Uncategorized – Page 2 – Celestine Cooks for One

Quick comfort food – Spanish Tortilla

May 28, 2017Leave a comment

If nothing else, I always have eggs in the fridge, garlic, onions and potatoes in the pantry. So when I’m having a hectic day or week with no time to go to the market or to cook and am just too tired to have any kind of imagination, but I still want to eat well (i.e. not take away or frozen dinners) a tortilla is one of my go to’s. In less than 15 minutes, I’ve got a delicious omelet and to boot my hunger & palate are satisfied!

RECIPE

2-3 eggs, beaten

1 small potato, thinly sliced

1 small shallot or 1/2 of a small onion, thinly sliced

2 cloves garlic, minced

Olive oil

Salt & pepper to taste

INSTRUCTIONS

Heat enough olive oil to sauté potatoes in a skillet. Add potatoes and cook, occasionally stirring until browned. Add garlic and onion and continue cooking until onion becomes glassy, season with salt and pepper. Beat eggs in a mixing bowl and season with salt. Add potato mixture just to blend and return to well oiled skillet and lower heat to medium-low. Carefully lift sides with a silicon spatula and lift pan so that runny eggs go underneath. Continue doing so until top of omelet has no more runny egg. Cover and allow to set for 3-4 minutes. Carefully slide omelet on a plate and invert back into skillet to cook other side. Cover and cook for a further 5 minutes. Plate omelet and allow to cool before serving. Serves 1, enjoy!

Rhubarb galette for a weekday treat!

May 24, 2017May 24, 2017Leave a comment

And now begins the season of simple desserts, made from beautiful fruit 🙂 I can hear myself justifying my sweet tooth with the excuse that’s it’s a portion of fruit, after all!!! Thank God for that 🙂 So walking through the market, seeing the beautiful stalks of rhubarb, I knew what I’d be making immediately. A simple, rustic galette. Galette’s are just an unfussy pie, all you need to do is roll out the pie dough, place it in your pie dish, place filling in the center and roughly fold over the dough. You also use less dough than in a classic pie, 1/2 less that is, which if you’re trying not to eat in excess, is fantastic. A reasonable portion is less than 150 cals, so no reason to deny yourself a little pleasure (I’m pretty sure pleasure counts towards satisfaction which equals to less crap consumed!) 🙂

RECIPE

DOUGH, Pie dough

FILLING

1 small bunch rhubarb, cut in 1/2 inch pieces

1/3 cup maple syrup

1 tablespoon flour

Juice of half a lemon

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat oven to 350°. Mix rhubarb with maple syrup and flour. Roll out dough into a rough circle and place in pie dish or cast iron pan. Place rhubarb filling in center of dough and roughly fold over dough. Brush dough with milk or egg wash, sprinkle sugar on crust. Bake in oven for 45 minutes or until golden. Makes 6-8 portions. Can be refrigerated for up to one week or frozen for up to one month. Enjoy!

Victoria Day = Planting herbs and flowers, & Lobster roll!!!

May 22, 2017Leave a comment

In my neck of the woods, Victoria Day is when everyone plants their gardens, in my case that would be my planters. Although I would love to have a small patch of vegetables, the market being less than 10 blocks away makes it super easy to get my seasonal fruits and veggies with as little effort as walking. So out of the shed came the terrace furniture, into the planters flowers, herbs and a first this year some leafy greens. I can’t wait to pick out some lettuce straight from my little garden into my sandwich 🙂 I LOVE summer! And to celebrate the sun coming out and making it a perfect day, lobster roll! How happy am I?! I absolutely love lobster. I think its seasonal rarity keeps that flame alive, I truly get excited when they appear at the market! And the lilac have just come in bloom, and the lily of the valley… This is a very special time of the year, when colours, smells and senses just spring to life. Welcome spring!!!

