The Salty Pear

A Little Break

2011-12-16T14:29:00.001-08:00

It's that time of year. My students' grades are almost all submitted, and the restaurant where I work is closing for two weeks. I get a break, and that means I get to pack a bag (and Pinot) and go to my sister's for ten days. In anticipation of this departure, I have been solemnly consuming ONLY the contents of my fridge and pantry, and trying very hard not to open anything that I can't finish in a few days. This morning I had the last of my yogurt with pomegranate seeds (from this week's salad), juiced the last grapefruit, and spread some butter on my last pieces of toast. I was dying to bake something because I had the whole morning to myself, but I held back like a reasonable person should. Instead I went for a walk, and to run some errands. On my way to the bank I remembered being told yesterday that the lovely people at The Planet Bakery will be baking banana bread muffins today, so I went. First I ate one muffin. Then I purchased two more. They were that good. The amazing Dahn of Planet Bakery just shared the recipe for what I honestly think are the best muffins, ever. I'm sharing the recipe with you now, because I think it's so funny that even on the day I decided not to cook/bake anything, I end up with a recipe. Try these, I know I will!

"Hey, Mina! Thanks for all the muffin love. Here's the recipe. I want to start sharing and typing up all these well-loved recipes kicking around (my head and my apt)"

Banana Bread Muffins Makes 4 large bakery style muffins

Wet
3 ripe bananas, mashed
1 flax 'egg'
1/3 cup Earth Balance/Margarine
Dry
1.5 cups all purpose flour

1/2 cup sugar

1 tsp bkg. Powder
1 tsp bkg. Soda
1/2 tsp salt
Topping
2 tbs flour
2 tbs rye flakes
1 tbs Earth Balance/Margarine
1/8 tsp cinnamon

1/3 cup brown sugar

Beat wet ingredients together. Sift dry ingredients together. Whip sugar topping ingredients together. Combine as gently as possible, wet to dry, and spoon batter into greased tins. Top the muffins. Bake at 350*F for 30 mins, checking the inside with a toothpick.

Taking Care and Smiling Lots

2011-12-13T18:43:00.000-08:00

Meet Pinot: possibly the sweetest and most loving kitten in the northern hemisphere. I'm not gonna tell you about all the sweet things he does and how cuddly he is and all the adorable places he finds for napping. Instead I'm gonna tell you about how interesting it's been caring for a living thing that is vulnerable and depends on me. Come to think of it, in the past few months I've done a lot of caring. At work too, I've been involved in quite a few of my students' personal issues this year. It wasn't something I had anticipated, but what do you do when someone shows up with bloodshot eyes and a lump in their throat trying to keep it together? I found myself in that situation quite a few times this year. Over cups of tea and hours on the swivel chairs in my office I've heard about parents' divorces, sibling drama, loss, anxiety, confusion, and many a break-up... Now that the term draws to a close, I grade their final papers and smile at all the little personal notes and e-mails they have sent me expressing their appreciation. I'm home a lot these days, grading papers and calculating marks... so I've been cooking a lot too. Here is what I ate today. The salad was for lunch and Pinot loved running after every stray pomegranate seed that escaped me... And the gnocchi was for dinner. I haven't even done the dishes yet.

Christmas Salad

Arugula
Cucumber
Gala Apple
Pomegranate seeds
Dressing:
1 tpsp Olive oil
1 tbsp Balsamic /red wine vinegar
1 tsp honey
salt+pepper to taste

I used my mandolin to get a quick and fine julienne of the cucumber and apple, and the arugula and pomegranate are pretty self explanatory. I have a whole entire post on how to deal with a pomegranate if you feel you need help with that.

I like making the dressing in a big bowl and tossing the ingredients in it. I find it all comes together better this way.

Potato Gnocchi

2 lb Russet or Idaho Potatoes
1 1/2 cups All purpose flour (plus a pinch of fresh ground nutmeg)
1 Large egg beaten
1/2 tbsp Salt

Flour for dusting and rolling.

Wash the potatoes and place in a large pot with the skins on and fill with water. Boil until tender but firm. 10-15 minutes should do the trick. Peel when still hot but cool enough to handle. You can use a paper towel if you still have any sensation in your hands, unlike me.

Put potatoes through a potato ricer onto a cutting board and shape into a well. Sprinkle the area with flour and put the egg yolk in the center of the well and begin your mixing and kneading, incorporating all the flour and adding a bit more if needed (if you've never done this before, use a large bowl to avoid messing it all up).

Knead the dough for a few minutes until it comes together and doesn't stick, but not too much because you don't want to lose the softness of your dough. Let it sit for 30min-1 hour. This would be a good time to pour yourself a glass of wine and make a tomato sauce or a pesto...

Divide the dough, shape long strings that you can cut into 1inch nuggets and shape using a gnicchi board or fork. I recommend you look up a video to learn how to shape gnocchi. Try to find one starring an Italian grandmother... they're the best.

To cook, just bring a pot of salted water to a boil and toss in a handful of Gnocchi. When they float to the surface they are done. I like a simple lemon and butter sauce with whatever fresh herb I have lying around. To make it I melt a spoonful of butter with some lemon juice, zest, and a bit of thyme in a frying pan, and add my cooked gnocchi with a tbsp of the cooking water and toss until it looks saucy and right. Fresh cracked pepper, grated parmigiano, and you're good to go.

You could also eat these with any other sauce you like. And you can freeze the uncooked gnocchi if you've got any left.

of other comforts...

2011-11-15T17:33:00.001-08:00

The heart is an inconsistent organ. Not the anatomical heart (though, even that is prone to palpitations) but rather that proverbial organ we associate with all that the mind refuses to take responsibility for. The same trivial thing that excites and fascinates it one day, will deplete and bruise it the next day. It craves, indulges, ignores, forgives... all in the blink of an eye. Mine was in pretty rough shape a few weeks ago, and since heartache isn't something you can call in sick for, I took my troubled little heart with me to work. Eight hours, many diners, and a few heart-felt conversations later, I was so surprised to be walking home with my heart set on recovery. I knew I was feeling better because the thought at the tip of my mind was how I would go home and try making this soup. The girls I worked with that day, with their timely humor, unassuming wisdom, and genuine conversation, had managed not only to make me feel better about my uncertainties, but given me something to excitedly put an apron on for... Incidentally the two ideas they planted in my head practically spell comfort: baked potato soup and banana marshmallows. At some point that night after a bowl of hearty soup and a cup of hot chocolate (marshmallows as my excuse) I sat on my bed with a book and smiled... and to smile when no one's looking? Well that's really something...

Baked Potato (and leek) Soup

2-3 tablespoons butter or olive oil
4 leeks, washed and sliced
salt
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme; optional
1/4 teaspoon chile powder
3 cups water
3 cups stock
1 1/4-pounds (600 g) potatoes, baked, pealed and cubed (in that order)
2 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon freshly-ground white pepper
sour cream, bacon bits, and chives for topping

In a large pot over medium heat melt the butter or heat the olive oil.

Toss in the sliced leeks and season well. Cook the leeks over medium heat for 5-7 minutes, stirring until they’re soft and wilted.

Add the thyme, if using, and chile powder, and stir for another minute, cooking them with the leeks to release their aroma.

Add stock, potatoes and bay leaf. Cover and simmer for 15 minutes, then fish out the bay leaves and puree the soup in a blender adding warm water if too thick.

Top with a dollop of good sour creme, a hand-full of chopped chives, and some bacon bits.

Homemade Banana Marshmallows

2 tbsp gelatin

3/4 c water

1 c sugar

3/4 c corn syrup

1/2 tbsp pure vanilla extract

1/2 tbsp banana flavor/extract/essence
1 pinch salt

Line a shallow baking dish with parchment paper or foil and dust the paper with powdered sugar.

In a small bowl sprinkle the gelatin powder over 1/4 cup of the water. Add the sugar to the remaining water in a pot and heat until warm but not hot. Add the gelatin mixture to the warm syrup and stir until fully melted.

Pour this mixture into a large bowl. Add the corn syrup, vanilla, and banana extracts, and begin beating with an egg beater at high speed. Don't be alarmed by the brown colour... if you beat it for long enough it will be good and the colour will disappear.

Continue beating until the mixture cools, increases in volume, and forms soft peaks. Working quickly before the mixture fully sets in the bowl, transfer to the pan that you have prepared. Smooth the top with a wet spatula and let stand for three hours.

Turn out, cut and coat with powdered sugar.

...and as for hearts, well,
hearts will never be practical
until they can be made unbreakable...

I Didn't Mean to...

2011-08-29T17:47:00.000-07:00

Do you know my band mate Michael? I tease him all the time for being a vegan. Yesterday when we were having coffee arguing about band names he decided to order breakfast and as I watched him eat his toast and beans I got a massive meat chili and corn bread craving. I started listing the ingredients in my head: Beef, beans, peppers, onion, garlic, tomatoes, carrot, chilies, spices... I had everything at home. I thought I'll go home, put in a load of laundry, run out and pick up some meat, and make chilli. Long story short, I did a massive grocery shop, and forgot to buy meat. So what started out as a reactionary meat craving ended up being totally vegan in spite of my intentions... It was still delicious. The corn bread is a must. It's dead easy and seals the whole chilli deal like no other bread.

Accidentally Vegetarian (vegan in fact) Chili

2 Medium Sweet Potatoes
1 Large Spanish Onion
1 Red Bell Pepper (use 2 if they're small)
2 Small Carrots
1 Red/green chili deseeded and finely chopped
2 Cloves Garlic
1 Can Chopped Tomatoes
2 Cans Beans (I used black beans and kidney beans because that's what I had in my pantry)
Dry:
ground chipotle peppers
dry ground chili (ancho if you can get some)
paprika
cumin
cinnamon
ground coffee

Peal and dice the sweet potatoes, toss them in olive oil, salt, cumin, cinnamon, and paprika. Roast on a tray in a 375degree oven until soft and golden.

In the mean time, put a large pan on a medium-high heat and add a couple of lugs of olive oil. Add the onion, peppers, carrot, and garlic and cook for 5 minutes shaking things around every minute or so. Season with dry spices to taste, add the fresh chili and cook for another 10 or so minutes until everything is tender and well seasoned

Drain and rinse the beans, then tip them into the pan with the tinned tomatoes and juice. Stir well and bring to a boil, then reduce to a medium-low heat and leave to thicken for 25 to 30 minutes and add a splash of water if it's getting too thick.

Stir the sweet potatoes in and serve with sour cream and a few pieces of corn bread. I like to butter and grill my cornbread because I have a stove top griddle that's perfect for it. You could serve yours however you like it.

Light Corn Bread (not the buttery southern type, but a more bready kind that I like for grilling and with chili)

1C Flour
1C Cornmeal
4tbsp Sugar
1tbsp Baking Soda
1tsp Salt
2 Eggs
1C Plain Yogurt/low fat sour cream
1tbsp Olive Oil
One Chopped Deseeded Chilli (optional)

Preheat oven to 200/400 and grease a cast iron pan.
Mix all dry ingredients. Beat egg with yogurt and olive oil. Add to dry ingredients and mix until homogenous. Add chillies if using. Pour into pan and bake25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Mea [maxima] Culpa

2011-07-22T15:22:00.000-07:00

Do you ever do this? Do you ever wake up on the second day of a cold and feel a little better and pretend like nothing ever happened? I do it all the time. As soon as I'm a little better not only do I resume with all things active, but I'm even prone to pushing myself to make up for lost time. Last night I made an impromptu decision to go to my office and catch up on some work. My office, which in spite of the heat wave outside, is set to some unnecessarily arctic temperature that I can't control. So I sat there until 2am and edited poems and thought I was catching up. Well, let me tell you, when I woke up with a fever this morning that sense of achievement was not there... So I have managed to make myself sicker than I was to start with. Good job, right? I know.

I'm gonna call this recipe the Campbell Tomato Soup, not because it has anything to do with the soup manufacturer, but because I'm hopelessly addicted to punning, and the recipe was given me yesterday by my friend Lee Dylan Campbell. Since my soup-making style is usually inspired by the contents of my fridge and random, I decided to really stick to the recipe this time, for kicks. So here it goes...

The Lee Dylan] Campbell Tomato Soup
(recipe copied and pasted from facebook inbox message because I'm sick and I'm allowed to take shortcuts like that)

Chop and Sauté several fresh ripe tomatoes, a bunch of green onions, a yellow pepper, some tender celery and garlic. Black pepper, cumin. Add a generous handful of cilantro and the juice of one lime. When everything is pretty well cooked, add a big can of Heinz tomato juice (reduced salt kind) and either heat or chill – this works both ways. Add more cilantro if that’s your style, salt to taste, and a spoonful or two of maple syrup to balance the tanginess. A little hot sauce wouldn’t hurt either. Serve over a few corn chips.

Mina's sick note: thank you Lee for the soup recipe, Sarah, for offering to take me to the ER if my fever persists, Dale, for making me laugh, and Yalda, for reading me my horoscope. Now I'm going to eat some more soup and watch Christmas movies.

Depleted

2011-07-20T14:15:00.000-07:00

I’m sick. I’m sick, and two very strange things happened to me today. After having consumed only soup for something ridiculous like 4 consecutive meals, I thought, I’ll bake a savoury tart. Wait. Those weren’t the strange things. I thought I’d bake a tart because I had some lovely eggs, and some mean blue cheese. So forward I marched, to start on some pastry, chill it, then begin thinking up ideas for filling, and what did I find? You might want to sit down for this. I was out of all-purpose flour! And butter! I know! Impossible right? Today was the end of the world. I am writing to you now from the afterlife. I know what you’re thinking. You’re thinking clearly I went to hell if it’s 40 degrees out and I had to make a crust out of twelve-grain flour and olive oil… but it wasn’t bad at all! I swear. I know I’m sick and my taste buds (or judgement) can’t be trusted but I’m telling you it was kinda… good. Do you think it’s the 40degree heat and flu medication? Who knows...

Emergency Tarte Aux Oignons

Crust
1C 9-grain flour
Just under 1/4c good Olive oil
¼ C ice water
½ tsp salt
1tsp dry rosemary

Filling
1 Large Spanish/Red Onion
2 Large Portobello Mushrooms
3 good eggs
½ C Milk (if you use skim we can’t be friends)
½ C Yogurt
1C Ricotta
¼ C Crumbled Blue Cheese (or more if you like more)
Salt and Pepper to Taste

In a mixing bowl mix together the crust ingredients to make a pliable dough. Wrap in plastic and chill for 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Cut Mushrooms in strips and Sauté with olive oil, salt and pepper. Caramelize the onion to your liking. Drain any liquid from the sautéed mushrooms and mix with the onion. Set aside.

With an electric beater (or whisk) beat the eggs until they increase a little in volume. Add milk, yogurt, and ricotta beating on medium speed. Taste and season. Remember no one likes an under-seasoned savory tart.

Take out the dough and roll it out to fit your baking vessel. If it’s cracking leave it out to warm up a bit. That should help. There’s no butter in there anyway so no point in keeping it so cold. Once your baking tin is lined with your dough, arrange the onion/mushroom mixture in there evenly, then scatter some crumbled blue cheese all over. Finally, pour the egg mixture over everything and give yourself a round of applause.

Pop your tart in the oven and bake 45-55minutes. When the tart is ready, it shouldn’t jiggle in the middle. You’ll know. How is it? Am I losing my mind or is the cracker-like crust kinda cool?

