Dear Australia, I present to you: Sloppy Joes

Sometimes you just need something easy. Easy to make, easy to eat, and especially easy to clean up. My go-to easy meal is usually some kind of burger. Meat, bread, toppings, done. But my lack of an outdoor grill turns this "easy" option into a big, greasy, set-off-my-fire alarm, kind of mess. Option 2? Another one of my favourite comfort foods: Sloppy Joes! I'm not sure if they're very well known outside of Canada and the US, and I have to admit my mum never made them when I was a kid either, but these delicious, and as their name would suggest, sloppy, sandwiches finally found their way into my life when I was living in Vancouver.

I was a culinary student living in a huge shared house in Kits with 15 of my best friends. Life was great, but Sundays were the BEST. Why do you ask? Because of our family dinners! And Steph's Sloppy Joes definitely set it off. I remember growing up, there was an ad for a product called "Manwich" that was on tv constantly. Weird right? Does it stand for manly sandwich? Who knows. I was never sure if it was a can full of just the sauce, or the meat too. Anyways, the idea of canned mince kind of grossed me out, so I never tried one. It wasn't until I ate Steph's home made version that I realized, duh, its just mince with tomato sauce on a bun. No can necessary. In fact, doing it completely from scratch means you can make it taste even better!

So ever since then, whenever I'm too tired for anything fancy and just want to dig into something so so so so good, this is what I make. But don't worry, this isn't just your run-of-the-mill Sloppy Joe recipe. I'm never too tired to put delicious finishing touches on things :D

Easy oven fries: bake with salt, pepper, olive oil at 225C turning twice until golden and crispy 20-25 min

My Sloppy Joes

For the filling:

500 g beef mince

1 large onion

4 cloves garlic

2 carrots, shredded

1 celery stalk, finely chopped

1 cup any combination of vegetables, pureed in a food processor (I used zucchini, pumpkin, and spinach)

2 small cans pureed tomato

1 tbsp honey

salt and pepper

1 bay leaf

1 tbsp paprika

In a heavy-bottomed pot, sear and break apart the mince until it is a lovely dark brown. Don't move it around too much. Let one side caramelize nicely before mixing it around. This is the hottest temperature and driest environment you will get you beef on so this is the only chance you will have to caramelize. Once liquid goes into the pot there is too much liquid to allow for caramelization. Once that is done, add the onion, garlic, carrots, celery, and vegetable puree. Cook 10 minutes until everything is soft. Add the remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer. Cook on low for as long as you have patience for. The longer you cook it the more tender the final result and the more developed the flavour. Plus, if you cook it for a longer amount of time, you are allowing yourself more time to evaporate liquid meaning you are allowed to add more flavourful liquid into the dish! Rich beef stock? Deep, dry, red wine? Yum! As long as you cook the moisture out of the final product, add as much flavouring as you'd like! I cooked mine for about 3 hours.

You want your filling to stand up on its own when slopped onto a bun. Not quite as loose as spaghetti sauce. But don't worry if your face looks like this after dinner. There's no avoiding it.

I don't know this baby, but the other picture option was of a man eating a sloppy joe. His picture made me lose my appetite, so I chose the happy baby :)

For the rolls:

6 crispy rolls

2 cloves garlic

3 tbsp butter

2 tbsp chopped parsley

Salt and Pepper

This is a step not to be missed. It is the ultimate finishing touch. DO NOT SKIP! It's so easy and will make a world of difference to your dinner.

In a bowl, combine the garlic and butter. Microwave (or if you don't like to use microwaves do this step in a pot) until the butter is melted completely. Now add the parsley and seasoning. Slice your rolls in half. Brush each halved roll with garlic butter (you can even make MORE garlic butter if you want!) and arrange cut side up on a baking tray. Grill on high heat until they are golden brown and crispy, about 5 minutes. Keep a close eye on these because they can go from beautifully toasted to burnt in a few seconds. And then you will have to eat your delicious Sloppy Joes on the sliced bread you keep in your freezer, while still inhaling the aromatic burnt toast smell coming from your garbage can.

