 2014 by Ariel 3 Comments

For days where you want a blast of flavor and don’t care about your diet… For either a game day, a friendly gathering or really just because your heart wants it. No need to start a guilt trip here, we all need a few days like this every months 😉

Serve these delicious puff pastry sausage and shrimps with Dijon mustard, regular mustard or ketchup depending on what you prefer!

Sausage & Shrimp Puff Pastry Rolls

Ingredients

Puff pastry dough
For the Filling:
9 raw shrimps, skin, vein and everything else removed
8 roasted garlic cloves
½ tightly packed cup of freshly chopped basil leaves
¼ teaspoon of fish sauce
½ teaspoon of cane sugar
1 teaspoon of low sodium soy sauce
6 tablespoon of VERY FINELY chopped carrots
3 tablespoon of VERY FINELY chopped celery
¼ teaspoon of ginger powder
Inside membrane of 2 small Mergez sausages**
For the Egg Wash:
1 egg
1 tablespoon of water
For the Garnish:
Sesame seeds
** Make sure you take one that the inside is a "pulverized paste" without too many big chunks. The goal here is that this sausage stuffing will keep the filling together.

Instructions

- Pre-heat your oven at 350. Line a parchment paper on a baking sheet.
- Mix all the ingredients for your filling in a food processor and blend everything together till it becomes a nice and smooth paste. In another small bowl, prepare your egg wash by whisking the egg and water, reserve in the fridge till the end.
- Roll your pastry dough (making sure it's always cold - never let your puff pastry get to room temperature - I usually work with a cold ice pack on the side) and make a few rectangles or squares of dough, the size you want.
- Time to add your filling and roll your pastry, follow the graphic below for the easy technique.
- Brush with your egg wash, sprinkle some sesame seeds on the top and bake at 350 for 45 minutes or till the crust is golden brown.
Serve with any dipping sauce you want but I like mine with either ketchup of Dijon mustard!
IMPORTANT NOTE - Since you can find a lot of different style of Mergez... If, during the cooking process, you find there is a lot of juices coming out of the pastry, you can move your rolls on the paper to make sure it doesn't boil in juice and make the dough saggy.

Peaches & Blue Cheese Amuse Bouches

September 6, 2013 by Ariel 2 Comments

Yoohoo it’s Friday! What about a light recipe that is also easy, fast and delicious that could be the hit of tonight’s friendly gathering! If you have peaches, blue cheese, walnuts and baguette laying around, you have everything you need to realize in 5 minutes these delicious amuse bouches!

…Now who’s getting the beer?

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Grilled Cabbage, Apple and Tofu Salad

June 26, 2013 by Ariel 3 Comments

The day of my trip to Budapest is coming soon.. At this same time next week, I’ll be on the other side of the world doing… well… a description of what I’ll be doing would inappropriate to for this blog so I wont finish my sentence LOL… Witch means that I have to go over all the veggies and fruits left in my fridge and make sure I keep eating healthy and not too much to get to my weight goal for the trip.

I’ve been experimenting a lot with tofu in the past weeks and since it’s such a versatile ingredients, extremely healthy and low fat, I thought it would be important to create a new category for it since I’ll be sharing a lot more recipes featuring this amazing ingredient. Today I’ve been teasing my facebook followers about a tofu spread recipe but I’m not 100% happy with everything I’ve made yet so here’s a fun little salad instead that could be serve as a fun appetizer….

The measurements for this recipe is for 2 persons so make sure you adapt the quantities if you’re serving more than 2. Enjoy!

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Strawberries, Kale & Feta Salad

June 1, 2013 by Ariel 5 Comments

I had such an AMAZING tapas night with my cousin yesterday. Because of our night, I’m able to present you a much healthier recipe (compare to my last one) on this sunny Saturday that we invented after a day at the farmer’s market. We walked around for hours looking at all the gorgeous flowers, organic fruit stands and biologic butcher shops at the Marché Jean-Talon that I even got a mini sunburn on my shoulders… ouch! ..but it was worth it.

After buying all the ingredients needed for the night, we went back to her place and had fun creating a few new recipes that I will be sharing in this blog in the upcoming weeks. Stay tuned for all that deliciousness 😉 hehe

Since we are young, my cousin and I have always been cooking together. I remember this one year, when my mom was still living in Paris and I lived one year at my grand parents house in the middle of the woods, she was often coming back home with me after school to cook and invent recipes. I guess I can say that we have an incredible “kitchen chemistry” and we are both passionate with cooking because we always end up creating delicious meals and it’s definitely our way to socialize and have fun when we are together.

She’s been living in Montreal for a few years now but we are both extremely busy and I unfortunately don’t see her as often I would want to. Before yesterday, our last “cook off” was a YEAR ago!!! Pretty bad right? I know we’re awful….

And it’s not even because we don’t like to spend time together (pretty much the opposite) but like I’ve said, I’m super busy with my business and she’s a full time student doing her master degree while working many hours a week. I wish our schedule was more flexible so we could do this more often but at least the internet is there to keep in touch. Last night we made the promise to see each other more often.. let’s hope we’re able to make it this time! We always have so much fun and look at the delicious goodies we are preparing!! Please keep your fingers crossed for me so we see each other more often. 😛

We really hope you will enjoy this simple, yet flavorful summer salad. Are you planning a picnic or a BBQ with your friends and family? This salad be the next hit at your next event, who knows 🙂 Try it out and let me know!

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Honey, Mustard Chicken Wings with Dijon/Lime dipping sauce

May 29, 2013 by Ariel 7 Comments

I’ve been teasing my twitter and facebook followers for a while now about a new chicken wings recipe… The worst thing is, I have shot these photos about month ago and wrote this recipe 2 months ago but you know how I roll… I get so busy and the culinary site suffer. It’s not because I don’t want to come here (pretty much the opposite) but I don’t always have the time and since my business took off again (thanks god) I’ve been swamped (in a good way) and every day is busier than the one before.

There is also the fact that I wanted to post other recipes before this one but I haven’t been able to get around to take photos of the more healthiest meals I have made so today I said “fuck it” I’m posting my wing recipe and I’ll just have to deal with it! lol The reason why I wanted to post healthier recipes is because I’m currently on “model bootcamp diet” and I don’t allow myself the juicy and delicious wings like these ones or the spicy maple chicken wings I made earlier this year.

I’m planning a lot of shootings in the upcoming weeks and months so I have to watch what I eat a bit more. Although I call it a “model bootcamp diet”, it’s not really a diet but more a new way of life/eating. I don’t feel like I’m stopping myself from eating what I like (beside the obvious junk food) so that’s why I don’t feel like I’m on a diet. Plus I wanted to show you that it’s not because you watch what you eat, that you will always feel like you’re starving yourself, then get frustrated because you cant eat what you would normally eat. I’ll get to that, I have a lot of delicious and flavorful recipes that are on the healthy side and the next time I’ll be posting something here it will be in this category. (hopefully lol)

Till then, enjoy these delicious honey and mustard wings with the flavorful dipping sauce… Ohhh just looking at the photos I’m already drooling.. you?

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