Noble Pig, Kamloops

(december 2010)

deep fried pickles

tropical pizza

cubano sandwich

the noble pig

650 victoria st

website coming soon (?)

Waiter, there's goat cheese in my burrito!

The first time I saw this recipe it didn't appeal to me at all. Goat cheese and burritos don't seem like they could go together. But the idea grew on me and we gave it a try. Loved it. The tangy cheese is brilliant with the beans and tomatos.

This is a very fast and low maintenance recipe. Other than cooking some rice there's only a bit of chopping and less than 10 minutes of cooking.

I altered the original recipe slightly - I'd say you could get 4-6 nice sized burritos out of this.

Goat Cheese Burritos

adapted from Vegetarian Planet by Didi Emmons

1 tb oil

1 bunch of green onions, washed well and finely chopped

4 cloves garlic, minced

3/4 tsp ground cumin

3 tomatos, chopped

2 cups cooked rice

1 can black beans drained and rinsed

soft goats cheese (2 or more tb per burrito)

flour tortillas

sour cream

salsa

Heat the oil in a medium skillet over medium high heat. Add the green onions, garlic and cumin to the pan and cook, stirring often for 5 minutes. Meanwhile in another medium pan, heat the black beans and a couple of tablespoons of water over medium heat until hot. Drain off the water. Add the tomatos to the onion mixture and cook 2 minutes more. Stir in the rice.

Spread the goats cheese on the tortillas. Spoon the rice mixture on top of the cheese and top with beans. Add salsa and sour cream if desired. Roll up and dig in.

Granola Berry Parfait Recipe

I can eat the same thing for breakfast day after day. Then suddenly I'm on to something else. At the moment, my breakfast of choice is a granola parfait. I bought parfait glasses for ice cream, but use them for breakfast and fruit salad more frequently. I also got those skinny spoons you need to fit down into the bottom of the glass! This is hardly a recipe, more of a technique. But anything that can help 'cereal' sound more exciting is worth doing. The trick to making a good parfait is to layer the ingredients nicely. Start with the yogurt on the bottom because anything else is too hard to get at with your spoon.

I've been using Driscoll's organic berries, Greek yogurt and The Bunnery granola. I recently got some samples of the granola and I really like it. I make my own granola but you have to eat it when it's fresh so I don't always have it on hand. The Bunnery original granola has relatively few ingredients just oats, honey, sunflower seeds, coconut, canola oil, sesame seeds, water, almonds, salt, cinnamon, and cloves. It's light and crunchy and not too clumpy which is best for parfaits.

You can make parfaits with just yogurt and fruit if you like. Or of course, you can also make parfaits with ice cream and fruit or sauces. But I think this is the best way to put a sexy spin on cereal. It's pretty, healthy and easy to make.

Berry Granola Parfaits

Mixed berries, such as blackberries, raspberries, blueberries
Yogurt, plain or flavored, regular or Greek
Granola

Layer a spoonful of yogurt into the bottom of the parfait glass and top with a layer of granola. Just a little! You want to make sure you leave enough room for multiple layers. Top the granola with one layer of berries. Repeat and end with a dollop of yogurt and a berry on top.

Enjoy!

DO NOT REPRINT WITHOUT PERMISSION! ©2011 Cooking with Amy. All rights reserved. This material may NOT be published, rewritten or redistributed without permission. If you are reading this post somewhere other than Cooking with Amy, the Oyster Local blog or Gather.com, then the site where you found this post is illegally publishing copyrighted material.

Grocery Shop, July 10

Bought at DeMille's Farm Market in Salmon Arm.

Corn, kale, leaf lettuce, 2 kinds of apples, blueberries, cherries, carrots, potatos.  Missing: loaf of cheese bread.

Roasted chicken with potato recipe

Photo: Roasted chicken with potato recipe

The Arabic Food Recipes kitchen (The Home of Delicious Arabic Food Recipes) invites you to try Roasted chicken with potato Recipe. Enjoy the Arabic Cuisine and  learn how to make Roasted chicken with potato.