So that's it! Beautifully toasted garlic rolls? Check. Yummy (and secretly healthy) Sloppy Joes? Check. Just serve with some oven fries and homemade coleslaw, and you have a little slice of my kind of heaven.

Take a look at these glorious left-overs!

Showing off!

Okay, so this post is less of a recipe blog, and more of me showing off all the hard work I've been doing lately!

I recently became the new mother to a beautiful ice cream churn. And while I normally keep a healthy affectionate distance from all my kitchen appliances, this one has got a pull on me! Who couldn't help but fall in love with the machine that helps create this:

A strawberry ice cream SNOWMAN!

I am living through the most temperate winter of my life. It's a beautiful and sunny 16C outside today, and it's the middle of winter! I still can't get over it. I grew up making snowmen 5 months of the year, and now the only way I'll see snow is when I make it myself. Hence the inspiration to make my snowman. And the best part about this little guy? You get to eat the whole thing without having to worry about the "yellow snow" :D

So that strawberry ice cream was a definite success. And I'm sorry but I'm not sharing my recipe. A girl's got to have a few secrets!

Next up was my deep dark chocolate ice cream. And honestly, when working with ingredients this beautiful, there's no other option than complete, blissful, chocolate heaven.

Dark Callebaut Chocolate

When I make fruity ice creams (like my fresh strawberry) I like to keep the base light so that the natural flavours of the fruit shine. But for this chocolate recipe I enrich my base with egg yolks, giving the base a luscious and creamy consistency perfect for melting chocolate into.

Being the good baker I am, I always measure out all my ingredients before even starting the recipe. This one took me a bit by surprise because once I'd measured everything out and taken a step back to survey my work, I quickly realized that there couldn't possibly be enough chocolate compared to the amount of dairy in the recipe! My measly pile of chocolate standing up against those full measuring cups of milk and cream looked like David and TWO Goliaths!

I just couldn't let my first chocolate ice cream recipe turn out not chocolate-y enough. So I took matters into my own hands and did what anyone else in my 'home alone ice cream maker' position would have done. I doubled the amount. And this is what happened.

Chocolate was always my favourite banana split flavour...

Well, the banana split didn't "just happen"... but I'll get to that next. This ice cream is so chocolate-y and sinfully delicious. It is rich and surprisingly not too sweet. And the real kicker? Right before it was finished churning, I swirled some peanut butter into it! Sweet baby Jesus. Best decision ever.

So, back to the making of the banana split. While I was warming up my ice cream scoop to take this picture, and eating my "mistake ice cream balls" I heard (and I swear I'm not making this up) Elvis's Blue Christmas. Yes, I do listen to Christmas songs when I'm home alone. Well anyways, I don't know if you got the connection as quickly as I did, but I immediately dropped my spoon and gathered everything I'd need for my Elvis banana split masterpiece. Banana, chocolate peanut butter ice cream, crushed peanuts, drizzle of honey, the only thing it's missing? Some crumbled up crispy bacon, mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Drooling yet?

Well if you aren't, that's okay. I did a photo shoot. Enjoy!

Is this my best angle?

How about this?

I think I like this one best!

Mum will be so proud: Dinner with Okra

I've never been a fussy eater. Some may think my dad's 'eat what your mother puts in front of you or don't eat at all' approach is a bit harsh, but it definitely gets the job done! Even as a kid I just couldn't skip a meal, no matter how gross I made it up in my mind to be. I guess it's lucky I became a chef rather than an accountant. If I wasn't running around and exercising at my job all day, I'd be a 300 pound pencil pusher! Imagine that, haha :D

Anyways, getting to the point, I grew up eating everything my parents ate for dinner (well with the exception of fried livers... my dad showed us kids a little mercy). However, as we grew up, clever kids that we were, we began to notice a potential loop hole in the rule. Anything that both parents ate, we had to eat as well. But what if it was something that only our mum ate? Game off! We were free to side with whichever parent we wanted to. Mwahaha. And the one thing that fell into this category? Okra.

