The Jerk is in the Chicken

Cooking for oneself is boring and bland. If there's any single people reading, you know what I mean. No matter how good the meal you cooked is, no one will cheer you for it. My greatest satisfaction comes from cooking for my husband. I'm not one of those people who needs other's approval to be happy, but when it comes to cooking, it's all about the praises.

I think I've said before that hubby is slightly picky about his food, he hates bones and organs, doesn't like lemon or mustard or mayonnaise. Not the serious stuff but once in a while it irritates me. So it becomes a challenge to make him like it. Lemon and mustard being flavors, there isn't much I can do for that. His dislike of bones are all about eeby-jeebies so I disregard it, especially tonight.

Boneless, skinless chicken breast is the single most boring thing in the universe (even tofu is more fun). A dry cutlet with little flavor that's good enough to grill and mix into a salad. There, I said it. It's poop! I bought four bone and skin breasts, sat dinner in front of him and told him that : “A good cook can make you like something you don't.” He grumbled and took a bite, gave me a shitty grin and asked for more sauce.

Yay me! Jamie Oliver and I make a great team, like ham and cheese, peanut butter and jelly, jalapeno and raspberries... Awesome!

Killer Jerk Chicken

serves 4

Source: Jamie Oliver, Meals in Minutes, 2011

4 chicken breasts, bone and skin on

1 tbsp honey

a few sprig of rosemary

a few spring of cilantro

Salt & pepper

Olive oil

Jerk Sauce

4 scallions

a small bunch of fresh thyme

3 fresh bay leaves

1 tsp ground clove

1 tsp nutmeg

1 tsp allspice

1/3 cup golden rum

1/3 cup white wine vinegar

1 tbsp honey

1 Scotch bonnet chile

4 garlic cloves

Turn the oven to 425F

Heat up a grilling pan on medium high

Rub your chicken breasts with some oil, salt & pepper

Place skin down in the pipping hot grilling pan for a few minutes, until the skin is golden.

Meanwhile the chicken is cooking (my pan is big enough for 2 at a time)

In the food processor, blend in the ingredients for the jerk sauce with 2 tsp of salt and a drizzle of oil and pulse until you have a nice liquid sauce. (You should probably remove most of the seeds from the scotch bonnet chile, also, wear gloves while handling)

Pour the sauce into an large oven-proof dish and place the chicken breast (skin up) on top.

Place the pan in the oven and bake until the chicken is ready. (Use a meat probe to make sure the chicken reaches 165F) About 20 minutes.

You should make some black bean rice with it and grilled corn on the cob! The chicken had an amazing flavor, not too spicy and not too sweet. The Cuban rum really helped too, so delicious!

Eat your veggies too!

Have a good meal!
Hungry Julie

Cooking a la Jamie Oliver

The past week has been delicious! I might have mentioned before but Tracy (whom is my favorite boss, aunt and friend) bought me the new Jamie Oliver cook book “Meals in Minutes” which I am totally in love with. The recipes are true and tested, I love the “menu” format rather than simple recipes, my only warning is that the book is not for cooking beginners, the technique are not explained and some quantities (a large pat of butter) are not self-explanatory, which is no problem for me, the most wonderful cook, as foretold by my husband.

Last Sunday was my mother in law's early birthday party, amidst the renovation work done by my husband (Holy Crap we have curtains!) I baked the most wonderful cake, taken from “A Dash of Sass” find the recipe here. A delicious 6 layers strawberry cake, the frosting was pretty liquid so the cake ended up sliding around a little but you can't deny cream cheese, strawberry and butter, you just can't! I remember in college when our teacher would sadly talk about how some people preferred colors to flavors (Have a blue cupcake!). Here we have a purely strawberry cake, no coloring, no Kool-aid or Jell-o, just natural flavor and colors, unlike what the original recipe called for.

For dinner we had a crispy baked haddock that I will recreate in the near future for your greatest enjoyment (and mine) because it was darn amazing, also from the new Jamie Oliver book. (Looooove it!)

“The food doesn't have to be special, it's the people who eat it.” I went to school to learn how to bake but when it came down to it, I'm extremely unpretentious (is it pretentious to say that?) when it comes to food. I'll straight out say that I love Kraft Mac n Cheese with fried bologna but I can have foie gras and caviar all the same (mmhmm...) Dammit, now I'm hungry again. Here's what I had for dinner, I hope you try it at home.

