chicken sausage rolls

Back when I was in Darwin, Australia, I briefly worked at the best little pie shop ever and ate their sausage rolls probably everyday.  I have LOVED sausage rolls ever since! But in Saudi of course we can’t get any pork sausage.  Then awhile back, a friend dropped off some chicken sausage rolls that she made and I realized, I should’ve been making chicken sausage rolls this whole time!

I wasn’t that happy with my first attempt but I’ve been working on a recipe for awhile and THIS I am very happy with.  The chicken sausage is very flavourful and not dry at all.  I minced up chicken thighs with our Kitchenaid meat grinder but of course you can just use store-bought ground chicken.

Makes 15 sausage rolls or 45 bite-sized sausage rolls.

Sausage filling:  450 grams ground chicken (mince) / 1/4 cup bread crumbs / 1 tsp dried rosemary / 1 tsp dried basil / 1 tsp dried oregano / 1 and 1/2 tsp sweet paprika / 1 tsp onion powder / 1 and 1/2 tsp garlic powder / 1 tsp sea salt / 1/4 tsp ground black pepper / 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce / 1 and 1/2 tbsp cold water /

15 squares of frozen puff pastry, defrosted but still cold / 1 egg

Preheat the oven to 400 F.  And then easy enough, combine all the ingredients for the sausage filling in a large bowl.  You can stir together or just mix with your hands until everything is mixed well together.

Now start assembling the sausage rolls.  Place about 2 tablespoons of sausage filling just off-centre along each square of puff pastry.  Make sure to spread the sausage evenly from top of the square to the bottom.  In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg to make an egg wash.

Tightly roll the pasty over starting with the side that’s closer to the filling.  Just before sealing, brush the bottom side of the pastry with the egg wash.  Keep rolling and then with the seam-side down, gently push down to seal the pastry.

If you want you can leave the sausage rolls whole but my kids prefer them when they’re more bite-sized.  So if you’d like to make bite-sized rolls, use a sharp knife and cut each roll into thirds.  Then, brush the top of each roll with egg wash.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until your pastry is nicely golden brown.

And enjoy!  Eat on their own or as we like to do, dip into some ketchup.

moutabal

I didn’t even know what moutabal (or moutabel? mutabbal? mouttabal?) was until we went to this famous falafel restaurant in Amman, Jordan called Hashem where there is no menu.  The server just asked us what we wanted and I was like, “ummm…falafel?”  We ended up with amaaaazing falafel, fresh bread, hummus and moutabal which turns out is what I always thought was baba ganoush. (I have now done some light google research and apparently baba ghanoush is traditionally made with pomegranate, onions and other vegetables, and no tahini but I think a lot of people like me wouldn’t recognize that as baba ganoush!)  There are unsurprisingly lots of slight variations on how to make this but I think this yields a moutabal just like the one we had at Hashem.

2 medium sized eggplants / 2 cloves of garlic, minced / 1/4 cup tahini / 1/4 cup full-fat yogurt / juice of 1 lemon / salt to taste / extra virgin olive oil

Turn on your barbecue to a medium-high flame and pierce your eggplants all over with a fork.  Put the eggplants right onto the grill and cover with the lid for 15 minutes.

Then, flip the eggplants over, cover again and let them cook for a further 15 minutes.

With a sharp knife, cut the eggplants lengthwise so they cool faster, and set them aside until they’re cool enough to handle; maybe about 15 minutes or so.  In the meantime, add  the yogurt, tahini, lemon juice and garlic into a large bowl.

Once the eggplants have cooled down a bit, use a spoon to scrape the flesh out of the skins.  Add the eggplant to the bowl and then using a hand blender, just give it a quick blitz so that everything is pureed a bit, but with some texture to it still.  Season to taste with salt.  Transfer to a serving bowl or dish and then drizzle some olive oil over top.

Super easy and really delicious!  We had this with just some pita bread last night but this would go great with other types of bread, crackers, or some raw veggies.

french onion dip

Usually for parties or get-togethers I make my spinach dip.  But every now and again I like to switch it up and lately I’ve been making this onion dip that I adapted from a recipe in Chrissy Teigen’s Cravings: Hungry For More cookbook.  I’ve swapped out the sour cream for Greek yogurt (yay healthier!!) and I omit the minced chives because they can be hard for me to come by here in Saudi but if you’ve got some chives on hand why not add some in.  It’s a super easy dip; the only thing is you’ve got to be a bit patient and spend some time caramelizing the onions.  Her recipe says 15 minutes but I find to get the onions properly soft and golden it’s more like 25 minutes.

