Pan Roasted Lemon & Thyme Chicken Breast

Aug 31, 2016

Pan Roasted Lemon & Thyme Chicken Breast – Candy Coated Culinista

Yield/Serving: 4
Prep Time: 10 min.
Cook Time: approx 14 min.
Difficulty level is: Easy

Ingredients
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Sea salt
• Black Pepepr
• 4 chicken breast
• 5 cloves garlic
• 4 sticks, bunched thyme
• 1 ½ lemon juice, freshly squeezed from lemon
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme leave
• 4 lemon slices, for garnish

Assembly
1. Using a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat pour in the olive oil.
2. Sprinkle the chicken breasts with salt and pepper.
3. Once the oil is heated up place in the chicken breasts into the skillet and add in the garlic and thyme sticks.
4. Squeeze the lemon juice over chicken and cook for 7 to 10 minutes.
5. Turn the chicken over and continue to cook for 7 to 10 more minutes on the other side.
6. Sprinkle thyme leaves over the cooked chicken and add lemon slices for garnish.

Tips
• Don’t add in the garlic to early or it will burn.

Please Enjoy

My thoughts
The aroma coming from this dish was divine. I have never had lemon & thyme chicken before and this will be a new addition to my repertoire.

Crispy Tilapia with Lemon-Herb Mayo and Oven Fries

Aug 24, 2016

Crispy Tilapia with Lemon-Herb Mayo and Oven Fries – Candy Coated Culinista

I have been wanting to try the Fish & Chips from Len Duckworth’s Fish & Chips; as this has been recommended to be numerous times is a Toronto Foodie institution if you will. I’ve had a bad experience with fish & chips from Pickle Barrel and ever since I just haven’t had the desire to have anythimg resembling deep-fried fish. I found it to be extremely greasy and the batter didn’t stick to the fish so I just never wanted to try it again. Then I found saw this recipe and with fresh fish in hand I thought I’d give it another go and make sure I visit Duckworth in the near future.

Yield/Serving: 2
Prep Time: 30 min.
Cook Time: 30 min.
Difficulty level is: Medium

From Canadian Living

Ingredients
Oven Fries
• 2 small yellow potatoes, cut into wedges with skin on
• 1 tsp extra virgin olive oil
• Pinch of sea salt
• Pinch of ground black pepper
Crispy Tilapia
• 2 tbsp cornmeal
• ¾ tsp chili powder
• ¾ tsp dried parsley
• 2 tilapia fillets
• 1/8 tsp kosher salt
• 1/8 tsp ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Lemon-Herb Mayo
• 2 ¾ tsp mayonnaise
• 1 ½ tsp chopped fresh parsley
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• ½ garlic clove, finely grated

Assembly
Oven fries
1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Toss potatoes, salt & pepper in a small bowl with extra virgin olive oil.
3. Spread evenly on a baking sheet, turning once and bake for 25 minutes until golden and tender.
Crispy Tilapia
1. In a plate mix the cornmeal, chili powder and parsley.
2. Sprinkle salt and pepper onto fish and dredge in the cornmeal mixture.
3. Using a frying pan, heat half the oil over medium heat.
4. Cook tilapia turning once until fish is cooked, about 8 minutes.

Lemon-Herb Mayo
1. In a small prep bowl mix the mayo, parsley, lemon juice and garlic.
2. Serve.

Please Enjoy

My thoughts
This is a light and slightly healthier fried fish option and the fish didn’t taste fishy and was still flakey. The lemon-herb mayo was such a great addition and this will be my new tartar sauce.

Portuguese Custard Tart Diaries: Nova Era Bakery

Aug 17, 2016

Nova Era Bakery – Candy Coated Culinista

Location: 770 College Street, Toronto, Ontario, M6G 3R1 – (416) 516-1622; Hours: Everyday – 6am – 11:00pm

Walking through Little Portugal & Little Italy of course I’m going to run into many bakeries serving Portuguese Custard Tarts. This however is the exact tart that introduced me and made me love this Portuguese treat. I had my first Portuguese Custard Tart back in 2005… how do I remember this you ask well it was the first year I started working for a new company and the bake sale had tarts from here. I remember the sweet, chewiness off the tart shell and the creaminess of the custard like it was yesterday. From the moment my mouth touched there tarts I was hooked. These Portuguese Custard Tarts taste exactly as they did back in 2005 and I enjoyed them so so much. I also enjoyed an orange tart which was a sweet citrusy treat with coarse sugar bruleed on top.

