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For the past few weeks, I've been watching Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution on TV. Only now did I discover (thanks to sassy_red_head ) that food bloggers have started Food Revolution Fridays -- a fantastic idea!

Although mine is not a food blog, I thought I'd jump in anyways and share something I made last Wednesday: Ratatouille. This is one of those recipes that takes a little bit of time to set up but all the steps are super easy. Basically, just chop a bunch of ingredients and add them, one at a time, to the pot. What's better is that all of the ingredients are easy to find at the supermarket -- nothing weird, esoteric, or expensive.

Also, the proportions can be easily adjusted. This recipe is from The Professional Chef, which lists the ingredients by weight. I just estimated the amounts and it still turned out wonderfully. Unfortunately, I forgot to take a photo to add to my growing collection.

Ratatouille
(Serves 10)

Ingredients:

• Olive oil
• 340g medium-dice onions (I used three small-ish onions)
• 21g garlic, minced (I used about 3 cloves)
• 28g tomato paste (I used half of a small 6oz can)
• 113 g medium-dice green pepper (I used 2 small-medium ones)
• 454g medium-dice eggplant (I used one eggplant, and diced it a little smaller than the other ingredients)
• 340g zucchini (I bought 3 small ones so I used them all, but 2 is probably enough)
• 170g sliced white mushrooms
• 227g tomatoes, peeled,seeded and diced (I didn't bother to peel or seed the three I used)
• 120mL vegetable stock, or as needed (I used closer to 175mL)
• salt and pepper, to taste
• freshly chopped herb, such as basil, parsley or oregano as garnish (I skipped this)

1. In large pot, heat oil over medium heat (just enough to cover bottom of pot, usually about 30-50 mL). Add onions and cook until translucent, about 4 to 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until soft, about 1 minute.
2. Turn down heat to medium-low. Add tomato paste and cook until it coasts the onions and develops a deeper colour, about 1 to 2 minutes.
3. Add the other vegetables in the following order, cooking each vegetable for 2-3 minutes (until it softens) before adding the next:
   • peppers
   • eggplant
   • zucchini
   • mushrooms
   • tomatoes
4. Add vegetable stock and turn heat down to low, allowing vegetables to stew. Stew until vegetables are tender. Vegetables should be moist but not soupy. Season with salt and pepper, optionally garnish with herbs, and serve immediately with crusty bread.

Not the healthiest or the fanciest but tonight, when we were short on time, it did the trick. Super easy. I think The Missus found it in a Kraft flyer or something.

Baked Ravioli

Ingredients:

• 700 mL jar of pasta (tomato) sauce
• 398 can of diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1/2 cup of water
• spicy sausages (we used 6, but 4 would be enough)
• 1 kg frozen ravioli
• lots of grated cheese

1. Preheat oven to 400 F. Chop up the sausage and brown on all sides in a pan (but not quite cooked through).
2. While the sausage is cooking, mix the pasta sauce, diced tomatoes and water in a bowl.
3. Spread 1 cup of sauce mixture on bottom of 13x9 dish. Place 1/2 the ravioli on top with 1/2 of the sausage, and cover with 1 cup of the grated cheese. Add a second layer by adding remaining ravioli and sausage, then cover with remaining sauce and cheese.
4. Cover dish with foil and put in oven for 30 minutes. Remove foil and put it back in for another 10 to 15 minutes.
5. Let sit for 10 minutes then serve with grated parmesan.

I made this last night because it looked quick and easy. It was exactly that. The Missus, who is a big fan of regular pesto (with basil) liked it, too. We'd make it again but with a bit less oil (I've adjusted the quantities here):

Fettuccine with Arugula-Walnut Pesto

Ingredients:

• About 3 cups (roughly 4 oz) of arugula
• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano (plus extra for sprinkling)
• 1/2 cup walnuts
• 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 clove garlic, smashed and peeled
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil (original recipe called for 1/2 cup)
• 1/6 cup walnut oil (original recipe called for 1/4 cup)
• 450 g dried fettuccine

1. Put large pot of salted water on to boil.
2. Meanwhile, put all but the last three ingredients listed above in a food processor (arugula, Parmigiano-Reggiano, walnuts, lemon juice, garlic, and salt). Process until finely ground, about 30 to 60 seconds.
3. In a measuring cup, fill to 1/3 cup mark with olive oil, then top up to 1/2 cup mark with walnut oil. If you don't have walnut oil, you can just use olive oil on its own.
4. With food processor running, drizzle the oil through the feed tube and process until pesto is smooth.
5. Cook fettuccine in boiling water until al dente, drain, and serve. Coat with pesto and sprinkle extra Parmigiano-Reggiano on top.

Taken from "Make it Tonight" (The Best of Fine Cooking).

