Braised Salmon with Orange Fennel Cream

After watching Top Chef Canada I was inspired to do some cooking. I know I haven't been consistently blogging on you my precious food-blog but I've had reasons for not doing so... basically, this past month I haven't really had any time to whip up any dishes that I haven't blogged about before. What are the reasons? I dunno... lack of creativity, lack of time, lack of money to pay for good quality ingredients to cook with? Potentially all of the above :P

But anyways, I decided that today would be different. I was going to make something delicious, relatively nutritious and something that would get my passion for cooking all fired up again. So, here is what resulted...

Braised Salmon with Orange Fennel Cream

Ingredients:
- 4 salmon fillets, seasoned with salt and pepper for at least 30mins
- 1 medium onion, sliced thinly
- 3 tbsp canola oil
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 3 tbsp chopped onion
- 2 tbsp fennel seeds
- 1 tsp dried parsley (or 1 tbsp fresh parsley)
- 2 tbsp butter
- 3 tbsp flour
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1/2 tbsp vinegar
- 1 cup milk
- Salt and Pepper to taste

Method:
1. Heat oil in a large frying pan and add in the garlic, chopped onion, fennel seeds and parsley. Cook over medium-high heat until fragrant and onions begin to caramelize.
2. Place the salmon fillets in the pan, flesh-side down. Sear this side for about 1 minute, then turn over. Ensure all fillets are evenly spaced in the pan, or cook 2 at a time to avoid over-crowding. Remove the fish from the pan and set aside.
3. Add in the butter, stirring until well incorporated with the pan drippings. Place the sliced onions on the bottom of the pan, then return the salmon back to the pan, laying them on-top of the onion slices.
4. Mix the orange juice and vinegar and pour over the fish, then cover the pan for 3-4 minutes to allow the salmon to braise. Watch the fish closely, and ensure that you do no cook it until too dry.
5. Once cooked, remove salmon from the pan and set aside. Make a roux by adding flour to the pan drippings, and mixing it into a smooth paste. Slowly pour in the milk while continuing to stir the paste and cook the sauce over medium heat until thick (it should coat the back of a wooden spoon). Add salt and pepper to taste and serve.

I decided to serve my fish on a bed of garlic-parsley mashed potatoes, with a small dollop of salad greens. The sauce was ridiculously good, and I think it would even have made a nice pasta sauce. Next time I will definitely make this and eat it with some penne and seafood or something along those lines.

Here's a picture of the salmon without all the frou-frou sauce and salad :P

Burns Night Supper

It hadn't even occurred to me that it was Burns Night, until I returned home from the supermarket already with a haggis in hand. You may be wondering why on earth I decided to purchase Haggis of all things during my spontaneous trip to the store. Well... I can't even explain it. I originally went to the store to buy bananas, as I had run out just this morning, and while I was perusing the aisles, I spotted it... the lying round and plump, like a little baby crying to be swaddled, in the meat department cooler... haggis! For reasons which are beyond my comprehension, I decided to spend $12.30 of my hard earned cash on this lump of meat which I had never tasted in my life (I think being an Anglophile makes you do crazy things). Anyways, I purchased the Haggis and when I got home, realized that I wasn't quite sure how to cook it because the package did not come with instructions. Do I boil it? Bake it? Steam it? hmmm... I think I'll Google it!

What showed up on Google surprised me... for as I searched among pages of recipes I discovered that today was actually Burns Night (a national day celebrating the birth of Scottish poet, Robert Burns). Delighted with the knowledge that I had found a new holiday to celebrate, I set to work in the kitchen preparing what was to be a delicious supper.

I'm not going to post any recipes, because honestly... all I did was cover the haggis in tin-foil and bung it in the oven for 1 hour, alongside some onions, sweet potatoes and cloves of garlic (which I would later use in my potatoes). And I don't really need to post a recipe for colcannon, because hey... anyone can boil potatoes, mash them with garlic + butter + boiled cabbage + salt.

