Recipe Time!

I've made two dishes in the past few weeks that I particularly enjoyed. The first was my take on the Canyon Creek Chophouse salad, which is itself a riff on the Italian Caprese salad. Instead of bland mozzarella, the salad is punched up with pungent and creamy blue cheese. I used a French blue, Bleu d'Auvergne, and along with some sweet onions, Ontario greenhouse tomatoes, and a raspberry dressing, it was delish. And in case you're wondering, I did take both the photos. I do love my digital camera.

INGREDIENTS:

• Red and yellow vine ripened tomatoes, at room temperature
  
• Bleu d'Auvergne cheese
• Vidalia onion
• Good quality raspberry vinaigrette
  
• Fresh chives

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Cut the tomatoes into thick slices with a serrated knife. Set aside.
  
• Slice the onion thinly into circles
• Place a layer of tomatoes across the bottom of your dish, using both colours. Layer with some onion, crumbled blue cheese, and a drizzle of dressing.
  
• Keep layering the ingredients until you've used them up and filled your dish.
  
• Top the salad with a few extra crumbles of cheese and some fresh chives. Serve at room temperature.

The second recipe that I loved is now officially called "Marilyn's Perogies". While at Mar & Blaise's for dinner, Marilyn made perogies that both shattered my expectations of what you could do with perogies, and tasted fantastic. Instead of plain old pan frying or boiling them, Marilyn cooked them from frozen in a yummy sauce made from Crown Royal, maple syrup and hot sauce. Amazing! Served with sour cream (one of life's great pleasures), they are fantastic.


INGREDIENTS:

• 1 large Vidalia or other sweet onion
• Salt & pepper
• Olive oil
• Cheese and potato perogies
• Crown Royal
• Maple syrup
• Hot sauce of your choice (I used Tobasco, Marilyn used Frank's)

INSTRUCTIONS:

• Heat a large frying pan over low heat with a splash of olive oil.
  
• Thinly slice the onion into half moons. Saute over low heat with salt & pepper for a long time, until soft and mushy.
  
• Turn up the heat to medium-high, and add your perogies (However many will reasonably fit in the pan with room for stirring.)
• Throw in a few good turns of Crown, a few drizzles of maple syrup, and a few dashes of hot sauce, to taste. I like them a fair bit spicy. Also add a glug of water to thin the sauce out a bit and give the perogies something to absorb while they cook.
  
• Cook until the sauce gets thick and glossy and the perogies are cooked through. If it seems as though the sauce is getting thick before the perogies are done, just add more water.
  
• Serve with sour cream, sweet corn and a green vegetable.
  

So there are my two fave recipes of the moment. The salad is summer incanate, and while the perogies seem quite wintery, we've had quite a few cool and blustery days so far this summer, so they've been quite welcome. And really tasty food has no season, right?