My photos are from over the weekend when I made a hefty triple batch for a friend’s party but this recipe is for a more sensible 2 cups portion size,

2 tbsp vegetable oil  /  1 medium yellow onion, finely minced  /  1 tsp salt  /  1 tsp fresh ground black pepper  /  1 cup full fat Greek yogurt  /  1/3 cup mayonnaise  /  1 and 1/2 tsp garlic powder

Heat up the oil in  a frying pan over medium-high heat and then add the minced onions.  Cook while stirring for about 5 minutes and then turn the heat down to medium to medium-low.

Stir in 1/2 tsp each of the salt and pepper.  Cook the onions, stirring frequently, until they are soft and caramelized which will take about 25 minutes or so.

Transfer the onions to a bowl and let them cool for about 10 minutes.  Then stir in the rest of the ingredients and set in the fridge to chill for at least 1 hour before serving.  The dip can also be made ahead of time and kept in the fridge for 3 days.

So that’s it! Very simple and very addictive.  I’ve served these with plain potato chips or pretzels.  You could also always go on a healthy route and serve with some fresh cut veggies too.

roasted cauliflower, feta, and orzo salad

I made this salad from Chrissy Teigen’s Cravings yesterday for a barbecue with Rock’s sailing buddies and it turned out AMAZING. Which I’m not surprised by ‘cus everything I’ve made so far from this cookbook is really good.  I’m obsessed with this cookbook and even gifted it to both my sister and cousin this past Christmas.  Anyway, I only tweaked this a little by using less salt and substituting dried cranberries for dried cherries.  I have a Costco-size bag of craisins that I need to get through!  Rock loved this and had multiple servings of it last night so I’m sure we’ll make it again. And maybe try it with quinoa instead of orzo to make us feel like we’re oh so healthy.

for the cauliflower and orzo: 1 head of cauliflower, broken into little florets (about 5 cups or so)  /  4 tbsp olive oil  /  3 cloves garlic, mined  /  1 tsp salt (I used maybe 1/2)  /  1/2 tsp ground black pepper  /  1 cup orzo pasta

for the dressing and salad:  3 tbsp olive oil  /  3 tbsp fresh lemon juice  /  1 tsp honey  /  1 tsp dijon mustard  /  1/2 tsp salt  /  1/2 tsp ground black pepper  /  1/4 cup thinly sliced red onion  /  1 cup crumbled feta cheese  /  2/3 cup dried cherries (or cranberries!)  /  4 cups baby spinach

Preheat the oven to 400F and toss the cauliflower with 3 tbsp of the olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper and then spread on a baking sheet.  Roast in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes; until softened.  Set aside to cool and move onto the orzo.

Bring a pot of salted water to a boil and cook the orzo for 1 to 2 minutes less than the package’s cooking directions as you want it slightly underdone.  I cooked mine for about 5 minutes.  Drain and run under cold water and drain again.  Then just toss the orzo with the remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil.

Then to assemble the salad! I mixed the dressing in a separate bowl as I didn’t want to dress the salad right away but you can just mix it straight in the bowl you’re going to serve in.  Whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, honey, dijon mustard, salt and pepper.  Then just throw everything else in there and give it a good toss.

That’s the only photo I took of the salad, minus the dressing, as we were running out the door so it’s not the best.  This salad deserves a better photo!

armadillo cheesy garlic bread

Maybe right after everyone makes their new year’s resolution to eat healthy is not the ideal time to post this recipe but it’s just sooo good.  Plus I haven’t blogged since October…but to be fair we moved from Moose Jaw to Comox, BC for Rock’s work in November and then it was the holidays.  And so yes, technically we’re not Eating in Moose Jaw anymore, but I can’t change the name of the blog so the name is staying!

Anyway, I had been wanting to make this recipe from Chrissy Teigen’s Cravings book ever since I got it many months ago but it’s so excessive that even I couldn’t justify making it for just us. So my family’s Christmas Eve dinner was the perfect time and I made two loaves of these bad boys!  The recipe says one loaf serves 8 and I actually agree with this ‘cus while you could definitely split one between a few people (‘cus it’s so delicious that you just wanna scarf all of it), you would probably hate yourselves for the rest of the day.

1 x 1-lb round loaf French bread (we used a sourdough)  /  3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese  /  1 and 1/2 cups finely grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese  /  3/4 cup butter, room temperature  /  1/2 cup mayonnaise  /  4 cloves garlic, finely minced  /  1 tsp red pepper flakes (which I skipped just ‘cus I didn’t have any on hand)  /  1 tsp salt  /  1 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 400F and in a bowl, combine all of the ingredients except for the bread. With a serrated knife, cut the bread in a crosshatch pattern with the cuts about 2 inches apart and without cutting through the bottom of the loaf.

Spread a sheet of aluminum foil on a baking sheet and put the bread in the middle.  Stuff the cheese-garlic mixture into all the cracks of the bread and spread any remaining mixture on top. Doesn’t this look AMAZING?!

