Indoor S'mores

• 5 cups + 1 cup mini marshmallows
  
• 1-1/2 cups chocolate chips
• 5 tbsp butter or margarine
• 1/4 cup light corn syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla
  
• 8 cups Golden Grahams cereal

1. Melt 5 cups of marshmallows, chocolate chips, butter or margarine and corn syrup in a 3 qt. pan over low heat stirring occasionally.
   
   
2. Remove mixture from heat and stir in vanilla.
   
   
3. Butter a 13" x 9" rectangular pan or line completely with parchment and set aside.
   
   
4. Pour Golden Grahams into a large bowland coat with marshmallow mixture. Stir in remaining marshmallows.
   
   
5. Press marshmallow-cereal mixture in pan with a greased spoon or wet hands.
   
   
6. Let cool and cut into squares; store in a loosely covered container.

(recipe from Nancy Hechter)
Recipes by the Haggis and the Herring: tasty world recipes tested in our kitchen

Blast from the past

I think retro-style food is having a bit of a comeback. I'm not condoning salads suspended in Jell-O or anything, but recently I've had some flavours that I haven't experienced in a while. Many of them are very comforting.

In Edmonton, my brother's in-laws hosted a great Friday evening get-together for the out-of-towners and one of my favourite munchies were S'mores made with Golden Grahams. Again, just the right amount of comfort. I couldn't tell you the last time I'd eaten Golden Grahams before that evening.

Recipe: Indoor S'mores

Lemon-Rosemary Chicken

• 8 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
• 6 bay leaves, broken into small pieces
• 3 tablespoons chopped fresh rosemary
• 4 large garlic cloves, pressed
• 1 teaspoons salt
• hot pepper sauce to taste
• 2 tbsp light mayonnaise

1. Whisk oil, lemon juice, bay leaves, rosemary, garlic, salt and hot pepper. Pour marinade over chicken and marinate for 2 hours or overnight in fridge.
2. Preheat oven to 425F. Drain marinate and bake chicken on lowest rack for 30-minutes, turning halfway.
3. Transfer reserved marinade to medium saucepan. Boil over medium-high heat 1 minute, cool and whisk in mayonnaise. Serve chicken with sauce.

Recipes by the Haggis and the Herring: tasty world recipes tested in our kitchen

Cooking when Sick

I was sick for part of last week.

Meredith's mom showed up with a bunch of rosemary so I obviously had to use it right away. Sick or not, I was still hungry and I thought cooking supper would make me feel better, so I did. The important thing is Meredith liked the result: a really tasty rosemar-lemon chicken dish.

Recipe: Lemon-Rosemary Chicken

Cheese-Choc Dog

[Dan: it's been a busy summer and I fell behind. When I was in university, Stuart McLean described one of the most disgusting food projects I've ever heard. I've never tried it, but I would on a dare (if only someone would supply the ingredients and hardware). Thanks for copying and pasting the post in, Meredith.]

Here's what you need to make the Cheese Choc-Dog:

• 1 package hot dogs
• 1 squeeze bottle of Hershey's chocolate syrup
• 1 loaf white bread
• 1 can aerosol cheese product
• Safety glasses or goggles
• and an electric drill with 1/4" bit

Doesn't this sound like fun? Once you assemble the ingredients and the tools here are your instructions.

1. Put on safety lenses.
2. Hold unopened package of hot dogs with ends pointing towards you.
3. Using slow speed, carefully drill each hot dog lengthwise.
4. Open package and remove hot dogs. If you have done this correctly each dog should have a hole down the center. You have just cored the dog with the drill.
5. Fill the cavaties with aerosol cheese product.
6. Place hot dogs on a slice of white bread. Then pinching the bread to make a trough around the hot dog cover it liberally with chocolate syrup.
7. Pop the dog and bun into a toaster oven for 10-12 minutes, or until cheese is runny.

Et viola ... your Cheese Choc-Dog is ready.
  
(From the CBC's Vinyl Cafe)

The Lingnan

In Edmonton, my family got together with my brother's in-laws at The Lingnan. Retro Chinese food is an understatement. It was great.

Avoiding the fact that this restaurant has its own reality TV show, the Lingnan is a great place on its own:

• the interior is classic; the staff are all in uniform
  
• the tablewear must have been bought on eBay, or they still have stock from 1971
• the placemats are the ones with the cocktail selection that hasn't changed since the '80s
  
• the food is good old-school Canadian chinese food: no Thai/Japanese fusion here
• they contracted a microbrewry to brew their own excellent beer (iinfused with ginseng)

I haven't been to a restaurant like that since my family frequented Lucky Star (Victoria Park and Steeles) in the 1980s, and the Lingnan is far better.

Latkes

• 2 cups coarsely grated potatoes
• 2 eggs, separated
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp flour or matzah meal
• 1 onion, grated
• vegetable oil
  

1. Combine potatoes, egg yolks, salt, flour and onion.
2. Beat egg whites until firm and fold into the mixture.
3. Heat a deep pan with oil and drop mixture into pan.
4. Fry latkes on both sides until golden brown.
5. Drain on paper towels.

Serve hot with sour cream and\or apple sauce.
(based on the official recipe of the Hot Latkes Klezmer Band)
Recipes by the Haggis and the Herring: tasty world recipes tested in our kitchen

It's time to break out the Menorahs!

Note: I was saving this for Chanukah, but I ran out of time so Chanukah is early this year.

Like most other Jewish holidays, Chanukah has a simple theme:

1. They tried to kill us.
2. We won.
3. Let's eat.

The story of Chanukah includes the miracle of the oil, so the traditional foods of Chanukah are pretty much drenched in it.

European Jews brought the latke (potato pancake) into the mainstream, and now you can get them with your breakfast at the local Pickle Barrel any time of the year.

Recipe: Latkes

[Editor's note: Pickle Barrel no longer serves real latkes. It's a disgrace.]

Chocolate Revel Bars

Cleveland was a great choice for a boys weekend road trip. The food there wasn't spectacular with the exception of Rock Bottom. The Rock Bottom brewpub had decent food (salmon fish and chips, one of my favorites) and an excellent stout.

For the road, Meredith made us some chocolate revel bars (without nuts of course -- we saved some for Jacob) and lemon squares. The revel bars held up well in the car, but the lemon squares were a bit messy, so we saved those until we got back to the hotel.

Chocolate Revel Bars

• 3 cups quick cooking oats
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup butter, softened
• 2 cups packed brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 4 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, beat together 1 cup butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Mix in eggs and 2 teaspoons vanilla. In another bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda, and 1 teaspoon salt; stir into butter mixture. Set aside.
3. In a medium saucepan, heat sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, 2 tablespoons butter, and 1/2 teaspoon salt over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat. Stir in 2 teaspoons of vanilla.
4. Pat 2/3 of the oat mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Spread chocolate mixture evenly over the top, and dot with remaining oat mixture.
5. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in preheated oven. Let cool on a wire rack, then cut into bars. 

(based on Chocolate Revel Bars from Better Homes and Gardens)
Recipes by the Haggis and the Herring: tasty world recipes tested in our kitchen