dinner with Julie

Bacon Popcorn

Today I used the bacon drippings from yesterday’s kale carbonara in the bottom of my Whirley-Pop pot when I popped my popcorn. That is all.

January 27 2011 | snacks | 10 Comments »

Maple Cinnamon Pecans

Head cold. Can’t hardly breathe, can speak even less. Realized I had no voice upon pulling into the Tim Horton’s drive-thru at 6 this morning, en route to the Mount Royal University radio station, where I was interviewed live on the air sounding like a prepubescent mouse who smokes too much.

Didn’t feel like cooking, so rummaged around the fridge, opening miscellaneous yogurt containers, and found the leftovers from the dinner I was invited to on Sunday night. Which I haven’t even told you about yet! Am I on the ball with anything anymore?

The pictures, I’m afraid, are from my phone. Some of them didn’t go through, and the ones that did don’t do the dishes justice. But I at least wanted you to see the production that went into dessert – two homemade graham crackers on a schmear of chocolate (which acted as an anchor, keeping them on the plate, and also something for me to lick off the plate afterward) topped with a slab of ganache (one plain, one peanut butter) and a homemade marshmallow, which was then torched. Alongside, a tall shooter of hot chocolate topped with its own little marshmallow. Does anyone know how it might be possible to make a career of attending dinner clubs?

The table setting was lovely, as was the company (none of whom I knew, but all I liked instantly). And the food! I’m determined to make everything again – perhaps they need their own dedicated week. The theme was celebrity chefs, and each brought a dish from one of their favourites – Liesl brought savoury palmiers with goat cheese, pesto and sundried tomatoes and a cocktail a la Ina Garten, Monique brought Jamie Oliver’s pumpkin soup, Michelle made Panade a la Judy Rodgers (from the Zuni Cafe book – like chunky French onion soup with veg – so on my must-make list), Bonnie flew in from Vancouver and made salad a la Bobby Flay – greens, toasted hazelnuts, apples, blue cheese (methinks she took plenty of liberties with this one – with great success) and a dressing made with pomegranate molasses.

Jody made crab spring rolls from Ramsay’s F Word, Brandy made Nigella’s aubergine involtini (yum! total keeper – making it very soon) and Stephanie made the aforementioned s’mores for dessert. There were baby girls to cuddle and at the end, little gift bags of spiced pecans to take home. With my name on them! As if I had done them up myself or something. Sniff.

Eating them now, in bed, with hot lemon and honey. A fitting bedtime snack.

Spiced Maple Pecans

These keep well, so making a large batch will guarantee a good stash. They also make an excellent gift, bundled in cellophane or in an inexpensive glass jar tied with ribbon.

4 cups pecan halves (about a pound)
1/2 cup maple syrup
1 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1 tsp. paprika
1/2 tsp. salt
Pinch cayenne pepper (optional)

Preheat oven to 350?F.

Spread pecans in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast for 7-8 minutes, until fragrant. Drizzle with maple syrup and toss to coat; continue baking for another 10 minutes, stirring once or twice, until the nuts absorb most of the syrup.

In a small bowl, stir together the sugar, cumin, chili powder, paprika, salt and cayenne pepper. Sprinkle over the nuts and toss to coat. Spread on a cookie sheet to cool completely.

Store extras in a tightly sealed container. Serves 12.

Maple Cinnamon Pecans: substitute the spice mix for a blend made with 1 tbsp. sugar, 1 tsp. cinnamon, 1/2 tsp. ginger and ¼ tsp. salt.

Garlic Pepper Pecans: substitute the spice mix for a blend of 1 tsp. garlic salt, 1/2 tsp. paprika, 1/4 tsp. freshly ground black pepper and a pinch of cayenne pepper.

December 01 2010 | appetizers and snacks | 10 Comments »

Chewy Granola Bars

Sorry guys, Monday slid straight into Friday again. And October 1? For real?

I just arrived home from a day in Kelowna, touring apple orchards, getting to know some growers – including the couple who twenty years ago came across a seedling amongst their plum trees that eventually bore what we now know as Ambrosia apples. We ate lunch at Grey Monk – and I can’t wait to tell you about all of it, but there are far too many photos to sort through, and I don’t have confidence in my eyelids to stay open.

