Pasta with Yellow Pear Tomatoes

Pasta with Yellow Pear Tomatoes

When we purchased 4 cherry tomato plants last May, we never expected to pick these little yellow pear shaped tomatoes from those plants.  To our surprise, these tomatoes are so juicy and full of flavour.  Their branches are full of fruit and just when we think we've picked all the ripened tomatoes, we wake up to an even bigger batch the next morning.  

While these tomatoes are so tasty on their own or in a salad, we're having a lot of fun discovering different ways of cooking with them and enjoying the rich flavour these tomatoes are adding to each dish.  

Tomato Sauce

Tomato Sauce

Every year we make our annual batch of tomato sauce.  

A traditional recipe with a modernized technique that we've simplified with the use of our electronic tomato press and a mini chopper for the garlic and onions.

We pressed a total of 6 bushels of Roma Tomatoes and broke down the recipe for each pot of sauce we boiled as follows:

Guest Post at Mess Makes Food

Tomato & Rice Soup

This past Wednesday, I shared my Tomato Soup Recipe over at Mess Makes Food and just noticed that my post here at Ellenbcookery got lost in cyber world.  It never got published and is no longer in my drafts. I wonder if I pressed the delete button rather than publish?  For recipe details on this soup, please visit  Mess' blog.

I was so thrilled to be able to share one of my family recipes with her friends and now I'm so sad that my post didn't go through on this blog.  

Miss Messy is on holidays in Vietnam and it is my absolute pleasure to be able to guest blog for her. I  am a big fan of Mess' blog and really enjoy her baking skills most of all.  She's quite comical and for those who aren't familiar with her site, I would  like to take this opportunity to introduce her to you and strongly recommend you pay her a visit at http://messmakesfood.blogspot.com.  You can connect with her via Google Friends Connect, Facebook,  and Twitter.   

Salmon and Avocado Wrap

Salmon and Avocado Wrap

Are you ever looking for a quick and easy appetizer to serve while enjoying a fine glass of wine on your patio?  Well, this is as quick to make as it is to open a bottle of wine and serve. 

The glory of these little appetizers is that you can make them a couple of hours in advance, store in a sealed container and pull out of your refrigerator when ready to serve at your next cocktail party.

Ratatouille (Olivier)

Ratatouille (Olivier)

While our friend Olivier was visiting from Poitiers, France, he made us his family's 7 Hour Slow Roasted Lamb and his family's famous Ratatouille.

Olivier claims it's very important to add the ingredients in the same order he did in order to get all the flavours into this ratatouille.  Boy oh boy, he wasn't kidding!

This has got to be the BEST ratatouille I've ever had.  The adding of the ham is his own twist on his momma's recipe and after trying this dish, I must say the added flavour is definitely there for a good reason.

7 Hour Slow Roasted Lamb

7 Hour Slow Roasted Lamb

Last week, we had a houseguest.  Our friend Olivier came to visit from Poitiers, France.  

Upon his arrival, I made a Marinated Lamb Roast for dinner and while enjoying our meal, Olivier spoke of his family's lamb roast recipe.  

Imagine, a family recipe from France!  Can this get any better?  It was such a neat idea that I asked Olivier if he would make this for us prior to his return home so I could share his recipe on my blog.  He agreed and also shared his family's ratatouille recipe which I'll also be sharing on my blog ;) 

This recipe took 7 hours to roast the lamb at a very low temperature, however, the end result was ever so worth the time and because of the low temperature, the house never got extremely hot.  The meat was so tender, full of flavour and delicious.  Preparation was very quick and all he had to do is turn the lamb upon each hour and slowly raise the heat.  

Marinated Lamb Roast

Marinated Lamb Roast

The other day, I was at Costco and they were putting out these roasts of lamb.  They looked so good that I bought two.  I decided that no matter what the weather was like outdoors, I was turning on my oven and cooking a roast over the weekend. (Fortunately, the weather had cooled off that day).

In this particular recipe, I put the roast into a large ziploc bag and poured a marinade into the bag so that it covered the roast.  I let it sit for 2 hours and turned the bag over after 1 hour so that the juices could penetrate from both sides of the roast.

The meat was so juicy, tender and full of flavour and it tasted even better the next day.

Eggplant Bake

Eggplant Bake

Are you ever in the mood for something that is meatless and down right filling?  If you've answered yes, than you will love this very quick and easy to prepare eggplant bake.

All you need to do is salt the sliced up eggplant in order to remove it's toughness and bitter taste, slice up some tomatoes, and bocconcini and layer in a baking dish.  Season with some fresh cracked pepper and drizzle with a little olive oil, cover with foil and bake.

Vegetable Stuffed Peppers

Vegetable Stuffed Peppers

Whenever I think of a stuffed pepper, I think of the red Shepherd peppers my mother would grow in her garden and stuff with ground meat and rice as posted here, but sometimes, all I'm really in the mood for is this open faced vegetable surprise.  

This recipe calls for asparagus tips only.  Go here to see what I did with the remainder of the spears.

This is a recipe I stumbled upon while living in Belgium several years ago.  It was printed in one of the Belgian TV guide magazines.  I've also shared this recipe on Laurie's Cravings.

Asparagus Soup Puree

When cooking with asparagus, do you ever find it frustrating to see how much of the spear gets wasted simply because it's just too tough to eat?  

Personally, I just can't bring myself to discard such a great portion of the asparagus and feel the need to create a recipe that ensures I'm still making something that is tasty and edible at the same time.  That's where soup comes to mind ... enabling me to boil and puree the toughness out of the asparagus spear while creating a meal for my family to enjoy.

This soup is tasty on its own or you can add a splash of cream to create a cream of asparagus soup. 