I literally just threw this supper together last minute, and it was sooooo gooood. The haggis, melted in my mouth and was so tender and moist. It reminded me of meatloaf, but without the beefy taste. I don't regret spending my money on the haggis... and if you've never tried it before, you're seriously missing out! Go get some... and have a happy Burns Night!

I think I'll leave you with the first verse of the Burn's Address to The Haggis:

Fair fa' your honest, sonsie face,
Great chieftain o' the puddin-race.
Aboon them a' ye tak your place.
Painch, tripe or thairm:
Weel are ye wordy o' a grace
As lang's my arm.

I actually memorized this verse a while back, after being introduced to it on QI... I know, such a panel-show nerd. But, it shows you that panel-shows can be quite educational.

Red Wine and Horseradish Beef Roast

I was browsing the grocery store doing my weekly shopping and came across a great deal on a beef roast! It was only $6.88 for a 2lbs of deliciously meaty roast, and since I've never attempted to cook a beef roast dinner before I thought I'd give it a go.

Red Wine Horseradish Roast

- 2lbs beef roast
- 2 tbsp oil
- 1 tsp dried oregano
- 1 tsp dried sage
- 1 tsp cumin
- salt and cracked pepper, to taste
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 clove of garlic minced
- 1 gala apple, roughly chopped
- 2 tbsp horseradish
- 1/4 cup red cooking wine, plus more for the gravy
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 1 tbsp barbecue sauce
- 1 tbsp tomato paste
- Your favorite roasting vegetables

Method:
1. Toss together the sage, oregano, cumin, salt and cracked pepper. Rub oil over the roast and coat the roast with the herb-spice blend.
2. In a small sized bowl, combine the garlic, apple, onion, horseradish, wine, vinegar, tomato paste and barbecue sauce.
3. Place the coated roast in an oven-proof dish and pour the horseradish marinade over-top, being sure to coat the entire roast liberally. Marinate in the fridge for 3hours or a maximum of 24hours.
4. When ready to cook, heat some cooking oil in a pan over high heat. Once the oil is hot, take the roast out of the bowl and place in pan. Sear the roast for ~1-2minutes on each side and then remove the roast from the pan, placing back in the oven-proof dish.
5. De-glaze the pan with a splash of red wine, remove from heat and set aside for making the gravy once the roast is completed
6. Place the dish in a 375degree oven, cover and cook for 1 1/2 hours.
7. When there are 30-40minutes left of cooking time, place your roasting vegetables (i.e. carrots, onions, Brussels sprouts etc.) in the dish to cook.
8. Once roast is cooked to your preference, remove from the oven and place on cutting board to rest.
9. Place the pan which was set aside for the gravy back on the stove-top and add 2-3tbsp of flour to make a roux.
10. To the pan, slowly add in the roast drippings. Continue to whisk over medium heat until mixture begins to thicken. If desired, add in some beef stock to enhance the flavor (adding more flour to thicken, as necessary).
11. Slice roast and serve with the vegetables, gravy and whatever sides you like (I served mine with wild rice).

I really enjoyed cooking this roast, it was a great "first" for me. The flavors were amazing, and the meat was wonderfully tender. I normally enjoy my meat rare, and when I first sliced the roast it was perfectly done. However, I forgot that while you let the meat rest it continues to cook, so when I finally plated the meat it ended up being more towards medium. The beef gravy was delicious, and way better than any store-bought gravy I've ever tried. I think I will definitely be making this meal again.

Post Script:
I was completely weirded-out when I went to chop my garlic clove. I grabbed what looked like a regular old clove, smacked it with the side of my clever and then proceeded to peel off the normal looking skin. And what greeted me was this strangely opaque, squidgy, sticky, yellow clove of garlic. It smelled okay, but I was too creeped out to use it so I threw it out. Strangely enough, the rest of the cloves in the bunch were perfectly normal, but this one clove was just an odd-ball. Has anyone seen one of these before?