Besides, it occurred to me that I haven’t even brought you up to speed on Monday yet. Monday I spent the afternoon with a team of volunteers from PricewaterhouseCoopers making homemade lunchbox treats at Brown Bagging It for Calgary’s Kids, an organization that has been feeding kids who go to school without lunches for the past 14 years. They make and deliver – all by volunteer – about 1500 lunches per day. (Lunches provided in the month of September: 61,027.) They’ve made deliveries to every area of the city – it’s not an issue isolated to a handful of neighbourhoods. They’ve delivered to Rideau Park and Pump Hill. Lunches go to whomever needs them – no paperwork or requirements, no questions.

Can you imagine the efforts that go into coordinating, making and delivering that many lunches daily? They rely on private donations, do a lot of fundraising and have plenty of dedicated volunteers – about 50 regulars (some who come in to help out before going to work) and even more who come occasionally to help out in their downtown kitchen, or take on deliveries.

But ultimately it would be great if the city didn’t need such an organization to fill the gaps, don’t you think? BB4CK’s goal is to be out of business; their new initiative is to help each community create sustainable solutions to the problem, making arrangements to feed those kids who need it, whether it be by a few community members, parents sending an extra lunch with their kids, or any other scenario that works. There are plenty of people doing this already – students at one school making lunches for kids at another, groups of grandmothers gathering to make lunches on a regular basis, churches collecting food for nearby schools, and corporations pitching in to take on lunches so that BB4CK doesn’t have to. I know of at least one school that does try to take it on itself, and spends $1000 per month on food for spare lunches. Knowing how tight public school budgets already are, that must seriously drain resources for other school equipment and activities.

If we all pitched in just a bit, it would alleviate this need altogether. We as communities could easily ensure Calgary kids don’t ever spend a day hungry at school, don’t you think? W goes to Ramsay School, a small (ninetysomething students in the entire school) inner-city school in a 100 year old sandstone building that has lots of character and is one hub of a particularly close-knit community. I’d hate to think any of those kids are going hungry at lunchtime. And so on Monday when I take W to school, I’m going to ask how often this is an issue and what we can do about it. It seems to me if we sent the occasional extra lunch, and maybe set up a collection box of sorts – a Lunch Bank? – into which any parent (or community member) could drop a bag of apples or a batch or box of something or other anytime, then it would be there for those kids who need it when they need it. Can you imagine the impact we’d have if we all just chipped in a little?

Getting off my soapbox now. Right-the granola bars we made. They’re thick and chewy and use No Nuts Golden Peabutter, an Alberta product BB4CK has been supporting for years, which itself is pretty cool. (You could use peanut butter instead.)

Chewy Granola Bars

These thick granola bars can be customized with any kind of nuts, seeds and dried fruit your kids like, in any proportion. If you don’t have oat flour, make some by processing oats in a food processor until powdery, or try substituting brown rice or quinoa flour.

1 3/4 cups quick rolled oats, barley flakes, or a combination
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup oat flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2-3 cups chopped dried fruit, nuts and seeds
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup golden pea butter, peanut butter or another nut butter
1/3 cup liquid honey, maple syrup or corn syrup
2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350°F and spray an 8″x8″ pan with nonstick spray.

In a large bowl, stir together the oats, brown sugar, oat flour, salt and cinnamon. Stir in the dried fruit, nuts and seeds.

In a small bowl, whisk together the canola oil, nut butter, honey and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients and stir until well blended and crumbly. Press into the prepared pan.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until golden around the edges. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack before cutting into bars.

One Year Ago: Plum Crumble with Burnt Sugar Ice Cream

October 01 2010 | snacks | 32 Comments »

Crunchy Salted Chocolate Peanut Butter Blocks

I subscribe to the Nike school of thought when it comes to entertaining:Just Do It. Or Just Send Out An Email, and by hitting send you’ve instantaneously committed yourself to having people show up at your door, and you’ll figure it out, and everyone will have a great time even though you haven’t managed to tidy up the dust and dog hair rhinos that have collected in every corner and on the sides of each hardwood stair. Because really, no one cares about that stuff. And I’m convinced that everyone else will feel a little bit better about themselves if they see what a disaster my house is.

