Special Guest - Slap Chop with François

My friend in Montreal got a Slap Chop for Christmas and I HAD to film it in action.
He tried chopping apples and ... well it kind of worked.

It was hilarious! :)

French Onion Soup

I'd never done it from scratch and felt like some. This is one of my comfort foods.

At first, I tried making the croutons myself, but I baked them too hard and they were a little burnt. So I threw them out and used some toasted english muffins instead. That was a mistake. It's good for broiling croutons to be absorbant and take in a bit of the broth on which they're sitting. The muffins were too waterproof and came out hard and rubbery. :(

But the soup itself was delicious!

Cabbage Roll Casserole

I thought I'd try something different and see what I could do with cabbage. I never buy cabbage (not too fond of it).

So this is a variation on stuffed cabbage cigars. Basically the same deal, except everything gets shredded and thrown into a casserole dish.

It was all right, but the rice wasn't cooked enough. I can't figure out brown rice, which is what I use. I never get it right.

Oh well.

Mushroom Soup

There is a lot in this recipe that I substituted. It was probably not as good as the original recipe, but it was still pretty darn good. Experimenting can sometimes give good results. This is one of them.

WHAT YOU NEED

- 1/4 cup of butter (I used margarine)
- 1 chopped onion
- 1 cup half/half. (I used 2% milk)
- 2 tbsp of flour
- 1 cup of chicken broth
- Salt and Pepper to taste
- 2 cups of mushrooms (I used regular white ones)


On medium-high heat, melt the butter. Add the mushrooms and onion and let them sautee for about 5 minutes, or until they're soft.







Add the flour and mix until evenly blended. It will make a sticky paste.








Stir in the chicken broth and cook while stirring until it starts to boil.








Add the half-half (milk), salt and pepper.

Bring to the point just before boiling.


TIP: Stir often. Heated dairy will create a film on top or burn at the bottom if not stirred.



Serve right away and store any left-over quickly in the fridge.









You can try it with different kinds of mushrooms. There are many, so try the ones you like!


Click here to link to the original recipe.

Curried Tuna Melts

This is a pretty easy snack.

What you need:

- 1 can of tuna
- 2 English muffins
- Raisins (optional)
- 2 tbsp of mayonnaise
- 1/2 Onion
- Mozarella cheese
- Curry powder



Pre-heat the oven to broil.

Chop the onion.

On medium-high heat, brown the onions slightly in a little bit of oil.





Mix all the ingredients in a bowl.

Add curry to taste.







Spread the mixture over the split english muffins and put on a cookie sheet.









Cover with sliced cheese.

Put into the heated on the middle-upper rack and leave until the cheese is bubbly and golden.

TIP: Never leave anything on broil unatended. It's really hot and things can bake (brun) really fast.



There you go!

Vegetable Stir-fry

Easy and goes great with the Chicken Fried Rice recipe.

What you need:



- Teriyaki sauce
- Garlic powder (real garlic would be awesome too!)
- Instant noodles
- A bit of water
- A bit of oil

Now, this is pretty much good with any vegetables you want to throw in.
- Green Peppers
- Onions
- Mushrooms
- Frozen asian vegetable mix











Start the water boiling at high heat. When the water boils, throw in a couple of squares of quick noodles. The instruction say to boil them for a minute, but I always find it undercooked. I leave them in until they're tender. When they're done, drain the water and put aside.




While the noodles are cooking, heat up a skillet (or wok if you have one) with a little bit of oil in it. Use medium heat.

When it's hot, drop in the fresh veggies and heat for a few minutes, just to brown a bit.

Stir occasionally.


Then, you can add the frozen veggies and a little bit of water. Cover with a lid. I use a pizza pan, because it's just the right size for my skillet.

TIP: The lid gets hot! So don't touch it without mitts!

Lift the cover and stir on occasion, so it won't burn or stick.


When everything is cooked to taste, add the noodles, and teryaki sauce. It's all to taste.

Keep stirring in everything until it's all mixed.






You're done!

You can eat it on it's own or over a bed of rice.

I like sprinkling some sesame seeds over, to give a bit of taste. And it makes it look nicer. Yum!

Chicken Fried Rice

This is pretty easy!
A tasty rice that uses left-over chicken scraps.











What you need:

- Cooked rice (instant works fine)
- Soy sauce
- Garlic poweder (or chopped garlic)
- Vegetable oil
- Mushrooms (if you want) *
- 1 or 2 eggs (depending on how much you want)
- Chicken, chopped

* You can choose any vegetable you'd like in there, as long as it's finely chopped. Green onions would also be good.


Heat the skillet with a bit of oil on medium heat. When the oil is hot, throw in the mushrooms and let them cook for a few minutes until they're brown.






Add the cooked rice with a little bit of water and garlic. Stir constantly for a few minutes.







Add the chopped chicken and the soy sauce to taste.








Now, comes the "tricky" part. It's actually quite easy. Push the rice to one side of the skillet. Break the egg and drop it in the cleared space. Stir constantly, until fully cooked, so the eggs get scrambled. When that's done, mix in with the rest of the rice.

The egg is not fully cooked at the end of the video. When it's not runny anymore, it's cooked.





And there you have it. Fried rice!