I forgot the shrimps *sad*

Fish Tray-Bake

serves 4

Source: Jamie Oliver, Meals in Minutes, 2011 (ever so slightly modified)

4 x 6 ounce salmon filets

8 jumbo shrimps, raw, shells on

a bunch of asparagus, trimmed

1 lemon, quartered

1 fresh red chili, minced

a small bunch of basil

1 x 2 ounce can anchovies in oil, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, crushed

1 sweet Vidalia onion, quartered

a small container of grape tomatoes

4 slices of pancetta

Set the oven to broil

Place all the ingredients in a roasting pan (never use Pyrex under the broiler)

Douse everything with a light filet of olive oil and the anchovies oil and cover with the pancetta.

Place in the oven on the middle shelf and cook for 10 minutes or until the fish is fork tender.

For the love of dog, do not over cook the salmon, it's a crime.

Not only was it delicious, it was super easy, I only had a bit of prosciutto so I used it instead of pancetta, I would use bacon too if that's all I had. I also made rice and black beans from the same book, it went perfectly with each other.

Rice and Beans

serves 4

Source: Jamie Oliver, Meals in Minutes, 2011

2 scallions, minced

1 cinnamon stick

1 ½ Cup of white long grain rice

2 ½ Cup of chicken broth

1 can of 15 ounce of black beans, drained and rinsed

In your pan, heat up a bit of oil and cook the scallions with the cinnamon a pinch of salt and pepper.

When the onions are tender, throw in the broth, the rice and beans, bring to a boil and cover.

Reduce the heat and simmer for 12-14 minutes, until all the liquid has been absorbed.

Remove the cinnamon stick before serving.

Now go cook and prosper!

~ Hungry Julie

Pizza Pie!

Maamine says.. put the delivery menu down!

Ah the simple things in life, our daily spice. Think of the things we do each day, they appear so insignificant but they mean everything. A thread in a tapestry; what would coffee be without sugar, pretty bitter I would say. Do I feel poetic? Why yes! Spring Solstice is today! Snow is long gone, birds are coming back and the air is filled with odors of dirt and wet grass, I'm pretty excited.

Chris at work

By times I get the “season changing blues”, I love Winter but not as much as I love Spring or Fall, Summer coming dead last, I hate humidity but I couldn't live without those wonderful vegetables, Four Town Far is not going to open till May: sadness! I don't know if I'll get a garden this year, I just don't have a decent spot to do it, unless I get off my behind and see if the local church has free plots. I'll look into it soon. Anyhow, I promised myself to write at least 2 blog entry every week, it is a goal!

Yes, that is an egg

Back to the simple things, I was “accused” of being a complicated eater, always taking recipes and making them complicated and different ( Le Gasp!). But I love different! I hate routine and as a result, I rarely make the same recipe twice because I don't always remember “how” I arrived to such results (eh!), Chris could die to watch me sprinkle a little this and that without following recipes. But by all means, I can DO simple, I just choose not to very often. Heck we had burgers last night! And tonight we made pizza, I LOVE home-made pizza, people who pop a frozen disk in the oven should be shot where they stand. Please! For $1,50 you can have a whole ball of dough from the deli counter and roll yourself out a perfectly lovely pizza, stacked with your favorite toppings or leftovers. 

Locally called "Big Mike'ing it"

I'm an Hawaiian lover myself, which I recently discovered was invented by Canadians restaurant owners, somewhere in Ontario someone thought ham and pineapple would be a good combination and they were right! Sometimes I'll add sweet banana pepper rings to add a bite, mhmmm! Chris is a meat lover and tops his pizza with Sweet baby Ray BBQ sauce, chicken and bacon, what's not to like? Make yourself happy and put the phone down and make your own pizza, if you feel like making your own dough, follow Jamie Oliver's recipe, it's lovely (as he would say!)

Nom.. nom nom... nom

 Enjoy!

~Hungry Julie

Happy Pi Day

Happy Pi Day!

I couldn't let such celebration go un-noticed, especially being a nerd and all that. But not only does the date 3/14 ( In the USA anyway) reminds us of the mathematical magic number ╥, it is also the birthday of Albert Einstein (14 March 1879, Ulm, Kingdom of Wurttemberg, German Empire). Talk about a happy coincidence!

Happy for me and my friends of course, since I've been baking apple pies all morning, small and big ones. I'm supposed to be on the South Beach diet but I decided that a tiny hand-held pie for pi day wouldn't be too bad (yes it is, it's a Julie pie! Evil evil pie!)

