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 »
It’s one of those things you come across and can’t rightly not make. It’s also the sort of thing a kitchenookful of 5-7 year old boys might prompt you to make early on a Saturday morning. They’re my excuse.
Considering the ratio of flour to oil it makes sense that these would be insanely great. (But I use canola oil, which is the lowest in saturated fat and mostly heart-healthy mono and polyunsaturated fat, with omega 3s, even.) I did knock it down to 1/4 cup, which doesn’t seem like a big deal, but that one-and-a-third tablespoons of oil is about 160 calories and 18 grams of fat, so why not? They were still pretty great. And I love that I don’t have to separate the eggs and beat the whites. Who has the gumption for that first thing in the morning?
Waffles of Insane Greatness
Adapted from Food Network by way of Orangette.
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 1/2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup canola oil
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the milk, oil, egg and vanilla and mix well. Let the batter sit for 30 minutes.
Preheat a waffle iron but don’t spray it with nonstick spray; the oil in the batter will allow the waffle to release easily. Cook them according to the waffle maker’s directions, and serve warm. Makes about 6 waffles.
August 22 2010 | breakfast | 13 Comments »
This was actually dinner last night. Tonight W had his two cousins over for their first! sleepover! ever! And I doubt a vegetable curry would have gone over well. They played trains, and Mouse Trap, and played with bubble wrap, and we biked to the store for a movie and then went to the ice cream shop for some MacKays. We had pillow fights and popcorn, and grilled a plain old steak, straight-up, for dinner with new potatoes, carrots and peas from the CSA box. Sounds downright wholesome, don’t it?
For those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about when I refer to my CSA box, I’d love to tell you about it – I’m hoping that soon CSA will be as common a household term as Costco or superstore.
CSA stands for Community Supported Agriculture – it’s a great arrangement that allows consumers (eaters) to connect more directly with (and more directly support) the source of their food. In a CSA relationship, the eater supports the farmer directly by buying a share of his or her crop at the beginning of the growing season. This guarantees a market for the farmers’ produce while covering the expense of planting early on, when it’s most needed. Members typically buy half shares (enough for 2-3 people) or whole shares (enough for a family of 4-5). It’s a direct way of sustainably supporting the existence of a small family farm, and getting to personally know who’s growing your food.
Over the course of the summer and fall (or the length of the growing season), CSA members typically receive weekly boxes of produce containing a share of the crop – most often fresh produce but often eggs, dairy and meat as well – dropped off and picked up at a prearranged location. For us, every Thursday between 5 and 7 we pop by the parking lot at the Hillhurst-Sunnyside Community Association, conveniently located across from Riley park (that has a wading pool!) and pick up our share – ours is a full share, and it about fills two shopping crates. It has become the highlight of the boys’ week to come and each pick one item from each box – white potatoes, purple potatoes, pink potatoes, summer squash (yellow zucchini and pattypan), tomatoes, onions, green onions, chard, lettuces, radishes, peas, and their favourite carrots, which they eat in the car on the way home.
Some CSAs send out weekly newsletters with photos and updates on the current crop. There is also often the option to go help out on your CSA farm – a great experience for anyone who wants to learn hands-on gardening skills or would like their kids to see exactly where their food is coming from. John, the owner (with his dad) of the farm we support, was telling me yesterday how thrilled he is with this new arrangement (in his twenties, he’s part of a new generation of Alberta farmer taking over the family farm – something not enough of the next generation are willing to do these days). This is his first year running a CSA. He says it’s far more efficient than the farmers’ markets as he knows exactly what’s being picked up and doesn’t have to guess at quantities nor haul the remainder home after a disappointing turnout (bad weather can affect weekly markets). Of course there isn’t any overhead either when all you’re doing is pulling into an empty parking lot once a week.
Our CSA is Eagle Creek Farms, in Bowden. But there are others in the Calgary area – Thompson Small Farm in Carbon, Blue Mountain Biodynamic Farm in Carstairs and Oxyoke Farms, in Linden. Of course they’re all booked up for this season, but it doesn’t hurt to connect now and perhaps even put your name on the list for next year. I know John has had a ton of interest for next spring already. For more information and a full list of Alberta CSAs, visit www.csaalberta.com.
Right – the curry. It was a ploy to get rid of the last of last week’s boxes before (or in this case immediately after) picking up this week’s. I chopped sweet onions, garlic scapes, a pepper (not from the box yet), yellow zucchini and chard, and at the last minute tossed in the remains of some flaked fish I used for a fish taco photo yesterday afternoon. Really – all you need to do to make a pretty smashing curry is saute whatever veg you like with a good glob of grated ginger and garlic, a spoonful of curry paste and a can of coconut milk poured in once the veg are soft and starting to turn golden on the edges – this means there are browned bits in the bottom of the pan, too, and the coconut milk will help you get them all up. If you want to add a spoonful of chutney – mango or otherwise – go for it.
