The Cooking Chronicles: Dinner of Appreciation

In the last two months, we’ve been hosting a series of small housewarming dinners for members of our families. I enjoy cooking, and love sharing food with the people in my life, but I know I have a tendency to over think the meals in my attempt to cater to the tastes of my guests.

I had my parents over earlier this month. They had helped us tremendously with the move – not only in transporting our things, but also letting us use their home as a holding cell for our boxes and furniture in the days before we took possession of the condo. As a result, I really wanted to make them a special meal.

It wasn’t planned, but we began with a simple tomato starter – Jennifer from Sundog Organics had generously given me a Great White Tomato (an heirloom variety) the day before at the City Market, inviting me to try it. It was large enough for me to divide the slices into four servings, which she recommended I serve with salt, pepper and balsamic vinegar. It was delicious – the great white was free of the tartness I normally associate with fresh tomatoes, and in place of the acid was sweetness.

Heirloom tomato starter

My Mum loves duck breast, which I consider to be a special occasion-type food (probably more so because I’ve never before attempted to cook duck breast before). Thumbing through my cookbooks, I found a recipe for seared duck breast with cherries and port in Trish Magwood’s Dish Entertains (a similar but not identical recipe can be found here). We had Greens, Eggs and Ham duck, and cherries from Steve and Dan’s, and rounded out the rest of our ingredients from the grocery store. Rendering out the fat from the meat on a cast iron pan seemed to go quite well, leaving a crisp layer of browned skin and a lake of liquid fat. But after I put the breasts in the oven, the meat went a little grey, and the skin unfortunately lost some of its crackling nature. We also had to roast the duck a little longer than the recipe’s guide of 10 minutes, in order to get the internal temperature to 130F, but the meat was thankfully not overcooked. My Mum liked it! (I should also mention that we served the duck with a raspberry wine called The Other Red from Barr Estate Winery, based in Sherwood Park. It paired beautifully.)

Seared duck breast

The sauce, on the other hand, didn’t reduce very well (but by that time, I probably wasn’t the most patient cook, and had I planned better, I would have started it before my parents arrived). The cherries and apples softened nicely , but I was expecting something a little more rich than the final product, given the combination of fruit, port, maple syrup, and balsamic vinegar.

Duck breasts with quick-cook barley mushroom risotto

We served the duck with quick-cook barley mushroom risotto, which we have made before. My dad especially liked this dish. Mack commented that the plate was awfully brown – to which I agreed – the tomato or Greens, Eggs and Ham mixed heritage greens salads that preceded the main course should have been served alongside the entree for colour alone!

Dessert was honey cake with Alberta rye whisky, a recipe from We Eat Together, using Lola Canola honey and Intelligensia Coffee from our neighbourhood cafe, Credo. I had baked it earlier that afternoon – and being that it was one of those cakes that filled up the kitchen with aromas of cinnamon and brown sugar, it’s a great cake to make just before guests arrive. Though we thought a glaze would give it some oomph, it paired well with a cup of tea.

Honey cake with Alberta rye whisky

It was nice evening overall. Thanks again Mum and Dad for all of your help!

The Cooking Chronicles: No-Grill Burgers

We don’t have a barbeque. It’s something I lament on the days I crave something grilled – steak, fish, or burgers especially – but until I get my act together and buy one, our stove and oven will have to do. Two burgers I made recently didn’t require a grill, or (the usual) ground beef, for that matter.

Black Bean Burgers

I remembered Maki’s recipe for black bean burgers because she had modified the recipe to make the black bean crostini that she had brought to our potluck foodie meetup last year.

My first mistake was choosing the evening after the Wild Boar and Beer BBQ to make them for the first time – exhaustion does not mix well with new recipes. The process of flipping the crumbling burgers was more trying than it had to be, and hoping for a more crispy exterior, I probably cooked them on the stove longer than I should have.

Black bean burgers

The final product was creamy and satisfying – though I think the black bean mixture would have made a better dip (or a spread like Maki’s crostini). More than anything, I learned not to cook when utterly beat.

Turkey Oat Burgers

For a weeknight housewarming with my sisters and Jeff, I wanted a casual but tasty recipe I could prepare in advance, and cook in the oven unattended after their arrival. A recipe for turkey oat burgers fit the bill, and was one that allowed us to incorporate many locally-sourced ingredients – lean ground turkey from Greens, Eggs and Ham, onions from Green Valley Farms, yogurt from Bles Wold, rolled oats from Highwood Crossing, side bacon from Irvings – and lettuce from Kimmi’s garden!

I made the patties and put them in the fridge until I was ready to cook them, which worked well. By the time we had cleared the salad bowls, the main course was ready!