Ingredients

1 Whole chicken (1 ½ kg)

½ Cup fresh parsley, chopped

½ Cup green coriander, chopped

2 Tablespoon dill, chopped

  Salt & white pepper

2 Tablespoons soft butter

For stuffing

1 Cup parsley & coriander sprigs

2 Small onions (quarters)

For Potato

1 Kg boiled potato (unpeeled)

1 Teaspoon finely minced garlic

1 Teaspoon nutmeg powder

  Salt & pepper

2 Cups cooking cream

1 Cup milk

Method

Wash chicken with water, drain and set aside.

Mix parsley with coriander, dill in a pot,season with salt and pepper,add butter.

Stuff the chicken with parsley, dill and onions.

Season the chicken under skin with herbs and butter using your fingers carefully fold the wings behind.

Heat oven to 180 °c.

Mash boiled potatoes in a deep pot with garlic,season with nutmeg, salt and pepper.

Add cream and milk and mix the ingredients until we have a thick liquid mixture.

Pour mixture over a rectangular oven tray then place the chicken in the middle and sprinkle with a little salt and pepper.

Place tray in the oven for one and a half hours or until the chicken is well cooked (the cooking duration depends on the chicken's weight).

Serve it warm with mashed potato.

Chef Osama

More Arabic Food Recipes:  

Chicken with Vegetables
Stuffed grilled Colored peppers
Moroccan rissoles
Moroccan potato salad
Lamb Rack With Maghrabia Biryani (served with Torlly)
Chicken tagine with apricots

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The Frugal Cook is away

No credit crunch drinking recs this week or next I'm afraid as I'm away on a work trip to Australia. (Yes, jammy, I know) Normal service will be resumed after December 11th.

California Olive Ranch Extra Virgin Olive Oil

California is producing some very good extra virgin olive oil, some using old European varieties of olives, harvested the old fashioned way, and--some high quality extra virgin olive oil harvested in a very modern way, for a fraction of the price. So how is possible to get high quality extra virgin olive oil at a low price? Last week I visited California Olive Ranch, the largest California olive oil producer, and learned just how they do it.


It all comes down to freshness and quantity. California Olive Ranch plants three varieties, arbequina, arbosana from Spain and koroneiki from Greece. Their olive orchards look nothing like what you may have seen in Europe. The olive trees are pruned into a hedge shape that is harvested mechanically, using a harvester specially developed for shaking the trees to get the olives off without damaging them. Less damage means better quality oil.

Here are some numbers for California Olive Ranch:

Their olive trees grow 6-8 feet high

Trees are planted 5 feet apart

There is 13 feet between each row

There are about 675 trees planted per acre

Each tree yields 7-12 pounds of olives

Only 20% of the olive is oil, 55% is water

12 harvesters run 24 hours a day during harvest season

5,000 acres are owned by the company

5,000 acres are managed by 67 farmers who have long term leases

Each truck holds 66,000 pounds of olives

Each truck is unloaded in 35 minutes


Some more facts:

The tree trimmings are mulched

The ground pits and olives, called pomace, is fed to cattle

California Olive Ranch is using bird boxes and buffer zones to minimize the use of pesticides and tests each batch of olives, and has test plots for organic olives


If you ever get a chance to ride a harvester and see the olives jiggle off the trees I highly recommend it! That I got to share the experience with blogging friends Chef John from Food Wishes, Chrystal Baker from The Duo Dishes, Aleta Watson from The Skillet Chronicles, and Jane Bonacci from The Heritage Cook made it all the more sweet!


Speaking of sweet, all exra virgin olive oil should be a balance of fruity, bitter and pungent. The best way to find your favorite, is to taste them...however...California Olive Ranch uses descriptors like intense and bold and mild to help you find one to your taste.


* If you want the freshest olive oil, known as 'olio nuovo in Italy, sign up to buy California Olive Ranch's Limited Reserve.

* If you like a buttery mild oil without too much bite, look for their basic extra virgin olive oil

* If you like a fruitier variety, try the Arbequina

* The Arbosana is most complex

* The Miller's blend is bold and balanced (and a favorite of some bloggers, food writers and chefs too.)

My thanks to California Olive Ranch for inviting me up to visit during harvest and letting me sample their fresh oils!

DO NOT REPRINT WITHOUT PERMISSION! ©2011 Cooking with Amy. All rights reserved. This material may NOT be published, rewritten or redistributed without permission. If you are reading this post somewhere other than Cooking with Amy, the Oyster Local blog or Gather.com, then the site where you found this post is illegally publishing copyrighted material.