Easy Creamy Pasta

With such an elaborate dinner last night, I thought that tonight I'd play it a little low key and make an easy creamy pasta dish. It was full of vegetables, and didn't take a lot of time to prepare; this made it even more tasty because I was able to relax and savor the slowness of the day. So, without boring you with a long winded intro (and because I just wanna chill out and watch a movie tonight :P) here's the recipe.

Easy Creamy Pasta
(Yields two servings of pasta)

- 3 cups cooked spaghetti (freshly cooked, and still warm)
- 3 cherry tomatoes, quartered
- 1 cup broccoli rabe
- 1/2 medium onion, thinly sliced
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp dried fennel seeds
- 1 tsp crushed red peppers
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 chicken breast fillet
- 1/2 tsp rosemary
- 1/2 tsp oregano
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 1/2 tbsp cider vinegar
- A splash of red wine (or you can use grape juice)
- 1 heaping tbsp cream cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1. Season the chicken breast with rosemary, oregano, salt and pepper. Let sit to marinade for at least 10 minutes. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until chicken is fully cooked. Remove chicken from pan and set aside.
2. To the skillet, add the remaining 1 tbsp oil until hot and then add the garlic, fennel seeds, cayenne, crushed peppers. Fry over medium heat until fragrant ~1 minute.
3. Add in the onions, broccoli rabe, vinegar and red wine. Cover the pan for 2-3 minutes and allow vegetables to steam
4. Cut the chicken breast into slices, and add to skillet. Next, add the cooked spaghetti, followed by the tomatoes and the cream cheese. Toss the pasta mixture with tongs, season with salt and pepper to taste and serve.

See... nice and simple, it literally took no more than 8minutes to cook. Once the veggies are prepped and you have the pasta already cooked, this dish is a breeze to whip up. I loved the richness that the cream cheese adds to this dish; it adds a great subtle cheese flavor without overpowering the sweetness of the wine and the tangy-ness of the vinegar. All in all, a great comfort food dish... and the colors make it look so elegant! Mama would be proud ^_^

What's for Dinner??

While sitting back and catching up on past Gintama episodes, I was suddenly reminded that our family hot-pot machine had not been put to use lately. So, with this in mind I decided that it was time to rummage through the basement, wipe the dust of the hot-pot box and come up with a delicious meal-idea for dinner that night.

In the anime, the characters were eating sukiyaki... being that I'm living off of a student's salary I decided to forgo the expensive meat and opted for something cheaper (although still tasty and still traditionally Japanese). Can you guess what it is??? Here are pictures of the ingredients I used... I'll end the post by showing you the final product, and including a recipe.

Clockwise from top-left corner: chikuwa, firm tofu, beef tendon balls, bonito flakes and sukombu.

Suey Choy, Konjak Board, more tofu and enoki mushrooms

Konjak Board cut into triangles, sukombu (soaked and knotted)

Assorted fish-cakes, fish-balls, beef-balls, tofu and imitation crab.

Kamaboko (Japanese fish-cake)

And to be somewhat healthy, some veggies: carrots, green onions, bok choy and satoimo

Kabocha Squash... mmmm

Daikon

Enoki bundles

I also included some other ingredients, but didn't take photos of them because I'm sure you know what cubed potatoes, hard-boiled eggs and skewered chicken look like. So, have you kind of guessed what the meal was supposed to be from the various ingredients I listed?? Hmm... what other hints can I give? Well, it's a Japanese winter-dish that consists of the above ingredients, all simmered in a kelp-bonito flake broth for hours and sometimes even days. When served at vendor stalls or in oden restaurants, the fishcakes, veggies etc. are often served on skewers. The dish can be served with Karashi (Japanese hot-mustard) to dip.

It's ODEN!

The dish was fairly simple to make. Once the broth was prepared, all I had to do was add in the flavoring ingredients, allow the soup to simmer and then add in the "absorptive" ingredients and serve. Anyways, here's the recipe I used for my Oden Broth.

