Archive for August, 2010
Sorry, I’m a day late. How could it possibly be September tomorrow? how did that happen?
It was a very Calgary sort of a weekend, in a way that reminded me why I love to live here, and why I shouldn’t bother missing Vancouver as often as I do. (Until you get news that your CSA farm got its first frost on the night of August 27th. August! 27th! Bah.) Saturday morning saw an impromptu trip for coffee, cinnamon buns at Urban Baker and a trip to the park, and the sunny afternoon was spent checking out Central Memorial Park (Boxwood opens Sept 9!), the fountains and old sandstone library. Which was pretty idyllic if you ignore the fact that we were waiting for my sister to have xrays on what turned out to be a broken knee.
Saturday night I emceed the 2nd Annual Sugar Bowl to benefit the Amber Webb-Bowerman Memorial Foundation, and Sunday Pierre took a group of us to tea at Nectar before they closed their doors for good.
After tea, dinner. We tried to get the family together for Sunday dinner before September kicks in.
When there’s a roast pork loin, and fresh Taber corn, and a big fresh-from-the-garden chopped salad, and thin-skinned new potatoes still coated in dirt, and back yard (not mine)-laid eggs, and the recent discovery of how to make perfect mayo in just under two minutes, it would be a crime against the humanity of this household not to make potato salad. Especially with Rosanne Cash’s very own recipe.
I know – who needs a recipe, really? But I do like the idea that this came from Johnny Cash’s daughter’s kitchen, even though it looks just like a thousand other potato salad recipes, and that she likely at some point made it for her dad on a Sunday afternoon. My standard involves not boiling but roasting the potatoes, preferably in the drippings left from the crisply cooked bacon inevitably set aside to crumble in afterward. I love that Rosanne doesn’t bother to peel her potatoes, either. (That’s where many of the nutrients and much of the fiber are, anyway.) Hers called for plenty of chopped dill pickles; I had none, but it occurred to me that a good lob of asparagus relish from Edgar farms would do well. She uses celery; I saw her celery and raised it some roughly chopped peppery radishes. There was (refreshingly, and likely due to the abundance of pickles) no fresh dill on the list, so I used Brassica‘s grainy mustard with dill.
Also? I don’t generally have mayo in the fridge. It always goes bad before I use it. But rather than run to the store for a jar, I whisked a batch up myself. Guaranteed it took less time, and I likely saved a few dineros as well. And really-is there much better than homemade mayo? Especially when you’re dressing such perfect potatoes?
The pork loin was pretty straightforward – I loosely followed this recipe, but really just made a paste out of garlic, finely chopped rosemary and a bit of oil, rubbed it all over the meat, salted and peppered the lot and roasted it at 400ºF for about an hour. Tasty.
Rosanne Cash’s Potato Salad
adapted from Rosanne, via Bon Appétit – June 2004
Apparently Ms. Cash sometimes added two-thirds cup chopped fresh cilantro (yes, a lot) and two teaspoons curry powder to the mix.
3 lb. medium red-skinned potatoes, unpeeled, scrubbed
8 dill pickle spears, coarsely chopped (about 1 1/2 cups)
3 celery stalks, chopped (include the leaves!)
1 small bunch of green onions, chopped (or a small purple onion)
3 hard-boiled eggs, peeled, chopped
3/4 cup mayonnaise (or to taste
2 Tbsp. grainy Dijon mustard
Cut the potatoes in half or quarters if they need it and cook in a large pot of boiling salted water until tender. Drain and set aside to cool.
Toss everything together, seasoning to taste with salt and pepper. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and refrigerate. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour before serving.) Serves lots.
August 30 2010 | salads | 13 Comments »
Are you sitting down? Because I have some news that just might change your life. I think it may have changed mine. Or at least my mornings. And that’s something.
All this time I thought that granola was something you made in Very Large Batches, to portion out into glass jars and ziplock bags for storage. Turns out you can make a quick batch in a skillet, just like jam, and it takes approximately five minutes. You can make enough to last the week, or a day if you have lots of granola lovers in your house, and you can eat it warm, straight from the pan. And this granola I’m talking about? Costs hardly anything. And it’s fantastic.
