Slow cooked stew/Chickpeas and apple salad/Potato papollote/Apple tatin

I have been taking a French cooking class once a month since last May. I found the class through my organic bread baking class that I used to take two years ago in Oakville. A Japanese lady who used to live in France with her husband and his family, after they moved to Toronto, she started her cooking class at her house. She is very creative and talented cook. I always enjoy learning new recipes from her. This is my precious time once a month that I totally get inspired and loved.
This month, what we cooked;
- Goulash aux Trois Viandes (slow cooked stew)
- Pois chiches aux Pommes (chickpeas and apple salad)
- Pommes de terre en Papollote d'automne a la vapeur (Potato papollote)
- Tarte au tatin (Apple tatin)

Japanese dinner (Soboro-Gohan/Pork ginger)

Soboro-Gohan
This is my boys favorite Japanese dish. I normally use a grand pork, but you can also use a grand chicken. Cooked the ground pork with soy sauce and ginger, add a little bit of honey and maple syrup for a flavor. Eat with scrambled eggs and some steamed vegetables. Mixed all together with rice. I like to eat with a mixed grain rice (brown rice, brown sweet rice, black sweet rice, barley, red bean, black bean and mung bean). You can buy a pack at Korean super market.

Pork ginger
This is also a very traditional and one of the most popular home-made dishes in Japan. We use thin sliced "shabu-shabu" pork meat. Some people prefer to cook with onions, but since my younger son doesn't really like onions, I just cook with the meat. I make an extra sauce and drizzle on top of the rice and eat with it. Yum-yum!!!

Filipino Dinner - Sinigang/Adobo

I met my husband in Japan. We got married in Tokyo and moved to Toronto in 1998. The first year after I moved, we attended 14 weddings, many birthday parties and family gatherings. I didn't know a concept of "extended" family, but once I met somebody, the next day, people called me that I am his/her "cousin". so, even though my husband only has a very small "blood related" family, he has soooo many "cousins". Over the years, I gradually learned a Filipino culture and all the yummy dishes. Sinigang and Adobo are one of my favorite Filipino dishes that I cook often at home.

Roast Chicken

When my 4 year old is coming home from the school, which is around 3:30pm, normally after his long full day JK, his is very tired, hungry and grumpy and he needs mommy. That is the time that I need to start preparing the dinners. Something it doesn't require a lot of chopping and the oven can do the job, like this roast chicken - this is my rescue dish when my little guy is not letting me stay at the kitchen. While the chicken is in the oven, I can built my son's Lego! I sprinkled a pinch of dried oregano/basil/garlic powders, sea salt and pepper, maple syrup, fresh squeezed lemon juice, soy sauce and olive oil. We eat with a special BBQ sauce.

BBQ sauce for Roast chicken
oyster sauce 1 : ketchup 2: maple syrup 1.5: fresh squeezed lemon juice 1

Curry basil orzo pasta soup

After making the bacon pesto pasta, I had a little left over pesto sauce, so I made this soup. Garlic, onions, zucchini, red peppers, carrots, mashrooms, led lentel beans, white kidney beans and orzo pasta. I put about 1 tsp curry powder and 1 tsp "shio-koji" that my friend made it for me. "Shio-koji" is a fermented seasoning made from rice malt and salt and has a long history as a method for enhancing a dish’s flavor. It has recently come back into fashion in Japan. It adds umami to just about anything.

Bacon pesto pasta

I always wanted to grow my own fruits and vegetables. The house that we moved at the end of this summer, there was a setting for a home vegetable garden. So far, I only grow basil because it's getting colder here, but we will grow more veges next spring. With my food processor, it only takes 3 min. to make this pesto sauce. Fresh with no preservatives, so just before I boil spaghettini I make this sauce.

Homemade Pesto sauce
60 g fresh basil
3 tbsp roasted pine nuts
1 3 cup grated parmesan
1 4 tsp sea salt and pepper
1 4 cup olive oil

Put all together in a food processor and mix well together.

Tomatoes and bocconcini salad with basil dressing /Caesar salad

This years family Thanks giving dinner, I had to bring some salads and deserts. I wanted to make something simple and basic salad that everybody can enjoy. I made my croutons and salad dressings.

Caesar salad dressing
2 tbsp mayo
2 tbsp milk
5 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp oyster sauce
1 clove minced garlic
1 tsp fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 tsp stone ground mustard
a pinch of pepper

Mix all together well. You can add more olive oil to change a thickness of the dressing if you like.

Bail dressing
1 tbsp Basil paste
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
1 2 to 1 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp olive oil
a pinch of salt and pepper

Mix all together well.