Big ol’ Curry
If you really need a recipe, here you go. Curry is a great cupboard cleaner – curries are great with potatoes (plain or sweet), zucchini, spinach, onions, lentils, beans, peppers, kale, chard, cauliflower… and bottled curry paste and canned coconut milk make the sauce easy. If you’re using light coconut milk and want to boost the coconut flavor even further without adding extra fat, add a teaspoon of coconut extract. Serve over steamed rice.
canola or olive oil, for cooking
2 onions, peeled, halved and thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, crushed
2 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
1-3 cups chopped fresh veg – any kind you like
2-3 tsp. curry paste
1/2 tsp. ground cumin or cumin seed (optional)
1/4 tsp. salt
1 14 oz (398 mL) can coconut milk, regular or light
A couple handfuls fresh spinach, chard or kale, chopped (remove the stems)
chopped peanuts or torn cilantro, to sprinkle on top (optional)
In a large skillet set over medium-high heat, sauté the onions in a drizzle of oil for 2-3 minutes, until soft. Add the garlic and ginger and cook for another minute.
Add any firm veg you’re using, such as potatoes or cauliflower, and cook them for a few minutes, until they soften and start to turn golden on the edges. Add the remaining vegetables along with the curry paste, cumin, salt and coconut milk and bring the mixture to a simmer. Stir in the chutney, if you’re using it, and cook for about 5 more minutes, until the sauce thickens and the vegetables are tender. (How long you cook it all will depend on the veg you use and how big the pieces are.)
Season with salt and pepper. Stir in the spinach and cook for a minute, just until it wilts. Serve immediately over rice with chopped peanuts and/or cilantro sprinkled on top.
August 20 2010 | one dish and vegetarian | 17 Comments »
Can you take another pie?
I remember my parents explaining to me why Christmas wouldn’t be special anymore if it came every day – it would just turn into the ordinary, into routine, and eventually we’d begin looking forward to something else. It seems this theory doesn’t apply to freshly baked pies. Especially when they arrive every day with ice cream.
It was Emily’s last day before heading back to school (her school has a modified schedule) and she wanted to spend her last afternoon making pie. (Not to suggest that baking a pie would take all afternoon – we did it during the 6 o’clock news.) E is a soccer star, and her season ended (at the provincials last weekend – yay E!), and there is now a month and a half before her indoor season begins. She decided to devote some of that time to baking. And making ice cream. Looks like I’d better take up jogging.
I let her choose what kind, while gently nudging her toward the stone fruits – nectarines, peaches, plums, cherries – she chose apple, but wanted to do something with the pint or so of raspberries she managed to forage in her back yard. We decided on apple-raspberry.
It didn’t take many raspberries – a cupful tossed over 6 or 7 apples did the trick. We carved slits in the top pastry to allow steam to escape. E’s Mom is a math teacher.
I love when something that wouldn’t have occurred to me if left to my own devices (and appetite) totally blows me away. The apple-raspberry combo was a perfect balance of sweet and tart, without worry of overjuiciness, which can be a risk in an all-raspberry pie. Also? It could very well come out tasting like pastry filled with hot jam.
What really did it for me (to me?) was the raspberry ice cream. Why is it that strawberry is such a primary flavour – right up there with chocolate and vanilla – while raspberries are completely neglected? Raspberries, unless you are lucky enough to acquire the very best strawberries, have more flavour and punch – we mashed them up, and stirred them into almost-frozen sweetened cream. I don’t think I can buy ice cream from the grocery store anymore. I may officially be spoiled.
I had made a double batch of pastry yesterday – the recipe from The Harrow Fair Cookbook. All my life I’ve spurned the idea of egg and vinegar in my pastry – I think I may be reformed. The recipe works perfectly. (I did use less salt and only 1 tsp. vinegar, which I doubt makes much difference.) Click on this photo – check out those flakes! (Here’s one of those instances where having flakes isn’t totally mortifying.) Which is not to say flakes like this cannot be achieved with flour-butter-lard-water alone. I’m just saying.
Apple-Raspberry Pie
pastry for a double crust pie
6-8 apples, peeled and sliced
2/3 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. flour
pinch salt
1-2 cups fresh raspberries (if you use frozen, don’t thaw them)
Preheat the oven to 450F. Line a 9-inch pie plate with pastry, fitting it in without stretching it – let the edges hang over the side.
Slice the apples into a large bowl. In a small bowl, stir together the sugar, flour and salt; add to the apples and toss them together. Pile them into the pastry, dumping any sugar left in the bottom of the bowl overtop. Scatter raspberries overtop.
Roll out the remaining pastry and place it over the pie; trim the edges (both layers) to about 1/2-inch past the edge of the pie plate. Tuck and crimp however you like, using your fingers or the tines of a fork. Cut a few slits in the top to allow steam to escape. If you like, brush the top with milk or cream, and if you like, sprinkle with a spoonful of sugar.
Bake the pie for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350F and bake for another 45-50 minutes, until golden and juices are bubbling out through the slits. Cool on a wire rack.
Serves 8.
