All Entries Tagged With: "Potato"
Herbed Potato Soup
This Herbed Potato Soup is Minoo’s favourite. It’s quick and easy and freezes well. Minoo always has homemade frozen food in her freezer. She said she does not know how to make small batches of food. She always has left over which she freezes them for busy day. Soup is one food that freezes well.
This Herbed Potato Soup is definitely great for cold winter days. This recipe is adapted from www.allrecipes.com.
Prep time: 10 mins; Cook time: 20 mins; Serves 6.
Ingredients
- 2 large potatoes, peeled and diced
- 2 cups water or chicken broth
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon salt, or taste
- 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1/4 teaspoon dried rosemary, crushed
- 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups milk
Green Beans and Potatoes in Chunky Tomato Sauce
For the side dish, Paul and Frances made Green Beans and Potatoes in Chunky Tomato Sauce. For this recipe, we used canned whole tomatoes. If you prefer fresh tomatoes, this is how to peel the skin easily. Make a small X on the bottom side of the tomato with a sharp knife. Place tomato in boiling water for 30 seconds. Remove tomato using a slotted spoon; immediately submerge in a bowl of icy cold water. Let stand for one minute. Skin should pull off easily with a sharp knife.
The green beans are cooked perfectly and they are tender and yet still crisp.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 1 1/2 cups diced red potato
- 1/2 cup chopped celery
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/4 pounds green beans, trimmed
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro or 1/4 cup chopped basil
- 3/4 pound plum tomatoes, peeled and coarsely chopped (or drain and chop 1 1/2 cups canned whole tomatoes)
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
This Green Beans and Potatoes in Chunky Tomato Sauce is adapted from Cooking Light, and it serves 8.
Indian Cuisine: Ground Meat Curry
For the main course, Minoo made a Ground Beef Curry for the Indian theme at the Caring Place Community Kitchen. I did not use beef on the title as most population in India are Hindus who do not eat beef. I do not want to be offensive. You can substitute the beef with other meat like chicken, turkey, lamb or pork.
This Ground Beef Curry is loaded with spices like turmeric, cinnamon, cumin seeds, coriander seeds and dried red chili flakes. Vania, a volunteer for the family services did a research on the benefits of eating spicy food and here are what she found out:
- spicy food helps to prevent degeneration of the brain and nervous system
- helps with prevention of depression and migraine
- helps increase metabolism which is an important factor in weight loss function
- use for pain and inflammation management
- good for blood circulation
- lower blood pressure
- cancer prevention (Capsaicin, an active component of chili peppers, attack and kill cancer cells
- improve digestion
- improve sleep pattern
Peruvian Cuisine: Potatoes Huancaina Style (Papas a La Huancaina)
The second dish which Erika shared with us is called Potatoes Huancaina Style (Papas a La Huancaina). It has a few similar ingredients as in the Chicken in Aji Sauce recipe. You can kill two birds with one stone for these dishes, i.e. prepare 2 dishes with common ingredients which helps to reduce preparation time.
The Potatoes Huancaina Style is relatively salty because we use feta cheese. You can reduce the saltiness by using a mixture of ricotta or cottage cheese with feta cheese.
Ingredients
- 2 to 5 aji amarillo fresco or fresh yellow aji peppers
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 3/4 cups (400g) farmers cheese (ricotta, cottage, or feta)
- 1/2 cup vegetable oil
- 2 hardboiled eggs
- 4 Spanish olives, pitted and cut in halves or quarters
- 2.2 lbs (1 kg) yellow flesh potatoes, boiled, peeled and sliced (use white potatoes if not available)
- lettuce for plating
- salt and pepper to taste
For this recipe, Erika used the Aji peppers in whole in a jar. Under normal circumstances, canned peppers tend to be hotter than fresh ones. Erika shared with us tips on how to reduce the heat of the peppers, especially if you are serving the dish for children. For those who cant find the aji peppers, you can replace it with sweet yellow peppers.
Peruvian Cuisine: Chicken in Aji Sauce (Aji De Gallina)
Erika Pereyra is a relatively new member of the South Arm Community Kitchen. We were glad that she’s sharing some of her favourite Peruvian dishes in the South Arm Community Kitchen. Erika shared with us that Peruvian cuisine has lots of influences from Spanish cuisine. One can also find a lot of Japanese and Chinese restaurants in Peru.
I bet you will never guess that Peruvian Cuisine has one of the most diverse in the world and is at the same level of cuisines of the Chinese, Indian, French and Spanish. Lima, the capital of Peru, is referred to as the “gastronomic capital of the Americas”.
The video above on Peruvian Cuisine is a bit long but I find it interesting that the country of Peru is so rich in gastronomic heritage. Did you know too that Peru is home to about 2000 types of potatoes? Peru accounts for 40% of all potato varieties in the world.
The first dish which Erika shared with us is called Chicken in Aji Sauce (Aji De Gallina). Aji is a kind of pepper, also known as Peruvian hot pepper.
The above are two types of Aji pepper which Erika introduced to us, one in the form of paste while another is whole. Erika told us that we can find Peruvian groceries in Killarney Market at 49th Ave East Vancouver. For the Chicken in Aji Sauce, we used Aji paste. More on following page. Click here to continue reading
Salade Nicoise
The South Arm Cooking Club for Seniors resumed for the fall season. We are glad to see Paul and Frank back in the kitchen after they recovered from some health issues. We also like to welcome Keiko and Chris who are new to the kitchen.
As usual, Charlene and Stella prepared a few delicious and healthy recipes for the seniors to participate in making and enjoying them for lunch. The first recipe is called Salade Nicoise from Charlene. This recipe serves 2 but we trippled it in the seniors’ kitchen.
The Salade Nicoise is a wonderfully balanced meal, offering vegetables, starches, and proteins all on one plate. This salad gets its name from a French seaside city of Nice where tuna is traditionally features in this salad.
Sydney and Frank made this Salade Nicoise.
Ingredients
- 2 red potatoes
- 6 oz. green beans (about two small fistfuls)
- 2 eggs
- 12 cherry tomatoes, slice into half
- 6 black or green olives, slice into half
- 7-oz. can top quality tuna
Dressing:
- 4 anchovies (optional)
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- salt and pepper to taste
P/S: missing ingredients in the photo include eggs, and dressing ingredients.
Wrinkled Potatoes (Papas Arrugadas)
This is another potato recipe from the Culinaria Spain book. I found the name quite interesting and decided to give it a try. It is also the season of nugget potatoes and it’s just the right potato for this recipe.
As the name suggests, the potatoes turned out looking wrinkled. It has a slightly salty taste on the skin and creamy soft inside. Arkensen enjoyed this and asked me to make it again for him. This is an easy and fast side dish to make, ready in less than 30 minutes.
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 lbs/1 kg small quick-cooking potatoes
- 1-2 tbsp coarse sea salt
