Category Archives: WIAW

What I Ate Wednesday: Jamie Oliver

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My favourite chef is Jamie Oliver. Hands down. I love his cookbooks, all of his TV shows, cookware and how he inspires others to eat healthy via Jamie’s Food Revolution.  One of the most shocking moments of this show for me, was when Jamie went into an elementary school in the USA and the children couldn’t differentiate vegetables:

I could not even imagine not knowing what basic vegetables are at the age of six. Jamie took on the task of educating the world on obesity. He won the TED Prize after he presented this speech at the annual TED Conference where he received his One Wish To Save The World:

On these rainy days that we have been getting, I love to turn to pasta as a comfort food. Jamie has the most delicious pasta recipe that I LOVE to make! I have turned turned non-pasta lovers into “Can I eat whatever is left in the pot?!” With this one!

JAMIE’S ITALIAN’S ASPARAGUS FETTUCCINE
Serves 4

INGREDIENTS
• Extra-virgin olive oil

• 1 small onion, finely diced
• 1 small stick of celery, diced
• 1 medium courgette, finely diced
• 1 small leek, white part only, diced
• 16 stalks of asparagus, tips reserved, stalks thinly sliced
• A small handful of basil leaves
• 300ml vegetable stock
• 1 garlic clove
• 400g fresh or dried fettuccine
• 50g finely grated parmesan cheese
• Pea shoots, to serve

DIRECTIONS

Add 4 tsp olive oil to a heavy-based pan over a low heat and sweat onion and celery until soft. Add courgette, leek and asparagus stalks and sweat for a further 2–3 minutes. Add most of the basil leaves and when they wilt, add the stock, then simmer until veg are tender. Remove from the heat and, using a hand blender or food processor, blend till creamy. In another frying pan over a low heat, add a little oil and cook garlic till soft, then add the asparagus sauce and simmer for 2 minutes.

Boil a pan of salted water. Cook fettuccine, and 3 minutes before it’s done, add the asparagus tips. When fettuccine is al dente, drain, reserving a little cooking water, and add to the asparagus sauce. Loosen the pasta and sauce with cooking water, as needed. Stir in remaining basil, and serve with parmesan and pea shoots.


Happy Wednesday, friends!

What I Ate Wednesday

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Now that I have officially became a foodie, I decided to start making my own “What I Ate Wednesday” posts that Lindsay does on her blog COTTER CRUNCH. I also have a love for the show Come Dine With Me. I have had quite a few conversations with my friends on how we should start our very own version of the show. Call me modest but I think I have a good chance at scoring some tens. If you have absolutely no idea what I am talking about, you can watch all of the episodes online HERE. Consider this your warning– it will be your newest obsession!

Today’s delicious meal is steak, sweet potato fries, with pan-roasted carrots. Nom, nom, nom!

That delicious steak was marinated in Montreal steak rub and then I cooked it’s AAA grade self on the BBQ. It’s not much of a secret because this steak rub actually came from a little company called “Club House.” If I ever discover how to make a mean steak marinade- you know I will fill you in! Or if you have a recipe- pleeeeease fill me in!

You may have noticed that I like my steaks medium-well done. Don’t worry, EVERYONE makes fun of me for this. So obviously, you can too. I can’t help it. I don’t like blood coming out of my food when I am eating it. It grosses me out. And to be fair- my steak was still very juicy and tender in the middle. To me it was perfectly delicious. I’m ready to be criticized, I can take it.

For my yummy carrots I had some help from Gordon Ramsay:

Pan-Roasted Carrots Recipe:

•2 Sprigs of rosemary 
•Small handful of thyme sprigs 
•1 Garlic clove 
•500g medium sized carrots, peeled and trimmed (1 lb) (I used freshly frozen round carrots)
•2 tbsp olive oil 
•Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper 
•Knob of Butter (I use Olive Oil Margarine)


Bring a pan of water to the boil with the rosemary, thyme and garlic. Boil the carrots in the water for 3 minutes to soften slightly, then drain and pat dry. Heat the oil in a large non-stick sauté pan then add the carrots and some seasoning. Brown the carrots all over until just tender, adding the butter towards the end of cooking.

You will learn that I love adding spices and herbs to everything. I’m all about the flava flav! So naturally, I added rosemary, thyme, garlic, and olive oil to my sweet potato fries as they baked in the oven at 400c for 30 minutes and were flipped at the half way mark. 


I would have had a tasty dessert to share but really, I’m still eating all the Easter chocolate I can find around the house, in my purse, and still stocked on store shelves. Creme Eggs are just so hard to find these days!  

And yes, my fat lips are slowly going away but I still resemble Angelina Jolie’s luscious lips. Especially when I eat strawberries the way she does:


Sexy, no?


Have a Happy Wednesday Friends!