Full of tastiness and awesome, everyone has a recipe for it; me, I eyeball everything. Apple pie is about three things, no, four: Crust, Apples, Cinnamon and Sugar. None of that Gruyere, vanilla, salted caramel and basil insanity I read all over the web. Shudder My poor poor little pie, how they have miss-treated you. There there.. I'll take care of you.

Now all we need is for Hallmark to come up with a card for Pi Day!

Apple Pie, a la Julie


Apples.. at least 4, peeled, cored, sliced doused with lemon juice
Sugar (brown or white, or a mix of both)
Cinnamon (lots)
½ tbsp of cornstarch per apple used
Egg wash (1 egg + 1 tbsp water + dash of salt, whisk)


The lemon juice stops the apple from browning while you prepare everything.
Toss the apple slices with enough sugar and cinnamon to cover them.
Toss the cornstarch in there too to thick up the sauce.
Pile in pie crust, cover with top, poke a hole for ventilation, brush with egg wash
Bake at 350F for 45 minutes


It's that easy, you want a nice browned crust but not too dark so keep an eye on it.
I use the Joy of Baking pie crust recipe, it gave me 6 little tart and 1 medium size pie but given the right plate (like my pampered chef deep dish) the recipe is enough for a thick top and bottom.

Dead Man Walking

Flower Show, Providence 2012

Dead man walking

If my last meal was last night, I would be happy and peaceful, but before we talk about food, let me tell you about the new blog. All week I've been tossing the ideas in my head about the blog, this blog. It's a fantastic thing I enjoy doing and I know from my friends that it is appreciated but I gave up somewhere along the lines of being bored, tired and uninspired. Mixed in between my fat arse and you have an orphan blog. But yeah, I thought things through and here we are AGAIN, version 2..

Ok, enough cheering and balloons for the 60th post, on to the food. I'm starting the South Beach Diet today so last night I stuffed myself with carbs and fat and starch and more fat. It was delicious and amazing, this is what I want when they put me on death row cough. Far from being classic sliders, these were amazing and worthy of my first blog post. Enjoy!

Un-Classic Sliders

makes 8-12 sliders, depends on the size

2 lbs ground beef 90%

2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 envelope of dry onion soup mix

½ cup of mayonnaise

pickles, lettuce, tomato for topping

8-12 small square ciabatta rolls

Turn on the oven at 350F

Mix the ground beef with the dry soup and brown in a large skillet

Mix the cheese, sauce and mayonnaise in the meat and pile in the split rolls

Close the rolls and bake them for 20 minutes

Top with your favorite toppings and enjoy

For a lovely side dish, drop the frozen fries in the trash and get yourself a couple of russet potatoes and cut in 8 quarters. Drizzle with olive oil, salt, pepper & Italian seasonings. Bake at 400F for 40 minutes, flipping them over halfway. 

Three cheers for a good start! Stay tuned!

The one and only, Hungry Julie

Christmas Tales

I have three families, my American family, in all it's traditions and quietness, the four sisters that accepted me so lovingly when I married into its fold. Now when my parents separated, neither family saw much of each other again and a split happened on many levels: my nephews have enough grand-parents for an army but anyway. On one side you have my dad's family, small and tight, we can always count on each other for everything. We travel together, we send each other jokes by emails and even in it's monastery atmosphere, we still manage to pop a few fart jokes during dinner. Now at my mom's house, it's radically different: Loud music, loud people, lots of children and laughter. My mother once said she stopped counting her cousins at 100 and lost count of them all, imagine that!

To summarize it: My American family serves Antipasto, my Dad's serves French cheeses and my mom serves cheeses from Quebec. (I see a pattern!) The love for good things and good people assemble us on an unconscious level and I'm happy to drive 8 hours in either directions to see these people.

Today, I'm home alone, cooking spag sauce for my Lovey and I pulled out a box of dates that I bought in Quebec on my last trip. Dates cost a lot less up there > Made in Iraq < (Imagine that). Now oatmeal date square is one of those recipes obscure in the USA, brought here by great-grand-mothers who came here during the first recession and recently rediscovered by my husband who absolutely LOVES these.

My uncle teased him by telling us a story (which I translated for Chris). First he glanced around to make sure grand-ma wasn't around (She was in the kitchen pouting because we picked my mom's fudge over hers in a blind tasting). “So when we were kids, we didn't have a lot of money, so your grand-ma's date squares were this thick.” he shows his fingers very close to each other. “She freaked when she saw the size of mine!” then he moved his hand like he was seizing a cheeseburger. At that point Chris's eyes were glowing with desire.

