I think the best thing a young person can learn before they strike out on their own is how to make soup. Not just because you’ll always be able to feed yourself, even in the days when you might only have one pot to your name, but also because it’s a great way to learn how to balance flavours. Adding a little bit of this and a little bit of that until you get it right is the essence of soup-making and that knowledge will carry through when you move on to master more complicated recipes and techniques.
Some recipes, though, don’t give you the luxury of fixing your mistakes with another ingredient or two. They depend on the flavours developed by a minimum of ingredients in the correct proportion to one another. This week’s trio of soups fall into this category. They consist of stock (or water and bouillon cubes) and a single dominant vegetable, with a little salt and pepper to bring out the flavours. Red pepper, asparagus, and broccoli are the vegetables (though the latter two have a little zucchini in them, as well, which doesn’t seem to affect the dominant flavour of the soup). Additional seasoning is added only through the garnish, which is whipped cream with Piment d’Espelette, cardamom, and curry respectively.
I tried the soups plain and they definitely need the extra flavour boost from the cream and spices. I used Greek yogurt (and this time I checked the label), which worked just as well, I think.
These weren’t my favourite soups from this book, even with the yogurt and spices. I appreciated the intensity of the dominant flavour, but it didn’t make me want to sit down for a meal. Instead, I found myself wanting to freeze these in cubes, as I think they’d make a great flavour booster when my usual soups need a little something. So, I don’t think I’ll be making these again, but the leftovers may be showing up as guest stars in future soups. C’est la vie.
Thoughts of spring come a little earlier around here than in most places in Canada. Shoots erupt and trees start to bud in January, even though we often have a final bout of cold weather (and occasionally snow) in early February. In about a month, though, it will well and truly be spring. And all that garden cleanup I procrastinated on last fall will become an urgent task.
For now, though, I’m going to enjoy my newly arrived seed catalogues, making overly ambitious lists of varieties I’d like to try growing, while studying my charts of gardens past.
Do you have space for plants where you live? Are you a balcony gardener or a backyard farmer? Do you grow for show or for food? What new plants or varieties have caught your eye this year? I’d love to hear about it in the comments.
Pink Lady Apples filled with honeyed dates and cashews. A nice, simple recipe that needs only a little garnish to bring it to perfection. In my mind, Greek yogurt mixed with brown sugar sounded like a great accompaniment.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t paying enough attention at the grocery store and picked up a tub of zero-fat vanilla Greek yogurt instead of the plain, full-fat variety. The taste and texture weren’t what I was looking for, but the apples were delicious enough to make up for it.
A small rant: Manufacturers, please stop messing with things that are perfect as they are. Regular Greek yogurt might not be diet fodder and grab-and-go eaters might
be put off by its plainness, but it really is a perfect ingredient. Savory dishes or sweet, sauces or baked goods, all can benefit from the use of Greek yogurt. Why mess it up by pulling the richness and replacing it with artificial flavours?
Rant aside, this is a recipe I’ll be making again. I think it would be lovely alongside a bread pudding for a warm winter dessert, or with some ice cream for some temperature contrast. Or with Greek yogurt, if you’ve checked the label before you left the store.
Much has been made of the sharing economy and I’m a big proponent of it myself, as I’ve mentionedbefore. But for many of us, our introduction to sharing came from outside the economic realm, when we signed up for our first library cards.
Growing up, our branch of the library was a little under two kilometers away and my siblings and I would often walk there on Saturdays to browse the shelves. Our school libraries were also well-stocked, so we each had stacks of books from both sources scattered around our rooms. After University, I began to neglect the library, as my suddenly greater discretionary income allowed me to develop a more robust book-buying habit. That dropped off in my mid-thirties when I realized that I could never own All The Books and my purchases became a little more discriminating. I started visiting the library more often again, borrowing the books that I knew I would likely only read once and test-driving the ones that would eventually make it into my permanent collection.
Free access to knowledge is a fragile thing and the Internet is a poor storehouse for an intellectual commons. The resources that a library provides cannot be matched on the Internet, at least not for free. I’m reminded of Janet Frame’s description of winning a year’s subscription to her local library (called the Athenaeum) in To the Is-Land, which allowed her entire family access to a world of books that had been closed to them. What kind of intellectual life do we want to bequeath to the future? One that is closed to all but a small coterie or one that allows for the emergence of talent from the great mass of people?
So, do the future a favour and show your local library a little love. You might be surprised what you find there beyond the stacks – digital resources, a wealth of movies, music, and television, and even handy apps that keep you up-to-date on your library activities. And if you’d like, tell me what you love about libraries in the comments below.
Here’s to an end to the old year’s sorrow, but remembrance of the things that made it bright. Here’s to less static and more signal; fewer fights and more friendship; less holding back and more living.
