Lobster Pizza with Swiss Chard

When we crave seafood and pizza together, the solution is obvious; we usually make a seafood pizza!

For this, I used a store bought dough to save time.  Now, as you will see with the ingredients, it can be considered a luxury pizza...champagne sauce, lobster, parmegianno, goat cheese...but you're worth it!

The toppings included: 2 cooked diced lobster tails, a handful small cooked scallops, one sliced red shallot, about 6 thinly sliced mushrooms, a handful of swiss chard, about half a small package of smoked salmon, a sprinkling of real parmeganno reggiano and goat cheese, fresh basil and chives for the finale. 

1. Make a white sauce first: In a sauce pan, heat up a pat of butter, then thicken it with a tbsp of cornstarch, pour in about 1/2 cup champagne (white wine will work), 4 minced cloves of garlic, fresh dill, zest from one lemon and salt and pepper. Whisk until thickened to a sauce like consistency. You may want to add a bit of water as you go. Set aside and allow to cool.

2. Preheat oven to 425 and roll out dough. 

3. Brush on the sauce, spreading evenly. Add all toppings except for chard, salmon, basil, chives and the cheeses. Cook for about 15 minutes. Remove, then add remaining toppings except basil and chives and smoked salmon....cook another ten minutes, remove and finish it with your herbs and smoked salmon. 

Enjoy with a glass of champagne or your favourite white wine!

Moolicious!

Fancy Fish Cakes

Well, there's nothing really that fancy about these fishcakes. When I think of our trip to Maine, I think of these...here is an easy enough recipe that you won't spend all day making. They can be made ahead and reheated for later, or enjoy chilled in a sandwich with lettuce, mayo and tomato! 

Step one: Cook sole in oil, season with salt and pepper. I used four nice sized pieces, which will cook down, then strain it well so it is dryer before adding to all ingredients. 

Step two: In a bowl, combine 1/2 cup Panko breadcrumbs, 1 tbsp Old Bay seasoning, a small handful of fresh minced chives, one can strained boneless, skinless salmon, cooked fresh sole. 

Step three: add more oil, pan to heat well. Form small pattie cakes, as shown, and fry about 8 minutes per side, flipping often. It may sound like a lot of time for fish that is already cooked, but you want that nice, darkened crust. 

Moolicious! 

My Mock Tater Salad

I say mock because this salad has no potatoes at all! I prepared it with a can of lupini beans, which have the same colour and texture as potatoes...and way less calories too.  Very easy...just toss together: one can of drained and rinsed lupini beans, two hard boiled eggs, two stalks diced celery, 1/4 cup diced red onion, 1/4 cup chopped sweet pickles, fresh parsley, 1 dollop of plain Greek yogurt, 2 dollops of mayo, a squirt of lime juice and season with a dash of celery salt, salt and pepper. Mix well, refrigerate before serving...

Moolicious!

Food Truck Edition: Lucille's Oyster Dive (trailer)

So, I have been waiting weeks to find this trailer. It is not a truck yet because apparently the truck is being readied. These guys have been hard to track and although they claim to be Facebook and twitterers, updates are not as available as other trucks.  We knew though, that they had to be where everyone else was this Saturday afternoon; starting the Just for Laughs gig this weekend and on for the next two weeks. I knew that I would have the lobster roll and maybe a chowder if they had some. We biked down and found her among maybe twenty food trucks (a pierogie truck among them!) and saw they had the lobster rolls and ribs only. So, two lobster rolls please. At $10 each, they were worth it; I mean, it's good, fresh lobster! I was expecting a price between $13 and $15 so I was pleasantly surprised. 

The ratio of mayo to scallion to celery bits was perfect. The bun was your typical hotdog bun that had been buttered and grilled; quite typical of a lobster roll you may find in Maine. It was served in a small handy box and they had napkins and wet wipes available. It was easy enough to eat and as expected in a great lobster roll, heaping with meaty goodness, chunks were falling on my shorts. Thankfully on my shorts, since I just picked up those bits and ate 'em anyway! So, overall, the experience at Lucille's was a great one. Next time hopefully they will get some chowder and oysters on the menu...maybe when the truck is ready?! 

Would we go back? Yes. Yes. And yes. 