I originally guest posted this recipe on Laurie's Cravings, but thought I'd repost to ensure my friends didn't miss out on this soup.

Ratatouille , the Ellenb Way

Ratatouille

The other day I was visiting my aunt and she gave me some eggplant from her garden.  She also provided me with a care-bag containing the best Moussaka I've ever tried.  My mouth waters just thinking about the taste.  

At first I thought I'd make a moussaka of my own with the eggplants she gave me, but then I decided I'd just go over to her place the next time she makes it and blog about her recipe, step-by-step.

I wasn't sure what I was going to make with these eggplants and thought I'd just wing it as I went along.  That's how I came up with this Ratatouille, the Ellenb-Way :)

Banana Muffins

Banana Muffins

Why is it that muffins seam to be the go-to comfort food?  Is it the smaller size of the cake muffin that allows us to indulge in the pleasure of sugars without the guilt?  Or is it because they're simply quick and easy to make?

Cheesecake

Cheesecake

The other day, my daughter came home from work asking me if I would consider making a cheesecake for dessert.  Instantly, I thought of a recipe that was recently posted by Holly over at Life as a Lofthouse.  In fact, I had printed this recipe and added it to my "recipes to make one day" folder.

Personally, I love cheesecake plain, so I skipped out on the strawberry topping and had no regrets.

The verdict? I am going to have to agree with Holly when she said Tyler Florence's recipe was AMAZING!

TIP:  Use a mini chopper to get finely crushed crackers.

Reeses Eggless Banana Bread

Reeses Banana Bread

In our home, we seam to have a huge infatuation with peanut butter and chocolate is considered a jewel, especially since by husband grew up in Belgium.  In fact, there was a time when I was importing Belgian chocolate into Canada and selling it out of one of the most popular malls in the GTA.

I don't think I need to rant and rave too loudly about how well peanut butter and chocolate taste when combined together, but I can surely rant and rave over how delicious this banana bread turned out :)

Plum Dumplings

Plum Dumplings

It's not everyday that I sit down and make dumplings and there's a good reason for that ... Sugar!  

Nevertheless, sometimes I really need a treat and this is just what hits the spot! ... a little something my mother-in-law taught me.

Pasta with Sautéed Vegetables

Pasta with Sautéed Vegetables

Every once in a while, I crave pasta, but I can't eat it plain.  I'm not always in the mood for sauce, so I like mixing it up with some veggies sautéd in butter.  YUP!  I said butter ... This doesn't happen often, but this is just one of those dishes where nothing else will make do.

Peach Cake #2

Peach Cake #2

Yesterday, I posted a peach cake I made using Simply Romanesco's recipe and an 8 x 8 pan, resulting in a taller cake than Dana's.  (My pan was simply too small).  Nevertheless, the cake was delicious.  Light, fluffy and oh so full of flavour and the house smelled amazing as it baked away for 50 minutes!

After tasting this delicious recipe, I just knew that I had to remake this cake with an Ellenbcookery twist.  Ultimately, my goal is to buy a 10 x 14 pan and make a cake that resembles Simply Romanesco's, but right here and now, all I have is an 8 x8 pan.

What did I do differently this time?  Well, I can assure you, I didn't change the recipe because Dana has already perfected that.  I only changed the process.

I poured half the batter into a well-greased and floured pan.  Then I added a layer of sliced peaches (skin removed).  I covered the peaches with the remaining batter and topped it off with more sliced peaches.

This cake turned out even better than the first.  The additional slices of peaches made this cake ever so much more delicious!  

I thought the first cake was incredible, but this version is out of this world!    

Potato and Yam Barbecue Mix

Potato and Yam Barbecue Mix

As I'm cleaning up our fridge in preparation for my next trip to the grocery store, Ive decided to take  the last 4 golden yukon potatoes and 2 yams we had on hand and cut them into cubes to experiment and determine how they'd turn out barbecued together on the grill. I figure these have got to go well together, given they're both somewhat sweet and should compliment one another, both in flavour and texture and I was right ... They turned out so tasty! 

Barbecued Peppers, Pepper and Tomato Salad

Roasted Peppers

Whenever I think of my childhood and summer, I think of my mom working in the garden.  She had quite the green thumb and would grow peppers like nobody else. ~ Green ones, red ones, hot ones, sweet ones, and they'd come in all different shapes and sizes.  

I can't believe that here I am today, doing the same thing.  I never in a million years would have imagined myself with a vegetable garden, particularly one with peppers.  This is mainly because I hated the task of peeling them after they'd get barbecued especially come fall when there was an abundance of them that she'd freeze for use in the winter.

My mom's favourite way to eat peppers was to grill and peel them as a whole, then season with garlic powder and a drizzle of olive oil (as illustrated above).  This was so yummy, especially with a fresh loaf of Italian bread that was conveniently delivered to our home back in the day.   

My mom would also do something similar with that frozen supply of peppers come winter.  She would lay these peppers out on a baking dish, season, drizzle with olive oil and add some diced up pieces of garlic before sticking them into the oven.  The house would smell amazing as these peppers would bake!

Another thing we'd do with our peppers is create a salad with the tomatoes from our garden.  Talk about yummy!

Cornish Hens with Belgian Endives

Cornish Hens with Belgian Endives

The first time I had this dish, I was in Belgium, dining in the restaurant portion of Hotel Les Eleveurs.  Today, this hotel is 115 years old and run by the 4th generation of the DeBrouwer family.  If you're ever visiting Belgium and happen to be near a town called Halle, I highly recommend you take the time to dine here.  You won't be disappointed.  If you're lucky, and Pierre is still around, he may even make you his specialty dessert; crepes au pommes.