I hope that 2014 brings you joy where you can find it, with love and support when you can’t.
It’s the eve of Christmas Eve and I’m getting ready for a day of massive baking tomorrow, as I’m on Team Dessert for the big family Christmas this year. (I won’t be making many cookies, though, since I was lucky enough to win this from the lovely fellows at Boys Own Bakery.)
Tonight, however, was about relaxing and catching up on last week’s French Fridays dish. Onion Carbonara has a long history, as Mary relates in her post. Unlike its originators, I wasn’t attracted by the economics of the dish, but by the promise that it was one of those gluten-free dishes that doesn’t pale by comparison to the original.
In this version, steamed onions replace spaghetti as the anchor of the dish. It’s billed as an appetizer or a side, but I made two-thirds of the recipe and we had it as our main course. The steamed onions were sweet and crunchy, setting off the rest of the components so nicely that I didn’t miss the pasta at all. I do think that I’d like this version over pasta, too, and a number of other Doristas did just that.
I hope that you are surviving the whirlwind of the holidays, whatever you celebrate, and that you have lots of opportunity to enjoy good food and company before the turning of the year.
I received a review copy of The Complete Best of Bridge Cookbooks, Volume 3 from Robert Rose Inc. Nevertheless, all opinions in the following post are my own.
Image courtesy of Robert Rose, Inc.
A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about my cheesemaking adventures, which left me with about two pounds of chèvre. I used some of it for the ice cream I made, but that took care of less than a quarter of it. Candy reminded me about the torteau de chèvre, a cheesecake unlike any other I’ve had before. My chèvre, you might remember, was a little softer than it should have been, but it didn’t seem to make a difference. This treat was as good as I’d remembered it being.
My bowl of chèvre was getting down to a manageable size, so I turned my attention to the other cookbook I’d taken for review from Robert Rose, Volume 3 in the Best of Bridge series. This is a spiral-bound edition, which lays flat when open – a handy feature when you’re bringing it into the kitchen with you. The font (what seems to be Comic Sans in all caps) cuts down on readability and the jokes throughout are dated. The recipes, though, are solid. The reputation of these books is well-deserved.
You won’t find innovative or fashionable cuisine here, but you will find a mixture of old-fashioned recipes and new millennium favourites. There’s also a good mix of dinner party and weekday meal fare across cuisines. The methods are easy enough for new cooks, but there’s still enough variety to keep the attention of more experienced ones. In some recipes, there is a reliance on canned or pre-prepared pantry staples that doesn’t mesh well with today’s focus on fresh, homemade ingredients, but it’s easy enough to make substitutions. It’s the kind of all purpose, old fashioned cookbook that I like to have on my shelves. I’ll likely never make the tuna casserole or the molded salads, but the Citrus Crisps have already made an appearance for a holiday cookie exchange this year and I can also tell that I’m going to find some more new favourites in this book.
Speaking of new favourites, I was pleased to find a recipe that would help me with my abundance of chèvre, an onion and goat cheese pizza that sounded delicious. My niece J, one of the stars of our Baking With Julia endeavours, was on hand and agreed to do the heavy lifting on this dish. She made pizza dough, using the recipe found elsewhere in this cookbook – it’s a great, simple crusty one. Then, she vetoed the pine nuts and spent the next half hour in front of the stove, on a comfortable chair with an iPad in one hand and a spatula in the other. By the time she was done, the onions were dark and jammy. She spread the chèvre on the unbaked pizza crust, added the onions, and ground some pepper on top. After a short time in the oven, it was ready.
Even without the pine nuts, this was a complexly flavourful dish. I’d love to serve it in small squares as an appetizer, though it made a great main for dinner that night, too. It reminded me a little of Pissaladière and could easily be dressed up with olives, bacon, or even something sweet like figs.
Robert Rose, Inc. has been kind enough to let me share the recipe with you, so if you experiment with it, let me know. It’s great as is, though.
Caramelized Onion and Chèvre Pizza
1 12-inch (30 cm) pizza crust, homemade or purchased
Olive oil to brush crust
3 medium onions, thinly sliced (use all 3!)
1 Tbsp. (15 mL) butter
2 Tbsp. (30 mL) olive oil
1 Tbsp. (15 mL) granulated sugar
3 Tbsp. (45 mL) balsamic vinegar
2 cups (500 mL) crumbled chèvre (goat’s cheese)
1/2 cup (125 mL) toasted pine nuts
Freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 450°F. Brush crust with olive oil. In a large frying pan over low heat, combine onions, butter, and olive oil Cover and cook, stirring often, until onions are very soft, about 30 minutes. Add sugar and vinegar and continue cooking until vinegar evaporates, about 5 minutes. Add salt to taste. Place cheese on crust, leaving 1/2-inch (1 cm) border. Sprinkle with pine nuts, top with onion mixture and a sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper. Bake 10 to 15 minutes, until crust is golden.