K is for … Kale & Mango Smoothie

Aug 9, 2016

Kale Mango Smoothie – Cady Coated Culinista

This is my first green smoothie! I was a little apprehensive in regards to how this would taste, as all my smoothies are fruit based and I haven’t introduced vegetables into them as of yet in such a main role.

Yield/Serving: 1
Prep Time: 5 min.
Cook Time: less than a minute
Difficulty level is: Easy

Ingredients
• 1 packed cup, kale leaves, chopped
• ½ cup fresh pineapple, chopped
• 1 fresh mango, chopped
• ½ cup vanilla flavoured almond milk
• 8 ice cubes

Assembly
1. Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth.

Please Enjoy

My thoughts
This was surprisingly delicious. I’m not going to lie I can taste the kale. It’s hard to get all the kale to be blended up smoothly without little kale pieces or flecks being left behind when I am drinking it; but overall pretty good. I could taste the kale and the sweet and tart notes of the pineapple. The addition of almond milk to this smoothie was a great idea.

Apple Rose Tarts & Rose Bud Tarts

Aug 3, 2016

Apple Rose Tarts – Candy Coated Culinista

I have been eyeing this recipe for about a year now and have wanted to make apple rose tarts so badly. I just didn’t trust my skill level; as I found this to be one of those what I like to call more “cheffy” desserts; which requires a certain amount of skill and finesse that this home cook probably doesn’t have yet. Well when my male co-worker came to work after promising to make these with 24 apple rose tarts in hand believe me it was on. I thought if he can do it I can surely, not because he was a male but because he isn’t a baker by any means. So if that’s the case then what am I afraid of and that weekend I spent a couple of hours squashing my fear.

Yield/Serving: 14-18
Prep Time: 1 hour
Cook Time: 30-35 minutes
Difficulty level is: Medium, time consuming

Ingredients
• 450g box of butter puff pastry , contains 2 rolls/packages
• 6 royal gala apples, thinly sliced
• Lemon juice
• 1 cup raspberry jam
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp cardamon
• Raspberries, for centre of tart
• Confectioners’ sugar, to decorate

Assembly
1. Preheat oven to 360°F.
2. Spray muffin tray with cooking spray.
3. Prepare butter puff pastry as instructed on the box.
4. Work on a marble surface if possible like a pastry board, or otherwise flour your surface.
5. Roll out the puff pastry until thinned and slices sheet into 6 stripes of pastries.
6. In a small bowl mix raspberry jam and cinnamon until combined.
7. Cut apples in half and core.
8. Using a mandoline thinly slice apples and place in a bowl with lemon juice and toss. (so apples don’t brown)
9. Using a microwave safe bowl cook apples for 40 seconds until apple are pliable.
10. Brush entire puff pastry with raspberry jam.
11. Make a dome shape with the apples on the top edge of the puff pastry; letting the apple peak overtop.
12. Overlap the apples until you reach the end of the puff pastry.
13. Turn up the bottom half of the puff pastry to seal the apples in.
14. Roll the pastry tight and place in the muffin tray.
15. Place raspberry in the centre.
16. Bake for 30 – 35 minutes or until puff pastry is a golden brown.

Tips
• Use one full stripe for a full sized tart and cut pastry strip in half for a mini sized tart.

Please Enjoy

My thoughts
I have no idea what I was afraid of as these turned out so well and I even did a little recipe variations as I never like to copy a recipe exactly. The dough was flaky with the sweet and tart quality to the apple and raspberry. These went very fast for father’s day and the compliments came in just as fast. This took a lot of time and lots of love was put into this recipe for sure; but it was worth it in the end. People couldn’t believe I made this and frankly I couldn’t either.

Apple Rose Tarts – Candy Coated Culinista

Apple Rose Tarts – Candy Coated Culinista