Oden Broth

- 10 cups dashi stock (see recipe below)
- 2 tbsp sake
- 3 tbsp mirin (or substitute 1.5 tbsp sugar)
- 1.5 tsp light soy sauce
- 1.5 tbsp dark soy sauce

Method:
1. In a wide and shallow pot, combine the broth ingredients and bring to a boil over high-heat. Then, adjust to maintain a low simmer.
2. Add in the flavoring ingredients (fish cakes, kelp knots, meat skewers) and the ingredients that take a fairly long time to cook (satoimo, daikon, potatoes and carrots etc.). Simmer for 20minutes or more.
3. Add in the "absorptive" ingredients (par-boiled kabocha, tofu, konjak, hard-boiled eggs etc.) Simmer for 10 minutes or more. Add more broth as necessary, and adjust to taste by adding more soy sauce or more sugar as needed.
4. Transfer the hot soup and some of the pot-ingredients to the communal hot-pot at the dinner table. Keep hot-pot machine on to maintain a constant low simmer.
5. Provide fresh vegetables on a serving plate at the table. Ensure that everyone at the table has their own serving utensils, bowls, plates and dishes of condiments (i.e. karashi mustard). Have communal cooking utensils (i.e. serving chopsticks and soup ladle) at the table.
6. Everyone helps themselves to the skewers of fish-cakes, tofu, vegetables and meat. As the pot clears, more ingredients from the cooking pot can be added to the hot-pot dish, or the fresh vegetables can be cooked in the hot-pot broth.
7. Serve the oden by itself, with steamed rice, salad, soba, onigiri... basically whatever you would like to complete your meal :)

Dashi Stock

Ingredients:
- 10 cups water
- 12 square inches of kombu (preserved kelp)
- 1 1/2 cups (12g) bonito flakes (dried, shaved, fish flakes)

Method:
1. Soak the kombu in the water in the large-shallow pot that you will use for cooking the oden over stove-top. Soak for 10minutes, or longer depending on personal taste.
2. Bring the kombu and water to a boil, lowering heat once bubbles begin to break the surface. Use tongs to remove the kombu, and turn off the heat.
3. Add in the bonito flakes and allow to sit for 3 minutes.
4. Strain stock through a cloth-lines sieve and place the stock back into the large pot, over medium-high heat. Use this to make your oden broth.

I served the meal with onigiri. Some were plain and some were mixed with furikake... I find this an easy, tasty and no-fuss way to serve rice.

Wheat-stalk Shaped Bread

I've always loved attempting to make something that I'd never tried before, and shaping bread simply reminds me of playing with play-doh in pre-school! It's so therapeutic and relaxing, and you can eat the end-product :P So, for dinner yesterday I decided to bake up a loaf of bread using my favorite dinner-roll recipe and slathering on an herbed egg-wash just to give it an extra little kick.

Dinner Roll Recipe

Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 large eggs
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp butter or margarine
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 1/2 cups bread flour
- 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

Egg wash Ingredients:
- 1 egg
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 tsp each: dried thyme, rosemary and parsley

Method:
1. Place ingredients into bread machine in order listed.
2. Set the machine on the "dough" setting and press start.
3. Once complete, remove the dough from machine. Cover with a large bowl and let rest for 10 minutes.
4. On a floured surface, shape the dough into the "wheat-stalk". This is done by working the dough into a long, thin baguette shape and then taking a pair of sharp scissors to into the dough at 45degree angles roughly 1.5-2 inches apart (making sure not to slice through the dough).
5. Push the consecutive sections of dough in opposite directions; i.e. one piece goes left and the next piece goes to the right.
6. Place shaped dough on a baking sheet that is covered in a single-layer of cornmeal (to prevent the bread from sticking). Cover and let rise for 30-45minutes.