After the tourteau and the pizza, I was left with just enough chèvre to improvise a goat cheese and mushroom quiche, inspired by a suggestion from Betsy and a fridge full of mushrooms. It was a nice way to finish off the batch of precious homemade goat cheese and the mushrooms, fresh thyme, and onions set off the tangy goat cheese nicely.
A week of rich eating was at its end and with the help of some friends and a couple of cookbooks, we were well-satisfied.
The Complete Best of Bridge Cookbooks, Volume 3 came out in Fall, 2013. You can find more details here, along with a link to purchase the book.
We’re entering the countdown to Christmas now, with a week to go. There’s still time, though, to do a little good while you’re finishing up your holiday preparations. I was thinking about this last weekend, when I attended the Vancouver Giants‘ Teddy Bear Toss night. As you can see, the Giants’ first goal caused a shower of generosity in the form of stuffed animals – more than 10,000 fans threw several hundred of them onto the ice. The toss benefits the Vancouver Province newspaper’s Empty Stocking Fund, the CKNW Orphans’ Fund, and the Lower Mainland Christmas Bureau. It was a feel good event, with stuffed animals flying through the air, a shutout win against one of the Giants’ toughest rivals, and a sense of giving back to the community permeating the happy, friendly crowd .
However, there’s always more to be done and here are a few organizations that could use your help:
Lookout Emergency Aid Society provides low-barrier services to the homeless and other people in need. They’re accepting cash donations, but are also accepting warm winter clothing, blankets, and gift items for distribution.
RainCity Housing provides low-barrier outreach, shelter, and housing for Vancouverites in need and you can contribute cash or much-needed items for distribution.
Check out the Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre wishlist for things that are always in short supply for their clients.
A donation to Family Services of Greater Vancouver will go toward Christmas hampers for families in need or will help fund their programs throughout the rest of the year.
The Kettle, which does great work in my own neighbourhood, has partnered with Harbour Centre for a donation drive that runs until December 20th.
A Loving Spoonful provides nutritious meals for people with HIV/AIDS throughout the year. Donate to them directly, or support them by attending the All-Star RnB Christmas.
Buying your Christmas tree can be an act of giving, too – Aunt Leah’s Tree Lots raise funds to support foster kids and teen moms.
Wherever you live and however you choose to celebrate the holidays and the turning of the year, I hope that it’s a time of peace and abundance for everyone in your community.
I received a copy of At Home With Lynn Crawford for review from Penguin Canada. Nevertheless, all opinions are my own.
You may have noticed this jaunty Christmas penguin on my front page. He’s there because I’m participating in Penguin Canada’s Daily December Delights Campaign. Every day in December, there’s a new featured book, with surprises, extras, or contests running for each selection. There’s also $750.00 worth of Penguin titles up for grabs. You can enter and explore, here.
I came late to discovering the joys of Food Network Canada, so for years I had no idea what people were talking about when they were raving about their favourite celebrity chefs. Then, when my parents started downsizing, I went to stay and help out and discovered my television kryptonite. Not only did I finally see Iron Chef and Chopped, but I got to know my first Canadian celebrity chefs since the Urban Peasant was on air. Today’s chefs are a little more sophisticated (I still love the Urban Peasant’s version of 40 cloves of garlic chicken) and I’ve come to love watching Anna Olson, Michael Smith, and Ricardo Larrivée. One of my favourite shows, though, is Lynn Crawford’s Pitchin’ In, with its wacky premise, Chef Lynn’s endless curiosity about ingredients, and the fantastic meals she serves at the end of each episode.
Image courtesy of Penguin Canada
At Home with Lynn Crawford is her second cookbook. The first, Pitchin’ In, was inspired by her television show and replicated the fine dining at home ethos of the meals she served to her hosts on the show. Many of the recipes in her first cookbook were quite technically challenging, especially for inexperienced cooks. Her new cookbook takes a different tack, focusing on easy home recipes, including a wealth of recipes for ingredients like stocks, marinades, spice rubs, and flavoured butters. As a result, this book is perfect for a new cook. Chef Lynn also includes her take on a number of basic recipes like baked beans, potato salad, and chicken noodle soup that make a good starting point for someone learning to cook. There are classic recipes like Coq au Vin, Cioppino, and Porchetta that might seem familiar to older cooks, but will be brand new to many young people. Her recipes run across many cuisines, including Asian, Caribbean, and Indian flavours, which is another good point of entry for new cooks.