 My dad hates okra. He says its slimy and furry and weird and he won't eat it. And what kid is going to eat something like that? No kid that's who. I don't think I even tried it.

It wasn't until I ate a delicious gumbo at my favourite Southern restaurant in Eugene, Papa's Soul Food, that I discovered okra could be my friend. Well after a few years experimenting with it, and a delicious roasted lamb with okra in Greece this past summer, it is now on my list. It's not always around, so I always get really excited when I see it at farmers markets.

Well last week was my week! I saw it from across the market. A humungous, green, beautiful pile of it. Roasting it in the oven with potatoes, green beans, and chicken makes it a delicious and healthy one pan meal. Serve with a hunk of bread and feta cheese... my mouth is watering already!

Don't think you like something? Well when was the last time you tried it?

Oven Roasted Chicken with Okra

1 whole chicken, cut into 8 pieces

500 g okra

500 g green beans, ends trimmed

4 waxy potatoes, cut into bite-sized pieces

salt, pepper, oregano

1/4 cup olive oil

1 onion, fine dice

3 cloves garlic, mashed to a paste

1 celery stalk, fine dice

400 g tinned tomatoes

3 tbsp chopped parsley

 

On medium high heat, sear the chicken pieces skin side down until some fat has melted out. Flip and sear all sides of the chicken until they are nice and brown but not cooked all the way through. Place the chicken in a large roasting pan. Scatter the okra, green beans, and potatoes around the chicken. Season with salt, pepper, and oregano.

I forgot I added halved mushrooms too!

 In the same pan you seared the chicken in, add the olive oil and onion on low heat. This may look like a lot of oil, but don't worry, extra virgin olive oil is good for you and it won't be greasy I promise. Once the onion looks soft and translucent, add the garlic and celery. Cook for 5 minutes then add the tomatoes and chopped parsley. If using whole tomatoes, blend them before adding to the pan. You want a nice tomato sauce. Cook this for 10 minutes until it looks like it's come together nicely.

For homemade tomato puree, just blend 400 g fresh tomatoes with parsley (and I added mint)

Pour the tomato sauce over the chicken and okra evenly. Shake the pan a bit to make sure the sauce is everywhere and then put it in a 180C oven for about 45 minutes until everything is cooked, browned, and smells delicious!

Now all that's left to do is let rest 5 minutes before digging in, bread in one hand feta in the other!

It may not be beautiful, but it is SO GOOD. Don't forget to use the bread to mop up all the delicious sauce at the end!

"Glendi" Greek for celebration!

It's that time of year again! Summer is finally here (back home that is!) and the Greek Festivals have begun! You're always in for an awesome time when surrounded by great food, music, and people. Especially when those people dress up their adorable little kids in traditional costumes and get them to perform dances!!

Just look at how cute they are! Who could resist?!

I still remember spending my summers as a kid learning the dances to perform, helping make baklava, and laughing at the expression on the faces of first-time Greek coffee drinkers! (If you haven't ever tried Greek coffee now is your chance!)

Kicking off this year's string of festivities is the one and only Glendi Greek Festival! From July 19th-21st Beaverton, Oregon's St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church will be holding their 5th annual Greek Festival <http://www.glendigreekfestival.com/> and I'm so gutted not to be there. It'll be a fun way to spend a day and who knows, maybe you'll be the one to win the trip to Greece! I can already hear the Greek Islands calling your name...

Unfortunately I don't get to enter the raffle because at this moment I am on the other side of the world, impatiently waiting for Sydney's Greek Festival to come! That being said I'll never pass up the opportunity to blog a Greek recipe, so here I go. One of my favourite dishes to get at the Greek Festival, well, apart from the Loukoumades... but no one can resist those... is the Bougatsa!

