Cooking With Emily

It has been a quiet week here, it's reading week, so Emily has no school.  The real upside to this is that I get to sleep in and linger over my coffee.  It will be a shock to the system when I get back to work.
We spent the weekend at my mother's.  She decided she wanted to have a "Family Day" dinner and cook the little turkey she had in the freezer.  It was nice to just relax and spend time with my family, and as a bonus I brought home a nice little care package of leftover ham and turkey, and part of the turkey carcass to make soup with.  There are a lot of us when we all get together, perhaps not as big a crowd as some families, but often there just aren't a lot of leftovers to parcel out, once we have lunch the following day.
Emily and I came home Sunday afternoon and while I started the laundry she decided to clean the living room and dining room.  It is a lovely treat when she decides to tidy up of her own volition, rather than because I'm nagging.  In the midst of her domestic fervour she also decided she wanted to make supper.  This I was ok with, not really wanting to cook.  She started into her cookbooks, giving me grief for not buying eggs on Friday.  We still had 3, and I knew I had to go to town later in the week.  To my mind we had enough for a day or two.  I suggested she make a sauce for the leftover turkey and add some cooked pasta and frozen vegetables.  It was her first real opportunity to try cooking without a recipe beyond her imagining and my instructions.
I portioned out 2 cups of dry pasta (wagon wheels, because they're fun) and a similar amount of frozen mixed vegetables.  She chopped an onion and began to cook it in a little oil.  I showed her how to mince garlic and we added a clove to the oil.  Once the onion was transparent she stirred in a can of mushroom soup, which I thinned out with a splash of milk.  Once it was bubbling Emily stirred in the vegetables and started the pasta cooking.  she diced the leftover turkey (about 2 cups, but that;s a guess, what we had filled a sandwich size zipper storage bag) and stirred that in.  I checked on the pasta and asked her where she had learned to hold a spoon-she had it in a most awkward looking grip.  She shrugged and readjusted her grip, her stirring got smoother and less painful looking.  I don't know how to describe the grasp she had on the wooden spoon.  It was ham fisted, upside-down and, well, wrong.
When the pasta was cooked I drained it for her, and she stirred it into her sauce.  I tasted it and added salt and pepper, then told her to let it simmer while I made myself a salad.  She bounced impatiently around the kitchen, waiting.  You would have thought she hadn't been fed for days, when the truth of it was she ate impressive amounts of food at every meal all weekend.  One of those spells where as a parent you wonder a) where they put it all, and b) how you will afford to continue feeding them.
In any case dinner was very good, simple and quick.  And Emily learned some of the art of making a meal out of what we have around.

Cooking With Emily

In light of yesterday's post being a belated edition from the previous week I am off the hook for subject matter to tackle today.  As promised this post will be the one that should have been written yesterday.
Sunday was a quiet day at home.  We had a late breakfast, more brunch than breakfast, blueberry and chocolate chip pancakes with sausages.  Given the late hour we pushed lunch back and supper up, eating a more substantial meal around three.  While I was browsing for a recipe to make our "lupper" I found one I suggested to Emily might be a good one for her Monday night dinner.  The lemon chicken piccata was a hit, although Emily found the sauce a bit  tart.
Monday morning we regretted not marking the recipe I had suggested, it seem to have vanished, even though the stack of cook books was still where we had left them, on an unused corner of the dining room table, beside the stack of coffee table books providing weight to a recently glued craft project.  Eventually we did find it again, and Emily agreed it seemed an excellent choice.  We double checked the ingredient list; the only thing needed from the store was mayonnaise, I had (finally) used up the last of the jar in the refrigerator-mayo is not a much used condiment here.  If fact it is more likely to appear as an ingredient than a condiment.  But I digress.
I never made it to the store during the day, but once Emily was home I set her to boiling some baby potatoes for a side dish and hurried off the the grocery store.  Much as she loves going to the store, she does like the freedom of staying home by herself too.
Once I was back at home I was pleased to see she had started her homework, music thumping from the speakers.  I wasn't sure she had enough potatoes cooking, but no leftovers is not a terrible thing.  I grated a good chunk of mozzarella and cheddar for her, mixing the two cheeses together, grating extra because I like having it ready in the fridge.  Once that was done I suggested she make her tuna mixture as it needed to chill for 10 minutes before she started cooking.  She blended tuna, boxed stuffing mix, mayonnaise and cheese together and went to put it in the fridge.  I wanted to make sure it was thoroughly mixed, so I gave it a good stir, thinking it looked very dry.  I glanced at the recipe and asked if she had added the water.  As it turned out she had missed that ingredient.   We also opted to omit the sweet pickle relish, as neither of us eat it, so it is not ever in the pantry & would be wasted if I bought it.
Finally the bowl went into the fridge and she diligently set the timer.  The potatoes were tender so I drained them, and arranged them on a baking sheet.  Emily brushed them with a mixture of olive oil, crushed garlic and thyme ("fresh" from the garden....ok, freeze-dried, but still.  I never got around to harvesting it.)  They went into the oven to crisp and finish cooking.  That done it was time to begin the tuna cakes.  I handed Emily a 1/4 cup measure and made sure the frying pan was hot enough, helping her press the mounds of fish mixture into patties that would brown quickly.  While the final batch was cooking (the pan held 3 groups of four cakes) Emily heated a can of corn in the microwave.  I tasted a few broken pieces of tuna from the plate, curious and pleased with the result.
Supper was done.  I deterred Emily from plating my dinner, handing her a plate to fill for herself.  She didn't like the thyme on the potatoes, but was enamoured with the tuna cakes, requesting a plate for lunch the following day.

