Archive for July, 2010
I was on traffic duty today (and yesterday) afternoon at CBC – earlier I went for X-rays of my arm, which hasn’t been fully functional for awhile now (nothing exciting to report, sadly – I can’t claim a rodeo injury here – more a very unglamorous and noisy trip over laptop cords. Gravity doesn’t like me very much. Nor do these hardwood floors.) and tonight I’m baking 400 Saskatoon squares for the kitchen theatre tomorrow. In between I had a deadline that unfortunately took priority over making dinner (and reporting it here, I’m sorry to say) and so at close to 8, when W had (happily) eaten oatmeal for dinner, I sliced up the avocados that were at their buttery smooth peak in the fruit bowl, tossed them with some minced purple onion, a handful of halved grape tomatoes, some fresh cilantro, a squeeze of lime juice, drizzle of oil, a big clove of garlic and sprinkle of salt, and we scooped up the lot with corn chips. It was almost as if I had planned it that way.
On the topic of garlic: I have officially given up my search for the perfect press. It doesn’t exist. HOWEVER, a rasp/Microplane does. And when you make things like salsa or guacamole, when you want your garlic to be a nice, smooth purée, nothing does a better job. Do watch your fingernails.
OK. Since I’ve been slacking off in the Free Stuff Fridays department (mostly due to disorientation – what day is it again?) I picked up a nice new Microplane grater (that’s right, I bought it myself) to give to one of you, because it really is (and they don’t give me anything – including new Microplanes – to say this – I’m certain they don’t even know I exist) one of the best kitchen tools out there. Not only are they grate (ha!) for garlic, but for sinewy ginger, fresh nutmeg, and any type of citrus, which is best grated finely in order to release as much flavour as possible. Trust me, you need one of these. And an ice cream machine. But that’s another story.
Really, I’m just buying comments – I miss hearing what everyone had for dinner last night.
Look what I was eating last year on this day! I can’t wait. One more week to go.
July 16 2010 | appetizers | 74 Comments »
I learned plenty yesterday from this lot right here. These six represent the two semi-finalist teams in the kids’ chili cook-off at the Stampede – I was lucky enough to act as judge yesterday. It was a tough decision.
I missed out on taking an actual photo of the food, being in my Official judge’s role and all, but it was mighty tasty – smoky and hot and loaded with beans – it always interests me, as a carnivore, how often the vegetarian version of a chili wins at a cook-off. (This isn’t the first I’ve judged.)
Although it was very tasty, the heat kind of leapt up and smacked us right in the tongue straight off the bat, so if you’re a wuss like me, consider dialing down the chipotles by about half. And I’d personally swap the green pepper for any other colour (red, yellow, orange), but that’s just me. (I don’t understand the point of a green pepper. Is all that bitterness worth the financial savings? I think not.) And of course all chilis taste better after a day or two in the fridge (or a long simmer in the slow cooker), so it’s great to make ahead and feed a crowd.
An important note: the winning team added a secret ingredient to the following recipe – chopped green onions. Yum.
Smoky Vegetarian Chili
1 cup diced carrots
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped green bell pepper
1/2 cup chopped red bell pepper
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp chili powder
2 tsp cumin
1 can (28 oz/796 mL) diced tomatoes
3 cans (19 oz/540 mL each) mixed beans, rinsed and drained
2 tbsp chopped canned chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
Salt and freshly ground pepper
In a Dutch oven, saute carrots, onion, bell peppers and garlic in oil until tender, about 7 minutes. Add chili powder and cumin; cook and stir 2 minutes. Stir in tomatoes, beans and chipotle peppers.
Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until mixture is slightly thickened, about 30 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serves 8.
And the bread. When I see the quantity of cheese and butter and garlic I understand why it blew me away. It’s exactly the sort of melty-cheesy, buttery, carb-heavy thing I would marry, if it were human.
Rosarella Bread
1 1/3 cups coarsely chopped bocconcini cheese
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 tsp salt
1 loaf french bread, halved lengthwise
In a food processor, combine cheese, butter, rosemary, garlic, pepper and salt. Process until smooth. Wrap bread halves individually in heavy duty foil, leaving cut side open. Spread cheese mixture over cut side of bread halves.
Heat bread over low heat directly on grid or on warming rack on natural gas barbecue for 15 to 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and bread is golden around edges. Slice bread and serve.
July 15 2010 | beans and vegetarian | 14 Comments »
What makes a true friend? Loyalty? Sure. An appreciation for your unique sense of humour? Definitely. A mutual desire for companionship (and deep fried Mars bars in the pouring rain)? OK.
But the real evidence of friendship is a homebaked banana bread, heavy with walnuts and a thick ripple of Nutella through its middle. Just for you.
Charlie brought this over. It’s just banana bread, only he stopped halfway through pouring the batter and slapped on a layer of Nutella, then topped it with the rest of the batter and baked it. I love this kind of experimentation. Especially when it works.
Also, we had black-eyed pea soup. I put it in the slow cooker last night, having come across a chunk of leftover roast ham in the freezer. Into the CrockPot went:
a chunk of sliced roast ham the size of a small fist
about a cup of dried black-eyed peas (black beans would work just as well, or little white ones, or lentils)
a chopped orange pepper
half a chopped purple onion
a couple carrots
a few stalks of flaccid celery
a few cloves of garlic
the end of the bowl of salsa we were eating when we ran out of chips
6 cups of water
It cooked on low for 6-7 hours, and we ate it topped with grated Parmesan.