Food Truck Edition: Super Truck

Okay, so after a day of shopping downtown, I stopped by The Super Truck along Parc avenue at Mount Royal park all by my lonesome. I was hungry and willing to scoff down just about anything. I saw that they had three choices on the menu: The super sandwich, some cheesy macaroni something and the third option was crossed out; it looked to be chicken wings. So, I opted for the Super Sandwich ($9, chicken, house bacon, lettuce, processed cheese on a hamburger bun). Again, for the price I was really expecting a LARGE, SUPER feed, but again I was indeed disappointed.  Yes, it tasted good, yes, the ingredients appeared to be fresh, but it can best be described as a greasy, glorified BLT. 

So, when I received it at the window, it was packaged in a white and red checkered paper; the kind of thing that makes you think of a picnic! As I grabbed it, it was greasified, so I took some extra napkins to wipe my hands! As I opened, more grease on the bun and in the wrapping. I figured the culprit was the bacon.  The chicken chunk was pretty big and despite the wetness of the sandwich, it was rather easy to eat. Overall, I would have to say that this should be sold for $6. There really is no special ingredient that would justify that price. 

All that said, I think the truck itself is pretty cool, the service was quick and friendly and if you are hungry, the Super Sandwich will fill the void for about an hour.  So far, I would like to see some healthier choices with the food trucks though and looking back, perhaps Landry et Filles had the healthiest choice of the trucks we've tried so far. 

Would I go back to this SuperTruck? probably not. Unless they lower the price. 

Food Truck Edition: St. Viateur Bagel

We tried two items from The St. Viateur Food Truck on TamTam Sunday during lunch hour. The weather was hazy, yet nice, people were grazing the grasses around the monument and tapping on their drums while we tried these bagel sandwiches. Moo had the egg, bacon, cheese bagel which he said was delicious (I agree since I stole a bite). I had the smoked salmon, cream cheese bagel, with sliced tomato, onion and capers. It was also very tasty; how could you really go wrong?! The portion of smoked salmon was rather generous (I would hope for the $9 price). I would still like to see this at maybe 7-7.50 at most. Again, really good but when you can get a dozen of these suckers for $7.00 you really expect that it may be more reasonable....or at least maybe throw in a choice of side salad. Now that would be a good bet. At least we saw that you had the option of a simple bagel with butter and cream cheese for no more than $3. Overall, we liked our experience....The packaging was perfect, no hassle, and the sandwiches, although large, stayed together pretty well. Would we eat here again? Most definitely...and next time we will try the berry smoothie they had going on! Until next time!!!

Food Truck Edition: Alexis le Gourmand

Hey, okay, so this was a treat and although we just split one menu item, it was satisfying nonetheless. 

Before going hog wild on a food truck adventure, I knew I needed to workout, so after pounding some stairs on Mount Royal, Moo and I settled in the grass for a turkey BLT from Alexis le Gourmand food truck. 

It came in a cute box, much like a little gift. The large toothpick held together the tastiest BLT with butter grilled bread, and all the special BLT fixings. What I liked most was the giant slab of turkey breast (not coldcuts, real actual turkey!) in addition to the nice crispy bacon. So a lot of meat and worth the price of $8-9. The mayo like sauce was not over bearing either. 

Would we have this again? Yes...and we would definitely try something else on the menu next time! 

Food Truck Edition: Au Pied de Cochon

So, another food truck experience in the last two days. The ever so popular Au Pied de Cochon truck met us again at the base of Mount Royal in front of the monument. Now, we simply have agreed, why should we search the city for these trucks? Just let them come to us! Sometimes my Moo surprises me with his clever ideas. 

We understand that this restaurant gets so much hype, yet we have never been. From what I hear, the food is tasty, but very high in calories due to the copious amounts of butter, gravy, foie gras and maple syrup injected into most menu items. Although I do consider myself to be a foodie, I don't think I would ever want the full restaurant experience. The convenient food truck on the other hand...now that's more like it. The menu has the famous foie gras poutine and maple beignets, but we both opted for the    Pork smoked meat sandwich with a slice of cheese ($1 more). For under $15 for the two sandwiches (no drinks or side dish), we would say that it is a good bet just because you get so much darn meat! 

The bun is soft and appeared to be butter soaked and tasty. They put a generous amount of pork and just the perfect amount of yellow mustard. 

