Easy Wraps & Pizza

Here are some ideas when you need an easy & quick to prepare meal.

Wraps are versatile as you can put in just about anything to make up a delicious & nutritious meal. Try a tortilla with a bed of greens & avocado slices, topped with chicken breast and mushroom, onion & mustard sauce; roll it all up and lunch is ready within minutes.

How about one with fish? Start by pan frying salmon burgers, onions & mushrooms. Assemble the wrap with salad leaves, add on sliced pieces of salmon burger, tomatoes, and finish with the fried onions & mushrooms.

When you are not in a rush, but don't want to work too hard for your meal, try a pizza. For thin crispy crust, you can use a tortilla for the base; otherwise you can just use regular pizza base.

I tried something a bit more exotic the other day - Escargot Four Cheese Pizza. First, mix escargot with garlic herb butter and stuff into button mushrooms; bake for 10 minutes. Spread a thin layer of Four Cheese pasta sauce onto the tortilla or pizza base, then slice up the escargots & mushrooms and distribute evenly over the prepared base. Sprinkle some diced tomatoes and shredded cheese on top and bake for 20 to 30 minutes. Not a lot of preparation required, and even had time to be a couch potato before dinner. Easy clean up afterwards as well, so all-in-all a lazy relaxed evening . . .

Salmon Soup For A Cold Wet Day

The rain clouds have rolled in overnight here in British Columbia, and the weather has turned colder; the rain is expected to last all day too.

Fortunately, we have just the recipe to keep warm - Salmon Head Miso Soup !

Soak a Salmon head that has been thoroughly cleaned in lemon & salt water for several minutes. While waiting for the Salmon, prepare the soup with two heap tablespoons of miso paste, crushed garlic and ginger, a bowl of chicken stock & a bowl of water.

When the soup comes to a full boil, gently add in the Salmon head and let it cook for five minutes before turning it over in the pot. Boil for another five minutes, then throw in some carrot slices to add color. Turn down the heat to let the soup simmer for at least 20 minutes in order to achieve a thick flavorful soup. Garnish with slices of spring onions.

Ahhh . . . warm & comfortable at last . . .

Easy & Tasty Breakfast Ideas

Weekends are when I like to try and make a special breakfast to enjoy. So here's what I've come up with the last few weekends . . .

Salmon Cheese Wrap - Found open packets of wraps and smoked salmon in the fridge. Using these as the starting point, decided to select sliced cheese and lettuce to add to the mix. Start by warming a piece of wrap on a pan; flip it over and put bits of cheese on top, around the middle of the wrap. Finally, transfer onto a plate and top off with chopped lettuce and slices of salmon, in which ever order you like. If you don't have these exact ingredients, go ahead and modify the recipe by substituting with whatever vegetable and meat you have on hand.

Garlic Bread - Now here's a perennial favourite that you can customize to suit you own tastes. Simply mix your garlic butter spread with ingredients you like, select your preferred bread, spread and grill/toast. The pics above show two variations - on the left, I've mixed butter, finely chopped garlic, stone ground mustard seed paste, a bit of extra virgin olive oil and some tarragon flakes; spread onto slices of batard bread and toasted. For the version on the right, I've mixed butter, chopped garlic, parsley flakes, a bit of paprika powder and a dash of sesame seed oil; spread onto a halved baguette.
I like to use a small toaster oven as it does the job quickly and efficiently. As I prefer my garlic bread crispy and golden brown, I place the prepared slices face up into the oven toaster and set the timer for three minutes; after about 2 minutes, I monitor thru the glass window to watch when the garlic butter mix starts to sizzle and the bread starts to brown before turning the toaster oven off. For extra crispy all the way thru, you can even pre-toast the bread for about a minute before applying the garlic spread and toasting fully. Should you like your garlic bread with a soft center, then put two slices of bread together with the garlic spread in between to toast; this will achieve a crispy exterior with a soft center, just the way my wife likes it.

Chocolate on Toast - Another way to enjoy toast is with melted chocolate! Just take some of your favorite chocolate, toast it with the bread you like, then spread it after melting and allow to cool a little before enjoying this tasty breakfast. As usual, I toast my whole wheat slices for about a minute first, then flip it over and place chocolate pieces on top to toast for another minute in order to achieve a fully crunchy texture all the way thru the entire piece of toast. Pics show milk chocolate toast on the left, and dark chocolate on toast at right. My all time favourite is Cote d'Or Dessert Noir; what's the chocolate you love?

Omelettes - This regular breakfast favorite is easy to make, and you can add just about anything to eggs and make your very own one-of-a-kind omelette. Pic on left shows this creation with garlic, herbs, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes. A bit of sherry or red wine and black pepper in the egg mix will add extra flavour. Another one I often like to make is ham & cheese; slice ham into thin strips and fry with garlic or onions, then add beaten eggs, flip over when the bottom side is done and put bits of cheese (I like Swiss Emmental) onto half the omelette, then fold the other half onto it and allow the cheese to melt. I've also tried using bacon, beef, crab meat, prawns, sausage, scallops and other leftovers I've found in the fridge on various omelettes over the years and have yet to be disappointed, so go ahead and see what wonderful omelette creation you can come up with.

Enjoy your delicious weekend breakfast . . .  ; )