And what a great way to use my lone vanilla bean, quietly waiting in my cupboard for his day to speckle :)

I've done a little research and although everyone says their village/island/mother makes it best, my favourite recipe comes from the island of Corfu on the western side of Greece. I like it best still warm in the middle 20 minutes out of the oven. It is great any time of day as a snack or dessert, but Greeks definitely like their sweets and in Greece it is most often eaten as breakfast! Shove off Weet-Bix, I have bougasta!

Bougatsa

And take a look at those VANILLA SEEDS!!

8 sheets phyllo dough
1/2 cup melted butter
2 eggs
1/2 cup fine semolina
2/3 cup white sugar
4 cups whole milk
1 vanilla bean
1 tbsp cold butter






To start with, make sure your phyllo dough is completely defrosted. I take mine from the freezer and keep it in the fridge overnight to be extra sure everything defrosts nice and slowly.

Next in a big bowl beat the eggs with the semolina and sugar until evenly combined.

Take the vanilla bean and cut it in half lengthways. Using the back of a small knife scrape the seeds into a large heavy-bottomed pot with all the milk. Throw the beans in the pot too because they still have flavour! Heat up the milk with the vanilla bean until just before it boils (that's called scalding the milk).

At this point ladle the hot milk into the egg mixture one spoon at a time to temper the eggs. Once you have 3/4 of the milk mixed with the eggs you can dump everything back together in the pot. Over medium low heat, constantly stirring with a heat-proof rubber spatula, bring the mixture up to a boil and boil for 30 seconds. At this point your filling should be quite thick and look like this:

Turn off the heat and all that's left to do is add the cold butter to the custard. I chop it up into about 4 small cubes. The butter needs to be cold at this stage. This technique adds a richness and velvety texture to the custard without giving it a greasy mouth-feel.

Pour your filling into a bowl and cover the surface directly with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming. Place it in the fridge and chill until completely cool.

Once your filling is cool you can start to work your phyllo dough! Now I'll admit that phyllo isn't traditionally used for bougatsa. It's more like a handmade puff pastry than phyllo dough, but this is my dessert and this is how I like it best so that's how I do it :) I just can't resist the crispy crunchy flakiness of phyllo!

All you have to do is layer one sheet of phyllo, brushed with melted butter, one sheet of phyllo, brushed with melted butter, etc. until you get to the last sheet of phyllo which doesn't need butter because it's going to hold the filling!

Plop it on in a rectangle. Brush the edges of the pastry with butter to help seal it, and fold it up into a nice and neat package.

I score the top of mine, not all the way through to the filling, because it gives the phyllo pastry even more room to flake up during baking. Transfer your masterpiece to a parchment lined baking tray and bake at 375F for 35-45 minutes until the phyllo looks golden brown and the bottom is cooked through. No room for undercooked soggy phyllo in my kitchen!

Take it out of the oven, sprinkle with equal parts cinnamon and confectioner's sugar, and you have a delicious, and surprisingly not too sweet treat! Beautiful isn't it?!?!

I use a super sharp serrated bread knife to cut mine so that the phyllo doesn't shatter and the filling stays nice and neat inside the pastry, not sploodged out the sides.

And want to know the best way to have it? Drizzled with honey of course!

Don't you just want to take that drop of honey off with your finger? Sometime I even surprise myself with my food styling! haha

So keep your weekend free and spend some time celebrating and soaking in the happiness at the Glendi Greek Festival next weekend! Mention you read this blog and see if you can get one token off the price of a BOUGATSA! It's worth a try :)

I can make cookies EVEN BETTER

What's better than cookies do you ask? Ice cream sandwiches!

And guess what else? Summer is just around the corner! Well, maybe not technically, but after the amazing weekend we had (including a whole day spent on the beach!!) I can feel it coming.