Needless to say he threw the dates in the cart as soon as he saw them at the store. I followed the recipe on the box and it was perfect. I hope you will try it and fall in love all over again with this healthy (?) treat. Enjoy!

Tasty tasty little black turds

Jaffa Oatmeal Date Squares

8 inch square Pyrex, lightly sprayed with Pam

500 gr of seedless dates

1 C of orange juice

¾ C softened butter

½ C lightly packed brown sugar

1 C of flour

2 C of rolled oats

Turn your oven to 350F while you prepare the rest.

1- On the stove top, place the dates and the juice in a casserole on medium heat, cover and stir every so often. Your goal is to obtain a thick paste, the dates will break up easily but be careful to not burn it, turn down the heat if it tries to boil. **Warning, the mixture will be VERY HOT, stir firmly but carefully**

2- Cut the butter in pea size morsel and with your hands, mix the dry ingredients with the butter until it forms crumbles, the best technique is to the rub the mix together between your hands like sand.

3- Push ¾ of the crumbles at the bottom of the mold and press firmly. Spread the date mixture on top of that and finally, sprinkle the rest of the crumble on top, press gently.

4- Put the Pyrex in the oven for 30 minutes until golden.

GOLDEN AWESOMENESS

For the love of Dog, let is sit for at least 10 minutes before you cut it in squares. Dates become molten glue, not only does it stick to everything, it will BURN you. 

 This is Hungry Julie, wishing you a tasty and gooey good year!

52 weeks of cooking challenge. Week 1

Yes Virginia, It snows in Canada!

 Ah ha! A new year that we all enter with a full belly and a guilty conscience. We all ate too much and well, pie, cake, meat, grease, bread and cheese, too much wine as far as I'm concerned. My father is very proud of his wine cave and we all profit of his immense knowledge. So for the next few weeks, let's try and lighten it up shall we?

Which brings me to the Reddit Cooking Challenge. I participated in the Secret Santa over the holidays and I had such a blast, I decided to participate in more events and this challenge is right up my alley. 52 weeks and 52 different ingredients to cook with and share our recipes with the group.

This week's ingredient, eggs! Oh I love eggs, over-easy with bacon and home fries is by FAR my favorite but I enjoy quiche and fritata, bread pudding wouldn't be the same without them and hard-boiled in a salad. Hmm drooling just thinking about it. Now the challenge is to use specific ingredients but also to cook something that we never made before, my own twist on it will be to make it healthy. I eyeballed the Scotch Eggs recipes and shook my head, no greasy sausage for this chubby Julie. Then I turned to Eggs in Purgatory, basically eggs poached in tomato sauce and served with crusty bread. It makes an egg-cellent lunch (oh the pun, it hurts!) and since I'm house cleaning, I can toss it in the oven until done. So easy and delicious. I hope you will try it at home, too often we skip lunch or rely on frozen meals, a shame when there are so many easy recipe to throw together.

Eggs in Purgatory
Serves 4

Ingredients
1 tablespoon olive oil
4 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon crushed dried rosemary
2 cans (15 ounces each) diced tomatoes in juice
1 can (15 ounces) crushed tomatoes
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
Salt and pepper
8 large eggs

1.Oven to 350 degrees. Set four 12-ounce ovenproof bowls or ramekins on a large rimmed baking sheet.

2. In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium. Add garlic and rosemary; cook, stirring, until garlic is golden, about 2 minutes. Add diced tomatoes (with juice), crushed tomatoes, and 2 tablespoons of Parmesan; bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally, until slightly thickened, 2 to 4 minutes. Season tomato sauce with salt and pepper.

I used a loaf pan for 3 eggs

3. Divide tomato sauce among bowls, reserving 1 cup. Crack 2 eggs into each bowl. Dividing evenly, top with reserved sauce and 2 tablespoons Parmesan. Bake until egg whites are just opaque (yolks should still be soft), 20 minutes, rotating sheet halfway through.

Baked for 30 mins, far too long

I revised the recipe because the yolk was WAY too cooked at 25 minutes, 20 minutes, less even if you like your eggs more runny. Also you can use pre-made tomato sauce, which is what I'll be doing today, I'm a busy woman you know! Have a great year and stay full.

Super tasty either way! Toast a bun and throw it on there.

~Hungry Julie