Salted Watermelon, Monday, Magic.

2011-06-27T13:02:00.000-07:00

I can explain. Remember how I put salt on the Pear tarts that my bog title alludes to? Remember how it was delicious? This watermelon is no different. It' s sweet, it's lovely, and it wants salt. My friend Dale put this idea in my head. Dale knows his food so we're gonna trust him on this one. Another thing about Dale, is that he is not fond of circular things. In an ideal world, Dale would use square or rectangular plates only. So naturally, if you give Dale a round thing such as a watermelon, he will cut it into... you guessed it: cubes. Well, here is the lovely thing about cubing a watermelon: you get to eat all the scraps! My grilled cheese sandwich at lunch went pretty darn well with these salty cubes of crunch. Try it!

I won't try to write out a recipe for my Grilled Cheese and Salted Watermelon (with greens), because I'm sure you can guess how I made it. What I will do though, is share some tips: if you don't have a sandwich press, cast iron is great for grilling bread. Put some pressure on your sandwich, though. My brilliant system today involved a plate and a full kettle. You could use a plate and a nineteenth century novel. Whatever works...

P.S. I tried to be really discreet about my use of Challah in making the grilled cheese of this post. I though you're so sick of this loaf of bread by now. But then I got a comment on the last post from Amuse- bouche that sent me back to the kitchen. I came back with this tiny grilled chocolate sandwich to have with my espresso. And that, ladies and gentlemen, is the sweet sweet conclusion to my lovely loaf of Challah.

The Continuing Tale of the Challah

2011-06-26T09:48:00.000-07:00

What does one 115lb girl do with two huge loaves of Challah? Deliver one loaf on bike to best friend. Then come home and proceed with the other loaf. Two slices at a time. Day one: Rice Crispy and Orange zest French Toast. Day Two: poached eggs and grilled tomatoes. I love brunch. You should come over and join me sometime!

Rice Crispy & Orange zest French Toast
2 thick slices of Challah (day old at least)
2 eggs beaten with a few tbsp milk
orange zest
1 tsp confectioner's sugar
handful rice crispies
butter

Whisk the eggs, milk, zest, and sugar in a shallow dish. Soak the slices of bread on all sides until all liquid is absorbed, then roll in the puffed rice, pressing down to secure them in the bread. Fry in a few tablespoons of butter in your favorite pan.

Optional: you can peal and segment your orange and cook it down with a few tbsp honey and more orange zest as a topping. heck you could even put some Grand Marnier in the mix.

Poached Eggs and Grilled Summer Tomatoes

2 eggs
1 tomato (sliced thick)
salt pepper olive oil
2 slices Challah (try not to burn yours like mine)

I used a stove-top griddle to get the best out of my tomatoes. You can use whatever you prefer. Cast iron works best I find. Poaching eggs isn't that hard either. Just get the water to a rolling boil and the bubbles will keep the eggs afloat. One good tip though, is to break each egg in a small vessel first so you can drop them in the water with ease.

I still have Challah left. In case you were wondering...

What Are You Gonna Put on that Bread?

2011-06-25T12:56:00.001-07:00

This story starts a few days back. It was Thursday I think and everyone just seemed to do and say the wrong things. It's hard to explain. Small talk and unhealthy curiosity can really rub me the wrong way so I came home and thought, I'm gonna have a coffee, sit on the couch and do nothing for a while and then bake bread. I proceeded in that order and by the time the dough had risen twice I was starting to feel a little better about things. That yeasty smell in the kitchen was doing good things for me. By the time the Bread was baking and I was having my second coffee and scribbling in my book, I heard the ding ding of a message from a friend who asked the first good question of the day: "What are you gonna put on that bread?" By the time I'd waited for the loaf to cool and sliced into it and contemplated its fate, it seemed so obvious. Butter. So I let him know that was the decision and of course, he agreed it was a sound one. Things were feeling better already...

Recipe: Challah Loaf (makes two loaves)

1 1/4C warm water
2 tsp dry active yeast
4C (roughly) All Purpose/Bread Flour
1/3 C sugar
1/4 C Vegetable Oil
4 eggs
1tsp salt
Sesame or poppy seeds for the top

Whisk the water, yeast, one tsp sugar and 1/4c flour to get things bubbling. Set this aside for at least 10 minutes, but no more than 20.

Whisk in the sugar, oil, 3eggs (NOT 4) and salt. Add the rest of the flour one cup at a time mixing with a sturdy wooden spoon until the dough is coming together into one ball and not sticking too much. Transfer to a floured surface and knead for 5-10 minutes adding flour if needed, until the dough is round, smooth, elastic, and "cohesive".

Put the ball in a greased bowl. Cover and let rise in a reasonably warm, draft-free place until doubled in bulk. About an hour. Maybe more.

Punch down and divide into 6 equal parts to make two braided loaves on a baking sheet that's either well-greased or parchment lined. Cover and let rise again until doubled and good looking. Preheat the oven to 325. Beat the last egg with a touch of milk or water and give the tops of the loaves a good egg wash, followed by seeds if you're into that. Bake 30-40 minutes or until the loaves sound hollow when you tap them on the bottom. If the tops are browning too fast cover with foil and return to the oven.

Wait till they're cool if you can. It's hard but it's worth it... There's something else I did with my Challah that will have to be the topic for the next post.

One of Those Days

2011-06-02T08:55:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you have time to do certain things and it's amazing. I put a piece of prosciutto on my last chunk of bread early last night and thought, hey, I should make a dough that will rise overnight and in 14 hours I'll have a loaf of bread. I could do this, of course, because I'm taking the day off today to pack and run errands. So I did. Now I'm distracting myself writing this post to avoid sticking a serrated edge into my not-yet-cooled loaf of goodness. It smells really nice in here. This is not a new recipe. You've probably made it a hundred times like me. It's that no knead loaf that was all the hype a few years ago. I like it. It's a good honest piece of bread. I still like to knead and make other loaves with different flours because this one doesn't allow much variation, but it's got a good spongy crumb and it's pretty foolproof... but don't even dream of making it in humid weather. It will not work. Trust me.

Ingredients

3c flour (it's gotta be white guys, sorry)
1/4 tsp INSTANT yeast
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2c warm water
cornmeal or bran for coating

I'm not gonna type up a recipe because you can watch Jim Lahey do it, himself. Here is how!

Sunny Days, Sunny Thoughts

2011-05-31T19:59:00.000-07:00

Once in a while I'll be at a grocery check-out line and a girl with scars on her forearms will give me this knowing look of solidarity and I realize my food scars are being mistaken for self-mutilation. It's an awkward situation. I feel like saying no no that's actually from the convection oven at this one place I worked at, where everyone was taller, and this is from that time I left the tongs on the gas range and forgot they were hot, and that one... the list goes on. Anyway, I don't say any of these things. I just smile and hope she won't hurt herself anymore. I'm baking biscotti in my ridiculously sunny kitchen today with a breeze so nice I have to stop and acknowledge it every few minutes, and I'm wishing I could pack up a little cookie package for all the people I've met who ever needed to be comforted and weren't. Here is a biscotti recipe that will never fail. You must dunk these in coffee or wine, though, as they are of the tougher persuasion.

Spiced Chocolate & Espresso Biscotti
250 g flour
250 g sugar (I use half caster, half brown)
2 beaten eggs
75g chopped dark chocolate
75g chopped nuts
50g crushed espresso beans
pinch each of
salt
cinamon
chili pepper

Preheat the oven to 375

Mix everything together, except the eggs, which you will beat in a separate bowl with a bit of orange zest or vanilla extract, whichever you have or prefer.

Use your hands to bring it all together and form a dough. Try to distribute the nuts and chocolate evenly (but no fuss). If you have a hard time with the dough, put a few tablespoons of olive oil on your hands or in the mix.

Divide your dough, shaping two logs on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Your logs should be about an inch thick. Brush them with a little bit of milk and sprinkle an little extra sugar on top.

Bake the logs for 15 minutes letting them spread, but they should still be soft in the middle. Take them out and lower the oven to 325. Let them cool a little so you can handle them and cut them to your desired size. Arrange them all on the baking sheet again and bake for 10-15minutes more on each side. Watch them though, some ovens will burn your biscotti really fast.

I'm taking a plate down for the ladies working at the hair salon I live above. There's always a pot of coffee on down there...

Post Script: I went over to Sarah's to hang out with the little ones and look what I came home to! I feed the stylists, they hook me up with hair products. This is a functional relationship...

Why Not?

2011-05-30T20:01:00.001-07:00

Why not get off the bus and go see a show you know you'd regret missing? Why not tell that old friend exactly what it was that hurt you? Learn the words to a song in a language you don't speak? Eat pasta at 10pm because you were working till 7 and it takes a while to get dinner going? I did all of those things in the last 72 hours and i still managed to make it through most of my to-do list as well. What's more, I'm gonna make a blog post even though I don't have very good pictures. I highly recommend you go for it as well, whatever it is you feel like doing. What's the worse thing that could happen? At least you'll learn something, right? That's a pretty good deal if you ask me! Here's a delicious work-week pasta dish that goes really well with an episode of your favorite food-network show. So check dinner off your list and put your feet up. Life is good.

Monday Night Rigatoni

450g dry rigatoni

400g ground beef
1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
10 crackers
1 egg
olive oil
1 can chopped tomatoes
2 tsp each of:
salt
pepper
ground ginger
ground mustard
paprika
chili powder

Food process the crackers, onion and garlic together. In a medium bowl, using your hands, knead together the beef, cracker mix, beaten egg and all dry spices for a few minutes until mixture looks homogeneous. Then wet your fingers and shape as many meatballs as the mix will allow. Freeze however much you don't want to cook.

Fry meatballs in olive or canola oil until browned all around and add a can of chopped tomatoes (or half depending on how much of your meat you froze) and cook on medium high until the tomato juice reduces a bit to sauce consistency. If you've got an open can of tomato paste you can use a bit of that to thicken the sauce, too.

Boil pasta in a large pot of boiling salted water until al dente. Throw it all together, add a hand-full of your favorite fresh green (mine is arugula), some shaved parmigiano, and press play.

Newness

2011-05-25T11:57:00.000-07:00

This is Pipp. He is the newest addition to my family. he started out really small and has just moved into his bigger tin can. I have a feeling he's gonna need even more space soon. I've been trying to incorporate a lot of herbs into what I cook these days just to keep up with the ones I have in my kitchen. Soon I'm gonna have to resort to pesto-making, but it's still under control. Sweet basil in a savory crepe with cracked pepper and pecorino romano, which the cheese lady didn't let me pay for? So I went home for lunch today, you can probably tell. It was indulgent and brilliant.

All Purpose Crepes

2 eggs (get real farm eggs they're delicious)
1 1/4c good milk
1c sifted flour (a.p. or pastry will do)
pincha salt
1tsp sugar
2 tbsp melted butter or other oil you like

Mix the above ingredients really really well. If you feel like cleaning a blender, you could use that but I just used my big big whisk and burned some calories. The consistency should ideally be like heavy cream. If it's like custard, you need more milk. You want a runny batter with no clumps.

Chill covered for about an hour. I made mine in the morning before I went to work and used it at lunch. That worked just fine.

In a non-stick crepe pan/frying pan that has been lightly oiled on medium heat, cook 1/4c batter at a time. Swirl the pan to get a thin and even(ish) crepe but don't fuss. You'll wreck a few and get the hang of it. cook for a minutes or so per side, and use your own judgment for doneness, pans and batters vary, of course. If you're like me and you cooked way too many crepes, cook the ones you're not eating a little less and wrap and refrigerate them. Then when you want to eat one, you can heat it on the same pan and it won't brown too much.
So so good. I promise.

I couldn't resist. I had a sweet one with brown sugar and lemon, too.

Short Shorts and White Wine

2011-05-24T18:07:00.000-07:00

I'm still digesting this meal. It was good. It was really really good. Is that bragging? I don't mean it that way. Considering how long it's been since my last post, I'm surprised at my ambition for thinking I can manage to bang this out before heading out to watch the Canucks game (but between us, I really only care about the final quarter so we still have time to hang out here). It's been so lovely and beautiful here these days. Sun, wind, just enough of everything. My life (other than work) has been filled with music. In fact I noticed as I squeezed a lemon on this fish that I have guitar blisters. Stinging but sweet. What can I say about this dish, other than the honest truth, which is that I came up with the idea while drinking an after-work glass of pinot grigio, some of which I spilled on my shorts... It was an experiment and it worked out. What more could I ask for?

Tilapia Turbans with Chorizo and Sweet Pepper Filling

2 fillets of tilapia
3" piece of chorizo sausage
1/2 red bell pepper
2 fresh lemon (juice and zest of)
4 tbsp white wine
salt pepper dill
olive and garlic oil

Clean and pat dry the fillets of tilapia and with a super sharp knife, cut each fillet first in half and then slice lengthwise to make thin sheets of tilapia. These will roll more easily than whole chubby pieces. Drizzle with olive oil and lemon juice. Season with salt, pepper, dill, and lemon zest. Set aside.

Preheat the oven to 350degrees.

Food-process chorizo and red bell pepper with juice and zest of half of your lemon, until you have a course meal. Quickly saute this in a frying pan with a tablespoon of olive oil for a few minutes, just to marry the flavors.

Drizzle a bit of garlic oil (or olive oil) in a small cast iron pan. Roll each piece of fish into a turban and fill the middle with the chorizo mixture. Tie each roll with a piece of twine or a long toothpick and arrange in the oiled pan. Pour white wine around the rolls and cover with a piece of foil.

Bake for 10-15 minutes, or until the fish is opaque and looks cooked. Finish uncovered for a few minutes, just to get a little bit of colour.

Serve with wild rice or a green salad and whatever white wine you were drinking while you were cooking! I'm off to watch the game!

Look ma, no fork.

2011-04-05T08:02:00.000-07:00

Nothing says Spring like eating with your hands. After the eight month freeze, people in Canada start acting a little funny: Oh, it's four degrees above freezing, you say? Hold on, let me get my shorts and sandals. Ten degrees with and overcast on a Tuesday? Let's hit the patio and get a bucket of Coronas at lunch. I'll admit it, I'm guilty of a little of the crazy. We woke up yesterday morning and Mina looked outside at the gray skies, birds chirping on the barren branches draped with torn plastic bags, preening their feathers of the spitting rain, the damp gray sidewalk littered with a crust of dirt and cigarette butts in the wake of melted snow banks, and commuters heading to work in their rain coats, umbrellas in hand, and she said, "It's beautiful outside." And I thought, "Yeah, it is, isn't it."

So, in that spirit. Why not kick off Spring (there are, literally, snow flakes outside the window, today, on April 5th) with fajitas?

Chipotle Ground Beef Fajitas with Guacamole

1lb lean ground beef (chuck works, but you could use ground sirloin if you're feelin classy)
1 red pepper, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced
2 onions, halved and sliced
1 to 5 dried chipotle peppers, ground (pick your poison: the more pepper the higher the flame)
3 tbsp cooking oil
1/2 C sour cream, for topping
1/2 C cheddar, grated for topping
3 diced jalapenos, for topping
1 diced tomato, for topping
6 to 10 corn fajitas, lightly toasted (use an open gas burner and tongs if you have them)

For the guacamole

2 ripe avocados, halved, pitted and crosshatched in their skins
1/2 a bunch of fresh cilantro, roughly chopped, stems and all
3 green onions, finely sliced horizontally
2 limes, juiced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp chili powder (or mexicali spice mix)

Start by making your guac. Gently turn the cut avocado out of its skin with a tablespoon directly into a bowl and fold in (just as if you were taking care to preserve whipped egg whites, because you don't want your diced avocado to turn into mush) cilantro, lime juice, green onions, and salt to taste. Then top with the chili powder. My favourite is to use a micro grater to dust the top of the guac with a dried nacho chili - and yes, those are a real variety of pepper.