July 14 2010 | leftovers | 7 Comments »
Just thought I’d pop in for a quick hello, and offer you a muffin.
I’m still determined to plow through the ridiculous excess of food stacked three layers deep on my shelves. Did I know I had Red River cereal back there? I did not. Nor did I realize I never finished that box of All Bran that I purchased in an impulsive act of grown-up health-consciousness, then ate maybe three bowls of. And if you’ve been hanging around here a lot, you may know that I hate to waste stuff. Especially food.
And so I snooped around at a few cereal-based recipes, and looked up Sue’s not-a-crap-muffin recipe, and made these, and they turned out really well. I imagine they’d work out just fine using any grainy cereal-turned-mush. I added a peach, cut into chunks; you could add blueberries, or raspberries, or fresh apricots. They aren’t too hard-core, in comparison to others in the realm of bran muffins – not overly grainy in the sort of way that makes it seem like it might have come out of a horse.
Fresh Peach Bran Muffins
2 cups All Bran cereal
1 3/4 cups buttermilk or plain yogurt, thinned with milk
1/2 cup sugar (white or brown)
1/4 cup canola oil
1 large egg
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
pinch salt
1 peach, chopped
In a large bowl stir together the cereal and buttermilk; let stand for 10 minutes, until soft. Preheat the oven to 375F.
Stir the sugar, oil and egg into the bran mixture. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and stir until almost combined; add the peach and stir just until blended.
Divide the batter among 12 muffin cups that have been lined with paper liners or sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake for 25 minutes, until golden and springy to the touch. Makes a dozen muffins.
One Year Ago: Roasted Plum Ice Cream and Mascarpone Ice Cream with Strawberry-Rhubarb Compote
July 12 2010 | bread and breakfast | 12 Comments »
These aren’t nearly as disgusting as they sound, honest.
They went over stupendously well last Tuesday morning at CBC. Seriously, people were near-ecstatic over them. Being Stampede week and all I need to give you an appropriately-themed recipe – I’m sorry if I held out for so long and you’re already over the whole corn dog thing. Even if you never were into the whole corn dog thing, these are worth a try. They’re little breakfast sausages dipped in grainy pancake batter and fried corn-dog style, then served with maple syrup for dipping. I made these once years ago, and we had wee ones in Kelowna last year at a hotel – I wish I could remember which one – they were small, and part of a breakfast buffet. So there you go – a new idea for your next brunch, or any party, really. Breakfast of champions. Also a great way to win friends and influence people.
They started with a pancake recipe. A nice grainy (without being heavy) one with a smattering of cornmeal (but not so much as to make them corn-cakey). The pancakes were great (although I do give you permission to knock down the oil a bit), and substantial enough that they worked perfectly for corn dog purposes, although I did omit the oil (after all, I was going to cook them in oil) and one of the eggs. (Don’t try boxed mix – not that you buy boxed pancake mix, right? – it’s too poufy and wussy, and your sausage will undress itself almost immediately upon hitting the hot oil.) You could make full-sized corn dogs using regular hot dogs, and this same batter would work out just fine. Upon comparing to my old corn dog recipe to this, they aren’t really that different. Turns out you can teach an old corn dog new tricks. Haw! Yes, I am my father’s daughter.
Whole Wheat Cornmeal Pancakes
1 1/4 cups whole-wheat flour
1/4 cup cornmeal
1 Tbsp. brown sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
Whisk together dry ingredients in a large bowl; add buttermilk, eggs, and oil and whisk until smooth. Let stand 5 minutes (batter will thicken). If it’s too thick to pour easily, thin with more buttermilk.
Brush a griddle or skillet with oil or spray with nonstick spray and heat over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking. Reduce heat to medium. Working in batches of 4, spoon 2 tablespoons batter per pancake (a heaping large serving spoon works well) onto hot griddle and cook for about a minute, until bubbles appear on surface and pop around the edges, the edges are set, and undersides are golden. Flip pancakes with a thin metal spatula and cook until undersides are golden and pancakes are cooked through, 45 seconds to 1 minute more. (Lower heat if pancakes brown too much before insides are cooked through.) Transfer pancakes to plates and brush griddle with oil between batches; if you like, keep them warm in a 250F oven while you cook the rest. Serve warm. Makes about 10 pancakes.
Pancake Corn Dogs
1 1/2 – 2 dozen small maple pork breakfast sausages
wooden coffee stirrers, popsicle sticks or bamboo skewers
1 batch pancake batter above, omitting the oil and one egg
canola oil, for cooking
Cook the sausages and let them cool, then stick them on the wooden stirrers. In a wide, medium-large pot, heat a few inches of canola oil until hot but not smoking. Dip each sausage into the batter, holding it by the stick and rolling it around until well coated – dip into the oil and cook, turning as necessary, for a minute or until deep golden. Cook only two or three at a time, without crowding the pot, which could cause corn dog collisions and cause your oil to cool down.
Drain on paper towels and serve immediately, with maple syrup.
July 11 2010 | appetizers and pork | 17 Comments »
« Prev - Next »