And while I may be 7 months late in saying this, I've decided on my new year's resolution. I'm going to take more (calculated) risks, try and relax a little more, and find more ways to enjoy Australia for the time that I'm here. Sounds easy while I'm typing it out... let's see how I go!

Calculated risk #1? Well I'm not sure I'm ready to share it online just yet... but let's just say I'll be doing a lot of experimenting with cookie and ice cream recipes!

This was my first ice cream sandwich. I made it a few weeks ago with actually no intention of turning it into a sandwich. I made these double chocolate cranberry cookies and a few days later as I was soaking in the sun on our balcony I remembered we had a tub of ice cream in the freezer! My new baby was born (figuratively speaking of course). I made these sandwiches B.C.: before churn :) so I just used a store bought chocolate ripple vanilla ice cream. But I just finished my first successful batch of homemade fresh strawberry ice cream and will be posting that soon!

The first thing I've learned about ice cream sandwiches is how important it is that both elements (cookie + ice cream) are the same degree of frozen! I made up a few quick sandwiches last night and put them in the freezer. But they were only in there for about 10 minutes. Being the perfect temperature to freeze the cookie crunchy but leave the ice cream too soft and squishy. Resulting in a delicious, yet messy snack. I'm still working on a cookie recipe that stays soft and chewy even when frozen. Any tips?

These may be my favourite double chocolate cookies. The edges are a little crispy, but for the most part these cookies are soft, dense, and chewy. And the dried cranberries add a burst of sweet/tart goodness in every bit.

For the sandwiches, I would recommend making and eating immediately. These cookies lose their dense chewy texture when frozen. So if you're in the mood for a quick and delicious treat, make a batch of these cookies, squish them together with one of your favourite ice creams, and enjoy!

Double Chocolate Cranberry Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 tbsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup dried cranberries

In a large mixing bowl cream the butter with both sugars. Beat in the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. Add the vanilla.

In another bowl combine all the dry ingredients with the chocolate chips and cranberries.

Mix together the contents of both bowls until just combined. Chill dough for at least 30 minutes, or overnight.

Once ready to bake, preheat your oven to 170F. Shape the cookies by tablespoonful and bake 8-10 minutes until the sides are just cooked and feel slightly crispy. It's best to err on the undercooked rather than overcooked side of things.

Ice cream sandwich anyone??

Be Mine, Cinnamon Bun

Finally! A beautiful, sunny day in Sydney :) After what felt like months of grey skies and rain (isn't this why I LEFT Vancouver??) I was finally able to put on my sun glasses and go for a walk.

Oh! And I haven't mentioned my big news! As of today, I am officially self-employed! Exciting day today. I am now 100% devoted to my new catering company Catering 4 You! Business cards and website are soon to come, but please contact me at christine.amanatidis@gmail.com if you are in the Sydney area looking for any type of catering. Private dinner parties, birthday parties, office functions, baked goods, I do it all! You can check out some pictures of my catering work on the tab labelled Catering 4 You in this blog right beside the home tab.

But enough advertising (for now), back to the blog. Everyday these past two weeks while I trudged through the wet streets of Sydney dodging puddles and trying to avoid buses+potholes, I day dreamed of the warm water and white sand beaches of the summer time. Lying in the sun, playing beach volleyball, snorkeling, my list of favourite summer time activities could go on forever... But you know what? I think sometimes we forget how much fun winter can be as well! It's easy to get bogged down by rain and lack of sun, but I've got a few tricks that help keep me going even through the REALLY rainy weeks. Want to know my #1 trick? Cooking something yummy, delicious, can't just eat one, won't regret even after eating 3. Can you guess what? Cinnamon buns!

Crispy tops, sticky icing, and the dough has an almost brioche-like quality... SO GOOD.

There's something magical in these wonderful crispy/soft/chewy/spicy/sweet little gems. It's just so hard to explain! The outsides are crispy, and the insides are soft, tender, fluffy, and chewy all at the same time. But once you roll these babies up with a delicious brown sugar cinnamon butter filling, your options haven't run out yet! Will you bake and then drizzle with cream cheese frosting? Or bake in the stickiest, most delicious concoction I've ever discovered?... thanks Aunt Gladi! Ah! You'll just have to make a few different batches of these and find out which combination is your favourite!