Turkey oat burgers

The burgers came out nice and moist. I have never used rolled oats in burgers before, but it worked well, and punched up the fibre content (in place of breadcrumbs). Amanda commented that bean alfalfa sprouts would have made a good topping addition, and I had to agree.

We will definitely be making these again!

The Cooking Chronicles: The Occasional Vegetarian

This year, I made a conscious effort to incorporate more vegetarian meals into our diet – it was a decision partly made so we could be more aware of the meat that we consume (instead of it being a given come every supper, it is a deliberate addition), but also partly for variety’s sake. It’s also been easier to experiment because of our weekly trip to the farmers’ market, and being confronted by what’s in season each Saturday.

Pan-cooked Greens with Tofu and Garlic

Though Mack wasn’t a fan of tofu to start with, I’ve slowly been winning him over (the ground pork and tofu dish we make with Irvings pork and tofu from Ying Fat is actually one of his favourites). For dinner this week when I was feeling under the weather, he took over the kitchen reins, and prepared up Mark Bittman’s pan-cooked greens with tofu and garlic.

We had picked up some lovely kale from Sundog Organics, and some extra firm tofu from Superstore, which I had frozen and thawed, as Bittman had directed. Mack sliced up the tofu, then proceeded to separate the kale stems from the leaves, which he stir-fried separately. Greens cooked, he then pan-fried the tofu, then returned the greens to the pan along with the sauce. We served the dish with rice.

Pan-cooked greens with tofu

The heat of the pan had vaporized most of the sauce, so it was consequently, a very dry dish. Flavourful, as the tofu and kale had soaked up that tasty fish sauce liquid (soy sauce could be substituted for fish sauce for a true vegetarian dish), but we would definitely double the quantity next time, or even add some stock.

Healthy and fast, this is a simple dish that we would make again.

Penne with Zucchini and Ricotta

A Deborah Madison recipe for penne with zucchini and ricotta is another simple dish, calling for less than ten ingredients. She intended for bright quills of yellow and green zucchini to dot the pasta, but as all I had on hand was a green zucchini from Kuhlmann’s. It worked just fine, taste-wise.

Penne with zucchini and ricotta (photo taken after we had decimated half the pan)

The ricotta and parmesan easily integrated into the pasta and vegetables, melting with the residual heat. Still, there’s no question that the zucchini are the star of this dish, lending their essence to every bite.

The Cooking Chronicles: Adventures with Quick-Cook Barley

When we visited Mary Ellen and Andreas in the spring, they introduced us to quick-cook barley, a product by Progressive Foods (it is available from Mo Na Foods at the City Market). Mary Ellen said the barley, developed so it could be prepared in a short amount of time, could be used in place of rice in any recipe.

Though I don’t eat rice as often as I used to, it is still a staple in my kitchen. That said, barley is undoubtedly healthier than white rice, so I was more than happy to explore this alternative.

Quick-cook barley

The Progressive Foods website has a great collection of recipes, and one that would likely quickly inspire a more experienced cook for the myriad uses of barley. As an amateur cook, I took to the recipes like a moth to a flame.

Our barley adventures started with plain barley, cooked with water, a splash of stock, finished with some butter, salt and pepper. We wanted to be able to taste the texture and the natural flavour of the barley. We found the barley to be slightly chewy, and unfortunately, not great at soaking up sauce when cooked in this manner. It definitely tasted healthier than plain white rice though, but for that particular dish (fish prepared en papillote), we would probably opt for rice next time.

Sole en papillote with quick-cook barley

After that, we tried the barley risotto, using onions and a basket of mixed Mo Na wild mushrooms for flavour. It was delicious, and was Mack’s favourite barley recipe – the additional cooking time, simmering in stock, softened the barley. Also, between the onions, velvety mushrooms, and barley, the variety of textures made the dish very pleasant to eat.

Quick-cook barley mushroom risotto with roasted Edgar Farms asparagus (clearly, this is a dated post – back when Edgar Farms still had asparagus, and back when we were still in the apartment)

The barley jambalaya was my favourite. It helped that is was a one-pot dish, and one that was bursting with vegetables – carrots, tomatoes, celery, bell peppers – really, whatever’s available in the crisper (the addition of Irvings sausage didn’t hurt either). Hearty and flavourful, the jambalaya was even better for lunch the next day. In later versions, we found corn to be a sweet addition, also great for colour.

Quick-cook barley jambalaya with sausage

We’ve used the barley quite a bit since our initial experiments, having made the jambalaya a few times over for quick weeknight suppers. The quick-cook barley is a welcome addition to our pantry!