The point is, if you wait until you have time, or worry about schedules and menu planning and all the things that might stress you out about having people over, it might never happen. So although I should have been working on my manuscript today, I knew much of the neighbourhood would be out chipping in for the community clean-up, and would be hungry afterward. And isn’t life all about the people in it? Isn’t this the important stuff? Says the girl who is neglecting all her friends equally.

And so a few days ago I sent an email telling everyone to come over this afternoon for a bit of a barbecue. As it turned out, the temperature hovered around ZERO all day. We woke up to wet snow, and it came down until around dinnertime. By mid-afternoon we were all wet, cold and tired, having spent hours pitching in to give the community its spring cleaning. My sister suggested that instead of the barbecue, I throw a big pot of chili on the stove, and fill the oven with baked potatoes. I did. To bake a potato: wash it, poke it with a fork and bake right on the oven rack -you don’t need to wrap it in foil- at 350F for about an hour, depending on its size. It’s easy to tuck a few potatoes in the oven along with whatever else is baking, regardless of whether or not you’ll be eating them right away. Leftover baked potatoes make great, fast skillet fries or hash. Today they would have come in handy tucked into our pockets, to keep our hands warm. Sheesh.

Mike made me promise not to spend much time cooking, and I didn’t. I knew we’d need something sweet, and although a big batch of cookies or brownies would have been easy enough, I wanted to streamline it even further. I had a bag of letter-shaped pretzels I had bought for the occasion, and so smashed some up and stirred them into melted chocolate chips and peanut butter, then chilled the lot and cut it into blocks. A little too addictive, but dead easy. Especially when you need something to fill that chocolate void.

Crunchy Salted Chocolate Peanut Butter Blocks

They’re a little like homemade chocolate bars – you could add chopped toasted nuts and/or dried fruit in place of the pretzels if you like, but I love their crunchiness and salt.

3 cups chocolate chips (or chopped chocolate)
1 cup peanut butter
1-2 cups small pretzels, coarsely crushed in a ziploc bag

In a medium bowl, melt the chocolate chips and peanut butter in the microwave or over a pot of simmering water, stirring until melted and smooth. Stir in the pretzels and pour into an 8″ or 9″ square pan. Chill in the fridge until set. Let sit at room temperature for a bit to make them easier to cut into bars or blocks. Makes lots.

I picked up an orange pound cake from Rustic Sourdough Bakery on 17th Ave. Love the domed oval shape. W loves the little candy orange wedge on top.

Cathy made tiny potato, bacon and cheese frittatas that we ate like popcorn, and Jenn baked bread. And taught me how to take the top off a cupcake, then flip it upside down to sandwich the icing inside.

Altogether too much carb loading, and only one of us is running a marathon tomorrow. (Not me.) But we had lots of laughs around the kitchen table, and no one even mentioned the dust and dog hair rhinos.

May 29 2010 | snacks and sweet stuff | 18 Comments »

Ratatouille

It would appear I’m becoming a slacker again, especially on weekends. This time I have an excuse though: I got stung by a bee and swelled. No really. Actually it was a wasp, and it wasn’t so much the swelling as the ensuing sensation that my gut was being stomped upon by angry transvestites in stilettos (stilettos with real-size women in them would be far too small and dainty).

Although I do like the excuse that I’m actually only 120 pounds, I just got stung by a bee. (Or perhaps several – mostly in the muffin-top and thigh area.)

I was so honoured to emcee the first annual Sugar Bowl last night. Immediately upon walking in the door of the lawn bowling club I was chatting at the registration desk, not hassling any wasps at all, and one flew up my capris and stung me above the knee (as one might do if one was trapped in my pants). Ironically, I’ve been killing wasps all over our house and yard for days without being stung – in fact I assassinated 4 in the bathroom immediately before leaving for the event. (Clearly this is payback – either the offending wasp followed me there, or got texted by his second cousin over in Ramsay that half his family was just obliterated and flushed down the toilet.)