When she returned home from school yesterday I was told she had offered a friend a taste of her creation, and was thrilled that it met with very good reviews.  I suggested she give her friend the recipe, knowing the secret pleasure of sharing such things.  The leftovers became both a bedtime snack and breakfast this morning, a sure sign a recipe will become a regular in the rotation.  She will learn the value of a handful of recipes using basic pantry items, for those days you need fast and easy or forget to thaw meat out.
Copying the recipe out this morning, first for her own cook book, and a second time for sharing she discovered another missed ingredient, grated carrot.  As the cakes were good without I told her she could mark that ingredient as optional, but that I though it would add a nice sweetness to the dish.
We don't discuss specifically the things she is learning, but I can see her confidence growing, and her trust you can omit and substitute as needed, and, hopefully, timing and patience.

Tuna Fish Cakes

2 cans (170g each) tuna, drained & flaked           1 carrot, shredded

1 package stuffing mix (chicken flavour)             1/4 cup salad dressing/mayonnaise

3/4 cup water                                                         2 Tablespoons sweet pickle relish

1 cup shredded cheese (mozzarella/cheddar blend)

Mix all the ingredients, refrigerate 10 minutes.  Heat a large skillet, sprayed with cooking oil spray on medium heat.  Add 1/4 cup portions of tuna mixture, in batches to skillet.  Flatten into patties, cook about 3 minutes a side, until golden.

Smashed Potatoes

3 pounds baby potatoes                                            1-2 garlic cloves, pressed or grated

1/4 cup olive oil                                                         1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary (or thyme)       1/4 teaspoon pepper

Boil potatoes until tender, drain and arrange on a foil or parchment covered  baking sheet.  Press each potato with the bottom of a glass or a fork to flatten slightly.  Combine remaining ingredients and brush over potatoes.  Bake at 400F for about 30 minutes, until golden and crisp around the edges.

Cooking With Emily

Forty lashes with a wet noodle...I have (again) been sadly neglectful of my writing endeavours.  As always I can offer a laundry list of excuses, but at the end of the day they are exactly that, excuses.
Emily's cooking day last week was delayed until Friday because of  other commitments.
 Monday was not only my birthday but our monthly girls' night out.  Emily was home eating KD with a babysitter, I was enjoying way too much good food with some of my amazing friends.
Tuesday was Awana, so while Emily enjoyed her kids' club I had supper with one of my sons, a lovely time catching up.  I miss spending time with my boys.  I had hoped as they grew older we would have more time, but I neglected to factor in jobs and girlfriends and all the other "grown up" stuff that keeps all of us so busy.
Wednesday my dear little girl had decided she needed to throw me a birthday party.  At first I thought she had only invited Andrew for supper, and Christopher and Lily, who I knew couldn't come, being in Calgary precludes a jaunt to Coaldale for supper.  Peter was working too, and was planning to come later in the week anyway.  But she also invited my oldest & dearest friend and her husband.  Not really a big deal, but as you may have gathered from an earlier post, I haven't had a real dinner party for ages. Emily wanted to handle the cooking, but I thought perhaps it would be beyond her, especially since dietary considerations now needed to be taken into account.  My friends are both gluten and dairy free in their diets.  I let her make cake and thawed out a bison roast.  It was a good opportunity to use it, since it was too big a piece of meat for the two of us.  I roasted the vegetables with the meat and attempted gluten free gravy.  It tasted ok, but I wasn't overly impressed.  Nonetheless we had a marvellous evening and I realized I could still manage guest for dinner.  I was also very pleased that Emily cleared the table and put all the leftovers in containers in the fridge.  She wanted to do the dishes for me too, but it was late.  And I didn't want to re-do any the next day.

Thursday was supposed to be Emily's night for kitchen duty, but she came home from school feeling lousy.  Head colds do knock your stuffing out and make cooking rather unappealing.  She ate the rest of the chicken noodle soup she made for her lunch that morning, I made myself a salad, and we postponed for another day.
Friday she was eager to tackle cooking again.  She wanted sweet potato fries so I gave her some money and sent her to the store for sweet potatoes, explaining where to find them and teasing her about not looking in the ice cream freezer.  She was home in good time and I set to peeling and cutting them into wedges for her, for the sake of expediency.  I slipped with the knife too & nicked the backs of three fingers, which is why I was doing the heavy chopping.  Once they were tossed with olive oil and blend of spices I concoct (sea salt, chili powder, cayenne, black pepper, cumin & whatever else seems to work that day) and in the oven she set to her planned recipe.  I had already opened a can of pineapple rings, draining the juice into the jug of orange juice in the fridge.  She combined barbeque sauce with soy sauce and prepared to grill pork chops.  We had a set-to because she misunderstood me when I expressed my hesitation to let her use the barbeque.  She was looking for a  pan, and tired and frustrated stormed out of the kitchen in tears when I told her she needed to GRILL the meat, on the grill.  Thankfully Peter was here to intervene, and to supervise the open flame on the grill.  They timed the turning and brushing with sauce with a military like precision generally not found in my kitchen, and we only lost one pineapple slice to the murky depths below the flames.  Dinner was delicious, although Emily really didn't care for the grilled fruit.

Aloha Pork Chops

4 tablespoons barbeque sauce (we used chicken & rib)        

4 teaspoons soy sauce

4 boneless pork chops (about 1lb)

4 drained canned pineapple rings

Mix barbeque and soy sauces.  Grill chops 1 1/2 minutes on each side on high heat, reduce heat to medium, brush chops with sauce, grill 4 minutes.  Turn chops, brush with remaining sauce, add pineapple slices to the grill; grill until chops are done, 3-4 minutes & pineapple is heated through.

Top pork chops with grilled pineapple.

Tomorrow I will (I promise) be back with last night's menu.  In the meantime, enjoy.  Winter may be attempting to return but there's not enough snow to keep an intrepid Albertan from the barbeque.