The Cooking Chronicles: More Vegetables with Mark Bittman

Though I know that one of the next cookbooks I’d like to conquer is Mark Bittman’s How To Cook Everything Vegetarian, given that I’m still working through Food Matters, it might be a while.

We tried a few more recipes from Food Matters this week, mostly unplanned. While I mostly shop at the farmers’ market having already mapped out our meal plan for the coming week, sometimes errant beauties find their way into my bag.

Vegetable Chips

A gorgeous bunch of golden jubilee beets from Sundog Organics was one such item, in spite of the fact that I am not the biggest fan of beets (probably because most of my childhood memories of beets are in the form of a concentrated soup my Mum used to make, one that caused my sisters and I to shudder).

I remembered a recipe for vegetable chips in Food Matters that employed beets (but could easily be adapted for other root vegetables). I thinly sliced the beets (I chose not to peel them), tossed them with some olive oil, and put them in the oven for ten minutes on each side, seasoning them with salt and pepper when I flipped the slices over.

Beet chips

The results were addictive. Though some of the larger slices could have used more time in the oven, most of the chips were crispy. Roasting also had the affect of somewhat neutralizing the beet flavour, which could be helpful in converting even the most ardent beet haters. These chips served us well as a mid-afternoon snack, but would be a healthy addition to any meal (especially in place of French fries!).

Vegetable Pancakes

Though incorporating zucchini into bison chili and cassoulet cut into our zucchini inventory this week, nearly half of the large beast we picked up from Kuhlmann’s on Saturday (for $1! The frugal side of me rejoiced) still remained.

Bittman’s recipe for vegetable pancakes seemed a good way to use up the rest of our zucchini. Grated vegetables squeezed of their water are combined with flour, an egg, herbs and seasonings to form the batter, then pan-fried in butter or oil. Bittman suggests serving them over lightly dressed greens, which we did (mixed heritage greens from Greens, Eggs and Ham, and a vinaigrette featuring Lola Canola honey), for a light supper.

Zucchini pancakes and salad greens

Though our final products were edible (and fragrant, with the addition of fresh dill), they were unpleasant to eat, due to two errors we will not make again: 1) we didn’t take the time to adequately press all of the water out from the zucchini, meaning our pancakes did not crisp up as intended; and 2) we did not flatten the pancakes to the point where the thickness would allow them to cook through entirely (oh yes, there were bits of flour and soggy zucchini throughout our pancakes).

Lessons learned. But we will be making them again (correctly next time, we hope)!

The Cooking Chronicles: Portobello Delights

Mo Na has been a welcome addition to the City Market this year, and three months in, I am still giddy over the fact that I can get my mushroom fix from the farmers’ market.

I’d been eyeing their Portobello mushroom caps for some time (they are the size of dessert plates!), and though I have purchased them for pizza and stir-fries, I hadn’t yet utilized them to their full potential.

Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

I came across a recipe for stuffed Portobello mushrooms that would make use of other fridge remnants. Namely, I substituted some ricotta filling I had leftover from our favourite stuffed pasta recipe, and in place of the spinach, used beet greens a coworker had given me from her garden.

Stuffed Portobello mushrooms

The recipe still worked like a charm – the time in the oven had softened the Portobellos, and brought out their inherent moisture and mushroom-y goodness. The ricotta just melted with the mild beet greens, and served over some lettuce from Sundog Organics that had been tossed with balsamic vinaigrette, it made for a very satisfying meal.

Served with salad

Portobello Mushroom Burgers

I have seen some restaurants advertising Portobello mushroom burgers on their menu, and was always a bit sceptical – could a mushroom really be as satisfying as beef?

I couldn’t find a recipe to my exact liking, but used this one as a guide for how long to roast the mushrooms (being without a grill has its downsides). I probably should have reduced the time anyway, given the caps were down to the end of their life span, but they still held up pretty well.

The rest of the burgers were composed of ciabatta buns from Save-On, tomatoes from Gull Valley, lettuce from Kimmi’s garden, and vegetable spread for me, and asparagus pesto for Mack.

The verdict? As you probably guessed, it’s like comparing apples with oranges, and given the choice, beef would win out any day. But like the stuffed Portobellos, we were surprised by the meaty consistency of the mushroom and the hearty flavour.