So it hurt, yes, and swelled into a second knee. But as I was dabbing some ointment on it my stomach must have got wind of what happened, cramped up and remained that way for the entire evening, so much so that it was hard to stand up straight. I’m sure some attendees wondered about the pained expression on my face; surely I couldn’t be that passionate about lawn bowling?

It was a really really fantastic, fun event, and I’m already looking forward to next year. But when it was over I got myself home, into my PJs and the fetal position and stayed that way until this morning. Stupid wasp.

So last night: no dinner. I have no idea what M fed W, but this morning the latter fessed up to eating a bag of whole wheat hot dog buns, and I estimated there were at least 6 in there when I left (I took note for a fall-back dinner: a whole wheat hot dog bun spread with peanut butter and stuffed with a banana. Guess he didn’t make it that far.)

Tonight we ate grilled Spolumbo’s sausages and leftover ratatouille, but I do have to tell you about those kale chips. Turns out fresh kale, when oiled, salted and roasted, turns into crispy, salty kale, and although it is completely delicious, and finally helped me to understand why people go around eating sheets of nori, I think calling them chips are a bit of a stretch. I will totally make this again, though – my sister and I polished off a bowl of crispy, ruffly “chips” in under 10 minutes. The kids unfortunately didn’t fall for the ruse.

Thanks, you guys, for all the recipe links! It was interesting to compare; oven temperatures ranged from 250°F to 400°F (I did a middle-of-the-road 350°F) and while all were tossed in oil, a couple also had lemon juice or apple cider vinegar, which I opted against. (In order to get veggies nice and crispy you want to avoid any moisture, and I really wanted them crispy.) Wash your kale, dry it in a salad spinner or between tea towels, pull out the tough stems, tear it into chunks (if you like – some recipes roasted whole leaves) and toss with a drizzle of canola or olive oil, then sprinkle with salt. Make sure the leaves are spread out in a single layer on your baking sheet; when they get bunched up they tend to not crisp up. The higher temp recipes took only 5 minutes; the low took half an hour; mine took about 15 minutes. You just want them crisp, but not burned. It’s pretty simple, really.

And I thought it was about time I mentioned the ratatouille; I’ve gone through a couple batches in the past weeks, keeping it in the fridge to dip into for pizza, sandwiches, lasagna, or to balance a grilled sausage. It seems more like an end-of-summer dish, but the markets are loaded with tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and eggplant right now. I love this recipe because you can start with the onion and then just chop and add veggies to the pan as you go, and measurements are approximate – feel free to add more of this or that, and sometimes I add a big spoonful of tomato paste to enrich it a little.

Like chili and soup, ratatouille is even better the next day, and the next. And once you have a stash of it, you can toss it with hot pasta (and crumbled feta or goat cheese), layer it between lasagna noodles, spread some into a panini or grilled cheese, or gob onto a pizza crust or pita and top with cheese.

Ratatouille

canola or olive oil, for cooking
1 large onion, halved and sliced
4-5 big garlic cloves, crushed
1 small eggplant, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1 red, yellow or orange pepper, chopped
1 zucchini, chopped into bite-sized pieces
3 ripe tomatoes, coarsely chopped
a couple tablespoons tomato paste (optional)
1 tsp. oregano or dried Italian seasoning
a handful of fresh spinach or basil, chopped (optional)

In a large skillet, heat a generous glug of oil over medium heat. Saute the onion, stirring occasionally, until soft and starting to turn golden. Add the garlic and cook for another minute, then add the eggplant and cook for another 5 minutes, adding more oil if needed, until the eggplant is soft. Add the pepper and zucchini, season with salt and pepper and cook for about 10 minutes, until everything is nice and soft and you’re starting to get some golden edges. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste and oregano and cook for 5 more minutes.

Taste and adjust the seasoning if you need to; if you’re adding fresh spinach or basil, stir it in and let it wilt. Serve immediately or refrigerate overnight and reheat as you need it. Serves 8 (or so).

One Year Ago: Seafood Chowder

August 09 2009 | snacks and veg and vegetarian | 30 Comments »