Tag Archives: dinner

Grilled Squid and Baby Octopus on Purple Cabbage Salad with Lemon

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GrilledSquidandBabyOctopus

Gen likes to buy new and exciting ingredients and then leave me to figure out what to do with them. Unlike the mussel situation of a month ago (delicious mussel situation, don’t get me wrong), Gen did not buy an incredible amount of squid and octopus, so I wasn’t pressured to cook an insane amount all in one shot. We invited our wonderful friends over for food and some gaming and I went to work marinating, chopping (including my finger again, sigh), and grilling. The wild thing is, seafood is super easy to prepare, no need to be intimidated by these ‘exotic’ creatures, a little marinade and some heat go a long way. I used two different marinades and I loved the combination, the squid was slightly spicy (sorry Tobias!) and the octopus was just touched with a little citrus. I whipped up a lemon-olive oil dressing that I used to top the salads to tie the flavours together and give the cabbage a little brightness. You can easily serve the seafood on top of rice or pasta, but I’ve included my salad recipe below, once again it is all about cabbage and full of colour!

Citrus Baby Octopus

From Mark’s Daily Apple

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 pounds baby octopus (Go to Mark’s Daily Apple for instructions on how to prepare your octopus, if you have more than legs)
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • juice of 1 large lemon
  • 3 garlic cloves, minced
  • 10 sprigs of fresh thyme
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon black pepper

DIRECTIONS

  1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper. Pour into a large ziploc bag and set aside.
  2. In a medium pot over high heat, bring 5 cups of water to a boil. Turn the heat off and dump the octopuses into the pot.
  3. Let the octopus sit in the pot for 1 minute and then drain immediately. Rinse well with cold water.
  4. Add the octopus to the marinade bag, tossing to coat. Allow to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
  5. Turn your grill to high (we have a countertop grill, only one setting, HIGH).
  6. Grill for about 6 minutes, turning halfway. Remove from heat and serve warm over salad, or allow to cool to serve.

 

Grilled Spicy Squid

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 lb squid tubes, fresh or frozen (mine were clean and frozen from Superstore, if you can only find full squid there are many sites out there with cleaning tips)
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp coarse salt
  • 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
  • 1/4 red chili pepper flakes
  • 1/2 tsp onion powder
  • 1 tsp garlic, minced

DIRECTIONS

  1. Rinse your squid tubes, slice down one side to open, and lay out on a clean dish towel or layered paper towels, pat until quite dry.
  2. Cut the squid into 1/2 inch strips and toss in a large bowl.
  3. In a small bowl, stir together the spices.
  4. Drizzle the olive oil over the squid and toss to coat.
  5. Sprinkle the spices over the oiled squid and toss until every piece is spiced. Cover and allow to sit in the fridge until you are ready to grill.
  6. Turn the grill on high, lay pieces of squid on the grill and allow to cook for 2-3 minutes per side. Some of your pieces may curl up while cooking, that’s alright!
  7. Serve over salad!

 

Lemon Dressing to serve over seafood

INGREDIENTS

  • juice of one lemon
  • 1/2 cup of olive oil
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1/4 tsp ground cumin
  • 1/4 tsp fresh rosemary, minced (*optional)

DIRECTIONS

  1. Whisk together all ingredients in a small bowl, drizzle over seafood, salad, anything!

 

Cabbage Salad

INGREDIENTS

  • 1/2 head of purple cabbage, thinly sliced
  • 3 stalks of celery, thinly sliced
  • 1 red pepper, thinly sliced
  • 1/2lb green beans, quartered

DIRECTIONS

  1. Toss together all ingredients in a large bowl, drizzle with preferred dressing and enjoy a crunchy, awesome salad!
Beautiful little octopus legs.

Beautiful little octopus legs.

Bright, fresh ingredients.

Bright, fresh ingredients.

Sliced squid tubes.

Sliced squid tubes.

Par boiled and ready to be grilled.

Par boiled and ready to be grilled.

Squid strips.

Squid strips.

Grilling away, my tester batch.

Grilling away, my tester batch.

Cabbage Roll Casserole (I know, I know, another cabbage post!)

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Cabbagerollcasserole

Sorry guys, I am in a cabbagey place lately and this is just another cabbage-loving creation. I can promise you something super sweet and amazing for Wednesday (it is the Food Blogger Cookie post), so if you are hating on the cabbage, wait until then for a switch up. BUT, if you are down with awesome cabbage-loving dishes, scroll on down and get all up in this recipe. Kel and I are something like 25% Ukrainian and have always taken pride in cooking up great Ukrainian dishes (like Kel’s Chicken Paprikash), in particular we try to get together once a year to make up a huge batch of perogies and cabbage rolls to split (look forward to this post after Christmas). But, when this supplies runs out, immediately after Christmas, they are too good to keep, I have to come up with quick alternatives that offer the same flavours. This one-pot wonder is easy and delicious and makes a batch big enough for a family, or great for many lunches.