7. Prepare eggwash by beating all the ingredients together. Once bread is risen, coat liberally with egg wash.


8. Prepare oven by placing 1 cup of water in a broiler-pan on the lower-rack. Place loaf on the middle-rack of the oven and bake at 350degrees for 30 minutes. Serve warm.

I really enjoyed the taste of this mildly sweet bread. The outside was a little less "crunchy" than I would have liked, but other than that it was a very nice way to serve dinner rolls. The bread was nice and fluffy and almost didn't need any butter because of the wonderful flavor that the herbed egg wash imparted. The wheat-stalk shape was really fun to make, and gave off the impression that it would have taken a lot of effort to prepare. It's a great way to impress when wanting to show off your culinary skills.

Asian-Cajun Chicken Salad

Making meals for one is sometimes a task, but individual chicken breast pieces make dinner-making way easier. For dinner yesterday I was craving something a little healthier than cup-o-noodles, mac 'n cheese and canned soup... so I opted for a salad. And to get my protein kick I decided to top it off with a marinated chicken breast. This recipe was basically a hodge-podge of amazing spices and Asian sauces that I had lying around my kitchen... and I call it Asian-Cajun chicken salad.

Asian-Cajun Chicken Salad
Serves 1

Ingredients:
- 1 frozen chicken breast, thawed
- 1 tsp each cayenne pepper, paprika and red pepper flakes
- 1/4 tsp each ground cinnamon, cumin and coriander
- 1 tbsp red wine vinegar
- 3 tbsp Hoisin sauce
- 1 tsp Frank's Red Hot Cayenne Sauce
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed and minced finely
- Pinch of salt and pepper, to taste
- 1 bed of your favorite greens

Method:
1. In a bowl large enough to hold the chicken breast, toss in the chicken with the spices, pepper flakes, vinegar, hot sauce and hoisin sauce. Let sit in the fridge, and allow to marinate for at least 3 hours.

2. Just before cooking, add the finely minced garlic and allow chicken to sit for another 30minutes.

3. Add salt and pepper to taste and place on a pre-heated grill plate or barbeque. Cook chicken for about 5 minutes, or until done to desired tenderness.

4. Once cooked, remove chicken from the grill and let sit for at least 3 minutes. During this time, prepare your salad.

5. After the chicken has rested, and the juices have settled, slice the chicken breast to strips of desired thickness and place on top of your salad. Add a dressing of your choice if you wish to have a more flavorful salad.

Optional: For my salad, I added a home-made salad dressing by combining: 1 tbsp dijon mustard, 1 tsp Frank's Red hot sauce, 1 tsp sweet relish and 1 tbsp red wine vinegar.

This chicken was delicious! I made mine on my George Foreman grill and it was cooked to perfection, nice and juicy just the way I like it. The Hoisin sauce gave this chicken a real kick, and the red wine vinegar tied the Asian spices and the Cajun tastes together nicely. I will definitely be making this recipe again. It's perfect for a nice, light and healthy dinner or even for a lunch! Super easy and definitely delish!

Lamb Stew

The first day of school did not present with beautiful weather, instead it was pouring rain :( I only had a morning class, and so I decided to head to the grocery store and pick up some necessities for my dinner. With such miserable weather, I thought that a stew would be nice... and since I would only be cooking for myself, I decided to buy one of my favorite meats... Lamb!! My mom doesn't like the smell, look, texture or taste of lamb; I'm not sure why? In my opinion, it's absolutely delicious. It has a very earthy and rustic flavor, and makes one mean stew.

I'd never made stew before, my dad usually makes a really quick beef stew in a crock-pot, but since I didn't have a crock pot I opted to simply cook it in a large stove-top pot. I kind of just eye-balled the ingredients, and tweaked the dish as I cooked and it turned out fantastic!