Put half the oil in a small cast iron (or non-stick) pan and turn the heat to high. In a second medium-sized pan, add the remaining oil and half of your onion and cook for three to four minutes, until onions are soft, then add ground beef and stir through.

By now, your small cast iron pan should be smoking hot. Toss in the red and green pepper and remaining onion. Shake the pan hard once or twice, then listen to the sizzle. Toss every half-minute for five minutes, while keeping an eye on the beef mixture. When your peppers have blackened at the edge, remove from heat (if they stick at all, flick or spray some water into the pan and shake loose). Continue to stir your beef until the moisture has cooked off, then salt, pepper and add the chipotle. Cook for another minute, then remove from heat. The rest is simple: spread all your separate ingredients on a platter and start the free-for-all. Also, if you've got some, serve this dish with hot sauce and cold beer.

Cheers!

Variations on a Theme

2011-03-25T13:53:00.000-07:00

Once again though not much time has passed, it seems the whole order of the universe has shifted since my last post. It's officially spring now, which the Persian new year has kindly reminded me, though for the most part the whether refuses to acknowledge that. On the table these days are a bunch of hard, honest, and essential questions, pending decisions, possible travel, and of course as it always is with these things, so many possible variations. You can get yourself pretty tangled in thinking sometimes as your comfortable grip on things fades farther and farther away and out of reach. This is where food comes to the rescue. It fills your stomach, your mind, and your kitchen. Something about the smell of cooking in the house, a cutting board covered in scraps and a sink full of dishes forces you to stop asking questions even just for a few hours. So here are recipes for chorizo (two ways) to keep you busy. Take a break, you don't have to do everything at once.

Glazed Chorizo Tappas Style

150 g chorizo sausage
1/2 small clove garlic, crushed
1 tbsp honey
1tbsp balsamic vinegar/red wine
olive oil

Slice the chorizo and fry in olive oil until crisp and slightly darkened in colour (photo above). Drain all but about a tablespoon of the oil, add the garlic and cook for a minute. Turn the heat down and add the honey and vinegar/wine and cook on medium until reduced and glaze-like.

Chorizo Pizza

1/3 recipe pizza dough
sliced chorizo
sliced red pepper
hot peppers
sliced red onions
spinach
buffalo mozzarella

Prehead oven to the highest possible temperature.Oil a baking sheet, sprinkle with cornmeal (very important step), and place your thinly rolled out dough over it, pricking the surface with a fork several times. Brush olive oil over the dough and a bit of tomato paste if you like. Arrange the sliced toppings and slip in the oven. Pour yourself a glass of wine as your pie bakes, but careful, it takes minutes, so don't walk away.

Happy Thoughts

2011-02-27T13:35:00.001-08:00

What helps you get through February? I guess this doesn't apply to you if you live in Australia, or somewhere where it's always sunny and beautiful. If you're like us and live elsewhere, though, you're gonnna need all your tricks in February. It's that time. You've already endured the rain and the snow and the wind, but it's not over yet. It's that month when every technical difficulty feels like a personal insult, and you're never more than two bad days away from an existential crisis. Last Friday was a particularly difficult one for me. A few things hadn't worked out and I felt totally defeated and unable to convince myself that things were alright. I happened to be with a friend who used to be a roommate, and instead of convincing me everything was ok, she just shoved me in her little kitchen and made me do what ultimately lifts me out of my blues... I guess what I'm saying is, hang in there. Spring, the end of the school year, outdoor markets, and picnic season are so close you can almost smell them. And for the time being, these cookies will make your place smell warm and happy and home-like. I promise.

Soft Almond Cookies (from Rachel Eats)

150g ground almonds
100g powdered sugar
zest of a small lemon (or 1/4tsp cardamom for a Persian variation)
1/4tsp almond extract
1 large egg (beaten)
handful of whole almonds
Extra powdered sugar for rolling

Preheat the oven to 350/180 degrees.

Mix dry ingredients in a medium bowl. In a separate bowl, beat the egg with the almonds extract and lemon zest. Add to the dry mixture and form a sticky (oh it will be sticky) dough. Dip your hands in extra sugar and shape walnut-sized balls and place an inch or so apart on a parchment lined baking sheet. Don't be shy on the powder for your hands, it's the only way to deal with this dough. When all your cookies are formed, make a deep indentation in the centre of each cookie with your little finger pressing almost all the way down. This is to help the cookies bake in the middle.

Bake on the middle rack for about 20 minutes or until the cookies are just slightly coloured. They will be soft out of the oven but harden as they cool so don't try to take them off the tin when they're hot. While they're soft, put an almond in the center, pressing gently to secure the nut in its place.

Enjoy with coffee, tea, or a glass of wine, and store in an air-tight tin.

Parkas and Pasta

2011-01-31T15:07:00.000-08:00

How many times have we endured the Canadian winter, and it's still the hottest topic of conversation between November and April. Whether we're surprised that the cold has taken longer to set in, or how long it's lasted this year, or just talking about the bone-chilling, teeth-chattering, skin-cracking cold, we persist. So naturally the first thing I want to tell you about (and the next handful of posts are likely going to start similarly) is that it's freezing here! Now since carbohydrates and fat keep our bodies (and hearts) happy, I propose we eat pasta until April. Think about the variations of pasta and sauce that are available to amuse ourselves with while we wait for the blossoms to grace our snow covered trees...

Casarecco with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

(If you have a really good jar of roasted peppers, feel free to substitute)

250g dry Casarecco (or pasta of your choice)
2 Sweet Red Bell Peppers
1 clove Garlic
1 shallot
small bunch of fresh basil
olive oil
good pinch of salt
cracked black pepper
Parmigiano Regiano

Roast the red peppers, garlic, and Shallots (skin on) in the oven and peal when cool enough to handle. Blend/food process peppers, shallot, garlic, and basil with a pinch of good course salt and a couple of tablespoons of olive oil. Taste the sauce and tweak seasoning to taste, then transfer the sauce to a medium pan on medium-low heat.

In the mean time, boil the pasta in plenty of well-salted water (salt the water after it comes to a boil, as salty water takes longer to boil) until al dente and drain, keeping about 1/4c of the starchy pasta liquid.

Toss the pasta and 1/4c liquid in the pepper purée and mix gently until it all comes together and the pasta is well coated with sauce. Grate some Parmigiano right into the pan and move around gently to enrich the sauce.

Serve with additional grated cheese and a glass of hearty red wine and count down the days until picnic season with us!

Small town winter soup

2011-01-26T09:18:00.000-08:00

We've been feeling the small town winter chill lately. Trapped inside by negative temperatures in the twenty belows, looking out the windows, draft protected by sheets of plastic, at a slick cover of soupy slush on everything; you know, the kind that gets into the felt liners of your boots and freezes your toes and climbs its cold little fingers up the hem of your pants until you're completely soaked through up to the knee. And it seems like the only way to warm up properly is with a good cup of hearty soup and a long novel (I'm snowplowing through War and Peace for the first time, which is apropos because it's the only book that will last as long as the Canadian winter). But there are still a few good things going on in this small town. The farmer's market is still on twice a week. A nice treat to combat the cold weather blues and a great way to stock up the pantry with enough root vegetables to last you until Spring.

Saffron, Sweet Pea and Squash soup

1 large butternut squash, cubed and roasted until soft
2C vegetable stock/ or 1 bullion cube
3 tbsp olive oil
1 Spanish onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 dried chilli, crushed
1/2 tsp saffron
1C frozen sweet peas

This recipe is so easy and so good. Rub cubed squash with half of olive oil, season and roast at 425 degrees; it should take a half-hour to forty-five minutes. Wait twenty minutes, then take out a large soup pot (that you have a snug fitting lid for) and saute your onions and crushed garlic in the remaining oil for ten minutes or until soft and just starting to caramelize. Add turmeric and chilli and stir into the onion and garlic mixture, cooking for one additional minute. Put stock onto simmer and add saffron once its boiling.

When your squash is cooked (you should be able to stab through the flesh with a fork), peel if you haven't already done so and toss the cubes into your soup pot. Saute everything for an additional two to three minutes. Now pour saffron infused stock over top, cover and simmer for fifteen to twenty minutes until squash is falling apart. Remove from heat and blend; it's easiest if you have a hand-held blender. Return to heat, add frozen peas and bring back to a boil. Simmer for three minutes and serve with crusty bread and butter. Yum!

Bach Biscuits

2011-01-12T07:32:00.000-08:00

I have no idea where I got this recipe, but I have it written on the reverse side of page two of Bach's Prelude from Prelude, Fugue, Allegro. It's amazing how certain things just work. I've been making these biscuits, for at least four years, and have never bothered to transcribe the recipe somewhere else. Instead, every time I crave biscuits I pull out my Bach sheet music and turn to page two. It's a really good recipe. Good enough to add to a classical repertoire...

Recipe: Basic Country Biscuits

2C all purpose flour, sifted
4stp baking powder (get Rumford's if you can)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cream of tartar
2 tsp sugar
1/2C butter cut into cubes (very very cold)
2/3C cold milk

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Put butter in the freezer. Sift all of the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl and set aside. Work the cold butter into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter, a grater, or your fingers. If for some reason the butter is starting to warm up, stick the whole bowl in the freezer for a few minutes and start again. You must not let the butter melt, if you want fluffy biscuits. Once the butter is worked in and the mixture resembles crumbs, add the milk and mix to get a dough. With cold hands, form a round workable dough.

Roll out the dough between two sheets of wax paper to your desired thickness. Keep in mind, they will double in height when you bake them. Cut biscuits out in whatever shape and size you prefer. If you are preparing these ahead of a meal, you should refrigerate them (plastic wrapped) at this point and bake them whenever you are ready to eat them.

Brush with milk or egg and bake 8-12 minutes. Baking time depends on thickness so watch closely.

These biscuits can be sliced open and slathered with homemade jams, or used to make afternoon tea sandwiches or, of course, served with a meal.

Happy new year to all (and one year to us!)

2011-01-04T05:44:00.000-08:00

Wow, The Salty Pear is a year old. How odd and exciting and fun to think that our little experiment and reminder to ourselves to write down our recipes has become something shared and beautiful and fun for our friends, family and everyone else. And it's lasted fifty-two months of photographs, picked up from the pharmacy, four apartments and three broken bodums, while keeping two cooks thoroughly happy and sated. We wish a happy new year to all! And resolve to keep cooking and posting, eating and reading, and not the least of all, enjoying it all.

We didn't manage to get much posted last month. Not that our holiday season kept us from the kitchen--- we managed to make chocolate barks, tarts, cookies, a roasted bird, nuts and all kinds of Christmas and Yalda treats. Not to mention all the scrumptious Canadiana winter snacks and the Persian pomegranites being in season--- so yummy. Maybe even more exciting, the promise of a present: there is a gorgeous little chrome, hand-crank pasta maker in our kitchen, tried and tested on New Years Eve. Expect a plethora of pasta recipes to follow shortly. But for starters, a wonderful, airy breakfast to start fresh in January.

Buttermilk Waffles and Strawberries (best served with Mimosas and Maple syrup)

Dry ingredients

1 1/2 C All-purpose or C & P flour
1 tbsp baking powder
a pinch of fine salt

Wet ingredients

1 1/4 C buttermilk (add a 1/4 C of yogurt and a tsp of vinegar into 1C of 2% milk if unavailable)
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs, whites separated and set aside
2 tbsp butter, melted
a pint of strawberries, sliced for garnish

Start by preheating your waffle iron (if you don't have one you're missing out -- ours only cost like ten bucks, just skip the next bad movie you were going to see in a theatre and treat yourself). Sift dry ingredients into a large mixing bowl and set aside. Whisk melted butter, vanilla and egg yolks into buttermilk, or substitute dairy concoction. Form a well in the dry ingredients, and gently stir in wet ingredients with a fork. Be careful not to over mix, or you'll end up with an unaerated batter. Now, whisk your egg whites until they form stiff, erect peaks. If you have an egg beater or electric beater or whatever, go for it. Just make sure the whites are stiff. Then, quickly with as few turns as possible, fold the whites into the batter. Cook immediately, the iron should stop spewing steam to let you know they're done. Remove and serve when golden brown, topped with strawberries and syrup. Reenact a new years toast with OJ and bubbly, for fun. Enjoy and best in 2011.

A taste of good luck

2010-12-07T09:16:00.000-08:00

Finding Sam & Sam Clark's Moro East cookbook while perusing a used bookstore on College street, 'She Said Boom', the day after I'd read a blogpost about their London restaurant on the Guardian site seemed like a good stroke of luck. So, I bought the book, a gorgeous, brand new hardcover with one of those fancy British L's denoting a 25 pound price in the dust jacket, and a tiny, neat primly Canadian 22- pencilled in on the first page. I'm not sure I've ever spent any money more wisely in my life. Absolutely everything I have tried from this book has turned out perfectly and delicious, and usually, like the book itself, strikingly beautiful. Be careful with this zucchini and almond dish though, it will steal the show from almost any main with its combination of sweet, blanched almonds and hearty, garlic bite.

Courgettes (zucchini) with almonds

6 to 8 medium zucchinis, sliced into coins
2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
5 tbsp olive oil
1 C, blanched almonds, preferably whole
2 sprigs of mint, chopped

Season the sliced zucchini and sit to drain in a colander for a few minutes, then pat with paper towel. Heat the oil over medium-high in a large pan, add almonds and saute until they turn a peachy pink colour. Remove almonds from the pan and set aside. Saute the zucchini coins for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Next, add the garlic and half of the mint. Continue cooking for 15 minutes, until the zucchini is almost melted into a single mass. Return the almonds and stir through out, reheating for 3 to 5 minutes. Plate, salt and pepper, garnish with the leftover mint and serve with your favourite lamb or beef dishes, or a couscous or pilaf. Or try it with this Moroccan fish tagine, also, from Moro East.

Like Milk (only better)

2010-11-16T08:35:00.000-08:00

One of the great things about coffee is how well it goes with cookies. It's so amazing to see how many of coffee's subtle undertones become apparent with a good pairing. Chocolate brings out the nuttiness of a medium-bodied brew that you never thought had so many layers in it. Biscotti is maybe the best cookies for dipping. It's not too sweet, so it won't compete with the rich taste of your coffee, its long and narrow shape is ideal for multiple-dipping, and it can be flavoured using a variety of nuts, dried fruits, and pantry staples like chocolate or toffee. Feel free to substitute almond syrup for vanilla to get a more bitter, grown-up biscotti. And remember, you can enjoy these with your evening liquor of preference as well.

Cherry Almond Biscotti

2 c all purpose flour
3/4c granulated sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
Pinch salt
1 c whole almonds
1/2 c dried cherries (or cranberries)
1 tbsp lemon/orange rind
3 eggs
1/2 c olive oil (use half canola if you'd like)
1/4 c orange juice

Preheat the oven to 325 and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, almonds and cherries in a large bowl and set aside.
In a medium bowl whisk together eggs and oil. Stir in the juice and rind, then mix.

Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour the egg mixture in. Work the liquid into the dry ingredients slowly to form a dough. Knead for a minute or two (grease your hands if they're too sticky).

Divide the dough in half and form two logs no more than an inch in thickness. Brush with a beaten egg and sprinkle with salt and sugar. Bake for 30min or until dough is golden coloured. Don't worry if the logs cracks on top.

Cool for 10-20min. Take a sharp bread knife and cut the logs into 1/2inch slices (if you cut on an angle, you get taller biscotti). Now, bake your biscotti for another 10-15min on each side until golden. Cool before storing. Watch closely during the rebaking, because each oven is a little different.

WWJD to make nachos?

2010-11-14T09:11:00.000-08:00

One of the most enticing things about small town living is the curiosities of local cuisine, which is really just a long-winded way of saying that there's some awesome pub grub in Peterborough. For instance, Macthirsty's pub, easily accessed as its in the same building as our apartment, serves up some truly kick ass nachos. I'm not saying they rival the Tex Mex kings of Toronto--- Sneaky Dee's infamous Kings Crown nachos (I swear to god, we once watched a guy eat one of those behemoths by himself). But Macthirsty's does have a nice twist for everyone's favorite dippable meal replacement. Like a true Irish pub, they make their own in-house sliced spuds and then pile on nacho toppings, making what they call Irish nachos. It's pretty gruesome and (according to our friend, Dave) maybe even worth the ninety minute drive from T.O. The only problem, like everything in this town, they're closed Sunday. Which means I'm stuck making my own nachos before the game starts. Also, these happen to be vegan, not by design but just because ground beef and cheese turn chips into corn paste, instead of keeping that nice crunch.

The Works Nachos

1 bag blue corn nachos
1 mango, peeled and cubed
1 red bell pepper, julienned
1 green bell pepper, julienned
1 avocado, pitted and cubed
1 quart cherry tomatoes
1/2 C kidney beans
1 medium white onion, peeled, halved and sliced
1 bunch, green onions, sliced
2 jalapenos, thinly sliced
1/2 cup sour cream, for dipping

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spread out your whole bag of chips on a baking sheet. Now add, in order the mango, the bell peppers, the avocado, tomatoes, kidney beans, white onion and green onion and finally jalapenos. (I do it in this order because I like to have certain things on top when I dig in, but you can experiment). Also, add cheese and meat at your own risk. If you do add beef, please, make sure that you cook it well before hand and drain the fat. Serve with beer, a side of sour cream and enjoy the game. (I'll probably watch the Bills lose, but you can take your pick here).

This Lonely Pear

2010-11-04T14:29:00.000-07:00

If a red bowl (half full of soup, but that's a whole other philosophical matter) falls and shatters all over the place but there's no one (other than me of course) there to see/hear it, is it still broken? I sure hope so because otherwise I just spent a long time cleaning up nothing...

Other Pear is in the big city and I'm finding it hard to play the what do you wanna do for dinner game. It's no fun to play it alone because It ends too quickly. So here I am on this windy Thursday night, I just made a half recipe of my pizza dough and set the table for one but to tip my hat to Ev I'm adopting his method: only using what I've got at home.

Home Alone Pizza (double amounts if feeding more than one)

3/4 cup warm water
1/2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp yeast
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cups Flour

Mix the yeast, water, and honey in a small bowl and let sit until it starts to bubble and froth. Add salt and olive oil and stir to mix. Add flour in thirds mixing with a wooden spoon. When the dough starts to form turn it out on a dry surface and use the rest of the flour (or more if needed) to knead for 5-10 minutes or until you have a smooth elastic ball that does not stick. Place in a greased bowl, turning to coat, cover, and let stand in a warm draft free place until doubled in bulk.

Preheat the oven to 550.

Punch down and roll out onto an oiled baking sheet/pizza stone. Perforate using a fork and brush with olive oil. If you are using pesto like I did, spread the pesto in a thin layer.

Arrange desired toppings and cheese evenly. I only used pesto, crushed garlic, ricotta, and pecorino. Bake until crisp and golden. Depending on your oven this will take 5-10 minutes, but the only sure way is to watch your pizza closely.

Bourbon for Brunch?

2010-10-31T09:48:00.000-07:00

The little town where we live now (because I go to school here) has been feeling, in all honesty, a tad lonely. We don't often think about this because well, we don't have to, but it's not always easy making friends. For the time being, though, we're both trying to be positive and not let the change of scenery and its confines hinder the things we really love and believe in doing. The closest I can come to a conclusion about all of this is that sometimes life rearranges around you in a way that you (even if momentarily) need to make yourself happy while you work your way toward something. This isn't self-deceit, it's honest and hard work and it requires creativity and humility. It's something like the opposite of escape to the sanctuary of the familiar. Food is a big way we keep our mental health; really. Taking time with food makes an unbelievable difference.

Caramel Bourbon Croissant Pudding à la Nigella

3 stale croissants
6-8tbsp sugar (white or brown)
2 tbsp water
125ml light/heavy cream
150ml milk
2 tbsp bourbon
3 eggs, beaten

Preheat the oven to 180°C

Tear the croissants into pieces and put in a small gratin dish (you can save one whole and put it on top of the pieces for aesthetics); a cast iron oval dish would work perfectly but use whatever you've got.

Swirl around the sugar in the water in a saucepan to help dissolve before putting on the stove over medium/ high heat. Caramelize the sugar and water mixture by letting it bubble away, without stirring, until it all turns a deep amber colour (3-5 minutes). Turn to low, pour in the cream and whisk while adding the milk and bourbon. Take off the heat and, still whisking, add the beaten eggs.

Now you've got a bourbon custard, which you will pour over the croissants and leave to steep for 5-10 minutes depending on how stale the croissants are. If you have a whole one on top, poke holes in it and press it to make sure it soaks up enough custard.

Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the tops are golden brown and the custard has set. Serve with Strong coffee and something light like citrus segments... Life is good.

Fowl cookery

2010-10-20T08:32:00.001-07:00

This might be some kind of blasphemy, but I don't really like turkey unless it's been deep fried whole. I have to admit though, at a friend's cabin this past Thanksgiving--- it's mid-October on a Monday in Canada, as opposed to the upcoming last Thursday of November down south---, we tried leftovers from a gobbler that he'd roasted on a charcoal barbecue that was succulent, flavourful, smoky and so tender as to almost not need chewing. It was scrumptious, but the rest of my family is vegetarian and I have no interest in standing over a hibachi for five hours slowly tempering the flames to avoid blackening the bird. So, for those of us with smaller appetites, here's a recipe for roasted fowl (chicken, quail, cornish hen or pheasant will all do just fine.)

Herb encrusted Roast Bird(s) with autumn vegetables
All measurements are for a whole roaster chicken, adjust accordingly. You'll also need twine or skewers.

For the rub

3 sprigs rosemary, stemmed and finely chopped
2 tbsp coriander seeds, cracked (put them under a tea towel and smash them with something blunt)
1 tbsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp paprika
1 tbsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried parsley
1tbsp olive oil

For the veggies

2C pearl onions, peeled and halved
2 bunches baby carrots, cleaned and sliced lengthwise
2C new red potatoes, quartered
1tbsp olive oil

Take your bird out of the fridge and let it sit on a plate to adjust to room temperature. Put a bowl of soapy water in your sink for later. Preheat your oven to 425 degrees.

In a roasting pan, coat your vegetables in a tablespoon of olive oil, salt and pepper generously and toss everything together. Mix all of the herbs and spices for the rub in a bowl and set aside. Pour the olive oil directly onto your bird, or into your palms, and rub thoroughly on the skin and underneath directly onto the flesh of the bird. In the soapy water, wash and dry your hands.

Salt and Pepper the bird. Now rub all of the spice mixture into the bird until it is completely coated above and beneath the skin. Tie the bird's legs tightly together and skewer its wings into the body, or alternatively, twine the whole bird. (I try and avoid doing this because the twine tends to tears the crispy skin after its removed, and make the bird look like it's been cooked in a waffle iron.) Now place your bird into a well of vegetables in the middle of the roasting pan and put it in the oven for 20 to 75 minutes, depending on the size and variety of fowl you've used. Some indicators: it should be golden brown and crunchy on the outside. You can take the bird out after twenty minutes to stir the veggies and check the temperature with a thermometer to gauge your its progress.

Also, here's a link to cooking time chart

Enjoy your fowl and be thankful for all the good eating, it's always a privilege.

Morning Magic

2010-09-26T18:17:00.000-07:00

Some mornings you feel like a hot shower and a pot of tea with milk and sugar. Some mornings you want an espresso, a croissant, and a collection of short stories. And some mornings you want to take some time and make breakfast. It's different than wanting to eat breakfast. The pleasure is in the time you take to think about what you want to make, in gathering the ingredients from the fridge and cupboards, and in slowly putting it all together while sipping your coffee and listening to your favorite morning show on the radio. Here's a recipe for such a morning when you feel completely up for the simple yet precise work of making lovely and delicate crèpes and some suggestions for how you might want to dress them . Remember, though, as far as toppings go, the only recipe to follow is your own feelings cravings and moods...

Recipe: Simple Crèpes
2 large eggs
3/4c milk
1/2c water
1c flour
3tbsp melted butter
butter for the pan

Pulse all of the ingredients in a blender until smooth and evenly mixed (about 10sec), and refrigerate for 30min-1h. This gets rid of the bubbles so your lovely crèpes won't tear in the cooking process.

Heat a nonstick pan or crèpe pan on medium heat and coat with butter. Pour a ladle full of the runny batter in the middle and swirl to spread it thinly and evenly. Cook for about 30 seconds and using a spatula or something flat, flip and cook the other side for another 30 seconds.

The first crèpe is never good but it helps you gauge. Judging by the first one you can adjust the heat, the butter in the pan, and the amount of batter per crèpe. Continue cooking your crepes and stack them in a warm but not hot oven until you want to serve them. The batter keeps for 48 hours so you don't have to cook them all at once.

Suggested toppings:

˙Fresh lemon juice and brown sugar
˙Butter cinnamon and maple syrup
˙Nutella and fresh raspberries
˙Ricotta cheese and cherry preserve
˙Procuitto and fresh figs...

A fresh palate

2010-09-18T15:48:00.000-07:00

Needless to say, we moved again. We've been holed up and cut off, without internet or a phone connection, painting and scrubbing yet another kitchen (This one was snot green!). But we've still been eating well. And fortunately we have a reserve of photos and recipes to fall back on until we can start getting our film processed.

This recipe is for a quick salad of raw veggies and tuna with fresh mint. It's very fragrant and goes well with big flavourful meat dishes or as a stand alone. It's also explosive with a crisp Chardonnay. Something about the ripeness of the late summer harvests and juicy tomatoes pops, and it's a delicious way to dress up canned tuna.

Tuna salad with celery, carrot and mint in a lemon vinaigrette

4 romaine hearts, cleaned and torn
2 cans of tuna (pick your favourite, I go for the Italian brands in olive oil)
2 stalks celery, diced
2 large carrots, peeled and grated
2 small pickled red peppers, roughly chopped (spicy ones work well)
1 fully ripe hot house tomato, diced
2 sprigs of mint, chopped

For the vinaigrette

1 lemon, juice of
3 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp mustard seed
1 tsp cracked black pepper
1/4 tsp dried dill
1 pinch of salt

Prep all your ingredients before hand. Gently stir together celery, carrots, peppers and tuna with a fork. Portion the tuna mixture onto a bed of greens in your serving dish or directly onto plates. Dress salads with diced tomatoes and mint and then drizzle with vinaigrette. Please drink with a crisp Chardonnay.

A rare slice of summer

2010-08-02T10:38:00.000-07:00

After a lovely weekend off for a camping get away to one of Ontario's many gorgeous lakeside parks, spent eating the simple stuff: fruit, oatmeal, mac n' cheese from a box and wieners roasted on a stick, I was in the mood for something a little more elegant. An herb-crusted rib eye steak, picked up around the corner at a Kensington market butcher, topped with caramelized shallots and slices of king oyster mushroom fit the bill perfectly. A good bottle of bordeaux, cracked purple n' fingerling potatoes, and a side salad and we were a couple of happy campers sated and ready for sleep in our urban flat.

Grilled herb-crusted rib eye steaks with caramelized shallots and mushrooms; plus, cracked fingerling and purple potatoes

For the steaks

2 rib eyes, at room temperature
2 tbsp coriander seeds
3 tbsp mustard seed
1 tbsp black peppercorn
1 tbsp pink peppercorn
1 dried chili
1 tsp sea salt
4 king oyster mushrooms, sliced vertically
8 shallots, sliced
2 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter

For the taters

1C small purple potatoes, whole
1C fingerling potatoes whole
3 tblsp veg oil
2 tbsp, fine salt
1 tsp dried rosemary

Start off by taking your steaks out of the fridge and letting them acclimatize. In a bowl, salt the raw potatoes and let stand. Heat the oil on high in a large pan (that must have secure fitting lid or a plate that you can use to cover it), and add the potatoes, they should sizzle and snap if the heat's right. Turn down to medium-high and stir often for ten to fifteen minutes, covering in between. When the potatoes start to split, press them flat into oil with your spatula to crisp and brown their skin. Turn down to medium heat, sprinkle with rosemary, and let the taters continue to cook as you prepare your steak.

In a small pan, heat olive oil and butter over low until they're mixed. Add your shallots and stir for five minutes, until completely translucent. Now add your mushrooms, stirring occasionally for another fifteen minutes. The key to caramelizing is to keep the heat low and allow the sugars to cook without burning them.

Smash all your whole herbs in a mortar with a pestle, then rub the surface of your meat until its well coated (don't be afraid to use your fingers to get in there). Grill the steaks for a few minutes on either side 'til they're done to your liking (Mina likes them crisped and I like them bloody); you can search for all kinds of charts and tests and what not online, but it's simply a matter of taste. Top your steaks with the caramelized goodness, plate taters on the side and crack black pepper on the top. A dollop of sour cream and chives never hurt anyone either.

Summertime Soba

2010-07-14T14:16:00.000-07:00

It's summer and Toronto hasn't been this hot in years. Our new apartment is adorable, but pretty tiny and it's hard to engage in those culinary projects that span several hours and involve prolonged use of heat. So we've been opting for salads and quicker unfussy recipes to cope with the heat wave. This simple Soba dish is so quick to make and absolutely satisfying. If you have time, chill the cooked noodles and eat this dish cold because soba is best served chilled...

Recipe: Mushroom Soba with Sesame Soy Sauce

1 package dry soba noodles
2 C Sliced Cremini mushrooms (you can use whatever other mushroom you like)
1/2 Red Onion (thin sliced)
2 Tbsp Dark Soy Sauce
1 Tbsp Water
1/4 sheet Nori (Cut in tiny strips like confetti)
1/4 tsp Sesame oil
2 Tbsp Cooking Oil
2 Tsp Sesame Seeds
salt & pepper

Bring the cooking oil to medium-high heat in your skillet of choice and fry the onions until they are lightly golden. Add the mushrooms, soy sauce, sesame oil and water to the same skillet and cook together until the mushrooms are soft and have taken some colour. Taste before you add salt and pepper, as soy sauce can be quite salty.