Portobello burger with French fries and kohlrabi salad

We served the burger with “easier” French fries (not as crispy as we would have liked, but then again, we should have compensated for the fact that our Greens, Eggs and Ham baby potatoes probably didn’t need to be cooked as long), and a kohlrabi salad, made with Kuhlmann’s carrots and kohlrabi from Riverbend Gardens. The crunchy, spiced salad was a nice textural accompaniment to the burger, and had I julienned the vegetables more finely, it probably would have worked as a slaw-like topping (this was also the first time mistakenly handled Thai chilies with my bare fingers…a fiery sensation burned into my memory that will forever remind me to be more careful next time). We were also surprised how the kohlrabi took to the fennel – I would imagine the same would hold true with whatever flavouring agent is used.

Kohlrabi salad

I know I can get Portobellos year round from Sherwood Park-based Prairie Mushrooms too, so I will definitely be earmarking these two recipes for the future.

The Cooking Chronicles: Cooking with Spinach

Most of the spinach I buy inevitably ends up in a salad. I have gone so far as to wilt spinach, but those instances are few and far between.

So, with the markets bursting with spinach, I thought I should change it up a bit, and be a little more creative. Two recipes featuring these greens caught my eye.

Carrot, Spinach and Rice Stew

After a few meals that unavoidably left me with numerous dishes to wash (I don’t know why I complain about dishes so much…I honestly don’t mind doing them, but the less there are to clean, the better), I immediately gravitated towards Mark Bittman’s one-pot carrot, spinach and rice stew. It’s another gem of a recipe that features under ten ingredients, combined and allowed to simmer away happily on the stove, thickening and intensifying in flavour all the while.

The comments recommended adding chickpeas, which I did, as well as a dash of cumin, which was Bittman’s suggestion. I also finished it with some dill (fresh from a coworker’s garden!), which was just the pop that a dish like this, served in the middle of summer, needed. I probably could have added more spinach (I used the remainder of a bag of Greens, Eggs and Ham mixed heritage spinach), as it does wilt down an incredible amount, and here, was given the time to cook and lose that stringy texture. Mack really liked that the chickpeas had ample time to soften (I added them with about fifteen minutes to go).

Carrot, spinach and rice stew

All in all, another successful Bittman recipe!

Pea and Spinach Soup with Coconut Milk

I’m not sure what inspired me to make vegetable stock for a soup recipe, but I did. And guess what? It wasn’t difficult at all! With guidance again from Bittman, I had a decent stock in half an hour.

Before and after

Though I haven’t made too many things from Deborah Madison’s Local Flavours, I love flipping through it periodically – with recipes that embrace seasonal cooking, it’s a good starter book for ideas on how to use fresh ingredients available at farmers’ markets. A recipe for pea and spinach soup with coconut milk provided the perfect opportunity to marry two seasonal ingredients – peas from Edgar Farms and spinach from Sundog Organics.

Unlike the spinach in the stew, however, I thought it could have been given a little more time to cook, and unfortunately, the curry overwhelmed the subtle cilantro flavour. That said, I really liked how the coconut milk and sweet peas balanced the heat from the curry, and all of the different textures in the soup, especially the peas (how could anyone not love sweet peas?).

Pea and spinach soup with coconut milk

What are your favourite ways to cook with spinach?

The Cooking Chronicles: Salads for Supper

Salads are definitely one of those things I know I should be eating more often – instead of being relegated to a side, and in place of some worse-for-me things like white rice. I’ve only made the recent discovery that salads don’t have to involve greens (read: lettuce, arugula, spinach) of any kind, and moreover, don’t have to be served cold. Imagine that!

Rice Noodle Cucumber Salad

A rice noodle cucumber salad from Rose Murray’s A Taste of Canada seemed like a great way to combine Asian pantry essentials (fish sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, vermicelli noodles) with fresh farmers’ market produce: I had picked up a red pepper and a cucumber from Doef’s Greenhouses, as well as ground pork from Irvings. While not as dish consuming as our asparagus and poached eggs recipe from a few weeks back, we still ran through a few pots and pans to pull everything together.

Rice noodle cucumber salad

The result? An interesting combination of flavours and textures – from the heat of red chili flakes to the salty punch of the soy and fish sauces, and the sweet crunch of the cucumber and bell pepper – it’s definitely not your typical green salad. In hindsight, I would have included more pork and vermicelli for additional protein and balance – while the salad made a light meal great for a hot summer night, by late evening, we were both looking for something to nibble on.

Warm Spinach Salad with Yankee Fish Cakes

Okay, this is a green salad. But it’s served warm! I used the balsamic dressing from Company’s Coming that I have made before (balsamic vinegar, olive oil, garlic, honey, mustard, salt pepper), as well as the idea of adding sautéed mushrooms (this time, meaty Portobello from Mo Na). They warmed – but didn’t wilt – the Sundog Organics spinach nicely.

