Brunch Strata

Brunch is a really challenging meal to host because so many things you serve have to be done at the very last minute -- eggs, pancakes, french toast.

I was hosting a small brunch party today and went in search of something I could prepare in advance and leave to bake while I was entertaining. Enter the brunch strata.

Strata is like a breakfast casserole. It's wholesome and hearty, healthy and delicious. And you can prepare it in advance and watch it bake while you're enjoying a mimosa. What could be better?

Here's the recipe I used this morning and it was a hit!

Ingredients

• 1 cup sliced mushrooms
• 1 cup chopped zucchini
• 1 cup diced onion
• 1 cup chopped red pepper
• 1 cup bacon/ham/sausage -- whatever you have on hand
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1 pkg cream cheese (softened)
• 1 1/2 cups shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup cream
• 2 cups day-old cubed bread
• 6 eggs

Directions

• Cube bread about the size of large croutons and leave out overnight
• Prepare veggies

• Cook the meat, drain and set aside

• Sautee veggies in oil and garlic, drain and set aside

• In a mixer, combine cream cheese with cream until smooth
• Add eggs and mix
• Add bread crumbs, veggies, meat and cheddar cheese and mix
• Pour into greased 11 x 7 pan

• Bake in oven at 350 degrees for about an hour
• Let cool for about 10 minutes
• Serve!

(this is it baked, but I couldn't take a picture before the vultures got at it!)

Creamy Shrimp Fettucine

Now that you know how to make pasta, here's a delicious and easy topping for it: Creamy Shrimp Fettucine.

Ingredients:
(serves 4)

• about 6 shrimps per person
• 3 tsp butter
• 3 tsp olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves, very finely chopped (I have discovered pre-chopped garlic = way easier)
• one red pepper sliced
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup cream

Directions:

• Heat the butter and oil over a medium-low heat. Add garlic and cook for a few minutes. Then add red pepper.

• Stir in tomato paste and wine, simmering for about 10 minutes
• Bring a large pot of water to boil and add pasta. Before draining, add about a 1/4 cup of pasta water to the pasta mixture
• Add shrimp to the sauce and raise the heat to medium-high, cooking until shrimp turn pink
• Reduce heat and stir in the cream, cooking for one minute until thickened. Add salt and pepper to taste

• Add pasta to sauce and mix together
• Serve to hungry crowd!

Home-Made Pasta

One of my favourite wedding gifts was a pasta maker attachment to go onto my Kitchenaid stand mixer.

While it takes some time, making pasta is actually a really enjoyable activity. It's sort of like playing with playdoh, but it tastes a whole lot better!

I have read many different rules of thumb for making pasta. Some say one egg per 3/4 cup of flour, while others say two eggs per cup of flour. What's a new cook to do? So this time, I added two eggs, and then slowly added the flour until I felt like it had the right consistency and I think I've really discovered that elusive "you'll know by the feel" that other chefs (I say that like I'm a chef, too) talk about!

After making my dough, I let it rest for 30 minutes.

Then I cut the ball into quarters and took one piece to run through the pasta maker, leaving the other pieces covered so they wouldn't dry out.

I ran it through the machine a lot, each time, folding it into a tri-envelope fold and then running the "open" end through the machine.

Once I had all the "sheets" of pasta, I covered them in flour, covered them with a dish towel to rest again for another 20 minutes.

Now, the fun part. Take each sheet and run it through the pasta cutter.

Let rest again for another 20 minutes or so and then cook in salted boiling water for 3-5 minutes.

Don't have a pasta maker? Pioneer Woman tells you how to make pasta without one.

And of course, my sous-chef was instrumental.

Don't have a sous-chef? Not to worry, he wasn't really that helpful.

Success!!!

Finally... a perfect loaf!

Chicken Wellington

In my family, you always got to choose your own birthday dinner. Every year, I chose chicken wellington -- a delicious parcel of dough filled with chicken and cream cheese. Mmm!

So I made them for T and I for dinner on Saturday night with a delicious salad. They're pretty easy to make and we had two left over for a super easy dinner on Sunday night.

Ingredients

• 3 chicken breasts
• slightly more than 1/2 a brick of cream cheese (at room temperature)
• 1 package of Pillsbury crescent rolls
• 3 green onions
• 2 teaspoons of butter
• 2 tablespoons of milk
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Boil the three chicken breasts in a pot of water for about 20 minutes or until cooked through

2. Cube the chicken into bite sized pieces. Note: If you can leave the chicken to cool in the fridge for about an hour, it cuts cleanly and won't shred

3. Put the cream cheese in a medium sized bowl and make sure it's pretty soft.

4. Add some butter and some milk to the mixture, but not too much, you don't want it to be too runny -- mine looks like cottage cheese

5. Cut up your green onion into small pieces and add to the mixture. Then add the cubed chicken and mix (this should look like chicken salad)

6. Now, take your crescent rolls out of the fridge (leave them in as long as possible -- they're easier to work with), and open up the roll. You should have 8 crescent rolls, but you want to make four wellies, so keep them in pairs like a square

7. Use a rolling pin to make them a big as you can and make sure the seam in the middle is pinched together

8. Put 1/4 of the chicken mixture in the middle of the roll

9. Now, don't be scared, but ultimately, you need to close this like a present. My mom's are perfect always, so I know it can be done! I take the corners and pull them in, and then you might need to pierce some seams together. This is the bottom, so it can look a little sloppy

10. Bake at 350 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes, or until dough is done and slightly brown on top

Even Coop wanted some :)

If you can believe it...

This no-knead multigrain bread:

Tasted AMAZING!!! It was crusty on the top and perfectly moist and delicious inside.

Now, I just need to work on my presentation.

Does anyone know how to avoid this "boiling over" problem I had?

Leek and Potato Soup

This is one of our standbys for cold winter nights. It's my dad's recipe and it's easy to make and keeps well in the fridge for a few dinners during the week. Serve with a delicious french stick (at some point, I will learn how to make one).

Ingredients

• Two bunches of leeks
• One medium sized onion
• Three medium-sized potatoes 
• 1 1/2 boxes of chicken stock
• 1/2 cup of cream
• 1/2 cup of white wine (any kind you have on hand)
• 2 T butter
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

1. Dice onion and sautee on low with butter

2. Cut and clean and chop the leeks. With leeks, you can only use the white and the light green parts. Cut off the end with "hair' and then about 70% of the top. Then, slice lengthwise down the middle and run under water, opening up each layer to ensure there's no sand between them. Then, roughly cut them width wise.

3. Sautee leeks with onion for about 20 minutes

4. Peel and dice potatoes.

5. Add chicken stock and diced potatoes to pot. Bring to a boil and then lower to a simmer until potatoes are cooked.

6. Take off heat and let cool slightly before blending. I find the easiest way is to just stick in my immersion blender and blend around for a couple of minutes.

7. Place back on heat and add cream, wine and salt and pepper. Bring up heat and let flavours blend. 

This is one of those dishes that is actually better the next day because the flavours really marry together well. Mmmm!