Take another sheet of aluminum foil and lay it over top of the bread, crimping the edges with the bottom sheet of foil to seal in the bread. (The recipe says to spray the top sheet of foil with cooking spray but I guess I simply didn’t read that part ‘cus I was too excited… anyway it didn’t stick so you can skip this step if you want.)  Bake for 20 minutes and then turn down the heat to 375F and take off the top sheet of foil.  Bake for another 15 minutes or so.  Then dig in!  The diet can start tomorrow.

cheesy black bean dip

I don’t know what’s going on.  I don’t even like beans but I found myself craving this dip that we had at my friend’s house about a month back.  It’s probably ‘cus I love anything with cheese in it and, really, who doesn’t love a good dip?  My friend graciously shared her mom’s recipe for this dip with us.  I may or may not have used a lot (almost double) more than the amount of cheese the recipe calls for.  (I did.)

1 tin of black beans, drained and rinsed  /  1 tsp canola (I used avocado) oil  /  1 small onion, finely chopped  /  2 cloves garlic, minced  /  1 large tomato, chopped  /  1/2 cup salsa  /  1/2 tsp cumin  /  1/2 tsp hot chilli powder  /  1 tbsp lime juice  /  1 cup old cheddar or monterey jack cheese (I used both)  /  1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro (I just garnished with a few sprigs ‘cus my cilantro plant hasn’t grown enough for 1/2 a cup yet! )

Mash the beans with a potato masher or a fork until they’re kinda chunky.  Heat up the oil in a pan over medium heat and sauté the chopped onion and the garlic for a few minutes or until the onions have softened up.  Next, add in the beans, tomato, salsa, cumin and hot chilli powder and cook for about 5 minutes, giving it a stir every so often.

Take off the heat, and If you want your dip kinda chunky, now stir in the lime juice, cheese and cilantro.  Since I’m easing myself into eating beans (I don’t like the texture of beans, but I’m suddenly wanting to eat them…what is happening!?), I decided I wanted a pretty smooth dip so before adding in the cheese, etc., I pureed the dip with a hand blender.  Then I added in the lime and cheeses and garnished with cilantro.  Up to you if you want the dip chunky or smooth, it’ll taste great either way!  You can serve this warm or at room temperature with some tortilla chips.

baked brie topped with sundried tomatoes

This is another one of my staples during the holidays or at any big family get together. Easy peasy with only 3 ingredients and soooo addictive.  This is my favourite way to eat brie.  Rock just got me a brie baker (which you don’t actually need to make this, you can use any oven proof dish) so I had an excuse to make this tonight.

1 wheel of brie  /  4-5 whole sundried tomatoes that are packed in oil  /  2 garlic cloves, peeled

Preheat the oven to 350F and plop your brie into the brie baking vessel of your choice.   Mince the garlic and finely chop up the sundried tomatoes.  Mix the garlic and tomatoes together and spread on top of the brie.  Bake in the oven for about 15 to 20 minutes and voilà!  Eat with crackers or a nice baguette.

best spinach dip ever

I know there are tons of recipes for spinach dip out there but I’m pretty confident that mine is the best. With mine you’ve got none of that cold spinach dip stuff, which I find highly unappealing.  This one is baked and gooey with cheese and hence already a million times better than your average spinach dip.  Also, for a hot spinach dip, this requires basically no real cooking, other than popping it into the oven before serving.  Winning all over the place!

Anyway, this is one of my family’s holiday staples and even though I’m not home for Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend, I still had to make this dip.  I usually make an almost frighteningly large amount but this recipe will give you a more sensible portion.

1 package frozen chopped spinach (300 grams)  /  250 ml sour cream  /  250 ml mayonnaise  /  1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella cheese   /  1 cup shredded parmesan cheese  /  1/2 package Knorr vegetable soup mix  /  1 clove garlic, minced  /  1/2 tsp cracked black pepper

First, defrost the spinach, let it cool down completely and strain of all liquid.  I can be pretty impatient so to cool down the spinach quickly, I plop it in a strainer and run cold water over it.  In a medium-sized baking dish, combine the mayo and sour cream until smooth.  Mix in the soup mix, pepper, garlic and cheeses until everything is well combined.  Then stir in the spinach.  I like to make this ahead of time and let it chill out a bit in the fridge for a couple hours before baking but you don’t have to.  Heat this right before serving by baking in a 350F oven for about 30 minutes until bubbling and starting to turn a bit golden on top.  And that’s it!  Serve with tortilla chips.

This is also super good reheated the next day if you happen to have any left.  And if you want artichoke and spinach dip, just add in some chopped up artichoke hearts.  And if you want a thicker, creamier dip, mix in some cream cheese.  Happy Thanksgiving!