With two trucks side by side, the PDC truck seemed to be getting all the attention, but the ordering was quick and we waited about 5 minutes for our food. Not bad at all. Would we go back? Yes. 

Would we try something else on the menu, like the poutine? No. 

Food Truck Edition: Landry & Filles

Every now and again, my moo feels like I deserve a day off from the kitchen. So we decided on trying one of the food trucks. With Montreal's food trucks rolling in this summer, we thought, why not make a bucket list and eat at every single one of them over the next two months and then review them right here. We will only review the things we have tried obviously and log our experiences from wait times, to packaging to "was it enough food?!" 

So our first truck stop, Landry & Filles. We found her right at the base of Mount Royal one Thursday evening. Since I was craving a Subway turkey sub, I decided to have a turkey sandwich and Moo had  the roast beef sandwich with a side of potato salad for a total of $20.

We both agree that the baguette style bread was so fresh and yummy and easy to bite into, and despite the flavour and high quality cold cuts, there just wasn't enough of it! For hungry meat eaters who love a good sandwich, we felt you could have called these "turkey and beef flavoured." 

The potato salad ($3) was delicious, simply dressed, perfectly seasoned and tasted uber fresh, but again, it was a teaser since it was done in three bites; ordering 4 portions would have satisfied. 

So, overall, the experience was a good one, but in this case it may have been a tad over priced for the serving size. Or else, Landry & Filles could keep the same prices but up the meat between their bread! 

Would we go back? Yes. 

Strawberry and Rhubarb Crumble

I got some fresh rhubarb from the market today and was eager to use it so I made this sweety, soury dessert. Enjoy.

Preheat oven to 350

Wash and dice 6 large stems of rhubarb and chop about 1 cup strawberries.

In a small pot, on medium high heat, saute rhubarb, strawberries, 1/4 cup flour, 3/4 cup sugar, 1 tsp vanilla extract, a dash of nutmeg and cinnamon for about 5 minutes, until the juices start flowing. Remove from heat and pour in a baking dish.

For the crumble, mix together a handful of large rolled oats, two tbsps brown sugar, tbsp flour and a few tabs of butter. Cover the fruit evenly and then bake for about 40 minutes. Serve with ice cream.

Moolicious! 

BBQed Chicken Pesto Pizza

So easy and tasty. This can be done as a team if both of you work. This is what my Moo and I will do to get a great meal on the table in the evening. My Moo will usually BBQ the meat before he leaves for work and it makes my job assembling the meal a lot quicker. 

Marinate 4 small chicken breasts in half a cup jarred or homemade pesto with the zest and juice from a lemon (4 hours). BBQ when ready and set aside until ready to use. You may not need all the chicken for one pizza (i used 3) ...save it for a sandwich!

For the dough, see BBQ Turned Pizza dough recipe.

Preheat oven to 425.

For the sauce, blend a classic red sauce with a dollop of pesto and spread on pizza. 

Top your pizza with sliced asparagus, orange pepper, half an onion, thinly sliced, mozzarella cheese. Bake for 15 minutes, remove and then add bbq sliced pesto chicken and a sprinkle of fresh goat cheese.  Bake for another 5 minutes, remove and sprinkle with a small handful of fresh baby spinach.

Moolicious!

Lemon 'n Blueberry Bundt Loaf

This was a Sunday fun task while it poured rain all morning.  I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to make a cake when I couldn't go for a run just yet! A super simple treat after your Sunday supper.  This is a spin off a Martha Stewart classic, but I replaced sour cream with Greek Vanilla yogurt. Enjoy.

Prep: Grease your bundt pan, preheat oven to 350, measure out all ingredients.

Dry ingredients: 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour, 1/4 tsp salt, 2 tsps baking powder. Whisk together and set aside in a small bowl. 

Wet ingredients: 1 cup butter, softened, then whipped, add 1 1/2 cups sugar, 4 eggs, added separately, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 cup vanilla Greek yogurt and 1/4 cup milk. 

other: 2 cups fresh blueberries, 2 tbsps lemon zest, tossed in a sprinkle of flour. 

Add the dry to the wet in two mixes and then fold in the blueberries and lemon zest. 

Pour into your bundt pan, spread evenly and bake for 60-70 minutes. Rest for 10 minutes, remove and  let cool....if you can!

Moolicious!