Lamb Stew

Ingredients:
- 1/2 lb of lamb meat (I used the shoulder blade)
- 6 yukon gold potatoes, cut into chunks
- 3 medium carrots, cut into chunks
- 1 large onion, cut into chunks
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 tbsp canola oil
- 1 tsp each dried rosemary, parsley, oregano
- 2 tbsp flour
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/4 cup of red cooking wine, or more to taste
- 3 cups water
- salt and pepper to taste

Method:
1. Prepare the lamb meat ahead of time. Rub the meat with olive oil and season with rosemary, parsley and oregano. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, and let rest for at least 1 hour.
2. After marinating, separate the meat from the bones and fat. Cut the meat into bite-sized chunks.
3. Heat 1 tbsp canola oil in a large stove-top pot on high, allow oil to reach very high temperature by letting it sit for 45 seconds.
4. Add the seasoned lamb meat to the pot, searing both sides for about 2 minutes each. Place seared meat in a dish and set aside. Now add the bones and fat to the pan. Cook for 2 minutes allowing the fat to drain out.
5. Add in the minced garlic and additional spices (rosemary, parsley, oregano). Add more oil if necessary to prevent burning, and add in the onions.
6. Pour in the cooking wine to deglaze the pan. Once deglazed, add in the potatoes and carrots, stir mixture to thoroughly coat the vegetables with the herbs and oil. Add salt and pepper.
7. Make a well in the center of the pot, and add in the flour. Mix the flour with all the drippings in the pan until fully incorporated.
8. Pour in the water and continue cooking stew on high until it comes to a boil. Once boiled, add in the reserved lamb meat pieces and the bay leaves. Lower the temperature until the mixture reaches only a simmer.
9. Cover pot with lid and allow stew to simmer for 1 hour, or until the meat pieces are cooked and tender.
10. Serve with steamed rice.


This stew was very tasty. If you find that the consistency is too watery, you can always remove the lid and boil out some of the liquid for about 15-20 minutes. Also, the stew may begin to thicken as the mixture cools.

I really enjoyed this stew for my dinner, it was the perfect compliment to a cold and wet day. It really is a comfort food. The stew sauce was amazing over top of freshly steamed rice, and I seriously had to control myself otherwise I might have finished it on the first day. This recipe makes enough stew for about 4 people... or if you're like me, it makes enough for 4 meals for one person :P I should have my mom try some of the stew, and see if she still feels the same way about lamb... maybe it'll convince her that lamb isn't so bad.

Tamara's Block Party '09

Hmmm... what do you do, when you're bored at home and need to beat the summer, mid-week blues?? Head out to your local new-channel's block-party of course :P


On July 15th, my family attended the local news-station's bbq, picnic, block-party, shin-dig hosted by their weather woman. The party was held at Queen's Park and incidentally the weather was perfect, not too sunny and not too cool. Normally, I'm not one to stand in line for 1 1/2 hours to be one of the first 1,500 people to a party but this was a different story. You see, my family can never pass up the chance to get free food :P And if you were one of the first 1,500 people at the party you'd get a free dinner made by Mr. Mike's Steakhouse and Grill. Also, this party was the site of the release of the 3rd collectors pin for the 2010 Vancouver Olympics... and, having already collected pins 1 and 2, we couldn't just pass up the chance to get the next installment! That'd be crazy!

We had no idea how many people would actually be attending this bbq/picnic thing, but when we arrived (an hour and a half before the tents opened) the line up was already about 400people long. By the time the block-party opened it's doors, the line up had grown to triple it's size! The entire park was filled with a really squiggly, swervy line-up of probably more than 1,500 people! I sure hope that everyone who took time out of their day to line-up got at least a pin or a free-meal... I know I would be peeved if, after waiting 2+hours in the sun, I ended up getting nothing.

