Judy's Corner

Recipes & more

Here are some photos and a short write-up on Wednesday's April 20th class: http://canadianspiritservices.com/blog-e/photos/photos-2011/april-2011-japanese-cooking/

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Sunomono Salad for 4 People

Ingredients:

80 grams of rice noodles
½ English cucumber
5 prawns
1 teaspoon of ginger juice (optional)

Dressing Ingredients:

4 tablespoons of white vinegar
3 tablespoons of white sugar
1 teaspoon of salt

Instructions:

1) Soak the rice noodles in water until the noodles are tender
2) Slice the cucumber into very thin slices. Add a pinch of salt to the slices and rub the salt into the slices
3) Defrost the prawns and peel them. Dice the prawns into small cubes and then boil the prawn cubes for 2 to 3 minutes
4) Add the dressing ingredients together in a bowl, and mix the dressing ingredients until the salt and sugar are dissolved
5) Squeeze the cucumber slices until all of the water is removed from the slices
6) Drain the rice noodles. Cut the rice noodles into 3 centimetre lengths
7) In a mixing bowl, add the cucumber slices, prawn cubes, rice noodles, ginger juice (ginger juice is optional), and dressing. Mix everything together and serve

Thank You,
Atsuko & Lester

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Submitted by Judy on Mon, 11/23/2009 - 16:53.
In her recent appetizer cooking class Karon was co-erced into sharing her famous cookie recipe with us.

Karon Danks Shortbread Recipe
1 cup butter (room temperature)
1/2 cup white sugar
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
Zest of half lemon
1 tsp of lavender flowers (dried food quality which Frances stocks)

Method: Preheat oven to 275 F Convection oven (300 F if regular oven)

* Place butter and sugar in mixing bowl of Kitchen Aid Stand mixer or other style of mixer.
Use beater attachment and mix until butter and sugar are white and fluffy.

*Add zest of lemon and flowers to mixture, and beat for another minute.

* Add flour and combine until all flour is incorporated. Do not mix any longer.

* Shape dough into a log shape and wrap in plastic wrap, or
parchment or foil. Place in fridge or freezer until ready to bake.
(Foil if you wish to keep in freezer, up to 3 months)

* When ready to bake, cut log into 1/4 inch thick slices and place
on baking sheet. Approx 12 - 15 cookies depending how thick or accurate
your slices are. Bake for 25 - 30 minutes.

* Cool on baking sheet and then transfer to airtight container to keep fresh.Will keep fresh for approx. 2 - 3 weeks.

Other flavour options: Add Cinnamon and ginger for Christmas 1/2 teaspoon of each
or 1/4 of chopped nuts or 1/4 chopped lemon and orange peel OR ANYTHING THAT TAKES YOUR IMAGINATION !!!!! Have fun with the recipe

Samplin’ Saturdays
The past few weeks we have been working our way through a few of those many bottles and packages in the comestible section to decide just what we want to serve to our guests over the holidays.

Two weeks ago I conjured up the popular spinach dip in the bread basket which we all remember. We used the Gourmet Du Village Leek and Spinach Dip. Following the directions on the package we mixed it with the sour cream and mayonnaise. We added frozen spinach which we melted for a few minutes in the microwave. You have to dry thoroughly squeezing in paper towel. We added canned water chestnuts which we flushed to remove the brine etc in the tin and mixed well presenting it in the sourdough bread. You first remove most of the bread leaving a liner of bread to contain the dip. Bread the bread into chunks and serve by dipping the bread bits into the dip.

Last week we made two different Gourmet Du Village Cheese Balls. The first was a mild curry to which we added mango chutney (to the required ingredients) and rolled the log in poppy seed which were in the package. The second was an onion dip to which we added diced ham and rolled in toasted onions. We served them with rice crackers. We have a wonderful variety of these crackers. They are crisp and don’t
contain any gluten which we are finding that a lot of people are allergic to these days.

Sure is great having the majority of the seasonings in the package and to have to add so little to make a very tasty dip. Come and explore our gourmet section and if there is a particular one that you want us to make up on Samplin’ Saturday – just ask!

These colourful packages and bottles make wonderful stocking stuffers or hostess gifts and they are made in Canada – what could be better! They have a wonderful web site with many other recipe suggestions.