In a separate pot, bring some water to a boil and cook the soba according to the instructions on the package. It should only take a few minutes. When the soba is drained, toss it in a splash of canola oil to stop it from sticking together. If you wish you serve the dish warm, divide the soba between your dishes now. Otherwise, chill the soba for 10-15 minutes.

To Serve, top the noodles with a healthy scoop of the mushroom sauce and garnish with the nori confetti and sesame seeds.

Fungi Pizza

2010-07-06T10:45:00.000-07:00

Pizza is a staple food in Toronto. There are pizza joints in this town that have line-ups out the door from before noon til after last call when the pub crawls come spilling out along Bloor and College street. But even though there’s a lot of great places to get a slice around the city, truth be told, the best pizza I’ve ever had has always been at home. This is probably a bit of a deception, my first summer job was tossing dough at a pizza stand at Ontario place, and I spent a summer working at a chain of family run trattorias that a lot of people think is the best spot for a pie in town, so maybe I’ve got a jump on the dish, either way as long as you can get your oven over five-fifty you should be able to make some thin-crusted magic in 7 minutes. The trick is to make a good homemade dough and throw it to the cieling, the rest is all just icing on the cake.

Pizza al la fungi

dough
1 tblsp dry yeast, dissolved until frothy in
1 1/2C of warm water with a tsp squirt of honey
3 1/2 flour
1 tbsp olive oil

pesto
1 cup basil, pasted
1 tbsp olive oil
¼ cup pecorino, micrograted
2 tbsp walnuts, ground

toppings
1/2C sun dried tomato, thinly sliced
1C oyster or other mushrooms, roughly chopped
2C baby spinach, chopped
1/3C chevre

Preheat oven to 550. Start by making your dough in a large mixing bowl. Blend the ingredients until it forms a ball, then kneed dough on a floured surface for ten minutes or until you work up a sweat. Cover and let rise for an hour. Beat it down, then let it rise again for a half hour or until doubled. Now, with floured hands stretch out the dough by spinning it between your pinched fingers, give it a few good tosses and flips (you can youtube this kind of thing if my description leaves you totally clueless, I apologize). Next, roll it out and put it on a baking sheet lightly dusted with cornmeal. Sporadically poke it’s surface with a fork to avoid getting big unsightly, untasty bulbs in your pie.

In a mortar (or food processor), paste all the ingredients of your pesto. Apply the pesto liberally to your dough (Note: If you don’t have enough oil in your pesto it will make you dough soggy and no good for eatin). Your pie is now ready for toppings. Add everything you’ve got prepped to approximately equal sizes, so that they’ll have similar cooking times. Top with healthy scoops of the goat’s cheese, or grate anything else you’d like.

We devour these things before they even get a chance to cool with our favorite dirty little secret, Saroli Fine Food’s hot peppers in oil, which is pretty much like foodie crack.

Big Trouble in Little Chinatown Apartment.

2010-06-24T10:51:00.000-07:00

Yup, we moved again. This is horrible and annoying and terrible and obnoxious and a pain-in-the-ass for a lot of reasons, or so I hear. It’s also my excuse for not posting in the last three weeks (that and we don’t have an internet connection yet…). It’s gotten to the point where we tell each other, “The blog misses you.” In other words, we’ve been reduced to making mock third-person jests from the perspective of our foodblog. So weird. Anyway, we are back living right by Kensington Market, which kicks ass, especially if you like the chow and cheap produce at the Chinatown stores. And it’s world cup time (Yeah, go team Canada… I mean go Iran! No wait, I mean go Toronto City Council for letting us drink beer and vino at 10am on the patio at Amadeu’s Finest Portugeuse) and our new kitchen is closet-sized but has a hot fire gas-range and things are generally just woking out in a good way for us. You can make this recipe at half-time, or while watching footy and drinking a beer.

Extra Time Shrimp Stir-fry

11 prawns or medium shrimp

1 medium onion, diced

2 bell peppers, diced (one green and one red for Iran, or adopted Portugal)

4 cloves garlic, sliced across to a millimeter, or 1/10 an inch

2 tablespoons crushed peppercorns (Sichuan, if you can get’em)

1 teaspoon soy sauce

½ teaspoon sesame oil

½ teaspoon fish sauce

2 tablespoons frying oil

Turn the heat up high and oil your wok. Wait thirty seconds then drop in the onions, they should sizzle and snap. Toss and flip sporadically for 2-3 minutes. Add the diced peppers and continue frying for another minute.

In a bowl stir together sesame oil, soy, fish sauce and crushed peppercorns. Add the prawns and slices of garlic (in the picture you can see one stuck to the bowl in the upper left) and toss for thirty seconds, then add the sauce and fry for another thirty seconds. Serve immediately with steamed rice, or flip into some noodles. This dish will taste totally awesome and flavourful and you will be flat out amazed at how much substance there is in something so simple, especially if you take the time to find some Sichuan peppercorns, which make a huge difference.

Clafoutis de Tomate

2010-06-03T14:43:00.000-07:00

Good tomatoes are so exciting. You can put them in the simplest dishes and they will give it a certain quelque chose that's hard to explain. As a server, I'm so confused when I clear plates with untouched tomatoes and I always try not to argue with people who try to ask for their food without tomatoes. It baffles me, really.
There's a fruit market on my way home that had a few baskets of these gorgeous tomatoes a few weeks ago and I grabbed a bunch and tried to bike home extra carefully so as not to crush them in my bag. We all made it home safe, and was it ever worth the adventure. I think we put them on a pizza that night and the next morning I thought I'd make a tomato clafoutis, which I traditionally make with cherry or grape tomatoes but this time I just chopped my vine tomatoes and it worked out beautifully.

Feel free to use different cheeses, depending on your mood or fridge and whatever you do, don't forget to butter the dish before you get started!

Recipe: Tomato Clafoutis

2 tsp extra-virgin olive oil
1 pack cherry tomatoes- or 2 medium tomatoes roughly chopped
4 tbsp snipped fresh thyme or rosemary (dry works fine, too)
3/4 cup coarsely grated sharp cheese or crumbled goat's cheese
4 extra large eggs
1/4 cup (75 ml) all-purpose flour
3 tbsp (45 ml) sour cream or good yogurt
1 cup milk

Preheat the oven to 375 F and grease a shallow ovenproof dish such as an enamel cast iron casserole dish or an enamel pie dish. Place tomatoes in the dish spreading them out. Sprinkle with herbs, a dash of salt and some cracked pepper. Add most of your cheese at this point. If it's grated, sprinkle it all over, and if it's small chunks, place them around the tomatoes. Save about a quarter for on top.

Break the eggs into a bowl and whisk with the flour until smooth. Add the sour cream, then gradually whisk in the milk to achieve a thin, smooth batter. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Pour the batter over the cheese and tomatoes, and sprinkle remaining cheese and an extra grinding of pepper over the top. Bake until it's set, nicely puffed and golden, 30 to 40 minutes. Don't be alarmed if your clafoutis deflates upon cooling, it's supposed to.

Serve with some nice buttered baguette.

Be very careful if you are serving this dish to kids, as cherry tomatoes stay hot inside and can burn their tongues.

Butchering for the barbie

2010-05-20T10:04:00.000-07:00

I was sitting around with some friends on a patio after work yesterday and they start chatting about an old coworker of theirs in Ghana who they thought was weird mainly because his favourite animal was a goat, as opposed to say a giraffe or elephant. Now, I'm not sure what this guy liked to do with his goats, but I have to say, just the mention of certain animals brings a Pavlovian dribble of saliva to my tongue. It might be odd that a guy raised as vegetarian for fifteen years would love meat so much, but I figure I'm just making up for lost time. And especially in Toronto where our barbecue season is shorter than the hair on a peach, the time to dust off your grill and get cooking has long passed.
Pork Chops with sauteed mushrooms and ricotta on a bed of greens

4 x 1 1/4" pork chops from your local butcher
2 onions, halved and sliced
3 cups of oyster mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 tbsp sweet balsamic vinegar
1 lemon, quartered
4 tbsp of ricotta cheese
1C baby spinach
1C arugala (rocket)

Salty sweet spice rub

2 tbsp kosher salt
3 tbsp hot paprika or 3 dry chillis
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp mustard seed
1/4 coriander
1/4 tsp nutmeg

If you have all the your spices whole, it's best to make the rub by toasting everything (except the sugar) in a dry pan over medium for 45 to 60 seconds. Let it cool down then grind the ingredients together with a mortar and pestle.

Start off by wiping your grill with a rag or paper towel soaked in olive oil and then preheat your BBQ to 450, or leave all burners on medium high for ten minutes if you don't have a thermometer built in. Inside, saute the onions on medium heat for 3 or 4 minutes until they're soft, then add mushrooms and let them cook down for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, season with salt and pepper and turn down to minimum heat.

Rub your chops in the spice mixture and then bring them outside and place on the BBQ with at least an inch of space around all of your pieces of meat on the grill, to allow the hot air to circulate and cook evenly (they'll need to be flipped in four minutes). Close the lid. Inside, add a healthy splash of balsamic vinegar to your mushrooms and onion and stir throughout leaving on low heat to cook off excess moisture. Back outside, flip your meat and close the lid again allowing the chops to cook for another 4 minutes... if you want crosshatched sear marks to impress your guests, give the meat a 90 degree turn 2 minutes into cooking on each side and keep the heat just a touch higher to make up for opening your grill over and over.

Prep the plates with your greens, lay the meat on top, garnish with your balsamic reduction, and then finish with a healthy dollop of ricotta. Serve with a slice of lemon if you prefer. Or better yet, a slice of lemon on a tom collins. Cheers to Spring.

Why not do it upside down?

2010-05-14T10:55:00.000-07:00

Tarte Tatin is French for upside down tart and if you've never made one, you've missed out. You're gonna read the recipe and think it's missing a step but it's not. It really is that easy and it looks so damn gorgeous when it's done. It's also an ideal recipe to use up that little ball of left over pastry you have in the freezer because you only need one thin sheet. You can use whatever firm fruit you prefer. We've tried apple and pear and both turned out well. I've also seen quince tarte tatins, which should be delicious, too.

Recipe: Tarte Tatin

3-4 Firm Pears or Apples
Juice of half a lemon
1 tbsp butter
1/3 c Dark Brown Sugar

One thin sheet of pastry dough

Wash, peel, core and quarter Pears. Toss in bowl with lemon juice and set aside. Melt butter in a small cast-iron skillet or baking tin. Stir in brown sugar and remove from heat. Arrange pear quarters in the pan tightly packing them in overlapping concentric circles. You really want to cram them in because they'll cook down a lot. Cook over medium heat 20-25 min. Do not move or stir pears while cooking, but gently press them down with a spatula as they soften. If you don't have a cast iron skillet and are using a cake pan, cook the pears in a preheated 350 oven using the lower oven rack for about the same time.

While the pears are cooking, roll dough on lightly floured surface into a circle matching the size of your skillet or pan. Aim for a thickness of 1/4". Drape dough over pears, tucking in the edges, and bake tart on upper rack of a 400 degree oven until golden brown, 35-40 min.

Remove from oven and invert a plate or baking sheet over the tart. Carefully flip skillet and baking sheet simultaneously. Lift off skillet, loosen any apples that may have stuck, and reunite them with the tart.

Mush ado about nothing.

2010-04-26T07:48:00.000-07:00

Apologies for bad puns may be in order sometime, but for whatever reason I can't seem to help myself. Anyways, this is a really simple mushroom salad recipe and being a fun guy, I'm just going to toss it out there for anyone who's interested. I, also, wanted a segue way to talk about Ron Mann and his cultishly nerdy documentary films and his interestingly cultivated obsessions, like marijuana and mushrooms, and to say that if you overlook their titles (which stink: like Grass and Know Your Mushrooms) he is another example of a cool, interesting person doing their thing in Toronto. So check him out if you haven't already because he knows what's up with culture. Did I mention he's hilarious and buddies with Woody Harrelson and Jim Jarmusch?

Sauteed Mushrooms on Baby Spinach & Arugula (Rocket)

Mushrooms (for a big 4 to 6 person salad)
1C King Oyster
1C Shitake
1C Chanterelles
1C Porcini
1C Oyster

1/4 Olive oil
2C Baby Spinach, destemmed
2C Arugala
3tbsp Balsamic vinegar (buy a good one, that's sweet and tart)
Cracked pepper, to garnish

Start by chopping the larger mushrooms down to the size of the smaller ones, you want everything to have roughly the same shape and thickness, so it cooks evenly throughout. Heat your olive oil in a large skillet over a medium-high flame and just before it hits the smoking point toss in all of your mushrooms, flip the pan to coat the shrooms in oil and then season. Saute the mushrooms for 5 to 10 minutes (the word and tehcnique derives from the French, ‘jumped,’ past participle of sauter). This means your fungus should literally be crackling and jumping out of the hot oil in the pan when you dump them in, not soaking up the grease and getting bogged down in luke warm oil. You'll know the mush mixture is done when the moisture has been cooked out and the exteriors brown.

Serve over a bed of baby spinach and arugula and drizzle with a healthy splash of balsamic vinegar. Top with cracked black pepper and chow down. This is a hardy and amazingly tasty and filling salad and works as a vegetarian main if the servings of mushroom are generous enough.

The Berry Blues

2010-04-22T18:51:00.000-07:00

The blue ones always show up first. I think they're supposed to be ready to pick at the end of April but it's been warmer this year so the fruit shops on my way home have had gorgeous baskets filled with the dreamy blue-black berries for a few weeks now. How can you resist? Blueberries are great. They remind me of Robert Frost poems and make me want to bake. My first blueberry adventure this year was this coffee cake. It came out moist and delicious and looked absolutely beautiful because of all the dark blue magic in it.

You ought to have seen how it looked in the rain,
The fruit mixed with water in layers of leaves,
Like two kinds of jewels, a vision for thieves.
-Robert Frost

Recipe: Blueberry Coffee (or tea) Cake

1 1/2 C All Purpose Flour
2 tsp Baking Powder
3/4C Sugar
1/3 C Canola Oil
1 egg
1/2 C Orange Juice
1 tsp Orange or Lemon Zest
1 tsp Good Vanilla Extract
1 C Blueberries

Optional Streusel Topping

1/2 C Flour
4 tbsp Brown Sugar
4 Tsp Canola Oil or Melted Butter
2 tsp Cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and the baking powder. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg with the sugar and oil until frothy. Add the Orange Juice, zest, and vanilla to the egg mixture and mix. Add the flour in thirds and stir until uniform but don't over-beat. Finally, fold in the blueberries.

For the Streusel topping, simply add all the ingredients and mix them with a fork. Pour half of the batter into a greased shallow cake pan (2 1/2") and top with half of the streusel. Next, pour the rest of the batter in and finish with the rest of the streusel. Bake for 35-45 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle comes out clean.

This is a very moist and fruity cake, so if you plan on keeping it for more than a few days, keep it chilled to avoid moldy berries.