For this posting I topped mine with cream cheese frosting. I'm just not sure if I'm ready to give up my sticky cinnamon bun recipe yet! For now your only option will be to come visit and eat them here :)

Just one word of warning. I would err on the smaller/more rolls side rather than making 12 giant rolls. Each roll should be one serving. There's no point splitting one in half and sharing it, because the best part (the very very centre of the roll) is just too small to share and you'll most definitely end up fighting over it!

Cinnamon Buns

Dough: 1/2 cup warm water
1 cup warm milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup sugar
2 tsp salt
2 egg
5+ cups flour
2 tsp yeast
1/4 cup softened butter

Filling: softened butter
brown sugar
cinnamon


In a large mixing bowl, combine the warm water and milk (should be ever so slightly above body temperature) with the oil, sugar, salt, and eggs.

Mix together the flour and yeast so that they are evenly combined. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix until you get a soft and sticky dough. Now knead in the softened butter until the dough comes together. Add any extra flour necessary to get a soft and not sticky dough. Knead this dough for 5-10 minutes until smooth.

Put your dough ball in an oiled bowl covered with plastic wrap and place in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes, or until doubled in size. 

It should look like this after it's rise

Now is the point where you can decide on the quality of your rolls. If you have time, repeat this step two more times, kneading the dough and developing a little more gluten each time. This results in a soft and chewy texture that I absolutely love. But if you don't have the time for the multiple rises and punch downs, you can skip straight to shaping your rolls after the first rise. This will still give you delicious cinnamon buns, but their final texture will be lighter and more fluffy.

After your dough has finished rising (either just the one time or three times) it is time to shape your buns (hehe). This was the stage I was always mesmerized with when I was a little kid watching the people at Saint Cinnamon's through the glass. Effortlessly rolling out the dough (this dough is super soft and easy to work with) then using their hands to smear butter and cinnamon sugar all over, no one can resist!

Roll out your dough to a rectangle. If you think you won't be able to handle this amount of dough in one rectangle, just make two instead! This will make it easier for you to divide between two pans anyways.

First spread the softened butter

Next add a generous amount of cinnamon brown sugar (about 1 tbsp cinnamon per cup of sugar)

Roll up carefully and cut!

Roll lengthways, so you get a long roll. And don't worry about making it too tight either. It's actually important that you roll the dough just tight enough, because if you roll it too tightly once it's baked the centres will pop up and give your rolls a funny shape. The same lightness of hand is required for slicing the rolls as well. Using a very sharp serrated knife, cut the rolls without pressing or squishing anything. You want nice circles, not frisbees okay?

Now take your nicely sliced rolls and place them in a baking dish lined with parchment paper to ensure each roll comes out perfectly.

It may not look like they fit, but just wait until their final rise....

Poof! Like magic, after 30 minutes in a warm place covered with a tea towel you get a pan bursting with cinnamon roll-y goodness :)

Now all that's left to do is bake in a 175C oven for 20-30 minutes until they are golden brown and your house smells like you're trying to sell it (did you know real estate agents use cinnamon scent to make a house seem more cozy and inviting?)

They look a bit naked... Cream cheese frosting anyone?!

To top these babies off, just mix an equal amount of softened butter with softened cream cheese. Add enough powdered sugar (it takes a lot of powdered sugar) to get the desired consistency, and finish off with a splash of vanilla extract. Easy peesy!

Use as much or as little frosting as you like. After I took this artsy fartsy photo I put about a cup more frosting ontop :)

And don't forget what I told you about the middle! So simple, so delicious, SO MANY more ways to make them! Apple, chocolate chip, pulled pork! Ah! This won't be my only cinnamon roll post :)