When I first stepped in-line, at around 3:00pm I wasn't hungry at all. But, by the time we actually got into the "free-food" line-up, it was 5:00pm and the smell of the freshly grilled burgers was tantalizing my taste buds and making my stomach grumble. I had never tried Mr. Mike's before, I often drive by their Langley location but have always brushed it off as being "just another steakhouse". Sadly, they did not serve up steak (I didn't think they would, because that'd mean grilling up 1,500 steaks for free... probably putting them in debt :P). But, they did serve up a mean burger with a side of caesar salad. The burger was "Mike's Classic", an angus steak burger placed on a bbq-toasted garlic frenchbread, topped with cheese, a pickle and an amazing burger sauce (I'd say even better than White Spot's Triple-O sauce! *gasp* I know!). The burger was huge, and I actually needed help finishing it off... the bread was so delicious, and has now made me a fan of serving burgers on garlic baguettes. Great idea Mr. Mikes!! Great idea :) When I move into my condo, I'll be closer to the local Mr. Mikes, so maybe I'll become a regular... I wonder if they'll serve just the french bread just by itself??

AAHHH!! This burger was AMAZING!

Anyways, the block-party itself was fantastic. The musical performers were called "Dr. Strangelove" and they played an amazing array of oldies, but with a contemporary twist. A couple MJ songs were played, some Aerosmith, some Janice Joplin and a couple folk-country-tunes. It was fun to see the little tykes running around the playground and the water-park section of Queen's Park. All-in-all, this was a fun outing for the family... sometimes it's tough to convince my sisters to get their butts out of their computer chairs and get some fresh air :P

Mushroom, Spinach and Gouda Pork Loin Roulade

The other day I decided to make dinner instead of bake! Don't ask me why I had that crazy idea, but to tell you the truth it was probably all those endless summer-nights watching the food network that got me going. Anyways, I was rummaging through the deep freezer and came across this interesting hunk of meat, and unsure of what it was I read the label... pork tenderloin! Hmm... just looking at the piece of pork I already knew that I wanted to try out a recipe that I'd been keeping my eye on. I'd always wanted to make a roulade out of some sort of meat... be it chicken, fish or pork. And now was my chance!

Mushroom, Wild-rice, Spinach and Gouda Pork Roulade
(Yields 1 Roulade, 6-8 servings)

1 large piece of pork tenderloin
1 cup fresh button mushrooms, chopped
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1/2 medium onion
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 cup fresh spinach, chopped
1/2 cup cooked wild rice+brown rice mix
8 slices of smoked gouda
Additional 2 tbsp canola oil
Salt & Pepper, to taste
A mixture of root vegetables (yams, carrots, potatoes, zucchini) sliced

1. To prepare the filling, heat oil in frying pan and fry garlic and onions until fragrant. Add in the mushrooms, chopped spinach and continue to heat mixture until vegetables become tender. Remove mixture from heat, place in a medium-sized bowl and mix in the wild rice and parmesan cheese. Add in salt and pepper to taste.
2. Prepare the meat by butterflying the fillet and using a meat-tenderizer to flatten out the pork
3. Leaving a 1/2 inch border around the edge of the pork, place the 8 slices of smoked gouda down (overlapping is okay).
4. On top of the gouda, spread on the mushroom, spinach, wild-rice mixture.
5. Roll the pork "jelly-roll" style and secure the meat with butcher's twine. Rub the outside of the roulade with oiled hands, and season with salt and pepper.
6. Heat the additional 2 tbsp oil in a large frying pan (large enough to hold the roulade). Once hot, place the roulade, seam-side down into the pan. Sear the seam and then rotate the roulade to sear the entire outside of the pork roll.
7. Well-grease a large, tall-sided baking pan and place enough sliced root vegetables to cover the bottom of the pan. Reserve the remaining vegetables to add later. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper, and any herb you enjoy. Place the seared roulade on top of the vegetables and bake at 375degrees for 45 minutes. Once the roulade has only 30minutes more to cook, add in the remaining vegetables.8. Once cooked, remove roulade from oven and allow to cool for 10minutes minimum before slicing. Once cooled, slice the roulade and serve with the vegetables and enjoy!

My parents were very impressed with the presentation of the meal. Really, a roulade is so easy to make and provides an amazing wow-factor for any occasion. Try making one tonight and your family will be very impressed by both the look and the taste!