Fishy business

2010-04-20T08:03:00.001-07:00

I have an odd sort of relationship with fish, as I was raised by vegetarians who (this is not a joke) refused to let me use their pans when I decided as a teenager that I wanted to start cooking seafood and meats at home. At the time I was working in a bistro (the only one in my Polish neighbourhood) doing kitchen prep., which meant washing dishes, preparing an absolutely revolting amount of squid for calamari (as in gallon buckets of the squirmy little, ink squirting buggers every afternoon after highschool), and last but not least, gutting fish. Lots of them, big ones, small ones, stinky ones, writhing ones, ones that ingested golf balls, and fatlaced pretty in pink salmon bellies were all laid open on my cuttingboard. It was a foul, squeamish experience for an adolescent vegetarian that I will readily admit was eased by a bad habit, smoking. At the time, nobody seemed to make a fuss about cigarettes in restaurants (it was a French place after all), and so preparing fish will forever remind me of having a smoke hanging off my lip and a Frenchmen screaming at me to Hurry up wheat the feckin poisson. For some reason I still can't quite figure out, I have very fond memories of the place and occasionally "sneak" into the gastropub that inhabits my old haunts to stare longingly through the handoff window into the ugly, little ten square foot kitchen of my youth.

You may be interested to know: a tagine is a slow cooked stew of spiced meat or fish cooked over vegetable in an earthenware dish, but the word tagine actually comes from the Arabic ṭājin, which just means frying pan.

Moroccan white fish tagine
(from Moro East)

4 fillets of white fish (monkfish and mackerel both work well)
1/4C Olive oil, 6 tbsp to coat a sauce pan and 2 tbsp to rub on fish fillets
2 onions, sliced whole into thin rings
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
1/2 cup of golden raisins
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp saffron
1 1/2 tsp turmeric
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp orange blossom essence
1 3/4C water
2 large potatoes,peeled and diced to half inch cubes

Preheat oven to 230/425.

Start by frying your onions over medium heat in the olive oil until tender and gold, about 5 to 10 minutes, then add the garlic and raisins and continue to brown for another 3 to 5 min. Now stir in the admixture of dried spices (ginger, saffron, turmeric and cinnamon, as well as a bit of salt and pepper) and fry for thirty seconds or a minute til all is combined in pan. Next, pour in the water and stir thoroughly, while bringing the mixture to a simmer, continue for about 5 min.

Oil, salt and pepper your fillets, in other words, season the fish. If you haven't already, clean and dice your potatoes and salt them well. Now, in a roasting pan stir potatoes into the spiced onion and raisin blend and cover with aluminum foil, then roast in the oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until the potatoes are tender. Depending on what type and weight of fish you have (check online) the finishing time will vary; either way, the last step is to pull everything from the oven, turn up the foil and lay the fish sections on top of the tangine, recover with the foil, and replace in the oven until your fish is done.

Serve with rice, bread, or any side you prefer as this dish already has a starch and protein, it's rather versatile... enjoy.

In Praise of Pancakes

2010-04-12T17:55:00.000-07:00

We pick up our prints at the photo place every week or so, and flip through them excitedly deciding which post we're going to do next and drool over images of food we've eaten the week before. The cycle feeds itself. We cook delicious food, and it often looks great so we photograph it, and another roll of film is developed and... you get the idea. Pancakes have turned up in many of these rolls. They are such perfect canvases for whatever mood you (or your pantry) happen to be in, and I have decided to be completely unapologetic about the fact that there will be multiple posts regarding these little round griddle things. Here's a simple one that goes perfectly with a press full of dark roast and the Sunday paper...

Recipe: Buckwheat Blueberry Pancakes (for two)
1 egg
1 c all-purpose flour, sifted
1/4 c buckwheat flour, sifted
2 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/4 c buttermilk (you can make this yourself by adding white vinegar to milk and letting it rest)
2 Tbs. unsalted butter, melted
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c fresh blueberries
butter for griddle/pan

Sift the Flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. In larger bowl, whisk the egg and sugar until frothy, then add buttermilk milk, vanilla, and melted butter and whisk until mixed. Incorporate the dry ingredients with the buttermilk mixture using a fork and do not beat or over mix. Small lumps are fine.

Allow the batter to rest for ten minutes.

Preheat the over to 200°F. Lightly grease a griddle or frying pan with enough butter to coat the surface and bring to medium heat. Dispense the batter using an ice cream scoop or ladle, forming small circles depending on how many pancakes you would like to make. Cook for a few minutes, press in a few blueberries, and when small bubbles appear all over the pancake, flip. If they don't detach from the griddle easily, they're not ready to flip yet. Cook for a minute on the other side, and remove. At this point you can keep the cooked pancakes in the preheated oven until you are ready to serve them.

When the pancakes are done (or if you can multitask, in a separate frying pan) toss a cup of fresh blueberries in a tablespoon of butter on medium heat for a few minutes until berries are hot and sizzling.

Top the pancakes with the cooked berries and finish with a healthy drizzle of you favorite syrup. Good morning!

Will curry for favour

2010-04-01T20:26:00.000-07:00

This recipe for a Chicken and Potato curry has become my absolute hands down favourite meal over the last few months (read: Toronto winter). It's spicy and sweet and aromatic and flavourfully complex in a just so kind of deliciousness that really can't be made any other way than in a wok (You can get a fantastic wok for under ten bucks in a chinatown or thriftshop near you, so there's no excuse). It's basically just a Thai take on any classic one-pot wonder style dish, adding one ingredient at a time until they all combine into some sort of magic, ready for your mouth. Mmm, good eating is promised if you follow through on this one and it also makes the absolute best leftovers ever, for sure, guaranteed (in my opinion) or your money back. This curry is worth a hard sell.

Hot Sour Salty Sweet's Chicken and Potato Curry

1 whole chicken cubed to 1" (2 breasts/2 legs bone-in will due; you could debone, but you lose so much flavour it's really worth it to just pick the bones out as you eat)
6 to 8 potatoes, peeled and cubed to 1"
3 Thai red chiles, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 shallots, diced
2 tbsp frying oil (canola/vegetable/sunflower are all OK)
2 tbsp fish sauce (pasted anchovies, sugar and water if you don't have)
1 can (400ml) coconut milk
1 tsp orange blossom essence (you can substitute rose water)
6 kaffir (lime) leaves (if you absolutely cannot possibly find these anywhere use the zest of a lime)
2 green onions, sliced diagonally for garnish
1 handful of fresh coriander/cilantro, chopped for garnish

It seems like a lot of stuff to go in all at once, but if you cut everything first and have all the knife work done and the ingredients ready to go on your cutting board this recipe is eyes-closed, do-it-drunk-while-chatting easy and a total wOw for anyone who's never tried it. Parboil your potatoes and save 2C of the starchy water. In a mortar and pestle or with the butt of something hard in a sturdy mixing bowl, smash up and mash up the chiles, garlic and shallots. Heat oil in wok to medium-high and the fry up your spice paste for 30 seconds. Add the chicken, season well with salt and pepper and brown (5-10 minutes). Open the can of coconut milk and pour the watery bit in with the potato water leaving the fatter bit til later; next, add the coconut-potato water to the chicken and put in the potatoes as well. Bring to a rolling boil, cover and simmer for a half hour.

Take off your lid, stir everything up and make sure the potatoes and chicken are both cooked through. Now your ready to add the orange blossom water, kaffir leaves, and remaining 'cream' of the coconut milk. Boil for another 5 to 10 until the sauce start to separate a bit, taste for seasoning, toss in the scallion, plate and garnish with cilantro and healthy dose of a cracked black pepper on top. Serve over rice, preferably jasmine, and try not to over eat; this recipe can be dangerous.

A Bodacious Banana Bread

2010-03-19T20:17:00.000-07:00

Evan claims I've made Banana Bread 30 times in the last year. I really hope that's not true, but I do admit I love banana bread. Some little part of me gets really happy when I discover a few brown bananas at the bottom of the fruit bowl or sitting on the counter. They may not be bright yellow but they're full of good sugars and at the peak of their nutritional value. I have a few recipes that I've used over the years and each yields a slightly different banana bread but this one is wonderful because it's so healthy. It's great to slice up and take to work, or toast and have with butter in the morning. For added yum, shave some bittersweet chocolate right into the batter and you will end up with a chocolate spotted loaf of banana delight. Oh and that's right, there is no oil in the recipe, but should you prefer a more decadent loaf, replace the applesauce with softened butter.

Recipe: Banana Bread

4 really ripe bananas (the riper the sweeter)
2/3 c brown sugar (use 3/4c if you prefer sweeter)
1/2 c applesauce (here is our recipe)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 1/2 c all purpose flour
1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp baking powder
a pinch of salt
2/3 c chopped pecans
(optional: 1/4 c semisweet chocolate shavings)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Mash the bananas with a fork or a potato masher. Add the eggs, applesauce, vanilla, sugar, and salt. Mix well.In a separate bowl, mix the flours, baking powder and soda. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in thirds, gently working it in with a spatula. Stir until the mixture is uniform and no dry flour is visible but do not over-mix. The batter should be clumpy and fairly thick. Fold in the buts, and set some aside for the top(if you are adding chocolate, this is your cue).

Grease a loaf pan and pour in your batter. Bake in the preheated oven for 50-60minutes or until a toothpick or paring knife inserted into the center of the loaf comes out clean. Remove from pan and bake naked in the oven for another 7 minutes to get a golden loaf.

Cool on a rack, slice, and serve.

A Trifle confused

2010-03-19T10:30:00.000-07:00

This take on trifle is an absolutely offensive dessert and is a totally confused mish-mash of all of the things in our fridge and cupboard that probably shouldn't be eaten alone [espresso, cake, whisky, overripe bananas, whip cream, solid Oaxacan chocolate, and custard) let alone in conjunction or layered in wine glasses and gobbled down after a meal. Anyway, it was killer and I'm not sure that I've ever consumed so many calories so quickly with out even really having to chew, so much as gulp down the goodness. It was either a trifle, or a tiramisu, either way it was delicious, terrible, downright voluptuousness in a cup.
Banana chocolate espresso tiramisu/trifles
[Note: recipe will make two wine goblets full, but double according to how many you need to serve]

6 lady fingers, sliced lengthwise
1/2C espresso, cooled
2 tbsp, whisky, i.e. a shot
1/2C crushed walnuts
1 ripe banana, cut into medallions
1/4 C whipped cream, to top
1/4C chocolate, shaved for garnish

Custard ingredients:
1C milk
2 egg yolks
3 tbsp caster sugar
a drop of vanilla
1/4 Oaxacan chocolate, ground or finely grated

Start off by getting a double boiler going for the custard. Bring the milk to the boiling point but remove before it simmers. In a seperate mixing bowl, beat the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla until light and aerated. Once the milk has cooled to a touchable heat, whisk it, splash by splash, into the egg and sugar mix. Now add the combined ingredients to the top of your double boiler (which should be hot but NOT boiling), whisk constantly for ten or so minutes until mixture thickens to a dolloping consistency, then whisk in the ground chocolate and remove from heat. Run the custard through a strainer to make sure there are no eggy bits and then cool, covered in the fridge.

In each of your serving dishes layer the sliced ladyfingers to cover the bottom (I actually used a leftover poundcake, but anything that will absorb moisture and is relatively unflavoured will do) then coat evenly with the combined espresso and whisky. Let sit for a few minutes to allow the moisture absorb into the cake. Now you're ready to coat with a thin layer of crushed nuts, which will separate the moist cake from the banana medallions that you spread to make the next layer. Get out your cooled custard and add an inch or so thick coating to each portion, then let sit (and any air bubbles rise) while you whip your cream. Dollop the whip cream on top of the custard, and grate on chocolate to top.

Now devour the whole thing immediately awash in gluttony. Or you can chill them for four to six hours until your ready to serve, these are actually a great dessert to make a head of time because they can wait in the fridge almost all day. Just don't keep them overnight or the whip cream will sink into the custard.

Enjoy!

The taste of our new neighbourhood

2010-03-14T19:00:00.000-07:00

We've recently moved to a new neighbourhood in Toronto's west end, home to a huge population of the city's diasporic North African communities. And after dipping into some of the restaurants, and finding the injera, Ethiopian flatbreads, available on all of the local grocer's shevles we decided it was about time that we tried to cook up some of the Ethiopian flavours in our own kitchen. Both of the two recipes that follow are adapted from the vegetarian platters we've tried at the restaurants that line Bloor street in our neighbourhood in conjunction with some recipes found online, and a conversation I shared with the woman who sold us some berbere, a toasted spice mix that you can easily make yourself if it's unavailable, just click the link for a how-to. Also, if you're interested, these recipes are both completely vegan.
Aleecha - Peppery Ethiopian Carrot & Cabbage

1 head of savoy cabbage, diced to one inch squares
3 carrots, chopped to quarter inch coins
1 white onion, chopped
4 potatoes, cut in one inch cubes (optional)
4 cloves garlic, pasted
1 tsp ginger powder
1 tbsp turmeric
1 tbsp black pepper, cracked
1 tsp salt, to taste
3 tbsp light cooking oil, (canola or sunflower)

Heat the oil on a medium high flame in a medium pot with the lid off, adding onions and garlic paste and cook, stirring often, for five minutes or until soft. (Put your exhaust fan on high) Add the ginger, tumeric and pepper and let the flavours cook into the onions and garlic, stirring vigorously for about a minute. The mixture should be very fragrant and might make you sneeze once or twice.

The last step is simple but takes a while: add the cabbage (optional potatoes, we just weren't that hungry, so I left them out and the dish was amazing) and carrots and stir for a few minutes until everything in your pot has blended together, and the vegetables are coated in the flavourful onion mixture. Now reduce the heat to low and affix a tight fitting lid and cook for 35 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. You shouldn't have to add any liquids, the natural moisture of the vegetables should make everything cook in its own juices, but be careful not to burn in the first few minutes, when the bottom of your pot is still hot from frying the onions and garlic.

Mesir Wat - Ethiopian lentils reduced in Berbere

2C lentils, canned or rehydrated
2 onions
2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp of fresh ginger
1 tsp salt
1/4C berbere
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp cardamom
3 tbsp light cooking oil
4C of water, or vegetable stock

First off, make a paste out of the onion, ginger and garlic, using either a food processor, mortar and pestle, or if you have the time and energy, a heavy cleaver. Heat oil to medium-high in a good sized sauce pot with the lid set aside for later. Now, fry up the berbere and and turmeric in the oil for about thirty seconds, until the spicy aroma is thoroughly infused in the oil. Next, add the onion paste and cook off the excess moisture, which should take five to ten minutes. You'll know when it's cooked by the sweet smell and the paste turns a golden colour through out.

Now, just add the lentils and stir until completely coated, then add the water. Bring everything to a simmer and let cook on the stove for 30 to 45 minutes. Serve with Aleecha on top of warm Injera (which hopefully will post a recipe for soon), alternatively serve over flatbread and rice if you can't find any Injera.

The Episode of the Madeleine

2010-03-07T19:44:00.000-08:00

It's true. Memories register with different senses, and taste is a big one. In A La Rechereche Du Temps Perdu, Proust's protagonist, Marcel, eats one of these little cakes and can't help but be transported back to his childhood. He calls it "involuntary memory". I like that. I eat these cakes and am transported too; certainly not to Marcel's Combray, but instead to my Tehran of the 1990's where corner stores sold little cakes and individual bottles of chocolate milk. It amazes me to think that my brain has packed so much in with the simple taste of a sweetly dense sponge cake, but it has, and I can't help indulging in these lovely recreations.

