Lazy Jerk Chicken

I fell in love with jerk chicken long time ago, shortly after my family moved to Canada from Ukraine. We came straight to Toronto and lived in a quaint little apartment building midtown, near Bathurst St. and St. Clair Ave West. Just a short walk from home there was an always busy West Indian eatery, called Albert’s Real Jamaican Foods and it did not take us long to discover the amazing food Albert had to offer.

I usually serve my Lazy Jerk Chicken with creamy mashed potatoes and coleslaw

The most divinely spiced chicken came on a bed of rice and peas, topped with ox tail gravy and served with a side of creamy coleslaw. We would pick up our jerk dinner from Albert’s every few weeks and savor every single bite.

Korean (-ish) BBQ Pork, Lazy Cooking Day Edition

Today’s post is about a dish inspire by Korean cuisine, BBQ pork, to be precise. I first tried Korean food many years ago, at a run-of-the-mill Korean all-you-can-eat grill.

Addictively delicious

They had me at the first bite. All that meat! All those side dishes! The KIMCHI!!! I could not get enough of it. I love eating out, but when I really love a dish I do my best to replicated it at home. Cooking from scratch is marvelous, healthy and satisfying, but sometimes it is nice to take a shortcut. Everyone needs a break every now and then, right?  In the recipe I use a Korean BBQ sauce (not to be confused with a regular BBQ sauce) and a Kalbi Marinade . I buy mine at the local Korean supermarket,  but have seen variations of it at the regular grocery stores as well. For those of you who live in Toronto, The Real Canadian Superstore has quite a few options.

Easy Stuffed Potatoes

This is another post dedicated to my love of potatoes. These are stuffed with seasoned meat and baked in the oven.

I admit, this is not the most photogenic dish. But it more than makes up for it in flavour. You will not be able to stop at just one 😉

My mom makes this dish for me whenever I come to visit her (my parents live in Ottawa while I am in Toronto) and it is only recently that I have cooked it for the first time on my own.

Okra Stew, Iraqi Style (AKA Bamieh)

I am always in a mood for Okra Stew and think that okra is seriously underrated.

My husband’s dad’s side of the family is from Baghdad and Arabic dishes make regular appearances on our dinner table. Bamieh is the official name our Iraqi family has for this dish, but I stick to a safer ‘okra stew’ as I only witnessed my husband’s cousin’s wife cooking it once and tried to learn the steps the best I could (so authenticity of the recipe cannot be guaranteed). I improvised with the ingredients a bit and came up with a recipe that satisfied myself and the extremely picky eaters I happen to share my life with. Even my 6 year old likes it, and it says a lot!