But, it’s not all slow lane cooking. Her Sweetbreads recipe requires some finesse and techniques like salt-baking certainly piqued my interest. Most of all, it’s her chef’s eye for detail which makes her recipes interesting. The ingredients are given as much attention as the whole. Something as simple as steak and mushrooms becomes much more sophisticated in her hands, with a rich marinade to start and red wine butter to finish. I like the way that the recipes cover so many categories, too – not just appetizers, mains, sides and desserts, but also jams and spreads, seasoning salts, and a cocktail section that might even get Trevor’s attention.
The book itself is beautiful, with lovely photography and a clean, spare layout. However, this brings me to what I didn’t like about it, which is how space is used in parts of the book. Serving champagne merits two pages and variations are often presented as separate recipes. It’s not a huge problem, but it can promote more hunting around for things you’re trying to find fast. With its emphasis on easy recipes, I’d also like to see more detail in the instructions, which would help new cooks when they might be unfamiliar with even the more simple techniques. But, those are really the only two issues I had with the book.
I’ve only had a chance to test drive one recipe so far, but I think I chose well. Chef Lynn’s Sweet Potato Bourbon Cake is full of rich ingredients, but it bakes into a cake that’s both substantial and light. The bourbon glaze reminds me of sucre à la crème, but with some smokiness from the alcohol. (I may have to try a boozy version of sucre à la crème this year.) I used squash and Canadian whisky in place of the sweet potato and bourbon, but as Chef Lynn mentions in the recipe, these substitutions work just fine. It’s a big cake, made for sharing, but I suspect that it will keep well, too. You can find a more elaborate version of this recipe here.
I plan on working my way though some of the other recipes, and I might just be handing out a few jars of Chef Lynn’s Old Bay Seasoning at Christmastime, too. If you head over to today’s square on Penguin’s calendar, you can find some sample recipes from the book. And if you’d like to get a taste of Chef Lynn in action, her Pitchin’ In Christmas special is running right now on Food Network Canada.
We’re well into December now and we’ve even had some snow here, so it’s hard not to feel a bit of holiday spirit. There’s a lot going on this month, with some of my favourite craft fairs yet to come, seasonal music and performances, and more. It’s been a while since I’ve done a round up, but what better time of year? Here’s your holiday hit parade.
Arts & Crafts
Shiny Fuzzy Muddy is the sophisticated older sister of the craft fair. It’s the place to find investment pieces in art, clothing, and jewellery. Which makes Got Craft? their slightly alternative cousin. I’m going to drop the metaphor before I get to Circle Craft, I swear. Well, one more. I don’t know whether Craftacular is the punk rock youngest or the mischievous middle child – you decide. A short look at Refresh‘s vendor list might take care of a good chunk of your gift list (or your wish list). Another upcoming favourite is Blim, which looks like it has some fun in store. And if your heart needs a little melting, I think the Winter Wonderland Children’s Art Fair should do the trick. It’s an opportunity for ten to nineteen-year-olds to sell their wares, from art to crafts to baking.
Most of these are taking place this upcoming weekend, but for the truly last-minute shopper (putting down the mirror, now), there’s still hope. The Eastside Flea and the Last Chance Christmas Craft Fair have got you covered. They’re both on that last weekend before St. Nick arrives.
Food
What better place to start than the Vancouver Farmers’ Market Holiday Market? Then, there’s Gingerbread Lane, a fundraiser for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which technically involves food, but might get you arrested if you actually try to eat it. So, go to the Vancouver Christmas Market afterward and get your fill of Glühwein, Schupfnudeln, and Flammenkuchen. And don’t miss the Winter Solstice Festival at Dr. Sun Yat-Sen Gardens. There will be Dragon Spice holiday tea to drink and hot buns to eat while you enjoy the lanterns placed all around the gardens.
Performance
There’s more music, dance, and theatre performances than my fingers care to type up at this time of year, so I’ll just mention a few. The York Theatre is back in action with it’s first post-reno show, Jack & the Beanstalk: An East Van Panto – everything you ever wanted to know about my neighbourhood but were afraid to ask. Another locally set Christmas tale, It’s Snowing on Saltspring, has long been a Christmastime theatre tradition here. Music and stories take centre stage at Pacific Theatre’s Christmas Presence. Speaking of music, Musica Intima‘s Christmas concerts are always profoundly beautiful. Early Music Vancouver is presenting Festive Cantatas for Christmas, featuring their Bach Cantata Project. And the Vancouver Bach Choir will be presenting Handel’s Messiah. If it’s the Nutcracker you’re after, you’ve got two choices. Goh Ballet and Ballet BC are each having a crack at it, so to speak.
Like I said, it’s a busy month. I’m going to try to make it to at least some of the events on the list, but I’ll also make sure to make some time for hot chocolate and It’s a Wonderful Life, holiday baking, and visits with family and friends.
Now it’s your turn – what’s up this month where you live?
One Wet Foot 