Cooking Corner

Curried Chicken Burgers with Quick Mango Chutney

March 25, 2011

It’s mango season! During this time of year mango trees are literally dropping fruit at your feet. Monkeys, parrots, iguanas, butterflies, & humans feast on them and yet, if you’re lucky enough to have a nearby tree or two, you’ll still find yourself actually tripping over fallen mangoes. Don’t let that fruit go to waste. If you don’t have a tree handy you can buy them cheaply at the supermarket, the farmers market, or off the back of a truck.

Here’s a quick recipe for Mango Chutney that will last about a month refrigerated & goes great on Curried Chicken Burgers (below). Make the chutney before you start the burgers so it has time to cool to room temperature.

Cooking Corner

My Quest for Authentic Cabbage Rolls

February 14, 2011

Cabbage rolls are a favorite of mine, having grown up with a Polish mother. I guess that puts them in the category of comfort food for me. It’s a good dish to make here in Costa Rica because the ingredients are both cheap and readily available (except for caraway seeds, which are only sporadically available).

Cooking Corner

Pasta with Cheesy Chorizo

January 19, 2011

This is an easy dish that doesn’t take a lot of time and is full of flavor. Basically, it is pasta smothered in a cheese sauce topped with sautéed meat and veggies. The trick is to cook everything gently and watch carefully to make sure nothing overcooks.

Cooking Corner

Cornmeal Pizza with the Works

December 21, 2010

In the gourmet pizza world, the key to creating a great pizza is limiting yourself to 2 or 3 delicious key ingredients. In my pizza world, the key to a great pizza is small amounts of lots of ingredients so every bite is unique little explosion of different flavour combinations. In addition, this crunchy, flavourful cornmeal crust is strong enough to hold it all without dumping it in your lap.

Cooking Corner

Udon Noodles with Grilled Chicken Breasts

November 15, 2010

By Paul Rees So, I think that after my last two calorie-packed recipes (Rene’s Banana Chocolate Chip Cake & Tiquisque Fritos) I’d give you a recipe that’s a little more healthful, but still satisfying and with lots of flavor. These noodles are also delicious with grilled pork tenderloin or steak.

Cooking Corner

Tiquisque Fritos

September 16, 2010

In Costa Rica they’re called Tiquisque. Around the world, they belong to a crop as important and widely eaten as rice and potatoes. Although slightly different species, they’re most commonly called Taro, Ñampi, Dasheen, and Cocoyam among other local names. Growing wild or in the garden they’re known as Elephant Ears.

Cooking Corner

Rene’s Banana-Chocolate Chip Cake

July 21, 2010

One of my first, and best, jobs was at Daiter’s Creamery & Deli in Kensington Market in Toronto. Daiter’s was a family-owned Jewish dairy that made the top quality cottage cheese, sour cream, farmer’s cheese, cream cheese, & yogurt. The deli was a busy, raucous place that sold dozens of

Bruce Zabov Cooking Corner

Homemade Pizza

June 7, 2010

This issue we’re doing homemade pizza and, as it turns out, the house is sold, and this will also be my final column so we’ll celebrate with a pizza “party” before we return to the U.S. in June.

Whether you’re settling in for a quiet afternoon or evening at home or planning a party there’s always something festive feeling with pizza on the menu! ( In Italian “pizza literally means”pie”). Or it’s handy to have in the freezer so it’s ready for a quick snack or you need a quick bite to eat if you’re in a rush.

Bruce Zabov Cooking Corner

Salsa

May 22, 2010

When it comes to creating salsas, it’s a cook’s opportunity to let the imagination run free, and to be as imaginative and creative as you like. Let your own food preferences be a guide and you can’t make a bad choice!

For myself, I’m fond of the clear, light, clear taste of cold cucumbers, and the fresh brightness of ripe pineapples and mangoes and they often appear in salads here. And if you like certain fruits and vegetables in salads, you will probably enjoy them in a fresh salsa, too.

Bruce Zabov Cooking Corner

Orange Bread

March 7, 2010

I originally began baking this bread as a holiday gift for the neighbors at Christmas until I sampled it for myself, and thought “This is really good!!” The other good thing in addition to its appealing flavor is you don’t need to wait for holidays to make it. You can treat yourself to it any time you like.

Bruce Zabov Cooking Corner

Stuffing for a 3-pound Chicken

November 15, 2009

With North American Thanksgiving holidays and Christmas coming up I thought this would be a good issue to go over a basic stuffing recipe you can individualize as you wish. Too, the availability of the packaged stuffing mixes can be pretty variable and being able to whip up your own reduces your dependency on its being avalaible or not. And YOU get to decide on its fat and salt content as well. This is the season weight tends to increase as we feast and it can help to be aware of what we’re feasting on.

Bruce Zabov Cooking Corner

One-dish Chinese Dinner

September 27, 2009

This one-dish dinner is a variation of the red-cooked dishes so popular in all regions of China. They all have in common the seasoning of soy sauce as one of the ingredients central to them, but there are also some regional variations. In Shanghai they contain sugar, in Peking just the soy sauce is favored and in Szechwan they are made hot and rich, full of garlic, ginger and scallions or green onions with a flash of hot red pepper.