Fresh Raspberry Ice Cream
1 cup fresh raspberries
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 cup half & half
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
half a capful of vanilla
In a small bowl, mash the raspberries with a spoonful or two of the sugar with a fork. In another bowl, stir together the creams and milk, sugar and vanilla. Freeze in an ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions. When it gets thick and is frozen but still soft, pour in the raspberry puree. Let it go until it’s swirly, or wait longer until the whole mixture is pale pink.
Serve immediately or if you want it firmer, transfer to a container or bowl and put it in the freezer until firm. And please, try to share.
One Year Ago: Ratatouille
At the Family Kitchen: Bocconcini with Garlic Scape Pesto
August 18 2010 | dessert | 19 Comments »
Today was brought to you by the letter P: Peaches and Pie and Pierre.
I Prepared a Pretty Perfect Pie this morning. We were talking about pastry, and not five minutes after deciding on a topic yesterday I received a brand-new cookbook, one that instantly took a place of honour beside my bed (yes, this is why we only have one child). The Harrow Fair Cookbook was inspired by the annual agricultural fair in Harrow, Ontario that began in 1854. In this book are recipes for everything from blue-ribbon pies to farmstand salads, fritters, ice cream, fried chicken and preserves. It’s so directly up my alley. The authors, sisters Moira Sanders and Lori Elstone, wrote the book because they have such fond memories of attending the Harrow Fair as children. Their book is based on the principle that what we eat today should be as natural as it was 156 years ago, when the fair was established. If it includes pies like this first-place-ribbon-winning-peaches-and-cream beauty, I couldn’t agree more.
After the show I went to Pierre’s to Plan a Project. Remember Pierre?
He Picked some Particularly Perfumed Peaches around Penticton last week, and since I Planned to Pop in, he Pulled a Peach cake out of the oven, baked in a cast iron Pan.
Can you tell I have a Preschooler?
So that Pierre – he’s a pretty good cook. He topped whole, peeled peaches with a sweet, crusty cake batter in a cast iron skillet and baked it until it was puffed and golden and reminiscent of an inside-out Dutch baby. The peaches emerged warm and soft, and the chunks of vanilla-scented cake fell away onto the plate and were not long for this world.
So that was breakfast round 2, and not even late enough in the morning to count as elevenses.
Round 1 was pie, remember? If Pop Tarts can be categorized as breakfast (which is not to say that I agree that they should be), what’s wrong with peach pie? I typically use my Grandma’s pastry recipe, but I tried a formula from from The Harrow Fair Cookbook that called for an egg and some vinegar (it won’t add flavour, but will relax the gluten), and it was pretty fantastic. And I chose a peaches and cream pie, meaning a cup of cream was added to the peaches and sugar before pouring the lot into the pastry shell and lidding it – the result wasn’t so much custardy as creamy – the juices oozed out like melted ice cream when you cut a slice.
Peaches & Cream Pie
from The Harrow Fair Cookbook, by Moira Sanders and Lori Elstone with Beth Goslin Maloney
Filling:
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. quick-cooking tapioca (I used cornstarch)
pinch fine sea salt
1 cup whipping cream
1/4 tsp. vanilla
4 cups pitted, sliced fresh peaches (the recipe specifies peeling but I didn’t bother, and used a little more than 4 cups)
1 recipe favourite pie crust (below)
extra cream, for brushing on top (optional)
sugar, for sprinkling (optional)
Preheat the oven to 375F.
In a large bowl, stir together the sugar, tapioca and salt. Whisk in the cream and vanilla. Toss the peaches in the cream mixture and set aside for 15 minutes at room temperature.
Roll out one disk of pie dough to fit a 9-inch pie plate, trimming pastry to 1/2-inch past the edge of the plate. Spoon the filling into the shell.
Roll the remaining crust out to a 9-inch circle and lay atop the filling (cutting slits or holes for steam to escape) or cut into 1-inch wide strips and make a lattice crust. Trim the edges of the top pastry to match the bottom, and crimp the edge with your fingers or a fork. If you like, brush the top of the pie with cream, and sprinkle with sugar.
Bake for 50-55 minutes, until golden and bubbling (if you like, place the pie on a baking sheet to catch drips). Cool to room temperature before slicing. Makes 1 pie.
Favourite Pie Crust
from The Harrow Fair Cookbook, by Moira Sanders and Lori Elstone with Beth Goslin Maloney
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. fine sea salt
1/2 cup lard, chilled and cubed
1/2 cup unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
1 large egg
2 tsp. vinegar
ice cold water
In a large bowl, stir together the flour and salt. Add the lard and butter and blend with a pastry cutter or food processor until it’s blended with some pieces of fat the size of small peas.
In a small dish or measuring cup, stir the egg and vinegar together with a fork, then add cold water to make 1/2 cup. Add to the flour mixture and stir just until the dough comes together.
Divide the dough into two pieces and shape each into a disc; wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate or freeze until needed.
Makes enough for one double-crust or two single-crust pies.
One Year Ago: Caramel Sundaes with Grey Salt
At the Family Kitchen: Fresh Tomato & Basil Sauce
August 17 2010 | dessert | 23 Comments »
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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!