Recipe: Lemon Glazed Madeleines

3 large eggs (room temperature)
2/3 cup sugar
1 tspn vanilla extract
pinch of salt
1 1/4 cup pastry or all purpose flour
1 tspn baking powder
zest of one whole small lemon
9 tablespoons (120g) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temperature, plus additional melted butter for the molds

For Glaze (which is optional, but recommended)
3/4 cup icing sugar
1 tbspn freshly-squeezed lemon juice
2 tbspn water

First brush the insides of the madeleine molds with melted butter, dust with flour, shake excess and put in freezer. Do not take this step lightly, because these little things will stick.

Using an electric mixer or egg beater, whip the eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt for 5 minutes or until thick and frothy. Sift the flour and baking powder in a separate bowl. Sift/sprinkle the flour mixture into the wet ingredients, gently folding them in with a spatula. Add the lemon zest to the cooled butter, then pour the butter into the batter, a little bit at a time, while simultaneously folding to incorporate everything. Fold just until all the butter is incorporated. Cover and refrigerate for at least one hour.

To bake, preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Scoop a rounded tablespoon of batter into each mold, leaving the batter in a mound (it spreads itself out in the heat). Bake 10-12 minutes or until the cakes are puffy and golden brown. While the cakes are baking, mix the ingredients for the glaze and set aside. After removing from the oven, and as soon as the cakes are cool enough to handle, dip them into the glaze. They should be warm when you do this. Allow excess glaze to drip off and set them on the cooling rack and wait while they cool and the glaze sets.

Serve with coffee, tea, or milk, and see where they take you...

Playing With Fire

2010-03-05T12:00:00.000-08:00

Your dictionary will try to convince you that crème brûlée means burnt cream, but oh it's so much more. It's a velvety, smooth, voluptuous bed of custard under an impossibly crisp sugar crust. If that hasn't won you over yet, consider this: you also get to play with a blow torch. Sold. Right? I was never crazy about making these, because of the hot water bath baking and all the fuss with the splitting creme. Then I came across Nigella's method and couldn't resist. No baking, no water bath, just a whisk and a little patience. The night we made this, our vegan friends dropped by unexpectedly and when they saw what was on the table they both sinned. Can you blame them? Here's how to make your own...

Recipe: Crème brûlée

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups heavy cream
1/2 vanilla bean
4 egg yolks
1 generous tablespoon granulated sugar
Approximately 3 tablespoons Demerara sugar

Start by placing 4 shallow individual ramekins in the freezer. Alternatively you can use one larger dish. Chop a vanilla pod in half and scrape the lovely seeds out. Pour the creme into a saucepan with the vanilla seeds and bring to the boiling point, but do not continue to boil.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg yolks and the granulated sugar together. While whisking the egg and sugar, pour the creme into the bowl. Continue whisking to avoid scrambling your eggs. Pour everything back into the saucepan and cook over medium-low heat until the custard thickens (about 10 min). Nigella says "You do want this to be a good, voluptuous crème, so don’t err on the side of runny caution."

When the custard is thick and nice, get your dish(es) out of the deep freeze and pour it in. Leave outside to cool for about 10 minutes and put in the refrigerator till truly chilled. Just before serving, generously sprinkle the tops with demerara sugar and burn using a blowtorch until bubbles form. Cool for a moment and Serve. It's best to make the sugar crust just before serving, If you sprinkle the sugar and don't burn it immediately, the sugar will absorb moisture and you will end up with a shell that is chewy instead of crisp.

Note: You can buy a small kitchen blowtorch at most kitchen stores these days. They're much smaller than the hardware store kind, but just as effective. And please, be careful.

Mmm, Latkes with an egg on top

2010-02-25T18:42:00.000-08:00

Because we have both been so boringly engaged in our jobs lately (boo) the posts have been meager but luckily our kitchen is still plentiful and the food shall hopefully continue to find its way into other home's kitchens and onto everyone's plates. This recipe is for one of my all time favourite comfort/breakfast foods: latkes. One of the restaurant/bars I worked at was a place called The Free Times Cafe, a venue that's been hosting great jazz and blues and anything rock related for the last thirty years in Toronto, and the owner and proprietor, Judy, hosts a Jewish brunch every weekend with live klezmer music and kick ass all you can eat kosher buffet, where there are always a heaping plate of steaming latkes. I adapted this recipe from what I watched the cooks do at those brunches, which Judy calls The "Bella! Did Ya Eat" Brunch in honour of her late mother. Anyway, chow down on these fried starch fritters with a friend and an egg.

Recipe: Red potato latkes

8 medium red potatoes, grated
1 small onion, minced
2 tbsp flour
1 large egg, beaten
1 tbsp salt
1/2C cooling oil
sour cream, to top

Start by grating your potatoes into a medium sized mixing bowl, then draining off all excess liquid, squeezing down the potato with your hands to press out the last drops of moisture. Next, add the minced onion (if you have a food processor you could turn them to paste and it would work just as well and help bind the ingredients together). Repeat the second step, draining all excess moisture from the ingredients. Now dust the mixture with flour, and stir into coat any remaining dampness on the potatoes and onions.

At this point, you should have a bowl with a dry, slightly sticky ball of potato and onion (add more flour if necessary, but don't over do it or you'll end up eating dough). Blend in the beaten egg and salt until completely melded. Heat the oil to medium-high in a frying pan which should be coated in at least a quarter inch of oil, add more if necessary (and don't worry you'll drain of the excess grease after cooking). Form palm sized latkes in between your two hands again pressing out any excess moisture, then place directly into hot oil and fry on either side for 3 to 4 minutes or until golden brown. Pat dry with paper towel and serve immediately with sour cream and a fried or poached egg on top.

If you managed to keep all the moisture out these should be the crunchiest, tastiest latkes you've ever tried. Also, they are absolutely ridiculous with sour cream and our homemade applesauce if you have the time to try our stovetop applesauce recipe, which can be made well in advance.

Viet junkfood

2010-02-18T13:13:00.000-08:00

This recipe is another adapted from one of Duguid and Alford's for a kind of Vietnamese street food handroll that they call, Green-wrapped flavor bundles (in their book Hot Sour Salty Sweet) and which I admit the name of totally made me laugh my head off and think, Wow, they need a better translator. Then we made them and ate them (along with my pride) and all I could think was that they were the most appropriately named little flavor bombs I'd ever had. They're stuffed with intensely flavorful pork, and the crunch of the fresh cabbage wrap blows any and every kind of deep-fried eggroll or springroll wrap I've ever had out of the water (or deep fryer as the case may be), and Toronto has a pretty kick ass Chinatown (actually it has three Chinatowns, but that's besides the point). A caveat, these rolls are addictive and for a week after we made them I'd find myself standing with the fridge door open staring at the tuperware full of pork and trying to resist its pull.

Another side note: we've returned the digital camera we were borrowing from our awesome photographer friend, Jason, and are back to using cheap Kodak ISO 800 film, which we buy at a flee market, as in our first post. You may also notice the drugstore did something funny with our scans, creating unintentional diptychs. Yeah coincidence, we love them anyway.

Recipe: Cabbage wrapped pork handrolls

1 cabbage, deleafed and cut to scoops the size of your palm

Filling:

1/2 lb ground pork
3 tbsp oil
1/2 C shallots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbsp tamarind dissolved in 1/4C water (or substitute soy sauce in water)
2 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp ginger, minced
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp unsalted roasted peanuts, chopped
1 tsp salt, or a healthy pinch

Garnish:
1 stalk lemongrass, trimmed and minced
2 tbsp ginger, finely grated
1 bunch green onions, finely sliced
1/2 bunch cilantro/coriander, finely chopped

For the pork filling, add oil and heat a wok or large pan to med-high. Saute the shallots and garlic just until they start to brown, then add ground pork and continue to stri-fry until all of the meat is browned. Now, add liquids, brown sugar, salt and ginger and simmer until the sauce thickens, which should take 4 to 6 minutes (turn down the heat if it starts to smoke at any point, you don't want to burn the sugars!).

For the rolls, take your palm sized cabbage leaf in your left hand and spoon in an overflowing tablespoon of the pork filling, then sprinkle with lemongrass, fresh grated ginger, green onion slices and cilantro garnish.

Now shovel them down your gullet. Mmm, they're so amazingly good. They are the word ZING in a bite.

Muffin Tops?

2010-02-09T19:20:00.001-08:00

We went for a walk in Kensington Market the other day and sat down at one of our favorite cafés. When we were waiting for our Americanos I saw the muffins on display, still sitting in the tins they were baked in, and just couldn't resist getting one. When we were eating it we couldn't help but wonder how do they get them so puffy and big? It seems impossible at home. If you fill the tins right up they don't bake in the center, and if you bake them longer they burn or get dry. So I investigated the issue and found out some interesting facts.

First, most of the muffins you enjoy outside are massive because they are in fact yeasted cakes. Meaning, they have a much more serious leavening agent than the baking powder you normally use in home-baked muffins. Second, as yummy as butter can be, if you want a fluffy muffin, you gotta leave it out. What you want is lots of moisture, and no weight. But the prospect of leaving muffins to rise overnight didn't excite the impulsive baker in me, so I found a way to cheat. The power of baking powder and baking soda, when combined with an active dairy such as yogurt, coupled with the use of fresh fruits or veggies for moisture will do the trick. The resulting recipe is dead easy and pretty quick too. These are carrot muffins, but you could easily substitute shredded zucchini, apple, or fresh blueberries and as long as you keep the measurements the same, yours will be as big as ours!

Recipe: Massive Carrot Muffins

1c all purpose flour
1c whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
2/3c packed brown sugar
1/3c vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1c yogurt
1/4 tsp fresh grated ginger
a teaspoon of orange zest
1 1/4c shredded carrots
(optional: 1/2 c chopped walnuts)

preheat oven to 350 degrees

In a medium bowl, mix the flours with the baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs with the sugar, vegetable oil, vanilla extract, yogurt, ginger and orange zest. Add the dry ingredients in thirds, mixing until just combined. Finally, fold in the grated carrots (and walnuts).

Grease the muffin tins and scoop the batter in generously, filling them right to the top. Bake in the preheated 350 oven for 30-45 minutes and marvel at how they rise...

Crazy good cran-raisin scones

2010-02-09T17:12:00.000-08:00

I don't know what's up with us lately, maybe something about the drop in temperature and it being too cold to walk to the bakery, or maybe because we haven't been around the house lately for dinner because of work, but either way it seems like our oven has been on non-stop, so a string of simple baking and breakfast recipes is going to accrue in the next week or two. This is a recipe for a scone that I like to bake whole and cut into wedges, adapted from a Beard on Bread recipe for "Girdle" scones (Beard's explanation is that it's a bit of Scottish slang and "they are exceptionally easy to make"). Also, this is probably our all time favourite bread book, at least in part because we found a screen printed hardcover edition lying in the trash one day walking home together in the rain and its been good to us ever since, producing some damn fine bread. Plus, it's full of tons of great recipes and invaluable advice. So, here's our recipe for a baked cranberry-raisin scone adapted from James' Beard's stove top version of the same.

Recipe: Cranberry and raisin scone

2C all-purpose flour
1/4 golden raisins
1/4 dried cranberries
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 to 1 1/2C buttermilk, or half and half milk and yogurt

In a mixing bowl, sift all of the dry ingredients (including dried cranberry and raisin) together and stir with a fork. split dry mixture in two, and then working with one half at a time add enough buttermilk to form a soft, ball-forming dough, and using floured hands pat, toss and stretch into a 1/2" thick circle. Repeat with the other half.

Bake the two rounds for 8 to 12 minutes or until golden brown, then cut into quarters and serve warm, or cold. (Note: The scone or dough can be frozen, but once baked it should be eaten the day of.)

Eggs baked in cream of cremini

2010-02-05T11:36:00.000-08:00

We pulled this baked egg recipe out of Martha Stewart's Cooking School cook book because it was a technique neither of us had tried before and we're wondering why. And after eating the results we promise you'll be asking yourself the same thing. Also, why aren't there baked eggs on the billion and one brunch places that have sprung up across every gentrified neighbourhood from Toronto to LA? What's with that? We should all be eating them, they're tasty, delicate and creamy without being smothered in hollandaise (Blogger: why do you think 'hollandaise' is a spelling error? It's just a concoction of butter and egg yolk with a little lemon). Martha's method for baked eggs is also really easy to make and doesn't take very long.

Recipe: Eggs baked in a mushroom cream sauce with toast soldiers

4 eggs (one per person)
1 shallot, chopped finely
1C cremini mushrooms, sliced thickly
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/2C cream (heavy, table, or half/half)
4 slices of bread, toasted

Preheat oven to 375. Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a pan and heat over medium-high. Sauté chopped shallot for a couple of minutes until soft, then add mushroom and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes. Pour the cream over and stir vigorously until it comes to aboil, then remove from heat immediately! (If the cream is left to boil, it will taste like a burnt latte, e.g. me and my apron after a shift at the cafe = gross).

Use remaining oil to grease four medium (4 to 6" across) ramekins and place them on a baking sheet. Crack an egg into each dish and spoon in a quarter of the mushroom-cream sauce into each. Salt, pepper and bake for 9 to 12 minutes or until the whites are cooked and the yolks are runny.

Toast soldiers are made by toasting sliced bread and then cutting them lengthwise into dipping sticks. Eat the baked eggs while they're still hot, and dip liberally. Depending on if you're a double-dipper or not, you may need more than 4 pieces of toast. Now dip in.

Cassoulet à la Child

2010-01-31T11:27:00.001-08:00

After watching one of the competitors on Top Chef plate a spoon full of 'garbanzo beans' (i.e. chickpeas) and call it cassoulet the other night, I was inspired to try and make our own version of the traditional French pork and bean stew. We had some pork and liver sausage, some ribs and lots of beans (feel free to substitute any legumes you like), so the rest was actually quite simple. To make cassoulet, it really just requires a bit of patience and lots of tasty, hearty ingredients as well as the right herbs, and some bread crumbs to dust on top. There's a lots of different versions out there, but we roughly followed an old Julia Child recipe for ours.

Recipe: Pork and beans cassoulet

4 pork & liver sausages, parboiled and sliced into medallions
1lb spare ribs, parboiled and sliced
1 red onion, diced
4 celery shoots, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
1 large can of whole tomatoes, pureed (or buy already crushed tomatoes if you don't have a food processor. But they'll taste way better if they're whole and you do the pureeing at home)
1C lima beans, rehydrated or canned
1/2C fava beans, rehydrated or canned
1/2C kidney beans, rehydrated or canned
1/4C drinking wine
2 tablespoons of olive oil
2C of bread crumbs
1 bunch of fresh thyme, tied tightly

First off, parboil your ribs and and sausages in a large pot for about half an hour or until they're cooked through and starting to get tender. Set meat aside and save the liquid to add as stock later. When the meat is cool enough to handle, slice sausage into medallions and tear the ribs into small pieces. Next, Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.

In the same pot, add the olive oil and adjust to medium-high heat. Saute your chopped onion, celery and carrots for 3 to 5 minutes or until they start to soften.

Add the meat back to the pot and stir briefly. next, dump in all of the beans and stir the pureed can of tomatoes throughout the meat, beans and vegetables. Now add whatever wine your drinking and then pour in enough of your reserved meat stock to fully submerge everything in the pot by about a half inch or so. Drop in the bunch of thyme, tied tightly in twine, and simmer on medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 10 to 15 minutes or until the mixture has thickened.