We made two recipes from Rose Reisman's The Complete Light Kitchen for dinner and it lasted for three nights (well, we made a 1/2 recipe fo the potato wedges on the 3rd night). Highly recommended (especially if you love avocados as much as we do).
( Recipes )

Last night, we whipped up a Mexican meal. We made a quick chili recipe from a supplement of Fine Cooking magazine called Make it Tonight (The Best of Fine Cooking). The chili is pictured on the cover.

The toping for the chili recipe includes avocados. Because the recipe only calls for one and I had bought five, we needed to put the others to use in another recipe. So we whipped up some guacamole from our increasingly indispensable Mexican Cookbook. I also quickly put together a double recipe of the Pico de Gallo Salsa from the same book, which I make often. I've included these two recipes under the cut.

We're having some people over for brunch on Sunday (two friends and their newborn daughter, all the way from Cold Lake, Alberta, and two other couples). We spent part of the last weekend putting together a menu but we weren't sure about the quiche recipes that we had selected.

The Missus mashed a few of those recipes together today to come up with an amazing breakfast quiche. In short, instead of making them in pie crusts, you line the pans with hash browns. To do this, we took the basic recipe for hash browns from The Professional Chef, and then the recipes for the fillings from The Professional Chef and The Canadian Living Cookbook. Tonight we tested the bacon and Swiss cheese filling. On Sunday, we'll also have two other quiches: smoked salmon and dill, and tomato and leek. Once we've put our notes in order, I'll post the completed recipe here.

We'll also be serving Bellinis, which we tried last May when my mother and grandmother were over for Mother's Day. Easy, delicious, bubbly, and acceptable to drink before noon:

Bellini
In a regular wine glass, pour a dash of grenadine, two measures of peach juice, then four measures of chilled champagne or sparkling wine (we use cheapish sparkling wine). Float one or two raspberries in each glass.

For a non-alcoholic version, substitute the champagne or sparkling wine with ginger ale.

I was sad to see a "goodbye" message posted on the Overheard at Western blog this past February. It kept me sane at some points last year.

However, while compiling a post for my other blog about Western's MLIS program, I visited the site again and saw that a new blog has taken OAW's place: Eavesdrop Western!

My entrepreneurship prof asked us a good question last week: "Why does Roll up the Rim begin around this time of year?" I honestly didn't know.

The answer: Lent. They don't want anyone giving up Tim Horton's for 40 days.

Tonight I made a new recipe that was a hit with The Missus and her mother. I got it from an issue of Fine Cooking magazine from last year.
Took a bit of time in the oven, but prep was easy as can be - very few ingredients and very little chopping.

Chicken with Lemon and Green Olives

Ingredients:

• 6 chicken legs (quarters, not just drumsticks)
• Olive oil
• Salt, Dried Thyme, Red Pepper Flakes
• 1/2 cup green olives, unpitted
• 1 lemon

1. Heat oven to 425 F (recipe calls for 450 F, but it doesn't call for a glass dish, which I used. I find glass dishes heat the food a bit more quickly, so I lowered the temperature slightly).
2. In a small bowl, combine 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, 1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme, and 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes. This is the marinade.
3. Lightly coat a 9 x 13 inch glass dish with olive oil (only need a very little bit - the marinade will compensate).
4. Place 6 chicken legs in dish and rub marinade (Step 1) on the chicken legs with your hands.
5. Place chicken in oven for 20 minutes.
6. While chicken is in oven, put 1/2 cup of unpitted green olives in a small bowl.
7. Slice the ends off the lemon, cut in half, then slice half-moons of roughly 1/8 inch thick (I sliced mine a little thicker). Add to bowl with olives and mix with a touch of olive oil.
8. Once chicken has been in oven for 20 minutes (Step 5), spinkle olives and lemons into dish. Don't let them sit on top of the chicken; force them between the pieces. Try to keep the lemons away from the edges of the dish, as they may burn.
9. Put chicken back in oven for roughly 20 minutes or until chicken is done (ours took about 25 minutes post-olive+lemon addition).
10. Remove from oven, plate, and serve with a nice dry Riesling (and, in our case tonight, some lightly curried couscous with currants). Let guests know that the lemon rinds are edible and warn them that the olives are pitted.

I had my cultural studies class yesterday morning and then drove back to Ottawa all afternoon.

Quote of the day: "I teach an undergraduate class of 300 seventeen-year olds. It provides a good cross-section of Western's blondest and wealthiest." (My cultural studies prof)

Only interesting license plate I saw on the road: "DON82CNIB" (When I passed that car, I gave it a wide berth, just in case).

Only interesting bumper sticker I saw on the road: "Jesus is coming. LOOK BUSY!"