Cabbage Roll Casserole

INGREDIENTS

  • 3 lbs ground beef
  • 1 tbsp coconut oil (or olive)
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp pepper
  • 1/2 tsp thyme
  • 1/2 tsp oregano
  • 1/4 tsp onion powder
  • 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes *optional
  • 1 tsp garlic, minced
  • 1/2 head of cabbage, roughly chopped (about 4 cups raw)
  • 1/2 cup strained tomatoes (I used Pomi, it is essentially nothing-added tomato sauce, feel free to substitute your own brand, or 2 minced tomatoes)
  • 3 tbsp cream cheese
  • 1/2 cup cheddar, shredded

DIRECTIONS

  1. In a large pot over medium-high heat, melt the coconut oil and brown your ground beef. Break up the meat as it cooks to get an even crumble.
  2. Add the spices to the meat and stir well to evenly distribute.
  3. Create a well in the centre of your pot (move the meat to the sides) and add your garlic. Allow to cook for 5 minutes over medium heat, until fragrant.
  4. Add the cabbage and tomato to the pot and stir well to combine. Dollop the cream cheese on top of the mixture, cover with a lid and cook everything for 15 minutes, until the cabbage is tender.
  5. Stir the, now softened, cream cheese into the meat and cabbage mixture, taste and adjust spices if needed.
  6. Sprinkle the mixture with the cheddar cheese and allow to melt before serving.
  7. Serve alone or over rice. Top with a dollop of sour cream of creme fraiche.
Ah cabbage, my current love.

Ah cabbage, my current love.

Cheese to round it out!

Cheese to round it out!

Creamy Cauliflower & Cabbage Soup

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CreamyCauliflowerSoup

This soup is creamy, buttery, thick, and delicious. I have been on a weird cabbage kick lately and here we go. This soup is awesome and hearty and can be easily veganized by omitting the dairy (or switching for vegan versions), it will still be amazing. The recipe makes a lot so you will have meals for days, or for a group. I served this up with a sprinkle of cayenne and some sausage on the side. You will see I’ve suggested that the cabbage and cauliflower can be any size, the measurements can be adjusted for different amounts of veggies (it’s hard to hunt down a particular size of veggies).

Creamy Cauliflower & Cabbage Soup

INGREDIENTS

  • 1 head of cabbage (any size), roughly chopped
  • 1 head of cauliflower (any size), roughly chopped
  • 1/4 cup butter
  • 1 tsp ground black pepper
  • 1/2 tsp salt
  • 5 cups of chicken broth (or more, to almost cover the veg)
  • 1/2 tsp cumin
  • 1/4 cup heavy cream
  • 1/2 cup crumbled feta
  • paprika or cayenne to sprinkle

DIRECTIONS

  1. In a very large pot melt the butter. Sauté the cabbage over medium-high heat until softened and somewhat translucent. 
  2. Add the cauliflower to the pot, sprinkle with pepper, salt, and cumin.
  3. Pour the both into the pot until you’ve just about covered the veggies.
  4. Bring to a boil. Then lower heat and allow the soup to simmer for an hour until everything is very tender.
  5. Using an immersion blender, blend up the soup until smooth.
  6. Add crumbled feta and cream to the smooth soup, and cook for another 10 minutes.
  7. Serve in a large bowl and sprinkle with either paprika or cayenne.
Ready to cook down.

Ready to cook down.

Pre-blending.

Pre-blending.

This cabbage looked lovely inside.

This cabbage looked lovely inside.

Comfort food at its finest, Baked Eggs

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Ah, I can believe I neglected to write something about these delicious eggs. They are easy to throw together and the ingredient options are endless, I am thinking of sautéing some spinach with garlic and sausage next time instead of the ground beef. Make these and be happy!

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Easy Curry Chicken Thighs

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Here’s the background to the creation of this dish. I asked my wonderful husband to take out two chicken breasts in the morning because I had forgotten to when I went to work. He smartly took out three because they looked small and they were defrosted by the time I got home. Awesome. The only problem was that they were bone-in skin-on chicken thighs and they were really small. So I took out three more, defrosted them quickly and got to pan searing them before baking in a delicious curry and coconut milk bath. They turned out most excellently and would be great served over steamed veggies and rice. This recipe takes just 15 minutes to whip up and spends about 40 minutes in the oven, so you have lots of time to do other things, like enjoy a glass of wine.

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