I wouldn’t have thought of it. But today I grabbed a magazine off the stack in the corner – the one almost as tall as me that Mike warns one day will just suddenly wind up in recycling – and flipped through it, and saw this. I ditched some of the butter (the granola I typically make doesn’t even have any) and added some hemp seeds, just because I had them. Theoretically you could make this with any combination of oats, nuts and seeds, and even add raisins or other dried fruit at the end, just like I did. But the plain old combination of oats and seeds with a handful of raisins at the end was surprisingly yummy.
So I made this – I made granola – while they boys sat at the kitchen table doing whatever it is they do, and my granola from scratch was done faster than a pot of oatmeal would have been. See? Totally life (or at least breakfast) changing.
Quick Skillet Granola
adapted from the June 2001 issue of Gourmet
1 cup old-fashioned (large flake) oats
1/4 cup sesame seeds, and/or hemp seeds, and/or flax seeds
1 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. honey or golden syrup (such as Roger’s or Lyle’s)
a shake of cinnamon
a pinch of salt (optional)
a handful of raisins or dried fruit (optional)
Put everything into a large, heavy skillet (cast iron is perfect) set over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring often, for about 5 minutes, or until the granola is well coated and golden. Set aside to cool and stir in raisins or dried fruit.
I was going to wait for fall to bring back Free Stuff Fridays with a flourish, but this granola calls for the brand new cast iron pan I bought just to give away to one of you. If you hang around here on a semi-regular basis you know what a fan I am of cast iron, and I think everyone should have one on their stovetop. This is a true cast iron, not a newfangled pre-seasoned one, which are far better if you can commit that little bit of extra effort to get it going. I’ll walk you through it. I sense a cast iron PSA coming up…
I also just can’t wait to hear what you’ve all been cooking. Don’t limit your answers to dinner last night (unless it was something particularly worthy of reporting) – what has been the most delicious thing you’ve eaten over the summer? Where have you found inspiration? What else is up in your world? As always I’ll make a random draw from all the comments next Tuesday.
August 27 2010 | breakfast | 157 Comments »
Well, hello. Does this not scream come jump into bed with me in a completely unsexual but rather cozy Grandma’s cottage or quaint B&B on a long weekend sort of way?
I’ve wanted to make something with cornmeal and berries all summer, and the stray cob of corn on my countertop seemed as good an excuse as any… my sister’s raspberry bush had just been harvested, so it’s a little stingy in the berry dept. But the real kernels of corn, scraped off the cob, make up for it. It would do just as well with blueberries or blackberries, I think.
Cornmeal Cake with Fresh Corn and Raspberries
adapted from Farmers’ Market Desserts, via Food52
1 cup fresh raspberries
1 ear corn, kernels scraped off
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup fine yellow cornmeal
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
2 large eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup canola oil
Preheat the oven to 350F.
In a small bowl, toss the corn and raspberries with a spoonful of the flour; set aside. In a medium bowl stir together the remaining flour, sugar, cornmeal, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a small bowl or measuring cup, whisk together the eggs, buttermilk, and oil. Stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture with a spatula until almost blended; gently stir in the corn and berries, stirring just until combined.
Spread the batter evenly into a 9-inch cake pan that has been buttered or sprayed with nonstick spray. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until golden and springy to the touch. Serve warm, topped perhaps with sweetened sour cream or raspberry ice cream.
One Year Ago: Bacon and Tomato Sandwich
At the Family Kitchen: Lower-fat Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
August 26 2010 | cake | 2 Comments »
Have I shown off my garden yet? I’m loaded – with spinach and chard, that is – between the CSA box and the boxes in my back yard, I should have X-ray vision or some such superpower by the end of the summer. Which is coming up all too quickly.
I punched “chard” into the search box on Epicurious the other day, looking for more inspiration (but really just procrastinating), and these frittata bites jumped out – they suggest cold squares for a cocktail party. I wound up doing my own thing, but kept the sausage-chard-feta combo, and it was loved by all. (Except W, who struggled unsuccessfully to separate the green stuff from the rest.) Bonus: two huge bunches of chard went into this – it always amazes me how small it gets once it wilts. You could cook a bunch down to a spoonful and just eat it, like a real-food vitamin pill.