Recipe

For the lobster roll

1 1/4 lbs cooked lobster

1 small shallot, minced

1 teaspoon mayonnaise

1 tablespoon greek yogurt

A few sheets of shredded lettuce

2 tablespoons minced chives

Salt & pepper to taste

1 sandwich roll, buttered and toasted in cast iron pan

For the potato salad

1 cup new potatoes, boiled whole until tender but still firm, quartered

3 sprigs of fresh dill, minced

1 tablespoon greek yogurt

1 teaspoon mayonnaise

1 green shallot, minced

Salt & pepper to taste

For the asparagus salad

5 asparagus spears, shaved with a vegetable peeler

1 tablespoon thinly sliced red onion

1/4 pickling liquid (water, sugar, vinegar, salt)

Instructions

Pickle asparagus and onion in the liquid while preparing the lobster and potato salad, set aside. Place all the ingredients for the potato salad in a mixing bowl and blend well, set aside. Using kitchen shears, cut up lobster, removing knuckle, tail and claw meat, try keeping the claws in their shape. Cut tail into 1/4 inch slices. Reserve. Reserve shells and head in fridge to make stock, or freeze if not making the stock the next day. Place knuckle meat in a mixing bowl with all ingredients except roll and lettuce and mix to combine.

Place shredded lettuce on roll and top with knuckle mixture, top with reserved tail slices and decorate with claws. Plate with potato salad and drained asparagus.

Enjoy! Serves 1.

Spring flings – A beautiful crab salad

May 14, 2017Leave a comment

I am so impatient for strawberries to be in season, I can almost smell them. I fantasize of making strawberry shortcakes, strawberry compote, strawberry vanilla jam, strawberry galette… Thank God for the asparagus and fiddleheads to keep me distracted! As I walking through the market for my weekly errands, some crab legs caught my eye. At first I walked past, as I had no idea what I would make. Then, inspired by a beautiful sunny day, a thought stuck me. How about a salad with the fiddleheads? And I must say, success. Although removing the crabmeat from the shell is lightly more labour intensive than I would like on a Friday, I must say it was well worth the effort 🙂 And if you’re thinking of replacing the fresh crabmeat with canned, I would strongly urge you to reconsider as the freshness of the salad highlights the freshness of the crab, which you would lose with the canned variety. By all means, keep buying the canned crab, only use it for such recipes as crab cakes. The crab and lobster season is so short, I’ll probably cooking up one or the other often over the next two weeks, hopefully the strawberries will show up at the end and I can make a beautiful feast with all my spring bounty!

Recipe

150 gr. crab meat

1 cup fiddleheads, boiled in salted water for 3 minutes – twice

1 cup new potatoes, boiled whole for 10 minutes, then cooled in ice water

1 small shallot, thinly sliced

2-3 sprigs fresh dill, minced, reserve some fronds for decorating

1 tablespoons each mayonnaise, greek yogurt and cream

1 tablespoon lemon zest

Salt & pepper to taste

Directions

In a mixing bowl, blend mayonnaise, cream & greek yogurt with lemon zest, dill, shallots and seasonings. Drain potatoes and dry on kitchen towel, cut into quarters, add to sauce with fiddleheads and blend well. Taste before plating and adjust seasoning if necessary. Serve in a large salad bowl making a well in center to place crab. Decorate with dill fronds. Serves 1. Enjoy with a beautiful rosé!

Pizza night! A rustic aspargaus pizza

May 13, 2017May 13, 2017Leave a comment

So excited it’s friday night! And nothing says friday night like pizza 🙂

You may say making pizza is labour intensive, but really it isn’t, even if you make your dough! But since it’s Friday, well, just buy one ready-made 🙂 I make mine with my sourdough starter, it really makes a beautiful thin crispy crust. This is a great pizza to make with whatever seasonal veggie you have on hand, the only limits is your imagination! Seeing as we’re in asparagus season and I had a nice Goat’s cheese… You guessed it! Asparagus and goat cheese work very well together, you could also add some mushrooms, I have, with great success. So here’s to weekends and unwinding 🙂

Recipe

1/3 pizza dough, rolled out

1 small bunch asparagus, thinly sliced using a vegetable peeler

5-6 slices of goat cheese

1 shallot, thinly sliced

Olive oil

Salt & pepper

Truffle oil

Instructions

Preheat oven to 475°. Spread dough onto a baking stone or cast iron pan sprinkled with cornmeal. Brush dough with olive oil and place cheese, shallots then olive oil brushed asparagus. Season with salt and pepper and place in oven, cook until browned, roughly 20-30 minutes. Let cool before serving, lightly sprinkle with truffle oil. Makes 1 serving. Enjoy!