Whoopi Pies made with homemade marshmallows

Marshmallows are one of those things people rarely make it at home. Most people aren't really sure what is in them. We decided to make our own. We found a recipe on a blog called "Ezra Pound Cake" which can be found at the following link: : http://www.ezrapoundcake.com/archives/5002#more-5002


To make the whoopi pies, we used nutmeg butter cookies to make small marshmallow sandwiches. You can use any type of cookies you want. The next thing we will try to make using the marshmallows is s’mores.

Chinese Hot Pot

This is a different version of the "fondue" we usually have. It is actually the true way to make "Chinese fondue". Instead of the long metal forks and cooking various vegetables and meats in a pot heated by a flame, we put in all the ingredients in the broth in the hot pot. The electric pot is made of Teflon and can also be used as a grill (separate attachment). Once the ingredients were cooked enough, we removed them from the pot using either chop sticks or small metal baskets.


The broth can be made with any ingredients you wish. We made this one with a Teriyaki flavoured broth. The ingredients we cooked in the broth were: scallops, chicken (prepared like traditional fondue meat), tofu, broccoli, cauliflower, peppers and zucchini.

The pot was a gift from a family member who had it delivered to us from Vancouver. The selection of Asian products is much wider there than here in Montreal.

Greek Feast - Calamari, Eggplant Salad, Braised Veal and Baklava

One of our friends suggested we cook a meal composed of Greek dishes. We went to Marché Jean-Talon and picked up all the ingredients we needed. Our plan was to make stuffed vine leaves (which we did not make but will make another time), pan fried calamari, braised veal, eggplant salad and baklava. We spent the entire afternoon cooking and the results were well worth the time.

First we cleaned the calamari and cut them into 2 lengthwise. Then we cut diagonal lines into them to them (looked like grill marks on a steak) and fried them in a teflon pan. We sprinkled salt, pepper and lemon juice on them. Instead of frying them in batter like they usually do in restaurants, we wanted to keep the true flavour of the calamari. When cooking fresh seafood, it is best to keep it simple (as our friend from Gaspé would say).

We cooked a whole eggplant in the oven on a cookie sheet for an hour. Then we pealed it, cut it into small cubes, mixed it with chopped fresh tomato, olive oil, minced parsley, dries oregano, grated onion and wine vinegar. It was served cold and accompanied the braised veal as the main dish.

We browned the veal shoulder and added to it a sauce made of onions, garlic, wine vinegar,1 cup of red wine, 1 can of diced tomatoes, dried oregano and 1 cup of pitted kalamata olives. We wrapped the veal with the sauce in tin foil (make sure it is well sealed to keep all the liquid in) and put in a Dutch oven. It cooked for 2 and a half hours.

For dessert we made baklava. The picture does not show all the layers it was composed of. We used 28 phyllo pastry sheets, a mixture made of pistachios, almonds, sugar, 70% chocolate and figs soaked in brown rum. Each layer was brushed with clarified butter and on layer 9 and 18 we sprinkled some of the mixture. It cooked at 450 degrees for 1 hour. You really need to be 2 people to make this and work fast. The phyllo sheets dry up very quickly.


We had a side dish: Greek pitas with locally made feta cheese made with herbs and olive oil.

Having a theme is a challenge but it can also make it easier to choose the individual dishes that compose the meal. We will definitely try this again but with another theme.