Chard, Sausage and Feta Frittata
canola or olive oil, for cooking
1 small onion or half a purple one
2-3 large sausages (I used Winter’s Turkeys sausages)
1-2 bunches chard, ribs removed and leaves roughly chopped or torn
8 large eggs
1/4 cup milk
salt & pepper
1 cup crumbled feta
Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large ovenproof skillet (cast iron is perfect!) heat a drizzle of oil and cook the onion over medium-high heat for a few minutes, until starting to soften. Squeeze the sausage out of its casing into the skillet and cook, breaking it up with a spoon, until no longer pink. Transfer to a bowl and add another drizzle of oil (if you need it) then add the chard to the pan – if you’ve washed it, the moisture clinging to the leaves should provide enough moisture – and cook for a few minutes, until it wilts. Add the sausage and onion back to the pan.
Whisk eggs, milk, salt and pepper. Stir in the cheese and pour over the meat and veg in the pan. Turn the heat to medium-low and cook for a few minutes, until it’s starting to set around the edges and on the bottom. Transfer to the oven and cook for about 10 minutes, until cooked through and golden on top. (Alternatively you could stir the lot together, pour it into a buttered baking dish and bake for 40-45 minutes, until set.)
Serve warm, in wedges, or cold in squares. Leftovers make great sandwich filling. Serves 8.
One Year Ago: Browned-Butter Blueberry Muffins (made with saskatoons)
August 24 2010 | appetizers and eggs and one dish | 16 Comments »
Dilemma: what does one make when asked to attend a potluck picnic for two dozen or so local food bloggers, all of whom will presumably go home to their computers to document the eats of the day? Rather than debate what might be most easily transportable, crowd-pleasing, visually stunning or dinner-party impressive (baked Alaska? too melty. Crêpes Suzette? too French) I figured I’d use some of the dandy purple, pink and white thin-skinned spuds I’m starting to have more of than I can use, and the pale green and yellow beans that came in our CSA box this week. Of course I’m still hopelessly hooked on that garlic scape pesto. And I wanted everyone at said picnic to have garlic breath as distinct (emphasis on stinct) as I.
The potato salad was easy – I won’t complicate things by writing out a recipe. (Also? I’m lazy.) I boiled (I usually roast, but wanted the potatoes to suck up all that garlicky pesto) thin-skinned white and purple potatoes, tossing in a big handful of green beans (stems trimmed but not the curly ends – who would want to get rid of that?) for the last few minutes of cooking time. Drained the lot and tossed it with the last of the garlic scape pesto. (You could use any bottled pesto, but the garlickiness of this one was quite stellar here.) I made it on Saturday night (having plans Sunday morning immediately before the picnic) and put the bowl into the fridge, uncovered, to cool down. We sat on the front step and visited with neighbours. They grew in numbers and we wound up with a small party. Which meant waking up Sunday morning and realizing that my beautiful bowl of potato salad was a sort of pale grey shade. Which was a great excuse to mask it a little with mayo I made in approximately two minutes – I smell another post coming on – and the way the mayo made the oily pesto a little creamy was divine. I chopped in a few green onions, too. Eggs would have been good. I forgot.
It was a stunning potluck. (Have I expressed how enamored I am with the concept of potlucks? Love them. And who cares if you wind up with 20 potato salads? Guaranteed they’ll all be different.
In attendance on Sunday afternoon: Vincci (who organized the whole thing) from Ceci n’est Pas un Food Blog, Chelsey from The Crazy Kitchen, Pierre from Kitchenscraps, Lauren from Celiac Teen, Jennifer from Chocolate & Ginger and Wendy from Clearly the Place to Eat.
We had skewers of golden watermelon and cubes of feta wrapped in a strip of basil.
And gluten-free plum cake baked by a teenage genius (I would never have known it was gluten-free!)
And marinated chicken thighs cooked over an open fire!
Fresh peaches and berries marinated in champagne, honey and lemon zest. This was before they were topped with thick whipped cream. Peaches and berries and cream – oh my!
And there were phenomenal lemon squares that I seem to have missed because it’s quite difficult to photograph something whilst shoving it into your mouth.
It turned out to be perfect timing, as we were headed to Mike’s mom’s house for dinner afterward. She’s very sweet. But to sum up her culinary mind: she’s been cutting the fat off her pork chops and saving them in a plastic bag in the freezer for me. She knows I like to cook, and thought I might be able to do something with them. Any suggestions?
August 23 2010 | salads and veg | 21 Comments »
Next »
