Eric Akis

Food Writer at Times Colonist

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Articles

Eric Akis: Shawarma-style chicken offers taste of the Middle East

4 days ago | timescolonist.com | Eric Akis

A reader, Ron, said he enjoys making a recipe I did a few years ago for shawarma-style lamb and wondered if it could also make with chicken. My answer was yes, but I said I would have to come up with a new recipe to make it work with that protein. I’m doing that today, but before I tell you about it let me remind you again (if you did not all ready know), what shawarma is.
Eric Akis: Sweet chocolate mousse is a rich and decadent treat

1 week ago | timescolonist.com | Eric Akis

A reader, Diane, asked me if I had ever done a recipe for chocolate mousse. Being a lover of chocolate, and having written this column since 1997, I thought at some point I must have. After going through my large archive of recipes, though, that was not the case. But that changes today: below you’ll find a recipe for dark chocolate mousse. Like most chocolate mousse recipes, this one is rich and decadent.
Eric Akis: Maple syrup and miso add sweet touch to crispy salmon dish

1 week ago | timescolonist.com | Eric Akis

I bought salmon fillets for dinner the other day. When I got home with my catch, I thought I would make a sauce for the fillets using ingredients I had on hand. When I peered into my refrigerator, the first two things that caught my eye were my tub of miso and a bottle of maple syrup. I most often use miso in soups, and always keep maple syrup around just in case I have a craving for pancakes or waffles.
French-style ingredients take tuna sandwich to another levelFrench-style tuna sandwich takes lunchtime classic to another level

3 weeks ago | timescolonist.com | Eric Akis

Although it can be satisfying, a tuna-salad sandwich is not exactly a gourmet meal. But that changes if you flavour the fish in a French-style way and you stuff it inside fresh-baked croissants instead of boring old bread. That’s exactly what I did in today’s recipe for French-style tuna salad croissant sandwiches. It could also be called “B.C.-style,” because some of the key ingredients were canned, baked and/or grown in our province. A key step is to purchase some good freshly baked croissants.
Eric Akis: Ham pasta casserole with cheese and peas makes easy Easter leftover dish

3 weeks ago | timescolonist.com | Eric Akis

Beyond enjoying its taste, another reason I like to bake a big ham for occasions such as Easter is because I know there will be leftovers: cooked meat, that over the next few days, I can use in another dish or two, such as a sandwich, soup or pot of baked beans. Leftover baked ham is also something you can add to a pasta casserole, as I did for today’s recipe. To make it, corkscrew-shaped pasta, such as fusilli or rotini, is boiled until tender then drained.
Eric Akis: Coconut cupcakes make a sweet Easter treat

4 weeks ago | timescolonist.com | Eric Akis

If you need an Easter treat to serve family and/or friends this weekend, consider making moist, sweet and inviting coconut cupcakes. As you’ll see by today’s recipe for them, it’s a three-step process. You first make a rich batter infused with coconut milk, spoon it into a muffin tin lined with baking cups, bake the cupcakes, and then let them cool. The next step is to make an icing that’s also infused with coconut milk, and then spread it on the cupcakes.
Eric Akis: Easter-inspired chicken dish offers taste of Mediterranean

1 month ago | timescolonist.com | Eric Akis

If you’re having friends or family over during the Easter long weekend and need a supper idea, I have a spring chicken dish for you to consider. It is Mediterranean in style, is not overly fussy to make and you can prepare parts of it in advance. The messiest part of making this dish is seasoning bone-in chicken thighs, flouring them, and then searing them in a hot olive oil.
Eric Akis: Meat-free patties are packed with nutritious lentils

1 month ago | timescolonist.com | Eric Akis

A reader, Mike, emailed and said he enjoys eating lentils and has been trying to make lentil burgers (patties) with them. He said he’s tried following recipes on sources such as YouTube, but lamented his efforts have resulted in lentil mush, rather than lentil burgers, despite the presenter showing one sufficiently firm enough to pick up. Mike said the recipes he’s tried have not called for a binding agent, such as an egg, and wondered if that’s where things went wrong.
Eric Akis: Succulent halibut baked in flaky phyllo pastry

1 month ago | timescolonist.com | Eric Akis

There are many ways to cook fillets of B.C. halibut, which is in season. You can grill them, steam them, poach them or sear them. But my favourite — as you’ll know if you follow my columns — is to wrap them in phyllo pastry and bake them. It’s a method I like because it seals the halibut inside a golden, flaky crust that keeps the fish moist, even if slightly overcooked. I also like this technique because you can sauce and flavour the halibut in a variety of ways.
Eric Akis: B.C.-grown produce stars in main-course salad

1 month ago | timescolonist.com | Eric Akis

If you have a craving for a leafy main-course salad and don’t want to buy imported lettuce, you might think your B.C.-grown options are limited at this time of year. But thanks to our mild West Coast weather, greenhouses and innovative methods of growing produce, that is definitely not the case. At farm markets and grocery stores, particularly smaller ones that focus on stocking local foods, you can, in fact, purchase quite a nice selection of produce in early spring.