Remove the thyme and dust the top of the cassoulet evenly with a quarter inch of bread crumbs, no more and no less. If you want, you can also try cutting the bread crumbs 50-50 with finely grated Parmesan to give it a rich, but decidedly unFrench finish. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes or until the bread crumbs are golden-brown.

Brunch for Dinner?

2010-01-25T06:30:00.000-08:00

I worked at a French restaurant where we made hundreds of savory tarts and quiches for breakfast, brunch and lunch, so when I made one at home last night it was so refreshing to crack 3 eggs instead of 50 and not to worry about whether we'd have the tarts ready in time for the brunch rush. We had ours for dinner because we wanted to, so feel free, tart-lovers, to make one of these whenever the mood strikes. Tart time is any time. There's quite a bit of creative freedom with this tart, as the filling is really up to you, or the contents of your fridge. The only rule is to sauté whatever vegetable you want to use, to get some of the juices out and avoid getting a soggy crust.
Recipe: Goat cheese and pepper tart

Pastry:
1 c all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 c vegetable/extra virgin olive oil
1/4 c cold cold water

Filling:
3 eggs
1/2 c yogurt
1/2 c milk
3/4 c chevre (goat's cheese)

Sauteed veggies:
1/2 a red pepper, cored and sliced vertically
1/2 a green pepper, cored and sliced verticaly
1/2 a spanish onion, thinly sliced
1 a roma tomato diced or a handful of cherry tomatoes halved
fresh basil roughly chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil, for the skillet

This recipe is for a simple savory shell, but if you have pie pastry in the freezer, or a store-bought pastry shell, feel free to use that. First, mix the flour and salt with a fork. Beat in the liquids to thicken until it clumps in to a dough. Then grab dough with your hand and form a disc. Refrigerate for 10-15 minutes while you prepare your filling.

To prepare the filling, whisk together the eggs, yogurt, milk, and 1/4 c of chèvre in a medium bowl. Mix in the chopped basil and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Sauté all of your prepped veggies over medium high heat in a cast iron or non-stick skillet for 3-5 minutes, or until the edges brown. Remove from heat and set aside.

Roll out your pastry on a floured surface to match the shape of whatever tart shell you are using. It should be about 1/4" thick. Press the pastry into your shell, poke holes in the bottom with a fork and trim excess from the edges. Then, evenly distribute the vegetables into the tart shell, and pour filling on top. The vegetables should be submerged but still visible. You don't want to drown them. Next, put spoonfuls of the remaining chèvre evenly throughout. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until the crust is golden at the edges and the egg mixture has raised all over. And don't you worry if the surface deflates and flattens when the tart cools, it's supposed to.

Apple and spice and everything autumn

2010-01-25T05:58:00.000-08:00

Winter in Toronto has been suspiciously gentle this year. We've barely dipped into double-digits below zero and snow sightings have been rare. So, I find myself entertaining autumn notions and craving spiced cake and apple pie and pumpkin things... My seasonal cravings are confused. When I found the recipe for this spiced bundt cake the other day, I couldn't resist. It's a moist and crumbly cake that's simple and elegant and keeps well. And it's ready to serve with a simple dusting of powdered sugar.
Recipe: Spiced apple bundt cake

1 1/2 c all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
1/2 c (1 stick) room temperature unsalted butter
1 c brown sugar
2 tbsp honey
1 large egg
1 c apple sauce (here's how you can make your own)
confectioners' sugar to dust

Start by preheating your oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, salt and spices and set aside. In a separate bowl, using an electric mixer or egg beater, beat butter, sugar, and honey until fluffy. Add egg, and mix until the consistency is smooth.

With the mixer on low, sift in the flour mixture and beat until the wet and dry ingredients are just combined. Finally, stir in the applesauce. The batter should be a little lumpy and thick; especially if your applesauce is home-made. Generously grease or spray and flour a medium bundt pan and spoon in the batter. Bake in the oven, preheated to 350, for 50-60 minutes or until a knife comes out clean but moist. Dust with sugar and impress your guests. We don't have a cake dish, but I cheat by inverting a small china bowl and placing a large china plate over it (no one will ever know).

A beautiful Beet borani

2010-01-24T16:45:00.000-08:00

I found a copy of Sam and Samantha Clark's Moro East in a the nook of a used book shop last week and got so excited that I decided to surprise the other half with something before she made it home from work. Moro is a London restaurant run by a husband-wife team that specialize in Moorish influenced cooking but there happens to be a borani (Iranian yogurt dip) recipe in this book and seeing as how, Mina, the other half of The Salty Pear is Persian, it seemed appropriate. We also had some beets that had been in the fridge and borani recipes are very simple, though this one takes some time for the beets to cook.

Recipe: Beet borani
(blender or food processor needed)

2 beets whole, boiled then skinned
2 cups plain yogurt
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove of garlic, minced
a pinch of salt
1 small bunch of dill (substituted a teaspoon of dehydrated dill)

Start by bringing 6 inches of water to a boil in a large sauce pan, then place whole beets skin on into the water, covering securely with a lid. The beets will take an hour to ninety minutes to cook thoroughly, so you'll have plenty of time to cook a protein or click around on foodblogs while your home fills with the aroma.

When a fork will sink into the beets they're ready to peel. Set aside and cool in the sink or somewhere they won't stain for 5 to 10 minutes. Next, run cold tap water over them and peel by hand. Get out your blender or a food processor and add 2 cups of plain yogurt, a minced clove of garlic, 2 tablespoons of olive oil, a pinch of salt and some dill, then give the beets a chop and drop them on top. Puree the whole mix until it's got a nice velvety consistency and the gorgeous magenta hue of a hot lipstick. Unfortunately :(because of the weather in Texas) there's no fresh dill in Toronto right now, so I added a teaspoon of the dehydrated dill. But usually you would chop a small bunch of dill and stir it into the blended beet and add a sprig top garnish.

We had the borani as a sauce on top of grilled salmon, but it was just as good if not better the next day as a cold dip for some lavash flat bread. It will also work as a sweet marinade for lamb or goat once barbecue season returns to the Canadian tundra.

Kandy(ed) Sri Lankan Guacamole with toasted coconut

2010-01-19T15:10:00.000-08:00

This past Sunday afternoon while the better half of The Salty Pear was breaking a sweat making puff pastry for our Salty Pear tarts and I was casually snapping photos and watching American football playoffs, I realized we hadn't bothered to eat anything. This even though we'd already poached a half dozen pears in Pinot Noir and been to the farmer's market that morning. I decided to quickly stir up this recipe ("Avocado chutney," from Sri Lanka), perfect for dipping nachos, crackers, or flat bread. It's from our hometown recipe faves, Alford and Duguid's first James Beard winning book, Flatbreads and Flavors. Duguid and Alford say they picked up this recipe while hanging in Kandy a town in central Sri Lanka known for hosting Esala Perehera. A lovely place where one half of The Salty Pear once spent some cerebral down time

We should mention two things. One, we completely devoured the whole batch in about ten minutes flat, even after one half of The Salty Pear said, "Oh, I'm finished. I'm not having anymore" halfway through. Two, the original recipe calls for fresh cilantro on top, which we had sitting on the counter and totally forgot to chop and garnish with until after we had inhaled all two pounds of the guac.

Recipe: Kandy(ed) Sri Lankan Guacamole with toasted coconut

2 ripe avocados, halved, pitted and mashed
1/4 C of unsweetened shredded coconut
1 tomato, finely chopped
1 lime, the juice of
2 cloves unpeeled garlic, dry toasted
1 good sized shallot, diced
1 small chile to taste (you know how much heat you can handle)
1 heaping tablespoon dry toasted shredded coconut to sprinkle on top
(forgotten) fresh cilantro, chopped to garnish

To start slice a couple of ripe avocados in half then pull out the cores. You can tell when they're ripe because they're squishier than a baby's butt, and you can core them by slamming a knife blade into the woody sphere while holding it in your palm (but please do be careful). You could also try and pry the slippery buggers out with your hands. Either way mash the avocados in a mixing bowl and set aside. Next step, give a rough chopping to a small ripe tomato and stir it, along with the juice of lime, a quarter cup of dried (unsweetened is better) shredded coconut and the mashed avocado together. Put aside the mashed avocado mixture for later.

Next Heat a small pan or skillet to medium-high and dry toast (no oil, butter or god forbid Pam!) two cloves of garlic in their skin, i.e. do not peel them yet. This should take a couple minutes on either side, you'll know they're ready when they brown and are soft to the touch. Once your garlic is cooked, peel the cloves and mash them in a mortar with a finely chopped shallot, a healthy pinch of coarse salt and a serrano chile. If you don't have a mortar and pestle, go get one already (though you could make this spice paste in a blender if you want). Now stir the spicy garlic mixture into avocado mash and serve garnished with dry toasted coconut and nachos or anything else crunchy and dippable.

This Salty Pear is Sweet

2010-01-18T14:35:00.000-08:00

This recipe for our Pinot Noir poached pear tart with sea salt isn't just our namesake, it has pretty much everything we're about: market fresh fruit, lots of vino, perfect pastry, coarse salt, and chocolate to top it all off. To start you're going to need to get a basket of pears (each tart requires a half pear, so 4 pears will make 8 tarts). We used Anjou because they're still in season and keep their shape well when baked, but you could just as easily use Bartletts.

Recipe: Pinot Noir poached Pear tarts with Sea Salt

4 Anjou pears, poched, halved, then sliced

Poaching liquid

1/2 Bottle of red wine, Pinot Noir, Amarone or a personal favourite
1 large orange, zest and juice of
1 stick of cinnamon
1 vanilla bean, sliced lengthwise
2 to 3 sprigs of fresh mint, rosemary or thyme

Puff pastry

1lb all purpose flour
1lb cold, unsalted butter cut into small cubes
1 teaspoon table salt
1/2 C of heavy cream, mixed with cold water
1/2 C cold water, mixed with cream

Almond filling

1/4 C of ground almonds
1/4 C of confectioner's sugar
3 tablespoons soft, whipped butter

For the Poached Pears fill a saucepan (preferably one that's going fit your pears tightly) add your vino, a vanilla bean sliced down the middle, the zest and juice of an orange, a stick of cinnamon, and a few sprigs of fresh mint, thyme or rosemary but don't over do it. If you only have dried herbs that's fine, but just a pinch will do. You don't want your pears to taste like a roast lamb. Next, bring the poaching liquid to a boil, then cover and simmer for 5 to 10. This particular poaching recipe is adapted from Jamie's Kitchen, but there's a million twists out there so just pick a pear poaching recipe that suits if you're not into this one. When the liquids are simmering (or marrying their flavors as the chefs would say), skin and core your pears from the base. Make sure to keep your pears whole with the stem on and in clean, presentable form. You're going to see them when you're done so you don't want to rough them up. Once your pears are prepped, place them base down in the simmering liquid and cover. And if they aren't fully immersed add more wine, it's important that the fruit is covered in the booze. They won't cook evenly if they're not, so make sure they're drowning in the sauce.

For The Pastry (if you're up for making your own) this is the recipe we use. If not, store-bought pastry will do the trick. It comes in two forms: sheets, or blocks. If you buy sheets, simply lay out one sheet and take it from there. The blocks will need to defrost, and you will need a chunk of pastry roughly the size of one good sized handful. This usually means half of one package. On a floured surface, roll out a sheet about 1/4" thick and brush the surface with one egg yolk beaten with a tablespoon of water. Then using a pizza roller, or the blade of a sharp knife, cut two rows of four squares or rectangles, whichever will accommodate your pears nicely.

For The Filling simply whisk together 1/4c ground almonds, 1/4c confectioner's sugar and three tablespoons softened butter. Spread one tablespoon of filling on each of the rectangles, but try to leave a border because the egg-washed pastry will bake into a beautiful golden hue in the oven. Next, take each poached pear and cut it length-wise in half. With the cut side down, cut each half into 1/8" horizontal slices keeping the shape of the half. Using the Blade of a thick knife, transfer the fanned half pears to the pastry rectangles. Bake these beauties on a lined/greased baking sheet in a preheated 350 ˚ oven for 20-25 minutes or until the edges look golden. Let cool on a wire rack. Garnish with a drizzle of chocolate, icing sugar and a sprinkle of sea salt.

The pomegranate, from seeding to eating.

2010-01-15T15:06:00.000-08:00

One half of The Salty Pear is an unbelievably neat and tidy cooker, at least compared to the other half (my finger prints cover the kitchen) and she even has a technique for cutting, cleaning and seeding a pomegranate without staining her hands. So, without further ado, this is how you clean and quarter a pomegranate.
First, you cut off the top (the nipple!) where the small opening is, being careful not to cut into the seeds (i.e. the fruit). Then, score the entire skin of the pomegranate in two perpendicular lines so the pomegranate has an X carved around its skin. Now, stick the blade of your knife a few centimeters into the flesh where the lines intersect and turn the blade like a key in a hole: the pomegranate will split open. Don't worry, the first couple times you try this, you'll get juice all over yourself and the poor pomegranate will look like bloody murder, but with a little practice and patience you'll get this down, and be showing off to friends and family.
After you've quartered the pomegranate, there are a few alternate ways to get the seeds out. The first is to bash the quarters with the back of a tablespoon or ladle, which is quick, violent and effective. But it also ruins the clean hands thing and pretty much demands that it be done over a sink. If this is your method of choice, you can work with halves instead of quarters for better grip. The alternate method, if you have the patience and don't want to stain your counter top or maybe if you're at work in the lunch room, is to gently loosen the seeds by hand. This method can also be performed under water, by filling a bowl with cold water and submerging your hands and the fruit while you pluck away.
Working on one segment at a time, peel back the thin membrane covering the seeds and softly ease and pluck the seeds from their base into a bowl. If the fruit is ripe, the seeds should slide off easily. The seeds can be enjoyed as is, as a garnish, as a salad topper, and even to cook fish with their juice's acidity, as in a ceviche. And don't worry if you run out of ideas, there will be plenty of Persian inspired pomegranate recipes to come on The Salty Pear.
Also, if you're a health nut or just plain curious, you might like to know that pomegranates are just about the healthiest and juiciest fruit out there. They're packed with antioxidants and they're an aphrodisiac known to boost men's sexual performance and stamina. So have fun and don't spill too many seeds.

A is for Applesauce

2010-01-10T18:36:00.000-08:00

Here’s the thing with applesauce: it’s awesome. And you want some. It’s so easy to make and you can eat it in so many ways. Put a bit of it on your yogurt and granola in the morning, serve it on top of latkes, or add it to your baked goods. If you’re looking for ways of reducing fat in your baking, applesauce can be substituted for oil or margarine and will still produce moist and tasty results that are great for everyday snacking. There's two basic varieties, so you might want two try both by making a double batch: chunkier applesauce will be fruitier and more noticeable in baked goods, while smoother applesauce blends better if you don't want your guests to no your baking without butter.

Recipe: Stove top applesauce

• Peel, core, and quarter 4-6 apples. Use whichever type you like eating or baking varieties, or a combination. But granny Smiths are the best for savory dishes as they have the least amount of inherent sweetness.

• Put the prepped apples in a medium saucepan and immerse in water and bring to a boil.

• Once the water is boiling, turn your element down to medium and let simmer 30-35min. To check if the apples are ready, poke one with a fork. When they are soft, drain the water and transfer apples to a large bowl to cool.

• When cooled, mash them with a potato masher or blend with a food processor to achieve your desired consistency.