What really made this a meal, however, were the Yankee fish cakes. Many of the recipes in Saveur’s June/July market issue caught my eye, but this one most of all. I’ve never made fish cakes before, but with such an easy and delicious recipe, I know I will be making them again soon.

While the haddock (from Ocean Odyssey) cooked down with cream, onions and celery, I was able to pull together the flavourings and binding agents – minced pickle, Tabasco, dill, mayo, lemon zest, lemon juice, an egg and breadcrumbs. We added the cooled fish mixture, combined the mixture, and formed eight fish cakes. The last step was to coat them in cornmeal, and let them set in the fridge for half an hour.

Fish cakes for the fridge

Frying them in a hot, butter-coated skillet was the easiest part…or was it eating them? Mack and I both declared the recipe a winner – I loved the cornmeal coating, for its grainy sweetness, and firm, yet textured interior (the celery, for example, retained its crunch). And the haddock definitely came through it all.

Yankee fish cakes on warm spinach salad

Eaten with the warm spinach salad, it was a really satisfying meal. Thanks, Saveur!

The Cooking Chronicles: Two Pot Meals

Donna Hay’s a bit misleading in her section on “one pot meals” in No Time To Cook. In actuality, some of the dishes require two pots – the first for the main and the second for the accompanying starch – whether it be a rice cooker or a pot to boil pasta. I know it’s not a big stretch – it’s just one more dish to wash, after all – but for whatever reason, it’s a bit of a disappointment to me when I realize that the recipe isn’t a true one pot meal.

Chicken Poached in Coconut Curry

This was one such dish that required two pots. While I’ve poached chicken in coconut milk before, this was the first time I threw in potatoes and snap peas for a whole meal. It was also the first time I used kaffir lime leaves (the recipe I linked to leaves them out). I picked up a whole bag at Lucky 97 for just 99 cents – and given how they come back to life simmered in hot liquid, and actually do lend a tangible citrus tang to the curry, they are worth seeking out.

Chicken poached in coconut curry

Sausage and Arugula Penne

A pasta recipe from Ricardo Larrivée also caught my eye (and yes, required two pots) – I loved that there were less than ten ingredients called for. And we’ve cooked often with white wine, but not red, so this was a good opportunity to experiment with a red-wine based sauce.

Sausage and arugula penne

We had ended up using the remainder of a bottle of red we had sitting around, which Mack thought probably wasn’t the best choice of wine variety – he thought it overtook everything else in the dish. I didn’t mind it so much – between the tomatoes and wine, the thin but flavourful sauce was a nice change of pace from the hearty, chunky tomato sauce we make more often.

I’m sure it’s only a matter of time before another two pot meal sneaks into our rotation!

The Cooking Chronicles: Asparagus and Morel Soup

While morels don’t quite have the rock star reputation of truffles, wild origins lend morels a mysterious, elusive quality. After learning about how fickle they are in terms of where they grow, and the related excitement that ripples through the mycological community at the start of spring (aka morel season), I had to wonder if they could possibly live up to the hype. We finally picked up a basket from Mo Na one weekend and set to find out.

Morels

The paper bag the morels came in expressed explicit instructions to wash the product, being that the mushrooms are wild, and could be harbouring any number of organisms. So – like most other vegetables that require a thorough bath, I decided to soak the morels.

Of course, after leaving them in the water for a few minutes, I realized this was the wrong move. The morels took in water like sponges! I literally had to wring them out before cooking. As Mack always says, I should have consulted the Google.

Anyway, I decided to prepare them two ways – the first was to simply sauté them in butter (as Martin, President of the Alberta Mycological Society had recommended), and the second was in an asparagus and morel soup.

I roughly chopped a handful of morels (and some that still retained water – mini mushroom bombs, they were – nothing says learning like the hard way, right?), and threw them in a pan of melted butter. A few minutes later, our small bowls of cooked gems in front of us, we expected to be blown away. Not surprisingly, as with other instances where the bar is set too high, we weren’t. The waterlogged morels had lost some of their inherent spring, but save for tasting like other members of the fungi family, neither Mack or I could discern any real distinct flavour worthy of fervour.

We did better with the asparagus and morel soup, though. An Eric Akis recipe (I am partial to his seasonal focus), the dish called for pureed asparagus (we used the last of our Edgar Farms bunch), and chopped morels that were simmered in chicken stock for additional flavour. Though the potato used to thicken the soup was a little too prominent for my taste, I loved the green colouring of the broth, and the added texture and slightly woody essence of the morels.

Asparagus and morel soup

Will we buy morels again? Perhaps, but I’m starting to think that morels are more about the thrill of the hunt – I’m sure they taste better if you foraged them for yourself.

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